You are the chosen few.
You are the few who are courageous enough to attend the second session.
I am very happy to see you all, and I must ask you to excuse me for the way I was yesterday – a little too fiery, hmmm? Please excuse me, there was no other way to filter the crowd. That is why I make the first session so hard for you… it helps to filter the crowd.
These are a few of the techniques used by the master. After a while the ones who are merely curious will naturally drop out.
Now that has happened, we are a seekers' group. Now I can share anything with you all, it will only help you. Why did I do this? You see, even the right knowledge shared with the wrong person will always produce wrong results. Even knowledge, in the hands of a person who lacks the maturity to handle it, can be a dangerous thing. It is like giving a knife in the hands of a child. Shakti (power) cannot be handed over to one who does not possess Buddhi (intelligence)!
Today, we have enough nuclear power, enough weaponry to destroy the earth not once, but 700 times over!
What is the reason?
The right knowledge in the hands of the wrong persons. This is what happens when Shakti works without Buddhi. It is the surest way to destroy humanity.
Today's subject for the day is Wisdom of the body – that is, the body's subjective intelligence.
Just watch your body.
How many mysterious, unexplainable things are happening in your body! Just look in and you'll find that a giant factory is running inside. Even the word factory is too small! An industry – a whole industrial estate!
If you just think about all the mysteries in your body, you will see the glory of Existence.
In Sanskrit, the body is called the pindaanda, and Existence or Parashakti, the cosmic body, is called the Brahmaanda. Everything that happens in the universe also happens in your body.
Just look in, and you will be wonderstruck!
The body has a deep, intrinsic intelligence. Yesterday we all heard and spoke about Who am I? - the system which enquires, Who am I?
If you have really enquired, if it has become a quest in you,not just a question…. mind you, there is a tremendous difference between a question and a quest.
Yesterday we asked Who am I? just as a question. It has not become a quest in us. When that question truly becomes a quest in you, you will find some deep inner experience.
Anyway, what I want to say is - only when you start understanding the mysteries of the body, when you start respecting the body, will you find that you are not the body. You start having respect for the body, and you will find out who you are. It is a great way to know who you are! There are two paths: one is just condemning and destroying the body, declaring, I am not the body, I am not the body. In this way one can go beyond the body. But this is a tough path, followed by yogis and tapasvis. It is not for the common people. The other way is to start respecting your body. Just by cultivating a deep love and respect for your body, you can come to the realization that you are not the body.
Normally, we just use our body – like a machine, like an object.
How often we all condemn our bodies, saying that the body is what is disturbing us, pulling us towards this and that. We even condemn our senses! But actually it is we who use and abuse the body just as we please.
Just think what happens even when you do something simple – say, when you eat spicy food, full of chili. Your tongue starts burning, your eyes start watering – your body is giving you desperate signals that it can't handle this. But do we listen to the body's pleas..?
You'll see that whenever you indulge in something excessively, your body ends up suffering for it. When you watch TV till 12 o'clock, your eyes start aching. Your body is screaming, I want to go to sleep! I need rest! But do we allow it? And the next morning we condemn our body because it is not in top form!
Can anyone contradict that?
Generally we all carry this opinion in our minds, that our senses are destroying us, that the body is our enemy. We are taught from a young age that the body is our enemy.
(from audience) No, Swamiji… I don't think so. Why do you say that?
Just look around you. In society, in many spiritual books, we see it mentioned that the body is to be neglected. The very idea of controlling the body arises from the idea that the body is our enemy. Do you understand? When you start loving the body, you don't have to control it. You will have a deep relationship with the body. So do you understand the idea?
(from audience) Not the body, but the senses have to be controlled…
Yes, the panchendriyas (five senses) have to be controlled. But can you clearly tell the difference between the panchendriyas and the body? In a practical sense, we cannot tell the difference between the two. Indriya means that which is working inside your eyes, inside your ears. But can you control it? You can only try to control your eyes. That is exactly what you see in the story of the three monkeys. The monkeys cover their eyes, their ears, their mouths, saying See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. The actual lesson is to control the senses. But being monkeys – like all of us! – they cannot tell the difference. So they try to control their bodies instead. The only thing we know is the gross body. So we start controlling it.
