VBT – Meditation 112.5
Change Yourself
I was reading a viceroy’s journal. Lord Wavell’s journal. The man seems to be very sincere, deeply honest, because some remarks he makes are just superb. One remark he makes in a journal is, “Unless these three old men, Gandhi, Jinnah, and Churchill, die, India will be in trouble.” These three men, Gandhi, Jinnah, Churchill – and these three were helping in every way! Churchill’s own viceroy writes in a journal that these three men should die soon. And he hopefully even gives their ages: Gandhi, 75, Jinnah, 65, Churchill, 68. Because these three are the problems. Can you think of Gandhi imagining that he is the problem – or Jinnah, or Churchill? All are doing their best to solve the problem of this country! And Wavell said that these three are the problem, because all the three are adamant, stubborn; every one of these three has the absolute truth and the other two are absolutely wrong. These three absolutes cannot meet anywhere – the other two are simply wrong.
There is no question about it.
Everyone thinks as if he is the center and he has to worry about the whole world, and change the whole world, transform the whole world, create a utopia. All that you can do is just change yourself.
You cannot change the world. You can create more mischief trying to change it; you can create more chaos; you can harm; and you can puzzle. Already the world is too puzzled. You can puzzle it more and confuse it more.
Please leave the world to itself. You can do only one thing, and that is, you can achieve inner silence, inner bliss, inner light. If you achieve this, you have helped the world very much. Just by changing one ignorant spot into an enlightened flame, just by changing one person from darkness into light, you have changed a part of the world. And this changed part will have its own chain reactions.
Buddha is not dead. Jesus is not dead. They cannot be dead because there is a chain reaction – from one lamp, from one flame, another flame takes over. And a successor is created, and they go on living.
But if your light is not there, if your lamp is without a flame, you cannot help anyone. The first basic thing is that you must attain your inner flame. Then others can share. Then you can kindle others’ light also. Then it becomes a succession. Then you may disappear from the body but your flame goes on passing from hand to hand. Up to eternity it goes on and on. Buddhas never die, enlightened persons never die, because their light becomes a chain reaction. And unenlightened persons never live, because they cannot create any chain, they don’t have any light to share, no flame to kindle someone else’s flame.
Please be concerned with yourself only. Be selfish, I say, because that is the only way you will become selfless, that is the only way you can become a help and a blessing to the world. Don’t be worried about it; that is not your concern. The greater your worries are, the greater you think your responsibilities are. And the greater your responsibilities, the more you feel yourself as being great.
You are not. You are simply mad. Get out of this madness of helping others. Just help yourself.
That’s all that can be done.
And then many things happen… but they happen as a consequence. Once you become a source of light, things start happening. Many will share it, man will be enlightened through it, many will attain life, more life, abundant life through it. But don’t think about it. You cannot do anything about it consciously. Only one thing can be done and that is: you can become conscious. Then everything follows.
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