Why do
most of us want to have our Minds continuously occupied & keep ourselves
busy, with one activity or other, inwardly and outwardly ?
Most of us want to have our minds
continually occupied , so that , we are prevented from seeing ourselves , as we
actually are. We are afraid to be empty. We are afraid to look at ourselves
Most people are constantly
occupied with something (even after retiring from jobs) - with puja, with the
repetition of certain words, with worrying over this or that - because they are
frightened to be alone with themselves. You try being alone, without any form
of distraction, and you will see how quickly you want to get away from yourself
and forget what you are. That is why this enormous structure of professional
amusement, of automated distraction, is so prominent a part of what we call civilization.
If you observe you will see that people the world over are becoming more and
more distracted, increasingly sophisticated and worldly. The multiplication of
pleasures, the innumerable books that are being published, the newspaper pages
filled with sporting events, TV soap opera’s etc., - surely, all these indicate
that we constantly want to be amused. Because we are inwardly empty, dull,
mediocre, we use our relationships and our social reforms as a means of escaping
from ourselves. Have you noticed how
lonely most people are? And to escape from loneliness we run to temples,
churches, or mosques, we dress up and attend social functions, we watch
television, listen to the radio, read, and so on.
Each one of us has an image of what we
think we are or what we should be, and that image, that picture, entirely
prevents us from seeing ourselves as we actually are.
One must learn the art of looking, not only at the clouds and
the flowers, at the movement of a tree in the wind, but actually looking at
ourselves as we are, not saying, 'It is ugly', 'It is beautiful, or 'Is that
all?', all the verbal assertions that one has with regard to oneself. When we
can look at ourselves clearly, without the image, then perhaps we shall be able
to discover what is true for ourselves. And that truth is not in the realm of
thought but of direct perception, in which there is no separation between the
observer and the observed.
When you remove all the ‘labels’ attached to you, namely,
your name, profession, lineage, place, roles in the society etc., what is that
remains in “You” . A big ‘NOTHING’. ‘Shunya’. Shunya means ‘void’ or ‘emptiness’
or “Nothingness” in snaskrit. It is the true nature of all phenomena, devoid of
all individual self or substance. This space of stillness is deeply replenishing to life. When
we allow ourself to rest for some time in stillness, we can get back in touch
with the essential quality of pure being, just as we are – “NOTHINGNESS” . And nobody wants and fears to travel into
nothingess or emptiness or void . Hence we keep ourselves busy or engage
ourselves with something or the other, to avoid entering to the true nature of
the being-SELF.
Meditation as per Hindu philosophy is used to reach a state
of nothingness and peace, or Buddhist nirvana, which refers to attainment of
salvation by merging into the void of eternity.
(with inputs from J.Krishnamurthy talks)
