"You are a sitting misery, walking misery, talking misery, living misery." - UG

    

    

    As humans, we live and function in a complex environment. Firstly, there is the natural, physical environment we share with all living creatures, and then there is the superimposed layer atop the physical - the cultural environment, unique and peculiar to humans.

    The body's native or inbuilt biological apparatus is hardwired over millions of years to live, function and survive all kinds of threats in the physical or natural environment.  

    The cultural environment, on the other hand, is rooted in thousands of years of human thought, since the dawn of human society. The cultural layer, as such, is referred to as the 'thought sphere' by UG. It is the 'psychological universe' or the 'mental realm' of social traditions, relationships, transactions, norms, values, isms, beliefs, ideals and goals. UG called it the 'superimposed reality' or the 'only reality' in which we all live, breathe and die.

     What Krishna, Rama, Lao Tzu, Buddha, Socrates, Moses, Jesus, Mohammed or Marx or Hitler (UG added Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse to the list) said or did, have all impacted the collective human consciousness, and is part of our culture. The culture, per UG, percolates our biology. Science is probing this fascinating phenomenon of transmission of culture through genes, the study of 'epigenetics'.

    Every thought of ours is borrowed from the 'thought sphere'. We see, hear, think and act as per its dictates. Right from birth, we begin to siphon off tons of thoughts, experiences, artifacts and beliefs that belong to the whole human race or the 'thought sphere'. 

    One of the most powerful, persistent, intimate, stubborn, die-hard belief among all the borrowed beliefs, is the belief in the 'I' or the 'self', foisted upon us by culture. 

    Culture therefore is the crucible where the 'self' gets forged, then maintained or perpetuated through the mechanism of social algorithms or memes. In fact, every social transaction validates and legitimizes the belief in the 'self' or the 'I'. 

  Every walking human is like a 'thought bubble' on the surface of the 'thought sphere'. Individually, we as thought bubbles affect the others, and in turn, we too get affected. All social transactions or contracts are exchanges between two thought bubbles. 

" We are affected by everything and everyone around us." ~UG

    Thoughts dominate and dictate our lives.

" You can't even take a few steps without 'talking' or 'muttering' to yourself - 'this is a nice flower', 'it is a bright day' and so on... All the time you are thinking." ~UG

    While thoughts could be sporadic, episodic, focused or contextual, the 'solidification' or 'institutionalisation of thoughts' happens through the medium of the 'human collective' or the 'society'. 

    'Society' and 'self' are thus basically the manifestations of the self-same 'thought sphere', the obverse and reverse of the same coin. The two are perceived as distinct and separate due to the dualistic nature of social or cultural contracts like marriage etc. But the mental stuff or the substrate is the same! 

    Survival of the 'self' therefore happens to be the survival of 'society' and vice versa. Society will continue to propagate the big lie about the 'self', and the 'self' about the society, to ensure the artificial duality and mutual continuity. 

    A glaring example, right in front of our very eyes, is the transformation of a 'culture-free' infant, unaware of its own gender, into a full blown, 'self-sufficient' adult in the social world, fully capable of exercising 'his' or 'her' own will. 

    This is nothing short of a masterly 'simulation' (Maya) of the 'self' by the all-powerful, cultural environment. At least this is how the Eastern sages like Sri Sankara, Sri Ramana or UG see the workings of the 'superimposed reality' or 'thought sphere' in conjuring up the 'I' or the 'self'. They ask us to inquire into this sham reality and get over with it.

    UG and Sri Ramana Maharshi addressed the die-hard misconception about the 'self' being perceived as a separate and distinct entity from 'society'. 

    When someone queried Sri Ramana whether he should continue his non-profit, providing services to 'others' in the Americas, he responded with a poignant, "Who are the 'others'?" 

    On similar lines, when someone spoke of serving society, UG too observed, 

" Where is this 'society' you are talking about? 'You' are not different from, or other than 'society'. You' are the society." 

