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St. Valentine's Day
...There are so many aspects of this Name, the Name of Saint Valentine. The
most touching, significant and impressive thing is that nothing great ever
ceases to exist. You see what a price he paid in order that we may sit down
now with the red lights, with the blazing hearts and with the traditional
touches of St. Valentine. The majority, the public, the masses can't, of
course, concentrate continuously on something very great, very grand, very
pathetic, as this name suggests. But still, the fact of that heroic heart,
of the tender heart, of that patient heart, emanates its glory throughout
the ages. And so, in spite of the fact that it is difficult for the majority
of the people to concentrate upon the grandeur of something, they have to
dilute it, they have to make it comfortable, they have to make it suitable.
Above all, they have to make it festive. So, the tragic aspect, the poetic,
the lyrical aspect, of course, was erased with time. But the sentimental
aspect never will be erased because the public wants it, craves it. It is
necessary to make life a little bit less grey colored.
(2-18-71)
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[Guru speaks softly] St. Valentine... happy St. Valentine's day. Whether you were happy or not this morning or yesterday or the day before yesterday, it doesn't matter. "Happy now"...happy now.
If all of us would learn to be happy this moment, or do things which the moment offers and not say, "Oh,I'm so poisoned because of yesterday," you would be having a different life altogether. Finally you would feel that there is something which makes your life within yourself, - the force, the right force, the higher than you force, if you submit to it. But if you go into yesterday or even into this morning, and brood upon it, what happens? You don't give a chance to this force to act. You miss the St.Valentine's night, if you think about this morning which was not quite filled with the feeling of joy.
So let's forget about what was this morning,what was an hour ago; it is always now, always now, carrying into now that which the moment offers you. I wouldn't have a single hang-up on my hands if you'd live in this now. It is a great art to live in the now, not to think about what hurt you or who you hurt, or what you lost or what you could have gained,or for that matter, of what a wonderful experience you had. Okay you had it. [Smiling] So have another one. [Laughter] Let's live in the now and this moment of Valentine is the beautiful now. Very, very beautiful. Naive? Yes. Traditional? Yes. Garish? Yes. [Laughter] But there is something above all these things which I have described. In spite of it, the essence is beauty. It is golden.
...there is a golden Essence within every human being but it is thickly covered with ungolden stuff, with the things which are utterly human and sometimes animal. Nevertheless, the fact remains that if we deeply search, but we have to deeply search, that is revealed only through meditation, through prayer, through silence, through very dedicated life about which nobody knows except God. Then one discovers within himself the sacred little spot where the Divine dwells and that you can offer to me and I will take it and I will offer it further up...
...And wherever his [Saint Valentine's] name is remembered, even if distorted, even if misconceived and misunderstood - there is a spark of love. I told you last night that love is unknown to an ordinary unregenerated human consciousness. But whatever the limited mind of ordinary man can perceive as love, it perceives through Saint Valentine and through other great lovers. Valentine is a great lover. God bless everybody with the blessed day of Saint Valentine who survives the history and everything which goes with it. Whenever there is something of glory and the love, of true poetry, of true courage, of true heroism, it lives forever. In every land there are such exquisite personalities; we should not even call them personalities, for they are verily sparks of Divine Consciousness.
Personality is something which you can put on and take off. Today's bright personality is sick tomorrow and loses its brightness. Today's genius is paralyzed tomorrow (may God forbid, may all geniuses flourish!) and where is his genius? Thus, personality is conditioned. You understand? But consciousness is not conditioned. Ramakrishna was handicapped beyond measure by his illness, but he was Divine Consciousness and he could function in spite of limitations caused by tragic sickness. It is very fantastic. The same is true about Saint Valentine. By the way, in the other countries he is not known, he is not the Saint of universal fame, international fame [Guru smiles]; what is important, - he is the great saint. And wherever his name is remembered, even if distorted, even if misconceived and misunderstood - there is a spark of love. I told you last night that love is unknown to an ordinary unregenerate human consciousness. But whatever the limited mind of ordinary man can perceive as love, it perceives through Saint Valentine and through other great lovers. Valentine is indeed a great lover!
Blessed Heart of Saint Valentine! May everybody who loves Love be blessed by His Love!
...Colours are much more than you think. And the fact that the Day of Valentine is celebrated with so many reds has a certain significance, of which, of course, few are aware. People are doing a lot of things unconsciously, yet at times the voice of the people is the Voice of the Lord - rather, the voice of the Nature! The red is the symbol of the red human heart filled up with warm human blood which is, of course, animated with emotions and various impulses, - people call it love. We have to replace it with the golden heart of gods. The golden heart stands for the hearts of the gods! The gods - not God - the Divine entities, the sublimated human heart.
Who are the gods? They are regenerated humans, the totally divinized beings, the Angelic Hierarchy of Light. They have "golden hearts." And even humans, when they want to compliment somebody, - they say, "Oh, his heart is full of gold; oh, he has a golden heart." Here again, the unconscious projection of the colour which is depicting facts.
So you celebrate it in your reds and I choose my golds and we will have harmony, unison! And sometime you will also choose golden combinations [Guru smiles] and then won't you abandon all these grotesque exaggerations - these huge red hearts with which you symbolize love in general, and love of Saint Valentine in particular?!
...please return to the experience of St. Valentine's vibration It was a
very strong vibration - and very lovely. Live in this spirit. If you want
to intensify any kind of an experience, you have to prolong it. If you want
to intensify it in the sense that it should become yours. Otherwise it is
just a lip service, a surface, intellectual endeavor and entirely meaningless
for your evolution. Just like to go to the movies and forget it. One can
judge his capacity or incapacity, his growth or his stagnation, his ardour
or his indifference and stupour by the ability to prolong. The true lover
always loves and prolongs the experience of love. The one who is shallow
never can prolong. That is why he is flighty, that is why he is looking for
other kinds of impressions. It's true about ordinary life and extraordinary
life. The depth is what is necessary in order to be rich, real rich, not
money rich.
(2-15-75)
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