May Times - Kabir & Krishnamurti

A FREE DOWNLOADABLE E-MAGAZINE Vol II * MAY 2009 * Issue V

Meditation leads to Ultimate Flowering

Introducing various Masters & Dimensions of Spiritual Sojourn

TM

Sant Kabir

Jiddu Krishnamurti

Guru vs no Guru www.taoshobuddhameditations.com

MEDITATION TIMES A Free Downloadable Monthly E-Magazine A PRODUCTION OF www.taoshobuddhameditations.com Published by: www.taoshobuddhameditations.com Country of Origin: Trinidad & Tobago, West Indies. Chief Editor/Graphics Layout & Design: Swami Anand Neelambar Editorial Team: Swami Anand Neelambar, Taoshobuddha, Ma Prem Sutra Consulting Editors: Professor Rattan Lal Hangloo, Sufi Lakshmi Sahai

In This Issue

For Queries, Comments, and Suggestions and to submit Contributions, you can email the following persons:

Taoshobuddha: [email protected]

 Kabir & Krishnamurti

Swami Anand Neelamabr [email protected]

 How shall I cross  Life’s Innocent Questions  Taoshobuddha Responds  Hadhrat Unwais Al Qarani  Cooking – Taoshobuddha Way  Krishnamurti – Making of the World Order  Teachings of Krishnamurti  Kabir – Life and Times  Meeting of Being & Becoming

You can also visit www.youtube.com and check our meditations. Keyword: taoshobuddha01 The Meditation Times is available free to download from www.pdfcoke.com Also you can check the blog at http://bodhidharmameditation.blogspot.com/ And visit our alternate website at http://www.taoshobuddhameditations.myeweb.net/

 Kabir – the Confluence of Bhakti & Dhyan  The Buddha Within  Dhammapada of Buddha

In our Next Issue Bhakti Saints Meera, Sahajo, others

EDITORIAL This month we enter the eternal dilemma of Guru verses no Guru. Sant Kabir is the greatest exponent of the path through a guru. He insists that one cannot reach without the help of a guru. Jiddu Krishnamurti however emphatically declares that one does not need a guru. Both these masters are right. It depends on whom the message is addressed. There are those who can reach on their own – they are the blessed few. The majority of mankind needs the help of a guru. One can go on groping in darkness for eternity without the guidance of a guru. We present the path of these two great masters and try to bridge the two extremes. Our way remains that of individual inclination – whatever path appeals to you then that is the way for you. Know that all ways leads to the same experience. We also celebrate the birth, enlightenment and Samadhi of the Buddha. We continue to promote our mantra of meditation.

KABIR & KRISHNAMURTI

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trange, yet still not, is the theme of this issue of MEDITATION TIMES as chosen by the Chief Editor Swami Anand Neelambar and the entire editorial team. Though Kabir and Krishnamurthy are separated from one another by almost 500 years yet still there is no difference in their states of awareness. This quantitative span of 500 years between them is

linear. This gap between the two is qualitative in nature and therefore cannot be measured in terms of any time scale. Both Kabir and Krishnamurthy are two enlightened ones. And lived in completely different worlds! Thus there can be no comparison. A rose is a rose is a rose. There can be no comparison between a rose and a lotus. Both have their separate identities. This is reflected through the beauty, color, fragrance and the aura that surrounds the two flowers. The two have grown separately. Yet still there is one thing common between the two. The two have blossomed and thus attained to fruition. And also the two have blossomed from one common source the earth. The soil and the fertilizer was the same for the two. Yet still the two have blossomed differently. What is more important is inner blossoming. Both Kabir and Krishnamurthy have blossomed and have attained to fruition. This is benediction. The two cannot and can never be compared. They have expressed their views and experiences in similar language and in an identical manner. Both Kabir and Krishnamurthy are like two streams that run parallel. And yet still at times they meet one another thus defying the law of parallel running. Such are many intersections when both meet and then move along their own individual ways. Through this issue our effort is to take you through such interactions of two distinct thoughts and expressions. One thing that is common between the two is their revolutionary approach. Both are nontraditional. And iconoclastic as well! Both are non dogmatist and insist on no dogma or creed. Yet still with the passage of time the followers of Kabir have encaged his teachings as creed, dogmas, and sects. So far this has not happened with Krishnamurthy. Although Krishnamurthy is our contemporary yet still his teachings carry the ancient wisdom that is blended with modern thought. This brings aliveness and vitality to ancient teaching. It is like presenting old wine in new bottle. With this we will proceed in the current issue.

How shall I cross without a boat? The ocean is vast and infinite How can I cross without a boat? No shore I see beyond the yonder horizon Just a vast infinite ocean with no limits How shall I cross without a boat? Who is there to guide the weary seekers Beyond the further shore? What support is in the offering to help one cross without a boat?

Oh weary traveler Just hold on the floating logs That is the grace of the Lord So shall you cross the ocean. Just hold on to the feet of the guru And he will lead you across to the further shore His Nama is the only support you need To cross the vast infinite ocean. Sing his glories evermore So shall you cross the ocean. Swami anand neelambar

Life’s Innocent Questions Life’s innocent questions has left me astounded The mere simplicity of the rhetoric has left me filled with awe and wonder. Such deep truths revealed with child-like gestures Who can fathom the depths and profundity of such innocent questions? From where have you come? To where do you go? Why are you here? How long shall you stay? Will you return? These simply questions has left me astonished I myself know not What answer shall I give to the seekers, Who pass my way? To smile one must first cry To live one must first die To love one must first fear To trust one must first fail This is that, that is this I am that that is this that. I am He and thou art that I am You and You are me The question is the answer The answer is the question.

Swami Anand Neelambar

TAOSHOBUDDHA RESPONDS Each day many queries come that require the response from Taoshobuddha. Some are personal in nature. Others are cosmic in nature. Response to such questions can benefit the seekers world over. In the mean time you can visit scores of videos on www.youtube.com and www.totalbhakti.com the tag is ‘taoshobuddha’ So too you can log on www.pdfcoke.com tag ‘taoshobuddha’ for many scripts and previews. You can send a query to [email protected] or make a comment on www.pdfcoke.com As your query reaches Taoshobuddha response will start happening. Now the questions for this month. Question 1: It is said that when man dies, his soul leaves him for the next body. Soul accompanies mind with its inherent samskaras. Is the soul conscious of its spiritual state? Is Maya working on soul too? TAOSHOBUDDHA RESPONDS: First this is to be understood that man exists at three planes. These are the body, mind and the soul in the same order. Mind is the connection between body and the soul. Body is invisible soul and soul is invisible body. Soul is imperishable. It is eternal. However you are not aware of its presence. In certain fleeting moments you experience soul. Mind is conditionings, dogmas, beliefs etc. The soul has no form, color, creed, religion etc. All these things exist at the level of the mind. This creates divisions. When someone dies the soul being eternal remains unaffected like the drop on a lotus leaf. Plup it slips from the leaf and dissolves into the lake. Mind lives on. Mind lives on like unfulfilled desires, emotions etc. Mind is the disease. It creates divisions. In the moments of death mind enters the new body. Mind has to attain to the state of no mind or beyond mind.

Until this happens soul keeps on assuming new lives. Soul remains yoked to mind and its quagmire. Remember both body and mind is not separate from one another. It will be better to say that man is bodymind. When something is taken through the body affects the mind. And whatever happens to the mind body responds to it religiously. Soul remains encaged in this body-mind mechanism. It cannot free itself from this. The relationship between soul and the body-mind mechanism can be understood with an example to a coconut. When the coconut is young the white jelly remains stuck to the inner shell of the nut. You cannot remove the jelly without breaking it. And when the coconut is dry! No more youngness it becomes ripe then you can separate the whole ripe jelly without breaking it. Something like this happens between soul and the body. When soul is ripe there is a complete discontinuity with the body-mind mechanism. At this stage one gets the first experience of Satori or Samadhi. Patanjali explains the types of Samadhi sabeej (with seed) and nirbeej (seedless). Is soul conscious of spirituality? Yes indeed. Soul is the embodiment of God in finiteness. That pulsates each finite moment to attain to its full glory. Soul cannot manifest itself as long as one is within the influence of the mind. Mind refers to emotions, feelings, thinking, dogmas, conditionings etc. Soul is not inflicted by maya. Since it is total awareness at times it uses maya as a tool to veil the cognition from the ordinary consciousness. Sri Aurobindo sings in epic Savitri: On the dumb bosom of this oblivious globe, Although as unknown beings we seem to meet. Our lives are not aliens nor as strangers join, Moved to each other by causeless force! The soul can recognize its answering soul. Across dividing Time and, on life’s roads

Absorbed wrapped traveller, turning it recovers Familiar splendours in an unknown face! Only this much for now! LOVE TAOSHOBUDDHA Question 2: Why does Ego becomes bar in spiritual journey? How one can be aware and remove it or transform it? The ego is one of the most fundamental problems man has to face. The ways of the ego have to be understood rightly otherwise you will never be able to get rid of it. And until you get rid of the ego there is no possibility of meeting God. It is the ego that functions as a barrier between you and reality. The ego functions as a barrier because it is one of the most unreal things possible. The ego is a fiction. It is not a reality. It is maintained by conditioning, hypnosis and a thousand and one props. It is a fiction because existence is one. It can have only one center, not millions of centers. What is the ego? The ego is the idea that ‘I am the centre of the universe.’ ‘I’ cannot be the centre of the universe but everybody has the idea that ‘I am the centre of the universe.’ And the second part of the ego is: its separativeness. It is a fiction that separates you from the totality. It gives you the idea that you are independent, and you are an island. And in reality you are not. Existence is a vast infinite continent. There are no islands. You are not separate and you are not independent either. And remember, when I say you are not independent I do not mean that you are dependent. The very idea of dependence is an outcome of ego. There is nobody to be independent and there is nobody to be dependent. We live in interdependence. Interdependence is mutual existence. We are parts of each other. We are connected to one another. The trees, the rocks, and the rivers are all penetrating you. And you are penetrating the rivers and the trees and the rocks. The farthest star is connected with you. And when you blink your eyes you change the quality of the total existence. All is infinitely interconnected, interwoven. Nobody is separate from one another.

So nobody can be independent and nobody can be dependent. Independence and dependence are both aspects of the same coin called ego. A real person is neither of the two. A real person simply does not exist as a person. He has no boundaries. He exists as God, not as a person. On one hand the ego creates separation. And on the other hand it creates anxiety, and fear -fear of death. The fear of death comes out of the ego, otherwise there is no death. There has never been death. Death exists not. If I am one with the whole then how can death exists? The whole has never died. The whole has always been here and the whole is going to remain here always. The ocean never dies. Only ripples and waves come and go. Once the wave thinks ‘I am separate from the ocean,’ then it will have great anxiety. Then death is inevitable. It is on the way. It is coming. And the fear and the anxiety are there. But if the wave knows that ‘I am not separate, how can I die? To die you have to be separate. If I am one with the ocean, whether I am like a wave or not like a wave does not matter. That which exists in me is the ocean. It has been there before me, it will be after I am gone. In fact, I never came and I never went, it was just a manifestation of the universe. Only then death disappears and birth too. Otherwise the ego creates the fear that ‘I am going to die’ and there is a constant trembling in the heart. You can never be at ease with the ego. Your anguish is your ego and nothing else. If you feel the boundary then you are limited. Then your limitation gives you pain, and anguish. Then you want to become big. Just see the mechanism of the ego. First the ego makes you feel small. It creates a sort of inferiority that ‘I am so tiny against such a big world; I have to be big - big in money, and big in power. I have to be the president or the prime minister or the richest man of the world, or I have to become Alexander the Great, or something.’ The ego makes you feel limited and nobody likes limitation. Then the desire to become bigger arises. And you go on becoming big but the bigger you become, the more egoistic you get. See the absurdity of it. The bigger you become, the more egoistic you are. You start thinking ‘Now I am somebody.’ And the more egoistic you become, the smaller you feel. It is paradoxical: the bigger you become, the smaller you feel. And again and again the

desire arises to become bigger. With the ego nobody can become big. It is impossible. Only by dropping the ego does one suddenly become big. It is wrong to say one becomes big. One becomes infinite really. Because then you do not have any boundaries. Then if there are any boundaries to existence those are your own boundaries and there are none. Existence is un-bounded. It has no possibility of ending anywhere, neither in time nor in space. In both dimensions it is infinite, and it remains infinitely infinite. But do not start dropping the ego. You cannot drop it because it is a false not a fact. If you start dropping it you will create another fiction. And the fiction is that you have become egoless. If you start dropping it, and you become humble. Then you practice humility, you will become egoistic again but in a totally new way. You will start thinking ‘I am the most humble man in the world, the humblest.’ This is how the human ego functions. You cannot drop it. Because it is not! How can you drop it? You can drop something if it exists. You cannot fight with it. How can you fight with something which is not? You cannot kill it either. How can you kill it when it is not? Then what can one do? One can only understand. One can look into the mechanism of it. You will come to know how this whole fiction works. Once you have looked into the fiction through and through, from one corner to another, from A to Z, it is not that you drop the ego in that very insight the ego disappears. In fact, to say that it disappears is not right it was never there. You come to realize that you believed in a nonentity. It was not there from the very beginning. It is just as if you stay in a room and somebody has told you that there is a ghost in the room. Now you cannot sleep. It is not that the ghost is there, it is the idea that there is a ghost and if you fall asleep there may be some danger. The ghost may jump upon you. May sit upon you, or drink your blood or something else. Ghosts are always unreliable people. One never knows what the ghost will do. You cannot sleep. In fact you cannot afford to sleep. The more sleepless and the more tired you become, the more you will believe in the ghost. It is proportional because the weaker you are, the stronger the ghost becomes. In the middle of the

night, when the whole world has fallen asleep and everything is silent, you will become more afraid. Now you are absolutely alone. Everybody has fallen asleep. Even the traffic has ceased. Now there is nobody. If the ghost comes you are left alone. Even if you scream nobody is going to hear you now. Now you will be more troubled. And a small rat passes by, or just a bird flutters outside in a tree, or a dry leaf moving on the road in the wind that is enough! You can lose all your consciousness. And there was nothing from the very beginning. You created the whole thing. You got into an idea and the idea became a reality. Now you cannot fight with this ghost, you only have to see whether the ghost is or is not. You only have to understand. You have to see the mechanism how the idea of the ghost is manipulating you. It is just an idea. It is all your idea. Exactly the same is the case with the ego. The ego is a ghost. It is unreal. Utterly unreal! But it has been deeply rooted in you for certain reasons. First, the society needs it. Without creating a kind of ego in you, you will be dangerous. Through the ego you can be manipulated. Just think if you do not have any ego nobody can frighten you. It is almost impossible. You can only be frightened through death. That is why Jesus was not frightened, also Mansur was not frightened. Many Sufis have been killed. When Mansur was being crucified, one hundred thousand people had gathered to see. And somebody asked because he was laughing, laughing like crazy -somebody asked, ‘Mansur, have you gone mad? You are being crucified, why are you laughing? This is death. Are you not aware of the fact?’ And Mansur said, ‘That is why I am laughing. They are killing somebody who is not. That is the whole ridiculousness of it. That is why I am laughing!’ It is as if somebody is killing a wave. Maybe the wave disappears, but how can you kill a wave? It will be there in the ocean. It will still be there. It will be absolutely as it was before. Only the form is not there, but form does not matter. Mansur says, ‘They are trying to kill somebody who is not there in the first place, and that is why I am laughing.’ Many Sufis have been killed and they accepted death with such joy. From where do that joy and that courage come? It is not the courage of a soldier. No! It is not at all. It is the courage of a man who has come to realize that there is no ego that ‘I am not, so how can you kill me?’ The courage of the soldier is

different from the courage of a saint. The courage of the soldier is a well maintained courage. Deep down he is afraid. Deep down him goes on trembling like a small child. But he has been trained to be brave for years. In the army he has been trained to be brave. A soldier’s bravery is a trained attitude. It is his habit to be brave. But deep down is the suspicion. Deep down is the fear. Even the greatest soldiers feel fear. It is quite natural. The difference between the brave soldier and the cowardly soldier is not one of fear. The difference is only that the brave soldier goes into the war, into the front, into death, into fire, in spite of the fear. The coward cannot go. He escapes. But the fear is there in both. The brave man just has an idea of bravery. He has been conditioned. His ego has been strengthened in such a way that he has to remain brave. It is against his ego to escape. It is against his ego to run away. Otherwise he goes on shaking like a leaf in a strong wind. The courage of a saint is totally different. It has nothing to do with the courage of a soldier. He knows he is not, so how can you kill him? He knows there is no death because there has never been any birth. He has dropped the fallacy of birth so the fallacy. Death disappears. He has dropped the fallacy of the ego so all other fallacies also disappear. All other fallacies hang around the basic fallacy of the ego. And how does one drop it? Just by seeing into the ways of it, how it comes. You pull it out from one side, you push it out from one door and it comes in from another door, from the back door, in a subtler form so you cannot recognize it. The society needs the ego, otherwise people will be uncontrollable. The state needs it, otherwise people will be so rebellious and people will be so authentically themselves, that it will be next to impossible to create slavery, to create these automatons you see walking on the roads, working in the offices, factories, this and that. It is a political stratagem. And it is utilitarian too. You have to refer to yourself in some way. It will be confusing if you start using your name to refer to yourself. First the society needs to create an ego in you because only then it can manipulate you. Then it can manage you, very easily. How does it happen? Once the ego is created, it becomes possible to manipulate the child. Then you can tell him that he has to come first in the class. If he has no ego you cannot create ambition in him. He will

laugh at the whole idea. ‘Why first? Why me first, why not others? What is wrong if somebody else comes first?’ Small children do not see the point because they still do not have crystallized ego. A small child can come from the school and happily declare to the house, ‘I have failed again.’ He has not yet been poisoned. But sooner or later it is going to happen. How long can he survive without being poisoned? The whole system of education is a subtle trick to create the ego. Hence so much competition and ambition is there. Be the first! Come at the top of the list. Be a gold medalist. And this goes on and on. It does not end with school. It continues beyond school. Even old people are hankering for rewards, awards, Nobel prizes, and things like that. They are still childish. Once the idea has entered into your bloodstream that ‘I am’ then everything is possible. You can be made afraid that if you do not do this you will lose. And if you do this you will profit. If you do this you will succeed, otherwise you will fail. With the idea of the ego, fear of punishment and greed for profit become possible. This whole society exists in greed and fear. Once a child has learned the ways of greed, then for his whole life he will be rushing after money or power or prestige. He will be losing his whole life in something absolutely non-essential. Money is not important, remember, money is important because you have got the idea of the ego. Many may people drop money, or they may renounce money it is simply ego trip. In India it happens that people renounce their money and they think they have renounced something really essential. It is nothing. Money is secondary. One never loves the money for money's sake. Instead one loves the money for the ego's sake. You have one million dollars, your ego feels puffed up. And now you can renounce one million dollars and you can go to the Himalayas but you can still feel puffed up with the idea that ‘I have renounced a million dollars. Many people have a million dollars but how many renounce them?' Now you are getting still higher. The very idea that very few people can renounce such a lot of money with such ease will make your ego a little bigger. So those who renounce have very subtle egos. If you are a president of a country and you renounce it and you say, ‘Now I am going to become a sannyasin and I will go to the Himalayas and meditate’. Sitting there in a Himalayan cave you will

still enjoy the idea that nobody has ever done that before. You renounced being president of a country so you are the greatest monk in the world. The ego has come, following you like a shadow. It will be there in your Himalayan cave as well. You cannot escape from it so easily. It is a subtle phenomenon. It needs much awareness to drop it. Just by running away you cannot drop it. How can you run away from yourself? And this mechanism is inside you, it is not outside. If it were outside, you could drop it. But it is inside you, it has become part of you. It is your very style. You have lived with it for so long that you do not know how to live without it. So whatsoever way you choose to live, the ego will remain there hiding behind it. The society needs it, the state needs it, the parents need it, the leaders, and the politicians need it. The priest also needs it. In fact everyone needs the ego. Only you do not need it. Only you become miserable because of it. Only because of it do you miss the kingdom of God. So you have to be very, very alert, otherwise the whole society and the state and everybody is conspiring. They want you to have the ego. You have to decide whether you want to go into this trip or you do not want to go into this trip. You have to see what you have gained up to now by going into this trip. What is your gain? What joy has arrived? What bliss has happened? You can change. You can become the other-worldly person. Who is not really so other worldly? You can say, ‘In this world there is nothing, this world is all nonsense. Death comes and everything is taken away. I will seek some eternal power.’ But it is still power. ‘This world’s money is not very significant. I will seek some other kind of treasure which is eternal, and will remain with me perennially.’ Then again you become an egoist with new names spiritual and, miraculous power. There are three ways that the so-called spiritual man can fall into the same trap again. Either he becomes very knowledgeable then he has the ego that ‘I know and I know much more than anybody else.’ Or he can become an ascetic. He can torture himself. He can be masochistic with himself. He can fast. He can start committing a slow suicide or he can tell the world, ‘I am the greatest mahatma. Look I have renounced all, even my body.’

Still there is the third way. It is that he can start using psychic energy as power. He can become a miracle monger. There are great energies in the psyche. They can all unfold. And when you start moving into deep meditations they start unfolding. The real spiritual man will not use them at all because he knows that that will be a trap and that trap will bring you back into the mire of the world. A real spiritual man never uses any power. If miracles sometimes happen around a real religious man they happen on their own. He is not the doer. A man came to Jesus, touched his garments, and was healed. He wanted to thank Jesus. He was thankful, he had been ill for years and the doctors had said that there was no remedy for him and now he is all right. He could not believe his own eyes. He fell at the feet of Jesus to thank him and Jesus said, ‘Man, you need not thank me at all. Thank God. In fact, thank yourself it is your own faith that has healed you. I have nothing to do with it.’ This is the quality of the real spiritual man. If something happens he is not the doer. Yes, miracles happen but they are not done. And when a person starts doing them he is no longer spiritual. He has fallen to the status of a magician. Now there is nothing of spirituality left. Just as people want to show their money he wants to show his psychic powers. But the showman is there. So he is as much part of the show business as anybody else. Around a spiritual man miracles happen, real miracles. Around a really spiritual person real miracles happen. People transform, change, and people start attaining new spaces of being. People start moving into new dimensions of joy and life and eternity. People start being more loving and more compassionate. People start blooming. Fragrance arises. People start dancing. Their heart for the first time pulsates with celebration. These are real miracles. People start feeling that God is, people start trusting that God is. People start becoming aware of who they are. People start losing their sleepiness. Their eyes start opening. People become whole, no longer divided within or fragmentary. Instead they are integrated. These are real miracles. These certainly happen. But they are not done. Nobody is doing them. If somebody is there to do them ego still exists. And with the ego, the world comes in. With ego, comes in all darkness. So you have to be alert. Nobody will be

in favor of you dropping your ego. Your wife will not be in favor, your husband will not be in favor, your children will not be in favor because once the husband drops the ego he has no ambition, so the wife will not feel good. The wife wants you to go on and on earning money, purchasing bigger and bigger houses, having more diamonds, more gold, more money in the bank, bigger insurance policies and all that. If you lose the ego your ambition disappears. Then you are concerned with ambition no longer, and then you are not driving yourself mad any more. Of course you will be healthy, but who bothers about a healthy husband? You will not have ulcers, that are right, but wives are not interested in whether you have ulcers or not. They are interested in having a bigger house, two houses one in the country, one in the city. They are more interested in you having a yacht and things like this. They are more interested in you having power and prestige and pull. You will not have ulcers once the ego disappears. Ulcers will disappear. Ulcers are the footprints of ambition. You may not have cancer any more. The cancer may not be possible at all because cancer is chronic anxiety. When anxiety becomes too much for the body to absorb it starts moving towards death! The body starts creating situations where it can die easily. Cancer is an effort to die. Things have become unbearable, now there is no point in living. You want to die. Cancer simply shows your will to death. You may not be courageous enough to recognize it but your unconscious is helping you to die easily. That is why there is no cure for cancer. The man has really lost his joy of life. He has lost his joy of life in futile things. But wives are interested in bigger things. And the husband is also interested that his wife should be beautiful. Not that he loves his wife; she is a showpiece. He takes her around. He can brag around that he has the most beautiful wife in the world. He does not care for her a bit. He may not have seen her face for many years. She is something that helps his ego. The ego feels very hurt when you start moving with an ugly woman, naturally. ‘So this is what you have got?’ There is no other interest; not at all in the person of the woman, only in the personality and that too for worldly ends. This is how things are. So if you start dropping your ego nobody is going to support you. Everybody will

be against it because everybody's interest is that you remain egoistic. Even people who teach you to be egoless! If you really drop the ego they will not feel very good, because then who are they going to teach to be egoless? Even the priest who goes on teaching you to be egoless will be disturbed if you really become egoless. He will not like the idea at all. I have heard about a dog who was a kind of preacher. He used to preach to other dogs of the town that God has made the dog in his own image. ‘Look,’ he used to say, ‘even the word “dog” is just made of the same letters as God. Just see. It is God in reverse. Just a question of changing the direction and the dog can become God.’ And it appealed to other dogs. Only one thing was difficult. He was very much against barking. Priests are always against some-thing which is impossible to stop. Now it is impossible for dogs to stop barking. This would be too much against their dog nature. They enjoy barking. Barking is their joy. This is their poetry, their dance, their celebration. When they feel happy, what else can they do? They bark. When it is the night of the full moon, they bark. Full moon night is a great celebration for dogs. They go almost mad. It is beautiful what else can they do? He was against barking. Priests are very, very cunning in finding things which you cannot drop. They have found sex. You cannot drop it. They are against it. They have found taste. You cannot drop it. They are against it. They have found all those things which are difficult for you to drop. They are against them. You are not going to drop them and they will go on preaching to you, ‘Drop them!’ He preached day and night. Wherever he found a dog barking he would immediately go and start preaching. The dogs were tired of it although they knew that he was right. It is useless to bark, they also knew it, and there was no need to convince them. And he was very logical. But one day they decided: ‘Our leader has grown so old and we have never given him any joy, at least for one night we should not bark.’ It was the great leader’s birthday so they thought, ‘This will be a good present. Let him be happy at least once. Tonight we are not going to bark at all.’ They all decided. It was a full moon night and it was very difficult. It was almost impossible. They were just lying down in dark holes, holding themselves somehow. Probably in

yoga postures! Repressing, and the more they were repressing, the more the bark came to their throats. And the leader went around, and he looked, and not a single dog was barking. He became puzzled. What has happened? It was going to be a surprise gift, so nobody had told him. What has happened? Have dogs really changed? Then he became worried. ‘Then what will I do? If they have really stopped then my whole business has gone. Then what am I going to do?’ He went around. He trusted dogs’ natures; they would bark. He knew them very well. His whole life he had been teaching and nobody had stopped barking. Sometimes he would find a few disciples who would stop for one or two days and then they would escape. They would say, ‘This is too much. We do not want to go to God. Please let us remain dogs.’ But what has happened? A miracle! He went around and around and he saw that dogs were not even visible and nobody was barking. And he could not teach. And it was getting late, it was the middle of the night, and for the first time he himself felt a great urge to bark. In fact, it had not been felt before because he had to talk so much morning, evening, night that there was no energy left to bark. For the first time he had not found a single disciple to teach. The energy accumulated. And a great urge to bark arose. He was surprised because he had not barked for many years. He had almost forgotten how to bark. A great thrill came to him. And he decided, ‘No dog is here why I should not try? What is wrong in it?’ And all such thoughts come to everybody. ‘Once it is okay. It cannot be such a sin. Not all dogs are going to hell.’ He knew that it was natural, but he had lived such an unnatural life, the life of a priest. So he went into a dark corner in a street and started barking. The moment he started barking, suddenly there was a great explosion all over the town. All the dogs started barking. Everybody was boiling within. And when they saw that one had broken the vow they thought that it was somebody from amongst themselves and they could not think that the priest would do this. That was impossible. They had known him for years. Somebody had broken the vow so there was no need to repress any more. The whole town exploded into barking. It had never been like that!

