(Glories of Buddhahood)
Once Buddha was in an assembly when a man walked in looking furious. He thought Buddha was doing something wrong. He was a restless businessman and he had found that his children were spending hours with Buddha when they could have engaged themselves in business at that time, making more and more money. He felt that spending four hours of their day seated next to someone whose eyes were always closed was incredulous. This was what had upset the businessman.
So, with furiousness walked straight up to Buddha looked him the eye and spat. He was so angry, he could not find the words to express them that he merely spat at Buddha. Buddha simply smiled. He showed no anger, though the disciples around him were angry. They would have liked to react but could not because Buddha was there. So, everybody was holding their lips and fists tight. After the businessman spat at Buddha and realized his action was not drawing a reaction, simply walked away in a huff. Buddha did not react or say anything. He just smiled. And that was enough to shock the angry man. For the first time in his life, the man had met someone who would just smile when he spat on his face. That man could not sleep all night and his whole body underwent such a transformation. He was shivering, shaking. He felt as if the whole world had turned upside down.
The next day he went and fell at Buddha’s feet and said, “Please forgive me. I did not know what I did.” To which Buddha replied, “I cannot excuse you!” Everyone including the man and Buddha’s disciples were flabbergasted. Buddha then explained the reason for his statement. He said, “Why should I forgive you when you have done nothing wrong”. The businessman looked a little more surprised and told Buddha that it was he who had wronged him by spitting on him. Buddha simply said, “Oh! That person is not there now. If I ever meet that person whom you spat on, I will tell him to excuse you. To this person who is here, you have done no wrong.”
That is real compassion. Compassion is not saying, “I forgive you.” Your forgiveness should be such that the person who is forgiven, does not even know that you are forgiving them. They should not even feel guilty about their mistake.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Expression of The Inexpressible , by dinesh
(Really Beautifully expressed the inexpressible...)
This was the longest i was away from eSatsang. But here i am back again.
Jai Gurudev to all!
I successfully installed my first system update for the year 2008 – the art of living advance course. Cant tell you how much I was looking forward to the silence and the hollow and empties and Guruji's talks and the satsangs.
I realized that just as Part one has 475 tag – 4 sources of energy, 7 levels of existence and 5 knowledge points. Part II has its own 475 – 4 pillars of knowledge, 7 chakras and 5Ss of Sadhana, Seva, Silence, Satsang and Smile… For solidified Silence, I realized that a must-have during advance courses is a cap (a cool hat in case of Bawa) and a worn out pair of slippers (I didn't have to go all out to find one, 'cos JD lent me his).
The cap, when you tilt it down a little, blocks people's faces out and helps keep the silence in. Cos I realized if you see a person's face, with it comes the judgments, a host of cravings and aversions and out goes the silence for a toss…. Besides there is not much judgments I can make about people's footwear… (of course a cap wont be much help for any girl; who can usually tell a person's history, geography, biology and psychology from what he wraps around his sole).
Talking of footwear, the more terrible its condition, the less your mind gets attached to it – out there scorching in the sun or waiting to be a victim of someone else's belongingness. Moreover, the lesser attachments you carry around during the course (handbag, mobile, mats and cushions (in America they call it a nest)), the easier to send the mind (like the email) across in space. It was a great feeling to notice my mind slipping into silence so easily this time. I became aware that the knowledge also hits one so much deeper in silence. Silently watching the mind was truly entertainment unlimited. The myriad of sensations - heat and cold, pain and relief, heavy and light changing with time and place. A few days ago Guruji mentioned how the mind and heart are considered as flowers and the soul as the sutra (thread). In a garland, the thread is invisible and keeps the flowers together. Actually mind and heart in knowledge and awareness is like a flower and the same in ignorance is a thorn.
With awareness, the false falls away and the true stands up. It was fun experiencing anger turn to compassion (seeing some of the participants talking away to glory as if they were on a picnic), observing fear turn to surrender (of falling down the Vishalakshi step during dancing), watching minor irritation and hatred turn to reinforced commitment for more initiative (seeing the litter of plastic while cleaning around Sumeru) and above all watching the beauty of the trees and the flowers and the birds and the skies, in fact feeling the beauty of the whole of nature seeping into every cell of the body, becoming joy and love and awareness and bliss… all of which propelled me into wonder as so how this little body of 5 feet something pack such infinite bliss!
