TV Channel

Mahātmā Gāndhī said, "Tyāga karo aur ānanda karo. Renounce and enjoy." If you wish to be happy, then give up. If you desire freedom, then relinquish. Consider holding a cobra in your hand. You are not free, and the cobra is also not free. If you carefully set it down, it will slither away, and you may walk away. You become free, and so does the cobra. But if you insist on clutching the cobra at all times, you cannot sit comfortably, nor can you lie down to sleep. Therefore, renounce. The more you can renounce, the better. Then, certain emotional afflictions—anger, jealousy, hatred, complexes, greed—will automatically fall away. Renounce. There was a girl who was intensely, profoundly jealous because she had fallen in love with a man. He lived in another town, in another country. She would visit him on weekends, but she knew he had another female friend. She would always come to me and say, "Swāmījī, can you do something so he will not see that girl anymore?" And, "Swāmījī, you know, I try to go every Friday as early as possible, but I don't see her there. If I see her there, I will do something like this"—she would gesture with her hand. So much jealousy, this poor girl. We are unable to give up that attachment. One day, as she sat on the train to go to him, she met another young man. She fell in love with him, turned back, and did not proceed. She did not phone me for an entire week. When I finally heard from her, I thought, "Thank you, God. Something good has happened." She phoned and said, "How happy I am!" I asked, "Why?" "I forgot him. I dropped him away." "Very good," I said. "How did you manage this?" "Because I found somebody else." Now, she renounced him, but in reality, she did not truly renounce. I tell this story not as a joke. Our subject is the mind. This illustrates that we are often incapable of complete renunciation. Therefore, if you take something away, you must replace it with something else. Unless we replace it, we cannot resist; we cannot bear the emptiness. And where there is only emptiness, danger resides. So, renounce those things which disrupt you, and replace them with things that are good and positive: meditation, mantra, painting, playing an instrument, singing, writing beautiful articles, stories, or poetry. Engage in sevā—service to other creatures, to animals, to birds, to needy persons. Help the elderly. Clean your room, clean your windows, do your laundry. Bring order to your entire apartment. The many books, papers, and letters lying about—check them carefully, read everything, and put it all in order. Occupy yourself. If you do not occupy yourself, your mind will destroy you.