    Here lies the fundamental human problem, the painful act of straddling between two different, distinct, conflicting worlds, the biological (physical or real) and the psychological (mental or virtual). 

    UG, after his 'calamity' (death and resurrection), went about his business of cutting to the bone by brushing aside all kinds of social or spiritual authorities, and value systems. For him, all these were all noise and fluff. They are distracting and sidetracking us from the real problem of human restlessness and misery. 

    UG tracks down the origins of our neurotic situation to the constant friction between the physical and the mental worlds. The friction, he says is dissipating huge amounts of life energy, draining away all our vitality and vigour. 

    In this clip, UG makes it clear that 'wanting to end friction', in fact, causes even more friction due to overthinking, ("Wanting and thinking always go together") wrecking the inner peace and compounding the existing misery.

" It is very difficult to understand that (you have) to be free from the very demand to be free." 

"You will not get anything from anybody to be at peace with yourself.

All this is (only) disturbing the peace that is already there." ~UG

    

****

Audio Clip

(87-UG TALKING ABOUT VALENTINE JAN 1987-AUDIO - YouTube)   

Audio Transcription

UG: You will not get anything from anybody to be at peace with yourself.

All this is disturbing the peace that is already there.

Your idea of peace is altogether different.

Q: How would it look like if you had no ideas about it?

UG: So, you have to live with your ideas and suffer.

That's all. There is no way out for you. If somebody says there is a way out, go there and stand on your head, hang from the tree, or meditate, do what you like.

But the misery continues. 

There is another (new) misery.

Q: What do you call misery?

UG: Do I have to tell you?

Yes.

UG: Do I have to tell you?

You are miserable.

That's why you are looking your way out.

You are a sitting misery, walking misery, talking misery, living misery.

You want to be out of that.

Get out of that. Whatever it is, you don't call it misery. Call it by whatever name you like. You are choked. What is it that is choking you?

What is it that is killing you? Destroying the very thing that you want.

All that human value, all the good things that you want to be.

The freedom. You want to be free. It is that that is killing you.

You don't seem to understand this simple thing. 

It is very difficult to understand that (you have) to be free from the very demand to be free. 

That's all that you have to do. It's not easy.

****

" That's all that you can do. Replace one illusion with another illusion." - UG

    

    In this clip UG exorcises the two ghosts that constantly haunt us, the 'ghost of restlessness' goading us to seek permanence, and the 'ghost of understanding' frustrating us with its flawed pursuit of life and mysteries through mechanism of thinking.  

    We all are disturbed, frustrated, restless and burdened with a myriad problems in our lives. UG calls them, 'the problems of living' - the problems of fitting into the cultural framework, living up to its ideals, achieving its goals, negotiating conflicts and frictions born in relationships like hatred, jealousy, anger, fear, frustration etc. 

    As humans we have placed a huge premium on 'understanding' - understanding of problems.' Through understanding of problems, we believe that we can get a real handle on problems and gain control over them.

    Well, our faith in the 'instrument of understanding' is not completely misplaced as the understanding of nature has given us the awesome science and technology resulting in human progress.

    Understanding takes many forms - the ability to know or learn, the ability to see or recognise causes or sources, to verify and validate facts, and build structures of knowledge based on observable, proven or established facts. 

    " That (understanding) is the only instrument you have... it's a very, very useful one. Very useful one to deal with the reality of the world." -UG

     But what is good for the goose may not be good for the gander.  

    Understanding may be a great tool in dealing with the problems of the transactional world (learning a technique, finding a job, buying property, investing, planning, building, fixing a machine etc.) but is utterly futile in dealing with 'problems of living' with other human beings or in society.

    These 'hard' problems of living frustrate us, make us restless and compel even the best of us to abandon reason and discretion. They make us desperate and push us to seek solutions from unknown or risky sources. 

    And there is a booming spiritual marketplace ready and replete with all types of shady characters (market gurus) to cater to the never-ending demands of desperate, lost souls. Promise of solutions ranges from the exotic to the esoteric, from Tantrik sex to Vedanta as antidotes to frustration, restlessness etc.

