Meditation Times February 2012

MEDITATION TIMES
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In This Issue
Editorial Parables of Ramakrishna Paramahansa Songs of Mirabai Parables of Jesus Tales and Parables Swami Vivekananda Sikh Parables and Stories Jiddu Krishnamurti The Awakening of Intelligence Raman Maharishi Gurdieffs Strange Methods Parables of Rumi Zen Koans Kabir the Mystic Master Taoist Parables Meditation of the month
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Masters Grace PARABLES

Meditation Times
Taoshobudhha Meditations
MEDITATION TIMES
Published by Taoshobuddha Meditations Trinidad, West indies
EDITORIAL
A new dawn ushers the hope of transformation and enlightenment. The spring brings many wonderful manifestations. The flowers of hope may seem to fade but they neer vanish. Masters are like flowers they come, waft their fragrance to the winds and then wilt to form manure so that the disciples can grow with this divine fertilizer. Death for a master is but a celebration and mere transition to another realm. It is a portal to a world divine and sublime; a world beyond the cognition of our frail senses. Masters always see from a transcendental perspective and that is why we cannot understand their implicit utterances. And yet a child can see exactly what the masters says. To understand a master, simple innocence is needed. If your mind is cunning and calculating you will miss a master even if he lives in your house. To smell a flower all that is required is your presence. To recognize a master all that is needed on your part is your availability. You must be open and vulnerable. Masters are like flowers that blossom with the light of spring and whiter with the darkness of winter.
Swami Anand Neelambar
ii
Taoshobudhha Meditations
Meditation Times
Meditation Times Taoshobuddha Meditations
Ramakrishna Paramhansa
Source book "Osho Upanishad" One man reached Ramakrishna. He was going to Varanasi to take a holy dip -- but he was interested in Ramakrishna, so before going, he went to touch his feet. And Ramakrishna said, "But what is the need to go to Varanasi, because the Ganges is coming here" -- just behind his temple where they were sitting, the Ganges was flowing. "The Ganges is coming to Calcutta itself. Where are you going?" But the man said, "In the scriptures the Ganges in Varanasi has a specialty. It is the same Ganges, but in Varanasi if you take a bath then all your sins are washed away." Ramakrishna was a very simple man. He said, "With my blessings you can go, but remember one thing. Have you seen? On the bank of the Ganges there are big trees." The man said, "Yes. I have been there once when I was very young with my father. But why are you mentioning those trees?" He said, "I am mentioning those trees because people don't know their purpose. The Ganges is great -- you take a dip and all your sins leave you immediately. But they sit on the trees and they wait for you! They say, `Son, sometime you will come back on the same road. Where you are going to go? How long can you remain in the Ganges? You can manage as long as you want -- one hour, two hours, one day, two days -- but finally you will have to come out.'" That man said, "Not even two days; I will just take the bath and come out. It will take five minutes at the most, in such cold weather.... But this is strange. Nobody told me that all those sins are sitting on the trees." Ramakrishna said, "And the moment you put on your clothes... you are putting on clothes and the sins are coming back down on you, settling. And sometimes it happens that somebody else's sins -- if they like you... This man looks beautiful. That man is already dead, finished; this man is good, young, has some possibilities of committing more sins' -- they may drop on you; that is the greatest difficulty. Yours will certainly come back upon you, and others'.... All those trees are full of sins, so try to save yourself somehow." He said, "How can I save myself? You can't see sins. Neither do I see them when I take the bath nor will I be able to see them when they descend upon me again!" Ramakrishna said, "That is up to you. That is why I don't go there, because it is absolutely useless. Those trees are not just uselessly standing there, for centuries they have been doing their job." The man said, "You have created such a doubt in me... I will go home and think again, whether to go or not. It is an unnecessary wastage if this is going to happen. And you have made me afraid also -- others' sins, which I have not committed at all!" The priests are giving you shortcuts because you are lazy. You really
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don't want to do anything for your inner search. The heaven is not somewhere far above in the clouds. It is within you, and for that you don't need to go to the Ganges or to go to Kaaba. You need to go to yourself.
Parables
Source book: "Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna" Parable of the salt doll Sri Ramakrishna: "In samadhi one attains the Knowledge of Brahman one realizes Brahman. In that state reasoning stops altogether, and man becomes mute. He has no power to describe the nature of Brahman. Once a salt doll went to measure the depth of the ocean; it wanted to tell others how deep the water was. But this it could never do, for no sooner did it get into the water than it melted. Now who was there to report the ocean's depth?
Parable of the calf Sri Ramakrishna: "The misfortune that befalls a man on account of his egotism can be realized if you only think of the condition of the calf. The calf says, 'Hamma! Hamma!' that is, 'I! I!' And just look at its misfortune! At times it is yoked to the plough and made to work in the field from sun up to sun down, rain or shine. Again, it may be slaughtered by the butcher. In that case the flesh is eaten and the skin tanned into hide. From the hide shoes are made. People put on these shoes and walk on the rough ground. Still that is not the end of its misfortunes. Drums are made from its skin and mercilessly beaten with sticks. At last its entrails are made into strings for the bow used in carding cotton. When used by the carder the string gives the sound 'Tuhu! Tuhu!', 'Thou! Thou!'that is, 'It is Thou, O Lord! It is Thou!' It no longer says, 'Hamma! Hamma!', 'I! I!' Only then does the calf's trouble come to an end, and it is liberated. It doesn't return to the world of action. "Likewise, when the embodied soul says: 'O God, I am not the doer; Thou art the Doer. I am the machine and Thou art its Operator', only then does its suffering of worldly life come to an end; only then does it obtain liberation. It no longer has to be reborn in this world of action."
Songs of Mira
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When will you come?

I send letters to my Beloved, The dear Krishna. But He sends no message of reply, Purposely preserving silence. I sweep his path in readiness and gaze and gaze Till my eyes turn blood-shot. I have no peace by night or day, My heart is fit to break. O my Master, You were my companion in former births. When will you come?
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That dark Dweller in Braj

That dark Dweller in Braj is my only refuge. O my companion, Worldly comfort is an illusion, As soon you get it, it goes. I have chosen the Indestructible for my refuge, Him whom the snake of death will not devour. My Beloved dwells in my heart, I have actually seen that Abode of Joy. Mira's Lord is Hari, the Indestructible. My Lord, I have taken refuge with Thee, Thy slave. -----
The Lord of Fallen Fools

The plums tasted sweet to the unlettered desert-tribe girlbut what manners! To chew into each! She was ungainly, low-caste, ill-mannered and dirty, but the god took the fruit she'd been sucking. Why? She knew how to love. She might not distinguish splendour from filth but she'd tasted the nectar of passion. Might not know any Veda, but a chariot swept her awaynow she frolics in heaven, ecstatically bound to her god.
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The Lord of Fallen Fools, says Mira, will save anyone who can practice rapture like thatI myself in a previous birth was a cow herding girl at Gokul.
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Why undertake fasts and pilgrimages?

O my mind, Worship the lotus feet of the Indestructible One! Whatever thou seest twixt earth and sky will perish. Why undertake fasts and pilgrimages? Why engage in philosophical discussions? Why commit suicide in Banaras? Take no pride in the body, It will soon be mingling with the dust. This life is like the sporting of sparrows, It will end with the onset of night. Why don the ochre robe and leave home as a sannyasi? Those who adopt the external garb of a Jogi, But do not penetrate to the secret, Are caught again in the net of rebirth. Mira's Lord is the courtly Giridhara. Deign to sever, O Master, All the knots in her heart. ----
Life lasts but a few days only

We do not get a human life just for the asking. Birth in a human body is the reward for good deeds in former births. Life waxes and wanes imperceptibly, It does not stay long. The leaf that has once fallen does not return to the branch. Behold the Ocean of Transmigration. With its swift, irresistible tide. O Lal Giridhara, O pilot of my soul, Swiftly conduct my barque to the further shore. Mira is the slave of Lal Giridhara. She says: Life lasts but a few days only. ---February 2012 Page 5
Life in the world is short

Life in the world is short, Why shoulder an unnecessary load of worldly relationships? Thy parents gave thee birth in the world, but the Lord ordained thy fate. Life passes in getting and spending, No merit is earned by virtuous deeds. I will sing the praises of Hari In the company of the holy men, Nothing else concerns me. Mira's Lord is the courtly Giridhara, She says: Only by Thy power have I crossed to the further shore. ----
The saffron of virtue

The saffron of virtue and contentment Is dissolved in the water-gun of love and affection. Pink and red clouds of emotion are flying about, Limitless colours raining down. All the covers of the earthen vessel of my body are wide open; I have thrown away all shame before the world. Mira's Lord is the Mountain-Holder, the suave lover. I sacrifice myself in devotion to His lotus feet ---Listen, my friend, this road is the heart opening, kissing his feet, resistance broken, tears all night. If we could reach the Lord through immersion in water, I would have asked to be born a fish in this life. If we could reach Him through nothing but berries and wild nuts then surely the saints would have been monkeys when they came from the womb! If we could reach him by munching lettuce and dry leaves then the goats would surely get to the Holy One before us! If the worship of stone statues could bring us all the way, I would have adored a granite mountain years ago. ----
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Unbreakable, O Lord,
Unbreakable, O Lord, is the love That binds me to You: Like a diamond, it breaks the hammer that strikes it. My heart goes into You As the polish goes into the gold. As the lotus lives in its water, I live in You. Like the bird that gazes all night At the passing moon, I have lost myself dwelling in You. O my Beloved - Return. ----
My heart's music
Do not leave me alone, a helpless woman. My strength, my crown, I am empty of virtues, You, the ocean of them. My heart's music, you help me in my world-crossing. You protected the king of the elephants. You dissolve the fear of the terrified. Where can I go? Save my honour For I have dedicated myself to you And now there is no one else for me. -----
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THE PARABLES OF JESUS
The Sower and the Seeds

Scripture: Luke 8:4-15 (Mark 4:3-9; Matthew 13:3-9) 4 And when a great crowd came together and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable: 5 "A sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell along the path, and was trodden under foot, and the birds of the air devoured it. 6 And some fell on the rock; and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. 7 And some fell among thorns; and the thorns grew with it and choked it. 8 And some fell into good soil and grew, and yielded a hundredfold." As he said this, he called out, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." 9 And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant, 10 he said, "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God; but for others they are in parables, so that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand. 11 Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. 12 The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, that they may not believe and be saved. 13 And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy; but these have no root, they believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away. 14 And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature.
Meditation: What do you know about sowing seeds? For a rural community that lived off the land, sowing was absolutely necessary for survival. The mere act of sowing brought great hope in the anticipation of a fruitful harvest. Jesus' story, however, gives a warning. A seed can't mature into fruit without the proper conditions for growth. Even the prophet Jeremiah gave similar advice several hundred years earlier: "Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns" (Jer. 4:3). What's the point of this story for Jesus' audience and for us? Jesus' parable of the sower is aimed at the hearers of his word. There are different ways of accepting God's word and they produce different kinds of fruit accordingly. There is the prejudiced hearer who has a shut mind. Such a person is unteachable and blind to the things of God. Then there is the shallow hearer who fails to think things out or think them through; such a person lacks spiritual depth. They may initially respond with an emotional fervour, but when it wears off their mind wanders to something else. Another type of hearer is the person who has many interests or cares, but who lacks the ability to hear or comprehend what is truly important. Such people are forever too busy to pray or too preoccupied to study and meditate on God's word. They may work so hard that they are too tired to even think of anything else but their work. Then there is the one whose mind is open. Such a person is at all times willing to listen and to learn. He or she is never too proud or too busy to learn. They listen in order to understand. God's word has power to change and transform us into the likeness of Christ. God gives grace to those who hunger for his word that they may understand his will and have the strength and freedom to live according to it. Do you hunger for God's transforming word? "Lord, faith in your word is the way to wisdom, and to ponder your divine plan is to grow in the truth. May your word take deep root in my heart that I may grow strong in love and live in the hope of your everlasting kingdom."
The Grain of Wheat

Scripture: John 12:24-26 24 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25 He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 If any one serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there shall my servant be also; if any one serves me, the Father will honour him. Meditation: What can a grain of wheat tell us about life and the kingdom of God? Jesus drew his parables from the common everyday circumstances of life. His audience, rural folk in Palestine, could easily understand the principle of new life produced by dead
seeds sown into the earth. What is the spiritual analogy which Jesus alludes to? Is this, perhaps, a veiled reference to his own impending death on the cross and resurrection? Or does he have another kind of "death and rebirth" in mind for his disciples? Jesus, no doubt, had both meanings in mind for his disciples. The image of the grain of wheat dying in the earth in order to grow and bear a harvest can be seen as a metaphor of Jesus' own death and burial in the tomb and his resurrection. Jesus knew that the only way to victory over the power of sin and death was through the cross. Jesus reversed the curse of our first parents' disobedience through his obedience to the Father's will -his willingness to go to the cross to pay the just penalty for our sins and to defeat death once and for all. His obedience and death on the cross obtain for us freedom and new life in the Holy Spirit. His cross frees us from the tyranny of sin and death and shows us the way of perfect love. There is a great paradox here. Death leads to life. When we "die" to ourselves, we "rise" to new life in Jesus Christ. What does it mean to "die" to oneself? It certainly means that what is contrary to God's will must be "crucified" or "put to death". God gives us grace to say "yes" to his will and to reject whatever is contrary to his loving plan for our lives. Jesus also promises that we will bear much "fruit" for him, if we choose to deny ourselves for his sake. Jesus used forceful language to describe the kind of self-denial he had in mind for his disciples. What did he mean when he said that one must hate himself? The expression to hate something often meant to prefer less. Jesus says that nothing should get in the way of our preferring him and the will of our Father in heaven. Our hope is in Paul's reminder that "What is sown in the earth is subject to decay, what rises is incorruptible" (1 Cor. 15:42). Do you hope in the Lord and follow joyfully the path he has chosen for you? "Lord, let me be wheat sown in the earth, to be harvested for you. I want to follow wherever you lead me. Give me fresh hope and joy in serving you all the days of my life."
The Weeds in the Grain (or the Tares)

