1. UK 82-4 Questioner. When faced with a problem in life, and one's natural instinct is to run and hide, where does the strength to continue come from and how can we spend less time in hiding? Gururaj. When a problem comes in life there is a natural tendency to take flight, fight or flight, people prefer rather flight. Where does the natural tendency come from, what is the basic cause of wanting to flee? How has it come into you that you want to fly away, that you want to escape from the problem? The basis would be fear. The basis would be an inner feeling of insecurity and inadequacy. The basic fear of not meeting up to the challenge, for there is no problem that cannot be solved. Yet the fear remains in man and he wants to fly away from the problem, and by escaping the problem he does not solve the problem, but he just goes to sleep, and when he wakes up again, or comes back from where he has escaped to, the problem still remains. Now, that is man's insanity, it is insanity to run away. What does one do? Firstly, he fears losing his ego because what is hurt by a problem mostly is his own ego, and his ego is controlled by the various samskaras that he has in his mind. So ego basically is nothing but his samskaras that formulates this ego. Now ego does not only mean self boosting. When we say that a person has a big ego, it does not necessarily mean that he thinks a lot of himself, he might have an ego that makes him think very little of himself, do you see? So ego is normally the stumbling block that stands in a man’s path to face his problem. Because it is only the ego that recognises that a problem exists in the first place, and it is the very ego by its own recognition tries not to solve it but to escape from it. It's like an ostrich digging its head into the ground, and he thinks all his problems are solved. Now, where does the energy come from, or how could this ego sense be manipulated so that it could face the problem? And, could one say that by not recognising the problem no problem exists? Man's mind is not conditioned to that state yet, he has not evolved, he has not developed the awareness to say that this is really no problem. So in recognising the problem which the ego has created, the ego has to fight it. But having gone through conditions in previous lifetimes such as in the animal kingdom, the first response of an animal is to run until it is threatened, then it w ill attack. If you come across a snake, and I know this by personal experience, trudging the various forests and jungles of India, the snake normally when he sees you approaching, runs away until you inadvertently tramp on it, then it will turn and bite you. Same thing with all wild animals, they only attack you if you show fear for them, and by you showing fear, they become perceptive of the fear or self destruction that is within them and then they attack. But if you show no fear, they run away. So this instinct man has to take flight is not only conditioned by this lifetime but it goes back to those lifetimes when man even existed as an animal and had gone through this whole evolutionary process. So the fear is instinctive in man, but why it has to remain instinctive in a thinking rational person, that becomes totally illogical. Should man operate by instinct, that is more in the department of animal and we have the animal in us, and that is why it comes

2. UK 82-4 to the fore. So with man's intellect and his reasoning ability, he could activate that intuitive side of himself and by activating that intuitive self, he gets rid of fear. And when you get rid of fear, you do not take flight because by running away, it only shows how fearful you are of the circumstances. So the creditor knocks on the front door and you run away from the back door. Is it going to help? It's not going to pay the bill. Like that I could cite so many examples to you. Why must this happen? What can we do to sublimate this basic instinct into an intuitive quality? Now when man dives deeper in his mind and regenerates the active conscious mind with that which is within, then fear loses its sting, it loses its value, it has no power to hurt. The only thing to fear in life is fear itself, there is nothing else to fear. For what is there really to lose, if we realise that there is nothing to lose in life because nothing is possessed by us. You have come with nothing and you go with nothing. You have only come with your samskaras and you will only go back with samskaras, nothing else and samskaras are just certain vibrations. Now, these fears too are made up of vibrations. Now, vibrations as we know can be altered, they can be altered from a lower frequency to a higher frequency and the higher frequencies are normally more powerful and more subtle. So by heightening the vibrations of lower frequencies