The Path to Meditation Chapter No.4

[Pravin Kumar]

During these three days be conscious about stopping your habit of continuously talking. And it is just a habit. For a meditator, this is vital. During these three days I would like you to talk as little as possible, and when you do talk, it should be pure, not the ordinary chitchat that you do every day. What in fact do you talk about every day? Does it have any value> Would it be harmful to you if you didn't talk? You are simply chattering: it is not worth much. And if you didn't talk would it be harmful to others? Would others feel something is missing by not hearing what you have to say?

If you do talk then it were connected with meditation and nothing else. Be in silence as much as possible. You are free to speak but not chitchat. Talk consciously, and only when necessary.

This will help you in two ways. One benefit wil be that you will save all the energy that is wasted by talking. Then that energy can be used for meditation. And the second benefit will be that it will disconnect you from the otehrs and you will be in your aloneness during this time. We have come to this mountain place, and it would be a waste if all two hundred people that are gathered here were to just talk with each other, chat with each other. Then you would still be in a crowd, as you were before, and you will not be able to experience silence.

To experience silence just to be in the mountains is not enough. It is also necessary to separate yourself from others and be alone. You should make contact only if it is absolutely necessary. Imagine that you are the only person on this mountain and there is no one else around. You hve to live as if you have come here alone, you are staying alone and moving around alone. Sit under a tree, alone. Don't go about in groups of people. Live separately and alone for these three days. The truth of life have never been known through living in a crowd, and it cannot be ex perienced like that. No experience of any significance has ever happened in a crowd. Whosoever has had a taste of silence has tasted it in absolute solitude, in alongness.

When you STOP TALKING TO OTHERS AND WHEN ALL YOUR CHATTERING INSIDE AND OUTSIDE STOPS, NATURE STARTS COMMUNICATING WITH YOU IN A MYSTERIOUS WAY. NATURE IS CONTINUOUSLY COMMUNICATING WITH YOU, BUT YOU ARE SO ENGROSSED IN YOUR CHATTER THAT YOU DON'T HEAR HER SOFT VOICE. yOU IWLL HAVE TO QUIETEN YOURSELF SO THAT YOU CAN HEAR THE VOICE SPEAKING WITHIN YOU.

So in these three days, taling has to be consciously reduced. If you forget and start talking out of habit and then remember again, stop right then and apologize. Be alone. You will be experimenting with this here, but you will also have to try it on your own.

Go anywhere you like , sit under a tree;you have completely forgotten that you are part of nature. You also don't know that being close to nature makes it easier to experience the ultimate; nowhere else it is easier.

So make full use of these three incredible days. Be in isolation, solutude, and don;t talk unless necessary. And even if everyone is quiet, continue to be alone. A meditator has to be alone. There are many people here; so when we all sit for meditation it may look as if ther eis a gathering of people meditating. But all meditaiton is individual, a group cannot meditate. But all meditatioin is individual, a group cannot meditate. Sitting here you are in a large group, but when you go inside yourself you will feel alone.

Meditation cannot be done collectively. All prayer, all meditation is individual, is private.

Be alone here, and also when you leave here. And spend most of your time in silence. Don't talk. But it will not be enought to simply stop talking, you will also need to make a conscious effort to stop the constant chattering that goes on inside you. You talk to yourself, you answer yourself -- quieten yourself and drop that too. Itf it is difficult to stop this inner chatter , then firmly tell yourself to stop this nosie, TELL YOURSELF THAT YOU DON'T LIKE THE NOISE.

Talk to YOUR INNERSELF. AS A MEDITATOR, IT IS IMPORTANT TO GIVE SUGGESTIONS TO YOURSELF. TRY THIS SOMETIME. SIT ALONE SOMEWHERE, TELL YOUR MIND TO STOP ITS CHATTER, TELL YOUR MIND THAT YOU DON'T LIKE IT, AND YOU WILL BE SURPRISED TO SEE THAT FOR A MOMENT YOUR INNER CHATTERING WILL STOP.

For three days give yourself suggestion that you will not talk. In three days you will notice the difference... that step by step, slowly, slowly the chatter is lessening.

The fourth point: you may have some complaints, some problems -- your are not to pay nay attention to them. If you experience a small problem or difficulty, don;t give it any attention. We are not here for entertainment.

Recently I read the story of a Chinese nun. She was visiting a village where there were only a few houses, and as it was getting dark and she was all alone she went to the area in front of all the houses and asked the villagers, "Please let me stay in one of your houses."

She ws a stranger to them , and besides that shewas of a different religion, so the villagers closed their doors to her.

The next village was very far away, and it was dark and she was alone. So she had to spend the night in a field and she slept under a cherry tree. In the middle of the night she woke up -- it was cold, and because of this she could not sleep. She looked up and saw that the flowers had all blossomed; the tree was covered with flowers. And the moon had risen, and the moonlight was very beautiful. She experienced a moment of immense joy.

In the morning she went back to the village and thanked all the people who had refused to give her shelter for the night. When they asked her, "Fr what?' she said, "For your love, for your compassion and kindness in closing your doors to me last night. Because of this I was able to experience a moment of unbelievable joy. I saw the cherry flowers in blook and the moon in its glory, and I saw something, that I had never seen before. If you had givben me sjhelter I would not have seen it. That's when I realised your kindness, your reason for closing all your doors to me."