Well, I am. Thoughts or otherwise

Was watching this old movie of Image entertainment..has anyone noticed their logo?(don’t fret if you haven’t, even the mate sitting next didn’t think much of it)

However, it was interesting(for the mind, just to be precise).. presenting you the weirdest explanation which even the organisation might not have thought about when creating their logo..it is that weird😉

The excuse for this thought is that a mind sees what it sees, hoping you’ll bite..

Also, let me present you with this disclaimer before we go forward..a thought is a thought, however brilliant or vague, or spiritual or otherwise, it is still a thought. You are witnessing your thoughts, you are not the thought nor the mind. And of course, it goes without saying you are not the body either

It is important to remember this.. infact we watch our thoughts so to confirm that we exist all through even when there is none. Also, these thoughts float in us and disappear in the us. And they have no power on us.

Easy to say, you may think but truly acceptance of the fact that these are the instruments at work is the only way out. You are just a witness and not the actor.

In the process, we also observe that the thoughts are not independent but are dependent on the ‘I’ for their existence

And thank God, these thoughts exist and this is where the logo part of it comes into play..

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How can a drop of water create a forever ripple in the placid lake? And if you take note, you notice both the 💧 and the lake are all water

If not for that drop, we wouldn’t have ever noticed the placid lake beneath. Likewise, if not for the thoughts, we would have never found our real self. It would have stayed as is, as in deep 😴.

Remember: our self is not an object to be observed. It is the I . It reveals itself when the thoughts subside for the moment.

Anyhow, the idea is not to pursue the thoughtless state because that is not the goal nor is it going to get us being our self( my teacher warns)

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Water and water all through…the drop becomes the lake in no time

Also, the self remains untouched all through, thoughts or otherwise..have you noticed? So the thoughts are harmless and a friend to the one who is trying to seek his real self.

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Remember to stay an observer when there is a storm in the mind. Please also remember the storm is also mind and mind all through. Just like the ocean is just water inspite of the storm or waves

But getting entangled in the thoughts is not what a seeker ought to do..when the seeker finds out for himself that he is a witnesser/subject and not the witnessed/object then he stays a witnesser for life.

Being mindful once seemed like a pain, much like a conscious work but now it is not all that difficult. The mind willingly gives to it.

I still keep a close watch as I witness my mind, at times, being on an overdrive when the thoughts are around the self. The mind conveniently forgets that the spiritual thoughts are also thoughts; the proof to that is this blog post😄

Happy witnessing, you guys..have fun

Does Your Dream Include Your ‘True Self’?

In your dreams, are you thinking or talking or being your True self?

What I mean is that our mental habits during the day usually continue in our dreams too. So if our thoughts were around investigating the characteristics of our Self and practicing it in our lives then it should flow freely into our dreams.

Have you been experiencing that in your dreams? Some dreams are vivid and you remember every detail. So, do they include your true self-other than the one that the world knows you for?

We aren’t interpreting our dreams here but we are trying to understand if our subconscious really believes what we believe in.

But if our dreams don’t include our self then maybe we aren’t practicing the right way. If we think we are not the body or the mind but something more subtle and that which exists everywhere then we have to be impartial with the ones we have wrongly identified with-i.e the body or the mind.

Moreover, just thoughts around the Self wouldn’t make us dream about it but the feelings attached to those thoughts would do the magic. Our objective is not just to bring our true self into our dreams but to make a strong impression of that in our minds. For example, if you think you are the ‘space’ that fills the whole universe then just going around telling that ‘I am space’ would do no good. But when the characteristics of  ‘space’ (invisible, experienceable, indescribable, immovable, invincible, unthinkable etc.) play in your mind then do you see them as they play and do you identify with them is the question.

So, let us go back to our question, “are our thoughts on the ‘Self’ flowing freely into our dreams?”

Note: Btw, the idea is not to turn hysterical or to hallucinate 😉 Take it easy. Go slow. Trust that whatever you are seeking is also seeking you. Have patience.

All you have to do is to decide whether to stay a bhogi or to turn into a yogi. If you decide on the later then stay determined and it will take its course.

Image: Internet

Govindam Bhaja Mooda Mathe

If you have a sibling, what I am about to say would be in your experience.

when I was a kid, my dad bought me a toy and I can’t remember what I liked about it but I always carried it. Whoever visited our house, I showed them the toy and said it was mine.

Then my brother came and he watched me carrying the toy everywhere. Now he wanted it. My dad had to buy another toy so I could start sharing the old one with my brother. Slowly I outgrew the old one. It didn’t amuse me anymore. My brother played with it and it became his toy. After a while, he also left the old one for new.

Now the old toy had no takers. Whose is it anyway? Before my dad bought it, it was the storekeepers and then mine and then my brother’s and now nobody’s. Down the lane, someone would pick that old toy and start calling it theirs.

