Use the Three 'M's

by Chariji, April 5, 2004, Karimnagar, India.

Brother Singamaraju is my spiritual brother. He is a quiet, silent worker, and I have to congratulate him on his work. As I said, he is silent; he is invisible most of the time - that is a sign of good work. People like me, we go around talking a lot. [chuckles] We don't do much, except to try to, you know, get work from people like him.

Karimnagar is one of the centres which has two ashrams, one in the city and one here. And where we have two, Babuji Maharaj used to say, it is like a man with two wives - it becomes a problem. I think the problem with Karimnagar is this problem, you see, that most people want to meditate there, though they have an ashram here. Now we have to remember that in Hyderabad also we have two ashrams, one in Domalguda and one in Thumukunta. And Thumukunta is about twenty-three kilometres from our Domalguda ashram, and similar resistance is always there.

We want vaikuntam [heaven] in our house. It can happen, provided you develop your heart in such a way that, instead of your going to vaikuntam, vaikuntam will come into your house. But that depends on your heart. To develop such a heart, you have to come to a place like this. Like you go to school and then you go to college. You cannot have your school and your college in your house. Just now one girl said she wants to study medicine. Where? "Any private college." Where? "Anywhere." Just to study medicine so that you can become a doctor and earn a lot of money, girls are willing to leave home, go to distant places. I know a girl from Andhra Pradesh was studying in Bengal. And their parents don't object. Endukante dabbu vastundi kada! [Why? Because money is coming in.] Bangaru [Gold]! But here we don't get dabbu or bangaru [money or gold], but we get what? Bhagavantudu [God]! Not His grace but His presence.

We are always talking about Babuji's grace, Guruv Garu's [Guru's] grace. But we have to now speak of Guru's presence. And presence where? Nirantaranga meeku kavalante [If you want this forever], He must be in your heart - hrudayanivasi. Vakshastalamlo Hrudayanivasi vuntunnappude naku nirantaranga mana Guruvu Garu ma daggara vunnaru, we can say. [The one who is eternally residing in our heart is the Master]. Lekapothe grace ekkadano, nenu ekkadano. [It is like the grace is somewhere and I am somewhere.] It is like my wife is somewhere and I am somewhere. So to have illara sukham as we say in Tamil, family pleasure, you see, the two must be together. Isn't it?

So to have spiritual life permanently, I must have the Guru with me. Each one of you must have your Guru in your heart. It is no use having your ashram in your house. Every house has a puja room. But there is no Bhagavantudu [God] there. Murthi [idol] - yes; Ishwara [God] - no. So murthi puja [idol worship] is no use, you see. I have seen houses with murthis of Rama, Lakshmana, Sita, Shiva Lingam, Hanumanthudu, photographs of Satya Sai Baba - so many, you know. Who will come? Nobody will come. Why? Babuji said if you have one servant at home, he will work, he will be available when you call. "Hey! Ramudu ekkadara?" [Hey, where is Ramudu?], he will come. But if you have twenty servants, you will have no servant, because each one will be going somewhere and saying, "No, no. He is there, yaar. Lakshmanudu akkada unnaru kada!" [Lakshmana is there.] So, one servant!

Master said, the Master is the best for your service, because wherever He is, He is available on call. "Master," when you call, He is there. That is why He is called antaryamin. Because He is here [points to the heart] and wherever He is, He can come to you. So have only one. Not, you know, because my wife likes Lakshmi, I am worshipping Lakshmi. I can worship Lakshmi if she is my wife, but not that Lakshmi, because she is wedded to Narayana. She is not yours to come at your call. So I must have the Master, not the mistress [laughs]. 'Mistress' has other meanings than what I am saying, but it doesn't matter.

So, I hope you understand the need to come and meditate, so that the heart can develop, that the cleaning can remove all the grossness from it, make it a fit place in which my Master will come and live forever. This is not tenancy. This is occupancy. Tenancy is rent. Now, most people are willing to have God as a tenant, temporarily, when we need Him. Otherwise we don't want. When we are doing things which we should not do - for instance, we are drinking at home, we don't want God to see us. Isn't it? That is why you go to the bar thinking there is no God in the bar. But He is there also. You cannot escape His vision. You cannot escape being before Him. But He escapes being before us, because we don't want Him.

Therefore, to learn to want Him, I have to get my heart free of everything that I have cluttered up. Babuji Maharaj said this heart has become like caravanserai, you know - everything has a place in it: so many loves, so many hates, so many possessions, you understand. So you need to go to the ashram where the satsangh is held. If it is here, it is here. If it is in the city, it is in the city. If I can come all the way from Chennai to Karimnagar, why can't you come from Karimnagar to Chennai? But I am a reasonable person. I don't ask you to come to Chennai. It is too far; it is not in Andhra Pradesh. I wish it was. Isn't it? I know you have problems - problems of money, problems of families. But in your own city, in the outskirts of your own city, where we are trying to develop a very nice township ...

