To answer them I would have to write a book

bigger than the Mahabharata!

But even then you would not get your answers

because some questions others can never answer –

your answers lie deep within your own life.

And some questions have no answers

because they are wrong questions

for which no answers can be found.

As the search continues

these questions always gradually drop away.

Then there are some questions which are right questions

but have no answers at all.

They have to be experienced deep within oneself.

105. Love.

Do not desire bliss

because that desire gets in the way.

Live life unchained to desire

and without an eye on a goal.

Live free!

Live from moment to moment!

And don’t be afraid, be free of fear

because there is nothing to lose –

and nothing to gain

– and the moment you realize this

the totality of life is attained.

But never approach the gates of life as a beggar,

never go begging,

for those gates never open to beggars!

106. Love.

It brings me happiness to bear witness to your new birth.

You have worked for it over many lives

and now the boat flows rightly,

I can rest assured about you.

Once I made you a promise

and this is now fulfilled.

It is your turn to fulfill your part of the promise;

make sure you don’t miss the chance.

Time is short

and I may not be able to be with you again.

Muster your whole will,

take the oars in your hands

and begin the journey that is infinite.

You have wasted much time sitting on the banks;

now the winds are favorable.

This I know,

and that’s why I am pushing you off

the banks so earnestly.

God’s grace is showering –

be open to it and let it in.

Dance it and drink it in!

With such nectar at hand will you still stay thirsty?

107. Love.

What is sought totally is always attained.

Thoughts, when concentrated,

become things.

As the river finds the ocean,

thirsty souls find the temple of God.

But the thirst must be intense

and the work tireless

and the waiting without end

and the calling with the whole heart.

And all this thirst, work, waiting, calling –

are contained in one small word

and that word is prayer.

But praying cannot be performed,

it is not an act,

you can only be in it.

It is a feeling,

it is the soul,

it is a surrender of oneself

without words or demands.

Leave yourself to the unknown

and accept whatever comes.

Whatever God makes of you – accept it,

and if he breaks you, accept that too.

108. Love.

My blessings on your new birth

– sannyas is a new birth,

in oneself, by oneself, of oneself.

It is also a death,

not an ordinary death but the great death.

It is the death of all that you were up until yesterday.

And what you are now –

that too must keep dying every moment

so that the new can be born and born and born again.

Now you will not remain you even for a moment.

You have to die and be reborn every moment –

this is the only sadhana.

Live like a river, not like a pond.

The pond is a householder;

the river, a sannyasin.

109. Love.

The temple of God is open only

to a dancing, singing, happy heart.

A sad heart cannot enter there

so avoid sadness.

Fill your heart with color

as vivid as a peacock –

and for no reason.

He who has reason to be happy is not really happy.

Dance and sing –

not for others,

not for a reason,

just dance for dancing’s sake;

sing for singing’s sake;

then one’s whole life becomes divine

and only then becomes prayer.

To live so is to be free.

110. Love.

I am glad to get your letter.

The moment of the inward revolution is near

but first you have to go through the birth pangs.

Nothing hurts more than this giving birth to oneself

but what comes after it is life’s greatest bliss.

So, longing, waiting, prayer –