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Commentary on Wisdom of the Sands

Therefore, beloved, listen to the wisdom of the sands.
Ais dhammo sanatano. . .

First, a few things must be understood. By Sufism, I don't mean what is traditionally understood as Sufism. I know many of you consider Sufism to be simply an integral aspect and part of Islam. But Sufism is a state of realization. It has no connection with ordinary religion as such. A Sufi is one who has simply understood life. A Sufi is one who has penetrated into the ultimate reality and has seen, with his or her own eyes, the truth. A Sufi is one who has encountered the Tao; who has encountered the Dharma. Someone who has become "one" with pure existence. Therefore, a Sufi is not necessarily a Muslim, although a Muslim can become a Sufi; but so can a Christian; so can a Jew; so can a Hindu; a Buddhist - because Sufi is not religion. It is not a "label". Your religion is simply your label. It not does not make you religious and a Sufi is religious.

The Sufi is one who has achieved religiosity, and this can never be achieved by simply joining a church or some organization. So Sufism is a very different thing than what is ordinarily understood. Nor is it a philosophy. It's not a world view; it's not a doctrine or dogma. It does not try to make systems. In fact, Sufism has very little to do with your intellect. It is not aimed at simply adding to your endless list of information and trivia. Sufism has more to do with your heart. Hence, there are no scriptures for Sufis. Please make a note of that! They have no holy books. They have only one device for communicating their great insights, and that has always been in the form of stories, because a story is something very different.

A story is something that you "imbibe" or drink, like wine. A story is aimed at intoxication; to convey a feeling or an experience, hence Sufism is not to be confused with philosophy or metaphysics, or great systems of thoughts. If you approach Sufism intellectually - if you approach Sufism trying to "analyze" it too much - you will simply miss!

The aim in Sufism is to "intoxicate" you. It is a path of the heart, not the head, although it is not against the head. It is neither logical, nor illogical. It is direct! Practicable and more involved in the how-to, than the why and the what. It is a very different thing than what is ordinarily understood by Sufism.

It is interesting that in Sufism, these great Sufi mystics have attained enlightenment, and they have attained enlightenment in ways that would simply astound the Buddhists. Because you see, Buddha sat seven days motionless, not even blinking was permitted, just motionless and he attained samadhi (enlightenment). So when a Buddhist hears that a Jalal-un-din Rumi, after dancing for 36 hours, collapsed and arose in a state of enlightenment, the Buddhists will find this difficult to accept, because Jalal-un-din Rumi did no meditation in the sense that they have understood. Therefore, they will reject to the attainment of a Rumi. How, they ask, can anyone simply by dancing. . .attain? They do not "understand" the path of the Sufi. So I want to introduce a very different kind of approach with this Sufi story today.

You need not be so preoccupied with taking notes and those kinds of things to go back home and do all of your analysis. Do not be concerned with the dotting of the i's and crossing of the t's. Drink! Drink this thing. Sip it with me. It is like wine. We will sip this story. And in the end, if we have sipped correctly, we will simply be intoxicated.

I love this story, Guru Dasa - The Wisdom of the Sands. I was telling Bilal that one my favorite portraits of Maharaji, is him standing in the Sahara desert with the backdrop of pillars of sand behind him. That image always comes to my mind when I think of this story. We will go into it in great detail. So sit back and just relax in the wine shop today, and we will have a few sips of this exquisite tale that comes to us through the Sufis.

I have loved this story for another reason Guru Dasa, because it has been like a guru to me. It opened many, many areas that had been closed prior to my encounter with this story. Encountering it for the first time was like an initiation. It helped me to feel and know that which was inaccessible to my intellect. There are some things that can only be understood by the heart. You cannot understand them with your head, and most of you try to understand my teachings with just your head. You cannot understand this with just your intellect, just your head, (not) totally.

You will have to also bring your heart into this matter; not just your head. In your head, you will simply remain confused. One day you will understand - the next day you will be in doubt! Then the next day, you think you will understand again. And on the next day, again you will be in doubt. In this way, you will pass your whole time in my company, simply confused; moving from one conclusion to the next conclusion and never truly understanding anything.

