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It happened......
Maharshi Ramana was dying.....
On Thursday April 13th, a doctor brought Maharshi a palliative to relieve the congestion in the lungs, but he refused it....
“It is not necessary, everything will come right within two days,” he said...
And after two days he died....
At about sunset, Maharshi told the attendants to sit him up....
They knew already that every movement, every touch, was painful, but he told them not to worry about that....
He was suffering from cancer – he had a cancer in his hand, very painful.... Even to drink water was impossible, to eat anything was impossible, to move his head was impossible.... Even to say a few words was very difficult....
He sat with one of the attendants supporting his head....
A doctor began to give him oxygen, but with a wave of his right hand he motioned him away....
Unexpectedly, a group of devotees sitting on the verandah outside the hall began singing Arunachala-Siva a bhajan that Maharshi liked very much.....
He liked that spot, Arunachala, very much; the hill he used to live upon – that hill is called Arunachala.....
And the bhajan was a praise, a praise for the hill....
On hearing it, Maharshi’s eyes opened and shone....
He gave a brief smile of indescribable tenderness....
From the outer edges of his eyes tears of bliss rolled down....
Somebody asked him,
“Maharshi, are you really leaving us?”
It was hard for him to say, but still he uttered these few word....
“They say that I am dying...but I am not going away...
Where could I go?
I am always here.”
One more breath, and no more....
There was no struggle, no spasm, no other sign of death...only that the next breath did not come....
What he says is of immense significance...
“Where could I go? I am always here.”
There is nowhere to go....
This is the only existence there is, this is the only dance there is.... where can one go?
Life comes and goes, death comes and goes... but where can one go?
You were there before life.....
Maharshi Ramana was dying.....
On Thursday April 13th, a doctor brought Maharshi a palliative to relieve the congestion in the lungs, but he refused it....
“It is not necessary, everything will come right within two days,” he said...
And after two days he died....
At about sunset, Maharshi told the attendants to sit him up....
They knew already that every movement, every touch, was painful, but he told them not to worry about that....
He was suffering from cancer – he had a cancer in his hand, very painful.... Even to drink water was impossible, to eat anything was impossible, to move his head was impossible.... Even to say a few words was very difficult....
He sat with one of the attendants supporting his head....
A doctor began to give him oxygen, but with a wave of his right hand he motioned him away....
Unexpectedly, a group of devotees sitting on the verandah outside the hall began singing Arunachala-Siva a bhajan that Maharshi liked very much.....
He liked that spot, Arunachala, very much; the hill he used to live upon – that hill is called Arunachala.....
And the bhajan was a praise, a praise for the hill....
On hearing it, Maharshi’s eyes opened and shone....
He gave a brief smile of indescribable tenderness....
From the outer edges of his eyes tears of bliss rolled down....
Somebody asked him,
“Maharshi, are you really leaving us?”
It was hard for him to say, but still he uttered these few word....
“They say that I am dying...but I am not going away...
Where could I go?
I am always here.”
One more breath, and no more....
There was no struggle, no spasm, no other sign of death...only that the next breath did not come....
What he says is of immense significance...
“Where could I go? I am always here.”
There is nowhere to go....
This is the only existence there is, this is the only dance there is.... where can one go?
Life comes and goes, death comes and goes... but where can one go?
You were there before life.....
Sadhana simply makes you strong, mentally, physically, to be able to let go. That's all sadhana does. Sadhana never enlightens you. It makes you one-pointed, in your quest for realization. It makes you compassionate. It develops humility, power. It transcends all fear. And when you finally get to that point, the inner Guru grabs a hold of your mind, yanks it into the Heart, and you become liberated.
TANGA KAI
meaning 'golden-hand', was Bhagavan's boyhood nickname.
He was given it because whichever team he played for always won. The touch of his hand was regarded to be auspicious, so he was asked to touch some special food preparations as well. Also, Seshadri Swami had this name as a boy.
On the evening of the day after jayanti Sri Bhagavan was seated on the couch in the meditation hall. S. Narayana Aiyer, professor of mathematics in the Madurai College, told a few Stores about the time when he was at school with Bhagavan in Dindigul.
At one point he said, 'When we played team games, we would divide into two groups that were invariably headed by Ramana and me. The group led by Ramana would always win. So, the two groups would vie with each other to get ‘Tanga-kai’ as their leader.'
When Aiyer related this, Sri Bhagavan laughed and said, 'You see Narayana, I now have no body. I lost it long ago when I came here. Since I am bodiless, where is the hand that holds the title Tanga-kai? Of the two of us leaders, one of us has disappeared through the loss of his body. You, the survivor, must succeed to the title. You are now ‘Tanga-kai' Narayana. To commemorate your accession to this title you can have my old walking stick.'
It was made of sandalwood and it had been presented to him by a rich devotee. Bhagavan did not like new or expensive products. If devotees gave them, Bhagavan might use them once to make the donor happy. Afterwards, they would be put in an ashram storeroom.
While presenting the stick, Bhagavan continued, 'Do they not usually give a medal along with a title? Where am I to go for a
gold –medal? In the place of a medal, you shall have this walking stick.’
At the conclusion of his speech, Bhagavan presented Professor Narayana with the symbol of his new title.
Tanga-kai, meaning 'golden-hand', was Bhagavan's boyhood nickname.
He was given it because whichever team he played for always won. In Tamil Nadu, this name is often given to people who have demonstrated that they have a lot more luck than is statistically probable.
- Prof Krishnamurti, The Power of the Presence
meaning 'golden-hand', was Bhagavan's boyhood nickname.
He was given it because whichever team he played for always won. The touch of his hand was regarded to be auspicious, so he was asked to touch some special food preparations as well. Also, Seshadri Swami had this name as a boy.
On the evening of the day after jayanti Sri Bhagavan was seated on the couch in the meditation hall. S. Narayana Aiyer, professor of mathematics in the Madurai College, told a few Stores about the time when he was at school with Bhagavan in Dindigul.
At one point he said, 'When we played team games, we would divide into two groups that were invariably headed by Ramana and me. The group led by Ramana would always win. So, the two groups would vie with each other to get ‘Tanga-kai’ as their leader.'
When Aiyer related this, Sri Bhagavan laughed and said, 'You see Narayana, I now have no body. I lost it long ago when I came here. Since I am bodiless, where is the hand that holds the title Tanga-kai? Of the two of us leaders, one of us has disappeared through the loss of his body. You, the survivor, must succeed to the title. You are now ‘Tanga-kai' Narayana. To commemorate your accession to this title you can have my old walking stick.'
It was made of sandalwood and it had been presented to him by a rich devotee. Bhagavan did not like new or expensive products. If devotees gave them, Bhagavan might use them once to make the donor happy. Afterwards, they would be put in an ashram storeroom.
While presenting the stick, Bhagavan continued, 'Do they not usually give a medal along with a title? Where am I to go for a
gold –medal? In the place of a medal, you shall have this walking stick.’
At the conclusion of his speech, Bhagavan presented Professor Narayana with the symbol of his new title.
Tanga-kai, meaning 'golden-hand', was Bhagavan's boyhood nickname.
He was given it because whichever team he played for always won. In Tamil Nadu, this name is often given to people who have demonstrated that they have a lot more luck than is statistically probable.
- Prof Krishnamurti, The Power of the Presence
TANGA KAI
meaning 'golden-hand', was Bhagavan's boyhood nickname.
He was given it because whichever team he played for always won. The touch of his hand was regarded to be auspicious, so he was asked to touch some special food preparations as well. Also, Seshadri Swami had this name as a boy.
On the evening of the day after jayanti Sri Bhagavan was seated on the couch in the meditation hall. S. Narayana Aiyer, professor of mathematics in the Madurai College, told a few Stores about the time when he was at school with Bhagavan in Dindigul.
At one point he said, 'When we played team games, we would divide into two groups that were invariably headed by Ramana and me. The group led by Ramana would always win. So, the two groups would vie with each other to get ‘Tanga-kai’ as their leader.'
When Aiyer related this, Sri Bhagavan laughed and said, 'You see Narayana, I now have no body. I lost it long ago when I came here. Since I am bodiless, where is the hand that holds the title Tanga-kai? Of the two of us leaders, one of us has disappeared through the loss of his body. You, the survivor, must succeed to the title. You are now ‘Tanga-kai' Narayana. To commemorate your accession to this title you can have my old walking stick.'
It was made of sandalwood and it had been presented to him by a rich devotee. Bhagavan did not like new or expensive products. If devotees gave them, Bhagavan might use them once to make the donor happy. Afterwards, they would be put in an ashram storeroom.
While presenting the stick, Bhagavan continued, 'Do they not usually give a medal along with a title? Where am I to go for a
gold –medal? In the place of a medal, you shall have this walking stick.’
At the conclusion of his speech, Bhagavan presented Professor Narayana with the symbol of his new title.
Tanga-kai, meaning 'golden-hand', was Bhagavan's boyhood nickname.
He was given it because whichever team he played for always won. In Tamil Nadu, this name is often given to people who have demonstrated that they have a lot more luck than is statistically probable.
- Prof Krishnamurti, The Power of the Presence
meaning 'golden-hand', was Bhagavan's boyhood nickname.
He was given it because whichever team he played for always won. The touch of his hand was regarded to be auspicious, so he was asked to touch some special food preparations as well. Also, Seshadri Swami had this name as a boy.
On the evening of the day after jayanti Sri Bhagavan was seated on the couch in the meditation hall. S. Narayana Aiyer, professor of mathematics in the Madurai College, told a few Stores about the time when he was at school with Bhagavan in Dindigul.
At one point he said, 'When we played team games, we would divide into two groups that were invariably headed by Ramana and me. The group led by Ramana would always win. So, the two groups would vie with each other to get ‘Tanga-kai’ as their leader.'
When Aiyer related this, Sri Bhagavan laughed and said, 'You see Narayana, I now have no body. I lost it long ago when I came here. Since I am bodiless, where is the hand that holds the title Tanga-kai? Of the two of us leaders, one of us has disappeared through the loss of his body. You, the survivor, must succeed to the title. You are now ‘Tanga-kai' Narayana. To commemorate your accession to this title you can have my old walking stick.'
It was made of sandalwood and it had been presented to him by a rich devotee. Bhagavan did not like new or expensive products. If devotees gave them, Bhagavan might use them once to make the donor happy. Afterwards, they would be put in an ashram storeroom.
While presenting the stick, Bhagavan continued, 'Do they not usually give a medal along with a title? Where am I to go for a
gold –medal? In the place of a medal, you shall have this walking stick.’
At the conclusion of his speech, Bhagavan presented Professor Narayana with the symbol of his new title.
Tanga-kai, meaning 'golden-hand', was Bhagavan's boyhood nickname.
He was given it because whichever team he played for always won. In Tamil Nadu, this name is often given to people who have demonstrated that they have a lot more luck than is statistically probable.
- Prof Krishnamurti, The Power of the Presence
The mind wants to take credit for Awakening. It wants to turn it into an achievement. By being the achiever of enlightenment it retains its identity, pride, separation and deceitfulness.
