Swami Chaitanya Keerti
Existence has gifted us humans with an amazing mind. Strange are it's ways. Either it functions with the memories of the past, or with the imaginations of the future-- and we become occupied with it, or imprisoned by it. This way we miss the aliveness and beauty of the present moment. It is our mind only which stands in the way of our mindfulness. Mindfulness means being Here-Now--observing and living life in the present moment.
The enlightened Mystic, J Krishnamurti says in the Book of Life: Can the mind be free from the past, free from thought—not from the good or bad thought? How do I find out? I can only find out by seeing what the mind is occupied with. If my mind is occupied with the good or occupied with the bad, then it is only concerned with the past, it is occupied with the past. It is not free of the past. So, what is important is to find out how the mind is occupied. If it is occupied at all, it is always occupied with the past because all our consciousness is the past. The past is not only on the surface but on the highest level, and the stress on the unconscious is also the past...
The realisation or observation of the functioning of our mind makes us free and be attentive HereNow.
Krishnamurti asks: Can the mind be free from occupation? This means—can the mind be completely without being occupied and let memory, the thoughts good and bad, go by without choosing? The moment the mind is occupied with one thought, good or bad, then it is concerned with the past. ... If you really listen—not just merely verbally, but really profoundly—then you will see that there is stability which is not of the mind, which is the freedom from the past.
He answers: Yet, the past can never be put aside. There is a watching of the past as it goes by, but not occupation with the past. So the mind is free to observe and not to choose. Where there is a choice in this movement of the river of memory, there is occupation; and the moment the mind is occupied, it is caught in the past; and when the mind is occupied with the past, it is incapable of seeing something real, true, new, original, uncontaminated.
Does this require any effort? No. It requires simple attentiveness or awareness--not the memory, just the remembrance. Buddha coined a beautiful word for it: Sammasati. It means right remembrance. Which means being attentive moment to moment and not forgetting this attentiveness. Breathing, walking, talking, thinking, feeling--doing anything--remain attentive, remain in passive alertness. And realise your awakening--that's what is meant by Buddhahood.
Osho is very poetic in his expression of this mindfulness. He says: The body is not you, the mind is not you, you are only a pure witness. This is your Buddhahood. Rejoice in it. Get soaked and drenched in the blessing that spontaneously showers at the center of your being. This center of your being has to become your circumference also. Slowly, slowly you have to bring the Buddha out in your actions, in your words, in your silences. Day in, day out, the Buddha has to become just your heartbeat.
