Sample Copy. Not For Distribution. · background it was ok, if you were an atheist it was fine, if you were an intellectual it was not a problem and if you were a simple rustic it

Sample Copy. Not For Distribution.

i

Who Am I


ii

Publishing-in-support-of,

EDUCREATION PUBLISHING

RZ 94, Sector - 6, Dwarka, New Delhi - 110075 Shubham Vihar, Mangla, Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh - 495001

Website: www.educreation.in __________________________________________________

© Copyright, Author

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, magnetic, optical, chemical, manual, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written consent of its writer.

ISBN: 978-1-61813-450-9

Price: ` 315.00

The opinions/ contents expressed in this book are solely of the author and do not represent the opinions/ standings/ thoughts of Educreation.

Printed in India


iii

Who Am I

Anand Rishi

EDUCREATION PUBLISHING (Since 2011)

www.educreation.in


iv


v

With Loving Gratitude

To Osho

With love,

To the enemies of my sleep

Neelam Ma,

Tathagat Swami

W


vi

In Loving memory of my father

To my Mother,

She has been the source of my inspiration,

To my dear friend and wife,

Through her, I have known love.

W


vii

Foreword

WHO AM I?

This book itself is part of an attempt to find this answer.

I believe we all grapple with this question. We all feel an inner

voice calling us continually. We chose mostly to ignore this voice,

as it disturbs the status quo of our understanding about ourselves.

We have built our own concepts about our identity, in fact we have

many identities inside us, and we have become comfortable with

this situation. We feel disturbed when this is questioned. But this

inner voice will keep on calling, till the day we are ready to listen.

I would like to share two of my identities with you. One I am a

spiritual seeker and the other that I am an OSHO LOVER. The

pseudonym that I am writing under was also given by OSHO.

OSHO was a great modern mystic, who graced our planet from

1931 to 1990. He opened so many new dimensions about

spirituality, not only to me but to the whole world. He was one of

those rare masters who spoke about all possible paths that are

available to the seeker.

To him, it did not matter who you were or what your background

was or what were your prejudices. If you were from any religious

background it was ok, if you were an atheist it was fine, if you

were an intellectual it was not a problem and if you were a simple

rustic it did not matter. He would convert all possible points of our

being into a starting point for our spiritual journey.

As an OSHO lover I became interested in Meditation. And

whatever I have understood about meditation or if today I have

some small level of awareness then it has happened only through

my love for OSHO.


viii

Therefore it is natural that in my expressions you may find his

flavor and in my words you may feel a small reflection of his

words. But there is a big difference also. He spoke from the

beyond and thus was able to see everything as it really is and

report accordingly. On the other hand, I am simply groping in the

dark and putting two and two together.

So please read my words with this understanding.

When I started in front of my computer it was to pen down a

simple expression of maximum one or two pages, about what I

thought about spirituality. This was to simply to consolidate my

thoughts and was part of my efforts to find out WHO AM I. I am

not a writer and I have never ever even attempted to pen a book.

So I am not sure how this happened but the words simply started

flowing out and one or two pages soon became a whole chapter.

I would start with the heading of a chapter and with a few

thoughts. Then I would simply be in the flow and pen down

whatever came out of my being. Invariably when I reached the end

of the chapter, the whole meaning was totally different. I myself

was amazed that these are my expressions. And what I was to write

next was also manifest in these words. So I went on to the next

chapter.

And that is how the whole book came into being.

It was as if, I was not involved in writing these words. And

whenever I did get involved, I only ended up rudely interrupting

the flow. So I do apologize for that.

The book attempts to pen down what spirituality is and suggests

how a seeker should approach this journey. This is based on my

own journey as a spiritual seeker. Whatever I have experienced

along the way and whatever understandings I have developed

during this course, I have tried to honestly report.


ix

Normally this type of reporting is available from people who have

culminated their search, people who are enlightened. This book is

however from a seeker’s perspective, someone who is still

searching, and thus hopes to provide you with different type of

insights.

Also my training as an engineering professional has enabled me to

grasp the latest scientific theories and this has helped me to look at

spirituality from a scientist’s perspective. Wherever I could relate,

I have drawn on parallels from science, to explain spiritual

experiences. Therefore, I feel that this book will also appeal to

rational and logical thinking people.

On reading the book, I felt that the seeker inside me got inspired

once again, to move further on the path of spirituality. And I know

that it will inspire at least some of you who read this book to start

their journey.

In this small way, I hope to carry forward OSHO’s work. This is

the only possible way for me to express my gratitude to him.

Anand Rishi

W


x

Contents

S.No. Content Page

No.

1. What is Spirituality 1

2. The Attraction of Spirituality 6

3. On The Doors of Spirituality 11

4. The Path of Meditation 17

5. My Hypothesis 23

6. On The Path of Meditation 27

7. 5 Simple Meditaion Techniques 35

8. Chicken or An Egg? 61

9. Environmental Hazards 72

10. Some further Indications 85

11. A look into Mind 94

12.