And then out came the leader and started teaching them again that this was not good. It is only because of barking that we are not kings of the world, otherwise we would be the kings of the world. Just this one thing is destroying our potential. Priests who go on telling you to drop your egos will not be very happy if you drop ego. Because the moment you drop your egos you will be beyond the control of the priest! So you will have to move into this direction alone, all alone. Nobody will be helping you and everybody will be against you. But unless you understand that the ego is your hell you cannot be blissful. MEDITATE OVER THE DIALOGUE BETWEEN HASAN AND RABIA. A PARABLE: HASAN CAME TO RABIA ONE DAY WHEN SHE WAS SITTING AMONG A NUMBER OF ASPIRANTS, AND SAID, ‘I HAVE THE CAPACITY OF WALKING ON WATER. COME, LET US BOTH GO ON TO THAT WATER YONDER, AND SITTING UPON IT CARRY OUT A SPIRITUAL DISCUSSION.’ RABIA SAID, ‘IF YOU WISH TO SEPARATE YOURSELF FROM THIS AUGUST COMPANY, WHY DO YOU NOT COME WITH ME SO THAT WE MAY FLY INTO THE AIR AND SIT THERE TALKING?’ HASAN SAID, ‘I CANNOT DO THAT, FOR THE POWER THAT YOU MENTION IS NOT ONE WHICH I POSSESS.’ RABIA SAID, ‘YOUR POWER OF REMAINING STILL IN THE WATER IS ONE WHICH IS POSSESSED BY FISH. MY CAPACITY OF FLYING IN THE AIR CAN BE DONE BY A FLY. THESE ABILITIES ARE NO PART OF REAL TRUTH. THESE MAY BECOME THE FOUNDATION OF SELF-ESTEEM AND COMPETITIVENESS, BUT DEFINITELY NOT SPIRITUALITY.’ Question 3: I would like to know the methods for meditation. Also during meditation how to keep the inner feelings away, and what we should concentrate upon, sometimes my heart recites the name of god, is it ok? Kindly give me details.

A real master cannot teach you meditation. However, certainly in his presence you can catch meditation. In his presence something begins to happen. I am reminded of an anecdote from the life of Michelangelo. Michael was a sculpturist. He used to spend time by a shop. At the back of the shop lay a huge piece of marble. For the shop keeper it was a nuisance. While in conversation with Michael he mentioned of disposing off this piece of marble. Hearing this Michael expressed the desire to get the piece. Hearing this shopkeeper got elated. He not only agreed to give Michael the piece instead offered to transport the marble piece to his home. Michael started working on the piece of marble. Therein he carved the sculpture of Jesus and Mary. The body of Jesus was brought down from the cross and it lay on the lap of Mary. It was indeed a very lively sculpture. When the sculpture was ready he asked the shopkeeper to visit his place as Michael wanted to show the shopkeeper something. So the shopkeeper visited Michael. Tears began to flow from the eyes of the shopkeeper. So he enquired from Michael how he could create such a beauty out of the stone. The reply that Michael gave is the response of a master. No ordinary person can give such a reply. Michael said, ‘The sculpture was hidden in the marble piece. I did nothing to create the sculpture. I simply chiseled out the superfluous marble that was hiding the manifestation to the sculpture. Such a reply only a master can give. So too all I can do is chiseled out all that is superfluous in you. Only then the real you can shine in its full splendor. I cannot answer your questions. Like a master I can only answer the questioning mind. So that one day this questioning mind can dissolve and real you comes on the surface. Be aware of thoughts, feelings arise within you. When light is thrown in your being all the ugly and dark corners become lighted. And in that all the hidden things begin to surface. Your mind is like a dark room

that has not been locked unattended for a long time. Spider web, cockroaches, rats etc all have found home in that space. Now you decided to clean the room one day. The first thing in this regard is to bring light to the dark room. And as soon as you turn on the light all that was hidden will expose itself. This is what happens when one begins meditation. The more you grow in awareness such thoughts and emotions will begin to be less. I have 42 video meditations on You Tube .com and 24 on TOTAL Bhakti.com. these can be reached by using the word ‘TAOSHOBUDDHA’. Choose one meditation and listen to that every day at a specific time. My voice will create grooves in your consciousness. DO not pay attention to the words. Just allow the voice and the subtle presence work within. Do this for a period of 14 to 21 days and then let me know. Then we will enter the next step. Only this much for you for now! Question 4: I want to practice meditation. I am 50yrs.Lot of things are coming in the mind. How to eradicate them and go for deep silence so, that I do not require any body for loneliness. Mind is the disease. You cannot overcome the mind. Certainly you can go beyond mind. You are seeking a space within. This is meditation -the ultimate in healing. Begin with a simple technique. Stand by the side of a busy road where cars or people are passing. Observe one car passes in front of you. Then there is a gap. Then another car passes. Or sometimes two cars pass side by side. Between two cars passing thare is a gap. By nature you tend to focus on cars not on the gap. Now change the gestalt keep your attention on the gap between two cars. This is the gap when there is no noise or car passing. There is utter silence. This silence or emptiness is your being. You have to connect to this space. However because of the noise of the minds and thoughts impeding the mind you become unaware of these gaps. And eventually you become completely oblivious of this inner space. This space gets encroached upon by thoughts.

This technique will make you aware of the gaps between two thoughts. When you start observing the cars or people passing by in a busy market place slowly and slowly you will start becoming aware of the gaps. You will realize that these gaps are getting longer. Something is beginning to happen in your psychology. This is the beginning of meditativeness. First you become aware that there is a space of which you are unaware. And then you start creating this space within you betwen two thoughts. The process has begun. It will take between 14 to 21 days for the process to take strides in you. For doing this choose one spot, one time alone and then follow this strictly. This will create an insatiable quest in you. All my sites can 'taoshobuddha'.

be

reached

by

searching

Two of my books are available worldwide from [email protected] 1. Meditation the way to self realization 2. The secrets of bhakti Only this much for now!

Question 5: Which is your date of Enlightment? Each one of you is a Buddha. Some have blossomed others are on the way. To say that one is enlightened is wrong because there is nothing but enlightenment alone. It is like placenta wherein we float. Yet still there has to be a day and a time when actually such an awareness dawns on an individual. It is in such a moment of serenity that one experiences that he is no more a body. There comes a discontinuity between body and the being. This is the moment when existence pours into you in its wholeness or totality. I still remember the hour and the day. It was midnight of May 12th 1972 when I was still in India. Another time I will narrate the happening. Now from 1981 I am living in Trinidad, West Indies. You can also download a monthly e magazine free for download from www.scrib.com Only this much for now! Love, Taoshobuddha

God has to be freed from all concepts of personality. Personality is a prison. God has to be freed from any particular form; only then he can have all the forms. He has to be freed from any particular name so that all the names become his. The priest is a businessman; his whole effort is to exploit people in the name of religion. He oppresses people, dominates people, and of course he goes on saying, “It is for your own sake.” He makes people afraid of hell and greedy for heavenly joys. This is a psychological trick. He knows people are afraid, he knows people are greedy, so these are the two things that he goes on manipulating: fear and greed. And this is done by all the priests of all the religions in all the traditions all over the world. OSHO – Isha Upanishad

HADHRAT UWAIS AL-QARANI AND THE UWAISIYAH SUFI ORDER Hadhrat Faqir Maulawi Jalalluddin Ahmad Ar-Rowi Naqshbandi Mujaddidi Uwaisi

'Ufiyallahu 'Anhu Wali Walidaihi Bismillaahir Rahmaanir Rahiim Nahmaduhu Wa Nusolli 'Ala Rasulihil Karim, Amma Ba'du;

INTRODUCTION We praise Allah! And we pray to Him! May His blessings be upon His Beloved Prophet, Hadhrat

‘The Uwaisiyah Order in Tasawwuf provides directly the reflexes of ENLIGHTMENT without apparent contact thus rendering meaningless the barriers of time, distance and space.’

Sayyidina Wa Maulana Muhammad Mustafa

It is beyond my capacity to explain it in detail but

Rasulullah Sallallahu Ta'ala 'Alaihi Wa Alihi Wa

let me share some of the knowledge and

Ashabihi Wa Barik Wa Sallam! And may Allah's

understandings regarding this rare path with all

blessings also be upon the Prophet's family, his

my readers in the light of the Prophethood and

companions and to those who follow him with

from the sayings of the Masters who has passed

good presence till the Day of Qiyamah. AMIN….

through this sacred path.

This humble and poor slave of Allah, Jalalludin

HADHRAT UWAIS AL-QARANI

Ahmad has been requested to write some words

RADHIYALLAHU 'ANHU

regarding the Naqshbandiyah Uwaisiyah Sufi path which, according to Hadhrat Shah Waliyullah Ad-Dehlawi Rahmatullah 'Alaih was the most distinguish Sufi order in the Muslim world. As Hadhrat Syeikh Maulana Abu Anees Muhammad Barkat Ali Qaddasallahu Sirruhu mentions in his book Virtues of Hadhrat Khwajah Uwais Al-Qarani Radhiyallahu 'Anhu,

In a Hadits Qudsi recorded by Hadhrat Abu Hurairah Radhiyallahu 'Anhu, May Allah be pleased with him, the Holy Prophet Muhammad Rasulullah

Sallallahu

speaking from his Lord:

'Alaihi

Wasallam

said

"Allah, Exalted and Mighty is He, loves of His

regarding that person who will intercedes this

creation the God-fearing, the pure in the heart,

Ummah,

those who are hidden, and those who are innocent, whose face is dusty, whose hair is unkempt, whose stomach is empty, and who, if he asks permission to enter to the rulers, is not granted it, and if he were to ask for a gentle lady in marriage, he would

"He is a slave amongst the slaves of Allah." The Companions asked, "We are all Allah's slave, but what is his name?"

be refused, and when he leaves the world it does

The Holy Prophet Hadhrat Sayyidina Muhammad

not miss him, and if he goes out, his going out is

Rasulullah Sallallahu 'Alaihi Wasallam said,

not noticed, and if he falls sick, he is not attended to, and if he dies, he is not accompanied to his

"His name is Uwais Al-Qarani."

grave."

The Companions again asked,

The Companions asked him,

"Where is he now?"

"O Messenger of Allah, how can we find someone

The Holy Prophet Hadhrat Sayyidina Muhammad

like that?"

Rasulullah Sallallahu 'Alaihi Wasallam said,

The

Holy

Prophet

Muhammad

Rasulullah

"He is in Qaran."

Sallallahu 'Alaihi Wasallam said, The Companions then asked, "Uwais Al-Qarani is such a one." "Has he meets you before?" The Holy Prophet Hadhrat Sayyidina Muhammad Rasulullah Sallallahu 'Alaihi Wasallam once said in

The Holy Prophet Hadhrat Sayyidina Muhammad

his Hadith,

Rasulullah Sallallahu 'Alaihi Wasallam said,

"There is a man at Qaran called Uwais, who on the

"Not with his physical eyes but he has already

Day of Resurrection will intercede for a multitude

seen me with his spiritual eyes."

of my Ummah (community), as many as the sheep

Then, the Companions asked the Holy Prophet

of Rabi'ah and Mudhar."

Hadhrat

In another Hadith, the Holy Prophet Hadhrat

Sallallahu 'Alaihi Wasallam what had prevented

Sayyidina

Hadhrat Uwais Radhiyallahu 'Anhu from joining

Muhammad

Rasulullah

Sallallahu

Sayyidina

Muhammad

Rasulullah

'Alaihi Wasallam said,

the group of Sahabah?

"Amongst my Ummah, there is a man whom his

The Holy Prophet Hadhrat Sayyidina Muhammad

intercessions will benefits a large amount of people

Rasulullah Sallallahu 'Alaihi Wasallam said,

from my Ummah as many as the hairs of the sheep

"There are two reasons, firstly because of his highly

from the tribes of Rabi'ah and Mudhar."

intoxicated condition in love with Allah and

The Holy Prophet Hadhrat Sayyidina Muhammad

secondly due to his following of my Syari'ah

Rasulullah Sallallahu 'Alaihi Wasallam once said

(religion) i.e. the responsibility to serve his mother. His mother is a believer and too old with blind

eyes. He works as a shepherd and with his earnings

Sufi has no living Syeikh to guide his journey but

he spents for his mother."

he is guided by Allah Ta'ala or His Prophet-Saint Hadhrat Nabi Khidhr 'Alaihissalam. This kind of

The Companions asked,

spiritual connection has no limitations in time and space and it is well known as Nisbat Uwaisiyah.

"Is it possible for us to see him?" The Holy Prophet Hadhrat Sayyidina Muhammad Rasulullah Sallallahu 'Alaihi Wasallam said to Hadhrat Abu Bakar As-Siddiq Radhiyallahu 'Anhu, "You will never see him but 'Umar and 'Ali will see him. His entire body is covered with hairs. On his left palm there is a sign as big as a Dirham that looks like leprosy but it isn't. When you meet him, send my salutation from me to him and tell him to pray for my Ummah. Amongst the Awliya (saints) of Allah there are the Atqiya (the most pious), and he is the best."

Anyone who is a true believer can practice this system but only a few people who really know and understand about it. He lives during the Prophethood era but due to some responsibilities to serve his mother, he could not spend most of his time away from her. Even though he had not seen the Holy Prophet Muhammad

Rasulullah

Sallallahu

'Alaihi

Wasallam physically, but he has seen the light of spiritual reality of Muhammad in his insight. The scholars have categorized him as the greatest Tabi'in i.e. the greatest follower of the companions

Addressing to Hadhrat 'Umar and Hadhrat 'Ali

of the Holy Prophet Muhammad Rasulullah

Radhiyallahu 'Anhuma, the Holy Prophet Hadhrat

Sallallahu 'Alaihi Wasallam but the Holy Prophet

Sayyidina

Sallallahu 'Alaihi Wasallam himself had treated

Muhammad

Rasulullah

Sallallahu

'Alaihi Wasallam said,

Hadhrat Uwais as one of his Sahabi (companion). He does meet with some of the companions such as

"You will see him. He is a lowly man of medium

Hadhrat Sayyidina 'Umar Ibni Al-Khattab and

height and hairy, on his left side there is a white

Hadhrat Sayyidina 'Ali Ibni Abi Talib Radhiyallahu

spot as large as a Dirham which is not from

'Anhuma.

leprosy, and he has a similar spot on the palm of his hand. When you see him, pass on my greeting

Due to his love and strong intention to meet the

and ask him to pray for my Ummah."

Holy Prophet Muhammad Rasulullah Sallallahu 'Alaihi Wasallam, his name entered the list of the

The name Uwaisiyah is related to Hadhrat

companions.

Sayyidina Uwais Ibni Amir Ibni Jaz Ibni Malik Al-

Rasulullah

Qarani Radhiyallahu 'Anhu (died 37 AH/ 657 CE).

informed about his strong desire to see the Holy

He was the pioneer of the Uwaisiyah spiritual

Prophet but since his mother need his full attention

system which focusing on having a spiritual

and constant care, he could not get much

connections with the Holy Prophet Muhammad

opportunity to visit the Holy Prophet Muhammad

Rasulullah Sallallahu 'Alaihi Wasallam or other

Rasulullah Sallallahu 'Alaihi Wasallam in the Holy

prophets and saints who had passed this worldly

City Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah. His mother

life, or the saints who are still alive but residing

was a blind old lady and need supervision by him.

very far and difficult to reach without meeting them physically. In many occasions, the Uwaisi

The

Holy

Sallallahu

Prophet

'Alaihi

Muhammad

Wasallam

was

Once he requested his mother for a leave to go to

Wasallam asked Hadhrat 'Aishah Radhiyallahu

the Holy City Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah to visit

'Anha,

the

Holy

Prophet

Muhammad

Rasulullah

Sallallahu 'Alaihi Wasallam. She permitted him to go to the Holy City but warned him to come back quickly.

"Did you see Uwais?" Hadhrat 'Aishah Radhiyallahu 'Anha replied, "Yes."

She said,

After hearing this, the Holy Prophet Muhammad

"You have my permission to go, see him once and

Rasulullah Sallallahu 'Alaihi Wasallam went out of

come back straight. If the Prophet Sallallahu 'Alaihi

the house and called his companions to come at

Wasallam is at home, you may meet with him and

him quickly. When the companions reached the

if not, come back without delay."

Holy Prophet Muhammad Rasulullah Sallallahu

Hadhrat Uwais Radhiyallahu 'Anhu made a journey of three months on foot, from Yemen to the Holy City Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah. When he

'Alaihi Wasallam, he asked them to look at his face. So, everyone looked at the Holy Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam face.

reached the Prophet Sallallahu 'Alaihi Wasallam

Then, the Holy Prophet Muhammad Rasulullah

house, he knocked the door and Hadhrat 'Aishah

Sallallahu 'Alaihi Wasallam said,

Radhiyallahu 'Anha, the Prophet's wife and Mother of the believers opened the door. She told him that Hadhrat Rasulullah Sallallahu 'Alaihi Wasallam was in masjid.

‚'Aishah Radhiyallahu 'Anha has seen Uwais Radhiyallahu 'Anhu and therefore, she has been forgiven. As I see 'Aishah Radhiyallahu 'Anha, I have been forgiven. And you have seen me,

Hadhrat Uwais Radhiyallahu 'Anhu remembered his promise to his mother and said to her,

therefore you are all forgiven." Subhanallah, what a dignity Allah Subhanahu Wa

"Please convey my salutations to my Beloved

Ta'ala had bestowed upon Hadhrat Uwais Al-

Rasulullah Sallallahu 'Alaihi Wasallam. Kindly

Qarani Radhiyallahu 'Anhu that the Holy Prophet

inform him that Uwais came from Yemen but did

Muhammad

not find him at home and is returning back to

Wasallam himself gave his respect to Hadhrat

Yemen, since he does not have permission from his

Uwais Al-Qarani Radhiyallahu 'Anhu.

mother to meet him in the masjid."

The

Holy

Rasulullah

Prophet

Sallallahu

Muhammad

'Alaihi

Rasulullah

When the Prophet Hadhrat Muhammad Rasulullah

Sallallahu 'Alaihi Wasallam look towards Yemen

Sallallhu 'Alaihi Wasallam came home from the

and said,

masjid, he found the radiance of Hadhrat Uwais Radhiyallahu 'Anhu in his house. Hadhrat Aishah

"The fragrance of our friend is reaching us."

Radhiyallahu Anha explained, what had happened

The

and thus conveyed the salutations of Hadhrat

Sallallahu 'Alaihi Wasallam said,

Uwais Radhiyallahu Anhu. The Holy Prophet Muhammad

Rasulullah

Sallallahu

'Alaihi

Holy

Prophet

Muhammad

Rasulullah

"Uwais will come back to Al-Madinah Al-

where they found Hadhrat Uwais were praying

Munawwarah to meet me, but we will not meet

under a tree with camels grazing around him. They

physically, for I shall then be united with my Lord."

approached him and greeted him, saying,

The Holy Prophet Hadhrat Sayyidina Muhammad

"As-Salaamu

Rasulullah

Barakatuh."

Sallallahu

'Alaihi

Wasallam

had

mentioned his name many times before he passed this worldly life and had instructed his companions to find Hadhrat Uwais Al-Qarani Radhiyallahu 'Anhu present his blessed cloak to him and to request prayers from him for the forgiveness of his Ummah.

'Alaikum

Wa

Rahmatullahi

Wa

Hadhrat Uwais cut his prayer short, and when he had finished it, returned their greeting. They asked him, "Who are you?" He replied,

It is mentioned in the stories of the companions that the search for Hadhrat Uwais Al-Qarani Radhiyallahu 'Anhu has been made since the time when the Holy Prophet Muhammad Rasulullah

"A herdsman of camels and a hired workman for a tribe." They said,

Sallallahu 'Alaihi Wasallam mentioned about his name and dignity but he could not be found. Even

"We do not ask you about your tending of animals,

during the Caliphate of Hadhrat Abu Bakar As-

nor about your being a hired worker, but what is

Siddiq Radhiyallahu 'Anhu, there was no traces of

your name?"

Hadhrat Uwais Al-Qarani Radhiyallahu 'Anhu.

He answered,

Only during the last days of the Caliphate of Hadhrat 'Umar Al-Khattab Radhiyallahu 'Anhu he

"Abdullah (Slave of Allah)."

was found.

