Introduction To Buddha

In this talk, Ektaji explains the path of Buddha. Each one of us has the thirst to find something "deeper" than what we already have. In order to start the path of spirituality, we need to be convinced that fulfillment is not in external things. Only then will the mind quiet down in meditation.

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Transcript

Initially when you want to start on the spiritual path,

First of all you have to understand what is the meaning of spirituality and why you really want to come into spirituality.

What are we all doing?

Running an endless marathon.

Same run after money,

Run after this thing,

That thing,

I want to acquire this,

I want great children,

I want my children to go here,

I want this,

I want,

Want,

Want,

Want.

When you keep running,

Running,

Running all your life,

Somewhere you start feeling empty inside.

You have a very big house,

You have cars,

You have the gadgets,

Name it and you have it.

Somewhere there is this feeling of emptiness.

Right?

We all feel it,

We all sense it.

We think that I can fill in this emptiness with another gadget and we try to get something which we don't have,

Something very out of our reach.

We think I'll get it,

Khush ho jaunga,

Mil jaega no tript ho jaunga.

You get your first million dollar tript huye kya?

One more million,

One more million,

One more million and it goes on.

You notice this in your own mind,

In your own life?

That emptiness that you are feeling inside is actually a thirst of your own mind.

It's looking for something,

It's looking for something deeper.

And when you run,

Run,

Run for a long time,

You realize,

Nahi hai,

Yaha nahi hai khush,

Kahi aur hai.

It is somewhere else,

Happiness is not here.

And finally you come to a point where you want to go with it.

That is just a stepping stone,

A beginning of spirituality.

Before going into meditation you have to check,

Do you have that void?

Something is missing.

And are you convinced that it cannot be filled by material objects,

Even by relationships?

Then you are ready to meditate,

Otherwise your mind will not stop.

Do you see what I'm saying?

Lot of people come,

Let me try meditation.

But the mind is still interested in external things and that's why the mind doesn't stop,

It doesn't calm down.

Meditation is a state where you recognize that there is a deeper thirst within and you start looking within.

And when you look within,

The mind starts quietening,

Quietening,

Quietening.

And because of a previous habitual pattern,

A thought will come and disturb you.

That's okay,

It's a previous karma sanskara,

Habitual tendency from this lifetime or the past lifetime.

It will disturb my mind,

My mind gets ruffled again.

Again you make that effort to settle down,

Settle down,

Settle down.

Again another thought will come.

And this cycle is going to repeat.

Why?

Because I have only given this habitual tendency that fuel in the past has become nice and fat and energetic.

So it's going to come running to me.

I have to stop providing it fuel so it loses its energy.

So that much time it's going to take for it to lose its energy,

I need to have patience.

Do you get it?

You cannot say I want to do a quick 10 minute meditation.

Hoga kya?

Quick,

I want to sleep quickly.

Hoga kya?

Yes,

This is the mistake people do.

Spirituality today has become spiritual light,

Light spirituality.

You will go back home and you will be the same person.

Not relaxed,

Not stressed.

So there is a key.

Number one is,

I really don't know number one.

What is it?

Thirst.

Thirst.

Thirst hai kya?

Thirst nahi hai toh nahi kuch bhi karo,

Kitta bhi math hamaare maa karo,

Kuch nahi unne wala,

Nothing is going to happen.

How much ever you break your head against the wall.

Number one key,

Do you have that void that you keep feeling again and again and are you aware about it?

Ki hai,

I have everything in the world but that satisfaction is not there.

Contentment is not there.

When you really recognize this,

Not intellectually,

Experientially recognize this,

Then it is your time to step into meditation.

Means that is the time meditation will start working for you.

Till that time it's not going to work.

That's why people really are fighting with themselves trying to meditate.

Number two key,

Once you have started recognizing this and started meditating,

You have to give the mind its time.

I told you know that fat guy has to lose his energy and stop bothering.

Means the thought.

Yaadeh I told you the habitual tendency,

Karma sanskara,

I am calling you the nice plumb flat fat guy who really give in a lot of food too.

He is going to come again and again and disturb your silence.

That is going to not let the mind rest.

So it is like a skill you have to develop.

I cannot develop it for you.

I can only develop it for myself.

