Ride to freedom

[1]

Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev [1]

On a Purnima some 2,500 years ago, something special happened after which the world has never been the same. After almost eight years of struggle, Siddhartha Gautama had become very weak. His body was destroyed almost to the point of death. One day while trying to cross the river Niranjana, which was a stream with knee-height water, Gautama’s body became so weak that he could not take a single step. So he just held on to a dead branch and stood. He was not one who gives up easily.

It is said that Gautama stood there for many hours. At that moment Gautama realised what he was seeking was after all within himself, so why all this struggle? “All that is needed is absolute willingness, and it is right here. Why am I searching around the world?”
When he realised this, Gautama had that little extra ounce of energy to take that step, walk across the river and sit down under the now famous Bodhi tree. He sat down with the determination that “unless the ultimate happens to me, I will not move. Either I will get up as an enlightened being or I will die in this posture.” And in a moment he was there, because that is all it takes.
Gautama has left an unchangeable impression on the world. He changed the world forever by bringing about a spiritual quality to the man’s search for something higher.
That man’s flowering on that full moon day some 2,500 years ago has made a significant change for every spiritual seeker in this world. His presence has become so dominant that a person who grows on the spiritual path cannot ignore Gautama Buddha.
It is more conducive for people on the spiritual path, especially on the meditative path, to meditate on the night of Purnima because without an upsurge of energy, without a heightened sense of energy, there is no awareness. What you call awareness will come naturally to you when you have a heightened sense of energy in your system. So make use of that night, of that natural phenomenon which is occurring. This one day offers a free ride to energy and awareness.

Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, an internationally renowned spiritual leader, is a visionary, a humanitarian, author,
poet and speaker. He can be contacted at www.ishafoundation.org