Compassion , loneliness ,relationships

Compassion and the Enlightened Person

The word 'compassion" is beautiful .It is made out of the same word as "passion" .When passion is transformed ,when the desire to seek and search for the other is no more there ,when you are enough unto yourself ,when you don't need anybody ,when the very desire for the other has evaporated ,when you are utterly happy blissful , just being alone ,then passion becomes compassion .Now you don’t' seek the other because you feel empty and lonely ; now you seek the other because you are too full and you would like to share .


The enlightened person also seeks the other just as the unenlightened person seeks , but there is a qualitative difference .The unenlightened person seeks the other because he feels a negative nothingness in him .Left alone he does not feel aloneness , he feels loneliness .The enlightened also seeks the other for the simple reason that somebody had to be found with whom he could share .But now it is not a need , hence he will not compromise .It is not a need ,hence he will not possess .It is not a need , in fact it is just the opposite of it ; it is abundance .It is not a need , it is overflowing joy .When there is overflowing love it is compassion .
Passion arises out of negative nothingness and compassion arises out of positive nothingness .



Loneliness and aloneness

Loneliness is a state of mind when you are constantly missing the other , aloneness is the state of mind when you are constantly delighted in yourself .Loneliness is miserable , aloneness is blissful .Loneliness is always worried ,missing something ,hankering for something , desiring for something ; aloneness is a deep fulfillment ,not going out , tremendously content , happy , celebrating .In loneliness you are off centre , in aloneness you are centered and rooted .


Loneliness and relationships

Now if you move into a relationship when you are feeling lonely ,then you will exploit the other .The other will become a means to satisfy you .You will use the other , and everybody resents being used because no man is here to become a means for anybody else .Every man is an end unto himself .Nobody is here to be used like a thing ,everybody is here to be worshipped like a king .Nobody is here to fulfill anybody else's expectations ,everybody if here just to be himself .

So whenever you move in any relationship out of loneliness ,the relationship is already on the rocks .Even before it has started ,it is already on the rocks .Even before the birth ,the child is dead .It is going to create more misery for you .And remember , when you move from your loneliness you will fall in relationship with somebody who is in the same plight ,because no man who is really living his aloneness will be attracted towards you .You will be too below him .He can , at the most , sympathize ,but cannot love you .One who is on his peak of aloneness can only be attracted towards somebody who is also alone .So whenever you move out of loneliness , you will find a man of the same type ; you will find your own reflection somewhere .Two beggars will meet , two miserable people meet , it is not an ordinary addition ,it is a multiplication .They create much more misery for each other than they could have created in their loneliness .



What is the solution for the same ?

First become alone .First start enjoying yourself .First become so authentically happy that if nobody comes it doesn't matter ; you are full , overflowing .If nobody knocks at your door it is perfectly fine - you are not missing .You are not waiting for somebody to come and knock at the door .You are at home .If somebody comes , good , beautiful .If nobody comes , that too is beautiful and good .
Then move into a relationship .Now you move like a master , not like a beggar .And the person who has lived in his aloneness will always be attracted to another person who is also living his aloneness beautifully ,because the same attracts the same .When two masters meet --masters of their being , of their aloneness -- happiness is not just added , it is multiplied .It becomes a tremendous phenomenon of celebration .And they don't exploit ,they share .They don't use each other .Rather , on the contrary ,they both become one and enjoy the existence that surrounds them .

Complied from various talks of Osho

What are the signs of progress in spiritual life ?

Freedom form all anxiety ; a sense of ease and joy ; deep peace within and abundant energy without .

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

The function of a spiritual therapist

The function of the therapist is not to teach you who you are , but to create situations in which you start discovering yourself .
The first condition is creating self -respect in you which all the religions are against .They all condemn you .They create a sense of guilt , and that is a wound that goes on growing within you .Whatever you do ,something is wrong in it .You can never fulfill the expectations of others for the simple reasons that you have a unique individuality .Each one has to discover his own truth .
The function of the teacher , of the master , of the therapist , of the educationist , is to create just the right atmosphere so that you gain self-respect ,and to give you an acquaintance with the methods for going inwards .
All educational systems take you outwards ;Listening to the person - it will look strange ,because the teacher's function is to make you listen to him .The Socratic method is listening to the person respectfully , patiently , so that he can open up .He need not repress anything , he need not inhibit anything ; he can be utterly naked and yet remain dignified .
If a therapist can do that - help a man to be utterly nude , open , with no secret , hiding nothing - the therapist has succeeded , because in this nudity one realizes one's innocence .One is born again .This nudity is symbolic .just as a child is born nude , you are born again - now spiritually nude .

