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Never allow negative thoughts toward anyone to enter your consciousness. There is a beautiful song in which a devotee says, "Lord, I wished to offer you a particular flower, but I could not find it anywhere. I searched from door to door, through mountains and forests, through gardens and parks, yet I could not find the flower I desired to give you. Now I have come to you empty-handed; what a shame that I could not find the flower I wanted to offer. Why couldn't I find it? Perhaps it was my mistake—I did not search properly." Therefore, if anything is to be blamed, blame yourself. If something negative occurs, it happens because you were present. You are there, receiving and manifesting it. As one saint expressed in a beautiful poem: "I went to see negative things, but I could not find them anywhere. Then I searched my own heart and discovered that no one is worse than me." It is you who first projects the negativity within yourself, and then you declare it to be negative. If there is something negative in this pocket, I must first recognize it as negative before I can tell you it is bad or not good. This means the bad or negative first enters my consciousness, pollutes it, poisons my citta vṛttis, and changes my heart in a negative way. Then I create these thought vṛttis and proclaim to you that it is negative. Thus, the ṛṣis give this example: "The mind is a monkey, and the monkey should control itself." They close the mouth: do not speak negative. They close the ears: do not listen to negative. They close the eyes: do not see the negative. Why? For the sake of self-protection. Only you can protect yourself; control your indriyas, control your senses. Recording location: Australia, Sydney weekend retreat, Australian Tour