Class-Two Cups

* Sat is an abbreviation for Sathyam.

-Class begins with a newcomer talking about how he has a hard time meditating at home.
Sathyam: Going back to what you were saying about having a lot of thoughts, I will give you a demonstration just now. I was wondering why I brought two cups tonight to demonstrate something, but I think it was for you (referring back to the same man).
(Sathyam has brought two cups to the class; She has drawn pictures and designs on the outside of one and the other is plain. She picks up a water bottle and pours some water into the cup that is plain. She holds up the empty cup, which has drawings on it and as She points out the designs on the outside of the cup, She continues below.)
Just think that you are very, very thirsty and you are looking to quench your thirst. You look to different people and in a lot of different circumstances, or a lot of scenery or drawings on the cup to do that. This cup however is empty. Most people in the world look to satisfy their thirst, which is [for] peace of mind, in the wrong places. They look for it in having a house, having children, etc. which are great, but that is not where it is [at]. Others look for it in taking elaborate vacations, or in their profession and in their work, but they come back empty handed, because this empty cup never had any water in it.
(She holds up the cup without any designs on the outside, which contains the water.)
Now, with this cup, there is no scenery or any designs on it; there is no other person on there, it is however full of water. When a person looks in the world to quench that inner dissatisfaction and disturbances through the mind, they always come back empty handed.
What is the solution for that then? The solution is to go to a place that is far away from all the scenery or designs on the cup. (She demonstrates by using the cups again.) And where is this place? Right here. (Sathyam pats Her heart.) But because of our five senses and our active mind, we hardly ever want to go in. This is because our senses and our mind want to constantly go out. They think “if only I get this, I will have it … if only I get that, I will have peace of mind” etc.
So this is why it is very important to have the right meditation along with the extreme desire for freedom and peace of mind. Because once we have the desire for peace of mind, the road to find it will open up for us.
To answer your question about what to do with disturbing thoughts (Sathyam addresses the newcomer again), you don’t do anything. You don’t push them away, you don’t invite them, and you don’t condemn or embrace them. You just stay without any movement. As I always say to the newcomers, the heart beats, the mouth has saliva in it, and the mind thinks, this is the nature of it. When you meditate, you don’t try to control your mind and make it settle down. All you do is shift your attention to a place that is quiet inside of yourself. You let the mind think, but you don’t interfere. You don’t start getting interested in your mind and you don’t start talking to your mind. The reason we are un-peaceful is because our mind continued to get our attention all the time, and little by little, we became the slave rather than the Master. It is very easy to get involved with the mind and it takes a little bit of practice to break this habit. It is just a habit that everyone has.
-The newcomer talks about getting frustrated when he falls asleep during his meditations.
Sathyam: You fall asleep because you are exhausted from thinking and that is ok. When you catch yourself being asleep, open your eyes, distract yourself for a while and then go back again to your meditation. You have to meditate when you are not too tired. When you are tired, you are going to fall asleep and if you do fall asleep it is just fine.
Last week I asked everyone if they remembered their time of birth, and whether they were born or not. Then I said that these are all serious things we are talking about here, we don’t get together here just to have an outing. This is something that can give you complete freedom and you have to treat it as such. There are a lot of places you could go to and get some relief, but what we are talking about here is complete freedom.
What I demonstrated a little earlier with the cups is why so many people are just not happy, and I am not just talking about us so much; it is everywhere. They are looking for love in the wrong places; the treasure however lies within one’s consciousness, not the mind, but the consciousness. The key to that is an utter interest for freedom and peace of mind. Unless one has this utter interest, they are not ripened enough; they are just nibbling, which is great, because even without the interest, eventually they become ripened by listening to it. Little by little, we cultivate the interest. But the interest is the one that breaks the shell open completely. We start thinking to ourselves, “I have done this and that, I have been here and there, but something is still missing.” And that is when we are knocking at the door of our consciousness; at the door of our inner divine Existence and the door has to open; it just has to open, it has no choice!
Now we are going to do a short meditation, which I call the Trust Meditation. What we do is absolutely not care about the past, the future or even now. Just release and Just Be. If the thoughts come, they come. Just Be and trust that there is a Source within each one of us that once we settle down and not take thoughts, it begins to activate that Source, and that Source will take care of our life. Anytime the thoughts come, go back to this trust, knowing that everything is ok.


Meditation continues for about five minutes.

