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

Understanding who is a sanyasi

 

Write down a heading 'Who I am’.

Under that make two columns titled ‘With reference to the body’ and ‘With reference to the mind'.

Write below the columns respectively all the labels including roles you give to your self.

After that, write down another heading titled ‘What I own or possess or have'

Under that make two columns again titled ‘External to the body'  and  ‘Within me’.

Write below the columns respectively all that you think you possess either externally or within yourself.

The fire of knowledge, the teaching of Vedanta, requires you to be very honest, and ask yourself a couple of questions about all the items you have written under these columns

1. Are they objects of your knowledge/ consciousness?

2. Are they dependent or independent?

3. Are they temporary?

Now imagine this roaring fire of knowledge – offer into it  all that you have written down which fits into the category of ‘object of knowledge’, ‘dependent’, ‘temporary’. Visualize them burning to ashes and being blown away by some huge wind of understanding.

What remains? Maybe some items still remain. If so, again put the three questions to them...if any of the categories pertain to them, offer them into that roaring fire of knowledge and see them burnt to ashes and blown away.

Is there anything remaining? 

Who knows what remains? What is the essence of the knower? The one who recognizes this and remains as this, is a sanyasi.

Vedanta’s perspective on physical pain/ physical limitations....an introspection

 

Usually our attention is focussed on something we can objectify...our thoughts, feelings, memories, sensations, breath, the external world.

However, for now, let’s just close our eyes and allow our awareness to be vast and spacious in front of us, boundless behind, infinite on the sides, immeasurable below and limitless above.

Let your heart be as vast and spacious as the sky ...a vast open sky of all acceptance.

It is in this vast spacious, self-evident awareness that you are, that all perception takes place.... hearing takes place....seeing takes place, tasting, smelling, sensation takes place, even action takes place....breathing, eating, walking, bathing, writing, reading ...all of this takes place... They are all objects of your consciousness ....

The consciousness that you are illuminates and enlivens them all. They are perceived to change ...the consciousness that you are does not change ...ever. They are not really separate from your consciousness ....they arise and fall like waves in the ocean of Consciousness that you are.

Physical pain, physical discomfort is a sensation that is illumined and enlivened in the Consciousness you are. You can be totally present to it, without resistance, totally accepting of it ...when you are totally present to anything ....without any resistance, in total acceptance, what you discover is that you are there as a stillness, a witness to the discomfort ...you discover there is some dimension of you ...your consciousness, that is not really touched by it. This is a very exhilarating discovery....painful, uncomfortable at level of body-mind, yet exhilarating for you at another level.

And when you stop equating physical discomfort, physical pain or physical limitations with your self, you enjoy freedom...freedom from dislike and fear ....it’s a huge freedom.

The teaching of Vedanta points out that the consciousness you are is SATYA – and anything that is an object of consciousness is MITHYA....including physical pain and discomfort. Physical pain and discomfort are objects of our consciousness ...they have no power to affect the consciousness we are.  

The secret to owning up this truth in our own being, is our non-resistance to life, our acceptance of both the ups and downs of life situations. What initially helps us to accept life as it is, is our understanding of Ishvara as the abhinna-nimmita-upadana karana, the karma-phala daataa....and our non-resistance to Ishvara....that’s the emotional evolution, the transformation that truly liberates.

Om Tat Sat

Stillness - some thoughts

 

The reflection of consciousness in the mind, is the awareness that we are familiar with, usually engaged in thinking, remembering, feeling, imagining, perceiving, visualizing....always engaged in objectifying in some form or the other.

When we are advised, be present, live consciously ...we are still engaged in objectifying ... very consciously ...free of imagination and visualization, free of thoughts of the past, free of thoughts of the future...we just engage with the immediate present...it is a type of meditation you can say.

When the mind is fully present there is a stillness experienced ..true. Is there a division between the experiencer of stillness and the stillness? It is not that the mind has stopped. Perception is taking place, action is taking place ...and yet there is this still infinite presence. The experienced stillness is an expression of the motionless self. 

This stillness is an expression of myself in the mind. I can use it to understand my timeless nature. Does the stillness have any boundaries? Is it not of the nature of infinite timeless consciousness in whose vast, spacious ever-presence, every perception takes place, every action takes place,  every perception and action is illumined and enlivened.

Sat – timeless existence of the nature of cit – consciousness that is Ananta – infinite ...that alone I am ...

Infinite in time is ever-present, changeless, indestructible

Infinite in space is everywhere, indivisible

Infinite in object is  formless, no dual or plural

Never an object of thought – but the very essence of thought, from where thought emerges, is sustained and goes back

Never the knowing ego

Totally free of the mind, even the Cosmic mind

Recognizing as oneself, pure infinite presence ...there is nothing to do, nothing to learn, nothing to achieve, nothing to succeed, nothing to fail, nothing to be....no object whatsoever ...soham..citsvarupoham...cinmayoham.... satcit-ananda-svarupoham ...soham

What is there in any moment?

 

What is there in any present moment?

The very isness, beingness of the moment which is the awareness of it, which is oneself .....and whatever one is aware of.

This beingness of the moment ..any moment ..is a vastness, a spaciousness, a stillness, an awareness, Consciousness ...the very womb or essence of every changing perception, in whose ever unchanging presence, every perception, every thought, feeling, sensation, breath takes place and is illumined and enlivened.

This beingness of any moment is called Om and it is oneself ...OM.....OM....OM ..infinite, indivisible, indestructible Consciousness.

Om Tat Sat

Do physical limitations have to cause emotional suffering?

 

There is poverty, sickness, physical pain ....all kinds of physical limitations. Do physical limitations have to cause emotional suffering?

We are conditioned to believe that physical limitations must cause emotional suffering. Does the discomfort and physical pain that is felt have to cause emotional suffering?

Emotional suffering is caused when there is identification with the physical discomfort as ‘I am the discomfort’ or ‘my discomfort or pain’. If there is clear assimilation of the fact revealed by Vedanta, that I is just pure consciousness, infinite, indestructible, unchanging, in whose ever-presence, different ever-changing energy states which appear and disappear,  are illumined and recognized to be projections only ...then physical limitations and physical pain will not cause emotional suffering. गुणा गुणेषु वर्तन्ते इति मत्वा न सज्जते।

Before this kind of firm assimilation can happen a lot of emotional cleansing needs to take place. All the buried stuff in the unconscious needs to be aired, accepted, forgiven and let go off. 

To understand Vedanta is not difficult. To own it up can be extremely difficult, if the stored emotional garbage is not compassionately processed and let go of. 

Om Tat Sat