Bliss through the Inner Journey

 

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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 own self, to one’s own treasures. They are infinite… immeasurable. Once known, we never beg again. We may not have anything of the world – still we remain emperors. Our emperor-hood has an inner luminousness.

We become emperors not because we have kingdoms, but because we are emperors. Our being emperors doesn’t depend on kingdoms – it is independent of all kingdoms. Only then can one truly be a king, because nobody can rob us, nobody can take away anything from us…..not even death.

We all have something which cannot be robbed, cannot be taken away. It is only when we have something that cannot be taken away that our fear disappears. And when you become totally aware of this we start feeling that we can never die – that we are eternal.

Let this be the key – that we have to look more and more inwards. Temptations are there, desires are there – this is natural. Don’t become an escapist. Don’t try to escape from the world. Just be in the world but give more and more energy and time to the inner search. Do whatsoever is needed on the outside, but don’t become too occupied with it.

Things are needed: food is needed, a shelter is needed – absolutely okay, so one should work for them. They are necessities, they are needed to be happy, but they are not enough. They are basic requirements. Outer things are needed, but they are not enough. Fulfill them, but don’t expect too much out of them. They are needs, and the inner life is something more than needs – it is a luxury. The inner life is always aristocratic.

One should work in the world so that one can work in one’s inner world. One should earn a little money so that outer things no more trouble or distract one. One can close one’s eyes and go into meditation. If money serves meditation, money is good and one should use it. But if money becomes our meditation, we will become neurotic.

Remaining Centred

 

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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 ways, else the stick falls, and when this happens the ego gets shattered.

The way to remain balanced is always to have the feeling that whatever one is doing is being done under the Guru’s grace – this could be cooking at home, cleaning, dusting, sweeping, work in the office, talking to friends and colleagues – anything we do we are doing it for the Guru. When this starts happening automatically, witness oneself – and one will find that one is remaining centred, balanced.

Don’t create any conflict about going astray and being centred. Float. If we create a conflict, if we become afraid of going astray, then there is more possibility that we will go astray – because whatever we try to suppress becomes very significant. Whatever we try to deny becomes very attractive. So, don’t create any condemnation of going astray. In fact, go with it.

If it is happening, allow it to happen; there is nothing wrong in it. There must be something in it, and that’s why it is happening. Sometimes, even going astray is good. A person who really wants to remain centred should not be worried about centring. If we worry about it, the very worry itself will never allow us to be centred, because worrying can never be centred – a non-worried mind is required. So, going astray is good, there is nothing wrong in it. 

Stop fighting with existence. Stop all conflict and the idea of conquering – surrender. And when one surrenders, what can one do? If the mind goes astray, we go; if it doesn’t go, that too is okay. Sometimes we will be centred, and sometimes we will not. But deep down we will always remain centred because there is no worry, as we have totally and unconditionally surrendered to the Satguru.

Meditation – Centre of Life

 

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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 dying one comes to know that only the time that has been devoted to meditation has been saved; everything else and all the time devoted to it, has gone down the drain.

Meditation is the only way to save time and life energy. And one who has been meditating has something to take with himself beyond death, a treasure. He is not going empty-handed, he is going full, overflowing.

Death proves how a man has lived. If a man can go into death joyously, blissfully, that means that he has lived rightly. People die crying, weeping, clinging. They don’t want to die: a little more life. Everything is unfinished, no desire has been fulfilled, all longings are waiting there and time is finished. Their whole life must have been wrong.

Firstly, meditation has to become the center of our existence. And once it becomes the center it starts influencing everything else. Our work slowly and steadily becomes meditation, our relationships slowly become meditation.

A moment comes to the meditator when he need not meditate separately; it spreads over life – a subtle flavour, an aroma. Then whatsoever is being done – walking, talking, sleeping – is done in a meditative state.

The second thing to be remembered – meditation needs to be given a special time only in the beginning. But that is only for the beginning, only for the learner. Once we have learned the art, then we need to bring the quality to everyday life. One can drive meditatively, one can write meditatively, and the quality is so definitely different that when we know it we see the difference - each act becomes a deep relaxation; it is no more tense, it is no more worry.

If one can work without tension one’s work becomes play, work becomes worship. Renunciation and giving up things is not the solution. The whole approach should be to make life more joyous, how to transform this life into a constant rejoicing. The third thing – one’s approach should not be life-negative, it should be life-affirmative. Life is God to us, and to live intensely and passionately is the way to God.

