Who to follow; Buddha or Krishna?

Buddha says you can never be happy unless you wish happiness to everyone or meta love and kindness to all. Krishna says to Arjun , fire that arrow as it is your destiny and karma to kill your cousins.

Who should you follow? Can a 2015 human being making a living in business, arts or sciences, function by either of these principles? Can he simply be loving and kind to all even in face of great challenges and clearly adverse oppositions? Or does he ignore Budhdha's compassion and shoot the arrow at the heart of his adversity?

Is there a way out of this seemingly conflicting ways to be?

I can only find oneness as the answer. Only when you truly internalize that ALL matter that you sense  is interconnected, has been so since the Big Bang and perhaps even before, the answer will come to you. Whether you shoot the arrow or not, the target will one day perish was Krishna's point. If you don't shoot the arrow now, evil remains and perhaps create more hate and misery than before. Is that love and compassion? Or is it a selfish action with no compassion for others? You have to be sure before taking the shot.

Most of Budhdha's words were aimed at ending suffering of the individual. And that is only possible if you TRULY have compassion for others not just yourself. It is not possible for you to end your suffering if you do not wish others' happiness as well. This has to be an honest wish backed up by honest actions.

Surrender to the teaching

This Friday is guru poornima, the full moon of midsummer celebrated by aspirants, seekers and pure souls for thousands of years. Some lucky souls have the necessary devotion and access to a physical form of  a teacher, to whom they can surrender. As Mooji says, guru is a garbage collector, to whom you dump all that's not necessary in your life. It turns out there is not much that you need to keep. Complete surrender is nirvana.

It is however not necessary to have a physical teacher in a human form to whom you download all in a surrender. Dattatreya found twenty four teachers in various forms none of whom wore long robes and beards but were available to teach everywhere he looked.

My most memorable teachers and teachings start with TAT, started by Richard Rose in West Virginia. The name TAT in itself captures the essence, truth and transmission. It doesn't matter which way you follow, finding the two is essential ; true knowledge accepted by the mind and transmission of this truth to your body. This annihilates the attachment to the illusion of life.

Rose and his students taught me the need to observe. Late dear Clara Llum assured me that all paths lead to the truth. Mooji showed me that it was quite simple to see the unseeable. And jivanmukti has made this physically manifested.

To each, I say ommmm in silence.

If you can't attend our session at be yoga be in Burlington thi Friday. Sit in peace around 7 pm and contemplate the teachings that have opened your eyes. For each bow down in gratitude uttering Om in your heart. May the fog lift for you.

Why?

The answer is not why not.

There is an answer to every why.

Look carefully and you will find the answer.

Post here if you are stuck.

Where is inside?

Look inside and meditate is a common suggestion you hear from teachers, guides, elders and even psychologists. But where is this inside?

Surely you are not asked to visualize your internal organs like your heart, guts, spleen and liver? Although something like that may be an interesting mindfulness practice. Even visualising your internal organs is actually outside. In fact anything that you sense with your body and mind has to be outside. Isn't it?

Even when you close your eyes, you are seeing something outside of your eyes. When you feel a touch, a smell or a sound, they are all outside.

You can take it a step deeper. When you see an object, what you call seeing is reporting a sensation created by a complex process of light reflecting off an object, then passing through your eyes onto a retina which sends the signals to your brain. The brain, based on its retained memory composes a picture and then labels it as the object. Ditto for all other senses.

You could say thinking is looking inside. But here too thoughts are mainly based on events and objects outside of your senses.

Could it be that there is no inside?

Could it be that something got lost in translation yet again?

Could it be that looking inside means simply don't look outside or withdraw your senses.

So, don't try to look inside next time you meditate. It will add another confusion to the already very confused mind. Just deny anything outside.

Courage comes from knowing you are indestructible!

Fear of any kind; physical or psychological arises from the assumption that you and yours can be destroyed, meaning death of the body, the mind or something you may be possessive about.

Fear is an illusion.

If you believe yourself to be a body (which is an error but that discussion for another day), then you know that this body is made of matter. And you also know that matter is not destroyed  it only changes its form. From organic cellular material to basic elements, gases and water which will be recycled into plants, rocks, environment or even another body. Matter is indestructible in its most fundamental state.

If you believe yourself to be a mind (that too is an error to be discussed another day), then you know that mind is a bunch of thoughts strewn together by the body into a coherent or incoherent idea or concept. If these ideas or concepts lead to some creation such as an object or a change you implement, then the mind also changes into another state. Which could go another transformation but never destroyed. Mind is also indestructible in its most fundamental state.

You may believe yourself to be an illusion, a nonentity, a soul or emptiness. And that illusion is destructible.  But once the illusion of yourself is destroyed, so is fear as that is also part of the illusion of you.

What's in a prayer?

Whether in a church, a temple or in your quiet corner, you do pray. Either to a god, a power or just wishing for something or something to happen. Have you thought about what you are praying for?

An object like a car, a house, a wealth or a mate? Or a concept like peace and love? There is something in common to all prayers and that is to make you happy. Imagine you got the object you are hoping for but it didn't make you happy. Was that what you wanted?

May your prayers be answered and you be happy.

May be your prayers are answered and you find that there is no you. That will be the ultimate gift since without a you, there can be no desire.

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

A common stumbling block in self inquiry is the concept of free will and control. Our world gives a strong sense that we make decisions based on free will and control our destiny. This is in spite of glaring evidence to the contrary. If one were in control of life, will and decisions, would there be any poor people, any suffering, any war, murders, accidents, failures etc.

So why does this illusion manifest within our thoughts that we can and must control our lives. It is a subtle impression left in the mind when we speak of will and control. Having a will is not free will. There must be a will for any action to proceed. The will results from many factors that have placed you in this moment.

Having control doesn't mean needing a controller. Decisions must be made to go left or right. There is just no individual making this decision out of free will. This tooh is the result of many factors that have brought the moment before the apparent decision maker.

Take an example. After high school you had a choice between Med school or Dentistry. It may seem like you decided to become a physician but look deep. Was it free will? Or was it based on your understanding and research of what dentistry entailed, the kind of work you would be required to do or what would your parents, friends and teachers say about your career choice. Did you decide or was a decision made based on external factors.

Even Canada geese flying south for the winter may give you the impression that they are making independent decisions to first go to Saskatchewan, then to Montana and to Florida. Or is it that wind velocity and hot air columns force the birds onto this path.

Monarch butterfly flies thousands of miles based on instinct appearing to make this decision.

Humans are no different. Senses, environment, genetic make up, prior experience, future expectations and instinct, in other words all that has happened after the big bang that has brought us here make possible the will to decide in a certain way. An imaginative mind and a controlling illusion called I thinks this was all out of free will.

But I must emphasize, lack of free will doesn't mean lack of will and lack of control doesn't mean no decisions. There is just no my free will, no decision maker nor a controller. That is the illusion.

You could take it as an excuse to give up trying or willing to succeed in life. But that too would be a decision not based on free will but a host of factors that surround your life today, this understanding being just one of them

Shri Krishna said thousands of years ago to Arjun when he was frozen in battle unable to kill his brethren facing him as enemies; karmanyeva adhikarashte ma faleshu kadachana...
My translation is " you have the right or will (not responsibility nor duty) to act but not to the results". Fortunately for the country he served, Arjun decided to will into action not give up thinking nothing matters anyway.