Sacred Heart

This life is a sacred gift from above. We did not arise from the dust, only to return there again. No, we did not evolve from worms or cockroaches or monkeys. Consciousness is the root of all life and all things in this Universe. This Universe was formulated in Consciousness, and shaped from an invisible, primordial substance (called PRAKRITI). This world of matter, and all the living things residing here, are enveloped in Consciousness. If the ends of the Universe are ever reached by the scientists, they will discover that this entire Universe is bound by Consciousness. Ultimately, this world will fade away into Consciousness itself.

At the time of the formation of the Universe, Consciousness was present. That same Consciousness existed before the Universe came into existence, it exists now, and will continue to exist when everything else passes away into oblivion.

Then why are we oblivious to the presence of that Consciousness within ourselves? It is because we take this life for granted and don’t realize just how sacred it really is. Our life is not a child’s play, but unless we become childlike we will not comprehend what this life is all about. It is NOT all about ‘little me’. Life is NOT all about ‘my’ feelings, ‘my’ worries, ‘my’ plans and expectations. This false life is just a nightmare that we create in our minds due to the infection of ego. When we are in our ego we take this life for granted and we think life owes us something. We say, “what can I get out of life?” This is the wrong way to think. We should be asking ourselves what we can give to this life, and how can we share it with others?

If we are truly conscientious we will live constantly in a state of grace. We will feel the power of that Supreme Consciousness present within ourselves and all around us. This is not something that we imagine; it is a vibration of the sacred heart.

Our mind must be purified so that we can perceive the Truth. So long as we are holding a grudge, harboring feelings of self-hate, feeling sorry for ourselves, expressing anger or feeling superior or inferior, we cannot experience our Essence. OM

The Horizon of Understanding

In this family of mankind, we are duty bound to raise our consciousness and the consciousness of all those whom we come in contact with (especially, our loved ones). ‘Raising consciousness’Â’ means becoming more and more aware. We should be aware of our own pitfalls and do something about it. We should be aware of our own ignorance and do something about removing it. We remove our ignorance by learning the lessons of life, and not just by remembering the stories. In the same way, it’s important that we help our loved ones learn their lessons too. We can only do this if we’ve learned our own. The problem is, too often we only memorize the stories of our life without really learning from them. This same error is evident in the field of religion, where preachers preach but don’Â’t practice, and where teachers teach without having learned the lessons. For example, there is so much ignorance propounded in the name of religion by religious proponents whose primary practice is the perfection of their own perplexing puzzle.

People, especially so-called ‘‘religious’ people, think they have everything all figured out. They put all the pieces together like a puzzle, and when all the pieces fit so nicely they feel absolutely positive that they themselves are the keepers of the Truth. They can quote various scriptures and connect all the dots, but THIS IS NOT THE TRUTH. The Truth is in our practices; the Truth is in our character; the Truth is in our behavior; the Truth is in ourselves and its expression is the art of living. ‘‘Connecting the dots’Â’ is not art. The Truth cannot be known by an empirical process; but neither is it known by blind faith. It is a matter of practice and direct experience.

When we practice being honest with ourselves, and don’Â’t hide behind the facade of ego and personality, our awareness expands and the horizon of our understanding is very beautiful. OM

Persona (Personality)

Our persona is a facade, and that facade doesn’t let us see the work we need to do on ourselves. Behind the facade of our persona is a disturbed mind. Our mind is disturbed by all the junk we have put into it, and also by the rot and decay resulting from lack of proper maintenance and self-improvement.

Imagine a beautiful home with a nice exterior facade of brick veneer or slabs of marble. But behind the facade the structural framework is rotting. Eventually that beautiful home is going to crumble; it’s going to fall apart. In the same way, a human being who doesn’t see the inner work that needs to be done, and just puts on a facade of being happy, is only fooling himself or herself. Unless they do real work on improving their mind and making it solid with wisdom, they will definitely fall to pieces one day. Outwardly they may continue to put on a show, but inwardly they will be a mess. Unfortunately, this is the case with many people today, because they are not doing their homework.

