The Brave Pedestrian

My dad was watching Sanskar channel, and the voices from his television triggered a thought within me.  I recognized what it is about godmen or saints that irks me... that has always irked me, and prevented me from reverentially approaching a person. What irritates is that one is required to believe that this person is a "great man", and that his thoughts are somehow a lot more profound than yours or mine... even before one listens to the substance of his talk, let alone know him by his actions! Don't get me wrong... I have respectfully heard a few pravachans in my childhood and youth, and I have learned much from Swami Chinmayananda especially. Ever so often, a pravachan by someone like Bandhu Triputhi or Osho Rajneesh on television captivates me, and forces me to rethink my whole life. But I hear these people as one person hears another. I regard their words with as much reverence as I might accord to, say, the words of a knowledgeable fellow ...

May 29, 2006: A lot of people try to change their lives by numerologically altering their names, consulting tarot-card readers, wearing special gemstones on their fingers, chanting special mantras, wearing a  taveez  from Ajmer-baba  etc. In other words, they try to intervene in the karmic process of their lives. I feel it is somehow “wrong” to seek to tinker with your life in any manner. My analogy is: God gives us a car and entrusts us with the job of becoming careful, skillful drivers. He keeps for himself the job of traffic administration, as well as road and vehicle maintenance. Apart from periodically checking the oil-levels and tyre-treads, we should not concern ourselves too closely with internal mechanisms, because it distracts us from our main job of learning to be good drivers! If we sincerely feel that our life is somehow out-of-sync, and we have a bad feeling about things, the remedy is not to try to contact our guardian angel, spiritual guide, ...