Living in Bondage

 

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Living in Bondage

Man lives in bondage, and the bondage is not imposed by others, it is self-created. It is created because we are afraid of the insecure. In the name of security, we create a bondage around ourselves. Yes, it gives a feeling of cosiness, warmth, safety, but it is all false because sooner or later death will take it all away.

Because of this we never explore, we never go beyond the boundaries of the familiar. The familiar is very small and we go on moving in the familiar, in circles. Our life knows no growth, because growth can only happen if we move not in circles but in a line. If we are linear then there is growth. If we go around in circles, we go on repeating the same thing again and again.

Freedom is possible because we have made our own prison. We can get out of it any moment that we decide to. It is only a question of decision, of courage, of guts. Freedom is the ultimate value in life. Nothing is more important than that, because out of it comes everything else that is valuable. Love arises as a fragrance, joy arises, meaning arises; for the first time, life becomes tremendously significant. And one is constantly moving beyond the known, going into the unknown. Life becomes a thrill, an adventure. But we have made life just a dragging affair. It seems safe, it appears secure, but there is no security, no safety anywhere. They are impossible.

Only death is secure. We cannot take anything away from a dead man — or can we? even death cannot do any harm to him, he is already dead. In his grave he is so absolutely secure. Because we are so obsessed with security, we have made our houses our graves. We don’t live in them; we only die in them slowly, surely; it is a gradual kind of suicide.

Sannyas means freedom, freedom from all self-created securities, safeties. In the beginning one feels afraid, scared, that is natural, but once we become attuned to the insecure and we know the joy of insecurity then we never look back to those old toys that we used to think were keeping our life secure. And they were not securities, they were simply prisons, chains around our being.

Life begins only when we become free from all kinds of bondages: the bondage of nation, the bondage of race, the bondage of church — ideological, social, political, religious. 

When we become free from all these imprisonments, when we simply drop all that, we have been told is important, when we simply drop all that we have been told to believe in; when we neither believe nor disbelieve, a great freedom arises in our being. That freedom is sannyas; and that freedom then takes us higher and higher towards the ultimate.

Conscious Decision

 

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Conscious Decision

Religion is nothing but an effort toward conscious evolution, an effort how to use this freedom. Our volitional efforts are now significant. Whatsoever we are doing non-voluntarily is just part of the past. Our future depends on our volitional acts. A very simple act done with awareness, with volition, gives us a certain growth — even an ordinary act.

We go on a fast, but not because we have no food. We have food; we can eat it. We have hunger; we can eat. We go on a fast: it is a volitional act — a conscious act. No animal can perform this. An animal will go on a fast sometimes when there is no hunger. An animal will have to fast when there is no food. But only man can fast when there is hunger and food both. This is a volitional act. We use your freedom. The hunger cannot goad us. The hunger cannot push us and the food cannot pull us.

You are sitting: decide that, “Now I will not move my body for ten minutes.” You will be surprised that though the body was not moving before, now the body forces you to move. You begin to feel many subtle movements in the body of which you were not even aware. Now the body will revolt. The whole past is behind it, and the body will say, “I will move.” The body will begin to tremble, there will be subtle movements, and you will feel many temptations to move. Your legs will fall asleep. They will go dead, and you will feel like scratching somewhere. Many things will be there. You were sitting without any movements previously, but now you cannot sit. But if you can sit even for ten minutes without moving, you will not need any other meditation.

A seeker will sit for six hours without any movement, and when every movement falls down, withers away, when there is no movement — not only no movement, but no inner desire to move — we are centred, we are crystallized! We have used the very ordinary act of sitting for our volition, for our will, for our awareness.

If one is angry and one has decided not to be angry, do not suppress it. Just say to the anger, “I am not going to be angry,” and the anger will disappear. Our will is needed because anger needs energy. If we say no with full energy, there is no energy left for the anger. A thought moves because deep down a hidden yes is there. That is why a thought moves in our mind. If we say no, that yes is cut from the very root. The thought becomes uprooted. It cannot be in us. But then with the no or yes, we must mean what we say. Then the no must mean no and the yes must mean yes. But we go on saying yes, meaning no; saying no, meaning yes. Then the whole life becomes confused. And our mind, our body, they do not know what we mean, what we are saying.

This conscious effort to decide, to act, to be, is now going to be the evolution for man. A Master is different from us because of this effort and nothing else. Potentially there is no difference. Only this conscious effort makes the difference. Between man and man, the real difference is only of conscious effort. All else is just superficial.

A Master is not Responsible for You

 

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A Master is not Responsible for You

No Master is responsible for anybody. A Master comes into our lives simply because we have a deep longing for our own spiritual evolvement. This does not mean that the Master takes on the responsibility for our spiritual growth. What the Master does is plant the seed of spirituality within us, after that it is our responsibility whether to water that seed and make it grow into a huge banyan tree or ignore it and let the seed go waste.

