VIGYAN BHAIRAV TANTRA VOL1
Fulfillment through becoming centered
VIGYAN BHAIRAV TANTRA VOL1
Fulfillment through becoming centered
IS
SELF-ACTUALIZATION A BASIC NEED?
There are many questions. The first: IS SELF-ACTUALIZATION A BASIC NEED OF
MAN? First, try to understand what is meant by self-actualization. A. H.
Maslow has used this term "self-actualization." Man is born as potentiality.
He is not really actual -- just potential. Man is born as a possibility, not
as an actuality. He may become something; he may attain actualization of his
potentiality or he may not attain. The opportunity may be used or it may not
be used. And nature is not forcing you to become actual. You are free. You
can choose to become actual; you can choose not to do anything about it. Man
is born as a seed. Thus, no man is born fulfilled -- just with the
possibility of fulfillment.
If that is the case -- and that is the case -- then self-actualization
becomes a basic need. Because unless you are fulfilled, unless you become
what you can be or what you are meant to be, unless your destiny is
fulfilled, unless you actually attain, unless your seed becomes a fulfilled
tree, you will feel that you are missing something. And everyone is feeling,
that he is missing something. That feeling of missing is really because of
this, that you are not yet actual.
It is not really that you are missing riches or position, prestige or
power. Even if you get whatsoever you demand -- riches, power, prestige,
anything -- you will feel this constant sense of something missing within
you, because this something missing is not related with anything outward. It
is related with your inner growth. Unless you become fulfilled, unless you
come to a realization, a flowering, unless you come to an inner satisfaction
in which you feel, "Now this is what I was meant to be," this sense of
something missing will be felt. And you cannot destroy this feeling of
something missing by anything else.
So self-actualization means a person has become what he was to become. He
was born as a seed and now he has flowered. He has come to the complete
growth, an inner growth, to the inner end. The moment you feel that all your
potentialities have become actual, you will feel the peak of life, of love,
of existence itself.
Abraham Maslow, who has used this term "self-actualization," has also
coined another term: "peak experience." When one attains to oneself, he
reaches a peak -- a peak of bliss. Then there is no hankering after
anything. He is totally content with himself. Now nothing is lacking; there
is no desire, no demand, no movement. Whatsoever he is, he is totally
content with himself. Self-actualization becomes a peak experience, and only
a self-actualized person can attain peak experiences. Then whatsoever he
touches, whatsoever he is doing or not doing -- even just existing -- is a
peak experience for him; just to be is blissful. Then bliss is not concerned
with anything outside, it is just a by-product of the inner growth.
A buddha is a self-actualized person. That is why we picture Buddha,
Mahavir and others -- why we have made sculptures, pictures, depictions of
them -- sitting on a fully blossomed lotus. That fully blossomed lotus is
the peak of flowering inside. Inside they have flowered and have become
fully blossomed. That inner flowering gives a radiance, a constant showering
of bliss from them. All those who come even within their shadows, all those
who come near them feel a silent milieu around them.
There is an interesting story about Mahavir. It is a myth, but myths are
beautiful and they say much which cannot be said otherwise. It is reported
that when Mahavir would move, all around him, in an area of about
twenty-four miles, all the flowers would bloom. Even if it was not the
season for the flowers, they would bloom. This is simply a poetic
expression, but even if one was not self-actualized, if one were to come in
contact with Mahavir his flowering would become infectious, and one would
feel an inner flowering in oneself also. Even if it was not the right season
for a person, even if he was not ready, he would reflect, he would feel an
echo. If Mahavir was near someone, that person would feel an echo within
himself, and he would have a glimpse of what he could be.
Self-actualization is the basic need. And when I say basic, I mean that if
all your needs are fulfilled, all except self-realization,
self-actualization, you will feel unfulfilled. In fact, if
self-actualization happens and nothing else is fulfilled, still you will
feel a deep, total fulfillment. That is why Buddha was a beggar, but yet an
emperor.
Buddha came to Kashi when he became enlightened. The king of Kashi came to
see him and he asked, "I do not see that you have anything, you are just a
beggar, yet I feel myself a beggar in comparison to you. You do not have
anything, but the way you walk, the way you look, the way you laugh makes it
seem as if the whole world is your kingdom. And you have nothing visible --
nothing! So where is the secret of your power? You look like an emperor."
Really, no emperor has ever looked like that -- as if the whole world
belongs to him. "You are the king, but where is your power, the source?"
So Buddha said, "It is in me. My power, my source of power, whatsoever you
feel around me is really within me. I do not have anything except myself,
but it is enough. I am fulfilled; now I do not desire anything. I have
become desireless."
Really, a self-actualized person will become desireless. Remember this.
Ordinarily we say that if you become desireless, you will know yourself. The
contrary is more true: if you know yourself, you will become desireless. And
the emphasis of tantra is not on being desireless, but on becoming
self-actualized. Then desirelessness follows.