They said,

According to the Hadits, when people from Yemen

"All the people of the heavens and the earth are the

came

slaves of Allah, but what is the name in which your

to

the

Holy

City

Al-Madinah

Al-

Munawwarah, Hadhrat 'Umar Radhiyallahu 'Anhu

mother named you?"

will asked them if they know about Hadhrat Uwais Ibni 'Amir Radhiyallahu 'Anhu? Some of the people from Yemen know about him and his whereabouts. Hadhrat 'Umar Al-Khattab and Hadhrat 'Ali Ibni Abi Talib Radhiyallahu 'Anhuma set out a search to find Hadhrat Uwais Al-Qarani Radhiyallahu 'Anhu and they went to Yemen accompanied by Hadhrat Bilal Radhiyallahu 'Anhu and finally they found him at the Mount of 'Arafat when someone told them about his location. Hadhrat 'Umar and Hadhrat 'Ali Radhiyallahu 'Anhuma then went quickly to Mount 'Arafat

He said, "My name is Uwais. O you two, what do you want from me?" They said, "Rasulullah Sallallahu 'Alaihi Wasallam once spoke to us about Uwais Al-Qarani. He gave us a description of the bluish-black colour of his eyes, and he told us that he has a white mark under his left shoulder. So please show us if you have this

mark, for then it is you for whom we are

"As-Salaamu 'Alaikum Ya Amir Al-Mukminin. And

searching."

you, O Ali, May Allah repay you with goodness for

Hadhrat Uwais Radhiyallahu 'Anhu then bared his left shoulder, and they saw a white mark. They then embraced him and kissed him and said,

for forgiveness for us and may Allah forgive you." Furthermore, they said, Holy

Prophet

They said, "May Allah repay you for yourself and your

"We declare that you are Uwais Al-Qarani, so ask

"The

this Community (Ummah)."

goodness?" Having received the blessed cloak, he went away to a corner at some distance, placed the cloak in front

Muhammad

Rasulullah

on the ground and prostrating, he prays,

Sallallahu 'Alaihi Wasallam had ordered them to

"O Allah the Almighty, I shall not wear this

pass on his greeting to you and to request you to

honourable cloak until You have forgiven the

pray for the forgiveness of his Ummah."

Ummah

of

the

Holy

Prophet

Muhammad

Rasulullah Sallallahu 'Alaihi Wasallam."

He answered, "I cannot even forgive myself or one of Adam's children. But there are on land and in the seas believing men and women, Muslim men and

As he took long in prostrating, they thought he might have died. When they reached near him, he raised his head from prostration and said,

women, whose invocations to Allah are answered.

"Had you not come here, I would not have raised

Indeed you are worthier than I am for this

my head from prostration until I had the glad

supplication"

tidings of forgiveness of the whole Ummah. Even then Allah the Almighty has promised to forgive as

They replied,

many sinners of the Ummah of the Holy Prophet

"Surely this is so. We certainly supplicate but please

Sallallahu 'Alaihi Wasallam as much as the hairs of

you pray as per the will of the Holy Prophet

the sheeps of the tribes of Rabi'ah and Mudhar."

Muhammad

Rasulullah

Sallallahu

'Alaihi

Wasallam."

Then Hadhrat 'Umar Al-Khattab Radhiyallahu 'Anhu

said

to

Hadhrat

Uwais

Al-Qarani

Then he said,

Radhiyallahu 'Anhu,

"O you two, you know about me and I know about

"Your place is here until I return to Al-Madinah

my state, but who are you?"

and may Allah have mercy upon you. Then I will

Hadhrat Ali Radhiyallahu 'Anhu answered, "This is the Commander of the Faithful (Al-Amir Al-Mukminin), Umar ibn al-Khattab, and I am Ali ibn Abu Talib." Hadhrat Uwais Radhiyallahu 'Anhu stood up straight and said,

bring you help from my provision and some of my clothes. This has been the meeting place between you and me." But Hadhrat Uwais Radhiyallahu 'anhu answered him,

"O Commander of the Faithful, there will be no

(prostration). He often spent his day praying in

other meeting place, in the knowledge of Allah,

addition to the compulsory worship.

between you and me, but this one. So tell me, what should I do with your provision and what should I do with your clothes? Do you not see that I am

Hadhrat Rabi' Ibni Khathi Rahmatullah 'Alaih, a famous Tabi'in reports,

wearing a woollen gown and a woollen wrapper,

"One day I went to meet Hadhrat Uwais Al-Qarani

so when do you see me tearing them? Or do you

Radhiyallahu 'Anhu. I saw him busy in his Fajr

see that my sandals are worn out and torn? When

(early morning) prayer. I waited for him to finish in

do you see me out wearing them? Between your

order meeting him. Having finished his prayer, he

hand and mine there is a higher barrier which

got engaged is Tasbih and Tahlil and remained so

cannot be crossed by a weighty person, so leave

continuously until Zuhur (early afternoon) prayer.

these things, and Allah will have mercy upon you."

Likewise, this lasted further until 'Asar (late

When Hadhrat 'Umar Radhiyallahu 'Anhu heard these words, he struck the ground with his stick and shouted out at the top of his voice,

afternoon) prayer and from 'Asar to Maghrib (sunset) prayer. Then I thought he might have a recess in order to break his fast, but he remained busy in Zikir (remembrance) and litanies until 'Isha

"O would that Umar had not been born by his

(late evening) prayer and then to the Morning

mother and that she had been sterile!"

Prayer. Three days passed by this way. He slept on

He had converted into Islam during the lifetime of the

Holy

Prophet

Muhammad

Rasulullah

Sallallahu 'Alaihi Wasallam. He is well known amongst the Sahabah and the Sufis for his deep

the fourth night for a short while and ate a little. Then he occupied himself in Istighfar (litanies seeking forgiveness of Allah the Almighty) thus uttered this words,

love and affection towards Allah Ta'ala and His

"O Allah the Almighty, I seek Your refuge against

Beloved Holy Prophet Muhammad Rasulullah

the sleeping eye and stomach full of food."

Sallallahu 'Alaihi Wasallam, the practice of Zuhud (ascetism) and piety. He is the Sultan of the hidden servants of Allah. He is the beacon light for the seeker of spirituality. He is the elixir of the intense devotion

to

the

Holy

Prophet

Muhammad

Rasulullah Sallallahu 'Alaihi Wasallam.

When Hadhrat Rabi' Rahmatullah 'Alaih witnessed all this, he returned and said to himself, "This is enough for me." He lives in a village called Qaran in Yemen. He was a noble and very pious person. He denied all kinds

He is honoured with the title of Nafs Ar-Rahman

of worldly ornaments and always keeps himself far

(The Soul of the Compassionate). He reached the

from the crowd of people. Some of his people

stage of the beloved of the Divine. He spent most of

consider him as a mad man due to his appearance.

his time in solitude, fasting during the day keep

He ate only a few dates for fasting during the day

awake the whole night. Normally he stood in

and if he has more dates than what he needed, he

Iqamah (standing posture) for Solat (prayers) one

gave it to the poor as Sadaqah (charity).

night, spent the next night in Ruku' (kneeling posture) and spent the next night in Sajdah

Physically, he was a man of weak physique, middle height, slightly off-white color, wide shoulders,

heavy beard, black eyes, sights concentrated at the

stated in the traditions that had he heard the Holy

place of prostration, a domineering round face and

Prophet Sallallahu 'Alaihi Wasallam injured his

unruffled hair often covered with dust. He wore a

blessed teeth in the Battle of Uhud.

completely worn out khaki dress that consisted of two garments, a blanket made of the camel hair and

Hadhrat Uwais Radhiyallahu 'Anhu said,

a pair of trousers. He had on palm of his left hand a

"When I came to know about the two teeth of the

white mark of the size of a Dirham.

Holy Prophet Sallallahu 'Alaihi Wasallam having

His usual dress was a cloak with many patches of cloth on it. He also has a blanket made of camel's wool. His physical appearance looks untidy which makes him ridiculed by the children and the adults. That is why most of his time he keeps himself far away from the people because in that way, he could be near to Allah in solitude. The

Holy

Prophet

Muhammad

been sacrificed, I broke and took out one tooth first. Having done this I realized that only Allah the Almighty knew it well, but perhaps that might not be the tooth that had broken. Hence I broke another, still another, thus breaking them all one by one." Thus Hadhrat Uwais Radhiyallahu 'Anhu broke all his teeth and was bestowed this martawa or the benediction as embodiment of his love for

Rasulullah

the Rasulullah Sallallahu 'Alaihi Wasallam

Sallallahu 'Alaihi Wasallam often said to his

THE SAYINGS OF HADHRAT

companions,

UWAIS AL-QARANI

"I receive the breeze of Mercy (Nasim Al-Rahmah) from the direction of the Yemen." The

Holy

Prophet

Muhammad

1. I searched for honor; I found it in service to the Rasulullah

Sallallahu 'Alaihi Wasallam also said,

creatures. I searched for leadership; I found it in the creatures' welfare. I searched for humility, I found it in truth. I searched for the source of pride; I

"The most superior man amongst the generation of

found it in Faqr (poverty). I searched for a valuable

the Tabi'un is Uwais. Whoever amongst you meets

relationship in the Hereafter; I found it in Taqwa

him must try to seek his supplication for

(fear of Allah). I searched for highness; I found it in

forgiveness."

Qanaah (contentment). I searched for peace; I

His love towards the Holy Prophet Muhammad

found it in Zuhud (piety).

Rasulullah Sallallahu 'Alaihi Wasallam is so great

2. He who believes in three things has Hell nearer

that he always keeps himself in practicing the

to him than his jugular vein; they are voluptuous

Sunnah (ethics) and love to follow the Holy

meals, expensive dress and companionship of the

Prophet Muhammad Rasulullah Sallallahu 'Alaihi

rich.

Wasallam. He is extinct in the Holy Prophet Muhammad Rasulllah Sallallahu 'Alaihi Wasallam. He was completely absorbed and drowned in the Light of Muhammadi. Let us see what he had done in proving himself as a true believer and unparallel follower

of

the

Holy

Prophet

Muhammad

Rasulullah Sallallahu 'Alaihi Wasallam. It was

3. Peace is in solitude. 4. It is imperative on you to guard your heart. 5. You need to safeguard your heart, that is, save your heart from the thought of everything else.

Keep your desires under control of your heart and

15. My Rabb's remembrance is most exalted, His

not vice versa.

sayings are most true, His is the most truthful

6. When you sleep, regard death nearer to your

statement, His is the most beautiful writing of all.

head and when you wake up regard it in front of

16. My advice for you to follow is to emulate the

you.

Almighty Allah's Book, the Holy Al-Quran, the

7. Do not regard a sin something ordinary, rather regard it something extraordinary. This is the reason you commit sins. If you regard a sin

way of the good and to send Salawat (salutations) to the Holy Prophet Muhammad Rasulullah Sallallahu 'Alaihi Wasallam.

something inferior, then you will also regard Allah

17. I only wish that I start the prayer and spend the

the Almighty inferior.

night in one Sajadah (prostration) and lost control

8. It is regretted at the hearts that are in doubt and do not seek advice. 9. He who recognized Allah the Almighty, he recognised everything and nothing remained hidden from him. 10. Wahdat (Unity of Godhead) is nothing except Him comes in thoughts.

of myself, recite repeatedly Subhana Rabbiyal A'la (Glory be to our Lord Who is Most High). 18. If someone who is praying is hit with a bar and has not felt it at all, this act will be demonstrative of the humility of his prayer. 19. If someone worships Allah the Almighty to the extent of the Heaven and the Earth, Allah the Almighty will not approve of his worship until the

11. Allah the Almighty writes recompense as many times as Muslim men and women for he who seeks forgiveness of the true Muslim, men and women.

worshipper has complete belief in Him. 20. O Allah, You created me when I was not worthy of mention; and You provided for me when I had

12. He who has no wealth to give away in Sadaqah

nothing; and I wronged my soul and sinned and

(charity) should seek forgiveness of true Muslim,

confess my guilt. If You forgive me, that will in no

men and women. This is his Sadaqah.

way augment Your authority. You can find others

13. Hadhrat Abu Darda Radhiyallahu 'Anhu reports

having

Muhammad

heard

Rasulullah

the

Holy

Prophet

Sallallahu

'Alaihi

to punish besides me, but I can find no one to forgive me but You. Truly, You are the Most Merciful of those who show mercy.

Wasallam as saying, "He who prays twenty five or

21. The best and blessed way of belief in Allah the

twenty seven times daily for forgiveness of true

Almighty: Leave alone and do not worry about that

Muslim men and women will be counted amongst

which has already been set aside for you and whilst

the people whose prayers are met with and who

praying turn your mind off the world just as he

are the means of livelihood of people on earth.

does so at the time of his death. This state is

14. Hidden invocation is better than visiting and meeting because Riya (show off) might enter in the latter two.

enjoyed only when the human being regards death nearer to him than his jugular vein. If this is the state, then the man would be the one who believed in Allah the Almighty completely. Then his prayers

would be accepted and become one who would

Hadhrat Sayyidina 'Isa (Jesus) 'Alaihissalam and

have the honor of nearness to Allah the Almighty.

Hadhrat Shah Bahauddin Naqshband Rahmatullah

THE UWAISIS IN THE NAQSHBANDIYAH SUFI PATH

'Alaih. Hadhrat Imam Rabbani Mujaddid Alf Tsani Syeikh Ahmad

Faruqi

Sirhindi

Rahmatullah

'Alaih

The Masters of the Naqshbandiyah Sufi Order are

received the spiritual power through the spiritual

Uwaisis because they received the Faidhz i.e. the

connection

overflowing of the spiritual blessings and the

Naqshband

spiritual presence of Masters before them. Hadhrat

Karramallahu

Khwajah Abu Yazid Bistami Rahmatullah 'Alaih

Sharafuddin Ad-Daghistani Rahmatullah 'Alaih

received the spiritual blessings from Hadhrat Imam

was raised through the spiritual guidance of

Ja'afar Sadiq Radhiyallahu 'Anhu through the

Hadhrat

Uwaisi System by meditating the spiritual presence

Radhiyallahu 'Anhu and the Holy Prophet Hadhrat

of Hadhrat Imam Ja'afar Sadiq Radhiyallahu 'Anhu

Sayyidina

at his shrine. Similarly, Hadhrat Khwajah Abul

'Alaihi Wasallam.

Hassan Al-Kharqani Rahmatullah 'Alaih took spiritual guidance from the spiritual presence of Hadhrat Khwajah Abu Yazid Bistami Rahmatullah 'Alaih.

with

Hadhrat

and

Hadhrat

Wajhahu.

Sayyidina

Bahauddin

Sayyidina Hadhrat

Abu

Muhammad

Shah

Bakar

Rasulullah

'Ali Syeikh

As-Siddiq Sallallahu

Hadhrat Syeikh 'Abdullah Ad-Daghistani was guided spiritually by Hadhrat Sayyidina Uwais AlQarani Radhiyallahu 'Anhu, Hadhrat Sayyidina 'Abdul Khaliq Ghujduwani Rahmatullah 'Alaih,

Hadhrat Khwajah 'Abdul Khaliq Ghujduwani

Hadhrat Shah Bahauddin Naqshband Rahmatullah

Rahmatullah 'Alaih spirituality was raised up by

'Alaih and Hadhrat Sayyidina 'Ali Karramallahu

the spiritual presence of Hadhrat Sayyidina Nabi

Wajhahu.

Khidhr 'Alaihissalam, Hadhrat Sayyidina Uwais Al-Qarani Radhiyallahu 'Anhu, Hadhrat Sayyidina Abu Bakar As-Siddiq Radhiyallahu 'Anhu and Hadhrat Sayyidina 'Ali Karramallahu Wajhahu. Hadhrat Shah Bahauddin Naqshband Bukhari Rahmatullah 'Alaih , the founder of Naqshbandiah path,

was raised by the spiritual presence and

Hadhrat Syeikh Nazim received the spiritual guidance from Hadhrat Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi Rahmatullah 'Alaih and Hadhrat Syeikh 'Abdul Qadir Al-Jailani Rahmatullah 'Alaih of Chistiyah order. THE UWAISIYAH SUFI METHOD

guidance from Hadhrat Khawajah 'Abdul Khaliq

Uwaisiyah is a form of spiritual connection and

Ghujduwani Rahmatullah 'Alaih, Hadhrat Uwais

transmission with any of the Prophets or Saints in

Al-Qarani Radhiyallahu 'Anhu, Hadhrat Sayyidina

past or present. The spirits meet in the world called

Abu Bakar As-Siddiq Radhiyallahu 'Anhu, Hadhrat

'Alam Al-Arwah (The World of Spirits) which is

Sayyidina 'Ali Karramallahu Wajhahu and from the

beyond 'Alam Al-Ajsam (The Material World).

Holy Prophet Hadhrat Muhammad Rasulullah

Whoever gains the spiritual connection and

Sallallahu 'Alaihi Wasallam.

spiritual knowledge from the deceased Master, is

Hadhrat Khwajah Ubaidullah Ahrar Rahmatullah 'Alaih was raised by the spiritual guidance of

called Uwaisi. The spiritual connection with the Friends of Allah is as powerful and effective as the

physical

spiritual

establish the spiritual connection. Then one should

system focuses on having a spiritual connections

sit still in Maraqba (contemplation) and focus on

with the Holy Prophet Muhammad Rasulullah

that particular spiritual personality with sincere

Sallallahu 'Alaihi Wasallam or other prophets and

love and affection. One should give his full

great saints who had passed this worldly life, or the

concentration focusing on the abstract image of that

true saints who are still alive but residing very far

particular spirit of the saint or prophet and imagine

and difficult to reach without meeting them

that there is a flow of light coming from the upper

physically. The Uwaisi Sufi has no living Syeikh to

side to that particular spirit, and then imagine that

guide his journey but he is guided by Allah Ta'ala

the light overflow from the heart of that particular

or

Khidhr

spirit to one's heart and keep that vision in mind

'Alaihissalam. This kind of spiritual connection has

until one feels drowning in that condition. With the

no limitations in time and space and it is well

grace

known as Nisbat Uwaisiyah.

connection will be established and he will gain the

His

connection.

Prophet-Saint

The

Uwaisiyah

Hadhrat

Nabi

Reminiscents of Maulwi Jalaluddin Ahmad ar Rowi

of

Allah

the

Almighty,

the

spiritual

spiritual benefits from that particular spirit such as spiritual

guidance,

knowledge,

power

and

blessings.

Once, this humble and poor slave of Allah was at

When I heard about this, I think that it would be a

the Khanqah Sirajiah, Kundiyan Sharif, Mianwali,

great opportunity for me to try it and build the

Pakistan attending the Suhbah with my Syeikh,

spiritual connection with all the Masters in the

Hadhrat Khwajah Khwajahgan Pir Piran Maulana

Naqshbandiyah Mujaddidiyah Silsilah. But first

Khan Muhammad Sahib Mudda Zilluhul 'Ali in

of all, I think maybe it will be good if I have the

the month of Ramadhan in the year 1999. During

spiritual connection with Hadhrat Imam At-

that time, the elder diciples of Hadhrat Syeikh were

Tariqat

reading the Malfuzat (Sayings) of Hadhrat Qutub

Rahmatullah 'Alaih because I love his Naqshband

Rabbani Shah 'Abdullah Ghulam 'Ali Dehlawi

Tariqat (Sufi Path).

Rahmatullah 'Alaih and he mentioned that to establish the connection with any of the Masters in the spiritual path in Uwaisi method, one must take ablution perfectly and offer two Raka'ah Nafil or Hajat prayer. After completing the prayer by uttering Salam, one should pray to Allah, may He bless the intention to build the spiritual connection with His saints. After praying, one should recite

Shah

Bahauddin

Naqshband

So, at that night, I did as what I have heard from the Malfuzat of Hadhrat Qutub Rabbani Shah 'Abdullah Ghulam 'Ali Dehlawi Rahmatullah 'Alaih. After I finished all the procedures, I put myself in Maraqba the whole night concentrating upon

the

blessed

spirit

of

Hadhrat

Shah

Bahauddin. [SUBHAN ALLAH!]

Istighfar twenty five times, Surah Al-Fatihah with

When I slept, a vision came to me in my dream that

Bismillah once and Surah Al-Ikhlas thrice and send

I saw the spirit of Hadhrat Shah Bahauddin

the rewards through one's intention to the Holy

Naqshband is focusing his Faidhz flowing upon me

Prophet Muhammad Rasulullah Sallallahu 'Alaihi

until I felt that all the cells and nucleus in my body

Wasallam and also send it's reward especially to

is uttering the word Allah! Allah! Non stop! In that

the particular prophet or saint whom he want to

dream, I feel the whole part of my body is shivering

while uttering Allah! Allah! It could not stop and

May Allah forgive this humble and poor slave if

then I cried out loudly in that dream, "O my

what has been written here is not appropriate for

Sheikh, what had happen to me? Why the whole

the public? My hope is that by understanding the

part of my body couldn't stop uttering Allah

life and sayings of Hadhrat Uwais Al-Qarani

Allah?" Suddenly the vision stops and when I woke

Radhiyallahu 'Anhu will encourage us to love him

up in the morning, I can still feel the vibration in

and love the path he invented and thus, to develop

my heart, veins, muscles and cells are still sounding

the Uwaisiyah spiritual system in our daily life so

the word Allah Allah. At that time I was doing the

that our spirit will always be guided by the true

regular Zikir on Latifah Nafs. After I finished my

Spiritual Masters. May Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala

regular Zikir I went to meet my Syieikh Hadhrat

forgive all my sins and all the sins of all Muslim

Maulana Khan Muhammad Sahib and tell him

men and women till the day of Qiyamah.

everything what had happen to me from the beginning.

Quwwata Illa Billah.

Then he said,

I, Taoshobuddha Naqshbandiyah Mujadadiah wa Mazaharia confirm all that our brother Hadhrat

"Ma Sya Allah, May Allah Ta'ala bless you." Then he taught me how to do the Zikir in the Latifah Qalibiyah i.e. in the subtlelities of the four elements: Air, Fire, Water and Soil. It is also known as

Sultan

Az-Zikir.

From

that

time,

my

understanding about the Uwaisi system had brought me to love and gain Faidhz from all the Past Masters of this highest Sufi Order and all the Masters from other Sufi Order as well, especially the greatest spirit of the Holy Prophet Muhammad Rasulullah

Wallahu A'lam Bissawab Wa La Haula Wa La

Sallallahu

'Alaihi

Wasallam

even

though I am residing far in the East. Allah Taa’la’s qudrath is not confined to any place or time. This is

Faqir

Maulawi

Jalalluddin

Ahmad

Ar-Rowi

Naqshbandi Mujaddidi Uwaisi has written about the teachings, path and the Sheikh. It was at my request he had agreed to write this for the wider seekers along the path. He is the international contributor

in

the

monthly

e

magazine

‘MEDITATION TIMES’. This union has the blessing of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, Holy Prophet Muhammad Rasulullah Sallallahu 'Alaihi Wasallam and the sheikhs of the past and those who are yet to come. ALHAM DIL ALLAH WA RABBOOL ALMIM!

nisbete gaib. Indeed, the Faidhz of spiritual light is from Allah Ta'ala that He bestows it to the Holy Prophet Muhammad

Rasulullah

Sallallahu

'Alaihi

Wasallam and then to the Sahabah, and then to those who follows them till the Last Day. Anyone can try to establish this kind of connection if they intended to have the spiritual relationship with any prophet or saint spiritually. Give your love and attention to the saints and for sure they will love you and pay their attentions towards you.

Mysticism is the experience that life is not logic. That life is poetry! That life is not syllogism! That life is a song. Mysticism is the declaration that life can never really be known! It essentially remains unknowable. One can only live it. And also be it. Taoshobuddha Leaves from a Sufi Heart volume I I

COOKING TAOSHOBUDDHA WAY

MA PREM SUTRA

RECIPE OF THE MONTH

VEGETABLE SAMOSA

INGREDIENTS: FOR SHELL: All purpose flour (Maida) 1 cup Water to knead dough Oil 4tbsp Salt to taste Ajwain (optional) 1/4th tsp. Baking Soda (optional) one pinch FOR STUFFING: Potatoes (boiled, peeled & diced) 4-5 medium Green Peas 1/2 cup Green Chilies (finely chopped) 1-2

Ginger (crushed or finely chopped) 1/2tsp Cumin seed whole 1tbs Coriander finely chopped1tbsp Few chopped Cashews (optional) Few Raisins (optional) crushed coriander seeds 2 Tbs Salt to taste Red chili powder to taste Dry Mango powder( Amchur or anardana) (optional)* 1/2 tsp. Cottage cheese 2Tbs

Note: You can use chaat masala, or tamarind pulp (the only problem is that tamarind pulp will turn the mix dark) METHODOLOGY: SHELL: 1. 2. 3. 4.

Mix all the ingredients (salt, oil, Ajwain, baking soda) well except water. Add a little water at a time. Pat and knead well for several times into soft pliable dough. Cover it with moist Muslin cloth and keep aside for 15 minutes to allow it to settle.

FOR FILLING: 1. Heat oil in frying pot. Add cumin seed and crackle these. Add chopped ginger, and chillies. Sauté for a few mins. 2. Now add diced potatoes. Mix well and cook for a few mins. 3. Add all dry masalas (salt, chili powder, mango powder, and mix well. 4. Add green peas, cashews and raisins and mix well. 5. Add coriander and keep aside.

METHODLOLGY 1. 2. 3. 4.