Excerpted from From Bondage to Freedom , Osho

Thoughts are not a distraction

Thoughts are not necessarily a distraction, nor is the body. Thoughts are arising in present awareness and dissolving back into it. The awareness remains untouched, unstained, immaculate. Thoughts are only a problem if you are preoccupied with them, giving them all your attention. But thoughts in and of themselves are not some kind of enemy. Thoughts can be very useful, functional, and even entertaining. They are allowed in this vast clearing. No problem.

Catherine Ingram

Admitting Negative feelings in spiritual quest

We have to learn to admit that negative feelings are a common experience , no matter how good we are trying to be or what spiritual practice we have engaged in . Jealousy , anger , annoyance ,irritation , pettiness – they all visit with unfortunate regularity .But the trick is not to take them personally or so be shocked by them .And then they have no power over you .The thought of jealousy that arises and fades in a dew moments is not a problem .The jealous thought that is denied and suppressed or is twisted into some kind of justification due to one’s own discomfort with it can often turn into unkind words and actions directed at the object of one’s jealous .In these ways ,the refusal to admit to negative thoughts can create all kinds of problems as we so often see in spiritual leaders and masters who insinuate or even say that they are enlightened but whose behavior belies petty and desperate motivations involving sex , money or power .I prefer to hang out with what Alan Watts called “divine rascals” .Those who know both their divinity and their rascality .

Catherine Ingram
Author of “Passionate Presence – Empowering the Seven Qualities of Awakened Awareness “

The Indispensable Qualities of Awakening

In essence the entire spiritual endeavor is a very simple thing: Spirituality is essentially about awakening as the intuitive awareness of unity and dissolving our attachment to egoic consciousness. By saying that spirituality is a very simple thing, I do not mean to imply that it is either an easy or difficult endeavor. For some it may be very easy, while for others it may be more difficult. There are many factors and influences that play a role in one’s awakening to the greater reality, but the greatest factors by far are one’s sincerity, one-pointedness, and courage.

Sincerity is a word that I often use in teaching to convey the importance of being rooted in the qualities of honesty, authenticity, and genuineness. There can be nothing phony or contrived in our motivations if we are to fully awaken to our natural and integral state of unified awareness. While teachings and teachers can point us inward to “the peace beyond all understanding,” it is always along the thread of our inner sincerity, or lack thereof, that we will travel. For the ego is clever and artful in the ways of deception, and only the honesty and genuineness of our ineffable being are beyond its influence. At each step and with each breath we are given the option of acting and responding, both inwardly and outwardly, from the conditioning of egoic consciousness which values control and separation above all else, or from the intuitive awareness of unity which resides in the inner silence of our being.

Without sincerity it is so very easy for even the greatest spiritual teachings to become little more than playthings of the mind. In our fast-moving world of quick fixes, big promises, and short attention spans, it is easy to remain on a very surface level of consciousness without even knowing it. While the awakened state is ever present and closer than your feet, hands, or eyes, it cannot be approached in a casual or insincere fashion. There is a reason that seekers the world over are instructed to remove their shoes and quiet their voices before entering into sacred spaces. The message being conveyed is that one’s ego must be “taken off and quieted” before access to the divine is granted. All of our ego’s attempts to control, demand, and plead with reality have no influence on it other than to make life more conflicted and difficult. But an open mind and sincere heart have the power to grant us access to realizing what has always been present all along.

When people asked the great Indian sage Nisargadatta what he thought was the most important quality to have in order to awaken, he would say “earnestness.” When you are earnest, you are both sincere and one-pointed; to be one-pointed means to keep your attention on one thing. I have found that the most challenging thing for most spiritual seekers to do is to stay focused on one thing for very long. The mind jumps around with its concerns and questions from moment to moment. Rarely does it stay with one question long enough to penetrate it deeply. In spirituality it is very important not to let the egoic mind keep jumping from one concern to the next like an untrained dog. Remember, awakening is about realizing your true nature and dissolving all attachment to egoic consciousness.

My grandmother who passed away a few years ago used to say to me jokingly, “Getting old is not for wimps.” She was well aware of the challenges of an aging body, and while she never complained or felt any pity for herself, she knew firsthand that aging had its challenges as well as its benefits. There was a courage within my grandmother that served her well as she approached the end of her life, and I am happy to say that when she passed, it was willingly and without fear. In a similar way the process of coming into a full and mature awakening requires courage, as not only our view of life but life itself transforms to align itself with the inner mystic vision. A sincere heart is a robust and courageous heart willing to let go in the face of the great unknown expanse of Being—an expanse which the egoic mind has no way of knowing or understanding.

