Toilet Flushing And Zen.

Many years ago I was lying in bed one morning when I was woken by someone flushing a toilet.
I was half -awake,and no doubt because I was in this in-between state,I listened intently to the sound,and suddenly that's all there was.
The toilet sound was everything;it filled the universe and it was the universe.I had no sense of self.The sound of the flush was me and the toilet-we were one- but without any sense at all of the 'I'.

Later I realized that what I had experienced was a sort of mini- enlightenment; an immediate awareness of the World of non-duality; a mini satori.
But, this left me when the toilet stopped flushing,and I became fully awake with my head full of the usual menu  of its mundane daily concerns.

According to some people in  Buddhism ,the quickest way to get enlightenment is by using the medium of the ear.


  Ever since the experience I had I often focus on one sound, such as the waves of the sea as they roll into the shore,or the sound of a solitary bird singing its heart out.
The secret  is to totally give all your focus to what you are hearing,and not to let anything else distract you.
Picture the sound travelling across space and time to enter your ear.Then, don't consider space and time or your ear;concentrate only on the sound.Next, picture the sound and your ear becoming one,and, if you are in luck you will have a very profound experience of observer and observed or should I say,listener and the listened to become one.You briefly enter the World of non-duality.You lose all sense of 'I',and a feeling of absolute peace comes over you.

Of all meditations I find this, by far, the easiest to do.At first you might get hints,a few flashes of no observer, no observed,but with practice  these moments should get stronger and longer.

It can be done with any sound, whether it be birdsong or toilet flushing.It doesn't matter what it is.

Sound arises and then stops.It is fleeting with no permanence.But your hearing does not cease;it always is.You are hearing a vibration.The vibration vibrates on your eardrum,and the signal in your brain produces the sound.

Nada Yoga states that the entire cosmos and everything in it consists of sound vibration.It is sound energy in motion.This particular branch of Yoga believes that there are two types of music,external and internal.They believe that we all have our own internal music within us.The individual should listen to his own internal music,and by doing so can become enlightened.

So here are two powerful exercises:

1.Listen to an external sound and go through the motions as mentioned earlier.Try and do this everyday.and after a while, you may well have profound experiences.

2.Listen to your inner music.Firstly lie down, relax completely, breath in a regular pattern,and have the expectation of hearing your inner music.You probably won't hear anything at all at first, but don't worry. just keep doing this everyday to see if you get results.

According to Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj:"The cause of all creation was 'the current of divine light and music'.The music within us is not made by an instrument,but comes from God and is the cause of all outer music".

The above mentioned person claims that once you hear the music within you, you achieve a feeling of bliss that you have never experienced before,and that it enable us to raise far above mere body consciousness.

I hope you enjoy the exercises.


                    
                                                             
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