Indian, Gorakh, Death is Divine Chapter 6: Sadhana: the fruit of understanding, Question 4

The fourth question:

Question 4

HOW CAN WE ACCEPT LIFE'S JOYS AND SORROWS WITH EQUANIMITY?

He gives joy, he gives sorrow: the giver, the master is one. Everything comes from him. Accept with equanimity and you will see this truth: that everything comes from him. There is nothing other than he.

Then suffering too has its greatness. Sorrow is not useless. Sorrow polishes, sorrow cleanses, sorrow awakens, sorrow gives depth. Only sorrow makes you deserving of joy. So don't make suffering an enemy. One who makes suffering an enemy remains deprived of joy also. Make sorrow steps to him, steps to his temple. Yes, there will be difficulties in climbing; I admit. Tiredness comes, breathing increases, sweat comes; I admit. But these are the steps to his temple. His temple is very high, there are many steps to his temple. His temple is a Mount Everest. There is difficulty in climbing, certainly, but the more difficulty in climbing, the more the bliss in reaching. And there is no helicopter for reaching to his temple. It is good that there is no helicopter. Otherwise you would ascend, arrive at his temple and you would not experience any bliss.

You must have noticed that the more trouble you have had to take on to get something, the more you feel blissful -- in proportion to the trouble. Whatever you get for free, you don't even feel like saying thank you for.

This has happened. You have received life free. Think a little, have you given thanks to anyone? Have you given thanks to god for giving you life? You got it free, why give thanks? Who to thank?

A wise man said to Alexander, "You have made such a great empire, but it is nothing. I consider it worthless."

Alexander became very angry. He told the fakir: "You have to answer well for this or I will have your throat cut. You have insulted me. My lifelong effort and you say it is nothing, worthless!"

The fakir said: "Imagine that you have become lost in a desert. You have strong thirst. You are dying. I appear. I have a pot filled with fresh water. I say I will give you a glass of water, but for a price. If I ask for half your empire will you give it?"

Alexander said, "If I am dying of thirst in the desert then not just half, I"ll give the whole thing."

Then the fakir said, "The matter is closed, the price of one glass... the price of your empire is one glass of water. Its not worth even two cents, because water is free."

To save his life Alexander is ready to give his whole kingdom. But you have life: have you given thanks for it? You have received free that which you can give an empire of the entire earth for -- and you haven't even given thanks. You have not received it with gratitude.

Think of how much you have received. You have the potential for love in your heart, have you given thanks? Song can arise from your throat, have you given thanks? You eyes open and you can see the incomparable beauty of this universe, have you given thanks? Just ask a blind man, what would you be ready to give if you could get eyes? He would say, "I am ready to give everything for eyes, if only I could get eyes. What should I save? I will give all."

But have you experienced any honor in having eyes?

What man receives for free has no value. Existence has given much to you that is invaluable, but you consider it valueless. But one thing you get only by paying the price -- you will have to climb the mountain of god. You will simply have to climb the mountain. There will be suffering in climbing the mountain. But if you are going towards the temple then suffering will not seem like suffering.

I have heard, a sannyasin went on a pilgrimage in the Himalayas. Exhausted, sweating profusely, gasping for breath. The ascent was long and steep. In front of him was a mountain girl of some nine or ten years, ascending with her little brother on her shoulders, drenched in sweat, exhausted. When the sannyasin reached close to the girl he said, "Daughter" -- in a sympathetic tone, lovingly -- "I am very tired, you must also be very tired. You are climbing with such a load."

The girl looked angrily at the sannyasin and said, "Swami Ji, you may be carrying a load, this is my little brother, not a load."

Where there is love there is no load. Although if you put the little brother on the scales he will be a load. But on the scale of love the load has disappeared. Look at the magic of love! The law of gravity is finished by the magic of love. The Swami Ji must have been climbing up carrying his small bundle. That bundle must have weighed something. On the scales perhaps the little brother's weight would be more, but on the scale of love the little brother has no weight. The girl was angry. She got angry from this, saying, "You have called my little brother a weight! You are carrying a weight, this is my little brother."

