Enquiry about God

Seeker: Who created God?

Sirshree: Do you think that God can die?

Seeker: No.

Sirshree: If something cannot die, can it ever be created?

Seeker: That means God is beyond birth and death?

Sirshree: Yes

Seeker: Then, when did the God, who is unborn, create this world?

Sirshree: “When the world was created?” — This question is to do with time. But the concept of time came after the world was created. Then, how is it possible to give an answer using a concept that came later? Or understand it this way — that the world was created when time started. What “was” before time, is actually what is important. That which was before time always existed, exists and will always exist.

Seeker: The one who is faceless, timeless and spaceless — Is he God?

Sirshree : Yes. Allah, God, Eeshwar, Sakshi, Witnessor, Peace, Silence, Super Consciousness, Satchidanand — many names have been given.

Truth cannot be told in words

Seeker: If Truth cannot be told in words, then how can one attain it and embody it in one’s life?

Sirshree: The answer to this is that even though it cannot be said in words, it can be pointed out to. All great saints have done so, be it the Buddha, or Guru Nanak or Jesus Christ or Ramakrishna Paramhansa or Ramana Maharishi or Kabir or Gyaneshwar. All these saints knew that “the truth cannot be expressed in words, it can only be indicated to… signalled out… pointers can be given.” This is UNTOLD TRUTH.

Be it the Gita, the Bible or the Koran, all books mean the same and talk of the same truth.

If the truth is pointed out to the one who is “thirsty”, who is a seeker, who has the desire, who wants to be spiritual, who is free of deceit, who is ready to listen, who has the eligibility, then that indication would be enough for such a person and he will experience the bliss of truth. It is only for such people that indications were made. But others misunderstood and they made meanings of their own. Be it the Gita, the Bible or the Koran, all books mean the same and talk of the same truth. A saint who has lived this experience of the truth has pointed out – “Whether you read the Gita or the Koran – liberation from ‘you’ and ‘me’ is the truth in all these sacred books.“

When the indication has been made, and if the seeker is still mired in his own imagination, then he will not grasp what is indicated, because many a time even the unreal appears real. Fake jewellery shines more than real jewellery, the photograph of a child seems better in comparison to the real child itself. “Reality” is there right in front of your eyes, yet, what is fake attracts us more because we are used to giving importance to the fake rather than the reality. If the seeker does not have the real understanding, then he would give more importance to the false things. When the truth is being pointed out, what is erroneously being grasped is the pointing finger, rather than the truth.

A father is writing in red ink. Some ink spills over his fingers. His son, just then, asks him, “Daddy, how does green colour look like?” The father runs his eyes around the room and his eyes locate a green object. “Look at that,” the father says pointing out with his finger, “that is green colour.” But the son looks at the red colour staining the pointing finger and says, “I got it.” You know what he has actually understood.

Enquiry about God

Seeker: Where is God?

Sirshree: You choose from these three answers:

He is within.

He exists externally.

Both in and out.

Seeker: I guess the third one.

Sirshree: Exactly. For Him, in and out makes no difference. The difference is only in our contrast mind.

Where did God come from?

Seeker: Then where to seek God?

Sirshree: You tell me. If he is both in and out, then where should you seek him?

Seeker: Maybe ‘In’ would be easier.

Sirshree: Precisely. Even if you seek Him outside, you will ultimately reach within. We look out into the mirror (an external source), but what it does is just to reflect us as we are. All idols and religious symbols stand for only one reason… to take us within. Then only do temples serve their purpose.

Seeker: Where did God come from?

Sirshree: This question sounds like a good question. But this question means that God was somewhere else and was not here. When He came here, then He won’t be there, where He was. So, does He keep moving from one place to the other?.. God is everywhere (omnipresent). Where did God come from?.. this question itself is wrong. If someone asks you, Is red color crooked or straight?, then you would say that red color has no relation with being crooked or straight. This question is wrong. Similarly thinking about questions like – Where did God come from?, Where He was?, are unnecessary.

Read more

1. Search for God
2. Self Enquiry with Honesty
3. GOD, AN ARTIST
4. Who am I?

Why should we do Self Enquiry

Seeker: Why should we do Self Enquiry?

