Meditation is not an Indian method; it is not simply a technique. You cannot learn it. It is a growth: a growth of your total living, out of your total living. Meditation is not something that can be added to you as you are. It can come to you only through a basic transformation, a mutation. It is a flowering, a growth. Growth is always out of the total; it is not an addition. You must grow toward meditation. This total flowering of the personality must be understood correctly.
Otherwise one can play games with oneself, one can occupy oneself with mental tricks. And there are so many tricks! Not only can you be fooled by them, not only will you not gain anything, but in a real sense you will be harmed. The very attitude that there is some trick to meditation – to conceive of meditation in terms of method – is basically wrong. And when one begins to play with mental tricks, the very quality of the mind begins to deteriorate.
As mind exists, it is not meditative. The total mind must change before meditation can happen. Then what is the mind as it now exists? How does it function? The mind is always verbalizing. You can know words, you can know language, you can know the conceptual structure of thinking, but that is not thinking. On the contrary, it is an escape from thinking. You see a flower and you verbalize it; you see a man crossing the street and you verbalize it. The mind can transform every existential thing into words.
Then the words become a barrier, an imprisonment. This constant transformation of things into words, of existence into words, is the obstacle to a meditative mind. So the first requirement toward a meditative mind is to be aware of your constant verbalizing and to be able to stop it. Just see things; do not verbalize. Be aware of their presence, but do not change them into words. Let things be, without language; let persons be, without language; let situations be, without language.
It is not impossible; it is natural. It is the situation as it now exists that is artificial, but we have become so habituated to it, it has become so mechanical, that we are not even aware that we are constantly transforming experience into words. The sunrise is there. You are never aware of the gap between seeing it and verbalizing. You see the sun, you feel it, and immediately you verbalize it. The gap between seeing and verbalizing is lost. One must become aware of the fact that the sunrise is not a word. It is a fact, a presence. The mind automatically changes experiences into words. These words then come between you and the experience.Meditation means living without words, living nonlinguistically. Sometimes it happens spontaneously. When you are in love, presence is felt, not language. Whenever two lovers are intimate with one another they become silent. It is not that there is nothing to express. On the contrary, there is an overwhelming amount to be expressed. But words are never there; they cannot be. They come only when love has gone. If two lovers are never silent, it is an indication that love has died. Now they are filling the gap with words.
When love is alive, words are not there because the very existence of love is so overwhelming, so penetrating, that the barrier of language and words is crossed. And ordinarily, it is only crossed in love. Meditation is the culmination of love: love not for a single person, but for the total existence. To me, meditation is a living relationship with the total existence that surrounds you. If you can be in love with any situation, then you are in meditation. And this is not a mental trick. It is not a method of stilling the mind.
Rather, it requires a deep understanding of the mechanism of the mind. The moment you understand your mechanical habit of verbalization, of changing existence into words, a gap is created. It comes spontaneously. It follows understanding like a shadow. The real problem is not how to be in meditation, but to know why you are not in meditation. The very process of meditation is negative. It is not adding something to you; it is negating something that has already been added. Society cannot exist without language; it needs language.
But existence does not need it. I am not saying that you should exist without language. You will have to use it. But you must be able to turn the mechanism of verbalization on and off. When you are existing as a social being, the mechanism of language is needed; but when you are alone with existence, you must be able to turn it off. If you can't turn it off – if it goes on and on, and you are incapable of stopping it – then you have become a slave to it. Mind must be an instrument, not the master.
When mind is the master, a non-meditative state exists. When you are the master, your consciousness is the master, a meditative state exists. So meditation means becoming a master of the mechanism of the mind. Mind, and the linguistic functioning of the mind, is not the ultimate. You are beyond it; existence is beyond it. Consciousness is beyond linguistics; existence is beyond linguistics. When consciousness and existence are one, they are in communion. This communion is meditation.
Language must be dropped. I don't mean that you have to suppress it or eliminate it. I only mean that it does not have to be a twenty-four-hour-a-day habit for you. When you walk, you need to move your legs. But if they go on moving when you are sitting, then you are mad. You must be able to turn them off. In the same way, when you are not talking with anyone, language must not be there. It is a technique to communicate. When you are not communicating with anybody it should not be there.
If you are able to do this, you can grow into meditation. Meditation is a growing process, not a technique. A technique is always dead, so it can be added to you, but a process is always alive. It grows, it expands. Language is needed, but you must not always remain in it. There must be moments when there is no verbalizing, when you just exist. It is not that you are just vegetating. Consciousness is there. And it is more acute, more alive, because language dulls it. Language is bound to be repetitive so it creates boredom. The more important language is to you, the more bored you will be.
Existence is never repetitive. Every rose is a new rose, altogether new. It has never been and it will never be again. But when we call it a rose, the word 'rose' is a repetition. It has always been there; it will always be there. You have killed the new with an old word. Existence is always young, and language is always old. Through language, you escape existence, you escape life, because language is dead. The more involved you are with language, the more deadened you will be by it. A pundit is completely dead because he is nothing but language, words.
Sartre has called his autobiography 'Words'. We live in words. That is, we don't live. In the end there is only a series of accumulated words and nothing else. Words are like photographs. You see something that is alive and you take a picture of it. The picture is dead. Then you make an album of dead pictures. A person who has not lived in meditation is like a dead album. Only verbal pictures are there, only memories. Nothing has been lived; everything has just been verbalized.
