"That is the only thing that has to be added, the only refinement.

"You are aware of objects. You have to be aware of your subjectivity. When you are looking at a sunset, you are so absorbed in the beauty of the sunset that you completely forget that there is a greater beauty which is making it possible for you to know the beauty of the sunset – it is your awareness. But your awareness is focused on an object – the sunset, the sunrise, the moon. Drop the object and just remain engulfed in pure awareness, in silence, in peace. Just be alert.

"I am reminded of one of the most beautiful stories that I have come across in my life.

"A king in Japan sent his son to a mystic, to a master, to learn awareness. The king was old. And he said to the son, 'Put your total energy into it because unless you are aware, you are not going to succeed me. I will not give this kingdom to a man who is asleep and unconscious. It is not a question of father and son – my father has given it to me only when I attained awareness. I was not the right person because I was not his eldest son, I was his youngest son. But my other two brothers, who were older than me, could not attain.

"'The same is going to happen to you. And the problem is even more complicated because I have only one son: if you do not attain to awareness, the kingdom is going into somebody else's hands. You will be a beggar on the streets. So it is a question of life and death for you. Go to this man; he has been my master. Now he is very old, but I know that if anybody can teach you, he is the man. Tell him, 'My father is sick, old, can die any day. Time is short, and I have to become fully aware before he dies; otherwise I lose the kingdom.'' A very symbolic story too: If you are not aware, you lose the kingdom.

"The king's son went to the old master in the mountains."