into higher frequencies, we automatically get rid of the lower frequencies which constitute fear and depression and anxiety, and from there we take flight. Yes, and yet physically we are built in such a way where in case of fear the glandular secretions increase to be able to cope with it. But by increasin g the frequency, the glandular secretions would still secrete and could be used in a far more effective way to fight. You see? So there won't be any physical or biological changes, they will function in the same way, but the changes would occur in the conscious mind. And when the conscious mind, as I would say over and over again, if they're brought to a quiet state by meditation and spiritual practices. Now this is not only half an hour in the morning and half an hour in the evening, it should last throughout the day. That one hour spent sitting down is less important than the twenty three hours of the day that we go through where the mind, becoming accustomed, becoming habituated to that quietude will remain quiet. It is only the calm, quiet mind that can evaluate a problem because then it will not function on the instinct of flight. It will not function on the animal instinct of running away. The animal runs away for it is its nature to run away at approaching danger. It will run away, but not man. Now, you might have heard many examples, for example, I read a story of a very frail woman, where the husband was repairing the car, and somehow the jack fell away and the car fell on the husband's chest. And at that moment so much strength, because of her love for him, so much strength came into her that she virtually lifted up the car. Normally

3. UK 82-4 she wouldn't be able to lift up a shopping bag. You see? Now it's the same energy, the same energy that makes you run away that could also make you fight. It is just turning in the other direction. Now, fighting a problem, would it solve it or would it increase the problem? It depends on the problem. What do we mean by fight? What we mean by fight is to evaluate and assess the problem and by evaluating and assessing the problem, the solution automatically dawns. It might not be a complete solution, but it would put you on the path to the solution. There is no such thing as a magic wand. So in the face of any crisis we have to face it. The house is burning down, you are not going to run away from it, you would try and salvage as much of your goods as possible. Now why can't we apply the same principle to every situation? Why let the house just burn, why run away? Try and salvage and by salvaging enough things, a new start can be made. A man loses a job, he cannot find a job he says and this is not really true. It is his own laziness or fear, or his sense of incompetence that makes him feel he can't get a job. He goes for an interview and he goes with this attitude that I won't be hired and he will not be hired. But if he has the attitude 'I am going to find a job this week, so help me Bob', and he will. Because when you go for that interview with the boss, he will naturally feel by the way you speak, if you are speaking confidently or not, the way you sit, you create an aura around you that will induce the boss to give you the job or not. Yet you might not get it because of your negative attitude, and anothe r person less qualified might get it because of some positivity that person has. Do you see? So we are continually running away, running away, running away but where can you run to? Where can one really run to? You are surrounded as if you are in a cage. Whichever direction you look at, there's a wall and people feel this. And people try, the tragedy is this, that people try to preserve these walls. They have an inner feeling that 'I want to break down these walls', yet their every action and every thought becomes conducive to preserving the walls. So they become more and more trapped. They are frightened to run away from fear. Is that not a contradiction? That is a contradiction, people are frightened to move away from fear. So what is the solution? The solution is the attitude, come what may, what can happen to me? I'll only go six feet deep, so what? What have I brought with me, what am I going to leave behind? Now, I'm going to make the best of it, be it successful or not, so who cares? Now that attitude 'Who cares?' and 'So what' can only be held by two kinds of people, the very irresponsible and the very responsible. The very irresponsible person would say "Oh, so what", but the responsible person when he says "So what", he says it with the understanding that 'Come what may, I am prepared to accept the challenge. Life is a game and I'm playing the game for the game, not to win or not to lose. I am not playing to lose and I am not playing to win, I am playing for the sake of playing.'

