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Vol IV * February 2011 * Issue II

Meditation leads to Ultimate Flowering

Introducing various Masters & Dimensions of Spiritual Sojourn

MEDITATION TM

AWARENESS
Truth beyond time and space

www.taoshobuddhameditations.com
 MEDITATION TIMES
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Editorial Team: Swami Anand Neelambar, Taoshobuddha
International Contributors: Hadhrat Maulawi Jalaluddin Ahmad Ar-Rowi, Lars Jensen
Assistant Contributors: Ma Prem Sutra, Swami Dhyan Yatri, Sufi Lakshmi Sahai

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 Truth is pure Awareness

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Awareness
 MEDITATION TIMES
Published by Taoshobuddha Meditations
Trinidad, West indies
EDITORIAL
We continue in the series on Beyond. In this
series we intend to delve into beyond in all its
dimensions. Truth is beyond any known or
knowable realms. Truth comes from the matrix of
the unknowable. We must transcend every aspect
of the known to glimpse Truth.
Last issue (January 2011) we explored Beyond
Duality; this theme would be recurrent as duality
is the foundation of this material world. The
spiritual world is not somewhere else it is a
change in gestalt; it is seeing this world through a
unified vision – what the Upanishads calls
Chakshusmati Vidya – the eyes of awareness. To
be aware is to go beyond the dimensions of the
known and knowable and to enter the realm of
the unknowable.
When we say Truth is unknowable we do not
mean that Truth cannot be known, we mean that
Truth cannot be known by any means that we
have available. The mind is the only medium
through which we know things, acquire
knowledge. This mind cannot know Truth, cannot
perceive Truth. This mind is the hindrance to
knowing Truth. Awareness is going beyond the
mind. When we enter into awareness, mind
dissolves. Mind is needed for past and future. The
present requires no-mind. To be aware in the
present moment is to be beyond mind, beyond
duality and to enter the spiritual matrix where
Truth shines is its hidden splendour.
Then this very world becomes the firdous, the
abode of the gods.
Meditation Times is merely an impetus in this
sojourn. We make available every bottle of wine
from all corners of the globe so that every seeker
can become intoxicated with whatever suits his
fancy.
There is much debate as to which wine is the best
wine or the greatest wine. Our view is any wine
that makes you intoxicated with the Nᾱma – the
holy name – that wine you should drink to your
heart’s content. Debates cannot make you drunk.
Philosophy is a debate. One cannot come to Truth
by philosophy. In fact philosophy is the enemy of
Truth. The original philosophy was a love for
truth. But now philosophy is a mere tautology of
words with no love for truth. It seems philosophy
has exhausted its limits – and is now dry bones –
a skeleton of what once was a beautiful cuckoo.
To glimpse Truth one needs songs. One needs
love. One needs poetry. The songs of Nanak; the
Celestial Song of Krishna; the songs of Meera; the
songs of Kabir; the songs of the Bauls; the songs
of Solomon; the songs of David; the songs of the
Sufis.
Many more songs are there and Meditation Times
would make all songs available. We are making
various dimensions and various paths available to
all manner of seekers who seek solace in the
Masters.
Drink, sing and dance your way to Truth. Do not
let the sutra you, rather you worry the sutra.
Aaj itna hai – this much for now.
 TRUTH IS PURE AWARENESS
Reproduced: ‘Wisdom from the Sands of Time’ –Taoshobuddha

T
he innermost core of man is witnessing,
awareness, or watchfulness. You can call it
anything, but that will be another meaning
of witnessing.
TRUTH IS PURE AWARENESS!
Just by be aware, and you will find thoughts start
disappearing. There is no need to fight. Your
AWARENESS is enough to destroy them. And
when the mind is totally empty, the temple is
ready. And inside the temple the only god worth
placing is SILENCE. There are three words that
you have to remember: RELAXATION,
THOUGHTLESSNESS, and SILENCE. And if
these three words are no more words to you
instead these have become experiences, your life
will indeed be transformed.
Only very few people are born with awareness.
Those are the people who die in awareness as
well. If the death was conscious, then the birth
will be conscious, because the death is the one
side and the birth is the other side of the same
coin.
Awareness is the greatest alchemy. Just go on
becoming more and more aware, and you will find
your life starts changing for the better in every
possible dimension. This will bring great
fulfillment. This is fulfillment.
People go on using the technique of positive
thinking. All the psychologists emphasize positive
thinking. In the process they forget that positive
and negative are two sides of the same coin. You
cannot discord one and keep the next. The two
stay together and vanish together as well. This is
not a technique that transforms you. It is simply
represses the negative aspects of your
personality. It is a method of choice. It cannot
help awareness. Indeed it goes against
awareness.
AWARENESS IS ALWAYS CHOICE-LESS.
Therefore I am absolutely against positive
thinking. You will be surprised that if you do not
choose, instead remain in a choice-less
awareness, your life will start expressing
something which is beyond both positive and
negative. In fact it is higher than both. So you are
not going to be a loser. It is not going to be
negative; it is not going to be positive either.
Instead it is going to be EXISTENTIAL.
If you want to remain totally free, then do not
choose. That is where the teaching of choice-less
awareness comes in. Why the masters insist just
to be aware and not to choose? Because the
moment you choose, you have lost your total
freedom, you are left with only a part.

