How can one attain this freshness?

How can one attain this freshness?
It is the shortest meditation in the world. But you have to do it suddenly.

Walking on the street, suddenly you remember. Stop yourself. Stop yourself completely. Be still. Be present for half a minute. Whatsoever the situation, stop and just be. Then start moving again. Six times a day. At least.

Look at everything you pass as it for the first time. Make it a continuous attitude. Be it your wife or the husband, the burger or the movie, or even the emotions or the meditations. Touch everything as if for the first time. If you can do this, you will be freed of your past. The burden, depth, dirtiness, accumulated experiences – you will be frees of them. Every moment, every move from the past.

By constantly being in the present, you will slowly develop an affinity for it. Then everything will be new. Then you will be able to understand. All meditations try to get you to live in the present. This technique is one of the most beautiful and easiest.

I love that somebody errrrr.... sombody's image i created

Ever felt?
- oh its so easy to get along with person A
- oh its just not easy to get along with person B
- oh i have a love hate relation with person C
- person D does not match up to my expectations
- i keep away from person E, our ideas do not match
- i had enough, person F is just unfeeling
- i dont see any point in taking it further with person G

Do we love the person in the above statements or are we in love with the image of the person we have created in out mind?
For any relation, we mentally build up an image of that person in our subconscious. If the person matches this image we come with the first statement. If the person does not match this image, we come up with second statement. Realize this always, whether the relationship is of joy or of sorrow, a constant awareness of this process of image matching is required within us - ie if we were to experience more joy in relations.
A wonderful homework would be to keep noting all instances of this image matching in a day for any relationship of your choice.
We send an sms with all the so called love in it to our dear ones thinking we love the dear one. The reply is a plain yes or no with no colors attached - a real life answer rather than a reel life answer. Now is the moment! Capture your mind at this very instance. Feel the frustration rise, feel the sorrow happening, feel the burning inside, feel the misery inside, feel the mind say - no more sms. i cannot make a fool of myself, i give so much attention so much love and this is what i get, i too have a self esteem, i cannot dip below that, am not going to sms again or take the initiative. If this awareness is felt, then you are liberated. Analise this. I expected the other to reply in reel life replies and i got a real life reply. My image of other was reel life, it didnt match the real life Him or her. Remember we are happy with a relation ONLY because it matches the image of that person we carry within us. Next question, is this love?

The river flows...

Fresh feelings.. so good to write this now! The river flows... another relation flows by. During our lifetime we come across so many relations and each of them has a potential to affect us. So then what is the best way in a relation? How should we be in a relation, what should the relation be for us?
Be a river when you approach a relation, approach a river when you go to a relation.
Be like a river when you approach a friend, treat her like a river when you approach her.
A river is flowing and it remains fresh and is able to provide fresh water for all that approaches it on its journey called life. When the flow stops, it stagnates.
When we want fresh water we approach the river quench our thirst and then leave. We do not try to stop it and keep it to ourselves. For if we do so, it stagnates, it collects more of ills than goodwill.
The river on the other hand provides us the fresh water and leaves us. This is existence, this is the way of life. On the other hand if the river gets attached and stops, it collects more of dirt and foul smell and instead of providing the freshness, our relation with it is more of discomfort than bliss.

So remember - be a river in a relation. Do not try to hold on to a river or do not try to stop it- the essence is lost! When these are followed you will notice the river still is flowing for you with all the freshness and bliss.

Levels of Love?????????

These three things are to be taken note of: the lowest love is sex - it is physical - and the highest refinement of love is compassion. Sex is below love, compassion is above love; love is exactly in the middle. Very few people know what love is. Ninety-nine percent of people, unfortunately, think sexuality is love - it is not. Sexuality is very animal; it certainly has the potential of growing into love, but it is not actual love, only a potential.... If you become aware and alert, meditative, then sex can be transformed into love. And if your meditativeness becomes total, absolute, love can be transformed into compassion. Sex is the seed, love is the flower, compassion is the fragrance. Buddha has defined compassion as love plus meditation. When your love is not just a desire for the other, when your love is not only a need, when your love is a sharing, when your love is not that of a beggar but an emperor, when your love is not asking for something in return but is ready only to give - to give for the sheer joy of giving - then add meditation to it and the pure fragrance is released. That is compassion; compassion is the highest phenomenon. So remember ... sex is seed, love is the flower and compassion is the fragrance.

