Just Be The Open Presence You Are

 

This is one of the best meditations on just being the open effortless whole welcoming presence that one is, that I have heard. Enjoy.

The sense of being localized is not real

 A common issue that we face after studying Vedanta, is the dehatma buddhi ...meaning the sense of I am the body, which is really the sense of being localized.

When we examine this 'I am the body' feeling or sense, we discover it to be a thought, and even a sensation in the body ...somewhere in the body. It's very convincing. Yet this sensation or vritti can't be the truth about me, because :-

* It's not always there with me ...in deep sleep, or even when deeply absorbed in something it's not there

* It's an object of my knowledge and I am not an object...I am the one who illuminates all objects

So when I convinced that this sensation or vritti is only due to false identification, it's time to drop it by not subscribing to it...to again and again be alert  to recognize it as not real  and live as the universal consciousness that one is...in the recognition of one's shared being with all that is.

Om Tat Sat

Karana Sharira - The Causal Body

 A beutiful talk by Pujya Swami Viditatmanandaji explaining karana sharira or the causal body as given in Tattvabodha - do listen.

Letting Go and Owning Up One's Freedom

The light of consciousness that is self-evident, self-existent and self-revealing as 'I',  is always free. It is  limitless, independent, changeless, absolute. How can it be covered?   

It is never covered by either our feelings, thoughts, beliefs, perceptions, sensations, memories, ignorance or ego. It is our own belief that it is covered that as though covers it. It our holding on to our internal world, especially our disturbing emotions that appears to limit us.

Supposing there is a feeling of anger. Can this feeling limit the light of consciousness? Can it make it limited and incomplete? It cannot - because consciousness is an independent changeless reality in whose ever-presence alone the feeling of anger is illumined. It is the ego-me who is subscribing tothe anger. And as long as one subscribes or holds on to the emotion, so long it appears as though the consciousness that one is, is limited by that emotion.

So the trick is really in learning to let go of holding on to the disturbing emotion. When you let go, it's very much easier to recognize that you are indeed the limitless light of consciousness that is never affected by anything. 

One feeling can be connected to millions of thoughts. One does not let go the thought, one let's go the feelings ...it's much easier.

The first step in letting go is to focus on the feelings, not the story you have attached to the feeling. The second step is not run away from the feeling, not denying the feeling, not distracting oneself from the feeling. Usually if we feel uncomfortable, our immediate reaction is to distract ourselves somehow. Move into the feeling, not away from it...... Stay with it. It can take time from one minute onwards. Now ask yourself can I allow this feeling? The very asking of this question puts you on neutral ground...you have allowed yourself to rise into a different internal state, where you have now recognized that really it is your choice to allow or not allow the feeling. Next you ask yourself am I ready and willing to let it go, to stop holding on to it? The very asking of this question allows you to recognize that it is your choice to hold onto the feeling and consequently feel limited, or let it go and own up your freedom. You have the choice now of surrendering it to Ishvara ...letting it go...rising to sattva.

The choice is yours. When you surrender or let go the feeling, you let go holding on to the story, the thoughts you have attached to the feeling ...you embrace your natural freedom. The choice is yours.

I learnt this really simple method from Dr David Hawkins book Letting Go, the Pathway to Surrender 

Om Tat Sat

Experience is to be assimilated in keeping with knowledge

Many a time, when meditating we can experience very sublime and profound states of being - such as extraordinary peace, love, acceptance or very expanded states of awareness. These sublime states of experience can be either interpreted in keeping with our own subjective interpretation or it can be assimilated in keeping with our knowledge of  traditional Vedanta, acquired at the feet of our perceptor. The problem with our own interpretation, is that what we interpret is usually only as good as we know. And what we know may be only our opinions which may not be based on truth which is seeing things as they are. That is why we have such a plethora of spiritual ideas and concepts, and whole philosophies created,  which are really interpretations of the people who had such expanded states of mind. 

So my Guru Pujya Swami Dayananda Saraswati always said experience (spiritual or mundane) is to be assimilated in keeping with Shastra- knowledge. 

So when we have expanded states of mind, in which we appear to experience  non-conceptual  awareness, or even a sense of limitless awareness,  its good to still maintain our viveka and ask what is satyam in this experience of expansion and what is mithya.

Why?

Because we can mistake a state of mind for moksha and that would be pure superimposition only. In traditional Vedanta, consciousness is absolute - it is unchanging. It does not evolve. What evolves (if we must use that word) or matures is the antahkarna, not the limitless consciousness that one essentially is. So when one has these sublime states of mind, one can revel in that state and also recognize that it is in the formless, unconditional limitless consciousness that one is, that this state of mind is illumined and enlivened and maybe even reflecting the essential nature of changeless consciousness. It is the recognition of oneself as changeless, limitless consciousness that confers moksha.

Om Tat Sat

A Contemplation

 

When going out in the open for a walk, sometimes I like to contemplate the 5 elements model (pancha mahabhuta  model) of the universe. In Taittiriya Upanishad we have the 

तस्माद्वा एतस्मादात्मन आकाशः संभूतः। आकाशाद्वायुः।वायोरग्निः। अग्नेरापः। अद्‌भ्यः पृथिवी।पृथिव्या ओषधयः। ओषधीभ्योऽन्नम्‌। अन्नात्पुरुषः।

From that (Brahman - pure limitless Consciousness), which is this atma (self), space is born. From space air is born. From air, fire is born. From fire, water is born. From water the earth is born. From earth plants are born. From plants food is born. From food the human being is born. That human being, made of the essence of food, is indeed this body.

