1. U S 81 - 10 RESPONSIBILITY [This is actually a Canadian tape entered under U.S. numbering. See also BC 81001.] GURURAJ: Shall we meditate for a few moments? I believe you are all... it's a bit warm tonight, isn't it? Yes. I shouldn't have put on a suit. What are you experiment ing with, Carl? CARL: It's vibrating, Guruji. [INAUDIBLE] stop the noise. GURURAJ: Oh! What's wrong with vibrations? [LAUGHTER] Don't we deal in vibrations? VOICE: Checking with the group before you came in and about half the group has never been on a course before. I think it's rather nice to have them... GURURAJ: Oh, I see. I see. Very nice indeed. Lovely. Nevertheless, I believe you are quite well settled in at the hotel, and the food is supposed to be very good too. Hm? There is someth ing I heard of tonight, and I don't think it's one of our meditators though. Someone was in the dining room and he took his napkin and tied it around his neck. So here the manager was quite amazed. He was shocked. So he calls his waiter, and he tells t he waiter, "Go to this person and in a very, very tactful way tell him this is not allowed here." So now this waiter thought what should he say. So he goes up to this customer, the diner sitting there, and he says, "Pardon, sir, but what would you like, sir, shave or haircut?" [LAUGHTER] VOICE: It couldn't have been one of our people. GURURAJ: No, no. I'm sure it's not one of our people. [LAUGHTER] Good. Nevertheless, those of you that are new here and first time on a course, I never prepare a lect ure or a talk. It would mean that I would tell you about things which I want to tell you. I rather a question to come from you. Then, of course, the tal k would be on whatever you want to... you want me to talk about. Fine. Questions.

2. U S 81 - 10 VOICE: Robin has one for tonight to start us off. ROBIN: Namaste, Guruji. GURURAJ: Namaste, Robin. ROBIN: The Gita says that the key to life is inaction in action, and action in inaction. How is it possible to maintain you r peace of mind when taking on more responsibilities? GURURAJ: Who is taking on more responsibilities? Are you really taking on more responsibilities, or do you assume that you are taking on more responsibilities? What do you mean by responsibilities? And what do you mean by the "you" that you are speaking about? Hm? Now, by not taking on responsibilities it does not mean you ar e irresponsible. So if you are responsible, to whom are you responsible? Firstly, let us ask who would be the questioner? I take on responsibilities. The real I that is within me is responsible for this entire universe. And it is responsible for the u niverse, not as an object, but it is responsibility itself. It is responsibility. And without this responsibility that exists within itself this entire universe would not be able to funct ion. So the questioner is not the real self within you. The questio ner is the ego self that you are. What is the ego self? Nothing else but your mind, or you could call it subtle body. Why does the subtle body require to take on more responsibility or shed its responsibilities, that is the question? It would like to ta ke on responsibilities for many, many purposes. Firstly, to inflate itself by thinking that if I should take on more responsibilities I would become a greater man, a better man. That could be an assumption. Good. Then with this inflated ego if a person takes on responsibilities it is not going to help him really know himself. The true meaning of the word responsibility should be to b e able to respond in all areas of life and to respond in totality. So when a person assumes responsibility, he is functi oning only with his physical and mental self. But if the spiritual self of him is incorporated in that sense which he has develope d, then only would there be totality. Otherwise, taking on responsibility is said to be good. But good is just as binding as that which is not good. While the real aim of life, the goal of life, is to find freedom. To move away from this bondage. Now, responsibilities are there. You are responsible to your children, to your parents, to your wife, but that is on a total rel ative level. And this would help you only to a certain measure of reaching the subtlest value of relativity. Talking of relativity reminds me of a man who belonged to a debating society. So, they were discussing Einstein's theory of relativity. And this man for a whole hour examined relativity, twisted it, tortured it, and looked at it from every angle until he was

