swami-ji

today my friends and i were having several conversations
about face-lifts, getting old, feeling fat and other interesting stuff
and i wanted to hold back in judging others for their opinions
because i believe in (thank you Will for helping me with this one)
letting others do as they will...

i was looking on f.b. and was reminded of swami-ji balendu
whom i met in vrindavan india
and found a recent diary entry of his
and it captured what i was feeling perfectly...

"While we were having breakfast we had a nice conversation. I said: ‘I don’t understand why anybody would want to convince somebody else, that they should believe this or that. In my opinion everybody should believe what they experience and feel. Everybody is unique and everybody has his own consciousness, intelligence and perception and this will suit him and be good for him. From this point of view nothing is wrong or bad. It is only the perception. Here in Europe you can go into church with your shoes on whereas in India you have to take off shoes outside. With time situations, atmosphere, people, places and the definition of good and bad changes. But religious teachings and gurus and masters are preaching and telling you what you should believe. This is the concept of gurus, I have written about this before already. It is easy and you don’t need to take responsibility if someone tells you what to believe in. But if I have a look at my own life I see so many changes. I don’t believe in things anymore which I believed in 15 years ago. Instead of that I believe in things which I did not believe 15 years ago. I had this situation that I believed in something, the next day something happened and then I did not believe this anymore. And maybe after two, five or ten years it will change again and I will believe what my consciousness will tell me then. How can I guarantee this philosophy? So how can I try to force someone to believe what I believe in now? If I say this today and tomorrow my belief changes, how will I say this person to change his belief, too? And if I don’t say that my belief changed it wouldn’t be honest. I have seen so many preachers who live this dual life with double beliefs. They don’t believe in what they are teaching themselves. And this is the reason why their voice doesn’t touch the people’s heart. It is not coming from their heart and it is not their own truth."
Swami-ji Balendu, May 9th diary entry