Now is also just a thought

I first read Eckhart's book in 2007 and had trouble with it. The power of now movement is strong and tolle's words seem so genuine. But I could never get why past and future were different from the now. I was misled that past and future are thoughts and the now isn't. Tolle may have said it but I missed it. Reality is that all tenses are composed of thoughts. The only and major difference about now is the physical experience. And that's all. So it is the now without thoughts about now, before or later that has the power to transform you. Wow...

Few insights have recently surfaced by drawing back to what is really felt by the body and mind like experiences and feelings. Other than tactile sensations including hearing, touch and smell, feelings are so tied into thoughts. It is pretty clear that fear and desires, the cornerstone of much of new age and Buddhism are also just thoughts spurred by a chain of other thoughts. Other than bodily addictions like overheating during Xmas and other consumptions, so much of everything is thought. Watched an apprehension of an upcoming business trip disappear when the nature of this apprehension also being a thought became clear.

The Old New Age

In every era, there is a wave of new age when truth stirs and touches the corpse. Corpses animate with this truth experience and try to convince other corpses of the truth so found. Usually spurred by a center of truth like Krishna, Buddha or Christ, soon this becomes the "new age" thinking of the time, not unlike what is happening now. Until "the corpse" decides that the new age experience was designed for it to help it have a better life. Get it? We are pretty close to making this new age stale.

GURU

So my Guru dumped me recently, recommending I lose the attraction to females and become more loyal.

I think there is a problem in having a Guru. It implies there is something she can do to help you find yourself. Guru is just a reminder of what you are forgetting. Dattatreya had 24 gurus like the tree, earth, birds and the ocean. I told one of my cousins once when he asked if I had a guru that he was my guru. So all of you remind me when I am off the path. I appoint all of you my Guru until of course someone reminds me that you are not really doing the job well.

Not that Guru G was wrong at all. I am attracted to the female form and anyone with a good idea or a u tube gets me into him or her.

Don't Take That Step

Descended from heavens
among the stars and the sky
With all heavenly attributes of
Peace, beauty and perfection.

Suddenly there it comes
The need to compare, to exceed
Desire to excel and penchant  to win.

All that remains of my heritage
Is a faint wistful memory.
A sense that something is missing
That once was  mine.

The terrible loss leaves me cold
Anger  takes hold, frustration anchors in me
Punishes me for that step I took
out of heaven into hell.

This same step I take every day
Every moment and with every thought.
I have become so good at this
Deluded to the core.

Intent was to make it better
Make heaven more heavenly
But how do you improve
Perfection?

Answer,
You do not.
You ruin it.

And I did
Creating in the process
The hell I inhabit.

It is not too late
Never too late.
It is just a few steps back
To leave hell behind.

To see the fear as toothless
Greed unable to please
All seeming pleasures
But a flash in time.

But for heaven's sake
Just don't take that step
Out of harmony and peace
That you always are.

You Have Already Won

Do you know how hard it is
to stand, run and do yoga on two feet?
to climb a mountain, to ride a bike
to do ballet and to simply stand?

Do you know how amazing it is
to know thousands of names
millions of images, billions of words
trillions of subtle feelings?

And even more, do you know
how incredibly complex it is
to recall any of the above
in an instant?

You can do all this,
I can do all this
we can all do all this.
Yet we want more.

Why?

It's a war we waged
on nature, on time
on creation
to conquer adversity.

the goal?
to do all of the above
impossible feats?

alas the winding is too tight
we are still fighting
just can't stop
this runaway train.

once in a while
One goes up to the mountain top
and screams out real loud
"You Have Already Won".

But we are still fighting.
sit still for a while
and listen to the message
the song, the love from the One.

SURRENDER TO THE GURU

On the eve of Guru Purnima, an ancient celebration of the guiding light also called the guru that leads one out of suffering. How to celebrate? There is only one action required; SURRENDER! Do you really know what that means and entails? Surrender means to give up the desire to win. You may even feel that you have lost. That is okay. Giving up the desire to win is absolutely the most difficult thing you would ever do. EVERYTHING in the physical universe is and continues to be wired to win. You won't be here trying to surrender if this was not so. That is the paradox. WINNING TAKES YOU TO A PLACE WHERE YOU MUST SURRENDER AND LOSE. May the guiding light make you lose and surrender.

My Long Trek

Happy birthday to me, you and you
For we were all born the same instant
Some fourteen billion years ago
In a sky entirely nonexistent.

Like you, I was but a tiny string
Of energy, oscillating, resonating.
Pushed by a colossal force
Of unimaginable strength
Forever outward bound into oblivion
Into a destiny unknown
With but just one instruction
Love!

Love I did, love I do
Finding kindred sizes and shapes.
I hugged you hard, squishing your bones
Until we turned into one.
One body, one soul.
Body I know, soul I do not.

Incarnated into rocks and energy
Water and gases filling the universe
Still following my only directive
Go, keep going, go with love.

Oops, I said
Accidentally spilling some carbon into water
Nitrogen into hydrogen and to amino acid.
Totally unintentional
Creating the building block
Of a true change to creation.

