LESSONS for Direct Awakening in Meditation
From Himalayas of India
Lesson 2
CHANGING THE OLD METHOD
Someone asked a question by first stating that she knows that her old method of dealing with life doesn’t work and she knows the importance of using this new method that she has learned. She said that she is confused sometimes as to whether she is still using the old method without being aware of it.
Swami-ji went into a detailed talk, an extremely clear explanation as to what the old method is and how all human beings are bound by this system. For every human being, there are three things.
- Desire
It starts with a desire, any desire. Every human being desires something because they feel that they are lacking something. Then they make efforts to satisfy their desire.
- Mine
Once the desire is realized then the person will say: “This is mine. This is my car. This is my house. This is my husband or wife,” etc.
- Remain
It should remain with me. The attachment is created and one says this should now always stay with me and continue to be mine.
This is the old method as it is based on feeling lack and then satisfying the desire. Once the desire is satisfied one experiences peace and a sense of fulfillment. Now you are experiencing the bliss that comes when you no longer desiring anything. This is your own true nature.
However, when this is based on the fulfillment of a desire it will change because a new desire will always come about as the person again feels unfulfilled.
Swami-ji expressed: “This is the ego ingrained in every human being just by having a form, a human body.” Now we see why it is so hard to get out of this old method. All beings are functioning in this way. Even an ant desires to find food and shelter. Human beings want to acquire, achieve, and possess all the comforts. This is because the purpose of a human being has not been known to him. He has a sense of lack, so when he gets a desire fulfilled he feels satisfied and at peace. For one person this might be getting the right job, for another a new car or house, for another a new relationship, tasty food, travel, a new baby or even a pet. One keeps being convinced that satisfaction will come through getting the desire fulfilled. As a result of their action, they will feel satisfied because a desire is no longer present in their mind or thoughts. The purity of their own pure consciousness remains.
Swami-ji says: “The knowledge has not been given that satisfaction comes when all is removed from the head. The desire is finished and now one is at peace.” Otherwise, it is temporary peace, because you believe it came through getting something. Then desire comes again and you are back where you started, feeling unfulfilled and then desiring something else.
THE NEW METHOD
As human beings get satisfaction when the lack is removed, we have to know the new way of removing this lack. Each person is striving to get the lack removed but doesn’t know that “the satisfaction is YOU. ” Whenever you are caught in desire, you are unsatisfied. Whenever you are left alone you are fine. If you have an intense desire to work and earn you will work hard and get the result and you will be free. This whole mechanism is set up to keep you bound. You will only feel a temporary sense of freedom, which is changing. You, the pure being, is unchanging. The new method is to begin with this.: You are already fulfilled. You are already complete. The same space of peace that you experienced when the desire was fulfilled, but only temporarily is always available to you. You can only have this when you have the knowledge of it.
Swami-ji expresses: “Space was you and then you were born and became bound to the body.”
THE WAY OUT – PRACTICE FOR THIS WEEK
- Unfold the sense, which was in the beginning. Repeat and understand that which I call me is FREE.
- Rather than using the old method of getting things to be free know that you are already free.
- Know that your liberation is knowing YOU, as you are, the pure space, which is always Free.
- You are free when you are asleep. There is no desire at that time, yet everything is working perfectly. Bring this awareness into the waking state
- Meditate on pure space and identify yourself as that, then you are liberated. We have all been working on this for a long time and knowing how this faulty system works. It is important to bring in this awareness on a daily basis and watch how the old method keeps functioning. Keep bringing in this new method.
I enjoyed this aspect of the knowledge because we can see how caught the human being is just from birth and why it seems so hard to unravel this mechanism in order to know the truth. Yet, isn’t this new method so much easier and more effective?
If you start from wholeness and completeness then everything else is a bonus and a great joy. There is never a sense of loss because you are not needing or desiring for your fulfillment and not being fooled by the mistaken perception that only the attainment of your desire will fulfill you.