1. CAN 85-5 Gururaj. Good. What shall we talk about tonight? Questioner... Yugas.........(Inaudible) Gururaj. Anymore questions? I could do half a dozen at one time. Questioner. Could you talk about the Gunas? Gururaj. Ah hah. Good. The Yugas is a matter of imagination. According to Hindu thought and philosophy, which I do not teach in particular, they have divided things up into four Yugas. You have the Kali Yuga, the Tretta Yuga, the Drapa Yuga and the Sat Yuga and they maintain that there are times, - can you turn this volume up? - I can’t hear myself. Good. They maintain that in the Kali Yuga things are bad, Tretta Yuga is better, Drapa is still more better and the Sat Yuga where everything is just enlightened. Since this universe began, nothing has been totally enlightened, but enlightenment can come about for the individual self, but not collectively. So there will never be a perfect world. This is very mythological. And all these Yugas is not in the space of time. They maintain that Kali Yuga lasts for a certain amount of years and Tretta Yuga double that, and all together they have worked out the ages to be about four million, two hundred thousand, something. But all those Yugas are within oneself, within one’s own personal evolution. But there is a time when we are dark, in darkness and slowly we proceed to greater and greater light which is truth. Light is truth. So these Yugas must be interpreted in the sense of one’s universal, individual self and not as time and space. For if you study ancient mythology, which was supposed to be in Satya Yuga, where the Lords, I mean I’m talking of mythology, where the Lords like Indra and Varuna and all those used to war against each other, the Rackshevas and the Devas used to war. But that war was not an outer war. That war is a war that is within oneself all the time, the conflicts that are created within oneself and that is the greatest war. The war between deciding to do this or to do that. But man can reach the understanding that all is good and all opposites are true. For they could never be a time where opposites do not exist. You have day, you have night, you have black, you have white, you have cold, and you have a beautiful sunny day like today. So these will always exist in everyone’s life and you can never get rid of them. But to which do we give prominence? That is the main question and how does one give prominence to that which would be good for us depends upon the Gunas.

2. CAN 85-5 You have the Raja Guna, which is the activating force, Tamas Guna is inertia and Sattva is that which is light. So the activating force between darkness and light, between Tamas and Sattva, is Rajas. Now if the activating force can be modified through Spiritual Practices, it could lead you towards light and that is Satya Yuga, where you reach the more subtler level of yourself. And reaching the more subtler level of yourself, you bring out greater light in your daily life. And when greater light is brought about, you do not flounder in the darkness of Tamas or Tama Guna. So all this, the entire universe is existing within yourself. And whatever you see outside yourself is merely the projection of the Guna which is dominant and that is your Yuga and that is the Yuga you live in. You can put four people together at the same time and each one will be living in a different Yuga and yet all these Gunas would overlap each other. There are moments of happiness and joy and at that moment, you are in Sattva. And then there are moments of total misery and then you are in the Kali Yuga. It is a total fallacy perpetrated upon mankind by all theologies of the eternal damnation and the world will be exploded by fire and burnt up and the world will end in great disaster. That is a fallacy. The world one day or the universe as itself will reach an equilibrium between the three Gunas, where the activating force, Raja Guna will diminish and the Kali Yuga or the Tamas will merge into Sattva or light. But yet the current of Rajas will still be there in a subtler form and that in Sanskrit is called Pralaya, an equilibrium. Now according to our Western science, you have heard of the Black Hole, where everything is sucked in and then when the Black Hole starts bursting its seams, it explodes again and that is how evolution starts all over again. So the entire universe is functioning in cycle after cycle, after cycle. Now these cycles according to ancient mythology, is the period of the so-called four Yugas. But all mythology and all symbology also has its value. Because when the entire universe is sucked into the Black Hole, there is a period of time, but in relative time, not in absolute time because there is no absolute time, absolute is timeless and therefore it is call eternal, within beginning and without end. But there are beginnings and endings within the cycles, but in the total framework there is no beginning and end to this universe. Now when we come to the Black Hole Theory, it is not the entire universe that’s swallowed up, but galaxies are swallowed up and other portions of the universe are still in motion. And when this explodes then new galaxies are born, new solar systems are born and in relative time over billions of years - it is said it took so very, very many billions of years for this little planet to become habitable by us, it had to cool down. So it is an ongoing process. So remember that the universe will always be eternal too because it is a manifestation of the Manifestor. Now if the Manifestor is eternal, the manifestation will be eternal too. As long as this flower lasts, it will give off fragrance, but when the flower is no more,

