The Force of the Universe (Self)

[Guest guest]

Here's another elaboration - cant say who wrote it - just found it in my

notes. A Rinpoche told me once that to have great mind one held great

thoughts in mind and to have a petty, trivial mind one held petty, trivial

thoughts (rather like the fellow who when holding his dear buffalo in his

mind as object of contemplation merged with it and couldnt get out of the

door of his meditation hut. So, he might have been wiser to meditate on an

ant or better yet, God or True Self which gets in and out of everywhere).

 

Anyway -the following fits nicely with Astavakra Samhita

 

THE FORCE OF THE UNIVERSE

 

"What is the basis or propelling force behind the change from life to death

and from death to life again?

 

The power or force or energy of the universe animates all existences.

It cannot be named, for to name it is to limit it and it is beyond all

catagories and limitations. But if we must give the nameless a name and we

need to if we want to speak about it - we may provisionally call it True or

Essential-Nature, the Absolute, Self or God. Many people have many names

for the One. "IT" also relates to the flow of cause and effect, that is,

the generation and disintegration of phenomena according to causes and

conditions. Simply put, all phenomena are transformations of True or

essential-nature (Self) In other words, everything by its very nature is

subject to the process of infinite transformation - this is its true nature.

 

Now you may ask, what is this True-nature grounded in? "Shunyata" a

Sanskrit word that is usually translated as the "Void" or "Nothingness".

This Shunyata, though, is not mere emptiness or a negative cipher. It is

alive, dynamic, devoid of mass, beyond individuality and personality - the

womb of all phenomena. What can we understand about that realm where

consciousness has not yet divided itself into subjects and objects? Nothing

at all. The world we see is a reconstruction made by the limited instruments

of our intellect and five senses. What we understand intellectually about

the truth is only an aspect of the truth. What is beyond understanding -

uncognizable, is the whole truth. From the absolute stand point of Original

nature (Self), then, the terms subjective and objective have no validity.

That is why we can say that life is no-life and death, no-death. Actually,

we can't say that anything exists or doesn't exist, simply because nothing

has an enduring life of its own. All forms are empty of a self-substance

and nothing is the same moment to moment. Everything is in flux, constantly

forming, dependent upon causes and conditions and disintegrating and forming

again.

 

Its like a film. We get the impression that people are moving or acting

in it, but it is all an illusion. The actions are real enough in terms of

the film - they arent an hallucination - but otherwise they are unreal.

Momentary birth and death is momentary creation and destruction. The new

self is constantly being born, living is dying and dying is living. With

every inhalation we are being reborn and with every exhalation we are dying.

 

Our True-essence is like a mirror which reflects different phenomena.

These phenomena have limited existence in time and spce and in that sense

they are ultimately unreal. But the mirror itself is permanent and real in

terms of this similie - because it projects various images without being

stained or marked by them. Similarily we can say that Self, or True-mind

embraces all phenomena without being affected by them. And this is pure

compassion. We can say that death exists in terms of the cessation of bodily

functions and the decay of physical organs. But from the standpoint of the

true Self there is no death, or birth.

 

By training ourselves to live fully with life and to die wholly with

death 'every moment', we are able to transcend both life and death, going

beyond even the dualistic distinctions of transcendence and non

transcendence, subjective and objective. Our life is not a mystery to be

solved but a reality to be lived. Birth and death can be compared with the

waves on an ocean. The rise of one wave is one birth; the fall, one death.

yet, in our Essential-nature or Self, there is no coming and going, no

birth, no change, no death...only peace.

 

Sri Ramana Maharshi was asked where he would go upon his death, he replied:

 

"They say I am dying,

but I am not going away.

Where would I go?

I am here..."

 

Love

 

Joyce