You will have to develop it for yourself.

It's like picking up the guitar and starting with your chords and thinking okay by tomorrow morning I have to be a rock star.

Is it possible?

So meditation requires a lot of effort and patience.

Now just meditating will it get you there?

Not possible.

Impossible.

Meditation always goes hand in hand with knowledge or wisdom of myself.

Who am I?

Really am I just this body mind complex or is there something deeper?

How is my mind?

What is my mind?

What is ego?

And why does this ego come up and create all drama and all scenes around and then I feel guilty and then I go and sob and then I go and become a nice person for a few days and again I get back to the same ego drama and this repeats.

Till the time I don't understand my mind there is not going to be a possibility for me to settle this mind down.

You understand why?

Something that you are not familiar with how will you settle it down?

How will you help it settle down?

Only when you become familiar with the mind oh this is the way my mind behaves.

This is the way my ego comes up.

This is what instigates me.

Recognizing the nuances of my own mind.

That is called wisdom.

Do you get it?

The more I recognize the nuances of my mind the more I familiarize myself with my inner environment.

Then that much deeper the meditation goes and that again will stop at a point.

Then again you need enough knowledge to educate yourself come to that level and then the meditation goes deeper.

If you notice I didn't go up I went down right.

The mind settles down when you become familiar with the mind.

Till the time you are not familiar with the mind the mind is a joker.

It wears one hat and then some next day another hat another mask and creates different different dramas every day because you don't know the mind.

Ramanamaharshi describes it very beautifully.

All our Indian weddings are such that we have four four five five days weddings no.

So one day one person comes in and if the bride side asks him who are you oh I am from the bride groom side.

Next day if somebody from the bride groom side asks who are you I am from the bride side.

Third day bride and bride groom side talk to each other who is this man I don't know I don't know.

When they want to go meet this person he vanishes.

Your ego is like that.

It wears different hats it wears different masks on different days.

But when you really go searching for that ego it's not there.

It vanishes and your mind settles down a little more.

So the more you recognize yourself the more the mind will settle down.

Do you understand this?

Knowledge means wisdom about myself not knowledge of the world.

Knowledge about myself.

Now this is a very hard task takes a long time.

People prefer their movies on weekends rather than knowledge.

People prefer partying rather than knowing themselves.

That is why you see this becoming more and more extinct.

Yeah.

So you can see that thing what you say other person but it's difficult to observe myself.

Like I can see that pattern or the ego in the other person when that other person is having it.

But when it comes to myself.

You just can see.

So the key is awareness.

What meditation does when I told you go deeper and deeper your awareness becomes sharper and sharper.

Without awareness you cannot walk the spiritual path.

That is the main armor you are wearing.

That is the only thing that will really help you on this path.

What is awareness?

Chiseling your focus or attentiveness on the present moment.

See you are here.

You think you're listening to me.

You're not 100 percent listening to me.

Sitting here your mind went home and came back.

Sitting here your mind went checked on the kids and came back wherever they are.

Sitting here some of you went to office.

Tomorrow's office that also not in the present moment.

Future office and came back.

Correct?

That's actually right.

That's you also.

Are you getting what I'm saying?

Yeah.

I'll give you an example of your own mind.

This means sharpening this so much that if I am here now I am only here.

So much here that there is no chit chat at the back of the mind.

When I'm talking to you I am completely here.

This is shut down.

Power plug.

Complete shutdown.

Even in this pause there are no thoughts in the mind.

Do you have thoughts?

Are you seeing this?

Getting from there to here is not tough.

You just need interest.

Right?

If you develop interest in a particular subject you will excel.

That's what you teach your children.

It's the same thing.

If you are very interested in yourself you will excel.

And excellence in spirituality means sharpness of awareness.

Here,

Now,

All the time.

Again and again.

Moment to moment.

Do you get it?

Yes?

This sharpness of awareness now turns in in meditation.

And moment to moment I can observe myself.

My breath is going in and out.

It's involuntary.

My heart is beating.

When the mind becomes quieter you reach a stage where you can hear the blood gushing in your body.

You can hear the sound of the blood.

Right now you are so busy talking to yourself that you cannot hear your heartbeat.

You cannot hear the gush of your blood.

