In the divine presence of His Holiness, Shri Ashutosh Maharaj Ji, Gurudev explained to the essence of an unsolved riddle in life. He did this through a beautiful composition of his, which contained a message of deep contemplation and also warning of the inevitable future. Come, lets listen to that composition today and understand the meaning of this life:

“That life is no life in which we are not able to liberate ourselves;

We do not call them wise those who are not able to adopt the path of truth;

That life is no life in which we are not able to liberate ourselves”

You may have observed that when a person dies, his birth and death dates are enclosed in brackets next to his name. On this, Shri Ashutosh Maharaj Ji once asked: “Tell me, which date is more significant, the date of birth or the date of death?” Then, giving the answer, Gurudev said that between the two dates is a “dash” or hyphen. That “dash” he said is the most important for it signifies the interval between these two dates. It does not matter how many years you live. What matters more is how you live those years.

Some time ago scientists conducted a research on three species of apes – gorilla, chimpanzee and orangutan. A screwdriver was put in each of their cages.

They observed that the reaction of the three to the screwdriver was different from one another. The gorilla at first did not notice the screwdriver, but when it accidentally stepped on it, it ignored it as an unfamiliar object. When the chimpanzee saw the screwdriver, it picked it up eagerly and played with it and did everything other than what the screwdriver is made for. When the orangutan saw it, it watched it intensely, as if studying it. And to the utter surprise of the scientists, by the next evening the orangutan had unscrewed all the nuts and bolts of his cage and set itself free.

This experiment has a deep message for us. Today the human being is also confined in the cage of self-made notions, negativity, sins, lust and greed. Here, the screwdriver is the spiritual tool which can liberate the human species from this cage.

It is up to us whether we use this marvelous tool like the gorilla (by ignoring it), like the chimpanzee (by treating it as a source of entertainment), or like the orangutan by utilizing it to the highest potential to liberate our life from the cage and attain real happiness and bliss.

The choice depends solely and entirely on us.