My misunderstandings and corrections

There are certain things one must be careful while reading JK, or any other true GURU. Here I am writing my understanding, please examine them without acceptance or denial.

1) Attachment to people, things corrupts the mind. Caring for people, things is not attachment. Care without being possessive is possible.

2) Knowledge leads to ignorance. Here knowledge is not technical, it is knowledge we gathered from society, friends, religion, books, gurus, media about what is good and bad in life. Scientific knowledge is not dangerous because there it is not based on belief it is based on thorough inquiry, reason, logic and it is rational.

3) Time is sorrow. Here time not by clock, but the interval between idea and action. In that interval thought comes into play, and tweaks action for it's own comfort.

4) A person with self knowledge is highly moral and law abiding, but his morality is based on his own understanding. It is not confined by his upbringing or social acceptance.

5) Helping others is secondary, but correcting yourself comes first. There is no helping others actually, when you do charity, plant trees, save water, or do something else you are actually helping yourself by bringing some order.

6) The teacher can't be aware of your inward nature. It is you, who needs to be diligently aware about your thoughts. He can only point out through awareness you can keep thought in it's place.

7) The greed for money, power, position, recognition will invite sorrow. There is nothing wrong with money, power, growth that you get naturally. When you are working out of passion they may come to you, and they are not harmful in that way. Natural growth is like the growth of a tree, there is no competition, ambition, comparison in that growth. The tree grows seemlessly, without struggle, pain. That natural growth is always recommended, it is not out of desire to become somebody. Natural growth is always inclusive, the growth of the present mankind is exclusive. There is natural growth, when you enjoy the blissfulness of being. The desire to become negates this extraordinary beauty of being.

8) These teachings along with your diligent work on yourself, will give freedom from false. With out freedom from false life becomes endless struggle and strife. One can not expect material benefits (success, recognition, money) out of it.

9) One can not take shelter in these teachings to feel secure. These teachings will inform you that there is no such thing as psychological security, so that the constant wastage of mind's effort to find security can be saved.

The flapping flag

Once two Zen monks were walking down the road. It was a breezy day. One of them said to the other: "Look, the flag is flapping in the breeze." The second monk replied: "No, that is foolish. The breeze is flapping the flag!" And so they spent an exciting quarter hour: "The flag is flapping!""The breeze is flapping!"

As the debate was heating up, the Zen master appeared on the road. They ran to him. "Roshi, please settle our dispute. I say the flag is flapping in the breeze, he says the breeze is flapping the flag. Which one of us is right?" The master looked at them with a penetrating eye. "You are both wrong," he said. "Your minds are flapping!"

This story best resembles the present news media, how they take simple issue and turns it into a major crisis without resolving it. Are we not influenced by media, leaders, religious propaganda?

A Mother's Advice

Jiun, a Shogun master, was a well-known Sanskrit scholar of the Tokugawa era. When he was young he used to deliver lectures to his brother students. His mother heard about this and wrote him a letter: "Son, I do not think you became a devotee of the Buddha because you desired to turn into a walking dictionary for others. There is no end to information and commentation, glory and honor. I wish you would stop this lecture business. Shut yourself up in a little temple in a remote part of the mountain. Devote your time to meditation and in this way attain true realization.

We understand a little, but talk extensively. Is not verbalization a major factor, which prevents realizing truth?

Mokusen's Fist

Mokusen Hiki was living in a temple in the province of Tamba. One of his adherents complained of the stinginess of his wife. Mokusen visited the adherent's wife and showed her his clenched fist before her face. What do you mean by that? asked the surprised woman.

Suppose my fist were always like that. What would you call it? he asked.
Deformed, replied the woman.

The he opened his hand flat in her face and asked: Suppose it were always like that. What then? Another kind of deformity, said the wife.

If you understand that much, finished Mokusen, you are a good wife. Then he left. After his visit, this wife helped her husband to distribute as well as to save.

Doesn't it mean we are living with closed fist, when we try to possess a person in our relationship? Is possession, attachment, jealousy love?

The lawyer inside us

There is a lawyer inside our mind, who always judges and
defends whatever we think of as the truth. If this lawyer is
interested in truth, we can create an entirely different society,
but unfortunately he is not. A mind which is incapable of
seeing the difference between an illusion and a truth, can
only bring disorder in its action. An illusion is nothing but
accepting a non-fact as the truth and vice versa. Don’t think
that this lawyer has only been destroying society, he has been
destroying our own life too, because we are missing out on
the strength and energy that we get when we perceive truth.
Now, can you look at the lawyer inside you and have some
fun watching him? Because only when you extend the hand
of friendship towards him, can you understand the lawyer and
negate him effortlessly, not when you say I must live without
that lawyer. Please remember that ‘understanding’ is the only
task you are left with, and you can’t be lazy about this.

