We have not cultured our children right from an early age that your identity should be universal. This is something in India. Traditionally, before you start education for a child, there’s something called vidyāraṃbhaṃ, where the first chant that they must do is that my identification is the entire cosmos. Without this, you should not give education to a child—that is the understanding. Because education is seen as an empowerment. You should not empower a person who has limited identifications. Because it doesn’t matter whether it’s of individual nature, or of family, or of community, or race, religion, nation. It doesn’t matter: once you have limited identity, you will cause disharmony. You will cause cruel things thinking you’re doing the right thing.
If you hold the right identity from an early age, if it’s brought into us that your identity is with the entire cosmos—because nothing happens here without everything’s involvement in you. We are sitting on this round planet which is spinning and moving at a great speed in the middle of nowhere. You don’t know where it begins, where it ends, this thing. And look at us sitting here and talking. How many forces, how many forces in the existence are keeping you and me in place on this chair? So there is no way we can exist without the involvement of all this.
There are two fundamental dimensions within you: instinct of self-preservation, longing to expand limitlessly. Both are true for a human being. This is essentially a human problem on the planet. No other creature wants to expand limitlessly. They’re only thinking of survival. Their stomach full—life settled. For you, stomach empty: only one problem. Stomach full: one hundred problems! Yes? All your trouble begins after stomach gets full, isn’t it? Because this is longing to expand limitlessly.
All these identities of religion, race, caste, creed, nationality is: they’re trying to set their own bondage. Because no bondage has been given to you by nature. You’re trying to set your own bondage so that you feel secure, somehow.
Politicians are not another breed of people. A democratic society means: tomorrow, you may become the president of this nation. That’s what it means, yes? If you’re willing to stick your neck out, you may become the president of this country or prime minister of another country. So the politician did not drop from the sky. He is not some other creature. He’s just like you and me. He stuck his neck out, which you and me are not willing to do. Let’s admit this. It’s not an easy thing. It’s easy to sit down and comment, but it’s not an easy thing to try to run a nation! It’s complex, believe me.
If you cannot make your mind peaceful, how the hell are you going to make the world peaceful? What’s happening in the world is just a larger manifestation of the nonsense that’s happening in our heads, isn’t it? If you and me were truly peaceful human beings, do we have to worry about you and me fighting some day? Hello?
Never look up to anybody. Never look down on anybody. That’s all you have to do with life. Never look up to anything or anybody, never look down on anything or anybody. Suddenly you will see life just the way it is.
See, this is the beauty of our existence. In this existence, in this cosmos, we are not even a speck of dust; that small we are. But still, creation has given us an individuality, an individual nature, that we can experience these things. But countless numbers of people who lived on this planet before you and me came, where are they? They’re all topsoil. They have become part of the Earth, isn’t it? So if you get it from me today, you can transform your life. That really, everything is a part of you and you are a part of everything—not as a thought, but experientially—if you can experience everything around you as you experience the five, ten fingers of your hands, then you will see: life becomes tremendously beautiful. Otherwise, anyway, one day you’ll get it from the maggots, but it’ll be a bit too late [of a] lesson. But everybody will get it one day, isn’t it? Hello? When people bury us, we’re going to get the point that we are part of the Earth. Right now, if we get it, we can live sensibly.
That is the beauty of this existence. It is the filth which has become the flower, isn’t it? Yes or no? Hm? It is the filth which has become the flower. In your mind, filth is different, flower is different. But in existence, filth and flower are [the] same. They’re not different! Just different ways of existing. For your nose, filth doesn’t feel good. But if you are a pig, you would like the filth. Nothing wrong with that, because it’s the same thing. Is it the same thing or not? Hello? It’s the same thing, isn’t it? It is just that, in our mind, with our intellect, we are breaking everything. This breaking is only a psychological reality. This is not existentially true.
I told them: “What you exhale, trees are inhaling. What they exhale, you are inhaling.” Once they experienced it, now you can’t stop them from planting trees.
This water, this earth that you walk upon, the people that you see, these are not commodities. This is life, isn’t it? The air that you breathe, the water that you drink, the soil that you walk upon, the trees that you sit under: everything else in this world is life and life-making material for you. If you forget this, you will treat it as commodity. If you experience this—that this is actually what is making your life—then you will see the most fantastic thing about this universe is: everything is one, but everything is separate at the same time. That’s what gives us an experience.
If I say, “I love you,” you will feel good. Maybe it’s true for me and maybe it’s true for you. But it’s not floating around anywhere here, okay? It’s just my emotion and your emotion. Yes, it is nice that our emotions are sweet, our thoughts are sweet, our actions are sweet. It’s wonderful if it is so. But it has only psychological and social relevance. It has no existential relevance. If you want to know life, you have to step out of this bubble called psychological reality and step into existential reality. Then, only, you have a taste of life. Otherwise, you are just a bundle of thoughts, emotions, ideas, opinions, and now I’m there in all that.
I’m telling you: the source of all your problems is you, not somebody else. I’m saying: it’s hard talk.