Sanch Sanch So Sanch #6

Satya Vedant, this is one of the great cornerstones of India’s misfortunes. Because of such foolishness India has for centuries been poor, enslaved, trampled upon in every way—exploited and humiliated. Yet we go on repeating our inertia.

What Maharishi Mahesh Yogi has said is nothing but castle-in-the-air foolishness. First, he says his “transcendental” meditation is the essence of Vedic knowledge.

What were the Vedic rishis able to do? If this is the essence of Vedic knowledge, then in the age of the Vedic seers there should have been no need of arms and weapons. But Parashurama—Hinduism’s own avatar, an incarnation of God—roamed the earth with an axe in his hand killing kshatriyas all his life. He destroyed the earth’s kshatriyas eighteen times. If transcendental meditation did the job, why carry an axe at all? One killing mantra should have finished all the kshatriyas. But Parashurama became so joined to his axe that it even entered his name: Parashu-Rama—Ram with the axe.

And if transcendental meditation can substitute for arms and weapons, then what were Rama’s bow and arrows for? Did Rama not know what Maharishi Mahesh Yogi knows? Why did the archer Rama carry such a burden?

And if transcendental meditation could take the place of arms, why did the Mahabharata war happen? Krishna could have simply taught Arjuna transcendental meditation; the affair would have ended cheaply. One and a quarter billion people died in that war. Never before or after has there been such massive violence; what we call world wars look small by comparison. Krishna did not know transcendental meditation either! Why did he incite Arjuna to fight? The poor fellow wanted to slip into transcendental meditation—his hands and feet were shaking, Gandiva slipped from his grip. His weapons were falling away; he was ready to meditate. But Krishna cried out, “Hold your Gandiva together! This war must be fought. It is unavoidable.”

And if Krishna could not change the Kauravas’ minds with the power of his meditation, do you think Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and a few fools gathered around him, chanting “Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola,” will cheaply arrange for India’s security?

This stupidity is not new; it’s very old. Mahmud of Ghazni attacked India. The Somnath temple was the richest of its time, like Tirupati today—piles of diamonds and jewels. Mahmud set out from Ghazni with his eye on Somnath. When he arrived, many kshatriyas offered to lay down their lives to defend the temple. They were ready to fight.

But there were twelve hundred priests in the temple—twelve hundred Mahesh Yogis! They said, “You will protect us? You will protect God’s temple? Have you gone mad? God, the protector of all, who holds the whole existence—will you protect him? He who made you and can unmake you, at whose gesture all happens—will you protect him?” The warriors were willing to offer their lives, but the priests said there was no need. “Our Vedic mantras are sufficient.”

When Mahmud arrived he was astonished to find no arrangements for defense—no swords, no soldiers. Yes, twelve hundred priests were chanting Vedic mantras. They kept chanting while Mahmud lifted his mace and smashed the idol to pieces. Inside the statue were precious diamonds; as it shattered they scattered all over the temple floor. The twelve hundred priests kept chanting. Their chanting did not effect even this much—that the heart of a single Mahmud of Ghazni should change.

Yet the foolishness continues: the same nonsense, the same empty talk. And because the Indian mind has been shaped by these wrong conditionings for centuries, such talk impresses. It feels as if the Vedic seers gave us some wondrous science—no need for arms or weapons! Then why were you slaves for twenty-two hundred years?

How many sages arose in those twenty-two hundred years—Shankaracharya, Ramanujacharya, Vallabhacharya, Nimbarka—none had enough mantra-power to end India’s slavery? Small tribes came—Sakas, Huns—of no great worth, whose names are forgotten today. Tiny bands came and this vast country fell into slavery, because it had a mountain of foolish notions. It clung to them, nursed them on its chest, thinking: this is a holy land, a land of dharma; the gods themselves long to be born here. They will protect it. No one protected it. No protection came.

Even in the twentieth century, such Sheikh Chilli-like talk only shows this country is still not contemporary.

