Who are You?

During his reign as emperor of China, Emperor Wu of Liang (502–549 AD) embraced and promoted the golden age of Chinese Buddhism. He came to be seen as the Chinese counterpart of the Indian Buddhist Emperor Ashoka the Great. 

Bodhidharma, the first Zen patriarch of China, came to visit Emperor Wu around 520 AD.

The emperor told Bodhidharma, " I have built numerous temples and given financial support to the monastic community. Please tell me how much merit will I get for these deeds?"

Bodhidharma replied, "None whatsoever.You have not done anything out of piety nor out of wanting to do good. Pretending to do good you only wanted to purchase merit, but remember that merit cannot be purchased."

Furious and perplexed, the emperor asked Bodhidharma, "Who are you to tell me such things? I demand to know, who are you?'

Bodhidharma replied, "Your Majesty, I don't know."

What can be learnt from this great historical encounter?

'Know thyself and then be thyself'. 

Everyday we have people who do not know who they themselves are, telling others what to be or become. 

Even those who know a little about themselves are trapped in a state of confusion, trying to be someone else.

Who are we? 

We are nothing, but existence at play.

We are given a name, a religion, a country, a race, various official qualifications, a work title and finally a social title. In the end we will die to be relegated to the dustbin of existence, clueless about who we really are.

We know we are nothing, and we will remain nothing. Everything is given to us by others. All that is given to us will one day be taken away from us. 

So we create this delusional concept that we are something or someone, who is going to journey to some far away place, where we will be surrounded by sweet music, where angels dance for us, where rivers of alcohol flow. In paradise we will feast and dine on the most wonderful of foods and be attended to, by beautiful virgins who will ceaselessly fulfil our every sexual desire.

Somehow this ridiculous notion survives, and we ridiculously foolish humans, lap it up and swear by it.  So we will go out there, maim, kill, destroy for our place in this fantasy called heaven and 'paradise'.

Even as we know we are nothing, we believe so greatly in our puny intellect to analyse and discover the so called reason of our existence. 

The birds, the flowers and the animals never ask this question nor do the seasons, the sea, and win. They bestow unconditionally their wonderful grace and sometimes their awesome fury upon us.

Who are you? 

Spiritually speaking shorn of all those props and labels, you are merely another nobody, just like me. Someone who is on a journey from birth to death in a body that is perishing slowly by the moment.

Let us just, live and let live. Find harmony and balance between us and our world. To celebrate life, amongst its splendid wonders and bounty, and to die happily. 

If there is a paradise, heaven or a hell, it is here and now.

Truth is not attained, it is realised.

'The Truth lies within us'. What did the Gurus and masters mean by that?

What did Jesus mean when he said, "The kingdom of God lies within us"?

Therein lies the answer. God called by a thousand names in numerous language are just another name for the Truth.

Truth is not an acquisition that has to be sought. It is not a goal to be attained. 

It is a realisation and an awakening. 

If truth cannot be attained, then how is it realised?

To be truly happy and liberated, then to the core of our being we must travel.

Answers, we will not find outside of ourselves, but only within.

We must journey within ourselves. We must abandon all that is not the truth.

To travel inwards we must get rid of all that is superfluous to our being.

What are these superfluous elements?

Its important note that anything that comes and goes is not us.

Our possessions, attachments, desires, and anger, they are things that will come and go. We believe that they are us, but they are not. They are mere acquisitions. These are the things that will not permit us to journey within ourselves.

Then there is the ego, the 'I'.

As long as the 'I' exists, it inhibits us from discovering the truth. When we let go of the ego as the Guru explains, the truth is realised not by seeking but by letting go. This is because we do not enter the divine, but make ourselves open to let the divine emerge from within us.

Hence the symbol of Truth is represented by the 1000 petalled lotus. Each petal as it opens represents the unfurling of a falsehood and an untruth shedding away.

What are the falsehoods that we pursue to arrive at the Truth?

Rote learning of scriptures, rituals, pilgrimages, mere muttering of prayers, endless intellectual discussions and debates about the truth, contemplation, patronising charity, pursuit of power, influence, wealth, lust, anger attachments, ego, tolerance etc. 

What are the pathways to realise the truth?

