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Theory and Practice: The Two Horses of Realization

A spiritual discourse on integrating theory and practice for realization.

"Tons of theory are nothing compared with a gram of practice."

"Whatever good we do in the world is our meditation. Whatever good we do is our prayer."

The speaker explores the essential relationship between theoretical knowledge and practical application, using analogies like cars and mountain climbing. He distinguishes between passive and active meditation, framing selfless service, parenting, and creative work as forms of active meditation that constitute one's dharma. The talk also covers handling emotional disturbances, the karmic consequences of action and inaction, and the wisdom of non-reaction and forgiveness, concluding with practical advice for self-inquiry.

Filming location: Wellington, New Zealand

The subject is theory and practice. Without theory, we lack the inspiration to practice. Without theory, we have no techniques to apply. Without theory, there is no motivation, for without theory, there is no clarity. Therefore, theory comes first. Yet, when we know of any subject only as theory, as mere intellect, we feel empty. We have a car with a petrol tank, but it is empty. We cannot drive. Theoretically, everything is present, but practically, we cannot move. We need two horses, or one horse. I think the time will come when there is no more petrol, and all these beautiful cars will be pulled by horses. Then, I am sure, nobody will kill and eat the horses. That is a good idea, no? It was what we call horsepower. Every car has horsepower; now they have shifted to kilowatt. So one philosopher said, "Tons of theory are nothing compared with a gram of practice." Without practice, theory fails. Without practice, we cannot realize anything. Imagine we go for a walk in the mountains and wish to reach the peak, our meeting point. I will tell you how to get there, the address, and so on. Mentally, we are already there, but physically we are not. We must walk; it takes time to climb uphill. We could use a helicopter, but we cannot all afford one. Even if we could, it still takes time to find it, board, take off, fly, and disembark. This is a technique, a practice. Thus, tons of theory are nothing compared to a gram of practice. Practical knowledge and experience have value. What we call trust is good. Theory creates trust. Trust is good, but control is better. We may trust that everything is okay, but if we control, it is better. Then we feel sure inside. When we are thirsty, we need to drink water. Our thirst can only be quenched by drinking real water. If you are very thirsty and think you will drink two glasses of vodka, I do not think your thirst will be quenched in the way it is when you drink nice, cool, fresh water. Similarly, practicing has a different effect on our body, mind, and consciousness than theory does. Now, regarding meditation: you may say there are many kinds, but we would say there are essentially two—passive and active. Passive meditation is where you just sit, close your eyes, relax, and become one with thyself. Some people say this is a waste of valuable time; you could be doing something, helping someone. Active meditation is when you do something to help others. You feel real love in your heart for having done something. Mera jeevan terī pūjā—oh my Lord, my life is a ceremony to thee. Some like to meditate while sitting, and some like to consider it meditation while doing something good for others. Doing is karma, doing is action, and not doing is also action. You think, "No, I will not do." That, too, is an action—you did the act of not doing. For example, you drive a car and hit a person or an animal, who is now suffering on the side of the road. You say, "Oh, I have no time; I have to go to the airport." A person is lying there, but you will feel guilty for not stopping to help or call an ambulance. You did not do anything. Perhaps you would like to help but lack knowledge of first aid. In modern civilization, before getting a driving license, one should have first aid training, at least theoretically. In Austria, it is very strict; you must attend classes three or four times to get a license. Otherwise, you do not get it. When something happens, what will you do? You stop your car, go to the person, and say, "Oh, sorry, what happened to you?" You try to lift them, but their spine is broken. We do not know how to move such a person. Should we move them or not? We act with great love and deep feeling, but we may cause more harm. So what we do becomes karma, good or bad, and if we do not do, it also becomes karma, good or bad. Between these, we need the knowledge that will help both us and others. This is active meditation. Consider another example: the mother. I wish that many of you are already mothers, or will become mothers. And for those who are elderly, I wish you to be grandmothers. When a mother has a child, how many times must she wake in the night? More times than she would have meditated. Yet, this is for her pleasure and happiness. Sometimes for the father, it is difficult to quit his sleep, but the mother does not feel unhappy, though she is sleepy; she feels joy. Sometimes conflict begins between wife and husband when the child is born. The father is not jealous, but... the father may take his mattress and sleep in the kitchen, thinking, "I cannot sleep. Tomorrow morning I have to go to work. Oh, God." So, taking care actively, the mother knows it is her meditation. It is her dharma, her obligation, to give a beautiful life to this child so that the child may be, in the future, a light of this world. Fathers are also very happy; a father wishes his child will one day be more educated, wise, clever, and intelligent than he is. Mother and father always think the best for their children, a higher position. The father never thinks his child should be beneath him. Similarly, the master always thinks that his disciple should be greater and higher, more spiritual and more powerful. So, there is creative meditation, or passive meditation, and active meditation. Active meditation also occurs when you play your instruments, make beautiful paintings, or carve something. Here, your attention draws to one point, and you become one with that. You prepare the model as you think and imagine, giving your whole love—which means your attention, your talents, everything. Your hands move, but it is not merely the physical hands moving; your heart