BENGALURU: I enjoy meditation and am absolutely contented with my life. But now it has been so long since I had any great passion or great joy or great pain that I am wondering if I have become dull and stuck, or if this is the way things are supposed to be.
It is part of this great pilgrimage. The moment you become conten, at the beginning, it feels like the journey is over and you are tremendously blissful. But as time passes, contentment settles down.
You are peaceful, you are happy, you are at ease, but an old habit of millions of lives starts raising its head: there seems to be no excitement. Have you become dull or have you died? This is just an old habit. Excitement is for those who are miserable. Without excitement they cannot live; their misery will be too heavy. A little excitement in their lives, a new love affair, getting a lottery opened in their name — these small things keep them going. These function like lubrications and they go on with their lives hoping another excitement may be coming. And what are they? Moving into a new house and you are excited? Purchasing a new car and you are excited?
I have heard of a man who was tired of his beautiful house. Finally, everything becomes boring. The house was beautiful and behind the house was a beautiful lake and beyond the lake mountains and a forest — but the same scene every day, morning, afternoon, evening. There was no excitement. He called a real estate agent and said that he wanted to sell this house. The real estate man was puzzled. He had never in his life seen such a beautiful house in such peaceful surroundings.
It was almost paradise. So he said, “I will advertise it and it will be sold, There is no problem.” The next day the man read the advertisement and he was so excited: a beautiful marble house surrounded by a lake — and just beyond the lake a primeval forest, thick, with trees so high as if they are trying to touch the stars. The description was so poetic, and there was no mention of his name or his address, only the phone number of the real estate man. He immediately phoned and said, “Whatever the price, I want to purchase this house.” The real estate man said, “This is too difficult a problem. This is your house!”
He said, “My God, you have written such a poetic piece about it. I had completely forgotten the lake; I had started taking it for granted. The forest, the mountains... Yes, came here firstm there was so much excitement.”
But excitement is momentary. You cannot remain excited forever; otherwise your blood pressure will rise so high you will simply pop off! Excitement always means going up to a certain point and then going down. It is always up and down. Falling back into misery, searching again for some excitement; this is the ordinary run of life.
But when you attain contentment through meditation — when you come to a peaceful inner space where nothing moves, where time stops — in the beginning it is a tremendous ecstasy, not only excitement. But soon you will become accustomed to it, and that’s what is happening to you. You have neither become dull, nor are you stuck. It is just natural. It is the way things are supposed to be.