The Blooming of Lotus

The function of meditation practice is to heal and transform. It helps us to be whole, and to look deeply into ourselves and around us in order to realize what is really there. The energy that is used in meditation is mindfulness to look deeply into the heart of things in order to see their true nature. When mindfulness is present, meditation is present. Mindfulness helps us to understand g the true essence of the object of meditation - whether it is perception, an emotion, an action, a reaction, the presence of a person or object.

By looking deeply, the meditation practitioner gains insight, prajna, or wisdom. This insight has the power to liberate us from our own suffering and bondage. In the meditation process, fetters are undone, internal blocks of suffering such as fear, anger, despair and hatred get removed, relationships with humans and nature become easier, and there is freedom and joy. We become aware of what is inside us and around us; we are fresher, and we become more alive in our daily existence. As we become freer and happier, we cease to act in ways that makes others suffer, and we are able to bring about change around us and to help others become free. Isn't that wonderful?

The meditation practitioner is like a lotus flower in the process of blooming. Buddha's are fully bloomed human flowers, beautiful and refreshing. All of us are Buddha's-to-be. That is why in practice centers when people meet each other, they form a lotus with their palms and greet each other while bowing saying, 'a lotus for you. As they inhale while saying 'a lotus for you' and exhale, smiling, while saying "a Buddha-to-be", they have the appearance of a blooming flower.

It may be possible for you to meditate on your own, without a teacher or a Sangha, namely, Buddhist community of practice. But it goes without saying that to practice with a teacher and a Sangha is more advisable and much easier. A teacher is someone who has had the experience of the practice, and has succeeded in ti. A Sangha is a meditation community where everyone follows more or less the same kind of practice. Since everyone is doing the same practice, it becomes easier for you to practice too, because the group energy emitted by the Sangha is strong and very supportive. You can also learn a great deal from individual members of the Sangha, especially those who have realized some degree of peace and transformation. There are many things you may find difficult to do when alone, but in the presence of the Sangha you can do them easily. All of us who have practiced with a Sangha can testify to this fact........

In the Buddhist tradition, we consider Sangha one of the three gems. The three gems are Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. As we see it, the three gems are already in your heart. The Sangha in yourself may guide you to the Sangha that is somewhere near you. Maybe the teacher and the Sangha are right there, very close to you, but you have not yet noticed. With practice, you will generate the energy of mindfulness, which may lead you towards a teacher and a community.

The Air in the Dawn

Meaning: According to the line of Samved 135 – the air in the dawn, i.e. before sunrise, is clean. Therefore, one must breathe this pure air by getting up early in the morning. With that the health remains stable and one earns wealth.

Message: There is every type of strangeness and abundance in the nature. There is no limit to joy and good health for us. Enjoying good health, all the living creatures, whether insects, birds or animals enjoy their lives. Drawing their requirements from water, air, light and food they enjoy the happiness of longevity.

God has put health in every particle of nature, in leaves, flowers, and fruits and in every drop of water. Every part of air every gulp of water, every particle of fruit, grains and vegetables, which we take in our breath, drink and food, is very health giving and strength giving for us. For all round development and strength Nature possesses every type of means.

Daily life begins by arising during the dawn only. All birds and animals get up in the dawn and giving up their laziness, join in their daily routine. There are many benefits in getting up early. The air at dawn is health giving and pollution free. It is also called ‘praan vayu’ or ‘veer vayu’ because it contributes to life and strength. By breathing in this fresh air, there is increase in strength, in the luster of the faced, the mind always remains cheerful and the intelligence becomes sharp and all the organs of the body remain disease free. By getting up early in the morning, the body feels fresh and energetic. Contrasting with this, those who remain sleeping after sunrise, their laziness and carelessness increases, they suffer from various types of diseases, they feel dull throughout the day and they cannot apply their mind in any work.

Dawn has been lovingly called ‘Usha Devi’ (the Goddess dawn) because of its benevolence like a mother. She gives generously with her hands health, intelligence, strength, and the blessing in longevity and all those get these, who get up at that pleasant time. Those who get up early they gain in life, those who sleep late, they lose in life. Man’s life starts at this pious time in the dawn only. The gentle breeze of this pure air fills every pore of the body with energetic freshness and stirs up enthusiasm in life’s creation, progress and development and the feeling arises in the mind to go ahead and do something for the world to see. The beautiful and pleasant atmosphere of the dawn, the singing of the birds and the play of the animals help greatly in awakening our inner vitality for a new life.

