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There have been those few people in the world who have gone beyond birth and death. There have been those people, very few, who know the secrets, the answers to life, to the mysteries of life. Yet they can do nothing for you until you can find out yourself who you really are, what you really are, what you're all about.
For if you believe you were born you begin to accumulate knowledge, as soon as you're born. You become aware of your environment, then you become aware of other people. Your parents feed you all kinds of knowledge and all this does is expand your ego. Your ego begins to live. It's fattened up by thoughts, knowledge. Just like the body is fattened up by food. When you're about four or five years old you go play out in the street with your friends, you acquire further knowledge. You go to your particular church or school, you acquire further knowledge. And the more you grow up the more knowledge you receive. And the ego expands and expands until you believe you know something. When you believe you know something the ego has taken over completely and you become an ego. So when some of us believe there must be an answer, or this is not the answer, there must be an answer to the riddle of life, we start to give ourselves further knowledge by reading books, searching out teachers, listening to lecturers and we receive further knowledge. It appears to help but it's fooling you. The appearance is a lie.
You become intellectual, you're able to debate, you acquire more knowledge at university, you study philosophy and soon you become a walking encyclopaedia. You're now filled with knowledge, filled with relative knowledge, worldly knowledge. Has this done the world any good? Look at the precarious condition the world is in. Has all the knowledge of lawyers, politicians, doctors, indian chiefs done this world any good? Knowledge seems to be destroying this world not making it a better place in which to live. The great secret is we have to unlearn everything we've learnt if we wish to become free and liberated. No matter how many times I say this to you, you're still acquiring more knowledge, some of you. Think of the books you read recently. The news you've watched on TV. The newspapers you read. Aren't you acquiring more and more knowledge? What is this knowledge doing for you? Expanding your ego and your ego grows and grows and encompasses the whole world, the whole universe. You have complete knowledge of the universe, of the world in which you live and you think this is going to free you. Freedom comes when you're empty, when you know nothing.
For if you believe you were born you begin to accumulate knowledge, as soon as you're born. You become aware of your environment, then you become aware of other people. Your parents feed you all kinds of knowledge and all this does is expand your ego. Your ego begins to live. It's fattened up by thoughts, knowledge. Just like the body is fattened up by food. When you're about four or five years old you go play out in the street with your friends, you acquire further knowledge. You go to your particular church or school, you acquire further knowledge. And the more you grow up the more knowledge you receive. And the ego expands and expands until you believe you know something. When you believe you know something the ego has taken over completely and you become an ego. So when some of us believe there must be an answer, or this is not the answer, there must be an answer to the riddle of life, we start to give ourselves further knowledge by reading books, searching out teachers, listening to lecturers and we receive further knowledge. It appears to help but it's fooling you. The appearance is a lie.
You become intellectual, you're able to debate, you acquire more knowledge at university, you study philosophy and soon you become a walking encyclopaedia. You're now filled with knowledge, filled with relative knowledge, worldly knowledge. Has this done the world any good? Look at the precarious condition the world is in. Has all the knowledge of lawyers, politicians, doctors, indian chiefs done this world any good? Knowledge seems to be destroying this world not making it a better place in which to live. The great secret is we have to unlearn everything we've learnt if we wish to become free and liberated. No matter how many times I say this to you, you're still acquiring more knowledge, some of you. Think of the books you read recently. The news you've watched on TV. The newspapers you read. Aren't you acquiring more and more knowledge? What is this knowledge doing for you? Expanding your ego and your ego grows and grows and encompasses the whole world, the whole universe. You have complete knowledge of the universe, of the world in which you live and you think this is going to free you. Freedom comes when you're empty, when you know nothing.
Sri Sri Sankara along with his disciples once visited Sri Vishwanatha Temple at Kasi. After taking bath in Ganga he headed straight to the temple. At the temple in front of Lord Vishwanatha, Sri Sri Sankara began to seek pardon to the three sins he had committed. His disciples were surprised and wondered what those sins could be for which Acharya was doing Prayaschitta (Atonement).
One of the disciples out of curiosity to know about the three sins that Acharya had committed asked Sri Sri Sankara about it. Sri Sri Sankara explained, “Though I believe that Absolute is Sarvavyapta (Omnipresent) and had expressed so in many of my works, I have come all the way to Kasinagara to have His darshana, as if He was present only in Kasinagara. I have committed the sin of saying one thing and doing the other. This is my first sin.
Taittriya Upanishad says, “Yatho Vacho Nivartante Aprapya Manasa Sah.”(The words return and mind fails to comprehend Him). Though I knew that He is beyond the realm of thoughts and words, I have made an attempt of describing Him by words in “Sri Kasi Vishwanatha Ashtakam.” Again I have committed the sin of not practicing what I preached. This is my second sin.