Scripture: Matthew 13:24-30 24 Another parable he put before them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field; 25 but while men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. 26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. 27 And the servants of the householder came and said to him, Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then has it weeds?' 28 He said to them, Àn enemy has done this.' The servants said to him, `Then do you want us to go and gather them?' 29 But he said, `No; lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. 30 Let both grow together
until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.'" Meditation: What can malicious weed-sowing tell us about the kingdom of God? The image Jesus uses here is a common everyday example of planting, harvesting, and sorting the good fruit from the bad. Weeds can spoil and even kill a good harvest if they are not separated and destroyed at the proper time. Uprooting them too early, though, can destroy the good plants in the process. Just as nature teaches us patience, so God's patience also teaches us to guard the word he has planted in our hearts and to beware of the destructive force of sin and evil which can destroy it. God's word brings life, but Satan seeks to destroy the good seed which has been planted in the hearts of those who have heard God's word. God's judgment is not hasty, but it does come. And in the end, God will reward each according to what they have sown and reaped in this life. In that day God will separate the evil from the good. Do you allow God's word to take deep root in your heart? "Lord, may your word take deep root in my heart and that I may bear good fruit for your glory. May I hunger for your righteousness now that I may look forward to the Day of Judgment with joy rather than with dismay."
The Net
Scripture: Matthew 13:47-53 47 "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net which was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind; 48 when it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into vessels but threw away the bad. 49 So it will be at the close of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous, 50 and throw them into the furnace of fire; there men will weep and gnash their teeth. 51 "Have you understood all this?" They said to him, "Yes." 52 And he said to them, "Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old." 53 And when Jesus had finished these parables, he went away from there. Meditation: What can a story of a dragnet and a great catch of fish tell us about God's kingdom? The two most common ways of fishing in Jesus' time was with a casting-net (or hand-net) which was thrown from the shore and the drag-net or trawl which was let down or cast into the waters from a boat. As the boat moved through the waters the drag-net was drawn into the shape of a great cone which indiscriminately took in all kinds of fish and flotsam and jetsam swept in its path. It usually took several men to haul such a net to shore. What is Jesus' point here? Just as a drag-net catches every kind of fish in the sea, so the church acts as God's instrument for gathering in all who will come. Just as the drag-net does not or cannot discriminate, so the church does not discriminate between the good and the bad, the useless and the useful. God's kingdom is open to all who will accept and believe. But there will come a time of separation, at
the close of the age, when the angels will send the good and the bad to their respective destinations. Our duty is to gather in all who will come. God, in the end, will give the good and the bad the reward they deserve. God offers the treasure of his kingdom to all who believe. Do you hunger for God and his kingdom? "Lord, increase my hunger for your kingdom and fill my heart with eager longing for you that I may one day gaze upon your face in everlasting bliss."
The Seed Growing Secretly (Spontaneously)

Scripture: Mark 4:26-29 26 And he said, "The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed upon the ground, 27 and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he knows not how. 28 The earth produces of itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. 29 But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come." Meditation: This parable speaks of growth and harvest -- a continual process both in the natural sphere as well as the spiritual. A seed cannot bear fruit unless it first dies and is buried in the earth (see John 12:26). While harvest is the culmination or climax of nature's cycle, it also provides seed for future sowing. God's kingdom works in similar fashion. It starts from the smallest of beginnings in the hearts of men and women who are receptive to God's word. And it works unseen and causes a transformation from within. Just as a seed has no power to produce life of itself until it is planted in the earth, so we cannot be born again as a new creation in Christ until God makes us new in the power of his Holy Spirit. In baptism we die with Christ and we are raised as sons and daughters of God. The coming of God's kingdom causes a transformation in life, like the tiny seed which first sprouts, then grows and bears fruit in abundance. In like manner, the hidden life of Christ grows first in the receptive heart of a believer and then transforms that person into a noble and useful vessel of Christ-like holiness and spiritual power (see 2 Cor. 4:7 and 2 Tim. 2:21). Do you seek to be transformed in Christ? "Lord, change and transform me into the Christ-like holiness you desire. Increase my zeal for your kingdom and instil in me a burning desire to live for your greater glory."
The Mustard Seed and the Leaven

Scripture: Matthew 13:31-35 (Mark 4:30-32; Luke 13:18 f.) 31 Another parable he put before them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field; 32 it is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches." 33 He told them another parable. "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven which a woman took and hid in three
measures of flour, till it was all leavened." 34 All this Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed he said nothing to them without a parable. 35 This was to fulfil what was spoken by the prophet: "I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world." Meditation: What can mustard seeds and leaven teach us about the kingdom of God? The tiny mustard seed literally grew to be a tree which attracted numerous birds because they loved the little black mustard seed it produced. God's kingdom works in a similar fashion. It starts from the smallest beginnings in the hearts of men and women who are receptive to God's word. And it works unseen and causes a transformation from within. Leaven is another powerful agent of change. A lump of dough left to itself remains just what it is, a lump of dough. But when the leaven is added to it a transformation takes place which produces rich and wholesome bread when heated -the staple of life for humans. The kingdom of God produces a transformation in those who receive the new life which Jesus Christ offers. When we yield to Jesus Christ, our lives are transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. Paul the Apostle says, "we have this treasure in earthen vessels, to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us" (2 Cor. 4:7). Do you believe in the transforming power of the Holy Spirit? "Lord, fill me with your Holy Spirit and transform me into the Christ-like holiness you desire. Increase my zeal for your kingdom and instil in me a holy desire to live for your greater glory."
The Budding Fig Tree

Scripture: Luke 21:29-33 (Matthew 24:32 f.; Mark 13:28 f. 29 And he told them a parable: "Look at the fig tree, and all the trees; 30 as soon as they come out in leaf, you see for yourselves and know that the summer is already near. 31 So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. 32 Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away till all has taken place. 33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. Meditation: What can fig trees teach us about the coming of God's kingdom? The fig tree was a common and important source of food for the Jews. It bore fruit twice a year, in the autumn and in the early spring. The prophet Joel mentions its fruit bearing as a sign of favour from the Lord (Joel 2:22). The Talmud said that the first fruit came the day after Passover. The Jews believed that when the Messiah came he would usher in the kingdom of God at Passover time. This parable foretells the joy of God's kingdom -the joy of new life and the promise of a new age of peace and blessing. The signs of spring are evident for all who can see. Just so are the signs of God's kingdom. The "budding" of God's kingdom begins first in the hearts of those who are receptive to God's word. Those who trust in God's word will bear the fruits of his kingdom. And what
are the fruits of that kingdom? "The kingdom of God...is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17). Do you pray for God's kingdom to be fully revealed? "Lord, may your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Open my eyes that I may see your glory. Open my ears that I may understand and obey your word. And open the door of my heart that I may welcome you in as my King and Saviour."
The Birds of Heaven & the Lilies of the Field

Scripture: Matthew 6:24-34 (Luke 12:24-27) 24 "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. 25 "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O men of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, `What shall we eat?' or `What shall we drink?' or `What shall we wear?' 32 For the Gentiles seek all these things; and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well. 34 "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day's own trouble be sufficient for the day. Meditation: What does "serving two masters" and "anxiety" have in common? They both have the same root problem -- being divided within oneself. The root word for "anxiety" literally means "being of two minds". An anxious person is often "tossed to and fro" and paralyzed by indecision. Fear of some bad outcome usually cripples those afflicted with anxiety. It's also the case with someone who wants to submit to God but also live according to the world's standards of success and fulfilment. Who is the master in charge of your life? Our "master" is that which governs our thought-life, shapes our ideals, controls the desires of the heart and the values we choose to live by. We can be ruled by many different things -- the love of money or possessions, the power of position, the glamor of wealth and prestige, the driving force of unruly passions and addictions. Ultimately the choice boils down to two: God and "mammon". What is mammon? "Mammon" stands for "material wealth or possessions" or whatever tends to "control our appetites and desires". There is one Master alone who has the power to set us free from the slavery of sin and fear. That Master is the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus
uses the illustration of nature the birds and the flowers to show how God provides for them in the natural order of his creation. How much more can we, as his children, rely upon God's providential care? God is utterly reliable. In the Lord's Prayer we are reminded that God is our provider when we pray: Give us this day our daily bread. What is bread, but the very staple of life and symbol of all that we need to live and grow. Anxiety is neither helpful nor necessary. It robs us of faith and confidence in God's help and it saps our energy for doing good. Jesus admonishes his followers to put away anxiety and preoccupation with material things and instead to seek first the things of God his kingdom and righteousness. Anxiety robs the heart of trust in the mercy and goodness of God and in his loving care for us. God knows our needs even before we ask and he gives generously to those who trust in him. Who is your master -- God or mammon? "Lord, free me from needless worries and help me to put my trust in you. Make my first concern your kingdom and your righteousness. Help me to live each day with trust and gratitude for your providential care for me".
The Vultures and the Carcass

Scripture: Luke 17:37 (Matthew 24:28)
37 And they said to him, "Where, Lord?" He said to them, "Where the body is, there the eagles (also translated vultures) will be gathered together." Meditation: What can nature teach us about the judgments of God? Jesus quoted a familiar proverb to his audience: Where the body is, there the eagles (or vultures) will be gathered together. Eagles, like vultures, are attracted to carrion. The Book of Job describes the eagle spying out its prey from afar (Job 39:29). What's the point of this analogy? It's inevitable that a thing will happen when the necessary conditions are fulfilled. The return of the Lord is certain, but the time is unknown. The Lord's judgment comes swiftly and often unexpectedly. Jesus warns his listeners to not be caught off guard when that day arrives (see Luke 17:26-37). It will surely come in God's good time! Those whose hope is firmly anchored in heaven will not be disappointed when God's judgment comes. They rejoice even now that they will see the Lord in his glory! Is your hope firmly placed in God and his kingdom? "Lord Jesus Christ , you are my hope and salvation. Help me to never lose sight of the goal of heaven and give me fresh joy and zeal to live each day for your kingdom."
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Tales and Parables of Swami Vivekananda
The young Sanyasin, the Woman and the Vyadha

A young Sannyasin went to a forest; there he meditated, worshipped, and practised Yoga for a long time. After years of hard work and practice, he was one day sitting under a tree, when some dry leaves fell upon his head. He looked up and saw a crow and a crane fighting on the top of the tree, which made him very angry. He said, "What! Dare you throw these dry leaves upon my head!" As with these words he angrily glanced at them, a flash of fire went out of his head--such was the Yogi's power--and burnt the birds to ashes. He was very glad, almost overjoyed at this development of power--he could burn the crow and the crane by a look. After a time he had to go to the town to beg his bread. He went, stood at a door, and said, "Mother, give me food." A voice came from inside the house, "Wait a little, my son." The young man thought, "You wretched woman, how dare you make me wait! You do not know my power yet." While he was thinking thus the voice came again: "Boy, don't be thinking too much of yourself. Here is
neither crow nor crane." He was astonished; still he had to wait. At last the woman came, and he fell at her feet and said, "Mother, how did you know that?" She said, "My boy, I do not know your Yoga or your practices. I am a common everyday woman. I made you wait because my husband is ill, and I was nursing him. All my life I have struggled to do my duty. When I was unmarried, I did my duty to my parents; now that I am married, I do my duty to my husband; that is all the Yoga I practise. But by doing my duty I have become illumined; thus I could read your thoughts and know what you had done in the forest. If you want to know something higher than this, go to the market of such and such a town where you will find a Vyadha who will tell you something that you will be very glad to learn." The Sannyasin thought, "Why should I go to that town and to a Vyadha?" But after what he had seen, his mind opened a little, so he went. When he came near the town, he found the market and there saw, at a distance, a big fat Vyadha cutting meat with big knives, talking and bargaining with different people. The young man said, "Lord help me! Is this the man from whom I am going to learn? He is the incarnation of a demon, if he is anything." In the meantime this man looked up and said, "O Swami, did that lady send you here? Take a seat until I have done my business." The Sannyasin thought, "What comes to me here?" He took his seat; the man went on with his work, and after he had finished he took his money and said to the Sannyasin, "Come sir, come to my home." On reaching home the Vyadha gave him a seat, saying, "Wait here," and went into the house. He then washed his old father and mother, fed them, and did all he could to please them, after which he came to the Sannyasin and said, "Now, sir, you have come here to see me; what can I do for you?" The Sannyasin asked him a few questions about soul and about God, and the Vyadha gave him a lecture which forms a part of the Mahabharata, called the Vyadha Gita . It contains one of the highest flights of the Vedanta. When the Vyadha finished his teaching, the Sannyasin felt astonished. He said, "Why are you in that body? With such knowledge as yours why are you in a Vyadha's body, and doing such filthy, ugly work?" "My son," replied the Vyadha, "no duty is ugly, no duty is impure. My birth placed me in these circumstances and environments. In my boyhood I learnt the trade; I am unattached, and I try to do my duty well. I try to do my duty as a householder, and I try to do all I can to make my father and mother happy. I neither know your Yoga, nor have I become a Sannyasin, nor did I go out of the world into a forest; nevertheless, all that you have heard and seen has come to me through the unattached doing of the duty which belongs to my position." Thus, in the story, the Vyadha and the woman did their duty with cheerfulness and whole-heartedness; and the result was that they become illuminated, clearly showing that the right performance of the duties of any station in life, without attachment to results, leads us to the highest realisation of the perfection of the soul.
The dog's curly tail

There was a poor man who wanted some money; and somehow he had heard that if he could get hold of a ghost, he might command him to bring money or anything else he liked; so he was very anxious to get hold of a ghost. He went about searching for a man who would give him a ghost, and at last he found a sage with great powers, and besought his help. The sage asked him what he would do with a ghost. "I want a ghost to work for me; teach me how to get hold of one, sir; I desire it very much," replied the man. But the sage said, "Don't disturb yourself, go home." The next day the man went again to the sage and began to weep and pray, "Give me a ghost; I must have a ghost, sir, to help me." At last the sage was disgusted, and said, "Take this charm, repeat this magic word, and a ghost will come, and whatever you say to him he will do. But beware; they are terrible beings, and must be kept continually busy. If you fail to give him work, he will take your life." The man replied, "That is easy; I can give him work for all his life." Then he went to a forest, and after long repetition of the magic word, a huge ghost appeared before him, and said, "I am a ghost. I have been conquered by your magic; but you must keep me constantly employed. The moment you fail to give me work I will kill you." The man said, "Build me a palace,", and the ghost said, "It is done; the palace is built." "Bring me money," said the man. "Here is your money," said the ghost. "Cut this forest down, and build a city in its place." "That is done," said the ghost, "anything more?" Now the man began to be frightened and thought he could give him nothing more to do; he did everything in a trice. The ghost said, "Give me something to do or I will eat you up." The poor man could find no further occupation for him, and was frightened. So he ran and ran and at last reached the sage, and said, "Oh, sir, protect my life!" The sage asked him what the matter was, and the man replied, "I have nothing to give the ghost to do. Everything I tell him to do he does in a moment, and he threatens to eat me up if I do not give him work." Just then the ghost arrived, saying, "I'll eat you up," and he would have swallowed the man. The man began to shake, and begged the sage to save his life. The sage said, "I will find you a way out. Look at that dog with a curly tail. Draw your sword quickly and cut the tail off and give it to the ghost to straighten out." The man cut off the dog's tail and gave it to the ghost, saying, "Straighten that out for me." The ghost took it and slowly and carefully straightened it out, but as soon as he let it go, it instantly curled up again. Once more he laboriously straightened it out, only to find it again curled up as soon as he attempted to let go of it. Again he patiently straightened it out, but as soon as he let it go, it curled up again. So he went on for days and days, until he was exhausted and said, "I was never in such trouble before in my life. I am an old veteran ghost, but never before was I in such trouble." "I will make a compromise with you;" he said to the man, "you let me off and I will let you keep all I have given you and will promise not to harm you." The man was much pleased, and accepted the offer gladly.
This world is like a dog's curly tail, and people have been striving to straighten it out for hundreds of years; but when they let it go, it has curled up again. How could it be otherwise? One must first know how to work without attachment, then one will not be a fanatic. When we know that this world is like a dog's curly tail and will never get straightened, we shall not become fanatics. If there were no fanaticism in the world, it would make much more progress than it does now. It is a mistake to think that fanaticism can make for the progress of mankind. On the contrary, it is a retarding element creating hatred and anger, and causing people to fight each other, and making them unsympathetic. We think that whatever we do or possess is the best in the world, and what we do not do or possess is of no value. So, always remember the instance of the curly tail of the dog whenever you have a tendency to become a fanatic.
Desire God and You Shall Have God

