Transient World
Everything in this world is transient.
Anything that comes will go one day.
Birth happens to change into death one day,
Pain comes to change into pleasure one day,
Pleasure comes to change into pain one day,
Health comes to change into sickness one day,
Sickness comes to change into health one day,
Death comes to change into birth one day.
Every state, phase and stage is transient,
Everything in this world is transient.
Become Motionless, Become Thoughtless
Breathing naturally in-and-out,
In the moments of breath ceasing its flow in-and-out,
In the moments of thoughts reducing their flow in-and-out,
Body tending to become motionless,
Mind tending to become thoughtless.
As the seeker dies,
The Awareness rises,
Laughing at the delusion of the seeker,
Only to show its constant presence,
And the seeker, seeking and sought,
Becoming One,
Delusion ceases.
Thoughts, motion no longer bothering,
Becoming motionless and thoughtless effortlessly,
Enjoying the bliss ever after.
I am not the role
Playing myriad roles over and over,
got identified and entangled again and again.
Couldn't even realize that it is just a role,
Couldn't even think for a little while that it is just a role.
Over and over suffered again and again,
By getting entangled with the role.
Entangling with myriad roles, I created own rules,
Forgetting and foregoing Creator's Rules.
Suffered through incessantly,
Unerringly stepping into biases,
endless futile discussions, gossips,
prejudices, judgments, arguments, altercations,
Losing peace, health, happiness and joy.
Every entanglement separated Being from Meing,
To throw into the tantrums of the worldly life,
To tease, tickle and beaten till the Me kneeled,
Either in despair or in devotion,
To surrender willingly to that eternal Director,
Creator, Organizer, Coordinator, and Dissolver,
Only to show that every act is just a role,
To be played and not to get entangled;
To entertain and not to get entertained;
Until the player realized and
Entangled with the Director rather than the role.
Player playing the role to the Director's satisfaction,
To realize not the role-player, but a part of Creator,
Is Blessed and freed from all the roles,
Not to play again on Life's stage,
to merge into Eternal Nothingness.
Meing to Being
The Me while playing
myriad roles in this life,
got identified and entangled.
The Be played
myriad roles in myriad lives
without identification and entanglement.
Pain and pleasure, Blame and praise,
All dualities existed in the Meing.
By letting go the dualities of relativistic world,
Entered the realm of non-dualistic world,
To live and exist in the Being state.
The state of Being sans Me,
The state of Meing sans Be.
The Me and the Be,
Moving from Meing to Being,
Life's journey continuing,
To live, enter into and
Finally to become Nothing.
Inner Silence
Not believing in the mind,
Stepped into a realm beyond mind.
Not believing in fear of losing identity,
Stepped into a realm beyond identities.
Not believing in the noise and chaos of world,
Stepped into a realm of silence and simplicity.
Letting go the external noise,
Stepped into a realm of inner silence.
Letting go the dualities of world,
Stepped into a realm of Oneness.
Stepping into Oneness,
Doubt, belief, question,
questioner, answer
Disappeared into oblivion, and
Entered the realm of Nothingness.
Letting Him In
Meditating alone,
Wanted Him to come in.
He answered,
I will come in when you go out.
Stepped out... to see in awe,
The Beloved, Lover, Love,
all became One.
He was always in,
Deluded was I as "I" existed.
Letting me go out, and
Letting Him in.
Journey of Life,
Life's learning,
All completed.
Acquired everything in delusion
To learn that only Nothing exists.
Had to unlearn all learning,
To become aware of Nothingness.
Letting me go out, and Letting Him in.
Awareness became aware of Nothingness.
Listening
Made an attempt to listen to self,
Kept away all prejudices, biases and judgments,
Entered the silence and stillness to see,
The reflection of Self.
Couldn't see clearly and listen,
As the clinging's persisted,
Biases, opinions, judgments existed.
Made an attempt again to listen to self,
This time started with listening to nature,
The gentle swish of leaves, soft squeaks of branches,
Coos of dove, chirps of birds, buzz of bees,
hum of the breeze, song of the tweets,
my inclinations, impulses, ideas,
opinions, prejudices, biases,
All taking a backstage,
Could listen to creation.
Made an attempt again to listen to self,
This time started with my own breath,
The gentle "hum-sa" sound of breath,
The gentle chirp of cricket, all within,
Entered into a realm of stillness and silence,
All clinging's being gone into oblivion,
Saw the True Self in the self,
Awed by the splendour and amazement,
Became speechless, wordless, emotionless,
And finally merged into Nothingness.
Two sides of same coin
Birth and death,
Day and night,
Health and sickness,
Praise and blame,
Pride and modesty,
Affluence and poverty,
Gain and loss,
Pleasure and pain,
Are two sides of the same coin.
While the ignorant indulges in either one,
creating myriad identities,
The wise indulges in none,
letting go all identities.
Walking on any one side,
Ends the journey one day,
And make us to walk on the other side,
Without any choice.
Better to walk on the rim of the coin,
And be not attached to any side.
The duality exists in the relativistic world,
To teach us that everything is transient.
The Creator coded this way the creation,
So that the creation can merge back into Creator.
Escaping the duality, we escape the relativity,
And escape the transience,
To become the eternal One.