Seva-wise, few days I chose my second favorite seva - garbage collection (the first being gardening) because of which we had earned the title earlier, Cool Clean Men. The day I shirked full-on seva, sadhana would play hard-to-get with me, leaving me sleepy and drowsy.
Given the colorful distractions (people-wise) in our Satsangs, I challenged myself one day to only look at Guruji and nowhere else while singing. The effect was phenomenal and blissful. And the same day Guruji talked about 'Ek tattvabhayasa', studying only one thing 100%.
Food wise, we were very well taken care of by Gauri and Shilpa. Sleep-wise I have never experienced such huge amount of dreams in my entire life. When I would wake up after a few hours, I would be wonderstruck if I slept for a few years to see the quantity of dreams I saw; in some I dreamed about sleeping and in some I even dreamed about dreaming. God only knows which sanskaras (impressions) were being released. The meditations mercifully compensated for the lost rest. All in all, what does one gain from an advance course… Its not what you get, but its what you lose and let go… which is pretty monumental and fundamental!
You only come out looking forward to taking on the world and how soon can you come back for a second helping of the advance course. Truly it's a supreme delight and a sublime pleasure!
Love
Dinesh
This was the longest i was away from eSatsang. But here i am back again.
Jai Gurudev to all!
I successfully installed my first system update for the year 2008 – the art of living advance course. Cant tell you how much I was looking forward to the silence and the hollow and empties and Guruji's talks and the satsangs.
I realized that just as Part one has 475 tag – 4 sources of energy, 7 levels of existence and 5 knowledge points. Part II has its own 475 – 4 pillars of knowledge, 7 chakras and 5Ss of Sadhana, Seva, Silence, Satsang and Smile… For solidified Silence, I realized that a must-have during advance courses is a cap (a cool hat in case of Bawa) and a worn out pair of slippers (I didn't have to go all out to find one, 'cos JD lent me his).
The cap, when you tilt it down a little, blocks people's faces out and helps keep the silence in. Cos I realized if you see a person's face, with it comes the judgments, a host of cravings and aversions and out goes the silence for a toss…. Besides there is not much judgments I can make about people's footwear… (of course a cap wont be much help for any girl; who can usually tell a person's history, geography, biology and psychology from what he wraps around his sole).
Talking of footwear, the more terrible its condition, the less your mind gets attached to it – out there scorching in the sun or waiting to be a victim of someone else's belongingness. Moreover, the lesser attachments you carry around during the course (handbag, mobile, mats and cushions (in America they call it a nest)), the easier to send the mind (like the email) across in space. It was a great feeling to notice my mind slipping into silence so easily this time. I became aware that the knowledge also hits one so much deeper in silence. Silently watching the mind was truly entertainment unlimited. The myriad of sensations - heat and cold, pain and relief, heavy and light changing with time and place. A few days ago Guruji mentioned how the mind and heart are considered as flowers and the soul as the sutra (thread). In a garland, the thread is invisible and keeps the flowers together. Actually mind and heart in knowledge and awareness is like a flower and the same in ignorance is a thorn.
With awareness, the false falls away and the true stands up. It was fun experiencing anger turn to compassion (seeing some of the participants talking away to glory as if they were on a picnic), observing fear turn to surrender (of falling down the Vishalakshi step during dancing), watching minor irritation and hatred turn to reinforced commitment for more initiative (seeing the litter of plastic while cleaning around Sumeru) and above all watching the beauty of the trees and the flowers and the birds and the skies, in fact feeling the beauty of the whole of nature seeping into every cell of the body, becoming joy and love and awareness and bliss… all of which propelled me into wonder as so how this little body of 5 feet something pack such infinite bliss!
Seva-wise, few days I chose my second favorite seva - garbage collection (the first being gardening) because of which we had earned the title earlier, Cool Clean Men. The day I shirked full-on seva, sadhana would play hard-to-get with me, leaving me sleepy and drowsy.
Given the colorful distractions (people-wise) in our Satsangs, I challenged myself one day to only look at Guruji and nowhere else while singing. The effect was phenomenal and blissful. And the same day Guruji talked about 'Ek tattvabhayasa', studying only one thing 100%.
Food wise, we were very well taken care of by Gauri and Shilpa. Sleep-wise I have never experienced such huge amount of dreams in my entire life. When I would wake up after a few hours, I would be wonderstruck if I slept for a few years to see the quantity of dreams I saw; in some I dreamed about sleeping and in some I even dreamed about dreaming. God only knows which sanskaras (impressions) were being released. The meditations mercifully compensated for the lost rest. All in all, what does one gain from an advance course… Its not what you get, but its what you lose and let go… which is pretty monumental and fundamental!
