Written Messages

Moscow
14 May 2013

 

 

Chapter 21

The appearance of great virtue
Follows only the Tao
The Tao, as a thing
Seems indistinct, seems unclear

So unclear, so indistinct
Within it there is image
So indistinct, so unclear
Within it there is substance
So deep, so profound
Within it there is essence

 

Its essence is supremely real
Within it there is faith

From ancient times to the present

Its name never departs

To observe the source of all things

How do I know the nature of the source?

With this

Dance does not happen without the Dancer, but Dancer can exist without the Dance.
The Universe – the Dance – is so conspicuous with all its wonder, grandeur, mystery and manifistations; but the Reality, the Source of all this is so indistinct, so unclear. The substance and essence of all this, inspite of being so deep and so profound, remains absolutely unknowable! This Supreme Reality has been perceived by Sages of all times through the virtue of Veracity of Life despite the interference from the vulgarity, vanity and vested interests of the myth called mind.
Ancient Sages of India had pointed towards the Unknowable as Dancer (Nataraja – Shiva).

 

Chapter 22

Yield and remain whole
Bend and remain straight
Be low and become filled
Be worn out and become renewed
Have little and receive
Have much and be confused
Therefore the sages hold to the one as an example for the world
Without flaunting themselves – and so are seen clearly
Without presuming themselves – and so are distinguished
Without praising themselves – and so have merit
Without boasting about themselves – and so are lasting

 

Because they do not contend, the world cannot contend with them
What the ancients called "the one who yields and remains whole"
Were they speaking empty words?
Sincerity becoming whole, and returning to oneself

 

These profound utterances have to be perused again and again to perceive the intense messages revealed in this chapter.

 

Chapter 23

Sparse speech is natural
Thus strong wind does not last all morning
Sudden rain does not last all day
What makes this so?
Heaven and Earth
Even Heaven and Earth cannot make it last
                                                                                                                How can humans?                                                                                                               Thus those who follow the Tao are with the Tao

Those who follow virtue are with virtue

Those who follow loss are with loss

Those who are with the Tao, the Tao is also pleased to have them

Those who are with virtue, virtue is also pleased to have them

Those who are with loss, loss is also please to have them

Those who do not trust sufficiently, others have no trust in them

 

 

 Here 'follow' is actually flowering in understanding, in perception. 'Who are with' means 'in harmony with'. 'Loss' indicates the 'loss of living quality of life and getting trapped into the lure and lust of the mind'. Trust is life, not of the mind. Trust is the energy of understanding whereas belief-systems are just silly entanglements with mental undertakings.

 

Chapter 24

Those who are on tiptoes cannot stand
Those who straddle cannot walk
Those who flaunt themselves are not clear
Those who presume themselves are not distinguished
Those who praise themselves have no merit
Those who boast about themselves do not last

Those with the Tao call such things leftover food or tumors
They despise them
Thus, those who possesses the Tao do not engage in them

 

Here the mental pollutions have been pointed out so clearly. These are not meant for intellectual pleasures, but for Intelligent Perception by and for oneself.

 

Chapter 25

There is something formlessly created
Born before Heaven and Earth
So silent! So ethereal!
Independent and changeless
Circulating and ceaseless
It can be regarded as the mother of the world

I do not know its name

Identifying it, I call it "Tao"
Forced to describe it,
I call it great

Great means passing

Passing means receding

Receding means returning

Therefore the Tao is great

Heaven is great

Earth is great

The sovereign is also great

There are four greats in the universe

And the sovereign occupies one of them

Humans follow the laws of Earth

Earth follows the laws of Heaven

Heaven follows the laws of Tao

Tao follows the laws of nature

 

 We have already meditated upon this in a previous chapter. Invitation here is to be in the natural state of life, not to be in the stranglehold of the mind. Prakriti, the Energy, is the mother of the material

 

Chapter 26

Heaviness is the root of lightness
Quietness is the master of restlessness

Therefore the sages travel an entire day
Without leaving the heavy supplies
Even though there are luxurious sights
They are composed and transcend beyond

How can the lords of ten thousand chariots
Apply themselves lightly to the world?

To be light is to lose one's root

To be restless is to lose one's mastery

 

It is important to be light (not heavy), quiet and composed. It is important to be free from one's bondage and conditioning. Restlessness arises from lack of one's stability in the energy of understanding.

