Summary: Admonishes ashram residents for the rough way in which they are dealing with work and handling objects. Explains that consciousness has to be extended to our smallest acts; further emphasises that enlightenment is not an instant flash, but a process involving long work. Teaches that our works are a means of raising ourselves to the Highest; further that the inner and outer must integrate for a complete sadhana. Lastly emphasises that the attitude of constant application is imperative.

(The work meeting has started with a discussion about the recording equipment not working properly due to mishandling by the people doing the recording.)

It is something to really be seriously aware of because it is reflected in everything we do, in how we deal with things. See the condition of our bus for example: how it has been badly treated and driven all these years and so our cars, how we deal with the utensils while cooking, banging them and dropping them and even breaking them in our hurry… Anything for that matter – how we also deal with each other. How rough we are, how aware are we of that? It is all connected – these things are all connected. It is a reflection and an expression of our personality, of our lack of awareness, of the way we interact not only with things but with people too. The positive aspect in the relating and interaction with people is that you will get the reaction and treatment back, so it makes you then look at yourself or at least there is a possibility of it. But with these things that cannot, to your knowledge, respond, you keep on handling them shabbily for they, to you visibly, do not react back. So you continue as a habit, and you are never made to look at yourself, whereas in a relationship, because the other will not accept it, you restrain yourself from doing so to whatever extent and your awareness is a little more exercised. But with things you do not. And yet, if you continue to deal with them in the same careless way one day they will break and that will be their reaction: they will react by breaking up and breaking down. And then if you, instead of reflecting on it put the blame elsewhere or on the thing itself and not on yourself for your handling of it, then you are unaccepting of accountability, change and transformation.

So it is all reflective of how you interact, of how you deal with these things. And then the consequences can be big and heavy, and besides unbecoming of a sadhak… If we start to become aware and conscious of the consequences and outcome of our actions beforehand – basically how much we can lose to begin with – then it will help to be more aware and careful in the treatment of things. Even so, it is not necessarily the best that you measure the thing, or your interaction, or your relation in terms of the consequence, loss or gain, rather to do everything well each time even if the consequences are not heavy or dear, nay, in spite of the consequence.

For example, we are losing my talks that I consider to be very important for our work, but you people may not consider it to be important – for in your unawareness and habit, and lack of wisdom it is not important to you and so the shabby and careless treatment to the thing and the work concerned. And so many of the talks have been lost – really just like that. But if one gave it due diligence keeping the importance of it in mind – and it is becoming of a sadhak – one would be very careful with the recording equipment, because if it does not work the talks do not get recorded and that would be felt as a loss. And to treat everything with respect even if they be inanimate is the way to sacredness.

Of course it is not just with the talks but it should be the case with all things and works, even so with those that may seem mundane and not so important like cooking – verily in the doing of all works it is very important, because it is a reflection of your person and how you see and feel, your personality, your growth, your awareness. It is very important to be aware and watchful: that is what makes you give every moment, every thing, every act, the importance – like even having things like the shoes or slippers in their proper place giving them due respect. ‘If I don’t, what difference does this make?’ Many people think so. But every act even the simplest has its place because it builds up your awareness, besides at the most fundamental level the things last longer and the effects of the works extend further. You are watchful every moment – even in those moments – and then it starts to extend itself in the other moments: you become more conscious and that too is meditation. And that is what happens. Otherwise meditation is only seen to be when you sit in the meditation room with closed eyes, while in the rest of the moments you continue to be as you are, as you have always been, habitually careless, shabby, callous and unaware: it never gets extended into the other moments, because it is not considered important albeit unconsciously. But then how is the complete transformation to be? How will all these parts and spaces of your being be included in your sadhana, ennobled and illuminated?

That is why this whole idea of enlightenment – instant enlightenment – is misrepresenting and totally self-defeating: it is a fraud philosophy, it is a faulty approach. You are waiting for this instant to happen through your sitting while you carry on as usual, casually. It is schizophrenic and you create a dual disconnected personality between what you seek and what you are. So no integration takes place. Verily the ultimate objective is to get to the point that every act becomes an enlightened and conscious act. It does not matter how unimportant it may seem. That is a misunderstanding. Every act, every moment is the act of the Divine. Even the simplest thing and act becomes important. There is nothing that is unimportant. Finally it is all Divine. ‘But then what is Divine?’ somebody might say. There is always someone to question the unquestionable but many things have to be accepted in good faith before you know them in the course of your living, the Divine of course being one of them and the Highest.

The question is how sacred you hold anything, everything that you or somebody else does? These differences do not stay then, otherwise we tend to be biased – because I do, it is important; if somebody else does it, we do not give it so much value. But ultimately, if you are going to reach to the true understanding of things, then you will give the other as much importance as you give yourself, because ultimately it is one Self, it is one Divine acting through different forms, different persons – then you will feel one with the other also. But this is not the case now, is it? You restrict yourself to your own miserly individuality: me. And the rest is the other.

