I recently underwent 2 online meditation courses conducted by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s Art of Living Foundation. While the meditation courses per se were OK, one of the Teachers talked about 3 “Meditation Sutras” which made a strong impact on me.
I thought that these Sutras were actually Life Sutras, & can totally change one’s life if one understood & practiced them. So I thought of sharing them with my readers & convey why I am so excited to learn these. To me, the revelation was akin to a hidden treasure chest. Something which can lead & direct your life for all times to come. And to the egalitarian in me, what appealed most is their sheer universality. The Sutras apply to everyone regardless of race, religion, color or creed. They indeed bind all of us into a solid brotherhood, held together by our common human condition.
But before we talk of the 3 Sutras, Let us spend some time in understanding what is a Sutra. A Sutra (Sanskrit: सूत्र, romanized: sūtra, literally ‘string, thread’) in Indian literary traditions refers to an aphorism or a collection of aphorisms in the form of a manual or a condensed manual or text. Sutras are a genre of ancient & medieval Indian texts found in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism; underlining their universal application & appeal. Sutras are called Sutras because, like a thread (or twine or string), they bind in written form, a previously oral tradition. The term was certainly also initially descriptive since the works were written on leaves or pressed bamboo slats, which were then bound together with thread. (Ref. http://www.worldhistory.org/Sutra/ )
We have all heard of the Panini’ Sutras. Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras. Which one of my readers can claim they have not heard of Kama Sutra of Vatsayana? That apart, mostly Sutras were used for propagation of religious teaching. For example, in Buddhism, Dharma tradition goes back to the teachings heard directly from Buddha. These were memorized by the immediate followers of Buddha & handed down directly from master to pupil orally. . The 1st attempt to agree the form of the Buddhist textual tradition, what was remembered as the authoritative ‘word of the Buddha’, took place some months after the Buddha’s death at Rājagṛha in northern India when 500 arhats (one who has achieved Nirvana and liberation from rebirth) took part in a ‘communal recitation’ (saṃgīti). Thus were born The Thervada ( way of the elders) and Mahayana Sutras. Though in written form these were accepted as the buddhavacana ( Buddha’ word)
Enough said. Let us move to the 3 Sutras that blew me over. They are:
I want Nothing
I do Nothing
I am Nothing
Let us understand each of these in some depth.
- I want Nothing. Buddha based his entire teaching on how to avoid pain & suffering on this one principle. Desires & Wants, Needs & Expectations are the root of all suffering & pain. If you want Nothing, you are beyond the realm of attachment. And it is attachment that brings pain in its wake. This is easy to understand in isolation. But when you go to practice wanting nothing, you realize that it is more difficult than you imagined. Especially today when instant gratification is the norm. Desires come up, or are thrust on us through the social media & advertising, so much so that we are always running behind the newer phone, the better car, the larger house, more cool friends William Wordsworth understood this well when he warned us,”
The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;—
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
By living the I want Nothing sutra, by slowing down, by accepting ourselves as we are, by refusing to be in a “catch-up” mode, we stay rooted in our hearts, happy with what we have, content & relaxed in our present state. This makes us powerful. Remember the popular blurb, “ even if you win the rat race, you are still a rat!!”
2. The next Sutra says : I do nothing. When I retired about 10 years ago, after an active career for over 35 years, the very idea of doing nothing was terrifying & intolerable. A situation to be avoided at all cost!! How will I keep myself busy? My very self-image was at stake, since as a professional careerist, I had been striving all of my life. But that was the past. Now can I live life differently? Can I let go? I soon came to realize Letting go of everything & doing nothing, even briefly, has mental and physical health benefits.
Initially, embracing the practice of doing nothing may create some discomfort because it’s absolutely opposite to our usual ways. But 10 years post-retirement, I find myself extolling the virtues of doing absolutely nothing, or close to it.
How does it happen? De facto, you are dropping all efforts. And the ego of being THE Karta, making all things around me happen. You stop being the General Manager of the World. And resign yourself to the twists and turns of serendipity. You are not the pilot, the ATC, the flight is moving sans your effort. Only thing for you to do is float. Be in the Present. Enjoy outcomes of every Moment. Without a fret or a fume. You repose your trust into a Greater Artist, who knows every move. And you resign yourself to let things unfold into the Larger Design, no longer limited by your smaller and narrow vision. Trust the Process. Let Go. Enjoy the outcomes. And have Faith that it will all be alright in the long run. This was exactly the mood in which Mukesh sang way back in 1967 in Boond jo ban Gayi Moti.
दिशाएं देखो रंग भरी चमक रहीं उमंग भरी
ये किसने फूल फूल से किया श्रृंगार है
ये कौन चित्रकार है ये कौन चित्रकार ( who is the master painter who has filled colors in all directions & flowers…transliteration)
3. And the last Sutra : I am Nothing. Recollect the Biblical Canon : Remember Dust you are & to Dust you shall return (Ecclesiastes 3: 20). And yet, how often we get caught up in our roles, our trappings of power & feel we are important. We believe it is our effort & diligence that is making the world go round. Further we fall into the trap of thinking How will this go on when I am not here or if I don’t do all that I am doing.
PB Shelly captured this arrogance well in his poem Ozymandius. Despite Ozymandius’s proclamation,” Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair” The very next line tells us ” Nothing besides remains. Round the decay/… boundless and bare/The lone & level sands stretch far away”
Mark Twain in his characteristic style put is so well “ If you have Nothing to say, Say Nothing”. Still, the universe is full of noise, mostly beginning with I . The Reign of I is unbridled & even the most well meaning folks fall into its trap. Jiddu Krishnamoorthy had stopped using this pronoun I altogether. That is a rudimentary level. The real challenge is to conquer the I. All teachers are teaching us to annihilate the I And yet it grows, even amongst experienced folks. Arguably the 3rd Sutra is the most difficult to practice But it will take us to the most esoteric levels.
So remember : I want Nothing, I do Nothing. I am Nothing
Join me in the challenge of living the Sutras vikas
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