VIEW WITH INTERNET EXPLORER + SCREEN AT 800 X 600 PIXELS + SMALL ARIAL FONTS | ||
oshothe vigyana bhairava tantra vol one | ||
the book of the secrets : a new commentary : talks given from 01/10/1972 pm to 01/03/1973 pm | ||
the vigyana bhairava tantra vol one chapter thirteen | ||
entering the inner centering 16 november 1972 pm in woodlands bombay | ||
LOOK LOVINGLY AT SOME OBJECT. DO NOT GO TO
ANOTHER OBJECT. HERE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE OBJECT -- THE BLESSING. WITHOUT SUPPORT
FOR FEET OR HANDS, SIT ONLY ON THE BUTTOCKS. SUDDENLY, THE CENTERING. IN A MOVING
VEHICLE, BY RHYTHMICALLY SWAYING, EXPERIENCE. OR IN A STILL VEHICLE, BY LETTING YOURSELF
SWING IN SLOWING INVISIBLE CIRCLES. PIERCE SOME PART
OF YOUR NECTAR-FILLED FORM WITH A PIN, AND GENTLY ENTER THE PIERCING AND ATTAIN TO THE
INNER PURITY. The human body is a
mysterious mechanism. Its working is two-dimensional. In order to go to the outside, your
consciousness goes through the senses to meet the world, to meet matter. But this is only
one dimension of your body's functions. Your body has another dimension also: it leads you
in. If consciousness goes out, then whatsoever you know is matter; if consciousness goes
in, then whatsoever you know is non-matter. In reality, there
is no division: matter and non-matter are one. But this reality -- X -- if looked at
through the eyes, the senses, appears as matter. This same reality, the X, looked at from
within -- not through the senses, but through centering -- looks like non-matter. The
reality is one, but you can look at it in two ways. One is through the senses; another is
not through the senses. All these techniques of centering are really to lead you to a
point in yourself where senses are not working, where you go beyond senses. Three things have
to be understood first before we enter the techniques. Firstly, when you see through the
eyes, the eyes are not seeing: they are only openings to see. The seer is behind the eyes.
That which looks through the eyes is not the eyes. That is why you can close your eyes and
still see dreams, visions, images. The seer is behind the senses; he moves through the
senses to the world. But if you close your senses, the seer remains within. If the seer, this
consciousness, is centered, suddenly he becomes aware of himself. And when you are aware
of yourself you are aware of the total existence, because you and existence are not two.
But to become aware of oneself one needs centering. By centering I mean your consciousness
not being divided in many directions, your consciousness not moving anywhere, remaining in
itself... non-moving, rooted, without any direction, just remaining there: in. It looks difficult
to remain in, because for our minds even this thinking of how to remain in becomes a going
out. We start thinking: the "how" starts thinking. To think about the in, the
inner, is also a thought for us -- and every thought as such belongs to the outer, never
to the inner, because in the innermost center you are simply consciousness. Thoughts are like
clouds. They have come to you, but they do not belong to you. Every thought comes from the
outside, from without. You cannot produce a single thought inside, within. Every thought
comes from the outside; there is no possibility of creating a thought within. Thoughts are
like clouds coming to you. So whenever you are thinking, you are not in -- remember. To be
thinking is to be out. So even if you are thinking about the inner, the soul, the self,
you are not in. All these thoughts
about the self, about the inner, about the within, have come from without; they do not
belong to you. To you belongs only simple consciousness, sky-like, without the clouds. So what to do? How
to gain this simple consciousness inside? Some devices are used, because directly you
cannot do anything. Some devices are needed through which you are thrown in, thrown to it.
This center always needs an indirect approach; you cannot approach it directly. Understand
this clearly, because this is very basic. You are playing,
and later on you report that it was very blissful, that "I was feeling very happy, I
enjoyed it. A subtle happiness has been left behind." Someone listens to you. He is
also after happiness -- everyone is. He says, "Then I must play, because if through
playing happiness is achieved, then I must achieve." He plays also, but he is
directly concerned with happiness, with bliss, with enjoyment. Happiness is a by-product.
If you are totally in your play, absorbed, happiness results, but if you are constantly
hankering for happiness nothing happens. The play is the start. You are listening
to music. Someone says, "I feel very blissful." But if constantly you are
directly concerned with bliss, you will not even be able to listen. That concern, that
greed for bliss will become a barrier. Bliss is a by-product, you cannot grab it directly.
