people can say a good thing means to be materially prosperous to have good
health to have harmonious interpersonal relationships to have a peaceful mind
and a bad thing is the reverse if that is the definition of a good thing in
that case good things are not happening to anyone bad things are happening to
everyone whether they are good people or bad people just like in a jail everybody
is miserable have any of you been to a jail I've been many times not to get
admitted to give lectures when I first took to this profession of preaching in
the beginning years the first time I went to jail there was a jailer who was
attending my lectures and he said Swamiji you have to come to jail so I
said all right if you are inviting me and that was my first experience it was
a district jail and he put me in front of these thirty prisoners all of them
were morose and their eyes were down they were either miserable or
embarrassed or whatever and I didn't know what to say to them spontaneously I
blurted out are you people are unhappy so they all in unison yes we are unhappy
they thought you know Swamiji is a kind compassionate hearted person and he may
have some magic wand to remove our miseries so I said you are unhappy very
good
they were shocked very good we least expected this from Swamiji he's rubbing
salt in our wounds we say we are miserable and he said very good I said
what is the purpose of a jail the purpose is exactly this that you be
miserable if you are not miserable in a jail when your term is over and the
government releases you and you go out into the world you'll say what
arrangements to make so that I can go back and become a guest of the
government in the jailhouse so just like in a jail house people are miserable
similarly in this world everybody is unhappy let's not say unhappy let's say
nobody is happy that's a fact nobody is happy everybody's got their
own miseries and regrets there was once a person who used to
always fight with God and he would say Oh God why have you written all miseries
in my name so God decided to open his eyes of knowledge
God came in his dream at 4:00 in the morning
and said you have these complaints I've got a scheme for you put all your
miseries into a gunny bag bring it to the sage halt I will meet you there this
person woke up from his dream and he said what a vivid dream this was it was
not like the other dreams It was as if God Himself was speaking to me so he
decided to follow the instructions he put all his miseries into a bag and he
walked out of his house it was still dark 4:30
he found his neighbor's also walking out with one one bag he said what did they
all get the same dream that I got did God give us all the same dream at the
same time that means they're all so miserable I thought they are very happy
by the size of their car and the grandeur of their house and the fashion
of their dresses but they also have their misery bag and their bag seems to
be even bigger than mine I wonder what's in their bag so everybody reached the
designated place they poured into the hall God started speaking he said there
are these nails driven into the walls hang your bags from the nails and stand
by the side of your bag and look at the other bags select the
mag that catches your fancy the lights will go off for 10 minutes in those 10
minutes you are free to do an exchange the bag that you have selected you can
go and stand by the side of that bag when the lights come on whoever is
standing by the side of whichever bag can just pick it up and go away it will
be an exchange lights went off after 10 minutes lights came back it was found
that each person was standing by the side of his or her own bag each person
said let's play it safe at least I know what is in my bag my sugar count is a
little high and my son quarrels a little with me but then who knows what is in
the other's bag whether he's got swine flu h1n1 virus or what does he have so
each person picked up their own bag and walked away and the misunderstanding
they had that I am unhappy everybody else is happy was dispelled that nobody
is happy in this world and why this world is actually like the jail house of
God this is the material realm this is for Souls like us who have turned our
backs to him so those who have chosen not to surrender to God who have desired
to have their own way it is for us souls that this world exists and here if we
did become happy there would be no need for God but this unhappiness this
discontent of the soul from within forces us to keep searching for the true
happiness and this search over a continuum of lifetime's brings us
finally to the feet of God so if we are in this jailhouse of God the material
realm we spiritual souls that means we are not tremendously good people
possibly you can say we are moderately good people so the statement why do bad
things happen to good people needs to be corrected a bit why do bad things happen
to moderately good people so these things happen to make us even
better if we remain attached to material things we would never have hankered
yearned for spiritual joys but when we do not find satisfaction and these
things it makes us look for higher pleasures and deeper satisfactions a
mother does the same the mother wishes to feed her child but the child is so
engrossed in the toys that the child is not interested in the mother or the
mother's milk so the mother quietly has this toy snatched away and when the toy
is gone the child remembers the mother and cries out and the mother comes and
feeds that child or milk similarly we are attached to the toys of the world
the toys of the senses things to touch things today
thanks to smell things to see things to hear the eyes of the mind that give the
mind and the intellect joy and sometimes when these get snatched away we then
look beyond these for hire