Matter and consciousness have different laws. Meditation transforms the person’s consciousness, but it has no effect on matter. For matter you need science. Science has no power over the inner consciousness, and religion has no power over matter. Understand this distinction clearly. If there is poverty in a country, it will be removed by science, not by religion. If religion could remove it, it would never have arisen. For thousands of years you have been “religious”—how much more religious will you become? You have had Mahavira, Buddha, Krishna, Rama—a colossal lineage of religious men—yet poverty did not go. Poverty will go with science; for that you need an Einstein, a Newton, an Edison, a Rutherford.

Yes, the inner poverty—the poverty of the soul—will not go with science. For that you need a Buddha, a Zarathustra, a Jesus, a Lao Tzu.

Keep the two separate; make no mistake. This confusion has lain heavy upon our life-breaths. It has killed us. When you are ill, you run to a priest, an astrologer, a temple to pray to a stone idol. When ill, go to a physician; seek medicine. When there is poverty, seek technology for greater production. But no, we will not seek technology; we will perform yajnas and havans so the rains will come.

How many centuries have you been doing yajnas and havans—when will the rains come? Floods—puja and reading. Drought—puja and reading. The result of all your ritual has been nothing at all. Unfailingly, your rituals have been futile. If you had given that time and labor to science, you would today be the wealthiest nation on earth. America is only three hundred years old, and in three hundred years wealth has poured upon it. We have been here for ten thousand years, perhaps more, and are still poor. There is a fundamental error in our thinking, a root mistake. It is essential to correct it.

Yes, if someone thinks science will bring peace to the soul, he is just as wrong as someone who thinks meditation will fill an empty stomach. The belly has its own laws; the soul has its own. Eyes can see, ears can hear. To try to see with the ears is madness; to try to hear with the eyes is foolish. Learn to draw boundaries. The inner world has its own law—there meditation is the ally. There deep peace will arise, silence will bloom, bliss will flow. But bread will not come of it, nor will machines run.

Cars will not run on transcendental meditation; they need petrol. Industries will not run on transcendental meditation; they need machines. Transcendental meditation will not bring rain; clouds do not care about your transcendental meditation. Crops will not increase.

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi says: “To free the country from this fear and uncertainty, the government should use our Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi program.”

Tell these naïfs to stop the nonsense. I would say to Indira Gandhi: do not get into such foolishness. In Delhi such fools create some fuss every day. Why do they gather in Delhi? Because power and politics are there. Mahesh Yogi has set up camp in Delhi these months, and the “experiment” of transcendental meditation is on. Why Delhi? The seat of power! And now they think: if a crisis is coming upon the country, exploit the opportunity; don’t miss it—take advantage of it.

They are opportunists, propped up by politicians, who are born out of your crowds—alive by your votes. They are worse than you—and you then choose them as leaders. If madmen choose a leader, they will choose a greater madman; he must at least be a step beyond them.

If there is fear in the country, we need arms and weapons, not meditation. If there is uncertainty, we must build atomic and hydrogen bombs and use all the facilities of science. Otherwise this country will again be broken and ruined like the Somnath temple. Neither Mahmud of Ghazni listened to your nonsense and mantras, nor will Pakistan listen, nor will China. The danger is from two countries—China and Pakistan. Both are advancing toward nuclear capability. China certainly has nuclear weapons, and Muslim countries are ready to finance Pakistan to make a hydrogen bomb. Yet these so-called ponga-pundits tell Indira Gandhi that transcendental meditation will set everything right, remove all fear and uncertainty.

Donkeys like these have trampled this country’s chest long enough. We need freedom from such donkeys.

I accept the power of meditation—its extraordinary potential—but in the inner realm. Meditation will free you of tension, yes. But do not think you will thereby become capable of changing others. Do you think Jesus didn’t have enough meditation to change the hearts of the four men who nailed him to the cross? There were only four who drove the nails and raised the cross. Even those four Jesus could not change? Was his meditation so small? Is Mahesh Yogi’s meditation greater than that?

