IS IT LUST OR LOVE? (Part 13)

The richer you are, the more protection you have. You can buy anything that keeps you from having to experience the things you fear. You think, "If I'm rich enough, I'll never starve. I'll never get uncomfortable. I'll always be liked. I'll always be well dressed and I'll always have something to do. I'll never be lonely and will always be entertained. I won't get sick and I'll have the best doctors if I do. I'll have servants to do things for me. My wife and children will be equally well off and will not leave me," and so on. These are the reasons people want to be rich. Otherwise, who'd want to be rich? If you could have that kind of protection by being poor, everyone would be struggling to be poor.

AUDIENCE: So people struggle for economic development fueled by this fear?

JAGAD GURU: Yes. They have the fear of missing out, the fear of not enjoying enough, the fear of being empty inside. The entire motivation for their existence is fear.

AUDIENCE: And Jesus Christ was asking the rich man to give up all this protection that he had gained?

JAGAD GURU: Yes. Jesus was telling him to drop the entire shield. The rich man was sadly thinking he was going to lose everything—his guards, his walls, his house, his comfort, his doctors, his food, etc. He even had to drop that false identity of thinking, "I'm a rich man." He could no longer think of himself amongst all the other elite people of the world. He could no longer think of himself as special and powerful. He would be nothing. He would be poorer than the poor people. And he couldn't take this. He couldn't give up protecting himself.

So, if we want to be free from fear, we must drop the walls of self-preservation because the preservation of the self is really preservation of the fear.

We cannot approach the Supreme Friend or His representative with a wall. We cannot think that we're going to be able to establish a relationship of love if we come in with our barriers, shields or swords. No, it doesn't work that way. We cannot be embraced by the Lord until we are completely vulnerable and open.

We should not think that we are devotees of the Supreme until we’ve actually gone through that process which brings us solidly at the feet of the Supreme Person. And from there, we begin a new life.

Now whether or not we actually surrender is up to us as individuals. And it is that which will determine whether we are with the Lord or we are separate from Him.

You cannot have the Supreme Person as a side thing in your life. You have to make Him the very core of your being. You have to surrender to Him with your heart, body, mind and entire being so that He and you are inseparable. You become one with Him. It's not that you become the Supreme but you are one with Him as a "pea in a pod". You're snuggled with Him. You're embraced by Him and you are embracing Him. You're surrendered.

Once we have this appreciation of the Supreme Friend, which includes His devotee, then we are actually free beings. We are on a liberated platform and we simply become increasingly perfect in our love for the Supreme Person. Our love gets more and more perfect.

Spiritual life means surrender and surrender means love. Love is the thing we fear most, but love is the only thing that can actually free us from all fear.

AUDIENCE: Thank you very much, Jagad Guru.