: So many people are deeply depressed these days. Jobs, personal life, money, property, education—drowning in a thousand problems, people are suffering from depression. Is this inevitable? Is there no solution? This shouldn't be happening, should it? Everything sees the light eventually. So what should they do? What can they do to keep themselves well, at least for now? How can they avoid thinking, even for a while, "I am depressed now, I am a depressed person." If you could say something for them!
: Very simple. How? The moment you are depressed, the moment you are frustrated, in that very moment your pain will seem greater than the entire world; then your suffering feels more immense than all the achievements of the world combined, and people generally make some drastic decision in that moment of fleeting agitation, in that momentary anguish—like suicide or some other final decision to end themselves!
From my personal experience, I have seen that staying alive is more important than the greatest achievement in this world, keeping yourself well is essential. If you keep yourself alive, even by force, everything else gradually falls into place. So I would say, whatever you feel like doing, whatever work you want to do, if that work doesn't harm anyone in the world, then you can do it. Whatever that work might be, however it might be, however terrible it might be, if you can do it without harming anyone, if your actions don't cause even the slightest harm to anyone in the world, then do that work in that moment to keep yourself well.
If you have to disobey your parents to do it, then do that too. Because parents don't always keep track of your mind, they don't keep track of your mental well-being. They operate with certain ideal thoughts—this should be, this shouldn't be. Remember, there is never any "should" and "should not" in this world. There is truly nothing called "should" in this world! There is nothing called "should not" either! These should be done, these shouldn't be done—these exist only in books, not in the world.
What exists in the world then? Only two things exist in the world: What happens and what does not happen! The world never cares about right and wrong. The world never bothers with propriety and impropriety. The world only cares about what is happening and what is not happening. No matter what you think, there is nothing beyond this in the world. And our parents spend most of their lives concerned with right and wrong. They cannot save me from that terrible state. Parents are close to us, they want what's good for us, they want our welfare. They want me to be well; they want me to do something good in life. But they don't know that to do something good in life, I must survive that moment!
They don't quite understand the necessity of surviving that moment. How can a person who couldn't even survive that moment do something good in life?! Parents see my whole life, parents don't see that particular moment of mine! In one moment of pain, in the failure to keep oneself well in that moment, many things can happen in a person's life. So I'm saying, whatever you need to do to feel good in that moment, you do it. To keep yourself well, without harming anyone...I keep saying this, without harming anyone, whatever you need to do, you do it.
If you have to be disobedient for this, be disobedient. Staying alive is more important than being obedient in this world. This is what I have learned from my life, I have learned this from the pain of my life. I'm teaching you all, don't make the same mistake I did. Being a living human being is more important than being an obedient child in this world. Remember this. So when you are melancholy, when you are in pain, when you are in sorrow, take however many days you need to remove that sorrow; do whatever you need to do! Come out of it. If your loved ones are hurt by your actions in these few days, when you accomplish something good in life, they will be happy seeing you.
Those who have done great things in this world, none of them were obedient people. Most of them were disobedient! They were disobedient; and when they were able to do something good, when they were able to do something great, then those who had called them disobedient—their faces lit up with smiles. This is the brief history of great people's lives in the world! You have all the opportunity to become that person in your own hands. To seize that opportunity, keep yourself alive at any cost. Keep yourself well. Pull yourself away from momentary melancholy. And to do this, whatever needs to be done, I say again, do it!