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We are the masters of our own destiny. We are the makers of our own fate. When we fully realize this truth, we will no longer search for the truth outside of ourselves. When we realize that we are 100% responsible for our own actions and thoughts—and when we become 100% responsible human beings—only then will we become 100% free. We need to stop shirking our responsibility; we need to get off our phony holy trip or our phony bad-guy or bad girl trip. When we are high on our ego we are suffering from self-delusion, and self-delusion always leads to confusion and turmoil. Whether we are playing holy, or playing smart, or playing cool, or playing cute, we are only playing into the hands of the wicked and conniving. ‘Playing into the hands of the wicked’ means we are doing the bidding of our ego; it means we are doing actions that are selfish.
Being responsible means responding in the moment, and moment by moment, with the freshness of pure consciousness, pure awareness. If we are reacting in our mind, then we are not responding. When we respond, we interact with Absolute Consciousness, and through that interaction with Absolute Consciousness we are absolutely purified and freed from all our dilemmas. When we are responsible, we see clearly what must be done and we do it, without over-thinking or over analyzing. When we over-think we under-do. Over analyzing is a form of procrastination; it is an ego habit which only prolongs our ignorance and suffering.
Only a Yogi, only a human being who is united with his Real Nature, with his True Self, is truly free. So long as we are enslaved by ego we are not free. Ego is the identity of the Self with the mind and body and their various adjuncts (intellect, memory, senses, sense-objects, etc.). A Yogi controls his mind, disciplines his body, and is not manipulated by his ego. A person who is driven by ego is always driven mad—he loses his sanity. We lose our sanity when we make our mind unsanitary. The mind is polluted when our actions are contrary to our True Nature. But when the body is disciplined and the mind is controlled, we break free from our false identification (ego) and experience our True Self.
When we are connected with our True Self we fully realize our real nature—we realize undoubtedly who and what we really are. There is no ambiguity or duality in Self-realization. The dichotomy is created only in the mind that is infected with ego. When the ego-infection is removed, we fully recover from the disease of self-delusion and attain true mental health. So long as the vagueness of ego remains lurking in the background, we will continue to look outside of ourselves for the answers that can only come from within.
When we play holy (when we pretend to be pure), or when we play bad (when we pretend it doesn’t matter whether we are pure or not), we fail to do what we need to do, and instead we only do what we want to do—in other words, we only do what our mind and ego tells us to do. When we are ruled by our mind and ego we are NOT free, no matter how much we pretend to be free. When we are ruled by our mind and ego we look for validity in the world of duality and always, always fall prey to sensuality. A person who has no control over his or her senses, loses their senses, i.e., becomes crazy. Sorry to say, but the world is filled with crazy people and some of them are not only a danger to themselves but they are also a danger to others.
In the words of Dr. Khanna, “All of us are temporarily crazy, but some people are temporarily crazy all the time.” When our mind is infected with ego we are temporarily crazy, but when the ego-infection is removed with wisdom we get over our ego and become better—we become ourselves. But some persons refuse to buckle down with themselves, and they remain victims of their ego. They go through this life following the whims of the mind and never gain any lasting stability. They die for their pleasures while living in pain, and in the end they lose everything and gain nothing.
But the wise human being makes up his mind and directs his energies for self-development. Day by day he continues to improve. He is never lulled into complacency, because he is not interested in protecting his images (including his self-image); instead, he protects his life by arming himself with the knowledge of the Self (Atam-Gyaan). That wise human being, that Yogi, is a true Master of Consciousness and is truly the master of his destiny in devotion. That soul is absorbed in the Supreme Self and is absolutely free. His fate is fashioned in Eternity and he remains forever in the State of Divine Love.
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