If you want to do something good, do it immediately, but if you want to do something bad, brush it aside.
Once when I was in Canada for a satsang, two and a half hours after the satsang, at 12: 30 in the night, an elderly Indian lady came. One of the volunteers asked her to return the next morning, but she insisted and started knocking on my door, demanding, “I need to see Guruji right now.” I came out and asked her, “What’s the matter?” She said, “I have decided to donate $ 200 to children.” I said, “OK, but why the great hurry? It is past midnight, and you have come from so far in the middle of the night when you could have donated it tomorrow or the day after. I will be here for some time. Why did you come so late?”
She said, “Guruji, I can’t trust my own mind. Today I feel like giving, so I am giving right now.” Then, at 1 a.m. she narrated a story to me. She said, “Guruji, I would like to tell you a story.” I replied, “OK, tell me the story. Anyway, I am awake now.”
She started: “A trader was going to Kashi by boat. On the way, his boat started sinking. He saw a fisherman on a nearby boat and asked him to take him aboard and save him. He told the fisherman that otherwise he would drown and die. And that if he took him aboard, then he would give him all his property. The fisherman agreed. Once the boat started moving safely towards the shore, the trader regained his senses and started repenting for having offered all his property to the fisherman. Then he told the fisherman that although he was ready to give him all his property, his wife would not agree to it, so he would only give him half of it, as he had to give the other half to his wife and family. For that he was helpless, as they also needed the property. “The fisherman kept silent and continued rowing towards the shore. Then the trader wondered why he had offered him half his property. What great thing had he done by saving him from the river? It is his duty to ferry people across, and, after all, protecting others is only humane. He was just doing his duty and would have committed a sin if he had not saved him. He had actually protected the fisherman from committing a sin. So he told the fisherman he would only give him a quarter of his property. The fisherman did not make a sound. Then, when they reached the shore, the trader gave him a five rupee coin, but the fisherman said that he did not need his money. Shocked, the trader insisted, ‘No, no, you take this. Have tea for yourself and get some biscuits for your children.'”
Then the elderly woman said, “Guruji, such is the game of the mind. If one has to do some good work, it is best to do it immediately or else one keeps postponing it and never does it. That is why I have come in the middle of the night.”
The mind is such that if we have to scold someone we pick up the phone right away and shout at him without caring what time of day or night it is. You may not be aware if the person on the other end of the phone is listening or not! He may have hung up, but once you have shouted, you are at peace. The mind wants to do bad things right away. [pullquote class=”left”]The energy in you that moves you to act, also will lead you to a state where you are a witness and do not even desire to act.[/pullquote] Consciousness blossoms when you are a witness. Then, even amidst all your actions, consciousness will continue to blossom. So drop all your concepts and put in your full efforts – “udyamao bhairavah.”
