Ask The Master: 27 Jan 2008

If we have been searching for Ananda all our lives, why haven't we still found it?

Because we have been searching unconsciously. 99% of us are not even aware that Ananda is our true goal! The majority of us are only aware that there is something lacking in our lives, some vacuum that we cannot fill with money or relationships or possessions.

Tell me, what have you collected so far in the outer world that is of any lasting value? Still, we continue to search. And because we are unaware, we search outside ourselves. We search everywhere in the world for something which is already there within us!

Believe it or not, Ananda is our birthright! Ananda is our true nature.

A small story:
One evening, Kunwar Kuljeet was searching hard for something in the courtyard before his house. When his wife questioned him, he replied that he had dropped a coin. His wife joined in the search. Soon others gathered, and practically the whole neighborhood was searching for the lost coin.

Suddenly one young man asked Kuljeet, Which is the exact place where you dropped the coin? How come we still haven't found it?

Oh, said Kuljeet, I lost the coin inside the house.

Then why are we searching here?, asked the man, amazed.

The problem is, replied Kuljeet, I have no lights inside my house. Out here at least there's the streetlamp. We can search by this light!

This is exactly what we do in our lives! We are all experts in searching for answers in the wrong places! We seek to find ourselves everywhere -- in money, power, relationships, ideologies -- but we don't move in the one obvious direction -- inwards.

The first stop towards awareness is realizing that the coin you have lost is inside your own house. Then you'll automatically stop searching for it in the streets!

Meditation is nothing but a preparation to rediscover the state of Ananda that is already inside you.

The moment you realize the futility of searching for Ananda in the streets, you are naturally ripe for meditation.

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This excerpt has been taken from the book: "Meditation is for You" -- an introduction to the science and art of meditation