The Whole and Holy Circle

A BLIND MAN visited his friends. It was dark when he left, and they gave him a lantern.

'Thank you, but I don't need it. Light or dark, it is all the same to me.'

'Yes, but carry it anyway so people won't bump into you.'

Off he went, and soon someone collided with him and shouted, 'Why don't you look where you're going?'

'Why, don't you see my lantern?'

'Sorry, brother,' said the other, 'your candle went out.'

The scriptures in the hands of people who don't know what meditation is are just like a lantern in the hands of a blind man - utterly useless. And the blind man cannot know whether the lantern is still lit or not. He will simply be carrying an unnecessary weight. In fact, not helpful at all - on the contrary, it can be a hindrance. If the blind man had been moving without the lantern he would have been more careful, more cautious. Because of the lantern in his hand, he must have been walking as if he had eyes, he must have put all caution aside.

That's what has happened to humanity at large. People have the Bible, the Koran, the Gita - these are lamps of immense beauty and light, but your eyes are blind. And the Gita is five thousand years old - the light went out long long ago. When Krishna died the light went out. So is the case with the Bible and the Koran and all the other holy scriptures of the world. When the Master dies, the light goes out.

But people go on carrying the scriptures, believing the scriptures, hoping that their life will remain full of light because they are carrying a message from a great Master. That message is nothing more than words; it is an unnecessary burden. If all the scriptures of the world disappear, man may become more cautious, may become more alert, may start looking for the source of light on his own.

Because there will be nothing to lean on, he will have to learn to stand on his own feet.

Lung-t'an was once visited by Te-shan, who, seeking further and further elucidation, remained until it grew late. Lung-t'an finally said, 'The night deepens. Why don't you retire?'

Te-shan, taking his leave, raised the bamboo blind and went out. Seeing the intense darkness without, he returned and said, 'It is dark outside.'

Lung-t'an then lit a lantern and offered it to Te-shan. Just as Te-shan was about to take it, Lung-t'an abruptly blew it out. With this, Te-shan suddenly attained awakening, whereupon he bowed.

Lung-t'an said, 'What kind of truth did you see?'

Te-shan said, 'Never after today shall I doubt the utterances of all the old Masters under heaven.'

The next day Lung-t'an went before the disciples and said, 'Within this group there is a man whose canine teeth are like sword trees, whose mouth resembles a bloody plate, and who won't turn his head even when given a blow with a stick. One day he will establish my Way on the top of a solitary mountain peak.'

Te-shan then took out his sutra commentaries and, in front of the meditation hall, raised a torch and said, 'Endless deep analysis is like placing a single hair in the emptiness of space; worldly power is like throwing one drop of water into an immense gorge.'

So saying, he took his commentaries and burned them.

Now, if you don't have eyes even light is useless. A lantern in your hands is nothing, utterly nothing.

But if you have eyes, even blowing out a candle can become an experience of enlightenment. The question is of eyes.

This man Lung-t'an was visited by Te-shan. Lung-t'an is the Master, Te-shan is his disciple. Seeing the darkness outside, the disciple said to the Master, 'It is too dark.'

The Master lit a candle and gave it to the disciple; and as he was going to take it, he blew it out.

Suddenly, all became dark again, more dark than it was before. And this abrupt blowing-out of the candle must have been a shock - unexpected. For a moment the disciple must have fallen into the interval between two thoughts. For a moment thinking disappeared and there was contemplation.

For a moment there was utter silence. In that silence he could see the point.

The next day he burned all his scriptures. Now they were no longer needed; now he knew the truth through his own experience.

A little bit of experience is more valuable than mountains of knowledge. Just two small eyes are more valuable than the sun and the moon and all the stars. The whole point is that religion is an experience. It is not speculation, it is not continuous analysis, it is insight.

Now the sutras.

These sutras are of immense value because they give you the technique in the simplest terms possible. And the method is really simple - unless you are determined to make it complex.

The mind always turns simple things into complexities. Beware of that, because the mind cannot exist with the simple; it is not needed. If things are really simple, what is the need of the mind? The mind is needed only when things are complex. Then you have to depend on the mind because then the mind will find the way out of the riddle. But if there is no riddle, the mind is utterly useless; you can discard it. So the investment of the mind is in complexity.

Remember it - these sutras are very simple. Truth is always simple, utterly simple.

Master Lu-tsu said: NOTHING IS POSSIBLE WITHOUT CONTEMPLATION.

What is contemplation? A moment of no-thought.

The English word 'contemplation' does not give the right idea of DHYANA. In English there is no word which can translate the word DHYANA.

There are three words available. One is 'concentration', which is very far-off, because concentration means effort, tension; a forced state, not a flowing spontaneous state. And DHYANA is a flowing spontaneity. There is no strain in it, so the word 'concentration' cannot be its translation.

Then the other word is 'contemplation'. But in English, contemplation gives the idea of thinking.

When you say somebody is contemplating, you mean thinking about something.

Or the third word is 'meditation', but that too means thinking: to meditate upon something. Of these three words no word carries the meaning of DHYANA. DHYANA means a state of no-thought, a state of silence, a state of being conscious, but without any content. The mirror is there but reflecting nothing, nothing whatsoever. Just like the mirror, the consciousness is there, but nothing is occupying it. That unoccupied awareness IS DHYANA.

Taoists use the word 'contemplation' to translate it. It is only because some word has to be used. So remember the meaning - it is not the meaning in the dictionaries. If you look into the dictionaries you will have a totally false idea of contemplation. In fact that is what THE SECRET OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER calls 'false contemplation'. False contemplation means thinking about something. It may be God - that's what Christians mean by contemplation - thinking about God, thinking about holy things, transcendental things. But things are things; whether they are holy or unholy makes no difference. And thinking is thinking; whether you think about sex or samadhi makes no difference.