The Moment after the Incident - The moment before Action

Before I move out, I must move within. This should be the way of life, the way of interaction, the way of action, or else actions become re-actions. In any situation remember there exists the source, the object and the emotion. Our doings remain an Action if there does not exist the link between the Source and Object, which in most cases are linked via the Emotion. So remember Source-Emotion-Object. My best friend pulls a nasty joke at Me - the anger rises ie I am the Source. The friend becomes the Object and the linking becomes the emotions like hurt ego, sentiments, expectations etc.
Lets relate to this - I go to a friends house for dinner and the food is ordered (not made, the love that goes into making food for someone needs to be acknowleged at the higest level for it contains the the essence of sacrifce - THE ESSENCE OF THE CREATION ITSELF - as said in vedas). Without a thought an action is done, you take the chapati which your friend had ordered. The friend (host - and the society conditioned me to believe - athithi devo bhava) responds - Thankyou for taking my share! I have to remain hungry! The situation is in place - Source-Emotion-Object. You had always believed in athithi devo bhava and treated your friend like one at your house. The anger arises in the Source, the link - hurt ego, sentiments is in place to link to the Object - your friend. The immediate movement of the Awareness from the Source to the Object once the situation arises is where the problem lies. The first moment after the incident is what decides your Action. The first movement must be toward my center. Once you are centered within, the whole thing appears different; the perspective has changed. Then you look standing on the Source and not look standing on the Object. The incident you are in may not look like an insult. My friend may just look stupid or funny. Or, if you are really centered, you might come to know that he is right, This is not an insult. He has not said anything wrong about me. Now you are creating a conscious being within yourself. After every incident, let there be a moment of meditation: this is what abhyasa is.
Sufis use it continuously. Before a Sufi disciple stands, he will take Allah's name. Every action is done after a moment of Awareness. And by and by, this remembrance becomes a constant barrier between him and the action -- a division, a gap. The body cannot understand just by verbal communication. Only your head can understand, but the body remains unaffected. And unless understanding reaches to the very roots of the body, you cannot be transformed. Your ideas may go on changing, but your personality will persist. And then a new conflict will arise. Hence, the importance of abhyasa -- constant inner practice. These two words are very significant: abhyasa and vairagya. Yoga does not believe in intellectual understanding. It believes in bodily understanding in a total understanding in which your wholeness is involved. Not only you change in your head, but the deep sources of your being also change. If you do a particular practice constantly -- just repeating it continuously by and by it drops from the conscious, reaches to the unconscious and becomes part of it. Then only your actions reflect the teaching - The Moment after the Incident - The moment before Action. Be(aware) of this moment.

Believe Aloneness, Be aware of loneliness

Loneliness and aloneness in the dictionaries are synonymous, but existence does not follow your dictionaries.

Loneliness is absence, aloneness is Presence - It is existence. A pendulum can never be at peace - away from its center. Hence the excitement of being in a relation and sorrow of not being in a relation.

So while you are in the relationship you can create a little illusion to forget your loneliness. But the truth still persists - aloneness. Hence even in a happy relation the fear shows up, shows up when the two are not playful, when the two are not distracted with child games. Hence the need for continuous talking in a relation.

Your whole life's experience supports that things go on changing. Nothing remains stable; you cannot cling to anything in a changing world. You wanted to make your friendship, your happiness with partner or everything permanent but your wanting is against the law of change, and that law is not going to make exceptions. It simply goes on doing its own thing. It will change -- everything - everything existent! If not at the metaphysical level, then yes at the Physical level - Death.