Of course you must understand, there is a difference between desire and desire. The master said, "My child, if you desire after God, God shall come to you." The disciple did not understand his master fully. One day both went to bathe in a river, and the master said, "Plunge in", and the boy did so. In a moment the master was upon him, holding him down. He would not let the boy come up. When the boy struggled and was exhausted, he let him go. "Yes, my child, how did you feel there;" "Oh, the desire for a breath of air!" "Do you have that kind of desire for God?" "No, sir." "Have that kind of desire for God and you shall have God."
The Pious Missionary

A pious missionary went out on business. All of a sudden his three sons died of cholera. His wife covered the three dead bodies of her beloved children with a sheet and was awaiting her husband at the gate. When he returned, she detained him at the gate and put him the question, "My dear husband, some one entrusts something to you and in your absence suddenly takes it back. Will you feel sorry?" He replied, "Certainly I would not". Then she took him in, removed the sheet and showed the three corpses. He bore this calmly and buried the bodies. Such is the strength of mind of those who hold firm faith in the existence of an all-merciful God who disposes of everything in the universe.
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The Proof of Astrology: The Astrologer, the King and the Minister
There is an old story of an astrologer who came to a king and said, 'You are going to die in six months.' The king was frightened out of his wits and was almost about to die then and there from fear. But his minister was a clever man, and this man told the king that these astrologers were fools. The king would not believe him. So the minister saw no other way to make the king see that they were fools but to invite the astrologer to the palace again. There he asked him if his calculations were correct. The astrologer said that there could not be a mistake, but to satisfy him he went through the whole of the calculations again and then said that they were perfectly correct. The king's face became livid. The minister said to the astrologer, 'And when do you think that you will die?' 'In twelve years', was the reply. The minister quickly drew his sword and separated the astrologer's head from the body and said to the king, 'Do you see this liar? He is dead this moment.'
The Stag That Knew Better

To worship is inherent in every man's nature; only the highest philosophy can rise to pure abstraction. So man will ever personify his God in order to worship Him. This is very good, as long as the symbol, be it what it may, is worshipped as a symbol of the Divinity behind and not in and for itself. Above all, we need to free ourselves from the superstition of believing because 'it is in the books' There was once a stag, proud and free, and he talked in a lordly fashion to his child, 'Look at me, see my powerful horns! With one thrust I can kill a man; it is a fine thing to be a stag!' Just then the sound of the huntsman's bugle was heard in the distance, and the stag precipitately fled, followed by his wondering child. When they had reached a place of safety, he inquired, 'Why do you fly before man, O my father, when you are so strong and brave?' The stag answered, 'My child, I know I am strong and powerful, but when I hear that sound, something seizes me and makes me fly whether I will or no.' So with us. We hear the 'bugle sound' of the laws laid down in the books, habits and old superstitions lay hold of us; and before we know it, we are fast bound and forget our real nature which is freedom. (CW, 8:33-34)
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Sikh Parables and Stories

It's All Within Once upon a time there was a beautiful deer who spent every day prancing around in the woods. And every day she noticed a wonderful smell. It smelt better than rain; it smelt better than flowers; in fact, the deer had never smelled anything so enchantingly wonderful. The deer wondered where the smell came from. She began to sniff around, "Sniff, sniff. Maybe this perfume is coming from inside the tree!" She ran over to a tree, but it just smelt like a normal tree. The deer pranced around, sniffing everywhere. She chased and smelled and wondered, "Is it coming from the butterflies? Sniff, sniffhmmmm. No, it's not from them. I wonder if it's coming from the robin! Sniff, sniff hmmm. No, it's not from there either." Although she doubted it, she even wondered if it could be coming from the swamp. "Sniff, sniff", she tried, "oh no, it's not coming from there! HmmmmMaybe it's coming from the ravine or maybe the bushes! Sniff, sniff. Sniff, sniff." But the scent wasn't coming from any of these things. Where do you think it was coming from? The deer ran and pranced, she danced and ran some more, and in every place she tried to find the source of the smell. But then she started to get tired. She kept searching."I'll find it, it's got to be coming from somewhere!" she said. Even though she became really exhausted, she ran and ran and ran, smelling here, there and everywhere. "My body can't keep up," she thought, "but I must find where that wonderful scent is coming from." Her body slowed down but she kept trying and trying. Then finally she couldn't try anymore. Her body couldn't move and she collapsed on the ground. When she fell on the ground, her mind wanted to continue searching, but her body had to rest. But then all of the sudden she smelt something, "That's it! That's the scent! That's what I've been trying to find! It's right here! That's it for sure!" But where was it coming from? She instantly realized something very beautiful, "Oh my goodness! It's coming from within me. It's been right here all along." She smiled and napped peacefully. Yes, the smell was really coming from herself. That is how God is. People think that God is somewhere outside. But God is always within us; never away from us: inside us and all around us. After searching and searching, the deer finally understood that the Lord of the Universe had been with her all along. As Guru Ram Das says: "Ho antar naam
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mangaa din raatee, naamay hee saant paaee; I beg for your Name, deep within myself, and day and night through the Name I find peace." Guru Ram Das says: "ho aantar naam mangaa din raatee, naamay hee saant paaee." I beg for Your Name, deep within myself, day and night; through the Name, I find peace.
The Clever Rabbit The lion is the king of the jungle. Once there was a lion that was not grateful for being king. Instead he thought he was better than everyone else. He would say, "Look at me I'm the greatest, I'm the strongest, I'm the most virtuous, I'm simply the best". Well his wife told him, "If you are the best, why don't you ask everyone else, maybe they don't think so." This concerned "Don't worry, I jungle? Who is was too proud. So they all told the lion. So he went to every animal there was and asked them. He said, won't hurt you, I just want to ask you a question. Who is the king of the the greatest." Every one was too afraid to tell him that they thought he They thought he might eat them if they said something he wouldn't like. him, "You are the king of the jungle, you are the greatest".
Everyone except for the rabbit. The rabbit wasn't scared. He wasn't afraid because he was very clever and he had an idea. He told the lion, "You are not the greatest." The lion got very angry after hearing this. He roared, "Well if I'm not the greatest, who is?!!!! I want to meet them!!" So the rabbit told him, "Follow me, I'll show you". They came to a clearing in the jungle where there was a well. The rabbit said, "Put your head in there and roar". So the lion roared in the well. The roar echoed back very loudly. The lion, a little bit nervous now, asked, "Who is that? Is that another lion??" The rabbit said, "Yes it is. He's down there and he says he's the real king of the jungle and the he's much greater than you". This made the lion more angry than he had ever been. "I'll show him!!! I'm the greatest!!! ROOAAAARRR!!" And he jumped in to the well trying to defeat the other lion. The lion was never heard of again. That is how the rabbit tricked the lion. Even though the lion was the strongest, the rabbit was more clever. Sometimes the smallest are the sharpest!
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The Honest Work of Lalo Guru Nanak used to travel all over India with his companions Bala and Mardana. Wherever they went, they made beautiful music to help people understand God and spread truth. This story takes place when they visited a remote village in Northern India. As Guru Nanak and his companions walked towards this village, the people had heard the news and were excited that Baba Nanak was coming. Lalo, a simple and hardworking carpenter, ran out to meet him. He had heard of Baba Nanak and wanted to serve him. He was determined to invite the Guru to his home. He fell at Guru Nanaks feet, saying, "O Baba Ji, my soul is honored to see your divine presence. Please come to my house so I can serve you." Guru Nanak agreed to Lalos pure request and went to the carpenters modest home. He and his companions ate the simple food offered. It was a typical meal in the region, with rice, daal, yogurt and chapatis. Even though it was simple food, it was made with love and Guru Nanak enjoyed eating it very much. Lalo and his wife were very hospitable and serviceful. When Guru Ji left they felt very blessed to have had such a saint in their house. In the same village there was also a very rich man named Malik Bhago. He was the governor of the area. He didn't treat people very nicely but every year he organized a huge festival to please God. His servants brought expensive, rare, and delicious food imported from all over India. It took them days to prepare the meal. When he heard Guru Nanak was in the area, Malik Bhago sent a messenger to Guru Nanak to ask him to join him in the feast at his home. First, Guru Nanak said he could not come. But the messenger became afraid, "He might beat me if you don't come back with me to the feast." So Guru Ji went with him. When he got to Malik Bhagos house, he didn't eat anything. Instead, he just sat by himself meditating. Malik Bhago was offended. He had found out that the Guru had eaten at Lalo's house just the day before. He approached the Guru angrily, asking him, "Baba, why haven't you eaten any of this food? You can eat at the house of a low caste carpenter but not my food?! It is the most exotic, expensive, rich food you can get, why won't you eat it?" Guru Nanak said, "I will show you why." He then asked someone to go to Lalo's house and bring some of the food back. When the food arrived, Guru Ji took a chapati from Lalo's house in one of his hands. He took a chapati from Malik Bhago's feast in the other hand. He began squeezing the chapatis and something amazing happened. Out of the Lalo's, milkcame out! Everyone was amazed! It was a miracle. But out of Malik Bhago's chapati cameblood. Everyone was shocked.
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Malik Bhago arrogantly asked, "What does this prove?!" Guru Ji patiently replied, "Lalo works and earns honestly. His wife cooked the food with love and they served it with kindness and devotion." Lalo's food was like milk to a saint. Guru Nanak continued, "Your servants made the food with fear. They are afraid of what will happen if they do anything wrong and angry at you for treating them like you do." So Malik Bhago's food was like blood. "Only food that is made with love is truly good for the body." We know that we must eat food to nourish our bodies. But if it has bad energy in it, then why should we eat it? It's not really good for our bodies. It's always best to eat food made with good energy. Malik Bhago learned a great lesson that day and became a student of Guru Nanaks. He realized being mean to people all year and then making a feast just once, doesn't make God happy. He became a fair man who treated others lovingly. And from then on he was devoted to his holy saint and teacher, Guru Nanak. The Wiseman and the Bowl of Milk In this village lived a man and he was quite rich, a very wealthy man, and he used to pray a lot. Every day he used to pray, in the morning, at mealtime, and even at night he used to pray. But one day, a thought came into his mind, and he said, "You know I pray to God, I always think about God, but where is God? Where is He?" So he sent out a message to all the people that "If anybody could tell me where God is, I will give them a hundred gold coins." Well, when the news got out, that the rich man was going to offer a hundred gold coins to anybody who could tell him where God was, everybody came forward. "Oh I can tell you where God is. God is in the mountains. God is in the sky. God is in the Heavens. God is in the Sea. God's in faraway countries." It wasn't quite what he was looking for, but then this one chap came up, a very quiet man, a very wise man. Everybody knew him as just a quiet and very calm and very humble person. He said, "Sir, I know where God is. "Really? You can tell me where God is? "Yeah, I can tell you where God is." "If you can tell me, I'm willing to give you a hundred gold coins." "What I want from you first of all is a bowl of milk." "Well that's easy. I can bring you a bowl of milk." So he arranged for the bowl of milk.
"I want you to put your hand in the bowl of milk." So he did, and he put his hand in. And the Wiseman asked him, "What's in the milk?" "There's nothing. There's nothing in the milk, it's just a bowl of milk." So he asked him again, "Try again. Do you find anything in the milk?" "No, trust me, there's nothing in the milk. It's just a one bowl of milk." So he asked him for the third time, "Try once more. Do you find anything in the milk?" "No, it's just one bowl of milk." "So." said the Wiseman, "Okay. I want you to stir the milk." "Fine." So he stirred the milk, and he stirred it, and he stirred it, and he stirred it, and he stirred it, and stirred it, and stirred it, and stirred, and stirred it, and stirred it, and stirred it, and stirred it. Wow, would you believe it? From the same bowl of milk, there was cream. There was butter. There was cheese. There was yogurt. All kinds of things came from the milk. And the rich man looked at the Wiseman. He said, "I don't understand. What's the point you're trying to make? I asked you to tell me where is God, and all you've done is just got a bowl of milk and you've stirred it. Yeah, I can see this butter here. I can see there's cheese here. I can see all these creams and things. But where is God?" "Sir, God isn't far away. God is inside you. And what we have to do sometimes is churn ourselves, our mind, our heart, our feelings, our souls. We've just got to chant the Name, Vaheguru Vaheguru Vaheguru Vaheguru Vaheguru Vaheguru Vaheguru. That chanting is like the churning, it's like the churning of the milk. And slowly within time, we'll see that God comes from within us. God is inside us. Just like the butter is inside the milk, God is inside us." Well the rich man, when he thought about it, well he fell to his knees and he bowed to the Wiseman. He said, "Tell me, who's told you all these things?" "Well Sir, I've followed Guru Nanak, and Guru Nanak tells us these things. He tells us that God isn't far away. God isn't in the skies or in the Heavens, but God is inside us. You're like the bowl of milk, and to churn, we don't have a stake or a ladle to churn the milk and turn the milk, to stir the milk. But we have what we call Seva. Seva is helping others, helping the needy, putting others before yourself. And if you have the Seva as the stirring stake, we have the Seva and the Simran. When we put them together, we find God."
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Jiddu Krishnamurti THE AWAKENING OF INTELLIGENCE