Meditation means living totally, but you can live totally only when you are silent. By being silent I do not mean unconscious. You can be silent and unconscious but it is not a living silence. Again, you have missed. Through mantras you can autohypnotize yourself. By simply repeating a word you can create so much boredom in the mind that the mind will go to sleep. You drop into sleep, drop into the unconscious. If you go on chanting "Ram Ram Ram" the mind will fall asleep. Then the barrier of language is not there, but you are unconscious.
Meditation means that language must not be there, but you must be conscious. Otherwise there is no communion with existence, with all that is. No mantra can help, no chanting can help. Autohypnosis is not meditation. On the contrary, to be in an autohypnotic state is a regression. It is not going beyond language; it is falling below it. So drop all mantras, drop all these techniques. Allow moments to exist where words are not there. You cannot get rid of words with a mantra because the very process uses words. You cannot eliminate language with words; it is impossible.
So what is to be done? In fact, you cannot do anything at all except to understand. Whatever you are able to do can only come from where you are. You are confused, you are not in meditation, your mind is not silent, so anything that comes out of you will only create more confusion. All that can be done right now is to begin to be aware of how the mind functions. That's all – just be aware.
Awareness has nothing to do with words. It is an existential act, not a mental act. So the first thing is to be aware. Be aware of your mental processes, how your mind works. The moment you become aware of the functioning of your mind, you are not the mind. The very awareness means that you are beyond: aloof, a witness. And the more aware you become, the more you will be able to see the gaps between the experience and the words. Gaps are there, but you are so unaware that they are never seen.
Between two words there is always a gap, however imperceptible, however small. Otherwise the two words cannot remain two; they will become one. Between two notes of music there is always a gap, a silence. Two words or two notes cannot be two unless there is an interval between them. A silence is always there but one has to be really aware, really attentive, to feel it. The more aware you become, the slower the mind becomes. It is always relative. The less aware you are, the faster the mind is; the more aware you are, the slower the process of the mind is. When you are more aware of the mind, the mind slows down and the gaps between thoughts widen. Then you can see them.
It is just like a film. When a projector is run in slow motion, you see the gaps. If I raise my hand, this has to be shot in a thousand parts. Each part will be a single photograph. If these thousands of single photographs pass before your eyes so fast that you cannot see the gaps, then you see the hand raised as a process. But in slow motion, the gaps can be seen.
Mind is just like a film. Gaps are there. The more attentive you are to your mind, the more you will see them. It is just like a gestalt picture: a picture that contains two distinct images at the same time. One image can be seen or the other can be seen, but you cannot see both simultaneously. It can be a picture of an old lady, and at the same time a picture of a young lady. But if you are focused on one, you will not see the other; and when you are focused on the other, the first is lost. Even if you know perfectly well that you have seen both images, you cannot see them simultaneously.
The same thing happens with the mind. If you see the words you cannot see the gaps, and if you see the gaps you cannot see the words. Every word is followed by a gap and every gap is followed by a word, but you cannot see both simultaneously. If you are focused on the gaps, words will be lost and you will be thrown into meditation.
A consciousness that is focused only on words is non-meditative and a consciousness that is focused only on gaps is meditative. Whenever you become aware of the gaps, the words will be lost. If you observe carefully, you will not find words; you will only find a gap. You can feel the difference between two words, but you cannot feel the difference between two gaps.
Words are always plural and the gap is always singular: "the" gap. They merge and become one. Meditation is a focusing on the gap. Then, the whole gestalt changes. Another thing is to be understood. If you are looking at the gestalt picture and your concentration is focused on the old lady, you cannot see the other picture. But if you continue to concentrate on the old lady – if you go on focusing on her, if you become totally attentive to her – a moment will come when the focus changes and suddenly the old lady has disappeared and the other picture is there.
Why does this happen? It happens because the mind cannot be focused continuously for a long time. It has to change or it will go to sleep. These are the only two possibilities. If you go on concentrating on one thing, the mind will fall asleep. It cannot remain fixed; it is a living process. If you let it become bored it will go to sleep in order to escape from the stagnancy of your focus. Then it can continue living, in dreams. This is meditation Maharishi Mahesh Yogi style. It's peaceful, refreshing, it can help your physical health and mental equilibrium, but it is not meditation. The same thing can be done by autohypnosis.
The Indian word 'mantra' means suggestion, nothing else. To take this as meditation is a serious mistake. It is not. And if you think of it as meditation, you will never search for authentic meditation. That is the real harm that is done by such practices and propagandists of such practices. It is just drugging yourself psychologically.
So don't use any mantra to push words out of the way. Just become aware of the words and the focus of your mind will change automatically to the gaps. If you identify with words, you will go on jumping from one word to another and you will miss the gap. Another word is something new to focus on. The mind goes on changing; the focus changes. But if you are not identified with words, if you are just a witness – aloof, just watching the words as they go by in a procession – then the whole focus will change and you will become aware of the gap.
It is just as if you are on the street, watching people as they pass by. One person has passed and another has not yet come. There is a gap; the street is vacant. If you are watching, then you will know the gap. And once you know the gap, you are in it; you have jumped into it. It is an abyss – so peace-giving, so consciousness-creating. It is meditation to be in the gap; it is transformation. Now language is not needed; you will drop it. It is a conscious dropping. You are conscious of the silence, the infinite silence. You are part of it, one with it. You are not conscious of the abyss as the other; you are conscious of the abyss as yourself. You know, but now you are the knowing. You observe the gap, but now the observer is the observed.
