77
Last night a young man asked, "I am fighting against my mind, but I am unable to attain peace. What shall I do with the mind so that I may attain peace?"
I said, "No one can do anything with darkness; it simply does not exist. It is only the absence of light; hence fighting against it is ignorance. So is the mind. That too does not exist. That too does not have any existence of its own. It is the absence of self-realization; it is the absence of meditation; hence nothing can be done with it too directly. If darkness is to be removed, one has to bring light in. Similarly, if the mind is to be removed, meditation has to be brought in. The mind is not to be controlled -- but it is to be realized that mind simply does not exist! The moment this is realized, one is free of it.
He asked, "How to realize this?"
"This realization happens through witnessing conscious-ness. Be the witness of the mind. Be the witness of what is - drop the worry of how it should be. What is, as it is - awaken to it, be alert to it. Do not judge, do not control, do not fall in any struggle, just watch silently. This watching... this witness itself becomes the liberation."
The moment one becomes the witness, consciousness leaves the seen and settles on the seer. In this state is attained the unwavering flame of wisdom. And this very flame is liberation.

34
Until last evening, a plant was alive. Its roots were in the ground and there was life in its leaves. It was green and lustrous. Swaying in the breeze, it shed bliss all round. I had passed by it many times and had felt the melody of its life.
Yesterday, someone disturbed it, loosening its roots, and coming to it today I found that the plant had breathed its last. This is what happens when the root is dislodged from the ground. Everything depends on the roots. They are invisible, but they hold the whole secret of life.
Plants have roots. Man too has roots. Plants have a ground; man too has one. When the roots are dislodged from the ground, plants dry up. So too with man.
I was reading a book by Albert Camus. The opening sentence of the book ran, "Suicide is the only significant problem for philosophy." Why?-because nowadays man finds no purpose in life. Everything has become meaningless and futile.
What has happened is that our roots have been shaken. We have lost our link with the fountain-head of life, without which life is nothing more than a meaningless story.
We have to give man back his roots. We have to give him back his ground. The roots are the soul, the ground is religion. If this can be done, flowers can bloom once again in humanity.