Jaipur Meeting March 26, 1986

 Allow God To Plan Your Life

Jaipur Meeting March 26, 1986

         Today everybody talks about yoga and yoga exercises.  I was a yogi in Ceylon for five years practicing yoga exercises and trying to attain peace of God.  But many people don't understand the underlying thing.  Now we have a self and that self is called I and my.  And we plan our own life.  We want to be a doctor or an engineer or something prosperous.  But God has a different plan for us.  And these two plans always clash.  Suppose I want to go to Delhi.  I must get a man to go to Delhi and he must stop his way and come with me.  You can't follow God and man.  We cannot follow God on our own thinking.  If you surrender your life to God and allow Him to plan your life it will be a different plan than what you think.  To follow God you must have the power from God then only you can follow His will.  Suppose I follow Bhagavad Gita, then I have to leave my thinking and do what Bhagavad Gita says.  Then automatically you die and the spirit of Krishna lives.  But in many instances people say don't be controlled by your five senses.  But we are all controlled by our five senses only.  We hear the good music and appreciate it.  Suppose a nice song comes everybody enjoys it.  One day during the last war I was travelling in a bus.  In the bus there were Chinese, there were Americans, there were English people and they were all travelling in that bus.  Suddenly a fight came, we all started beating each other.  The bus came to a stop at a place, there was a blind Guitarist, he was playing such beautiful music that we all jumped from the bus to listen to that music.  We forgot our fightings and we were enjoying the song.  And we were captivated by the music, we could not leave that.    But the man playing was a blind man.  Then everybody shouted and said music is an universal language.

          So we have the five senses, tasting, hearing, seeing, smelling.  So when God has put that sense in us it is not a sin.  Now see you have got hunger, nobody blames God for hunger because it is placed by God.  But your soul is put in this body to be tested whether you will follow your five senses or the voice of God.  If you follow the voice of God you are to reject your own thinking.  Suppose I follow Bhagavad Gita, it is no more I but Krishna in me because I follow His Word.  That is why in this world we have battles between two things, following our own will or following God's (Word) will.

          So there are three kinds of people.  One is totally a worldly man; one is a middle way man, he wants God as well as this world; but there is a third man following totally God.  The first man is worldly, he has to choose this world or God.  He studies both the world and God.  The world has got attachments, it has got fame, it involves your actions and the man boldly picks the world and he plans his life.  One day he will become a great man in this world, they put a garland on him.  He will say Namastay (a form of bowing putting the two hands together) and take the glory for himself.  He suffers, he works, he plans his life and takes the glory for himself.  That is totally a worldly man.  But another type of man, he doesn't want the world, he chooses God but he plans his own life, he works very hard to become a religious leader.  One day he becomes a big man by his own efforts.  He doesn't attain greatness by God's power but by his own power.  Then people bring the glory for him and he takes the glory for himself.  The third man is the best man.  You can be only one of these three, either a worldly man, or a compromiser, or totally for God.  The first man takes the glory for himself, the second man takes the glory for himself, but the third man, he doesn't plan his life, God plans his life and he gives God all the glory.  So you have to choose one of these parts.  Whether you are a doctor, engineer or whoever you are, you can be only one of these three.  You may be a business man, you may be a teacher, you can be only one of these three.  I will talk about the Godly man; you have a self but you don't follow yourself.  You are an eternal being, God has a plan for you.  He has already a plan for you before the foundation of the world.  You are eternal.  You are not a human being.  And when you plan your life, you ask God to plan your life.  And when God brings you as a great man you have not planned your life, God planned your life so you put the garland on God only.

          So we have our self.  Just like there is a door.  I go through the door easily.  But some people climb over the wall by their own efforts.  When there is a door why do you climb the wall?  Like that in this world there is a door in God but we don't use the door we use our own efforts and climb the wall with great difficulty.  Suppose you are a yogi, you want to control the five senses:  have you ever tried it?  Have you sincerely asked a Yogi?  Meditators because they couldn't find God they just say I already achieved it and we believe that.  But only through the power of God you can attain that position.