It is so delicate a phenomenon that you have to approach it only indirectly. Do something
else and it happens. You cannot do it directly. Whatsoever is
beautiful, whatsoever is eternal is so delicate that if you try to grab it directly it is
destroyed. That is what is meant by techniques and devices. These techniques go on telling
you to do something. That which you are doing is not significant; that which results is
significant. But your mind must be concerned with doing, with technique, not with the
result. The result happens -- it is bound to happen. But it always happens indirectly, so
do not be concerned with the result. Be concerned with the technique. Do it as totally as
possible, and forget the result. It happens, but you can become a barrier to it. If you are
concerned only with the result, then it will never happen. And then it becomes very
strange. People come to me and say, "You said that if we do meditation this will
happen, but we are doing it and this is not happening." And they are right, but they
have forgotten the condition: you have to forget about the result, only then does it
happen. You have to be in
the act totally. The more you are in the act, the sooner the result happens. But it is
always indirect. You cannot be aggressive about it; you cannot be violent about it. It is
such a delicate phenomenon; it cannot be attacked. It only comes to you while you are
engaged somewhere else so totally that your inner space is vacant. These techniques are
all indirect. There is no direct technique for spiritual happening. Now the technique
-- the sixth technique for centering: 18 18 LOOK LOVINGLY ON SOME OBJECT.
DO NOT GO ON TO ANOTHER OBJECT. HERE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE OBJECT -- THE BLESSING. I should repeat it: LOOK LOVINGLY ON
SOME OBJECT. DO NOT GO ON TO ANOTHER. Do not move to another object. HERE IN THE MIDDLE OF
THIS OBJECT -- THE BLESSING. LOOK LOVINGLY ON SOME OBJECT... LOVINGLY is the
key. Have you ever looked lovingly at any object? You may say yes because you do not know
what it means to look lovingly at an object. You may have looked lustfully at an object --
that is another thing. That is totally different, diametrically opposite. So first, the
difference; try to feel the difference. A beautiful face, a
beautiful body -- you look at it, and you feel that you are looking at it lovingly. But
why are you looking at it? Do you want to get something out of it? Then it is lust, not
love. Do you want to exploit it? Then it is lust, not love. Then really, you are thinking
of how to use this body, how to possess it, how to make this body an instrument for your
happiness. Lust means how to
use something for your happiness; love means your happiness is not at all concerned.
Really, lust means how to get something out of it and love means how to give something.
They are diametrically opposite. If you see a
beautiful face and you feel love toward the face, the immediate feeling in your
consciousness will be how to do something to make this face happy, how to do something to
make this man or this woman happy. The concern is not with yourself, the concern is with
the other. In love the other
is important; in lust you are important. In lust you are thinking how to make the other
your instrument; in love you are thinking how to become an instrument yourself. In lust
you are going to sacrifice the other; in love you are going to sacrifice yourself. Love
means giving; lust means getting. Love is a surrender; lust is an aggression. What you say is
meaningless. Even in lust you talk in terms of love. Your language is not very meaningful,
so do not be deceived. Look within, and then you will come to understand that you have not
once in your life looked lovingly toward someone or some object. The second distinction to be made: this sutra says, LOOK LOVINGLY ON SOME OBJECT. Really, even if you
look lovingly at something material, insentient, the object will become a person. If you
look lovingly at it, your love is the key to transform anything into a person. If you look
lovingly at a tree, the tree becomes a person. Just the other day
I was talking with Vivek, a close disciple, and I told her that when we move to the new
ashram we will name every tree, because every tree is a person. Have you ever heard of
anyone naming a tree? No one names a tree because no one feels love for it. If the case
were otherwise, a tree would become a person. Then it is not just one in a crowd, it
becomes unique. You name dogs and
cats. When you name a dog and you call it Tiger or something else, the dog becomes a
person. Then it is not just one dog amongst other dogs, it has a personality; you have
created a person. Whenever you look lovingly at something, it becomes a person. And the contrary is
also true. Whenever you look with lustful eyes toward a person, the person becomes an
object, a thing. That is why lustful eyes are repulsive -- because no one likes to become
a thing. When you look at your wife with lustful eyes -- or at any other woman, or man,
with lustful eyes -- the other feels hurt. What are you doing really? You are changing a
person, a living person, into a dead instrument. You are thinking of how to
"use," and the person is killed. That is why lustful
eyes are repulsive, ugly. When you look at someone with love, the other is raised. He
becomes unique. Suddenly he becomes a person. A person cannot be replaced; a thing can be
replaced. A `thing' means that which is replaceable; a `person' means that which cannot be
replaced: there is no possibility of replacing him or her. A person is unique; a thing is
not unique. Love makes anything
unique. That is why without love you never feel like a person. Unless someone loves you
deeply, you never feel that you have any uniqueness. You are just one in a crowd -- just a
number, a datum. You can be changed. For example, if you
are a clerk in an office or a teacher in a school or a professor in a university, your
professor-hood is replaceable. Another professor will replace you; he can replace you at
any moment because you are just used there as a professor. You have a functional meaning
and significance. If you are a clerk,
someone else is easily able to do the work. The work will not wait for you. If you die
this moment, the next moment someone will replace you and the mechanism will continue. You were just a figure -- another figure will do.