Remember that sooner or later we have to come and be part of the Samarpan Gurutattva’s global family. Now this is our family – wherever one is, whether here in India or in a foreign country. So, whenever it is possible – and soon it will be possible, once the seed planted by Swamiji is there in the heart.

So, keep the seed in the heart, let it sink in there, make life a meditation, and everything will start happening. We will soon realise we are on the way to our inner abode and we will reach it soon.

Becoming Watchful

 

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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 bothered, just move on and don’t look back. Don’t be greedy, as greed is a hindrance to spiritual progress.”

Now, the two minds within us are battling – which mind will win ultimately? That will determine which mind you become identified with – the greedy one or the moral one! In such times of difficulties, people don’t think of such delicacies. We will identify ourselves with the moral mind. But there is every possibility that we will take the note. We will identify ourselves with the moral mind, and we will disidentify ourselves from the mind which is going to take the note. We will condemn it deep down; we will say, “It is not right - it is the sinner part of me, the lower part, the condemned part.” You will keep yourself aloof from it. You will say, “I was against it. It was my instinct, it was my unconscious, it was my body, it was my mind, which persuaded me to do it; otherwise, deep down we knew it, that it was wrong. We know deep within that it was wrong.

We always identify ourselves with the right, the moralistic attitude, and disidentify from the immoral act - although we do it. This is how hypocrisy arises. We ask for forgiveness, saying we go on doing things which we know we should not do, and also we don’t do things which we know we should do.

This is the conflict; this is how one becomes troubled. The key that can take us out of all identification: don’t be identified with the moral mind - because that too is part of the mind. It is the same game: one part saying good, another part saying bad — it is the same mind creating a conflict within. The mind is always dual. The mind lives in polar opposites. It loves and it hates the same person; it wants to do the act and it does not want to do the act. It is conflict, mind is conflict. Don’t get identified with either.

Become just a watchfulness. See that one part is saying this, another part is saying that. “I am neither this nor that - I am just a witness.” Only then is there a possibility that understanding will arise.

From Mind to Meditation

 

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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 immoral, ugly - and to pretend that we love…. That does not mean that one is consciously doing it; it may be just an unconscious thing. We may not even be aware that we don’t love the other person; we may also think that we love that other person. We may not be deceiving her/him deliberately; we may be deceiving her/him and we may be deceived ourselves too.

But if we start meditating, things will become clear. We will have more light in our life; just as when we bring a candle into a dark room we start seeing clearly. In the darkness the window looked like a door; now it is no longer a door. Or the painting, the frame of the painting, in the darkness and dimness looked like a window; it is no longer a window. Now that we see things clearly, we cannot behave in the old way. We will have to change; we will have to rearrange our whole life.

That’s what happens to every practitioner of meditation under the guidance of a realised Master. If our love was true, it will be deepened; if it was false, it will disappear. If our respect for our parents was just a formality, it will disappear; if our respect for our parents was a reality, it will become more and more profound. The work that we were doing - if it was our heart’s fulfillment, we will go deeper into it.

The meditative mind rests at the state of complete tranquillity like a lake of crystal-clear water at peace with no ripples or disturbance. If someone throws a stone (a thought, word, etc) into that meditative lake the ripples do not arise, the stone gets engulfed by the lake without causing an effect, so, no cause is created by the stone so there is no effect.

That is meditation, a sharp, focused, relaxed, and fully controlled the mind, once this mind starts merging and gets dissolved in the Self, the pure consciousness is realised.

Finding the Gap

 

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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 gaps are in the present. We jump from one thought to another, and in between the thoughts the gap was there – and we missed it. In between was the heaven – but we jump from one hell to another.

There is a silent space between thoughts – the gap between thoughts. It is the space where the mind stands still. No thoughts exist in this space. Hence, it is in this gap that we can experience present moment awareness. From cultivating present moment awareness, inner wisdom and joy arises.

In between is heaven, but we don’t stop in between – we miss the gap. We race from one thought to another thought. Each thought feeds our ego, helps us to be, defines us, gives us a boundary, a shape, a form, an identity. We don’t look in the gap between the two thoughts because to look into that gap is to look into our original face, which has no identity. To look into that gap is to look into eternity, where we are going to be lost.

We have become so afraid of looking into the gap that we have almost managed to forget them. Between two thoughts there is a gap, but we don’t see it. We see one thought, then we see another thought, then another thought…. Just watch a little. The thoughts are not overlapping. Each thought is separate. In between the two there must be a gap. There is a gap, and that interval is the door. From that door we will enter into existence again.

