Let Go!

Do not let the mind dwell in thought

of what is good or what is bad

- just relax and forget that you are meditating.

Do not desire to become enlightened 

- if you do you it will never come.

-Unknown

Source: www.deeshan.com

What is your style of Waking Up?

Aah! The tribulations of life!

Every ONE is struggling...the students, daily-wage earners, entrepreneurs, terrorists, politicians and even the beloved monks - for example, the Tibet movement for liberation.

Is THIS all (simply) a nightmare, with each individual as the AUTHOR of all his/her troubles?

Does THIS world need healing? All sages are trying (with thousands praying with them), but that still seems to be a lot of effort.

Anyway, the enlightened ones say that "nothing needs to be done"? Nothing to avoid, endure or transcend...not even a "waiting" is necessary.

Lisa Hepner says nothing needs to be "healed," only "revealed."

She quotes Joel Goldsmith (The Art of Spiritual Healing):

"Just for a moment imagine that you are experiencing an unpleasant night dream: You are in the ocean, swimming; you have gone out too far; you look back toward the shore and see that there is very little hope of rescue. Even though you shout your lungs out, no one can hear you. And so you are seized with fear. You struggle and strive to reach the shore, and, of course, the harder you fight, the harder the ocean fights you. There is only one thing left for you to do - drown. Yes, drown - but wait! In your fight, you shouted and someone heard you, came over and shook you, woke you up, and behold the miracle! The drowning self disappeared; the ocean disappeared; the struggle disappeared. You awakened and found that you had never left your comfortable home. All that was necessary in order to be released from the struggle was to AWAKEN."

Now, go back to moment when you woke up today!

What was it like to wake up?

I know someone who simply wakes up --- moves out of his bed as if he has just finished a cup of coffee.

Most of us, wake up gradually - slowly, we "come to senses" after an initial disturbance from an alarm clock or some sound or distraction.

What is your style? It could give a critical clue about your spiritual life and help you remove some barriers.

De-mystifying Enlightenment!

Enlightenment is Overrated: Jonathan is not afraid to admit that he has “reached” Enlightenment. He is passionate about bringing "clarity", especially to enlightenment.

Read it all here.

In his opinion:

The great Enlightened masters
(Christ, Buddha, Moses, Lao Tzu, and many others),
did not become Enlightened and retreat into a cave.
They did not merely transcend their egos.
They became great big egos.
They engaged life completely and fearlessly
and shook the earth from its very foundation.
They did not seek Enlightenment
as an escape from life,
but as a means to live more completely.

Then:

In reality, enlightenment brings you into a deeper,
more intimate relationship with life.
Rather, Enlightenment means
dropping into your body more completely.
It means living life more fully, passionately and fearlessly.

So, are you enlightened? If yes, do you agree?

The Greatest Virtues!

How to move from precepts to wisdom? From medicine to magic? From action to meditation? From quality to worth? from achievement & effort to patience & generosity?

More than a thousand years ago, renowned Buddhist sage - Master Atisha, Dipamkara Srijnana set it very clearly:

The greatest achievement is selflessness.
The greatest worth is self-mastery.
The greatest quality is seeking to serve others.
The greatest precept is continual awareness.
The greatest medicine is the emptiness of everything.
The greatest action is not conforming with the worlds ways.
The greatest magic is transmuting the passions.
The greatest generosity is non-attachment.
The greatest goodness is a peaceful mind.
The greatest patience is humility.
The greatest effort is not concerned with results.
The greatest meditation is a mind that lets go.
The greatest wisdom is seeing through appearances.
~Atisha

Which one did you like?

Are you forgetful & lazy?

A verse in Ashtavakra Gita says:

My son, you may recite or listen to countless scriptures,
but you will not be established within until you can forget everything.

Another one:

If even Shiva, Vishnu, or the lotus-born Brahma were your instructor,
until you have forgotten everything you cannot be established within.

Thus, in Complete Silence, you have access to EVERYTHING!

Yet another one:

Happiness belongs to no one but that supremely lazy man
for whom even opening and closing his eyes is a bother.

Thus, in Complete Stillness, you can accomplish ANYTHING!

Can you DROP all striving and move into effortless zone?

CHECK! Are you coming from THE SOURCE or through ENCYCLOPEDIC MEMORY?

Are you a Student or a Master?

What differentiates a master from a student?

Skill? Knowledge?

Here is a story:

After winning several archery contests, the young and rather boastful champion challenged a Zen Master who was renowned for his skill as an archer.

The young man demonstrated remarkable technical proficiency when he hit a distant bull's eye on his first try, and then split that arrow with his second shot. "There," he said to the old man, "see if you can match that!"

Undisturbed, the master did not draw his bow, but rather motioned for the young archer to follow him up the mountain. Curious about the old fellow's intentions, the champion followed him high into the mountain until they reached a deep chasm spanned by a rather flimsy and shaky log. Calmly stepping out onto the middle of the unsteady and certainly perilous bridge, the old master picked a far away tree as a target, drew his bow, and fired a clean, direct hit.

"Now it is your turn," he said as he gracefully stepped back onto the safe ground. Staring with terror into the seemingly bottomless and beckoning abyss, the young man could not force himself to step out onto the log, no less shoot at a target. "You have much skill with your bow," the master said, sensing his challenger's predicament, "but you have little skill with the mind that lets loose the shot."

So, what differentiates a master from a student? Degree of Awareness!

A love-intoxicated iconoclast!