A state of no-thought, an interval... And it is always happening, but you are not alert about it; otherwise there is no problem in it. One thought comes, then another comes, and between these two thoughts there is always a small gap. And that gap is the door to the divine, that gap is contemplation.

If you look into that gap deeply, it starts becoming bigger and bigger.

The mind is like a road full of traffic; one car passes by, then another car passes by, and you become so concerned with the cars that you don't see the gap that is always there between two cars. Otherwise they would collide. They don't collide; something is there between them that keeps them separate. Your thoughts don't collide, they don't run over each other, into each other. They don't even overlap in any way. Each thought has its own boundary, each thought is definable, but the procession of thoughts is so fast, so speedy, that you cannot see the gap unless you are really waiting for it, searching for it.

Contemplation means changing the gestalt. Ordinarily we look at thoughts: one thought, another thought, another thought. When you change the gestalt you look at one interval, another interval, another interval. Your emphasis is no longer on the thoughts but on the interval.

For example, you are sitting here. I can look at you in two ways: either one person, another person, another person - my emphasis is on persons, I can count how many people there are - or I can forget about the persons and I can count the gaps between the persons, how many gaps are there.

This is the change of gestalt. If you count the gaps you will be surprised: persons become vague, you don't see them clearly because you are looking into the gaps, you are counting the gaps.

Standing by the side of the road some day, just count how many gaps pass by and you will be surprised: you don't see the colour of the cars, you don't see the make of the cars, you don't see the drivers and the passengers in the cars, but you do see gaps - one gap gone, another gap gone.

You go on counting the gaps. Your gestalt is different.

Contemplation is the change of gestalt; not jumping from one thought to another thought, but jumping from one gap to another gap. Slowly slowly you become very very aware of the gaps.

And that is one of the greatest secrets of life, because it is through those gaps that you will fall into your own being, into your own centre.

Master Lu-tsu said: NOTHING IS POSSIBLE WITHOUT CONTEMPLATION. PERCEIVING BRINGS ONE TO THE GOAL.

Perceiving, just perceiving... what in India we call DARSHAN. Seeing brings one to the goal, not going anywhere. You need not go anywhere, just SEE. Once you start looking into the intervals, into the gaps, you will be able to see who you are. And you are the goal, you are both the source and the goal, the beginning and the end, the alpha and the omega. You contain all that you have ever longed for, you have all that you have ever desired. You need not be a beggar. If you choose to look into the gaps you will be an emperor, if you continue to look into the thoughts you will remain a beggar.

PERCEIVING BRINGS ONE TO THE GOAL.

Not even a single step has to be taken beyond yourself because God is already within you, God is already the case. It is your innermost core. God is not there above, somewhere in the sky; God is within you, somewhere where thoughts no more disturb you, where silence prevails, where utter unoccupied consciousness is present, reflecting nothing.

Then you experience your own taste for the first time, then you are full of the fragrance of your own being. The Golden Flower blooms.

WHAT HAS TO BE REVERSED BY REFLECTION IS THE SELF-CONSCIOUS HEART, WHICH HAS TO DIRECT ITSELF TOWARDS THAT POINT WHERE THE FORMATIVE SPIRIT IS NOT YET MANIFEST.

The thought is the manifest; the no-thought is the unmanifest. If your gestalt consists only of thoughts you will not know anything more than the ego. The ego is called 'the self-conscious heart'. You remain nothing but a bundle of thoughts. That bundle of thoughts gives you a consciousness of the self, 'I am'.

Descartes, the father of modern Western philosophy, says, 'I think, therefore I am.' His own meaning is very different because he is not a meditator, but the statement is beautiful; in a totally different context it is beautiful. I give it a different meaning. Yes, I am only if I think. If thinking disappears, the I also disappears. 'I think, therefore I am.' This I-amness, this self-conscious heart is nothing but a continuum of thoughts. It is not really an entity, it is a false entity, an illusion. It is just like taking a torch in your hand and if you start revolving the torch in your hand you will see a fire circle which is not there. But the torch is moving so fast that it creates an illusory circle of fire, it creates the illusion of a fire circle. It is not there. Thoughts are moving so fast that they create the idea of I.

Lu-tsu says one has to move from the self-conscious heart to the unself-conscious heart. One has to move from ego to egolessness, one has to move from self to no-self. The self is the manifest part - tiny, very small, gross. The unself is the unmanifest part - infinite, eternal. The self is a temporal phenomenon, born one day, will have to die one day. The unself, what Buddha calls ANATTA, no-self, is part of eternity, never born and never going to die. It abides forever.

WITHIN OUR SIX-FOOT BODY WE MUST STRIVE FOR THE FORM WHICH EXISTED BEFORE THE LAYING DOWN OF HEAVEN AND EARTH.

And within your six-foot body you have that original quality still alive, vibrating, that original quality that was there before heaven and earth were made. Zen people call it 'the original face' - when nothing was born, not even earth or heaven; an was unmanifest; when all was silence and no sound was born; when there was no form and all was formless, all was in seed.

You have that original silence in you. Hindus call it ANAHAT NAD. Buddhists have a special expression for it, 'the sound of one hand clapping'. It is within you, it is your reality. To taste it is to become immortal, to taste it is to be golden. Then dust is transformed into the divine.

The goal of all alchemy is to transform the lower metal into IF TODAY PEOPLE SIT AND MEDITATE ONLY ONE OR TWO HOURS, LOOKING ONLY AT THEIR OWN EGOS, AND CALL THIS REFLECTION, HOW CAN ANYTHING COME OF IT?

