Balance—the Crux of Life

Renunciation is not a sign of weakness that “I cannot cope with this world. Let me flee.” One who renounces life in the true spiritual way is not running away from anything. He is running towards something—giving up all these shackles, these bondages of humanity and seeking, perhaps in isolation, perhaps in a group of similar-minded people, a way out of this world into something beyond, something noble, something transcendental, something divine. That is the purpose which Sahaj Marg is also doing here. This is what we try to do in our assemblies; this is what we talk about; these are the principles, the truths by which we should try to live with all our hearts because just by thinking, we can’t do anything. “Oh, yes, I couldn’t wake up today at six, tomorrow morning I shall.” Tomorrow morning you don’t wake up at six. You say, “Oh, it doesn’t matter.” And then you never wake up at six. And the consequence would be, one day you will not wake up at all. In the Mahabharata there is a famous scene where one man says, “I have all the time in the world.” And Krishna laughs. He says, “I am the one who has all the time in the world. You know how much time you have?” And he laughs and says, “Krishna, you are stupid, you are a maayaavi—you are a magician. You won’t exist much longer. But I shall, you know.”—thumping his chest. And before those eighteen days are out, he is dead. He laughs best who laughs last. He lives longest who is alive till the end, et cetera, et cetera, you know. We are not children to be told fairy tales. We are adults; we must have the guts to listen to what we are told. We must have the strength of purpose to follow good advice and we must have the eagerness, the passion for our goal, to take us there. I pray to my Master to bless you with all these qualities. Thank you.(A talk given by Shri Parthasarathi Rajagopalachari on 20th January, 2006 in Malaysia )