1. UK 77- 28 Gururaj. Good. I'm ready. Questioner. Guruji, at Porchester Hall this year, you spoke of the possibility of a great catastrophe on earth, perhaps involving other planets as well. Also of the possibility that this might be averted if enough human beings are brought to meditation to bring love instead of fear and the peace that passeth all understanding. I think everyone who has taught your practices has experienced the joy that teaching brings and also the fact that to teach inevitably helps the growth and the happiness of the teacher. Gururaj. Yes, yes, yes. Questioner. Some people, who I feel would make wonderful teachers, consider they are perhaps not evolved enough to do so, but this is perhaps is one of the essential qualities. Could you speak of this? Gururaj. Yes. Oh yes of course. I mentioned, I suppose most of you were at the Porchester Hall and there might have been many that where not. Nevertheless I suppose it wouldn't matter if a few things are repeated. Okay. Now as the world stands today, as the vibrations are being formulated today in this very highly technological age, in this very highly technological age, there are certain vibrations being formed and those vibrations are formed on the mind level, on the intellectual level. And with the mind developing at a pace where the heart is not reaching, so because the mind and the heart is not having a simultaneous development and not going together at par value or at the same level. The mind is proceeding so fast that in the refinement of the mind, because the mind is being more and more refined and we know that only a certain percentage of the mind is actually being used, and with greater technological aids and various systems that have been formulated, man is reaching very gradually to deeper and deeper levels of his mind. Good. Now as a person reaches the deeper and deeper levels of the mind, they are activating a greater and greater percentage of the mind. Now when a greater and greater percentage of the mind is becoming activated, thought power does become more forceful or in other words the mind becomes more capable of being able to grasp things at a more subtler and subtler level. Fine. Now this is a good thing in itself. In our meditational system, one also develops a greater and greater awareness where a definite expansion of mind is experienced. This is very true. But what is lacking in the world today is the heart quality that could balance the development of the mind. Now if the heart quality is not there then what will happen to the greater awareness that is developed in the mind? What will happen is this that once the mind, the

2. UK 77- 28 subtler levels of the mind is activated, it has to be put to some use. And this we have found in the history of the world. This is why and this is how all the inventions have come about on earth. Right. A hundred years ago there were no telephones or aeroplanes. So these things were invented and discovered. There were no radios and televisions. So the subtler laws of nature have been discovered and put to use. A hundred years ago how could one transmit a picture through the various vibrations or waves in the air right into your home. A hundred years ago that was impossible. A person can perform things, speak whatever he wants to do and immediately you pick it up on your television set in your lounge. Good. So by the activation of the subtler levels of the mind, man has been able to discover subtler laws, and those subtler laws has been put into practice and we see the results it has produced. Now we cannot stop the expansion of the mind. I've always talked to you about the propulsion that we are in, the propulsion of evolution and gradually there would be some minds in the world that will bring about greater and greater discoveries. But what we are afraid of and the present tendency is this that those very discoveries are going to be used for destructive purposes. Good. I mean this we have found, we have seen what has happened with the atom bomb. Good. Now they have come across, they have invented another kind of bomb. Good. This bomb I think it’s called the Neuron bomb or the Neutron bomb. Good. Now this Neutron bomb is such that it could be dropped on a city where all the buildings will remain intact, but people will be destroyed. At the present moment, I would not mention names of countries to you but certain kind of germ culture has been invented and is in a process of being more and more refined where across thousands and thousands of miles, those germs could be transmitted which could destroy humanity, which could destroy the entire purpose of human life. Good. Now this must be averted. And the way to avert this is by heart expansion. Now you might have a knife in your hand. Good. You give it to a teddy boy, he will commit murder, he will kill someone. And if given in the hands of a skilled surgeon he will perform an operation with the same sharp blade, and perhaps save the person's life. So the powers will be