Do not have choice any more. Be in a choice less

awareness. Then you do not have to make efforts BUT IF YOU REMAIN CHOICE-LESS,
to be aware. Then you will be simply aware. Now
YOUR FREEDOM REMAINS TOTAL.
it is just be like your heartbeat or breathing. Even
if you try not to be aware, it is impossible. The
very effort will make you more aware. Awareness
is not a quality, a characteristic. Instead it is your
whole being. When you become aware, there is no So there is only one thing that is totally free and
choice left to be otherwise. that is CHOICE-LESS AWARENESS. Everything
else is limited.
Never choose. If you choose, you will be in the
quagmire. Do not choose! A choice-less awareness
is the goal. Just remain aloof but do not choose.
The moment you choose, you have fallen into the
trap of the world, or into the trap of the mind.
Whatever you choose you will repent because the
other will remain and haunt you. If one needs
absolute freedom then CHOICE-LESS
AWARENESS is the only way.
Awareness means you come with an inner light.
You move fully alert. Each step is taken in
awareness - walking, coming, sitting - everything
is done in TOTAL AWARENESS.
If you are aware, you speak with awareness. But
the awareness comes from the inner being. It
flows from the inner being towards others.
AWARENESS IS AN INNER QUALITY OF
CONSCIOUSNESS. IT HAS NOTHING TO
DO WITH CLOSED OR OPEN EYES.
Walk, with awareness. Eat, with awareness.
Breathe, with awareness.
In the absence Ego remains the way of life.
Remember ego is nothing but condensed
unawareness. When you become aware by and by
that condensed unawareness that we call ‘ego’
disappears. It is as if you brought a lamp into the
room - and the darkness disappears. Awareness is
the lamp. This is why Buddha’s message is – ‘Be a
lamp unto yourself’.
When you listen with total awareness, then
listening becomes possible.
The body may sleep, the heart may sleep as well,
and the mind too can go to sleep - but you remain
AWARE because you are nothing else but
AWARENESS. Everything else is a false
identification. Awareness is your nature. The body
is your abode. The mind is your computer.
Awareness is you, is your very being.
Walk, but make walking a meditation! Walk
knowingly!
Breathe, but let your breathing become a constant
meditation! Breathe knowingly. When the breath
goes in - watch it. The breath goes out: watch it
again. Then slowly and slowly you will become
aware of breathing. This will bring alchemical
change. Eat, but eat with full awareness. Take a
bite, chew it, but go on watching.
Let the watcher be there in every moment,
whatsoever you are doing. It is not important
what you are doing. The question remains that of
your awareness. It you are aware simple act
becomes Meditation.
IF AWARENESS IS THE WAY THEN
MEDITATION IS THE FLOWERING. AND
THEN ONE DAY MEDITATION WILL
LEAD TO ULTIMATE FLOWERING.
For awareness you need not go to the Himalayas
or anywhere else. Your life gives you enough
opportunities to be aware. Somebody insults you -
listen to it in full awareness. And you will be
surprised - the insult is no more an insult. You
may even smile. It does not hurt. It hurts only
when you receive in state of unawareness.
Somebody praises and appreciates you – again
listen with awareness. And then nobody can
persuade you to do foolish things. Nobody can
bribe you. In that state flattery becomes
impossible. You will smile at the whole nonsense
of it.
Listen. Watch. Be aware. And then by and by a
different quality of being arises in you which is
neither the body nor the feelings nor the
thoughts. A different pillar of flame starts
gathering within you and becomes more and more
crystallized.
As this awareness crystallizes, for the first time
you will feel more and more that you are. This is
the feeling of being - ness. And then moods will
become more and more irrelevant. They will come
and go, but you will remain undisturbed. The
climate will change around you, but you will
remain unchanged. Whatsoever happens on the
outside will not in any way bring change within
you. Then ‘within’ remains absolutely ‘pure’ and
‘uncorrupted’.
The person who follows the PATH OF
AWARENESS finds love as a consequence of his
awareness. Love arises as a by-product, or as a
shadow. And the person who follows the path of
love finds awareness as a consequence, or a by-
product, or as a shadow of love. Love and
awareness are two sides of the same coin.
And remember if your awareness lacks love then
it is still impure. It has not yet known totality of
purity. It is not yet REALLY awareness. It must be
mixed with unawareness. It is not pure light. And
there must be certain traces of darkness inside
you still working, influencing, or dominating you.
If your love is without AWARENESS, then LOVE
is not yet. It must be something lower, something
closer to lust than to prayer.
So let it be a criterion if you follow the path of
awareness, let love be the criterion. When your
awareness suddenly blossoms into love, know
perfectly well that awareness has happened, and
SAMADHI has been achieved. If you follow the
path of love, then let awareness function as a
criterion, or as a touchstone. When suddenly from
nowhere at the very center of your love a flame of
awareness starts arising, know perfectly well you
have come home....Rejoice!
 Transcendence beyond ADICTIONS
G
enerally addiction has been defined as
physical and psychological dependence on
psychoactive substances (for example
alcohol, tobacco, heroin and other drugs) which
cross the blood-brain barrier once ingested, and
temporarily alter the chemical milieu of the brain.
Addiction can also be viewed as a continued
involvement with a SUBSTANCE or ACTIVITY
despite the negative consequences associated
with it. Pleasure and enjoyment is initially sought
with such substance or activity. However over a
period of time continuous involvement with such
substance or activity makes one feel normal.
Certain professionals and many laymen now refer
‘addiction’ to include abnormal psychological
dependency on such things as gambling, food,
sex, pornography, computers, internet, work,
exercise, idolizing, watching TV or certain types of
non-pornographic videos, spiritual obsession,
cutting and shopping.
The related concept of drug addiction has many
definitions. Certain writers consider drug addiction
same as substance dependence. While others
provide drug addiction a narrower meaning that
excludes drugs without evidence of tolerance or
withdrawal symptoms.
The American Society of Addiction Medicine has
defined Addiction as a primary, chronic disease of
brain reward, motivation, memory and related
circuitry. Dysfunction in these circuits leads to
characteristic biological, psychological, social and
spiritual manifestations. This is reflected in the
individual pursuing reward and/or relief by
substance use and other behaviors. The addiction
is characterized by impairment in behavioral
control, craving, inability to consistently abstain,
and diminished recognition of significant problems
with one’s behaviors and interpersonal
relationships. Like other chronic diseases,
addiction involves cycles of relapse and remission.
Without treatment or engagement in recovery
activities, addiction is progressive and can result
in disability or premature death.
‘When an individual persists in use of alcohol or
other drugs despite problems related to use of the
substance, substance dependence may be
diagnosed. Compulsive and repetitive use may
result in tolerance to the effect of the drug and
withdrawal symptoms when use is reduced or
stopped. This, along with Substance Abuse is
considered Substance Use Disorders....’
Substance dependence can be diagnosed with
physiological dependence, evidence of tolerance
or withdrawal, or without physiological
dependence.
The term addiction is also sometimes applied to
compulsions that are not substance-related, such
as compulsive shopping, sex addiction compulsive
sex, overeating, and problem gambling and
computer addiction. In these kinds of common
usages, the term addiction is used to describe a
recurring compulsion by an individual to engage in
some specific activity, despite harmful
consequences, as deemed by the user himself to
his individual health, mental state, or social life.
Broadly speaking ‘Addiction’ refers to habits.
When you engage in something constantly it
becomes your habit. Transcendence comes out of
your experience. When you see the futility of
something, only then the addiction drops. Then
once in a while, just for a change, if you want to
smoke there is no harm. If you want to make love
that too is no harm. The harm is in the addiction.
Naturally the harm is not in the act. Remember
transcendence is not concerned with the act.
Transcendence is concerned with the addiction.
1. To be addicted is bad. It gives you a kind
of dependence. And all addictions are
bad. There are no good addictions.
Addiction as such is bad.
2. I am not against anything - but nothing
should become habit and then an
addiction. Otherwise you are in a very
confused state of awareness.
3. All therapies emerged from the West. In
the West therapy is going out of fashion.
People were tired, because what is the
point? For a few days you feel great and
 then come the dumps. You feel worse
than before. Then to go again to the
therapist becomes a kind of addiction.
And there is no end to it. Like an unending
process this continues. People go on moving from
one therapy to another therapy their whole life,
always feeling, ‘This one is going to work.’ And
then it seems to work for a while, but it does not
change anything basic, just superficial touches, so
you are again back to zero.
4. People do not believe in what you say.
Instead people believe in the way you
say it. And once you have learned the art
of telling lies it becomes an addiction,
because people start believing in you,
you start becoming powerful. And then, if
you can manage a few more things, your
power will be immense.
5. Work is good however it should not
become an addiction. Many people have
made their work like a drug so they can
forget themselves in their work. This is
just like a drunkard getting lost himself in
alcohol.
6. The chewing gum keeps them engaged,
and that is how cigarettes keep them
engaged. That is how people go on
gossiping with each other. That keeps
them engaged. Nobody bothers whether
it is true or false, that is not the point.
The question is: How to keep engaged
and away from you?
As a result the workaholics are against
meditation. Every addiction is going to prevent
you from becoming a meditator. All addictions
have to be dropped. But to be total in your
work is a totally different thing.
To be total in your work is not addiction.
Whenever you are total in any act it is a kind
of meditation. When you are totally in your
work, your work has a possibility of
PERFECTION. Then you will have a joy arising
out of such a perfect work.
7. A very strange thing about addiction is
that if you have the drug, it is nothing.
However if you do not have it, you are
missing and that will be problem. You
never think what you are missing
because when you have it, it is nothing.
Each time you have it you feel that it is
just a futile effort, nothing comes out of
it. You do not move a single inch in
evolution. You just jump for a moment in
the air and with a thump you fall back on
the ground.
8. Addiction has to be dropped only when it
makes you unconscious. Alcoholics are
told to drop the addiction. But without
consciousness your addiction to it will be
more and more.
9. But what is anger? It is far more
intoxicating than any alcohol can be.
What is jealousy? What is hatred? They
are far more addictive. You can be easily
taken out of your drug addiction. Any
institution like Alcoholics Anonymous can
help you. But to set you un-addicted to
your jealousy, ambition, competitiveness,
anger, rage, potentiality for violence, no
Alcoholics Anonymous can be of any
help. But a few, a very few people,
enlightened people, have simply pushed
you upwards. They have distributed
themselves. They are not hoarders. They
cannot be.
10. This is what addiction means. If you do
it, nothing is gained. If you do not do it,
you feel that something is missing. This
is what a smoker feels. If he smokes, he
knows nothing is gained. He is doing
something silly, just a stupid thing -
taking smoke in and throwing it out.
 Lessons in Awareness
The Masters of Gurdjieff
The untold story of the Sufi connection
In reality nobody really understands much about
the signification of the teaching and the life of
Gurdjieff. The teaching of Gurdjieff is a mystery,
which you can never really understand, unless you
know the specific orders under which he was
acting.
If you want to come close to Gurdjieff and
understand his teaching you have to follow in his
footsteps and meet the people that did know him.
You have to listen to the voices from those who
really did know him and understood him and from
whom he learned the teaching.
Gurdjieff was one of the very first westerner that
really tried to absorb the mystery of the east. He
had many contacts with Sufis of various orders. At
one occasion he met Shaykh Abdullah of the
Daghestani Naqshbandi Sufi lineage. It is told that
during this meeting they prayed together and
after the prayer Shaykh Abdullah read some holy
texts from the Qur'an. After he had finished
reading, Gurdjieff approached him and told about
his inner experience. According to the Naqshbandi
Haqqani Sufi Order the following dialog occurred
between them.
Gurdjieff said:
“As soon as you finished the prayer and began to
recite (the Surat Ya Sin from the Holy Qur‟an), I
saw you come to me and took my hand and we
were transported to a beautiful rose garden. You
told me that this garden is your garden and these
roses are your murids (adepts), each with his own
colour and perfume. You directed me to one
particular red rose and said, „That one is yours. Go
smell it.‟ As I did, I saw the rose open and I
disappeared within it and became the rose. I
entered its roots and they led me to your
presence. I found myself entering into your heart
and becoming a part of you.
Through your spiritual power I was able to ascend
to the knowledge of the power of the Nine Points.
Then a voice, addressing me as `Abd an-Nur,
said: 'This light and knowledge have been granted
to you from the Divine Presence of God to bring
peace to your heart. However, you must not use
the power of this knowledge.‟ The voice bid me
farewell with the salutation of Peace and the
vision ended as you were finishing the recitation
from the Qur'an”
Shaykh Abdullah replied:
„Surat Ya Sin was called „the Heart of the Qur‟an‟
by the Holy Prophet and the knowledge of these
Nine Points was opened to you through it. The
vision was by the blessings of the verse: 'Peace! A
Word (of salutation) from a Lord Most Merciful'
[36:58]
„Each of the Nine Points is represented by one of
nine Saints who are at the Highest Level in the
Divine Presence. They are the keys to the untold
powers within man, but there is no permission to
use these keys. This is a secret that in general will
not be opened until the Last Days when the Mahdi
appears and Jesus returns.
This meeting of ours has been blessed. Keep it as
a secret in your heart and do not speak of it in
this life. `Abd an-Nur, for that is your name with
us, you are free to stay or go as your
responsibilities allow. You are always welcome
with us. You have attained safety in the Divine
Presence. May Allah bless you and strengthen you
in your work.‟
So according to the above statement Gurdjieff was
one of the flowers in the garden of the Sufi
adepts. So if you want to understand Gurdjieff you
have to understand the secrets of the Sufi
mystics. Because these two are very closely linked
to each other and if you understand the Sufi
mystics you will also understand Gurdjieff.
However all that was said in Gurdjieff's books of
the meeting with Shaykh Abdullah was that he
met some saints in Damascus and Baghdad with
no mention of names. Gurdjieff did not get
permission to explore all secretes and powers of
the Sufi masters. So Gurdjieff did not pass all his
inner wisdom to his followers. He could not speak
directly of it, since these were his orders. It
remained a secret in his heart, as he had
promised. Still, he ordered John Bennett (one of
his most beloved disciple) to meet Shaykh
Abdullah of the Naqshbandi Sufi Order and
allowed him to mention these meetings in his
books. So Gurdjieff was a devout disciple of the
Naqshbandi Sufi Order.
In the book “The teachers of Gurdjieff”, the
author Rafael Lefort, travelled to many places
in the Middle East to meet the masters of
Gurdjieff. During one of his travels he arrived in
Jerusalem to meet another Naqshbandi Sufi
master named Sheikh Hassan Effendi, who also
had been one of the masters of Gurdjieff. He
wanted to put some question to the Sheikh about
Gurdjieff (in order to understand the teaching of
Gurdjieff), so he sent a letter to the Sheikh, in
which he told that he wanted to meet him.
According to the book the following interaction
took place between them:
“It went several days until a messenger brought
me a reply. It said in English: “You wish to see
me, but what prompts you to suppose that I want
to see you?” I had discovered by this time that
this is a classic Sufi technique by which means
Sufi discourage random enquires by off-putting
rudeness. I replayed, „My desire to add to my
knowledge prompts me.‟ Back came the replay,
„Can you use knowledge?‟ I replied, „Not yet, but I
aspire to.‟ The answer, „Come to the Zawiyah at
sundown.‟ I went.
HOW TO BREATHE?
Hassan Effendi was sitting in the shade of an
orange bush in the courtyard. A disciple sat
behind him and to his left. The Sheikh was
obviously a man of very advanced age, yet his
face was smooth and unwrinkled, his eyes
penetrating and his hands firm and rough. He
wore a white Saudi robe and the pink golden
headdress of the Naqshbandi Order. He politely
enquired as to my health and fell silent. I
broached the object of my quest.
„Know my friend‟, he replied, „that I am a teacher
of my Order, not a stimulus for your imagination
or an oracle for the credulous. You comb the world
looking for the teachers of Jurjizada, and here sits
one of them; yet it will profit you little to pose me
the questions that are flooding you mind. I
thought Gurdjieff to breathe. I say this and
you burst into a flood of how‟s, why‟s and if‟s and
but‟s and can I teach you? The answer is, I can
but I will not.‟
„May I ask, Sheikh, why only breathing?‟
‟Only! Only! Stupid question! More stupid than to
have asked why or how. Do you think that learn
to breathe correctly is easy?”
So our friend Rafael, the author of the book, could
never understand the teaching and wisdom of the
