Toate ființele vii doresc să fie mereu fericite, să trăiască fără să sufere. La fiecare ființă se poate constata o supremă iubire de sine, și numai fericirea este cauza acestei iubiri. Pentru a dobândi această fericire absolută care este natura proprie oricărei creaturi și care este experimentată în starea de somn profund fără vise, când mintea obișnuită dispare, trebuie să ne cunoaștem Sinele-Esență. Pentru a obține aceasta, calea cunoașterii, căutarea interioară de forma "Cine sunt eu?" este principalul mijloc.
Cine sunt eu?
Nu sunt corpul fizic, care este alcătuit din cele șapte umori (dhatus).
Nu sunt cele cinci organe de simț - aspectele mentale ale organelor fizice: urechi, piele, ochi, limbă și nas care își au fiecare obiectele lor specifice - esențele subtile: sunet, atingere, culoare (formă), gust și miros, respectiv; nu sunt cele cinci organe de acțiune - corespondentul subtil, lăuntric al organelor fizice: coardele vocale, mâini, picioare, sex și anus, care îndeplinesc functiile specifice de vorbire, apucare, locomoție, procreație-creare a plăcerii erotice și excreție.
Nu sunt cele cinci sufluri vitale: prana, apana, samana, udana, vyana, care realizează funcțiile specifice de inspirație (asimilare), excreție, digestie, vorbire și circulație a sângelui și a fluidelor vitale.
Nu sunt nici chiar mintea care gândește; și de asemenea, nici necunoașterea care este înzestrată numai cu impresiile reziduale ale obiectelor și în care nu există nici obiecte și nici funcții.
Dacă nu sunt nimic din toate acestea, atunci cine sunt eu?
După negarea și transcenderea tuturor lucrurilor menționate mai înainte, ca ne fiind eu-însumi (neti, neti), numai acea Conștiință care rămâne singură, aceasta sunt eu.
Care este natura Conștiinței Supreme?
Natura Conștiinței Supreme este pura existență - pura conștiință - pura beatitudine (Sat - Chit - Ananda).
Când va fi obținută Realizarea Sinelui-Esență?
Când lumea vizibilă va fi transcensă, atunci va fi realizat Sinele-Esență, care este văzătorul, conștiința martor.
Nu poate avea loc revelarea Sinelui chiar dacă lumea vizibilă nu este transcensă, fiind considerată în continuare drept reală?
Nu, nu se poate.
De ce?
Văzătorul și obiectul văzut sunt precum frânghia și șarpele, atunci când în întuneric confundăm înspăimântați frânghia cu un șarpe veninos. Întocmai cum cunoașterea frânghiei, care este substratul real al experienței, nu survine până când falsa cunoaștere a șarpelui iluzoriu nu dispare, tot astfel Realizare Sinelui, care este substratul esențial al ființei, nu se va produce pâna când nu este îndepărtată convingerea că lumea vizibilă este reală.
Când va fi transcensă lumea (care reprezintă de fapt obiectul văzut)?
Atunci când mintea, care este cauza tuturor percepțiilor și acțiunilor, devine liniștită și imobilă, lumea este transcensă.
Care este natura minții?
Ceea ce este numit "minte" este o uimitoare putere ce rezidă în Sinele Suprem. Aceasta provoacă apariția oricărui gând. Fără gânduri nu există minte. Astfel, gândul este natura minții. Fără gânduri nu există nici o entitate independentă numită "lume". În starea de somn profund fără vise nu există gânduri și nu există nici lumea exterioară pentru subiect. În starea de veghe și în starea de vis există gânduri și de asemenea există și o lume exterioară. Exact așa cum păianjenul își întinde pânza, scoțând-o din el însuși și și-o retrage apoi în el însuși, tot așa și mintea proiectează lumea în afara sa și o resoarbe apoi din nou în ea însăși. Când mintea iese din interiorul Sinelui, se naște lumea exterioară. Prin urmare, când lumea exterioară ne apare ca fiind reală, Sinele Suprem nu mai este văzut. Iar când Sinele strălucește în conștiința noastră, lumea exterioară dispare. Când cineva își pune cu perseverență întrebări despre natura minții, mintea ca un reziduu, va sfârși prin a părăsi Sinele.
Ceea ce noi numim Sine este de fapt Atman. Mintea există întotdeauna doar depinzând de ceva grosier; ea nu poate exista singură. Mintea formează este ceea ce numim corpul subtil sau (jiva).
În ce fel trebuie să ne punem întrebări pentru a înțelege natura minții?
Ceea ce apare în acest corp ca fiind "eu-l" (ego-ul) este mintea. Dacă cineva se întreabă unde apare prima dată în corp ideea de "Eu" va descoperii că ea apare în Inimă. Acesta este locul de origine al minții. Chiar și dacă cineva gândește constant "Eu", "Eu", va fi condus către acel loc. Din toate gândurile care apar în minte, gândul "Eu-lui" este primul. Numai după apariția primului pronume personal, cel de-al doilea și al treilea pronume personal pot să apară. Fără primul pronume personal nu pot exista al doilea și al treilea.
Cum va putea deveni mintea liniștită?
Prin întrebarea "Cine sunt eu?", gândul "Cine sunt eu?" va distruge toate celelalte gânduri și precum bățul folosit pentru a aprinde un rug de foc, el însuși în final va fi distrus. Atunci va înflori Realizarea de Sine.
Ce rost are păstrarea în permanență în minte a gândului "Cine sunt eu"?
Când alte gânduri apar, ele nu trebuie urmate ci trebuie să ne întrebăm "Cui îi apar aceste gânduri?". Nu are importanță câte gânduri apar. De fiecare dată când un gând apare trebuie să ne întrebăm cu seriozitate "Cui i-a apărut acest gând?". Răspunsul care va veni va fi "Mie". Apoi dacă se pune întrebarea "Cine sunt eu?", mintea se va întoarce la sursa sa, iar gândul care a apărut se va liniști. Printr-o practică repetată realizată în această manieră, mintea își va dezvolta capacitatea de a ramâne permanent cufundată în propria sa sursă. Când mintea, care este de natură subtilă se exteriorizează prin intermediul creierului și a organelor de simț, apar numele grosiere și formele. Când ea ramâne în Inimă, numele și formele dispar. A nu lăsa mintea să se exteriorizeze și a o păstra interiorizată în Inimă, este ceea ce se numește interiorizare (Antar-Mukha). A lăsa mintea să meargă în afara Inimii este cunoscut ca fiind exteriorizare (Bahir-Mukha). Astfel, când mintea stă în Inimă, "eu-l" (ego-ul) care este sursa tuturor gândurilor va fi eliminat și Sinele care există de-a pururi va strălucii. Orice ar face un asemenea om, el nu va fi impulsionat de ideea egotică de "Eu". Dacă cineva acționează în acest fel, toate îi vor apare ca fiind de natura lui Shiva.
Mai există oare și alte metode pentru a liniști mintea?
Alte metode decât acest fel de a ne întreba nu reprezintă metode adecvate. Dacă prin intermediul altor metode se va încerca un control al minții, mintea ne va părea că este controlată, dar va continua să existe și mai departe. Prin controlul respirației, de asemenea, mintea va deveni liniștită. Dar ea va fi liniștită doar atât timp cât respirația rămâne controlată. Când respirația va fi reluată, mintea de asemenea va reîncepe să se miște și va hoinări, împinsă fiind de impresiile reziduale care se află în ea.
Sursa este aceeași atât pentru minte cât și pentru respirație. Într-adevăr, gândul este natura reală a minții. Gândul de "Eu" este primul gând din minte și cu el apare ego-ul. Acolo de unde ego-ul își trage originea, respirația de asemenea își trage originea. Deci când mintea devine liniștită, respirația este controlată și când respirația este controlată, mintea devine liniștită. Dar în starea de somn profund fără vise, deși mintea devine liniștită, respirația nu se oprește. Aceasta se întâmplă datorită voinței lui Dumnezeu, pentru a putea fi păstrat corpul fizic și pentru ca ceilații oameni să nu trăiască cu impresia că ființa a murit. În starea de veghe și în samadhi, atunci când mintea devine liniștită, respirația este controlată. Respirația este forma grosieră a minții. Până în momentul morții, mintea păstrează respirația în corp; când corpul moare, mintea își ia și respirația odată cu plecarea ei. Deci exercițiul de control al respirației este doar un sprijin pentru a face mintea să devină liniștită; acest exercițiu nu va distruge mintea. Întocmai precum practica controlului respirației, meditația făcută pe formele lui Dumnezeu, repetarea de mantre, postul alimentar, etc. nu sunt decât ajutoare pentru a face mintea liniștită. Prin intermediul meditației asupra formelor lui Dumnezeu și prin repetarea de mantre, mintea devine focalizată. De obicei, mintea hoinărește în permanență. După cum atunci când unui elefant îi este dată o frânghie pe care să o apuce cu trompa el va începe să meargă după noi ținându-se de frânghie și de nimic altceva, tot astfel, când mintea este ocupată cu un nume sau cu o formă ea se va "apuca" doar de aceasta. Când mintea se diversifică sub forma nenumăratelor gânduri, fiecare gând devine lipsit de forță; când însă gândurile se dizolvă, mintea devine focalizată și puternică. Pentru o asemenea minte, căutarea Sinelui prin intermediul întrebarii "Cine sunt eu?" devine ușoară. Dintre toate regulile restrictive ce ajută la liniștirea minții, cea în legatură cu consumarea în exclusivitate a hranei sattvice în cantități moderate este cea mai importantă. Respectând această regulă, calitatea sattvică a minții va crește și acest lucru va fi foarte util în căutarea Sinelui prin intermediul întrebarii "Cine sunt eu?".
Impresiile reziduale (gândurile) despre obiecte apar fără sfârșit, precum valurile unui ocean. Când vor fi eliminate toate aceste gânduri?
Pe măsură ce meditația asupra Sinelui ajunge la nivele din ce în ce mai înalte, gândurile vor fi treptat distruse.
Este posibil ca aceste impresii reziduale ale obiectelor, care provin chiar din alte existențe, dintr-un timp fără început, să fie dizolvate astfel încât ființa să rămână cufundată în puritatea Sinelui?
Fără a-ți mai pune problema dacă "Este posibil sau nu?" trebuie să te păstrezi cu perseverență într-o stare de meditație asupra Sinelui. Chiar dacă cineva este un mare păcătos, el nu va trebui să se îngrijoreze plângându-se "Vai, sunt un păcătos, cum aș putea atinge eu eliberarea?"; el va trebui să renunțe complet la gândul "Sunt un păcătos" și să se dăruiască cu fervoare în meditația asupra Sinelui. Cu siguranță, astfel va reuși să atingă Realizarea Ultimă. Nu există doua minți - una bună și una rea. Impresiile reziduale sunt de doua feluri - pozitive și negative. Când mintea este sub influențta impresiilor pozitive este numită bună, iar când este sub influența impresiilor negative este considerată rea.
Nu va trebui să-i permitem minții să se îndrepte către obiectele lumești și către lucrurile care îi preocupă pe oamenii ignoranți. Oricât de rău ar fi omul de lângă tine, nu trebuie să îndrepți ura asupra lui. Atracția posesivă și ura vor trebui să fie amândouă evitate. Tot ceea ce o ființă dă celorlalți, ea dă Sinelui său Suprem. Dacă acest adevăr este înțeles, cine va mai putea să nu dăruiască totul celorlalți? Când Sinele se dezvăluie, totul se dezvăluie; când mintea devine liniștită totul devine liniștit. Pe măsură ce ne purtăm cu mai multă umilință, vom putea genera din ce în ce mai mult bine. Dacă mintea devine tăcută putem trăi fericiți oriunde.
Cât timp va trebui practicată introspecția, calea de evoluție spirituală prin întrebarea "Cine sunt eu"?
Atât timp cât în minte se mai păstrează impresii ale obiectelor exterioare sau interioare, întrebarea "Cine sunt eu?" este necesară. Pe măsură ce gândurile răsar, ele vor fi distruse imediat, chiar în locul lor de origine, prin intermediul acestei întrebări. Dacă ne păstrăm în contemplarea Sinelui neîntrerupt pâna ce Sinele a fost recunoscut, doar atunci putem renunța la această întrebare. Atâta timp cât mai există dușmani în interiorul fortăreței, ei vor continua să atace fortăreața, dar dacă ei sunt distruși imediat ce apar, fortăreața va fi în totalitate sub stăpânirea noastră.
Care este natura Sinelui?
Ceea ce există cu adevărat este doar Sinele. Lumea și sufletul individual apar în acest Sine (precum sideful în scoica ce va naște o perlă); lumea și sufletul individual apar și dispar în același timp. Sinele este acolo unde în mod absolut nu există nici un gând despre "Eu". Acesta (Sinele) este numit (Tăcere). Sinele însuși este lumea, Sinele însuși este "Eu-l", Sinele însuși este Dumnezeu; totul este Shiva, totul este Sine.
Nu este totul lucrarea lui Dumnezeu?
Fără dorință sau efort, soarele răsare; și numai în prezența acestuia, pietrele prețioase strălucesc, lotusul înflorește și apa se evaporă; oamenii își realizează diferitele lor activități și apoi se odihnesc. Precum pilitura de fier se mișcă și se ordonează în prezența magnetului, doar în virtutea prezenței lui Dumnezeu, sufletele guvernate de cele trei funcții cosmice sau de încincita activitate divină își realizează acțiunile și apoi se odihnesc, în concordanță cu karma proprie. Dumnezeu nu impune; nici o karmă nu Îl poate atinge. Este la fel cum acțiunile lumești nu afectează soarele sau precum activitatea celorlalte patru elemente (pamânt, apă, foc, aer) nu afectează eterul atotcuprinzător.
Dintre toți cei ce se dăruiesc prin devoțiune lui Dumnezeu cine este cel mai de admirat?
Cel care este dăruit Sinelui care cu adevărat este Dumnezeu, este cel mai devotat lui Dumnezeu. A te dărui lui Dumnezeu înseamnă a rămâne mereu cufundat în Sine fără a lăsa să apară nici un alt gând în afară de gândul față de Sine. Oricâte probleme i-am lăsa lui Dumnezeu, El le suportă pe toate. Din moment ce puterea Supremă a lui Dumnezeu face toate lucrurile să se miște, de ce oare noi, fără a ne supune Lui, ne preocupăm în mod constant de gânduri de genul "ce ar trebui făcut și cum și ce nu ar trebui să facem și cum să nu facem?". știm că un tren cară toate bagajele, așa că, după ce ne-am urcat în el, de ce ar mai fi necesar în continuare să ne cărăm pe cap cu efort micul nostru bagaj, în loc să îl punem jos în tren și să ne simțim astfel ușurați?
Ce este nonatașamentul?
A distruge gândul în momentul în care acesta apare, fără ezitare, fără a mai lăsa vreun reziduu, chiar în locul în care gândul își are originea, aceasta înseamnă nonatașament. La fel cum un căutător de perle își agață la brâu o greutate și se scufundă pâna pe fundul mării și de acolo adună perle, tot astfel fiecare dintre noi trebuie să fie înzestrat cu nobila calitate a nonatașamentului pentru a se cufunda astfel în interiorul său de unde să obțină Perla Sinelui.
Este posibil pentru Guru să realizeze prin propria sa voință eliberarea unui discipol?
Guru nu va face decât să arate calea către eliberare; el nu va aduce prin el însuși un suflet la starea de eliberare.
Într-adevăr, Dumnezeu și Guru nu sunt diferiți. La fel cum prada căzută în ghearele tigrului nu are nici o scăpare, tot astfel cei care intră în sfera privirii pline de grație a unui Guru vor fi eliberați cu ajutorul Guru-lui și nu se vor mai rătăci; totuși fiecare va trebui să-și urmeze prin propriul său efort calea revelată de Dumnezeu sau Guru și să atingă eliberarea. Nimeni nu se poate autocunoaște decât prin proprii săi ochi ai cunoașterii și nu cu ai altora. Cel care este Rama solicită oare ajutorul unei oglinzi pentru a ști că el este Rama?
Este necesar pentru cel care caută eliberarea să cerceteze natura categoriilor fundamentale ale manifestării?
La fel precum cel care vrea să arunce gunoiul nu are nevoie să îl analizeze și să vadă cum este, tot astfel cel care vrea să cunoască Sinele nu are nevoie să țină cont de numărul de tatve sau să le cerceteze caracteristicile; tot ceea ce trebuie să facă este să elimine împreună toate tatvele care îi ascund Sinele. Lumea trebuie să fie considerată iluzorie precum un vis.
Există vreo diferență între starea de veghe și starea de vis?
Stare de veghe durează mai mult timp, iar visul este mai scurt; în afară de această diferență nu mai există o alta. La fel cum starea de veghe pare a fi reală când suntem treji, tot astfel se întâmplă să ni se pară într-un vis atunci când visăm. În vis mintea ia un alt corp. Atât în starea de veghe cât și în cea de somn gândurile, numele și formele apar simultan.
Pentru cei ce caută eliberarea este util să citească cărți?
Toate textele sacre afirmă că pentru a atinge eliberarea trebuie ca mintea să devină liniștită; deci concluzia acestor învățături este că mintea va trebui făcută să devină liniștită; odată ce acest lucru a fost înțeles nu mai este nevoie să citim la nesfârșit. Pentru a liniști mintea nu trebuie decât să căutăm în interiorul nostru ceea ce este Sinele; cum ar putea fi făcută această căutare citind carți? Trebuie să ne cunoaștem propriul Sine cu propriul ochi al înțelepciunii. Sinele este în interiorul celor cinci învelișuri (corpul fizic, corpul eteric, corpul astral, corpul mental și corpul cauzal), în timp ce cărțile sunt în afara lor. Deoarece Sinele trebuie căutat prin eliminarea celor cinci învelișuri (corpuri), este inutil să-l căutăm în cărți. Vine un timp când fiecare trebuie să uite tot ceea ce a învățat.
