Robert: Good afternoon. I guess you have no mothers. Half the people are not here because of mother’s day. Happy mother’s day.
It's really interesting, so many people call me, and talk to me, and tell me, "What else must I do before I awaken? I've been practicing atma-vichara, I've been practicing meditation, I've been practicing everything for twenty, thirty, forty, fifty years. How come nothing is happening?" What do you think?
This tells you why. Because you are attached to holidays. It's one of the reasons, believe it or not. It's an attachment. Christmas comes around. "I have no time for spiritual life. I have to decorate my Christmas tree." All the holidays that come around, we can walk somewhere to see our relatives, and we wonder why we can't awaken completely. This is something to think about. Where your heart is, that's where God is. So if you are attached to anything, mother, father, country, trees, rabbits, cows, whatever, this is what is keeping you back.
I'm not saying that you can't spend time with those you love, or be with those you love. On the contrary, I'm saying mentally you have to feel in your heart the oneness of eternity, and until we mature, and this comes first in our lives, we will only go so far on the spiritual path. I'm not saying this because I want to see everybody come on a holiday to satsang. As you know I couldn't care less if one person came or nobody came. But for your benefit, for your good, think what you put first in your life. If you do not put consciousness first, absolute reality, God, then you will never see the light. You will never completely awaken. You have to virtually give up everything mentally.
It's like that story, if you remember in The Autobiography Of A Yogi by Yogananda, Lahiri Mahasaya, one of the triuna of Yogananda's path. He had been meditating for years practicing Kriya Yoga, doing all sorts of austerities. He developed many siddhis, powers. He was able to levitate, but he never became fully awakened, yet he was so sincere that Babaji appeared before him and told him, "Look, the reason you never awaken is because in your heart you always want to live in a palace, with servants, good food, dancing girls and everything else." So Babaji materialized the palace for Lahiri. And Lahiri stayed there for a period of time until he got disgusted and tired of it. Then it disappeared, and he was all cooked.
The reason Babaji did this for him, because he was a very devoted person and spent his life in meditation. But he had one last thing to get rid of, the palace. Therefore it was materialized before him in order for him to live in it and to see if that’s the answer. And of course it wasn't, so then it disappeared.
Whether this story is true or not makes no difference. It's symbolic. We have things in our mind that worry us, concern us. Thinking about the future, thinking about our health, and our loved ones, are all these worldly things that come to mind. Yet all the sages have told us, you have to let go of these things. Don't worry about your so called body. Do not concern yourself with your relatives, or the world, or man's inhumanity to man. Drop it. If you don't drop it you'll never make any headway.
So it is with us. We all have something we're leaning on for support, and we're afraid if we lose that we'll be finished. How can you ever be finished when you realize you are of a divine nature, that your real state is Brahman, ultimate oneness, pure awareness. No matter what your body and mind seem to be going through, no matter what you think, you can never get rid of your real self, because your real self just is. Your mind may tell you otherwise. You may be mesmerized in the world, believing you have to have this, and you have to have that, and you have to live here, and you have to live there, and you have to be with someone that you think you're supposed to be with, and you're afraid of being alone, or you're afraid of being with the wrong people, many fears, many false beliefs. These are the things that are keeping you back.
You and your self are the universe. You are the whole universe. You are the self, omnipresent, all-pervading. This is your real nature. If you just have a glimpse of this, how can you possibly fear anything? If you learn to live in the present and become spontaneous, forgetting about the past, not concerning yourself about the future, but understanding who you are right now, can't you see that this will take care of everything?
It reminds me of this old story about Krishna and Arjuna. They were invited to a rich man's home for dinner. When they entered the home and they sat down at the table, the rich man abused him. He told Krishna he doesn't believe anything he says. His teaching is a waste of time. He told him, "Why don't you go and get a decent job someplace?" and Krishna didn't say a word. When they were finished. Krishna blessed him and he said to him, "May your prosperity increase a thousand fold, and may your riches become a million more than you have now," and they left the home. Arjuna wondered about this, but he didn't say anything.
The following morning they were invited to breakfast to a poor man's house, and the poor man had no possessions except for a cow. But the poor man fell at Krishna's feet when they came in, and he worshipped Krishna and Arjuna, gave them the last bowl of rice he had and sang glories to Krishna. When Krishna and Arjuna were leaving the house Krishna blessed him also, and he said, "May your cow drop dead soon," and they left.
