Finding Onions When You Expect Oranges

Satsang by Mahatma Gautumbaiji

When we pray, we say:

"Oh God, please lead us from darkness to light.
Lead us from untruth to truth.
Lead us from mortal to immortality."

But we never think about that.
We only sing it (in our bhajans) - we never try to walk on that path.
We cannot get anywhere just be reading about it

But if we practice, we can get whatever we want.

Someone asked Buddha, "What do you get from meditation?"

"Nothing," was his reply. "But if you ask me what I lost, I will tell you I lost my anger. I lost my desire. I lost depression, anxiety, fear of old age and death." 

When a person starts doing meditation, he or she starts moving into reality.

Life is a dream, and dream and reality are very different.

One girl loves a boy. They are very happy. But when they get married, they notice they change. Same person, different perspectives.  

One says, "When we met, you were a totally different person. Why the change?" 

Change should come, especially if you are sowing any seeds. 
Are the seeds changing, or not?

Why don't we accept that change?

The seed is changing slowly, slowly. 
You nurture the plant to help it along
You make a nice planter, you water it every day. 
But after a certain time, you don't need to water it every day. (change)
Then maybe you transfer it into the ground because it needs more room to put down roots.
And it grows into a big tree.

Sometimes in this world, we forget to face this reality.
Everyone wants the truth in their life, but we don't want to face the reality.
We want it our way, a way that causes no pain or sorrow.

We want to change the onion into an orange.
That's our problem - we are trying to change it.

We may think we didn't want the onion, but what goes better in soup?
The onion. It will make your soup more tasty.

Why are we coming here (to satsang at the ashram)?
What is our goal?

We are using our time, sitting here for two hours.
Our time is precious, it's hard to do.

But we know we are coming here for our goal: peace.

But how will we get it?

A new person came here, and I said, "This place is unique. You will get everything here. Everything means everything. But always remember and don't forget your goal. What is my goal?"

Just like shopping at the mall. You never forget why you are there. Are you buying a nice dress? You do that right away, especially if you have a time limit, and then if you have extra time, you do other things. You achieved your goal.

The same way we came to this planet. We must remember our goal.
It's a big mall, everything is here, but always keep in your mind your goal.
If you remember that, then you will achieve it. You will fill your bag with what you want and be able to enjoy your life deeply.
But if you fill your bag with other things...

Your "glass" will be full, and you'll run out of time to get anything else...

So we must practice.

Can I play tabla like Dada? Not without practice.
Can I sing like Baiji? Not without practice.

No time? We always make time to feed our belly. We just open the refrigerator and eat.

Why don't we make it a priority to feed our soul?

Buddha and the Three Questions

As Gautam Buddha and his disciples visited a village, a man approached Buddha and asked, "Does God exist?"

Buddha replied, "No, Absolutely not." 

In the afternoon, another man came to him and asked, "Does God exist?"

Buddha replied, "Yes, of course." 

Later in the evening, yet another person asked him, "Does God exist?"

Buddha did not answer; he just kept silent and closed his eyes. 

On seeing this, the man did the same. 

Then something transpired in the silence: the man suddenly smiled and looked at Buddha with tears in his eyes, then touched Buddha's feet and said, "You are the first and only person who actually answered my question." The man left with a heart full of gratitude.  

One of Buddha's disciples was flabbergasted. "Master, I have been with you the whole day, and I heard you give completely different answers to those three people who asked the exact same question. It's left me very troubled!"

Buddha said, "Why are you troubled, those answers were not for you, they were for them! My answer had nothing to do with God, and everything to do with the questioner. 

"The first man who came was a theist, a believer, the second man who came was an atheist, and the third was an agnostic."

"To the person who believes in God and asks if God exists, I will say no because I want him to drop his idea of God, I want him to be free of his idea of God -- which is borrowed. He has not yet experienced God. If he had experienced he would not have asked me; there would have been no need.

"And if he was trying to find confirmation for his belief, I had to deny just to destroy his belief, because all beliefs are barriers to knowing the truth. Theist or atheist, all beliefs, Hindu or Christian or Mohammedan, all beliefs are barriers.

"As for the atheist? The person who does not believe in God also had a belief that needed to be broken. Else he would never start to search the truth, and will only accept his belief as truth. So I said yes in challenge to that, which gave him somewhere to go. 

"And the person with whom I remained silent was the right inquirer. He had no belief, hence there was no question of destroying anything. I kept silent, which was my message to him: Be silent and know. Don't ask, there is no need to ask. It is not a question which can be answered or that the intellect can address - intellectual answers are available very cheap. It is not an inquiry but a quest, a thirst. Be silent and know.

As you witnessed, he looked within and knew. He needed something existential -- he needed a taste. I gave him a taste."

Lose These Things