Hello

[Guest guest]

Dear friends,

Greetings, all. Hope all of you are doing well.

I am writing in for the first time today, and it took me a while to understand

the working of the site.

My enquirey started after witnessing deaths as a medical student.Somehow I

felt a deep sense of peace and liberation at that moment. I felt confused and a

little guilty about that at the time.The restlesness it caused lead me to turn

to science, experiment with drugs,any way to search & understand the nature and

meaning of life. That trying to understand life through methods of the mind is

futile took me a long while to figure out,and for a long time I suffered the

agony of living with a mind tying itself in knots.

Then I came accross 'I AM THAT'. Since then,I have tried observing the movement

of my own mind. And felt more peaceful and joyous.When one observes, the

questions dissolve. The desires weaken. But my problem is the deep, endless

sense of alone-ness( really cannot be called either isolation or loneliness)that

manifests, once the mind settles.I feel most desires, most activities arise from

a fear of this state. The mind itself refuses to look beyond itself. Does anyone

have any experience of knowing the nature of that state?

The second doubt that remains unresolved with me is the nature of the physical

body.

Agreed that the mind and it's movements cause the creation of memory and time,

that consiousness brings to light the manifest universe, but what about the

physical body that makes it possible for consiousness to operate.Iam not the

body, but I suffer with the body. suffering cannot be avoided, it has to be

accepted.

Physical pain cannot be avoided. That is the most acute reminder of the 'I' as

seperate from the rest.Is that maya?

I f

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

Nisargadatta , Devashish Tripathi

<debu_afmc> wrote:

> Dear friends,

> Greetings, all. Hope all of you are doing well.

> I am writing in for the first time today, and it took me a while to

understand the working of the site.

> My enquirey started after witnessing deaths as a medical

student.Somehow I felt a deep sense of peace and liberation at that

moment. I felt confused and a little guilty about that at the

time.The restlesness it caused lead me to turn to science,

experiment with drugs,any way to search & understand the nature and

meaning of life. That trying to understand life through methods of

the mind is futile took me a long while to figure out,and for a long

time I suffered the agony of living with a mind tying itself in knots.

> Then I came accross 'I AM THAT'. Since then,I have tried observing

the movement of my own mind. And felt more peaceful and joyous.When

one observes, the questions dissolve. The desires weaken. But my

problem is the deep, endless sense of alone-ness( really cannot be

called either isolation or loneliness)that manifests, once the mind

settles.I feel most desires, most activities arise from a fear of

this state. The mind itself refuses to look beyond itself. Does

anyone have any experience of knowing the nature of that state?

> The second doubt that remains unresolved with me is the nature of

the physical body.

> Agreed that the mind and it's movements cause the creation of

memory and time, that consiousness brings to light the manifest

universe, but what about the physical body that makes it possible for

consiousness to operate.Iam not the body, but I suffer with the body.

suffering cannot be avoided, it has to be accepted.

> Physical pain cannot be avoided. That is the most acute reminder of

the 'I' as seperate from the rest.Is that maya?

> I f

>

 

I think the feeling of alone-ness is because in ourselves we are

alone, there is only 'me' in my mind. I can only experience other

people through the senses and thoughts. My mind cannot join directly

with the mind of another person. But this is of course the same for

all people. In and of ourselves we are all alone.

 

Then one can also ponder about being the One Mind, and then me and

other people are separate only in appearance and on the level of mind

we are all one.

 

The frustrating thing is that I don't know if my mind is a separate

temporary appearance or if my mind is the eternal One Mind.

 

But as you say, observing one's mind leads to more peace, this is my

experience too. And when the mind relaxes, the body including harsh

emotions felt in the body also relaxes. Eventually one may relax the

mind so completely by self-observation that the clinging to the body

dissolves. When one has a spacious relationship to one's own body,

then the relationship with all other worldly attachments also become

spacious. There is then a distance to one's 'life story' which is

totally different from repression of thoughts and emotions.

Repression is to be totally drawn into one's 'life story' as the only

reality by the way of struggling with it.

 

The human body is like a flower; first it is just a bud, then it

blooms, and then it wither away. The body is a fleeting temporary

flicker of form in the vastness of eternity. And that is sad if you

cling to this flower as your entire self. Therefore many seek for

something eternal, permanent, infinite in themselves. Take away time,

which is nothing but thoughts and feelings and what have you? The

answer is without time you have the timeless, you then _are_ the

timeless, and when you are timeless then you are eternal, then you

are one with everything else. Whether we are 10 years old or 90 years

old, there is only this moment, as it is. Overlaying this timeless

moment is the idea of a personal 'story' that needs to be protected

in the future. Without this 'story' where is the separate 'me'? Your

body and everything else in the material universe is made of the same

stuff: star dust. Your body is made of food, which is also star dust.

The human body is clearly _not_ separate from the rest of the

material universe, and the material universe is truly Maya because no

material object is a thing-in-itself.

 

In this moment - as it is - you cannot possible be alone, nor can you

possible be a separate body. Realize this moment as it is, which

means create a spacious relationship to time.

 

/AL

[Guest guest]

Nisargadatta , Devashish Tripathi

<debu_afmc> wrote:

 

Hi Devashish,

 

And welcome. That fear of aloneness could be said to be one of

the lasts hurdles. Consciousness fears the ending of Maya's

spectacle , and fancies it (consciousness) will be there facing

itself in utter boredom and loneliness. No such thing is possible.

Maya and consciousness are two sides of the same coin. As long as

consciousness is there, Maya will be there in one form or another.

Even realization, enlightenment, and complete awakening are Maya. The

absolute is beyond all that could be reflected in consciousness.

 

As far as pain is concerned, it also will always be there, but it's

the evaluation of pain and its rejection, which makes pain a problem.

If we really accept pain, and stay with it with full awareness, it

becomes pure sensation. Not that this purity would be pleasant,

but it will be tolerable. This doesn't mean that when possible we

shouldn't use painkillers, if available.

 

Best,

 

Pete