For the mind to remain attentive during meditation, one needs to develop a true taste for it. We have to put in honest effort to develop such taste.
It is also necessary to take proper guidance from a genuine spiritual master. The person whom we want to approach for assistance should not be a mere academic person, who has learned about meditation by rote. He should be the one who has actually experienced the highest state of consciousness through meditation himself.
Only a truly experienced person can possibly help others. We have to be very careful when making a judgement about a person with spiritual experience and wisdom. One should never go by his external appearance, but explore deeper for signs of true knowledge and wisdom in him.
It is extremely important to discern what a person actually is, not just how he looks. While taking such guidance, one should pay more careful attention to the actual learning of meditation, and be careful not to get carried away by the external appearance of the teacher. It is also necessary to read between the lines while listening to his spoken words or reading the suggested literature. This helps us understand the deeper meaning and significance of the spoken and written words.
It is important to know that meditation is essentially an inner state and we have to find a technique of meditation that is most suitable for us to be able to reach an actual experience of such a state. After the initial choice is made, we have to focus our attention on mastering the technique. While doing so, we have to refrain from using external yardsticks to make an assessment about our progress in meditation. The wrong yardsticks often lead to wrong assessments. Wrong inferences drawn on such assessments invariably result in wrong decisions about a future course of action and consequently, causes serious problems in our spiritual progress.
While living in the mundane world, it is usually enough to follow certain norms of behaviour that are generally approved by society. If we are decent in character and in dealing with others, we can generally expect our worldly life to be comfortable and without too many problems.
But it is not the same when it comes to our inner world. Mere ‘good behaviour’ is not enough in this world. It should always be accompanied by a genuine inner goodness. Good behaviour should be a spontaneous outward expression of a corresponding ‘goodness within’. Therefore, ‘looking good’ is not enough; ‘being good’ from within is also equally important.
What we feel is an internal process, whereas how we behave or appear to others is an outward manifestation of our inner feelings.
In our day-to-day life, as long as we do not cause any nuisance to others, people are fine with us. As long as we are dealing with them properly, they are not concerned about knowing our real feelings about them. They are not at all interested in knowing whether our good behaviour towards them is a result of real goodness within us or not.
As far as our inner world is concerned, how we appear to others is not important. What matters most is what we actually are inside. Being good is far more important than looking good. In a spiritual context, as long as we are good from within, it hardly matters whether we are equally good looking in our appearance or not. Ashtavakra was a great sage from ancient India. He had several physical disabilities, but was highly spiritually evolved. He wrote a classic treatise on yoga called Ashtawakra Geeta. As far as his external looks were concerned, he was very ugly. But at a spiritual level, he was very beautiful. His spiritual understanding was of such a high order that the great king Janaka, a highly evolved yogi himself, requested him to be his guru or a spiritual guide in the higher aspects of spiritual sadhana. Janaka could do this only because he was not influenced by the external ugliness of Ashtavakra.
While taking guidance on meditation from a liberated and wise person, we should not be too concerned about external measures of evaluation such as how he looks, how he dresses, how big his following is, or whether he has written any books or not. Wisdom lies in being more attentive to the deeper meaning and significance of his words, behaviour and teachings.
It requires a special skill and ability to see things in the same holistic manner as a realized master. His simple external appearance could be highly misleading. If he is the real treasure of wisdom then we should never miss the opportunity of learning the secrets of meditation from such a person and thus benefit from his teachings. We have to remember that a genuinely wise person is never after superficial or cheap publicity. It is therefore quite possible that we may not have heard about him at all. Naturally, we will have to make extra special effort to discover such a person. People do eventually recognize and acknowledge his simplicity, serenity and greatness.
If you come across a mystic like Shankar Maharaj, you will probably not find anything attractive or worth liking in his appearance. It is said that when Shankar Maharaj used to go into a state of deep trance, saliva used to literally pour out of his mouth. On many occasions, he used to abuse people who went to meet him. Sometimes, he used unsophisticated words and filthy language while talking to them. He used to smoke cigars too. But those who knew him well said that he was truly a wise and liberated person. One might feel puzzled as to how those people could have recognized his wisdom. But the answer is easy: they were the people who could completely overlook his external appearance and appreciate the spiritual authority that lay hidden under such appearance. Maharshi Vinod, my father, was very close to Shankar Maharaj. Maharshi did a special spiritual ritual to revive the cadaver of Shankar Maharaj, to receive the last message for his disciples.
