| Hello Gregory,
This is the last blog in a series.
In my first blog I showed how ‘waking up’ or ‘seeking enlightenment’ is the greatest goal one can have. And yet great teachers like Ram Dass and Anthony DeMello claimed that we do not really desire this. We say we do, but we really don’t.
In my second blog I explain why Ram Dass and Anthony DeMello were prescient and absolutely correct.
If you want to achieve a grand goal, you need to put in grand effort. But we are not prepared to do that. We set up a meditation practice and go on Vipassana retreats and read spiritual books and listen to inspiring talks and then we are done.
We enjoy the movies in our Netflix queue. We look to visit exotic places on our next vacation. We root for our favorite athlete or team to win their match. We are concerned about our career trajectories. We bemoan our political dysfunction and economic turmoil.
No wonder the Kingdom of Heaven eludes us.
We forget that Jesus’ injunction was “Seek ye first the Kingdom of Heaven.”
Sri Ramakrishna, the Indian sage, was fond of a parable.
A learned teacher had a student who was interested in enlightenment. He begged the teacher to show him the best way to awaken. His importuning was so strident that, one day, the teacher told him to come by in the morning when he was bathing. The student promptly showed up the next morning when his teacher was performing his ablutions in the river. The teacher grabbed the student by the neck and held his head under water. The student struggled mightily and was finally able to break free.
Wrathfully the student asked the teacher why he had done this foul deed.
“When your desire to see God is as strong as your desire to take the next breath was,” said the teacher calmly, “You will find Him standing in front of you.”
If you wish to awaken, you need to have an intense desire for liberation. You have to grok the value of the eternal and the futility of the temporary. We flit from one temporary frivolous pursuit to another and yet another. No wonder we have become fever bags of anxiety racked by sorrow and riven by tension.
If you wish to wake up, you have to “pray without ceasing.”
Here is an extract from The Way of the Pilgrim.
The Apostle says: Pray without ceasing: that is, he teaches constant remembrance of God at all times, in all places, and under any circumstances. If you are busy doing something, you must remember the Creator of all things. If you see light, remember Him who gave it to you. If you look at the sky, the earth, the waters and all that is in them, marvel and glorify the Creator of all. If you are putting your clothes on, remember Him whose gift they are and thank Him who provides everything in your life. In short, let every action be an occasion for you always to remember and praise God. And before you know it, you are praying unceasingly and your soul will always rejoice in this.
Unceasing prayer is calling always upon the Name of God, whether one is conversing or sitting down, walking, working or eating, or occupied with any other activity – in all places and at all times one should call upon the Name of God.
What if you are an atheist or agnostic? Substitute ‘Universe’ for ‘God’ and it works just as well.
When you begin this path, you forget. Sometimes you forget in minutes. Even seconds.
Get back into the rhythm when you remember.
Ramana Maharshi enjoined his devotees to live life as they always did. You do not have to ‘give up’ anything. You can enjoy your Netflix movies and celebrate your wins at work. But, in parallel, always keep in mind that ‘all this is happening and you are not doing it.’
This is easy to begin. It is incredibly hard to keep doing it all the time.
Persist diligently.
When you are constant in your internal awareness, your entire life becomes a meditation. That is when your mental chatter disappears and you experience the ‘peace that passeth understanding.’
That is when you are finally ready to break out from prison.
Peace!
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