Eating: The body needs fuel for its work. So it uses the hand to pick up the food and put it into its channel which is the mouth. Then the food gets digested and converted into energy. The nameless and formless existence which is behind, which created the body, does not need food as it does not have muscles or organs. This should be your state while feeding the body. Not “I ate”. But instead, we eat mindlessly while talking, watching TV etc, thinking “I ate”. See what a mistake we are making continuously. That is why Mahaprabu urges you to say “‘I gave food to the body”. Even that is not accurate since the one which is existing here and now has no hunger nor does it perform actions, but at least saying it this way disconnects the identification with the body, by treating the body as a separate object.

[Note: Just a couple of days ago we accompanied Sri Mahaprabu to his hometown where his parents (body’s parents) live. They asked him to eat. He said as usual: “First I will give bath to the body and then I will give food to the body”. They laughed, but it did not affect him one bit. He never ever deviates from this. Never does he say “I ate, I took bath”. Never!]

Taking bath is the next good activity. During the day, sweat and dirt can accumulate on the body. It needs to be cleaned. So the body does cleans itself. The body removes the clothes that are on it. Then it picks up water and pours it on itself. Then it applies soap on itself and pours water on itself to clean its surface. Then it wipes itself and takes on a set of clothes and puts it on. This cleaning operation is going on by the body. The one which is existing here and now, is in the background. But it does not need cleaning as it does not have any dirt on it. The body has dirt. This is the reality. Instead we blindly say “I took bath”. We should say “The body took bath”.

Another frequent task during the day is going to the toilet. Urination happens so many times. Each time is an opportunity for keen awareness and attention on what is actually happening. Who actually is in control.

Like this, the day should be filled with meditation.

Instead, look at the foolishness. “I have taken bath, I have eaten breakfast. Now I will go to Bhagavan’s Samadhi and I will meditate!” See the confusion. You want to make yourself happy. That’s fine. It is natural. But you have a strong idea that this body is you. Of course, you seek happiness through the body. Wearing good clothes, looking at the mirror and thinking I am so beautiful. You are simply beautifying the body. Inside you might be ugly too. Beauty itself is a concept. If I don’t like a colour or style, I say it is not beautiful for me.

So if you keep on trying to deriving happiness through the body, since the body is continuously changing, you will always be in anxiety. And when the body falls sick, you become miserable. And when it comes close to death, you will panic.

This confusion needs to go away. Once you are really clear about who you are, that you are not the body, then that is good.

These are the complications:
We have neglected this clarity in our daily routines.
There is no support from outside at all. People will think you are mad.
You have strongly identified yourself with the body.

With these, how can you come out of misery? But if you come out… Ah!!! What a wonderful state is there waiting.

Proper education about happiness is missing. Now we must continuously give the right education and bring it into practice. That is my aim.