Upasani Maharaj was yet another mystic who was also an authentic spiritual master. He used to live on a garbage dump and threw stones at people who came to see him. But he was a great authority on the Vedas, the most ancient spiritual literature known to mankind.
A true sage is not concerned about whether people accept their spiritual authority or not. For such people, it does not make any difference whether others are impressed by their wisdom or not. They are not worried about what impression other people have of them.
Ramakrishna Paramahansa was known as a ‘mad priest’ during his times. Anywhere, at any time, for any minor reason, he would go into a state of deep transcendental trance. Vivekananda was his favourite disciple, who did not pay much attention to the apparent madness of this priest, but tried to fathom this special kind of madness to discover the spiritual authority of this wonderful person, and made him his guru. History proves that he made the right decision, because it brought radical transformation in his life. This was possible because Vivekananda could connect with Ramakrishna in the realm of real self, which is the substratum of all existence.
At this point, we have to be clear about certain things. It is true that a filthy-looking person is not necessarily ‘filthy’ on the inside. He could in fact be a liberated person. But it is also not true that every dirty-looking person who abuses and beats people is a true master.
Similarly, a simple-looking person may not be all that simple inside. It is wrong to assume that someone who is immaculately dressed in expensive clothes is not likely to be a liberated person.
One thing is certain – our physical vision is not good enough to accurately evaluate whether a person is liberated or not. A fully developed inner vision is what we need for this purpose. It is more important what our inner vision tells us about a person than how he looks to our mortal eyes.
We must understand how to develop our inner vision to find the right person from whom we should learn meditation. Without a doubt, it cannot be learned in a classroom. Nowadays, we know that there are classes for almost everything: ‘how to love’, ‘how to win people over’, ‘how to get promoted in your job’ and so on. Under the circumstances, one should not be surprised to find an advert for a class on ‘developing an inner vision’.
The best way to develop our inner vision is to keep our eyes open to observe the things happening around us and to go through every experience with an unbiased mind. We mustn’t judge anyone by their looks, but try to understand the deeper layers of their mind. We have to make a special effort to trust our inner feelings too.
In today’s world, in most educational institutes and probably in the educational system as a whole, we see that more emphasis is placed on how one presents oneself to others than what one’s real individual feelings and perceptions are. This is why we never learn to respect our genuine feelings. We presume that whatever we feel in our heart is likely to be wrong or false. When this happens regularly and over a long time, we start losing faith in our inner feelings. Lack of faith eventually gives rise to a tendency to look at everything one feels with suspicion. This is precisely what happens to most people.
The situation at home is no different from educational institutes. Parents seldom encourage their children to speak freely from their hearts about their true feelings. They keep giving instructions, suggestions, and orders to their wards. Children hardly get an opportunity to do things they like to or ‘feel’ like doing. Slowly, children learn to disregard their true feelings. They do not develop any need to discover their true feelings and be honest about them. Even if they feel such a need, they are so hard pressed for time that they cannot spare enough time to undertake this search. That is why they never develop an ability to know and appreciate what they really feel. They don’t get taught how to develop their feeling faculty. Consequently, this capacity remains rudimentary. Naturally, their inner vision also remains stunted, because it is an ability to see and understand something with the help of our inner feelings.
As a result, one gets caught up in a pernicious habit. A habit of forming an opinion about another person, not on what one genuinely feels about him/her from within oneself, but on the way he dresses, whether he owns a car or not, whether he stays in a big house or an apartment, and whether he is in possession of all the worldly comforts or not.
Slowly, one begins to erroneously believe that such material pleasures and comforts are the real signs of success and greatness. One nurtures the wrong notion that having such comforts automatically makes the person great. How all those comforts were collected and where he got all the money for them become unimportant and irrelevant issues. Being affluent is what really matters most! It is alright even if there is no true happiness and contentment in life. With money one can always buy anything and everything.
Due to this wrong way of thinking and incorrect attitude towards life, one becomes too carnal or too materialistic in one’s outlook. It is almost impossible for such a person to understand the subtlety of inner vision. Consequently, the qualities of knowledge and wisdom are replaced by outer signs of material affluence.
