This begins a New Practice....


Weekly Knowledge #1
21 Jun 1995
Big Sur, California
USA


This begins a new practice of weekly dispatches of Knowledge from Guruji. Every center around the world will receive the Knowledge so it can be read for people to copy down at weekly Satsang. Here is the first segment Guruji dictated at Big Sur, 21 June, 1995.

* * * *

Beyond an event is Knowledge.

Beyond a person is love.

Beyond an object is infinity.

Knowledge is not in an event; it is beyond an event.

If you take one event and infer anything from one event -- infer knowledge -- it will be erroneous knowledge. Say Nancy gets angry and shouts at someone. You attribute anger to Nancy, but actually it was carried from someone else to her. Someone else got angry first and someone else and someone else and on and on like that.

When you go beyond an event, only then the truth dawns. One particular event gives you a false notion. So you have to consider the totality of events, the totality of all events infinitely. Beyond the event is Knowledge.

What do we call a person? A person is a body, a mind, a complex of behaviors which is changing. Love is unchanging. Beyond the person is love.

When you lose your personality, you become love. If you cannot lose yourself, you cannot find yourself. So, lose your personality; you'll find yourself!!!

Behind every object is infinity. An object is limited. Take an object and reduce, reduce, reduce, and you have an atom. An atom is infinity. Each atom contains infinite space. Beyond the object is infinity.

The object behind the object is infinity. The person behind the person is love.

Maya is getting caught up in the event, personality, object. Knowledge, love, Brahman is seeing beyond the event, personality, or object. See? Just a little shift.

CLOSE TO THE MASTER

Weekly Knowledge #2
21 Jun 1995
Big Sur, California
USA

If you're not feeling close to the Guru, it's because of you. Because of your mind, because of your ego concepts. Share with the Guru that which is very important or intimate to you. Share that. Do not feel shame, shy, or judgmental about yourself.

Unless you express to the Master that which is very intimate and important to you, just being on the formal and informal communication levels cannot make you feel close. "How are you, where are you going? How have you been?" Stop formal and superficial conversations with the Master and speak with your heart that which is very important and intimate, very deep to your life. Don't just say how much the squash costs, 30 cents or whatever.

If you don't feel close to the Master, there's no point in having a Master. It is just another burden to you. You have enough already. Just say "Goodbye," get rid of it.

Question: When you play little games and push us away, how can we feel close to you?

Answer: You should feel more close if you are pushed away, scolded or ignored. Because to ignore somebody takes a lot of effort. When a Master does not even ignore wrapping paper, or a flower that is in a vase, how can he ignore a walking, talking, breathing human being who is connected? How could that be ignored? So when you understand this, you already feel close.

Question: Can we call you every week?

Response from the room: Call Guruji every week and if he doesn't answer the phone then you know you are loved.

Answer: Yes, put that in. (Laughter)

You are with the Master to share the joy of the Master, to share the consciousness of the Master. For that, you have to empty your cup of what is already in it. So you share that with the Master. You share whatever you have and don't judge, "Oh, that is garbage." The Master is ready to accept any garbage of any extent. However you are, he will embrace you. He is ready to share. You only have to share from your side.

PRABDHA KARMA AND SANCHITA KARMA

Weekly Knowledge #3
29 Jun 1995
California USA

Some karma can be changed and some cannot.

When you prepare halwa, if sugar is less or ghee is less, water more or less, it can all be adjusted, repaired. But once soji is cooked, it cannot be reversed.

If the buttermilk is sour, milk can be added, salt can be added to make it drinkable. But it can never be reversed back to milk.

Prabdha karma cannot be changed. Sanchita karma can be changed by spiritual practices. Satsang burns the seed of all negative karma.

When you praise someone, you take on their good karma. When you blame someone you take on their bad karma.

Know this and surrender both good and bad karma to the Divine and be free.

