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silence shared in words
presents
The Power of No-Mind no attachment, no greed, no jealousy, no anger
How does watching
lead to no-mind?
I am more and more able to watch my body,
my thoughts and feelings
and this feels beautiful.
But moments of no thoughts
are few and far between.
When I hear you saying
"meditation is witnessing,"
I feel I understand.
But when you talk about no-mind,
it doesn't sound easy at all.
Would you please comment?
Prem Anubuddha,
meditation covers
a very long pilgrimage.
When I say "meditation is witnessing",
it is the beginning of meditation.
And when I say "meditation is no-mind,"
it is the completion of the pilgrimage.
Witnessing is the beginning,
and no-mind is the fulfillment.
witnessing is the method to reach the no-mind.
Naturally you will feel witnessing is easier.
It is close to you.
But witnessing is only like seeds,
and then is the long waiting period.
Not only waiting, but trusting
that this seed is going
to sprout,
that it is going to become
a bush;
that one day the spring will come
and the bush will have flowers.
No-mind is the last stage
of flowering.
Sowing the seed is of course very easy;
it is within your hands.
But bringing the flowers
is beyond you.
You can prepare the whole ground,
but the flowers will come on their own accord;
you cannot manage to force them to come.
The spring is beyond your reach
but if your preparation is perfect,
spring comes;
that is absolutely guaranteed.
It is perfectly good, the way you are moving.
witnessing is the path
and you are
starting to feel once in a while
a thoughtless moment.
These are glimpses of no-mind..
but just for a moment.
Remember one fundamental law:
that which can exist just for a moment
can also become eternal.
You are given
not
two moments together,
but always one moment.
And if you can transform one moment
into a thoughtless state,
you are learning the secret.
Then there is no hindrance, no reason why you cannot change
the second moment,
which will also come alone,
with the same potential and the same capacity.
If you know the secret,
you have the master key
which can open every moment
into a glimpse of no-mind.
No-mind is the final stage,
when mind disappears forever
and the thoughtless gap
becomes your intrinsic reality.
If these few glimpses are coming,
they show you are on the right path
and you are using the right method.
But don't be impatient.
Existence needs immense patience.
The ultimate mysteries are opened only to those
who have immense patience.
I am reminded...
In old Tibet
it was customary,
respectful,
that every family
should
contribute
to the great experiment of
expanding consciousness.
So the first child of each family
was given
to the monasteries
to be trained in meditation.
Perhaps no country has done
such a vast experiment in consciousness.
The destruction of Tibet at the hands of communist China
is one of the greatest calamities
that could have happened to humanity.
It is not only a question of a small country,
it is a question of a great experiment
that was going on for centuries in Tibet.
The first child was given to the monasteries when he was very small,
five or at the most six years old.
I am reminded of one incident, there would have been millions like it.
A six years old child ...
But Tibet knew
that children can learn witnessing better than grown ups.
The grown-ups are already
utterly
spoiled.
The child is innocent and yet
the slate of his mind is empty;
to teach him emptiness is absolutely easy.
But
the entrance of a child into a monastery
was very difficult, particularly for a small child.
I am telling you only one; there would have been hundreds of incidents like it.
It is bound to be so.
A small child,
six years old,
is leaving.
His mother is crying,
because life in a monastery for a small child
is going to be so arduous.
The father
tells the child,
"Don't look back.
It is a question
of our family's respectability.
Not even once has a child in the whole history of
our family ever looked back.
Whatever is the test to be given for entrance into the monastery
even if your life is at risk,
don't look back.
Don't think of me or your mother and her tears.
"We are sending you for the ultimate experiment in human consciousness
with great joy,
although the separation is painful.
But we know
you will pass through all the tests;
you are our blood,
and of course you will keep
the dignity of your family."
The small child rides on the horse with a servant
riding on another horse.
A tremendous desire arises in him
when the road turns,
just to have a look again back
to the family house, its garden.
The father must be standing there, the mother must be crying...
but he remembers that the father has said, "Don't look back."
And he does not look back.
With tears in his eyes,
he turns with the road.
Now he cannot see his house anymore
and one never knows how long it will take
perhaps years and years
until he will be able to
see his father and mother
and his family again.
He reaches the monastery.
At the gate of the monastery
the abbot meets him,
receives him gracefully,
as if he is a grownup,
bows down to him
as he bows down to the abbot.
And the abbot says,
"Your first test will be
to sit outside the gate
with closed eyes,
unmoving,
unless you are called in."
The small child sits at the gate,
outside the gate
with closed eyes.