Sathyam continues: Slowly open your eyes. It’s hard to open your eyes; this is where the peace is, this is where the Truth is, this is where the Home is.
-The newcomer talks about how he fell into a deep but dark place during his meditation and it caused him some hesitation.
Sathyam: You don’t need to be hesitant, because that darkness is not darkness, it is emptiness. That emptiness is very, very healing. You did not drop anywhere (referring to the darkness) your mind began to drop into the region of your heart. That is very, very good, because a moment ago you couldn’t even calm your mind down. Now you see that there is a good possibility to calm your mind. What is happening is all within your own self, so that’s very, very safe, and it’s just a feeling that the mind doesn’t want to let go, so it gets a little bit scared. But if you don’t pay attention and go with it, behind that emptiness or what you call darkness, is nothing but peace. It is just a sheet of silence and peace. The mind doesn’t want to let go of its chatter and once you get quiet, it gets a little bit irritated.
If the Trust Meditation sits in your heart and you continue to do it, eventually you will see that once you get to the silence, there is extreme peace. Then your mind begins to like it and would like to participate in that peace.
-The newcomer makes more comments about what took place for him during his meditation.
Sathyam: When you want to get to a body of water, you dig a well, and you go deep enough to hit the water. It is the same with finding that peace (Sathyam pats Her heart), you dig at it inwardly and that is where it is at. It is already there, you just become aware of it. It is not something you find, it is already there, you just allow the mind to do whatever it wants to do, and you bring your attention down to that region.
One of the men: In my experience, when you quiet down the chatter in the mind, the peace reveals itself.
Sathyam: Yes, this gentleman came here a year and a half or maybe two years ago, with a very agitated and disturbed mind, but now through practicing our tools, he has a new understanding. Sometimes in life, disturbances are our friends, to get us to search for something deeper; otherwise those disturbances become chronic pain.
The meditation that I just gave, and I call it Trust Meditation, is a really good meditation, because it allows you to be ok without thinking. Some people are unable to face themselves, this allows you to face yourself and say to yourself, “You know what, this is so peaceful, I really like it.”
In this country this has become an epidemic, because you see parents raise their children by having them constantly go here, there, everywhere (i.e. participate in different activities). This could be considered good when the children are young, it is considered having ambition. But as they get older, this habit can destroy them because they don’t know how to slow down and we need to slow down.
-One of the men talks about an accident he had with his bicycle and adds that so many things continue to happen in his life that one might think are miracles.
Sathyam: It is because of the trust that you have; you do not take too much thought and that is what activates the Inner miracles to take place and you know how to do this.
Do you have any other questions on meditation tonight?
A man asks: I have heard that meditation can actually help improve your health.
Sathyam: Oh yes, absolutely! There are many reasons, but I will give you a few of them. First of all, every physical problem has its root on a mental level, but because the mental level is more subtle and not as concrete, you don’t see it at first, until it becomes a physical symptom, then you think to yourself, “Oh, I have pain.” A person who has a calm mind will almost never experience too many physical problems, almost, unless it is in their destiny to go through it. It is not because it is on a mental level but because there is something from a past life for which they must pay [karmically].
Secondly, when you have a really deep meditation or when you are conversing with your real Self, blocked energy anywhere in your body begins to shift and bring about a balance, which brings about another set of healing.
Thirdly, what I consider far more important than any of the other points is once you go in, you come face to face with the truth of who you are and what some people call God. At that point you begin to pick up the right image and as that happens, your health is restored. This is because you are going into a purity that does not know illness.
Meditation is just a tool; the main thing is to keep your mind quiet all day long with the eyes open. How is this done? It is done by paying very little attention to the thoughts. Paying attention to the mind is a habit that has to be broken little by little, by taking baby steps, by not conversing with the thoughts. I know people who have gotten so used to being un-peaceful, that they don’t even know that this is not their nature, they have no idea this way of living is not even correct.
-A man talks about how this is an addiction to chaos and how living like that is living a lie.
Sathyam: Yes that is right! Living like that is like living a big lie, a lie that is covering up lots of anxiety from underneath. Once you have faced yourself in quietness and confidence, you no longer need to be anybody to impress yourself and you are therefore complete in that.
Something else that is very helpful that we can do is to not believe our pain and to believe in who we really are: which is a divine human being. We say, “You know what, I don’t have time for you (referring to the pain), I don’t believe you,” that’s it! It is the same method we use for our thoughts. We ignore the pain. I don’t mean ignore it in terms of it not existing, but rather to ignore its reality.
I have a friend who is familiar with My method of approach to pain, and she calls Me regularly about having physical pain. I once said to her, “No you don’t have such a problem.” She then began to protect and explain her physical problem. I said to her, “Don’t you see, you don’t need to protect this; it does not need your protection.”
There is disease everywhere, but this method does help. The most effective way is to be quiet, the calmer the mind gets, the healthier the body gets. So we need to take some time for ourselves to do that.

Namaste

CLASS
Two Cups
April 1, 2005