Chapter 2 Purpose & Value of Meditation

Why should we embark on the path of meditation? What will it bring us? The results of meditation are not some quantifiable material wealth, but a fundamental transformation in the quality of life, a complete renewal of the inner world. The flowers and fragrances it produces are different, yet together they constitute a complete and abundant life.

First and foremost is inner, eternal tranquility.

Tranquility is often understood as something negative, something empty, something silent and noiseless. This is a misconception because few people have truly experienced tranquility. All they experience called "tranquility" is noiselessness. Tranquility is a completely different phenomenon; it is utterly positive, it exists, it is not empty, it is music you have never heard before, fragrances you are unfamiliar with, and a light that can only be seen by the inner eye. This is not some fiction; it is a fact that has always been present within everyone— we just haven't looked inward. The inner world has its own fragrance, its own light; it is utter tranquility, immense tranquility, eternal tranquility, where there has never been any noise and will never be any noise. There, language cannot reach, yet you can attain that state. The center of your being is the center of a whirlwind, and nothing that happens around it can affect it; it is eternal stillness: a day/year comes and goes, a year comes and goes, life comes and goes, but the eternal stillness in your nature remains the same—the same silent music, the same fragrance, the same inevitable death and the same momentary transcendence.

It is not your tranquility, you are it! It is not something you possess, but you are possessed by it—that is its greatness. You are not even there, for your presence would be a disturbance. This tranquility is so profound that in it there is no one, not even you. Yet this tranquility brings you truth, brings you love, brings you countless blessings.

The second benefit of meditation is sensitivity: a deeper ability to perceive life. Meditation will bring you sensitivity, a sense of grandeur that belongs to the world. This is our world—the sky, the stars, the clouds—they all belong to us. Here, we are not outsiders; we belong to this inherent existence. We are all part of it; we are its heart!

You've become so sensitive that even the smallest blade of grass is incredibly important to you. Your sensitivity allows you to clearly understand that this tiny blade of grass is as vital as the largest star. Without it, existence would be less; this blade of grass is unique, irreplaceable, and possesses its own individuality. This sensitivity will create new friendships for you with the world—friendships with trees, birds, animals, mountains, rivers, oceans, and stars. Love grows, friendship grows, and life becomes richer.

One of the most fragrant fruits of meditation is love: it is the fragrance of meditation, the unconditional quality.

If you meditate, sooner or later you will encounter love! If you meditate deeply, sooner or later you will feel a vast love within you that you never knew before—a new quality in your nature, a new door will open, and you will become a new flame, now wanting to share. If you delve into love, gradually you will become aware of your love, increasingly meditative, and a serene, refined quality will enter you. Thoughts disappear, a space appears…waves of tranquility! You will touch your own depths. If you are on the right path, then love makes you meditate. If you are on the right path, then meditation makes you love.

You want a love that comes from the heart, not from the mind—that's the kind of love I keep talking about. There are millions of couples in the world living as if love exists, but they're just living in a world of "apparent" love. How can they be happy? They expend all their energy trying to get something from a false love. But nothing can be conveyed here, so frustration arises between lovers, constant boredom, endless nagging, and resistance. They're all trying to do something impossible: trying to make their love last forever. This is impossible because it comes from the mind, and the mind can't give you any glimpse of eternity.

First, enter into meditation, for love comes from meditation—it is the fragrance of meditation, and meditation is a flower, a lotus with a thousand petals. Let meditation open, let it help you enter a vertical plane, without mind, without time. Then you will suddenly smell the fragrance. There, it is eternal, it is unconditional, not even directed at any particular person, nor can it be directed at any particular person. Love is not a relationship; it is a quality that surrounds you. It has nothing to do with others. You are loving, you are love—that is eternity, that is your fragrance. Love surrounded Buddha, surrounded Zarathustra, surrounded Jesus. It is a completely different kind of love, a difference in quality.

Building upon love, we reach compassion: The Buddha explained compassion as "love plus meditation." When your love is not merely desire for others, when your love is not merely a need, when your love is a sharing, when your love is not the love of a beggar but the love of an emperor, when your love is not seeking reward but simply giving—giving for the pure joy of giving—and then meditation is added, a pure fragrance emanates, and the hidden light shines forth—that is compassion. Compassion is the highest phenomenon. Sex is animalistic, love is human, compassion is sacred; I mean: sex is physical, love is psychological, compassion is spiritual.

