Last night I said something regarding different movements of humans in different strata of life, different arenas of life. Now, there is an eternal question regarding success in life. Some people do so many things but come out unsuccessful, and some people do something for a short while and get crowned with success. What is the inner secret? Why does one become successful and one not?

You know, Lord Shiva was the first propounder of the yoga cult. I will not say “yoga philosophy…”⁽¹⁾

Lord Shiva said that a man must not labour under any sort of complex – that is, a man, a spiritual aspirant, must be free from all complexes; he must have neither superiority complex, nor inferiority complex, nor fear complex, nor defeatist complex. That is, the mind should be completely balanced.

Actually, the question was placed before Lord Shiva by Párvatii. Párvatii was the spouse of Shiva, wife of Shiva. Párvatii’s question was: “What are the secrets of success?” And Lord Shiva said that there are seven secrets.

He said: “The first secret is Phaliśyatiiti vishvásah siddherprathama lakśańam” – that is, “In the aspirant, in the spiritual aspirant, there must be this firm determination that ‘I must be successful in my mission.’” This firm determination is the first factor, first item, first requisite factor for success. If a man is doing something but has not got the firmness of determination – if within his mind there is a question “whether I will be successful – if I am not successful” – this kind of thing – then he will never be successful. There must be firm determination that “I must be successful.” This is the first requisite factor.

Do you follow? Even those who do not understand English are understanding a little bit. Mm. [laughter]

And the second thing is: dvitiiyaḿ shraddhayá yuktaḿ – “one must have respect for one’s goal, one must have respect for one’s path.”

And the third thing: trtiiyaḿ gurupújanam – “one must have reverence for the guru.” I need not explain this item, because my subject is here that one must be free from all complexes.

Caturtho samatábhávo. The fourth factor is that the aspirant must have a balanced mind. This is the item now under discussion.

Paiṋcamendriyanigrahah. The fifth is, one must have self-restraint. Eating too much, sleeping too much, drinking too much – these weaknesses will not help the aspirant. One must have a balanced life. One must have self-restraint.

And śaśt́haiṋca pramitáháro – “one must take balanced food, that is, not too much nor too little.” It should be substantial; it should be sentient, or at least mutative in nature for family persons. It must not be of static nature. It should be balanced food, because the cells of your body are created from the food. The food that you take creates the cells of your body. And your mind is a collective mind of the minds of so many cells, so if you take static food, non-sentient food, your mind will also be of that nature. Your mind will get depraved, degenerated; so you should take proper and balanced food.

This was the advice of Lord Shiva.

So one of His pieces of advice was – what? Caturtho samatábhávo – that is, “You must have a balanced mind.” Now what is a balanced mind? The human mind has got two special wonts, two main goals, two main duties: one is to think and the other is to remember. The two duties of the human mind – one, to think, and the other, to remember – to keep in memory. Two things. Now, what is proper memory and what is proper thinking? If the thinking is proper and if the memory is proper, then I will say that the man is free from all complexes.

Now these two attributes, to think and to remember, are closely related to each other. What we see or what we perceive from the external objective world is reflected in the mind. This reflection comes first from the nerve fibres and secondly into the nerve cells; a sort of reflection is created in the mental plate. And when the reflection is created, we feel the existence of that external object. “Feel” means we see, we hear, we get the taste. This is thinking. And the second portion of thinking occurs when those waves, those sympathetic waves of the human mind, get refracted on the mental plate. They are stored-up thoughts. Those stored-up thoughts may be termed as memory.

Now when you are suffering from a superiority complex, you think that you are a better person and others are worse persons; as a result of which you are unable to accept the external waves in proper style. So your thinking gets polluted, gets distorted, as a result of which the refracted portion, that is, the memory, also gets distorted, becomes defective.

So you must not have any superiority complex. You should remember that you are not superior to anybody else. All are children of the same Supreme Father, all are progeny of the same Supreme Progenitor. Nobody is superior to anybody.

The second complex: Sometimes you may think that “I am an ordinary man, and that man is so big, so learned, such a big scholar – so rich, and I’m poor” – like this. If you think like this, what will happen? There will not be proper expression of your mind, there will not be proper emanations of your thought-waves; as a result of which the thought will become distorted and the refracted thought, that is, the memory portion, will become defective.