(from audience) Can we really control our senses?
Gradually, with a lot of practice, you can succeed in controlling your senses. But what happens? We only become insensitive.
Tell me, when do you feel the need to control someone? When you don't trust him – isn't it? We control our body because we have lost trust in it! I don't condemn this path. It is possible to attain to spirituality through this path also. In fact, this is the path of
Yoga. But this can be a dangerous path, if you don't have the maturity to handle it correctly. You could end up losing all your sensitivity, your joy of life – without attaining anything.
The other path, open to all of us, is to enter into a relationship of deep love, of respect – not only with your body, but with everything. Even by entering deep into the system, with love, with clarity, with compassion, you can get out of it.
Sri Ramakrishna says beautifully:
There are two ways to cross the river of Maya. One is by summoning all your strength and leaping across the river.
The other way is to stand before it with folded hands and request, O Maya, please allow me to get across!
The first path is almost impossible. It might take you janmas, many lives to summon sufficient energy to take that leap. First you have to control your senses, then the mind, then the chitta, then the ego – and finally you attain to enlightenment. It is a process that takes many lifetimes. Very few people have the courage or ability to take this path. But today is the jet-age. Everyone is looking for instant solutions. Like instant coffee, you are looking for instant meditation! You need techniques that can fetch you immediate results. In the jet-age, only jet-age techniques can work. For our time, the right path is to co-operate with your body, to trust in your body wisdom.
So the first thing – drop all negativity, all hostility, all idea of controlling the body, from your mind. You are your body.
(from audience) But how can we drop control, without being sure? Unless you drop it, how will you know? Just drop the negativity and see!
A small story: One poornima (full moon) night, an enlightened man - a sannyasi - was sitting outdoors and enjoying the beautiful scene – the night sky, the stars, the cool breeze. In a nearby hut, he heard a man complaining bitterly about the miseries of life. So he went and called the man, saying, Come out, and enjoy this starry night, this full moon!
The man refused to believe that there was anything beautiful in this life.
No, he said*, I don't trust your words. First show me the moon, the stars – prove to me that they are beautiful, then I'll come out!*
The sannyasi cried, Just come out, and you can see for yourself!
But the man refused. Before even coming out, he wanted a proof!
How can you see unless you come out?
So after a minute, the sannyasi suddenly started shouting, Your hut is on fire! Your hut is on fire!
Immediately, the man came rushing out of the hut.
Then suddenly, seeing the moonlit night and starry sky, he became lost in the beauty. He totally forgot that his house was supposed to be on fire. He started to tell the sannyasi, Oh, it is so beautiful! When you told me I didn't believe you – but now I understand.
Then suddenly he remembered, You told me that my hut was on fire? You lied to me!
Yes, said the sannyasi, I had to tell that lie to bring you out of your hut.
In the same way, there is actually something called body intelligence. But you cannot see it till you drop the doubt! You asked me, how to drop the doubt without proof of body intelligence. You must have the courage, the trust to take that step. Now do you understand?
You see, I cannot show you the starry night without bringing you out of your house! So if you trust this idea, try to test it in your life, you will find that there is a tremendous body intelligence available to you, there is no need to control the body at all.
Whatever method is used to control and discipline the body cannot have permanent results. Please be very clear. When you try to forcibly control your smoking, it cannot be a permanent solution. Any day that resolution can break, because it is only skin-deep!
To awaken body intelligence, to respect body intelligence, is the first thing we need to do in our lives. Today I will be giving you a technique to awaken your body intelligence.
(from audience) So like the sannyasi in the story, will you also guide us on how to come out? I am not guiding you, I am shouting to you – your house is on fire, your house is on fire! (much laughter) During the meditation I will be shouting – and watch, you will come out. That is what is going to happen.
(from audience) Can you tell us what is meant by controlling