Consciousness

Consciousness is an attribute, a property, a quality of living things, even inanimate things rather than an independent object in itself. If we start looking for it like an entity to be found through meditation or pilgrimage, we may find something very different. In fact its the attribute of all there is. Consciousness of emptiness brings manifestation into this presence.

Consciousness or awareness does not perform an act or control anything directly but through an object such as a human body. In fact all functions of a body and it's mind can be attributed to its only property,  consciousness. Eyes do not see, they funnel light through a lens onto a detector whose signals are rearranged into images and then consciousness of the body allows us to see. Same with all other senses. Even thoughts are just electric signals in the brain which get translated into images or sounds and the conscious ability of brain allows us to make an intelligent thought.

In simple terms its like the colour of an object. Just like the red of a rose allows us to see it, fragrance of it allows us to smell it but neither is the rose. Similarly consciousness makes us conscious of everything else but it is not a thing. Its just a property of beings. In that sense it could also be a property of inanimate things but they express their consciousness in a different, inanimate way. Perhaps it is the consciousness of an electron that allows it to be entangled with its twin, billions of light years away.

This doesn't mean that consciousness isn't the all pervasive god, brahma or rigpa scriptures speak of. It just means that looking for consciousness as an object will always lead to disappointment, its just not there. It is the attribute of everything in the universe; it makes us human, rose a flower,  earth a planet, sun a star and space the space.

Yoga Philosophy Sessions At Be Yoga

JANUARY 19 , 7-10 PM

Patanjali, well known seminal author of yoga guide for all practitioners, defines yoga as "chitta vritti nirodhuh" meaning "cessation of mental formations." We will cover the eight limbs of yoga that leads to this cessation in what is known as samadhi, a complete absorption into and of the self. Yoga without understanding what the process is designed for is an incomplete practice.

FEBRUARY 16 ,  7-10 PM

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. This is the guide for all who want to find peace without having to escape the vicissitudes of life and its torments.

Enlightenment

Literally to bring something out of darkness by shedding some light on it.
The same definition could be used for guru, a sanskrit word meaning someone who brings you out of darkness.

But in the end it is a word based on a concept like the one described above therefore it was created by a human brain which has but one purpose, to produce happy chemicals through actions to stimulate its five senses and through thought. And ironically it is the frustration felt by that brain when it fails time and again to find a permanent and constant source of happy chemicals that it wants the panacea of enlightenment.

Most teachers point to a great mistake, an illusion, a maya perpetrated by the brain or mind as the source of all suffering. The brain keeps trying to end this suffering by making another mistake, this time to seek enlightenment.

It is when the brain realises its error, the great mistake by retreating from the endless loop of seeking happy chemicals, the light goes on.

The curse can only be taken off by the witch who caste it; the great mistake or illusion  of separate self can only be realised by the one  that created it. There can be no guru other than you.

All living things with brains share the ability to generate happy chemicals through the senses. Nature designed this as a way to protect and perpetuate the species. Human brains have a special ability to create these happy chemicals through thought, concept and ideas including illusion. Magic, movies, art, music all represent this remarkable human brain feature. Its a natural result of this brainpower that humans create the illusion of self.

It starts at inception as the special ability of thought and deductive reasoning, used by the brain to create a separate self which is and has to be served by others to keep producing these happy chemicals. Its not the milk that makes me happy but the mother who gives milk. The biggest bondage for the human mind is the mother child relationship. This is the beginning of the great illusion and cause of more subsequent suffering. It leads to other emotional illusions like love, hate, jealousy, envy.

The great illusion is not that there is no Mona Lisa but that Pablo Picasso painted it. Yes there were two hands of a body labelled Pablo which went through the motion of moving colours on a canvas. But this great work of art is the creation of millions of years of training and evolution at the cellular level. This is the great illusion of separate self.