Managing Our Needs - Part 1

A psychologist friend of mine once gave me the sentence completion exercise below. For each of the incomplete sentences she gave me, I was to complete the sentence with as many sentence endings as I wanted to.

1. Independence to me means :-

2. I feel loved, supported and connected when:-

3. I feel powerful and have a sense of achievement when:-

4. I have fun when :-

5. I know my physical needs for money, things and pleasure are fulfilled when:-

After I finished I was to assess on a scale of 0-10 what was my state of fulfillment for each, and whether I was satisfied with it. If I was not satisfied with my state of fulfillment then I should assess how much would I like it to be, and what steps could I take to bring it to my level of satisfaction.

I truly enjoyed the process of thinking it out. It was very revealing and enjoyable. And I feel all of us should do this exercise. These are very basic human needs. As a human being all of us would have these needs. We can add quite a few more – like ‘My love for contribution is fulfilled when :-‘ , ‘My need for learning and clarity is met when :-‘

And exercise like this puts us in touch with basic person who thinks ‘I need _______ to be happy’. It is very useful to recognize our own needs and learn to recognize our emotions in terms of our unfulfilled needs. Then we can also learn harmonious ways to request others to honour our legitimate needs, when it is within their power to do so. This in turn would teach us how to honour the legitimate needs of others, when it is within our power to do so. This would certainly go a long way to making us all more satisfied people.

Now the questions is what happens when our need is NOT fulfilled or cannot be fulfilled? Is it possible to be happy when ones needs are not fulfilled? I pose this question to you for the time being. And I will give the answer later in terms of what the Bhagavad-Gita reveals about managing our needs.

Om Tat Sat 

A Free Mind

Om Gurudevaya Namah

What is a mind that is free?

If analyse the quality of thoughts  we entertain, we may find it is occupied with a whole lot of subjective thinking – meaning thinking which centres around the ego. So the mind is more often than naught occupied with :-

·        thoughts of past – favourable and unfvourable, pleasant an unpleasant

·        thoughts of future – favourable and unfavourable, pleasant and unpleasant

·        thoughts of current situations – favourable and unfavourable, pleasant and unpleasant

·        desires, hopes, expectations

·        successes and their sweet fruits

·        frustrations, disappointments

·        sadness, hurt, guilt, fear, anger, worries and anxieties

·        and above all relationships and our roles

This kind of constant preoccupation in the mind is binding – so much energy is locked up, energy that blocks us from experiencing the peace, harmony, contentment and joy of Being which is natural to us.

While in meditation or through breath-control  one can train oneself to put aside this vortex of the mind, and enjoy relatively quiet and peaceful states of mind, in which one can see the truth of oneself to be peace and joy, using the knowledge gained through Vedanta sravanam, still until all the beliefs that constitute one’s core identity as an individual are not thoroughly negated as false, one simply cannot enjoy the freedom that one truly is, all the time. Jivan-mukti demands freedom from the hold of all false beliefs.

One can free oneself of one’s false beliefs when :-

1. one acknowledges what they are

2. one recognizes the non-negatable truth of the free self, shining in and thru them

3.  one reiterates this truth even when the false beliefs appear to come up and appear as true.

It is not easy to do this. When false beliefs that constitute the core identity as an individual are triggered they seem to have a life of their own, appearing as totally real. These are the impressions, or conditioning or vasanas that one has to take care of.

Depending on the intensity of the vasana, one would have to use any method that works. Here psychological tools and energy healing modalities can be very useful to lessen the intensity or emotion generated by a false belief centered around self-identity which has been triggered. And when the intensity of emotion generated is reduced one will be able to use the knowledge gained through Vedanta sravanam to totally negate the false belief and free oneself of its hold.

This is tapascarya – the highest form of tapas is enquiring into the truth of I. Discovering and living from that truth is to truly be free of the mind.

Recognizing The God Within

The limitlessness that is God, the ananda that is God, the absolute freedom that is God, shines as self-revealing, self-luminous, self-existent Consciouness that is the non-negatable dimension, the indestructible truth of “I”.

We are not in touch with this ever-existent truth simply because of ignorance, which covers as though with a wall made of bricks of false limiting concepts about the self, and the resulting layers of emotional impurities.

