It is the same with your thoughts – do not fight with them.
The effort to be free of thought
comes itself from a thought.
Know your thoughts, watch them, be aware of them,
then they quieten down without difficulty.
Witnessing finally leads to emptiness, and where there is emptiness –
there is the all.
86. Love.
Why does man suffer so much?
Because in his life there is pandemonium
but no soundless music.
Because in his life there is a babble of thoughts
but no emptiness.
Because in his life there is a turmoil of feeling
but no equanimity.
Because in his life there is a mad rushing around
but no stillness which knows no directions.
And finally, because in his life there is much of himself
but of God, nothing at all.
87. Love.
The time is ripe.
The hour draws nearer every day.
Innumerable souls are restless.
A path has to be created for them.
So hurry!
Work hard!
Surrender totally!
Forget yourself!
Plunge into God’s work like a madman.
Here, only madness will do –
and there is no greater wisdom
than such madness for God.
88. Love.
Non-attachment is not concerned with things
but with thoughts.
Non-attachment is not related to the outside
but to the within.
Non-attachment is not to do with the world
but with oneself.
One day a beggar went to see a Sufi fakir
and found him seated on a velvet cushion inside a beautiful tent
with its ropes tied to golden pegs.
Seeing all this the beggar cried: What is this!
Honorable Fakir, I have heard much about your
spirituality and non-attachment,
but I am completely disillusioned by all this ostentation around you.
The fakir laughed, replying:
I am ready to leave all this behind and come with you.
So saying, he immediately got up and walked off with the beggar
not even waiting to put his sandals on!