Speaker : Before we chase something and want to be consistent in our chase, it’s very important to understand whether consistency is a worthy thing at all. Is that not important? Before you chase something, won’t you want to know whether the thing is worth chasing or not? Otherwise, you may find that you have spent a lot of time and energy in the chase for nothing and you get something which is entirely worthless. Right? Let’s try to understand.
All of you write down, ‘consistent is that which does not change’.
(Asks the students to write and students write it down on their copies)
Look at these fans. What do you find consistent here? What do you find unchanging here?
Listener 1: Speed.
Speaker: The speed? Do we have voltage regulators? The rpm (rotations per minute) can be changed. So that is not really consistent. That can be changed very easily right now.
Listener 2: The axis.
Speaker: Somebody said, ‘the axis’. The whole thing seems to be rotating at a high rpm. Does not it? The blades are constantly changing their positions. Are they not? The blades of the fans are constantly changing their positions. Are they not? Vishal! (Addressing one of the student) Yet, what is not changing its position at all?
Listener 3: The shape of the blades.
Speaker: Yes, right. So the entire structure. And what else is not changing its position?
Listener 2 : The axis
Speaker: The axis. Human life , all effort, all action can in some way be captured using the model of the fan. While there has to be great activity and great movement in a young man’s life, how many of you want a life in which nothing changes? How many of you want a life in which absolutely nothing ever changes? Better be dead. Right? We would better be dead than want such a life, because such a life is anyway a dead life in which nothing changes. It would be highly boring. Would not it be? No change, no diversity, no richness. So, change is extremely, extremely important. Time is change, human action is change and change is wonderful. Even as we sit here everything is changing every single moment. The movement of these blades, the change in position of these blades, in some sense is symbolic of the overall change that is happening in existence at every single point in time. What all is changing? What all is changing continuously? Even as we sit here, in every moment, what is changing? Time is changing, time is an abstraction. So go a little ahead. What is changing?
Listener 5: Moods.
Speaker: Your thoughts are changing continuously, which he mentioned by the name ‘moods’. And?
Listener 3: Atmosphere.
Speaker: Atmosphere. Yeah, of course, the contents of the air in this, the molecules. That is changing. What else?
Listener 1 : I am changing.
Speaker : You are changing. ‘You’ meaning? He has already said that the thoughts are changing. Besides that?
Listener 1: The physical self is also changing.
Speaker: The physical self. What do you mean by the physical self?
Listener 1: Our cells.
Speaker : Your cells. Do you realize that an extraordinary large number of cells in our body have already died even as we have been sitting here since the last few minutes? And probably an equal number or a bigger number has taken birth by way of multiplication. Your bodies at this instant are not what they were when this session started. Amazing. Isn’t it? When we came here and we sat down, we had one body, and right now we have a body that is actually different. Its physical composition itself has changed. Isn’t that wonderful? Yes? Continuously mind is changing and he went on to add that the body is also changing. Mind is changing and body is changing. Everything is changing. Whatever appears to be constant is also continuously changing. Whatever appears to be constant is also continuously changing. It would be very very difficult for you to tell me one thing right now that is not changing.
Student: Soul
Speaker: Which one? Where? Where? He says soul, exactly where?
Student: Sir, it is not physically present and it is present inside us.
Speaker: But then you said like this, soul and this happens to be a physical thing. You want to say that a non-physical thing exists inside a physical thing? If it is something non-physical obviously it can’t exist in space. Space is physical and your body is space. Anything that you can see as not changing? So as far as our world goes every single thing is changing. Vishal talked about consistency, only change is consistent. We are living in a world of consistent change, continuous change. The only thing predictable is that things would change. The contents of your mind would change and do you understand what is meant by the contents of your mind – all your beliefs, attitudes, worldview, and relationships. Everything will change. Whatever you may hold sacred or important today, you are unlikely to hold it the same way tomorrow. New people will come in your life, the old ones will disappear. New relationships will be formed. So in the world that we live everything is changing. Look at the blades of the fan, continuous change. You could as well call it the wheel of time, continuous change . Nothing is unchangeable. Time is change and we are creatures existing in time. We come in time, we go away in time. Yes?