One can sit in meditation and can only look at one's ego. That's what people call contemplation:

they look into their thoughts, they don't change the gestalt. All that happens to them is that because they are ordinarily occupied with so many things, they cannot look into their thoughts. When they sit specially for meditation they forget the world for the moment and the thoughts become more clear-cut, they are more alert to their thoughts.

This is the state of a philosopher, this is how philosophers have been thinking, speculating, philosophizing. This is not true contemplation. And this will never take you beyond the ego, beyond death, beyond time. And that is where one's goal lies.

Let me repeat: if you want to meditate you will have to change the gestalt. Just closing your eyes and looking into the ego won't help.

The great English philosopher, David Hume, wrote, 'Hearing and reading again and again the great maxim and the advice of all the great Masters, "Know thyself, meditate," I also tried to meditate. But I found nothing inside except thoughts, memories, imagination, dreams. I have found nothing else.'

He is right because he does not know what meditation is. He is a philosopher, and one of the most talented philosophers of the world, very very logical, consistent - but just a philosopher, not a meditator. He must have tried if he says so, and he must have come across many thoughts wandering around inside. And then he said, 'But I don't see any self, I don't see any silence, I don't see any God. It is all futile.'

He missed because he was not aware that first you have to change the gestalt. You have not to look at the thoughts, you have to look in the gaps for the gaps, you have to search for the gaps and you have to jump into the gaps. If he had jumped into the gaps he would have seen thoughts disappear, dreams disappear, memories disappear. All left behind, slowly slowly it becomes a very very distant noise. And then a moment comes... it simply disappears and you have gone beyond. You have reached the further shore.

ONE SHOULD LOOK AT THE TIP OF ONE'S NOSE.

Now the practical point of the whole sutra - very simple, but try to understand it correctly, because mind wants to distort even simple things. Mind is a distorting mechanism.

ONE SHOULD LOOK AT THE TIP OF ONE'S NOSE.

Why? - because this helps, it brings you in line with the third eye. When both your eyes are fixed on the tip of the nose it does many things. The basic is that your third eye is exactly in line with the tip of the nose - just a few inches above, but in the same line. And once you are in the line of the third eye, the attraction of the third eye, the pull, the magnetism, of the third eye is so great that if you have fallen in line with it you will be pulled even against yourself. You just have to be exactly in line with it so that the attraction, the gravitation, of the third eye starts functioning. Once you are exactly in line with it there will be no need to make any effort. Suddenly you will find the gestalt has changed, because the two eyes create the duality of the world and thought, and the single eye between the two eyes creates the gaps. This is a simple method of changing the gestalt.

ONE SHOULD LOOK AT THE TIP OF ONE'S NOSE. BUT THIS DOES NOT MEAN THAT ONE SHOULD FASTEN ONE'S THOUGHTS TO THE TIP OF THE NOSE.

That's how the mind can distort it. The mind can say, 'Okay, now look at the tip of the nose. Think of the tip of the nose, concentrate on it.' If you concentrate too much on the tip of the nose you will miss the point, because you have to be there at the tip of the nose but very relaxed so that the third eye can pull you. If you are too concentrated on the tip of the nose, rooted, focused, fixed there, your third eye will not be able to pull you in, because your third eye has never functioned before. Its pull cannot be very great in the beginning. Slowly slowly it grows more and more. Once it starts functioning and the dust that has gathered around it disappears with use, and the mechanism is humming well, then even if you are fixed on the tip of the nose you will be pulled in. But not in the beginning. You have to be very very light, not a burden, without any stress and strain. You have to be simply there, present, in a kind of let-go.

NEITHER THAT, WHILE THE EYES ARE LOOKING AT THE TIP OF THE NOSE, THE THOUGHTS SHOULD BE CONCENTRATED ON THE YELLOW MIDDLE.

So don't concentrate on the tip of the nose or - the second trick the mind can play... The Master is simply trying to make you alert to all the possibilities, to all the games that the mind is capable of.

First it will say, 'Okay, so the Master says, "Concentrate on the tip of the nose."' He is not saying, 'Concentrate on the tip of the nose,' he is simply saying 'Look. Just a very light, effortless look.' Or the mind can say, 'Okay, if you are just looking at the tip of the nose, then concentrate on the third eye.'

Mind is always in favour of concentration because mind feeds on concentration, lives on concentration. Hence in your schools, colleges, universities, concentration is taught not meditation, because they are all factories for creating the mind; they manufacture the mind.

WHEREVER THE EYE LOOKS, THE HEART IS DIRECTED ALSO. HOW CAN IT BE DIRECTED AT THE SAME TIME UPWARD AND DOWNWARD?

And then the mind can say, 'Look, this is impossible, the demand is illogical. How can you look in two directions simultaneously, at the tip of the nose and at the third eye? It is not possible, it cannot be done. Don't be foolish!'

Now the third game of the mind - of condemning something as illogical. First it creates a bogus idea and then it starts destroying it. And when it destroys, it has great joy - a very masochistic, sadistic joy. It says, 'Look, this is what he means. Absurdity! First look at the tip of the nose and then look at the third eye - how can you do both, look upward and downward? It is impossible.'

ALL THAT MEANS CONFUSING THE FINGER WITH WHICH ONE POINTS TO THE MOON WITH THE MOON ITSELF.

WHAT THEN IS REALLY MEANT BY THIS? THE EXPRESSION 'TIP OF THE NOSE' IS CLEVERLY CHOSEN. THE NOSE MUST SERVE THE EYES AS A GUIDE-LINE.

