Time is always Victorious

Sometimes we are faced with challenges in life where we struggle to make things right but unfortunately we are not able to. We try and try and try; and in the process of trying we exhaust ourselves completely. We might see some ray of hope or try to sugar coat the problem temporarily but the problem strikes back with venomous force back again. And we are thrown back into the dungeon deeper and deeper. We lose sight completely and feel that this never ending saga is a permanent affair. We might decide to give up and let go of the battle completely as there is no energy left.

What we do not realize in this process is that we are not really fighting the problem but we are fighting with time. And one thing is certain that time is always victorious. Trying to solve a problem with the time is not appropriate is a futile attempt. In fact it aggravates the problem, makes it worse, renders us devoid of energy and finally we give up. Time moves on but we don't. Because time decimates us. We are left behind with the problem and time continues.

Consider an analogy where you are inside a dark tunnel and trying to find your way out. There is no way you can cross the tunnel till you actually walk the entire path. There are no shortcuts. If you make an attempt to get out in the middle it will be an impossible mission. The only wise thing that you can do is to wait and walk the path and let the circumstances be the way they are. Don't resist them, don't fight them nor indulge with them. Just observe and walk the path. Do not react or try to change anything anywhere. You may stop for a minute to give your humble opinion or suggestion but you should keep walking. Because your only solace and light is in walking all the way out of the tunnel.

This tunnel is the Time. And you cannot escape the force of time. If time ordains, things will be the way they were supposed to be. And our attempt to change things will worsen the situation even more as your action is against the force of time. And remember, Time is always victorious.Time will decimate you if you decide not to flow with it.

When the time is right, everything will change automatically without our intervention effortlessly. Because we have walked out of the tunnel now. We are thrown into a new surrounding. The sun shines and the flowers are blooming once again. And now, we don't even need to fight the problem anymore as Time has decimated the problem.

Either you allow time to decimate you or decimate the problem. By fighting the problem at an inappropriate time, you allow time to annihilate yourself. By allowing time to take its course and not trying to solve the problem at the wrong time, you allow time to obliterate the problem completely. So the choice is yours.

I would like to end this by quoting a beautiful statement made by J.Krishnamurti - "my secret is that I don't mind what happens".

Reminds me of a Zen koan

The Zen master Hakuin was praised by his neighbours as one living a pure life.
A beautiful Japanese girl whose parents owned a food store lived near him. Suddenly, without any warning, her parents discovered she was with child.
This made her parents angry. She would not confess who the man was, but after much harassment at last named Hakuin.
In great anger the parent went to the master. "Is that so?" was all he would say.
After the child was born it was brought to Hakuin. By this time he had lost his reputation, which did not trouble him, but he took very good care of the child. He obtained milk from his neighbours and everything else he needed.
A year later the girl-mother could stand it no longer. She told her parents the truth - the real father of the child was a young man who worked in the fishmarket.
The mother and father of the girl at once went to Hakuin to ask forgiveness, to apologize at length, and to get the child back.
Hakuin was willing. In yielding the child, all he said was: "Is that so?"

Have you made enough deposits?

In relationships, there are expectations and when there are expectations it leads to trouble. But what forms the basis of the trouble? It is not the negation of expectations but rather an absence of positive assertiveness, a sense of showering on the other person that leads to trouble.

Even if all expectations are met, the "dil maange more". So meeting expectations may not suffice and may not be the panacea for all issues in relationships. To maintain a good relationship, you need to make deposits.

Just like a bank account, you make deposits and you can withdraw only when you have enough money in the account; similarly in a relationship you need to make positive actions to surpass the expectations of the other person. And in return what you get is something remarkable. You get a free leash to break some expectations if they are deemed reasonable.

So for a healthy relationship, instead of trying to find out what other persons expectations are, one should go above and beyond meeting those expectations to create enough deposits. And once that trust is established, you carry with you the freedom to withdraw from your responsibilities temporarily if it is needed due to various reasons.

The effortless effort

As I was understanding more and more about the process of enlightenment or self realization, it occurred to me that dropping the mind and body idea is the key.

But what about the baggage? The years and years of karmic baggage that we have carried since time immemorial; what to do about it? Can that be ignored completely. I am not sure about it.

For e.g. I can spend the entire day in a void; where I have to think only when there is a need. Otherwise there is no thinking. But it seems that thoughts seem to rise every now and then but they wither apart in the light of this grand understanding. But where do these thoughts come from? And can there be real enlightenment in the presence of this reservoir? Do we have to completely empty this reservoir for enlightenment to happen?

I think that the reservoir has to be emptied. That is an absolute necessity. And to abide in this silence, to kill every thought is the process. This way the path becomes the goal. This then becomes the effortless effort. 

Why am I afraid to die?

Was pondering over this issue: why am I afraid to die?

If I ask myself a question: are you ready to die now? The answer would be a big NO...

Why? the reason is that I will miss so many things. I will miss my job, my wife, my family and all the enjoyment I have in life...I will miss everything. So definitely I want to continue living and enjoy life.

