Yoga : The Alpha and the Omega Volume - 3 Chapter-10

The consistency of being

The first question:

WHAT HAPPENED TO RAJNEESH ON MARCH 21ST? DID HE ATTAIN SAMADHI WITH OR WITHOUT SEED? 

THIS IS NOT ONLY your question, this is mine also! Ever since, I have also been wondering what happened to this guy Rajneesh. On that night, one moment he was there, and next moment he was not there.

And since then I have been looking for him within and without: not even a trace has been left behind, no footprints. If ever I get him, I will remember your question. Or, if it happens that you come across him somewhere, you can ask the question from my side also.

It is just like a dream. In the morning you are awake, you look around, you search for the dream in the sheets of the bed, under the bed, and it is not there. You cannot believe - just a moment before it was there, so colorful, so real, and suddenly it is not found at all, and there is no way to find it. It only appeared; it was not a reality, it was just a dream. One is awake and the dream has disappeared. Nothing happens to the dream.

To Rajneesh also, nothing happened; it was never there in the first place. I was asleep, that's why he was there. I awoke and I couldn't find him, and it happened so unexpectedly there was no time to ask the question. Simply the guy disappeared, and there seems to be no possibility to find him again, because there is only one possibility: if I fall asleep again, only then I can find him - and that is impossible.

Once you are totally conscious, the very root of being unconscious is cut. The seed is burned. Again you cannot fall into the unconscious.

Yoga : The Alpha and the Omega Volume - 3 Chapter-09

The fall of the idiots

IN THE STATE OF NIRVICHARA SAMADHI, AN OBJECT IS EXPERIENCED IN ITS FULL PERSPECTIVE, BECAUSE IN THIS STATE KNOWLEDGE IS GAINED DIRECT, WITHOUT THE USE OF THE SENSES. 

THE PERCEPTION GAINED IN NIRVICHARA SAMADHI TRANSCENDS ALL NORMAL PERCEPTIONS BOTH IN EXTENT AND INTENSITY. 

WHEN THIS CONTROLLING OF ALL OTHER CONTROLS IS TRANSCENDED, THE SEEDLESS SAMADHI IS ATTAINED, AND WITH IT, FREEDOM FROM LIFE AND DEATH. 

KNOWLEDGE IS indirect, knowing is direct. Knowledge is through many mediums; it is not reliable. Knowing is immediate, without any medium. Only knowing can be reliable.

This distinction has to be remembered. Knowledge is like a messenger comes and tells something to you: the messenger may have misunderstood the message; the messenger may have added something of his own into the message; the messenger may have dropped something from the message; the messenger may have forgotten something from the message; the messenger may have added his own interpretations into it, or the messenger may be simply cunning and deceptive. And you have to rely on the messenger. You don't have any direct approach to the source of the message - this is knowledge.

Knowledge is not reliable, and not only one messenger is involved in knowledge, but four. Man is behind many closed doors, imprisoned. First knowledge comes to the senses; then the senses carry it through the nervous system, it reaches to the brain, and then the brain delivers it to the mind, and then the mind delivers it to you, to the consciousness. It is a vast process, and you don't have any direct approach to the source of knowledge.

Yoga : The Alpha and the Omega Volume - 3 Chapter-08

The Master appears

The first question:

HOW IS IT THAT AN ENLIGHTENED PERSON LIKE KRISHNAMURTI CANNOT SEE THAT HE IS NOT HELPING PEOPLE? IF HE IS ENLIGHTENED SHOULD NOT HE BE ABLE TO SEE ALL? AND YOU SAY THAT YOU ARE ABLE TO HELP ALL TYPES BUT YOU ALSO SAY THAT YOU ARE CONTRADICTORY ON PURPOSE, SO THAT SOME PEOPLE WILL GO AWAY. IF YOU ARE ABLE TO HELP ALL, WHY SHOULD SOME NEED TO GO AWAY? 

A PERSON LIKE Krishnamurti can see. There is no hindrance, no obstacle, and he sees everything that is happening around him. But an enlightened person cannot do anything. He has to be as he is, loose and natural. Doing brings tension, and doing makes you unnatural. Then you are floating against the current.