ONLY SPEAK KNOWLEDGE

Weekly Knowledge #4 04 Jul 1995
Toronto Canada


Only speak Knowledge. Don't repeat anything that someone tells you or opinions about anyone that someone states -- "That so-and-so said such-and-such about you." If someone comes to tell you such things, discourage them. Don't believe it.

If someone blames you directly, know that they are taking away your bad karma and let it go. Don't believe in it, and if you're one of the Guru's close ones, you will take all of the blame of the world with a smile.

Conflict is the nature of the world; comfort is the nature of the self. Amidst the conflict seek the comfort.

When you are bored with the comfort, get into the games of the world. When you are tired of the games of the world, get into the comforts of the Self. If you are one of the Guru's close ones, you do both simultaneously. Trying to end conflict prolongs it. Face the conflict by seeking the comfort of the Self.

God is alive in the world and has been putting up with all the ongoing conflicts throughout the ages. If God can put up with all the conflicts, you can too. The moment you agree to be with the conflict, the conflict disappears.

People who love peace do not want to fight, and those who fight do not love peace. Those who want peace want to run away. What is needed here is to be peaceful within and then fight. The whole message of the Gita is to be peaceful yourself and then fight. Krishna tells Arjuna to fight but be in peace at the same time. Does this ring a bell?

In the world, you resolve one conflict and another one comes up. For example, Russia is solved and then Bosnia arises. You make one better, and then another starts up. Your body gets a cold, then you get better; then your back hurts, then it gets better. Your body gets better, and then the mind goes. The world runs like this, isn't it?

Without any intention, misunderstandings happen. It's not up to you to try to resolve them. Ignore them and be alive.

MASTER IS A DOORWAY

Weekly Knowledge #5
12 Jul 1995
Montreal Ashram Canada



Master is a doorway. And the doorway needs to be more charming than the world so that you will come to the doorway. Someone is in the street and there is rain, thunder, hot sun; they need shelter. They look around, they find a doorway. They come to the doorway. The doorway is more inviting, more charming, more celebrative, more joyful than anything else in the world.

Nothing could give that much peace, joy, pleasure in the world. Once you come to the doorway, you enter the door and see the world from there. See the world from the eyes of the Master. This is a sign that you have come to the Master. Otherwise you may still be standing in the street and looking at the door.

But once you have entered the door, then you will see the whole world from the eyes of the Master. This means what? In every situation that you face, you will think, "If this situation comes in front of the Master, how would he handle it?" or "How would she handle it?" "If this complication comes in front of the Master, how would he take it?" "If someone blames the Master like this, how would he handle it?" See the world from the eyes of the Master all the time.

The world looks much more beautiful; not a nasty place. But a place filled with love, filled with joy, cooperation, compassion, and all virtues. The world is much more fun. Looking through the doorway, there is no fear. You will look at the world without any fear. You will be in all relationships with everybody without any fear. Because there is shelter.

From inside home, you will look at the thunder, you will look at the storm, you will look at the rain, you will look at the bright sun. Inside you have air conditioning. Very cool, pleasant. Outside it's hot. You donÒ´ mind because there is nothing that can really distract you, disturb you, or take the fullness away from you. Such a sense of security, such a sense of fullness and joy comes. That is the purpose of having a Master.

All relationships in the world go topsy-turvy. You make relationships and you break relationships. All relationships can get broken or made up and again broken. And there is craving and aversion. This is the world. This is samsara.

But the Master is not a relationship. The Master is the Presence. What is necessary is to feel the Presence of the Master, not to make a relationship. Don't make the Master a part of your world. Then the same, "Oh, he looked at me." "He didn't look at me." "Oh, he said this." "He didn't say that." "Oh, somebody is close. I am not close." All this garbage comes into it. You feel the Presence of the Master, that is eternal. That has been there with you before, now, and will be there in the future, too.