If you experience difficulty while climbing the steps of god's temple, will you call it difficulty? If you are going towards the temple of the beloved then there is no trouble.

If life is a search for truth then joy and sorrow are accepted equally, then no problem remains.

Your love is sunlight and shadow,

Sometimes causing laughter, sometimes tears,

It is beyond me!

Sometimes with wildflowers

Filling my lap,

Sometimes worthless road dust

Cruelly making jests;

This is why I speak weeping bitterly

Are you an enemy of mine or a friend?

Embracing or rejecting? unable to understand I give up.

Your love is sunlight and shadow,

Sometimes causing laughter, sometimes tears,It is beyond me!

Sometimes within myself

Even loneliness becomes talkative,

And sometimes in the crowded world

Even my own heart is lost to me;

This is why I say sobbingly

Am I chasing a whim or am I safely ashore?

Sometimes drowning me, carrying me across, awakening hopes!

Your love is sunlight and shadow,

Sometimes causing laughter, sometimes tears,

It is beyond me!

Sometimes on threads of imagination

These unknown moments are bound,

Sometimes in the Yamuna water from the eyes

The home I know flows away;

This is why I speak fretfully

Oh, what strange support is this,

Lamps have been blown out, dreams readied , but sleep comes not!

Your love is sunlight and shadow,

Sometimes causing laughter, sometimes tears,

It is beyond me!

All is his. Sunlight is his, shadow is also his. Sorrow is his, joy is his. Life is given by him, death is also given by him. When all is his then equanimity is effortlessly achieved. Understand this secret.

It may be that the questioner thought I would explain some technique for achieving equanimity. If you achieve equanimity through some technique then it will remain superficial. The achiever has never gone inside, the achiever remains on the surface. If you just dye your clothes you will remain undyed. The achiever is on one layer -- the outer layer -- he doesn't touch the inner spaces. You touch the inner spaces when you understand. It is not a question of achieving, it is a question of understanding. Just understand: all is his.

What is spiritual achieving? What is sadhana? The meaning of sadhana is that if sorrow comes you will stand proudly saying you will not be influenced. You will pass by uninfluenced, without being shaken. This will bring arrogance. This is not sadhana. The ego will become stronger from it. You will not melt from this, you will become more fixed, more of a stone. This is why your so called religious people become stonelike. Not even a little moisture of compassion remains in their lives. Not even a little beauty remains in their lives. The very possibility of music becomes destroyed in their lives. And they have gone in search of the ultimate music. And they have gone in search of infinite beauty. But in their lives you will find no poetry. Their life become dry and flavorless. Why? Because of sadhana. They are forcing themselves. It is sadhana, difficult sadhana. So what to do? Make a bed of thorns and sleep on it; because the difficult is sadhana. Staying equanimous sleeping on a bed of thorns as if one is sleeping on the most beautiful bed.

But the man who sleeps on a bed of thorns loses the sensitivity of his body. His body becomes inert. His body becomes dead. In his body life is finished. Life crawls inside. We will fast so we can manage hunger. If hunger comes then too we can remain equanimous. It can be managed. But this sadhana is not true. True sadhana is the fruit of understanding. It comes like a shadow following understanding.

What I am saying to you is, understand this:

Your love is sunlight and shadow,

Sometimes causing laughter, sometimes tears,

It is beyond me!

Are you an enemy of mine or a friend?

Embracing or rejecting? unable to understand I give up.

Am I chasing a whim or am I safely ashore?

Sometimes drowning me, carrying me across, awakening hopes!

Oh, what strange support is this,

Lamps have been blown out, dreams readied , but sleep comes not!

Your love is sunlight and shadow,

Sometimes causing laughter, sometimes tears,

It is beyond me!

Move into this world of mystery. Search for that which cannot be grasped in the hand. Go in search of that which cannot be grasped. But how can you seek what cannot be grasped? God cannot be grasped by you, but you can come into his grasp. If you seek him you will come into his grasp, you will be captured by him. And this is union.

Gorakh

DEATH IS DIVINE

Chapter-6

Sadhana: the fruit of understanding