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it! I insist: help yourself. And if you can attain to light, to bliss, to an experience of godliness, then you are bound to help others. There is no need to say anything about it; it will overflow, your joy will start overflowing. And remember: only a blissful person can be helpful; the miserable person can only harm.
So the first thing to remember, the most basic, is to become blissful. Be totally selfish, only then can you be altruistic. This is a strange message, because for centuries man has been told 'Don't be selfish, then you can be altruistic.' I say just the opposite: Be totally selfish because only out of your selfishness does altruism grow; it is not against it.
A man who has loved himself will be able to love others. A man who has felt bliss will be able to spread it. One always gives whatsoever one has, one radiates it. It is not possible to hide it, it starts functioning of its own accord... It is such a miracle, it is such magic.
One cannot praise god unless one's life is a celebration -- obviously: if you are miserable you can only complain, you cannot praise -- praise for what? You cannot feel grateful -- grateful for what? In fact you will have a grudge against god. Deep down you will feel that you have been cheated.
One of the characters in Fyodor Dostoevsky's great novel BROTHERS KARAMAZOV, says 'If I meet god the first thing I am going to ask him is "Who asked you to create me? And is it right to create me without my permission? This is an imposition, this is dictatorial. I never wanted your so-called life, because I only suffered. Who are you to create me without my permission? Do you enjoy people and their miseries? Are you a sadist of some kind? Are we created just to keep you engaged, and are all kinds of miseries created for us just for your enjoyment and entertainment? What is this existence for, for what purpose?"'
He is angry, and I can see that his anger has a certain meaning. In fact everybody has felt that anger once in a while. Whenever you are in misery, in deep suffering, anguish, you have felt it. It is not just fiction, it is not something out of the imagination of the novelist; it is very true,
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