Krishnamurti knows what is happening but he cannot do anything. He has to allow it to happen. It is how the whole wills it. Nothing can be done about it. The doer is always in ignorance. The doer is never found when one is awakened. When one is awakened one accepts whatsoever is the case.

So don't think that Krishnamurti does not know. He knows perfectly, but this is how it has happened. This is how it is happening. And there is nobody inside to judge whether it should happen like this or otherwise. Nothing can be done. A rose flower is a rose flower, and a mango tree is a mango tree. The mango tree cannot bring roses, the rose plant cannot bring mangos. This is how it is - a total acceptance.

Yoga : The Alpha and the Omega Volume - 3 Chapter-07

The thought of no-thought

THESE SAMADHIS THAT RESULT FROM MEDITATION ON AN OBJECT ARE SAMADHIS WITH SEED, AND DO NOT GIVE FREEDOM FROM THE CYCLE OF REBIRTH. 

ON ATTAINING THE UTMOST PURITY OF THE NIRVICHARA STAGE OF SAMADHI, THERE IS A DAWNING OF THE SPIRITUAL LIGHT. 

IN NIRVICHARA SAMADHI, THE CONSCIOUSNESS IS FILLED WITH TRUTH. 

CONTEMPLATION is not meditation. There is a vast difference, and not only of quantity but of quality. They exist on different planes. Their dimensions are altogether different; not only different, but diametrically opposite.

This is the first thing to be understood. Contemplation is concerned with some object; it is a movement of consciousness towards the other. Contemplation is outgoing attention, moving towards the periphery, going away from the center. Meditation is moving towards the center, away from the periphery, away from the other. Contemplation is arrowed towards the other, meditation towards oneself. In contemplation, duality exists. There are two, the contemplator and the contemplated. In meditation there is only one.

The English word "meditation" is not very good, does not give the real sense of dhyana or samadhi, because in the very word meditation, it appears that you are meditating upon something. So try to understand: contemplation is meditating upon something; meditation is not meditating upon something, just being oneself, no movement away from the center, no movement at all... just being yourself so totally that there is not even a flickering; the inner flame remains unmoving. The other has disappeared; only you are. Not a single thought is there. The whole world has disappeared. The mind is no more there; only you are, in your absolute purity. Contemplation is like a mirror mirroring something; meditation is simply mirroring, not mirroring anything - just a pure capacity to mirror but not actually mirroring anything.

Yoga : The Alpha and the Omega Volume - 3 Chapter-06

Mind in a hurry

The first question:

WHEN YOU SPEAK ON PATANJALI, I FEEL THAT HE IS THE PATH FOR ME. WHEN YOU SPEAK ON ZEN, THEN ZEN IS THE PATH FOR ME. WHEN YOU SPEAK ON TANTRA, THEN IT IS TANTRA FOR ME. HOW DO I KNOW WHICH IS THE PATH FOR ME? 

IT IS VERY SIMPLE - if when I speak on Patanjali and you feel that Patanjali is the path for you, and when I speak on Zen, you feel Zen is the path for you, and when I speak on Tantra, you feel "Tantra is the path for me," then the problem doesn't exist - I am the path for you!

The second question:

IS IT ESSENTIAL FOR A SEEKER TO PASS THROUGH ALL THE STAGES OF SAMADHI? CAN BEING WITH A MASTER HELP TO SHOOT THROUGH A FEW? 

No, it is not essential. All the stages are described by Patanjali because all the stages are possible, but not essential. You can bypass many. You can even go from the first step to the last; the whole path in between simply can be bypassed. It depends on you, your intensity, your passionate search, your total involvement. The speed depends on you.

That's why it is possible to attain a sudden enlightenment also. The whole gradual process can be dropped. Right this very moment, you can become enlightened. That's possible, but it will depend on how intense is your search, how much you are in it. If only a part of you is in it, then you will attain to a fragment, a step. If half of you is in it, then you will reach half the journey immediately, and there you will be stuck. But if your total being is in it and you are not withholding anything, you are simply allowing the whole thing to happen right now, immediately it can happen. Time is not needed.

