These Were Crutches That You Never Needed - 26th December 2017

In the beautiful Indian scripture, Yoga Vashistha, it is a story of this mythical creature who's always suffering because this mythical creature has 1,000 hands, and each of these hands has a weapon with which it is hitting itself. You know what is this mythical creature? It is your own mind with a thousand concepts. And you, as you're dropping each of these, you are finding that you are running out of ways to suffer. Maybe the creature also believed that these concepts are helping it. 'How will I live without my hands?'

So my invitation for you is to try it out. See if it is possible to live notionlessly. You might realize that these were crutches that you never needed, that life was much greater than your idea about it. And even if the notion is 'I can't do it' or 'I have done it,' even these you give up. If the notion is 'I don't want to go that far,' forget about it. If the notion is 'I don't want to end up like some crazy sadhu on the streets of Tiruvannamalai,' forget it. I promise you that the taste of this life, unmixed with your concepts, is much greater, is much more universal. Let the taste of this life, which you are trying to contain with your ideas about it, which you are trying to control... in any case, how is that control thing working out?