Why You Cannot Stay Present?

This is a very important question to answer. There are two answers that can be given to this. On the one hand, one can analyze the issue using the sharpness of the mind and logic and come straight to the point. It will definitely give clarity and shortcomings and ways to fulfill those.

 

On the other hand, the second approach would not apply logic but rather would destroy the logic and indeed question the efficacy of logic-finding solutions. This would also mean questioning what is logic in itself.

 

Let us start with the first way. You question here why I am not able to stay present more and why I am more on autopilot mode all the time. The more important question would be how I am in the mode – in the autopilot mode or the presence mode. This would give you several answers.

 

Let’s say one has an impulsive sense of thinking all the time. The body reacts in a certain way when one is lost in imagination. The head may be down, the hand may be playing with the hair (as in my case), etc. Mechanicalness takes over and you become the body-mind which is nothing but a machine whose software is already uploaded.

 

So this is how you are in the autopilot mode. Then further questioning can lead you to the answer that you may be asking. It starts with self-observation, observing over a period of time how your body functions, what happens when a certain type of stimuli is presented to it, and how it reacts. Is the presence held, or is it lost? Then over several months, maybe years of observation one understands in the depths of the being that one is really a machine and there starts the real journey of change in the shift. Then one observes the mechanicalness and tries to change it into the presence. Slowly and slowly changes start happening.

 

Another reason can be given from the perspective of yoga. That there are blockages in the nadis that don’t allow the energy to flow perfectly and hence one is bound by the limitations. So one then adopts certain practices of yoga. There are many practices, where I am not going currently. Slowly-slowly change starts to happen same as stated previously.

 

The second approach is radical and transformative once it has been understood by the depth of the being. It goes like this. There are two entities here – one is the subject i.e. awareness which is living, and the other is the object of the subject i.e. thoughts feelings sensations, and perception, which are non-living. The two entities finally are found to be one, where these objects are nothing but the appearance on the subject because of the will of the subject.

 

The subject projects those objects over itself and knows them simultaneously. Thus holding presence is also a thought not in the control of the body-mind, because the body-mind is nothing but an object to the awareness, hence they are non-living. Staying present is a thought that is presented to the awareness. It is the awareness that decides what to do next. What course of sensations, movement, or thoughts she want to project and fulfill the purpose that is known only to her. There is no free will here, as the will is only of the awareness here. Mind doesn’t exist. No mind means no free will. Or we can say that the mind i.e. thoughts are non-living and hence dead cannot have will.

 

Now what does this all mean? In case you understood this, then there is nothing more to say. In case it is still not clear, one needs to first come to an experience where one differentiates between the thought and the knower of the thought. Then one eventually understands that nothing is in your i.e. body-mind control and one should then relax and let the awareness that is one’s true nature fully express itself through that body-mind.

Why is there suffering in this world?

Suffering is a name given to the kind of feelings, that generally tend to be avoided because they are uncomfortable. Being uncomfortable in them is also a dogma and a learned experience. An unlearned person cannot differentiate between good and bad feelings. Feelings are feelings. Bad and good are mind labelings.

              As to the question of why is there suffering there can only be conjectures. The scriptures and rishis and maharshis of the great Sanatan tradition have given the answer. According to them, suffering is required to make people remember the futility of the objective world and also that there is something much higher than what one can see and observe.

              With suffering one starts to question their assumptions about the traditionally lived life. Automatically the charm of the world fades away. Since the mind needs something to latch onto, it starts to think about the other world. However, the need for freedom and liberation is an internal longing, that comes out as a result of innate nature being infinite and unbound.

              The awareness makes itself known in the presence of so-called suffering as well. As the background witness, it is present during times of suffering also. This suffering causes the mind to turn inwards away from the bad feelings and towards the witness, the source, and in doing that there is a temporary cessation of the mind, and that itself is the first experience of conscious self-remembrance.

              Thus we can say that suffering is the event through which awareness gives a jackpot opportunity to remember itself, which was not possible or rather not glamorous enough during the presence of normal thoughts, feelings, sensations, and perceptions.

Importance and Necessity of DEVOTION in spirituality

Spiritual path can have many means. Some may subscribe to some, some do not. Some may even find certain paths and not necessary and waste. However certain things are necessary to carry out the spiritual process, specially if you need to find depth in it.

The thing we are talking about here is devotion. Devotion means surrender of self to the one you are devoted to. It means then we perform the act not based on self-centeredness but we act for the devotion itself or to the devoted. Another factor that comes out startling is no-doer mechanism. When your devotion gets strengthened, you may find you are not the doer of the actions and your ishta devta is the doer of all.

It may look easy that ‘hey its easy, I can do it’, but that’s not so. Shastras in india say bhakti is the easiest path. I conform to that. But I add one more thing. It is also the toughest. The reason is simple; dropping the ego is the toughest test in spirituality. Discovering god can only be possible of the stain of the ego is removed from the self. If you can drop ego completely then the path is very simple for you then.

Now you might wonder that what if I can’t drop the ego and need time and practice to weaken it. Yes the path of meditation does just that. It makes you realize the non-solidness of the go and ego as a burden that you automatically want to drop. You find that it is an imaginary thing that you were clinging on to for no rhyme or reason and making yourself suffer under its constants pulls and pushes of desires.

When this understanding deepens in you the attachment to ego automatically starts loosening. You find yourself light and relaxed. You do not get sucked into the warp of thinking and fulfilling your desires and ego. In other words you become the lightness of being.

