Life is a Search, a constant search.
Search for something one knows not.
There is a deep urge to search.
But one does not know what one is seeking for.
Whatever we get is not going to give us any satisfaction.
Everything looks beautiful from a distance.

From the earth, the moon looks very beautiful.
Poets are singing about the beauty of the moon.
They might get disappointed if they happen to be there on the Moon.  Those who have reached the moon, say that Earth is much more beautiful.

The same thing happens in the case of lovers.
Once they start their relationship, it becomes impossible to be away from each other.
So many phone calls and emails.
But when they become closer and closer to each other,
and learn more and more about each other,
they will come to know more about the other person’s weaknesses and defects.

And finally love disappears after their marriage.
(Some times even before the marriage.)
Then, no phone calls, no mails, or no smiles.
It becomes boring to spend some time together.
Once they were longing to meet each other.

They used to say,
“I cannot live without seeing you darling. You are so beautiful.”
After marriage they would say,
“I am getting bored, could you please go away.  I cannot continue to see your ugly face.”
Even the most attractive object will make us feel bored after some time.
Whatever we get can become meaningless the very moment we have achieved it.
We start searching Again.
Dissatisfied with what we have, we struggle to get more.

We are living in this world with lots of selfish desires.
We are not ready to share our fortunes.
If we are ready to share, more will come to us.
That is the law of nature.

Is it possible to get complete satisfaction and peace?
Mahatmas like Amma say, “yes.”
However, we can enjoy the beauty of life only if we know certain secrets of life.
There are three forms of knowledge.
The first is intellectual knowledge,
which is in fact not knowledge, but only information.

The second is emotional knowledge,
which is also not really knowledge.
It gives a mental state in which man feels he has known something,
but there is no transformation.

The first is objective, born out of science.
The second is subjective, the source of all arts.
The third is neither.
It is beyond both.
This third is the real knowledge.
It is achieved through meditation.

Life is like a movie.
God has given us a role to act.
He is the movie director of our life.
He knows which role is suitable for us.
We have proven our skills through so many old movies in which we have acted before.
That was in our previous lives.
God was watching all those movies.
Another chance is given to improve our actions.
If God feels that we are not fit to take the role of a human being,
he may give us the role of an animal or bird.

Fortunately he has selected us to act the role of a human being.
Because of that he is expecting from us much more than animals.
We are suppose to express human qualities like love compassion, patience, etc.
We should always have a smiling face.
Only human beings can do that.
Animal can cry, show their anger and affection.
But they cannot laugh, except in cartoon movies.
They cannot enjoy jokes.

God has given the power of discrimination only to human beings.
After getting this human body we should know the importance of our role.
It is not very important, where we are born or
where we are brought up.
It is not necessary to worry about the role,
which is given to us.
Some people are get the role of a rich man.
Some get the role of a poor person.
Some may play the role of a beggar.
No matter which role we have, God is watching our performance,
how we are overcoming the difficulties and utilising this opportunity to serve the world.
We can prove our skills more in difficult situations.

The rich man should make his role beautiful by helping the poor.
Even beggar can become an emperor, if he tries to get the grace of God.
Even in an ordinary movie a person acting the role of a beggar
can get an Oscar for how well he portrayed his character.

It is not very important whether we are rich or poor.
How we are using our skills to overcome difficulties of life
and how our life becomes a contribution to the world–
God is watching only that.

But we are making the same mistakes again and again.
Then the director, himself/herself, has to act and show the actors
how to give perfection to a particular role.
That is what Amma is doing.

— Swami Purnamritananda

( excerpts from talks which were given at San Ramon recently)