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a painter gives life to dead piece of canvas; a sculptor breathes life in stones and wood: but the greatest art is life itself, and the greatest artist is he who brings to his own life, beauty as well as creativity.
Question 20
A YOUNG MAN SAYS: I AM VERY UNHAPPY AND WORRIED; BUT I CALL NOT PIN-POINT THE REASON OF MY MISERY. I AM SICK AND TIRED OF MY CIRCUMSTANCES, AND WANT TO CHANGE THEM; PERHAPS IN A NEW ENVIRONMENT. I MAY GET SOME PEACE.
Happiness and unhappiness are not dependent on external circumstances. There is neither happiness nor unhappiness in things external; our glad or sad states depend upon our reaction to these external things. Actually, things do not matter; what matters is our view of things; all depends upon how we look at things. Therefore, in final analysis, the importance is of the individual, and not of the object: the importance is of yourself, and not the object you possess. Hence, so to say, happiness or unhappiness reside within us. Epictectus has said: 'If you are unhappy, know for sure that you yourself are the cause of it.' I would say the same thing. We are the cause of our misery, because whatever we are, we have made ourselves such. Please bear in mind this truth, because you cannot transform your life without it. If you feel unhappy, know that something is wrong with your viewpoint. A miserable life is the result of a wrong way of looking at things; and a happy life is the result of a right approach to life. If the mental attitude does not change with your proposed change in circumstances, you may not feel any more happy than at present. Please try to search for the cause of your unhappiness within yourself, not without, whenever you feel miserable. And then, gradually, you will discover the causes of your unhappiness, hidden in your own reactions; then a new life will start for vou. He who seeks for faults outside, goes astray; he who sees for them in himself, is sure to succeed in transcending them.
I see in the world today a decline in thinking. By thinking, I do not mean thoughts; for thoughts are aplenty. There is a flood of thoughts, as it were; but what I call 'thinking' tends to be drowned in
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