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Can the one who becomes the Acharya be independent? Never. Respected Kalugani used to say that the Acharya's position makes him more relative. At every step he has to keep connection with others. A sadhu,(monk) is not in a position that is as relative. He is able to do many things independently. But the Acharya...waking up, sitting, sleeping, talking, eating, moving about, everything happens in dependency...he has to take the help of some monk. His independence is limited. Once Acharya Shri Tulsi told me, "Sometimes I feel like quietly going and doing my work." I said, "If you do that it will be more troublesome for others. For the word will inevitably spread and, anguished that you have gone alone, five or ten monks will go running hither and thither and nothing would be achieved."
During meditation I say, "Close your eyes." Do not consider even this as absolutist. In the field of meditation, anekanta is used to the full. We have to make use of relativity to its hilt. Close your eyes. Why? The objective behind this is that you do not influence the one who is training you. That the one who trains is saved from the influence of your meditation. Can meditation be done with open eyes
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