          I was a man trying to improve myself.  I wanted to become a minister, I wanted to be in politics, I wanted to study law.  This was my thinking.  But one day God met me, he came into my life, I couldn't plan my life.  I surrendered my whole life to Him, "You can plan my life".  And today God has met me in a wonderful way.  He came into myself in 1969 and He told me what I am to do in this world.  And I know I didn't do it, it is the Spirit of God in me.  All glory to God who planned my life.

          Are you going to be planned by God or you plan?  Your plan will end in death.  The plan of God will not end in death but life.

          We see in this world nobody does anything without gain, even a small thing.  Suppose a man is working in a firm, he daily goes to his job, he gets up in the morning, washes his face, he goes to his work and at the end of the month he expects to get a salary.  At the end of the month he says, today is the salary day.  I was working, that will be a happy day because one month we suffered.  We didn't do our work, we did the work of another person but you are paid for that.  And we say today is the salary day, when you hear the you are full of joy.  And when you get the money it is a satisfaction.  Every man must be satisfied, even the worldly man must be satisfied.  He suffers for one month expecting some payment.  But the end when the salary comes into his hands he forgets his pain, he forgets his working for one month.  This gives him satisfaction.  This is the reward for his work.  Not only work, but his reward of work.  Not only work, but his reward of work.  He goes to his house, tells his wife I got my salary.  And he takes her for the pictures, he buys a new saree and gives the children all the help and they are happy.  Then he goes for work.  Thirty days he works and then expects his salary.  The salary is the satisfaction of the worker.  If there is no salary he doesn't work.  If after 30 days he doesn't get a salary he doesn't go to the job after that.

          In the same way every man has to be satisfied.  The father is there, he loves his son.  He educates him, he makes him a big man.  He expects some nice words from him.  And the mother cares for the child, the child becomes a big fellow, he goes to college.  The mother and father expect something in return.  But suppose he doesn't study, he goes on drinking and spends all the fees on worldly pleasure, see how much it will pain.  So they expect a reward.  If that reward doesn't come it will kill them.  But when the son studies well they are very happy and when he gets a job they are very happy.  And when the son comes and brings the salary then they praise the son, "I am glad that I have birth to you".  But if the son becomes a wicked fellow it will break their hearts.  So satisfaction is the aim of everyone.  Are you satisfied in this world?

          In the same way suppose we think about a business man.  He puts all his money and he works day and night to get a gain and he is trying to get gain.  But if he doesn't get any gain he will even commit suicide.  He goes day and night, purchases things, he doesn't have time to talk to his family.  At the end of the year he takes his account of profit and loss.  How much did I gain?  I spent so much, I spent 60 thousand rupees.  Now I got 10 thousand rupees.  Ten thousand I have gained.  Then he is very happy.  The people who work there they have bonus and he is full of happiness.  He comes home, tells his wife we have gain.  Suppose he has loss in his work; he won't find happiness in his face; the workers won't get any bonus, and the family also is not happy.  What is happiness for the business man?  He suffers a lot but if at the end he finds a gain he is very happy.  Otherwise he won't be happy and commit suicide even.  Like that everything in this world is depending on satisfaction whether profit or loss.  If he doesn't gain he is not happy at all.

          Suppose a man plants a nice mango grove and he is waiting for the fruit.  After many years of watering and putting the manure he expects the fruit and when he gets the fruit he expects the mango to be sweet for all his pains.  But suppose that is not sweet, he is not happy.  I remember one day I planted a mango tree.  It grew out to be a big tree and the fruit was yellow; nice smell, so I put it on the table.  "Daddy and Mummy, today we will cut it and eat it".  We cut the fruit, you can't put that in your mouth.  But it was a nice colour, mango smell was alright but you can't put that in your mouth.  So my Daddy and Mummy said, "For this tree you suffered so many years to put water and manure.  Useless tree, useless fruit, it doesn't give good fruit".  And nobody ate that mango.  It was nice looking but no taste.  I slowly went out, brought a gardener, cut the tree in anger.  Any tree which doesn't give good fruit will be cut off.

