adhoc

This is just a note to encourage anyone out there who has set themselves on a spiritual quest to keep going.  Don’t be distracted, don’t be discouraged.  If you are seeking at all, you are one in a hundred thousand.  If you are earnest and sincere you are one in a million.  If you trust in the Divine and realize the goal; God laughs and claps as one breaks free…for you are one in a billion.  The sages say that ultimately we all succeed and will dance with the ideal, either now or later.  Let me package my best hopes for you and hand them to you today.  Let me add to that my fairest thoughts and sweetest biddings to set you on your way.  In the words of Swami Vivekananda, “Don’t seek God, see God.”

Vivekananda on science…

“Modern science has really made the foundations of religion strong.  That the whole universe is one is scientifically demonstrable.  What the metaphysician calls ‘being’, the physicist calls ‘matter’; but there is no real fight between the two, for they are one.  Though an atom is invisible, unthinkable, yet in it are the whole power and potency of the universe.  That is exactly what the Vedantist says of the Atman.  All sects are really saying the same thing in different words.”

Honest investigation into truth can never be a bad thing and for the seeker, never a dangerous thing.  What is dangerous is when immature conclusions are grasped and insisted upon too firmly, only to be disproved later.  The whole truth will never fit into the confines of a mind; but a mind must always subject itself to stretching beyond its current limit.  The infinity of the Divine should be appreciated in all things.  Science and the highest religion are uniformly striving to see things as they really are; science from the external world and religion from the internal.

from science fiction…

The following bit can be found in most scriptures of the world religions, but I found it in a short science fiction story by Bruce Sterling.  I quote it here for inspiration:

” ‘Tell me about this grave,” she said. ‘What are we doing here?’

‘You wanted to see what I do these days.  Well, this is what I do.’ Borislav set a pretty funeral bouquet against the headstone.  Then he lit candles.

‘Why do you do this?’

‘Why do you ask?’

‘You’re a rational man.  You can’t believe in religious rituals.’

‘No,’ he told her, ‘I don’t believe.  I know they are just rituals.’

He knew why… He did it because it was a gift.  It was a liberating gift for him, because it was given with no thought of any profit or return.  A deliberate gift with no possibility of return.

Those gifts were the stuff of history and futurity…the world’s only genuine gifts.  All the other things in the world were commodities.”

gilded balls of poison

The sages simply state the reason for this life is the realization of our true nature.  Without this information the transient world is a confusion of senses, devoid of anything permanent and fulfilling.

“…experience is the only teacher…Fulfilling any desire is like putting a stick into a hornets’ nest…finding out that desires are but gilded balls of poison.”  –Inspired Talks

One can never get enough of sense pleasure; its only ultimate fruit is exhaustion.  You will press the button of your vices until you simply are unable to press the button anymore.  The wise man sees this and walks away.  If the material world is all one has, he will grow old in bitterness and watch it slowly fall between the fingers of his aging hand.  The sages say this is needless, as all we are seeking can be found within ourselves.  Nothing, nothing outside is necessary for contentment and bliss.  You are welcome to get off of the treadmill at anytime and draw your strength and enjoyment from the very presence of the Divine within yourself.  Even a moments pause is enough to touch it.  For more, only clean the mirror of the mind with practice and it will become all that you are able to see.  This is the best kept secret of life.  Do not squander the idea.  Ponder on the notion and become an expert in its intricacies.  Set out to prove or disprove it, only do the work.  With earnestness and sincerity, the goal will be reached…regardless of your varying motivations along the way.

milch cow

“Religion, the great milch cow, has given many kicks; but never mind–it also gives a great deal of milk.  The milkman does not mind the kick of the cow if it gives much milk.” –Sw. Vivekananda

Browsing the web in the last six months, it is plain that religion is under attack.  I think that attack, well deserved, is a defense and not an offense.  The state of religion in my country (US) is a head shaker to say the least.  In the rest of the world?  Laughable as the fighting continues.  So what is my post about?  It is about why I would still be interested in religion while so many good arguments exist for its abolition.

My spiritual life feeds me in way that no other food can.  My ruminations on love, my inspiration to a higher ideal, my quest to manifest pure love have been so fulfilling, so challenging and so promising that I could not simply throw them away in the face of other failures.  You see, religion has nothing to do with institutions, archaic systems of thought or ignorance in the face of startling discoveries.  True religion stretches the mind to be as open as it can be.  True religion strives to learn right lessons from experience…the only teacher.  True religion is to identify readily the love that exists in every person and to call it out…to inspire it.  It changes the world not by changing others, but by changing the practitioner.  It is not enacted through laws…civil or spiritual; it is not contained in buildings or belief systems; it is not carried by institutions or books.  It is self contained within everything.  It has always existed, depends on nothing and is always aware.  Dust off the mind and see it.  Let go of the ego and be it.  Until then don’t dare to teach it. We are all universally seeking one thing in this big house and all of us are looking in different places with different means to find it.  We are calling it many things.  It is the house itself we are seeking and when we realize we are all in it the fun will begin.

nothing

In the collection of Swami Vivekananda’s teachings called “Inspired Talks”, he offers a beautiful quote:

“No amount of ignorance or wrong ideas can put a barrier between the soul and God.  Even if there be no God, still hold fast to love.  It is better to die seeking God than to live as a dog, seeking only carrion.  Choose the highest ideal and give your life up to that.  Death being certain, it is the highest thing to give up life for a great purpose.”

