1. UK 77- 17 Gururaj. Good. Sorry we are a bit late. There's so much to do and so much to fit in. Nevertheless I suppose from this afternoon it will run much, much, much more smoother where I could speak longer. So we've got about an hour and something. Could we have five minutes of meditation together, it’ll be nice? Questioner. Guruji, many of us seem to be crippled by fear, fear of other people's opinions, fear of failure or perhaps fear of not being loved or not even been liked. Even my own greed seems to be due to a fear of not having enough, perhaps of material things or even spiritual qualities. The Bible says that perfect love casts without fear, for fear has torment. Is this because perfect love is beyond the concerns of the relative? But in meditation, the churning thoughts of the small self and the relative hold me back from moving towards absolute and perfect love. Gururaj. Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. The basic problem of all human beings can be put down to this four letter word, 'F -e-a-r', fear and the basic joy of all human beings can also be reduced to a four letter word, 'L-o-v-e'. What a number it is. Good. Now if we should analyse fear, we would find that it causes every possible problem we can think of. Now you have enumerated some problems there, which all of course stems from insecurity, worldly possessions, emotional problems, and all other kinds of inadequacies are based solely on fear. The problem is how to go beyond fear. Now, if everyone in this world can go beyond fear, then all the psychiatrists and psychologists will be out of business. Good. What is the cause of fear and where does fear start? How deeply is fear rooted and is there a base for fear? Good. Now, if we start with the last question first, we will find that all fears are baseless. All fears will not have a solid foundation, will not have a factual foundation but an assumed foundation. The workings of the mind, the trickiness of the mind makes us believe that what is assumed to be factual, makes us believe that what is apparently real, to be actual. Good. Now, there is a great difference between apparent reality and actuality. Good. Actually a thing is covered, coloured, distorted, misinterpreted, misunderstood, for the purpose of feeding the mind. Why does the mind require feeding? Because the main reason why the mind requires feeding is to sustain itself. Good. Now, the composition of the mind is nothing but a whole lot of impressions from ages past, a whole lot of impressions from ages past put together into a collective whole, that is mind. Mind is not an organ, as many people would think that the brain is the mind. The brain is not the mind, but the brain is an organ through which impressions, thoughts are expressed. The brain is an organ which is composed of a kind of physical chemistry. Good. Now, the mind that stands behind the brain, that motivates the brain, that activates the brain requires this organ because the sum totality of man is nothing but mind and mind to become cognisable - is that door open? Close it please, I'm getting a draught in my leg.

2. UK 77- 17 Now, as we said the brain is the sustainer, the mind is the sustainer, but because the mind too requires to manifest itself, it has to use organs. Fine. And the organ normally used by the mind is that intricate thing in our head with all its millions of little crevices which act as transmitters, transmitters of the real mind that is within a person. Good. Now that mind that is within a person is composed of analysis, the faculty of analysis, the faculty of carrying impressions of ages past and these impressions that are stored also in the mind. So it is analytical, it is a carrier of impressions and it is also a storehouse of impressions. Those are the three sections of the mind and the totality of the three sections of the mind form what we call ego. So, by adding the fourth dimension to the mind, we could say the mind has the four sections, the intellect, the carrier of impressions, the storehouse of impressions and the totality of those three is the ego. Good. Now, because of the varied experiences and thoughts that are contained in the mind, that composes the mind, caused by ourselves always, but there would be external factors that would cause this cause and that could be environment. Good. Now, if the mind, if the carrier section of the mind, the Manas is susceptible then every impression that is received from external stimuli would be carried in that section of the mind which we call as Manas. Now if intellectual reasoning, if the intellect accepts what the mind is now carrying from external stimuli, then the power of analysis would confirm the impressions that have been received by the carrier. And when the intellect affirms and confirms and accepts those impressions, it passes it on to the memory section of the mind and there we have the storehouse of memory. Good. And all this as we said, and its worthwhile repeating over and over again, that all this is transmitted to the ego and the ego forms the sum totality of