east. How could Gurdjieff stay with the Sufi
Sheikh for almost 20 years only to learn how to
breathe? Everyone is breathing naturally and by
automatic, then why do you have to learn how to
breathe?
At another occasion Rafael was in East Turkey and
met a carpet weaver, named Hakim Abdul Qader,
who took care of Gurdjieff and other Sufi disciples
that was sent there by the Naqshbandi Sufi Order
to learned carpet weaving. Rafael pressed him and
asked: “What did you teaching Gurdjieff other
then weaving and colours?” He spread his hands
and replied: “Noting more. I cannot teach that
which I do not know! The love of carpet weaving,
the techniques and the marketing he learned from
me. I not a Sufi in the sense of the word it is used
in the West.” Rafael could not believe what he
heard. What has this to do with spiritual training?
What has it to do with the soul? Is this really
spirituality training? He could not believe it.
Taoshobuddha, a Sufi Sheikh of our time,
writes in his book “Meditation – the way to
self-realisation”:
“I have heard a short conversation between
Buddha and a philosopher of his time.
‟I have heard that Buddhism is a doctrine of
Enlightenment. What is your method? What do
practise every day?‟ asked the philosopher. „We
walk, we talk, we eat, we wash ourselves, we sit
down…‟ responded Buddha! „What is so special
about that? Everyone walks, talks, eats, washes,
and sits down…‟ responded the philosopher.
„Sir, when we walk, we are aware that we are
walking; when we talk we are not only aware of
the walking instead we are also listening to what
we talk…When others walk, eat, talk, wash, and
sit down, they are generally not aware of what
they are doing. You do everything unconsciously
without any awareness. That is why after locking
the door you wonder if you really locked the door.
And you go check. This is to live in forgetfulness.‟
In meditation, mindfulness is the key.”
So from this insight you can learn that it is not
important what you do, but how you do it. So in
reality what Gurdjieff learned, was Sufi techniques
to bring mindfulness in you. That‟s why Gurdjieff
learned breathing with awareness and weaving
with awareness. Everyone breathes, but
nobody is aware of the breathing process
going on. You are not aware of it, and you are
not aware of other things you do either.
You are not conscious of this moment,
instead you think of yesterday or worry
about tomorrow. Your thoughts go to other
things, instead of being aware of what you are
doing at the present. Never are you fully here and
now. You are not really aware of what you are
doing; your thoughts are elsewhere. That‟s why
Gurdjieff stayed with the Sufi Sheikh for almost 20
years only to learn how to breathe. This learning
Gurdjieff revealed to the Western world as
„Crystallization.‟
So awareness is the key in meditation. You should
be aware all 24 hours of the day, not only some
few minutes while you are trying to mediate. If
you are unaware for 24 hours of the day how can
be aware when you sit for meditation? Mind is
used to follow its own habits, from birth until now.
So it is very hard to change the mind‟s direction
all of a sudden. It takes certain effort and time as
well. It is not enough to meditate only for few
minutes of the day under such a situation.
However once you are aware then you need not
meditation. Instead meditation becomes
spontaneous. Meditation happens of its own. How
can the mind be stilled and aware for a short
while? It can happen only because you are
practising mindfulness. If the mind is not aware
then all efforts for meditation prove futile.
So you should always be aware all 24 hours of the
day. The awareness during the whole day is the
key to your success in mediation in the night.
That‟s why awareness and mindfulness is so
essential in the spiritual teaching. We should be
awake and aware.
Gurdjieff's teaching focused on the need for
awakening from sleep. Full awakening, for him,
meant development or „crystallisation‟ of what
he called „higher-being bodies‟, spiritual bodies
made of finer energy-matter than the physical
body, which can survive its death.
In reality true awakening is even above all bodies
made of astral and causal matter; we have to
arise to the level of soul. We have to be aware at
level of soul. The final goal is to be a Conscious
co-worker of the Divine Plan, who is conscious, at
all time and at all levels.
This teaching is universal. All saints have taught
that man shall awake from his state of
unconsciousness. They all used their own
terminology according the time and language. So
Gurdjieff called this awareness or consciousness
as crystallisation, Buddha called it
mindfulness, in Tibetan Buddhism and in Bön
(the ancient religious tradition of Tibet that
existed even before Buddhism) it is called rigpa
(naked awareness) and Kabir called it Surat
(attention, the outward aspect of the soul). The
same awareness is also practice as constant
remembrance in the Sant Mat and Sufi traditions.
They all spoke with one opinion. Therefore all
saints emphasized man to be aware 24 hours of
the day. If you are not aware, you will miss the
moment of now and you are not fully living. Only
if you are aware you are fully alive.
You can only become aware by doing it practically,
not by speaking about it or asking question about
it. Our friend Rafael (the author), who searched
for the masters of Gurdjieff, would surely object
with an intellectual question: “How can I learn if I
do not ask?” You learn by doing and not by
asking.
You can never learn swimming if you do not enter
into the water. Some knowledge is good, but if
you don‟t go beyond it, it will be an obstruction to
your spiritual development. This is one of the
many secrets of the east. This is the wisdom of
the soul.
The sun rises in the East, and the wisdom also
comes from the East. However the West never
seems to really understand the mystics of the
East, since the wisdom of the East is beyond
intellect. In the same way, West may never
understand the true signification of Gurdjieff,
because he had become a part of the Eastern
Mystery.
I have no insight of my own, whether these
happenings occurred as told here, but I let you,
dear reader, make the conclusions of your own,
about the meaning of these meetings. The people
from West always want to have everything
explained from the level of intellect and
arguments, but I will leave you with your own
impressions and conclusions.
Let the mystery enter into your soul and try to
figure it out by your own effort. Let the answer
arise from your own heart, only for once,
otherwise you will never understand Gurdjieff and
the mystery of the East.
A Sufi speaks with the silence of the heart. It is
the language beyond the level of intellect. You can
only listen to it at level of your own heart.
 What is a Naqshbandi Master?
Sufis say a local representative or someone
who leads the aspirants into Dhikr or Maraqba
is in no way anywhere close to the greatness
or the quality of the Living Masters. A living
master is essential on the Sufi path. They
exist on this earth solely for the purpose of
guiding aspirants for fruition and the ultimate
Transformation.
A living master is essential on the
Sufi path. They exist on this earth
solely for the purpose of guiding
aspirants for fruition and the
ultimate Transformation.
What are Naqshbandi Masters? Remember I
did not say who are the Naqshbandi Masters?
In response to who you enter the realm of
philosophy, and when your search centers on
‘What’ we enter the realm of Tariqat or the
methodology. Also why is it necessary to have
a separate chapter on the types of
Naqshbandia masters?
Transformation is a process wherein the
aspirants are carried through various stages of
transformation. Just as in the process of
education there are various levels and also the
teachers are also at different levels. Each
takes you up to a certain level. There are
primary, secondary, and university level
teachers. And after the university level one
can go on one‟s own to further the studies.
You are aware of this. So too the aspirants are
at different levels of growth. Therefore
masters operating at different levels and with
a different knowing and understanding are
essential. Hence there is the need of this
explanation. Sheikh Muhammad Hisham
Kabbani explained four levels of masters.
„If you really love Allah, follow me and Allah
will love you.‟ [Quran]
The Naqshbandi Sheikhs are guides to
Muhammad and Allah. Whatever Prophet gives
you, take it, and whatever he prohibits, stop
it. [Quran]
They maintain the discipline of sharia, to build
you up with daily obligations and to a level of
Iman or trust and progressing to the level of
Ihsan or gratitude.
Sheikh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani explains a
genuine master operates at four levels.
1. Murshid Tabarruk: Guides mainly for
receiving Barakat and usually accomplishes
that goal by giving you an awrad and daily
practices.
2. Murshid Tazkiyah: He is the one who
lift you up from lower level of consciousness to
the higher by taking away your bad actions
and desires.
3. Murshid Tasfiyya: He is the one who
helps an aspirant to rid of all desires for the
world of duality.
4. Murshid Tarbiyya: This is the highest
in rank of the masters. He is the one who will
bring inner discipline and then take you to
your state in the Divine Presence.
MURSHID AT-TABARRUK:
He is on the first level and has permission to
teach you and put on your tongue the talqin of
dhikr. He teaches you how to remember and
call upon Allah the very source and the cause
of existence. And how to follow Allah‟s
message! How to live in harmony with the
existential law! Your only problem is that you
never agree with all that is happening. The
first lesson is to be in harmony. Once you are
in harmony with this existential law trust,
understanding, and bliss comes in. Nothing
that happens in and around you is without a
reason. However, with your dualistic mind
you cannot understand this. So this is the first
lesson. He gives you the first step on the way
of tariqat. Like a child whose first word is “ba
or ma,” you call on who you love first. So he
teaches you how to say “Allah” or any other
word that appeals and then to build that
connection between your heart and existence.
By recitation, you will see Allah‟s signs. If you
do not see them, you have not reached the
level of what the Murshid is trying to show
you. He has to inscribe on your tongue the
essence of dhikr as described in the Quran:
We revealed the Quran and
we are protecting it. He
will put the
recitation of
Quran and
He must know the dhikr of every single creation
the names
that exits, both living and non-living. He also
of Allah and
the knows what your body needs to recite tasbih as
direction to every cell in your body has a certain tasbih
Prophet
(i.e., how to
recite salawat)
according to your
personal needs, to reach the
presence of Muhammad. The recitation
of salawat varies from one person to another.
They tell you which names of Allah to recite
and how to recite the salawat according to
your capability and necessity.
The Murshid at-Tabarruk must have
understanding. And the capacity to flow with
the energy field of Allah - whether spoken or
silent! He must know the dhikr of every single
creation that exits, both living and non-living.
He also knows what your body needs to recite
tasbih as every cell in your body has a certain
tasbih. This Murshid knows which language
and what kind of tasbih every creature makes.
And hearing which one really knows the one
that works with him. This never brings
overlapping or confusion. He knows all the
tasbihs for Muslims and non-Muslims, because
their bodies make tasbih regardless of whether
your body and mind accept Islam or not. He
intuitively knows the precise information
regarding every living and non-living creature,
both in the world and Barzak or life beyond.
He also understands fully well about the jinn,
the souls that have left the body but continue
to be in the company of the masters for
transformation until they can assume human
form again, and their favors and punishments
from Allah. He knows precisely how every
human being and jinn can attain the
satisfaction of Allah, including what actions will
open the doors to reach the Baraka of the
presence of Muhammad. He will know what
Tasbih a particular murid needs for his body
and for his soul, separately.
The Murshid at-Tabarruk knows the names of
all humans throughout creation, as taught to
Adam, and exemplified in the verses of Quran,
wherein Allah asks the angels if
they knew all the names
of creation but they
did not. When He
asked the
question of
Adam, he
recited all
the names of
creation one-
by-one. As he
did so, each of
their spiritual forms
appeared in front of Adam.
This Murshid must have inherited that
energy from Adam. He must know the angels
of every being in creation, including the ones
that record your good and bad actions, as well
as the ones that monitor your food intake. He
must know all the angels in service to
humans. He even knows the different shifts of
angels that descend - ten minutes before Fajr,
before Maghreb, and between Maghreb and
Isha.
They expect to see the murid engaged in
these practices when they descend, in order to
pass to him their heavenly lights and
connection. If the murid is not so engaged in
his awrad during these special times, the
angels cannot illuminate his or her heart. In
return for keeping his or her daily obligations,
the murid can depend on the protection of the
Murshid and is guaranteed his connection to
Muhammad. This connection must exist in
order the Murshid to pass the murid on to the
second level, to the Murshid at-Tazkiyah.
This first level begins with reciting daily 5,000
times “Allah, Allah” and reciting 500 times
salawat in the prescribed fashion. The next
level is reciting daily 24,000 times “Allah,
Allah” and 5,000 times salawat. This is only
the first level out of seventeen distinct levels
of the Murshid Tabarruk. The sheikh stopped
at just this first level because he said people‟s
minds could not carry more than that. After
all seventeen levels comes the Murshid at-
Tazkiyah. This may seem difficult in the
beginning. It appears so because you have not
yet begin and once the first step happens then
you will realize that each breath is filled with
the presence of Allah. This is the state of
Awakening. And Awakening is the key to
Meditation.
In Naqshbandi chains other than our Golden
Chain, there may be a physically different
sheikh for each of the four levels. In some
cases, one sheikh can carry two or three levels
before another sheikh physically takes over.
However in the Golden Chain, the Sheikh of
this time has authority and power to govern all
four levels for every murid. That is why once a
person enters the Naqshbandi way; there will
never be the need of another Murshid.
The worse we think we are, the happier they
are with us. This you need to understand. One
begins the inward journey only when one is
plagued by the circumstances around over
which he has no control or solution. Unless
you are fed up with your efforts ego continues
to linger on! On your own you can only go so
far. To continue the journey you have to
abandon all conscious efforts. Only then a new
beginning happens. He wants us to know that
never will our „amal‟ or our own efforts take us
far. Actions take you to the point when
effortlessness begins. It is only in
effortlessness that grace or Barakat happens.
And that the only chance we have is the
intercession of our Sheikh. Therefore, we must
constantly seek for his forgiveness and mercy.
Masters often reminded us of the following.
“You must always keep three nails tacked to
your forehead (i.e. remember these three
rules at all times if you want to succeed in
tariqat). “If I give you a broken shovel and tell
you to dig down until the middle of the earth
to get your diamonds, you dig. You never ask
why or complain; you just dig.
“If I give you a bucket and say „empty the
ocean‟, don‟t ask if the water will ever
decrease, or argue that it is impossible to
empty the ocean with a bucket: just start
scooping! The moment the thought happens to
you that the task is impossible, impractical, or
useless; you failed that test and will have to
start all over again.
“If I tell the ant her sustenance is in the West
and she is in the East, she will just start
walking. The murid must be like that ant. Do
not use your mind to understand how you will
get your sustenance, just go! If you die trying,
you die, you surrender.”
The most important instruction is,
if one completes these three
actions consistently, Allah will
send the angel Reeha Sibah, who
will carry the murid to the Divine
Presence!
The most important instruction is, if one
completes these three actions consistently,
Allah will send the angel Reeha Sibah, who will
carry the murid to the Divine Presence! He will
do this for us because we obeyed Allah by
obeying our Sheikh, and His Mercy is Infinite
and He may do as He pleases. We will reach
the Divine state not because of our amal,
worship, or any sacrifice, but because of our
level of surrender and understanding of the
cosmic way. Upon hearing this, a murid asked,
“Why then strive in worship?” The Sheikh will
take each of his followers into the Divine
Presence at some point, but only the ones who
strive in Allah‟s Way will actually see and hear
in that Ocean. For the special ones who fulfil
their obligations, visions and sounds will open
for them. You must never try to be proud of
completing your obligations, no. Realize it is
worth nothing, but offer them obediently and
humbly, knowing that without your Sheikh you
are a loser.
 Awareness and Ecstasy
the Ultimate Oneness
The easiest way to be aware is the moment when Once in a while, a person has become aware
you are ecstatic. In depression, in agony, from that experience as well. However it is
awareness becomes very difficult. unnecessarily inhuman. But
When you are flowing with joy,  almost all the religions have
and blissfulness, this is the been preaching that. Whatever is
moment to be aware. However When you are flowing with difficult always appeals to the
people do exactly the opposite. human mind, and whatever is
joy, and blissfulness, this is
When you are happy you do not obvious and simple, you tend to
care about awareness. And when the moment to be aware. forget it. Notes: [Maulana Rumi
you are in anguish, then certainly says in the book Fihi Ma Fihi:]
you start thinking it is time to be 
aware and get out of anguish. But “Jesus laughed a lot. John wept
nobody has ever been able to get a lot. John said to Jesus: “You
out from anguish directly. have become exceedingly carefree against all the
subtle deceits that you laugh so much.” Jesus
