Now, the second advice that He gave to His wife and to all beings was this: “When the breath turns from down to up,” meaning when you breathe out and when you breathe in, “you do not follow the breath.” But, when you breath, for example, if you are an athlete, maybe you are just running or you do some errand and you have to run fast, then do not try to give yourself up to exhaustion. For example, when you breathe too hard… like this, then you should not lose yourself in the running. But try to make use of the... If you cannot concentrate on anything else because you have to run, like you have to do sport, and you have a competition, then you should better just realize that the breath is coming in, the breath’s coming out. And then try to center yourself, in the being behind all this breathing and behind all this exercising, in order to centralize yourself, to be self-centered. And at that moment, even though running, you will also be experiencing enlightenment. And so of course, it makes your work easier. I hope I understood Him and explained it correctly. If not, you can tell me later. If you know something better, you tell me.
The third one... You know what, when people translated Shiva’s Teaching, it’s already confusing. Because the one who translated not necessarily did understand Him. And then the one who translated before him even, already made a mess. So many translations make more mess. I’m trying very hard to explain to you the way I understood. I hope I don’t make worse mess than already has been made.
The third one, “or in the middle of the fusion of the two breaths, try to center on that.” Of course, repeat the Five (Holy) Names. In that case, you will not try to hang on to the breath, but just to remember, something to remember, and then you repeat the (Five) Holy Names, and then center yourself. So what He meant is, whether you're working, you’re running, or you are standing, you're walking, you still always can find something to concentrate on. And repeat the Five (Holy) Names, if you happen to forget the wisdom center. Because you probably have to run. You have to run and you have to look at the road. If you concentrate too much on the wisdom Eye, maybe you forgot to look at the road, and then you will become the last of the competitors, instead of the first prize [winner].
Because this person, when he translated, perhaps he overlooked what Shiva meant inside by telling him to remember the breath-less being, or the energy-less energy field. Like gate without gate, gate-less gate, things like that.. It’s very difficult for anyone of any level to understand a Master’s secret Teaching. And this is supposed to be very deep, very secret, transmitted from one Master to one disciple. And if a lay person happened to hear it, he’d probably get confused, never mind translating it, and then translate it from another translation. And there would be more confusion. So I try my best to make it clear for you.
So, “the energy-less energy-field center,” energy-less energy – that can only mean the Cosmos, can only mean the Almighty, the Supreme Master within every being. So, even while breathing and running fast, we still have to remember that center, if we can. Of course, it’s difficult. So people say, “Well, when I’m running, when I’m working, it’s very difficult to remember.” OK, you don’t have to remember the wisdom center, but you remember the wisdom being, the wise being, the being without running, the being that is always still. So, in every action, we still can try to remember. For example, when we are running fast, we try to remember the one who is still. That is our True Self, our identity. For example like that. That’s what I understood. If I understood it wrong, please the Indian correct me. Is that correct, brothers? What do you think? (Our knowledge is very shallow.) You are very humble, as all the Indians are. What do you think? “Devi,” behind there? You think it’s OK?
OK, the fourth advice Shiva gave to His disciples is like this: “Also, when breath is all out, or all in,” meaning when you breath all out or when you inhale, just inhale enough in, and stop at that time, in the middle of that. “...in such a universal pause, suddenly the small self, the physical self, vanishes. This is very easy at that time to realize the whole purity of the True Self.” That’s what the translation is supposed to mean. (There’s the breathing coming and out when we are trying to get the Prana or Pran.) Brana Brana. (Prana or Pran.) No, no, no, it’s in the between. Don’t confuse people, OK? Don’t speak Sanskrit here. I don’t understand either. You with your Mahayana, Prana, Mahaprana, and all that. You know that practice? Pranayama and all that?
Alright. So in this, what He meant is, before you breathe out again, or before you breathe in, or... My God, OK, I’ll breathe for you... That is the moment He meant, all when before, or when all out. Even in those instances, we have to remember the purity of our true being. He said, but it is very difficult. If you are impure, you will not remember that. You will always follow the breath, in and out, or follow your exhaustion of the body and then forget completely the true identification of our being.
The fifth way to remember is that... Now, sometimes you forget, right? So you try to remember by... “Considering your own essence as Light, and it comes in saturating throughout your body. At that time, by remembering so, you will awake the liveliness within yourself, awaken the true Life Force within ourselves again.” Of course, at that time, don’t do the Quan-Quang (meditation on the inner Heavenly Light) because you can’t. So at least try to consider, to remember that you are the (inner Heavenly) Light, remember the experience you have when you meditate on the (inner Heavenly) Light, and you saw the (inner Heavenly) Light. So at the time, when you cannot meditate on the (inner Heavenly) Light, at least try to remember, to consider that you are the (inner Heavenly) Light. OK, that’s what I understand.
