They offer prayer. But if they are not aware of that prayer itself, it becomes hollow.
It becomes meaningless. When you say, “Oh my God, you are this, you are that,”
but you are just praising God.
Do you think that He is a politician that He will be pleased with your praises?
Interviewer : Daaji, I wanted to ask this question
about wrong habits, habits which I am trying to get rid of.
How do I avoid these habits?
Daaji : In day-to-day life, there is short
temperament, anger, doubting, jealousy— these are a few things.
Some people, who are saintly, they say, “Oh today, I did not light
the lamp”, or “I did not do the Namaskaram (prostration) before the statue”.
That is the worst thing you may have done perhaps.
There is nothing such a big thing.
Even when people do worship, they offer prayer.
But if you are not aware of that prayer itself, it becomes hollow.
It becomes meaningless.
When you say, “Oh my God, you are this, you are that,” but you are just praising God.
Do you think that He is a politician, that He will be pleased with your praises?
“You are sarvavyapi
(omnipresent), sarvagnyani (omniscient)”, all these mantras (hymns) are being chanted away.
Whom are you fooling?
You do not even understand the meaning of what you are expressing.
So, full awareness should be there with our actions.
When we have done something wrong, are we really aware of the wrongness of the act?
Then something might happen.
We might feel, ‘Okay, I am so weak to overcome this’.
But then, help is always there.
Seek the help of either your guide or God.
And at bedtime, cry your heart out and say, ”Lord, I need your help.” That is all.
We have to say only this much and the help will come.
Rather, even before we finish the sentence, it will come.
But it should be heartfelt; otherwise, it will not come.
Do we really want to get rid of our weaknesses?
If we really want, then it will happen.
Yesterday, I was giving a talk and one idea came up, that
if you have to do a business and you have to choose a partner, business partner,
would you choose a partner exactly like yourself, your thoughts, your attitudes, your weaknesses,
the way you cheat, the way you speak lies,
would you have a similar partner for you?
Or, you might get scared and say, “Not me, again.
I have to do business with myself.” Or in a relationship
would you fall in love with a person exactly like yourself?
You might run away and say, ‘Again yourself,
with so much of weaknesses?’ So, what do we do with our selves?
That is the problem, it is not with the partner.
Problem is with us. ‘How do I change myself’?
? And when I change, the world may not change,
but existence will somehow resonate with us and help will come.
We might start a business with someone, because we have so much of money etc.,
but then we are paying a big price.
Not that all rich
people are bad, there are good people, good and rich.
But that is what the aim is.
We want to be spiritual, as well as materially very successful.
Many people say, “Oh, I do not want to make money.
I want to just retire in mountains or go away into jungle.”
Many good people did that in the past.
They become ascetic, they become sanyasis (mendicants) and they forget the world.
That is why, India is what it is today.
Imagine all good people running into the jungle.
Today, I was enquiring the meaning of this area, Banashankari.
So, my friend was telling me, it is “Parvati, who dwells in forest.” I said, “If
all the good people are dwelling only in forests, what will happen to the world?”
Terrorists will take over. Bad people will take over.
So, if good-hearted persons are there, they can also run a business, ,
they can also be spiritually very successful; it is a win-win situation.
And it is possible.
Being guided by our heart, I do not think that anything greater than that can happen.
Where your heart is guiding you and we are,
at every step, taking the help of the heart.
Even if you fail, there will be some joy in it, because you have done what your heart has spoken.
When we have done against the heart and even if we are successful,
listen to the heart what it says, then see : ‘You have goofed up, you stupid fellow.’
We were successful, but the means we applied were not okayed by our heart.
So, weaknesses, though all of us have them,
we should become aware of them and offer a simple prayer.