Around 50 to 60 years ago, learnedness was greatly respected in India. In those days, scholarship was held in higher esteem than material richness. The inner treasure of knowledge and wisdom was considered more important than the outward display of money and affluence. My father Maharshi Vinod was a well-known thinker, brilliant scholar, saint and a yogi. Admiring his inner spiritual wealth, my mother married him. She was herself a great Sanskrit scholar and a gold medallist in the state-level higher secondary school examination held in 1926. My father had diabetes when they got married, and he was the father of a nine-year-old mentally challenged boy with special educational needs from his previous marriage. It was his third marriage. His earlier two marriages ended in tragedy, as his wives died soon after he married them. A truly liberated person like him was not expected to marry three times. Still he married, because he had to keep the promise he had given to his parents that he would continue the family tradition and lineage. I am happy that he did marry for the third time, otherwise I wouldn’t have been here to write this book!
My mother did not pay much attention to the fact that it was his third marriage and that he had a mentally challenged child from the previous marriage whom she would have to bring up. She respected his scholarship and wisdom. My father was very handsome, though my mother wasn’t all that beautiful. My father did not look at her external beauty, but attached more importance to her erudition, competence and confidence.
I still remember one incident very vividly. One morning, my father was walking down the street. Lord Abasaheb Mujumdar, who belonged to a princely family, was coming towards him from the opposite side of the road. As soon as Mujumdar saw my father, he quickly got down from his horse-driven carriage and laid himself prostrate before my father, in the middle of a busy street. While doing so, the ego of his Lordship did not get in the way. That is why he could pay obeisance to the great wisdom and knowledge of my father. He was above the influence of his gross vision.
At this point, if inner vision is so important, one may wonder what is the role and significance of our normal physical vision in understanding the deeper significance of life? What is the meaning of external beauty in a meditator’s life?
We perceive physical reality with the help of our physical vision and to that extent our mortal vision is useful to us. It has its own significance too. It helps us connect with the outer world and lead our life well. Similarly, external beauty is essential and important in its own right. It makes the world colourful, attractive and interesting. However, we need to develop a special skill to perceive and appreciate inner beauty. Like external beauty, it is also quite real.
Inner vision is very useful for those who are interested in learning meditation. In the absence of such vision, it is not possible to explore the inner world properly. If our inner vision is underdeveloped, reaching the deeper layers of consciousness through meditation will be difficult.
It goes without saying that the means we use for realizing our goal must be in line with what we want to achieve. A knife used for cutting vegetables would not be used for cutting wood; a mixer used for mixing cement and sand for construction work cannot be used for mixing food; scissors used by a barber cannot be used for a surgical operation.
Once we are clear about what we want to achieve in life, we have to use proper tools to reach our goal. Inner vision is one such tool. Those who chase after carnal pleasures do not understand the intrinsic worth of this tool. Inner vision is useful for those who appreciate of that external beauty is only skin deep: they are strongly motivated to explore and discover what lies hidden behind such beauty. A well-developed inner vision is key in such explorations – it helps us delve deep within our being and that of others as well.
Inner vision is useful in recognizing the true master from whom one should learn the art of meditation. It is useful in several other areas too, but we have to observe great care and caution while putting it to such use. It develops well if we use it judiciously in a disciplined and subtle manner.
The overall quality, breadth, depth and expanse of self-awareness improves with inner vision. The way a person with expanded awareness thinks, acts and behaves is vastly different from other people. A person with a well-developed inner vision can perceive and understand many things which others cannot. It is not easy to decipher meaning from the words and actions of such a person.
A disciple goes to a town to collect alms for himself and his guru. He cooks food from the food grains he receives in the form of alms. With great reverence and love he offers this food to his guru. The guru, however, refuses to eat it. Confounded by the refusal, the disciple wonders whether there was anything wrong in his cooking. The question, ‘Why did my revered guru decline from eating the food?’ keeps bothering him. Ultimately, he decides to approach the guru for an explanation. The guru explains, ‘I know that you have prepared this food with all your love in it. But I do not feel like eating it. I am getting very strong negative vibrations from the food. The person from whom you received the alms must have been a very bad person. Otherwise, there is no reason why I should not feel like eating this food. You may go to the town and find out what kind of person he is and let me know about it after you return.’ The disciple rushes to the town to investigate and to his great surprise discovers that the person concerned was indeed a sinner: he had amassed wealth through unscrupulous means and had ruthlessly exploited the weak and helpless people to accumulate huge treasures of wealth. The guru had a highly developed inner vision. With the help of such vision he could easily sense the truth about this person and his moral background, which was the reason why he could not eat the food that was prepared from the alms received from this person’s house.