          My dear brothers and sisters, are you giving good fruit or bad fruit?  If you are giving good fruit your Creator will be happy for you, if you are giving bad fruit the result isn't good for you.  In this world everything depends upon satisfaction.

          Suppose you do yoga exercise, years of yoga principles, if you do not realize God, what is the use of all this yoga exercise.  Yoga exercise means you must attain peace.  Today we talk about exercise, yoga.  There are many people in America doing yoga but they don't get the peace.  The peace doesn't come as they think; peace comes from God.

          We talk about re-birth, we always think about what birth you are going to be.  But the great thing is you have to cross that river of re-birth.  One man is rowing the boat with difficulty.  By great difficulty he is trying to cross the river.  Another man sits on a boat with an engine.  He doesn't row the boat he just starts the engine, sits quietly and crosses the river.  And when the engine is there you don't work the engine works.  So in the same way, to cross the river of re-birth many have tried by their own efforts.  With your self effort you will never cross re-birth.  I tried that for many years, I tried to cross that river of re-birth by my own efforts.  I was trying to show I am good boy.  But the secret I know I didn't use my 'self', I allowed the power of God to use me.  Bhagwan (God) Spirit is the engine.  You try to cross that.  You can't cross it my friend it is too much, too much strain for you.

          Now in the worldly condition when you are so busy where is the time for you.  Today many people want to do yoga in the house.  Even in the jungles they can't get it.  Even in the city you close your mind and try for five minutes, you hear the noise here.... Gadung, Gadung, Ga-dhim, bim, bum, bang.  All kinds of noise and you are going to do the yoga here?  You just quietly sit down, there is no quiet there.  Even in the jungle, it is not quiet today.  Formerly jungles have been having peace but now jungles also have roads, and wherever you go you can hear the noise of cars and horn, and shouting and singing and radio and all these things.  You can't go for silence there.

          So I couldn't get the peace, so I was seeking God for that power.  When the power came into me I sat quietly and asked the power to work for me, then it was not my working.  Narayana working, His spirit working in me.  Then He planned my life and He met all my needs.  If you are in the center of God's will everything will come to you.  If you plan, nothing will come to you.

          And one day I realized I crossed the river of re-birth.  What is crossing the re-birth?  If you are in Narayana you have no condemnation.  Outside you have condemnation.  Does your heart condemn you, does your heart feel peace?  If your heart doesn't give you peace you are not in God's will.  It is free so we don't ask for it.  If I say from here to Kasi we have to walk, we will walk.  If I tell somebody it is free they won't believe it.

          In one place suddenly there was a advertisement.  They said, "100 grams of gold will be sold for 1000 rupees".  Nobody believed it.  But one man (believed and he) was willing to take that.  But one man (believed and he) was willing to take that.  But because it was so cheap nobody believed that message.  At 6 o' clock one man came, he said, 'Is that true?' 'Yes you pay the money I will give all the gold'.  Then give it'.  That was the gold he had.  Then everybody said, "I want the gold, I want the gold".  In the same way God gives us free but we don't appreciate it.  If by our efforts we get a salary we appreciate it very much.  If somebody gives free we don't appreciate it at all.  So like that we have to cross the re-birth.  That is the way God's Spirit can come into your heart, He will drive the car for you".

          Now see who was the driver of Arjuna.  If he (Arjuna) was driving the chariot he would be doing something dangerous.  It was not Arjuna that was important the driver was important.  Otherwise Arjuna would have driven the chariot and run away.  But the driving was in the hands of Krishna.  So he could not run, has listened to Krishna and changed his mind and did the will of Krishna.  When he did the will of Krishna, the glory goes to Krishna not to Arjuna.

          In the same way, are you living for yourself or for God?  If you are living for God you will do what He says.  If you are living for yourself you will plan your life for this world's goods.  So in this world you are waiting only for the results and the benefits.  Suppose you are a football player, you want to win the match you are happy, if you lose the match you can't sleep.  In the same way, in every walk of life you have to win the race.