Silent brook
Walking along a silent lane,
Walking along a silent brook,
Walking amidst fully blossomed spring trees,
Step-by-step feeling the silence and stillness,
Amidst the rustle of leaves and bustle of flowers,
Even though mind feeling the narrowness of the lane space,
Heart feeling the beauty and vastness of Cosmos,
Romancing with the unruffled, non-chaotic beauty of the silence,
Entering and enjoying the blissful state of stillness.
Identity stepping aside, narrowness disappearing,
prejudices, biases, judgments into oblivion,
Heart feeling the presence of vastness;
As revealed and projected onto
the empty screen of thoughtless state;
The silence and stillness,
Merging with I, You, That, This,
Everything and Everywhere,
To reveal the eternal presence of Nothingness.
Breathing Consciously
I was breathing unconsciously,
I halted and turned my attention to my breath,
In a little while, I am breathing consciously.
The breath entered in through the nostrils,
down the trachea, lungs, stomach, abdomen,
body gently moving along with the flow of breath,
I becoming conscious of the breath and the body,
able to witness the breath and body as something separate.
Breath again moved and I witnessed consciously,
Suddenly breath halted - stilled into the stillness consciously,
Suddenly there was silence - merged into the silence consciously,
Breath flow halted, body movement halted - witnessed everything consciously.
Suddenly everything turned into Nothing,
Consciousness turned into Nothingness.
* * *
Sod of Silence
Thou hast shown me Thy path of interiorization,
And, I lost the path of outwardness, to travel inward.
Thou hast made me to touch Thy sod of silence,
And I lost all vocabulary to describe Thee.
Thou hast made me to touch Thy sod of stillness,
And I lost all identities, to identify with Nothingness.
Thou hast covered my face with Thy sacred garment of Omnipresence,
And I lost all my veils of illusion, to be in Thy presence.
Thou hast allowed me to enter Thy Sanctum Sanctorum,
And I lost the path to wilderness, to trod on Thy path of Eternity.
Thou hast allowed me to enter Thine Eternal realm of Superconsciousness,
And I lost all my consciousness, to be in Thine Eternal realm of Nothingness.
Thou hast blessed Thy child,
to stay in Thine Eternity,
And this child of Thine lost everything,
to gain Thine Eternal Nothingness,
And to stay eternally blessed.
Who is 'Who' and What is 'What'?
Who is 'Who' and What is 'What'?
'Who' is made up of thoughts;
'What' is made up of
unique combination of 5 elements of nature
which are again made up of thoughts by 'Who.'
As long as there was pleasure and merry,
'Who' enjoyed every bit of 'What',
And never questioned anything and anyone.
The moment pain, sickness came,
'Who' started blaming 'What' and its composition.
'What' retaliated stating,
"I can't be blamed."
It is you who created the 'What' with your own thoughts.
I just materialized based upon your thoughts.
And, it is my job, to go back into from where I have come.
'What' further stated,
before creating I have warned you
About every consequence.
As long as there was pleasure and merry,
you enjoyed it.
Why do you cry and weep?
when everything created has to dissolve back.
'Who' got entangled and forgot that the
'What' is its own creation.
And everything that is created has to be dissolved.
Finally in self-reflection, stillness and silence,
'Who' realized its mistake,
And could see that,
Not only the 'What', even 'Who'
is made up of only thoughts.
The moment this was realized,
Both 'Who' and 'What'
Dissolved into Nothingness,
And Nothingness ever remained as Nothingness,
Always ready to create another 'Who' and 'What'
Waiting for thought.
What is Māyā (माया) or Illusion?
Introduction
Whenever we perceive something (about an object or about a person) we try to perceive in two ways and generally a combination of these two perceptions is considered to be a human perception. First one is the sensory perception (received through any one or combination of 5 senses/sense organs), while the second one is cognitive perception which is based upon the extent of the intellectual information an individual has about an object or a person.
This leads to an equation:
Human Perception = Sensory Perception + Cognitive Perception
Let us consider an analogy where an individual sees an object E.g., refrigerator. As far as sensory perception of that individual is considered regarding the refrigerator, it would be based upon the physical dimensions, color etc. When it comes to the cognitive perception of that individual, it depends upon the extent of the intellectual information that individual possesses about the refrigerator. A mechanical engineer will have a different cognitive perception from that of an electronic engineer for the same refrigerator. A simple home maker who uses the same refrigerator might have a completely different cognitive perception. This means, even though we all see the same object (s), the way we perceive about it would be different based upon the intellectual information we as an individual possess about those object (s). This is like four blind men who touch a portion of an elephant and develops different cognitive perceptions about the same elephant. One blind man who touches the ear says that the elephant is like a big fan, the other who touches its legs says that the elephant is having four pillars, the other who touches the tail says it is like a thin rope, while the last one who touches the trunk says that the elephant is like a long and thick rope. Now if we look at their individual perceptions, they are right in their own perceptions, but it is not true - why? - because it is not complete. Their understanding or perception of a portion of an elephant is true to them, but a person who can see the elephant completely 3-dimensionally in all the 360 degrees will say that the perception of these blind men is half true which also means half lie and their individual or collective perceptions will not really describe the whole elephant. This means the perceptions of all the blind men are in reality deceptions.
Extending this analogy to our daily perceptions and self reflecting upon our cognitive perceptions, we can arrive at a conclusion that all of our perceptions are half true which also means they are half life. This means all of our daily cognitive perceptions are actually deceptions, because we use different lenses/shades to see objects or to understand people. Thus, every perspective is deceptive. It is never complete and true.
