Is physical proximity to the Guru necessary? || Acharya Prashant (2018)
Acharya Prashant: The next one is from Roosmarjin, from the Netherlands. And she has tried the devanagari script today. That’s what I say, you Love playing games. And you keep trying your games upon me as well. I too am a sportsman. Right? If you offer me a game, I won’t refuse.
So, yes Rosie, let’s have a ball.
“Acharya Ji pranam.” Rosie ji, “Pranam.”
“Freedom is compulsory.” Of course.
“At a grace given moment, no thoughts come up in the mind any longer. I want to do or drop, whatever it takes in order to not resist the process. Day by day, the pull to be in physical proximity with you and devote my life to you, the Truth, grows stronger. Most of the thoughts that are in my mind are related to moving to India, to be in your physical proximity. Only if it would be wanted for the sake of the mission at large, will I stay there? But the thought of not coming to live close to you literally makes my heart contract. Maybe this message is not suited for the class, but it is ‘the one thing’ I am serious about. If you don’t stop me, I will come. Please tell me, what is being wanted.
Yours Roosmarjin”
[Holding a cat in his hands and showing the cat towards the screen] Say “Hi” to Roosmarjin. So what do you want from her (asking the cat), she is the Oracle (referring to the cat). So, what do you want from Roosmarjin?
Silence .
Yes, Oracle, speak ! (still holding the cat)
Nothing. Please. Just a meow would be enough. Say something, say something!
She is not refusing. She is not even saying, that consent is needed. She wants to sleep (lets the cat off his hands, and while she goes, comes a meow). And to this, she said, Yes.
A few things you have said.
You have said, “at a grace given moment, no thoughts come up in the mind any longer.” When you were here in India, I had spoken about this, I will repeat!
It is not at all necessary or advisable, to target a state of ‘no thoughts.’ To extend the metaphor of the last answer, will the Sun ever be without its radiance? It’s rays? Will the ocean ever be without its waves? Will there ever be God, sans godliness? Will there ever be the creator, without the creation?
Thoughts are like waves. And waves only give dance to the substance of the ocean. If the ocean itself has somehow become contaminated or spoilt or corrupted. Then the waves too would have that corruption.
There is the mind, and the mind has the ability to think. The question is not whether you are thinking or not. The question is, who is the thinker? If the thinker is devoted to the Truth, then thoughts are just like the dance of Shiva.
An exercise in movement. An exercise in which the ineffable comes to Life. An exercise in which the formless , comes to time and space . An exercise in which the unlimited shows up displays its glimpses as the limited one. Are you getting it?
Lalleshwari, I recall one of her verses, puts it so very beautifully. She asks, “Who dances in the river of my thoughts?” That’s the question.
Is the river of your thoughts pure enough to allure Shiva to dance in it? And Shiva will not dance in a stream impure.
Where are your thoughts coming from? Are your thoughts coming from Godliness, goodness, and Shivaness? Keep thinking. It’s just that you won’t be able to think for too long. Just as Shiva, does not keep dancing always. You will think, as a kid plays, and then the kid goes to sleep. Thoughts too will go to sleep. Thoughts will have no obligation to indefinitely continue. Thought is sick when thought is circular-constrained and continues indefinitely in its vicious circle.
There is understanding without thought and there is understanding with thought as well. Just as there is Truth, formlessly, and there is Truth, formed as well. There will be occasions when the Truth will strike you like a thunderbolt, like a flash of lightning. And understanding will be complete in a split second. And there will be occasions when you will be required to think.
Thought is not a taboo. Thought is not evil. You have no mandate to chase thought with a double barrel gun. Let thought be.
But I understand your predicament. All the spiritual masters are treating thought as the worst offender. As if thought has brought in sickness and disease to your life. Not really. Thought is your expression, just as action is your expression. As you are, so your thought is. In fact, thought is so very helpful. You cannot look at your tendencies, your vrittis, directly. But thought is gross, palpable, definite, it can be watched.
You cannot watch the ‘I’ tendency directly. But when the ‘I’ tendency, expresses itself as the thought, then you can know what is brewing inside you. Otherwise, it would have remain, hidden, undetected, by your conscious radars. Your senses have no way to detect the deep tendency that lies behind the senses.
Hence, thought helps.
When you think, you come to know of yourself. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have known. The thought of jealousy or the thought of fear arises, it helps you know that deep within somewhere, you are? Afraid.
Without the thought of fear, how would you have known, that you are nourishing fear within!
Thought helps, and more than thought, action arising from thought helps.
Thought being subtle can be refused. You may decide, not to acknowledge that thought has arisen. You may decide to suppress thought. Obviously, no one else except you can look at your thoughts. So, you can deny, comfortably, the existence of thought. And no law is going to punish you for your thoughts. Thoughts can remain hidden. But, when the same thoughts express themselves grossly, as actions, then there is clear, definite, irrefutable proof.
