Girish's Blog

  Photo Credit: Pinterest Bliss through the Inner Journey One can conquer the whole world but still not know bliss. Alexander the Great’s story is well known – Alexander’s misery was tremendous when he realised that even after conquering the whole world he would have to give it all up just for a glass of water if he was dying of thirst in a desert. One can only attain to that level of bliss when one conquers the Self. We can have everything and still feel that we are at a loss. We can pile up money, power, prestige, and the more we have the more we become aware of the futility of it all and the greater the emptiness we feel within. Only the rich come to know what inner poverty is, because they can compare; they can compare notes. They have a background and they can see their own inner poverty against it. They are rich as far as the outside is concerned, but the inside is simply starving. The only bliss possible is that which comes through the inner. One has to come to one’s...

  Photo Credit: Making Life Beautiful Remaining Centred All of us have definitely thought about remaining centred, balanced 24/7, 365 days a year. Swamiji has always said in his discourses the easiest way to remain centred is to connect with Guru-karya (Guru’s work) – but there is a downside or risk attached to this – development of ego. Why does this happen? In our normal material life, we would never dream of doing things which the Guru makes us do – work of such critical importance and so huge in magnitude that under normal circumstances, if asked to do this, we would just laugh and move on. But under the Guru’s guidance and Grace we do it without much effort! As a consequence, most of us, start thinking we have done it and that’s where the risk is. This kind of thinking develops our ego and we start thinking that we are larger than life, we can do anything! The Guru is always playing with us, testing us, and if we fall short, he gives us at least three chances to correct our wa...

  Photo Credit: Wikipedia Meditation – Centre of Life All of us who have been led on to the spiritual path and are learning how to meditate have arrived at just the right time. Now, meditation should become the centre of our lives; everything else should be secondary. We don’t need to give up anything, renounce anything. As meditation becomes more and more important, we just need to be regular and practice it daily, everything else should follow it. Out of twenty-four hours at least devote one hour for meditation, whatever the cost – half an hour in the morning all alone and half an hour in the evening in a group meditation session. Sometimes it is difficult – one is too busy, too occupied – but if it is the first preference then other things can be dropped. It is alright to have a little less money, as we always find ways to live within our means, but a little less meditation is a strict no-no, because ultimately, we realise that richness comes only through meditation. When one is...

  Photo Credit: The Sisterhood Hub Becoming Watchful Stop considering what is right and what is wrong, because if we consider what is right and what is wrong, we will be divided, we will become hypocrites. We will pretend to be doing right and we will do the wrong thing. And the moment we consider what is right and what is wrong, we become attached, we become identified. We certainly become identified with the right. Suppose we see a 500 rupee note lying on the side of the road which could have fallen from someone’s pocket. The choice for us is whether we should pick it up or not? One part of you says – “take it, nobody is watching, and this is not stealing as it is just lying there! If we don’t take it, somebody else will take it anyway. So, why miss the opportunity, it is perfectly alright!” But another part says – “This is wrong, the money is not yours, you will be stealing it indirectly. You should inform the cops or hand it over to them, and if you don’t want to be bothe...

  Photo Credit: Pinterest From Mind to Meditation The mind is complex as well as simple, this we can say when we take our mind from the complexity of nature (Prakriti) to the simplicity of peace and tranquillity. The mind is like a lake with thousands of external and internal modifying ripples in it due to various vrrities  (modifications). The moment we change from mind to meditation our whole life gets affected. It is natural. If it is not affected, that will be something unnatural. Our relationships are bound to change. For example, a man may believe that he loves his wife. The moment he starts meditating it will become clear and transparent whether he loves her or not. He may never have loved her. He may simply be using her as an object, or he may be using her as a mother substitute. He may be using her because he is unable to be alone, but he may never have loved her. He may be dependent on her; she may have great utility. But to use another human being is immora...