In this world of illusion one can find a true Master only if one has accumulated good karma in the past and current birth – one needs to have attained that mass of goodness to reach the launching pad for liberation – and that can happen only when one meets a true self-realised Master.

Spiritual Masters are free from attachment as they do not derive any value from worldly or material things. One can tell an indifferent individual from an enlightened fellow in that the former is insensitive and dispassionate about the world while the latter still loves, is passionate, and excited about things around him without being attached to them. Instead, a true master recognises the temporary nature of worldly possessions and chooses to focus on embellishing his heart and soul.

Masters are non-judgemental in nature. A spiritual master accepts a person as he/she is.  They recognise the unique quality in every individual and they embrace that quality and love everything about that individual.

Another trait of a spiritual master is that they are one with nature. Unlike the world around that treats nature as a resource to be exploited, a master appreciates every part of it. They understand the interconnectedness of all life and that the world is our common home. They treat nature with respect and live as equal participants realising that we are all children of the universe.

I believe that all the other traits of a spiritual master flow from the fact they are the personification of love. Unlike most people who find it challenging to love unreservedly, enlightened folks love unconditionally. They have a deep appreciation for all people and nature and understand that love is the universal language. Understood by man and nature alike.

It is important to find our own Guru, get the seed and then take on the responsibility for our own spiritual growth. That is the only way we can repay our debt to our Guru – by becoming our own Guru and showing the path to other seekers.

Taking Responsibility

 

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Taking Responsibility

From our very childhood we have been taught to be responsible to our parents, to our siblings, to our family, to our country, to all kinds of nonsense. But we have not been told to be responsible for ourselves, that there is nobody who is going to take our responsibility.

No, on the contrary, our parents were taking our responsibility, our family was taking this responsibility. The priest was taking responsibility for our spiritual growth – we were just to follow all these people and do whatever they said when we were children. Now, we have grown up and are no longer children, a great fear arises as we now have to take responsibility for our lives and we have not been trained to do so.

We do something, we feel guilty, we go to a priest to confess – and over time we realise that we are bound to the priest because he knows all our secrets. We are weighed down, because we feel our salvation lies through our confessions to the priest – who is to decide what is a sin and what is not a sin? This is all a part of our mind – we feel guilty, we feel we have sinned, and we look for a mechanism to release ourselves from this guilt syndrome. The more one goes on confessing, the more one is tied down.

It is better to become independent, to become responsible for yourself. Do not be responsible for the whole world, just be responsible to yourself. Do whatever you feel like doing. If it is wrong, the punishment will immediately follow. If it is right, the reward will follow instantly. There is no other way.

This way we will start finding what is wrong, what is right, on our own. We will grow a new sensitivity — Indians call it the third eye. We will start seeing with a new vision, a new eye. Instantly we will know what is wrong, because in the past so many times we have done it and always suffered in consequence. We will know what is right, because whenever we did existence showered great blessings on us. Cause and effect are together, they are not separated by years and lives.

We are responsible then. If we want and enjoy a certain act, although it brings suffering, then do it. It is good, because one enjoys it. The suffering is not big enough to deter one from the enjoyment that our act brings. But it is up to us, wholly and solely up to us to decide. If the suffering is too much and the act brings nothing, no joy, and necessarily a long anguish follows it, then it is up to us if we are absolute idiots, then what can anybody do about it?

This is the meaning of being responsible to oneself. There is no God on whom we can dump our responsibility, but human nature is such that we keep looking for someone on whom to dump our responsibility. Become responsible for everything that is happening or not happening in life.

Rejoice in this freedom. Rejoice in this great understanding that we are responsible for everything in our life. This will make us individuals. And to become an individual is to know all that is worth knowing, is to experience all that is worth experiencing. To be an individual is to be liberated, is to be enlightened. 

Living Consciously

 

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Living Consciously

Animals live in complete unconsciousness – they are neither aware of misery, nor bliss – humans are aware of both. Animals live in a state of deep sleep, whereas humans have woken up a bit, just a small part has become conscious; hence the split. In animals there is no split, they are one piece. Man is dual, the duality arises because the consciousness has arisen from the unconscious ocean. It is just the tip of the iceberg, a very small part, maybe one-tenth of the whole, but it has created a divide between the conscious and the unconscious mind.

The unconscious mind goes on pulling us towards the animal because it remembers the joys now; it remembers the joys of being animal, of being total. When we were animals, we were not aware of them. It is as old people remember the beauties of childhood. Children are not aware. Only when they lose their childhood do they start remembering that which they had never felt before when they were really children. The unconscious pulls us back toward the animal world; its pull is downwards, backwards. And the conscious is trying to pull us upwards so we become more conscious, because consciousness has given us many things. Yes, it has given us anxiety, tension, anguish, but it has also given us music, painting, poetry. And it has given us a dignity which no animal has, the dignity of being conscious. If such a small
part can impart so much dignity the desire arises: “If I become fully conscious, how much will now be my glory?” That is the search for becoming totally awakened, enlightened.

