| You may be wondering what it is there to write in Diary. For any activity there must be a clarity of the purpose for which we take an activity, whether we meditate, we read or we hear, we sing, we play. Similarly when somebody says we should write diary, the question is why? What is the purpose it is going to achieve? I know I have done those things, what is there to note about. This has been the common vein in which people talk, when we talk about diary writing. Some organized people who would like to see their expenditure tallies with their income and then they plan it that way. They know which are the things they should cut and which are the things they should improve, all these things are general way in which a man plans his expenditure. Most of the diaries people maintain, if at all they maintain, would relate to this aspect. There is nothing wrong about it. One has to be very careful in his planning so far as the financial things are concerned otherwise you likely to end up in unfortunate situations where you may be owing somebody, etc. Which are the expenditures that can be cut, you would in a position to decide and when you require some money you would be in a position to find it. The habit of writing diary somehow has not been taken very seriously by many people, even in ordinary life. They say I know what I get and I know what I spend, what is the necessity for maintaining all this? But those who maintain will be in a position to tell you the enormous advantage they get. They know where they can cut unnecessary expenditure. Similarly when it comes to spirituality, what is our goal, where are we going, how far, which are the things that can be cut to improve the quality of spiritual practice that I have got, which are the things that are standing as hindrances in our sadhana? These are all the factors, that you will be in a position to understand and then suitably change your practices. Say for example, a person has taken to sadhana because of the natural inclination. I am not talking about which sadhana, any sadhana for that matter. There are certain things which are conducive for it, you will be in a better position to do by adopting certain things. There are certain things which are to be discarded and we don't want it in order to achieve this goal, they are positive hindrances so we should get rid of it. So which are things standings against you, which are the things standing for you, is not a matter of philosophy, it is a matter of your own practice. Say you get up early in the morning, ok, you are able to get up. If you make a mention of it saying that I got up at such and such time and meditated or I did this japa, I did this sadhana, whatever it is, regularity or non-regularity of that will be seen by you over a period of time. You can definitely say that whether you are regular or not. If you are not regular you will then come to this conclusion there is something wrong somewhere. May be it is due to your watching a TV late in the night or going for a drama, going for a cinema, going for a club, something like that which stands in a way. You might have read more previous night and you are not able to get up early next morning. You will then be in a better position to organize your timings. So far as the practical aspect of sadhana is concerned, this is one of the most important things. Now, for example just now you were told to meditate on divine light in the heart. Do not bother about the various thoughts that come to you. Do not also bother about the physical discomforts that you may have but continue with your task of meditating on the divine light ignoring the various thoughts that come to you. Easily said than done because which are the thoughts that come to you would be one of the first considerations we should have. Normally we get thoughts which are very very routine, day to day. May be you have to go to the school and you feel that you have not prepared well and you feel that let me complete this meditatin, so that I can go back to that i.e. tasks which are ahead. Things you have done the previous day will also be there in your mind. I could have done that better, I should improve on that, I perhaps seem to have committed a mistake in such and such thing, let me rectify it, the program that I have written in computer perhaps is wrong, or the play that I have played particularly the cricket match in which you are involved, you played a wrong stroke and you would like to rectify that by going for practice. These are the various thoughts that come to you apart from the problems that you have got, regarding say, a next day examination. These are periodical things. An examination that is there, a test is there, a departmental test is there, these things are happening. Everyday we are being examined by so many people so we would like to improve our performance on that. So these thoughts come in the wrong time. When you meditate and later take up these things, it is much better but these things come during meditation not allowing you do this job. So these are all various thoughts that come to you. Why do they come to you at all? From where are they coming? They are not coming from elsewhere in the atmosphere. They are coming from within and you are face to face with those thoughts, which are your own most of the time. Some of the unfortunate souls may be having thoughts of others also, this is possible. May be because of an extraordinary attachment that they have got to some friend, some other gentleman, the thoughts relating to them may come. More often than not the thoughts come to you relating to your father, mother, their health, their problems, your sisters, brothers, the brother-in-laws and sister-in-laws, all sorts of problems which they are having, with which you have nothing to do still will come. You cannot solve that problem here, still the thoughts will be coming to you. This is because of lack of orientation we have got to our goal. If our goal clarity is there, these things will not come. So if you record your diary all these thoughts will be finding a place in your diary. Honestly record during meditation that these are the various thoughts that have come to me. Over a period of time if you see whether these thoughts are reduced that means your sadhana is progressing properly, otherwise you should concede the point that your sadhana is not progressing properly. Now, what is the goal with which we are starting? We are saying oneness with the Ultimate, oneness with the Master, it is a very very peculiar word that we are using because we really don't know what is God, nobody has seen Him. We have got umpteen number of pictures, statues, portraits, so many things are there available, each one of them having its own attraction to some people. Some people feel attracted to a Gopala, somebody else feels an attraction to Radhakrishna, the reason for this we do not know. Some people like that and some people like this, somebody else for Balakrishna. All are related to Krishna but different types of adjectives attached to it and each one is choosing it mainly because of his own inclination. That is the type of problem that we have got, that is not the goal that we are going to have. Unless that particular thing is so deeply embedded in you, that you seek only that and if your prayer is of a very high order it is just likely that Divinity may also yield to your request and may appear in that form. Do you understand? It is not that that is the form of divinity but divinity may yield if your devotion is of a very high order, of an extraordinary type, total commitment to a particular form if you have got, divinity may out of its consideration for you, may reveal it but that is not the form of divinity. Divinity has no clear-cut form, it is formless, nameless. That being so when we talk about achieving the goal, what are we talking about? So the goal is "O Master, thou art the real goal of human life". We said that one sentence. The clarity by itself will not emerge immediately. What is the clarity that you have got on that concept? What is the clarity that I will be in a position to impart to you on this concept? Seems to be tough but, if you know the all pervasive nature of the Master, God, when you meditate, you feel that, then a meaning develops towards that, that particular sentence gains a meaning. Do you catch my point? The goal clarity comes not in the beginning, the goal clarity comes in the end. Only this much of clarity that we require in the beginning is that God is without any form or name and He is the one who is supporting all of us, He is the one because of whom
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