Ce este fericirea?
Fericirea este însăși natura Sinelui; fericirea și Sinele nu sunt diferite. Nu există fericire în obiectele lumii. Datorită ignoranței noastre ne imaginăm că primim fericire de la obiectele exterioare. Când mintea se îndreaptă către exterior noi nu experimentăm decât suferință. Într-adevăr, când dorințele ei sunt împlinite, ea se reîntoarce în propriului ei loc și se bucură de fericirea că este Sinele. Tot astfel, în stările de somn, samadhi și leșin (pierderea cunoștinței) și când obiectul dorit este obținut sau obiectul neplăcut este eliminat, mintea devine orientată către interior și se bucură de pura fericire a Sinelui. Astfel, mintea se mișcă fără odihnă plecând de la Sine și întorcându-se către aceasta în mod repetat. Sub copac, la umbră este plăcut, dar sub cerul liber căldura este insuportabilă. O persoană care a călătorit prin arșița soarelui simte bucuria răcorii când ajunge la umbră. Cel care continuă să meargă de la umbră la Soare și apoi iar la umbră și iar la Soare este un ignorant. Un înțelept stă în permanență la umbră. În mod similar, mintea celui care cunoaște adevărul ultim nu îl părăsește pe Brahman (Divinitatea). Mintea unui om ignorant din contră se îndreaptă către lume, suferă și apoi pentru o scurtă perioadă se întoarce către Brahman pentru a experimenta fericirea. De fapt ceea ce este considerată a fi lumea, nu este decât gând. Când lumea dispare, adică atunci când nu există gânduri, mintea trăiește fericirea; când lumea apare mintea se îndreaptă către suferință.
Ce este înțelegerea (viziunea, pătrunderea) înțelepciunii (Jnana-Drsti)?
A rămâne liniștit este ceea ce este numit Jnana-Drsti. A rămâne liniștit înseamnă a-ți stabili ferm mintea în Sine. Telepatia, cunoașterea întâmplărilor din trecut, prezent și viitor și clarviziunea nu constituie Jnana-Drsti.
Care este relația dintre starea fără dorințe și înțelepciune?
Starea fără dorințe este înțelepciune. Cele două nu sunt diferite, sunt unul și același lucru. Starea fără dorințe înseamnă a stăpâni mintea, împiedicând-o să se orienteze către obiecte. Înțelepciunea înseamnă apariția a ceea ce nu este obiect. Cu alte cuvinte, a nu căuta nimic altceva decât Sinele înseamnă detașare sau stare fără dorințe; înțelepciunea înseamnă a nu părăsi Sinele.
Care este diferența dintre metoda autoanalizei (prin întrebarea "Cine sunt eu?") și meditație ?
Metoda autoanalizei (prin întrebarea "Cine sunt eu?") constă în a-ți retrage mintea în Sine. Meditația constă în a trăi faptul că Sinele este Brahman, pura existență, pura conștiință, pura beatitudine.
Ce este eliberarea?
A realiza o căutare profundă asupra naturii Sinelui care este ascuns în ignoranță și a-i înțelege adevărata sa natură înseamnă a atinge eliberarea.
luni, 31 mai 2010
sâmbătă, 29 mai 2010
Papaji
Biography of Papaji
( 1910 — 1997 )
Sri H.W.L. Poonja, lovingly referred to as Papaji, was born on October 13, 1910, in a part of the Punjab that is now in Pakistan.
He had his first direct experience of the Self at the age of nine. He met his Master, Sri Ramana Maharshi, in 1944. Shortly afterwards he realized the Self in the presence of his master.Being a householder, he continued to work and support the many members of his extended family until his retirement in 1966. After extensive travel Papaji settled down in Lucknow, India, where he received visitors from around the world. He died on September 6, 1997.
This first-person account of Papaji's life was written by David Godman and approved by Papaji himself. It is published as the first chapter in the Papaji Interviews book.
( 1910 — 1997 )
Sri H.W.L. Poonja, lovingly referred to as Papaji, was born on October 13, 1910, in a part of the Punjab that is now in Pakistan.
He had his first direct experience of the Self at the age of nine. He met his Master, Sri Ramana Maharshi, in 1944. Shortly afterwards he realized the Self in the presence of his master.Being a householder, he continued to work and support the many members of his extended family until his retirement in 1966. After extensive travel Papaji settled down in Lucknow, India, where he received visitors from around the world. He died on September 6, 1997.
This first-person account of Papaji's life was written by David Godman and approved by Papaji himself. It is published as the first chapter in the Papaji Interviews book.
vineri, 28 mai 2010
You Have a Raft to Cross
All the beings are wandering in this ocean of samsara. No one is happy, due to psychological perversions, desires and hopes. No one can attain happiness until wisdom is attained - until Self-knowledge is attained. We have spent millions of years searching for peace, and we have not been successful so far because of hope, desire, diseases of the mind.
It is not possible to get rid of this disease without Self-knowledge, without wisdom. Everyone is spending years wandering endlessly. Fortunate is the one who knows that he has a raft to cross this ocean, although most people do not make use of it. This human body can be used as a raft to cross this miserable ocean where millions of jivas are wandering in a blind well, without any result. The vehicle that you possess now could not be built; this human body is not available to the eight million kinds of jivas out there in the world, which we have passed through one by one. We have had every kind of experience as we have passed through eight million species. The raft of this human body was never available before, and if we don't make use of it we may not find it again.
Make the best of what is available to you to find wisdom, happiness, well-being and beauty. It is easily available: The moment you give rise to the desire for freedom, from that moment you are on the raft. It is this desire which leads you in search of a teacher, to sit with the teacher and find the way to be happy.
You may know how many people in the world from where you come from, the country, can give rise to this desire, "Now I want to be free." So they go to search for a teacher and to sit with the teacher and to consult with him; sit with him and find out the way how to be happy. And you can do it wherever you are. If there are two good friends, by mere conversation you can do it yourself. Mere conversations will be alright because if someone has gone to a particular country and you have not gone, and he can explain to you by a map and you can get at the map you will not have difficulty. So this mapping of the association of some of your best friends with the conversation is called satsang. Conversation with your own friends, conversation with the teacher, will help you and this is called the raft to cross over this miserable samsara.
Without this desire I don't think that it is possible for any being to get out of this. All beings are caught up in different kinds of desires for sense pleasures which are impermanent. They are satisfied with that without knowing the consequences.
A man was walking in the forest and fell into a well which was covered by an overgrowth of leaves and scrubs. While falling he caught hold of the root of a tree which was growing into the well and so he felt safe. Looking down, he found that there was a crocodile in the well which was waiting for him with open jaws. He felt very afraid. Looking up he found a tiger looking over the side of the well. The tiger was hunting in the night for some food in the forest and saw this man, but almost immediately he fell into the well. Then he looked at the root he was hanging from and saw two rats gnawing at it. But there was a beehive on a tree above the well and drop by drop the honey was trickling down into his open mouth. He was very happy licking the honey.
This is our life. Day and night are the two rats cutting through the creeper of your life. Every day and night that passes cuts into the creeper on which this life is hanging. Below is death: the fear that "I am going to die.": the crocodile waiting tomorrow. Above is the tiger: the fear of what is going to happen today. But we are happy licking the honey: enjoying the pleasure of the senses. This is everyone's situation - ignoring the trouble that is all around, trapped in the blind well of the mind.
The raft to save you is this body, the decision: "I have to be free during this incarnation somehow." Make up your mind. You have done very well to be here. Out of six billion people, how many even aspire for freedom? You have to be free right now, because you will not find it elsewhere. You have not yet looked into your own treasure; you have looked elsewhere and suffered. The treasure is within you, the diamond is within you, so don't beg. Look within and instantly you are rich. No one knows this. With this treasure within us we have still suffered due to the bad habits of wants and hopes of the mind. This is the disease of the mind. Once you have found that you are atman, that you are the substratum, you are at peace within yourself. Then everything that arises from the Self will be fulfilled. It is not coming from the mind. That which arises from the mind and hope will never satisfy you. We need some reliable person to set us straight.
There was a man who used to go on a pilgrimage to a South Indian temple from the north. In India people go from the south to the north, from the east to the west for pilgrimages; from Kashi to Rameshram, from Pouli to Dwarka. People would make friends on such pilgrimages and every five or ten years they would make a trip together to see some holy places and saints.
This man became friends with someone in the south; he used to stay with him when he was on his pilgrimage. After an interval of ten years he went to the same family to visit. The man's wife was there but in a miserable condition. She was working at the grinding mill, washing the dishes of the neighbors. He inquired about his friend.
The wife told him, "He died some seven years ago and now we are in trouble. I bring some grains and make flour out of it. I bring some clothes to wash or go to work in nearby houses, because I have three children who have not completed their education. I have to earn money for their education. Now they are doing well at school, so I will be able to find jobs for them." This man inquired, "Didn't my friend speak to you about anything?" "No, no he didn't speak about anything," replied the widow. "Why, he simply died."
The man who died had told his friend that he had some gold which he had hidden so that his children would go to school and not think that their father had enough money to support them. He wanted them to work. In olden times parents would often hide their money so that the children would get a good education. And only after that would they will give it to them, after the children were well educated and capable to conduct a business or whatever they wanted to do. Then the father would hand over the money and walk away into the forest. This was the tradition that was kept up for many years.
This friend of the family then told the widow that just under the spot where she was grinding the flour in the mill there was hidden a pot full of gold. With this word alone she jumped, even though the pot of gold was not yet found. Just the word of an authoritative man, a friend of the family, brought great pleasure.
She called her sons. "Look, look, your uncle has come! He says that we are very rich. There is gold hidden here. Bring a spade!" So they dug a few inches below the ground where she had been toiling day and night and she found the pot of gold. Instantly she became very rich. She had been willing to live in poverty; grinding at the mill, suffering greatly to provide enough clothing for the children. At that same spot there was poverty a few inches above the ground, and riches concealed a few inches underneath.
In this same way an authoritative person will tell you that there is a diamond within you, that there is treasure within you. With this assurance alone a man can become very happy. Dig it up! Take your spade and dig. You will find the treasure and then celebrate. Here we celebrate every day, even though people do not understand why. This is cause to celebrate: "I have found the treasure." Otherwise you will be like someone who finds a diamond and doesn't know it is a diamond.
There was a very poor man who used to bring bricks from the kiln to the building site, just making a few cents a day. While digging in the sands of the river he found a diamond, but still he was very poor. He tied the beautiful stone around the neck of his donkey and continued his miserable life. A merchant was passing and saw the situation. "Look at that stupid man," he thought to himself. "He is doing menial work although he owns this diamond." He asked the laborer how much he wanted for his donkey.
"Five dollars," said the laborer. That was the price of donkeys at that time. The merchant paid the price and the laborer was very happy. Then he removed the string with the diamond from around the neck of the donkey and walked away. "What a foolish man," thought the laborer. "What about the donkey?" he asked. "I didn't pay for the donkey," said the merchant. "You can keep the donkey with you, but I will still pay you a few hundred dollars for your stupidity." Both were happy. Some who come to satsang say they feel very happy here but when they go back to their country they are the same as before. This is the same stupidity - not knowing that the treasure is within you.
Once you know from an authority that this is the treasure it will shine by itself. The diamond will shine from its own luster, without looking for any help from anyone. You will not need to ask any questions. You will fall in love with it and perhaps you will not turn your attention away from it again, because it is so beautiful. Then you will never make a mistake again.
Trouble arises for those who say, "Sometimes I am happy and sometimes I am not." When they are unhappy it is because unhappiness is arising from the mind, and when they are happy it is arising from the Self. The Self alone can give you happiness. All happiness is from the Self. All trouble, sorrow and suffering is from the mind. You have to be very careful to be vigilant to see what is coming from the mind, and to see the happiness that is coming from the Self.
Even in small things this is true. You might purchase a car or buy an apartment or meet a friend and you are happy. Why do these things bring you happiness? You are attracted to a particular person, or to a particular car, or to a particular apartment made of bricks and cement. It is not the steel, the rubber, or the benzene that brings happiness with the car. Nor is it the bones, flesh, blood, or marrow in a person. When you are happy you recognize the Self within the self, and you are free of desire. When you get a car your hope is gone, your desire for the car has left you. When you meet a friend your desire for the meeting is no longer there. When you buy an apartment your wanting to have an apartment is no longer there. This emptiness without desire or hope has given you happiness. If you know that it is this emptiness from the hope and desire that brings you happiness then you can always keep your mind empty. Then where is the problem to be happy wherever you are - walking, talking, sitting, standing, sleeping - you can be happy.
This moment you can try for one instant to not entertain any hope, any desire, and see what happens. The Self will reveal itself, the Truth will reveal itself to itself. This can be seen directly here and now. Don't postpone it when you can simply get be happy without doing anything. Why miss it? This is the raft I speak about: Simply keep quiet.
14 December, 1992
It is not possible to get rid of this disease without Self-knowledge, without wisdom. Everyone is spending years wandering endlessly. Fortunate is the one who knows that he has a raft to cross this ocean, although most people do not make use of it. This human body can be used as a raft to cross this miserable ocean where millions of jivas are wandering in a blind well, without any result. The vehicle that you possess now could not be built; this human body is not available to the eight million kinds of jivas out there in the world, which we have passed through one by one. We have had every kind of experience as we have passed through eight million species. The raft of this human body was never available before, and if we don't make use of it we may not find it again.
Make the best of what is available to you to find wisdom, happiness, well-being and beauty. It is easily available: The moment you give rise to the desire for freedom, from that moment you are on the raft. It is this desire which leads you in search of a teacher, to sit with the teacher and find the way to be happy.
You may know how many people in the world from where you come from, the country, can give rise to this desire, "Now I want to be free." So they go to search for a teacher and to sit with the teacher and to consult with him; sit with him and find out the way how to be happy. And you can do it wherever you are. If there are two good friends, by mere conversation you can do it yourself. Mere conversations will be alright because if someone has gone to a particular country and you have not gone, and he can explain to you by a map and you can get at the map you will not have difficulty. So this mapping of the association of some of your best friends with the conversation is called satsang. Conversation with your own friends, conversation with the teacher, will help you and this is called the raft to cross over this miserable samsara.
Without this desire I don't think that it is possible for any being to get out of this. All beings are caught up in different kinds of desires for sense pleasures which are impermanent. They are satisfied with that without knowing the consequences.
A man was walking in the forest and fell into a well which was covered by an overgrowth of leaves and scrubs. While falling he caught hold of the root of a tree which was growing into the well and so he felt safe. Looking down, he found that there was a crocodile in the well which was waiting for him with open jaws. He felt very afraid. Looking up he found a tiger looking over the side of the well. The tiger was hunting in the night for some food in the forest and saw this man, but almost immediately he fell into the well. Then he looked at the root he was hanging from and saw two rats gnawing at it. But there was a beehive on a tree above the well and drop by drop the honey was trickling down into his open mouth. He was very happy licking the honey.
This is our life. Day and night are the two rats cutting through the creeper of your life. Every day and night that passes cuts into the creeper on which this life is hanging. Below is death: the fear that "I am going to die.": the crocodile waiting tomorrow. Above is the tiger: the fear of what is going to happen today. But we are happy licking the honey: enjoying the pleasure of the senses. This is everyone's situation - ignoring the trouble that is all around, trapped in the blind well of the mind.
The raft to save you is this body, the decision: "I have to be free during this incarnation somehow." Make up your mind. You have done very well to be here. Out of six billion people, how many even aspire for freedom? You have to be free right now, because you will not find it elsewhere. You have not yet looked into your own treasure; you have looked elsewhere and suffered. The treasure is within you, the diamond is within you, so don't beg. Look within and instantly you are rich. No one knows this. With this treasure within us we have still suffered due to the bad habits of wants and hopes of the mind. This is the disease of the mind. Once you have found that you are atman, that you are the substratum, you are at peace within yourself. Then everything that arises from the Self will be fulfilled. It is not coming from the mind. That which arises from the mind and hope will never satisfy you. We need some reliable person to set us straight.
There was a man who used to go on a pilgrimage to a South Indian temple from the north. In India people go from the south to the north, from the east to the west for pilgrimages; from Kashi to Rameshram, from Pouli to Dwarka. People would make friends on such pilgrimages and every five or ten years they would make a trip together to see some holy places and saints.
This man became friends with someone in the south; he used to stay with him when he was on his pilgrimage. After an interval of ten years he went to the same family to visit. The man's wife was there but in a miserable condition. She was working at the grinding mill, washing the dishes of the neighbors. He inquired about his friend.
The wife told him, "He died some seven years ago and now we are in trouble. I bring some grains and make flour out of it. I bring some clothes to wash or go to work in nearby houses, because I have three children who have not completed their education. I have to earn money for their education. Now they are doing well at school, so I will be able to find jobs for them." This man inquired, "Didn't my friend speak to you about anything?" "No, no he didn't speak about anything," replied the widow. "Why, he simply died."
The man who died had told his friend that he had some gold which he had hidden so that his children would go to school and not think that their father had enough money to support them. He wanted them to work. In olden times parents would often hide their money so that the children would get a good education. And only after that would they will give it to them, after the children were well educated and capable to conduct a business or whatever they wanted to do. Then the father would hand over the money and walk away into the forest. This was the tradition that was kept up for many years.
