Reflections from my stay in an Ashram, India

I have come to Chennai, India, to the Babuji Ashram, an Ashram of the Sahaj Marg mission, to meditate and meet Master Chariji again. This, I believe, is my third or fourth trip to India for that purpose in seven years. I wish I would have come annually. Each time I learn something that in retrospect changes my life for the better. Deeply. Significantly.

I have reported my insights from meditation in past blogs. What did I learn this time, on the first day of my arrival?

Master Chariji is 87 years old. He is also seriously sick. His days are counted. Or maybe it is months, but it does not look like he has years left. So, I wondered, what does a person who knows that his days are counted, that faces the inevitable, what does he think is really important in life.

Usually, a person in that situation, I thought, kind of evaluates his life and has insights what he could have done differently and better; he will refocus on what really counts in life so that those days that are left to live are not wasted anymore.

Sitting next to him, a privilege I cherish and value tremendously, I asked him:” Master, what is really important to you, NOW”

As I say, I expected some deep insight about life, a kernel of knowledge that I assumed a person facing death will have.

His answer: “Nothing new. The same.”

Now stop and reflect on his answer to my question: “ What is important to you now?” The answer: ”Nothing new. The same. “

Can you see how integrated this person has? He has no remorse about anything he did in his life and there is no need to change anything in the time left in his life. Truly living in the present. Past and future are all in the present. Or said differently, the past continues through the present into the future. There is no difference. He is totally at peace with himself. Nothing needs to change. There was no waste in the past that he needs to catch up in the present before the future evaporates. What is, is. What was meant to be, is meant to be. Free. Free from remorse. Free from guilt. Free from wishful thinking. Free. Free to live. Free to die peacefully.

What a way to live! What a way to die!!!!!

I asked him although he looked so old and feeble and I know he was in serious pain, if I will be able to see him privately.

“If I can be of service to you yes”, he said.

Wait a moment…he guy is dying, and he is going to give me the scarce minutes left to serve me or anyone else!!!

Is that what life is about, than?

Stop and think. Stop and reflect: what else is life about? Is that a waste to be of utility to others? In those remaining days of ones life, most people, I think, would rather serve themselves? Old people become kind of selfish. They cherish every second of life left to be used by and for themselves. Why waste them on others?

Why was his answer different? In Sahaj Marg meditation you open your heart and that means you love. And to love is to give of yourself to others.

LIFE IS LOVE. Without love what is life all about? And love without giving is all talk and no being.

And to love you have to stop expecting. What is meant to be, will be. No less. No more. This meditation teaches you to stop expecting and to take life as is. Do not fight life. Live life. Loving.

Now the question is what is life? What does it mean to live?

How do you know you are alive? Is it that you can move your hands and legs? Or that you can breathe? But there are people that are paralyzed that are alive and you can stop breathing for a minute and you are still alive Ah, then was Descartes right: “Since I think I am”? I am not so sure. Some people do not think and they are alive. So what is the answer?

I said: “Since I feel, I am alive” When I stop feeling whatever I feel, when I am just a body but without a soul, there is no life for me.

But what does it mean to feel? How do you know that you feel? (Thank you Deepak.)

In order to feel, you have to be conscious. And in order to be conscious you need to be present. Here and now. Not let your mind wander all the time into the past or into the future. And meditation helps you to be here and now. To be present. To be conscious and thus to feel. And thus to be alive.

Whoa. Think about it. Working hard. Rushing from one assignment to another.

In my case, jumping from one airplane to another, from one client to another, scared to waste time  …time is money, no? …… I am not present. I am not conscious. It looks like I am alive, running like a mad man, for only God knows what it is I am chasing… and the harder I fill my time with activities so I do not waste any time, the faster time flies, and I have no idea where years of my life have gone to. No time to feel. No time To Be. Thus, no time to live. To be alive.

But if meditation is so good, why don’t I do it every day? Why? Because to sit and do nothing and let thoughts come freely to your head and not try to control them and manipulate them is HARD. Yes, it is hard being. And very easy be busy doing.To really live is scary. To fill your life with action so it looks like you are alive is easy.

Just reflecting and wishing you well,

‍

Sincerely,

Dr. Ichak Kalderon Adizes.