'THE MEDITATIVE MIND AND THE IMPOSSIBLE QUESTION'
Talk given in Brockwood Park
s one travels over the world and observes the appalling conditions of poverty and the ugliness of man's relationship to man, it becomes obvious that there must be a total revolution. A different kind of culture must come into being. The old culture is almost dead and yet we are clinging to it. Those who are young revolt against it, but unfortunately have not found a way, or a means, of transforming the essential quality of the human being, which is the mind. Unless there is a deep psychological revolution, mere reformation on the periphery will have little effect. This psychological revolution - which I think is the only revolution - is possible through meditation. Meditation is the total release of energy, and that is what we are going to talk over together this morning. The root meaning of that word is to measure. The whole Western world is based on the idea of measurement, but in the East they have said, "Measurement is maya, illusion, therefore one must find the immeasurable." So the two drifted apart culturally, socially, intellectually and religiously. Meditation is quite a complex problem, we have to go into it slowly and approach it from different angles, bearing in mind all the time that a psychological revolution is absolutely necessary for a different kind of world, a different kind of society, to come into being. I do know how strongly you feel about this. Probably most of us, being bourgeois, comfortable with our little incomes, our family and so on, would rather remain as we are and not be disturbed. But events, technology, and all those things that are happening in the world, are producing great changes outwardly. Yet inwardly most of us remain more or less as we have been for centuries. That revolution can only take place at the very centre of our being and requires a great abundance of energy; meditation is the release of that total energy and we are going to talk that over. We have got a great many ideas about what meditation is and what it should be; we import it from the East, or interpret it according to our own particular religious inclination, as contemplation, acceptance, prayer, keeping the mind still or open - we have all kinds of fanciful ideas about it. And especially lately, people have come from India propagating meditations of various forms.
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First of all, how is one to have this quality of energy which is without friction? We know mechanical energy, which is friction mechanically, and the friction in us which produces energy through conflict, through resistance, through control and all the rest of it. So there is a kind of energy caused by mechanical friction. Is there another kind of energy which has no friction whatsoever and is therefore completely free and immeasurable? I think meditation is the discovery of that. Unless one has great abundance of energy, not only physically but much more so psychologically, our action will never be complete, it will always produce friction, conflict and struggle. Seeing the various forms of meditation, of Zen, of Yoga brought over from India, and the various contemplative groups of monks and so on, in all that, there is the idea of control, acceptance of a system, practicing a repetition of words, which is called mantra, and various forms of breathing, hatha yoga and so on. I suppose you know all this. So first of all let us dispose of them altogether by investigating. Not accepting what they say, but investigating it, seeing the truth or the falseness of it. There is this repetition of words, of sentences, mantras, a set of phrases given by a guru, being initiated, paying money to learn a peculiar phrase to be repeated by you secretly. Probably some of you have done that and you know a great deal about it. That is called mantra yoga, and is brought over from India. I don't know why you pay a single penny to repeat certain words from somebody who says, "If you do this you will achieve enlightenment, you will have a quiet mind." When you repeat a series of words constantly, whether it is Ave Maria or various Sanskrit words, obviously your mind becomes rather dull and you have a peculiar sense of unity, of quietness, and you think that will help to bring about clarity. You can see the absurdity of it, because why should you accept what anybody says about these matters - including myself? Why should you accept any authority about the inward movement of life? We reject authority outwardly; if you are at all intellectually aware and observant politically you reject these things. But apparently we accept the authority of somebody who says, "I know, I have achieved, I have realised." The man who says he knows, he does not know. The moment you say you know, you don't know. What is it you know? Some experience which you have had, some kind of vision, some kind of enlightenment? I dislike to use that word "enlightenment". Once you have experienced that, you think you have attained some extraordinary state; but that is past, you can only know something which is over and therefore dead. When these people come over and say they have realized, "Do this" or "Do that" for so much money, this is obviously absurd. So we can dispose of that. We can also dispose of this whole idea of practicing a system, a method. When you practice a method in order to achieve enlightenment, or bliss, or to have a quiet mind, or to achieve a state of tranquillity, whatever it is, it obviously makes the mind mechanical, you repeat over and over again. This not only implies suppression of your
own movement and understanding, but also conformity and the endless conflict involved in practicing a particular system. The mind likes to conform to a system because then it gets crystallized and it is easy to live that way. So can we dispose, now, of all systems of meditation? But you won't, because our whole structure of habit is based on that demand to find a method, so that we can just follow and live a monotonous, dull life of routine; not to be disturbed, that is what we want, and so we accept authority. One has to find out for oneself, not through anybody. We have had the authority of the priest for centuries upon centuries, the authority of teachers, saviours and masters. If you really want to find out what meditation is, you have to set aside all authority completely and totally; not the authority of law, of the policeman - law, legislation, you may understand later, when your own mind is orderly and clear. Now what is meditation? Is it control of thought? And if it is, who is the controller of thought? It is thought itself, isn't it? Our whole culture, both in the East and in the West, is based on control of thought and concentration, in which only one thought can be pursued to the end. Why, should one control at all? Control implies imitation, conformity, it implies the acceptance of a pattern as the authority, according to which you are trying to live. That pattern is set by the society, by the culture, by somebody who you think has knowledge, enlightenment and so on. According to that pattern one tries to live, suppressing all one's own feelings and ideas, trying to conform. In that there is conflict, and conflict is essentially a wastage of energy. So concentration, which so many advocate in meditation, is totally wrong. Are you accepting all this, or are you just listening out of boredom? Because we must go into this question, whether thought can function where necessary, without any form of control. Can thought function when necessary as knowledge, in action, and be completely still at other times? That is the real issue. The mind which is cluttered up with so many activities of thought and is therefore uncertain, is trying to find clarity in that confusion, forcing itself to control, to conform to an idea; it therefore brings about more and more confusion within itself. I want to find out whether the mind can be quiet and only function when necessary. Control, because it implies conflict, is a great waste of energy; that is important to understand, because I feel meditation must be a releasing of energy in which there is not the slightest friction. How is a mind to do this? How is it to have such energy in which every form of friction comes to an end? In enquiring into that, one must understand oneself completely, there must be total self-knowing - not according to any psychologist, philosopher or teacher, or the pattern set by a particular culture - but to know oneself right through, both at the conscious level as well as at the deeper levels, is that possible? When there is complete understanding of oneself, then there is the ending of conflict - and that is meditation.
Now, how am I to know myself? I can only know myself in relationship; the observation of myself takes place only when there is response and reaction in relationship; there is no such thing as isolation. The mind is isolating itself all the time in all its activities, building a wall round itself in order not to be hurt, not to have any discomfort, unhappiness, or trouble; it is isolating itself all the time in its self-centred activity. I want to know "myself" as I want to know how to get from here to a particular town; that is, clearly, watching everything that is involved in myself, my feelings, my thoughts, my motives, conscious or unconscious. How is that possible? The Greeks, the Hindus, the Buddhists have said: know yourself. But apparently that is one of the most difficult things to do. We are going to find out this morning how to look at ourselves; because once you know yourself completely, that prevents all friction, and therefore out of that comes this quality of energy which is totally different. So to find out how to observe oneself, one must understand what is meant by observing. When we observe objective things like trees, clouds, the things outside of us, there is not only the space between the observer and the observed - the physical space - there is also the space of time. When we look at a tree there is not only physical distance, but there is also psychological distance. There is the distance between you and the tree, the distance created by the image as knowledge: that is an oak tree, or an elm. That image between you and the tree separates you. But when the quality of the mind of the observer is without the image, which is imagination, then there is quite a different relationship between the observer and the observed. Have you ever looked at a tree without a single word of like or dislike, without a single image? Have you noticed what then takes place? Then, for the first time, you see the tree as it is and you see the beauty of it, the colour, the depth, the vitality of it. A tree, or even another person, is fairly easy to observe; but to observe oneself that way - that is to observe without the observer - is much more difficult. So one must find out who is the observer. I want to watch myself, I want to know myself as deeply as possible. What is the nature, the structure of that observer who is watching? That observer is the past, isn't it? - the past knowledge which he has collected and stored up; the past being the culture, the conditioning. That is the observer who says, "This is right, this is wrong, this must be, this must not be, this is good, this is bad." So the observer is the past and with those eyes of the past we try to see what we are. Then we say, "I don't like this, I am ugly", or "This I will keep". All these discriminations and condemnations take place. Can I look at myself without the eyes of the past? Can I watch myself in action, which is in relationship, without any movement of the past? Have you ever tried this? (I don't suppose you have.)
When there is no observer then there is only the observed. Please see this: I am envious, or I overeat, I am greedy. The normal reaction is, "I must not overeat", "I must not be greedy", "I must suppress", you know all that follows. In that there is the observer trying to control his greed, or his envy. Now when there is an awareness of greed without the observer, what takes place? Can I observe that greed without giving it a name, as "greed"? The moment I name it I have already fixed it as greed in my memory which says: I must get over it, I must control. So is there an observation of greed without the word, without justifying it, without condemning it? Which means, can I observe this thing called greed without any reaction whatsoever? To so observe is a form of discipline, isn't it? Not imposing any particular pattern, which means conformity, suppression and all the rest of it, but to observe the whole series of actions without condemning, justifying or naming just to observe. Then you will see the mind is no longer wasting energy. It is then aware and therefore it has energy to deal with that which it is observing. Questioner: May I ask, Sir, whether the "me" observing the "me" without naming it as the "me", is the same as observing the past, also without naming it as the past? Krishnamurti: Quite right, Sir, that's it. But once you understand the whole mechanism it does not become difficult. Once you see the truth of it, then that truth, that fact, acts. One can do that at the conscious level. There are a great many unconscious responses, motives, inclinations, tendencies, inhibitions and fears. How is one to deal with all that? Must one go through analysing layer after layer of hidden accumulations, exposing all that through dreams? How is all that to be exposed totally so that knowing oneself becomes complete? Apparently it cannot be done by the conscious mind. I can't investigate consciously the unconscious, the hidden. Can you? Don't say "no" - sec the difficulty of it, because I don't know what is hidden, and the hidden may intimate through dreams, but the dreams need to be interpreted and that will take a lot of time, won't it? Questioner: I think it is possible under certain drugs to know myself - there is no conflict. Krishnamurti: Does any drug really expose the totality of the content of consciousness, or does it bring about chemically a certain state of mind, which is totally different from the understanding of oneself? I have watched many people in India taking drugs and I have also watched students at universities in America, and others, who have been taking psychedelic drugs. These drugs do affect the mind, the brain cells themselves they destroy the brain. If you have talked to those who have taken drugs, you see they can't reason, they can't pursue a logical sequence of thought. I am not asking you not to
take drugs, it's up to you; but you can see the effect of it on people. They have no sense of responsibility, they think they can do anything they like - and how many hospitals are full of people who are mentally unbalanced through drugs. We are talking of something which is non-chemical. If LSD, or any other drug, could bring about a state of mind in which there is no conflict, and at the same time one could maintain complete responsibility and a logical sequence of thought and action, that would be marvellous. We are asking: how is one to expose the whole hidden content at one glance? Not through a series of dreams, not through analysis, all that implies time and wastage of energy. This is an important question because I want to understand myself - myself being all my past, the experiences, the hurts, the anxieties, the guilt, the various fears. How am I to comprehend all that immediately? To understand all that immediately gives immense energy. Now how do you do that? Is that an impossibility? We have to ask the impossible question to find a way out of it. Unless we ask the most impossible question we shall always be dealing with what is possible, and what is possible is very little. So I am asking the most impossible question, which is: to have this whole content of consciousness exposed and understand it, see it totally, without time - which means without analysis, exploration and seeing layer after layer, which is an expenditure of time. How is the mind to observe this whole content with one look? If that question is put to you, as it is being put now, if you are really listening to that question, what is your response? You obviously say "I can't do it". You really don't know how to do it. Are you waiting for somebody to tell you? If I say to myself, "I don't know", am I waiting for somebody to inform me - am I expecting an answer? When I am expecting an answer, then I already know. Are you following this? When I say, "I don't know, I really don't know" - I am not waiting for anybody to tell me, I am not expecting anything because nobody can answer it. So I actually don't know, What is the state of the mind that says "I really don't know"?, I can't find it in any book, I can't ask anybody, I can't go to any teacher or priest, I really don't know. When the mind says "I do not know", what is the state of the mind? Please, don't answer me. Do look at it, because we always say we know. I know my wife, I know mathematics, I know this, I know that. We never say, "I really don't know". I am asking; what is the state of the mind that honestly says, "I don't know"? Don't verbalize immediately. When I really mean I don't know, the mind has no answer. It is not expecting anything from anybody. It is not waiting, it is not expecting. So what happens? Is it not completely alone? It is not isolated - isolation and aloneness are two different things. In that quality of aloneness there is no influence, there is no resistance, it has shed itself from all the past, it says, "I really don't know." Therefore the mind has emptied itself of all its content. Have you understood this?
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I have asked the impossible question and I have said, "I don't know." Therefore the mind empties itself of everything, of every suggestion, every probability, every possibility; so the mind is completely active and empty of all the past - which is time, analysis, the authority of somebody. So it has exposed all the content of itself by denying the content. Do you understand now? As we said, meditation can only begin with the total understanding of myself; that is part of the beginning of meditation. Without understanding myself the mind can deceive itself, it can have illusions according to its particular conditioning. When you know your conditioning and are free of it, then there is no possibility of any kind of illusion, and that is absolutely essential because we can deceive ourselves so easily. So when I investigate into myself, I see that consciousness is emptying itself of all its content through knowing itself, not by denying anything, but by understanding the whole content; that brings about great energy, which is necessary, because that energy transforms completely all my activity. It is no longer self-centred and therefore the cause of friction. Meditation is a way of putting aside altogether everything that man has conceived of himself and of the world. So he has a totally different kind of mind. Meditation also means awareness, both of the world and of the whole movement of oneself, to see exactly what is, without any choice, without any distortion. Distortion takes place the moment you bring in thought. Yet thought has to function, but when there is an observation and thought interferes with that observation as image, then there is distortion and illusion. So to observe actually what is, in oneself and in the world, without any distortion, a quiet, very still mind is necessary. One knows that it is necessary to have a quiet mind, therefore there are various systems to help you to control it, and all that means friction. If you want to observe passionately, with intensity, the mind inevitably becomes quiet. You don't have to force it - the moment you force it, it is not quiet, it is dead. Can you see this truth, that to perceive anything you must look? - and if you look with prejudice you cannot see. If you see that, your mind is quiet. Now what takes place in a quiet mind? We are enquiring not only into that quality of energy in which there is no friction, but also into how to bring about a radical change within oneself. One's self is the world and the world is oneself - the world is not the fruit separate from me: I am the world. It is not just an idea, but an actual fact, that I am the world and the world is "me". So there is a radical revolution, a change in me that will inevitably affect the world, because I am part of the world. In this enquiry into what meditation is, I see that any wastage of energy is caused by friction in my relationship with another. Is it possible to have a relationship with another in which there is no friction whatsoever? That is possible only when I understand what love is, and the understanding of what love is, is the denial of what love is not. Jealousy,
ambition, greed, self-centred activity, obviously all that is not love. When in the understanding of myself there is the total setting aside of all that which is not love, then it is. The observation takes a second, the explanation and the description takes a long time, but the act of observation is instantaneous. In this observation I have found no system, no authority, no self- centred activity, therefore there is no conformity, no comparison of myself with another; to observe all this the mind must be extraordinarily quiet. If you want to listen to what is being said just now, you have to give attention, haven't you? You can't listen if you are thinking about something else. If you are bored with this, I can get up and go, but to force yourself to listen is absurd. If you are really interested in it passionately, intensely, then you listen completely, and to listen completely the mind must be quiet - this is very simple. All this is meditation; not just sitting for five minutes by yourself, cross-legged, breathing properly - that is not meditation, that is self-hypnosis. I want to find out what is the quality of the mind that is completely still and also what takes place when it is still. I have observed, I have recorded, I have understood and I have finished with that. But there is another enquiry: what is the state of the mind, of the brain cells themselves? The brain cells store up the memories that are useful, that are necessary for their self-protection, memories of what might lead to danger. Haven't you noticed this? I suppose you read a lot of books? Personally I don't, therefore I can look into myself and find out, watch myself, not according to somebody - but just watch. I am asking myself what is the quality of such a mind, what has happened to the brain? The brain records, that is its function. It functions only through memory which protects it, otherwise it can't function. The brain may find security in some neurosis; it has found security in nationalism, in a belief in the family, in having possessions, which are all various forms of neurosis. The brain must be secure to function and it may choose to find that security in something that is False, unreal, illusory, neurotic. When I have examined myself thoroughly, all this disappears. There is no neurosis, no belief, no nationality, no desire to hurt anybody, nor to recall all the hurts. So the brain then is a recording instrument, without thought using it as the "me" in operation. So meditation implies not only the body being still but also the brain being quiet. Have you ever watched your brain in operation? Why you think certain things. Why you react to others, why you feel desperately lonely, unloved, with nothing to rely on, no hope - you know this tremendous sense of loneliness? Though you may be married, have children and live in a group, there is this feeling of complete emptiness. Seeing it, one tries to escape from it, but if you remain with it, do not escape from it, just look at it completely without condemning it or trying to overcome it, but observe it actually as-it is, then you will see that what you considered to be loneliness ceases to be.
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So the brain cells record, and thought as the "me" - my ambitions, my greed, my purposes, my fulfilment - comes to an end. Therefore the brain and the mind become extraordinarily quiet and only function when necessary. Therefore your brain, your mind, enters into quite a different dimension of which there is no description; because the description is not the described. What we have done this morning is description, explanation, but the word is not the thing, when one realizes that then one is free of the word. The quiet mind then enters into the immeasurable. All our life is based on thought which is measurable. It measures God, it measures its relationship with another through the image. It tries to improve itself according to what it thinks it should be. So unnecessarily we live in a world of measurement, and with that world we want to enter into a world in which there is no measurement at all. Meditation isthe seeing of what is and going beyond it - seeing the measure and going beyond the measure. What takes place when the brain, the mind and the body are really quiet and harmonious - when the mind, the body and the heart are completely one? Then one lives a totally different kind of life. Questioner: What is intuition? Krishnamurti: One has to be very careful of that word. Because I like something unconsciously, I say I have an intuition about it. Don't you know all the tricks one plays upon oneself through that word? When you see things as they are, why do you want intuition? Why do you want any form of hunch, of intimation? We are talking of understanding oneself. Questioner: When one is aware of one's sexual appetites, they seem to disappear. Can that awareness, that attention, be maintained all the time? Krishnamurti: Watch the danger of this question. "When I am aware of my sexual desires they seem to disappear." So awareness is a trick which will help me to make things, which I don't like, disappear. I don't like anger, therefore I am going to be aware of it and perhaps it will disappear. But I do like my fulfilment, I want to become a great man, and I won't be aware of that. I believe in God and I worship the State, but I won't be aware of all the dangers involved in that, although it separates, it destroys, it tortures people. So I am going to be aware of the things that are most unpleasant, but unaware of all those things which I want to keep. Awareness is not a trick, it is not something that will help me to dissolve the things we don't want. Awareness means to observe the whole movement of like and dislike, of your suppressions. If you are oldfashioned you don't talk about sex, you suppress it, but you go on thinking about it one has to be aware of all that.
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Questioner: Sir, can we by understanding our minds, be aware when we are asleep? Krishnamurti: This is really a complex question. How am I to be aware that I am asleep? Is there an awareness of what is going on during sleep? Am I aware during the day of all the movements that are going on within me, of all the reactions? If I am not aware during the day, how am I going to be aware at at night when I sleep? If you are aware during the day, watching, attentive to how much you eat, what you say, what you think, of your motives, then have you anything to be aware of during the night? Please find out. If you are not aware, except of that which is going on as a recording in the brain, what takes place? I have spent my day actively, being aware, watching what I eat, what I think, what I feel, how I talk to others. Jealousy, envy, greed, violence - I have been completely aware of all that; which means I have brought order there, not according to any plan. I have lived a disordered life of not being aware; when I become aware of all this, there is order. So when the body goes to sleep, what takes place? Generally the brain tries to bring about order while you are asleep, because during the conscious waking hours you have lived a disordered life and the brain needs order. I don't know if you have watched it - the brain cannot function properly, healthily if there is no order. So if during the day there has been order, the brain is not trying to bring about order when you sleep, through dreams, through intimations and so on - it becomes quiet. It may record, but it is quiet and so there is a possibility of renewal, a possibility of a mind no longer fighting and struggling; therefore the mind becomes extraordinarily young, fresh and innocent, in the sense that it won't hurt and will not be hurt. Questioner: When a man has a message, the relationship between that man and his followers is usually that of a teacher. The teacher often has powers, and his message is a system. Why don't you consider yourself a teacher and your message a system? Krishnamurti: I have made this fairly clear, haven't I? Don't follow anybody and don't accept anybody as a teacher, except when you yourself become your own teacher and disciple.
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Gurdjieffs Strange Methods