Sirshree: Doesn’t every being want bliss, happiness, peace? Behind everything that you do, isn’t it happiness that you seek? Every action that man performs is for this happiness, this bliss. But that bliss is lost in the hurricane of thoughts. Thoughts – be it then positive or negative, good or bad – they always cloud the radiance of the Self. When you are in deep sleep, then there are no thoughts. Then – there is pure consciousness, self, bright awareness.

The way a spider weaves a web out of itself and then takes back everything back into itself, the same way thoughts arise from the ocean of the Self and manifest our world. They disappear during deep sleep and along with them the world too disappears. This illusory game goes on uninterrupted.

To clear the cobwebs of illusion, one has to go to the source of these thoughts. When you do rigorous continuous repeated self-enquiry and see all the facets of the mind and all its colours – then the mind weakens and finally will meet its end. It will disappear. It never truly existed and thus – will become nothing. It is this mind that is ego, it is this that is the false ‘I’. Enquiry is for the death of the mind, the mind that in the ‘Final Truth Discourses’ is called the false ‘I’. It is also called the Contrast Mind, which keeps coming between the seeker and the sought (Self or God).

The meaning of 'God' is Love and 'Love' can never be unhappy.

The meaning of ‘God’ is Love and ‘Love’ can never be unhappy. Man wrongly believes that if one day he forgets to pray to God or prostrate before him, then God becomes unhappy or gets angry. Man thinks that God is like him. If God gets angry, then what’s the difference between God and man? One can say in a lighter vein that ‘God does get angry on this note that Man thinks that God gets angry’. You have to know yourself, only then you will know Him.

Understanding Thoughts with Self Enquiry

Q&A with Sirshree

Seeker: How can we continuously do “self enquiry”? It is but natural for thoughts to arise. They are bound to come. In such a situation, what do we do?

Understanding Thoughts with Self Enquiry

Sirshree: This enquiry is not difficult at all if one understands it properly. Whenever any other thought arises, ask yourself ‘to whom has this thought arisen?’ (Who is the thinker?). It doesn’t matter how many thoughts come to you. When you ask this to yourself (to whom has this thought occurred?), an answer might occur to you, “This thought has occurred to me”. Immediately ask yourself, “Who is this me?”, “Who am I?”. Then you will be thrown back to yourself. When you ask yourself, “Who is this me?” or “Who am I? “, then do not give the answer in words. Don’t answer from the intellect… ‘I am consciousness’, ‘I am self ‘, etc. Beyond these answers, beyond the intellect – one has to experience the feeling – one’s being – the feeling of “sense of presence”. Reaching the experience of the true self is the real answer to this question. In this way, every time, every thought… will take you back to your true self. Right now, if you are getting this thought that “I am not understanding this”, then ask… “who is it that is not understanding?”. If I have not understood, then who… who… who…? Immediately you will see that thoughts disappear for some moments. You become thoughtless. Only the self remains. In this way, by repeatedly contacting your true self, the mind will weaken and the light of consciousness will shine. The mind will learn to stay at its source by repeating this process. By dipping into the self again and again, the mind shall dissolve. It is like the story of the dolls made out of salt. They wanted to dive into the sea to measure its depth, they themselves got dissolved before reaching the bottom.

Seeker: Are there no other ways to quieten the mind?

Sirshree: Quietening of the mind is not the destination; it is just one of the steps. If after quietening of the mind, the required understanding is not achieved, the whole purpose is lost. This understanding does not arise through other methods. Some people try to quieten the mind by regulating their breath (pranayama). Or through chanting of mantras. In all these methods, one does feel that the mind has become quiet for some time. However, the mind returns back after some time with the same old understanding. The doubts of the mind appear again . The mind’s thoughts continue to trouble us. When someone focuses the mind on the gap between two breaths, then also the mind shall become quiet. One feels that along with the breath, the mind too has stopped. In deep sleep, even while the breathing is going on, the mind is quiet, it even ceases to exist. It is therefore, better if we can be on our source while breathing is taking place normally. Self enquiry achieves this naturally.

Seeker: Since there is no end to thoughts, how long should one continue “self enquiry”?

