Heart of Truth

March 18, 1999

or that such bad habits will drop of THEMSELVES when renunciation of

the unreal takes place. Let me quote a few passages from Sri Shankara, a

famous jnani. These are all from Viveka-Chudamani (Crest-Jewel Of

Discrimination):

There is only Chiti, or Shakti. What is unreal about Chiti? Even the

mighty veils of Maya which confound the individual as well as the powerful all

pervasive Matrka are energies, or power of Chiti. There is no unreal. Where is

unreal? Where is unChiti? Bah! Matti!

Bhaktananda

March 18, 1999

Tim wrote:

>I am reminded of the words of Buddha: A true master/chela neither gives

>offense, nor does he take it...

A true master always gives offense.

You can quote me <g>

Maurice

March 18, 1999

Many spiritual paths involve transformation of the personality. The

assumption is that there must be a change in conditioning in order to move

ahead. Therefore bad habits should be discarded and good ones cultivated.

Certainly we should not discourage people from improving themselves. The

Jnana disposition, however, once gained, fundamentally undermines this view

by piercing the veil of delusion that there is something to be gained by

transforming the personality, which is not already present. Here the

intensity of awareness shines naturally.

Truly, how can one discard that which does not belong to It? And how can one

discard that which One Is? Once the Heart of Attention has fundamentally

shifted to Itself, that Itself is the fuel of the effortless effort which

eventually burns up leaving nothing behind. When the Ground of Being absorbs

all attention and all effort, what is there to discard and how and by whom?

Still, I am not opposed to discarding various types of conditioning at all.

If you are for it, I am for it.

/.cgi/

March 18, 1999

Chiti and Shiva are simply the energy of God, who's nature is creative pulsation

and movement, and the consciousness of that energy. Shiva is both immanent (in

this world) and transcendant. Chiti or Shakti is simply his creative energy

(this world). There is nothing that is not his creative energy here. This is his

creative energy. How can one seperate flame from heat? Two words for the same

thing. Flame is descriptive, heat is action. There is not difference. God and

God's energy are the same thing. One can reach the transcendant Supreme

Consciousness by realizing that he is in the midst of, is one with, his creative

energy.

It is not suprising at all that you have not heard of Chiti. Most habitual

posters with little knowledge and much opinion are like this. Bad mouth Marcus

to death. Matrka does not phase this one in the slightest. That your world is so

easily shaken should be a wake up call to you, but it is doubtful.

Much Light

Marcus

Tim Gerchmez <fewtch

< >

Thursday, March 18, 1999 7:47 PM

Re: Heart of Truth

Tim Gerchmez <fewtch

*Shrug*... before you came on the list, Marcus, I had never even heard the

word "Chiti" in my life before, although I had heard of Shakti. But there

is nothing but Brahman, Ultimate Reality, Pure Consciousness. The Self is

Brahman. Anything else but Brahman is simply part of Brahman, and that is

why it is unreal, as a wave is not a "wave," it is ocean. Why call it a

wave? This is just a label. It is ocean. A glass jar is not a "jar," it

is glass. To label it a "jar," this is the unreal thing. All things are

reflections of Brahman. Brahman is the substance of which all things are

made. Thus, to label them as something else is why they are unreal.

To divide everything into gods and goddesses as you do seems almost a form

of polytheism. Whatever turns your crank/makes you happy, you're free to

believe, of course.

Tim

At 12:33 PM 3/18/99 -0000, you wrote:

>>>>

or that such bad habits will drop of THEMSELVES when renunciation of

the unreal takes place. Let me quote a few passages from Sri Shankara, a

famous jnani. These are all from Viveka-Chudamani (Crest-Jewel Of

Discrimination):

There is only Chiti, or Shakti. What is unreal about Chiti? Even the

mighty veils of Maya which confound the individual as well as the powerful

all pervasive Matrka are energies, or power of Chiti. There is no unreal.

Where is unreal? Where is unChiti? Bah! Matti!

Bhaktananda

<<<<

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March 18, 1999

At 09:21 AM 3/18/99 -0500, you wrote:

>"Harsha (Dr. Harsh K. Luthar)" <hluthar

>

>Many spiritual paths involve transformation of the personality. The

>assumption is that there must be a change in conditioning in order to move

>ahead. Therefore bad habits should be discarded and good ones cultivated.

>Certainly we should not discourage people from improving themselves. The

>Jnana disposition, however, once gained, fundamentally undermines this view

>by piercing the veil of delusion that there is something to be gained by

>transforming the personality, which is not already present. Here the

>intensity of awareness shines naturally.