5. 6. 7. 8.

Divide the dough into 16 equal portions Roll one portion at a time into a 5"-6" diameter circle. Divide it into two parts by cutting diagonally into two semi-circle. Now take one semi circle and fold it like acone using water to the straight edge. And then fold to form a cone. This requires a little experience. It is very easy to learn or. Place a spoon of filling in the cone and seal the third side using a drop of water. Heat oil in a Kadhai a shallow wok like pot and deep fry till golden brown (fry on a medium flame). Serve Samosa hot with chutney of your choice Green coriander, mint or mixed chutney, tamarind chutney.

JIDDU KRISHNAMURTHY THE MAKING OF A WORLD TEACHER (May 12, 1895–February 17, 1986)

J

iddu Krishnamurthy is an Enlightened Master. A contemporary of our time! Brought up in western ways and mannerism and attire even after enlightenment Jiddu remained a suave well dressed, elegant gentleman. Alike contemporary enlightened ones Jiddu did not adopt the attire of an ascetic. Yet still his inner being was soaked with the fragrance of the dissolution with the whole. With pleasant expression, and a beaming glow on

Jiddu is recognized as a well known writer who spoke on philosophical and spiritual matters. He spoke on psychological revolution, the nature of the mind, meditation, human relationships, and how to enact positive change in society. Jiddu stressed the need for a revolution in the psyche of every human being and emphasized that such a revolution cannot be brought about by any external effort be it religious, political or social. As early as 1889 Helena Blavatsky, founder of the Theosophical Society, had told certain of her students that the purpose of Theosophy was to prepare humanity for the coming of the Lord Maitreya (an incarnation of Buddha), the World Teacher for the Aquarian Age. After Blavatsky's death, Annie Besant and C.W. Leadbeater considered it their task to carry on this work, part of which was the preparation of a disciple who would serve as a vehicle for the Teacher when He appeared. Jiddu Krishnamurthy came from a family of Telugu-speaking Brahmins. His father, Narianiah Jiddu, was employed as an official of the then colonial British administration. Krishnamurti was very fond of his mother, Sanjeevamma, who died when he was ten. His parents were second cousins, having a total of eleven children, only six of whom survived childhood. They were strict vegetarians, and were known to throw away any food that the ‘shadow of an Englishman had crossed’.

face Jiddu explained the most intricate questions that life posed with dexterity and deep insight of a master. Anyone who just happen to catch a mere glimpse of Jiddu cannot just pause to listen. With Jiddu ushered a new era in inner journey.

Jiddu was born on May 12, 1895 in the small town of Madanapalle in Chittoor District in Andhra Pradesh about a hundred and fifty miles north of Madras. As the eighth child, who happened to be a boy, he was, in accordance with common Hindu practice, named after Sri Krishna.

In 1903, the family settled in Cudappah, where Krishnamurthy during a previous stay had contracted malaria, a disease with which he would suffer recurrent bouts over many years. He was a sensitive and sickly child; ‘vague and dreamy’ he was often taken to be mentally retarded, and was beaten regularly at school by his teachers and at home by his father. Several decades later, Krishnamurti reminisced about his state of mind during childhood: ‘No thought entered his mind. He was watching and listening and nothing else. Thought with its associations never arose. There was no image-making. He often attempted to think but no thought would come.’ Writing about his childhood and early adolescence in memoirs he composed when he was eighteen years old, Krishnamurthy described psychic experiences, such as ‘seeing’ his sister, who had died in 1904, and also his mother, who had passed away in 1905. Another aspect of his childhood was his bond with nature that continued throughout his life: ‘...He always had this strange lack of distance between himself and the trees, rivers and mountains. It wasn't cultivated.’ Krishnamurthy’s father Narianiah retired at the end of 1907, and, being of limited means, wrote to Annie Besant, then president of the Theosophical Society, seeking employment at the Theosophical headquarters estate at Adyar. Even though an observant orthodox Brahmin, Narianiah had been a member of the Theosophical Society since 1882. He was eventually hired by the Society as a clerk, and he moved his family there in January, 1909. Narianiah and his sons were at first assigned to live in a small cottage that lacked adequate sanitation and which was located just outside the Theosophical compound. As a result of poor living conditions, Krishnamurthy and his brothers were soon undernourished and infested with lice. Leadbeater was aware of Buddha’s coming back after 2500 years as Maitreya to set the wheel of Dhamma in motion again. He needed to prepare someone for this event. Both were the leaders of

the Society at the time. Both Leadbeater and Annie Besant needed to groom someone to be a ‘vehicle’ for an expected World Teacher and incarnation of Buddha to set the wheel once again in motion. It was in April of 1909 that J. Krishnamurthy was discovered on a private beach in Adyar near Adyar River by Leadbeater. During his forays to the Theosophical estate's beach at the nearby Adyar River, Leadbeater had noticed Krishnamurthy (who also frequented the beach with others). Leadbeater was amazed by the ‘unique aura he had ever seen, without a particle of selfishness in it’. This strong impression was notwithstanding Krishnamurthy's outward appearance, which, according to eyewitnesses, was pretty common, unimpressive, and unkempt. The boy was also considered ‘particularly dull-witted’. He often had ‘a vacant expression’ that ‘gave him an almost moronic look’. Leadbeater remained ‘unshaken’ that the boy would become ‘a great teacher.’ The pure aura of the boy attracted the attention of Leadbeater and he thought that this boy would be the new world-teacher. An organization was created to celebrate the followers of this new leader. Leadbeater choose Jiddu, his brother Nityanand and a German boy. The three were subsequently raised under the guidance and protection of Annie Besant and C.W. Leadbeater. Pupul Jayakar, in her biography of Krishnamurti quotes him speaking of that period in his life some 75 years later: ‘The boy had always said, 'I will do whatever you want'. There was an element of subservience, obedience. The boy was vague, uncertain, and woolly; he did not seem to care what was happening. He was like a vessel, with a large hole in it, whatever was put in, went through, nothing remained.’ Following his ‘discovery’, Krishnamurthy was taken under the wing of the leadership of the Theosophical Society in Adyar and their inner circle. Leadbeater and a small number of trusted associates undertook the task of educating,

protecting, and generally preparing Krishnamurthy as the ‘vehicle’ of the expected World Teacher. Krishnamurthy (or Krishnaji as he was often called lovingly) and his younger brother Nitya were privately tutored at the Theosophical compound in Madras. The family later came to know of the plan. During all this time, Krishnamurthy had developed a strong bond with Annie Besant, and came to view her as his surrogate mother. Apart from his early close relationship with his mother, this was the first of several important and intimate relationships that Krishnamurthy established with women during his lifetime. His father, pushed into the background by the swirl of interest around Krishnamurthy, sued the Theosophical Society in 1912 to protect his parental interests. After a protracted legal battle Besant took custody of Krishnamurthy and his brother Nitya. As a result of this separation from his family and home, Krishnamurthy and his brother became extremely close, and in the following years they often traveled together. And they began to claim. This was disturbing the plans of Annie Besant. So she carried both Jiddu and Nitya away from Adyar to England. There he was exposed to a comparatively opulent life among a segment of European high society. And they continued their education abroad. In spite of his history of problems with school work and concerns about his capacities and physical condition, the fourteen year old Krishnamurti was within six months able to speak and write competently in English. The Theosophical Leadership in 1911 established a new organization called the Order of the Star in the East, in order to prepare the world for the aforementioned ‘coming’. Krishnamurthy was named as its head, with senior Theosophists in various positions. Membership was open to anybody who accepted the doctrine of the coming of the World Teacher. Controversy erupted soon

after, within the Theosophical Society and without, in Hindu circles and the Indian press. Mary Lutyens, in her biography of Krishnamurthy, states that there was a time when he fully believed that he was to become the World Teacher after correct spiritual and secular guidance and education. Another biographer describes the daily program imposed on him by Leadbeater and his associates, which among other things included rigorous exercise and sports, tutoring in a variety of school subjects, theosophical and religious lessons, yoga and meditation, as well as instruction in proper hygiene and the ways of British society and culture. Unlike sports, where he showed natural aptitude, Krishnamurthy always had problems with formal schooling and was not academically inclined. He eventually gave up university education after several attempts at admission. He did take to foreign languages, eventually speaking several (French and Italian among them) with some fluency. In this period, he apparently enjoyed reading parts of the Old Testament, and was impressed by some of the Western classics, especially Shelley, Dostoyevsky and Nietzsche. He also had, since childhood, considerable observational and mechanical skills, being able to correctly disassemble and reassemble complicated machinery. His public image, as originally cultivated by the theosophists, ‘...was to be characterized by a wellpolished exterior, a sobriety of purpose, a cosmopolitan outlook and an otherworldly, almost beatific detachment in his demeanor.’ And in fact, ‘...All of these can be said to have characterized Krishnamurthy's public image to the end of his life.’ It was apparently clear early on that he ‘...possessed an innate personal magnetism, not of a warm physical variety, but nonetheless emotive in its austerity, and inclined to inspire veneration.’ However, as Krishnamurthy was growing up, he showed signs of adolescent rebellion and emotional instability, chafing at the regimen

imposed on him, and occasionally having doubts about the future prescribed him. From the time Krishnamurthy and Nitya were taken to England for the first time in April 1911 and the start of World War I in 1914, they also visited several other European countries, always accompanied by theosophist chaperones. After the war, Krishnamurthy (again accompanied by his brother) embarked on a series of lectures, meetings, and discussions around the world relating to his duties as the head of the Order Of the Star. In 1922, Krishnamurthy and Nitya travelled from Sydney to California on their way to Switzerland. While in California they lodged at a cottage in then relatively secluded Ojai Valley, offered to them for the occasion by an American member of the Order. At Ojai, the brothers also met Rosalind Williams, the sister of a local Theosophist, who eventually became close to them both. For the first time the brothers were without immediate supervision from their Theosophical Society minders. They spent their time in nature hikes and picnics with friends, spiritual contemplation, and planning their course within the ‘World Teacher Project’. Krishnamurthy and Nitya found the Ojai Valley to be very agreeable, and eventually a trust, formed by supporters, purchased for them the cottage and surrounding property, which henceforth became Krishnamurthy's official place of residence. It was in Ojai, in August 1922, that Krishnamurthy went through an intense, ‘life-changing’ experience. It has been simultaneously, and invariably, characterized as a spiritual awakening, a psychological transformation, and a physical conditioning. Krishnamurthy and those around him would refer to it as ‘the processes’, and it continued, at very frequent intervals and varying forms of intensity, until his death. According to witnesses, it started on the 17th, with Krishnamurthy complaining of extraordinary pain at the nape of his neck, and a hard, ball-like swelling. Over the next couple of days, the

symptoms worsened, with increasing pain, extreme physical discomfort and sensitivity. Also there was total loss of appetite and occasional delirious ramblings. Then, he seemed to lapse into unconsciousness. Actually, he recounted that he was very much aware of his surroundings and while in that state. He had an experience of mystical union. The following day the symptoms, and the experience, intensified climaxing with a sense of ‘immense peace’. ‘..I was supremely happy, for I had seen. Nothing could ever be the same. I have drunk at the clear and pure waters and my thirst was appeased. ...I have seen the Light. I have touched compassion which heals all sorrow and suffering; it is not for myself, but for the world. ...Love in all its glory has intoxicated my heart; my heart can never be closed. I have drunk at the fountain of Joy and eternal Beauty. I am God-intoxicated.’ Similar incidents continued with short intermissions until October, and later eventually resumed regularly, always involving varying degrees of physical pain to mark the start of ‘the process’, accompanied by what is variably described as ‘presence’, ‘benediction’, ‘immensity’, and ‘sacredness’, which was reportedly often felt by others present. Several explanations have been proposed for the events of 1922 and ‘the processes’ in general. Leadbeater and other theosophists, although they expected the ‘vehicle’ to have certain paranormal experiences, were mystified by the developments, and were at a loss to explain the whole thing. Krishnamurthy himself told Pupul Jayakar about the process many decades later in 1979: ‘It was possible that the pain and what took place was necessary as the brain was not ready. Traces of immaturity remained; the brain cells were not large enough to receive the Energy. When the Energy comes pouring in and the brain is not capable of holding it, then that Energy feels it has to polish it up. It may be its own activity.’ The

‘process’, and the inability of Leadbeater to explain it satisfactorily, if at all, had other consequences according to biographer R. Vernon: ‘The process at Ojai, whatever its cause or validity, was a cataclysmic milestone for Krishna. Up until this time his spiritual progress, chequered though it might have been, had been planned with solemn deliberation by Theosophy's grandees. ...Something new had now occurred for which Krishna's training had not entirely prepared him. ...A burden was lifted from his conscience and he took his first step towards becoming an individual. ...In terms of his future role as a teacher, the process was his bedrock. ...It had come to him alone and had not been planted in him by his mentors...It provided Krishna with the soil in which his newfound spirit of confidence and independence could take root.’ Finally, the unexpected death of his brother Nitya on November 11, 1925 at age 27 from tuberculosis after a long history with the disease, fundamentally shook Krishnamurthy's belief in Theosophy and his faith in the leaders of the Theosophical Society. According to eyewitness accounts, the news ‘...broke him down completely’. He struggled for days to overcome his sorrow, eventually ‘...going through an inner revolution, finding new strength’. The experience of his brother's death apparently shattered any remaining illusions, and things would never be the same again: "’..An old dream is dead and a new one is being born, as a flower that pushes through the solid earth. A new vision is coming into being and a greater consciousness is being unfolded. ...A new strength, born of suffering, is pulsating in the veins and a new sympathy and understanding is being born of past suffering - a greater desire to see others suffer less, and, if they must suffer, to see that they bear it nobly and come out of it without too many scars. I have wept, but I do not want

others to weep; but if they do, I know what it means. In the next few years Krishnamurthy's new vision and consciousness continued to develop and reached a climax in 1929, when he rebuffed attempts by Leadbeater and Besant to continue with the Order of the Star. Krishnamurthy dissolved the Order at the annual Star Camp at Ommen, the Netherlands, on August 3rd, 1929 where, in front of Annie Besant and several thousand members, he gave a speech saying among other things: ‘You may remember the story of how the devil and a friend of his were walking down the street, when they saw ahead of them a man stoop down and pick up something from the ground, look at it, and put it away in his pocket. The friend said to the devil, ‘what did that man pick up?’ ‘He picked up a piece of the truth,’ said the devil. ‘That is a very bad business for you, then,’ said his friend. ‘Oh, not at all,’ the devil replied, ‘I am going to help him organize it.’ I maintain that truth is a pathless land, and you cannot approach it by any path whatsoever, by any religion, by any sect. That is my point of view, and I adhere to that absolutely and unconditionally. Truth, being limitless, unconditioned, unapproachable by any path whatsoever, cannot be organized; nor should any organization be formed to lead or coerce people along a particular path.’ And also: ‘This is no magnificent deed, because I do not want followers, and I mean this. The moment you follow someone you cease to follow Truth. I am not concerned whether you pay attention to what I say or not. I want to do a certain thing in the world and I am going to do it with unwavering concentration. I am concerning myself with only one essential thing: to set man free. I desire to free him from all cages, from all

fears, and not to found religions, new sects, nor to establish new theories and new philosophies.’ Following the dissolution, some Theosophists turned against Krishnamurthy and publicly wondered whether ‘...the Coming had gone wrong’. Mary Lutyens states that ‘...After all the years of proclaiming the Coming, of stressing over and over again the danger of rejecting the World Teacher when he came because he was bound to say something wholly new and unexpected, something contrary to most people’s preconceived ideas and hopes, the leaders of Theosophy, one after the other, fell into the trap against which they had so unremittingly warned others.’ Jiddu had denounced all organized belief, the notion of gurus, and the whole teacher-follower relationship, vowing instead to work in setting man absolutely, totally free. Mary Lutyens notes that he never actually denied being the World Teacher; when asked, he insisted that the question was irrelevant. In correspondence with Lady Emily Lutyens, who was distressed over the ending of the Order and its World Teacher Project, he remarked: ‘You know mum I have never denied it [being the World Teacher], I have only said it does not matter who or what I am but that they should examine what I say, which does not mean that I have denied being the W.T." When a reporter asked him if he was the Christ, he answered "Yes, in the pure sense but not in the traditional accepted sense of the word." From that time, he began to disassociate himself from the Theosophical Society and its teachings and practices, despite being on cordial terms with some of its members and ex-members throughout his life. Krishnamurti would only refer to his teachings as ‘the’ teachings and not as ‘myhu teachings. His concern was always about "the" teachings: the teacher had no importance, and spiritual authority was denounced.

‘All authority of any kind, especially in the field of thought and understanding, is the most destructive, evil thing. Leaders destroy the followers and followers destroy the leaders. You have to be your own teacher and your own disciple. You have to question everything that man has accepted as valuable, as necessary.’ Krishnamurthy returned all monies and properties donated to the Order of the Star - including a castle in Holland and around 5,000 acres (20 km2) of land - to their donors. He subsequently spent the rest of his life holding dialogues and giving public talks across the world on the nature of belief, truth, sorrow, freedom, death, the apparently eternal quest for a spiritually-fulfilled life, and related subjects. Following on from the ‘pathless land’ notion, he accepted neither followers nor worshippers, seeing the relationship between disciple and guru as encouraging the antithesis of spiritual emancipation - dependency and exploitation. He constantly urged people to think independently and clearly, and invited them to explore and discuss specific topics together with him, to ‘walk as two friends’. He accepted gifts and financial support freely offered to him by people inspired by his work, and continued with lecture tours and the publication of books and talk transcripts for more than half a century. There is much more to say. And in fact if I continue the purpose of this issue will not serve. We are to follow the framework of this issue as instructions from the Chief Editor so that there is no deviation from the actual theme. However I certainly assure you I will come back with more on Jiddu Krishnamurthy. ONLY THIS MUCH FOR NOW!!! LOVE NOW AND HERE - TAOSHOBUDDHA

TEACHINGS OF JIDDU KRISNAMURTHY

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iddu frequently spoke on various topics throughout his life after enlightenment. The most important of his talks centered on the following subjects.

KNOWLEDGE Krishnamurti constantly emphasized the right place of thought in daily life. But he also pointed out the dangers of thought and thought process when it becomes knowledge that acts as a calcified projection of the dead past. According to Krishnamurti, such action distorts our perception and full understanding of the world we live in, and more specifically, the relationships that define it. Because of this one cannot live HERENOW. Some excerpts: ‘How is the mind which functions on knowledge? And how is the brain which is recording all the time? To see the importance of recording and not let it moves in any other direction? Very simply: you insult me, you hurt me, by word, gesture, by an actual act; that leaves a mark on the brain which is memory. That memory is knowledge that knowledge is going to interfere in my meeting you next time – obviously. ... Knowledge is necessary to act in the sense of my going home from here to the place I live; I must have knowledge for this; I must have knowledge to speak English; I must have knowledge to write a letter and so on. Knowledge as function, mechanical function, is necessary. Now if I use that knowledge in my relationship with you, another human

being, I am bringing about a barrier, a division between you and me, namely the observer. That is, knowledge, in relationship, in human relationship, is destructive. That is knowledge which is the tradition, the memory, the image, which the mind has built about you that knowledge is separative and therefore creates conflict in our relationship.’ ‘The brain has been trained to record for in that recording there is safety, security, a sense of vitality; in that recording the mind creates the image about oneself. And that image will constantly get hurt. Is it possible to live without a single image about yourself, or about your husband, wife, children, or about the politicians, the priests, or about the ideal? It is possible, and if it is not found you will always be getting hurt, always living in a pattern in which there is no freedom. When you give complete attention there is no recording. It is only when there is inattention that you record. That is: you flatter me; I like it; the liking at that moment is inattention therefore recording takes place. But if when you flatter me I listen to it completely without any reaction, then there is no center which records.’ ‘The brain is the source of thought. The brain is matter and thought is matter. Can the brain – with all its reactions and its immediate responses to every challenge and demand – can the brain be very still? It is not a question of ending thought, but of whether the brain can be completely still. This stillness is not

physical death. See what happens when the brain is completely still.’

of escaping fear and yet at the same time sustains fear.’

Fear and Pleasure

MEDITATION

Fear and pleasure were lifelong themes in his public talks. The following is an excerpt from his talk in San Diego in 1970.

Krishnamurti used the term ‘meditation to mean something entirely different from the practice of any system or method to control the mind, or to consciously achieve a specific goal or state. He dealt with the subject of meditation in numerous public talks and discussions.

‘Fear is always in relation to something; it does not exist by itself. There is fear of what happened yesterday in relation to the possibility of its repetition tomorrow; there is always a fixed point from which relationship takes place. How does fear come into this? I had pain yesterday; there is the memory of it and I do not want it again tomorrow. Thinking about the pain of yesterday, thinking which involves the memory of yesterday’s pain, projects the fear of having pain again tomorrow. So it is thought that brings about fear. Thought breeds fear; thought also cultivates pleasure. To understand fear you must also understand pleasure – they are interrelated; without understanding one you cannot understand the other. This means that one cannot say ‘I must only have pleasure and no fear’; fear is the other side of the coin which is called pleasure. Thinking with the images of yesterday’s pleasure, thought imagines that you may not have that pleasure tomorrow; so thought engenders fear! Thought tries to sustain pleasure and thereby nourishes fear. Thought has separated itself as the analyzer and the thing to be analyzed; they are both parts of thought playing tricks upon it. In doing all this it is refusing to examine the unconscious fears; it brings in time as a means

‘A mind that is in meditation is concerned only with meditation, not with the meditator. The meditator is the observer, the sensor, the thinker, the experiencer, and when there is the experiencer, the thinker, then he is concerned with reaching out, gaining, achieving, experiencing. And that thing which is timeless cannot be experienced. There is no experience at all. There is only that which is not nameable.’ ‘You know, in all this there are various powers like clairvoyance, reading somebody’s thought – which is the most disgusting thing to do: it is like reading letters that are private. There are various powers. You know what I am talking about, don’t you? You call them siddhis, don’t you? Do you know that all these things are like candles in the sun? When there is no sun there is darkness, and then the candle and the light of the candle become very important. But when there is the sun, the light, the beauty, the clarity, then all these powers, these siddhis – developing various centers, chakras, kundalini, you know all that business – are like candlelight; they have no

value at all. And when you have that light, you don’t want anything else.’ ‘Meditation is one of the greatest arts in lifeperhaps the greatest, and one cannot possibly learn it from anybody, that is the beauty of it. It has no technique and therefore no authority. When you learn about yourself, watch yourself, watch the way you walk, how you eat, what you say, the gossip, the hate, the jealousy-if you are aware of all that in yourself, without any choice, that is part of meditation.’ ‘Man, in order to escape his conflicts, has invented many forms of meditation. These have been based on desire, will, and the urge for achievement, and imply conflict and a struggle to arrive. This conscious, deliberate striving is always within the limits of a conditioned mind, and in this there is no freedom. All effort to meditate is the denial of meditation. Meditation is the ending of thought. It is only then that there is a different dimension which is beyond time.’ ‘Meditation is the emptying of the mind of all thought, for thought and feeling dissipate energy. They are repetitive, producing mechanical activities which are a necessary part of existence. But they are only part and thought and feeling cannot possibly enter into the immensity of life. Quite a different approach is necessary, not the path of habit, association and the known; there must be freedom from these. Meditation is the emptying of the mind of the known. It cannot be done by thought or by the hidden prompting of thought, nor by desire in the form of prayer, nor through the self-effacing

hypnotism of words, images, hopes, and vanities. All these have to come to an end, easily, without effort and choice, in the flame of awareness.’

EDUCATION Krishnamurti founded several schools around the world. When asked, he enumerated the following as his educational aims: 1. Global outlook: A vision of the whole as distinct from the part; there should never be a sectarian outlook, but always a holistic outlook free from all prejudice. 2. Concern for man and the environment: Humanity is part of nature, and if nature is not cared for, it will boomerang on man. Only the right education, and deep affection between people everywhere, will resolve many problems including the environmental challenges. 3. Religious spirit, which includes the scientific temper: The religious mind is alone, not lonely. It is in communion with people and nature.