Source: Talks by Osho on Gurdjieff Gurdjieff was born near the Caucasus in Russia still there are nomads, wandering tribes. Even sixty years of communist torture has not been able to settle those nomads, because they consider wandering to be man's birth right, and perhaps they are right. He started moving from one group to another. He learned many languages of the nomads; he learned many arts of the nomads. He learned many exercises that are not available to civilized people any more, but nomads need them. For example; it may be very cold and the snow is falling, and to live in a tent.... Nomads know certain exercises of breathing that change the rhythm of the breath, the temperature of your body increases. Or if it is too hot, if you are passing through a desert, then change again to a different rhythm...and your body has an automatic, inbuilt, air-conditioning system. Gurdjieff learned his first lessons in hypnosis with these nomadic groups. If the wife and the husband are both going to sell some things in the market, in the village, what to do with the children, the small children? These nomads have used hypnotism for centuries. They will just draw a circle around the child and tell him, "Till we return you cannot get out of this circle." Now, this has been told for centuries to every child. From the moment he could understand, he has heard it. He is hypnotized by it. The moment it is uttered, the moment he sees the line being drawn around him, he simply relaxes inside: there is no way to get out, he can't get out. Gurdjieff was very puzzled, because he was ten or twelve years old then: And what nonsense is this? And each child in every nomad camp is just surrounded by a line, and that's all. The father and mother disappear for the whole day to work in the town. By the evening when they come the child is still inside the circle. Gurdjieff started wondering how it happened, why it happened, and soon he was able to figure out that it is just a question of your unconscious accepting the idea. Once your unconscious accepts the idea, then your body and your conscious mind have no power to go against it. In his own exercises that he developed later on when he became a master, Gurdjieff used all these nomad techniques that he had learned from those strange people uncivilized, with no language, no written alphabet, but who knew very primitive methods. And he was surprised to see that hypnotism works not only on children but on grown men, because those children become young adults; then too it works.
Then they become old, then too it works. It does not change with age. Gurdjieff used to play with the old people, drawing a circle around them, and the old person would shout, "Don't do that, don't do that," and before the circle was complete he would jump out. If the circle was complete then it was impossible, you were caught. And this boy who could know whether he would be coming back again or not? When the circle was half completed, something was open: you could escape. Then you were saved, otherwise you were caught in it. And many times Gurdjieff succeeded in making the circle complete. Then even the old man would simply sit down, just like a small child, and would pray to him, "Break your circle." Gurdjieff used that technique in many ways and many other techniques that he learned from those people. He used to have an exercise called the "stop exercise," and he exhibited it all over the The dance is creating a certain kind world, particularly in America and Europe. He would teach dances, strange dances, because nobody knew those dances that the Caucasian nomads dance... strange instruments and strange dances. They had strange foods that Gurdjieff learned to make. His ashram near Paris was something just absolutely out of this world. His kitchen was full of strange things, strange spices that nobody had ever heard of, and he himself would prepare outlandish foods.
He had learned it all from those nomads. And those foods had a certain effect. Certain foods have certain effects; certain dances have certain effects; certain drums, instruments, have certain effects. Gurdjieff had seen that if a certain music is played and people are dancing a particular dance, then it is possible for them to dance on red-hot, burning coals and still not be burned. The dance is creating a certain kind of energy in them so that they can escape the law of fire which is a lower law. Certainly, if consciousness knows something higher it can escape from lower laws. All the stories about miracles are nothing but stories about people who have come to know certain higher laws; naturally, then the lower laws don't function. Gurdjieff had seen all these things, he had experienced them when he was a child, and children are very curious.
of energy in them so that they can escape the law of fire which is a lower law. Certainly, if consciousness knows something higher it can escape from lower laws. All the stories about miracles are nothing but stories about people who have come to know certain higher laws; naturally, then the lower laws don't function.
There was no father, no mother to prevent him from doing anything, so he was experimenting with everything, in every possible way. And once he was finished with one nomad group, he would simply move to another because from other groups he had other things to learn. He developed all his exercises from these nomadic people. The stop exercise was tremendously significant; perhaps one of the greatest contributions to the modern world and the modern world is not even aware of it. Gurdjieff would tell his disciples to be engaged in all kinds of activities: somebody is digging in the garden, somebody is cutting wood, somebody is preparing food, somebody is cleaning the floor. All kinds of activities are going on, with the one condition that when he says "Stop!" then wherever you are, in whatsoever posture you are, you stop dead. You are not to be cunning, because then the whole point of the exercise is lost. For example, if your mouth is open and you see that Gurdjieff is not there to notice, and you just close your mouth and rest, you have missed the point. One of your legs was up you were just moving and one leg was down; now suddenly the "Stop!" call comes. You have to stop, knowing perfectly well that soon you will fall down; you cannot stand on one foot for long. But that is the whole point of the exercise: whatever the consequence you simply stop as you are, you just become a statue. You will be surprised that such a simple exercise gives you so much release of awareness. Neither Buddha, nor Patanjali, nor Mahavira was aware of it, that such a simple exercise...it is not complex at all. When you become just a statue, you are not even allowed to blink an eye; you stay exactly as you are at the moment you hear the word "Stop!" It simply means stop and nothing else. You will be surprised that you suddenly become a frozen statue and in that state you can see yourself transparently. You are constantly engaged in activity and with the activity of the body; the mind's activity is associated. You cannot separate them, so when the body completely stops, of course, immediately the mind also stops then and there. You can see the body, frozen, as if it is somebody else's body; you can see the mind, suddenly unmoving, because it has lost its association with the body in movement. It is a simple psychological law of association that was discovered by another Russian, Pavlov. Gurdjieff knew it long before Pavlov, but he was not interested in psychology so he never worked it out that way. Pavlov also got the idea from the same nomads, but he moved in a different direction he was a psychologist. He started working on the lines of the law of association. Pavlov would give food to his dog, and while he was giving the food, he would just go on
ringing a bell. Now the bell and the bread had nothing to do with each other, but to the dog they were becoming associated. Whenever Pavlov gave the dog some bread, he would ring the bell too. After fifteen days he would simply ring the bell and the dog's tongue would start hanging out ready for the bread. Now, somewhere in the dog's mind, the bell and the bread were no longer two separate things. Gurdjieff was doing far higher work. He found a simple way of stopping the mind. In the East people have been trying for centuries to concentrate the mind, to visualize it, to stop it and Gurdjieff found a way through physiology. But it was not his discovery; he had just found what those nomads had been doing all along. Gurdjieff would shout "Stop!" and everybody would freeze. And when the body suddenly freezes, the mind feels a little weird: What happened? Because the mind has no association with the frozen body, it is just shocked. They are in cooperation, in a deep harmony, moving together. Now the body has completely frozen, what is the mind supposed to do? Where can it go? For a moment there is a
complete silence; and even a For a moment there is a complete silence; and even a single moment of complete silence is single moment of complete enough to give you the taste of meditation. silence is enough to give you the Gurdjieff had developed dances, and during those taste of meditation dances suddenly he would say "Stop!" Now, while dancing you never know in what posture you are going to be. People would simply fall on the floor. But even if you fall, the exercise continues.
If your hand is in an uncomfortable position under your body, you are not to make it comfortable because that means you have not given a chance for the mind to stop. You are still listening to the mind. The mind says, "It is uncomfortable, make it comfortable." No, you are not to do anything. In New York when he was giving his demonstration of the dance, Gurdjieff chose a very strange situation. All the dancers were standing in a line, and at a certain stage in the dance when they came dancing forwards and were just standing in a queue with the first person just at the edge of the stage, Gurdjieff said "Stop!" The first person fell, the second fell, the third fell the whole line fell on each other. But there was dead silence, no movement.
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One man in the audience just seeing this got his first experience of meditation. He was not doing it, he was just seeing it. But seeing so many people suddenly stop and then fall, but falling as if frozen, with no effort on their own to change their position or anything.... It was as if suddenly they had all become paralyzed. The man was just sitting in the front row, and without knowing he just stopped, froze in the position he was in: his eyes stopped blinking, his breath had stopped. Seeing this scene he had come to see the dance, but what kind of dance was this? Suddenly he felt a new kind of energy arising within him. And it was so silent and he was so full of awareness, that he became a disciple. That very night he reached Gurdjieff and said, "I can't wait." It was very difficult to be a disciple of Gurdjieff; he made it almost impossible. And he was really a hard taskmaster. And one can tolerate things if one can see some meaning in them, but with Gurdjieff the problem was that there was no obvious meaning. This man's name was Nicoll. Gurdjieff said, "It is not so easy to become my disciple." Nicoll said, "It is not so easy to refuse me either. I have come to become a disciple, and I will become a disciple. You may be a hard Master, I know; I am a hard disciple!" Both men looked into each other's eyes and understood that they belonged to the same tribe. This man was not going to leave. Nicoll said, "I am not going. I will be just sitting here my whole life until you accept me as a disciple" and Nicoll's case is the only case in which Gurdjieff accepted him without bitching; otherwise, he used to be so difficult. Even for a man like P.D. Ouspensky, who made Gurdjieff world-famous even with him Gurdjieff was difficult. Ouspensky remembers that they were traveling from New York to San Francisco in a train, and Gurdjieff started making a nuisance of himself in the middle of the night. He was not drunk, he had not even drunk water, but he was behaving like a drunkard moving from one compartment to another compartment, waking people and throwing people's things about. And Ouspensky, just following him, said, "What are you doing?" but Gurdjieff wouldn't listen. Somebody pulled the train's emergency chain, "This man seems to be mad!" so the ticket-checker came in and the guard came in. Ouspensky apologized and said, "He is not mad and he is not drunk, but what to do? It is very difficult for me to explain what he is doing because I don't know myself." And right in front of the guard and ticketchecker, Gurdjieff threw somebody's suitcase out of the window." The guard and the ticket-checker said, "This is too much. Keep him in your compartment and we will give you the key. Lock it from within, otherwise we will have to throw you both out at the next station." Naturally Ouspensky was feeling embarrassed on the one
hand and enraged on the other hand that this man was creating such a nuisance. He thought, "I know he is not mad, I know he is not drunk, but." Gurdjieff was behaving wildly, shouting in Russian, screaming in Russian, Caucasian he knew so many languages and the moment the door was locked, he sat silently and smiled. He said to Ouspensky, "How are you?" Ouspensky said, "You are asking me, 'How are you?'! You would have forced them to put you in jail, and me too because I couldn't leave you in such a condition. What was the purpose of all this?" Gurdjieff said, "That is for you to understand. I am doing everything for you, and you are asking me the purpose? The purpose is not to react, not to be embarrassed, not to be enraged. What is the point of feeling embarrassed? What are you going to get out of it? You are simply losing your cool and gaining nothing." "But," Ouspensky said, "You threw that suitcase out of the window. Now what about the man whose suitcase it is?" Gurdjieff said, "Don't be worried it was yours!" Ouspensky looked down and saw that his was missing. What to do with this master! Ouspensky writes: "l felt like getting down at the next station and going back to Europe... because what else would Gurdjieff do?" And Gurdjieff said, "I know what you are thinking you are thinking of getting down at the next station. Keep cool!" "But," Ouspensky said, "How can I keep cool now that my suitcase is gone and my clothes are gone?" Gurdjieff said, "Don't be worried your suitcase was empty. Your clothes I've put in my suitcase. Now just cool down." But later, when he was in the Caucasus and Ouspensky was in London, Gurdjieff sent Ouspensky a telegram: "Come immediately!" and when Gurdjieff says "Immediately," it means immediately! Ouspensky was involved in some work, but he had to leave his job, pack immediately, finish everything and go to the Caucasus. And in those days, when Russia was in revolution, to go to the Caucasus was dangerous, absolutely dangerous. People were rushing out of Russia to save their lives, so to enter Russia and for a wellknown person like Ouspensky, well-known as a mathematician, world famous.... It was also well-known that he was anti-communist, and he was not for the revolution. Now, to
call him back into Russia, and that too, to the faraway Caucasus.... He would have to pass through the whole of Russia to reach to Gurdjieff who was in a small place, Tiflis, but if Gurdjieff calls.... Ouspensky went. When he arrived there he was really boiling, because he had passed by burning trains, stations, butchered people and corpses on the platforms. And how he had managed he himself could not believe that he was going to reach Gurdjieff, but somehow he managed to. And what did Gurdjieff say? He said, "You have come, now you can go: the purpose is fulfilled. I will see you later on in London." Now this kind of man.... He has his purpose there is no doubt about it but has strange ways of working. Ouspensky, even Ouspensky, missed. He got so angry that he dropped all his connections with Gurdjieff after this incident, because this man had pulled him into the very mouth of death for nothing! But Ouspensky missed the point. If he had gone back as silently as he had come, he may have become enlightened by the time he reached London but he missed the point. A man like Gurdjieff may not always do something that is apparently meaningful, but it is always meaningful. Nicoll became his disciple, and he had to make it through so many strange tasks, strange in every possible way. No Master before Gurdjieff had tried such strange ways. For example, he would force you to eat, to go on eating; he would go on forcing you, "Eat!" and you could not say no to the Master. While tears were coming to you he was saying "Eat!"... and those spices, Caucasian spices Indian spices are nothing! Your whole throat was burning, you could feel the fire even in your stomach, in your intestines, and he was saying "Eat! Go on eating until I say stop." But he had some hidden meaning in it. There is a point for the body.... I said just the other day to you that a point comes for the body, if you fast, when after five days it changes its system. That is, the body starts absorbing its own fat, and then there is no more hunger. That is one method that has been used. This is also a similar method in the opposite direction. There is a point beyond which you cannot eat, but the master says, "Go on." He is trying to bring you to the brink of the capacity of your whole physiology, and you have never touched that. We are always in the middle. Neither are we fasting, nor are we feasting like Gurdjieff; we are always in the middle. The body is in a settled routine; hence, the mind is also settled in its way of movement. Fasting destroys that. That's why fasting became so important in all religions. It brings you to a moment after fifteen days when you simply start forgetting thoughts. Bigger gaps start appearing: for hours there is not a single thought, and after twenty-one days
your mind is empty. It's strange that when the stomach is totally empty it creates a synchronicity in the mind the mind becomes totally empty. Fasting is not a goal in itself. Only idiots have followed it as a goal in itself It is simply a technique to bring you to a stage where you can experience a state of no-mind. Once that is experienced, you can go back to food. Then there is no problem, you know the track. And then, eating normally also you can go into that state any time you want. Gurdjieff was doing just the opposite because that's what he had learned from the nomads. Those are a totally different kind of people. They don't have any scriptures. They don't have any people like Buddha, Mahavira, or any others, but they have passed on by word of mouth, from generation to generation, certain techniques that were given by the father to the son. This technique Gurdjieff learned from those nomads. They eat too much, and go on eating, and go on eating, and go on eating. A moment comes when it is not possible to eat anymore and that is the point when Gurdjieff would force you to eat. If you say yes even then, suddenly there is an immediate state of no-mind because you have broken the whole rhythm of body and mind. Now it is inconceivable for the mind to grasp what is happening. It cannot work any longer in this situation. It has not known it before because always remember mind is exactly like a computer. It is a bio-computer; it functions according to its program. You may be aware of it, you may not be aware of it, but it functions according to a program. Break the program somewhere.... And you can break the program only at the ends, only at the boundary, where you are facing an abyss. Gurdjieff would force people to drink so much alcohol and all kinds of alcoholic beverages that they would go almost crazy; so drunk that they would forget completely who they were. And he would go on giving it to them. If they fell he would shake them, sit them up and pour them some more, because there is a moment when the person has come to a point where his whole body, his whole consciousness is completely overtaken by the intoxicant. In that moment his unconscious starts speaking. Freud took three years, four years, five years of psychoanalysis to do this. Gurdjieff did it in a single night! Your unconscious would start speaking, would give all the clues about you of which you have not even been aware. And you would not know that you had given those clues to Gurdjieff but he would know. And then he would work according to those clues: what exercises would be right for you, what dances would be suitable for you, what music was needed for you.
All the clues have been given by your unconscious. You were not aware of it because you were completely intoxicated. You were not present when he worked on the unconscious and persuaded it to give all the clues about you. Those were the secrets about you then he had the keys in his hands. So if somebody refused, "Now I cannot drink any more," he would throw him out. He would say, "Then this is not the place for you."
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Parables by Rumi
According to tradition, Jalal al-Din Rumi was born in 1207 in the town of Balkh in Khurasan (near Mazar-I-Sharif in contemporary Afghanistan). He was the son of a brilliant Islamic scholar, Bah ud-Dn Walad. Fearing the impending Mongol cataclysm, his father decided to migrate westwards, and the family finally settled in Konya, Turkey. During this journey, Rumi encountered one of the most famous mystic Persian poets, Attar, in the Iranian city of Nishapur located in the province of Khorsn. Attar immediately recognized Rumis spiritual eminence. He saw the father walking ahead of the son and said, Here comes a sea followed by an ocean. He presented the boy his Asrrnma, a book about the entanglement of the soul in the material world. This meeting had a deep impact on the eighteen-year-old Rumi, and later on became the inspiration for his works. The Persian-language poet and philosopher Mawlana Jalal-ud-Din Balkhi-Rumi (Mevlana Celaleddin Belh Rm) was born in 1207 in Balkh, now Afghanistan. He lived most of his life in Konya, in todays Turkey, where he died in 1273. Author of the renowned Mathnawi or Rhyming Couplets, he is considered to be one of the greatest Sufi masters, a peer of the well-known Ibn Arabi and Shams-e Tabrizi. During his lifetime, Mawlana enjoyed especially good relations with people of diverse social, cultural and religious backgrounds. He addressed humanity as a whole: I do not distinguish between the relative and the stranger. Rumi was initiated into Sufism and progressed through the various teachings of the Sufi tradition before becoming a Sufi teacher. Within a few years a group of disciples gathered around him, due to his great eloquence, theological knowledge and engaging personality. In 1244 a strange event occurred that was to profoundly change Rumis life and give rise to the extraordinary outpouring of poetry for which he is famous today. A wandering mystic known as Shams al-Din of Tabriz came to Konya and began to exert a powerful influence on Rumi. For Rumi, the holy man represented the perfect and complete man, the true image of the Divine Beloved, which he had long been seeking. Despite his own position as a mystical teacher, Rumi became utterly devoted to Shams al-Din, ignored his own disciples and departed from scholarly studies. Shams al-Din departed Konya just as suddenly as he had arrived, without Rumi being aware of it. This caused Rumi to withdraw from the world to mourn and meditate. During this time he began to manifest an ecstatic love of God that was expressed through sublimely beautiful poetry, listening to devotional music and trance dancing.
Over the next twenty-five years, Rumis literary output was truly phenomenal. In addition to the Mathnawi, which consists of six books or nearly 25,000 rhyming couplets, he composed some 2500 mystical odes and 1600 quatrains. Rumi is also well known for the Sufi brotherhood he established with its distinctive whirling and circling dance, known as Sema and practiced by the Dervishes. Rumi passed away on the evening of December 17, 1273, a time traditionally known as his wedding night, for he was now completely united with God. In the centuries following Rumis death, many hundreds of dervish lodges were established throughout the Ottoman domains in Turkey, Syria and Egypt, and several Ottoman Sultans were Sufis of the Mevlevi order. With the secularization of Turkey following World War I, the Mevlevi Brotherhood (and many others) were seen as reactionary and dangerous to the new republic, and were therefore banned in 1925. While their properties were confiscated, members of the order continued their religious practices in secret until their ecstatic dance were again allowed in 1953. Each year on December 17th a religious celebration is held at the site of Rumis tomb, to which tens of thousands of pilgrims come. In the shrine there is a silver plated step on which the followers of Mevlana rub their foreheads and place kisses. This area is usually cordoned off but is opened for these devotional actions during the December pilgrimage festivities. In addition to the shrine of Rumi, pilgrims to Konya will visit the shrine of Shemsuddin of Tabriz (traditionally visited before the shrine of Rumi).
The Mouse and the Camel

