Why do bad things happen to good people?

Many times we come across this rhetoric that why bad things happen to good people. A lot of people seem to have this sense or conviction that they are the "good people" and there are certain "bad people" who are responsible for all the disorder.

The idea of myself being good arises from the ideas we have of certain virtues. 

And of course the good deeds bear no fruit and they backfire turning so called good people into bitter ones. Then one concludes that there is no place for good in this filthy world. 

Too many people jump into action without understanding the order of things and want to be kind, compassionate, loving etc and when their "good" action is not reciprocated, end up concluding that I am a nice person but people around me don't deserve it. 

How childish it is but we see that the maturity is not a function of age, but of consciousness. 

Without understanding where does the so called "virtue" lie in the whole scheme of things, one makes attempts at acquiring and practicing it. And the result is a disaster and needs no examples, we know already how the story goes. 

So what is the right order of things?

Let's see what Tao Te Ching has to say about it and see if it resonated with us!!

"A man of superior virtue is not conscious of the virtue. 

A man of inferior virtue performs for the purpose of virtue, hence he is not virtuous. 

A man of superior virtue acts without action, and performs with his true nature. 

A man of inferior virtue acts with intentional effort.

A man of superior kindness acts a natural act. 

A man of superior justice acts with righteousness and feelings for others.

A man of superior etiquette acts according to his true self, hence no one responds to him by moving away. 

There, when Tai is lost, there is Te (virtue). 

When Te is lost there is humanity.

When humanity is lost, there is justice.

When justice is lost, there is etiquette. 

Antiquate becomes prevalent when people fail to be sincere and honest. 

Hence, chaos begins.

A person of knowledge and self-opinion will be hindered from the enlightenment of Tao.

Thus, this is the beginning of ignorance!"

Does it speak to you? Does it resonate? 

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing...

Of many 'pointers' to the 'truth' that are used in 'popular wisdom', like the one from Buddha's 'What you think you become', Jesus' 'what is above so is below', is the one from Rumi that is even used in the movie 'Rockstar' (:P)! It goes like 'Out beyond the ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there'. Like all other 'one liners', it is just half truth omitting the further gnosis without which the words don't make any sense, neither do they convey the intended meaning. I sometimes think that the notion of poetry has born out of the words of the 'seers' or or 'jnanis' that make no sense to the people who have not yet experienced any meditativeness. People tend to think that the words of people like Rumi, Omar Khayyam, Hafiz are 'poetry' and make pitiful attempts at the so-conceived 'art' that consists in deliberate abstractions and contradictions that simply mock the abstractions and paradoxes in the writings of those of the likes of Rumi. For those who are talking from the place that is indeed beyond words, the contradiction is inevitable because of the structure of the language and the logical mind, but because of certain 'hassnamuses' and their attempts at 'poetry', the real secrets of the universe have remained as 'poetry' and have become an 'object of admiration' for the 'culture junkies'. What a misfortune! 

The whole thing goes like this.. 

"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,
there is a field. I'll meet you there.

When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase "each other" doesn't make any sense."

These words look poetic but they are as precise as Patanjali's Yogasutras. This is the description of that which is revealed to a seeker. Call it God, Soul, Self, no-self, Atman, stillness, oneness, whatever.

There is indeed a field there which is out beyond all the ideas. The field of pure awareness. By pure I don't mean holy or sanskari. Pure means unclouded by thought. In the thought identified state, everything one knows is through the thinking. There is a thought construct, assumptions and certain conclusions based on this thought construct. The knowledge so to say is 'verbal'. But the state of pure awareness is a realization of that conscious field in which all the thought arises and vanishes. There, you don't look at the thought to validate what's true and what's not. The whole thought structure falls away and is rendered unnecessary. There is not even a need to establish even the most primary assumption 'I' and 'you'. Everything is that clear because even 'everything' is an assumption that there are different things like this, that and so.. so infact there is nothing to sort out because this is another dimension of consciousness which is 'complete' if we can use the word. There is no need of any thought movement. There is no suppression of thought either. Thought is simply seen arising and vanishing and falling in its proper place. It is seen that how the thought itself creates an illusion of a thinker. There is actually no one there who is thinking. Such is the nature of thought! 

This has been the plight of all those who have experienced and stabilized in that field. It is impossible to communicate. So come all the parables and metaphors and 'poetry'! 

