1. U S 79 - 17 WHY DO WE PRESERVE THE EGO? DISCIPLINING OUR CHILDREN AMRIT: There are two questions that are kind of held over that need to be answered this morning. On e is the one that you asked Jodie to ask you this morning. So we'll ask maybe both of them right now, and then you can handle them both as you go along. The first question is very simple, one sentence. You've often spoken about the fact that the ego is a lways trying to preserve itself, that it's mainly concerned with survival. Why is it that the ego tries to preserve itself? Okay. VOICE: Beloved Guruji, would you tell us how you blend loving acceptance of the child with the discipline and guidance tha t he needs? GURURAJ: Yes. Lovely. Why does the ego want to preserve itself? Now, just as the human body tries to preserve itself, thinking that it is not going to die, and yet knowing that it will perish because the only certainly in life is death. That you can be very sure of. And yet the behavior of people would be such that they would try, even while they are in the grave, one foot in the grave, rather, they would try to cling onto that body which is not serving any purpose whatsoever. Even if t hey reach a stage of becoming a vegetable, they still try to cling on. And yet by not clinging on they do not seem to realize that by not clinging on they would be entering a different sphere, for the death of the present life is but the birth of another. For, in reality, there is no death whatsoever. Everything is life. And even that which we call death is life itself. It is just a period of transition, like leaving one room and entering another room. It is like changing one set of clothes into anoth er set of clothes. Now, the attachment to the body, as much as it is, is still far less than the attachment one has for one's ego. And because of this attachment one tries to preserve it. Man is under the delusion that his sumtotality is his ego self, that individual I, and forgetting all the time that there is a higher I that is within him, the real I that is forever eternal and immortal. So when the body is dropped off, the ego self of man, or the mental body carries on. And it is in the state of th e mental body in a different dimension the subtle body, as we would refer to it, or [suksmasharera?], as we would refer to it in Sanskrit, still carries on. And it is the [suksmasharera?], or the subtle body, that takes rebirth. And the purpose of its re birth is to cleanse itself of the karmic debts it has taken upon itself. Now, the greatest delusion man has is not of the body, because the body is useless without the subtle body. And the subtle body, giving one the sense of individuality, is the ego. So man is deluded into thinking himself to be the sum total of

2. U S 79 - 17 it all, that individuality that gives him a certain sense of comfort that I am I, rather than I am that I am. Do you see the subtle difference? I that am I, that's the small self; and I am that I am, that is the real self, the big self within man. Now, through ages and ages and ages this ego self primally had been totally pure and free of samskaras. But through the experiences, and through the power of thinking one has developed in the evoluti onary stage, man began to think wrongly. And, of course, there were right thoughts, as well. In primitive man he tried mostly to preserve the body. And his whole job or his whole life was dependent upon hunting. He knew very little of the workings of t he mind, although his ego self prompted him to preserve the body. And his life was spent in search of food and water and just very elementary, basic needs. But as man became sophisticated, that very mind of his, that ego self of his, from its primal simp licity, became more and more complex. And as it indulged or became enmeshed in this complexity, he does not seem to find a way out. He is lulled into a kind of euphoria. He is lulled into a kind of sleep whereby the real self is forgotten and just the e go self is remembered. And that is why he wants to keep on preserving his individuality, or what we might call identity. And it is this very preservation of identity that makes him perform all the acts he performs in his life. Now, to preserve the ident ity of oneself, one does everything in his power, be it good or bad, to preserve that which he feels is his. In reality, the ego is non existent. But the ego creates its own existence by itself, and it is not created f rom an outside source. The real sel f, or the outer source, is universal and knows of no individuality whatsoever. The ocean knows of itself as the ocean and not as the waves. But here this little wave that arises within the movement of the ocean thinks that it is, forgetting the real isne ss that there is within him. So he tries to perpetuate this isness, which he thinks is reality. In other words, he is perpetuating that which is an illusion in the framework of the wholeness of life. Now, this ego self naturally has to be conditioned. A nd what conditions this ego self is the ego self itself. It takes upon itself various experiences, and these experiences are preserved in impression form. And when all kinds of the impressions gather together, most of them harmonious, and quite a lot of them filled with disharmony, and that is where all the conflicts arise in man. We have spoken about this before, that the conflict is not on the level of our higher self, but a ll conflicts, all joys, pleasures and pains joy is the wrong word there all pl easures and pains, are contained within this ego self. Now, this ego self of man through all these various experiences, even in the animal kingdom when it used to eat lustily.... Who can here enjoy a bowl of food more than a dog? Hm? No one. Therefore, we say, oh, he lapped up the food like a dog. See, th e simple sayings have deeper meanings that dog eats lustily. For to that dog that food is total. Now, in that way, this is just one example, man has gone through various kinds of pleasures. Man has gone through various kinds of pleasures. For example, in lovemaking it is not necessarily the physical stimulation that prods one on to lovemaking, but it is the impression gained of previous love makings that stimulates the person. It is a remembrance, an association of