The message that the Sufi mystics communicate requires that you understand it with your heart, as well as with your head. The Path is not against the intellect, it simply recognizes the limitations of the intellect - that is all. You have been thinking you can understand everything with your intellect, therefore you have understood only half the truth. Remember, a half-truth is not the truth! It is a half-truth and cannot function in your life like a "whole" truth. Doubt will not give you the certainty that only the whole truth can give you. It will always be there haunting you. Your doubts and skepticism will always be there - lurking in the shadows - and will pounce upon you as soon as you enter into the crossroads.

Now, the sutra. In the East they have called these kinds of things sutras, a thread that connects you.

A stream, from its source in far away mountains, passing through every kind and description of countryside at last reaches the sands of the deserts. Just as it had crossed every other barrier, the stream tried to cross this one too. But it found that as it flowed into the sands, its waters simply disappeared. It was convinced however, that its destiny was to cross this desert as well, and yet - there was no way.

Now we must go into every drop of this great story. You must sip every part of it: A stream from its source in far away mountains. . .because you are a stream of consciousness that has flowed from its source far away in the mountains. The mountains represent the source - your origin and your flowing is the journey you have been on. And remember, you have been in existence since before the first time. You have always been this great continuity; this stream of conscious experience - journeying from the mountains and the source of its origin.

Passing through every kind and description of countryside. The great Sufis are telling you, you have passed through every form of life. You have been a tree; you have been a rock; you have been an insect, you have been a fish; you have been a bird; you have been a squirrel in a tree; you have been male and you have been female. You have been a cow and you have been a tiger. You have passed, in your journey, through all kinds of descriptions and countrysides. Over all kinds of rocks, through all kinds of countryside; you are a great continuity, and you have moved through all kinds of barriers. Finally, your journey has brought you to the Dharma (teachings) and to the sands of the desert. Just as you had crossed every other barrier, you will try to cross this one too - with the same old strategies that you have been using in the past. This becomes the problem.

When you encounter the teachings - when you encounter truth; when you encounter the Dharma - your response is out of the same "old conditioning" that you have become accustomed to. Now out of your same old strategies, you will try to solve the problem of the desert. And remember, the desert represents a crisis - because in everybody's life comes a desert. This is interesting. Sooner or later, your stream of consciousness is bound to encounter the desert, which is the great obstacle! The desert is a crisis; the desert is unlike any obstacle or barrier that you have ever encountered before. It is crisis as well as a great opportunity for growth!

It is beautiful, Guru Dasa. Yesterday we were mentioning the fact that the Chinese have a beautiful ideogram for the word crisis. They don't have words, they have ideograms (pictures). The ideograms for the word crisis consists of two smaller pictures - one representing danger and the other one represents opportunity - because a crisis is both! Try to understand that a crisis is not only dangerous, but it is also an opportunity to take a quantum leap; to "transcend" all of your prior conditioning. It depends on which way you go. It becomes dangerous and life-threatening when you bring to it your same. . .old. . .tired strategies. They will not work.

At some point in your life you will reach a crisis. When all of your strategies to make yourself happy have hopelessly failed, you have entered into the desert. Nothing that you have tried in the past is working anymore - in spite of all your efforts; in spite of all your calculations and in spite of your activities - you simply remain miserable, bored and minimally satisfied. But still, you go on trying to use the same old strategies to solve what is a very new situation. Remember, when you are using old strategies to solve a new situation, then those strategies are bound to fail. . .bound to frustrate you!

This "ultimate" crisis of misery and suffering is also an opportunity if you can see that it requires a new kind of response from you - not your same old reactions. Not those same old strategies that have enabled you to get through all the obstacles and barriers in your life up to this point. In the past you were able to "solve" it with a little more food; a little more sex; a little bit more money; a little more health; another husband; another wife; a little bit more information - and you were able to continue to flow and get past it. In the past, these strategies have worked for you. But as you enter into this desert (this ultimate crisis), these strategies are no longer effective. Yet, you go on reacting, plotting and (remain) tethered to the same old strategies.

Many times you have come to a spiritual path - you have been Muslims, you have been Christians and you have been Jews. You have gone to mosques and you have gone to temples. . .and then, you come here and you think this is just like that. This is not like that! Here, I am not passing out "labels". I am not simply giving you the label of mystic. This is not a church; this is not a mosque; this is not a temple; this is not religion; this is not philosophy and this is not metaphysics. Yes, these things might be discussed in a peripheral way, but don't be confused. This is something absolutely new to you - this is a "desert". You have entered a desert and the House of Ra is like a desert. Here you will discover the "futility" of all your prior strategies! Here you will be made to "realize" your failure to attain happiness. It will be a crisis. How you will respond is your own decision.

