Why You Suffer: The Prison Was Never Real

Do you know how hunters in the jungle catch the monkey? Do you know how they do it? So, they do not use a cage to catch monkeys and things like this. They use a heavy jar with a narrow neck. They put sweet fruits and nuts inside the jar and leave it on the ground. So, what do these monkeys do? They walk to the jar and put their hand inside, and the monkeys grab the fruit. But when it tries to pull its hand out, it cannot. Its fist holding the fruit is too big for the opening. So, it cannot pull it out. The hunter slowly walks near the monkey and catches the monkey. This is how people actually catch monkeys in the wild. The monkey sees the hunter. It knows it is in danger. All it has to do is to run away and be free and let go of the fruit. But it refuses to let go. It holds on as tightly as possible to its food. So, what happens? The monkey traps itself, not because of the jar itself, but because of its own grip. And we all laugh at the monkey, you know, for being stupid. But now, look at us. What are we holding on to so tightly? It is our own stories. And we have trapped ourselves with that. We go, fall into the pit. We go, fall into the trap of spirituality, unwanted techniques, breathing techniques, unwanted meditation, unwanted people, circumstances. And then we complain that life is so difficult. Don't be narrow-minded. Be courageous, be brave. Give up all the unwanted attachments and desires that you are having, and be done with this drama. It is easy actually. It looks difficult only in the beginning, but it is easy, provided you are sincere and dedicated. If you're holding on to your story, if you want to love and to be loved, if you want people to come and tell you good stories and things like that, you will never move on in this world. You are still holding on. The moment you hold on to good things, and the moment you hold on to bad things, you are still bound.

You see, what is this existence that everyone praises, and many people feel that existence is a death sentence, and they wish to escape it? You see, one moment, there's a child is born, and we all call it miracle, right? Everybody celebrates when the child is born. And another moment, the same child grows into an adult searching for peace that never actually exists. Is this not strange? You see, if existence is only a gift, why does every heart know suffering? And if existence is a death sentence, why does every heart continue to cling to it? Because both questions arise only because ego stands between truth and reality. So, listen carefully. Existence itself is never the problem. It has never wounded or tortured anyone. It has never chained anyone from the beginning. The prison is not existence. The prison is the one who says, "This existence belongs to me." Tell me, before this body was born, where was your anxiety? Before this mind collected its memories, where was your fear? Before the word "I" appeared, what exactly was imprisoned? What happened? Nothing. The chain appeared only after the thought of ownership appeared. You say, "my life," "my success," "my love," "my suffering," "my future." Every "my" becomes another iron link to the chain. And you're bound because of your own creation, not by the world or God. There is no karma sitting in one corner of heaven saying, "This person, I don't like your face, therefore you have to go to karma," and things like that. "You have too much money, I'm going to take money from you. How can you have good relationship? Let me spoil the relationship." Karma is not working like that. There is nothing in this world which is sitting and giving you for your own actions and things like that. Don't be narrow-minded. See that you are the self-aware reality, and be done with this drama. How long are you going to hold on to your suffering? How long are you going to hold on to gurus, ashrams, organizations, spirituality, and all those unwanted things? You are like the king and queen who has the entire kingdom for yourself, but begging for spirituality, which is nothing but a few coins that have fallen down at your roads. See that you are the unblemished absolute, ridiculously, purely, absurdly, the self-aware reality, and be done. It is an easy thing, actually. Of course, initially it will look difficult because the mind is used to holding on, and the mind does not want to leave. You know, when I tell truth to people, people ask me, "Why are you attacking me?" And I'm like, "Who is attacking you?" Only when your belief system is shaking, then you consider it to be attacking. When your assumptions are being questioned, then you consider it to be attacking. But nobody's attacking anyone. I'm asking you the truth. If you call yourself to be having wisdom, if you call yourself that you want to be liberated, why hold on to your pathetic stories? Why hold on to all your unwanted sufferings and unwanted good