As far as words and thoughts are concerned, you are a witness, separate, and words are the other. But when there are no words, you are the gap – yet still conscious that you are. Between you and the gap, between consciousness and existence, there is no barrier now. Only words are the barrier. Now you are in an existential situation. This is meditation: to be one with existence, to be totally in it and still conscious. This is the contradiction, this is the paradox. Now you have known a situation in which you were conscious, and yet one with it. Ordinarily, when we are conscious of anything, the thing becomes the other. If we are identified with something, then it is not the other, but then we are not conscious – as in anger, in sex. We become one only when we are unconscious.
Sex has so much appeal because in sex you become one for a moment. But in that moment, you are unconscious. You seek the unconsciousness because you seek the oneness. But the more you seek it, the more conscious you become. Then you will not feel the bliss of sex, because the bliss was coming from the unconsciousness.
You could become unconscious in a moment of passion. Your consciousness dropped. For a single moment you were in the abyss – but unconscious. But the more you seek it, the more it is lost. Finally a moment comes when you are in sex and the moment of unconsciousness no longer happens. The abyss is lost, the bliss is lost. Then the act becomes stupid. It is just a mechanical release; there is nothing spiritual about it.
We have known only unconscious oneness; we have never known conscious oneness. Meditation is conscious oneness. It is the other pole of sexuality. Sex is one pole, unconscious oneness; meditation is the other pole, conscious oneness. Sex is the lowest point of oneness and meditation is the peak, the highest peak of oneness. The difference is a difference of consciousness. The Western mind is thinking about meditation now because the appeal of sex has been lost.
Whenever a society becomes non suppressive sexually, meditation will follow, because uninhibited sex will kill the charm and romance of sex; it will kill the spiritual side of it. Much sex is there, but you cannot continue to be unconscious in it. A sexually suppressed society can remain sexual, but a nonsuppressive, uninhibited society cannot remain with sexuality forever. It will have to be transcended. So if a society is sexual, meditation will follow. To me, a sexually free society is the first step toward seeking, searching.
But of course, because the search is there, it can be exploited. It is being exploited by the East. Gurus can be supplied; they can be exported. And they are being exported. But only tricks can be learned through these gurus. Understanding comes through life, through living. It cannot be given, transferred.
I cannot give you my understanding. I can talk about it, but I cannot give it to you. You will have to find it. You will have to go into life. You will have to err; you will have to fail; you will have to pass through many frustrations. But only through failures, errors, frustrations, only through the encounter of real living, will you come to meditation. That is why I say it is a growth. Something can be understood, but understanding that comes through another can never be more than intellectual.
That is why Krishnamurti demands the impossible. He says, "Do not understand me intellectually" – but nothing except intellectual understanding can come from someone else. That is why Krishnamurti's effort has been absurd. What he is saying is authentic, but when he demands more than intellectual understanding from the listener, it is impossible. Nothing more can come from someone else, nothing more can be delivered.
But intellectual understanding can be enough. If you can understand what I am saying intellectually, you can also understand what has not been said. You can also understand the gaps: what I am not saying, what I cannot say. The first understanding is bound to be intellectual, because the intellect is the door. It can never be spiritual. Spirituality is the inner shrine. I can only communicate to you intellectually. If you can really understand it, then what has not been said can be felt. I cannot communicate without words, but when I am using words I am also using silences. You will have to be aware of both. If only words are being understood then it is a communication; but if you can be aware of the gaps also, then it is a communion.
One has to begin somewhere. Every beginning is bound to be a false beginning, but one has to begin. Through the false, through the groping, the door is found. One who thinks that he will begin only when the right beginning is there will never begin at all. Even a false step is a step in the right direction because it is a step, a beginning. You begin to grope in the dark and, through groping, the door is found.
That is why I said to be aware of the linguistic process – the process of words – and to seek an awareness of the gaps, the intervals. There will be moments when there will be no conscious effort on your part and you will become aware of the gaps. That is the encounter with the divine, the encounter with the existential. Whenever there is an encounter, do not escape from it. Be with it. It will be fearful at first; it is bound to be. Whenever the unknown is encountered, fear is created because to us the unknown is death. So whenever there is a gap, you will feel death coming to you.
Then be dead! Just be in it, and die completely in the gap. And you will be resurrected. By dying your death in silence, life is resurrected. You are alive for the first time, really alive. So to me, meditation is not a method but a process; meditation is not a technique but an understanding. It cannot be taught; it can only be indicated. You cannot be informed about it because no information is really information. It is from the outside, and meditation comes from your own inner depths.
So search, be a seeker, and do not be a disciple. Then you will not be a disciple of some guru, but a disciple of the total life. Then you will not just be learning words. Spiritual learning cannot come from words but from the gaps, the silences that are always surrounding you. They are there even in the crowd, in the market, in the bazaar. Seek the silences, seek the gaps within and without, and one day you will find that you are in meditation.
Meditation comes to you. It always comes; you cannot bring it. But one has to be in search of it, because only when you are in search will you be open to it, vulnerable to it. You are a host to it. Meditation is a guest. You can invite it and wait for it. It comes to Buddha, it comes to Jesus, it comes to everybody who is ready, who is open and seeking.