We cannot continue to fill our mind with nonsense and then expect our life to make any sense. If the life doesn’t make sense it is only because we are trying to make sense of the nonsense. Life is what it is, and what it is is beautiful if we make our mind beautiful. If our mind is beautiful we will be beautiful. If our mind is ugly we too will be ugly, regardless how we try to cover it up with our personality.

Our personality is just a shadow; it is not the real self. It is the shadow cast in our life due to the interference of our ego and self-will. If we expel our ego from the mind, the light of consciousness will shine through our thoughts and that expression will be divine. We can call it ‘godhead-personality’, because it is devoid of selfish ego. If you think everyone is going to recognize that godhead personality, think again. It never works that way. If you do your homework and consequently pass the test, it doesn’t mean everyone is going to know your mark or grade. Of course, they will likely sense your confidence and strength, and may be attracted to be near you — some to cheat and others to learn. If you are really deep you will not fall for the empty praises of the slackers, nor will you be too quick to advise every seeker.

When we see our personality but don’t get attached to it, we become established in our Higher Self. To do that, we have to forget ourselves. The problem is this: if we are caught up in our personality, we will also get caught up in other personalities too, and we will never know the Essence of Being. Personality is just a flavor of ego. Like so many flavors of ice cream, there are so many flavors of ego, but the truth is that none of them provide any real nourishment. It is just another junk food for the mind. Personality just adds more junk relationships, junk memories, and junk feelings to the mind. The ‘personality play’ is just a waste of time and a waste of life.

To experience the state of Pure Consciousness we must go beyond our personality and stop feeding into the personalities of others. We don’t have to be people-pleasers, but we do have to please our own soul. We make our soul happy when we see ourselves and everyone around us as living souls, as the beginingless, endless expression of Pure Consciousness. OM

Becoming Open-Minded

What is a narrow mind? A narrow mind is one which is filled with images. Now, let’s come to an understanding about what images really are. To begin with, we have impressions in our mind. These impressions come about from our experiences. More specifically, they are created in the mind when ‘ I ‘ do actions. The key word here is ‘ I ‘, which means ‘me’, which means ego-self, which means the identification of the eternally conscious Self with the temporary ‘body’ (body, mind, intellect, and all the things of this world of mind and matter). No one remembers their first action in this body, and certainly not their first impression either. We may incorrectly call our first memory our first impression, but in fact, our memories are formed from our impressions. The impressions referred to here are subtle impressions (SAMSKARAS). Naturally, we may also form ‘impressions’ of our memories too.

From our impressions arise subtle tendencies (VASANAS). These subtle tendencies become full blown desires when the ‘environment’ for their fulfillment comes about. These tendencies and desires induce the mind to ‘think’. That is, we have thoughts related to our impressions, tendencies, and desires. In fact, we are prompted, or impelled to think in order to satisfy our desires created from our impressions. [Remember: at the subtle level, our desires are VASANAS, or motivating tendencies.] Our thoughts form our attitudes, or mental disposition. Together, our thoughts, attitudes, and mental disposition are called VRITTIS. Our mental disposition makes us disposed to act in a certain way, according to our impressions and tendencies. So, our attitude, or mental disposition leads us to do actions which in turn create more impressions, and thus the cycle of KARMA goes on, and on, and on. (Karma, Samskara, Vasana, Vritti, Karma. . . . .)

This brings us back to the explanation of ‘images’. All images are formed in our thoughts. In fact, images are thoughts, attitudes, and mental dispositions to which we cling to. It is this ‘clinging’ that makes the thought an image. An image of what? An image of ourselves. In other words, the ‘cling-on’ is our own ego, which attaches to a particular thought to validate its existence. We support our separate identity by holding on to those thoughts (attitudes, etc.) which perpetuate our separate selfhood. These images are the ‘hood’ that covers the self and creates in the mind the illusion of separateness. When we remove the images we dis-cover, or uncover the Truth (our own True Self) and the mind recovers from the spell of self-delusion.

