Nothing in the world can take away from a man, who has nothing; Nothing in the world can hurt a man who wants nothing. I thought about the plight of a multi millionaire man resting on his death bed. If riches is what could fetch one happiness, he must have lived a life of the happiest man in the world. Today, this is the notion of happiness amongst everyday people - you and me. An everyday person often mistakes excitement for happiness. To be able to fetch your favorite ice-cream, winning a few hundred dollar lottery or meeting your favorite person are various forms of excitement. This feeling brings the mind of an everyday person to it's highest emotional peak. Similarly, there is a lowest emotional peak - fear. Then what happiness really is? Some say it's contentment or satisfaction. Some say that happiness is stability of mind. For me, happiness is nothingness - to be able to stick to nothingness in adverse everyday situations. And that is the path of cultivation - our practice of Falun Dafa.

Our conventional thinking about our materialistic attachments is the biggest hurdle to our cultivation practice of body and mind. As a new practitioner, I wonder how many of us can really stay away from our materialistic thoughts while performing the Falun Gong exercises. Oh! my friend owes a thousand rupees to me, I haven't paid my electricity bill yet; when is the due date? My neighbor has got a new car; I wish to buy a better one than him! I must rush home after the exercises lest I would be late for office. Although you think that you are practicing cultivation, the mind is cultivating evil deep within. But to say, we are still practicing cultivation. And we know that cultivation is good. Isn't this contradicting somewhere? Definitely, this is evil cultivation. With a mind filled with various kinds of attachments, it is very difficult to practice nothingness and cultivation.

In order to be a practitioner in the real sense, one must be very loosely connected to our possessions. Thinking too much about our possessions create an evil called attachment. There are various forms of attachments which will restrict your growth in the course of cultivation practice. Attachments need not always bear a monetary value. Feelings like jealousy, anger, hatred and even love is a form of attachment. Being attached to the human society, one is bound to gather various feelings, relationships and materialistic possessions. In our Falun Dafa, one is permitted to possess riches and materialistic properties. If a practitioner gives away everything, he won't be any different from a monk or a sanyasi. We are permitted to carry and manage our money and possessions since we are still practicing amongst everyday people. The crux is how lightly we take and pursue interpersonal conflicts, preferences of self interest and our attachments.

The path of cultivation is good and difficult at the same time. Good and bad is relative in the dimension of everyday people. What one person thinks good might be bad from the perspective of another everyday person. Similarly, what one thinks bad might be good from the perspective of another everyday person. So far our thoughts and actions comply with Zen-Shan-Ren (Truth, Benevolence and Forbearance) which are the characteristics of the universe, it can be termed as good. Cultivating mind and body is by adopting righteous thoughts and conforming to these characteristics of the universe. The path of cultivation passes through nothingness and for a everyday person, this seems to be the most difficult thing to do. The higher a man progresses through his path of cultivation, the closer he is to the truth of the universe.

Accolades: This post was chosen as the Best Post from the Indian Blogosphere by BlogAdda - their topmost pick on 26th February, 2011

Who : Neeraj Shinde
What : A Journey Through Nothingness…
Spicy : Neeraj informs us about the journey of nothingness through the path of cultivation, a practice of Falun Dafa. In today’s world we are too much attached to our materialistic things. The practice of Falun Dafa is about being loosely connected to those things. Get closer to the truth of the universe through Neeraj’s post!

I attended a centenary lecture of a CEO of one of the greatest multinational organizations in the world this week and must admit that it got me nothing but disappointment. I would have had a drastically opposite perspective about it, if I were not a Falun Gong practitioner. Is making money the real purpose of our existence? Certainly not! I am not really criticizing anyone here. I am not permitted to do that. I mean it. But it really makes me feel sad to manifest the fact that several people in the world with able capabilities talk like mere businessmen. That is just one of the zillion aspects of the modern life.

Where is the modern world heading towards? Just sit back and relax, turn on your television set – your favorite news channel. Watch it. Sons killing their mothers, father raping their daughters, thefts, betrayals, kidnappings, domestic violence, social unrest, intolerance, hatred, extra marital affairs, gambling, addictions, religious conflicts – is there an end to all of these varied forms of Karma. An ignorant person would take it as granted as a part of life and switch the channel. That’s the way it is. I am a no person to have control over it. A few, with a sadistic bent of mind would like to entertain themselves over the grief of their fellow beings. Again, I am not criticizing anyone here since I am not permitted to do that. That’s an undeniable fact of our current lives. We are into the dimension of the everyday people. We have attachments which are hard to resist, we fume up very easily and almost always make things worse in a fit. These are the characteristics of everyday people – you and me.

I have seen people killing each other over religion or the so called religious sentiments, whatsoever. Let me ask a very simple question here. What has the person who killed another man in a rage really understood about religion? What did he protect when he intentionally committed such a grave Karma? This is complete lack of forbearance. Amongst the everyday people, prejudices and reactions without a thought are so common that they are now a part of our so called DNA. In this course, the facts behind the truth of the universe are casually overlooked. And the funniest part of it is that we are almost unaware of this loss - our own loss.

All the illnesses and sufferings are the aftermaths of our bad deeds – the karma. I know most of you will find this statement ridiculous; some might neglect it by terming it plain philosophy. For most, philosophy is not practicality – remember that we all think from a dimension of an everyday person. The universe is not confined to a single dimension. Being an everyday person we have deviated from our true selves, the characteristics of the universe – Truthfulness, Benevolence (Compassion) and Forbearance (Tolerance). Since we are a part of the universe, we must comply with these characteristics of the universe. Every matter in the universe possesses these characteristics. The ‘true self’ within us possesses these qualities. While committing a bad deed, haven’t you felt it deep within your mind, your conscience? The life amongst the everyday people isn’t that easy. Especially, in the world of today when there is ‘karma’ all over it has become way too difficult to stick to your true self. It is like a war within. You need to inculcate the qualities of the universe in order to understand the truth of the universe. This is the path of salvation.

What is Falun Gong? Firstly, Falun Gong or Falun Dafa is not a religion – I am just trying to clear the notion of the everyday people here. It is an ancient cultivation practice which is indeed a science by itself. Falun Gong was introduced to the public in the year 1992 by Mr. Li Hongzhi. Falun Dafa is today practiced by over 10 crore people in more than 114 countries. It comprises of a five set of simple exercises which are easy to learn and suitable for all age groups. As a practitioner, I would say that it is a practice to inculcate the righteous by purification of our everyday bodies and mind. For new practitioners I would strongly recommend to read Zhuan Falun. However, this post of mine is not really to credit myself or advertise any one. It is rather meant to 'hint' my fellow human beings with whom I share a predestined relationship. In order to start with the practice, you need to possess an open mind and a willing heart. That is a mandate. In fact, that is the first step towards enlightenment, believe me. This is absolute truth.

It is never too late. You will realize it only when you start. Please note that Falun Dafa is free and practitioners all over the world are volunteers. Please feel free to contact any of the volunteer contacts at your nearest site locations. I will feel privileged to assist you with any help that might be needed.