Hence, our revised equation would be:
Human Perception = Sensory Perception + Combination of Deceptions
Mechanism/Technique
How to overcome illusion or māyā?
To arrive at the second aspect, one need to understand what is meant by going beyond the sensory perception and cognitive perceptions. This can happen only when we withdraw our senses from all external objects which sage Patanjali called it as pratyāhāra प्रत्याहार. Once we withdraw all of our senses from external worldly objects and by some breathing technique can still the breath, then we can - may be for a moment - reach the stillness, thoughtless state. This is the state where we would be able to see everything as is without any shades/lenses. A long practice of the above practices and a longer duration of stillness and breathless states will result in another realm of perception which is called as intuitive perception. Please do not mistake this intuitive perception with gut instinct. Generally it takes 10 to 15 years of strong practice of mindfulness/meditative practices to cultivate intuitive perception.
Thus our final revised equation would be:
Human Perception = Sensory Perception + Cognitive Perception (Combination of Deceptions) + Intuitive Perception
Living in this world was never easy to anyone. Somewhere there would be difficulties. Neither everything will be bad, nor everything will be good. Good and bad co-exist. The creation itself is based on dualities and everything in the creation is relativistic. There is nothing absolute or permanent about the creation. There is nothing permanent about nature's phenomenon. It is highly dynamic and keeps constantly changing. It is up to us what are those choices that we need to make and for every choice that we make there will be consequences which inevitably we need to reap them and face them.
There is a story where two boys were participating in a competition. The task in the competition was to eat 50 bananas. Out of 50 bananas 25 were raw bananas and 25 were adequately ripened. Since the task was to complete both the varieties, one boy first made a choice to eat the adequately ripened bananas, while the other boy made a choice of eating the raw bananas first. Both boys could not complete the task. By the time they ate 15 bananas their stomachs were full and could not eat even one banana more. The boy who ate first the adequately ripened bananas was having full energy and could continue his day with full vigor and strength while the boy who ate raw bananas had to suffer indigestion and had to take medicine to cure himself from the stomachache that he got.
The above story illustrates that we all have choices to make in this relativistic world. Among the variety of choices - what are those choices that we make depends upon our awareness. An awareness of the Truth will make us to see the different choices available with a different perspective. The way we see and perceive the world is always different. The external world is made up of five elements of nature (earth, water, fire, air and ether). Whenever we see an object or aspect, we can never understand or perceive the complete composition of any object or aspect. With our limited intellectuality, we create labels and boundaries to our comprehension. In reality, our sensory perception is limited and our cognitive perception is also limited. With these limitations, we are not in a position to grasp the Truth as the Truth is beyond all these deceptive perceptions of the relativistic world. Any individual who makes an effort to think beyond the relativistic world and attempts to see beyond the thought process would enter into a state of awareness from where the Truth can be felt and the relativistic world can be witnessed.
Living in the Truth, we comprehend the reality of the relativistic world completely from a different perspective. Living in reality of the relativistic world, we can never grasp the Truth. Because, the reality of the relativistic world is always an illusion - it is never 100% true. It is always partially true, which also means it is partially a lie also. By the time we have expressed any relativistic phenomenon, it has already changed. It no longer exists the same, which also means - the one that we have expressed as our partial perception has occurred somewhere in past and is no longer current or is happening in the present. It is always advisable to stay beyond the perceptions to truly understand and perceive everything of the world and at the same time not to be in the world. In this way we can overcome every illusion that is created by us or our thought processes. To stay in the awareness of the Truth is what the purpose of a human being is. When we stay in that state, then we are no longer bound by the duality of the external world or illusion or māyā. A true state of Intelligence is this state. Upanishad states this state as prajñānaṃ brahma प्रज्ञानम् ब्रह्म. Brahman is the Intelligence. In the relativistic world, we all are only intellectual and never intelligent enough. With so-called transactions of intellectual conversations, we consider ourselves as intelligent which is an illusion. We rarely think about the limitations of our so-called deceptive perceptions. The only way to overcome all this is go deeper and go beyond the breath.
When we observe further at a deeper level, through long continuous practices of meditative techniques we can also come to an awareness that breath is the one, which is actually bridging the inner realm or the astral realm with the outer physical world or realm. Hence, by going beyond the breath we enter a realm of stillness, go beyond the deceptive perceptions, and can overcome the illusion of our perceptions or māyā. Being still, we can become the witness to the relativistic world and witness it 360 degrees 3-dimensionally without being bound or influenced by it. Being still, we know and become the Truth, which is beyond every illusion. Stillness is the one, which will take us beyond all perceptions, deceptions and comprehensions. Stillness is the one, which reveals the eternal presence of the Truth. Be Still and Know.
When Thine Air is Stilled
When Thine air is stilled,
Thine everything is stilled.
Observing the bodily motion getting stilled,
Thy flow of breath is stilled.
Observing the flow of breath getting stilled,
Thy thought process is stilled.
Observing the thought process getting stilled.
Thy vital airs (prāṇa प्राण) is stilled.
Observing the vital airs (prāṇa प्राण) getting stilled,
Thine everything is stilled.
Observing the stillness getting stilled,
Thy whole creation is stilled.