Did Mansur not have meditation, when the executioner cut off his feet, his hands, then his head? Could his meditation gather no protection? Did Sarmad not have meditation, when in a single stroke his head was severed? Did Rama not have meditation, that he could have transformed Ravana’s heart? This so-called transcendental meditation was with neither Rama nor Krishna nor Jesus nor Sarmad nor Mansur! They could not change Ravana’s heart—why was war needed? Why use weapons?

And what is this “essence of Vedic knowledge” they speak of? Your Vedas pray to Indra: give us strength, arms and weapons, victory over the enemy; grant us power to destroy the foe; fill our cows’ udders with milk. Transcendental meditation would have done it! Even the cows’ milk did not increase! These Vedic rishis are praying—that is the essence of Vedic knowledge? They pray that our fields yield more and the neighbor’s—our enemy’s (neighbor and enemy are often synonyms)—bear no crop at all. Why didn’t they simply meditate? Whoever meditated more would have the bigger harvest.

This is all madness. The time has come—enough already. For too long the ankle-bells have jingled on this country’s chest. Bid farewell to those who peddle such empty talk. Do not let this poison spread any further.

Matter has its laws; matter’s laws are not changed by meditation. Meditation has its laws; those are not changed by the science of matter. Al-Hallaj Mansur can be cut by a sword—but the sword cannot cut his peace, his bliss, his samadhi. Mansur dies laughing—the same joy, the same ecstasy, the same delight. The neck is severed, eyes gouged, hands and feet cut. Never has anyone been killed with the cruelty that Mansur endured—limb by limb hacked—yet the proclamation of “Anal Haq” kept rising. The majesty of meditation remained; samadhi did not waver. The same intoxication and light in his eyes.

And the last thing Mansur did was look up to the sky and burst into laughter. The body is drenched in blood, limbs lie fallen, the tongue is about to be cut—and before it is, he laughs. Someone in the crowd asked, “Mansur, are you mad? What are you laughing at?”

Mansur said, “I laugh to tell God: see, come in any form, I will recognize you. Today you have come as death—you will not deceive me. This laughter is my answer to you. Whether you are life or death, my joy will remain the same.”

The sword will cut the body. Do you think when the atomic bombs fell on Hiroshima and Nagasaki there were no meditators there? In truth, if there is any country today that has gone deepest into meditation, it is Japan. Zen—the purest current of Buddha’s heritage—is alive there. Both cities had many Zen monks; there were beautiful monasteries where people were in meditation from morning till evening. But when the bombs fell, they made no distinction—“Leave the meditators, kill the non-meditators; kill the latter twice over!” The bombs did not see dogs or horses or donkeys or trees; they did not care who had attained Buddhahood. They burnt all to ash.

Those who hammered nails into Mahavira’s ears—could Mahavira not transform their hearts? Did he not have that much meditation? Buddha died of poisoned food. Did he not have enough meditation to prevent the effect of poison? How many examples must I give? Krishna himself died from an arrow. Resting under a tree, a hunter mistook his foot for an animal, shot from the bushes; he was remorseful, but the arrow was poisoned. Krishna died.

Krishna’s meditation did not save him from an arrow. Yet Maharishi Mahesh Yogi—whose “maharshi” status rests on lecturing about Krishna’s Gita—has been seized by this madness! He advises the nation and its prime minister: there is no need of arms; a cheap, easy method—people should do transcendental meditation fifteen minutes morning and evening—and Pakistan and China will have a change of heart!

Do not fall for such insanity. Rama was contending with a religious man; Ravana was very devout, a devotee of Shiva. The story says he was so devoted he would offer his own head. Rama locked horns with a religious man and still could not change him. Will you change China, which does not accept God or soul?

For the first time a nation of atheists holds power. China is the largest country in the world, nearing a billion. A country of nine hundred million atheists—no God, no soul—will you change them with transcendental meditation? The Kauravas, however bad, believed in God, in soul, feared heaven and hell; even them Krishna could not change. And he did not tell Arjuna, “Son, let Gandiva slip—here, take transcendental meditation; this will settle everything!”

