It is boring I know, stating the same things over and over again. People go in for variety, and novelty. That is where our aesthetic sense comes in. And that is the starting point of all art. Art is the interpretation of reality as we perceive it. We wake up in the mornings, see the same bed-stead, see the same night lamps, see the same bedside table, see the same walls, the same bed sheets the same curtains, the same flower pots. The window gives us the same trees, the same compound-walls, the same roads the same grainy gravel or cement paths……
We are in despair, the whole humdrummity of life hits us on the head like an umpteen ton hammer. No, we don’t swoon; if we do, that would be an artistic reaction on our parts. But instead we sigh, and get out of the bed, squeeze the same old tube of paste on to the same slightly frayed brush and puts it inside the same old mouth and brushes the same old teeth. We taste the same old mixture of saliva mixed with sweet clay.
We look at the same poor mug seen in the mirror; it had some beauty in the night, in the faded light, now it looks like a baked potato with its skin hanging, in the morning glare. We are not feeling confident, we get inside the toilet and try not to think of what goes on in there.
No one can be blamed for it. I am often like that too. I look in the mirror; I see the same face every day. I get bored, so I lengthen the side burns or wear a beard or shave everything off. Sometimes I shorten my hair or grow it long, I turn my moustache up or down, I wear a Bulganin or a French beard. I put on glasses, different types, different shades, different designs, in the hopes all that would alter the boring thing that I see in the mirror.
Even these are creative efforts aimed at producing a different kind of reality than we do normally see. We do that by manipulating things that we have a right on. We can’t alter the public road, or the skies or the sun, so we have to be satisfied with the small things we can lay our hands on. We even try to alter the lives of the people we meet out of this sheer vacuity. I would not call it viciousness. We are out to create something new and we are so sure that we have a right to do it. We have knowledge haven’t we? We have even friends to supply material to bolster up our puny ego. Although we have little inkling what goes on in our own lives. If anyone asks us what neuron is functioning at any given moment we would either take recourse behind laughter or rage….
We are lost souls, the sooner we realize it the better. We can’t alter any ones lives without altering something in ourselves. If we are really within ourselves we would naturally effect a change in others even otherwise, even without doing anything. Sometimes we would shock them right into their being by our mere presence, or the mere fact that we exist. It is a jolt that is life changing. But some would even then cling to their old lives and try to fake their older selves.
I am sorry to say this, but we are wrong, once we come into contact with something real, we alter even without knowing ourselves. There are forces at work which makes it happen. I watch these forces in operation all the time. I need not react to them, I can even ignore them, but I like this play, this strange display of self importance in things. I would like to always play along. I am the sportive guy.
Life is still a game which makes me laugh, well I would have liked to laugh with everyone of you but unfortunately some of us laugh without mirth, without real pleasure, when some of us die we would cling to earth, frantically thinking about our wives, husbands, children, houses, jewelry, positions in life, friends, bank balances, and art and cart….
Well hopefully when I die, I would dissolve into elements and be no more be anywhere in the individual sense. And my poor sense of humor calls it liberation. Anyway, if any of you know of anything else about my evolution I would be delighted to hear it.
May be there are souls out there who can correct me in this ‘mistaken’ assumption. If so they are welcome here to predict my path. You see I love this dual nonsense called life. I would be the very devil if I can continue this farce. Would some kind souls come and predict that I would be Satan or at least some minor devil in after life. Come on; be kind to a person who has been trying to tell you what he knows about reality.
Or at least can’t you say that I am a great soul, godlike or even god. It would be a great boost to my ego. I would turn my collar up and would prance about. Okay don’t even go to that length, there is no need to be nice about it. So don’t mince words, say that I would become anything, any mean thing. Yet my poor doubt is that everything has to pass through every other existing state as this farce unfolds. The god would pass through different states to become the devil and the devil would become god. I know that this is a destructive statement and would make some of you shiver to your very core. But unfortunately this is the truth. Any child would see it.
The only way to get out of this tangle is to go beyond the duality altogether. But I am willing to listen to other options to reach that state.
