Your Mind is a Monkey, Learn to Steady It
Times of India

How to balance the spiritual path and worldly life?

People want both God and wealth. They want their businesses to be successful, their children to study well, their health to remain perfect and their households and cars to run without complication. A person should use his powers of discrimination in order to maintain a balance between spiritual pursuit and worldly affairs.

You can know God only when He becomes pleased with you and reveals Himself to you and what pleases Him is pure devotion. Remember Him constantly; chant His name all the time. We cannot bargain with God as we do in our worldly life. He may be pleased with one seeker who has chanted His name only seven times and displeased with another who has done japa seven million times over.

How can we eliminate injustice from the world?

Viciousness and injustice existed in the world even in the past. Demons existed in the earlier times also. Disharmony is the very nature of the world. It will continue. Some people say that the present days are better than olden times and perhaps people are more humane today.

The Vedas say that only he who obeys can command others. Only he who possesses character can build the character of others. If society is perceived to be lacking in character, eventually, progress and betterment are bound to follow. The Bhagavad Gita says that whenever unrighteousness prevails, God incarnates on earth to destroy evil and reestablish righteousness.

If enlightened people live in isolation, how can the people learn and benefit from them?

Some live in isolation, others live amongst people. Not all saints living in isolation are impostors. Nor is it correct to say that because they live in isolation, they are not working for mankind. Bhagwan Nityananda lived in the jungles of Ganeshpuri. He wore nothing but a loincloth. Most of the time he remained silent. Yet, thousands of people visited him and obtained peace and happiness from him.

There was once a siddha named Pavhari Baba who would remain in samadhi for six months at a stretch. One day a sanyasin asked him: Why don't you go out and work to uplift society? Pavhari Baba replied," Do you think great Siddha Gurus should be like postmen and go door-to-door, distributing discourses, advice and good wishes enclosed in envelopes? Don't you see that God remains concealed, and yet carries on the work of the whole world? Siddhas do the same.”

What is the simplest way to do sadhana?

The simplest way to do sadhana is to first steady the mind. Artists, scientists and musicians all excel in their work through concentration of mind. You can realise the Truth only by making your mind steady. The mind is as restless as a monkey. The mind becomes steady as a result of knowledge of the Self. God can never be understood by intellect alone. The mind can contemplate the Self but it cannot know the Self, because realisation of the Self is a matter of experience, not of intellectual understanding.

Your Mind is a Monkey, Learn to Steady It
Times Of India