The Dead-end Up Here

It almost seems like you have to be already in a neutral mood, not too happy not too sad before you can follow the simple mindfulness meditation tips and tchniques, like paying attention to your breath, finding a comfortable seat, peaceful corner, on and on. Well that's not much help. If I am already calm and neutral or happy, who cares. Why mediate? It has to work when all you can see is doom and gloom, bleak future and painful present. And when you sit to meditate when you're upto your navel in alligators, all your mind tries to do is solve the problems you have and protect you from the impending disaster. But you really need to meditate when life sucks. How? What I have found is a simple two step process works quite nicely. One, bring the suffering in front of you instead of hiding from it and then resist trying to solve the problem right now. Say to your self, first I must calm myself now becuase then I will be better prepared to find the best solution. Do ...

Literally it is the attraction between a human, the only species that has this word, and other beings, matter and thoughts which include concepts, ideas and imagination. But this word is so heavy in its impressions. It is the reason for much anguish, for so many conflicts and heartaches. Attraction between two objects is at the heart of all creation. Gravity makes earth go around the sun, stars around black holes and galaxies in spirals. Gravitational attraction keeps the entire universe from flying apart at much faster speed and instantly vanish into the original void it apparently came from. Attraction keeps particles bound in specific orbits that make the infinitesimal to macro; molecules, cells, rocks and trees. This attraction is innate in all living beings. It's this attraction that makes all living things seek company of other living things. Even though a lion kills for food, he only takes what it needs. Only one animal actually hates as well as loves. And that is t...

I am all there is... Krishna is I Arjuna I believe falsely to be me. Kurukhshetra is the world I have imagined Mahabharata is the war I engage in all the time Happening now Demons I have slaid in my mind Virtues I have to protect in my mind. The grand vision of godhead is the infinite nature of my field of consciousness. Arjun must surrender to know me.

A sufi master, Dr. Syed Hussein Nasr during the 2013 festival of faiths in Louisville said why is it that horses do not overeat nor do most animals, but we do? Even after your belly is full, the craving for the next tasty morsel persists. Even after you can barely see, you want another drink. It doesn't take long before your heart is after another lover.  His answer was that something propels us to want everything, the point he made was that within us  is a desire for the infinite. Where does this desire for the infinite come from? Surely it can't be the organs like a mouth, a stomach or even our sexual body- none of these have a will. They serve a bigger master. Is it the brain or its representative, the mind? When we look we find no mind, no brain, just thoughts coming and going like wisps of clouds; sometimes arbitrary and other times evolved out of a stimulus. For a moment just imagine an engine behind all desires in the world incl...

Past regrets and future worries are the main ingredients in a soup called suffering. Masters recommend seeing through the dream like quality of these in many words such as time is in the mind, only the now is real all else imaginary thoughts and that history is just a story. The difficulty in truly accepting and understanding these arguments lies in the fact that the present or now seems so real. And that past events were at one time felt just as real as the present does now. So how can we possibly say that the presence is real but not the past? Or that the future will not be similar to the real now. The answer lies not looking at just the past or future as dream states but deconstructing the present as being unreal. This is impossible as long as we use our senses which report a very real direct experience of the now. But there are two components of this now. There is the sensory experience including the sensation of thought. And overlaid on them is a fog like story that ke...

As a four year old, I attended a satsang with my grand uncle who was practicing pratyahara by abandoning all usual domestic life and wandered small villages of mithila giving words of wisdom to whomever would listen. Unfortunately, 7 pm was about the end of the day for me and I pretty much fell asleep in the wonderful ambiance his presence along with candles, incense and flowers had created. All I remember is his first word which was samsara and a memory of deep peace. I asked older folks later what he meant and they told me the world. It has taken me sixty years to really understand the vastness of the word and what world he was talking about. I have spent pretty much rest of my life to try and find simplicity in teachings which mostly confuse me even now. So when Mooji says look, I find mostly noise confounding most of my senses. So I close my eyes and the loudest noise from photons disappear. What remains when I sit for a while is a vast ocean of quiet and peace with frequent d...

Is enlightenment supreme bliss? So many of us on the new age path are attracted to the veiled promise of satori bliss, SHAKTIPAT sidhi, nirvana peace or sakshat moksha. These promises originate from certain ancient, current teachers and authors who have described the fruits without properly releasing the contradiction. Nirvana means blowing out the fire of ego, enlightenment happens to no one and moksha means liberation from the body. So, if there is no one left after liberation who feels bliss and joy? Body and mind do not disappear until death. Feelings are intact as ever perhaps even more. All hindrances of mind chatter, negativity and preoccupation are gone. What is left is a body and mind with sensuality only available at a primordial time or perhaps at birth. The body falls madly in love. Falling madly in love is the natural state of the body and mind. It longs for this twenty four seven. Alas, most objects it finds including other beings are ...