When one’s awareness opens beyond the dream state of egoic consciousness to the infinite no-thing-ness of intuitive awareness, it is common for the ego to feel much fear and terror as this transition begins. While there is nothing to fear about our natural state of infinite Being, such a state is beyond the ego’s ability to understand, and as always, egos fear whatever they do not understand and cannot control. As soon as our identity leaves the ego realm and assumes its rightful place as the infinite no-thing-ness/every-thing-ness of awareness, all fear vanishes in the same manner as when we awaken from a bad dream. In the same manner in which my grandmother said, “Getting old is not for wimps,” it can also be said that making the transition from the dream state to the mature, awakened state requires courage.

Sincerity, one-pointedness, and courage are indispensable qualities in awakening from the dream state of ego to the peace and ease of awakened Being. All there is left to do is to live it.

© Adyashanti 2008

Happiness is your nature

Mind is consciousness which has put on limitations.
You are originally unlimited and perfect.
Later you take on limitations and become the mind.”

“You need not aspire for or get any new state.
Get rid of your present thoughts,
that is all.”

"You and I are the same.
What I have done is surely possible for all.
You are the Self now
and can never be anything else.
Throw your worries to the wind,
turn within and find Peace."

"Happiness is your nature.
It is not wrong to desire it.
What is wrong is seeking it outside
when it is inside."

..."Bliss is not something to be got.
On the other hand you are always Bliss.
This desire [for Bliss] is born of the sense of incompleteness.
To whom is this sense of incompleteness?
Enquire. In deep sleep you were blissful.
Now you are not so.
What has interposed between that Bliss and this non-bliss?
It is the ego.
Seek its source and find you are Bliss."

"That inner Self, as the primeval Spirit,
Eternal, ever effulgent, full and infinite Bliss,
Single, indivisible, whole and living,
Shines in everyone as the witnessing awareness.
That self in its splendour, shining in the cavity of the heart
This self is neither born nor dies,
Neither grows nor decays,
Nor does it suffer any change.
When a pot is broken, the space within it is not,
And similarly, when the body dies
the Self in it remains eternal."

Ramana Maharshi

21 Rules of Life

ONE. Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.


TWO. Marry a man/woman you love to talk to. As you get older, their conversational skills will be as important as any other.


THREE. Don't believe all you hear, spend all you have or sleep all you want.


FOUR. When you say, 'I love you,' mean it.


FIVE. When you say, 'I'm sorry,' look the person in the eye.


SIX. Be engaged at least six months before you get married.


SEVEN. Believe in love at first sight.


EIGHT. Never laugh at anyone's dreams. People who don't have dreams don't have much.


NINE. Love deeply and passionately. You might get hurt but it's the only way to live life completely.


TEN.. In disagreements, fight fairly. No name calling.


ELEVEN. Don't judge people by their relatives.


TWELVE. Talk slowly but think quickly.


THIRTEEN! .. When someone asks you a question you don't want to answer, smile and ask, 'Why do you want to know?'


FOURTEEN. Remember that great love and great achievements involve great risk.


FIFTEEN. Say 'bless you' when you hear someone sneeze.


SIXTEEN. When you lose, don't lose the lesson.


SEVENTEEN. Remember the three R's: Respect for self; Respect for others; and Responsibility for all your actions.


EIGHTEEN. Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship.


NINETEEN. When you realize you've made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.


TWENTY. Smile when picking up the phone. The caller will hear it in your voice


TWENTY- ONE. Spend some time alone.

The symbolism of Ganesh Chaturthi

Ganesh Chaturthi is celebrated on the day on which Lord Ganesha is believed to bestow his presence on earth for all his devotees. Ganesha, the elephant-headed son of Shiva and Parvati, is worshipped as the supreme god of wisdom, prosperity and good fortune. Though it is celebrated as the birthday of Lord Ganesha , the symbolism behind the festival is much deeper.

The essence of Ganeshji is brought out beautifully by Adi Shankara. Though Ganeshji is worshiped as the the elephant-headed God, the form (swaroop) is just to bring out its parabrahma roopa. Ganeshji is described as Ajam Nirvikalpam Niraakaaramekam. This means that Ganeshji is never born.

He is Ajam (unborn), he is Niraakaar (formless) and he is Nirvikalpa (attributeless). Ganeshji symbolises the consciousness which is omnipresent. Ganeshji is the same energy which is the reason for this universe, from which everything is manifested and it's the same energy in which the whole world will be dissolved. Ganeshji is not somewhere outside of us, but the very centre of our life. But this is very subtle knowledge. Not everybody can perceive the formless without the form. Our ancient Rishis and Munis knew this; so they created the form for the benefit and understanding of people at all levels. Those who can't experience of the formless, over a period of sustained experience of manifested form reach the formless Brahman.

