The Dead-end Up Here

Whether in a church, a temple or in your quiet corner, you do pray. Either to a god, a power or just wishing for something or something to happen. Have you thought about what you are praying for? An object like a car, a house, a wealth or a mate? Or a concept like peace and love? There is something in common to all prayers and that is to make you happy. Imagine you got the object you are hoping for but it didn't make you happy. Was that what you wanted? May your prayers be answered and you be happy. May be your prayers are answered and you find that there is no you. That will be the ultimate gift since without a you, there can be no desire.

A common stumbling block in self inquiry is the concept of free will and control. Our world gives a strong sense that we make decisions based on free will and control our destiny. This is in spite of glaring evidence to the contrary. If one were in control of life, will and decisions, would there be any poor people, any suffering, any war, murders, accidents, failures etc. So why does this illusion manifest within our thoughts that we can and must control our lives. It is a subtle impression left in the mind when we speak of will and control. Having a will is not free will. There must be a will for any action to proceed. The will results from many factors that have placed you in this moment. Having control doesn't mean needing a controller. Decisions must be made to go left or right. There is just no individual making this decision out of free will. This tooh is the result of many factors that have brought the moment before the apparent decision maker. Take an example. After...

I had the great fortune to attend a satsang with Mooji in Rishikesh. Watch his u tube clips. Many ideas for your mind if you seek the truth earnestly. I love Mooji's thank you, thank you, thank you practice. Really if your mind is singing thank you all the time, can negative thoughts enter? There is a lot to be thankful for, breathing, living, even the mind. Who am I thanking? My self of course as there is no one else. His meditation practice of simply ignoring thoughts, not fighting, not engaging not stimulating just ignoring. Find out what remains after an hour or more of ignoring what comes up.

A common self inquiry technique is to contemplate the question, who am I? Ideally we should ask, is there an I since the mind gets a biased view if you ask who am I. It implies there must be an I if I am searching for one. But before we go there, you must cross the biggest hurdle of all and that is upto now, you have a strong belief that you are the body. You feed it, groom it, use it to own stuff you call yours and love it as the dearest object in the universe. Very hard to let go of this notion. Here is a thought experiment that helped me. Imagine a macabre situation where you are in a serious accident and the doctor has to amputate nearly all your limbs and you become blind as well. You wake up and have no idea of what happened. Your brain still functions and as far as you know all your limbs are intact albeit as ghost limbs. Your doctor gives you the bad news that you no longer have a body. You feel totally you in your mind but have no body. The entire concept of you as a body t...

Here is an experiment for you. Close your eyes and make an intent to wiggle your toes. Now deeply explore what happens. Toes move. How did this happen? When did this happen? How do you know it happened? Stories will start to fill your head about the stuff you have been taught. An intention originating from an unknown place sends a signal and a thought surfaces that toes are wiggling. The movement caused friction which sends back a message to the brain confirming the move. Or something like that. The real mechanism is not important, just a story. Now make an intent to make your heart and body healthy. There is no feedback loop so you have no idea if that is happening or not. Much scientific evidence suggests that it is indeed happening. Since it is a long process and intent, you will not know until sometime that it is happening. That is the power and benefit of meditation. So, make a resolution to change something that isn't as clearly visible as wiggling your toes and keep t...

Loving kindness is not a charitable act or a meditation prescribed by the Buddha as a way to rid the world of evil and suffering. IT IS A SELFISH ACT. You or I can not be anything but selfish. You and I are not capable of charity. Self can not be selfless. To recommend a self to be unselfish and charitable to all sentient beings is ridiculous, an oxymoron. It is impossible. Every cell in my body, every thought, every act is aimed at the self. Buddha, the wisdom personified could not make such a mistake asking you to do a selfless act. His words have not been properly understood. LOVING KINDNESS IS NOT A PRAYER BUT AN ERNEST DESIRE. By practicing loving kindness, you are not trying to end suffering of others, of all sentient beings even though you may say so in your meditation. YOU ARE TRYING TO END YOUR SUFFERING. A self can not cease suffering unless it feels only love and kindness to ALL beings and perhaps beyond. To feel anything but love and kindness towards all means r...

How do you wake up from sleep? A dream, a jolt, a nightmare? Nice dream with beautiful family, lots of wealth, amazing holidays? What do you do, you roll over and try to recapture the dream. Who wants to wake up? Painful nightmare on the other hand is reason enough to startle out of your reverie. Wake up and realise it was all just a dream. Be so very thankful for the pain and suffering, the nightmares in your life. One of them will finally break your tundra and make you see the truth. May you be blessed to see that what you face as pain and suffering is nothing but recollection of stored sensations in your brain coming back to haunt you. But it is simply a very bad dream. There is another way a dream ends. That is when your sleep is over, it is the morning after. Don't wait, for that usually comes at the end of your life.