Oneness wallpaper – 14

“God, Guru and Grace are three names of the same thing. God is the unmanifest truth and Guru is the manifest Truth. Both are one. The living Guru can guide us at every step. Hence do not get caught in books. Go under the shelter of the awakened. ”
.. Tejguru Sirshree Tejparkhiji

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Oneness wallpaper – 14

Also see other Wallpapers.

Related topics:

1. Search for God
2. Enquiry about God
3. Time required for Understanding the Truth
4. Is the Truth bitter or sweet

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.

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

 

Liberation from the fear of Death

How to kill the fear of death ?

Everyone seems to fear death. In fact, fear of death is the root of all the different fears that people have – be it the fear of darkness, the fear of animals, the fear of future or the fear of old age.

Nature has given us the fear of death for a specific reason. Understand this through an analogy. Suppose a school gate has a beautiful picture on its outer side and a frightening picture on its inner side. While entering the school gate, the child will see the beautiful picture. Once he has entered, if he ever tries to run away from school before he has learnt his lessons, he will see the frightening picture and this will make him run towards the school instead of towards the gate outside. Thus he will spend his entire lifetime in the school and will never approach the gate (contemplate suicide). This is why the fear of death has been instilled in our minds. Without this fear, the number of suicides would have increased manifold. Many would have left the earth without fulfilling the purpose of their birth. However, those who have acquired the necessary maturity must outgrow this fear too.

The main reason behind the fear of death is incomplete knowledge. The lack of knowledge about death makes death appear frightening. If we truly understand what death is, then death itself can teach us the art of living. To live life well, one must understand death. When we fall asleep, we lose all awareness of the body. We actually go through a mini-death. However, we are not afraid of falling asleep because we understand sleep. Once we understand death, we will stop fearing death too. Sleep is a short death that happens every day. Death is a long sleep that happens once. What we call death is actually a stage in life. Just as childhood, adolescence, adulthood, middle age and old age are various stages of life… death is also a phase.

A human being has four overlapping bodies and the fifth is the true Self – the real ‘I’. When we die, only the outer two bodies (the physical body and the etheric body) are shed. The inner two bodies (astral body and causal body) and the self remains. The astral body is not visible to the naked eye and hence we declare the person dead. But in reality, the death of our body is not our death but the beginning of life after life. The astral body continues its onward journey and after a long period the astral body dies too. This should be considered as true death. Since these facts are beyond the comprehension of our mind and senses, we fear death.

What after Death?

By reading the above facts that have been explained just briefly in this article, one should not contemplate suicide so that the astral body can be experienced. Incomplete understanding is very harmful. Though it is essential to understand what death is, more essential is to understand the purpose of human birth. Till we have learnt all that we are to learn in this physical form, trying to go prematurely to the astral form is not only wrong but presents a lot of difficulties in our journey in the other world. The understanding of truth acquired while in the physical body proves most helpful in the onward journey of the astral body. We must understand that the wisdom acquired here continues with us in the life after death. The bliss achieved here is multiplied manifold in our onward life after death.

The purpose of telling the above is to drive away the fear of death. Death is a natural, necessary event in the evolution of each individual. It should neither be feared nor embraced prematurely. Some normal fear of physical injury or disease is natural and is essential for the safety of our body. Only on understanding the whole truth about life, can you be liberated from this fear in the true sense.

Read more:

1. What after Death?
2. The Whole-Sole Purpose of Your Life
3. Liberation from False Notions

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

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.