Excerpts from Events

From Coal to Diamond [04:42 min] You have heard the word transform? Let me tell you about the transformation of coal. Coal is very dirty. It is so dirty that if you touch it, your fingers will become dirty. It is so dirty that if you are just around it when it is being handled, the dust from it will get all over you and you too will become black, like the coal. That how coal is. You see coal miners come out of the coal and they are completely black.

But, and this is the big but. When that coal is squeezed and squeezed and squeezed, it begins to transform, and it becomes a diamond. Now, lets talk about a diamond. Diamond is very different than the coal. Its clean. You put it in your pocket, and nothing will get dirty. You put it in your hand, it will not get dirty.

And then, if you take that diamond, cut it, facet it, it is such pure form of carbon, squeezed, that it will begin to shine. You can take the coal, a soft piece of coal, and try to clean it, wash it. If you try to wash a soft piece of coal, you know what will happen? The soap will get dirty. Your hands will get dirty. The cloth with which you are cleaning it will get dirty. Everything that it touches will become dirty.

And then the diamond, it is so tough that it can polish other things and make them shine incredibly. This is one of the most incredible examples of transformation.

So, do you have this possibility in your life? I am here to tell you, you do! You do! And that squeezing, I can make that happen. I have this wonderful gift, the gift of knowledge, that can transform you, from coal to diamond.

Beauty of Existence [04:34 min] There is a saying- and I believe the saying exist without accident, that you came empty-handed, and you'll go empty handed. Why is it no accident? Because this is what people have observed, that all you've done, is left here when you've to leave.

The Reward [04:32 min] The joy that you have in you needs to be honored. The love which expresses itself in Kindness, Gratitude. You need to start seeing that divine in a new light. And that light is in your heart. The homage doesn't need to be paid by building a temple of marble, but by a temple inside of you.

Inner Potential [04:29 min] Peace begins with each human being. Olive trees are not looking for peace. Why I say olive tree is because it is the sign for peace. If someone or something is bothering the olive trees, believe me, it's human beings. Left alone, it'll be just fine. We human beings need to see our inner potential. Not so that we can do better work. But so that we can be better at feeling the joy that resides within inside of us, that's why!

Ravan's Advice to Lakshman, brother of Ram [04:29 min] For most of us, we do things, We find ourselves in a trap where everything is faster than we are. And we have to catch. And we trying to catch up with everything. With the projects that din't get done, all the ideas that we have. And don't feel bad about this, because goes back to hundreds and thousands of years ago. It's documented. When Ravan (Anecdote from Ramayana, one of the greatest epic from India) he was the bad, he stole Ram's wife Sita. Finally Ram did him in. As he's dying. Ram sends his brother, Lakshman, saying "Actually he's quite literate, quite a wise person, ask him a few questions."

Ravan is lying there, he's dying slowly. Lakshman comes upto him and says "Tell me how to run a kingdom, what is good, what is bad." And of-course, Ravan stays very quiet. Lakshman comes back to Ram and says "The rope is burnt but the twists are still there. He's so proud of himself that he won't answer!" Ram asked, "No. No. what did you do?" Lakshman says, "I went by his head and asked him". Ram said, "No. Don't go by his head. Pay him all the respect that is due to him. Then very nicely and kindly ask him." So Lakshman does that.

And one of the things that Ravan says is just that "I had so many wonderful dreams. I wanted to do so much good, but I din't do those things. I started doing things that were no consequence. If at all they were of any consequence, they were of bad consequence. I didn't choose consciously the things that I wanted to pursue in my life. And today the result is, I'm lying here. And I've had so many blessings from different deities that nobody would be able to kill me. But here I'm, I'm dying. Because I din't pursue the good. I pursued those things that were of bad consequence."