Now the third sin, in my “Nirvana Shatakam” I had written clearly,
Na Punyam Na Papam Na Saukhyam Na Dukham
Na Mantro Na Teertham Na Veda Na Yajnaha
Aham Bhojanam Naiva Bhojyam Na Bhokta
Chidananda Rupah Shivoham Shivoham
I have neither higher nor lower merits. Nor pleasure or pain, I do not need sacred chants, nor I need to go on pilgrimages. I do not need scriptures, rituals, or sacrifices (yajnas). I am neither the enjoyed nor the enjoyer, nor enjoyment. I am the form of Consciousness-Bliss. I am auspicious, I am auspicious.
Yet, here I am standing in front of the Lord praying for the atonement of my sins. This is the third sin.
The profound insight in this episode in the life of Sri Sri Sankara’s reveals the importance of harmony in our thought, word, and deed. If one has the keenness to attain Absolute he has to maintain harmony in his thoughts as well as words and deeds. No matter how good our intentions are, the world looks for our presentation. But no mater how good our presentation is Absolute looks for our intentions. It is said, Manas Ekam vachas Ekam, karman Ekam Mahatmanam, Manas Anyatha vachas Anyatha, karman Anyatha Duratmanam. (Superior people are those who have perfect harmony in their thoughts, words and deeds, Inferior are those who lack harmony).
Source : https://www.speakingtree.in/blog/the-three-sins-of-sri-sri-sankara
One of the disciples out of curiosity to know about the three sins that Acharya had committed asked Sri Sri Sankara about it. Sri Sri Sankara explained, “Though I believe that Absolute is Sarvavyapta (Omnipresent) and had expressed so in many of my works, I have come all the way to Kasinagara to have His darshana, as if He was present only in Kasinagara. I have committed the sin of saying one thing and doing the other. This is my first sin.
Taittriya Upanishad says, “Yatho Vacho Nivartante Aprapya Manasa Sah.”(The words return and mind fails to comprehend Him). Though I knew that He is beyond the realm of thoughts and words, I have made an attempt of describing Him by words in “Sri Kasi Vishwanatha Ashtakam.” Again I have committed the sin of not practicing what I preached. This is my second sin.
Now the third sin, in my “Nirvana Shatakam” I had written clearly,
Na Punyam Na Papam Na Saukhyam Na Dukham
Na Mantro Na Teertham Na Veda Na Yajnaha
Aham Bhojanam Naiva Bhojyam Na Bhokta
Chidananda Rupah Shivoham Shivoham
I have neither higher nor lower merits. Nor pleasure or pain, I do not need sacred chants, nor I need to go on pilgrimages. I do not need scriptures, rituals, or sacrifices (yajnas). I am neither the enjoyed nor the enjoyer, nor enjoyment. I am the form of Consciousness-Bliss. I am auspicious, I am auspicious.
Yet, here I am standing in front of the Lord praying for the atonement of my sins. This is the third sin.
The profound insight in this episode in the life of Sri Sri Sankara’s reveals the importance of harmony in our thought, word, and deed. If one has the keenness to attain Absolute he has to maintain harmony in his thoughts as well as words and deeds. No matter how good our intentions are, the world looks for our presentation. But no mater how good our presentation is Absolute looks for our intentions. It is said, Manas Ekam vachas Ekam, karman Ekam Mahatmanam, Manas Anyatha vachas Anyatha, karman Anyatha Duratmanam. (Superior people are those who have perfect harmony in their thoughts, words and deeds, Inferior are those who lack harmony).
Source : https://www.speakingtree.in/blog/the-three-sins-of-sri-sri-sankara
Do not try to know the truth, for knowledge by the mind is not true knowledge. But you can know what is not true, which is enough to liberate you from the false. The idea that you know what is true is dangerous, for it keeps you imprisoned in the mind. It is when you do not know that you are free to investigate. And there can be no salvation without investigation, because non-investigation is the main cause of bondage.
Keep very quiet and watch what comes to the surface of the mind. Reject the known, welcome the so far unknown and reject it in its turn. Thus you come to a state in which there is no knowledge, only being, in which being itself is knowledge.
Source: I AM THAT
Keep very quiet and watch what comes to the surface of the mind. Reject the known, welcome the so far unknown and reject it in its turn. Thus you come to a state in which there is no knowledge, only being, in which being itself is knowledge.
Source: I AM THAT
Do not love half lovers.
Do not entertain half friends.
Do not indulge in works of the half talented.
Do not live half a life and do not die a half death.
If you choose silence, then be silent.
When you speak, do so until you are finished.