Sorry I said to whomever
Intended me to do nothing
Or do something else
Sorry, I gave life to life.

My present body still
Nothing but strings, albeit trillions
Squished into shapes many
Types diverse, colors exquisite
My art has no limits
Design ultimate.

I am one with you
The rock, the tree, bird and the sea
You the cement tower and the train.
We just look different
Pay no attention

Still are all strings of love.

You say rocks have no senses
Stars are dead gases unable to speak
Or is it that we can't understand
We don't care to understand.

Only difference I can find
Is that I can and do ask why?
Rivers and the trees do not.
May be they are right
I am wrong for asking
Why love?

Error! Error! Error!

Did you see the star trek episode when the computer blows up screaming; error, error, error! when capt Kirk inputs an unanswerable koan? The real question now is who is planning to blow my mind up? Ramana is long gone and as far as I can tell my mind doesn't have a death wish? Perhaps it still carries the underlying desire to transcend the pain and suffering by blowing itself up. But we know better, as Bart Marshall said it once, "you can't game this, believe me I tried for decades". And check out gary's poem below, when he says " Lack of effort opens the gate for a flood of insights. * That which is changeless knows nothing." We really need to convince us not to ask this irreconcilable question.... Musings by Gary Harmon Emptiness filled with clanging, And dogs that bark in the distance. Winds that gently blow, Trees that sway to and fro, Are all connected. As am I joined to them. Nothing causing anything; All in agreement with all. * Turning earth for a new planting; Last fall's leaves become fuel. The season's past growth tilling over, Roles are traded; Old becomes new as it repeats yet again. The undercurrent of the changeless, Watches and sees—nothing happening. * Empty are the thoughts that are forced. Wisdom is not from there. Lack of effort opens the gate for a flood of insights. * That which is changeless knows nothing. Knowing is for trapped opinions. Seemingly comfortable yet bound by belief. Anchored to something called duration, Waiting for change which can not be necessary A slide-rule replaced by unknowing. Just a hunch yet more vast than can be known. Boundaries have no reality for that intuitive state Which exists outside the identified.

Who Am I?

Is there any hope that this question can actually be answered? Who is asking this question? Is it an impostor asking itself if it is an impostor? Remember that koan; asking a liar if he is telling the truth? The question is a mind buster designed by Ramana Maharishi to just do that. All you can really hope for is eventually or now understand that. Cest ca cest tous.

Why bother with this new age mumbo jumbo?

For years, even decades I saw no reason to pay attention to spirituality even though I come from a highly spiritual family, country and culture. The individual and animal need to win and "succeed" is all that this body mind complex seemed to want. I came across many who tried to convince me to pay attention to the other side but I asked, why bother? You  may be asking the same. Let me try to answer this without the sales job of a door to door preacher.

In fact, there is no reason you should bother either. I hope things go so well for you like it does for a small fraction of humanity that you need not bother. This call from the inside seems to come particularly when one isn't able to keep up with the demands of this maya world and to what she calls "success". The first reaction of the animal body and mind complex, just like my cat when he is not allowed to go out, is to find another way. Keep trying; go around the wall, fool the detractors, win win win ... at any cost. Alas, for most of us, nature wins, through an earthquake, a tsunami, a broken heart, a lousy boss, a busted economy...I can go on for a while. The point is that for most of us an end to this maya does present itself, if not while we are young and still fighting, then when we are old and weak or have lost the battle and/or desire to win. 

When you dig deep you will find that there never were winners nor losers. Of course you will never believe me, neither did I,  while you are drunk with euphoria that maya imbues. And you should not either.  It is not for you. If you are not ready, it won't work any way. Richard Rose asked his listeners not to try to awaken a sleeping saint which most of us are. There is no right nor wrong. There is just the need for happiness at our core.  Some will find this in a penthouse in trump towers surrounded by beautiful things enveloping the decaying organic mass called the body. Others will find it in a kundalini spinning yoga.  Both will one day end the game the same way as they began it. Will any of what we fuss over or bother about mean anything to you when you are done? Not really. 

There is no obligation to be new age "good". Of course there is none to be not good either. Simply, your choice. No matter how hard you try and how many times you toss the coin, half of them will be tails. Some people will become rich, some wise and some unfortunately thieves and some very ill. No one designed it this way, it is just the way it is, has always been and will always be. There is however a way for all to be happy and blissful. If climbing the Everest turns your crank, then you are that coin toss. Mine seems to be on the yoga mat.

IS THERE A POINT TO YOUR LIFE?

Well, not really.

If you fully understand the nature of your life you know that everything including what you may consider to be you is ephemeral. It is possible that there is something more or less than what you know but since you do not know it now, it's unlikely you would ever know. It will all change and eventually perish.

In fact the conventional wisdom of your body being the only thing that perishes may be wrong. Instead, something of your body will remain but in a different form. Nearly all of it will simply change and reincarnate onto a flower, another life or simply dust. But you as a person or spirit whatever you wish to identify yourself as, will disappear. To that who is asking the pointed question there is really no point in the quest. Particularly if you have been paying attention during your journey and finding that perishable is the nature of things.