“Not only do they recommend TM and the so-called siddhis to save the country from fear and uncertainty…”

What is their siddhi? They have not been able to do a single honest public demonstration. It is a fraudulent boast. What is Mahesh Yogi’s siddhi? That the meditator rises a foot above the ground. Suppose we grant that—then what? Airplanes fly thousands of feet high. Your siddhas will bob a foot up; planes will drop bombs from above; the siddhas will plop back down. Even that one foot won’t happen—if it could, why does Maharishi himself not demonstrate it?

Yes, they publish photos. But that is easy—trick photography. Mere cleverness. A photographer can make anyone look a foot off the ground. Others have done such photographs too—at least they were honest enough to admit it was just photography.

This claim—that in transcendental meditation a person rises a foot—show it. You say millions do TM; raise even a hundred thousand a foot and show us. Leave everyone else—at least you rise and show us.

And suppose you do rise—then what? Even if you rise a foot, or two—how many feet will you rise? And what will come of it? The one who wants to cut your neck will still cut it; he will merely aim his gun a little higher. Better that you didn’t know how to rise—at least you could hide in a bush. If a soldier hidden in a bush practices his siddhi and pops a foot up, the enemy will spot him: “Ah, there are the TM people—fire! Allahu Akbar!” And down he falls with a thud.

And they say not only will this help in war—“the country’s problems will be solved and sattva will arise in the national consciousness.”

What are the country’s problems? Bread, jobs, clothing. How will meditation solve these? Will loaves rain from the sky? Will cloth sprout from the earth? Will stones turn to gems? What? Yes, one thing meditation can do: a person may be able to endure suffering and poverty. And that is exactly what we have been doing for centuries—endurance will increase, rebellion will diminish. Instead of working to transform life, people will sit idle and say, “Fine—hunger is fine, thirst is fine. As God wills! We must be suffering the fruits of past bad karma; now let us do no bad karma, or we’ll suffer next birth.” Consolation may come—but not bread, clothing or shelter. And such consolation is opium; it leaves people in stupor.

They say, “Through transcendental meditation, the essence of Vedic knowledge, sattva will arise in the nation’s consciousness.”

How long ago were the Vedas composed? Even scientific minds grant at least five thousand years; unscientific minds like Lokmanya Tilak say ninety thousand. Five or ninety thousand—Vedic knowledge has been incessantly read and taught; gurukuls ran; rishis expounded—and still sattva has not dawned in the nation’s consciousness! As asattvic as this country’s consciousness is, perhaps none other is. The dishonesty, bribery, graft, fraud, hypocrisy, immorality—where else so much? What happened? We sat smug: we have the Vedas, the Gita, great rishis—we have only to worship their inheritance. We’ll offer two flowers at their shrines—and sattva will dawn!

Sattva does not dawn like that.

And note this: meditation happens to individuals—not to societies or nations. Consciousness belongs to individuals; a society or nation has no consciousness, no soul. Roam all of India—you will never meet “India.” You will meet a man, a woman, a child, an old person—not India. Search for Bharat Mata as much as you like; you will find many mothers—Durga, Kali, Gauri—but not Bharat Mata. She exists only in pictures—imaginary. And if you did meet Bharat Mata, she would be badly maimed—Pakistan cut off, Bangladesh cut off; Burma once part of this land—cut off. If you met her, you would not recognize her: one eye gone, one arm gone, one leg gone. If you found her at all, it would be begging by the roadside—and you would avert your eyes and hurry past.

One day Mulla Nasruddin was walking very fast. I asked, “What happened? Where are you rushing?” He said, “I can’t bear the sight of poverty—just can’t.” I said, “What does that have to do with hurrying?” He said, “A poor man is begging there; I can’t bear it. I turn my face away and rush off. I just can’t stand it. I have such a tender heart!”

Nations have no consciousness, no soul—not even in the sum of individuals’ souls. The soul is in the person. Meditation is personal, neither national nor social. It is the individual’s revolution.