Now, you know who you are. You have acted in anger and slapped someone. It’s a scene now. It’s a happening now. Now, you cannot hide your face. Now, you cannot lie to yourself. Now, you will have to accept, that within you is something, that is insecure, angry, revengeful. Are you getting it?
Thought comes from the same place that you have seated yourself at. Hence, they help you to know where you are seated.
Thought is not bad. ‘Useful’ or ‘Useless’ is the place, thought is coming from.
Who is the ‘thinker’? That is the question that must be asked. And how do you know who is the thinker? By looking at the thoughts. And if you can’t look at the thought, then look at the? Action.
Yes, Roosmarjin!
Now, to the next part of your question.
Now, you are saying, that you want to be in my physical proximity and you want to be in India again. Who am I Roosmarjin? To whom do you want to come? Who am I? Please? In your message itself, you have bracketed me with the absolute Truth. Let’s start from there. If that be true, then it is the Truth that is the ultimate. Then it is the Truth that is worthy of being served. Right? You do not want to serve me, you want to serve the Truth. You want to serve the Truth, just as I want to serve the Truth. Right?
So, what comes first? The service.
One serves, and if the process of serving requires one to relocate, one relocates. One relocates, to not only India, but to anywhere in the Universe, where he is needed, or she is needed. How does one know that now, one needs to move or relocate, or take any particular action? One knows that when the action becomes impossible in one’s current physical location. Sitting where you are, first of all, do the maximum you can do. And if you are doing utterly the maximum that you can do, from where you currently are, the Netherlands. Then, a point will come, when you will not even need to take my consent.
When you will know, that the mission cannot be helped unless you relocate. And then, you will just inform me that you are coming. Because then, you would not be coming to me. So, my permission would not be needed at all. Right now, your question reveals, the insufficiency of your intentions. Why do you need my permission? Do I have a monopoly over Truth? Who am I, to prevent someone from seeking her calling? Who am I to prevent someone from fulfilling her life’s purpose? But the fact that you are seeking my personal permission, reveals that right now, the calling is not yet devoted to the Truth. It still has something to do with the person of the Guru. And if you are coming to the person of the Guru, then you will miss the Truth. Then you are not targeting the right place. You are hitting at a point, close to the Truth, but not really the Truth.
The Guru, you know that Roosmarjin, is the guide. Sometimes the guide is at the destination, along with the guided one. Then the destination, the guide and the guided, all three, coincide. But usually, the guided one is not at the destination. Right? And that is why he needs guidance. And if the guided one is not at the destination, where would the guide be? The guide necessarily has to be, where the? Guided one is. And if you then, start targeting the guide, what will you miss? The destination . Because the guide is constrained from being at the destination by the location of the guided one. If the guided one is at the destination, then the guide too will be found at? The destination. Otherwise, the guide is somewhere along the way. If you target the guide, then you are missing the? Destination .
Don’t target me! If you target the destination , you will have my company. Who gets the company of the guide? Please understand. The one who Loves the? Destination . If you love the destination, you get the company of the guide. But if you start targeting the guide, the guide may just run away to save his dear life!
(listeners chuckle)
Does the guide Loves those who target him? Or does the guide Love those who target the destination ? Please. If you go to the guide, and the guide says, yes Sir, what do I show you today? And you tell the guide, I want to see you! What would the guide do? Please, some wit, please! The guide is asking, Mam, where do I take you today? And you tell the guide, “to yourself!” What would the guide say or do?
Listener: Runaway.
AP: Yes, but that’s blank. I wanted a bit of spice!
Make that your homework(addressing the questioner, Roosmarjin). Make that your homework, after this class, Roosmarjin, I want you to give me, a befitting reply. What would the guide do, if you tell the guide, that you want to come to ‘him’, rather than the destination ?
Target the destination . And those who Love the destination , do not wait for the guide. Target the destination . The guide will appear on his own. The company of the guide is a byproduct. The company of the guide is a coincidence. The company of the guide is not your primary intention. It must not be. Yes, you are welcome to India, and you are equally welcome to Africa. You are equally welcome to any spot in this mammoth Universe, where the cause of the Truth would be served.
I am neither inviting you, nor discouraging you. I am just asking you, are you doing the fullest, that you can do, from where you are? Once your efforts there, have saturated, once you see that you cannot do any more by being there while being there. Then you will know, that the time to fly off to India has come. Right?
But first of all, saturate your efforts there! First of all, come to a point, where you see, that you have now done the utter maximum by being in Europe. And when you know, that now you cannot move any further. Now, the cause of the Truth is being obstructed because your physical self is in Europe. Then you would know, that the time has come to move to India, or elsewhere! But before that, if you move, then you are not targeting the Truth. Then your intention is targeted somewhere else. That will not help.
So, test yourself. Give yourself the challenge, to make the best of your current situation and condition. And honestly ask yourself. Can’t more be done from here? And when the honest answer is, No. No more can be done from here! Then book your tickets.
Right?