there. These new inventions will come along inevitably but how will they be used tomorrow is in our hands today. It is in our hands and within our power today to avert the catastrophes of the future. Now at the rate of expansion and at the rate of the vibratory level that is existing in this world today, that at the turn of the century we can expect a major catastrophe. Good. This catastrophe will be such that it will not only affect our little planet earth but it will disturb the entire solar system of which this planet earth is a part. Good. Now any real thinking human being, any real loving human being will not want this because, because one of the reasons and a very simple reason would be that at the turn of the century your children will have children, in other words your grandchildren, and you don't want your grandchildren to become intellectual morons, you do not want your grandchildren to be part and parcel of

3. UK 77- 28 immense destruction. You want your grandchildren to go nearer to Divinity instead of further away from Divinity. You attend Courses like these, why? You attend Courses like these to open up your hearts, to open up your minds to become integrated human beings, to become harmonious human beings, to find happiness in life, to find joy in life. That is why you attend these Courses to experience the possibilities of that which could lie ahead in one's life. You experience joy; you experience love and perhaps listen to a few words of wisdom and get bathed in the love which the guru imparts. And that imparting is tangible to those that are sensitive enough to feel it. Right. Now that is the reason why we attend these Courses. Fine. Now wouldn't we like for that to happen to our grandchildren as well. Now, I have been telling you this not entirely from a scientific viewpoint, but also from a mystical viewpoint, where a Yogi has the ability to cognise, to cognise happenings. Right. Now, this is not only said by me, and I've been saying this for many years now. But just last year wh en I was here in England, I was shown a cutting from a newspaper article where a Doctor Pauling, Aide. Linus Pauling, Linus Pauling. Gururaj. Linus Pauling, Linus Pauling Aide. Nobel Laureate. Gururaj. Yeah, yeah, I believe he won the Nobel Prize twice, two times Nobel Prize winner in Physics, in Physics, who has said in scientific terms the same things which I am saying now, that the world is heading for a major catastrophe. Fine. Now this can be averted not by stopping the mind from expansion, that would be wrong, that would be anti-nature, that would be not with the flow of nature, but it can be averted by the expansion of heart. And therefore in our movement the first thing that a person experiences more than anything else, is the expansion of the heart. And by heart we don't mean this little physical organ, but the unfoldment of the core of the human personality wherein dwells love, wherein dwells God. Call it by whatever name you want to call it by. So we gradually, as we become more and more established in our practices, we experience the Divinity within us which is expressed outwardly in the form of love, in the form of that beautiful communication which we have with our brother. By developing, by unfolding that which is within us then we can truly practice the injunction, 'Love Thy Neighbour as Thyself'. Otherwise if we cannot really love thy neighbour as thyself then religion to us is nothing but hypocrisy and a mockery and we don't want that. We don't want to be hypocrites if we have been given life on earth and it is not an easy thing.

4. UK 77- 28 It is a very long process of millions of years for that little cell, the first amoebic cell to develop and develop and develop through so many different stages of existences too, for it to become a human being. The life of a human is so precious and it hurts me so much. My tears that I cry, the sorrows that I have in me is not for myself. I have every joy, I live in joy every second, every moment of the day. I do not have any sorrows or any needs none whatsoever. But the sorrows that are within me and the tears that well up from my eyes is to see that human beings are not living as human beings, but they are living as animals. Yeah. So we have in us, because of those whole long processes of evolution from the amoebic stage to man stage, we have within us, within us all the experiences which we in the stage of animal have had. Right. And it depends upon us if we are going to allow the animalism to dominate our lives or we are going to allow the Divinity within us to dominate our lives. So we, in man there is a combination of the animal and the God-man. And that combination makes man. Right. It depends on what we put the emphasis, the animal which is going to be destructive, or the God-man, the Divinity within us which is going to be constructive, not for ourselves only, but our children and their children and their children. Good. Now to avert this catastrophe that is impending, we have