4. UK 82-4 Now this is so very well, beautifully said in the Bhagavad Gita, 'Perform action for the sake of action and not for the fruits thereof'. For as soon as you start hankering for the fruits of your action then all the anxieties and all the fears begin. And when they begin and you get caught up, then you want to run away, because you cannot face them any longer. But if any action is performed for the sake of doing it - I'm talking now and I do not care if some understand and some don't understand, I'm here to talk, pour forth my heart. And that's exactly what I'm going to do and what I'm doing. If I'm understood or not understood, I don't mind. After all what does mind matter and matter doesn't mind. So - this still not right okay - so while he is adjusting this - there was a couple that wanted to get married so a friend meets him and he says ‘I believe you are getting married or something. He says well you know ‘it’s not really so, the trouble is this that when I’m drunk she doesn’t want to marry me and when I am sober then I don’t want to marry her’. (Gururaj laughs) Yes. So we have all kinds of fears like fears of getting broke and then not only the fear of getting broke or being broke, but also the fear of the friends. You know, the friends would desert the person when he is broke. So here was Joe and Joe got broke, so half his friends deserted him. So someone asked him what about the other half, he says ‘Well, the other half doesn't know I'm broke’. Yes. So we have all these kinds of little fears that wants to make us run away from life which is impossible. You cannot run away from life, life is eternal. Therefore, I said a moment ago, where can you run to? People think death is an escape, that's why we have suicides. That's also running away. Little do they realise that they might leave this body behind just but to take on another body, like taking off one set of clothes and putting on another set of clothes but the self remains the same with all its problems. So when another body is taken on, the problems remain and the same problems will come up again in some form or the other. So it just does not help. You cannot run away from life and if you cannot run away from life, then why run away from a situation, even if it kills you, even if it kills you - according to modern words or for the sake of lack of words - even if it kills you, because nothing can kill you. You are immortal, children of immortality, that's what we are. So every situation that comes up, I've found one solution which I've recommended to lots of people and it has worked invariably. When you are faced with a problem, do one of the spiritual practices given to you, such as Gurushakti, or even the repetition of mantra in the mind. That will help, that will take your mind away from the worry of the problem. And by the Gurushakti practice, the mind quietens down and then that problem, when the mind is quietened - a problem always seems very big when the mind is in turbulence, but when the mind is quiet the problem becomes small. And when the problem becomes small, you find courage in yourself to face it. When you see a big mountain you say ‘Oh, how am I going to climb this?’ but if you see a small hill, strength comes into you. I had one mountaineering experience, the first time I went mountaineering. So this friend, I was a young man at that time, I don't suppose I could climb these steps

5. UK 82-4 today. Nevertheless, so it was very high and I said, ‘Oh, there are thousands of feet, how are we going to climb it?’ So they said come on and they pulled me with them. There was a gorge going up and going up that gorge, it was so easy. From down here the mountain looked so steep, but in the mountain there was a gorge and it was very easy to climb. That was at Table Mountain, in Capetown, and the gorge, I remember the name still, the Skeleton Gorge, and it was a very, very simple climb to my surprise. And at first I said ‘How am I going to do this?’ Do you see? So within every problem there's a gorge. Do not view the mountain at its highest point or the toughest part of the problem. Every problem is like a chain, it has its weak links as well. Find the weak link and tackle that, for a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, which is an old saying. So no problem is insurmountable, the idea is not to run away from it. Have the problem, therefore many people would say if there is some business deal or some problem coming up, say let me sleep over it. What does it mean? It means let me just get away from it for a little while and just throw it out of my mind, and the next morning when you wake up, you have the solution to it. Because in the intensity of the moment, the decision that has to be made about the problem would seem very immense, you become undecided, you rather prefer to leave it alone. You see. So the secret is this, is to get the mind away from the problem. And one of the simplest methods is to do one of the spiritual practices, whereby the mind is quietened and then the problem becomes much smaller than what you really thought, and when it becomes smaller, you gain confidence and courage to tackle it. And yet it's the same problem, but your angle of view changes. So problems there might be for the conscious mind on this mundane plane, but they are not as big as you think they are, they are not as big as you think they are. They are small. It is our minds that exaggerate them. We make them big. We make molehills into mountains. You could have a hundred examples of this. My wife is going to divorce me, okay, fine, what a big problem. There are children, what a big problem. But if you look over the centuries, how many divorces has there not been? Not that I would advocate that, but viewing it, looking, how many divorces has there not been throughout the ages and how many children have there not been through those marriages, and yet for centuries and centuries those problems have been solved haven't they? Are you such an exception? They have been solved, those children have been looked after some way or the other. Divinity is so great that even before a child is born, he provides milk in the mother's breast. So have those children not grown up, have they not been looked after in some way or the other? They suffer a few heartaches, headaches, toe aches, stomach aches, okay, I accept that. So like that, this is just one example. Like that, losing a job, for example, there are so many other jobs to be found. Losing a business, so many other businesses could be found. Is there anyone here in the western world that could really say I'm starving, and if he is starving, he is a lazy bum. Do you see?

