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attachment and aversion. Knowing him is the natural result of self-knowledge.
Question 3
THE THIRD QUESTION: DO YOU THINK RENUNCIATION OF HOME AND FAMILY IS USELESS?
I remember a maxim of Mahavira's. He said, "Attachment is possession." He did not say that possession was attachment. Why? Because of our ignorance, because of our foolishness, we are attached to worldly objects. Inside we are empty and we therefore want to fill ourselves with outward objects in order to delude ourselves into believing we are important entities. If one gives up attachment under these conditions and ignorance remains, can one really get rid of attachment? One will be rid of things but not of attachment. It will still be there.
If one leaves his home for an ashram, the attachment to the ashram will take the place of his attachment to his home. If one leaves his family to join a sect he will be as attached to the sect as he was to his family. Attachment is on the inside and it will express itself under any new conditions. Therefore those who know have advised renunciation of desire and of ignorance, not of material objects. Once knowledge dawns the things that are of no use do not even have to be abandoned, they automatically drop away.
Question 4
THE FOURTH QUESTION: SHOULD WE CONCENTRATE OUR MINDS IN ORDER TO ATTAIN THOUGHTLESSNESS?
I do not ask you to concentrate. Concentration is a kind of coercion, a kind of tension. If one concentrates on some idea, on some form or image or on some word, it will neither lead to thoughtlessness nor to the awakening of consciousness but to an unconscious state of mental stupor. It is like auto-hypnosis. Forced concentration leads to unconsciousness. And it is an error to mistake this unconsciousness for samadhi. Samadhi is neither a state of unconsciousness nor of stupor, samadhi is the realization of perfect consciousness. Samadhi is the combination of thoughtlessness and perfect consciousness.
Question 5
THE FIFTH QUESTION: HOW ARE WE TO WATCH THE PROCESSES OF INHALING AND EXHALING IN MEDITATION?
Hold the spine erect. Do not allow it to bend. The body is in a state of natural
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