So, these two parts go on pulling us. Because of this tug-of-war, misery arises; hence misery is human. And man is always at a crossroad: either we go downwards, backwards. But we cannot stay there either because whatsoever has happened has already happened and it cannot be undone. We will have to come back again. That conscious part cannot be lost. Hence the only possible way to get out of misery is to become more conscious.

The more conscious we are, the more and more we feel bliss arising within. The day one is fully conscious and there is no nook and corner of one’s being which is dark, when one is luminous, when one has become light, each act is done in full awareness - one even sleeps in full awareness. That has been the goal down the ages. This is the real search of religion: how to come to a point when we can sleep and yet be alert. Right now, the situation is just the opposite: we are awake and yet asleep.

This has to be our work on ourselves: become more and more conscious, make every possible effort in transforming your unconscious mind into consciousness. Walk consciously, sit consciously, eat consciously, talk consciously, listen consciously. Let consciousness be spread all over our life, twenty-four hours a day be engulfed in it. And then one day that blissful moment arrives when it becomes natural, spontaneous. That day is the day of rejoicing — one has arrived home!

Contentment

 

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Contentment

“Get this, get that and I will be contented,’ – the mind keeps saying this. One gets those things, then it again asks for something else. And the game continues for the whole of one’s life from the cradle to the grave. It goes on asking for more. That is the nature of the mind.

Diogenese, a Greek mystic, asked Alexander the Great, “I heard that you want to conquer the whole world, but have you thought about one question?” “What question?” asked Alexander. Diogenes said ‘A simple question, that you must consider before you embark on this enterprise remember there is only one world and if you conquer it then what will you do afterwards?’

The story is that just the idea made Alexander sad; just the idea that if he conquered the whole world of course the problem would arise of, now what? With just the idea - he had not yet conquered the world - his mind immediately became discontented and asked for another world, another toy. That’s the way of the mind; it goes from one discontentment to another.

But there is something more than mind in us; and that is the only hope. There is something deeper than the mind in us: our consciousness. Consciousness is not part of the mind, because we can even watch our mind, so the watcher is separate from the mind, different from the mind. And this watcher has a totally different quality, just the opposite to the mind - the quality of contentment, absolute contentment.

Each moment is so full of joy, so exquisitely joyful, that even if death comes right now, we will not ask for another moment because this moment was enough. There is no question of asking for another world. Contentment means ‘This moment is enough. Right now, all that I need is here; all that I have ever needed and will ever need is here.’ And to be in such a state is to know God, is to be one with God. Then each moment is a dance and a celebration. Then each moment has such infinite depth and so much treasure, that who cares whether tomorrow comes or not? Who bothers?

Say thank you every morning on waking up and at night before going to bed because who knows? - this may be the last moment and, in the morning, we may not wake up, so at least before we leave the world - He has given so much to us - we should say thank you. In the morning when we wake up, we are so full of wonder, we cannot believe our own eyes that we are here again and the day is here — so it seems we have one day more!

Prayer is a thankfulness; in fact a contented being is continuously prayerful. Whether such a person says anything or not there is always a deep undercurrent of thankfulness. That has to become our life.

A Quantum Leap

 

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A Quantum Leap

Man can come to know the ‘truth’ only through meditation. Truth is not something that the mind can know. Mind can theorise about it, but ‘about’ means around – and the mind goes about and about, around and around. It moves in a circle; it never reaches the centre. Its very nature is not to reach to the centre, it exists for the circumference.

Mind is needed only to relate with others. It is a method of communication. Truth is our very being. It is not a question of relating to it. It happens only when we fall into deep silence, when we forget the whole world, when the other is completely forgotten as if the other does not exist at all. In those moments of solitude and aloneness truth is revealed. It is not a conclusion of the mind but a revelation of no-mind.

Meditation simply means turning in. The mind is always focussed outward, the mind is basically an extroversion. Use the mind as a servant, use it as a beautiful mechanism, but don’t let it become the master. It is a good slave, take every care of it, but don’t allow it to enslave you.

Remember that the real master is not on the circumference, the real master is at the centre. And at the centre there is only consciousness: no thoughts, no desires, no imagination. All the faculties of the mind stop functioning. One is simply alert, aware, watchful, one simply is. In that state we are the truth. 

If we know our truth, we cannot be untrue in any way. It becomes impossible. Even to be untrue to others becomes impossible. The joy of being truthful is such that who would like to fall into the darkness of being untrue. The simplicity of being truthful is such that who would like to create unnecessary complexities, complications, by being untruthful.

One lie brings in its wake a thousand and one other lies, because we have to defend it, we have to support it - and it cannot be defended by truth, it can only be defended by other lies. And every other lie will need in its own turn more lies. A single lie, and our whole life starts becoming untruthful, inauthentic.