Sirshree:  Do this enquiry until you find out your true identity, as long as your concepts about yourself don’t dissolve. One of the root concept is that you are the body, the moment such concepts / beliefs dissolve, self-enquiry will end because then you would have stabilized on your self. You would have become a sthithpragnya (one who is stabilized in truth). After that, even if there are thoughts, you would have understood that they are separate from you. You are witnessing those thoughts. Thoughts are in your body-mind mechanism. This machine is just a mirror which makes you aware of yourself. If there are thoughts happening to this mirror, then how can they trouble you? The mirror always does its work. It always reveals your presence to you. (It means it always makes you aware of your awareness). Practising self-enquiry and thus being established in oneself is the highest devotion of all. Eliminating thoughts the moment they arise by the process of self-enquiry is the truest sacrifice of all.

How to do Self Enquiry

Q&A with Sirshree 

First ask - "Who I am not?"

Seeker: How does one begin Self Enquiry?

Sirshree: For the right start, first understand a little more about the body. Then about the mind, intellect and the Real Self (Sakshi). Understanding this will help.

Seeker: Should I directly begin by asking “Who am I?”

Sirshree: No. First ask – “Who I am not?”. I am not this body because the moment I say that this is my body, then it is something external. Not me. I am not “my car”. “My house” possibly cannot be me. I say : “Please come to my house”, and not “Please come in to me”.

• Name given to this body is not me.
•  The five elements of this gross body – earth, fire, water, wind and space is not me.
• The astral body within the body is not me.
• The five senses of the body -eyes, ears , nose, tongue, and skin is not me.
• I am not those things that are related to the senses sight, sound, smell, taste and touch.
• I am also not the breath due to which this body-mind mechanism functions.
• Neither I am the mind that thinks about what I should be.
• Nor am I the intellect that is absent along with the body during deep sleep.

Seeker: If I am not all these, then who am I?

Sirshree: You are the only one who remains. It was you who were using the five layers of the body. It was you who were the master of the intellect. Now it is you who is the witnessing of the mind.

You are beyond every label

• Now, if you no longer are the body and intellect, how can you be an engineer or a doctor or a leader or a student?
• How can you be a brother or a sister, a father, a mother, a friend, a husband, a wife, a disciple or a Guru?
• How can you be American, Indian, British, Chinese, etc.?
• How can you be a Hindu, a Muslim, a Christian, a Jew?
• How can you be cheerful, intelligent, foolish, positive, active, honest, pious, lazy? Now it is just you who remains – pure, non-state , without any imagination of name or form. Accept your true form as it is. And remain that. You have become something that you aren’t. Now is the time to be established in your consciousness. To be who you really are – the bright witnessing.

Also read:

1. Who am I
2. Self Enquiry with Honesty
3. Thoughts and Self Enquiry
4. Tejam: Bright Witnessing

Enquiry about Ego

Q&A with Sirshree

In relationships, there should be 'bright love' and not mere expectations (Photo via flickr)

Seeker:  Is fear, greed or ego the reason behind all the work that we do? Is that why you are asking us to do self-enquiry?

Sirshree:  When you think honestly, you will find that you work with some expectations and with some ego. You have expectations from your brothers, sisters, spouse, children, etc. You want these expectations to be fulfilled. If they do not fulfil these expectations, then they become the reason for your unhappiness and anger. In relationships, there should be ‘bright love’ and not mere expectations. Also in exchange of this love, one should not expect name, fame, and gratitude. This bright love will come to you automatically through understanding. The ego will dissolve.

Seeker:  How does this ego get created?

Sirshree:   Once a child is 2 or 3 years old, the contrast mind begins to form. Which then takes the credit for every action. Then ego begins to increase. Different experiences… successes, wealth, status, etc. fuel the ego even further. Because of the habit of taking credit through appreciation, we gradually become a slave to praise. There is no limit to the ego. One can never satisfy it. This is its nature. If we wish to feed the ego with praise and when we don’t get praise then we have to bear its miseries as well. Self-enquiry with honesty will dissolve this ego and you will then find out your true nature, your being. Most of your problems will end immediately. Enquiry is such a technique that if it is done with understanding, then it can result in self realization.

Seeker:  Now, I am beginning to understand many things. What else have I to learn?

Sirshree:   You have to learn a little and do a lot of unlearning. Whatever concepts and beliefs you have assumed and accepted have to be removed and cleared through understanding. Whomsoever has the desire for happiness, peace, bliss etc. should do this enquiry.

Time required for Understanding the Truth

Q&A with Sirshree

Time required for Understanding the Truth (Photo from Flickr)

Seeker: How much time would it take me to understand the Truth?

