Personal Reflections of a Meditative Nature

There is one moment, that moment is now. How is your moment? You see, this is forever. After the concept of birth and death is gone, after all the ideas about oneself are gone, the idea that remains is the ever-present state, the NOW. In this moment you are in pain, or perhaps, you are in pleasure. You have never been anywhere OTHER THAN this moment, nor will you ever be. This can feel sometimes limiting and other times liberating, but in the end...relaxing. This is all that was or will be. This is NOW.

In the flow of the stream, in the flow of eternal consciousness, the thing which prevents you from seeing this NOW are all the troubles and issues in your life. Had you the courage to flow with life, these would be seen as they are: ripples on the surface of consciousness.

No, no need to wander off into the woods, to do irrational or stupid things, no need to feed the dragon of fear and self-doubt. One simply has to live conscious and aware, willing to let go of the bad habits in order to enter the stream. The stream is Life, the stream is Self, have you secrets you are hiding? have you monsters under the floorboards? You know the type, the ones you knew you would never reveal, consider bringing them into the forefront, bringing them up for speculation, sort through the mechanism of being and thought.

I am moved by Cosmic Forces which exist beyond and Through me, but, they can only work through me if I put up no force, if I am willing to fulfill my own desires, pay attention to my heart, and stay aware. But most importantly, never to break this chain of knowing. The world is filled up, brimming with problems, issues, things which must be confronted. Are you willing to make the sacrifices necessary to give to people you hardly know? To be generous with people who might as well be your worst enemies, to be strong enough within yourself to be independent, to do things for yourself and not ask for charity?

"A day will dawn when you will laugh at your past efforts. That which will be the day you laugh is also here and now." - Ramana Maharshi

There is nothing to do because you are complete, here and now. Just be.

Introduction to Maharaj

Meditate on these teachings...roll them over and think about them....

Two Masters - Nisargadatta Maharaj, Bhagawan Nityananda

What is the connection between these two masters? Bhagawan Nityananda and Maharaj "met" that is to say Maharaj met Bhagavan, and he said about him:

"not a day goes by when I do not think of him"

It's hard to know exactly what these two have in common, but I found out about Bhagavan through Wolinksy. The video I posted of Wolinksy has Maharaj on the right side, and Bhagavan on the left. Their teachings were in the same vein, but different. BN had a teaching that was derived more from the siddha tradition while Maharaj's was unmistakably Advaita. The basic difference is that the Siddha tradition relies far more on the Guru and on the Self (including sometimes worship of the Guru) wereas Advaita is not about the personal as much. That's how I have interpreted it, anyway.

At any rate, what do these dead Indian men have to do with you, you ask? I am introducing them into your psyche because I plan to talk about each other teachings in order to go deeper into the ideas that their teachings contain and what the teachings reveal about yoga in general.

Here are some books I recommend about these two masters:
Bhagawan Nityananda: Nisargadatta Maharaj: Also please visit NetiNetifilms.com for copies of all of Stephen Wolinsky's work and other great work.

Further Explorations of the Bhagavad Gita

Further explanation of the Bhagavad Gita something which Maharaj called "an interesting story" (to paraphrase) remember to never take anything too much to heart...don't take anything too absolutely. Remember the words of the Buddha:

Forsake all dharmas (teachings)

I was trying to explain earlier about what the message of the Bhagavad Gita is...what I believe it is. My belief is that the Gita is essentially supposed to be about ACTION. It discourages inaction, but even more that the Gita is about bravery and facing one's fears. That's why Krishna told Arjuna to go into battle even though Arjuna didn't want to. For perfectly legitimate reasons, by the way...Arjuna didn't want to HURT anybody. Krishna said, do it, Arjuna...it makes no difference. That's why I love it, because it's a huge contradiction because in actuality India by and large is very peaceful. Krishna wasn't saying START a war, he was saying, just do your duty, and you'll find out sooner or later what the truth is and your confusion will subside. 

The reality is, this is a fact: we all have to face fears, we all have to do things which we don't really WANT to do, not only because they are difficult but because we're not sure if they're right or right for that particular moment. In light of this, we often hesitate, and Krishna says, like Nike, just do it. 

This is the essence of a new vocabulary term I'm going to introduce: Karma Yoga. Karma Yoga says: surrender the fruits of your labor to me (Krishna) and don't think about what you're doing, just do it. Don't worry about if it goes well, don't think about getting anything from it.....

Just do it. Do what you have to do. That's the teaching. That's all for today. 

Stretching for Meditation

This is a great site (the best I have found) for instructions on how to stretch in order to achieve a full lotus position while in seated meditation.

