A woman who had been serving a monk grew old and wanted to ensure that she was serving the right person. So, she sent a prostitute to serve him at night by offering him food. When the monk saw the prostitute, he became angry and threw her out. When the old woman heard this, she felt the monk should have been kind and compassionate toward the prostitute. She concluded that the monk had not truly renounced his fears. Therefore, the old woman told the prostitute that she had been serving the wrong person and advised her to go and burn the monk’s hut.
Understand how a life filled with fear, anger and distress can lead one down the wrong path.
A wise person is one who has abandoned fear and desire. This is the true criterion. If a person begs the Lord for this or that, he becomes lost in the future and thus misses the Lord’s play in the present moment. Therefore, such a person’s prayer is an expression of greed and a function of the ego. In the process, he accumulates an inner heaviness of “wanting more”. If he prays out of fear, that fear continues to strengthen in some form, making him increasingly fragmented. One who has dropped fear and desire is not punishing himself or striving to reach somewhere. Such individuals are truly wise.
To see the cosmos in the chaos, one must learn to search, learn to see and learn to explore. Without exploration, one will remain lost in chaos and miss the cosmos. But if one looks wisely—within the chaotic, scattered and restless mind—one will discover a hidden cosmos. The mind, through its thoughts, is constantly searching for happiness. Thought suggests that happiness lies outside—in the world of pleasures and objects. However, one must observe whether such a search will truly bring happiness.
Student: How can both—the removal of the experience of the cosmos by chaos and the presence of the cosmos within chaos—be possible?
Master: A knife can be used to kill someone or to cut a loaf of bread; it depends on the user.
Student: Still, I am not clear.
Master: Snake poison can kill someone, or it can be used to make medicine. It all depends on how creatively it is used.
According to enlightened masters, human beings can be divided into two types—sleeping beings and awakened beings. Happiness depends on whether one’s consciousness is awake or asleep. If one is asleep, pleasure is mistaken for happiness. If one is awake, the true nature of consciousness itself is happiness. In the pursuit of pleasure, there is pain. Pleasure is based on sensation, and one uses the body to experience it. Then the mind says, ‘I want more of these sensations,’ and in the process, the desire for ‘more’ creates chaos.
Also, there is fear that these sensations may be denied due to various obstacles, leading to strain—is that not so? If one looks objectively, the other side of pleasure is pain. Unfortunately, people do not truly think; they only assume they do.
This does not mean that pleasure is wrong. However, in the pursuit of pleasure, one also carries the burden of pain. If one is alert enough to drop pain and experience pleasure purely, this discipline becomes a function of inner order. If one is disciplined enough to ensure that pleasure does not lead to pain, then one is using pleasure wisely. But if one lacks true alertness, the automatic process is that pleasure inevitably leads to pain.
Join Swami Sukhabodhanandaji’s 70thbirthday celebration and a free workshop on ‘Creative & Wise Living Through Spirituality’ at Nirguna Mandir, Koramangala, Bengaluru on April 19, 2025. Workshop timing: 2 pm to 6 pm Join Swami Sukhabodhanandaji’s online Spiritual Warrior Boot Camp (SWBC) starting March 31.Contact: 95135 60108 / 99017 77003 / 91080 70452. Email: support@prasannatrust.com