Find that which is not a doer, not an achiever.
Find That which simply Is.
Find that which is not a doer, not an achiever.
Find That which simply Is.
No one has the power to make you unhappy or miserable.
Mainly, we do this by ourselves.
Happiness is our real nature.
Sadness comes mostly through habit
and through identification with the personal self.
We can be happy every moment but mostly, due to habit,
we choose to focus on what makes us unhappy
and so lose or hide our natural joy.
Develop the excellent attitude of gratitude to all of existence.
Overlook petty thoughts, worries and troubles
—the bitter and the sweet.
Instantly, you will begin feeling uplifted in your spirit
and in a short time you will begin seeing life
through brighter, wiser and more loving eyes.
Start today.
Mainly, we do this by ourselves.
Happiness is our real nature.
Sadness comes mostly through habit
and through identification with the personal self.
We can be happy every moment but mostly, due to habit,
we choose to focus on what makes us unhappy
and so lose or hide our natural joy.
Develop the excellent attitude of gratitude to all of existence.
Overlook petty thoughts, worries and troubles
—the bitter and the sweet.
Instantly, you will begin feeling uplifted in your spirit
and in a short time you will begin seeing life
through brighter, wiser and more loving eyes.
Start today.
CONVERSATIONS WITH ANNAMALAI SWAMI
Q: Does satsang mean 'association with jnanis or can it also mean 'association with good people?
AS: The real sat, which is being, is within you. You associate with it and get satsang every time you turn your attention towards it.
You do not need a jnani for such satsang. You can get it anywhere.
On the other hand, worldly people who are living near jnanis are often not getting satsang because they are not tuning in to the jnanis Sat.
Some people who live near saints are just like little insects called 'unni' (cattle tick) which live on the udders of cows. They drink the blood there instead of the milk. Some people who were physically associated with Bhagavan ignored his teachings and failed to make contact with the grace he was radiating. They worked and ate at the ashram, but they got little benefit from being there. These people were not having satsang, they were just human unni.
There was a group of brahmins who were associated with Bhagavan who did not subscribe to the advaitic view, 'All is Brahman. All is the Self.' In those days we used to read a lot from the Ribhu Gita, a text which repeatedly says 'All is Brahman’.
These brahmins refused to join in because they didn't agree with the philosophy. 'Where is this Brahman you are talking about?' they would say. 'How can it be everything? How can you go on chanting "All is Brahman" when that is not your experience? Maybe these teachings are useful for people like Bhagavan, but why should people like us parrot these statements endlessly?’
Bhagavan himself encouraged us to recite this text regularly.
He said that constant and frequent repetition led to samadhi. In giving us this instruction Bhagavan was giving us a method of experiencing some of the sat that was his real nature. In effect, he was offering us a highly effective form of satsang. But these brahmins didn't want it. They wanted instead to complain about the contents of the book. When such people willfully turn down a method of associating with Bhagavan's Sat, how can it be said that they are having his satsang?
- Living by the Words of Bhagavan p. 326
Q: Does satsang mean 'association with jnanis or can it also mean 'association with good people?
AS: The real sat, which is being, is within you. You associate with it and get satsang every time you turn your attention towards it.
You do not need a jnani for such satsang. You can get it anywhere.
On the other hand, worldly people who are living near jnanis are often not getting satsang because they are not tuning in to the jnanis Sat.
Some people who live near saints are just like little insects called 'unni' (cattle tick) which live on the udders of cows. They drink the blood there instead of the milk. Some people who were physically associated with Bhagavan ignored his teachings and failed to make contact with the grace he was radiating. They worked and ate at the ashram, but they got little benefit from being there. These people were not having satsang, they were just human unni.
There was a group of brahmins who were associated with Bhagavan who did not subscribe to the advaitic view, 'All is Brahman. All is the Self.' In those days we used to read a lot from the Ribhu Gita, a text which repeatedly says 'All is Brahman’.
These brahmins refused to join in because they didn't agree with the philosophy. 'Where is this Brahman you are talking about?' they would say. 'How can it be everything? How can you go on chanting "All is Brahman" when that is not your experience? Maybe these teachings are useful for people like Bhagavan, but why should people like us parrot these statements endlessly?’
Bhagavan himself encouraged us to recite this text regularly.
He said that constant and frequent repetition led to samadhi. In giving us this instruction Bhagavan was giving us a method of experiencing some of the sat that was his real nature. In effect, he was offering us a highly effective form of satsang. But these brahmins didn't want it. They wanted instead to complain about the contents of the book. When such people willfully turn down a method of associating with Bhagavan's Sat, how can it be said that they are having his satsang?
- Living by the Words of Bhagavan p. 326
HEAVEN IS A WASTE OF TIME
Visitor: It is said in the scriptures that by doing virtuous deeds people are assured of heavenly enjoyments after death.
Bhagavan: Maybe. But are you sure that what all you do are virtuous actions only? Even then after heavenly life, you have to experience the fruits of actions which had not yet fructified. One would have to roll again and again, endlessly, in the cycle of birth.
V: That is why I sought Bhagavan's clarification.
Bh: Our aim should be the attainment of eternal bliss by realizing the truth. How can you aspire for karmic results?
V: Without proper understanding, many people are mad after heavenly enjoyments.
Bh: One might think that heaven is a place of enjoyment. However, things are not very different from this world there. Attachments, prejudices, jealousies etc. are there too. That enjoyment too is perishable for everything is centered on the ego. Because of pleasures, one's mind would not then turn inward in search of truth.
It is such a waste!
After the good karma which gave one the enjoyments of heaven are over one has to return.
What needs to be done is to inquire: 'for whom is this desire for heavenly enjoyment?' Such an inquiry is an absolute necessity.
V: People wrongly superimpose permanence on heavenly enjoyments.
Bh: How can it be? Everlasting bliss can be obtained only by eliminating the cycle of birth and death. Heaven is not the place for the realization of truth.
V: It means that we should not aspire for the fruits of actions but surrender them to God. This also implies we should make an attempt to attain self-knowledge here and now.
Bh: We do not know where heaven is nor as to how it is.
But we aspire for unknown things. In contrast, all the requirements for self-knowledge is ready at hand.
Why bother about unknown things when the wise ones
have shown us the way to attain Self-knowledge here itself?
- N.N.Rajan, More Talks With Ramana Maharshi,
13.4.42 afternoon
Visitor: It is said in the scriptures that by doing virtuous deeds people are assured of heavenly enjoyments after death.
Bhagavan: Maybe. But are you sure that what all you do are virtuous actions only? Even then after heavenly life, you have to experience the fruits of actions which had not yet fructified. One would have to roll again and again, endlessly, in the cycle of birth.
V: That is why I sought Bhagavan's clarification.
Bh: Our aim should be the attainment of eternal bliss by realizing the truth. How can you aspire for karmic results?
V: Without proper understanding, many people are mad after heavenly enjoyments.
Bh: One might think that heaven is a place of enjoyment. However, things are not very different from this world there. Attachments, prejudices, jealousies etc. are there too. That enjoyment too is perishable for everything is centered on the ego. Because of pleasures, one's mind would not then turn inward in search of truth.
It is such a waste!
After the good karma which gave one the enjoyments of heaven are over one has to return.
What needs to be done is to inquire: 'for whom is this desire for heavenly enjoyment?' Such an inquiry is an absolute necessity.
V: People wrongly superimpose permanence on heavenly enjoyments.
Bh: How can it be? Everlasting bliss can be obtained only by eliminating the cycle of birth and death. Heaven is not the place for the realization of truth.
V: It means that we should not aspire for the fruits of actions but surrender them to God. This also implies we should make an attempt to attain self-knowledge here and now.
Bh: We do not know where heaven is nor as to how it is.
But we aspire for unknown things. In contrast, all the requirements for self-knowledge is ready at hand.
Why bother about unknown things when the wise ones
have shown us the way to attain Self-knowledge here itself?
- N.N.Rajan, More Talks With Ramana Maharshi,
13.4.42 afternoon
This aloneness is worth more than a thousand lives. This freedom is worth more than all the lands on earth. To be one with the Truth for just a moment, is worth more than the world and life itself.
This aloneness is worth more than a thousand lives. This freedom is worth more than all the lands on earth. To be one with the Truth for just a moment, is worth more than the world and life itself.
EVERY living being longs to be happy; untainted by sorrow; and everyone has the greatest of love for himself; which is solely due to the fact that happiness is his real nature. Hence in order to realize that inherent and untainted happiness, which indeed he daily experiences when the mind is subdued in deep sleep, it is essential that he should know himself. For obtaining such knowledge the enquiry; "Who am I?” in the quest for the Self is the best means.
SRI RAMAKRISHNA was sitting on the small couch in his room. Rakhal, M., and several other devotees were present. A special worship of Kali had been performed in the temple the previous night. In connexion with the worship a theatrical performance of the Vidyasundar had been staged in the natmandir. The Master had watched a part of it that morning. The actors came to his room to pay him their respects. The Master, in a happy mood, became engaged in conversation with a fair complexioned young man who had taken the part of Vidya and played his part very well.
MASTER (to the actor): "Your acting was very good. If a person excels in singing, music, dancing, or any other art, he can also quickly realize God provided he strives sincerely.
"Just as you practise much in order to sing, dance, and play on instruments, so one should practise the art of fixing the mind on God. One should practise regularly such disciplines as worship, japa, and meditation.
"Are you married? Any children?"
ACTOR: "Yes, sir. I had a girl who died. Another child has been born."
MASTER: "Ah! A death and a birth, and all so quickly! You are so young! There is a saying: 'My husband died just after our marriage. There are so many nights for me to weep!' You are no doubt realizing the nature of worldly happiness. The world is like a hog plum. The hog plum has only pit and skin, and after eating it you suffer from colic.
"You are an actor in the theatre. That's fine. But it is a very painful profession. You are young now; so you have a full, round face. Afterwards there will be hollows in your cheeks. Almost all actors become like that; they get hollow cheeks and big bellies. (Laughter.)
"Why did I stay to watch your performance? I found the rhythm, the music, and the melody all correct. Then the Divine Mother showed me that it was God alone who acted in the performance in the roles of the players."
ACTOR: "Sir, what is the difference between lust and desire?"
MASTER: "Lust is like the root of the tree, and desires are branches and twigs.
"One cannot completely get rid of the six passions: lust, anger, greed, and the like. Therefore one should direct them to God. If you must have desire and greed, then you should desire love of God and be greedy to attain Him. If you must be conceited and egotistic, then feel conceited and egotistic thinking that you are the servant of God, the child of God.
"A man cannot see God unless he gives his whole mind to Him. The mind is wasted on 'woman and gold'. Take your own case. You have children and are occupied with the theatre. The mind cannot he united with God on account of these different activities.
"As long as there is bhoga, there will be less of yoga. Furthermore, bhoga begets suffering. It is said in the Bhagavata that the Avadhuta chose a kite as one of his twenty-four gurus. The kite had a fish in its beak; so it was surrounded by a thousand crows. Whichever way it flew with the fish, the crows pursued it crying, 'Caw! Caw!' When all of a sudden the fish dropped from its beak, the crows flew after the fish, leaving the kite alone.
