Thank you so much for being here.
Since the last couple of days,
I've been practicing patience.
I've been trying to understand patience,
And it is extraordinary how underrated patience is.
It is easily the most underrated virtue.
This one single virtue can completely take away suffering out of our lives.
The impatient mind is the cause of suffering.
The mind always wants to do something,
Think something.
It would want to move,
Try to sit to meditate,
And it will create a thousand obstructions.
Because it cannot patiently sit.
Even when we are talking,
When we are listening,
We don't listen with 100% attention patiently,
Because the mind has already started to think of the response or some story on what is being spoken.
It is so beautiful to be patient and be here.
Resting the mind in this moment here.
Try listening to the sound of the bird with patience.
There is a very beautiful example from the stories of Buddha.
There is a sermon which is called the Flower Sermon.
The Buddha,
For 45 minutes,
Just looked at a flower.
That was the teaching.
The Buddha patiently looked at the flower without the impatient mind coming in.
That was the teaching of that sermon.
Can be patient whilst doing everything.
When we cook,
When we eat,
When we listen,
We simply listen.
When we see,
We simply see without allowing the mind to become impatient and take us away from this moment.
There is a lot of beauty in this moment.
This moment is everything.
Therefore,
Patience is the most important virtue because it is this virtue which keeps us here.
Therefore,
I say it is the most underrated virtue.
Imagine what our relationships would be like if we are patiently there,
Present,
For each one around.
Patiently being here allows us or rather opens a portal for us to experience who we are.
Thoughts are limiting.
Thought forms,
As they say,
Thoughts limit us.
But when we are patiently here,
We feel ourselves to be a vast spaciousness.
And in this spaciousness,
Thought can be created,
But it will be created as per our will,
If we want to.
If not,
Then we can rest patiently.
There is one story I remember.
I may not say the exact story as it is,
But it is something like this.
A king goes to a Zen master and he asks the Zen master,
What do you do?
How do you spend your day?
I'm curious to know what a master like you does throughout the day.
The master says,
When I'm hungry,
I eat.
When I'm thirsty,
I drink.
And when I'm sleepy,
I sleep.
So the king is surprised.
He's like,
This is what we do too.
What is so special about you then?
So the master says,
There is a difference.
When I eat,
I only eat.
When I drink,
I only drink.
And when I sleep,
I only sleep.
The difference is in the quality.
A master is always here in the now.
Consider this as an invitation to be patient.
No matter what you do,
Create an intention to be patient and do that.
This beautiful virtue will open doorways for us to experience the self.
Thank you so much for being here.
I so appreciate your presence.
And thank you for patiently listening to me.