So getting in touch with the truth of the limitless God who shines as one’s self involves :

·        freeing oneself emotionally of the layers of impurities born of false perceptions, like anger, hurt, guilt, fear, anxieties, worry, frustrations, sadness, greed, jealousy, postive and negative projections on people, objects  and situations as capable of giving happiness or sorrow etc.

·        negating the false concepts of limitation of the self as the body-mind-sense complex, as a jiva - this is understood clearly thru systematic and thorough study of Vedanta Shastra as handled by a competent teacher who has studied traditional Vedanta

When both of these are there, the changless, limitless nature of the self is recognized and realised as the self-existent, self-revealing conscious vast spaciousness in whose presence all experience takes place. 

Om Tat Sat

Understanding Reality

We of the computer age, understand what is foreground and what is a background - as when we use the computer screen , the font is in the foreground, against a background. This understanding of foreground and background can help us to understand realities of our daily life. And it is interesting to note that there is no foreground without a background. 

Living of our life in this constantly changing world, with our endless transactions in it, our desires, hopes, expectations, our past, our preoccupations with our past, future and present, our frustrations, disappointments, our worries, anxieties and fears, our sorrows and joys, our successes and failures, our roles and relationships is the foreground for us. It can be called as the foreground only when we know the background against which it is played.

What is the background?

The background is the direct, immediate, self-revealing and self-evident changless consciousness or awareness, that is the silent ever-present witness to the ever-changing drama going on in the foreground. Even as the sky is the background and the clouds are the foreground!

You become aware of this background when the mind stops its endless labeling, judging, interpreting as right or wrong, good or bad, useful or not useful, helpful or hurtful.... Can one be a simple perceiver without having to label, judge, interpret? It is worth it, because what you discover is that the background is so vast, it can accomodate anything. It is so pure, it is totally unconditional.... the unconditionality one is always searching for. The background is the limitlessness that YOU are.

So in meditation put aside all preoccupations with the foreground and just be.... and out of meditation also keep on see what it is like to simply perceive without endless judging ... and become aware of the limitless background that is the truth of oneself.

Om Tat Sat

The Immediacy Of Ananda

The Immediacy of Ananda- The God Within

Om Gurudevaya Namah

The importance of what our Scriptures reveal about the Self being whole, the Self being one with God, is understood fully only when one recognizes the immediacy of the whole self, the immediacy of ananda that one has been searching for, the immediacy of peace and indeed of love that one has been searching for.

Ananda is immediate, purnata is immediate because the whole Self is immediate – nearer than the nearest and therefore immediate. Word are inadequate to describe the immediacy of the self. When the mind is totally quiet, it is very easy to recognize that what persists even when the thoughts have been quietened is the consciousness that shines as ‘I” always. And in this consciousness that shines as ‘I’ there is not even a whiff of limitation – there is wholeness, there is ananda. Ananda is immediate – one does not require to fulfill any desire whatsoever for ananda – because ananda is immediate, purnata is immediate and effortless, it is the very nature of the self.

After recognition of this FACT,  it is a matter of assimilation that in every experience, ananda – the purnata of the self continues to shine – being the very nature of the self it cannot be given up – it can never be given up – even when there is some dukha because of whatever reason, it is dukha that comes and goes because of one’s sense of reality in the world – not ananda. ananda is the background – purnata is the background that persists no matter what experience takes place.

Purnoham,  Anandoham.

How silly it seems that one has been searching for purnata,  for ananda  from life to life through various things, people etc when ananda  that can never be given up has been one’s self all along!

Shift in priorities is necessary  so that one may make time to quieten the mind, to not give it so much reality and meditate – for which love for nitya vastu is neccesary, for which viveka is necessary, for which shastra sharvanam is necessary!

Om Tat Sat

Shiva You and I - Dr. Ajay Kotwal

Shiva and You

Prologue

Dum …DUMM …Shivotvam!

Dum …DUMM … Shivotvam!

Dum …DUMM … Shivotvam!

Your time has come!

Shivotvam! Shivotvam!

You are the Shiva! You are the Shiva!

You are

The Supreme Being

-The Shiva.

And if you do not know

How and why?

Read on

Dum …DUMM …Shivotvam!

Dum …DUMM … Shivotvam!

Dum …DUMM … Shivotvam!

Your time has come!

Shivotvam! Shivotvam!