6. UK 82-4 So we exaggerate our problems. We do not need to run away from them, we must face them come what may. And that is the only way and the way to do it, to repeat again, is to quieten the mind. And only by quietening the mind, only by quietening the mind that the solution or the path, the way could be found. A husband and wife has a terrible argument, they want to get at each other’s throats. The next morning the wife says "I'm sorry darling" and he says "I'm sorry luvv". (General laughter) Why? Why, they had such a helluva row last night. Why all of a sudden, without any prompting, they say sorry to each other? And the reason is very simple. Because the minds, at the time of the quarrel was in turbulence, now next morning their minds have quietened down, and therefore they can say sorry. Everything in life is like that. If there is any problem, leave it alone, if it can be left alone for a little while. Leave it alone, don't run away from it, leave it alone. Quieten the mind, do meditation, do spiritual practices, pray, go sit in church for half an hour. Don't ask God for the solution. He won't give it to you. Why must He favour you and not someone else? But just become quiet and He sends the solution into your mind. Because you are begging for that solution you are going through a type of anxiety, in that very begging of yours, churning the mind, ‘Oh God, give me this, give me this, give me this’ - you won't get it. Quieten the mind and it all comes. This little woman had a problem. The little boy was sitting at the table and she says ‘You give me headaches every day. I want you to finish all the food on your plate. Why must you give me troubles every day, begging you to eat and eat and eat’? After a while she says ‘Now you finish your spinach. It will give some colour to your cheeks’. So the boy says ‘Mom, who wants green cheeks?’ Everything is a problem. Do you know breathing is a problem too, but yet you breathe. Why? Stop breathing. It's a problem, look at the amount of work you are giving to the lungs, aren't you sorry for them? Blood circulation is a problem, look at the workload you are putting on that poor thing called heart. Yah, you have created problems. Yah but the lungs accept it, the heart accepts it. All the various organs of the body accept them and they keep on working, not asking for any reward, just acting for the sake of action. And you will find one morning, you will wake up problem free, no problems at all, and when that day, when you wake up without any problems, be sure to know you're dead. (General laughter) Yes, this world is made up of expansion and contraction. Expansion and contraction necessarily implies conflict. Without conflict this world cannot exist. Even in the functioning of the solar system, there have to be gravitational and anti-gravitational forces all the time. All material existence and mind is also matter in a subtle form, must have conflicts, but yet Divinity has been so merciful in His mercy to give us the tools how to face the problems. We do not; - He never ga ve us tools and said ‘Run away’. Those tools of running away, you created yourself because of your fears. Divinity

7. UK 82-4 never created fear, neither anxiety. Man with his free will created that. It was not a creation of Divine will. What He created was love and joy, the ever flowing river, the ever flowing river in all its beauty, gurgling, singing along in its path. Man created the blockages so that the water stagnates in the river and that is why we are stagnating by having created our own problems. And yet these eyes that we have, that are made to see all the beauty of life, all the beauty around us, the symphony of the wind in the trees, the beauty of the flowers, the fragrance, the blades of grass swaying in a wild ecstatic dance of abandonment, all these beauties. The beauty of a beautiful woman's face, yes, yes, the beauty of a little child being nursed on its mother's breasts, the little gurgle in his throat, what greater symphony can there be? All these things are made for man to experience the joy of God. For there is all that He created, joy, joy and nothing but joy. Now aren't we all fools wanting to run away from that joy? We don't use our ears properly, we don't use our eyes properly, we don't use our hearts properly. We create these obstacles and then say "Oh problems, what kind of God is He?" Bloody fools we are. You see? So don't think of a problem as a problem. I have one interpretation. I have problems, oh yes, oh yes, but I don't call it a problem, I call it excitement. It's exciting. How is man going to live if he's not confronted with challenges? Then you become dormant, you become a vegetable. It is these very ups and downs, it is these what we call problems, that keep us alive, that keep us going. If for example, a man retires from his job and everyone will tell you that take up some hobby, take up some activity, if you sit around at home, you will put one foot in the grave quicker than it should go there. Do you see? Like that, so the activity has to be there in all kinds of life and a problem is a part of that activity. If all problems can be regarded as challenges, as excitement, that problem becomes a joy. Right, I have got to pay rent by the end of the month and I haven't got the money. Problem, fine. Okay. Now what will happen to me if I don't pay the rent? I will be thrown out, my wife and children will be on the road. Problem number two. If they're on the road, and in England's lovely weather, they might catch cold and pneumonia and what have you. Now the problem number three. We'll have to call a doctor and the doctor has to be paid. Problem number four. We can't pay the doctor and we can't pay the rent, then we'd have to face the lawyer. Problem number five. Then we get a summons from the lawyer. Problem number six. We get hauled up in court. Problem number seven. We land up in jail. Problem number eight. And I can carry on and on and on. So before we let these weeds grow, let me get off my backside and do something to pay the rent by the end of this month. Do you see, something can be done, something can be done.