But do not learn it from somewhere; otherwise you will be tricked. The mind is always searching for something easier. This becomes the source for exploitation. Then there are gurus and gurudoms, and spiritual life is poisoned. The most dangerous person is the one who exploits someone's spiritual urge. If someone robs you of your wealth it is not so serious, if someone fails you it is not so serious, but if someone tricks you and kills, or even postpones, your urge toward meditation, toward the divine, toward ecstasy, then the sin is great and unforgivable.
But that is being done. So be aware of it, and don't ask anybody, "What is meditation? How do I meditate?" Instead, ask what the hindrances are, what the obstacles are. Ask why we aren't always in meditation, where the growth has been stopped, where we have been crippled. And do not seek a guru because gurus are crippling. Anyone who gives you ready-made formulas is not a friend but an enemy.
Grope in the dark. Nothing else can be done. The very groping will become the understanding that will liberate you from darkness. Jesus said: "Truth is freedom." Understand this freedom. Truth is always through understanding. It is not something that you meet and encounter; it is something you grow into. So be in search of understanding, because the more understanding you become, the nearer you will be to truth. And in some unknown, expected, unpredictable moment, when understanding comes to a peak, you are in the abyss. You are no more, and meditation is.
When you are no more, you are in meditation. Meditation is not more of you; it is always beyond you. When you are in the abyss, meditation is there. Then the ego is not; then you are not. Then the being is. That is what religions mean by God: the ultimate being. It is the essence of all religions, all searches, but it is not to be found anywhere ready-made. So be aware of anyone who makes claims about it. Go on groping and don't be afraid of failure. Admit failures, but do not commit the same failures again.
Once is all; that is enough. The person who goes on erring in the search for truth is always forgiven. It is a promise from the very depths of existence.
THINKING cannot be stopped. Not that it does not stop, but it cannot be stopped. It stops of its own accord. This distinction has to be understood, otherwise you can go mad chasing your mind. No-mind does not arise by stopping thinking. When the thinking is no more, no-mind is. The very effort to stop will create more anxiety, it will create conflict, it will make you split. You will be in a constant turmoil within. This is not going to help.
And even if you succeed in stopping it forcibly for a few moments, it is not an achievement at all -- because those few moments will be almost dead, they will not be alive. You may feel a sort of stillness, but not silence, because a forced stillness is not silence. Underneath it, deep in the unconscious, the repressed mind goes on working. So, there is no way to stop the mind. But the mind stops -- that is certain. It stops of its own accord.
So what to do? -- your question is relevant. Watch -- don't try to stop. There is no need to do any action against the mind. In the first place, who will do it? It will be mind fighting mind itself. You will divide your mind into two; one that is trying to boss over -- the top-dog -- trying to kill the other part of itself, which is absurd. It is a foolish game. It can drive you crazy. Don't try to stop the mind or the thinking -- just watch it, allow it. Allow it total freedom. Let it run as fast as it wants. You don't try in any way to control it. You just be a witness. It is beautiful!
Mind is one of the most beautiful mechanisms. Science has not yet been able to create anything parallel to mind. Mind still remains the masterpiece -- so complicated, so tremendously powerful, with so many potentialities. Watch it! Enjoy it! And don't watch like an enemy, because if you look at the mind like an enemy, you cannot watch. You are already prejudiced; you are already against. You have already decided that something is wrong with the mind -- you have already concluded.
And whenever you look at somebody as an enemy you never look deep, you never look into the eyes. You avoid! Watching the mind means: look at it with deep love, with deep respect, reverence -- it is God's gift to you! Nothing is wrong in mind itself. Nothing is wrong in thinking itself. It is a beautiful process as other processes are. Clouds moving in the sky are beautiful -- why not thoughts moving into the inner sky? Flowers coming to the trees are beautiful -- why not thoughts flowering into your being.
The river running to the ocean is beautiful -- why not this stream of thoughts running somewhere to an unknown destiny? is it not beautiful? Look with deep reverence. Don't be a fighter -- be a lover. Watch! -- the subtle nuances of the mind; the sudden turns, the beautiful turns; the sudden jumps and leaps; the games that mind goes on playing; the dreams that it weaves -- the imagination, the memory; the thousand and one projections that it creates. Watch! Standing there, aloof, distant, not involved, by and by you will start feeling...
The deeper your watchfulness becomes, the deeper your awareness becomes, and gaps start arising, intervals. One thought goes and another has not come, and there is a gap. One cloud has passed, another is coming and there is a gap. In those gaps, for the first time you will have glimpses of no-mind, you will have the taste of no-mind. Call it taste of Zen, or Tao, or Yoga. In those small intervals, suddenly the sky is clear and the sun is shining. Suddenly the world is full of mystery because all barriers are dropped. The screen on your eyes is no more there.
You see clearly, you see penetratingly. The whole existence becomes transparent. In the beginning, these will be just rare moments, few and far in between. But they will give you glimpses of what samadhi is. Small pools of silence -- they will come and they will disappear. But now you know that you are on the right track -- you start watching again. When a thought passes, you watch it; when an interval passes, you watch it. Clouds are also beautiful; sunshine also is beautiful. Now you are not a chooser.
Now you don't have a fixed mind: you don't say, "I would like only the intervals." That is stupid -- because once you become attached to wanting only the intervals, you have decided again against thinking. And then those intervals will disappear. They happen only when you are very distant, aloof. They happen, they cannot be brought. They happen, you cannot force them to happen. They are spontaneous happenings. Go on watching. Let thoughts come and go -- wherever they want to go. Nothing is wrong! Don't try to manipulate and don't try to direct.