Marathit sangaycha zala tar..

अवघा रंग एक झाला । रंगि रंगला श्रीरंग
 मी तूंपण गेले वायां ।
पाहतां पंढरीच्या राया
_/\_

A bit more on UG and others

Its a puzzle for me as why UG declared that all the spiritual quests are nonsense and at the same time it is crystal clear that it is infact true. However, the statement is not an end in itself. All the spiritual 'quests' are sure nonsense because the realization is not something to be 'attained' so there is no question of any quests and any sort of 'doing'. Although he says there is nothing like enlightenment, it is true at the same time that he himself does not function the way other people do. Maybe that was his way of pointing out of the pointlessness of asking questions and expecting answers to be given to you. He said there is no self to discover but how could he have not seen that the disagreement he has with other realized ones is only because of the use of language. When others like Ramana are talking about the 'Self' they mean the exact same thing when UG says there is no self to discover. The word 'Self' is used by Ramana to negate the separate 'I' people assume themselves to be. Ramana uses the word 'discovery' to indicate that there is nothing that you 'become' but you just 'discover' what is already there.. so the word 'discovery' is used by him to negate the false ideas about the whole thing. So when UG says there is nothing to discover, it means the exact same thing as 'Self discovery'..

It looks like he wants to not lengthen the discussion even by one word. He simply declared nothing you do will make it happen for you. It looks like whatever methods he was given by different people consisted into 'doing' more and more things to 'attain' to enlightenment. And when he gave up on everything and didn't bother anymore, the thing happened to him. He said it is 'acausal' and no volition on your part can make it happen. He didn't even say that don't try to make it happen and in the most effortless state it will happen neither did he imply. Pappaji who was the realized disciple of Ramana told people that 'you' cannot know the truth, 'you' have to disappear. UG would agree only to the first half of that!

A bit of UG and others

'What do you want?' asked UG Krishnamurti to people asking him different questions. It is so funny to see that it is very difficult to realize that all this game of asking questions, even this is borrowed from outside and has not arisen authentically in one. He said that this culture has given solutions to nonexistent problems that never and cannot work and thus has created a neurotic condition in the body. The counter question 'what do you want' may seem out of context to the existential inquiries but it totally cuts through the facade that one is in need of an answer. Is there a question that is 'yours' he would ask. And any further discussion, any movement of thought is actually taking you away from it he would say. He also denied that there is anything you can do so that 'this' happens to you. The only instrument that you have is thought and it is useless in the search of 'that' and there is no other instrument, he would say.

I love how the 'realization', if we can use that word, has found different expression in different individuals. Particularity the expressions of J Krishnamurti and UG Krishnamurti I love even though (actually there is no 'even though' but a deep harmony) they deny the whole idea that there is something to seek. Somebody has said that JK reduced the idea of enlightenment to just psychology and UG reduced it to mere biology. I, myself have had this question that is this a process at all and if it is, is it physical or nonphysical. But now I see that all these are just words. We just say something is physical, something is psychological, something is conscious. It seems that more and more vocabulary needs to be created to counter and negate every description of 'that' as nothing of the language applies to it. The complex the personality is of one, the complex will be the gnosis. UG has condemned all the spiritual teachers and teachings including Buddha, JK, Osho, each one of them. He said that the thought has to die off on its own and totally denied that there is nothing one can do to make it happen. He just said that nature throws out some flowers time to time and the maximum you can do is to put them in museum and look at them!

JK himself has condemned the tradition, culture, religion so much that even in my wildest dreams I never thought that there would a realized one that would even condemn JK! That has been one of the epic moments of my life :D UG calls JK's practice of choice-less awareness a 'gimmick'. Hahahaha. What is common with both of them is there was a prophecy about both of them and people have tried to make them enlightened by loads of different types of Sadhnas, meditations etc and they revolted against all of that. Both are the realized ones and both deny that it is a 'result' of what was done to them, or what they were made to do. What wildflowers!

