Acharya Sri Tulsi

To heal the Mind

This talk was given by Acharya Sri Tulsi, Jain Leader and Sponsor of the Anuvart Movement

Sant Kirpal Singh Ji, distinguished people assembled here, and friends:

I am really glad to be here on this platform where we talk of peace. We must take note that we are discussing the problem of peace on a platform of religions; we must find out whether religion has got the power to establish peace in the world. If religion is devoid of two important principles – sacrifice and self-control – it will not be able to deliver the goods. Because we find that even though people cry out that they are religious, they are religious only as far as their individual circumstances permit. But in society we do not find the essence of religions. People talk about these things when they speak on platforms, but even then they are interested only in their selfish gains.

I feel the mass mind is sick nowadays. It is on account of this sickness of man’s mind that the whole thing is going in the reverse direction: Where man is individual, he must become social, and where man is social he must become individual.

That is the difficulty now. Therefore the necessity today is that the religious Gurus must come forward and correct the mind. This sickness cannot be remedied by ordinary doctors and hospitals; it can be remedied by the Gurus assembled here.

I have been to a medical college and addressed a hall filled with doctors, and I told them,

My dear friends, I have come here as a doctor before you.

All of them were wondering how this man with a bandage on his mouth could be a doctor! But I told them that doctors are of two kinds:

those who treat the body and those who treat the mind.

And today it is very essential to treat the mind. It is very essential. I have come here with a mission, Anuvart, which aims at cleaning and purifying the mind.

Before telling you about Anuvart, I would like to share a few words with you. The religious heads of today must come forward and set an example of sacrifice; it is the only thing that will impress anybody today. Religious heads may or may not be distinguished by the bandages on their mouths or any other forms of external dress, but they must be distinguished by their sacrifice.

Lord Mahavira declared long ago that a head of a religious order must leave two things: one is the sense of ‘I’ – the ego – and the other is the feeling that everything is mine – the feeling of selfishness.

It is only this kind of religious leader who can bring world peace today; and I would like to tell you exactly what ‘peace’ means.

There are two important points:

• the first is love, and
• the second is detachment.

If we would develop these two aspects, then the oceans between man and man would disappear. The selfishness of man is due to the love that is in him completely drying up. When we become detached from things, we will be able to establish world peace because we will not be able to see the difference between man and man. But in our selfishness we sometimes go to extremes, as with the man who began to cut down the trees in his garden. His neighbour asked him why, and he said,

They are my tress, but the shade was falling on your house; why should my trees give shade to you? That is why I am cutting these trees.

This is the climax of selfishness; but this is what is happening today in this world. So we must try to develop a sense of love and a sense of non-attachment – non-possessions – in order to bring about this peace and this unity. Ruhani Satsang and the Anuvart movement are working together for the establishment of this order and I’m sure our experience and our trial will certainly bear fruit. Anuvart simply means that the power which is in the minds of human beings must be developed in such a way that we realise the other aspect of life.

Lord Mahavira declared that it is not possible for everyone to become a sanyasin; if religion is to be useful and bear fruit for all people it must be as simple as possible, so that it can be adopted by the whole world. Anuvart means through small works, we develop ourselves.

Anuvart says,

Don’t consider anyone to be inferior; rise above colour, creed, race, religion, country, and work for all human kind.

If you really want to transform mankind into good people, you must be really a man; your habits of eating, drinking, and behaviour must be good. That is what Anuvart emphasises at the outset.

When I was speaking with Sant Ji the other day, He told me that only after people leave meat eating, smoking, and other things, are they given initiation. So I told Him that He was doing my own work. Without any effort on my part I am getting ready-made Anuvarts here in Sawan Ashram!

Our religious books have declared that a man may conquer ten lakhs of people, yet may not be able to conquer himself; but he who conquers his own self, he is the conqueror. That is what Mahavira said, and I am repeating it to you now.

The man who has conquered thousands, he is not the conqueror; that man is the conqueror who has conquered himself.

I will tell you a small story from Rajasthan and control my speech here.

A friend was living in a jungle in the garb of a sadhu. You will be amazed when I say that even some sadhus and sanyasins smoke. Some smoke this thing, some another, and they say,

This gives me peace!

If people think they get peace from intoxicating drugs, I think they are deceiving themselves. So this sadhu put fire in his pipe and was smoking.

He thought,

I am going to the village to beg my food; if my fire goes out I won’t be able to get more.

So he hid the fire in his hut and went to the villages.

Unfortunately his hut was made of dry grass, and it caught on fire; and the fire spread to other houses nearby and came close to the village.

People ran helter skelter getting water, and after quenching the fire they asked what had happened. At this time the sadhu was retuning, and he was asked, how is it that so much fire has been created here? Immediately he said,

Oh my dear friends, I had only a small fire here; I am not responsible for this big fire!

They asked him where he kept that small fire, and he said,

I kept it under the haystack!

I want to impress by this story that even the small mistake that we make is causing great and terrible results elsewhere; therefore, we must be able to keep ourselves under control.

I congratulate Sant Kirpal Singh Ji for all His endeavours to establish world peace.

Let us pray that it shall be established. And let us also take a Sankalpa, that is, a dedicated vow that we will not do anything to obstruct world peace.

With that Sankalpa I conclude here.