Let thoughts move in total freedom. And then bigger intervals will be coming. You will be blessed with small satoris. Sometimes minutes will pass and no thought will be there; there will be no traffic -- a total silence, undisturbed. When the bigger gaps come, you will not only have clarity to see into the world -- with the bigger gaps you will have a new clarity arising -- you will be able to see into the inner world. With the first gaps you will see into the world: trees will be more green than they look right now.
You will be surrounded by an infinite music -- the music of the spheres. You will be suddenly in the presence of God -- ineffable, mysterious. Touching you although you can not grasp it. Within your reach and yet beyond. With the bigger gaps, the same will happen inside. God will not only be outside, you will be suddenly surprised -- He is inside also. He is not only in the seen; He is in the seer also -- within and without. By and by... But don't get attached to that either. Attachment is the food for the mind to continue.
Non-attached witnessing is the way to stop it without any effort to stop it. And when you start enjoying those blissful moments, your capacity to retain them for longer periods arises. Finally, eventually, one day, you become master. Then when you want to think, you think; if thought is needed, you use it; if thought is not needed, you allow it to rest. Not that mind is simply no more there: mind is there, but you can use it or not use it. Now it is your decision. Just like legs: if you want to run you use them; if you don't want to run you simply rest -- legs are there.
In the same way, mind is always there. When I am talking to you I am using the mind -- there is no other way to talk. When I am answering your question I am using the mind -- there is no other way. I have to respond and relate, and mind is a beautiful mechanism. When I am not talking to you and I am alone, there is no mind -- because it is a medium to relate through. Sitting alone it is not needed. You have not given it a rest; hence, the mind becomes mediocre. Continuously used, tired, it goes on and on and on. Day it works; night it works.
In the day you think; in the night you dream. Day in, day out, it goes on working. If you live for seventy or eighty years it will be continuously working. Look at the delicacy and the endurability of the mind -- so delicate! In a small head all the libraries of the world can be contained; all that has ever been written can be contained in one single mind. Tremendous is the capacity of the mind -- and in such a small space! and not making much noise.
If scientists some day become capable of creating a parallel computer to mind... computers are there, but they are not yet minds. They are still mechanisms, they have no organic unity; they don't have any center yet. If some day it becomes possible... and it is possible that scientists may some day be able to create minds -- then you will know how much space that computer will take, and how much noise it will make. Mind is making almost no noise; goes on working silently. And such a servant! -- for seventy, eighty years.
And then, too, when you are dying your body may be old but your mind remains young. Its capacity remains yet the same. Sometimes, if you have used it rightly, it even increases with your age! -- because the more you know, the more you understand, the more you have experienced and lived, the more capable your mind becomes. When you die, everything in your body is ready to die -- except the mind. That's why in the East we say mind leaves the body and enters another womb, because it is not yet ready to die. The rebirth is of the mind.
Once you have attained the state of samadhi, no-mind, then there will be no rebirth. Then you will simply die. And with your dying, everything will be dissolved -- your body, your mind... only your witnessing soul will remain. That is beyond time and space. Then you become one with existence; then you are no more separate from it. The separation comes from the mind. But there is no way to stop it forcibly -- don't be violent. Move lovingly, with a deep reverence -- and it will start happening of its own accord. You just watch. And don't be in a hurry.
The modern mind is in much hurry. It wants instant methods for stopping the mind. Hence, drugs have appeal. Mm? -- you can force the mind to stop by using chemicals, drugs, but again you are being violent with the mechanism. It is not good. It is destructive. In this way you are not going to become a master. You may be able to stop the mind through the drugs, but then drugs will become your master -- you are not going to become the master. You have simply changed your bosses, and you have changed for the worse.
Now the drugs will hold power over you, they will possess you; without them you will be nowhere. Meditation is not an effort against the mind. It is a way of understanding the mind. It is a very loving way of witnessing the mind -- but, of course, one has to be very patient. This mind that you are carrying in your head has arisen over centuries, millennia. Your small mind carries the whole experience of humanity -- and not only of humanity: of animals, of birds, of plants, of rocks. You have passed through all those experiences.
All that has happened up to now has happened in you also. In a very small nutshell, you carry the whole experience of existence. That's what your mind is. In fact, to say it is yours is not right: it is collective; it belongs to us all. Modern psychology has been approaching it, particularly Jungian analysis has been approaching it, and they have started feeling something like a collective unconscious. Your mind is not yours -- it belongs to us all. Our bodies are very separate; our minds are not so separate.
Our bodies are clear-cutly separate; our minds overlap -- and our souls are one. Bodies separate, minds overlapping, and souls are one. I don't have a different soul and you don't have a different soul. At the very center of existence we meet and are one. That's what God is: the meeting-point of all. Between the God and the world -- 'the world' means the bodies -- is mind. Mind is a bridge: a bridge between the body and the soul, between the world and God. Don't try to destroy it! Many have tried to destroy it through Yoga. That is a misuse of Yoga.
Many have tried to destroy it through body posture, breathing -- that too brings subtle chemical changes inside. For example: if you stand on your head in shirshasan -- in the headstand -- you can destroy the mind very easily. Because when the blood rushes too much, like a flood, into the head -- when you stand on your head that's what you are trying to do.... The mind mechanism is very delicate; you are flooding it with blood. The delicate tissues will die. That's why you never come across a very intelligent yogi -- no.