A well-developed inner vision is quite useful in our day-to-day affairs too. Suppose a person comes to meet you with an attractive business proposal and offers a highly lucrative financial deal. If your well-developed inner vision indicates that there is something fishy or dubious about this person, it would be like a great asset to you. You would get an opportunity to exercise caution before you made a final decision about signing a deal with him. Taking heed of such a sign can go a long way and save you from heavy financial losses.
Possessing such special ability is truly a great asset in today’s world. We are bombarded all the time by advertisements, trying to lure us into buying different things. If our decision to make a purchase is based on the superficial appearance and external feel of the product, we become vulnerable to buying unnecessary things. We can avoid this by making use of our inner vision. It will reveal to us what is good and bad in the product that we might plan to buy and thus help us make the right decision about buying. It will save us from getting carried away by the glittering exterior of the things on sale.
Special classes to develop inner vision as a part of the consumer society are unlikely to stop such unethical practices. Inner vision cannot be developed just because it is useful in our day-to-day affairs. The benefits are more like by-products than anything else. It would be wrong on our part to take up meditation for the sole purpose of benefiting from it in this way. By doing so, even if we get those benefits, they will be temporary and superficial in nature. If we practise meditation just for the joy of it – without any expectation or the specific intention of ‘What is in it for me?’ – we will get more lasting benefits.
The famous Indian war – the Mahabharat, between the Kauravas and the Pandavas, as depicted in the well-known epic of Mahabharata – was about to begin. Lord Krishna placed an option for consideration before the great warrior Arjuna, from the side of the Pandavas, and Duryodhana from the opposite side. He asked them to choose between himself and his huge army for fighting the ensuing war. Arjuna quickly chose Lord Krishna and Duryodhana chose the army. Arjuna knew for sure that if the god was on his side, everything else would automatically fall into place and he would not have to worry about anything. He also knew that the whole army – cavalry, strategy and weapons – would be worthless if the God was not on his side.
What happened later proves beyond any trace of doubt that Arjuna was really wise in choosing Lord Krishna: he got wise counsel from the Lord at every critical moment throughout the war, which ultimately brought victory to the Pandavas. Lord Krishna guided Arjuna’s chariot and gave proper advice to him from time to time.
Being someone of great perception, Duryodhana could only see how big the army was. He was very happy to have the army on his side, thinking that the size of the army was crucial in winning the war. However, he was disappointed in the end, because victory kept constantly eluding him. Duryodhana was obsessed with winning the war, but he could not foresee the decisive role played by Lord Krishna in the outcome of the war.
Arjuna was also very eager to win, but he was wise too. He chose the god because he loved him very dearly and also respected him. He knew the value of a close companionship with the god, who was going to guide his chariot throughout the war.
The moral of the story is that Arjuna was a worldly and spiritually wise person. He chose Lord Krishna because he loved and respected him. Winning the war came as a by-product of his companionship with the Lord. Duryodhana was only a worldly wise person. He therefore chose the army, but lost the war.
I had a very interesting experience a few years ago. A political leader of great stature used to come to me to learn Yoga. He was very happy with my teaching and, without my asking for anything from him, offered: ‘Doctor, if you have any personal matter pending with the Government, please let me know. I will get it done immediately.’
I politely refused the offer and said, ‘Thank you very much for your kind gesture, but I am happy with whatever I have at the personal level. I am very happy to be of some help to you through yoga. I do not want to take any personal favours from you, mainly because you cannot give me what I really seek and I am not interested in what you want to offer. Moreover, if I really want something, I will prefer to directly ask for it from God as I strongly believe that He is the real provider of everything.’
I didn’t really want to be mean or rude to him by not accepting his help. I knew that he had offered it with love, affection and respect. But I was looking at him as my dear student of yoga and did not want him to upset our student–teacher relationship. He was taken by surprise by my ‘strange’ behaviour! He usually met people who always wanted something or other from him, because he was a well-connected politician. He hardly ever met anybody like me who was not even willing to accept what he had happily offered.
It is true that everything is possible in this world, once our inner vision is fully developed. However, we have to refrain from getting caught in self-deception under the name of inner vision. It may lead to making false claims like, ‘I am right, because it is my inner call’, ‘I do not need to give any explanation for my actions, because I have a well-developed inner vision’. Such claims are very dangerous, particularly when they are false. One may fall prey to wrong notions and start exploiting people on the strength of such flimsy assertions. It may trigger a chain reaction of false claims, posing a serious threat to our spiritual as well as material progress.
