Spring comes, and the grass grows by itself. This statement by Lao Tzu is quite understandable if we ponder on it and a powerhouse in itself. It gives us the insight to understand life correctly and meditatively. Indeed this sutra of Lao Tzu spells a message of great importance to us all. But we can’t understand this sutra unless we penetrate its mystery — a blissful mystery that can lead us to the path of eternal truth. So let this sutra sink gradually into our heart, so that its mystery can be unfolded carefully; otherwise one is bound to be misled and trapped by falsehood and illusion. Since the meaning of this statement is as deep as the ocean, one has to plunge into the ocean of introspection to find the pearl of its meaning. Our deep-sea diving equipment to understand the meaning of this sutra is made up of awareness, awakening, and consciousness.Lao Tzu doesn’t mean to say that one should halt one’s karma (actions) and be ‘Akarmanya’. Lao Tzu doesn’t teach us to escape from one’s duties. Only an escapist would draw such meaning. He doesn’t say be idle and lethargic and you will become the richest or most powerful man in the world. Power, position and pelf — all these things are worldly and he is not at all concerned with worldly affairs, neither is he a fatalist. What he wants to convey is much more important.What he lays emphasis on are effort and effortlessness, action and inaction. What he says is purely associated with the inner world and not with the outer, mundane world. Truth has nothing to do with mundane affairs. Truth can be known or perceived only when one totally becomes silent doing nothing. This is the very essence of meditation. Meditation means ‘no-mind’ or a stage of mindlessness. It’s our mind which creates all dreams, ambitions and illusions. Buddha too has laid emphasis on meditation as it is the only way out to overcome our miseries. Likewise Lao Tzu teaches silence and inaction to know the truth. Silence means one has to be meditative and the moment one goes deep down in meditation, truth will automatically be revealed. One will not be afflicted with prejudice and prior thought.So, when Lao Tzu says ‘sitting silently’, he simply means that when we have to look within, our every effort needs to cease. Truth is something that happens own its own. All that is needed from our side is receptivity — a relaxed receptivity.