Do not silence yourself to say something
And do not speak to be silent.
If you accept, then express it bluntly,
Do not mask it.
If you refuse, then be clear about it
for an ambiguous refusal
is but a weak acceptance.
Do not accept half a solution.
Do not believe half truths.
Do not dream half a dream.
Do not fantasize about half hopes.
Half a drink will not quench your thirst,
Half a meal will not satiate your hunger.
Half the way will get you no where,
Half an idea will bear you no results.
Your other half is not the one you love.
It is you in another time
yet in the same space;
It is you when you are not.
Half a life is a life you didn’t live,
A word you have not said,
A smile you postponed,
A love you have not had,
A friendship you did not know.
To reach and not arrive,
Work and not work,
Attend only to be absent.
What makes you a stranger to them
closest to you and they strangers to you?
The half is a mere moment of inability
but you are able for you are not half a being.
You are a whole that exists
to live a life not half a life.
Do not entertain half friends.
Do not indulge in works of the half talented.
Do not live half a life and do not die a half death.
If you choose silence, then be silent.
When you speak, do so until you are finished.
Do not silence yourself to say something
And do not speak to be silent.
If you accept, then express it bluntly,
Do not mask it.
If you refuse, then be clear about it
for an ambiguous refusal
is but a weak acceptance.
Do not accept half a solution.
Do not believe half truths.
Do not dream half a dream.
Do not fantasize about half hopes.
Half a drink will not quench your thirst,
Half a meal will not satiate your hunger.
Half the way will get you no where,
Half an idea will bear you no results.
Your other half is not the one you love.
It is you in another time
yet in the same space;
It is you when you are not.
Half a life is a life you didn’t live,
A word you have not said,
A smile you postponed,
A love you have not had,
A friendship you did not know.
To reach and not arrive,
Work and not work,
Attend only to be absent.
What makes you a stranger to them
closest to you and they strangers to you?
The half is a mere moment of inability
but you are able for you are not half a being.
You are a whole that exists
to live a life not half a life.
When you know that you have
a short time in this existence,
you do not stop here
to play games of life,
you try to find yourself
and become free as fast as you can.
a short time in this existence,
you do not stop here
to play games of life,
you try to find yourself
and become free as fast as you can.
When the superior man hears of the Tao
He diligently practices it
When the average man hears of the Tao
He sometimes holds it and sometimes loses it
When the inferior man hears of the Tao
He laughs aloud at it
If he did not laugh, it would not be the Tao
He diligently practices it
When the average man hears of the Tao
He sometimes holds it and sometimes loses it
When the inferior man hears of the Tao
He laughs aloud at it
If he did not laugh, it would not be the Tao
Q: What should we meditate on?
M: Who is the meditator? Ask that question first. Remain as the meditator, then there is no need to meditate. It is the sense of doer ship that is the impediment to dhyana.
Q: What is to be meditated on?
Anything you prefer, but you should stick to one thing. Contemplation involves fight. As soon as you begin meditation other thoughts will crowd in, gather force and try to sink the single thought. The latter must gain strength by repeated practice. This battle always takes place in meditation.
Peace of mind is brought about by contemplation and through the absence of varying thoughts. Once dhyana is well- established it cannot be given up, but will go on automatically even when you are engaged in work, play or even sleep. It must become so deep-rooted that it is natural.
M: Who is the meditator? Ask that question first. Remain as the meditator, then there is no need to meditate. It is the sense of doer ship that is the impediment to dhyana.
Q: What is to be meditated on?
Anything you prefer, but you should stick to one thing. Contemplation involves fight. As soon as you begin meditation other thoughts will crowd in, gather force and try to sink the single thought. The latter must gain strength by repeated practice. This battle always takes place in meditation.
Peace of mind is brought about by contemplation and through the absence of varying thoughts. Once dhyana is well- established it cannot be given up, but will go on automatically even when you are engaged in work, play or even sleep. It must become so deep-rooted that it is natural.
The light of awareness has a welcoming wholeness to it—it sees the ordinary moment just as it sees the peak moment.
Unexplainable knowledge will take charge for you. Supreme activity, unheard of, will take charge for you.
In Silence there is eloquence.
Stop weaving and see how the pattern improves.
Stop weaving and see how the pattern improves.
What you are trying to make happen
has never happened.
It is the one thing that never happens.
Everything else is happening,
but this thing is not happening,
but everybody is trying to make it happen.
All these attempts to make it happen
are being watched in That which doesn't happen
—and you are That.
So only the recognition needs to happen, not you.
The recognition of That
which is timelessly present and unchanging.
That is our glory—that we cannot happen,
we can only be.
has never happened.