When I sit in meditation within 5 minutes I can get to that state where I can hear the gush of my blood.

My mind becomes so silent.

When you practice getting to that kind of silence you start seeing the moment a feeling of anger arises.

First that little feeling will arise.

It's a chhota chhota small little spark.

And if you don't observe it what happens?

It explodes into a big fire.

Get it?

Yes?

Sharpness of awareness gets you to the point where you can notice things happening in this body mind complex.

Yes?

That is really the magic of meditation and spirituality.

But I will not lie to you.

Takes time and effort.

Just like you would give effort to medicine or architecture or engineering.

That much you have to come into.

Buddha never taught anything that a human cannot experience.

He taught only that which can help you mature,

That can help you become aware and that which you can experience by yourself.

That is what attracted me to Buddha.

At Buddha's time there were many ascetics of other contemporary religions at that time.

Buddha himself was born into Hinduism.

So he followed many Hindu gurus and Hindu techniques.

At that time there was Mahavira who was very,

His techniques were prevalent.

So people used to fast literally starve and do all kinds of penances and Buddha did all of that.

The most wonderful thing was he did everything and he became an expert in it immediately.

He was gathering that samsara from previous lifetimes.

So whichever teacher he went to they taught him the highest kind of samadhi at least to get it.

And he said no this is not sufficient there has to be more.

I still have craving come up in me.

I still have aversion come up.

I still have hatred.

I still have that ego come up in me.

So no no your samadhi is not the end of suffering.

Your samadhi is a good state.

My mind is relaxed but it is not the end of suffering and he called suffering what?

Yeah,

The translation into Pali.

Constantly thinking in the mind again and again and again he called that suffering.

That is not normal.

Do you get it?

So we are all abnormal.

We are all suffering.

Yes and the ego does not like it.

No no I am not suffering.

Just going through a disease or a difficult time in a relationship or a difficult time at work that is not suffering.

Constantly in your mind the record it's like a broken record and it's going on and on about something or the other.

I like this I don't like this why did he do this why did she do this why am I like this constantly if not that a song is constantly playing in your mind.

You don't have control on your mind.

This itself is suffering.

You are a slave of your own mind.

This is suffering.

This is what the Buddha taught and he said by your samadhi techniques this suffering is not going.

I go into that fantastic state it becomes completely silent but when I come out what happens?

I am back to the same.

Aren't you experiencing that by the techniques that you do?

Yeah you come back home and you are the same person shouting screaming fighting angry upset disappointed unhappy.

Yeah what's the point of that meditation he says no I want that final meditation that can get me out of this suffering.

He was very scientific that's all he was really looking at.

Get me out of this suffering.

So he went to the best gurus of that time and they could not give him the highest techniques or the highest techniques they gave him did not they were not sufficient.

So these techniques are mentioned in the Rig Veda that were given to Buddha.

Dhyanas 7 and 8 were the highest.

He got those and he decided this is not it I am going to research on my own and he sat down on his own and meditated meditated went deeper in and came up with all these truths for example hundred and fifty kinds of minds and there is a lot more the teachings are so much that in an entire lifetime he will not be able to read through all the books.

But he came up with all these truths about our own body mind complex and at the end he realized the exact chain of cause and effect that happens in our own mind.

Yeah that's called dependent origination in the videos maybe in semester 2 Buddha 11 or semester 2 after 10 12 videos touched upon it and it take you through those 12 levels of dependent origination and that's where you start really meditating deeper and deeper recognizing that every little thought of mine has a wrapper of craving in it.

That is why a thought comes up otherwise a thought will not come up.

Every little thought of mine might have a wrapper of aversion in it.

That is why that thought comes up otherwise the thought would not come up.

Every thought is linked with aversion and craving and every thought has its individual feeling.

Feeling means a sensation when you come to Buddha one retreat I will teach you the technique that Buddha taught to start observing your sensation and sharpen your awareness so much that you recognize the first sensation of hatred the first sensation of jealousy the first sensation of ego.

It's so sensible to recognize that sensation and relax from it rather than be unaware and let that small sensation grow grow grow and burst out into drama.

So that technique is what you will learn if you come for the first Buddha retreat.

So the sensations would be like a negative and positive.

Pleasant and unpleasant and as a third neither pleasant nor unpleasant.