I myself have observed that when a seeker understands the whole gnosis from the realized ones and understands that the thought process is not going to lead him anywhere, the investment in the thought process is automatically broken, and slowly one can abide in the source, as the source. The source of the mind, source of the I-thought as called by Ramana and the whole illusion of you being a 'this person' collapses. There is just a field of awareness. Around 3-4 years before I came to see one of the Sadhguru's video where he was talking about a 'witness' to the thought process. That if the breath is watched, there happens a dis-identification between happenings and the witness. This was the first time I encountered something 'spiritual'. Immediately there was some 'understanding' happened in me and then I explored more and more of the knowledge of this sort. There were also some ideas that one must stick to one 'path' and not spend more time just 'gathering more information' about it. But from the initial dis identification, I never settled on any identity that I am a seeker or I am spiritual or this or that and it felt the most natural thing to me to read different awakened ones. After all they are not in conflict with each other. On the surface it may appear to be so but there is a deep agreement between all of them. And I found it even better to find out about my own 'cognitive dissonance'.

Ramakrishna is said to have realized god through all the paths such as that of the Jesus, Muhammad, his devotion for Kali and so on and he says that one must try out the different paths and realize on their own that its all the same!

To be continued....

Totality

When it is said by a Buddha
To accept everything
The stress is not on acceptance
The stress is on 'everything'

Either accept or reject
It doesn't matter
Unless it is total
Total acceptance or total rejection
Lead one to the same exhilaration
Key is the totality of it

Oh but these are the good ones
These are the bad once
How can I put them under one roof
One might ask

But you see,
The words accept or reject
Have no inherent meaning in them
But something happens
When once in for all
You gather all your energies
and,
leaving behind the morality of it
Embrace the totality of it

The conflict and the illusion
Perpetuate through division
Through half halfheartedness

Be total now
And taste the magic

God is a DJ

Do you hear that sound?
When there is nothing on mind?

There is a continuous stream of sound
Like silent ringing of bells
Like a continuous spring
It has been here all along
How have we not noticed it?

You have known
When the pianist hits the right keys

When the guitar strings
Resonate with the strings of your heart

When your emotions ride
On the accordion waves
This dragon called the mind
Gets pet like a homely dog

But this is another kind of sound
This is the un-created
The silent background of
All the happenings

In this sound
You totally disappear

What a divine music this is
Nourishing my whole being

I stood with a bowl in my hand
But how foolish of me
To ask for water
While being submerged in this ocean

All the creatures lie submerged
In this soundless sound
Attuned
With respective dimensions
This is the secret language of God

As God knows himself to be this bird
The bird however takes itself to be a bird

Evolving under the guidance of the source
That is present within

It seems as if
The light is the first manifestation of this sound
Falling on the leaf
How would this sensation be?
The awakening of a plant
One step higher towards its own source

How much would the source of creation
Love its own manifestations
And evolving them
And evolving with them

The light is thinner than the second sense
Could the second manifestation be the sound?
The sound produced by vibrations
The created sound?

The conductor is directing an orchestra
From outside
But my beloved is within
Blind to itself
But full of trust and devotion
That one day he will merge with himself
Oh what a love story is this!

He then developed the eyes
And saw the world for first time
His own creation!

Only in man he gained full consciousness
Still sleepwalking though
Having heard all sounds
But missing out on the soundless

He knew that he was onto something
Something always eluded him
Something that was so close
His longing grew more and more
He fell in love
With his own mystery
He danced in this love
He danced in his longing
He danced in his madness
He danced in his devotion

Suddenly one moment
Everything stopped
The man as he saw himself to be disappeared

Now there was no need of all the senses
Something else had come into light
Then he knew himself as the uncreated
He heard himself but not with this ears
He saw himself but not with this eyes
He smelled himself but not with this nose
He saw himself in everything and everyone
He had been the DJ
And he had been the music
He had been partying
All along

Ecstasy and Agony

I am at this doorstep
At this crossroad
Facing the infinite ecstasy
The end of all ends
The unfolding of my truth

But I still suffer from this agony
Agony of your ignorance
It feels like leaving a clan alone to enter this bliss
My heart is wrenched for every moment of yours spent in untruth
What are you trying to protect? With all your efforts?
These are all carcasses you take for a culture and rich heritage
Stinking to the heavens and causing you eternal suffering
These are only the symbols you  are carrying  of the auspiciousness
Hoping one day your prayer will be answered and your faith will bear a fruit
But this is not the way
Its not my wish that you must rot in your own false convictions
Its just the way of the existence

