A Prayer

ॐ गं ॐ
ॐ गं गणपतये नमः
ॐ
O Lord, You are the ocean of consciousness,
Partless, Whole, All-pervading, Formless, All- Knowledge and All-powerful, Invincible
Ever present, ever the same,
Free of Attributes
Yet full of auspiciousness
You are cit svarupa
You are ananda svarupa
You are shanti svarupa
As Your own reflection, You appear as me
Your reflection as me, the jiva is just an appearance, a costume of yours
In reality, You alone are effortlessly shining here as I
Even when I take myself to be a jiva and I appear as just a drop in You,
That seeming drop  is nothing but cit svarupa, ananda svarupa, shanti svarupa.

Thank you for my Gurus
Thank you for making me understand that even when I take myself to be an individual, I am totally connected to You,  I cannot stand apart from you or this world, which belongs to you
You pervade me as Divine Order, making me who I am, as an individual
Thank you for making me understand that in Your Divine Order, I am in Order
You pervade this body-mind as the very substance of which it is constituted, as well as the intelligence that makes everything what it is

Thank you for making me understand that essentially I am You ....self-evident, effortlessly shining, indestructible, all-pervading, formless, pure, independent, auspicious ever-present  changeless consciousness-existence ...illumining, blessing, enlivening this body-mind sense complex. As pure consciousness I am purna.

This whole universe, which includes all bodies, all things, belongs to you
This body- mind is a wonderful instrument gifted  by You, with which transaction with the rest of the universe takes place, by Your laws
As a trustee for this body-mind complex, I care for it's safety and health
And use this beutiful instrument of body-mind to nourish  and protect thru thought, word and deed, all the beings and the environment.
By Your Grace may this sense of 'I' be fully firmly merged in You.

Whatever these hands do, may they be an offering unto You, an expression of purnatvam
Wherever these feet go, may it be a tirtha yatra to You, recognizing your all pervasiveness
Whatever words are spoken may they be in praise of You, acknowledging Your ever-presence, Your fullness
Whatever thoughts, feelings, memories are entertained, may they reflect Your ever-presence, Your fullness
Please let your Grace shower on me such that I never forget You, never forget that You are the antah-sakshi, that that you alone are permanent, that You pervade the universe as Divine Order, that everything including this body belongs to You.
In gratitude, may this life be ever dedicated to You expressing the fullness that You are.

By Your Infinite compassion and grace may all beings love and respect each other and live harmoniously with each other, recognizing, loving and respecting You, who are in each. May each of us, who are from different religions mutually recognize and honour the truth of Your divine presence in each and every one.

May all beings recognize the divinity within and be free.

ॐ गं गणपतये नमः
ॐ गं ॐ

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