Meditation Chapter No.31, Mysticism, reading, forums, Numerology, Sun Signs, Divination

Posts: 5115 · Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2008 11:36 am

Kabir had a son, Kamaal. Kabir was in the habit of virag, the denial of attachment. He did not like Kamaal's way, because if someone presented something to Kamaal he would keep it. Kabir told him many times, "Don't accept gifts from anyone. We don't need any money."

But Kamaal would say, "If money is useless, then what is the need then even to say no? If money is useless, then we don't ask for it because it is useless. But if someone comes here to unburden himself, why say no to him? After all, it is useless."

Kabir didn't like it. He said, "I want you to live separately."

His virag, his denial of attachment, was being shattered by it. So he told Kamaal to live separately, and Kamaal started living in a separate hut.

The king of Kashi used to go to visit Kabir. He said, "I don't see Kamaal around."

Kabir said, "I don't like his ways, his behavior is shallow. I have separated from him. He lives separately."

The king asked, "What is the reason?"

Kabir said, "He is greedy about money. Someone offers something and he takes it."

The king went to see Kamaal and, bowing down, plaed a very valuable diamond at his feet, Kamaal said, "What did you bring? Just a stone."

The king thought, "But Kabir said that Kamaal is attached to wealth, and he says that I have only brought a stone." So he picked it up and began to put it back into his pocket.

Kamaal said, "If it is a stone, then don't bother to carry the burden back with you; otherwise you will still be thinking that it is a diamond."

The king thought, "There is something tricky going on." But he said, "So where should I put it?"

Kamaal replied, "If you are asking where to put it, then you don't consider it to be just a stone. And you are asking where to put it, so you don't think it is only a stone. Simply throw it away. What is the need to keep it?"

The king put it into a corner in the thatched roof of the hut. Then he left thinking. "This is cheating. When I turn myback it will be gone."

After six months he returned and said, "Some time ago I presented you with something."

Kamaal said, "Many people present things. And only if I have any interest in those gifts do I bother to either keep them or return them. But I have no interest in those gifts, so why should I keep track of them? Yes, you must have brought a gift."

The king said, "My gift was not so cheap, it was very valuable. Where is the stone that I gave you?"

Kamaal said, "That is very difficult. Where did you put it?"

The kig went and looked in the corner where he had stuffed it, and the stone was till there. This opened his eyes.

This man Kamaal was unique: for him it was only a stone. This is what I call veetrag, going beyond attachment. It is not virag, denial of attachment. This is to go beyond attachment.

Rag is an interst in holding on to something, and virag is to be interested in renouncing the same thing. Veetraj, going beyond desire, is the goal.

Those who attain to it know the ultimate bliss because all their attachment to the outside has dissolved.

And now, the last question: Is meditation impossible without what you have called the foundation for meditation: purity of the body, purity of thoughts and purity of emotions?

No, without them meditation is also possible, but it is possile only for a very few people. If you enter into meditation with total determination, then even without purifying any of these you can enter into meditation because the moment you enter, all of them will become pure. But if it is not easy for you to have so much determination -- it is very difficult to have so much determination -- then you will have to purify them one by one.

You will not attain to a state of meditation by making them pure, but you will attain to greater determination by making them pure. By purifying them, the energy which was wasted through impurity will be saved, and that energy will be transformed into determination. Then you will enter into meditation. Purifying these three is helpful, but not essential.

Purifying these three is essential for anyone who finds it impossible to enter into meditation directly, and who will otherwise not be able to enter into meditation.

But they are not absolutely essential because if there is total determination, even for a moment, you can enter into meditation. Even for a moment, if someone gathers his total energy and takes the jump, then there is nothing that can stop him, no impurity can stop him. But only a few people have been fortunate enough to gather that much energy; only a few people have been fortunate enough to gather that much courage.

Only the kind of people that I am about to tell you about in this story can gather that much courage.

Once there was a man who thought that the world must end somewhere, so he set out to find the place where the world ends. He traveled thousands of miles, and kept asking people, "I have to find the place where the world ends."

Finally he came to a temple where there was a sign on which was written: Here Ends the World. He became very afraid.....the sign had appeared; and a little further and the world would end. And below the sign this was written: Do Not Go Any Further. But he wanted to see the end of the world, so he went on.

A short distance from there the world came to an end. There was a shoreline and below it an infinite abyss. He just had a look and he was scared to death. He returned back: he could not even look behind him because there was such an abyss. Chasms which are not so deep are scary, but they have a bottom; this one was infinite -- it was the end of the world. The abyss was the end and there was nothing beyond the abyss. In his fear he ran into the temple and said to the priest, "This final point is very dangerous."

The priest replied, "If you had jumped, you would have seen that the world is the beginning of godliness." He said, "If you had jumped into that abyss you would have found the divine."

But to gather enough courage to jump into the abyss, if you don't already have it, some preparation for meditation is needed. Only a person who is ready to jump into the abyss needs no preparation. And how can there be any preparation? There can be no preparation, and this is why I have called these preparations the external disciplines. They are the external means and they will help you up to a point. Anyone who has the courage can jump in directly, and whoever does not have the courage can use these steps, remember this.

Only these questions can be discussed today. The rest we will discuss tomorrow.

I have spoken about the outer aspects that are the foundations for meditation. Now I will talk about the central nature of meditation.

The basic foundation of meditation is to purify and experience the true nature of the body, the thoughts and the emotions. If even only this much happens your life will become very blissful. If even only this much happens your life becomes divine. If even only this much happens you will become connected with the beyond. But it will only be a meeting with the beyond, you have not yet merged with it. You have become connected with the beyond but have not yet become one with it. You are acquinted with the divine but you are not it. The foundation of purification will turn you towards the divine and focus your eyes on it, but it is the state of emptiness alone that will allow you to merge with the divine and become one with it.

In the beginning, at the peripherry you come to know the truth, at the center you become truth. So now I will talk about this second stage. I have called the first stage purification; I am calling this second stage emptiness. There are also three stages of this emptying: at the level of the body, the mind level and the emotional level.

Bodilessness is the opposite of identification with the body. You are identified with the body. You don't feel "It is my body": on the contrary, on some level you go on feeling that "I am the body." If the feeling that you are the body disappears, then you will become bodiless.If your identification with the body is broken, bodilessness will happen.