THE WORLD CRISIS According to Krishnamurti, many problems in the world such as poverty, war, the nuclear threat, and other unfortunate circumstances, have their roots in our thinking. In his view, as we live and behave according to our thinking so wars and governments are also a result of our thinking! We each have our own particular beliefs, conclusions, and experiences, to which we cling, thereby isolating ourselves from others. Self centered

activity is expressed outwardly as nationalism and religious intolerance, creating a world divided, in which we are willing to kill for the sake of belief. Understanding our relationship with the world crisis is necessary to understand ourselves.[108] Some excerpts: ‘If you are not at all concerned with the world but only with your personal salvation, following certain beliefs and superstitions, following gurus, then I am afraid it will be impossible for you and the speaker to communicate with each other. We are not concerned at all with private personal salvation but we are concerned, earnestly, seriously, with what the human mind has become, what humanity is facing. We are concerned at looking at this world and what a

human being living in this world has to do, what is his role?’ “The present crisis is different because we are dealing not with money, not with tangible things but with ideas. The crisis is in the field of thought, of ideas, of intellect. Before, evil was recognized as evil, murder was recognized as murder, but now murder is a means to achieve a noble result. You justify the wrong means through the intellect. When intellect has the upper hand in human life, it brings an unprecedented crisis. The other cause of this unprecedented crisis is the extraordinary importance man is giving to sensate values - to property, to name, to caste, to country.’

KRISHNAMURTHY THE PULSE OF MAN’S INNER QUEST

INFLUENCE ON SPIRITUAL HORIZON

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rishnamurthy’s influence is so immense that it cannot be measured objectively. His lasting influence is hard to gauge in an objective way. There is no organizational or other entity based on his philosophy, whose progress can be measured. His insistence that there be no successors or

interpreters has so far prevented any individual or group from claiming to represent continuity, or a unique understanding, of his philosophy. Krishnamurti himself remarked in 1929, at the dissolution of the Order of the Star that

he was not interested in numbers, stating: "If there are only five people who will listen, who will live, who their faces have turned towards eternity, it will be sufficient.’ However, there exists, anecdotal and other evidence suggesting that interest in him and the teachings has not abated since his death. Many books, as well as audio, video, and computer materials, remain in print and are carried by major online and traditional retailers. The four official Foundations continue with the maintenance of archives, dissemination of the teachings in an increasing number of languages, new conversions to digital and other media, development of websites, sponsoring of television programs, and with organizing meetings and dialogues of interested persons around the world. According to communications and press releases from the Foundations, their mailing lists, and individuals' inquiries, continue to grow. The various schools and educational institutions also continue to grow, with new projects added alongside their declared goal of holistic education. There are also active unofficial Krishnamurty Committees operating in several countries. Since his death, biographies, reminiscences, research papers, critical examinations, and book-length studies of Krishnamurti and his philosophy have continued to appear. Cursory (and necessarily incomplete) examination of internet search traffic and group discussion forums indicates that among similar topics, interest on Krishnamurti remains high.

Because of his ideas and his era, Krishnamurti has come to be seen as an exemplar of those spiritual teachers who disavow formal rituals and dogma. His conception of truth as a ‘pathless land’, with the possibility of immediate liberation, is mirrored in teachings as diverse as those of Bruce Lee , Barry Long, and the Dalai Lama. In India, with its long tradition of wandering ‘holy’ men, hermits, and independent religious teachers, Krishnamurti attracted the attention (and occasionally the unwanted admiration) of large numbers of people in public lectures and personal interviews. He was, and is presently, considered a ‘great teacher’ by such diverse religious figures as the mystic Ramana Maharshi, the spiritual teacher Anandamayi Ma, as well as figures more well-known to the West such as Osho. Spiritual teacher Vimala Thakar met with Krishnamurti in 1960. This meeting changed her life. Although Krishnamurti had a special tenderness for the true Sanyasi or Buddhist monk, his criticism of their rituals, disciplines, and practices was devastating. As was also often the case elsewhere, Krishnamurti additionally attracted the interest of the mainstream religious establishment in India. He was friendly, and had a number of discussions with, well known Hindu and Buddhist scholars and leaders, including the Dalai Lama. Several of these discussions were later published as chapters in various Krishnamurti books. Twentieth-century gnostic philosopher and occultist Samael Aun Weor praised Krishnamurty's teachings, stating that his

‘inner spirit’ was a ‘highly realized Buddha’, although he questioned his handling by the theosophists and its effect on his spiritual development. Any discussion of influence, however expansive, deserves to be weighed against Krishnamurty's own measure of success i.e., whether individuals really understand, and therefore ‘live and breathe’, the teaching.

Regarding this measure of influence or success, the last, and only, definitive public statement belongs to Krishnamurti himself. In a dismal prognosis, delivered 10 days prior his death in 1986, his words were simple, and emphatic: ‘NOBODY’ – among his associates or the world at large – had understood Krishnamurty, his life, or the teaching.

ENLIGHTENMENT – according to Dogen, and I agree with him absolutely – IS JUST LIKE THE MOON REFLECTING ITSELF ON THE WATER. There is no effort on the part of the water that the moon has to be reflected. There is no commandment that has to be followed, no doctrines that have to be practiced; no yoga postures ... so that the moon can reflect itself in the water. There is not even a desire, not even a longing ... not even a faint longing. And the same is the situation on the part of the moon – the moon has no desire to be reflected. Both are desireless, but the reflection happens on its own accord. So does enlightenment. Just in a silent, peaceful consciousness it suddenly reflects your buddhahood. Enlightenment is just your naturalness. This is the great contribution of Zen. All other religions are belief systems, Zen is not. All other religions will ask you to believe in God, in heaven, in hell. All other religions will have a thousand and one beliefs. Zen has no belief system. Its whole effort is to discover your natural self, which is covered with the dust of all kinds of good intentions, of beautiful thoughts, of great beliefs. All that dust has to be cleaned off. And then you are left alone in your naturalness.

OSHO – Zen Master Dogen

KABIR THE POLE STAR OF INDIAN SPIRITUAL HORIZON! Kabir is not categorized as a Sufi or a Yogi alone. He is all of these. In fact Kabir belongs to his own category. Kabir is the pole star of Indian Spiritual Horizon. If Indian spiritual horizon is aglow it is because of Kabir. Out of him evolved many paths, traditions, sects etc. In fact the entire Bhakti movement pulsates the essence of KABIR. The paths of Nanak and Mira evolved out of Kabir. He is revered by Muslims, Hindus, and Sikhs. He stands as a unique, saintly, yet very human, bridge between the great traditions that live in India. Kabir says of himself that he is, ‘at once the child of Allah and Ram.’

The essence of Kabir is contained even in his name. The word KABIR DAS comes from two words KABIR and DAS. Etymologically kabir, has an Arabic origin which means the ‘great’. And the latter half ‘dasa’ has its roots in Sanskrit the language of masters, sages and Rishis of ancient India. The word ‘dasa’ etymologically means ‘slave’ or ‘servant’. What an ensemble is Kabir. The totality of man’s inner being. This name was not chosen purposely. It just happened. And thus the name reflects a deep cosmic plan. Kabir is widely acknowledged as one of the great influences of the Bhakti movement in North India.

BIRTH AND EARLY LIFE Many legends are associated with the birth of Kabir. Amidst all these legends one thing is certainly clear each is born innocent devoid of any religion, tradition etc. When a child is born he is innocent. Inner sky is clear. Nothing is written. Consciousness is fresh pulsating with TOTALITY or WHOLENESS or COSMIC ESSENCE. Like a fresh breeze he comes into the world to get contaminated by the essence of the world and its dualistic phenomena. Only a rare being maintains his innocence and cosmic essence from birth until the end of the journey. Kabir is the embodiment of this innocence and cosmic essence. All the legends that are associated with the birth of Kabir reveal this truth and the essence of human existence. As per the historical events of Kabir, he was born in 1398 AD. It is said that he was found floating on a lotus leaf in a pond in Banaras by a Muslim weaver. It is also said he belonged to a Hindu Brahmin and so on. But even later no such claim of his parentage was made by anyone. And Kabir was left to be raised and brought up by the weaver Niru as

his foster parents. One thing is again clear that ultimately none is father or mother. Parents are simply the door for the child to be born into the world and thus continue the soul’s journey. The weaver took the vulnerable child under his care and following the traditional manner, gave him the name of 'Kabir', meaning 'the great one'. Even at a young age, Kabir displayed enormous spiritual talent. He was born in Varanasi or Banaras, in India, probably around the year 1440 (though other accounts place his birth as early as 1398), to Muslim parents. He was as is widely acknowledged born in Year 1398 A.D. It was nearly 71 years before the advent of Guru Nanak. Kabir Panthis the followers of Kabir say that he lived up to the age of 120 years and give 1518 as the year of his death. However relying on the research of Hazari Prasad Trivedi, a British Scholar Charlotte Vaudenville is inclined to lend credence to these dates and has proven that 1448 is probably the correct date of Saint Kabir's demise. Saint Kabir 1398 A.D - 1448 A.D.

A PRELUDE TO ADVENT OF KABIR Kabir lived almost fifteen Century after Christ. This was characterized as a time of great political upheaval in India. As is true of many contemporary religious teachers, very little reliable information concerning Kabir's life is available, though there is no dearth of legend gathering around him. Kabir's life was centered on Kashi. Kashi is the most ancient city on earth. Shankar gave the message of Bhaja Govindam here. Buddha gave his first sermon in this city. Tulsi Das composed the famous Hindu epic Ram Charit Manas on the banks of holy river Ganga in this city. The city is also called Banaras or Varanasi. Legend has it that he was actually the son of a Brahmin widow who abandoned him because of social prestige and never claimed him. Kabir was found by a Muslim weaver named Niru, who adopted the boy and taught him the weaver's trade. Kabir never had any formal education. He was only trained in daily routine like way of life. From the early childhood he engaged in the trade along with his father. It is not clear whether he ever married. However tradition gives him a wife named Loi and two children. His caste was that of Julaha and from his sayings his caste's hereditary occupation is weaving. On the basis of modern research, it seems quite probable that Kabir belonged to a family of noncelibate yogis converted, not long before and to a considerable degree superficially to Islam. From the writings of Kabir it seems that his knowledge of Islam was slight. In his poetical compositions as sayings or Bani there is abundance of Hatha yoga terminology and a thought structure which bears obvious resemblance to Nath Yogis. Kabir occupies a very significant place in Bhakti movement. Bhakti movement was started by Hindu saints while Sufi mysticism by Muslim saints in medieval India (1200-1700). Kabir immensely contributed to the Bhakti Movement and is considered a pioneer of Bhakti along with Ravidas, Farid, and Namdev. His concept of love as a path of suffering is an obligation to the Sufis. These and other elements from Nath tradition, Bhakti and Sufism,

Kabir combined with his own mystical nature and produced synthesis which is the distinctive religion of Kabir. Bhakti movement in Medieval India is responsible for the many rites and rituals associated with the worship of God by Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs of Indian subcontinent. For example, Kirtan at a Hindu Temple, Qawalli at a Dargah by Muslims, and singing of Gurbani at a Gurdwara are all derived from the Bhakti movement of medieval India (800-1700). ‘The word bhakti is derived from Bhakta meaning to serve, honor, revere, love and adore. In the religious idiom, it is attachment or fervent devotion to God and is defined as ‘that particular affection which is generated by the knowledge of the attributes of the Adorable One.’ A Tale of Mystical Love! At the height of Mughal power, India saw a remarkable fusion of Islamic and indigenous traditions, giving rise to a rich composite culture. This was reflected in all fields, including art and architecture, dress and food habits and even in religious forms and beliefs. One of the best representatives of this confluence of traditions is the Sufi-Bhakti movement, a form of personal piety that challenged the hegemony of the religious orthodoxy and crusaded against caste and community divisions and meaningless ritualism. In fifteenth century, Banaras was the seat of Brahmin orthodoxy and their learning center. Brahmins had strong hold on all the spheres of life in this city. Thus Kabir belonging to a low caste of Julaha the weaver clan had to go through immense tough time of preaching his message. Kabir and his followers would gather at one place in the city and meditate. Brahmins ridiculed him for preaching to prostitutes and other low castes. Kabir satirically denounced Brahmins and thus won hearts of people around him. There is no doubt that single most famous important person from the city of Banaras today is none other than Saint Kabir. Such has been the situation with almost all the masters. Kabir through his couplets not only reformed the understanding of common villagers and low caste people but gave them self confidence to question Brahmins. It was 100 years after him that Tulsidas broke the hegemony of Brahmins by writing Ram

Charit Manas, a poetical composition narrating the life of Sri Rama at Banaras which went against the tradition of Brahmins. Kabir was in fact first person to go against Brahmins and be so successful. Banaras was ruined by an attack by a Muslim invader Timur Lang or ‘Timur the lame’ during his time. Kabir also denounced Muslim priests and their rituals of bowing towards Kaaba five times a day. Because of open condemnation of established and popular religions, Kabir became an object of the wrath of both Hindus and Muslims in and around Banaras. Kabir travelled in and around Banaras to preach his message. Kabir believed in self-surrender to God through Bhakti. The Kabir Panthis follow a life of singing the praises of God, prayers and a simple and pure life of devotion. Kabir recommends ceaseless singing of God's praises. He virtually suggests withdrawal from the world. He is against all ritualistic and ascetic methods as means to salvation. It is true that Kabir refers to some yogic terms in describing the meditational and mystic methods of the yogis. But, there is no ground to suggest that he himself recommends the yogic path. In fact, far from recommending yoga, he is quite strong in condemning ascetic or yogic methods, and says that yogis, in their meditations, become prey to Maya. Kabir propagated ‘Where there is mercy, there is strength, where there is forgiveness there is He.’ ‘The man who is kind and practices righteousness, who remains passive in the affairs of the world, who considers creatures of the world as his own self, he attains the immortal Being; the true God is ever with him. Kabir suggests inward worship and remembrance of God. For him, true worship is only inwards. Put on the rosary inward. By counting beads, the world will be full of light. He clearly suggests moral discrimination between good and bad

deeds. What can the helpless road do, when the traveler does not walk understandingly? ‘What can one do, if, with lamp in hand, one falls in the well?’ ‘Or goes astray with open eyes! Discern ye now between good and evil.’ It is not surprising that Kabir's satire was brought to bear not simply on the vices and weaknesses of men but reached through and beyond them to the very system themselves. It was the authority of Vedas and Quran that more than the authority of Brahmin or Qazi which Kabir attacked. He rebelled against the pretension of resolving by the means of books or by way of authority, the mystery of human conditions and the problem of liberation or Moksha. He spent his last 40 days living in a place Maghar where it was believed that if you die you will born as a Donkey in next life. Kabir advocated ahimsa or non-violence. His doctrine extends even to the non destruction of flowers. ‘The life of the living you strike dead and you say your slaughter makes it dedicated. It is blood haunting you and those who taught you.’ ‘They fast all day, and at night they slaughter the cow; murder on one hand, and devotion on the other; how can this please God? O! Quazi, by whose order doth thou use thy knife.’ ‘When you declare the sacrifice of an animal as your religion, what else is sin? If you regard yourself a saint, whom will you call a butcher?’ ‘The goat eats grass and is skinned, what will happen to those who eat (goat's) meat?’ Do not kill poor jiva or creature; murder will not be forgiven even if you hear a million Puranas. Among the fifty commandments laid down for the followers of Kabir, vegetarianism is one of them. For Kabir, moral life involves adherence to ahimsa.

Meaning is no more relevant in the world of beauty. And what to say about the world of meditation? – no meaning, only significance. That’s why those who have experienced have remained silent, or have spoken only to indicate to you the path to be silent Zen Master Dogen - OSHO

KABIR AND WOMAN Kabir’s view on woman cannot be understood on the surface. If you look at the surface you will find Kabir very derogatory of woman folk. This has led many hasty ones to draw a conclusion. To understand Kabir and his views on woman you will have to go to the very essence of Kabir. Out of the masculine energy evolved the tradition of Guru Nanak as sikh religion. And Kabir’s feminine energy evolved as Mira, Sahjo Bai and the entire feminine effect in Bhakti. Not only these Chaitanya Maha Prabhu and the entire Hare Krishna movement is the outcome of this energy of Kabir. When you look at the views of Kabir on woman you will find strange phenomena. Accordingly in common with all monastic, ascetic or otherworldly sects, Kabir does not think well of women. The hymns of Kabir are full of tirade against them. Woman is characterized as ‘a black cobra', the pit of hell and the

refuse of the world.’ She is considered to be a hurdle in the path of the spiritual progress of man. He spoke, ‘woman ruins everything when she comes near a man; Devotion, salvation and divine knowledge no longer enter his soul.’ His views, about woman are also evident from all his vehement attacks against maya. Almost everywhere he links maya to a woman who is out to entice and entrap man, and destroy his spiritual life. Such views about woman from a married person are, indeed, quite uncommon. The cosmological views of Kabir give a clear clue to his world view. He finds Niranjana to be the creator of the world; maya or woman. And this woman stands between man and god. She is there to entice him away from Him. At the time Kabir came on the spiritual horizon it was male dominant society because of the orthodoxy of the Brahmins.

MEETING HIS GURU But early in his life Kabir became a disciple of the Hindu Bhakti saint Ramananda. It was unusual for a Hindu teacher to accept a Muslim student, but tradition says the young Kabir found a creative way to overcome all objections. Kabir always wanted to become a disciple of Ramananda a well known master of the time. However, since he was a Muslim, it was next to impossible for him to get initiation from a Hindu. So, he took recourse to a trick. Ramananda used to pass through steps reach to the bathing ghat for his predawn ritual ablutions every day. Kabir, one morning lay on the steps that led to the ghat in such a way that Ramananda stepped on him. Shocked at this incident, he chanted 'Rama! Rama! Kabir said that since he had received teachings from him, in the form of the words 'Rama! Rama! He was Ramananda's disciple. This story has many versions. However one thing is certainly clear Kabir became the disciple of Ramananda. To explain this incident in all its essence I have explained it in many ways. One such explanation I give for your understanding of the orthodoxy of the Brahmins. When Ramananda

stepped on Kabir and he chanted Ram Ram this is an expression of his mistake. Instead of saying sorry he said Ram Ram. Saying this he wanted to rush for morning ablution because he was touched by an untouchable one. Kabir took Ramananda as his guru. Still Ramananda did not accept him as his disciple and insisted on taking a bath since he touched an untouchable. At this Kabir asked a question. And further said before you go for a bath you must answer my question. Kabir wanted Ramananda to answer the question, ‘You want to take a bath because you touched an untouchable. You did not touch me. You simply touched my body. Is man a body or soul? And if man is soul then it cannot be untouchable because you did not touch the soul. Soul is eternal. Body will perish. What then is more important the soul or body.’ Hearing such question from someone whom Ramananda was rejecting because he was untouchable Ramananda had no answer. Ramananda could not reply Kabir. Seeing the intelligence he accepted Kabir as his disciple. Another significant thing happened. Kabir became enlightened even

before Ramananda became enlightened. Impressed with the intelligence of Kabir, Ramananda took him as his disciple. After his bath in the early light he noticed that on the back of the little one's hand was written in Arabic the name Kabir. He adopted him as son and disciple and brought him back to his ashram, much to the disturbance of his Hindu students, some of whom left in righteous protest. Not much is known about what sort of spiritual training Kabir may have received. He did not become a sadhu or renunciate. Kabir never abandoned worldly life. Instead Kabir choose to live the balanced life of a householder and mystic; tradesman and contemplative. Kabir was married, had children, and lived the simple life of a weaver. Although Kabir labored to bring the often clashing religious cultures of Islam and Hinduism together, he

was equally disdainful of professional piety in any form. This earned him the hatred and persecution of the religious authorities in Banaras. Nearing age 60, he was denounced before the king but, because of his Muslim birth, he was spared execution and, instead, banished from the region. He subsequently lived a life of exile, traveling through northern India with a group of disciples. In 1518, he died at Maghar near Gorakhpur. There is a legend associated with Kabir’s his funeral. Kabir's disciples disputed over his body, the Muslims wanting to claim the body for burial, the Hindus wanting to cremate the body. Kabir appeared to the arguing disciples and told them to lift the burial shroud. When they did so, they found fragrant flowers where the body had rested. The flowers were divided, and the Muslims buried the flowers while the Hindus reverently committed them to fire.

KABIR THE POET Kabir is considered to be one of the greatest poets as well as mystics ever born on Indian spiritual horizon. He believed that human beings are equal and being one with God is the ultimate aim of every individual. His love and devotion towards the Supreme One clearly reflects in his poetry. The Holy Guru Granth Sahib contains over 500 verses by the Kabir. The verses or dohas of Kabir are still read by people with awe and admiration.

KABIR KE DOHE The hallmark of Kabir's works consists of his two line couplets. These two line compositions are known as the 'Kabir ke Dohe'. These reflect deep mystical understanding of the poet saint. Kabir used the method of paradox or ulatbans to explain the most intricate matter in simple language. Only a Kabir can say such things as; fish has climbed the tree, or there is fire in the ocean.

THE PHILOSOPHY OF KABIR Kabir believed in the Vedantic concepts of atman. He always advocated the Impersonal Aspect of God or Nirguna the formless and therefore, was against idol worship. According to Kabir all human beings are equal and the caste system imposed by the society that is so widely prevalent in our country is fallacious. He said that true guru is the one who can be attained through direct experience. The common ways of realizing God, like chanting, austerities, etc, are worthless.

Everybody is imitating somebody else, everybody has become a carbon copy of somebody else, everybody is almost like a broken record that has been used for centuries. Nobody has newness, freshness – one’s own originality. Zen Master Dogen - OSHO

KABIR THE FORERUNNER OF SIKH RELIGION He is one of the medieval Indian saints of Bhakti and Sufi movement whose compositions figure in Sikh Scripture, the Guru Granth Sahib. From among all of them, Kabir's contribution is the largest, 227 Padas in 17 ragas and 237 slokas. Under each raga or musical mode marking a section of the Holy Book, Kabir's hymns appear at the head of Bhagat Bani, a generic name for the works of contributors other than the Gurus. There is presence of a substantial number of Kabir's verse in the Sikh Scripture. Also chronologically he is the predecessor of Guru Nanak, founder of the Sikh faith. This has led some Western scholars to describe him as the forerunner of Sikhism. Some have even called him the preceptor of Guru Nanak. There is, however, ample evidence to prove that Guru Nanak and Kabir had ever met their periods of time in fact do not coincide. Kabir's compositions do figure in what are known as Goindval Pothis, anthologies of the hymns of the Gurus along with those of some of the Bhaktas prepared in the time of Guru Amar Das-Nanak III or the master at the third lienage. They were included in the Guru Granth Sahib as well. But this happened much later when Guru Arjan, the fifth in spiritual line from the Founder, compiled the Holy Scripture. Besides his own works and those of his four predecessors, he entered in it hymns of some saints and mystics, Hindu and Muslim, Kabir was one of them. Kabir composed no systematic treatise; rather his work consists of many short didactic poems.Quite often these are expressed in terse vigorous language in the form of Padas, Dohas, and Ramainis as various forms of poetry in Indian languages. In addition to his

work recorded in 1604 A.D. in Guru Granth Sahib by Guru Arjan Dev, the fifth guru, and preserved inviolate since, two other collections exist - Kabir Granthavali, and Bijak. In his poems, he was quick to tell the illustrations of moral and spiritual truth in the happenings of day to day life, and many of his similes and metaphors are very striking. Some of the most famous Shabads of Kabir from Gurbani are 1. Gagan Damama Baajooh pariho nishaan-eghao, khet jo maandyo surma aab jujhan ka tao, Sura so pahchaniye jo lare deen ke het, purja purja kate marhe kabho na chhade khet. Guru Granth Sahib recognizes many saints of the Bhakti movement of medieval India. Kabir, Farid, Namdev are the saints belonging to this movement which swept across the North India from 1100 A.D. till 1600 A.D. When Fifth Guru Guru Arjan dev ji compiled Guru Granth Sahib, he decided to give some recognition to the saints of Bhakti movement that is the reason that Guru Granth Sahib contains verses of such saints. In some cases Guru Granth Sahib is the only voice remained for such saints over the years.

REBEL SUFIS OF THE PUNJAB The Sufi brotherhoods that arrived in South Asia from the Middle East and Central Asia had already been influenced by the pantheistic traditions of South Asia, and in some cases the result was theist fusions or Unitarian views of God. It is, however, important to point out that some Sufi orders were quite conservative such as the Suhrawardi and Naqshbandia. They had a strong presence in the Punjab. The Naqshbandi Sufi, Sheikh Ahmad al Farooqi Ahmed Sirhindi Mujaddadi Alif-Thani, who lived during the 16th century and is buried at

Sirhind, played an important role in the revival of strict Islam in the Mughal Empire and, indeed, in the Punjab. Kabir remained a link between Hindu Bhakti and Islamic Sufism or mysticism, which had gained a large following among Indian Muslims. Sufis mystics also believed in singing hymns and in meditation under guidance of a leader. They welcomed nonMuslims in their hospices. Sikhism drew inspiration from both Bhakti and Sufis.