Yogis are, more or less, stupid. Their bodies are healthy -- that's true -- strong, but their minds are just dead. You will not see the glimmer of intelligence. You will see a very robust body, animallike, but somehow the human has disappeared. Standing on your head, you are forcing your blood into the head through gravitation. The head needs blood, but in a very, very small quantity; and very slowly, not floodlike. Against gravitation, very little blood reaches to the head. And that, too, in a very silent way.
If too much blood is reaching into the head it is destructive. Yoga has been used to kill the mind; breathing can be used to kill the mind. There are rhythms of breath, subtle vibrations of breath, which can be very, very drastic to the delicate mind. The mind can be destroyed through them. These are old tricks. Now the latest tricks are supplied by science: LSD, marijuana, and others. More and more sophisticated drugs will be available sooner or later.
I am not in favour of stopping the mind. I am in favour of watching it.
It stops of its own accord -- and then it is beautiful When something happens without any violence it has a beauty of its own, it has a natural growth. You can force a flower and open it by force; you can pull the petals of a bud and open it by force -- but you have destroyed the beauty of the flower. Now it is almost dead. It cannot stand your violence. The petals will be hanging loose, limp, dying. When the bud opens by its own energy, when it opens of its own accord, then those petals are alive.
The mind is your flowering -- don't force it in any way. I am against all force and against all violence, and particularly violence that is directed towards yourself. Just watch -- in deep prayer, love, reverence. And see what happens! Miracles happen of their own accord. There is no need to pull and push. You ask: How to stop thinking? I say: Just watch, be alert. And drop this idea of stopping, otherwise it will stop the natural transformation of the mind. Drop this idea of stopping! Who are you to stop? At the most, enjoy.
And nothing is wrong -- even if immoral thoughts, so-called immoral thoughts, pass through your mind, let them pass; nothing is wrong. You remain detached. No harm is being done. It is just fiction; you are seeing an inner movie. Allow it its own way and it will lead you, by and by, to the state of no-mind. Watching ultimately culminates in no-mind. No-mind is not against mind: no-mind is beyond mind. No-mind does not come by killing and destroying the mind: no-mind comes when you have understood the mind so totally that thinking is no longer needed -- your understanding has replaced it.
Every one is born fresh. For an Infant every thing is new and unknown. The Infant does not have any idea about things and cannot distinguish between things. The Infant is not even aware of its own Body.
Slowly with mother's touch the Infant starts recognizing its body. Then the Infant starts recognizing the Mother, father and then after some time it starts recognizing its own name given by the parents. With time the Child gets identified with more things like - this is my body, these are my toys, these things are good and these things are bad and so on. Slowly a belief system is formed which defines good and bad for the child. Society, Parents, Religion and upbringing plays an important role in shaping the belief system of the child.
This belief system act as a protection for the innocent and pure child. Because if we act according to the society then we are accepted otherwise we have to face their criticism. E.g. small Children often play and suck their thumbs, explore their genitals and eat sand. But mothers stop them from doing so. So the child comes to know that these things are not allowed. This information forms the belief system of the child. In a subtle way every child is programmed to act in a certain way. Every Child goes through this programming and starts functioning as per the programming. This programming is our Mind.
For understanding we can compare our Mind with operating system of our Computer. But this programming done in our childhood is not the only factor which shapes our mind. Many beliefs we carry from our past lives also. These Past lives tendencies can be compared with "Read only memory" of computer.
In a way we are a Biological Computer. Our actions are decided by our Programming. No person is a fool to do any thing wrong. Even criminals have a valid reason to commit the crime. For a criminal that is not the crime because in his belief system that is the right thing to do. Every moment Mind works in the background and makes us to do things. Even while reading this article our Mind is acting as a Judge.
Mind has many layers of conditioning. Suppose some one dies after falling from a high building in previous life then in this life that person will be afraid of heights. Every experience adds one layer to our mind. It's like a wall which is being painted with different color every moment.
Our mental state or Mind is always in Flux state, with many emotions keeping on coming and going. Emotions start with a thought. Idea of doing any thing also starts with a thought. Our Mind is always full of thoughts. In spiritual world Mind is recognized as the 'thinking mechanism'. Thought is a door to Mind or thought is Mind. Twenty fours in a day we are thinking and dreaming. One thought comes, then next thought comes which is always related with the previous thought. Those who practice meditation say that "thoughts are always related. One thought leads to another thought. It's like a continuous Traffic of thoughts in which one thought is followed by another thought".
Most of us believe that they are thinking good and bad thoughts. If that is the case then we can definitely stop this process of thoughts for a while. But no matter how hard we try we cannot be with out a thought for even a single second. Even the idea of having no thought for a second is itself a thought and will lead to another related thought and the Next thought is already in the Traffic. Thoughts come from outside. That is reason we can not stop our thoughts because they are not ours.
Most of us not only take the responsibility for good and bad thoughts and but we even fight for them. Many times fulfilling a single thought consumes our whole life. What ever actions we do in life starts with a Thought and thought is Mind and Mind means the programming done from so many lives. We make our decisions in life based upon our thinking but no thought is ours. Then what are we doing in this life which we can call ours? Until and unless we become aware of the Mind then our life is no more than a dream because we are sleeping. No action of ours come from our Individuality but is influenced by our Mind.
Mind is a Limitation which limits the Man to mediocrity otherwise if Man works from its source then Man has an infinite potential. Meditation is one device which brings us closer to our source. Any action done with meditation is authentic and is not influenced by Mind. Meditation liberates man from the slavery of Mind. With meditation what ever we do is as fresh as a new Born Baby. All that corruption which Mind has done to us loses its strength against Meditation. Meditation is the only medication.