You were just a utility. But then someone
falls in love with this clerk or this professor. Suddenly the clerk is no more a clerk; he
has become a unique person. If he dies, then the beloved cannot replace him. He is
irreplaceable. Then the whole world may go on in the same way, but the one who was in love
cannot be the same. This uniqueness, this being a person, happens through love. This sutra says, LOOK LOVINGLY AT SOME OBJECT. It makes no
distinction between an object and a person. There is no need, because when you look
lovingly anything will become a person. The very look changes, transforms. You may or may not
have observed what happens when you drive a particular car, say a Fiat. There are
thousands and thousands and thousands of Fiats exactly similar, but your car, if you are
in love with it, becomes unique -- a person. It cannot be replaced; a relationship is
created. Now you feel this car as a person. If something goes wrong... a slight sound, and
you feel it. And cars are very temperamental. You know the temper of your car -- when it
feels good and when it feels bad. The car becomes, by and by, a person. Why? If there is a
love relationship, anything becomes a person. If there is a lust relationship, then a
person will become a thing. And this is one of the most inhuman acts man can do -- to make
someone a thing. LOOK LOVINGLY AT SOME OBJECT... So what is one to
do? When you look lovingly, what are you to do? The first thing: forget yourself. Forget
yourself completely! Look at a flower and forget yourself completely. Let the flower be;
you become completely absent. Feel the flower, and a deep love will flow from your
consciousness toward the flower. And let your consciousness be filled with only one
thought -- how you can help this flower to flower more, to become more beautiful, to
become more blissful. What can you do? It is not
meaningful whether you can do or not; that is not relevant. The feeling of what you can do
-- this pain, this deep ache over what you can do to make this flower more beautiful, more
alive, more flowering -- is meaningful. Let this thought reverberate into your whole
being. Let every fiber of your body and mind feel it. You will be transfixed in an
ecstasy, and the flower will become a person. DO NOT GO ON TO ANOTHER OBJECT... You cannot go. If
you are in a love relationship, you cannot go. If you love someone in this group, then you
forget the whole crowd; only one face remains. Really, you do not see anyone else, you see
only one face. All the others are there, but they are subliminal -- just on the periphery
of your consciousness. They are NOT. They are just shadows; only one face remains. If you
love someone then only that face remains, so you cannot move. Do not go to
another object, remain with one. Remain with a roseflower or remain with a beloved's face.
Remain there loving, flowing, with just one heart, with the feeling of, "What can I
do to make the loved one happier, blissful?" HERE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE OBJECT -- THE BLESSING. And when this is
the case you are absent, not concerned with yourself at all, not selfish, not thinking in
terms of your pleasure, your gratification. You have forgotten yourself completely, and
you are just thinking in terms of the other. The other has become the center of your love;
your consciousness is flowing toward the other. With deep compassion, with a deep feeling
of love, you are thinking, "What can I do to make the loved one blissful?" In
this state, suddenly, HERE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE OBJECT -- THE BLESSING. Suddenly, as a
by-product, the blessing comes to you. Suddenly you become centered. This looks
paradoxical because this sutra says to forget yourself completely, not to be
self-centered, to move to the other completely. Buddha is reported to have said
continuously that whenever you are praying, pray for others -- never for yourself.
Otherwise the prayer is just useless. One man came to Buddha
and he said, "I accept your teaching, but
only one thing is very difficult to accept. You say that whenever we do prayer we are not
to think about ourselves, we are not to ask anything about ourselves. We have to say,
`Whatsoever may be the result of my prayer, let that result be distributed to all. If
blessing happens, let it be distributed to all.'" The man said,
"This is okay, but can I make only one exception? Not to my immediate neighbor -- he
is my enemy. Let this blessing be distributed to all except to my immediate
neighbor." The mind is
self-centered, so Buddha said, "Your prayer is useless. Nothing will come out of it
unless you are ready to give all, to distribute all, and then all will be yours." In love you are to
forget yourself. It looks paradoxical: then when and how will the centering happen? By
being totally concerned with the other, with the other's happiness, when you forget
yourself completely and only the other remains there, suddenly you are filled with bliss
-- the blessing. Why? Because when
you are not concerned with yourself you become vacant, empty; the inner space is created.