Will I be in the same situation 50 years from now. If I extrapolate, I am sure that would be the case. So don't we need a serious resolution into this matter. I started contemplating on this...

I don't want to die because I am afraid to lose the content of my consciousness. I am afraid to lose everything that I am attached to.

But what if the content of my consciousness is erased and still I continue to live in this world enjoying everything. Is that possible? I don't know. Because I have not experienced it. The idea is definitely entertaining because it puts an end to sorrow and misery once for all and at the same time does not deprive me from enjoying the world.

So if I can live and enjoy the world, without getting attached to anything, then the content of my consciousness will remain empty and the fear of death will disappear because I won't miss anything as I am not attached to anything.

How can this be achieved. Again - no technique. It will happen when it has to happen. If you have asked yourself this question: then your head is already in the tigers mouth. The process of this happening has begun...

Memory - The ultimate culprit

Have you ever asked yourself the question "Who am I". I know this is loaded with ideas from spiritual literature but leaving all that aside, if you ask yourself the question "Who am I", what would the answer be?

Let us not fool ourselves by saying that I am the spirit, I am the soul and all that. We do not know that, nor it is our experience. So for a lay man, what is the obvious answer.

If one investigates into this, one will realize that he is nothing but all his cumulative past knowledge in the form of memory. That includes everything - our guilts, jealousy, anger, desires, hate etc. All that is ME. As a matter of fact, when I utter the pronoun 'I', I mean all that. 'I' is nothing but a representative of my past memories.

This is exactly why, we do not experience anything in sleep. Sleep is a lapse in memory. Its an abyss that gets created naturally in the memory sequence.

So if I am the memory, then whatever I experience in this world is seen through a screen of that memory. I cannot experience anything new, because the memory interferes with the perception process. Perception is always muddled.

Now the question is: how can one be free from memory at the time of perception but still have the memory for reasons obvious. Without memory I cannot function in this world. I need to know how to play tennis or how to go from A to B and for that I need knowledge, I need memory. But I do not want this to interfere in the process of my perception. How can this be achieved?

I was watching J Krishnamurti and he gave a hint in that regard. One has to observe without being the observer. The quality of brain that records cannot be stopped. But the quality of the brain that is passing judgments while the recording is going on, can be stopped.

So OBSERVE without being the OBSERVER and that will set us free. You may ask HOW? But there is no how for this. If you understand what it means, then it will start happening :)

Watch the Movie --- of your LIFE

Yesterday I was watching Dil Chahata Hai. As I was watching the movie and getting engrossed in it, I started thinking about the character Amir Khan was playing and got completely involved in the movie. Then after some time the movie ended.

Later a thought came to my mind. When the movie was going on, I was thinking about he movie. Most of my thoughts were the movie thoughts. It was as if I forgot who I was and started relating with the characters in the movie. But now I am thinking about the myself and the world surrounding me.

So what is the difference between the thoughts related to the characters in the movie and the thoughts related to this identity 'Aditya'. Aren't both these thoughts of similar kind. Don't I get emotional or laugh when certain scenes play in the movie. And similarly don't I get emotional or rejoice when certain events take place in my life.

So is it fair enough the conclude that even our life is a movie. A slightly long movie - longer than Dil Chahata Hai. But still it is a movie.

I found one common factor though between me watching Dil Chahata Hai and me watching my LIFE. That common factor was myself, the witness. And so I think that if I find this witness or know this witness, I might be able to know myself as the eternal witness who is beyond these movies that are playing all the time.

So I decided to dedicate reasonable amount of time in this quest to discover this witness and enjoy all the movies in PEACE and BLISS

I am the World and the World is Me

Was watching J Krishmaurti's lecture yesterday and would like to summarize the content of the lecture....
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We have created all the mess in the world. The human being has created the society in which we live. And if we want to change the society then each human being needs to change. Only the inner transformation can bring about the outer change. Any attempt made to change the outer things would be superficial and futile.

So if the individual needs to change then what exactly needs to happen? Firstly the individual who is fragmented needs to become a whole. Only when we are whole, we become holy. If such a change needs to happen, does this change depend on time or knowledge.

Let us analyze this. If transformation had to depend on time, then it would suggest that the transformation is a gradual evolution. It means that something would slowly change into something else. This cannot be true, because change that is based on time is not a complete change, its an endless process. Hence the change that we are talking of now should be a non-temporal change.

Does this change depend on knowledge? If this change would depend on knowledge, then it would have happened by now. We have plethora of information in our heads but that has not caused a transformation in our psyche. It has added more words but has not brought about a feeling of goodness and peace.

Another important point here is that knowledge is the past. And if we were to depend on the past for a change NOW, then that would be something impossible as when we rely on the past, we are not really changing NOW but rather superimposing the past in the NOW. Thus we conclude that past knowledge is not a means to cause a radical transformation.

So the transformation in the psyche we are talking about, does not depend on knowledge or time.

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This is a catch 22. If this transformation does not depend on knowledge or time, then what are we supposed to do. Opps, I cannot even ask this question as doing is an action where time is involved. And the intent of doing involves knowledge. Both are futile. Will update this blog as JK elucidates more on this intriguing topic.