So, is our thoughts. They are an accumulation of stuff we read, heard, liked or observed. They were never ours in the first place. There is no such thing as an original thought; it is always borrowed. A little tweaking wouldn’t make it authentic. Like the old ’80s, fashion trends are back in fashion now.

A thought is like that old toy. The kids called it theirs till they outgrew it but here we are not even calling it ours but we are calling it ourselves.

We sometimes call the body as our self and at times our mind becomes our self. Are we suffering from multiple personality disorder?

So, when the Seers look at us. They are unsure how else to explain this very phenomenon. They have written multiple scriptures, all boiling down to this very idea. Out of compassion and unable to digest the way we identify with things; they call us mooda mathe.

Therefore praise the lord..Sing his glory, talk about him, think about him until the difference between you and him blurs out.

Which is that lord, Govindam do we sing of?
Stop assuming ;). Let’s hear it from him.

Meditate on that formless Brahman, immortal, imperishable, eternal and of unending divine bliss.

Bhagavad Gita

Brahmaṇo hi pratiṣhṭhāham amṛitasyāvyayasya cha
Shāśhvatasya cha dharmasya sukhasyaikāntikasya cha//14.27

I am the basis of the formless Brahman, the immortal and imperishable, of eternal dharma, and of unending divine bliss

 

About Atman…

When I was told by my teacher that I am neither the body nor the mind .. suddenly it felt strange, as if someone had stripped me of my Identity.

The more I pondered on it, the more desperate I became. The desperation was real. How would you feel, if you been told that you are not anything that you doubted you were? Doubted? This thought would have crossed any mind at least once- that how can I be both the body and the mind.

Now, I wanted to know who am I? How do I look? How did I end up fooling myself to be the body and the mind?

For a minute, I even doubted whether I really existed. That strange feeling of not knowing myself was disturbing. I thought if I didn’t know myself then how wrong was I interpreting everything that is around me.

When the inquiry deepens and when we start asking more questions about Self (mind you, not about the world nor about fixing worldly things) that is when the teacher would render his experience or for that matter the experiences of all those who had discovered their true self.

Teachings:

• The first thing that you would be told is that Atman is self-luminous, Svayamprakasha.

I, Atman does not require any proof to be proven. I am right there but you do not see me because you are too distracted. For example, we do not see the space or akasha around us(it doesn’t have a form) but that doesn’t mean it isn’t there(it is in our experience). Likewise, you do not see yourself nor you see your self in others but you experience yourself and that needs no proof.

• Atman is the Only Reality, SAT/Existence

Also, Atman is not an effect of a cause and it does not appear all of a sudden from somewhere. IT is just there and everything exists because of That.

Vedanta gives examples of the mud in the pot; it was always there in the pot. Gold in the gold ornaments etc. The body cavity which contains internal organs isn’t different from the space outside the body. Space which is so invincible yet so strong and extremely important for existence perhaps is the closest proof that Atman can exist likewise.

Since the real identity hasn’t been strengthened yet, there is a possibility of the above information to be misconstrued. You might just confuse your old pseudo self to be that Atman. To break that notion, Bhagavad Gita comes forth with the below message.

• The names and forms are in me; I am not in them.(Bhagavad Gita 7.12, 13.17)

The letters are on the paper. Can you say the paper is in the words?

The 29 States and 7 Union Territories are a part of India. Do we say each state is a different India?  You cannot say there are multiple Indias as there are multiple states. The essence of India is in each state because India is one entity; the states are part of India. There is no two, in reality, India is One. Similarly, the names and forms are in the Brahman, the beings with the names and forms are unmanifest before their birth, manifest in life and again unmanifest on death. Basically, nobody is going anywhere or rightly put, there is no two things to come and go.

Sumi, in a black or pink dress, would still be Sumi. The dress does not change Sumi. Likewise, there is one Brahman, who wears different attires and is addressed differently. Long story short, we should learn to look beyond that names and forms.

to be continued…….

Image:  Internet

 

Moved Into New Rented Home

Moved into new rented home just like the same way I moved into this body with absolutely nothing.

As soon as our parents got to know about our movement, they shared many things to help us make a smooth transition into this new chapter of ours. Just the same way, I got a name and other things along with a family as soon as I moved into this body that I call mine.

I try not to entertain any thoughts about adding anything more to the rented apartment than what is required. Because I know although I live here, it is not mine then I wonder why does it not come easily to me when I look at my body. That I had also signed a rental agreement before moving into this body and one day I have to vacate even this that I call mine.

Something to remember…or the only thing worth remembering…

Srimad Bhagavad Gita

Adhyatmajnana nityatvam tattva jnanartha darsanam
etaj jnanam iti proktam ajnanam yad ato ‘nyatha

Settled conviction in the nature of the SELF and understanding that the knowledge of the Self as the ultimate in Knowledge – this is declared to be wisdom; whatever is
other than this is ignorance.