Silence and vastness go together

Silence’s immensity is the immensity of the mind which has no center. The perception of this space of silence does not occur in our thought. Thought only perceives its projection and this recognition is its limit. Meditation is no isolating activity, but a daily action that requires cooperation, sensitivity and intelligence. Without the basis of an upright life, meditation becomes escape and loses its worth. An upright life does not mean obeying the societal moral but freeing ourselves from envy, greed and from the seek of power – which generate hostility. We do not free ourselves from these evil feelings by the awareness we have of them from self-insight. Without knowledge of the activities of our self, meditation becomes exaltation of the senses and loses all meaning. It is not the continuum or the expansion of experience. Meditation is, on the contrary, the total inaction that corresponds to the cease of the experience as a whole. The action of experience has its roots in the past. Meditation is the emptying of experience, the total inaction that comes from the mind and sees what it is, without any obstacle from the past or the witness that lives connected to past memories. If no meditation occurs, we become blind in a world which is full with beauty, lights and colors. Meditating is no word repetition, experiment of visions or attachment to silence. In that case, it would be autohypnosis. Meditation is not closing ourselves in ideal thoughts, in the enchantment of pleasure. If one says: “Today I will start controlling my thoughts, sitting silent in meditative positions and to regulate my breathing” – in that case, he or she got caught in the tricks we use with ourselves.

Meditation is not being engaged in some grand idea or image

A meditative mind sees, observes and hears – without words, comments or opinions, continuously and attentively – the motion of life in each of its relations. Then, a silence which is thought negation takes over and cannot be gone back on by the observer. If he were to make it his experience – by recognizing it – it would not be that silence. The silence of a meditative mind does not live on the edge of recognition and has no boundaries. A small dreary immature mind can have, and has visions and experiences which are recognizable based on one’s own conditioning. Meditation does not belong with people like this nor to gurus. It is not for the seeker because he finds what he wants and the comfort that derives from it is the moral of his fears. There is no chance for the religious and dogmatic man to enter the reign of meditation. Meditation requires freedom – total negation of moral and social conditioning – and freedom comes before meditation, it represents its first move. It is not a public praxis through which people gather and offer prayers. It is a praxis of its own and it belongs beyond the boundaries stated by social conduct. In fact, the truth does not exist in thought’s things or in what was built by thought and was called truth by it. The total negation of this thinking structure is meditation’s reality. Meditation is a never-ending motion. One can never say that he or she is meditating or dedicating some time to this activity. Meditation does not follow orders. One does not deserve its blessing because their life is systematized and attached to habits or moral. One only gets it when they leave their heart open. Not when it is open by thought, or when it is ensured by intellect but when it is open like a clear sky: then the blessing arrives without even asking for it. But it is impossible to protect, to own or worship. If one tries to, the blessing will never come back in avoidance.

When meditating, the person is not important, he does not have a place. The beauty of meditation is not that of who’s meditating but its own. One cannot add anything to it. It is not advisable to spy from the window hoping to take it by surprise, nor to sit in a dark room and wait for it: it only comes when one is not there, and its blessing has no continuum.

JIDDU KRISHNAMURTI