This shift in the state of being ultimately brings a lasting, externally independent happiness: a persistent joy without reason. Without any reason, you suddenly feel your own happiness. In daily life, if there is some reason, you will be happy—you meet a beautiful woman and you are happy, or you get the money you want and you are happy, or you buy a house with a garden—but these joys are not lasting; they are temporary, they cannot endure. If your happiness is caused by something, then it will also disappear; happiness is temporary, it will quickly plunge you into sadness, all happiness will plunge you into sadness. But there is a different kind of happiness: you suddenly become happy without any reason, you cannot precisely say why, if someone asks you, "Why are you happy?" you cannot answer. I cannot answer why I am happy; there is no reason, it is that simple. This kind of happiness cannot be disturbed; no matter what happens now, it will continue; it is there, day after day, whether you are young or old, whether you are alive or dying—it is always there. When you discover a kind of lasting happiness—even though your inner environment has changed, it still exists—then you are definitely closer to Buddhahood.

At the heart of all these beautiful achievements lies a core experience, the foundation of everything, and the ultimate truth: solitude. Solitude is healthy; it is the joy of being yourself. Solitude is a flower, a rose blooming in your heart. Solitude is affirmation, it is health; it is the joy of your own nature, the joy of having your own space. Meditation means: finding joy in solitude.

When a person has achieved this, when he no longer depends on any person, any situation, or any condition, then that person is truly alive. Because this is his own, existing whether morning or night, day or night, young or old, healthy or sick. Even in life and in death, it exists, because it is not something outside of you. It is the entirety that gushes forth from within you; it is your nature, it is your true self.

This journey, the inner journey, is a journey towards complete solitude. An inner journey is a journey towards complete solitude; you cannot take anyone with you, you cannot share your center with anyone, not even your loved one—you have no way of doing so. The moment you enter into yourself, all connection with the external world is severed, all bridges are broken, and in fact, the entire world disappears. That is why mystics call the world an illusion, "Maya"—not that it doesn't exist, but for the meditator, when he enters into himself, the world seems almost nonexistent to him; the stillness is so profound that no noise penetrates it, the solitude is so deep that it requires courage. But from that solitude arises joy—a divine experience, which can never be experienced in any other way, and there never will be.

Therefore, we must learn to celebrate solitude and discover our true self. Celebrate solitude, celebrate your pure space, and a great song will rise from your heart—a song of awareness, a song of meditation. It will be the song of a solitary bird calling from afar—just a call, because the heart is filled with song and wants to call, because the clouds are gathering and it is about to rain; because the flowers are ripe and the petals are about to open and spread fragrance… It is not a call to any particular person.

This is your true self. Meditation is simply a design that allows you to become aware of your true self—not something you created, nor do you need to create it; you already are it, you are born with it, you are it! It just needs to be discovered. No form of socialization allows it to happen because the true self is a danger to society: a danger to established institutions, a danger to the state, a danger to the group, a danger to tradition, because when a person knows their true self, they become an individual.

He no longer belongs to the masses; he is no longer superstitious; he can no longer be exploited; he can no longer be led like an ox; he can no longer be dominated. He lives according to his own light, according to his own inner self. His life will be incredibly beautiful and complete, but that is what socialization fears. A complete person becomes an individual, while socialization makes you individuable. Society teaches you a kind of personality, and the word "personality" must be understood as meaning a mask. Socialization gives you a false concept of "who you are"; it only gives you a toy, and you will depend on this toy for the rest of your life.

In my view, almost everyone is in the wrong place. A doctor who could have been very happy becomes a painter, and a painter who could have been happy becomes a doctor. It seems no one is perfectly in their place. That's why it's always so chaotic—people are always guided by others, not by their own intuition. Meditation will help you grow your own intuitive abilities; it will make you clearly know what will bring you fulfillment and what will help you blossom. Whatever an individual may be, every individual will be different—that's what the word "individual" means: everyone is unique. Seeking your uniqueness is a great exhilaration and a great adventure.