When your mind is totally concerned with the other, you become mindless within. Then there
are no thoughts inside. And then this thought -- "How can I be helpful? How can I
create more bliss? How can the other be more happy?" -- cannot continue any more,
because really, there is nothing you can do. This thought becomes a stop. There is nothing
you can do. What can you do? If you think you can do, you are still thinking in terms of
yourself -- ego. With the love
object one becomes totally helpless -- remember this. Whenever you love someone you feel
totally helpless. That is the agony of love: one cannot feel what he can do. He wants to
do everything, he wants to give the whole universe to the lover or the beloved -- but what
can he do? If you think that you can do this or that, you are still not in a love
relationship. Love is very helpless, absolutely helpless, and that helplessness is the
beauty, because in that helplessness you are surrendered. Love someone and
you will feel helpless; hate someone and you can do something. Love someone and you are
absolutely helpless -- because what can you do? Whatsoever you can do seems insignificant,
meaningless; it is never enough. Nothing can be done. And when one feels that nothing can
be done, one feels that one is helpless. When one wants to do everything and feels nothing
can be done, mind stops. In this helplessness surrender happens. You are empty. That is
why love becomes a deep meditation. Really, if you love
someone, no other meditation is needed. But because no one loves, one hundred and twelve
methods are needed -- and even they may not be enough. Someone was here
the other day. He was telling me, "It gives me much hope. I have heard for the first
time from you that there are one hundred and twelve methods. It gives me much hope, but
somewhere a depression also comes into the mind: only one hundred and twelve methods? And
if these one hundred and twelve methods don't work for me, then is there no one hundred
and thirteenth?" And he is right. He
is right! If these one hundred and twelve methods do not work for you, then there is no
go. So as he suggests, a depression also follows hope. But really, methods are needed
because the basic method is missing. If you can love, no method is needed. Love itself is the
greatest method, but love is difficult -- in a way impossible. Love means putting yourself
out from your consciousness, and in the same place, where your ego has been in existence,
putting someone else. Replacing yourself by someone else means love -- as if now you are
not and only the other is. Jean Paul Sartre
says that the other is the hell, and he is right. He is right because the other creates
only hell for you. But he is wrong also because if the other can be hell, the other can he
heaven. If you live through lust, the other is a hell because then you are trying to kill
that person. You are trying to make that person a thing. Then that person will also react
and will try to make you a thing, and that creates hell. So every husband
and every wife, they are creating hell for each other because each one is trying to
possess the other. Possession is possible only with things, never with persons. You can
only be possessed by a person; you can never possess a person. A thing can be possessed,
but you try to possess persons. Through that effort persons become things. If I make you
into a thing, you will react. Then I am your enemy. Then you will try to make a thing out
of me -- that creates hell. You are sitting in
your room alone, and then suddenly you become aware that someone is peeping through the
keyhole. Observe minutely what happens. Have you felt any change? And why do you feel
angry about this peeping Tom? He is not doing anything to you -- just peeping. Why do you
feel angry? He has changed you into a thing. He is observing; he has made you into a
thing, into an object. That gives you an uneasiness. And the same will
happen to him if you come near the keyhole and look through it. The other will become
shattered, shocked. He was a subject just a moment before: he was the observer and you
were the observed. Now suddenly he has been caught. He has been observed observing you,
and now he has become a thing. When someone is
observing you, suddenly you feel your freedom has been disturbed, destroyed. That is why,
unless you are in love with someone, you cannot stare. That stare becomes ugly and violent
-- unless you are in love. If you are in love then a stare is a beautiful thing, because
your stare is not changing the other into a thing. Then you can look directly into the
eyes; then you can go deep into the eyes of the other. You are not changing him into a
thing. Rather, through your love your look is making him a person. That is why only the
stares of lovers are beautiful; otherwise stares are ugly. Psychologists say
there is a time limit. And you all know, observe and you will come to know, what the time
limit is for how long you can stare into someone's eyes, if he is a stranger. There is a
time limit. One moment more, and the other will become angry. Just a passing look in
public can be pardoned because it seems as if you were just seeing, not looking. A look is a deep
thing. If I just see you when passing, no relationship is created. Or I am passing and you
look at me, just while passing -- no offense is meant so it is okay. But if you suddenly
stand and look at me, you become an observer. Then your look will disturb me and I will
feel insulted: "What are you doing? I am a person, not a thing. This is not the way
to look." Because of this,
clothes have become so meaningful. Only when you love someone can you be easily naked,
because the moment you are naked your whole body becomes an object. Someone can look at
your whole body, and if he is not in love with you his eyes will turn your whole body,
your whole being, into an object. But when you are in love with someone you can be naked
without feeling that you are naked. Rather, you would like to be naked, because you would
like this transforming love to transform your whole body into a person. Whenever you are
turning someone into a thing, that act is immoral. But if you are filled with love, then
in that love-filled moment with any object this phenomenon, this blessing, is possible. It
happens. IN THE MIDDLE OF THE OBJECT -- THE BLESSING. Suddenly you have
forgotten yourself -- the other was there. Then when the right moment comes, when you are
no longer present, absolutely absent, the other will also become absent. And between the
two the blessing happens. That is what lovers feel. That blessing is also because of an
unknown, unconscious meditation. When two lovers are
there, by and by they both become absent. A pure existence remains -- without any egos,
without any conflict... just a communion. In that communion one feels blissful. It is
wrongly inferred that the other has given that bliss to you. That bliss has come because
