Kapil Gupta: The Complete Collection

Why do I get angry when I am insulted? Because I entertain the verity of the insult.

Either a) Because something within you entertains the possibility that you might, in fact, be. Then something else within you grows irritated by the idea that you might be. This internal conflict manifests itself as anger. Or b) Because you view the thing as an insult, rather than all things being the same, no better or worse.

I do not believe one should or should not become anything.

When it comes to sitting on a rock all your life of becoming a tremendous success it is like a moss that grows on a tree and the river that flows to the ocean. There will be this and that.

The best way to raise a child is to become firmly entrenched in the knowledge that he doesn’t belong to you.

He belongs to nature, and you are a surrogate.

Don’t be attached to them.

Attachment is the greatest bondage in the life of man.

Attachment gives birth to hope and need.

Hope gives birth to fear.

Q: From where does addiction arise?

A: The mind.

Q: How does this happen?

A: The mind peddles in desire. It has an unending appetite for desire. It is a wanting machine. It cannot get enough of that which it enjoys. This is the seed of addiction.

Q: Is everyone's mind like this?

A: Yes.

It is the search for pleasure that produces pain.

Without the search for pleasure is a life of equanimity.

The truth is constant, not reactive.

Each person must examine the source of the want. The why's and wherefores of the want. In doing so one is able to separate the wants that are reactive and baseless from the wants that are genuine and innocent. It is often the case, that as the reactive wants are removed, the sincere wants are shared between the two individuals.

Compromise muddies the water. It is a cheap and fruitless bartering between the reactive wants of each individual. It perpetuates itself. And moves inevitably toward conflict.

What else leads to a peaceful relationship?

A: The abandonment of need.

Q: But if two individuals don't need each other, what is the point of a relationship?

A: Two individuals who need each other will only have conflict. They can never have a relationship.

Q: The things you're speaking are exactly the opposite of everything I've ever heard.

A: I understand.

Q: So if there's no need, what binds them together?

A: The enjoyment of each other's company.

A: You have not seen the entire truth

Q: What is the entire truth?

A: Man is lazy and undisciplined for the things that do not move him. He is motivated and voracious for the things that inspire him

Instead of trying to "live" a life, one must become life itself.

Q: To become life itself?

A: Yes.

Q: In what way?

A: If a man tries to "live" a life, he suffers at every turn. If he devotes his life, the game changes.

The door to becoming life itself

The reason that it supposedly takes "10,000 hours" and decades to become what one wishes to become is because one uses a bicycle rather than a locomotive. If you do not know the Truth, you must take the long and arduous road. But the Truth always takes a fraction of the time and provides a far greater result. For even the best coaches and institutions of society know only of becoming a "practitioner." They have no concept of becoming a Master.

Q: Why does one person have great success, while another person struggles?

A: One enjoys success. While the other enjoys struggle.

If you examine professional athletes, for example, you will notice a pattern. Some will speak endlessly of their successes. Others will speak endlessly of their failures. They may not do it overtly. But subtly. They will get across the message that is most prevalent in their mind. What they think of themselves will dictate what they choose to share and withhold from others.

Q: And what can be learned from such behavior?

A: That the successful identify themselves as successes. While those who struggle identify themselves as unfortunate failures. The successful view themselves as conquerors. While those who struggle view themselves as victims of circumstance.

Q: Why would an individual view himself as a victim of circumstance, rather than become a conqueror?

A: The fear of having to leave behind the comfort of his identity. The fear of loss.

Q: The fear of loss? He already loses. What more could he lose?

A: The luxury of self-pity. The sympathies of victimhood. Such things are not easily sacrificed.

Anger is born of unfulfilled desire. It is born of unfulfilled expectation.

A state in which the mind has disappeared.

The state of No-Mind is a state of No-Self. When on arrives at this state, his talents become free from all interference.

The world consists of nothing but anxiety and misery. The same way that a swimming pool contains only water. It has nothing else to offer you. This does not mean that one must physically leave the world. It means simply that one must see the world for what it is. And if one sees it for what it is, he or she has a true chance of living a life free of constant assault.

A: You will have to become wary of the ideas that you have always been told are innately human.

Q: Please explain.

A: There are things that the world has always told you are part of being human. The world views being human as an excuse, rather than a possibility. For instance, "to err is human," or "after all, I'm only human." Such things must be abolished in your mind. The path to becoming pure is a path to becoming perfect. And a path to becoming perfect must be without compromise. Not because I say it. But because you desire it.

Q: I understand. What must I become free of?

A: All things that are not a part of your innate nature. All things that you have picked up from the world. All stains that society has tarnished you with, and called "normal." In cleansing oneself of all such impurities, a peace and a freedom begins to dawn in a man's life. The likes of which he has never known.

The earth rotates in a gravitational orbit around the sun. The moon rotates in a gravitational orbit around the earth. But the sun does not touch the earth. And the earth does not touch the moon.