Sirshree: This depends upon your desire to understand it. It depends on your thirst for the Truth. As and when this thirst increases – you will find that this is very easy. Some people are like camphor. The fire of Truth lights fast in them. Some are like incense sticks – a little bit more time is required. Some are like coal – more time is required. And lastly some are like wet wood – whom the fire of Truth can’t even touch.

Seeker: Can’t everyone get this understanding?

Sirshree: It is possible. Because within everybody the Truth exists. But the desire to know the Truth has to arise first. Till it doesn’t rise, then for ‘that’ the mind is like wet wood. The mind won’t be ready to listen at all.

Seeker: How will this thirst arise?

Sirshree: If somebody keeps listening to the Truth, keeps attending the discourses, if he keeps company of those friends who are also seekers of Truth – then this thirst will surely arise.

Also read:

1. Is the Truth bitter or sweet
2. Listening to Final Truth
3. Interval Meditation

 

Search for God

Q&A with Sirshree

Search for God

Seeker: From time immemorial, the search for God has always been on. Has there been any final conclusion to all this?

Sirshree: Yes. God is Silence manifested. It is only in silence that He can be known. Words can merely act as indicators. But when these words fall in the hands of sectarians, then they become the reason for differences and conflict. That is why people like the Buddha never even mention the word God.

Seeker: What stands between me and God?

Sirshree: Your fickle mind and its wrong concepts and beliefs.

Seeker: I have lots of shortcoming. Will God remove them?

Sirshree: If your faith persists – all these shortcoming would be overcome.

Seeker: Why doesn’t God himself raise this faith in me?

Sirshree: For this you have to understand the truth or surrender to God.

Seeker: If I surrender myself before God, then don’t I need to do prayers?

Sirshree: Surrendering is the most supreme and powerful prayer of all.

Seeker: But how to keep faith on God’s grace?

Sirshree: Don’t try to feel God’s grace with your mind. If you are not feeling His grace, it doesn’t mean that God is not showering grace on you. Do not compare or judge God’s grace in your imagination. You are born as a human – this itself is a big grace of God. Then in this body if the desire for truth arises, it is the second grace. Meeting a Guru who tells you the truth is the third grace. Faith arising on the Guru is the fourth instance of grace. You have already been bestowed with some of this grace.

The Quality of your Life is Governed by the Quality of your Questions

For true transformation to occur, your questions should be of the higher levels.

For spiritual transformation, as you ascend to higher levels of happiness, the quality of the questions that you ask need to change. Your questions are a reflection of your thoughts, feelings, understanding and outlook. There are five levels of questioning. For true transformation to occur, your questions should be of the higher levels.

Level 1 Questions : Questions for the sake of questioning

At the first level, an individual asks questions merely for the sake of questioning. He is not interested in knowing the answer.

Level 2 Questions: Questions for passing time

These are questions where there is an intention to listen to the answer, but no intention to learn. The question is posed just to while away time, just because somebody is available and there is pretty much nothing else to do. These questions could also take the shape of sarcastic or taunting questions.

Level 3 Questions: Questions for utilizing time

These are higher level questions, where there is an intention of learning and using time constructively. You come across someone very knowledgeable. So you ask questions and really learn from the answers. This is done to utilize time positively. These are not aimless queries, but these are questions that make the best use of time.

Level 4 Questions : Incisive Questions

These are in-depth questions on a given topic. These questions are not usually asked by anybody and everybody. Before asking such questions, a person is required to have done a thorough study of the subject. Incisive questions do not arise without reflection. Those who ask such questions always grow. They never stop growing.

Level 5 Questions : Seeker’s questions

These are not questions on just any topic. These are the most profound questions of all. These are questions such as: Who am I? Why am I here? What is eternal joy? What is life? A seeker does not ask them out of curiosity or eagerness. He has intense thirst for getting an answer to these questions. It is a matter of life and death to him.

Level 5 questions are those that elevate your level of consciousness. How many level 5 questions do you ask yourself or others through the day? The more you are focused on level 5 questions, the faster will be your complete transformation. Send in your level 5 questions to Tej Gyan Foundation and you shall receive the answers to them.

How is Contrast Mind formed

Q&A with Sirshree

Contrast Mind

Seeker: How is Contrast Mind formed in the first place?