Desire means you are not fulfilled within, you are missing something so you
hanker after it. You go on, from one desire to another, in search of
fulfillment. That search never ends because one desire creates another
desire. Really, one desire creates ten desires. If you go in search of a
desireless state of bliss through desires, you will never reach. But if you
try something else -- methods of self-actualization, methods of realizing
your inner potentiality, of making them actual -- then the more you will
become actual the less and less desires will be felt, because really, they
are felt only because you are empty inside. When you are not empty within,
desiring ceases.
What to do about self-actualization? Two things have to be understood. One:
self-actualization doesn't mean that if you become a great painter or a
great musician or a great poet you will be self-actualized. Of course, a
part of you will be actualized, and even that gives much contentment. If you
have a potentiality of being a good musician, and if you fulfill it and you
become a musician, a part of you will be fulfilled -- but not the total. The
remaining humanity within you will remain unfulfilled. You will be lopsided.
One part will have grown, and the remaining will have stayed just like a
stone hanging around your neck.
Look at a poet. When he is in his poetic mood he looks like a buddha; he
forgets himself completely. The ordinary man in the poetic mood is as if he
is no more there. So when a poet is in his mood, he has a peak -- a partial
peak. And sometimes poets have glimpses which are only possible with
enlightened, buddha-like minds. A poet can speak like a buddha. For example,
Khalil Gibran speaks like a buddha but he is not a buddha. He is a poet -- a
great poet.
So if you see Khalil Gibran through his poetry, he looks like Buddha,
Christ or Krishna. But if you go and meet the man Khalil Gibran, he is just
ordinary. He talks about love so beautifully -- even a buddha may not talk
so beautifully. But a buddha knows love with his total being. Khalil Gibran
knows love in his poetic flight. When he is on his poetic flight, he has
glimpses of love -- beautiful glimpses. He expresses them with rare insight.
But if you go and see the real Khalil Gibran, the man, you will feel a
disparity. The poet and the man are far apart. The poet seems to be
something which happens to this man sometimes, but this man is not the poet.
That is why poets feel that when they are creating poetry someone else is
creating; they are not creating. They feel as if they have become
instruments of some other energy, some other force. They are no more. This
feeling comes because, really, their totality is not actualized -- only a
part of it is, a fragment.
You have not touched the sky. Only one of your fingers has touched the sky,
and you remain rooted on the earth. Sometimes you jump, and for a moment you
are not on the earth; you have deceived gravity. But the next moment you are
on the earth again. When a poet is feeling fulfilled, he will have glimpses
-- partial glimpses. When a musician is feeling fulfilled, he will have
partial glimpses.
It is said of Beethoven that when he was on the stage he was a different
man, altogether different. Goethe has said that when Beethoven was on stage
directing his group, his orchestra, he looked like a god. It could not be
said that he was an ordinary man. He was not a man at all; he was
superhuman. The way he looked, the way he raised his hands, was all
superhuman. But when he came back from the stage he was just an ordinary
man. The man on the stage seemed to be possessed by something else, as if
Beethoven was no more there and some other force had entered into him. Back
down from the stage he was again Beethoven, the man.
Because of this, poets, musicians, great artists, creative people are more
tense -- because they have two types of being. Ordinary man is not so tense
because he always lives in one: he lives on the earth. But poets, musicians,
great artists jump; they go beyond gravity. In certain moments they are not
on this earth, they are not part of humanity. They become part of the buddha
world -- the land of the buddhas. Then again they are back here. They have
two points of existence; their personalities are split.
So every creative artist, every great artist is in a certain way insane.
The tension is so much! The rift, the gap between these two types of
existences is so great -- unbridgeably great. Sometimes he is just an
ordinary man; sometimes he becomes buddha-like. Between these two points he
is divided, but he has glimpses.
When I say self-actualization, I do not mean that you should become a great
poet or you should become a great musician. I mean that you should become a
total man. I do not say a great man because a great man is always partial.
Greatness in anything is always partial. One moves and moves and moves in
one direction, and in all other dimensions, all other directions, one
remains the same -- one becomes lopsided.
When I say become a total man, I do not mean become a great man. I mean
create a balance, be centered, be fulfilled as a man -- not as a musician,
not as a poet, not as an artist, but fulfilled as a man. What does it mean
to be fulfilled as a man? A great poet is a great poet because of great
poetry. A great musician is great because of great music. A great man is a
great man because of certain things he has done -- he may be a great hero. A
great man in any direction is partial. Greatness is partial, fragmentary.
That is why great men have to face more anguish than ordinary men.
What is a total man? What is meant by being a whole man, a total man? It
means, firstly, be centered; do not exist without a center. This moment you
are something, the next moment something else. People come to me and I
generally ask them, "Where do you feel your center -- in the heart, in the
mind, in the navel, where? In the sex center? Where? Where do you feel your
center?"
Generally they say, "Sometimes I feel it in the head, sometimes in the
heart, sometimes I do not feel it at all." So I tell them to close their
eyes before me and feel it just now. In the majority of cases this happens:
they say, "Just now, for a moment, I feel that I am centered in the head."
