Close your eyes and sit comfortably and let go of all your anticipation and see if your body is completely relaxed.
See if there is any part of your body that needs adjustment,
Relaxation.
Scan your body from the soles of your feet to the top of your head and completely relax your body today.
Let go of your weight on a chair.
Let go of any worry,
Any excitement you may have and be completely free,
Empty.
Let go of any identity you may be wearing right now.
Identity as an officer,
Manager,
Worker,
Lecturer.
Let go of any identification with the gender.
Let go of any identification with any relationship such as daughter,
Mother,
Father,
Brother,
Sister,
Friends.
Let go of any memory you may have collected about yourself,
Any preconceived notion about yourself.
See if you can just be this empty,
Aware self without any identification,
Just for one moment.
See if you can sustain that moment for a few more moments and refuse to wear,
Refuse to accept any identification that may come up time to time.
Be completely at ease with this in your body and in your mind.
Now attend to your breathing.
Be very attentive of your breathing.
Now loosen the focus on the breathing,
Yet be aware of the breathing as if you are dialing down the focus of the camera so that you are aware of breathing but it's not very sharp.
It is happening in your presence,
In your sky of awareness,
In the medium of your own awareness and you are aware of it but you are only aware of the breathing.
So you are singling out all that is happening on your screen,
On your screen of awareness.
You are singling out the breath,
The incoming breath,
The outgoing breath,
Just the sensation of breath.
And now you are aware of your smile.
If there isn't already a smile on your face,
Allow a gentle smile to appear on your face in proportion with the peace that you're feeling right now.
Just a gentle,
Genuine smile on your face and be one with this smile.
Be aware of this smile,
Allow it to be in your foreground and become this smile.
The breathing is coming and going,
The smile is here and now imagine that your entire face is smiling,
Your entire head is smiling,
Including the back of your head.
All cells in your face,
In your head are smiling.
And now allow this smile to percolate through your neck and throat.
Allow it to infect the cells in your neck and throat,
Allow them to relax as they also feel this effect of smiling and they in turn are happy smiling.
So allow this smile to percolate downward and as it percolates it is infecting all your cells with happiness,
With peacefulness and there's nothing else happening,
Just the smile is automatically percolating downward and incorporating centimetre by centimetre your upper torso,
Your heart,
Your lungs,
Your shoulders.
Without any effort,
See how the smile continues to percolate downwards towards your elbows,
Your stomach,
Your spine,
Including your lower back.
All the organs in your stomach is at peace,
At rest,
Smiling.
Your forearms,
Your fingers are relaxed,
Smiling and allow this smile imagination to reach to your hips and thighs and be one with this smile as you allow the smile to percolate downward through your knees and calf,
Your shins and your ankles.
See even your feet are smiling,
Relaxed,
At peace.
The French philosopher John Klein says,
We should be happy that we are invited in a party.
By that he means that we should be happy that we are living,
We are alive,
We are invited in this party.
Sometimes we complain and we act as if we are not happy that we are in the party,
Party of being alive.
It is when we devalue the party.
So be a happy guest in this party,
Party of life.
We don't remember when the invitation came,
How we accepted it and how we are here.
But that doesn't matter.
Be very happy that you are in the party.
Almost everyone in life is really unhappy when they have to leave this party.
So by that token also it makes sense to be happy when you are in the party.
So let go of any worry,
Any responsibility that may be weighing on you and just be in this party.
Party with your smile,
Smile that has infected your body,
Your breath,
Your mood,
Your attitude to this party.
So if a thought comes and argues with you,
You know that it is just a thought,
You can show it it's rightful place,
That it is just a bird in your sky,
It can't win.
It is allowed to fly in your sky,
Play in your sky,
But sky prevails,
Bird will eventually get tired and go away.
So be this happy sky,
This party sky and be glad that you are invited in this party.
Another philosopher,
I think in China,
He said that when do you remember praying or requesting for eyes?
Isn't it marvelous that somehow you are given eyes to see this beautiful world?
And when was the last time you thanked?
Praying for these eyes,
This invitation in party and as such nobody is needing your gratitude for this invitation,
Nevertheless it deserves a gratitude.
