The root cause of our return to this world

 

Most of us come into this world with the seed in us, "It's not OK". And all our life we try to correct events, people and situations. How much can you correct? It's like trying to rearrange the clouds in the sky. This seed does not allow you to be happy, to smile from your heart, to be loving and loveable. It's there all the time like a thorn - irritating, irritating.

This seed, "It's not OK," brings you back into this world again and again. How do you burn this seed?

First, recognize that it is there. This can happen in deep introspection and meditation.

Second, sometimes you feel your body, mind, intellect, memory and ego are also not OK. You justify them or find fault with them. They are also part of the world. Acknowledge what you see as an imperfection and offer it to the Divine.

Third, have faith in the infinite organizing power of the supreme intelligence and have the sincere feeling, "Let thy will be done." Then the seed, "It's not OK," gets burned. "Thy will be done" is a state of total contentment, a state of just love.

We need not even make it a statement about the future. "Thy will" alone, is happening now.

So, everything happening is God's will? Yes, including the thought, "This shouldn't be happening."

The Power of "Now"

 

Have you noticed what keeps happening in the mind every moment? The mind keeps wondering what is going to happen next. Knowledge is being aware of this phenomenon of the mind; of what is happening right now in the mind. All other information and education can be acquired by reading books. You can open a book on any subject, be it birth, death or dietary habits; there are volumes of books available on countless topics. But awareness of our own mind cannot be learnt by reading a book.

What does our mind do? It vacillates between the past and the future. Every moment, it is either angry about the past or anxious about the future. There is another tendency of the mind – clinging to the negative. If ten positive instances or events are followed by one negative event, we cling to that one negative thing. We simply forget all the ten positives.

To bring about a change in these two tendencies of the mind is the greatest help you can render to yourself. Becoming aware of these two tendencies in the mind will make you very natural, very simple. These are very precious values and will enable you to blossom from within. We are actually born with this innocence in us; but as we become more and more mature and intelligent, we tend to lose this innocence and end up becoming stiff. Drop the stiffness, and then see how much more rewarding, more enjoyable, more interesting life becomes. This is knowledge. And this is also worship.

As a child, you had no problems; you fought one day and made up the next day. But as you grow, you get tangled, entangled. You get into a mess. The whole society gets into a mess. Then you need the comb of knowledge. When you have an effective comb, it helps keeps your hair tangle-free and orderly. The same thing happens in society. Without knowledge and wisdom, we get entangled with each other; our minds are filled with hatred, aversions and cravings. Look into anybody’s mind; there is feverishness about somebody, a craving for the future or an aversion for the past. With the comb of wisdom and knowledge, we can promote order in society.

We have to study our own mind, our own Self. We spent so much time learning all things for living but very little about our life itself. The first thing we did when we came to the world was to take a deep breath in and the last thing we will be doing in the world is breathing out. In between the first inhalation and the last exhalation is what we call life. We never attended to our breath. Breath is the connection between the body and mind and through it you can really bring the mind to the present moment. 

Service or seva is another tool to attend to the mind. When you make service your sole purpose of life, it eliminates fear, brings focus in your mind, purposefulness in action, and long-term joy.

If everybody in the society lives in the present moment and if we are able to accept people as they are, there will be no problems, no strife. We have to have wisdom and knowledge; we have to have awareness. It is very essential.

Eliminating the root cause of pain

Every event however pleasant causes pain in the end. Greater the joy; greater is the pain. Longing for an event or waiting for a pleasurable event is again pain. Before you want something the feverishness of wanting it, is painful. When you have it the fear of losing it is painful. When it is gone, the memory of its joy, is painful.  Pain and love are the two sides of the same coin. 

Love creates tremendous amount of pain and so does separation. A wish creates tremendous amount of pressure in the mind.  Trying to please someone creates pain, to know and understand whether they are pleased or not, also creates pain. You want to know how the other person’s mind is, while you still don’t know your own mind. To do spiritual practices, you need to put effort and that’s painful. Not doing it creates even more pain. If you really look from the eyes of the wise there is nothing in this creation that is devoid of pain. Pain is the tail of everything in this world. 

When you realize that everything is pain then what to do?  The root cause of pain needs to be eliminated. The pain which has not yet come in life and which has not sprouted should be nipped off right at the beginning. 

How do you do that? Forgetfulness of yourself as separate from your environment is the main cause of pain. Lack of perception causes pain. There are three things – the self, the seer and the seeing. People keep their life somewhere else; they don’t keep their life within themselves.  For some people, there life is in the bank account. If the bank closes, then that person will get a heart failure. Whatever you give more importance to in life that becomes the cause of pain. 

So, when you see the difference, that the seer is separate from its surroundings, it helps in eliminating pain. The entire creation is made up of five elements and ten sense organs – five organs of perception and five organs of action. This entire creation is there to give you pleasure and relief. Whatever gives you pleasure, should also give you relief.

Otherwise, the very pleasure becomes pain. Suppose you like the apple pie, but eating too many of them might cause a stomach-ache. The same thing, which gives you pleasure, can also make you suffer. To eliminate the root cause of pain, a definite understanding is essential. Body, mind and this whole world are undergoing changes all the time. 

The entire universe is in the form of fluidity. The definite knowledge is, ‘I am not the body, I’m the self, I’m the space, I’m the imperishable, untouched, untainted by this world around me. Every particle in this body and the mind is changing”. Only this definite knowledge is the way out of this cycle. 

How to get rid of negative karma?

 

Karma and its consequences are eternal and beyond comprehension. There are some actions whose consequences are immediate and there are some actions with a delayed outcome. If you stick your hand in a fire, you get burnt instantly. However, if you sow a mango seed, or a coconut seed, it takes 4-6 years to grow into a fruit-bearing tree. Some karma can be resolved only by dealing with the consequences, whereas the outcome of some karma can be modified.