My dear friends, I don’t know whether you can see it or
not, but how beautiful and happy our life would be, if we all
stood for truth. In that stand, you may lose many things which
you hold very dear to yourself, but that very losing makes you
nothing and nothing contains everything. Is not this lawyer
nothing but our own psychological knowledge? Things that
our parents told us, the books that we read, different political,
religious, social influences on our mind, all of these form
this lawyer. But the question is, how much do we purify the
content before taking it for granted? What if this lawyer is
just a bundle of knowledge and memories? That’s why it is
said, with knowledge comes ignorance. We are talking about
psychological knowledge, not technological knowledge. The
ability to look at something with a simple mind is the key
to happiness in life, not running after money, sex, power or
position.

What are you inside?

A conversation between Wayne Dyer and his student:

If I were to squeeze this orange as hard as I could, what would come out? I asked him.

He looked at me like I was a little crazy and said, Juice, of course.

Do you think apple juice could come out of it?

No! he laughed.

What about grapefruit juice?

No!

What would come of it?

Orange juice, of course

Why? Why when you squeeze an orange does orange juice comes out?

He may have been getting a little exasperated with me at this point.

Well, it s an orange and that s what s inside.

I nodded.

Let s assume that this orange isn t an orange, but it s you. And someone squeezes you, puts pressure on you, says something you don t like, offends you.
And out of you comes anger, hatred, bitterness etc. Why?

The answer, as our young friend has told us, is because that s what s inside .

It s one of the great lessons of life.

What come out when life squeezes you? When someone hurts or offends you?
If anger, pain and fear come out of you, it s because that s what s inside.

It doesn t matter who does the squeezing: your mother, your brother, your children, the government.

If someone says something about you that you don t like, what comes out of you is what s inside.
And what s inside is up to you, it s your choice.

When someone puts the pressure on you and out of you comes anything other than love, it s because that s what you ve allowed to be inside.

Once you take away all those negative things you don t want in your life and replace them with love, you ll find yourself living a highly functioning life.

Squeeze out of yourself Love and Compassion!!!

When you ignore to learn what you are inside, suffering follows.

Corporate ant story

Every day, a small Ant arrives at work very early and starts work immediately.

She produces a lot and she was happy.

The Chief, a Tiger, was surprised to see that the Ant was working without supervision.

He thought if the Ant can produce so much without supervision, wouldn’t she produce even more if she had a supervisor!

So he recruited a Bee who had extensive experience as supervisor and who was famous for writing excellent reports.

The Bee’s first decision was to set up a clocking in attendance system.

He also needed a secretary to help him write and type his reports and he recruited a Rabbit , who managed the archives and monitored all phone calls.

The Tiger was delighted with the Bee's reports and asked him to produce graphs to describe production rates and to analyse trends, so that he could use them for presentations at Board‘s meetings.

So the Bee had to buy a new computer and a Laser printer and recruited a Cat to manage the IT department.

The Ant, who had once been so productive and relaxed, hated this new plethora of paperwork and meetings which used up most of her time…!

The Tiger came to the conclusion that it was high time to nominate a person in charge of the department where the Ant worked.

The position was given to the Monkey, whose first decision was to buy an Air Conditioner and an ergonomic chair for his office.

The new person in charge, the Monkey, also needed a 💻 computer and a personal assistant , who he brought from his previous department, to help him prepare a Work and 'Budget Control Strategic Optimisation Plan' …

The Department where the Ant works is now a sad place, where nobody laughs anymore and everybody has become upset...

It was at that time that the Bee convinced the boss, the Tiger; of the absolute necessity to start a climatic study of the environment .

Having reviewed the charges for running the Ant’s department , the Tiger found out that the Production was much less than before.

So he recruited the Owl, a prestigious and renowned consultant to carry out an audit and suggest solutions.

The Owl spent three months in the department and came up with an enormous report, in several volumes, that concluded...
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“ The Department is overstaffed ...”
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Guess who the Tiger fires first?
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Of course, the Ant.........,

"....because she showed lack of motivation and had a negative attitude. "

The real leader tries to replace fear, control, pressure with passion. Creating passion for work is real solution.

Expectations and Relationships

Sooner or later, our relationships turn into pain and suffering.
When one neglects the other, we get wounded psychologically
and we carry on with that hurt. There are innumerable things
that hurt us like this, but we never learn something out of it,
instead deciding on keeping ourselves away from getting hurt
for the rest of our life. When someone hurts me, if I tell myself
that I must be careful next time, and something like this
should not repeat itself, etc., then I am slowly isolating myself
from the society, by building walls around me and thinking that
this isolation will protect me. This isolation brings
with it, its own loneliness and pain. Thinking is a very complex
affair; when I can’t understand my thinking, how can I
guide others?

