I had the rare opportunity to meet Kirin Baba in India about 10 year ago and asked him my most pertinent question: "How did you get Enlightened" His answer were not at all what I expected and change my life in simple yet profound ways.
Unconventional Enlightenment
Greetings & Salutations Friend in Cyberspace! I too was once a Human BEing and now I’m more of one. Let me tell you briefly how this happened.
Naturally,
this story will be set in India and yes, you guessed it: there is a Guru. Still, the other elements don’t necessarily fall into the Enlightenment Cliche.
For one, I was a traveler in India and not looking for any one or any thing. Second, my interest was very casual toward this Guru. All the events of the day sorta happened by accident. I had no expectation and was not on a burning quest for Enlightenment.
I went to visit the Guru Kirin Baba just out of curiosity. I had been doing a month long meditation retreat at Osho Ashram in Poone, India. Osho Ashram was the center for Osho (Sri Bhagwan Rajneeh) who has passed on some years before. It is a delightful magical place and great for meditation and transformation.
Over lunch one day I heard some other Sanyasins (Osho Monks) talking about this Guru that was giving Satsang (spiritual gatherings) on Sundays across town. They raved about his simple, natural, down to earth style of discourse and talked about the importance of being near a living master. I felt intrigued and decide to go see him that afternoon.
It started with the usual hair raising rickshaw taxi across town from the Sunderban Guest House next to the Osho Ashram where I stayed. After half an hour driving, I arrived at an upper middle class house in a residential neighborhood. It was a pleasant sunny temperate Spring day. The house was unassuming and typical concrete block one story dwelling.
A plump Indian lady met us as we arrived and directed us back to an open air garage with a carpeted floor and pillow to sit on. A recording of the Shiva chant OM NAMA SHIVAYA played nearby. I guess to create a mood. It seem out of place as the Guru Kirin Baba was not a Shiva devotee, but whatever. This was India.
Some other ‘westerners’ had gathered and we all set silently on the floor cushions. Up front was an odd chair that resemble a dental chair. There were about 30 or 40 people there. All were young Spiritual seekers from around the world.
After a meditative wait of about an hour Kirin Baba arrives to sit in the chair. He is an unpretentious Indian man about 60 wear typical Indian white punjabi dress. His expression is somewhat amused and mischievous. I liked him already.
He doesn’t bother to lecture or do anything formal. Instead he opens the floor for questions. I am only in the second row and can see & feel his presence quite well. It was intoxicating.
For some reason I felt like I was Alice in Wonderland or something. The normal reality around me seem to be suddenly shifting in barely perceivable ways as if I was looking through a trick mirror. It was a very subtle experience and the ‘mind’ could quite grasp it. It was slippery like mercury.
The people gathered seemed to be abit on the slow side, perhaps in a meditative daze or just being polite. I don’t know, but for me this was unnecessary. I took the lead and ask the most important question on my mind: “How did you get Enlightened?”
My question was simple and to the point! Kirin Baba laughed at my directness. He answered: “Once I realized that all this meditation & philosophy was bullshit, it happened quite naturally.” Wow, there’s an original answer I thought!
I pursued the subject more. I asked: “Isn’t there anything you can do to bring about this Enlightenment?” Kirin Baba chuckles a little bit and continues the conversation with the word “Acceptance”. He goes on,.... “you see, it is like this: Existence happens. No matter how much you plan with your ‘mind’ in the end Existence just happens,...”
No understanding his point I asked: “Well, how do you decide to leave the house in the morning and go somewhere?” Kirin Baby playfully answers: “The house decides.” I feel like I’m kinda getting what he’s saying, but not totally so I ask more questions.
At this point he goes into some discourse. Kirin Baba talked about how our mind were actually a barrier to Enlightenment. Our small egos are always trying to control everything and not understanding that there is a flow to life. Life has a certain natural tendency to evolve. If we let go and just allow life to happen then our lives would unfold with indescribable beauty in a natural way. He went on to say that are emotions and intuition come from a much higher level of BEing. If we get the intellect out of the way an follow our feeling then we will find truth.
One exact quote I remember from Kirin Baba is this: “Emotions are like the mist near the Ocean. They give you the feeling of the Ocean before you arrive.” The ocean of course being Enlightenment.
The afternoon continued with a number of other questions that were mostly personal in nature. People were more concerned about their career and relationships then the evolution of their consciousness.
There was a German guy there who had just finished a several year training as a Therapist at Osho Ashram. He asked Kirin Baba what he thought about the training and shockingly Kirin Baba replied that it was: “wait of time”. He went on to say that all therapy was just a game of the mind to distract you from your true Being.
The German Therapist became quite exasperated and started to raise his voice. Kirin Baba’s reaction was quite unusual. He told the man: “I am not saying these things. You are here and I am here and Existence happens, so what to do?”
In effect Kirin Baba was saying that this is not my opinion. Only Existence is here coming though me, so what to do. You asked the question and Existence answered it. I take no responsibility because there is no “I”. Wow! What a prospective. There is no “I” There was no Kirin Baba in the room. There was only ‘Existence Happening’.
Many years have passed since that day. Those simple words have never left me. I went back to see Kirin Baba a year later. He was no longer holding Satsang at his home, but it happened that his wife allowed me a private meeting.
Kirin Baba seemed to remember me and welcomed me warmly. As we sat on his back porch I revisited our previous conversation. I told him that I had practiced “Acceptance” in all thing and that it was a more relaxing way to BE, but fundamentally I felt unchanged. I asked him if there was anything else I could do,...
In reply Kirin baba told me that after many year of studying with Osho (Sri Bhagwan Rajneeh) he had two other masters. The last one was a Sufi and from his teaching he gained Enlightenment. The Sufis had a word “Suburi” and this was my next teaching.
“OK fine” I said, “but what does it mean?” Kirin thought for a moment and said: “In English, it translates to mean waiting,....or patience.”
So here I am a decade later Accepting with Patience. It’s not flashy, it’s not glamorous, but it’s very practical. Existence is happening, so what to do?