That's all - just as a guide-line, so you are in the field, in the force-field, of the third eye, so that you are very close to the magnetic energy of the third eye. It can't work in any other way. You have just to be present to the magnetic force, in the field of it, and then it takes you in. You need not go in, you need not make any effort to go in; it happens of its own accord.

IF ONE IS NOT GUIDED BY THE NOSE, EITHER ONE OPENS WIDE THE EYES AND LOOKS INTO THE DISTANCE, SO THAT THE NOSE IS NOT SEEN, OR THE LIDS SHUT TOO MUCH, SO THAT THE EYES CLOSE, AND AGAIN THE NOSE IS NOT SEEN. BUT WHEN THE EYES ARE OPENED TOO WIDE, ONE MAKES THE MISTAKE OF DIRECTING THEM OUTWARD, WHEREBY ONE IS EASILY DISTRACTED.

And another function of looking very lightly at the tip of the nose is this: that it doesn't allow you to open your eyes wide. If you open your eyes wide the whole world becomes available. And there are a thousand and one distractions. A beautiful woman passes by and you start following - at least in the mind. Or somebody is fighting; you are not concerned, but you start thinking, 'What is going to happen?' Or somebody is crying and you become curious. A thousand and one things are continuously moving around you. If the eyes are wide open, you become masculine energy, yang.

If the eyes are completely closed you fall into a kind of reverie, you start dreaming; you become feminine energy, yin. To avoid both just look at the tip of the nose - a simple device, but the result is almost magical.

And this is not only so with the Taoists, Buddhists know it, Hindus know it. Down the ages all the meditators have somehow stumbled upon the fact that if your eyes are just half open, in a very miraculous way you escape two pitfalls. One is being distracted by the outside world, the other is being distracted by the inside dream world. You remain exactly on the boundary of the inner and the outer. And that's the point: to be on the boundary of the inner and the outer means you are neither male nor female in that moment. Your vision is free of duality; your vision has transcended the division in you. Only when you are beyond the division in you do you fall into the line of the magnetic field of the third eye.

IF THEY ARE CLOSED TOO MUCH, ONE MAKES THE MISTAKE OF LETTING THEM TURN INWARD, WHEREBY ONE EASILY SINKS INTO A DREAMY REVERIE. ONLY WHEN THE EYELIDS ARE LOWERED PROPERLY HALFWAY IS THE TIP OF THE NOSE SEEN IN JUST THE RIGHT WAY. THEREFORE IT IS TAKEN AS A GUIDE-LINE. THE MAIN THING IS TO LOWER THE EYELIDS IN THE RIGHT WAY, AND THEN TO ALLOW THE LIGHT TO STREAM IN OF ITSELF...

That is very important to remember: you are not to pull the light in, you are not to force the light in. If the window is open, the light comes in of its own accord. If the door is open, the light floods in. You need not bring it in, you need not push it in, you need not drag it in. And how can you drag light in?

How can you push light in? All that is needed is that you should be open and vulnerable to it.

And that's exactly what happens when you are looking at the tip of the nose. Just looking, without any concentration, just looking, without any heaviness in it, without any strain in it, suddenly the window of the third eye opens and the light starts streaming in. The light that has always been going out starts coming in too, and the circle is complete.

And this circle makes a man perfect. And this circle makes a man utterly restful, relaxed. This circle makes a man whole and holy. He is no more divided.

Otherwise everybody is more or less schizophrenic. Only this man who has been able to create the circle of light - and the circulation of the light is beyond schizophrenia - is really healthy, is really non-neurotic. Otherwise the difference between people is not much. The neurotic and the so-called non-neurotic differ only in degree. In fact, the patient and the psychoanalyst are not different kinds of people, they are the same - one neurotic trying to help another neurotic. And sometimes it happens that the one who is helping may be more neurotic than the one he is trying to help.

More psychoanalysts go mad than any other profession in the world. More psychoanalysts commit suicide than any other profession in the world. Why? In a way it seems reasonable, logical.

Continuously dealing with neurosis, all kinds of madnesses - and they themselves are not whole - naturally, they are going to be affected. They are feeding themselves with these neuroses. When a psychoanalyst is listening to the patient and all his nonsense and rubbish, unconsciously he is collecting it in himself. The patient is dumping all his nonsense on the psychoanalyst. In fact, he pays for that. Slowly slowly the psychoanalyst has so much neurosis dumped in him that it is going to explode. It is natural.

If I were to decide about who should be the psychoanalyst then this process of making light circulate would be the basic requirement, the fundamental requirement for a psychoanalyst. Unless a person were capable of circulating his light he would not be allowed to treat anybody. And if a person is capable of circulating the light in himself he will never be affected by any kind of neurosis. He can listen, he can help - he will remain untouched. His circulation of light will keep him clean, purified.

He will be a holy person.

That is the difference between a guru and a psychoanalyst: only a guru can really be a psychoanalyst, only a guru can really be a therapist. Only a person who has come to his wholeness can be of real help to others who are on the way, struggling, stumbling in the dark. Otherwise the blind man is leading another blind man - both are going to fall in some well.

This book, THE SECRET OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER, must become the most fundamental practice in the future for anybody who wants to become a psychotherapist. You will be surprised: the man, Wilhelm, who translated this book into a Western language for the first time, was himself a great psychologist; that's how he became interested in this book. But after he translated it he went mad, he became very disturbed. His whole psychoanalytic training and this book created such a contradiction in him, created such a riddle in him, that he became more divided. The translation of this book drowned him in a kind of madness. He became so disoriented because his whole training, his whole understanding, was disturbed.

Remember it, the secret is not very difficult. That is the difficulty of it - it is so simple that you only have to be on guard so that your mind does not make it difficult, does not give it twists and turns and contortions and distortions.

