YOU ARE NOT YOUR MIND

[Amin C]

This is an excerpt from a very well-known Book "Power of Now" by Eckhart Tolle. I am sure, by now, many of you must have read this book. If I recall, I'd sent you an E-Copy of this book in January 3^rd 2026. 

YOU ARE NOT YOUR MIND

The Greatest Obstacle to Enlightenment

Enlightenment -- what is that?

A beggar had been sitting by the side of a road for over thirty years.  One day a stranger  walked  by.    "Spare  some  change?"  mumbled  the  beggar,  mechanically holding out his old baseball cap.  "I have nothing to give you," said the stranger. Then he asked: "What's that you are sitting on?" "Nothing," replied the beggar. "Just an old box.  I have been sitting on it for as long as I can remember." "Ever looked  inside?"  asked  the  stranger.    "No,"  said  the  beggar.    "What's  the  point? There's nothing in there." "Have a look inside," insisted the stranger.  The beggar managed  to  pry  open  the  lid.    With  astonishment,  disbelief,  and  elation,  he  saw that the box was filled with gold.

I  am  that  stranger  who  has  nothing  to  give  you  and  who  is  telling  you  to  look inside.  Not inside any box, as in the parable, but somewhere even closer: inside yourself.

"But I am not a beggar," I can hear you say.

Those  who  have  not  found  their  true  wealth,  which  is  the  radiant  joy  of  Being and the deep, unshakable peace that comes with it, are beggars, even if they have great  material  wealth.    They  are  looking  outside  for  scraps  of  pleasure  or fulfillment,  for  validation,  security,  or  love,  while  they  have  a  treasure  within that  not  only  includes  all  those  things  but  is  infinitely  greater  than  anything  the world can offer.

The  word  enlightenment  conjures  up  the  idea  of  some  super-human accomplishment,  and  the  ego  likes  to  keep  it  that  way,  but  it  is  simply  your natural  state  of  felt  oneness  with  Being.    It  is  a  state  of  connectedness  with something  immeasurable  and  indestructible,  something  that,  almost paradoxically,  is  essentially  you  and  yet  is  much  greater  than  you.    It  is  finding your true nature beyond name and form.  The inability to feel this connectedness gives rise to the illusion of separation, from yourself and from the world around you.    You  then  perceive  yourself,  consciously  or  unconsciously,  as  an  isolated fragment.  Fear arises, and conflict within and without becomes the norm.

I love the Buddha's simple definition of enlightenment as "the end of suffering." There  is  nothing  superhuman  in  that,  is  there?    Of  course,  as  a  definition,  it  is incomplete.  It only tells you what enlightenment is not: no suffering.  But what's left  when  there  is  no  more  suffering?    The  Buddha  is  silent  on  that,  and  his silence  implies  that  you'll  have  to  find  out  for  yourself.    He  uses  a  negative definition so that the mind cannot make it into something to believe in or into a superhuman accomplishment, a goal that is impossible for you to attain.  Despite this  precaution,  the  majority  of  Buddhists  still  believe  that  enlightenment  is  for the Buddha, not for them, at least not in this lifetime.

 

 

   

  

Best Wishes, Kind Regards & Ya Ali Madad &

   السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ

(As-salāmu ʿalaykum)

 

Amin Chunara