the human being. Fine. Now, all these problems of fears that are carried to the ego through whatever cause, through whatsoever means, forms the personality and that personality can become a fearful personality or a fearless personality. When we say awareness, developing the awareness of the mind, it does not mean that we make the mind susceptible to everything because it is susceptibility that creates these impressions, that encourages the memory box to receive them and store them. Fine. Now if the mind is strengthened then all exterior or interior impressions that are brought to it will be rejected. We find this in practical life where a certain happening does not affect us at all. Good. You pass on the road and there is an accident, someone gets killed, but you keep passing on. You pass on and that accident, the death of that person has not touched you. So that death not touching you, is not leaving an impression on your mind. So the death of some outside person in an accident is non-binding to you karmically. Fine. But if a loved one passes away then it would be a strong impression upon the mind, which would be mixed with feeling and it would be mixed with thought, with analysis. Now, when we analyse the situation of the death of a loved one, the analysis could take so many forms, that here the

3. UK 77- 17 breadwinner dies and how am I going to feed myself. Fear. Good. I had so much security in my love life from my loved one and now he is gone, where will I find that again? Fear. Good. He was my protector. Whenever I had a problem I could go to him, I could rest my head on his shoulders and cry if I want to. That is gone. Fear. So, all these fears come about because of a need. Right. And the need is not of our real selves, the big 'I'. The big 'I' has no needs but the small self, the ego self has these needs. Good. Now the ego self or the small self always wants to preserve itself. It always wants to preserve itself and preservations mean perpetuation in this sense. So the ego wants to perpetuate itself all the time, all the time. It wants existence. Now, what is the cause of why the ego wants to perpetuate itself, why the ego too wants to assume the quality of eternity? Why does the ego too want to become eternal? We know that the only thing in the path of self realisation is ego and yet that ego puts up a great resistance in the form of fears and all those emotions which are against fears. A mixture of them all. But in human beings the quality of fear, the basis of all problems seem to be uppermost because the ego fears losing itself. It wants to sustain itself. It wants to perpetuate itself. It wants to have eternity. The cause of this is simply that the ego requires power. As the bulb, electric bulb requires electrical power for it to function, so the ego is also empowered by a very subtle force. Good. And this subtle force is the real self, which is eternal. Fine. So, in the existence of the ego and the real self what happens is this, that the real self is sending forth energies all the time, energies all the time. The real self reflects itself in the ego. The difference between an unevolved and an evolved person is just this, that how much does the real self reflect itself in the ego self. Is that clear? Okay. Good. How much the real self reflects itself in the ego self? Now the real self can be distorted by the sum totality of each individual ego. Fine. Some egos, some personalities are at a certain level where that force, that light does not come through fully and therefore we call him at a lower rung on evolution's ladder. Those egos that are more refined, that have less of fear, the main blockage are those that are more evolved. So, the process in ridding oneself of all fear would be the refinement of the ego. And the more the ego is refined, the greater the light of the real self penetrates or shines in this receptacle or the mirror of the ego. So when the ego wants also to assume eternity, it is because it is empowered by an eternal power. The eternal power is the Manifestor, the real 'I' and the ego self is the manifested. Good. Now to allow, to allow the manifestation to become powerful and pure, it requires refinement. Good. And in the refinement, in the refinement all these factors I have spoken about, the analytical factor, the carrying factor, and the memory factor has to be taken into account and worked upon, worked upon through our meditations and our philosophical understanding. What meditation does in this case is, that it cleanses, it cleanses the carrier, the Manas. Good. It