And Arjuna couldn't hold it in any longer and he said, "Krishna, tell me what you’re doing? What's going on? You went to the rich man's house and he abused you, and you blessed him and told him his wealth will multiply. And you go to the poor man's house who loves you, and his only possession is a cow, and you told him his cow will drop dead. What is the meaning of this?
And Krishna said, "You see, the more you're attached to, the less of a chance you have for enlightenment." So I told the rich man his wealth will increase. This means he will be attached to his wealth for many, many incarnations. Thousands of incarnations he will be attached to his wealth, and he will never become enlightened for a long time. Now the poor man, his only attachment was his cow. When he got rid of his cow, he would be finished on this earth, and he will become self-realized. So I told him his cow will soon die and he will be free.
This story is very significant of the way we live. We have something we own, a person, place, or thing. We can not get it out of our mind. We're attached. Because of this attachment we go through many lives, it appears, and we go through many experiences, simply because we are attached to something. It can be mental or physical.
Even if you hate someone. If you hate someone or something with a passion, that's attachment. You will come back to this earth, or to another planet similar to this earth, again, and again, and again, and you will meet this person that you hate so much under different circumstances again, and again, and again. One time he may be your daughter, he may be your mother, he may be your husband, he may be your wife. But that person that you despise so much will meet you again, and again, and do things to you in order to upset you. And you will hate again, and again. You will never be free until you understand.
The understanding is to turn within, to forget about the person, but to see your own reality, to trace the I thought to the source. After all it is the I thought that hates and loves, that has attachment to person, place or thing. When the I thought is transcended, only the self remains. Then your karma is finished, your body is finished, your world is finished, your God is finished, and you're home free. But as long as you allow a person, place or thing, and it may be your own body that you're attached to, your own mind, that's person, place or thing also, as long as you feel deeply about those things, you will never become free until you let it go.
You have to reconcile yourself with the whole universe, the mineral kingdom, the vegetable kingdom, the animal kingdom, the human kingdom. When you have become friends with the entire universe, you will not have to do atma-vichara. You will not have to trace the I, or worry about the I. Just the reconciliation with the universe will free you. After all, when you love everything, unqualified, what else can you do? There's nothing else. The total love of the whole universe kills the ego. For it is the ego that plays the other games with you, that makes you love someone special or hate someone special, that makes you despise certain animals and eat them, that makes you think poison ivy is worse than the rose, that causes you to qualify life. A sage sees everything as equal. No thing is worse or better than any other thing. And just by hearing this, allowing it to go into your heart, feeling it, will lead you to an awakening.
Think of the problems you think you have. Why are they a problem? What difference does it make? There is nothing in this world that it's important for you to want to feel badly, where you want to get revenge, or you’re afraid that something will happen to your body, you're concerned about a loved one, you're worried about the world situation. When you're like that, you are assuming responsibility for these things. After all you didn't ask to really get born. You didn't ask to get born into the family where you were born, into the nationality, into the religion that you were born into, into the city and state and country that you were born into. The power that takes care of that knows how to take care of you. Don't you see? There isn't anything you have to do to help.
In other words, God doesn't need your help. All you have to do is to take a deep breath and say, "Take it God. I'm finished with it. I will never worry again. I will never be upset over anything again."
Again, think what is the worst thing that can possibly happen to you. You can die. There is no such thing as death. You all know this. You can lose a fortune. You came into this world without a fortune and you're going out without a fortune. Have no concern about these things. Karmically you have and you're going through the experiences you have to go through. But that's for your body, not for you. Do you not see by now that you're totally free? Your real nature is absolute goodness, Parabrahman, absolute reality. You are the self, the all-pervading self. What can you possibly fear? What can anyone possibly do to you?
The other day I was speaking to a fellow from Bangladesh, and you are aware of the problems they’re having there. So he told me, "Those problems are for the ignorant. I was in the cyclone. I was there through all these calamities. I laughed, because I realized this is really a cosmic joke. It appears that God is picking on all the Bangladesh people because they have the worst calamities, and I stood my ground," he said. "If I was supposed to leave my body at that time I was well prepared, because I have been practicing self-inquiry for many years. I had no qualm whatsoever. It's because of this I'm here in America. I have no concern about coming to America. I've been here before. But something happened, I was able to get a visa, and I wound up here without even thinking of coming here."
