Sainthood in Youth🔗

• True saints are not made, they are born.
• One who does not utilize his youthfulness in his youth stage is only an 'old man' in the garb of 'youth'
• な The juicy part of life is the youth! It has happened that 'youth' has become a burden filled time of life due to education. work and fear about the future.

Those who see me, ask, sainthood at this age? Or renunciation in youth?

Once I was speaking in a meeting. It was question and answer time. A well-learned pundit asked about 'Varnashrama Dharma'. He tried to corner me by saying, 'At a time when you should be a Grahastha (householder), you are in Sanyasa (renunciate).

I told him, 'At a time when you have to be in 'Vanaprastha', having renounced all attachments though still outwardly in the family life, how is that you are still a 'Grahastha'. He could not give any answer for that and simply sat down.

It is not possible for all to become monks. So some people like me, become monks and we are blissful and also show the path for others to become blissful. It is a social necessity, God's will.

In our history, when the war happened between the Pandavas and the Kauravas, many small kings joined sides with one side or the other. However, in Tamilnadu, one king by the name of Perunchotru Udiyalathan, did not join any side. He concentrated only on food production, thinking, 'if all go for the war, who will make the people work on the fields? Who will contribute for food grains production? Like Perunchotru Udivalathan, at least one or two persons have to share their wisdom with others.

What is not possible at the stage of youth will not be at the old age either! This is true as far as average people are concerned. There are people who have become rich and who have reached good positions in their old ages too!

Generally, the seeds of success which we attain later on, are actually planned during youth. Youth is the essence of life. Unless this is crushed and extracted and offered, great heights cannot be reached.

It is only the dedication formed in the youth which later transforms to wisdom, riches or positions of power. There are people, who. in their youth, kept themselves aloof from the general flowing of the world and attained enlightenment due to their intense penance.

In some cases, God Himself has showered His full grace and made them godly in their very young ages. But, even for such a thing to happen, an urge and search should have been there before that or even in their earlier births.

It is said, that when the great saint Thirugnanasambanthar, after suckling from the Goddess Parvathi, sat by the side of Thoniappar temple tank in Sirkali and sang the song, "Thodudaiya seviyan" he was said to be only three or five years old.

In our history, people like Adi Sankara and Vivekananda kept themselves aloof from the world in their youth and then fulfilled their aims for coming into this world.

To become a saint, such a sort of courage is required, which is not possessed even by warrior wins over others. A saint wins over himself. So, all cannot become saints.

Just because the seed looks small and tiny, we should not come to the decisive conclusion that a banyan tree is not contained in it. A poet 'Allama Iqbal' says beautifully:

'O crescent moon, don't feel sad, Full moon is buried inside you. '

So, the field for success is only youth. Is there not some age limit for persons who play cricket? The mind may be still young. But it is not compulsory for the body to cooperate at an old age. So it is better to start the achievements during the stage of youth.

All of us who are in the present worldly life can become saints. How? Ramakrishna Paramahamsa tells a beautiful story.

'There was a servant maid working in a rich man's house. She used to care for the sons of the rich man, using such words as Hari and Rama. But she would be only thinking of her own children who were in her hometown, who were suffering in utter poverty, and who were always thinking about her dearly.

In the same way, though, we are in this world and we must be thinking of God. For, whatever we are offering in our youth, we will receive the same thing as a gift in our later life.

Not only youngsters, but everyone should understand one important matter. There are not two types of lifestyles named "spiritual life" and 'ordinary life."

Spiritual life means blissful life. After man began to realize that his life was not joyful due to self-pity, the title created by him to somehow convince others is 'ordinary life.'

All of us want to reach the peak of joy. But we toil like a bull all the way, and in the way we prefer, to enjoy things such as love, name and fame, money, power, etc.

Right from the Buddha up to Ramana Maharishi, who had reached the peak of sense pleasures and even gone beyond, have been saying in various languages, that the joy which we are searching cannot be obtained from outside.

There is nothing wrong at all in our enjoying the 'sense pleasures' by the use of our five senses. However, having the required amount of energy and intelligence, if we begin by searching for pleasure and satisfaction, then the problem starts.

Meditation will create the necessary 'energy' to enjov life fully. Wisdom teachings will greatly help to obtain the 'understanding capacity' to know the world and understand the people and help them to live with equanimity.

Meditation and wisdom are very essential, more for the youth who is eager to enjoy every atom of life than for an old man who has missed enjoying the life.

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Master? Or disciple?

な Come!

Come near!

Come near me!

Come and merge with me!

Come so that I become you and you become me! - In this state, the atma (soul) within you is ever waiting for you. To accept the invitation or reject it, is in your hands.

❖ A Master's job is to help you and enable you to turn back and see the soul which is waiting for you and to make you merge with your soul.