This friend of the family then told the widow that just under the spot where she was grinding the flour in the mill there was hidden a pot full of gold. With this word alone she jumped, even though the pot of gold was not yet found. Just the word of an authoritative man, a friend of the family, brought great pleasure.
She called her sons. "Look, look, your uncle has come! He says that we are very rich. There is gold hidden here. Bring a spade!" So they dug a few inches below the ground where she had been toiling day and night and she found the pot of gold. Instantly she became very rich. She had been willing to live in poverty; grinding at the mill, suffering greatly to provide enough clothing for the children. At that same spot there was poverty a few inches above the ground, and riches concealed a few inches underneath.
In this same way an authoritative person will tell you that there is a diamond within you, that there is treasure within you. With this assurance alone a man can become very happy. Dig it up! Take your spade and dig. You will find the treasure and then celebrate. Here we celebrate every day, even though people do not understand why. This is cause to celebrate: "I have found the treasure." Otherwise you will be like someone who finds a diamond and doesn't know it is a diamond.
There was a very poor man who used to bring bricks from the kiln to the building site, just making a few cents a day. While digging in the sands of the river he found a diamond, but still he was very poor. He tied the beautiful stone around the neck of his donkey and continued his miserable life. A merchant was passing and saw the situation. "Look at that stupid man," he thought to himself. "He is doing menial work although he owns this diamond." He asked the laborer how much he wanted for his donkey.
"Five dollars," said the laborer. That was the price of donkeys at that time. The merchant paid the price and the laborer was very happy. Then he removed the string with the diamond from around the neck of the donkey and walked away. "What a foolish man," thought the laborer. "What about the donkey?" he asked. "I didn't pay for the donkey," said the merchant. "You can keep the donkey with you, but I will still pay you a few hundred dollars for your stupidity." Both were happy. Some who come to satsang say they feel very happy here but when they go back to their country they are the same as before. This is the same stupidity - not knowing that the treasure is within you.
Once you know from an authority that this is the treasure it will shine by itself. The diamond will shine from its own luster, without looking for any help from anyone. You will not need to ask any questions. You will fall in love with it and perhaps you will not turn your attention away from it again, because it is so beautiful. Then you will never make a mistake again.
Trouble arises for those who say, "Sometimes I am happy and sometimes I am not." When they are unhappy it is because unhappiness is arising from the mind, and when they are happy it is arising from the Self. The Self alone can give you happiness. All happiness is from the Self. All trouble, sorrow and suffering is from the mind. You have to be very careful to be vigilant to see what is coming from the mind, and to see the happiness that is coming from the Self.
Even in small things this is true. You might purchase a car or buy an apartment or meet a friend and you are happy. Why do these things bring you happiness? You are attracted to a particular person, or to a particular car, or to a particular apartment made of bricks and cement. It is not the steel, the rubber, or the benzene that brings happiness with the car. Nor is it the bones, flesh, blood, or marrow in a person. When you are happy you recognize the Self within the self, and you are free of desire. When you get a car your hope is gone, your desire for the car has left you. When you meet a friend your desire for the meeting is no longer there. When you buy an apartment your wanting to have an apartment is no longer there. This emptiness without desire or hope has given you happiness. If you know that it is this emptiness from the hope and desire that brings you happiness then you can always keep your mind empty. Then where is the problem to be happy wherever you are - walking, talking, sitting, standing, sleeping - you can be happy.
This moment you can try for one instant to not entertain any hope, any desire, and see what happens. The Self will reveal itself, the Truth will reveal itself to itself. This can be seen directly here and now. Don't postpone it when you can simply get be happy without doing anything. Why miss it? This is the raft I speak about: Simply keep quiet.
14 December, 1992
joi, 27 mai 2010
Rid the Mind of Diseases
We cannot meditate because of the diseases of the mind. These diseases are attraction and aversion, attachment and hate, anger and greed. For meditation you need a very healthy mind.
We have to get rid of these diseases of the mind. How can we meditate when our mind is diseased? While meditating you have to be very alert, vigilant and watchful so that for a little time during meditation these diseases don't show up. In the beginning they may trouble you, they may rise up, but gradually they will go on vanishing. When they have vanished you will enjoy meditation while sitting, while walking, while talking, and at work. Then meditation will become your nature - will be spontaneous without any effort of sitting meditations.
There you will see your own Self which doesn't need any meditation. You will be one with the Heart - the mind will merge into the heart and heart into the Self, and Self is always free. The Self is always wisdom, light and freedom itself. You have to be careful while meditating that these notions of attachment, hatred, greed and lust do not touch you.
We have to get rid of these diseases of the mind. How can we meditate when our mind is diseased? While meditating you have to be very alert, vigilant and watchful so that for a little time during meditation these diseases don't show up. In the beginning they may trouble you, they may rise up, but gradually they will go on vanishing. When they have vanished you will enjoy meditation while sitting, while walking, while talking, and at work. Then meditation will become your nature - will be spontaneous without any effort of sitting meditations.
There you will see your own Self which doesn't need any meditation. You will be one with the Heart - the mind will merge into the heart and heart into the Self, and Self is always free. The Self is always wisdom, light and freedom itself. You have to be careful while meditating that these notions of attachment, hatred, greed and lust do not touch you.
miercuri, 26 mai 2010
The Work Is Completed
From Silence you came and to Silence you return. This is the ultimate Truth.
The concept that there was any work to complete has in itself been completed. This is all. What is there to complete? What was the work? To keep quiet. When you know this you have completed everything. Otherwise you will be hitchhiking for millions of years thinking that you have not completed your work. There is no work to be completed. The idea that you have to complete some work - that you are bound, that you have to be free - is all conceptual. You are fundamentally free all the time, and to know this is the completion of everything. The only hindrance was that you thought that you were bound. That was the obstacle. Removing this obstacle you can call, "completion of the work."
Please remove all doubt by leaving it nowhere to reside. You call it doubt but there is no doubt at all. What is meant by doubt? Will you have any doubt if someone says, "You are not called so-and-so?" You know what your name is. In the same way you are That itself. In a dream you forgot your real nature and doubt arose. You will have to either remove doubt by yourself, or go to one who knows how to remove it - to one who will help you remove your doubt. Nobody can change you; you will remain what you are. A doubt arose: "I am not what I am." The idea that "I am the body." was this doubt. You are the in-dweller of the body, not the body itself. This simple understanding comes easily in satsang, but it will not arise outside in the world - or it will take millions of years - simply because everybody is clinging to the concept that, "I am the body." In actually you are not the body; you are the one who is aware of the body. When you are aware of something it is an object in awareness. You are aware of everything including the body. What is this awareness? Who is aware?
Do not think. Do not even meditate. Meditation means postponing for old age or at least for next year that which is available now. Meditation means rejecting the rose flower and hunting for the thorn. Don't meditate here. Just now! Sit quietly! Don't think! Whenever you meditate you are postponing Now! Why postpone this until some other time, until some other moment? Have you ever seen the next moment? Why not now? Isn't it available now? What kind of meditation do you need? There are people here who have been meditating for many years with all the teachers of the world and still they are not free. Meditation is only postponement. You may have made a habit of sitting in meditation every morning from six to eight, but the mind is very happy to have cheated you. You can do everything - there are some very professional meditators here - but still there is nothing inside.
You can complete this instantly because the Self - the Atman - is ever present. For whom are you seeking through method, through meditation, through thought? For whom? It is here and now. Even before you sit for meditation it is already here. Even the instinct to meditate came from the same source, to find the same thing. You are running away from it, never turning back. Whatever thought comes, whatever it is, even the thought of meditation: Stop. Discover the source of these thoughts: "I have to meditate, I have to be free. I need freedom." Keep quiet and wait. Find out from where these thoughts are coming. Return back to the source of these same thoughts and tell me what you see. What do you call this? Where will it lead you? It will strike at your mind forever and you will become what you have always been. You will not find this through any method. Don't be deceived once again by your mind.
You are here to be free in this very instant without doing anything, without even stirring a single thought. That's why you are here. I don't tell you to go to the Himalayas or to the caves or to the forest. I have seen many people with head hanging down doing penance. I have seen many in the higher altitudes of the Himalayas. They did not discover freedom. It is here and now. What is there to think about this? Even without thinking you are That. The habit of thinking, of doing something, is your only impediment. Give at least one second to yourself without doing anything, without even thinking. Do not make any kind of effort, and see the result.
5 December, 1992
The concept that there was any work to complete has in itself been completed. This is all. What is there to complete? What was the work? To keep quiet. When you know this you have completed everything. Otherwise you will be hitchhiking for millions of years thinking that you have not completed your work. There is no work to be completed. The idea that you have to complete some work - that you are bound, that you have to be free - is all conceptual. You are fundamentally free all the time, and to know this is the completion of everything. The only hindrance was that you thought that you were bound. That was the obstacle. Removing this obstacle you can call, "completion of the work."
Please remove all doubt by leaving it nowhere to reside. You call it doubt but there is no doubt at all. What is meant by doubt? Will you have any doubt if someone says, "You are not called so-and-so?" You know what your name is. In the same way you are That itself. In a dream you forgot your real nature and doubt arose. You will have to either remove doubt by yourself, or go to one who knows how to remove it - to one who will help you remove your doubt. Nobody can change you; you will remain what you are. A doubt arose: "I am not what I am." The idea that "I am the body." was this doubt. You are the in-dweller of the body, not the body itself. This simple understanding comes easily in satsang, but it will not arise outside in the world - or it will take millions of years - simply because everybody is clinging to the concept that, "I am the body." In actually you are not the body; you are the one who is aware of the body. When you are aware of something it is an object in awareness. You are aware of everything including the body. What is this awareness? Who is aware?
Do not think. Do not even meditate. Meditation means postponing for old age or at least for next year that which is available now. Meditation means rejecting the rose flower and hunting for the thorn. Don't meditate here. Just now! Sit quietly! Don't think! Whenever you meditate you are postponing Now! Why postpone this until some other time, until some other moment? Have you ever seen the next moment? Why not now? Isn't it available now? What kind of meditation do you need? There are people here who have been meditating for many years with all the teachers of the world and still they are not free. Meditation is only postponement. You may have made a habit of sitting in meditation every morning from six to eight, but the mind is very happy to have cheated you. You can do everything - there are some very professional meditators here - but still there is nothing inside.
You can complete this instantly because the Self - the Atman - is ever present. For whom are you seeking through method, through meditation, through thought? For whom? It is here and now. Even before you sit for meditation it is already here. Even the instinct to meditate came from the same source, to find the same thing. You are running away from it, never turning back. Whatever thought comes, whatever it is, even the thought of meditation: Stop. Discover the source of these thoughts: "I have to meditate, I have to be free. I need freedom." Keep quiet and wait. Find out from where these thoughts are coming. Return back to the source of these same thoughts and tell me what you see. What do you call this? Where will it lead you? It will strike at your mind forever and you will become what you have always been. You will not find this through any method. Don't be deceived once again by your mind.
You are here to be free in this very instant without doing anything, without even stirring a single thought. That's why you are here. I don't tell you to go to the Himalayas or to the caves or to the forest. I have seen many people with head hanging down doing penance. I have seen many in the higher altitudes of the Himalayas. They did not discover freedom. It is here and now. What is there to think about this? Even without thinking you are That. The habit of thinking, of doing something, is your only impediment. Give at least one second to yourself without doing anything, without even thinking. Do not make any kind of effort, and see the result.
5 December, 1992
marți, 25 mai 2010
Notions Create the Mind
It is very important to examine the nature of notion, because whatever is created - whatever you see - is a notion. This may be surprising to you.
Take a tiny seed in the palm of your hand. In India the mustard seed has been given as an example because it is the smallest seed available… or a banyan seed. In the West take any seed you can find; it doesn't matter what kind. Now what do you see in this seed? Do you see a huge tree, a grand trunk, flowers, millions of fruits, with again billions and trillions of seeds inside? Do you see all this is a tiny seed? You do not find all this inside the seed, yet when the seed comes into contact with the soil it sprouts.
The same is true with notion. Notion is now sprouted as this universe, time and space that you see, as past, present and future. Men, animals, mountains, rivers, forests are all contained in this tiny seed-like notion. This notion will sprout when it touches consciousness, and from this arises mind. All this diversity is created out of the single notion, "I suffer. I am happy. I am bound. I want to be free." These are all notions. A sage is one who knows that these are all notions and is hence free from them. Those who are yet to be enlightened are not yet free from this notion and therefore think that they are bound, that they are suffering; they will have to become enlightened somehow later on.
We must find out how to get rid of this notion. A notion is just a thought - it is your own thought, which must be rising from somewhere. Just as a seed touches the soil, it sprouts and becomes a tree, so this notion touches consciousness; it sprouts and becomes mind. What existence could the mind have without consciousness as its substratum? Where could it stand without some foundation, some soil in which to sprout?
Those who know the substratum, who see how the mind rises, will never suffer. Those who ignore the substratum however, those who begin from the sprout, from the notion itself, those who look at the branches, fruits and flowers, at the sufferings, happiness and joys of life - they will suffer endlessly because they do not know the substratum of all this. Thought is the substratum, thought is the mind, mind is time and space, mind is past.
How does the mind arise? When it rises it seems to be created; although it is not really true to say that it is created or not, that it arises or not. Both are seen simultaneously. When you see a mirage in the desert you see a river running in the desert, in the sands. The river which is running can be said to exist, and it can also be said that is does not exist. Both are true. People will go running to have a swim in it because it looks like a real river. And at the same time it is true that it does not exist, there is only sand, there is no river at all. Both are simultaneously true.
So you can say that this is samsara, this is the world. Or you can say that this does not exist at all. Both are simultaneously real. If you accept this, then to say, “This is not real." is true; and to say, "This is real." is also true - just like the mirage. This is all real because it sprouted from consciousness, and it is not real because it is only a notion. From the notion arises the ego, the observer, the observation and the observed. It is from here that the trouble starts. For the sage this trouble is not there; his observer, observation and observed are all the same and therefore he is happy. He who is yet to be awakened thinks, "I am the observer. This object which I am observing gives me happiness. I experience that happiness." He is in trouble. He will have to get rid of his own notions somehow, either by sitting with a saint or through investigation with his own discrimination and discernment, or with the help of some wise people.
So in investigating how to get rid of this ego which brings diversity there are two perspectives. In one there is no diversity. In the other, diversity and unity are the same; like the river in the desert which is both real and not real. In this there may be many diversities, but if you know their basis - the substratum from which they arise - you know them all. The waves in the ocean are no different from their substance - water. Many waves can exist without the oneness of the water being lost. In this diverse world people may look different with different views, different shapes, different forms, but their essence is still one. That essence is the same in all beings and non-beings. If you are aware of this you are free, you are happy. You are eternally blissful because bliss comes if you are aware of consciousness. There is no difference between bliss and consciousness. If you know that the origin of all diversities and sufferings is consciousness, you will not have any problem.
You must arrive at this, you must understand this, you must reach this - that the underlying ground, the underlying essence is consciousness. When you look at people, when you look at mountains, when you look at a river, when you look at your body you must be conscious, you are conscious. You are conscious when you sleep, you are conscious when you are awake, you are conscious of objects, you are conscious of your activities. When you dream you are conscious of subtle activities, you are aware of relationships within the dream. You are conscious of subjects and objects, of experiences and objectivity, you are conscious of subjectivity. The basis of all activity is consciousness. Also in deep sleep you are conscious for you wake up knowing that you slept, that you had a peaceful sound sleep, you are conscious. All these three states are projections of consciousness. It is within consciousness that all these things are floating - they are all projected in front of it. That consciousness you are.
Transcending these three states there is a fourth state known as turiya. In this transcendental state you are also aware. Beyond the fourth state, beyond turiya, there is that which is not known to anyone. It is not known because that is the depth of consciousness. Even the word "consciousness" is no more found there. No words, no experiences, no "I, you, he, or she" ever existed in this. This is your true nature. This is the Truth. This is ultimate understanding. This is always eternally present. This is presence itself. It is never absent at any time. This is called Truth. This is called Freedom. This is called Wisdom.
Whatever Truth is must always be there, be here, be now, be everywhere. It must be Omniscient. It must be Omnipresent. That which you are is Omniscience and Omnipresence. You have to live playfully along with all these waves in different forms and enjoy this - your happiness.
23 November, 1992
Take a tiny seed in the palm of your hand. In India the mustard seed has been given as an example because it is the smallest seed available… or a banyan seed. In the West take any seed you can find; it doesn't matter what kind. Now what do you see in this seed? Do you see a huge tree, a grand trunk, flowers, millions of fruits, with again billions and trillions of seeds inside? Do you see all this is a tiny seed? You do not find all this inside the seed, yet when the seed comes into contact with the soil it sprouts.
The same is true with notion. Notion is now sprouted as this universe, time and space that you see, as past, present and future. Men, animals, mountains, rivers, forests are all contained in this tiny seed-like notion. This notion will sprout when it touches consciousness, and from this arises mind. All this diversity is created out of the single notion, "I suffer. I am happy. I am bound. I want to be free." These are all notions. A sage is one who knows that these are all notions and is hence free from them. Those who are yet to be enlightened are not yet free from this notion and therefore think that they are bound, that they are suffering; they will have to become enlightened somehow later on.
We must find out how to get rid of this notion. A notion is just a thought - it is your own thought, which must be rising from somewhere. Just as a seed touches the soil, it sprouts and becomes a tree, so this notion touches consciousness; it sprouts and becomes mind. What existence could the mind have without consciousness as its substratum? Where could it stand without some foundation, some soil in which to sprout?