At the same time when you look at the fan even though there is continuous movement, yet there is a certain rhythm, a certain harmony in the way it is functioning. Isn’t it? And one of you had very rightly said that sir everything might be changeable but the shaft, the axis is very, very stable. Our life too has a shaft, an axis, a center that cannot change, that must not even appear to change. And it’s wonderful that you have started this session with a question about that center. Last Saturday you did an activity that was titled the false-center. Do you remember?
Students: Yes sir.
Speaker: Now today very smartly, you have started off this session by asking about the real center. The false-center you have already studied. What was the false-center?
Students: Ego (In unison).
Speaker: And today we have chanced upon the real-center. That real-center is the only thing Vishal that is consistent, really consistent, and unchangeable, not in time. That does not change. And if that starts changing, then there would be a great havoc. What will happen if the axis also starts moving? How many of you would still prefer to sit in this room if you find that some of the fans are actually wobbling around their axis? How many of you would want to sit under such a fan whose axis too appears to be wobbling? Yes? How would it feel? How would it feel?
Students: Dangerous (In unison).
Speaker: Dangerous. Similar is the situation of the man whose axis also starts wobbling, he becomes very dangerous, first and foremost for himself; very dangerous. His center is no more a center because a center that is not stable is no more a center. The center by definition cannot move. We all have this center and this center never changes. Now I ask you, what is this center? What is this center?
Student 1: Attitude.
Speaker : Attitude? Gratitude or Attitude?
Student 1: Attitude.
Speaker: Attitude. How many of you have found that you carry the same attitudes that you carried when you were two years or five years old? How many of you have found that attitudes keep changing? What was your name?
Student 2: Arjun
Speaker : Arjun said the contents of the mind, thoughts are constantly changing and attitude is very much the content of the mind. Attitude is a thought, it keeps changing. Attitude is mental, mind keeps changing. Yes, what is it that doesn’t change? What is it that is consistent? Yes?
Student 3: We keep on changing, this doesn’t change.
Speaker: We keep on changing, this fact doesn’t change. Yeah that is right. And? But that does not tell anything about that center, right? Yes?
Student: Our conscience.
Speaker: Our conscience. Does your conscience say the same thing today that it used to say ten years back? And can you be absolutely sure that it would be saying the same things ten years hence? Your conscience is a product of the inputs that you receive from society. Because the inputs keep changing, this conscience also keeps changing. There is nothing stable let alone sacred about this conscience. Yes? What is it that does not change?
Student 4: Emotions .
Speaker : Emotions. (Smilingly) Do you have the same emotions right now that you had even ten minutes back? And can you be sure that the entire day you would be in the same emotional state as you are right now? Yes? One phone-call and the emotions can totally change, 180 degree change. What is definite is if the blades have to move and the position has to keep changing, there must be an absolutely firm center. What is that center? Yes, what is that center?
Student 5: Qualities.
Speaker: Qualities?
Student 6: Harmony and Love .
Speaker: Harmony and love, this place appears to be so harmonious right now. This harmony can be lost in 5 minutes. You claim that you love your near and dear ones so much, one message from your girlfriend can play havoc with that love. All it requires is one text message and you are saying it’s consistent.
Student 6: Our existence.
Speaker: What do you mean by our existence, I can take that but what do you mean by our existence? If it means the existence of your body then obviously that is changing.
Student: Our height.
Speaker: Height? Were you born 5ft 8 inches? How many of you were born with the same kind of…?
(Everybody laughs)
Pretty fascinating no? Nurse carrying a 6ft and then slapping him in the back, the fellow is not crying. And all he wants the first day of his birth is a razor to shave. Yes?