3. U S 81 - 10 exhausted. So someone from the audience got up and said that, "Do you know statistically it has been proven that there are only twelve peopl e in the world that could really understand Einstein. But you are better than him on his own topic, because no one can understand you." [LAUGHTER] So now to find the true meaning of what responsibility is. Responsibility can also be a mental projection: I am responsible for some friends of mine. I see to their welfare. I would like to see that they are happy. And being my brother's keeper, I am responsible. Beautiful. Very good. But what motivates that thought? And what motivates that action? There lies the secret of responsibility. So when any situation arises amongst your friends or your parents, brothers, sisters, whatever, and if you respond totally to what the occasion demands, then you are fulfilling that which is called responsibility. So r esponsibility is synonymous in this sense with responding. Good. Now, what are the qualities required in true response? True response is not of the body only and neither of the mind, for both have limited values. The finite mind could never respond in a n infinite way. And true response should be infinite. For true response bring out from within ourselves that quality of real love. What we know of love is a very limited form of love. It is not love, it is a need or a dependency and we call it love. Ma n loves woman, woman loves man, because they are either physically dependent or emotionally dependent or economically dependent or whatever dependency you could describe or think of. There is always a question of wanting a return. So where is there the t rue responsibility in that love affair, or that connection between two or more people? That is why it is so important to meditate and do spiritual practices. Because by doing this, by doing spiritual practices one very spontaneously and innocently draws upon that storehouse of power that is within the Kingdom of Heaven within. And drawing from that we infuse all our actions with that quality. So whatever action we perform, according to the Gita, there would be the element of inaction. Inaction in a ction. Because you become then stable, integrated. You function as a whole. You function holistically. So that when you can function holistically you will watch the body and the mind performing its things. And when you become the observer of the funct ioning of mind and body, then whatever the mind and body does does not put you into karma, good or bad. Does not put you into bondage, for you forever remain free. You forever remain free and nothing would effect you. And then a few stanzas later in the Gita it says that an insult will not depress you, or praise will not inflate you. Why? Because you are steady. These things do not matter. Like this, when mind and body only functions we are on the seesaw of life up and down and up and down. But as we approach to the center of the seesaw, we can stand still and the seesaw will still go up and down. That is the secret of joy, the secret of love, the secret of happiness the secret of happiness. So assuming responsibility, trying to do good in that responsibility, has great merit, but not total merit. It's not a finality. It's not a finality. But these are the ways for the wayfarer, for the traveler on the path. He might start off by trying to inflate

4. U S 81 - 10 his ego, but with greater understanding and spiritual practices that ego will diminish in its intensity, where that sense of that I, I did this, is lost. Then the sense that develops in us is this: He did that, not I. I am but an instrument. Like a flute and He blows His breath through the flute so that the world could enjoy the melody of the flute that is produced through the flute. I am none other than just the flute. But do you see the integration there between the player, the instrument and the music that is produced? Is there any separati on? None. Each are part and parcel of each other. The actor, the act, and the action. That is what is meant in the Gita. Where the actor, the act, and the action becomes one, and neither could do without each other. The player can't play if the flute is not there. And if the flute is only there, no player, no music is produced. So with the realization of this non separation of the three aspects of man body, mind and spirit then only can he function as he should function. Otherwise, it is half fun ction. Half function. It is like sleepwalking. Sleepwalking. I hope none of you are somnambulists. I believe last week at this very hotel one night someone started parading around in the foyer in his pajamas. So the hotel clerk stopped him. He says, " Hey, man, what are you doing?" So when he stopped him this fellow woke up. He says, "Oh, I beg your pardon, but I'm a somnambulist." So the hotel clerk says, "Look, you cannot parade around in your pajamas, never mind what religion you believe in." [LA UGHTER] So what we are seeking is awakening. To be quickened into wakefulness. To be quickened into life. And life knows only of totalness; otherwise we are the living dead. I speak of life and never of death, for there is no such thing as death. Fo