Meditation : The Ultimate Gamble🔗

Meditation is the ultimate gamble of our existence and the meditator is the ultimate gambler!

What are the qualities necessary for the ordinary gambler and how are they applicable in the ultimate sense to the ultimate gambler, the meditator?

An ordinary gambler requires three qualities …the courage to start, the power to proceed and the energy to let go.

Courage is necessary to understand the laws of gambling as these are themselves intimidating…a sense of fear that any gain is uncertain…if it goes it goes, if it comes it comes. Once he has this courage to overcome this fear he needs the power to proceed with the play and stake what is necessary. The outcome being uncertain energy is needed to let go and accept the positive or negative outcome…understand well…it requires energy to let go both the positive as well as the negative.

A small story:

A man with a weak heart won 5 million dollars in a lottery. His wife heard of it but did not want to tell him this on account of his heart condition fearing that he would collapse and die. Wondering how to break this news to him, she went to the local priest and apprised him of her problem. The priest assured her that he would handle the situation as he had known her husband for the past 25 years. The wife did not want to leave it to chance, but the priest was confident. The priest accordingly met the man and after a long chat slowly opened the subject of the lottery. He asked the man what he would do if he won 5 million dollars in a lottery. The man said he would give half of it to the Church. On hearing this, the priest collapsed of shock and died!

You see, it is not so easy to accept even positive things. You need the power and energy to accept even positive things in life.

How are these qualities required in the ultimate game of gambling that is meditation?

To begin with, an understanding of the laws, the structure of the universe and meditation as related to the universe is essential. These include why and how to meditate, what are the benefits and what would happen if one did not meditate.

Someone once asked me, 'Master, if everything in life is evolving, as reptile into a mammal, and monkey into a man etc, by a natural process would man not ultimately evolve into God? Where then, is the need for inspiration and meditation?'

My reply to this…It took 5 million or 50 million years for the monkey to evolve into a man and it would take equally long for you to become God. If you are willing to wait this long, it is alright with me! Godhood can be achieved only by revolution and not through evolution.

Take up meditation and revolutionize the process of evolution. Enlightenment can be achieved only by revolution.

The very the word 'meditation' makes many people reject this idea, saying they are too modern or too practical for this concept. A truly logical person would see the truth behind meditation or spirituality.

In Tamil Nadu, Bharat, there is a group of people who are fundamentally atheists…who believe there is no God. To believe there is a God, one does not need to be a fanatic or illogical. But to ignore all the proof and continue to stand your ground that there is no God, only an illogical person, a true atheist or a fanatic can have such a strong belief. Being logical only leads one to the ultimate search. Be very clear…only people who are logical, have the courage to seek !

People who understand that their life would transform or change after meditation, still hesitate to take the step. By doing this, they show their fear of transformation. This fear is one of the major obstacles in spiritual life. If people complain of not changing despite meditation, they only believe themselves to be meditating, but are not actually doing so.

For example, you have set the alarm to wake up early in the morning to take a flight but you wish to sleep just a few minutes more after the alarm rings. In this state, you have a dream during these few minutes that you are actually awake and taking the flight! This is a suggestion of your mind. Likewise, if you think you are meditating, but do not have any transformation, you need to check again what you are missing, what it is that you are failing to do.

The fear of transformation is deep and one needs real courage to face this reality. Like a scientist, only a truly logical person has the courage to seek the truth.

The fear of transformation is such that most times we do not want to follow the truth. We are experts at giving some reason or other to not let it penetrate our lives.

One of our devotees asked me, 'Master, what is man's real duty in life?' I replied…the real purpose of a human being is simply to achieve bliss inside his being.

Unless he achieves this, he cannot give this to others…even if he were to live to fulfill all his responsibilities. Without this, he will only be living for others constantly either pushing or pulling. Achieving bliss is therefore, the first duty. Understanding meditation leads us to this path and after doing so, leads us to the courage to take the first step.

Why is the power to put things on stake so important?