Yoga : The Alpha and the Omega Volume - 3 Chapter-05

The pure look

NIRVITARKA SAMADHI IS ATTAINED WHEN THE MEMORY IS PURIFIED, AND THE MIND IS ABLE TO SEE THE TRUE NATURE OF THINGS WITHOUT OBSTRUCTION. 

THE EXPLANATIONS GIVEN FOR THE SAMADHIS OF SAVITARKA AND NIRVITARKA, ALSO EXPLAIN THE HIGHER STATES OF SAMADHI, BUT IN THESE HIGHER STATES OF SAVICHARA AND NIRVICHARA SAMADHIS, THE OBJECTS OF MEDITATION ARE MORE SUBTLE 

THE PROVINCE OF SAMADHI THAT IS CONNECTED WITH THESE FINER OBJECTS EXTENDS UP TO THE FORMLESS STAGE OF THE SUBTLE ENERGIES. 

MIND IS MEMORY; it is like a computer. To be exact, it is a biocomputer. It accumulates all that is experienced, known. Through many lives, through millions of experiences the mind gathers memory. It is a vast phenomenon. Millions and millions of memories are stored in it. It is a great storehouse.

All your past lives are stored in it. Scientists say even in a single moment thousands of memories are being collected continuously - without your knowing, the mind goes on functioning. Even while you are asleep, memories are being formed. Even while you are asleep... somebody cries and weeps, your senses are functioning and collecting the experience. You may not be able to recall it in the morning because you were not conscious, but in deep hypnosis it can be recalled. In deep hypnosis, everything that knowingly and unknowingly you have experienced ever, can all be recalled back - your past lives also. The simple expanse of mind is really vast. These memories are good if you can use them, but these memories are dangerous if they start using you.

Yoga : The Alpha and the Omega Volume - 3 Chapter-04

The un-minding of being

The first question:

YOU SAID THAT NATURE ABHORS DISORDER, AND DISORDER SETTLES ITSELF AUTOMATICALLY IN DUE TIME. 

THEN WHY HAS THE WORLD ALWAYS BEEN IN CHAOS AND DISORDER? 

THE WORLD has never been in chaos and disorder, only the mind. The world is absolutely orderly. It is not a chaos, it is a cosmos. Only the mind is always in chaos, and will always be in chaos.

Something has to be understood: the very nature of the mind is to be in chaos because it is a transitory stage. From nature to supernature mind is just a transition. No transitory stage can be in order. How it can be in order? When you move from one stage to another, the inbetween is bound to be in chaos.

There is no way to put the mind in order. When you are transcending nature and moving into supernature, changing from the outer to the inner, changing from the material to the spiritual, there is bound to be a gap between the two when you are nowhere, when you don't belong to this world and you yet don't belong to the other. This is the chaos - this has been left, and death has not been achieved yet. In the middle, everything is a disorder. And if you remain in the middle, then you will be always in chaos. Mind has to be transcended. It is not something to live with.

It is like a bridge: it has to be crossed, the other shore has to be attained. And you have made a house on the bridge. You have started to live on the bridge. You have become attached to the mind. You are in a trap because you are nowhere. And how can you settle in the land of nowhere?

Yoga : The Alpha and the Omega Volume - 3 Chapter-03

Periphery and center

WHEN THE ACTIVITY OF THE MIND IS UNDER CONTROL, THE MIND BECOMES LIKE PURE CRYSTAL, REFLECTING EQUALLY, WITHOUT DISTORTION, THE PERCEIVER, THE PERCEPTION AND THE PERCEIVED. 

SAVITARKA SAMADHI IS THE SAMADHI IN WHICH THE YOGI IS STILL UNABLE TO DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN THE REAL KNOWLEDGE, KNOWLEDGE BASED ON WORDS AND KNOWLEDGE BASED ON REASONING OR SENSE PERCEPTIONS, WHICH ALL REMAIN IN THE MIND IN A MIXED STATE. 

WHAT IS MIND? Mind is not a thing, but an event. A thing has substance in it, an event is just a process. A thing is like the rock; an event is like the wave: it exists, but is not substantial. It is just the event between the wind and the ocean; a process, a phenomenon.