4. UK 77- 17 cleanses the Manas so that the power, the carrier, the power sends forth, sends forth would be sending it forth in a more refined manner. So, the memories that go into the memory box section of the mind would be of a more refined nature. And by refinement we talk about things which are fearless and less impressionable. Because things, when we are fearless, when we are fearless, we are exhibiting one great quality which is love. Good. When we are fearless, we always and invariably exhibit and put into practice the quality of love, because fearlessness is love. A person can never become fearless if he has not love. Good. I don't know if I told you of an experience I had. I was about eighteen I think and going up into the Himalayas, I had to go through a forest, about forty miles, a little more perhaps and of course no transport, one had to walk through it. Good. I walked through the forest and the burning desire was to reach the Monastery I wanted to go to. And as it should happen I encountered a tiger in the forest. Yes. So, at first a little shiver went up the spine, (General laughter) because I had seen tigers in Museums and Zoos, but I was here face to face with one. I looked at the tiger straight in its eyes and I could see it was getting now in a position. Good. And even in its relaxed state, I could sense the tension in the tiger, th e tension that develops before any animal attacks. Good. Fine. So, as I was looking at that tiger, I became less tense and so the tiger became less tense. Good. As I became less tense and as my mind quietened from the initial impact, I looked straight into the tiger's eyes and I affirmed within myself, not mentally only but with deep feeling that, 'Do you want to ki ll me? Why not? Do that. You are not really killing me, you’re taking, getting rid of this body and tomorrow I'll take on another body, so what. After all how important is this body? Perhaps I might have a better body on the next trip.' (General laughter) So, through this process - now this might sound long in explaining it but it happened so quickly really - fine - in this process, I fell in love with the tiger. I started admiring everything about it, its colour and its shape and size and it’s s o beautiful, the lovely eyes. Have you ever looked into a tiger's eyes? (General laughter). So, so falling in love with this tiger, I was transmitting, radiating, emitting a force, an invisible force that had put the ego to a standstill. The ego wanted pr eserving and I said 'It does not need to be preserved because I, inside me, am eternal, nothing can kill me'. And the Gita says this and all the Scriptures says this. And I had realised the meaning of it, fully realised the meaning of it. So the tiger started simmering down and to me it felt that the tiger was smiling back. I don't know if a tiger really smiles, but it seemed that way to me. And I started smiling too. Now if you were around there, you'd have thought I was a madman. (General laughter) People can't even smile at their dogs and their cats. So an exchange took place, a communication took place.

5. UK 77- 17 Now, if you analyse it, look at the procedure. Firstly I put no importance to myself, to the body or the personality that they are subject to change and if I don't die today I will die tomorrow, if not tomorrow, the day after, if not the day after, some years later. The only thing I would have missed you all. Okay. Fine. So, the fear went away and we can never remain a vacuum. It has to be replaced with something, right, and the replacement of extreme fear is love. Whenever there is extreme fear and when that can be eradicated, love takes its place which is a powerful force. And believe you me animals feel so, so instinctively and sometimes I might not be wrong in saying that their instinctual receptivity is far greater than that of human beings, because human beings put his mind in the way and causes a blockage so that the real feeling of the person is not recognised but only recognised via an interpreter and that interpreter is the mind. Fine. So then this tiger started simmering down and got up and stretched itself a bit and just turned around and off it went. What caused that? What caused that, because at that moment I had become fearless, absolutely fearless, that I my real self, my actual self cannot die. So the fear of death was not there. Now if I had to be filled with fear at that moment, that tiger would have attacked me, because instinctually that tiger - I would have generated by my fear, I would have generated fear in the tiger and a tiger will only attack because it fears, otherwise it won't, because it fears and it also has a tiger ego and wants to preserve itself. So by generating something opposite to that which is fear, i t felt love and just turned around and walked away. Now, this of course is an extreme circumstance, an extreme circumstance. But this many people have experienced. A husband is under a motor car, motor car is jacked up and he's repairing something there. Fine. The jack slips away and the car falls on the husband's chest. The wife sees that but in that moment seeing that and being so affected by it, - - now this has been proven by clinical Psychologists - that she might be a very frail person, but she will pick up that car. Where the energy comes from, it’s still not explained but she will pick up that car, to save the husband's life. So, it was a moment of crisis. A moment of do or die, where that great energy just came into her body. This has happened on several occasions. It has been proven over and over again that this is a distinct possibility, that in a moment of crisis, this is experienced. You walk down a dark road and you get attacked by a few hoodlums and you're not a strong person. And yet you would not know, yet you would not know because of that fear, where that energy comes from and you fight those hoodlums and you've never fought in your life. This is demonstrated daily. This is demonstrated daily. So when fear is brought to a level of crisis, a fantastic, infinite amount of energy can be generated where fear turns into fearlessness. But now we can't go about in the world that every moment becomes a crisis. Life would be wonderful then won't it (General laughter) that every moment is a crisis? Fine. So what we do is this, what we do is this, that we

