The Dead-end Up Here

I am awareness. I see, yet I am not the light. I witness the candle flame, not the fire; I know the sun, but not its dazzle. The body vibrates, yet I feel no pain. The eardrum moves, yet I do not hear. The subtle breath moves, catching quiet molecules, sending signals to the brain— yet I taste no scent. Your kind words arrive, bringing joy to the heart. It quivers, sending nectar up the spine. Still, I am only the witness. I see myself in you, ever so briefly. Recognition— I am love. I am a mirror reflecting the universe, from the fallen leaf to the flickering quasar. I do not see or hear, taste or think, love or hate. I am only the mirror, reflecting all the body lets in. I have no shape, no size. I begin nowhere, I end nowhere. I am never absent. Look for me—everywhere and nowhere.

You must have heard the sexual escapades at many monasteries, churches, yogashram, temples, gurus, and more. You would think that spiritual process which in most cases refrains from all desires including lust of sex. In fact many call all desires lust and are the first post to control no matter which path you follow. Yet it defies us. I believe the reason is the same as for any habit. And that is repeated action programs our brain to want it more even if it is unsuitable or even incapable for the body. It is no longer a body need like nutrition, hydration and calories but an entirely mental program running the show.  To make the experience even more pleasurable, the mind is able to enhance the qualities of the object desired by adding quite unrealistic filters. A good example may be a well done steak on your dinner plate. You know you are about to eat a slightly branded piece of and animal which on the sidewalk or in a crematorium will disgust you. The mind filters such thoughts c...

Nonduality or advaita can be quite confusing. How can there be just the one when I can clearly see there is this body and mind and there is the world full of things and other minds and bodies? How can I know there is just the one if I am not the one? My proposition is that there indeed appears duality but both of these, I and the world are made up stories. Some call the world an illusion or Maya, but accepting I as an illusion requires work. Watch a newborn. You can see the curiosity in its eyes. This is not God looking out of the eyes but the body and mind receiving sensations from the world which it tries to understand. With help from parents, friends and objects, the baby starts to identify the world as colour, shapes, sounds, taste and touch. As its abilities mature it also starts to see its own body and  the mind as another object, part of the other or the world. In the depth of stillness like deep sleep or Samadhi, something still remains. Mind can't get this but c...

Meta bhavana or loving kindness meditation is ascribed to Buddha. There are many versions of this practice, all leading to awakening within the body mind with pleasant peaceful after effects, sometimes lasting for long and with practice, even longer. You need to make this practice your own for it to work not simply rote repeat of a mantra or prayer although those are essential starting points to let your body mind get curious and follow through. My practice begins with first recalling  loving people, things, events in my life not as a daydream but a body scan practice. More recent the event, easier it is to feel the sensations. One way to do this is when you feel loving towards something like my cat for example, scan your body immidiately and look for points of bliss in your body, heart, stomach, tingling in your limbs and all leading to a peaceful stillness in your head. Try to lock in this memeory and recall it when on the cushion. And make that sensation the object of your ...

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 ...

I, me or self is nothing but a thought construct, an illusion or a story made up by the mind spurred by the society and family from an early age. As I have argued in another blog below that it is indeed a hard task to see through this illusion even though it is clearly a requirement for awakening by almost all masters, scriptures; modern or ancient. And there are techniques galore. Every one has new twist on it. Our own method at liberation unleashed is a focus on direct experience. Hindus will have you chant Sanskrit slokas and conduct elaborate rituals, Buddhists meditate for weeks on end. Christians require follow the one and only Jesus and Muslims ask to surrender to Allah. Every one, bar none wants you to drop this ego or the I, me or self. I recently revisited some of papaji 's videos and loved his prescription; just be quiet. So I did for almost a week. I am cheating a bit by watching the video and writing this blog. But in another clip he says you have to use ...