All the teaching here is just a way to try to defeat your mind’s wandering tendency in everyday life. So in every situation, there are many ways to try to grip the mind back. That’s why He teaches the disciples so many ways to control the mind. Because if you let the mind free for one second, it’ll think of all kinds of garbage. Therefore, there are 112 ways to catch the mind every day. So if you use one after another, perhaps you always try to remember the Holy essence of our True Being.
The sixth advice is that... “The spaces between.” OK, OK. So, sometimes perhaps when it rains, according to here, “In the space between the different lightning…” You know, sometimes in the storm, the lightning comes one after another, right? So in between that, feel yourself as such, powerful as the lightning of the universe. Even in the rain, you can remember God; you can remember your own identity. That’s perhaps what the Master meant. Unless any wiser person tells me otherwise. Because I don’t have the whole scripture here, I only have a very short, concentrated essence of the teaching. And we try to make the best translation out of it. Interpretation.
Now, continue further, He spoke to her sweetly again. “Devi,” He called her Goddess, Goddess. “…imagine you can also try to remember God or to be enlightened by imagining the Sanskrit letters.” “First, as they are letters…” For the Americans, I don’t think you should imagine the Sanskrit letters, but the alphabet, it would be wiser for us. “First, imagine them one by one as letters, as physical letters, but later try to perceive more as sounds.” Like A, B, and don’t have to speak out loud, but try to perceive them as a silent sound. “And then transcending the sound, we enter the feeling.” Try to feel the letters’ vibration, instead of hearing the sound, or seeing the written words. Is that clear? OK.
Suppose you are a teacher. You have to teach A, B, C, or English, and perhaps, in some moment of the repose, you probably cannot concentrate right away; or you have to have a lunch break, and your mind is still full of A, B, C, D, E, F... then you make use of that as well. Turn around and meditate on it. At least you concentrate. Suppose your mind is always full of work, and you can’t just in a moment of silence become immediately tuned in, back to the Five (Holy) Names, or back to whatever awareness that you desire. Then we make use of the situation and turn that into a concentration method. And meditate, concentrate, until we can be aware again of our awareness. And we are back to our control again. Then it’s OK. Repeat the Five (Holy) Names and do the Quan-Quang (meditation on the inner Heavenly Light).
Just like the American people say, “If somebody gives you lemon, make lemonade out of it.” What else can you do? It’s too sour, so we add some sugar, and make it into a refreshing drink. So, similarly, our mind is a wandering horse all the time. So in every situation, we have to try to use its own wandering power to turn it back to our own advantages of concentration. Like yesterday, we said the weeds in the garden, if we cannot weed them out, then love them, or try to make something else. Try to make salad out of the dandelion leaves. Yeah! They make excellent salad. Very nutritious.
In fact, in Germany now, because it’s so much developed, the wild land is very hard to find, so those dandelions are a rare species. And so, if you want to buy them in the market, it’s expensive Yeah, more expensive than ordinary salad. I’m not kidding you. The German people, do you know? Is that true? Nobody lives in Germany. You know, huh? (It’s the same in Switzerland.) You have the same in Switzerland, also more expensive than ordinary salad, yeah. I guess so, because people don’t go into the wild anymore and pick these things. So the few, who do, sell them in the market. And you don’t get that many; you don’t get plenty. I know that. Last time we were in Germany, just recently, I showed them to disciples, “This is the one we picked yesterday, and I used to pick before.” And they wanted to buy it, and they are expensive, more than the other salad. So don’t look down upon these wild things. Nowadays, wild things are more expensive than the cultivated things. In the old times, it was the contrary. Why did we go to eating right now? Terrible! I must be hungry; I didn’t have my lunch yet. OK, alright.
Let’s go back to the Sanskrit letters, alright? If you are Indian, of course you imagine the Sanskrit letters. First, as a written word, and then as a sound, and then as a feeling, and then finally, leave all of them, and be free. Free of all thinking, all imagination, all feeling, all nothing. Just sit there and enjoy. Alright.
Photo Caption: “4 Strips Puff Pastry Assorted Jam Pies – Cherry, Orange, Marmalade, Strawberry” (All what shows here is no pain)