You can go on trying to "console" yourself with nonsense and mythology because you have a lot of that. I will meditate and then in 2, 3, 4 or 5 more lifetimes, I will attain. Nonsense! All nonsense. This is a teaching Maharaji gave to the outer circle of people. People that were in the inner circle clearly understood that this is bullshit! You are here simply looking for more consolation; accumulating merit for your next life. Nonsense! You are in the House of Ra; you are in the desert now! Try to understand this, and stop all the consoling reactivity that has always been the case with you. Stop looking for mythology; there is no more mythology here. This is a desert and you must be made serious about your predicament.

The stream tried to cross this one too, but it found that it flowed into the sands. And as it flowed into the sand, it found its waters simply disappeared. That is what the Path is like. The more you try to console yourself, the less consoled you become! Now all of your strategies - all of your moves - simply disappear into the sands of truth. This truth is so awesome that, in spite of your best efforts to console and mythologize yourself. . .you fail! All of your strategies are just like water flowing into the sand! But eventually - in spite of all of your strategies - you will begin to admit. . ."and yet there is no way." Somewhere deep down inside of you, you will admit there is no way for you to continue being the same person you were prior to hearing the Dharma. Now you know that! Deep down, at the subconscious level, you realize: There is no way I'm going to get around this one - something has to change. Now you know this! In spite of all of your mischief. . ."and yet there is no way."

Now, a hidden voice, coming from the desert itself whispered: "the wind crosses the desert, and so can a stream." The stream objected that it was only dashing itself against the sands and being absorbed; that the wind could fly, and this was why it could cross the desert, "but how can I?" Beautiful, much insight. Try to understand this! Drink this! Swallow it! Don't hold it in your mouth. Drink it; swallow this! Yes, it may be a little bitter, but swallow it and see what happens.


Now a hidden voice coming from the desert itself whispered, "a wind crosses a desert and so can a stream." You see, the desert is the problem. The desert itself is the crisis! But the interesting thing you see, is that every crisis - if you listen - will tell you the way out! Every obstacle - if listened to; if investigated - will give you the answer. Every problem contains its answer and it "whispers" the solution to you, but you must listen to it. A whisper has arisen out of the desert - out of the situation itself - and it is showing the stream the way across the desert.

In the anger management workshop, I have told you over and over again that your anger, this very anger that you have which is causing you so much trouble in your life - if you investigate it; look into it; if you hear it; if you listen - it will tell you much about yourself. It will tell you exactly how to solve the situation! But you don't listen to it. You must go into it. You must "investigate" it. Your lust will tell you much. If you listen to your lust, it has for you the keys to serenity. . .a great serenity. But you must listen to your lust. You must investigate it. You must understand its nature - what it is trying to tell you? The greed, if you listen to it. . .go in to it. . .investigate it - it is telling you much about yourself. It is a part of your biography. It contains great insight! If you listen to it and investigate it, it will show you the way to contentment. And the same is the case with attachment and vanity. The very same is the case with your suffering! If you listen to it, if you go into your suffering - truly go in to it, penetrate it and "see" - you will see the activity that is producing the suffering and will become rewarded. But you must listen to the whispers in the crisis of your life. They contain the keys that are the solutions to all of your problems. The answer is always in the problem! Always! But avoiding, denying the problem, trying to console yourself and not face the problem - that is what you do.

Now a problem arises in your life and immediately you begin to search for strategies to console yourself in the face of the problem. You immediately begin to look for ways to "anesthetize" yourself. You do not look where the answer is - and can only be - which is in you. The stream is like that. You are also like this. You've entered the desert (a great crisis), and the more you follow old strategies the more your waters disappear into the sands.

A time comes when your life becomes so hopelessly void - so ineffective; so meaningless and so much without purpose - you feel like you want to commit suicide. Suicidal ideations begin to occur. You will feel like: I should just kill myself. This is a great opportunity! Now you can commit suicide, or you can become enlightened - chose! But the crisis is inevitable.