3. U S 79 - 17 ideas, that prompts one on to a phys ical action. So, there too, the mind, or the ego self, or the impressions contained in the ego self are far more dominant than the body itself. The body is nothing but a piece of wood, a mechanism through which the ego self expresses itself. Right. So w ithin the mind of man there are contained a lot of pleasurable impressions. Yet all those impressions have been very temporary, changing all the time. There has been change and change and change. But within this change impressions have been left, which man tries to re experience over and over and over again. So the pleasurable experiences that were gained is one of the factors that makes man, or wants man to preserve himself, preserve his ego. And that preservation is the same thing as preserving one's identity. Now, so, we have come to the conclusion that pleasurable impressions are those that inspires one to preserve the individuality. Good. Now, as man goes on the spiritual path, many are afraid of losing that identity. But what has to be unders tood that that identity is never lost, but it merges away into a universality. The drops that make up the ocean are drops in the individual state, and yet while being drops they still become one with the vastness of the ocean. So that has, that has alway s been a problem to people wanting to preserve their identity: that if my identity is lost, then where am I? To lose one's identity is to give up a beggar's bowl and to have a king's feast. Hm? Right. So the mechanism of the ego prompts one to perpetuat e itself as the ego with experience it has been familiar. He finds a certain kind of warmth...in the Himalayan hills when an avalanche occurs and a person is lying in the snow, he feels such a warmth there in the snow that he does not want to get up. And so, slowly, because of the coldness, he freezes to death. And yet if he should just get up and start walking around and get the circulation going, he would still remain alive. So in this euphoric state of the ego we want to remain, because there has bee n a lot of pleasurable experiences and we want to re enjoy them all the time. Now, within the ego self there are also painful experiences. And that, as the word itself would signify, causes hurt. Why do painful experiences or painful impressions the pain s are gone long ago already, only the impressions are left why do these impressions want to hurt is because the dominant thought is of pleasure, and here the impressions of pain rears its head. So there is a clash between impressions themselves. In othe r words, the real clash lies in one illusion battling with the other illusion. For the reality of the substance is gone, only the illusion has remained. The flower has faded away, only a bit of its fragrance remains. And that little fragrance in impress ion form is battling it out. That is why man's desire is so strong in preserving his ego. Now, that is one reason. The other reason is this, that the ego being a manifestation of the Manifestor, and the Manifestor, as we know, is eternal, so the manife station or the reflection wants to find eternity, too. Another reason why the ego wants to preserve itself. It

4. U S 79 - 17 comes from... (You can get it on the tape. Listen to it.) It comes from eternity. The ego self is a reflection of that wh ich is eternal. An d being a reflection of that which is being eternal, it mistakes itself for the real thing, forgetting it is but a reflection. And in this very forgetfulness, and identifying itself with reality, it tries to preserve itself, thinking that I am eternal. I , the little I, am eternal. Good. Now, that is the other reason why the ego wants to preserve itself. Now, there is some truth in this. There is the truth...the truth is this, that it is a reflection. That is the truth. And the illusion lies in the fa ctor that I am real and not a reflection. This has to be reflected upon. [LAUGHTER] Good. So from both angles one is caught up. One from the angle of the experiences one has gained in life. People tend to remember pleasurable more than painful experie nces. They do remember painful experiences, they naturally would. But the pleasurable experiences are remembered much more and much more vividly, or else life would become a living hell. Life would become unbearable if all the pains and hurts throughout the ages were remembered. And this is a great gift from Divinity for man to forget that which is hurtful to him. Although he will eventually forget the pleasurableness of his impressions, as well, but that takes a longer time to fade away. So here from two sides the ego wants to preserve itself. One, because of his experiences, for the ego is nothing but a bundle of impressions, as we have said before; and from the other side, being a reflection of Divinity, it assumes that it is not a reflection but t he real object itself. Now, when man recognizes that he is a reflection, then his total perspective in life changes. When he comes to the realization that, I am but a reflection I meaning the ego self is a reflection, then all the samskaras, all the impr essions of pain and pleasure immediately disappear. If the beam of light through our meditation and spiritual practices is shone brightly upon the mirror instead of on you, you would see no reflection in the mirror at all. And by not being involved in t h e reflection, the real I that is being reflected, it will forever be reflected, enjoys itself in its own enjoyment. For the na ture of the Manifestor is none else but bliss. So the ego self can never be annihilated. It can only be refined. Refined and sh ed, but not destroyed. And when the ego self is shed, it goes back, merges back, into its various elements. So if in your ego self you have anger, it will go back t o the place, or to the person to whom anger is necessary. Shifting of energies. If you li ke something, that very liking will be shed off. I'm not talking of love. That very liking will go to a person who needs that liking the most in his path, in his evolutionary path. So nothing is destroyed in the refinement. Now, as we meditate and all ow that light of the real self to shine upon this mirror of life, then the reflection disappears or dims itself because of the brightness of that light. And coming out of meditation, living the daily life that we live, the reflection again comes back. Th e ego has to be there, but it will have a different attitude. It will have the attitude of not self preservation, but self sacrifice. It will not want to preserve itself, although it cannot help preserving itself. So w hat happens here is this, that alth ough the ego self will remain, the most wonderful quality of life will enter which is non