We cannot find these pathways by our seeking. 

As the Guru says, "Sat Sri Akal" meaning 'Truth is God'. Just be truthful in every thought, and action.  Work, live, play and meditate truthfully. 

The pathways to the Divine, the Truth automatically emerges when we are truthful.

We will know that it is the right path when we become compassionate, friendly, loving natural, and develop not a tolerance but respect for all people, all creatures, all things, in fact all of existence.

Once upon a time I was young, very successful, had significant wealth, socially busy and a member of a large family. Then over a few years everything simply fell apart and slipped away. 

I became a pauper, only my wife, sons and a handful of individuals stood by me. I became socially undesirable. This entire world was too small a place for me to retreat into.

Wallowing in self pity, I developed an intense negativity about everyone, everything and life itself. When this happens, at first one is seized with incredible rage, wanting to unleash destruction on all and sundry.  I came to appreciate, how mass murderers were created. Thankfully this insane phase ebbed away as I lacked the time and resources to give effect to the entities that had brutalised my being. 

I had to survive, so like a drowning man I struggled and I struggled, but to little avail. 

I met with people and institutions who I believed had the power to make all my problems go away. They had the necessary placebo effect on me. 

Though my actions were directed outwards, my thoughts flowed inwards, constantly contemplating. Nothing exhausts a man more than negative thoughts and all this blame game was consuming me still further.  

Nothing in our lives is useless, all that contemplation worked as a catharsis.  I realised that  unless we expel all the negativity within us, there is little or no scope for the positive to enter our being.  

I concluded that I  alone was responsible for my situation and there was no worldly solution to my anguish. 

When all worldly doorways shut , there is always one doorway, the spiritual  which opens to the true seeker.  

Eventually I surrendered to the force that moves the stars and the planets. The energy that gave life to each being and the mystical power that makes events unfold. I realised the Truth, which is called by a million names in a thousand languages as God.

The doorway lay in my own being, where the little drop I was merged into the infinitely vast ocean of God. I found that through silence, then meditation.

When one surrenders, the fight goes out of us, we are emptied of everything. Emptied of  all emotion, all thought, all desire all wants and needs.

The less I seek the emptier I become. I am attaining nothing yet I am awakening and realising the  infinite.

It will pass

We will always see the divine in the form we have been taught all our lives in our places of study and worship or in our literature and art.  
If that should happen, then we should know that we are not experiencing the divine. 

The human mind is so powerful that it easily fools even us ourselves. When we desperately long for something, our mind is easily capable of conjuring it up for us. 

Our minds are very powerful, therefore it projects whatever we desperately seek. We feel we are conscious but in reality we hallucinate.

It is not necessary for us to seek the truth, like insects we can be born and like insects we can die. However if we wish to be truly happy and liberated, then to the core of our being we must travel.

Answers we will not find outside of ourselves, but only within.  
To travel inwards we must get rid of all that is superfluous to our being. 
What are these superfluous elements?

Its important note that anything that comes and goes is not us. 
Our possessions, attachments, desires, and anger, they are things that will come and go. We believe that they are us, but they are not. They are mere acquisitions. These are the things that will not permit us to journey within ourselves.

Then there is the ego, the 'I'.  
As long as the 'I' exists it inhibits us from discovering the truth. When we let go of the ego 
As the Guru explains, the truth is realised not by seeking but by letting go. Because we do not enter the divine, but make ourselves open to let the divine emerge from within us. 

Letting go will occur when we realise that all existence is an illusion or what the ancients call "Maya'. This realisation can come to us when we achieve great success, great failure, great anguish, sorrow, or exhilaration which leads us to meditation.

Meditating because we are merely seeking or because we are bored will produce what the student discovered, that it too will pass and we are back right we started from. 

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Fascinated by Bio-Rhythms

We all experience good days and sometimes bad days as regards our outputs, moods etc.

All living beings in nature exist in a cyclic manner. The most common being the 24 hour cycle called the Circadian Rhythm which affects our feeding and sleep patterns. Thus we feel sleepy and more alert at about the same time everyday even without looking at the clock.

There is a field of science called Chronobiology which deals with the study of periodic (cyclic) phenomena in living organisms and their adaptation to solar- and lunar-related rhythms etc. called biological rhythms.