Sirshree: The first thought that arises within us when we wake up in the morning is the ‘I thought’. There are variations to the ‘I thought’, viz.

• I woke
• I arose
• Now what is the first thing that I should do?
• My eyes are a bit heavy today
• Is it time for me to wake up?

Maybe the words could be different – but all of them are only those pertaining to I. With the advent of the ‘I thought’ – other thoughts start to follow. By then, the senses are awake too. It is only after the ‘I thought’ that the contrast mind forms which then judges everything as good or bad; ‘this was good’ or ‘this was bad’. This mind assumes a separate identity for itself – My work, My name, My actions, My religion, My nation, My sins, My pious deeds…

It compares and contrasts every event, every thought. It is precisely this that is unhappiness. It is precisely this that is bondage. It is this that is ignorance. It is this that is illusion. It is this that is the obstacle to attain truth. It is this that is the black cloud shrouding the sun (Self). It is this that is an eclipse. It is this that is the speck that has got into your eye and now won’t allow you to even see something as obvious as a mountain.

Also read:

1. Thoughts and Self Enquiry
2. Look who’s fooling you
3. Tejam: Bright Witnessing
4. Is the Truth bitter or sweet

Who am I

Q&A with Sirshree

Who Am I? ...Instead of imagining, experience it with peace.

Seeker:	Who am I?
Sirshree:	This is something that only you have to tell.
Seeker:	I try a lot. Yet I cannot find out that ‘I’. What is it like? Even after lots of effort I’m unable to find it. Nothing is clear.
Sirshree:	You are trying to know it with the help of your imagination. Truth is beyond imagination. When the mind is unable to see a particular thing then it starts imagining about it. Who is that who says that the ‘I’ cannot be found? Instead of imagining, experience it with peace. Before grasping the ‘I am’ feeling, ‘Understanding’ has to be gained. Otherwise the mind will again and again raise its head and will weave a web of imagination. Reach the roots of it. Understanding is imparted in the final truth discourses – that can make you reach there. Once you reach there, the mind falls or surrenders itself at the feet of God where everything is acceptable to it. This way, the mind will die. Surrendering yourself and understanding is one and the same. When the ego understands the power of God – then it surrenders. By understanding, it goes into silence.
Seeker:	How should this surrendering be?
Sirshree:	Surrendering is successful only after the real meaning of surrendering is understood. This knowledge comes only after attaining final Truth and supreme knowledge. This is not a state where the feeling changes and faith falters when our wishes are not granted. It is total acceptance and surrender, whether our demands are met or not. Surrendering is complete only when it is doubtless. Such surrendering encompasses absolutely everything, whatever happens with us or with others.
Seeker:	But isn’t it funny that we constantly keep trying to find this ‘I’? ‘Who am I? Who am I?’ – We keep thinking only of this.
Sirshree:	You think of yourself as the body, that is why it seems humorous. But it is exactly the opposite. This thing is very serious. The moment you know yourself – all problems, all the depression, anger, worries, hatred vanishes. The fear of death and the struggle of life ends.

Role of friends in your life

Q/A with Sirshree

How to find a true Friend? Whom to befriend and whom not to?

True friends are those that together walk the path of Truth.

Seeker: I spend a lot of time with my friends. My family opposes it, saying that I’m wasting my time with them and they are not good for my future. What should I do?

Sirshree: Your choice of friends reveals your character. There is a quote which reads: “Tell me the names of your friends, and I will tell you your character.” It is said so because you tend to make friends with those who are similar to you. If you like to stay in ignorance, you will befriend those who speak in ignorance.

“Birds of a feather flock together.” Such proverbs make people stop and ponder. Now stop for a minute and think of what your friends convey about you. If someone were to go and meet your friends, thereafter what kind of an opinion will he form about you? If you feel that he will form a negative opinion, it means that it is time to change your friends.

If an unwise and egoistic person were to choose his friends, he will choose those who are less knowledgeable than him, because he feels comfortable and superior in their company. We feel superior among people who are less knowledgeable than us and inferior among those who are more knowledgeable and wiser than us.

To empower your character, choose the company of people who have a strong character and good qualities. Only by doing so, you can start working on your character. Looking at the systematic work and the qualities of an intelligent and progressive person, the weak ones start feeling that they must overcome their weak points and develop their qualities.