That also starts like this little little and it becomes big.

He taught all these things and you could actually experience them on a retreat you cannot experience the first time at home.

It's a very very tough thing to do when you're surrounded by family and you have these thoughts of going back home you have to be secluded isolated from home as well as your phone.

You go deep within and then you can really start observing these sensations and the wise one then recognizes the sensation with open eyes.

When you start doing that you start practicing not reacting that was his main key don't react to sensations.

And that non reaction becomes a habit pattern in meditation.

So when you really go back into the world after the retreat you will want to react because now this has come up but that awareness has sharpened and you will not react.

And again you'll want to react in some other situation and the awareness is so sharp that it takes us back.

Some major thing might you might lose to it.

Yeah just depending on your individual practice of this technique how sharp you become about recognizing your own sensations.

That doesn't need to bottling up when your thoughts are coming out.

No you're not suppressing you recognize the feeling and the feeling is what converts into thought and story.

Yeah initially your awareness will not be so sharp that you will recognize just as the sensation before it becomes a thought.

And slowly slowly with practice you will reach that level where you recognize feeling before it becomes a thought.

Get it you're not even suppressing because you don't know what you're suppressing it's just a feeling first.

We are not even aware that we have a bunch of feelings going on in our body right now.

That awareness is not sharp right now itself you have at least a hundred feelings hundred different kinds of feelings going in and out.

And this you can really experience when you come to that retreat that technique is such.

It is called seeing as it is or Vipassana.

That was the first thing that Buddha gave for you to sharpen your awareness.

When that gets sharpened and sharpened and sharpened it's like you have chiseled and swore yes.

Now you can do the final cut and what are you getting into not killing anybody but your own ego in mind and going into a higher level where I teach you the Jhanas for the Dhyanas if you want to use Sanskrit.

Jhana is a Pali word for Dhyana this is the Sanskrit word.

He gave the highest Dhyana the cessation Dhyana number nine and that was the key Buddha's key to help us all to get us out of this suffering mind.

Once you attain that highest Jhana you reach a point where you learn that the silent mind is like this screen and thoughts are just like characters playing on that screen.

These characters come they dance for a while they go away they come they dance for a while they go away.

Till now you were not aware that thoughts dancing are separate from the screen.

When you watch a movie you become so one with the movie you forget that it is a screen you become Shah Rukh Khan and Kareena Agur don't you?

You get so lost in that movie you become the hero and heroine but what is reality?

Reality is there is a white screen and there are characters playing on the screen it is not real.

This becomes your truth.

This mind that is bothering me is nothing but a screen with certain characters playing and these characters come and they go there is nothing to worry about them they don't bother me.

My focus has shifted from the characters to the screen and then screen is nothing but the silent mind.

Actually silent mind mind does not mind itself means noise so I should say no mind.

When you get to that highest level you have achieved that highest level of human potential.

There is nothing higher than that.

The state of no mind.

Once you have tasted that then you have to just practice being in that state of no mind like maintaining yourself there.

You will still get pulled out because you are not an expert yet.

Yes?

But slowly slowly you get pulled out less and less and less and the point will come you will be still absolutely founded in that silence.

Yes?

You have achieved the highest.

That is all that enlightenment is.

Enlightenment is not a big white yellow halo around you or you gain the ability to walk on water or fly in the air.

Nonsense mythological stories.

We were for kids.

We need to grow up.

It's that simple.

It's not hard to achieve in one lifetime.

Very very simple to get there.

Provided you really have the interest to know yourself.

Knowing yourself is not easy you know that no?

Ego doesn't like it.

No no I am not like this.

She must be he must be like that.

I am perfect.

Can perfection be changed?

Ego doesn't like it.

That is the hardest thing.

The first step is the hardest actually.

Once you have crossed the obstacle of your own ego then it's a smooth ride.

Then you don't have to do anything.

It is nature's law.

It takes you in that flow.

It's like the hardest thing is to dive into the river.

Once you have completed this action of diving and surrender.

Let this flow take me where it wants to go.

The flow will just take you.

You get it.

After that it is effortless.

The only effort is getting past the ego.

Before sitting for meditation on the Buddha's meditation signs it is just relaxation.

This is all that is explained to you.