to find heart expansion and by heart expansion, we will be expressing Divine will. Then we will really become people, humans, living according to God’s will. So therefore when it comes to teachers teaching this practice, they are so, so much to be commended for teaching practices. Good. Especially the Preparatory Teachers, they are the most important and the vital link between the teachings and the public as a general. Good. Now when a teacher, Preparatory Teacher teaches, say just the preparatory technique, he does not know many of them don't know what is happening what the mechanics are. When he teaches a person just the preparatory, never mind the Full Technique, they will develop to that in time to come, that they are forming a link with the essence of the person they are teaching to the essence, which is Divine. And they are in the middle. Now by being in the middle and drawing on those forces, gurushakti if you wish to call it or the law of Grace and through the method, they are imparting it to the initiate, to the person that is being taught. What great flow of energy is not going through them? And any of the Preparatory Teachers here that are really working, that are really teaching, will bear out my words that when they teach a person and they come out of the meditation room or whichever room they are using, they feel a surge of some renewed energy, some fineness, some beauty within them which cannot even be described by words. So it is not only benefiting the people that they are teaching but moreso they are benefiting themselves. Sometimes a Preparatory Teacher writes to me, or a full Counsellor writes to me and says, 'I'm doing this work for you', I think to myself what do you mean by 'You'. Who am I, just a channel as you are, just a big reservoir of water. Fine. Now, that

5. UK 77- 28 water cannot be brought into the home from the reservoir just like that. From the reservoir there's a big pipe. From the big pipe there are smaller pipes. From the smaller pipes they're still smaller and smaller pipes until the water is in your kitchen. So, all these Preparatory Teachers, checking teachers, full Counsellors, they are these various pipes bring the water of Divinity to refresh humanity. How much there is in it, how much, how deep it is, if only people will realise that. And as the Preparatory Teachers being the important link between the man in the street so to say and the essence of the teaching being a vital link is in a position to benefit so, so much himself. Good. So they are not teaching for me. They are not working for me. Please do not. You are working for yourself. You are unfolding yourself. You are opening yourself to Divinity. So you are working for Divinity and through those means, by working for Divinity you’re allowing Divinity to saturate you and by this saturation, and by this saturation, you are expanding and evolving at a rate so fast tha t you can be thankful to Divinity for having the privilege of being a Preparatory Teacher. Every evening when the Preparatory Teachers go to bed, I wish they would utter a prayer that 'Lord I thank Thee so much for using me as a channel to convey your Divinity to others'. Good. We don't want numbers. We don't want to push our teachings. It’s not necessary. It’s not necessary. But as I say that even if you have a shop where you give diamonds away for nothing, you still got to make it known that you are giving diamonds away for nothing. (General laughter) Yes. Yes. You still got to make it known. You still got to make it know. Right. So that is what the Preparatory Teacher does. He makes it known that I have something here to offer you free of charge. There are no charges at all for it. No charges whatsoever. Please let me take you into the fresh air instead of this musty room, this stinking room that you live in. Let me take you out there and let you breathe fresh air. Then you wil l know what fresh air is all about. Then you have a chance to compare the musty air with the fresh air and then you make your choice. What do you want the fresh air or the musty air? The pollution or that which is against pollution? That is what the Preparatory Teacher does. Yes. And of course for any organisation to function there is always a question of the necessities to make the organisation function. And that is of course stressed upon all the National Leaders in all the countries that we are today. Australia, America, England, Denmark all over that you don't charge fees. You have - I'm sure when people benefit they will donate so that at least the organisation can run. There's lights to pay, there's telephones to pay, there's electricity to pay, there's cars to run for the purposes of the organisation, there's petrol to pay and these expenses have to be met. So if a poor person comes along and that can't afford, - no one is to be turned back because someone else will make up for that person in some way or the other. But work has to be done. That is the most important thing. Work has to be done.