So in reality, Ganeshji is formless; yet there is a form to which Adi Shankara prayed and that form carries the message of the formlesness of Ganeshji. Thus, the form serves as the starting point and gradually the formless consciousness begins to manifest. Ganesh Chaturthi marks a unique art of reaching formless Paramatma called Lord Ganesh by repeated worship of the manifest form of Ganesha. Even the Ganesh Stotram, the prayers recited in the praise of Ganeshji, conveys the same. We pray to Ganeshji in our consciousness to come out and sit in the idol for us for a while so that we can play with him. And after the puja, we again pray asking him to go back to where he comes from; that's our consciousness. While he is in the idol, we offer back whatever God has given us through the puja of the idol.

The ritual of immersing (visaran) the idols after few days of worship reinforces the understanding that God is not in the idol, it's inside us. So experiencing the omnipresent in the form and deriving joy out of the form is the essence of the Ganesha Chaturthi festival. In a way such organised festivity and worships lead to an upsurge in enthusiasm and devotion.

Ganeshji is the lord of all the good qualities in us. So when we worship him, all the good qualities will blossom in us. He is also the lord of knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge dawns only when we become aware of the Self. When there is inertia, there is no knowledge, no wisdom, nor is there any liveliness (Chaitanya) or progress in life. So the consciousness has to be awakened and the presiding diety of consciousness is Ganeshji. That's why before every puja, the Lord Ganesha is worshiped to awaken the consciousness.

Therefore, install the idol, worship it with infinite love, meditate and experience Lord Ganesha from within. This is the symbolic essence of Ganesh Chaturti festival, to awaken the Ganesha tatva which is masked inside us.

Sri Sri Ravishankar is a spiritual guru and founder of the Art of Living Foundation

Dealing with difficult emotions like anger or sadness when they arise

If you are carrying repressed emotions from your past, particularly from your childhood, you will need to allow these emotions right of passage through you so that they can be released. Just feel the emotions as they arise within you. Identify them, confess them and express them in a responsible way, but do not become identified with them.

Do not believe in the story that your feelings are presenting. The story is always from the past. The present moment is free of the past. Whatever it is that you are angry or hurt about is not happening now, so it would not make any sense to believe in it. It is just a memory that you are caught in at some unconscious level.

Let the feelings up. Allow them conscious expression within you. One of the keys to awakening is to come into right relationship with your feelings. Everything that arises within you is seeking unconditional love and acceptance, even your feelings and emotions.

It is only when you repress your feelings that you create an inner disharmony which eventually leads to disease.

Leonard Jacobson

Mental level and Spiritual Level

Looking for heaven in some future time and place is absolute hell. This is because you have wrongly employed time and space to separate your spirit from the heaven of the present pure moment...

See the difference between the mental and spiritual levels. The mental level consists of thoughts, attitudes, memory, imagination. When rightly used the mental level guides your performances in work or play and other everyday matters. A distorted mental level builds egotism which makes life hell on earth.

The higher spiritual level does not employ thought or imagination but sees and acts from pure wisdom. The mental level thinks but the spiritual level knows. The spiritual level accurately guides the mental level when the individual wisely permits it.

Most people stop their inner development on the mental level, believing it to be the spiritual level. Ordinary religious people suffer emotional hell because they don't see that hell operates on the mental level but heaven does not. They fail to see the painful contradiction of calling themselves saved while still living in frantic fear and hidden hostility. To be saved means to be saved from yourself, including rescue from self-deception, self-betrayal and self-injury.


Vernon Howard

Is creative happiness realizable ?

That is, can the mind keep in touch with that which is the source of all happiness ? Can this openness be sustained in spite of knowledge and technique , in spite of education and the crowding in of life ?It can be , but only when the educator is educated to this reality , only when he who teaches is himself in touch with the source of creative happiness .So our problem is not the pupil , the child , but the teacher and the parent .Education is a vicious circle only when we do not see the importance , the essential necessity above all else , of this supreme happiness .After all , to be open to the source of all happiness is the highest religion ; but to realize this happiness , you must give right attention to it , as you do to business .The teacher's profession is not a mere routine job , but the expression of beauty and joy ,which cannot be measured in terms of achievement and success .

The light of reality and its bliss are destroyed when the mind ,which is the seat of self , assumes control .Self -knowledge is the beginning of wisdom ; without self-knowledge , learning leads to ignorance ,strife and sorrow .

J Krishnamurti
Commentaries on Living , Series-2 ,Ch-1- Creative Happiness