Those who know the substratum, who see how the mind rises, will never suffer. Those who ignore the substratum however, those who begin from the sprout, from the notion itself, those who look at the branches, fruits and flowers, at the sufferings, happiness and joys of life - they will suffer endlessly because they do not know the substratum of all this. Thought is the substratum, thought is the mind, mind is time and space, mind is past.
How does the mind arise? When it rises it seems to be created; although it is not really true to say that it is created or not, that it arises or not. Both are seen simultaneously. When you see a mirage in the desert you see a river running in the desert, in the sands. The river which is running can be said to exist, and it can also be said that is does not exist. Both are true. People will go running to have a swim in it because it looks like a real river. And at the same time it is true that it does not exist, there is only sand, there is no river at all. Both are simultaneously true.
So you can say that this is samsara, this is the world. Or you can say that this does not exist at all. Both are simultaneously real. If you accept this, then to say, “This is not real." is true; and to say, "This is real." is also true - just like the mirage. This is all real because it sprouted from consciousness, and it is not real because it is only a notion. From the notion arises the ego, the observer, the observation and the observed. It is from here that the trouble starts. For the sage this trouble is not there; his observer, observation and observed are all the same and therefore he is happy. He who is yet to be awakened thinks, "I am the observer. This object which I am observing gives me happiness. I experience that happiness." He is in trouble. He will have to get rid of his own notions somehow, either by sitting with a saint or through investigation with his own discrimination and discernment, or with the help of some wise people.
So in investigating how to get rid of this ego which brings diversity there are two perspectives. In one there is no diversity. In the other, diversity and unity are the same; like the river in the desert which is both real and not real. In this there may be many diversities, but if you know their basis - the substratum from which they arise - you know them all. The waves in the ocean are no different from their substance - water. Many waves can exist without the oneness of the water being lost. In this diverse world people may look different with different views, different shapes, different forms, but their essence is still one. That essence is the same in all beings and non-beings. If you are aware of this you are free, you are happy. You are eternally blissful because bliss comes if you are aware of consciousness. There is no difference between bliss and consciousness. If you know that the origin of all diversities and sufferings is consciousness, you will not have any problem.
You must arrive at this, you must understand this, you must reach this - that the underlying ground, the underlying essence is consciousness. When you look at people, when you look at mountains, when you look at a river, when you look at your body you must be conscious, you are conscious. You are conscious when you sleep, you are conscious when you are awake, you are conscious of objects, you are conscious of your activities. When you dream you are conscious of subtle activities, you are aware of relationships within the dream. You are conscious of subjects and objects, of experiences and objectivity, you are conscious of subjectivity. The basis of all activity is consciousness. Also in deep sleep you are conscious for you wake up knowing that you slept, that you had a peaceful sound sleep, you are conscious. All these three states are projections of consciousness. It is within consciousness that all these things are floating - they are all projected in front of it. That consciousness you are.
Transcending these three states there is a fourth state known as turiya. In this transcendental state you are also aware. Beyond the fourth state, beyond turiya, there is that which is not known to anyone. It is not known because that is the depth of consciousness. Even the word "consciousness" is no more found there. No words, no experiences, no "I, you, he, or she" ever existed in this. This is your true nature. This is the Truth. This is ultimate understanding. This is always eternally present. This is presence itself. It is never absent at any time. This is called Truth. This is called Freedom. This is called Wisdom.
Whatever Truth is must always be there, be here, be now, be everywhere. It must be Omniscient. It must be Omnipresent. That which you are is Omniscience and Omnipresence. You have to live playfully along with all these waves in different forms and enjoy this - your happiness.
23 November, 1992
luni, 24 mai 2010
Beyond Delight, Beyond Bliss
Action which originates from the mind without attachment we can call Non-action. In fact this activity arises without mind at all. We can call this No-mind. You may be doing many things in the world, but if there is no attachment to the outcome, to the objects of action, you remain free.
The delight which comes from sensory experience is always fleeting. When an experience is repeated an earlier desire which had been stored in memory is recalled to repeat the experience. The delight derived from that experience is already past - not fresh - because it has been recalled. First you need desire, then an object of desire, then experience through the senses. Only an unwise person seeks to repeat experience. A wise person knows that every experience, every delight, is fleeting and will not touch it. Everyone in the world is unhappy; not a single person finds happiness because they delight in old experience. No one asks for anything fresh, not only the common man but even kings, even diamond merchants. Kings want diamonds like the Kohinoor to be happy. No-one's desires are fulfilled.
There is something very precious which is not stored in the memory. Give it any name or no name, it will bring satisfaction and bliss. It will take you beyond bliss. This is our topic here: first delight, then bliss, and then beyond.
Nobody gets out of this trap of delight: Everybody is caught in it. You look for bliss but where is it to be found? Bliss means anything not recalled from memory. This will never be discovered on your own because it is found only through association with a sage, a perfect person, one who has known it and can enable you to have this experience; or from the recorded experiences of ancient sages in authorized sutras.
With the help of your own desire for abiding happiness, for abiding bliss, for freedom, you will discover something beyond that which can be called consciousness. There's nothing beyond consciousness. Once you attain consciousness there's nothing more to be attained. Anything that can be attained will be lost.
Consciousness is like the Kohinoor, the world's most precious diamond. No one has yet attained it yet it has to be aspired for, to reach for something fresh, something new. How can it be unattainable and yet be desired? Because in its attainment the knower, the known and the means of knowing all merge into That itself. So it is both attained and yet never attained. In the realization of consciousness you have attained everything that is worth attaining. It is complete and perfect. It is moksham - liberation. It is emancipation, it is perfection. You can call it bliss, you can call it beyond bliss. People call it emptiness, people call it fullness, yet it is beyond words. It has never been described so far. It is That which has to be aspired for - something which you have never heard described before. It cannot be held in memory, nor can it be seen, heard, touched or thought about.
When the mind blinks for a moment everything arises. This manifestation is the result of just one blink of the mind. If you don't wink for this single moment everything will cease. If you don't stir the mind just for this instant - this finger snap - that which I speak about is here and now. And, my dear friends, you are That… you are That… you are That.
If you have heard these words without them landing anywhere - without them touching your memory - you have gone beyond. If somehow this has penetrated into the memory, trespassed there, then you will have to fall in love with it, keep fully devoted to it. Walking, talking, sleeping, dreaming, on awakening each day - always keep in touch with it - think of it, speak to it, worship it even. This which is beyond everything is the only thing to be worshipped. Don't be afraid to worship this, because all things are within This which I speak about.
Everything is to be worshipped. Everything which you worship is That itself. What else could there be? If you have some gold you can make any shape out of it - any animal or bird - but its essential gold-ness will not be lost. Only the name and form can change, the gold-ness cannot be lost. If you understand this with your total consciousness you will see that everything which exists in consciousness must be consciousness itself. Everything in the river, every wave, every bubble, every tide must be made of the same substance which is liquid, which is water. Look at the river and not its expressions, like bubbles and waves. Knowing this you don't need anything else.
This single instruction is quite enough for those who have deserved it, earned it through eons of time. Some will still postpone for a year or till the end of this incarnation. But why you are here? You are alive just to know who you have been, who you would be, and who you are now. You have lost track of it so you need some guidance. Find a guide and listen to him once. Follow him and you are out of this trap. If you don't want to listen it doesn't matter; for after all, how long can this trap remain a trap? Somehow its trap-ness will have to be dissolved and solved once and for all.
One satsang is quite enough. Knowing this truth you are always in satsang. Satsang means to live as Truth itself - which means to live as the Self, to live as consciousness. Who can say, "I am not my Self?" He who knows, "I am the Self." is in satsang. And if someone says, "I am not the Self." it is still excellent - he is still in satsang. If the fish in the water can cry, "I am thirsty," it means she is alive in the water - she's not thirsty. In satsang you are not told to do anything - to practice anything - because there are no modifications; it is immaculate, it is pure, it is purity itself. You are pure. You may have been taught to believe that, "I am impure, I am bound" but it is only talk. How can "I am." be impure or bound? To say "I am." is enough. If you add something to it there will be trouble.
Make the best of this time - don't postpone. This postponement is called manifestation, is called bondage. If you don't postpone you are here and now - you are free. This postponement is called mind which says, "I will do it later; I will do tomorrow". Mind is past. Past is memory and memory is universe, manifestation, and repetition of births and deaths, suffering and tension. But just to know: "I am suffering," is enough to end suffering. You must simply know what that "I am" is.
It is not the body nor the mind nor the intellect. If you say, "I am," can you show this I am? It's not the body. You can just investigate: Just find out where this ‘I am’ is. You will not find it - you will not find ‘I am’ anywhere - only words. So after sometime I'm speaking about this happiness, and knowing this is called equanimity, peace, bliss. And before that was delight. Anything that is fleeting is called delight. Anything that is abiding is not delight; so here you are at peace. Equanimity is there and you are bliss. Here is the bliss.
So keeping up this for some time in this state and not looking for, not desiring for anything from the memory of the past staying for sometime here and you will be thrown or called from somewhere else by someone else into somewhere else which you have never heard before. Because what you hear is only about waking, dreaming, sleeping - that's all you have know so far. Anything that speaks to you in this physical form is waking state. Subtle form that you dream in the night is dreaming state. There also you have got relations and we see mountains and rivers and forests and animals... subtle form. And then also we have experience, and then in sleep also. That's all the three states we know. Therefore we have delight in one and we have bliss in the sleep state. Again we repeat the same circle endlessly.
So staying here in this state you will be called from somewhere else into somewhere else. That state is not a state. States are only three. Beyond that you can't call it a state. That is, you can call it a word. If you have to use word I believe the sanskrit word is pragya. Pragna is beyond that, beyond states you see. Beyond the beyond is called pragna. So that state is beyond the delight and beyond the happiness and beyond the bliss even. It is not even this; it is not even Self. It's not even It. What has been given in some sutras “It” word is used. That word is used, tat is used; not even that. That cannot be comprehended by mind nor expressed, nor described, nor experienced; because for any kind of delight, bliss, enjoyment, you need someone to experience. Mind doesn't go there; senses do not present themselves there. So when all these beat retreat - mind, intellect, senses - when they beat retreat, that beyond is called... tita is the word. Some say, "Beyond." Let beyond be beyond. I don't touch it.
Because I receive many letters; even today I will see. The letters always mention: “We lose what we get in the satsang when we return back home. We lose it after some time, and then we do not know what to do.” So it means anything that you hear in satsang you have stored in the mind; so that is what we are discussing about and this thing that you are storing in the mind. You want to call for and repeat it. When you're here do not store in the memory so that you lose it. Anything can be called back from memory. When it doesn't land in the memory you can't call back. So they're in trouble. They can't call back therefore they take to some other exercises.
So one of these letters I will read: “After the satsang in Lucknow I lost it in a month.” So I am just speaking about this thing. Do not try to grab it, grasp it and store it into the memory. Anything stored in the memory is not satsang. It's called learning - it's called knowledge - that you go to the universities and get a doctorate out of that which is stored in the memory. It's not that knowledge. It cannot be stored in the memory, you see. Never it has been done. So let the word pass through and through. Pierce through the mind and through the intellect and let it go from where it came. One word, any one time, whatever, whenever, wherever possible - it is that one word which will work.
So I am again trying to clarify: Don't try to understand what is spoken here. Just keep quiet. Don't try to listen even. Just keep quiet and let it go. What is happening, you don't be concerned of it. That is some higher supreme power. You are in the lap of supreme power. Don't use your intellect here. It is She who will take care of you. It is He who will take care of you. It is It that will take care of itself. Who are you to understand it? So keep quiet for once. Don't blink and don't wink and keep quiet for one single second. Otherwise you will have notions and expectations and ideations. That's what you will make out of this satsang. Don't try to have any notion, any hope that here we have come with the hope that we will be free. Give up this hope either. No hopes and no notions and no tensions also. No ideas about what it is. Don't form any ideas about it, you see. This is called quietness, equanimity, silence and peace. Then the supreme itself will enter into your open heart and sit down there permanently, because it is already there and you are otherwise engaged. Therefore it is concealed by some other desire: "I want this, and I want that," you see.
So do what you have to do? Anything to which you have camouflaged or concealed the original ultimate nature of your own Self has to be discovered, uncovered, or to be revealed. It has to reveal itself by itself; not by any effort. Not by any effort. Not even to think about anything of the past, present and future. No thought and no effort. That is the requirement. How this precious gem where it is concealed by you - how it will reveal itself. The gem doesn't need your candle to be seen. It has its own luster, self-effulgent. Like, you will not see the sun through the light of your candle but through its own rays. Who needs a candle to see the sun? He doesn't need because the sun has the luster of light itself. So anything which is light you don't need any effort to see.
You don't need to do anything. Simply keep quiet - allow it to reveal itself. If you had kept quiet even for a single instant, for a finger snap, with a wink of you eye - once - during this travel that you have done for 35 million years, my dear friends who are here. This is all a blink of the mind, and now if we are quiet it has to reveal. It is self-effulgent. Never it has been concealed. But when the desire is there then it is concealed because we desire something else. And that something else we do not know - that something else is also the same thing. What else you can aspire? Where from do you get anything else which is not already there? Where from? Who are you? So this is so simple. The trouble is with its beauty and simplicity and self-effulgence.
You please merge into it - jump into it. That's all. Jumping into the lake of nectar, lake of amritam, who will die? And we are afraid. In ambrosia - drinking ambrosia - I will die... How ridiculous.
21 November, 1992
The delight which comes from sensory experience is always fleeting. When an experience is repeated an earlier desire which had been stored in memory is recalled to repeat the experience. The delight derived from that experience is already past - not fresh - because it has been recalled. First you need desire, then an object of desire, then experience through the senses. Only an unwise person seeks to repeat experience. A wise person knows that every experience, every delight, is fleeting and will not touch it. Everyone in the world is unhappy; not a single person finds happiness because they delight in old experience. No one asks for anything fresh, not only the common man but even kings, even diamond merchants. Kings want diamonds like the Kohinoor to be happy. No-one's desires are fulfilled.
There is something very precious which is not stored in the memory. Give it any name or no name, it will bring satisfaction and bliss. It will take you beyond bliss. This is our topic here: first delight, then bliss, and then beyond.
Nobody gets out of this trap of delight: Everybody is caught in it. You look for bliss but where is it to be found? Bliss means anything not recalled from memory. This will never be discovered on your own because it is found only through association with a sage, a perfect person, one who has known it and can enable you to have this experience; or from the recorded experiences of ancient sages in authorized sutras.
With the help of your own desire for abiding happiness, for abiding bliss, for freedom, you will discover something beyond that which can be called consciousness. There's nothing beyond consciousness. Once you attain consciousness there's nothing more to be attained. Anything that can be attained will be lost.
Consciousness is like the Kohinoor, the world's most precious diamond. No one has yet attained it yet it has to be aspired for, to reach for something fresh, something new. How can it be unattainable and yet be desired? Because in its attainment the knower, the known and the means of knowing all merge into That itself. So it is both attained and yet never attained. In the realization of consciousness you have attained everything that is worth attaining. It is complete and perfect. It is moksham - liberation. It is emancipation, it is perfection. You can call it bliss, you can call it beyond bliss. People call it emptiness, people call it fullness, yet it is beyond words. It has never been described so far. It is That which has to be aspired for - something which you have never heard described before. It cannot be held in memory, nor can it be seen, heard, touched or thought about.
When the mind blinks for a moment everything arises. This manifestation is the result of just one blink of the mind. If you don't wink for this single moment everything will cease. If you don't stir the mind just for this instant - this finger snap - that which I speak about is here and now. And, my dear friends, you are That… you are That… you are That.
If you have heard these words without them landing anywhere - without them touching your memory - you have gone beyond. If somehow this has penetrated into the memory, trespassed there, then you will have to fall in love with it, keep fully devoted to it. Walking, talking, sleeping, dreaming, on awakening each day - always keep in touch with it - think of it, speak to it, worship it even. This which is beyond everything is the only thing to be worshipped. Don't be afraid to worship this, because all things are within This which I speak about.
Everything is to be worshipped. Everything which you worship is That itself. What else could there be? If you have some gold you can make any shape out of it - any animal or bird - but its essential gold-ness will not be lost. Only the name and form can change, the gold-ness cannot be lost. If you understand this with your total consciousness you will see that everything which exists in consciousness must be consciousness itself. Everything in the river, every wave, every bubble, every tide must be made of the same substance which is liquid, which is water. Look at the river and not its expressions, like bubbles and waves. Knowing this you don't need anything else.
This single instruction is quite enough for those who have deserved it, earned it through eons of time. Some will still postpone for a year or till the end of this incarnation. But why you are here? You are alive just to know who you have been, who you would be, and who you are now. You have lost track of it so you need some guidance. Find a guide and listen to him once. Follow him and you are out of this trap. If you don't want to listen it doesn't matter; for after all, how long can this trap remain a trap? Somehow its trap-ness will have to be dissolved and solved once and for all.
One satsang is quite enough. Knowing this truth you are always in satsang. Satsang means to live as Truth itself - which means to live as the Self, to live as consciousness. Who can say, "I am not my Self?" He who knows, "I am the Self." is in satsang. And if someone says, "I am not the Self." it is still excellent - he is still in satsang. If the fish in the water can cry, "I am thirsty," it means she is alive in the water - she's not thirsty. In satsang you are not told to do anything - to practice anything - because there are no modifications; it is immaculate, it is pure, it is purity itself. You are pure. You may have been taught to believe that, "I am impure, I am bound" but it is only talk. How can "I am." be impure or bound? To say "I am." is enough. If you add something to it there will be trouble.