First, one has to get out from ecstasy. If you can replied: “You have become exceedingly unmindful
be aware of your joyful moments in the first of the subtle, mysterious, wonderful graces and
place, then depression will not come. The door to loving kindness of God, that you weep so much.”
get out is from ecstasy. Ecstasy is the door. So One of God’s saints was present at this incident.
this is the simplest way: He asked God: “Which of these two has the
higher station?” God answered: “He who thinks
1. Be happy and be aware. better of Me.” In other words: “I come when you
2. Rejoice and be aware. think of Me. Each person has an image and an
3. Love and be aware. idea of Me. Whatever picture he forms of Me,
there I am. I fill that picture where God dwells. I
Never put awareness aside saying, that care nothing for that point of view where God
awareness is a kind of disturbance when I am in does not exist. Cleanse your thoughts,
such a great ecstasy. Awareness appears to be
like a disturbance. It is not. It may appear like O human, for they are My abode and dwelling
this in the beginning, but soon you will see it will place.
take your ecstasy to higher peaks. Ultimately
awareness and ecstasy become one. Then those Now test yourself as to weeping and laughter,
depressive moments, of pain and agony fasting and prayer, solitude and company, and
disappear. the rest. Which of these is more profitable to
you? Whichever brings you straight on the road
There is yet another way which is and gains you the greatest
followed by only a few people. It  advancement, choose that task.
is rather difficult one. This Take counsel from your heart,
requires for you to become aware Whatever is difficult always even though others may
when you are suffering. And it is appeals to the human mind, disagree. The truth is within you.
not only you; many people Compare it with what others say.
and whatever is obvious and
around the world throughout When they agree, and then
simple, you tend to forget it.
history have tried this technique. follow that course.”] ... Lars
If there was no suffering, they  Jensen
created suffering just to be aware 
of it. They would fast, and thus
created a suffering. They would
live naked in the cold winters without clothes,
and that created suffering. Man is very inventive.
He will torture himself in many ways.
 HARIPATH – THE HIDDEN SPLENDOR
Abhanga is the term used for the
compositions of Sant Dnyaneshwar. Each
composition varies in length and the thought
contents. Yet still all the compositions
together work as the methodology for
transformation.
As we enter into the second Abhanga let us
meditate on the form of Dnyaneshwar. And
thus reach to the essence riding the wings of
mystical serenity that pervades the entire
cosmos. There is no existence but the Lord.
Lord alone pervades the entire cosmos. All the
scriptures proclaim only this. Do not go
haywire in jungle of arguments and counter
arguments. The essence of Individual and the
Universe is one and that is Lord.
Dnyaneshwar for you is the one who was born
many centuries ago and is no more. I am
speaking not of this Dnyaneshwar. Instead I
speak to you of Dnyaneshwar who is never
born never died. Such a Dnyaneshwar is
beyond both birth and death. He is existential.
One who is eternal? His bliss is the outcome
of inner harmony and oneness that he has
experienced. This bliss overflows these
Abhangas.
Meditation is the way to explore bliss as the
echoes of the Abhangas linger in our ears.
And later this echo will create grooves in your
consciousness. Thus will continue the journey!
Meditation is the process to connect to this
eternal essence of your being. On your own it
is difficult if not impossible. You will have to
create bridges. Let us create this bridge as
we enter the second Abhanga.
As you connect to the energy field of the
master meditatively an understanding dawns
from deep within. All scriptures, Darshans or
philosophies proclaim this.
God alone is the Cause of all causes. And the
cause of everything finite and infinite! Not
only this, He is the cause of all that is known
and unknown as well. Only you have to drown
into it. And then it will become the part of
your awareness. The Puranas too ever
enchant with thy Glory.
Introspect! Contemplate! And meditate! Just
as churning the Curd or yogurt is the way the
way for butter as the inner essence to
surface.
So too churn all the scriptures. Remember
Scripture is the way to the known and
knowable. Know this as introspection. And
introspection leads to meditativeness.
As the process of inward journey continues
imbibe the serenity that pervades. This is the
essence of all knowing. In the process, inner
essence surfaces as bliss or understanding.
God alone is the essence the nectarine elixir.
And what is known? Known is a blend of
essential and non-essential. But you ever
seek the essential as nectar. And throw the
rest as unnecessary or non essential, just in
the process of milling you separate husk from
grain.
Not only that, God pervades both micro and
macrocosm as oneness. You are that which is,
scriptures proclaim. Never let your mind
waver when difficulties come your way. Just
as in the process of purifying gold it is passed
through flame so too difficulties are the flame
for your essence to free from non-essential.
Chanting the Divine Name! Introspecting its
meaning! And meditating its essence is
panacea and God-experience too.
You continue to meditate as journey continues
– realization comes:
‘Isa vasya midam sarvam...,’ springs forth
from deep within.
Says ever blissful Dnyandev! ‘I have
experience this deep within and you too will
certainly experience one day. This is my
blessing and assurance too. Continue the
journey!’
 SHAMS AND RUMI
Shams and Jalaluddin Rumi creates the
melody and the symphony of mysticism. It is
indeed very difficult to explain the relation
between the two. It is like the relation
between the musician and the musical
instrument. If Shams is the musician then
Rumi is the musical instrument. Shams is the
sculpturist then Rumi is the sculpture.
The master appears only when the disciple is
ready.
My heart has become a pen In the beloved’s
fingers: Tonight He may write a Z,
Perhaps tomorrow, a B.
He cuts and sharpens His pen well
To write in riqa and naqsh; The pen says, ‘Lo,
I obey,
For You know best what to do.’
Divan-I-Shams: 2530
There existed a mysterious relationship
between Rumi and Shams. To comprehend
the often misunderstood and misquoted
connection between Rumi and Shams we
should start by reviewing the life of these two
historic beings.
Rumi, born into wealth, power and the world
of politics, was a member of the high society.
He was known to pull and offer favors. His
mother was a relative of the king in the
province of Khorasan in the Eastern Persian
Empire, where he was born. His father was a
respected court advisor on jurisprudence.
Rumi indulged in personal contacts, favors
and friendships. He was known to deepen his
friendship to his favorite people by any
means necessary. For example, he was close
with a goldsmith in Konya. Since it was
socially unacceptable for a member of the
elite class to socialize with the merchant
class, he arranged for his son to marry the
daughter of the goldsmith to formalize his
connection with this man.
A master is a miracle of the unknown. It is
very difficult to understand the relationship
between the sheikh and the murid if at all;
we can use the word ‘relationship’. Yet still I
have to use the words from your world. For
me silence is the only communion. But you
can decipher the silence of a sheikh.
To be in the company of a master requires
great courage. And to stay with a master
when he starts using his sword of many
dimensions requires even greater courage.
People come and run away when their sleep
is being hammered. This you can see in many
traditions and scriptures. In Bhagavad-Gita
you see how many times Arjuna gave
arguments to escape from what Krishna was
doing. But in front of a master like Krishna all
his arguments proved futile. People remain
pleased when you do not destroy their
structure! Or deepen their slumber! A Hindu
is allowed to remain a Hindu! But the
moment you start shaking, trouble starts;
society does not want its structure to be
shattered.
However master or a sheikh will wake you.
He will break your structures and states of
intoxications. He will take away your bhajans,
your mantra dhikrs, in fact all religions of
body, mind and heart. You will have to wake
from your slumber. Only then you will know
who you are. Or what is your potentiality. For
this the presence of the sheikh acts like a
catalyst.
With this understanding old will vanish and
you are reborn, resurrected. This new state is
Moksha or liberation, or fana or annihilation.
Not a dream seen during sleep. When you
wake up from your slumber then whatever is
in front of you is God. When you wake up
then your state of awareness is your prayer.
Prayer is the state of your wakeful
awareness. Not that which you utter in deep
sleep.
Whenever a Master calls it is not out of
desire. His call alone is complete in itself. It is
indicative of a deep process. If you can
really understand the ways and means of
a master that alone will attain to maraqba.
His call will wake you from your slumber. And
when you are awake for a moment the
disciple is plunged in a state of
thoughtlessness. His response comes from
that inner state of thoughtlessness. Master
feels your response and the state from where
it comes. This is a new beginning or
relationship if you want to use this word.
Master never gets tired, even if he has to call
you three thousand times. Whenever anyone
used to ask Buddha anything he used to
repeat three times. All those who have
compiled Buddha’s message had great
difficulty because of this. So while compiling
they used the sign repeat three times. The
compilers of scriptures seem to be more
intelligent than Buddha.
To be in the company of a master is a unique
event. Sheikh implies one who keeps on
knocking at your door. This is not aggressive.
It is like water falling drop by drop on the
rock. When the master calls the murid it is
always a soft gentle call. Master cannot be
hard and aggressive. The call is water falling
drop by drop. This will break even the hardest
rock. The master will keep on calling, so that
the rock of mind blocking enlightenment will
break one day.
Only a master who does not follow your
wishes can transform you. Do not ever
make a mistake to judge the master through
his behavior. He is beyond all actions. His
actions and behavior are conscious devices to
transform you.
Masters use such devices to keep the
ignorant away. Master waits for the right
person and right moment before he can
transfer his being to a deserving one. Never
judge a master through his behavior. This is
outside. And the reality is within. If you
follow the doubt you can never come to a
master. Out of trust one day you will reach to
that point when doubt will vanish.
The master appears only when the disciple is
ready. This is not philosophy or Sufi scripture.
Also this is not the Sufi way alone. Instead
this is how it happens in the world of
spiritualism. And this never happens in no
other way and also at no other time in man’s
eternal journey. When the disciple is ready
Master appears.
Now let me take you into the Rumi – Shams
relation. Just as I have explained it is very
difficult to understand the communion that
flowed between the two in words. The
communion between Rumi and Shams
happened at the plane of Rooh. This cannot
be understood at body – mind level. Also
when love transcends the finiteness and
reaches the dimensions beyond the known
any explanation becomes almost impossible
for the mind to conceive.
Rumi’s father was his first teacher. His father
was a learned scholar and therefore he gave
Rumi basic training. However Burhanu-'d-
Din Serr – Daan el Muhaqqiq el Husseini
of Balkh was his other teacher.
As Rumi was traversing along the life he was
approaching a precise moment of a new
beginning. Rumi was well known for his
excellence in understanding. It was later in
life at age 37 on Saturday, November 28,
1244 A.D. or 26th of Jamadi – ul akhar 642
A.H., he met Shams – e – Din Muhammad
Ibn Malik – dad Tabrizi. Life underwent a
series of changes after this. Shams greatly
inspired Rumi. It was Shams in whose
association Rumi’s spiritual world underwent
a major revolution.
Shams led Rumi to the zenith of mystical
experience. For two years Shams and Rumi
remained inseparable. On March 14, 1246,
21st Shewwal, 643, when Rumi was 39
suddenly Shams left Qonya and Rumi for the
first time and vanished never to be seen
again. Two years later Shams died in 1248.
Some say that the grief over his loss caused
Rumi to institute the legendary Sufi
Whirling Dance a technique of Meditation
for his followers. Later these followers came
to be known as WHIRLING DERVISHES.
Shams – e – Tabrīzī was Iranian Sufi mystic.
He was born in the city of Tabriz in Iranian
Azerbaijan as a result he was known as
Tabrizi. He introduced Maulānā Jalāl uddīn
Muhammad Balkhi, usually known as Rumi in
the West, to Islamic mysticism, for which he
was immortalized in Rumi’s poetic collection
Divan – e – Shams – e – Tabrizi.
 MEDITATION the Ultimate in HEALING
[Reproduced: Meditation: The Way to Self Realization by Taoshobuddha,
2008, A Sterling Paperbacks, New Delhi, India]
Meditation is ultimate in healing!
It happened one day, when someone came to
Buddha and enquired, “Who are you? Are you a
philosopher or a thinker or a saint or a yogi?”
Buddha responded, “I am only a healer, a
Physician.” So is each master. This is a beautiful
reply – only a healer.
Man is a universe within an outer universe. Just like
the body of the universe, the human body is
composed of cells. These cells are interconnected
by an electromagnetic force. This force works
through electrolytes present in each cell. Individual
human consciousness is a by-product of ego and
mind. All States of pain and pleasure exist because
of this ego-mind combination. It is because of this
eternal pair of ego and mind that we have
innumerable desires. Man requires tremendous
energy to fulfill these desires. Unfulfilled desires
cause illness and pain. This requires methods to
cure disease and pain.
Instead of saying, man gets sick or diseased, it will
be better to say that disease comes to man. Or
more precisely, man invites diseases as an inter-
play of trinity – Consciousness, Ego, and Mind. In
addition to this, man is a disease. This is his
problem as well as uniqueness. This is his
misfortune and his good fortune as well. Except
man, no other creature on earth has such problems
as anxiety, tension, disease, and illness the way
man has. Because of all this, man has evolved and
attained growth. Disease means, man cannot be.
Also, man has not accepted what he is. He is not
happy where he is. This is man‟s dynamism, his
restlessness, and at the same times his misfortune
as well. It is so because man is agitated and
unhappy and is therefore suffering.
Except man, no other creature has the capability to
go mad. No animal goes insane on its own, unless
man drives him mad. In the forest no animal is
mad. However, when an animal comes in contact
with man, it becomes perverted. Animals get
perverted in the zoo in the association of man.
Also, no animal commits suicide but man does.
For this, two methods have been invented and
used. These two methods are medicine and
meditation. These are two extremes. Out of the
combination of the two, many possibilities have
emerged. Both these systems provide treatment for
the same disease with multiple possibilities.
It is significant to know the understanding of each
system as far as treatment is concerned. Medicine
considers each disease in man separately. This is
the approach that analyzes disease as a part.
Meditation, on the other hand, considers man
himself as a disease that comes to man because of
inner imbalance between consciousness, ego, and
mind and then disappears. And thus considers the
very personality of man as disease. Medicine
considers disease as alien to man. However, this
trend is now changing and even medical science
has started saying, do not treat the disease, and
instead treat the patient.
“Do not treat the disease, instead treat the
patient,” is a very significant statement. This
implies that disease is nothing but a way of life,
and a patient understands his life, and thus lives
the life. No too men fall sick the same way. In fact
diseases have their own individualities. It is not
that if two persons suffer from a particular disease,
the two patients will definitely be of the same kind,
and need the same treatment. The two individuals
have a different anatomy, physiology, and
psychology as well. It may also happen that the
treatment for the same disease for two different
individuals will certainly be different. Thus deep
down, the individuality of the patient is the root,
not the disease.
Both medicine and meditation follow a different
approach to understand the cause of the disease.
And thus, differ significantly in the treatment and
the healing process. Medicine treats the disease in
a very superficial way. Here one thing has to be
kept in mind, that by medicine I mean regular
medicine not the alternative one. Meditation gets
hold of man from deep within. In other words it can
be said, that medicine attempts to bring about
health to a person from outside and meditation
attempts to keep the inner being of the person
healthy. However, there is a deep inter-relation
between the two approaches. Neither can the
science of medicine nor the science of meditation
be complete without the other. Remember, man is
both body and soul. And that which connects the
two is consciousness and the mind.
For thousands of years man has considered that
the body and the soul of a person are two separate
entities. Such understanding brought about two
dangerous results. One group considered man as
soul alone and thus, the body was negated. This
approach brought about development in the
meditative way of life and understanding. Medicine
was thus neglected and it could not become a
science in the hands of meditators. The body was
totally disregarded. On the contrary, the other
approach considered man as body alone and thus
neglected the soul. And as a result of this
tremendous research and development brought
about advancements in medicine! In this process
meditation was first negated completely and then
as a result of this negation it was neglected out
rightly.
Man is both body and soul. The body comes into
existence through the interaction between an ovum
and sperm. This can be proved scientifically and
understood as well. However, „what‟ enters the
body is a phenomenon beyond human
