06/11/2025
Day by Day with Bhagavan, 11-1-46 Afternoon (excerpt)
A young man from Colombo asked Bhagavan,
“J. Krishnamurti teaches the method of effortless and choiceless
awareness as distinct from that of deliberate concentration.
Would Sri Bhagavan be pleased to explain how best to practise
meditation and what form the object of meditation should take?”
Bhagavan: Effortless and choiceless awareness is our real
nature. If we can attain it or be in that state, it is all right. But
one cannot reach it without effort, the effort of deliberate
meditation. All the age-long vasanas carry the mind outward
and turn it to external objects. All such thoughts have to be
given up and the mind turned inward. For that, effort is necessary
for most people. Of course everybody, every book says, “Be quiet or still”. But it is not easy. That is why all
this effort is necessary. Even if we find one who has at once
achieved the mauna or Supreme state indicated by “Be quiet or still”,
you may take it that the effort necessary has already been
finished in a previous life. So that, effortless and choiceless
awareness is reached only after deliberate meditation. That
meditation can take any form which appeals to you best. See
what helps you to keep away all other thoughts and adopt that
method for your meditation.
In this connection Bhagavan quoted verses ... of Saint
Thayumanavar. Their gist is as follows. “Bliss will follow if
you are still. But however much you may tell your mind about
this truth, the mind will not keep quiet. It is the mind that
won’t keep quiet. It is the mind which tells the mind, ‘Be
quiet and you will attain bliss’. ...
