Transcription
Regarding the sphere of practice, we have discussed two stages. Body purification and thought purification. Deeper than body and thought is the level of emotion, of feelings. The purification of emotion is the most important element. In the sphere of practice and its role, the purification of emotion is more useful than both body and thought. This is because humans live very little by thought. Humans live more by emotion. It is said that man is a rational animal, an intellectual being. This is not entirely true. In your life, you do not do many things by thinking. More of what you do is influenced by emotion. What you hate, what you get angry about, what you love, all of that is related to emotions, not thoughts. Most of life's actions originate from the world of emotion, not the world of thought. Therefore, you must have also observed that you think one thing, but at the time of action, you do something else. The reason for this is the difference between thought and emotion. You decide that I will not get angry. You think that anger is bad, but when anger grips you, your thought remains aside, and anger happens. Until there is a change in the world of emotion. No revolution happens in life solely by thinking and contemplation. Therefore, in the most fundamental sphere of practice, the most fundamental point is that of emotions. It is of feelings. How can emotion be purified or pure emotions be cultivated? Let us consider this this morning. Among the various directions of emotion, I would like to emphasize four the most. I will talk about four elements through which emotions can be purified. These same four elements, when reversed, become the creators of impure emotions. These four emotions are, first, friendliness. Second, compassion. First, friendliness, second, compassion, third, appreciative joy, and fourth, gratitude. If a person cultivates these four emotions in life, the purification of emotion is achieved. Opposite to these four are: opposite to friendliness is hatred and enmity; opposite to compassion is cruelty, violence, and unkindness; opposite to appreciative joy is sadness, grief, distress, worry; and opposite to gratitude is ingratitude. Whoever's life and emotional state is opposite to these is in an impure state of emotion. Whoever is established in these four is established in a pure state of emotion. Let us consider how our sphere of emotion is influenced and driven by what factors. Is enmity and malice more prominent in our lives than friendliness? Are we driven more by enmity and hostility than by friendliness? Are we more influenced? Do we become more active? Does the emergence of power within us increase? As I said earlier, there is power in anger, but there is also power in friendliness. And one who only knows how to generate the power of anger is deprived of a very large part of life. One who has not learned to awaken the power of friendliness, who is only powerful in enmity and becomes sluggish in the state of friendliness, you must know this. All nations in the world become weak in times of peace and powerful in times of war. Why? Because we do not know how to generate the power of friendliness. Peace is not power for us; it is powerlessness. And this is why countries like India, which have talked a lot about peace, talked a lot about love, have become powerless. Because generally, there is only one way to generate power: enmity. Hitler wrote in his autobiography that if a nation is to be made powerful, then create either true enemies or false enemies. Convince your country that enemies are around, even if they are not. And when they realize that enemies are around, power and energy will be born. Therefore, Hitler created completely false enemies, the Jews, who had nothing to do with anything, and for 10 years he propagated and convinced the entire country that Jews are enemies and one must be protected from them, and power was generated. All of Germany's power was born from malice. All of Japan's power was born from malice. Today, all the power of Soviet Russia or America is based on malice. So far, human history only knows how to generate the power of enmity. We do not know the power of friendship. Mahavir, Buddha, and Christ laid the first foundation of the power of friendship. And what they said, "non-violence is power," or Christ said, "love is power," or Buddha said, "compassion is power," we hear it, but we do not know. So, I tell you, consider in your life. When do you feel powerful? When you are in enmity with someone, or when you are filled with calm love towards someone? Then you will know that you are powerful in a state of enmity, and when you are in a state of calm awareness, you become powerless and weak. This means that you are influenced by an impure emotion. The more prevalent this impure emotion is within us, the less we will be able to enter within. Why we will not be able to enter within, this point is very important to understand. Enmity is always externally focused, meaning one has enmity with someone outside. If there is no one outside, you cannot have enmity. And let me tell you, love is not externally focused. Even if there is no one outside, love can exist within. Love is internally focused. Friendliness is internally focused. Enmity is externally focused. It is related to another. Hatred is driven from outside. Love originates from within. Springs of love flow from within. Reactions of hatred are generated from outside. Impure emotions are driven from outside. Pure emotions flow from within. The difference between impure and pure emotions. Those emotions that are driven from outside are not pure. So, that love, that passion which we call love, is not pure because it is driven from outside. Only that love is pure which flows from within, not driven from outside. Therefore, in our country, we separate love and attachment. We separate passion and lust from love. Lust is driven from outside. In the hearts of Buddha or Mahavir, there is no lust, but there is love. People say Mahavir was insulted, stones were thrown at him, nails were hammered into his ears, and he forgave everything. I say they are wrong. Mahavir did not forgive anyone because only those who are cruel forgive. And Mahavir did not show any mercy to them because only those who are cruel show mercy. And Mahavir did not think at all that I should not treat them badly because only those people think and contemplate whose minds entertain the thought of bad treatment. Then what did Mahavir do? Mahavir is compelled. He has nothing to give except love. Whatever you do, only love can come in response. You throw stones at a tree laden with fruits. Only fruits can fall in response. There is no other way. The tree is not doing anything in this. It is a compulsion. And no matter how many buckets you throw into a spring full of water, whether they are dirty or beautiful, whether they are of gold or iron. There is no other way than for the spring to give you water. There is no special quality of the spring in this. It is a compulsion. So, when love is a state of consciousness, it is a system. It has to give. There is no other way. So, those emotions that come from within, which you do not pull from outside, which you cannot pull from outside, those emotions are pure. And those emotions that the storms outside create like waves within you are impure. Those that are generated from outside will create restlessness and trouble within you, and those that come from within will fill you with great joy. For impure and pure emotions, remember this first: pure emotion is a state of consciousness; impure emotion is a distortion of consciousness, not a state. Impure emotion is an external result on consciousness; pure emotion is the development of the inner on consciousness. So, consider in your life whether the emotions that drive me come from within me or whether other people create them in me. I am walking on the road, and you abuse me, and if anger arises in me, this is an impure emotion because you created it in me. I am walking on the road, and you respect me, and I become happy. This is an impure emotion because you...