00:00How do you, asks the chief of police, patrol a city where the butcher shops are guarded
00:16by vultures, where bulls get pregnant, cows are barren, and calves give milk three times
00:23a day, where mice are boatmen and tomcats the boats, they row, where frogs keep snakes
00:32as watchdogs, and jackals go after lions.
00:38Does anyone know what I am talking about, says Kabir.
00:44Kabir Saheb is talking about the inherent nonsense in the ways of man, the baffling
00:58contradictions, the inexplicable discrepancies, cows are barren, bulls are being milked, vultures
01:26are guarding the shops of the butchers, frogs are keeping snakes as pets, jackals are chasing lions.
01:46These things should not happen, cannot happen, but are happening in this city.
01:53Kabir Saheb is asking how to regulate this city, how to police this city, how to bring
02:02a modicum of order to this city.
02:10It is a city upended, it is a city distorted beyond any order.
02:29He is pointing at the affairs of men, he is pointing at the way our cities are, our houses
02:39are and our minds are.
02:42That which cannot happen, that which should not happen is happening.
02:48Vultures are guarding meat shops, vultures won't guard, they will fly away with the meat.
03:03Similarly, we have appointed the mind to guard our peace.
03:09Using the mind to guard peace is like using a vulture to guard a meat shop.
03:21Jackals are chasing away lions.
03:26The feeble one is proving himself powerful over the superior one.
03:38In the world of man, ego seems to be driving away God.
03:44Ego driving away God, prevailing over God is just the same as a jackal prevailing over a lion.
03:53It cannot happen but is happening.
04:01Frogs are keeping snakes as pets.
04:08It cannot happen, the snake will consume the frog.
04:13But look at men, they are keeping prestige, property, relationships as pets.
04:26You keep a pet mostly for company or for entertainment.
04:32Similarly, man thinks that all his collections, all his relationships are there to serve him.
04:46Just as a man keeps a dog to serve him.
04:57But just as if a frog keeps a lion, a frog keeps a snake as its pet, the pet would not
05:10serve the master but would instead gobble up the master.
05:14Similarly, the kind of pets that man keeps do not serve him.
05:22Instead they finish him off.
05:25Look at your pets.
05:30A pet is somebody you feed.
05:36See what you are feeding.
05:39A pet is someone you have deliberately brought to your house, your mind, your company.
05:46See whom have you brought to your house, your mind, your company.
05:51Is he serving you or is he finishing you off?
05:56Most of the pets that we have kept are like snakes kept by frogs.
06:08The frogs must be feeling pretty exhilarated.
06:11See froggy, what I got.
06:16It's such a long slimy and shiny thing.
06:27We'll call it Cobri.
06:31Cobri the cutie.
06:35And there are too many Cobris, the cuties in your life.
06:43You deliberately dragged them into your life.
06:52Like a man catching a snake by its tail and dragging it into his house.
06:56How wise would you call that man?
07:02But look at all the things that were not easily coming to you, but you caught them
07:08by the tail and forcefully, with effort, pleading in front of them.
07:18You dragged them into your house, either the physical house or the mental house.
07:23And now those things are chipping away at you.
07:35They are slowly finishing you off.
07:44A frog is lucky if it has kept a snake as its pet.
07:50The snake would at least finish the frog in one stroke.
08:01Our pets do not finish us off in one stroke.
08:04Our pets keep gnawing at us bit by bit.
08:19Kabir Saheb is saying, how do you guard such a city?
08:23How do you help such a city?
08:26How do you help a man who is his own worst enemy?
08:34How do you help a city where the thieves are the watchmen?
08:41The city is man.
08:48That which is being looted away is your life, your time, your peace, your true love.
09:00Why is the city being robbed?
09:10Because you are trusting the wrong guard.
09:16You trust yourself too much.
09:20You are just the wrong one to protect yourself or to guard your self-interest.
09:31If you want to really help yourself, then stop helping yourself.
09:44Anything that you personally do for self-help, boomerangs.
09:53You want to hit the target, instead you end up hitting your own face.
10:13But man is very confident and he has a deep belief in his thoughts, calculations, cleverness.
10:24I know what is best for me.
10:27I will decide.
10:30Even the words of the Guru would be firstly judged by me before I accept them.
10:43The Guru might be high, but I will be higher.
10:51I will judge even the Guru.
11:03I will have complaints even against God.
11:14Kabir Saheb says, how to help this city?
11:22How to help a man who is intent upon his own destruction?
11:40Question has come over from a seeker in USA and the question says, how do I practice detachment
11:51with my children when it has always been a bond of attachment?
11:56How to let go and remain detached even when I know that children are making wrong choices?
12:07Detachment does not mean passivity.
12:14Detachment merely means that now you have your hands free to make the right action.
12:36If your hands are tied to the hands of another person, how will you help him, tell me?
13:01If your hands are tied to my hands, how much can you do for me?
13:15It will be difficult for you to even serve me some medicine.
13:21It will be difficult for you to even cook some food for me.
13:32When you are detached from someone, you gain the freedom to actively help that person.
13:41Detachment is not about passive observation.
13:44Simply get over that concept.
13:53Detachment does not mean that now you have nothing to do with the person you are detached from.
14:03Detachment rather means that now your love is free to act rightly.
14:16In attachment, how will you act rightly?
14:20Very difficult.
14:24And love and right action go together.
14:26Therefore in attachment there is no love.
14:35Detachment and love go together and this must be sounding a bit strange to you.
14:44Because usually the love image is two people hugging each other and the detachment image
15:00is a man looking passively, nonchalantly, almost in a forlorn way at the ways of the world.
15:30So, the house is on fire and your detachment story says the detached one just kept watching
15:41as the house burned.
15:42No, detachment does not mean that the detached one will keep watching as the house burns.
15:50Detachment means that when the house burns, you still stay right at your center.
16:03You do not allow your feelings or instincts or attachments to cloud your wisdom.
16:13Therefore you remain capable enough to act vigorously, rightly, helpfully.
16:34Detachment is not about breaking relationships.
16:38Detachment is setting relationships right.
16:44Many householders find the word detachment very scary.
16:53Equally they find the word attachment quite attractive.
16:59You tell someone I am feeling quite attached to you.
17:05And the someone will find it difficult to hide a smile.
17:16It is so very flattering.
17:19You know these days I am feeling a bit attached to you, whereas this is the most scary statement
17:26you can hear from anybody.
17:29When somebody tells you he is feeling attached to you, run away.
17:34Tell him to turn around and count till 20 and say, when you reach 20, I will demonstrate
17:44how attached I too am.
17:4920 should be enough for you to fly away 10 miles.
17:58So hard must you run.
18:05Attachment means the other fellow is now going to act almost as a parasite.
18:14A parasite, a bloodsucker or a possessor.
18:22And there is nobody who wants to possess you as much as a parasite.
18:28A parasite has a deep need to possess its host, its prey.
18:47Detachment and love go together.
18:50In fact, you cannot have love without detachment.
18:54If you find that you have love accompanied by attachment, then your love is very polluted.
19:10Love is when you do not care about your self-interest and your objective is the welfare of the other.
19:23Detachment is when you cling to the other for your own sake.
19:27Now can love and attachment go together?
19:47So stay detached, stay loving and act fully, act rightly.
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