That's like the story that I always tell you. The same things happen in nazi death camps all over the world. The suffering is done by the ignorant. Now this may seem strange to you, especially to some people here who don't know me too well. It appears as if I have no compassion. It appears as if I don't care. On the contrary, I care more than you can ever know. I also realize that nothing can happen to anyone. Nothing ever happens to anyone.
We go to the example again of looking through a keyhole. When you look through a keyhole you only see a part of the picture. So you look through a keyhole and you see a guy in Bangladesh getting hit by a cyclone, drowning, and you say, "Poor soul." But then you are allowed to open the door, and now you see the complete picture. You see the previous life. The same fellow was part of the inquisition in Spain, and it was his job to torture people by drowning them. And you move to the other end of the picture and you see that the person that he drowned and himself are both laughing now. The whole thing was a lie. It never happened. Nothing ever happened.
It's like you're watching a movie. In the movie there is a war going on. Everybody is being killed, torn to pieces. But then the movie is over. Nothing happened. They were just images on the screen. When you are aware of body-mind , and you think you are the body-mind , then your life is simply a superimposition on the screen of life, on consciousness. It appears to be happening to you. But in reality no thing is happening. You are free. You are whole. You are complete. And there’s only one of you. There never was you and me. There is only the one, and that one is absolute reality. You are that one. You are the body of bliss.
Wake up. Get rid of all those feelings that are beseeching you to do all these stupid things. Awaken. Be free. Simplify your life. Have no fear. Fear is another thing that you become attached to and it keeps you back.
Look at the world. The world is a cosmic joke. It appears to be real, the good things, the beautiful things, the horrible things. They are all imposters. This world is a world of duality. For every good there has to be a bad. It has to balance. For every bad there has to be a good. For every up there’s a down. For every forwards there’s a backward.
We can never understand this world. It's too complex. Get out of it, not by committing suicide, but by transcending the mind and body, and awakening to your real self. That's how you get out of it. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. Stop paying so much attention to your thoughts, to the world, to your body. Let come what may. Surrender totally to yourself. Yourself is God, consciousness. Begin to identify with the I am, not with conditions. Leave conditions alone.
As I told you before, you are not responsible for anything. Get rid of your guilt feelings. Turn within. See the truth. Become the truth. Do not look to others for advice, what to do, how to live. Be a lamp unto yourself, as the Buddha said. All the answers are within you.
Some of you are saying, "Well, what about you Robert? Can't we come to you for advice?" I am a guide, a mirror, for you to see yourself, and to guide you within yourself. I can only see you as one way, perfection, consciousness. I see you as myself. When you look at me, you're looking into the mirror. What do you see? You're seeing yourself. How are you seeing yourself? As depraved, homely, sickly, as an ego maniac? Drop it. Awaken.
There is no thing that wants to hurt you. It is all in your imagination. It is your imagination that causes your problems. Now do not let what I tell you make you cynical or sarcastic. While you are on the path of self discovery, you help others. You do what has to be done. It will happen by itself. If you're supposed to feed the homeless, then feed the homeless. It will happen by itself. If you're supposed to go live on top of a mountain, and never see civilization again, it will happen by itself.
The main thing to understand is that you have absolutely nothing to do with it. You may think you're taking action, and you may say to yourself, "If I don't do it, no one will. If I don't take care of this thing, everything will fall in on me." What can fall in on you? No thing is ever that bad. What you're really talking about is change. You are attached to a certain condition and you're afraid of the change. That's what you really mean. But if you've been working on yourself, and you have taught your mind to rest in the heart center, you have trained your mind not to go out, by going out I mean leaving your heart center and going into the world and becoming the world, then if your mind is subdued, only joy can come to you, due to the fact that what we call the substratum of life is total bliss. When you turn within, you merge with the bliss and you become a body of bliss. The choice is yours.
If holidays are so important to you, Easter. Look what fools we make of ourselves during Easter. We think we're doing something great. Jesus never knew anything about Easter or Christmas. We make up these holidays. There's nothing wrong with enjoying yourself, but don't make it into a fetish.
I remember when I was a young kid about twelve or thirteen, my family always wanted me to spend the holiday with them. And at that time I even felt in my heart, "What good would that do? External things do not matter," and I used to go downtown to listen to Joel Goldsmith. Where your heart is, that's where God is.
Today, think, "What is this thing I am attached to? What is so meaningful for me in this world?" and realize it’s that which is keeping you back. Let go of it mentally, by turning within, and realizing that, "I feel this. I feel I need this." Where does the I come from? Follow the I thread to the source and become liberated.