It is the one thing that never happens.
Everything else is happening,
but this thing is not happening,
but everybody is trying to make it happen.
All these attempts to make it happen
are being watched in That which doesn't happen
—and you are That.
So only the recognition needs to happen, not you.
The recognition of That
which is timelessly present and unchanging.
That is our glory—that we cannot happen,
we can only be.
Everything you see, comes to pass.
Know that you are not that.
All things that are heard, come to pass.
Know that you are not that.
All things that are touched, come to pass.
Know that you are not that.
All things that are tasted, come to pass.
Know that you are not that.
All things that are thought of, come to pass.
Know that you are not that.
All things that are imagined, come to pass.
Know that you are not that.
All things that are learned, come to pass.
Know that you are not that.
All that is manifest, come to pass.
Know that you are not that.
All things of the mind come to pass.
Know that you are not that.
That which does not come to pass,
but inside which all phenomena come to pass,
know That—to be your Self.
Know that you are not that.
All things that are heard, come to pass.
Know that you are not that.
All things that are touched, come to pass.
Know that you are not that.
All things that are tasted, come to pass.
Know that you are not that.
All things that are thought of, come to pass.
Know that you are not that.
All things that are imagined, come to pass.
Know that you are not that.
All things that are learned, come to pass.
Know that you are not that.
All that is manifest, come to pass.
Know that you are not that.
All things of the mind come to pass.
Know that you are not that.
That which does not come to pass,
but inside which all phenomena come to pass,
know That—to be your Self.
If you love God and therefore love everybody, that does not mean that you love the faults in people. If one loves the Father of all, and if he has the slightest thought of revenge toward anyone or desire to punish anyone, he falls a million miles away from God. One who loves God dares not entertain thoughts of doing injury to anyone. It would be wrong, of course, to support anyone blindly. But nonsupport of the wrongdoing in others does not mean that anyone should vengefully hurt others. A philosopher once said: "The best sort of revenge is not to be like him who did the injury." We should have respect for others' opinions as we wish others to respect our opinions,- there is no room for ugliness. We should lovingly disagree as well as lovingly agree. I am working for God alone. Earth has no illusion for me; I have seen through them all. You too should realize that you are visiting this earth only temporarily; you are here solely to learn necessary lessons and to help all who cross your path. You do not know why you have been cast in a particular role, so you must learn what God expects of you. Don't harbor personal desires; your only desire should be to follow the Lord's will and to live and work for Him. We are here today, tomorrow we are gone: mere shadows in a cosmic dream. But behind the unreality of these fleeting pictures is the immortal reality of Spirit. Life here on earth appears futile and chaotic until we are anchored in the Divine.
Spirituality is only to wake up and to come back to your pre-birth awareness. Sometimes the questions are more powerful than the answers because they create opening and space for you to look.
To overcome that limitation and that conditioning is the greatest transcendence, actually. You get burnt up first, then around you auspicious fires will start.
To overcome that limitation and that conditioning is the greatest transcendence, actually. You get burnt up first, then around you auspicious fires will start.
The light within us is there as a potential.
The darkness within us is there as a potential.
Beyond light and darkness is the Reality that we are.
That dark sided potential can only intimidate
the idea you have of who you are.
It cannot infest or affect your true Self.
What you are cannot be possessed;
what you think you are could be,
for that is weak, not stable.
This is where we become psychologically weak.
This is where fear lives, where resistance thrives,
where insecurity, pride and arrogance sprout from.
These forces will play in the aspect of consciousness
that is its self-portrait as a person.
As your mind continues expanding
beyond the limited, psychological self
back into the brightness of the true Self
—in this crossing over
—the fiercest resistance will likely come.
Strange as it may seem, it is just after
a bright and beautiful insight awakens within
that our deepest fears manifest.
In the moment, you may forget
these are merely clouds passing:
but observe that your Self,
the witness of all,
is unmoving.
The darkness within us is there as a potential.
Beyond light and darkness is the Reality that we are.
That dark sided potential can only intimidate
the idea you have of who you are.
It cannot infest or affect your true Self.
What you are cannot be possessed;
what you think you are could be,
for that is weak, not stable.
This is where we become psychologically weak.
This is where fear lives, where resistance thrives,
where insecurity, pride and arrogance sprout from.
These forces will play in the aspect of consciousness
that is its self-portrait as a person.
As your mind continues expanding
beyond the limited, psychological self
back into the brightness of the true Self
—in this crossing over
—the fiercest resistance will likely come.
Strange as it may seem, it is just after
a bright and beautiful insight awakens within
that our deepest fears manifest.
In the moment, you may forget
these are merely clouds passing:
but observe that your Self,
the witness of all,
is unmoving.
