STOP !!!! Just drop - - to the classical music NOW

To the ordinary musician the sound is important. To the master musician the silence is important: he uses sound only to create silence. He raises sound to a high pitch and then drops it so suddenly that you fall into a deep silence.
Silence alone is not very beautiful, sound alone is not very beautiful, but the meeting of sound and silence is very, very beautiful -- that is music.
There is nothing closer to meditation than music -- wordless, meaningless, but tremendously significant. It says nothing but shows much, expresses nothing but brings to you a great splendor. From musician move towards the mystic. The day your music consists only of silence, you have arrived home.
If it brings meditation to you, if it brings silence; if it fills you with silence, if it reminds you of the soundless sound inside you, then only is it real music.

Put some sand on a thin plastic sheet, Classical music will put all the sand in a very silent, very harmonious state; it will create a pattern of harmony. The same sand, the same plate and any stupid kind of modern music -- from jazz to the skinheads -- and you will be surprised that your sand is in a chaos. It loses all harmony, it loses all peacefulness, and patterns are created which show immediately to anybody disharmony, discord. A man of silence moves with a certain field of energy around him, and if you are receptive, his vibe starts touching your heart.

AUM means exactly what Zen people call "the sound of one hand clapping". AUM is the innermost music of your being. When all the thoughts and desires and memories have gone, have disappeared, and the mind is absolutely quiet and silent, there is no noise inside, you start hearing a tremendously beautiful music which does not consist of any meaning. It is pure music without any meaning, gives you great joy, fills you with celebration, makes you dance. You would like to shout "Alleluia!" But the music itself has no meaning; it is pure music, not polluted by any meaning. AUM represents that inner music, that inner harmony, that inner humming sound which happens when your body, your mind, your soul are functioning together in deep accord, when the visible and the invisible, the manifest and the unmanifest are dancing together.
Om is the silent sound, when the mind stops all chattering and you enter into the world of no-mind. The music of no-mind is something closer to Om. It is not exactly Om, but Om comes very close to that subtle sound.

So STOP!!!!!! Drop all and listen to the silence in -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVSrqUjIHWs


Vathapi Ganapathim Bhajeham
Vaaranaasyam Vara Pradham Sri

Bhoothaadhi Samsevitha Charanam
Bhootha Bhautika Prapancha Bharanam

Madhyamakala Sahityam

Veetharaaginam Vinutha Yoginam
Vishwakaaranam Vigna Vaaranam

Puraa Kumbha Sambhava Munivara Prapoojitham Trikona Madhyagatham
Muraari Pramukhaadhyupaasitham Moolaadhaara Kshetrasthitham
Paraadhi Chathvaari Vaagaathmakam Pranava Swaroopa Vakrathundam
Nirantharam Nithila Chandrakandam Nijavaamakara Vidhrutekshu Dandam

Madhyamakala Sahithyam

Karaambujapaasha Beejaapooram Kalushavidooram Bhoothaakaaram
Haraadhi Guruguha Toshitha Bimbam Hamsadhwani Bhooshitha Herambham

Express? Suppress?

Be watchful. That is a totally different thing, and that is real
protection. Just watch. Something starts happening, starts affecting you – watch it. Let it affect you but remain watching; don’t lose that consciousness. Something is affecting you – be alert about it. Let it affect you, don’t protect against it, but just watch. Go on seeing that it is affecting you: somebody has insulted you and it hurts. Just watch that it hurts with no judgment of good or bad.
Don’t say that you are disturbed, don’t say that he had done something wrong to you, don’t say that you should have protected yourself.
Don’t be worried that something is lost, your energy is disturbed, now how will you gain the old space again? No valuation at all, no judgment. Just watch it – that you are feeling hurt, so you are feeling hurt! And you will be surprised: the more you watch, the less you feel hurt, and still you remain open. The more watchfulness arises like a pillar, the less and less you are affected. And there is no
hard crust to protect you at all.
This watchfulness arises in the center of your being and the hard crust has to be put around the circumference; that is like a fencing wall. They are totally different, but you are watching, and in watchfulness nothing affects you. In the beginning when the watchfulness is not really deep, things will affect you, so nothing to be worried about. Watch that too – that you are affected. Somebody
insults you and you feel insulted. Watch both, and when you see that watching is helping and that that hurt feeling is going, watch that too. Soon you will see that the wound has disappeared... watch that tool Just go on watching whatsoever happens, so you will be able to avoid two extremes. One extreme is
protection: that creates armor, makes a man insensitive, dull and dead; that is the way of the monk.
The second extreme is to allow it to happen, to indulge in it; that is the way of the worldly. Somebody insults you, and you feel insulted, so you fight and get involved in the whole mess of it. People know only these two ways; they are cheap.