Relax relax relax.

Yes now this is in the jhanas when I teach the jhanas.

For a beginner on the Buddha's side there is also concentration but concentrating only on reality.

Normal breath going in normal breath coming out.

So he would start them with a kind of concentration but it's not something that is not there that you have not achieved.

You know your breath goes in and out.

It's not something you have to achieve.

Reality as it is.

For a yogi who has reached a higher level his reality is he can feel the heartbeat in 5-10 minutes.

So that is his object.

He starts you with that.

He helps you recognize sensations come up.

Observe them.

Naturally don't react let them go.

Don't react let them go.

When you start chiseling your awareness and it becomes very sharp then you divert that awareness to yourself and then you go into the jhanas.

To go through this entire process yogis would come to him for 3-3-6-6 months.

We don't have that kind of time so I split it into separate retreats.

In buddhavan I just teach you observing your sensations because that's something you can feel.

When your anger comes up,

Your hatred comes up,

Your reality.

If you are still too gross,

Cannot get it then I still go back to just observing breath because that is something you feel.

Then your awareness becomes sharper then you can start seeing the sensations.

The practice of non-reaction in buddhavan.

Retreat not online in a retreat.

Then in the next retreat I can take you into the jhanas.

Just FYI there are no fees for these retreats in case you were thinking I am one of those dhongi babas or dhongi babis.

You only pay for your own accommodation for whatever the venue charges.

Or your own food.

And the videos also are free.

Yeah,

Yeah.

The website is free.

There is no fee.

Not on the app.

There is a new app.

Inside timer.

If you go on to that I just put in my name you will find lots of talks and meditations.

So the app is free.

The website is free.

Everything is free.

So maybe the internet is free.

No.

Your decision.

I never force people.

You have to be ready.

That's why I tell you don't force anybody to come here.

When you have that thirst,

That feeling something is missing in life.

Then you want to do this.

That is the right time to come.

Even if you force somebody no no you come.

I am telling you very great teacher.

What's the point?

In him that void has not come up.

He does not recognize it.

He is not ready.

If you pull the mango off the tree and it is not yet ripe.

You get it?

Don't pull anybody off the tree.

These people suffer on their spiritual path later on.

Because now they want to be spiritual and they cannot be spiritual.

The Maya pulls them and then their spiritual friends pull them.

And you know they have this tug of war.

Because of you that poor person is going through a tug of war in life.

From your side be kind.

Just inform.

This is what I am doing.

You know if you want to do you are welcome.

Stop.

No you come.

You come.

Hello Ashish ji.

You have to come.

After one week.

Hello Ashish ji.

You have to come.

No.

Don't do this.

You experiment and start eliminating.

Okay.

For beginner level I did this.

This work now drop,

Drop,

Drop.

Let me go higher.

Let me go deeper.

Only you can carve your path.

We say these are Vedic path and Bodic path.

There are a million and zillion paths.

As many people start walking that many paths are there.

Do you understand this?

These are just signals.

Look this way.

See this.

It's just a direction point this way.

But the realization happens to you.

No.

Are you getting it?

No two people's realization is going to be the same.

Even if they are walking together they start together.

Even if they are husband and wife,

Mother and son,

Whatever.

Family members starting together will have their own separate paths that they carve.

The path is carved in the mind.

Not.

It's not external.

It's not where you go or which guru you follow or which scripture you read.

Let's take an example.

All 20 people here start reading Buddha.

At a superficial level you will say all of them are on the same path.

This is an ignorant person's view.

The wise person knows there are 20 individual paths here.

Are you getting it?

Sometimes you don't understand something from the bodic side and you suddenly hear some guru's talk on TV and you get it.

Or suddenly somebody puts on Krishnamurthy's talk and you get it.

Are you getting it?

Krishnamurthy is independent spirituality.

He says no guru,

No scripture,

You need nothing.

Yeah.

And you heard a guru on TV and you found something.

Are you getting what I am saying?

So you are carving your own path.

Don't let anybody stop you from walking that path that you are carving.

Yes.

Just flow with your own flow.

Your inner guiding light is there.

It will take you.

Yeah.

That's why I tell you,

You should not get attached to anybody.

Don't get attached to me also.

Yeah.