    UG rubbishes all our attempts to find a way out of our restlessness or frustration by a reality check about the impermanent nature of life. The greed in seeking permanence in an impermanent reality is the crux of all our problems. 

    We seek permanence in everything- we want permanent happiness (UG calls it the notion of God), permanent relationships, permanent loyalty, permanent reputation, permanent solution etc.  But people change, situations change and problems change. Everything is in a flux, making solutions and answers redundant and meaningless in no time.

    In this uncertain, ever-changing reality, we seek 'permanence' through search and seek 'meaning' through understanding. 

    We feverishly chase after one guru after another. Once we discover some guru or solution, we find that that is not really enduring and soon get disillusioned, we then move on to another guru, another solution, and on and on, becoming totally restless.     

    The greed for solution makes us blind to the problem and keeps it going. As long as we refuse to see the total and complete futility of seeking permanence in an ever-changing, impermanent world of names and forms, our search will never end.

    UG debunks the myth of 'search or seeking' that keeps replacing one goal with another, and also the myth of 'understanding' that is totally misleading and frustrating, 

    "That's all that you can do. Replace one with another. Replace one illusion with another illusion. One restlessness with another restlessness."

    "And you will remain in the same situation for the rest of your life as long as you try to understand something and act from that understanding."  

    ****  

Audio Clip  

Audio Transcription    

UG: I knew some of those fellows who are (with) Mr. Rajaneesh for years and years. 

    I told the story. He also knows.  And before he came into contact with me, he had a very big painting of Rajanesh of the size of this wall. And then you see, in the same place, the same size photo of UG is there now.

    And what happened to Rajneesh? He put it there in the attic somewhere. That's all that you can do. 

Q: I did the same. Exactly the same. You are now in my house.

UG: Yes. So, what for? It's like all these Americans, you know, the wife changes, you see, all the photos, they're badly messed up. Everybody goes in the office -he has a new wife, new wife's brother, sister, all the new photos. That's all that you can do. 

    Replace one with another. Replace one illusion with another illusion. One restlessness with another restlessness. 

    You try to understand that. Now you want to understand. You are in the same situation. And you will remain in the same situation for the rest of your life as long as you try to understand something and act from that understanding. 

    No. So, there is nothing to understand. That's all that I am saying.

    How this dawned on me, occurred to me, I really don't know. So, I cannot help you. This is something which I cannot. This is the way I have come to the understanding that there is nothing to understand.

    You see. So, it is not that way you can understand anything. That's the only instrument you have. There is no other instrument, no intuitive understanding, nothing.

    You see that instrument has not helped you to understand the living problems, the living issues you are dealing with. And it will not help you at all in the future. And there is no other instrument. There is no other instrument. 

    That's the only instrument you have. If that is not used for that purpose, it's a very, very useful one. Very useful one to deal with the reality of the world.

****

" The whole of your being is that question 'how'." -UG

    

    In this intense, penetrating, high-energy audio clip, UG shines light on the very nature of inquiry, calling attention to its incredible and unfathomable depths. 

    Any serious 'inquiry' or 'search' or 'exploration', according to him, encompasses not only the intellectual (or psychological) but also the little-known physical or the biological dimension. 

    The psychological and the biological seem to be intricately intertwined, way beyond our wildest imagination, or deepest comprehension.

    All serious spiritual search revolves around the 'how'? 

    'How' to know life? 'How' to realise God? 'How' to attain enlightenment? 'How' to achieve Samadhi? 'How' to overcome anger? How, how, how?  

    We have tremendous investment in the 'how'. Why not? 'How' is the magical key of the scientist that has unlocked the myriad mysteries of nature. 

    No wonder we try to deploy the same 'how' to know or understand life, to resolve problems of living, problems of anger, of hatred, jealousy etc. 

    UG clinically and surgically dismantles the little-known aspects of 'how':

    " That question 'how' is there in every cell in your body, in every nerve in your body. 

So, the whole of your physical organism is involved. 