unknowingly you have fallen into a deep meditative technique. You can do it
consciously -- and when you do it consciously it goes deeper, because then you are not
obsessed with the object. This is happening every day. If you love someone, you feel
blissful not because of him or her, but because of love. And why because of love? Because
this phenomenon happens -- this sutra happens. But then you become
obsessed. Then you think that because of A, because of A's proximity, nearness, because of
A's love this blessing happens. Then you think, "I must possess A, because without A
being present I may not be able to get this blessing again." You become jealous. If
someone else possesses A, then he will be blissful and you will feel miserable, so you
want to take away all possibilities of A being possessed by anyone else. A should be
possessed only by you, because you have glimpsed a different world through him. Then the
moment you try to possess, you will destroy the whole beauty and the whole phenomenon. When the lover is
possessed, love is gone. Then the lover is just a thing. You can use it, but the blessing
will never come again, because that blessing was coming when the other was a person. The
other was made, created: you created the person in the other, and the other created the
person in you. No one was an object. Both were subjectivities meeting -- two persons
meeting, not one person and one thing. But the moment you
possess, this will become impossible. And mind will try to possess because mind thinks in
terms of greed: "One day bliss has happened, so it must happen to me every day. So I
must possess." But the bliss happens because there is no possession. And the bliss
happens not because of the other, really, but because of you. Remember this, the bliss
happens because of you. Because you are so absorbed in the other, the bliss happens. It can happen with
a roseflower, it can happen with a rock, it can happen with the trees, it can happen with
anything. Once you know the situation in which it happens, it can happen anywhere. If you
know that you are not, and with a deep love your consciousness has moved to the other --
to the trees, to the sky, to the stars, to anyone; when your total consciousness is
addressed to the other it leaves you, it moves away from you -- in that absence of the
self is the blessing. The seventh technique: WITHOUT SUPPORT FOR FEET OR
HANDS, SIT ONLY ON BUTTOCKS. SUDDENLY, THE CENTERING. This technique has been used by Taoists in China for centuries, and it is a wonderful technique -- one of the easiest. Try this: WITHOUT
SUPPORT FOR FEET OR HANDS, SIT ONLY ON BUTTOCKS. SUDDENLY, THE CENTERING. What is to be done?
You will need two things. First, a very sensitive body, which you do not have. You have a
dead body; it is just a burden to be carried -- not sensitive. First you will have to make
your body sensitive; otherwise this technique will not work. So first I will tell you
something about how to make your body sensitive, and particularly your buttocks, because
ordinarily your buttocks are the most insensitive part in your body. They have to be. They
have to be because you are sitting the whole day on your buttocks. If they are too
sensitive, it will be difficult. So your buttocks
are insensitive -- they need to be. Just like the soles of the feet, they are insensitive.
Continuously sitting on them, you never feel you are sitting on your buttocks. Have you
ever felt it before this? Now you can feel you are sitting on your buttocks, but you have
never felt it before -- and you have been sitting on your buttocks your whole life, never
aware. Their function is such that they cannot be very sensitive. So first you have
to make them sensitive. Try one very easy method... And this method can be done to any
part of the body; then the body will become sensitive. Just sit on a chair, relaxed, and
close your eyes. Feel your left hand or your right hand -- either one. Feel your left
hand. Forget the whole body and just feel the left hand. The more you feel it, the more
the left hand will become heavy. Go on feeling the
left hand. Forget the whole body, just go on feeling the left hand as if you are just the
left hand. The hand will go on becoming more and more and more heavy. As it goes on
becoming heavy, go on feeling it becoming more heavy. Then try to feel what is happening
in the hand. Whatever the sensation, note it down: any sensation, any jerk, any slight
movement -- note down in the mind that this is happening. And go on doing it every day for
at least three weeks. At any time during the day, do it for ten minutes, fifteen minutes.
Just feel the left hand and forget the whole body. Within three weeks
you will feel you have a new left hand, or a new right hand. It will be so sensitive. And
you will become aware of very minute and delicate sensations in the hand. When you succeed
with the hand, then try with the buttocks. Then try: close your eyes and feel that only
two buttocks exist; you are no more. Let your whole consciousness go to the buttocks. It
is not difficult. If you try, it is wonderful. And the feeling of aliveness that comes in
the body is in itself very blissful. Then, when you can feel your buttocks and they can
become very sensitive, when you can feel anything happening inside -- a slight movement, a
slight pain or anything -- then you can observe and you can know. Then your consciousness
is joined to the buttocks. First try it with
the hand. Because the hand is very sensitive, it is easy. Once you gain the confidence
that you can sensitize your hand, this confidence will help you to sensitize your
buttocks. Then do this technique. So you will need at least six weeks before you can enter
this technique -- three weeks with your hand and then three weeks with your buttocks, just
making them more and more sensitive. Lying on the bed,
forget the whole body. Just remember that only two buttocks are left. Feel the touch --
the bedsheet, the coldness or the slowly coming warmth. Feel it. Lying down in your
bathtub, forget the body. Remember only the buttocks -- feel. Stand against a wall with
your buttocks touching the wall -- feel the coldness of the wall. Stand with your beloved,
with your wife or husband, buttock to buttock -- feel the other through the buttocks. This
is just to "create" your buttocks, to bring them to a situation where they start
feeling. Then do this technique: WITHOUT SUPPORT FOR FEET OR HANDS... Sit on the ground. WITHOUT SUPPORT FOR FEET OR HANDS, SIT ONLY ON THE BUTTOCKS. The Buddha posture
will do; PADMASANA will do. Or SIDDHASANA will do, or any ordinary asana, but it is good
not to use your hands. Just remain on the buttocks; sit only on the buttocks. Then what to
do? Just close your eyes. Feel the buttocks touching the ground. And because the buttocks
have become sensitive, you will feel that one buttock is touching more. You are leaning on
one buttock, and the other is touching less. Then move the leaning to the other.
