What Never Changes

Wisdom with reference to body-breath-mind meditation

Wisdom with reference to the breath - prana

 ॐ गं गणपतये नमः
There is air all around this body
There is air inside this body.
Like a fish lives in water
This body lives in air....through breathing.
With every inhalation, the breath strengthens every cell in the body
With every exhalation every cell in the body relaxes.
This is an ongoing divine process ...let us be aware of it ...
I am grateful to Ishvara, for the breath - without breath, the body perishes.

This breath is a form of prana, the life-force that is vibrating in every cell of the body - enlivening every cell.

I am conscious of breath.

I am a simple conscious being - illumining the breathing process, the prana.

I know it's presence - I experience it's presence, I observe it's presence....
I am indeed different from what I know and experience.
I am a simple conscious being - aware of prana, independent of prana
Prana is not seperate from me. Indeed, I-consciousness, as the Cosmic Being manifests it.

What can I give to prana, the life-force coursing through this body, enlivening all the physiological functions of the body?

My grateful keen awareness of it's presence during pranayama and through the day. And plenty of water.

I honour the prana in this body.
It is the same prana in all the beings, coursing through them, enlivening all their physiological functions - from the tiniest unicellular being to the largest living being in the entire universe.
I honour the prana in all beings.

I am a simple conscious being, aware of prana - independent of prana - illumining and enlivening prana.
Prana is not seperate from me. Indeed, I ss cosmic consciousness, manifests it.

I take a deep breath, hold it and release it slowly.
I take sips of breath savouring each sip, deeply aware of the breath at the nostrils.

I assimilate deeply that
Consciousness that shines here as self-evident, self-revealing I,  is independent of prana.
Consciousness that shines here as self-evident, self-revealing I, is changeless and ever-present. Prana is continually changing.
While consciousness I am the drshta, the Seer, prana is ever the seen, an object of my knowing, dependent on consciousness for manifesting it.

I take a deep breath, hold it and release it slowly.
I take sips of breath savouring each sip, deeply aware of the breath at the nostrils.
I relax
I let go my notions about myself
I repose in my Self

Om Tat Sat

Wisdom with reference to the body

ॐ गं गणपतये नमः
I honour this body - it is it is in order being inseparable from the divine order.
I respect and accept this body. It is a precious gift from Ishwara. It is a precious instrument with which I interact with the world and gain different types of experiences.

I acknowledge that I observe, experience, know this body.
I call it 'my' body even as I say 'my' pencil. So I am different from this body- I am a simple conscious being in whose awareness this body shines.
This body is not separate from me the conscious being. I enliven and illuminate it - indeed as the Cosmic Consciousness, I manifest it.

The body is an object of my awareness.
It is material in nature.
It has different attributes.
It is constantly changing ...and though it has life-force coursing through it now,  one day it will die....in fact next moment it can die.
So this body is a temporary rented residence whose lease will end I don't know when.

I am independent of the body - a simple conscious being. The consciousness that I am is not a part, property or product of this body-mind complex. I am independent. The body is ever dependent. It is dependent on many local factors of cause and effect. It is dependent on me, the consciousness that manifests as the life-force that breathes life into it. It is illumined in my awareness.
I am the subject - the one who knows, experiences, observes the body - different from it. I am the seer, the body is the seen.
I, the conscious being am not material (or energy) in nature. I, consciousness, am not restricted by time or space.
I, the conscious being am free of all attributes
I, the conscious being do not change - ever.
I, the conscious being am the only permanent entity in life.

I use this body respectfully as an instrument given by Ishvara.
I am a trustee for this body - in it's lifetime, it is in my care. I am grateful for it. I give back to it food and water, shelter, clothes, medicine, clean environment, exercise (yoga asanas). I give back to it my keen awareness of it...through which it can relax.

ॐ गं गणपतये नमः

Sadaa Purno'ham - Ever Full am I

Om Gam Ganapataye Namah

I am the Consciousness that does not have to do anything, that does not have to know anything...
Naturally identified with the bms owing to karma
Yet free of ignorance of my true nature, I choose to identify with the bms, and
I choose to do. I choose to know.
When I drop all efforts to do something, to know something, I easily see myself as I am - purna
Purnata that is the self, does not go, does not disappear  when I do, or know....that is knowledge. Sadaa purno'ham.
I am the Consciousness that does not have to do anything, that does not have to know anything.....to be purna.
I am purna.Sadaa purno'ham

Om Tat Sat

Meditate on transience and permanence - inspired by the Virus 2020

The Immediate is Limitless

The ego is just a bunch of thoughts one holds onto

ॐ गं ॐ

Vedanta points out that what is apparently shining here as self-evident, immediate, 'I', is in reality, absolute consciousness - changeless, formless, limitless in time, space and object....meaning totally free, whole, complete...purna. What is immediate, is limitless. What is  limitless is immediate.

Then what is this 'I' that I think is myself? It is the ego, the mistaken sense of self-identity, which is just of bunch of thoughts that I, absolute consciousness, am holding onto tight, in the mistaken belief that it is myself.

What is interesting is that thoughts by themselves are harmless - they come to go. However when we believe them to be real, and hold onto them, repeating the same thought over and over again, they seem to acquire a structure, and create a core identity, which appears solid and real. And our entire psychology, indeed all our behaviour stems from this sense of core identity.

This whole sense of core identity is based on error. And this is indeed a very costly error...It is only when we realize what a price we are paying, that we desire to be free of this error. 

The core identity maybe healthy, it maybe unhealthy....both ways, it is still based on the basic error of taking 'I' to be restricted to the body-mind-sense complex.

First step is to gain an insight into the existence of the real self. To gain that insight itself requires so much of grace. To gain that grace, a life of dharma is the first step. Sometimes one may wonder, what great life of dharma one lead, to gain the insight .. it could be countless previous lives of dharma, leading to satsang in previous lives, which leads to an initial insight in this life. Therefore always lead a life of dharma. What is a life of dharma, is not the topic here...so for the time being, I leave it alone. 

Once the insight is gained, one cannot but strive to do whatever it takes, to strengthen that insight into firm assimilated knowledge. There is no choice anymore. Once you understand how costly is the error, you will do whatever it takes to correct the error.

Then starts the process of letting go .... dropping whatever is not true. It is choiceless. There is no interest in holding on to thoughts based on error, believing them to be real. And as you drop notions one by one -  you discover yourself as you are - full, whole, complete, purna. 

Om Tat Sat