Journey with the Stupid Fellow

The term we call life is a unidirectional journey into the flux of space-time. Few years back, we were somewhere, now we are in different situations. Strictly speaking it is not matter of years or days, we are continuously being shifted in new coordinate with each moment. There is a famous Zen proverb A river can not be crossed twice. On contrary and still fascinating, The same person can not cross the river again.

Who are the Companions?

It is impossible and meaningless in a journey alone. It is designed with two companion; the body and mind. Body is the platform where the journey is realized and the mind sets the direction. In this sense the body is the vehicle and the mind is the driver. Now think what happen if these fellows turnout out to be unhelpful and malfunctioning.

 

Body is an obedient fellow and functions well until its parts are ok and unless it is in urgency. A blind person can not command his eyes to see, and a runner can not control his heart-bit while running. If we can forgive these exceptions, body is always available us as a dutiful by-stander. However, the case with mind is different; It is a ruthless master and a wonderful servant. Unfortunately 99.9% of time, it is at the role of master. If you listen the voice inside your head, it is simply a chatterbox, engaging all the time on the same stuff again and again. You don’t know its course in the next moments. If you are in family vacation, you  think about the job left undone,  remember the chat  with your friends in the last night and so on except that you are there in family vacation and enjoying it fully. When you are in job, the mind is thinking about the vacation.

 

Only few days back, I was in a park and found a man there walking and talking with himself loud. He was completely oblivious to the present situation and was somewhere in the imaginative world. What has happened to him! certainly a morning walk is not  for such unconsciousness. It is to feel the fresh air touching the body, hearing the music of chirping bird around. Now i am fooled by my own mind and it engages in thinking him, a silent monologue. Certainly my morning walk was, also, not to be lost in thinking about the person. If we close the eye and try to concentrate on a thing only for 10 seconds, then we know what sort chattering is going on there.

Mind seldom learn from the past

Another nature of mind is that it is illogical, sort-sighted and stupid fellow. In the morning, It promise to do something, to be someone different and more meaningful. In afternoon it messed with the same silly things, repeats same mistakes, and in the evening it wrapped up with same regrets for being not able to live the day perfectly. It suggests to do something at first, only after few moments it is enticed with something completely different what it has suggested earlier. This becomes the story of every day (for everybody). Until moments back, the person X was the good friend, you have full trust on him. After few moments later, with no apparent reason, he becomes too suspicious and untruthful. If we replace our mind with an behavioral advisor, we would have fired him within a single day. If it were our spouse, we would have divorced soon. Alas!  this adamant fellow clings to us refusing the common mean of getting rid of . On contrary, more we desire to get rid of, more possessed we become.

Taming the mind

Fortunately our predecessor had seriously contemplated over this issue and discovered gyan-yoga to come out from the vicious circle. Yoga is more than the body health as is advertised in today’s main-stream media. It certainly does keep the physically fit, but importantly, quiets the chattering mind. To quiet the mind meant to withdraw the energy that we have been continuously feeding it. This is possible by silently listening the voice inside the chatterbox. Once we get used to observe it, it creates subject-object relationship between the thinker and the thoughts. In that process, we can catch the glimpses of the consciousness which exists even if there is no thoughts. Let us find our time to experiment this game.

We are not our mind, it is our companion!

Technorati Tags: Gyan yoga,nature of mind

Empty Mind: Is it Devil’s Workshop?

It is said that If a falsehood is repeated again and again, it appears as truth. A big example is the mere existence of this phrase “empty mind is the devil’s workshop”, let alone its identity as PROVERB. You may rise your eye brow first, let me explain why you need not.

 

Let’s see the first two words- empty mind. What is mind packed with? With the stream of unceasing thoughts. So the straight meaning is that thoughtless mind is the devil’s workshop. What a thrill and bless to acquire such state! Certainly the devil can not stand there to continue his workshop. If there is no tools and business to do, how the workshop exists!

 

Being little liberal with the proverb, redefine the words empty-mind as state of mind with no especial business to engage with, the state at which we can feel our mind as being bored and seek something to engage with that kills boring. Then, is bored mind the devil’s workshop? Plainly speaking yes.

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With gross classification, mind is in three states; grief, happiness and the intermediate - neither happy nor grieve but bored. Grieve or pain never weaken a person, they rather strengthen. Without grief, a thrill of insecurity, restlessness of some unknown challenge, we seldom grow. However, the bored mind finds the situation boring and seeks something to escape from it. Out of curiosity we practice many things which later becomes the habit. All the addictions and the bad habits and their psycho-somatic effect are what we welcome during our boring state. I like to acknowledge that The matter that describes US best is not our career, actions or belief, but our choices and the motives during the free time of the unengaged mind. At that state we seek something pleasing and embrace the quick source which unmistakably happens as the Devil.

 

But in deep, the devils is not outside. Neither it is binding us and making victim. It is within us and nurtured by the energy we feed as INTEREST. Perhaps the following story better describes it than the many logics.

Junaid was going through the market-place of the town with his disciples. And it was his way to take any situation and use it. A man was dragging his cow by a rope, and Junaid said ’Wait’ to the man, and told his disciples ’Surround this man and the cow. I am going to teach you something.’

