Shiva Sutra 9 Be Intense - Just Once🔗

shikhipakshaish chitrarupairmandalaih shunyapanchakam | dhyaayatoanuttare shunye pravesho hridaye bhavet ||

Die into the infinite void where you are no more Moving beyond the senses into Shiva Consciousness Be intense just once is today's topic. In today's sutra, today's aphorism, Shiva is giving us a wonderful teaching; he is giving us a beautiful technique to be intense, and how to experience the intensity of being, just how to be.

We know so many ways of becoming. Becoming is totally different from being. To become a doctor we know what has to be done. To become a lawyer we know what has to be done. To become a politician we know what has to be done. To become this, to become that, to become a millionaire, to become all this and more we know what has to be done. All our knowledge is all about becoming. We know only how to become something.

We forgot an important thing, how to be.

Because your inner space has become too much corrupted with the obsession of becoming, we have lost in touch with the idea of being. We have lost in touch with our very truth that is our being. Becoming is directly related to mind. Being is directly related to your nature. Becoming is related to society and being is related to your nature. At least for one moment if you can experience the being, your being or just being, so many things which you accumulated when you wanted to become something - the physical illness, mental illness, suffering, sorrow, so many things you accumulated when you were trying to become something, all those things will be washed away. You will have the inner healing. Whatever was disturbing you will dissolve. All the wounds will be washed away.

Above all you will have real, concrete solid base to become something. Even to become something, if you experience the being and then start your becoming, it will be successful. Even becoming something will be a great success, if you start trying after experiencing being. Without experiencing the being, if you start or if you try, to become something you will be utter failure.

There was a beautiful question that somebody had asked yesterday. He was asking, 'Swamiji, how can I love somebody, how to share my love with somebody? Is loving others important or is meditating important?'

Be very clear, unless you meditate, unless you know your being, you can't love somebody, whether it is relationship or social service. In relationship and social service, in both the fields you need love. If you are serving the society you need love. If you are in some relationship you need love. You can't experience or express love unless you have experienced your being. First of all you don't have a base or you don't have clarity about yourself; what love can you give, what can you show? At the most you can show your teeth, not anything else. Showing your teeth or your smile doesn't mean that you are expressing your love.

Love is pure energy. Why do you think constantly people try to give some gifts? Because they can't make the other person feel their love energy. They are so poor; first of all you don't believe you are able to give the love, second thing naturally, when you don't believe you won't be able to give. When you can't create that love effect in the other person, you just give some gifts and try to patch up.

That is why, in this cultured society, in the civilized society, giving gifts has become almost equivalent to loving somebody. If you love somebody, you have to show it by giving gifts. But I tell you, giving gifts is nothing but hiding. It is polite way of hiding your hypocrisy.

Through that gift giving process you are trying to prove that you love him or her. Be very clear, when you are showering your love towards him or her, the other person should be able to feel it. It should be so vibrant and so alive so that the receiver experiences your love. Love is pure energy. The other person, even if he is not around you, even if she is somewhere else, simply he should start feeling connected to you. Something will be happening inside him or her. If that is not happening, be very clear, your gifts are not going to work. Maybe you can cheat her or him saying that you love them. If you just cheat her or him it's ok. But most of the time you yourself get cheated. Just because you give a gift and use the words, I love you, I care for you or I miss you, you start thinking that you really love. At least if you cheat others it's ok. Don't get cheated, that is too much. That is too much. Most of the time, you are only playing with words with all these expressions.

You may think you are capable of loving, but you don't know what love is. Unless the person has entered into meditation, unless he has experienced his being, all his activities, whether it is love, or even his anger, all emotions and expressions will be hypocritical. Be very clear: a beautiful, important sutra, this sutra it's a wonderful sutra. Here you are asked to be intense in whatever you are doing.

Let us enter into the sutra.