8. UK 82-4 Don't wait for the problem. If you have a slight inkling that a problem is coming, something can be done. Oh yes and that can be done if you bring your mind to a quietude and allow it to rest. In everything in nature there is rest. Between two heart beats, there is a rest. When you walk there is a rest. You rest on one foot while the other foot goes forward. You rest on that foot while the right goes forward, you rest on the right foot until the left goes forward. In everything, there is a rest. The only thing where man does not find rest is his mind. And yet, and yet science has proved over and over again that there is a rest. We think that a thought lasts for half an hour, it does not. The mind is only capable for a few seconds and there's a gap and then it continues. It is like a cinema film when you see a film, you find it continuous on the screen but the film is not made that way. It is made in separate frames and there's a gap in between. So by taking the mind to quietude by meditation and spiritual practices, we are residing momentarily in that gap. And it is through that gap that the inner energy comes. And when that inner energy comes, you have more strength and more courage. So we have got all the tools. So when the world was created, it was created with problems and at the same time all the tools were given. Do you see? But the trouble is we don't use it. If we only consciously make up our minds we are going to use those tools, no problems. Many times we look for cures when prevention could have been so much better. Do you see? So who cares about problems? Who cares about problems, let them come, let them come by the hundreds, the more the merrier, yes, and if they come in too much, they'll just choke themselves. Yeh. Yes, let them come. It's really fun. Now this girl had a problem, she was overweight, that was her problem. And she kept on talking about her weight problem. So she meets a friend who tells her that "Stop talking about your problem. The best way to lose weight is to keep your mouth shut." (Gururaj laughs) It was a calorie problem. And so this secretary was sitting in a sandwich shop. Her friend comes along and the friend orders her normal meal but this secretary orders a cottage cheese sandwich. So the friend asks "Are you on a low calorie diet?" So she replies "No. I am on a low salary diet." Yes, good. Okay. Fine. Another question. Questioner. Guruji, as with meditation, acupuncture aims to give a complete balance of mind and body. Is there a connection between this and the complete balance of mind, body and spirit? Gururaj. Good. Good. Acupuncture is an ancient Chinese science as everyone knows. I know nothing much about it. My speciality is meditation, and the purpose of meditation is to bring about a harmony between mind, body and spirit. The harmony already exists, all it requires is the conscious recognition of that harmony and experiencing that harmony. Now,

9. UK 82-4 what do we mean by experiencing harmony? The answer is simple, where you feel peace within yourself, so much peace that all problems can come and yet you remain peaceful. It's like Kipling's poem 'If', which you all know, everything can go mad and haywire around you, and yet you preserve your peace, your tranquillity. And this is what meditation aims to do. By a systematic process of taking your mind to the deeper layers within, you automatically draw from the stillness inside, you draw the stillness to the fore, to the outside and find that peace. There again it only means quietening the mind, but that is not all that happens, that is not all that happens. You quieten the mind by drawing from that inner resource, so it also means that you are activating the inner resource. And by activating that inner resource in your daily life, you are living in compliance with the harmonious laws of nature. And the harmonious laws of nature is the truest reflection of that indescribable God. So, so by bringing this inner resource, this inner energy into our waking state of life and living thereby, because then it becomes a spontaneous process, you become, you live God. You don't think of Him anymore. You don't pray to Him but you live Him. Then prayer becomes redundant, you have no necessity to pray because you are living the prayer. You become a living prayer, not that hour in church or wherever. You become a living prayer. Every breath you take is a prayer. Every word you speak is a prayer. Every thought you think is a prayer. And that can only come about by creating the harmony within us. And by creating the harmony within us, problems to us will