Is evil an illusion?

Devotee: Is evil an illusion? Is it something which is only in our minds and lower nature?

Guru: I don’t like to use the word ‘evil’. ‘Good’ and ‘bad’ are very unintelligent methods of looking at life. I would like you to look at the causes and effects you set in motion, which are positive or negative. Positive or negative means you realise what you are doing and the consequences of your actions.

It means that you realise what the results of your actions are. It means that you realise whether or not there is love or whether you are hurting people, or yourself in the process. This is what I want you to study. Every person must understand what he is setting in motion. ‘Good’ and ‘bad’ is a blank way of shutting out the results of your action. 

Devotee: Is the world in the state it’s in because of people who can’t handle the causes and effects of things?

Guru: Yes, because they have not become aware of the results of their actions, not just within themselves but outside themselves in their environment. The air you breathe, the water you drink, and the way people live are as they are because we have done so much damage. After all, we have not considered for one single moment what action and reaction are about. 

Use your intelligence to understand action and reaction

I don’t like to educate people on the idea that things are good and bad. I want to educate people by saying this particular action will have many reactions. I want you to be intelligent enough to understand what they are. The more you apply yourself in that way the quicker you will change your destiny.

If you have got used to a bad habit, then you can change it by your awareness and consciousness. This is very important.

Somebody from outside can’t change it and say this is good or this is bad. They can only criticise, but that is of no consequence. If I have something to say to somebody, I will say, ‘Come, sit with me. What are you doing? Let me examine it with you.’

This is the right way, and this is what a mother must do with her child. Have patience with your child. They’re intelligent people. They have come from an immense cycle of birth and death and brought with them a lot of knowledge. Don’t treat children like dummies. Explain to them.

I’ll tell you why you’re frightened if you are questioned by your child – because sometimes you feel inadequate to answer the questions that the child asks you. Be strong inside and have the ability to say, “Yes, darling, let me explain it to you. This is what I think. If you can contribute to my way of thinking I am open to any of your suggestions.” That is the wise way for you to win your child over. You will be successful in what you do. Don’t impose a concept in your mind of good and evil.

Mindfulness can help us to overcome our lower nature

Devotee: But then who did Jesus fight with, in the desert? 

Guru: Jesus fought demonic forces that people called ‘evil’. Those evil forces are also within ourselves; they are our lower nature. That lower nature can rise within ourselves at any minute when we are mindless and we may kill, cheat, or steal. We may be aggressive and uncontrolled in our senses and behave in an uncivilised manner. 

That is what heightened civilisation means. It is when you become exceedingly mindful and controlled in your mannerisms, and you say, “No, I’m not going to behave like that.” Then when you advance spiritually, you will realise that you are in harmony with yourself, creation, and God. You must have the courage within yourself to say, “I am wrong. I must change it.”

Devotee: Will there always be this unevolved part in us, in ourselves?

Guru: Until you have surrendered yourself totally to God. There will come a time when you will say to yourself, “This is a world of illusion. Why am I involved in this lore of fantasy that I am creating in my mind? What am I doing with myself?”

I go to God and ask the Lord, “Please dwell in me. Dwell in my mind. I give myself up totally. I want You to inspire me with all my thinking and living. I don’t want all the attachments that other people want.” But this, divine friends, takes time. Don’t suddenly jump out of the third story before you can fly and hope to land comfortably on the floor. It takes time.

You must evolve in the world through the experiences of life. You must learn to say to yourself, “This is not for me. I don’t want it.” Don’t give up anything. Through your reasoning, you must say to yourself, “This is not what I want,” because your intellect has told you it’s a load of rubbish.

That must come from you, not from somebody else. Hence, I have never once told you during these three days of talking to give anything up. I’ve not once told you to follow a particular religious belief. I have not once told you to come [to me because] I am the only one that can teach you. No way.

I have only done what is my duty. My duty is to improve the quality of your thinking and your consciousness so that you will develop your own ability to reason within yourself and say, “This way of life is suitable or unsuitable for me.” It is for you to decide that, not for me to tell you.

Many pundits say this is the only way. Then, they don’t know the other ways – for Christ taught one way and all these ways ultimately will lead you to the summit of divine consciousness. 

I want to improve your quality of life. I want you to make use of the faculties of your mind. I want you to use your intelligence that is your birthright. Don’t tranquilise yourself at all. If you make a mistake through your living, then you can change your destiny through your exertion. You can change it. Everything is moving all the time. Nothing is permanent. We are in a state of impermanence.

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