6. UK 77- 17 keep on supplanting in our mind the things which are anti fear, that are opposed to fear and we have the ability in us. Now the very tools of the mind, the impression carrier, the intellect, good, the memory box all those that are an obstacle, can be used to overcome obstacles. We use the same instrument but in a opposite direction. The other day I told someone that if my milk turns sour, most people will throw it away - milk is gone sour. Not I, I will turn it into beautiful, delicious yoghurt. Same milk. How we use it? Fine. So the instruments of the mind that had been such a block to our progress can be used to further our progress. And the best way to do that is by our spiritual practices, spiritual practices and during the waking state of life right living, right action. I had an experience, in Cape Town our offices are on the sixth floor. Good. A woman came to see me and she came up absolutely breathless. So normally what we do is when someone comes in, they sit in the reception and one of the girls there, the helpers you know, they make them a cup of tea and relax them first, because if a person is not relaxed, they are not receptive to any form of analysis or the thoughts you are giving them because they are not relaxed. So therefore we have this system - a person comes in, sits down, relaxes, has a cup of tea, cup of cha. Good. And then I saw this person. So I asked her, I says 'You came up here very, very breathless, did you walk up those stairs six flights?' She said 'Yes'. Good. I said 'Why?' She said 'I suffer of claustrophobia, claustrophobia and I could never get into a lift'. I said 'Oh why?' She said because she was trapped in a lift twice and it caused such a fear in her mind that she can't get into a lift. And she said even if you had to be on the twentieth floor, I would still walk up. So I said 'Fine, we'll see what happens in an hour's time'. So we sat and talked and analysed the problem. We went into the meditation room. And she was to be initiated that day and I initiated her personally. And in the initiation, she had such a wonderful experience that she saw herself outside herself going up and down in a lift. What I simply did was this that I worked on that fear and turned it into a strength, turned it into a strength. So after initiation, I said 'Come, let's go, I'm going to see you downstairs'. She says 'But Gururaj, six floors to walk down'. I said 'Don't worry; even if this heart is not okay, I'm still going to walk those six floors if necessary'. But while walking to the lift, I pressed the button. 'So come', grabbed her hand, - 'Gururaj, Gururaj', 'Come come, come, I'm with you, what are you fearing?' And she went down in the lift and she's looking at me, the first time with apprehension. I said ‘Don’t worry, it’s alright, fine'. We went down and I said 'I've forgotten something upstairs.'' (General laughter) So she went up with me again and I said 'Now relax'. So I told 'Melanie, let's have some tea.' 'Okay, fine'. We had some tea again. 'I've got to go to my car'. I went down with her in the lift again. I made her ride up and down in the lift half a dozen times. And that fear was gone because I showed her, not only with some spiritual energies, but I showed her intellect, that out of millions of people in the world that travel up and down on lifts millions of

7. UK 77- 17 times, it is very seldom and very rare, the averages are such that you will not get stuck in a lift again. You see. So, now having gone through a meditation and feeling that beautiful quiet and peace within herself, right, and being convinced of the fact that this is a remote chance of ever being stuck in a lift again, that fear vanished. So, what happens in fears is this, its like a piece of string that we wind round our finger, good, and we can also unwind it. Now this applies to every situation in life where fear takes us over, where fear dominates us. Just a bit of quietude, just a bit of thought and of course regularity in meditation will definitely, invariably, unfailingly get rid of the fears we have within us. It has to be given time. It has to be given time. A fear can be rooted in us for thousands of years and you do not expect it to be uprooted in a second. It can be done if the personality is strong enough, it can be done. So every