Q: I can feel that there is a lesson in there. Could you please speak more about this?

A: The modulation of the people and the events in our lives is done by way of gravitational pull, than by direct manipulation. In fine tuning our gravitational pull, we attract what we want in our lives, and repel what we do not. In delicately titrating this gravitational pull, we keep our children on a correct path, without controlling them.

Without direct manipulation through speech or through action.

If a parent realized the power of a child, perhaps he would be more eager to learn from him rather than teach him.

In seeing the child through the mind, one sees control . In seeing the child through the heart, one witnesses awe.

it is the child that has something to teach. Not through lessons or words, but through the way in which he walks. The manner in which he smiles. And the sincerity with which he cries.

If the parent understood this, perhaps he would begin to walk with the child, rather than ahead of him.

How much is it costing you to maintain the image you have created for yourself?

Events will always happen. Life will always roll like the tide. It washes through all of us.

Depending upon our level of understanding, some of us will simply feel assaulted, while others will simply feel wet.

The human being, by virtue of his most prevalent mental state, is a creature of the 12th hour. Because he forever lives within 11:59, he rarely feels the urgency of 12:00.

But occasionally something shakes him. A sudden death. A calamity of some sort brings things into sudden perspective.

He is shaken from his complacency and he is forced to confront the moment. But eventually, the drama of the event fades and be fades back to meager existence.

If you were to ask the fish if his swimming was a form of play, he might not know how to respond. He might not know what 'play' means.

Because the word 'play' exists only because the word 'work' exists. If the word 'work' did not exist, 'play' would not either.

We are forever lying in wait.

But when that event comes, it passes. And then we move on to the next one. And eventually that passes as well. We hop from event to event.

What you are right now is all you will ever be.

What you have right now is all you will ever have.

The only thing that will change between now and the end of your life is your understanding that this is all you have.

When you die, threads will be bare. Things will be left unfinished. Some dreams will be left unfulfilled. The books will remain toppled on the shelf. The kitchen will remain half cleaned. And the lives of your neighbors and those of the rest of the people in all of society will go on as if nothing happened.

The man who inspires through his actions, his ways of being, is often called a leader. But he does not seek leadership. The inspiration does not arise in the mind, but in the heart. One gets a deep, instinctual feeling that this is indeed the way a man should be.

He will travel any distance. He is a man possessed by his inspiration.

His steps are not his. His ideas are not his. Because he has given himself to his inspiration, they flow through him.

He has surrendered to his inspiration, for him all that exists is inspiration.

Experience what it feels like to be alive.

Simply alive.

A part of all living things.

Truth -

Man believes that happiness is the opposite of sadness. When, actually, there are only shades of difference between

them.

Happiness and sadness are moods. Moods are a byproduct of thought. And thought is the very constitution of the mind.

Maybe -

Man thinks, and he then responds to the feeling which arises from the thought.

He begins to have a thought about the thought. And he begins to have an opinion about the feelings. He categorizes his feelings into likes and dislikes. And he attempts to find ways to cultivate the good feelings and avoid the bad ones. Thus begins his search for happiness, as a way of “running away from sadness”.

You do not have a life.

You do not own a life.

You are life itself.

Return once again to being nothing but a piece of life.

The Buddha’s realization that he was going to become old, get sick, and die.

Not in your head, a realization.

Have you ever seen a jungle? If you look through the tree canopy you see glorious shards of celestial light. If you look on the ground you see rotting wood and armies of ants. Some areas are clear and pristine. While others are disheveled.

If you look in one area or another, it looks either ugly or beautiful. But when you look at it as a whole. When you look at it as a unit. You never find yourself saying that this is a beautiful jungle or an ugly jungle. You never protest against the piles of fallen leaves. In fact, if someone raised the idea of cleaning them up, you wouldn't feel quite right about it.

Why?

Because it's the jungle. This is just the way a jungle is. To clean it is to spoil it.

It's the same with you. And it's the same with your life.

Some parts of you are beautiful and generous. Other parts of you are downright ugly. Some parts of your life are joyful and fortunate. Other parts are cumbersome and painful.

Now, I won't tell you to accept it. Nor will I tell you to clean it.

If there are some parts of you that are so ugly that you just can't accept that part of you, then clean it.

Please don't ask me how. As soon as you ask me how, you and I both know you are not serious about cleaning it.

If your hair was on fire would you call me and ask me How to put the fire out? You would certainly put it out. How?

BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY! That's How!

Trees behave as if they were made to become a part of the landscape. They treat their life as it were not their own. They exist as if existing were the greatest form of activity.

Just looking at a tree makes one still.

Nature should be more kind to man. It should have man experience a near-death experience at least once a month. Just to remind him that His Time Is Running Out.

To remind him that this paper existence that he lives is about to Whither.

To remind him NOT to get too comfortable.

To remind him not to take his life seriously, for it is only on Lease

Childhood is a euphemism for Freedom. Wild abandon. Exploration. Mystery. Bliss.