So you are you, but at the same time you feel one with the other, you see the other also in the same way as you do yourself in spite of external differences. These are the processes and progressions of enlightenment; these are advancements towards an enlightened existence and expression. And that requires a continuous working: it is a process – there is no such thing as instant enlightenment. And that is why yesterday what M. was saying has no basis, those questions have no meaning. But because you have approached this enlightenment business in the past in a certain way, these questions abide. And if you know that it is a process and that you will pass through these states, these situations, these conditions and that it requires you to continue with your sadhana, there will be no questions.

Instead you immediately get frustrated, ‘Oh, it is not happening!’ Please tell us what you expect should be happening. These are all misconceptions because you do not know the process of and progression of sadhana. You do not know, what is sadhana? There is no such thing as instant enlightenment for nothing happens in an instant – not even coffee – leave alone enlightenment, not even to one like the Buddha. You require long-term work with yourself and practice; this idea of instant enlightenment by which, supposedly, everything will be taken care of in an instant is an ignorant one. A radical opening and state can be attained, that too, much work and many instances after and not in an instant hurry, but you would tend to a certain state and stay there, while the rest of you would remain the same – unaffected and untransformed. Complete transformation and realisation is a process. These are ignorant ideas marketed of course to attract, tempt and gather crowds because most people in their immaturity and lack of understanding are easily tempted, however unrealistically preposterous; happy and satisfied to have another high without having to put in any work – that is the whole thing: another intoxication to have. Quite tempting, I must say, for the immature and the naive.

People do things totally unaware – it is amazing, habitually and mechanically! It is really amazing to me – how all this is repeated almost every time. So it has not been done consciously – this is contrary to what is meant by being conscious. Your mind is elsewhere…You are just doing it – getting it done to get it over with and to move on to something you prefer. You are not present in what you do. You don’t love what you do or at the most you selectively love what you do and that too varies depending on your state and mood. But that is not meditation, sadhana, practice of Yoga for self-perfection. That is why when K. says we take so long to build and complete construction, he is not understanding the fact that for us even constructing is meditation and sadhana; work in progress, both of ourselves and the work itself; seeking perfection increasingly in oneself and in and of the work. This needs to be worked out in oneself and it has to be done consciously; it will be much slower to begin with and progressively spontaneous, free and quick. Besides we have to deal constantly with the practical difficulties of the outside like availability of quality workers and their fluctuating and unreliable commitment, corrupted and hostile local societal situation and attitudes, not to forget the constraints of environment and weather placed on us during monsoons and winter, when there is hardly any sun in the peak period and it gets quite frosty and cold and difficult for the workers. Being here all these years and still being unaware of all this shows your lack of awareness, understanding and readiness for real enlightenment of any kind. Instead this is the attitude: ‘Do it quickly!’ because you only want the result, so you can go and live in the constructed houses preferably without having to help in any way while others labour it out for your sake, very convenient. And then, after that, you can be comfortable in your rooms thanks to someone else and meditate! The whole thing, the process itself, is not considered as necessary, connected or important to meditation.

We are talking about conscious action – the dynamic form of meditation. And of course, I understand your dilemma for in your previous ashram ‘dynamic meditation’ meant just doing some unproductive vigorous breathing while pumping your arms in the side, up and down, like birds flapping their wings on maiden flight, without lift-off! That was it: rest of the time everybody maintained their unawareness and convenience (laughing), but because your Acharya in his own wisdom called it ‘dynamic meditation’ and everybody thought this is the way to their personal utopian enlightenment, so they had a great fad going.

In meditation you may get into some space – which makes you feel good and people enjoy it as another intoxication, another high. But then in the outside work you don’t see its effect, you only see the usual schizophrenic unawareness and imperfect, casual and shabby behaviour. It never came out. There was not even the intent to do so – the seeking of perfection within and in the outside. There was only the seeking of an enjoyable space inside and enjoyment outside, preferably with as little inconvenience to oneself as possible. If your meditation and your simultaneous application has not made you increasingly conscious of your actions and how you go about them, then there is something wrong and insufficient in your meditation; it is disconnectedly schizophrenic.

So it is something you enjoy – this space – but it does not extend any further than that. Therefore you can totally internalise and restrict yourself to the limits and limited understanding of whatever the space entails – you are of no use to and have no value for anything besides, including this world outside. And anyway what does it matter? Because ‘He was never born, and he never died,’ like you say of your Acharya. He was never born – so he never died, so life-actions are unimportant if not totally unreal. It is nice poetry but much of reality is prose. If you point out to somebody who is mishandling the subwoofer, ‘Hey, you know, you are taking the cover off and the plug is coming out too…’ He would reply, ‘What’s the big deal, man? I’m enlightened!’ No, sir, not in my eyes! (laughing) I give this – how you deal with things and beings and activities – importance. It shows that you are living consciously. Then you have the foundation for the great heights and the depths and for a living enlightenment and not an escaping disconnected one. I must admit I commend myself for my patience, though! (Laughing)

So check if the plug is in, the switch is on, and everything is working properly – then there will be sound – simple – but if the plug is out, pulled out while uncovering the sub-woofer in your unawareness and hurry, in your habitual careless work behaviour, even though the switch is on, it is not going to work, however helpless and hopeless you may look sitting there enlightened, wondering why it doesn’t work. For it to work you have to have the plug in and the switch on – surely, you cannot make it work if one is out or the other is off. Elementary common sense is required even for the so-called enlightened. These are all signs of the need for developing your awareness by conscious application and the assessment of all your actions.

