74. Two ways to Restful Awareness🔗

Your being, by its nature, wants to be in restful awareness always. This needs a certain training, which is not provided to you by modern civilization or society or education. People come and tell me, 'I'm too lazy to meditate, Swamiji.' I tell them, 'Just be too lazy to think also - that is all. That is meditation. Just be too lazy to think - you are in meditation!'

There are two ways of being in restful awareness – consciously and unconsciously. This second process is taught to you by your schools, colleges and universities! These poor guys are made to sit, room is locked windows are locked, and the teacher goes on talking, talking, talking. Poor guy, he has also been talking about the same subject for twenty-five years! In India I have seen, by the time a person finishes his education and comes out, he has mastered the art of sleeping with open eyes. Somewhere I was never able to do that. That is why I never sat in any classes! You do not feel interested because you do not know the direct result, you don't know whether it is going to be helpful for you in life or not.

Secondly, the teachers themselves are not convinced of what they are teaching! Naturally that expresses in their method of teaching. There is such a gap between the person who is designing the system and the person who is going through the system that the transmission of intensity and enthusiasm is disturbed.

You are never taught how to be in the restful awareness consciously. You are always taught that restful awareness means unconscious. Switch off! Only then you can be in restful awareness. When this happens, all your unconscious samskaras get strengthened. If there is no enthusiasm, naturally you will master the art of disconnecting even with your eyes and senses are open. The consciousness never gets involved with life.

Understand: abhyasa happens in you more strongly at the unconscious level. Things which are not going to be directly helpful for you are strengthened by the wrong abhyasa. Anything which makes you unconscious, you make that a habit very quickly! Drinking, smoking, drugs, TV - you need so much of entertainment! Why? Because you can't be alone with yourself. You can't be with yourself. When you are watching TV, you do not have to think about you.

In India the other day, they requested me to come and inaugurate a theme park. I said, 'No!' They asked me, 'What is this Swamiji? There is nothing wrong with a theme park.' I said, 'I am feeling so bad that this country needs a theme park to entertain people. It means that the depression rate is getting high. Now we need to invent more and more and more entertainment, different kinds of entertainment.'

In the Vedic civilization, even their entertainment was consciousness-based

See, when the adrenaline rush happens you feel like a hero, but it is literally like a dog eating its own leg! It enjoys the blood, but it does not know the after-effect; it does not know it is eating itself, it is killing itself. You do not know - the adrenaline release entertains you for five minutes, you feel high for five minutes, but you are entering into unconscious enjoyment, unconscious entertainment, unconscious abhyasas.

The same with fear: you know that after you watch a horror movie, for two days you can't relax even in your bedroom! Even then, you again sit in front of the same movie. It is a kind of unconscious abhyasa or entertainment; putting yourself in the unconscious layer again and again and again.

Unconsciously falling in tune is very easy. Consciously falling into restful awareness means that you need to practice a little, you need to meditate. You need to practice, and you were never taught from the young age that it is easy. You were never taught meditation is easy. When I look back, I feel so blessed that I was born and grew up in a holy town where meditation is a lifestyle!

I need so much of entertainment because I can't be alone with myself.