When the mind is filled with images (which simply means: ‘when we are using our mind to support our ego’), our mind becomes constricted and this constriction creates friction and tension in the mind. We are stressed-out by our own images and ego-expectations. But when we open up our mind, by dropping our images and false expectations, the mind becomes free and clear.

So, how do we do it? How do we remove our mental images? We remove our images by filling our mind with the Wisdom of Consciousness: with the explanation and knowledge of what our real nature is, and what is the real nature of this world (including of course our mind, body, intellect, ego, etc.). The wisdom will create a stir in the mind and make it difficult to remain complacent. Wisdom makes the mind that is filled with images very uncomfortable, but it also gives the mind new insights which are very refreshing. Naturally, the mind wants to feel ‘refreshed’. To get more refreshment, the mind makes room for more wisdom by removing more images. When the mind becomes completely image-free, the ego no longer has any support and is removed from the mind. Through intense spiritual practice, the ego is eventually dissolved and the self stands clear. The true nature of the Self, which is self-effulgent and ever free, is manifested. OM

Becoming Imageless

What does it mean to be imageless? It means to be free from all our past impressions. It means to be ever fresh and ever renewed in the pure State of Being. We get a taste of this freshness in deep meditation and inner quietude.

We need to drop all our images to be happy. We need to leave all our images to be really free from within. It is not enough to memorize a few facts, or study a few books, or attend a few lectures. If we really want to be established in our True Self, we need to be in the state of meditative awareness 24/7 (twenty-four hours a day, seven days week, 365 days a year–and 366 on leap year!).

What is meditative awareness? This is the state of deep, focused receptivity of the mind. Only a clear mind can be focused, and only a mind that is free of mental clutter can be deep. If the mind is filled with emotional debris and mental chit-chat, one can never experience the depth of Being, even though one may be able to concentrate the mind on the things of this gross world. For example, there are people who can excel in their career, but are completely inept at steering their life to reach their ultimate destination. They live their whole life on the surface level and never realize how deep their roots really are.

Our roots are established in the Essence of Being. Our roots are established in Pure Consciousness. From that Pure Consciousness, the wisdom flows. We need to realize that our roots are from above, and all what we call real is not so real after all. In other words, what we see, hear, taste, touch, smell, and think is just an outgrowth of something else which we cannot perceive by these means. The mind and senses cannot fathom the depth of Being because we are trying to find the meaning of Life through the false perception of ego. Ego cannot see beyond itself; it is always looking down on others and down on life.

When we are in our ego we try to make ourselves happy through our attachments, possessions, and accomplishments. We fail to look up to the wisdom of the Wise or listen to our own higher consciousness. Instead, we get caught up in our images and expectations and try to figure everything out through the false perception of ego. We become totally wrapped up in ourselves, in our memories, feelings, desires, and hallucinations. We think we are in control of everything and we don’t realize that much of what happens in our life is just the play of Life itself. (In the Gita this is explained with the phrase: “The Gunas are moving among the Gunas.”)

Our Real Self, our Higher Nature, is not caught up in this drama of life. The mind, purified by that Higher Nature, becomes the witness and is no longer moved or motivated by that which is unreal. When this happens, the peace begins to descend from above (where are roots are). We feel connected to that which is real, and that connection gives us real confidence (Atam-Vishwas, soul-confidence) to continue our inward and upward journey.

