Upon U.G.'s return to Bangalore Chandrasekhar was going through some old files from the "archives", and Nagaraj was sitting comfortably on the sofa reading some magazine when U.G., suddenly inspired, said to Chandrasekhar, "I want everyone who is interested in this kind of thing to understand: all kinds of transformation--physical or the so-called psychological--are out.
When the desire to become something different is absent, then the body is free to function in its own way, that's all. You, the one who is creating the problem, cannot solve it. You continue to ask, "How, how, how, but that `how' is the problem, and the only problem." Then he talked about erupting volcanoes.
"No volcano," he assured us, "ever asked anyone's permission to erupt with fire and fury. And though we would call such an event a calamity and natural disaster, the volcano doesn't. Despite its merciless destruction it still helps nature's aim by bringing up all the raw materials from the bowels of the earth, throwing it upon the surface, and replenishing the land."
U.G. looked like an erupting volcano himself as the words poured out of him with great force. He went on to say that men enjoy seeing one another suffer. "He takes pleasure in sympathizing and feeling sorry, giving it fancy names like `compassion'.
Why don't you feel happy for someone who goes about in a fancy car and has ten houses? But you only feel jealousy." "But," I protested, "We know that very often gains are unfairly gotten...." "Even knowledge is power," he said. "There is no knowledge for the sake of knowledge. `I know and you don't know;' so you want to know more."
We all sat silently listening to him, not daring to interrupt the flow of words coming so effortlessly from him. It seemed that we sat in silence for the longest time, when U.G. erupted again, "Why do you all give such importance to your emotions?
You impute all this significance to your anger, your love, your passion, and your affections. Why? He was sitting comfortably cross-legged on the carpet with the rest of us. He noticed that I was jotting down the beautiful things he was saying on my note pad, but said nothing. "Your thoughts determine your feelings and emotions.
It is thought that gives such importance to emotions, nothing else." The volcano seemed to be calming a bit, and, pointing to himself, he said, "The body here is so peaceful. It is only interested in pumping blood, secreting pancreatic juices, moving its bowels.
It is so blissful in and of itself that it is not at all interested in your so-called `spiritual bliss', your yoga, your divine peace, your moksha, etc." Chandrasekhar asked if the sthitaprajna was a stone. "This is not a stone," answered U.G., "It definitely responds to everything happening around it.
Nowadays science has discovered that a stone, too, is affected by your physical looking." Just then Prashant, my son, came upstairs where we were sitting and asked me if he might watch the video for a while. Before I could respond U.G. intervened: "Yes, yes, of course. Enjoy the music.
There are some good American programs, too!" I said that I was concerned about his eyes, but U.G. insisted that watching TV was not harmful to the eyes in any way because it was in continuous movement, whereas reading forced one to focus on fixed words and letters, a definite detriment to one's health! I was glad Prashant was out of ear range, as I knew he would gladly welcome this kind of advice and make the very most of it, so weary was he of continuous study!
This talk of watching brought us to another interesting point. U.G. continued, "Looking at a rose does not tell you that it is a rose; the things you notice about the rose--its color, shape, fragrance, and beauty--were all created by the looker.
These things are not qualities of the thing itself, but our own knowledge about the flower projecting itself, that's all." He went on to say that man had created God out of his greed. The ultimate greed is God.
A man who is at peace with himself and the world (for they form one unit) would not create a God, and would never ask himself how to find peace of mind. Excerpted from 'the Sage and the Housewife'
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