Seeker: How to find a true friend? I am a bit confused Sirshree as to whom to befriend and whom not to?

Sirshree: True friends are those that together walk the path of Truth. Radiance is added to your character by treading the path of Truth. A true friend is the one who restrains his friend from wrong deeds, shows him his demerits, and inspires him to tread the path of Truth. Only in the company of such friends can you rightly build your character. Else, among false friends, you will lose the priceless treasure of your character.

Even if one among your friends has new and limitless thinking, you gain by his thoughts. If, in a group, this person talks about integrity or some new creations, the others immediately begin to think on those lines.

To achieve your goal, take help from only those people who have the same goal as you. While climbing up a mountain, join hands with those climbing up and not with those going down. Because the one going up will also pull you along towards the top. The one going down will pull you downwards. If you want to become a doctor, staying in the company of doctors will help you in achieving your goal. Staying with engineers or teachers will not help your goal. Similarly, if you want to build your character and work on strengthening your foundation, stay in the company of those who have a strong foundation and have already worked on their character.

Befriend those who are at least two steps ahead of you or equal to you in qualities (and not in wealth). By maintaining friendship with such persons, your possibility of building a virtuous character opens up, because they know the importance of becoming virtuous. Thus, both of you can build a virtuous character and lead a happy life. If your friend is already a virtuous person, it is very good for you because by staying in his company, you too can speedily build your character.

By staying in bad company, you too start imbibing their bad qualities. Man loses control over himself in bad company and indulges in things that degrade his character day by day. Thus the saying goes: “Don’t drink milk sitting under a toddy palm tree.” A toddy palm tree produces toddy, a type of liquor, which looks like milk. Sitting under such a tree, even if you just drink milk, people will assume that you are drinking toddy. More importantly, where will your attention be? Definitely, on the toddy tree. You start thinking about what you see. You start speaking of what you think. Sooner or later, you start doing what you speak. And bad deeds reap failure and misery. Therefore, enhance your maturity and avoid bad company.

Self Enquiry with Honesty

Q&A with Sirshree

Report to yourself honestly - without any deceit.

Seeker: Enquiry of the body mind mechanism – and that too with honesty? Please explain this in detail.

Sirshree: In this kind of enquiry you start seeing the mind in its different facets, in its different states, in its different relationships. How the mind changes from moment to moment? How it puts on masks? etc.. No hiding the truth from yourself. Report to yourself honestly – without any deceit. You may not like to see your own (your mind’s) darker aspects, but transformation will not occur without doing so.

Seeker: Sirshree, What has observation or seeing got to do with transformation?

Sirshree: Lots. With correct observation – the wrong automatically ends. This is the beauty of awareness. You cannot get angry, or kill somebody, or do something wrong in awareness. You can only harm others unconsciously, when you lack awareness. We can be selfish only when we are not aware; when we are unable to feel the other person’s unhappiness. And in non-awareness, man cannot unravel the mysteries of life. Deceits, Greed, Ego, and Hatred are all the offspring of non-awareness. If one starts seeing oneself in every situation, then very soon he will be transformed. For the first time you will begin to understand the mind.

Also read

1. Thoughts and Self Enquiry
2. What is Self Stabilization?
3. Oneness wallpaper of the week 4
4. Tejam: Bright Witnessing
5. Liberation from False Notions

Thoughts and Self Enquiry

Q&A with Sirshree

Who am I?

Seeker: How to make the mind thoughtless?

Sirshree: Mind means thoughts. Being thoughtless means being in a “no mind” state. To quieten the mind, self-enquiry is the most beautiful method. This method is the road (means) as well as the destination (end). When you ask, “Who am I?”, this thought in the form of a question will cut off other thoughts. While this enquiry is on, other thoughts cannot remain. After ending all other thoughts – this last thought of ‘Who am I?’ will also end itself. Then self-realization takes place. This will break the concept of form – the concept of body. You are not limited by the body. You are boundless and boundary less. You will come to know by experience. That is why self enquiry is the most beautiful method to make the mind thoughtless.

Seeker: Why do you say that self enquiry is the best method? Why is it better than all other meditations?