Although jnana yoga (what is "the jnana disposition?") does undermine this

assumption that it is necessary to discard bad habits and cultivate good

ones (or in fact to "do" ANYTHING but discern Truth from falsehood), it

does not undermine the assumption that it is HELPFUL to drop bad habits,

etc., or that such bad habits will drop of THEMSELVES when renunciation of

the unreal takes place. Let me quote a few passages from Sri Shankara, a

famous jnani. These are all from Viveka-Chudamani (Crest-Jewel Of

Discrimination):

"Right action helps to purify the heart..."

"He who tries to find the Atman by feeding the cravings of the body, is

trying to cross a river by grasping a crocodile, mistaking it for a log."

"Tamas has these further characteristics: ...laziness, dullness... A man

who is under their influence cannot understand anything. He lives like a

somnambulist, or an unconscious log of wood."

"A man must faithfully and devotedly fulfill the duties of life as the

scriptures prescribe. This purifies his heart. A man whose heart is pure

realizes the supreme Atman."

"That terrible tiger called an impure mind prowls in the forest of the

sense-objects. The wise man who seeks liberation must not go there."

"The sweet fragrance of the Atman is overpowered by innumerable cravings

for the things of the senses. These cravings can be destroyed by devotion

to the Atman; and then the light of the Atman becomes revealed."

"The wise man has not the least concern with getting and spending.

Therefore strive to destroy this illusion, through constant and

single-minded devotion to Brahman."

"The more a man satisfies his cravings in the objective world, the more his

cravings will increase. But if he controls them and ceases to gratify

them, the seeds of craving will be destroyed. Therefore, let him gain

self-control."

>Truly, how can one discard that which does not belong to It? And how can one

>discard that which One Is? Once the Heart of Attention has fundamentally

>shifted to Itself, that Itself is the fuel of the effortless effort which

>eventually burns up leaving nothing behind. When the Ground of Being absorbs

>all attention and all effort, what is there to discard and how and by whom?

>Still, I am not opposed to discarding various types of conditioning at all.

>If you are for it, I am for it.

Who is "you?" Everyone differs in their viewpoints. Those who follow

Shankara's directives to the letter (very few in this day and age, I would

assume) will discard EVERYTHING, including the objective universe, in

pursuit of nirvikalpa samadhi, and will dwell upon none but Brahman "24/7."

Certainly I do not make the claim of living up to this myself, and I

cannot speak for anyone but myself.

"Let there be no negligence in your devotion to Brahman. Negligence in the

practice of recollection is death--this has been declared by the seer,

Sanatkumar, Brahma's son."

"If the mind turns aside from Brahman, its ideal, and becomes ever so

slightly caught in the sensuality of objects, it will continue to go

downward, through negligence in recollection, like a ball dropped upon a

flight of stairs."

"Through negligence in recollection, a man is distracted from awareness of

his divine nature. He who is thus distracted falls--and the fallen always

come to ruin. It is very hard for them to rise again."

Certainly these are difficult passages to live up to without tremendous

devotion to Brahman and a tremendous spirit of renunciation. But perhaps

you can see that "all conditioning" will drop off of itself, if such

perfect recollection is practiced (although a person would almost have to

live in a cave to live up to the perfect recollection mentioned in the

above passages!).

Tim

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The CORE of Reality awaits you at:

http://www.eskimo.com/~fewtch/ND/index.html -

Poetry, Writings, Live Chat on spiritual topics.

March 18, 1999

Tim Gerchmez <fewtch

Let me quote a few passages from Sri Shankara, a

famous jnani. These are all from Viveka-Chudamani (Crest-Jewel Of

Discrimination):

"Right action helps to purify the heart..."

"He who tries to find the Atman by feeding the cravings of the body, is

trying to cross a river by grasping a crocodile, mistaking it for a log."

"A man must faithfully and devotedly fulfill the duties of life as the

scriptures prescribe. This purifies his heart. A man whose heart is pure

realizes the supreme Atman."

"That terrible tiger called an impure mind prowls in the forest of the

sense-objects. The wise man who seeks liberation must not go there."

"The sweet fragrance of the Atman is overpowered by innumerable cravings

for the things of the senses. These cravings can be destroyed by devotion

to the Atman; and then the light of the Atman becomes revealed."

Harsha: Thank you Tim. I am always grateful to have the opportunity to read

the precious gems from Sri Shankra. And Thank you to Ramji as well for his

posts on the essence of Vedanta. Indeed, they should be reflected on with

great care. It is only with awareness that one seeks awareness. It is only

with awareness that awareness is mastered. Ultimately Awareness always rests

in its own nature. To seek things other than awareness does not satisfy. To

master things other than awareness does not satisfy. Perhaps by Grace, we

seek to become aware, and by Grace, Awareness Reveals It Self as Our Own

Self.

March 18, 1999