For example, while preparing sooji (semolina) halva, the proportion of ingredients can be adjusted with respect to one another. However, once cooked, sooji cannot be reverted back to its uncooked state. That is why doing dhyaan (meditation), japa (chanting), yagna (sacrificial fire), and daan (charity) helps change karma. Our scriptures recommend sharing a few grains of rice from our meal with birds and other creatures; having an attitude of gratefulness for all we have received in life also resolves karma. Do not criticise or condemn anyone. However, on the path of self-knowledge forget about your sins and merits, and just relax and be happy. The more relaxed we are, the more spontaneously things get done.

If we listen to our consciousness, our intuition, we will function in accordance with nature. Everything will be okay. From intuition, from this consciousness of the spirit, the knowledge of Vaastu, Ayurveda, dance, music, art and science, have all emerged. All this will manifest when you meditate. Intuition means that which is right. This power to know is within.

Listen to your own conscience, your gut feeling, and don’t do anything which you don’t want others to do to you. We should do that which brings long-term benefits, even if it is at the cost of some short-term unpleasant situations. We should not do that which gives short-term pleasure but problems in the long run. This is the criteria for karma.

Now you may ask, how does one get rid of negative karma? I want to ask you a question. When the lights were not switched on in the room, there was darkness here, right? When the lights came on, where did the darkness go? Did it go to the other room? Did the darkness escape through the window? In the same way, if negative karma is there, see it as little darkness; there is no light there. Flip the light on and darkness vanishes. How to get rid of negative karma? By meditation, service and knowledge. Serve the needy. Know that it (the negative karma) does not touch you, even shadow cannot touch you.

Meditation - practice of holding onto infinity

 

Every cell in the body has the capacity to hold infinity. A worm too eats, sleeps and performs its daily activities. There is no point in living like that. We must tap the full potential nature has bestowed upon us, the potential to hold infinity in every cell of your body. For that, we must practice meditation regularly. It takes only a few minutes every day, and once we imbibe it in our daily routine, it is no more a burden or a chore.

Meditation is like a seed. The better a seed is cultivated, the more it flourishes. Similarly, the more we practice meditation, the better it cultures the entire nervous system and the body. Our physiology undergoes a change and every cell in the body is filled with prana (life-force). As the level of prana in the body rises, we are filled with joy.

The culturing of the system by meditation is normal. Some people call it the higher state of consciousness as we are endowed with the ability to live in that state. 

Meditation helps in two ways. It prevents stress from entering the system and simultaneously releases the already accumulated stress. Regular meditation also leads to happiness and fulfilment; to sensitization of the sensory organs thereby intensifying the experiences of seeing, tasting, feeling, etc; and to greater intuitiveness.

With the assimilation of meditation into daily life, the fifth state of consciousness, called cosmic consciousness, dawns. Cosmic consciousness perceives the whole cosmos as a part of oneself. When we perceive the world as a part of us, love flows strongly between the world and us. This love empowers us to bear with the opposing forces and the disturbances in life. Anger and disappointments become fleeting emotions that occur momentarily and then vanish.

Usually, we tend to let go of pleasant emotions and cling to the unpleasant ones. 99 per cent of the world population is prone to doing this. But when the consciousness becomes free and cultured with meditation, this tendency of holding onto negative emotions is the first thing to disappear. We start living in the moment and let go of the past. This is important because no matter how good the people we interact with, there are bound to be misunderstandings in any relationship. Once a little misunderstanding crops up, our emotions get distorted and a host of negativities follow. But if we are able to let go and focus on the ability of consciousness to revel in the glory of every moment, we are shielded from all the above. The truth that every moment is supportive and complimentary to our growth dawns on us.

A person in a higher state of consciousness is expected to know everything. ‘‘All knowing’’ simply means being conscious of the essence of all you know. In this state, knowledge and ignorance co-exist and complement each other. The confluence of knowledge, understanding and practice makes life complete. When you grow into higher states of consciousness, you find that you are no longer thrown off balance by different situations and disturbances. You become beautiful yet strong, a soft, delicate being capable of accommodating different values in life.

Certainties of the changing world

 

Uncertainty causes craving for stability. The most stable thing in the world is the Self. The world is of change and the self is of non-change. You have to rely on the non-changing and accept the change. Uncertainty with awareness brings higher state of consciousness with a smile.

Often people think that certainty is freedom. If you feel that freedom when you are not certain, then that is the real freedom. Being certain about the uncertainty of the relative makes you certain about the existence of the absolute and also brings a certain faith in the absolute.

When you feel time is too short, you are either restless or in a state of expanded awareness. When you feel time is too long you are either miserable or keen-minded. When you are happy and love what you are doing you lose the track of time. When you are ahead of time, it is dragging and boring. When time is ahead of you, then you are surprised and shocked. You are unable to understand the play of events.

In deep meditation, you are time and everything is happening in you. When you are time, you are wise and at peace. Just as the mind experiences time, this moment has a mind of its own, a big Mind, which has an enormous and infinite organizing power. Thought is nothing but a ripple in this moment, and thus a few moments of samadhi infuses the mind with energy. Just before you fall asleep, or as soon as you wake up, the consciousness experiences timelessness.

Life is a combination of form and formless. Feelings have no form, but their expressions have form. The Self has no form, but its abode has form. Similarly, wisdom and grace have no form but are expressed through form. Discarding the formless, you become inert, materialistic and paranoid. Discarding the form, you become a dreamer, a lost ascetic, or emotionally unbalanced.

Events come and go, they perish like flowers. But every event and every person contains some honey. Like a bee, just take the honey out of every event and every moment and move on. Be like a busy bee and be in the being.