Eat when you Eat

A Zen disciple asked his master: How did you change when you became enlightened?

The master replied: I now eat when I eat; I sleep when I sleep.

How many of us eat when we eat? We watch TV, read books and newspapers; if nothing else we gossip. We disrespect the food and it sits on our waist.

To be in the present is an impossible task for us; our mind flits from past to future, back and forth. Being in the ‘here and now’ helps transcend barriers of time and space so that one can be every where at all times. This is also the state of enlightenment, as the ego or mind breaks down at this point.

People leading a material life wish to be ascetics, sanyasins. They feel that they can realize happiness, peace of mind and calmness only by donning saffron robes.

In the Mahabharata, Vyasa tells us this beautiful story. A crow dirties a Sanyasin who is on his morning bhiksha (begging for alms). The Sanyasin looks up in anger and the crow burns to death. He then walks up with his bowl and stands in front of a nearby house. The lady of the house is serving her husband, and when she is finished comes out to attend the Sanyasin. The sanyasin looks at her in anger, and she asks: do you think I am a crow? Startled the Sanyasin asks her how she knows. He tells: I have no time to explain, please go to this man in the nearby town. The Sanyasin searches out this person in the town and finds out that he is the local butcher. When he goes to meet him, the butcher greets him cordially and enquires about the housewife. The Sanyasin is again surprised, and asks this butcher how two such ordinary people have this great power of divination. The butcher says simply: all we do is to do our duty well; that’s all we know.

Doing one’s duty, one’s dharma, well is the key to spiritual progress. That duty, that responsibility, can be your material life as well. It does not need to be the life of an ascetic that you force fit upon yourself. You need to be aware in what ever you do; you need to be 100% involved in whatever you do, for you to do your dharma well.

Stay in the present with whatever you do; when you take the next step; when you brush your teeth; when you smile at some one; just focus on what you are doing at that point in time. That’s true enlightenment.