3. CAN 85-5 there will be no fragrance. But yet it being relative, it has a duration of time. But the absoluteness in this flower is eternal and the absoluteness in this flower is that eternal energy which is never born and that which is never born will never die. So man’s quest is to rise above the relative values of life which is always in conflict between the opposites. You cannot destroy anything in this universe. Even when we discard this body, this body is not destroyed at all. The various elements that form this body go to their natural sources. Earth goes to earth, ether to ether and that is one of the reasons , why thinking only of the body, Christian people for example, bury mostly. The Hindu people think that this body is earth, but ether is higher, so they cremate. The Zoroastrian or Parsee people, they take the dead body to a holy place, which they regard holy and they allow the vultures to feed upon the body. And they believe that even if my body is dead, let it be of service to some creature that can feed itself. So these are various beliefs. And yet when the body is cast away, as I said, nothing is destructible. The water in us goes back to water, and even the body if buried, the worms and germs have a nice time, a nice feast. So, if even this body which we think is destructible, is not destructible then how can anything else be destructible? So all these galaxies that get pulled into the Black Hole are not destroyed. They burst up again to form another galaxy, full and vibrant with life. For there is no death at all. For as soon as a single atom dies then Divinity dies, because Divinity is totally intermixed in that single atom. For the atom is totally Divine. And if the atom is totally Divine, what are you composed of? Just but atoms aren’t you, just brought together by a certain formula that can be dispersed. But there is no destruction. So man’s quest is to realise that I am indestructible and that I am Divine. And this must not only come from the mental sphere, but it has to come from an inner realisation that I am Divine and you are Divine. You lose sight of the Divinity that is within you. There is no such thing as eternal damnation. You are never damned. Only Hugh knows about ‘Dams’. Nothing is ever damned. For how can Divinity ever be damned? You can’t. To ‘dam’ infinity or eternity or Divinity is to put a boundary around it, like Hugh puts a boundary around the water. So you cannot dam it. And it is also not the other word, ‘d-a-m-n’. So we strive forever to reach that infinite self that we are. We can’t reach it because we are already it. There’s no question of reaching, but the question is of unfolding and realising that idea, although it first comes from the analytical mind, from the left hemisphere of the brain, who is always analysing and analysing and calculating. It comes from there and what meditation does for us, is awaken the right hemisphere of the brain, which is intuitive and that intuition that we receive, that part of the brain is connected to that inner self, that infinite self which we could call the Atman, the Brahman, the Spirit or the Kingdom of Heaven Within. These are labels, you can call it by any name. So in this quest, we try and

4. CAN 85-5 control the mind and the mind is totally uncontrollable. You cannot control your mind. For example, you smoke cigarettes. You put down a packet of cigarettes there and you say ‘I am not going to smoke, I am not going to smoke, I’m not going to smoke’. Yes, you won’t for a little while or a drink, ‘I’m not going to drink, I’m not going to drink, I’m not going to drink’. But in a little while, that very thought in your mind of the drink itself or the smoke itself will become so strong that a few hours later, you’ll drink or smoke three times the amount than you have rarely had, if you had taken that cigarette. And this is what I found with my work with alcoholics. So when a different perspective is found, a different understanding is found then automatically we will refrain from doing it, not by control but by understanding, but by understanding. A child is naughty and you control is say with a strap and I do not believe in sparing the strap, use it whenever it is necessary. But while using the strap, if a proper understanding is given to the child that ‘Look my son, if you do this, this will happen’ and if it is done convincingly with love plus the strap if necessary, then the child will refrain from doing what he or she is doing. So it is culturing, nurturing, like we nurture a plant and that is what evolution, progressive evolution is all about. When we plant the seed, we put fertiliser , we give it water, etc for the plant to grow but what happens