By Christopher Greenwood
Day 243 – Reputation or experience?
Yesterday, we had all gathered for dinner when Mohanji dropped a bombshell of a question (interesting to think about in more depth): “What would you choose between these two? Would you choose reputation or experience?” It’s an interesting question, and we had a great discussion about the two.
Reputation is something which comes to people. It can take a long time, and people work incredibly hard to gain a reputation, whether it’s a social standing stature, some personality, greatness or something special within family, communities, societies, or even the world.
Experience, if you look at its purest essence, is the reason we have a body or we’ve taken a body. We have a body for experience – to experience life. All experiences that come to us are what we’ve asked for, consciously or unconsciously, and then the experiences are part of our agenda for life.
Then the question again is, what would you choose, reputation or experience? Would you avoid an experience that you desire for the sake of keeping your reputation, being worried about what someone might think, what they would say, whether that would damage your reputation? Or, would you live the experience, understanding that this is what you wanted to experience in life and do it fully?
It’s interesting because if I think from Mohanji’s point, it’s a fundamental truth that we came here with nothing and will leave with nothing, and you can put reputation into that same bucket. It’s not something that we could own or take with us. Suppose our need is to hold tight and keep our reputation intact. It means the experience is denied.
Are we living fully? Or does a need to keep reputation eclipse our experience’s potential and restrict our walking space in life? In a way, the frames that Mohanji talks about – creating frames that bind us; reputation is almost doing that, too. It’s limiting our walking space in life, restricting what we can or can’t do to keep it when our inner call or life brings experiences that might conflict with them.
So, at the end of the discussion, we asked Mohanji his view and as expected, the answer was simple between the two – experience, this is what we came here for. We take nothing else when we leave. Plus, an experience denied is a potential postponement for another time or lifetime.
Plus interestingly, he shared the same about postponement and delay. If an experience is denied, that’s a potential postponement (postponement for another time) for that experience to come back again or even another lifetime.
An interesting point for contemplation. Which would you choose, reputation or experience?
Day 244 – Catching the silence between the breath
In these current times, I’ve found that a lot is happening internally and around the world. World situations and local situations are all changeable and becoming quite intense. Within the Foundation and across the platforms, we have many activities happening simultaneously and even more are coming. For example, we’re preparing for the Festival of Consciousness, a big event in Belgrade on the 24th of July.
So, a lot is happening at the same time, and the general atmosphere at the moment is ripe for confusion and misunderstandings. I think some planetary positions (Saturn and Jupiter) in retrograde also contribute to this. One very simple practice I’ve been returning to, which Mohanji shared, that brings great stability, is trying to catch that silence and space between our inhalation and exhalation.
To witness the space that exists between the next inhale after exhale and exhale after inhaling. It’s very short, but by trying to catch that space and go into it, I’ve found it brings a lot of calm, centring and stability.
When you inhale, before you exhale, witness that space, that gap and go into this. It’s very short, and it’s not holding the breath. But it’s simply allowing the breath to be natural and going into that space. It brings a lot of calmness, centring and stability.
Mohanji shared earlier that the space between breath is the key to heaven in some respects. I remember some time back, Mohanji spontaneously delivered a very short online meditation, only ten minutes long, that focused on observing that space.
After the session finished, I remember him saying that if people caught that and continued with that, it was a very powerful Avadhoota technique, and practising it could lead to higher realizations. It can benefit people.
So, rather than a lesson today, I share this as a reminder of practice and that Mohanji has gifted many great tools and techniques during this time, which can help anchor and stabilize us in turbulent waters.
Here’s a link to the meditation technique:
|| JAI BRAHMARISHI MOHANJI ||
Edited & Published by – Testimonials Team, 20th August 2023
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