Destiny of Evolution In our

hands?

100


xi

13. Sowing The Seeds of a New

Society. 104

14. Appo Deepo Bhava 113

15. Cause and Effect 121


xii


Who Am I

1

SPIRITUALITY

THE STUDY OF THE SUBJECT


Anand Rishi

2

1 What is

Spirituality?

The genesis

W

Out of the many beautiful meanings or the definitions of the word

spirituality, the one that has appealed to me most is that spirituality

is ‘THE STUDY OR ENQUIRY OF THE SUBJECT’. That’s

because this definition comes straight to the point, without

resorting to any philosophical mumbo jumbo, or any artificial

concept like God or any assumption, for which one has no basis.

The only logical assertion this definition relies upon is that

‘THERE MUST BE A SUBJECT PRESENT IF THERE IS AN

OBJECT PRESENT’.

But first some background.

Down the ages, when thinking and contemplation were first

evolving in the human species, the first enquiries started with basic

things around us. How we could fashion normal everyday objects,

like a stone, into a tool. How we could create fire from stones to

keep us warm and give us light in the darkness and so on. This is

how the enquiry started into the world of objects around us. This


Who Am I

3

ever expanding, ever fascinating enquiry laid the foundations of

what we now call Science.

With this ever growing curiosity, the human race also started

making tentative models about the universe they found themselves

in.

The first thing, the early humans realized was that they were

simply lucky to be there. The odds of their survival in the

environment they found themselves in seemed to heavily stack

against them. The forces around them appeared too large and too

powerful, for them to ever contemplate to manage or mould. If it

rained too heavily, water could destroy much of their labors, wind

in form of cyclones and typhoons could wreak havoc to all their

endeavors. Large beasts roaming freely could devour them easily.

It seemed to the early humans that their very survival was subject

to the whims and fancies of nature.

But, they had still survived and thrived and were the dominant

species on earth, despite the fact that in strength, agility and

dexterity there were many species that were superior to the

humans.

This led to a natural thought that they had some help. They had to

be under the protective shield of someone, who was more powerful

than the forces that they were pitted against. This someone, they

first imagined to be the forces of nature itself. The Sun, the moon,

wind, fire, rain were thus recognized as their protectors. Then as an

extension to this concept, a larger central figure who was imagined

to be the creator and the ultimate director of these forces was

conceived, who they started called GOD.

Thus the universe was conceived to be created by this super

powerful, omnipresent, all knowing figure called GOD. Everything

was perceived to be created by this figure to serve some unknown

purpose. And we, the humans were thought to be in his image, as


Anand Rishi

4

we were placed as the dominant species on earth despite not

necessarily deserving the title. Thus the basic purpose of the

human race was thought to be as God’s flag bearers, to achieve his

will, whatever that might be.

This was the framework of the universe conceived of by our

remote ancestors and largely this is the framework many of us still

believe in.

As human civilization evolved further, our intellectual prowess and

analytical skills also grew. With this growth, it came to the notice

(of a very tiny minority) that this framework of our universe

contained many assumptions and ideas which simply had no base

in rational thought. This GOD centric universe seemed to be

projections of our fears more than any proper understanding of

how things were.

And one glaring missing link was particularly evident that the

enquiry of the SUBJECT was totally absent.

All the lines of enquiry till date had largely focused on OBJECTS

outside of us. They totally ignored the SUBJECT, the one who was

actually studying these OBJECTS and making inferences about

them. In fact GOD was also an inference and thus an object, which

was studied by this subject.

Since this subject was the one that was studying all the objects, it

had to be more primary. It had to come first, even before GOD, as

God itself was on object and was thus secondary. This tiny

minority also saw that they themselves were this subject. This

feeling of I that they were born with, was this subject. All the rest

of the creation was simply inferences made by this I. And without

knowing and understanding this I, all knowing would be

incomplete.

Thus started the enquiry into WHO IS THIS I or it should be more

aptly phrased as WHO AM I? This enquiry laid the foundations of


Who Am I

5

a totally different type of search. This search is what we now call

SPIRITUALITY.

The question WHO AM I, brought with itself many related

questions.

Who is it, who is born into this body? Who is it that grows up with

it? Who is it who then perceives the world and interacts with it?

Who is it that laughs and cries, who thinks, who loves, who plans,

who wishes, who aspires, who learns, who experiences pain and

pleasure, who creates, who understands and who is it that after all

this vanishes away, taken away by a phenomenon we call Death.

And where does one vanish away? Is there something left even

after this vanishing? Is it the end of a journey or start of a new

one? Or is it just an inter-mediatory step on a longer journey? Is

this brief time in the body, a one way ticket? Or is there a return

journey?

Why do we do what we do? Does it really matter, what we do?

Does it have any impact on the world around us?

Is our fate of death fixed? Or like we have been able to mould

nature to our benefit, can we perhaps, one day, change our

seemingly fixed destiny of death?

What is it that makes us tick?