Truth brings many gifts, but one has to open the door of meditation. Nobody can give us the truth; truth is already given to us from God himself. It is not something that has to be found anywhere else; it already exists within! We just have to take a few steps inwards. Getting initiated as a disciple simply means this: a decision to find one’s truth, a commitment that ‘From this moment my life will be devoted to finding MY truth.’

It is a deliberate commitment, a conscious decision, so from this moment it becomes our focus of life. We have to put all that is unessential aside, and we have to put more and more energy into the inward journey. The truth is not very far. It needs only one step; hence it is better not to call it a step: it is a quantum leap, a jump from mind to no-mind.

Implement the Teachings

 

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Implement the Teachings

The very fact that we are on a journey,  to a new place which we haven’t seen and somebody, let’s say, who has seen the place before, has given us certain instructions – pack a few sweaters, have the bags ready, keep our shoes, so that we know what we have to carry with us. And we are also told how long it will take to walk and how difficult or easy it is, then only we can reach the new place. It is very important that it is not just told & heard and forgotten, but actually implemented.

After Swamiji gives us the Guru-mantra, Rambhai gives us a list of things we need to do regularly for our spiritual practice; the critical part that happens is Swamiji instils his values in us in subtle form, which we notice over time, turns our life around 180 degrees. Once the values have been instilled and we start our spiritual practice, there are certain principles that we need to follow that are conducive for our spiritual progress.

The basic fact is that the mind has various levels of impurities, agitation and indiscrimination. As long as these last, they are like curtains, which very subtly veil or cover the Truth. So, when we say search, we are not searching for something outside ourselves.  We are searching for something inside. And to find what we are searching for, one needs to penetrate so many layers of impurities, and so many layers upon layers which are gathered, not only in this life, but for many hundreds of lives. It is not an easy thing to get free of them.

We are born with certain characteristics – certain predilections in this life & some of those are from our past lives. Now, as long as these are there, in different layers, it’s not possible to penetrate – to remove the veils and curtains, tear them down, and come face to face with the truth – which is after all in our hearts. Unless and until, certain ethical principles of conduct are applied and practiced as part of one’s daily life and sadhana, one cannot hope to attain the Supreme Truth.

As far as the ethical systems of the Upanishads are concerned – fearlessness and truth are the two most important steps. Why ‘fearlessness’? Because, when we follow the path of sadhana (which is not followed by most people) everybody is swimming along with the stream and one person has the guts to stand up and swim against the current. When one does that, it is very likely that he/she will be branded a mad person, or a stupid fellow, because he/she is going in a different way. To do what one wants to do, as one is, without fear of what the public is going to say, is ‘fearlessness.’

The essence is, one, that we have to practice our sadhana, make time for it, practice as much as one likes. Second, bring about a change in our day-to-day life and day-to-day existence – transparency in our character and conduct. Without which we may continue to meditate for years, but nowhere will we go. Because the first reflection of spiritual perfection is in our day-to-day life. How we deal with it, how we behave, what we do, this is most important.

Merry Christmas

 

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Merry Christmas

It is Christmas – perhaps it is time to bring the spirit of Jesus back into our hearts, as it appears that we have lost the essence of the incredible humanity that Jesus embodied. Let’s overlook the fact that Jesus lived more than 2000 years ago and contemplate on the possibility of Jesus or his spirit (soul) being present within every individual. Jesus was nothing but pure love and compassion and thus it is essential that every individual allow that aspect of Jesus to flower within them, because today in the name of religion, people are destroying each other. In our aspiration for the divine, we are losing our humanity.

Humanity is the only religion of human beings and the fights taking place or which are likely to take place are power struggles over whose method of worship is better – mine or yours. These are all egoistic battles between the power of the church, Islam and other religions coming to the fore. All these religions have forgotten that they are only methods of worship which led their followers to merge with the One – the journey from soul to super soul.

The most significant aspect of Jesus’s teaching was about living without prejudice, without seeing who is yours and who is not yours. Only then would one know the kingdom of God. He clearly said, “The Kingdom of God is not somewhere up there, it is within you.” Only in the initial “marketing phase” did Jesus talk about taking you to the Kingdom of God. Once enough people had gathered around him, he turned around and said, “The Kingdom of God is within you.” That is the crux of his teaching.

Jesus taught love and devotion, his was the path of bhakti or devotion. He lived in times which were very difficult for him, and the moment the people in power saw that he was beginning to influence people he was publicly crucified. The image of Jesus is thus pure love in spite of the suffering that he endured on behalf of his followers. But today, all that is forgotten and apparently in the west fewer and fewer people are going to church. Somewhere the link has broken, and that link needs to be repaired.

