Words From The Master - 04 March 2008

Towards Meditative Living

Thorns on your path
(continuation from earlier post)

The biggest spokesperson of the ego is the mind.

Just like the body, the mind too should be an instrument in your hands.

The mind is a wonderful instrument, tremendously powerful. It is a marvel of creativity. It is a masterpiece of design. And the mind is a social necessity - without the mind, we would not survive in this world.

But we forget that the mind is only an instrument – we ourselves become an instrument of the mind! We are totally controlled by our mind.

The great trick that the mind plays on us to separate us from reality is the use of language.

Words are what separate us from reality. The moment we perceive something, we try to verbalize it. When you see a flower, you tell yourself, This is a flower. We absorb all of
life though words, through abstract concepts. But words are not the experience!

The word flower is not the flower, the word love is not love, the word enlightenment is not enlightenment. Words form a barrier between you and reality.

Meditation has no need for words. Meditation is the direct experience of reality.

But the mind carries on this constant chatter of words. The mind doesn’t let you relax for a single moment. The mind is constantly creating ideas, concepts, opinions for you. It uses words to distort reality.

(to be continued.)
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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

Words From The Master - 03 March 2008

Doubt

Doubt is the most deadly weapon that the ego has! The ego will continuously create doubts and questions in your mind. In the beginning it will make you worry,

Can I really meditate?
Can I sit for so many hours with my bad back?
Is this path really for me?
What if I get drawn too deeply in?
What will happen to my family?
Will my friends call me crazy?
Am I really crazy?

If you are working with a master, it will bring up doubts against the master!

Is the master really authentic?
Does he know which technique is right for me?
What is his purpose in teaching me meditation?
Is this some kind of hypnosis?

So if you find these kinds of questions coming up, don’t bother. Simply drop the questions and continue with the meditation. Don’t feel guilty about having these questions! These questions arise naturally in everyone’s mind. And don’t try to struggle with these questions. Don’t make the mistake of struggling with the ego! Because the ego is just something imaginary, it has no positive existence. Ego is nothing but the lack of awareness. Just like darkness is a state of no-light, ego is a state of noawareness. If you are in a dark room, can you fight the darkness and push it out, to make the room bright? Does it make sense to struggle against the darkness? In fact, your solution has nothing to do with the darkness. You have to simply ignore the darkness, and bring in a lamp. The darkness will disappear on its own! In the same way, don’t waste your energy fighting with the ego. Focus on bringing awareness into your meditation. By and by, the questions will drop on their own.

(to be continued.)
______________________
This excerpt has been taken from the book: "Meditation is for You" -- an introduction to the science and art of meditation

Words From The Master - 02 Mar 2008

Towards Meditative Living

Thorns on your path
There is only one real obstacle on the path of meditation: the Ego. Whatever other issues come up, whatever problems you face, be clear: they are just the different voices of the ego.

What is the ego?

The ego is nothing but your sense of self, the collection of ideas and concepts that you have about yourself. Be very clear: the ego is nothing but a collection of ideas! It is an imaginary thing. The ego doesn’t even have any real existence. Yet it is this ego which is controlling your life! It is the ego which creates a sense of separateness in you. At birth, it separates you from your mother. Until the moment of birth there is no ego, no boundary. The baby is simply part of the mother. At the very moment of birth, when the umbilical cord is cut, the baby senses its own boundary for the first time. In the very first year after birth, the ego builds your picture of yourself and the world. The ego is responsible for your sense of ‘me’ and ‘mine’. Throughout your life, the ego puts you into the position of ‘me versus them’. It separates you from your parents, from friends and strangers, from nature, from all of Existence. Whenever you utter the word ‘I’, you are breaking away from
Existence. You cannot really break away, because you are an intrinsic part of all Existence – but in your mind you break away. You create for yourself a world in which you are separate from all. This world exists only in your mind – it is just a mental concept - but we allow this concept to rule all our actions.

You have always heard people say, The ego is the root cause of all our misery. Why?
Because the ego thrives on hostility, on conflict. Any environment which creates a sense of isolation is the survival ground for the ego. The ego may be a product of your own imagination, but it is a cunning animal! To stay alive, the ego creates a distorted version of reality in which all things are in a state of disharmony.

Look at your own life. Whenever you experience pain, anger, jealousy - it is always
the result of feeling separate from someone else, of feeling alone, of feeling cheated. In times of misery, you always experience yourself as being all alone. In times of joy, you feel naturally connected with everyone and everything
around you. When you are joyful, happy, laughing – these are the times when your ego is at its weakest.

(to be continued.)
______________________
This excerpt has been taken from the book: "Meditation is for You" -- an introduction to the science and art of meditation

Words From The Master: 01 Mar 2008

Towards Meditative Living

Transformations you will see
(continuation from earlier post)

The flowering of intuition

Intuition, not in the sense we normally use it.

Although some of you will develop greater physical sensitivity, receive visions and so on, these are not important. These are just by-products of the growth process. Real intuition is the clarity to understand and fulfil yourself.

We all go through life wearing a variety of masks. For every role, for every occasion, we have a mask. Mother, Father, Husband, Wife, Doctor, Housewife, Boss, Socialite… the list is endless! We live and think according to the roles that society has imposed upon us. These roles ultimately become our Personality.

With meditation, we move inwards. We start living out of our own Being. We become integrated. We move towards Individuality.

Your personality can change, but your individuality is unchangeable. Every individual is unique. With meditation, you touch your own individuality. You naturally start moving in the direction which expresses you, which fulfils you in the ultimate sense. This is intuition at work.

(to be continued.)
______________________
This excerpt has been taken from the book: "Meditation is for You" -- an introduction to the science and art of meditation