disappear to us personally. As I said before, problems will always exist in this world, you can do nothing about it. All these conflicting forces would be there because that is what the world, makes the world go round. But how you can view it by gaining that inner strength and bringing it into active daily life, that is your job. If you study history, many reformers in the world, great reformers, have failed for one reason, they tried to take man up to God. What we are trying to do is bring God down to man. Buddha made that vital mistake, therefore Buddhism was born in India and very little of Buddhism remains in India today, very little of it because he wanted to lift man up towards God. It is not practical. You can't, but you can bring God down into man and make man into a living God. Do you see the difference? And that is what harmony is all about. The spirit we talk of that is within, is nothing else but that Divine power. Now, we can draw from that Divine power. We don't throw water into a well, we draw water from the well, the well within, the well of love, of compassion, of kindness, of mercy, of joy and we bring it to the surface, the surface of our day to day living, day to day life. That is what we are after and that is what meditation does. Yes. Now, we call ourselves British Meditation Society, but that is not all that we do. It's not only just meditation but it's also giving the understanding of what life is really about, and that in turn helps meditation and meditation in turn helps th e

10. UK 82-4 understanding of life. It's such a pity that human beings of the world today have so many misconceptions, they should have rather been miscarriages. (Gururaj laughs) Yah. Before the misconception took place, it should have miscarried, it would have done humanity a greater service. Do you see? So the aim is to have the proper attitude, the right way of looking at things. And the right way of looking at things can only come about by the expansion of one's awareness, and expansion of awareness is brought about by meditation. So it all works hand in hand, actively modulating, controlling our daily lives, offering all our actions to Divinity, and that means offering it to someone which you do not yet know. That means sacrificing - sacrificing means surrendering. Do you see how all these things are related to each other? And this can only come about when you bring a certain measure of harmony in your life through meditation. Do you see? Now when one has this surrender then automatically you develop a sense of non- at tachment. That does not mean being aloof - there's a great difference between detachment and non-attachment. When you detach yourself, you are running away, escaping. Many of the Mendicants and Saddhus and Swamis and Yogis sitting in some remote cave somewhere in some mountain, ninety nine per cent of them are escapists. I addressed a large convention of Saddhus in India about two, two and a half years ago, there was a crowd of about nearly thirty thousand people. India has such a vast population, you just need to stand up and shout and a whole crowd would just gather. And a lot of Saddhus and these so called Swamis - there are good ones, there are some good ones, yes - were there. And I said "What the devil are you sponging on society for? Do some useful work, whatever work you want to do. You expect to go around from door to door and get your meals for nothing without doing anything? Do you call that non-attachment to life?" They say "Yes, but I only own a begging bowl and a staff. That's all I own" the one man tells me. And I say "Is that all you own really? Don't you own the desire to get things for nothing? Which is worst, my two hundred pound suit or your desire, which is worst?" So detachment is escaping. Because they could not face the world, so they ran away where no one can touch them, none of the creditors can run after them, or no wife to chase them around - they ran away, detachment. Fine. Non- attachment is what is said in the Bible, 'To be in the world and yet not of the world'. That is non-attachment, where you do everything like a normal human being, and yet you are not attached to it. You have the attitude that a dry piece of bread is just as good as a beautiful meal, but if you have the choice, why not choose the best? But you are not attached to it, you do not hanker after it. If you have a million pounds in the bank, why not have two million or five million as long as yo u are not attached to it. And that if you lose it tomorrow you say "So what. It's gone; it wasn't mine in the first place. I'm just an agent."