It may take a little time for you to understand. You want this friend to be your friend forever, but tomorrow he turns into an enemy. Or simply -- "You get lost!" and he is no longer with you. Analyze This. Here the 3 Gunas stand between the Gyana indriyas and the Karma indriyas and feed the nonexistent 'I' center. The 'I' never was and never should be. Aloneness should be, but is not. But still the lesson never goes so deep that you stop asking for permanence. So a good experiment in a bumpy relation is to enjoy the aloneness. For this meditation help. If you cannot be at peace with yourself, it becomes difficult to be at peace with others, even your partner.

Society has tried to make arrangements so you can forget loneliness. Marriages are just an effort so that you know your wife is with you. All religions resist divorce for the simple reason that if divorce is allowed then the basic purpose marriage was invented for is destroyed. Then the so called society crumbles, if man were to know the Aloneness in him. So in a way - Society is - because Aloneness isn’t. And society will not allow you to know your aloneness. If society is not there, then there are no politicians, priests, organizations and yes if you know aloneness, then the husband looses power, the wife looses power, the kids looses power. This is unacceptable to each of these individuals. So they don’t approve of your knowing aloneness.

So if you know your aloneness, and not fear loneliness, then you need not fear the society, the relations. You then live for yourself, truth in actions. Then actions don’t become reactions. Then you marry because you want to marry, you stay in a relation because you want to and not for others - that others be it society, be it so called loved ones. A fallacy here is that, if the loved ones were truly loved ones then they should be happy for your happiness and not the society’s happiness. The teaching of Gita is to be then remembered here - Be a lotus, live in the dirt, but remain a little above it. Then radiate the inner bliss.

Good to give a thought about why we need a relation, a partner. You were lonely, fearing aloneness. So you find another person who is fearing aloneness, a common enemy. Thrown in are some alice in wonderland situations and the two get married. The real enemy is the swept under the carpet. But the truth remains, the fear remains. So wake up and face your fear - Aloneness. It’s your real friend. It will liberate you.

Religions have tried to make you a member of an organized body of religion so you are always in a crowd. You feel that there are billions of worshipers; you are not alone. God is your savior. God is with you. A technique to keep your fear of loneliness alive because once you become comfortable with aloneness, then society, religion, husband, wife, friend looses their power. And they don’t want that.

God was a device, but all devices have failed. It was a device... when nothing is there; at least God is with you. He is always everywhere with you. In the dark night of the soul, he is with you -- don't be worried. Again the false hope of fighting loneliness. Remember society thrives on this false hope. And society is nothing but Power in few hands to control the more.

Now the question arises, what is a healthy relation? It does not mean that a man who is centered in his aloneness, complete in himself, cannot make friends, cannot have a partner -- in fact only he can make healthy relationships, because now relationships are no longer a need. When you are in need of something - you fight for it. So always be aware of relationships being a need because when the need is not there, the suffocation is not felt.

Relationships can be of two types. One is a relationship in which you are a beggar -- you need something from the other to help your loneliness -- and the other is also a beggar; he wants the same from you. And naturally two beggars cannot help each other. Soon they will see that their begging from a beggar has doubled or multiplied the need. Hence the importance of Aloneness and realizing it to take relationships forward. So everybody is frustrated and angry, and everybody feels he is being cheated, deceived in a relation at some point.

The other kind of relationship, the other kind of love, has a totally different quality. You are not the beggar in this. It is not of need, it is Nothingness, Openness and Emptiness. Rivers just flow into this Ocean of Emptiness. The Ocean does not express the Need. It knows its aloneness. So don’t fear aloneness if relationships are to be truly happy. Cos when there is no need, there is no question of clinging. You flow with existence; you flow with life's change, because it doesn't matter with whom you share. You can love a person, and if the person loves somebody else there will not be any jealousy, because your love was not out of need. It was not a clinging.