Question: We are wonderful, we are beautiful. Does that mean that we should be self-contented and not try to develop ourselves?
Speaker: I may have everything very, very close to me, right there within me, but would it be of any use to me if I do not remember that I have it with me. I may have a Rs.1000 note in my pocket but I do not remember that I have it. What will I do then? I will go around begging for money, I will go around with a thought that I am poor. Right? Just having a Rs.1000 note with me will not give me any richness. Now it is a very strange situation. I am rich and yet I am poor, and this situation is not just your situation(addressing the questioner), it is with everybody. There is nobody richer than us. No richer person ever existed. We are the richest and yet there is hardly anybody who is poorer than us. Isn’t that strange? Isn’t that funny?
Isn’t that tragic? In spite of being so rich, I am still so poor. You said that if we have everything, then can we be self-contented.
Just having is not sufficient. One must also know that I have it. So know. We will make all the efforts to know that we have it. I have forgotten that I have a mike. What did I do when I forgot that I have a mike? I started looking around and then it occurred to me that I am a fool if I am looking around. I should have rather looked at myself. This is the key- looking at yourself. That is the way ahead. If you want to look at your riches, if you want to look at what you already have, do not look around, look at yourself. Looking here and there will not tell me where the mike has gone. To find out what I already have, I have to look at myself.
How do I look at myself?
By looking at my daily life because that is what I am. So, we define life as every moment that is passing. So if we want to look at ourselves and want to really know how we are and what we are, then we have to look at our daily life. You may keep thinking that I am very brave but, look at your daily life. Is your regular day not full of fear? If attendance requirement is removed, how many of you would keep coming to college? So if it is not because of fear that you come to college, if the compulsions are not there, how many of you would still study? If the fear of unemployment is not there, how many of you would still want to become an engineer? Look at yourself, look at your daily life. Initially you will only see that the dirt is there. But once that dirt is removed, once the dirt is taken care of, you will discover precious richness that you have. Initially when you will look at yourself, you will only see that you are confused, afraid.
Listener 1: Distracted.
Speaker: Distracted and miserable. Initially when you honestly look at yourself, you will only find only dirt but don’t be afraid. Don’t stop looking at yourself. Don’t think there is no fun looking at myself because whenever I look at myself, I only see an ugly man. That man who you see is not ugly, it is just that too much of dirt has accumulated on his face. Once you remove the dirt, you will find that you are beautiful. But there is too much of dirt there. That dirt has come to you from outside, from what you have heard, what you have read, what society has given you, what cinema, TV, literature, religion, family have given you. Your views, opinions and concepts, all the dirt is coming from there. So when you look at yourself, you will find that dirt. Only when you find that dirt that you can…
Listeners(everyone): Remove it.
Speaker: Wonderful. When you remove the dirt, you will find that you already have such a beautiful, nice gem with you. You will realize,’I was looking here and there, trying to improve myself. There is no need to improve, I already have it. There is no need to become something, I already have it’. You cannot be self-content till you remove that dirt. So I am saying this to you that do not be self-contented till that dirt is removed. But removal of dirt is one thing and trying to borrow a diamond from someone is another thing. Do you see this? These are two opposite things. ‘I have the diamond and I remove the dirt that has gathered over it’. That is one thing. But to think that I don’t have it and trying to get it from somebody else, somewhere else is another thing. Most of us are busy trying to import a diamond, trying to get it from somebody else. No, there is no need. You already have it, just clean it. Yes, so do not be self-contented. Be dissatisfied, but that dissatisfaction should not lead you to the outside, that dissatisfaction should lead you to the…
Listeners(everyone): Inside.
Speaker: Lovely. Because that there you will find that which will really satisfies you. Inside is where you will find that which will really satisfy you. If you keep going outwards, you will not find anything. You will keep going and going. You see people all around, they are all going outside trying to find this and that, and it is an endless movement which gives you nothing. How can it give you anything? Whatever is to be given is already there. So how can anything be given? Have I made myself clear?
-Excerpts from a Samvaad session. Edited for clarity.