CONVERSATIONS WITH ANNAMALAI SWAMI
Q: I feel that Arunachala is like a mother who will go with me everywhere, even when I am in another country.
AS: Arunachala does not go anywhere. Arunachala is the Self, and the Self neither comes nor goes. The word ‘achala’ in Sanskrit means 'unmoving'.
Q: There is a verse in Arunachala Mahatmyam which says that all those who live within a thirty-mile radius of Arunachala attain liberation without any effort or initiation. What does Swami think of this verse?
AS: For liberation, there must be a continuous remembrance of Arunachala. One must also have faith in Arunachala and surrender to it. Arunachala is pure consciousness; it is not an inert lump of rock. If you have faith that Arunachala is a Guru who will guide you, it will respond with the appropriate guidance.
But to get this guidance one must surrender to the mountain and have strong faith in it.
Arunachala is like a fire; if you come near it you may get warm or even get burned. But if you wearing insulation, even though you are physically near, you may not feel the fire at all.
LWB, p. 33
Q: I feel that Arunachala is like a mother who will go with me everywhere, even when I am in another country.
AS: Arunachala does not go anywhere. Arunachala is the Self, and the Self neither comes nor goes. The word ‘achala’ in Sanskrit means 'unmoving'.
Q: There is a verse in Arunachala Mahatmyam which says that all those who live within a thirty-mile radius of Arunachala attain liberation without any effort or initiation. What does Swami think of this verse?
AS: For liberation, there must be a continuous remembrance of Arunachala. One must also have faith in Arunachala and surrender to it. Arunachala is pure consciousness; it is not an inert lump of rock. If you have faith that Arunachala is a Guru who will guide you, it will respond with the appropriate guidance.
But to get this guidance one must surrender to the mountain and have strong faith in it.
Arunachala is like a fire; if you come near it you may get warm or even get burned. But if you wearing insulation, even though you are physically near, you may not feel the fire at all.
LWB, p. 33
One of the most beautiful persons of this past century was Sai Baba of Shirdi.
He had a friend and a follower. Sai Baba was a Mohammedan. Or no one knows whether he was a Mohammedan or a Hindu, but he lived in a mosque, so it was believed he was a Mohammedan. And a Hindu follower was there, who loved, respected, has much faith in Sai Baba. Every day he will come for his darshan, and without seeing him he will not go. Sometimes it will happen that for the whole day he will have to wait, but without seeing he will not go, and he will not take food unless he has seen Sai Baba.
Once it happened the whole day passed, there was much gathering and much crowd -- he couldn't enter. When everybody has gone, just in the night he touched the feet.
Sai Baba said to him, "Why you unnecessarily wait? There is no need to see me here, I can come there. And drop this from tomorrow. Now I will do. Before you take your food you will see me every day."
The disciple was very happy. So next day he was waiting and waiting; nothing happened. Many things happened really, but nothing happened according to his conception. By the evening he was very angry. He has not taken the food, and Sai Baba has not appeared so he went again. He said, "You promise and you don't fulfill?"
Sai Baba said, "But I appeared thrice, not even once. First time I came, I was a beggar and you said to me, 'Move away! Don't come here!' Second time I came I was an old woman, and you just won't look at me; you closed your eyes-because the disciple had the habit of not seeing women; he was practicing not seeing women, so he closed the eyes.
Sai Baba said, "I had come, but what do you expect? Should I enter your eyes, closed eyes? I was standing there, but you closed the eyes. The moment you saw me, you closed the eyes. Then third time I reached as a dog, and you won't allow me in. With a stick you were standing in the door."
And these three things had happened. And these things have been happening to whole humanity. The divine comes in many forms, but you have a prejudice; you have a pre-formulated conception; you cannot see. He must appear according to you, and he never appears according to you. And he will never appear according to you. You cannot be the rule for him and you cannot put any conditions.
When all imagination falls, only then truth appears. Otherwise, imagination goes on making conditions and truth cannot appear. Only in a naked mind, in a nude, empty mind, truth appears, because you cannot distort it.
Source - Osho Book .
"Yoga, Vol1"
He had a friend and a follower. Sai Baba was a Mohammedan. Or no one knows whether he was a Mohammedan or a Hindu, but he lived in a mosque, so it was believed he was a Mohammedan. And a Hindu follower was there, who loved, respected, has much faith in Sai Baba. Every day he will come for his darshan, and without seeing him he will not go. Sometimes it will happen that for the whole day he will have to wait, but without seeing he will not go, and he will not take food unless he has seen Sai Baba.
Once it happened the whole day passed, there was much gathering and much crowd -- he couldn't enter. When everybody has gone, just in the night he touched the feet.