Yes, sattva does arise in the individual’s consciousness. But even that does not happen through the so-called transcendental meditation propagated by Mahesh Yogi. Because what is his TM? Mere mantra-chanting. What you once called mantra-japa he has given a new label—Transcendental Meditation.

What do they do in TM? They give you a word to repeat. For fifteen minutes do not allow anything else in the mind—repeat, repeat: Ram-Ram-Ram, or Om-Om-Om. Repeat so fast that one Om overlaps the next like boxcars in a collision—leave no gap. Otherwise in the gap trouble creeps in—a face peeks in, the neighbor’s wife appears, a banknote lying by the roadside, a thought of which film to see today, or lo! Vinod Khanna pops up! Leave no gap—pile Om upon Om; when there is no space, there is no reed, and no flute will play.

If you keep repeating a word like that, the net result is a kind of torpor. It is a method of hypnosis—self-hypnosis, not meditation. And it can be done with any word; no Vedic mantra is required. Repeat your own name again and again and you’ll get the same result. Repeat anything—just latch onto one word and repeat. Repetition tires the mind, and the mind then seeks a little rest.

Like a child told to sit quietly in a corner—he won’t. And if he sits from fear, he fidgets, moves hands and feet, hums a tune, shifts things around, scratches his head or back—energy is restless within. If you want him to sit quietly, there’s one way: tell him to run twelve laps of the house—run full tilt. After twelve, you won’t need to tell him to sit; he will plop himself down, won’t open buttons or scratch—he’ll sit.

If you want him absolutely still—Mulla Nasruddin once had to catch a train, asked a boy, “The road is long; I must hurry—show me a quicker way.” The boy had a dog. He said to the dog, “Sic ’em!” Mulla ran; the dog after him. What takes sixty minutes took ten. Mulla later told me, “Amazing! The boy didn’t tell me the way—he took me there! He just said ‘Sic ’em!’ and I arrived. The train had forty minutes yet—I rested as I haven’t in years! I flopped in a chair—what relief! What a shortcut! He set the dog on me!”

These mantras are nothing but “Sic ’em!” Keep repeating; the dog is at your heels. In fifteen minutes you’ll be panting and sweaty—and you’ll sit down on your own. Don’t mistake that sitting for meditation. It is only a trance born of fatigue, a brief doze. The mind’s racing stops for a bit. How long? Soon it starts again. It’s a short game. Yes, you’ll have a little respite. That’s all TM gives.

If this is the essence of the Vedic religion, that religion has little value. And rightly so—Mahavira opposed Vedic religion; Buddha opposed it; Nagarjuna, Vasubandhu, Dharmakirti, Chandrakirti opposed it. There is a long tradition of opposing Vedic religion. I am not alone; thousands of buddhas have opposed it—for good reason. Vedic religion is nothing but the pundit’s hypocrisy, the priest’s web of exploitation—how to bind man in new nets and keep him trapped.

So I think, yes—perhaps TM is the very essence of Vedic knowledge.

You ask, Satya Vedant: “Would the meditation you teach and are sharing prove more effective and workable in the matters mentioned above?”

Absolutely not. Meditation has nothing to do with those matters. I want to be very clear in every respect. My meditation will deepen your inner peace, harmony, your inner celebration; but it will not make any big difference to the outer world.

Yes, if many people meditate, the outer atmosphere will change a little—but that change will come because many individuals have changed; their behavior will change, and since many people are interrelated, their outer dealings will reflect that.

But wars will not end because of it. Who will ensure that Pakistan meditates? That China meditates? Mahesh Yogi may create disturbances here in India, and preach his foolishness in America—but who will preach to Russia? To China? There such nonsense won’t be allowed—and the danger is from there. Who in Pakistan will agree to practice TM? And the danger is from there. Who will go and persuade those from whom the danger comes?

If the whole world meditates, then indeed there will be no need for arms—people will be so blissful, who would wish to harm anyone? But when will the whole world meditate? Is there any hope of that? Not today, not tomorrow. The question is immediate. India may be attacked today, tomorrow.