He talks about his dreams, and his dreams are really big! He wants to convert entire ocean into sweet water so that people will have good supply of clean water. He said "But I din't do that. Instead, I started pursuing, how I could Kidnap Ram's wife."
Stupid!
Of-course in that moment he says "I understand this is stupid, but there is nothing I can do about it now. I wasn't conscious." We're all guilty of not pursuing the good, and pursuing things good for nothing. We're all guilty of that. As far back as that story goes, that has been the case.

Passion- the ultimate love [04:26 min] I have been observing how people use words, and there has been a shift for sure. "love- like". Where the word should be "like", people start using "love". And those are just words, and what difference does it make?

When you say- I love my car- and people start believing that they love their car. You can’t really "love" your car. You can only "like" your car. People say- I just Love gardening! That's my passion. Okay, that's your hobby and you like it. But it isn’t that if you are dying, you will say- No, no I need to be in garden, don't take me to hospital!

When I want to be passionate about something, it needs to be truly real- not just figment of imagination. So what is it- that's truly real, amazing, incredible, not imagination? Not only it does have to be real, but it has to be amazing. Then- to unleash! Passion is not one of the things that you generate. Passion is something you only unleash. You just open the gates, and it comes pouring in.

Every human being has a capacity to love. I am not just talking of love, I am talking of the ultimate love. All the things put in front of it may inspire some amount of love. But the right thing placed in front of it- would make it dynamically explode! Infinite passion- this is every single human being’s capacity.

Stating the obvious [04:17 min] Everything that I am stating is obvious. What is the obvious? That you are alive. This is obvious. That peace that you look for is inside of you. That is obvious. Everything else, in a moment's notice, can change. The only thing that doesn't change is your strength, your beauty, your joy. You, after all, are a human being.

Surprise event at Malibu, California [04:13 min] Do you have the ability to look at every day anew? Yes you do. Do you? No, so, whats the point? Do you have the ability to recognize the value of a moment? Do you? No. You are perfectly satisfied being frustated. You would rather talk about all those things that went wrong. It's a nice point of conversation with your friends, with your family. All the things that happen that are good, no one wants to talk about. It's not interesting. It's not interesting to talk about that you are alive. It's taken for granted, till you die.
The opportunity has been given to you because you have the ability to recognize what is good. So, do so.
If life was a canvas and a bunch of colors, would you paint? If life was a drum, would you play? Would you? Or would you say, I do not know how to paint. Or would you say, I don't know how to play. Or would you say, I do not understand. Or would you say, I don't know how.
I don't know how, is an excuse because if you really don't know how, then you would find out how it takes to search, takes to see, takes to understand that tool that you have been given, the tool called life.

The Upanishads [04:09 min] One of these scriptures written a very long ago, and there is one little thing that I came across. There is a definition of what is knowledge and what is not. Here is the definition. That which brings you the knowledge of the self is knowledge, everything else is "non-knowledge". It takes a little while to sink it. But thats how it defines it. It does not dismiss science. But it says, the true knowing is the knowing of the self. Everything else is relative.

This is powerful. Because then, Socrates echoes the same thing, "Know Thyself." Today, "Know Thyself" has become a little thing they teach in the university. So, they can be tested and you can write an essay from it. The phrase from the Upanishads, hardly anyone knows it. But knowledge as it relates to knowing of the self and the value and the importance of knowing of the self is still alive today. It is being talked about, and being presented as the most important thing and people agreeing with it. Not one or two but hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people.

A Good news in this life [04:08 min] I see in so many people, when they are young, there memory are not that many. Their hope stretch out almost forever. As they over there (older), Memories increase- hopes decrease. Till one day you find yourself with the very age looking all back, nothing in the front. I know I'm boring some of you young ones! That wont happen to me! It will- if you are lucky. What is it that you can see and you can't see. It's like a snail. Snail doesn't see us- coz we move very fast. To Flies, we are like snails! It's all relative. When you are young, time goes by slowly. These are little nuances of life that you have created for yourself. Above it flows the beautiful reality that is timeless. That's the thing that I talk about.