We should never keep away from this blessing of Nature. All birds and animals breathe this air in the dawn and never fall ill. Getting up at dawn is very useful to man for his health, mind, intelligence and soul. It stirs up vitality in the body.

Men wishing bodily, mental and spiritual progress must get up at four o’ clock in the morning, get out of the bed and come out into the open air

The Absence of Self

Buddha’s disciple Subhuti suddenly discovered the richness and fecundity of emptiness; the realization that everything is impermanent, unsatisfactory and empty of self. In this mood of divine emptiness, he sat in bliss under a tree when suddenly flowers began to fall all around him. And the gods whispered, we’re enraptured by your sublime emptiness, subhuti replied, but I’ve not uttered a word about emptiness.” “True,” the gods replied. “You’ve not spoken of emptiness, we’ve not heard of emptiness. This is true emptiness.” And the showers of blossoms continued.

If I had spoken of my emptiness or even been aware of it, would it be emptiness? Music needs the hollowness of the flute, letters, the blankness of the page, light, the void called a window, holiness, the absence of self. “Divinity descends on a man who never seeks divinity,” said a Persian mystic. Our minds are too cluttered with the ideas of self, divinity and spirituality. In our conscious endeavor to become spiritual we fall short of our objective and remain worldly. We’re all too preoccupied with things that have no real significance in life.

A woman went to Lao of our objective and said that she was constantly tormented by useless thoughts whenever she sat for her evening prayers. Lao Tse said, “Try to pray anytime in a day and come to me after a few days.” She came to meet Lao Tse and told him that no set aside a fixed hour for prayers. “When you fixed a time, your self was conscious. You were aware of the need to pray at a given time. Now with random prayers, you’ve broken that stifling mould, you’re no longer conscious, thus free of any pestering thought.” Unawareness is a blissful state. With awareness comes a set pattern. It gives birth to a structure, a formula, a format.

Rami said, “While taking to my beloved (Allaha), I’m unaware at times whether to speak or not. Lofted remain silent because my beloved doesn’t like much volubility.” Silence is unspoken emptiness and is much more eloquent than any set or fixed prayer.

The trouble is we’ve set aside practices and rituals even for spirituality. One has to visit a Shani mandir only on Saturdays or wear a certain stone on a specific day. This has no meaning. Every hour is auspicious and every day is lucky.

Blissful ignorance is divinity. Only in a state of bekhudi or self-immersion you can reach the stage of enlightenment, called ‘trueya avastha’. Buddha never felt that he had attained satori or enlightenment. It became integral to his mystic consciojusness. Any effort to expedite the process of enlightenment is futile. In Ramz-e-bekhudi Allama Iqbal says, “Spirituality is not something mundane to attain, the way we put all our efforts into achieving an object in life. It occurs like a bolt from the blue when you least expected it.”

Conscious endeavor cannot lead a seeker to his spiritual destination. Nor is the lifestyle of a monk assurance of achieving the state of perpetual bliss. The moment mind becomes free of wish, desire or wistfulness, a divine consciousness descends. Christ was a carpenter’s son, Muhammad was reportedly unlettered, Moses was adopted and he was reportedly illiterate. “God finds his way through unconscious and unpretentious people. Because divinity resides in a blissfully unaware mind” Tagore wrote in the Gitanjali

Sun Dispels Darkness with Light

Meaning: According to the line of Athervaved 11/5/19 - Just as the sun dispels darkness with light and produces excellent materials (by nurturing plants and trees), similarly man should dispel disease, laziness, wretchedness etc and obtain the bliss of salvation.

Message: "Tamaso maa jyotira gamaya" means a prayer to God to kindly lead from darkness to light. The meaningfulness of man's life lies in removing the darkness of ignorance on all sides and to spread the divine light of knowledge. Its main basis is Brahmacharya. With it the 'sattoguni rutumbhara' (i.e. saatvik pure intelligence) develops which gives us the capacity to differentiate between the philosophy or the essence and the chaff, truth and untruth, beneficent and harmful and also the ability to take the proper decision. In its divine light it becomes easy to decide about what should be done and what should not be done. With the daily routine attuned to Nature through discipline, simplicity and labor, strength and semen increases, the body remains active and attains longevity. The sentiments of self-denial, helping others, service, renunciation, pity, sympathy, friendship, compassion, humility, religiousness, faith, devotion to God etc are awakened in those observing "Brahmacharya", which increases physical energy, mental brightness and spiritual strength and they can even trounce death.