understanding. No one has seen, only imagined,
that which enters the body and how.
When I say man is both body and soul
simultaneously, it creates a linguistic mistake.
Saying so, gives an impression that these two
things are separate from one another yet still
interconnected. However, in fact, the body and
mind are two sides of the same coin or two ends of
one pole. If this be true, then we cannot say that
man is body plus soul. Instead, man is
psychosomatic. Man is mind-body or body-mind
mechanism.
In reality, the body is gross. It is that part of the
soul that falls within the grasp of our senses. And
the soul is that part of the body that lies beyond
the comprehension of senses. The soul is the
invisible body, and the body is the visible soul. The
two are not separate. Instead, they are two
different states of vibration of the same reality.
And this duality has been harmful for mankind. A
dualistic mind always thinks in terms of two. This
creates problems. Earlier we considered matter and
energy as separate. This perspective has now
changed. Now we say matter is energy. Matter and
energy are two different forms of the same energy.
So too, the human body and soul are two ends of
the same entity!
We can say the body and soul are two ends or
gateways for illness to come in. Illness can come in
from the door of the body and then spread to the
soul. In fact, whatever happens to the body, its
vibrations reach the soul. This is the reason behind
the fact that, sometimes patients are cured
physically and yet they keep feeling ill. The disease
has left the body and the doctors say that the
patient is cured, but the patient still feels ill and
refuses to believe that he is not sick. Various
pathological tests indicate that clinically everything
is alright. Yet the patient still feels unwell.
Such patients create problems for the doctor,
because all modes of known investigations indicate
that there is no disease. And having no disease
does not mean that you are healthy. Health has its
own positive attitude. Health belongs to the
dimensionless dimension. Health is not the absence
of disease. This is a negative state. One can say
there is no thorn, but this does not indicate the
presence of the flower. The absence of thorns is
one thing and the presence of the flower is another
thing.
The science of medicine has not been able to
achieve anything positive as far as health is
concerned. The entire medical field is concerned
with the nature of diseases and finding ways and
means to eradicate the symptoms of these
diseases. It is considered that the absence of
disease leads to health. Medical science can easily
define disease in definitions and symptoms but
when it comes to health, it tries to deceive you. It
says, when there is no disease, and then whatever
remains is health. This is not the definition of
health. It is like defining a flower in relation to
thorns. No science of medicine has been able to say
what health is. It can only say something about
disease. There is a reason for it. The science can
only grasp the outer bodily manifestations. From
outside only disease can be grasped. Health can
only be grasped from what is within the man – his
innermost being.
The Hindi equivalent for health is ‘Swasthya.’ It is
really a beautiful word. However, health is not
synonymous with Swasthya. Health comes from
healing and therefore, it is related to illness. Health
implies healing of the symptoms. One has
recovered and thus the healing has happened. The
difference between these two words indicates two
different origins and approaches, and also the
understanding of those who coined these words.
However, Swasthya does not indicate this. It
actually implies one who has settled within himself.
One who has reached his inner core! Swasthya
means, the one who has understood the very
essence of existence. This is the reason Swasthya
cannot be synonymous with health. In fact, there is
no word in any language that comes closer to
Swasthya. The very word Swasthya indicates
there is no physical, emotional, or psychological
illness within. This is necessary but is not enough
for Swasthya. Something else is also needed. This
comes from the other end of the pole – from your
being. It does not matter if the disease begins from
the outer source. Its vibrations are echoed in the
soul.
It is like throwing a stone in the tranquil waters of
the lake. The disturbance occurs at the spot where
the stone was thrown but the ripples that are
produced reach even the banks. In fact, the ripples
reach every corner even where the stone did not
reach. All that happens to the body too; its ripples,
as echo, reach the innermost core.
Therefore, when a man falls ill, vibrations of the
disease enter the realm of the soul. This is the
reason that illness still persists even after the body
has been treated. This continuation of the sickness
is because of its vibrations that are echoing all the
way to the innermost being. For this, medical
science has no answer. Therefore, medical science
will always remain incomplete, without the
dimension of meditation and the understanding
that comes when meditation happens. Of course, it
is in the interest of the doctors that patients not be
cured and only the disease is cured. When this
happens, the patients keep coming back again and
again and thus the business continues.
A disease can also begin from the other end.
Actually, in the state in which man is, disease is
already present. Man is plagued with tension.
Except man, no other creature is diseased this way.
Man wants to become what he is not. This creates
tension. No other creature has this idea. A dog is a
dog. A monkey is a monkey. No animal is seeking
to become other than what they are. But a man has
to become a human being, which he is not yet. We
can never say that a dog is a less dog. All dogs are
dogs, equally. They are living in their essential
nature. It is only man who is not living in his
nature. He is not happy with himself. So he
constantly strives to be that which he is not. In
doing so he forgets what he was really meant to
be. Man is never born in his completeness or
totality.
His is in an incomplete state. All other animals are
born complete. This is not so with man. He has to
do certain things to be total. This state of
incompleteness is his disease. This is the reason
that man is troubled twenty-four hours. And it is
not that only the poor are in trouble. This is how we
generally think. We do not realize that on becoming
rich, troubles do not vanish, only their level and
form changes. The truth is that a poor man never
has the amount of anxiety that the rich man has.
The poor man, at least, has a justification for his
problems. But the rich man does not have even this
justification. He cannot pinpoint the reason for his
anxiety. And when the anxiety is without any
visible reason, it multiplies. When you have the
reason, it gives you some consolation and relief. In
that case, there is hope that the reasons can be
removed. But, when some trouble arises without
any reason, then the difficulty increases.
It is interesting to know that there was a time when
the masters were doctors. It will not be surprising
when a time comes, when once again the masters
and the doctors will be the same. This has started
already, because for the first time it has become
clear that the question is not that of the body
alone.
It has also come to light that if the body is healthy,
the problems increase manifold. It is so because,
for the first time the person starts sensing the
disease which is within, at the other end of the
body – the invisible end!
We tend to feel something only when there is
problem. You feel your leg only when there is a
problem. Without the problem, you remain
oblivious of that part. When the thorn is in the leg,
then your whole being becomes like an arrow,
pointing towards the leg. In that case, it only
becomes aware of the leg. When the thorn is
removed from the leg, then the being has to shift
its attention and then will notice something else as
well.
Medicine tries to free man from disease –
superfluously, at the level of the body. Remember,
even when you are freed from illness, you are not
free from the basic disease of being a man. The
disease of being a man is the desire for the
impossible. This disease cannot be satisfied with
anything. This makes every achievement futile.
Also, it attaches significance to whatever one does
not have.
Meditation is the cure for the disease that man is.
For all other diseases, physicians have a cure.
However, for the disease of being man, only
meditation is the cure. Medical science will be
complete the day we understand this inner side of
man and start working with that too.
I did mention earlier that whenever the body
becomes ill, the vibrations and the ripples are felt
in the soul as well. And when the soul is diseased,
then the ripples reach the body.
It is because of this, there are so many types of
„pathies‟ in the world. This should not be so, if
pathology is a science, and then there cannot be so
many pathies. It is relevant because man‟s disease
is manifold. Certain diseases cannot be cured with
allopathy. In case of diseases, which originate from
within and then travel to the outside, allopathy is
useless. For the diseases that start from the
outside and move into the interior, allopathy is very
successful. Diseases that reach the outside from
within are not bodily diseases. They simply
manifest on the bodily plane. They are psychic or
still deeper, spiritual ones.
If a person is suffering from a disease in his
psyche, this implies, no clinical medicine can give
him any relief. It will be harmful to administer
medicine to him because the medicine will try to do
something, and in the process if it does not provide
relief, it is bound to do harm. Medicines like
homeopathy could be administered, that do not
harm anyone; but there is no question of relief
either. They are incapable of giving any relief, but
this does not mean that people do not get relief.
Remember, to get relief is an entirely different
matter; so too, to give relief is also a different
matter. These are two different phenomena. People
do get relief if the disease is at the level of their
psyche. In that case they need some placebo for it.
They need some consolation or an assurance that
they are not sick. They simply carry the idea that
they are sick.
This has led to many illusory medicines or placebos.
When ten patients are suffering from the same
disease and three of them are treated through
allopathy, three through homeopathy, and three
through naturopathy, then an interesting result is
obtained. Each of these pathies is effective to a
certain degree.
My own understanding is that, allopathy is the only
scientific medicine. However, there is something
unscientific in man that scientific medicine alone
will not do. Allopathy alone deals with the human
body in a very scientific and systematic manner.
However, it cannot cure hundred percent, because
man in his inner being is imaginative, inventive,
and projective as well. Actually, it is due to some
unscientific reason when allopathy does not work
on a person. You may wonder what it means to be
sick due to unscientific reasons.
The word unscientific may sound very strange. You
know of the scientific system of treatment and the
unscientific system as well. So too, you can have
scientific sickness as well as unscientific sickness.
All the diseases that start at the psyche of a person
and manifest at the level of the body, cannot be
cured in a scientific manner.
We consider only one side of man. Then we go on
eliminating the diseases that originate from the
mind. And as such their number is increasing. And
now, even those who think only in terms of science
have started agreeing that at least fifty percent of
diseases arise due to the mind. This is not so in
India and other parts of the east, because for the
diseases of the mind, a strong mind is needed! In
the west the number of such diseases is increasing.
All such diseases usually begin from within and
then spread to the outside. These are outgoing
diseases. If you try to treat the bodily
manifestation of such diseases, then it will find
another way to manifest. It will manifest from the
weakest link of your personality. This is the reason
that many times physicians are not only able to
treat the disease but are also responsible for
multiplying the various forms of the disease.
I knew a young girl who loved someone very
dearly. However, her parents did not allow her to
marry that person. She lost all desire to see anyone
else. She got blind! Even the eye specialists could
not find anything wrong with her eyes. It was
concluded that she was deceiving. When I enquired
from her, during our conversation, it was revealed
that she had no desire to see anyone else if she
could not see her lover. She became
psychologically blind. Such things happen quite
often. This cannot be diagnosed through the
anatomy of the eyes, because the anatomy is
normal. And the mechanism of seeing is functional.
This was her way of committing suicide.
Another person I knew developed throat cancer.
His eldest son had a scientific mind. He would not
allow his father to visit any doctor. In that city
there was another physician, who was not trained
in regular medicine. When he saw the patient, he
said his cancer was due to cockroaches. And it was
observed that each time the bed was made up
during the day, there were cockroaches under his
pillow and the sheet as well. Even if the bed was
made just an hour ago! The physician prescribed
some treatment and assured him that within seven
days‟ time he would come to visit him, by himself.
However, it was not the case to be. His eldest son
did not allow him this treatment, even against the
wishes of his mother. This resulted in the death of
the person.
Mystically, I assure you, meditation is the cure at
the other end of the human being. By meditation I
do not mean a Hindu meditation or Christian
meditation or any other brand of meditation.
Meditation is just the technique to change the
energy patterns. Naturally, medicines depend on
matter and their chemical constituents, while
meditation depends on consciousness. There are no
tablets available for meditation, though many
efforts are being made to produce the medicine for
meditation. But this cannot be done. Actually, this
is in keeping with the same old stubbornness of
only treating from the level of the body – all
outside treatments. We cannot reach the innermost
being through chemical means. The deeper we go
inside, the less will be the effect of the chemicals.
The deeper we go within man, the less meaningful
the physical and material approach starts
becoming.
Because of prejudices, this has not been achieved.
Interestingly, medicine is one of the two or three
most orthodox professions in the world. Medical
professors and doctors are listed among the most
orthodox people. They are not able to let go of the
old idea and accept that something else can also
actually cure the patient. The reason is quite
natural. If the doctors drop the old idea and
become flexible, then they will have a difficult time
teaching the children. If the things are fixed, then
there will be efficiency. So the ideas must be
definite and solid. This will bring confidence.
Even a criminal does not require as much
confidence as a professor does. He has to be self-
confidant that whatever he is saying is absolutely
right. This makes the person orthodox. Teachers
become orthodox. This is harmful, because in
reality, education needs to be the least orthodox,
otherwise it will create obstacles in the way of
progress. This is the reason why there is no teacher
who is also an inventor. There are so many
professors in the universities, world over but the
inventions and discoveries are all made by people
outside these universities. More than seventy
percent of Nobel Prize winners are people outside
the universities.
Medicine is another profession full of orthodoxy,
though there is a professional reason for it. Doctors
have to take quick decisions, and if they start
contemplating when the patient is on the deathbed,
then only the ideas will remain and not the patient.
If the doctor is unorthodox, liberal, and practices
new theories or does new experiments each time,
then there is danger. He has to take instant
decisions. All such people rely on past experiences
and information. This is the reason that the medical
profession runs almost thirty years behind medical
research. This results in many patients dying
unnecessarily and untimely as well! What actually
happens is that, that which should not be being
practiced today, is actually being followed. This is a
professional hazard, and some of the concepts of
the doctors deep down are very fundamentalist.
One of them is their faith in medicine more than in
man himself – more faith in chemicals than in the
consciousness. More importance is being given to
chemistry as compared to consciousness. The most
dangerous outcome of this attitude is that, while
chemistry is being given more importance, no
experiments are being done on consciousness.
Let me give you a few examples to bring home the
point. Trying to have a painless labor during
childbirth is an age old problem. Of course, the
priests are against this. In fact, the priests are
against the very idea that the world should be free
from pain and suffering. If this be so, then they will
lose their ground. In that case, their profession will
have no meaning. When there is suffering, pain, or
sickness, then we say a prayer or do Yajna or
perform some other ritual. If there is no suffering,
then people may even forget God. We remember
God only in suffering. Priests have always been
against painless labor. They say that the pain
during labor is natural.
Even, to call it an arrangement of God is false. No
God wants the mother to have a painful childbirth.
The doctors believe that for painless birth, some
medicines have to be administered. Some
chemicals, like anesthesia should be given. All
these remedies begin at the level of the body. This
implies, getting the body in such a state that the
mother does not realize that she is in pain.
Naturally, women themselves have been
experimenting with this on their own for centuries.
It is significant to note, that nearly seventy-five
percent of the babies are born during the night.
During the daytime, it is difficult because a woman
is very active and aware of the time. When the
woman is asleep, she is more relaxed and it is
easier for the baby to be born. So, nearly seventy-
five percent babies are born in the darkness of the
night! In fact, the mother starts creating obstacles
for the child, right from the moment it is to be
