Meditation - I accept this body-mind by Swami Viditatmananda (Rishikesh camp 2022)

 

Om Namah Shivaya ….chanting

 This is guided meditation in which you just have to listen and follow the meaning of the words.

This is an appointment with myself. An appointment with my own self, because throughout the day I'm so busy with various activities, I hardly have time to be with myself. So this is the quality time that I spend with myself, when I have no other agenda, when I have nothing to do, nothing to accomplish, for the simple reason, that Vedanta teaches us that I already am what I seeking to be. It is the accomplishment of  what is already accomplished.

And therefore there is nothing to accomplish, nothing to achieve. I have nothing to become. I do not need to become someone other than what I am, because I am alright as I am. I realize, I appreciate the many limitations associated with me. I realize that I am a limited being from one standpoint. I am physically limited in the  physical capabilities.

This human body is a great gift. It is a great privilege to have this body, and I'm very, very happy that I have this body. It is true that it is limited, yet that is how it is meant to be. Whatever is created is limited. Therefore, this body also is limited in its capacity. Perhaps it is not as strong as I wish it to be. Perhaps I cannot climb mountains. I cannot win a race. Maybe I cannot swim. I may hesitate to take a dip in the Ganga.

Yes, there are many limitations, as well as many virtues in the body that I have. All limitations and virtues belong to the body. This body is a gift, very precious gift given to me. I'm grateful for this gift whether it's a male body or female body, whether it's young or not so young, whether it's strong or not so strong. Regardless of how this body is in comparison to other bodies, I appreciate, I recognize it as a very precious gift.

And therefore I gracefully accept my body as it is. I have no complaints about this body. I have no demands from this body. There is a graceful, loving acceptance of my body.

I am very comfortable with my body, in spite of its limitations. Because whatever is created is limited. I do not need to judge this body in comparison to others. I need not judge this body by the standards created by others. I accept this body as the most appropriate because it is created by Ishvara, who is omniscient, all knowing, omnipotent,  all powerful, and my well-wisher. Ishvara is suhrd, my well-wisher. With all His Grace Ishvara has gifted this body to me.

I am the possessor of this body. And this human body is most suited for accomplishing what I'm seeking, namely, Moksha.  What I'm seeking, namely self knowledge. This body may not be most suited to be accomplished worldwide, but it is most suited for all spiritual accomplishments. And therefore, I'm very grateful for the gift of this body.

I gracefully lovingly accept this body. I am comfortable with this body. I'm happy with this body with all its limitations, with its aches and pains, with its virtues and limitations. In His Infinite wisdom Ishvara has shaped his body specially for me.

I'm not proud of the body, yet I'm happy with this gift.

I lovingly, gracefully accept my mind. The human mind also is the most sophisticated gift given to me by Ishvara.

I know my mind has limitations. Perhaps limitations of memory, limitations of understanding, limitations of communication. I recognize limitations in my mind, but again, whatever is created  is always  limited. This mind is created, and so it is limited.

There's no reason for me to be unhappy with my mind. I know that sometimes my mind gets angry, I know that sometimes my mind gets jealous. Sometimes it reacts. Often it is happy. Sometimes devoted, sometimes not so devoted. Sometimes my friend, sometimes helpful to me., sometimes not so helpful to me. Sometimes the mind is my friend. Sometimes the mind can turn against me also. However, the mind is, there are limitations in the mind.

At the same time, there are great virtues in the mind also. I can think. I can feel. I can recollect. I can contemplate. There are countless things that I do with my mind. The human mind is one of the greatest gifts that Ishvara has given me. I am happy with my mind, with its virtues and limitations. There t maybe some negativities in the mind, yet I know that negativities is not in nature of the mind. By nature, my mind is loving, kind, beautiful.