Die into the infinite void where you are no more Moving beyond the senses into Shiva Consciousness

Shiva is trying all possibilities and he is trying to take you to your being through all possible doors. There are so many doors available, so many ways available. He is trying all possible doors. He is helping you to reach your self through all possible ways. Today he is trying to take you to your being by making you intense. He tells you to move beyond your senses into the very experience itself. He says that's sensory perceptions or intense restlessness or intense emotions can take you beyond and can take you to your being.

Even your anger is hypocritical. You just choose whether to express your anger or not. Your anger also is directly related to your logic. You never get angry beyond your logic. Your anger is managed by your logic. You just try expressing here, am I going to lose anything here, in this situation? If you are sure you are going to lose something, you just suppress it, you just suppress. If you are clear, 'Oh, I am not going to lose anything, I can shout at this guy, what can he do', then you just explode and show too much, much more than what is necessary. Whatever you've stored in your being, whatever was in the stock, you open up everything and give.

Even your anger is managed by your logic. Be very clear, when your logic manages your anger, you'll have two problems. First, you unnecessarily shout or unnecessarily show your anger when it is not necessary because you have a lot of suppression. Second, even when you are not expressing, you'll be suppressing it. First, if you are expressing you'll be expressing too much, much more than what is necessary. Next, if you are not expressing, you'll be suppressing it. Both are wrong. Be very clear, both are wrong. Suppressing or expressing, both are not going to help. Then you might ask, what are we supposed to do? You are not asked to do anything, just be. When you do anything, express or suppress, you will be hypocritical. Your anger is based on hypocrisy, forget about love; even anger is nothing but hypocrisy.

Krishnamurthy says beautifully, whenever an emotion overtakes you, if you can just be without moving your body, without co-operating with your emotion even once, even once if you just stay without co-operating with that emotion, you will be liberated from that emotion. All of J.Krishnamurthy's philosophy is just this one single sutra. That is why I call this book as book of all books.

Shiva Sutra is a book that gives you a clear idea about how to create more books. Single sutra of Shiva can create at least two hundred to three hundred volume books. All J.Krishnamurthy's teachings put together are in this single sutra. It is not even this single sutra, it is one third of this sutra. Die into the infinite void where you are no more, that's all. You can put the whole teachings of a great master's teachings in this single sutra.

If you are staying without moving your body when you are flooded, or when you are overpowered by any emotion, even once; I am not saying that you have to constantly practice this, no. Practise just once, only once, immediately you will be liberated from this emotion. You are liberated from that very emotion. Lie down as dead: it is a beautiful technique that we'll practise today. Suddenly lie down, no crying, no agony, no other emotion. No love, no anger, no greed, no fear, just lie down. Be very clear you are dead, that you enter the void.

It's one of the wonderful techniques. The great master Ramana Maharishi became enlightened through this technique. With just this single technique, Bhagavan Shree Ramana Maharishi became enlightened. When he was sixteen, spontaneously this happened to him. Actually he must have been practicing in the past lives. Otherwise such a big experience cannot happen spontaneously. Spontaneously, you cannot have enlightenment. Even if you have, you must have tried earlier itself. I don't think such an ultimate experience can suddenly happen without any reason. There is no coincidence in the existence. It is purely your intensity.

When he was sixteen Ramana was in Madurai, near his native place. His birthplace is called Thiruchuzhi. He was in Madurai, in Tamil Nadu. Suddenly one day he started feeling that he was going to die. The great fear of death arose in him. You also feel that sometimes when you hear about some near or dear one's death or when you hear some friend has died or when you see an accident or when you come across some news about death. You also have that fear. But we are so well versed or trained to suppress our emotions and control ourselves that we never allow this fear to come out. We are such hypocrites that we don't even know that we are cheating ourselves. Many times we can see the fear rise in us but we are on automatic mechanism to stop it. By now you know how to balance yourself or suppress yourself. You suppress yourself and just forget about it or try to do something. You just turn the attention elsewhere.