It is extremely difficult to discern the subtle differences in motivation behind any manifest behaviour. An ordinary person and a spiritually wise person may appear very similar in terms of their outward behaviour, but their inner state of being and the reasons behind their behaviour are likely to be poles apart. If one fails to comprehend this difference, one may make mistakes when assessing visible behaviour; if one understands the nature of manifest reality, such mistakes can be easily avoided.
Suppose a spiritually wise person and an ordinary person are seen to be relishing the same kind of food. Their actions while eating are going to be very similar at a superficial level, but the underlying motives could be vastly different. Motives are a part of the interior milieu and are not readily visible to others. Due to an ingrained human tendency to assume that only what is visible is real, one tends to forget that reality is far more than what is visible to our eyes.
What is visible to us is just like the tip of an iceberg. What is hidden beneath is far greater than what is visible to us on the surface. Therefore, one who assumes that only what is visible is real is mistaken.
When a young man offers a beautiful rose to his sweetheart, it is an outward expression of his feelings of love and tenderness towards her. This visible gesture is only an infinitesimal part of the boundless love he harbours in his heart.
Similarly, while watching the extraordinary beauty of nature, an unseen creative urge can be triggered in some people. This may find expression in the form of a poem or a painting. But the real creative urge that is hidden within us is much greater than what its outward expression can represent. For most people, reality is limited to whatever is visibly apparent. We believe only what we can see. A boy and a girl who are in love always expect a vivid expression of such love from each other. The expression could be anything from a gesture to an articulated expression of love to an offering of a nice gift. It is like a physical commitment, which gives a sense of security and reassurance.
In contrast to that of most people, the perception of a spiritually wise person is entirely different. He is fully aware of the fact that the invisible or ‘unmanifest’ reality is much bigger than the manifest one.
I would like to narrate a very apt story that relates to this. It is from the Chhandogya Upanishad, one of the most ancient spiritual texts. A guru asks his disciple to get a fruit from a tree. He then asks him, ‘Do you know what this is?’ The disciple replies, ‘It is a fruit.’ ‘Cut this fruit and tell me what is there inside it,’ orders the guru. The disciple cuts open the fruit and says, ‘There is a pulp of the fruit.’ After eating the pulp with the disciple, the guru asks him to break open one of the seeds and further asks, ‘What is there inside the seed?’ The disciple replies, ‘Sir, There is “nothing” inside. I can only see an empty space.’ The guru explains to him, ‘It means that the “cause” of the visible fruit lies inside this empty space. Without a seed, there can’t be any tree and without a tree there can’t be any fruit. It means that the seed is the cause of the tree. As the cause of the fruit lies hidden in the seed, the cause of seed must also be present inside the seed. But, as you break open the seed, you do not find anything there. In conclusion, we may say that the presence of “invisible” space inside the seed is responsible for the “visible” existence of a seed and the visible seed for the tree and its fruits.’
From this story, we may also conclude not only that what is visible to our mortal eye is real, but what is invisible to it is also equally real.
One may raise a pertinent question here. ‘Can nothingness be a cause of something that actually exists?’ The answer to this question is ‘yes’ as well as ‘no’. Our mortal eye cannot see what is inside the seed. In this sense, ‘nothingness’ inside a seed is the cause of the ‘visible’ seed. But just because our mortal eye cannot see something does not mean that really there is nothing inside. We can’t see it because we lack the capacity to see it with our mortal eyes. In this sense, that ‘something’ inside the seed is the cause of the ‘actual’ seed.
After thoroughly washing our hands with soap and water, we may think that they are clean, but if we take a closer look under a powerful microscope, we may find many micro-organisms present. Our physical eyes cannot perceive what our amplified vision can see with the help of a microscope. Amplified vision does not create anything new, but we can see what is actually present there.
Now theories in physics also conclude that if we go on dividing atoms, we finally reach subatomic particles that are tinier than the atoms. Inside those particles, there is only an empty space.
This nothingness or empty space within is known as unmanifest reality, or Avyakta Brahma, and what is visible to our eyes is known as manifest reality, or Vyakta Brahma. The manifest comes into existence from the unmanifest. The manifest, in the course of time, fades away to become merged with the unmanifest. In other words Avyakta Brahma is the cause of Vyakta Brahma and Vyakta Brahma the cause of Avyakta Brahma. One cannot exist without the other.
Most people believe that reality consists only of what is visible to them, and therefore the realm of their experiences remains limited. They only see part of the reality, but believe it to be complete. As they see and accept only an incomplete reality, they believe in things that are manifest, visible and within the domain of their sense organs. Naturally, they enjoy only those pleasures that are perceptible to those sense organs and get completely caught up in them.