Yes, sometimes there is hatred. Sometimes there is cruelty. Sometimes there is resentment. I do find these negative tendencies in my mind, yet I should remember that they are not the nature of the mind. Because of ignorance, because of false notions, the mind is picked up these negativities, but they're not inherent in my mind. Inherently my mind is a kind, loving, beautiful faculty. I'm grateful that I have the gift of this mind with which I communicate in the world, with which I live my life, with which I accomplish what I wish to. Even if my mind will not have the capability of some worldly accomplishments, my mind certainly has a capability of becoming pure, kind and loving. My mind has a capability of the knowledge in the self. My mind is capability of viveka and vairagya. Shama – tranquility. Dama – self-control. All these capabilities are present in my mind and I know that with right effort, they will all become manifest. This mind will blossom because that is what it's meant to be.

 

 

I'm happy with my  mind inspite of its  limitations, inspite of its  negativitites because I know that they will go away someday.

I gratefully, lovingly accept my mind. I gracefully lovingly accept myself.

Whatever I think is not acceptable in me, that is not my nature. That is not inherently my  nature. That is not inherently what I am.

Inherently, by my essential nature, I am a kind, beautiful, loving person.

If I see opposite things in me, there are only extraneous…. incidental.

Inherently I am a kind, loving, beautiful person.

And therefore I am very happy with me.

That is the appointment with myself … an appointment with the true person that I am.

Here I meeting myself is being myself.

I am happy to be myself.

Cidananda rupah shivoham shivoham

Cidananda rupah shivoham shivoham

Cidananda rupah shivoham shivoham

Shivoham shivoham

..

..

..

Please retain this silence in your mind. Do not engage in any unnecessary talking.

Maintain this silence as long as you can. Om

Om Purnam…..

Harih Om

Shrigurubhyo namah

Harih Om

 

Note: Reading these meditations is not equivalent to actually doing the meditations, especially in the presence of Swamiji. You can buy these meditations from Swami Dayananda Ashram, Rishikesh www.dayananda.org.

Namah- my surrender unto Lord Shiva - Meditation at Rishikesh camp 2022 by Swami Viditatmananda

 

O Namah Shivaya, my prostrations, my salutations to Lord Shiva. Namah … is salutations. Surrender. Om Namah Shivaya. I surrender to Lord Shiva. Surrendering not out of helplessness, surrendering not out of weakness. Surrendering out of willingness, because of my shraddha, my trust in the Lord, in Ishvara, who is manifest as the order in the universe.. ….Ishvara who is manifest as the order.

 This is not a mechanical order. It is true that it is the fundamental order which keeps this whole universe functioning in a harmonious manner. Yet Ishvara is more than this mechanical order running the universe. Ishvara is also the moral order - that not only the universe runs because of the mechanical laws, the universe also runs because of the moral laws.

 There is a moral order. And even more fundamental than that, there is a spiritual order. Ishvara, is not just ordainer, not just karma-phala-daata dispensing the results of the action, in keeping with the moral order. As you sow so you reap. Ishvara is more than that. Ishvara is benevolent, He is Suhrd, He is Compassionate.  If we have to identify the intention of Ishvara, it is to bring about the well being of everyone, everything.

 It does not look sometimes that's what is happening is necessarily with the intention of the well being. It looks like there's lot of cruelty, looks like there's injustice, looks like there's unfairness. And it is likely that we may feel the object of injustice, unfairness. At the superficial level there may appear conflict and even cruelty, may be injustice. But in the depth of this, just as there are waves, and disturbances and  even storms on the surface of the ocean, yet there is profound silence in the depth of the ocean ...similarly, also  Ishvara or the reality of the universe should not be judged merely by what appears on the surface.

 In the depth of everything, there is fairness, justice, compassion…. Om Namah Shivaya ...... I surrender …. I surrender my resistance.

 Very often I resist, even reject what is. Sometimes I revolt because I disapprove of what is and I may have reasons for that conclusion. Yet what is meant by the 'namah' surrender to the Lord, is accepting in good faith, that at the bottom of everything, at the core of everything, there is fairness, there is justice…..there is compassion.

 This is how the Upanishads reveals the nature of Ishvara.