Sai Baba said to him, "Why you unnecessarily wait? There is no need to see me here, I can come there. And drop this from tomorrow. Now I will do. Before you take your food you will see me every day."
The disciple was very happy. So next day he was waiting and waiting; nothing happened. Many things happened really, but nothing happened according to his conception. By the evening he was very angry. He has not taken the food, and Sai Baba has not appeared so he went again. He said, "You promise and you don't fulfill?"
Sai Baba said, "But I appeared thrice, not even once. First time I came, I was a beggar and you said to me, 'Move away! Don't come here!' Second time I came I was an old woman, and you just won't look at me; you closed your eyes-because the disciple had the habit of not seeing women; he was practicing not seeing women, so he closed the eyes.
Sai Baba said, "I had come, but what do you expect? Should I enter your eyes, closed eyes? I was standing there, but you closed the eyes. The moment you saw me, you closed the eyes. Then third time I reached as a dog, and you won't allow me in. With a stick you were standing in the door."
And these three things had happened. And these things have been happening to whole humanity. The divine comes in many forms, but you have a prejudice; you have a pre-formulated conception; you cannot see. He must appear according to you, and he never appears according to you. And he will never appear according to you. You cannot be the rule for him and you cannot put any conditions.
When all imagination falls, only then truth appears. Otherwise, imagination goes on making conditions and truth cannot appear. Only in a naked mind, in a nude, empty mind, truth appears, because you cannot distort it.
Source - Osho Book .
"Yoga, Vol1"
No particular thought can be mind's natural state, only silence. Not the idea of silence, but silence itself. When the mind is in its natural state, it reverts to silence spontaneously after every experience or, rather, every experience happens against the background of silence.
The most important thing in life
is to wake up to who you truly are.
You are not merely a personal being.
You are the living spirit of Truth.
is to wake up to who you truly are.
You are not merely a personal being.
You are the living spirit of Truth.
What you are is magnificent;
what we believe we are is so limited.
We don’t need to carry on this personal story.
It is not contributing to the beauty and freedom of your life.
Don’t be enslaved by the conditioned or indoctrinated mind.
It wants you to make anniversaries out of your pain—forget about it.
You don’t have to be so loyal, so faithful
to any tendency that causes suffering.
Often we ruminate over the past, not in order to be free,
but to strengthen the sense of ‘me’.
We say we can’t change the past, but yes you can!
Did you perceive it right in the first place?
Who is to say your perception is a fact?
It would be a futile and unending task
to search for the innumerable strands that have contributed
to the person you take yourself to be; mostly they are untraceable.
Better just drop the whole thing
and thus remain empty of conceptual debris.
Be fresh every moment.
Be as fresh as consciousness—history-less and happy.
what we believe we are is so limited.
We don’t need to carry on this personal story.
It is not contributing to the beauty and freedom of your life.
Don’t be enslaved by the conditioned or indoctrinated mind.
It wants you to make anniversaries out of your pain—forget about it.
You don’t have to be so loyal, so faithful
to any tendency that causes suffering.
Often we ruminate over the past, not in order to be free,
but to strengthen the sense of ‘me’.
We say we can’t change the past, but yes you can!
Did you perceive it right in the first place?
Who is to say your perception is a fact?
It would be a futile and unending task
to search for the innumerable strands that have contributed
to the person you take yourself to be; mostly they are untraceable.
Better just drop the whole thing
and thus remain empty of conceptual debris.
Be fresh every moment.
Be as fresh as consciousness—history-less and happy.
THE UTTER ILLUSION OF DAILY LIFE
"We read the articles in a newspaper, but do not care to know anything about the paper itself. We take 'the chaff', but Not 'the substance'.
The substratum - on which all this is printed, is the paper, and if we know the substratum, all else will be known.
The One only is The Sat - The Existence; IT is the paper, whereas the world - the things we see - and we ourselves, are the printed words.
This 'external universe', is a 'cinema show', to 'The Realized One'.
It is free, and the performance goes on, day and night!
'The Realized One', lives and works in it, knowing that its objects and bodies (people), are 'illusory appearances', just as an ordinary person, knows the scenes and characters on the cinema screen at a theatre, are illusions, and do not exist in Real Life.
But the ordinary person takes the external objects of daily life as 'Real', whereas The Realized One, sees them only as 'illusory cinema pictures'."
"We read the articles in a newspaper, but do not care to know anything about the paper itself. We take 'the chaff', but Not 'the substance'.
The substratum - on which all this is printed, is the paper, and if we know the substratum, all else will be known.
The One only is The Sat - The Existence; IT is the paper, whereas the world - the things we see - and we ourselves, are the printed words.
