by Gurani Anjali
The majority of people in the world, being emotionally stressed out and never truly eat. They consume. They consume mass quantities of food. They are polluters, they are wasters. Most people in the world are consumers, producing and reproducing and continuing the rat race. Many people seem to be eating day in and day out, but cannot taste or smell their food. If you don’t feel like it entered your body, then, you’re a consumer. Like food, everything is consumed. Even knowledge is consumed.
Someone with wisdom gives knowledge. But it is all consumed, not lived through. It is not appreciated. Like that, food is not appreciated. Similarly, water is drunk, but there is no drinker there. In reality everything is alive. But people who are emotionally stressed and have a high degree of asmita (I-am-ness), never eat even though they eat. And when they eat, they will say, “Oh yes, this is lasagna. These are tofu cutlets. Oh, this is a very great salad. Look, see how beautiful it looks.” They couldn’t eat it though. They consumed it. Then someone will say, “Oh you did well, you ate a lot. Want more?” “Sure.” For the true eater, one who is truly hungry, satisfaction comes in the first three mouthfuls of food.
Wisdom, understanding and knowledge come to the one who is thirsting after wisdom, knowledge and understanding. It comes with a few words. You don’t have to read volumes and volumes. A few words are sufficient for the seeker of truth. Why? We ask the question, “Why in today’s lifestyle, where there is so much, why are people still struggling?” They are struggling because they are consumers. They live robot-like lives. Doing this, and doing that, with no appreciation whatsoever for the sacredness of life. Every act is sacred to the seeker of truth. Other than that every act is just a show. And the show goes on. So we are looking for the seeker of the truth, the one that will really eat, the one that will really take in the knowledge that comes through all the activities of life. We are looking to stop consuming and truly start to eat.
The Bhagavad Gita and all the sacred texts are so ancient. In years gone by, people memorized them and copied them by hand. Today people are mass-producing these sacred texts, yet few really penetrate them, except the seekers of truth. Find that one in yourself, the seeker of truth. Don’t just eat, consuming food because it’s lunch time. Eat and recognize the auspicious time. At noontime when the sun has reached its peak, say, “Surya, Om Namaste Surya.” (Oh Sun, Om salutations, oh Sun). Then in acknowledgment of this great auspicious moment, eat. It only takes few moments to recognize it in the silence of your being. Then eat. Then you will eat. You will not just consume.
Everyone wants to get something from somebody. Body snatchers. Everyone is grabbing, taking something from someone. All kinds of stimuli around. Just to take, then discard. No wonder there is pollution today. Nothing is held sacred. Few can have a good relationship. Why? Because most are just body snatchers. Don’t be a consumer. Don’t put yourself in that category. Be a true seeker. Acknowledge the auspicious hours. See the tree. Keep the Rta sacred. It is ever flowing and always with us. But the world of mankind is in deep confusion. No one is appreciating anyone. No one is looking to the other as a divine being in time. Everyone is looking to the other for what they are going to get from the other. And so everyone begins to live in fear and doubt. No one can trust anyone because this is the consumer age, the Kali Yuga (Age of Destruction). Unless we stand up like the tree, unless we look up at the sky, the stars, the moon, unless we look at the flowers and the birds and all living beings, unless we take the time to hold everything in sacred respect, we’re all doomed.
This is the Kali Yuga age where nothing matters. What a wretched time we are living in. Yet, through it all, the Rta flows. That is the most precious thing you can come close to. Flow with it. Use your mind. Take out the sword of discrimination. Separate and sever. Use it every day. Don’t just take the nice words, the polite gestures, oftentimes, they are traps. Learn to say, “No.” Learn to say, “I have the Self, and that is all I need.” Then sing the praises. Sing day and night. Let the voice come out of you. Let the nadam (sound) be heard by you. When you sing, open up your heart. Open up the anahata cakra (your heart center), because it has been squashed for too many years. Hear your voice. Don’t keep your lips sealed. Sing out loud. Hear yourself sing. Hear the voice. And if you say, “I don’t know what to sing, I can’t sing. I don’t have a good voice,” just chant om. Let your voice be heard by you, and sing through you. Open up the chakras (nerve centers) so that you can move and feel the freedom that you always have, but gets concealed. It is hidden away because of ignorance coming in the form of circumstances around you which are brought about by people. Look at the person who stands in front of you. Look. Don’t only look, but stand firm in the Self and express the Self.
Don’t get caught up by someone else’s ignorance, even though they may say they know it all, even though they may give you advice. Use your sword of discrimination. Stand firm in the Self. That which is within you is sacred. Don’t do anything to cover it up or keep it in bondage. That which is within you is held prisoner by your actions. Any negative act you do, any form of consuming you do, holds your spirit in prison. Your soul within you is crying to be free, wants to be free. But every negative act done by you puts you in prison, puts your spirit in prison and keeps it there. It is encased in this body, this kshetra (field), this place which is a battlefield, called your body. Daily circumstance is another kshetra; we go through many fields. So any time you are consuming, indulging in foul play—let’s use a detective’s term—you are putting your atman (embodied consciousness) in prison. So consider yourself as a warden that is holding the god within you in prison. How often do we do this? Drinking, smoking, taking drugs; what do these do to the body? The body holds purusha (consciousness). Lying, cheating, doubting and falsehood are constantly being allowed to continue. What happens to purusha? What type of a thinker are you to continue a show like that? Are you worthy? Are you worthy of this blessed occasion that lies within you? Are you worthy of purusha? Om Shanti.