Question 2

Maneesha has asked another question:

OUR BELOVED MASTER,

SOMETIMES DURING MEDITATION THERE IS THE SENSATION OF CONSCIOUSNESS ARISING AND EXPANDING. IS THAT THE SAME PHENOMENON THAT IS INVOLVED IN WATCHING?

Maneesha, watching is the highest point. What arises in meditation is the beginning, it is just a dewdrop. When you will go farther and farther and farther and reach the ocean, then you will know the tremendous vastness and greatness and grandeur of watchfulness. Meditation is only a technique; watchfulness is your nature.

Meditation is a way to reach to watchfulness.

Now, something serious....

Maggie Muldoon finally decides to go to see that infamous shrink, Doctor Feelgood.

"Doc," says Maggie, "my husband is unbearable. He drinks three bottles of whiskey a day, smokes five packs of cigarettes, and screams at me all day and all night to `do this!' and `do that!' He pushes me around, and he can't keep a job."

"Well," says Feelgood, putting down his notepad, "if he's as bad as all that, why on earth did you have fifteen children by him?"

"I was hoping," replies Maggie, "to lose him in the crowd."

Kowalski is brought to court for stealing a frozen chicken from the local supermarket. Boris Babblebrain, the young lawyer, puts up an amazing defense for Kowalski and the Polack is found "not guilty."

"You are discharged," says Judge Rumcake. But Kowalski does not move, he only looks back, blankly.

"The judge says you can go," says Babblebrain, waving his arms at Kowalski and the door.

Suddenly, Kowalski's face lights up and he smiles at the judge. "Thank you, your honor," Kowalski says. "And does that mean I can keep the chicken?"

Polly gets religion -- it happens in Christianity; a few people get religion -- and when she leaves her profession in a whorehouse she starts a new life with Christ's Salvation Army. One night she is beating a drum on a street corner.

"I used to lay in the arms of men!" shouts Polly. "Boom!" goes the drum.

"White men!" shouts Polly. "Boom!"

"Black men!" shouts Polly. "Boom! Boom!"

"Chinamen!" shouts Polly. "Boom! Boom! Boom!"

"I used to lay in the arms of the devil himself!" she shouts. "Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"

"That's right, sister. Hallelujah!" comes a voice from the back of the crowd. "Screw them all!"

But this is a common phenomenon, when people get religion. It is a great contribution of Christianity to the world -- they get religion and also a drum! So they shout their sins and beat the drum to attract the attention of people, so they also can have religion. But it is such a stupid thing. Religion is not something that one gets -- one has it, nobody can give it to you. It is your very being.

Now, Nivedano... Boom!

(Drumbeat)

(Gibberish)

Nivedano...

(Drumbeat)

Be silent. Close your eyes.

Feel your body to be completely frozen.

Look inwards.

This is the way to your innermost being.

As your look centers,

you become slowly aware of your real nature.

The real nature we have called the buddha.

In this moment you are all buddhas.

And this moment can be carried all around the day. Not as a tension, not as a thought, but just as a fragrance, as a remembrance, an undercurrent. It will show in your practical life.

The buddha is your beyond. It will show in your actions, in your responses, in everything that you do -- the buddha will be present.

And this is the greatest experience in the world, to have buddha present twenty-four hours inside you, like a burning torch radiating light all around, filling you with a deep contentment, making you aware of all the blessings of life that are continuously showered on you, but you have been blind.

To make it more sharp and clear, Nivedano...

(Drumbeat)

Relax, let go.

You are just a watcher.

The mind is there, the body is there,

but you are not the body,

neither are you the mind.

You are simply a watcher.

Just watching, you become more and more centered.

Just watching, you come closer and closer

to the universal center.

Just watching, and you have got it:

the eternity of it,

the immortality of it,

the tremendous rejoicing of it.

A man who has experienced buddha within himself,

his whole life becomes a festival,

a festival of lights.

Each moment a ceremony,

each moment a dance,

each moment thousands of flowers

blossom in the consciousness.

The deeper the watcher goes,

the more hidden treasures open their doors.

Nivedano...

(Drumbeat)

Come back. But come back as a buddha,

remembering the space in which you have been.

Bring that joy with you,

that peace, that silence, all those flowers.

Sit for a few seconds just like a buddha.

Okay, Maneesha?

Yes, Beloved Master.

Can we celebrate the meeting of the buddhas?