Pain is the source that sometimes diverts one’s intention towards God. Somebody asked Swami Rama, “Why do you have so much pain? You can’t even speak.” All he said was, “I have to apply my mind towards my Creator, and relax in the essence of my life.” In the potential projection of a human, the only difficulty we have is that we forget that we have a Creator. We remember it sometimes when we need it, and we remember it in the guidance of a bribe, “I am going to pray to You if You give me this, this, this.” You have more items than one prayer.
The scriptures are there to follow the essence in one’s personal life. If all your life you are very prayerful and very beautiful and very religious, but you are fanatic and you treat others as less than you, you have lost the essence. You have nothing to relate to. That is what Nanak said. Nanak said to people to see God in the very leaf, and see God in the essence of the flower. See God in the petal of the flower, and just understand how much it takes to color it, to make it so soft and sophisticated. Just understand that sophistication, and then understand your sophistication towards others. It is just that one leaf of a flower, that one petal. It is so sophisticated, so colorful, so beautiful.
The most important thing is the fragrance in life. As a human being, you need fragrance as a rose; you don’t need to be a showoff, and you don’t need pressurized tactics, and you don’t need a horrible projection. You need fragrance-subtle, sweet, enriching when it reaches another unit. That’s all the purpose and importance of religion: We as human beings will grow as a unit to create the fragrance of good will, of grace, of piety, of essence, of trust, of faith.
Today there is a memorial service at Ground Zero in New York. Everybody is dedicating themselves to God. Those innocent 5,000 or more who have perished have left behind a memory. It has awakened
America because people understand that their happiness is not being tolerated. Our progress is not being tolerated. We have worked hard and have enriched ourselves; that’s not being tolerated. That’s not being liked. We are the ones who, by the grace of our hard work and whatever it took us to work for what we have, are equally hated by more in numbers than the have-nots. So now, as Americans, we have to understand our preciousness, and we have to value our preciousness. We have to understand the blessing, the bounty that God has given, and we have to be grateful. We have to be thankful for every moment. That is the moment of worship. And that’s how life is a challenge. Pain is not in vain. Pain has a reason. Now America has understood the reason. It’s not going to stop. Thousands and thousands of people may die; it’s just a start. It has to come out to take away the insanity from this planet. And God has made America mighty to understand the evil-doers.
God has given a call. We have the right to defend. That is religious. It is divine to defend ourselves against the evil-doers. That’s why we have a saintliness and martialism-Miri and Piri. It’s not a very ordinary thing. It’s not something to misunderstand. There’s no one-way traffic. You have to have the power of dignity, and you must have (con’t. page 3)
the power to protect dignity with your divinity. And that is the essence of life, and in this essence we live. And at any pain, at any cost, at any sacrifice it has to be different. There’s no place for fantasy, and there’s no place for giving away what is rightfully given by God.
It is a time to project. It is a time to realize your dignity, bounty, and beauty. Each one of us has to show that beauty in a bountiful way. There’s no personal or personality. All things come from God, and all things go to God. Let us understand this in deliverance, in service, in prayer, and in memory of those who sacrificed for us. Let us wake up and believe. It took over 5,000 people to wake America. It took high towers to shake America. The time has come for America to be America again. Today, we are a united America. In the Name of the Almighty, in God we dwell. The purity and piety, figure and configurations of God are all what we are in sickness, in health, in poverty, in richness, in comfort, in pain. We must remember we have a job to do, we have a duty to perform as long as we live. In essence, we extend ourselves and pray for every breath of life unto all. Let us live in that love, that beauty, and that humility, and let our fragrance reach wherever it can. May God and Guru bless you and give you
the power to wake up to act to that point of action that is needed. Sat Nam.