Osho on Knowing

Dear Friends,

Do you think, there is any difference between ‘Knowledge’ & ‘Knowing’?

Just read & reflect on how beautifully this difference is explained by OSHO....

“

...Not knowing is not ignorance; not knowing is a state of innocence. There is neither knowledge nor ignorance; both have been transcended.

The ignorant person is one who goes on ignoring something essential. In that way the knowledgeable person is the most ignorant person, because he knows about all the other things but he knows nothing about himself or who he is. He is keeping himself occupied with the non-essential. He is full of knowledge, yet utterly ignorant.

Not knowing simply means a state of ‘No-mind’. Mind can be knowledgeable, mind can be ignorant. If you have less information you are thought to be ignorant; if you have more information you are thought to be knowledgeable. So, between ignorance and knowledge the difference is only that of quantity, of degrees. They are not different, their qualities are not different.

Not knowing means one is neither ignorant nor knowledgeable. One is not knowledgeable because one is not interested in mere information, and one is not ignorant because one is not ignoring the most essential quest. One is not ignoring one's own being, one's own consciousness. Not knowing has a beauty of its own, a purity. It is just like a pure mirror, a lake utterly silent, reflecting the stars and the trees on the bank. The state of not knowing is the highest point in man's evolution.

Knowledge is introduced to the mind after physical birth. Knowing is always present, like the heart knowing how to beat or a seed knowing how to sprout, or a flower knowing how to grow, or a fish knowing how to swim. It is quite different from knowing about things. So there is a distinction between knowledge and knowing.

The state of not knowing is really the state of knowing because when all knowledge and all ignorance have disappeared you can reflect existence as it is. The more knowledge you acquire, the more and more knowing starts disappearing because it becomes covered with knowledge. Knowledge is exactly like dust and knowing is like a mirror.

The heart of knowing is ‘NOW’. Knowledge is always of the ‘PAST’. Knowledge means memory, accumulation of experience. Knowing is of the present. To be in the present you will have to drop clinging to knowledge. Knowing is your nature.

The word ‘NOW’ is beautiful. The heart of ‘NOW’ is the letter "O" which is also a symbol for ‘SHOONYA’ or ‘ZERO’. So, the heart of now is zero, nothingness. When the mind is no more, when you are just a nothingness, just a zero, a SHUNYA, then everything that surrounds you, all that is within and without, is known, not as knowledge, but in a totally different way. The same way that the flower knows how to open, and the fish knows how to swim, and the child knows in the mother's womb how to grow, and you know how to breathe ....even while asleep and the heart knows how to beat. This is totally different kind of knowing, so intrinsic, so internal. It is not acquired, it is natural.

‘Knowledge’ is acquired in exchange for ‘knowing’. So, you forget knowing, and knowing is the door to the divine; knowledge is a barrier to the divine. Knowledge has utility in the world. It makes you more efficient, skillful, and you may earn more. But whenever knowledge is not needed, put it aside and drown yourself into a state of not knowing ...which is also a state of real knowing....!”

Enjoy the Day Friends !

Celebration of Work !

A temple was under construction on the outskirts of a village. Some construction workers were busy cutting stones for it. A passerby stopped to see what is being built. He went near one of the workers and asked him, "What are you doing?"

The man was quite sad and serious. He even looked angry with himself. Without raising his gaze to the visitor the worker said in a sharp tone, "Why are you asking me this silly question? Don't you see I am cutting stones?"

The visitor then moved to another worker and asked him the same question, "What are you doing?"

This man looked sad too, but at least was not angry. He put down his hammer and chisel, raised his eyes to the visitor and said, "I am earning bread for my family," and he resumed his work.

The visitor moved to a third workman who was engaged in the same kind of work. However, this man was in a happy mood, singing.

"What are you doing?" the passerby asked him too.

The man looked at his visitor happily and said in a very pleasant tone, "I am constructing a temple for my God!" He resumed his stone cutting and his singing once again.

Moral of the Story ....