Be very clear, all your TV, newspaper, doing this, doing that and everything is directly related to your hypocrisy. You just do not want to sit with your self. I've seen many people doing something in the name of social service, just because they can't sit with themselves. They can't sit with themselves so they do something. Be very clear, even if you do social service, going to some temple, going to some social service organization, doing some social service because you are not able to sit with yourself, you will never be able to experience the truth.

Going to a temple or church or doing some social service should be like overflowing. You feel so much, you feel there is nothing more to be done and think, 'I have so much of time, let me do some service to society', then it is beautiful. Then it will lead you to enlightenment. The service itself can lead you to spiritual experience. You feel love overflowing and think, 'God has given me so much, this whole life is so beautiful and let me go to a temple or church and offer my gratitude' then it'll just liberate you. You will become enlightened.

But if you are going to temple or for social service just because you don't feel relaxed within yourself, because you can't sit quietly and because of so much of restlessness, it is of no value. You need to deal with your catharsis in some way and this is the way.

Such people with this type of attitude, even if they go to temples, will be sitting there and ranting against everybody. Hey don't do this, don't do that, what are you doing? Don't you know? God wants this and God wants that. They will start representing God. They will start, not even representing, they will start acting like God. These type of persons, even if they go to social service organizations, even if they do some service, they will be only putting their ego in front, they will only be torturing, they will not be serving, they will be torturing others. I've seen people doing so much of nonsense in the name of service.

Small story.

There was a schoolteacher, who was also a scoutmaster. He had a rule that all his students, all scout students, should come and give him a report on at least one good activity or one service that they did that day. Every day as soon as they came to school, they should report to the scoutmaster about one good activity or one service done by them.

One day three friends, all three of them got up and said, 'Sir, today we helped an old lady cross the road'. Scoutmaster said, 'Old lady crossing the road is O.K., but you don't need three persons. Why do you need three persons to help her cross the road?'

They said, 'Yes Sir, it really took three persons, because she didn't want to!'

Be very clear, many times you start doing things just for the sake of service, not feeling. You don't feel what you are doing. You don't feel the need of the other person. You have to fill your diary. You need to fill your timesheet. You need to fill your time and you need to show your project report to somebody. Maybe to the higher authorities or to the society that, see what I've done, just for that when you do it just for that, you create more mess and difficulty for others. You sow only more difficulty and more mess for others.

I always feel service should be overflowing out of your being; never should it be done for some ulterior purpose. Whenever it is done for some other purpose be very clear you will not be intense, you will not be growing in your being. Your love or service will be pure hypocrisy; I can say impure hypocrisy, not pure hypocrisy. Real hypocrisy, if you are pure you will be liberated. This is impure hypocrisy.

When Ramana Maharishi felt he was dying, he did not run here and there. He did not ask for water. He didn't say, 'Oh, call the doctor, 911'. First of all in Bharat there is no 911. There is some number that never works and nobody knows that number also. Really I'm not able to remember because we never call, it never works. At the most in Bharat we know only one number, 'Oh God', and something can happen. That alone can happen. That is all, nothing else can be done. Anyhow no 911, no water, no doctor, no emergency service, he was not even trying to save himself inside the house, trying to do something. See there is no possibility of 911, that we know. At least he could have tried to get little water or he could have shouted because his relatives were there in the house.

He did not do anything. He used that door of opportunity to get into the void. We are also again and again going near this door. Whenever you hear about somebody's death or whenever fear attacks, you also go near the door. But we are afraid to take the jump. And we have trained ourselves so much to be hypocrites or not to be intense. We somehow balance and we escape. We switch on the television we just move our attention towards something else.

Ramana Maharishi used that door to take a quantum jump into deathlessness. He just laid himself on the floor and did not move his body, allowed death to happen. He says beautifully, after the enlightenment he says about his experience.

