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Main Index
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playing the flute. There was no one there to hear him. I had lost my way in the woods and the music of his flute had guided me to the spot where he sat. "Why are you playing your flute in this solitary spot?" I asked him.
"Just to play my flute," he replied. "That is what makes me happy."
Good conduct is an action that is self-inspired; it is not a reaction to something external. A reaction is something that is done in return, and we make the mistake of looking on reactions as our own actions. Between action and reaction there is a gulf as wide as that between heaven and earth.
Our misunderstanding lies in the fact that activity is involved in both, in reaction as well as in action. But not only are they different, they are diametrically opposed to each other. An action that occurs within an individual as the result of a stimulus from his outer environment is a reaction; that which is inspired by his inner self is the real action.
Reactions imprison us because they are externally inspired; actions free us because they are manifestation of our selves. Reaction is dependence; action is independent. Reactions carry a kind of framework with them and there is always an aspect of helplessness involved, but actions are spontaneous expressions of the soul. Reactions are always redundant, always unnecessary; actions are always fresh, new and full of life.
Being firmly established in action, in pure and complete activity, is good conduct. Reaction is a sort of falling from grace because it is mechanical. In action, on the other hand, there is growth and upward development because it comes from feeling, because it is conscious.
THERE IS NO GREATER AFFLICTION than trying to become what you are not. Although this desire has no end to it and offers no fulfillment whatsoever, the majority of people do succeed in their attempts to appear different from what they are.
Recognize your own nature, realize who you really are. Living according to your own nature is heavenly bliss.
A VERY SMALL LAMP CAN DISPEL TH DARKNESS in a house that has been shut up for years. And in the same way the tiniest ray of self-understanding can erase
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