Your being is always centered. Your mind is always at the periphery.
Your mind constantly seeks outward led by the senses. Your being stays centered at the core and is directed inwards. You are constantly tugged between the center and the perimeter. When you are at the periphery you are mad, truly mad. You are overcome with fear and greed. You are consumed by lust, desire of power and wealth.
When you at the center, you are Siva. You are in cosmic Consciousness.
Over time, you develop the capability to stay some where in between. You have no choice. You have to choose madness otherwise, because your mind will not let stay at the center. You become eccentric, moving only briefly back and forth between the bliss of your core and the illusions of your periphery.
At the periphery your senses control you; they make merry. Once in a while, if you are intelligent, you realize that you are getting nowhere. You go wherever your senses lead you and try to enjoy the sense objects presented to you. Over time the enjoyment decreases; you need more and more of the same object, while the enjoyment gets less and less. You are about to get addicted. Some bit of intelligence in you warns to get out.
You move away from the periphery and try to move towards the center where you have experienced brief moments of great peace and happiness. Your awareness does not last long. Your mind gets restless and you go back to your old ways. You now move back towards the periphery.
Please understand that at the peripheral level you are in the grip of the need to survive and possess. You are governed by your ego, or ‘I’, based survival needs and ‘mine’ the need to possess. Your fear of losing your identity and your greed to possess more and more are the two strong forces that keep you tethered to the periphery.
Your ego reduces when you realize your connectivity with others, and when you understand that you can collaborate with others far more effectively than if you compete. Your need to possess more and more decreases when you develop the awareness in enjoying what you have with you, instead of rushing to acquire more.
As you move from being eccentric to the center, you move away from the past and future to the present moment. You move away from suffering into bliss.
You are eccentric!
Oct 20, 2008 at 2:50 AM
Series: Words From The Master