"The 'fish' is the object of enjoyment. The 'crows' are worries and anxiety. Worries and anxiety are inevitable with enjoyment. No sooner does one give up enjoyment than one finds peace.
"What is more, money itself becomes a source of trouble. Brothers may live happily, but they get into trouble when the property is divided. Dogs lick one another's bodies; they are perfectly friendly. But when the householder throws them a little food, they get into a scrap.
"Come here now and then. (Pointing to M. and the others) They come here on Sundays and other holidays."
ACTOR: "We have holidays for three months, during the rainy and harvest seasons. It is our good fortune to be able to visit you. On our way to Dakshineswar we heard of two persons — yourself and Jnanarnava."
MASTER: "Be on friendly terms with your brothers. It looks well. You must have noticed in your theatrical performance that if four singers sing each in a different way, the play is spoiled."
ACTOR: "Yes, sir. Many birds are trapped in a net; if they all fly together and drag the net in one direction, then many of them may be saved. But that doesn't happen if they try to fly in different directions.
"One also sees in a theatrical performance a person keeping a pitcher of water on his head and at the same time dancing about."
MASTER: "Live in the world but keep the pitcher steady on your head; that is to say, keep the mind firmly on God.
"I once said to the sepoys from the barracks: 'Do your duty in the world but remember that the "pestle of death" will some time smash your hand. Be alert about it.'
"In Kamarpukur I have seen the women of carpenter families making flattened rice with a husking-machine. One woman kicks the end of the wooden beam, and another woman, while nursing her baby, turns the paddy in the mortar dug in the earth. The second woman is always alert' lest the pestle of the machine should fall on her hand. With the other hand she fries the soaked paddy in a pan. Besides, she is talking with customers; she says: 'You owe us so much money. Please pay it before you go.' Likewise, do your different duties in the world, fixing your mind on God. But practice is necessary, and one should also be alert. Only in this way can one safeguard both — God and the world."
ACTOR: "Sir, what is the proof that the soul is separate from the body?"
MASTER: "Proof? God can be seen. By practising spiritual discipline one sees God, through His grace. The rishis directly realized the Self. One cannot know the truth about God through science. Science gives us information only about things perceived by the senses, as for instance: this material mixed with that material gives such and such a result, and that material mixed with this material gives such and such a result.
"For this reason a man cannot comprehend spiritual things with his ordinary intelligence. To understand them he must live in the company of holy persons. You learn to feel the pulse by living with a physician."
ACTOR: "Yes, sir. Now I understand."
MASTER: "You must practise tapasya. Only then can you attain the goal. It will avail you nothing even if you learn the texts of the scriptures by heart. You cannot become intoxicated by merely saying 'siddhi' over and over. You must swallow some.
"One cannot explain the vision of God to others. One cannot explain conjugal happiness to a child five years old."
ACTOR: "How does one realize the Atman?"
MASTER (to the actor): "You asked me about Self-realization. Longing is the means of realizing Atman. A man must strive to attain God with all his body, with all his mind, and with all his speech. Because of an excess of bile one gets jaundice. Then one sees everything as yellow; one perceives no colour but yellow. Among you actors, those who take only the roles of women acquire the nature of a woman; by thinking of woman your ways and thoughts become womanly. Just so, by thinking day and night of God one acquires the nature of God.
"The mind is like white linen just returned from the laundry. It takes on the colour you dip it in."
ACTOR : "But it must first be sent to the laundry."
MASTER: "Yes. First is the purification of the mind. Afterwards, if you direct the mind to the contemplation of God, it will be coloured by God-Consciousness. Again, if you direct the mind to worldly duties, such as the acting of a play, it will be coloured by worldliness."
MASTER (to the actor): "Your acting was very good. If a person excels in singing, music, dancing, or any other art, he can also quickly realize God provided he strives sincerely.
"Just as you practise much in order to sing, dance, and play on instruments, so one should practise the art of fixing the mind on God. One should practise regularly such disciplines as worship, japa, and meditation.
"Are you married? Any children?"
ACTOR: "Yes, sir. I had a girl who died. Another child has been born."
MASTER: "Ah! A death and a birth, and all so quickly! You are so young! There is a saying: 'My husband died just after our marriage. There are so many nights for me to weep!' You are no doubt realizing the nature of worldly happiness. The world is like a hog plum. The hog plum has only pit and skin, and after eating it you suffer from colic.
"You are an actor in the theatre. That's fine. But it is a very painful profession. You are young now; so you have a full, round face. Afterwards there will be hollows in your cheeks. Almost all actors become like that; they get hollow cheeks and big bellies. (Laughter.)
"Why did I stay to watch your performance? I found the rhythm, the music, and the melody all correct. Then the Divine Mother showed me that it was God alone who acted in the performance in the roles of the players."
ACTOR: "Sir, what is the difference between lust and desire?"
MASTER: "Lust is like the root of the tree, and desires are branches and twigs.
"One cannot completely get rid of the six passions: lust, anger, greed, and the like. Therefore one should direct them to God. If you must have desire and greed, then you should desire love of God and be greedy to attain Him. If you must be conceited and egotistic, then feel conceited and egotistic thinking that you are the servant of God, the child of God.
"A man cannot see God unless he gives his whole mind to Him. The mind is wasted on 'woman and gold'. Take your own case. You have children and are occupied with the theatre. The mind cannot he united with God on account of these different activities.
"As long as there is bhoga, there will be less of yoga. Furthermore, bhoga begets suffering. It is said in the Bhagavata that the Avadhuta chose a kite as one of his twenty-four gurus. The kite had a fish in its beak; so it was surrounded by a thousand crows. Whichever way it flew with the fish, the crows pursued it crying, 'Caw! Caw!' When all of a sudden the fish dropped from its beak, the crows flew after the fish, leaving the kite alone.
"The 'fish' is the object of enjoyment. The 'crows' are worries and anxiety. Worries and anxiety are inevitable with enjoyment. No sooner does one give up enjoyment than one finds peace.
"What is more, money itself becomes a source of trouble. Brothers may live happily, but they get into trouble when the property is divided. Dogs lick one another's bodies; they are perfectly friendly. But when the householder throws them a little food, they get into a scrap.
"Come here now and then. (Pointing to M. and the others) They come here on Sundays and other holidays."
ACTOR: "We have holidays for three months, during the rainy and harvest seasons. It is our good fortune to be able to visit you. On our way to Dakshineswar we heard of two persons — yourself and Jnanarnava."
MASTER: "Be on friendly terms with your brothers. It looks well. You must have noticed in your theatrical performance that if four singers sing each in a different way, the play is spoiled."
ACTOR: "Yes, sir. Many birds are trapped in a net; if they all fly together and drag the net in one direction, then many of them may be saved. But that doesn't happen if they try to fly in different directions.
"One also sees in a theatrical performance a person keeping a pitcher of water on his head and at the same time dancing about."
MASTER: "Live in the world but keep the pitcher steady on your head; that is to say, keep the mind firmly on God.
"I once said to the sepoys from the barracks: 'Do your duty in the world but remember that the "pestle of death" will some time smash your hand. Be alert about it.'
"In Kamarpukur I have seen the women of carpenter families making flattened rice with a husking-machine. One woman kicks the end of the wooden beam, and another woman, while nursing her baby, turns the paddy in the mortar dug in the earth. The second woman is always alert' lest the pestle of the machine should fall on her hand. With the other hand she fries the soaked paddy in a pan. Besides, she is talking with customers; she says: 'You owe us so much money. Please pay it before you go.' Likewise, do your different duties in the world, fixing your mind on God. But practice is necessary, and one should also be alert. Only in this way can one safeguard both — God and the world."
ACTOR: "Sir, what is the proof that the soul is separate from the body?"
MASTER: "Proof? God can be seen. By practising spiritual discipline one sees God, through His grace. The rishis directly realized the Self. One cannot know the truth about God through science. Science gives us information only about things perceived by the senses, as for instance: this material mixed with that material gives such and such a result, and that material mixed with this material gives such and such a result.
"For this reason a man cannot comprehend spiritual things with his ordinary intelligence. To understand them he must live in the company of holy persons. You learn to feel the pulse by living with a physician."
ACTOR: "Yes, sir. Now I understand."
MASTER: "You must practise tapasya. Only then can you attain the goal. It will avail you nothing even if you learn the texts of the scriptures by heart. You cannot become intoxicated by merely saying 'siddhi' over and over. You must swallow some.
"One cannot explain the vision of God to others. One cannot explain conjugal happiness to a child five years old."
ACTOR: "How does one realize the Atman?"
MASTER (to the actor): "You asked me about Self-realization. Longing is the means of realizing Atman. A man must strive to attain God with all his body, with all his mind, and with all his speech. Because of an excess of bile one gets jaundice. Then one sees everything as yellow; one perceives no colour but yellow. Among you actors, those who take only the roles of women acquire the nature of a woman; by thinking of woman your ways and thoughts become womanly. Just so, by thinking day and night of God one acquires the nature of God.
"The mind is like white linen just returned from the laundry. It takes on the colour you dip it in."
ACTOR : "But it must first be sent to the laundry."
MASTER: "Yes. First is the purification of the mind. Afterwards, if you direct the mind to the contemplation of God, it will be coloured by God-Consciousness. Again, if you direct the mind to worldly duties, such as the acting of a play, it will be coloured by worldliness."
Q: Is it possible to speak to Iswara [God] as Sri Ramakrishna did?
Sri Raman Maharshi : When we can speak to each other why should we not speak to Iswara in the same way?
Q: Then why does it not happen with us?
Sri Raman Maharshi : It requires purity and strength of mind and practice in meditation.
Q: Does God become evident if the above conditions exist?
Sri Raman Maharshi :
Such manifestations are as real as your own reality. In other words, when you identify yourself with the body, as in the waking state, you see gross objects. When in the subtle body or in the mental plane as in dreams, you see objects equally subtle. In the absence of identification in deep sleep you see nothing. The objects seen bear a relation to the state of the seer. The same applies to visions of God.
By long practice the figure of God, as meditated upon, appears in dreams and may later appear in the waking state also.
Source Book: Be as You Are
Sri Raman Maharshi : When we can speak to each other why should we not speak to Iswara in the same way?
Q: Then why does it not happen with us?
Sri Raman Maharshi : It requires purity and strength of mind and practice in meditation.
Q: Does God become evident if the above conditions exist?
Sri Raman Maharshi :
Such manifestations are as real as your own reality. In other words, when you identify yourself with the body, as in the waking state, you see gross objects. When in the subtle body or in the mental plane as in dreams, you see objects equally subtle. In the absence of identification in deep sleep you see nothing. The objects seen bear a relation to the state of the seer. The same applies to visions of God.
By long practice the figure of God, as meditated upon, appears in dreams and may later appear in the waking state also.