All the three workmen were engaged in the same job ... stone-cutting, but their attitude towards their work was quite different from one another.

The third workman had turned his work into a celebration ...so, he could work and sing together. Friends, one can create wealth also by way of celebration. It is not necessary to treat it as a duty and work, otherwise the work makes us tired, exhausted and hence leaves us utterly empty.

The affluence that comes with the celebration has a beauty of its own. One can abolish one’s poverty through hard and painful work, but such a person will still remain poor in spite of the wealth. Poverty of the spirit cannot go until one learns to transform work into a celebration. The way of celebration can abolish both material and spiritual poverty.

It is really a question of one’s attitude towards what one does. With the change of attitude, work turns into a celebration and the whole milieu of life changes.

Friends, if we can not get what we Love, can we Love what we get????

Being Natural

There was a famous Zen temple and a priest was in charge of the garden around the temple. The priest loved the flowers, shrubs, and trees, hence he was entrusted with this job. Next to the temple there was another small temple where there lived a very old Zen master.

One day, the priest was expecting some special guests, so he took extra care in tending the garden. He pulled the weeds, trimmed the shrubs, combed the moss, and spent a long time meticulously raking up and carefully removing all the dry autumn leaves. As he worked, the old Zen master watched him with interest from across the wall that separated the two temples.

When he had finished, the priest stood back to admire his own work. "Isn't it beautiful," he called out to the old master.

"Yes," replied the old man, "but still there is something missing. Help me over this wall and I'll put it right for you."

After hesitating, the priest lifted the old fellow over the wall and set him down. Slowly, the master walked to the tree near the center of the garden, grabbed it by the trunk, and started shaking it. All the dry leaves showered down all over the garden.

"There! It looks natural now," said the old Zen master, "you can put me back on the other side!"

Moral of the Story ...

Friends, one should drop pretensions, hypocrisies, drop all that has been cultivated around one’s natural being and just become natural.

The emptiness is created by throwing away the artificial things, pretensions and masks. The natural being starts flowing in that moment. It needs space, so as to become empty, loose and natural.

To be natural is the most fundamental principle of one’s life.

Enjoy the Day Friends!

Originals & Carbon Copies!

The great Zen master Bankei's talks were attended not only by Zen students but by persons of all ranks and sects. He never quoted sutras nor indulged in scholastic dissertations. Instead, his words were spoken directly from his heart and used to reach the hearts of his listeners.

His large audiences angered a priest of the Nichiren sect because the adherents had left to hear about Zen. So one day the self-centered Nichiren priest came to the temple, determined to debate with Bankei.

"Hey, Zen teacher!" he called out, "Wait a minute. Whoever respects you will obey what you say, but a man like me does not respect you. Can you make me obey you?"

"Come up beside me and I will show you," said Bankei.

Proudly the priest pushed his way through the crowd to the teacher.

Bankei smiled. "Come over to my left side."  The priest moved himself to the left side of Bankei.

"No," said Bankei, "we may talk better if you are on my right side. Step over here." And the priest proudly stepped over to Bankei’s right.

"You see," observed Bankei, "you are already obeying me and I think you are a very gentle person. Now sit down and listen to me."

Moral of the Story ....

Friends, jealousy is the by-product of our conditioning for comparison. If one can drop comparing, then jealousy will disappear. Jealousy is one of the most prevalent areas of psychological ignorance about oneself and about others.

Comparison is a very foolish attitude, because each one of us is unique and incomparable. Once this understanding settles in, jealousy disappears. We are just ourselves, nobody has ever been like us, and nobody will ever be like us. We need not be like anybody else, either.

Friends, existence creates only originals, it does not believe in carbon copies.

Have a Nice Day Friends !

Trust! Cut the rope.

 From an email

No Preferences

The "Way" is not Difficult  for Someone, who is Without Preferences.......