But the next moment they are not there. They say, "I am in the heart." And
the next moment the center has slipped, it is somewhere else, at the sex
center or somewhere else.
Really, you are not centered; you are only momentarily centered. Each
moment has its own center, so you go on shifting. When mind is functioning
you feel that the head is the center. When you are in love, you feel it is
the heart. When you are not doing anything particularly, you are confused --
you cannot find out where the center is, because you can find this out only
when you are working, doing something. Then a particular part of the body
becomes the center. But YOU are not centered. If you are not doing anything,
you cannot find where your center of being is.
A total man is centered. Whatsoever he is doing, he remains in the center.
If his mind is functioning, he is thinking, thinking goes on in the head but
he remains centered in the navel. The center is never missed. He uses the
head, but he never moves to the head. He uses the heart, but he never moves
to the heart. All these things become instruments, and he remains centered.
Secondly, he is balanced. Of course, when one is centered one is balanced.
His life is a deep balance. He is never one-sided, he is never at any
extreme -- he remains in the middle. Buddha has called this the middle path.
He remains always in the middle.
A man who is not centered will always move to the extreme. When he eats he
will eat much, he will overeat, or he can fast, but right eating is
impossible for him. Fasting is easy, overeating is okay. He can be in the
world, committed, involved, or he can renounce the world -- but he can never
be balanced. He can never remain in the middle, because if you are not
centered you do not know what middle means.
A person who is centered is always in the middle in everything, never at
any extreme. Buddha says his eating is right eating; it is neither
overeating, nor fasting. His labor is right labor -- never too much, never
too little. Whatsoever he is, he is always balanced.
First thing: a self-actualized person will be centered.
Second thing: he will be balanced.
Thirdly: if these two things happen -- centering, balance -- many things
will follow. He will always be at ease. Whatsoever the situation, the at-easeness
will not be lost. I say whatsoever the situation -- unconditionally, the at-easeness
will not be lost, because one who is at the center is always at ease. Even
if death comes, he will be at ease. He will receive death as one receives
any other guest. If misery comes, he will receive it. Whatsoever happens, it
cannot dislodge him from his center. That at-easeness is also a by-product
of being centered.
For such a man, nothing is trivial, nothing is great; everything becomes
sacred, beautiful, holy -- everything! Whatsoever he is doing, whatsoever,
it is of ultimate concern -- as if of ultimate concern. Nothing is trivial.
He will not say, "This is trivial, this is great." Really, nothing is great,
nor is anything small and trivial. The touch of the man is significant. A
self-actualized person, a balanced, centered person, changes everything. The
very touch makes it great.
If you observe a buddha, you will see that he walks and he loves walking.
If you go to Bodhgaya where Buddha attained enlightenment, to the bank of
the Niranjana -- to the place where he was sitting under the Bodhi tree --
you will see that the place of his steps has been marked. He would meditate
for one hour, then he would walk around. In Buddhist terminology this is
called CHAKRAMAN. He would sit under the Bodhi tree, then he would walk. But
he would walk with a serene attitude, as if in meditation.
Someone asked Buddha, "Why do you do this? Sometimes you sit with closed
eyes and meditate, then you walk." Buddha said, "Sitting in order to be
silent is easy, so I walk. But I carry the same silence within. I sit, but
inside I am the same -- silent. I walk, but inside I am the same -- silent."
The inner quality is the same... When he meets an emperor and when he meets
a beggar, a buddha is the same, he has the same inner quality. When meeting
a beggar he is not different, when meeting an emperor he is not different;
he is the same. The beggar is not a nobody and the emperor is not a
somebody. And really, while meeting a buddha, emperors have felt like
beggars and beggars have felt like emperors. The touch, the man, the quality
remains the same.
When Buddha was alive, every day in the morning he would say to his
disciples, "If you have to ask anything, ask." The day he was dying, that
morning it was the same. He called his disciples and said, "Now if you want
to ask anything, you can ask. And remember, that this is the last morning.
Before this day ends, I will be no more." He was the same. That was his
daily question in the morning. He was the same! The day was the last, but he
was the same. Just as on any other day, he said, "Okay, if you have to ask
anything, you can ask -- but this is the last day."
There was no change of tone, but the disciples began to weep. They forgot
to ask anything. Buddha said, "Why are you weeping? If you would have wept
on another day it would have been okay, but this is the last day. By the
evening I will be no more, so do not waste time in weeping. Another day it
would have been okay; you could have wasted time. Do not waste your time in
weeping. Why are you weeping? Ask if you have anything to ask." He was the
same in life and death.
So thirdly, the self-actualized man is at ease. Life and death are the
same; bliss and misery are the same. Nothing disturbs him, nothing
dislocates him from his home, from his centeredness. To such a man you
cannot add anything. You cannot take anything out of him, you cannot add
anything to him -- he is fulfilled. His every breath is a fulfilled breath,
silent, blissful. He has attained. He has attained to existence, to being;
he has flowered as a total man.