Unfortunately, 99.9% of the global population is missing something so fantastic within themselves. If it was somewhere far away, one may not wish to make the journey. But when it is right here and we miss it, isn’t that a tragedy? If the Kingdom of God is within us, we must explore it within; it is as simple as that. The journey to inner peace – the journey to your inner abode where one finds eternal peace has to start now if one has not embarked on it yet.

Merry Christmas to all and pray that we find the Kingdom of God within us.

The Last Mile

 

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The Last Mile

The aim of every realised Satguru is to ensure that the disciple becomes his/her own Guru. No true Guru tries to bind you down, on the contrary their objective is to set you free. We are extremely fortunate and can consider ourselves to be blessed to be under the wings of His Holiness Shivkrupanand Swamiji, who in my opinion is in the top quadrant of the pyramid amongst all the current Gurus. If we have observed a pyramid, it has a broad base and it goes on tapering till it becomes a point at the peak.

After initiating us Swamiji has taken us on a high-speed corridor and has dropped us off on the highway exit nearest to our home. This home is nothing but our own inner abode, our nijdham. As we make our spiritual progress Swamiji will keep a silent watch on our progress, but he will now not interfere, his job is done, our job remains. This last mile connectivity is completely our responsibility.

How we reach our inner abode from the highway is entirely upto us – we could take the direct and shortest path, or we could meander through lanes and by-lanes and over a period of time approach our inner abode. This period of time is the most challenging for all sadhaks, it is the period of surrender and simultaneously it is the period when the suppressed ego starts reappearing while trying to lead us off-track.

The ego craves company while the spirit wants to connect in solitude. When we begin to come into a higher knowing of ourselves, when we begin to connect deeply with Truth, the need for distractions naturally starts to fall away and even the will to be social or engage in the outer life is just not going to be there anymore for a while. Instead, we begin to enjoy being with ourselves, in nature, and in solitude. This is one of the blessings because once we come to this place in our process, other things will open up and follow. But as long as the resistance is there, or the wish to not go into aloneness, we will feel as if life is working against us. Once the blessing is seen though, that’s when we can begin to use it to our advantage, and that is a blessing in itself. Very few people have the courage, the stamina and the dedication to continue following the path when the call for aloneness sets in.

Being committed and dedicated to Truth will drive us forward. Flow with life, do the inner work and let grace do the transformation for us. We just have to be committed to reach our inner abode. In our aloneness we are being undone so that Truth can come forth through us. Always remember – Truth has our back, always, and in all ways. 

Gurus and teachers will eventually fade and drop away, all books read, techniques implemented on the journey will be forgotten – Nothing left to do, nowhere to go, we are all alone in our inner abode. Silence, bliss, joy …. Journey from the highway to the inner abode has ended – only thing that exists is NOW, THIS MOMENT.

One is Never Alone

 

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One is Never Alone

There are times when one feels a sense of very deep loneliness that no friend, family member or lover can seem to satisfy. That sense of loneliness can arise in life when one is not searching for the self. Once we embark on our search for the self, we realise that we are never alone. Someone is always with us, and that is Paramatma or the Self. Once that happens, we find that we are never alone.

If we depend on anything or anybody outside us to be a companion, it is impossible to have that companion always with us. Even if another person wants to be with us always, he or she cannot. We come alone, and we go alone. Don’t depend on outside company. Even as we are coming and going, there is always another there—our own spirit, our own Self, or the Paramatma within us.

Paramatma is in us, outside of us, in front of us and behind us, to the right, to the left, above and below. The moment we realise that we will never feel lonely. Unfortunately, we seem to be depending on outside things and people for company. The outside company is fine, but don’t depend on it. Be independent of everything. If it comes, fine. If it goes, wonderful.

When we say don’t depend on this or that, it does not mean that if something comes to us naturally, we should reject it. Let it come whenever it wants and let it go whenever it chooses. Give everything that freedom. The minute we try to cling on to something or someone, we are creating big trouble – it is the attachment that becomes an obstacle to attain Paramatma. Nobody can be with us always except Paramatma, the Self, within you.

Just because we read about it, listen to discourses, meditate, it’s not going to happen overnight. The more we contemplate on it, the more we think about the pros and cons of our depending on other things and other people for our happiness, the more we realise that this is impossible. How can we depend on other things and people for our own happiness, when we cannot even depend on our body!

Always remember that it is the ego which craves company while the soul wants to connect in solitude. When we begin to come into a higher knowing of ourselves, we begin to connect deeply with the Truth, and slowly the need for distractions naturally start to fall away and the will to socialise also diminishes slowly till there is nothing left.

Instead, now we enjoy our solitude while remaining centred in our Self. We realise that we are never alone, the divine within us is always giving us company, looking after our welfare, providing us protection 24x7.