Observing the creation getting stilled,
Mine and Thine - everything is stilled.
When Mine and Thine - everything is stilled,
The stillness melted into Eternal Nothingness,
And even the Eternal Nothingness is stilled,
Every-thing and No-thing - all is stilled.
While the Stillness is stilled,
There is no that and this,
There is no there and here,
There is no eternal or now,
There Is.
It Is.
Only Is.
Is.
ఏమిటి మనము చేయగలిగింది?
చేసుకుంటూ పోవడమే,
నేర్చుకుంటూ పోవడమే.
చేసుకుంటూ, నేర్చుకుంటూ
ముందుకు వెళ్ళడమే,
మనము చేయగలిగింది.
తప్పు జరిగినప్పుడల్లా
మనకు మనము
విశ్లేషించి సరిదిద్దుకుంటూ
బనత్ బనత్ బన్ జాయే
అన్న నానుడిని చాటుకుంటూ
ముందుకు వెళ్ళడమే,
మనము చేయగలిగింది.
ఓ గురుదేవా!
అనుక్షణం నీవు నిర్దేశించిన
దారిలొ ప్రయాణించ గలిగే
సంస్కారాన్ని ఇవ్వు తండ్రి.
అని మొరపెట్టుకోవడమే
మనము చేయగలిగింది.
What is Viveka (विवेक)?
The rough translation of the Sanskrit word Viveka into English would be "discrimination." Here, discrimination is not used to discriminate among the various aspects or objects of the world. Viveka विवेक or the discriminatory power of a human being is used for the following:
Meditative Techniques from Patanjali Yoga-sutras
Meditative Techniques from Samadhi Pada:
1. Reasoning and reflection on Truth.
2. Focusing on Silence and Stillness.
3. Single point focus on any one aspect of Ishvara (form or formless).
4. Focusing on pranava shabda – Om.
5. Thinking about the meaning of Ishvara while performing the japa of Ishvara.
6. Regulating the breath - keeping inhalation and exhalation of the same duration.
7. Focusing on any one worldly aspect continuously (may be a flower, flame, etc.)
8. Staying in the neutral state of beyond any attachments of dualities of nature.
9. Focusing on the aspect of deep sleep state.
10. Focusing on the light at the kutastha (on the center of the forehead, between the eyebrows).
Aid to meditation: Friendliness, compassion, pleasantness, being detached to dualities (pain and pleasure; virtue and sin).
Who/What?
The title of this post itself is very intriguing, excavating and exploring.
If we look at human being's life there are various aspects that through which we gather many experiences.
In the wakefulness state we gather experiences through 14 elements:
Self Awareness
Introduction
The first step in achieving Emotional Intelligence is to become aware of our self which in short is called as self-awareness. However, it is not so easy.
The self awareness aspect consists two parts:
Journaling
Journaling helps us to understand more and more our deep rooted emotions that are unanswered and probably have become millstones over a period of time being unaddressed. The best time for journaling would be 30 minutes before going to sleep.
Mindful observation
Mindful observation can be carried out throughout the day and especially taking some time to spend in silence,
Reflection
Reflection on our actions of the past could be a bit challenging, especially when it is associated with some pain. Hence, one need to be careful and cultivate enough compassion for oneself before attempting this sort of exercise.
Having done so, once we obtain clarity on our point A, we can further reflect on our point B.
To reach our point B:
Choice of our Actions
Introduction
Life always gives us choices to choose from every situation. What we choose could be based upon many factors. The factors could be our belief systems, our strong emotions based upon our belief systems or emotions based upon the situation that we are going through in that moment.
It is not easy to be non-impulsive when emotions are very high and violent. The two choices that one can have in regular situations could be reactive or strategic. To be reactive not much effort is required. We can just go with the emotion that is strongly prevailing in that situation. However, to be non-reactive, non-impulsive and strategic we need to be really focussed on the final outcome of the situation instead of getting hijacked or succumbing to the emotion of the situation.
Choices
A reactive response is generally based upon impulses and could be judgmental, biased, prejudiced, more of a fixed-mindset and often leads in dis-harmony, non-productivity and regret.
A strategic response is non-impulsive, non-judgmental, unbiased, unprejudiced, more of growth-mindset and leads to harmony, productivity and contentment.
Solution
Mindfulness/Meditative practices will enable us to reflect on the reactions of our bodies and the emotions that we undergo in every situation. These practices will also help us to choose consciously the appropriate response.
Conclusion
Hence, next time let us consciously choose to be strategic and live a life of harmony and contentment.
What is Awareness?
Awareness is pure, untainted and enables us to see transparently through everything - the truth of the true existence of the manifested cosmos - that it is all spirit and nothing else. The spirit dwelling in each and every part and parcel of the manifested cosmos.
Pure awareness allows us to see through the thoughts, rather than the thoughts. The seeing through the thoughts enables us to let go the identities to which we are generally bound. It allows us space to travel infinitely without boundaries. To question and challenge every aspect of life, and see through the validity and triviality of each aspect. This process of seeing through will enhance our seeing, observing, witnessing and enable us to identify our entanglements and provides us a platform to consciously choose upon which entanglements we would like to keep and not. Further, the pure awareness will also help us in letting go all the entanglements and become free to become infinite, boundless there by expanding our love and compassion unto the whole manifested cosmos. The pure awareness will let us stay comfortably in the unmanifested cosmos and witness the manifested cosmos without any entanglements.