A mouse once caught in its paws a rope tied to a camel. When the camel began to walk, the mouse thought that he was pulling the camel. How strong and mighty I am, he boasted. Little did he realize that the camel was walking by himself. The two then arrived at a river. Here, the mouse came to a stop. Why have you stopped, brother mouse? asked the camel. Keep leading me on, for you are my guide. But this is a deep river. I am afraid Ill drown, replied the mouse. Let me see how deep it is, said the camel, stepping into the water.
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Why it only comes up to my knee, the camel revealed. Do go on, brother mouse. The mouse of course could not cross the river on his own. Oh great camel, he said, the river is like an ant to you, but to me it is like a dragon. The camel took pity on the mouse. Jump up and sit on my hump, he told the little creature, And be not so proud another time.
The Story of Azim

A man named Azim from the children of Israel left his home with an evil intention. He came across a man trying to life a big rock. Azim began watching him curiously. The stone was heavy and it wouldnt move. The man brought another rock and put it on top of the first one. Then the two stones began moving a little. When he brought a third rock, he lifted all of them easily this time and went away. Azim was surprised. How could a man who was unable to lift a single rock carry all three of them? He arrived at a city on the way. He saw an old man at the gate, and he told the old man about the strange case he witnessed. The old man spoke, Those stones represent sins. A mans first sin is heavy in his view, and he cannot bear it. A second sin makes it lighter. And after the third, they become habitual. (Majalisi Saba, 113-115)
The Three Fish

This is a story of the lake and the three big fish that were in it, one of them intelligent, another half-intelligent, and the third, stupid. Some fisherman came to the edge of the lake with their nets. The three fish saw them. The intelligent fish decided at once to leave, to make the long, difficult trip to the ocean. He thought, "I won't consult with these two on this. They will only weaken my resolve, because they love this place so. They call it home. Their ignorance will keep them here." The wise fish saw the men and their nets and said, "I"m leaving." The half-intelligent fish thought, "My guide has gone. I ought to have gone with him, but I didn't, and now I've lost my chance to escape. I wish I'd gone with him.
He mourns the absence of his guide for a while, and then thinks, "What can I do to save myself from these men and their nets? Perhaps if I pretend to be already dead! I'll belly up on the surface and float like weeds float, just giving myself totally to the water. To die before I die." So he did that. He bobbed up and down, helpless, within arm's reach of the fishermen. "Look at this! The best and biggest fish is dead." One of the men lifted him by the tail, spat on him, and threw him up on the ground. He rolled over and over and slid secretly near the water, and then, back in. Meanwhile, the third fish, the dumb one, was agitatedly jumping about, trying to escape with his agility and cleverness. The net, of course, finally closed around him, and as he lay in the terrible frying-pan bed, he thought, "If I get out of this, I'll never live again in the limits of the lake. Next time, the ocean! I'll make the infinite my home."
The Snake-Catcher and the Serpent

There was once a man in Iraq who decided to go into the cold and snowy mountains in search of a snake. He wanted to display the snake to the townspeople and thereby raise a few coppers from the incredulous crowd. Foolish man that he was, he searched through the mountains and lo and behold! He found a terrible and fierce-looking dragon who seemed quite dead from the cold. He bundled up the creature in a cloth and tied it up with string, and carried it down to the town. See! he cried out to the townspeople, See what I have brought, with great difficulty and much searching, from the mountains! Come and see this terrible and fierce-looking dragon, whom I have killed! The townspeople came from near and far to behold such a sight. They rallied around the dragon, and the crowd grew so thick that people jostled against one another, all craning their necks to catch a glimpse of this fierce and terrible dead dragon. In the town, the sun grew stronger and by the warmth of its rays, the dragon began to emerge slowly from its frozen state. As it warmed, life revived in the dragon, who had
not been dead at all but merely frozen beyond outwardly movement. Soon it burst forth from the cloth and string that had been tied around it. The townspeople were filled with terror at the sight of the fierce dragon, come back from the dead as it were, and ran away from it in panic, crushing each other as they fled. The dragon, mighty serpent that it was, devoured whoever was in its path, and finding a pillar, entwined itself around it, eating alive the man who thought he had easily captured a terrible and fierce-looking dragon. And thus ends the story of the snake-catcher and the serpent.
The Elephant and the Travellers