born. Of course, later on she manages so many
obstacles for the child, but she begins causing
hindrances for the child even before the child is
born.
One of the remedies is, to do something through
medication to relax the body. These remedies are
being followed, but these are not free from
drawbacks. The biggest drawback is that we do not,
at all, consider the consciousness of the person.
Also, the trust in human consciousness goes on
decreasing. And thus, consciousness disappears.
A doctor, named Dr. Fernand Lamaze, has trusted
the human consciousness, and thus, he has
managed thousands of painless deliveries of babies.
This is the method of conscious cooperation.
Accordingly, the mother cooperates immediately
and consciously during delivery. She welcomes this.
There is no fight against it. There is no resistance.
The pain that a mother encounters is not due to
childbirth but because of the fight. Due to the fight,
she tries to constrict the whole mechanism of
childbirth. There is a constant fear of pain. This
makes her afraid of labor. The fear arising due to
resistance prevents the child from being born. This
pain is not natural. It arises only because of
resistance.
Two solutions are there to solve this problem of
resistance. We can sedate the mother. This
happens at the level of the body. Remember one
thing, that a mother who delivers the child in a
state of unconsciousness can never become a
mother in the fullest sense. There is a reason for
this. With the birth of the child, not only is the child
born, but the mother is also born. With childbirth
two things happen. The child is born and also an
ordinary woman becomes a mother. But when the
child is born in a state of unconsciousness, the
basic relationship between the mother and the child
is distorted. In this process, the mother is not born.
And thus, she is only reduced to a nurse.
I am not in favor of delivering the child by sedating
the mother, with the help of a chemical or using
artificial means. The mother should be fully
conscious during delivery. In that very
consciousness, the mother is also born. If you
realize the truth of this matter, it will mean that the
mother‟s consciousness should be trained for
delivery. In fact, the mother should undergo
childbirth meditatively.
Meditation has two meanings for the mother. One
is that, she should not resist. She should cooperate
with whatever is going on. Just like a river flows
whenever there is depression in the earth, just as
the winds are blowing, just as the dry leaves are
falling – no one gets even the slightest inkling of it
and dry leaves continue falling – so too, she should
be in total cooperation during her delivery. Be fully
meditative in the event. This will lead to painless
childbirth. I am speaking of this on the basis of
scientific evidences. Many experiments have been
done using this method. Lamaze is one such
method of painless childbirth.
To begin this process, we need to start harboring
an ill feeling towards the person or the thing that
produces pain in us from the very first contact.
Naturally you fall into a sort of enmity with the
person with whom you encounter a struggle in our
first experience. This becomes an obstacle in
forming a friendly relationship. You cannot create
the bridge of cooperation with the person with
whom we develop conflict. It is interesting to know
that we have, so far, only heard of labor pain, and
never heard of „labor bliss‟. This has not yet
happened. However, with full cooperation, labor
bliss is bound to happen. I am in favor of such
blissful birth. With the help of medical science we
can experience a blissful birth, instead of a painless
birth. So when we approach from the side of
consciousness, we can certainly create a blissful
birth. Then, we can create a conscious inner
connection between the mother and the child. This
was an example, to put across to you, that some
things can be done from within as well.
When it comes to sickness, we try to treat it only
from the outside. This leads us to a question: Is the
patient really ready from inside, to cure himself?
We never bother to find this. It may be quite
possible that the disease is self-invited, and the
number of such self-invited sicknesses is many.
Actually, very few diseases come of their own
accord. Most of them are self-invited. We invite
them long before they actually come. As a result,
we do not see any connection between the cause
and effect.
For thousands of years in the societies world over,
we could not see any connection between physical
intercourse and childbirth. The gap is that of nine
months. It becomes difficult to relate to such a
distant cause and effect and then, not all
intercourses lead to childbirth. Obviously, there is
no reason to connect the cause and effect. It was
only much later that man understood, that what
had happened nine months back was resulting in
childbirth now. Such is the cause and effect
relationship. Something like this happens in relation
to sickness too. Very often we invite the sickness.
But it comes much later. Too much time has flowed
between the two events.
I can go on citing examples in this regards. But
that will not serve the purpose of this book.
Therefore, I will resist myself.
Man has not yet developed a compassionate
attitude towards such mind-oriented diseases. If
my leg is hurt, then everyone will be sympathetic,
but if my mind is hurt, then it will be a mental
disease. It will be as if I have definitely done
something wrong. For all mind-oriented diseases
the person is blamed, while it is not his fault!
All mind-oriented diseases have their own place,
but physicians do not accept this. This is because,
there is treatment only for body-oriented diseases,
and all mind-oriented diseases are beyond this
understanding. So the physicians do not consider
these as diseases. This requires a different doctor
and a different line of treatment as well. His
treatment has to begin from within and then move
outwards.
Meditation is the treatment that moves from inside
out.
It happened, that one day someone came to
Buddha and enquired, “Who are you? Are you a
philosopher, or a thinker, or a saint, or a yogi?”
Buddha responded, “I am only a healer, a
physician.” So is each master. This is a beautiful
reply – only a healer.
I know something about the inner. I romanced with
meditation. So this is what is overflowing, like the
Whispers of the Unknown now.
The day man can understand that there is
something to be done about these mind-oriented
diseases – because we will not be able to cure all
body-oriented diseases completely – that day we
will realize that both science and religion are two
approaches to explore that which is. That day both
medicine and meditation will be closer. It is only
medicine that can, really, bridge this gap between
medicine and meditation. No other science can
bridge the gap.
Neither chemistry, nor physics, nor mathematics
can come closer to religion. Mathematics can
survive even without religion. However, in no way
will mathematics need help from religion. It can
develop on its own. Mathematics is only a game. It
is not for life.
A doctor is not playing any game. Medicine deals
with life. It is the doctor who has the capability to
be the bridge between science and meditation. This
has now started happening to some extent, but
only in more developed and understanding nations.
This is so because the doctors deal with life! This is
what Carl Gustav Jung said, just before dying. He
said that, on the basis of being a physician, I can
say that all the patients who come to me after the
age of forty, basically their illnesses are because of
the lack of religion. It is quite surprising. But if
somehow we can give them some kind of religion,
then they will become healthy.
Let‟s try and understand this. Up to the age of
thirty-five the body is on the rise. However, after
forty it begins to move downwards. It may be true,
that up to thirty-five years one may not need
meditation or find any value in meditation because
he is body-oriented. The body is still on the rise. Up
to this stage all diseases are body-oriented. After
the age of thirty-five years, perhaps all diseases
take a new turn. Now, life has begun to move
towards the other pole of life – death. So when life
grows, it spreads towards the outside. And when
man dies, he shrinks within.
The truth is that, most probably, all diseases of the
old people are deep rooted in death. Usually it is
said, that the concerned person died because of a
specific sickness. It will be better to say that the
concerned person is sick because of death. It is the
fear and the possibility of death that makes a
person vulnerable to all kinds of diseases. So as
soon as a person feels that he is moving towards
death all doors to various diseases are open. Even
if a healthy person comes to know for sure that he
is going to die tomorrow, he will certainly fall sick.
Everything was alright. All the reports were normal.
X-ray was normal. The blood pressure was within
normal limits, the pulse was normal, the
stethoscope was conveying that everything was
perfect. However, if a person becomes convinced
completely that tomorrow he is going to die then,
you will find that he is catching a variety of
diseases. He will catch so many diseases within
twenty-four hours that he cannot catch them even
in twenty-four lives.
What has really happened to this person? He has,
in fact, opened himself up to all kinds of diseases.
He has stopped resisting. He is sure of death
approaching or knocking the door of his
consciousness. He has moved away from his
consciousness, which was acting as a wall within
him. Now he is ready for death, so the diseases
have started coming in. This is the reason that a
retired person dies soon.
Often it is enquired, what happens when the
consciousness of a person becomes healthy from
within? First it happens when he starts feeling his
consciousness within. By nature we feel only the
body – like our hands, feet etc. There is no feeling
of „I am‟. Human awareness is centered on the
house, not on the one who really lives within.
This is a very difficult situation. If the house starts
falling apart, then man begins to think that he is
falling apart. This, in fact, becomes the sickness.
However, when you understand that you are
different from the house and, in fact, it is you, who
is living within, you understand that even if the
body falls apart you will still remain. This makes
the difference. Then the fear of death vanishes.
However, the fear of death can never disappear.
Meditation is, therefore, the awareness of oneself.
Human consciousness is always aware about
something but never about itself. This is the reason
that when you are sitting alone you feel sleepy,
because there is nothing to do. When you do not
see anything, there is darkness around and you fall
asleep. Remember, both sleep and meditation
resemble in one way but are different in another.
Sleep means, you are all alone and you are in
slumber. In meditation too, you are all alone but
you are awake.
It so happened that, once a king named Prasanjit
came to meet Buddha! He was expecting a kingly
welcome. But that was not so. He felt embarrassed.
So, when he was sitting in front of Buddha, his big
toe was shaking and he was fidgety. Seeing this the
Buddha asked, “Why is your toe shaking?”
At this, the person replied, “Forget it. It was just
shaking. And I was not even aware of it.”
Buddha said, “Your toe is shaking and you are not
even aware of it. Whose toe is this? Is it your toe?”
The King replied, “Yes indeed, the toe is mine. But
why are you deviating? You continue the sermon.”
Buddha responded, “I cannot continue because the
person I was talking to is unconscious. So remain
aware of your toe movement in future. Such things
will multiply your awareness. Because out of the
awareness of the toe, will evolve the awareness of
the watcher as well.”
Remember, awareness is a double-pointed arrow. If
you experiment with it, then one side of awareness
will face outwards and the other will pierce within
you. So basically, meditation leads to the
awareness of our body and our being. When this
awareness increases, the fear of death will wither
away.
So if medical science cannot remove this fear of
death, it can never cure this disease that man is!
Medical science tries to expand the life span. But
increasing the life span really increases the waiting
period for death. It is better for the waiting period
to be shorter.
Meditation is the realization of this immortality. It is
the experience that, which is within never dies and
is never born. This is the reason you should treat
the body medically, so that it can live happily as
long as it lives. At the same time, try to be aware
of that which is within, so that when death is at
your doorstep you are not afraid! This inner
understanding is fearlessness.
Meditation from within and medication from the
outside can complement medical science as a
complete science! In fact, both meditation and
medicine are two poles of the same science.
However, the link is missing, but these are coming
closer. Now in most of the major hospitals, a
hypnotist is essential. However, hypnotism is not
meditation, instead, it is a stepping stone. It shows
that there is the need for something to be done
with the consciousness of man. This is an important
step. Today a hypnotist has entered the hospital,
and then tomorrow a religious place can enter and
then we can expect a separate department for
meditation and yoga! Only then we can cure the
person as a whole. Medicine will take care of the
body. Psychology will take care of the mind, and
yoga and meditation will take care of the soul.
Thus, comes in the concept of soul healing. And
also the Soul Mind Body Medicine!
The human body and its immune system have
tremendous healing qualities. When your finger is
cut, it will heal by itself even without any
treatment. Your cold gets cured in a few days. Even
a fracture can heal by itself. Thus, Soul Mind Body
medicine works with the body‟s inherent healing
qualities. It expands and deepens the potential of
your body itself, by focusing on the soul as the
master healer.
The soul has incredible healing power! But the soul
of your body is not the only soul whose power you
can tap. Every bodily system has a soul, as does
every organ, every cell, and every strand of DNA
and RNA.
In addition, there are numerous outer souls – the
animals, oceans, mountains, trees, flowers,
buildings, earth, other planets, the sun, the moon,
the stars, and the galaxies – all have souls. In fact,
everything; even the words have soul and all these
have incredible healing capabilities. You have to
learn the capabilities of Soul Mind Body.
Heal the soul first, and then healing of the mind
and body will follow. Meditation from within and
medication from the outside can complement
medical science as a complete science! In fact, both
meditation and medicine are two poles of the same
science. However, the link is missing.
The day man can understand that there is
something to be done about these mind-oriented
diseases – because we will not be able to cure all
body-oriented diseases completely – that day we
will realize that both science and religion are two
approaches to explore that which is. That day both
medicine and meditation will be closer. It is only
medicine that can, really, bridge this gap between
medicine and meditation. No other science can
bridge the gap. Medicine deals with life. It is the
doctor who has the capability to be the bridge
between science and meditation.
 TARIQAT IN POST SHEIKH
BRIJ MOHAN LAL ERA
After the Samadhi of Sheikh Brij Mohan Lal on Jan that communion it was made clear that this is our
17th 1955 the entire responsibility of the garden of last commune in bodily pursuit. And when it was
tariqat remained on the shoulders of Sheikh the time of his final merger of Samadhi I witnessed
Shakuntala Devi. She performed the role with the entire event, as I was in meditation, beyond
dexterity but only from behind and remained the time and space. There is so much to overflow but I
guiding force. She wanted each seed to attain to its have to contain my emotions constraints and
fruition and in the process become a tree under remain within the framework. Definitely I will
whose benign care weary travelers may find create another opportunity to explain all these as
solace. This she did in her life time. And when she part of tariqat.
found her work is over she took an exit from the
scene. She was ever ready for the final dissolution. ‘It was sometimes in 1942-43. I was still a boy in
A sheikh who gave utmost importance to the works standard 3. Sheikh Jag Mohan Narain (son of Lala
of the tariqat over worldly matters she lived her lifeJi) came to the city where we all were living. His
visit was with the purpose of treatment. By then
full of certitude and trust in divine will. Nothing was
more significant than fulfilling and flowing with because of some conflict created by the younger
divine will. She defied her personal pain and brothers over the property matters Sheikh Brij
discomfort at the altar of the Naqshbandiyah Mohan Lal has left the comfort of the house that he
Tariqat. built out of his resources but due to the respect for
his father has his name also included in the
We all had developed the habit of seeking her property. This became the cause of conflict. Sheikh
blessing each morning. All the male members in Brij Mohan Lal had moved to a small dilapidated
the house and house in another
daughter–in-laws and And when Sheikh Shakuntala Devi found her locality. Sheikh Jag
the satsanghi (fellow work is over she took an exit from the scene Mohan Narain( whom
meditators) will pay like a dew drop slipping from the lotus leaf we used to call as
respect by bowing and Fatehgarh wale Chacha
into the tranquility of the lake. She was ever
touching her feet. Each Ji-meaning one
time she will bless the
ready for the final dissolution. A sheikh who belonging to the place
person saying ‘BE gave utmost importance to the works of the Fatehgarh). Until his
ALWAYS HAPPY’. Be tariqat over worldly matters she lived her life last this uncle
Always Happy has full of certitude and trust in divine will. maintained the affection
become the essence of Nothing was more significant than fulfilling for his cousin because
her life and an and flowing with the divine will. She defied Lala Ji said so. This is
important Naqshbandi her personal pain and discomfort at the altar Nisbet. Leaving the
commandment. of the Naqshbandiyah Tariqat. comfort he stayed for
more than one month.
Sheikh Onkar Nath The love that these two
recollects how he got into the habit of seeking the had for one another is a beacon light for all those
blessings of the elders from early childhood. on path.

