Goodreads Authors/Readers discussion

Beloved Master,

For some reason, each time that I see You, I am shocked by Your beauty. I think that You are the most beautiful being that has ever happened! In what way do You experience Your own beauty?

Actually, there is no way to experience your own beauty. If the beauty is physical, then there are ways to know it. You could look in the mirror and see your own reflection. If the beauty is coming out of your silence; if it is being reflected from within, then it does not belong to your physical body. Then it is not physical at all; you cannot know it yourself because this beauty cannot be reflected in a mirror. You cannot see the beauty of silence through a mirror.

It can only be experienced.

There is one thing that you must be made very clear on: The beauty that you see in me is not my own. It is not mine at all. It is everyone’s. It is part of Existence. There are so many different bodies, but within, we are the same. The inner fire is one and the same. When you start radiating this flame, a certain grace starts happening. It is a beauty that cannot be described because it is from a different dimension altogether. So, if you are able to see my beauty, it is simply a reflection of your own self. The master is nothing but a mirror of yourself. He is a reflection of yourself. But it so happens that when you look into a mirror, you start to think that the mirror is beautiful, that the mirror is so child-like, so innocent! What you don’t understand is that the mirror is actually you; it is your own reflection!

In life, whatever you see is simply a reflection of yourself. Just look into your lives. A sunset may look beautiful to one person; it may look depressing to another. And another person may not even care; he doesn’t bother about it at all.

It is the same sunset that comes through in three different ways. It is not that the sunset is beautiful, or depressing, or difficult to notice. It is just your attitude which determines what you see. In other words, if you are beautiful, the sunset appears beautiful too.

If you are yourself a beautiful person, everything will appear beautiful to you. You will project your beauty onto the sunset. If you yourself are depressed, everything will look upsetting or disappointing to you. You will project your depression onto the sunset. And the third person, who doesn’t notice the sunset at all, doesn’t notice the moon, doesn’t see the trees around him, is simply missing it. He is always in such a rush, always trying to reach somewhere; he doesn’t have the time to look at the sunset which according to him comes and goes anyway and which he can see tomorrow anyway. But I tell you: Every sunset is new. It is fresh every day.

So, the way in which you see the sun, or anything for that matter, depends on you. If you are seeing some beauty in me, something beautiful has arisen within you; remember that.

A small Zen story:

Any wandering monk can lodge in a Zen temple. All he has to do is win an argument about Buddhism with those already living there. But he cannot stay in the temple if he is defeated. It so happened that a wandering monk asked for lodging in a temple where two brothers lived. The older brother was well-read and wise, but the younger, who had only one eye, was a fool.

The older brother was feeling tired. He asked his brother to take on the wandering monk. But he warned him, ‘Don’t talk. Have the debate in silence.’
After some time, the wandering monk came to the older brother and said, ‘I am very sorry; I can’t stay. Your brother has defeated me.’ The older brother was surprised and asked, ‘Tell me what happened.’

The monk said, ‘I held up a finger representing Buddha. Your brother held up two fingers symbolizing Buddha and his teachings. Then I held up three fingers symbolizing Buddha, his teachings and his followers. He shook his head and clenched his fist near my face, signifying that all three came from one realization. So he won.’

The monk left. Immediately after, the younger brother rushed in angrily and shouted, ‘Where is that fellow? I will beat him for his arrogance.’ ‘Why, what happened,’ the older brother asked. The younger brother said, ‘He held up one finger, mocking me for having only one eye. To be polite to a stranger, I held up two fingers, congratulating him for having two eyes. Then that rude fellow held up three fingers to remind me that between us we had only three eyes. I got mad and wanted to punch him. But he ran away!’

The same set of actions interpreted in entirely two different ways! Just watch how our minds work! We are so boxed into our own psychology. It is this psychology which we project all around us. A man who is an embodiment of silence will see the whole world as silence. Any sound that he hears will only be lost in the silence which he feels. On the other hand, a man who is full of noise will never feel even a moment’s worth of silence. He will only feel noise. The whole world is nothing but the projected version of yourself.

So, it is good that you see beauty in me; it shows that you yourself are beautiful. But don’t stop there. This is not an experience to get stuck in. Notice the beauty which is growing within you as well. Notice it. Go into it. Only then will your whole being be filled with beauty.

If a person is able to see everything as beautiful, then what does it mean? It means that he himself is beautiful. So the way in which you see the world, the way in which you see the people around you, all depends on you. You are living in the world which you have created. Have this understanding: there are as many worlds as there are people because everyone is living in their own world. No two people think in the same way. No two people see the same things. It is perfectly alright to see beauty in me. But know that it is your beauty which you are seeing. I am simply the mirror, that’s all! This must become a deep understanding in you. You must know that whatever you see in the world is just a projection. Of course, there is a state where the mind is no more and projections have dropped; it is here that you see the world as it is. It is here that you see the world as nothing but beautiful. But this beauty is different; it is not a projection at all.

When you have transcended the mind, you have become a mirror. You then reflect reality. It is nice that you see something like this in me, but trust it only when you see it in everything else too. When a poet looks around at the trees, just observe him. He looks at the trees, or anything for that matter, with such sensitivity. He sees not only one shade of green, but many shades. If you were to look at the same tree, you would simply say that the tree is green. It takes a very sensitive person to observe beyond that. Once you have clearly understood that you are the world because you yourself are creating it, you will automatically become centered; you will see the world as it is. It has to be remembered continuously: whatever you see is your own projection. Once you start seeing the same everywhere - the same in a friend as you see in an enemy, you have entered into a new space. And it is possible. Just drop your judgments. It will happen. It has to happen. Read More : The Only Way Out is IN by Paramahamsa Nithyananda.