They say in the ancient texts that I was alone once and I became manifold out of boredom or out of this creative urge in me.(You can take a joke I hope. It’s not really a joke in essence, but its better keep it at that level now)
Idam eka Evaagra aaseel (This one was all alone)
Naanyath kinchanamishat (There was nothing else to be seen)
Thadekshata (this one mused)
Bahusyam prajaayEti (I shall become many)
My friends that is how I became the world….. I would go back to the earlier state the moment I attract all this back into me. Do you think I am raving? This I AM is not a thing you know about then. You need to try harder.
Okay I will play this game of duality with you. Tell me of someone who has gone beyond the Buddha and I will follow you and won’t stop following you, tell me about a god who won’t become a devil as time passes and I would become a convert to that faith. I am delighted with illumined souls who can amass virtue alone on one side and oust all evil from the world. Prove that it can be done and that the world is non-dual, and I will be your slave from then onwards. Prove it with convincing arguments.
If you can’t, well here is what you do.
KEEP YOUR MIND AT THE PLACE BETWEEN THE EYE BROWS.
Keep at it, keep at it, keep at it.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Who in the gods name am I
Well what do we really search for?
Do you have any idea?
I know that you haven’t. Don’t be peevish when you listen to this, it is the honest fact that you haven’t. None has. Some would say that they are searching for truth if they are very hard pressed. But what is the use of talking about something you have no idea about? What do they mean by truth? Come on, tell me that. Anyone?
We live like dazed beings relying on whatever comes our way, in desperation some have started to say that there are multiple realities- but really!
You see, there is only one reality that is your own; you don’t have to run anywhere to find it. It is already yours; there is no need even to search for it.
All the trouble starts when we want to find it.
Even those who realize this intuitively don’t know how to go about it. They run from people to people. I have nothing against these guys, some of them as I already stated in my earlier posts are great yogis. They can show you wonderful things. They can awaken forces like Kundalini within you. They might produce ashes out of the thin air and talk about your past and future in detail.
Well what of that? A person who knows some part of a book by heart can tell you of certain events in the story. It’s not such a great thing if you put your mind to it. It’s gained through certain techniques and practices; occasionally it might even be congenital.
Well if you are satisfied with it, its okay with me, you have every right to become deluded and muddled and to be led on a path which would not end till the dooms day comes. It’s your life, it’s your choice.
But to those others who are troubled by this one question:
Who in the gods name am I?
I can point you the way to find it. I have already done so. It’s the only method that there is and it is the only technique worth trying.
This comes to you without any charge, if you are deluded by the notions of worth, status, morals, learning etc.. Well what can me or any one do in your case?
You see there have always been people out to murder those who know, so that the world would remain deluded for all ages to come. Buddha tried to show people how to go about meditation.
He held up a flower and just looked at it. Only one among the audience understood.
Millennia’s went. Have the people become any the wiser? The world is still where it was then, may be it has become worse. Some have even started to claim that it is all an old world notion. They just don’t know what they mean by it. They really have no idea what time itself is.
So what do those who want to learn about themselves do?
They keep their mind at the place between the eye brows; they work at it, till the truth comes out.
KEEP THE MIND AT THE SPOT BETWEEN EYE BROWS.
Do you have any idea?
I know that you haven’t. Don’t be peevish when you listen to this, it is the honest fact that you haven’t. None has. Some would say that they are searching for truth if they are very hard pressed. But what is the use of talking about something you have no idea about? What do they mean by truth? Come on, tell me that. Anyone?
We live like dazed beings relying on whatever comes our way, in desperation some have started to say that there are multiple realities- but really!
You see, there is only one reality that is your own; you don’t have to run anywhere to find it. It is already yours; there is no need even to search for it.
All the trouble starts when we want to find it.
Even those who realize this intuitively don’t know how to go about it. They run from people to people. I have nothing against these guys, some of them as I already stated in my earlier posts are great yogis. They can show you wonderful things. They can awaken forces like Kundalini within you. They might produce ashes out of the thin air and talk about your past and future in detail.