A Zen Teaching

 

What makes the journey difficult is the intrinsic tendency of our dualist minds to classify things, events and people, either as good or bad, desired or undesired, pleasant or unpleasant, etc. This Classification leads to Comparison, Comparison leads to Dissatisfaction and hence Life results in Unhappiness...Misery.....Suffering.When we totally accept "What Is as Is" or as a reflection of the perfect mechanism, we start perceiving the unity beyond all the dualities and hence all the preferences lose their meaning and their importance in our lives.

See God in others

Twinkies and Root Beer
A little boy wanted to meet God.
He knew it was a long trip to where God lived, so he packed his suitcase with Twinkies and a six-pack of Root Beer and he started his journey.
         
When he had gone about three blocks, he met an elderly man.
The man was sitting in the park just feeding some pigeons. 

The boy sat down next to him and opened his suitcase.
He was about to take a drink from his root beer when he noticed
 that the man looked hungry, so he offered him a Twinkie.
 

The man gratefully accepted it and smiled at boy.
His smile was so pleasant that the boy wanted to see it again, so he offered him a root beer.
Again, the man smiled at him.
The boy was delighted!
They sat there all afternoon eating and smiling, but they never said a word.
As it grew dark, the boy realized how tired he was and he got up to leave, but before he had gone more than a few steps, he turned around, ran back to the man, and gave him a hug.
The man gave him his biggest smile ever.

When the boy opened the door to his own house a short time later,
his mother was surprised by the look of joy on his face.
She asked him, "What did you do today that made you so happy?
"He replied,
 "I had lunch with God."
But before his mother could respond, he added,
 "You know what? God's got the most beautiful smile I've ever seen!"
Meanwhile, the elderly man, also radiant with joy, returned to his home.
His son was stunned by the look of peace on his face and he asked,
" Dad, what did you do today that made you so happy?"
He replied, "I ate Twinkies in the park with God."
However, before his son responded, he added,
" You know, he's much younger than I expected."
Too often we underestimate the power of a touch,
a smile,
a kind word,
 a listening ear,
an honest compliment,
 or the smallest act of caring,
all of which have the potential to turn a life around.
People come into our lives for a reason, a season, or a lifetime.

From an email I found worth sharing.

Thinking Minds

Friends, Read & Laugh at this confusion .....

Once, two men met at a bar and struck up a conversation regarding their families, their problems, etc.....

After a while one of them said, "You think you have problems in life? You should listen to my situation.... A few years ago I met a young widow with a grown-up daughter and we got married. Later, my father married my stepdaughter.
That made my stepdaughter my stepmother, and my father became my stepson. Also, my wife became the mother-in-law of her father-in-law. Then the daughter of my wife, who was my stepmother, had a son.
This boy was my half brother because he was my father's son, but he was also the son of my wife's daughter, which made him my wife's grandson. That made me the grandfather of my half brother.

This was nothing until my wife and I had a son. Now the sister of my son, my mother-in-law, is also my grandmother. This makes my father the brother-in-law of my child, whose stepsister is my father's wife. I am my stepmother's brother-in-law; my wife is her own child's aunt, my son is my father's nephew and I am my own grandfather !!!!.... And you think only you have problems in life...?"

Moral of the Story ....

Friends, mind always gets puzzled into such confusion words.  The problems created by the mind or by thinking can be solved through thinking. But no real problem or existential problems can be solved by the mind.
Too much thinking makes one miss all the solutions and sometimes creates even more problems.  Unless one moves deep in existence, existential problems can not have any solutions.
One can only come to one’s own truth through a very silent presence. 

Friends, thinking minds are always different from each other but silent minds are always one.

 Have a Wonderful Day Friends !

The Bamboo

A farmer had a cluster of beautiful bamboo trees. One day he stood before the tallest one and said, "My friend, I need you."

"Sir," said the bamboo, "Use me in any way you wish, I am ready."

Then the gardener's voice became serious and he said, "In order to use you, I've got to split you in half."

Immediately the bamboo reacted, "Split me! Oh, no... I'm the nicest bamboo in this garden. Use me in any way you wish, but please don't split me in half."

