Leela Meditation : Family Drama Meditation and Movie Meditation
THIS SO-CALLED UNIVERSE APPEARS AS A JUGGLING, A PICTURE SHOW. TO BE HAPPY,
LOOK UPON IT SO.
LOOK UPON IT SO.
Alternative Titles: Right--Attitude Meditation, Unhappiness to Happiness Meditation
Vigyan Bhairav Tantra Vol 1, Chapter 37 Download
Tip:
Memorize
If you or a friend are in the middle of a protracted family drama, memorizing the above line and repeating it, helps to bring back the memories of the talk and its wisdom and this increases peace with increasing distance from the identification with the drama of our lives while playing it still. This is like the lotus flower (sym: blossoming consciousness), which plays with muddy water (sym:identified suffering life) and yet no water sticks to it. It works the same way before a movie to repeat the lines from memory and spend a moment in practising it. This would need to be repeated occasionally, when suffering from identification increases, during the movie and drama.
Memorize
If you or a friend are in the middle of a protracted family drama, memorizing the above line and repeating it, helps to bring back the memories of the talk and its wisdom and this increases peace with increasing distance from the identification with the drama of our lives while playing it still. This is like the lotus flower (sym: blossoming consciousness), which plays with muddy water (sym:identified suffering life) and yet no water sticks to it. It works the same way before a movie to repeat the lines from memory and spend a moment in practising it. This would need to be repeated occasionally, when suffering from identification increases, during the movie and drama.
Osho teaching us by example - Buddha and Rama
The signs of a saint: he is alert and irresolute, egoless and playful
THE WAY OF TAO, VOL 2
...
Lao Tzu says, "Their life is a profound performance. They are but guests in this world, so their conduct is only play-acting, not real." Let us try to understand this by an example.
After twelve long years, Buddha returned home. His brother. Ananda, had taken a promise from him that he would always be where Buddha was. Buddha had given the promise. At the border of his father's kingdom, people were gathered to welcome him. Only Yashodhara, his wife, was not in the crowd. Buddha said to Ananda. "See, Ananda, Yashodhara did not come." Ananda was worried: after attaining Buddhahood, Buddha was still concerned about his wife! It had been twelve years since he attained supreme knowledge, and yet his wife remained in his thoughts! He held his patience, and decided to question Buddha at the right moment.
Buddha reached the palace. No sign of Yoshodhara. He went inside. There was still no sign of her.
Buddha then said to Ananda, "I have promised to keep you with me wherever I go. I do not wish to break my pledge, but I have to make a request today. I left Yashodhara and ran away, for there was no other way. If after this long period of separation, I go to meet her with a crowd around me, she will be displeased. Let me give her a chance to work out the anger that she has harboured all these long years. Please, allow me to be with her alone."
Ananda was terrified by his request. Where was the need now for Buddha to meet his wife alone?
But Buddha was right. His meeting with Yashodhara in private was fruitful. Yashodhara vented all her anger on him. She accused him of having deserted her, of not having so much as told her before he left. Buddha stood calm and serene and listened to her patiently. When her anger was spent, she broke into tears; and in the flow of those tears, she released the pain and suffering she had undergone. Then the tears stopped. She looked up at the serene face. "You came alone to see me,"she said, "and that has changed me completely. Had you come with the crowd, I would have known that there was no place for me in your heart."
Buddha still stood quiet and serene. Yashodhara fell at his feet. All complaints had vanished; all pain had fled. She asked his forgiveness. Buddha said to her, "There was only one desire in me:that you accept what I have brought along with me." This was all play-acting on the part of Buddha, but it brought about the initiation of his wife. She became a bhikshuni.
After seven years, she went into deep meditation. Then one day she told him: "A fine act you put up that day! My joy knew no bounds when I heard that you had inquired after me when you entered the kingdom. The long suffering of loneliness left me that very moment. Then how happy I was when you left Ananda outside and came along to see me! All my complaints, all my anger towards you, melted away. But now I know it was just an act you put up and it was this that brought about the change in me."