This is not a partial flowering. Buddha is not a great poet. Of course,
whatsoever he says is poetry. He is not a poet at all, but even when he
moves, walks, it is poetry. He is not a painter, but whenever he speaks,
whatsoever he says becomes a painting. He is not a musician, but his whole
being is music par excellence. The man as a totality has attained. So now,
whatsoever he is doing or not doing... when he is sitting in silence, not
doing anything, even in silence his presence works, creates; it becomes
creative.
Tantra is concerned not with any partial growth, it is concerned with you
as a total being. So three things are basic: you must be centered, rooted,
and balanced; that is, always in the middle -- of course, without any
effort. If there is effort you are not balanced. And you must be at ease --
at ease in the universe, at home in the existence, and then many things
follow. This is a basic need, because unless this need is fulfilled you are
a man only in name. You are a man as a possibility, you are not actually a
man. You can be, you have the potentiality, but the potentiality has to be
made actual.
The second question:
ENERGY ENHANCEMENT
THE CORE ENERGY TECHNIQUES !!
ENERGY
ENHANCEMENT, !!! ULTIMATE !!!!!! ANCIENT !!! !!! EFFECTIVE !!!!!
SUCCESSFUL !!!
1. Get into Intense alignment with Your Own Kundalini Energy and Immediate
Access to the Meditative State.
2. Remove your Energy Blockages with The Circulation of the Energies, the
Kundalini Kriyas, Ancient Taoist Energy Circulations which have worked
effectively for 5000 years to help all towards ENLIGHTENMENT.
3. The Grounding of all your Negative Energies through Alchemical VITRIOL -
Become Incredibly POSITIVE and ENERGETIC!!
4. Alignment with Your Higher Self - INCREASE YOUR IQ, INCREASE YOUR LUCK,
ACCESS YOUR HIGHEST ENERGIES!! ACHIEVE WHAT YOU WERE PUT ON THIS PLANET TO DO.
5. Learn how to USE and Increase the LOVE of Your Heart Center to ZAP YOUR
NEGATIVE EMOTIONS AND DEVELOP PSYCHIC POWERS TO HEAL YOURSELF AND OTHERS.
6. Overcome ENERGY VAMPIRES - MASTER ENERGY PROTECTION AND MAINTAIN YOUR HIGH
ENERGIES!!
7. EXPERIENCE INCREDIBLE RELATIONSHIPS WITH ENERGY ENHANCEMENT - THE CORE ENERGY
TECHNIQUES
8. ENERGY ENHANCEMENT Techniques are the source of all Successful spiritual
training courses over the last 5000 years. Become a Jedi Master, a Gandalf, a
Transmitter of the FORCE a Bringer of the Light!!
GET MORE ENERGY!!!
ENERGY ENHANCEMENT -
!!! ULTIMATE !!!
!!! ANCIENT !!!
!!! EFFECTIVE !!!
!!! SUCCESSFUL !!!
Goto and SIGNUP NOW!!
http://www.energyenhancement.org/HomeStudyMeditationCourse.htm
Question 2
KINDLY EXPLAIN CONTEMPLATION, CONCENTRATION AND MEDITATION.
`Contemplation' means directed thinking. We all think; that is not
contemplation. That thinking is undirected, vague, leading nowhere. Really,
our thinking is not contemplation, but what Freudians call association. One
thought leads to another without any direction from you. The thought itself
leads to another because of association.
You see a dog crossing the street. The moment you see the dog, your mind
starts thinking about dogs. The dog has led you to this thought, and then
the mind has many associations. When you were a child, you were afraid of a
particular dog. That dog comes to the mind and then the childhood comes to
the mind. Then dogs are forgotten; then just by association you begin to
daydream about your childhood. Then the childhood goes on being connected
with other things, and you move in circles.
Whenever you are at ease, try to go backwards from your thinking to where
the thoughts came from. Go back, retrace the steps. Then you will see that
another thought was there, and that led to this. And they are not logically
connected, because how is a dog on the street connected with your childhood?
There is no logical connection -- only association in your mind. If I was
crossing the street, the same dog would not lead me to my childhood, it
would lead to something else. In a third person it would lead to still
something else. Everyone has associated chains in the mind. With any one
person some happening, some accident will lead to the chain. Then the mind
begins to function like a computer. Then one thing leads to another, another
leads to another, and you go on, and the whole day you are doing that.
Write down on a sheet of paper whatsoever comes to your mind, honestly. You
will be just amazed what is happening in your mind. There is no relation
between two thoughts, and you go on doing this type of thinking. You call
this thinking? This is just association of one thought with another, and
they lead themselves... you are led.
Thinking becomes contemplation when it moves not through association, but
is directed. You are working on a particular problem -- then you bracket out
all associations. You move on that problem only, you direct your mind. The
mind will try to escape to any bypath, to any side route, to some
association. You cut off all the side routes; on only one road you direct
your mind.