And I believe it won’t be long. China and America are drawing closer daily. With Ronald Reagan in power, ties will deepen. There is a strong possibility Nixon will be sent as ambassador to China; under Nixon, America first approached China, and now Nixon will work from behind Reagan—the face will be Reagan’s, the web Nixon’s and Kissinger’s.

America’s alliance with China will be most dangerous for India, because it is directed against Russia. If they draw very close, India will inevitably have to stand in the Russian camp. Remember, America and Russia will never fight each other directly; they are not so foolish. They will always fight on someone else’s land. If there is a war, it will be between China and India.

And the land China has seized from India—it was not random. It joined itself to Pakistan through that land; in the meantime it has built roads to Pakistan. It captured terrain precisely to connect with Pakistan. Now China and Pakistan are linked. If America and China link, India faces certain danger.

I would tell Indira Gandhi: if you want to escape this danger, as quickly as possible—without getting entangled in empty talk—we must begin building nuclear and hydrogen weapons and new missiles.

And this should be done quickly, because China has nuclear weapons, Japan is far along, and all the Muslim countries are giving Pakistan billions to build a hydrogen bomb. The day Pakistan has it, it will take revenge for its humiliation—Bangladesh’s secession, in which India helped. Do not forget. So revenge against India becomes necessary.

Beware of the talk spread by people like Mahesh Yogi. They are dangerous—enemies. Such naïfs have ruined this country till now; they can ruin it again.

So I warn Indira Gandhi: do not fall into the net of such henchmen; do not listen to such talk. The laws of matter are the laws of matter—they can be solved by science; the laws of the soul are the laws of the soul—they can be solved by religion. Never mix the two, or a great misfortune may envelop India.

Entangled we have remained in hundreds of contemporary problems,
Yet, Taban, we too harbor the longing to build.
Today’s compulsions and constraints have their place,
Yet in our hearts we keep a lovely picture of tomorrow.
Knowledge and wisdom, without the reality of working hands,
We keep dreams—and we keep their fulfillment too.
Lovers who ensnare the moon and stars,
We too keep such arrows in our quiver.
That, little by little, could change the very mood of the age—
We keep that potency in the passions of our longing.
We ourselves are our own killers, we ourselves our own messiahs—
We keep poison, and we keep the elixir.

We are our own murderers and our own healers.

We ourselves are our own killers, we ourselves our own messiahs—
We keep poison…
Within us, there is poison—
…and we keep the elixir,
And nectar too—the panacea. But it is essential to know what to use where. Even nectar becomes poison in the wrong hands, with wrong use; sometimes even poison becomes nectar in the right hands, rightly used.

There is nothing wrong with arms and weapons. What is needed is inner awareness, wakefulness. Then even a sword in the hand becomes a flower. A sword is needed in a hand full of awareness. Yes, in unconscious hands a sword is dangerous. The irony is: the unconscious hold the sword, and those with awareness do not.

Someone sent me a statue from Japan—extraordinary, very beautiful. Seen from one side it looks like Arjuna—sword in hand, its gleam on half the face, the radiance of a warrior. From the other side it is Buddha in serene meditation, samadhi. A sword in one hand, its brilliance on half the face; in the other, a small lamp, its gentle flame lighting the other half. See from one side—Buddha; from the other—Arjuna. It was a samurai statue. This is Japan’s view of the samurai: he should have the meditation of Buddha and the sword of Arjuna.

This is what I would teach this country.

We ourselves are our own killers, we ourselves our own messiahs—
We keep poison, and we keep the elixir.

We need both preparations—and to use what is needed, where it is needed.

Mahatma Gandhi too had such delusions. Our “mahatmas” are the most delusion-prone people in the world. He believed that when India gained independence there would be no need for arms or weapons.

In 1945, before independence, he was asked, “What will happen to the army after independence?” He said, “The armies will be disbanded. What need? The power of nonviolence is such—why arms? We will chant the name of Ram! There is so much power in Ram’s name! We will practice brahmacharya—celibacy—and there is so much power in that; what will we do with arms? We will send the armies home.”