Meditation under the guidance of a realised Master helps us in finding that gap, and with regular practice the gaps increase. In those gaps we find the silence, the nothingness which takes us into the void where there is just the present moment. When we are in full awareness of the moment, in the gap, the time dimension disappears and we find the joy and bliss of the here and now resonating in silence!

Meditation and Compassion

 

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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 downwards, compassion moves upwards; passion moves through desire, compassion moves through desirelessness; passion is an occupation to forget the miseries in which we live, compassion is a celebration, it is a dance of attainment, of fulfillment…we are so fulfilled that we can share. Now there is nothing left to attain!

The same energy that was moving through the dark layers of passion, now moves with light rays upwards, uncontaminated by any desire, uncontaminated by any conditioning. It is uncorrupted by any motivation - hence we call it fragrance. The flower is limited but not the fragrance. The flower has limitations it is rooted somewhere in bondage, but fragrance has no bondage. It simply moves, rides on the winds; it has no moorings in the earth.

Meditation is a flower. It has roots. It exists in us. Once compassion happens, it is not rooted; it simply moves and goes on moving. Many Sages and Satgurus have come and gone but not their compassion. The flower will die sooner or later — it is part of earth and the dust will return unto dust - but the fragrance that has been released will remain forever.

Compassion is not limited to the flower - it comes from the flower but it is not of the flower. It comes through the flower; the flower is just a passage, but it comes really from the beyond. It cannot come without the flower - the flower is a necessary stage - but it does not belong to the flower. Once the flower has bloomed, compassion is released.

Compassion frees us, gives us freedom, but that compassion has to come only through meditation, there is no other way to it. Swamiji say that compassion is a by-product, a consequence. We cannot catch hold of the consequence directly, we have to move; we have to produce the cause, and the effect follows. So, if we really want to understand what compassion is we have to understand what meditation is. Forget all about compassion; it comes on its own accord.

It is necessary understand what meditation is! Compassion can become a criterion as to whether the meditation was right or not. If the meditation has been right, compassion is bound to come - it is natural; it follows like a shadow. If the meditation has been wrong then compassion will not follow.

Alone in Silence

 

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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 are alone in the crowd, so they are trying to create their own illusion. Maybe they are talking to their wife, to their boss - there are many things which cannot be said but right now they can say them. In front of the wife, they cannot say it, but in this crowd, where everybody is engaged in their own thing, everybody is doing their own thing, they can say things to the wife. Nobody is listening, and at least one thing is certain - the wife is not there! But they need the wife, they need someone to talk to.

Only pure aloneness gives you a clean sanity. You don’t need the other; the dependence on the other is no more there, you are enough unto yourself. Language is meaningless because language is a medium to relate with the other. The moment you are no longer dependent on the other, language is meaningless, words are meaningless.

In silence - when there are no words, no language, nobody else is present - we are getting in tune with existence. This serenity, this silence, this aloneness will bring immense rewards. It will allow us to grow to our full potential. For the first time we will be individuals, for the first time we will have the touch and the taste of freedom, and for the first time the immensity, the unboundedness of existence will be ours with all its blissfulness.

Whatever happens in silence - either sadness or aloneness - remember, in silence nothing wrong can ever happen. Whatever happens is going to enhance its beauty, deepen its charm; anything that happens will bring more and more flowers, more and more fragrance to it. Whatever happens in silence is our friend, it is going to take us to the ultimate peak of ecstasy.

Compromising without Knowing

 

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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 test. Society tests us every moment. And here, to be just ourselves, not out of arrogance, not out of our egoistic feelings… those people who are arrogant will have to compromise, because there are more arrogant people. Those who are egoists will find sooner or later somebody else who can crush them.

There are different kinds of powers. People slowly, slowly learn not to stand erect, but they start crawling on the ground. In this society, to remain erect and as oneself - without arrogance, without ego, but just out of our silence, just out of our awareness - is a tremendous experience and experiment.

Deep down, if one is a meditator, one knows the body can be taken away but one’s being cannot even be touched - our immortality is sure. There have been meditators, but they escaped from society, and there have been rebellious people who were destroyed by society. Two very great qualities that the world has not known before: the meeting of rebelliousness and meditativeness, the meeting of rebelliousness and religiousness. Rebelliousness and religiousness are two sides of the same coin.

There is no need to be afraid because there is nothing that can be destroyed within us. And that which can be destroyed will be destroyed whether we are in the Himalayas, or hiding in the monasteries. The body is going to be destroyed, so there is no need on the part of the body, on the part of the mind, to be ready to be enslaved. This happens because we are not aware of anything more than the body-mind structure. We should become aware of our immortality.

We should not escape from the world, we should transcend the world - living in it, going through all the fire because we know nothing can destroy us.