Now you may ask what if I don’t believe in this devotion crap and I just want to meditate and not care about devotion to anything be it lord shiva, Krishna, Buddha, goddess shakti or even the self itself. You do not want to devote to anything. Fine. I too was of the same category a while back. I found the difference when I started respecting devotion itself.

I can give my example only. Without devotion I felt(later) that there was a very selfish element present in my spiritual sadhana. Whatever I did, I did it for myself. I found that there was no higher purpose for me other than fulfilling my desire of reaching higher stages in my practice.

Only then I read about devotion and then after self-analyzing I found about this deficiency. I am a very logical kind of guy. I was very skeptical of the path of bhakti thinking that my path was superior and that what I am doing is the best, that there is nothing to have bhakti or devotion of some sort. But I was very wrong.

There have been vast changes since I put effort to bringing devotion to my practice. Now you might say that devotion can’t be forced onto anyone. True not forced, but if one wants to develop devotion, that is possible. You have to daily work for it. You can have some spiritual rituals or pooja at your home for they contextualize your sadhana and give it a frame. The danger here is that if you might be caught in the outer rituals only and not for which it was intended.

Rituals are meant to purify your mind regularly, and specially before the sadhana, whatever it may be. It is the basis of building concentration. By allowing yourself to immerse in the rituals in a very focused way, you devote all your attention in the current moment only where you serve your ishta devta. Thus it gives you a good object for sustaining attention. That purification helps you get going in the main sadhana. That is why mental ritual habit is the best. Of course you can have external rituals as well unless and until it serves the purpose of purifying your mind and building one pointed concentration for that period of time.

I have found today that as the scientific and logical mind is taking shape and strengthening every day, people are being less and less devotional and becoming more and more logical. Logic serves the purpose, but only to a limit. The other aspects of the mind are not taken to use and thus remain undeveloped. This underdevelopment we pass to our offsprings. Thus over generations it becomes our nature to use them less and less and rely on logic and rationale only to miss the vast opportunities that may come in our way and explore the potentialities of the mind.

The aspect of intuition and intelligence apart from intellect must be developed. For that, logic is one cog along with other cogs that make you mind move accurate fast and efficient. Have Devotion to your work, have strong feelings for it. But beware if it goes in the wrong direction. Direction goes wrong when it you drift from where you imagined you would be in the first place. Desires come up that are powerful and you won’t even know when you disengaged and how far you went in the wrong direction. So just be attentive and vigilant for your devotion as well.

Last words before departing. In my experience I have found that I lack true and complete devotion. That is the reason why my practice did not catapulted into a speedy progress. i did many things right and devotion aspect is where it did go wrong. Sorry, not wrong, but it didn’t even existed. I have since then found that missing link and have starting working on it. You should too. So, a suggestion to all of you. Develop devotion to anything you respect and revere , nurture it like it is your child and you will reap the rewards you can’t even imagine.

What is the blog about?

This blog is about the questions that have intrigued man the most. Questions of death, life, purpose of life and death etc will be explored here. Additionally doubts regarding the higher realms, scale of creation, concentration, meditation, dhyana, Samadhi etc also will be discussed.

Of course I do not know/experience the reality as of now and the views that are expressed are only borrowed from my reading resources, and personal contemplation.

Viewers are advised to read it carefully, but in a sporting way. They must think on it and I would personally like to interact with them. Comments are absolutely welcome.

If any topic that viewers want me to address, then they can post that in the comments. I will certainly try to answer that as soon as possible.

First in the series

I have always wondered about this creation. How magical it is? Though this magic is only at the surface level on which most people survive. But still it is unbelievable. Look at the laws on which this world functions. Not only this world, but the whole universe. Some scientists have found out certain laws in which this creation was created. Some laws only though, not all. For if all gets fathomed, every thing gets fathomed. Then human will be god. Artificial sense of god will vanish. No fear will remain. Human will transcend to new reality.

But this looks far fetched. Today man is as miserable as he was before, the advent of western sciences. In fact, if facts to be taken, today man is more depressed than before. He suffers more. He dies out of depression and commits suicide if his lover leaves him. So fragile has man become. This fragility has come through long struggles of devolution. Yes, its devolution and not evolution.

Many believe that today man is at a very advanced stage and has come a long way in advancement. It has more gadgets and many things happen just by touching a button. Such is the advancement that man has created artificial intelligence. Robots can now think for themselves and for humans just because man’s intellect made it possible. Its certainly true.

However some facts counter this. It was said that long before writing was introduced, teachings were orally imparted. Students directly learnt from their master’s mouth. No point in writing it down. No revision. Direct one time study.

There are evidences pointing to the possibility of a nuclear war during ancient times. Of course we know about the massive killing abilities of the warriors of Mahabharata. The weapons those warriors have may be still greater than we have today. Those are – various astras like brahmastra, pashupatastra, etc. the weapons of sarpas, etc. those warriors used to do significant tapas and acquire such weapons which they could use at will. This action seems impossible today and only can be categorized as myth and legend.

Anyways whatever may be the case, one important thing to remember is that man has certainly degraded in the sense that it uses more of its intellect part (not intelligence, which is a higher realm), of the mind in a non harmonious way with emotional and sexual thoughts tearing that intellect away into different directions.

Using of intellect more and more is the measure of higher being in today’s day and age. Why this is a problem that we will understand in the upcoming write-up. Till then take this thought for consideration and brood over it for some time. What are the alternatives of intellect? Does only intellect makes up intelligence? Difference between intellect and intelligence? What is intuition?