THEREFORE IT IS TAKEN AS A GUIDE-LINE. THE MAIN THING IS TO LOWER THE EYELIDS IN THE RIGHT WAY, AND THEN TO ALLOW THE LIGHT TO STREAM IN OF ITSELF; WITHOUT EFFORT, WANTING THE LIGHT TO STREAM IN CONCENTRATEDLY.

There is no need to bring the light in concentratedly; it comes of its own accord. And when it comes of its own accord it is beautiful. If you start trying to bring it in you will be a failure, your effort is doomed to fail. And the more you fail the harder you will try, and the more you try the more your failure will be guaranteed.

Don't try to bring it in, just leave yourself in the right situation where it becomes available.

For example, if the moon is there in the night, just come to the window and stand at the window, and the moon starts showering its nectar on you. You need not do anything else, just be in a place where the moon is already streaming. Just make yourself available in the right field and things start happening - things which have immense value.

LOOKING AT THE TIP OF THE NOSE SERVES ONLY AS THE BEGINNING OF THE INNER CONCENTRATION, SO THAT THE EYES ARE BROUGHT INTO THE RIGHT DIRECTION FOR LOOKING, AND THEN ARE HELD TO THE GUIDE-LINE: AFTER THAT, ONE CAN LET IT BE.

THIS IS THE WAY A MASON HANGS UP A PLUMB-LINE. AS SOON AS HE HAS HUNG IT UP, HE GUIDES HIS WORK BY IT WITHOUT CONTINUALLY BOTHERING HIMSELF TO LOOK AT THE PLUMB-LINE.

ONE LOOKS WITH BOTH EYES AT THE TIP OF THE NOSE...

Remember, you have to look with both eyes at the tip of the nose so that at the tip of the nose your two eyes lose their duality. So, on the tip of the nose the light that is streaming out from your eyes becomes one; it falls on a single point. Where your two eyes meet, that is the place where the window opens. And then all is well. Then let it be, then simply enjoy, then simply celebrate, delight, rejoice. Then nothing has to be done.

ONE LOOKS WITH BOTH EYES AT THE TIP OF THE NOSE, SITS UPRIGHT...

It is helpful to sit upright. When your spine is straight, the energy from your sex centre also becomes available to the third eye. Just simple devices, nothing complex about them... it is just that when your two eyes meet at the tip of the nose, you are available to the third eye. Make your sex energy also available to the third eye. Then the effect will be double, the effect will be forceful, because your sex centre has all the energy that you have. When the spine is erect, straight, the sex centre is also available to the third eye. It is better to attack the third eye from both dimensions, to try to penetrate the third eye from both directions.

ONE... SITS UPRIGHT AND IN A COMFORTABLE POSITION...

The Master is making things very clear. Upright, certainly, but don't make it uncomfortable; otherwise again you will be distracted by your discomfort. That is the meaning of a yoga posture. The Sanskrit word ASANA means a comfortable posture. Comfort is the basic quality of it. If it is not comfortable then your mind will be distracted by the discomfort. It has to be comfortable.

If you cannot sit on the floor like Eastern people can - because they have been sitting for centuries...

If a Western seeker cannot sit on the floor straight, comfortably, and he has to force himself, and it becomes uncomfortable and painful, then it is better to sit straight on a chair. But let the back of the chair be straight. You must have seen pictures and statues of ancient Egyptian kings and queens.

Their chairs have very straight backs. Then sit like that. That also is a yoga posture. Those ancient Egyptians knew the secrets.

Anyway, two things: your spine should be straight and your posture should be comfortable. If both are not possible... sometimes it is so, both are not possible. If you make your spine straight it becomes uncomfortable, if you become comfortable the spine is no longer straight - then choose comfort. It will not be as good but the next best thing is to choose comfort. Then forget about the spine and its straightness, because if the mind is distracted, nothing is going to happen. If it is possible to have both then it is very beautiful.

Sit IN A COMFORTABLE POSITION. One sits upright and in a comfortable position, AND HOLDS THE HEART TO THE CENTRE IN THE MIDST OF CONDITIONS.

And don't escape from the world. Live in the world, in the conditions of it. The noise of the traffic is there, and the aeroplane passes by, and the trains are shuttling. All kinds of things are there, all these situations - the world. But sit silently IN the world, because escaping to a Himalayan cave is always dangerous - dangerous for the single reason that the silence of the Himalayas is contagious and you will feel that you have become silent. And the coolness of the air is contagious and you will think that you have cooled down. It will be borrowed, and whenever you come back to the market- place all will be gone. And then you will know that all those years in the Himalayas were a wastage, a sheer wastage; you were simply befooling yourself.

It is better to be in the world and attain to centring, because then it cannot be taken away from you.

So wherever you are, you have to become centred in those conditions.

IT DOES NOT NECESSARILY MEAN THE MIDDLE OF THE HEAD.

And by centring it is not meant that you have to be centred in the middle of the head.

IT IS ONLY A MATTER OF FIXING ONE'S THINKING ON THE POINT WHICH LIES EXACTLY BETWEEN THE TWO EYES.

And remember, not concentrating but just remaining alert, just a slight alertness. Look at the tip of the nose and remain slightly alert to the third eye. In fact, the moment you look at the tip of the nose you will become alert to the third eye, because that is the other pole of the nose. One pole, the outer pole, is the tip, the end; the other end of the nose is joined with the third eye. The moment you become aware of the tip you will suddenly become aware of the other end too. But just remain aware, effortlessly aware.

IT IS ONLY A MATTER OF FIXING ONE'S THINKING ON THE POINT WHICH LIES EXACTLY BETWEEN THE TWO EYES. THEN ALL IS WELL.