r everything is vibrant and alive. Even when this body is shed, it goes back to its original elements: air to air, fire to fir e, earth to earth. For nothing is destructible! So who are we to assume that sense of responsibility? Who are we? I am respons ible to teach my children at school. You are part of the game. The child has to learn. So what you are doing is teaching him to learn the subject, you are not teaching him the subject. Do you see. You see how it functions? So to find inaction in acti on, and to find action in inaction lies the secret. For everything in this relative world functions within the law of opposites. Everything is still and yet active. As we sit here today there is one part of us so still, so tranquil, so much at peace you can't explain it the peace that passeth all understanding. No intellect could ever be able to define it. And that is there, here, now, in this v ery moment, in this nowness of life that stillness is there, but so covered with dust. Beautiful diamond covered with dust. So in spiritual practices we blow the dust away so that diamond could shine in its pristine purity. To be responsible is an act of morality and not necessarily of purity. Now, morality is necessary for the stability of socie ty. But th at is not all. Society has to be kept stable, functional, only in a relative sense. But purity is something different, it transcends the relative. It transcends all laws of morality. For what is moral in one culture might be immoral in another culture. The Mohammedan people are allowed to have four wives, their religion says so. But it wouldn't be right for us in

5. U S 81 - 10 the West to do that. You see. So these are man made laws to preserve a man made world. But when one finds purity, you rise above all that . For in that purity the entirety of the spirit that is within you is brought forth, brought out from inside. From the Kingdom of Heaven within everything is brought out into daily action. And its way of action is so subtle that it seems to be inaction. So the more we go towards subtler levels, our minds and bodies start assuming the qualities of that peace, of that joy, of that ecstasy, of that bliss. Control of mind. No such thing. The more you fight it, the more would it function. I've told this story somewhere, I don't know if it was in America. But a chela went to his guru and he was very persistent that "Guruji, please teach me how to walk over the water. I've heard it being done, and I want to know the secret how it is done." So this chela was not ready for that kind of knowledge, because to get a certain kind of knowledge a certain kind of purity has to be attained. But this young man was persistent, persistent, persistent. Now, gurus, they are shrewd guys. Hm? Oh, yes. Oh, yes. They take each and every one at their level. How can you give MA lessons to a child in form one or form two? And that is what Christ also meant, throwing pearls before swines. They wouldn't understand. But this chela being so persistent the guru said, "Okay , come tomorrow morning and I will teach you how to do it. First, you must sit down to meditate for twenty minutes, half an hour. Okay? After that, there's a river there, after that you start walking across. But one condition onl y, that while you are s itting meditating you must not think of a monkey. And while you are walking across the water you must not think of a monkey. That's the only condition." [HE LAUGHS] You see, control of mind. Huh, yes. So every time he sat down to meditate the first t hought that would come in his mind is monkey. So he was monkeying around. [LAUGHTER] And when he entered the water, down he goes. You see. Control of mind comes from this inaction that we have spoken about. To find that level of inaction within us and just allowing the mind to flow, to work off the momentum that it has created by itself. And yet, in this stillness there too is s o much motion. Action in inaction there is. It's like a top spinning at high speed and seems so still to you. Yet it is spin ning. That's how it works. I said on a talk on the last course that there is this stillness of the divine, but that too has its motion. For without ene rgy not having motion, energy would be useless, energy cannot exist. For what is Divinity? Nothing el se but energy in so many various different forms. From the grossest matter, to the subtlest of the subtlest, beyond, beyond, beyond all subatomic substances that we might know of. It is all beyond that. So subtle. And because of its subtlety it is so i nfinite, and so eternal, and so all powerful. That is why we call God Almighty. Being infinite and everywhere we call it omnipresent. But it is none else than energy. And that energy is you, you, you, you, you. We are that energy. We are that energy t hat transforms itself into grosser and grosser action.