Bliss Knows no Bounds

 

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Bliss Knows no Bounds

Bliss is unbounded, just like an ocean. It is so vast that one is completely in it. Just as a dewdrop slips from a lotus leaf into the lake and becomes one with the lake, in the same way man has to slip out of the ego and become one with existence, only then is there bliss. Ego is misery, the source of misery, the only cause of misery; and egolessness is the source of bliss. Ego gives one boundaries, identities, it makes one a certain person.

Swamiji teaches us yog, which is different from yogasanas (physical exercise) – yog is the simple way to reach a high state of meditation through a process of transference of the Master’s values into his disciples. This transfer takes place very subtly and the disciple progresses spiritually based on his/her commitment and dedication.

This natural state of Sahaj Samadhi, which in truth is simply the realisation of our divine nature as Consciousness Itself, is the goal of all spiritual pursuits. It is an effortless state of supreme relaxation, absorption in the recognition of the Truth, and an overflowing of profound bliss beyond all threat of extinction. It is the spontaneous arising of undifferentiated existence-as-awareness. As such, it is also the revelation of the actual condition of the cosmos, of things as they are, the Truth.

Spiritual practice is the process of becoming aware of the subtle levels of resistance that remain for the seeker. Spiritual progress is the gradual releasing of this resistance, and spiritual liberation is the sudden, final, and complete severing of that conditioned mode of consciousness which involves clinging and its resultant reification of objects.

It must be remembered that the concept of a subject also involves the objectification of consciousness. The only true subject cannot have any connection to sensory and cognitive forms, such as the body, memory, self-image, etc. The ultimate subject is identical to pure Consciousness Itself. In fact, the entire cosmos, and all beings, circumstances, and possible events are contained within—and as a seamless unity with—Consciousness. This sudden jump from gross and subtle object-identification to the recognition of no-mind is often preceded by many experiences of partial release. Final liberation transcends all progress, however, and alone propels the seeker into complete absorption in the natural state...an effortless condition of supreme bliss in which all suffering ceases.

Only through the death of the mind, in the state of no-mind - the concept-free state -can bliss manifest as the light beyond and through which all thoughts and apparent objects arise. This bliss is natural - it is obvious and unmodified. This bliss is total -nothing exists or can exist outside of it. This bliss is completely satisfying - all desires having been extinguished, nothing is left but peaceful rest. This bliss is freedom - nothing can oppose or confine it. This bliss is the supreme, effortless, divine self-disclosure, bringing to an end all struggle, all seeking, all doubt.

Having achieved the supreme goal, all duality is dissolved in effortless bliss. The effortless abidance of supreme bliss resides timelessly—as past and future are only mental constructs. The effortless abidance of supreme bliss spontaneously gives rise to all phenomena. The effortless abidance of supreme bliss transcends all activities of the body-mind.

Pleasure is Forgetfulness

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Pleasure is Forgetfulness

Human consciousness can follow two ways. One way is that of water, flowing downwards; the other way is that of fire, moving upwards. These are symbols, water and fire, but very meaningful. When we flow downwards, we become more and more unconscious. When we flow upwards, we become more and more conscious. Upward is consciousness; downward is unconsciousness.

All pleasure is downward. Wherever we seek pleasure, we go downwards, because pleasure means being unconscious. Pleasure means being in a certain state where we don’t know any anxiety — not that the anxieties have disappeared, but we are unconscious. The world remains the same; the anxieties are there waiting for us, increasing, not decreasing, because as time moves, they will increase. Our problems remain the same, even become more complicated. While we are unconscious, everything is growing: it doesn’t wait for our consciousness to be there.

Pleasure is escape. That’s why pleasure is not worth it. In fact, it is not pleasure, it is a sort of suicide. We escape from the problems, we put our back to the problems, but this is no way to solve them. We will have to come back, because once we have become conscious, unconsciousness cannot be a permanent state of affairs. We can have a dive into unconsciousness, but how long can we remain underwater? For a second - and then we are back again to the surface. We cannot remain unconscious for long.

So, this is not helping in any way, pleasure doesn’t help. We have to come back again and again — and then it becomes a vicious circle. When we come back and we find the anguish waiting, the anxiety, all the problems — rather, they have increased — we become afraid, we become nervous. Our whole being trembles and becomes fear; then we have to escape again and again. The more we escape, the more problems increase. The more problems we face, the more alcohol is needed. And then the quantity of the intoxicant has to be increased continuously because we become attuned to it. We take a certain quantity of a drug: the first day we feel unconscious. After a few days we are not unconscious; we are still conscious, worries are still there knocking at the door, we can hear — we need a greater quantity.

A moment comes when no drug helps. When no drug affects us, we are already integrated, and now we can move towards the height without any fear of falling — because we cannot be made unconscious, we have crystallized our consciousness. But ordinarily one is not working through drugs for consciousness, and the path is very dangerous. 

Ordinarily one is seeking unconsciousness, a little forgetfulness in this world of worries, anguish, anxiety, this world which looks like a hell. One wants to forget. All our pleasures are just forgetfulness.

