1. U S 77 - 6 VOICE: You used those words... I've heard you use the word "mistake" that you can follow a wrong path. I want to understand.... GURURAJ: Ahhh, "mistake" is the negation of "take." [laughter] VOICE: What did you say? Negation of what? GURURAJ: Take. [Other backgro und voices.] You have reached out to take and you've missed the mark [laughter]. Now, when you miss the mark it is either because you're blind or the room is dark. I want to take this flower but I miss it. Hm? That is a mistake. Good. Now all opportu nities are given to us whereby we need not make mistakes. All opportunities are given, and mistakes result mostly from confusion. But in our rashness, in our hurry, in our impatience, in our intolerance, we grab and we miss. So when the mind is confused , we allow it to simmer down. Like the Chinese say, the Chinese proverb says, that before saying an angry word if you are feeling angry, roll your tongue nine times, and then say it. By the time you've finished rolling your tongue nine times, your anger is gone, and you will not make the mistake of saying the wrong word. That is the mistake. Good. So ... And yet if the confusion cannot be solved by ourselves, we go to a counselor, a qualified person, to advise us, to counsel us so that we do not make a mistake. It's very simple. Very simple. Now because in the beginning we were in such a hurry, or we were so rash, we take the wrong path. Now what is the wrong path? The wrong path is that which takes us away from our real self. There are wrong path s which are very circular taking the wrong road to the beach. Instead of down there, we walk up here. But those are not the paths we are talking about. From the spiritual point of view a wrong path is that which takes you away from the divine essence wi thin yourself. In other words, in other words you are not flowing with the laws of nature. Nature does not make mistakes. Water runs down a hill and not up a hill. The sun rises in the east and never in the west. Like that. Like that. Everything in t he laws of nature works to a fine precision. Every planet that revolves around the sun has a fine precision through natural laws. Every plant, every flower that grows grows timelessly, combining within itself all the various natural laws that are involve d in it to make it conducive to grow. Yet man, because he has a mind the cunning animal that we spoke about we turn and twist nature's laws and swim against the current. So the wrong path starts off with a mistake. And that mistake could also be define d as a misconception. As a misconception. Instead of conceiving the right path, we miss it. Misconception. And that is why we

2. U S 77 - 6 take the wrong path. But even after taking the wrong path, you can still make a U turn. Oh yes, and come back. A little time would be wasted, but there's no hope lost. No hope is ever lost. Now as I said, it is the mind that is the trouble maker. If the mind can be regulated to think rightly, then these mistakes and wrong paths don't happen. Now what do we do to let the mind operate within the laws of nature would be to keep holy company. That is why we are here. Sat sang. Association for the purpose of truth. It is always advised in ancient scriptures that as far as possible be in holy company. Good company. Yes. And b ecause of that, read good books instead of cheap novels which we find in those book stalls on street corners. The other day I passed a stall and magazines were hanging there. And I had to turn my head away. It was terrible! It was terrible the photos o n the magazines. So if reading matter is good matter, the company is good company, and continuing that, our minds would be attuned more and more to a higher level. And the more and more the mind is attuned to a higher level, the less and less do we have the chance of making a mistake [of? or?] going on the wrong path. That is it. So simple. So simple. OK? Good. CHELA: [Unintelligible] GURURAJ: Don't one need to experience the wrong path? CHELA: To know when you are on the right path? GURURAJ: Ahh. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Good. Good. Good. Good. Yes. It is like saying that don't you need the rain to know the sun. Don't you need to know the night to know the day? Huh? But who says the sun and the rain is wrong? Who says the night and the day is wrong? They are not opposites. They are part and parcel of one whole. But this would not apply to man's life as he lives it. Good. It is not necessary to go through extreme misery to find happiness. It is not necessary. It is not necessary to eat bitter fruits half the lifetime and then saying, "Let me eat bitter fruits now because I know by eating bitter fruits now, sweet fruits will come." You might be dead by that time! Yes. Yes. It is only right knowledge and right guid ance that will prevent us from experiencing the wrong path and be led onto the right path. Oh, yes. But then this. We are also looking at it from this limited fraction in this vast continuum. Today if a man is walking on th e right path, who knows how ma ny wrong paths he has not traversed in past lives? Today man gives his life to save

3. U S 77 - 6 thousands and millions. Who knows that through his hands thousands and millions were not destroyed in the past? But. But! But as we are today, and if we are on the wro ng path, must we think and say let me continue on the wrong path? That is the question. Because, because as soon as we realize that this is the wrong path, then immediately you are impressing your mind with all happenings of the wrong path. And negative affirmations, negative suggestions, negative thinking all the time is not going to produce a positive thought or a positive action. Things that were done in ignorance or innocence are OK. Fine. You did not know. But as soon as man develops the thinkin g mind and man learns to discriminate and starts knowing that this is wrong, and as soon as he knows or realizes or analyzes the wrongness of a thing and if he does not want to change it, then a greater wrong is done. That is what every scripture will tel l you. Oh, yes. So it is not necessary to know misery to find happiness. It is not necessary to go on the wrong path to find the right path because we have the mechanism in us, the mechanism of discrimination where instead of jumping out of the window, we will go through the door. It is not necessary to jump out of a five story block through the window and then later to discover that there is a door. We can discriminate that the door is there. We have the facilities to know that. And then if the man wants to go on the wrong path and to jump out of the window of a five or ten story block, good luck to him. There will only be one conclusion. Yes. Yes. That's what lovers do. OK. ****END****