Western scientists have tried to establish  over past 150 years how these rhythms can be mapped and use a mathematical model to predict highs and lows and peak mood and performance timing for each individual.

'Theory of Biorhythms' suggests that our physical, intellectual and emotional performance rises and falls in a predictable cycle. The lengths of the cycles are 23 days for physical factors, 28 days for emotional and 33 days for intellectual factors.

Impact of Biorhythms

Since ancient times, civilisations have used biorhythms in their social practices.  Modern scientists have for long studied the theory of biorhythms but the jury is out on the effectiveness of biorhythms  on predicting moods and performance. 

One of the advantages people like me have is we have a good experience and understanding of both tradition and modernity, theory and practice, rooted in both Judeo-Christian and Indian thought and values of the West and the East.

The approach of the West is based on postulating a theory and then working on it to prove it by scientific means. Once established it is imposed through the various institutions and often mandated by law. If it cannot be proven, it is simply discarded.

The approach of the East is based on observation of effects and impact, and empirically validate an approach. Once stated by wise people it is assumed to have merit and be relevant. It is then simply practiced by those who choose to. If it works people stick with the practice, if they do not find it effective or appropriate they simply abandon it.

Cumulative Impact

Both have their advantages and disadvantages. If scientists are not able to conclusively prove some phenomena,  does it mean that the practice has no relevance?

Biorhythm based performance is ridiculed by some as pseudo science and others swear by them.

Using the Biorhythm Calculator, it might be interesting to map one's biorhythms and maintain a diary on moods, behaviour and performance and see for yourself if biorhythms works for you. 

'Know thyself' say the wise people. 
It's possible that we will learn more about oneself and have fun in the process of our own evolution.

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Interesting Links:

• Calculate your biorhythm.
• Biorhythms - Wikipedia
• Biorhythms explained based on ancient Indian life energy forces & Chakras
• What is Circadian Rhythm?

In service of Humanity - Bhai Kanhaiya Lal

There are no enemies nor strangers

Bhai Kanhaiya Lal

Bhai Kanhaiya Lal (1648-1718), left his service as an officer in the Mughal army, and came to serve the 9th Sikh Guru, Guru Tegh Bhadur ji 

After the martyrdom of the Guru he longed to meet the noble Guru's successor, [Guru Gobind Singh ji
, the 10th Sikh Guru. 

Arriving at Anandpur (Panjab) in 704 C.E. Bhai Kanhaiya found that the Guru and his followers under attack by the combined forces of the Rajput Hill Chieftains and the Mughal army.


The Rajputs and Muslims who together ruled over much of India, simply could not tolerate any other political or self defence entity.

The greatly outnumbered and outgunned Sikhs were fighting valiantly to defend themselves and the battlefield was littered with wounded and suffering soldiers from both sides.

Amongst the wounded wandered a solitary figure, the Sikh,  Bhai Kanhaiya trying to help those he could and giving them water from a mashk irrespective of whether they were Sikh, Hindu or Muslim.

The Nihang the Sikh warriors were very annoyed with Bhai Kanhaiya, they dragged and threw him in front of Guru Gobind Singh ji for suitable punishment for aiding the enemy.

The Guru asked Bhai Kanhaiya if the charges of treason were true? 
Bhai Kanhaiya replied, "I see no enemy, all I see is you, my beloved Guru. Have you not taught us, that to destroy enmity, we see the divine in each being? That is why I assist and serve water to the wounded irrespective of who they are.


The Guru proclaimed to the Sikhs "Bhai Kanhaiya is a true Sikh. He has understood and imbibed the meaning of the universal brotherhood of Sikhism. His service towards others without discrimination is highly praiseworthy. He is an inspiration to all of humanity and I bless him that in time he establish a great movement to selflessly serve humanity. I ordain that none will come in Bhai Kanhaiya's way to perform his noble duty."

The Guru blessed Bhai Kanhaiya and handed over to him a large medicine chest and requested Bhai Kanhaiya not only to serve the wounded with water but to apply these medicines to heal their wounds.