Well what of that? A person who knows some part of a book by heart can tell you of certain events in the story. It’s not such a great thing if you put your mind to it. It’s gained through certain techniques and practices; occasionally it might even be congenital.
Well if you are satisfied with it, its okay with me, you have every right to become deluded and muddled and to be led on a path which would not end till the dooms day comes. It’s your life, it’s your choice.
But to those others who are troubled by this one question:
Who in the gods name am I?
I can point you the way to find it. I have already done so. It’s the only method that there is and it is the only technique worth trying.
This comes to you without any charge, if you are deluded by the notions of worth, status, morals, learning etc.. Well what can me or any one do in your case?
You see there have always been people out to murder those who know, so that the world would remain deluded for all ages to come. Buddha tried to show people how to go about meditation.
He held up a flower and just looked at it. Only one among the audience understood.
Millennia’s went. Have the people become any the wiser? The world is still where it was then, may be it has become worse. Some have even started to claim that it is all an old world notion. They just don’t know what they mean by it. They really have no idea what time itself is.
So what do those who want to learn about themselves do?
They keep their mind at the place between the eye brows; they work at it, till the truth comes out.
KEEP THE MIND AT THE SPOT BETWEEN EYE BROWS.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Its not so difficult is it?
The Vedantin starts his meditation on the awareness of I AM. There are no lower vehicles for him, no Chakra’s, no life force, no mind, and no intellect like the Kundalini Yogi.
He asks:
Who Am I? Am I the body or mind or intellect or consciousness?
He gets an answer:
I am Consciousness because that’s the only part which never changes. I am always aware of myself in all states.
He concentrates on his consciousness.
Then a strange thing happens. He realizes his oneness with everything. I will illustrate it for you. I have mentioned it before too.
Just think of a closed string of beads. The string could begin and end at any bead, yes? The vedantin notes this. In effect you could call yourself the beginning and the end of the universe. So could anyone too.
The vedantin in his realization says.
I am Everything ( Aham Brahma Asmi.)
If someone comes then to him in that state in search of knowledge, he says.
You too are that (Tat Tvam Asi).
To such a person nothing remains to be explored. He is always in bliss.
He might wander the world like a mad man, letting the world do anything to him. He is not mad of course, but the ignorant would think him so.
I know this would sound completely bizarre to you. But anyway, that’s the difference between a Yogi and Vedantin. Yogi believes in evolution, Vedantin achieves liberation.
Keep your mind at the point between the eyebrows.
Keep it there, keep it there...
He asks:
Who Am I? Am I the body or mind or intellect or consciousness?
He gets an answer:
I am Consciousness because that’s the only part which never changes. I am always aware of myself in all states.
He concentrates on his consciousness.
Then a strange thing happens. He realizes his oneness with everything. I will illustrate it for you. I have mentioned it before too.
Just think of a closed string of beads. The string could begin and end at any bead, yes? The vedantin notes this. In effect you could call yourself the beginning and the end of the universe. So could anyone too.
The vedantin in his realization says.
I am Everything ( Aham Brahma Asmi.)
If someone comes then to him in that state in search of knowledge, he says.
You too are that (Tat Tvam Asi).
To such a person nothing remains to be explored. He is always in bliss.
He might wander the world like a mad man, letting the world do anything to him. He is not mad of course, but the ignorant would think him so.
I know this would sound completely bizarre to you. But anyway, that’s the difference between a Yogi and Vedantin. Yogi believes in evolution, Vedantin achieves liberation.
Keep your mind at the point between the eyebrows.
Keep it there, keep it there...
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Advaya Taraka Upanishad
It would be hard for me to update the blog for a while. In the meantime you could go to the link below and read the translated text of Advaya Taraka Upanishad.
It has immediate relevance to the subject we are interested in and makes certain aspects of the practice clear.
If you find anything perplexing in it feel free to post it here. I will try my best to answer you.
Advaya Taraka Upanishad
It has immediate relevance to the subject we are interested in and makes certain aspects of the practice clear.