  Photo Credit: Pinterest Finding the Gap If we expect anything from life, we will not get anything. When we don’t expect anything, things just start happening. Don’t expect, don’t ask, and it showers upon us miraculously. All its magic is there. Just wait a little while without thoughts… but that seems to be impossible. Thoughts fill our head. They come one after another. Sometimes, they come all at once. Before we have ceased in one thought, another one has already risen. It is a busy mind that all of us have. Thoughts of worry and fear add unnecessary burden to our minds. When we cultivate present moment awareness, there is no space for inner speech. We are completely taken by the presence of the moment. One way of developing inner silence is to recognise the space between thoughts. Not that there are no moments when we are without thoughts. All those who have entered into their own inner space, they know there are gaps. But we are missing them somehow, because those gap...

  Photo Credit: Pinterest Meditation and Compassion When a flower blooms, it’s fragrance spreads on the winds in all directions, to be carried to the very ends of the earth. But the fundamental thing is that the flower has bloomed. On the spiritual path meditation is a flower and compassion its fragrance. Within humans there is a potential for flowering – unless and until the inner being of a human flowers and blooms, the fragrance of compassion is not possible. If one meditates, one day, suddenly, one becomes aware of a new phenomenon, absolutely strange - compassion is flowing towards the whole of existence from one’s being; undirected, unaddressed, it is moving to the very ends of existence. Without meditation, energy remains passion; with meditation, the same energy becomes compassion. Passion and compassion are not two energies, they are one and the same energy. Once it passes through meditation, it is transformed; it becomes qualitatively different. Passion moves downw...

  Photo Credit: Pinterest Alone in Silence In silence there is nobody else, we are simply alone. The deeper our silence will be, thoughts will be gone, emotions will be gone, sentiments will be gone - just pure being, a flame of light, burning alone. One can get scared because we are so much accustomed to living with people - in the crowd, in the marketplace, in all kinds of relationships. Human beings are fundamentally social beings, hence we may not be aware that in all our relationships – with friends, with family, with colleagues, we are just trying avoid experiencing aloneness. We adopt such strategies so that we are always with people. Just stand by the side of the road and watch people going from the office to the house, and we will be surprised. They are alone - although there is a crowd all around - but they are talking to themselves. They are making gestures; they are telling somebody something… because the crowd around them is not related to them. They ar...

  Photo Credit: Collections of HDQ Compromising without Knowing In life, we go on compromising without knowing, not only with society but even with our family. Even the people we love demand compromise. Nobody likes the individual; everybody wants to overpower, dominate us. The husband wants to dominate the wife; the wife in her own ways tries to dominate the husband. The parents dominate the children; the children also in their own way dominate the parents. It is a constant struggle going on in multiple ways, where nobody is allowed to be just himself, where to be oneself is a crime. But to accept the challenge and to remain as oneself, in spite of all the odds, is a great joy. To keep our individuality intact, undamaged, in a society where everybody is trying to dominate us… it is not good to escape from such a society. In the Himalayas, in deep forests, we may think we are ourselves - but that is a false notion, because there is no context in which we can put it to the tes...

  Photo Credit: Pinterest Total Surrender Surrender may be one of the most misunderstood terms of the spiritual path. It is often understood as giving up or being passive. But actually, spiritual surrender is acceptance. It’s acceptance of what our own present reality. From that space, taking action becomes far more rational. To surrender in spirituality and religion means that a believer completely gives up his own will and subjects his thoughts, ideas, and deeds to the will of a higher power. Surrender is wilful acceptance and yielding to a dominating force and their will. Spiritual surrender to our lives is a profound space of acceptance. We stop putting our filter of what we want onto life, and we fully accept what Is. This is amazing because it can transform our lives almost instantaneously. Some of us will wonder if this is a  spiritual awakening . It’s more like a teaser, although for some it can be the spark for  awakening our energy . But we will start to s...