The deeper we go, and the higher we go, the more we realize our own imageless Essence. When we become completely imageless, we attain the Highest State of Consciousness. We are Free, forever Free. OM

Reaffirm Your Real Nature

Why do we have mental problems, like annoyance, insecurity, grudges, jealousy, and so on? These mental maladies arise from the deep hole we have created inside ourselves. This emotional hole cannot be filled even by God, what to talk about another human being. We think a husband or wife can satisfy the longing of our soul; or maybe we think success on the job, material wealth, fame, or personal recognition will give us lasting happiness. It is not possible. It is impossible for that which is temporary to give permanent fulfillment.

All relationships are temporary because they are based on duality, and duality is nothing but EGO; it is the false identification of the Self with the non-self. The sages tell us that we are already full, that we are already complete, but our mind is telling us a different story. The stories of our mind are not real. We think our mental fiction is a fact, but it is only make-believe. We make-believe that we are somebody important, or somebody unimportant, but we never realize what is really important: our pure, unadulterated, ever-full, ever-fresh, ever-free Consciousness.

Consciousness is our real wealth. The connection of our mind to that consciousness is the real marriage, and the identification with that Consciousness is our true identity. We need to become what we have really always been: the indestructible, incorruptible, unalterable, ever-new Consciousness.

To become what we really are we need to fill the mind with the knowledge of Consciousness, and constantly reinforce our identity with that which is ever-real and imageless. We are not what we THINK we are. We are not what we IMAGINE we are. We ARE what we ARE, and THAT is beyond the language of the mind: it is beyond words, feelings, emotions, memories, and images.

We don’t need religion or philosophy to be good, moral, compassionate human beings. We just need to be ourselves. The problem is, our mind portrays us to be something that we are not. Now, our challenge is to take control of our mind, erase our self-portrait (self-image), and just be ourselves. When we are ourselves, we are not in the least bit uncomfortable in our mind. The mind becomes our instrument, and we use that instrument to vibrate, that’s all. This of course requires practice. It means we have to repeat the good things in our mind, over and over, again and again, until the mind begins to echo those good things, and also manifest them in our actions.

A wise human being can guide us to practice the right things, in the right way, so that we achieve the desired result right away. The desired result is TOTAL FREEDOM from the mind (which, in this case, includes intellect and ego). Really, “freedom from the mind” means the FREEDOM OF THE MIND. In other words, it means that the mind is freed from Ignorance.

It is ignorant to think that we are something which we are not. It is also ignorant to superimpose images and expectations on others. We are ignorant when we ignore the lessons of the past and repeat yesterday’s mistakes today.

It has been proven to us again and again that we cannot make ourselves permanently happy by chasing after impermanent things or getting attached to unstable people. But we are driven by our selfishness and ego to go against what is right and do what we know is wrong. This is why it is absolutely necessary to give up our ego. Giving up our ego is not something we do just once and then it is finished. It is a daily effort to go against the whims and weaknesses of the mind, and when we do, we break the strangle-hold of ego. Eventually, we can remove ego completely, and when we do, we experience our FULLNESS. That experience of FULLNESS is very powerful and eventually cleanses the mind of all its hidden tendencies and impressions. Then we are really FREE.

To attain that state, which is our own Real Nature, we must reaffirm our Real Nature everyday. We do this by deliberately thinking and doing what is non-egotistic, non-selfish, and non-violent. OM

On Dogma and Religion . . .

Dogma is not rooted in the wisdom of consciousness, but in the insecurity of ego. Whether it is Catholic dogma (or other Christian dogmas), Krsna-consciousness dogma (or other Hinduistic dogmas), Islamic dogma, Zionist dogma, or pagan dogma: IT IS ALL DOGMA.

From the point of view of Eternity, all religious persuasions are insignificant and baseless. Nevertheless, from the point of view of the limited understanding of ego-based human beings, religion may be considered a “necessary evil’.

On the other hand, a human being whose life is not based on ego (on the idea of separate, individualized existence), that person has absolutely no use for any religion whatsoever. Of course, he or she will certainly have a need and use for self-discipline, but “religion” is absolutely no substitute for self-discipline.