These are some of the few questions that one attempts to grapple

with, when one embarks on the path of spirituality.

****


Anand Rishi

6


Who Am I

7

2 The attraction

of Spirituality The inner discontent

W

Unlike the expansion of Sciences or the study of the objects, which

caught the imagination of the majority of the human civilization,

this enquiry about Who Am I, remained the interest of a tiny

minority only.

It is very important to understand why this is so, as it remains so

even till this date and time.

The large majority could clearly understand the methods of science

and see its immediate and long term benefits and implications. As

our understanding about the forces of nature grew, much of the

dangers attributable to these forces vanished. Largely due to the

advances in science, it was realized that nature actually operated

under fixed laws and was not as whimsical as it had earlier

seemed. It was actually possible to apply these laws and predict the

forces of nature, to at least some extent. The uncontrollable

behemoth seemed to be a much more predictable and a pliable

creature.


Anand Rishi

8

Also psychologically, the human civilization seemed to be more

secure as they knew if all else failed GOD was there to extricate

them out of any difficulty. This helped to alleviate, or at least push

to the background, many insecurities that plagued the early

humans.

On the other hand, the study of the so called subject threw up some

seemingly absurd concepts. Firstly, the question was, IS it possible

at all for US TO STUDY OURSELVES? Is it possible to turn the

subject itself into an object to study? Because then who would be

studying the subject? If there was a deeper subject, who could

study the outer subject, then some other still deeper subject would

be required to study it. And this could just go on and on. This was

difficult to grasp for the majority of us.

Also, the methods of science seemed very objective and

demonstrable and could become public knowledge very easily. On

the study of the subject, there seemed to be no demonstrable

methods or verifiable results and the whole exercise seemed to be

totally individualistic with no possibility of it becoming certified

public knowledge.

Last but certainly not the least, in the study of WHO AM I, there

seemed to be NO PUBLIC BENEFIT obvious or even foreseeable.

Thus spirituality was given very little recognition in the

mainstream of human thought and it was only some mavericks

who kept the lamp of spirituality and spiritual thought alive.

It is critical to understand, what attraction, what force, what

energy, kept this small minority going, as this understanding will

provide glimpses into beings of all mavericks who have dared to

confront the subject. Perhaps it may also tell us, the modern

seekers; what is it that draws us to this deep, dark and mysterious

world.


Who Am I

9

One attraction of course, is the sheer philosophical scale of the

questions that spirituality attempts to raise. These questions could

become a key to unravelling the very reason, as to why anything

exists at all. These questions could perhaps answer as to how the

universe itself ticked and lastly it could define our place in the

larger scheme of things, if any such scheme existed.

But, this reason in itself does not seem to be enough. The

opposition to the spiritualists, from the society, was very fierce.

Buddha was condemned, stones were thrown at Mahavira, Socrates

was poisoned, Mansoor was dismembered and killed. Even in our

so called modern and egalitarian society, the American

government destroyed OSHO’s commune. A simple MENTAL

CURIOSITY could not have kept this flame alive.

No, there had to be some deeper reason.

As I see it, the main attraction towards spirituality was the INNER

DISCONTENT that was UNCOVERED by the advent of outer

richness.

As the human civilization became more advanced and richer, both

in thought and content, some of the individuals who were

experiencing the very peak of this richness, came to see that this

richness did not provide any form of lasting peace or happiness.

There seemed to be no joy in the new found security of prosperity.

In fact it seemed to give rise to a feeling that something inside was

incomplete and something fundamental was missing.

Actually, this feeling of being incomplete always existed; the

newly found richness simply provided the contrast against which

this could be noticed. So life for those few rich individuals, despite

the relative comforts, seemed to be empty and devoid of meaning.

There seemed to be something inside crying out to be heard and

discovered. It became impossible for them, not to respond to this

inner voice.


Anand Rishi

10

Therefore it is not a surprise that most of the earlier spiritualists

including Buddha, Mahavira and all the Teerthankars of the Jain

lineage, were all son of kings. For them, the outer was conquered,

so their consciousness had the opportunity to flow towards the

inner.

It should be noted that not all the kings became spiritualists, in fact

only very few of them did. Those few, in addition to being rich,

had a rebellious personality. They were gamblers by nature and

were ready to give up everything in life, just to answer that inner

voice expressing discontent. That’s why they were perceived as

mavericks.

This discontent, this inner poverty, this search for completeness,

this search of meaning, this constant imploring of the inner voice,

became the driving force that sucked all these mavericks into the

inner world of the subject and into the domain of spirituality.

This discontent can be now felt clearly by more and more people,

in our contemporary world. As the outer richness has spread, more

people have become capable of hearing this inner voice.

This inner discontent is the fatal attraction that spirituality exerts

on our very being.

****


Who Am I

11

Get Complete Book At Educreation Store

www.educreation.in



Documents

Sample Copy. Not For Distribution. · background it was ok, if you were an atheist it was fine, if you were an intellectual it was not a problem and if you were a simple rustic it