A gambler suddenly awoke and realised that he was no longer on earth but in heaven. During his time on earth, he had wished to gamble to his heart’s content when he would be in heaven. Here he was with the most beautiful damsels around, sumptuous foods and in the most beautiful place he had ever seen. Without wasting time, he tried his hand on the betting table and his luck did not leave him as he started winning. He went on winning day after day, week after week, month after month and even year after year.
Gradually, he started to get annoyed and restless with the routine. Nothing changed: there were the same beautiful women, sumptuous foods, beautiful place, pleasant perfume and other heavenly pleasures. One day he approached the one in charge of heaven and told him that he was extremely restless and bored. He asked to be moved to some other place. “But there is no other place for you as this is what you had sought during your whole life. In fact, this is the other place,” came the reply.
Now, just imagine a life without problems and death! If that happened, people would be bored to death or become mad. Fortunately, the mind is here to seek for trouble all the time and also fortunately there is death. What are human beings aiming at by developing more advanced technology in all fields of science and art? No illness, no famine, mechanisation and computerisation of almost all systems of work. Then what will people do? The mind will always find some occupation or create some suffering so that it can assert itself. It is a psychological fact that deep within, people do not want to get liberated from their suffering. This is why, consciously or unconsciously, they are always creating new circumstances in which they are caught.
Suffering, boredom and death: is there a way out of these? Yes, of course there is. These are created by the mind, therefore if one can go beyond mind, then there is neither birth nor death, neither joy nor sorrow and no boredom. Instead one will experience timelessness, eternal now, bliss, supra-sensual joy and supra-mental delight. Such a state is beyond feelings, thoughts and the senses. There is no ‘I am enjoying,’ there is simply ‘enjoying’. In fact, that is the real ‘I’, sheer bliss. The greatest sensual pleasure is nothing compared to it. But how does one go beyond mind? By understanding it, and to understand it, one must stop and observe it intensely. Today people are much hectic, going very far away from themselves. Even though one may discover innumerable means of sense gratification, new technologies and have more knowledge, one will still be faced with the same temporary sensual pleasures followed by much suffering, boredom, misery and death.
Man! You have been moving constantly throughout your life, even in your dreams. You are not at rest. Why not try to be calm and silent for a few hours, watching the inner mechanism so that you can know what inner silence is? All your sufferings and miseries are caused by an absence of inner silence. Yes, the cause is within, not without. Stop finding scapegoats and face yourself.
Gradually, he started to get annoyed and restless with the routine. Nothing changed: there were the same beautiful women, sumptuous foods, beautiful place, pleasant perfume and other heavenly pleasures. One day he approached the one in charge of heaven and told him that he was extremely restless and bored. He asked to be moved to some other place. “But there is no other place for you as this is what you had sought during your whole life. In fact, this is the other place,” came the reply.
Now, just imagine a life without problems and death! If that happened, people would be bored to death or become mad. Fortunately, the mind is here to seek for trouble all the time and also fortunately there is death. What are human beings aiming at by developing more advanced technology in all fields of science and art? No illness, no famine, mechanisation and computerisation of almost all systems of work. Then what will people do? The mind will always find some occupation or create some suffering so that it can assert itself. It is a psychological fact that deep within, people do not want to get liberated from their suffering. This is why, consciously or unconsciously, they are always creating new circumstances in which they are caught.
Suffering, boredom and death: is there a way out of these? Yes, of course there is. These are created by the mind, therefore if one can go beyond mind, then there is neither birth nor death, neither joy nor sorrow and no boredom. Instead one will experience timelessness, eternal now, bliss, supra-sensual joy and supra-mental delight. Such a state is beyond feelings, thoughts and the senses. There is no ‘I am enjoying,’ there is simply ‘enjoying’. In fact, that is the real ‘I’, sheer bliss. The greatest sensual pleasure is nothing compared to it. But how does one go beyond mind? By understanding it, and to understand it, one must stop and observe it intensely. Today people are much hectic, going very far away from themselves. Even though one may discover innumerable means of sense gratification, new technologies and have more knowledge, one will still be faced with the same temporary sensual pleasures followed by much suffering, boredom, misery and death.
Man! You have been moving constantly throughout your life, even in your dreams. You are not at rest. Why not try to be calm and silent for a few hours, watching the inner mechanism so that you can know what inner silence is? All your sufferings and miseries are caused by an absence of inner silence. Yes, the cause is within, not without. Stop finding scapegoats and face yourself.
It is a psychological fact that deep within, people do not want to get liberated from their suffering. This is why, consciously or unconsciously, they are always creating new circumstances in which they are caught.
By Swami Paramananda
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