Pure awareness is like boundless emptiness which can hold everything without getting entangled with anything. It is that one, that is present and one need not make any attempt to become aware of its presence. To become aware of the eternal presence of the pure awareness, one has to let go all the entanglements of body and mind and be comfortable in staying in the boundless cosmos, holding onto nothing. In that freedom from knowledge, ignorance, thoughts, entanglements when one stays in that emptiness, then the awareness itself becomes aware of its existence and allow us to become aware of its existence. This process does not involve any acquiring, it only involves an acknowledgement from the nothingness, by the nothingness and happens when we are completely in that nothingness. Pure awareness is infinite, boundless and free.
Overcoming Pain through Compassion not through avoidance.
Pain is something which is an unwanted feeling, but somehow we are more or less addicted to it. If everything is fine, hunky-dory we get bored and want to have something else and look for more challenging tasks or something more stimulating. Now this is all good where we wanted to have it and somehow or the other we make arrangements to prepare for it.
What if pain comes up from a clear blue sky, highly unanticipated situations? How to face it? What if there are situations or events that you expect will go smoothly and it turns out exactly opposite? It hurts right? It hurts very badly. We enter into that realm of melancholy and don't know how long it keeps haunting us and pushes us into some sort of depression if not too deep into it. These are those situations that we would love to avoid, but inevitability keeps striking back. Life throws at us experiences that we never anticipated and it becomes really a struggle to face them or accept them.
How to deal with pain without avoiding it is the crux of this article.
Radical Acceptance
In psychology "radical acceptance" is the term which is used for these kind of situations. Instead of fighting with the reality of an untoward incident, you accept the situation the way it is. The way life has thrown on your face straight without any warning. Accept it and face it. Instead of ruminating on "why me?," "why to me only?," "why to my life only?," one can say, okay it has happened, what next, what should be my next move? Where should I go next? If the situation is not giving you anytime to think, then go with whatever flow you can just flow. If it is giving you sometime to think, then analyze it and choose the most appropriate way to maneuver through it and come out successfully.
Well it is not so easy. I know.
Sometimes the pain is so hurting, that it might as well take years to let go and heal ourselves. Under such circumstances the one beauty of radical acceptance is to melt into it. Because in denial of pain we are struggling more to come out of the entanglement and enhance the tangling's rather than reduce them.
While the pain is inevitable because of whatever the circumstances which could be not under our control, the suffering is based on choice completely. Suffering is where one can make a choice, either to suffer or not to suffer.
The process
Sit or lie down in a safe place and undergo through the painful situation and while you are carrying out this process don't try to deny anything, even if the mistake is from your side, accept it, don't deny it. Just accept it and melt into it. Then, one fine moment of it through this process when complete denial stops and you have melted completely into it and accepted it (if you have to cry, then do that also) then a gentle relief comes up. From that gentle relief and in that moment have compassion towards you. Build that compassion for yourself. Love yourself the way you are. Accept yourself the way you are - your strengths and weaknesses, your skills, your capabilities and inabilities, your ups and downs, your praises and blames, everything. Keep accepting everything compassionately. Say unto yourselves, it is all fine. It is okay to be imperfect also and there is a perfection in imperfection. Keep remembering that. Love yourself so much that you can forgive everything about you and others also. Cultivate, develop, improve that compassion so that it becomes very easy for you to accept and go through that pain smoothly and when you are completely free, all the entanglements loosen up and you can come out of them easily.
Acceptance does not mean agreeing
Now acceptance does not mean agreeing. If something bad has happened, that does not mean you agree for it to happen again and again. You are not becoming someone's door mat. You accept for the current situation or the situation that has occurred in past and take all those measures so that you correct your course and shift the direction of the sails and proceed towards higher realms of compassionate living, harmonious success, peace, tranquility and poise.
What is the essence of Spiritual Practices?
The essence of Spiritual Practices or for that matter any practice is to "breathe consciously" and become aware of the presence of awareness.
While breathing consciously you are focusing on any of the following:
The Essence of Bhagavadgita in Two Words
If we have to summarize the 700 verses of Bhagavadgita in two words, those two words would be "svadharmamācaret स्वधर्ममाचरेत्."
Goal
स्वधर्म Svadharma is the duty of the Self. 99.99% of our day-to-day activities are related to our body and we take out very less time to really look into our true self. If we can take out some time and start reflecting within and understand what is that, that we really require to live the most meaningful life? Then we would find the most surprising answers.
Instead of having reference point of we as our bodies, if we can change our reference points to our true self or soul, then it makes a lot of difference. And, what we feel, and get so much attached to, and give highest important aspects of the external materialistic life will vanish away into oblivion just like that.
Mindfulness or Meditation practices are the only way to take that 180 degree turn and shift our attention to within and become aware of the true presence of what is that is eternally present within us. We have to own this process of shifting. Someone else will not be able to do this for us.
The Process
If the goal is to carry out the activities of the self, then what is the process? How to do it?
To carry out the activities of the Self, the process is very simple and it is again given in two words - abhyāsa vairāgya अभ्यास वैराग्य - meaning practice of detachment. What does this mean and how to practice it in a day-to-day life?