Source Book: Be as You Are
Brahman is completely without pride. Therefore, any little pride in any experience, in any achievement, is worthless. It may even be a great good deed that the doer feels he has done, but Brahman does not touch it and does not respect it.
Q: Buddha said that the idea of enlightenment is extremely important. Most people go through their lives not even knowing that there is such a thing as enlightenment, leave alone the striving for it. Once they have heard of it, a seed was sown which cannot die. Therefore, he would send his bhikhus to preach ceaselessly for eight months every year.
M: 'One can give food, clothes, shelter, knowledge, affection, but the highest gift is the gospel of enlightenment', my Guru used to say. You are right, enlightenment is the highest good. Once you have it, nobody can take it away from you.
Q: If you would talk like this in the West, people would take you for mad.
M: Of course, they would! To the ignorant all that they can not understand is madness. What of it? Let them be as they are. I am as I am, for no merit of mine and they are as they are, for no fault of theirs. The Supreme Reality manifests itself in innumerable ways. Infinite in number are its names and shapes. All arise, all merge in the same ocean, the source of all is one. Looking for causes and results is but the pastime of the mind. What is, is lovable. Love is not a result, it is the very ground of being. Wherever you go, you will find being, consciousness and love.
M: 'One can give food, clothes, shelter, knowledge, affection, but the highest gift is the gospel of enlightenment', my Guru used to say. You are right, enlightenment is the highest good. Once you have it, nobody can take it away from you.
Q: If you would talk like this in the West, people would take you for mad.
M: Of course, they would! To the ignorant all that they can not understand is madness. What of it? Let them be as they are. I am as I am, for no merit of mine and they are as they are, for no fault of theirs. The Supreme Reality manifests itself in innumerable ways. Infinite in number are its names and shapes. All arise, all merge in the same ocean, the source of all is one. Looking for causes and results is but the pastime of the mind. What is, is lovable. Love is not a result, it is the very ground of being. Wherever you go, you will find being, consciousness and love.
Q : Were you a student of Nisargadatta Maharaj?
Robert Adams : I wasn't a student of his but I was with him for a while.
Q : Are you also familiar with Jean Kline?
Robert Adams: No, I don't know her.
Q : You knew Nisargadatta frankly?
Robert Adams : I knew Nisargadatta, yes.
Q : Did you spend much time with him?
Robert Adams : Six months.
Q : Six months?
Robert Adams : Um-hm.
Q : Continuously?
Robert Adams : Yes.
Q : Was that before you went to Ramana Maharshi?
Robert Adams : No, that was after.
Q : After? What kept you there for six months?
Robert Adams : I was interested.
Q : In what?
Robert Adams : In watching his actions. I was there when Balsekar was his interpreter.
Q : Moira Patan wasn't his interpreter then? What was your conclusion after watching him in action?
Robert Adams : My conclusion is “All is well, and everything is unfolding as it should.”
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Q : Could you say something about the difference between understanding something and being that understanding? Nisargadatta would keep saying if you say you've understood,
you haven't understood.
Robert Adams: True.
Understanding something is when I am talking or you read a book and intellectually it makes a lot of sense to you.
But even if it makes sense intellectually to you,
you have not experienced that.
If you have not experienced that,
it makes no difference how long you've been reading books or
how long you've been discussing truth, or
how many classes you've gone to or
how many teachers you've had.
You have to be able to do something yourself to
have an experience of the reality.
Therefore there comes a time in our lives
when we stop reading books.
We stop running around to teacher to teacher to teacher.
We stop going and identifying with certain places in the world and running all over the world.
We become still, we go within ourselves a lot.
We have a lot of time to ourselves.
We question ourselves, we observe ourselves,
we look at ourselves and
then the Guru within you will tell you what to do,
how to do it and where to go and everything will go well with you.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Think of some of the teachers that you know or heard about.
Nisargadatta, he always prayed.
He realized that he was consciousness.
He was self-realized, but at the same time he chanted, he prayed, he had devotion.
It sounds like a contradiction.
For you may say,
"If someone is self-realized and knows himself or herself to be all there is, to whom do they pray?"
Try to remember that all spiritual life is a contradiction.
It's a contradiction because words cannot explain it.
Even when you are the Self,
you can pray to the Self, which is you.
Ramana Maharshi always had chanting at the ashram,
prayers, devotional hymns.
These things are very important.
Many westerners, who profess to be atheists, come to listen to lectures on Advaita Vedanta,
and yet nothing ever happens in their lives.
As long as you do not have devotion, faith, love, discrimination, dispassion, it will be very difficult to awaken.
Therefore those of you who become bored with practicing self-inquiry may become very devotional.
Surrender everything.
Give up your body, your thoughts, all the things that bind you,
whatever problems you may believe you have.
Surrender them to your favorite deity.
You are emptying yourself out as you do this.
Do a lot of it.
Become humble.
Have a tremendous humility.
If you can just do that you will become a favorite of God
and you'll not have to search any longer.
But of course the choice is always yours.
What are you chasing in life?
What are you going after?
What are the things that interest you?
Whatever you put first in your life, that's where your heart is.
All of the things that have transpired in your life up to now,
forget them.
Be aware all of the time that there are no mistakes.
There is nothing from the past that can interfere with your life if
you become devotional and have faith in God.
You'll be automatically protected from anything.
And if you have enough faith, you can totally remove all karmic aspects of your life.
You can transcend all of karma.
You can make life easier for yourself, if you have faith.
There are many people who practice Advaita Vedanta,
and some people are here tonight
who really do not like to hear these things.
They just want to hear me say that you are consciousness.
All is well.
You are absolute reality.
You are really not your body or your mind-phenomena.
Yet once they leave this room they turn back into their rotten selves, with all the negatives and all the anger, and all the hurts, and all the suspicions,
and all the things that they've had inside of them for years.
Robert Adams : I wasn't a student of his but I was with him for a while.
Q : Are you also familiar with Jean Kline?
Robert Adams: No, I don't know her.
Q : You knew Nisargadatta frankly?
Robert Adams : I knew Nisargadatta, yes.
Q : Did you spend much time with him?
Robert Adams : Six months.
Q : Six months?
Robert Adams : Um-hm.
Q : Continuously?
Robert Adams : Yes.
Q : Was that before you went to Ramana Maharshi?
Robert Adams : No, that was after.
Q : After? What kept you there for six months?
Robert Adams : I was interested.
Q : In what?
Robert Adams : In watching his actions. I was there when Balsekar was his interpreter.
Q : Moira Patan wasn't his interpreter then? What was your conclusion after watching him in action?
Robert Adams : My conclusion is “All is well, and everything is unfolding as it should.”
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Q : Could you say something about the difference between understanding something and being that understanding? Nisargadatta would keep saying if you say you've understood,
you haven't understood.
Robert Adams: True.
Understanding something is when I am talking or you read a book and intellectually it makes a lot of sense to you.
But even if it makes sense intellectually to you,
you have not experienced that.
If you have not experienced that,
it makes no difference how long you've been reading books or
how long you've been discussing truth, or
how many classes you've gone to or
how many teachers you've had.
You have to be able to do something yourself to
have an experience of the reality.
Therefore there comes a time in our lives
when we stop reading books.
We stop running around to teacher to teacher to teacher.
We stop going and identifying with certain places in the world and running all over the world.
We become still, we go within ourselves a lot.
We have a lot of time to ourselves.
We question ourselves, we observe ourselves,
we look at ourselves and
then the Guru within you will tell you what to do,
how to do it and where to go and everything will go well with you.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Think of some of the teachers that you know or heard about.
Nisargadatta, he always prayed.
He realized that he was consciousness.
He was self-realized, but at the same time he chanted, he prayed, he had devotion.
It sounds like a contradiction.
For you may say,
"If someone is self-realized and knows himself or herself to be all there is, to whom do they pray?"
Try to remember that all spiritual life is a contradiction.
It's a contradiction because words cannot explain it.
Even when you are the Self,
you can pray to the Self, which is you.
Ramana Maharshi always had chanting at the ashram,
prayers, devotional hymns.
These things are very important.
Many westerners, who profess to be atheists, come to listen to lectures on Advaita Vedanta,
and yet nothing ever happens in their lives.
As long as you do not have devotion, faith, love, discrimination, dispassion, it will be very difficult to awaken.
Therefore those of you who become bored with practicing self-inquiry may become very devotional.
Surrender everything.
Give up your body, your thoughts, all the things that bind you,
whatever problems you may believe you have.
Surrender them to your favorite deity.
You are emptying yourself out as you do this.
Do a lot of it.
Become humble.
Have a tremendous humility.
If you can just do that you will become a favorite of God
and you'll not have to search any longer.
But of course the choice is always yours.
What are you chasing in life?
What are you going after?
What are the things that interest you?
Whatever you put first in your life, that's where your heart is.
All of the things that have transpired in your life up to now,
forget them.
Be aware all of the time that there are no mistakes.
There is nothing from the past that can interfere with your life if
you become devotional and have faith in God.
You'll be automatically protected from anything.
And if you have enough faith, you can totally remove all karmic aspects of your life.
You can transcend all of karma.
You can make life easier for yourself, if you have faith.
There are many people who practice Advaita Vedanta,
and some people are here tonight
who really do not like to hear these things.
They just want to hear me say that you are consciousness.
All is well.
You are absolute reality.
You are really not your body or your mind-phenomena.
Yet once they leave this room they turn back into their rotten selves, with all the negatives and all the anger, and all the hurts, and all the suspicions,
and all the things that they've had inside of them for years.
Bhagavan: In meditating on an object whether concrete or abstract you are destroying the sense of oneness and creating duality.
Disciple : So what meditation would help me?
Bhagavan: No meditation on any kind of "object" is helpful. You must learn to realize that the "subject and object are one". In meditating on an object whether concrete or abstract you are destroying the sense of oneness and creating duality. Meditate on what you are in reality.
An you you will find…
D: find What?
M: You will discover. It is not for me to say what experience it would be. It would reveal itself. Hold on to it.
D: But you have often said that one must reject other thoughts when he begins the quest, but the thoughts are endless; if one thought is rejected, another comes and there seems to be no end at all
M: I do not say that you must go on rejecting thoughts. If you cling to yourself, say the I-thought, and when your interest keeps you to that single idea, other thoughts get rejected, automatically they vanish.
D: And so rejection of thoughts is not necessary?
M: No. It may be necessary for a time or for some. You fancy that there is no end if one goes on rejecting every thought when it rises. No. There is an end. If you are vigilant, and make a stern effort to reject every thought when it rises, you will soon find that you are going deeper and deeper into your own inner Self, where there is no need for your effort to reject the thoughts. The effort is sublimated in just awareness of the Self.
D: Then it is possible to be without effort!
M: Not only that, it is impossible for you to make an effort beyond a certain extent.
D: I want to be further enlightened. Should I try to make no effort at all?
M: Here it is impossible for you to be without effort. When you go deeper, it is impossible for you to make any effort.
Disciple : So what meditation would help me?