Gratitude!! The first teacher itself gave a wrong direction

Are these scenarios familiar for a mother?
* I carried you for 9 months in my stomach, the constant aches, breaking backs, haywire moods, not cooperative father, having to do all the chores of the family.
* I took all the pains to grow you, the sleepless night because of your fever, making you umpteen delicacy till it suited your taste, smiled and begged you to eat even when this delicacy was not liked the subsequent time, remade another delicacy, made sure you got to wear all the best clothes even if we suppressed our desires.
* I have to stay awake till 12am waiting for the son to get home from work although he is married, so that his arrangements for dinner are met.
* I have to hand over the tea cup to the son or daughter first thing he or she sits with the newspaper.
* I have to make sure the son or daughters clothes are managed with the servant and are ready for him or her to wear.
* I have to hear my son and daughter say - this dinner is not tasty and see them walk away from the table.
* I do not have the option not to make dinner even though he or she does not even turn up for the dinner the previous two nights.
* I have to set aside all my priorities when my son/daughter was growing and in school just to get her to finish her homework first and hit the bed as quickly as possible.
* I had lot of financial problems but didnt let them burden my little ones mind.
* I used to eat the previous days meal, but made sure the daughter or son got to eat the fresh meal prepared on the day.
* I kept my desires to spend my old age with my son or daughter hidden so that the son or daughter could fly to the US to live his or her dreams?
* I have severe back pain or arthritis, still i do not complain carrying my sons or daughters kid in all the shopping malls.
* I am 65 years old and my son or daughter does not help me live life as they are busy working in the city, but still when they call for help as they cant manage their little ones, I make it a point to rush to their help.
* I am 65 years old and have reached that point of life where my brothers and sisters are missing me for obvious reasons. I cant keep visiting them as often as I have to take care of my son/daughter/son in law/daughter in law.

How many mothers would have made their kids realize the importance of Gratitude?
How many mothers would have mentioned the above facts to their kids?
Would the society accept a mother who mentions these facts to their kids?
Is it right for the mother to tell this to the kid?
Do we see one person in this society who lives life with Gratitude - Who thanks his or her father for being instrumental in raising the money for the family to live? - NOT JUST IN WORDS, MATERIALS, but in deeds, actions which need to be done daily? Its been quite fashionable for kids to use up their mothers for 364 days a year and gift them a trip or a good chain or to take them to the doctor on the 365th day. How does it feel to ask them to take rest 364 days a year, make food for them 364 days a year, facilitate them to make steps towards godhood? If only kids realize old age is god realization.

The list is going to reach the Sun trying to unfold itself. The list of items for which we should show gratitude to.

Cant help wonder why this selfish, ungratefulness nature of people has become so existent, so common. There are for sure multiple reasons.

I guess the wrong rules of the society has a major role to play here. It has despised and looked down upon a mother who teaches her kids about gratitude, giving her example with reference to the kid. This i guess has formed the foundation on which the kid has grown his ungratefulness nature. If the mothers could really have taught values of gratefulness we might have had hope.

If only mothers taught us the first lesson - the most important lesson that she has sacrificed a lot for us to grow up - only then I would have had a better foundation for being a better person. When this first lesson itself was taught in such a way that I was made to feel - "mothers are for sacrifice, please take them for granted, it is her duty", - I have gone astray. No wonder we see husbands taking wives for granted. Wives taking husbands for granted. No hope. The foundation is shaky.

Delight in the success of others

Let’s be honest here. Have you ever found yourself secretly wishing someone else would fail? I don’t mean you wish them any serious bad luck, only that they don’t become more successful than you? Sometimes it’s hard to wish others well, particularly those you know well – friends, colleagues, neighbors, family members. It’s hard to see a colleague get the promotion you worked so hard for. It’s difficult to see your friend on television, or your neighbor able to purchase a new car. We’re human; we get jealous.

