Once upon a long time ago, up in the Himalayas, there lived a woman of unparalleled beauty. Each morning, as the Sun rose over the holy snow laden peaks, our beautiful lady would look at her body, and cry for her soul. For as long as she remembered she had to offer her body for pleasure, not of her own but of others.
One morning as she was looking at the peaks she saw a stranger wandering into her garden. This man, she sensed, was different. His eyes were, mm, clear. Not laden with lust. Just looking at him, she felt clean.
She invited the man, home. A great sadhak he was. She made him a meal. She offered him her bed. Next morning, the sun rose. The birds chirped. The peaks shone. Our lady of the mountains, she walked to her window, and for the first time - SAW. It ALL. As it always was, is, will be. The window, vanished. She, became. What she...always was.
How? Did she perform any meditation, any mindfulness daily, for 21 minutes or so many “olympic hours”, at a certain heart rate, with certain brain waves ...? How?
The above story is in my words, of course, but it’s taken from a brief description of a tale told by Swami Laxmanjoo. In describing it, he offers an answer to the above- one word, anugrah. Grace. The grace of the divine.
Nothing can ever be attained without his grace, his blessings. He showers. He removes his own curtain. Off with the cosmic play. No matter what you do. You can do only so much. It’s him who reveals, himself. When he feels like. To a sinner, to a saint. To a dharmic, adharmik. Nothing matters to him. For all is his Leela. His swatantrya shakti, his Ultimate freedom.
I wonder. How can the above be explained, or even offered to a global culture that believes in binaries of devil and divine? Of action leading to reaction? Of just one life, with limited time? Of ... no grace, just matter. Of only, only, only thought, only mind.
I remember another sadhak KVS, who I spent many days of satsang with (you can see him in my film #HinduNectar), the difference of cultures he laid out very beautifully - Descartes said, “I think therefore I am. Here (in India) I am, therefore I don’t think.”
No. Mind-full-ness is not meditation. Or if it is, then it does not mean a mind full or itself(focused) ; it means ... a mind, empty of oneself, overflowing with the divine. For in our ancestor’s vision, an empty mind is Not a devil’s workshop, it is a Divine ground ... of All That Is!