A tremendous statement: THEN ALL IS WELL. You have started arriving home. You are on the threshold of a revolution.

THE LIGHT IS SOMETHING EXTREMELY MOBILE.

Light is always moving, light is movement. And light is the greatest movement in the world. The speed of light is one hundred-and eighty-six thousand miles in a single second. Nothing moves at a greater speed than light. Light is pure speed; it is another name for speed. Light is never dormant, it is always dynamic, it is always moving, always flowing.

THE LIGHT IS SOMETHING EXTREMELY MOBILE. WHEN ONE FIXES THE THOUGHT ON THE MID-POINT BETWEEN THE TWO EYES, THE LIGHT STREAMS IN OF ITS OWN ACCORD.

You need not be worried. Just open the window and wait. Light is such a moving phenomenon that if the window is open it is going to move in. In &ct, it has been knocking on the window for many many lives, but the window has not opened and it cannot force it open.

It is just like in the morning the sun has risen, and you are fast asleep. And the rays come on the window and they knock on the window - but their knock is silent, they don't make any noise - and they wait there. The moment you wake up and you open the window, the light streams in. And with light comes life, and with light comes delight.

WHEN ONE FIXES THE THOUGHT ON THE MID-POINT BETWEEN THE TWO EYES, THE LIGHT STREAMS IN OF ITS OWN ACCORD.

Remember the words OF ITS OWN ACCORD. You are not a doer, you are just in a kind of let-go, you are surrendered to light.

IT IS NOT NECESSARY TO DIRECT THE ATTENTION ESPECIALLY TO THE CENTRAL CASTLE.

IN THESE FEW WORDS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS CONTAINED.

The very secret of transforming your whole being, the very secret of the kingdom of God, the very secret of NIRVANA...

'THE CENTRE IN THE MIDST OF CONDITIONS' IS A VERY SUBTLE EXPRESSION. THE CENTRE IS OMNIPRESENT; EVERYTHING IS CONTAINED IN IT; IT IS CONNECTED WITH THE RELEASE OF THE WHOLE PROCESS OF CREATION.

And when you have reached the third-eye point and you are centred there and the light is flooding in, you have reached the point from which the whole creation has arisen. You have reached the formless, the unmanifest. Call it God if you will. This is the point, this is the space, from which all has arisen. This is the very seed of the whole existence. It is omnipotent, it is omnipresent, it is eternal.

Now you will not know any death. Now you will not know any identity with any kind of body, young, old, beautiful, ugly. Now you will not know any kind of disease - not that diseases will not happen to the body, but they will not happen to you anymore because you are no more identified.

Raman Maharshi died of cancer. The body was in great agony but he was smiling. The doctors were puzzled, they could not believe it. It was not believable. The body was in such agony and he was in such great ecstasy. How was it possible? And they asked again and again, 'How is it possible?' And he would say again and again, 'There is nothing strange about it. I am not the body. So whatsoever is happening in the body, it is just as if you were witnessing my body. I am also witnessing my body.

You are not feeling any pain so why should I? You are a witness, I am a witness. The body is just an object - an object in the middle of both of us. You are seeing from the outside that it is in agony, I am seeing from the inside that it is in agony. If you are not affected just by seeing it, why should I be?'

In fact, the doctors were affected. They were feeling very sympathetic. They were sad. They were feeling helpless. They would have liked to save this man - one of the most beautiful people that has ever walked on earth. But they could not. They were crying, but Raman was not affected at all.

There is a transcendence point within you at which suddenly you become disconnected from all that is manifest and you become connected with the unmanifest. To be connected with the unmanifest is to be free - free from all misery, all limitation, all bondage.

FIXATING CONTEMPLATION IS INDISPENSABLE...

And this is something which you cannot avoid - it is indispensable. If you want to reach a state of beatitude you will have to go through this fixating, this process of contemplation, meditation, or DHYANA.

... IT ENSURES THE MAKING FAST OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT. ONLY ONE MUST NOT STAY SITTING RIGIDLY IF WORLDLY THOUGHTS COME up...

Now the second, very important, piece of advice from the Master.

... ONE MUST NOT STAY SITTING RIGIDLY IF WORLDLY THOUGHTS COME UP, BUT ONE MUST EXAMINE WHERE THE THOUGHT IS, WHERE IT BEGAN, AND WHERE IT FADES OUT.

This is not going to happen in the first try. You will be looking at the tip of the nose and thoughts will come. They have been coming for so many lives, they cannot leave you alone so easily. They have become part of you, they have become almost built-in. You are living almost a programmed life.

Have you ever watched what you go on doing? Then tomorrow morning do one thing: the moment you wake up in the morning, simply watch what you do - how you get out of bed, how you move, what thoughts you have in the mind... Just watch. And for one week you watch. You will be surprised:

you do exactly the same thing every morning - the same gestures, the same face, and almost the same kind of thoughts. You have become a programmed phenomenon. And you have been doing this your whole life - and maybe for many lives, who knows?

When you become angry, watch - it is always the same process. You move through the same spaces. When you are happy, watch. When you fall in love, watch. And when you fall out of love, watch. It is almost the same process. And you go on doing the same stupid things again and again, and you go on making the same stupid statements again and again.

You are not living a conscious life: ninety-nine percent of you is programmed - programmed by others, programmed by society, or programmed by yourself, but it is programmed. So it is not so easy that when you sit and look at the tip of the nose for the first time, thoughts will say, 'Now we should not go to this man. Look at the poor fellow - how deeply he is meditating! And he is looking at the tip of the nose... This is not the time to go to him.' They will not bother. They will go on rushing; they will not be prevented by your looking at the tip of the nose. In fact, they may come even more forcibly seeing that this man is trying to get out of their grip.

