There Is No Book Greater Than Life

A human being is like an amoeba — never the same from one moment to the next. People create their own calculations, judging right and wrong as it suits them. We form opinions based on our personal experiences and benefits. But once the makeup is washed off and we look at others without decoration, the truth becomes clearer. Truth is a forbidden word — hard to digest, it churns the stomach.

A person is always trying to escape. Dreams, imagination, intoxication — all are crutches. Liquor shops bustle not just with alcoholics, but with those running away. If your destination is right at your doorstep, how far and how long can you keep running in the opposite direction?

Leeches lie still and undisturbed. It’s not their blood, not their pain. After feasting, they recite philosophical verses. They even write poetry on the cries of the hungry. They conclude grand discussions on Marxist teachings and then lie back with their feet up. Those pretending to be good are far more dangerous than the openly bad. Every field is filled with ideological supremacists.

Even philosophers and theorists need to eat three meals a day. Without food, even the Brahman cannot be understood. Food itself is the form of the Supreme. Yet the farmer who provides this food is starving. He is heading to the afterlife too soon — attaining salvation without a helping hand.

For a small morsel of food, a fish gets caught in a hook, a bird in a trap, a rat in a snare. Hunger and pain are synonyms. If one understands the innocence in a goat’s glassy eyes, its owner could never sell it. The living should not be oblivious. Not just humans, even goats have souls. If the goddess who couldn't save a goat is expected to save the world, then the souls of goats have been questioning this for centuries. And we conveniently forget that the tiger — a predator — is her vehicle.

Knowledge doesn’t bring money. But money can buy knowledge. Money is the ultimate truth. Even God only looks kindly when the donation box is full. The offering determines divine unity. Man is searching for God. God is searching for man. They still haven’t met.

Taking and giving should be equal justice. Man, who takes everything from nature, forgets to give anything back. Earthquakes and tsunamis are nature’s debt collectors.

Goodness and innocence are not the same. Mistaking both to be one is why good people are branded as fools. Everyone sees themselves as an ocean, bloated with salt, raising their blood pressure. “Aham Brahmasmi” (I am the Brahman) — a phrase no one truly understands.

When wet clay hardens in water, it traps that water itself. Man, who can bind the five elements, has turned into a ghost himself. No matter how much you give, in the end, your heirs will return just a handful of soil.

There is no book greater than life. You must fill its empty pages yourself. That is the true meaning of learning.