Bhagavan: No meditation on any kind of "object" is helpful. You must learn to realize that the "subject and object are one". In meditating on an object whether concrete or abstract you are destroying the sense of oneness and creating duality. Meditate on what you are in reality.
An you you will find…
D: find What?
M: You will discover. It is not for me to say what experience it would be. It would reveal itself. Hold on to it.
D: But you have often said that one must reject other thoughts when he begins the quest, but the thoughts are endless; if one thought is rejected, another comes and there seems to be no end at all
M: I do not say that you must go on rejecting thoughts. If you cling to yourself, say the I-thought, and when your interest keeps you to that single idea, other thoughts get rejected, automatically they vanish.
D: And so rejection of thoughts is not necessary?
M: No. It may be necessary for a time or for some. You fancy that there is no end if one goes on rejecting every thought when it rises. No. There is an end. If you are vigilant, and make a stern effort to reject every thought when it rises, you will soon find that you are going deeper and deeper into your own inner Self, where there is no need for your effort to reject the thoughts. The effort is sublimated in just awareness of the Self.
D: Then it is possible to be without effort!
M: Not only that, it is impossible for you to make an effort beyond a certain extent.
D: I want to be further enlightened. Should I try to make no effort at all?
M: Here it is impossible for you to be without effort. When you go deeper, it is impossible for you to make any effort.
It’s very important to not mistake teaching or spiritual practice strategies for the ultimate truth. The ultimate truth has to be experienced.
What is the difference
Between your experience of Existence
And that of a saint?
The saint knows
That the spiritual path
Is a sublime chess game with God
And that the Beloved
Has just made such a Fantastic Move
That the saint is now continually
Tripping over Joy
And bursting out in Laughter
And saying, “I Surrender!”
Whereas, my dear,
I am afraid you still think
You have a thousand serious moves.
Hafez, I Heard God Laughing: Poems of Hope and Joy
Between your experience of Existence
And that of a saint?
The saint knows
That the spiritual path
Is a sublime chess game with God
And that the Beloved
Has just made such a Fantastic Move
That the saint is now continually
Tripping over Joy
And bursting out in Laughter
And saying, “I Surrender!”
Whereas, my dear,
I am afraid you still think
You have a thousand serious moves.
Hafez, I Heard God Laughing: Poems of Hope and Joy
In our world we know that for most of us,
one of the strongest pulls in life
is to have someone who you can spend your life with.
Someone whose heart resonates with yours,
someone who has love for you as much as
you have love for them.
This is the way that love is often expressed in
the human kingdom.
But love has much broader implications also.
As you come to discover the truth of your own self,
you come to the very source of love.
When you come to the source of love,
your being begins to merge there in that love.
And that love is a universal love,
it is not merely a personal love.
It continues to expand and radiate until it embraces and encompasses the whole world.
This is not merely spiritual fantasy.
You grow in this love because wherever
ego has become redundant or absent,
universal love shines right there, from there.
And it never stops, it never meets a point
beyond which it cannot go.
It is this love that is in the core of every living being
and certainly within every human being.
And this love and truth are not different.
This love and wisdom are not different.
This love and trust are not different.
This love and life are not different.
This love never runs dry.
Outwardly, it may change its form,
but inwardly it is unchanging.
May this love so flower in us all and radiate so powerfully, because, if the world needs something,
it needs to taste this love again.
And every one has this love in you.
If you pray for one person, the power and love that goes into this prayer can be spread for the whole world and it will not drain you.
In fact it will energise you.
This love has many different aspects and facets,
the love we see expressed here is within the great love,
as is the love for your children and for your friends,
the love you have for the things you do in life,
the love for your work, the love for God,
all of this springs from the great love,
from the great Source.
one of the strongest pulls in life
is to have someone who you can spend your life with.
Someone whose heart resonates with yours,
someone who has love for you as much as
you have love for them.
This is the way that love is often expressed in
the human kingdom.
But love has much broader implications also.
As you come to discover the truth of your own self,
you come to the very source of love.
When you come to the source of love,
your being begins to merge there in that love.
And that love is a universal love,
it is not merely a personal love.
It continues to expand and radiate until it embraces and encompasses the whole world.
This is not merely spiritual fantasy.
You grow in this love because wherever
ego has become redundant or absent,
universal love shines right there, from there.
And it never stops, it never meets a point
beyond which it cannot go.
It is this love that is in the core of every living being
and certainly within every human being.
And this love and truth are not different.
This love and wisdom are not different.
This love and trust are not different.
This love and life are not different.
This love never runs dry.
Outwardly, it may change its form,
but inwardly it is unchanging.
May this love so flower in us all and radiate so powerfully, because, if the world needs something,
it needs to taste this love again.
And every one has this love in you.
If you pray for one person, the power and love that goes into this prayer can be spread for the whole world and it will not drain you.
In fact it will energise you.
This love has many different aspects and facets,
the love we see expressed here is within the great love,
as is the love for your children and for your friends,
the love you have for the things you do in life,
the love for your work, the love for God,
all of this springs from the great love,
from the great Source.
SHAKING OUT THE PAIN
I was speaking with a woman who’d had terrible and constant pain in her neck and shoulders for most of her life.
She had been to every doctor; taken every pill;
visited every spiritual teacher; tried every method,
every practice, every mantra.
Everything had only provided temporary relief.
“Why is the pain still here?
After all I’ve done, with all I know . . .”
I’ve heard this kind of thing from so many people all over the world. We’ve tried everything, been to every healer,
had every kind of spiritual insight and experience,
and yet we are not “over” our pain.
It’s “still here.” We can end up feeling so disappointed.
Like we are failures, far from healing.
Like we are “doing something wrong.”
But healing is never far away.
I invited the woman to allow herself to feel the discomfort in her neck and shoulders more deeply.
To be present with the raw sensations there,
moment by moment.
To breathe into them, through them, around them.
To give them space, room to live.
To be curious, to bring them a loving, gentle,
receptive, nonresistant attention.
To allow them to intensify if they wanted to.
To allow them to move, to break up, to flutter, to pulsate,
to burn, to spread. But to stay close, to stay present;
to allow, to trust, to breathe.
Suddenly a great terror welled up in her body.
An old fear of becoming overwhelmed,
of dying, of going mad, of breaking apart.
“Allow. Trust. Breathe into this too,”
I reminded her. Her entire body started to shake, convulse.
“Breathe. Trust. I’m here with you . . .”
The convulsions went on for a couple of minutes.
I stayed close.
Then the shaking stopped as quickly as it had begun.
She opened her eyes. She started to laugh, to cry with relief. “Wow,” she said. “Just . . . wow.”
There were no words.
The pain in her neck and shoulders was gone.
Her whole body felt rested, relaxed, grounded, warm.
She was welling up with love and gratitude.
Instead of trying to “heal” or “get rid of” her pain
(she had tried so hard over the years!),
she finally was able to meet it instead,
make a home for it, allow it,
without even the subtle expectation that it would “go away.”
Her pain had become bound up with emotion
—fear, rage, and underneath, great sorrow, even despair.
These emotions had been held tightly in her body
since she was a little one, when it wasn’t safe to allow herself to feel what she felt.
So energy had got stuck in her shoulders.
Feeling into the “pain” was the invitation
for these old energies to finally begin to move in her.
Her body was literally shaking out old bound-up energy,
in the safety of the present moment,
in the safety of our relational field.
She was learning to trust herself again.
Trust her body.
Trust the power of Presence.
Trust someone else to stay close with her
in the fire of her experience.
Even trust the pain itself,
see the intelligence in it.
In a space of loving attention,
she was able to begin to bear the unbearable,
so the unbearable was not unbearable any longer.
This is how healing happens
—through love,
through presence,
through the courage
to come closer.
-
I was speaking with a woman who’d had terrible and constant pain in her neck and shoulders for most of her life.
She had been to every doctor; taken every pill;
visited every spiritual teacher; tried every method,
every practice, every mantra.
Everything had only provided temporary relief.
“Why is the pain still here?
After all I’ve done, with all I know . . .”
I’ve heard this kind of thing from so many people all over the world. We’ve tried everything, been to every healer,
had every kind of spiritual insight and experience,
and yet we are not “over” our pain.
It’s “still here.” We can end up feeling so disappointed.
Like we are failures, far from healing.
Like we are “doing something wrong.”
But healing is never far away.
I invited the woman to allow herself to feel the discomfort in her neck and shoulders more deeply.
To be present with the raw sensations there,
moment by moment.
To breathe into them, through them, around them.
To give them space, room to live.
To be curious, to bring them a loving, gentle,
receptive, nonresistant attention.
To allow them to intensify if they wanted to.
To allow them to move, to break up, to flutter, to pulsate,
to burn, to spread. But to stay close, to stay present;
to allow, to trust, to breathe.
Suddenly a great terror welled up in her body.
An old fear of becoming overwhelmed,
of dying, of going mad, of breaking apart.
“Allow. Trust. Breathe into this too,”
I reminded her. Her entire body started to shake, convulse.
“Breathe. Trust. I’m here with you . . .”
The convulsions went on for a couple of minutes.
I stayed close.
Then the shaking stopped as quickly as it had begun.
She opened her eyes. She started to laugh, to cry with relief. “Wow,” she said. “Just . . . wow.”
There were no words.
The pain in her neck and shoulders was gone.
Her whole body felt rested, relaxed, grounded, warm.
She was welling up with love and gratitude.
Instead of trying to “heal” or “get rid of” her pain
(she had tried so hard over the years!),
she finally was able to meet it instead,
make a home for it, allow it,
without even the subtle expectation that it would “go away.”
Her pain had become bound up with emotion
—fear, rage, and underneath, great sorrow, even despair.
These emotions had been held tightly in her body
since she was a little one, when it wasn’t safe to allow herself to feel what she felt.
So energy had got stuck in her shoulders.
Feeling into the “pain” was the invitation
for these old energies to finally begin to move in her.
Her body was literally shaking out old bound-up energy,
in the safety of the present moment,
in the safety of our relational field.
She was learning to trust herself again.
Trust her body.
Trust the power of Presence.
Trust someone else to stay close with her
in the fire of her experience.
Even trust the pain itself,
see the intelligence in it.
In a space of loving attention,
she was able to begin to bear the unbearable,
so the unbearable was not unbearable any longer.
This is how healing happens
—through love,
through presence,
through the courage
to come closer.
-
Truth is beyond conceptual realizations, it is not some sacred cluster of concepts...it is spirit...It is life.
It is pure intelligence born from love.
This you must find...
It is pure intelligence born from love.
This you must find...
May whatever forces working against your seeing, whatever seems to block you or create disharmony within your being, whatever obstructs your flow for Truth by the power of the living God, may it be driven out, cast aside.
In this moment, you receive the inviting of the holy spirit of Truth
to drive all these things away.
Blessings may be upon those who search for the Truth.
May your denying mind blow away like the nothing it is, like clouds in the wind.
May your Heart embrace the Truth and the true conviction, so that you may know beyond doubt that you are here, timelessly.
May no force on earth come up against your true intention and desire of your Heart.