If you find anything perplexing in it feel free to post it here. I will try my best to answer you.
Advaya Taraka Upanishad
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Zhine to develop Sambavi
Let us talk about Zhine (peaceful steadiness) here, a Tibetan Buddhist practice to gain control over the mind. It is useful while practicing Sambavi Mudra.
The Tibetans speak of three stages of Zhine, the forceful, natural and ultimate. The practice begins with focusing the mind on an external object and goes on to the fixation of mind on an objectless state.
You can sit in a chair for this practice. Cross your legs under you. Place the hands folded in your lap with palms up one over the other. Hold the spine straight but not rigid, head slightly tilted to keep the neck straight. Keep the eyes open (This is the main reason I am talking of this technique. It teaches us the Poornima Drishti.)
The eyes should not strain, it should neither be wide open or too shut, but just open enough to keep them relaxed and steady. The object on which you are concentrating should be dead ahead of you, not over or below the line of vision. Don’t move or blink, even if tears stream down the face keep the eyes steady on the object. Breathe naturally.
I would suggest the letter Aum in Sanskrit script or Aum written in English as the object of meditation. If you are using the English version make the A big and inscribe U and M within it.
The Tibetans inscribe the picture of the letter on a paper an inch square and fix it on a stick with a base to hold it on ground. This is a good idea. You can carry it around and practice the technique where ever you want. Make the letter white on a black background. Place it just a foot and half in front of the eyes while practicing.
If something strange occurs during practice think they are natural and continue practicing. In forceful shine you make your mind concentrate on the object. It would wander, but try to bring it back every time. If you can’t break session and try to concentrate on a quality you would like to develop, like compassion, truthfulness etc and return to your practice. You can do it as many times as you want. (If you have no tool to concentrate on you can also visualize a ball of light in the forehead.)
Never waver for a moment. Keep your attention steady on the object and breathe steadily. Slowly the breath would begin to thin and become un noticeable.
Just be aware of the object and don’t think about it. Slowly concentration would intensify and you will begin to get absorbed in the object. This is the time to start meditating without object. Look at the space in front of you and not at any object. Take an imaginary point in before you and focus on it. Then even forgetting it allows the mind to dissolve. This is called ‘merging the mind in space’. This leads to the next stage the Ultimate Zhine.
This is the natural next stage in the practice. Thoughts would not enter the mind and you will remain in a relaxed and tranquil state.
You should not involve in intense physical activity just before practice, this would agitate the mind and make concentration difficult. Then while you are practicing sleep might come. Stop it with your mind by concentrating more strongly.
The most troublesome problem of all is a lax state of mind while in meditation. Your mind would be calm and passive with no power to it. This can be very pleasant but is not conducive to reaching higher levels of consciousness. Strengthening your posture and alerting your mind would be effective in combating it.
Practice it always till you can consciously reach a state of steadiness of mind. This is the preliminary practice on Raja Yoga; the Tibetans learned it from Padmasambava a Tantric Yogi who came to Tibet sometime in the thirteen hundreds. It would lead you towards the attainment of Sambavi mudra.
I suggest this for those who are struggling to fix the mind at Trikut (the fore head, at the point between the eyes, the ajna chakra) without any previous experience in meditation. Sometimes props such as these might become useful to them.
I will discuss similar practices as we go on. Our mind tires easily and might welcome variety while involved in spiritual practices.
The Tibetans speak of three stages of Zhine, the forceful, natural and ultimate. The practice begins with focusing the mind on an external object and goes on to the fixation of mind on an objectless state.
You can sit in a chair for this practice. Cross your legs under you. Place the hands folded in your lap with palms up one over the other. Hold the spine straight but not rigid, head slightly tilted to keep the neck straight. Keep the eyes open (This is the main reason I am talking of this technique. It teaches us the Poornima Drishti.)
The eyes should not strain, it should neither be wide open or too shut, but just open enough to keep them relaxed and steady. The object on which you are concentrating should be dead ahead of you, not over or below the line of vision. Don’t move or blink, even if tears stream down the face keep the eyes steady on the object. Breathe naturally.
