For the first time the master said, “I can certify – you have achieved. You were trying with your mind, tense. Today it was just accidental – you were sitting relaxed, it was not your business, you were finished with it…. And because you were finished with it, your eyes were clear, your heart was silent, you were watching in deep peace and silence, and you could see. For three years I was trying to show it to you, but because you were in a hurry to learn quickly and go to Germany…. And just now there was no hurry – you were going to Germany.

“I can certify that you have achieved not only the art of archery, but simultaneously the art of grounding. And the moment you are grounded, as the trees are grounded – with deep roots in the earth – when your body is receiving forces from the earth and you are available, relaxed, allowing them to fill your life center, the mind stops functioning, time stops.”

So just by the side, meditation happens. People around the world have wondered, “What has meditation to do with archery?” But it happens. It can happen with anything. The question is, mind should stop, time should stop; you should be relaxed and allow life to take possession of you.

You are asking, “The other day you said it was easier for one to meditate when one was elevated from the earth, such as on a tree. In Aikido, one of the fundamental principles is to feel the body connected with the gravity of the earth. Is there any contradiction in it?”

No, only variety. Either you are connected with the earth or you are connected with the sky. You have heard the word gravitation; perhaps you have not heard the word levitation. Just as the earth pulls you towards itself, the sky pulls you towards itself. The pull of the earth is called gravitation and the pull of the sky is called levitation. So either way, you can manage. The earth is your life – so is the sky.

In fact, my suggestion is that the sky is far vaster than the earth. Its energy sources are inexhaustible, more than the energy of the earth. It is enough for a small human being to be filled with the energy of the earth. But if you really want to know the universal force, it is better if you go farther away from the earth.

The first astronauts were very much puzzled…they had not thought about it. Later on they were trained, but the first astronauts had no idea: as they moved out of the gravitational field, they started floating in their spacecraft, inside. They could not believe it, they became weightless. Their weight on the earth was of gravitation.

You don’t have any weight. The moment you become weightless, if you are aware that this weightlessness can be associated with meditation, then exactly what happens in grounding will have happened, and far more tremendously. You will be flooded with the universal energy.

But because the astronauts were Western people, they had no idea of energy. They became even more tense, more afraid, “What is happening?” Somehow they grabbed their seat belts, tied themselves to their seats. It was just a shocking experience. Just think if you start floating, going to the disco, or just on a visit to MG Road…. Nobody has heard of it; hence it has no name.