This 'external universe', is a 'cinema show', to 'The Realized One'.
It is free, and the performance goes on, day and night!
'The Realized One', lives and works in it, knowing that its objects and bodies (people), are 'illusory appearances', just as an ordinary person, knows the scenes and characters on the cinema screen at a theatre, are illusions, and do not exist in Real Life.
But the ordinary person takes the external objects of daily life as 'Real', whereas The Realized One, sees them only as 'illusory cinema pictures'."
Grace is always present.
You imagine it as something high in the sky,
far away, something that has to descend.
It is really inside you, in your heart.
When the mind rests in its source,
grace rushes forth,
sprouting as from a spring within you.
You imagine it as something high in the sky,
far away, something that has to descend.
It is really inside you, in your heart.
When the mind rests in its source,
grace rushes forth,
sprouting as from a spring within you.
Papaji: The concept "I am a body" is a dream.
Questioner : This is very difficult to understand.
Papaji: No, it is not difficult. Every day your experience this. Every night, when you go to sleep you experience this. You leave your body and friends behind and fall asleep. At that moment, are you happy or unhappy? To leave everything behind – apartment, car, money, friends – and say, "Good night, I am going to sleep." You leave the body, the mind and the ego all behind. And where are you wanting to go and disappear from all the pleasures of life? Why do you want to hide yourself and be alone? It must be a happier place than this world, that's why you want to run away. To enjoy your Self, alone. No one likes suffering. You must be very happy in sleep, therefore, you turn your back on everything and go to sleep alone, don't you?.
Papaji: First, I will tell you a little story. The story runs like this. Every day, a local washermen goes down to a river to wash clothes. He loads the soiled clothes on the back of several donkeys, washes the clothes, waits for them to dry on the river bank, and then returns home at the end of the day.
One day, a lioness goes down to the river to drink some water. In those days, lions were hunted for their skin and their head. Nowadays, it is forbidden. While this lioness was drinking water, a hunter hiding behind a bush shoots and kills her. This lioness was pregnant, and while skinning the lioness, the hunter pulled out a lion cub and left it on the bank.
A little later, the washerman goes to the river and sees the dead lioness and the newly born lion cub. He decided to look after the cub instead of leaving it to die. He washed it before putting it in a basket and returned home with it. He fed it milk and slowly when the cub grew big enough, he took the lion cub with him each day down to the river, where he left it along with the donkeys to eat grass on the bank of the river. It got used to walking with the donkeys. After awhile, it got rather big, so the washerman decided to load the soiled clothes on the young lion's back as well, treating it like the other donkeys. This lion slowly became a 'donkey', doing exactly what the other donkeys did. He lived with other donkeys – carried clothes on his back, drank milk and ate grass just like them. He had no idea what a lion was.
Several months later, another lion came to drink at the river and was amazed to see this lion cub eating grass near the river bank along with the donkeys. Lions usually eat donkeys and humans, not grass. It moved closer for a better look. He couldn't believe his eyes. Was he dreaming? How could this be? He got even closer, which caused all the donkeys to flee away and the washerman to climb a tree. The tame lion also tried to run away, because he was afraid just like the donkeys. The hunter lion chased and caught the tame lion. He jumped on him and knocked him to the grass.
The tame lion was very afraid. "Please, sir, please don't eat me", he said. "Let me go and join the others."
"But you are a lion", the one on top replied.
"No, sir, I am a donkey."
So the hunter lion took his charge down to the river.
"Look at your reflection", he said. "We are the same."
The tame lion looked into the water and saw two lions looking back.
"You are a lion and you have always been a lion."
"Then how is it that I felt I was a donkey?"
"By associating with donkeys you became a donkey."
"Then how can I now live like a lion since I have only lived as a donkey?"
"Listen, look, open your mouth and utter a roar, like I do." He roared and then the other lion roared!
"It is as simple as that. Don't practice being a lion. Roar! How long does it take to roar? No time! Open your mouth and it's finished."
"I am a lion!" He never returned back with the donkeys.
He needed a teacher to tell him, he needed someone similar, another lion to tell him,"Utter the roar." And what is that roar? "I am Reality. I am free! I am God itself!" This is the roar. Afterwards, you will not go and play with any donkeys. Playing with donkeys means listening to the senses, chasing after objects which constantly change. This is what I call "sleeping to the Self". So, for one instant of your life, turn your face towards the Self. Keep quiet and see who you are. Utter a roar.
Those who cannot keep quiet, they are donkeys. Let them play all their life with other donkeys, getting loaded with soiled linen, under the command of the washerman.
Questioner : This is very difficult to understand.