Now a hidden voice coming from the desert itself whispers, "the wind crosses a desert and so can a stream." The stream objected! Just like we always do. Immediately it objects - instantly! The moment you encounter the dharma - the teachings; the "way"; the "whispered thing" - your first reaction is, you object! How, Bhagwan? How can that work? How can this meditation and this sadhana work? How? How? You object. "No! There must be some other way. I must do other stuff. How can this meditation be the way out of my crisis?" You object! You flat out refuse. . .and you argue with me. That's okay. It's alright. I enjoy a good argument. But at some point, this argumentative nature of yours must cease. At some point it must cease, if you are to grow. You cannot spend your whole life arguing and objecting, while your "waters" are disappearing into the sands. Don't forget your predicament! Don't forget the situation you are in. . .you are dying. You don't have time for all this debate. . .all this argumentation.

The stream objected that it was only dashing itself against the sands and being absorbed; that the wind could fly and this was why it could cross the desert. But how can I? Yes. . .a Buddha can achieve, because he is Buddha! Yes. . .Jesus can attain! Yes. . .Mohammed, Mahavir, Kabir, Dadu, a Ptah Hotep, a Kajami. . .YES! BUT HOW CAN I? Yes, they could attain - these were great people, but how can I?! Yes the wind can fly. Yes. . .the Buddha can sit motionless like a stone; Jalal-un-din Rumi can dance for 36 hours. . .yes. They can enter into great sadhana; great discipline, but how can I? How can I? This is always your response. How can I?

"By hurtling in your old accustomed way, you cannot get across. You will either disappear or become a marsh. You must allow the wind to carry you over to your destination", replied the desert. "But how can this happen", asked the stream? "By allowing yourself to be absorbed into the wind", the desert replied. This idea was not acceptable by the stream. After all, it had never been absorbed before. It did not want to lose its individuality. And once having lost it, how was one to know if it could ever be regained. "The wind", said the whisper, "performs this function. It takes up the water and carries it over the desert, and then lets it fall. Falling as rain, the water again becomes a river." "But, how can I know that this is true" protested the stream?

The whisper tells the stream, because the stream has asked again, How can I? And again the whisper speaks the solution: "by hurtling in your old accustomed ways you cannot cross. You will either disappear or become a marsh." In your own, old accustomed ways you will not be able to cross this desert. You will not be able to achieve happiness in your old accustomed ways. You can't do it! You have not done it! See this truth! See this thing. In your old accustomed ways, and with all of your old accustomed strategies. . .you have failed! You cannot cross this desert of unhappiness. You will simply become a marsh. "You must allow the wind." The wind is the Master. The wind is the Path. The wind is the sadhana. You must allow this wind to absorb you. "This idea was not acceptable to the stream. After all, it had never been absorbed before. It did not want to lose its individuality." And this is your position too. You do not want to lose your individuality. The first thing you say is: "Well, Bhagwan what is going to happen to my individuality? " As if you have any! You don't have any individuality. What do you have? What you are calling your individuality are the non-essential and unreal aspects of yourself. It is your ego. It is your illusion. . .your fantasies; your "mythology" - you are just like that stream! You resist the way across the desert because of fear of the loss of your so-called individuality - as if you had any! Just mythology - that is all.

"This idea was not acceptable to the stream. After all, it had never been absorbed before. It did not want to lose its individuality. And once having lost it, how was one to know if it could ever be regained." Now Bhagwan, "What will happen if I truly transcend my egoity and move into the deep courses of the wisdom? How will you guarantee me that my individuality will be regained at the end of this process of enlightenment?" The question and objection of the stream is understandable. We all understand its dilemma. We are all clinging to this sense of being a separate self (ego). We are all trying to hold onto this "illusion" of being separate from existence, and yet it is only that! It is an illusion because you have never - and can never be - separate from existence! You have never been separate from existence. That is not possible. You are only "feeling" that you are this separate, independent entity, existing coincident with the rest of the existence - that you are parallel lines - one line is existence; the other one, me. This is an illusion and this is what you have been "calling" your individuality. It is simply your illusion of being an independent entity; not intrinsically related to existence - not being a part of the whole. And this you do not want to give up?