Make the best of this time - don't postpone. This postponement is called manifestation, is called bondage. If you don't postpone you are here and now - you are free. This postponement is called mind which says, "I will do it later; I will do tomorrow". Mind is past. Past is memory and memory is universe, manifestation, and repetition of births and deaths, suffering and tension. But just to know: "I am suffering," is enough to end suffering. You must simply know what that "I am" is.
It is not the body nor the mind nor the intellect. If you say, "I am," can you show this I am? It's not the body. You can just investigate: Just find out where this ‘I am’ is. You will not find it - you will not find ‘I am’ anywhere - only words. So after sometime I'm speaking about this happiness, and knowing this is called equanimity, peace, bliss. And before that was delight. Anything that is fleeting is called delight. Anything that is abiding is not delight; so here you are at peace. Equanimity is there and you are bliss. Here is the bliss.
So keeping up this for some time in this state and not looking for, not desiring for anything from the memory of the past staying for sometime here and you will be thrown or called from somewhere else by someone else into somewhere else which you have never heard before. Because what you hear is only about waking, dreaming, sleeping - that's all you have know so far. Anything that speaks to you in this physical form is waking state. Subtle form that you dream in the night is dreaming state. There also you have got relations and we see mountains and rivers and forests and animals... subtle form. And then also we have experience, and then in sleep also. That's all the three states we know. Therefore we have delight in one and we have bliss in the sleep state. Again we repeat the same circle endlessly.
So staying here in this state you will be called from somewhere else into somewhere else. That state is not a state. States are only three. Beyond that you can't call it a state. That is, you can call it a word. If you have to use word I believe the sanskrit word is pragya. Pragna is beyond that, beyond states you see. Beyond the beyond is called pragna. So that state is beyond the delight and beyond the happiness and beyond the bliss even. It is not even this; it is not even Self. It's not even It. What has been given in some sutras “It” word is used. That word is used, tat is used; not even that. That cannot be comprehended by mind nor expressed, nor described, nor experienced; because for any kind of delight, bliss, enjoyment, you need someone to experience. Mind doesn't go there; senses do not present themselves there. So when all these beat retreat - mind, intellect, senses - when they beat retreat, that beyond is called... tita is the word. Some say, "Beyond." Let beyond be beyond. I don't touch it.
Because I receive many letters; even today I will see. The letters always mention: “We lose what we get in the satsang when we return back home. We lose it after some time, and then we do not know what to do.” So it means anything that you hear in satsang you have stored in the mind; so that is what we are discussing about and this thing that you are storing in the mind. You want to call for and repeat it. When you're here do not store in the memory so that you lose it. Anything can be called back from memory. When it doesn't land in the memory you can't call back. So they're in trouble. They can't call back therefore they take to some other exercises.
So one of these letters I will read: “After the satsang in Lucknow I lost it in a month.” So I am just speaking about this thing. Do not try to grab it, grasp it and store it into the memory. Anything stored in the memory is not satsang. It's called learning - it's called knowledge - that you go to the universities and get a doctorate out of that which is stored in the memory. It's not that knowledge. It cannot be stored in the memory, you see. Never it has been done. So let the word pass through and through. Pierce through the mind and through the intellect and let it go from where it came. One word, any one time, whatever, whenever, wherever possible - it is that one word which will work.
So I am again trying to clarify: Don't try to understand what is spoken here. Just keep quiet. Don't try to listen even. Just keep quiet and let it go. What is happening, you don't be concerned of it. That is some higher supreme power. You are in the lap of supreme power. Don't use your intellect here. It is She who will take care of you. It is He who will take care of you. It is It that will take care of itself. Who are you to understand it? So keep quiet for once. Don't blink and don't wink and keep quiet for one single second. Otherwise you will have notions and expectations and ideations. That's what you will make out of this satsang. Don't try to have any notion, any hope that here we have come with the hope that we will be free. Give up this hope either. No hopes and no notions and no tensions also. No ideas about what it is. Don't form any ideas about it, you see. This is called quietness, equanimity, silence and peace. Then the supreme itself will enter into your open heart and sit down there permanently, because it is already there and you are otherwise engaged. Therefore it is concealed by some other desire: "I want this, and I want that," you see.
So do what you have to do? Anything to which you have camouflaged or concealed the original ultimate nature of your own Self has to be discovered, uncovered, or to be revealed. It has to reveal itself by itself; not by any effort. Not by any effort. Not even to think about anything of the past, present and future. No thought and no effort. That is the requirement. How this precious gem where it is concealed by you - how it will reveal itself. The gem doesn't need your candle to be seen. It has its own luster, self-effulgent. Like, you will not see the sun through the light of your candle but through its own rays. Who needs a candle to see the sun? He doesn't need because the sun has the luster of light itself. So anything which is light you don't need any effort to see.
You don't need to do anything. Simply keep quiet - allow it to reveal itself. If you had kept quiet even for a single instant, for a finger snap, with a wink of you eye - once - during this travel that you have done for 35 million years, my dear friends who are here. This is all a blink of the mind, and now if we are quiet it has to reveal. It is self-effulgent. Never it has been concealed. But when the desire is there then it is concealed because we desire something else. And that something else we do not know - that something else is also the same thing. What else you can aspire? Where from do you get anything else which is not already there? Where from? Who are you? So this is so simple. The trouble is with its beauty and simplicity and self-effulgence.
You please merge into it - jump into it. That's all. Jumping into the lake of nectar, lake of amritam, who will die? And we are afraid. In ambrosia - drinking ambrosia - I will die... How ridiculous.
21 November, 1992
duminică, 23 mai 2010
Worship
During the lifetime of some enlightened beings worship began. Even during the time of Lord Buddha people worshipped stupas, worshipped statues of the Buddha. Some people don't believe in worship through statues. Those who invaded India at the time when Buddhist dharma was strong, demolished most of the statues and Buddhist monasteries were burnt. But during the time of Buddha himself he accepted dharma and sangha. Monasteries were established during the time of Ashoka; statues and stupas were built. Even today in many countries statues of Buddha are being built. Recently a statue 60 feet high was built in Bodhgaya by the Japanese.
Worship has been advised from time immemorial. Here we generally speak about consciousness, which is omniscient, omnipresent, in everything, every atom. There is no place where there is no consciousness. So what does worship mean? Many people get confused. Those who have been enlightened, free, they have worshipped through stupas, through statues, and that is how dharma has been living till today and it will live. I do not know of any religion which has not included worship. Buddhism is already 2,600 years old. Vedic Dharma is 25,000 years old. In Peru they have found a Shiva lingam 25,000 years old.
We are dealing with consciousness only, but it's very important to consider this matter. Many people write to me from The States and Europe. They say they are all right here, but when they return they forget it they lose peace and consciousness. I advise them to playfully worship whatever comes into their day-to-day life. Whatever they see has to be worshipped as the same consciousness - it cannot be other than consciousness. Eating food, whatever you do. Listening to music, worship through the ears. Whatever you see, it has to be worshipped, adored, honored. Like this, you will not forget consciousness. When you see that consciousness is everywhere this Cosmic Being has to be adored and worshipped in every being, every non-being, in every situation; when you are happy, in happiness; when you are not happy, in unhappiness. In all situations engage yourself. People say, "Sometimes I am happy; sometimes I lose it." Beyond both is consciousness, their own Self. The Self reveals itself to itself. This Cosmic Being which resides in all beings, in human beings, and animals, and birds, in everything - is conscious within you. In the cave of your heart is the Conscious Being that directs you to see, smell, hear, activate your activities. This has to be worshipped, adored, honored wherever you go, whatever you do, whatever you hear, whatever you see. Then how can you forget? Wherever you are you are in consciousness and consciousness is within you. Worship this purusha - this cosmic being within you.
I do not know how this cosmic being has become an individual being. If it has become an individual being then the cosmic being is residing within it. This knowledge that, "I am individual being." must be in the cosmos. This cosmic being has entered the cavity of your heart. Somehow you feel separated. You feel that, "I am an individual being, a different personality." Where does this knowledge that, "I am an individual being." come from? This knowledge is quite enough to be worshipped. Worship this knowledge at least, that "I am this individual being." If you can't agree that, "I am cosmic."
Many times I've made attempt to express. I have failed. It is said the mind cannot reach, the senses cannot describe. Somehow I have to do it.
This longing will arise - it is not enough. You will have to go and see a teacher and listen to the teacher. First you choose, "I have to return to effortlessness, I want to be free." This longing is not enough. This longing rises from ignorance only; it's not wisdom. Any choice is from ignorance; any longing is from ignorance. Good longing also is ignorance, but it takes you to a teacher who tells you whatever he tells you, and that is also ignorance. It is ignorance because it cannot be conveyed through words. Your mind can listen. This experience cannot be had by the mind or senses. When the mind and senses admit their defeat, then you will have this experience.
Let the individual dissolve and adore the Supreme Being. Let it merge into the supreme being from where it arose. Individuality must come from somewhere; a wave arises from somewhere. The individuality rises when you say, "this individual." You have returned with this thought. Now, this moment, where did this thought rise from? Individuality. This moment go back and see. Don't make any effort - it will drop by itself. Don't make any effort, don't think; it will drop by itself. Your longing will cease. My instruction will cease.
17 November, 1992
Worship has been advised from time immemorial. Here we generally speak about consciousness, which is omniscient, omnipresent, in everything, every atom. There is no place where there is no consciousness. So what does worship mean? Many people get confused. Those who have been enlightened, free, they have worshipped through stupas, through statues, and that is how dharma has been living till today and it will live. I do not know of any religion which has not included worship. Buddhism is already 2,600 years old. Vedic Dharma is 25,000 years old. In Peru they have found a Shiva lingam 25,000 years old.
We are dealing with consciousness only, but it's very important to consider this matter. Many people write to me from The States and Europe. They say they are all right here, but when they return they forget it they lose peace and consciousness. I advise them to playfully worship whatever comes into their day-to-day life. Whatever they see has to be worshipped as the same consciousness - it cannot be other than consciousness. Eating food, whatever you do. Listening to music, worship through the ears. Whatever you see, it has to be worshipped, adored, honored. Like this, you will not forget consciousness. When you see that consciousness is everywhere this Cosmic Being has to be adored and worshipped in every being, every non-being, in every situation; when you are happy, in happiness; when you are not happy, in unhappiness. In all situations engage yourself. People say, "Sometimes I am happy; sometimes I lose it." Beyond both is consciousness, their own Self. The Self reveals itself to itself. This Cosmic Being which resides in all beings, in human beings, and animals, and birds, in everything - is conscious within you. In the cave of your heart is the Conscious Being that directs you to see, smell, hear, activate your activities. This has to be worshipped, adored, honored wherever you go, whatever you do, whatever you hear, whatever you see. Then how can you forget? Wherever you are you are in consciousness and consciousness is within you. Worship this purusha - this cosmic being within you.
I do not know how this cosmic being has become an individual being. If it has become an individual being then the cosmic being is residing within it. This knowledge that, "I am individual being." must be in the cosmos. This cosmic being has entered the cavity of your heart. Somehow you feel separated. You feel that, "I am an individual being, a different personality." Where does this knowledge that, "I am an individual being." come from? This knowledge is quite enough to be worshipped. Worship this knowledge at least, that "I am this individual being." If you can't agree that, "I am cosmic."
Many times I've made attempt to express. I have failed. It is said the mind cannot reach, the senses cannot describe. Somehow I have to do it.
This longing will arise - it is not enough. You will have to go and see a teacher and listen to the teacher. First you choose, "I have to return to effortlessness, I want to be free." This longing is not enough. This longing rises from ignorance only; it's not wisdom. Any choice is from ignorance; any longing is from ignorance. Good longing also is ignorance, but it takes you to a teacher who tells you whatever he tells you, and that is also ignorance. It is ignorance because it cannot be conveyed through words. Your mind can listen. This experience cannot be had by the mind or senses. When the mind and senses admit their defeat, then you will have this experience.
Let the individual dissolve and adore the Supreme Being. Let it merge into the supreme being from where it arose. Individuality must come from somewhere; a wave arises from somewhere. The individuality rises when you say, "this individual." You have returned with this thought. Now, this moment, where did this thought rise from? Individuality. This moment go back and see. Don't make any effort - it will drop by itself. Don't make any effort, don't think; it will drop by itself. Your longing will cease. My instruction will cease.
17 November, 1992
sâmbătă, 22 mai 2010
Practice and Non-Practice
Both practice and non-practice are false ideas. Abandon all discussions, discriminations, concepts from the mind and you will possess all the dharmas; and such-ness, thus-ness will possess you. Everything that you do thereafter will be in accordance to dharma and your karmas have ceased to function.
Like the Buddha, he may have practiced when he left his palace. He has gone to different centers, ashrams, teachers. He found that is not the way to be free. One after the other he went on rejecting, and the last one was: they were doing very severe penance, very severe penance they were doing, but even that he rejected - that was not the way to be free, he decides himself. So he went to Bodgaya. And I don't think the people attribute that he practiced meditation. I don't think it was a meditation. I think he was very free at that time. And he rose up. And it was Ananda who asked him, "Master, what's your experience?" He kept quiet. And this quietness is not yet understood. Why did not reply? He gets up and then he went round the bodhi tree and prostrating in ecstasy, you see, because he found freedom.
So likewise, if we practice we have already divided between us and reality. We have created a wall between truth and ourselves, and we have preconceived the result. When we sit for meditation already we have preconceived the result, the goal, the ideal which we are going to attain after sometime. So what we think has to happen, so that pre-concept is now postponement, and we are satisfied. Surely that's not going to be freedom, maybe a concept of freedom. Freedom is absolutely immaculate, free of any ideas, any notions. That's called Freedom, you see. Therefore by practice, if you practice and we win freedom, freedom is not the result of any practice, you see; because it is here and now. So whatever we attain after practice so it will be… it will be, you can say within… within the practice that we have attained freedom. So freedom cannot be held within any practice, you see. Because practice will lead you to something that can be attained which was not attained before. Can we achieve it? After practice. But freedom is not a concept, not an idea. Is already there before even you think and start practice, freedom was already there. So you created division when you practiced, you see. So freedom cannot be practiced. So when we give up the concept of freedom - absolutely no idea, no concept of anything to attain or achieve - then we are empty-minded. Now in the emptiness - in this emptiness, within the emptiness – there’ll be wave which will rise from within the emptiness - it’s not from your side - that will be calling you. You can call it source… source. And if you direct your mind towards this within the emptiness that will pull you to freedom, you see. So it needs some absolute purity, absolute purity, absolute devotion, absolute surrender to source - to freedom itself, you see. Without it, it's not going to happen.
Everywhere people are practicing. Everywhere practice is going on, in India and abroad. So there was one man who practiced; for number of years he was practicing and in the end what happened? One thought comes in his mind and he rose up and returned back to his previous habits, you see. So, you can't suppress it also. When the mind is there, "I want to be free." and if you practice it will not work. You have to wait for millions of years to win freedom. You have to wait. Its better to wait and not impose on you, "I have to be free this time." I see many people, "I want to be free. In different centers we have been practicing freedom." I don't believe with this kind of behavior with this kind of character, with this kind of relationship, how dare they can say, "We have been practicing freedom and enlightenment."
It’s a very different story, you see - few here, there. How many buddhas we have produced? This universe… how many buddhas have been produced by this universe? At any center everybody says, “We went there.” Millions. One teacher has millions of followers, you see, and everybody says, "We went for freedom." And they have been coming here in large numbers and saying, "We came for freedom." Everybody said to us, "We come for freedom." And they came squeezed, absolutely squeezed of their bodies, squeezed of their minds, and squeezed of their intellects. You have to be very healthy in mind, very healthy in body also. Perhaps there will be very helpful for you to decide, "I want to be free." with the force of your previous karmas. And then you have to sit quiet. A monkey cannot sit quiet, surely not! His habits have to be abandoned. Mind is monkey, you see. How it can keep quiet, your see? So in satsang, this monkey can be trained - the monkeys can be trained. But it is the satsang, in the satsang, come to satsang and don't indulge for sometime. Keep quiet.
After all we are not doing any gymnastics here. And not therapies are working here, as most of you have been doing - coming for freedom, lost in the therapies. How you can claim that we are in this ashram to win freedom? Don't deceive your Self. You can deceive others, you can deceive yourself, but you cannot deceive you own Self within. So you have got to be honest. If there is time for you to be free, come to satsang. Otherwise enjoy the world, enjoy the garden. This world is enough for those who are thirsty of sensual pleasure. Enjoy as best as you can for millions of years, you see. So if you're fed up with this, come here - sit quiet - and it doesn't take time.
Freedom is already there, you see. You have only to know that you are free. You have never been bound. It was the desire, "I want this.” and “I want that." that you have to abandon. And see… after this see, if you abandon this desire and then if the result is not good return back to the world. It's always there. When you are not quiet there is world. When you are quiet, if you don't like return back - if you like, stay on.
If you stay on you will see and you will notice for the first time that it never existed - nothing ever existed - before, now and later. This is the ultimate truth that you have to be told. When you see any form there is falsehood. What you have to do? If you simply get rid of one thing - just form - for one instant of time you just abandon the concept of form from your mind - for one second - and see if you are not happy. And form is falsehood. Where there's a form there's falsehood, you see. And all forms are seen in ignorance; and in wisdom there's no form, in light there is no form. So there's no pressure on you. Do as you like.