Says Lao Tzu: "Such people can never become an intrinsic part of this world, but they always act as if they were." Such people establish no relationships, but always pretend to deep relationships. This acting on their part is very serious and impressive. If it were not so, it could not last.
This is an inner characteristic of a Saint that being all outsider, he lives as if he is very much within life. He lives like a guest, enacting a profound role in life. He is no longer the doer. Now, whatever is, is outside of him. He is only enacting the role of Rama in the RAMA LEELA. He is not the real Rama.
If we investigate onto the life of the authentic Rama, we shall be surprised to know that even he was a mere actor in the whole saga of the RAMAYANA. This is his greatness! It is because of this that he could leave Sita in the jungle, on the basis of the words of an ignorant washerman, this same Sita whom he had wagered his life to find. And it is because of this that he could hand over to another the kingdom he won with such great difficulties - just like that! If all this was real to Rama, he would have found it difficult - nay impossible, to act in this manner. But this was all part of a big play.
Rama is absolutely serious. There was no need for him to discard Sita on the mere words of a dhobi! But he is serious, in his act; he enacts his role seriously. When Sita is lost, he cries for her; he is beside himself with grief. He asks the trees and the insects whether they have seen his Sita!
Also, he runs after a golden deer! Even we know there are no golden deer; Rama must also be knowing. Yet he runs after a golden deer. And later? he calls out to Lakshman for help!
Sita also played her part well. Lakshman refuses to leave Sita and go to Rama's aid, because Rama had ordered him not to leave her when he was gone. But Rama's cry for help goads her to say hard words to Lakshman, to whom Rama's word was law. She says "I know you wish your brother to die so that you can have me!" These are words that Sita could only have spoken if she was enacting the role of Sita; otherwise they have no meaning.
Poor Lakshman is caught between the two. He is filled with anger! In refusing to go, he was obeying Rama's orders, yet here was Sita accusing him of ulterior motives! In his terrible anger, he forgot Rama, he forgot Sita. His ego was hurt; he was filled with rage. He left Sita and went away. This was a part of a very great act.
Such harsh words from such a one as Sita seem most unbecoming but only to those who have not understood the whole arrangement of this play and who have taken it to be an authentic happening.
They will find her words hard and cruel, such as they sounded to Lakshman for whom this was not acting. To him, everything was real.
In the whole saga of the Ramayana, we have acknowledged Rama to be the main character and have called it the RAMA LEELA. There is a reason to this. In the whole epic, Bharata, his brother, has played an equally important part. For that matter even Ravana could have been considered the main character, for there would have been no RAMA LEELA without him. And Sita, of course, was the centre of the whole drama; all events are woven round her. But Rama has been considered the hero of the Ramayana for the simple reason that he was only person who knew this all to be nothing more than a drama, a mere play.
THE WAY OF TAO, VOL 2
...
Lao Tzu says, "Their life is a profound performance. They are but guests in this world, so their conduct is only play-acting, not real." Let us try to understand this by an example.
After twelve long years, Buddha returned home. His brother. Ananda, had taken a promise from him that he would always be where Buddha was. Buddha had given the promise. At the border of his father's kingdom, people were gathered to welcome him. Only Yashodhara, his wife, was not in the crowd. Buddha said to Ananda. "See, Ananda, Yashodhara did not come." Ananda was worried: after attaining Buddhahood, Buddha was still concerned about his wife! It had been twelve years since he attained supreme knowledge, and yet his wife remained in his thoughts! He held his patience, and decided to question Buddha at the right moment.
Buddha reached the palace. No sign of Yoshodhara. He went inside. There was still no sign of her.
Buddha then said to Ananda, "I have promised to keep you with me wherever I go. I do not wish to break my pledge, but I have to make a request today. I left Yashodhara and ran away, for there was no other way. If after this long period of separation, I go to meet her with a crowd around me, she will be displeased. Let me give her a chance to work out the anger that she has harboured all these long years. Please, allow me to be with her alone."