Why would you trust me anyway, though
You will try with all your being
To pull me on the 'right' path so that I let go of my 'fantasies'
But I have nothing to let go anymore
I am not holding onto anything
My pleasure is not a 'result' of anything
Its just there like an endless, continuous fountain
The source is unlocked
The miracle has happened
The meditation has happened
The auspicious has happened

A strange experience is this
Like a small lamp of joy in enormous storm of misery
But, to my surprise
This lamp is inextinguishable

Feels like being on drugs
On a mundane Monday
And there is no way back
To the so called normalcy
This is the most normal I can be
Even after drinking everybody's misery
This being smiles and smiles
Maybe this is just another of my desire
Of sharing this domain beyond the domain of all phenomena
The realm of the being

May we see the new heights of human consciousness
May this secret spread like a wildfire
May the Buddha in everyone of us
Be remembered and awakened

Existence and its mysteries

Classical way of understanding the universe around us in Science has been in terms of the observations of the natural phenomenon, experiments, analysis and formulation of laws that correspond to these natural phenomenon. Now in the modern physics there is an understanding that says that the observer plays a very crucial role in the observations and when there is nobody to observe, the universe doesn't exist. So, no observation can be absolute and the understanding based on observation will always remain incomplete. The interpretation of this is that the universe doesn't exist if not observed. 

It got me thinking. Another interpretation of this could be that- now the universe looks like this to man with the five senses he has that are the peak of the evolution of the life on earth as we know. So, to the less evolved consciousness, to the consciousness of animals, the universe might appear something different than what it appears to the humans. That could mean that the universe is evolving with the evolving consciousness. To the consciousness of the ant to say, the universe is not as evolved as it is evolved in our experience. For this ant, the higher forms of consciousness do not exist yet. This ant is now at the peak of evolution in its own universe. When say it gets killed by a human, other ants may classify this event as something supernatural. This could in turn mean that we are seeing the evolution of this universe and evolved universe at the same time in front of our eyes. There may never have been any beginning somewhere back in time but it might be right here, right now. To the very rudimentary consciousness, say to the consciousness of a gas particle, it might appear as if the universe has freshly sprung up into existence! (From where?) Those same gas particles got liquefied, solidified and formed all the elements by fusing with with other. This body is made from the same particles that have been there since the beginning (?). There are some factors through which these particles have formed and sustained in different shapes and forms. In a tree they were bound together in the shape of a tree. In animals they were bound together in the shape of an animal. Now in human form, they are bound together in the shape of a human. What binds them in the shape of human? Which force is this? And is there really any boundary actually that ok-this is me upto here and this is the universe? 

In a view of all this together, the One and only thing, absolutely the only thing that could be said with absolute certainty is that 'I am'. There is some awareness here which is aware of things. There is absolutely nothing else-not one single thing that we say holds any real substance in it. Careful reflection will show that even 'I am this' is an assumption. Even 'who am I?' question is based on the assumption that there are different entities there. There is an inherent assumption that something 'other' is there when we ask 'who am I?'. And in the deepest unconscious sleep, there is not even a possibility of saying anything. There is the unconsciousness. That would imply the universe has not even begun yet. Or it has been dissolved. Who knows?  

So, was this whole universe a scaffolding through which this awareness of being has evolved itself?

Is there no substance in the perception but the only reality is the perceiver?

Would the new approach in science will be to discover the laws that maintain this eternal harmonious movement considering the beginning and end invalid ? 

In deep meditation, when there is no thought, no sensation, when there is only the awareness, does that mean at those moments, the universe lies dissolved? 

Is that why the people who 'knew' have called the universe as Illusion?

The the reality, whatever it may be, when it appears at the doorstep, would you jump into it?

Would you go on this trip? Leaving the 'known' behind? 