Real status comes only from self-realisation, not by sitting on a golden throne. If people bow down to us, remember they are bowing down to the throne, not to you. Tomorrow somebody else will be there. Yesterday there was somebody else and people were bowing down.

Total Surrender

 

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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 see clearly what’s right in our life for us and what needs to change. This isn’t being thought of in the same ego judgment way. There’s always ego in saying something is “right” or “wrong,” but that’s not a bad thing when it comes from a deeper acceptance of what Is. We say to yourself, “Oh this really is a crime-ridden neighbourhood, and it isn’t good for us. We need to move.” We say this now instead of deluding yourself with the idea that it will improve or is improving. We see what things really are the more we surrender our ideas about what we want.

And once again surrender isn’t passive. We can see where we need to take action. It becomes increasingly clear where we need to change and do things. The spiritual path is never one that simply allows itself to be run over by everyone else - although it can look that way to a lot of egos at first. Actually, surrendering to reality is immensely powerful.

Let go of what you cannot control. There’s a deeper flow in life. When we surrender to that flow, to the Divine flow, we can be pulled along. It can make life so much easier, but we still need our paddle. We still must steer our little boats so we don’t run aground or hit rocks in the river bottom. It is, however, far easier than trying to avoid the flow (sitting on the riverbank wondering why we never get anywhere) or trying to paddle against it. So, we learn to accept how things are and surrender to these currents.

So, don’t think of surrender as giving up. Think of surrender as a call to see life clearly and a call to the most profound and sacred action possible.

Feel the Inner Centre

 

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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 show it. Children are very sensitive; we cannot deceive them. We may pat them, but they know that this is a dead pat. If our hand is not a flowing energy, a loving energy, they know. Then it is just as if a dead thing is being used. When we are present in totality in our hand, when we have moved, when our center of being has come to the hand, when our soul is there, then the touch has a different quality.

The senses are just doors, receiving stations, mediums, instruments, receptors. We are hidden behind. While listening to music, we shouldn’t forget ourselves in the ear, don’t lose ourselves into the ear. Remember the awareness that is hidden behind. Be alert! We are standing there behind the eyes, looking through the eyes, just as if someone looks through a window or through spectacles.

When hearing, just hear through the ears and remain aware of the inner center. When touching, just touch through the hand and remember the inner one who is hidden behind. From any sense we can have a feeling of the inner center, and every sense goes to the inner center. It has to report. That is why, when we are seeing someone and are listening to someone, when we see someone through the eyes and we hear Someone through the ears, deep down within we know that we are seeing the same man whom we are also hearing.

If we look at someone through the eyes, he will feel as if we are trespassing upon him, as if we are doing something unmannerly. If we look through the eyes, the other will become aware suddenly that we are not behaving properly, because our look will become piercing, our look will go deeper. If it comes from our depth, it will penetrate to the other’s depth. That is why society has a built-in security: don’t look too deeply into anyone unless we are in love. If we are in love, we can look deeply into the other; we can penetrate to the very depth because the other is not afraid.

In a world which is just an appearance, they have deceived us to feel it as real. If we can look through the senses and remain alert, the world will by and by appear to us as illusory, dream-like, and we will be able to penetrate to the substance — to the very substance of it. That substance is the Brahman.

Never Compare Love

 

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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 something wrong. Why are we not so passionately in love? Why are we not like a storm, why are we blowing like a small breeze? But that is our way. And God needs both. Storms and more storms…. He also needs a little rest. A little breeze is always handy.

Don’t be worried. This is how God is happening to us. Never compare. Just look within and enjoy whatsoever is happening so it can happen more. Enjoy it, delight in it, and it will happen more. We may become even more gentle; even the breeze may disappear and stop. That too has happened before. There are as many ways towards God as there are seekers. Everybody has his own way and there are no super ways, remember — no super highways. Everybody walks on their own path. Unless of course one is following His Holiness Shivkrupanand Swami – Swamiji plants the seed of meditation in us, and after initiation he takes you on the super highway and drops you off near your own inner abode. The last mile connectivity is ours and only ours. We need to do that journey alone.

In fact, the path to one’s inner abode is not found ready-made. We create it by walking, and it disappears when we have gone on ahead. Nobody else can walk on it; it is never left behind. It is just like the birds flying in the sky. Once they have flown, they don’t leave any footprints. Nobody can follow it. There is no need. Don’t compare. Be contented with yourself. Enjoy, delight — help yourself to be yourself. This is YOUR way.

Meditator’s Progress

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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 inner consciousness.

