Be Journey Oriented, Not Destination Oriented in Tantra

"Mind is like the sky: do not over-conceptualize and cloud it." Marpa, the Great Tibetan Tantric Yogi

      Tantra and esoteric Buddhism teach something very practical for our lives: that we are not to obsess about a destination, but rather enjoy and relax wherever we are. Focus on the journey itself and not on the destination. This creates an immediacy of fearless presence and non-apprehensive living. Destination orientation creates apprehension, whereas journey orientation creates light of consciousness. This is key in understanding teachings of Adi Buddha, Vajradhara, tantric forms of Gautam Buddha. It creates mind-body-spirit power to live the journey of life without worrying about what obstacles we have to face on that journey, and instead living a dynamically fearless life. Creating a clear mind, surmounting and overcoming all situations, unstoppable in wisdom and infinite in scope of action. This idea forms the very basis of not just Indo-Tibetan tantra, but is the root-basis of schools such as the Tendai and Shugendo of Japan, Mongolian mystery Vajrayana practise, and so on.

Journey on Tantric Path

      During the course of life have your attention on the enjoyment and relaxation within the very moment. Then you find that your whole consciousness undergoes a great transformation: all the heaviness that has been on your shoulders dissolves. And so you relax totally. Through this very sense of relaxation comes about a deep connection with the flowing energy of the cosmos. You start becoming closer to the central core of truth within yourself. And in this state arises a very natural sort of courage, a great boldness to look at life in its complete spiritual dimensions. The powerful energy, the good energy of mysticism envelopes you. You are no longer in a state of fear, simply because you are not worried about when the destination will be reached! Your goal-oriented mind becomes a moment-oriented mind. That is the very aim of Tantra and esoteric Buddhism: to bring you back to that which you are doing now. It is the moment which contains all eternities: come back to it. There you feel empowered. Through this attitude itself you feel greatly filled with an immense strength. And because of this strength, you don't feel a sense of insecurity.

Being a Spiritual Warrior

      We human beings are constantly in a search for security. We dread uncertainty and crave surety, thinking we are protecting ourselves by such an attitude. We build a mental armour around ourselves. But by being not goal-oriented but moment-oriented, you enter the deepest layers of your being. And from there you strengthen the soil and foundation of your being. You feel masterful within, and you stop being frightened by anxiety about the future. And in that manner you become so natural within yourself that you feel filled with the quality of great virtue. That is what it means to be a spiritual warrior, a mystic warrior. It implies the quality of virya or non-fear: the quality that is the foremost requirement in the Viracharya path (path of courage) of ancient Bengal's tantra.

      In occult Buddhism and Tantra, the mystic warrior's code is never about the future. The mystic warrior's code is to be prepared to give his life on the battlefield at any moment. Even now, at this moment if he has to give his life, he gives it happily! And this creates a deeper connection, a truer connection with the entirety and totality of the truth which is hidden within the cosmos.

Focus on the Journey

      Everything comes and goes, but it is the quality of being focused upon the journey itself which brings you unimaginable transformation of consciousness. Where you were feeling frightened, you start feeling blissful; where you were feeling uncertain, you start feeling a deep sense of oneness with the universe. And when that happens, your internal spiritual energy meets with the energy of the greater. In that, a certain internal rhythm is established. You start living a life of great rhythm: your limited sense of personality dissolves, you don't obsess with limited concepts of who you are and what you can do. You pulsate, with the subtle vibration of cosmic energy, and in that state your awareness becomes far beyond what you've normally experienced. You start going into the field of the Buddha, and in that Space your experiences are seen with a mystic eye of perception. You are open to new sensations, new perceptions, new breakthroughs. All these happen spontaneously, because the magical quality of being moment-oriented has come to you. The magical quality of being journey-oriented and not destination-oriented has come to you.

      Don't look at the goal as much as the reality before you! In fact, this is what the Bhagavad Gita in Hinduism also says: forget about the goal, keep your eyes on. your karmas Of present-moment actions! Goals and lofty aims can often upset you, can make you tremble, because there's always an expectation of what will happen and what won't happen. Don't look at the horizon, simply enjoy the sky as it is: be it sunny, cloudy, or with a rainbow or silver lining. That is the natural flow and cycle of life itself. Align to it. It will create immense calmness, silent courage, and resolve within you.

Journey on Tantrik Spirituality

      If you can enjoy the cycle of life as it is going both the sunrise and the sunset then you are acting intelligently. If while looking at a sunrise you are hoping to catch a glimpse of the sunset later in the day, you're missing the very beauty of the sunrise itself. Be with the sunrise: be in that moment, and then your quality of consciousness becomes luminous. And when the quality of consciousness becomes luminous, it leads to a great rejuvenation of your energy.

      Why do people feel dull? It is because they are always future-oriented. Rejuvenating your energy into feeling like a sacred space implies being in such a deep friendship with the moment and with the journey you are on that within it you can include the whole! You don't feel narrow within it. And through such an attitude, you find a great surprise: that you can be completely open to the divine; all the richness of blessing becomes available to you, as you are. In that state, you become possessed with a deep feeling of inner victory. Because there is no need to worry about what will happen in the future. So this aesthetic quality, this mystic quality, is all about walking up to the flow of the present moment, and not being stagnated in your mind by what will happen later. The concept of being goal-oriented is good in a practical manner, but what it does is that it keeps creating a bit of a conflict in our minds. It keeps creating a yes or no phenomenon and a split in our minds, and that way the harmony of the moment is destroyed. Very efficient people are those who carry on doing what they need to do at the present time; then the results automatically follow. If a person wants to lose efficiency, then he of she can keep pondering about what will happen: which result will come, whether it will be successful or unsuccessful, and so on. Now that is not a very healthy way to look at any phenomenon of life. That's not a good attitude for work. Yes, you can have a broad goal, but you are only doing your work a disservice if you are obsessed by where you will reach with the task you are doing and not concentrating on the task itself. So the quality will suffer. The quality of focus and discipline that you bring to the task at hand will suffer. Similarly, this happens in relationships.