things that you have done to this world? Why hold on to the nonsensical stories of how America is, how Americans are? Why hold on to all the unfair things that have been done to you, if you truly want wisdom? Are you seeing what I'm saying? We want wisdom, but we do not wish to give up our stories. We want wisdom, but we still want to wake up in the middle of the night and overthink our life. We want wisdom, but we still want people to come and tell us how good we are, how nice we have been, and things like that. Are you seeing how pathetic creatures we are? You are neither the earth, nor water, nor fire, nor air, nor space, nor this, nor that, and things like that. Know yourself as the pure self-aware reality, and be done with this. Once you see that there is only the self-aware reality, all your unwanted sufferings, attachment, desires, everything will vanish. You will have a proper sleep. I'm telling you from my own experience. I have been through suffering. I have been through all those things from the world. But if you truly want wisdom, drop your stories, drop your anxieties, drop your attachments and desires. And let me tell you, you will have proper sleep. And I have a very good sleep from so long. I'm having a proper sleep. The only time I wake up is to go to the washroom in the middle of the night. That's it. Otherwise, I don't wake up in the middle of the night thinking, "Why is life like this? At this age, I should be enjoying. Why am I sitting and speaking to people and doing social service, or doing, you know, preaching people?" I don't think like that. Only narrow-minded people do that. If you truly want wisdom, give up everything. I'm not saying, you know, run to an ashram like a coward. I'm not trying to tell that. Develop wisdom by involving with this world. If your spirituality is not letting you live in this world, what spirituality are you having? If your wisdom is not letting you fight your anxieties and schedule your sleep cycles, what wisdom are you having? Anyone can go on talking about love, about desires, attachments, but if you can't have a proper good night's sleep, what wisdom are you having? Are you seeing what I'm seeing? You know, the funny thing in this world is that people who do not know love are talking about love. People who do not know politics are running governments. People who do not know acting are acting in the movies. It's so funny. You know, people who don't know the meaning of Bhagavad Gita are running ashrams and having millions and thousands of followers. How absurd is the world that we are living in right now? You see, if you are not the body, if you are not the mind, if you are not the passing emotions, then who exactly is suffering? Think about that. Don't come and complain to me that your life is difficult. Nobody's life is easy. Even my life, I'm not saying I'm having so much money to do everything in this world. Everybody is going to struggle. But if you are truly sincere, do not complain. Sit and go through the world. Don't be a child begging for God to come and save you. Grow up, face things with your own wisdom and with your own understanding. You see, a cloud cannot imprison sky. Similarly, the emotions and desires, attachment cannot imprison the one on whom all these things are happening. The clouds appear. They change shapes and disappear. The sky remains untouched. Likewise, thoughts appear, emotions appear, pleasure appears, pain appears. Yet, something remains completely unchanged. And that is you. That is what you are. But you refuse to look there. Instead, you chase the clouds. Instead, you want to chase the stories of spirituality, gurus. You want to hold on to your stories of how the world has been unfair to you. How you have been deprived of love, and you are searching for love. How long will you keep collecting all this nonsensical stuff? How long do we want gods and goddesses to come to this world and tell the same thing again and again? Oh my god! How many victories will satisfy you? You tell me. How many failures will break you before you see that neither victory nor failure has ever touched your true nature? You stand before a mirror and mistake the reflection to be yourself. See that you are the self-aware reality, and be done with this. It is such a simple thing. Truth has always been simple from day one. It has never been difficult. If it is difficult, you are only giving excuses. If it is difficult, you are only holding on to this truth like an intellectual thing. If you truly have wisdom, you will not go through suffering or unwanted things. In fact, from my own experience, if I have to give, I don't involve in anything that will spoil my peace of mind. I do not involve in anything that is going to bring suffering to me. Whatever is going on right now, you will go through, but the past and the future, everything will be destroyed. What will be left is only the present.