Similarly, the fear complex: Sometimes people suffer from a fear complex. The psychological side of the fear complex is as follows: Due to the presence of something stronger, or due to the presence of something which is imaginarily stronger, not actually stronger, what happens? Mental flows are blocked, are choked. They cannot find the proper avenue of expression; as a result of which thoughts also get polluted. There cannot be free thinking. A man suffering from a fear complex cannot think properly. And if the thought is defective, the memory will also be defective. So you must never suffer from any sort of fear complex.

Why should you suffer from a fear complex or an inferiority complex, when the Supreme Father is your father, when you all are the children of the same Father; why should you suffer from any inferiority complex or any fear complex, when the Supreme Father is with you? You are not weak. You are very strong, because the Almighty Father, the omnipotent Supreme Father, is with you to help you – so you must not encourage the psychology of weakness, or an inferiority complex or a fear complex. He is with you, always He is with you to help you. You are never alone.

And sometimes there is a defeatist complex. “Oh, I am defeated in this world,” “Oh, I am defeated in this struggle for existence.” Such a sentiment, such a psychology, sometimes goads a man to commit suicide even. “I am defeated, I am defeated in the struggle for existence.” You must not encourage this type of psychology. When your father is the Supreme Father, your father is the most powerful entity in the entire universe, why should you think that you have been defeated in the struggle for existence? No, a bright future awaits you. Your future is glorious, your future is luminous, your future is effulgent.

So you must not suffer from this psychology of helplessness or hopelessness or of despair. This defeatist complex may also be called “sinner’s psychology”. A man may always think: “I am a sinner, I am a sinner, I am a sinner.” If he feels like that, if he thinks like this, that “I am a sinner,” then actually one day he will become a sinner. Actually he is not a sinner, but if he thinks like this, that “I am a sinner, I am a sinner,” what will happen? – he will actually become a sinner, because it is the characteristic of the human mind that it takes the form of its object. So when a man thinks, “I am a sinner, I am a sinner, O Lord, I am a sinner, O Lord, I am a sinner,” then actually he will become a sinner. So such a psychology is fundamentally defective. You must never think that you are a sinner. You should think: “It may be a fact that I was a sinner in the past, but from this very moment I am on the lap of the Almighty Father; I cannot be a sinner, I am not a sinner. I am seated on the lap of my Supreme Father, I am not a sinner.” Lord Shiva said this:

Api cet sudurácáro bhajate mámananyabhák;
So’pi pápavinirmuktah mucyate bhavabandhanát.

[If even the most wicked persons worship Me with a concentrated mind, I will liberate them from worldly bondages.]

Now even if a man is that type of sinner whom other sinners may take as a bad man, of whom even sinners may say that he is a bad man – for such a sinner, the worst type of sinner, the future is not dark. The future in his case also is very bright, if he takes shelter in the divine lap of the Supreme Father. “I am on the lap of my Father, I cannot be a sinner.” Suppose you are walking along the path and your dress, your clothes, become muddy due to dust or clay. Then should you think that you will remain nasty or dirty forever? If you appear before your Father with dirty clothes, what will your Father do? He will clean your clothes and take you on his lap: “O my son, your clothes have become muddy, but you are my son. Come here, come here, sit on My lap. I am your Father, you are My son, you must not suffer from any sinner’s psychology.” Do you follow?

So even if, in the past, you were sinners, forget it. Remember that from this very moment, you are the neat and clean son, you are the neat and clean child, of the Supreme Father. So there must not be any psychology of sinning complex. For a spiritual aspirant, there must not be any complex. Be free from all complexes, and move along the path of righteousness with a balanced mind, with mental equilibrium and mental equipoise. A bright future awaits you.

Footnotes

(1) Here the author goes on: “because the yoga philosophy was first propounded by…” [[The name is not clear on the tape, but from the sound of it, “Maharshi Patanjali” seems like a good possibility. Elsewhere the author has mentioned Maharshi Patanjali’s school of philosophy, popularly known as Pátaiṋjala Yoga; and yet elsewhere the author has said: “Maharshi Patanjali, the propounder of Yoga Darshana [Yoga Philosophy], was born in the village Patun in Burdwan District.” In the present discourse,]] the author goes on again: “But before him, during the time of Shiva, there was a cult, that is, a practical psychic process.” –-Eds.