You only come out looking forward to taking on the world and how soon can you come back for a second helping of the advance course. Truly it's a supreme delight and a sublime pleasure!
Love
Dinesh
Friday, August 8, 2008
Who knows ?!!
The story happened in the days of Lao Tzu in China and Lao Tzu loved it very much. Here it goes:-There was an old man in a village, very poor, but even kings were jealous of him because he had a beautiful white horse. Kings offered fabulous prices for the horse, but the man would say, "This horse is not a horse to me, he is a person. And how can you sell a person, a friend?" The man was poor, but he never sold the horse. One morning, he found that the horse was not in the stable. The whole village gathered and they said, "You foolish old man! We knew that someday the horse would be stolen. It would have been better to sell it. What a misfortune!" The old man said, "Don't go so far as to say that. Simply say that the horse is not in the stable. This is the fact; everything else is a judgment. Whether it is a misfortune or a blessing I don't know, because this is just a fragment. Who knows what is going to follow it?" People laughed at the old man. They had always known that he was a little crazy. But after fifteen days, suddenly one night the horse returned. He had not been stolen, he had escaped into the wild. And not only that, he brought a dozen wild horses with him. Again the people gathered and they said, "Old man, you were right. This was not a misfortune, it has indeed proved to be a blessing." The old man said, "Again you are going too far. Just say that the horse is back . . . Who knows whether it is a blessing or not? It is only a fragment. You read a single word in a sentence-how can you judge the whole book?" This time the people could not say much, but inside they knew that he was wrong. Twelve beautiful horses had come. The old man had an only son who started to train the wild horses. Just a week later he fell from a horse and his legs were broken. The people gathered again and again they judged. They said, "Again you proved right! It was a misfortune. Your only son has lost the use of his legs, and in your old age he was your only support.
Now you are poorer than ever." The old man said, "You are obsessed with judgment. Don't go that far. Say only that my son has broken his legs. Nobody knows whether this is a misfortune or a blessing. Life comes in fragments and more is never given to you." It happened that after a few weeks the country went to war, and all the young men of the town were forcibly taken for the military. Only the old man's son was left, because he was crippled. The whole town was crying and weeping, because it was a losing fight and they knew most of the young people would never come back. They came to the old man and they said, "You were right, old man-this has proved a blessing. Maybe your son is crippled, but he is still with you. Our sons are gone forever." The old man said again, "You go on and on judging. Nobody knows! Only say this, that your sons have been forced to enter into the army and my son has not been forced. But only God, the total, knows whether it is a blessing or a misfortune." Judge ye not'-otherwise you will never become one with the total. With fragments you will be obsessed, with small things you will jump to conclusions. Once you judge you have stopped growing. Judgment means a stale state of mind. And mind always wants judgment, because to be in process is always hazardous and uncomfortable. In fact, the journey never ends. One path ends, another begins: one door closes another opens. You reach a peak; a higher peak is always there. God is an endless journey. Only those who are so courageous that they don't bother about the goal but are content with the journey, content just to live the moment and grow into it, only those are able to walk with the total....
Now you are poorer than ever." The old man said, "You are obsessed with judgment. Don't go that far. Say only that my son has broken his legs. Nobody knows whether this is a misfortune or a blessing. Life comes in fragments and more is never given to you." It happened that after a few weeks the country went to war, and all the young men of the town were forcibly taken for the military. Only the old man's son was left, because he was crippled. The whole town was crying and weeping, because it was a losing fight and they knew most of the young people would never come back. They came to the old man and they said, "You were right, old man-this has proved a blessing. Maybe your son is crippled, but he is still with you. Our sons are gone forever." The old man said again, "You go on and on judging. Nobody knows! Only say this, that your sons have been forced to enter into the army and my son has not been forced. But only God, the total, knows whether it is a blessing or a misfortune." Judge ye not'-otherwise you will never become one with the total. With fragments you will be obsessed, with small things you will jump to conclusions. Once you judge you have stopped growing. Judgment means a stale state of mind. And mind always wants judgment, because to be in process is always hazardous and uncomfortable. In fact, the journey never ends. One path ends, another begins: one door closes another opens. You reach a peak; a higher peak is always there. God is an endless journey. Only those who are so courageous that they don't bother about the goal but are content with the journey, content just to live the moment and grow into it, only those are able to walk with the total....
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