 

Chapter 27

 

Good traveling does not leave tracks
Good speech does not seek faults
Good reckoning does not use counters
Good closure needs no bar and yet cannot be opened
Good knot needs no rope and yet cannot be untied

Therefore sages often save others
And so do not abandon anyone
They often save things
And so do not abandon anything
This is called following enlightenment

Therefore the good person is the teacher of the bad person

The bad person is the resource of the good person
Those who do not value their teachers

And do not love their resources

Although intelligent, they are greatly confused

This is called the essential wonder

 

 These utterances are eye-opener. Seeing 'what is' is not seeking faults. Counters and computers are now essential. Firm closures now need heavy bars. Knots are now obsolete. Tao is not Koran-like belief-system. It is not for blind following. Sages save whether one follows or not.
Following enlightenment does not bring about enlightenment in anyone. One has to be a light to oneself through direct perception. Teachership and studentship, as processes, are same. Mind's 'intelligence' may run into confusion. Intelligence (Chaitanya) is the bliss of Life.

 

Chapter 28

Know the masculine, hold to the feminine
Be the watercourse of the world
Being the watercourse of the world
The eternal virtue does not depart
Return to the state of the infant
Know the white, hold to the black
Be the standard of the world
Being the standard of the world
The eternal virtue does not deviate

Return to the state of the boundless

Know the honor, hold to the humility

Be the valley of the world

Being the valley of the world

The eternal virtue shall be sufficient

Return to the state of plain wood

Plain wood splits, then becomes tools

The sages utilize them

And then become leaders

Thus the greater whole is undivided

 

These are most beautiful presentations of the ways of Life and Nature. One can penetrate into these words to be available to the wisdom beyond words

 

Chapter 29

Those who wish to take the world and control it
I see that they cannot succeed
The world is a sacred instrument
One cannot control it
The one who controls it will fail
The one who grasps it will lose

Because all things:
Either lead or follow
Either blow hot or cold
Either have strength or weakness

Either have ownership or take by force

Therefore the sage:

Eliminates extremes
Eliminates excess
Eliminates arrogance

 

Same suggestion as in (28).

 

Chapter 29

Those who wish to take the world and control it
I see that they cannot succeed
The world is a sacred instrument
One cannot control it
The one who controls it will fail
The one who grasps it will lose

Because all things:
Either lead or follow
Either blow hot or cold
Either have strength or weakness

Either have ownership or take by force

Therefore the sage:

Eliminates extremes
Eliminates excess
Eliminates arrogance

 

 Same suggestion as in (28).

 

Chapter 30

The one who uses the Tao to advise the ruler
Does not dominate the world with soldiers
Such methods tend to be returned

The place where the troops camp
Thistles and thorns grow
Following the great army
There must be an inauspicious year

A good commander achieves result, then stops
And does not dare to reach for domination
Achieves result but does not brag
Achieves result but does not flaunt
Achieves result but is not arrogant
Achieves result but only out of necessity
Achieves result but does not dominate

Things become strong and then get old
This is called contrary to the Tao
That which is contrary to the Tao soon ends

 

Same suggestion as in (28). Also, it is pointed out that army is menace to humanity.

 

Chapter 31

A strong military, a tool of misfortune
All things detest it
Therefore, those who possess the Tao avoid it
Honorable gentlemen, while at home, value the left
When deploying the military, value the right

The military is a tool of misfortune
Not the tool of honorable gentlemen
When using it out of necessity
Calm detachment should be above all
Victorious but without glory
Those who glorify
Are delighting in the killing
Those who delight in killing
Cannot achieve their ambitions upon the world

Auspicious events favor the left
Inauspicious events favor the right

The lieutenant general is positioned to the left

The major general is positioned to the right

We say that they are treated as if in a funeral

Those who have been killed

Should be mourned with sadness

Victory in war should be treated as a funeral

 

Same suggestion as in (28).
Every nation, whether rich or poor, is spending about seventy percent of its budget on military. And citizens consequently suffer from poverty. If a family man spends seventy percent of his salary on a concubine, his children would be deprived of necessary finance for their development. Thus, military is perhaps similar to the status of a concubine of a country!

 

Chapter 32

 The Tao, eternally nameless

Its simplicity, although imperceptible
Cannot be treated by the world as subservient

 

If the sovereign can hold on to it
All will follow by themselves
Heaven and Earth, together in harmony
Will rain sweet dew
People will not need to force it; it will adjust by itself

 

In the beginning, there were names
Names came to exist everywhere
One should know when to stop
Knowing when to stop, thus avoiding danger

The existence of the Tao in the world
Is like streams in the valley into rivers and the ocean

 

 Same suggestion as in (28)
Names are just reference points for practical purpose.