We won’t fall into those sad moments that we usually fall into - frustrations, failures, sadness, a feeling of meaninglessness, anxieties, anguish; all these are slowly, slowly, going to become foreigners. A moment comes when even if we want to be angry, we find it impossible; we have forgotten the language of anger. Laughter will become easier. Our face, our eyes, will be aglow with some inner light. We will feel ourselves that we have become light, as if gravitation does not function as it used to function before. We have lost heaviness, because all these qualities are very heavy — anger, sadness, frustration, cunningness. All these feelings are very heavy. We don’t know, but they are making you heavy-hearted and they also make us hard.

As meditation grows, we will feel ourselves becoming soft, vulnerable - just as laughter will become easy for us, tears will also become easy. But these tears will not be of sadness or sorrow. These tears will be of joy, blissfulness; these tears will be of gratitude, of thankfulness. These tears will say what words cannot; these tears will be our prayers.

And for the first time we know that tears are not only to express our pain, our misery, our suffering; that’s how we have used them. But they have a far greater purpose to fulfill: they are immensely beautiful when they come as an expression of ecstasy.

And we will find, on the whole, expansion - that we are expanding, we are becoming bigger and bigger. Not in the sense of the ego but in the sense that our consciousness is spreading, that it is taking people within its area, that our hands are becoming bigger and hugging far away people, that distances are falling away, that even far away stars are close, because our consciousness now has wings.

And these things are so clear and so certain that a question or doubt never arises. If a doubt arises that means we are stuck; then be more alert, then we must put forth our energy more intensively in meditation. 

Who Am I?

 

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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 that there is anything more than itself. And the ego is dying, and the ego starts breathing its last, and we become afraid. Many people turn back from that point, rush back out.

This is going to happen to every meditator. Every meditator has to encounter this situation, this challenge. Many times, people come to the point from where they would have entered into God, but they could not risk, they could not gather courage. They became afraid, scared; they rushed out.

We have to take the risk. And understand that this not death. Yes, it is a death to the ego, but the death of the ego is the birth of the soul. We will die as a drop, but we will be born as the ocean. It is worth it. One will be dying only as a limited being, as a defined being, and one will be born as undefined, undefinable.

Yes, one will disappear, with all one’s neurosis, psychosis. with all one’s tensions, anxieties, anguishes - we will disappear with all our problems, worries; we will disappear as we have known ourselves up to now. But our disappearance is only a change of garments, and we will be getting closer to our reality, deeper into our reality. We will get more rooted into being. That’s the whole search!

One may be standing exactly on the boundary; that’s why whenever the question, ‘who am I?’ arises, immediately one becomes afraid. Feel blessed that we are so close to the boundary from where a totally new world and a totally new life can have a start. Just one single step… and we will be a new person. Just a single step, and all the garbage that the society has dumped on us will have dropped, and we will be just pure consciousness. We will have wings! Now we are just crawling on the earth… and then we will be able to soar high towards the sun.

Every day the outer will go on losing its significance more and more. One day it will be utterly useless to be there. And as the outer loses significance, the inner will become more and more magnetic - simultaneously the process happens. And one day it becomes irresistible - one has to cross the line. And that day is the greatest day in a human being’s life, when we drop our old identity and enter into the unknown - we have encountered God, we have come home.

Tuning in to God’s Frequency

 

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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 don’t tune their heart radios to the proper frequency. Instead, they tune it to the wrong frequency and get atmospheric disturbance.

When one chants a Mantra, it accelerates and generates creative force. One who is on the path of spirituality, needs harmony in all parts of his life! One should be in perfect ease and in tune with the Divine to attain the spiritual Truth. Regular chanting of mantra produces harmony. A Mantra has the power to release the cosmic and the super cosmic consciousness. A Mantra when chanted regularly awakens the consciousness or Chaitanya in one. 

Regular chanting of a Mantra helps the practitioner to realise his highest goal, even if he doesn’t know the meaning of the Mantra. However, repetition of the Mantra with concentration on its meaning can help one to attain God-consciousness quickly. Usually, when we sit for meditation, our mind jumps from one thought to another, making it difficult to focus our attention. But, chanting mantra distracts the mind from those thoughts and helps to anchor the mind in concentration.

Repetition of a mantra helps one to be more mindful and aware of everything in and around us. We get enveloped by a sense of completeness when we chant the mantra and tune in to God’s frequency.

With practice, we’ll be able to tune your heart radio. We will become good receivers. Only then is proper communication possible. Communication brings communion. Real communion is possible only when we tune our entire personality to God’s frequency.