Science of the Rishis: A Daily Rhythm

Part V: The Healing Power of Presence: Beyond Medicine and Misery

And what can be done with tea can be done with everything — with your clothes, with your food.

People are living almost in sleep; otherwise, every fabric, every cloth has its own beauty, its own feel. If you are sensitive, then the clothing is not just to cover your body; then it is something expressing your individuality, something expressing your taste, your culture, your being.

Everything that you do should be expressive of you; it should have your signature on it. Then life becomes a continuous celebration.

Even if you fall sick and you are lying in bed, you will make those moments of lying in bed moments of beauty and joy, moments of relaxation and rest, moments of meditation, moments of listening to music or to poetry. There is no need to be sad that you are sick. You should be happy that everybody is in the office and you are in your bed like a king, relaxing — somebody is preparing tea for you, the samovar is singing a song, a friend has offered to come and play flute for you…. These things are more important than any medicine. When you are sick, call a doctor. But more important, call those who love you because there is no medicine more important than love. Call those who can create beauty, music, poetry around you because there is nothing that heals like a mood of celebration. Medicine is the lowest kind of treatment.

But it seems we have forgotten everything, so we have to depend on medicine and be grumpy and sad — as if you are missing some great joy that you were having in the office! In the office you were miserable — just one day off, and you cling to misery too; you won’t let it go.

Make everything creative, make the best out of the worst — that’s what I call `the art’. And if a man has lived his whole life making every moment and every phase of it a beauty, a love, a joy, naturally his death is going to be the ultimate peak of his whole life’s endeavor. The last touches… his death is not going to be ugly as it ordinarily happens every day to everyone.

If death is ugly, that means your whole life has been a wastage.

Death should be a peaceful acceptance, a loving entry into the unknown, a joyful goodbye to old friends, to the old world. There should not be any tragedy in it.

One Zen master, Lin Chi, was dying. Thousands of his disciples had gathered to listen to the last sermon, but Lin Chi was simply lying down — joyous, smiling, but not saying a single word.

Seeing that he was going to die and he was not saying a single word, somebody reminded Lin Chi — an old friend, a master in his own right…. He was not a disciple of Lin Chi. That’s why he could say to him, “Lin Chi, have you forgotten that you have to say your last words? I have always said your memory isn’t right. You are dying… have you forgotten?”

Lin Chi said, “Just listen.” And on the roof two squirrels were running, screeching. And he said, “How beautiful” and he died.

For a moment, when he said “Just listen,” there was absolute silence. Everybody thought he is going to say something great, but only two squirrels fighting, screeching, running on the roof…. And he smiled and he died.

But he has given his last message: don’t make things small and big, trivial and important. Everything is important. At this moment, Lin Chi’s death is as important as the two squirrels running on the roof, there is no difference. In existence it is all the same. That was his whole philosophy, his whole life’s teaching — that there is nothing which is great and there is nothing which is small; it all depends on you, what you make out of it.

Start with meditation, and things will go on growing in you — silence, serenity, blissfulness, sensitivity. And whatever comes out of meditation, try to bring it out in life. Share it, because everything shared grows fast. And when you have reached the point of death, you will know there is no death. You can say goodbye, there is no need for any tears of sadness — maybe tears of joy, but not of sadness. But you have to begin from being innocent.

So first, throw out all crap that you are carrying. And everybody is carrying so much crap — and one wonders, for what? Just because people have been telling you that these are great ideas, principles…

You have not been intelligent with yourself. Be intelligent with yourself.

*Theory* – Drop the Crap, Reclaim Your Intelligence: Awakening from Life on Autopilot

*Mindful Workplace (Sattva):* Viveka is the faculty of sharp discernment – distinguishing truth from illusion, and essence from useless noise

• Workplace Practice: Audit your work routines and challenge arbitrary rules that yield no real value. Question bloated meeting schedules, performative overworking, or unnecessary bureaucratic processes. Apply Viveka to simplify your workflows and focus energy on what actually matters.