is moving. Your concentration and wisdom go inward to create a beautiful model, from a raw form to a beautiful statue. From nowhere, mother and father create one beautiful human being. So, whatever good we do in the world is our meditation. Whatever good we do is our prayer. And from time to time, to gain more intuition, you sit down and relax. Life is not equal. Confucius said, "When the day is dark and misty, don't let your heart be worried." Just let one thought be in the mind. It is better to light a candle than to stand in the darkness. So, in certain situations in life, before taking a wrong step, we close our eyes and ask ourselves what to do. Is your inner answer the real answer? But the inner answer should not come from emotion. Emotion means we are in motion. When the motion is too high, do not dive to search for pearls in the ocean. Let the sea become calm. Similarly, when inner emotion is so strong, we can destroy our beautiful relations and lifelong work within no time. Anger, jealousy, hatred, greed—all are seeds of ignorance. Take time. Do not immediately write an SMS. If someone tells you something and you write, "No, you are wrong, you are stupid, I do not want to see you anymore," it is finished. Then, the next day, you read the same SMS you sent and think, "Better I should not have sent it." The second day, you realize, "Oh." I do not want to write such things, so do not send an email or SMS. Go buy a piece of paper from the market, and a beautiful pencil or pen. Find a good table to sit at. First, drink water and eat so you are not hungry or thirsty. Then take the pen in your hand and think, "Now what should I write? No, first I must telephone my friend, because my friend is waiting for my call." Let time pass. The storm, the hurricane, will pass. You write two lines and say, "No, you protect yourself." Protection is in protection. To protect is to protect ourselves. There was Einstein. He received a letter asking for an answer to a question and wrote a fifteen-page reply. At the end, he wrote, "Sorry, my friend, to write so long a letter because I did not have the time." If he had had time to rethink over the next few days, he would have written only a clear answer, and that would be it. Therefore, all should meditate to dive within thyself and ask your real self: "Do you have the abilities, love, understanding, and wisdom that you will not explode, that you will not write a double negative?" Then someone wrote, "We in India said, 'Wise person.'" He tells you: when someone is very negative to you and hurts you, what should you do? The wise man will say, "My child, do not bite the dog back. When a dog bites you, you cannot bite the dog." If a dog on the street bites your calf muscle, will you run behind and bite him back? So, do not bite back the dog. So, a wise person, or the cleverness, is this: the protection you would like to have, then protect it. At this conference, the subject was leadership: connect, guide, and lead. One man, I think a diplomat from an African country, was asked: "Do you feel here in New Zealand some kind of conflict about racism?" He said, "Yes." There is conflict here also. And what do you say about this when you see people have a negative view or are looking at you, or they tell you something? There are still people who will say something. He said the best thing is to just walk away. Then they will feel more pain in their heart, thinking, "Oh, we told such a thing, but how nice this person just went away. We should not have told such things." So they will be sorry afterward. Do not go back. President Obama, in a talk in Israel a few weeks ago—it happened that I put on CNN to see some news, and there was something about him going to Syria—a journalist asked him, "Will you have some dialogue with them, conversation?" And he said, "Well, conversation brings only... questions, sorry. Conversation does not bring the answer, but more questions." So when you begin to talk and argue, it has no sense. A wise person will say, "Finished." There will sometimes be unpleasant situations, but you finish that chapter. Otherwise, you continue. Then every action has a reaction, and every reaction has an action, and every action has a reaction, and every reaction ends with action, and it has no end. So one has to stop. Who can do this? Only the wise one. Kṣamā badan ko hotī—forgiveness belongs to the great ones. The small ones cause disturbance. The ignorant one will make the noise. My Gurujī used to say, "A small motor makes more noise." When a very nice, big car passes by nowadays, you hardly notice it. And now will come the electric engines; you will hardly feel that something is moving. Once I was driving an electric car, and I was nervous. There is no noise, nothing. It just goes. There is nothing to do; you press a button, and that is all. So we have to get used to it. Always, the Great One forgives, and the Great One shows us the path. So, meditation is self-inquiry meditation. How am I, not who am I? How am I, good or bad? What have I done? What do I think? What did I think? What do I think, and what will I think, and why should I think? What is the cause of my thinking? Just go and find the cause. In meditation, we may be disturbed by a sound again and again. What kind of sound is it? Where is it? If you use your intellect to find out why that sound is there—like this: the sound is hammering or drilling. My neighbor, why is he drilling? Because he must repair something. Why not? So he has to do it. Why does it disturb me? I should not be disturbed. I should be happy that something is being repaired. I will also repair something in my house, and my neighbors may be angry. Then what will I do? Therefore, this sound is finished for me. It does not disturb me. Like this, we give a positive answer to any disturbing factor. Then you can live in peace and harmony. That is the best meditation. Otherwise, it is hard. So, protocol has brought the chair. It means finished. Thank you very much, and I wish you a very good appetite. We will continue according to the program after. Thank you. Adiós.

This text is transcribed and grammar corrected by AI. If in doubt what was actually said in the recording, use the transcript to double click the desired cue. This will position the recording in most cases just before the sentence is uttered.

The text contains hyperlinks in bold to three authoritative books on yoga, written by humans, to clarify the context of the lecture:

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