Three monks

“There are three monks, who had sat in deep meditation for many years amidst the Himalayan snow peaks, never speaking a word, in utter silence. One morning, one of the three suddenly speaks up and says, ‘What a lovely morning this is.’ And he falls silent again. Five years of silence pass, when all at once the second monk speaks up and says, ‘But we could do with some rain.’ There is silence among them for another five years, when suddenly the third monk says, ‘Why can’t you two stop chattering?”

You may attend many spiritual programs or run away to mountains, but can you end something in you if you don't face it?

cartoon in a magazine

The other day I saw a cartoon in a magazine, " he(Jiddu Krishnamurti) recounted to the audience. "It's in New York City, at a busy intersection in Times Square. There are two dogs sitting by the curbside, watching the people hurrying by, always busy and in a rush. And one dog says to the other, 'you know, reincarnation gives me the creeps.

Why there is this incessant chattering of the mind "to become somebody, to reach somewhere"?

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Depression

Dear Friend,

If you are depressed please don't go for sweet pills of comforting words. Would like to suggest you for bitter pills of self-awareness. Comforting words may put away your burdens for time being, but soon they will be back with greater force. When there is movement in life, is there a place for depression? When life moving according to your wishes, you don't feel depressed. Some how your life became stagnated, and out of that stagnation depression gains strength. Are you serious about getting out of stagnation, or your thought taking certain pleasure in being in that state of suffering?

Social status is an illusion

The person who accumulates knowledge for recognition in society, is not so different from a person who is longing for money, power..etc. When you are passionately learning something, you enjoy the very process of learning. You don't desire to be recognized, you may get recognition but you are aware about the danger of getting caught in it. The desire to get recognized makes life miserable. Social status is an illusion, it is just another product of thought. Like many other products of thought, social status is also unreal. The real beauty lies in being simple and humble.

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Verbalization vs silence

Verbalization is the major cause of decay of our brains. In explaining through words we can go to any extent, what really matters is do you behave? We are habituated to analysis, but the more we analyze the less we understand. We say silence is profound, yet we live with a chattering mind. Surely it is profound because only in silence one can see oneself as he is or she is. A chattering mind gives importance to what it should be, a silent mind observe what it is in the present. What you are in the present is real, what you should be is just an image created by thought. Please put away the burden of becoming somebody, and start understanding what you are in the present. The burden of becoming, invites struggle and sorrow in life. Don't try to apply, first examine it and make it your own.

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Meaningless practice

A young man wanting to find truth goes to see a famous guru. 'Master, can you teach me meditation and truth?' he asks. The guru agrees, and the disciple immediately assumes the lotus posture, closing his eyes and breathing rhythmically to show what he knows. The master doesn't say anything but picks up two stones from the ground and starts rubbing them against each other. Hearing the strange noise, the disciple opens his eyes and asks, 'Master, what are you doing?' The guru answers 'I'am rubbing these stones against each other to polish them into a mirror so I can look at myself.' 'The disciple laughs, 'but master, if you don't mind my telling you: you'll never be able to make a mirror of these stones by rubbing them against each other. You can do that forever, and it won't work.' 'Similarly, my friend,' the master says, 'you can sit like that forever, but you'll never be meditating or understanding truth.'

Do you ever question your practices, knowledge, especially about life? or you take shelter in some guru, philosophy, religious book...etc?

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Do you really trust?

A Catholic is standing on a mountain and looks down into the beauty of the valley. Suddenly he slips and falls down the cliff and is barely able to hold on to the branch of a tree that is growing there. Below him is an abyss of a thousand feet. He doesn’t know what to do, so he prays, ‘Please, Lord, help me. Save me from death.’ And a voice comes out of the sky and says, ‘Have faith, let go! And the man looks up and calls out, ‘Is there anybody else up there?”

While we were all laughing, Krishnamurti looked at us with bright eyes, eventually asking, “What is trust? Do you have trust? Not trust in something, some idea or ideal, just trust.”

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God & Air

A hermit was meditating by a river when a young man interrupted him.
“Master, I wish to become your disciple,” said the man. “Why?” replied the hermit. The young man thought for a moment. “Because I want to find God.”
The master jumped up, grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, dragged him into the river, and plunged his head under water.
After holding him there for a minute, with him kicking and struggling to free himself, the master finally pulled him up out of the river. The young man coughed up water and gasped to get his breath. When he eventually quieted down, the master spoke.
“Tell me, what did you want most of all when you were under water.”
“Air!” answered the man. “Very well,” said the master. “Go home and come back to me when you want God as much as you just wanted air.”