Bulleh Shah (1680 – 1757), originally Abdullah Shah, was a Punjabi Sufi poet. He was a direct descendant of Muhammad, through the progeny of Shaikh Abdul Qadir Gillani of Baghdad.

His Kafi verses (a style of Punjabi, Sindhi and Siraiki poetry used by the Sufis of Sindh and Punjab, and also by Sikh gurus) still haunt us. During his time, he witnessed communal strife between Muslims and Sikhs. In those circumstances, he was an ambassador for peace and believed that "violence was not the answer to violence".

My favorite is, of course, Bulleh!, ki jaana maen kaun!

A transcript (translation in italics):

Bulleh! ki jaana maen kaun
Bullah! what do I know who I am

Na maen momin vich maseet aan
I am neither a believer in the mosque

Na maen vich kufar diyan reet aan
Nor am in non-believing ways

Na maen paakaan vich paleet aan
Neither pious (clean), nor sinful(unclean)

Na maen moosa na pharaun.
I am Neither Moses nor Pharoah

Bulleh! ki jaana maen kaun
Bullah! I know not who I am

Na maen andar ved kitaab aan,
I am not in the vedas, nor in other holy books

Na vich bhangaan na sharaab aan
Neither in opium, nor in wine

Na vich rindaan masat kharaab aan
Not in an intoxicated waste

Na vich jaagan na vich saun.
Neither in wake-fulness, nor in sleep

Bulleh! ki jaana maen kaun.
Bullah! what do I know who I am

Na vich shaadi na ghamnaaki
In happiness nor in sorrow, am I

Na maen vich paleeti paaki
Neither clean, nor a filthy mire

Na maen aabi na maen khaki
I am neither of water, nor of earth

Na maen aatish na maen paun
I am neither fire not air

Bulleh!, ki jaana maen kaun
Bullah! what do I know who I am

Na maen arabi na lahori
Not an Arab, nor Lahori

Na maen hindi shehar nagauri
Neither Hindi, nor Nagauri

Na hindu na turak peshawri
Neither Hindu, Turk, nor Peshawari

Na maen rehnda vich nadaun
Nor do I live in (the city of) Nadaun

Bulla, ki jaana maen kaun
Bullah! what do I know who I am

Na maen bheth mazhab da paaya
I have not received the secrets of religion

Ne maen aadam havva jaaya
Nor am I born of Adam and Eve

Na maen apna naam dharaaya
Nor have I assumed a name of my own

Na vich baitthan na vich bhaun
I am neither in sitting, nor am I on the move

Bulleh, ki jaana maen kaun
Bullah! what do I know who I am

Avval aakhir aap nu jaana
I discovered myself as the beginning and the end

Na koi dooja hor pehchaana
No one else, have I ever known

Maethon hor na koi siyaana
No one is wiser than me

Bulla! ooh khadda hai kaun
Bullah! who then, stands here?

Bulla, ki jaana maen kaun
Bullah! what do I know who I am


Who, then, is reading these lines?

Bulleh Shah, coming from his innermost experiences, has de-constructed the essence of all spirituality.

What else is needed to go beyond the intellect and DIRECTLY experience bliss and infinite love?

J.R. Puri and T.R. Shangari share:

Saturated with the love of God, Bullah became the personification of compassion and forgiveness. He began to see the divine in every being, and distinctions of caste and religion, friend and foe, ceased to have any meaning for him. The following incident of his life illustrates this sublime state of his mind in a beautiful way:

It is said I that "once Bulleh Shah was engaged in meditation inside his chamber. It was the month of Ramzan. Some of his disciples were sitting outside eating carrots. After some time a group of orthodox Muslims who were keeping the fast happened to pass them. When they saw the disciples sitting at a faqir's abode and violating the fast, they were enraged. " They shouted in an angry voice, " Are you not ashamed of eating in the month of Ramzan, and that also at the abode of a faqir?" The disciples replied, "Brother believers, take your path. We are feeling hungry. That is why we are eating. "

The group of believers felt suspicious about their faith. So they asked, "Who are you?" They replied, "We are Muslims. Don't the Muslims feel hungry?". The believers again commanded them to stop eating, but the disciples did not heed. The believers who were on horses, alighted. They snatched the carrots from the hands of the disciples, and threw them away. They also gave a few blows to them. As they were about to leave, it struck them that the pir of these impious people must have been cast in the same mould. So they turned back to ask him what kind of instruction he had given to his disciples. They went to his chamber and said, "Who are you?" Bullah who was meditating with his eyes closed, raised his arms and moved his hands. They asked him again, "Why don't you speak? Who are you?" Bullah once again raised his arms. The riders taking him to be a mad man, went away. Soon after they left, the disciples entered the chamber, raising a hue and cry that they had been beaten. Bullah told them that they must have done something to provoke the believers. The disciples denied to have done any such thing. Bullah said, "What did they ask you?" The disciples replied, "They asked us who we were, and we said we were Muslims." Bullah retorted, "That's why you were beaten. You became something and you suffered. I didn't become anything, and they said nothing to me."

To consider oneself something emanates from the sense of ego. Such a person is still under the sway of maya, and has not had a vision of Truth so far. One who has had such a vision comes to know his true Self and gets liberated from the bondage of caste, religion and country. There are numerous instances in the poems of Bulleh Shah, which show that the soul, like the Lord, has no religion, no caste, no country.

All these distinctions are born out of time and space, but the soul is unborn and timeless. It has neither a beginning, nor an end, nor is it bound by the limitations of caste and religion.