A man trapped in the mire luxury and gratification of senses cannot even imagine the divine happiness of a disciplined "Brahmachari" . Such a person can never know the joy which lies in 'phakiri (monkhood) instead of 'amiri' (wealthiness). The best endeavor for the control of the sexual desire is in married life. Ram Krishna, Shankar, Parvati, Sita all were married and are the best symbols of the best ideals of celibacy as a part of Brahmacharya. From their lives we get the inspiration for the incomparable daily routine with discipline and simplicity while simultaneously carrying out family responsibilities. It was the miracle of the power of 'Brahmacharya' that Ram accepted with equanimity his coronation as well as banishment into the jungle. There was neither the joy of reigning over a kingdom, nor any sorrow for banishment. The entire life of Lord Shri Krishna was nothing but observance of Brahmacharya whether it was the company of the cowherds or the divine dance with his supreme devotees the gopis (women-cowherds), whether the political tactics or the battlefield, we always find his supreme self-restraint or discipline. Is such a control of the mind, speech and deeds possible without Brahmacharya, which is the greatest power in the world?

Observance of Brahmacharya in conduct is necessary to learn about the mystery or secrets of the world. Indulgence of the senses gives birth to diseases and the mind cannot concentrate on God. The observance of Brahmacharya arouses the desire for knowledge and leads to spiritual development.

Not only does man's will-power increase with Brahmacharya, but also his daring, forbearance, fearlessness, and freedom from disease. He becomes peaceful, engrossed and responsible. Laziness, negligence and wretchedness do not dare to come near him. He is always diligent and achieves self as well as society's benefit. With this only the human life becomes meaningful.

So Much for Bookish Knowledge

A professor of English Grammar once got into a boat with a boatman. Proud of his accomplishments in the literacy field, he asked the boatman, "Have you ever studied the science of grammar?"

The boatman said, "No, I haven't"

The grammar professor exclaimed, "Then you have wasted half your life". The boatman was upset by the professor's rudeness but he remained cool.

Soon, a storm moved in as they sailed across the water. Suddenly, the boat became caught in a vortex of water and they could not maneuver the boat out of it. Fearing that the boat would capsize, the boatman yelled over the roaring waves. "O professor, do you know how to swim?"

The grammar professor replied with contempt, "Certainly not. Don't expect me to know swimming I never wasted my time with such a pastime".

The boatman told him, "Then since the boat is going to sink, it is you who have wasted the other half of your life by not learning how to swim, because you are about to drawn!"

This story told by Maulana Rumi in his Masnavi point to an important truth. It asks us to contemplate how we spend our lives and what we value. The professor was filled with pride and ego about his intellectual knowledge, but it did not help him when it came to the practical experience of swimming. His life depended upon his ability to swim, but he did not value that activity during his life. He was busy studying grammar books and did not feel he would ever be in the position to need to learn anything else.

Most of us spend our lives pursuing physical and intellectual goals, but we remain ignorant of spirituality. When the total wave of physical death is upon us, we have no spirituals skills to help us through the end of our life. When we get the news that we have a terminal illness, or suddenly we are faced with our mortality, we panic. We do not know what to do. We have not spent our lives learning about the true meaning of life and death, and we fear our end.

Those who have spent their life learning to swim in the spiritual stream through meditation have nothing to fear. They face their end with calm and fearlessness. They have already seen the splendors of the afterlife while in this life. They have learned the art of rising above body-consciousness and have witnessed first-hand the realms beyond. What have they to fear when their physical boat of their body is about to capsize.

Too many people ignore the reality of physical death until it is too late. They feel that intellectual knowledge and amassing physical wealth, name and power are more important. But when death nears, they discover that their intellectual knowledge and worldly possessions are of little use. At this kpoint, they regret that they have not spent more time learning about their soul, about God and the realms beyond.

Those who learn about spirituality early in life are fortunate. They can devote some time daily to their spiritual practices so that they can master the art of rising above body-consciousness in this very life. Like swimming it takes practice. Daily meditation will build up our spiritual abilities so that we can reach a point at which we can experience the spiritual realms within.