School of Transformation

What Does it Take to be Joyful?

admin — Thu, 22 Aug 2019 23:42:25 +0000

There was once a king who had the ability to foresee the future. As a result, he always remained prepared for war and surprised his enemies. He predicted droughts and had food grains and water stored for his subjects. The king grew very proud of himself for his prosperous kingdom now spanned the length and breath of the country & his subjects were very happy under his rule. However, the king was rarely happy. He discussed this with the scholars in his court and no one could understand what made him unhappy. One of them suggested that he go and meet a very wise sage who lived in the mountains bordering the kingdom. However, it was understood that the sage remained engrossed in deep meditation for most part of his life and rarely opened his eyes or spoke to anyone. In his burning quest for happiness, the king decided to take a chance.

It was an arduous journey over several days before the king finally stood in the presence of the sage. To his utter good fortune, the sage opened his eyes bit spoke no more than just one sentence before slipping into deep meditation again. The sage said ‘Look not ahead, but behind’. The King found no solution to this unhappiness for nothing made any sense to him. He returned deeply disappointed & pondered over the statement for several days.

One day, the King was enjoying a bowl of soup so much that he couldn’t resist asking who had prepared it. The chef was immediately brought in his presence. As the king stepped forward to reward him, the chef just made a mention that he was grateful to the grocer who supplied such tasty & fresh vegetables. When the grocer was summoned to court, he thanked the farmer. The farmer went on to thank his loving wife, his horses and his fertile farm-land. In a flash, the king suddenly realised what the sage’s words implied; he saw how much was going on behind a single bowl of soup.

He realised how he had spent his life believing he was responsible for the well-being of his kingdom. This led him to magnify his own greatness to such an extent that he virtually had no space for anyone else in his heart. Now, he could see how many people were responsible for his well-being and also that of the kingdom. He saw how innumerable factors in the universe were coming together to make life possible for him and was awestruck at the vastness of life. As he reminisced the contributions of his own family, of every member of the royal court, every citizen, every soldier in the army, nature and God, he felt deeply connected to everyone of them. For the first time in his life, he experienced a deep sense of fulfilment and happiness in his heart.

Human life in many ways could be compared to that of the king & particularly so in today’s busy and fast-moving world. We remain ever more engaged in securing a better future and ensuring we stay clear of trouble. Wouldn’t it be good to sometimes pause and reflect on how much goes behind each of our aspirations and achievements? Is life merely a never-ending conquest of success.

Everyone of us is gifted in some way but the question is, are our gifts in life going to make us more and more individualistic and disconnected or grateful and connected? It is very easy to assume that our life runs entirely on ‘our’ strengths and abilities but doesn’t really take much to see how the entire universe is constantly coming together to forge the reality we so easily claim as ‘our achievements’.

Gratitude isn’t about denying our efforts or disowning our achievements; it is about seeing our efforts as a continuum of the love and efforts of many more people. It is about seeing ourselves in a larger perspective, that ‘we’ are inseparable from the web of life and never really alone in this universe.

It has been my personal experience that the more grateful I am, more reasons I find to be grateful. Experience the spaciousness.

… by Preethaji – Founder of O&O Academy

For a beautiful State

admin — Thu, 22 Aug 2019 23:38:50 +0000

My first experience of meditation was when I was 17. I tried focusing intensely on the tip of my nose, after the first 2 minutes I began to doubt if I was going squint. (for such of you who may not know, it is an age old meditation practice). The first time I tried focusing on my breath, all I managed to do was obsess about a mosquito droning around my head in the semi-darkness of the meditation hall.

Nevertheless meditation crept into my life big time when I experienced a timeless space of consciousness few years later. In those few moments every experience of seeing, smelling, touching was an explosion of bliss. I would say that was like having watched soap opera all my life on a black and white television to suddenly watching interstellar on Imax!

I would like to say that my life changed forever after that! But that would be a lie. It certainly awakened me to something colossal. I had peeped into what magnificence lay in the human consciousness in that first glimpse. Nevertheless it has taken meditation, wisdom and truth to reach this beautiful space of consciousness in which I live now.

So what is it about meditation?

Walking Meditation, Smiling Meditation, Dancing Meditation, Moving Meditation, Breathing Meditation, Eating Meditation, Sitting Meditation and so on and so forth… I don’t want to go into further details.
So, What exactly is meditation?

All meditation certainly is de-clutching from unconscious habitual thinking and experiencing a beautiful state of being.

However every one of world’s meditations can be classified in to 3 categories.

The first form of meditation is Concentration based meditations. Where the meditator focuses on one single point, a form or a mantra and obliterates the rest from his/her focus. The purpose of concentration based practices ranges from a desire to prevent brain degenerative disease to enhancing memory to ultimately going beyond thought to a thought-less state of being.

Concentration based meditations are more like an Archer’s perspective- the mind gradually withdraws focus from all the surroundings to the object of attention alone.

The 2nd kind of meditation is Flow based or Observation based meditations. The mediator here does not control thought but moves into a space of non-resistance and non-judgment. There is no exclusion of any particular thought or the surroundings. This is not a focus on a point but the observation of a movement – movement of thought, movement of breath, movement of body or movement in nature.

The purpose of these meditations is to experience states of well-being, calm, peace and serenity.

This is more like being Boatman crossing different banks of the river passively observing a couple lost in romance on one bank, children playing on another, a giant tree somewhere, a heron eating a fish some where. It is observation of the entire movement without interfering with it.

The 3rd kind of meditation is Meditation as a happening. Meditation here is not a conscious practice; it is a happening. Meditative states can happen spontaneously when individuals go through an intense crisis or have experiences of breath-taking beauty like when you are skydiving or holding a newborn baby and looking into her eyes or having a panoramic view of nature. Meditative states can also be induced through intense solitude, fasting, prayer, meditation, breath work, rigorous movement or certain drugs. The meditator experiences transcendental state of consciousness ranging from trance to expansive states of connection and bliss to states where you feel one with the universe.

This is a mystic’s perspective of the universe – no understanding, only sacredness and awe. Words born of 26 alphabets become poor substitutes for capturing the immeasurable.

It has been my personal experience that the more grateful I am, more reasons I find to be grateful. Experience the spaciousness.

… By Preethaji – Founder of O&O Academy

Is there something that I need to believe in… Is there something I need to follow

admin — Thu, 22 Aug 2019 23:27:03 +0000

Learner: If you are a Buddhist, you have to believe in certain things to be a Buddhist. If you are a Christian, you have to believe in certain things to call yourself a Christian. If I am at O&O Academy and I am to be a student of O&O Academy, is there something I need to believe in? Is there something I need to follow?

Krishnaji: O&O Academy does not preach an external lifestyle nor does it hand over a set of beliefs for you to follow.

What we speak of here is about two states of being – a suffering state and a beautiful state. And every one of us are unvaryingly experiencing one of these two states at any point of time. So, in that sense you are already ‘living the lifestyle!’ This is the way we have been living, we are living and we will continue to live.

The most important thing that you have to ask yourself is how passionate you are about living a happy life? Your happiness is in your hands. When there is suffering, can you bring awareness to it in the light of O&O Academy’s teachings and set yourself free?

… Wisdom Nuggets from Krishnaji’s interaction with participants at O&O Academy