6. UK 77- 28 There's no sense becoming a teacher and then sitting at home and saying 'Oh, I'm a teacher, teacher, teacher, teacher'. You’re not a teacher if you don't teach. A person became an advocate. Right. And he says 'You know I'm an advocate' but he runs a furniture factory. (General laughter) Now this is a true story of a personal friend of mine that I used to know during my business days and I did a lot of business with him. So in front of his name, he puts Advocate X, Y, Z. So I told him one day, I said 'Why do you put Advocate in front of your name?' He says 'Well I qualified as one'. I said 'But you're not practising as an Advocate, so there is no sense. What you are doing is just feeding your ego, you’re manufacturing furniture. Right. You’re feeding your ego and telling the world that I'm an Advocate and yet you’re not practising law. So what is the sense'. Why call yourself a teacher if you’re not really teaching? You see. So a teacher's job is to teach. I am a teacher too perhaps of a different category and if I don't come here and if I don't hold the Satsangs or I don't do anything what's the sense of me being a guru. Then I'll go back to the Himalayan caves and stay there. That would be better for me and I would be performing my dharma. But in the cause of dharma, calling myself a teacher and saying that to teach is my dharma and then not teaching then that is Adharmic - 'a' negates, - the opposite. Fine. So therefore I would say seeing that this question has come up - as a matter of fact this question should be discussed more in a meeting of teachers - but nevertheless seeing that Sybil has so kindly brought the question up, it’s my duty to answer. And therefore I say those that are teachers do teach, you're serving humanity. You’re averting a great crisis. Right. Thirdly, you are benefiting so much yourself by teaching. So do carry on and all my blessings always, all the time. Okay. Fine. Questioner. Guruji, you said last night that you would talk to us today a bit about devotion. If I could repeat my specific question again. We're told if properly understood that a guru is a channel of or a generator of spiritual energy and is therefore not to be worshipped. On the other hand there may well be a great measure of devotion toward the guru. Could you speak about the difference between worship and devotion? Tell us how we might best express our devotion to a guru and perhaps say something in general about the part that Bhakti Yoga should play on our particular part. Gururaj. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Yes. Now this has stemmed, this question is a very good question and a question and the answer of it has been so, so much misunderstood because you have gurus coming from all over. Fine. And they

7. UK 77- 28 try to create such an aura around themselves whereby they demand worshipping. They demand or act in such a manner where pedestals are needed and today wood is expensive. (General laughter) What a real waste of beautiful wood , creating pedestals! The proper pedestal, the proper pedestal that should be taken to heart is the teaching and not the man. Good. Right. Now some of the gurus that come and talk, feel it necessary to push personality rather than the teaching. Good. Then what happens is this that cults are being formed. And therefore we have so many cults in the world today. This one follows that cult and this one follows that cult and the other one follows a third cult. Now when cults are formed, one cult always maintains that my cult is better than your cult and the third one would say that 'You two are all talking nonsense, mine is the best'. Now that happens, that happens because of the formation of cult and cults are formed around a personality. And therefore you find some of the gurus, they should not be gurus but they should be showmen. Yes. Yeah. I know of gurus that even hire Press Agents for publicity purposes, yes, yes, so that their cult can be pushed forward. And in pushing forward the personality, pushing forward the personality at certain times it might be necessary, but in pushing forward the personality, what happens is this that the truth gets buried. And on those pedestals the guru sits on the truth and its hidden away. What a lousy place to put the truth! (General laughter) Yes. Now that happens. So the best way to get to the truth is to push the guru off the pedestal. And sometimes you know we are non-violent people; we don't like to use force. But nevertheless if that could happen then the truth would come out. Love and devotion go together. Good. It has nothing to do with worship. If you really want to worship, worship God and not false idols that create themselves into false idols, cultism, where a human being just like yourself, right, perhaps a little better dresses himself up in various kinds of robes and puts on beads and don't know what all, yeah for show. Yes. Yeah. They put it on for show and so we start worshipping. He demonstrates to you, or purports to demonstrate like a magician little tricks to convince the minds of people that here is a man with some power and by worshipping him we get that power from him. That is not true at all and do you not ever believe that. No one gets anything for nothing. No one can demand anything. You only get what you deserve. You have some gurus that go along starting these personality cults. Right. Then they tell you that by your worship of me, I will transfer upon you certain powers and overnight as if magic those powers you will have and you will be able to perform miracles. If you are not self-realised then overnight I will make you self-realised. That is what gurus say. God has not said that. God has said 'I help those that help themselves'. That is what Divinity has said. But these gurus turn those words so beautifully to suit their own needs and put forth these propositions. And to some very innocent or gullible minds, they try and convince these people what for they themselves