Satyam Shivam Sundaram

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Satyam Shivam Sundaram

In the East God has been defined as Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram. Satyam means the truth, Shivam means the good/the auspicious and Sundaram means the beautiful. These are the three approaches towards God, three doors to enter into the ultimate.

Either one enters as a seeker of truth - that is the approach of the philosopher. And by philosophy we do not mean that which is taught in the universities. By philosophy we mean the original meaning of philosophy: love of wisdom. Lovers of wisdom enter from the door of truth. It is a different path, but they reach the same peak, the peak is the same.

The person who enters through the door called good is the person who tries to live a life of simplicity, innocence, purity – this is the virtuous one. And by the virtuous we don’t mean the moralist. The moralist is an egoist. Such a person is cunning, calculative. This person’s morality is not much, his/her morality is just a policy; hence such a person says, ‘Honesty is the best policy.’ It is politics. A game is being played. Such a person is trying to deceive even God. He/she is only pretending to be good, he/she is not good.

To be virtuous is totally different. It is not a question of having a good character. It is a question of having more consciousness in our being, not conscience but consciousness. Conscience makes character, consciousness creates virtue. When we are alert, more alert than people ordinarily are, we have the capacity to see what is right and what is wrong. And each moment we decide; we don’t carry ready-made answers.

The person of so-called character lives out of ready-made answers; hence he/she is never in tune with life, never in step with life. His/her answers are old, and life always raises new questions. But the virtuous person is spontaneous. He/she enters from the door of good.

The poet, the painter, the sculptor, and all those who love beauty enter from the third door. If one can enter from the third door, the preference is for the third. If it is impossible then the next preference is for the second door, the door of spontaneous virtue. If that too is difficult, then only should one choose the path of wisdom, because that is the hardest path, the most arduous. And there is no need to be a martyr unnecessarily. When one can go easily, when one can go dancing and singing, why carry a cross?

Let that be our path - creativity. Create something beautiful. And whatsoever we do, be creative — that will be our religion, that will be our meditation. 

Religion has failed for the simple reason that it was uncreative. Anything uncreative cannot succeed. God is a creator. The only way to succeed in God’s existence - and there is no other existence - is to be creative. Create beauty, appreciate beauty, love beauty. Let beauty be our god. Worship beauty.

What to do with Leisure?

 

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What to do with Leisure?

It is a habit of the mind because it has been always living in misery, unhappiness, and always the ‘why?’ has been relevant. So, when clouds disappear for the first time and the sun shines in our life, the old question goes on persisting — ‘Why?’ Learn to accept happiness, learn to enjoy it without any questioning, learn to trust happiness, don’t doubt it, because the very doubt will poison us. Happiness rarely happens. Those moments are very few and far between. When they come, welcome them, open the door, receive them with a full heart, don’t withhold anything. Even a question will become a very, very strong wall between us and our happiness.

Every day is a Sunday. It should be so. Every day is a holiday. It should be so. Because all days belong to Him. Each moment is holy. Once we understand it, we will stop asking questions. Don’t think that any particular day is needed for us to be happy - only a particular mind is required. It has nothing to do with time; everything depends on the attitude, how we look at life. There are people for whom even a Sunday is not a Sunday. There is no light, no sun rising - even on a Sunday. They are clouded in their own darkness, shrouded in their own misery. They carry their hell around them. Even if we force them into heaven, they will go on carrying their hell. They will live in their hell. Nobody can force them out of their hell unless they decide to drop it. It is our decision to be happy or to be unhappy.

There is a story about a mystic who was always happy, nobody had ever seen him unhappy. He gracefully aged and had become very old when someone asked him, “How do you remain so happy, so undisturbed, so blissful every moment? It is impossible, it is unbelievable. What is your secret?” The old man laughed and replied, “Long ago, I found one simple thing – that each morning, when I opened my eyes, I  had to decide on two alternatives for the day – whether to be happy or unhappy. I chose to be happy and that has been my choice daily to this day. It is very simple.”

For people this is difficult to accept. All great truths are simple, it is our mind that is complex and refuses to accept the simplicities of life. We suffer because we go on deciding to suffer, the mind takes us down that path, and we cling to it. We do not learn to let go – it is so simple.

People have lost the ability to be happy, even when they have leisure time choose to be unhappy. Many people go on working and working and working and one day they die…because their work is not creative. When is the work creative? The work is creative when we love it, the work is creative when we feel in tune with it, the work is creative when we enjoy it, the work is creative when we choose it, when it fits with our being and there is a great harmony between us and our work.