'Suddenly for no reason I felt the deep fear that I am going to die. I was not sick; I was not having any mental problem. Physically, mentally I was healthy. But suddenly the thought came that I am going to die. I just co-operated with that fear. I did not try to jump, I did not try to run away, I did not bother about anything else. I did not feel like doing anything else. I just sat and allowed. I just sat and allowed the death to happen to my being'.

He says, 'I lay down and I decided, let me see what happens, what can be done. I just accepted, consciously started moving into that fear. That fear overtook me. The fear started working on me. I could see that I am dead. My body is not moving. Nothing is happening in me. I could see very clearly that I am out of the body. Suddenly like a flash the intelligence or the truth descended on me that my body is dead, but I am alive. I am not dead. My body is dead, but I could see, I could feel that I exist. It means I am something beyond body'.

He says, 'That single experience in that moment, experience of the truth, shook me completely and I realized I am not just body. I am something beyond body. After that I never had death fear or any fear. Once for all the fear has disappeared from my being. At that moment I understood that there was something in me that was not dying even after my body was dead. Why should I then bother about my body's death? Why should I bother about the death of my body? I knew that even if my body dies I should continue to exist. I am going to exist. I am alive. What is happening? Then I am something more than what I think. I am something more than this body'.

He says that this realization never left him. He says that he never moved away from this realization after that one experience. Just that one death experience has liberated one of the greatest masters Bharat had ever produced into enlightenment. His influence, especially in the recent days, is so much on every political and social leader of Bharat. I can say the great spiritual way which we are all expressing wouldn't have happened but for him. It is the wave happening from the great ocean called Bhagavan Ramana Maharishi. Almost all the modern day mystics, enlightened masters, social leaders, politicians have drawn their inspirations from him, as waves in an ocean called Ramana Maharishi.

This single technique has created an enlightened being or gifted a great enlightened being to planet earth. Of course, it happened spontaneously to him because he was practicing for a long time, over many births. You don't expect it will happen spontaneously to you. And even if it happens, you will not allow that fear to take you over. Now only you need to practice, you must practice. Just lie down in the house as dead, do not move the body and be very clear that you are dead. Immediately all kinds of fears will arise. No, no, no, just half hour, let me finish some urgent work and come back or can I just sign my will and come back, Swamiji? Our mind will not be ready. Your mind will never be ready. Even if you have lived three hundred years your mind will not be ready.

There is a nice story in Mahabharata.

There was a king called Yayati who lived for a hundred years. Then Yama, lord of death, came to claim him. Yayati says*,* 'No, no, no what is this? I am a king. I have so much to do. I have such a big kingdom and hundred years is too little. Please leave me. I cannot come now. I have not lived this whole life'.

Yama says*,* 'What? Leave you where? I have never heard this statement, I never even allow people to talk this much. Pack up. This is totally new for me and there is no petition in my case. I come and take people straightaway. That is all. If you don't come, I'll take you, that is all. Nothing else. In my language I don't understand all these words'.

He says, 'No, no, no please consider, do me one favor, do one small favor.' Yayati tries to convince. I think that day Yama was in a good mood. He said, 'All right, you are begging so much but at least someone of your sons should give their life for your sake'.

Yayati calls one of his sons. Son says, 'Yes, yes I'll give my life I have no problem, let my father live*'.* Son gives his life to Yayati. Yama extends Yayati's life by another hundred years. Next time when Yama came, again this guy started, 'No, no, no please do something. You said you'll come after hundred years but you came so quickly. I don't think hundred years are over. Something is wrong with your calendar. Why don't you check once more?'

Yama said, 'Nothing is wrong with my calendar something is seriously wrong with your mind. Nothing can be done'. Somehow Yayati rolls on the ground and prays to Yama and weeps. It's very rare case. I've never heard Yama giving discount or Yama obliging anybody. Again second time he accepted, 'All right, I'll take another son if he is willing to give up his life and let you live hundred more years. This is the last extension, but be very clear. You can't ask for extension anymore. Done, nothing more'.

