Lessons Enlightenment. Elena Sidelnikova

with the Buddha. The Buddha who came into earthly incarnation as Prince Gautama but renounced his earthly life and became the founder of Buddhism on Earth.

      I am listening to you, oh soul. I dwell within you.

      I would like to ask for your help in clarifying questions about meditation. After all, you are essentially the pioneer of this practice.

      No. I am not the pioneer. And there are no pioneers. The state of consciousness called meditation is a natural property of human consciousness. And you will come to this. I merely pointed out milestones on the path of revealing your natural qualities within yourself.

      Alright. Then help guide those who have followed the path of development in Western civilization, focusing on analysis and the development of the analytical mind, to find their ways of diving into themselves and their essence. Let me ask about myself. I try to meditate, but nothing works because my mind is always active. For many years, I have been accustomed to using it for work, reading a lot of different literature, and therefore, I can’t stop it. It seems that when I try to stop my mind, I am making an effort again. Yet all teachings say that you should not resist anything, just observe your thoughts. I observe, but they never stop. What am I doing wrong?

      First of all, stop worrying about it. All you need to do is trust the process. The stronger your intention to reveal your natural qualities, which were laid in you by the Creator, the more focused your path, and the fewer distractions you will encounter along the way. So, always be confident that you will find your path, and that everything you find is your path. Imagine that you need to help someone navigate a labyrinth, but they can’t hear you. And you have the ability to control the labyrinth. What would you do?

      I would close the paths that do not lead to the exit.

      Correct. Your teachers do the same. But the labyrinth is an exploration of all your possibilities. They have no right to decide for you whether you will explore all the corners of the labyrinth of illusions or pass by them. Moreover, it is believed that it is better for you to explore all parts of the labyrinth of illusions, to become saturated with explorations, to know all your possibilities. Then, you will consciously choose the direct path to God. However, many of you have become so engrossed in the Lila, so tangled in the labyrinth, that you cannot find your way out. Many enjoy what happens in the labyrinth and do not want to leave it for various reasons. They fear that outside the labyrinth of illusions, there is nothing, or they are afraid of the unknown beyond the labyrinth. Or they are satisfied with what is in the labyrinth and are in no hurry to part with it.

      But in any case, the one who already realizes that everything around them is just a labyrinth of illusions, or as you were told, a labyrinth of reflections, has already started on the path out of it. The labyrinth is designed so that as soon as you become emotionally or mentally involved in certain events, you are immediately drawn into the part of the labyrinth where a similar experience occurred. This is why you are advised not to dwell on past memories or daydream about the future. In other words, your consciousness is constantly scattered throughout different parts of the labyrinth, and thus, in the specific point of the labyrinth of illusions where you are, your consciousness is practically absent and therefore cannot move further. How can you move if, say, you are blind and deaf?

      By touch, automatically.

      Exactly. That’s how you stumble through your labyrinths of illusions – by touch and on autopilot. But your conscious participation in your movement is needed. When you open your eyes and turn on your hearing in the labyrinth, you see where you are going. You hear what is happening. But when you are blind and deaf, when your consciousness is in the past or the future, you do not move through the labyrinth. Part of your consciousness constantly returns to past events, so your left leg is in the past, in other sections of the labyrinth. Part of your consciousness is in the future, when you dream or make plans, that is, metaphorically speaking, your right leg is in the future, in other sections of the labyrinth of illusions. How then can you move in the present? Where can the body go if the legs are in different realities? Do you understand?

      That’s why you are taught to keep your consciousness in the «here and now.» This is very important. It does not mean that you should not dream or make plans. But you need to consciously manage this process, not let the mind wander like a horse without a harness.

      Therefore, the first thing to learn is to keep your consciousness in the state of «here and now.» When your mind is always focused on the present moment – on this very second of living, this second of being in the labyrinth of illusions.

      It is important to realize that the labyrinth of illusions itself exists only in your consciousness. That is, it is created by your thoughts. And thus, you can manage your labyrinth of illusions. This is a very important thesis for awareness. If you are aware and control your consciousness and your mind, then you can manage the labyrinth of your illusions. And that means consciously choosing what to create in your life, which events to go through. So if you are fantasizing or making a plan, you need to learn to control this process. Then events that you don’t need or aren’t interested in won’t happen in your life.

      Wait a minute. I asked about meditation. Is the mind even needed in meditation?

      Nothing is unnecessary. Everything is perfect and serves your development. Development is the path to God. You are all developing, and therefore you are all going to God, but in different ways. I am trying to start my story from the basics.

      Have you used your mind during meditation?

      Where do you think I put it?

      I stopped it.

      Yes. But if I had stopped it forever, I would have gone mad. And there are examples of such practices. It is neither good nor bad; it’s just one of the paths. It’s important not just to stop the mind, but also to not become insane, and instead learn to master your mind perfectly.

      Have you mastered it?

      I am also on this path, at a certain stage, in a certain part of my labyrinth.

      Sorry for getting off track, but many people are troubled by the question of your death. They say that the wife of the house owner you visited poisoned the soup. There are different versions of why you ate that soup and died. One of them says you ate the soup on behalf of the owner of the house to save him. Didn’t you know the soup was poisoned?

      This is also an important part of the teaching: TRUST. You must trust the process and realize that EVERYTHING that happens contributes to your growth. Without this, it is difficult to proceed. Or rather, not proceed but flow along the River of Existence that they speak of. It’s the same as swimming against the current or overcoming a strong current. Let’s compare the path to God with a current. The farther you are from God, the slower the current. And you can resist it. By resisting it, you still can’t stop it, but you expend a colossal amount of energy. The closer you are to the Source, that is, to God, the stronger the current, the harder it is to resist. Many of you are stuck on the first steps, on those sections where resistance is easier. And you try to swim against the current, thereby wasting all your life force and dying. And when their body is exhausted from resisting the Stream of Life, which carries them to God, it dies, and then the Stream carries the consciousness of the deceased to the Source because it is inevitable. Such is the nature of the flow of life: it always strives toward its Creator, the Source of life.

      What does it mean to «not resist»?

      It means simply surrendering to the flow. Not hindering it. Accepting all its manifestations and just observing what happens. You don’t try to stop, you don’t try to go against the flow, you just accept everything that the flow brings. And if the flow brings you a cup of poison, you meekly and without complaint, with complete trust in the process, accept this cup of poison, being confident that everything that happens contributes to your growth, that is, your striving toward