          I was a famous athelete in Ceylon, every year one man will win the race.  When I was in Ceylon I practised.  One day we had to run.  All big fellows and tall fellows, they were doing exercises.  My father came, "Are you also going to run?" "Yes daddy, wait and see".  He told me, "How can you run with these people?"  So when I started running, I defeated them and came first, then my father was very happy; all my friends were happy.  When I came first my daddy told me, "I never knew you'll win son, I really love you because you defeated the champion".  That is how I made him happy, that is the blessing for a son.

          Now you are in this world.  Who created you?  You didn't come like this.  There are many people born in this world, some people are born by God, some people are just born by desire, some people are born by test tubes, but there are people born by God.  But there are some people born by lust and going to bad houses.  Some people are born in marriage.  So like that some people are born by God.  Their desires will always be.... they won't be happy in this world.

          From my small age I was not happy in this world.  My father used to blame me, "I don't know what is wrong with you, you are not interested in anything, you are not interested in eating, you are not interested in putting a nice dress, you are not interested in Cinema, you have to be interested in something".  But I was interested in seeking God.  I used to go with my daddy to pray in the morning at 5-O' clock near the sea shore and I was five years old then.  And I learned to pray with my daddy and very soon my thirst for God came and I read about Ramakrishna Paramahamsa.  I read about all the saints of God in India, Ramana Maharishi, Aurobindo Ghosh.  All the Yogas and all I studied, it was only His knowledge.  But I could never come to that realization.  My dear friends, I cannot tell you about honey, I can't by any thought tell honey is good, honey is this.  I can only tell taste and see.  TASTE GOD AND SEE.

          Don't come to the conclusion there is no God.  Because you say there is no God it doesn't mean there is no God.  I couldn't accept that saying, there is no God, but at that time the power of God came into my life.  For 45 years, I am roaming all over the world, my whole family is dedicated for that and brought many people to the life.  For 45 years I am roaming all over the world, my whole family is dedicated for that and brought many people to the life.  We could have settled down in some foreign country, but I love my country.  My dear countryman, why so much of split in this country?  Because you have not realized that God Narayana.  Three thousand years ago it was only scattering the seed, He scattered the seed and divided.  But now we have to come to the harvest time.  Every seed has to be harvested.  At the harvest time the owner will be there.

          That is why Narayana came down because the harvest is there.  So He can gather all the seed.  He won't gather the hay, He will keep it outside.  But the grain He is taking home, that is why He came.  Today in India there is a grain.  He is not worried about the hay; He is not worried about those who go after the five senses.  They are going only after death.  But there is life in the seed.  One seed dies and hundreds of seeds come.  And today, if you are seds that is why you are seeking God these days.  So there are two sets of people, one seeks God, other seeks the world.  They enjoy the world and perish like a beast, but we are not going to perish like a beast.  God comes down, you don't go to God.

          I am telling about Narayana who comes to see you, not you go to Narayana.  He comes to see you in these last days.  We are worried when will He come.  You hear the song "When will He come, you said you are coming".  But He came but how many people could recognize Him.  Many thousand years ago Jews were singing, "Oh God come", and they killed the very God Jesus.  But that was those days.  And today when Narayana with a big white face and a glorious man like a king.  And today He doesn't come as you think.  He doesn't come to religious leaders.  He is going on the roads of India today.  Do you recognize Him my friends?  I ask you to go to your room and meditate, "Are you here in this world or are you going to come?  If you have come tell me".  Surely He will appear to you.  Today it is not only big (People) even small children can understand.

          I know a small girl 10 years old and is the father's pet.  One day she had a desire and she told her daddy, "I want to go to Brother Lawrie's Ashram".  The father could not leave her.  One morning as this man was sitting in the house, suddenly I appeared to him, "That girl is not your girl, send her to Narayana".  Early morning the mother brought her.  I said, "What is wrong with you?" (She replied) "You take your child".