6. U S 81 - 10 Thought is also a thing. It's tangible. It could pierce steel walls. So powerful because it is subtler than the physical matter. So the same very energy, same energy transforms itself from a very s ubtle level to a more and more and more grosser level. So all that we see, all that we observe is nothing else but Divinity. One day in one of the talks somewhere I don't know where it was, I do a lot of traveling around the world someone asks me a qu estion, "Do you know God?" I say, "Yes." "Can you see God?" I say, "Yes." "Show me." I say, "You. You are God sitting there. And there's no difference between you and I. None. No difference at all. Only difference is this, that you don't know and I know." That's the only difference. And this knowingness is not an intellectual conception. This knowingness is experiential, where you experience it. Where everything around you is vibrant and filled with that life force. Even in a piece of stone t here's life. It also has its own atomic and molecular structure swirling around. This very chair I'm sitting on is filled with life. There is nothing inanimate. Everything is animate. So inaction comes along at its subtlest level, and perceivable action is at the grosser level. And by perceivable action I mean that which is perceived or conceived by the five senses that we have. Now, hearing, seeing, tasting, touching, smelling: the five senses. Now, those very senses are not wrong. They are part of t his expression, part of this manifestation. From the subtle to the gross this spontaneous manifestation. There's no creation, manifestation only. I always say the flower does not create fragrance, it manifests. It is its nature to give off fragrance. Fi re does not create heat. It is the nature of the fire to have heat. Manifestation. So all this it's all grosser things that are seen by the f ive senses are but manifestations of the one and only divine energy. Now, if we through meditation and spiritual practices can draw on this force and infuse it in our five senses (Do these people want to come in? They may if they want to.) Now, if we... if we can infuse through spiritual practices this force th at is within us to our five senses, then your vision w ill change. Things that don't seem pretty, things that seem ugly to you now, will seem very beautiful to you. Sounds that may be discordant to you now would be so harmonious. For in everything you would be perceiving the divine. In everything around you will you perceive the divine. Because what would you be seeing first? Do I see you? No. I see God first, before I see you. Yes. It is through that energy that I am seeing you. And because it is through that energy and with the energy, I am seeing o nly His energy. In different names, sizes, forms, what does it matter? For after all, is this entire universe not name and form? A superimposition of name and form of the one energy that causes us to differentiate. That causes us to differentiate, and that makes us lose our discrimination. So, now, differentiation brings about separation. Now, if the separation is there, then now how can I be my brother's keeper? Hm? If this separation is there, then how could I truly follow the injunction, "Love thy neighbor as thyself?" And

7. U S 81 - 10 if you do not know yourself, how can you love your neighbor as yourself? Does the other injunction not say, "Man know thyself?" These are eternal truths that has nothing to do with religions, but that do in most instances form the basis of religions. So from which angle you approach, from the angle of Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, any ism, doesn't matter. Doesn't matter, as long as we reach the basis. As long as we reach truth. And truth is but one, nothing else exists but truth. There are no untruths. None . There are degrees of truth, according to the perception and awareness of man. The more aware man is, the greater his perception will be of truth. The greater his perception will be of truth if he is more aware. How do we develop this awareness? We dev elop this awareness through spiritual practices. We have a small, narrow view, but from down here. But stand on a high hill, and you see your whole beautiful island. And this narrow view is the one that brings all the trouble. We see all the turbulence in the waters outside on a stormy day, but even on that stormy day you go up in an airplane and it will seem so calm down there. You will not notice the storm. So as the awareness grows... as the awareness unfolds, that's a better word. All awareness i s, it doesn't grow. You just unfold it by removing the veils of that little ego self of yours. Bring it to a refinement through spiritual practices. And your awareness automatically unfolds, so that you could look at any object, anything, in a holistic way. And that, to repeat over and over and over again, to dive deep within in a systematic, scientific manner. I always say if you spend half an hour in a perfume factory, you will come out smelling like perfume. Yes. Ah, the perfume of the heart, or th e perfume of the spirit, which is at the core of your personality. For this personality is nothing but a whole bundle of experiences you have gained in this lifetime, or previous lifetimes. It depends what you believe in. That's all. And all those exper iences blocks your vision. And that is the burden the scriptures talk about, the burden you bring with you into this world. The load of karma that you bring with you in this world. So what does a guru do? He doesn't take that burden away just like that, he'll be doing you greater harm. But when that relationship develops, that contact between guru and chela, the guru helps the chela walk up the road. And very slowly, he has a little pocket knife with him, and he punctures a little hole in that bag the chela is carrying. So as he walks slowly the burden is lessened. It trickles away until no weight is felt. That is what is done. In two ways: the tool the little knife, and the understanding. The tool is meditational practices, and the understanding that is given of how to view this world in its proper perspective. Now, when these two things are combined, you can only become more and more joyous. You can only become more and more joyous. [END SIDE ONE]