That was my mother’s day message to you. Any questions?
It's really interesting, so many people call me, and talk to me, and tell me, "What else must I do before I awaken? I've been practicing atma-vichara, I've been practicing meditation, I've been practicing everything for twenty, thirty, forty, fifty years. How come nothing is happening?" What do you think?
This tells you why. Because you are attached to holidays. It's one of the reasons, believe it or not. It's an attachment. Christmas comes around. "I have no time for spiritual life. I have to decorate my Christmas tree." All the holidays that come around, we can walk somewhere to see our relatives, and we wonder why we can't awaken completely. This is something to think about. Where your heart is, that's where God is. So if you are attached to anything, mother, father, country, trees, rabbits, cows, whatever, this is what is keeping you back.
I'm not saying that you can't spend time with those you love, or be with those you love. On the contrary, I'm saying mentally you have to feel in your heart the oneness of eternity, and until we mature, and this comes first in our lives, we will only go so far on the spiritual path. I'm not saying this because I want to see everybody come on a holiday to satsang. As you know I couldn't care less if one person came or nobody came. But for your benefit, for your good, think what you put first in your life. If you do not put consciousness first, absolute reality, God, then you will never see the light. You will never completely awaken. You have to virtually give up everything mentally.
It's like that story, if you remember in The Autobiography Of A Yogi by Yogananda, Lahiri Mahasaya, one of the triuna of Yogananda's path. He had been meditating for years practicing Kriya Yoga, doing all sorts of austerities. He developed many siddhis, powers. He was able to levitate, but he never became fully awakened, yet he was so sincere that Babaji appeared before him and told him, "Look, the reason you never awaken is because in your heart you always want to live in a palace, with servants, good food, dancing girls and everything else." So Babaji materialized the palace for Lahiri. And Lahiri stayed there for a period of time until he got disgusted and tired of it. Then it disappeared, and he was all cooked.
The reason Babaji did this for him, because he was a very devoted person and spent his life in meditation. But he had one last thing to get rid of, the palace. Therefore it was materialized before him in order for him to live in it and to see if that’s the answer. And of course it wasn't, so then it disappeared.
Whether this story is true or not makes no difference. It's symbolic. We have things in our mind that worry us, concern us. Thinking about the future, thinking about our health, and our loved ones, are all these worldly things that come to mind. Yet all the sages have told us, you have to let go of these things. Don't worry about your so called body. Do not concern yourself with your relatives, or the world, or man's inhumanity to man. Drop it. If you don't drop it you'll never make any headway.
So it is with us. We all have something we're leaning on for support, and we're afraid if we lose that we'll be finished. How can you ever be finished when you realize you are of a divine nature, that your real state is Brahman, ultimate oneness, pure awareness. No matter what your body and mind seem to be going through, no matter what you think, you can never get rid of your real self, because your real self just is. Your mind may tell you otherwise. You may be mesmerized in the world, believing you have to have this, and you have to have that, and you have to live here, and you have to live there, and you have to be with someone that you think you're supposed to be with, and you're afraid of being alone, or you're afraid of being with the wrong people, many fears, many false beliefs. These are the things that are keeping you back.
You and your self are the universe. You are the whole universe. You are the self, omnipresent, all-pervading. This is your real nature. If you just have a glimpse of this, how can you possibly fear anything? If you learn to live in the present and become spontaneous, forgetting about the past, not concerning yourself about the future, but understanding who you are right now, can't you see that this will take care of everything?
It reminds me of this old story about Krishna and Arjuna. They were invited to a rich man's home for dinner. When they entered the home and they sat down at the table, the rich man abused him. He told Krishna he doesn't believe anything he says. His teaching is a waste of time. He told him, "Why don't you go and get a decent job someplace?" and Krishna didn't say a word. When they were finished. Krishna blessed him and he said to him, "May your prosperity increase a thousand fold, and may your riches become a million more than you have now," and they left the home. Arjuna wondered about this, but he didn't say anything.
The following morning they were invited to breakfast to a poor man's house, and the poor man had no possessions except for a cow. But the poor man fell at Krishna's feet when they came in, and he worshipped Krishna and Arjuna, gave them the last bowl of rice he had and sang glories to Krishna. When Krishna and Arjuna were leaving the house Krishna blessed him also, and he said, "May your cow drop dead soon," and they left.