Sirshree: Those who meditate generally do so by uttering a word, visualizing an image, repeating a mantra, etc. But, these repetitions are not effective to enhance your awareness about yourself as the question “Who am I?”. Many who meditate don’t know whether they are meditating or sleeping or are merely in a hazy state of mind. You cannot be in a hazy state when you ask the question “Who am I?”. You become aware of the response to this question. This question pierces within you like a sharp instrument and drives you within to ‘your centre’. In the beginning you may not be able to recognize the deep silence within you in spite of reaching your centre (source). However by persisting to ask this question, you will gradually start recognizing the deep silence, a stillness – which is your true self. Later the question itself becomes the answer.

However advanced a meditator is, thoughts continue to crowd the mind. We need a very potent thought to annihilate these thoughts; a thought that will annihilate all the thoughts. You require a steel instrument to cut steel. An antidote for a poison is another poison. In the same way, let one thought annihilate all other thoughts.

Karma series – 2

Q&A with Sirshree

The three elements of Love, Right intension and Wisdom form the ‘Karmatma’

Q: Is all suffering in my life because of my bad Karma of this birth and past births? Will I ever be able to get liberated from the bondage of Karma in this birth itself?

SirShree: Any action performed without the ‘Karmatma’ results in bondage. The three elements of Love, Right intension and Wisdom form the ‘Karmatma’. Actions that are performed unconsciously, further result in tendencies or habits that make us act in the same way again and again. In reality the patterns or tendencies are the fruits of our own actions; they are exactly the elements of bondage which all great saints have warned us about. Because of these habits, no new response to situations and events emerge from us. Thus one always attracts similar situations and events in his life, experiencing and creating same resultant pain and suffering repeatedly for one-self.

The fruits of your karma manifest in this lifetime itself. If the fruits of your actions were to manifest only in the next birth, no man could ever attain liberation. This is because while experiencing the results of his earlier actions, he would again react to them thus creating new karma. Further now he would be liable for these new actions and as a result again would react, create newer actions and attract newer results. This cycle of reacting, creating new karma and experiencing their result would thus continue everlastingly and man would never get liberated.

One must understand Karmatma deeply and fully to free oneself form the bondage of karma. The Karmatma should be such that your actions do not create any bondage. If the intention of your action i.e Karmatma has – love and devotion emanating from complete surrender to God, the intention of non-doership and Wisdom of your true self, then this action will not result in any bondage or karma. Actions performed without this understanding are mere reactions based on the accumulated, thoughtless patterns of your mind – body mechanism. Reactions are devoid of any understanding. The circumstances around you help you to decide and further act on it. Only actions performed in consciousness and through understanding liberate you from reactions; otherwise a man’s life is like a person who keeps rowing a boat all night in darkness without untying it from the shore.

To get free from the bondage of Karma you can do the following -

a) Increase your awareness and break unconscious reactions and tendencies.

b) Pray whenever the old tendencies tend to emerge. Praying will make you alert to them and will protect you from succumbing to their influence.

c) Surrender the fruit of every action to God i.e. performing every action with a feeling of detachment and non-doership.

d) Make your life an impersonal one.

e) Work on attaining the Bright understanding.

Since man considers himself to be the body, he lives his whole life under the impression that only when he reaps the fruits of all his actions, will he get liberated. In reality what YOU are is free and liberated right from the very beginning.

Also read

1. The law of Karma demystified
2. The Whole-Sole Purpose of Your Life
3. Liberation from False Notions
4. Shift from Attachment
5. Cease to be Caesar and let all problems dissolve

Why are festivals created

Q&A with Sirshree

 

 

Festivals are created when someone is born whose life leads to a revolution in the world. Merry Christmas!

 

 

Seeker:  Why are festivals created?

Sirshree: Festivals are created when there is declaration of final liberation or enlightenment. Or when people feel that it reminds them of their ultimate goal in life – Liberation. Festivals are not created for just any occasion. Festivals are not created if someone builds a mansion. No one celebrates a festival on the day when a monument like Taj Mahal was built or some other grand palace was built. These occasions are not celebrated because of the fact that these things are done for personal reasons. They are not impersonal. Those are the personal property of someone. The launching of a movie does not become a festival. The beginning of a new television serial does not become a reason for celebrating a festival. A grand dream that one sees does not become a festival. Someone returning home from an intensive care unit having fully recovered also does not become the cause for a festival. There are only a few occasions which are celebrated as festivals. Festivals are created when someone does something after which people understand and attain liberation. Or when someone is born whose life leads to a revolution in the world, after which meaningless rituals come to an end, and people experience the Self or Truth and are reminded of the true purpose of human life. Festivals are created with only this reason in mind.