"Well," said the gardener, "If I can't split you, I can't use you."

The bamboo went silent for some time, then it bowed down its head and said, "That’s fine. If the only way you can use me, is by splitting me, go ahead."

"But that's not all," said the gardener, "I will have to cut off all your branches."

"That will be the end of my beauty," the bamboo said, "But, if that's the only way I can be of use, cut me down altogether."

So the farmer cut down the bamboo, removed all its branches and split it down in two halves. After hollowing out its insides, he brought it to a spring of water. It became a pipe which directed the spring water to flow in to the fields and gardens to make them fertile, help them flower and bear fruits.....!

Moral of the Story ....

Friends, the beautiful bamboo sacrificed itself to give life to the crop and whole-hearted supported the plants & the trees to flower and bear fruits.

Right around us there are various people .... our parents, teachers, our siblings, spouses, friends, our colleagues, and of course the security forces of our nation, who willingly keep sacrificing their lives for us, so that, we can learn, live, flourish, grow, feel secure and enjoy our lives.

Friends, Let us all be aware of their sacred efforts and bow down at their feet, for wherever they are...Let us be worthy of their sacrifice....!

Have a Wonderful Day !!

Time Management: Creating Extra Space

Dear Friends,

Please check the pictures (below) of two triangles filled with different colored blocks. Can you see how wonderfully some ‘Extra Space’ has been created in the second triangle! Only a small reshuffling of the blocks within the triangle has created such a wonder. Isn’t it amazing friends?

No matter how organized we are in our life, there are always only 24 hours in a day. Time doesn't change, so all we can actually manage is ourselves and what we do with whatever little time we have.

Tracking our daily activities explains how we can form a accurate picture of what we actually do. This is the first step towards effective time management which can transform the Quality of our Life. The focus of living a Quality Life is actually changing our behaviors, not changing time. A good place to start is by eliminating our personal time-wasters.

Although, today it is impossible to avoid waiting for someone or something, we don't need to just sit there and twiddle our thumbs. Technology today makes it easy to work wherever we are and it sure helps us to stay connected.

Friends, we can be in control of our life and accomplish what we want to accomplish, once we have come to grips with the time management myth and have taken control of our time & of course our Life!!

....So, what are we waiting for Friends?? We just need to reshuffle our Work Zone, Family Zone & Social Zone, so as to Create some Extra Space to accommodate our Intimate Zone!

 

Knowledge Vs Knowing !

In Japan one night, a blind man was visiting a friend. The night was quite dark and he was offered a paper-and-bamboo lantern to carry home with him.

“I do not need a lantern,” said the blind man, “darkness or light it is all the same for me.”

“Yes, I know! You do not need a lantern to find your way”, his friend replied, “but you must take it because, without this lantern someone may run into you.'

The blind man agreed with this and started off with the lantern. But on his way back, someone ran squarely into him.

“Oh! Look out where you are going!”, the blind man exclaimed to the stranger, “At least, can't you see this lantern in my hand?”

'My brother, your candle has burnt out,” replied the stranger.

Moral of the Story ....

Friends similarly, in the very transfer of the knowledge, the flame goes out. The flame of knowledge cannot be transferred. One will have to become a flame on his own accord. One can learn how to kindle one’s flame but one cannot borrow it or it can not be transferred.

‘Knowing’ is like seeing it with one’s own eyes and ‘Knowledge’ is like only hearing or reading it from others. Friends, one who remains with knowledge, always remains ignorant, remains far away from ‘Knowing’.....!

One should not accumulate only knowledge, but one should be a knower!!

Good Day to All My Friends !

Retouching the X-Ray!

There used to be pain in Mulla Nasruddin's back. One day the pain became unbearable, so he reluctantly went to a specialist to diagnose his problem.

"Well," said the doctor, "your problem can be cured by an operation....and then two weeks in the hospital and six months totally horizontal...!"

"Oh No Doctor! I can't afford the cost of all that!" shouted Nasruddin.

