A Message from Gurudev Chitrabhanuji
The Miracle is You
Once a priest from the Western world went to the East and met a Master of meditation. This priest was eloquent in English as well as in Oriental languages. When he went to see the master, he told him that he would like to read some passages from the Sermon on the Mount, in order to make the Master aware of the teaching of Jesus Christ.
The Master was very happy to listen, so the priest started translating. Then on the Master’s face there came a glow, in his eyes there were tears. His whole being was thrilled with joy. The priest was very happy because he thought he was able to impress the Master and convert him. But when the priest said “I hope you enjoyed the words of Jesus,” the Master said, “Jesus? These must be the words of Buddha, and I thought you had translated his words into Japanese. In your country you must be calling him Jesus, but he is the same – Jesus is Buddha, Buddha is Jesus. They are the same words; there is no difference.”
The experience, the truth, whether it comes from the word of Jesus or the word of Buddha or the mouth of Mahvira or Moses or you or me, what difference does it make? The main thing is the wisdom, the sweetness of the honey. If you cling to the name and fight for it, you forget the message. This is what often happens; the person who uncovers becomes more important than what is uncovered.
Truth has always existed, before Mahavira, before Buddha, before Christ, or Rama. Do you think truth was born with these Masters? If somebody opens the curtains at noon, you see the sun for the first time. But before the curtain was removed the sun was there. Instead of basking under the sun, do you cling to the person who removed the curtain? We have a good feeling for this person; we say, “Thank you,” but we care for the light, the warmth.
Who is a Master?
If we are not aware, our whole life passes without experiencing the warmth of this sun, the self. Life goes by only reciting the names and we forget that they were masters because they uncovered something which was covered: Love, Joy and Peace. To be a master does not mean to be the master over you. A master is one who masters one’s own senses and mind. When the senses are overcome with desires, they obscure the self, the light, and the mind clings to words and forms. Jargon become more important than the self, so they never catch a glimpse of that true self.
When the rays of the truth penetrate, you are not the same person. Your sorrow is over. What is called Mastership is to overcome sorrow. Sorrow is created by your mind. In reality, there is no sorrow. You create sorrow when you cling to a thing; when things don’t happen as you want, you become sad. You want something and you do not get it, so you are disappointed and you make your face long and you cry. But if you say, “I am contented, I am happy with what I already have!” Then where is the sorrow?
We must know the cause of our pain. We think we are going to get happiness by possessing somebody or something. But as soon as we cling, we have sown the seeds of sorrow. Only when we are empty we want something from someone else. But that person is not going to give us what we want because he or she does not have it.
Once a man was going to the market to sell ghee, which is butter that has been purified in liquid form. The man filled his pot with water and put a little warm ghee on the top. When ghee is put on water it hardens, so it appeared that the pot was completely filled with ghee. Along the way, he met a man who said, “What is in this pot of yours?” “It is ghee for sale,” replied the man. “Let me see,” said the second. He looked in and saw the whole pot filled with ghee. So he said, “How would you like to make a bargain? I have two bracelets which are made of gold. I can give you the bracelets if you give me the ghee.” The first man said, “Very good”, knowing the pot was full of water. But the other man had brass bracelets with only a little glitter of gold. So he thought, “This is not such a bad business to have so much ghee for some bracelets of brass.”
So they were both very happy. But when they reached home, they both discovered that they had played a trick on each other. Sometimes two empty people think that they have made a good bargain. They meet once or twice and think “oh, I have something good here,” because the partner is handsome or wealthy. But when they discover the emptiness after two or three months, they say “Oh my God! Now how can I get rid of him?” Or “What is the way out from here?” Really it is difficult for us to understand, but if we don’t understand, it will become more difficult for us to remove the pain.
Masters are those souls who master their own mind. They don’t want to master the people or collect followers. They know the futility of the ego. In ego, you create something and then you suffer. You don’t know when the mind of the disciple is going to turn crazy, and then you have to please him until you can correct the craziness. It is a headache! To be free from this headache, detachment is the answer.
The Nature of the Mind
The mind can turn against anything; it has a habit to revolt against what it does not understand. It attacks and in that way it thinks it can save itself. If it does not strike, it feels it will not save itself. To save face it uses a device to strike out at what it does not grasp or cannot conquer. Sometimes when the mind does not understand the teacher or Master, it strikes out against him also. It happens to all the teachers in one way or another from time to time. So the wise man wants to conquer his mind and his senses and that is all. He says, “Those who are ready, let them understand. Those who are not ready, let them learn through suffering.” Suffering becomes their master. They gain from pain.
There are some people who are not happy unless they become unhappy. They find some reason to have a discussion and create a fight, and they spoil their evening instead of sitting in silence of having peace and seeing beauty. That is why, if you are going away for the weekend with friends and you want to have a very pleasant time, better take some time for silence. Then you will enjoy nature. Otherwise you might come home with fighting, quarreling and disputing moods.
Blessings,
Chitrabhanuji
Lighthouse Center
Spring 2000