Hours pass...
and he cannot even move.
There are flies
sitting in his face, but he cannot remove them.
It is a question
of the dignity
that the abbot has shown to him.
He does not think anymore like a child;
so respected,
he has to fulfill
his family's longing,
the abbot's expectations.
The whole day passes,
and even other monks in the monastery start feeling sorry for the child.
Hungry,
thirsty...
he is simply waiting.
They start feeling that the child is small,
but has
great courage and guts.
Finally, by the time the sun is setting,
the whole day has passed,
the abbot comes
and takes the child in.
He says, "You have passed
the first
test,
but there are many more peaks ahead.
I respect your patience, being such a small child.
You remained unmoving,
you did not open your eyes.
You did not lose courage,
you trusted that whenever the time is right
you will be called in."
And then years of training in witnessing.
The child was only allowed
to see his parents again
after perhaps
ten years, , twenty years
had elapsed.
But the criterion was
that until he
experiences no-mind,
he cannot be allowed
to see his parents, his family.
Once he achieves no-mind,
then he can move back into the world.
Now there is no problem.
Once a man is in a state of no-mind,
nothing can distract him from his being.
There is no power bigger than the power of no-mind.
No harm can be done to such a person.
No attachment, no greed,
no jealousy,
no anger,
nothing can arise in him.
No-mind is absolutely a pure sky
without any clouds.
Anubuddha,
you say
"How does watching lead to no-mind?"
There is an intrinsic law:
thoughts don't have their own life.
They are parasites;
they live
on your identifying with them.
When you say, "I am angry,"
you are pouring life energy into anger,
because you are getting identified with anger.
But when you say, "I am watching
anger flashing
on the screen
of the mind within me"
you are not anymore giving any life, any juice, any energy
to anger.
You will be able to see that because you are not identified,
the anger is absolutely impotent,
has no impact on you,
does not change you,
does not affect you.
It is absolutely hollow and dead.
It will pass on
and it will leave the sky clean
and the screen of the mind empty.
Slowly, slowly
you start getting out of your thoughts.
That's the whole process of witnessing and watching.
In other words
George Gurdjieff used to call it
non-identification
you are no more identifying with your thoughts.
You are simply standing aloof and away
indifferent,
as if they might be anybody's thoughts.
You have broken
your connections with them.
Only then can you watch them.
Watching needs a certain distance.
If you are identified, there is no distance,
they are too close.
It is as if you are putting the mirror
too close to your eyes:
you cannot see your face.
A certain distance is needed;
only then can you see your face in the mirror.
If thoughts are too close to you,
you cannot watch.
You become impressed and colored
by your thoughts: anger makes you angry,
greed makes you greedy,
*** makes you lustful,
because there is no distance at all.
They are so close
that you are bound to think
that you and your thoughts
are one.
Watching destroys this oneness
and creates a separation.
The more you watch, the bigger is the distance.
The bigger the distance, the less energy your thoughts are getting from you.
And they don't have any other source of energy.
Soon they start dying,
disappearing.
In these disappearing moments you will have the first glimpses of no-mind.
That is what you are experiencing.
"I am more and more able to watch my body,
my thoughts and feelings,
and this feels beautiful."
This is just the beginning.
Even the beginning is immensely beautiful
just to be on the right path,
even without taking a single step,
will give you immense joy
for no reason at all.
And once you start moving on the right path,
your blissfulness, your beautiful
experiences are going to become more and more deep,
more and more wide,
with new nuances,
with new flowers,
with new fragrances.
Anubuddha, what you are feeling
is a great indication
that you are on the right path.
It is always a question for the seeker
whether he is moving in the right direction or not.
There is no security, no insurance, no guarantee.
All the dimensions are open;
how are you going to choose the right one?
These are
the ways
and the criteria
of how one has to choose.
If you move on any path, any methodology
and it brings joy to you,
more
sensitivity,
more watchfulness
and gives a feeling of immense well-being
this is the only criterion that you are going on the right path.
If you become more miserable,
more angry,
more egoist,
more greedy,
more lustful
those are the indications you
are moving on a wrong path.
On the right path your blissfulness is going to grow more and more every day,
and your experiences of beautiful feelings
will become
tremendously
psychedelic,
more colorful
colors that you have never seen in the world,
fragrances that you have never experienced in the world.
Then you can walk on the path
without any fear
that you can go wrong.
These inner experiences will keep you always on the right path.
Just remember
that if they are growing,
that means you are moving.
Now you have
only a few moments
of thoughtlessness...
