THIS MATTER OF CULTURE CHAPTER 25 part2 But, you see, when we hear of effortlessness we want to be like that, we want

to achieve a state in which we will have no strife, no conflict; so we make that o ur goal, our ideal, and strive after it; and the moment we do this, we have lost the joy of living. We are again caught up in effort, struggle. The object of st ruggle varies, but all struggle is essentially the same. One may struggle to bri ng about social reforms, or to find God, or to create a better relationship betw een oneself and one's wife or husband, or with one's neighbour; one may sit on t he banks of Ganga, worship at the feet of some guru, and so on. All this is effo rt, struggle. So what is important is not the object of struggle, but to underst and struggle itself. Now, is it possible for the mind to be not just casually aware that for the moment it is not struggling, but completely free of struggle all the time so th at it discovers a state of joy in which there is no sense of the superior and th e inferior? Our difficulty is that the mind feels inferior, and that is why it struggle s to be or become something, or to bridge over its various contradictory desires . But don't let us give explanations of why the mind is full of struggle. Every thinking man knows why there is struggle both within and without. Our envy, gree d, ambition, our competitiveness leading to ruthless efficiency - these are obvi ously the factors which cause us to struggle, whether in this world or in the wo rld to come. So we don't have to study psychological books to know why we strugg le; and what is important, surely, is to find out if the mind can be totally fre e of struggle. After all, when we struggle, the conflict is between what we are and what w e should be or want to be. Now, without giving explanations, can one understand this whole process of struggle so that it comes to an end? Like that boat which was moving with the wind, can the mind be without struggle? Surely, this is the question, and not how to achieve a state in which there is no struggle. The very effort to achieve such a state is itself a process of struggle, therefore that state is never achieved. But if you observe from moment to moment how the mind g ets caught in everlasting struggle - if you just observe the fact without trying to alter it, without trying to force upon the mind a certain state which you ca ll peace - then you will find that the mind spontaneously ceases to struggle; an d in that state it can learn enormously. Learning is then not merely the process of gathering information, but a discovery of the extraordinary riches that lie beyond the hope of the mind; and for the mind that makes this discovery there is joy. Watch yourself and you will see how you struggle from morning till night, a nd how your energy is wasted in this struggle. If you merely explain why you str uggle, you get lost in explanations and the struggle continues; whereas, if you observe your mind very quietly without giving explanations, if you just let the mind be aware of its own struggle, you will soon find that there comes a state i n which there is no struggle at all, but an astonishing watchfulness. In that st ate of watchfulness there is no sense of the superior and the inferior, there is no big man or little man, there is no guru. All those absurdities are gone beca use the mind is fully awake; and the mind that is fully awake is joyous.