There are two types of values in life. One is intrinsic value. we sing a song — it has an intrinsic value; it is the means, and it is the end also. Or we sing a song in the marketplace to earn a little money. That money is not intrinsic to the song, that money is an outside value. And if we are singing our song only for the money, the activity is no longer holy, it is profane. If we are singing our song for the happiness that it brings to us. Maybe as a by-product it brings money also, but that is irrelevant. If it brings, it is good, if it does not bring, that too is good - but our activity has an inner glow to it, it is intrinsically valuable in itself. If we are happy that we could sing, we are happy that we had an opportunity to sing, then every day will become meditative, holy.

If we are doing our meditative practice correctly, this is going to happen to everybody. That’s Swamiji’s whole effort here: to help us enjoy each moment as it comes.

Creativity and Silence

 

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Creativity and Silence

Creativity and silence are not antagonistic; real creativity comes only out of silence. The creativity that is against silence is nothing but the feverish activity of the mind. It is just the noise of the mind, it is not much, it has no value really. When something is born out of one’s silence then it has significance. And one has to live in silence before one can write or say something valuable, because only in silence does one gather, the juices of one’s being become integrated… and then one day we are capable of overflowing. That is creativity: overflow is creativity, overflowing energy is creativity. One can write, one can compose, one can sculpt, one can paint, just from the mind. Then they are therapeutic. It is good therapy, art is good therapy; it unburdens us, it makes us feel relaxed.

Just understand – there is a creativity that comes out of relaxation – that is real creativity – and there is a relaxation which comes out of so-called creativity; that relaxation happens only because we unburden ourselves. Something was haunting us -  we have written it; it is a catharsis. Something was torturing us, and we have painted - we have thrown it out. Now it no more haunts us, no more tortures us; we feel good. It was like a burden on our head. We have put it into a poem, into music, and our head feels unburdened, but the causes which created the burden in the first place are still there; they will create it again. Within a few days we will again be burdened, again tensions will accumulate and again we would like to do something. And always when we do something we will feel relaxed.

For real creativity, one has to go into silence. It is so in every direction; in every creative direction these two things are to be remembered. For example, one can speak out of silence, as realised Masters speak, but there are orators who don’t speak out of silence; in fact, after speaking they feel relaxed. They have unburdened themselves. And there is a subtle law, a fundamental law of life: when one is speaking one cannot think. One cannot do two things together; the mind can either think or speak.

So, people who are too burdened with thinking will always feel relaxed after they have spoken, because while they are speaking, they cannot think. Thinking is nothing but speaking to oneself. What else is thinking? - speaking to oneself; it is a monologue. When we start speaking to somebody else there is no need to speak to ourselves, so thinking stops. Hence people love talking, gossiping. Everywhere all around the earth people are just talking and talking. It is a catharsis, it is therapeutic. That’s why one always feels good when friends meet and there is a good conversation; after the conversation one feels very relaxed. For a few hours one really feels good, but again the tensions reappear.

After a great silence one may become capable one day of creating something which will be of some significance to somebody, which will become a lighthouse to those who are stumbling in the darkness. Otherwise, at the most one’s creativity can be just a kind of entertainment. And unless one can create something which becomes an enlightenment to others it is not worth much.

Trust

 

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Trust

Trust is something that happens – it is not a decision on one’s part. Trust comes into play when we finish doubting; when we come to see doubt through and through and we are completely convinced about the futility of doubt. Trust is not contrary to doubt, trust is just the absence of doubt.

Trust is not the opposite of doubt, just as darkness is not opposite to light. It appears opposite, but it is not – because light cannot be destroyed by bringing darkness in. There is no way to destroy light by throwing darkness on it. Darkness has
never been able to destroy the small flame of a very small candle. The whole darkness of existence is impotent before a small candle.

When light is, darkness is not. When we put a light on in our room, have we watched what happens? Darkness does not go out of the room; it is not that darkness escapes out of the room. It is found simply not to be there. It never was - it is pure negativity.

Don’t repress doubt. Rather, just on the contrary, watch, look deeply into it, analyse it. Don’t leave any part of it unanalysed, unknown. Become acquainted with all the layers of the doubting mind. That very acquaintance, the penetration into doubt, will dissolve doubt. One day suddenly we will awake one morning full of trust - not as our decision. It cannot be a decision because trust is something we are born with; doubt is a learned thing. Trust is tacit, inborn.

Every child trusts. As it grows, doubt arises. Doubt is learned. So, trust is there always as an undercurrent in our being. We just need to drop doubt, trust will arise. And then trust has a tremendous beauty because it is pure. It is not against doubt, it is simply the absence of doubt. The rock has been removed and the stream has come bubbling up, flowing.

So many people believe in God, and deep down is doubt — throbbing, alive, waiting for its opportunity to destroy the trust. And the trust is bogus because the trust is on the periphery, and the doubt has reached almost to the very core of our being. Never decide about love, about trust, about God. These things are not our decisions.

When doubt is no more there, trust happens. It flows. It arises out of our innermost core, from the innermost shrine. We start listening to a new music of being, a new style of being, a new way of being. It is not of the mind; it is of the being.