Intensity - Vol 1
A Beautiful Story:
The Sufi mystic Junaid, was taking a walk one morning when a man came up to him asking, 'I need to reach the capital of this kingdom. How long will it take?'
Junaid just looked at the man and continued walking. The man was going in the same direction. He followed Junaid thinking maybe he did not hear him properly.
So, he asked Junaid again, 'Can you please tell me how much time it will take me to reach the capital of the kingdom?'
Junaid continued walking.
The man gave up trying to ask further. After some distance, Junaid said, 'You will have to walk at least ten hours.'
The man was surprised and exclaimed, 'You could have said that before!' Junaid replied, 'How can I say before? I needed to watch your speed first. Then only I could tell you how long it will take to reach the capital.'
In the same way, the time it takes to realize also depends on your intensity. If you are intense enough, it does not need time to reach the Ultimate. Where you are, who are you is irrelevant. You can reach here and now.
If you don't live any moment intensely, what happens?
Your mind looks for repeating the action in that moment.
Why? Why does your mind pull you to the same experience again and again? You may crave for a particular candy or you may be addicted to something. Why?
You cannot feel fulfilled by offering sense pleasures to the senses. Living intensely does not mean fulfilling your senses, pouring pleasures into your senses, or living as you wanted. Eat intensely. When you are eating, only eat. When you are sleeping, just sleep. When you are drinking, only drink. When you are making merry, just be merry.
Actually if you look deep you can see it is because you never eat the candy or cater to the addiction completely with full involvement. You hold back from throwing yourself into the action fully. Maybe you feel guilty about it or you have too many confusing thoughts at that time. So you decide to just do the action ignoring your thoughts and feelings that are coming in the way of your pleasure.
You see, part of you wants to indulge in the action. Another part of you argues why you should not. You are caught in too many thoughts, many of them selfcontradictory. You lose energy in fighting with yourself. Finally, you are not integrated whether you do the action or not. You are not intense. So the desire is not completely fulfilled and leaves behind its memory in your inner space.
Engraved memories of desires that are not completely fulfilled are called samskaras. These engraved memories have the power to make you return and travel in that same path. Whether it is coffee or champagne or smoking, whatever engram you create will have the power to make you do the same action again and again, till you feel completely fulfilled with that habit or with that enjoyment or pleasure.
If you enjoy your addiction intensely even once, only once, you will be completely liberated. That engram will never ask you anymore to travel in that path. It will liberate you.w of life! It is a law of life!
Karma is nothing but unfulfilled engrams and desires, which are inside your being, which constantly make you again and again to travel in that same path, trying to give the experience of fulfillment in your inner being.
Unfulfilled engrams are what I call karma. You keep your body alive, you keep your mind alive, because still you have hope that the body can give something to you, the mind can give something to you. Still you have the hope you can enjoy something, or something needs to be fulfilled through the body and mind. That is what I call karma.
Whether we lead or whether we follow, in order to be fulfilled in whatever we do, we need to be intense. Only when the urge becomes urgent, when the question becomes a quest, does the ultimate happen. The deep dissatisfaction about what is there in the Inner space is what is called intensity. Your dissatisfaction which is now directed towards the outer world, has to turn towards the inner world and only then it will lead to satisfaction. If your consciousness is constantly moving towards the outer world, it is called restlessness. If it is moving towards the inner world, it is called intensity.
Intensity is not an emotion. It is like heat. The part of intensity that melts and comes out can be called emotion. The side effect of intensity is emotion. Intensity should become a quality.
If you are talking, let the intensity be there. In your relationships, in your decisions, in your memory, in your thinking, in your desires, even in your fear, be intense without escaping from that moment.
Intensity means radiating the energy that does not create any conflict inside and outside. It flows smoothly and yet very strongly. Intensity is like a flood which is intense and flowing. Intensity is integration. Intensity is focus. Intensity is sincerity. When you are intense and ready to flow you will achieve the goal. Success is nearest to those whose efforts are intense and sincere.
When we change gears while driving a car, whether we change from first to second, or second to third, or any gear for that matter, we have to pass through neutral every time. We have to completely de-press the clutch, or 'unclutch', move through neutral, and only then we can go to the next gear, right? In the same way, we experience a neutral space between any two thoughts in our mind..
To make the child understand about what is intensity.
- ❖ What is intensity? Is intensity an emotion?
- ❖ How is intensity connected with emotion?
- ❖ Who achieves success? Does integrity create conflict inside or outside?
- ❖ Which is way to be fulfilled in whatever we do?
- ❖ Whether sincerity is related to intensity or not?
- ❖ When you have to be intense?
- ❖ Dissatisfaction lead to satisfaction true or false?
- ❖ What happens when the urge becomes urgent
Color bits of paper Plain sheet Glue
Give the materials needed to each child. Explain to the child that they can cut bits of colored paper and stick it on the plain sheet in their own design or pattern or figure.
Our mind comprises many thoughts like the bits of paper but when we organize our thoughts we can create wonders.
Three different color woolen threads as little bunches for the children to hold it comfortably.
Encourage children to sit around the table. Provide the woolen threads to the children with all three bunches tied at one end. Direct them to place it on the table and ask them to hold one bunch on their right hand one on their left, one will be in the middle. Ask them to the place the bunch of wool that they hold on their right in the middle and keep on alternating all the three strands one after another.
Connect the children to the fact when we are intense we can do difficult things easily.