There is a common theme to all of our experiences in life. Almost all of them are either pleasant , unpleasant or neutral . We tend to avoid unpleasant and tend towards pleasant. Now the neutral ones which either are pleasant or unpleasant never bothers us. It is accepted very easily. Now our mind convinces us that our life should embrace the pleasant and avoid the unpleasant. This gives rise to two underlying themes in us. One is that of greed. Second is that of aversion.
Our mind and ego works towards a sequence of actions in wanting the pleasant experiences. We somehow feel that in relying on them we may get happiness. But since the happiness is not the result of anything outside , even getting to the pleasant experiences never satisfies us. We seek more. This is the nature of greed. When i say greed , don't mistake it for the common notion of the term.A greed need not necessarily mean a negative emotion . It just means here that whatever was promised as leading to happiness didn't yield it and we continue to seek it. This also leads to frustration in life unknowingly. Since if we are disappointed in something there is a confusion as to what went wrong. Why is not happiness coming to me ?. What more should i do ?
Second is that of avoiding unpleasant experiences. We feel that if we avoid the current set of situations in life which is leading to unhappiness, we would get happiness. This is what is called as aversion. An aversion is another form of greed. Both are the same in terms of yielding results. It is only a myth, No aversion and subsequent action yields the so called happiness. The reason for this is that the same. Happiness does not arise in the external world due to circumstances, due to objects, due to attainment of anything or avoiding anything. It is only appears to be so when we are in a situation and our ego convinces us that it is so. Apart from we falling for the conviction by the ego about it there is nothing in aversion.
We don't look at experiences in this way at all. It just happens at a lightning pace and the ego would have landed us in situations where we are already in the soup so to speak. Only in meditation do we begin to see these mind objects and the way in which we react and respond. When we do become aware of our own idiosyncrasies, we would clearly see it that it is the same pattern repeated in many different ways.
If we look at why this is not going to yield happiness or peace, just look back into your yester-years or days. The situation we have now in some ways better than the past and yet this now we don't appreciate what is good in it. Isn't your future going to be exactly like what you feel now?. There is only this now at every moment. And your so called promised future would be only a now when this happens. But since we dont appreciate what we are having now in this moment , in the future also we are going to do the same. It is a habit. When the future comes it is a now. Everything appears as a now. So the future too appears as a now. Since we never appreciate the now, the future too fails to impress us. The future situation may be one in which we have avoided the unpleasant things and got at least some of the pleasant things, but since it appears as a now, our mind fails to see anything grand in it. It gets used to things and says , there is some more to get. There are a few more to avoid and so on.
The wheel of samsara goes on rolling, taking with it so many lives crushing by its weight. It smiles at people's agonies, relishes in their ignorance and moves on. The brilliant light of awareness remains clouded in this darkness. Even with its cherished eternal nature , we fail to be convinced. We like suffering so to speak. We pity ourselves , that we are the victim of bad luck, emotional turmoil and so on.
This pathetic state of affairs can be rightly called Spiritual Unconsciousness. It is the way of forgetting the awareness and getting immersed in the identification stories of the mind. No story of the mind is true. It is always a misapprehension. It is always a result of interpreting based on your belief system. We have a dualistic way of seeing things inherently. As a result we divide the world into many parts . Me and the rest. Good and the bad. Pleasure and pain, love and hate and so on. If you really look at the intrinsic nature of everything, this is a source of immense falsification. All there exists is a unity which encompasses all. The illusion of the identity has created this dualistic world for us to suffer.
What is the remedy for this suffering?. Of course the remedy is not obvious. We might think pain is an inevitable part of existence. So it cannot be avoided. So how can suffering be eliminated?. Isn't it my destiny ?. To an extent, this is false. Except for a pain like a physical condition most of our pain and suffering is increased by our resistance and dualistic interpretation of the world. This is what we should try to eliminate. We should learn to accept the broad picture of the universe and understand ourselves more deeply. Accept things as they are rather than our own version of it.
Another important point is how atma jnana will emancipate us. We would clearly understand what is the pain or suffering and how it has been enhanced it by our reactions to it. So self enquiry and meditation to know ourselves deeply is the way out of suffering. Trying to appreciate the pure now is also a way to avoid the ego filled duality .Appreciating the now since it is the only reality, we realize that the so called promised future is not important as it is believed so.
If you look at spiritually realized ones, you would see how deeply they resonate with the harmony of everything. Their world is never tied down in the nuances of their own bodily existence . So understanding that we are the pure consciousness and not the body or mind or personhood we would come out of our shell. Abandoning all worldly attachments and abiding in the supreme self would expand our horizons. Budha once when asked told " The end of suffering is enlightenment". Enlightenment is not a supreme difficult state. It is only the end of suffering. Sufferings are dissolved in the purity of the consciousness. They arise , evolve and are dissolved. They are never enhanced.
