Turning Inwards
One has to go inward. We have roamed all over in our worldly life long enough — it is time to turn inward! We should start having the taste of the inner now. And once we have tasted the inner then there is nothing in the outer world that will fascinate us anymore. Once we have seen the inner beauty, the outer world simply pales away, it is reduced to nothing; it is only a reflection.
If we have seen the real moon, who bothers about the moon’s reflection in a mirror? The outer world is just a reflection of the inner. The mind may create trouble. The mind will say — “What is happening? What are you doing? This way you will be isolated, you will become alone, you will be cut off from people.”
The mind will find so many excuses to go out again — don’t listen. We are not being cut off from people; we are only getting connected with our own inner being. And when one is oneself, when one is joined with oneself, then only can one be with others; there is no other way. If we are not ourselves, if we have not known what our inner reality is, all our relationships are just bogus, just games to keep us occupied… they are of no value. The real relationship arises only when we are rooted, centred, in our own being. Then we can spread our hands, then we can embrace somebody and we can love. And that love will have a totally different flavour — the flavour of freedom.
We shouldn’t be distracted by the mind. The mind is the devil in the old scriptures? We have read that Jesus was tempted by the devil. That devil is none other than the mind, the old name for the mind, a mythological name for the mind. It always tempts, it always says, “Go out — do this, be that. Don’t waste your time sitting and gazing at your navel.” Inwardness is not an accepted value in the world of the mind because they are polar opposites. If we turn inwards, the mind has to die. The mind can exist only if we remain in the outer world and never come within. So, beware! The devil will tempt us. And the devil is not somewhere else; it is just our mind.
If one is alert, slowly, slowly, one understands that there is no need to be distracted by the mind. And once we have entered into our own being, there is no fear; then the mind cannot do anything. Then the mind becomes a beautiful servant. The mind is a beautiful servant but a very ugly master. Remember this!