8. UK 77- 28 know the reason. Because firstly they are sitting on the truth, they are hiding the truth. Right. And they are putting forth a untruth or a distorted truth. And the only way to get at them they say, is through worship. No, we don't do that. We do not do that. It is fine to respect the teacher. Who shouldn't? I'm sure none of us. A teacher is like a father. Right. If you have your father's portrait in your home, none of you are going to spit on it. You have respect for your father. You have respect for your teacher. I have respect for my teacher, for my guru, the greatest respect. But that does not mean I worship him. I am devoted to him. Yes. Right. Now what is the essence of devotion? The essence of devotion is love. I can only be devoted to a person if I love that person. Right. And how do I love that person? Because he shares his love with me. It is a mutual exchange. If I did not love you, you would never love me. That is a law of nature. And if there is any love shown to me without me being able to reciprocate it, it will not last. It will disappear just like that. In other words it came from nothing and it will go into nothing. So real devotion to one's teache r comes from the ability of the love that is generated between two people. It is a communication. For example the word 'Upanishads' itself, means communication, communication and that communication is not on the mind level. That communication is not on the mind level and if we want communication on the mind level, we can go to any University and listen to long lectures on philosophy. Good. And yet University Professors come to us here. Why? Because they too need that communication, that communication which is based on heart level. So that is how devotion is generated because two people are being able to communicate at heart level. And that is what we mean by heart expansion. Because the greater the communication, the greater the interchange, the greater the opening of the heart. This applies to teacher and chela, guru and chela. This also applies practically in its practical value, not to say that guru and chela relationship is not practical. It is one of the most practical things. But you will find in your home. The husband is devoted to the wife or the wife is devoted to the husband. Right. What takes place there? Is the wife devoted to the husband or the husband devoted to the wife because she's pretty, she has lovely hair, nice long eye lashes? Things like that. It might have started that way. Right. But real devotion develops when the wife recognises or the husband recognises the true worth of the wife or husband that is within him or her. Then devotion develops. Right. Then devotion develops where the wife recognises apart from the facade, apart from the face value, the wife instinctively, intuitively recognises a oneness within the husband, that communicates with her inner self. Good. That is how the husband too, its the same process, recognises beyond the beauty the exterior beauty, the beauty that is inside and by that recognition of the beauty which is inside, devotion develops and that devotion is inspired, stimulated by what we know as love. Good.

9. UK 77- 28 So, love and devotion always go together. Good. Where there is love, there will always be devotion. That is how a wife is devoted to a husband. And that is how the husband is devoted to the wife. Now, when this devotion develops which is stimulated and inspired by love, that devotion will always remain onepointed, onepointed. To remain onepointed means that there is one channel whereby the flow of the husband to his wife will be in one channel, onepointedness towards that one person because of the recognition of that Divinity that is within the object. Right. So, for devotion to develop, we have in the beginning the subject and the object. Right. Now the subject and the object can become attracted through various different reasons. The reasons could be a mental attraction, a physical attraction. Good. Now, if it remains at a mental attraction or a physical attraction then that will die away. Because you can live with the most handsomest man or you can live with the most prettiest woman for a little while and if it is only the handsomeness and the prettiness that has brought the two people together and the relationship is on that level then after a while that woman is not going to seem so pretty to you anymore and that husband is not going to seem so handsome to you any more. Good. Look at the relationship between a film star and a film-goer. I have seen, I was in the film business. I know that part of the world before I renounced everything. I know that part of the world where I have been told that such and such a film star, so handsome, so wonderful. But when the person met the film star in person, immediately it was broken. Immediately the attraction was broken because it was on face value. Now that happens in daily life between husband and wife. It always happens. Now, when the husband and wife live together for a while and they go beyond the facial value and start finding the inner value, the inner beauty where a communication takes place, then that marriage becomes lasting. Because now it is not based upon the exterior but it is now based upon the interior and then only the vows taken at the time of marriage, through thick and thin etc. etc. are truly and really carried out. How many homes haven't we seen where a husband suffers a terminal disease, a horrible disease and the wife so devotedly looks after the man and vice versa of course looks after the man. He can't earn anymore, he hasn't got the strength to go and work anymore, yet the wife will slog and slave, she'll even go charring, do anything to look after him. And so would the husband do for his wife too. Why? Yes, when they got married thirty years ago, he was such a handsome man, yeah, but today he is so distorted and crippled and yet she looks after him with all the devotion that there could be in life. Why? Because now the wife has found not the exterior man, but the interior man. And the bond between my interior and your interior is eternal. (Side 1 of Tape Ends here) (Start of Side 2 is missing) or have a laugh, a smile, a hug. They keep themselves aloof and by being aloof; they want to be untouchable. What creates that? Is that not a weakness? A strong person doesn't need to remain aloof or behind a curtain. Gurus

