Unbefuddlement / Harsha

[Guest guest]

Dear Harsha (and whomever would want to read this mail

as well),

 

Here is my slow response to your mail.

 

(It is slow because I thought the reply necessitated a little

consideration, since I am the one asking for advice.)

>Harsha: You are right Amanda. Words point to other words and one concept

>leads to another and then another in an endless chain. Ultimate reality is

>also a word as is Nirvana and Moksha and Buddha nature and so on. Strength of

>attachment to words and concepts and images constitute the personality or

>ego-identity.

 

Yes, the more intellectually caught up I get in these

somewhat alien terms, the more I suspect myself

spinning without direction and getting more and more

removed from the process itself.

 

Still, no intellectual consideration at all does

not seem to be good either.

>Nirvikalpa implies "Being without thought or imagination."

>Nirvikalpa is Fullness of Awareness without thought, doubt or imagination.

>Here the fundamental identity itself merges into the Absolute and the

>Absolute Recognizes It Self as as the Identity. For the one so absorbed, no

>questions or thoughts about ultimate reality can arise at all. There is Only

>Naked Being, Complete, Eternal, who is Bliss It Self. This Awareness Always

>Exists and permeates all states of consciousness.

OK.

 

Thanks for the explanation of what cannot be explained.

 

I more and more get the impression that the attainment

of such a state as Nirvikalpa Samadhi describes,

depends partly on prior groundwork in the form of practical

work, not practical as in intellectual understanding or x number of prayers each

day, but

a willingness to submit to the actual demands of

what Nirvikalpa Samadhi "really" means, i.e.

instill the mind and heart

on service, compassion and seeing all other things

as one and actually

carrying this realization

out as an attitude towards others.

 

That without this preparatory groundwork, no amount of

praying or meditation or shakti pata or whatever will

result in attainment of NS.

 

Thus, thought follows action which results in more

thought, i.e. getting an impression of what All Is One "means" through praxis

before the state itself is

attained.

 

At least that is how far my understanding has reached

at the present moment.

>There has been much

>written on Nirvikalpa Samadhi in Yoga, Tantra and Jnana. Ramana Maharshi

>spoke about the Kevla Nirvikalpa Samadhi and Sahaj Nirvikalpa extensively.

>Different points of view and terminology are employed in different

>traditions. You may wish to look at them and further >your knowledge.

 

Yes, good advice.

 

I'd like to read more about the different definitions

of NS and also biographical descriptions from

different teachers, to see what other ppl's

experiences have been like.

 

As implied earlier, I thought I was headed in the

direction of one form of Buddhism, but that doesn't

seem to be the case.

 

The tantric and yogic traditions have been

familiar with K for a very long time and seems to

"know what to do with it".

 

Because, as much as I would have loved to spend 4 hours

(like today) each day as a shivering clump of Jell-O

in K induced bliss, I distinctly feel that that is all

wasted if it doesn't lead to more practical action.

 

I also feel that K pushes me with great force

towards something I don't know what is all the while

increasing its own strength. It feels like

someone put a sign on me saying

"I'm cleaning out my soul, everything must go."

But when if ever all has been cleaned out, what then ?

Today, even the notion of instant superlimation to god

in the form of K induced

spontaneous combustion seemed funny,

like the last big practical joke from the sky.

 

As you can see,

it is not easy being an unaffiliated K'ster.

 

Thank you again for listening to my complaints

( not that you had any

choice )

and thanks for the advice, now where is the bookmark for amazon.com ?

 

 

Best regards,

 

Amanda.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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