Faster it goes

The faster life goes, the easier it is to visit it from the outside and from the inside, and from within. For you slow down - even as things move quickly, completely bypassing the excessive thinking process - and in that moment, you are able to step out of all of it - and watch yourself acting, reacting and yes, even thinking.

Treasure those moments where you are able to step out of it all. Outside of it all, everything is but a ripple, a gentle wind - but if caught up in it, it can take you high, drop you low, and overall make life miserable and hollow.

Choose the peace.

Know Thyself

One of the most common refrains heard in our era of philosophy:


"Know Thyself"


There are countless commentaries on this simple statement.


But the statement yet stands, all alone and resplendent.


Know Thyself.


And let us add a statement to that to clarify a point - "And Speak the Truth".


Know Thyself. And Speak the Truth.

If your self-inquiry takes you in circles - ask the question -"Who is inquiring?"
If you are aware of your self-inquiry attempts - ask the question - "Who is aware?"
If you get a reply - "I am" - then ask the question - "Who is talking?"

And really go deeply into these questions till you find your self - behind, underneath and within all these words and commentary. Till you find yourself as the very awareness that makes all this thinking, talking, inquiry possible in the first place. It is so obvious that it is hard to talk about it, and hence is easily overlooked. And yet, without it, nothing will ever occur.

Better or worse?

You are who you are as I am who I am.

Will that change if my next interaction with a fellow human being is not so witty, is not so smart, or is downright stupid, or even "evil"?

Or will it change if my next interaction is very kind and compassionate?

If you are who you are and I am what I am, then how can any of it really matter?

If I constantly judge myself, and the judgment rendered has value only until my next interaction where I judge myself again (which could be as soon as one minute!) - then who am I? Is there a I beyond all this somewhere in there?

Whether God judges us or not, we certainly are busily doing so. Defining ourselves based on these judgments - and living in a state of unremitting, low intensity terror.

Know this to be a form of madness resulting entirely due to our complete and unconscious identification with the world of form, and the yearning for connectedness with our selves.

So you are upset & mad

So you are upset and mad.

Allow it to be.

Do not promote it, do not demote it.

It already is.

If you find yourself fueling it, then take attention away from it and move it into your inner body for some time - till the momentum of the mind has dulled a bit.

Always remain aware of your inner-self, yourself really, who is ever present and watching. Know that attention alone is the fuel - the more it is in your power, the more connected you will be, while the more you let it be taken over, the more powerless you are to act out your thoughts unconsciously.

You empower thoughts, emotions and actions with attention. Empower your self by inner-body attention, stillness and spaciousness. Rest will follow.

The Devotee

A parable from ancient India

One day, Vishnu was visiting Narada, the divine sage. After welcoming and seating Vishnu, Narada said to him: "I speak of your name day and night, O' Vishnu, I must be your greatest devotee". Vishnu replied that great as was Narada's devotion to him, he could not call his devotion to be the greatest. Somewhat surprised by that assessment, Narada asked Vishnu as to who was this person who was a greater devotee than him?

Vishnu then pointed Narada to a simple farmer, who at that hour was carrying a jug of water from the river to his home for his family. And even while accomplishing this task, he was chanting Vishnu's name. Narada asked Vishnu: "Why is this devotee greater than I? After all, I chant your name all the time too!" Vishnu then asked Narada to accomplish the same task of carrying water from the river to the farmer's house. Narada immediately entered the earthly realm and went about carrying a jug of water from the river to the farmer's house - but all through the journey he was worried about dropping the jug and spilling the water. But he managed to accomplish the task and returned to his heavenly abode, where Vishnu was waiting for him. Narada said "I have completed what you asked of me. But I am not sure what you were trying to point out?". Vishnu asked Narada: " How many times did you remember me while accomplishing this task?". Narada, taken somewhat aback and a little embarassed, replied "Not once. I was so caught up in the task of taking the jug to the farmer's home without dropping any water from it that I did not remember you even once".

This simple story illustrates the phenomenal principle of awakening and the importance attached to that matter. Repeating Vishnu's name is an act of awakening, a realization of consciousness. This method has been used across multiple parables to convey the connection to totality - but since there are no words to describe the totality - the simple phrase of "repeating Vishnu's name" conveys the meaning adequately.

Narada and Vishnu are conversing in the realm of the One life, where awareness is complete and whole. However, in the world of form, where the farmer lives - his realization of this unity with the One is the act of bringing aware consciousness into the world of form - thus fulfilling his destiny and the purpose of creation itself. Narada's inability to bring this conscious realization into his earthly act is a pointer to the ease with which we get lost in the world of form - worried only about spilling water from the jug - than about awakening from the world of dream.

Disconnecting before connecting?

Some spiritual practices try to moderate our level of involvement with the world of form - attempting to reduce our degree of identification with it - before ensuring our connection with the totality.

This has led some of us into a state where neither the world interests us, and there is no connection to the totality either - leaving us in a limbo like state.

This often occurs because the sequence of events is in a reverse order.

A shloka in the Bhagwad Gita is relevant here:

"An embodied being, by restricting the senses may refrain from the objects of sense enjoyment; but the taste for enjoyment remains; however, this desire for sense enjoyment ceases once the Ultimate consciousness is realized"

While there are many interpretations for this shloka, the outstanding aspect is the importance of realization - until then it is just more games, more maaya.

As Tolle puts it, "Don't act like the Buddha, be the Buddha".

This connection to the infinite and eternal is the first, the prime.

The rest simply follows.

The most obvious

We are born, we live.

We laugh, we cry, we do good, we do bad, we live.

