A Detached Outlook Makes Life Free from Pain
So long as the 'body-am-I' feeling persists, that is, so long as a person identifies himself with the body, he must suffer from anxiety. He can conquer all feeling of anxiety only if and when he ceases to be subjective, and acquires an objective outlook on himself and the world. This he can do only when there is entrenched in him the conviction that God is his sole and never-failing support.
The planets and their positions in a horoscope can influence the body and the mundane matters which pertain to it. Thus, an astrologer may predict how much money one is destined to acquire in his life. He may even be able to indicate whether the person has a devotional inclination, and how much; but whether he will attain to God cannot be foretold, for the stars have no control in this regard. And if one fails to realize God, it is really a dire tragedy for the precious human life. Indeed, all other achievements and acquisitions count for nothing so far as the soul is concerned.
The yearning to realize God has to be genuine and of a high intensity, if it is to be fruitful. Real yearning, borders on franticness, and makes a man overwrought; he is only calmed down when he meets a saint.
Saints do not avert the calamities or unpleasant incidents for their devotees; what they do is to eradicate the fear of them; or, it is this apprehension of calamity that more deeply unnerves a person than even the calamity itself.
Saints do not yield to passions and sense-pleasures, but control them, rule over them as masters. This conquest of one's own self is far more arduous than even subjugating the whole world. Thus freed of serfdom to mundane attractions, they are able to look at themselves and the world objectively, and thus remain unaffected both by pain and pleasure.
We should leave office and business thoughts and worries at the workplace, and not carry them home. The domestic atmosphere should be free from fear and suspicion. Simplicity and straightforwardness of mind are a great asset; they are an inheritance from a previous life as sadhaka.
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