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Know Thyself: Life is a bubble
I have everything and when I am on the top of the world, I get the news that my only child…God forbid… is gone, an accident!! I am not talking about anybody in particular. Well, this happens. Let us not hide facts; these are facts.
So, since we are holding on to something–the idea called happiness–that is so slippery it always evades us and tries to remain out of our reach. Therefore, you hold on to the brief spells of happiness that you have. Is that happiness?
When you want to protect something, when you want to hold on to something that is threatening to run away, where is the happiness? It has already gone!
Possession destroys happiness; it is gone. It is so because when you possess, you have to secure it, you have to protect it and when you do that, there is conflict and then it is finished. There is no more happiness left.
Then, there is this great thing about security. I put up burglar alarms all over my house. Fifteen of them! But it doesn’t work; there is the fear that the burglar might break in and steal my valuables.
So, in this world, which we ignorantly–under the sense of illusion, Maya–think is real, what reality is there actually?
But, nothing can stop time from stealing my life. This is a fact.
My master and teacher, Maheshwar Nath Babaji, used to say: “My dear fellow, when you eat your food, remember that time is eating you.” ‘Kaala!’ time is eating you. No one can stop that, it is moving. You can stop your watch but time won’t stop for you.
You are young, then you become middle-aged, and now you are growing old. A day will come when you will cease to exist. Now this is life. So, in this world, which we ignorantly–under the sense of illusion, Maya–think is real, what reality is there actually?
Isn’t it always like a bubble?
The great Kabirdas sang, quite beautifully:
Pani kera budbuda, as manushya ki jaat;
Dekhat hi chhup jayega, jyon tara prabhat.
This means, human life is like the bubble that appears in the stream. You see it one moment and then, the next moment, it is gone like the star that twinkles. Twinkles! One moment it’s lit, another moment it’s gone.
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