to the seed in the beginning before it grows, the seed explodes in the ground for the plant to grow. The seed does not remain whole, otherwise the plant or the flower will not grow. So we have to explode that ego self of ours in thinking that the entire universe revolves around my small ‘i’. But just change the thought that the entire universe revolves around my Big ‘I’. Because the entire universe is the ‘I’, the Big ‘I’ and then there’s no evolution. The evolving self in the Yugas, which is combined with the mental qualities we have of Tamas, Rajas and Sattva, those are mental qualities and has nothing to do with the real self in us, the infiniteness in us, the eternity within us, the Divinity within us. These are the surface waves and I said that accept the surface waves as well. I said it in a talk I think here or somewhere that if the sea is very turbulent and too many waves, you can’t stop them, become a surfer and enjoy surfing. So that is how we take control of our lives. Control is the wrong word. That’s how we take the mastery of our lives, because the master within us is governing it and not the conflicting factors that are there. And in order to do this we have to rise above the opposites of things which are conducive to us and things which are not conducive to us and that are conflict creating. And by rising above the opposite, you view it - for example you are in a terrible emotion and at that time if you try to analyse that emotion or the feeling, you will not succeed. But later on when you come back to it then you will see that ‘Hey, I’ve been stupid’. Do you see. You go and watch a football game the two sides are battling each other to score goals, or you go and see a boxing match, the two men are fighting, are you fighting? No. You are standing, you are on stalls, on the seats round the boxing ring and you are watching this fight going on and you are enjoying it. Or else

5. CAN 85-5 all these various games will have nobody going to them, if there was no enjoyment. Football, rugby, soccer, boxing, wrestling, you go to these games because you enjoy them. Now why can’t people do that with their own lives? Watch the fight between the two fighters and sit back and enjoy it. Do you see? If the one boxer with the red pants gives a big blow to the boxer with the white pants, you’ll say ‘Hoorah, you know, good shot’ or the other way round, enjoy it. So if something negative within you tries to hit something positive within you, you say ‘Ha hah good’ and then that negativity disappears because you will be lost in the enjoyment and not in the negativity. So life is a game and is a game which is a dream. This life to which, this little body, to which we attach so much importance is nothing else but a dream. Look how real things look in a dream but when you wake up you realise ‘Oh, it was just a dream’. So, even in our waking state, if we can regard life as a dream in its various vicissitudes then it will not be hurtful. For every person in life is forever striving and striving to find happiness and happiness is a thing - now here is something I am going to tell you very revolutionary - the more you chase happiness, the further it is going to run away from you, always. But if you stand still or run in the opposite direction, happiness is going to run after you. Do you see? When you run away from the sun, the shadow of unhappiness is going to be in front of you. But when you run towards the sun, towards the light then the shadow is going to be behind you, behind me, Satan. Do you see. So the idea is to be able to stand still. ‘Be still and know that I am God’ and everything comes to you. Everything comes to you. Anything you desire without motive. Let the motive not be happiness. The motive must be ‘Let me be closer to Thee’, ‘Lead Thou me on kindly light, one step at a time.’ Because if you’re climbing up a staircase, you can’t jump right up from the bottom to the top, unless you are that film’s Superman that flies up. You got to climb up one at a time and those that are speedier could take two steps at a time. But you still got to climb. So therefore gradually all the negativities and or sufferings in life disappears and from Kali Yuga, we reach Satta Yuga, and Tretta Yuga and Drapa Yuga are but steps to Satta Yuga and there in order to climb the stairs, we utilise the three Gunas. The three Gunas is a very subtle force that composes the entire universe. The Universe cannot exist without the Gunas. There are Gunas in every form of matter, subtle or gross. And it is the nature of the Gunas to be in perpetual motion, to be in perpetual motion and that is why this universe functions. For as soon as motion stops, the entire universe would collapse. It is the contraction and expansion and in that motion, the world goes round, perpetually. But the underlying factor is the stillness. So we rise above the motion into that stillness, where everything is light, peace, joy, beauty. And then when you come back to the relative plane, you bring back with you that which you have experienced there. I have said many times that if you spend half an hour in a perfume factory, you will come out smelling like perfume.