Master is the Presence. World is relativity. And relativity has limitations. Presence is unlimited. Presence is vast, infinite, and all comprehensive, all inclusive. And the presence of the Master in one's life will bring fulfillment to all relations. Every relationship will become complete with the presence of the Infinity if the Master is in your life.

DOUBT

Weekly Knowledge #6
20 Jul 1995
Montreal Ashram Canada


A doubt is a gray area. Gray is something which is neither white nor black. Now, how to solve the doubt? An event, knowledge, convention cannot help. Then what can help? Accepting it either as black or as white. Put it either as black and accept it or as white and accept it -- whether or not it is black or white. And see the gray as a shade of black or white. Either way you accept it. Honest or dishonest -- accept it. Then the mind is quiet. You are not in the gray area.

See, the eyes are dark, eyebrows are dark, the thymus -- the most powerful organ of the body -- is black. Hemoglobin -- the main force of the body -- is black. You cannot survive without black. It is part of you.

Or see it as white. Eye is also white. Bones are white; the structure on which the whole body stands is white. Put it in a category of black -- no problem -- accept. Put it in a category of white -- no problem -- doubt is not there. Have conviction. "I accept. They are dishonest and still part of me." That's it. Finished.

Doubt is wanting to get rid of something. Doubt is a temporary state. Neither up nor below. There tension arises.

FIRE

Weekly Knowledge #7
24 Jul 1995
Montreal Ashram Canada



The senses are like fire. Your life is also like fire. In the fire of senses, whatever you put in burns. If you burn tires, it creates pollution and bad smell. But if you burn sandalwood, it creates fragrance.

Celebration happens around the bonfire. Grief happens around the fire of cremation. The same fire that supports life in winter, can also destroy. One fire, like a ghee lamp, lights your way and purifies. Another fire made of toxic material creates pollution.

You are also like fire. Are you the fire that creates smoke and pollution or the flame of camphor which creates light and fragrance? A saint is like a camphor flame that creates light and the fragrance of love. He is the friend of life.

The fire that creates light and warmth and is useful is of higher quality. The fire that creates light and a little smoke as well is of medium quality. The fire that creates darkness and only smoke is of low quality. Learn to distinguish the different fires. If your senses are engaged in goodness, then you will create light and fragrance. If engaged in impurity, you create smoke and darkness. It is samyama that transforms the quality of fire in you. Next week we will discuss samyama.

HABITS AND VOWS

Weekly Knowledge #8
30 Jul 1995
Connecticut USA



How to get rid of vasanas (impressions)? This is a question for all those who want to come out of habits.

You want to get rid of habits because they give pain and restrict you. The nature of vasana is to bother you, or bind you, and wanting to be free is the nature of life. Life wants to be free and when a soul doesn't know how to be free, it wanders through lifetimes wanting freedom.

The way to come out of habits is vows. This is samyama. Everybody is endowed with a little samyama.

A vow should be time bound. This would bring good conduct and save you from being wayward. Consider the time and place for vows to be taken.

When the mind dwells on useless thoughts, then two things happen. One is that all those old patterns come up and you feel discouraged by them. You blame yourself and feel that you have not made any progress.

The second thing is that you see it as an opportunity for samyama and feel happy about it. Without samyama, life will not be happy and diseases arise. For example, you know you should not eat three servings of ice cream, or eat ice cream every day, or otherwise you will get sick.

Habits will clog you when there is no liveliness or juice in life. When there is a direction for life force, you can rise above habits through samyama.

Take vows according to time and place. For example, suppose someone has a habit of smoking cigarettes and says, "I will quit smoking," but cannot do it. They can take a vow, three months or 90 days; a time-bound vow. If someone is used to cursing and swearing, take a vow not to use bad language for ten days. Don't take it for a lifetime; you will break it immediately. If you happen to break it in between, don't worry. Just begin again. Slowly increase the duration until it becomes your nature.

All those habits which bother you, bind them in vows, in samyama. So all those who are in Satsang, take a time-bound vow today and make a note of it. If you break a vow, make a note of it and share the time and date at the next Satsang. Continue it again. Tie those habits which bring you pain in samyama.