I would suggest the letter Aum in Sanskrit script or Aum written in English as the object of meditation. If you are using the English version make the A big and inscribe U and M within it.
The Tibetans inscribe the picture of the letter on a paper an inch square and fix it on a stick with a base to hold it on ground. This is a good idea. You can carry it around and practice the technique where ever you want. Make the letter white on a black background. Place it just a foot and half in front of the eyes while practicing.
If something strange occurs during practice think they are natural and continue practicing. In forceful shine you make your mind concentrate on the object. It would wander, but try to bring it back every time. If you can’t break session and try to concentrate on a quality you would like to develop, like compassion, truthfulness etc and return to your practice. You can do it as many times as you want. (If you have no tool to concentrate on you can also visualize a ball of light in the forehead.)
Never waver for a moment. Keep your attention steady on the object and breathe steadily. Slowly the breath would begin to thin and become un noticeable.
Just be aware of the object and don’t think about it. Slowly concentration would intensify and you will begin to get absorbed in the object. This is the time to start meditating without object. Look at the space in front of you and not at any object. Take an imaginary point in before you and focus on it. Then even forgetting it allows the mind to dissolve. This is called ‘merging the mind in space’. This leads to the next stage the Ultimate Zhine.
This is the natural next stage in the practice. Thoughts would not enter the mind and you will remain in a relaxed and tranquil state.
You should not involve in intense physical activity just before practice, this would agitate the mind and make concentration difficult. Then while you are practicing sleep might come. Stop it with your mind by concentrating more strongly.
The most troublesome problem of all is a lax state of mind while in meditation. Your mind would be calm and passive with no power to it. This can be very pleasant but is not conducive to reaching higher levels of consciousness. Strengthening your posture and alerting your mind would be effective in combating it.
Practice it always till you can consciously reach a state of steadiness of mind. This is the preliminary practice on Raja Yoga; the Tibetans learned it from Padmasambava a Tantric Yogi who came to Tibet sometime in the thirteen hundreds. It would lead you towards the attainment of Sambavi mudra.
I suggest this for those who are struggling to fix the mind at Trikut (the fore head, at the point between the eyes, the ajna chakra) without any previous experience in meditation. Sometimes props such as these might become useful to them.
I will discuss similar practices as we go on. Our mind tires easily and might welcome variety while involved in spiritual practices.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Welcome
I would have liked to post more in the blog, but it does not seem possible now because of other engagements. But I do have few things to say on the general aspects of spiritual practice which might be of interest to those who seek the truth.
Well I might get to it eventually.
In the meantime I would like to welcome Ashok Kumar to my blog.
Please be at home here.
Well I might get to it eventually.
In the meantime I would like to welcome Ashok Kumar to my blog.
Please be at home here.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Swetaswatara On Finding Truth
Dhyana is actually a mental activity and has little to do with bodily postures, but having said that a comfortable posture might be helpful in quieting the mind.
The Swetaswatara Upanishad says that the head, neck and shoulders should be held straight and steady while meditating. Then one should think of AUM. AUM is the Shabda (Nada) Brahman, the primordial sound. (Think of A as creation, U as the steady state and M as destruction). Just imagine that all the three is happening when you mentally pronounce the word. It would move us away from hindering thoughts and would help to still the mind.
I might write something on the worship of AUM sometime later. But really it’s not needed. It’s only a boat to steady the mind for further activity.
As you stay like that in your place of meditation you will notice the thinning of breath. At that moment you need to close your mouth and begin Pranayama. The Rishi prescribes Rechaka-Puraka-Kumbaka’s (You might want to look up the article on Pranayama to learn what it is). But to me such strenuous practices are not all that necessary. Just steadying the breath would do.
Upanishad says that a flat clean surface with no disturbing sounds or no captivating/awkward sights is preferable to every other kind of sites. Air currents should not also trouble us while we sit thus. Caves are suggested for this purpose. A room is as good as anything else as far as I am concerned, if it’s uncluttered and clean.