Every time we get involved in an activity, we can ask the following questions:
With the above strategies we can enhance our well-being and along with that we can also enhance the well-being of the human species and make the world a better place.
The duties of true self would be in harmony with nature and all the surroundings and understanding every being more on the level of heart rather than on the level of mind. This approach will enhance compassion towards every being and instead of having conflicts and rages over opinions or pre-conceived notions, there would be more of compassionate conversations and exchange of heart's energy rather the heated argumentative energy of a conflict.
People would start looking more on to the heart rather than the mind or body, more on the spiritual front and the sustainability of the human species and the ecosystem rather than the mundane non-meaningful existence.
What is Meditation or Mindfulness in simple terms?
When we remove all the advertisement paraphernalia, the concepts, ritualistic chauvinism around the phenomena of spirituality, what simply remains is "breathing consciously." That's all. Nothing else.
Human being as a physical entity of a community of trillion cells is being conscious of the breath that is either flowing in and out or not flowing at all, and is just aware of the breath happening or not happening. No other thought. Just conscious eternal awareness.
Either we are being conscious or not being conscious. If we are being conscious then there is an eternal awareness or else it is not. The choice "to be aware" or "not to be aware" is what we have to make.
What is Ātma Nivedanam?
In a very generic term "Ātma Nivedanam" can be simply translated as "Surrender."
Is that sufficient? No. Let us dive deeper into it.
It consists of two words. Ātma and Nivedanam.
Let us first look into the second word - Nivedanam. Nivedanam means an offering. When we offer something to someone, we ensure that it is clean, prepared in a very sacrilegious manner, untainted with any inharmonious vibrations and while offering we also ensure that we offer it with 100% willingness without any expectations.
Let us look into the first word - Ātma. The general meaning is soul or spirit. Now the spirit or soul is ever pure, untainted, unbiased, unprejudiced, non-judgmental. There are no thoughts to the spirit. It is eternal. However, every Atma / soul / spirit is associated with a body or if not the body some identifications with any thought processes where it gets tainted.
Now the term Ātma Nivedanam is not a noun, instead it is a verb - an action, a process where the intensity can vary from 0% to 100% based upon the conditional thinking of any individual soul. It all depends upon the extent and intensity of the entanglement of that soul with its thought processes or the conditional thinking.
Hence, Ātma Nivedanam involves a process of offering of our thoughts, thought processes, ideas, opinions, identities - all unto the Absolute without any anticipation in return. It includes even the thought of offering also.
In actual practice when the process of Ātma Nivedanam happens 100%, the soul enters the realm of Nothingness and merges with the Universal Spirit.
A metaphor of wave and ocean is being used to further explain this. Let us say the wave keeps thinking that it is a wave and not the ocean, then, what it all has to do is stop thinking that it is a wave. Because, it is never separate from the ocean. What all the wave has to do is stop thinking. The wave has to offer its thought process of thinking that it is the wave, then the Ātma Nivedanam happens and it will realize that it is never separate from the Ocean. What is stopping the wave is the thought or the thought process. Letting go the thought process is Ātma Nivedanam. As long as the wave has it itself as its reference point, it will think itself as a wave and it will be in the delusion that it is a wave. The moment it changes its reference point to the ocean, then it will see itself as a part of the ocean and not separate from the ocean. Ātma Nivedanam helps us changing our reference points from body and mind (thought processes) to that of the Spirit.
Human beings live 99% of the time "a life of comparison." This is the main problem of so many wants and desires. If one can anchor onto the soul, then 99% of worries vanish just like that. Then, Ātma Nivedanam can happen or else it is again an identity which would be directing in fulfillment of a wish that has arised in comparison with someone else's life. When the unnecessary and false reference points are avoided, then it becomes easy for Ātma Nivedanam to happen.
About 5000 years ago in the land of Bharata there lived an individual called Krishna. He was given a title Bhagavan as he has demonstrated certain qualities. The qualities that need to be demonstrated to be called as Bhagavan are mentioned by Namalinga in a Sanskrit dictionary where he states “mahātmyasya samagrasya dhairyasya yaśasa śśriyaḥ, jñāna vairāgyayoścaiva ṣaṇṇāṃ bhaga: - ityuktabhago'syāsti iti” महात्म्यस्य समग्रस्य धैर्यस्य यशस श्श्रियः, ज्ञान वैराग्ययोश्चैव षण्णां भग: - इत्युक्तभगोऽस्यास्ति इति. This means having complete glory, courage/gallantry, fame/renowned, fortune/prosperity (in this case prosperity does not mean the materialistic prosperity. But the spiritualistic prosperity), wisdom/higher-knowledge, and freedom from all desires and the one who is or having all these can be called as Bhagavan. Hence, in this sense Krishna is perfectly called as Bhagavan.
Because of certain political reasons Krishna even though stayed in Mathura had to move to a place called Dwaraka where he stayed till the end of his life. He has a sister named Subhadra whom he gave in betrothal to Arjuna who was also a very good friend of him. Due to some socio-political reasons this friend Arjuna and his other 4 brothers had an argument over land and kingdom with their cousins called Kauravas and went for a war against each other to settle down the land issues.
Arjuna wanted Krishna to be his charioteer during this war as Krishna who is also titled as Bhagavan and his brother-in-law can guide him appropriately. Once the war is set and Krishna being a charioteer drives Arjuna into the battlefield; Arjuna, after seeing all those people who are participating in the war are none other than his own relatives gets into a despondency and becomes reluctant to fight.
