Look at me, but don't look at me

One of my good friends (how I wish I could write her name, but she will kill me), was recently approached by Femina magazine. They wanted to do a four page story on her. And this lady, she refused. 

Why?

'I dont want my ego to increase.' she said. 

I found myself giving her maa-behen ki galis, those which I have stopped using since I became a mum. 

Ramesh has done a better, calmer job :

'No personal effort can possibly lead to Enlightenment', he says. 'On the contrary, what is nessessary is to rest helplessly in beingness, knowing we are nothing, to be in the nothing-mind state in which all conceptualising has subsided into passive witnessing. In this state whatever happens will not be our doing, but the pure Universal functioning to which we have releinquished all control.'

Now how to do this,  is the million dollar question. 

And thy will be done

I am not going to say who told me this story. It was an old man, with a white beard. Who loved talking, and Oh, did he talk a lot. When someone talks like he did, I like to listen. When the talking comes from a deep understanding, listening follows effortlessly.

'You know how Christ got enlightened, don't you?' he asked me.

'Umm...Not exactly, no.' I said, nibbling at my dinner. We were dining at an ashram, I won't say which.

'It happened on the cross.' he stated.

'On the cross? How?'

'Well, to begin with, it wasn't a good day for Christ.'

'True. He was crucified. They put nails in his hands and feet. Must have been very painful. ' I said.

'Yes, but that part wasn't so bad. He was an ace meditater, so he was aware through the pain. He asked Father to forgive his tormentors.' he said. I gulped.

'What was worse,' he continued, 'was that they did the same to two other thieves. Christ was crucified along with two others. Ok, one of them was innocent, but the other was a common thief.'

'Not good company.' I said.

'Nope. Not good company at all. Christ, after all, was the Son of God, no less. He didn't mind being crucified, he kind of knew it was coming, he could take it. But.' he paused, to see if I got it.

'But?'

'The point is, my lady, whenever there is a but, complete surrender has not happened. '

'Agreed.'

'And this but became a question. Jesus looked at the sky and asked, 'Why, Father? Why this bad company?'
Even on the cross, Christ was still a seeker. He sought a question. However, he was a true seeker. Meaning, he waited for the answer. And the answer was, 'Because that is my will.' Christ accepted the answer, and the surrender happened. '

'Oh. And then he said, 'Thy will be done.'

'Yes, then he said, 'Thy will be done.'

'That is so beautiful.' I said to the old man. 'Thank you.'

'You are most welcome.'