Being: Satsang February 13, 2005 Questions and Answers -3 and 4

[Guest guest]

Another Q.: Since returning from Tiruvannamalai and Arunachala, I

find a very deep desire to intensify my practice. I meditate more

frequently, and, prior to meditation, I reflect on the desire for

Liberation. Are there other things in practice that are worth doing

to let this increase in focus bloom?

 

N.: You have stated the most important. Adi Sankaracharya has stated

that of the fourfold practice for Self-Realization, the last, which

is the desire for Liberation, is the most important. Even though

discrimination, detachment, and such are so much intrinsic to real

practice, he says that the desire for Liberation is the most

important. It is so because if you have the desire for Liberation,

even if you be lacking in discrimination, detachment, tranquility,

renunciation, and the others, all those things would come to you in

due course, because of the intensity of the desire for Liberation. If

that is lacking, even if you have a very sharp mind for

discrimination and are renounced and such, not much progress will be

made, for there will be no motivation. Desire for Liberation is

important.

 

When you meditate, you need to know why you are meditating. The

knowledge of why you are meditating, the manner of approach, is as

important as the content of the meditation. If just this much is kept

in mind, the focus is there, and the practice blooms. The practice is

of inquiry. If you desire Liberation, you will destroy vasana-s,

tendencies, which manifest as misidentifications, attachments, and

such. If the desire is present, you will have the motivation to

examine your own mind and unravel it until there is nothing left to

it.

 

If you have the desire for Liberation, naturally the spiritual

practice arises, inclusive of its manifest activities that are

suitable for you. You have the key. Keep applying it.

 

 

Another Q.: One-pointedly seeking it. Can you help me with that?

 

N.: When you desire something intensely, you are one-pointed about

that, aren't you?

 

Q.: Oh, yes!

 

N.: See, you are very familiar with this. (Laughter) If you are out

of breath, you become one-pointed. The Maharshi gives the example of

a drowning man attempting to get to the surface. For some reason, he

is not distracted on the way up. (Laughter) He does not delay

thinking that he will get to the surface later. He does not think

that he has all these other desires. He does not think that he is at

an impasse, wondering if he should or should not get some breath and

save his life. Nobody has that idea.

 

When we see the importance of Self-Realization, we become one-

pointed. When we see the fleeting nature of life and the fact of

death, we become one-pointed. When we see where happiness is, we

become one-pointed. When we see the present opportunity to realize

Truth for all eternity, we become one-pointed.

 

Try any or all of that. If you still have a problem with one-

pointedness, you may ask again.

 

 

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Not two,

Richard

 

Material from SAT's "Reflections" Magazine, March/April 2005.

www,satramana.org