When people see me in my joyous state, they request me that I should bless them to be like me. However being in an ecstatic state entails responsibility. Be very clear that energy and responsibility come in the same package. One of the ashramites, tired of the long hours of work, wanted to know why he should work and serve at all when he could meditate and be happy! I told him that energy descends on only one who is ready to take the responsibility of serving the world and has compassion for others. The energy…the power and ultimately enlightenment, descends only on one who is ready to take this responsibility…this feeling for every being. This realization dawned on me on my enlightenment. When people see me they are inspired to meditate but are not prepared to put their lives at stake.

A small incident:

An atheist once went holidaying on a mountain .He fell from a cliff but somehow held on to the root of a tree. He screamed for help as the root slowly got loose and he realized that he would die. At the last minute, he appealed to God for help. God replies that He would take care of him only if he would just let go of the root. The man immediately shouts, 'Is there anybody else who can save me?'

We are not ready to put our lives on stake!

We say we do not have time to meditate but the truth is that we do not want to admit that this is not one of our priorities…that meditation is not important enough for us…that I am not important enough for myself to spend time on this!

One night I got a phone call at about 2 A.M. from a District Collector…an IAS officer, asking for guidance for a problem which was of life and death importance to him and he insisted that I see him immediately. I agreed to see him early in the following morning but he replied that he had to go to his office then!

Do you see what I mean by priority? I understood his problem was not serious after all.

A person once asked me if I had seen God. When I answered in the affirmative he wanted me to show him God. I told him that he could have the experience if he was ready to practice. If it was first on his list of priority then of course without doubt he would drop everything else and start to practice. Each of us has a list of priorities and we take our decisions based on this. What is on top of the list in your list of priorities?

A story from Buddha's life:

One of his devotees asked Buddha why he did not enlighten one and all, since he had the power to do so. Buddha asked this devotee to get a list of the people in the village who wanted to be enlightened. This devotee, after a survey, brought a list of some 10 people for the first day. This soon reduced to five people the next day and it is anybody's guess how many people would have remained on the subsequent days! People are unwilling to take this step. They tend to think of enlightenment too as one of the possessions in their house but are unwilling to pledge what it takes.

You need power to undergo meditation, power to stake, power to decide to live the truth, to transform your life. Truth as we know of it now, has only one meaning; that of speaking the truth.

In reality it has three meanings…three dimensions. The other two are thinking and living it. Thinking of truth means constantly looking for it and living the truth means the readiness to live truth as we perceive it. Just as you know that on touching fire it burns you, truth will likewise transform you when you know it. If it has not, be sure you have not known it. The power to understand and go after truth is the power to put on stake what it takes.

The last quality of the gambler is the energy to let go. This is the real test.

There is one major difference between ordinary gambling and ultimate gambling. In the game of ultimate gambling, there is no loss…only gain! Herein lies its greatness. However, do you have the courage to start, walk and let go to gain?

When I say let go, it means you would be on space, you float free. That moment a seed fears to let go, it fails to go on and to become a tree. This is why we call Nirvana the last nightmare.

If a dream is too wild, you can wake up….similarly when you get a jolt or shock in life, you wake up to enlightenment. Enlightenment happens when there is a sudden shock to our dream state. You will be surprised at some of the strange techniques used in Zen monasteries to enlighten a person.

A master was walking on the third floor. A disciple sincerely asked him for enlightenment. Suddenly the master turned and pushed him from the third floor. But the disciple who had total faith in his master was entirely calm and relaxed. He fell like a flower and got up to dance. Strange as this may seem, research says that it is our body's heaviness that causes a heavy landing. Have you noticed how when children fall they never hurt themselves badly?

When you fall and drown in a river, your dead body though filled with water and therefore much heavier, floats, whereas a living person drowns. Research says that it is your ego, your solidness, which causes the damage. There was a whirling Sufi dancer who used to be airborne in moments during his dance, but never ever hurt himself on landing. Levitation done by yogis is similarly achieved by their state of egolessness (featured in the Time magazine, Aug 2003 edition).

Swami Ramatirtha, in describing his experiences in the US mentions an incident when he ran faster than professional sprinters in a course. He explained that his practices of yoga made his body lighter and he could move very fast…almost fly. Likewise, such was the egolessness, courage and trust of the disciple, to put on stake his whole life, that in that moment, he became enlightened.