5. U S 79 - 17 attachment. And non attachment can only come when you regard the ego self to be illusory. And it is an illusion, because it is forever changing and changing and cha nging. And it is this very changingness of the ego self that governs you, that makes you happy at one moment and mad at another moment. That is the very cause of schizophrenia, for example, where there is no discipline or control over the ego self. So wi th proper meditation, spiritual practices, and a little self help, which means nothing else but discipline, we master the tendencies of the ego. Then we don't become pleasure seekers. For if you are a pleasure seeker, then automatically you are also uncon sciously a pain seeker. For they both have to balance each other. For the more you seek pleasure, the more you are going to attract pain. Because if you have one pound of pleasure and that is used up, nothing can remain a vacuum, and then that pound of pain is filled in into the vacuum. So it is a question of refining the ego so that it does not seek self preservation or self identity, and yet remains self preserved and identified as a individual. See the paradox? And that is how it works. All the gr eatest things in life are none else but paradoxes. So we preserve the ego by wanting to lose the ego. That is the spiritual path. You try to lose the ego, refine the ego, and therein would you find true preservation of the ego. For then you realize that this ego self of mine, the reality of the ego self of mine, lies only in the reflection. And once the object that is reflected is moved away, the reflection disappears. Then you realize that. And that is why, that is why man moves away so far from Divi nity; although Divinity is there all the time. But his emphasis is on the reflection of Divinity, mixed with the experiences of that ego self. You look into the mirror. What do you really see when you look into the mirror? What are you trying to see w hen you look into the mirror? Every man and every woman thinks he is far, far better looking than what he really is. And that is the truth. Yes, every person. Why? Why? The one reason is this, that he imagines himself to be better looking. And that's imagination. The other reason is this, that he is an image of Divinity, which he does not, perhaps, consciously realize. But unconsciously that thought is within him. That feeling is within him that I am created in the image of the Creator. That is wha t prompts him to make himself think that he is far better looking than what he really is. One part that we neglect unconsciously, but on the conscious level we imagine that to be. When you look into the mirror what do you look at first? What do you look a t first? Try it out. What do you look at first when you look into the mirror? Your eyes, always. Why do you look at your eyes first, instead of your ears or your nose or your lips? Why? Why? Because your eyes are the windows of the soul. And yet we don't recognize it. That is why when teachers send initiation forms I say, "Look, please, photographs without spectacles." The eyes are the windows of the soul. And looking into someone's eyes, those that can could see the entirety of that soul, or it's present state of evolution, what it needs to evolve more.