The man stopped – Junaid was a famous mystic – and he was also interested in what he was going to teach these disciples and how he was going to use him and the cow. And Junaid asked his disciples ’I ask you one thing: who is bound to whom? Is the cow bound to this man or is this man bound to this cow?’ Of course, the disciples said ’The cow is bound to the man. The man is the master, he is holding the rope, the cow has to follow him wherever he goes. He is the master and the cow is the slave.’

And Junaid said ’Now, see.’ He took out his scissors and cut the rope – and the cow escaped.

The man ran after the cow, and Junaid said ’Now look what is happening! Now you see who is the master; the cow is not interested at all in this man – in fact, she is escaping.’ And the man was very angry, he said ’What kind of experiment is this ?’ But Junaid said to his disciples ’And this is the case with your mind. All the nonsense that you are carrying inside is not interested in you. You are interested in it, you are keeping it together somehow – you are becoming mad in keeping it together somehow. But you are interested IN it. The moment you lose interest, the moment you understand the futility of it, it will start disappearing; like the cow it will escape.

Are you feeling bored? it is the precious gift, an inner space created to feel ourselves. Watch your impulses to choose as an escape.

Bored + aware = God’s workshop.

Bored + unaware = Devil’s workshop.

What do you think?

 

Technorati Tags: Empty mind,Devil's workshop

Understanding the EGO; Right Remembrance

EGO is perhaps the most commonly used term in psychology and spirituality, and is rarely understood (at least for me). The reason is- either it is too difficult and messy term, or our difficult and messy approach to know too simple term, I do not know. When i ponder about it, many time i bungle with it. Let us come closer to this term

First, see what dictionary says about ego:

1. The “I” or self of any person; a person as thinking, feeling, and willing, and distinguishing itself from the selves of others and from objects of its thought.
2. In psychoanalysis, the division of the psyche that is conscious, most immediately controls thought and behavior, and is most in touch with external reality. (dictionary.com)

The limitation with these definitions is - they hardly point beyond EGO. They know what ego is, but do not imply how to transcend it. Everything get mixed and grabbed by ego itself. Therefore psychologists often need their personal psychologist to understand their respective egos.

Try the existential definition:

It is association of I (rather than the 'I' itself) with FORMs (I like the term used by Eckhart Tolle); the body-mind-emotion composition which Buddha says the impermanence nature, i.e, ego is the identification of I with the bundle of thoughts leading to sense of separation of ME from OTHERS. This bundle makes cloud covering the bright sun of who I am.

Feeling of superiority is EGO: It is most commonly understood form. If someone feels himself special or superior in contrast to other, it is ego. However, a very shy person having sense of inferiority or humbleness is also 'egotist'. In either case, there is false identification of I.

Body Attachment is ego: A beauty queen who is proud of her body is egotist and same is the ugly person who condemn himself.

Carried away by thought- is ego: Any events and the associated emotions which carry us away with incessant thought, means we are captured by ego.

Greediness is ego: A greedy person who contract himself from other by not leaking anything, even to needy one, is an egotist person. However, a kind and generous behavior out-coming from 'morality and ethics', rather than spontaneity, is also not untouched with ego.

.Wanting attention is ego: We bloggers often get captured with ego by identifying us with our post. The symptoms are: feeling possessiveness of them, 'wanting' the attention and comments from others, comparing our success in terms of number of pages we posted and visitor it attracts, and finally our writings are guided by these factors. Getting attention and love from many people is always good, but what guides us- value or the desire of drawing attention?

Why EGO is the root of suffering?

It is attached with forms which are impermanence in nature. As soon as the medium it attached-with vanishes, it is obliged to search new one. This process is on and on and destined to be the chaos. So the ego is never at rest as it always in threat of being loss. It never carries peace. Ego and happiness/peace are mutually exclusive terms.

What can we do?

The above stuff does not imply that we should not take care of body, money, thoughts or whatever we are possessing. Let us go for them according to our need. Whenever they are with us enjoy them with knowing their true weight. But problem arises expecting apple from the orange tree. We guide the FORMs or they guide us?

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Fighting with ego and trying to getting rid of it, is also another ego. It does not work.The binding 'ethics, morality and principle' may be helpful in keeping law & order and 'social improvement', but one should go beyond this subtle ego to know the I . The opposite of EGO is, not humbleness, but to be present here and now, i.e. the watchful state. Or more easier way is- to get attached with FORMLESS being or with awareness itself, or the background where these phenomena are occurring. In spirituality, there are two ways to know the truth (I am). One is be watchful with the impermanence nature of FORM and experience the ANATTA (essence of Buddha's teaching and now a days Goenka and Adyashanti teaches the path). If all the FORMs get shattered down what remains is the pure consciousness. It is the way of meditation. The another is- to be attached with the FORMLESS being within and surrender to it. Gradually, the FORMLESS essence comes forward dissolving the FORM. It is the way of devotion(the essence of Nanak and Kabir). Osho has wonderfully guided the seekers by both ways.

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I feel easy to be attached with the AWARENESS itself, but many time the FORM steals me away. A funny game of hide and seek...

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What are your observation? In which way you fit?

Technorati Tags: ego,spirituality,awareness