May the full light of Truth and the blessing of the Supreme Being
enter and protect you from the dark forces of the psychological mind
so that you win Freedom.
May your awakening not sway and become a nostalgia for you, but be established in your Heart for all time.
Wherever you are, let your Heart be open to embrace the all-possible, the Truth, so that you overcome all the sorrows and suffering and find everlasting peace and joy, for this is your natural state, your natural being.
You did not come here for just fleeting experiences, but to be established and rooted in the Truth so that those things that seem to distract your mind now thin away and become nothing for you.
May your light shine brightly in this world...your Heart is the light of this world, don't let your mind hide it.
Amen.
In this moment, you receive the inviting of the holy spirit of Truth
to drive all these things away.
Blessings may be upon those who search for the Truth.
May your denying mind blow away like the nothing it is, like clouds in the wind.
May your Heart embrace the Truth and the true conviction, so that you may know beyond doubt that you are here, timelessly.
May no force on earth come up against your true intention and desire of your Heart.
May the full light of Truth and the blessing of the Supreme Being
enter and protect you from the dark forces of the psychological mind
so that you win Freedom.
May your awakening not sway and become a nostalgia for you, but be established in your Heart for all time.
Wherever you are, let your Heart be open to embrace the all-possible, the Truth, so that you overcome all the sorrows and suffering and find everlasting peace and joy, for this is your natural state, your natural being.
You did not come here for just fleeting experiences, but to be established and rooted in the Truth so that those things that seem to distract your mind now thin away and become nothing for you.
May your light shine brightly in this world...your Heart is the light of this world, don't let your mind hide it.
Amen.
Devi asks:
O Shiva, what is your reality?
What is the wonder-filled universe?
What constitutes seed?
Who centers the universal wheel?
What is the life beyond form pervading forms?
How may we enter it fully, above space and time, names and descriptions?
Let my doubts be cleared!
And Lord Shiva replies by way of 112 Meditation Techniques to find the ultimate reality. The techniques are ‘Sutras‘ (roughly translated as ‘formulas‘).
Following are the 112 Meditations by Lord Shiva in the seed form:
1. Radiant one, this experience may dawn between two breaths. After breath comes in (down) and just before turning up (out)—the beneficence.
2. As breath turns down from down to up, and again as breath curves from up to down—through both these turns, realize.
3. Or, whenever in-breath and out-breath fuse, at this instant touch the energy-less, energy-filled center.
4. Or, when breath is all out (up) and stopped of itself, or all in (down) and stopped – in such universal pause, one’s small self vanishes. This is difficult only for the impure.
5. Consider your essence as light rays from center to center up the vertebrae, and so rises livingness in you.
6. Or in the spaces between, feel this as lightning.
7. Devi, imagine the Sanskrit letters in these honey-filled foci of awareness, first as letters, then more subtly as sounds, then as most subtle feeling. Then, leaving them aside, be free.
8. Attention between eyebrows, let mind be before thought. Let form fill with breath essence to the top of the head and there shower as light.
9. Or, imagine the five-colored circles of the peacock tail to be your five senses in illimitable space. Now let their beauty melt within. Similarly, at any point in space or on a wall—until the point dissolves. Then your wish for another comes true.
10. Eyes closed, see your inner being in detail. Thus see your true nature.
11. Place your whole attention in the nerve, delicate as the lotus thread, in the center of your spinal column. In such be transformed.
12. Closing the seven openings of the head with your hands, a space between your eyes becomes all-inclusive.
13. Touching eyeballs as a feather, lightness between them opens into heart and there permeates the cosmos.
14. Bathe in the center of sound, as in the continuous sound of a waterfall. Or by putting the fingers in the ears, hear the sound of sounds.
15. Intone a sound, as a-u-m, slowly. As sound enters soundfulness, so do you.
16. In the beginning and gradual refinement of the sound of any letter, awake.
17. While listening to stringed instruments, hear their composite central sound; thus omnipresence.
18. Intone a sound audibly, then less and less audibly as feeling deepens into this silent harmony.
19. Image spirit simultaneously within and around you until the entire universe spiritualizes.
20. Kind Devi, enter etheric presence pervading far above and below your form.
21. Put mindstuff in such inexpressible fineness above, below and in your heart.
22. Consider any area of your present form as limitlessly spacious.
23. Feel your substance, bones, flesh, bold, saturated with the cosmic essence.
24. Suppose your passive form to be an empty room with walls of skin—empty.
25. Blessed one, as senses are absorbed in the heart, reach the center of the lotus.
26. Unminding mind, keep in the middle—until.
27. When in worldly activity, keep attention between two breaths, and so practicing, in a few days be born anew.
28. Focus on fire rising through your form from the toes up until the body burns to ashes but not you.
29. Meditate on the make-believe world as burning to ashes and become being above human.
30. Feel the fine qualities of creativity permeating your breasts and assuming delicate configurations.
31. With an intangible breath in center of forehead, as this reaches heart at the moment of sleep, have direction over dreams and over death itself.
32. As subjectively, letters flow into words and words into sentences, and as, objectively, circles flow into worlds and worlds into principles, find at last these converging in our being.
33. Gracious One, play. The universe is an empty shell wherein your mind frolics infinitely.
34. Look upon a bowl without seeing the sides or the material. In a few moments become aware.
35. Abide in some place endlessly spacious, clear of trees, hills, habitations. Thence comes the end of mind pressures.
36. Sweet hearted one, meditate on knowing and not-knowing, existing and not-existing. Then leave both aside that you may be.
37. Look lovingly at some object. Do not go to another object. Here in the middle of the object—the blessing.
38. Feel the cosmos as a translucent ever-living presence.
39. With utmost devotion, center on the two junctions of breath and know the knower.
40. Consider the plenum to be your own body of bliss.
41. While being caressed, sweet princess, enter the caressing as everlasting life.
42. Stop the doors of the senses when feeling the creeping of an ant. Then.
43. At the start of sexual union keep attentive on the fire in the beginning, and so continuing, avoid the embers in the end.
44. When in such embrace your senses are shaken, enter this shaking.
45. Even remembering union, without the embrace, the transformation.
46. On joyously seeing a long absent friend, permeate this joy.
47. When eating or drinking, become the taste of food or drink, and be filled.
48. Oh lotus-eyed one, sweet of touch, when singing, seeing, tasting, be aware you are and discover the ever-living.
49. Wherever satisfaction is found, in whatever act, actualize this.
50. At the point of sleep, when the sleep has not yet come and the external wakefulness vanishes, at this point is revealed.
51. In summer when you see the entire sky endlessly clear enter such clarity.
52. Lie down as dead. Enraged in wrath, stay so. Or stare without moving an eyelash. Or suck something and become the sucking.
53. Without support for feet or hands, sit only on the buttocks. Suddenly, the centering.
54. In an easy position gradually pervade an area between the armpits into great peace.
55. See as if for the first time a beauteous person or an ordinary object.
56. With mouth slightly open, keep mind in the middle of the tongue. Or, as breath comes silently in, feel the sound HH.
57. When on a bed or a seat, let yourself become weightless, beyond mind.
58. In a moving vehicle, by rhythmically swaying, experience. Or in a still vehicle, by letting yourself swing in slowing invisible circles.
59. Simply by looking into the blue sky beyond clouds, the serenity.
60. Shakti, see all space as if already absorbed in your own head in the brilliance.
61. Waking, sleeping, dreaming, knowing you as light.
62. In rain during a black night enter that blackness as the form of forms.
63. When a moonless raining night is not present, close eyes and find blackness before you. Opening eyes see blackness. So faults disappear forever.
64. Just as you have the impulse to do something, stop.
65. Center on the sound a-u-m without any a or m.
66. Silently intone a word ending in AH. Then in the HH, effortlessly, the spontaneity.
67. Feel yourself as pervading all directions, far, near.
68. Pierce some part of your nectar-filled form with a pin, and gently enter the piercing.
69. Feel: my thought, I-ness, internal organs – me.
70. Illusions deceive, colors circumscribe, even divisible are indivisible.
85. As waves come with water and flames with fire, so the universal waves with us.
86. Roam about until exhausted and then, dropping to the ground, in this dropping be whole.
87. Suppose you are gradually being deprived of strength or of knowledge. At the instant of deprivation, transcend.
88. Listen while the ultimate mystical teaching is imparted. Eyes still, without blinking, at once become absolutely free.
89. Stopping ears by pressing and the rectum by contracting, enter the sound of sound.
90. At the edge of a deep well look steadily into its depths until – the wondrousness.
91. Wherever your mind is wandering, internally or externally, at this very place, this.
92. When vividly aware through some particular sense, keep in the awareness.
93. At the start of sneezing, during fright, in anxiety, above a chasm, flying in battle, in extreme curiosity, at the beginning of hunger, at the end of hunger, be uninterruptedly aware.
94. Let attention be at a place where you are seeing some past happening, and even your form, having lost its present characteristics, is transformed.
95. Look upon some object, then slowly withdraw your sight from it, then slowly withdraw you thought from it. Then.
96. Devotion frees.
97. Feel an object before you. Feel the absence of all other objects but this one. Then leaving aside the object-feeling and the absence-feeling, realize.
98. The purity of other teachings is an impurity to us. In reality, know nothing as pure or impure.
99. This consciousness exists as each being, and nothing else exists.
100. Be the unsame same to friend as to stranger, in honor and dishonor.
101. When a mood against someone or for someone arises, do not place it on the person in question, but remain centered.
102. Suppose you contemplate something beyond perception, beyond grasping, beyond not being. – you.
103. Enter space, supportless, eternal, still.
104. Wherever your attention alights, at this very point, experience.
105. Enter the sound of your name and, through this sound, all sounds.
106. I am existing. This is mine. This is this. Oh beloved, even in such know illimitably.
107. This consciousness is the spirit of guidance of each one. Be this one.
108. Here is the sphere of change, change, change, change. Through change consume change.
109. As a hen mothers her chicks, mother particular knowings, particular doings, in reality.
110. Since, in truth, bondage and freedom are relative, these words are only for those terrified with the universe. This universe is a reflection of minds. As you see many suns in water from one sun, so see bondage and liberation.
111. Each thing is perceived through knowing. The self shines in space through knowing. Perceive one being as knower and known.
112. Beloved, at this moment let, mind, knowing, breath, form, be included.
Source: Osho - Shiva Sutra
O Shiva, what is your reality?
What is the wonder-filled universe?
What constitutes seed?
Who centers the universal wheel?
What is the life beyond form pervading forms?
How may we enter it fully, above space and time, names and descriptions?
Let my doubts be cleared!
And Lord Shiva replies by way of 112 Meditation Techniques to find the ultimate reality. The techniques are ‘Sutras‘ (roughly translated as ‘formulas‘).
Following are the 112 Meditations by Lord Shiva in the seed form:
1. Radiant one, this experience may dawn between two breaths. After breath comes in (down) and just before turning up (out)—the beneficence.