6. U S 79 - 17 I would not concern myself if a person says, I need a new wardrobe full of dresses; or instead of my little Ford, I need a Cadillac. Let your ego find that and work hard and you'll get it. Nothing is impossible. I am possible, we know that one. Putting the apostrophe between the I and the m makes m into I'm possible. You know that. So that is not my concern. My concern is with your soul. To rediscover itself, not to recreate it. It is there. But to rediscover itself through the veils that the idea of self preservation of the ego has created. So all these impressions, one upon the other, becomes thicker and thicker and thicker until the light is lost, although still there. It's like having a bulb, electric bulb, and wrapping materials around it, the materials of impressions, until the bulb is so covered up that no light filters through. And the process, the spiritual path, is just undoing the materials. So the mor e the pieces of cloth is tak en off, the more light comes through until all of it is taken away, and the bulb burns in its naked glory. You see. So what are we living today? We are living as men and women of God, clothed by that illusory ego, by that changing ego that makes man a different person today from what he was yesterday. Every mood, every feeling, every sensation, every motion is governed by that sense of self preservation. That little I assumes such great importance. Now, this is a thought which I could repeat over and o ver and over again, because it is a new thought, a new way of thinking. All theologies and philosophies talk of the annihilation of the ego. I say the ego cannot be annihilated, cannot b e destroyed. It is indestructible. But it can be stretched, refined, so that the entirety of the light, the inner light, can shine through. Then it would appear as if the ego is not there. If you put a light bright enough behind that pane of glass, it wou ld seem to you that there is no pane of glass there at all, because the light is bright. That is refinement of the ego. So here the identity of the pane of glass still remains, and yet all the light is shining through. And this is what happens in our meditational and spiritual practices, where the ego is refined and str etched so that the rubber of this balloon becomes transparent and loses its opaqueness. That is how the veils are removed so that the light shines through. And then you still remain the individual; for as long as man is embodied he will have an ego. I ha ve an ego. I am a man of God, but I tell you I have an ego. Without ego I would not be sitting here talking to you. But my ego is different from the ego of someone else. My ego does not seek self preservation. My ego is functional, is used for purpose s of functioning. Is used for purposes to shed that inner light in all its brilliance and clarity. If I did not have the sense of that little I, I would be stark raving mad. I would not be eating or going to the bathroom or doing this or putting on clot hes. That has to be there, but in a refined form. And that is the highest level man can aspire to is to have an uncluttered, refined ego. Then when he leaves this body, I'm talking of the man of self realization, to refine the ego total ly, to have the q ualities of non attachment, to live in the world but not of the world, to be established in self, and observing the body and its environment functioning seeing it as a Divine play. Those are the qualities of a self realized man, a man

7. U S 79 - 17 of God. So when he sheds this body, the ego being so refined that the pure pane of glass disintegrates and goes back in its original elements, and then none else is left but Divinity itself. [END SIDE ONE] GURURAJ: So the ego only disintegrates totally when this body is shed by the enlightened man. But then of course avataras like Buddha and Christ and Krishna, Mahavir, Zoroaster, Moses, they do not shed that clear pane of glass because they are the eterna l wanderers. Eternal wanderer, no plural there. Because that clarified pane of glass is the pure consciousness taking form after form after form when the need is there. It's the same pure consciousness, without samskaras, that takes bodily form. We spo ke about this during the week. You see. But the man aspiring to self realization he would merge away, merge away. That pane of glass would disintegrate and the air in the balloon becomes one with the air in the universe. Would you like to preserve that identity of yours, the identity as man? Or would you like to enjoy the vastness of becoming God, becoming one with God, merging into God? What is greater, huh? You see. So you've got to have a little ego, everyone has to have it. How much we refine it is our business. It is the business of the ego, ah. Yah. It is the business of the ego how much it wants to refine itself. And i t carries so many rewards. For in the refinement of the ego you go beyond the opposites of pain and pleasure and you becom e joyous and joyful. That is why Jesus always said, "Be of good cheer." He said that over and over again. And we would find the same words in the Talmud, Torah, Gita, [Dhammmapada?], Bible, everywhere. Same teaching: Be of good cheer. For that is your essential nature. So lift the veils. And the veils are nothing else but the impressions we have created upon ourselves. [LOUD MIKE HUM] Why does that happen? VOICE: [INAUDIBLE] veils. GURURAJ: Let's try it again. [LAUGHTER] VOICE: [INAUDIBLE] G URURAJ: Ahh. No, no, no, it was shouting for more. Carry on talking. Quarter to twelve, is it? Quarter to twelve. Now, what was the second question?

