Transcription
What is meditation? Understand this small incident. It is said about Chang Ching, he was a great poet, a great connoisseur of beauty. They say, there has been no philosopher of beauty like him in China. He has written invaluable texts on aesthetics, on aesthetics, that no one else has written. He was like the Crochet of those old days. For twenty years he remained immersed in texts. He kept searching for what beauty is. One night, at midnight, engrossed in books, he got up, pushed aside the curtain, peeked out the door—the full moon was in the sky. The tall poplar trees stood as if in meditation. A gentle breeze was blowing. And the fragrance of flowers, carried by the breeze, reached his nostrils. A bird, a water bird, cried out loudly, and in the cry of that water bird, something happened—something changed. Chang Ching, as if speaking to himself, said—How mistaken I was! How mistaken I was! Raise the screen and see the world. How mistaken I was! How mistaken I was! Raise the curtain and see the world! For twenty years, he did not know beauty from books. He removed the curtain, and beauty stood before him, in person. You ask, ‘What is meditation?’ Meditation is the art of removing the curtain. And this curtain is not outside, this curtain lies within you, it lies on your innermost being. Meditation is removing the curtain. The curtain is woven from thoughts. The curtain is woven from the warp and weft of thought. Good thoughts, bad thoughts, the curtain is woven from their warp and weft. As you begin to peek beyond thoughts, or succeed in stilling thoughts, or succeed in removing thoughts, meditation will happen. Meditation is the name for a state of thoughtlessness. Meditation means, a state within where you exist, the world exists, and there is no curtain of thought between the two. Sometimes, seeing the sun rise, sometimes seeing the full moon, sometimes seeing these silent trees, sometimes meditating on the flowers of the Gulmohar—you exist, the Gulmohar exists, adorned like a bride, and there are no thoughts in between. Not even the thought that this is a Gulmohar tree, not even that thought; that the flowers are beautiful, not even that thought—words are not arising—speechless, silent, stunned you remain, that moment is called meditation. At first, it will be momentary, it will happen sometimes, and when you want it, it will not happen, when it happens, it will happen. Because this is not a matter of desire, in desire, thought has entered. This will happen sometimes. Therefore, regarding meditation, grasp one thing firmly, grasp it very deeply—it does not happen by your desire. This is such a great thing that it does not happen by your desire. It happens sometimes, spontaneously, in a quiet moment. So, what should we do? What should we do for meditation? Perhaps this is what you wanted to ask: What is meditation? How to do it? For meditation, we can only do this much: relax ourselves, stop the rush for a while, for a moment in twenty-four hours, leave all the hustle and bustle. Take a pillow, go out, lie down on the lawn, lean against a tree, close your eyes; reach the riverbank, lie down in the sand, listen to the murmuring of the river. I am not asking you to go to temples or mosques, because where is meditation in stones! You seek living nature. That is why Buddha told his disciples, go to the forest. Nature dances all around there. You will be there for twenty-four hours, how long will you last, sooner or later—despite yourself—in some moment, nature will spontaneously embrace you. If for a moment you are touched, if for a moment the doors open, if for a moment the curtain is lifted, then the first experience of meditation has occurred. And after the first experience, further experiences become easier. They become easier because then you understand one thing: there is no direct way to attain meditation, it is an indirect path. Remain relaxed, walk slowly, leave the hustle and bustle, for at least an hour in twenty-four hours, immerse yourself in nature, listen to music, listen to the songs of birds; if there is nothing to do, close your eyes, listen to your breath. Buddha emphasized this greatly. Keep watching your breath—it comes, it goes, it comes, it goes—make a rosary of it, there is no better rosary than this. If you hold a rosary in your hand and chant, that is a very inert rosary. Here, living breath is flowing, the rosary of breath is being chanted—breath came in, went out, breath came in, went out—keep watching this cycle going on within, this circle of breath; with peace, with silence, keep gazing at it, and you will be surprised, in some precious moment, the rhythm will suddenly fall into place, everything will become one, you will be erased, the world will be erased. At first, such glimpses will come momentarily, and will be lost. When they are lost, then do not intensely desire them, otherwise they will never come. When they are lost, say, okay; when they come again, we will experience them again. But keep the doors and windows open for their coming. Understand it like this: the sun is out, you are sitting inside your room with the door closed, light does not come