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 Chapter
1
Text 10
aparyaptam tad
asmakam
balam
bhismabhiraksitam
paryaptam tv idam
etesam
balam
bhimabhiraksitam
Translation
Our strength is
immeasurable, and we are perfectly protected by Grandfather
Bhisma, whereas the strength of the Pandavas, carefully
protected by Bhima, is limited.
Lecture
Inspired to
act
The time has come
to start a war with our own character. To do this, we need to
have a certain determination. In our world,
determination comes from materialistic
desires. We see something and meditate on it, we plan how to get
it, we imagine how wonderful it will be to have it, how
carefully we our going to take care of it, and how much joy it
will bring to us. This meditation on happiness in the future
makes us act in the present. As a result, we loose the present
and the future,
because in this world - happiness is just
another commercial idea. Banners are everywhere and they tell us
to buy some
idea. However, despite the commercial invasion and its desire to
prove to us that happiness can be achieved if we buy a certain
combination of atoms, electrons, dirt, and dust, not one
commercial is actually true. Any commercial is just
a lie from the beginning to the end
because it tells us to solve inner problems with outer ways. If
the time has
come to have an operation and remove our appendix; it is too
late to buy new socks or a laundry machine...
Therefore, the
desire to act comes from the person's faith. If we believe in
commercials, it will make us work, but if we
believe the words of the Absolute
Truth, we will get the determination to study our character.
Cleaning and purifying our body and
soul will help us get rid of our suffering. In this world, water
represents the Absolute Truth, and it can take our pain away.
For example, if you have a headache, you can go to bed and put a
glass of clean water near your head. When
you wake up, you headache will be
gone. Pour this water into the Earth and don't drink it.
When a person
looses faith, his desire to act disappears. This happens when a
person is already disappointed in material
existence, but he has not gained true
faith in spiritual life yet. He stops acting and calls this
inactive state transcendental,
thinking that he has achieved a high level of
self-development. In truth, this means he has not even started
to develop, he
is just standing in front of a door with an open mouth, but is
afraid to enter it...
Therefore, faith
has three main attributes - enthusiasm, determination, and
patience. A group of people believed in Stalin and went to
fight for him, but on the other side,
other people believed in Hitler and were also ready to die for
him. So, the two sides fought
because they believed in their military
leaders. Both sides had faith, and their faith lead to war. Why?
Because what we
believe in matters. If we believe in the
Absolute Truth, the result will be completely right. But if we
believe in something
that is doubtful and untruthful; it is hard
to expect a good result.
Where should we
search for the source of our faith? It is hiding in questions
and answers. When we ask a very important
question and
respectfully listen to the answer and advice, the desire to
follow this way enters our heart. Enthusiasm comes
from the connection of two elements:
the words of the saintly tractates and their explanation by the
spiritual teacher.
This is spiritual chemistry, and it is
capable of making the chintamani stone (spiritual enthusiasm).
We can choose one
of two things: either we look for enthusiasm in spiritual
tractates and the words of the spiritual teachers,
or we will have to go back to looking
for life energy in commercials, gossip, and television. These
are two opposites, and
the choice in our hands. Both of these powers
are like fire. Material pleasures burn and destroy all the good
qualities in the person
and turn him into a helpless and poor animal.
Spiritual life burns all the sins of a person and destroys all
his foolish
habits. Which of these two fires do we choose to put fire wood
in?
If we have the
right relationship with the spiritual teachers and tractates,
our desire to keep up the fire of material pleasures
disappears and the enthusiasm for
spiritual development enters our heart. This happens slowly, but
evenly. This is how we can find
out if the spiritual master is qualified. He
can turn our head in the right direction, so that we will be
able to see our
way with our own eyes. However, since our neck is troubled by
spasms (material hope), it's not so easy to turn it. Therefore,
first we will have to undertake a course of massage, which
consists of questions and answers. This is the massage of our
heart and it will certainly bring us to the right result.
Indian Parable
There lived a
person in India, who carried water. He had two big pots that
hung on a special stick, which he carried on his shoulders.
There was a crack in one of the pots,
but the other pot was perfect and always had a complete portion
of water at the
end of the walk from the source of water to
the house of the teacher. The cracked pot had only half the
water at the end.
For two years,
this continued every day: the water carrier brought only one and
a half pots of water to the house of his teacher. Of course, the
perfect pot was proud of his achievements. And the poor cracked
pot was very ashamed of his imperfection and was very unhappy,
because he could do only half of what he is supposed to do.
After two years
of feeling imperfect, he said to the water carrier at the source
of water: "I am
ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you," said the
pot.
"Why? What are
you ashamed of?" asked the person who carried water.
"During these two
years, I was capable of bringing only half the water I am
supposed to bring because the crack in my side
causes the water to leek on the way
toward the house of your teacher. You did this work, and because
of my flaws you did not achieve the complete result of your
work."
The water carrier
felt sorry for the old cracked pot and, because he was
compassionate, he said:
"Since we are going back to the house of my
teacher, I want you to notice the beautiful flowers on our way."
Indeed, when they
were passing a hill, the cracked pot noticed beautiful flowers
on one side of the road. This calmed him
somewhat. But, at the end of the way,
he started feeling bad again, because half the water was gone.
So, he apologized to
the water carrier again. Then, the water
carrier said:
"Did you notice that the flowers grew only on your side of the
road, and not on the side of the other pot? The truth is, I
always knew of your flaw, and I made good use of it. I planted
flower seeds on your side and, every time we were
on our way to my teacher's house with
water, you watered these flowers. During these two years I took
these flowers to
decorate the table of my teacher. Without
you, the way you are, there would not have been such beauty in
his house! |