As of now all our actions are controlled by Mind. Mind has become our master and it's not so easy to get rid from the slavery of mind. Even if we come to know of this slavery then also Mind is going to deceive us. Mind is very cunning and plays subtle games with us. First step towards becoming more authentic is to be aware of the Mind games. Thinking is the door through which Mind enter again and again all the time fooling us, making us do things which we feel we ourselves have decided to do and all the time creating misery for us and then rationalizing every thing and every action which we have done. Mind deceives us through various ways.
Mind is either in Past or in future. All the time our thoughts are moving in past or future. Always we are dreaming. When ever we come to present moment, Mind stops for a while.
We are driving at 100Kmph and suddenly to stop accident we apply break. Then for a brief moment our mind stops. Because if in that dangerous situation we start thinking , we will be dead. Then in that situation the decision of applying brakes, comes from our being or our center or from spontaneity or from our soul. These are all same but different authors have used different terms.
Rock climbing, Fast driving, Bungee Jumping - there is so much thrill. because mind stops for a while in those rare moments.
In deepest experience of Sex or in ejaculation again mind stops for a while. But it happens for a while and then again it comes back.
But whenever mind stops suddenly on that occasion either we are in shock or thrill but we are never relaxed.
Mind also stops in deep meditation but then we are relaxed and blissful. That is the beauty of meditation. In Samadhi state mind stops completely.
Some times when we are very relaxed then also for few moments mind stops. Some times when we are with our lover watching sunset or seeing some beautiful thing or sharing intimate moments then also Mind stops for a while. Or we are desiring for some thing for so long and we are putting so much effort for it and suddenly we get that thing then also mind stops for a while. But only for few moments and we cherish those moments through out our life. Same blissful moments are experienced in deep meditation.
But these moments when mind have stopped are few because mind again finds some excuse to think. Mind can say now you have found your beloved, you have attained your goal, what a beautiful sunset or rose flower etc. Through thinking mind comes. We verbalize every thing. If see a rose flower then immediately thought comes what a beautiful rose flower. We feel we are appreciating beauty but mind is doing its work. It comes back again and again. But if we keep on doing meditation then these silent moments when mind stops go on increasing and one day its stops on its own. When we completely stop cooperating with mind then its days are numbered.
Mind generates guilt feeling. That is another door through which again thinking starts and we get involve in thinking very seriously. Mind starts finding the cause why I acted that way. How can I act that way? I could have done some thing else and all the time mind is discussing some thing which has happened in the Past.
Mind loves Comparison. Mind compares with its colleagues, friends, relatives. Suppose my friend gets a better pay hike than me. Mind will be very disturbed. But Mind is not bothered with Bill Gates who is much richer than me. Mind only compares with close ones.
Mind is the experience of our collective Past. Mind knows to deal with the things which it knows, with which it is familiar. If any thing new turns up then mind does not know how to react for it. Mind needs some time to function and adjust itself in new situation.
Why the mind stops suddenly at the time of a possible accident?
Because Mind is not prepared for such an occasion.
Why we feel uncomfortable in new situation, with new people?
Because Mind is not prepared. Slowly mind learns the trick how to adapt with a particular person and occasion. That's why we are different with each person.
When ever we have an option to choose then we should go for New. Because it breaks the habit of Mind, it loosens its grip on us. In a new situation mind does not know how to react because Mind is an experience of our collective past.
Some times it happens we go to a garden or a beach - then suddenly we become so much relaxed that the mind stops. Mind does not know how to react so it stops. But after few days when we again go to that place then we don't feel so blissful. Because firstly we went with the desire to gain peace. Desire is Mind and secondly Mind is prepared now. On first occasion it was a shock for the mind but now its prepared. More we expect, less is the chances of it happening. Expectation, desire, ambition, thoughts all are Mind games.
Mind loves Rationalizing. What ever mind does it gives strong reasons for it and that too immediately. Even a criminal has valid reason to commit a crime. Mind rationalizes all its action as well as mistakes.
While rationalizing again, thought will enter and so will the mind. Thought is the vehicle for Mind to travel.
So if we make any mistakes then no need to feel guilty and no need to rationalize it. We all are human so we are bound to commit mistakes. But as a human we should be wise enough to learn from our mistakes as well from others and not to commit the same mistakes again. Accepting that we have committed mistake is better than rationalizing it. Acceptance of mistakes opens the door to learning from it as well as avoiding it in future.
So one should accept the mistake as soon as we found and move on with life rather than brooding over it for a long period of time and suffering.
Mind loves contemplation. Many times it happens that we are thinking over a problem for a long period of time but are not able to reach to an conclusion.
But still we go on contemplating as mind rationalizes by saying that we are coming to conclusion. In reality even after 5 hours of contemplating we are at the same place as we were 5 hours ago.
Mind wants to know every thing before doing or starting any thing. Mind believes that by thinking, by contemplating we are doing some constructive work.
Paradoxically when the time comes to take decisions then we always knows what we have to do. In that exact moment we all are able to make decisions. If we take decisions of life moment to moment then our source/being guides us. If we are not bothered with next moment and we live as each moment comes then we are always guided by our being or intuition and we never make any mistakes.
But when ever we make any decision from mind. Then we are always deceived and secondly mind will also rationalize our decision but at same time we will always have a guilt feeling.
