What causes wonder to die?

So you have asked: “For what reason, out of what great ambition, does wonder die?”

To become a soldier means that not even a ripple of thought remains in you; not a single wave of thinking remains; you become utterly mechanical; when told “left turn,” you turn like a machine, so much so that even if you want to stop yourself, you cannot. William James recounts that during the First World War he was sitting in a hotel talking with friends. A retired soldier was passing outside with a basket of eggs on his head. Just to demonstrate how mechanical man can become, James shouted loudly from inside the hotel, “Attention!” The soldier outside, carrying the eggs, snapped to attention. He had been out of the service for ten years! All the eggs fell, scattered, and shattered on the road. He was furious. “Who is the fool who shouted ‘Attention’?” William James said, “What is it to you? We are entitled to shout ‘Attention’; you…

I don't have any sense of wonder in me. Why?

It happens to almost everybody. The more knowledgeable you become, the less wonder is felt. And parents, schools, universities, society, they all go on forcing you to become knowledgeable. Their whole effort is to give you knowledge. Your inner space becomes so full of knowledge that wonder disappears, wonder has no space left to abide in you. A child has the yes of wonder. He feels awe, he is mystified by each and everything, small things surprise him. Hence his bubbling joy, because his life is a constant discovery. You become knowledgeable, the society wants you to become knowledgeable. Knowledge is very very needed, knowledge has much utility. And wonder is dangerous, because a person who wonders is bound to become either a philosopher or a poet or a mystic, and all these three kinds are useless for the society. Society needs machines, skillful machines. By giving you more and…

A sense of wonder is the foundation of yoga. To be established in oneself is strength. A transcendental logic is a means to self-realization. To enjoy the blissfulness of the existence is enlightenment. A sense of wonder is the foundation of yoga.

We are separated only at the circumference. 'You' and 'I' are separations of the body. As we leave the body and turn within, the distance gets smaller and smaller. The day you know the soul you will also have known God. The day you know your own self you will know the self of all creation, because at the center all is one. Distances only exist at the periphery. Shiva says: By attaining this existence within one's self, the joy of samadhi is attained. Samadhi-sukham, the 'bliss of samadhi'; these words should be understood. You have known many joys: the joy of a good dinner, the joy of good health and well-being. When you quench your thirst or enjoy sex -- such bodily joys you know fully, but understand well that all these joys carry complementary sorrows with them. If you are not thirsty, water will bring no joy. If…

And it’s dirty, lying in the mud—throw it away!” But the child clutches it. Because you do not understand the child: for him it is wonder; this colored stone is no less precious than the Kohinoor. The value lies in wonder; stones have no value. A butterfly can bewitch him so much that even if God Himself were to appear before you, He would not bewitch you so. He begins to run after the butterfly. The pristine state of a small child—at the ultimate height of such wonder, in Buddhahood, that state becomes any person’s. Therefore Jesus said: only those who are simple like little children shall enter my Father’s kingdom. Jesus has said exactly what Shiva is saying in this sutra. ‘Vismayo yogabhumikah.’ Wonder is the first ground of Yoga. Then many points must be kept in mind.

Better than a hundred years of mischief is one day spent in contemplation.

BETTER THAN A HUNDRED YEARS OF IGNORANCE IS ONE DAY SPENT IN REFLECTION. BETTER THAN A HUNDRED YEARS OF IDLENESS IS ONE DAY SPENT IN DETERMINATION. BETTER TO LIVE ONE DAY WONDERING HOW ALL THINGS ARISE AND PASS AWAY. BETTER TO LIVE ONE HOUR SEEING THE ONE LIFE BEYOND THE WAY. BETTER TO LIVE ONE MOMENT IN THE MOMENT OF THE WAY BEYOND THE WAY. Gautama the Buddha has raised the most important question for all those who are capable of inquiring into truth, into life, into existence. The most important question of all questions is: What is true happiness? And is there a possibility to achieve it? Is true happiness possible at all, or is all momentary? Is life only a dream, or is there something substantial in it too? Does life begin with birth and end with death, or is there something that transcends birth and death? Because…