It is impossible to have something without nothing. So here we are living as a thing but nearly all the heavy lifting such as laughing, crying, loving and hating is done by some one called I which is simply thought made of nothing and destined to return to nothing when the thing called the body stops supporting the I concept. Awakening then is simply understanding this nonsense.

There are no do's or don'ts here for none of that will make a significant difference to the universe. You do however have the right to act, to seek and attain bliss and to share your findings with kindred things. You have the right to act never the right to expect or achieve results. Geeta says this in a famous sloka; Karmanyeva adhikaraste, ma faleshu kadachanah.

My recommendation is to find bliss for this I as there is no point in suffering for and by something that is destined to annihilation.  And if that comes from meditation, yoga and satsang as opposed to booze and acts of the flesh. Well then that's my right according to Geeta. I won't make a difference. I hate to challenge such greats but neither did Buddha on changing the nature of things.  He simply changed the quality of life for billions allowing them to awaken to bliss for the brief period this nothing called I exists. Just don't confuse his and other masters incredible contribution to an obligation for you to follow in their footsteps. You simply have the right to  be happy since you are part of the thing floating in the sea of nothing waiting to change, reincarnate yet again. You can't stop it but can enjoy this awesome show. Love it.

Diffusing Your Personal Charge

 The YouTube clip below was very helpful to me. It is by Amira who is Tracy's mentor of years ago. I like her explanation about how our breath starts to become shallow as we age and as worries replace spontaneous play activity of our childhood. Try to meditate on why you are not breathing full and deep all the time and you will see what she means. I also like her explanation on how this accumulation of charges occur. Pain is the answer in one word. We are great at causing and hiding pain, each turning into a charge shortening our breath, our life and peace. Next, how to dump all these charges and set the little one free?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ahgkJwJJOk&feature=youtube_gdata_player

What is Oneness?

This is an age old question that one of my friends just asked me. I couldn't convince her that this is not a cult nor are they charlatans. We have been taken in so many times by the MBA's (my euphemism for all that is being sold to you by marketers) that is is impossible to tell the truth from a lie. I don't blame her nor you for being a skeptic. So am I.

But I do see things differently when it comes to spiritual matters. I follow what Buddha said thousands of years ago. Only follow what you can personally test it to be true. So what I have found to be true is that nothing is real, not Oneness nor Jesus nor Buddha. Only I am real. But all these peoples and things are manifestations which make it easy for me to crystallize my imaginations. Let's say I have within my imagination the White House but my human senses can only really see it if I can see a picture, a movie or the House itself. When I do see it I go, aha, that is it.

Oneness or Amma Bhagwan or Buddha are no different. With Oneness when I see the lovers of Oneness, I feel it and when I do, I know what it is. If you don't, try something else until you do feel it. It is all within you already. All you need is what a scientist calls "biological synchronisation" and you will know for sure. If you don't feel it, it is still okay. Just hold on to the idea that you are it, sooner or later you will.

CONTINUING OPENING OF CHAKRAS

Earlier I had indicated the stories of two of our friends on how energy manifests withing their experiences during and after meditation. One related some more info to me which I detail here along with some of my commentary.

" It was interesting about energies and auras and all of  that.  I read the Celestine Prophecy awhile ago and it talked a lot about energy auras...I really was just looking for what seeing pink during  meditation meant, like I said I have always seen a bright colourful purple light that flows toward and away from me with each in and our breath.  But today I saw several colours...I also get that feeling of vibrating energy through my body during some of my meditations, not every time, but sometimes.  Perhaps I am finally opening up more of my chakras.

 I did a meditation for about 15 or 20 mins. today and I started seeing more colours than normal.  I typically always see bright purple...today I sawseveral, some even mixed together, I was getting a strong bright pink and some orange and reds mixed and greens and blues mixed and then white as well.  So I looked up the chakra colours on the internet and typically pink is not there, so then I looked up 'pink' chakra and I came across this website, where this man has taught himself to feel energies around the body,reads auras and things. Interesting....pink...has to do with unconditional love and compassion and such."


http://www.bodymath.com/chakras/chakras.html

My response:  Before you go too far with the color of chakras, just know that I found no evidence of this in my readings of old texts and even Amman Bhagwan. But many have reported just as you that they see colors. But assigning chakras to a color may be unproven. Also note that curiously people assign the basic
seven colors of the spectrum to the chakras. How coincident? I always start from the position of a skeptic...

> Sunil Vidyarthi



And actually it's good to hear you say that because, I thought maybe there was something wrong when we would do our kundalini meditations and it was initially described as the chakras as we went and I had trouble trying to see the colours of each, it just won't come even if I try to imagine 'red' let's say, but this just happened randomly on the weekend.  But I was facing the sun at the time, that energy may have had something to do with it?

My response:


A better way of telling whether your chakras are opening up is by what is happening in your life and relationship not colours. Root chakra controls your basic life, job, finances, dwelling. Sacral and throat your sex life. manipura is your power and strength in dealing with  life . Heart is about love (not sex). Third eye is intuition and crown spirituality.

So monitor your life as you see different chakras are opening up. By the way just paying simple attention to these stimulates opening, deeksha helps and so does meditation.