Okay… Namaskar.
1 October, 1992
Like the Buddha, he may have practiced when he left his palace. He has gone to different centers, ashrams, teachers. He found that is not the way to be free. One after the other he went on rejecting, and the last one was: they were doing very severe penance, very severe penance they were doing, but even that he rejected - that was not the way to be free, he decides himself. So he went to Bodgaya. And I don't think the people attribute that he practiced meditation. I don't think it was a meditation. I think he was very free at that time. And he rose up. And it was Ananda who asked him, "Master, what's your experience?" He kept quiet. And this quietness is not yet understood. Why did not reply? He gets up and then he went round the bodhi tree and prostrating in ecstasy, you see, because he found freedom.
So likewise, if we practice we have already divided between us and reality. We have created a wall between truth and ourselves, and we have preconceived the result. When we sit for meditation already we have preconceived the result, the goal, the ideal which we are going to attain after sometime. So what we think has to happen, so that pre-concept is now postponement, and we are satisfied. Surely that's not going to be freedom, maybe a concept of freedom. Freedom is absolutely immaculate, free of any ideas, any notions. That's called Freedom, you see. Therefore by practice, if you practice and we win freedom, freedom is not the result of any practice, you see; because it is here and now. So whatever we attain after practice so it will be… it will be, you can say within… within the practice that we have attained freedom. So freedom cannot be held within any practice, you see. Because practice will lead you to something that can be attained which was not attained before. Can we achieve it? After practice. But freedom is not a concept, not an idea. Is already there before even you think and start practice, freedom was already there. So you created division when you practiced, you see. So freedom cannot be practiced. So when we give up the concept of freedom - absolutely no idea, no concept of anything to attain or achieve - then we are empty-minded. Now in the emptiness - in this emptiness, within the emptiness – there’ll be wave which will rise from within the emptiness - it’s not from your side - that will be calling you. You can call it source… source. And if you direct your mind towards this within the emptiness that will pull you to freedom, you see. So it needs some absolute purity, absolute purity, absolute devotion, absolute surrender to source - to freedom itself, you see. Without it, it's not going to happen.
Everywhere people are practicing. Everywhere practice is going on, in India and abroad. So there was one man who practiced; for number of years he was practicing and in the end what happened? One thought comes in his mind and he rose up and returned back to his previous habits, you see. So, you can't suppress it also. When the mind is there, "I want to be free." and if you practice it will not work. You have to wait for millions of years to win freedom. You have to wait. Its better to wait and not impose on you, "I have to be free this time." I see many people, "I want to be free. In different centers we have been practicing freedom." I don't believe with this kind of behavior with this kind of character, with this kind of relationship, how dare they can say, "We have been practicing freedom and enlightenment."
It’s a very different story, you see - few here, there. How many buddhas we have produced? This universe… how many buddhas have been produced by this universe? At any center everybody says, “We went there.” Millions. One teacher has millions of followers, you see, and everybody says, "We went for freedom." And they have been coming here in large numbers and saying, "We came for freedom." Everybody said to us, "We come for freedom." And they came squeezed, absolutely squeezed of their bodies, squeezed of their minds, and squeezed of their intellects. You have to be very healthy in mind, very healthy in body also. Perhaps there will be very helpful for you to decide, "I want to be free." with the force of your previous karmas. And then you have to sit quiet. A monkey cannot sit quiet, surely not! His habits have to be abandoned. Mind is monkey, you see. How it can keep quiet, your see? So in satsang, this monkey can be trained - the monkeys can be trained. But it is the satsang, in the satsang, come to satsang and don't indulge for sometime. Keep quiet.
After all we are not doing any gymnastics here. And not therapies are working here, as most of you have been doing - coming for freedom, lost in the therapies. How you can claim that we are in this ashram to win freedom? Don't deceive your Self. You can deceive others, you can deceive yourself, but you cannot deceive you own Self within. So you have got to be honest. If there is time for you to be free, come to satsang. Otherwise enjoy the world, enjoy the garden. This world is enough for those who are thirsty of sensual pleasure. Enjoy as best as you can for millions of years, you see. So if you're fed up with this, come here - sit quiet - and it doesn't take time.
Freedom is already there, you see. You have only to know that you are free. You have never been bound. It was the desire, "I want this.” and “I want that." that you have to abandon. And see… after this see, if you abandon this desire and then if the result is not good return back to the world. It's always there. When you are not quiet there is world. When you are quiet, if you don't like return back - if you like, stay on.
If you stay on you will see and you will notice for the first time that it never existed - nothing ever existed - before, now and later. This is the ultimate truth that you have to be told. When you see any form there is falsehood. What you have to do? If you simply get rid of one thing - just form - for one instant of time you just abandon the concept of form from your mind - for one second - and see if you are not happy. And form is falsehood. Where there's a form there's falsehood, you see. And all forms are seen in ignorance; and in wisdom there's no form, in light there is no form. So there's no pressure on you. Do as you like.
Okay… Namaskar.
1 October, 1992
vineri, 21 mai 2010
Death
We are going to speak: What is death? Fear of death? There are beings, bodies everywhere - under the water, under the ground, over the earth, in the air. They cannot be counted - billions, trillions of bodies. All have to die. And this death is after each body. Even after death and this death is following this body; even after, death will bring another body and then again death. That's repeated for millions and millions of years unless you remove this fear of death.
Because what is body? Earth, water, fire, air - that's all. This is the body and these are the elements outside also. Somehow integration has taken place of earth, water, fire, air; and then you have to disintegrate at the time of death. So if we realize it, always understand it – “These are the elements, but I am not the elements. I am not this body. I am not perishable. I am imperishable – Brahman”. Then perhaps you have solved this problem once and for all and you will not wear this body once again.
And how to do it? First of all, when you have found conviction of ‘I’ don't talk of reality. When you speak: “I am this ‘I’.” When you use, “I am this ‘I’." and you have firm conviction of ‘I’ - and this ‘I’ is identified with the body - don't talk of enlightenment, freedom or reality or truth or bliss or ananda whatsoever. It's not possible. And this ‘I’ is universe, bondage. When ‘I’ arises the universe arises, the bondage arises. And when there is no ‘I’ - no concept of ‘I’ - that's called freedom.
So how to get rid of this concept of ‘I’? There are various ways described in the book of knowledge, Upanishads, sutras also. So everybody says, “I am ...” everybody says, “I am so and so, you are so and so, he is so and so, and this is the world.” No one ever questions, "What am I? Where do I come from? Where do I return to? What is the purpose of my coming here? What have I done?" So this question is never asked. "Who am I?" is never asked. So you have to question, "Who am I?" And then you have to search for its answer by yourself here and now. And this is going to free you.
And through yoga also you can do it. Just with the count of eight breaths - inhaling, exhaling - just for 8 times. How much time it takes? One minute you have 16 breaths, one minute - just half a minute and you are free. How? During these 8 inhalings or exhalings do not associate with any object and you are free. You can do it here and now. Just for 8 counts of your inhalings, no association with any object and you are free. Freedom is here and now, always, everywhere. You have been postponing for millions of years because of vasanas - "I want this, I want that. I am attached to this person, and that person is very much attached to me." This is all and this is called the cycle of birth and death, and this is universe, and this is bondage, suffering. And actually it doesn't exist - only vasana.
There is no difference between vasana and samsara. Vasana is, "I want this." That's all. When you don't give rise to simply, "I want this or that." Where is samsara; where has it gone to? So this vasana is samsara, and this vasana is time, this vasana is mind - which is past. Samsara is past. Mind is past. Vasana is past.
So we have never looked into this present moment, not ever. We have never tried it. We have never been told, no one ever taught us, what is Presence.
We speak always of past and future. Everywhere there is a talk of past and future. Who could speak of this presence? And this presence, this present instant is called freedom, enlightenment, wisdom, bliss. And you can do it without any effort, here and now. Without any effort and without starting any thought either. No thinking. So simple it is. And this simplicity has not been recognized therefore we have to suffer endlessly.
Even this suffering does not exist. As in the dream where we are attacked by robbers… attacked by robbers, and we are suffering. They are threatening us with revolvers in hand so we want some help… nobody helps. What can anybody do? So there comes a tiger - a roar of the tiger! The robbers run away, fearing their own death. And with the roar of the tiger this man who was attacked by the robbers wakes up… wakes up, you see. Now where are the robbers? Where is the fear? Where is the tiger? Where is the suffering? In the dream everything was there. There were robbers, fear, tiger. Everything was dream visions, illusions, hallucinations. But on waking up, nothing existed.
Likewise, the same is the case here. There is no difference at all. So you are all sleeping, and when we dream we must have previously slept. Before we must have been sleeping, then in the sleep we dream. In the dream we see objects - sleep, dream, objects, you see. So when we see objects we are dreaming. When we are dreaming we are sleeping. So here also, when we see objects we are dreaming and we are sleeping. Wake up! What is this wake-up now? Is the roar of the tiger that made you wake up from the dream, from the sleep, like this thing? When you want to be free, "I want to be free!" is the roar of the tiger.
First of all, no one wants to be free and this is a fact. No one wants to be free. Some fear is there. They need some help. Go and join meditation retreats. Go to some teachers for some help. Help to solve their problems, not for freedom. Who? Who comes for freedom, first of all?
We are 6 billion people tonight. How many are there? How many buddhas? How many enlightened people have we produced for quite billions of years now? Because we don't want freedom we want to enjoy, and this enjoyment, and this enjoyment. Each time is taking away from us; then again we make up our mind. The desires unfulfilled are waiting will give us next birth to enjoy the same; again not fulfilled. Whose desires are fulfilled? Not even the emperors have fulfilled their desires, not even the kings. Nobody has fulfilled their desires. So each man thinks, "I will fulfill my desires." and later on no one speaks of freedom at all. Some fear there, perhaps no one wants freedom.
And this is a fact, because he who wants freedom has to be free in the same moment when he wants to be free. Because the wave rises from the ocean, is the ocean, within the ocean - not separate. So when the desire for freedom arises it arises from Freedom itself, from Self itself, and is the Self itself, you see. If it is an ocean there has to be a wave not separate from the ocean itself. And in the desert if it arises it's a mirage. In the desert also there are waves. People run after it to have a soothing bath, swim in that. So that also is a river with waves but it is not real. It was not there in the morning neither in the evening, only for some time it is there. So this pleasure is for sometime. Just in the waking state or in the dream state that you can enjoy is not abiding, is not permanent, is not eternal peace. And after having enjoyed and found peace, you want to run for something else. So it's not peace at all.
Peace - once attained - you are peace itself. So when you run here, there, it is something else; it is sensual pleasure, not peace, not bliss - sensual pleasure because it is the nature of the mind. Having enjoyed one thing it wants something else and then something else, and this is called samsara.
So if you desire freedom make up your mind, if not today maybe at the end of this life if not next life. Don't postpone it. This postponement is called samsara. Samsara means postponement. And if you stand on your toes and decide, "I want to be free." who can stop it, first of all? Decide once and for all: “I have to be free.” Because freedom is within and when you say, "I want to be free." who speaks? Who is it that wants to be free? From where does it rise? Even this desire - I want to be free - where does it rise from? Where does it stand? Where does it subside to?
Just you have to understand this thing: You have not to go anywhere. Even you have not to desire anything. Only just understand that you are not bound. “I am suffering, I am bound,” you have heard from someone else. It's not real experience. You find out yourself. This suffering, this death, these tensions, you have heard from someone else; it's not your experience. Because when you sleep all what you have heard, of what you have read, is not there; and you are happy even in sleep, though this is ignorant state. You are happy because all that you have read or heard, experienced, and tasted and smelled and seen is no more there, and you are happy. So if you free yourself of what you have seen, smelled, heard, tasted or touched, just for one second - maybe half of the second, maybe half of the half will do. That's how, you see.
What is… I remember just now in this context, Ekentari. I will translate Hadigari:
Adi se puni aab. Sungabetide sadu ki, botukatain abrad.
So he says,
One instant or one second, half of the second, half of the half of the second.
If you associate with a saint, a perfect teacher; perhaps you are all the kalpas,
but all the bondages are completed, severed away and you are free.
That's what Goswamitutishida says. And Kabir also says the same thing, you see. He also says,
Chetiter, manter, boditer.
He was an illiterate man. Kabir was illiterate. He says that, I have never touched ink on the paper, nor have I held pen in my hand.” That's what he says - that was his education.
Chetiter, manter, buditer, isfalavsherid.
Batche, batche halfkerain, kahat Kabir Kabir.
So he says - I will translate:
Do not start a thought in your mind. Keep your intellect quiet.
Chetiter - mind - also quiet. Senses also quiet. And then enlightenment itself will be calling you from behind. Enlightenment itself will be inviting you from, “Dain ohkabir - Wait, I am following you.” That is how it happened.
So don't start a thought, one single thought. Don't discriminate between this and that, and no mentation, and one second, half second, half of the half. How could it be difficult now? It is difficult for those who are yet attached to something more precious than their own Self - more precious, more beautiful, more worth acquiring than your own wisdom, than Self, than eternity, than bliss. Therefore how can they ask for freedom? So he who wants - whatever he wants - he is drawn by that particular object, you see. So wherever your attachment is, wherever the object of your attachment is, there you are. Doesn't matter where you are; you may be in satsang.
29 September, 1992
Because what is body? Earth, water, fire, air - that's all. This is the body and these are the elements outside also. Somehow integration has taken place of earth, water, fire, air; and then you have to disintegrate at the time of death. So if we realize it, always understand it – “These are the elements, but I am not the elements. I am not this body. I am not perishable. I am imperishable – Brahman”. Then perhaps you have solved this problem once and for all and you will not wear this body once again.
And how to do it? First of all, when you have found conviction of ‘I’ don't talk of reality. When you speak: “I am this ‘I’.” When you use, “I am this ‘I’." and you have firm conviction of ‘I’ - and this ‘I’ is identified with the body - don't talk of enlightenment, freedom or reality or truth or bliss or ananda whatsoever. It's not possible. And this ‘I’ is universe, bondage. When ‘I’ arises the universe arises, the bondage arises. And when there is no ‘I’ - no concept of ‘I’ - that's called freedom.
So how to get rid of this concept of ‘I’? There are various ways described in the book of knowledge, Upanishads, sutras also. So everybody says, “I am ...” everybody says, “I am so and so, you are so and so, he is so and so, and this is the world.” No one ever questions, "What am I? Where do I come from? Where do I return to? What is the purpose of my coming here? What have I done?" So this question is never asked. "Who am I?" is never asked. So you have to question, "Who am I?" And then you have to search for its answer by yourself here and now. And this is going to free you.
And through yoga also you can do it. Just with the count of eight breaths - inhaling, exhaling - just for 8 times. How much time it takes? One minute you have 16 breaths, one minute - just half a minute and you are free. How? During these 8 inhalings or exhalings do not associate with any object and you are free. You can do it here and now. Just for 8 counts of your inhalings, no association with any object and you are free. Freedom is here and now, always, everywhere. You have been postponing for millions of years because of vasanas - "I want this, I want that. I am attached to this person, and that person is very much attached to me." This is all and this is called the cycle of birth and death, and this is universe, and this is bondage, suffering. And actually it doesn't exist - only vasana.
There is no difference between vasana and samsara. Vasana is, "I want this." That's all. When you don't give rise to simply, "I want this or that." Where is samsara; where has it gone to? So this vasana is samsara, and this vasana is time, this vasana is mind - which is past. Samsara is past. Mind is past. Vasana is past.
So we have never looked into this present moment, not ever. We have never tried it. We have never been told, no one ever taught us, what is Presence.
We speak always of past and future. Everywhere there is a talk of past and future. Who could speak of this presence? And this presence, this present instant is called freedom, enlightenment, wisdom, bliss. And you can do it without any effort, here and now. Without any effort and without starting any thought either. No thinking. So simple it is. And this simplicity has not been recognized therefore we have to suffer endlessly.
Even this suffering does not exist. As in the dream where we are attacked by robbers… attacked by robbers, and we are suffering. They are threatening us with revolvers in hand so we want some help… nobody helps. What can anybody do? So there comes a tiger - a roar of the tiger! The robbers run away, fearing their own death. And with the roar of the tiger this man who was attacked by the robbers wakes up… wakes up, you see. Now where are the robbers? Where is the fear? Where is the tiger? Where is the suffering? In the dream everything was there. There were robbers, fear, tiger. Everything was dream visions, illusions, hallucinations. But on waking up, nothing existed.
Likewise, the same is the case here. There is no difference at all. So you are all sleeping, and when we dream we must have previously slept. Before we must have been sleeping, then in the sleep we dream. In the dream we see objects - sleep, dream, objects, you see. So when we see objects we are dreaming. When we are dreaming we are sleeping. So here also, when we see objects we are dreaming and we are sleeping. Wake up! What is this wake-up now? Is the roar of the tiger that made you wake up from the dream, from the sleep, like this thing? When you want to be free, "I want to be free!" is the roar of the tiger.
First of all, no one wants to be free and this is a fact. No one wants to be free. Some fear is there. They need some help. Go and join meditation retreats. Go to some teachers for some help. Help to solve their problems, not for freedom. Who? Who comes for freedom, first of all?
We are 6 billion people tonight. How many are there? How many buddhas? How many enlightened people have we produced for quite billions of years now? Because we don't want freedom we want to enjoy, and this enjoyment, and this enjoyment. Each time is taking away from us; then again we make up our mind. The desires unfulfilled are waiting will give us next birth to enjoy the same; again not fulfilled. Whose desires are fulfilled? Not even the emperors have fulfilled their desires, not even the kings. Nobody has fulfilled their desires. So each man thinks, "I will fulfill my desires." and later on no one speaks of freedom at all. Some fear there, perhaps no one wants freedom.