Student: Sir, the fact that we are always moving forward. We are not moving backwards.
Speaker : Yes he said something similar the fact that everything is changeable. But tell me how would you know that everything is changeable? A train is constantly changing its position with respect to earth. Is it not? A moving train is constantly changing its co-ordinates with respect to earth. Yes? But would you know that if your co-ordinates are changing at the same speed? If you are inside the train, would you ever know that the train is moving? If you are inside the train and there are no windows and the train isn’t shaking or vibrating, is there any way for you to know that the train is moving? So the train might be changing but how do you know that everything is changing?
Student: By comparing
Speaker: How will you compare? I am saying there is….
Student: Sir, by being in a different frame of reference.
Speaker: So when you say that you will be in a different frame of reference, you mean that the train is moving, the train is changing its co-ordinates but I am not changing my co-ordinates, only then you can know that everything is changing. Are you getting it? If everything is changing and you are also changing, will you ever know that everything is changing? If the train is moving and you are moving at the same speed, you cannot know that the train is moving. You have to be stable so as to know that everything is changing, right? What is that stability? That is what I am asking. Who is that who is watching the train come and go? Who is that who is watching the train come and go and he is not changing, he is standing still and firm, trains are coming and going, life is changing all around him but he is not changing? Who is he? Who is ‘he’? Everything is changing all around him; there is a great dance of change going around. But this one is not changing at all, he is just let’s use a word ‘witnessing’ all the change. What is he doing? Witnessing all the change, who is he? Who is he? Who is he? He is the witness .
It suffices to say that there does exist something that is witnessing all the change. The capacity to see change itself means that there is something unchangeable. Everything else comes and goes, that does not come and go. That is the real-center . That is the real center, that which doesn’t come and go. You all were a child once, weren’t you? Six years old, yes? Today you are young; tomorrow you would no more be young. Show me where is the child, where is the child? Where is the child, yes?
Student: Just in memories.
Speaker: Just in memories, otherwise the child is gone. The child is gone. Just no more there, go and search for the child wherever you want to but you will not find him anymore, that child is totally gone. We could say he is dead. The one who is totally gone could also be called as dead. That child is totally gone, dead. He exists only in memories, just as dead people exist only in memories. But did you too disappear with the child? The child disappeared, the child is no more but you are still there. Tomorrow this young man or young woman would be no more there but you would still be there. But you would still be there. Are you getting what I am trying to say? Yes?
You had one mind yesterday, today the mind has changed, that mind is no more there but you are still there. Tomorrow the body that you are carrying will change so much but you will still be there. Who is this ‘you’? This ‘you’ is the one that is witnessing , watching everything come and go, all trains are coming and going. And what is he doing? Just silently watching, witnessing. The presence of that center is very very important. The man who is in touch with that center lives a totally different kind of life, an extraordinary life, a beautiful life and the one who has totally forgotten that center lives a very chaotic life.
The one who is in touch with that center, remembers that center, is able to show great movement, great energy, great enthusiasm because he knows I have a fixed, definite, stable center. The confidence of having that fixed and stable center enables him to do a lot of things on the periphery. He knows that his center is so stable that he can do anything on the periphery but the center will not be disturbed. In that great confidence, he is able to win all battles. Are you getting it? He knows that he has a fixed home so he can wander a lot. He can go anywhere fearlessly.
That man becomes absolutely fearless because he knows he has a fixed center, a fixed home, unshakeable, and unchangeable. Nothing can disturb that center so he can enter all kinds of disturbances without himself being disturbed. He can take on great challenges because he is absolutely sure that nothing can happen to me, my center is safe, secure, and stable. Whatever disturbance will be there will be on the periphery, on the circumference. The circumference will keep moving, the center will remain stable. That man really lives, really, really lives. He is not afraid of anything that life throws at him. He can walk into troubles, he can walk into wars; he will not shy away from life.
