Guidelines to Freedom

The three essentials to freedom

Meditation to freedom has a few essentials in it, whatever the method, but those few essentials are necessary in every method. The first is a relaxed state : no fight with the mind, no control of the mind, no concentration. Second, just watch with relaxed awareness whatever is going on, without any interference – just watching the mind, silently without any judgment, evaluation.
These are the three things: relaxation, watching, no judgement, and slowly, slowly a great silence descends over you. All movement within you ceases. You are, but there is no sense of ‘l am’ -just a pure space. There are one hundred and twelve methods of meditation. They differ in their constitution, but the fundamentals remain the same: relaxation, watchfulness, a non-judgemental attitude.

Be playful

Millions of people miss meditation because meditation has taken on a wrong connotation. It looks very serious, looks gloomy, has something of the church in it; it looks as if it is only for people who are dead, or almost dead – those who are gloomy, serious, have long faces, who have lost festivity, fun, playfulness, celebration….
These are the qualities of meditation: a really meditative person is playful; life is fun for him, life is a leela, a play. He enjoys it tremendously, not serious, and relaxed.

Be patient

Don’t be in a hurry. So often, hurrying causes delay. As you thirst, wait patiently – the deeper the waiting, the sooner it comes.
You have sown the seed, now sit in the shade and watch what happens. The seed will break, it will blossom, but you cannot speed the process. Doesn’t everything need time? Work you must, but leave the results to God. Nothing in life is ever wasted, especially steps taken towards truth.
But at times impatience comes; impatience comes with thirst, but this is an obstacle. Keep the thirst and throw the impatience.
Do not confuse impatience with thirst. With thirst there is yearning but no struggle; when you are impatient there is struggle but no yearning. With longing there is waiting but no demanding; when you are impatient there is demanding but no waiting. With thirst there are silent tears; with impatience there is restless struggle.
Truth cannot be raided; it is attained through surrender, not through struggle. It is conquered through total surrender.

Don’t look for results

The ego is result-oriented, the mind always hankers for results. The mind is never interested in the act itself, its interest is in the result. What am I going to gain out of it?” If the mind can manage to gain without going through any action, then it will choose the shortcut.
That’s why educated people become very cunning, because they are able to find shortcuts. If you earn money through a legal way, it may take your whole life. But if you can earn money by smuggling, by gambling, or by something else – by becoming a political leader, a prime minister, a president – then you have all the shortcuts available to you. The educated person becomes cunning. He does not become wise, he simply becomes clever. He becomes so cunning that he wants to have everything without doing anything for it.
Meditation happens only to those who are not result-oriented. Meditation is a non-goal-oriented state.