आनन्दात् एव खल्विमानि भूतानि जायन्ते

ānandāt eva khalvimāni bhūtaani jāyante

 All the beings are born of Ananda, of wholeness, of completeness.

 आनन्देन जातानि जीवन्ति

ānandena jātaani jīvanti

All the beings are sustained in Ananda and they merge back in Ananda.

 Behind the dukha, the sorrow, the conflict… which is experienced at the superficial level…. Namah means I  have trust that there is justice, fairness and compassion in my life.

 Sometimes the mother seems to be cruel to a child. When a mother is administering medicine to a child, maybe bitter medicine, the child thinks mother is very cruel, but there is kindness in that cruelty.  Similarly, Ishvara is mother … this is a matter of trust.

 श्रद्धावान् लभते ज्ञानम्

śraddhāvān labhate jñānam

 Lord Krishna says the one who has implicit trust, gains the knowledge meaning that it becomes the  reality in my life.

My conclusion is,  there is  unfairness and injustice in life. I can discover fairness, compassion when I do not give reality to the superficial injustice or unfairness.

 Om Namah Shivaya

 Shiva means auspicious, Shiva means Ananda. Shiva means tranquility. That is, auspiciousness, tranquility ananda, as a basis of everything.

 What is meant by shraddha is that I accept that in good faith and live my life in keeping with that vision.

श्रद्धावान् लभते ज्ञानम्

śraddhāvān labhate jñānam

 If I have shraddha in what the Scriptures reveal, if I make that basis of my life, not giving reality to my conclusions, not giving reality to my opposite conclusions…..meaning I let go of my conclusions which are contrary to what the Scriptures reveal.

 That is the neti neti process….. and base my life on Shiva, gracefulness, auspiciousness -  that is the way that the negativities in my life will be dropped. Letting go. That is the way to discover freedom in my life.

 The so called bondage is nothing but my various conclusions about life, various conclusions about myself, various conclusions about the world.

 Om Namah Shivaya.

 Every conclusion is examined in the light of the fact that Shiva is the reality.  Then it is possible for me to accept life as prasada because Shiva is the karma-phala-daata, he gives me, he creates for me various circumstances.

 Namah means prasada buddhi. What is given by Ishvara is  gracefully accepted by me as prasada. That prasada may be sweet sometimes, sour sometimes, even bitter sometimes.

 If I keep in mind the fact that what comes to me, comes from Lord Shiva, through various intermediaries no doubt, ultimately the Giver is Lord Shiva whose agenda is to shape me, whose agenda is to reveal the beauty within me, that whatever comes to me in my life is to help me, not hurt me.

 Om Namah Shivaya

 This is called Namah- surrender to Lord – surrendering, letting go my will, my  judgment at the feet of the Lord meaning I accept the Lord's judgment in my life, as gracefully as I can.

 And that is how my tendencies is to resist, to revolt, to reject - slowly I'm able to overcome these tendencies and discover peace within myself.

 Shiva is not away from me. He is my very self which is peace and auspiciousness. But I am deprived of the benefit of the peace, of the auspiciousness, because of not accepting Lord Shiva in my life. Because of not accepting His sankalpa or will in my life, and asserting my will.

 This Namah,  this surrender is an enlightened surrender, not out of helplessness. It is out of understanding, out of shraddha or the trust, that takes a lot of burden in my mind.

 Om Namah Shivaya…….

 

The Power of EFT for Emotional Mastery

I write this article in the context of Emotional Mastery.

EFT which is an acronym for Emotional Freedom Technique, is a method which uses tapping on certain meridian points in the body, to defuse the negative emotional build-up around our daily life events, as well as for past traumas, hurts etc. In the process of defusing the emotional build-up of whatever it might be like anger, anxiety, hurt, sadness, fear, helplessness, powerlessness etc, it allows us to very quickly

1.     To accept ourself inspite of the difficult emotions

2.     let go of these emotions,

3.     let go of the brooding about the stories and interpretations and analysis around the events that lead to the emotions

4.     view the event in different healthier perspective

5.     see our own limiting beliefs that lead to the emotional build-up in the first place and let go of them if we choose to.