And this is a fact, because he who wants freedom has to be free in the same moment when he wants to be free. Because the wave rises from the ocean, is the ocean, within the ocean - not separate. So when the desire for freedom arises it arises from Freedom itself, from Self itself, and is the Self itself, you see. If it is an ocean there has to be a wave not separate from the ocean itself. And in the desert if it arises it's a mirage. In the desert also there are waves. People run after it to have a soothing bath, swim in that. So that also is a river with waves but it is not real. It was not there in the morning neither in the evening, only for some time it is there. So this pleasure is for sometime. Just in the waking state or in the dream state that you can enjoy is not abiding, is not permanent, is not eternal peace. And after having enjoyed and found peace, you want to run for something else. So it's not peace at all.
Peace - once attained - you are peace itself. So when you run here, there, it is something else; it is sensual pleasure, not peace, not bliss - sensual pleasure because it is the nature of the mind. Having enjoyed one thing it wants something else and then something else, and this is called samsara.
So if you desire freedom make up your mind, if not today maybe at the end of this life if not next life. Don't postpone it. This postponement is called samsara. Samsara means postponement. And if you stand on your toes and decide, "I want to be free." who can stop it, first of all? Decide once and for all: “I have to be free.” Because freedom is within and when you say, "I want to be free." who speaks? Who is it that wants to be free? From where does it rise? Even this desire - I want to be free - where does it rise from? Where does it stand? Where does it subside to?
Just you have to understand this thing: You have not to go anywhere. Even you have not to desire anything. Only just understand that you are not bound. “I am suffering, I am bound,” you have heard from someone else. It's not real experience. You find out yourself. This suffering, this death, these tensions, you have heard from someone else; it's not your experience. Because when you sleep all what you have heard, of what you have read, is not there; and you are happy even in sleep, though this is ignorant state. You are happy because all that you have read or heard, experienced, and tasted and smelled and seen is no more there, and you are happy. So if you free yourself of what you have seen, smelled, heard, tasted or touched, just for one second - maybe half of the second, maybe half of the half will do. That's how, you see.
What is… I remember just now in this context, Ekentari. I will translate Hadigari:
Adi se puni aab. Sungabetide sadu ki, botukatain abrad.
So he says,
One instant or one second, half of the second, half of the half of the second.
If you associate with a saint, a perfect teacher; perhaps you are all the kalpas,
but all the bondages are completed, severed away and you are free.
That's what Goswamitutishida says. And Kabir also says the same thing, you see. He also says,
Chetiter, manter, boditer.
He was an illiterate man. Kabir was illiterate. He says that, I have never touched ink on the paper, nor have I held pen in my hand.” That's what he says - that was his education.
Chetiter, manter, buditer, isfalavsherid.
Batche, batche halfkerain, kahat Kabir Kabir.
So he says - I will translate:
Do not start a thought in your mind. Keep your intellect quiet.
Chetiter - mind - also quiet. Senses also quiet. And then enlightenment itself will be calling you from behind. Enlightenment itself will be inviting you from, “Dain ohkabir - Wait, I am following you.” That is how it happened.
So don't start a thought, one single thought. Don't discriminate between this and that, and no mentation, and one second, half second, half of the half. How could it be difficult now? It is difficult for those who are yet attached to something more precious than their own Self - more precious, more beautiful, more worth acquiring than your own wisdom, than Self, than eternity, than bliss. Therefore how can they ask for freedom? So he who wants - whatever he wants - he is drawn by that particular object, you see. So wherever your attachment is, wherever the object of your attachment is, there you are. Doesn't matter where you are; you may be in satsang.
29 September, 1992
The Desires Are Dancing
The desires are dancing. Let us see this dance. This universe is only the dance of desires.
Whatever your desires are, they manifest as objects so you can enjoy this dance. Your own desires are dancing in this samsara, in whatever you see in this manifestation, in all these objects. The rise of this everlasting dance depends upon ignorance. Samsara is just ignorance. We observe this dance because of ignorance. How is it possible to get rid of this dance? Objects attract the mind and we run after these objects - we run after our projections. Then the mind joins company with these objects, with this dance, and forgets how to wake up. This drama and this dance can only end when the sun rises. When the sun rises this drama will be over. This sun is inquiry - vichar. When the sun of vichar rises in your mind this drama immediately ends there, and it can not end otherwise. We have come here for freedom only; to end this drama. Therefore again and again we are coming and going. We forget why we came and we get lost in the enjoyment of the senses.
I remember a story. There was a king who had no issue, no son. He was getting old so he decided to adopt a prince to succeed him as the king after his death. He fixed a date with his sentries that on a particular day the gates of the palace would be open from eight in the morning till eight at night. The king would be seated in the palace and he would conduct interviews to find the most suitable person to be chosen as his prince. So on this day the gates were opened and people went inside. Everybody was allowed to enter and see the king in person.
When the gates are opened to see the king you have to be looking your best. So a very good shower-bath was arranged for everyone who entered the palace and then there were all kinds of perfumes for them to use. Then there was a place with many different kinds of very expensive dresses. You should be well dressed to see the king, so you could choose your own clothes from a huge variety of different kinds of gold and silver gowns and dresses. Then some lunch was arranged, to be well fed before seeing the king. And then there was music and then dancing. After all this you are ready to see the king - you are fully satisfied.
Some people who were entering the palace were very fond of showers, so they spent their time in the sauna and taking different kinds of baths and showers. Some were fond of perfumes, so they were trying out all the different perfumes that were there. Some were busy with all the different kinds of dresses. Some were gluttons; they were very fond of eating and drinking, so they were trying all the different varieties of food and different dishes which were there. Here in India when food is served there are a hundred and one types of dishes in a good lunch, and everything was included here. After lunch there was music and then dancing. Everything was provided beautifully by the king.
The time was getting close to eight o'clock so a siren alerted everyone to get ready to leave. The people who were fond of perfumes had collected bottles and had filled their bags with those perfumes. Those who were fond of food had taken something for their wives and other relations and friends; they were packing food to take away. Those who were fond of dresses were carrying bundles of dresses on their shoulders. Some were listening to the music, some were dancing. The sentries of the palace told them, "Now your time is up. You have to leave. You're not allowed to take anything away with you. You were supposed to only eat and to use the perfumes here and enjoy the music." But people were so engaged, "Oh let me sit a little longer. It's such nice music." Those who were dancing said, "Please let us have some more time for dancing. We cannot leave this company." But nothing was allowed. They were all pushed out of the gate. The time was 8 p.m.
The king called his secretary and asked, "What happened? No came to me for an interview. What happened? Did you open the gates?" "Yes, yes, the gate was open for twelve hours," replied the secretary. "How is it that no one has come to see me?" asked the king. "They were engaged in their own luxuries and needs," came the reply. "We do not know if anyone went to see you or not."
Samsara is exactly like this. No one went to see the king. If someone had gone and had been accepted everything would have belonged to him. It is not allowed to take anything away from this. We came here to see the king but we got lost in luxuries, in fulfillment of desires. When the time comes for the gates to be closed we will not be able to carry anything with us. The king is waiting but no one goes. This dance drama is exactly like that. We came here to meet the king and sit on the throne, but we forgot why we came and we got lost in infinite distractions.
Palaces, you see, many palaces are here in India. You can go to Delhi, Jaipur and other places. You see how comfortably the kings wanted to live. And they are lying there… they are lying there dead. Nobody could recreate permanency, and they had diamonds. The kings had everything. No one could take anything, you see. Even the greatest conqueror of the world, Alexander, who had conquered three fourths of the world; only China was left, you see… China was left. But due to some sickness he had to go back to Greece. On the way he died. That's a long story, how he went back. It's a long story I have told you already. He met some yogi and told this yogi, "I am going. I am waiting for the monsoons. After the end of the monsoons I will cross the river Jilam (since Punjab had already been conquered by him) and then I will proceed to China." That was his intention.
And then there was one yogi who was sitting at the bank of river Jilam, meditating. Alexander had never seen anybody in this posture, sitting day and night. So some of his army men informed Alexander, "There is one man who is always sitting like this thing, not moving." Alexander said, "Okay, you bring him to me. I will ask him what is this, what is he doing." And they took one interpreter. They shook the yogi and asked him, "The king of this land, Alexander the Great, wants to see you. You please come." He says, "The tradition of this country, the tradition of India is, whosoever wants to see someone, it is he who should go to the other person. I don't need to see him. If he needs to see me let him come and see me."
That's what he said. So they said, “Okay, he has to be forcefully removed. So some five, six people tried to lift him by hands and feet, to take him to the camp where Alexander was staying. And then a man who was carrying him by the hand, the hand came out of the body; the feet, the leg came out of the body and the body rested on the ground and they were taking only legs; and they were afraid and they threw the body parts and ran away. This… this has happened.
Now Alexander himself opted to come and see this man, and again he was sitting like this thing. Because of Alexander's teacher, a disciple of Socrates, you see, who told him, "When you go to India you will see some yogi." He was not happy with his teacher. (Tutor he was, you see.) He was not happy because when he told his tutor, "I want to conquer the whole world," the tutor replied, "You conquer the mind. You conquer the mind and everything is conquered." Alexander said, "You are stupid," and he put him into prison.
"Okay. When you go to India please see some saint… some saint in India, and bring me Gita from this country - Gita, book of knowledge - and a part of Ganga water." That was what he wanted. "Okay, I will do that." So this was the first instant he saw this yogi, so he goes there. The yogi is sitting and Alexander is standing with his army generals, you see.
"Who are you?" "I am Alexander, from Greece." "What for you are here?"
"I have conquered all Europe; now I have to conquer India. Because of the monsoon this river is in spate, so I am waiting for the river to come down and then I will go to China." That's what he said.
"Listen, listen my dear boy. In twenty days you have to leave this world. That's how it will be." Alexander said, "Let him be arrested." because he was very young. At that time thirty-three years old. "Let him be arrested, but may be true anyway. My mother told me, 'When you're sick, you feel that your death is coming near, you come to your own country and die.'" you see.
So then he goes on very fast horses to reach Greece. On the way at Barbarun, I think that's where, he has a very simple diarrhea. He is dying, and the generals ask, "What is your will? What is your last will?" He says, "Keep my hands out of my… out of the coffin so that the people will know I am not carrying anything with me."
That's what his desire was. And this monarch, Alexander the Great, had to leave this drama empty-handed. So coming to the point, as long as your vasanas are dancing, samsara is going to stay forever. You can't have rest with this dance - you cannot have rest. Who is there in the world, from king to a worker, who says, "I am happy, I am in peace?" No one will tell you, you see. Even if you may be king, no one is happy, you see. Now also you go around and see different countries and the heads of the countries, how happy they are, you see. Tension. So only one thing will help you to be happy, that is to check this vasana, check this vasana, check this desire for enjoyment, and perhaps you will have the highest degree of enjoyment if you check your desire. If you don't give rise to desire you will have utmost peace, love and beauty you will see for the first time, and even with your desire something what happens? In desire also, it is the end of desire that gives us peace.
Supposing you need something. "I need a new model car. So I am not happy because I want to have one, so I go to look at it. I have no money so I borrow money from the bank, from friends. Now the car is in front of my house." You are happy. Has the iron given you this happiness? Or the rubber tires? Or the benzene? What has given you happiness? Because the desire to have the new model Toyota is now over. So then this desire is gone then you are happy. So for all - every desire, in every case, you see - it is not the object that you desire. Having that object will give you happiness only because your desire has ended. After the desire has ended and that emptiness is giving you happiness, you see.
If you know it was the emptiness, it is the desireless-ness, thoughtless-ness that gave me happiness, why not have this happiness here and now by not giving rise to a thought? Any thought, you see. First thought is, "I am the body, I am mind, I am intellect, I am senses." So even this: If you don't give rise to thought… and then you have to know how to do it also - inquire. There can be no any other method, maybe yoga, or anything else, even going to the pilgrimages, or chanting the formulas, meditating, practices - nothing is going to help you. Only you have to inquire at the root of the first thought. That is, we every day speak about I-thought, you see, so this ‘I’ and samsara. There is no difference, you see. To create samsara there must be rise of ‘I’. Then only you see samsara. And when you don't give rise to this I-thought… in the sleep there is no samsara, no objects, no birth, no death, nothing ever, you see. So this ‘I’ itself, just ‘I’ is samsara.
To get rid of all this sorrows and troubles and miseries and what is called cycle of birth and death, for kalpas it has to stay - it is going to stay, mind you, billions of years. This samsara is there billions of years. Eighty-five billion years is the age of this samsara, according to last results. Eighty-five billion years, but these billions of years are also a concept only, you see, is also a concept. Only with the rise of the ‘I’ you count billions of years. When you don't give rise to simply ‘I’ there are no billions and no millions, because this mind instantly will create past, present, future, and this bondage is mind only, you see. So anyone who desires, he can stop it here and now, and those who want to play, they are very, very welcome to play and dance a dance. If they're happy let them dance. But I don't think - no gods are even happy in this, no god even is happy.
You sit quiet, you make a try. If not for long, for few minutes you spend and see - just for a minute, you see. Sit quiet - don't give rise to thought and first of all you see what's going to happen. So listening is not going to help you. Immediately you have to get into it. You have to be… be it.
And this happiness is your nature. Consciousness is your nature. Existence is your nature. Love is your nature. Peace is your nature, you see. So you can do whatever you want. So the sages, they suggest to be happy. We have to get rid of vasanas, you see. Enough of the vasanas, you see. Millions of years we have spent with the vasanas and we have been troubled, and now we have a very beautiful human incarnation, very good intention – bromjignasa - very good intention. What more you need? "Now I want to be free." Very good, excellent vasana. So you are most lucky, merits are great, therefore you are here in satsang, and I don't think you will lose anything, and or gain anything.
You will return to your own kingdom which is your birthright - not to suffer suffering. We simply imagine that there is suffering because we want to play with the projections of our own mind. We want to have swim into the mirage, hallucination, illusion. So once we decide, "I want to be free." it's enough. “I want to be free.” This decision has to be very firm decision, as firm as this universe is real. Firm decision, firm conviction, “This is real,” you see. So we have this kind of firmness in our Now. Very new desire, "I want to be free." This desire we did not desire, you see, previously; and now we are here because we have decided to be free this time. Therefore, my dear friends, decide once and for all that we are here and freedom is our right.
And we have to win it - just doing nothing, just to get rid of this one vasana - one vasana - get rid of one vasana only: "I want this." That's all. “I want this.” And perhaps if you don't give rise to this vasana everything will be added onto you. Even if you don't want, it will be offered to you. The kingdom of three universes will be offered to you… so?
Om shanti.
18 September, 1992
Whatever your desires are, they manifest as objects so you can enjoy this dance. Your own desires are dancing in this samsara, in whatever you see in this manifestation, in all these objects. The rise of this everlasting dance depends upon ignorance. Samsara is just ignorance. We observe this dance because of ignorance. How is it possible to get rid of this dance? Objects attract the mind and we run after these objects - we run after our projections. Then the mind joins company with these objects, with this dance, and forgets how to wake up. This drama and this dance can only end when the sun rises. When the sun rises this drama will be over. This sun is inquiry - vichar. When the sun of vichar rises in your mind this drama immediately ends there, and it can not end otherwise. We have come here for freedom only; to end this drama. Therefore again and again we are coming and going. We forget why we came and we get lost in the enjoyment of the senses.
I remember a story. There was a king who had no issue, no son. He was getting old so he decided to adopt a prince to succeed him as the king after his death. He fixed a date with his sentries that on a particular day the gates of the palace would be open from eight in the morning till eight at night. The king would be seated in the palace and he would conduct interviews to find the most suitable person to be chosen as his prince. So on this day the gates were opened and people went inside. Everybody was allowed to enter and see the king in person.
When the gates are opened to see the king you have to be looking your best. So a very good shower-bath was arranged for everyone who entered the palace and then there were all kinds of perfumes for them to use. Then there was a place with many different kinds of very expensive dresses. You should be well dressed to see the king, so you could choose your own clothes from a huge variety of different kinds of gold and silver gowns and dresses. Then some lunch was arranged, to be well fed before seeing the king. And then there was music and then dancing. After all this you are ready to see the king - you are fully satisfied.
Some people who were entering the palace were very fond of showers, so they spent their time in the sauna and taking different kinds of baths and showers. Some were fond of perfumes, so they were trying out all the different perfumes that were there. Some were busy with all the different kinds of dresses. Some were gluttons; they were very fond of eating and drinking, so they were trying all the different varieties of food and different dishes which were there. Here in India when food is served there are a hundred and one types of dishes in a good lunch, and everything was included here. After lunch there was music and then dancing. Everything was provided beautifully by the king.
The time was getting close to eight o'clock so a siren alerted everyone to get ready to leave. The people who were fond of perfumes had collected bottles and had filled their bags with those perfumes. Those who were fond of food had taken something for their wives and other relations and friends; they were packing food to take away. Those who were fond of dresses were carrying bundles of dresses on their shoulders. Some were listening to the music, some were dancing. The sentries of the palace told them, "Now your time is up. You have to leave. You're not allowed to take anything away with you. You were supposed to only eat and to use the perfumes here and enjoy the music." But people were so engaged, "Oh let me sit a little longer. It's such nice music." Those who were dancing said, "Please let us have some more time for dancing. We cannot leave this company." But nothing was allowed. They were all pushed out of the gate. The time was 8 p.m.