          Why I am telling this, He was not talking to the big people always, to the small people also He is talking.  If you have been existing with Him before the foundation of the world, God will reveal it to you.  According to Krishna this body will disappear but your soul is not disappearing.  The soul came from Him and you have to go to Him.  So if you are in Him there is no re-birth after that.  So how to go into Him?  By doing what He said.  Many people say, "I want to completely surrender myself.  Don't touch the five senses".  Have you ever tried that?

          It is not easy my friend to control your five senses.  You may say I am controlling it but mentally you cannot control, mentally you will always be thinking about the objects.  Always that will be in your thoughts then you are a hypocrite.  You control your senses but you cannot control your mind.  So this body, it says one thing to do but your mind says another thing to do.  It is always a battle within you.  But if you surrender yourself into the hands of Narayana, His Spirit will control you.  The five senses have no power, He alone can control you.

          Man says man is immortal.  Man is not immortal.  Narayana is immortal.  All those who are in Him are immortal.  If you are not in Him you were never immortal.  So today you find out whether you are in Him or outside.

          Everybody is a tree, all of you are planted by God and God manured you, God gave you water, what does He expect?  He expects fruit from you.  So God comes at the end of the age, "Is there any fruit?"  Are you giving any fruit?  Remember if anybody doesn't give fruit you are cut off and put into the fire.  So what fruit are you giving today?  He planted you, He manured you, He watered you all these years and He comes expecting to get fruit from you.  WHAT FRUIT ARE YOU GIVING TODAY?

          You may say, I am a weak man.  Did not all these make you strong?  You can overcome by that power.  How to satisfy him?  By doing the will of God, you can satisfy Him.

          Suppose I say, "Oh I am doing a good work".  Suppose I ask a man to white wash this place, if he comes and cleans the lavatory I don't pay his salary.  You have to do what I say, then I give you salary.  It is not what actions you do, it is whether you do the actions of God, what He has planned for you.  Then  you get a reward.  If you do something and say, "Oh I am doing for God's sake, "God won't pay for that.  Today many people are doing God's work, without His will you must find out the will of God and do His work then you can't perish.

          That is why Bhagavad-Gita may appear as a small book, Bible may appear as a small book, Koran may appear as a small book.  But no Muslim, no Christian, and no Hindu is following the books.  You don't read that even.  I have seen many Christians, they don't do what the Bible says.  They talk something, Bible tells something (else), but what do they say?  They just become slaves of some thinking.  Muslims don't do what the Koran says, but if you do like that then you have got eternal life.  But through that (Holy Books) only you can find out Narayana.

          Now Tagore is there.  We know Tagore.  We have a Tagore school, public school, but how many know about Tagore?  If you read his books..... this national anthem Jana-gana-mana adhinayaka jaya he.  (English translation.  "Thou art the ruler of the minds of all people".)  Jaya he (English trans - Victory to thee).  Victory to whom?  Victory to the one who holds the destiny of India.  So I asked a man, "Who sang this song?" "Tagore".  Who is it about?  "Queen Victoria".  Queen Victoria is come and gone and that kingdom is dead and gone.  Are they holding our destiny?  NARAYANA IS HOLDING THE DESTINY OF OUR INDIA.

          Don't think lightly of India.  America may come (to attack) Pakistan may come.  Ceylon may come.  Israel may come.  But India will not be given into the hands of men.  With all their armies the destiny is in the hands of Narayana who has come down.

          If anybody tries to destroy us they will be destroyed as a nation.  SO I AM WARNING ALL NATIONS TODAY, DON'T TOUCH INDIA.

          India may be divided.  India may be divided into pieces but Narayana will unite them one day.  That is why He has come down.  And when the people realize that, we have to teach the world.  You are not teaching the world a religion today.  I am not teaching a religion today, I am not teaching Hinduism or Christianity or Muslim religion, I am teaching the way for your life.  Don't change your religion.  No use of changing your name.  You can't do anything.  You get into Narayana, He will do the work for you.  Let His power come into you and do His will.  He will unite India.  He will destroy the enemies without any weapon.  God bless you.

Gurudev Shri Lahari Krishna