MEETING OF BEING AND BECOMING: THE ESSENCE OF SPIRITUAL LIFE THIS MEETING OF THE BEING AND THE BECOMING IS THE REAL SECRET OF SPIRITUAL LIFE. It is said that the teachings of Jiddu had nothing but the way of negation. As a result many find the teachings easy to understand. Jiddu speaks of no guru, no belief, no organization, no authority, no discipline, no scripture and many such other negations. People who came to Jiddu left all these and did not feel better. No belief became another belief. No organization became another organization. In place of no authority Jiddu became a new authority. Jiddu’s approach is fundamentally psychological. His enquiry is not what to do and what not to do instead why does one do this and why does not give up that. This is a deeper aspect of the teachings of Kabir and Jiddu. This does not mean that they are identical. Both differ significantly. They have followed their own line of thinking. Yet still moving along their own ways there are moments when their approaches intersect. These meeting points are quite interesting. Such points are worth an enquiry. Kabir is both traditional and nontraditional. He has heavily condemned the traditions through his compositions. Jiddu on the other hand is totally nontraditional. Thus both are somewhat similar and yet still different. And this makes it even more interesting. Jiddu has dealt with problems of life with the air of negativity. Yet still his teachings are not negative in nature. In fact his teachings are positive in nature and their contents. Often it is said that Jiddu brushes everything aside but then does not give anything positive to work upon or hold on. Most of the masters have spoken on the significance of virtues as a positive base to work

from. Thus one gets busy in developing virtues one after the other. Jiddu on the other hand gives an altogether different perspective accordingly he says: The man who cultivates virtues is not virtuous…. In virtue there is freedom, not in becoming virtuous. One may wonder if in virtue there is freedom then why becoming virtuous takes away freedom. One generally assumes that if virtue is freedom the becoming virtuous should equally lead to freedom. Here Jiddu is asking a very subtle question of being virtuous and becoming virtuous. Being and becoming are two subtle aspects of his teachings. Being is the quality and becoming is an attitude. Attitude belongs to the outer dimension, while being belongs to inner dimension of the person. To be virtuous and to practice virtues are two completely different things. In fact they are contradictory. By practicing virtue one does not become virtuous. In fact such practice inflates the ego of the man. It will make one even more self centered. Behind all practices of virtue there is a motive. When there is motive behind doing something better than the other to achieve happiness, to become self controlled it cannot be virtue. Virtue is a reward in itself. To be virtuous and to strive to become virtuous are two different things. It is in the cessation of activity of becoming virtuous that one is really virtuous. Truly indeed it is against all canons of religious and so called spiritual tradition and discipline. In all the religious disciplines the aspirant is asked to build virtue after virtue in his character. To build virtue one after another is considered as the central

theme of all spiritual disciplines of both east and the west. In one of the poems Kabir says: O teacher, what am I to do? When I conquer lust then anger increases. When I suppress anger, greed comes up. When I triumph over greed then delusion crops up! When delusion is low then pride raises its head. When pride is eliminated then envy and jealousy surfaces! When I say that I have conquered all the six vices then all of them come back again and again all one by one. How am I to be free from all of these attachments? This is the translation of a beautiful composition of Kabir. AbxU maya tjI n ja$ igrh tj ke bStr ba<xa bStr tj ke )erI kam tje se k&aex n ja$ k&aex tje te< lae-a lae- tje Ah
Jiddu continues that there is only one virtue and one vice. This is the presence of ‘I or EGO’. When ego dissolves one enters a virtuous life. All efforts of self improvement are made by the self itself. Thus the so called self improving is nothing but strengthening ego. In meeting the challenge fully and totally and without creating an interval between challenge and the response one creates a climate in which problem can find no substance. In the above composition Kabir says that it is verbalization which gives a fresh air to the problem. In fact it is verbalization that sustains it. The question arises: how to stop verbalization? It does not matter whether one struggles against a problem or against its verbalization. The struggle still remains. And this involves time. If time creates disorder then such creation of disorder still persists. And then we are caught in the same whirlpool. It is therefore important to understand the time. Time denotes a movement from one position to another. This linear movement from one position to another is called time. It does not matter if it is rapid or slow. But this movement has no reality. In one of the compositions Kabir says: One who sees the nature of the mind is above time. To such a person time does not affect. This is a profound truth that Kabir has spoken of. With the advent of Albert Einstein physical science is beginning to realize. Time has no independent existence. It is the observer who creates time. And therefore time varies according to the position that the observer takes. Time is therefore the creation of observer’s angle of perception. So when you change the angle or gestalt of perception time scale changes. There is no time per se. If the time from here to there or from one position to another is fictitious then problem has no reality. Remember it is the angle of perception that creates the problem. This is the reason Kabir says ‘stay still where you are’. This is the only relevant advice that can be given for the psychological problem that one faces in life. All human problems are psychological in nature not physical. In the cultivation of virtue the effort and emphasis remains on movement from one situation to another. The problem is neither movement from

one situation to another nor defining here or there, instead it is actual movement. The usual way of spiritual life requires the change in the pattern of behavior. It is this that constitutes the movement of spiritual or religious life. This movement is frustrating. This requires tremendous effort with ceaseless resistance. Therefore the so called spiritual life is full of these resistances as these are considered to be the outcome of one’s will. Remember true religious or spiritual life is not changing one’s pattern of life or behavior. It is concerned with motivation. If the motivation remains unchanged and only the behavioral pattern changes then it is like changing the pot not the dirty water contained in it. This is what Kabir alludes in the poem: ‘what am I to do, because when I conquer anger lust remains’. In your so called virtuous life there is an effort to suppress one behavior pattern for the other. However all suppression evokes its own problem which is even worse. As far as motivation is concerned both good and bad are alike. There is no qualitative difference between the two. These are two sides of the same question. Mind always thinks to renounce good or bad then what. Once again you are faced with the same question or the same paradox. The cultivation of virtue requires effort of the self to continue. It appears as if virtue is a favorable ground to inflate the ugly self. Thus to be virtuous by a willful effort is in fact to perpetuate the evil under the disguise of so-called good. Jiddu says: Virtue is not denial of vice as is considered. Virtue is a state of being. And being is not an idea. A man who cultivates virtue is not virtuous….Self interest cannot cultivate virtue. It can only perpetuate itself under the mask of virtue, under the cover of virtue there is still the activity of the self. Virtue is not opposite of vice. Had it be so than spiritual life would be a mere play of the opposites? And such play is self defeating. And you go on moving in the same ring. This is window dressing where the same rotten stuff is displayed. It is not like substituting good for bad.

A virtuous life is free from all motivation of good and bad. This is what Kabir says, ‘Stand still where you are.’ In such a state all movements cease. Remember each movement has a motive behind when it is consciously engineered. But when there is no movement how can there be progress? All movements in life are the movements of becoming or being. The movement of becoming requires gathering more and more to itself. This is an exquisite movement. Often this is called positive movement. However in reality it is a movement of self assertion or self –acquisition. This is the concept of the mind that lies at the very root of becoming. When this is a conscious effort then it moves towards a preconceived goal or effort. Any virtuous life based on this is a movement from known to the modified known. On its own mind cannot get out of motivation. Mind goes on substituting one motive with another. Therefore the so called virtuous life remains a modified continuity. There is no fragrance of freshness. This remains stale. When you are free from all motivation then inward journey begins. But mind finds it difficult to understand. Without motivation mind sees no incentive. Mind finds life without motivation and incentive stagnant. The New Testament says – ‘Look at the lilies in the field – they toil not nor do they spin’. We are further told by the same source, ‘Even Solomon in all his glory was not half as glorious as these lilies.’ Have you ever wondered from where did this glory come? They toiled not nor did they spin. Lilies have no conscious effort look good glorious or grand. Wisdom of the mind can say this is all about lilies but not the man. It is not realized that the glories of becoming are nowhere near the glories of being. Mind always wonders can such glories be seen in the life of a man. Shankar says – ‘The highest state is the natural state.’ This is not the outcome of the mind. The Zen teaching say: ‘You can become only what you are. You cannot be what you are not. To become what one is very strange. In one of the songs Kabir sings:

saexa shj smaix -lI sa<$ te imln -yae ja idn te< surit n A
The positive beingness can blossom only in the soil of negative. But for growth soil must be free from all weeds and overgrowth if the positive is to take root. What is meant by the soil being made negative? It is where the mind is emptied of all concepts and ideas. All that is of the mind-or what mind has conceived has to be put away. Then alone you can come to real positive experience. Positive and negative are not opposed to one another. There is a relation between being and becoming. The two are not unrelated. Negative is the soil or the ground for the positive or flowers to blossom. Therefore the teachings of Jiddu are not negative. They are positive. Jiddu is only preparing the soil or the ground for the negative to grow or flowers to blossom. Mind only sees the beginning. And out of haste cannot wait to see the blossoming. In a similar expression Kabir sings: I have woven a sheet with much care and labor. I have woven sheet to a man who called himself spiritual. He wore it but immediately soiled it. The really spiritual one wore it and gave it back as clean and unsoiled as it was when it was given to him. HInI HInI ibnI cdirya Kahe kE tana kahe kE -rnI kaEn tar se ibnI cdirya #
Motivation good or bad soils the cloth of life. With motivation there can be no real spirituality. The mind must be cleaned of all motives. Bhagwad Gita speaks of the nature of a spiritual man. ‘He who has put good and bad aside or One who is beyond the heat and cold – beyond duality?’ Jiddu says: If the mind is seeking result however noble and worthy, if it is concerned with becoming, it ceases to be extensive and infinitely pliable! It must be the unknown to receive the unknowable. The unknown receiving the unknowable is the true nature of virtue – the nature of spiritual life. You

may wonder if being and becoming related to one another? Yes indeed. It is the relationship of the unknown and the unknowable. The positive which forever is unknown is received by the soil which is negative. From the unknown evolves the known. The known completely devoid of all that is known is truly the negative soil out of which the positive virtue is born. The so called spiritual man soils the garment that he wears because of the conscious and unconscious motivation. If you are indeed to grasp the essence of the relation between the being and the becoming you must explore the ground where they meet.

THIS MEETING OF THE BEING AND THE BECOMING IS THE REAL SECRET OF SPIRITUAL LIFE.

Enlightenment cannot be anything else other than entertainment ... universal entertainment, a laughter that knows no bounds, no limits. You laugh, and the trees laugh, and the cuckoos laugh, and the clouds laugh, and the stars laugh, and the laughter goes on spreading ….when the mind is gone you are just like a small child. Laughter will arise without any effort on your part. At least I am a break from the whole past, and in the future I want my people to be laughing buddhas. Serious ones we have seen enough of, they have not been able to transform humanity. Let us try another direction – of nonseriousness. Acceptance is a gratitude towards existence. Anything that you don’t accept means you are blaming existence. In all your prayers, and in all your prayer houses, what are you doing? You are asking God, just like a beggar, “Give me this, give me that.” You don’t trust existence, you demand. Demanding is not a quality of religious consciousness. Hence the real religion has no way of praying. It only lives, and lives in such a way that the very life becomes a gratitude. Meditation, perhaps, is the only alchemy that can transform a beggar into an emperor.

Zen Master Dogen - OSHO

KABIR CONFLUENCE OF BHAKTI AND DHYAN maekae kha< FU
kbIr -iKt AaEr Xyan ka smagm hE, kbIr Agr Xyan kI praka:Qa hE tae -iKt kI Aivrl g
awareness of understanding and inner oneness. When you sing the compositions of a person like Kabir you can immediately get connected to his being. This can happen only when your heart is open to the subtle presence of such a being. Kabir is an enlightened master. He has known that which is. Not only that his entire being is soaked into

such awareness. His each breath, his heart beat Instead in the open spaces not covered by mind’s pulsates with such awareness. These are not the edifice! There alone you find reality in its glory. In ordinary words. Through these words the very being statistical average mind finds nothing. In the barren of Kabir overflows. These words are spontaneous soil of the mind one finds nothing but mathematical overflow while Kabir was engaged in his daily calculations. Therefore seek not the reality in the routine. Being in the world, and being a part of daily deserts of the mind. There one finds no oasis. It is to household work when hands are busy weaving the be found neither in reason nor unreason. If reason is cloth such compositions the field of an alert and happened. To an ecstatic active mind then unreason Kabir each thread and each is the field of a dull and Both Bhakti and Dhyan are two thing and being is soaked in sloppy mind. Both reason such a presence. He sees and unreason belong to wings for the inward journey. nothing but his beloved that the realm of the mind and Bhakti and Dhyan are two doors he had known as Rama all its functions. around. There is oneness to reach the inner sanctum. both within and without. Mind knows not the gaps Kabir is ecstatic. There is between reason and harmony. He is flowing with unreason. Know this void all that is and is the very essence of this cosmos. Only as your inner space. However mind regards such a Kabir like one can overflow totality through voids as identical with nothingness. There is a whatever he does. fullness of the void which the mind is unable to perceive. Blavatsky in her ‘Voice of the Silence’ says: Kabir was illiterate. Engaged in his daily work while ‘The right perception of existing things, the the fingers were moving through wharf and woof knowledge of the non-existence.’ Kabir used to spontaneously sing. No proper training of music. Yet still all his compositions are musically Right perception does not lie in the network of arranged. There is rhythm, and meter. No one is structural understanding. It is found outside all doing anything to look after the rhythm and meter. It logical systems created by the mind. This alone has seems the unknown and the unknowable is taking been accepted by the physical science as perception. care of each syllable as it overflows out of an ecstatic Kabir. Mind thinks that intellect alone can reveal to man the mysteries of life and nature. Still there is something Now let me take you into the actual composition. greater than intellect know this as intelligence. Intelligence is far grater intellect. Intelligence is the Kabir says that which is – the unknown and integration of love and reason. Intelligence is the unknowable or reality is not to be found in the spontaneous perception of men and things. magnificent edifices build by logic and reason.

maekae kha< FU
THE BUDDHA WITHIN! BUDDHA is the godliest and the most godless man in the whole history of man.

HG WELLS

PRAJNAPARAMITA HRIDAYAM SUTRA OF GAUTAMA THE BUDDHA INTRODUCTION TO BUDDHA These PRAJNAPARAMITA HRIDAYAM SUTRAS belong to the seventh temple as Buddha calls these or the seventh plane of consciousness. These are declarations of someone who has entered the seventh temple, the transcendental - the absolute. That is the meaning of the Sanskrit word, PRAGYAPARAMITA or the wisdom of the beyond, from the beyond, in the beyond. It refers to the wisdom that comes only when you have transcended all kinds of identifications - lower or higher, this worldly or that worldly. This May month is unique in many ways. It was on the full moon of this month Gautam Siddhartha became BUDDHA THE ENLIGHTENED ONE when he was forty years of age. Forty years later again on this day Buddha attained Mahaparinirvana. This month one year ago on full moon a Naqshbandi Sufi Sheikh Omkar Nath attained to Samadhi. I love Gautam the Buddha even more than I love myself. He represents totality. GAUTAM BUDDHA is like the highest peak of the Himalayas, like Gourishanker –the abode of Shiva. The peak of consciousness! He is one of the purest beings, one of the most virgin souls, one of the very rare phenomena on this earth. The rarity is that Buddha is the scientist of the inner world - scientist of religion. That is a rare combination. To be religious is simple, to be a scientist is simple - but to combine, synthesize

these two polarities is incredible. It is unbelievable, but it has happened. Buddha is the richest human being who has ever lived. He is rich in the sense that all the dimensions of life are fulfilled in him. He is not one-dimensional. There are three approaches towards truth. One is the approach of power, another approach of beauty, and the third is the approach of grandeur. The scientific approach is the search for power. It is said ‘knowledge is power’. Science has made man very powerful, so much so that man can destroy the whole planet earth in just a flash. For the first time in the history of consciousness man is capable of committing a global suicide, a collective suicide. Science has released tremendous power. It is continuously searching for more and more power. This too is an approach towards truth, but a partial one. Then there are poets, mystics, and people with the aesthetic sense. They look at truth as beauty. Jalaluddin Rumi, Omar Khayyam, MahaDevi Verma, Rabindranath Tagore and others, are the one who think that beauty is truth. They create new sources of beauty through art etc. The painter, the poet, the dancer, the musician, they are also approaching truth from a totally different dimension than power. A poet is not like the scientist. The scientist works with analysis, reason, and observation in the outer world. The poet functions through the heart. He is irrational. Trust and love is his way towards truth. He has nothing to do with mind and its reason. A vast majority of religious people belong to this second dimension. The Sufis, the Bauls all belong to the aesthetic approach. Hence so many beautiful mosques,

churches, and cathedrals, temples of Ajanta and Ellora all were created by religious people. Whenever religious activity predominates, art, music, and painting is created. The world becomes a little more beautiful. It does not become more powerful, instead it becomes beautiful, lovely, and worth living. The third approach is that of grandeur. Moses, Abraham; Islam's Prophet Mohammed; Krishna and Ram -- their approach is through the dimension of grandeur. the awe that one feels looking at this vastness of the universe. The Upanishads, the Vedas, they all approach the world of truth, through grandeur. They are full of wonder. It is unbelievably there, with such grandeur, that you can simply bow down before it in reverence nothing else is possible. One simply feels humble, reduced to nothing. These are the three dimensions ordinarily available to approach truth. The first dimension creates the scientist. The second approach creates the artist. And the third, the prophets and masters! The rarity of Buddha consists of this. His approach is a synthesis of all the three. And not only has a synthesis instead had it gone even beyond the three. He is a rationalist. He is not like Jesus or Krishna. He is absolutely a rationalist. Einstein, Newton or Edison cannot find any flaw in his reasoning. Any scientist will be immediately convinced of his truth. His approach is purely logical, he convinces the mind. You cannot find a loophole in him.

being is his proof. However such is not the case with Buddha. You may not be at all in harmony with his heart. You may not even believe him. You may not look at the proof he is. Certainly you will have to listen to his argument. He has both the proof and the argument. He himself is the proof of what he is saying, and that is not all. If you are not ready to look at him he can force you, he can convince you. He is a rationalist. Even an atheist like Bertrand Russell, who was, purely logical, has once said, ‘Before Buddha I start feeling hesitant. With Jesus I can fight.’ He has written a book ‘Why I Am Not A Christian’. It is a great argumentative book. It has not yet been replied to by Christians and his argument still holds. But before Buddha he suddenly feels hesitant. There he is not certain of his ground. Buddha can convince him on his own ground. Buddha is as much an analyst as Bertrand Russell. You need not be a religious person to be convinced by Buddha. This is his rarity. You need not believe at all. You need not believe in god, or soul, anything else but still you can be with Buddha. And being with him by and by you will come to know the soul and the god as well. No belief is required to travel with Buddha. You can come with all your skepticisms. He accepts and welcomes. He invites you to ‘Come with me.’ First he convinces your mind, and once your mind is convinced and you start travelling with him. Then by and by you start feeling that he has a message which is beyond mind. He has a message which no reason can imprison. Therefore first he convinces your reason.

I have heard of a famous atheist, W. C. Fields. One day his manager came into his hotel room and was shocked to see him reading ‘The Holy Bible’. Shocked at this gesture the manager said, ‘what the hell are you doing? I thought you were an atheist.’ The reply of Fields is beautiful. He replied, ‘I am just looking for loopholes and inconsistencies, in the Bible.’

Buddha's religion is super-rational. Yet still he is not against reason. This has to be understood in the very beginning. It has something to do with the beyond, super-rational. Buddha is not against the rational. His supra-rationality is in tune with it. The rational and the supra-rational are continuity. This is the rarity of Buddha.

However you cannot find even a single loophole in the Buddha. Yes, you can look for loopholes and inconsistencies in Jesus, there are many. Simply because Jesus believes, trusts, he has faith. He is childlike. There is no argument in him. The proof exists but there is no argument for it. His whole

Krishna says to Arjuna, ‘Surrender to me.’ Buddha never says that. He convinces you to surrender. Krishna says, ‘Surrender to me, then you will be convinced.’ Buddha says, ‘Be convinced first, then surrender comes like a shadow. You need not worry about it. Do not talk about it at all.’ Because

of this rational approach he never brings any concept which cannot be proved. He never talks about god. Once H. G. Wells has said about Buddha, ‘He is the godliest and the most godless man in the whole history of man.’ Indeed He is most godly and most godless. You cannot find anyone godlier than Buddha. All others simply fade before him. His luminosity is superb and unique. His being has no comparison, yet still he does not talk about god. Buddha has never talked about god. Many think that he is an atheist. No he is not. He has not talked about god because there is no way to talk about god. All talk about god is just nonsense. Whatsoever you can say about god is going to be false. God is unknown and unknowable and therefore nothing can be said. Other seers also say that nothing can be said about god, but at least they say that nothing can be said about god. Buddha is really logical. He will not say even this, because he says, ‘Even to say that nothing can be said about god, you have said something’. If you say, ‘God cannot be defined,’ you have indeed defined him in a negative way. If you say, ‘nothing can be said,’ that too you are saying. Buddha is strictly logical. He will not utter a single word. Buddha is not an atheist but he never talks about god. That is why I say he is a rarity. He brings many people to god. He brought more people than anybody else has done. Millions of people were brought to become godly in his presence, but he never uttered the word and not only god, but even soul, or self. He has no theory about it. He simply says, ‘I can show you the way how to go in. You go and see.’ He says, ‘Buddhas can only indicate the path, they cannot provide you with a philosophy. You are there, go in and see.’ I have heard. Someone came to Buddha. He was a great scholar, was known all over the country. Maulingaputta was his name. He said to Buddha, ‘I have come with dozen questions and you have to answer them.’ Buddha responded, ‘I will answer, but you will have to fulfill a requirement. For one year you will have to be with me in total silence, and only then I will answer. I can answer but you will not receive my answers because you are not ready. Also whatsoever I say you will misinterpret because your inner sky is full of interpretations.