      You can look at business networking also: the same principle applies. The most charismatic leaders in business, politics, or any other field in human life are those who are said to have this immense quality of making others feel like they're totally invested in them the moment they are meeting them. So when they shake your hand, you feel they're totally with you, they understand you, they have some empathy for you. And that way, they create a closeness between themselves and people. You can see this quality in great political leaders through the ages. They have an ability to connect with people, who feel that that particular leader is looking at them and their issues, is investing her or his energy in them. They feel that he or she is sharing their troubles and issues with genuineness. Due to this ability, people develop respect for that particular leader. And you can see this in personal relationships also: our expectations of the other in the future are always the cause of problems! They are the bane of relationships. Make the other person feel good within the moment, and the next moment takes care of itself. It becomes a circle of happiness, It becomes a repetition and a cycle of positive energy. Else, the positive moment which is possible now becomes poisoned by our expectations of the future. In relationships, this expectation is really the most pernicious thing, because what it does is it makes people reluctant to share the totality of their love in the present moment with sincerity and genuineness. And where that does not happen, it becomes an extremely unpleasant situation. The closeness between people is lost. Intimacy of consciousness is the important thing: the feeling of being deeply in sync with one another and deeply connected. When you are connected deeply to the present moment, you are also connected deeply to people, to your work, and so on. A deep connection with life as it lows is important.

Life Keeps Flowing

      Life is not stagnant. It is called a dynamically flowing river in esoteric Buddhist and Tantra. Like the flow of water in the river, no moment can be repeated; but within the flowing moment you can float along. You, can simply go with it! And when you go with the present moment, it brings you many gifts. The most important of which is that it heals your consciousness from being obsessive and concentrated on what may or may not happen. That way, the consciousness starts relaxing. lt starts becoming less self-conscious and starts moving into a space where it feels dynamism. Where it feels that it's free to move with a liberated quality. And through that happens a massive energy in your mind, in your spirit, in your physical being also. It's like a runner running a marathon: the question of timing is there, so the goal is there, but it is the step that the runner is taking now how she or he is running the race in the present moment, how much energy is invested within the breathing and the rhythm of the running - which eventually make the runner go the full course to the best of her/his ability. If the runner is only thinking of the victory, then he may not be running his best. Yes, visualising victory is very important as that is the goal, but as important is the ability to not sacrifice the present moment awareness. Because that is what creates energy, as you are and where you are. That opens out your energy to find its better expression. When you have committed to the moment, what it does is it sets off a simple chain-reaction: it allows you to create one good thing after the other. You can only do much in the present moment, so be completely there, completely within it! Don't exist in a future goal. Then you'll find that the expansion of your consciousness and your energy takes a very playful form, takes a very creative form. From seriousness you move to a state of play, you move to a state of flow. In that happens a deep enjoyment of what you are doing, a deep rejoicing of what you are doing. And there is no more empowering phenomenon in life than your energy rejoicing in itself, exalting in itself. You see, when you are feeling delight in doing something, that is what the most nourishing thing is. You can look at this in terms of anything: in terms of work, when you're enjoying your work what happens is that first of all the sense of time ceases. So your stamina to do the work increases manifold, and secondly, your whole quality of consciousness becomes transformed. Hence, your chances of succeeding in the work and bringing real quality to the work really go up. This is the difference between people who are interested in creating quality and the people who are just interested in winning.

      To be of value in the world it's eventually not about the quantum of money of power you accumulate. It's essentially about the quality that you can create within your life: that is what is really enduring. That is the ultimate salute that you can give to your life: the quality of being that you bring to your work, to your relationships, to your very living. That is what is important, and that requires inner journey. That inner journey means a situation where you allow yourself to be so invested in what you are doing as you are without bothering about perfection - that you become completely happy in thought and action. You thereby become a happiness-creating individual, and through that happiness also arises a great maturity and a great strength. And where there is maturity and strength, you're automatically fearless, brave, courageous. So this is a very key tenet for fearless living. You are never bored in such moments of happy energy; you are always feeling vitally alive. You are always feeling vitally rooted. Through this sense of rootedness comes about a great revolution in your intelligence. You start moving to a state where you start functioning from the very centre of your being. That is where real victory happens; that is where real health of body mind spirit happens. You become oriented around that which is instead of that which is not. So, you're more fundamentally rooted in reality. And when you're more fundamentally rooted in reality, nothing can scare you.

Neither God nor Devil

      You look at the concept of God and devil in most religions: the similarity simply doesn't exist in Tantra and occult or esoteric Buddhism. In fact, a lot of the so-called gods in Tantra and the esoteric Buddhism of Tibet look quite terrifying, but that doesn't mean they are not sacred or holy. What Tantra and esoteric Buddhism are trying to say is that the appearance of things can be ferocious, can be fierce, but at the fundamental core this very thing is to create a non-fearless state. lt is to Create a sense of fearlessness. So, when you look at a deity which is terrible in form, and you're able to worship even the terrifying and the most fierce-looking deity, what it does is that it creates a great sense of courage in you. It's essentially about courage-creation, through which a great energy is born within your heart and mind, which intoxicates you with a deep mystical strength. And this mystical strength is what can take you beyond yourself, to a degree where you start becoming more and more of that which you were born to be. Then, you begin realizing yourself as a truly successful individual in life.

Be brisk in moving slowly!

Then, you will arrive soon!

Milarepa