Many Sikhs, Muslims and Hindus who received the selfless love and service of Bhai Kanhaiyalal and survived, were drawn to his noble cause. Upon leaving the service of their Masters they either joined his mission or started selfless service on their own. 

The Sewapanthi also known as the Addanshahi order of Sikhs which started by Bhai Kanhaiya a hundred and fifty years before the Red Cross
was founded in 1864  by another great being Henry Dunant in Europe. 

The Sewapanthi order continues to render noble service to people irrespective of religion, caste or gender across numerous centres across North India. Proving once again, 'When the Guru blesses, it is certain to succeed'.

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To achieve individual peace

One can be truly happy and content, only when we are at peace with ourselves. That peace which comes from a freedom discovered in solitude.

~ Gurvinder Singh

                               

One may ask, 'How can one be in solitude when so much has to be done and achieved?'

Sure food and shelter has to be arranged, security ensured, Families particularly children and the elderly need to be cared for.  Development and learning have to be pursued, and a thousand other things need to done. bills have to be paid, So what?

We do what we must , but what if we are not there tomorrow? Surely, they will still get done, but by others. We hold ourselves in far greater importance than does the universe. 

                 

Imagine our individual lives as being drawn into a cyclone. 

Lives and things, problems and opportunities, work and responsibilities etc. A multitude of factors are constantly swirling around us, in this cyclone where peace eludes us.

We can choose to be in the swirl where everything is a noisy blur . Those living in the swirl seem to live exciting and extremely active lives, dodging, running from fears and towards wants. However being active merely for its own sake, achieves little, while nourishing the ego. We land up living mostly feelingless, flowerless and hence fruitless lives. 

We cannot escape this cyclone called life, so where can we find individual peace?

There is a place. We can choose to be at the centre of the cyclone where everything is peaceful and silent. Everything is clear and we do what we must, when we must without being attached to anyone or anything. Active only as and when needed. 

This may appear selfish but its not so, for  we act with awareness and meaning. In India we have a word for it called 'Sw-arth' coming from two Sanskrit words 'Swayam' for 'the self', and 'Arth' for  'meaning'. Translated it is 'meaning of one's existence'. 

Religion, politics, family, society, and rulers/government and now employers ordain the meaning of ourselves to us. Treating us all as identical. That is not desirable even if it were possible, but these forces have almost total domination over our existence. That is why individuals always rebel against these forces sometimes openly but usually clandestinely. The individual rarely discovers the meaning of his or her own life. 

When we learn to silence these forces by travelling within ourselves where each one of us is absolute master of his her life, we learn who and what we are, we discover our 'Swa-Arth'. Once we discover that meaning of oneself, freedom is natural.

This is why all great masters have always advocated silence, contemplation and finally meditation. Life goes on we live a meaningful existence, not in the uncontrollable swirling mess but in control and in total awareness right in the peaceful eye of the storm.

To live peacefully with the world its necessary for us to be at peace with ourselves.

Zen Master in Prison

Zen Tales

A Master prefers Prison


A Zen master had formed a habit of indulging in petty theft. Someone's cheap, slipper or a spoon etc. 

The law was the law and the Master would confess to the crime and was convicted every time and therefore he spent most of his life in prison.

People were puzzled that, so great a master was so petty a thief.  The sentencing judges always said. that, "We know there is something more to this than we can understand, please enlighten us". The master simply smiled and always remained mum.  

The moment he would be out of prison he would steal again, and he would go back. 

After a few decades, the Master's end was near. All the people and the judges gathered around him to seek an answer. "Your end is near, at least now please tell us, why you did what you did?"


The master laughed and replied, "I steal to get in the jail and I did it for two reasons. First, to be with the prisoners and bring them the inner message."
Who will help them? Outside, for you all, there are many masters. But inside the jail, there is no master. Who will help them?

"Do they not need spiritual guidance? You will be surprised to learn, that I have found many innocent people and pure souls. Many of them much more innocent than the jailers and the people outside. 

I have converted the prison into a beautiful monastery with 2,000 inmates. 

The second reason is I need much time to meditate, but outside I cannot. The hordes of people keep on coming and I cannot be disrespectful by refusing to meet them. So I escape to the Prison where I get a lot of time to meditate. 


Such are the inexplicable ways of a true master.