2. As breath turns down from down to up, and again as breath curves from up to down—through both these turns, realize.
3. Or, whenever in-breath and out-breath fuse, at this instant touch the energy-less, energy-filled center.
4. Or, when breath is all out (up) and stopped of itself, or all in (down) and stopped – in such universal pause, one’s small self vanishes. This is difficult only for the impure.
5. Consider your essence as light rays from center to center up the vertebrae, and so rises livingness in you.
6. Or in the spaces between, feel this as lightning.
7. Devi, imagine the Sanskrit letters in these honey-filled foci of awareness, first as letters, then more subtly as sounds, then as most subtle feeling. Then, leaving them aside, be free.
8. Attention between eyebrows, let mind be before thought. Let form fill with breath essence to the top of the head and there shower as light.
9. Or, imagine the five-colored circles of the peacock tail to be your five senses in illimitable space. Now let their beauty melt within. Similarly, at any point in space or on a wall—until the point dissolves. Then your wish for another comes true.
10. Eyes closed, see your inner being in detail. Thus see your true nature.
11. Place your whole attention in the nerve, delicate as the lotus thread, in the center of your spinal column. In such be transformed.
12. Closing the seven openings of the head with your hands, a space between your eyes becomes all-inclusive.
13. Touching eyeballs as a feather, lightness between them opens into heart and there permeates the cosmos.
14. Bathe in the center of sound, as in the continuous sound of a waterfall. Or by putting the fingers in the ears, hear the sound of sounds.
15. Intone a sound, as a-u-m, slowly. As sound enters soundfulness, so do you.
16. In the beginning and gradual refinement of the sound of any letter, awake.
17. While listening to stringed instruments, hear their composite central sound; thus omnipresence.
18. Intone a sound audibly, then less and less audibly as feeling deepens into this silent harmony.
19. Image spirit simultaneously within and around you until the entire universe spiritualizes.
20. Kind Devi, enter etheric presence pervading far above and below your form.
21. Put mindstuff in such inexpressible fineness above, below and in your heart.
22. Consider any area of your present form as limitlessly spacious.
23. Feel your substance, bones, flesh, bold, saturated with the cosmic essence.
24. Suppose your passive form to be an empty room with walls of skin—empty.
25. Blessed one, as senses are absorbed in the heart, reach the center of the lotus.
26. Unminding mind, keep in the middle—until.
27. When in worldly activity, keep attention between two breaths, and so practicing, in a few days be born anew.
28. Focus on fire rising through your form from the toes up until the body burns to ashes but not you.
29. Meditate on the make-believe world as burning to ashes and become being above human.
30. Feel the fine qualities of creativity permeating your breasts and assuming delicate configurations.
31. With an intangible breath in center of forehead, as this reaches heart at the moment of sleep, have direction over dreams and over death itself.
32. As subjectively, letters flow into words and words into sentences, and as, objectively, circles flow into worlds and worlds into principles, find at last these converging in our being.
33. Gracious One, play. The universe is an empty shell wherein your mind frolics infinitely.
34. Look upon a bowl without seeing the sides or the material. In a few moments become aware.
35. Abide in some place endlessly spacious, clear of trees, hills, habitations. Thence comes the end of mind pressures.
36. Sweet hearted one, meditate on knowing and not-knowing, existing and not-existing. Then leave both aside that you may be.
37. Look lovingly at some object. Do not go to another object. Here in the middle of the object—the blessing.
38. Feel the cosmos as a translucent ever-living presence.
39. With utmost devotion, center on the two junctions of breath and know the knower.
40. Consider the plenum to be your own body of bliss.
41. While being caressed, sweet princess, enter the caressing as everlasting life.
42. Stop the doors of the senses when feeling the creeping of an ant. Then.
43. At the start of sexual union keep attentive on the fire in the beginning, and so continuing, avoid the embers in the end.
44. When in such embrace your senses are shaken, enter this shaking.
45. Even remembering union, without the embrace, the transformation.
46. On joyously seeing a long absent friend, permeate this joy.
47. When eating or drinking, become the taste of food or drink, and be filled.
48. Oh lotus-eyed one, sweet of touch, when singing, seeing, tasting, be aware you are and discover the ever-living.
49. Wherever satisfaction is found, in whatever act, actualize this.
50. At the point of sleep, when the sleep has not yet come and the external wakefulness vanishes, at this point is revealed.
51. In summer when you see the entire sky endlessly clear enter such clarity.
52. Lie down as dead. Enraged in wrath, stay so. Or stare without moving an eyelash. Or suck something and become the sucking.
53. Without support for feet or hands, sit only on the buttocks. Suddenly, the centering.
54. In an easy position gradually pervade an area between the armpits into great peace.
55. See as if for the first time a beauteous person or an ordinary object.
56. With mouth slightly open, keep mind in the middle of the tongue. Or, as breath comes silently in, feel the sound HH.
57. When on a bed or a seat, let yourself become weightless, beyond mind.
58. In a moving vehicle, by rhythmically swaying, experience. Or in a still vehicle, by letting yourself swing in slowing invisible circles.
59. Simply by looking into the blue sky beyond clouds, the serenity.
60. Shakti, see all space as if already absorbed in your own head in the brilliance.
61. Waking, sleeping, dreaming, knowing you as light.
62. In rain during a black night enter that blackness as the form of forms.
63. When a moonless raining night is not present, close eyes and find blackness before you. Opening eyes see blackness. So faults disappear forever.
64. Just as you have the impulse to do something, stop.
65. Center on the sound a-u-m without any a or m.
66. Silently intone a word ending in AH. Then in the HH, effortlessly, the spontaneity.
67. Feel yourself as pervading all directions, far, near.
68. Pierce some part of your nectar-filled form with a pin, and gently enter the piercing.
69. Feel: my thought, I-ness, internal organs – me.
70. Illusions deceive, colors circumscribe, even divisible are indivisible.
85. As waves come with water and flames with fire, so the universal waves with us.
86. Roam about until exhausted and then, dropping to the ground, in this dropping be whole.
87. Suppose you are gradually being deprived of strength or of knowledge. At the instant of deprivation, transcend.
88. Listen while the ultimate mystical teaching is imparted. Eyes still, without blinking, at once become absolutely free.
89. Stopping ears by pressing and the rectum by contracting, enter the sound of sound.
90. At the edge of a deep well look steadily into its depths until – the wondrousness.
91. Wherever your mind is wandering, internally or externally, at this very place, this.
92. When vividly aware through some particular sense, keep in the awareness.
93. At the start of sneezing, during fright, in anxiety, above a chasm, flying in battle, in extreme curiosity, at the beginning of hunger, at the end of hunger, be uninterruptedly aware.
94. Let attention be at a place where you are seeing some past happening, and even your form, having lost its present characteristics, is transformed.
95. Look upon some object, then slowly withdraw your sight from it, then slowly withdraw you thought from it. Then.
96. Devotion frees.
97. Feel an object before you. Feel the absence of all other objects but this one. Then leaving aside the object-feeling and the absence-feeling, realize.
98. The purity of other teachings is an impurity to us. In reality, know nothing as pure or impure.
99. This consciousness exists as each being, and nothing else exists.
100. Be the unsame same to friend as to stranger, in honor and dishonor.
101. When a mood against someone or for someone arises, do not place it on the person in question, but remain centered.
102. Suppose you contemplate something beyond perception, beyond grasping, beyond not being. – you.
103. Enter space, supportless, eternal, still.
104. Wherever your attention alights, at this very point, experience.
105. Enter the sound of your name and, through this sound, all sounds.
106. I am existing. This is mine. This is this. Oh beloved, even in such know illimitably.
107. This consciousness is the spirit of guidance of each one. Be this one.
108. Here is the sphere of change, change, change, change. Through change consume change.
109. As a hen mothers her chicks, mother particular knowings, particular doings, in reality.
110. Since, in truth, bondage and freedom are relative, these words are only for those terrified with the universe. This universe is a reflection of minds. As you see many suns in water from one sun, so see bondage and liberation.
111. Each thing is perceived through knowing. The self shines in space through knowing. Perceive one being as knower and known.
112. Beloved, at this moment let, mind, knowing, breath, form, be included.
Source: Osho - Shiva Sutra
Today is the Holy Day of MahaShivratri of Lord Shiva ❤️❤️❤️
May All True and Sincere Seekers of Eternal Truth BE Blessed!
Om Namah Shivaya! ૐ
Once upon a time King Chitrabhanu of the Ikshvaku dynasty, who ruled over the whole of Jambudvipa, was observing a fast with his wife, it being the day of Maha Shivaratri. The sage Ashtavakra came on a visit to the court of the king.
The sage asked, "O king! why are you observing a fast today?"
King Chitrabhanu explained why. He had the gift of remembering the incidents of his previous birth.
The king said to the sage: "In my past birth I was a hunter in Varanasi. My name was Suswara. My livelihood was to kill and sell birds and animals. One day I was roaming the forests in search of animals. I was overtaken by the darkness of night. Unable to return home, I climbed a tree for shelter. It happened to be a bael tree. I had shot a deer that day but I had no time to take it home. I bundled it up and tied it to a branch on the tree. As I was tormented by hunger and thirst, I kept awake throughout the night. I shed profuse tears when I thought of my poor wife and children who were starving and anxiously awaiting my return. To pass away the time that night I engaged myself in plucking the bael leaves and dropping them down onto the ground.
"The day dawned. I returned home and sold the deer. I bought some food for myself and for my family. I was about to break my fast when a stranger came to me, begging for food. I served him first and then took my food.
"At the time of death, I saw two messengers of Lord Shiva. They were sent down to conduct my soul to the abode of Lord Shiva. I learnt then for the first time of the great merit I had earned by the unconscious worship of Lord Shiva during the night of Shivaratri. They told me that there was a Lingam at the bottom of the tree. The leaves I dropped fell on the Lingam. My tears which I had shed out of pure sorrow for my family fell onto the Lingam and washed it. And I had fasted all day and all night. Thus did I unconsciously worship the Lord.
"I lived in the abode of the Lord and enjoyed divine bliss for long ages. I am now reborn as Chitrabhanu."
Spiritual Significance of the Ritual
The Scriptures record the following dialogue between Sastri and Atmanathan, giving the inner meaning of the above story.
Sastri: It is an allegory. The wild animals that the hunter fought with are lust, anger, greed, infatuation, jealousy and hatred. The jungle is the fourfold mind, consisting of the subconscious mind, the intellect, the ego and the conscious mind. It is in the mind that these "wild animals" roam about freely. They must be killed. Our hunter was pursuing them because he was a Yogi. If you want to be a real Yogi you have to conquer these evil tendencies. Do you remember the name of the hunter in the story?
Atmanathan: Yes, he was called Suswara.
Sastri: That's right. It means "melodious". The hunter had a pleasant melodious voice. If a person practices Yama and Niyama and is ever conquering his evil tendencies, he will develop certain external marks of a Yogi. The first marks are lightness of the body, health, steadiness, clearness of countenance and a pleasant voice. This stage has been spoken of in detail in the Swetaswatara Upanishad. The hunter or the Yogi had for many years practised Yoga and had reached the first stage. So he is given the name Suswara. Do you remember where he was born?
