Author: Catalin Amza

Buddha says that when he became enlightened the whole universe became enlightened with him. He simply means that “I am filling the whole universe. So much light is happening that I don’t see any darkness anywhere. All is God.”

To praise god means to praise this existence. There is no other god. This whole existence — the stars, the trees, the people, the animals, the birds, the mountains, the oceans — this totality is what God is. There is no God other than life itself.

There is only one courage, the fundamental courage, the courage in which all other courage is rooted — and that is the courage to go beyond the known, to go beyond the familiar, to go into the uncharted. No map of the other shore exists; no definition of god exists; no proof exists that god even is. Still, the courageous one goes on seeking and searching the unknown, even the unknowable.

The coward lives in a cosy, dark hole — familiar, safe, secure, but for how long? Death comes and destroys everything. Seeing this — that death is going to destroy everything — why not inquire into the deathless? Why not risk all? When death is going to take it away anyway, why not risk all? When death is going to take it away anyway, why be so cowardly?

Millions of people are not alive. They only appear alive, otherwise they are dead. They don’t know what life is. Just to be able to breathe is not life. Unless you start experiencing god, never believe that you are alive.

God is unbounded, infinite, vast. God is oceanic and we are like dewdrops. We have to learn the art of disappearing into the ocean. It needs guts, because to disappear into the ocean means to die as a dewdrop. Because unless one dies as a dewdrop one cannot be born as the ocean. When the seed dies as a seed a great tree is born. The seed disappears; only through its disappearance does the tree appear. The ego has to die, only then are you reborn. Dying to the past so that you can live in the present. To experience god is to experience at the same time the death of the ego. It is a death and a resurrection: the death of darkness and the birth of light.

Life is a gift, but very few people recognize it, because god goes on giving us life without making any fuss about it. It is given so silently that we never become aware that something precious has been given to us. And god does not even wait to be thanked. He really knows how to give. That is the art of giving: the person to whom the gift is given should not know about it, otherwise it will be a little humiliating, he may feel embarrassed… Hence god gives anonymously, in such a way that the people who are the receivers never become aware of the gift, unless they make a deliberate effort to wake themselves up. The person who thanks god for all that is happening to him goes on receiving more and more, because a thankful heart becomes more and more open, a thankful heart becomes more and more receptive.

How can you believe in god? — you don’t even know who you are. Who is the believer? That is the first thing to be explored. And if that is understood, root and all, you will understand god too.

There are no other proofs for god than the beautiful experiences of life. A sunset can overwhelm you so much so that for that moment you are no more, only the sunset is. The observer is dissolved, there is only observation; the duality between the seer and the seen is no more there, there is only one bridged experience. The observer and the observed are both bridged together, as if you and the sunset are two poles of the same phenomenon. Suddenly your heartbeat starts pulsating with the beauty that is the sunset. The more you experience these beautiful moments, the more your life starts becoming beautiful. So never miss any beautiful moment. Rejoice in it, dance with it, sing with it, be silent with it. In some way or other become one with it. Let the observer be the observed too. Dissolve yourself in it and you will find immense nourishment. You will become aware that the world is not just matter; hidden behind matter is something far more significant — matter is only the expression of something immaterial. We can call it god, the truth, the soul of existence, the very heartbeat of the universe.

When you collect the whole of your energy at the centre of your being, that is meditation. And to be in that state is to be reborn.

One of the greatest statements of Krishna in Gita it is:  Do the work and leave the result to god; that is none of your business. Action is your business and the result is god’s.