VBT – Meditation 40.2
Awareness Is Very Difficult
You do not know – they are not simple. When you do them, then you know that they are very arduous. If you just hear me talking about them, they are simple. If I tell you, “This is poison and if you take one drop of it you will die,” if you do not know anything about poison you will say, “What are you talking about? Just a drop of this liquid, and a person like me who is healthy, strong, will die?” If you do not know anything about poison, then only can you say this. If you know something about it, you cannot say this.
This seems to be very simple: intoning a sound and then becoming aware in the beginning and in the end. But awareness is very difficult, and when you try it then you will know that it is not child’s play. You are not aware – and when you try it, for the first time you will know that you have been asleep your whole life. Right now you think you are already aware. Try this. With any small thing, try this.
Tell yourself that “I will be awake, alert, for ten breaths,” and then count the breaths. “For ten breaths only,” tell yourself, “I will remain alert. And I will count from one to ten, the incoming breath, the outgoing, the incoming, the outgoing. I will remain alert.”
You will miss it. Two or three, and you will have moved somewhere else. Then suddenly you will become aware that “I have missed. I am not counting the breaths.” Or you can count, but when you have counted to ten you will become aware that “I was counting in my sleep. I was not alert.”
Alertness is one of the most difficult things. Do not think that the methods are simple. Whatsoever the technique, alertness is the thing to be attained. All else is just a help.
And you can devise your own methods. But remember only one thing: alertness must be there. You can do anything in sleep; then there is no problem. The problem arises only when it is a condition to do it alertly.
Remember one thing: meditation means awareness. Whatsoever you do with awareness is meditation. Action is not the question, but the quality that you bring to your action.
Walking can be a meditation if you walk alertly. Sitting can be a meditation if you sit alertly. Listening to the birds can be a meditation if you listen with awareness. Just listening to the inner noise of your mind can be a meditation if you remain alert and watchful.
The whole point is: one should not move in sleep. Then whatsoever you do is meditation.
Life is really a dance if you are original – and you are meant to be an original. And no two men are alike, so my way of life can never become your way of life.
Do what your nature wants to do, do what your intrinsic qualities hanker to do. Don’t listen to the scriptures, listen to your own heart. That is the only scripture. Listen very attentively, very consciously, and you will never be wrong. Listening to your own heart, you will never be divided. Listening to your own heart you will start moving in the right direction, without ever thinking of what is right and what is wrong.
Tags: Awareness Is Very Difficult