10. UK 77- 28 must come out into the open. Be with the people, of the people all the time the communication is there. What is there to be afraid of? The weak are afraid not the strong, not the strong. Therefore many people find me to be a very unusual guru, find me to be unusual. I'll pat you on the back if I pass you, hug you, shake your hand, be close to you, joke with you this that. That is what we need. We need this communication. I could never get a message across to you if I cannot pour my heart out to you and make you do likewise to me. So there is no worship required. Only those that sit away behind curtains or on high stools and platforms, they need worship, they need worship. Not true gurus. Not real servants of humanity. Servants of humanity say 'Please Lord, give me greater and greater strength so I could serve more and more and more'. And the best way to serve is by starting to be able to communicate. I would gladly wash your feet. I've no pride. That's the first thing, that's the first quality that has to be noticed in a real teacher. How much pride has he? Is he one of us or not? How close is he to us? And only when that closeness develops, a devotion develops, a love develops and it is always unending. It is forever there. Because we are now dealing not with the facade, not with the show, not with the screen where the film is projected on. We're dealing with real live people. So that is the difference between devotion and worship. Worship can be falsely generated. How many youngsters don't worship their idols, their pop singers, their rock 'n roll stars. They actually worship them. I went into one young man's room and I couldn't see the walls, because they were so many, I couldn't see the walls at all it was just filled with pictures. I could only see pictures. Such and such a pop singer in all his various poses. I said 'You like this singer, you like this singer's music, why not? Have one picture there. Why the whole wall?' You see. That is false worship, false worship and we have been admonished by the Scriptures, do not build false idols and whoever leads one to false idol worship, to the false idols is nothing but an incarnation of chela to the guru and guru to the chela and amongst the chelas themselves, so that day by day the family grows bigger and bigger and bigger. Not because this one needs that one and that one needs that one, but because of the pure love and a pure communication, a pure togetherness without any selfish motive. Because real love and real openness of heart comes without motive. It is unmotivated. It is a spontaneous flow. We walk down to the passage to the dining room and someone is coming this way and we just without any rhyme or reason, we burst out into a smile. And the other person smiles back. No rhyme, no reason. It could be a boy and girl whatever. It’s just something that wells up, spontaneity, naturalness and when we have those qualities then love flows. So it is quite natural for a chela to experience the love of a guru and it is quite natural for the purposes of truth to dev elop a sense of devotion. But never, never, never develop a sense of worship to the guru. It’s not necessary. You have the subject and the object in the beginning. So the subject has devotion to the object and the object has devotion to the subject, but that is not the end. That is the beginning. That is the beginning. The subject must disappear. The object

11. UK 77- 28 must disappear and the only thing that must remain is the devotion. Where two-ness ceases and one-ness develops. Where oneness comes about. Where there remains no barrier whatsoever between the chela and the guru. For the guru is one with the chela and only thing he tries to guide and hope and pray and sends his blessings and transmits whatever is in him as a channel to the chela, so that the chela can become one with him, as he is one with the chela. That is the communication. And that is what is meant when I say that there comes a time in the evolution where subject ceases, the chela ceases, the guru ceases and only love remains. Now isn't that nice. (General laughter) So that's the difference between worship and devotion and that is love. That is love. Therefore II could sit here and joke with you and play with you and have fun. After all life is a play isn't it. But if life is a play and we have the choice, why go and see a rotten play. Let's see a good play. Yeah. The choice is ours. Let us be involved in the play that exhilarates us that uplifts us. So we cease to be the actor. We become the act, the act of creation, which is the expression of Divinity. That's what we do, all the time forever and forever. Full stop. Next. Questioner. Gururaj, we are very privileged in this country not to have to suffer for our faith Gururaj. Sorry, not to have to suffer from? Questioner. ............. For our faith and we are free to pursue enlightenment in God, or self-realisation. Could you tell us something of the position of those people