Ask music connoisseurs. They will tell you that the sruti (fundamental note) never changes. Only the raagas (tunes) keep changing.

There is a constant sruti controlling the music of your life. It is ‘I want happiness’. You seek happiness through marriage, affection between spouses, progeny, children’s education, vehicle and house, wealth, and so on. You dance to the tunes of your desires. If you would just care to reduce ‘I want happiness’, you will realize that you are the very ‘I’ you seek. And then you will realize that your quest is for this ‘I’, the innate peace within you, whereas desires land you in the vicious cycle of birth and rebirth.

You owned a cycle and were happy with riding it to office. The day you see your neighbour riding a motorbike, your mind revolts. You nurture a desire to buy something better. What caused this desire? Envy! Your cycle was performing well. In fact, when you become a rich person and fall prey to diabetes, your doctor will advise you to pedal every day. You might as well have stuck to your original life-style. You would not have fallen sick then.

Jealousy leads to desire. If your desire is not fulfilled, anger ensues. This irritation causes you to spout filthy words. If you had been contented with whatever you had in the first place, you would have never landed yourself in this mire. This is the pitiable state of society. It hankers for one thing or the other and finds itself in a quagmire.

Mind is like a monkey, jumping here and there. Desires have to be weeded out. The first step in spirituality is letting go of your desires. Pattinathar(a saint) declared that there are three steps to actualize your self, ‘Love, the Lord’s Name, and mingling with noble-minded persons’. Desires find no room in a mind that reverberates always with the Lord’s name. You can wash your body with soap; your mind needs to be cleansed with the soap of integrity. Integrity is the synchronization of your thoughts, words and deeds. If you say something and act differently, you are leading a false life. When you rise above this temptation, and harmonize your thoughts, words and actions, you will have attained peace.

Remember that no one is really bothered about your monetary status; so do not flaunt the wealth you do not have, just to impress others.  Ask a buyer; he will convince you with ample reasons why he bought a house. Ask a seller and he will quote numerous instances of how that house wrecked his happiness. So a house does not contribute to either the joy or sorrow of a person. If you are happy, you feel your house is the reason. If you are unhappy, you blame it squarely on that cement structure!

You married in the hope of finding happiness; so why are so many divorces happening? The source of happiness is not anywhere else; it is within you. If you are happy, the world seems happy. If you are sad, the world seems gloomy. Everything is a reflection of your thoughts.

If you have conquered your thoughts, you have conquered the world. The lotus stalk grows as deep as the pond will allow it. Only you determine the heights to which you grow; no external factor plays any role.

I can offer you advice; but advice is worth giving only when it is followed. Jealousy, the resulting desires, and the false living styles adopted– these are the reasons for the present-day miseries in the world. People waste their time in gossip and spoiling other people’s lives because their mind is cluttered with the dirt they have accumulated.

No one is permanent. Even the Mahaans (saints) whose idols we have consecrated in the sub-towers of our temple (at Kelambakkam) - Shirdi SaiBaba, Koti Mahaan, Raghavendra Swami, Paramacharya and Ramanuja;- none of them is physically present now. This physical form is a perishable commodity. Even the kings get reduced to ashes after death. The Earth prides in the fact that no man is physically immortal. When you understand that the world is transient, you will seek the Only Eternal Being, God. When you reach that state, you will learn the three ways of protecting your mind from disturbances as elucidated by Arunagirinatha, ‘O Mind! Here are the three ways of safeguarding yourself from the onslaught of desires.

 1. Give without hoarding (Karavaadu iduvai). Do charity in some way, may be sharing your knowledge, serving others, anything you can. The fragrance of a flower remains in the hands of the one who has held it.  You will find joy in giving, regardless of whether the recipient has felt the happiness or not.

 2. Let your thoughts focus always, on the Lotus Feet of the Lord. (Vadivel iru Thaal ninaivai ninaivai)

 3. Know that the Lord is the doer, you are His chosen instrument. (Viduvai, Viduvai, vinai yaavayume)                                             ’

Think that you are the custodian of God’s wealth. And He has given you the opportunity to perform. When you realize this, you will feel a surge of happiness within you.

The problem is that society is not willing to apply these principles. Start doing charity, be honest to yourself and to everyone, and free yourself from desires. Rise above the habit of hoarding petty things for future use.

As long as you have desires, you will be in pieces.
Once you subjugate your desires, you will be at peace.

( Baba's replies for other questions continue next week....)

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