No discrimination
"Bad things don't happen to anybody. Things happen. Different kinds of things happen to people. When you don't like it, you think it's bad. What is bad and good is just what you like and dislike, isn't it? You – as a person, not as a being – are who you are only because of your likes and dislikes. Your likes and dislikes are the basis of the falsehood that you have created in the form of your personality. Whether you like or you dislike something, you are limiting yourself. If you stop clinging to them, your personality will vanish ‒ you will become flexible and wonderful. I do not want you to convert a like into a dislike or vice versa – I want you to drop them. If you are hung up on your individuality, there is no question of universality. So, by today evening, start this process of dropping your likes and dislikes, one by one. If you do that every month, within six months’ time, you will see a tremendous transformation in you."
Life is in the present
"Whether you seek money, or a home, or intelligence, or knowledge, or God — desire is desire. The object of desire just changes the direction of your seeking, but it does not change the process of life as such. Right now, your whole life seems to be in pursuit of happiness because happiness is missing. If you are very happy, after some time, even that does not seem to be enough. Even if life becomes a very pleasant and beautiful experience, after some time you will see that there is something within you which does not want to settle for just a joyful life either. If you want to experience life in a better way, changing the objects of desire is not going to make much of a difference. It is the way we handle the process which is going to make the difference. And the essence of life, in many ways, is in its process, isn't it? Where you go in the end is not the point, really. In many ways, the essence of life is in how you are experiencing it right now."
Inner management
"Anybody who does not know how to manage his own body, mind, emotion and energies but is managing outside situations, is doing so only by accident, not by intent. When you manage situations by accident, you exist as an accident. When you exist as an accident, you are a potential calamity. When you exist as a potential calamity, being anxious all the time becomes a natural part of your life. Because it does not matter who you are, how powerful you are, external situations will never be 100% in your control. That is the reality of life. As the scope and play of your life increases, you have less and less control over the situations in which you live, but at least the inner world should happen the way we want it, isn't it so?
If somebody else decides what should happen around you, that itself you call slavery. If your body, mind, emotions and energies are not functioning the way you want them to, if somebody else decides what should happen within you, isn't this the worst kind of slavery? People are learning management as a science to apply it to outer situations; I would like them to understand that there is a whole science of inner management also. If you want to live a life of fulfillment and wellbeing and offer the same to people around you, it is extremely important you know what it means to manage your interiority; otherwise, your life will be purely accidental.
If whatever is happening outside is happening within you, you being peaceful and happy in your life is a faraway thing. It is never going to happen. Only when a person begins to experience a dimension beyond the physical within himself, can be play with the physical world whichever way he wants. Only then can he do the best with the outside world, but his interiority remains undisturbed, always."
Living with a vision
"It is time to create a vision within ourselves as to what it is that we really care for. If you look deep enough, your vision will be the universal vision. As a human being, whatever you have known as the highest, whatever is the highest you can seek, simply create that vision. It does not matter whether it is going to happen or not going to happen, simply living with the vision itself is very elevating, is itself a very liberating and joyous process for any person. Whether it is going to happen tomorrow or after a hundred years is not the point. You have a vision, and you are not concerned about whether it is possible or not possible, easy or difficult, attainable or not attainable, or in other words: you are not concerned about the result in the end. It is just you have a vision and you give your life towards it. Simply seeking that with undivided division - this itself is a way of knowing life here and beyond."
Habitual, even instinctual reflex can be changed through conditioning and meditative interventions, neuroscience has suggested the possibility.
Here is an example if you want science-backed evidence. Of course things happen and people react, otherwise you might as well be dead. Question is how much control do we want to have over our reaction? Not saying that reacting emotionally/impulsively is undesirable, rather, to what extent we are able to practice a conscious decision. I do not claim to believe or disbelieve things I simply do not yet know the answer to, but I am hopeful that there are ways to not be a slave to our own compulsion, boredom and ego (tricky word for psychopaths). Willingness to explore is essential to seek truth.
And yes, ironically, my motivation comes from the desire to have the ultimate control over my biological and mental makeup. And I think being process-oriented is the way to go.