8. U S 79 - 17 VOICE: Acceptance and discipline of children. GURURAJ: Acceptance and discipline of children. Y ou are obviously referring to your own child, or, perhaps, other children. When you accept a child, what are you really accepting? Hm? Are you really accepting the child? You are only accepting the projection of your mind. Your mind sees the child as y our mind wants to see the child. Do you know what baby is the prettiest baby in the world? Your own baby. Oh, yes. Yes, always. Always. Always your own baby is the prettiest baby in the world; your own baby is the cleverest baby in the world; and you r own baby is the darlingest baby in the world. When they have a little scrap outside, no, it's not the fault of my child. The other children are no good. They 're naughty. So what are we doing? We are projecting upon our child our own personal thought patterns and beliefs and not really assessing our child as he should be truly assessed. I have a youngster of twelve. Sometimes, as boys would, he gets into a little scrap. Comes home and tells me, he says, "Bapuji, this one did this." I say, "Good. [ LAUGHTER] Yes. Let him bruise the other knee for you. Come on, go. [LAUGHTER] Go. Go. You want me to go and do your fights for you? You must be crazy. Fight your own battles. And in the first place, why did you have this scrap with him?" "Oh, he to ok, you know, a couple of pencils away from my pencil case." So I said, "Yes, okay. He took. Perhaps, he needed them. Did you ever think of it in that way? Instead of scrapping with him, you could have told him that, look, so and so, John, Jack, if yo u wanted pencils, next time, don't take. Ask me, I will give you. My father's a millionaire, you know "with empty pockets. [LAUGHTER] But a big heart. [LAUGHTER] Ah, yes. His pockets might be empty, but his heart is so big that whatever is needed m ust come. Huh? So, next time, you either fight or you try and understand. I've had no complaints after that. So, there is discipline. True discipline lies in the fact of teaching a child how to stand on his or her own feet. That is discipline. And that is the greatest gift any parent could give a child. The greatest gift. You can leave the child plenty of wealth or great big mansions. I have still yet to meet, and it is very rarely that one could really meet a child that came from a very wealthy family who is not unspoiled. Yes, invariably they get spoiled. And with the spoiling it means non discipline. And the chil d grows weak because of all the spoiling. So you ask for water, you give it milk. The child asks for twenty five cents, you give it fifty. Spoiling, spoiling, spoiling. So the child becomes reliant upon you. The child becomes dependent upon you. Now, there is a stage in infancy when this dependency is needed, but after that stage is past you got to wean the child into independency . That is true discipline. It is not slapping the child on the backside with a strap, only. If things don't go through there, use the other way around. It's okay. And I'm always a believer in using the strap, if necessary. Oh, yes. And I'm of the ol d school, yeah, where children are to be seen and not heard. I see today in modern society, I see this

9. U S 79 - 17 where big people, grown up people are sitting and talking and here the child would come and butt in, you know, with their own little things. I'm of the old school. You must excuse me for that. The child can wait. And when there's a gap could say, excuse me, mommy or daddy or uncle or auntie or whatever. What is this about, huh? And then.... Discipline. That's discipline. The child learns there to h ave patience and to wait and not to interrupt. Because if he learns to interrupt, then his life is going to be interrupted all the time when he grows up. So the greatest care one could give to a child is discipline. But, now, discipline is also a form of discipleship. The root of disciple and discipline is the same. See. So the child must feel that he is totally loved, and yet he must have that sense in him, "Ah, that's father that, huh uh, no nonsense." And yet, at the same time, the child must feel t hat my father loves me, my mother loves me. He must feel. He must be made to feel and understand. And today I was going...I mean, nowadays, I've been going through the textbooks of children, you know, when they go to school, and you would be surprised at the level of education they are getting today. I'm sure if I had to write matric tomorrow I will fail. What do you call matric here? AMRIT: College entrance exams? I don't know. VOICES: [DIFFERENT SUGGESTIONS] Graduation. GURURAJ: Is that called graduation? Now.... Well, well, well, in South Africa we have the system where the child starts in kindergarten and goes to sub A and sub B, and then from standard one to standard ten. VOICE: Graduates. GURURAJ: Yeah, and he matriculates there, and after he passes standard ten he goes to university. So you might call it high school graduation. From there you go to college. You know, I tell you that the standard of education is gone up so high that if I should write matric tomorrow, I would fail. So you see even the child, today's child, is becoming more intellectually aware than children of a few generations ago. But in this awareness there has to be discipline. And discipline with love. The child m ust feel totally loved. And yet, these various disciplines are imposed upon the child, which would not seem an imposition to the child at all. It becomes a

