09 Feb 2005
Realisation and repeated memorization of the true knowledge is the only solution for this problem. Ignorance is responsible for all the anxiety and tensions. One should know that everyone is riding ‘Time’ (Kala), which is like a running train. Death is the station at which everyone has to get down. Then everyone has to face the Lord for the enquiry. After the enquiry one will either get permanent happiness or permanent misery. The journey of this train to that station is the human life which is only a fraction of second when it is compared to the infinite stream of time set up from the beginning of the creation. To think that life is very long, itself is ignorance. Everyone is sitting in a closed compartment and the realisation of the truth is the window through which everyone should peep to find the stream of the infinite time.
Only on such a comparison does the human life become a small fraction of a second. When realization is absent and when there is no such comparison, one’s lifetime appears to be very long. First one should cross this illusion of time. Similar is the illusion of space. The earth looks very large under our ignorance. But if one realises the infinite space of this universe, the entire earth is a small fraction of a pinhead. One gets a comfortable seat and sits on it thinking that he is settled in the life. Another person is moving about in the compartment in search of a comfortable seat and according to him he is not settled. But when both these people look out through the window, which is the realisation of truth, they realise that they both are moving.
One thinks that his copassengers are his close relatives and is worried about them. But they get down at their respective stations and do not remember this fellow at all. Nobody remembers the relatives of his previous birth. If one realises that the so-called close relatives like parents, wife, children etc., are only the co-passengers who get down at their stations, he will not have any tension or anxiety about them. He does his duties without these two. When one thinks that he is his body itself, he feels that he is damaged by diseases. But if one realises that this body is only a dramatic dress needed for his role in the present drama, he is not worried about the damage of the body. He feels just as if his shirt is damaged.
During the journey in the train one must constantly think about the interview [with God after death] and prepare for it. Then one gets permanent happiness after the enquiry even though one is traveling in a comfortless third class compartment. If one forgets the interview and is attracted by the factors in the closed compartment, he is going to get permanent misery even if he travels by a first class compartment.
Thus, what is good according to the ignorant people is bad according to realised scholars. This world is full of ignorant people and very few realised scholars are present. Therefore the behaviour of a realised soul is criticized and mocked by the public. But all souls will realise the truth after death when they face the enquiry. Unfortunately it becomes too late by that time and nothing can be rectified. Thus, a realised scholar never cares for the public and proceeds on the true path decided by true realisation. Only such true knowledge can remove tensions and anxiety. The path of devotion can make you forget the pain temporarily for sometime. It cannot remove the pain and anxiety on a permanent basis. No other methods like rituals, worships, etc, can solve this problem except the frequent memorization of the true knowledge. True knowledge is the comprehensive outlook of the whole situation which is realised by looking through the window of the train. Ignorance is the limited view inside the closed compartment, which is related to the comforts of seats and the bonds with co-passengers.