The wonder with masters is that there is no failure…ever. This is a fool proof system. A naga disciple was so fond of his master that he had the habit of constantly imitating the hand and body movements of his master. The master knew this and tolerated it on account of the disciple's sincerity. Once when a discourse was on, the master suddenly turned and cut off the disciple's finger with a sword. But so great was the disciple's devotion that along with his finger, his ego too fell and he was enlightened. The other disciples wondered if this was not too high a price to pay, to which the master replied that compared to the number of lives people take to achieve this enlightened state, this was a very small price indeed!

Only people who are ready to put everything on stake are the real gamblers…the courageous ones…the ones qualified to play this ultimate game!

Meditation does not mean changing your routine by half an hour. It means change in the very quality of your routine. If you take up meditation, your very understanding will change; your life itself will change and become new. When you meditate, you gamble your whole life, you put your whole life on stake; only then transformation happens. Only when you commit the whole, can you become holy. You need the energy to let go, to allow the transformation to happen.

Like the seed which lets go of its fear to become a tree, you too must have the energy to let go… to allow the transformation to happen.

In Christian theology they call the last moment 'the dark night of the soul' (this is termed by Buddhists as the 'last nightmare'). At that moment when your ego is dying, you must be willing to let go of the past. Enlightenment never happens as continuity but only as a new birth. The Hindus call it 'vishada' and the 1st chapter of the Gita is called 'Arjuna Vishada Yoga' . Arjuna was in utter vishada or, depression, facing the 'dark night of his soul'. His dilemma was so very great yet he was willing to trust Krishna and let go.

In such a situation no decision taken is correct and when the master guides you, you must be ready to let go and follow what he says completely and implicitly. Arjuna had the courage to believe totally in Krishna and let go, which was how he had the 'Vishwarupa Darshan', seeing Krishna as He filled the universe with His divine form of 'Universal Form'. You must have the energy to let go, to allow the dark night to happen to you.

Only if we have trust in the master can the ultimate gain happen to us.

The enlightened Western master George Gurdjieff had strange techniques to enlighten his disciples. He had a stream inside his ashram and he had a rule that anybody engaged in any activity, on hearing his cry, 'Stop!' should immediately stop whatever they were doing , sit down and meditate . He would then release the special energy to touch everyone.

Three disciples were once in the water in the stream when he cried 'Stop'. As soon as he cried out, the water in the stream began to rise. Seeing the water rise, one of the disciples panicked and immediately ran out of the water. The second disciple sat in the water for a while longer, but got frightened when the water rose to his neck and ran out to save himself. However the third disciple continued to meditate; his ego drowned with his body and a new being floated.

You need trust to experience the unknown space; at that moment, you have only the master to hold on to; the energy to accept the new experience happening to you and the energy to transcend your old personality. When you do this, you then have the third quality to play this ultimate gamble.

People will meditate till the family members do not object. Ramakrishna says it is perfectly alright to go against father, mother, husband, wife, duties or responsibilities if need be, in the path to spiritual progress; this is the power to put things on stake; the second step you take towards spirituality.

When you go beyond society, you go towards enlightenment. The power to put your life on stake is the second step, that which makes you walk towards spirituality. Finally, you need to let go of your ego, your being, your old personality totally, and repose trust in the master even at the last moment, to face the last nightmare.

Just as the seed is in a moment of deep insecurity at the time of 'seed-breaking', you too will have the same feeling of doubt and insecurity…questioning yourself on whether you have progressed enough…whether you are worthy of enlightenment, are spiritual enough. To survive…to withstand the 'vishada' of the soul's squeezing depression, the most important quality required for this ultimate gamble is the simple fact that you need to trust the master completely.

Understand clearly that when you play this ultimate gamble, you cross all the three steps. The only great things I can promise you in this game of ultimate gambling are that there is will be no losers…only winners…no losing, only winning! This is the only difference between ordinary gambling and the ultimate gamble.