DEALING WITH BLAME

Weekly Knowledge #9
10 Aug 1995
Braunlage Germany



When someone blames you, what do you usually do? Blame them back or you put up resistance in yourself. When someone blames you, they actually take away some negative karma from you. If you understand this and don't put up resistance and feel happy about it, then you drop your resistance. "Oh, good. That person is blaming me. Good. Something is going away." And when you drop the resistance, your karma goes away. Do you see what I'm saying?

So when someone blames you and you put up resistance in your mind, and you don't react, then you are not allowing them to take the negative karma. Outside you may resist, but inside if you don't resist, and feel happy, "Oh, good, somebody is there to blame me and take some negative karma," you will feel immediately lighter.

How does it feel to you when someone blames you? Do you feel some heaviness? Usually, when someone blames you, you feel hurt and you feel unhappy, you feel sad. This is all because you're . . . resisting. That is it. What you resist, persists. The ignorant person tells someone, "Don't blame me because it hurts me."

An enlightened person also says "Don't blame me." Do you know why? Because it might hurt you. This is a beautiful point. What are the points? You get hurt because you resist the blame. When someone blames you, you resist it inside. Outside you may not resist, but inside when you resist, then that hurts you.

An ignorant person warns you, "You better not hurt me, you better not blame me because I will feel hurt." Someone warns you not to blame them because it will hurt them and they'll do something harmful to you out of revenge.

An enlightened person says "Don't blame me because it will hurt you." So here you say, don't blame because of compassion. You can tell someone, don't blame me out of compassion, or you can say it out of anger.



News:

Guruji arrived in Poland for an enchanting course with nearly 400 people. Every eye was filled with tears of gratitude. Then Guruji was off to Braunlage in Germany where more than 200 people had come together to celebrate the silence.

TODAY IS KRISHNA'S BIRTHDAY

Weekly Knowledge #10
16 Aug 1995
Rotterdam Netherlands



BIRTH OF THE CENTER OF ATTRACTION

Krishna means the most attractive . . . It is the divinity that is the most attractive; the energy that pulls everything to it. Krishna is the formless center which is everywhere. Any attraction from anywhere is coming only from Krishna. Often people fail to see the spirit behind the attraction and merely hold on to the outer shell. And the moment you try to possess the shell, you will see Krishna has played a trick and you will be left with an empty shell in your hands and tears in your eyes.

Be clever like Radha -- don't be tricked by Krishna. Krishna could not escape from Radha, for her whole world was filled with Krishna. If you can see that wherever there is an attraction, there is Krishna; then you are Radha, you are in your center.

The mind moves towards beauty, joy and truth. Krishna tells Arjuna, "I am the beauty in the Beautiful, the strength in the Strong, the wisdom in the Wise." In this way he arrests the mind from moving away from him.

Krishna reveals this Knowledge to Arjuna because he is Anasuya. Next week we will see what is Anasuya.

ANASUYA

Weekly Knowledge #11
24 Aug 1995
London United Kingdom



Knowledge will be different at different levels of consciousness. At a particular level of consciousness you will become anasuya. Anasuya is devoid of fault-finding eyes. If a mirror is dusty, you need a duster to clean it. But if your eyes have a cataract, any amount of dusting will not help. So first you have to remove the cataract. Then you can see that the mirror is already clean.

There is a certain mind set that always finds fault, even in the best conditions in the world. When you give a person with this mind set the best, they still find faults. Even with the best possible companion, or the most beautiful painting, they will still find something wrong. That kind of mind set cannot know the sacred Knowledge. Krishna tells Arjuna that he is giving him the Royal Secret, because he is anasuya. "You are not finding fault in Me, even though you are so close."

From a distance, even craters cannot be seen. Even on a smooth surface there will be holes. If you are only interested in the holes, you will not see the magnanimity of things. If you are not in anasuya, Knowledge cannot blossom in you. Then there is no point in giving Knowledge.