Sheikh Onkar Nath is my uncle. Right through my
growth his direct and gaibana care was responsible
for my growth. He was one of the living sheiks
besides Holy mother who prepared in accordance
of the will of Sheikh Brij Mohan Lal. Whenever we
were together there was only silent communion. I
never asked him any question and virtually he
never answered anything because everything was
an intuitive communion. Last year in Jan 2008
when we met after nearly 20 years once again
there was no talk except formal ‘where about’. In
Each morning he will pay respects to his elder
cousin and sister-in-law and seek their blessings.
We followed the trend. Thus he instilled a way to
seek the blessings which remained until when
Sheikh Brij Mohan Lal and Sheikh Shakuntala Devi
entered Samadhi. Thereafter the only elder one in
the family was my sister Gyatri and my brother-in-
law from whom I could seek blessings. My brother-
in-law later prevented me from touching his feet
but this system continued with my sister Gyatri.’
However when Sheikh was ailing and it was difficult
for him to bend Gyatri asked him not to do so.
However she never failed to bless him by placing
her hand over his head as she had always done
until he took Samadhi on May 21st 2008.
It was the occasion of spiritual retreat at the shrine
of the sheikh Brij Mohan
Lal in Lucknow when
Sheikh Onkar Nath
sought her blessings one The same day under the guidance of
morning. Thereafter he
Sheikh Shakuntala Devi and amidst
asked for the guidelines
the large gathering of murids and
to be on the path. At this
she said the following, elderly ones the responsibility of the
which is her message not Golden chain was bestowed on young
only for sheikh Onkar Onkar Babu.
Nath instead for all those
who are on the path and
connected with the
Nisbet.
‘Nisbet-e-Illahi,’ she said, ‘one can attain by
following the path laid by the sheikhs of the
tariqat. Love for the sheikh, his family, during
the life and after the sheikh is no more
available physically is the essential core of
the tariqat.’
To compliment Sheikh Onkar Nath used to
say:
Saints follow the saintly path.
bujugR gujrte hE< bujugIR kI rah se
She continued, ‘After Sheikh Lala Ji; Sheikh Chacha
Ji; and your father (Sheikh Brij Mohan Lal) I had
three experiences in life. These are beacon light of
guidance along the path. In essence all those who
recognized the will of the sheikh remained
connected with the center of their being (the
shrine, family of the sheikh etc) as they were
during their life time they continued to be on the
path. There are still others who considering the
sheikh to be no more severed all relations and
contacts and in the process started their own
business like organizations. They were under
illusion that the sheikh is no more. There are
certain murids who are still affectionately
connected with me after the Samadhi of the
sheikh.’ Thus she continued quoting the names of
the murids as well.
Her blessings and the way of analysis is not only
our beacon light instead brings consolation during
the moments of despair. Her blessings and
teachings did not remain confined to me, sheikh
Onkar Nath or other family members instead it is
for the entire congregation or the Ummat all those
who wants to remain on the path and follow the
Naqshbandiyah Tariqat.
When Sheikh Brij Mohan Lal entered Samadhi on
Jan 17th 1955 his eldest son was in his late teens
(23 years) the second son Devendra Nath was in
his childhood. There was no source of livelihood as
Onkar Babu was still
studying. However soon
first he got a temporary
job and later he got
permanent one in the
Reserve Bank of India
(The central Bank of the
country) which he
maintained until the last
when due to ill health he
opted for early
retirement. During the
tenth day ceremony the
final remains were enshrined in an urn. It is there
now stands shrine complex. The present structure
is the outcome of the long process of changes and
transformation from an early unlivable place to
now an oasis for the spiritual seekers.
The same day under the guidance of Sheikh
Shakuntala Devi and amidst the large gathering of
murids and elderly ones the responsibility of the
Golden chain was bestowed on young Onkar Babu.
He became the 39th sheikh of the golden chain of
Naqshbandiyah-Mujadadiyah-Mazahariyah tariqat.
From Onkar Babu he became Sheikh Onkar Nath
and was lovingly called by the aspirants as Bhaiya
Ji (Bhaiya means brother). This remained the way
murids addressed him.
In May 1957 he was married to Shyamwati who
remained part of this congregation and the yagna
until March 25th 1985 when she entered Samadhi.
Her shrine is also in the same complex.
Throughout his life he followed the path laid by the
tariqat, working in the Reserve Bank for his
livelihood he continued to serve all those who came
in his contact or those who were connected to this
tariqat from the time to Lala Ji, Chacha Ji and
Sheikh Brij Mohan Lal.
The second son Devendra Nath (popularly known
among the disciples as Munney Bhaiya) was a child
in 1955. The responsibility of his worldly education,
and spiritual one remained the sole responsibility
of Sheikh Onkar Nath and Sheikh Shakuntala Devi.
Later he was initiated by the Sheikh Bhaiya Ji. He
had utmost regard for his elder brother and sheikh.
This he maintained at times despite the conflict
among the two sister-in-laws as well. I was a
witness to all this as I lived with these masters and
the family since 1968 permanently.
 Truth beyond Time and Space

