To Heal the
Mind Acharya Sri Tulsi Ji Jain Leader;
Sponsor, Anuvart Movement SANT KIRPAL
SINGH JI, distinguished people assembled here, and friends: I am really glad to
be here on this platform where we talk of peace. We must take note that we are discussing the problem of peace on
a platform of religions; we must find out whether religion has got the power to
establish peace in the world. If
religion is devoid of two important principles—sacrifice and self-control
–it will not be able to deliver the goods.
Because we find that even though people cry out that they are religious,
they are religious only as far as their individual circumstances permit. But in society we do not find the essence of
religions. People talk about these things
when they speak on platforms, but even then they are interested only in their
selfish gains. I feel the
mass mind is sick nowadays. It is on account of this sickness of man’s mind
that the whole thing is going in the reverse direction: Where man is
individual, he must become social, and where man is social he must become
individual. That is the difficulty
now. Therefore the necessity today is
that the religious Gurus must come
forward and correct the mind. This
sickness cannot be remedied by ordinary doctors and hospitals; it can be
remedied by the Gurus assembled here. I
have been to a medical college and addressed a hall filled with doctors, and I
told them, “My dear friends, I have come here as a doctor before you.” All of
them were wondering how this man with a bandage on his mouth could be a doctor!
But I told them that doctors are of two kinds:
those who treat the body and those who treat the mind. And today it is very essential to treat the
mind. It is very essential. I have come
here with a mission, Anuvart, which aims at cleaning and purifying the
mind. Before telling you about Anuvart,
I would like to share a few words with you.
The religious heads of today must come forward and set an example of
sacrifice; it is the only thing that will impress anybody today. Religious
heads may or may not be distinguished by the bandages on their mouths or any
other forms of external dress, but they must be distinguished by their
sacrifice. Lord Mahavira Declared long
ago that a head of a religious order must leave two things: one is the sense of
“I”—the ego—and the other is the feeling that everything is mine—the feeling of
selfishness. It is only this kind of
religious leader who can bring world peace today; and I would like to tell you
exactly what “peace means. There are two
important points: the first is love,
and the second is detachment. If we
would develop these two aspects, then the oceans between man and man would
disappear. The selfishness of man is
due to the love that is in him completely drying up. When we become detached
from things, we will be able to establish world peace because we will not be
able to see the difference between man and man. But in our selfishness we sometimes go to extremes, as with the man
who began to cut down the trees in his garden.
His neighbor asked him why, and he said, “They are my tress, but the
shade was falling on your house; why should my tress give shade to you? That is
why I am cutting these trees.” This is the climax of selfishness; but this is
what is happening today in this world.
So we must try to develop a sense of love and a sense of
non-attachment—non-possessions—in order to bring about this peace and this
unity. Ruhani Satsang
and the Anuvart movement are working together for the establishment of
this order and I’m sure our experience and our trial will certainly bear fruit.
Anuvart simply means that the power which is in the minds of human
beings must be developed in such a way that we realize the other aspect of
life. Lord Mahavira declared that it is
not possible for everyone to become a sanyasin; if religion is to be useful and
bear fruit for all people it must be as simple as possible, so that it can be
adopted by the whole world. Anuvart
means through small works, we develop ourselves. Anuvart says, don’t consider anyone to be inferior; rise above
color, creed, race, religion, country, and work for all human kind. If you really want to transform mankind into
good people, you must be really a man; your habits of eating, drinking, and
behavior must be good. That is what
Anuvart emphasizes at the outset. When I was
speaking with Sant Ji the other day, he told me that only after people leave
meat eating, smoking, and other things, are they given initiation. So I told him that he was doing my own work. Without any effort on my part I am getting
ready-made Anuvarts here in Sawan Ashram! Our religious
books have declared that a man may conquer ten lakhs of people, yet may not be
able to conquer himself; but he who conquers his ownself, he is the conqueror. That is what Mahavira said, and I am
repeating it to you now. The man who
has conquered thousands, he is not the conqueror; that man is the conqueror who
has conquered himself. I will tell
you a small story from Rajasthan and control my speech here. A friend was living in a jungle in the garb
of a sadhu. You will be amazed when I
way that even some sadhus and sanyasins smoke.
Some smoke this thing, some another, and they say, “This gives me
peace!” If people think they get peace from intoxicating drugs, I think they
are deceiving themselves. So this sadhu
put fire in his pipe and was smoking.
He thought, “I am going to the village to beg my food; if my fire goes
out I won’t be able to get more.” So he hid the fire in his hut and went to the
villages. Unfortunately his hut was
made of dry grass, and it caught on fire; and the fire spread to other houses
nearby and came close to the village.
People ran helter skelter getting water, and after quenching the fire
they asked what had happened. At this
time the sadhu was retuning, and he was asked, how is it that so much fire has
been created here? Immediately he said.
“Oh my dear friends, I has only a small fire here; I am not responsible for
this big fire!” They asked him where he kept that small fire, and he said, “I
kept it under the haystack!” I want to impress by this story that even the
small mistake that we make is causing great and terrible results elsewhere;
therefore, we must be able to keep ourselves under control. I congratulate
Sant Kirpal Singh Ji for all his endeavors to establish world peace. Let us pray that it shall be
established. And let us also take a Sankalpa,
that is, a dedicated vow that we will not do anything to obstruct world peace.
With that Sankalpa I conclude here. |