10. U S 79 - 17 natural way of life for the child where he is disciplined and taught, and yet he does not feel tha t he is hammered upon. See the difference where the discipline becomes spontaneous? Little Biren, it's that little twelve year old boy of mine, he knows that at a certain time he must be at the table, and he i s there! Right. It has become so spontaneous and automatic that his hunger buds just start functioning at that time. [LAUGHTER] Yes. Yes. I mean, I very seldom have a chance to sit and eat with them. But I do make it a plan to be with the family on Sunday lunch. Because during the week there's no time. Today I'll eat at eleven o'clock; tomorrow at two o'clock; the next at five o'clock; some days, never at all. Like that, it goes on. Because work is more important than that. After all, we don't live by bread alone, or for bread, you know. Som etimes there's no bread to buy the bread in any case. [LAUGHTER] That's not important, we're having a laugh. So discipline, in the beginning, from very infancy the child must feel that it is loved. I have seen and been told that when a child is born i t is taken away to another department where you have two dozen brats all crying away, and things like that. No. That warmth must be there. The child has come from a different world, from the mother's womb, where it felt all this warmth. The child must be held so close to the mother's breast, and with such love and tenderness it could feel that warmth that it is not chucked away, thrown away. That is how that is engendered in the child, that ah, I am loved. The same treatment from the father. Fine. T ouch the children as much as possible. Let them feel the human warmth of touch, which is very important. And at the same time, instill discipline, hm? Biren, you sit there. Fine. No question. Because he enjoys sitting there. I would not tell him to s it on a chair filled with nails. I would tell him to sit there, which is comfortable. Fine. And he enjoys that. And what he enjoys more is this, th at Bapuji has told me to sit there. You see the difference in feeling? That my father's told me to sit there, and I enjoy doing what my father tells me. So the child feels love, and at the same time there's a spontaneous discipline. That's how children must grow up. That's the best we can do. Later on when they grow up, you know, they might get mixed in wrong company or what have you, you know. Then momentarily, or for a little while, they might go off the tracks. We have no control over that. But if the proper seeds are planted, the chances are far less for them to go off the tracks. So the over doti ng mother, the over spoiling parent, is not doing the child any favor. Give the child what it needs. And what it needs most is love. Give it love and at the same time discipline. That brings us to twelve, past twelve. Mmm. Yeah. Now... Thank you, ver y much. Now comes the difficult part, really. Some of you, or many of you, I don't know the figures, are leaving this course to go home. And, of course, many of you are joining us in the next course down the road at Santa Barbara University. So those of you that are leaving due to their own circumstances, or for whatever reason that are leaving and that won't be

11. U S 79 - 17 seeing me again until April, I say good bye. And I don't know if many of you know how that word originated good bye, what it really means. Go od bye is a shortening of...not shortening, there's another word for it. VOICE: Contraction. GURURAJ: Contraction, perhaps, yeah, of "God be with you." So that phrase, "God be with you," has become good bye. So, God be with you. It has been such a j oy to be with you all and this lovely sharing. Not of the words of wisdom, or whatever you want to call it. Not important. Sharing of heart to heart, feeling like one lovely family, being together, tha t is important. And a few years ago, perhaps, I nev er knew that you existed, and you never knew I existed, and today we are so close to each other, huh. So it's no accident. No accident. Good. Now, everything passes. And those of you that might have some misery do remember one thing, that all this to o must pass. All this too must pass. For as karma works itself out, as impressions are diminished, as the ego self is more cleansed and expanded and awareness grows, the heart opens, the little sorrows that we have and we tend to magnify them the little sorrows we have disappear. They go back into their original elements. So look at all the great blessings and the gifts we have. I was so impressed by the memorandum that was written and that was read by Dale, here, yesterday. It contained such a lot of truth. It's very beautiful. So life is filled with cheer, and let us be cheerful. And let us be cheerful until we meet again. Ain't God good? [LAUGHTER] He sure is! Why don't you do the chorus? Ain't God good? AUDIENCE: He sure is! GURURAJ: [SL IGHTLY LOUDER] Ain't God good? AUDIENCE: [SLIGHTLY LOUDER] He sure is! GURURAJ: [LOUDER] Ain't God good? AUDIENCE: [MUCH LOUDER] He sure is! GURURAJ: That's it! Lovely. Good.

12. U S 79 - 17 Now, shall we end this course with a prayer? You are all teachers, and this prayer is very apt. [LINES ARE MINE. S.A.] Lord make me an instrument of Thy peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love. Where there is injury, let me sow pardon. Where ther e is doubt, let me sow faith. Where there is despair, let me sow hope. Where there is darkness, let me sow light. Where there is sadness, let me sow joy. Oh Divine Master, grant that I may not So much seek to be consoled, as to console; To be understood , as to understand; To be loved, as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; It is in pardoning that we are pardoned; It is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen. Namaste. [PIANO PLAYING AND SINGING "LET THERE BE PEACE ON EARTH."] *** * END ****