Krishna then advices Arjuna, that it is not appropriate to not to fight once you are in the battlefield and starts coaching him about various aspects. One of the aspects is mindfulness and how to practice it.
Krishna tells Arjuna mind is something which needs to be controlled and states:
बन्धुरात्मात्मनस्तस्य येनात्मैवात्मना जितः ।
अनात्मनस्तु शत्रुत्वे वर्तेतात्मैव शत्रुवत् ॥ ६-६॥
bandhurātmātmanastasya yenātmaivātmanā jitaḥ .
anātmanastu śatrutve vartetātmaiva śatruvat .. 6-6..
For those who have conquered the mind, one’s own self is their friend. For those who have failed to do so, the mind behaves antagonistically like an enemy.
जितात्मनः प्रशान्तस्य परमात्मा समाहितः ।
शीतोष्णसुखदुःखेषु तथा मानापमानयोः ॥ ६-७॥
jitātmanaḥ praśāntasya paramātmā samāhitaḥ .
śītoṣṇasukhaduḥkheṣu tathā mānāpamānayoḥ .. 6-7..
Individuals who have conquered the mind can rise above the dualities of cold and heat, joy and sorrow, honor and dishonor and can remain steadfast, peaceful with equanimity under all circumstances.
सुहृन्मित्रार्युदासीनमध्यस्थद्वेष्यबन्धुषु ।
साधुष्वपि च पापेषु समबुद्धिर्विशिष्यते ॥ ६-९॥
suhṛnmitrāryudāsīnamadhyasthadveṣyabandhuṣu .
sādhuṣvapi ca pāpeṣu samabuddhirviśiṣyate .. 6-9..
These individuals who have gone above all dualities of life look upon all—well-wishers, friends, foes, the pious, and the sinners—with an impartial intellect – unbiased, non-judgmental and thus are distinguished among other individuals.
And in the following verses prescribes how this state can be attained.
योगी युञ्जीत सततमात्मानं रहसि स्थितः ।
एकाकी यतचित्तात्मा निराशीरपरिग्रहः ॥ ६-१०॥
yogī yuñjīta satatamātmānaṃ rahasi sthitaḥ .
ekākī yatacittātmā nirāśīraparigrahaḥ .. 6-10..
Those who seek this state of equanimity should spend some time daily in seclusion, alone and in silence where they constantly engage in meditation with a controlled mind and body, getting rid of unnecessary necessities.
शुचौ देशे प्रतिष्ठाप्य स्थिरमासनमात्मनः ।
नात्युच्छ्रितं नातिनीचं चैलाजिनकुशोत्तरम् ॥ ६-११॥
śucau deśe pratiṣṭhāpya sthiramāsanamātmanaḥ .
nātyucchritaṃ nātinīcaṃ cailājinakuśottaram .. 6-11..
To practice meditation or mindfulness one should make find a sanctified place, and a place to sit that is neither too low nor too high from the floor and use right and comfortable cloth or material for seating.
तत्रैकाग्रं मनः कृत्वा यतचित्तेन्द्रियक्रियः ।
उपविश्यासने युञ्ज्याद्योगमात्मविशुद्धये ॥ ६-१२॥
समं कायशिरोग्रीवं धारयन्नचलं स्थिरः ।
सम्प्रेक्ष्य नासिकाग्रं स्वं दिशश्चानवलोकयन् ॥ ६-१३॥
tatraikāgraṃ manaḥ kṛtvā yatacittendriyakriyaḥ .
upaviśyāsane yuñjyādyogamātmaviśuddhaye .. 6-12..
samaṃ kāyaśirogrīvaṃ dhārayannacalaṃ sthiraḥ .
samprekṣya nāsikāgraṃ svaṃ diśaścānavalokayan .. 6-13..
After sitting firmly on such a seat, the practitioner must hold the body, neck and head firmly in a straight line and should practice to reduce the information inflow into the mind by focusing his eyes without wandering and with one pointed concentration at the point between the eyebrows on the center of the forehead, controlling all thoughts and activities.
प्रशान्तात्मा विगतभीर्ब्रह्मचारिव्रते स्थितः ।
मनः संयम्य मच्चित्तो युक्त आसीत मत्परः ॥ ६-१४॥
praśāntātmā vigatabhīrbrahmacārivrate sthitaḥ .
manaḥ saṃyamya maccitto yukta āsīta matparaḥ .. 6-14..
Thus, with a serene, fearless, and unwavering mind, and staunch in the vow of thinking about the Absolute, the vigilant practitioner should meditate on that Absolute, having that (Absolute) alone as the supreme goal.
युञ्जन्नेवं सदात्मानं योगी नियतमानसः ।
शान्तिं निर्वाणपरमां मत्संस्थामधिगच्छति ॥ ६-१५॥
yuñjannevaṃ sadātmānaṃ yogī niyatamānasaḥ .
śāntiṃ nirvāṇaparamāṃ matsaṃsthāmadhigacchati .. 6-15..
Thus, constantly keeping the mind absorbed in Absolute, and abiding in Absolute the practitioner of disciplined mind attains the supreme peace, everlasting bliss.
Further Krishna mentions about the diet for a mindfulness/meditation practitioner.