"Hurtling in your old accustomed ways;" clinging to your individuality. . ."you will simply become a marsh!" You cannot cross the desert. "The wind, said the whisper, performs this function." The wind absorbs your essence, and carries it across the desert. "The wind, said the whisper, performs this function. It takes up the water and carries it over the desert, and then lets it fall again. Falling as rain, the water again becomes a river. But how can I know this is true, protested the stream? " Must have been a Sat Dasi stream! "How can I know this is true, Bhagwan?" How can I know if what the Buddha; if what Mahavir, if what Kabir; what Jesus; what Mohammed; what Mira Bai; what St. Theresa; what St. Simeon (the new theologian) - how can I know what - and if - all of the things these people are saying are true? How can I know?

"The whisper replied, it is so! And if you do not believe it, you cannot become more than a quagmire. And even that could take many, many years and in any case, it will certainly not be the same as being a stream!" But, asked the stream, can I not simply stay here; stop here and remain the same stream I am today? "You cannot, in any way, remain the same, whispered the desert sands. Movement is your very nature. It will never cease until your true destination has been reached. When the stream deeply considered this, echoes of the truth began to arise in its mind. Yes, this is true. He understood that this was the only real and intelligent thing to do. But, how do I know this is true? It is so, replied the whisper." It is our question. "Master, how do I know it is true?" It is so! The whisper has seen many streams come to the desert and has seen how all the streams had to enter into the process of condensation - and how the wind lifted their essential waters and carried them across. The whisper has seen all of this! It knows how the Master works. It is simply so. . .but you want proof! Proof! And you are looking for proof all the time? You are trying to think about something you have never experienced! How is that going to be possible? How will you gain insight, blind man, into the nature of light by thinking about it? You are blind and you are thinking about light - you are trying to analyze light! You're trying to explain light? You are looking for some kind of description of light - and you are blind! Do you think your investigation into the nature of God is any different than the investigation of light by a blind man? It is not! Now you have never known God! You know nothing about these things - and yet, you are sitting here with your little mind, "pontificating," trying to "understand" that which you have not experienced! How will you do that? How?! How is that possible? How would you analyze that which you have not experienced? How are you going to do that?

"Bhagwan, I am analyzing life after death." How? You have not experienced life after death. How are you analyzing it? "I am analyzing the methodologies of meditation." What meditation have you done? You've gone nowhere! What are you analyzing? "I am looking deeply into the nature of God." How will you do this? You've never even seen God; never even tasted God. For you, God is just an idea floating somewhere in your head. You are trying to analyze that which you have not experienced! You are in the same position as a blind man trying to analyze light; a deaf person trying to analyze music.

"It is so! said the whisper. And if you do not believe it, you can become no more than a quagmire." It is so! And if you cannot believe the whisper, the Dharma - if you cannot believe the Buddhas - then you will simply return into quagmire. You will simply become mud! That is all. You will simply become even more miserable than you already are! That is all. Your life will become even more futile - less meaningful; less purposeful; more sorrowful and more pitiful than it already is. You will simply become a pool of mud. . .quagmire! It is so!

The proof is in the experience. You must have the experience. There is no way to "prove" to a blind man that light is all around. How to prove (it)? How to do that? The blind man must regain sight - that's the only way. There is no (other) way. It is so!

"If you do not believe it, you can become no more than a quagmire, and even that could take many, many years. In any case, it would certainly not be the same as being a stream." In either case. . .the crisis remains. In any case, death is continually happening. In any case, your dying has not been interrupted by your failure to understand and explain anything about life. Your dying is continuing to happen and in any case, you will not remain an individual. In any case, you will simply die - and if you really are this so-called individual, then you will have the same kind of death as a fish or a mosquito, or something like that - just like any ordinary organism. That is all.

"But, asked the stream, can I not stop here and remain the same stream that I am today?" The stream's question is also your question. "But okay. I've heard the teachings; I've heard enough so can I stop here? Will hearing this be enough? I've understood this stuff. Can I be happy from here? I've read the Gita; I've read the Dhammapada; I've read the Koran. I go to church every Sunday - you see I'm doing good deeds, can I not be happy from here? No! No. "But what if I do a little bit more money; more food and more sex; more bodily comfort - get another wife; change jobs? Can I be happy?" No. "Why?" It is so! It is so!