Chronic Illness

[Guest guest]

Hello:

My introduction to this group. I have read many of Nisargadatta's

teachings.

Any help most appreciated.

I find it a constant challenge to stay out of mind or body. I have a

illness of 13 years that constantly asks for attention through

symptoms of anxiety and panic and general weakness. Many years of

this and frequent visits to a variety of practitioners without

success led me to Nisargadatta teachings.

Being free from fear or a desire for a healthy body are constant

detachments. I find through qigong and meditation that I can be free

for a time but living this beingness throughout a day is a challenge.

I know that illuminating my heart and detachment from all this

appears to be going on is the way.

Other insights grateful. Here or privately.

Sam

[Guest guest]

on 4/19/03 1:57 PM, samkim52 at Latsjo wrote:

 

> Hello:

> My introduction to this group. I have read many of Nisargadatta's

> teachings.

> Any help most appreciated.

> I find it a constant challenge to stay out of mind or body. I have a

> illness of 13 years that constantly asks for attention through

> symptoms of anxiety and panic and general weakness. Many years of

> this and frequent visits to a variety of practitioners without

> success led me to Nisargadatta teachings.

> Being free from fear or a desire for a healthy body are constant

> detachments. I find through qigong and meditation that I can be free

> for a time but living this beingness throughout a day is a challenge.

> I know that illuminating my heart and detachment from all this

> appears to be going on is the way.

> Other insights grateful. Here or privately.

> Sam

 

Hi Sam,

 

Here is some stuff from Ramana.

 

))))))Shawn

 

 

 

Q: If reality is bliss, then pleasure in some way must be related to

it.

 

M: Let us not proceed by verbal logic. The bliss of reality does not

exclude suffering. Besides, you know only pleasure, not the bliss of

pure being. So let us examine pleasure an its own level.

 

If you look at your self in your moments of pleasure or pain, you

will invariably find that it is not the thing in itself that is

pleasant or painful, but the situation of which it is a part.

Pleasure lies in the relationship between the enjoyer and the

enjoyed. And the essence of it is acceptance. Whatever may be the

situation, if it is acceptable, it is pleasant. If it is not

acceptable, it is painful. What makes it acceptable is not

important; the cause may be physical, or psychological. or

untraceable; acceptance is the decisive factor.

Obviously suffering is due to non-acceptance.

 

Q: Pain is not acceptable.

 

M: Why not? Did you ever try? Do try and you will find in pain a

joy which pleasure cannot yield, for the simple reason that

acceptance of pain take you much deeper than pleasure does. The

personal self by its very nature is constantly pursuing pleasure and

avoiding pain. The ending of this pattern is the ending of the

self. The ending of the self with its desires and fears enables you

to return to your real nature, the source of all happiness and

peace. The perennial desire for pleasure is the reflection of the

timeless harmony within. It is an observable fact that one becomes

self-conscious only when caught in the conflict between pleasure and

pain, which demand choice and decision. It is this clash between

desire and fear that causes anger, which is the great destroyer of

sanity in life. When pain is accepted for what it is a lesson and a

warning, and deeply looked into and heeded, the separation between

pain and pleasure breaks down, both become experience –

painful when resisted, joyful when accepted.

 

 

Q: Do you advise shunning pleasure and pursuing pain?

 

M: No, nor pursuing pleasure and shunning pain. Accept both as they

come, enjoy both while they last, let the go, as they must.

 

Q: How can I possible enjoy pain? Physical pain calls for action.

 

M: Of course. And so does mental. The bliss is in the awareness of

it, in not shrinking, or in any way turning away from it. All

happiness comes from awareness. The more we are conscious, the

deeper the joy. Acceptance of pain, non-resistance, courage and

endurance--these open deep and perennial sources of real happiness,

true bliss.

 

Q: Why should pain be more effective than pleasure?

 

M: Pleasure is readily accepted, while all the powers of the self

reject pain. As the acceptance of pain is the denial of the self,

and the self stands in the way of true happiness, the whole-hearted

acceptance of pain release the springs of happiness.

 

Q: Does the acceptance of suffering act the same way?

 

M: The fact of pain is easily brought within the focus of awareness.

With suffering it is not that simple. To focus on suffering is not

enough, for mental life, as we know it, is one continuous stream of

suffering. To reach the deeper layers of suffering you must go to

its roots and uncover their vast underground network, where fear and

desire are closely interwoven and the currents of life's energy

oppose, obstruct and destroy each other.

 

Q: How can I set right a tangle which is entirely below the level of

consciousness?

 

M: By being with yourself, the " I Am " ; by watching yourself in your

daily life with alert interest, with the intention to understand

rather than to judge, in full acceptance of whatever may emerge.

Because it is there, you encourage the deep to come to the surface

and enrich your life and consciousness with its captive energies.

That is the great work of awareness; it removes obstacles and

releases energies by understanding the nature of life and mind.

Intelligence is the door to freedom and alert attention is the mother

of intelligence.

 

Q: Why does pleasure end in pain?

 

M: Everything has a beginning and an end and so does pleasure.

Don't anticipate and don't regret, and there will be no pain. It is

memory and imagination that cause suffering.