No Other Discipline – In Gita Verse 17.24 Therefore, transcendentalists undertaking performances of sacrifice, charity and penance in accordance with scriptural regulations begin always with oṁ, to attain the Supreme.
Krishna says wherever there is life, wherever there is love, enlightenment is just hidden underneath. You may not recognize it. The whole effort is to help you to recognize it.
All the meditations are nothing but an effort to feel your enlightenment – which is already the case; whether you feel it or not it does not matter. If you feel it you will rejoice, your life will become a dance, moment to moment, of tremendous glory and majesty, of grace and gratitude. If you don’t recognize it you will remain miserable, asking all kinds of idiots, frauds, “How can I become enlightened?”
There have been masters like Bodhidharma. You ask him how to become enlightened and you will get such a good slap on your face that you will wake up immediately, saying, “I am sorry, I had just fallen asleep. I am enlightened.” Those days were beautiful, when it was perfectly accepted that a master could slap the disciple. Now people have completely forgotten those beautiful moments and those beautiful days and those beautiful people.
It is said about Chuang Tzu that when for the first time he entered the hut where Lao Tzu, his would – be master, was living, Lao Tzu looked at Chuang Tzu and said, “Remember one thing, never ask me how to become enlightened.” The poor fellow had come for that very purpose. But Lao Tzu made it clear, “Only on this condition will I accept you as my disciple.”
There was a moment of silence. Chuang Tzu thought, “It is strange. I have come to become enlightened, that is the very purpose of becoming a disciple. And this old fellow, so beautiful and so graceful, is asking such an absurd thing: if you want to be my disciple, promise me that you will never ask about how to become enlightened.”
But it was already too late. He had fallen in love with the old man. He touched his feet and he said, “I promise I will never ask how to become enlightened, but accept me as your disciple.”
Immediately came a hard slap, “You idiot! If you are not going to become enlightened, then for what purpose are you becoming a disciple? I was asking this promise because I could see in you such beautiful intelligence that you might have immediately realized the point of my asking. You are enlightened; there is no way to become enlightened. There is no need. In fact, even if you want to become unenlightened, there is no way.”
Then why has this whole humanity become unenlightened? How have they managed? Just by forgetting, just by being too involved in other things. The world is vast, and the mind goes on taking you into new desires, new longings, new achievements, new greed. Slowly, slowly a curtain falls between you and your mind, and the mind completely forgets your being. It forgets completely that there is an inner world also, not only an outer existence.
The outer is very poor in comparison to the inner. But once you get involved with the outer, it is so vast that there is a possibility you may wander around in the universe for millions of lives. And you may not realize that you are wasting your time, that it is time to look in.
Gautam Buddha continually says to his disciples, “It is not a question of realization, it is only a question of remembering. What you have forgotten you have with you”… just a little search in all your pockets – also in the pockets which you are keeping secret even to yourself.
Krishna says if religiousness means anything, it means fearlessness. It means taking a risk, putting at stake all that you have, all that is familiar, for the unknown; leaving the known and moving into the unknown.
That simple step makes you religious. No other discipline is needed.
Tags: No Other Discipline