Ananda was terrified by his request. Where was the need now for Buddha to meet his wife alone?
But Buddha was right. His meeting with Yashodhara in private was fruitful. Yashodhara vented all her anger on him. She accused him of having deserted her, of not having so much as told her before he left. Buddha stood calm and serene and listened to her patiently. When her anger was spent, she broke into tears; and in the flow of those tears, she released the pain and suffering she had undergone. Then the tears stopped. She looked up at the serene face. "You came alone to see me,"she said, "and that has changed me completely. Had you come with the crowd, I would have known that there was no place for me in your heart."
Buddha still stood quiet and serene. Yashodhara fell at his feet. All complaints had vanished; all pain had fled. She asked his forgiveness. Buddha said to her, "There was only one desire in me:that you accept what I have brought along with me." This was all play-acting on the part of Buddha, but it brought about the initiation of his wife. She became a bhikshuni.
After seven years, she went into deep meditation. Then one day she told him: "A fine act you put up that day! My joy knew no bounds when I heard that you had inquired after me when you entered the kingdom. The long suffering of loneliness left me that very moment. Then how happy I was when you left Ananda outside and came along to see me! All my complaints, all my anger towards you, melted away. But now I know it was just an act you put up and it was this that brought about the change in me."
Says Lao Tzu: "Such people can never become an intrinsic part of this world, but they always act as if they were." Such people establish no relationships, but always pretend to deep relationships. This acting on their part is very serious and impressive. If it were not so, it could not last.
This is an inner characteristic of a Saint that being all outsider, he lives as if he is very much within life. He lives like a guest, enacting a profound role in life. He is no longer the doer. Now, whatever is, is outside of him. He is only enacting the role of Rama in the RAMA LEELA. He is not the real Rama.
If we investigate onto the life of the authentic Rama, we shall be surprised to know that even he was a mere actor in the whole saga of the RAMAYANA. This is his greatness! It is because of this that he could leave Sita in the jungle, on the basis of the words of an ignorant washerman, this same Sita whom he had wagered his life to find. And it is because of this that he could hand over to another the kingdom he won with such great difficulties - just like that! If all this was real to Rama, he would have found it difficult - nay impossible, to act in this manner. But this was all part of a big play.
Rama is absolutely serious. There was no need for him to discard Sita on the mere words of a dhobi! But he is serious, in his act; he enacts his role seriously. When Sita is lost, he cries for her; he is beside himself with grief. He asks the trees and the insects whether they have seen his Sita!
Also, he runs after a golden deer! Even we know there are no golden deer; Rama must also be knowing. Yet he runs after a golden deer. And later? he calls out to Lakshman for help!
Sita also played her part well. Lakshman refuses to leave Sita and go to Rama's aid, because Rama had ordered him not to leave her when he was gone. But Rama's cry for help goads her to say hard words to Lakshman, to whom Rama's word was law. She says "I know you wish your brother to die so that you can have me!" These are words that Sita could only have spoken if she was enacting the role of Sita; otherwise they have no meaning.
Poor Lakshman is caught between the two. He is filled with anger! In refusing to go, he was obeying Rama's orders, yet here was Sita accusing him of ulterior motives! In his terrible anger, he forgot Rama, he forgot Sita. His ego was hurt; he was filled with rage. He left Sita and went away. This was a part of a very great act.
Such harsh words from such a one as Sita seem most unbecoming but only to those who have not understood the whole arrangement of this play and who have taken it to be an authentic happening.
They will find her words hard and cruel, such as they sounded to Lakshman for whom this was not acting. To him, everything was real.
In the whole saga of the Ramayana, we have acknowledged Rama to be the main character and have called it the RAMA LEELA. There is a reason to this. In the whole epic, Bharata, his brother, has played an equally important part. For that matter even Ravana could have been considered the main character, for there would have been no RAMA LEELA without him. And Sita, of course, was the centre of the whole drama; all events are woven round her. But Rama has been considered the hero of the Ramayana for the simple reason that he was only person who knew this all to be nothing more than a drama, a mere play.