in. Now there is no way to tie the sun in a bundle and bring it inside! There is no way to herd the sun's rays inside like cattle! What will you do? Open the door, the sun's rays will come in on their own. Sometimes it will be night and they will not come, because there is no sun. Sometimes it will be day and they will come, because there is sun. Sometimes it will be day and clouds will be gathered, and they will not come, because the sun is covered by clouds. But sometimes there will be opportunities when it is day, there are no clouds, the sun is visible, then the rays will come inside. At most, do not create obstacles, that is enough. Keep my words in mind. Meditation is not done directly, do not create obstacles. That is why I say, dance, sing. Immerse yourself in dancing and singing, and suddenly you will find, meditation will come like a gust of wind, it will bathe you, it will make every hair on your body thrill, it will refresh you. Gradually, you will begin to understand this art—meditation is not a science, it is an art. Gradually, you will begin to understand in which moments meditation happens, and how I should leave myself open in those moments. As soon as you learn this little thing, you will have the key in your hand. Use it like this—sometimes at night you wake up, you are lying in bed, do not be troubled by insomnia, do not miss this opportunity, this is an auspicious moment. The whole world is asleep, wife-children, everyone is asleep, so you have got an opportunity. Sit up in your bed itself, listen to the silence of the night; these chirping crickets, this silence of the night, this whole world asleep, all the noise stopped, just listen to it peacefully. This silence will resonate silence within you too. This silence echoing outside will create a resonance, an echo, in your heart. There is no more auspicious moment for meditation than sitting quietly in your bed at midnight when the whole house and the whole world are asleep. But I am not saying that you should set an alarm at midnight and sit. Never! Otherwise, it will be a deception. If you make it a rule to set an alarm and wake up at two in the night and sit, then everything will go wrong. Meditation does not come when you pull it. Meditation is such a delicate thing. When you call it, it becomes hesitant, it does not come. Meditation is a very delicate bride. Do not use force, otherwise it will be rape. It has to be coaxed very gently. Remember the word 'coax'. Meditation has to be coaxed. Then it can happen at any time in twenty-four hours; but keep in mind that it has to be coaxed, not planned. Otherwise, people wake up at five in the morning every day and sit for meditation. Like inert objects, mechanically, like machines. No, such meditation does not happen. Yes, keep in mind, have some feeling in your heart that when your heart is flowing, do not miss it. Then, even if there are a thousand tasks, leave them and sit in solitude. Even if you sit in your bathroom, it will be fine. But when you feel that yes, the inner clock seems to be coming, thoughts are somewhat less, tension is somewhat less, the mind is somewhat cheerful, joyful—this is the moment! People often do the opposite. They meditate when their mind is sad. People remember God in sorrow! This will become very difficult when the opposite wind is blowing. Remember in happiness. Therefore, my principles are unique. I tell you, when your mind feels very happy. A friend has come home, met after a long time, embraced, chatted, the mind is fresh, light, you are very happy, do not miss this opportunity. Sit in solitude. In this moment, the tune of happiness is playing, God is very close. Happiness means, when God is close to you, knowingly or unknowingly; whether you know it or not! When happiness resonates within you, it means that God has come very close to you. You have reached God by wandering through some unknown path, the temple is near, that is why happiness is resonating. Do not miss this moment. In this moment, quickly search, somewhere on the edge, the door of the temple will be found by extending your hand. But people remember in sorrow, forget in happiness! In sorrow, you have fallen very far from the temple, there is infinite distance. In sorrow, one does not even believe that God can exist. In sorrow, it seems that there is no one in this world. In sorrow, it seems that some devil is running this world. Some wicked one! In sorrow, it seems that one should end oneself—no gratitude, no feeling of thanks arises; how can it arise in sorrow! But people go to temples, mosques, remember God, pray in sorrow and forget in happiness. And I tell you, it happens in happiness. In the moment of happiness, you are closest. At that time, slip away. At that time, lie down on the ground in prostration, place your head on the earth, lie down on the cool, wet lawn, close your eyes, think of yourself at that moment as merging with the earth, becoming one with the earth. And you will find, sometimes a wave comes, something trembles in your life like a wave, some new melody plays. Gradually, you will recognize it. And gradually, you will learn the art. You will gradually begin to