Immediately move to the other; then come to the first. Go on moving from one to the other,
and then by and by, balance. Balancing means
that both of your buttocks are feeling the same. Your weight on both of the buttocks is
exactly the same. And when your buttocks are sensitive this will not be difficult, you
will feel it. Once both your buttocks are balanced, SUDDENLY, THE CENTERING. With that
balance, suddenly you will be thrown to your navel center, and you will be centered
inside. You will forget the buttocks, you will forget the body. You will be thrown to the
inner center. That is why I say
centers are not meaningful, but centering is -- whether it happens at the heart or at the
head or at the buttocks, or anywhere. You have seen buddhas sitting. You may not have
imagined that they are balancing their buttocks. You go to a temple and see Mahavir
sitting, Buddha sitting; you may never have imagined that this sitting is just a balancing
on the buttocks. It is -- and when there is no imbalance, suddenly that balance gives you
the centering. The eighth
technique: 20 20 IN A MOVING VEHICLE, BY
RHYTHMICALLY SWAYING, EXPERIENCE. OR IN A STILL VEHICLE, BY LETTING YOURSELF SWING IN
SLOWING INVISIBLE CIRCLES. It is the same in a
different way. IN A MOVING VEHICLE... You are traveling in a train or in a bullock cart --
when this technique was developed there was only the bullock cart. You are moving in a
bullock cart on an Indian road -- even today the road is the same. But when you are
moving, your whole body is moving. Then it is useless. IN A MOVING VEHICLE, BY RHYTHMICALLY SWAYING... Sway rhythmically.
Try to understand; this is very minute. Whenever you are in a bullock cart or in any
vehicle, you are resisting. The bullock cart sways to the left, but you resist it. You
sway to the right in order to balance; otherwise you will fall down. So you are constantly
resisting. Sitting in a bullock cart, you are fighting its movements. It moves to this
side, and you have to move to that. That is why when
sitting in a train you become tired. You have not been doing anything. Why do you become
so tired? You have been doing much unknowingly. You were fighting the train continuously;
there was resistance. Do not resist -- this is the first thing. If you want to do this
technique, do not resist. Rather, move with the movements, sway with the movements. Become
part of the bullock cart, do not resist it. Whatsoever the bullock cart is doing on the
road, become part of it. That is why children are never tired of journeying. Poonam, a disciple,
has just come from London with her two children, and she was afraid that they may get ill,
that they may get tired because of such a long journey. She became tired, and they came
laughing. She became completely tired when she came here. The moment she entered my room
she was dead tired, and the two children started playing right then and there. An
eighteen-hour-long journey from London to Bombay and they were not a bit tired. Why?
Because they do not know how to resist yet. So a drunkard can
sit in a bullock cart for the whole night, and in the morning he will be as fresh as ever,
but you will not be. It is because a drunkard cannot resist. He moves with the cart; there
is no fight. The fighting is not there, he is one. IN A MOVING VEHICLE, BY RHYTHMICALLY
SWAYING... So do one thing: do not resist. And the second thing, create a rhythm. Create a
rhythm in your movements. Make it a beautiful harmony. Forget about the road; do not curse
the road and the government -- forget them. Do not curse the bullock and the bullock cart,
or the driver -- forget them. Close your eyes, do not resist. Move rhythmically and create
a music in your movement. Make it as if it is a dance. IN A MOVING VEHICLE, BY
RHYTHMICALLY SWAYING, EXPERIENCE. The sutra says the experience will come to you. OR IN A STILL VEHICLE... Do not ask where to get a bullock cart; do not deceive yourself, because the sutra says, OR IN A STILL VEHICLE, BY LETTING YOURSELF SWING IN SLOWING INVISIBLE CIRCLES. Just sitting here,
swing in a circle. First take a big circle, then go on slowing it... slowing, slowing,
making it smaller and smaller and smaller, until your body is not visibly moving, but
inside you feel a subtle movement. Start with a bigger
circle, with closed eyes. Otherwise, when the body will stop you will stop. With closed
eyes make big circles; just sitting, swing in a circle. Go on swinging, making the circle
smaller and smaller and smaller. Visibly you will stop; no one will be able to detect that
you are still moving. But inside you will feel a subtle movement. Now the body is not
moving, only the mind. Go on making it slower and slower, and experience. That will become
a centering. In a vehicle, in a moving vehicle, a non-resisting rhythmical movement will
create a centering within you. Gurdjieff created
many dances for such techniques. He was working on this technique. All the dances he was
using in his school were, really, swaying in circles. All the dances were in circles --
just whirling but remaining aware inside, by and by making the circles smaller and
