How should we live in this busy world even as we pursue the ultimate goal? Bhagawan reminds us today with a few beautiful examples.

God is not far from you, or away in some distant place. He is within you, in your own inner altar. Man suffers because he is unable to discover Him there, and draw peace and joy from that discovery. A dhobi, standing knee-deep in a flowing river, washing clothes therein, died of thirst, because he failed to realise that life-giving water was within reach. He needed only to bend and drink. Such is the story of man. He runs about in desperate haste, to seek God outside him and dies disappointed and distraught, without reaching the goal, only to be born again. Of course, you must be in the world, but you need not be of it. The attention must be fixed on God, the God within. In Karnataka, there is a dance called ‘Karaga’. The central person in this dance keeps many pots on his head, one over another, moves in procession, keeping pace with the music; he also sings in tune with the rest and keeps time to the beat of the drum. All the while, he has his attention fixed on balancing the tower of pots on his head. So too, man must keep the goal of God-realization before him, while engaged in the noisy, hilarious procession of life!

– Divine Discourse, Jan 01, 1967    – BABA