Originally, there existed no formalized religion. But even when there was no religion, we still had DHARMA; we still had our intrinsic nature. For example, when a baby child is born, that child is NOT born with a particular religion, but it IS born with its DHARMA, or nature.

The “nature” referred to here is NOT the nature of the mind and body, but the nature of consciousness itself. To understand our real nature we must return to our pure consciousness, devoid of all mental and physical superimpositions. Once we stop superimposing these things on ourselves, then nobody can ever superimpose anything on us.

We should STOP superimposing so-called religion upon ourselves. Religion is simply a heap of images born out of the interplay of ego and mind. The one who “plays” with the Divine does not get caught up in the personality play.

People talk about so-called godhead-personality but the truth is these people are still immersed in the ordinary personality game. People talk about self-realization, but the truth is they are still strapped down to their small self and only actualize their own ego images. People talk about worshipping God, or worshipping the gods, but both sorts of people never really invoke that Supreme Power within themselves because they are caught up in externalizing the inner quest for Truth. In fact, the search for Truth is not a quest, but rather an expression of Truth itself. Truth is known in Truth. The Self is realized in the Self.

Religion has a vested interest in keeping us in the dark. First of all, religion is the by-product of ego, and ego must remain hidden in order to survive. Religion gives ego a hiding place. We can hide in our religion and delude ourselves into believing we are worshipping God, but we can never realize the Truth so long as we are hiding from it.

The Truth is NOT that we are God. The Truth is simply that GOD is all there IS. Everything else is make-believe. We are “making believe” that we are separated from Him, which is absurd. It’s like making believe that we are not alive. We ARE alive, otherwise, how could we make-believe?

We make-believe in our mind everything that is happening to us. It is really only happening in our mind, and WE are making the mind believe it. Why would we do that? Why do children play “hide-and-go-seek?” Because that’s what children do; they don’t need a reason for it.

We have created this drama in our mind, and only we can decide when to stop playing it. If we think Jesus, or Jehovah, or Krsna, or Shiva, or Mahavir, or Buddha, or some other religious mascot is going to save us, then we are certainly deluded. OM

Remove the Mask of Ego

Om Hiranmayena Patrena . . . (from Isha Upanishad)

Remove the Mask of Ego

elucidation of Ved Mantra from Isha Upanishad

Om Hiranmayena Paatrena

Satyasyaapihitam Mukham |

Tat Tvam Puushann Apaavrinu

Satyadharmaaya Dristaye ||

———————————————–

Hiran mayena, by the golden

Patrena, disc

Apihitam, is covered

Mukham, the face

Satyasya, of Ultimate Truth

Tat, that (covering)

Tvam, thou

Pushan, O Light

Aparinu, remove

Dristaye, for the vision

Satya dharmaya, of the true nature of the universe

————————————————————

We do not have the experience of our real nature because our mind is distracted by the excitement, pleasures, and attachments of life. When we are living in our “head” and not the “heart’, we are in our ego. Our ego is a mask, and when we look into the mirror of our mind we only see the mask—we do not see our real self.

The face of Truth is everywhere (Vishvatomukha), and it is not possible to hide from the Truth even though we turn our backs on It. But if we hide behind the mask of ego and the false excitement which it creates, we will delude ourselves into believing we are having “fun” even though we are suffering from insecurity and uncertainty. There is absolutely no stability in the happiness of ego.

The happiness of ego is a lie; it is a false high. Ego-accomplishment, ego-recognition, and ego-love are fictions we create in the mind. The glitter of ego satisfaction makes us complacent. To obliterate our small self ego we must invoke the Light of a Thousand Suns. We must invoke the Shining Light of our own True Self to remove the false ego covering from the mind. When this happens, we have the vision of the true nature of Ultimate Reality.

