is always here and now
so I do not bother about past and future.
And it is amazing that ever since I stopped worrying about them
they have begun to worry about me!
My regards to all there.
76. Love.
There is a music which has no sound;
the soul is restless for such silent music.
There is a love in which the body is not;
the soul longs for such unembodied love.
There is a truth which has no form;
the soul longs for this formless truth.
Therefore melodies do not satisfy,
bodies do not satisfy,
and forms cannot fulfill the soul.
But this lack of fulfillment,
this dissatisfaction, has to be understood properly,
for such understanding
ultimately brings about transcendence.
Then sound becomes the door to the soundless,
the body becomes the path to the unembodied,
and form becomes the formless.
77. Love.
God is our only wealth.
Do not depend on any other wealth,
riches of any other kind bring only disaster.
St. Theresa wanted to set up a large orphanage
but at the time she had only three shillings.
She wanted to start this enormous project
with just this small amount.
Friends and admirers advised her:
Get the funds together first.
What can you do with just three shillings?
Theresa laughed and said:
Naturally Theresa can do nothing with three shillings,
but with three shillings plus God – nothing is impossible!
78. Love.
Sansara is nirvana,
sound is mantra,
and all living beings are God.
It depends on how you look.
The world is nothing but how one sees it.
See! Open your eyes and see!
Where is darkness?
– there is only light.
Where is death?
– there is only deathlessness.
79. Love.
I have received your letter.
As the earth thirsts for the rains after a hot summer
so you are thirsting for God.
This thirst becomes an invitation to the divine clouds –
and the invitation has arrived.
Just keep drowning yourself in meditation
and his grace will definitely pour on you.
If you are ready here –
he is always ready there.
Look! Can’t you see his clouds hovering in the sky?
80. Love.
Do not fight with yourself.
You are as you are –
do not strive to change.
Do not swim in life,
just float
like a leaf on the stream.
Keep away from sadhanas, mere sadhanas.
This is the only sadhana.
Where is there to go?
What is there to become?
What is there to find?
What is, is here and now.
Please, stop and see!
What are the animal instincts?
What is low? and high?
Whatever is, is –
there is no high, no low.
What is animal?
What is divine?
So do not condemn,
do not praise,
nor condemn nor praise yourself:
all differences are of the mind.
In truth no differences exist.
There, God and animal are one and the same;
heaven and hell are just two sides of one coin;
sansara and nirvana are two expressions of one unknown.
And do not think about what I have said;
if you think you will miss.
See. Just see.
81. Love.
On the road to God the only sustenance is infinite hope –
hope shining like the north star in darkness, hope keeping
you company like a shadow in loneliness.
Dark and lonely life’s path certainly is –
but only for those without hope.
The famous geographical explorer Donald Macmillan was preparing
for his journey to the north pole when he received a letter.
On it was written:
To be opened only when there is no hope of survival.
Fifty years passed; the envelope remained with Macmillan as it was –
sealed.
Someone asked him the reason for this and he replied:
For one thing I want to keep faith with the unknown sender,
and for another, I have never given up hope.
What priceless words! – I have never given up hope!
82. Love.
I am delighted you have taken sannyas.
A life without the flower of sannyas is like a barren tree.
Sannyas is the supreme music of life.
It is not renunciation, on the contrary, it is life’s highest enjoyment.
Someone who finds diamonds and pearls is not going to bother
about pebbles and stones.
But note – he does not renounce them, interest simply drops away.
83. Love.
Thought is man’s strength
but blind belief has robbed him of it,
that is why he has become weak and impotent.
Think fully,
think tirelessly,
for amazingly enough the state of no-thought
is achieved only at the peak of thought,
it is the culmination of thought,
and at this point all thought becomes useless.
In this emptiness, truth lies.
84. Love.
All crutches bar the way.
Shun