While it can be seductive, or at least habitual, to secretly desire to keep others at your level, it’s absolutely not in your best interest. The way to rise to the top is to wish everyone well, to hope with all your heart that everyone can expand to their greatest potential, to wish that the people you know, and those whom you don’t know, can all realize their dreams and achieve greatness.

When you wish someone well, it creates a momentum within you, an inner environment of success. It reminds your spirit of your loving and deserving nature. It creates the atmosphere within you to help you succeed and create abundance. When you delight in the success of others, it’s as if you are sprinkling the seeds for a garden of success.

As you wish others well, notice how good it feels. When your wishes are sincere, they will serve as a reminder that giving and receiving are two sides of the same coin. And the goodness that we feel gives us the energy to look at the numerous opportunities that are awaiting us in our journey. And remember Opportunity - does not mean just money. It could be events to cheerful, events to be blissful, events to just be happy seeing others happy, events to just trust others and be happy in spite of they reciprocating or not etc.

On the other hand being in jealousy of others success just relates to a closed energy level. Please observe the burn within - at the stomach, at the heart and finally at the mind. This very burn eats up the energy that we have. Just observe the way our mind gets back and back at the same topic and burns the issue.

And when our energy goes in this way, when our mind is pre occupied, no wonder we miss the opportunities that come our way. Because mind cannot work on two things at the same time.

Run

It happens many times that runners.... You will not think of running as a meditation, but
runners sometimes have felt a tremendous experience of meditation. They were surprised,
because they were not looking for it -- who thinks that a runner is going to experience
God? -- but it has happened, and now running is becoming more and more a new kind of
meditation. It can happen in running. If you have ever been a runner, if you have enjoyed
running in the early morning when the air is fresh and young and the whole world is
coming back out of sleep, awakening, and you were running and your body was
functioning beautifully, and the fresh air, and the new world again born out of the
darkness of the night, and everything singing all around, and you were feeling so alive....
A moment comes when the runner disappears, there is only running. The body, mind and
soul start functioning together; suddenly an inner orgasm is released.
Runners have sometimes come accidentally on the experience of the fourth, turiya,
although they will miss it because they will think it was just because of running that they
enjoyed the moment; that it was a beautiful day, that the body was healthy and the world
was beautiful, and it was just a certain mood. They will not take note of it. But if they
take note of it, my own observation is that a runner can more easily come close to
meditation than anybody else. Jogging can be of immense help, swimming can be of
immense help. All these things have to be transformed into meditations.
Drop old ideas of meditations, that just sitting underneath a tree with a yoga posture is
meditation. That is only one of the ways, and may be suitable for a few people but is not
suitable for all. For a small child it is not meditation, it is torture. For a young man who is
alive, vibrant, it is repression, it is not meditation. Maybe for an old man who has lived,
whose energies are declining, it may be meditation.

I will make mistakes, but not again

Sometimes it happens that you commit to the wrong thing, even then it is good to commit, because the day you will know it is wrong you can get out of it. At least you would have learned one thing: that it is wrong, and never to get into anything like that again. It is a great experience; it brings you closer to truth.
Why do people vacillate so much? -- because from the very childhood you have been told not to commit any mistakes.
- Not to touch fire, i doubt how many kids really have experienced first and then been told not to touch fire.
- Not to go out into the cold morning.
- Not to go out into the rain.
- Not to play in the mud.
- Not to smoke.
- Not to drink.
- Not to even run!
- Not to laugh.
- Not to cry.
- Not to come after 10th position in the class.

Ever wondered why? Because in all this there are experiences. Experience of either truth or mistakes. But both are experiences. So unless you try these, you miss both - the experience of it being right and the learning that comes from the failure or the mistake.
You just grow up eventually being a stone of no intelligence, which cannot adapt, which lacks intelligence and that is the ability to use knowledge as the circumstance requires.
This is what happens, the kids miss both the experience and the learning that comes from it if its a mistake.
Unless a kid runs early morning at 6am in the drizzling rain, he does not get to know of the beauty of the experience - the occassional birds chirping and flying by, sitting drenched on the cables, the silence on the huge ground and just the sound of the drizzle on the running tracks, the occasional few people looking at you as if you are crazy, the dimly light ash colored sky and the shiver that you get because of the cold, the experience that you pant faster in this wonderful atmosphere, the experience that you have to be aware the entire half hour lest you slip in the waters, the experience of thinking if its sweat or rain water dripping down the forehead, the experience of having to see smoke come out of your mouth as you look up high into the ash colored sky and gasp for breath, the feeling of gratefullness while standing under a tree to gain your breath, feeling thankful to the tree, or the experience that you are down with cold and fever, the learning that sudden changes in climate causes cold!