"Well then, for twenty-five rupees I can retouch your X-ray," suggested the doctor.

Moral of the Story .....

Friends, retouching the X-ray is cheaper, but that is not going to make us healthy or resolve the problem. But, we continuously keep retouching the X-ray and think that somehow the miracle will happen.

Decorating our ego is like retouching the X-ray. Although it is not going to make us healthy, we find it cheaper. No surgery, no cost, and the misery continues. Even when we are highly respected, praised by the society, decorated with gold medals, laurels, awards, etc. our misery continues. Friends, all these are like retouching the X-ray.

All the decoration of our ego is nothing but deceiving ourselves. Thus, the body and mind slowly start getting weaker and weaker. Fear envelops us and we start living as if we are sitting on a volcano which will explode any day. This fear does not allow us to rest or relax or be at peace. Only if one can understand this point, the whole of our energy can be put into a right direction.

In Chandokya Upanishad, there is a Shloka which says, “ATMAVIT SHOKAM TARATI” which simply means, “The one who Realizes the Self, can successfully swim through the oceans of miseries!”

Friends, one needs to know oneself, only then one will  never worry about what others have to say....!!

Have a Nice Day Friends!

Origin of chaos

Once there was a party going on and a cockroach flew in from somewhere and settled on a lady. She started screaming out of fear. With panic stricken face and trembling voice, she started jumping all around, with both her hands desperately trying to get rid of the cockroach. Her reaction was contagious, as everyone around her got cranky to what was happening. The lady finally managed to push the cockroach, but it got settled on another lady nearby....

Now, it was the turn of the other lady to continue the drama. Then the waiter rushed forward to her rescue and in the desperation of pushing and throwing, the cockroach next fell upon the waiter. However, the waiter stood firm, composed and observed the behaviour of the cockroach on his shirt. When he was confident enough, he grabbed it and threw it out....!

Food For The Thoughts ....

Friends, was the cockroach responsible for the chaotic behaviour of the ladies?

If yes, then why was the waiter not disturbed? In fact, he handled it near to perfection, without creating any fuss. Therefore, it is not the cockroach, but the inability of the ladies to handle the disturbance caused by the cockroach that disturbed the ladies.

Similarly Friends, it is not the shouting of our bosses, or our spouses that disturbs us, but it is our inability to handle the disturbances caused by their shouting that disturbs us. Its not the traffic jams on the road that disturbs us, but our inability to handle the disturbance caused by the traffic jam that disturbs us. More than the problem, it is our reaction to the problem that hurts us.

The women in the party reacted to the cockroach, whereas the waiter responded. Reactions are always instinctive whereas responses are intellectual.

Friends, one should learn to be a part of the ‘Solution’ and not a ‘Victim’ to the problems of life.

Have a Nice Day !!!

Osho: The Law of Magic !!

".....Just be happy and the beloved comes. Just be happy and the friends are there. Just be happy and everything follows.

It is not only that you place a seed in the soil and the tree follows; let there be a tree and there are millions of seeds. If cause is followed by effect, effect is again followed by cause. This is the chain! Then it becomes a circle .... start from anywhere, create the cause or create the effect.

It is easier to create the effect because the effect depends totally upon you; the cause may not be so dependent on you. If I say I can only be happy when a particular friend is there with me, then it depends on the particular friend, whether he is there with you or not. If I say I cannot be happy until I collect this much wealth, then it depends on the whole world and the economic situations and so many other parameters. It may not happen, and so I cannot be happy.

Cause is beyond me. Effect is within me. Cause is in the surroundings, in the situations. Effect is me ! If I can create the effect, the cause will automatically follow. Choose to be blissful and see what happens. Your whole life will change immediately and you will see miracles happening around you, because now you have created the effect and causes will have to follow.

This will look magical; you can even call it "the law of magic".

~ Osho

Ignorance to Wisdom!

A Sufi mystic, Mulla Nasruddin and his wife once went to Israel for their holidays. There they visited a nightclub in Tel Aviv.