11. UK 82-4 Someone approached me, they were building a temple, for charity, they approached me for charity and well I gave what I could. But one thing I reminded many of the wealthy people sitting around, I reminded them that you are just an agent on this earth and everything is an energy. Even finances is an energy, and you have no right to store up that energy. Here as an agent you distribute the energy. And that comes about through non-attachment. You can live in luxury and yet be totally non-attached. I know one person in this room that lives in luxury, beautiful everything and yet so simple at heart, so totally unattached to it, that I really admire that man. Yes. Now that is the secret of happiness. That is the secret of creating no problems that would affect you, to be non-attached to it. Therefore earlier I said that there are only two kinds of people that could say 'So what', the very irresponsible and the responsible person that has understanding of life, because problems, because of lack of harmony, problems can be found in anything. There's not a single thing that you cannot complain about. Everything you can complain about, yes. And once you start a complaint, it becomes a problem. Because if it was not a problem to you, you would not complain, do you see? So meditational practices are designed, individually designed, to bring about this harmony. It is not something like waving a wand, overnight. Everyone wants instant coffee and instant pudding, we don't have that, thank you. It is a gradual process and with perseverance, one achieves greater and greater and greater harmony. All the rough edges are slowly planed off the wood and then you have beautiful smooth wood, so harmonious to the environment. So you become beautiful, but that's not only the beauty of you alone that counts. You are connected to the entire world, to every human being on this earth. Each and every one is inseparably connected at a subtler level. That is how you can pick up another person's thoughts, like having a feeling that Aunt Jane is coming to visit today and she turns up, or such and such is going to ring me and suddenly the 'phone rings and it's the person that you were thinking about. So that goes to show that there is, beyond the conscious layer of the mind, a certain layer of the mind that is connected inseparably throughout the world, four thousand million people and much beyond that, throughout the universe. So man can tap in, with this harmony created within oneself, man can tap to any remote corner of the universe. You can go into meditation and go wherever you want to at the given moment. But we shouldn't go in too much for that, the airlines will go bankrupt. Do you see the possibilities man has? So to repeat again, the purpose of meditation is to create the harmony, or to recognise, to realise the harmony between body, mind and spirit, for it is a continuum, there is no separation. About two years ago I think it was, I gave a talk at the Holistic Health Symposium in Las Vegas and I told them that the doctors, they try to examine your body or your mind or what have you, I told them this is totally wrong. A person must be treated wholly because the body, mind and spirit is but a continuum in varying grades of solidity or condensation. The body is grosser, the mind is subtler and the

12. UK 82-4 spirit is the subtlest. So it is one continuum and being one continuum, harmony has to be there. It is just for us to realise that harmony and bring the subtler, more powerful aspects of our self into conscious day to day living. That is what it's al l about. Acupuncture you're talking about is the ancient system of the Chinese, where they found that certain energies can be released by putting a needle in certain areas, and they found they're about seven hundred spots. Good. It might have some validity, it might have some validity. I've heard that it works for some, it does not work for others. In our system the same effect can be achieved by working on certain chakras in the body. Chakras are nothing else but energy vortexes in the system. The brain one has does not extend to the extent of the head alone but the spinal column is also part of the brain, and it forms a whole. Good. Now, situated at various centres of the brain there are energy vortexes, mostly along the spine. Now if a certain vortex or chakra is sluggish, it can be activated by spiritual practices and by activating that, we allow the energies to flow as they should flow. So when one says that all the Chakras are activated, it means one thing, that you have now brought all your brain cells into activity, for man only uses a very small percentage of his brain, the res t is lying dormant. Now the more the brain cells are activated, the more mind substance, which is not the brain, the more the mind can function through it. A greater connection through these practices is formed between the left and the right hemispheres of the brain. The left hemisphere is given more to analysis and rationalisation while the right hemisphere is connected more to the deeper layers of the mind, the intuitive level. Now by these spiritual practices and meditation, we can make the intuitive section of the brain and the reflective section of the brain work in greater harmony, so that there is a greater flow from the intuitive level to the analytical level. Do you see? Now, even without pricking yourself with needles, we can energise the body, we can create the flow that is required. But it requires practice and perseverance. It's not something done just overnight, it takes time. So acupuncture has been successful for some people and it has not been successful for other people, and then of course it depends upon the Acupuncturist. He works by a set rule, set laws, but a good Acupuncturist should be very intuitive. So in acupuncture, intuition plays seventy per cent of the role and thirty per cent is the basic knowledge of the various Nadis, seven hundred of them, in the body. So this very easily can be done through meditational practices. Acupuncture, if it works, can only release certain energies that are blockages in the body. Meditation goes far deeper and releases the spiritual energies that are contained within us. So acupuncture could be termed a kind of medical science, while meditation can be termed a spiritual science. Its emphasis is more of the spirit that is within. Okay. Fine.

13. UK 82-4 Yes, so coming back to your problems, this woman wanted to divorce her husband. She goes to court and of course the Judge questions her and says "Why do you want to divorce your husband? What is your complaint?" So she says "It is because of his appearance". So the Magistrate says "Do you want to divorce him because of his uncouth, dirty appearance?" She says "Yes. But it’s not the uncouthness or dirtiness. He hasn't put in an appearance at home for more than two years." Well that's that for the morning. END