Searching for a True Master

It's a Sufi story….
A man went in search of truth.The first spiritual person he met was sitting under a tree, just outside his own village. He asked, “I am searching for a true Murshid( It's an Arabic word for "guide" or "teacher" Particularly in Sufism it refers to a spiritual guide). Please tell me the characteristics of a true master.” 
The fakir(a Muslim religious ascetic who lives solely on alms) told him the characteristics. His description was very simple. He said, “You’ll find him sitting
under such and such a tree, sitting in such and
such posture, his hands making such and such
gestures – that is enough to know he is the true
master.”
The seeker started searching. It is said that 10
years passed while he wandered the whole earth.
He visited many places but never met the
master. He met many masters, but none were
true masters. He returned to his own village
completely exhausted. As he was returning he
was surprised, he couldn’t believe it: that old
man was seated under the same tree, and now
he could see that this was the very tree that the
old man had spoken of and his posture
was exactly as he had described. ”It was the
same posture he was sitting in 10 years ago –
was I blind? The exact expression on his face,
the exact gestures….!”
He fell at his feet saying, “Why didn’t you tell me
in the first place? Why did you misdirect me for
these 10 years? Why didn’t you tell me that
you are true Murshid?”
The old man said, “I told you, but you were not
ready to listen. You were not able to come home
without wandering away. You had to knock on
the doors of a thousand houses to come to your
own home, only then could you return. I said it, I
said everything – beneath such and such a tree.
I was describing this very tree, the posture I was
sitting in, but you were too fast, you couldn’t
hear correctly, you were in a hurry. You were
going somewhere to search. Searching was very
important for you, the truth was not so
important.
“But you have come! I was feeling tired, sitting
continuously in this posture for you. You were
wandering for 10 years, but think of me sitting
under this tree! I knew some day you would
come.
The Murshid(Master) was always here.”

It happens many times in our life that we cannot
see what is near, and what is far attracts us. The
distant drum sounds sweeter, we are pulled by
distant dreams.

Teaching Through Stories

Zen Master always found out to be strange to the western mind in the way they teach their disciples.
Some may think that Zen is a kind of cult. Mystics and all the eastern master have the same way to teach their disciples.
They usually don't say directly about the truth. It always depends on disciple's  understanding level and wisdom to get it.

Here I am sharing some stories that will help to understand this....

One day one disciple came to a zen master and asked him "I came all the way from far country to learn Zen"
Master asked him "why do you want to learn"?
Disciple said that's because "I want to gain Nirvana(Enlightenment)"
Then master replied "Until there is ‘I’ you cannot gain any enlightenment. Go back".

here is another one, one day one student came to a monastery and asking the master "I want to learn swordsmanship and kung-fu so I can save our village from thieves.
Then Master replied I don’t know but you can stay here.
(Student after staying in that monastery for few years one day he told his master)
"I have realized there is no greater enemy than the one resides within"
After hearing this the Master replied, "I will teach you swordsmanship and kungfu so you can save your village".

Few disciples went to their master and told him we heard from other schools that their master can walk on the river. We want to know what superpower you have.
Listening to this the master replied, "I eat when I feel hungry and sleep when I feel sleepy that's the only wisdom I have".

Here is the last one..

one day a disciple was learning meditation under a very wise master suddenly he asked his master "If someone asked me what is the ultimate truth what I will reply"
Listening to this the master went into deep silence...

It's not a good idea to explain these short stories or Koan because that would be missing the point.
The stories themselves are the experience. Only someone can meditate upon them to realize the insights within them. For years different masters are using these stories to teach their disciples. 

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Shower Thought

In English there is one phrase called "Shower thought". Its usually referred to  those thoughts, ideas, or philosophical questions that race through your head when you are in the shower. But actually it's more than that. It can applies to any thought you might have while carrying out a routine task like showering, driving, or daydreaming.

Let's share some famous shower thought of all time : 

"We always say things on fire for example the house is on fire or the Forrest is on fire...but have you ever thought how come things on fire actually it would be fire on things''

Have you ever noticed when you say forward or back, your lips actually move on those direction...

Now another interesting one if you punch your self on the face and it's really hurt then is it make you a  strong person or weak...think about it. 

