Simply Sitting technique - Answering a query.

I wrote this as a reply to my friend's what if query.

Simply sitting ideology !

I must admit I coined the word - unwittingly. I don’t know if anybody has used that term as plain as that for meditation. No cult or group will ever choose it because they will not benefit in anyway. No body wants to learn such a thing like ‘simply sitting’ by paying money. If you call it ‘Zazen’ ( for Zen – sitting) may be people will pay.

Simply sitting is an Art. Most people think they know very well ‘ how to sit simply’. The truth is that very few know and very few can unless trained. You may wonder. A few days practice will definitely tell you that. I frankly think that - that is meditation. Just simply sit for half an hour. Not sleeping, Sit with full awareness and NOT THINKING OF ANYTHING. That is the catch. If you are able to sit idle without thinking anything for at least half a minute then that itself is a great achievement. More than minute you have good chance of becoming a Yogi. You don’t have to recite any mantra or say any prayer. You can keep all your pseudo secularist pretensions in tact. No worry of allegiance to any group. No need to wear any saffron cloth. Your prestige pressure cooker will not fall tumbling down. But even that won’t be possible for simple ordinary souls. People have lot of false notions. How they will answer to the question to “why are you sitting idle”? They may not be able answer properly. Without a cult? without joining any yoga class or without going to any satsang? Without changing one’s belief? They are not supposed to sit like that. If he is a family man, wife and children will suspect him. They will take him to doctor. If a child does, parents will get upset. Our duniya is like that. A worker ant is not supposed to stop. If it stops then there is trouble.

I firmly believe and practice daily this simple ‘simply sitting’ technique. You can also try it. If you know some meditation then it is icing on the cake. It is a great experience. It is not my invention. For hundreds of years learned men from the east and west practiced it. Rishi-Munis, Sufi saints, Zen Gurus, Assisi fathers and many more.. They did not name it as I did. Upanishads explained it at great length. They say Dhyanam Nirvishayo Mana: (Meditation is mind without any thought).

Zen has this practice. They call it Zazen. But they concentrate on breathing. And count breathing. They do not close the eyes fully - fearing you may start visualizing something. But no doubt Zen gurus achieve ‘bliss’ early. After years of practicing I can not convincingly say that I have experienced it even for a fraction of second. But I can surely say that on freak occasions I have sensed a ‘happiness’ that is on the way. I would call it ‘satisfaction of existence’. Then fraction of a second is long time. If with years of accumulated ‘Karmadoshas’ I could achieve that then imagine what the pure souls could achieve.

Now if your mind is not calm and receptive skip the next paragraph.

Zen Gurus always practice silence and live in the present with full awareness. Now read next sentence very slowly. Keep your mind as soft as white cotton cloud. Leave enough time gaps after every word, every full stop…. Zen gurus lives very peacefully. They make beautiful clay pots. They cut wood. They water plants. They see leaf. Stones. Brown pebbles. Black seeds. White petals. The difference is that they SEE. We Look. ….If you have been truthful to yourself you would have seen how agitated your mind was.

It is very very difficult to make people understand subtle matters. Things can not be told like that. It is like explaining the unknown fragrances. There definitely has yet another dimension to the otherwise seen mundane world. Your ‘what if’ questions.. are all related to this chaotic – cacophonic - ( perhaps you may call realistic – I would think twice to call it realistic ) mundane world. Our spiritual leaders have always called this samsara chakram or samsara sagaram..(loukika Jeevitham) Knowing it very well and keeping aloof from it is the technique Geeta teaches. So many ‘what if s’ can be answered by just one ‘what if’ as you explained at the end. What if, if you and I were not born at all!

I would end this with a Zen guru joke:

Once a businessman got interested in Zen philosophy and he decided to become a monk. He joined a Zen ashram and lived there with Zen Gurus hoping to learn everything soon. They did not teach him anything. Six months passed .The businessman got frustrated. He slowly approached Guru. He told him plainly that he has not learned anything from them. Guru simply asked “Did you drink Kanji?” To this business man said “Yes”. Guru: “Did you wash your plates?” To this businessman said “Yes”. Guru: “Then go to sleep”.

I think the next day the businessman must have left the ashram. What do you think?
What is the underlying meaning or meaninglessness here?
How can this be explained to ordinary folks?