We need to practice meditation and unselfish action, unselfish speech, and unselfish thoughts. These will purify the mind and intellect and dissolve the covering of ego. OM

Comfort Zone

As long as we are caught in our ‘comfort zone’ we are incapable of experiencing the ‘zone’. This ‘zone’ is variously described from the perspective of athletics, business, music, art, etc. But what is this ‘zone’ really? It is the State of Being beyond ourselves.

Beyond our ordinary state of consciousness is the extraordinary State of Being. This is the state of consciousness devoid of ego superimposition. Our real nature is suppressed in the mind due to the presence of ego: due to the false identification of consciousness with the insentient (unconscious) elements, including the body, senses, mind, memory intellect, and the ego itself. These last four (mind, memory, intellect, and ego) are called the Antahkarana Cautusthya, or ‘fourfold inner organ’.

Our mind, memory, intellect and ego are supposed to be used to express the inherent beauty and freedom of the Self, and when this happens one is in ‘the Zone’. This is the Zone of zones. All other zones are indicative of this Zone. That is, all our high experiences of having ‘gone beyond ourselves’ point to the State of Being which is always beyond our self (our small self, ego). In other words, the pristine state of Pure Consciousness already exists. It always exists and is unchangeable, indestructible, unalterable. It cannot be adulterated or modified by the mind. However, its reflection in the mind is changed according to what we ‘have in mind’. For example, we all have the potential to go beyond ourselves and achieve the ‘zone’. But if our mind is filled with self-defeating thoughts, or we are attached to our ‘comfort zone’, we will NOT be able to experience the ‘zone’. We always have the potential, but that potential is directly proportional to our determination.

We have to make up our mind to go beyond our self-imposed limitations. Our limitations include our bias, our mental images, our grudges, our laziness, and all the other ‘babies’ of mind and ego. Yes, these are our ‘babies’, they are produced by the union of mind and ego, and we are very attached to them. We identify with these (and other) creations of mind and ego and after a while we feel ‘at home’ with them; that is, we feel comfortable in our little space until something comes along to disturb it (which will always happen). This comfort zone is our own self-curse.

To reach our highest potential (in any field of life) we must break out of our comfort zone. In the field of life itself, we have to bring into play all our inherent talents and strengths, our innate knowledge, and most especially, our sincerity and humility to completely go beyond our ego and attain the highest state of Consciousness. OM

Little ‘me’ is Our Misery

Little ‘me’ is our misery, but we want to blame it on something outside ourselves. Little ‘me’ is the cause of our loneliness, little ‘me’ is the cause of our heartbreaks and headaches, but we want to blame it on the ‘other’. My mother, my father, my brother, my sister, my husband, my wife–we blame everyone and then we blame ‘life’, but the truth is we are the author of our own strife.

Our life is a fiction that we create in our mind, and everyone’s fiction is a little different, and this creates friction because we want everyone to think just like us. Even though most people are insane, everyone does not think the same.

To remove the friction and discord from our life we need to ‘get out of our head’ and open our heart to the wisdom of the Wise. Only a human being grounded in divine wisdom is really sane, and such a human being is rare to be found. Most so-called ‘wise people’ have not really ‘wised-up’ and are still chasing after name and fame. The wounded and lame flock around them like pigeons at the park, but these ‘spiritual’ pigeons remain in the dark. The blind cannot lead the blind, and the power-hungry cannot feed the hungry.

We should hunger only for the power of humility, because with that power comes the grace God. Only the grace of God can take away our misery and pain. That grace is essential, and that grace is our own Essence. When that grace flows, every trace of selfishness is removed from our nature.

Misery is of our own making; it is not superimposed upon us by others. Misery is the superimposition of little ‘me’ on the mind. If we have little ‘me’ on our mind, our mind becomes heavy and we lose all peace. Don’t you think it’s time to wise-up and drop little ‘me’? We can let it go in the blink of an eye, but only if we connect the mind to the Supreme ‘I’.

Connecting the mind to the Real Self is the only way to be happy and free, otherwise, we will remain caught up in little ‘me.’