'How' has no answer (but) that 'how' itself is the redeemer, you understand?

So, it cannot move, it cannot split itself into two. 

That (how) is the question of all questions. 'How' can I understand, 'how' can I resolve this problem?"

    UG goes further: 

It is not just asking an intellectual question 'how'. 

The whole of your being is that question 'how'.

It is not just asking an intellectual question 'how', but that 'how' is the whole of this mechanism.

So, then it has GOT to find an answer, if there is any answer!

    It is really fascinating that the 'how', a mere thought or intellectual pursuit could penetrate biology affecting the chemistry or nature of the body. No wonder UG constantly reminds us that 'thought is nothing but matter.'

****

    Knowledge, UG explicates, is not merely intellectual or physiological but visceral or physical. Knowledge or memory gets embedded into the physical cells is well known to science but is still getting explored. 

    Importantly UG explains that knowledge spawns the delusion of the 'self': 

"What you call 'self' or whatever name you give it, is created by the knowledge."

    While UG asserts that the process of 'knowledge getting embedded in the physical' is real, he maintains that its reverse process or 'the throwing away of knowledge from cells' too is a physical phenomenon. For UG, the death of cells or the death of the body is the way the organism gets to 'throw out all acquired knowledge'. 

   " So, the ending of knowledge is the 'death'. 

That is why death is a very important thing. 

Unless you die, you cannot understand anything. 

That death is not a psychological death but a physical death because the physical body is involved." - UG

  UG avers that even after physical death, (not suicide but a natural happening as in his case, not through any will or volition) there is a likely chance of 'resurrection' again as happened in his own case and other individuals like Sri Ramana etc. 

    This phenomenon is seen in only in a handful of individuals over centuries and the chance of this rare occurrence is 'one in a billion'. 

   UG maintained that there are very few 'serious' individuals who try to intensely pursue the question of 'how' to its logical end. He puts the great scientists like Einstein in that category who relentlessly explored the workings of nature. Any serious search, unbeknownst to us, could penetrate the realm of the physical and may not remain mere intellectual inquiry anymore. 

    UG, in no uncertain words, warns us that any deep inquiry could seriously affect the nature or chemistry of the body, sometimes even leading to pathological disorders. There is a clear danger in any serious search or pursuit, especially of spiritual goals: 

    "You either flip or fly, and the chance of your flipping is high." - UG.

****

    

Audio Clip

(Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SetGGxUwMZA)

Audio Transcription

The 'point' ('centre' or 'I' or the 'self') is the most important thing.

Without that (the 'centre'), you see, there is no 'circumference' (there is no 'world' to experience).

You are all the time moving on the circumference, trying to reach the centre. But if this is knocked off, there is no point (or centre), there is no (more) circumference.

Say, we have lost the bearings.

So, this (the point or centre) is the most important thing!

Is the 'point' there? The 'self' or whatever you want to call it, the 'I', the mind or psyche, use whatever word you want. So, that itself is questionable. 

Because whatever you experience, what you call self or whatever name you give it, is created by the knowledge. 

So, what is there is only the knowledge and nothing else!

I am not using the word in the Vedantic sense, (but as) the knowledge about yourself and the knowledge about the world around you.

So, it is that that you are fighting, so the ending of knowledge is the 'death'.

That is why death is a very important thing. Unless you die, you cannot understand anything. 

That death is not a psychological death but a physical death because the physical body is involved.

It is not just going to happen like that.

So, the whole of your physical organism is involved.

'How' has no answer (but) that 'how' itself is the redeemer, you understand?

So, it cannot move, it cannot split itself into two. That (how) is the question of all questions. 'How' can I understand, 'how' can I resolve this problem?

So, unless you reject completely and totally any help from outside agency, however extraordinary it may be, you cannot proceed at all.

You can't say, I reject this, that is nonsense, this is nonsense, this is absurd, that is absurd. You cannot say that. 

The outside agency you are talking about, is there inside of you.