This happens: when people sit silently in meditation more thoughts come than they do ordinarily, than they usually come - unusual explosions. Millions of thoughts rush in, because they have some investment in you - and you are trying to get out of their power? They will give you a hard time. So thoughts are bound to come. What are you going to do with thoughts? You cannot just go on sitting visibly there, you will have to do something. Fighting is not going to help because if you start fighting you will forget to look at the tip of the nose, the awareness of the third eye, the circulation of the light; you will forget all and you will be lost in the jungle of thoughts. If you start chasing thoughts you are lost, if you follow them you are lost, if you fight them you are lost. Then what is to be done?

And this is the secret. Buddha has also used the same secret. In fact, the secrets are almost the same because man is the same - the lock is the same, so the key has to be the same. This is the secret: Bud&a calls it SAMMASATI, right remembrance. Just remember: this thought has come, see where it is, with no antagonism, with no justification, with no condemnation. Just be objective as a scientist is objective. See where it is, from where it is coming, where it is going. See the coming of it, see the staying of it, see the going of it. And thoughts are very mobile; they don't stay long.

You simply have to watch the arising of the thought, the staying of the thought, and the going of the thought. Don't try to fight, don't try to follow, just be a silent observer. And you will be surprised:

the more settled observation becomes, the less thoughts will come. When observatiOn is perfect, thoughts disappear. There is only a gap left, an interval left.

But remember one more point: the mind can again play a trick.

NOTHING IS GAINED BY PUSHING REFLECTION FURTHER.

But don't try to push the reflection further.

That's what Freudian psychoanalysis is: the free association of thoughts. One thought comes, and then you wait for another thought, and then another, and the whole chain... That's what all kinds of psychoanalysis do - you start moving backwards into the past. One thought is connected with another, and so on and so forth, AD infinitum. There is no end to it. If you go into it you will be moving into an eternal journey that will be a sheer wastage. Mind can do that. So beware of it.

NOTHING IS GAINED BY PUSHING REFLECTION FURTHER. ONE MUST BE CONTENT TO SEE WHERE THE THOUGHT AROSE, AND NOT SEEK BEYOND THE POINT OF ORIGIN;FOR TO FIND THE HEART (CONSCIOUSNESS, TO GET BEHIND CONSCIOUSNESS WITH CONSCIOUSNESS ITSELF), THAT CANNOT BE DONE.

You cannot go with consciousness beyond consciousness, so don't try the futile, the unnecessary; otherwise one thing will lead you to another and so on and so forth, and you will completely forget what you were trying to do there. The tip of the nose will disappear, the third eye will be forgotten, the circulation of the light will be miles away from you.

So only this much - the single thought. Don't go into the chain. The single thought arises; watch where it is, from where it is coming and, when it disappears, watch - it has disappeared. Take note.

Buddhists say when a thought arises, say, 'Thought, thought,' so that you become alert. Just as when a thief comes into the house, you say, 'Thief! thief!' and everybody becomes alert, simply say, 'Thought, thought,' and you will become alert, watchful. A thief has entered. Now watch what the thief is doing.

The moment you become aware, the thought will stop; it will look at you and be a little surprised because you have never done this before; it will feel a little unwelcome. 'And what has happened to this man? He has always been such a good host, and now he says, "Thief! thief! Thought, thought."

What has happened to this man?' The thought will be puzzled; it will not be able to comprehend what is happening. 'Is this man going mad, looking at the tip of the nose and saying "Thought, thought"?' The very awareness will stop the movement of the thought for a time. It will be stuck there.

And go on watching. Don't condemn, don't throw it out, don't fight, because either condemnation or justification will make you identified with the thought. Simply be there, alert, looking at the thought.

Then it starts disappearing. Just as it came, it disappears. It came out of imagination, it disappears into imagination. Once it disappears, you come back to contemplation. You need not go to the very origin of it because there is none, then you will have to go to the very origin of existence.

That's why psychoanalysis has no end; it is never finished. There is not a single person in the world who is totally psychoanalyzed. Nobody can be totally psychoanalyzed. One year, tWo years, three years, four, five, six, seven - you can find people who have been going to psychoanalysis for seven years. Then what do you think - do they stop because the psychoanalysis is complete? No. They are bored with the psychoanalyst, the psychoanalyst is bored with them. And everything has to be finished somewhere; one has to put a full point. How long can one go on?

But no psychoanalysis is ever complete - it cannot be. It is an infinite onion; you can go on peeling it and peeling it and peeling it, and you will never come to the end of it. But it helps; it makes you more adjusted to yourself and to society. It does not transform you, it makes you normally abnormal, that's all. It helps you to be adjusted to the neurotic society in which you are. It makes you not a transformed, luminous being, but an ordinary person who is accepting of all that life brings, good and bad, and who starts dragging himself as everybody else is dragging. It teaches you a kind of sad acceptance of life. It is not true acceptance either, because true acceptance always brings celebration.

Sigmund Freud has said that man cannot be happy, at most he can be comfortable. Life can be made more comfortable, that's all, but happiness is impossible.

It is not impossible - it is impossible through psychoanalysis - because there have been happy people; we have seen them. A Buddha, a Lao Tzu, a Krishna - we have seen these dancing people Freud is not happy, that is true, and he cannot be happy unless he drops psychoanalysis and moves into some meditative process; he will not be happy. It will take a few more lives for him to learn meditation.