Tejam: Bright Witnessing

Q&A with Sirshree

'Bright I' means the I that is beyond me or you.

Seeker: Sirshree, What is Tejam or Bright Witnessing?
Sirshree: Tejam is “Tej + Aham”. ‘Aham’ means I. Tej means bright. ‘Bright I’ means the I that is beyond me or you. It is the impersonal I (not me) – that is within everyone; everyone is within that.

Seeker: What is the nature of this Tejam? How is it like?
Sirshree: Words cannot express its nature. But its nature has been described as Sat Chitta Ananda. Ananda means bliss. Sat – means truth, that is the silence (moun) behind the mind. Chitta - means the mind. Truth (Sat) created the mind and then identified itself with the mind and thus the individual was created, and then Bliss (Ananda) manifested. This is possible in no other animal, but man.

Seeker: When will we attain this Tejam (Impersonal I)?
Sirshree: You just try to understand what these concepts and beliefs are, how they get created. With understanding, these concepts and beliefs would automatically fall. Then you will start looking at the world – as it is. If you are assuming a rope to be a snake – then the right understanding will enable you to see the truth. Until you continue to believe a rope to be a snake, your ignorance will not be cleared. The world would always, thus, keep you mired in the wheel of happiness and unhappiness. This is what has been called the vicious circle of the illusory world. This does not however mean that it is enough to be freed from unhappiness. Even happiness is a shackle. It is just that unhappiness is handcuffs made out of iron, while happiness is one of gold.

Also see

1. Real Happiness
2. Is the Truth bitter or sweet
3. In Silence Occurs the Death of the Mind

GOD, AN ARTIST

Q&A with Sirshree

God is the artist of artists (Photo via Flickr)

Seeker: Why has God created so many human beings (Body-Mind-Mechanisms)?

Sirshree: Can you tell an artist to draw just one picture, and not more. An artist will draw different kinds of pictures and express himself. He will not be satisfied by drawing just one picture. God is the artist of artists. Just by creating few people how will he completely demonstrate and express himself?

Seeker: Why did God create this world? Why is he doing all this?

Sirshree: God is doing all this as a demonstration and expression of his Happiness (bliss). God and Happiness are one. The nature of God is happiness. These are not two different things. You cannot say that He is doing this for happiness and He is doing that because of His nature. Different things can be said about the nature of water. It flows. It is wet. It is transparent. It is cool. Similarly different things can be said about the nature of God. He is Happiness. He is silence (moun). He is creation, etc. God created this world because of His nature. Nobody would question an artist as to why has he drawn so many pictures! In the same way, God like an artist is doing all this to demonstrate His nature.

Real Happiness

Q&A with Sirshree

Seeker: What is real happiness?

Sirshree: Real happiness is not that happiness which you get when you achieve something. The mind has cast a shadow over the real ‘you’, the nature of which is happiness. When the mind falls – then what is behind the mind – that Truth manifests. And when that happens, it is real happiness. Suppose you have an aim, a desire to achieve something or to own something. And when you actually achieve it – then the mind, that was thriving only on that desire – falls for some moments since the desire has been fulfilled. And in those few moments of no-mind, you experience emptiness and you call this as happiness or bliss. All happiness you have ever experienced is only because of the mind getting empty, because of the no mind state, because of the lifting of the shadow of the mind.

But you get the notion that ‘because’ the target was completed – you got happiness. Because you got what you desired – you got happiness. Because of this wrong notion, desire for newer and more things increase. But, anything that gives you lots of happiness today, does not give you the same amount of happiness later. After some time, happiness diminishes. It ends. Real happiness, which is your nature, is shadowed by the mind. When that is experienced, it being your nature, is not dependant on external situations and never diminishes.

This happiness is beyond happiness and sorrow… beyond polarities for which there is no opposite. To cite an example, the opposite of ‘success’ is ‘failure’. Similarly: hot – cold, up – down, love – hate etc. – these words are interrelated. But what is beyond both opposites is ‘bright’. What is beyond love and hate is ‘bright’ love. This is beyond happiness and grief. When you come to know of that ‘One’, then you are liberated from duality.