The Dead-end Up Here: November 2014

Thursday, November 27, 2014

To Be or Not: Loving And Kind?

Loving kindness is not a charitable act or a meditation prescribed by the Buddha as a way to rid the world of evil and suffering. IT IS A SELFISH ACT.

You or I can not be anything but selfish. You and I are not capable of charity. Self can not be selfless.
To recommend a self to be unselfish and charitable to all sentient beings is ridiculous, an oxymoron. It is impossible.

Every cell in my body, every thought, every act is aimed at the self.

Buddha, the wisdom personified could not make such a mistake asking you to do a selfless act. His words have not been properly understood. LOVING KINDNESS IS NOT A PRAYER BUT AN ERNEST DESIRE.

By practicing loving kindness, you are not trying to end suffering of others, of all sentient beings even though you may say so in your meditation. YOU ARE TRYING TO END YOUR SUFFERING.

A self can not cease suffering unless it feels only love and kindness to ALL beings and perhaps beyond. To feel anything but love and kindness towards all means recognition of a separate self. A separate self will always suffer.

Bad news is if your next thought is unkind and unloving towards another, you are far from free of suffering. Good news is no one else has to feel loving kindness to end YOUR suffering.

This is why the proper practice of loving kindness meditation has the following;

May I be happy
May you be happy (including those who have apparently done this self wrong)
May everyone be happy (without which I is still more than a concept).

Understand the golden rule before meditation and may you be free of suffering.

This blog is not charity. It is not a selfless act but a very selfish act, a reminder, a diary entry so that I may not forget that I am not a separate self but just a misunderstanding.

Saturday, November 8, 2014

Wake up or stay asleep and dream on?

How do you wake up from sleep? A dream, a jolt, a nightmare?

Nice dream with beautiful family, lots of wealth, amazing holidays? What do you do, you roll over and try to recapture the dream. Who wants to wake up?

Painful nightmare on the other hand is reason enough to startle out of your reverie. Wake up and realise it was all just a dream.

Be so very thankful for the pain and suffering, the nightmares in your life. One of them will finally break your tundra and make you see the truth. May you be blessed to see that what you face as pain and suffering is nothing but recollection of stored sensations in your brain coming back to haunt you. But it is simply a very bad dream.

There is another way a dream ends. That is when your sleep is over, it is the morning after. Don't wait, for that usually comes at the end of your life.

Thursday, November 6, 2014

What is this moment?

How can we know anything if we don't know what this moment is? Isn't it simply a story based on sensations caused by movements? Aren't these sensations also labels attached to an unknown process going on?

Isn't what we call knowing, past or memory just labels on other sensations recorded at other moments?

Isn't the passage of time another sensation with a label of time?

Isn't future a label attached to a certain sensation called expectations?

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Lineage

I am a descendant of the great sage Kashyap.

Here is one of his poems.

Undisturbed am I, undisturbed is my soul,
undisturbed mine eye, undisturbed mine ear,
undisturbed is mine in-breathing, undisturbed mine out-breathing,
undisturbed my diffusive breath, undisturbed the whole of me.

Thereafter rose Desire in the beginning, Desire the primal seed and germ of Spirit,
O Kama dwelling with the lofty Kama, give growth of riches to the sacrificer, (...)
Prolific, thousand eyed, and undecaying, a horse with seven reins Time bears us onward,
Sages inspired with holy knowledge mount him, his chariot wheels are all the worlds of creatures.

Kala [Time] created yonder heaven, and Kala made these realms of earth,
By Kala, stirred to motion, both what is and what shall be, expand, (...)
Kala created living things and first of all Prajapati,
From Kala self-made Kasyapa, from Kala Holy Fire was born.

— Atharvaveda, Book XIX, Hymns L51-53^[7]^[20]

Special Needs Meditation

"My son is a young man diagnosed with Aspergers. Two professionals in his life, a psychologist he had been seeing for many years and a holistic practitioner both suggested that he start meditation training. The goal was to help him learn to practice mindfulness and breath control to learn how to calm down his active mind and body. Once a week yoga meditation practice with Sunil has lowered my son's anxiety. He has an increased sense of calmness and the tools to practice relaxation techniques in different environments outside of the yoga studio. He has also started working out in the gym and trying other new activities (roller blading outside). His overall mood is more positive and he is gaining strength and flexibility. Most importantly, he now feels included; a part of something. This weekly yoga meditation routine has enhanced his self esteem and he feels accepted and comfortable in this training environment provided by Sunil and Be Yoga & Wellness."

"The Dead-end(Up) Here" is a book of Celestial Songs of Love...

Round and round I go

Looking for you

All I find are

Dead-ends here.

My chakras dancing

My breathing fierce

My heart is leaping

Spine trembling.

This is something to expect

Guides had said

Know it

Death ends here.

There is no death, I sort of get it

It’s faith, not realization.

More semantics than truth

Clever dialogue, not deep insight.

Not body nor mind am I

How could I die

It is the body that perishes

I dwell in continuous freedom.

I love the idea

Of living forever

That too without

The source of all pain.

Body was great once

Pleasures abound

Love was grand

Ecstasy divine.

Mostly aches and groans now

Unfulfilled desires

Of a mind

That never ages.

“Beyond mind beyond death”

A cry that launched my search

Years have gone by

I find only dead-ends here.

I am over the hump

Unfulfilled ambitions sting no more.

No cold sweaty nights

Heart breaks are rare as aspirations

diminish.

They call it maturity

Spirituality or awakening

Still, thy screams I do not hear

Shiva I do not see.

I call it the end

End of Buddha’s suffering

End of useless search

The dead end up here.

Resonate with the author as he takes you on life journey which is full at times and empty at other, always seeking “happiness” that will last, a bliss that endures and a love that is unconditional. But as most seekers, he too reaches a dead-end. Then you realise what Shiva said in one of his soma rush laden moments, the dead end up here.

We all have such moments but some have the inspiration and skills to put them down as poetry. As one reader put it, “…and I found myself getting lost between the lines and imagining this little fantasy tale. It seemed to hold many truths within it and I think this is a piece many will enjoy and relate to.”

This book is a story disguised as poetry.

First a journey of spiritual seeking, a popular reaction to those days with no hope, no love, no life satisfaction. On this journey he does find some divine, blissful love in the form of beautiful, compassionate and loving people. Oh, how fireworks ensue in climactic poetry, describing the heartache that simply is. Lessons learned from the other side of pleasure are priceless but bliss endures.

As the book unfolds, we quickly realize there is no elegant conclusion to this poem-filled love story of divine intervention, just as there is none to life. You will either fall in love, fall in desire, or achieve some temporary yearning to feel what the author once felt. It is better to have loved like this; that which truly transforms human experience forever.

Why the blog title?

Patanjali, well known seminal author of yoga guide for all practitioners, defines yoga as "chitta vritti nirodhuh" meaning "cessation of mental formations."

This could also be expressed as the dead (one who has ceased mental formations) end up, here (now).

Bhagwat Gita, is a satsang between an undefeated warrior, Arjuna with his charioteer, friend and teacher, Krishna in the middle of an epic battle. Gita's lessons of how to conduct oneself while arrows and spears fly past you and still maintain a meditative calm are as good today as thousands of years ago.

Krishna could have taught his long time friend much earlier but chose to do so only when Arjun came to a "dead end" at the battle front (up here and now). Teachings work only when the student reaches the dead-end.

The Dead-end Up Here