What the person is saying is that they were never allowed to experience this NECTAR of childhood. For they were always in the position of STRATEGIZING and STRIVING for career success.

I told my athlete, "Not only did you lose your childhood years ago. You continue to lose it everyday of your life. You continue to turn your back on that which children hold dear”

"So tell me how to play," he said.

"My point exactly. Would a child ever ask someone HOW TO PLAY'?

Do you know why children have so much energy?

"Because they are not burdened by ideals of Achievement and Awards and Competition. They are not WEIGHED DOWN by NEEDS for progress and success and accolades. To them it is ALL PLAY. Life is PLAY. Games are PLAY. Play, play, play. Come what may. And because they are not burdened by THOUGHT, they have an enormous amount of energy available to them.”

Man hears voices. And his entire life is lost in a frantic quest to quell some voices and accentuate others.

Not landed:

Who You Are Is The One Who Knows That He Has A Body.

By that definition, you are neither the body, nor the mind. You are the Witness.

If you live as this Witness you will live your life in the sort of bliss that a wrinkle-free body will never give you.

Live as the Witness.

I will only say that living a life founded on HOPE will leave you destitute and dejected.

Hope will destroy every Today, as you have your eyes set erroneously on Tomorrow.

Hope will suck the blood out of your existence. And leave you hollow and worn on the side of a rural stretch of highway.

you hug your family members one by one, is it a tapping sort of hug? Or is it the sort of hug you'd give them if this was the first time you'd seen them in 26 years?

In some cases, depression is a byproduct of the ubiquitous human belief that we have many years left to live. Yes, you heard correctly. The seemingly infinite expanse of time is a petri dish for disease. For I will state without reservation that a man who knew that he was going to die in one week would suddenly be cured of his depression. Without any so-called treatment. Through one way or another, he would not let this time slip by under the self-loathing luxury of depression.

I’m not telling you to “snap put of it.” I’m telling you to look into it. I’ve called your bluff. Like no psychologist or psychiatrist will ever do.

While you were trying to tie the loose ends which keep coming untied . .. darn those loose ends. They just don't stay tied do they. Life was passing you to your right.

The events of your life are ridiculously powerful. The stream of interpersonal episodes of drama are sitting two inches from your nose, begging to be "fixed."

Tomorrow is a constant source of anxiety.

Acquiring even more success than you already have is a whirring motor which hums in your ear.

You see, all of these problems, aspirations, conflicts, and issues that you have are like a school of fish. They surround each of us. And when you try to fix one part of the school of fish, the school immediately shifts. And when you try to mend a different part, the school of fish shifts again.

The man of understanding will allow himself to at least entertain the possibility that the school of fish is not fixable.

That it is an exercise in complete futility, no matter how much you want to believe these schools of fish are your life, they are just schools of fish.

If you truly wish to Become Present, there is something you will have to sacrifice.

If you wish to See as nature sees, there is something you will have to abandon.

If you wish to experience life as a Master, there is something you will have to leave behind.

The world of the mind

Dear friend, the problem is not that the mind projects the world that man sees. The problem is not even that he believes the projections to be real.

The problem is that he has fallen in love with them.

He is horrified by the turmoil of the world. But he thrives

upon it

He complains incessantly about the dramas of his life. But he cannot imagine his life without them.

Live your life unburdened by thoughts. Be completely thought-less. And employ thought only when absolutely necessary. In doing so, you will begin to drop the mind.

“Each minor incident in your life will become

an opportunity to be blessed with your wisdom.”

Your mind can entertain you for your entire life; so can nature. You can choose between the two. Maybe you can shift between the two and choose multiple times?

I have become so complicit in its like and dislikes that I have made them my own. Not only made them my own, but I have actually worn them as an emblem.

Change through understanding or perhaps even more powerful and expedient is the feeling of being fed up. Of being at wit's end. Of no longer caring what is holy or unholy or spiritual or non-spiritual or right or wrong or good or bad or moral or immoral.

I no longer want to be here, he said.

I no longer want this life.

I want to experience something new. And I no longer want to experience it as myself.

might close one eye in an attempt to search for their true nature. But the other eye is firmly affixed on the clock.

Man isn’t in love with Truth. He’s in live with Groups.

He does not know who he is. As a result, he goes into the world in search of an identity.

But if any one of them tells me that "if I just keep practicing, one day it will come."

I will smile and ask him, "My dear friend. Do you really believe that that which has not come after all these years, one day will?"

Siddhartha did not join a religion or a movement or a cause.

He became a Buddha.

And men who came after him created "Buddhism."

Christ did not create a religion.

But the men who came after him created "Christianity" and insisted others to convert.

Isn't it fascinating?

Wow, clear

A realized man creates a footprint. And instead of allowing the footprint to inspire him to create his own, the man who follows drops to his knees and begins to worship the footprint.