You follow different,

Different scriptures,

Different,

Different paths.

You don't know where something fits.

Ah,

This makes sense.

Do you get it?

This is the best thing that Buddha taught.

He says,

Don't believe me.

What he meant?

Don't believe me blindly.

You experiment.

You check.

What I am saying after every sutta,

I say this,

I remind you what Buddha is saying.

You don't believe me blindly.

You experiment with your own mind and check.

He's right.

This happens when I give way to this.

And he actually tells you how your mind works.

It's really interesting.

Provided you have interest in yourself.

Okay.

Yeah.

So don't believe it blindly.

Get it?

Because you have your own path to work.

You shouldn't grow roots anywhere.

Because spiritual path is a flow.

You have to flow like water.

If you grow roots in one place,

You will not flow.

Get it?

The other wonderful thing I learned,

I went to a Buddhist monastery.

And the monk there who was teaching was really great.

His teachings were wonderful.

And he said that one thing I always say is that you don't come only to me and listen to my teachings.

Go to other Buddhist monasteries,

Listen to other monks also.

So you become clear about Buddha's teachings.

Main thing Buddha taught is get over craving.

Don't even crave for one teacher.

So amazing,

No?

Yeah.

He didn't want followers.

That's what I really admire about Buddha.

He didn't go around telling people,

You get more people for me,

Okay?

You get more people for me.

That's not Buddha.

How to recognize the right kind of teacher?

The one who has overcome craving.

What is craving?

I want or I don't want.

Raga or Dvisha.

Bhooth is craving.

When Buddha is saying craving word,

It is Bhooth.

Because when I want something,

There is something I don't want.

And when I don't want something,

There is something I want.

So you get two sides of the same coin.

So those who have not started your spiritual path,

Start anywhere.

I see anywhere,

Wherever,

You know,

Whatever attracts you.

Get there,

Start and start walking.

Those who are walking,

Continue walking.

Yes,

But don't get attached.

So Buddha taught the Pali word is called Anatt.

Anatt translated into Sanskrit becomes Anatma.

So when you say Anatma,

It means,

Oh,

There is no Atma,

There is no soul.

So wrong translation from Pali into Sanskrit and then wrong translation from Sanskrit into English.

That was a very big misunderstanding that happened.

Buddha was very clear,

I will not teach that which I cannot experience and which a normal human being cannot experience.

OK,

His philosophy was very clear and simple to help one get out of this suffering mind.

Constant thought,

Constant thought,

Constant thought,

Constant day,

Night,

Day,

Night,

This constant thought.

He wanted the humans to find a way out of this suffering.

And he wanted to give very scientific,

Experiential methods to get there.

So he did not want to talk about any mythological things,

Anything that you cannot prove,

Means a simple layman cannot see.

So when people asked him,

Is there a soul,

He was silent.

When people asked him,

Is there no soul,

He was silent.

When people asked him,

What happens at the beginning of creation,

Is there a beginning of creation,

He was silent.

Is there an end of creation,

He was silent.

He said,

Oh,

This is not going to contribute towards your getting out of suffering of the mind.

These are all philosophy.

Do you get it?

He was not interested in entertaining any philosophical questions.

So this part is very clear.

Now the other part.

His main teaching is Anicca Dukha Anatta.

Anicca in Hindi is Anitya.

Impermanent.

Everything is changing.

Everything is changing.

Everything is impermanent.

We all know this is the truth.

Because everything is impermanent,

But my mind wants what?

What does the mind want?

Permanent.

No,

No,

No.

My husband is permanent.

My wife is permanent.

My children are permanent.

My money in the bank is permanent.

Is that true?

Does that happen?

Everything is changing.

Everything is changing.

Your house will fall.

You will have maintenance costs.

Your AC will go kaput.

Things will not go the way you want.

Stock markets crash.

See how much money you lose.

So your money is going to go up and down.

This body you think is permanent.

What happens when you come to 40s?

And then when you get into 50s,

What starts happening?

You realize this is not permanent.

Yes,

But mine wants permanent.

And that is why there is the second principle.

It is Dukha.

Yes,

Experiential.

What you experience.

Yes,

Third is Anatta.

Anatta.

Anatta.

There is no control.

Translated into other words.

Who wants control in me?

Or in you?