That question 'how' is there in every cell in your body, in every nerve in your body. 

This is all the time trying to say that how is not going to disappear just like that. When that how disappears, it blocks every gland, every nerve, every cell in your body.

It is not just asking an intellectual question 'how'. 

The whole of your being is that question 'how'.

It is not just asking an intellectual question 'how', but that 'how' is the whole of this mechanism.

So, then it has GOT to find an answer, if there is any answer!

" If the thought remains one, without splitting into two, that does the trick! " - UG

    The question of 'how' has been instrumental in plumbing the depths of nature and revealing to us the many secrets, giving us science, technology and also driving the human progress. 

    'How' propagates reductionism and science, is the golden key to all our knowledge. 

    UG in this penetrating discussion (see the audio clip below) points out that the same 'how' is also responsible for creating the illusion of 'duality', the artificial division between the 'question' and 'questioner'. 

    " The question you are asking 'how' is NOT separate from the questioner when the question 'how' remains as one, without splitting itself into two, splitting itself into two means - 'the questioner' and 'the question'. "- UG

   As the instrument of inquiry, the 'how' fabricates the artificial division or split in the inquiry (thinking) by creating the 'questioner' (thinker) as an illusory entity different from the 'question'(thought). 

   "So, when once it dies to this duality (thought splitting into question and the questioner), what is there is an immortal thing, not that there is something which becomes immortal, but life is immortal because it has no beginning, it has no end." - UG 

****

Audio Clip (Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SetGGxUwMZA)

****

Audio Transcription

    UG: This body is not an isolated point in the totality of the electromagnetic field.

    What creates or what gives you the impression that it is an isolated point is because the thought is creating an isolated point there (as the ‘I’ or the ‘self’). It is separating, you see, from the totality of the things.

    And so, the idea of integrating these two things, to me, has no meaning, you see. It is already an integrated unit.

    So, what you are trying to do is to separate yourself from that (thanks to culture that brands ‘you’ and maintains ‘you’ throughout as an independent identity) and then try to integrate these two things.

    Q:  No, no. You see, the gist of what all I have understood is, our thoughts, our knowledge, our trying to do certain things in some beliefs is the one that is causing the separation, and we have to do away with it. No, but the thing is, how to go about it? You see, that is where...

    UG: The question ‘how’ is the stumbling block, you see, that is a very, very clever thing, you know. It is only interested in continuity.

    So, when you come to a point where you think there is an impasse, you ask the question, ‘how can I break through this impasse?’

    So, the how implies continuity, that is the basic question, the how, the why and what.

    These are the three basic questions. You always put these questions to yourself, how, why and what.

    And wait for an answer for these questions, either from within or from outside.

    So, when this ‘realization’ or whatever you want to call it, dawns on you that no outside agency can be of any help to find an answer for your questions, the helplessness that you feel because of your dependence on outside agency also goes with it.

    Q:  I was only thinking, you see, when the child just has to know how to step, you are going to give that free wheeler. Once it starts walking it has no use. (UG:  I know all the similes.) So, I was thinking, you see, maybe there are certain things which are means to an end, but if you entirely depend on that, you would really depend on that totally and you can never depend on it.

    UG: The very question which you are asking, ‘how’ means time, you see, I don't know. 

    The time, because the questioning mechanism there has come into being in the course of time, you know, in the course of time. So that cannot conceive of the possibility of finding an answer or a solution for the question except in terms of time, you know. 

    If there is no answer to that question ‘how’ then the how cannot stay there.

    It is that how I was talking about that one thought, if it remains as one, without splitting itself into two, then that does the trick.

    Nobody has any answer for that question.

    You have to come to that point, the outside agency cannot help at all because the answers given by others or by me or by anybody, those are not the answers. Otherwise, the question wouldn't be there.

    This is what I am trying to emphasize.

    So, they are not the answers. When they are not the answers, how can this question remain there?

    So, you don't brush aside those answers, reject those answers because you are rejecting the man (or guru or guide or scripture) who has given the answers, you see.

