Your Questions Answered

by Swami Krishnananda

Chapter 66: Sadhana Can Be Done Anywhere

Visitor: Swamiji, how can I find the best place to do my sadhana?

Swamiji: I can stay anywhere. I can stay under a tree, or I can stay in the city also. I won't say that I can stay only in this place. Whether it is the market place, a shop, a tree, or a temple, it makes no difference to me. Anywhere I can stay. I won't complain that it is a bad place and all that. I have no bad place. I have only to find a place for breathing, and eating a little food, and that is there everywhere in the world. What does it matter in which country it is?

Your problem is not in the country, it is in your mind; and wherever you go, even in heaven, you carry your mind. There can be hell even in heaven, because you carry the hell there. This is a kind of distraction of the mind. The mind is so tricky that it doesn't want you to progress. So, it selects circumstances, conditions; finally life goes away in this talk only. Practically, you do nothing. You go on selecting places, and the whole life you do only that. It is like thinking only of the plate, and eating no food afterwards. These are all secondary matters, which have no connection with spirituality. You could stay in any country, anyplace. What is the problem?

 People cannot help you, the country cannot help you. You have to help yourself with your higher reason. There are troublemakers even in heaven. It doesn't mean there is only milk and honey. Everyone thinks that in heaven there is no problem. But you ask Indra and other people if there is a problem or not! So many times he was thrown out. How is Indra happy?

Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj has taught us that you can be happy anywhere, under any condition, because God has created the whole world. He has not created India, Italy, Germany, etc. There is no such thing. The earth is only a ball of mud, which is the same everywhere. Any place is equally good, so you can stay anywhere. Why do you create problems unnecessarily? We have created these differences of countries, languages, etc. We are living on a ball of mud, which is called earth, and crawling over it like insects.

I can sit in a railway station and meditate. The noise of the train will not disturb me. I will not say that it is a hopeless place. I will make friendship with the railway train. What is wrong? It is also my friend. You must be a little broad-minded, and a little common sense must be used; otherwise, what happens is that we become old, and our time goes away in these discussions, and nothing substantial comes out.