What is the definition of truth and non-

truth? What does a master like Nanak
understand by truth? How to make you
understand this? May be a problem with
you! It is bound to be.

However such is not the case with Nanak.

Having drunk the life’s elixir words are
simply flowing effortlessly out of Nanak. It
seems as if words are coming not from the
mind. Although mind mechanism is working
to continue the message but the words are
forming from the deepest core of Nanak -
the infinite, unfathomable realm of
harmony, and oneness. Nanak sings:

Aadi sachu jugadu sachu,

He is the only truth. He is true in the

beginning. He is true in the end. He is truth
now. He will be truth forever.
His truth is beyond time and space. Such is
the only definition of truth. That which is now
but not later is transient. That cannot be God.
God is eternity. This is the definition of truth
and untruth. Untruth is that which is
ephemeral, short-lived, something that goes
on changing. Untruth is that cease to exist at
the two shores. Look at the dream. Before
you went to sleep it was not and when you
wake up again it is not there. A dream exists
only between these two shores of waking,
and dreaming states of awareness. And these
states are not permanent. Not in your control
either until you are totally awake. And when
you are awake totally then you will remain
awake even in your sleep and dreaming state
as well. Then dreams are more. And thus
disappears the veil that beclouds the
manifestation of truth. The veil of ignorance
and illusion as well!
The dreams are when you are dreaming. In
the morning it disappears. On waking you
know the dream cannot be true. It was not
there in the evening and again this morning
this no more.
One day your body was no more. And one
day again it will be no more. Your body is
false. Truth is that which exists beyond time
and space. This is the definition of Nanak and
all other mystics.
One moment there is anger and the next
moment it is no more. This is dream like.
Nanak says when you allow this
understanding to sink in you will be
transformed. Do not be too much concerned
with mind and its mechanism of veiling truth.
Nanak says search that which never dies and
is never born. That which is beyond change!
What is that within that never changes? Seek
that alone, says an ecstatic Nanak. Certainly
that lies within you veiled by your vision and
cognition. And all changes happen around
that eternal alone. Try to understand this. A
wheel moves. How does this happen? The
wheel moves around an axle. The axle
remains fixed-unmoved. You remove the
axle. The wheel falls immediately. Without
the axle the wheel can no more revolve. The
change in the movement of the wheel
happens around the fixed axle. So too the
axle of soul remains ever fixed and body
revolves around this axle of soul! Nanak
echoes incessantly:
Aadi sachu Jugadi sachu
Hai bhi sachu Nanak Hosi bhi sachu!!
All the rest is dream-like. This veils the
manifestation of truth. Now the methodology:
When anger plagues your consciousness!
Hate inflicts you! Allow the words of Nanak
echo in you like the dissolving notes of an
enchanting melody or an intoxicating
awareness. Remember:
Aadi sachu Jugadi sachu
Hai bhi sachu Nanak Hosi bhi sachu!!
Be a witness. You will realize slowly and
slowly all that is futile will certainly begin to
vanish. The essential will begin to evolve. The
world will begin to disappear.
Nanak says you cannot attain to this
awareness or witnessing by thinking. And
through thinking alone you have lost your
serenity. Nanak continues God is not the
conclusion of any hypothesis or any logic.
God is eternal truth. The way is not through
thinking. What will you gain through thinking?
By thinking you have lost. Through thinking
you are lost in the forest of words and
duality. You have to attain eyes to see the
essential. When your eyes are full of thoughts
you will remain blind. Your eyes need to be
‘nirvichar’ or thoughtless.
Zen calls this ‘no mind’. Kabir calls this as
‘unmani dasha’ or the state of awareness.
Patanjali calls this as ‘nirvikar samadhi’. All
these are different ways to explain the same
state of awareness. This refers to a state
when all thoughts, opportunities, and
alternatives are no more.
Neither by thinking nor by a forced silence
can you attain this. By thinking inner silence
is not attained. Thinking is effort. You cannot
fall asleep through effort. All efforts have to
drop. And then suddenly you realize that you
have fallen asleep. Your effort alone will
become an obstruction in attaining inner
silence. You can become statue like outwardly
but inner dialogue and disturbance will
continue. You will be like the one sitting on a
volcano - ready to explode any moment.
Prayer is a state of awareness. It springs
out of your inner serenity. Prayer,
meditation etc., cannot be forced. It is
not important what you do. What is more
important what is going on deep within?
You can be statue like. You can hold and
discipline your body easily but not the mind.
This is what happens when people go into
meditation. More thoughts arise on the inner
sky. Whenever you go to your religious place
your inner disturbance surfaces! When you
are engaged in work there is not much
energy left for disturbance. And when you sit
in meditation or prayers your energies are
not divided. There is total energy available
and disturbances surface.
Thus when you are in a theatre or a
discotheque you remain peaceful. However in
meditation and prayers you remain twisting
and turning-disturbed.
Why does this happen? Theatre, discothèques
are all associated with your desires. All that is
being provoked is part of your deep
unconsciousness. This resonates with you.
Hence there is enjoyment. And you are never
bored. Whatever happens in temples does not
resonate with you. This is why such things
remain boring.
Nanak says even by plasticizing silence you
cannot attain. You may continue to meditate
nothing will happen. The hunger of the
senses will not vanish even if the mountain of
foods is provided for. The hunger for God is
not an ordinary hunger. Nothing can satisfy
this.
How can we be truthful? And how can this
veil of ignorance and falsehood are removed.
Nanak says; ‘Hukum’ is the only way. This is
very significant statement.
 The holy man speaks
Swami Anand Neelambar

The old wayfarer entered the tavern. The fellow travellers wondered from whence he came. The old man appeared to
have journeyed long and hard. His body bore the marks of tiredness. Yet he seemed strong enough to go on another
journey. A young traveller, after drinking his goblet, approached the old man and inquired, “Sir, I have abandoned my
home and family to seek that which cannot be sought. Tell me kind sir, I see you are weary and tired from your journey,
have you found any aashiyaan – (sanctuary)?”

The old wayfarer gleamed with an enlightening smile. He slowly sipped his wine and spoke to the young traveller. “Boy”,
he mused, “that which cannot be sought is all round us, the journey is merely to reach where we already are. This very
tavern is the sanctified Madinah1. His Presence engulfs us. We exist in Him. Son, I have come home and I always come
home after a long journey. I undertake this quest because without this quest He cannot be seen where He already exists.
He is not to be sought but without seeking He cannot be found. When I enter this tavern, I enter His Sanctum
Sanctorum. This is my home.”

The old wayfarer even though his hands seemed feeble, lifted his goblet with a frim and steady grip and gracefully as if
kissing his beloved poured a few drops into his being. He continued. “I sip this wine and am filled with His elixir. Your
sojourn can start here this day or can end here this very moment. When you become intoxicated with his Name your
quest has reached its fulfilment.”

“My son, what have you abandoned? What is yours that you abandon? All is His and belongs to Him.”

“You have abandoned Him to seek Him!” the old man chuckled. “Now see what I am a saying, He is here. He has come
for me.”

The goblet that was firmly held in his hands fell from his grip as the old man lay as a log on the cold wooden floor of the
tavern. A smile parted his parched lips. And a radiant aura emanated from his countenance that was not there when he
was alive.

The still night passed into a bright dawn as the young wayfarer made his journey back home to his family. The words of
the old traveller were still resounding in his ears. “He has come home to die”, the boy contemplated. Or has he come to
show me the way? Had he not come, I would be on my way to Madinah not knowing that the Madinah is my very home.
The arms of my beloved are His arms that embrace me and shower me with love. The laughter and cries of my sons is
His laughter and cries. The loving glance of my mother is His eyes that caress and rejuvenate my soul. Ya Allah Subhan
Allah. His mercy knows no bounds.

Where is the Madinah if not in thine own heart?

Who seeks the Madinah in the outer world?
Shall seek his entire life and come to naught
The Madinah is within and therein resides the Paigamber

1
Madinah; officially al-Madīnah al-Munawwarah) is a city in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia, and serves as the capital of the Al Madinah Province. It is the
second holiest city in Islam, and the burial place of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad and it is historically significant for being his home after the Hijrah.
BUDDHA VISION

O wanderer on the mystical sojourn

The merger of the two
Shall reveal the singular way
To the mysterious commune.
Between the twin peaks
Lays the inexhaustible source;
The indivisible reality;
The Mystic Female.
It is in the beginning,
It is in the end.
Yet end and beginning, exists not.
It is an eternal middle.

Neelambar sings:
O my radiant paramour
See with the Buddha eye
The amrita that is closest
This exists in mind immaculate.
To a fool who squints
One lamp is as two;
The most firmly established on the path
Appear the most remiss.
THE GATELESS DOOR

Infinite is his mercy

That extends to seekers
And those that go astray
How great is his glory
That leads one to the gateless door!

Neelambar sings:
What can I know of his greatness?
How can I reach his abode?
Wherever you step that is the path
That ultimately leads to him.

Some paths lead through peaks and meadows

and filled with infinite wonder
Some paths meander through
deserts and dark valleys
and filled with infinite wonder

His hands fore’er uplift the weary hearts

Who rely on his mercy.
Beyond his boundary you cannot step
The horizon is ever elusive.

Just pause and reflect his Naam

And see his hands guide you
through the gateless door.
Infinite is his mercy
that knows no bounds.

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