The fact is the world exists;
The Truth is it does not.
One lies in the realm of mind,
the other in the pure experience of Self. (Jones 31)
One of the core idea behind studying philosophy is to find what is permanent and what is temporary. This distinction is one which liberates us. Objects are all temporary while the subject or the real knower or witness is always permanent. That is the single most deep understanding. The tragic thing is that the temporary looks like a fact . It is like a magic show. When you are immersed in a magic show, you feel that the illusion created is a fact. You do perceive it , you experience it , and you are convinced. Yet something tells you , that there is an explanation of the reality of the situation. What happens when we don't doubt that there is an explanation to the magic?. We believe in it and it becomes a miracle. However we all know nature doesn't allow any exceptions to her laws. This conviction is enough to evict us from the moha of the situation.
The sages found that if we believe in delusion and strongly start living by it , our life is always a struggle to make sense of the maze. It is understandable. When we are in a boat and want to cross, we would be safe only if the boat is not shaking and is balanced. If the foundations are shaky we would be in trouble. A delusion and truth can never coexist. Unfortunately the truth is always non obvious.
If we truly understand that the world or the witnessed is a moha or delusion and only the witness is the truth , why do we give so much importance to the events in life?. Each and every experience creates such a lasting impression in us. Later on these influence our vritti or thoughts. The purity of existence is to live without creating any impressions in us. Lighter we are , the lesser the impressions in our mind. Each ego filled experience creates lasting impressions in your subconscious.
Let us take an example. Suppose somebody is angry at you. He is animated and is telling about you in sharp words and is continuing the act.
This is not an separate experience. There are many levels to this incident. When you are analyzing this in your mind without the sense of the witness or real self, you see only thoughts , emotions etc and all of them are identified with you. This is the egoistic interpretation of the incident. This feels very strongly in you. This has not only created lot of anger, frustration and sadness . It also creates a lot of residual set of subconscious samskara in you. Later on in a similar situation a thought might arise in you without your conscious knowledge and you might get angry at your child with no reason. So you can see the impact of your thought process is not only now. It has a lasting impression in you.
From a real self point of view, you are just a witness to this experience. The thoughts and emotion in your mind are just happening in you which are much like a sweat happening or some such event. I know i am not the mind, so the emotion is not me. What happens , there is no residual thought that comes up to counter the anger , it is just seen as a temporary phenomenon in the universe which you just witness. It comes and goes. You have watched it go like the passing of the wind in the garden. Maybe your clothes are a bit ruffled by the wind. But you know the cloth that you wear are not you. So you smile at the event. There are no impressions in your mind. You just witness it and understand that it is not something pertaining to the permanent reality. Witnessing is the true sense of detachment. A witness never is perturbed by it because he knows he is not the sufferer.
A second level of understanding is this. There is only one reality. What you see as another person is just a delusion. The other person looks like a different one only from the ego perspective. Since there is only one self , the self in him is the same as your self. So you are actually appearing as this different person. In fact the other person is nothing but another avathar of you!!!. In the core of his being he is the same as you. Now if you see it this way , how can you be affected by the anger. The anger that he shows is also part of you. Unity and love are one and the same. The moment you are one with everything you love all. It is only the diversity that creates separation.
There is one more way in which our ego can create problems. Whenever we are in this situation, we immediately start thinking about the past. We use our memory to interpret the situation. This happens like this. You start thinking
" I have done so much for this person sacrificing myself and my happiness. This is what i get back"
OR
" He doesnt understand me. How much hardships i have undergone"
. All these are a result of interpreting based on smrithi. This is what Patanjali calls as viparaya and vikalpa. ( misapprehension and imagination).
"viparyayo mithyajnanam atadroopapratishtham" Yoga sutra( 8)
Indiscrimination is false knowledge not established in real nature.
Patanjali says if you want right understanding, just analyze it based on the present moment and your intellect. Not understanding the absolute reality and believing in unreal things is the cause of most of your sorrows. Just say to yourselves if you see anything other than divinity in anything or anyone it is your misapprehension.
If we look at only the current moment, what is happening is just this person getting angry and some emotions happen in you. Accept everything completely. Love everything including your responses. Then you will see that the situation dissolves without any issues. Just by remaining silent you wont dissolve, Your thoughts also should cease. In the initial stage the best approach is to replace all your negativity with nice thoughts immediately . You say in your mind" I accept it completely and i love that person irrespective of what he is saying". Just repeat even if you dont believe it . After some repetitions your thoughts dissolve. This method is similar to assertion.
A calm mind is the field in which all nice creative and good thoughts come. A still mind is the only one that is blissful. You are not only calm now, but you are also sowing the seeds of spirituality in this field.
How can you be detached?. How can you abide in your awareness so that you catch your mind in the act?. Practice meditation and get familiar with the deep waters of your mind. As awareness increases your sense of watching power becomes permanent in you. The moment you wake up it is awareness through which you sense the world , the body the mind all are witnessed all the time. This becomes a habit and then effortless. You become established in reality
The Truth is it does not.