    The authority of some scriptures which you have taken for granted is in jeopardy.

****

    The question you are asking 'how' is not separate from the questioner when the question 'how' remains as one, (that's all that I am talking about) without splitting itself into two, splitting itself into two means - 'the questioner' and 'the question'.

    So, the how demands time.

    Because you don't know, if you knew you wouldn't ask that question. They are so interrelated. 

    So, is there anything that you can do to prevent this separation and the isolation?

    There isn't anything that you can do through any volition of yours, that's all that I am saying.

    So, it is there that the 'luck', I use the word luck not in the general sense of the word, some strange chance.

    That is the duality that I am talking about, not the soul and the other.

    So, when this comes to an end, that is the end.

    The immortality that those Upanishads talked about, I don't want to use it because you think that I am interpreting.

    So, when once it dies to this duality (thought splitting into question and the questioner), what is there is an immortal thing, not that there is something which becomes immortal, but life is immortal because it has no beginning, it has no end.

    But the thought has a beginning, and it has an end.

****

" You have to live in this world " - UG

Many of us deem 'enlightenment' as the silver bullet, the cure-all, the ultimate panacea for all our mundane problems or the problems of human relationships.

UG, in his uncanny way, points out that search for any solution (enlightenment) is the real problem as it siphons off all our energy and resources away from getting to know the real problem.

The constant worry, the anxiety, the fear and restlessness are all consequences of our neurotic preoccupation with uncertain, unknown (projected) problems of the future. 

We love to hate uncertainty and we erroneously believe that we ought to be prepared for any eventuality in the future.  Our waking hours are relentlessly spent in thinking about anticipatory problems and their imaginary solutions.

Because we are able to solve many a technical or transactional problem, we tend to mistakenly believe that we could easily solve all human or living problems.

Firstly, UG goes about shooting down our obsession with imaginary problems,

" What are the problems?

You don't have any problems there."

Consider the case of anger. When something is being denied to us, or something is being snatched away from us, we get angry with some explosive reaction. 

"Anger is a tremendous outburst of life energy" - UG 

We later begin to regret our action and look for some means to control anger in the future. Sadly, we are not at all concerned about the underlying cause of anger. 

We never see that it is our ambition, our pursuits, possessions or investments that are the root cause of the 'anger' problem. 

We keep chasing after all kinds of wrong solutions instead of getting a handle on the real problem. We focus on anger that is a mere symptom of the underlying disease which is much more deep rooted - our craving or attachment or possessiveness. 

'How to control anger?' is our biggest problem, and not ' Why do we get angry?'

We are always looking for some technique or strategy to overcome anger. But that is like the application of the wrong medicine which is worse than cure. 

Anger is a 'living problem' for us. It is a living reality like fear or jealousy. 

We are part of a culture or society that values, encourages and celebrates success, wealth, power, status, possessions, fame etc. When we fail to achieve or attain any of these goals, we end up as victims of anger, fear, jealousy etc. 

UG nails it:

" That is why I am telling you, this is the only reality.

You have to live in this world, and you have to move between the pleasure and pain, happiness and unhappiness."

Happiness and unhappiness are both artifacts of the same value system. 

To be part of the society is to struggle to fit into its framework or value system. It is a constant battle and the cause of our sorrow. We are presented with fait accompli and doomed to live a societal life with no other option.

As UG points out, we have to function in society sanely and intelligently but not  succumb to its dictates by ' leading a life of uncomplaining, uncompromising self-reliance.'

****

Audio Clip

Audio transcription:

Whatever you want, you can get it.

There is no guarantee that you will get it.

You see, you have to work hard (for) anything you want.

But what you want is you want ten different things, hundred things you want, enlightenment you want, you see.

No, not a chance.

You will not get enlightenment, because that is not what you want.

What you want, you see, is the ultimate pleasure, you see.

If I had that, if I am enlightened, that would help me to solve all the problems.

What are the problems?

You don't have any problems there.

That is why I say it is very dangerous, you see.