Then India became free—but neither armies nor weapons were sent home. On the contrary, the very Ram in whose power he trusted so much that he thought there would be no need of weapons—a resident of Poona, Nathuram Godse—killed him with a single bullet. He had faith in Ram; Nathuram arrived! What a cruel joke! When the bullet struck he said, “Hey Ram!” He must have been in a hurry, for the end was near; had he had a little time, he would have said, “Hey, Nathuram Godse!” He wanted to say Nathuram, but in haste only “Ram” came out. But one bullet passed through. Where did nonviolence’s power go? A lifetime’s self-power, celibacy, hymns and bhajans—“Allah-Ishwar Tere Naam”—one bullet pierced it all!

I do not believe in such absurdities. Bullets are dealt with by bullets. A sword requires a shield; a sword requires a bigger sword. Chanting “Ram, Ram” will do nothing. You saw Gandhi killed—even then no sense dawns! He chanted Ram all his life—didn’t TM work for him? He recited Ram all his life—couldn’t even a bullet say, “Not here,” and turn back? Could it not have struck Nathuram instead—“Wretch, where are you firing? Here is an invisible wall of meditation!”

Do you think if someone shoots me the bullet will return? Never. It will strike—and should. Nature’s laws are nature’s laws; they have no exceptions.

Give Maharishi Mahesh Yogi some potassium cyanide and say, “Let’s see—if TM and siddhis save you, we’ll concede something.” He’ll topple instantly. Or say, “Let us stab you—if milk flows out, we’ll accept there’s something to TM.”

Meditation has its virtues. Yes, if someone shoots me I will enter the same samadhi I am in now; nothing in it will change. But the body will receive the bullet. The body does not heed meditation; it is earth—governed by earth’s laws. Sit in meditation inside a clay pot—does that mean if someone strikes the pot it won’t break? The pot will break; it is clay. This body is a pot—clay. To protect it, arms are needed.

I want a bridge between science and religion. The East has suffered from religion alone; the West suffers from science alone. Both can rejoice if a bridge is built—if religion and science meet.

Entangled we have remained in hundreds of contemporary problems—
Many people are tangled in the problems of life.

Yet, Taban, we too harbor the longing to build—
Intentions are good; we mean to create—but life’s problems are many. If clarity is lacking, you will get lost in them.

Today’s compulsions and constraints have their place—
So many compulsions, pains, anxieties.

Today’s compulsions and constraints have their place—
Yet in our hearts we keep a lovely picture of tomorrow—
Our intent is for the future, for a beautiful tomorrow. But only by solving the problems of today will tomorrow be born.

Knowledge and wisdom, without the reality of working hands—
Knowledge is useless without the addition of diligent hands.

Knowledge and wisdom, without the reality of working hands—
We keep dreams—and we keep their fulfillment too—
Dreams are fine—but we must also know the art of translating them into reality. We do have that art; everyone does. But who knows how many fools have confused and misled us. Centuries have passed and we still have not awakened. We too have hands, we too have the art of construction. We have intelligence—and we can have science.

In truth, we were the first to discover science. We discovered mathematics—and all science stands upon mathematics. But people like Mahesh Yogi did not let our science develop. People like Mahatma Gandhi made us spin spindles and charkhas and chant the name of Ram.

Lovers who ensnare the moon and stars—
We too keep such arrows in our quiver—
We too have arrows—but they are rusted with centuries of neglect.

That, little by little, could change the very mood of the age—
We keep that potency in the passions of our longing—
We have aspirations and the power to affect others’ hearts; we have great energy for creation. In truth, we possess the greatest energy on earth. Like a field left fallow for long—the tilled fields get depleted, but the fallow field, once sown, yields twice the crop. For five thousand years we have not cultivated our consciousness, not birthed science or art. Today, if we wish, we can create the greatest marvels on earth.

That, little by little, could change the very mood of the age—
We keep that potency in the passions of our longing—
We ourselves are our own killers, we ourselves our own messiahs—
We keep poison, and we keep the elixir.

That’s all for today.