The kid fails all these experiences - be it mistake or the correctness of the action. That is one of the greatest teachings of all the societies all over the world -- and very dangerous, very harmful. Teach children to commit as many mistakes as possible, with only one condition: don't commit the same mistake again, that's all. And they will grow, and they will experience more and more, and they will not vacillate. Otherwise a trembling... and time is passing by, out of your hands, and you are vacillating.
After all kids then have three clear cut roads, help the pick one of the three, mind you - help them and you dont pick.
1. Its a wonderful experience running in the rain at 6am
2. Its a wonderful experience running in the rain at 6am, but I fell sick. So I have to train myself to this new experience, train my body and mind to accept the new climate.
3. Its a wonderful experience running in the rain at 6am, but its a MISTAKE. I ll fall sick. I should be careful to avoid it as much as possible.

An incident to help us remember this teaching:
"Just a few days ago, one young man came to me. For three years he has been vacillating
whether to take sannyas or not. I said, "Decide either yes or no, and be finished with it!
And I am not saying decide yes, I am only saying DECIDE. No is as good as yes. But
wasting three years? If you had taken sannyas three years ago," I told him, "by this time
you would have known whether it is worth it or not; at least one thing would have been
decided. Vacillating three years, nothing has been decided. You are in the same space,
and three years have gone by."

TRAIN AS THOUGH CUT OFF.
Mind is vacillation. The discipline of a meditator is to become so watchful of the mind, so alert to the mind and its stupidities -- its hesitations, its tremblings, its vacillations -- to become so watchful that you are cut off.

Suicide and He was a coward! Is it?

We pretty much hear this comment - 'Moron he was a coward, he didn't have the guts to face life!".

A guy or a girl commits suicide and this is the first comment we hear. Is there a different angle to it?
Or say for instance a person takes to drugs and this is the comment we might hear - He or she dosent want to take up the responsibilities of life.

Can we picture a donkey being over loaded with goods and made to walk and if possible it suicides.

The only explanation then given is - the donkey didn't ask for the goods to be loaded, where as the humans did.

He or she asked for the high paying job.
He or she asked for a family life.
He or she wanted the pleasure of the physical relation. Funny - here though - worth noting they dont have a choice here in India.
He or she asked for marriage.
He or she asked for the costly flat on emi.
He or she asked for the costly car.
He or she asked for the first kid.
He or she asked for the second kid.

The list is never ending... it just ends with out life.

The question then remains... Is, to err human?
Can human beings not make mistakes?
Can human beings not know the net outcome of his action although he has thought about it?
Has the very society, parents, uncles, aunties, priests, policemen, teachers, friends who "conditioned" every human being to do all the actions listed above told them about the outcomes of each of these actions? Hmm... but then the question remains.. why should they be blamed, why can you take up the responsibility of your wanting to marry?

But then the question remains - as a baby were you vulnerable?
Did you have a reasoning mind and could it be conditioned, could it can be moulded?
Yes - the inevitable answer is Yes and the truth is, these were responsible to mould, to condition : society, parents, uncles, aunties, priests, policemen, teachers, friends etc and etc.
Isn't it true that we, the new generation are more driven by rajasik and tamasik energy and that we are even ignorant of the Saatvik energy?
Isnt it true that we weren't shown the possibility of these 3 factors as babies which makes a human decide to quit life? To quit responsibilities?

So the question is - did the baby have a chance?

Is it right to load a donkey till the sky and expect it to still work? Do we see rationality in the donkey jumping into a well?
Should we say - the donkey is a coward, it couldn't face life? Or if the donkey drinks itself to addiction - that its not taking up responsibility.

So the question remains - Is he/she a coward when a human gets addicted, when a human commits suicide? Should we really say - "He was a coward, he didn't have the guts to face life!" Or should we think:
He was a human and made a mistake.
He got conditioned by the expectations of the society.
He miscalculated and couldn't judge all the outcomes.
He just got conditioned by the fact that human beings have to marry.
Or he just got conditioned by the fact that married people have to have kids?