fear, the fear of inadequacy, the fear of insecurity, the fear of failure, the fear of old age, the fear of death, the fear of loved ones leaving us, the fear of being ill-treated by those whom we expect to treat us well, all these factors are based upon fear. And once fear is got rid of by an understanding that how important is this bloomin' ego, how important is it? We will find that the ego is only a combination of impressions. Good. And impressions in themselves is not actual. It’s not real. Forever changing. One impression intermixing with another impression creates a third impression. And that is how, that is how we can get rid of fears, fears. Just some little understanding of it. And the main part of the understanding is that I am unimportant, I, meaning the body and the ego, is unimportant. If I suffer of cancer what is the worst thing that’s going to happen to me. I'm going to die, so what. Am I not going to die sooner or later? But who can kill this immortal spirit in me that is untouched by this cancer of my body and the cancer of the mind. It’s unimportant. The immortal spirit is forever unchanging, untouched and if something has been created in my body and mind, I remember and I know that I have created it myself - we spoke about karma last night I think it was - I have created it myself. Good. But to alleviate that suffering, to alleviate those fears, I must from this very moment look at myself squarely in the mirror and meditation gives us that strength to look at ourselves squarely and accept, accept the circumstance, accept the condition we are in. That is one of the major injunctions of all Scriptures of the world, to accept. You know the Serenity Prayer, to accept, to accept the circumstances we are in because it is only by acceptance, can we progress further. Otherwise we remain stagnant and ever perhaps retrogress. So when we accept our situation, fine, fine - look, my shoes are broken, okay, so they're broken. It’s not going to interfere with me talking you and loving you. If my shoes are broken, so what. The opinion of others, tell me does that matter so much? Why? I'm feeding my ego. I want everybody to think so nice of me. Why? Why? Just this ego, stupid ego that says that that everyone must think so well of me. If I know in

8. UK 77- 17 my heart that everything I do is truthful and sincere and honest, why should I care what others think of me? Why should I care if my garden, someone else's garden is nicer than mine or whatever although I try and keep my garden and life as pretty as possible. But, but if my flowers are not growing very nicely, because I can't afford the proper fertiliser, I'm no t going to let that going to bother me because living up to the Jones's is so important. What for? What for? What do I care of other people's opinions when I in my heart and my conscious is clear? So let people think whatever they want to think. Right. Because their thought is conditioned thought as well as my thought can be conditioned too. And what will aggravate the matter is that their conditioned minds are inflicting that poison upon my mind and why must I allow it to inflict me? Why must I open myself to onslaughts of other people's th oughts? Now, if I have gained greater strength within myself, a greater integration through meditational practices then those onslaughts will not be as powerful as they were and gradually all the onslaughts will lose all its power. The stronger I become, the less effect or influence any onslaught can have upon me. When man, when man accepts himself, he can accept everything around him and everyone around him. It is by the acceptance of oneself, fine, that one can look deeper within oneself. It is by acceptance of oneself that one can truly analyse oneself. It is by the acceptance of oneself that one can truly feel oneself. How many of us really feel ourselves? How many of us? We learn to feel the feelings of others. And people get so bluffed. You tell an ugly woman, a plain, sorry, a plain looking woman, sounds nicer, get a hundred people together, get a hundred people together right and say 'Look, we're going to have some fun'. And three times a day a different person tells that plain looking woman 'You look beautiful, you look so nice. Ah, look at that hair do, it’s really transformed your face. And that shade of lipstick, it’s just made to order. It suits your complexion so beautifully. What's happened to your skin? Are you using Oil of Ulay (General laughter) or Pond's Vanishing Cream or something, you're looking so, so fine?’ So let a hundred people say that to her, different people three times a day for a month or so and that woman that is plain looking, there has been no transformation in her looks at all, but she will believe herself to be nicer looking. So what has been transformed, her mental attitude towards herself. That is how progress is made. Now everyone is not going to be so kind to us and and really go out of their way to make us feel better or nicer and things like that. I'm just using hypothetical, hypothetical case to illustrate the point. But we are subjected to the opinions of others and it is not necessary to subject ourselves to the opinion of others, if we can accept ourselves. And once we accept ourselves really and truly then whatever anyone says would not touch us. It will not create an impression on the sections of the mind that I've spoken about. And once the impressions are not created, the ego is not fed and when the