8. U S 81 - 10 GURURAJ: If you sit near a fire, you will definitely feel the heat. You will feel the warmth. So if you sit near that Divinity which is within you, and your entirety goes closer and closer to it, you must feel that warmth. And then feeling that warmth you express that warmth. Then you don't ge t into bed with cold feet. Hm? And your wife says, "Oh, push your feet away, they're so cold. Blocks of ice." You see. So, what does this mean? That not only your feet are warm, but you are also warming the environment. You see. The flower grows beau tiful in the garden, because its nature is to be beautiful. But not only that is happening alone. It also beautifies the garden. It is beauty unto itself, and its beauty enhances the beauty of the environment. And this happens so spontaneously. Effort less effort, ah! Action and yet inaction. That does not mean laziness. That does not mean laziness. To develop the proper understanding of life, that's man's goal, his duty. And he has to, sooner or later. For consciously or unconsciously everyone is striving for happiness. And what most of us do is strive, perhaps, in the wrong direction. We think we own a million pounds and if we'd get two million we'd be more happier. If we have a five room house and we get a ten room house we would be more happi er. No, no, no. No. It does not work. You'll be five room house, five times unhappy. Ten room house, ten times unhappy. Yah. Yah. Yes. Just imagine you got to clean all those ten rooms, [LAUGHTER] and when you only had to do five before. Do you s ee. But make that one million into five million, nothing wrong. Add that five room house into a fifty room mansion, nothing wrong. If the understanding is gained of its true worth, then it becomes happiness. In other words the happiness is you, and all these other things are but just incidental. One can be happy without anything. And one can be happy with the so called everything. It doesn't work out. The proper understanding has to be there. You might have heard of my stories of Nastrodin. Hm? Fi ne. Now, Nastrodin had a second cousin whose name is [Janodin?]. Fine. Now, [Janodin?] came to Vancouver. And he lived here for a little while and he wanted to go see a show. He phones up... picks up the phone and he says, "Can I have a box for two, ple ase?" So the voice on the other side says, "Sorry, but we don't have boxes for two." So he says, "But aren't you the Palace Theater?" So the voice replies, "No. We only have boxes for one, we're the undertakers." [LAUGHTER] A misunderstanding: misse d understanding. We missed the point and therefore misery. And no man deserves to be miserable. Misery is of man's own making, own choosing. Because he chooses! So all life, through spiritual practices, are aimed at finding the naturalness of life. To be and not to assume to be this, that, responsible or otherwise. Just to be. To be in that being. For there is none else but that. And then we become fully responsible to everyone. Then we love our neighbors as ourselves. Then we do unto others as we expect others to do unto us. Then am I my brother's keeper. Then I can love, really love. But that is not the end of the journey.

9. U S 81 - 10 To love. Still the object and the subject remains. I, the subject; you, the object. That is halfway on the journey. Th e totality comes when you disappear, the object disappears and only love remains. It's like making love to your wife. People really don't know how to do it. Yeah. Because they are too conscious of themselves. They do not know what flow is. They do no t know what merging is. No. No. You must not be there. She must not be there. Only this vast orgasm is there, nothing else. Nothing else. So the ecstasy, the total ecstasy of life is this vast, universal orgasm. And only that joy exists and nothing else. So when only that exists, when only He exists, or It exists, or love exists, then amidst all the action we perform it becomes inaction. For all effort becomes effortless, and when effort becomes effortless then it is joyful. It is only when we are conscious, "Oh, I've got to make this effort. I've got to be responsible," that you find all the irk in work. [LAUGHTER] Huh? You see. You see. Like that. So that is the meaning of being inactive in action. Yes. And that is how true responsibility is gained, not by your little mental self thinking, "I'm doing the world so much good." You can't. You can't. You can help, okay, fine. As long as it does not inflate your ego. You do your best and dedicate it to the real doer. He does, I am the inst rument. And when I feel myself to be the instrument, then only that piece of wood, that flute, will feel the ecstasy of that divine breath blowing through it. For it self and for all. Then you are responsible to everything. All duties are done. And that is what it is. Okay. I think that's about an hour. Is it? I'm sure... yeah, I'm sure many of you must be tired, traveling far distances. So do rest well tonight and tomorrow morning we'll start. It will be fine. It will be fine. So nice to meet yo u. So nice to be here. Beautiful. It's a sharing. It's a togetherness. Communication, not only from mind to mind, but from heart to heart. And still further, spirit to spirit. And that is automatically in communication already, for the spirit is only one. The ocean is one, the waves may be many. So through spiritual practices the waves subside and the calmness of the ocean remains. Beautiful. Beautiful. Well, namaste. **** END ****