And Arjuna couldn't hold it in any longer and he said, "Krishna, tell me what you’re doing? What's going on? You went to the rich man's house and he abused you, and you blessed him and told him his wealth will multiply. And you go to the poor man's house who loves you, and his only possession is a cow, and you told him his cow will drop dead. What is the meaning of this?
And Krishna said, "You see, the more you're attached to, the less of a chance you have for enlightenment." So I told the rich man his wealth will increase. This means he will be attached to his wealth for many, many incarnations. Thousands of incarnations he will be attached to his wealth, and he will never become enlightened for a long time. Now the poor man, his only attachment was his cow. When he got rid of his cow, he would be finished on this earth, and he will become self-realized. So I told him his cow will soon die and he will be free.
This story is very significant of the way we live. We have something we own, a person, place, or thing. We can not get it out of our mind. We're attached. Because of this attachment we go through many lives, it appears, and we go through many experiences, simply because we are attached to something. It can be mental or physical.
Even if you hate someone. If you hate someone or something with a passion, that's attachment. You will come back to this earth, or to another planet similar to this earth, again, and again, and again, and you will meet this person that you hate so much under different circumstances again, and again, and again. One time he may be your daughter, he may be your mother, he may be your husband, he may be your wife. But that person that you despise so much will meet you again, and again, and do things to you in order to upset you. And you will hate again, and again. You will never be free until you understand.
The understanding is to turn within, to forget about the person, but to see your own reality, to trace the I thought to the source. After all it is the I thought that hates and loves, that has attachment to person, place or thing. When the I thought is transcended, only the self remains. Then your karma is finished, your body is finished, your world is finished, your God is finished, and you're home free. But as long as you allow a person, place or thing, and it may be your own body that you're attached to, your own mind, that's person, place or thing also, as long as you feel deeply about those things, you will never become free until you let it go.
You have to reconcile yourself with the whole universe, the mineral kingdom, the vegetable kingdom, the animal kingdom, the human kingdom. When you have become friends with the entire universe, you will not have to do atma-vichara. You will not have to trace the I, or worry about the I. Just the reconciliation with the universe will free you. After all, when you love everything, unqualified, what else can you do? There's nothing else. The total love of the whole universe kills the ego. For it is the ego that plays the other games with you, that makes you love someone special or hate someone special, that makes you despise certain animals and eat them, that makes you think poison ivy is worse than the rose, that causes you to qualify life. A sage sees everything as equal. No thing is worse or better than any other thing. And just by hearing this, allowing it to go into your heart, feeling it, will lead you to an awakening.
Think of the problems you think you have. Why are they a problem? What difference does it make? There is nothing in this world that it's important for you to want to feel badly, where you want to get revenge, or you’re afraid that something will happen to your body, you're concerned about a loved one, you're worried about the world situation. When you're like that, you are assuming responsibility for these things. After all you didn't ask to really get born. You didn't ask to get born into the family where you were born, into the nationality, into the religion that you were born into, into the city and state and country that you were born into. The power that takes care of that knows how to take care of you. Don't you see? There isn't anything you have to do to help.
In other words, God doesn't need your help. All you have to do is to take a deep breath and say, "Take it God. I'm finished with it. I will never worry again. I will never be upset over anything again."
Again, think what is the worst thing that can possibly happen to you. You can die. There is no such thing as death. You all know this. You can lose a fortune. You came into this world without a fortune and you're going out without a fortune. Have no concern about these things. Karmically you have and you're going through the experiences you have to go through. But that's for your body, not for you. Do you not see by now that you're totally free? Your real nature is absolute goodness, Parabrahman, absolute reality. You are the self, the all-pervading self. What can you possibly fear? What can anyone possibly do to you?
The other day I was speaking to a fellow from Bangladesh, and you are aware of the problems they’re having there. So he told me, "Those problems are for the ignorant. I was in the cyclone. I was there through all these calamities. I laughed, because I realized this is really a cosmic joke. It appears that God is picking on all the Bangladesh people because they have the worst calamities, and I stood my ground," he said. "If I was supposed to leave my body at that time I was well prepared, because I have been practicing self-inquiry for many years. I had no qualm whatsoever. It's because of this I'm here in America. I have no concern about coming to America. I've been here before. But something happened, I was able to get a visa, and I wound up here without even thinking of coming here."
That's like the story that I always tell you. The same things happen in nazi death camps all over the world. The suffering is done by the ignorant. Now this may seem strange to you, especially to some people here who don't know me too well. It appears as if I have no compassion. It appears as if I don't care. On the contrary, I care more than you can ever know. I also realize that nothing can happen to anyone. Nothing ever happens to anyone.
