Talk on Morality

Mohanji’s speech at Eye Hospital in Kerala, January 2021

I’m very happy to be here; thank you for this opportunity.

Today, I would like to speak about morality. Morality is a much-abused word. People use morality as an excuse, or to bind people, to compartmentalize people. This is what I have experienced. 

I used to work in the shipping industry, so I was connected to the shipping business for many years. Not just business, but even I stayed on the ship. Once we are on the ship, we have no caste, creed, culture, colour, religion, language, or nothing. We are all a family on the ship. But when you come out to the shore, we feel numerous divisions and so many barriers. I always wondered why we should have barriers at all. 

I can believe whatever I like to believe in. For example, this shirt suits me. I like to wear this shirt. But if it’s double the size, I can only use it as a blanket. I can’t use it as a shirt. So, I decided that it’s not really worth having divisions. 

Now with COVID, we have seen that; it does not matter what you believe in; we are all quarantined. A small virus, invisible virus, kept us indoors. So this is the reality, and this is what we need to remember. 

So, we have to understand one thing – morality is an acceptance, total acceptance. What do we need on Earth? 

What does any being that’s born on Earth need from here? 

To have a great life. Am I right or wrong? We like to have a good life. That life is not in the future; it’s right now, here, today. If we cannot be happy today, there is no guarantee we can be happy tomorrow. So this life right here, right now, what we are and what we believe in – that’s the reality that we get to experience. This is something which we have to remember. 

For that, one major ingredient is non-violence. I believe in Ahimsa. I have even said, my religion is Ahimsa, non-violence in thoughts, words, or actions. This is morality for me. I’m sure everybody has their own version of morality, which you have every right to have, no problem. But I believe that if you really want to make this Earth a better place, for the next generations to come, and for us, we must remember that we have to share what we have, or give what we have, and be kind. 

So for me, morality is compassion. Morality is kindness. Morality is selflessness, and morality is everything that makes you feel rich inside. The real richness is inside. Not what we get from the world. Because everything you get from the world, you have to leave behind. When you die, you can’t take anything from you – not even one pebble. You came hands-free, nothing in the hand. You will leave the same way; you will carry nothing from here. 

I’m sure everybody knows it, but nobody remembers it. That’s why we see people killing people, destroying everything on Earth. And what have we given to Earth so far in the last 100 years? If you take the last 100 years, how much we have destroyed this Earth! And please remember, in the next 100 years, none of us, even the child born today, will not be living on Earth. It will be a new set of people. That means we are here on a tourist visa. We are here only for a very short span of time. If we are fortunate to live 80 years, that’s only 29,200 days. Please remember, we don’t have a lot of days to play with. We have to be happy today. We have to love today. We have to respect today. We have to experience life today. This is what I feel. 

For me, morality is being completely you – the highest possibility of our existence, which is compassion, kindness, selflessness, unconditional love, purity in thoughts, words and actions. 

So, all I’m trying to tell you is, please make sure to be yourself. Many people will try to imitate so many people. I believe that we should not imitate anybody. Your authenticity is being you – as you are, without changes. Because 80% of the people in the world are imitating somebody, that’s why we don’t see them. But there are a few people who choose to be original. They really believe in themselves. They don’t believe in somebody’s opinions or information. Instead, they believe in what is felt inside, what is experienced inside. And then they start living it. Those people are called legends; they are known in the world. 

Otherwise, there are many bricks on the wall, and we have people like bricks on the wall. People know when you are born, and people will know when you die. This means, when a child is born, everybody will know a child is born. And everybody will know when the person dies. That means that at birth, people recognize, and at death, people recognize. But while living, do we recognize people? We hardly see people. We hardly see because we see through the eyes of prejudices, concepts, education, and various other factors. So we don’t see people. We see images moving, and we say: “Okay, this person is like this. Another person is in another way.” We completely demarcate and divide people; we fail to see people. And this is exactly where we lose our life. This is something which you have to remember. 

I don’t want to elaborate any further. If you have any questions, I’m happy to take the question. Usually, what I do is, I answer questions. I don’t give lectures. 