A scientist working on a problem is in contemplation. A logician working on
a problem, a mathematician working on a problem is in contemplation. A poet
contemplates a flower. Then the whole world is bracketed out, and only that
flower and the poet remains, and he moves with the flower. Many things from
side routes will attract, but he does not allow his mind to move anywhere.
Mind moves in one line, directed. This is contemplation.
Science is based on contemplation. Any logical thinking is contemplation:
thought is directed, thinking guided. Ordinary thinking is absurd.
Contemplation is logical, rational.
Then there is `concentration'. Concentration is staying at one point. It is
not thinking; it is not contemplation. It is really being at one point, not
allowing the mind to move at all. In ordinary thinking mind moves as a
madman. In contemplation the madman is led, directed; he cannot escape
anywhere. In concentration the mind is not allowed to move. In ordinary
thinking, it is allowed to move anywhere; in contemplation, it is allowed to
move only somewhere; in concentration, it is not allowed to move, it is only
allowed to be at one point. The whole energy, the whole movement stops,
sticks to one point.
Yoga is concerned with concentration, ordinary mind with undirected
thinking, the scientific mind with directed thinking. The yogic mind has its
thinking focused, fixed at one point; no movement is allowed.
And then there is 'meditation'. In ordinary thinking, mind is allowed to
move anywhere; in contemplation, it is allowed only in one direction, all
other directions are cut off. In concentration, it is not allowed to move
even in one direction; it is allowed only to concentrate on one point. And
in meditation, mind is not allowed at all. Meditation is no-mind.
These are four stages: ordinary thinking, contemplation, concentration,
meditation.
Meditation means no-mind -- not even concentration is allowed. Mind itself
is not allowed to be! That is why meditation cannot be grasped by mind. Up
to concentration mind has a reach, an approach. Mind can understand
concentration, but mind cannot understand meditation. Really, mind is not
allowed at all. In concentration, mind is allowed to be at one point. In
meditation, even that point is taken away. In ordinary thinking, all
directions are open. In contemplation, only one direction is open. In
concentration, only one point is open -- no direction. In meditation, even
that point is not open: mind is not allowed to be.
Ordinary thinking is the ordinary state of mind, and meditation is the
highest possibility. The lowest one is ordinary thinking, association, and
the highest, the peak, is meditation -- no-mind.
And with the second question, it is also asked: CONTEMPLATION AND
CONCENTRATION ARE MENTAL PROCESSES. HOW CAN MENTAL PROCESSES HELP IN
ACHIEVING A STATE OF NO-MIND?
The question is significant. Mind asks, how can mind itself go beyond mind?
How can any mental process help to achieve something which is not of the
mind? It looks contradictory. How can your mind try, make an effort to
create a state which is not of mind?
Try to understand. When mind is, what is there? A process of thinking. When
there is no-mind, what is there? No process of thinking. If you go on
decreasing your process of thinking, if you go on dissolving your thinking,
by and by, slowly, you are reaching no-mind. Mind means thinking; no mind
means non-thinking. And mind can help. Mind can help in committing suicide.
You can commit suicide; you never ask how a man who is alive can help
himself to be dead. You can help yourself to be dead -- everyone is trying
to help. You can help yourself to be dead, and you are alive. Mind can help
to be no-mind. How can mind help?
If the process of thinking becomes more and more dense, then you are
proceeding from mind to more mind. If the process of thinking becomes less
dense, is decreased, is slowed down, you are helping yourself toward
no-mind. It depends on you. And mind can be a help, because really, mind is
what you are doing with your consciousness this very moment. If you leave
your consciousness alone, without doing anything with it, it becomes
meditation.
So there are two possibilities: either slowly, gradually you decrease your
mind, by and by. If one percent is decreased, then you have ninety-nine
percent mind and one percent no-mind within you. It is as if you have
removed some furniture from your room -- then some space is created there.
Then you remove more furniture, and more space is created there. When you
have removed all the furniture, the whole room becomes space.
Really, space is not created by removing the furniture, the space was
already there. It is only that the space was occupied by the furniture. When
you remove the furniture, no space comes in from outside; the space was
there, occupied by furniture. You have removed the furniture, and the space
is recovered, reclaimed. Deep down mind is space occupied, filled by
thoughts. If you remove some thoughts, space is created -- or discovered, or
reclaimed. If you go on removing your thoughts, by and by you go on
regaining your space. This space is meditation.
Slowly it can be done -- suddenly also. There is no need to go on for lives
together removing the furniture, because there are problems. When you start
to remove the furniture, one percent space is created and ninety-nine
percent space is occupied. That ninety-nine percent occupied space will not
feel good about the unoccupied space; it will try to fill it. So one goes on
slowly decreasing thoughts and then again creating new thoughts.
In the morning you sit for meditation for some time; you slow down your
process of thought. Then you go to the market, and again there is a rush of
thoughts. The space is filled again. The next day you again do this, and you
go on doing this -- throwing it out, and inviting it in again.