Mind is confusion. Even after hours of thinking mind is not able to come to conclusion because mind is always divided. When ever it speaks in favor after few minutes it will speak against also. Mind is always in dilemma and confusion.
Mind is the sum total of all our experiences, all our conditioning, all our belief systems. Mind has nothing of its own, no center. Mind is just a Big hard disk in which all types of data is loaded. Mind needs a master who can make use of this vast information. But that master is sleep and only meditation can awake the master. Once the master is awake then mind is an wonderful servant.
It happens we go to a shopping mall and we buy a shirt. After few minutes we always find a shirt which is better than the ones which we have bought. Because mind is never sure of anything nor even of this decision.
Mind is desire. Mind contains all the unfulfilled desires of our lives. Not even this life but past lives also. When we die then our body dies but our mind is not dead. Our all memories from past lives are still store with mind but we are not able to access them. But there are ways to access the.
Mind has so many desires and is always full of ambition. Mind convinces us with its rationalization that if this desire is fulfilled then I will be happy. But it never happens so. Because at the first place it's difficult to fulfill a desire and if by chance we are able to do it, by that time mind has moved to some other desires.
Fulfilling mind desires is impossible. May be man in future man can make every impossible to possible but it can never satisfy mind.
Mind is Doubt. Mind is always in dilemma and lots of questions.
When ever 'How' and 'Why' comes, It means mind has entered. Mind wants to know every thing. It ask all sort of questions. And again it's impossible to satisfy mind. Because if one question of mind is answered then it will create 1000 other questions.Mind is versatile. it can create doubt and questions in every field. Even in spirituality. Many meditators ask "why we are not doing meditation", "are we going in right direction in meditation". Simple solution to all these questions is to look "who is asking this questions". Moment we start answering these questions from mind, we have become fool. Its impossible to answer them.
Mind is Ambition or Ego. Mind loves power. That power could be in the materialistic world or in he spiritual world.
In Spiritual world mind hankers towards spiritual power. Nothing much has changed. Earlier mind was running after money, fame, sex now mind is running after enlightenment, heaven, spiritual power etc.
Mind is very capable in making the 180 degree turn.
For example one who is totally materialistic can become a great spiritual person in another minute. Its like a movement of pendulum. Once the pendulum reached the other end it changes direction. So is the case with mind. When ever we reaches the other end or extreme of any thing we change direction.That's why Gautam Buddha teaches the path of Middle. When we are in middle, mind is no more there. Mind is there in past and in future. This very moment it is not there. But to start living in present moment one needs to practice and then only our slavery will break one day.
Any thing that is satisfying to our ego, any thing that adds to our ego comes from our mind. Mind always tried to prove how Right I am. How smart, how intelligent, how beautiful I am. All games and tricks of Mind are directed towards feeing the ego. More egoistic the person is, more is misery. More spontaneous, more childlike innocent state leads to happiness.
Mind is Extrovert. Mind's focus is always on the other, outside. Opposite of Mind is meditation. Meditation is inwards. Meditation brings us closer to ourselves and mind takes us away from ourselves. Meditation means death of mind. So it always happens. When ever we start meditating, the mind becomes very alert. It starts working at double, triple of its efficiency. And in beginning all meditators have to pass through this state.
Mind is directly related with body. Mind and body are not two mechanism but they are one. Mind is very much connected with breath. More faster, more uneven the breath is, more the mind is working. On the contrary when breath is very slow, in rhythmic, then mind is silent. Vipassana meditation taught by Gautam Buddha is based upon this principle. Simply watching the fall and rise of breath, mind slows down.
During meditation Mind not only works faster but it also creates distraction through body also. Some people feels that Ant is walking in their arm, some people feel like aching a part of a body and some feels tired, sleepy and so on. These all are distractions because of the mind. Only solution for it is to ignore them or if some one wants to rub the body then does it with awareness.
Mind lives with definitions, principles, beliefs, laws, disciplines. Mind is an order. But in existence there is nothing good and bad. We can define any thing concrete. E.g. if Hitler was killed the moment he was born that would have been a sin but if some body would have killed him before 2nd world war then it would have been good for humanity. Is not it so? So how can we define whether killing is good or bad? If look very subtle, then here our mind is coming to a conclusion that nothing is good and Bad. This will become a new definition for Mind. Mind is at functioning even now while reading this article.
Mind is very cunning. On the surface it says some thing but deep down its thinking and planning some thing else. Mind is a very calculative. It checks all the Pro's and Con's for doing a thing.
Mind needs past and future but life needs present. Living in present moment is the biggest present one can give to oneself. Sages say even till the last step mind follows us, it tries all kind of tricks to be fooling us.
Mind gets bored easily. If we do a thing again and again then sooner or later mind gets bored with it and it needs a change. But that change should not be any thing which mind has not experienced before. Some thing from the Past which mind has enjoys before as Logical mind believes doing that thing can give me pleasure again. Repeating any word or Mantra with out awareness is very boring for mind after some time and it falls to sleep. That is base of Transcendental meditation. In Mantra Chanting one should be aware or chant the manta with full intensity as one life is at stake or with great devotion. Chanting Mantra should not be mechanical or one will fall asleep because Mind sleeps.
What ever we want to suppress or escape from becomes central to the mind. What ever we try to escape becomes an attraction for the mind and mind starts moving towards it. So no restriction can bind the mind. But becoming aware of the things can help us prevent from distraction.
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