We go to the example again of looking through a keyhole. When you look through a keyhole you only see a part of the picture. So you look through a keyhole and you see a guy in Bangladesh getting hit by a cyclone, drowning, and you say, "Poor soul." But then you are allowed to open the door, and now you see the complete picture. You see the previous life. The same fellow was part of the inquisition in Spain, and it was his job to torture people by drowning them. And you move to the other end of the picture and you see that the person that he drowned and himself are both laughing now. The whole thing was a lie. It never happened. Nothing ever happened.
It's like you're watching a movie. In the movie there is a war going on. Everybody is being killed, torn to pieces. But then the movie is over. Nothing happened. They were just images on the screen. When you are aware of body-mind , and you think you are the body-mind , then your life is simply a superimposition on the screen of life, on consciousness. It appears to be happening to you. But in reality no thing is happening. You are free. You are whole. You are complete. And there’s only one of you. There never was you and me. There is only the one, and that one is absolute reality. You are that one. You are the body of bliss.
Wake up. Get rid of all those feelings that are beseeching you to do all these stupid things. Awaken. Be free. Simplify your life. Have no fear. Fear is another thing that you become attached to and it keeps you back.
Look at the world. The world is a cosmic joke. It appears to be real, the good things, the beautiful things, the horrible things. They are all imposters. This world is a world of duality. For every good there has to be a bad. It has to balance. For every bad there has to be a good. For every up there’s a down. For every forwards there’s a backward.
We can never understand this world. It's too complex. Get out of it, not by committing suicide, but by transcending the mind and body, and awakening to your real self. That's how you get out of it. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. Stop paying so much attention to your thoughts, to the world, to your body. Let come what may. Surrender totally to yourself. Yourself is God, consciousness. Begin to identify with the I am, not with conditions. Leave conditions alone.
As I told you before, you are not responsible for anything. Get rid of your guilt feelings. Turn within. See the truth. Become the truth. Do not look to others for advice, what to do, how to live. Be a lamp unto yourself, as the Buddha said. All the answers are within you.
Some of you are saying, "Well, what about you Robert? Can't we come to you for advice?" I am a guide, a mirror, for you to see yourself, and to guide you within yourself. I can only see you as one way, perfection, consciousness. I see you as myself. When you look at me, you're looking into the mirror. What do you see? You're seeing yourself. How are you seeing yourself? As depraved, homely, sickly, as an ego maniac? Drop it. Awaken.
There is no thing that wants to hurt you. It is all in your imagination. It is your imagination that causes your problems. Now do not let what I tell you make you cynical or sarcastic. While you are on the path of self discovery, you help others. You do what has to be done. It will happen by itself. If you're supposed to feed the homeless, then feed the homeless. It will happen by itself. If you're supposed to go live on top of a mountain, and never see civilization again, it will happen by itself.
The main thing to understand is that you have absolutely nothing to do with it. You may think you're taking action, and you may say to yourself, "If I don't do it, no one will. If I don't take care of this thing, everything will fall in on me." What can fall in on you? No thing is ever that bad. What you're really talking about is change. You are attached to a certain condition and you're afraid of the change. That's what you really mean. But if you've been working on yourself, and you have taught your mind to rest in the heart center, you have trained your mind not to go out, by going out I mean leaving your heart center and going into the world and becoming the world, then if your mind is subdued, only joy can come to you, due to the fact that what we call the substratum of life is total bliss. When you turn within, you merge with the bliss and you become a body of bliss. The choice is yours.
If holidays are so important to you, Easter. Look what fools we make of ourselves during Easter. We think we're doing something great. Jesus never knew anything about Easter or Christmas. We make up these holidays. There's nothing wrong with enjoying yourself, but don't make it into a fetish.
I remember when I was a young kid about twelve or thirteen, my family always wanted me to spend the holiday with them. And at that time I even felt in my heart, "What good would that do? External things do not matter," and I used to go downtown to listen to Joel Goldsmith. Where your heart is, that's where God is.
Today, think, "What is this thing I am attached to? What is so meaningful for me in this world?" and realize it’s that which is keeping you back. Let go of it mentally, by turning within, and realizing that, "I feel this. I feel I need this." Where does the I come from? Follow the I thread to the source and become liberated.
That was my mother’s day message to you. Any questions?