How to Grow a Lotus

I found it several years ago and it is still ranking first in google so I assume it's very popular. :)

Have a NICE day and remember to...

SMILE... :)

Here is the link again in case you are clinically blind: click here!

Zen Master's Work Ethic - Three Gunas - The Middle Way Pt. 2

"If you focus your mind on me
and revere me with all your heart,
you will surely come to me; this
I promise, because I love you."

~ Lord Krishna

The book Siddhartha is a book that was written to illustrate the changes that one (that is to say, a seeker) of any time or place undergoes when trying to find the truth. Just like the historical Siddhartha Guatama buddha, the main character in Herman Hesse's book Siddhartha undergoes radical changes in order to become the man that he eventually becomes. He starts off being very monastic, then goes into the work, meets women, makes money, eventually gets fed up and leaves, only to find himself once again rediscovering himself. This is a great illustration of the "middle way" which I was talking about yesterday.

In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says (and I'm paraphrasing from memory) "There is the man who wants power, there is the man who wants happiness, both these men are wise men, but the one who is wise and detached is, not clinging to anything, is most like me, therefore I love him most." This is also a reference to the middle way... the "sattvic" quality.

The version of the Bhagavad Gita which I highly recommend is translated by Stephen Mitchell and can be found here. It's wonderful...and it may just capture your imagination like it did me. There are some things to look out for with the Bhagavad Gita that may surprise you...and Stephen does a good job of explaining these things to a Western Audience.

The strange things....

First of all, the weirdest thing about the Bhagavad Gita which I am only too happy to point out (because I love shattering people's pardigms) is that it is not a doctrine of Non-violence.

Picture Ghandi with his broken teeth....

It is not in fact, a doctrine of non-violence. Not only that, it is a book which actually ENCOURAGES a soldier to fight in war. This is one of the things which I absolutely love about it... which will bring me right into tomorrow's talk, I'll explain why.

The second thing is, the book is sexist. VERY. Hindus, at least during the ancient times, believed that to be born a woman was a lesser state. That it was the result of bad karma (I know....) this may put off some if not all women. However, there is no mention that women are any less capable of attaining divine knowledge, but still the implication is still there.

Thirdly, Krishna states in the Bhagavad Gita that he in fact founded the "four caste system" which means that hindus (at various times in history, not as much today) believe that the caste system is divinely ordained...which is a bit strange. And you might say racist. If not racist certainly class-ist (?.)

So with all these set-backs, why do I like it? I'll go further into it in lessons in the future and you will understand more and more why I like, but for now I'll just say, it's ancient, and there is a wisdom in it that is absolutely unshakable, and can save you from literally ANYTHING no matter how messed up your life is, no matter how insane you feel, it will be there, telling you everything is okay and how to get out of your situation. So for that reason, I have to like it. But I'm not sexist, or racist. I promise!

Zen Master's Work Ethic - Three Gunas - The Middle Way

"You expect me to explain everything right from the beginning? Right from kindergarten class?"

 ~ Nisargadatta Maharaj 





What is the work ethic of the zen master? How is he able to work so hard? How is he able to have such discipline? What motivates him?

The Three Gunas idea comes from Hinduism and more or less works out to something like this:

The three Gunas are: Tamas, Sattvas, Rajas.

In Tamasic energy, you've got sloth, muddiness, perversion, laziness....

In Rajasic energy you have passion, anger, urgency, restlessness.....

In Sattvic energy is the "between" or "just right" where you're not overly passionate, and you're not slothful.

Much like goldilocks....

Yes, in addition to disturbing the every day life of three bears, goldilocks also illustrated a Zen concept in typical Zen parable form. The best kind of energy is the "middle way" energy which is the most peaceful. Nothing that is sattvic in nature can be of any harm, while the tamas and rajas seek to reek all kinds of harm on us every day. However it's also important to note that this does not make them "bad" but merely part of the every day float of elements.

This is also called "dispassionate awareness" by Maharaj. And this concept of "Just right" comes up over and over again in any enlightenment doctrine that is worth its salt (or porridge).

After all, didn't the Buddha himself find enlightenment only after realizing the "middle way" between excess and self-denial? This concept is illustrated wonderfully in Herman Hesse's beautiful novel based on the Buddha's life called Siddhartha. It's a wonderful book that should be read by everybody, especially young men in search of purpose.

Frequently its in the energy known as love that this Sattva Guna truly flourishes. So the idea of being in a close relationship might be a divine mandate just as much as it is a societal expectation, and personal inclination.

"When you're warm, really warm, well you get things done, like they've never been done...."


~ John Lennon "Hold on"