For Seekers by Seekers

Enjoyed listening to Kishore sharing his thoughts after his daily meditation practice....

He approaches the 'enlightenment' topic from yoga sutras angle 

Talks on the interplay of gunas - Sattva, Rajas, Tamas (S-R-T gunas) and how they can be manipulated (& why).

Explains how samadhi as defined in Patanjali yoga sutras is, and how the ashtanga yoga steps helps.

His emphasis on why & how the mind is the main culprit is very nice - like it is said in the scriptures, mana-eva manushya moksha bandana sadhanam....Only the mind is a human's impediment to either moksha or bandhana (samsara).

All about clarifying what is Renunciation, Nyasa, Sannyasa.

What it means to wear saffron robes and take sannyasa vs. what it means to mentally let go of likes & dislikes [tyaga].

We start with a summary of the journey so far in reading the book, The Teachings of the Gita, by Swami Dayananda, up to Chapter 8. 

The key emphasis of this summary is understanding and appreciating Karma yoga.

Some of the topics covered are:

Note: The recording is not very clear...but comprehensible.

We talk of action & actionlessness and clarify our concepts.

Four types of devotion & devotees, work & worship, work is worship, etc.

We also briefly talk about Bhakti-yoga and how that is relevant in the context of the spiritual path.

This episode is discussions from seekers to seekers sharing their learnings, questions in the journey so far.

In today's discussions 'from seekers to seekers' we discuss the topic of 'action' and 'actionlessness'.

Finding action in actionlessness and being actionlessness in action is difficult.

This is a concept where it expresses the Pure Awareness as the non-doer, non-enjoyer entity.

People misinterpret this and think that they want to drop all actions and take up sanyasa - renunciate. But Krishna says this is not the solution.

When we act without selfish desires, then we are not 'doing' the work and so are not the 'enjoyer'. This is what it means by seeing action in actionlessness and actionless in action - we continue to do actions but the desires for selfish benefit is not there.

And Karma Yoga is the first step to do to 'reduce the impact' of 'selfish desires'.

Karma Yoga is the first qualification, the preparatory step, that one needs to learn to develop the attitude of equanimity and reduce our mental attachment to external world successes.

This is the recording of the guided meditation practice I led on 5/17/2020.

In this practice, we focus on managing our intellect.

Human mind has four parts - emotional mind, rational mind (intellect) , memory & ego. Concentration (focus) meditation is for the emotional (indecisive) mind which is usually the topic of meditation - but in this we go beyond that to manage our intellect. We end with the serenity prayer by Reinhold Neibur, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serenity_Prayer

Here are the instructions of the text I used [not exactly the same text in the guided meditation]:

Today, we will seed our mind / the intellect, with one idea – about acceptance & choices.

Visualize your entire body.

Take a minute to go through the journey from birth till now.

You did not have a choice when you were born.

- Your place /country of birth;

- Your parents

- Your siblings

- Your other family members

- Your sex – male or female

- Color of your eyes or your hair…..

- The first few years of your life,

So many things were pre-determined.

Accept them. It is a choiceless situation.

Acceptance means – not ignoring or hiding or being overly proud or feeling inferior.

It means just saying to yourself – It is a choiceless situation. It is what it is; good or bad; positive or negative.

Fast forward to today. Your present. Your Now!

- You cannot change what has happened from birth till your present.

- It has become a choiceless situation now.

- Apply the same principle of acceptance – accept your past.

- True, you could have made a few choices differently in the past – but that cannot be changed now. So, better to accept.

Any bodily pain, disease that you may be experiencing in your present – it could be a combination of choiceless situations or wrong choices made. It is the effect of a past cause.

If we can change some aspects of our body, we MUST do it.

If we can’t change few other aspects about it, then it becomes a choiceless situation in the present. Just accept it.

Expand your awareness to your mind NOW.

- Your past thoughts created this present future for you.

- Accept your present. It is a gift from the past.

Fast forward and think of your future for a second. Say 10 years or 20 years from now.

- What can you do for your future? Is it a choiceless situation or can we do something about it?

- Recognize that you have choice now, to determine your future.

Appreciate that you have choices only in the present.

- Present does not mean this very second. It means the ‘immediate future’.

- Recognize that the choices you make now will determine your future.

- Recognize that you have the free-will & exercise three broad choices in any situation:

o Do

o Don’t do

o Do it in a specific way

Remember:

1. Accept the past; Accept choiceless circumstances

2. Acting in the present creates the future.

3. Delving on the past does not change the future.

It is only in the present that we have choices.

Ask the higher intelligence for:

The serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

Courage to change the things I can,

And wisdom to know the difference – what can be changed & what cannot be.

In today's GD 'from seekers to seekers',  we discuss the need for a Guru - a spiritual guide.

We share our experiences how a Guru 'mirrors' and helps us to see who we truly are., guiding us in the entire process of knowing who we truly are, and importantly distinguishing it from who we are not.

We also discuss how the knowledge about oneself (Self knowledge) is the highest knowledge and how it satisfies the curiosity of everyone who reaches it - unlike traditional knowledge where there is always something more to learn.....

We finally also discuss and logically understand that the first Guru should have been the Brahman.....

In this episode I summarize a conversation with my Guru who clarifies the concept of 'selfish interest' driven 'karma'.

When we do any karma (action), if there is a selfish interest behind it then we have to do it completely for it to give its benefit. The karma can be any work in our daily life, including professional work, or even spiritual work like puja or japa. People do puja (propitiate) Gods because they want something (I need to get a job/ get married /have a kid/ buy a home/ get rid of my illness.....). And when our puja /japa does NOT involve selfish interest, we can drop these anytime. Otherwise, we must do it as prescribed by the Vedas for them to provide us the desired result. If there are any acts of omission, known as pratyavaya dosha in Sanskrit, then the results won't accrue. BUT this is not applicable for unselfish desires and moksha is unselfish.

The person on whose behalf I spoke to my Guru, wanted to drop several japa /puja as her health was not permitting her and also she wanted to know what to do to progress further spiritually. My Guru just asked her to drop them right away and do Nidhidhyasanam....but the underlying explanation was superb.

Selfish Interest as the motive: Do the Work properly as per injunctions

Unselfish interest as the motive: Do your best with Karma yoga attitude

One of the attributes of that Supreme Consciousnessness is that it is NOT an object., but the ever-knowing subject.

Adrushya - is one of the 1000 names given to that Brahman in Vishnu Sahasranamam. It means that one who cannot be realized completely by anyone. 

Drik-Drishya Viveka a famous book that distinguishes between subject & object. Adrushya and Drishya which are opposites basically mean that whatever we see /experience is drushya (drishya) and what remains in this Universe after ALL we experience is Adrushya, which is Brahman.

It is a nice way of explaining that Universe = Consciousness + Matter. Matter is object and Consciousness is subject.

The Consciousness is 'I' or Atma.