Whatsoever I say will have to pass through your mind. For one year you just be silent so that you can drop the knowledge. When you are empty, whatsoever you want to ask I will answer, I promise you. ‘While he was saying this, another monk, Sariputta, who was sitting under another tree, started laughing. His was a mad laughter. Maulingaputta must have felt embarrassed. He enquired, ‘What is the matter? Why are you laughing?’ Sariputta replied, ‘I am not laughing about you, I am laughing about myself. One year ago this man deceived me as well. I had come with many questions but he asked me to wait for one year, so I waited. And now I am laughing because those questions have disappeared. He goes on asking, to bring those questions! but I cannot bring those questions. They have disappeared as water vapors dry in heat. Therefore if you really want your questions to be answered, ask now, do not wait for one year. This man is really deceptive.’ Buddha introduced many people, millions of people, to the inner world, but in a very rational way. This is simple. In the process of inward journey first you become a receiver. Attain to silence, only then communion is possible, not before at all. Buddha never used to answer any metaphysical questions. He was always ready to answer any question about methodology or tariqat. However he was never ready to answer any questions about metaphysics. This is his scientific approach. Science believes in method. Science never answers the ‘why’. It always answers the ‘how’. ‘How’ leads to methodology or tariqat! If you ask a scientist, ‘Why is the world there?’ he will say, ‘I do not know. But I can answer how the world is there.’ He will not answer ‘Why is the water there?’ But he can say how the water is there. He can give you the method, the ‘how’, the mechanism. He can show you how to make water, but he cannot show you why. His approach is very different from other atheists. Theists require you to believe. Buddha says, ‘How can one believe? You are asking the impossible.’ Listen to his argument. He says if somebody is doubtful, how can he believe? If the doubt has arisen already, how can he believe? He may repress the doubt. He may enforce the belief. But deep down like an undercurrent doubt will go on

flowing. Sooner or later the belief is bound to collapse. There is no foundation to it. From the very beginning there is doubt. And on the foundation of doubt you have raised the whole structure of your belief. Have you observed? Whenever you believe, deep down there is doubt like an undercurrent. For those whose faith is natural, and spontaneous, there is no question of faith. They simply believe. They do not know even what belief is. Look at small l children, they simply believe. But once doubt enters, belief becomes impossible. And doubt has to enter. It is part of growth. Doubt makes one mature. You remain childish unless doubt has penetrated your consciousness. Without doubt you remain immature and will never come to know what life is. You start knowing life only by doubting, by being skeptical, and by raising questions. Faith comes by destroying doubt by argument. Just as one poison destroys the other poison so too one doubt destroys other doubt. This is Buddha's way. He does not say believe. He says go deep into your doubt. Go to the very end, unafraid. Do not repress. Travel the whole path of doubt to the very end. And that very journey will take you beyond it. In the process a moment comes when doubt starts doubting itself. That is the ultimate doubt. When doubt doubts doubt it. That has to come if you go to the very end. You first doubt belief. You doubt this and that. One day when everything has been doubted, suddenly a new, the ultimate doubt arises. And you start doubting doubt. This is tremendously new in the world of religion. And then doubt destroys doubt, and faith is gained. This faith is not against doubt. Instead this faith is beyond doubt. This faith is not opposite to doubt. This is the absence of doubt. Buddha says you will have to become children again, but the path has to go through the world, through many forests and thoroughfares of doubts, arguments, and reasoning. And when a person comes back home, attains back to his original faith, it is totally different happening. He is not just a child. He is an old man, mature, experienced, and yet childlike. With this as I could not contain myself from this overflow. The very name Buddha does something to my being and like an intoxicated one I start overflowing irrespective of the place or person. It

reminds me of something. And as soon as this remembrance overwhelms I am bound to allow the overflow. PRELUDE TO HEART SUTRA The sutras belong to the seventh. These are declarations of someone who has entered the seventh temple, the transcendental - the absolute. That is the meaning of the Sanskrit word, PRAGYAPARAMITA or the wisdom of the beyond, from the beyond, in the beyond. It refers to the wisdom that comes only when you have transcended all kinds of identifications - lower or higher, this worldly or that worldly. Each one of you is a Buddha within. Buddhahood is your essential nature and also your fruition as well. However this Buddha within is fast asleep. I know the Buddha within you. Therefore I salute the Buddha within you. You may not be aware of it, you may not have ever dreamed about it - that you are a Buddha. Remember nobody can be anything else. The Buddhahood is the very essential core of your being. It is not something to happen in the future. It has happened already. It is the very source you come from. It is the source and the goal too. It is from Buddhahood that we move. And it is to Buddhahood that we move. This one word, Buddhahood, contains all - the full circle of life, from the alpha to the omega. But you are fast asleep. You do not know who you are. Not that you have to become a Buddha alone, but only that you have to recognize it. You have to return to your own source. You have to look within yourself. A confrontation with yourself will reveal your Buddhahood. The day one comes to see oneself; the whole existence becomes enlightened that very moment. It is not that a person becomes enlightened. How can a person become enlightened? The very idea of being a person is part of the unenlightened mind. It is not that I have become enlightened. The 'I' has to be dropped before one can become enlightened. So how can I become enlightened? That is absurdity. The day I became enlightened the whole existence became enlightened. Since that moment I have not seen anything other than Buddhas - in many

forms, with many names, with a thousand and one problems, but Buddhas still. Buddhas within! Therefore I salute the Buddha within you. It is to this inner Buddha that Gautam Buddha addresses. Again it is to these Buddhas within that Osho overflowed. It is to these Buddhas masters, and sheikhs go on addressing. And I am immensely glad that you and Buddha within you surround us. The very fact of your turning the pages of this overflow is the beginning of the recognition. The respect in your heart for such an overflow, the love in your heart for a living buddha, is respect and love for your own Buddhahood – your essential nature. The trust in a living buddha is not trust in something extrinsic to you. It is the self-trust. By trusting a buddha you will learn to trust yourself. By coming close to a buddha you will come close to yourself. Only recognition is needed. It is like an unlit candle coming in contact with the lit one. The moment the unlit candle comes closer something jumps from the lit one and lights the unlit one. The diamond is there. Only you have forgotten about it. Maybe you have never remembered it from the very beginning. There is a very famous saying of Emerson. He says ‘Man is God in ruins.’ I agree and I disagree at the same time. The insight of Emerson has some truth in it. Man is not as yet what he should be. There is a fading possibility, maybe. The insight is there but a little upside down. Man is not God in ruins as Emerson says. Instead man is God in the making. Man is a Buddha in seed form. The seed is there. It has to grow first before it can blossom any moment. This requires just a little effort, just a little help. And the help is not going to cause it to happen. It is already there! Your effort is only going to reveal it to you. The help to unfold what is there, hidden needs your effort. It is a discovery, but the truth is already there. The truth is eternal. Listen to these sutras because these are the most important sutras in the entire Buddhist literature. Hence they are called The Heart Sutra. It is the very heart or the being of the Buddhist message. But I would like to begin from the very beginning. From this point only does Buddhism become relevant? Let it be there in your heart that you are

a Buddha. I know it may look presumptuous at least from your level of understanding. It may also look very hypothetical for you. You cannot trust it totally. That is natural. I understand it. Let it be there, as a seed alone. The seed may be planted by someone. And then it may start growing. Around that fact many things will start happening. Remember it is only around that fact will you be able to understand these sutras. They are immensely beautiful and full of energy. Though very small, very condensed, yet still these are seed like. But with this soil of understanding and this vision in the mind, that you are a Buddha - a budding Buddha, things just have to be put in the right order. A little more awareness is needed. A little more consciousness is needed. The treasure is there. You have to bring a small lamp inside your house. Once the darkness dispels you will no longer be a beggar. You are a Buddha, a sovereign, an emperor that very moment. This whole kingdom is yours and it is just for the sake of asking; you have just to claim it. But you cannot claim if you believe that you are a beggar. You cannot claim it, or even dream about claiming if you think that you are a beggar. This idea that you are a beggar or an ignorant, or a sinner, has been infused in you from down through the ages that it has become a deep hypnosis in you now. This hypnosis has to be broken. To break it I start with: I salute the Buddha within you. This is a devise to keep you reminding while I am working within you for such an understanding. To me, you are a Buddha. All your efforts to attain to enlightenment are ridiculous if you do not accept this basic fact. This has to become a tacit understanding, that you are it! This is the right beginning. This has to remain like an undercurrent. Otherwise you will go astray. This is the right beginning! Start with this vision. And do not be worried that this may create some kind of ego - that ‘I am a Buddha.’ Hindus say ‘AHAM BRAHMAASMI’. Do not be worried; because the whole process of The Heart Sutra will make it clear to you that the ego is the only thing that does not exist. Ego is the only thing that does not exist! Everything else is real.

There are teachers who say the world is illusory and the soul is existential -- the 'I' is true and all else is illusory, Maya. Buddha says just the opposite. He says only the 'I' is untrue and everything else is real. And I agree with Buddha more than with others. Buddha's insight is very deep and penetrating. Nobody else has ever penetrated into those realms, depths and heights of reality than Buddha. But start with the idea, with this climate around you, with this vision. Let it be declared to your each cell of the body and each thought in your mind. Let it be declared to every nook and corner of your existence, that ‘I am a Buddha!’ And do not be worried about the 'I'... we will take care of it. One Naqshbandi Sufi Raghuber Dayal used to say man ultimately becomes what one believes to be. In the beginning this is a game. However soon it becomes a reality. Try to pretend that you are mad or you stammer soon it will happen. Remember ‘I’ and Buddhahood cannot exist together. Once the Buddhahood becomes revealed the ‘I’ disappears. It is just like darkness disappears when you bring a light in. Before I take you into the sutras, it will be necessary to understand a little framework, a little structure. This will help in understanding the sutra. The ancient Buddhist scriptures talk about seven temples. Just as Sufis talk about seven valleys, Christians talk about seven churches and Hindus talk about seven chakras, Buddhists talk about seven temples. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

The first temple is the physical, The second temple is psycho-somatic, The third temple is psychological, The fourth temple is psycho-spiritual, The fifth temple is spiritual, The sixth temple is spiritualtranscendental, and 7. The seventh temple and the ultimate - the temple of temples - is the transcendental. The sutras belong to the seventh. These are declarations of someone who has entered the seventh temple, the transcendental - the absolute.

That is the meaning of the Sanskrit word, PRAGYAPARAMITA or the wisdom of the beyond, from the beyond, in the beyond. It refers to the wisdom that comes only when you have transcended all kinds of identifications - lower or higher, this worldly or that worldly. You are not identified at all. There is only a pure flame of awareness with no smoke around it. This is the reason Buddhists worship this small book, this very, very small book. They have called it The Heart Sutra - the very heart of religion, the very core. The first temple, the physical, can correspond to the Hindu map with the Muladhar chakra. The second, the psychosomatic, corresponds with Swadhisthan chakra. The third, the psychological corresponds with Manipuri. The fourth, the psycho-spiritual temple relates with Anahatta chakra. The fifth the spiritual temple corresponds The sixth, the spiritualwith Vishudha. transcendental, relates with Agya or the third eye center. And finally the seventh, the transcendental, corresponds with Sahasrar – the thousand petal center. 'Sahasrar' means onethousand-petal lotus. That is the symbol of the ultimate flowering. Nothing has remained hidden, all has become unhidden, manifest. The thousandpetal lotus has opened. The whole sky is filled with its fragrance, beauty, and its benediction. In the modern times a great work has started in search of the innermost core of the human being. It will be good to understand how far modern efforts lead us. It was Pavlov, B.F. Skinner and the other behaviorists who went on circling around the physical, the muladhar. They think man is the body alone. In the process they get too much involved in the first temple, they get too much involved with the physical, and forget everything else. These people are trying to explain man only through the physical, the material. This attitude becomes a hindrance because they are not open. When from the very beginning you deny that there is nothing other than the body, then you deny the exploration itself. This becomes a prejudice. A communist, a Marxist, a behaviorist, an atheist all believe that man is only the body. And thus their very belief closes doors to higher realities. They become blind. And the physical is there, the

physical is the most apparent; it needs no proof. The physical body is there, you need not prove it. Because it need not be proved, it becomes the only reality. That is nonsense. Then man loses all dignity. If there is nothing to grow in or to grow towards, there cannot be any dignity in life. Then man becomes a thing. Then you are not an opening. Also nothing more is going to happen to you. If you are a body: you will eat, and you will defecate, and you will eat and you will make love and produce children, and this will go on and on, and one day you die. This is mechanical repetition of the mundane, the trivia. How can there be any significance, any meaning, and any poetry? How can there be any dance? Skinner has written a book, Beyond Freedom and Dignity. It should be called Below Freedom and Dignity, not beyond. It is in fact below. It is the lowest standpoint about man, the ugliest. There is nothing wrong about the body, remember. I am not against the body, it is a beautiful temple. The ugliness enters when you think this is all. And there can be no transformation. Man can be conceived of as a ladder with seven rungs or steps or a structure with seven stories. However you get identified with the first rung. Then you are not going anywhere. And the ladder is there, and the ladder bridges this world with the other. The ladder bridges matter with God. The first rung is perfectly good if it is used in relationship to the whole ladder. If it functions as a first step it is immensely beautiful. One should be thankful to the body. Body is the temple of the unknown. But if you start worshipping the first rung and you forget the remaining six, you forget that the whole ladder exists and you become closed, confined to the first rung. Then it is no longer a rung at all. Remember because a rung is a rung only when it leads to another rung. A rung is a rung only when it is part of a ladder. If it is no longer a rung then you are stuck with it. Hence, people who are materialistic are always stuck. They always feel something is missing. They do not feel they are going anywhere. They move in rounds, in circles, and they come again and again to the same point. They become tired and bored. They start contemplating how to commit suicide. And their whole effort in life is to find some sensations. They feel only then something new

can happen. But what 'new' can happen? All the things that we go on being occupied with are nothing but toys to play with. The science, technology and all that the modern world has provided you with is nothing but sugar sticks, toys to play with. Modern science has given you comforts of telephone, television and so many other beautiful things for you. And you play around a little bit. Then again you get fed up. You are bored, and again they go on searching for new toys for you to play with. This state of affairs is ridiculous. It is so absurd that it seems almost inconceivable how we go on living in it. We have got caught at the first rung. And remain at this rung for lives. Remember that you are in the body. But you are not the body. Let that be a continuous awareness in you. You live in the body. And the body is a beautiful abode. Remember, I am asking you to become against the body. Or that you start denying the body as the so-called spiritualists have done down the ages. The materialists go on thinking that the body is all that is. On the other hand there are people who move to the opposite extreme. And they start saying that the body is illusory. It ceases to exist! Therefore destroy the body. In doing the illusion is destroyed, and you can become real indeed. This other extreme is a reaction. The materialist creates his own reaction in the spiritualist. However both remain partners in the same business. There is no difference. The body is beautiful. It is real. The body has to be lived. The body has to be loved. The body is a great gift of God. Not for a single moment be against it. Also not for a single moment think that you are only it. You are far bigger. Use the body as a jumping board to transcend to the other realm. The second temple is: Psychosomatic, or Swadisthan. Freudian psychoanalysis functions there. It goes a little higher or deeper than Skinner and Pavlov. Freud enters into the mysteries of the psychological a little bit more. He is not just a behaviorist. Still he never goes beyond dreams. He goes on analyzing the dreams. The dream exists as an illusion in your consciousness. It is indicative and symbolic as well. It has a message from the

unconscious to be revealed to the conscious. But there is no point in just getting caught in it. Use the dream, but never become the dream. You are not the dream. And there is no need to make so much fuss about it, as Freudians go on making. Their whole effort seems to be moving in the realm of the dream world. Try to understand this message, and there is no need really to go to anybody else to analyze your dream. If you cannot analyze your dream nobody else can, because your dream is your dream. And your dream is so personal that nobody else can dream the way you dream. Nobody has ever dreamed the way you dream. And nobody will ever dream the way you dream. Therefore nobody can explain it to you. His interpretation will be his interpretation. Only you can look into it. And in fact there is no need to analyze the dream. Simply look at the dream in its totality, with clarity, with alertness, and you will see the message. It is so loud! There is no need to go for psychoanalysis for three, four, five, seven years. A person who is dreaming every night, and in the day is going to the psychoanalyst to be analyzed, becomes by and by surrounded by dreamy-stuff. The first becomes too much obsessed with the Muladhara, the physical. The second becomes too much obsessed with the sexual. Because the second - the realm of psychosomatic reality is nothing but sex! The second starts interpreting everything in terms of sex. Whatsoever you do, go to the Freudian and he will reduce it to sex. Nothing higher exists for him. He lives in the mud. He does not believe in the lotus. You bring a lotus flower to him he will look at it and reduce it to the mud. He will say, lotus is nothing just dirty mud. Has it not come out of dirty mud? If it has come out of dirty mud then it has to be dirty mud therefore. Reduce everything to its cause, and that is the real. Then every poem is reduced to sex, everything beautiful is reduced to sex and perversion and repression. Michelangelo is a great artist? Even his art has to be reduced to some sexuality. And Freudians go to absurd lengths. They say Michelangelo or Goethe or Byron, all their great works of art which bring great joy to millions of people, is nothing but repressed sex.

For psychoanalyst everything becomes perversion. If Freudian analysis succeeds then there will be no Kalidas, or Shakespeare, or Michelangelo, or Mozart, or Wagner, because everybody will be normal. These are abnormal people. These people are psychologically ill, according to Freud. The greatest are reduced to the lowest. Buddha is ill, according to Freud, because whatsoever things he is talking about, they are nothing but repressed sex. This approach reduces human greatness to ugliness. Beware of it. Buddha is not ill. In fact, Freud is ill. The silence of Buddha, the joy of Buddha, the celebration of Buddha is not ill. It is the full flowering of wellbeing. But to Freud the normal person is one who never sang a song. Who has never danced? Who has never celebrated! Never prayed! Never meditated! And never done anything creative is just normal. He goes to the office, comes home, eats, drinks, sleeps, and dies but can never leave a trace behind of his creativity. This normal man seems to be very mediocre, dull and dead. There is a suspicion about Freud that because he himself could not create as he was an uncreative person. Freud was condemning creativity itself as pathology. There is every possibility that he was a mediocre person. The mediocre mind is trying to reduce all greatness. The mediocre mind cannot accept that there can be any greater being than him. This hurts. Entire psychoanalysis and its interpretation of human life is revenge from the mediocre. Beware of it. It is better than the first. Yes, it is a little ahead of the first, but one has to go, and go on going, beyond and beyond. The third is psychological temple. Adler lives in the world of the psychological, the will to power. It is at least something very egoistic, but at least something. Alder is a little more open than Freud. But the problem remains, just like Freud reduces everything to sex, Adler reduces everything to inferiority complex. People try to become great because they feel inferior. A person who tries to become enlightened is one who feels inferior. And when Buddha attains fruition he has no ideas of superiority. He bows down to the whole of existence. He has not that idea of holier-than-thou

at all. Everything is holy, even the dust is divine. No, he is not thinking himself superior. And he was not striving to become superior. He was not feeling inferior at all. He was born a king. So there was no question of inferiority. He was at the top from the very beginning. There was no question of inferiority. He was the richest man in his country and the most powerful as well. There was nothing more to be attained. He was one of the most beautiful men ever born on this earth. He had one of the most beautiful women as his beloved. All was available to him. But Adler would go on searching for some inferiority because he could not believe that a man could have any goal other than the ego. It is better however better than Freud, a little higher as well. Ego is a little higher than sex. But not much higher! The fourth is psycho-spiritual, or anahatta, the heart center. Carl Gustav Jung, Assagioli and others penetrate that realm. They go higher than Pavlov, Freud and Adler. They open more possibilities. They accept the world of the irrational, the unconscious as well. But they do not confine themselves to reason. They are more reasonable people. They accept ‘unreason’ too. The irrational is not denied instead accepted. This is where modern psychology stops -- at the fourth rung. And the fourth rung is just in the middle of the whole ladder. Three rungs or layers on one side and three on the other. Modern psychology is not yet a complete science. It is hanging just in the middle. It is very uncertain about everything. It is more hypothetical than experiential, as it is still struggling to be. The fifth is spiritual. Islam, Hinduism, Christianity and Sikhism the mass-organized religions remain stuck with the fifth. They do not go beyond the spiritual. All the organized religions, the churches, remain at the fifth layer or rung. The sixth is the spiritual-transcendental. This includes yoga and other methods. All over the world, down the ages, many methods have been developed which are less like a church organization. These are not dogmatic but more experiential in nature. You have to do something with your body and mind. You have to create a

certain harmony within yourself so that you can ride on that harmony. You can ride on that horizon of harmony and go far away from your ordinary reality. Yoga can comprehend all that. This is the sixth. Now comes the seventh layer or rung - the transcendental. Tantra, Tao, Zen. Buddha's attitude is of the seventh -PRAGYAPARAMITA. It means wisdom that is transcendental, wisdom that comes to you only when all the bodies have been crossed and you have become just a pure awareness, just a witness, pure subjectivity. Unless one reaches to the transcendental, he will have to be provided with toys, sugar candies etc. He will have to be provided with false meanings. A few people remember God habitually. Others remember God professionally. A priest remembers professionally. He has nothing to do with God. He is being paid for it. He has become proficient. However no one seems to remember God in deep love. A few people invoke his name when they are miserable. But no one remembers him when they are in joy - celebrating. Remember that is the right moment to remember, because only when you are joyous, immensely ecstatic are you close to God. When you are in misery you are far away. In misery you are closed. When you are happy you are open, flowing. You can hold God's hand. So either you remember habitually. You have been taught from the very childhood. It has become a kind of habit, just like smoking or drinking. If you smoke you do not enjoy much. However if you do not smoke you feel you are missing something. If you remember God every morning, and evening, nothing is attained, because the remembrance is not of the heart. It is just verbal, and mechanical. But if you do not remember you start feeling something is missing. It has become a ritual. Beware of making God a ritual, and beware of becoming professional about it. I have heard a very famous story from scriptures: The story is about a famous yogi. Once, the king of the state promised that if he could go into deep Samadhi and remain under the earth for one year, he would give him the best horse in the kingdom

as a reward. The king knew that the yogi had a soft heart for horses; as he was a great lover of horses. The yogi agreed. Accordingly he was buried alive for a year. But in the course of the year the kingdom was overthrown and no one remembered to dig up the yogi. In the process ten years passed. Then one day someone remembered the yogi. The king sent a few men to find out. The yogi was dug up. He was still in his deep meditation. A previously agreed mantra was whispered in his ear and he came out of the Samadhi. The first thing he enquired was, about the horse. Even after ten years of silence underneath the earth the mind did not change. ‘Where is my horse?’ was his first sentence after opening the eyes. Was he thinking about God in Samadhi? He must have been thinking about the horse. But he was a professional. He must have learned the technique of how to stop the breathing and how to go into a kind of conscious death. Remaining ten years in such deep silence and the mind has not changed even a bit! It is exactly the same as if these ten years had not passed by. If you remember God technically or professionally or habitually then nothing is going to happen. Everything is possible, but all possibilities go through the door heart. Heart is the door. Hence the name of this scripture: The Heart Sutra. Unless you do something out of love, with involvement, commitment, sincerity, authenticity, and your total being, nothing is going to happen. These sutras can become a revolution. Inward journey begins with an enquiry. When first you ask, ‘Who am I?’ the muladhar will answer, ‘You are a body! What nonsense! There is no need to ask, you know it already.’ Then the second will say, ‘You are sexuality.’ Then the third will claim, ‘You are a power-trip, an ego’ - and so on and so forth. This enquiry ‘Who am I?’ has to continue. You can stop only when no answer comes back, not before this. If still answer comes that, ‘You are this, or that,’ then know well that a certain center is providing you with the answer. When all the six centers have been crossed and all their answers vanished, you still go on asking, ‘Who am I?’ and no answer comes from anywhere, know this as utter

silence. Your question resounds in yourself: ‘Who am I?’ and there is silence. No answer arises from anywhere. You are absolutely present, and silent. There is not even a single vibration. ‘Who am I?’ and silence overflows. Then a miracle happens. You cannot even formulate the question. Answers have become absurd. Then finally the question also becomes absurd. First answers disappear. Then the question also disappears. Because both question and answer exist in togetherness. They are like two sides of the same coin. If one side has gone, the other cannot be retained. First answers disappear, and then the question as well. And with the disappearance of question and answer, you come to realize the transcendental. You know, yet you cannot say you know. And there is no way to articulate about it. You know from your very being who you are, but it cannot be verbalized. It is ETERNAL KNOWING. It is not scriptural. It is not borrowed. It is not from others. It has arisen in you. And with this arising, you are a Buddha. And then you start laughing because you came to know that you have been a Buddha from the very beginning. You had just never looked so deep. You were running around and around outside your being. You had never come home. I have heard once Arthur Schopenhauer, the philosopher, was walking down a lonely street. Lost in thought, he accidentally bumped into another pedestrian. Angered by the jolt and the apparent unconcern of the philosopher, the pedestrian shouted, ‘Well! Who do you think you are?’ Still lost in thought the philosopher replied, ‘Who am I? How do I wish I knew?’ No one in fact knows. Knowing this that I do not know who I am the journey begins. This is HOMAGE TO THE TOTALITY OF WISDOM, THE LOVELY, and THE HOLY! This is an invocation. All Indian scriptures begin with an invocation for a certain reason.

The Indian understanding entails that we are hollow bamboos. Through which only the infinite flows. The infinite has to be invoked. We become just an instrument to it. We invoke it. We call it forth to flow through us. That is why nobody knows who wrote this Heart Sutra. It has not been signed because the person who wrote it did not believe that he was the writer of it. He was just instrumental. It appeared as if it was dictated to

him, and he has written it. But he is not the author of it. HOMAGE TO THE TOTALITY OF WISDOM, THE LOVELY, and THE HOLY!

Only this much for now as prelude!

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Cover of book on Meditation by Jiddu Krihnnamurti

DHAMMAPADA OF BUDDHA The sayings of the Buddha were extracted out of the stories of Buddha's life to form The Dhammapada, which means ‘the path of dharma.’ This book consists of 423 sayings of the Buddha, grouped into 26 categories. One must take the title of the book with utmost sincerity. The sayings of the Buddha are not meant to be a fixed, static, unchanging doctrine, but rather a path which anyone can follow.