A comedian was on the bill who did his whole act in Hebrew. Mulla’s wife could not understand a single word and was sitting in silence through the whole act. But Mulla continued roaring with laughter at the end of each joke.

"I did not know you understood Hebrew," said Mulla’s wife in surprise, when the comedian had concluded his act.

"No, I don't!" replied Mulla.

"Well, how come you laughed so much at his jokes?" asked Mulla’s wife.

"Oh," said Mulla, "I just trusted him!"

Moral of the Story ....

Friends, if one simply trusts or believes, that is not going to help. Most of us have just been deceived by our beliefs regarding many beautiful things in our life.  We think we believe in God, believe in soul, believe in this and that, without ever experiencing it, then it is better not to believe.

If one knows that one doesn't know, there is a possibility that one may seek and search. But one’s plain belief will not allow him even to seek and search because one already thinks he knows. Belief is dangerous. Even to be a sceptic or to be an agnostic, is better. To be true when one doesn't know is better because, this honesty of accepting one’s ignorance may help. This honesty will grow and some day one will start seeking. No one can remain in deep ignorance for long.

Friends, to know exactly what one knows and what one does not know is the basic step towards growing in wisdom.

Have a Meaningful Day Friends !

Knowledge & Wisdom !

A king used to be very concerned because his son was something of a fool. Therefore, the king’s counselors urged that the son be sent away to a great university in another country. They all had a hope that the boy would acquire learning and wisdom. Finally the king agreed. The son was sent abroad where he studied hard for several years.

One day the son wrote to the king that he had learned just about everything possible and pleaded to be allowed to return home. The king agreed and the son returned. When the son arrived at the palace the king was overjoyed. A great feast was prepared and all the great men of the kingdom were invited.

At the end of the festivities one of the sages present asked the son, what he had learned. The young man ticked off the university’s curriculum that he had gone through. While the lad was talking, the sage slipped a ring off his finger, closed his fist over it, held it up and asked, “What do I hold in my hand?”

The son thought for a moment and replied, “It is a round object with a hole in the centre.” The sage was astonished at such a wisdom. May be the lad had become a great mind.

“Will you now name the object?” asked the sage.

The king’s son pondered for a few moments, then said, “The sciences that I studied do not aid me in answering your question, but my own commonsense tells me that it is a wheel of a cart.”

Moral of the Story ...

Friends, you can educate a fool but you cannot make him wise!

Information is not knowledge because information is not transformation ...It can never be. Knowledge comes only through transformation.

Information is adding something to the same old mind. It is only quantitative, there is no qualitative change, because the mind at the background remains the same. Probably this is the reason that, all that is called education today just proves to be superficial.

Friends, the mind has to go through qualitative change, otherwise there can not be any Wisdom. To go on adding information to one’s ignorance can be dangerous. There has to be a total mutation of the mind through Wisdom. Only a transformation of the very quality of the mind can bring in the real education.

Have a Nice Day Friends !

Buddha: Respond, don't react

 Buddha was once passing through a village. The people of that village were against him and his philosophy, so they gathered around him to insult him. They used ugly, abusive words. Buddha listened. Ananda, Buddha’s disciple who was with him, got very angry, but he couldn’t say anything because Buddha was listening so silently, so patiently, as if he was enjoying the whole thing. Even the crowd became a little frustrated because he was not getting irritated and it seemed he was enjoying.

Then Buddha said, ”Now, if you are finished, I should move, because I have to reach the other village soon. People must be waiting for me just as you were waiting. If you have not finished with your abuses, I will be passing through your village again within a few days. You can finish it then.”

Somebody from the crowd said, ”But we have been insulting you, abusing you. Won’t you react? Won’t you say anything?”

Buddha said, “If you want reaction from me, then you are too late. You should have come at least ten years ago, when I used to react. But now I am no longer foolish. I see your anger, the fire burning in your mind. I feel compassion for you ...!”