You know in Thumukunta, we have one hundred and fifty plots or something like that. And there are already eleven or twelve houses coming up. Many have come up, more are coming up. Why? It always needs one person to be brave and to start the work first. Then they will say, "Oh! The one house is coming, let me also start building." So, somebody has to start.

If you want me to come again, there must be at least fifteen houses, either built or being built here. Thumukunta to here is one hour forty-five minutes, not two hours. I can come even faster. But there must be something to attract me to Karimnagar, to Parthasarathi Nagar. I am not worried about Parthasarathi Nagar, because today it is Parthasarathi Nagar, next time it may be Hanumantharaya Nagar you see, and it is Karimnagar already. So these are not inducements for me. I want hearts here: willing hearts, capable hearts, loving hearts - who come here so that not the physical Master but the eternal Master will be invited into their hearts, given a place, a permanent place.

So you see, spirituality is a demanding field. In Sanskrit, in Vedic terminology, it is also called krishi [farming]. Like you till the soil, you put fertilizer, you put the seed, you water it, then only you get crops. So it needs effort. Here you have to sit in meditation, do the cleaning. "Ayyo! Enthavarakayya ee cleaning ante - enthavaraku?" [Until when should this cleaning be done?] Up to the time you are free of your problems. If you are sick, the doctor says, "Lie in bed." You are happy because lying in bed is a nice comfortable thing. Isn't it? But after three days, you say, how many days more? Five days, six days, eight days - because the longer you are in bed, the less the possibility that you will get out of it. Isn't it? So when you are in bed for three months, people begin to despair. They say, "What is this? One month, two months, three months?" And then you start going to Tirupati, you start going to Srisailam, wherever you want you go to worship, you go to astrologers. So we must not be idle too long. Too much idleness is death. If you are inactive for one hour, it is too much.

Babuji Maharaj praised Lalaji that he was never idle. Babuji said, "I had never seen him idle. If he had nothing to do, he would sit and do writing," you know, articles, whatever, some writing. You don't have to look for something to do. There is always something to do. It depends on what you want to do. So there are always excuses for idleness - aalasyam - too much. "No, no, sir, I am tired." I can say I am tired - I am old, I am tired. But young people like you, you know people of this land of Telugus, eating well, sleeping well, lot of money with you. What is the problem with you that you are tired? You cannot be tired. Tiredness is of the mind; it is never of the body. If you make up your will, you can walk. That is why Jesus Christ says, "Take up your bed and walk." He gave him will, He didn't give him strength. And that man who had no legs, who couldn't walk, who had not walked for years, was able to get up and walk, because the Master gave him will power to do it.

So our Master also gives us will power. Not strength. Strength is there inherent in the body. Everybody has bones, muscles and flesh and brains. We make them weak because our mind is weak. The Latin says mens sana in corpore - a healthy mind makes for a healthy body. "No no, sir, I am always weak." Bharyaku telusu ante, bharya says, [The wife knows. She says,] "Emi ledu nayana, [He is always like this.] Weak ani cheppi. [Says he is weak.] He does not do work. He has no money. And we are going to the dogs."

So, we want men of will power, women of will power. Babuji Maharaj said I want lions. Lion - it doesn't mean simham. [Roars like a lion.] Not like that, on four feet. We don't want lions on four feet; we want lions on two feet. Wake up - utthishtatha, jaagratha, prapyavaraan nibodhata. [Arise, awake, having approached the Chosen One, realise your goal.] This has been the call of the Vedas; this has been the call of Swami Vivekananda. It has been our call in Sahaj Marg. 'Wake up' doesn't mean you are sleeping. You are asleep as far as spiritual life is concerned. You have not woken up to its importance; you have not woken up to its saralta (how easy it is), if you practise. There is no margamu [path] which is easier than, simpler than, Sahaj Marg. All that it needs is a combination of time and your will power. Time is available, will power is lacking - manoshakthi.

So what are you going to do with your ashram? Just name it and put a notice board and invite me that when I come next time, I should also come here to say the same thing again? Or am I going to have to talk to you differently and say, "Congratulations! I see at least some lions here, and lionesses"? Emandi! [How about it?] Some commitment to your self.

There is no commitment to Sahaj Marg or to the three 'M's or anything. It is a commitment to yourself - that I will become divinized. The opportunity is there, the helper is there, the place is there. Three 'M's ante [stand for] opportunity, helper, place. Sahaj Marg is the opportunity, the place is the Mission, and the helper is the Master - three 'M's - remember this. Use them. They are to be used; not to be worshipped, not to be praised, not to be admired - to be used. And I recommend that you start using them immediately.

Thank you.