A wise sadhaka, who is a regular practitioner of meditation, relishes apparent reality with the sense organs as others do, but he also explores and discovers the invisible dimensions of visible reality. Thus, he understands the complete reality. Because he is able to grasp the known as well as unknown aspects of reality, his perceptions become more complete and more enriched in nature. Not only does he know ‘invisible emptiness’ as the real cause of the visible world, but also dares to completely trust this experience. He enjoys manifest reality, but doesn’t get too embroiled in it. He develops a unique courage and strength to trust the invisible. This outstanding ability becomes the hallmark of such a person.
It is comparatively easy to believe in what is apparent – it is right in front of us and is readily visible. However, it requires a great deal of courage to understand and believe what is hidden in darkness.
When Lata Mangeshkar, an internationally famous singer from India, was very young, her guru could see a tremendous hidden talent in her, which nobody else could see. He put trust in her talent and also taught young Lata to believe in her genius. He gave proper and timely guidance and groomed her into the successful singer that she became, recipient of the ‘Bharatratna’ (Jewel of India), the highest Indian civilian honour. Now, everybody offers praise and showers accolades on her. She has appeared in the Guinness Book of World Records. Now it hardly requires any expertise to appreciate and praise her genius. But it was surely very difficult to foresee her great future when she was a ‘nobody’.
Similarly, Mr Acharekar, the famous cricket coach from India, identified child prodigy Sachin Tendulkar when he was nobody in cricket. Acharekar gave proper training, encouragement and guidance to Sachin in such a beautiful manner that he blossomed into a great batsman, and also was the recipient of the ‘Bharatratna’. The late cricket legend Sir Don Bradman saw many similarities between his batting and that of Sachin.
By looking at the early expression of talent and potential in Lata and Sachin, their respective gurus dared to put faith in the ‘invisible’ potential of their disciples. They also taught them to have faith in themselves. It is surely a demonstration of an extraordinary courage by the gurus and their disciples. Both disciples have now achieved what is considered unparalleled success in their respective fields.
It is not easy to judge the vast hidden potential in someone by merely looking at a small expression of such potential, especially when it is at a nascent stage. The late Jiddu Krishnamurti is widely regarded as a genuine spiritual master of the twentieth century. He not only taught his philosophy of life to thousands, but also lived it himself. When he was barely nine or ten years old, Annie Besant and Leadbeater, two well-known Theosophists, could clearly see the future world teacher in him. Jiddu, the young Krishnamurti, was playing on the seashore when Leadbeater first saw him. He found that Jiddu’s aura was very special, because it was as clear as a crystal. Auras are etheric fields around the person: their expanse, colour, clarity and glow reflect the person’s inner state. Leadbeater was thoroughly astounded and dazzled by the extraordinary aura of Jiddu. Leadbeater and Besant adopted Jiddu and brought him up with great love and care to bring out the dormant world teacher in him.
Not all of us are fortunate to receive authentic guidance from a spiritual master like Krishnamurti. But one thing is certain: we do need such guidance for proper understanding of the practice of meditation. Guidance is also essential in order to make progress in meditation. The real problem is how to know whether a particular person is a true master or not. How do we make a right decision in this regard? Is there any way of certifying the authority of a spiritual master? What is one supposed to do to become a true master?
We can determine whether a particular medical practitioner is an authority in medicine or not by looking at his qualifications. Whether he is a good doctor or not can also be judged by knowing how many patients come to his clinic and how many of them get well after his treatment. The expertise of a building contractor can be ascertained by visiting various buildings and complexes constructed by him. The culinary skills of a chef can be confirmed by tasting the food he cooks.
Authority in meditation and spirituality can be judged by observing the behaviour of a person who claims to be a spiritual master and by the way he conducts himself. If he is genuine, you will find that his whole persona is filled with serenity, joy, cheerfulness, love and total self-awareness. He always looks like a truly integrated person. As he is constantly in a state of meditation, its deep influence is clearly evident in his day-to-day living.
It is obvious that those who are only interested in spending 10-15 minutes on meditation in the morning and 10-15 minutes in the evening are not likely to develop such authority. Similarly, it is unlikely that a person whose only intention behind practising meditation is to treat his health problem or to make his mind a little calmer could ever become an authority in meditation.
Spiritual masters are people who are deeply involved in meditation and related subjects. The main mission and goal of their life is meditation and they are totally committed to this goal. Naturally, because of their involvement and sincerity, they gradually develop a great deal of expertise in the subject to teach meditation to others. It is true that there can be no expertise without devoted and consistent practice, and without expertise one cannot be an authority in any field.
