My meeting with the Eternal

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My meeting with the Eternal

Many years ago I was walking down the street in a quiet area of the town. It was

sunny and the gardens were green. There was a certain awareness and sensitivity.

Then, suddenly, as though new senses were opening, the presence of the eternal

was there.

The word `eternal' was not the outcome of conclusive reasoning or evaluation,

as when you look at the skies and think " this universe must be infinite and must

have always been there " and then see it according to the conceptual conclusion.

It was rather like tasting honey and later calling it `sweet' for the sake of

communication. Nevertheless, the mind could exclaim with wonder: " Goodness me!

There is something that corresponds to the word `eternal'! "

The body was like a fish in this ocean of multi-directional energy and

indestructible, immense space, something self-sustained, completely independent

and containing every sound and being.

`My' identity was that and, therefore, no fear. I was not feeling `high' and it

was not an `experience'. (Only on that day did I see what J. Krishnamurti meant

by the mind-boggling statement that you cannot experience Truth.) It was not a

momentary flash of `insight' or a psychosomatic, merely personal intensity; it

was a `standing outside' of that field, as the word `ecstasy' implies. `I' felt

like a baby learning to crawl, to walk. My `identity' could move from being

responsible as a `body-person' soberly relating to another (much more sober,

sane, factual than in the `normal' state) to being that endless expanse of

living space. And it was there the whole day.

For a moment a fearful thought arose: " What if it will disappear? " The answer

was instantaneous: " It is obvious that it has always been here and it will

always be here and everywhere, regardless of whether the perception of it closes

its doors or not " . The following day it was `gone'.

Seeing that it was not the result or creation of an ambitious ego and that it

had nothing to do with `me', there was no regret or despair upon its `ending'.

The `me' naturally confessed its `impotence' in the face of this immensity and

`prostrated', not emotionally but as a matter of fact, before it.

Yes, it was a rare jewel, the only eternal jewel, unending Life itself...

Perhaps it was a gift. And yet at times I wonder: " What was the point,

significance of one day lived in Eternity followed by its `disappearance'? Was

there anything of lasting value in this event?

Perhaps, perhaps not " .

As for its `re-appearance', as far as I know the mere memory of it and the

efforts motivated by this memory can never re-discover or re-produce it. It is

not a product. The event cannot be used. And yet there it was! But now that `I'

am back, I cannot help asking myself on occasion: " This interest you have in

knowing yourself, is it not motivated by this remembrance? " I would say no. It

is more like what J. Krishnamurti once said, to the effect that a really

interested man who approaches life simply and is aware of suffering asks whether

there is a different way to live.

JB

- The article was written some years ago.

http://www.krishnamurti-denmark.dk/ (in Danish and English)

http://www.jkrishnamurti.org/ (The official repository of the authentic

teachings of J. Krishnamurti