You can also throw all the furniture out suddenly. It is your decision. It
is difficult because you have become accustomed to the furniture. You may
feel uncomfortable without the furniture; you will not know what to do with
that space. You may become afraid even to move in that space. You have never
moved in such freedom.
Mind is a conditioning. We have become accustomed to thoughts. Have you
ever observed -- or if you have not observed, then observe -- that you go on
repeating the same thoughts every day. You are like a gramophone record, and
then too not a fresh, new one -- old. You go on and on repeating the same
things. Why? What is the use of it? Only one use, it is just a long habit;
you feel you are doing something.
You are lying on your bed just waiting for sleep to come and the same
things are repeated every day. Why are you doing this? It helps in a way.
Old habits, conditionings, help. A child needs a toy. If the toy is given to
him, he will fall into sleep; then you can take away the toy. But if the toy
is not there, the child cannot fall into sleep. It is a conditioning. The
moment the toy is given to him, it triggers something in his mind. Now he is
ready to fall into sleep.
The same is happening with you. The toys may differ. One person cannot fall
into sleep unless he starts chanting, "Ram, Ram, Ram..." He cannot fall into
sleep! This is a toy. If he chants, "Ram, Ram, Ram..." the toy is given to
him; he can fall into sleep.
You feel difficulty in falling asleep in a new room. If you are accustomed
to sleeping in particular clothes, then you will need those particular
clothes every day. Psychologists say that if you sleep in a nightgown and it
is not given to you, you will feel difficulty in falling asleep. Why? If you
have never slept naked and you are told to sleep naked, you will not feel at
ease. Why? There is no relationship between nakedness and sleep, but for you
there is a relationship, an old habit. With old habits one feels at ease,
comfortable.
Thinking patterns are also just habits. You feel comfortable -- the same
thoughts every day, the same routine. You feel everything is okay.
You have investments in your thoughts -- that is the problem. Your
furniture is not just rubbish to be thrown; you have invested many, many
things in it. All the furniture can be thrown immediately: it can be done!
There are sudden methods of which we will speak. Immediately, this very
moment, you can be freed of your whole mental furniture. But then you will
be suddenly vacant, empty, and you will not know who you are. Now you will
not know what to do because for the first time your old patterns are no
more. The shock may be too sudden. You may even die, or you may go mad.
That is why sudden methods are not used. Unless one is ready, sudden
methods are not used. One may go suddenly mad because one may miss all the
moorings. The past drops immediately, and when past drops immediately you
cannot conceive of the future, because the future was always conceived of in
terms of the past.
Only the present remains, and you have never been in the present. Either
you were in the past or in the future. So when you are just in the present
for the first time, you will feel you have gone berserk, mad. That is why
sudden methods are not used unless you are working in a school, unless you
are working with a master in a group, unless you are totally devoted, unless
you have dedicated your whole life for meditation.
So gradual methods are good. They take a long time, but by and by you
become accustomed to space. You begin to feel the space and the beauty of
it, and the bliss of it, and then your furniture is removed by and by.
So from ordinary thinking it is good to become contemplative -- that is the
gradual method. From contemplation it is good to move to concentration --
that is the gradual method. And from concentration it is good to take a jump
into meditation. Then you are moving slowly, feeling the ground at every
step. And when you are really rooted in one step, only then do you begin to
go for the next one. It is not a jump, it is a gradual growth. So these four
things -- ordinary thinking, contemplation, concentration, meditation -- are
four steps.
The third question:
Question 3
IS THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE NAVEL CENTER EXCLUSIVELY FREE AND SEPARATE FROM
THE GROWTH OF THE HEART AND HEAD CENTERS, OR DOES THE NAVEL CENTER DEVELOP
SIMULTANEOUSLY WITH THE GROWTH OF THE HEART AND THE HEAD? AND ALSO, PLEASE
EXPLAIN IN WHICH WAY THE TRAINING AND TECHNIQUES FOR THE NAVEL CENTER WILL
DIFFER FROM THE TRAINING AND TECHNIQUES FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE HEART AND
HEAD CENTERS.
One basic thing to be understood: the heart and head centers are to be
developed, not the navel center. The navel center is just to be discovered;
it is not to be developed. The navel center is already there. You have to
uncover, or discover it. It is there fully developed, you are not to develop
it. The heart center and the head center are developments. They are not
there to be discovered, they have to be developed. Society, culture,
education, conditioning help to develop them.
But you are born with a navel center. Without the navel center you cannot
be. You can be without the heart center, you can be without the head center.
They are not necessities; it is good to have them, but you can be without
them. It will be very inconvenient, but you can be without them. However,
without the navel center you cannot be. It is not just a necessity, it is
your life.
So there are techniques for how to develop the heart center -- how to grow
in love, how to grow in sensitivity, how to become a more sensitive mind.