For months people were recording taking turns each day, sitting dutifully in front of the machine pressing buttons and looking diligent – but were not checking whether anything was being recorded, wonder of wonders, and in the end nothing got recorded. They could hear everything through the headphone, but it was not going through to the recording, which they did not check and all the talks just went down the drain. All that work effort, expenditure of time and energy, needless to mention the value of the talks, but nothing to show for it… No result! Because it was all done unconsciously, a duty to be done, carelessly performed with no respect or interest or even common sense application – there was no love, there was no feeling, just working mechanically, keeping it to as little as possible. For it had to be done and there was no choice, but one really didn’t want to do it, so make a mess of it but somehow get and be enlightened.

Normally we only prefer to work when we like, wherever we like, what we like, with whom we like – it is all about that. Fine, there is nothing wrong with that, but that is the normal, ordinary way of working – besides that is not always the case, many a time life arranges things otherwise and you have to participate at your inconvenience. What do you do then and what should you do and how should you respond in those circumstances? There is something else besides – we are working as a means to meditation, Yoga and self-consecration, to raise ourselves and the work we do, whatever the work that is given us, to the Highest; otherwise where is the difference between the ordinary way of doing things and living, and what we are seeking to achieve and realise as a whole. Normally, you specialise, but here we are talking about being special in any and every condition, and not only to raise it to the extraordinary heights and Yoga, fulfilling through our works of any kind the will of God – it is a whole different position, aspiration and endeavour and therefore requires commensurate commitment and application. Even considering ordinary living, it is like specialising as a doctor and you may be an excellent one, but in other fields you may be a dodo.

So you have to bridge the gap, integrate: that is the whole thing and your awareness is always maintained throughout and embraces in itself all that you do and express. That is the way: it is a process, the process of integration. That way it is a complete sadhana, in and out, up and down: it will require you to apply – conscious application is required with understanding and done joyfully. One should be joyful in it. We must remember that we are doing sadhana and it should be a great joy. But ordinarily if one is not feeling high, then one totally collapses into frustration and complaining. And that means one is unstable, not strong in oneself, not committed, one does not have faith – lack of faith, lack of strength. Faith is strength.

To continue to retain one’s centre even when one is not having these highs and being patiently conscious through it all when things are not easy and not feeling good – that is the thing our sadhana requires. But immediately one gets totally helpless, and says, ‘I can’t manage.’ A seeker never says, ‘I can’t manage.’ A seeker says, ‘I’ll manage in time: by continuing to apply myself I will get there.’ But I hear so many times, ‘No, I can’t manage.’ You cannot manage at this moment, but if you continue to apply you will manage after a while, because it is all a process – that is the growth, is it not? When you say, ‘I can’t manage’ and you put a full stop for the rest of your life – that is when the growth stops. You say no – you have decided to say no. How can you grow then?

So the attitude is important. ‘Yes, I’m not being able to manage now, at this moment, but I am sure, if I continue to apply, I can change that.’ Then you open yourself to growth, you accept that this is only a temporary situation. It is all in the attitude. When you say, ‘I can’t manage’ actually a lot of times behind it is, ‘I don’t want to manage,’ because that is how one has lived and developed oneself and personality. Really there is nothing absolute and fixed in life, your capacities and personality can be changed, altered and developed, albeit with a bit of work – personality is nothing but a formation of the environment, education and situational conditions with a carryover from the past. It is a product of the environment, upbringing, conditionings, past tendencies and attitude. Even the way you think. So the way you think can help you in your growth or the way you think can stop you from growing. Attitudes – get your attitude right and then apply. That is why if the Master says something, instead of running away, you have to say, ‘Well, yes, I must try to apply myself.’ If you run away how are you going to change, how are you going to apply, how will you grow? ‘I can’t manage!’ No, no, there is no such thing. Progressively of course.

And it is better that you decide now, rather than ten lifetimes from now, because you lose those ten lifetimes, and who knows ten lifetimes from now you may not have the same opportunity: things are not always waiting for you – I might as well let you know that. Otherwise, one takes things for granted – even so the presence of the Master – and time. They may not necessarily be available to you in the future. But then that will be your choice.

Arya Vihar

9 Dec 2005