TOI, Pat 07.01.09

Feeling Oneself is only The Beginning

Discourse: Sadguru
The moment I say "spirituality", people say, "Yes, I want to be peaceful." If you take a long walk and lie down, you will sleep peacefully. If you eat a good dinner, you will sleep peacefully. You don’t need the spiritual process to be peaceful. The longing for peace has essentially come from troubled minds of those who are torturing themselves – for them, peace is a big commodity that they have to seek. If you are not using your mind for self-torture, why would you think of peace? Would you seek exuberance of life or would you seek peace?
You ‘rest in peace’. If you want to be peaceful, you must be dead. Now is the time to live. But for those who have lost control over their mental faculty what should have been a miracle has become a misery-manufacturing machine. Even being ecstatic is not a goal by itself. If you are blissful by your own nature, then the important thing is, you are not the issue anymore. If you are an issue yourself, what other issue will you take into your hands? You will not touch anything. When you are no more an issue, then you are willing to plumb the whole of existence to know what it is all about.
Mysticism evolved only in those places where people learnt the technology of being ecstatic by their own nature. For you to experience a little bit of pleasantness within you, if you have to drink, dance, or do something crazy, you will never explore other dimensions of life because keeping yourself pleasant itself is a great challenge and a full-time job. For most, the pursuit of happiness has become the goal of life. Happiness is not something you achieve. It is something that you start with; it is the square one of life. As children, we all started joyfully without any hassle. So, do not understand the spiritual process as one of peace, joy or even bliss. Only if you are blissful, you will truly explore all aspects of life.
There was a time when we believed that whether the tree in our garden bears fruit or not depended on God’s will. But we took charge of these things. Now we know if this tree is not bearing fruit what the problem is. We know what to do. So, when you understand that if your Self has not blossomed, it has got nothing to do with anything except that you are not doing the right thing with yourself. Once we understand that, the spiritual process actually begins.
Once you are not an issue, being peaceful, joyful or blissful is not an effort anymore; then naturally you want to know what is behind everything. This is not an induced quest, seeking comes naturally. The spiritual process is not a conscious choice; it is a kind of compulsive behaviour. But unless you handle it consciously, it will not yield. Longing for the boundless is compulsive, but unless you become conscious, it will never work.
If you want to know, experience and handle other dimensions, it is important that you have no rigid structures in your mind. The biggest thing in existence is not a god sitting somewhere. The life process itself contains the creation and the Creator. If you are willing to go beyond the surface substance of what you call yourself, suddenly everything is malleable. Here and There, Now and Then all merge. The individual and the universal are different no more.
Unless one experiences the universality of one’s nature, human form is wasted. To eat, sleep, reproduce and die, you do not need a human body, intelligence and awareness. Every worm or insect can fulfill that better than a human being.

TOI, Patna December 06, 2008

A Spiritual Response To Terrorist Attacks.

Thich Nhat Hanh
What would you say to a terrorist?
First, I would listen. Why had he acted in that cruel way? I would try to understand all of the suffering that had led him to violence. It might not be easy to listen in that way, so I would have to remain calm and lucid. I would need several friends with me, who are strong in the practice of deep listening, listening without reacting, without judging and blaming. In this way, an atmosphere of support would be created for this person and those connected so that they could share completely, trust that they are really being heard.
After listening for some time, we might need to take a break to allow what has been said to enter into our consciousness. Only when we felt calm and lucid would we respond in such a way to help them discover their own misunderstandings so that they will stop violent acts of their own will…
When we react out of fear and hatred, we do not yet have a deep understanding of the situation. Our action will only be a very quick and superficial way of responding to the situation and not much true benefit and healing will occur. Yet if we wait and follow the process of calming our anger, looking deeply into the situation, and listening with great will to understand the roots of suffering that are the cause of the violent actions, only then will we have sufficient insight to respond in such a way that healing and reconciliation can be realized for everyone involved.
In South Africa, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission has made attempts to realize this. All the parties involved in violence and injustice agreed to listen to each other in a calm and supportive environment, to look together deeply at the roots of violent acts and to find agreeable arrangements to respond to the situations. The presence of strong spiritual leaders is very helpful to support and maintain such an environment.
What is the "right action" to take with regard to responding to terrorist attacks?
All violence is injustice. The fire of hatred and violence cannot be extinguished by adding more hatred and violence to the fire. The only antidote to violence is compassion. Compassion is made of understanding. To understand, we must find paths of communication so that we can listen to those who desperately are calling out for our understanding.
There are people who want one thing only: revenge. The Buddha said that by using hatred to answer hatred, there will only be an escalation of hatred. But if we use compassion to embrace those who have harmed us, it will greatly diffuse the bomb in our hearts and in theirs…
We have to find a way to stop violence, of course. If need be, we have to put the men responsible in prison. But the important thing is to look deeply and ask, "Why did that happen? What responsibility do we have in that happening? "Maybe they misunderstood us. But what has made them misunderstand us so much to make them hate so much?
The method of the Buddha is to look deeply to see the source of suffering; the source of violence. If we have violence within ourselves, any action can make that violence explode. This energy of hatred and violence can be very great and when we see that in the other person they we feel sorry for them. When we feel sorry for them, the drop of compassion is born in our hearts and we feel so much happier and so much more at peace within ourselves. That (empathy) produces the nectar of compassion within ourselves…
Extract from a conversation with Beliefnet poste 9/11, titled ‘What would I way to Osama bin Laden.’ Contact ahimsa.trust@gmail.com or visit www.ahimsatrust.org