Soulful Sadhak

Sometimes I sit and look at all the stupid things I’ve done So many years it took and only so far I have come Sometimes I want to let go sit back and let it all be If I just would not struggle so maybe one day I’d be free Sometimes I really feel sore but also feel great relief as if I will suffer no more Those times great grace I receive     For as long as I will fight and struggle to change God’s plan I know I’ll not sit down and write: I live my life as a free man

There was a master who was renowned for his rather unorthodox techniques. They said he would often submit his students to the most extreme trainings. Many of his students dropped out of his classes completely bewildered or just went mad. One day a young man went up to the master and asked him to become his student. The master replied he would only take him on as a student if he would be willing to accept anything that would come. At this the young man became insecure, because he had heard of the master's reputation, and left, asking for some time to think about it. A long time the young man pondered over his decision, and finally he was able to gather all his courage. He went back to the master and told him he was ready to become his student, he was willing to accept anything that would come. "Then, I have nothing more to teach you," replied the master. At that moment the young man became enlightened.

"How did you find the practice of mindfulness?" someone asked me recently. I answered him: "I found it when I stopped looking for something." He was confused: "When did that happen?" "Oh, only very recently, long after I arrived here." You see, what I had been doing was whenever an unpleasant feeling would arise, I would just try to become very 'mindful' in order to make it go away, and I would tell myself that I would have to practice even harder in the future to prevent this from happening. But now matter how hard I tried, unpleasant feelings would still arise, which after a couple of months, made me quite desperate. It was only then that I realized that this was not what the practice was about at all. I was just running away from things I did not like (unpleasant feelings) and holding on to things I liked (pleasant feelings). In the end, this was not different from what I had been doing before whole my life. In fact, it is how most peo...