It is not a simple attainment;
it is a great achievement,
because people in their whole lives
know not even a single moment when there is no thought.
These gaps will grow.
As you will become more and more centered,
more and more watchful,
these gaps will start growing bigger.
And the day
not far away -- if you go on moving
without looking back,
without going astray
if you keep going straight,
the day is not far away
when you will feel
for the first time
that the gaps have become so big
that hours pass
and not even a single thought arises.
Now you are having
bigger experiences of no-mind.
The ultimate achievement is
when twenty-four hours a day
you are surrounded with no-mind.
That does not mean that you cannot use your mind;
that is a fallacy
propounded
by those who know nothing about no-mind.
No-mind does not mean that
you cannot use the mind;
it simply means that the mind cannot use you.
No-mind does not mean that the mind is destroyed.
No-mind simply means that the mind is put aside.
You can bring it into action any moment you need
to communicate
with the world.
It will be your servant.
Right now it is your master.
Even when you are sitting alone it goes on, yakkety-yak, yakkety-yak
and you cannot do anything,
you are so utterly helpless.
No-mind simply means
that the mind has been put in its right place.
As a servant, it is a great instrument;
as a master,
it is very unfortunate.
It is dangerous.
It will destroy your whole life.
Mind is only
a medium
for when you want to communicate with others.
But when you are alone,
there is no need of the mind.
So whenever you want to use it, you can use it.
And remember one thing more:
when the mind remains
silent for hours,
it becomes fresh, young,
more creative,
more sensitive,
rejuvenated through rest.
Ordinary people's minds start somewhere around three or four years of age,
and then they go on continuing for seventy years, eighty years
without any holiday.
Naturally they cannot be very creative. They are utterly tired
and tired with rubbish.
Millions of people in the world
live without any creativity.
Creativity is one of the greatest blissful experiences.
But their minds are so tired...
they are not
in a state of overflowing energy.
The man of no-mind
keeps the mind in rest,
full of energy,
immensely sensitive,
ready to jump into action the moment it is ordered.
It is not a coincidence that the people who have experienced no-mind,
their words start having a magic of their own.
When they use their mind,
it has a charisma,
it has a magnetic force.
It has tremendous spontaneity
and the freshness of the dewdrops in the early morning
before the sun rises.
And the mind
is nature's
most
evolved
medium of expression and creativity.
So the man of meditation
or in other words, the man of no-mind
changes even his prose into poetry.
Without any effort,
his words become so
full of authority
that they don't need any arguments.
They become
their own arguments.
The force
that they carry
becomes a self-evident truth.
There is no need for any other support from logic
or from scriptures.
The words of a man of no-mind
have an intrinsic certainty
about them.
If you are ready to receive and listen,
you will feel it in your heart:
The self-evident truth.
Anubuddha,
you say,
"When I hear you
say 'Meditation is witnessing,
' I feel I understand.
But when you talk about no-mind,
it doesn't sound easy at all."
How can it sound easy?
because it is your future possibility.
Meditation you have started;
it may be in the beginning stages,
but you have a certain experience of it
that makes you understand me.
But if you can understand meditation,
don't be worried at all.
Meditation surely leads to no-mind,
just as every river
moves towards the ocean without any maps, without any guides.
Every river
without exception
finally reaches to the ocean.
Every meditation,
without exception
finally reaches to the state of no-mind.
But naturally,
when the Ganges is in the Himalayas wandering in the mountains and in the valleys,
it has no idea what the ocean is,
cannot conceive
of the existence of the ocean
but it is moving towards the ocean,
because water has the intrinsic capacity
of always finding the lowest place.
And the oceans are the lowest place...
so rivers are born on the peaks of the Himalayas
and start moving immediately towards
lower spaces,
and finally they
are bound to find the ocean.
Just the reverse is the process of meditation:
it moves upwards
to higher peaks,
and the ultimate peak is no-mind.
No-mind is a simple word,
but it exactly means enlightenment,
liberation,
freedom from all bondage,
experience of deathlessness and immortality.
Those are big words
and I don't want you to be frightened,
so I use a simple word, no-mind.
You know the mind...
you can conceive of a state
when this mind
will be non-functioning.
Once this mind is non-functioning,
you become part of the
mind of the cosmos, the universal mind.
When you are part of the universal mind your individual mind functions
as a beautiful servant.
It has recognized the master,
and it brings news
from the universal mind
to those
who are still
chained by the individual mind.
When I am speaking to you,
it is in fact the universe using me.
My words are not
my words;
they belong to the universal truth.
That is their power,
that is their charisma,
that is their magic.
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