"Clapping is just hitting your self cause you just liked something"

Have you ever encountered with this thought that "it's impossible to skip breakfast. The first time you eat during a day is when you "break your fast."

Here is another one When we ask someone "where are you" its actually a recent thing. Before we had mobile phones, the only way we could talk to people is if we knew where they were.

Here comes the last one "Go to bed and you will feel better  in the morning" we usually say it when we have a very rough day but isn't it another way of saying have you turned off and turned on again.

Spiritual but not religious

Few years a go I was filling up a form. There was one section called your religious believe and on this section there are 10 different option like Islam, Christianity. Buddhism, Hindu, Atheist etc but the one got my attention was the last one, “Spiritual but not religious”.

I found it very interesting and as soon as I read it I said yes finally I found a phrase to express my believe. Cause if I choosed any other option that would not  be fully true. 

Since then whoever asked me about my religious believe I always say “spiritual but not religious”

So how is to be spiritual. Lots of people think spirituality comes from religion. Its not fully correct. Religion tell us to follow a certain ideology and specific rules that you must follow otherwise you will be punished in hell or you will be reincarnated again and again. On the other hand spirituality is about following your own heart and do what feels right. Religion tells you what to fear and show you the consequences but Spirituality makes you aware of the consequences but doesn’t want you to focus on the fear. 

Religion tells you what to believe and what is right. Spirituality lets you discover it by yourself and understand it in your own way. It lets you Connect With Your Higher Self and see with your own mind. Cause truth is same for all of us. 

It actually  let you believe in your own truth through your own perception of your heart.

“Religion Separates us from each other   and Spirituality Unites us”

There are plenty of religion all around the world  and they all preach that  their one is the right path and the only one but Spirituality sees the truth in all of them and unites them because the truth is same for all of us despite our differences and uniqueness. . It focuses on the quality of the divine message in all the religion.

Religion Makes You Dependent – Spirituality Makes You Independent, how it does that,  its shows you that you don’t need or depend on anything to be happy. Happiness is always found deep in ourselves and only we are responsible for it. We are always where we need to be.Divinity is in us and that is why we are always special.

Religion says that if we don’t obey certain rules there is punishment waiting for us which relies on our belief. Spirituality is all about karma its lets us understand that every action has its reaction and realize that the punishment of our actions will be the reaction coming from the actions we set in motion. It relies solely on the fundamental forces of The Universe and it doesn’t need you to believe in that force to be true.

Religion Makes You Follow Other Journey – Spirituality Lets You Create Your Own. The foundation of one religion is the story it tells about a God or Gods, their journey to enlightenment and the truth they have discovered making you follow their steps. Spirituality lets you Walk Your Own Journey to Enlightenment and discover the truth in your own way following what your heart tells it’s right because the truth is always the same no matter how you get to it.

Every religion came by spirituality, by the journey through which one person became God or messenger of god . The details of the story are not important they just help the character discover the truth. The message that shares the truth is what is important, That is why every religion has something true in it

There is very nice quote by Deepak Chopra:

Religion is believe in someone else’s experience and spirituality is having your own experience.

Spirituality give you true freedom. Today you can read some Hindu scriptures and find wisdom from it. Tomorrow might be you are interested in Zen and reading some zen stories and gather knowledge through it.. Later on you  might found a beautiful Sufi poetry that fill your soul.

Being spiritual you will see that we all are connected to one true being and we are not separate, there are no borders, no races and no cultural divides.

Be seeker, Be spiritual......

Welcome to the world of "Quantum"

Welcome to the world of "quantum" the world of quantum physics. Before i go any further more i want to share a quote.

“If anybody says he can think about quantum physics without getting giddy, that only shows he has not understood the first thing about them.”  ~ Niels Bohr

Who was Niels Bohr. He was a Danish physicist who made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum theory, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922. Bohr was also a philosopher and a promoter of scientific research.

In this quote he referred quantum physics with giddy that's mean lightheaded sensation or we can say more elaborately a sensation of whirling and a tendency to fall. 

When i was studying about quantum physics i start to feel dizzy just after three page and i am quite honest about that. The person who make quantum physics interesting and help me to understand a bit is my master "Mahajatak". Who is founder of Quantum Method Meditation course in Bangladesh. He even took his meditation course name as 'Quantum' from quantum physics.

I love to learning about quantum physics but to be honest i have very elementary understanding of how it all works. Before its get more complicated lets watch a very interesting video that made by symphony of science featuring Morgan Freeman, Stephen Hawking, Michio Kaku, Brian Cox, Richard Feynman, and Frank Close that will give a introduction to the quantum world.

whats they were saying in this video. Here is few quotes from this video.

Morgan Freeman: So, what are we really made of? Dig deep inside the atom

And you'll find tiny particles Held together by invisible forces.Everything is made up Of tiny packets of energy Born in cosmic furnaces.

Frank Close: The atoms that we're made of have Negatively charged electrons

Whirling around a big bulky nucleus.

Michio Kaku: The Quantum Theory offers a very different explanation

Of our world.

Cox: In the quantum world The world of particles Nothing is certain It's a world of probabilities.

Now lets go more details try to summarize it in few points. What quantum are actually saying what are the facts.

1. All material things are made up of atoms (which are made up of subatomic particles- protons, neutrons, electrons etc), which are 99.99999 percent energy and .00001 percent matter. Think about it - every physical thing in our life is not solid matter but rather, fields of energy or frequency patterns of information. Matter is more “no-thing” (energy) than “some-thing” (particles). Our physical bodies and the body of the physical Universe are as proportionately empty as is all of space. The essential nature of our material bodies and that of the solid-appearing Universe is that they are both non-material. They are made up of non-stuff.

2.Our material bodies and the body of the Universe both flicker in and out of existence at the speed of light. Our nervous systems cannot process these quantum events at the speed at which they are really happening, so it decodes the energy and information soup of the Universe into the experience of solid three-dimensional material bodies. 

3.The “Observer Effect” in quantum mechanics states that at the subatomic level, energy responds to our mindful attention and becomes matter. Quantum experiments demonstrate that electrons (part of the subatomic particles that make up the atom) exist simultaneously in an infinite array of possibilities in an invisible field of energy. So, a particle (matter) cannot manifest in ordinary space-time reality until we observe it. Knowing this, mind and matter can no longer be considered separate; they are intrinsically related, because subjective mind produces measurable changes on the objective, physical world.

4. Every human being, along with every material thing in the Universe, broadcast a distinct energy pattern, and this energy carries information. Our fluctuating states of mind, conscious or unconscious, change this pattern on a moment-to-moment basis because we are not just a physical body; we are consciousness using a body and a brain to express different levels of mind.

5. Quantum Entanglement Theory states that all humans and the quantum field are interconnected. It says that once two particles can be linked in some way, they will always be bonded together beyond space and time. So anything that is done to one, will be done to the other even though they are spatially separated from one another. What this means is that since we too are made up of particles, we are all connected beyond space and time. So quite literally, what we do unto others, we do unto ourselves. 

6.The intelligence keeps our heart beating is part of our autonomic nervous system, which is located in the brain. The brains limbic system is part of the automatic nervous system. Within the brain, there are specific tissues responsible for keeping the heart beating, which are made up of cells. Those cells are made up of molecules. Molecules are made up of atoms. Atoms are made up of subatomic particles and subatomic particles are primarily composed of energy (see #7)

7.If we want to say everything in just one sentences it will be "according to quantum physics, we are part of a vast, invisible field of energy, which contains all possible realities and responds to our thoughts and our feelings."

Listening to the others

This story I read long time ago.  exactly I don't remember but this story is quite nice example  for what's happen when we start to give  importance about what others saying. Story goes like this-

Father and son was going  to visit a city  near by. They had only a donkey. So they both rode on the donkey and started their journey. On the way one man saw father and son riding on a donkey and he felt very pity for the donkey so he stopped them and said "look you both have no sense both of you riding on this poor donkey he must be dying. Please don't do this only one of you ride on it".

After listening this father and son start to think " yes he is right poor donkey he must me suffering a lot" then father put his son on the donkey and he start to walk.

After going for a while another man saw them and said "come on such a bad son making his poor father waking while being young himself riding on a donkey".

After listening this son feel ashamed and tell his father to ride on a donkey and he start to walk.

But it's not finish yet after going for while they met with another man and he said "look at that such a bad example of a father making his young kid walking in the sun while he is riding on a donkey"

After listening this father and son get quiet confused. What they can do that nobody will complain. They decided nobody will ride the donkey they all will walk now.

Then after going for a while they met with bunch of people and all of them start to laugh by seeing father and son walking with a donkey. After seeing this father and son asked them why they were laughing and they replied we are thinking and laughing how stupid you are as you have a donkey and both of you walking with the donkey rather riding on it.

Now what they will do they might need to carry the donkey on their shoulder cause that's the only option left.

Now this is happen when we start to count on each and everybodies words we are actually going no where.

Few Amazing places

Today I want to write something different than my other post. About some amazing places on earth and why I choose them. I didn't visit all those places but one day I will.

I will start with number one, I was in London that moment working and living there. One day I got one thought to find a heaven on earth. Obviously I don't know how heaven looks like I just paint it on my mind. Just Few things i keep on mind that It will looks heavenly without any human touch. Have to be natural like god paint it in his own hand. Time goes one I keep searching more than a week all the famous holiday destination in internet, googled  most beautiful place on earth but nothing match with my image. Time passes life get busier I forgot it. After few months while I was coming back from work in tube I saw one post card in the hand of the passenger beside me, yes that I was looking for "a heaven on earth". I asked him where is that he replied me "it's plitavice national park" in Croatia. Do you want to go there he asked me. I said yes I do on god's will. Then he ask me "are you single" I said what's the connection.

"There is you have to find someone and then take her down there" that was his last words. I didn't said nothing just laugh. After coming home  search the place on internet and  try  to see it virtually and I have to admit It's something so amazing peace of heaven on earth. 

Here is some jaw dropping picture of plitavice national park.

Here comes number 2. This time I was looking for something spiritual outer of this  world. Something very magical. I dont want to say that much i cause i didn't experience it yet so i am sharing those did.

"It is magical, simply magical. You think you must be dreaming, especially when you catch an outbreak from the start. It just comes from no-where… and keeps moving and changing shape! It’s like someone is doing a huge water colour painting, in real time, across the canvas of the dark black sky. This is nature’s own silent movie show, awe-inspiring, majestic and ethereal that leaves you feeling stunned, reminded once again of the incredible beauty of nature. And somewhat grateful that you’ve had the opportunity to see it".

yes i am talking about northern light and one of the place from where to see it is Finland.

Here i am sharing some of the picture of northern light from Finland but trust me none of these snaps give justice as it looks like in real.

Here come number 3. This place is very special for me and this is the first place i wanted to visit when i was kid. I was always great  fan of cricket but in my childhood it was all about Caribbean cricket. Bangladesh not even got test status that moment and  i am actually talking about far before that when tigers are not playing that much international cricket.
Plenty of great names walsh, ambrose, lara, viv richards etc those make cricket classic and nostalgic for me. playing on a island. Beautiful beach with coconut tree, crystal clear water and rum with reggae music what else need to be to choose Caribbean island . Writing more words will be useless if i dont share few pictures of it quickly.

Stamp collecting  was my hobby when i was kid. My uncle got plenty of pen friends from all over the world and that was my source of collecting stamp. Those letter always comes with postcard and my uncle not always took them all so i started to collect the postcard also. From those postcard i found some beautiful image of Philippines and thats make me choose this amazing place for my bucket list. 

This place is most special for me. Kind of sacred. If i want to be alone somewhere only me and my thought this will be the place. Its in Scotland locally known as highland, Scottish highland. Now why it is special i really cant explain but what i can say, being there i found some amazing feelings inside me. Kind of peace. Sitting on the mountain looking around where i can hardly see anyone only me my thought nature and silence and this makes it a sacred place. When i been to lake district i have same kind of feelings but highlands is something different its  more wild. You can walk miles and miles among the nature surrounded by mountain and different area will give you different experiences.  Its something breath taking and what i can say in one line "Think highland and you think of wild". 

This is the place i want to go again and again and i will never be get bored of. When i will be old and nothing left to do, I will be there with my memory.