One lies in the realm of mind,
the other in the pure experience of Self. (Jones 31)
One of the core idea behind studying philosophy is to find what is permanent and what is temporary. This distinction is one which liberates us. Objects are all temporary while the subject or the real knower or witness is always permanent. That is the single most deep understanding. The tragic thing is that the temporary looks like a fact . It is like a magic show. When you are immersed in a magic show, you feel that the illusion created is a fact. You do perceive it , you experience it , and you are convinced. Yet something tells you , that there is an explanation of the reality of the situation. What happens when we don't doubt that there is an explanation to the magic?. We believe in it and it becomes a miracle. However we all know nature doesn't allow any exceptions to her laws. This conviction is enough to evict us from the moha of the situation.
The sages found that if we believe in delusion and strongly start living by it , our life is always a struggle to make sense of the maze. It is understandable. When we are in a boat and want to cross, we would be safe only if the boat is not shaking and is balanced. If the foundations are shaky we would be in trouble. A delusion and truth can never coexist. Unfortunately the truth is always non obvious.
If we truly understand that the world or the witnessed is a moha or delusion and only the witness is the truth , why do we give so much importance to the events in life?. Each and every experience creates such a lasting impression in us. Later on these influence our vritti or thoughts. The purity of existence is to live without creating any impressions in us. Lighter we are , the lesser the impressions in our mind. Each ego filled experience creates lasting impressions in your subconscious.
Let us take an example. Suppose somebody is angry at you. He is animated and is telling about you in sharp words and is continuing the act.
This is not an separate experience. There are many levels to this incident. When you are analyzing this in your mind without the sense of the witness or real self, you see only thoughts , emotions etc and all of them are identified with you. This is the egoistic interpretation of the incident. This feels very strongly in you. This has not only created lot of anger, frustration and sadness . It also creates a lot of residual set of subconscious samskara in you. Later on in a similar situation a thought might arise in you without your conscious knowledge and you might get angry at your child with no reason. So you can see the impact of your thought process is not only now. It has a lasting impression in you.
From a real self point of view, you are just a witness to this experience. The thoughts and emotion in your mind are just happening in you which are much like a sweat happening or some such event. I know i am not the mind, so the emotion is not me. What happens , there is no residual thought that comes up to counter the anger , it is just seen as a temporary phenomenon in the universe which you just witness. It comes and goes. You have watched it go like the passing of the wind in the garden. Maybe your clothes are a bit ruffled by the wind. But you know the cloth that you wear are not you. So you smile at the event. There are no impressions in your mind. You just witness it and understand that it is not something pertaining to the permanent reality. Witnessing is the true sense of detachment. A witness never is perturbed by it because he knows he is not the sufferer.
A second level of understanding is this. There is only one reality. What you see as another person is just a delusion. The other person looks like a different one only from the ego perspective. Since there is only one self , the self in him is the same as your self. So you are actually appearing as this different person. In fact the other person is nothing but another avathar of you!!!. In the core of his being he is the same as you. Now if you see it this way , how can you be affected by the anger. The anger that he shows is also part of you. Unity and love are one and the same. The moment you are one with everything you love all. It is only the diversity that creates separation.
There is one more way in which our ego can create problems. Whenever we are in this situation, we immediately start thinking about the past. We use our memory to interpret the situation. This happens like this. You start thinking
" I have done so much for this person sacrificing myself and my happiness. This is what i get back"
OR
" He doesnt understand me. How much hardships i have undergone"
. All these are a result of interpreting based on smrithi. This is what Patanjali calls as viparaya and vikalpa. ( misapprehension and imagination).
"viparyayo mithyajnanam atadroopapratishtham" Yoga sutra( 8)
Indiscrimination is false knowledge not established in real nature.
Patanjali says if you want right understanding, just analyze it based on the present moment and your intellect. Not understanding the absolute reality and believing in unreal things is the cause of most of your sorrows. Just say to yourselves if you see anything other than divinity in anything or anyone it is your misapprehension.
If we look at only the current moment, what is happening is just this person getting angry and some emotions happen in you. Accept everything completely. Love everything including your responses. Then you will see that the situation dissolves without any issues. Just by remaining silent you wont dissolve, Your thoughts also should cease. In the initial stage the best approach is to replace all your negativity with nice thoughts immediately . You say in your mind" I accept it completely and i love that person irrespective of what he is saying". Just repeat even if you dont believe it . After some repetitions your thoughts dissolve. This method is similar to assertion.
A calm mind is the field in which all nice creative and good thoughts come. A still mind is the only one that is blissful. You are not only calm now, but you are also sowing the seeds of spirituality in this field.
How can you be detached?. How can you abide in your awareness so that you catch your mind in the act?. Practice meditation and get familiar with the deep waters of your mind. As awareness increases your sense of watching power becomes permanent in you. The moment you wake up it is awareness through which you sense the world , the body the mind all are witnessed all the time. This becomes a habit and then effortless. You become established in reality
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