A tiny creek or a fountain coming from the mountain, flowing down;
its desire is to meet the ocean.
The desire is to meet the ocean.
Such a tiny creek or little stream of water.
Falling down from rock to rock with the dream of meeting its own beloved.
Can it go thousands of miles and reach it?
It can dry up.
But still with courage it is flowing down, what happens?
It met a little bigger river, the bigger river meeting another big river
and the big river has gone and met the ocean.
You think of a river meeting the ocean.
Not far away from here if one walks one can see the confluence.
There is a confluence of a river with the sea.
What is happening?
If you look at a water stream or fountain in the mountain so restless.
If you see the confluence where the river and the ocean, or the river and the sea they are meeting,
the river is much quieter.
It is not so restless.
Because bigger the river more quiet.
And once the river meets the ocean what happens to the river and river water?
I have heard that Amazon meeting the ocean.
That water of Amazon goes some hundreds miles inside the ocean.
It is not the water of ocean.
It is the water of Amazon.
You can see.
It is very distinguished.
If you go to the confluence of Ganga and Yamuna especially in the season like now,
the water of Yamuna and the water of Ganga they have two different colors.
They come from the same Himalaya.
And after meeting if you go in the boat
you can find for a good distance water there is distinct.
It is water of Yamuna and it is water of Ganga.
Then becomes one.
You will be surprised to know
Yamuna is a holy river and once it met Ganga it lost its name.
It became Ganga.
Many rivers coming and meeting Ganga they lose their name.
They lose their existence.
Similarly, the river going and meeting the ocean losing its name, losing its existence,
losing its independence.
“Swamiji freedom is good.
We want freedom, we want freedom”.
Some students in beginning of their spiritual life
they think, “Why to stay in an Ashram?
If I stay they will tell do this work, do that work, do seva.”
If you ask those who are the trainees, if you ask the brahmacharis they might tell,
“Oh, you have to sit in the office and those who sit in the office they have to work a lot.
Somebody has to work for this, somebody has to work for that.”
Those who are staying in Balashram, if you ask them,
“We have to go and take care of the children, we have to teach them.
So many things.
We thought we came here to meditate
and to be realized and why to do all these things?
Is it essential?”
Sometimes people think, “I should stay alone.”
Okay, independent. Freedom.
Remember through so called freedom or independence,
it is my life’s experience, personally and with others.
My experience, this freedom, so called freedom;
in case of young seekers 99.99% failure.
To stay alone, to pray and meditate 99.99% failure.
There is success and the success is .001.
.001 means one in, one in a thousand seekers might be a success.
But 999 out of 1000 failure.
If one has that confidence, “Yes, why can’t I be the one?”
Yes, if you have that confidence, strength, fine.
So, once you have thought that, “I will be a disciple”.
You have to lose your freedom, lose your independence.
As I told you, if you don’t lose your so called freedom and independence
you are not going to experience your ultimate freedom.
How can you experience it if you do not lose?
If you do not lose you will not gain.