Our mind and ego works towards a sequence of actions in wanting the pleasant experiences. We somehow feel that in relying on them we may get happiness. But since the happiness is not the result of anything outside , even getting to the pleasant experiences never satisfies us. We seek more. This is the nature of greed. When i say greed , don't mistake it for the common notion of the term.A greed need not necessarily mean a negative emotion . It just means here that whatever was promised as leading to happiness didn't yield it and we continue to seek it. This also leads to frustration in life unknowingly. Since if we are disappointed in something there is a confusion as to what went wrong. Why is not happiness coming to me ?. What more should i do ?
Second is that of avoiding unpleasant experiences. We feel that if we avoid the current set of situations in life which is leading to unhappiness, we would get happiness. This is what is called as aversion. An aversion is another form of greed. Both are the same in terms of yielding results. It is only a myth, No aversion and subsequent action yields the so called happiness. The reason for this is that the same. Happiness does not arise in the external world due to circumstances, due to objects, due to attainment of anything or avoiding anything. It is only appears to be so when we are in a situation and our ego convinces us that it is so. Apart from we falling for the conviction by the ego about it there is nothing in aversion.
We don't look at experiences in this way at all. It just happens at a lightning pace and the ego would have landed us in situations where we are already in the soup so to speak. Only in meditation do we begin to see these mind objects and the way in which we react and respond. When we do become aware of our own idiosyncrasies, we would clearly see it that it is the same pattern repeated in many different ways.
If we look at why this is not going to yield happiness or peace, just look back into your yester-years or days. The situation we have now in some ways better than the past and yet this now we don't appreciate what is good in it. Isn't your future going to be exactly like what you feel now?. There is only this now at every moment. And your so called promised future would be only a now when this happens. But since we dont appreciate what we are having now in this moment , in the future also we are going to do the same. It is a habit. When the future comes it is a now. Everything appears as a now. So the future too appears as a now. Since we never appreciate the now, the future too fails to impress us. The future situation may be one in which we have avoided the unpleasant things and got at least some of the pleasant things, but since it appears as a now, our mind fails to see anything grand in it. It gets used to things and says , there is some more to get. There are a few more to avoid and so on.
The wheel of samsara goes on rolling, taking with it so many lives crushing by its weight. It smiles at people's agonies, relishes in their ignorance and moves on. The brilliant light of awareness remains clouded in this darkness. Even with its cherished eternal nature , we fail to be convinced. We like suffering so to speak. We pity ourselves , that we are the victim of bad luck, emotional turmoil and so on.
This pathetic state of affairs can be rightly called Spiritual Unconsciousness. It is the way of forgetting the awareness and getting immersed in the identification stories of the mind. No story of the mind is true. It is always a misapprehension. It is always a result of interpreting based on your belief system. We have a dualistic way of seeing things inherently. As a result we divide the world into many parts . Me and the rest. Good and the bad. Pleasure and pain, love and hate and so on. If you really look at the intrinsic nature of everything, this is a source of immense falsification. All there exists is a unity which encompasses all. The illusion of the identity has created this dualistic world for us to suffer.
What is the remedy for this suffering?. Of course the remedy is not obvious. We might think pain is an inevitable part of existence. So it cannot be avoided. So how can suffering be eliminated?. Isn't it my destiny ?. To an extent, this is false. Except for a pain like a physical condition most of our pain and suffering is increased by our resistance and dualistic interpretation of the world. This is what we should try to eliminate. We should learn to accept the broad picture of the universe and understand ourselves more deeply. Accept things as they are rather than our own version of it.
Another important point is how atma jnana will emancipate us. We would clearly understand what is the pain or suffering and how it has been enhanced it by our reactions to it. So self enquiry and meditation to know ourselves deeply is the way out of suffering. Trying to appreciate the pure now is also a way to avoid the ego filled duality .Appreciating the now since it is the only reality, we realize that the so called promised future is not important as it is believed so.
If you look at spiritually realized ones, you would see how deeply they resonate with the harmony of everything. Their world is never tied down in the nuances of their own bodily existence . So understanding that we are the pure consciousness and not the body or mind or personhood we would come out of our shell. Abandoning all worldly attachments and abiding in the supreme self would expand our horizons. Budha once when asked told " The end of suffering is enlightenment". Enlightenment is not a supreme difficult state. It is only the end of suffering. Sufferings are dissolved in the purity of the consciousness. They arise , evolve and are dissolved. They are never enhanced.
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