Language of the Mystics

The language of the mystics 

May sound like literary aesthetics 

Full of metaphors and allegories

But there is not a single word, unnecessary 

Because the path is already full of darkness

And they want not that their beloved is lead astray 

They are in a predicament 

To speak of the unspeakable 

To share the gift 

Of a Sufi heart  

The world of the forms and shapes

Needs adjectives and adornments 

But the truth can be drunk

Only stripped off of everything false 

Those drunkards 

Hafez and Rumi and Omar Khayyam

Who danced and who loved 

Are the bees 

Who collected the cosmic nectar 

For you to taste 

To taste your own heart 

And know their secret language  

To feel that tenderness in your heart

Like the evening star

And the all consuming brightness

Of the afternoon sun 

They call out that something within you

That knows it can talk to the moon

That knows that plants also dance 

That recognizes the songs of the birds 

And knows that, that is the beloved 

That, that is the lover 

And that is beyond the two 

And that alone exists 

It is this ecstasy of which

These mad ones are singing about 

Of finding harmony amidst chaos

Of finding eternity amidst time  

Of finding utter stillness amidst intense movement 

Of knowing who you really are 

Belonging

Communication through words is the most feeble

We all have this intrinsic understanding 

So much yearning for being understood

But the communication has never happened 

Nor will it ever happen

The words are at your periphery

They reach the other at their periphery

And if those words ever sink in them

You know what happens 

They don't 'get it'

There are different words you use

To belong to different groups 

Certain words for the family

Certain words for the friends

But that attempt at belonging is always an effort

Like two pyramids who want to share two faces with each other 

There is no authenticity in that belonging 

The most authentic place of belonging lies hidden

Just beneath

So close to you

Its not even appropriate to say it is close

Because it is you, yourself 

At the heart of reality

You exist as one

Not two

Not in conflict 

But present
Effortless 

Belonging

Drunk

Alert

Authentic

What is more absurd?
The narrative? Or the absence of it?

On Ignorance, Fear and Desire

Be aware that whatever happens, happens to you, by you, through you, that you are the creator, enjoyer and destroyer of all you perceive and you will not be afraid. Unafraid, you will not be unhappy, nor will you seek happiness.

In the mirror of your mind all kinds of pictures appear and disappear. Knowing that they are entirely your own creations, watch them silently come and go, be alert, but not perturbed. This attitude of silent observation is the very foundation of Yoga. You see the picture, but you are not the picture.

~ Nisargadatta

These words of an enlightened one do not 'contain' the truth in them, but the truth contains these words. A master is a living embodiment of the truth, which itself is unspeakable but can be pointed towards- for the disciples to discover it in themselves. The truth is thus universal and individual at the same time. One cannot misappropriate the understanding of an enlightened being but one is enabled with certain 'data' needed for the exploration within himself. Not within his mind but within his 'presence'. 

Now, our understanding so far has been like- the situations happening around us determine the state of our mind. The perception is such that certain situation is causing me pain, or certain people make me irritated, or there are some activities in which I find pleasure and so on. But in reality, there is a certain 'data' that has already been crystallized in our 'common presence' which determines our reactions to every situation. There is a certain spectrum of experience we have framed for ourselves and everything happening around falls in some or the other place in that already assumed 'understanding of the world'. These 'data', what they are and how they became crystallized is another matter of exploration, but a point to note is- how to know that whatever is happening is really the way it is or I am making it up.

Now, the very interesting mess is- if one has a wrong conviction in the mind- everything happening looks exactly in concord with that conviction- for say, if one thinks that the world is a very hostile place- he gives rise to the experiences in all ways strengthening his conviction and is dragged more and more away from the truth. But to see that everything that happens is entirely your creation- there is no need of having this as your conviction-but only an impartial watchfulness is needed. In this watching, slowly the turbulence of the mind starts to slow down and a point comes of immense standstill. 

In the knowledge of this reality of the being, the fear, whatever fear one may have, of death, of separation, of failure etc, is simply and automatically dropped because one then knows that there is nothing there apart from this silent watchfulness. The mind was only like a phantom arising in the absence of the knowledge of our being. The mind has now entirely disappeared and there is only presence. No identity. Only knowing. 

And another consequence of this observation, this knowledge is - one comes to know that the desire was also a manifestation of the fear- seeking pleasure, security, future, happiness and everything- because the consciousness took  itself to be this 'person' because it was ignorant of its reality. 

A lot of effort and energy is wasted in our lives fighting the fears and desires and thus one is never fully satisfied. One cannot actually be fully satisfied because the one, the 'person' is only the consciousness, which in reality is just a presence- that was ignorant of itself.    

Thus the fear and desire are only shadows and have no place in the light of the realization of your being. 

May all beings reach their truth which is a storehouse of infinite pleasure, infinite knowledge and infinite power. 

Our infinite gratitude towards the enlightened ones, without the guidance of who, man would only travel in circles trapped in the shackles of the religions, scriptures, rituals, beliefs and disbeliefs thus never advancing towards any higher objective possibility. 

Cheers.