And I remember, you know, I came to America after the World War.
I got an invitation from - to study with - Frank Lloyd Wright,
who was at that time the king - king of architecture
And we were, within this community, we were about sixty architects and students
from all over the world. That's a very interesting experience,
because some of the people had been fighting on the battlefield
against each other and there they were together: community.
And, on Sunday we didn't call it church,
but we were together - community breakfast - and Frank Lloyd Wright was there.
And after we were... we had had our breakfast, he talked about philosophy, about
architecture and art and so on.
And one student one time asked him,
"What if I don't become a great architect? Then what?"
And Frank Lloyd Wright said, "Well, no problem;
you'll come back and try again." He believed in reincarnation.
And I thought, "Is he happy?"
Because by that time I had read "The Autobiography of a Yogi"'
and "Science of Religion" by Paramahansa Yogananda, and I knew,
according to what he said,
you cannot find absolute fulfillment
in anything in this world,
including fame and all that sort of thing.
And Frank Lloyd Wright, you know,
he celebrated his 80th birthday while I was there and he was still on the peak of his creative ability
and he really...
you... you should have seen: telegrams, letters,
honorary degrees came in from different universities from around the world.
Big celebration! And he was a great man, I mean, great genius - creative. And as I watched him like a hawk...
I watched him: "Is he really happy? Fully happy?
Totally satisfied?"
And one day he let it out:
Still frustrated....
Still frustrated. And I thought, "There!" That was one of my greatest experiences of
seeing that no matter what peak you reach,
outerly speaking, it is not enough!
And then I thought... I had seen in Italy
some of the great paintings of - and particularly - Fra Angelico 15th Century.
And he was a saint.
It was said that when he was painting,
he had tears of devotion.
And I thought, "That's it!
That's it."
He did not seek fulfillment through fame or the beauty of his works.
He had found it in his relationship, his experience of God.
And his work:
He did it as an offering to God, and that's the key: This is how you spiritualize your outer actions.
And doesn't matter what you do, what your occupation is, because if you look at the saints
of the various religions throughout the centuries,
you'll find them in any possible occupation.
You'll find them in any level of the social ladder from kings to beggars and everything in between.
You'll find them among householders,
monastics,
different lifestyles. It was not the outer which made them saints. It was their inner attainment.
And you can...You know, it's very simple.
Whatever you do - most people work for ego satisfaction.
Isn't it?
I, I, I.
And if you do whatever you do,
and once in a while,
you inwardly offer it to God: "I do this for You," because He is the movie director. You know, we are all actors!
If you say, "I do this for You," you spiritualize your actions, you spiritualize your outer activities.