T

he Dhammapada is the best known and most widely esteemed text in the Pali Tipitaka. It is the sacred scriptures of Theravada Buddhism. The work is included in the Khuddaka Nikaya (‘Minor Collection’) of the Sutta Pitaka. However its popularity has raised it to the ranks of a world religious classic. Originally it was composed in the ancient Pali language. A slim anthology of verses Dhammapada constitutes a perfect compendium of the Buddha's teaching. It comprises all the essential principles elaborated at length in the forty volumes. According to the Theravada Buddhist tradition, each verse in the Dhammapada was originally spoken by the Buddha in response to a particular episode. Accounts of these, verses, are preserved in the classic commentary to the work, compiled by Bhadantacariya Buddhaghosa in the fifth century C.E. The contents of the verses, however, transcend the limited and particular circumstances of their origin, reaching out through the ages to various types of people in all the diverse situations of life. Dhammapada is a sympathetic counselor for the intellectually overburdened one. It’s clear and direct teachings inspire humility and reflection. And for the earnest seeker it is a perennial source of inspiration and practical instruction. Insights of Buddha have crystallized into these luminous verses of pure wisdom. As profound expressions of practical spirituality each verse is a guideline to right living. The Buddha unambiguously pointed out that whoever earnestly practices the teachings found in the Dhammapada will taste the bliss of emancipation. Due to its immense importance, the Dhammapada has been translated into numerous languages. In English alone several translations are available,

including editions by such noted scholars as Max Muller and Dr. S. Radhakrishnan. From ancient times to the present, the Dhammapada has been regarded as the most significant expression of the Buddha's teaching found in the Pali canon and the chief spiritual testament of early Buddhism. In the countries following Theravada Buddhism, such as Sri Lanka, Burma and Thailand, the influence of the Dhammapada is ubiquitous. To his followers, the Buddha is neither a god, divine incarnation, nor a prophet who bears a message of divine revelation, instead a human being who by his own striving and intelligence has reached the highest spiritual attainment of which man is capable. His function in relation to humanity is that of a teacher — a world teacher who, out of compassion, points out to others the way to Nibbana (Sanskrit: Nirvana), final release from suffering. His teaching, known as the Dhamma, offers a body of instructions explaining the true nature of existence and showing the path that leads to liberation. Free from all dogmas and inscrutable claims to authority, the Dhamma is founded solidly upon the bedrock of the Buddha's own clear comprehension of reality, and it leads the one who practices it to that same understanding which extricates the roots of suffering. The title ‘Dhammapada’ which the ancient compilers of the Buddhist scriptures attached to our anthology means portions, aspects, or sections of Dhamma. The work has been given this title as it contains twenty-six chapters. It spans the multiple aspects of the Buddha's teaching offering a variety of standpoints from which to gain a glimpse into its heart. Whereas the longer discourses of the

Buddha contained in the prose sections of the Canon usually proceed methodically.

then that heaven has no worth, no reality. It is your fancy, it is your dream.

Unfolding according to the sequential structure of the doctrine, the Dhammapada lacks such a systematic arrangement. The work is simply a collection of inspirational verses on the fundamentals of the Dhamma, to be used as a basis for personal instruction. In any given chapter several successive verses may have been spoken by the Buddha on a single occasion, and thus among themselves will exhibit a meaningful development or a set of variations on a theme. But by and large, the logic behind the grouping together of verses into a chapter is merely the concern with a common topic. The twenty-six chapter headings thus function as a kind of rubric for classifying the diverse poetic utterances of the Master, and the reason behind the inclusion of any given verse in a particular chapter is its mention of the subject indicated in the chapter’s heading. In certain cases like (Chapters 4 and 23) this may be a metaphorical symbol rather than a point of doctrine. There also seems to be no intentional design in the order of the chapters themselves, though at certain points a loose thread of development can be discerned.

All great values of life grow in the climate of freedom. Hence freedom is the most fundamental value and also the highest pinnacle. If you want to understand Buddha you will have to taste something of the freedom he is talking about. His freedom is not of the outside. It is not social; it is not political, or economic. His freedom is spiritual.

Gautama the Buddha’s whole religion can be reduced to a single word. That word is freedom. That is his essential message. Or his very fragrance! Nobody else has raised freedom so high. It is the ultimate value in Buddha's vision, the SUMMUM BONUM. There is nothing higher than that. And it seems very fundamental to understand why Buddha emphasizes freedom so much. Neither God is emphasized nor heaven is emphasized nor is love emphasized, but only freedom. There is a reason for it: all that is valuable becomes possible only in the climate of freedom. Love also grows only in the soil of freedom. Without freedom, love cannot grow. Without freedom, what grows in the name of love is nothing but lust. Without freedom there is no God. Without freedom what you think to be God is only your imagination, your fear, your greed. There is no heaven without freedom. Freedom is heaven. And if you think there is heaven without freedom,

By ‘freedom’ he means a state of consciousness unhindered by any desire, unchained to any desire, un-imprisoned by any greed, or lust for more. By ‘freedom’ he means a consciousness without mind, a state of no-mind. It is utterly empty, because if there is something, that will certainly hinder freedom; hence it is utter emptiness. This word ‘emptiness’ or SHUNYATA has been very much misunderstood by people, because the word has a connotation of negativity. Whenever we hear the word ‘empty’ we think of something negative. In Buddha’s terminology, emptiness is not negative. Emptiness is absolutely positive, more positive than your so-called fullness. It is so because emptiness is full of freedom. Everything else has been removed. It is spacious. All boundaries have been dropped. It is unbounded. And only in an unbounded space, freedom is possible. His emptiness is not ordinary emptiness. It is not only absence of something instead it is a presence of something invisible. Take an example: you are empty your room. As you remove the furniture and the paintings and the things inside, the room becomes empty on the one hand because there is no more any furniture, no more paintings, no more things, nothing is left inside; but on the other hand, something invisible starts filling it. That invisibleness is ‘roominess,’ or ‘spaciousness’- the room becomes bigger. As you remove the things, the room is becoming bigger and bigger. When everything is removed, even the walls, then the room is as big as the whole sky. Such is the whole process of meditation - removing everything. Removing yourself so totally that nothing is left behind - not even you! In that utter silence is freedom. In this utter stillness grows the ‘One-Thousand-Petal Lotus of Freedom’. And great

fragrance is released! It is the fragrance of peace, compassion, love, and bliss. Or if you want to choose the word ‘God’ you can choose it. It is not Buddha’s word, but there is no harm in choosing it. Meditate over these beautiful sutras: THIRTY-SIX STREAMS ARE RUSHING TOWARD YOU! ‘Thirty-six’ is only a Buddhist metaphor. It stands for ‘many.’ Many streams are rushing towards you. Each moment you are surrounded by a thousand and one desires, and they are all pulling you in different directions. You are a victim and you are falling apart. I have heard: a young man entered a hotel. He saw a very beautiful woman sitting alone in the corner drinking coffee. She was so beautiful and so attractive that the young man could not resist the temptation. He went close to her and asked her, ‘Can I join you?’ The woman looked at him for a few seconds and said, ‘Do you think I am falling apart?’ But that is exactly the case with everybody is falling apart, even that woman. Everybody is falling apart. You are not one. You have become many fragments, and all the fragments are going in different directions. That is why there is so much misery in your life. When your parts, which are essentially your intrinsic parts, are being pulled in different directions you feel the pain of it. That is what misery is: the pain of falling into different directions simultaneously, or rushing into different directions simultaneously. That is what creates craziness, and insanity. Buddha says: THIRTY-SIX STREAMS ARE RUSHING TOWARD YOU! Beware! Not only one but many streams are rushing toward you. And if you do not take care, and are not alert, you will be possessed by them. If you remain unconscious, or you remain sleepy, you will be defeated by those streams. Those streams are not basically enemies to you. They are pure energy, and energy is always neutral. But when you are asleep those same streams are dangerous.

When you are awake, those same streams become great creative energies for you. They are rushing towards Buddhas too, but in the hand of a buddha, dust turns into gold. The touch of awareness is alchemical. In YOUR hands, even if by chance you come across gold, it turns into dust. You are so asleep. In that sleepiness you impart your sleepiness to whatsoever comes to you. Those thirty-six streams he is talking about are gifts of existence, gifts of great energy. It is coming from everywhere. Now, it depends on you whether you can transform those energies into a synthesis, and thus transform those energies into an integrated whole or create an orchestra out of all those energies. Then you become a song, and you create great music. Your life becomes a melody. But if you cannot transform those energies, then you will be a victim and you will be divided into so many parts. You will lose all integrity. You will become a crowd. You will not be an individual anymore. THIRTY-SIX STREAMS ARE RUSHING TOWARD YOU! DESIRE AND PLEASURE AND LUST.... and so on, so forth. What is desire? Desire means greed for more. It is cannot be fulfilled. It is impossible to fulfill the greed for more because that ‘more’ has no limitation. ‘More’ simply means an insatiable quest. You have ten thousand dollars you want one hundred thousand dollars. One day you get one hundred thousand dollars - now you want more. You want more and more and the process continues. Whatsoever you get, the distance between you and your goal will always remain the same. It is never reduced, not even by a single inch. That is why beggars remain beggars. However emperors are also beggars. Both are still hankering for more. What is the difference then? No difference as far as the quality of their consciousness is concerned. Of course, the beggar does not possess much and the emperor possesses much, but that is not the point. The distance between the beggar’s possessions

and what he wants and the emperor’s possessions and what he wants is exactly the same.

destroy. He wants to kill the whole world! That woman drove him mad and hysteric.’

One is a poor beggar; the other is a rich beggar. Only this much difference you can make. But both are beggars all the same. To be in the grip of ‘more’ is to be really eccentric. If you cannot see it then you are not intelligent at all. It is such a simple phenomenon that just a little intelligence is needed to see it. In your whole life you have been trying and it is not that you have always failed. It only LOOKS as if you have always failed. You have succeeded many times, but each time you succeed, your desire for more is projected again and you remain in the same position: miserable, unhappy, frustrated. If you do not get what you want, you will be frustrated. On the contrary if you get what you want, you will be frustrated again. It seems frustration is the destiny, the absolute destiny, of the unconscious man.

One is mad because he could not get her, the other is mad because he got her. This is the whole history of every human being, more or less. It may not be so extreme, so you do not see it, but the differences are only in degrees. The man in the grip of desire is bound to become insane.

I have heard a psychiatrist was going around a mental hospital. He saw one man beating himself, pulling his hair. He looked very suicidal. He was kept in a cell as he was dangerous. He asked the superintendent, ‘What happened to this man?’ The superintendent said, ‘He loved a woman, he loved her very much, but he could not get married to her. She married someone else. Since then he has been in this state. He wants to commit suicide. He does not want to live any more. He says there is no meaning in life: ‘My meaning was in that woman. If I could not get that woman, then my life is finished!’ Feeling sorry for the man they moved ahead. Further down he saw another cell and a man was inside it. He was even more ferocious, and very hysteric. The psychiatrist enquired, ‘what is the case history this man?’ The superintendent replied, ‘This is the man who married that same woman! Since he has married her he wants to kill her, and if he cannot kill her then he wants to kill anyone instead. However he wants to kill and

And Buddha says: PLEASURE! Pleasure means that you think the body is the only source of happiness. That is sheer stupidity. The body’s pleasures are momentary. They are not real pleasures. But everybody is caught in the web of the body. We are born as bodies, but we need not die as bodies. If we die as bodies, our whole life was a sheer wastage. You have to grow up. And remember growing old is not growing up. Everybody grows old, but very few really a rare one grows up indeed. One who really grows up becomes a buddha. Growing up means you start becoming alert about bodily pleasures. They are indeed momentary and they can change into their opposite very easily. For example, you love eating and you can go on eating too much. Then it becomes a pain. It was pleasure in the beginning, but there is a limit to that pleasure. On your tongue there are little taste buds which experience taste. They can be operated on very easily and then you will not feel anything at all. Then the whole pleasure of eating disappears. That is what happens when you are in fever. When in fever your buds become dull, and insensitive. Thus you eat but you do not feel any taste. People are living for eating. There are very few people who eat to live. Millions are living only to eat. Humanity can be divided into two types of mad people: first are obsessed with food; the other type is obsessed with sex. And there is a deep relation between the two.

The person who is obsessed with sex will not bother much about food and the person who is repressive of sex will become obsessed with food. Whenever a country is repressive of sex it becomes very obsessed with food. That is what has happened all around. For centuries humanity has been repressive of sex. This is the reason Indians have been very inventive about food variety of new sweets. The world is completely unaware of all those sweets! It is repression of sex! If your sex is not repressed you will not eat such spicy food. The whole desire has to move towards spicy food. But both are the same. There is no difference. Food and sex have one thing in common. Food is needed for the individual’s survival. Without food you will not survive. And sex is needed for the survival of spices. Without sex the species will disappear.

do not allow that. You have to be obsessed with something or other. If you are not obsessed you will not go to the temples and the mosques and to the churches and to the synagogues. That is the very secret of their trade. This whole business of religion goes on and on without any stopping. This is so for the simple reason that you remain obsessed with one thing or other. The person who is obsessed with sex will be less selfish. While the person who is obsessed with food will be more selfish! The reason is food means your survival and sex means survival of the species. It is better to be sexual and to be after sexual pleasures than to live just to eat. When celibacy as is commonly understood for Brahmacharya is propounded down the ages as one of the greatest values the ultimate result has been that everybody has become obsessed with food. Whenever people are obsessed with food they become selfish. Obviously they are no longer interested in the species. Immanuel Kant, one of the thinkers of the world, says: ‘This to me is the fundamental criterion of all morality: that any principle, if followed, destroys humanity. It is immoral.’ If brahmacharya is followed by the whole humanity it will destroy humanity. It will be a suicidal phenomenon. According to Immanuel Kant, brahmacharya is immoral - more immoral than stealing, more immoral than dishonesty, more immoral than breaking your promise, more immoral than anything.

The person who is living a natural life will neither be obsessed with sex nor will be obsessed with food. He will not be obsessed at all. But religions

Immanuel Kant is right. The criterion is this: you should think what will be the result if the principle of celibacy is followed by everyone. It will be suicidal. It will be a global suicide. There will be nobody left to be celibate anymore. And the same is true about the so-called old escapist Sanyas or renunciation. This too is immoral. If everybody follows the escapist idea and drops out and escapes to the Himalayas, the whole humanity will die.

In fact, your so-called saints live because you are in the world and you go on supporting them. If you are not in the world and you too has moved to the Himalayas following your saints and mahatmas they will be at a loss. Who will feed them? Who will support them? They will have to commit suicide with their followers - and the Himalayas is a really beautiful site if you want to commit suicide, the best place in the world. If you could not live beautifully, at least you can die in a beautiful place. Your so called religious ones are supported by the worldly people. And still they go on condemning the world. It is an immoral act. Escapism is an immoral act. I agree with Immanuel Kant. His criterion has something really valuable about it. Pleasure means either the pleasure of the tongue, food which is very childish or the pleasure of sex, which is also very childish because you are not just the body, you are more than that. Rise from pleasures to happiness. Happiness is psychological, pleasure is physiological. Listening to great music or reading great poetry or watching a sunset or just enjoying a morning walk and the wind passing through the pines and the music that it creates the sound of running water it all thrills you. Although it comes through the body, it reaches deeper than food or sex. It is more fulfilling. But that, too, is not the end because anything that is psychological is bound to be momentary. Beyond happiness is bliss which is of the spirit. Bliss is a timeless phenomenon. In bliss you go beyond time and beyond mind and body both. Then you know who you are. Then you function from your center. For the first time you are not eccentric. You are centered. For the first time you have roots in your being. Remember those roots connect you with God, and thus the whole. You become holy only when you are blissful. But pleasure prevents you. It prevents you at the lowest. I am not against pleasure. Remember I am

not against anything. Everything has to be used as a stepping stone for the ultimate peak. I am exploring every possibility for the birth of a new man who is blissful. In order to interact with people at different planes of consciousness I use a multidimensional approach. There is no plane at which I do not operate. This is the effort of a living Buddha to bring transformation. The body is beautiful and enjoying your food is good. Just do not be obsessed by it. But if your so called religious ones are continuously condemning it, you will be obsessed by it. Obsession is created by your so-called religious ones. Whatsoever is condemned becomes your obsession. In fact, the more they condemn, the more attractive it becomes, the more magnetic it becomes. I am not against sex, but I would like you to go beyond it. Use it as a stepping stone, use it as a ladder. It is beautiful in itself. But remember it is not the end, only the beginning. Do not stop at the first ladder of your life. Life has much more. The hidden treasures have to be discovered. LUST! Lust is even far below pleasure. Pleasure at least respects the other. If you love a woman, you love her company, or a man. You respect the other. But in lust you do not have any respect. You simply use the other. Lust is even more degraded than pleasure. It is falling below humanity. You are simply using the other as a means. When you make love to a woman without any respect towards her, what you really are doing is nothing more than masturbation. You are using the woman only to deceive yourself. There is no connection between you and her. Going to a prostitute is not pleasure. That is lust. You are paying. Love cannot be purchased. Only bodies can be purchased. And remember, when you purchase a body it is a dead body. The soul is not there. The woman is somehow tolerating you because she needs money. She hates you indeed. She would like to kill you. But she is pretending to be very loving, very affectionate, because she is

being paid for it. With her closed eyes she thinks of other things. She simply tolerates you. You are using her as a means, and she is using you as a means. She wants the money, you want the body. This is a mutual exploitation.

over him, ‘Mister, it is not necessary for you to feel worried,’ she said kindly. ‘The operation was a big success. Take my word, when you leave here you will feel twenty years younger. Maybe more, who knows?’

Buddha says: All these streams are rushing towards you - DESIRE, PLEASURE AND LUST.... Play in your imagination with them and they will sweep you away. And you are all full of imagination. Making love to your wife you are not really making love to her. You may be thinking of Sophia Loren or someone else. And she may be thinking of somebody else too. Both are pretending. And nobody will know what is going on in the mind of the other. Their imagination is somewhere else. If you could look into the minds of people who are making love you would be surprised. It is very rare to find only two persons in a single bed. You will find a crowd. At least four are absolutely certain. It is always group sex, because their minds are fancying, fantasizing. Even grown-up people your so-called grownups are really living in imagination. Not only children live in imagination. Even old people live in imagination.

But the poor old man only continued to wail, as tears continued to trickle down his cheeks and losing themselves in his long white whiskers. ‘Please do not cry,’ pleaded Mrs. Wilson. ‘The pain will soon disappear.’ ‘Who is crying from pain?’ sobbed the patient. ‘I am afraid I will be late for school.’ Just look deep down inside yourself and you will find the child intact. It has not grown up. The ordinary mental age of every human being is not more than twelve.

People go on playing with toys and they never wake up. Their imagination continues to keep them asleep. Once again we enter the time capsule, and journey back through the sexy sixties, the nifty fifties, the fighting forties, the dirty thirties, and on into the roaring twenties where we stop. We are at that point in time when the transplanting of monkey glands and other such operations for the restoration of male vigor were in vogue. I have heard that a surgery for the restoration of youth had just been performed on a seventy-yearold man who had hoped that, as a result, his chromosomes would henceforth be bouncing off the ceiling. As he came out from under the influence of the anesthesia he began to cry profusely. Mrs. Wilson, the attending nurse, bent

Physiologically you may be eighty. Psychologically you remain hanging around twelve. Hence, once in a while, you start behaving like a child in spite of yourself. If you are pushed and pulled too much you forget that you are a grown-up person. The child is sitting there covered by many experiences, but those experiences have not yet been digested. Under the disguise of knowledge that has not yet become your wisdom as it has not been achieved through awareness life goes on. You have been collecting and accumulating it in your sleep. So you have accumulated much rubbish alongside. Yes, once in a while you may have picked up a diamond too, not knowing that it is a diamond. You think it to be just another colored stone. Play in your imagination with them and they will sweep you away. If you allow desire, pleasure, lust, greed, anger, jealousy, possessiveness, violence and all these rushing streams towards you, they will sweep you away. Therefore do not play with them in your imagination. This way you go on strengthening them, and you will get under their sway. And the miracle is that everybody can understand everybody else’s imagination, except his own. When somebody falls in love with somebody else you say, ‘How foolish!’

Everybody thinks this person has gone crazy. ‘Look at the face of that woman. She looks like a Picasso painting! And why is this man crazy about her? What does he see in her?’ And when YOU fall in love, then it is totally different. She looks like a Cleopatra! Nobody else will agree with you. It is always your imagination. And the same goes on and on in different layers, in different dimensions. The nonsense that is written in your religious scriptures is absolutely right. It is scientific. The nonsense that is written in others’ scriptures is clearly nonsense. There can be no question about it or any doubt about it. Hindus can see all kinds of stupidities in the Bible. And Christians see all kinds of stupidities in Hindu scriptures. But this seems to be really a miracle. No Hindu will see in his own scriptures anything wrong there everything is scientific. And not only does he think it is scientific, he tries to prove it.

because you have to hold them on with your toes, between your toes. It is heavy. I asked him, ‘Why this? What science is there?’ He said, ‘It keeps one celibate. The pressure of it is such that it keeps one’s sexual glands nonfunctional.’ Great, just great! So I said, ‘Then India need not bother about population. Just give wooden shoes to everybody and let them all grow chotis so sexuality will not affect them. They will all be saints.’ Hindus think he is doing a great service to Hinduism. That is how it is with all the religions. Your imagination is always truth while that of others is only imagination.

Once a Hindu monk came to me! He came with many followers. One of his followers said, ‘He is a very great scholar; he has written many books. And his whole effort in his life has been to prove that Hinduism is the only scientific religion of the world.’ I said, ‘Can he give any example?’ He said, ‘You can ask anything and he will say why it is scientific.’ I asked him, ‘Why do Hindus cut all their hair but keep a small tuft as the CHOTI on the top of their heads?’ He said, ‘Simple! Have you ever looked at big buildings? They keep there an iron rod.’ I could not see the point immediately. He said, ‘It is to protect the building from electricity. Hindus discovered it long ago - if you keep a choti a little bunch of hair standing up on your head, it saves you, protects you from electricity.’

A rabbi and a priest were discussing the differences between the Old Testament and the New. The priest contented that the New Testament gave more proof of divine cooperation because of all its purported miracles. ‘Remember,’ argued the priest, ‘our Lord walked on water, he raised the dead, he fed hundreds of people with a few loaves of bread and some little fishes, he changed water into wine, and he ascended bodily into heaven.’ ‘So what does that prove?’ insisted the rabbi. ‘The Old Testament includes such miracles as parting the Red Sea, making the sun stand still, Moses ascending bodily to Mount Sinai to talk personally with God and to receive the dialogue from the very hands of the Almighty.’ The priest nodded. ‘I believe in those miracles too,’ he acknowledged. ‘But be honest about it - do you really think your miracles have as much substance as ours?’ The rabbi glared at him. ‘What is the matter with you?’ he snapped crossly. ‘Can’t you distinguish between fact and fiction?’ Our fiction is a fact and your fiction is fiction. Your fact too is fiction.

Now, what nonsense he is talking! But he is known as a great mahatma because he is helping your egos; he is proving that your religion is scientific. He had come to see me with all his disciples. They were all wearing wooden slippers, - and making great noise. The way Hindus have been using those wooden shoes for centuries it is really difficult

Beware of imagination. It can becloud your mind. It can destroy your capacity to see clearly. Hence I say: Unless you drop being Hindus, Mohammedans, Christians, you will not be able to see clearly. Your imagination has been contaminated for centuries. All your ideas and ideologies have to be put aside so that your eyes

can face and encounter truth as it is. Imagination keeps you asleep. If you come out of your imagination you start waking up. Gurdjieff used to say to his disciples that the most important thing is to remember in a dream that ‘This is a dream.’ But, how to remember it! It

seems almost impossible. How to remember in a dream that ‘This is a dream’? But if you practice the Gurdjieffian way, one day you can remember it. The method is simple. You have to go on remembering the whole day, whatsoever you see, that ‘This is a dream.’ Walking on the street, ‘This is a dream’. The dog barking, ‘This is a dream.’ Go on remembering the whole day, ‘This is a dream, this is a dream....’ It takes three to nine month for the idea to sink into your heart. Then one day, suddenly, in your dream you remember and you say, ‘This is a dream!’ And that is a moment of great benediction. Immediately, the dream disappears. The moment you say it is a dream, it disappears and you are awake, fully awake, and even in the middle of the night. Of course, these trees and the people on the road are

not a dream so they do not disappear. You can go on saying, ‘This is a dream.’ That was just a method to practice. But when you really remember in a dream that ‘This is a dream,’ the dream disappears. The dream can exist only if it is believed. The dream disappears if you do not believe in it. Human imagination is intoxicating. It does not exist. It is just a subjective phenomenon. This is exactly the meaning of the word MAYA. Maya is a subjective phenomenon. It does not exist. But if you believe, it exists. It all depends on you. You can make it function almost as real. And there are many things which never exist, but you believe in them and for you they are realities. You are surrounded by fictions religious, spiritual, and metaphysical. There are so many fictions surrounding you and you have to wake up from all these. POWERFUL STREAMS! Buddha says. They are everywhere. They flow everywhere. These streams are powerful, and your sleep is so deep. It seems very difficult to wake up but you can wake up. My own observation is that these streams are powerful as proportionate to your sleep. If you become less sleepy they are less powerful. If you become fully awake, their power disappears totally. If you are intoxicated you will see the same world but in a different way. Your imagination will get mixed with it. You will not be able to make any distinction between what is fiction and what is fact. You will not have any power of discrimination. This is what exactly makes these streams so powerful. They flow everywhere Buddha says. This is Buddha’s Dhammapada.