DANCE NAKED
Dance, Lalla, with nothing on
But air: Sing, Lalla,
wearing the sky.
Look at this glowing day! What clothes
Could be so beautiful or
more sacred?
~Lal Ded
Acharya Prashant- what does it mean to dance with nothing on?
L1- No causes.
AP- What does it mean to dance with nothing on?
L2 – Dance without fear.
L3- Dance without thinking, just dance.
L4- It’s one with everything. It’s just one. So there is nothing.
AP – Would you talk about it or would you dance?
(everyone laughs)
L5- It’s like reborn.
AP- He has a lot on.
Go into this. What does it mean to dance with nothing on? It’s such a compelling visual and it is not about a special occasion, when one woman with her long hair is dancing by, let say the Ganga. No it’s not about a special occasion. You don’t have full moon nights every day.
In daily living, in this and that, in our relationships, what does it mean to dance with nothing on?
L2 – For a special reason, for low fear.
AP- Yes, and what does it mean to dance? What is the difference between walking and dancing?
L2- Let experience the joy in oneself.
AP- Yes! Yes! Yes! More of that. What does it mean to dance?
L3- You let go everything.
AP- When someone says I’m walking and when someone says I’m dancing, what is the essential difference?
L6- Expressive joy.
AP- More, More, More.
L7- Every bit of you is involved.
AP- Yes! And more.
L6- Music.
AP- And more.
L8- No patterns.
AP- And more.
L7- Losing control.
AP – Losing control and more, more, more. What is the essential difference between walking and dancing?
L2- Energy.
AP- Yes! Yes! Yes! More of that.
L9- You don’t go anywhere.
AP- Yes! Yes! So it is?
L2- Mindless.
AP- And hence?
L7- You go mad.
AP- Someone said. Yes! Yes! Yes!
You don’t reach anywhere in dancing. You always walk for a reason. You walk towards the destination. You walk for profit. You walk in order to attain a place. You dance and you get nothing. You dance and you reach nowhere. So what does it mean to dance in daily life?
L10 – Nothing in consequences.
L8- No investment.
AP- Yes, yes.
L5- It’s the right action.
AP- And that right action has?
L3 – No profit, no purpose.
AP-
The action is its own profit. Dancing is its own joy.
The walker says, “When I’ll reach there, then I’ll feel happy”. The dancer says, “As I’m dancing, I’m joyful”. What is the walker saying, when I reach there than, I’ll happy. The dancer is saying, since I’m happy, so I’m dancing. I’m already happy. The dance is coming out of my happiness. I won’t have to reach there to be happy. You call it goalessness, purposelessness. You call it stupidity.
Yes, and I’m assuming you are not attracting a crowd by dancing. And I’m assuming there is not a donation box kept close by. That if you enjoy my dance, thanks for the donation. I’m assuming you are dancing all by yourself.
Do we dance in our daily lives? Do we? Of course, we do. Otherwise we couldn’t have been alive. But we do that so infrequently. I invite you to dance more often. The more you dance, the more you would want to dance. That is its nature. The more you enter it, the more you feel like entering more.
If you remain on the surface, then the depths don’t even call to you.
The closer you go to the centre, the more you feel the call of the centre.
L4- We have to start.
AP- You have to start.
L4- Than may have to pass through awkwardness?
AP – Yes, that awkwardness is an invitation. Why else would you blush? What would you rather prefer boredom or awkwardness?
L4 – Awkwardness.
AP- It is always awkward the first time, is it not? But it is better than never loosing it. You want to be burdened with your virginity? (smiles). Let God take you, fully. Let him rip you open (smiling). We are talking about the symbol of Shiva. (smiles)
“Sing Lalla wearing the sky”, what does it mean to wear the sky? And it has something to do with something that is very recently asked. What does it mean to wear the sky? Why do we wear anything? Why does anybody wear anything?
To protect. What does sky indicate? The immencity, the infinity, the totality that is existence itself. “Dance Lalla, you’d be protected.” You asked something from Yoga Vasistha Sara -Brahman as the armor. “Dance lalla wearing the sky.” Dance lalla, you need not be worried about your protection, you would be protected, by the sky itself and when the sky is protecting you, how can the objects in the sky harm you.
Are you getting it?
Let the sky be your savior. Now how will the little stones and rocks and men and events harm you? They are so small in front of the sky.
L4- They can harm the body but they can’t harm.
AP- Yes.
L4- Its better the body is harmed than your soul.
AP- Yes, Yes, now that’s the calculation of a spiritual mind. (everyone laughs)
L5- It’s contradiction.
AP- Yes, the spiritual mind loves to take losses. He says alright, take this, doesn’t mean much. But don’t take that, I will not let that be taken, why? Because it cannot be taken away. If I lose that which can be lost, than I have lost nothing. But if I allow that to be lost, which cannot be lost, than I’m losing everything.
It is fun. It is not dangerous at all to you.
‘Look at the glowing day! What clothes could be so beautiful or more sacred?’ The sky wraps you. You wear the day and what could be more sacred.
Usually we look for social instruments for protection. What do clothes represent? A social manufacture, something that man has made and society has approved. The spiritual mind does not fear psychological vulnerability.
He says if I allow society to protect me, than I’m also allowing the society to become my lord. Because in allowing it to protect me, I’m confessing that it has a power greater than me. I’m saying to the society, and when I say society I mean the mind of man. He says in allowing the society to protect me, I’m saying to the society you are so powerful that you can protect me, and if you are so powerful that you can protect me, then you also have the power to rule me. We forget this very often, don’t we?
We take all our protection from others, and we forget that the one to whom we turn for protection, is also the one we have accepted as our master. Do not take protection from anybody accept the Truth. Are you getting it? You pay a very heavy price for taking protection.
