Give Up the Idea of Impediment

Excerpt from Wake Up and Roar, 1992 edition

Satsang with H. W. L. Poonja

Devotee: I have an impediment. The impediment is doubt and it keeps me from loving you fully. It is giving me a headache.

What kind of headache do you have? There are two kinds that I know of. One is from carrying a load on your head. The other is from having the load removed. If you suddenly have no load on your head this can seem disconcerting; you lose your balance and have a headache. No load can also seem like a headache.

There was once a wealthy man who knew he was to die. He had never prepared himself spiritually, never meditated. So he hired twenty workers from the marketplace to meditate for him. He said, “I will give you double wages and feed you your meals.”

The workers were very excited. They wanted to begin right away but did not know what to do. “Just sit like this,” the man told them as he showed them the meditation posture.

After a few hours, the workers rebelled. “Keep your double wages they said. “This will make us sick, sitting here doing nothing.” And so they quit.

So I don’t know what kind of headache you have, but I suggest you give up the very idea of impediment. This idea itself is now the only impediment. The scriptures say there are certain kinds of impediments to give up. First, the idea of a personal identity, a  personality, name and form, as to who you are. Give this up; detach from it.

Next is the idea of heaven after you die — the idea of merit and demerit, that action will get you anywhere. Give up this attachment as well.

And then God. Give up your attachment to God itself. The idea that there is some agency outside yourself that can help you now. Give this up.

And then give up the very idea of giving up! This must also be abandoned!

Yesterday you said, “ Tie your camel and pray to Allah.” I say now, ride your camel and forget about Allah! Ride the camel and you need not pray. If you tie it, you will have to untie it. If you tie it to a tree, you are also tied to it, so who will pray to Allah?

Impediment is only retaining the idea of impediment. The idea of the disappearance of impediment is the last impediment. This is the last hurdle, the last rung, the last leap forward.

Yes, there is a leap and there is the fear of emptiness — no name, no form. There is the fear of embracing this emptiness. You don’t see anything there. Unknown! Absolutely empty! You need courage to hug that emptiness of no name and no form. Nobody can help you. Help can take you to the edge. But no one can help you there. The idea that there is help is itself an impediment, Throw away everything in name and form, and jump!