If you experience the presence of fog, smoke, sun, gaseous phenomena, fire, star, lightning, crystals and moon in the beginning it would lead you towards the final truth. You can meditate with your eyes open and see all these phenomena in the visible form.
I can assure you of that. These are not mere words; I have been through the experience.
According to Indian cosmology there are five states of matter in our environment. They call it elements. Prithvi (Solids), Jal (Liquid), Agni (energy), Vayu (Gaseous) and Akasha (Space). As you meditate your mind would start to understand how these elements form and evolve into each other. This would give you the Yogic body (that is you would know what the body is really made up of) and thus would eliminate old age death and diseases.
A word of caution: Though this is possible, if you concentrate on these aspects it would lead you astray from the search of truth. These are spectacles by the way side and we should not and stop our journey for them.
The first signs of Yogic state are lightness of body, strength in you, personal beauty, attractive voice, presence of good scents, aversion to worldly things, and diminished quantity of excretions.
All this is true too.
This yogi sheds his vestures and starts to realize his real nature, that is, his oneness with everything. This Deva (Spirit) is nothing but the whole world. He pervades all directions and is the first born in the universe. He is the one in the womb and the one outside and is the one yet to be born. He resides in the hearts of all as the inner spirit. He faces all points in the universe simultaneously.
The second chapter of the Upanishad concludes enjoining us to pray to this god who resides in fire, water, plants and trees and has entered everywhere in the universe.
It technically becomes a prayer to our own true self.
The Swetaswatara Upanishad says that the head, neck and shoulders should be held straight and steady while meditating. Then one should think of AUM. AUM is the Shabda (Nada) Brahman, the primordial sound. (Think of A as creation, U as the steady state and M as destruction). Just imagine that all the three is happening when you mentally pronounce the word. It would move us away from hindering thoughts and would help to still the mind.
I might write something on the worship of AUM sometime later. But really it’s not needed. It’s only a boat to steady the mind for further activity.
As you stay like that in your place of meditation you will notice the thinning of breath. At that moment you need to close your mouth and begin Pranayama. The Rishi prescribes Rechaka-Puraka-Kumbaka’s (You might want to look up the article on Pranayama to learn what it is). But to me such strenuous practices are not all that necessary. Just steadying the breath would do.
Upanishad says that a flat clean surface with no disturbing sounds or no captivating/awkward sights is preferable to every other kind of sites. Air currents should not also trouble us while we sit thus. Caves are suggested for this purpose. A room is as good as anything else as far as I am concerned, if it’s uncluttered and clean.
If you experience the presence of fog, smoke, sun, gaseous phenomena, fire, star, lightning, crystals and moon in the beginning it would lead you towards the final truth. You can meditate with your eyes open and see all these phenomena in the visible form.
I can assure you of that. These are not mere words; I have been through the experience.
According to Indian cosmology there are five states of matter in our environment. They call it elements. Prithvi (Solids), Jal (Liquid), Agni (energy), Vayu (Gaseous) and Akasha (Space). As you meditate your mind would start to understand how these elements form and evolve into each other. This would give you the Yogic body (that is you would know what the body is really made up of) and thus would eliminate old age death and diseases.
A word of caution: Though this is possible, if you concentrate on these aspects it would lead you astray from the search of truth. These are spectacles by the way side and we should not and stop our journey for them.
The first signs of Yogic state are lightness of body, strength in you, personal beauty, attractive voice, presence of good scents, aversion to worldly things, and diminished quantity of excretions.
All this is true too.
This yogi sheds his vestures and starts to realize his real nature, that is, his oneness with everything. This Deva (Spirit) is nothing but the whole world. He pervades all directions and is the first born in the universe. He is the one in the womb and the one outside and is the one yet to be born. He resides in the hearts of all as the inner spirit. He faces all points in the universe simultaneously.
The second chapter of the Upanishad concludes enjoining us to pray to this god who resides in fire, water, plants and trees and has entered everywhere in the universe.
It technically becomes a prayer to our own true self.
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