smaller. A time comes when the body stops, but the mind inside goes on moving, moving,
moving. If you have been
traveling in a train for twenty hours, after you have come home, after you have left the
train, if you close your eyes you will feel that you are still traveling. Still you are
traveling. The body has stopped, but the mind is still feeling the vehicle. So just do
this technique. Gurdjieff created
phenomenal dances, very beautiful. In this century he worked miracles -- not miracles like
Satya Sai Baba. Those are not miracles; any street magician can do them. But Gurdjieff
really created miracles. He prepared a group of a hundred people for meditative dancing,
and he was showing that dance to an audience in New York for the first time. A hundred
dancers were on the stage whirling. Those who were in the audience, even their minds began
whirling. There were a hundred white-robed dancers just whirling. When he indicated
with his hand, they would whirl, and the moment he would say, "Stop," there
would be dead silence. That was a stop for the audience, but not for the dancers --
because the body can stop immediately, but the mind then takes the movement inside; it
goes on and on. It was beautiful even to look at, because a hundred persons suddenly
became dead statues. It created a sudden shock in the audience also, because a hundred
movements -- beautiful movements, rhythmical movements -- suddenly stopped. You would be
looking at them moving, whirling, dancing, and suddenly the dancers stopped. Then your
thought would also stop. Many in New York
felt that it was a weird phenomenon: their thoughts stopped immediately. But for the
dancers, the dance continued inside, and the inside whirling circles became smaller and
smaller until they became centered. One day it happened
that they were coming just to the edge of the stage, dancing. It was expected, supposed,
that Gurdjieff would stop them just before they danced down the stage onto the audience. A
hundred dancers were just on the edge of the stage. One step more and they would all fall
down into the hall. The whole hall was expecting that suddenly Gurdjieff would say stop,
but he turned his back to light his cigar. He turned his back to the dancers to light his
cigar, and the whole group of a hundred dancers fell down from the stage upon the floor --
on a naked stone floor. The whole audience
stood up. They were screaming, shouting, and they were thinking that many must have broken
their bones -- it was such a crash. But not a single one was hurt; not even a single
bruise was there. They asked
Gurdjieff what had happened. No one had been hurt, and the crash was such that it seemed
impossible. The reason was only this: they were really not in their bodies at that moment.
They were slowing down their inner circling. And when Gurdjieff saw that now they were
completely oblivious of their bodies, he allowed them to fall down. If you are
completely oblivious of your body, there is no resistance. A bone is broken because of
resistance. If you are falling down, you resist: you go against the pull of gravity. That
going against, that resistance, is the problem -- not gravity. If you can fall down with
gravity, if you can cooperate with it, then no possibility of being hurt will arise. This sutra: IN A MOVING VEHICLE, BY RHYTHMICALLY SWAYING, EXPERIENCE. OR IN A STILL VEHICLE, BY LETTING YOURSELF SWING IN SLOWING INVISIBLE CIRCLES. You can do it.
There is no need of a vehicle, just whirl like children do. When your mind goes crazy, and
you feel that now you will fall down, do not stop -- go on! Even if you fall down, do not
worry about it, close your eyes and whirl. Your mind will get whirled, and you will fall
down. When your body has fallen down, inside, feel! The whirling will continue. And it
will come nearer and nearer and nearer, and suddenly you will be centered. Children enjoy this
very much because they get a great kick. Parents never allow their children to whirl. It
is not good: they should be allowed -- rather, encouraged. And if you can make them aware
of inner whirling also, you can teach them meditation through their whirling. They enjoy
it because they have a bodiless feeling. When they whirl, suddenly children become aware
that their body is whirling but they are not. Inside they feel a centering which we cannot
feel so easily, because their bodies and souls are still a bit apart; there is a gap. When you come into
your mother's womb, you cannot immediately get totally in the body; it takes time. When a
child is born, then too he is not absolutely fixed, his soul is not absolutely fixed to
the body; there are gaps. That is why there are many things which he cannot do. His body
is ready to do it, but he cannot do it. If you have
observed, you may have noticed that newly-born children cannot see with two eyes, they
always see with one eye. If you observe, then you will see that when they observe and see
anything, they cannot see with two eyes. They always look with one eye -- one eye gets
bigger. The pupil of one eye will become bigger, and the other pupil will remain small.