So we are taking some time today,
Right now,
To be happy in this party,
To show gratitude,
Just a quiet gratitude,
No need to express it,
Just feel it,
Feel it with your own being,
Feel it in your knowing and continue to be in this party,
Silently dancing inside and needing nothing to sustain this happy vibe inside of your body.
Let go of any identification that is coming in and crashing your body.
Let go of any identification with the work you do,
With the relationships and the roles you have in your personal life.
Let go of any identification with your past,
With your anticipated future and just be here where none of those identifications really matter.
You don't even exist here right now.
What is here right now is you and your party.
As John Klein said,
Be completely happy in your party.
Staying with this topic of being in party,
Being happy,
There's another sutra,
Another little line in ancient Hindu scriptures called Sat Chit Anand.
Anand means happiness and Sat Chit means knowing your own being,
Knowing your own being is happiness.
That's all it means,
Knowing your own being is happiness.
And it is referred to as one of the highest knowledge in Indian Vedanta spirituality,
Affirmed by many philosophers and contemporary thinkers.
Sat Chit Anand.
Being aware of your own self is happiness itself.
And isn't that,
That party felt like,
Isn't that the gratitude to be in a party also felt like?
It's like knowing yourself was happiness itself.
And what did it need to sustain that happiness?
Didn't need anything from outside.
Didn't even need any effort.
In fact,
Knowing yourself is one of the most effortless actions,
So to speak,
One could do.
Even breathing needs some effort.
Blinking needs some effort.
But knowing yourself,
Being yourself as you are requires no effort whatsoever.
That's why in many traditions,
This meditation is also known as effortlessness or Sahaj.
Sahaj means no effort meditation.
It's just knowing yourself as you are right now,
Right here with no mental effort,
Let alone physical effort.
And no matter where you are,
No matter what you are doing,
No matter what the situation is,
You are always here.
You are here.
And there's one certainty in our life is that we exist.
We can't deny that.
We can deny everything else.
All knowledge,
All concept can be questionable except your own being,
Your own existence.
You can't question it.
That is the one certainty in our life that we exist.
And abiding in this existence,
In your own self,
Is happiness.
And how simple it is in its formulation,
Knowing your own self is happiness.
So not shying away from wanting to be happy.
There are some traditional connotations,
You know,
Happy,
Remaining happy or wanting to be happy is hedonistic or is not a high goal to have.
But if you ask any of 8 billion people,
What do you want the most?
Invariably,
The answer would be happiness or peace.
They may say they need it.
They want a relationship.
They want a career,
Money.
Some may even have a very high charitable goal.
But ultimately,
It all is about attaining happiness in our life.
And we all know that our pursuit of happiness in objects,
Relationships,
Career,
Anything has given us at least a degree of unhappiness or unsuccessfulness in attaining that complete happiness in external pursuit.
It has let us down,
At least to an extent.
But to sustain this happiness,
This simple happiness of knowing your own self,
Which requires nothing,
Which is effortless,
Which is truly always here.
That is what we are going to do for a few more minutes.
We are going to stay in this body with full awareness,
Without any effort.
Allowing all the thoughts and doubts and judgments to be,
To dance,
To fly like birds in your sky.
So come back to being your self,
Your awareness sky that is happy,
That is smiling,
That is in the body.
It's not bothered by anything that is appearing in your sky.
It knows that it is complete.
It knows that it doesn't need anything to be this.
It is already this.
It is always this.
So with the confidence,
With the need to prove nothing,
Stay here in your own body.
And if you remember the word Satchitanand,
Knowing your own self,
Is the happiness itself.
It's a good reminder,
It's a good pointer to remember and assess in your own experience,
Is it true?
Because we don't accept anything that is not true in our experience.
Just because it's written doesn't mean anything,
But it needs to ring true with your own exploration,
In your own self,
Beyond any doubt.
So continue to breathe in and out.
Continue to feel gratitude for this body,
For the invitation that somebody gave us.
Just be here without any effort.
The sound is known,
The breath is known,
All the thoughts are known,
All the storylines are coming and going.
But see how nothing is really taking you away from this peacefulness,
This joyfulness.
Joyfulness of being yourself,
Just as you are right now,
Without any effort.
As we bring this meditation,
This exploration,
This party to an end,
Continue to be here,
Even when your eyes are open.
