Leave the World a Better Place - Master (Chariji)

Chariji – Address to Abhyasis of Gujarat, 7 Noember 2013, Chennai, India

For all the volunteers from Gujarat, It would not be appropriate for me to say, “Thank you” because it is your mission and you are working for it. But, may Master bless you all for whatever you are doing to maintain your asharm, not only here but everywhere, wherever you go.

I would like to inspire all abhyasis with this idea that wherever they go, they must leave every place cleaner than they found it, better than they found it; if possible, more comfortable than they found it; Babuji Maharaj has gone to the extent of saying that we should try to leave the world a better world that when we came into it. The whole world must be better for our having come here. That should be our aspiration. If that is our aspiration and we live up to it, then, of course, we will leave bathrooms cleaner, kitchens cleaner dining rooms cleaner, bedrooms cleaner. It follows.

So when you have big aspirations, small achievements are very easy. But when you have only small aspirations, nothing happens. So this is something that we must bear in mind in our spiritual life. People who have been shooting with rifles and guns know that the longer you want to shoot you have to ‘raise the sights’ as they call it. You have to raise the sights to shoot. Otherwise you achieve nothing; shot after shot fired, and you achieve nothing.

So please bear in the mind that it need not be ‘my property’ in the sense that ‘I paid for it’. Where ever we go, it is our; whatever we use, it is ours. When we sit in the railway trains, the compartments are ours, the railway toilets are ours. Much is made of Mahatma Gandhi sometimes having to clean his own toilet. Why should only Gandhiji clean his toilets and why not all of us?

I know when I have travelled in Switzerland, even rooms which are not occupied in hotels for many days, they are cleaned every day. “But, why?” you may ask “Because.” That is the only answer. Because the room is there and it must be kept spick and span, they are cleaned every day. But you go to some our hotels, the cheaper hotels, and the bathrooms are dirty, the bedrooms are not cleaned the sheets have not been changed, and for occupation. You understand?

So, please make it a habit to leave anything better than what you found it – anything, any place, everywhere, all the time.

                Thank you.