Haste makes waste.

[Guest guest]

, Harsha wrote:

>

> I remember the colloquial Hindi saying, " Sahaj pake so meetha

hoye " . It means when we cook something slowly and naturally, it

turns out sweet. The implication is when you turn the heat on too

high and too quickly trying to get the results immediately, it can

backfire. The Gazrella may get burned. The soup may not have the

time to simmer and absorb all the flavors from the vegetables and

spices.

>

> " Sahaj pake so meetha hoye " is a cooking metaphor but can apply to

many things, even the spiritual path. People ask for how they can

hasten their spiritual progress. They want advice to move forward

fast. But life is not a DVD or a VCR. The rush towards enlightenment

makes an object of our Self-nature and expectations cloud the

vision.

>

> All advanced meditation and yoga practices finally come to the

point where one becomes extraordinarily aware of the root instinct

to survive not just as a physical human entity but as an identity.

If we meditate deeply on our being, we will see that our actions and

behavior are guided at gross and subtle levels by this root survival

nature embedded in our psyche.

>

> So the first principle of yoga, which is Ahimsa (nonviolence)

seems very strange in this context. If our root instinct is to

survive, it goes against our nature to embrace a philosophy that

states that the highest principle of life is nonviolence or

harmlessness to others.

>

> It is only when we meditate deeply on the nature of our being, we

see why the ancient sages have put Ahimsa at the top of the list.

Ahimsa is the final antidote to fear at every level. Ahimsa means

harmlessness. If we are cultivating Ahimsa, we are not holding on to

things and we are not looking for higher states of consciousness. To

look for Truth anywhere else other than where you are is not the

straight path. Ahimsa in its finest essence implies absolute non-

movement of the mind.

>

> Without knowing that the Ahimsa is the Self-nature, fear will be

there. Seeing the " other " separate from oneself is a subtle form of

violence. As long as there is the " other " , there is fear and the

root instinct to survive dominates. When we understand that Self is

One without a second, that is true Ahimsa. Without this deep

cultivation of non-violence in fiber of ones being, fear will come

up in meditation, and in Samadhi, and one may feel terror at the

thought of losing everything along with one's identity.

>

> Intellectually, we know that we will lose everything because

nothing belongs to us. All things are transient and we part at the

time of death from our loved ones. Yet, even knowing this truth, we

cannot emotionally accept it and the deep rooted fear of loss still

comes out. The whole of nature has programmed us to survive at every

level. We have to respect this nature and not struggle with it. If

fear comes, one has to reflect carefully as to why it has come. What

are we afraid of losing? And if we are afraid of losing something

(love, power, money, prestige, life, sanity, mind, etc.), we should

take it in stride and not create an extra layer of judgment upon

ourselves and cause more tension.

>

> So it is at this point, one has to allow the soup of life to

simmer with love and gratitude. When the soup is not ready, we have

to let it simmer on low heat and capture all the flavors. The first

principle of yoga, which is Ahimsa, or harmlessness, frees one from

the fear of loss. It is the attitude of Ahimsa, that softens the

tendency to hold on to things. Only through grace can one can

surrender one's being to the Lord of the Heart and realize the Self

as one's own being, the One without a second.

 

Namaste Harsha et al,

 

That is so true, and one of the best pieces that I have read on this

subject, mainly I suppose due to my own personal experiences

recently.

To me Ahimsa is All, in every form and phase because utimately all

movement is injurious to some being or other. Even if the being is

energy packets and parcels. So Ahimsa to me also means non movement,

silence, stillness, Brahman............ONS...Tony.