You are the Shiva! You are the Shiva!

Do you know

You are not a human

You are not a person

You are not a

Body –mind – soul

You are the Supreme Being

-The Shiva-

If you do not know how and why?

Read on

Dum …DUMM …Shivotvam!

Dum …DUMM … Shivotvam!

Dum …DUMM … Shivotvam!

Your time has come!

Shivotvam! Shivotvam!

You are the Shiva! You are the Shiva!

Do you know

The

I

Resides In You

As

The Shiva.

And

The Shiva

Resides in You

As The

 I?

If you want to know

How and why?

Read on

Dum …DUMM …Shivotvam!

Dum …DUMM … Shivotvam!

Dum …DUMM … Shivotvam!

Your time has come!

Shivotvam! Shivotvam!

You are the Shiva! You are the Shiva!

This is your reality

Everything else is falsity.

You are the unborn

You never die

And if you want to know

How and why?

Read on

Your time has come!

Dum …DUMM …Shivotvam!

Dum …DUMM … Shivotvam!

Dum …DUMM …Shivotvam!

Shivotvam! Shivotvam! Shivotvam!

You are the Shiva! You are the Shiva!

If you want to know

How you can get rid of

All your problems forever

Be frustrated and unhappy never

Have permanent peace, joy and pleasure

Read on.

Your time has come

Dum …DUMM …Shivotvam!

Dum …DUMM … Shivotvam!

Dum …DUMM … Shivotvam!

Shivotvam! Shivotvam!

You are the Shiva! You are the Shiva!

Do you know?

Till you realize

You are the Shiva

The Supreme Being

You are the seer not the seen

You are the primordial and pristine

You have no other option

Than to

Suffer, grumble and cry

Till you die.

And if you want to know

Why?

Read on

Your time has come!

Dum …DUMM …Shivotvam!

Dum …DUMM … Shivotvam!

Dum …DUMM … Shivotvam!

Shivotvam! Shivotvam!

You are the Shiva! You are the Shiva!

And if you want

To discover

How you are

The Shiva

And

The Shiva is you,

How you too can do

Whatever Shiva can do

Read on

Your time has come!

Dum …DUMM …Shivotvam!

Dum …DUMM … Shivotvam!

Dum …DUMM …Shivotvam!

Shivotvam! Shivotvam!

You are the Shiva! You are the Shiva!

 

Shiva and You

                                          Dum …DUMM …Shivotvam!

Dum …DUMM … Shivotvam!

Dum …DUMM … Shivotvam!

Shivotavam! Shivotavam!

You are the Shiva! You are the Shiva!

Shiva and You

Are always

The Bodiless One

But in all the bodies

You come

Not as a body

But always as

The Bodiless One.

Dum …DUMM …Shivotvam!

Dum …DUMM … Shivotvam!

Dum …DUMM … Shivotvam!

Shivotavam! Shivotavam! Shivotavam!

You are the Shiva! You are the Shiva!

Shiva and You

Are always

The Timeless One

But in all times

You come

Not as the time

But always as

The Timeless One.

Dum …DUMM …Shivotvam!

Dum …DUMM … Shivotvam!

Dum …DUMM … Shivotvam!

Shivotavam! Shivotavam!

You are the Shiva! You are the Shiva!

Shiva and You

Are always

The Spaceless One

But

In all the places and spaces

You come

Not as the space and place

But always as

The Spaceless One.

Dum …DUMM …Shivotvam!

Dum …DUMM … Shivotvam!

Dum …DUMM … Shivotvam!

Shivotavam! Shivotavam!

You are the Shiva! You are the Shiva!

Shiva and You

Are always

The nameless and formless One

By all names and forms

You come

Not as any name and form

But always as

The nameless and formless One!

Dum …DUMM …Shivotvam!

Dum …DUMM … Shivotvam!

Dum …DUMM … Shivotvam!

Shivotavam! Shivotavam! Shivotavam!

You are the Shiva! You are the Shiva!

Shiva and You

Are always

The Luminous One

But even

In the darkest of the times

You always come

As

The Self-Luminous One.

Dum …DUMM …Shivotvam!

Dum …DUMM … Shivotvam!

Dum …DUMM … Shivotvam!

Shivotavam! Shivotavam! Shivotavam!