नात्यश्नतस्तु योगोऽस्ति न चैकान्तमनश्नतः ।
न चातिस्वप्नशीलस्य जाग्रतो नैव चार्जुन ॥ ६-१६॥
nātyaśnatastu yogo'sti na caikāntamanaśnataḥ .
na cātisvapnaśīlasya jāgrato naiva cārjuna .. 6-16..
My dear Arjuna, those who eat too much or eat too little, those who sleep too much or too little, cannot attain success in the meditative practices.
युक्ताहारविहारस्य युक्तचेष्टस्य कर्मसु ।
युक्तस्वप्नावबोधस्य योगो भवति दुःखहा ॥ ६-१७॥
yuktāhāravihārasya yuktaceṣṭasya karmasu .
yuktasvapnāvabodhasya yogo bhavati duḥkhahā .. 6-17..
Only those who are moderate in eating, recreation, balanced in work, and appropriate regularity and moderation in sleep, can practice mindfulness/meditation and can overcome suffering.
यतो यतो निश्चरति मनश्चञ्चलमस्थिरम् ।
ततस्ततो नियम्यैतदात्मन्येव वशं नयेत् ॥ ६-२६॥
yato yato niścarati manaścañcalamasthiram .
tatastato niyamyaitadātmanyeva vaśaṃ nayet .. 6-26..
Arjuna, mind of its very nature keeps wandering and whenever and wherever the restless and fidgety mind wanders, one should bring it back from all those objects of wandering and continually focus it on the Absolute.
प्रशान्तमनसं ह्येनं योगिनं सुखमुत्तमम् ।
उपैति शान्तरजसं ब्रह्मभूतमकल्मषम् ॥ ६-२७॥
praśāntamanasaṃ hyenaṃ yoginaṃ sukhamuttamam .
upaiti śāntarajasaṃ brahmabhūtamakalmaṣam .. 6-27..
The practitioner whose mind can remain calm, whose passions are regulated and who constantly dwells in the Absolute will achieve the transcendental happiness and joy of union with the Absolute.
After Krishna explains how one can practice, and mentions also the benefits of practice, Arjuna comes with a doubt where he states:
चञ्चलं हि मनः कृष्ण प्रमाथि बलवद् दृढम् ।
तस्याहं निग्रहं मन्ये वायोरिव सुदुष्करम् ॥ ६-३४॥
cañcalaṃ hi manaḥ kṛṣṇa pramāthi balavad dṛḍham .
tasyāhaṃ nigrahaṃ manye vāyoriva suduṣkaram .. 6-34..
The mind is very unsteady, turbulent, tenacious and powerful, O Krishna. It appears to me that it is more difficult to control than the wind.
Then Krishna explains:
असंशयं महाबाहो मनो दुर्निग्रहं चलम् ।
अभ्यासेन तु कौन्तेय वैराग्येण च गृह्यते ॥ ६-३५॥
asaṃśayaṃ mahābāho mano durnigrahaṃ calam .
abhyāsena tu kaunteya vairāgyeṇa ca gṛhyate .. 6-35..
O mighty-armed son of Kunti, what you said about mind is correct. The mind indeed is very difficult to control. However, by repeated practice and constant exercise of dispassion or detachment, it can be controlled.
Krishna further in another chapter mentions about the two ways how people generally lead their lives and emphasizes the importance of leading a life that of a practitioner.
नैते सृती पार्थ जानन्योगी मुह्यति कश्चन ।
तस्मात्सर्वेषु कालेषु योगयुक्तो भवार्जुन ॥ ८-२७॥
वेदेषु यज्ञेषु तपःसु चैव दानेषु यत्पुण्यफलं प्रदिष्टम् ।
अत्येति तत्सर्वमिदं विदित्वा योगी परं स्थानमुपैति चाद्यम् ॥ ८-२८॥
naite sṛtī pārtha jānanyogī muhyati kaścana .
tasmātsarveṣu kāleṣu yogayukto bhavārjuna .. 8-27..
vedeṣu yajñeṣu tapaḥsu caiva dāneṣu yatpuṇyaphalaṃ pradiṣṭam .
atyeti tatsarvamidaṃ viditvā yogī paraṃ sthānamupaiti cādyam .. 8-28..
O Arjuna! There are two paths of living – one that deludes the individuals and keeps them bound into the wrong way of living and another path that frees them and leads to righteousness, non-covetousness. As a practitioner one should know that these two paths exist and choose the path of righteousness to attain the Supreme Absolute. Hence, become a practitioner of Yoga and attain that Absolute Supreme abode of eternal bliss.
True Essence of Spirituality
The true essence of spirituality is realizing that I need not know anything.
That I am already full and complete; and there is nothing to add.
What this means is that what all we try to learn will be an additional information and creates identities which unknowingly transform into entanglements. We have to let go these identities and entanglements.
People might feel that "letting go" is very difficult. In fact it is not so. Because, each and every one of us have become experts in letting go that we are in reality Spirit. Hence, what we have to let go is the misidentification that we are not Spirit.
This is what the essence of the spirituality is. Let go the misidentification that we are not Spirit and lo behold that each and every one of us is already that Spirit.
Today being a festival of Ganesh Chaturthi a little bit on the true essence of the festival:
Ganesha is called as gaja vadana (elephant headed) meaning:
