Question:

When I close my eyes and sit for meditation then the mind is very chatty and wants to pass judgement but as soon as I open my eyes, the chattering mind stops. In other words, why is the mind more cluttered inside as compared to outside where there are more objects? Why does the inner world seem more interested in chatting around? Is it because we have more power to boost our ego in the inside?

Answer:

We are not aware of how our mind is clothed. It is like an Emperor that has 5 pieces of heavy completely covering clothes. Its 5 pieces of clothing are a full sleeved, high collared jacket, the trousers, the long gloves that go over the sleeves of the jacket, the huge knee-high boots and a huge helmet hanging down to the collar. Because his 5 pieces of clothing cover him completely, nobody has seen this Emperor called the Mind.

He rules over everyone completely in cover. And what are his 5 pieces of clothes? The 5 senses – the sight, the sound, the touch, the smell and the taste – all cover him up brilliantly. The only way to truly see this Emperor is to un-clothe him/ to uncover him.

In Meditation, when one just starts sinking into relaxation and total silence [devoid of external sounds], the eyes are shut so that cover gets off right there; there is no touch and taste as well. The only distractions are sounds and smell. To avoid smells, we usually light incense so that there is just one harmonious fragrance. Slowly the nose gets used to that harmonious fragrance and the cover of that faculty also drops and you finally do not smell anything. Lastly, sound drops away too, that’s how sometimes you don’t even hear the sounds of traffic outside.

Then when you have dissolved into the silence, you naturally become aware of the only movement/change happening inside you- the breath. The breath comes to you. You do not need to become aware of the breath. This is where you have un-clothed the Emperor totally and now you see the demon inside. He is the Emperor only until he is clothed. Once naked, he runs for cover. He does not appreciate the ensuing silence. He creates chaos in the form of internal chats.

Everyone’s demon is the same, we just have to learn the skill of surpassing this demon and sinking into the silence continuously. A point comes in the depth where the demon loses its ego-power to the power of silence.

Don’t stop until you get there!

How does one get there?

By allowing all the futile and pointless internal chats to lose power by not indulging in them and just relaxing. Sink into the awareness like a sinking anchor surrenders itself to the deep waters of the ocean. Let go and embrace the free fall within. Just BE in awareness! Just BE!