There was once a sage in India who saw a party of friends. They had travelled far and were hungry and tired. He said to them that he knew how tired they were, but had some advice for them. He knew that on their path they were going to encounter young elephants who were weak and tender and deliciously plump, whose mother was lying hidden, overcome with grief. She had been searching in vain for her children and was moaning and making lament. So the sage said to the party of friends, Beware of hurting her cherished children! Be content with the herbage and leaves you have and do not hunt down the young elephants. I tell you this to save you from fruitless repentance. Beware, and dont be overtaken by greed! So saying, he parted. The travellers went on their way, growing ever hungrier. Suddenly, in the direction of the highway, they saw a young elephant, newly born. They fell upon it like hungry wolves and ate it up, and then cleaned their hands. One of the travellers did not eat it, reminding the others of the warning of the sage. The other travellers did not heed him, and ate the roasted flesh. Having satisfied their hunger, they all fell asleep, all save the one who had not eaten, and he was awake in the night. Since he was awake, he saw a frightful elephant approaching. She came to him, who was keeping guard, and smelt his mouth three times, and no disagreeable smell came from it. She circled him several times, but did not harm him. She smelt the lips of every sleeper, and the smell of her young ones flesh came to her from each of those sleeping men. Each man had eaten the roasted flesh of the young elephant. With no compunction, she tossed each one of them into the air, so that their bones were broken as they fell back to earth.
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Zen Koans
A Philosopher Asks Buddha A philosopher asked Buddha: `Without words, without the wordless, will you you tell me truth?' The Buddha kept silence. The philosopher bowed and thanked the Buddha, saying: `With your loving kindness I have cleared away my delusions and entered the true path.' After the philosopher had gone, Ananda asked the Buddha what he had attained. The Buddha replied, À good horse runs even at the shadow of the whip.' Mumon's Comment: Ananda was the disciple of the Buddha. Even so, his opinion did not surpass that of outsiders. I want to ask you monks: How much difference is there between disciples and outsiders? To tread the sharp edge of a sword To run on smooth-frozen ice, One needs no footsteps to follow. Walk over the cliffs with hands free.
Joshu's Dog
A monk asked Joshu, a Chinese Zen master: `Has a dog Buddha-nature or not?' Joshu answered: `Mu.' [Mu is the negative symbol in Chinese, meaning `No-thing' or `Nay'.] Mumon's comment:s To realize Zen one has to pass through the barrier of the patriachs. Enlightenment always comes after the road of thinking is blocked. If you do not pass the barrier of the patriachs or if your thinking road is not blocked, whatever you think, whatever you do, is like a tangling ghost. You may ask: What is a barrier of a patriach? This one word, Mu, is it. This is the barrier of Zen. If you pass through it you will see Joshu face to face. Then you can work hand in hand with the whole line of patriachs. Is this not a pleasant thing to do?
If you want to pass this barrier, you must work through every bone in your body, through ever pore in your skin, filled with this question: What is Mu? and carry it day and night. Do not believe it is the common negative symbol meaning nothing. It is not nothingness, the opposite of existence. If you really want to pass this barrier, you should feel like drinking a hot iron ball that you can neither swallor nor spit out. Then your previous lesser knowledge disappears. As a fruit ripening in season, your subjectivity and objectivity naturally become one. It is like a dumb man who has had a dream. He knows about it but cannot tell it. When he enters this condition his ego-shell is crushed and he can shake the heaven and move the earth. He is like a great warrior with a sharp sword. If a Buddha stands in his way, he will cut him down; if a patriach offers him any obstacle, he will kill him; and he will be free in this way of birth and death. He can enter any world as if it were his own playground. I will tell you how to do this with this koan: Just concentrate your whole energy into this Mu, and do not allow any discontinuation. When you enter this Mu and there is no discontinuation, your attainment will be as a candle burning and illuminating the whole universe. Has a dog Buddha-nature? This is the most serious question of all. If you say yes or no, You lose your own Buddha-nature.
Hyakujo's Fox
Once when Hyakujo delivered some Zen lectures an old man attended them, unseen by the monks. At the end of each talk when the monks left so did he. But one day he remained after the had gone, and Hyakujo asked him: `Who are you?' The old man replied: Ì am not a human being, but I was a human being when the Kashapa Buddha preached in this world. I was a Zen master and lived on this mountain. At that time one of my students asked me whether the enlightened man is subject to the law of causation. I answered him: "The enlightened man is not subject to the law of causation." For this answer evidencing a clinging to absoluteness I became a fox for five hundred rebirths, and I am still a fox. Will you save me from this condition with your Zen words and let me get out of a fox's body? Now may I ask you: Is the enlightened man subject to the law of causation?' Hyakujo said: `The enlightened man is one with the law of causation.'
At the words of Hyakujo the old man was enlightened. Ì am emancipated,' he said, paying homage with a deep bow. Ì am no more a fox, but I have to leave my body in my dwelling place behind this mountain. Please perform my funeral as a monk.' The he disappeared. The next day Hyakujo gave an order through the chief monk to prepare to attend the funeral of a monk. `No one was sick in the infirmary,' wondered the monks. `What does our teacher mean?' After dinner Hyakujo led the monks out and around the mountain. In a cave, with his staff he poked out the corpse of an old fox and then performed the ceremony of cremation. That evening Hyakujo gave a talk to the monks and told this story about the law of causation. Obaku, upon hearing this story, asked Hyakujo: Ì understand that a long time ago because a certain person gave a wrong Zen answer he became a fox for five hundred rebirths. Now I was to ask: If some modern master is asked many questions, and he always gives the right answer, what will become of him?' Hyakujo said: `You come here near me and I will tell you.' Obaku went near Hyakujo and slapped the teacher's face with this hand, for he knew this was the answer his teacher intended to give him. Hyakujo clapped his hands and laughed at the discernment. Ì thought a Persian had a red beard,' he said, ànd now I know a Persian who has a red beard.' Mumon's comment: `The enlightened man is not subject.' How can this answer make the monk a fox? `The enlightened man is at one with the law of causation.' How can this answer make the fox emancipated? To understand clearly one has to have just one eye. Controlled or not controlled? The same dice shows two faces. Not controlled or controlled, Both are a grievous error.
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Gutei's Finger
Gutei raised his finger whenever he was asked a question about Zen. A boy attendant began to imitate him in this way. When anyone asked the boy what his master had preached about, the boy would raise his finger. Gutei heard about the boy's mischief. He seized him and cut off his finger. The boy cried and ran away. Gutei called and stopped him. When the boy turned his head to Gutei, Gutei raised up his own finger. In that instant the boy was enlightened. When Gutei was about to pass from this world he gathered his monks around him. Ì attained my finger-Zen,' he said, `from my teacher Tenryu, and in my whole life I could not exhaust it.' Then he passed away. Mumon's comment: Enlightenment, which Gutei and the boy attained, has nothing to do with a finger. If anyone clings to a finger, Tenyru will be so disappointed that he will annihilate Gutei, the boy and the clinger all together. Gutei cheapens the teaching of Tenyru, Emancipating the boy with a knife. Compared to the Chinese god who pushed aside a mountain with one hand Old Gutei is a poor imitator.
A Beardless Foreigner Wakun complained when he saw a picture of the bearded Bodhidharma: `Why hasn't that fellow a beard?' Mumon's comment: If you want to study Zen, you must it with your heart. When you attain realization, it must be true realization. You yourself must have the face of the great Bodhidharma to see him. Just once such glimpse will be enough. But if you say you met him, you never saw him at all. One should not discuss a dream In front of a simpleton. Why has Bodhidharma no beard? What an absurd question!
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Kabir Mystic Songs

Kabir is not easily categorized as a Sufi or a Yogi -- he is all of these. He is revered by Muslims, Hindus, and Sikhs. He stands as a unique, saintly, yet very human, bridge between the great traditions that live in India. Kabir says of himself that he is, "at once the child of Allah and Ram." He was born in Varanasi (Benares), India, probably around the year 1440 (though other accounts place his birth as early as 1398), to Muslim parents. But early in his life Kabir became a disciple of the Hindu bhakti saint Ramananda. It was unusual for a Hindu teacher to accept a Muslim student, but tradition says the young Kabir found a creative way to overcome all objections. The story is told that on one particular day of the year, anyone can become a disciple by having a master speak the name of God over him. It is common for those who live near the Ganges to take their morning bath there in the sacred waters. The bhakti saint Ramananda took his bath as he did every day, by arising before dawn. On this special day, Ramananda awoke before dawn and found his customary way down to the steps of the Ganges. As he was walking down the steps to the waters, a little hand reached out in the predawn morning and grabbed the saint's big toe. Ramananda was taken by surprise and he expressed his shock by calling out the name of God. Looking down he saw in the early morning light the hand of the young Kabir. After his bath in the early light he noticed that on the back of the little one's hand was written in Arabic the name Kabir. He adopted him as son and disciple and brought him back to his ashrama, much to the disturbance of his Hindu students, some of whom left in righteous protest. It is said that what really made this meeting the most special is that in this case it, was only after Kabir's enlightenment that Ramananda, his teacher, became enlightened. Not much is known about what sort of spiritual training Kabir may have received. He did not become a sadhu or renunciate. Kabir never abandoned worldly life, choosing instead to live the balanced life of a householder and mystic, tradesman and contemplative. Kabir was married, had children, and lived the simple life of a weaver. Although Kabir laboured to bring the often clashing religious cultures of Islam and Hinduism together, he was equally disdainful of professional piety in any form. This earned him the hatred and persecution of the religious authorities in Varanasi. Nearing
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age 60, he was denounced before the king but, because of his Muslim birth, he was spared execution and, instead, banished from the region. He subsequently lived a life of exile, traveling through northern India with a group of disciples. In 1518, he died at Maghar near Gorakhpur. One of the most loved legends associated with Kabir is told of his funeral. Kabir's disciples disputed over his body, the Muslims wanting to claim the body for burial, the Hindus wanting to cremate the body. Kabir appeared to the arguing disciples and told them to lift the burial shroud. When they did so, they found fragrant flowers where the body had rested. The flowers were divided, and the Muslims buried the flowers while the Hindus reverently committed them to fire. Moko Kahan Dhundhere Moko Kahan Dhundhere Bande Mein To Tere Paas Mein Na Teerath Mein, Na Moorat Mein Na Ekant Niwas Mein Na Mandir Mein, Na Masjid Mein Na Kabe Kailas Mein Mein To Tere Paas Mein Bande Mein To Tere Paas Mein Na Mein Jap Mein, Na Mein Tap Mein Na Mein Barat Upaas Mein Na Mein Kiriya Karm Mein Rehta Nahin Jog Sanyas Mein Nahin Pran Mein Nahin Pind Mein Na Brahmand Akas Mein Na Mein Prakuti Prawar Gufa Mein Nahin Swasan Ki Swans Mein Khoji Hoye Turat Mil Jaoon Ik Pal Ki Talas Mein Kahet Kabir Suno Bhai Sadho Mein To Hun Viswas Mein
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Translation Where do you search me? I am with you Not in pilgrimage, nor in icons, Neither in solitudes Not in temples, nor in mosques Neither in Kaba nor in Kailash I am with you o man, I am with you Not in prayers, nor in meditation, Neither in fasting Not in yogic exercises, Neither in renunciation Neither in the vital force nor in the body, Not even in the ethereal space Neither in the womb of Nature, Not in the breath of the breath Seek earnestly and discover, In but a moment of search Says Kabir, Listen with care, Where your faith is, I am there.
Jo Dise So To Hai Nahin

Jo Dise So To Hai Nahin, Hai So Kaha Na Jayee Bin Dekhe Parteet Na Aave, Kahe Na Koyee Patiyana Samajh Hoye To Rabeen Cheenho, Achraj Hoye Ayana Koi Dhyave Nirakar Ko, Koi Dhyave Aakaara Ja Bidhi In Dono Te Nyara, Jane Jananhara Woh Raag To Likhia Na Jayee, Matra Lakhe Na Kana Kahat Kabir So Padhe Na Parlay, Surat Nirat Jin Jana
Translation What is seen is not the Truth What is cannot be expressed Trust comes not without seeing Nor understanding without words
The wise comprehends with knowledge To the ignorant it is but a wonder Some worship the formless God Some worship His various forms In what way He is beyond these attributes Only the Knower knows That music cannot be written How can then be the notes Says Kabir, awareness alone will overcome illusion
Kaun Thagwa Nagariya Lutal Ho

Chandan Kaath Ke Banal Khatola, Tapar Dulihan Sutal Ho Utho Sakhiri Maang Sawaro, Dulha Mosey Ruthal Ho Aye Jamraja Palang Chadi Baitha, Nainan Ansuwan Tutal Ho Char Jane Mil Khath Uthain, Chahun Disi Dhu Dhu Uthal Ho Kehat Kabira Suno Bhai Sadho, Jug Se Nata Chutal Ho
Translation Who Is The Thug Who Is Robbing The Town. A Small Cot Is Made Of Sandalwood, On Which The Bride Is Sleeping Get Up Beloved Companion Adorn Me With Bridal Makeup, The Groom Is Upset With Me
Yamaraj, The Lord of Death, Is Sitting On The Bed, Eyes Are Filled With Tears Four People Pick Up The Cot, Sounds of The Flaring Flames Come From All Four Directions Says Kabira Listen Oh Sadhu, The Relationship With The World Comes To An End Explanation The town symbolizes the body. The thug is death itself. It robs the body of its life force. The symbolism is at two levels. At the physical level where body and spirit are intertwined like groom and bride, the spirit thinks that body is its abode and tries its best to hang on. It cries at the sight of such a catastrophic loss. But the relentless time (personified as Yamaraj) is sitting in no mood to yield. The bride or spirit thinks that the groom (body) is upset so tries its best to attract its mate and resorts to all kinds of means represented in the song as "bridal makeup". The impermanence of the physical reality is manifested ever so clearly as the body is consumed by the very sensory attributes that it identified with (represented as flames). At the spiritual level, of course, the bride is starting its true journey to reach its permanent abode and therefore the relationship with the world comes to an end. The latter part is inferred in contrast to the more apparent physical reality. In his typical mystical fashion, Kabir urges the listener (Sadhu or one who is doing Sadhana) to come to this understanding on their own - a realization that is not bookish but experiential.
Bin Sat-Guru Nar Rahat Bhulana

Kehar Sutale Aayo Gadariya, Paal Posa Unha Keenha Sayaana Karat Kallol Rahat Ajayan Sangh Apna Marma Unahun Nahin Janaa Kehar Ik Jangal Se Aayaa Tahu Dekhi Bahuta Risiyaana Pakada Ke Bheda Turanta Samajhaaya Apni Dasa Dekha Muskyanaa Jasa Kurang Beech Basat baasna Khojata murakh Phirata chaugaana Karau Sawaas Mana Mein Dekhe Iha Sugandhi Dhau, Aap Samaana Ardha Urdha Beecha Lagana Lagi Re Chhakyo Roopa Nahin Jaat Bakhaana Kahata Kabir Suno Bhai Sadho Ulati Aap Mein, Aap Samaana
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Translation Without a satguru* Man remains ignorant and lost A lion cub became lost and wandered into a shepherd's flock He was adopted and raised by the shepherd He played and moved with the sheep Never realizing his true nature A lion came from the forest Seeing this fully grown sheep-lion, He was amazed and angered He caught him firmly and at once explained the truth When the sheep-lion saw what he had become, he smiled The fragrance of the musk is embedded within the deer But the foolish animal runs hither and thither Searching for the source of the fragrance If only he could look within, He will find the fragrance within himself. Says Kabir My being is centered in between 'above' and 'below', the splendorous experience is indescribable Listen, oh Aspirant! turn within and find your Self.
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* One who reveals the Ultimate Truth. The word has no English equivalent. Explanation Here Kabir uses an old mythical tale to explain the significance of the Guru. Most of us are caught in the 'ways of the outside world' and forget our true nature much like the sheep-lion in this Kabir's song. Kabir compares our foolishness to that of a deer who searches for the source of the fragrance outside, while it is always within him. The LionGuru, who knows the truth, is able to shake us out of our stupor and show us the true reality. Kabir then tells us to find our joyous Self within that is neither above nor below but at the centre.
Nirbhay Nirgun Gun Re Gaunga