And then there is the other man who knows or who thinks that there is no center, who has forgotten his real center. He is always afraid. He avoids any kind of movement or challenge, he is afraid of life, he is always searching for safety. All his thoughts are about security, ’can I please somehow be secure? , ‘please get me a good job please’, even in the second year of his B.Tech studies he is constantly worried about what will happen at the end of the fourth year. Because he has totally forgotten his center. Totally forgotten! How many of you want to be like the second man, afraid, shivering, and covering? How many of you find the first man fascinating?
You know how the first man would look, he would be fighting a vigorous battle with all his energy yet there would be calmness upon his face. He would be in the middle of deep grief and tears would be rolling down his cheeks yet there would be something inside him which would not at all be sad. In the middle of great excitement there would be something inside him which would still be unexcited. He would be participating life in the liveliest way possible. A very, very lively and energetic man he would be or woman. He would be loving towards all but none of his relationships would actually have the power to hurt him very deeply. He would never be dependent upon someone. Even the greatest losses in life will not bother him beyond a point; they will bother him but only on the periphery. On the periphery, he might appear to be bothered but the center would still be unshakeable.
If you say, only if you say that you want to lead a life like that then I would continue to tell a little more about this man. We all can become that man, we are that man. But only if you say that yes sir we are keenly interested, we want to know more about him then I would continue otherwise we will move to the next question. How many of you want to know more about this man?
(Few students raise their hands)
But then I have already said that you are that man, just that you have forgotten that you are that person, you already are that one. You already are him or her. Just that you have forgotten. What have you forgotten? You have forgotten to witness, you have forgotten observation.
The characteristic of the center is that it witnesses, isn’t it? The characteristic of the center is that it witnesses, it watches all change happening around it. What is it to watch? It’s a beautiful thing to watch. You know what does watching mean? Watching means while there is great action happening, there is one point inside me which is not participating in that action which is just, which is just?
Students: Stable. (In unison)
Speaker: So the mind is thinking, there are lots of thoughts coming but there is one point in the mind which is not engrossed in thoughts, which is just, which is just watching all the thoughts come and go. The body is highly active, I am playing soccer. The body is highly active yet there is something which is just watching all this happening, just watching and the body is fully active, running here and there, jumping, passing, hitting. It’s a very simple thing actually; it’s a capacity very much within you. Whatever you are doing, whatever you are involved in, just know what you are doing and you are that man. The moment you start knowing what you are doing, you are that man. It sounds very simple; but many of us find it very difficult to do.
To know exactly what is happening, to know is to witness.
Sitting over here many of us might still be lost in thoughts, this very moment. Do we really know where these thoughts are coming from? Did these thoughts take our permission with before entering our mind? Many of us might still be a little disturbed even as you sit here. Do you really know this disturbance? Do you understand why you are feeling disturbed? Why your bodies are not really stable? At this moment, not through previous knowledge, to witness is to see it right now.
To witness is to see it right now. Can you watch yourself right now as you sit here what is happening? What is happening with me?
The moment you start doing that you are that man and then life will be very difficult.
You would no more be bored and frustrated.
You would no more be going around with drooping shoulders as you normally appear to do.
Most importantly you would no more be afraid as you usually are.
Your face would have a different radiance in it.
You would be approaching life very, very differently.
You would no more be shying away from challenges.
You would no more be looking for security-‘Please save me, all the demons of the future are awaiting me, how can I shield myself, how can I shield myself’.
You would not be afraid of vulnerability.
You would not be bothering what would happen of me ( “Mera Kya Hoga”)? Small things that keep happening daily would not have the power to shake you up. Yes?
And all that is possible by this small thing- just watch what is happening.
And it would be an explosion, an explosive revolution. Just watch what is happening, that will be sufficient. Really, really watch. Yes? You will watch the change and in watching the change Vishal (Addressing the questioner), you would find what is unchangeable. That’s what you are, the unchangeable, the timeless. That’s your essence.