 

Chapter 33

Those who understand others are intelligent
Those who understand themselves are enlightened

Those who overcome others have strength
Those who overcome themselves are powerful

Those who know contentment are wealthy
Those who proceed vigorously have willpower

Those who do not lose their base endure
Those who die but do not perish have longevity

 

Same suggestion as in (28)
'Will' is the good name for ego. Dying to the ego is the longevity of life.

 

Chapter 34

The great Tao is like a flood
It can flow to the left or to the right

The myriad things depend on it for life, but it never stops
It achieves its work, but does not take credit
It clothes and feeds myriad things, but does not rule over them

Ever desiring nothing
It can be named insignificant
Myriad things return to it but it does not rule

over them
It can be named great

Even in the end, it does not regard itself as great

That is how it can achieve its greatness

 

  Same suggestion as in (28)

 

Chapter 35

Hold the great image
All under heaven will come
They come without harm, in harmonious peace

Music and food, passing travelers stop
The Tao that is spoken out of the mouth
Is bland and without flavor

Look at it, it cannot be seen
Listen to it, it cannot be heard
Use it, it cannot be exhausted

 

 Here 'image' means vision. Information gets exhausted, but truth is eternal.

 

Chapter 36

If one wishes to shrink it
One must first expand it
If one wishes to weaken it
One must first strengthen it
If one wishes to discard it
One must first promote it
If one wishes to seize it
One must first give it
This is called subtle clarity

The soft and weak overcomes the tough and strong
Fish cannot leave the depths
The sharp instruments of the state
Cannot be shown to the people

 

Same suggestion as in (28)
Information is superficial. Truth is indeed deep.

 

Chapter 37

The Tao is constant in non-action
Yet there is nothing it does not do

If the sovereign can hold on to this
All things shall transform themselves

Transformed, yet wishing to achieve

I shall restrain them with the simplicity of the nameless

The simplicity of the nameless

They shall be without desire

Without desire, using stillness

The world shall steady itself

 

37) Non-action on the part of the 'I', is the greatest action of Intelligence. Nameless, the un-nameable is utterly simple.

 

Chapter 38

High virtue is not virtuous
Therefore it has virtue
Low virtue never loses virtue
Therefore it has no virtue
High virtue takes no contrived action
And acts without agenda
Low virtue takes contrived action
And acts with agenda
High benevolence takes contrived action
And acts without agenda
High righteousness takes contrived action
And acts with agenda
High etiquette takes contrived action
And upon encountering no response
Uses arms to pull others

Therefore, the Tao is lost, and then virtue
Virtue is lost, and then benevolence

Benevolence is lost, and then righteousness

Righteousness is lost, and then etiquette

Those who have etiquette
are a thin shell of loyalty and sincerity

And the beginning of chaos

Those with foreknowledge

Are the flowers of the Tao

And the beginning of ignorance

Therefore the great person:

Abides in substance, and does not dwell on the thin shell

Abides in the real, and does not dwell on the flower

Thus they discard that and take this

 

Flowering and decorating Truth with ideas about truth, is not to abide in the real!

 

Chapter 39

 

Those that attained oneness since ancient times:
The sky attained oneness and thus clarity
The earth attained oneness and thus tranquility
The gods attained oneness and thus divinity
The valley attained oneness and thus abundance
The myriad things attained oneness and thus life
The rulers attained oneness and became the standard for the world
These all emerged from oneness

The sky, lacking clarity, would break apart
The earth, lacking tranquility, would erupt
The gods, lacking divinity, would vanish
The valley, lacking abundance, would wither
Myriad things, lacking life, would be extinct
The rulers, lacking standard, would be toppled

Therefore, the honored uses the lowly as basis
The higher uses the lower as foundation
Thus the rulers call themselves alone, bereft, and unworthy
Is this not using the lowly as basis?
Is it not so?
Therefore, the ultimate honor is no honor

Do not wish to be shiny like jade
Be dull like rocks

 

Ruler is respected, but not honored.
Only Truth is honorable. Natural rocks are life. Beautiful jades are mind.

 

Chapter 40

The returning is the movement of the Tao
The weak is the utilization of the Tao

The myriad things of the world are born of being
Being is born of non-being

 

 Returning to life from the things of the mind is Tao. The meek and humble will ultimately prevail.