It would be very interesting and instructive for you to tonight figure out where you are getting your protection from? And all of us have our avenues and instruments of protection. All of us turn to something or somebody for protection, don’t we? You must figure out, what is the emergency number that you dial. The emergency number that you dial is also the one that is keeping you in chains.
The one to whom you most quickly and frequently turn to seeking support, is also the one who would want you to keep seeking support. That is the difference between God and this world. When you take support from the world, the world ensures that you keep taking support. The world ensures that you never become strong enough to not to ask for support. When you take support from God, He ensures that you need no more support.
L11- Sir, can money be a form of protection?
AP- Of course, of course, of course. So you must figure out, that do you turn to your job for seeking your sense of protection? Do you turn to your government, or nationality, or wife, or father for seeking protection? Do you turn to your intellect, or knowledge for seeking protection? You must figure out what is it that you think protects you. If anything protects you, I assure you, you are very unprotected. Only those who are protected by nothing, are protected. But we protect ourselves, right?
Had Lalla protected herself, we would not have had this night. What protects you, man or God? Just say thanks, that’s all. How will a tank say thanks? Even if it tries to say thanks, it will fire six times. T H A N K S. six shells. (Everyone laughs)
L12- Thank you, Thank you and Thank you.
AP- Now you are producing to a light machine gun.
L4 – So, when you’ll get naked?
AP- (smilingly) Oh, it’s too cold to get naked. Why should I get naked? (everyone laughs)
Nakedness is not nakedness if it is meant for display. To be naked means to be alone.
Do you get this? That is why, the physical nakedness in sexual activity is not nakedness at all. You are wearing now the body of the other, how are you naked?
L4- So, naked means true Self?
AP- Yes, to be naked means to be living as the Atman, Lalla was not a nudist. It is something beyond that.
Sing, sing who would sing next?
(nobody sings)
Alright stop! Is there anybody here who does not know the right action right now? Everybody here without exception knows the right action and what is the right action?
L7- Sing.
AP- What is the right action?
L7- Sing.
AP- Sing, and do you see how you are held back? Do you see how smart we are? And how intelligent? Do you see this is how the right action always 24 hours a day gets compromised? You very well know what this night demands and yet you are unable to let yourself go and flow. It’s still not happening, it’s not happening, it’s not happening.
L6- (sings) ‘I have no fear for restless nights to turn around. Thank you for you.
You know how to fulfill your warms, than try to heal alone for help.
His name will make you swim across.’
AP- If there is one word here, which is tremendously important, the word is ‘alone’. ‘Look to him alone for help, cry to him alone for help’. I again ask you, to ask yourself to whom do you turn for help? Do you turn to Him alone for help? And alone means alone. When the mind is anguished, where do you try to find refuge? You are angry, you are hurt, you are anxious, you are bored, now what do you do? To whom do you turn? Do you turn to a shopping mall? Do you turn to a friend? Do you turn to a movie? Do you turn to entertainment? Do you turn to gossip? Do you turn to television? Do you turn to a novel? Do you turn to sleep? Or do you turn to God?
We know these states, don’t we? Anybody here who has not experienced these? Today itself anxiety, boredom, frustration. Yes, we have experienced these this day itself, have we not? And then what did we do?
If we were bored, we started chatting. If we were sad, we turn to pleasure. So, we have enough avenues from where to get relief and that is why we never get relief. We know so many shops from where to buy peace, and that is why we never get peace. Anybody who turned to Truth for support today?
You turn to all kinds of impotent and rascals. We turn to only two categories of people. One, who are impotent, who have no capacity to help or to those who promise they would help, but would not help. So, either they are impotent or they are rascals. But we are never tired of taking help from these people. And we never seek help from that one source from where it would come.
What does it mean to seek help from God? To seek help from God means, seeking peace from peace itself.
When you are anxious, what is it that you want? I’m asking, “when you are anxious, what is it that you want?”
Listeners: Peace.
AP- Peace, peace. But instead of peace, what do you turn to?
L4- Distraction.
AP- The television, now you wanted peace but you have turned to television. Is that quite intelligent? To turn to God means turning to peace when you want peace, and that is quite simple. To turn to God for help means, turning to joy, when you want joy. That must be obvious. But when you are in pain, what do you turn to? Shopping, you wanted joy and you went shopping. What do you get? Bills. (everyone laughs)
Where is joy? To turn to God means, turning to joy, when you need joy. It means simply being honest. If I want joy, why I’m going to a movie? But don’t we say that, “I’m going to a movie, to enjoy myself.” Is that not stupid? I’m going to a party to enjoy myself, is that not foolish? That is so very conventionally accepted, “Go, enjoy yourself.” Go enjoy yourself where? I thought joy is here, what do we mean by that?
You are feeling greatly lonely. You want completion and what do you get, a wedding, a wife. Now, you wanted completion and you brought in a wife. What would you than get? A complete family. When you want completion, than you don’t get a husband or a wife, than you get completion itself. That is what is meant by turning to God.
We will go deeper into it. What is meant by turning to peace, when peace is needed? First of all, we said that most of us when we need peace, we turn to a television, or a party, or a mobile phone. We don’t go to peace, when we need peace. What does it mean to go to peace, when we need peace?
L3- Go away from what is not needed.
AP- Good. It simply means to give that up which is obstructing peace. Give that up which is obstructing peace. You are feeling that you have lost peace, not because peace has gone away, but because something else has entered your life. There is something in your life that is blocking peace. So, to get peace the method is very simple. What is the method?
L3- Stop.
AP- Drop that which blocks peace. But instead of that you go to a shopping mall. Now how can going to a shopping mall drop the obstruction? That is what is meant by taking help from the God alone. It means living honestly. You also see now that honesty is intelligence.
An honest life is an intelligent life, because it is a direct life.
