Your Bedtime Story and Relaxation: 8. The Princess

Namaste.

In this story,

Result of all realization or enlightenment is shown.

How is it that realizing I am the universal consciousness will solve all my problems?

How all sorrow and lack is removed at once just by knowing something?

How is that all desires fulfilled,

Something we are running after crazily throughout our lives?

How can it be fulfilled all at once,

At one instant and forever?

By this story we shall see.

So in ancient Indian kingdom,

A play was staged in the king's court.

One of the characters in this performance was supposed to be the princess of Kashi.

Kashi is Banaras,

The ancient spiritual city in India.

So the princess of Kashi is this play called.

But performance was not happening in Kashi.

It was happening in some other kingdom.

And the princess of Kashi is supposed to be a character in that play.

Now the queen said,

Who is going to play the princess of Kashi?

She is supposed to be a little girl.

Who is going to play the little girl?

The queen said,

Well the prince,

Her son,

Was five years old at that time.

You can dress him up as a girl.

He looks cute.

We will put him and dress him as a princess.

He will be the princess of Kashi.

And that's how it happened then.

The play was staged successfully.

The little prince looked so cute in prince's dress that the queen said,

Make a painting of him.

So the painter was called.

The prince had to pose in the dress.

And the painter painted him.

Princess of Kashi dated so and so.

Big portrait was made.

Fifteen years passed.

The prince grew up and was doing all kinds of princely things.

Riding,

Shooting arrows,

Learning and things like that.

One day while exploring the palace,

He went down to an attic door,

To a cellar,

An old place where junk was kept.

And he found this old painting.

He wiped the dust off it and saw the princess of Kashi and saw that date fifteen years back.

Oh,

She must be my age now,

He thought.

He fell in love with her.

I will marry her.

She will be my queen.

Without her,

I will not be happy in this life.

Now he is too shy to tell his mother or his father,

But he would not pay attention to his studies or his training as the prince.

And everybody noticed that.

The prince is not happy,

But why?

He wouldn't say so.

One day a wise old minister took him aside and said,

Prince,

What troubles you?

You can tell me,

Confide in me.

Prince said,

I am in love.

Oh good,

Who is she?

She is the princess of Kashi.

Oh good,

A princess,

Even better.

Where did you meet her?

I have not met her,

But I saw her painting.

I mean as an old painting.

But she is my age.

Clearly,

The date shows.

She must be my age.

The minister said,

Old picture,

Princess of Kashi,

Can you take me to that picture?

The prince took him down into the cellar,

Showed him the picture.

And the minister said,

Prince,

You need to sit down.

Why?

Prince asked.

And the minister told him that this is not the princess of Kashi.

Whoever she is,

I will marry her.

No,

Wait.

There was this theatrical performance 15 years ago.

And for the role of the princess of Kashi,

Your mother,

The queen,

Said to dress you up in the princess dress.

We dressed you up.

It was painted.

And this is that painting.

You are that.

Tat tvam asi.

And of course,

The princess,

The problem was entirely solved immediately.

But the question is,

How was the problem solved?

Did the prince marry the princess of Kashi and then his desire was fulfilled?

No.

Did he find out that the princess of Kashi is dead or married to somebody else and so it cannot be fulfilled?

No.

You see,

Fulfillment of desire and frustration of desire,

These are the two things that happen in the world.

Neither of them are solutions.

Then how was it fulfilled?

He realized that there is no princess of Kashi apart from him.

All along,

He himself was the princess of Kashi.

This world is our princess of Kashi.

The great Vedantic monk Swami Vivekananda says,

Things are dead in themselves.

We breathe life into them.

And then,

We will run after them or run away from them.

Not just attraction,

Fear also,

Repulsion also,

Terror also,

All of these things are like the princess of Kashi.

It is not a thing apart from you.

It is you dressed up in the form of temptation or terror.

With temptation,

I run towards it.

With terror,

I run away from it.

It's a mirage.

Apart from me,

There is nothing there that can harm me or fulfill me.

The consciousness.

The awareness self.

Once we realize that,

This whole universe becomes one with me,

Like the princess of Kashi became one with the prince.

And realize that all the time,

Just because of error,

We thought outside and inside.

But actually,

It is one and the same.

I am that.

There is none of that outside me.

No matter how tempting,

No matter how scary,

How attractive or how repulsive,

It's all me.

Everybody is I.

Every object is I.

Every event is I.

I,

The one consciousness which is common to all of us.

So this grand teaching,

It really solves the problem of desire once and for all.

It shows the problem of desire to be a mirage.

It shows that fulfillment is entirely ours.

We are eternally fulfilled.

We project it outside ourselves.

We identify with one body and mind and say,

I need those,

Those things.

I'm afraid of those,

Those things.

It all begins with the error,

The ignorance.

There is a princess of Kashi outside.

And then comes the desire.

I am in love with her.

I have to marry her.

Then only I will be happy.

In Vedanta,

World is said to be an appearance of you.

You are appearing in the mirror.

It is your own reflection.

You are now scared of your reflection or attracted to your reflection.

That reflection is nothing apart from you.

Just the illusion that had to be cleared up.

The problem is not to be solved.

It is to be dissolved.

With this,

Let's prepare to sleep.

Find a comfortable lying down position,

Lying flat on the bed,

With your head on the pillow,

Body relaxed.

Knees may be slightly bent.

You can keep a small pillow under the back of your knees.

Now gently close your eyes and start taking a few nice,

Big,

Deep breaths,

Breathing in and out through the nostrils only.

If you find it comforting,

You can just gently place your hand on your stomach as you breathe in and out,

Just to feel that movement along with the breath in the body.

Let go of the deep breaths now.

And as you lie there,

Just notice how the body feels.