If one wants to become an expert or an authority in any field, the first thing to be done is to find out what one’s true affinity is. Once that is done, one should focus one’s attention on finding out where to get an opportunity to pursue the aptitude and make a career out of it. After that, one should spend all the time available in a thorough study of the chosen field. It should be done with utmost sincerity, dedication and total involvement to understand the general as well as subtle dimensions of the field.
The main purpose behind such study should never be only to establish our authority over other people. It should be done for the sheer joy of learning, for true love for the subject. An in-depth study like this should be a high quality piece of work. Such work would automatically bring expertise to the person and expertise would endow natural authority to him/her.
In contrast, if one studies an important subject like meditation just for the sake of commanding authority over others, the quality of the meditation practice will suffer a great deal. And low-quality practice can never bring expertise or authority.
I know one housewife who is a great cook. She cooks for the joy of cooking and not for winning accolades. She likes to see the faces of her family and friends lit with joy and satisfaction when they eat a hearty meal that she has so lovingly prepared. She puts all her heart and soul into her cooking. She doesn’t mind the hard work involved in cooking because she loves and cares for the people she is cooking for. Serving the family well is a matter of joy and great satisfaction to her. Naturally, she is also cared for, respected and loved by her family; family members seek her advice in important matters – her authority has come through love and sacrifice.
It is equally true in meditation. Those who meditate with joy and share it with others, with pure unconditional love, will enjoy authority without striving for it. But those who try to manoeuvre themselves into a position of authority will never get it.
Let us therefore seek pure love, not authority. Authority will follow.
It is a pleasure to watch a person who is a real authority but does not throw his weight around in society. A person who is really in control does not need to make any conscious, purposeful efforts to show his prowess. He is so sure of himself and his abilities that he needs no external props to substantiate his strength. His self-confidence is of a very high order. He knows with great certainty that if time demands it, he can demonstrate his extraordinary talent, which will be automatically visible to other people around him.
In this context, there is a beautiful story of Birbal. Birbal was well known for his intelligence, presence of mind, wisdom, common sense and witticism. He was the jewel of the court of King Akbar. The neighbouring king once decided to test the mettle of Birbal. He invited him to his court. Birbal did not understand why he had been invited, but decided to go anyway. Birbal was received in the kingdom with great dignity and honour. When he got down from his chariot to enter the court, he saw six people, dressed exactly like the king, sitting on six thrones. He immediately knew the real motive behind the invitation. He carefully studied all the so-called ‘kings’, then went straight to the real king, to pay his respect. The king was utterly surprised and asked Birbal how he had instantly recognized the real king from the group? Birbal said, ‘Your Majesty, it was very simple. When I looked at you all, I noticed that those who were dressed like you but were not the real king had to constantly look at you for some clues how to act like a king. You were the only one who looked straight to the court assembly. There was no need for you to prove that you were a king. Naturally, you were very comfortable, but the phoney kings looked very nervous, because they were under tremendous pressure to appear like a king. I could clearly see the vast difference between your body language and theirs.’ One who is truly in command does not need to look at others’ faces, while others have to look at him all the time for guidance.
A highly confident, self-assured and genuine master never tries to steal the limelight. However, people’s attention automatically gets riveted on him. His authority on meditation is based on his profound experiential understanding of the subject. He is highly self-assured because of the great wisdom he has earned through an in-depth study of meditation. He therefore requires no certificates from other people to establish his authority as a true master. It is quite self-evident that he has raised himself to a towering height of understanding and profound mastery over meditation. He doesn’t need to make special efforts to put his extraordinary authority in meditation on display before others – his presence alone is enough to prove his calibre.
A person fully immersed in meditation does not like to waste time in merely discussing meditation with people. He is not interested in needlessly exhausting himself by lecturing people on the importance of meditation. Instead, he prefers to remain in a state of meditation and keep enjoying it all the time.
Only when someone shows a genuine urge and curiosity to learn meditation does the master give guidance. Otherwise, instead of talking about meditation, he prefers to talk on other subjects. He never openly discloses his personal spiritual progress. For him, his meditative state is so precious that he never indulges in any idle talk about it and belittles it. A keen observer and a sincere practitioner of meditation can learn a great deal from the master’s silence and quietness. What one needs to do is to develop an ability to read and understand the subtle messages hidden behind his profound stillness.