You want to be free from pain and not pleasure.

You see, if this kind of a thing hits you, it knocks off both.

You cannot be free from pain without losing pleasure, not only in one area, in every area.

So, it is too dangerous to play with that kind of a thing.

It will burn everything.

That is why I am warning you.

That is why I am telling you, this is the only reality.

You have to live in this world, and you have to move between the pleasure and pain, happiness and unhappiness.

All the things are there, and you are doomed.

“ You can’t keep such people under the bushel” - UG

" If there is one (a true individual), you see, (s)he won't be hiding somewhere, you see, you know. (S)he'll be there shining like the star.

You can't keep such people under the bushel. To be an individual is not an easy thing, you see. That means you are very ordinary. " - UG

Ordinariness is the hard way but the only way out of the societal mess, the way out of the burden of pretence or the artificiality of living for the sake of others or society. 

In some of his discussions with philosophers, UG used to highlight the fact that 'becoming' and 'being' are one and the same thing. They both are a psychological burden that guzzle away tons of vitality and energy. Contrast this psychological battle or struggle with children who are totally free of 'being' or 'becoming', no wonder they come across fresh as flowers and full of beans.

To be ordinary is to own our flaws, limitations or weaknesses, it is to be wholly and solely responsible and accountable (total ownership) for all our actions. 

To be ordinary is to reject all external moulds or models, to discard all psychological dependencies. 

To be ordinary is to embrace utter simplicity and honesty. 

To be ordinary is to stop and abandon all attempts at escaping the 'brutal' reality of the world. It is to stop chasing a non-existent heaven or some other utopia. It is to refuse to succumb to all kinds of social, cultural or religious pressures. 

" Wanting to fit yourself into that framework is the cause of your sorrow" - UG

The most ancient and pragmatic tradition of China, the Taoism advocated sages (Taoism called sages - the Real men and women) to never abandon society but to be fully and actively engaged in day-to-day society, silently carrying on activities that are beneficial to humanity.

Ordinariness is tremendously powerful as it directly taps into the vast reserves of life energy connecting the individuals to the source. 

Ordinariness unburdens and heals, restores vitality and energy, bestows sanity and intelligence thereby giving the individual the courage to walk alone. 

The greatest of sages from across ages and lands have led the most ordinary and simplest of lives. Their secret was ordinariness. This enabled them to lead uncomplaining, uncompromising lives amidst the worst brutalities and conflicts of the mundane world while healing, unburdening and empowering their fellow beings.

" To be ordinary is extraordinarily difficult " - UG

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Audio Clip

Audio Transcription

I have been everywhere else in the world.

Seeing people, and so I can say human nature is exactly the same, not one.

If there is one (a true individual), you see, (s)he won't be hiding somewhere, you see, you know.

(S)he'll be there shining like the star.

You can't keep such people under the bushel.

To be an individual is not an easy thing, you see.

That means you are very ordinary.

It is very difficult to be ordinary, you know.

You want to be something other than what you are.

To be yourself is very easy.

You don't have to do anything.

No effort is necessary.

You don't have to exercise will.

You don't have to do anything to be yourself.

But to be something other than what you are, you have to do a lot of things.

All the restlessness you have is only because you think that you must be doing something more interesting, more valuable, more meaningful than what you are doing.

This is a terrible bore to you.

That's all there is, you know.

There is nothing else there.

You see the dog, all the time (it keeps) running from one end to the other.

Why it's doing?

I don't know.

It knows.

It doesn't even want to know.

You acquire so much garbage.

We think we know everything.

The more you know, the more difficult it is for you to be a very ordinary person.

You talk of humility.

You talk of this sensitivity.

You talk of so many things, you know.

How can you be...

How can there be humility as long as you know something?

No.

They can talk of humility.

If you know anything, you see, you can't be a person of humility.

Just to be the ordinary person.

It's not so easy. Because we have psychological norms, religious norms, everything is set there, behavior patterns.

So, you're wanting to fit yourself into that framework is the cause of your sorrow.