When lord of death Yama comes the third time, Yayati wants another extension. Yama says, 'No, now nothing can be done'. Then Yama gives some teachings to him, beautiful teachings. He says you cannot put the fire off by pouring oil into it. You cannot feel fulfilled by offering sense pleasures to the senses.

You cannot feel that you are ready if you never lived intensely. Living intensely is not about fulfilling your senses, pouring pleasures into your senses, or living as you want. When you live intensely, you will be automatically liberated. I always tell our ashramites do mistakes with creativity. Do some new, new mistakes. Don't do the same old mistakes. Even to do new mistakes you don't have intelligence.

If you see your lives, just if you have the habit of keeping diary, you'll understand you are doing the same type of mistakes. For last twenty to thirty years you'll be doing the same type of mistakes. Maybe the scale is different, the place where you do is different, or the time when you do is different, the date is different. The scale is different. But the mistakes will be almost same. We don't have creativity even to do new mistakes. If you see your lives you'll understand you don't have creativity even that much. That is not living intensely. When you live intensely, when you do some mistake intensely, you will never do again, there won't be any need.

All our karmas are repeated. Karma is nothing but saṃskāras created by you, which are not completely fulfilled. If you create some saṃskāra inside, the engram inside, which is not completely full, it will have the power to make you come again and again and travel in that same path. Whether it is coffee or champagne or smoking, whatever the engram, once you create that engram, will have the power to make you do the same thing again and again, till you feel completely fulfilled with that habit or with that enjoyment, with that pleasure. Even if you enjoy it intensely once, only once, you will be completely liberated. The saṃskāra, that engram, will never ask you anymore to travel in that path. It will liberate you.

Unfulfilled engrams are what I call karma. You keep your body alive, you keep your mind alive, because still you have hope that the mind can give something to you and the body can give something to you. Still you have the hope you can enjoy something, or something needs to be fulfilled through the body and mind. This is what I call karma. Karma is nothing but unfulfilled engrams and desires that are inside your being, which constantly make you again and again travel in that same path, trying to fill or give experience, fulfillment in your inner being.

You have created so many saṃskāras, engrams, in you. Saṃskāras mean engrams, so many memories engraved in you, embedded into you. Engrams are not dead memories. Understand that they are not dead memories. They are powerful energy lines, which can activate again and again to pull you down and make you travel with them, move through that same lines. If you are addicted to something this sutra is a great technique. Understand this technique is actually in three parts. All the three are leading to the same space.

Day before yesterday, with the seventh sutra, Shiva was trying to give a technique for intellectual people. With the eighth sutra he was trying to help and give the experience for emotional people. Now he is trying to give, trying to help the people who are more being level oriented. That is why he is saying, just be, at least once. Let you be completely, intensely, at least once. That itself will transform you.

Always you can see the being level people will have some sort of addiction. Being level and addiction are very closely connected. Intellectual level means logical, constantly thinking, thinking, and thinking. They'll make lot of money. They'll be achieving social success. They'll have tremendous social success. For all practical purposes, the intellectual group, who can logically think and express what they are thinking in a very logical way, rules the whole world. The person who hears will really think he is going to be helped. But you know what will happen, only after the happening.

Only people who are logically able to think and convince others rule the whole world. That is why there is so much of misery, because these guys don't have any hearts and their heads sucks their whole energy. They don't bother about anything. All they care is what they want. They don't even bother or care about anybody else. The second level group, emotional, these guys will be totally happy, lying in the beach; their only religion is hammock. Have the hammock; nothing else is necessary. Or painting. just painting not for the sake of selling. These guys won't even take the risk of selling. That is why when it comes to selling art, artists sell them only through galleries. If somebody wants to buy, let him buy. They don't have something called marketing. The moment you do marketing be very clear, you are no longer an artist, in which case you come in the category of intellect.