Mool Kamal Dradh Aasan Bandhu-ji Ulti Pavan Chadaunga Man Mamta Ko Thir Kar Laun-ji Pancho Tat Milaunga Ingala Pingala Sukhman Nadi-ji Tirveni Pe Haun Nahaunga Panch Pachhison Pakad Mangaun-ji Ek Hi Dor Lagaunga Shunya Shikhar Par Anhad Baje-ji Raag Chattis Sunaunga Kahat Kabir Suno Bhai Sadho-ji Jeet Nishan Ghuraunga
Translation Fearlessly I Will Sing the Attributes of the One without Attributes
Using the Base Lotus as the Steady Seat I Will Make the Wind Rise in Reverse Steadying the Mind's Attachments I Will Unify the Five Elements Ingila, Pingala and Sukhman are the Channels I Will Bathe at the Confluence of the Three Rivers The Five and Twenty Five I Will Master by my Wish And String them Together by One Common Thread At the Summit of Aloneness the Un-struck Anahad Sound Reverberates I Will Play the Thirty-Six Different Symphonies Says Kabir Listen Oh Practicing Aspirant I Will Wave the Flag of Victory Explanation In this song, Kabir clearly shows the "real" meaning of certain phrases used in ancient texts. Often these are mistaken to be reference to physical places while in reality an internal experience is actually being told. Fear is the first and biggest obstacle to spiritual realization. And a state of fearlessness shows that a person has actually accepted the environment or physical reality for what it is. In that state of accepting oneness, Kabir says that he is going to expound on the attributes of the ultimate. Mapping out the procedure for this spiritual journey, Kabir says that we have to start by rooting ourselves (as the tree or plant roots itself) at the base or seat of the energy. The lotus is a reference to a spiritual experience of energy that "flowers" much like a lotus rising above the negativity and fear. Note that the source for nourishment of this lotus is indeed coming from the same swampy muck of negativity. In other words, the negativity or fear is not intrinsically "bad" but really needs to be channelled into more creative expressions. In such a re-channelling of energy, the subtle life force (much like a wind or molecular energy current) starts defying gravity (of our limitations) and moves in a reverse elevating fashion. The further it moves up the less constrained it becomes in effect integrating all of reality into a universal oneness. What pulls the energy down is the gravitational force of our attachments. Therefore the mind needs to be steadied to a state of equilibrium where these attachments are no longer forcing us downward to the realm of fear. In such a state of upward transition, the earthy reality of fear gets transformed to the watery reality of creativity, then the
fiery reality of power onto the airy reality of love and finally the ethereal realm of freedom and total spatial detachment. In effect, the five elements of earth, water, fire, air and ether are merged in a transcendental fashion. At this stage of the journey the pair of opposites are balanced. That is, the cold dispassionate channel and the hot passionate channel are balanced in the centre channel through a dynamic equilibrium. However, reality is still flowing and time is not transcended. Only when the triad of flows (cold, hot and lukewarm, or past, future and present, or left, right and centre) merge that one is able to overcome the grip of Kala or time. It is then that the three rivers or channels merge at the confluence of Triveni and one takes a holy dip of immortality. Why immortality? Because at this point the constraints of both space (through the unifying of the five elements) and time (through the merging of the three channels) have been removed. In fact, the holy dip in the immortality of Triveni is an internal experience and the physical location of Prayag (Allahabad, India) is only a reminder of this inner truth. In other words, Kabir is indicating that only when one experiences such holy bathing within does one become immortal and not by a mere dip in the waters of the three rivers at Allahabad. When such a confluence is achieved one has the ability of controlling the five senses and twenty-five ways of experiencing world and stringing them with the oneness of your inner self much like a garland. Since there is nothing but yourself, Kabir calls it the summit of nothingness. The feat of reaching the summit of creation is celebrated by the waving of a flag of victory and sounds of a myriad of rhythmic symphonies coming from the eternal un-struck sound that brings forth the entire creation itself.
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Taoist Parables
INTRODUCTION Taoism is an oriental philosophy. It is not an organized religion. One of the teachings of Tao is that Tao cannot be defined. Any definitions would detract from a true understanding of Tao. Perhaps the best explanation is that heavens. Taoism is concerned with the peace and enlightment by harmonizing does not need to become a hermit, but Tao is the way of nature, or the way of the sublime patterns of nature. A person can achieve his or herself with the course of nature. A person he or she must become free from worldy desires.
LAO TZU The Tao Te Ching is the fundamental book of Taosim. It reported author was Lao Tzu (also spelled Lao Tse) who lived in China sometime around 600 B.C. There is some controversy among scholars as to whether Lao Tzu actually ever existed. This book is concerned with both personal conduct and government. An example of its teachings is "The submissive and weak will overcome the hard and strong."
CHUANG TZU The second book of Taosim is Chuang Tzu. This book was inspired by the teachings of Chuang Tzu who live around 400 B.C., although this philosopher apparently did not write the book that bears his name. The format of this book is a collection of short parables, filled with wit, paradox, and satire. "Life the Dream" is one of his best-know parables.
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"Once upon a time, I, Chuang Tzu, dreamt I was a butterfly, fluttering hither and thither, to all intents and purposes a butterfly. I was conscious only of following my fancies as a butterfly, and was unconscious of my individuality as a man. Suddenly, I awoke, and there I lay, myself again. Now I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly dreaming that I am now a man."
WU WEI Wu wei is an important Taoist teaching. This phrase means "non-doing," or "non-action." This literal translation, however, is misleading. This concept means that heaven will manifest its will for us in a spontaneous manner if we allow it to. We can thereby attain a much more sublime level of peace and happiness than by following a deliberate set of virtuous actions.
TAOISM AND CONFUCIUS Taoist authors often poke fun at Confucius. Confucius valued duty and morality. Confucius was concerned with a very deliberate effort to attain virtue, particularly by following rituals and by obedience to parents and authority figures. On the other hand, Taoist believed that people who sought virtue through outwardly duty would do so to earn the praise of men. This desire for praise would turn virtue into evil. A Taoist's quest for enlightment was a personal, inward process. Again, Confucius was concerned with outwardly duty and loyalty to authority figures. Taoists also distrusted political authority. Basically, they believed that power corrupts. Chuang Tzu wrote a parable in which a prince appointed him as prime minister. Chuang Tzu rejected the appointment by saying that he would rather be a "turtle dragging its tail in the mud."
TAOIST BELIEF IN THE AFTERLIFE The Taoist belief in the afterlife is perhaps best represented by the following quotes from Chuang Tzu:
"How then do I know but that the dead repent of having previously clung to life?" "How do I know that the love of life is not a delusion? That the dislike of death is not like a young person losing his way and not knowing that he is going home?"
TAOIST BELIEF IN GOD Taoists teachings seem to make only a passing reference to the existence of God. A verse in the Tao Te Ching, chapter 4, states that Tao "images the forefather of God." On the other hand, The Taoists' extensive belief in heaven suggest an underlying belief in God. This Taoist God, however, does not demand to be worshipped, in contrast to the worship practices of Christians, Jews, and Moslems.
TAOIST POETRY Again, Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu are the principal teachers of Taoism. Many other Chinese authors and poets, however, have expressed Taoist ideas in their works. A few examples are given in this section. In front of my bed the moonlight shone. For a moment I took it for frost on the floor. When I lifted my head, I saw that it was the Moon. When I bent my head, I dreamt of my far-away home. - Li P'o
I gather chrysanthemums at the eastern hedgerow And silently gaze at the southern mountains. The mountain air is beautiful in the sunset, And the birds flocking together return home. Among all these things is a real meaning, Yet when I try to express it, I become lost in "no-words." -T'ao Ch'ien
Yu travelled south inspecting the Empire, and when crossing the river a yellow dragon shouldered the boat. The boatmen changed color, but Yu, smiling genially said, "I'm doing my utmost in the interest of the people, discharging my duties in obedience to Heaven. Living, I'm but a guest, dying I return home. Why should we be disturbed in our peace? The sight of a dragon is no more than a lizard." Since he didn't turn color, the dragon pressed his ears and dropping his tail departed. Yu thought it a little matter to see monstrous animals. - Huai-Nan Tzu
Parables
I There was once a monk who would carry a mirror where ever he went. A priest noticed this one day and thought to himself This monk must be so preoccupied with the way he looks that he has to carry that mirror all the time. He should not worry about the way he looks on the outside, its whats inside that counts. So the priest went up to the monk and asked Why do you always carry that mirror? thinking for sure this would prove his guilt. The monk pulled the mirror from his bag and pointed it at the priest. Then he said I use it in times of trouble. I look into it and it shows me the source of my problems as well as the solution to my problems.
II Once there was a horse tied up on the side of the street. Whenever someone tried to pass, the horse would kick them. Soon a crowd gathered around the horse until a wise man was seen coming close. The people said This horse will surely kill anyone who tries to pass. What are we going to do? The wise man looked at the horse, turned and walked down another street.
III A monk and his novice were walking through the forest. They come to a stream. On the bank there was a beautifully dressed woman, crying. The monks asked her what was the matter. I am on my way to a wedding. I have to cross the stream to get there, but the
bridge has been washed away. I was searching for a place to cross where I wouldnt ruin the dress, but I cant find one and if I dont make it across soon, I will be late. Without a word, the elder monk scooped her into his arms, waded across the stream, and deposited her on the other side. Ignoring her thanks, he waded back and the two monks resume their walk. They continued on their journey, but the younger monk was agitated and obviously had something on his mind. The elder monk stopped and asked him what was the matter. Elder, I am confused. Our vows prohibit us from fleshly contact with women, yet you embraced that woman in your arms. How can this be? The elder monk eyed his novice with kindly concern. Novice, he asked, I left her on the bank of the stream. Why do you still carry her?
IV There was a man who was so disturbed by the sight of his own shadow and so displeased with his own footsteps, that he determined to get rid of both. The method he hit upon was to run away from them. So he got up and ran. But every time he put his foot down there was another step, while his shadow kept up with him without the slightest difficulty. He attributed his failure to the fact that he was not running fast enough. So he ran faster and faster, without stopping, until he finally dropped dead. He failed to realise that if he merely stepped into the shade, his shadow would vanish, and if he sat down and stayed still, there would be no more footsteps.
V There was once a Taoist farmer. One day the Taoist farmers only horse broke out of the corral and ran away. The farmers neighbours, all hearing of the horse running away, came to the Taoist farmers house to view the corral. As they stood there, the neighbours all said, "Oh what bad luck!" The Taoist farmer replied, "Maybe." About a week later, the horse returned bringing with it a whole herd of wild horses, which the Taoist farmer and his son quickly corralled. The neighbours, hearing of the corralling of the horses, came to see for themselves. As they stood there looking at the
corral filled with horses, the neighbours said, "Oh what good luck!" The Taoist farmer replied, "Maybe." At that same time in China, there was a war going on between two rival warlords. The warlord of the Taoist farmers village was involved in this war. In need of more soldiers, he sent one of his captains to the village to conscript young men to fight in the war. When the captain came to take the Taoist farmers son he found a young man with a broken leg who was delirious with fever. Knowing there was no way the son could fight, the captain left him there. A few days later, the sons fever broke. The neighbours, hearing of the sons not being taken to fight in the war and of his return to good health, all came to see him. As they stood there, each one said, "Oh what good luck!" The Taoist farmer replied, "Maybe."
VI The Great Philosopher Kong Fu Zi (Confucious) walked with one of his advisers upon a path beside a Great River. The Water was swift, deep, and it foamed and boiled at the base of large Rocks. The two were deep in conversation when the adviser's face turned suddenly pale, and he pointed out to the River. Turning to look, Kong Fu Zi was alarmed to see an Old Man floating quickly down stream, right in the middle of the Hurtling Flood! Quickly -- being a compassionate man of great character -- Kong Fu Zi ran towards the River. He fetched a long Branch as he hurried towards the shore, where he climbed atop a great Rock which overhung the frothing white Water. Kong Fu Zi thrust the long Branch at the Ancient looking Man; but the oldster simply waved at him as one might at a friend on the road, a gleeful smile beaming from his face! Again, Kong Fu Zi ran down the shoreline till he came to another overhanging place, and again he offered the Branch to the floating man...and, again, the Old Man simply smiled, and waved. And now it was too late: The water came to a great Fall, and they saw -- for the briefest of moments -- the silhouette of the Old Man as he flew a bit out into space...and then plummeted out of sight. Kong Fu Zi and his adviser went down the hill in a somber manner, seeking to find the Old Man's body that he might at least receive a proper interment.
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As they came into view of the Pool at the base of the falls, however, they saw -- to their surprise -- the Old Man joyously sporting in the Water. He was making great splashes, and sucking in Water to act like a spout! Such a wonderful time he appeared to be having! The two would-be rescuers came slowly to the shore, bewildered by what they saw, and cautious now. Surely this Old Man was a great Wizard to have traversed in safety a River so mighty...and still have the energy to sport about in such a childish manner! Or perhaps the Old Man was simply insane, Kong Fu Zi reasoned. "Sir!" Kong Fu Zi called after a few moments, "Sir! Please, are you well?" "Well indeed, brother!" The Old Man called. He splashed at a young robin, laughing at the noises of protest as the fledgling flew away. "Such a strong River, sir...you are lucky to be alive!" Kong Fu Zi called back, "Why didn't you take my Branch when I offered to save you? There are many Rocks in the River, and swift is the Stream!" The Old Man laughed so uproariously that Kong Fu Zi had to spend great effort to not smile himself as he watched the Old Man slap his knee and double over, tears of mirth forming in his eyes. Finally, when his laughter had subsided some, the Old Man called back, and in his voice was a Song: "Ah, yes, in Truth it is so: But where the Rocks are, the Water knows... just trust in It and follow where It flows!"
In the pursuit of learning, every day something is acquired. In the pursuit of Tao, every day something is dropped.
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Meditation of the Month

Buddha used to say that when a thought arises, note down that a thought is arising. Just inside, note it: now a thought is arising, now a thought has arisen, now a thought is disappearing. Just remember that now the thought is arising, now the thought has arisen, now the thought is disappearing, so that you don't get identified with it. It is very beautiful and very simple. A desire arises. You are walking on the road; a beautiful car passes by. You look at it and you have not even looked and the desire to possess it arises. Do it. In the beginning just verbalize; just say slowly, I have seen a car. It is beautiful. Now a desire has arisen to possess it. Just verbalize. In the beginning it is good; if you can say it loudly, it is very good. Say loudly, I am just noting that a car has passed, the mind has said it is beautiful, and now desire has arisen and I must possess this car. Verbalize everything, speak loudly to yourself and immediately you will feel that you are different from it. Note it. When you have become efficient in noting, there is no need to say it loudly. Just inside, note that a desire has arisen. A beautiful woman passes; the desire has come in. Just note it as if you are not concerned, you are just noting the fact that is happening and then suddenly you will be out of it. Buddha says, Note down whatsoever happens. Just go on noting, and when it disappears, again note that now that desire has disappeared, and you will feel a distance from the desire, from the thought. And if you can consider that a desire has arisen and a desire has gone and you have remained in the gap and the desire has not disturbed you.... It came, it went. It was there, and it is now not there, and you have remained unperturbed, you have remained as you were before it. There has been no change in you. It came and it passed like a shadow. It has not touched you; you remain unscarred. Consider this movement of desire and movement of thought but no movement in you. Consider and dissolve in the beauty. And that interval is beautiful. Dissolve in that interval. Fall in the gap and be the gap. It is the deepest experience of beauty. And not only of beauty, but of good and of truth also. In the gap you are.
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Meditation Times February 2012

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