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II. Hope Is for Tomorrow, Not Today

I would like to be able to meditate and have real peace of mind. Have you questioned this goal of yours, which makes sadhana necessary? Why take it for granted that there is such a thing as peace of mind. Maybe it is a false thing. I am just asking the question to understand what particular goal you have. May I ask that question? As I said, I would like to have peace of mind. When do you expect to have it? It is always tomorrow, next year. Why? Why does tranquility, or quietness of the mind, or whatever you choose to call it, only happen tomorrow; why not now? Perhaps this disturbance--this absence of tranquility--is caused by the very sadhana itself. It must be possible . . . But why are you putting it off until tomorrow? You have to face the situation now . What ultimately do you want? Whatever I do seems meaningless. There is no sense of satisfaction. I feel that there must be something higher than this. Suppose I say that this meaninglessness is all there is for you, all there c

III. Not Knowing Is Your Natural State

From our earlier talks with you it is evident that man has a wrong relationship with his knowledge of himself and the world. What exactly do you mean by knowledge? Knowledge is not something mysterious or abstract. I look at the table and ask myself, “What is that?” So do you. Knowledge is just naming things. It tells you that that is a ‘table’, that I am ‘happy’ or ‘miserable’, that ‘you are an enlightened man and I am not’. Is there anything to thought other than this? The knowledge you have of the world creates the objects you are experiencing. The actual existence or non-existence of something ‘out there’ in the world is not something you can determine or experience for yourself, except through the help of your knowledge. And this knowledge is not yours; it is something which you and your ancestors have accumulated over a long time. What you call the ‘act of knowing’ is nothing other than this accumulated memory. You have personally added to and modified that knowledge, but essenti