Nature Of The Fence

Non-Competitive

Meditation is just the opposite pole of mind. Mind means conflict, struggle, ego, competition. Mind is always planning to reach somewhere. It never reaches anywhere because the only place that one has to reach is within oneself and the effort of the mind is to reach somewhere else – to the moon, to Mars, to become the president, the prime minister, to have this, to have that. The mind goes on thinking in terms of the outside world. The mind is extroverted. Its whole philosophy is: the grass is greener on the other side of the fence.

Meditation is just the reversal of this whole approach. Meditation means asking the question ‘Is the grass really greener on the other side of the fence?’ With that question a radical change starts happening. It is not a question of reaching somewhere, the question is of being yourself. Only that can bring contentment; and contentment opens you towards god.

God is within us. The mind cannot know that because the mind keeps its back towards god. God resides within you. Unless you are absolutely non-competitive, non-ambitious, you cannot turn in. The competition is on the outside; in the inner world you are alone – with whom to compete, whom to defeat, whom to conquer?

In that aloneness, in that silence, in that noiseless harmony, one discovers the temple of god. Everybody carries the temple within.

To that noiseless harmony – Nanak calls: It is your door, hidden in the sound. You are looking after the world, and Omkar is your door.

If even a part of the song comes within your grasp, with the help of this thin thread you can reach to His door. When the music, the Omkar, begins to sound within you, when you lose yourself in the sounds, that very moment you find yourself before His door.

He says: So many ragas and their variations, so many melodies, so many sounds, you singers! They are all, your door. From morning till evening, from evening till morning, infinite melodies play.

Begin to recognize these melodies in life. Man’s music is derived entirely from existence. All his musical instruments, all his melodies are derived from sounds of nature: the song of the birds, the sound of the waterfall, the sighing of the wind.

Our temples are designed for sound to reverberate inside, their construction based on it. The temple is always absolutely empty. This signifies the ultimate state of a seeker; it is a symbol. When the Omkar sounds, we shall be empty within – absolutely empty. A bell is hung at the temple door; whoever comes first rings the bell, for the nada is at the door.

These are all symbols. No one should enter the temple through that door of doors without ringing the bell, for only through the sound itself can you enter. The uniqueness of a bell is that it keeps resounding long after you ring it, so the resonance keeps sounding as you enter the main entrance. In that sound alone is the key to your entry into the temple.

Through the sound, as it were, you enter into God’s abode. The temple is a symbol of God’s dwelling. When it is sounding constantly you need not ring the bell, but we have formulated a method with the symbol. When you return from the temple ring the bell again. You have to journey back amidst the reverberating sound. All worship, all prayers start with the ringing of the bell.