That is the charge.  Belief systems are not the end all of religion.  It is the ideal and its realization.  Atheism is as welcome in that mix as orthodox religiosity.  When it comes to scrutiny of the mind, leave nothing apart from investigation.  When it comes to love, leave nothing apart from its realization.

Mind

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdgnieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the human mnid aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a word are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.
Amzanig huh?

Big implications.  Think about it.

An Inconvenient Truth.

Here is a verse from the Gita that pretty much lays it out, but probably wont be too popular.  grin.

“Since enjoyments that are contact-born are parents of misery alone, and with beginning and end, O Arjuna, a wise man does not seek pleasure in them.”  — 5:22

Contact-born means the enjoyments that require the senses and their contact with a sense object (the thing you want to enjoy).  Being parents of misery alone means misery is all they can produce in the long run.  To have a beginning and end means that they are temporary and cannot be fulfilling over a longer period of time.  That a wise man does not seek pleasure in them means stay away from them.  grin.  What to do with your time then?  How about this verse:

“Whose happiness is within, whose relaxation is within, whose light is within, that yogi alone, becoming Brahman, gains absolute freedom.”  –5:24

All your fulfillment lies inside of you already.  Spend the extra time exploring the truth of that statement.

“He who can withstand in this world…the impulse arising from lust and anger, he is steadfast, he is a happy man.”  –5:23

Be a happy person.

sorry!

Sorry for not having written in a while.  We had a great Labor Day retreat in Olema over the weekend.  We looked over the 13th chapter of the Gita.  I had some super inspiring discussions with several of the guys there.  One discussion in particular was on the nature of discrimination and dispassion in spurring some good spiritual growth.  I had read a verse in the 4th chapter of the Gita that said nothing beat knowlege for purifying the mind.  We discussed the nature of desire and determined that to be free from desire does not mean that desire disappears from the mind, but that it flows into the mind like a river into the ocean and like the river does not disturb the ocean, so does desire not disturb the mature mind.

We further discussed the idea of the importance of separating one’s identity apart from “mind” and “body.”  This separation allows the desires to flow without affecting the inidividual.  Since the desires become abstract and are not related to the identity of the individual, they demand no action.  An example was presented saying that much like the desires of the guys mind next to you do not demand your attention, so the desires of the mind you have access to do not demand your attention.

Discrimination is the art of determining what is real and what is unreal.  The real is determined to be that which is permanent and the unreal is that which is ever changing.  I keep coming back to this idea in my writings, but I truly have found it to be one of the most productive processes in putting together the foundation of my spiritual life.  Not to mention, SrI Ramakrishna also emphasized the practice.  I have to say it has reduced the power of many of my overwhelming urges over time.

Discrimination can also be the determining of the real nature of what you desire.  You will always find that you only desire things that reflect, to your mind, an attribute of the Divine.  The mind often crosses wires by associating these qualities with their reflection in the apparent world of the senses.  For instance, lust often boils down to a desire for connection and intimacy.  Connection and intimacy are of the mind, not of the body.  If one believes the writings of the sages, true intimacy and connection comes only through the Divine.  “You are That” is thrown around enough as a concept, but what it boils down to is that you are the only fulfillment to your own desires.  You need no external sense object.  They only reflect back your own ideals.  The mind crosses the wire and creates attachement for these things and the illusion of needing them.

That was only a single conversation at the retreat; but, I suppose I should stop here.  It goes much farther than this and its implications are unexpectedly profound.  Onward and upward.

on The Plan

The Gita, in chapter 3, paints an interesting picture for the “intention” of this creation.  Humanity was intended to motivate its actions in honor of “the Devas”.  Devas here means the inhabitants of heaven, namely the gods and goddesses.  For those more squeamish about the idea of Gods/God, it can really mean our highest ideals.  In return, those Devas would be gracious.  Each (man and gods) would thus serve each other selflessly.  Man would live in freedom and karma would not bind him.

It turns out, as many would insist, that the plan was optional.  And, as with all options, many of us opt for it.   Perhaps we do not realize  that we were selling ourselves into bondage to our “needs” and desires based upon our bodies.  Perhaps we realize it and just cant seem to help ourselves because we have established a habit.

Had we not chosen to “steal” from the devas without giving our honor for our part, we would live in delight, satisfaction and peace in the Atman (the Self of all, God).  Instead we provide our ever-burning desires with fuel for which we have to pay in the form of selfish work (ie for paychecks).  We labor endlessly to fulfill our apparent desires and cannot stop, even when we want to.  For a man whose joy is in this lusting, the Gita says “His life is for nothing.”  Literally, he has spent it on the unreal, temporary things of the senses.  He is a child who has purchased a lottery ticket without choosing a number.  His hope of satisfaction is in vain.  At the time of death, as the world of the senses slips away, he has nothing for his continued voyage.

The only thing that keeps this fact from being cruel is that by grace the option is always open.  We are allowed to choose from moment to moment.  And choose we must.  Scriptures, teachers, experience and inference are the tools to help us make the right choices.  Dig deeply in each and reach for your highest ideal.  “Do your duty, always; but without attachment.  That is how a man reaches the ultimate truth; by working without anxiety about results.”  Serve your highest ideal.  Always.