The consciousness of a newborn child is not yet fixed, it is loose. By and by it will
become fixed, and then they will look with two eyes. They cannot yet
feel their own body and others' bodies as different. It is difficult. They are not yet
fixed, but fixation will come, by and by. Meditation is again
trying to create a gap. You have become fixed, solidly fixed in your body. That is why you
feel, "I am the body." If a gap can be created, then only can you feel that you
are not the body but something beyond the body. Swaying and whirling are helpful. They
create the gap. THE NINTH TECHNIQUE: PIERCE SOME PART OF YOUR
NECTAR-FILLED FORM WITH A PIN, AND GENTLY ENTER THE PIERCING AND ATTAIN TO THE INNER
PURITY. This sutra says, PIERCE SOME PART OF YOUR NECTAR-FILLED FORM... Your body is not
just a body, it is filled with you, and that you is the nectar. Pierce your body. When you
are piercing your body, you are not pierced -- only the body is pierced. But you feel the
pierce as if you have been pierced; that is why you feel pain. If you can become aware
that only the body is pierced, that you are not pierced, instead of pain you will feel
bliss. There is no need to do it with a pin. Many things happen every day; you can use
those situations for meditation. Or you can create a situation. Some pain is there
in your body. Do one thing: forget the whole body, just concentrate on the part of the
body which is painful. And then a strange thing will be noted. When you concentrate on the
part of the body which is painful, you see that part is shrinking. First you feel that the
pain, the ache, is in your whole leg. When you concentrate, then you feel it is not in the
whole leg. It was exaggerated -- it is just at the knee. Concentrate more,
and you will feel it is not on the whole knee but just on a pinpoint. Concentrate more on
the pinpoint; forget the whole body. Just close your eyes and go on concentrating in order
to find where the pain is. It will go on shrinking; the area will become smaller and
smaller. Then a moment will come when it will be just a pinpoint. Go on staring at the
pinpoint, and suddenly the pinpoint will disappear and you will be filled with bliss.
Instead of pain you will be filled with bliss. Why does this
happen? Because you and your body are two, they are not one. The one who is concentrating
is you. The concentration is being done on the body -- that is the object. When you
concentrate, the gap is broadened, the identification is broken. Just to have
concentration you move inside, away from the body. To bring the spot of pain into
perspective, you have to move away. That moving away creates the gap. And when you are
concentrating on the pain, you forget the identification, you forget that "I am
feeling pain." Now you are the
observer and the pain is somewhere else. You are observing the pain, not feeling the pain.
This change from feeling to observation creates the gap. And when the gap is bigger,
suddenly you forget the body completely; you are aware only of consciousness. You can try this technique also: PIERCE SOME PART OF YOUR NECTAR-FILLED BODY WITH A PIN, AND GENTLY ENTER THE PIERCING. If there is pain,
then first you will have to concentrate on the whole area; then by and by it will come to
a pinpoint. But there is no
need to wait.You can use a pin. Use a pin on any part which is sensitive. On the body many
spots are blind spots; they will not be useful. You may not have heard about blind spots
on the body. Then give a pin to anyone, to your friend, and sit, and tell your friend to
pierce your back with the pin at many points. At many points you will feel no pain. You
will say, "No, you have not pierced yet. I am not feeling any pain." Those are
blind spots. Just on your cheeks there are two blind spots which can be tested. If you go to Indian villages, many times in religious festivals they will pierce their cheeks with an arrow. It looks like a miracle, but it is not. The cheeks have two blind spots. If you pierce through these blind spots, no blood will come out and there will be no pain. On your back there are thousands of dead spots, where you cannot feel any pain. Your body has two types of spots -- sensitive, alive ones, and those that are dead. So find a sensitive spot where you can feel even a slight touch. Then pierce the pin
and ENTER THE PIERCING. That is the thing; that is meditation. And GENTLY enter the
piercing. As the pin moves inside, into your skin, and you feel the pain, you also enter.
Do not feel that the pain is entering you; do not feel the pain, do not be identified with
it. Enter with the pin. Pierce with the pin. Close your eyes;
observe the pain. As the pain is piercing in, you also pierce you. And with the pin
piercing you, your mind will become easily concentrated. Use that point of pain, of
intense pain, and observe it. That is what is meant by GENTLY ENTER THE PIERCING. AND ATTAIN TO THE INNER PURITY. If you can enter
observing, unidentified, aloof, standing far away, not feeling that the pain is piercing
you, but observing that the pin is piercing the body and you are an observer, you will
attain to the inner purity; the inner innocence will be revealed to you. For the first
time you will become aware that you are not the body. And once you know that you are not
the body your life is changed completely, because your whole life is around the body. Once
you know you are not the body, you cannot continue this life. The center is being missed. When you are not
the body, then you have to create a different life. That life is the sannyasin's life. It
is a different life; the center is different now. Now you exist in the world as a soul, as
an ATMAN, not as a body. If you exist as a body, then you have created a different world:
of material gain, greed, gratification, lust, sex. You have created a world around you;
this is the body-oriented world. Once you know you
are not the body, your whole world disappears. You cannot support it any more. A different
world arises which is around the soul -- a world of compassion, of love, of beauty, of
truth, of goodness, of innocence. The center is shifted, and it is not in the body now. It
is in the consciousness. Enough for today. |
||