Inexhaustible Glories – In Gita Verse 11.2 O lotus-eyed one, I have heard from You in detail about the appearance and disappearance of every living entity and have realized Your inexhaustible glories.
Unless we go beyond appearance and disappearance we cannot realize inexhaustible glories of the Universe, Krishna.
Heraclitus says – INTO THE SAME RIVERS WE STEP AND DO NOT STEP… Because the appearance, and remember, only the appearance, remains the same. Otherwise, everything changes and flows.
Here is the basic difference between the ordinary religious conception and the really religious. Religion says that that which changes is the appearance, the maya; and that which never changes, is permanent, is brahma. Heraclitus says just the opposite: that which appears permanent is the appearance, the maya, and that which changes is the brahma. And the same is the understanding of Buddha, that change is the only permanence, change is the only eternal phenomenon. Only change abides, nothing else. My feelings are also the same.
In search of a permanent truth you are searching for nothing but your own ego. In search of a permanent God, what are you seeking? You are seeking permanence in some way or other. You would like to abide so that if this world changes there is nothing to worry about. Your mind says: “Seek the divine and there will be no change, and you will live for ever and ever.”
The ordinary religious conception is basically an ego-trip. Why do you say that change is appearance? Because with change you are afraid. Change looks like death. You would like something absolutely permanent to stand upon. You would like a house that will be always and always. In this world you cannot find that house that abides. In this world you cannot find any relationship that abides. Then you project a relationship with God, because God abides, and with God you will abide. But this search, this desire, this seeking to abide forever – this is the problem! Why do you want to be? Why not not be? Why are you so afraid of not being? If you are afraid of non-being, nothingness, emptiness, death, you cannot know the truth. One knows the truth when one is ready to drop oneself totally, utterly.
That’s why Buddha says: “There is no soul. You are not a self, not an atma. You are an anatta, no-self. There is nothing permanent in you, nothing substantial – you are a flow, a river.”
Why does Buddha insist on a no-self?
He insists because if you accept non-being, if you accept nothingness, then there is no fear of death, then you can drop yourself completely. And when you drop yourself completely, the vision arises. Then you are capable of knowing. With your ego you cannot know. Only in an egolessness, in a deep abyss, in the absence of the ego, does the perception happen – then you become a mirror. With the ego you will always interpret, you cannot know the truth. With the ego you will always be there interpreting in subtle ways, and your interpretation is not the truth. You are the medium of all falsification. Through you everything becomes false. When you are not there, the truth reflects.
Somehow you have to come to an understanding: the understanding of the no-self, of a changeless flux, no substance as such – just a river flowing and flowing. Then you are a mirror, a clarity. Then there is nobody to disturb and nobody to interpret and nobody to distract. Then existence mirrors in you as it is. That mirroring of existence as it is, is the truth.
Second thing: if you want to abide always and always, you have not lived the moment. One who has lived his life truly, authentically, one who has enjoyed it, is always ready to die, is always ready to leave. One who has not enjoyed and celebrated, one who has not lived the moment, life is always afraid to leave because “the time has come to leave and I am yet unfulfilled.” The fear of death is not the fear of death, it is a fear of remaining unfulfilled. You are going to die, and nothing, nothing at all could you experience through life – no maturity, no growth, no flowering. Empty-handed you came, empty-handed you are going. This is the fear!
One who has lived is always ready to die. His readiness is not a forced attitude. His readiness is just like a flower. When the flower has flowered, has sent its perfume to the infinite corners of existence, enjoyed the moment, lived it, danced through the breeze, risen against the wind, looked at the sky, watched the sunrise, lived it, a fulfillment comes by the evening and the flower is ready to drop to the earth, to go back, to rest. And it is always beautiful – when you have lived, rest is beautiful. It is the thing! The flower simply drops to the earth and goes to sleep. There is no tension, no anguish, no cry, no effort to cling.
Only when you go beyond appearance and disappearance you will find no-self as Buddha insisted. Once you find your no-self you will know the inexhaustible glories of the Universe, Krishna.
Tags: Inexhaustible Glories