No true artist will go for marketing. He will not be interested. He is completely fulfilled the moment he finishes the painting. The painting itself is a reward for him. That itself, the job itself, is reward for him. Feeling the over flowing, fulfilled desire by writing poetry, doing some sculpting, painting, singing, dancing or whatever appeals to their desires is enough.

A real singer will feel fulfilled just by singing, not what he gets after singing. A real dancer will feel fulfilled just by dancing; the very dance is fulfillment, out of joy. You are not dancing for something; you are dancing just out of joy. You are not singing for something; the very singing is just out of overflowing. You are overflowing, so you are singing. These people are emotional level people.

The third kind is being level, people who are centered on their being. They will always have some addiction. The being is directly related to your saṃskāras, your engrams. Unless you are caught by the saṃskāras, you will not be a being level person. You will either be intellectual or emotional.

People who are neither intellectual nor emotional only will go to the depth of being. In that level, the one and only problem one will be having is addiction. Addiction means unfulfilled karmas, unfulfilled engrams.

Shiva is giving answers for those beings, for those beings only. First step lie down as dead. In the end I'll try to describe the technique step by step, you can then do. First step lie down as dead. Just decide that you are dead. Don't think oh, I'll do all my other work for the next two, three days then third day I'll decide and lie down. No, just now lie simply; now or never. Because after two three days you think you are going to have a new mental setup? No, everyday you are going to wake up to this same hell.

Be very clear that when you get up from the bed you are not going to have suddenly a new mind. Maybe when you get up from the meditation you'll have new mind. But not when you get up from the bed. Bed is not going to change your mind. Otherwise we would have started selling enlightenment beds to you long ago, because I saw what all nonsense is getting sold in this country. Really you'll be surprised, what all is getting sold. At least I never heard about all these things before I came here, anyhow God saved me.

When you get up you are not going to have a new mind. So never postpone. Decide today, just lie down. Naturally when you decide or when you tell yourself that you are dead, so much of emotions, mixed emotions will come out. Suffering, surprise, anger, inability, guilt, so much and more will rise in you. Your whole being will be boiling. You will wonder what is happening, what is going on? Sometimes you will even feel anger towards me. What is he teaching? I have had enough of all these nonsense. You may think this is not for you.

But let me tell you that death is the ultimate technique, to open up all the emotions, to open up the Pandora box. To open up all the saṃskāras, which are the unfulfilled desires and feelings of guilt. Desire means I should live like this in future and guilt means I should have lived like that in the past. I should live like this is desire and I should have lived like that in the past is guilt. Both are same energy. When it travels towards the future, it is desire and when it travels towards the past it is guilt.

Desire, guilt, inability, worry, everything will start coming out. It is like boiling your being. It is one of the wonderful techniques. Do not do half-half. Don't think anyway in half hour I am going to get up what is there? Don't think after one hour you are going to get up and you are going to make that call. Your mind will say Oh, I think I have to listen to my answering machine, I have to pay the bill; Your other corner of the mind will say alright, anyhow after the meditation I'll get up and go and pay.

Be very clear you are not going to get up; you are not going to get up. Be very clear, very clear that you are not going to get up. Even if you have one small thought, in one corner of your mind that you are going to get up after one hour, then you can go and pay the bill, then you can go and answer this question, then you can do that, then you can do this, then I can do that, then this meditation is not going to work for you, no. You missed. You are not going to be helped. Be very clear you are not going to get up from the ground, over.

Neither your body nor your limb is going to move. Nothing is going to move, over, done. Only then all these emotions will rise. As long as your body is moving or the possibility of moving exists, you will not experience the intensity of emotions. You will not experience the flood of emotions in you. Only when you lock your body completely, all possibilities, suddenly the whole thing will open up.

The suppressed guilt, the suppressed anger, suppressed violence, suppressed sex, the whole bag of tricks will open up. You will be shocked where all these things were lying. It's like opening of the Pandora's box.

Shiva says these beautiful words, Die into the infinite void where you are no more.