‘Baba, You are so funny.’ Rudra would have tears in his eyes and Baba would chuckle and say, ‘Sab theek hain, bachha, fikar mat kar.’
Come from the centredness of each moment and do not let your reaction guide you for even a second. Be proactive, never reactive. Be silent rather than slander. Be kind, be generous, be selfless and if nothing, just be.
IT WAS NIGHT. Baba, Rudra, Blondie, Boy and Girl took a stroll on the beach. They had just finished with their dinner. Baba had His chai and chillum and now they walked slowly on the beach. The moon was waning but still bright and the sky was clear of any clouds. The sea sparkled and the waves played its music and all seemed well with the world. For a while they walked in silence and then Baba halted and sat down on the dry sand. Boy and Girl ran around while Blondie sat next to Baba and Rudra.
‘The other night you had asked a question regarding the mind, as to the mind never stopping to push the individual to go astray from the moment and what is to be done about this, yes?’
‘Yes, Baba.’
‘Beta, no matter who you are, always remember that you cannot fight the mind. You should not try to fight the mind. Let us take for example that I heat a piece of coal and it’s burning hot and I place the hot coal on your palm. What would you or anybody do? Logically the person would immediately make sure the coal is dropped and you are not in contact with it. Nobody would clutch the burning coal tight and hold on to it. Thoughts are like burning coal and surprisingly most people hold on to the burning coal tightly and then complain that they have got burnt or disturbed or injured by that burning piece of coal. Thoughts that are like the pieces of burning coal can either be discarded immediately when one comes in contact with them or one can hold on and bear the consequences. In reality, it is not the thought or the burning coal that creates discomfort but it is how one handles the burning coal or thought that is going to decide the outcome. Either you chuck the coal away instantly or you hold on to it and suffer the consequences. It is, in reality, as simple or as difficult as this. Whether it’s a piece of burning coal or one thought after the other, how you respond to that situation is going to decide whether you are going to be burnt or you are going to salvage yourself from the situation. Logically you should not want to hold on to the burning coal for even a second. When a thought comes about, we have three options. First is to not hold on to the thought; second is to fight the thought; third option is to encourage the thought. Either you chuck the piece of coal away, or you fight with the coal holding on to it, or you fan the burning piece of coal while you clutch at it. Every thought can be dropped and the mind can be diverted back to the moment or to something else or a chant or whatever it takes you to divert your mind from the thought; simply chuck it away. That is why it is so important to be in the moment because when you are in the moment, the burning coal is chucked away immediately when it makes contact with the skin or the self. The very moment the thought comes up, if one is aware, one chucks the thought away and one is free of the thought. It touches your skin and it is dropped away. You are free of that piece of burning coal the very moment it comes in contact with you. You are free. You are virtually untouched. You are unscathed. So this is the wisest way of handling thoughts. Each time a thought comes to you, you move on. Each time a thought assails you, you come back to your moment or to your breath or to your chant, or to whatever it takes for you not to hold on to the burning piece of coal.’