There are methods and techniques for how to become more rational, more
logical. Reason can be developed, emotion can be developed, but existence
cannot be developed. It is already there; it has to be discovered.
Many things are implied in this. One: it may not be possible for you to
have a mind, a reasoning faculty, like Einstein. But you can become a buddha.
Einstein is a mind center functioning at its perfection. Or someone else...
a lover. A Majnu is functioning at his heart center in its perfection. You
may not be able to become a Majnu, but you can become a buddha because
buddhahood is not to be developed in you: it is already there. It is
concerned with the basic center, the original center -- the navel. It is
already there. You are already a buddha, only unaware.
You are not already an Einstein. You will have to try, and then too there
is no guarantee that you will become one. There is no guarantee because
really, it seems impossible. Why does it seem impossible? Because to develop
the head of Einstein needs the same growth, the same milieu, the same
training as was given to him. It cannot be repeated because it is
unrepeatable. First you will have to find the same parents, because the
training begins in the womb. It is difficult to find the same parents --
impossible. How can you find the same parents, the same date of birth, the
same home, the same associates, the same friends? You will have to repeat
the life of Einstein exactly -- ditto! If even one point is missing, you
will be a different man.
So that is impossible. Any individual is born only once in this world
because the same situation cannot be repeated. The same situation is such a
big phenomenon. It means there must be the same world in the same moment! It
is not possible -- it is impossible. And you are already here, so whatsoever
you do, your past will be in it. You cannot become an Einstein.
Individuality cannot be repeated.
Buddha is not an individual, Buddha is a phenomenon. No individual factors
are meaningful; just your being is enough to be a buddha. The center is
already there, functioning; you have to discover it. So the techniques for
the heart are techniques for developing something, and the techniques
concerning the navel center are concerned with uncovering. You have to
uncover. You are already a buddha, you only have to know the fact.
So there are two types of persons -- buddhas who know that they are buddhas,
and buddhas who do not know that they are buddhas. But all are buddhas. As
far as existence is concerned, everyone is the same. Only in existence is
there communism; in everything else communism is absurd. No one is equal,
inequality is basic in everything else. So it may look like a paradox if I
say that only religion leads to communism, but I mean THIS communism: this
deep equality of existence, of being. In this you are equal to Buddha, to
Christ, to Krishna, but in no other way are two individuals equal.
Inequality is basic as far as outer life is concerned; equality is basic as
far as inner life is concerned.
So these one hundred and twelve methods are not really for developing the
navel center; they are for uncovering it. That is why instantly sometimes
one becomes a buddha, because there is no question of creating something. If
you can look at yourself, if you can go deep down into yourself, all that
you need is already there. It is already the case, so the only question is
how to be thrown to that point where you are already a buddha. Meditation
doesn't help you to be a buddha, it only helps you to become aware of your
buddhahood.
One question more:
Question 4
ARE ALL ENLIGHTENED ONES NAVEL CENTERED? FOR EXAMPLE, IS KRISHNAMURTI HEAD
OR NAVEL CENTERED? WAS RAMAKRISHNA HEART OR NAVEL CENTERED?
Every enlightened one is navel centered, but the expression of each
enlightened one may flow through other centers. Understand the distinction
clearly. Every enlightened one is navel centered; there is no other
possibility. But the expression is a different thing.
Ramakrishna expresses himself from the heart. He uses his heart as the
vehicle of his message. Whatsoever he has found at the navel he expresses
through his heart. He sings, he dances -- that is his way of expressing his
bliss. The bliss is found at the navel, nowhere else. He is centered at the
navel, but how to say to others that he is centered at the navel? He uses
his heart for the expression.
Krishnamurti uses his head for that expression; that is why their
expressions are contradictory. If you believe in Ramakrishna you cannot
believe in Krishnamurti. If you believe in Krishnamurti you cannot believe
in Ramakrishna, because belief is always centered in the expression, not in
the experience. Ramakrishna looks childish to a man who thinks with reason:
"What is this nonsense -- dancing, singing? What is he doing? Buddha never
danced, and this Ramakrishna is dancing. He looks childish."
To reason the heart always looks childish, but to the heart reason looks
useless, superficial. Whatsoever Krishnamurti says is the same. The
experience is the same as it was for Ramakrishna or Chaitanya or Meera. But
if the person is head centered, his explanation, expression is rational. If
Ramakrishna sees Krishnamurti he will say, "Come on, let us dance. Why waste
your time? Through dance it can be expressed more easily, and it goes
deeper." Krishnamurti will say, "Dance? One gets hypnotized through dance.
Do not dance. Analyze! Reason! Reason it out, analyze, be aware."
These are different centers being used for expression, but the experience
is the same. One can paint the experience -- Zen masters have painted their
experience. When they became enlightened, they would paint it. They would
not say anything, they would just paint it. The RISHIS, sages, of the
Upanishads have created beautiful poetry. When they became enlightened they
would create poetry. Chaitanya used to dance; Ramakrishna used to sing.