  Photo Credit: LonerWolf Feel the Inner Centre The eyes cannot see, we see through them – the seer is behind, the eyes are just the windows. But we go on thinking that we see by the eyes; we go on thinking we hear by the ears. No one has ever heard by the ears. We hear through the ears, not by the ears. The hearer is hidden behind. The ears are just receptive organs. Women are very sensitive about it; we cannot deceive them. They have a greater sensitivity of touch, of body touch, so they know. The husband may be talking beautiful things. He may have brought flowers and he may be saying, “I love you,” but his touch will show that he is not there. And women have an instinctive feeling when we are with them and when we are not with them. It is difficult to deceive them unless we are masters. Unless one is a master of one’s own self, one cannot deceive them. But a master would not like to become a husband, that is the difficulty. Whatsoever we say will be false; our touch will ...

  Photo Credit: Lemonade Makers Never Compare Love Most people compare themselves with others and that creates the problem. Everybody has their own way being in love, it’s pointless to compare it. Somebody may be dancing, may be ecstatic and singing, and somebody else may be sitting silently with closed eyes. Both are mad in their own ways. Don’t think that you are not mad and the one who is dancing is mad, because one who is dancing will think, “Are you mad? You have fallen in love and are still sitting with closed eyes? What are you doing there? Dance!” Everybody has their own way of madness also. Just as nobody has the same face, same eyes, same fingerprints as us - nobody has the madness that we have. Everything is unique. Everybody falls in love in their own unique way. And it is good; it has to be so. Never compare. Trouble arises with comparison. Then we feel that we are missing something. Our love is calm and quiet and respectful. Then we start thinking there must be...

Photo Credit: Quotefancy Meditator’s Progress A question is often asked – how does one know if one is going higher and deeper, or if one is stuck somewhere? First, there are qualities which grow as meditation deepens. For example, we start feeling loving for no reason at all. Not the love that we know, in which we have to fall — not falling in love. But just a quality of lovingness, not only to human beings. As our meditation deepens, our lovingness will start spreading beyond humanity to animals, to trees, even to the rocks, to the mountains. If we feel that something is left out of our love — that means we are stuck. Our lovingness should spread to the whole existence. As our meditation goes higher, our lower qualities start dropping. We cannot manage both. We cannot be angry as easily as we have always been. Slowly, slowly, it becomes impossible to be angry. We cannot deceive, cheat, exploit, in any way. We cannot hurt. Our behaviour pattern will be changing with change in our i...

  Photo Credit: Pinterest Who Am I? At a certain point this question raises fear in the meditator, this is simply because at a certain point one crosses the boundary of ego and enters the world of egolessness. That point is the point of great fear – because it looks like death. In fact, it is a kind of death as the ego disappears. That has been our identity up to now. Up to now, that’s what we have been thinking we are.   And suddenly it starts evaporating. A great fear grips the heart: “I am dying!” because one’s identity is dying. We are not really dying; in fact, we are being born. It is a rebirth; it is a true birth. It is like the seed dying into the soil. The seed must be feeling afraid, nervous, trembling. How can the seed trust that once it is gone there will be a great tree and great flowering? The seed will not be there to witness it; no seed has ever witnessed it, so how can this seed believe and trust? And the same happens with the ego - the ego cannot trust ...

  Photo Credit: Pinterest Tuning in to God’s Frequency The best way to clean our system is by using sound. Simply choose any holy name you like, and keep repeating it. Let the body vibrate with that frequency. In the beginning we have to concentrate on that vibration within us. But as we continue, every cell in our body will begin to repeat the mantra or the prayer; then the whole system, the whole personality, body, mind, everything will vibrate on that wavelength. The holy word is like a radio wave. When we take diksha – initiation – from a realised Master, a Satguru, we are given a Guru-mantra, and this mantra is like a boon, because chanting it takes us to a different plane of consciousness. Regular chanting, followed by meditation helps us tune in to a particular frequency through the mantra – it is just like tuning in to a radio station. The cosmic music that comes from God is always being transmitted; God never stops transmitting all the beautiful things. Some simply d...