4 January 1987
Various people have various kinds of influences on us. The various people that we know, with whom we mix, each and everyone of them by himself has an influence on us. They can influence us in so many ways. In this kind of situation what do we do? They can show us so many paths, so many different ways. Many of them would be tempting.
What do we do when we are faced with such a situation? God has given us a mind. That unique mechanism, the head, with which we are expected to think. We are not expected to follow others or anybody like deaf, dumb cows. If God had wanted us to behave like cows, He would have made us into cows. The fact that He has made us into human beings means He wants us to live like human beings. He wants us to use the mind that He has given us. Can you please all those people who are trying to influence you? We may have our friends on one side. We may have the various institutions on the other side. Everybody wants to tell” us how to lead our lives. Can we please everyone? It is not possible. We have to think what is right and what is wrong. We have to decide what we want to do. We have to set our own
codes. We have to set our own paths.
Once you have set your goal, you have to charter your route to achieve that goal. Let nothing and no one stop you. Along the way you will be able to identify some people who are good. Others will have their own ulterior motives. They may not be good people. They are after you for their own selfish motives. Some are even evil. Keep away from them. We do not have to hate them. Keep away from them. Identify the good ones. Become their friends. Make them into your friends.
Be with the good and you will be good. If you be with the bad, you are with those who are negative, you will be negative. Once you have already set your goal and you have already chartered your own route to achieve that goal, keep on going. Look at the river. The river keeps on flowing. Many people go to the river for various purposes for prayers, dumping rubbish, fun or to clean themselves. No matter who goes to the river, no matter who does what, the river keeps on flowing. If there is an obstacle in front, if there is a huge rock, the river doesn’t stop flowing because it cannot flow through. Instead it finds a way around and keeps on flowing.
Nothing and no one can stop that river. For us to be like human” beings, to live human beings, the way God has wanted us to live, we have to be like that river. Nobody can influence that river. Nobody can change its course. It changes its own course when it finds that there is a need to change. When it finds that there is an obstacle in front, it changes, but its destination is still the same the open sea. That nobody can change. That is what we should do.
When we speak about men, there are two kinds of men. One is the purely biological man and the other is the spiritual man. The spiritual man is also a biological man but here when I say biological man and spiritual man, there is a differentiation.
The man we term as only the biological man is built like us but within he is an animal. He thinks of himself only. He is not interested or concerned about others. We should not spend our time even thinking about such people. It is not going to help us.
The spiritual man tries to understand God and His ways tries to live a godly life. He is kind, understanding, loving, forgiving, generous .and has a big heart. He has only love to give. What kind of people do we want to be? If you want to be like the spiritual man then keep away from biological men.
What can we do? Can we change them? Do we have the power, capacity to change such
people? We cannot but in some cases we try. If you fail it does not matter. But what you can
do is to keep away from them lest they poison your mind. It is better to be poisoned the
stomach than to be poisoned in the mind.
Man’s journey is long. It is not just one life. It is made up of many lives and his destination is God. That· is the only destination. Along the way we may be tempted to turn left or right, we may want to do many things. We have nothing in mind but to achieve this and that. That is not destination, your ultimate destination is God. We should start now. Signposts are being given.
That is the only destination for us. Every other destination is only temporary.
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