that have to suffer intensely for such pursuits, why does it seem inevitable for some people and not inevitable, and what spiritual benefits if any does bring them or us. Is there any way in which we may be of service to them because there are many such martyrs who are imprisoned for their conscious or tortured for their faith? Gururaj. True. That is the tragedy of life where faith is completely misunderstood. To be a martyr for your faith is a contradiction of terms because faith requires no martyrdom. Now we have seen history, in history where a certain person has become a martyr for his faith or defending his faith. But who calls him a martyr? Does he call himself a martyr or do we call him a martyr? We the observers would call him a martyr because of the supreme sacrifice he has made. So to the outsider looking in, he would seem a martyr. But the true sacrificer, the true man of faith, he knows nothing of martyrdom. And at the very moment when he starts saying to himself that 'I am a martyr', then he is no martyr and he has no faith. It’s a show. Because a true martyr is so immersed in his faith that he has no faith, but becomes faith. And when he becomes faith, when every pore of his body, where every drop of his blood is tinged with the faith that he believes in

12. UK 77- 28 sincerely, honestly, he does not know of sacrifice and he does not know the meaning of martyrdom. When we say 'I have sacrificed this or that for such and such a person', then my sacrifice has no value whatsoever because I am pushing myself. I'm pushing my ego in saying that 'I am sacrificing'. Doesn't a mother or a father say 'I've sacrificed so much for my children'. Don't they say that? Have they really sacrificed? We talked about it last week. Have they really sacrificed? If they have loved their children and have done things for their children then what they have done would not seem a sacrifice. Because sacrifice always carries within it an element of hurt. And why does sacrifice hurt? Because in the beginning that sacrifice or the deed performed was motivated and the motivation was for a return. Now if we did our duties because we did them for the sake of love, then those duties would have been performed just spontaneously. And no sacrifice or no torture is needed because there was no expectation. There was no motivation. Many parents regret that 'Oh, I've sacrificed this that and the other for my children and they've turned out not what we expected them to be' and that hurts. You see how sacrifice can hurt. Because the sacrifice was misplaced and was self motivated. It was a bargaining business. I do this for my children and I will get this in return. No sacrifice. The same thing applies with religion. Right. When a person has sincere belief in a certain path, when a person has a particular faith and we are always encouraging whatever faith a person has, I always say if you are a Christian, become a better Christian. If you are a Buddhist, become a better Buddhist. If you are a Hindu, become a better Hindu. And meditation has nothing to do with your faith. It can only strengthen your faith. Because the systematic methods of meditation leads you to delve deep within yourself to find the silence. And when you find the silence and integration within, your faith in Krishna or Christ or Buddha or whatever will become more will increase. Your faith will be strengthened. So people that proclaim by themselves that I have become a martyr for my faith, is not being truthful. Because the very idea, the very thought that occurs in their mind that I have become a martyr would show that he does not know anything about faith. He only presumes he knows about faith. He only has faith perhaps on the mind level, that such and such a thing is my faith and I'm sacrificing myself for it. Faith has no place in the mind. It has a certain value in the mind, which could be reasoning value. But real faith again starts from within. And that within-ness gives one the courage of one's conviction. Right. And when one has the courage of one's conviction, supported by the faith that wells up from within, then there is no such thing as sacrifice or martyrdom. A thing is done because it has to be done. Mount Everest has been climbed because it had to be climbed. It is there. No other purpose. Hillary and Tensing did not go and dig diamonds there because they are non-existent there. It was there, a certain thing had to be done and therefore they had to do it.

13. UK 77- 28 Like that, like that in our faiths, in our faiths. When our faith is developed, we do things spontaneously. We do things automatically. It is not by force of will. It is not by any form of coercion. And if any force of will or any form of coercion or compulsion is mixed with the ideal, then that loses all spontaneity. In the beginning one has to have some little effort. A person starting to learn meditation for example, something a little extra is added on to their pattern of life. So in the beginning a little effort is made whereby they could fit in their meditational times. They change their pattern a bit. Right. So there's some little effort. But once the pattern has been reset, then people look forward to their meditation. It becomes part and parcel of themselves. Then no force of will or coercion or compulsion is required. It becomes part and parcel of us. So a man of true faith never thinks of sacrifice, never thinks of martyrdom. Because all that happens which seems as martyrdom and sacrifice to the outside observer is just within the natural pattern and doings of that person who is a man of faith. And if he is not forced into things and is naturally a man of faith then he is truly a man of faith. Okay. Has the bell rung? Yes, I heard that. Good. Fine. Then we meet again this evening? END