The Art of Being Practical

My thought is that whoever you are, you should have the knowledge of your practical affairs. 
    Action in this life is a must. Since action is called practice, persons who live on Earth have to be practical. This means that you cannot spend all day sitting down in a chair, passing the time imagining, worrying, and thinking, and in doing so, forgetting to use your body for performing those actions that need to be done. 
    Many have concluded that when one does action, it is difficult, because to do action, a person has to get up from the bed and move about. Lying down is thought of rest. Moving about is thought of as difficult. 
    But we are all engaged in doing work. The whole life for a human being is how to survive: man has to be aware of this and be practical. If we are not deluding ourselves, we see why it is necessary that a person with knowledge has to be practical, and why he should not be sitting somewhere in a cave only having an idea of karm: that it is not action.
    You are equipped with that knowledge and enlightenment which tells you that your life cannot be shut off: you should do those things that are useful for a human being to conduct. So if your knowledge gained over here or gained anywhere in the world does not inspire you to be practical, then it will not be called practical knowledge. 
     A human being, with a sense of inquiry to know more, will continue asking and asking and asking questions. But just asking questions and getting answers for whole days or whole months or whole years on end, will not allow you to be practical. And if you are not practical, you cannot sustain your life. 
    So we are all engaged constantly in work which is practical. You call yourself down to earth. I use the phrase 'be practical.' If you are on Earth, it is essential to have the knowledge as to how to perform action, or karm. 
    It is not practical for you to think that, throughout the entire day, you should be able to meditate. It is impractical! 
    Through seeing the nature of practicality, you have come to know that which those people, busy in practical life, will never know—the Source of  all your work.

Lead in to meditation
(5 April 2000) 

Swami-ji: Close your eyes. Those who have already done should continue. Your body is sitting in the chair. 
    So you are sitting. And now, after occupying the chairs and closed the eyes, you are in your routine consciousness. 
    Now, you have not to inquire about anything. You are not asking a question. You are not inquiring. But have you ever thought of, or asked the question, 'who is that who began to initiate some thought or action or awareness?' 
    This is what we, the human beings, are. We know that we hear, we see, we come, we sit, we sing, and now we began to do the so-called work of meditation. 
    But who is doing it? You are always sure that you are doing it. And I would never like to disturb this thought because you are sure enough that you are meditating. Therefore I will say that you are meditating. 
    I do not know, with your closed eyes, what is being done in you. I know only, with my closed eyes, what is being done in me. That is what you will always be knowing. And the one who knows is Knower. I may not say 'you' at that time. You will also not say 'you' or 'I.' It is Knower. If Knower is knowing the space, then check where 'you' and 'I' have gone.
    Amaram hum Madhuram hum. 
    Space is being seen, and no matter what thought comes at that time, you should look after your 'I' and know where your 'I' is at this time and where 'I' goes and when 'I' comes. 
    You will be able to conclude something you have never concluded before—wherever your I will be, my I will be at that place.
    I will be quiet for 20 minutes. 

'I' and my Friend, Awareness

Swami-ji: When a human being is asleep, he is not a human being, because he has no mind at that time. Only when he wakes up does he become a human being, which means human mind. 
    Whether we call it 'human being' or 'human mind,' the two phrases refer to the consciousness with which somebody becomes conscious and calls himself 'I.' At that very moment, this 'I' is so true for him that, whatever he thinks, he calls itself separate from thinking. 
    Thus 'I' is, for a human being, always true or real. Whatever thought or idea or meaning he has, a person will think that it is real, just because his 'I' is real. And for him, thinking will always be his creation. He will never know that his 'I' is both creator and creation, for in his knowledge, creator and creation are separate.  
    Each person has the power in his or her 'I' to generate as many thoughts or sprouts as there can be. But no human being, with his 'I,' is able to know what another person's 'I' is thinking or creating or imagining. Nor does any human being know how many millions of thoughts his 'I' is able to create. 
    And he will never know that all his thoughts are nothing but 'I.' 
    What Guru-ji says is a definite principle—every human being's I is one and the same. This 'I' has awareness as well as unawareness at the same time. 
    'I' has two aspects in it: the creator, with which a person knows the Knower; and creation—that which he creates. The moment 'I' comes, he is creator and creation at the same time. But unless that thought arises, a human being will never know this, for he thinks that he is 'I' and that creation is separate from him.

In the Gita, Krishn says to the listener (Arjun), 'be aware!' But human beings do not like it when you tell them 'be aware!' again and again. You have to make some show—some object, some subject, some story. 
    The whole Gita is meant for awareness. All the shlokas, all the Patanjali verses, or Vedas or Bibles or Toras are for a person to become knowledgeable. 
    Knowledgeable about what? That you are immortal, you are blissful.
    Now watch! Nothing wrong is going to happen because you think. But why do you think about wrong? Every day you think about being wrong or about failing. 
    Failure is for those people who have been taught in the institutions: 'Pass the class, pass the class.' What is pass? What is fail? You can fail all the classes and still be brilliant. [Laughter] 
    Sometimes failure makes you brilliant. How many times does a child get up and fall down and get up and fall down again? Child never says, 'I am failing.' He just gets up again. In this sense, there is no such thing as failure or success. 
    Failure or success depends on your power. And you need power of understanding. When it is hot, have umbrella. When it is cold, don't go over there. When somebody is a bad person, don't talk to him. Or learn some way to deal with it. 
    So where is failure, where is success? Where is respect, where is no respect? 
    All these questions, all these thoughts, are for making you aware. And now that you have become aware, there is the question: how do you want to use your awareness? You want to use your awareness so that you should remain aware of your real Self. And real Self can not be known by the eyes or ears or human mind. Therefore the human mind has to be expanded. 
    First, know where human mind is stuck. You tell me: where is the human mind stuck? The human mind is stuck in the thought that 'I' am this (points to his body). And this is going to grow old. And this will someday be so old that I will not be able to walk: I will have to have a stick to be able to walk. 

I have brought you to this point: you must know what you want to do and what you don't want to do. 
    A human being is naturally aware. And awareness will come provided you have some kind of words which you hear and with which you reform yourself. 
    Just by reading, something happens to you. 
    Just by my saying something, you are understanding.  
    Amaram hum Madhuram hum.