Those who are always engrossed in meditation prefer to remain in that state all the time. Unless persistently asked, they never speak about themselves. Their language is never bookish. Every single word they utter is a profound message by itself. But, one must know how to decipher meaning from such words. Their manner of speech is extremely simple and effortless. They never strive to convince others. They are so confident about their inner state that they are not concerned about proving their greatness to others. There isn’t a trace of vanity in them: their self-confidence is of such a high order that it often astonishes onlookers.
It is safe to learn meditation from a true master who shows such inner qualities.
While choosing the master from whom we propose to take guidance in meditation and other aspects of spiritual growth, such as how to apply meditation in solving our day-to-day problems, we should not depend too heavily on external elements. If we get an opportunity to come closer to a person who is known for his spiritual mastery, we have to see how we feel in his company, with an open and unbiased mind. We have to make sure that we feel comfortable and at ease with him.
We should not regard any person as a master unless we are thoroughly convinced in our mind and heart about it. The mind and heart have their own ways of developing conviction. However, complete agreement and harmony between them is essential before we make any decision. If whatever is understood with the help of our intelligence is also acceptable to our heart, and vice versa, it becomes total acceptance.
Before embarking on the long voyage of meditation, we have to make sure that the master from whom we are going to learn the basics of meditation is acceptable to our mind and heart. If we do this right from the very first step we take on the path, we can avoid mistakes and make rapid progress in meditation.
It is better to get lost in the day-to-day material world and not learn meditation at all than to learn it under the improper guidance of an unsuitable spiritual master. Wisdom lies in being patient and waiting for a truly capable master to come along and guide us.
In other areas of life, we can decide from whom we want to learn something, but in meditation it is different. We do not make a choice about our guru: he makes the choice for us. This arrangement makes a lot of sense to me, because, in our ignorance, we may make a wrong choice, but the guru, with his profound wisdom, is unlikely to make any mistakes. He is bound to be more correct in this regard. If he chooses us as his disciple, nothing else needs to be done. We have to just feel grateful to God and submit ourselves at the feet of such a master. He will take care of everything.
However, if we cannot accept him as he has accepted us, it is better to wait for some time than to submit in a haphazard manner. There is nothing wrong in rejecting a guru who has accepted us if we do not feel the same way about him. The great master Ramakrishna chose Vivekanand as his disciple, but Vivekanand did not accept him right away. He took some time before accepting Ramakrishna as his guru.
The major problem comes when a so-called guru starts saying that he has chosen his disciple. How do we know that the person who has made the decision is himself a real guru?
The following story is very meaningful in this context. Dadu Maharaj was a sage, well known for his spiritual wisdom. The area where Dadu lived was governed by a wicked government official who was notorious for his atrocities. The officer became very troubled due to a problem that he couldn’t find a solution to, despite all his efforts to resolve it. While in a state of total turmoil, somebody advised him to go to Dadu Maharaj and seek his counsel to get peace of mind.
He immediately mounted his horse and went out in search of Dadu Maharaj. On his way, he came across a poor man who was removing stones and thorns from the road so as to prevent people walking on the path from getting hurt.
The official yelled at the poor man, ‘You, tramp! Clear my way at once! Don’t you know I am the chief government official of this area?’ The poor man looked at the official, smiled and quietly continued with his work. Seeing this, the officer became enraged like a bull. He completely lost his temper and lashed the poor man on his back with his whip, shoved him to the side of the road and moved on. After going quite some distance, he finally asked a passer-by about Dadu Maharaj. The officer realized that the poor man he had met on the road earlier was in fact the person he was looking for – it had been Dadu Maharaj himself! He felt ashamed of himself. ‘How could I be so cruel to him? Why didn’t I recognize him before I lashed out at him?’ the official lamented.
Sheepishly, he went back to the poor man to beg his pardon and asked if he would still teach meditation to him.
Dadu Maharaj consoled him, ‘Don’t worry. I am not at all disturbed because of your bad behaviour towards me. On the contrary, I was amused at your cruelty. It certainly gave me an opportunity to test myself well. I could observe my reactions while you were insulting me. I know what you did was out of ignorance. If you want to learn meditation from somebody, you have to be extremely careful when making the choice. That is probably what you were doing unknowingly. Therefore, there is no reason for either of us to feel bad about the incident.’
The explanation thoroughly convinced the officer that Dadu Maharaj was undoubtedly the genuine spiritual master he was searching for, and decided to learn meditation under his able guidance.