How serious we are about change in the world, if you are serious it begins with you.

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self improvement or negation

We often listen to words like 'be positive, be confident, believe in yourself, you can do it, self improvement'. We rarely, or never listen to teachings which are based on self negation(Please click on JK Teachings on sidebar). Here I would like to explain the difference with simple example, but go beyond the example and feel truth for yourself.

Suppose you have a floor which is full of oil, slippery. The first category of teachings makes us to, work hard so that you can walk fast even on the slippery ground. Even though these teachings are more popular, it negates joy and happiness in life. They pushes you to work hard, knowingly or unknowingly we use another human being just as a stepping stone for our success. Here there is no place for love and compassion, what matters is only success and getting a result. When end result  is only important, we miss the joy of learning.

The fox is real

In a small village in India, a little fox told its father of its wish to eat human flesh. Next day father fox managed to get some pig meat and offered to his son. But the little fox didn't have it. Then the father fox managed to get some cow meat and offered it. The little fox declined to eat that as well. The stubborn little fox was adamant that he will not settle for anything other than human meat. That night the father fox left the pork in the front of a masjid/mosque and the beef in the front of a temple/mandir. By next day morning the entire village was filled with human dead bodies. The little fox ate human meat for a week and was so happy his father managed to get so much human meat.

Story might be hypothetical, but the Fox is for real, and the division is real. Why humanity failed to see a simple fact that "where ever there is division, there must be conflict"?

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Have we tried all?

We tried all possible ways to bring about a good society. The world witnessed dictatorship, religious propaganda, charity, social reforms, environmentalists, scientists, philosophers, journalism, spirituality, economists trying for equality, democracy, communism, non violence, we even tried wars for peace the list goes on and on. Finally we came to a conclusion that nothing can be done, suffering is part of life we can't end it. We finally satisfied with theories, philosophies which says disorder is part of life.

What we have not tried with committed effort, is common man's wisdom through holistic education. The root of all disorder in the world is self-centered activity of human mind. Only wisdom can break this pattern of longing for security, and make you listen to your heart. Most unfortunate thing that can happen to any country is, education becoming business commodity.

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In passion real growth

Mukesh and Anil joined a company together a few months after their graduation from university.

After a few years of work, their Manager promoted Mukesh to a position of Senior Sales Manager, but Anil remained in his entry-level Junior Sales Officer place.

Anil developed a sense of jealousy and hatred, but continued working anyway.

One day Anil felt that he could not work with Mukesh anymore. He wrote his resignation letter, but before he submitted it to the Manager, he complained that Management did not value hard-working staff, but only promoted only the favoured!

The Manager knew that Anil worked very hard for the years he had spent at the company; even harder than Mukesh and therefore he deserved the promotion. So to help Anil to realize this, the Manager gave Anil a task.

“Go and find out if anyone is selling water melons in town?”

Anil returned and said, "yes there is someone!"

The Manager asked, "how much per kg?" Anil drove back to town to ask and then returned to tell the Manager; "they are Rs 13.50 per kg!"

The Manager told Anil, "I will give Mukesh the same task that I gave you.

So the Manager said to Mukesh, in the presence of Anil ; “Go and find out if anyone is selling water melons in town?”

Mukesh went to find out and on his return he said:
"Manager, there is only one person selling water melons in the town. The cost is Rs 49.00 each water melon and Rs 32,50 for a half melon. He sells them at Rs 13.50 per kg when sliced. He has in his stock 93 melons, each one weighing about 7kg.

He has a farm and can supply us with melons for the next 4 months at a rate of 102 melons per day at Rs 27.00 per melon; this includes delivery.

The melons appear fresh and red with good quality, and they taste better than the ones we sold last year.

He has his own slicing machine and is willing to slice for us free of charge.
We need to strike a deal with him before 10 a. m tomorrow and we will be sure of beating last year's profits in melons by Rs 223 . This will contribute positively to our overall performance as it will add a minimum of 3.78% to our current overall sales target.

I have put this information down in writing and is available on spreadsheet.

Please let me know if you need it as I can send it to you in fifteen minutes."

Anil was very impressed and realized the difference between himself and Mukesh. He decided not to resign but to learn from Mukesh.

Let this story help us keep in mind the importance of going an extra mile in all our endeavors.

MORAL : Mukesh involved and enjoyed the work whereas Anil just tried to complete, but is completion possible without passion? Can fear and competition bring about passion? Or is it freedom which can ignite passion?

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