The capacity to reduce the I - ness in our daily lives

[Guest guest]

Namastes and greetings as we prepare ourselves for another work week.

Often have I wondered if one could try and reduce the involvement

and natural flow of thoughts, as one feels so important and adamant

and brings in the I-ness in our daily lives. As an ardent

devotee/warrior in the eternal struggle in the rarified art of

destroying "ahamkara" or the onwership and doership which permeates

every cell in our lives, I have been severely scarred many times

over, due to the continued presence of the built up ego. Studies,

meditations, repeated sankalpas, self admonishiments, and reviews of

fleeting points of separation, and chopping up of the unique I>>>

I>>> <<<I>>> have helped but the drama continues unabated, with

occasional flurries of success.

Guru Kripa and astute redefining of the wants, needs and desires

have been instrumental in reducing the anguish and pain, but feeling

lost in the maze of maya chakra, i believe that we have yet to get

hold of the vested energies in our own system.

I found that the repeated malas of the CHANDI and MM, followed by

Gayathri, without usurping too much of daily total time slots,

assisted as stopgap panacea, and may be with the blessings of Shree

MAA and Swamiji, one can purify the thought streams, into refined

but laser focused modus operandi.

 

I am intrigued by the sloka:

 

"Na Punyam Na Paapam Na Saukhayma Na Dukham

Na Mantro Na Tiirtham Na Vedaa Na Yagnyaahaa

Aham Bhojanam Naiva Bhojyam Na Bhokthaa

Chidaananda ruupaha Shivoham Shivoham."

 

Swamiji used to recite these and other slokas,clarifying their

import, but the wooden blockhead in me had steadfast refuted the

easy acceptance of the eternal dictum: SAT CHIT ANADA, which i feel

should be inscribed in my thought bed, etched with bleeding chisels

of wanton action, inaction and endless searches to nowhere and

leading to internal nothingness- not just blanked out vacuum but one

filled with equal vision, balanced mind, understanding heart, faith,

wisdom and devotion. Prayers abound for more of these. please.

 

Jai MAA and Jai Swamiji

[Guest guest]

Dear Narayanan,

 

It is true that the Gita refers to control of the self by the self; but

Sri Ramakrishna also points out that problems can arise if the

policeman pursuing the thief is in fact merely another thief disguised

as a policeman.

 

To stop the thoughts by means of the thoughts-or the ego by means of

the ego-can be good housekeeping, but how can it reach the final goal of

profound inner silence of mind, or the demise of ego? Sri Ramakrishna

alluded to the calculus implicit in this dry-as-dust activity when he

said that you can rub a piece of gold against a brick for as long as you

will, but there will always be a small flake of gold remaining.

 

The scriptures leave no doubt that we are pure consciousness, but it is

questionable that we will realize it by fighting with the tar-baby of

the mind. In fact, if we are-as Shankara sings in the poem you

quote-Shiva Himself, then there is no need--indeed, no possibility--of

"getting there" at all. We are Shiva eternally, always and already.

 

The scriptures, including these "six stanzas on Nirvana", tell us that

the mind is not ours in the first place, and the ego is only an unreal

reflection in that mind: ahamkara, the "I" thought. Like the rental car

we pick up at the airport, it is our obligation to drive it with skill

and keep it clean and in good condition, but it can never fly us back

home.

 

The mind, with which we have such a love/hate relationship, is not ours

in the first place; it is on lease to us from its Source, the Divine

Mother. At birth, She gave us a small piece of Her Mind, as well as a

few pranas, and She mixed these up with some dna dust of this

world---and here we are. But not for long. She takes it all back a

short time later, at so-called death. So we have to work fast.

 

Shankara also sang another song: "Bhaja Govinda, Bhaja Govinda, Bhaja

Govinda, O fool---" He sang this to a young boy he came across in the

still and beautiful morning hours of the Indian countryside. The boy

was singing the verses of Paanini's Sanskrit grammar in order to learn

thousands of Sanskrit vocabulary words, in order to study millions of

words of Sanskrit philosophy, in order to realize God. Shankara said,

"Why not take a shortcut? You don't know how long you will live:

there's no social security here and you haven't even had your

vaccinations, life is short. A better plan is to worship God right now

in the cool and early hours or this beautiful morning. After all, it

all depends on His will anyway-- whether you become free or not."

 

By worshipping God, instead of thinking, reasoning, or trying to control

Him, good things can happen. One's altar and place of worship is a kind

of bait. Sri Ramakrishna said interesting things about it: a fisherman

didn't hear the voice of the passerby (the whisperings of the artful

mind) asking directions while the fish was nibbling at the bait, so the

questioner soon tired of speaking to the fisherman's back, and turned

to go his way. But just then the fisherman landed the fish and he called

out to direct the stranger-- now able to give him accurate directions as

to where to go. Sri Ramakrishna also said that "you will know when a

big fish comes by the movement of the water"--by the living presence of

God in your worship and in your life.

 

Pop quizzes seem to be in order now-a-days; here's one: try to feel

the presence of God and think thoughts at the same time-especially

thoughts of "me"--"me"--"me".

 

No one has yet been able to combine God and mammon.

 

The Mother's Power restrains thoughts. The Mother's Grace releases

thoughts. She floats, lotus-like, on the mysterious sea of awareness:

the Silence--the Stillness--the Presence--the Beauty--the Love.

 

Such is the promised destiny of worshippers of the Mother.

 

 

Respectfully,

 

Tanmaya

 

 

 

 

> Namastes and greetings as we prepare ourselves for another work week.

> Often have I wondered if one could try and reduce the involvement

> and natural flow of thoughts, as one feels so important and adamant

> and brings in the I-ness in our daily lives. As an ardent

> devotee/warrior in the eternal struggle in the rarified art of

> destroying "ahamkara" or the onwership and doership which permeates

> every cell in our lives, I have been severely scarred many times

> over, due to the continued presence of the built up ego. Studies,

> meditations, repeated sankalpas, self admonishiments, and reviews of

> fleeting points of separation, and chopping up of the unique I>>>

> I>>> <<<I>>> have helped but the drama continues unabated, with

> occasional flurries of success.

> Guru Kripa and astute redefining of the wants, needs and desires

> have been instrumental in reducing the anguish and pain, but feeling

> lost in the maze of maya chakra, i believe that we have yet to get

> hold of the vested energies in our own system.

> I found that the repeated malas of the CHANDI and MM, followed by

> Gayathri, without usurping too much of daily total time slots,

> assisted as stopgap panacea, and may be with the blessings of Shree

> MAA and Swamiji, one can purify the thought streams, into refined

> but laser focused modus operandi.

>

> I am intrigued by the sloka:

>

> "Na Punyam Na Paapam Na Saukhayma Na Dukham

> Na Mantro Na Tiirtham Na Vedaa Na Yagnyaahaa

> Aham Bhojanam Naiva Bhojyam Na Bhokthaa

> Chidaananda ruupaha Shivoham Shivoham."

>

> Swamiji used to recite these and other slokas,clarifying their

> import, but the wooden blockhead in me had steadfast refuted the

> easy acceptance of the eternal dictum: SAT CHIT ANADA, which i feel

> should be inscribed in my thought bed, etched with bleeding chisels

> of wanton action, inaction and endless searches to nowhere and

> leading to internal nothingness- not just blanked out vacuum but one

> filled with equal vision, balanced mind, understanding heart, faith,

> wisdom and devotion. Prayers abound for more of these. please.

>

> Jai MAA and Jai Swamiji

>