This is the first thing to be understood: that mind is a process, like a wave or like a river, but it has no substance in it. If it has substance, then it can not be dissolved. If it has no substance it can disappear without leaving a single trace behind. When a wave disappears into the ocean, what is left behind? Nothing, not even a trace. So those who have known, they say mind is like a bird flying into the sky - no footprints are left behind, not even a trace. The bird flies but leaves no path, no footprints.

The mind is just a process. In fact, mind doesn't exist, only thoughts, thoughts moving so fast that you think and feel that something is existing there in continuity. One thought comes, another thought comes, another, and they go on. The gap is so small you cannot see the gap between one thought and another. So two thoughts become joined, they become a continuity, and because of that continuity you think there is a mind. There are thoughts - no mind - just as there are electrons, no matter. Thought is the electron of the mind. Just like a crowd... a crowd exists in a sense, doesn't exist in another; only individuals exist. But many individuals together give the feeling as if they are one. A nation exists and exists not; only individuals are there. Individuals are the electrons of a nation, of a community, of a crowd.

Yoga : The Alpha and the Omega Volume - 3 Chapter-02

Ego's attraction

The first question:

I FEEL A CONFLICT BETWEEN BEING LOOSE AND NATURAL AND BEING AWARE. 

THERE IS NO conflict, but you can create a conflict. Even where no conflict exists the mind creates the conflict, because the mind cannot exist without being in conflict.

Being loose and natural will give you a spontaneous awareness. There is no need to make any effort for awareness; it will follow like a shadow. If you are loose and natural, it will come. There is no need to make any other effort for it because being loose and natural automatically flowers in being aware. Or, if you are aware, then you will become loose and natural. They both go together. But if you try for both, then you will create the conflict. There is no need to try for both together.

What does it mean when I say: Be loose and natural? It means: make no effort. Just be whatsoever you are. If you are unaware, then be unaware because that is what you are in your loose and natural state. Be unaware. If you make any effort, then how can you be loose and natural? Simply relax, and accept whatsoever is the case, and accept your acceptance also. Don't move from there. A time will pass before things settle down. In that transitory period, you may not be aware because things are settling. Once things are settled and the flow is natural, you will be suddenly surprised. Unexpectedly, one morning you find you are aware - no need to make any effort.

Yoga : The Alpha and the Omega Volume - 3 Chapter-01

Dropping out of the wheel

ALSO, MEDITATE ON KNOWLEDGE THAT COMES DURING SLEEP. 

ALSO, MEDITATE ON ANYTHING THAT APPEALS TO YOU. 

THUS, THE YOGI BECOMES MASTER OF ALL, FROM THE INFINITESIMAL TO THE INFINITE. 

MAN SLEEPS almost one-third of his life, twenty years approximately. But sleep has been neglected, terribly neglected. Nobody thinks about it, nobody meditates on it. This has happened because man has paid too much attention to the conscious mind.

Mind has three dimensions. Just as matter has three dimensions, mind also has three dimensions. Only one dimension is conscious, another dimension is unconscious, and still another dimension is there which is superconscious. These three dimensions are of the mind - just like the matter, because deep down mind is also matter. Or, you can say it otherwise, that matter is also mind. It has to be so, because only one exists.

Mind is subtle matter; matter is gross mind. But ordinarily man lives only in one dimension, the conscious. Sleep belongs to the unconscious; dreaming belongs to the unconscious. Meditation, ecstasy, belong to the superconscious, just like waking and thinking belong to the conscious. So, we have to go slowly into this phenomenon of mind.

The first thing about mind to be remembered is, it is just like an iceberg - the topmost part is on the surface; you can see it, but it is only one-tenth of the whole. Nine-tenths is hidden underneath. You cannot see it ordinarily unless you move in the depth. But these are only two dimensions. There is a third dimension - as if a part of the iceberg has evaporated and has become a small cloud and hovers in the sky. It is difficult to reach to the unconscious; it is almost impossible to reach to that cloud - of course, part of the same iceberg, but evaporated.