In fact, he was very afraid of meditation. And not just Sigmund Freud, but even a man like Carl Gustav Jung was afraid. Carl Gustav Jung has written a commentary on this book, THE SECRET OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER; but it is only intellectual, it has no existential value. He had no experience of meditation himself - how can it have any existential value? And he was a very egoistic person; and the egoistic person finds it very difficult to enter into meditation because you have to drop your ego at the very door.

Jung came to India while Raman Maharshi was alive, and many people suggested to him: 'Since you have come to India and you are so interested in the inner mysteries of life, why don't you go to Raman? You write commentaries on THE SECRET OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER - and here is a Golden Flower in full bloom. Why don't you go to Raman?' But he never went. He travelled in India, met many people, but never went to see Raman. Why? What was the fear? Afraid to encounter this man, afraid to face this mirror.

Have you ever looked at Jung's picture? Even in the picture the ego is so apparent. Freud doesn't seem as egoistic as Jung. Maybe it was his ego that took him away from his master, Sigmund Freud, that made him betray Freud. Just look at his picture. His eyes... they are very cunning, calculating, as if ready to jump on anybody; tremendously egoistic, but very clever, intelligent, intellectually skillful.

Remember, psychoanalysis or analytical psychology or other brands of the same game cannot lead you to happiness, they can lead you only to a lukewarm life of adjustment. They cannot help you to become aflame with celebration; this is beyond their capacity. And the reason? The reason is that they go on analyzing the thought. Analysis is not needed.

Hence THE SECRET says:

TOGETHER WE WANT TO BRING THE STATES OF THE HEART TO REST, THAT IS TRUE CONTEMPLATION.

We want to bring the whole being to a kind of absolute rest. Analysis is not going to help, because analysis will create a turmoil, a restlessness.

WHAT CONTRADICTS IT IS FALSE CONTEMPLATION.

Analysis is a false contemplation.

THAT LEADS TO NO GOAL. WHEN THE FLIGHT OF THE THOUGHTS KEEPS EXTENDING FURTHER, ONE SHOULD STOP AND BEGIN CONTEMPLATING.

So these two things have to be remembered, these are two wings. One: when there is an interval, no thought is coming, contemplate. When a thought comes then just look at these three things:

where the thought is, from where it has come, where it is going. For a moment stop looking into the gap, look at the thought, watch the thought, say goodbye to it. When it leaves, again immediately move back to contemplation.

Again, just as an example: if you are looking at the gaps between the cars passing on the roads, when the car comes what will you do? You will have to watch the car too, but you don't become concerned about the car, you don't become concerned about the make, the vintage, the year, the colour, the driver, the passenger - you don't become concerned about all that analysis - yoU simply take note of the car. The car has come, the car is there in front of you, the car has gone. And again you become interested in the gap. Your whole interest is in the gap. But the car comes, so for a moment you have to pay attention to it. Then it is gone; you again start falling into rest, into contemplation, into the interval.

WHEN THE FLIGHT OF THE THOUGHTS KEEPS EXTENDING FURTHER, ONE SHOULD STOP AND BEGIN CONTEMPLATING. LET ONE CONTEMPLATE AND THEN START FIXATING AGAIN.

So, whenever the thought comes, fixate. Whenever the thought goes, contemplate.

THAT IS THE DOUBLE METHOD OF MAKING FAST THE ENLIGHTENMENT. IT MEANS THE CIRCULATION OF THE LIGHT. THE CIRCULATION IS FIXATION. THE LIGHT IS CONTEMPLATION.

Whenever you contemplate you will see light flooding in, and whenever you fixate you will create the circulation, you will make the circulation possible. Both are needed.

THE LIGHT IS CONTEMPLATION. FIXATION WITHOUT CONTEMPLATION IS CIRCULATION WITHOUT LIGHT.

That's what has happened; that calamity has happened to hatha yoga. They fixate, they concentrate, but they have forgotten the light. They have completely forgotten about the guest. They only go on preparing the house, they have become so engrossed in preparing the house that they have forgotten the purpose for which they are preparing the house, for whom. The hatha yogi continuously prepares his body, purifies his body, does yoga postures, breathing exercises, and goes on doing it AD NAUSEAM. He has completely forgotten what he is doing it for. And the light is standing there but he won't allow it because the light can come in only when he is completely in a let-go.

FIXATION WITHOUT CONTEMPLATION IS CIRCULATION WITHOUT LIGHT.

This is the calamity that happens to the so-called yogis. The other kind of calamity happens to psychoanalysts, philosophers.

CONTEMPLATION WITHOUT.FIXATION IS LIGHT WITHOUT CIRCULATION.

They think about the light, but they have not made the preparation for it to flood in; they only THINK of light. They think of the guest, they imagine a thousand and one things about the guest, but their house is not ready. Both miss.

The Master says:

TAKE NOTE OF THAT!

Otherwise you can also miss. Prepare and then wait. Get ready. Looking at the tip of the nose, alert to the third eye, an erect spine, a comfortable posture - that's all that you have to do; more than that is not needed. There is no need to go on doing yoga postures year in, year out; that is stupid.

And that's why you will find the so-called yogis looking so stupid, unintelligent. Maybe their bodies are strong and they will live long, but what is the point of it? Without light life is going to remain unintelligent and dark. Whether you live long or short makes no difference. The real point is to live in light even for a single moment, and then it is enough. That single moment is eternity.

And there are philosophers who go on thinking about the light - what it is, how to define it, and which definition is the best - and they constantly create many theories, dogmas, and great systems of thought, but they are not ready for it. And the light is just waiting at the door.

TAKE NOTE OF THAT!

Don't fall into either of these two fallacies. If you can remain alert, it is a very simple process and immensely transforming. In a single moment a man who understands rightly can enter into a separate kind of reality.

God is not far away, God is within you.