Question: What about discrimination -- Wisdom?

Answer: If it is in your vision, your vision will find discrimination. The moment you are out of the path, everything is all wrong, that is not anasuya. For example, you have a friendship, and after 10 years you decide to leave. When you leave, you do not see the good in that relationship. You find fault. This is not anasuya.

However, once you discover you have the wrong vision, half of the wrong vision has already disappeared. There is a fine line here. There cannot be any better example than the cataract. Instead of saying, "My vision is blurred," you say, "The whole world is not sharp." Suppose someone is coming in. It is windy, so you shut the door. But the person thinks the door has been slammed in his face! This is asuya. It is not anasuya. Most of the population is like this.

Asuya is finding fault. It is seeing malicious intent everywhere. It is like a child who says, "Mother, you don't love me!" The child's vision is wrong. If the mother does not love the child, who will? It is the same as if someone comes and says, "Guruji, you don't love me!" If I don't love them, forget about it. Nobody else in the world will! Where else will they find love? Nowhere. A mother may get frustrated but not a Master.

Question: It seems as though you can't have anasuya unless you are enlightened?

Answer: Not always. This is an excuse. To get enlightenment, you must have this vision.

THE LOVE OF THE IGNORANT AND THE ANGER OF THE ENLIGHTENED

Weekly Knowledge #12
31 Aug 1995
Bangalore Ashram India



The love of the ignorant can be harmful yet even the anger of the Enlightened is not harmful. It can be only good!

An example is the school at the Art of Living Ashram in Bangalore. 250 children are enrolled but only 200 come to class on any given day. Fifty children don't show up. Why? They cry at home, "Mother, I don't want to go to school."

The mother says, "Oh, la la, don't cry . . . ok." She thinks, "No child in the world is like my child." And so she sticks up for the child and begins to speak for him. She does not see the teacher's point of view. The mother asks the teacher, "Why are you not teaching my child properly? He is so innocent, so lovely." So, what happens -- the child grows up spoiled. The love in the mother's ignorance has spoiled the child. The child will never learn the alphabet, never learn to read or write, but the mother says, "Oh, never mind, there are sheep to look after and fields to tend." The mother's love in ignorance has spoiled the child.

The anger of the Enlightened is a blessing. There are many instances of this in the Puranas. Once a Master was traveling in the middle province of India with a disciple following him a few yards behind. Some boys who were rude, rough, and abusive began to throw stones and tease the disciple calling him names. This went on for some time as the boys followed the Master and the disciple. They came to a river. The Master and the disciple got into a boat in order to cross. The boys got in another boat which started to sink in the middle of the river.

The Master slapped the disciple across the face. The disciple was so surprised as he had not said a word back to the boys in response to their taunts. He had been such a good disciple and yet the Master had slapped him!

The Master said, "It is your fault. You are responsible for their boat sinking. You did not respond to their abuse. Nature has now punished them in a worse way because you did not have enough compassion to quell their insults."

The slap that the Master gave took away the karma of this event such that it would not be carried into the future of the boys. It also served to take away any little bit of joy the disciple may have felt at seeing the boys' boat sink! Thus, it also took away the karma of the event for the disciple. So, the anger of the Enlightened is a blessing!

A LIAR IS INNOCENT

Weekly Knowledge #13
06 Sep 1995
Bangalore Ashram India



A dear person whom you trust lies to you and gets caught. What do you feel?

1. Sadness

2. Anger

3. Cheated

4. Disappointment

5. Compassion

6. Let down

7. Loss of respect

8. Wonder

9. Shock

10. Embarrassment

Recently when someone lied to me, I felt happy and more love, for they were not a good liar. Had they been a good liar, they would not have been caught. I thought they were so innocent that they could not even lie properly. They lie and get caught. If they had not been caught, how would you know they were a liar? So . . . you can never know a good liar. The person you call a liar is not a good liar and they are innocent. Aren't they?