We work hard, we goof off, we make plans, we see plans scatter, we live.

We write, we read, we paint, we compose music, we live.

We stay still, we meditate, we live.

We die, we live.

tau

Artist: Hans Werner Sahm - reproduced from http://web.artprice.com/ under Fair Use.

Through Anger & Angst

Once presence sets in, the observer in you - which is you - is ever present.

The beauty is - there is no judgment, no commentary. It just is - that is - you just are.

The moment you hear commentary, judgment, storytelling - know that it is just the mind making up stories.

This does not yet mean that you are free from the mind, in control of it - it simply means that, even during times of fear, anger and frustration - you are aware of your self. You can see the drama for what it is - something illusory and not true.

And if you listen to this stillness within, allow it to be - that is you finally take over - actions happen spontaneously in a loving, healing fashion - even the most improbable tasks happen easily in the most difficult of situations.

Project Second Chance

It was interesting to read a recent report in CNN about how juvenile criminals are being treated by having them care for dogs.

"A connection with a being helps them develop empathy", said the person in charge of running the program.

Truer words could not be said.

We are all beings, all conscious.

In each of our interactions, let us interact from our being to the being of the person we are interacting with. And not with our minds - constantly judging, comparing, commenting - but instead whole heartedly, with complete oneness.

Let us pay attention not only to the speech, but to the speaker as well - the beingness of the person who is talking.

And let us listen with our being.

This interaction increases our own sense of being, our connectedness to the whole, and does the same for the person we are interacting with.

What is unnatural?

Denying what is - is unnatural.

Not being one with what is, is unnatural.

Being disconnected with the totality is unnatural.

Not having an underlying layer of peace and joy, is unnatural.

Not allowing the surface layer of emotions of form to be (crying, laughing, being happy or sad), is unnatural.

Not allowing the peace and joyful state to return (by hanging on to the surface ripples of emotions) is unnatural.

Defining and trying to identify yourself with the world of form, is unnatural.

Purpose of life

A frequent question that vexes all human beings, except for those who are at the daily survival mode, is "What is my purpose in life? Why am I here? What can I do that will make my life more meaningful and purposeful?". Actually, to even ask that question reveals a certain amount of stillness having entered your being - you are a step closer to awakening.

And then we seek answers in a variety of things including our families, career, charity and so forth. Unfortunately, many times, even after committing ourselves to them and achieving our goals we end up feeling somewhat unfulfilled. Or more correctly, the fulfillment lasts for a short time before the yearning returns.

Human Beings are a part of the world. Part of Nature. Having lost their connection with their beingness, the human seeks fulfillment in the doing.

Which is, of course, impossible.

Humans then resort to taking all actions that make him/her seem wise and compassionate - since it seems emotionally and logically the right things to do - and yet, the lack of beingness - the absence of that connection to the totality - leaves one feeling incomplete even while performing that action.

Beingness connects. Beingness fulfills. Beingness tells your perfect action for now. And lo and behold - you are happy to just do what is needed to be done right now! With no worry about the future or considerations for the past!

Get connected. That is our purpose, above all else.

Power of Attention

In Eckhart Tolle's book, Power of Now, Eckhart points out the importance of attention and calls it the attention of consciousness itself, that is your attention.


The importance of attention is well understood in accomplishing the works of the world, however, it is not as well understood as a spiritual door opener.

Since thoughts have a momentum of their own and tend to carry away our attention with them, like wild untamed horses carrying away the carriage and the rider, that is us - the question then remains, where should this attention be so that it remains in our control and opens the door to the realm of the sacred?

Many answers have been provided to us from spiritual masters across the world.

Meditation asks us to focus on our breath - the inward and outward movement of the diaphragm. This has the benefit of brining attention to our body.

Tolle takes a step further and asks us to bring internal attention to every part of our body, flooding it with attention (i.e. consciousness). He further asks us to always have a part of our attention in this inner body, as it is a portal to the beyond, which is our home.

Zen masters will frequently point to anything that requires you to be very still to hear or see - like a distant sound, or a low intensity vibration.

Paying attention to space between things, to silence, to stillness - produces its counterpart within us, and increases our awareness.

Stillness within is your home.

Doing is the effect, not the cause

Like the flora and fauna that surrounds us, led forward by instinctual doing, but more importantly, in a state of graceful rest otherwise, each of us needs to reconnect and re-learn that state of grace.


We define what happiness and sorrow is from a narrow vantage point; and we believe we have all the answers, and ignore what is in front of us.


Let us let go of such vanity, shed the future and the past and realize the sacredness of our being. This being is silent, it is still. It speaks only when it needs to. This is a state of grace.


The mind loves action, drama - anything to strengthen its sense of self. But you can observe this, see it for what it is - and in that moment, the mind returns to your service, ready to obey your command.


Once the state of graceful rest, the beingness is realized - your future course of action is charted for you. No, you will not be given all the answers for all time to come - but you will know what you need to do now. And it is accompanied with a joy and enthusiasm that you cannot explain - for it comes from beyond the realm of the mind - it comes from the realm of the sacred.


Doing is the effect of Being.

Morning, Evening, Night & Day

Every hour of the day offers a portal, a doorway to the truth within us.

From the singing of the morning birds, to the quietitude of the night, from the stillness of the trees, to the constancy of the sun & the moon.

Agitation, depression, angst - these are unnatural at any time of the day. Each hour is what is.

And you are what you are as I am what I am.

As the planets are guided, and as the stars are born and die, fulfilling their nature - so too let your nature be fulfilled, your purpose unfold.

Just Be.