The Dance of Joy

10/09/2016 Bangalore, India

There are two things that make you dance in life:
1. Your desires
2. Love

Desires make you dance all your life. When one desire of yours gets fulfilled, then you get another ten desires. This run to fulfil one desire after another keeps you going on the merry-go-round, or the misery-go-round (laughter). It keeps you on tenterhooks. If you just look into this dance that desires make you do in your life; you will be so amazed. And some desires are very subtle ones, they get into your heart and make you dance. That is how the world is.

Be in love and shake the world, do not get shaken. Love shakes not just the world, but the universe.

Then there is another type of dance, that which comes out of joy and love. Deep love makes you dance. The dance that comes out of love does not make you tired. It is desire that makes you tired, and desires can be endless. When desires get fulfilled, more desires come, and also faith grows. When desires don’t get fulfilled, then faith gets shaken. But in love – you shake the world, you don’t get shaken. In fact, love shakes not just the world but the universe. Even the Gods and Angels stand up in the presence of love. That is why after the Chandi Homa you are supposed to dance. In many places, after people perform a yagna they make an effort to dance, but the dance looks very serious. Many times, if people don’t know how to dance, they hire professionals to come and dance. But the dance that people do over here is the real thing. How spontaneously you get that impulse to get on your feet; and then something makes you whirl around – that something is sattva; that is the positive energy, that is the truth. Here, everything is done so authentically, that the dance happens so naturally. It’s a spontaneous natural phenomenon.

You have come here and you have gotten everything that you want, so now, just be and radiate. When you just be, contentment and peace automatically gets radiated through you.

One more thing I would like to tell you. Many times, when we are very happy, we tend to lose our sensitivity, especially towards the people around us. This we must not do. Even when you’re very happy and joyful, maintain your awareness and sensitivity, this is a sign of intelligence.

Today we honoured and worshipped all the gods and goddesses during the Puja. You know, all the gods reside within us, and festivals are an opportunity for us to experience and express this truth. For example, a peacock always has beautiful feathers but does not display them all the time. It keeps them closed. When it rains, only then the peacock opens and displays its beautiful feathers. In the same way, our Consciousness is infused and full of Divinity. Navratri is the time to recognize, honour and adore that Divinity that resides within us. This is the special essence of Navratri. When there is a shower of mantras and bhajans during Navratri, the peacock of our Consciousness rejoices and displays all the brilliant colours of the Divinity that are within us. It is a unique moment and scene to behold by itself.

We need to keep going deeper in knowledge and also inspire others to come to this knowledge.

In some of the mantras, it is said – Where are the gods? The gods are everywhere. The gods are there even in the lamps that we light. The gods are present in the Satsang, they are present in every member who is in the Satsang. Why is this so? It is because those who sit and attend Satsang are pure at heart. They drop all their craving and aversion and simply sit with joy and ecstasy in Satsang. In such a pure and joyful state, the gods within us naturally manifest and express themselves.

Tomorrow we have the Rishi Homa to honour all the enlightened Masters, Rishis and wise sages of the past, present and future. These three go together: the Devas (demigods and goddesses), the Rishis (wise sages) and Chhanda (metre of a verse; here meaning pure vibration). Chhanda here means the entire world as a vibration; it refers to the entire material world and all its phenomena, which are nothing more than vibrations.
We have honoured and worshipped the Devi Tattva (the primordial all-pervading energy in Creation) through the Homas till today. Tomorrow we will honour the Rishi Tattva (Knowledge as the sacred divine principle expressed through the wise Masters and sages) by the Rishi Homa. There are so many people who still do not have access to this wonderful knowledge. Isn’t it so? Doesn’t their life appear so dry and meaningless without it? They really do not know what they are missing in life. This knowledge is so deep, so astonishing. We need to keep going deeper in knowledge and also inspire others to come to this knowledge. Meditate and teach others to meditate. More and more people should become teachers. Those who have already become teachers should go deeper in knowledge.