And so . . . ha ha (laugh). You need not go through all the listed mental gymnastics. Instead melt and dissolve in Love.

BE A GOPAL

Weekly Knowledge #14
13 Sep 1995
Melbourne Austrailia


Like fish in the water, you are in air. Thoughts are in mind. Mind is in Big Mind. The Big Mind in Me is love. Emotions are ripples in love. Love is all Knowledge.

Every atom of Big Mind is crammed with Knowledge. Knowing this, you stop seeking. You seek until you come to the Master. You walk until you come to the swimming pool. You don't walk or run in the swimming pool -- you swim or float. Once you come to the Master, seeking stops, blossoming begins.

You are Knowledge. Every atom in you is shimmering with Knowledge. This is called Go. Be a Go-Pal. Be a friend in Knowledge.

Go has four meanings:

Knowledge

Movement

Achievement

Freedom or liberation

Pal means friend or protector -- one who takes care of.

Often you become friends by:

Gossiping about negative things

Complaining

Similar cravings or aversions

Common enemies or common problems

Common goals or common addictions

Coming together in Knowledge is rare. You become friends because you have something in common. Be a friend in Knowledge. Uplift each other in Knowledge. All Satsangees are Gopals -- reminding each other, coming together in and for Knowledge. That is Gopal. Be a protector of this Knowledge.

Silence

Weekly Knowledge #15
21 Sep 1995
Bangalore Ashram India



Prayer within breath Is silence Love within Infinity Is silence

Wisdom without word Is silence

Compassion without aim Is silence

Action without doer Is silence

Smiling with all the Existence Is silence!

BIG MIND

Weekly Knowledge #16
27 Sep 1995
Bangalore Ashram India


You know there is a Big Mind and a small mind. Sometimes the Big Mind wins over the small mind and sometimes it is the other way around.

When the small mind wins over, it is misery and when the Big Mind wins, it is joy.

Small mind promises joy and leaves your hand empty. Big Mind may bring resistance in the beginning but fills you with joy.

The word Guru means great. Jaya means victory. Deva means one who is fun-loving, playful, light. One who is playful is often not dignified and when one is dignified, he is often not playful.

Jai Guru Dev is victory to the Big Mind in you that is both dignified and playful. That is what Jai Guru Dev means: "Victory to the Greatness in you."

You do not say victory or hail to the Master as he has won over already. You say victory to your own Self, your own Mind, which is being veiled by the small mind.

THE ONLY THING YOU MUST REMEMBER

Weekly Knowledge #17 05 Oct 1995
Bangalore Ashram India


The only thing you must remember is

how fortunate you are.

When you forget this you become sad. Sorrow indicates

(I) your negative qualities, and (ii) your attachment to your positive qualities. When you think you are too good, you blame the world; then you become sad. The purpose of sorrow is to bring you back to the self. And self is all Joy. But this is possible only through Knowledge -- awareness.

Knowledge or awareness leads sorrow towards the self. With lack of Knowledge, the same sorrow multiplies and does not get completed. Knowledge completes sorrow.

With the power of Knowledge you transcend sorrow. In this path you have everything. We have this beautiful Knowledge which has all the flavors in it -- wisdom, laughter, seva, silence, singing, dancing, humor, celebration, yagyas, caring, complaints, problems, complications, and chaos to add color.

Life is so colorful!

FREEDOM AND DISCIPLINE

Weekly Knowledge #18 10 Oct 1995
Bangalore Ashram India



Freedom and discipline are opposites and complementary. The purpose of defense is to protect freedom. But is there freedom in defense? Do soldiers have freedom? No, they are totally bound, not even allowed to put the right foot down when told the left foot. Their steps are measured and they are unable even to walk with a natural rhythm. There is total lack of freedom in defense. That which has absolutely no freedom is protecting the freedom of the country! So it is with the police; they protect the freedom of the individual. But are they free?

