 So, do inanimate things have impact on you? Yes, if you allow it. You are the only creature on this planet who's been given the freedom to shape your own life. It is this freedom that human beings are suffering. But good luck to keep it in the pocket. If it's on your finger, they will think you're alright. In the Indian society, when something goes wrong, for let's say someone is not well. So, there are three types of people. Ones who go to the hospital, then there are the ones who rush to the temples and then there are the third ones who rush to the astrologers. So, we are actually taught from the beginning that inanimate objects and things around us have the power to control our lives. For example, the… this… for example, my mother when two to three years back told me to wear a ring which had the gemstones. I still have it on, have it on because… of course because that's what mom has said. You need to take it off, otherwise the boys will think… But good luck to keep it in the pocket. If it's on your finger, they will think you're alright. See, human life is made in such a way. Particularly human life. For all the animals, nature has fixed clear-cut path. What they can do, what they cannot do, their lives happen within between two lines. They cannot go below that, they cannot go above that. Within that, they live. That's why they look so sure and certain and they're peaceful. Once their stomach is full, they're all peaceful. Do you see this? Hello? Are you on talking terms with me or no one? Do you see all the animals, once their stomach is full, they're peaceful. But human beings are thinking or they're being taught that peace is the ultimate goal of life. A buffalo, full stomach he sits peacefully. And for you, that is the ultimate goal, what a shame. What a buffalo can do with the stomach full of grass or whatever else he eats. You have to hold it as the ultimate goal. Is it not a shame I'm asking you? But this is being taught like this, peace is the ultimate goal of your life. But coming to more fundamentals, if you're not peaceful today, can you enjoy your dinner today? Hmm? No. Can you just enjoy walking down the street? Can you enjoy the company of a few people around you? No. If not ecstatic, at least you must be peaceful to enjoy anything in your life. So I'm asking, should it be the first step in your life or the last step in your life? Such people will only rest in peace. Now, do other things have influence on us? Particularly inanimate objects, the gems and the diamonds and things like that and also the planets? See, the nature of the planet has a certain influence on the life upon it. You will see on full moon days and new moon days, many animals behave in certain specific ways, simply because they're influenced by it. You know the whole ocean is rising. When ocean, which is millions and millions of tons of water is able to rise, when seventy-two percent of your body is water, you think it won't rise at all? It does. So, I don't know if you're conscious of it, but in India, most people are not only in India, in anywhere, wherever there are mental asylums and things, they are conscious of it. On full moon days and new moon days, people get exaggerated levels of disturbance in their minds. So, people think new moon and full moon will cause madness. No, that's not the truth. If you're very loving, full moon day you will become more loving. If you're very joyful, on a full moon day you will become more joyful. If you're little crazy, you'll get little more crazy. Whatever is your quality gets little hyped on that day. So, those who are romantic, they want full moon day. Those who want to meditate, they want full moon day. Those who are little mad, they don't want full moon day. Essentially, it's hyping things up a little bit. Of course, today there is another kind of textbook science which is going on, which doesn't absorb anything except what happens in the laboratory. These people are going on saying, this is all rubbish, this is that. No, if you pay attention to your own body, you will know without looking up, without looking at the calendar, you will know when is full moon day, when is new moon day. By yourself, simply if you pay sufficient attention to your own system, because it's visible in your system, certain behavior is there. But with the human being the problem is, or people seeing it a problem, any possibility, if you do not explore that possibility, in your eyes it looks like a problem. What is a problem is always a possibility, isn't it? You don't like it? What is a possibility? If you do not explore it, if you do not realize what is a possibility, it seems like a problem to you. So, do inanimate things have impact on you? Yes, if you allow it, because this is the human predicament that who you are is not determined by nature, it is left open for you. Left open for you means you are the only creature on this planet who's been given the freedom to shape your own life. Is it a small thing? This is a product of millions of years of evolution that today after all these creatures from a single celled animal, after this millions of forms, here we are sitting, this is the only creature which can shape its own life the way it wants. Every other creature has to live by the laws of nature. We can shape our own lives. It is this freedom that human beings are suffering. If you're suffering your bondage, it's all right. If you're suffering your freedom, you're a disaster, isn't it? You're suffering your bondages, you're chained to something, you're suffering that understandable. But you're suffering because you're free. Most human beings are suffering because they're free. They're always trying to bind themselves to something or somebody all the time because freedom scares them. Because freedom is a pathless path. Freedom is an open terrain, there's no fixed line. Because there is no fixed pathway, most people feel terrified. But the highest value in human life is freedom, isn't it so? Hello? In this culture, the highest value in this culture is not God, not heaven. Mukti, moksha, liberation, freedom is the highest value. Established that no matter what you do, you must seek mukti. You can do whatever you do with your life. But all that process should be towards your liberation. You must be moving towards higher and higher levels of freedom on a daily basis. Otherwise your life is not worth it because you're getting entangled with the process of life. Even if you go to heaven, it's an entanglement. See, I'm sure before you joined IIT, you're still keeping Bombay, right? I see, hmm? Before you joined IIT, when you have written your, you know, whatever, entrance tests and stuff, only thing is somehow I want to get in, I want to get in because it's like heaven, entering heaven. No matter what I want to get in, that's the only thing I want. After you get in, see how many problems. I'm asking you a simple question, being on this planet, do you have any proof that you are not already in heaven and making a mess out of it, huh? Do you have any proof? Suppose you took off from this solar system and looked down at this solar system, whatever these twelve, fourteen planets and satellites and works, does planet earth definitely look like a heavenly body among all these? Yes or no? So you're already on heaven and making a mess out of it and now you want to go to another heaven? This culture does not value heaven, does not value God, values only freedom. We want to be even free from the creation and the creator. Mukti, moksha is the ultimate value because this is not a philosophical value, this is not a religious value. This is something every life is longing for. Only thing is, most human beings are short-sighted that they long for it in installments. See, whatever people are seeking right now, if they have nothing, they will say, if I get hundred rupees per day, Shiva, that's all I want, that's a prayer. Hundred rupees fell. Hundred rupees, fine, fine, fine, three days, hundred rupees, fine. Fourth day, only hundred rupees, Shiva. What's the problem with you? Are you so stingy, at least a thousand rupees a day? Okay, thousand rupees not fell. Is it in legal tender? Thousand rupees not fell. No, no, okay, two thousand rupees fell. I don't want to get into trouble with that. Where is thousand rupees falling for a sadguru? Where does he have? No, no, two thousand rupees fell. You asked for thousand, two thousand fell. Wonderful Shiva, fantastic. After ten days, only two thousand rupees. It doesn't matter how much it falls. Something more, something more, something more, isn't it? This is not about money. People think it's about money. People think it's about wealth, power, pleasure, love, knowledge, no. These are all different currencies. Essentially, you're looking for expansion because you feel suffocated. If you keep you in the same place for too long, you feel suffocated, you want expansion. You want to be something more all the time. Yes or no? Always something more. Will you settle with fulfillment? No, you will look at other planets, you will look at the new galaxies. So there is something within a human being which wants to expand limitlessly. That means it wants to be free, nothing else. Looking at this carefully, observing the nature of the life within, that it wants to expand in a limitless way. The only thing it is longing for is to become boundless. That means it's seeking freedom. That is why in this culture we are established, the highest value is mukti or moksha which means liberation or freedom, not heaven, not… because heaven is just another place, maybe little better accommodations. But same trouble after some time, isn't it?