 
Usually when we are faced with a difficult situation – for example, you have been unfairly criticized. Now you feel a raging anger and the tendency will be to brood about the event, to analyse the event to prove that you were not wrong, to interpret the situation – you will stay with stories going on in your head and your self-talk – all of which become overwhelming – and in the case of an emotion like anger, may even cause you to become violent etc… and it can result in your not being able to live normally for days on end.

 When you use EFT, what it first does is have you acknowledge your emotions first, where in your body you are feeling it, and give a numeral rating to it on a scale of 1-10 on how high is the intensity of the emotion and then accept yourself inspite of the emotion.

 So an opening statement would go something like this, ‘Even though, I am so angry with ____ and I am feeling it in my chest as a huge pressure at a 10, and it makes me feel so helpless and I want to hit him, I still choose to love and accept myself completely’. And then you would tap on all the meridian points, maybe saying the story of what happened and your feelings and interpretations etc., or if the emotions are too strong to handle directly, there are ways to first bring down the emotional charge some points and then tell the story.

 What the tapping does is completely defuse the emotional charge by releasing the disturbing energy that is actually stored in the body – and when the emotional charge is defused you are actually  able to look at the situation differently, more objectively.

 And as you grow in your understanding of your emotional world, you begin to discover your beliefs that lead to the way you interpret the events that take place in your life and you are able to change those beliefs too.

 EFT is a powerful tool you can use for gaining mastery over your emotions. I would recommend this strongly for Vedanta students who are struggling with strong negative emotions because of not knowing how to process them, past traumas or unresolved emotional issues

 It is good to invest in your emotional mastery by learning the different ways to use EFT – assimilation of Vedanta teaching becomes very much easier.

 To learn it you can approach https://vitalitylivingcollege.info/training-seminars/eft-training-course/

 

 

 

 

Avaccheda Vada explained (video)

 

Pratibimba Vada in Vedanta explained (video)

 

Online Satsang with Pujya Swami Viditatmananda on 25 Feb 2022

 

On Feb 25th 2022 around 65 of us met with Pujya Swami Viditatmananda Saraswati online. It was a fulfilling, mesmerizing (as one student said) session with Swamiji. Swamiji gave us a summary of Tattvabodha as some of us who had requested the meeting had just finished studying Tattvabodha from his Youtube videos. This was followed by a question answers session with some of the students. The Youtube links for the Tattvabodha summary and the individual question and answers are given below.  You can click on the videos to see them.

The summary of the Tattvabodha text.

How will the Sakshi know it is Satcitananda

How is Sat = Cit = Ananda?

What is the difference in approach and guidance between Tattvabodha and Bhagavad-Gita?

Is Existence because of Creation?

Sleep comes from Tamo Guna, then why is it called Bliss?

Since Consciousness is Non-dual how come we have inanimate and animate?

Why does Omniscient Consciousness appear as the limited jiva?

     

Vedanta is not meant for denial of psychological pain

 

 Om Namah Shivaya Gurave

Vedanta is not meant for denying the not so pleasant aspects of the psychological personality. 

All aspects of the psychological self, including the not-so-pleasant ones, like the anger, the shame, the guilt, the hurt, the jealousy, the greed, the craving, the loneliness, the sense of persecution, the frustration.... its endless - all of pain - both psychological and physical, needs to be admitted to without denial, and healed with compassionate acceptance. It is a sweet tapas....

The cognitive net that Vedanta offers through the vision of the whole self that is free of all objective experience, can make it much easier to admit to the pain and offer it  the compassionate acceptance that it is crying out for, and thus allowing the painful heart to  heal.

The healed heart, the heart that has opened to accepting all aspects of the psychological self, can much more easily recognize and own up the absolute truth, that the self is indeed free of all pain - has always been free of pain, is always free of pain and will always be free of pain. The self is indeed virajam – untainted, vishuddham – pure, vishadam – clear, vishokam - ever-free of grief.

Om Tat Sat