Ordinary Mind

Effortless Effort

Effortless Effort in Meditation

The point is delicate. Effort is always half-hearted, effort is always partial. You are doing it because you don’t see any way you can attain the result you desire without doing it. If there was any way you would drop the effort and jump to the conclusion. One is never totally in his effort, cannot be, because the idea is of the future, the end result. Effort is future-oriented, result-oriented. One is doing it only for the sake of some future result, some profit, some greed, some good pay-off.

That’s why Zen Masters say effortless effort is needed. What do they mean by effortless effort? They say hard work is needed but it should not be future-oriented.  You should enjoy it. Not for some other goal – even if nothing is attained through it, it is beautiful in itself. And that is the hardest thing for the human mind to do. That’s why I call it hard work. The hardest thing is to do something for its own sake, to sing a song for its own sake, to meditate for its own sake, to love for its own sake. That is the hardest thing for the human mind because the mind is future-oriented. It says, ‘For its own sake? Then why? What is going to happen out of it?’

People go to Master and they ask, ‘We can meditate but what will we attain? We can become sannyasins but what are we going to gain out of it?’ This is what mind is – always greedy.

Let me tell you…. One day Mulla Nasruddin was watching the street through the window when he saw his creditor approaching the house. Knowing what the fellow was up to, Mulla called his wife and told her to handle the visitor.

Accordingly, the wife opened the door and said, ‘Yes, sir, I know we haven’t yet been able to pay you. And although Mulla himself is not home at this moment, he thinks day and night about ways to get some money and pay you back. He has even asked me to watch the street and whenever a flock of sheep passes to go out and pick up any pieces of wool that might have been caught on the bushes. This way, when we get enough wool, we can spin it, make a couple of shawls, sell them and with the money pay you back.’

When she got to this point, the man started to laugh, whereupon Mulla came out of his hiding and said, ‘You rascal, now that you smell money, you start to grin.’

The mind is that rascal. Once it gets any hint of any sort of future it starts to grin. It immediately jumps on it, catches hold of it – you are no longer herenow. Meditation is for its own sake as love is for its own sake.

Ask a rose why he flowers. He simply flowers. It is so beautiful to flower. There is no motive in it. Ask the birds why they are singing. They are simply singing. They enjoy, they delight in it, there is no motive in it.

Drop the mind and the motive disappears. So at least for a few hours in a day go on doing things for their own sake: dance, sing, play on the guitar, sit with friends, or just watch the sky. At least for a few hours go on devoting your time to intrinsic activities. These activities are hard work. And, the mind is very lazy. It likes to dream, it doesn’t want to work, that’s why it continuously thinks of the future. But the mind is very lazy. It only thinks of the future so that the present can be avoided and the challenge of the present can be avoided.