Buddha and Mahavir used the head, reason, to explain, to say whatsoever they
had experienced. They created great systems of thought to express their
experience.
But the experience is neither rational nor emotional: it is beyond both.
There have been few persons, very few, who could express through both the
centers. You can find many Krishnamurtis, you can find many Ramakrishnas,
but only sometimes does it happen that a person can express through both the
centers. Then the person becomes confusing. Then you are never at ease with
that man because you cannot conceive of any relationship between the two;
they appear contradictory.
If I say something, when I say it I must say it through reason. So I
attract many people who are rationalistic, head-oriented. Then one day they
see that I allow singing and dancing and they become uncomfortable: "What is
this? There is no relationship..." But to me there is no contradiction.
Dancing is also a way of speaking -- and sometimes a deeper way. Reason is
also a way of speaking -- and sometimes a very clear way. So both are ways
of expression.
If you see Buddha dancing, you will be in difficulty. If you see Mahavir
playing on a flute, standing naked, then you will not be able to sleep. What
happened to Mahavir? Has he gone mad? With Krishna the flute is okay, but
with Mahavir it is absolutely unbelievable. A flute in the hand of Mahavir?
Inconceivable! You cannot even imagine it. But the reason is not that there
is any contradiction between Mahavir and Krishna, Buddha and Chaitanya; it
is due to difference of expression. Buddha will attract a particular type of
mind -- the head-oriented mind -- and Chaitanya and Ramakrishna will attract
quite the opposite -- the heart-oriented mind.
But difficulties arise. A person like me creates difficulties: I attract
both, and then no one is at ease. Whenever I am talking, then the
head-oriented person is at ease, but whenever I allow the other type of
expression the head-oriented one becomes uneasy. And the same happens to the
other -- when some emotional method is used the heart-oriented one feels at
ease, but when I discuss, when I reason out something, then he is absent, he
is not here. He says, "This is not for me."
One lady came just a day before, and she said, "I was at Mount Abu, but
then there was a difficulty. The first day when I heard you it was
beautiful, it appealed to me; I was just thrilled. But then I saw KIRTAN --
devotional chanting and dancing -- so I decided to leave immediately; that
was not for me. I went to the bus station, but then there was a problem. I
wanted to hear you talk, so I came back. I didn't want to miss what you were
saying." She must have been in difficulty. She said to me, "It was so
contradictory."
It appeared so because these centers are contradictory, but this
contradiction is in YOU. Your head is not at ease with your heart; they are
in conflict. Because of your inner conflict, Ramakrishna and Krishnamurti
appear to be in conflict. Create a bridge between your head and your heart,
and then you will know that these are mediums.
Ramakrishna was absolutely uneducated -- no development of reason. He was
pure heart. Only one center was developed, the heart. Krishnamurti is pure
reason. He was in the hands of some of the most vigorous rationalists --
Annie Besant, Leadbeater and the Theosophists. They were the great
system-makers of this century. Really, theosophy is one of the greatest
systems ever created, absolutely rational. He was brought up by
rationalists; he is pure reason. Even if he talks about heart and love, the
very expression is rational.
Ramakrishna is different. Even if he talks about reason, he is absurd.
Totapuri came to him, and Ramakrishna began to learn VEDANTA from him. So
Totapuri said, "Leave all this devotional nonsense. Leave this Kali, the
mother, absolutely. Unless you leave all this I am not going to teach you,
because VEDANTA is not devotion, it is knowledge." So Ramakrishna said,
"Okay, but allow me one moment so that I can go and ask the mother if I may
leave everything, this whole nonsense. Allow me one moment to ask the
mother."
This is a heart-oriented man. Even to leave the mother he will have to ask
her. "And," he said, "she is so loving, she will allow me, so you do not
bother." Totapuri could not understand what he had said. Ramakrishna said,
"She is so loving, she has never said no to me at any time. If I say,
`Mother, I am to leave you because now I am learning VEDANTA and I cannot do
this devotional nonsense, so allow me please,' she will allow. She will give
me total freedom to drop it."
Create a bridge between your head and heart, and then you will see that all
those who have ever become enlightened speak the same thing, only their
languages may differ.
ENERGY ENHANCEMENT
THE CORE ENERGY TECHNIQUES !!
|
CLICK BELOW TO GO TO
Take your time, this site has much new wonderful information. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
ENERGY ENHANCEMENT OSHO MEDITATION ARTICLES INTRODUCTION TESTIMONIALS EE DIRECTORS EE FAQS EE LEVEL1 EE LEVEL2 EE LEVEL3 EE LEVEL4 EE DVD VIDEO COURSE EE ONLINE COURSE COURSE IN ARGENTINA COURSE IN SPAIN COURSE IN PERU + IGUAZU EE COURSES INDIA TOUR EE COURSES TAJ MAHAL EE YOGA TEACHER TRAINING TALKS BY SATCHIDANAND EE E BOOK EE REIKI EE TEACHER TRAINING |