Saying so Buddha started to leave the crowd.  Again he stopped and said, ”One thing more, in the previous village on my way, I met a huge crowd of villagers who had come to see me and they had brought many sweets for me, a gift from the village. But I told them that I don’t take sweets and they took the sweets back. Now I ask you, what will they do with those sweets?”

Somebody from the crowd replied, ”It is easy, they will distribute those sweets in the village and they will enjoy!”

Buddha smiled and said, ”Now you have brought only insults and abuses for me and I don’t take them. What will you do? You abused and insult me, it is up to you. But I refuse to take it, that is up to me!” He further said, ”I don’t take unnecessary, useless things. I don’t get unnecessarily burdened. I feel sorry for you!”

Moral of the Story ....

Friends, this is called ‘response’. When someone is angry with us and if we are present there without the past, we will always feel compassion for the person. Reaction becomes anger but response is always compassion.

We will be able to see through the person and it will become transparent that he is angry, he is suffering, he is in misery, he is ill. When someone gets a fever do we ask him, ”Why do you have a fever? Why does your body have a high temperature?” In fact, we serve him and help him to recover from the illness. Similarly Friends, an angry person is suffering from a psychological disease which is more dangerous than any physical disease.

If we can be in the present without any past, then the catharsis, the deep cleansing happens and we can attain to more clarity. We are without any wounds, hence no one can hurt us. Then it becomes easy to respond.

Friends, reaction is always from the past, response is here and now. 

Please reflect on this.

Witnessing!!

There is a famous story in Tibet. A man wanted to learn the art of miracles, so he started serving a saint residing in a temple. The saint was thought to be a knower of all the secrets. The man served the saint day in, day out, although the old saint told him again and again, “I don’t know anything. You are unnecessarily wasting your time.”

But the man said, “You cannot avoid me so easily. I will die sitting here, but I will learn the secret from you.”

Finally the saint said, “Listen ..., I am giving you a simple secret mantra. Just go on chanting ‘Om, Om, Om....’ and all the secrets of the miracles will be available to you soon.”

The man was very happy and started rushing towards his home. While he was going down the steps of the temple the saint said, “Wait a minute! I have forgotten one thing. There is one condition. When you will sit and chant the mantra, remember not to think of any monkey.”

The man said, “Do you think I am mad? In whole of my life no monkey has ever entered into my mind, not even in my dreams! So don’t worry!”

The saint said, “I just wanted to make you aware of the condition....!”

The man rushed back home. But as he was moving towards his house he was amazed to see that, slowly the monkeys started appearing on the screen of his mind ... big monkeys, small monkeys, jumping and giggling.... He tried to push them away. It was not one monkey, but a never ending crowd of monkeys, rushing from all the sides....

When he sat for chanting, the monkeys were all over the room. He closed his eyes, but they were sitting all around him. A few were inside the mind, and a few were sitting all around him. They pushed him and jumped on him from all the sides and kept giggling. One big monkey was even sitting in front of him and was chanting Om...Om ...Om.

The man could not sleep the whole night, so at midnight he rushed to the temple, woke up the old saint and said, “What kind of mantra have you given to me? I see only monkeys everywhere!”

The saint said, “That’s why for so many years I didn’t tell this to anybody. No one can fulfill the condition.”

The man said, “I don’t want any miracles, any secrets. But please help me to get rid of these monkeys....!”

The saint smiled and said, “Simply drop the idea of miracles and those monkeys will disappear. They are the guardians of the miracles.”

Moral of the Story ....

Friends, even if we try to stop thinking for a few minutes, more thoughts will rush in than ever. This indicates that we are not the master. The way to become the master is not to stop the thoughts but to watch the whole thought process.

If the man had been simply a witness, the monkeys would have gone. They would have seen that this man is absolutely indifferent, not interested at all.

The moment you make a point to be indifferent towards the thoughts, you have attained a tremendous victory. Just watch. Don’t judge. Don’t condemn. Just by watching, a moment comes when there is nothing to watch. Thoughts disappear....