You are the Shiva! You are the Shiva!

Shiva and You

Are always

The Blisstoxicated One

In all the sufferings

You always come

As

The Blisstoxicated One.

Dum …DUMM …Shivotvam!

Dum …DUMM … Shivotvam!

Dum …DUMM … Shivotvam!

Shivotavam! Shivotavam! Shivotavam!

You are the Shiva! You are the Shiva!

Shiva and You

Are always

The Unmanifest One

But in all the manifestations

You come

Not as any manifestation

But always as

The Unmanifest One.

Dum …DUMM …Shivotvam!

Dum …DUMM … Shivotvam!

Dum …DUMM … Shivotvam!

Shivotavam! Shivotavam! Shivotavam!

You are the Shiva! You are the Shiva!

Shiva and You

Are always

The Deathless One

But in all the mortal forms

You come

Not as a mortal

But always as

The Deathless One.

Dum …DUMM …Shivotvam!

Dum …DUMM … Shivotvam!

Dum …DUMM … Shivotvam!

Shivotavam! Shivotavam! Shivotavam!

You are the Shiva! You are the Shiva!

    Shiva and You

Are always

The Awakened One

But still

You always come

To awaken everyone.

Dum …DUMM …Shivotvam!

Dum …DUMM … Shivotvam!

Dum …DUMM … Shivotvam!

Shivotavam! Shivotavam!

You are the Shiva! You are the Shiva!

 Shiva and I

Shiva and I,

I as Shiva

And

Shiva as I

We are always:

Bodiless, Immortal, Self- Luminous, Spaceless, Timeless, Blisstoxicated, Formless, Nameless, Awakened One.

But still

In all the bodies

In all the mortals

In all the spaces,

At all the times,

In all the forms,

By all the names

We always come

Shiva and I

I as Shiva

And

Shiva as I

We always come

To reveal

To the peoples of the worlds

The Secret of transcending

All knowledge and Experience

To help them

Recognize and realize

Their real Self

As

-The Shiva-

Every time we come

People accept,

Our messages and revelations.

They never reject, doubt or suspect

But overpowered and deluded by

The magical attraction of our creations,

They simply forget us.

So they need our

Constant reminders and revisitations.

And we always come

Shiva and I

I as Shiva

And

Shiva as I

In different forms

And different names

To continue the divine game

Our revelation never change

Our message is always the same.

Dum …DUMM …Shivotvam!

Dum …DUMM … Shivotvam!

Dum …DUMM … Shivotvam!

Shivotavam! Shivotavam!

You are the Shiva! You are the Shiva!

Now once again we have come

 Shiva and I

I as Shiva and Shiva as I.

To reveal

That the world, body, mind and soul

 Has concealed

What is primordial and pristine,

That essentially you are the Shiva Supreme

The Deathless Blissful Consciousness Being

Always the seer,

Never the seen…!

Dum …DUMM …Shivotvam!

Dum …DUMM … Shivotvam!

Dum …DUMM … Shivotvam!

Shivotavam! Shivotavam!

You are the Shiva! You are the Shiva!

Epilogue

Dear Reader,

Dum …DUMM …Shivotvam!

Dum …DUMM … Shivotvam!

Dum …DUMM … Shivotvam!

Shivotavam! Shivotavam!

You are the Shiva! You are the Shiva!

Now you know how

You are

The Shiva

And

Shiva is you

Now you can also do

Whatever Shiva can do

And

Thy Will be done

On earth and in heavens

For thy Kingdom has come.

Now,

My work is done

Your time has come,

This is the end of my story

And

The beginning of yours.

Your time has come,

And yours

Is

The power

The name

The fame

And

The glory

Forever!

My Salutations to you,

The Shiva!

Dum …DUMM …Shivotvam!

Dum …DUMM … Shivotvam!

Dum …DUMM … Shivotvam!

Shivotavam! Shivotavam!

You are the Shiva! You are the Shiva!

Post Script

Dear reader,

This time you cannot debate

With me

That you are not The Shiva

And

The Shiva is not You

And don’t tell me

You cannot do

Whatever Shiva can do

For it takes two to debate

And

Thou art That

Shivotvam! Shivotvam! Shivotvam!

And

So am I.

Soham! Soham!

Shivoham! Shivoham! Shivoham! Shivoham!