Does it feel heavy or light?

Restless or still?

Does it feel as though body is ready to sleep?

Or there is still a little bit of winding down for it to do?

Either way,

We are just going to go through this practice,

Just slowly pointing the body and the mind in the direction of deep relaxation.

Now,

We are going to relive the day.

In this,

Mentally you will go through the events of the day which you have lived from the time you woke up in the morning till the present moment,

Coming to bed.

Begin by thinking about the time when you woke up today.

In the morning,

Just like a movie,

See yourself waking up in the morning Try to remember what was your first action,

First thought.

And then afterwards,

What did you do?

Relive every moment.

Did you speak to someone?

Did you speak to someone?

What did you speak about?

How was the interaction?

And how did it make you feel?

See everything.

Remember everything.

Till breakfast,

Relive every moment.

Then you had your breakfast.

What did you eat in your breakfast?

Then what did you do next?

See that.

Any activity,

Any work,

Anything that you might have done in sequence till lunchtime,

See the whole thing.

As though you are watching a video fast-forwarding.

Relive moments till lunchtime.

Then you had your lunch.

What did you have for lunch?

And then what did you do after lunch?

How was your mood?

Relive those moments.

Till dinner time.

Then dinner.

And after dinner,

How you spent the time till now?

Slowly coming back to the present moment.

As you see yourself getting ready for bed.

Getting into bed and starting with this program.

Take one deep breath in.

And as you exhale,

Begin to feel the body just sinking into the bed.

Now we begin body scan.

I will name a body part.

You just become aware of that body part.

Feel it.

And then just move to the next body part which is named.

Become aware of the right hand.

Right hand thumb.

Fingers of right hand.

Whole right hand.

Whole right arm.

Right shoulder.

Right side of the chest.

Waist.

Hip.

Whole right leg.

Right foot.

The toes.

Now left hand.

Left hand thumb.

Fingers of the left hand.

Whole left hand.

Whole left arm.

Left shoulder.

Left side of the chest.

Waist.

Hip.

Whole left leg.

The left foot.

The toes.

Feel the both legs together.

The buttocks.

Stomach.

Chest.

Back.

Shoulder blades.

Arms.

The neck.

The head.

Forehead.

Eyes.

Nose.

Right cheek.

Left cheek.

Mouth.

Lips.

Chin.

The whole face.

The whole head.

The whole neck.

The whole back.

The whole body.

The whole body.

The whole body.

Again we will go through the whole body.

This time a little more slower and in detail.

Starting with the right hand thumb.

First finger.

Second finger.

Third finger.

Little finger.

Fingers and thumb together.

Palm of the hand.

Back of the hand.

Wrist.

Forearm.

Elbow.

Upper part of the right arm.

Right shoulder.

Right armpit.

Right side of the torso.

Right side waist.

Hip.

Right thigh.

Kneecap.

Calf muscle.

Ankle.

Heel.

Sole of the foot.

Big toe.

Second toe.

Third.

Fourth.

Fifth.

The whole body.

The whole right side of the body.

From toes to the fingers.

Fingers to the toes.

The whole right side of the body.

Now go to the left hand.

Become aware of the left hand thumb.

First finger of left hand.

Second finger.

Third finger.

Little finger.

Fingers and thumb together.

Palm of the hand.

Back side of the hand.

Wrist.

Forearm.

Elbow.

Upper part of the arm.

Left shoulder.

Left armpit.

Left side of the torso.

Left side waist.

Hip.

Thigh.

Kneecap.

Calf muscle.

Ankle.

Left foot heel.

Sole of the foot.

Big toe.

Second toe.

Third toe.

Fourth toe.

Fifth.

Whole left foot.

The whole left side of the body.

From toes to the fingers.

Fingers to the toes.

The whole left side of the body.

Now to the back.

Become aware of the lower back.

The right buttock.

And the left buttock.

Middle back.

Upper back.

Right shoulder blade.

Left shoulder blade.

Back of the neck.

Back of the neck.

Back of the head.

The whole back side together.

Now go to the top of the head.

The crown of the head.

Forehead.

Both sides of the head.

Right eyebrow.

Left eyebrow.

The space between two eyebrows.

Right eyelid.

Left eyelid.

Right eye.

Left eye.

Right ear.

Left ear.

Left ear.

Right side cheek.

Left side cheek.

Bridge of the nostrils.

Right nostril.

Left nostril.

Upper lip.

Upper jaw.

Tongue.

Lower jaw.

Lower lip.

Chin.

Throat.

Right collarbone.

Left collarbone.

Chest.

Right part of the chest.

Middle part of the chest.

Left part of the chest.

Upper part of the belly.

Middle part of the belly.

The navel area.

Lower part of the belly.

The whole of the right leg.

The whole of the right leg.

The whole of the left leg.

Both legs together.

The whole of the right arm.

The whole of the left arm.

Both arms together.

The whole of the back.

Buttocks.

Spine.

Shoulder blades.

The whole of the front.

Abdomen.

Chest.

The whole of the back and front.

Together.

The whole of the head.

The whole body.

The whole body.

The whole body.

Become aware of your breath now.

Just feel the flow of your breath.

In and out through the body.

Now.

We will do mental alternative nostril breathing.

And count backwards from 54 along the body.

And count backwards from 54 along the body.

And count backwards from 54 along with it.

Mentally feel as if breath only flows in through the left nostril.

And out through the right.

And then in through the right and out through the left.

This is one round.

Like this continue to 53 more rounds.

Not trying to fall asleep.

Just counting down the breath.

And knowing that it really doesn't matter too much when the sleep comes.

As you lie there in this way both the body and the mind are getting all the rest that they need.

If you lose track of the countdown come back to 54 and start over.