Atmanathan: Yes, his birthplace is Varanasi.
Sastri: Now, the Yogis call the Ajna Chakra by the name Varanasi. This is the point midway between the eyebrows. It is regarded as the meeting place of the three nerve currents (Nadis), namely, the Ida, Pingala and the Sushumna. An aspirant is instructed to concentrate on that point. That helps him to conquer his desires and evil qualities like anger and so on. It is there that he gets a vision of the Divine Light within.
Atmanathan: Very interesting! But how do you explain his climbing up the bael tree and all the other details of the worship?
Sastri: Have you ever seen a bael leaf?
Atmanathan: It has three leaves on one stalk.
Sastri: True. The tree represents the spinal column. The leaves are threefold. They represent the Ida, Pingala and Sushumna Nadis, which are the regions for the activity of the moon, the sun and fire respectively, or which may be thought of as the three eyes of Shiva. The climbing of the tree is meant to represent the ascension of the Kundalini Shakti, the serpentine power, from the lowest nerve centre called the Muladhara to the Ajna Chakra. That is the work of the Yogi.
Atmanathan: Yes, I have heard of the Kundalini and the various psychic centres in the body. Please go on further; I am very interested to know more.
Sastri: Good. The Yogi was in the waking state when he began his meditation. He bundled up the birds and the animals he had slain and, tying them on a branch of the tree, he rested there. That means he had fully conquered his thoughts and rendered them inactive. He had gone through the steps of Yama, Niyama, Pratyahara, etc. On the tree he was practising concentration and meditation. When he felt sleepy, it means that he was about to lose consciousness and go into deep sleep. So he determined to keep awake.
Atmanathan: That is now clear to me; you certainly do explain it very well. But why did he weep for his wife and children?
Sastri: His wife and children are none other than the world. One who seeks the Grace of God must become an embodiment of love. He must have an all-embracing sympathy. His shedding of tears is symbolical of his universal love. In Yoga also, one cannot have illumination without Divine Grace. Without practicing universal love, one cannot win that Grace. One must perceive one's own Self everywhere. The preliminary stage is to identify one's own mind with the minds of all created beings. That is fellow-feeling or sympathy. Then one must rise above the limitations of the mind and merge it in the Self. That happens only in the stage of Samadhi, not earlier.
Atmanathan: Why did he pluck and drop the bael leaves?
Sastri: That is mentioned in the story only to show that he had no extraneous thoughts. He was not even conscious of what he was doing. All his activity was confined to the three Nadis. The leaves, I have said before, represent the three Nadis. He was in fact in the second state, namely, the dream state, before he passed into the deep sleep state.
Atmanathan: He kept vigil the whole night, it is said.
Sastri: Yes, that means that he passed through the deep sleep state successfully. The dawning of day symbolizes the entrance into the Fourth state called Turiya or superconsciousness.
Atmanathan: It is said that he came down and saw the Lingam. What does that mean?
Sastri: That means that in the Turiya state he saw the Shiva Lingam or the mark of Shiva in the form of the inner lights. In other words, he had the vision of the Lord. That was an indication to him that he would realize the supreme, eternal abode of Lord Shiva in course of time.
Atmanathan: So it appears from what you say that the sight of the lights is not the final stage?
Sastri: Oh no! That is only one step, albeit a difficult one. Now think of how the story continues. He goes home and feeds a stranger. A stranger is one whom you have not seen before. The stranger is no other than the hunter himself, transformed into a new person. The food was the likes and dislikes which he had killed the previous night. But he did not consume the whole of it. A little still remained. That was why he had to be reborn as King Chitrabhanu. Going to the world of Shiva (Salokya) is not enough to prevent this. There are other stages besides Salokya. These are Samipya, Sarupya and finally Sayujya. Have you not heard of Jaya and Vijaya returning from Vaikunta?
Atmanathan: Yes, I have understood now.
May All True and Sincere Seekers of Eternal Truth BE Blessed!
Om Namah Shivaya! ૐ
Once upon a time King Chitrabhanu of the Ikshvaku dynasty, who ruled over the whole of Jambudvipa, was observing a fast with his wife, it being the day of Maha Shivaratri. The sage Ashtavakra came on a visit to the court of the king.
The sage asked, "O king! why are you observing a fast today?"
King Chitrabhanu explained why. He had the gift of remembering the incidents of his previous birth.
The king said to the sage: "In my past birth I was a hunter in Varanasi. My name was Suswara. My livelihood was to kill and sell birds and animals. One day I was roaming the forests in search of animals. I was overtaken by the darkness of night. Unable to return home, I climbed a tree for shelter. It happened to be a bael tree. I had shot a deer that day but I had no time to take it home. I bundled it up and tied it to a branch on the tree. As I was tormented by hunger and thirst, I kept awake throughout the night. I shed profuse tears when I thought of my poor wife and children who were starving and anxiously awaiting my return. To pass away the time that night I engaged myself in plucking the bael leaves and dropping them down onto the ground.
"The day dawned. I returned home and sold the deer. I bought some food for myself and for my family. I was about to break my fast when a stranger came to me, begging for food. I served him first and then took my food.
"At the time of death, I saw two messengers of Lord Shiva. They were sent down to conduct my soul to the abode of Lord Shiva. I learnt then for the first time of the great merit I had earned by the unconscious worship of Lord Shiva during the night of Shivaratri. They told me that there was a Lingam at the bottom of the tree. The leaves I dropped fell on the Lingam. My tears which I had shed out of pure sorrow for my family fell onto the Lingam and washed it. And I had fasted all day and all night. Thus did I unconsciously worship the Lord.
"I lived in the abode of the Lord and enjoyed divine bliss for long ages. I am now reborn as Chitrabhanu."
Spiritual Significance of the Ritual
The Scriptures record the following dialogue between Sastri and Atmanathan, giving the inner meaning of the above story.
Sastri: It is an allegory. The wild animals that the hunter fought with are lust, anger, greed, infatuation, jealousy and hatred. The jungle is the fourfold mind, consisting of the subconscious mind, the intellect, the ego and the conscious mind. It is in the mind that these "wild animals" roam about freely. They must be killed. Our hunter was pursuing them because he was a Yogi. If you want to be a real Yogi you have to conquer these evil tendencies. Do you remember the name of the hunter in the story?
Atmanathan: Yes, he was called Suswara.
Sastri: That's right. It means "melodious". The hunter had a pleasant melodious voice. If a person practices Yama and Niyama and is ever conquering his evil tendencies, he will develop certain external marks of a Yogi. The first marks are lightness of the body, health, steadiness, clearness of countenance and a pleasant voice. This stage has been spoken of in detail in the Swetaswatara Upanishad. The hunter or the Yogi had for many years practised Yoga and had reached the first stage. So he is given the name Suswara. Do you remember where he was born?
Atmanathan: Yes, his birthplace is Varanasi.
Sastri: Now, the Yogis call the Ajna Chakra by the name Varanasi. This is the point midway between the eyebrows. It is regarded as the meeting place of the three nerve currents (Nadis), namely, the Ida, Pingala and the Sushumna. An aspirant is instructed to concentrate on that point. That helps him to conquer his desires and evil qualities like anger and so on. It is there that he gets a vision of the Divine Light within.
Atmanathan: Very interesting! But how do you explain his climbing up the bael tree and all the other details of the worship?
Sastri: Have you ever seen a bael leaf?
Atmanathan: It has three leaves on one stalk.
Sastri: True. The tree represents the spinal column. The leaves are threefold. They represent the Ida, Pingala and Sushumna Nadis, which are the regions for the activity of the moon, the sun and fire respectively, or which may be thought of as the three eyes of Shiva. The climbing of the tree is meant to represent the ascension of the Kundalini Shakti, the serpentine power, from the lowest nerve centre called the Muladhara to the Ajna Chakra. That is the work of the Yogi.
Atmanathan: Yes, I have heard of the Kundalini and the various psychic centres in the body. Please go on further; I am very interested to know more.
Sastri: Good. The Yogi was in the waking state when he began his meditation. He bundled up the birds and the animals he had slain and, tying them on a branch of the tree, he rested there. That means he had fully conquered his thoughts and rendered them inactive. He had gone through the steps of Yama, Niyama, Pratyahara, etc. On the tree he was practising concentration and meditation. When he felt sleepy, it means that he was about to lose consciousness and go into deep sleep. So he determined to keep awake.
Atmanathan: That is now clear to me; you certainly do explain it very well. But why did he weep for his wife and children?
Sastri: His wife and children are none other than the world. One who seeks the Grace of God must become an embodiment of love. He must have an all-embracing sympathy. His shedding of tears is symbolical of his universal love. In Yoga also, one cannot have illumination without Divine Grace. Without practicing universal love, one cannot win that Grace. One must perceive one's own Self everywhere. The preliminary stage is to identify one's own mind with the minds of all created beings. That is fellow-feeling or sympathy. Then one must rise above the limitations of the mind and merge it in the Self. That happens only in the stage of Samadhi, not earlier.
Atmanathan: Why did he pluck and drop the bael leaves?
Sastri: That is mentioned in the story only to show that he had no extraneous thoughts. He was not even conscious of what he was doing. All his activity was confined to the three Nadis. The leaves, I have said before, represent the three Nadis. He was in fact in the second state, namely, the dream state, before he passed into the deep sleep state.
Atmanathan: He kept vigil the whole night, it is said.
Sastri: Yes, that means that he passed through the deep sleep state successfully. The dawning of day symbolizes the entrance into the Fourth state called Turiya or superconsciousness.
Atmanathan: It is said that he came down and saw the Lingam. What does that mean?
Sastri: That means that in the Turiya state he saw the Shiva Lingam or the mark of Shiva in the form of the inner lights. In other words, he had the vision of the Lord. That was an indication to him that he would realize the supreme, eternal abode of Lord Shiva in course of time.
Atmanathan: So it appears from what you say that the sight of the lights is not the final stage?
Sastri: Oh no! That is only one step, albeit a difficult one. Now think of how the story continues. He goes home and feeds a stranger. A stranger is one whom you have not seen before. The stranger is no other than the hunter himself, transformed into a new person. The food was the likes and dislikes which he had killed the previous night. But he did not consume the whole of it. A little still remained. That was why he had to be reborn as King Chitrabhanu. Going to the world of Shiva (Salokya) is not enough to prevent this. There are other stages besides Salokya. These are Samipya, Sarupya and finally Sayujya. Have you not heard of Jaya and Vijaya returning from Vaikunta?
Atmanathan: Yes, I have understood now.
Siva is the Sun of Jnana
The darkness of contending Pasa,
And the ignorance vast
These flee fast,
Before the Jnana Light of Siva,
Even as when the luminous Sun rises,
The murky darkness, before him, flees.
~ Thirumandiram (2001)
The darkness of contending Pasa,
And the ignorance vast
These flee fast,
Before the Jnana Light of Siva,
Even as when the luminous Sun rises,
The murky darkness, before him, flees.
~ Thirumandiram (2001)
Beings
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