VBT – Meditation 20.3
Suchness
To understand resistance we need to understand three things:
The first thing is: understanding the meaning of flowing.
The second thing is: understanding the meaning of being erased.
And the third thing is yet to be understood: it is called suchness.
This third experiment will take you further than the first two. And you should understand these three steps well.
Suchness means “things are as they are.” The road is noisy because a road will be noisy. The birds are loud because birds will be loud. The waves of the sea are crashing against the shore because what else can waves do? What is happening is happening; it will happen like this, it is such. It has to happen like that, there is no way for it to be otherwise. Suchness means there is no cause for resistance; there is no need to expect it to be otherwise. It is as it is.
The grass is green, the sky is blue, the ocean waves thunder, the birds are singing, the crows are crowing, people are walking on the road, the cars are making a noise, their horns are making a noise – it is just like that, and I have no resistance to this state. I am in agreement with this state. I am in full agreement and accord that it is so. Neither do I wish the crows not to make any noise, nor do I wish people not to honk their horns on the road; nor do I wish that the waves should not make any sound. Things are such; the world is such.
Inside, you should keep this understanding about the world: “It is so and I am fully in agreement with it,” and also about yourself: “It is so.” An ant is biting your leg and there is pain and itching: “It is so. The ant is biting and there is pain and itchiness in the leg, I have no disagreement with it. It is happening like this.” “The sun is shining down and there are drops of sweat flowing down me. It is okay, when the sun shines there will be sweat. I have no resistance to it, there is nothing to be done; it has only to be accepted. It is so.”
The moment we accept, the moment our resistance drops, something within us which has always been restless starts to become peaceful. It was restless because it had always wanted things to be a certain way. It had never been accepted: “This is so.” The sun is hot, the rays fall to the earth, so there will be sweat, the sun will be felt – but we have never accepted it like this. Sometimes we wished that the sun was not shining, the rays were not hot, and there was no sweat. To someone moving into meditation, these expectations will be a great hindrance.
So, the question is not of how things should be; rather, that whatever is, is. Becoming peaceful has only one meaning: what is, is, and we are in total acceptance of it. This is the third point – suchness.
Keep this third key well in mind: suchness; what is, is. Understand deeply that things are as they are.
Things are as they are; there is no resistance, no enmity, and no expectation that they should be otherwise. Things are as they are. The sun is hot, the shade is cool, the sea is doing as it should, and the people walking on the road are doing their thing – there should be no resistance at all. It is simply happening like this; it happens to be so. It happens to be so and we are experiencing it; there is nothing to be changed, there is nothing to be modified, no change is needed.
Let the understanding of this third key permeate because it is essential for going deeply into meditation. What is, is.
Tags: Suchness