In the Upanishads,  we see the universe which includes our body -  is  presented as nothing but the combination of the five elements. The five elements in turn are not separate from pure limitless consciousness - as the effect is never separate from the cause ... just as pot (the effect)  is not separate  clay  (the cause) or wave is not separate from water. . In fact they are nothing but pure limitless consciousness - just as wave (the effect) is nothing but water (the cause).

Consciousness is presented as the cause of the universe. Here in the five element model of the creation we see that consciousness is the material cause of the universe. As material cause it pervades the entire universe. This amounts to understanding that our own  body-mind-complex as indeed the world, is nothing but a manifestation of consciousness. 

Yet Consciousness is also presented as unchanging in the Upanishads. How can  Consciousness manifest as the universe without undergoing any change?

Consciousness is endowed with the shakti (the power) to appear as the changing universe of names and  forms. So Consciousness is also the All-Knowledge  (where Knowledge includes intelligence and power) principle or shakti that manifests as the universe. 

Is the universe a parallel reality to Consciousness? No it is not a parallel reality - it is an 'as though' reality - a dependent-on Consciousness, temporary reality, changing moment to moment. 

This Consciousness is the same consciousness principle in each individual, manifest as the "I" sense as in 'I am'. It the same Consciousness principle in us,  because of which we know every thought, feeling, sensation, because of which the body automatically breathes and functions as a living being. 

On another note, while walking today, my thoughts turned to "can I the individual consciousness communicate with the cosmic consciousness, can I receive knowledge, can I receive guidance from Ishvara, the cosmic consciousness? Will mechanically reciting prayers be the same as actually communicating or talking with Ishvara? 

Being self-aware

What does being self aware mean? 

It includes being aware of oneself as a personality - aware of one's body at many different levels, aware of one's breath, one's energy levels, aware of one's feelings, aware of one's thoughts including the beliefs that power one's feelings, one's memories, one's ignorance, one's ego, one's external environment. Living consciously with reference to all of these is included in being self aware.

What else? Is there anything left? 

Is one aware of the awareness that one is? What is it's nature? 

Is being aware of the awareness one essentially is, the same as being aware of  one's personality or external environment/ situations? 

One's personality or external environment needs you awareness to reveal its presence. Do you need their presence to be aware? 

 Can what one is aware of limit the awareness/ consciousness that one is? Are there two things then - awareness and what one is aware of? 

Is the awareness that one essentially is free of all objects of awareness? 

Is awareness/ Consciousness born?  Is awareness/ consciousness a product of the body or mind? Does awareness/ consciousness die?

A systematic study of Vedanta will answer all these questions and many more, bringing clarity regarding your own nature. And in the wake of clarity you discover your freedom.

Om Tat Sat.

Who needs to 'practice' acceptance?

 

Acceptance is the very nature of the self. So where is question of acceptance as a 'practice'. Who has to practice 'acceptance' - either of oneself or others?

The self does not need to accept as a 'practice' because its very nature is acceptance - in the sense that it is an impartial presence, in whose presence all else is as a dependent reality. By its very nature of being nirgunam - free of all attributes and the self of all, it is an impartial all-accepting limitless self-revealing ever-present consciousness/awareness, equally present in all - sentient and insentient. Self means 'I' ... in reality, there is no 'I' other than the self.

The ego is the phantom 'I' - meaning that which poses as the separated, limited 'I' - identified with one body-mind-sense complex. Within that ego identity are the separate categories we call as inner child, adult, shadow etc. ... All phantom separated selves ... meaning they don't exist in reality. They appear to exist as long as the idea of separation, an identity, an ego separate from the whole is maintained. 

As long as the ego exists for you as a reality, so long the so called 'practice' of acceptance is useful and 'healing' - for whom? For the ego. There is much resistance to things as they are - for the ego. That resistance is born of the sense of separation and it maintains and perpetuates the sense of separation. So acceptance as a 'practice' is meant for the ego - to grow in objectivity and become healthy. And when the ego is healthy enough ( the inner child, the shadow self have all integrated into the adult) and grace is sufficient for listening to an Advaita Guru, the ego is able to recognize its falseness and its sense of separation dissolves. That's moksha!

Om Tat Sat

Vedanta’s Whole Self is different from the psychological self

 

The psychological self is based on identifying the self with the body-mind complex, the experiences undergone, one’s values, beliefs ...in short it is based on identifying with what is changing, impermanent, limited, what Vedanta calls as anatma or non-self or not-real self.

The Whole Self that Vedanta reveals is different dimension, a different degree of reality, that is changeless, permanent, limitless... WHOLE. It accommodates the whole universe and so naturally it accommodates the psychological self too as it is. When the ever-presence of the whole self is clearly recognized, it makes the psychological self acceptable as it is, even with all its dark sides ...and it is the basis for and should be the basis for saying at a psychological level that ‘I am enough even with all my imperfections’. If the whole self is not recognized, or at least accepted as existing, there is no way one can say with conviction that I am enough even with all limitations!

When you are able to accept yourself (the psychological self) as you are, you enjoy a great deal of freedom. It is from this healthy place of compassion and self-love that transformation can take place and does take place. It is from this place of acceptance that expressions of wholeness in the psychological self can take place. It is from this place of acceptance and inner relaxation that limiting beliefs can be let go of with greater ease....and a conviction that permeates every cell that ‘I am enough’ takes place.

What you see in the diagram are just some potential expressions of the Vedantic Whole Self at a psychological level...that express a relative wholeness at psychological level. It does not mean the dark side of the psychological self is totally absent. It could very well be there... Vedanta’s Whole Self can accommodate it with ease...giving the space to address it and even transform it.

Om Tat Sat