Dhyan Darshan #6

My beloved soul!

There are a few questions. I will drop those that are merely theoretical. These morning-and-evening sittings are only for seekers, not for theoreticians. For the theoreticians, from the twenty-ninth there will be a meeting; there they can ask whatever they like. Here I am speaking only to those who want to do. And it often happens that those who want to think never arrive at the decision to do. They finish by only thinking and thinking. Very often—ninety-nine times out of a hundred—thinking is just a trick to avoid doing. Because by thinking you can postpone it till tomorrow. Until the decision is made, until it is proved, until the theory is clear, we will do nothing.

But here is the funny thing: not doing is also a decision.

A man says, “Until I understand meditation, I won’t do it.” But he has already understood that he will not meditate. Not meditating is also a decision. If you have understood that meditation is useless and then you don’t do it, that’s fine. But to not meditate needs no understanding; only to meditate does one start demanding understanding. And until they understand, they won’t do.

And I tell you, in certain matters of life, unless you do, you will not understand. Like a man who says, “I want to learn to swim, but until I learn I won’t go into the water. First teach me to swim, then I’ll enter the water.” He seems right; as far as his logic goes, he’s perfectly right. It is dangerous to go into the water without knowing how to swim.

But the one who has to teach him has his own difficulty. He says, “Until you get into the water, how am I going to teach you?” Even to learn to swim you will have to get into the water. He too is right.

Without entering meditation you will not be able to understand meditation. And whatever you understand about meditation without entering it is worth two pennies—of no value at all. For if understanding alone could bring meditation, it would have happened already; you would have had no need to come here.

Now, among these, some theoreticians send in written questions every day. If they already have it and already know, they need not trouble themselves here. Here I am working for those to whom it has not yet happened, who do not yet know. Those who know should be delighted in their knowledge. But they too come, so it is obvious that they also do not know. The doctrine they know. And not just one or two doctrines—many. And in the confusion and entanglement of all those, they are miserable. But they cannot gather the courage to take one step beyond it. They go on trying to remain tangled in their theories.

The seeker’s journey is very different. It is not a journey of theory; it is a journey of knowing. It is not that a seeker does not arrive at principle—the truth is, only the seeker arrives at principle. Have you ever pondered the word siddhant—what it means? It is very different from the English “principle.” It is a word discovered by seekers. Its meaning is: that which becomes available at the end of siddhi—fulfillment—is siddhant. When sadhana is complete it becomes siddhi; and when siddhi happens, what becomes available is siddhant. The end of realization—that is what siddhant means.

So if you already know the principle, don’t bother yourself in vain. If you don’t, then first seek realization; from that the principle will be revealed. Before that, discussing it has no meaning. Therefore I drop these theoretical questions.