About two hundred years ago, there was a remarkable monk in Japan. His only teaching was to awaken! Leave sleep. News of this monk reached the Emperor of Japan. The Emperor was young and newly enthroned. He summoned the mystic and prayed, "I too want to awaken. Can you teach me how to awaken?"
The mystic replied, "I can teach you, but you must come to my hut, not the palace!" And there's no certainty as to how long it will take to learn. It depends on each person's intensity, on each person's dissatisfaction, on how thirsty they are to learn. How thirsty you are, how unfulfilled you are, how discontented you are; then you can learn. And that degree will determine how quickly you can learn. It could take a year, two years, ten years. And my condition is that I will never let you stop midway; if you want to learn, come fully prepared." And let me also tell you that my ways are unique. Don't ask what you're making me do, what you're teaching! I have my own ways of teaching.
The prince agreed and went to the fakir's ashram. The next morning, as soon as he woke up, the fakir said, "From today, your first lesson begins. And the first lesson is that I will attack you with a fake wooden sword at any time of the day. You're reading a book, I'll come from behind and attack you with a fake sword. You're sweeping the floor, I'll come from behind and attack you. You're eating, I'll attack you. Remain vigilant throughout the day! An attack could happen at any time. Be careful! Be alert! At any time, my sword—a wooden sword—can hurt you."
The prince said, "I was called to teach awakening, but what is this?"
I hadn't come to learn swordsmanship, but the teacher had already told me I wouldn't be able to inquire about this matter. It was a compulsion. The education began, the lessons began. Within eight days, the prince's bones and ribs began to ache, his hands and feet ached. Injuries everywhere! While he was reading a book, he might be attacked. While he was out for a walk, he might be attacked. Ten to twenty-five times a day, he would be attacked from anywhere.
But within eight days, he realized that a new kind of awareness, an awakening, was slowly developing within him. He became alert and cautious all the time. An attack could happen at any time! Even while reading a book, a corner of his mind remained awake, guarding against an attack. By the end of three months, he was capable of defending himself against any kind of attack. His shield would rise. Even if the Guru came from behind, his shield would retract and the attack would be deflected. After three months, it became difficult to hurt him. No matter how unaware or unfamiliar the attack, he began to defend himself. His mind agreed, his mind became alert.
His Guru said, "The first lesson is complete; the second lesson will begin tomorrow. The second lesson is that until now, I used to attack while awake; from tomorrow, I will attack even while asleep. Sleep carefully!" The prince said, "You are amazing! You are doing a wonderful job!" It was a blessing that I was conscious until I woke up, and I could have saved myself somehow. But I would have been unconscious in my sleep!
His teacher said, "Don't panic; trouble brings awareness even in sleep. A crisis gives rise to caution even in sleep." The old man said, "Don't worry. Forget it. Try to remain conscious even in sleep." And the attacks with the wooden sword began in his sleep. He would be hit eight or ten times at night. One day, two days, eight or ten days passed, and then his bones and ribs started aching.
But by the end of three months, the prince realized that the old man was right. Even in sleep, his senses began to awaken.
He would sleep, and someone inside him would remain awake, remembering that an attack was possible! His hand would hold the shield even at night, even in sleep. By the end of three months, even the arrival of the Guru, even the faint sound of his footsteps, would startle him, and he would protect himself with his shield. By the end of three months, it became difficult to attack even while asleep. Now he was very happy. He was experiencing a new kind of freshness. He was conscious even while asleep. And he had some new experiences. In the first three months, when he tried to stay awake even during the day,
The more he became awake, the less thoughts he had. Thoughts are a part of sleep. The more a person sleeps, the more thoughts swirl within him. The more awake a person becomes, the more silence and stillness begin to creep in, and thoughts stop.
In the first three months, he clearly saw that gradually, thoughts diminished, diminished,then gradually, thoughts vanished. Only mindfulness, consciousness, and awareness remained. These two things can never coexist; either thought persists or consciousness persists. When a thought appears, consciousness disappears. Just as clouds gather in the sky, covering the sun; when the clouds disperse, the sun is revealed. Thoughts surround the human mind like clouds. Thoughts surround, and consciousness is suppressed. When thoughts disperse, consciousness becomes visible.
Just as the sun breaks through a cloud. In the first three months, he felt that his thoughts diminished, diminished. In the second three months, he had another new experience... As his awareness increased at night,dreams also diminished. When, by the end of three months, awakening began to persist even at night, dreams vanished completely, and sleep became dreamless. When the day became thoughtless and the night dreamless, consciousness awakened.
After three months, his old guru said, "The second lesson is complete." The prince asked, "What could the third lesson be? The lesson of awakening is complete, the lesson of sleep is also complete." His guru said, "Now the real lesson will begin. Tomorrow, I will attack with a real sword." Until now, it was a wooden sword. The prince said, "What are you saying? It was a blessing to have a wooden sword; even if it missed, there was no danger. A real sword!"
The guru said, "The more challenges are posed to consciousness, the more consciousness awakens. The more challenges there are to consciousness, the more alert consciousness becomes."
Don't worry. The real sword will awaken you to even greater depths."
And the next morning, the attacks with the real sword began. You can imagine, the mere thought of the real sword must have awakened his consciousness from its slumber. The memory of the sword permeated deep within, deep into the depths of his being. For three months, the Guru couldn't inflict a single blow with the real sword. The wooden sword wasn't as challenging. The real sword's challenge was ultimate. If it missed once, life would be over.
For three months, not a single blow could be inflicted.
And in three months, the young prince experienced so much peace, so much joy, so much light that his life began to enter a new dance, a new world. The last day of the third lesson arrived, and the Guru said, "Tomorrow you will be dismissed; you have passed. Haven't you awakened?" The young man laid his head at the Guru's feet. He said, "I have awakened."
And now I realize how asleep I was!
A person who has been sick all his life gradually forgets that he is ill. Only when he recovers do we realize how sick we were. The man who has been asleep all his life... and we all have been asleep;
We don't even realize that this whole life was a sleep.
Sri Aurobindo has said, "When I was asleep, what I thought was love, when I woke up, I found it was false; it wasn't love. When I was asleep, what I thought was light, when I woke up, I found it was darkness worse than darkness; it wasn't light at all. When I was asleep, what I thought was life, when I woke up, I found it was death; this is life."
The prince bowed his head at his feet and said, "Now I know what life is. Will my education be complete tomorrow?"
The guru said, "Tomorrow morning, I will send you away."
It was evening. The guru sat reading a book under a tree. And about three hundred feet away, the young man sat. Tomorrow morning, he would depart." In this small hut, with this old man, he has found the treasure of life. Then suddenly it occurred to him, "This old man has been hounding me for nine months: wake up, wake up, be alert, be careful! Is this old man also so alert? Why don't I get up and attack him today? Tomorrow I have to leave. Should I also raise my sword, attack this old man, and see from behind whether he is also alert?"
He had barely thought this when the old man shouted from a distance, "No, no, don't do this. I am an old man, don't do this even by mistake." The young man was stunned! He had only thought. He said, "But I haven't done anything yet, I've just thought." The old man said, "Wait a few more days." When the mind becomes completely calm, even the footsteps of others' thoughts become audible. When the mind becomes completely silent, one begins to see the thoughts going on in another's mind.
When one becomes completely calm, one begins to perceive the vibrations of the entire world, of all life. It is in this peace that the experience of God consciousness dawns. The prince must have departed the next day. He returned from the ashram with a unique experience.
Read more : - The Frozen Child
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