Friends, our mind is tremendously powerful instrument. But the result of this immense gift to man has not been beneficial, because the master is absent and the servant is running the show. Watchfulness is the key. Mind can be immensely creative. It can make this very earth paradise....!!

Enjoy the Day !

Purity of mind

The Zen Master Hakuin was always honored by his neighbors, as he led a pure life, until one day it was discovered that, a beautiful girl who lived near Hakuin’s hut, was pregnant. Her parents were very angry. In the beginning, the girl was not ready to take anybody’s name, but after much pressure she named Hakuin.

The angry parents and the neighbors reached Hakuin, but all he could say was, “Is that so?” 

After the girl gave birth to the child, the newborn baby was taken to Hakuin, who had lost all his reputation by this time. But Hakuin was not at all disturbed. He accepted the child with lot of love. He took a great care of the child and also arranged for everything the child needed. 

A year later the mother of the child could stand it no more, so she divulged the truth to her parents and told them that, the real father of her child was a young man from their village. Immediately the parents of the girl along with some villagers visited Hakuin to tell him the truth and apologize. They asked for his forgiveness and requested the child back. 

The master willingly yielded the child and said, “Is that so …?”

Moral of the Story ….

Friends, purity always means innocence, the unburdened consciousness ….unburdened of knowledge. A mind without any content, a mind like a child's mind, a pure, innocent mind. Innocence is the door to knowing. Knowledge is the barrier and innocence is the bridge.

To remain open is purity. Our innermost core has always been pure. Purity is intrinsic to all of us, it cannot be taken away in any way. Purity is eternal, one cannot lose it, there is no way to lose it. One can only forget about it or can remember it. If one forgets about it, one lives in confusion. If one remembers about it, everything in life becomes crystal clear.

Have a Wonderful Day !!

Possessiveness

Mulla Nasruddin once walked into the office of a cemetery and complained to the manager, "I know well that my wife is buried here in this cemetery but I can't find her grave."

The manager opened his register and asked, "What is her name?"

Mulla said, "Mrs. Nasruddin!"

The manager checked the register thoroughly and said, "There is no mention of Mrs. Nasruddin’s grave, but there is one Mr. Mulla Nasruddin buried here." 

The manager then apologetically added, "We are sorry Sir, it looks like something has gone wrong in our register."

Mulla Nasruddin immediately replied, "No...No...In fact, nothing is wrong from your side.... Just show me the grave of Mr. Mulla Nasruddin. Actually, everything is in my name you see....!"

Moral of the Story ...

Friends, even the grave of his wife is in Mulla’s own name! This is possession... one goes on trying to possess everything! This is not love. In fact, when one tries to possess, one hates, destroys, kills and becomes a sort of murderer.

Awareness.

The Zen students remain with their masters at least for ten years before they themselves are ready to teach others.

Once the great Zen master Nan-in, was visited by his student Tenno, who had passed his apprenticeship and had become a teacher. It was a rainy day and Tenno was wearing wooden clogs in his feet and was also carrying an umbrella.

After greeting his student Tenno, the master said, 'I am sure, you have left your wooden clogs and umbrella in the vestibule outside. I want to know, whether your umbrella is on the right side or on the left side of your clogs.'

Tenno was little confused as he had no instant answer. He realized that, he had missed the basic teaching and could not follow “Every Minute Zen” ... The Choiceless Awareness....To be in the present every moment....

Therefore, Tenno once again became Nan-in's student and studied for six more years to accomplish his “Every Minute Zen”.

Moral of the Story ....

Friends, awareness means one lives with an inner light and every moment moves with total awareness, fully alert. Walking, talking, sitting, eating, chewing .... each step is taken with full awareness....not a single moment is missed out.....

Very few people reach this state and those are the people who even die in awareness. If the death is conscious, the birth also will be conscious, because the death and the birth are the two sides of the same coin.

Friends, awareness is not a quality or a characteristic, it is one’s whole being. When one learns the magic of living in awareness, there is no choice left to be otherwise.

Have a Blissful Day Friends !!