See what you got. You did not know that 20 years of meditation has made you a much better person. And after twenty years, one day you got upset and you say, “See twenty years of meditation, I still got upset, miserable.” You could have been miserable all the twenty years otherwise.
You should say in spite of your meditation you got upset. Suppose you were never doing, what would have happened? You could have been much worse. None of the sadhanas or practices are to be left or shunned until you get centred. And they always improve you. We don’t expect that one day in the future I will experience, I will be in Divine love.
Right now it is paradoxical to listen to that. It doesn't take a second, yet, it will take some time. It is paradoxical. And truth is always paradoxical. A Master and a disciple were going in a boat. Behind them there was a group of four people in another boat.
These four were teasing the disciple who was going behind the Master. You know, usually if you follow some spiritual path, people who don’t consider themselves to be spiritual, or consider themselves very normal people, consider you as abnormal.
They make fun of you. So those boys were making fun of him, and sometimes even throwing things at him, torturing him. When they got into the boat, the boat with the four people capsized and started sinking. They had a very difficult time and barely managed to come to the shore alive. The Master's boat with the disciple reached the shore safely, but because the other boat capsized and they were saved with great difficulty, the Master gave a slap to the disciple.
You know why? He said, “Look, you should have spoken something back. You kept quiet. And if you had punished them, Nature wouldn’ t have punished them. You did not punish them, so nature punished them even worse. Your patience made them suffer more.”
Look at the compassion of the Master. It is an event that happened, this is not just a story. It is such a great lesson. A person who is in equanimity and peace, even if he scolds, blames, it is taken as a blessing, something good is happening. (That doesn’t happen very often). Don't drop all your practices.
Stick to them until maturity comes. It is said that love and compassion for the whole creation, for all beings is the goal and you are the proof. Question - Gurudev, you said the compassion of the Master was shown by that slap? Could you explain why? Gurudev - Yes, he taught a lesson to the disciple.
Upto a certain level in your knowledge, in your evolution, you have to be patient. When? When you have feverishness. And then compassion is born, equanimity, because you want to be calm, quiet, peaceful, patient for your own good, isn’t it? But the Master's mind was thinking about the good of all the others, too.
Question - Gurudev, it also take away some karma from that boy?
Gurudev Sri Sri - It taught him something, it lifted him to one more level. Until then he was thinking about his own behaviour, the way to conduct himself, now he was given an understanding that you have to be compassionate. Get it? It is very subtle and very deep.