But let me tell you one thing; if you are thinking about morality, my morality is non-violence, no violence on Earth. Everybody deserves a good life, a peaceful life, a stable life, experiencing whatever they want to experience. And that’s about it. I feel this is it. It does not matter what country, what culture, what language, what religion. All that doesn’t matter; that’s your personal choice. You can believe whatever you like to believe. What makes you happy is good for you. What does not make you happy is not good for you. Simple, very simple. Life is simple. We complicate it because the mind works differently. 

I hope I have given you something to think further. If yes, I’m happy. Thank you so much. 

Question: Is there a thing called unconditional love? Or is it possible for us to love somebody unconditionally? 

Answer: Yes. If you look outside in nature, the sun rises every day. Sun gives you rays, right? It gives you light and heat. Because of that, we are alive today. That’s unconditional. Like the air, the oxygen that we breathe, it is unconditional. Or the river which is flowing and bringing you water. The river is not looking at who’s drinking the water or what you’re using it for. Also, look at the tree; it gives you fruits, gives you shade, and recycles air into oxygen. This is all unconditional. 

We can be unconditional, provided we rise to the level where we see everybody as one. We should not see divisions. Then you start seeing your own reflection. Dalai Lama has said this beautifully: “Remove my dress, remove my skin, you and I are one.” Same thing. We have clothes, and we have certain concepts which make us different. Remove all that and see – everybody is the same. Same electricity, same energy works in various bodies. And that electricity and energy give you life. When that’s gone from our body, we call it a dead body. 

So, understand that the same material works in every person and gives a dimension; you are a unique character, unique constitution, and unique. Please remember, you are neither higher, nor lower, nor equal to anybody. You are unique. There is no imitation possible for you. 

You are all practising eye treatment in this hospital. The retina of the eyes is different for everybody, right? There is nobody the same; each person is different. Our thumb impression is different. Why is our thumb impression different? Because we are unique. 

If you look at the tree outside, it has hundreds of leaves, and each leaf, if you look closer, has a different design. So, creation is unique; we are unique. Let’s not compromise this. Let us not compromise our uniqueness. If you only decide not to compromise your uniqueness, immediately there is no competition.

Then what remains is unconditional love. It is absolutely nonsensical to compete with each other, to compare ourselves with each other. We can’t compare ourselves to each other. I know very well that there’s nobody like me. Even if there is, I’m happy. You may resemble somebody; you may resemble your brother, your sister or somebody else. But you are not the same. That’s the difference. You are not the same. 

If you really understand you are unique, you cannot compete with anybody. It is stupidity to compete. Who can you compete with? Only with yourself. You can improve yourself tomorrow, better than what you are today. That’s competing with yourself, not with another person. Because another person is another person; another constitution, another duration of life. We don’t know how many days we live here. So we cannot compete with another. Instead, we can love another, because we see our own reflection in everybody. 

So there is unconditional love, there is a possibility, but we must understand who we are, to love somebody unconditionally. Otherwise, everything is transactional love – love for the sake of something. This is actually very narrow-minded. I think that we should not love anybody for the sake of something; loving and needing something in return. That’s too silly. Even if you get nothing in return, you can love. And that love is very powerful. 

See, there are two major emotions which are very influential for everybody. One is love; the other is fear. When you are insecure, you have fear. But when you really love life, when you really love yourself, when you really love the whole creation, and you see the wonder in this whole world, then the kind of love that sprouts in you make you very powerful. You have no boundaries anymore. No man-made boundaries are possible. 

We have clarified intellect, much different than other beings. Our intellect is much more clarified, much more refined. So we can see; we can experience much larger stuff. That is how we reached the Moon, and we reached everywhere. So we can go into our own aspects and create those dimensions too. 

Please don’t think this is spiritual. This has nothing to do with religion or spirituality. This is hardcore reality. I like to believe in reality more than any kind of dogma. So, I believe in it, and I spread the same thing around. I hope I answered that question.

Thank you very much.