recognize when are the moments for it to happen; what is your state when this happens in proximity; and what is your state when this is difficult. Then you will grasp the recognition; your self-knowledge, your recognition, your identification will gradually become clear. At first, it is like groping in the dark. But meditation happens. And sometimes it happens even to those people who have never thought about meditation. It happens even to the irreligious. Because there is no condition for meditation. It happens to small children. It happens more to small children than to adults. A child is running after a butterfly, the morning sun has risen, he is going after the butterfly, he forgets everything, the butterfly has become everything, he does not remember himself, he is flying like a butterfly, in that moment he gets a glimpse of meditation. People remember their whole lives that there was great happiness in childhood. What happiness is this memory of? Do you think you had a lot of wealth in childhood? You did not, not at all, you had to cry for two paise! You had to depend on your father and mother for every single paisa! There was no wealth. Was there any high position? Where would there be a position! There were all sorts of troubles, school was a prison, where you were sent daily, tied up; where sitting, you were only troubled and understood nothing. And everyone suppressed you, you had no strength. Everyone was riding on your chest. So how was there happiness in childhood? There was no wealth, no position, no prestige; no one gave respect, how could there be happiness? Happiness was something else. The ray of meditation descended while running after butterflies. The moment of supreme bliss descended while collecting shells and conches on the seashore. You brought pebbles and stones and thought you had brought diamonds, and how you came back, lost in your gait! You had nothing in your hand, but there was some convenience of meditation. In my view, there is no happiness in childhood other than meditation. You have forgotten, you only remember that there was great happiness. If someone asks you to tell them what happiness was, you will be in trouble. And you do not even remember meditation, the word meditation itself has become unfamiliar. The child did not even know that this is meditation. But what does it matter if you know! Whether you know it is gold or not, what does it matter? Gold is gold. As you grew older, meditation gradually left you, because you got more involved in thoughts. You were taught thoughts. Schools, colleges, universities, all teach thoughts. So far, it is the misfortune of humankind that no university teaches meditation! Thoughts. Gradually, you became filled with thoughts, filled and filled. Worries, worries, you missed those small moments when the curtain would lift—it would lift on its own. You have seen how cheerful small children seem! Small children, who have nothing! There is no reason to be happy, they are happy without reason. That uncaused happiness is meditation. You have seen, a small child is lying in his cradle, there is nothing to suck, he is sucking his thumb, and how happy he seems! He seems so happy that Alexander would not have been so happy, Akbar and Ashoka would not have been so happy, the owners of the largest empires would not have been so happy! He has nothing, or he is sucking his hand or his toe. But something is happening. The curtain is still open, thoughts are not yet arising. There is a story among the Jews that when a child is born, gods come and touch the child's head; so that he forgets the happiness that he experienced in God's home, otherwise life will become very difficult—they do this out of compassion, otherwise life will become very difficult. If he remembers that happiness, then everything else will seem futile, no matter what you do. Earn wealth, gain position, get the most beautiful wife and husband, have the best children, have a big house, a car, nothing will seem meaningful if that happiness is remembered. So the Jewish story says that a god descends out of compassion and just touches every child's forehead. With that touch, the curtain closes, he forgets God. He forgot happiness, then he starts thinking about happiness in the sorrows of this life. That curtain has to be opened again, which the gods have closed. I don't think any gods close it. Gods cannot do such foolishness. But society closes it. Perhaps the story is indicating that. Parents, family, society, schools close it, they put up the curtain. They put it up in such a way that you forget that there is a door here, you start thinking it is a wall. Meditation means, removing this curtain. And let it happen spontaneously, let it catch you sometimes—and when this wave catches you, leave a million tasks and sit. Because there is no other work more valuable than this. Whether it is night or day, morning or evening, do not look anymore. You will not miss anything, you will not lose anything. And your wealth will be unprecedented then. And this wealth lies within you, it is just a matter of removing the curtain. ‘What is meditation?’ Meditation is removing the curtain that lies within.