In a German folk lore we learn about a man who lost his shadow. A curious thing had happened to him. A man lost his shadow and that man had to suffer for it. All his friends deserted him, all property left him and he was in a very sorry state for it. What will happen to a man who instead of losing his shadow loses the substance? There may be a hope for a man who loses only the shadow, but what hope can there be for a man who lost not there shadow but the substance the reality. Wonder of wonders! The body is simply the shadow and the real self, the real Atman is the reality.
Once a young prince accompanied by his attendant came to a Saint and asked, “Sir, Just let me know what is God?” It is quite a deep subject and how it can be explained just like that. Then the Saint said in a pious and quite voice, “Dear Prince, you know that when you want to see a great personage, you send your own card first, you will have to send to the chief your own address and name. So give me your card and I will present it to God and God will come to you and you will see, What God is.” “Well” the Prince said, “It is all right, I will let you know, What I am. I am the son of King so and so, living on the Himalayas in Northern India. This is my name.” He wrote it on a piece of paper and gave it to the Holy person who read it. It was not put into the hands of God directly but was given back to Prince.
The Prince was told,” O Prince, you don't know what you are, you are like the illiterate, ignorant person who wants to see your father, the King and cannot write his own name. Will your father receive him? Prince you cannot write your name. How will God receive you? First tell me correctly what you are and then will God come to you and receive you with open arms.” The Prince reflected, he began to think and think over the subject. He said, “Yes Sir, I made a mistake in giving you the address of the body only and I have not put upon the paper what I am.”
The attendant of the Prince was puzzled and perplexed at the Prince's answer. The Prince was asked to make his meaning clear to the attendant and so the Prince asked the attendant this question, “Mr. so and so to whom does this stick belong to?” The man said, “To me” the Prince said, “All right, if the stick belongs to you or a card or a turban belongs to you there is a relationship between you and the stick or turban or a card. You cannot be the stick, card or turban. If the body is yours, Mr. Attendant then you are not the body, you cannot be the body because you say, body is yours.”
Then the Prince said to the Sage, “I am the mind, I am the intellect, I am the brain.” A few questions were put to the Prince such as, “How many bones are in your body? What happens to the food which you eat in the morning? Who makes the muscles move in the eye and who grows tot hairs? Who makes the blood flow in veins?” The Prince replied that his mind cannot comprehend it his intellect cannot reach upon that, his brain cannot understand this. Then the Holy person said that by making these remarks, you confess that the brain is yours, the mind is yours, the intellect is yours, Well, if the intellect is yours, you are not the intellect. If the mind is yours, you are not the mind. If the brain is yours, you are not the brain.
So, what are you? These very words of yours show that you are the master of intellect, the owner of the brain and the ruler of mind. Think, think and think, please! But thinking will lead you astray from the reality. As Gurudev Swami Shree Vishvas Ji recites in his holy voice:
मैं तां सोच सोच के हारा
तेरीयाँ तू जाने मालिका
The more you think, the more you fall away from reality. Real does not need thinking. Real needs awareness. That is what is Meditation. Meditation is awareness, alertness, wakefulness, understanding. It is seeing, observing, watching, and witnessing. Mysteries of life are unfolded in Meditation. You will go mad if you wish to understand the intricacies of life with reasoning alone which is like peeling off the onion.
Meditation is the wonder of wonders because you don't have to do anything to attain peace, silence and your own mastership over mind, body and intellect. This restless mind which becomes the cause of great turbulence in our lives and wrecks the ship becomes no-mind. No extraneous effort is required to tame and control the boisterous mind. It is a state of non-doing. Except witnessing whatever is happening within, nothing is to be done.
Looking inside is Meditation. Just pure watching inwards, taking a turn inwards 180 degree and you have arrived home. Not a single step has to be taken. You are not going anywhere, you are coming from here to here. You are already here where you need to be but you are not aware.
Gurudev Shri Swami Vishvas Ji proclaims that, Bliss is yours, Third eye is yours, Self is yours, He and you are one.
ये सैर क्या है अजब अनोखा, कि राम मुझमें मैं राम में हूँ,
बगैर सूरत अजब है जलवा, कि राम मुझमें में मैं राम में हूँ,
Meditation is the wonder of wonders that it takes you to your own source, your own self, your own Atman without any observation of fasts or chanting of mantras or undergoing strict discipline.
Of course the clear understanding of Meditation is paramount. It is not concentration which is of mind and meditation has got nothing to do with mind except going beyond mind. As day and night can't stay together, light and darkness can't exist at the same time. Meditation and mind can't co-exist. There are not any techniques of meditation. Meditation is unmotivated, desire-less. Meditation is for the sake of meditation and not for some ultra- motive or of for God.
Meditation is a state out of which silence will come, peace will come, divine will come. They will come spontaneously but nothing will happen if you desire. Meditation is not to be something separate from your life. It has to be just like breathing and circulation of blood. As it is not enough if you breathe only once or blood is circulated only once, so meditation has to be with us all the time meaning we are to be aware, alert, wakeful and watchful. This is Meditation. Wonder of Wonders.