Discipline protects freedom. They both go hand in hand. Understand this and go ahead in life. You have some restrictions and it is this that allows you freedom. You can choose to focus either on freedom or discipline, and this makes you happy or unhappy. Freedom without discipline is like a country without a defense.

Fences should be fences; a fence cannot be built all over the property. If your fence is all over, how can you build on the property? That state of high absolute freedom is too difficult; we need to be very practical. Yes, there is a state of unlimited bliss, the freedom Advaita talks about. The Advaita Knowledge has been totally misused or used according to one's own fancies and conveniences.

There must be awareness in the mind, love in the heart, and righteousness in action.

Love and fear are two possibilities that put you on track. The Jewish religion put fear as the main thing so that life could improve. Nature induces fear at a certain age in a child. When a child is very young, it gets 100 percent time and love of the mother. The child has no fear. As the child grows more independent it becomes cautious. Nature brings in an iota of fear. With freedom, the child starts walking carefully. Fear of losing freedom also brings defense. The purpose of defense is to eliminate fear.

On this path Knowledge is your Freedom
and also your Defense.

DISCIPLESHIP ENDS --

Weekly Knowledge #19 17 Oct 1995
Nova Scotia Canada


A SHISHYA (DISCIPLE) OR

A SAKHA (COMPANION)?

Knowledge has an end. Knowledge completes. So also does discipleship. For the disciple is aimed at acquiring Knowledge.

Once you cross the water, however nice the boat is, you get off the boat. After twelve years, the disciple completes his studies. The master does a ceremony called Samavartha, where he tells the disciple that he is ending the discipleship and asking him to behave at par with him, and let the Brahman dynamically manifest.

Sakha is a companion in life and death; it never ends. In the path of love there is neither beginning nor end. Sakha only wants the beloved. He doesn't care about the Knowledge or liberation. Love is incomplete because of longing. And so it is infinite, for infinity can never be complete.

Arjuna was a sakha to Krishna and although Krishna was the perfect Master he was a sakha, too. What are you, a shishya (disciple) or a sakha (companion)?

SAKHA -- YOUR RELIABLE SENSE

Weekly Knowledge #20 24 Oct 1995
Montreal Ashram Canada


There are three things: the Self, the senses, and the object, or the world. And there are three words: sukha, pleasure; dukha, sorrow; and sakha, companion. These have one thing in common: "kha," which means "senses."

The Self through the senses experiences the world. When the senses are with the Self, that is pleasure (sukha), because the Self is the source of all joy or pleasure. When the senses are away from the Self (dukha) -- in the mud, lost in the object -- that is misery. Mud, misery, mind -- they are very close.

Self --- Senses ("Kha") --- World

--- Joy (Sukha) Sorrow (Dukha) ---

Self is the nature of joy. In any pleasant experience, you close your eyes; you smell a nice flower, or you taste or touch something. So sukha is that which takes you to the Self. Dukha is that which takes you away from the Self. Sorrow simply means that you are caught up in the object, which goes on changing, instead of focussing on the Self.

All the sense objects are just a diving board to take you back to the Self.

Sa-kha, companion, means: "He is the senses." Sakha is one who has become your senses, who is your senses. If you are my senses, it means I get Knowledge through you; you are my sixth sense. As I trust my mind, so I trust you. A friend could be just an object of the senses, but a sakha has become the very senses.

The sakha is the companion who is there in both the experiences of the dukha and of sukha. It means one who leads you back to the Self. If you are stuck in an object, that wisdom which pulls you back to the Self is sakha.

Knowledge is your companion and your companion is Knowledge. And the Master is nothing but the embodiment of Knowledge. So sakha means, "He is my senses, I see the world through that wisdom, through Him."

If your sense is the Divine, then you see the whole world through the Divinity.

Your head will be in the mud in a few years;

Don't put mud in your head while you are still alive.