9. UK 77- 17 ego is not fed, the ego becomes more and more uncluttered. And as it becomes more and more uncluttered, the more and more light shines through. Then we have light, not darkness. And all these fears, these problems of no value, they are the ones that adds darkness to our lives and darkness is suffering. Darkness is suffering. So, to eradicate fears and we have discussed how and in what categories, some of the categories we have discussed - it’s a subject which is, categorising of fear is inexhaustible, really. We can really go on and on and apply it to every situation in life, every situation. And if you study the basis of every situation, is fear. Even in our work, even in our work, people fear if I don't do this like this, I might get the boot. Things like that. If I don't this, this, this, the co-workers around me won't like me. Fear, fear, fear, fear, fear, nothing else but fear. So what we have to do is to get rid of fear. And I have outlined for you the methods how gradually those fears could be uprooted, eradicated, annihilated and where the impression box in the mind, the turbulence of those impressions slowly becomes calmer and calmer and calmer. And when they become calmer, they become stronger. When they become stronger, external pressures upon us do not affect us. So, acceptance is the mental approach to fear. Acceptance of ourselves and meditational practices give us the strength to accept ourselves as we are. And when we accept ourselves as we are, we have started climbing the ladder of evolution. We have started climbing the ladder to better ourselves more and more and more. Okay. Namaste. Did I speak forty-five minutes on fear? Oh that's fearful. Next. Aide. Guruji ... (Inaudible) Gururaj. One moment, Gita wants to say something. Gururaj. You're wanted in the diningroom absolutely at one. Are you fearing anything if we are late? I'm joking. I'm joking. I'm joking. Nevertheless what is the question, let's hear it. Yeah, let's hear it. Questioner. Often we talk of choosing our situation in life before we are born. Now last night we touched on, a little bit on reincarnation but I'd like to focus in on the mechanics of that choice and that interim period between the one physical body and another. For instance, is the choice conscious or subconscious? In that interim, do we have an expanded awareness of reality so as to make clear decisions? What sort of dimension are we in at the time? Is it the soul that chooses and if so, does it sit around chatting with other souls between lifetimes? What is the nature of the soul or energy form and why and when do we lose consciousness of our choice? Or is all this impertinent and is it simply that all our choices are made automatically by past actions?

10. UK 77- 17 Gururaj. Good. Oh. No, this is really beautiful. I would like you to make a copy of that for me because it could form the contents of a whole volume and it’s so systematically done point by point. One could write a chapter on each, you know. I want to answer that but some of the answers would be more acceptable and appealing with a fuller stomach. Okay. So, so as soon as we start again, we'll start on that. Very beautiful, really. It shows a very deep and highly analytical mind. It shows a probing mind. It shows a mind that wants to know. And that is where all progress starts really, wanting to know, the yearning for knowledge. And the yearning for knowledge only leads to one's betterment if the yearning is for good knowledge. Fine. So after lunch. Interesting. Thank you. Okay. Aide. Can everyone wait for just one second? At teatime today, we'll be posting the first list of people to be given the ne w technique. It should be about, perhaps twenty-five, maybe thirty people, something like that. And then those people should be here at four thirty, that is be back in this room at four thirty. Don't go to the Group Practices. Instead of doing Group Practices, you'll be given a new Meditation. And then we'll be teaching again tomorrow morning and tomorrow evening. So we will keep posting these lists. Now where are the lists being posted? Anyone? Does anyone know where lists are being posted here? Voice. ..... (Inaudible) Aide. Okay. Right. Where you go to see where the rooms are, we'll have the lists posted there. Yes, four o'clock. Teatime is four o'clock. So when you're having your tea, you can go and look at the list. Okay. That's all. God Bless. Voice. Where is Satsang? Aide. Where is the Satsang? Satsang - there won't be any this afternoon. Group Practice is at four thirty by the way. Group Practice is at four thirty at the Chapel. Four o'clock, tea. Group Practice, four thirty at the Chapel. END