Papaji: No, it is not difficult. Every day your experience this. Every night, when you go to sleep you experience this. You leave your body and friends behind and fall asleep. At that moment, are you happy or unhappy? To leave everything behind – apartment, car, money, friends – and say, "Good night, I am going to sleep." You leave the body, the mind and the ego all behind. And where are you wanting to go and disappear from all the pleasures of life? Why do you want to hide yourself and be alone? It must be a happier place than this world, that's why you want to run away. To enjoy your Self, alone. No one likes suffering. You must be very happy in sleep, therefore, you turn your back on everything and go to sleep alone, don't you?.
Papaji: First, I will tell you a little story. The story runs like this. Every day, a local washermen goes down to a river to wash clothes. He loads the soiled clothes on the back of several donkeys, washes the clothes, waits for them to dry on the river bank, and then returns home at the end of the day.
One day, a lioness goes down to the river to drink some water. In those days, lions were hunted for their skin and their head. Nowadays, it is forbidden. While this lioness was drinking water, a hunter hiding behind a bush shoots and kills her. This lioness was pregnant, and while skinning the lioness, the hunter pulled out a lion cub and left it on the bank.
A little later, the washerman goes to the river and sees the dead lioness and the newly born lion cub. He decided to look after the cub instead of leaving it to die. He washed it before putting it in a basket and returned home with it. He fed it milk and slowly when the cub grew big enough, he took the lion cub with him each day down to the river, where he left it along with the donkeys to eat grass on the bank of the river. It got used to walking with the donkeys. After awhile, it got rather big, so the washerman decided to load the soiled clothes on the young lion's back as well, treating it like the other donkeys. This lion slowly became a 'donkey', doing exactly what the other donkeys did. He lived with other donkeys – carried clothes on his back, drank milk and ate grass just like them. He had no idea what a lion was.
Several months later, another lion came to drink at the river and was amazed to see this lion cub eating grass near the river bank along with the donkeys. Lions usually eat donkeys and humans, not grass. It moved closer for a better look. He couldn't believe his eyes. Was he dreaming? How could this be? He got even closer, which caused all the donkeys to flee away and the washerman to climb a tree. The tame lion also tried to run away, because he was afraid just like the donkeys. The hunter lion chased and caught the tame lion. He jumped on him and knocked him to the grass.
The tame lion was very afraid. "Please, sir, please don't eat me", he said. "Let me go and join the others."
"But you are a lion", the one on top replied.
"No, sir, I am a donkey."
So the hunter lion took his charge down to the river.
"Look at your reflection", he said. "We are the same."
The tame lion looked into the water and saw two lions looking back.
"You are a lion and you have always been a lion."
"Then how is it that I felt I was a donkey?"
"By associating with donkeys you became a donkey."
"Then how can I now live like a lion since I have only lived as a donkey?"
"Listen, look, open your mouth and utter a roar, like I do." He roared and then the other lion roared!
"It is as simple as that. Don't practice being a lion. Roar! How long does it take to roar? No time! Open your mouth and it's finished."
"I am a lion!" He never returned back with the donkeys.
He needed a teacher to tell him, he needed someone similar, another lion to tell him,"Utter the roar." And what is that roar? "I am Reality. I am free! I am God itself!" This is the roar. Afterwards, you will not go and play with any donkeys. Playing with donkeys means listening to the senses, chasing after objects which constantly change. This is what I call "sleeping to the Self". So, for one instant of your life, turn your face towards the Self. Keep quiet and see who you are. Utter a roar.
Those who cannot keep quiet, they are donkeys. Let them play all their life with other donkeys, getting loaded with soiled linen, under the command of the washerman.
Rushing into action, you fail.
Trying to grasp things, you lose them.
Forcing a project to completion,
you ruin what was almost ripe.
Therefore the Master takes action
by letting things take their course.
The Master remains as calm at the end
as at the beginning.
He has nothing,
thus has nothing to lose.
What he desires is non-desire;
what he learns is to unlearn.
He simply reminds people
of who they have always been.
He cares about nothing but the Tao.
Thus he can care for all things.
Source: Tao Te Ching
Trying to grasp things, you lose them.
Forcing a project to completion,
you ruin what was almost ripe.
Therefore the Master takes action
by letting things take their course.
The Master remains as calm at the end
as at the beginning.
He has nothing,
thus has nothing to lose.
What he desires is non-desire;
what he learns is to unlearn.
He simply reminds people
of who they have always been.
He cares about nothing but the Tao.
Thus he can care for all things.
Source: Tao Te Ching
Where the lips are silent the heart has a thousand tongues.
Man seeks to change the foods available in nature to suit his tastes, thereby putting an end to the very essence of life contained in them.
Beings
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