Buddha, Krishna, Seneca, and You

You may read the Bhagavad Gita

Line by line.

 

You may memorize and recite

Its numerous verses.

 

You may read Buddha’s Eightfold Path,

And the Four Noble Truths

And become a scholar of them.

 

You may attempt to implement

All that you have read.

 

You may attempt to apply

All that they say.

 

You have likely done some of this

Already.

 

You have likely heard the priests

Recite the verses in Sanskrit.

 

What has this demonstrated

Other than a facility in memorization?

 

Are you significantly better off

Than before you read them?

 

Are you in a higher plane, as they say?

Are you a transformed being?

 

Have you become realized?

 

Let us inquire of more modest accomplishments.

Have you tamed your emotions?

 

Have you found peace

Even in a fraction of each day?

 

Have you discovered freedom

Even in a fraction of your life?

 

Krishna did.

But you have not.

 

Buddha did.

But you have not.

 

Krishna never bothered to read the Gita.

But you have.

 

Buddha never bothered to read the Noble Truths

Or the Eightfold Path.

But you have.

 

Curious.

Is it not?

 

All that is in the world

Is for show.

 

All that exists in the world

Is but a semblance of action.

 

Do not steal.

Do not kill.

Love thy neighbor.

Show compassion.

 

There are many who do not steal.

In fact,

The vast majority do not steal.

 

Have they discovered Anything?

Have they reached Anywhere?

Have they found Peace?

Have they found Bliss?

 

It is as if someone put a gun to Buddha’s head

And said,

“Just say something. Please, just give something.”

 

And Buddha said,

“Very well, here’s a few things so that you will leave me alone. The four noble truths

And the eightfold path. Now please leave.”

 

Religion has fooled you.

Society has destroyed you.

 

But in Truth,

You deserve fooling.

And you are worthy of destruction.

 

Since you have little Sincerity,

And no Seriousness,

You deserve the crumbs

That Buddha perhaps tossed out

In haste.

 

O ye of little understanding.

Thou tries to enter through doors

For which you are not Ready.

 

The masses create the demand.

Society, religion, authors, speakers, priests, and spiritualists

Provide the supply.

 

Truth

Is not so cheap

As to be wasted

Upon YOU.

 

For this reason,

Various texts were created

Simply to keep you occupied.

 

Various texts were created

To keep you at Bay.

 

He who has discovered even a fraction of Truth

Does not “invite” the masses.

 

He throws stones at them.

To keep them away.

 

He who “invites”

Has only lies.

 

They could not become Buddha,

So they became “Buddhists.”

 

They could not become Krisha,

So they became “Hindu’s.”

 

No Buddha would be caught dead

Becoming a Buddhist.

 

No Krishna would be caught dead

Becoming a Hindu.

 

For these

Are True Masters.

 

They discovered

The Truth.

 

Not by following “precepts.”

Not by following “a path.”

Not by following “noble truths.”

 

The precepts

The path

The noble truths

Are not for Them.

 

They are for YOU.

 

So that you may occupy yourself

With something to do.

 

So that you may satisfy your need

To feel that you are at least doing Something.

 

So that you may sit cross-legged in lecture halls

And listen to the priests gifted with a photographic memory

Of reciting shlokas and verses in native Sanskrit.

 

Should the priests

The pundits

The motivational speakers

The authors

The life coaches

The therapists

All go away?

 

Certainly not.

They are necessary

To serve the masses.

 

Books about becoming happy.

And five steps to a fulfilled life.

And stoicism.

And grit.

And obstacles being the way.

And Seneca.

And all the rest . . .

Must continue.

 

So that the intellectuals do not get bored.

So that they may display their intellectual prowess at cocktail parties.

 

Truth

Is not for the man who asks

“Please give me a script.”

 

Truth

Is for the man

Who Must have it

At any cost.

 

Even at the cost

Of his Life.

 

For his life

Is meager and useless

Without it.

 

Namaste.