6. CAN 85-5 And if you go some other kind of factory, like the sewerage plant, you’ll come out smelling like that too. Do you see? So there comes freewill - which factory shall I go to? And you think you can decide which factory you are going to land up in, the perfume factory or the sewerage plant. Do you think you can decide? No, you can’t. You can’t decide. You are forced into one of the places that you have to go to because of the Gunas. If the Tama Guna, Tamas is more prominent, inertia and darkness, you’ll go to the sewerage plant. But if the Sattva is more dominant, you’ll go to the perfume factory. So are you the decision-maker by your own analytical mind? No. There are forces within you of the Gunas that will make you decide, but you are not deciding by yourself because you have not yet become the neutral agent, the agent as an observer. It is only when you become the observer and see from above both of the factories, can you say ‘Ah hah, I want that one’. Do you see? So even in the Gita it is said ‘Be established in the self and then perform action’. Verse forty two, chapter two, Verse forty two, something like that. I have stopped reading books. There comes a time when you throw all books away, you don’t need them anymore. Books then only become mental gymnastics, when you reach the stage of self realisation, where no book holds any more knowledge for you, for you even rise above knowledge. Now reading is good for the wayfarer for those that are still on the path. And realised men also read books but not for the purpose of learning, but for the purpose of seeing what others are saying. Because its so easy. A well written book, you can just read the first paragraph and you’ll know the whole chapter, very easy because of awareness. So life can be like that book-reader who on ly needs to see the first two sentences and knows the whole chapter. But what does this require? The requirement is that stillness within us. And how do we find that stillness? Through our Spiritual Practices, through our Meditations do we find that stillness, where you do not need to chase knowledge or happiness but it just comes to you because you are it. Everything is inherent in you. Everything that is good and beautiful is there, but we with our Samskaras, which expresses itself through the Gunas, perverts our minds. I was speaking to a person this evening and I got the impression that this person was in the medical family and only afterwards when I was walking down stairs to my room for a few moments that I realised that this person was in touch with too many doctors, all kinds of them, and they still can be felt, their influences can be felt. So therefore I got the impression that there’s something medical in the family. Do you see? So all the people we meet has some influence upon us and those are the Yugas. Mix with evil people and you’re in Kali Yuga. Mix with holy men and Sages and you are in Sat Yuga. And these realisations dawn slowly. It is not the dawning, the dawning is instant but the preparation is what takes time. To make the candle takes time, to make the match takes time, but to light it is instant. So illumination is instant, if we prepare ourselves for it. So all the striving in life, battling with all the Yugas within us and the Gunas within us, is all but preparation. We do not deny them, neither do we

7. CAN 85-5 accept them. We do not condemn and neither do we condone them. It’s a matter of acceptance. For example I should trip down the stairs and break my neck or leg, I’d say ‘Oh thank God for your kind mercy. While lying in bed with a broken leg or a neck, I will have more chance to direct my thought towards Thee’. In everything there is a blessing, in everything. And you know my favourite saying which I have repeated a million times, ‘Two men behind prison bars, one saw mud, the other saw stars’. END