May you understand the methods of gambling and stake yourself to achieve and attain eternal bliss. Through this gambling may you achieve Nithya Ananda!

Questions and Answers:

Q: What is Samadhi?

A: Sama plus Adhi is Samadhi. Adhi means the original source from which we have all come. Sama means becoming that original source…or becoming one with the original state.

Q: Are there many other enlightened people? If yes, where are they and what are their roles?

A: There are many who are enlightened. At your level there are many who are enlightened whereas seen from my state there is only one single energy. All enlightened people have the responsibility of enhancing the positive energy on this earth. All negative energies create terrorists such as Bin Ladens and all positive energies create Buddhas.

Understand clearly…enlightenment possesses you and drives you towards this responsibility. You cannot and do not possess enlightenment…instead it possesses and drives you.

If a situation arises where there is no more positive energy produced on Earth, there will be no more Earth left. In the epic Bhagavatam, Krishna is asked why the earth still exists after the age of Kali. Krishna replies that enlightened people still walk the planet and as long as they do so, the planet will always live as their very being on Earth is a great blessing.

Q: Master, what do you say about this saying, 'Work is Worship'?

A: Work is worship when you do it intensely, totally. But most of the time, we make worship as work. Remember two points when you work…work without any fear or greed and while working work without any thoughts. If you live and work in the present moment…involved… absorbed in your work totally, that work is worship. It becomes a technique to bring you to the present moment.

If a professor teaches seeing only the faces of his students and not the dollar bill, the quality of his work would be greatly enhanced and with it the dollars would follow of their own accord. However, most times we try to find some short cut and are thinking only of our salaries at the end of the month, which affects our work.

When the whole being is involved in the work, that very work becomes worship. Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita, 'Karmanye vadikaraste mapaleshu kadachana'…you have freedom only to work, not to expect the results. If you expect results, the very expectation will hinder the results.

If Vivekananda says, 'Arise, awake, stop not till the goal is reached', I tell you, 'Arise, awake, stop! The goal is reached!'

Come to this moment…this present moment…be intense in your present work totally…not even thinking of it as worship. While reciting the saharanama or the thousand names in praise of God, we always start with the 'Phala Sruthi', or the statement of 'phala sruthi' which talks about the fruit of action…of 'what will happen'.We begin our worship only knowing what is going to be achieved. However when we worship…with all our thoughts only on the fruit…expecting the fruit, it is reduced to mere work. If you do your work intensely, forgetting the fruit…giving total attention to what is done rather than what for it is done…then it becomes worship.

Understand clearly…if you work expecting results, even worship becomes work. Living in the present moment is what is emphasized by the words, 'Work is worship'.

Any work done with this attitude of totality only rejuvenates and never tires us. You have the capacity…whatever is your iccha or desire, can become kriya or action. Desire can be simply translated to reality. Whether you believe or not, you are God and have the power to translate desires into reality. This happens only if you work intensely…where you will neither be tired nor bored. Both tiredness and boredom are byproducts of expectation of results. This deep understanding that will help you to live in the present.

Q: I sometimes have doubts, sometimes faith… why does mind have this personality?

A: Understand…if you do not doubt me, you cannot have faith in me. Doubt and faith are two sides of the mind. Both faith and doubt are given by the master…simply surrender both at his feet. Then you will see that you have a new experience called 'knowing'. After this you don't have to believe, you will know.

Q: How does one surrender?

A: Feel that both doubt and faith are from the master. Don't associate yourself with the doubt or its roots. Do not follow the decision of the doubts…surrender both…you will see how the knowing happens.

If I say that the sun rises in the East, do you need to doubt or believe it? You will know it just by getting up in the morning. Only knowing can transform you. Open your eyes and see…practice. Faith will not allow you to know. Like doubt, faith too is an obstacle.

People who have doubt and faith will not benefit from me. At the most they will add my photo to the already existing 33 crore Gods of Bharat!

Dropping both and knowing the truth of my statements and teachings is the only real achievement you can have in your life. When you know…you experience a transformation…then, beyond your doubt and faith, you will feel a sense of gratitude flow towards me.

It is this gratitude which is devotion.