Who wants to be in control?

Ego.

Ego in other words is simple words.

I.

I.

Me.

Myself.

I.

Me.

Myself.

So he said there is no I.

No me.

No myself.

There is no control.

So people said,

Oh,

He's saying there is no Atma.

Do you get it?

From where this misunderstanding started.

And ascetics of his time used to charge money to give pravachan.

Buddha used to not charge money.

So the ascetics were losing their income,

No?

Now people didn't want to go to them and wanted to go to Buddha.

And his teachings were so clear,

So experiential.

They started losing business.

So they started spreading this rumor of he's saying there is no Atma.

Very clear where all this misunderstanding started.

He was only silent on all philosophical questions because he said philosophy is not going to help you come out of this noisy mind.

Only your meditation and experiencing your own self will stop this noise.

This when this becomes quiet,

You will experience that calmness,

That relaxation,

That stillness that you are thirsty for.

He just says that there is suffering and suffering in my mind is related to craving.

How do every craving creates impressions in my mind,

Sanskaras.

These sanskaras accumulate and that is why I am born.

Then when I am born,

Then obviously there is sickness and then sickness.

I don't want sickness that creates more sanskaras and that creates more dukkha,

More suffering.

And then there is death.

I don't like my loved ones dying.

And then I'm stuck with more karma sanskaras.

And again,

The same sanskara leads to birth.

You see that?

He said you don't have to get out of the cycle of birth and death while being here.

And now if you practice,

You can reach that state of no mind.

Nirvana.

Getting liberated from this noisy mind.

So in that context,

If you see there is birth and death,

But he didn't emphasize it.

He said you become quiet now.

When you become quiet now,

Automatically you will be loving and compassionate.

Then the higher retreats will be about generating love and compassion.

That will happen only after you learn the jhanas properly.

Because then you are in that state of no mind.

And when you are in that state of no mind,

You are happy.

You are so relaxed.

There is no stress.

And when there is no stress,

It's so easy to send out a wish to somebody.

May you be happy.

And that is the highest teaching of putha,

Compassion.

So you get it how they are in stages.

The first is concentrating on what you know,

Your breath,

Your heartbeat.

Second stage is becoming very,

Very aware of the sensations so that your awareness gets chiseled.

Third stage is going into samadhi with that sharp awareness.

And reaching the state of no mind.

And the fourth stage is when you have reached the stage of no mind,

You can send that wish out to everybody.

That compassion,

That love,

That joy.

May everybody be happy.

Those are the stages of his teaching.

I said it in one hour,

But you might take several years to get there.

You get it?

If you really have that interest,

You can start on Buddha's path.

Be mentally prepared.

It's a long journey.

And I'm going to be patient with myself.

Everybody takes their own time to get there.

Yes,

You can't force yourself.

We all go to the same school,

But somebody is a topper and somebody has just managed to pass.

It depends on our abilities and you cannot beat yourself up.

You will take your time to get there.

You be patient and just follow the steps.

It's a very structured teaching.

That's why I got so enamored by Buddha.

It's amazing.

Start on the path,

You'll get there.

It's better you find the answer rather than you get 8,

000 answers.

I want you to find the answer.

I'll help you throughout.

I'm always available on email,

Phones.

People keep asking me such questions.

When they come up with insights,

They say,

Is it like this?

Yes,

It is like this or it is not like this.

I'm there to help,

But I want you to find it.

And sometimes I'll throw in a little hint.

When I see that you're very close to the answer,

I will help you.

But you have to find the answer so that you don't have doubt.

Reviews

Thank you so much I So appreciate what you shared here.

Thank you so much for explaining of the teaching of Buddha, really it is fantastic.
"Constant thinking is craving".
I realize that after an hour of meditation calm my mind and there little bit thought arises only.
Thank you Ekta ji.

thank you so much, metta

I've just completed watching the 2013 TV series Buddha.
There are not many programs on the life of Buddha, his struggles and teachings but this series for me was completely and utterly fascinating and captivating, especially the thought provoking dialogues. This spurred me in wanting to learn more and led me to your
enlightening and engaging talk. I will be sure to follow more of your wonderful wisdom and practices.
Thank you with much gratitude 🙏

YES YES YES YES THANK YOU