The king called his secretary and asked, "What happened? No came to me for an interview. What happened? Did you open the gates?" "Yes, yes, the gate was open for twelve hours," replied the secretary. "How is it that no one has come to see me?" asked the king. "They were engaged in their own luxuries and needs," came the reply. "We do not know if anyone went to see you or not."
Samsara is exactly like this. No one went to see the king. If someone had gone and had been accepted everything would have belonged to him. It is not allowed to take anything away from this. We came here to see the king but we got lost in luxuries, in fulfillment of desires. When the time comes for the gates to be closed we will not be able to carry anything with us. The king is waiting but no one goes. This dance drama is exactly like that. We came here to meet the king and sit on the throne, but we forgot why we came and we got lost in infinite distractions.
Palaces, you see, many palaces are here in India. You can go to Delhi, Jaipur and other places. You see how comfortably the kings wanted to live. And they are lying there… they are lying there dead. Nobody could recreate permanency, and they had diamonds. The kings had everything. No one could take anything, you see. Even the greatest conqueror of the world, Alexander, who had conquered three fourths of the world; only China was left, you see… China was left. But due to some sickness he had to go back to Greece. On the way he died. That's a long story, how he went back. It's a long story I have told you already. He met some yogi and told this yogi, "I am going. I am waiting for the monsoons. After the end of the monsoons I will cross the river Jilam (since Punjab had already been conquered by him) and then I will proceed to China." That was his intention.
And then there was one yogi who was sitting at the bank of river Jilam, meditating. Alexander had never seen anybody in this posture, sitting day and night. So some of his army men informed Alexander, "There is one man who is always sitting like this thing, not moving." Alexander said, "Okay, you bring him to me. I will ask him what is this, what is he doing." And they took one interpreter. They shook the yogi and asked him, "The king of this land, Alexander the Great, wants to see you. You please come." He says, "The tradition of this country, the tradition of India is, whosoever wants to see someone, it is he who should go to the other person. I don't need to see him. If he needs to see me let him come and see me."
That's what he said. So they said, “Okay, he has to be forcefully removed. So some five, six people tried to lift him by hands and feet, to take him to the camp where Alexander was staying. And then a man who was carrying him by the hand, the hand came out of the body; the feet, the leg came out of the body and the body rested on the ground and they were taking only legs; and they were afraid and they threw the body parts and ran away. This… this has happened.
Now Alexander himself opted to come and see this man, and again he was sitting like this thing. Because of Alexander's teacher, a disciple of Socrates, you see, who told him, "When you go to India you will see some yogi." He was not happy with his teacher. (Tutor he was, you see.) He was not happy because when he told his tutor, "I want to conquer the whole world," the tutor replied, "You conquer the mind. You conquer the mind and everything is conquered." Alexander said, "You are stupid," and he put him into prison.
"Okay. When you go to India please see some saint… some saint in India, and bring me Gita from this country - Gita, book of knowledge - and a part of Ganga water." That was what he wanted. "Okay, I will do that." So this was the first instant he saw this yogi, so he goes there. The yogi is sitting and Alexander is standing with his army generals, you see.
"Who are you?" "I am Alexander, from Greece." "What for you are here?"
"I have conquered all Europe; now I have to conquer India. Because of the monsoon this river is in spate, so I am waiting for the river to come down and then I will go to China." That's what he said.
"Listen, listen my dear boy. In twenty days you have to leave this world. That's how it will be." Alexander said, "Let him be arrested." because he was very young. At that time thirty-three years old. "Let him be arrested, but may be true anyway. My mother told me, 'When you're sick, you feel that your death is coming near, you come to your own country and die.'" you see.
So then he goes on very fast horses to reach Greece. On the way at Barbarun, I think that's where, he has a very simple diarrhea. He is dying, and the generals ask, "What is your will? What is your last will?" He says, "Keep my hands out of my… out of the coffin so that the people will know I am not carrying anything with me."
That's what his desire was. And this monarch, Alexander the Great, had to leave this drama empty-handed. So coming to the point, as long as your vasanas are dancing, samsara is going to stay forever. You can't have rest with this dance - you cannot have rest. Who is there in the world, from king to a worker, who says, "I am happy, I am in peace?" No one will tell you, you see. Even if you may be king, no one is happy, you see. Now also you go around and see different countries and the heads of the countries, how happy they are, you see. Tension. So only one thing will help you to be happy, that is to check this vasana, check this vasana, check this desire for enjoyment, and perhaps you will have the highest degree of enjoyment if you check your desire. If you don't give rise to desire you will have utmost peace, love and beauty you will see for the first time, and even with your desire something what happens? In desire also, it is the end of desire that gives us peace.
Supposing you need something. "I need a new model car. So I am not happy because I want to have one, so I go to look at it. I have no money so I borrow money from the bank, from friends. Now the car is in front of my house." You are happy. Has the iron given you this happiness? Or the rubber tires? Or the benzene? What has given you happiness? Because the desire to have the new model Toyota is now over. So then this desire is gone then you are happy. So for all - every desire, in every case, you see - it is not the object that you desire. Having that object will give you happiness only because your desire has ended. After the desire has ended and that emptiness is giving you happiness, you see.
If you know it was the emptiness, it is the desireless-ness, thoughtless-ness that gave me happiness, why not have this happiness here and now by not giving rise to a thought? Any thought, you see. First thought is, "I am the body, I am mind, I am intellect, I am senses." So even this: If you don't give rise to thought… and then you have to know how to do it also - inquire. There can be no any other method, maybe yoga, or anything else, even going to the pilgrimages, or chanting the formulas, meditating, practices - nothing is going to help you. Only you have to inquire at the root of the first thought. That is, we every day speak about I-thought, you see, so this ‘I’ and samsara. There is no difference, you see. To create samsara there must be rise of ‘I’. Then only you see samsara. And when you don't give rise to this I-thought… in the sleep there is no samsara, no objects, no birth, no death, nothing ever, you see. So this ‘I’ itself, just ‘I’ is samsara.
To get rid of all this sorrows and troubles and miseries and what is called cycle of birth and death, for kalpas it has to stay - it is going to stay, mind you, billions of years. This samsara is there billions of years. Eighty-five billion years is the age of this samsara, according to last results. Eighty-five billion years, but these billions of years are also a concept only, you see, is also a concept. Only with the rise of the ‘I’ you count billions of years. When you don't give rise to simply ‘I’ there are no billions and no millions, because this mind instantly will create past, present, future, and this bondage is mind only, you see. So anyone who desires, he can stop it here and now, and those who want to play, they are very, very welcome to play and dance a dance. If they're happy let them dance. But I don't think - no gods are even happy in this, no god even is happy.
You sit quiet, you make a try. If not for long, for few minutes you spend and see - just for a minute, you see. Sit quiet - don't give rise to thought and first of all you see what's going to happen. So listening is not going to help you. Immediately you have to get into it. You have to be… be it.
And this happiness is your nature. Consciousness is your nature. Existence is your nature. Love is your nature. Peace is your nature, you see. So you can do whatever you want. So the sages, they suggest to be happy. We have to get rid of vasanas, you see. Enough of the vasanas, you see. Millions of years we have spent with the vasanas and we have been troubled, and now we have a very beautiful human incarnation, very good intention – bromjignasa - very good intention. What more you need? "Now I want to be free." Very good, excellent vasana. So you are most lucky, merits are great, therefore you are here in satsang, and I don't think you will lose anything, and or gain anything.
You will return to your own kingdom which is your birthright - not to suffer suffering. We simply imagine that there is suffering because we want to play with the projections of our own mind. We want to have swim into the mirage, hallucination, illusion. So once we decide, "I want to be free." it's enough. “I want to be free.” This decision has to be very firm decision, as firm as this universe is real. Firm decision, firm conviction, “This is real,” you see. So we have this kind of firmness in our Now. Very new desire, "I want to be free." This desire we did not desire, you see, previously; and now we are here because we have decided to be free this time. Therefore, my dear friends, decide once and for all that we are here and freedom is our right.
And we have to win it - just doing nothing, just to get rid of this one vasana - one vasana - get rid of one vasana only: "I want this." That's all. “I want this.” And perhaps if you don't give rise to this vasana everything will be added onto you. Even if you don't want, it will be offered to you. The kingdom of three universes will be offered to you… so?
Om shanti.
18 September, 1992
miercuri, 19 mai 2010
Keep quiet! Keep quiet! Keep quiet!
A man wrote to me from Germany, saying: "Although we have never met physically, I have heard your words on a video tape. The words were, 'Keep quiet, keep quiet, keep quiet.' I can't describe the effect these words have had, or what has happened to me since hearing them. I have never heard this quietness described before in any of the books I have read in my life. Other teachers don't speak in this way. Some force has had a tremendous effect on me, such that I was able to keep quiet."
We will examine this: the nature of this quietness: How to have it. How to practice it.
Seven thousand years ago, Arjuna asked Krishna how to quiet the mind. "It is just like the wind," he said. "You can't hold it in your fist. It is so turbulent, how can it be controlled?" Krishna's answer was simple: It can be done through detachment and practice. These two words are very significant. How can one easily discover viragya, detachment? Everyone wants to enjoy the objects of the senses - seeing, hearing, smelling, touching, tasting - that is all they are interested in.
So how can the mind be detached from its sense objects, and brought to quietness? It will happen only when you know that all these objects do not bring abiding peace and rest, that thinking again and again of your desires cannot bring satisfaction. Through repeatedly seeking pleasure and never finding peace you are creating some sort of displeasure with these things. Naturally you want to detach yourself from the things which have not brought you peace and rest.
There was a famous saint, a poor man, about five hundred years ago named Thyagaraya. People interested in music know his name. He is the king of artists, the king of singers and musicians. He says,
Santham laka soukhyam ladu.
When there is no quietness, even kingdoms will not bring you happiness.
When we know that sense objects cannot bring us permanent happiness, the mind will slowly withdraw from these objects.
In the Vedas it is declared, "Neti neti." [Not this, not that.]
Whenever the mind goes out to an object of the senses bring it back to peace, bring it back to quietness. Whenever it goes out, quiet it down. Be very careful to bring it back because you have seen that the objects of the senses have not given you peace. This is the rahasya, the secret which Krishna gave to Arjuna - detachment. Wherever the mind goes, detach it from its respective sense objects again and again.
Detachment must exist side by side with gyana, with knowledge of Brahman, with knowledge of freedom. The desire for freedom and detachment from the senses must run concurrently. Detach yourself from those things which are not permanent, and rest in that which is always permanent. Let your focus be always on this - on Brahman, on the desire for the attainment of enlightenment. Remain here in this desire for freedom. Reflect continuously from here on this. The desire to be free has already arisen in your mind. You have spent millions of years so this desire for freedom can arise. Now listen to it, reflect on it continuously, meditate in it. This process has to continue constantly.
Many people ask me what will happen when they return home. They say they are all right here because they are repeatedly hearing this truth every day, but reflection has to continue all the time. Wherever you are, when you sit, meditate on the Self, on Brahman, on Truth, on Peace, on Shanti. Contemplate this all the time, speak about this among yourselves. This is how your time in this universe is to be spent. Those who can instantly embrace this truth carry a mountain of merits as large as the Himalayas. They are led to satsang. Those who cannot recognize this will have to wait.
Some come to satsang and want to escape; they want to go somewhere else. Something incomplete is carried from previous lives and this karma is taking them to their next birth, hence they escape from satsang. I hear of people who want to return to their previous centers and ashrams. They had found much peace, happiness, and joy there from their friends. I advise them that this satsang is not for everyone. I don't find fault with them. This is the weight of karma. They have some more work to do, some more incarnations. It doesn't matter, you can work some more. Sooner or later you will have to arrive in satsang.
Those who come to satsang are not coming for the first time. They have merits. They have already completed millions of incarnations and it is that which is now compelling them to sit here in satsang. It may be very few but that doesn't matter. All others will have to wait; satsang will not work for them now. Every realized saint has declared that you need good karma - experience of satsang in previous incarnations that will bring you here for satsang, for quietness.
Buddha was born as a prince, Gautama Siddhartha. On his first visit outside of his father's palace he was confronted for the first time with disease, old age, and death. Instantly he decided to keep quiet. This is what I mean by detachment from the enjoyment of sense objects. As soon as he was faced with the reality of life outside he decided, "No, I don't want this kind of life." He returned home and a detachment arose towards his life.
Tukaram, a great saint, says that man becomes attached to his house, to his wife, to his son. This is what all the saints have said. Tukaram advised watching all these kinds of attachment. He says that for a man there is no greater attachment than to his wife; for a woman there is no greater attachment than to her husband. The same is true of prosperity, the desire for a house. And every man has a great desire for a son, to continue his lineage. These three words mentioned by Tukaram: spouse, house, and children comprise the whole arena of attachment. Buddha returned and woke up from all this. He saw the nature of life and he withdrew from the attachment to his wife, to his son Rahul, to his palace and luxuries. He kept quiet. Under the bodhi tree he kept quiet and he was free. This is what is meant by keeping quiet. Kabir says,
Chit thir man thir budhi thir.
Quiet down your mind, your speech, intellect,
and then... find out what happens.
5 September, 1992
We will examine this: the nature of this quietness: How to have it. How to practice it.
Seven thousand years ago, Arjuna asked Krishna how to quiet the mind. "It is just like the wind," he said. "You can't hold it in your fist. It is so turbulent, how can it be controlled?" Krishna's answer was simple: It can be done through detachment and practice. These two words are very significant. How can one easily discover viragya, detachment? Everyone wants to enjoy the objects of the senses - seeing, hearing, smelling, touching, tasting - that is all they are interested in.
So how can the mind be detached from its sense objects, and brought to quietness? It will happen only when you know that all these objects do not bring abiding peace and rest, that thinking again and again of your desires cannot bring satisfaction. Through repeatedly seeking pleasure and never finding peace you are creating some sort of displeasure with these things. Naturally you want to detach yourself from the things which have not brought you peace and rest.
There was a famous saint, a poor man, about five hundred years ago named Thyagaraya. People interested in music know his name. He is the king of artists, the king of singers and musicians. He says,
Santham laka soukhyam ladu.
When there is no quietness, even kingdoms will not bring you happiness.
When we know that sense objects cannot bring us permanent happiness, the mind will slowly withdraw from these objects.
In the Vedas it is declared, "Neti neti." [Not this, not that.]
Whenever the mind goes out to an object of the senses bring it back to peace, bring it back to quietness. Whenever it goes out, quiet it down. Be very careful to bring it back because you have seen that the objects of the senses have not given you peace. This is the rahasya, the secret which Krishna gave to Arjuna - detachment. Wherever the mind goes, detach it from its respective sense objects again and again.
Detachment must exist side by side with gyana, with knowledge of Brahman, with knowledge of freedom. The desire for freedom and detachment from the senses must run concurrently. Detach yourself from those things which are not permanent, and rest in that which is always permanent. Let your focus be always on this - on Brahman, on the desire for the attainment of enlightenment. Remain here in this desire for freedom. Reflect continuously from here on this. The desire to be free has already arisen in your mind. You have spent millions of years so this desire for freedom can arise. Now listen to it, reflect on it continuously, meditate in it. This process has to continue constantly.
Many people ask me what will happen when they return home. They say they are all right here because they are repeatedly hearing this truth every day, but reflection has to continue all the time. Wherever you are, when you sit, meditate on the Self, on Brahman, on Truth, on Peace, on Shanti. Contemplate this all the time, speak about this among yourselves. This is how your time in this universe is to be spent. Those who can instantly embrace this truth carry a mountain of merits as large as the Himalayas. They are led to satsang. Those who cannot recognize this will have to wait.
Some come to satsang and want to escape; they want to go somewhere else. Something incomplete is carried from previous lives and this karma is taking them to their next birth, hence they escape from satsang. I hear of people who want to return to their previous centers and ashrams. They had found much peace, happiness, and joy there from their friends. I advise them that this satsang is not for everyone. I don't find fault with them. This is the weight of karma. They have some more work to do, some more incarnations. It doesn't matter, you can work some more. Sooner or later you will have to arrive in satsang.
Those who come to satsang are not coming for the first time. They have merits. They have already completed millions of incarnations and it is that which is now compelling them to sit here in satsang. It may be very few but that doesn't matter. All others will have to wait; satsang will not work for them now. Every realized saint has declared that you need good karma - experience of satsang in previous incarnations that will bring you here for satsang, for quietness.
Buddha was born as a prince, Gautama Siddhartha. On his first visit outside of his father's palace he was confronted for the first time with disease, old age, and death. Instantly he decided to keep quiet. This is what I mean by detachment from the enjoyment of sense objects. As soon as he was faced with the reality of life outside he decided, "No, I don't want this kind of life." He returned home and a detachment arose towards his life.
Tukaram, a great saint, says that man becomes attached to his house, to his wife, to his son. This is what all the saints have said. Tukaram advised watching all these kinds of attachment. He says that for a man there is no greater attachment than to his wife; for a woman there is no greater attachment than to her husband. The same is true of prosperity, the desire for a house. And every man has a great desire for a son, to continue his lineage. These three words mentioned by Tukaram: spouse, house, and children comprise the whole arena of attachment. Buddha returned and woke up from all this. He saw the nature of life and he withdrew from the attachment to his wife, to his son Rahul, to his palace and luxuries. He kept quiet. Under the bodhi tree he kept quiet and he was free. This is what is meant by keeping quiet. Kabir says,
Chit thir man thir budhi thir.
Quiet down your mind, your speech, intellect,
and then... find out what happens.
5 September, 1992
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