Preface
hen you are not doing anything at all - bodily,
mentally, on no level - when all activity has ceased
and you simply are, just being, that's what medita-
tion is. You cannot do it, you cannot practice it; you have
only to understand it.
Whenever you can find time for just being, drop all
doing. Thinking is also doing, concentration is also doing,
contemplation is also doing. Even if for a single moment you
are not doing anything and you are just at your center, ut-
terly relaxed - that is meditation. And once you have got the
knack of it, you can remain in that state as long as you want;
finally you can remain in that state for twenty-four hours a
day.
Once you have become aware of the way your being can
remain undisturbed, then slowly you can start doing things,
keeping alert that your being is not stirred. That is the second
part of meditation. First, learning how just to be, and then
learning little actions: cleaning the floor, taking a shower, but
keeping yourself centered. Then you can do complicated
things.
For example, I am speaking to you, but my meditation is
not disturbed. I can go on speaking, but at my very center
there is not even a ripple; it is just silent, utterly silent.
So meditation is not against action.
It is not that you have to escape from life.
It simply teaches you a new way of life.
You become the center of the cyclone.
Your life goes on, it goes on really more intensely - with
more joy, with more clarity, more vision, more creativity - yet
you are aloof, just a watcher on the hills, simply seeing all
that is happening around you.
You are not the doer, you are the watcher.
That's the whole secret of meditation, that you become
the watcher. Doing continues on its own level, there is no
problem: chopping wood, drawing water from the well. You
can do all small and big things; only one thing is not allowed
and that is, your centering should not be lost.
That awareness, that watchfulness, should remain ab-
solutely unclouded, undisturbed.
Meditation is a very simple phenomenon.
BHAGVAAN
From Misery to Enlightenment
Dearest
First , i WOULD like to welcome you, because you have a
/ longing for the divine; because you desire to rise above
/ ordinary life towards the life of a seeker and because,
despite your worldly desires, you have a thirst for truth.
The people who have felt the thirst for truth are fortunate;
out of the millions of people who are born, only a few ever
feel the longing for truth. To know truth is a great blessing -
but even to have the longing for it is as great a blessing. Even
if you don't attain it that is okay, but to never have experi-
enced the thirst at all would be a great misfortune.
I would like to say that it is not important to know truth.
What is important is that you have the longing for it, that you
make every effort towards experiencing it, that you work hard
for it and yearn for it, and that you are determined and do
everything you can possibly do towards this end. If in spite of
this you don't attain it that does not matter. But never to have
experienced this thirst at all - that would be the greatest
tragedy.
I would also like to say that to know truth is not as im-
portant as to have an authentic yearning for it. That yearning
is a joy in itself. If the desire is for something insignificant,
there will be no jo y even if you get it; but if you long for the
significant, the ultimate and you don't get it, then you will be
filled with joy even if you don't get it. I repeat: if you desire a small thing and you get it, you will still not be as happy as
when you long for the ultimate and you don't get it... you
will still be filled with joy and happiness.
The divine will be born in you according to the inten-
sity with which you seek it. That does not mean that some
supreme soul or energy from outside will enter your being.
The seed is already present within you, and it will start grow-
ing. But it will grow only if you are able to give some warmth
to your thirst, some heat and some fire to your thirst.
The more you long for the divine, the more is the possibil-
ity that the seed which is hidden within your heart will grow,
that it will sprout and become the divine; that it will break
open, that it will blossom.
If you have ever thought of experiencing the divine, if you
have ever experienced a desire for silence, for truth, then
know that the seed within you is longing to sprout. It means
that some hidden thirst within you wants to be fulfilled. Try
to understand that a very significant struggle is taking place
within you; you will have to help this struggle and support
it. You will have to support it because it is not enough that
the seed has sprouted: a more nourishing environment is also
needed. And even if the seed has sprouted, it does not mean
that it will also bloom. For that, much more is needed.
Out of the many seeds scattered on the ground, only a few
will grow into trees. There is this possibility in all of them:
they could all sprout and grow into trees and each could in
turn produce many more seeds. One small seed has the
power, the potential to produce a whole forest; it contains
the potential to cover the whole earth with trees. But it is also
possible that the seed with this immense power and potential
will be destroyed and that nothing will come out of it.
And this is only the capacity of a seed - man is capable of
much more than this. One seed can create something so
vast.... If a small stone can be used to create an atomic ex-
plosion.. .immense energy can be produced out of it. Whe n
someone experiences this fusion within his being, within his
consciousness, this blossoming, this explosion, the energy
and light are the experience of the divine. We don't experi-
ence the divine from the outside. The energy that we produce
through this explosion of consciousness, the growth, the
flowering of our being, that energy itself is the divine. And
you have a thirst for this energy: this is why I welcome you.
But it does not necessarily follow that just because you
have come here that you have this thirst. It is possible that
you are here merely as a spectator. It is possible that you are
here out of some vague curiosity - but no doors can be
opened through superficial curiosity, and no secrets will
be revealed to mere spectators. In life, one has to pay for
everything one receives, and much has to be sacrificed.
Curiosity is of no value; this is why curiosity will not get
you anywhere. Curiosity will not help you to enter into med-
itation. Wha t is needed is an essential thirst for freedom, not
curiosity.
Last evening I was saying to someone that if you are near
an oasis and you are dying of thirst, if your thirst is intense
and you reach a state where you feel that soon you will die if
you don't get water, and if at that point someone offers you
water but with the condition that after drinking the water
you will die - that the price of the water will be your life
- you will even be willing to accept this condition. Whe n
death is certain, then why not die with your thirst quenched?
If you carry this intense longing and hope within you, then under this tremendous pressure the seed within you will
break open and start growing. The seed will not sprout on
its own, it needs certain conditions. It needs much pressure,
much warmth for its hard outer skin to crack and the tender
sprout inside to grow. Each of us has this hard covering, and
if we want to come out of it, just curiosity will not do. So re-
member this: if you are here simply out of curiosity you will
leave with that curiosity, and nothing can be done to help
you. And if you are here as a spectator you will leave as one,
and nothing can be done for you.
So it is necessary that each one of you look within him-
self to see whether or not he has an authentic longing for the
divine. Each of you should ask himself this question: "Do I
want to know truth?" Be very clear if your thirst for the di-
vine is authentic, whether you have a yearning for truth, for
silence, for bliss. If not, then understand that whatsoever you
do here will have no meaning; it will be meaningless, without
any purpose. If your meaningless efforts don't bear any fruits,
meditation will not be responsible - you will be responsible
for it.
So to begin, it is necessary that you look for an authentic
seeker within you. And be clear about it: do you really seek
something? And if you do, then there is a way to find it.
Buddha was once visiting a village. A man asked him,
Every day you say that everyone can become enlightened.
Then why doesn't everyone become enlightened?"
"My friend," Buddha replied, "do one thing: in the even-
ing make a list of all the people in the village and write down
their desires next to their names."
To be countinu............................
टिप्पणियाँ
एक टिप्पणी भेजें