Words From The Master - 30 April 2008

Samsara & Nirvana

Samsara is our ordinary worldly life and nirvana is liberation, moksha or bliss. We continuously experience Samsara with the hope of ultimately experiencing and attaining nirvana.

What we do everyday appears to be monotonous or troublesome only because we have kept nirvana out of these actions.

We make samsara a ‘living aspect’ and nirvana the goal. But what we fail to understand is that the path itself is the goal, not just the destination.

If bliss can’t be attained while living, what use is it when we leave?

Nirvana is the state of ultimate bliss and is the very nature of our being or soul. We seek joy or bliss in all our actions simply because this is our inherent nature.

Where we err is that instead of infusing bliss into samsara we expect bliss out of it. We are always looking for returns when we are actually in a position to give. We are always seeking for that ‘something’ which we are already. It is like a king asking a beggar for alms – for can he ever be satisfied?

Samsara should always be experienced as an expression of nirvana or bliss, never as something to be attained. Only then does a man live ‘life’ completely, and is awakened.

If man is the coin on which samsara and nirvana are impressed upon, he can experience both in the same space any time. He experiences infinity beyond space and time. He can explode in all directions of samsara by being true to his nature, of nirvana or bliss.

To experience nirvana or bliss amid samsara is the very essence of life. Such a person goes about samsara in a completely detached manner, always overflowing with the very ‘nature’ of his being: bliss.

Having forgotten one's own nature, man seeks to attain something that he already is, was and always will be. We are not human beings undergoing a spiritual experience, but spiritual beings with human experiences.

Here is a simple Tibetan Buddhist meditation technique which will help you experience the very nature of your being which is ananda or bliss.

Mahamantra Meditation

Close your eyes throughout this exercise

Stage 1: 21 minutes
Sit and relax. Keep your head, neck and spine straight.
Start humming with your mouth closed, but loud enough to be heard by the others near you. Try to (for as long as possible) create a vibration in your body. Feel like a hollow tube that is filled completely with the vibrations of humming.
Stage 2: 10 minutes
Be still; just be a witness.