Body/Mind and Ego in Self enquiry

Body/Mind and Ego in Self enquiry

To progress in spirituality, one must enquire about his own self and understand “Who am I? “. This is very important as unless we know who we are then there is no progress spirituality. We should know who we are and what is God and how we are related? Etc.

In Advaita Vedanta to answer this question we have Mahavakyas which encapsulate the entire teachings of Vedanta in to a statement like “Tatvamasi”, “Ahaṁ Brahmāsmi” etc.

We will try to analysis and understand the statement “Ahaṁ Brahmāsmi” here. The phrase consists of two parts one being “Aham” and second part “Brahmāsmi”. What is Aham ? In short it is nothing but Self that is within us. Self is nothing but the Atman. So, the statement clearly says that the Atman within and the universal God (Brahman) are one and the same.

Now you may say that hold on how can you say that I’m Brahman, where the person is always with many imperfections and Brahman is supreme and perfect. So, it is at this stage Self enquiry becomes important.

To discern and understand that I’m Brahman now we will investigate who we (our true nature) are as opposed to our assumed self. When the mahavakya says “I”, it is not referring to the body, mind or the ego which is appears from it. This simply refers to the source of body, mind and ego as we can consciously drop the notion of these and still exist.

If we do a simple exercise now, we can clearly discern that we are not the body as we perceive it, we say this is my hand, leg etc., so the perceiver/observer is different from observed, similarly we can observe the mind undergoing so many thoughts and we say that I have a good thought or bad thought, who is this I that is having good or bad thought? When we understand this, we know that we are neither the body or mind.

So next thing that comes up is the ego, now we will argue that the “I’m” the ego because it is for the ego that everything is done. Or is it really? If I say my name is Deva, I’m identifying myself as Deva and finally say that Deva did everything or doing everything. But stop, here I’m calling myself as Deva, so who is that I calling itself Deva? So again, ego is different from the true “I”. Meaning we neither the body, mind or ego. Then what are we? Is the question that needs to be understood.

After negating everything what is left is “I”, anything that can be imagined or cannot be imagined, anything that exist or does not exist, anything that we perceive or not perceive is not “I” (Brahman), then who am I becomes more confusing as it seems like there is not solution to this problem. For this the answer is simple, who am I is nothing but the witness of all of these and you are that witness, consciousness and bliss [Bliss because the I is everything and there is no second thing other than it, at material level we try to acquire more and more and think that we will be happy, when only Brahman (“I”) exists and there is nothing other than Brahman which is complete, there nothing to acquire, when there is nothing to acquire we are complete and blissful].

Fatty Liver Diet

Below is the diet for stage 2 fatty liver. Nash condition.

No oil, sugar and salt should be used much. 

Waking up	Alo vera Juice + Lemon water	Use Patanjali Alovera – 100 ml only
Green Juice	Celery alone or Celery+ Carrot	Celery has good salts – helps in digestion and joints
Breakfast	Steel cut oats with stevia	Limited use of Stevia
After Breakfast	Eat 2 whole green cardamom	For Fatty liver and Pancreas
Lunch	Veggies  + Rice+ Dhal
Dinner	Veggies + Rice+ Dhal
Greens	Methi, Amaranthus,	Limited use of Palak
Oil	Cold pressed ground nut oil, sunflower oil and Olive oil	Limited use of Desin ghee
Sprouts	All sprouts are good – either cooked or raw
Tea	Can continue hibiscus tea
Nuts	Limited Almonds	No cashew, walnuts and pine nuts
Rice	Brown rice	Use rosemary while cooking rice
Dals	Masoor dhal with chilka Moong dal – especially the kichadi Rajma -for spleen enlargement	Use limited Urad dal and thor dal – they are acidic especially in idly and dosa preparation
Sourness	Use Tamarind – especially Thai Tamarind	Reduce Tomatoes – especially remove the seeds
Veggies	Veggies - Lauki, Karela, BhindI, Lufa Lufa, Cabbage, Cauliflower, beans, carrot, capsicum- all are good. Use sweet potatoes, white pumpkin good	No red pumpkin
Soup	Drumstick soup/Moringa
Fruits to take -	2 Apple, Pomegranate. Limited use of papaya and ½ banana per week if you feel like eating Berries – Straw berries, Amla, Blue berries	No Banana, Pineapple, grapes, mango and sapota ,dates and kishmish
Supplements	B12  and Magnesium	Not to take anything continuously – take and stop for Sometime – Let the body adjust
Juices	Alovera and Pomegranite for Iron in the body - Transferrin

1. – No fruits – no grapes, pineapple( not at all good), no sapota , no banana
2. – Limited papaya
3. Eat Oat meals – rolled – use stevia limited for break fast
4. Limited use of dates
5. Eat apple –2 to 3
6. Drink alovera juice with Lemon jucie – buy Patanjali – to increase transferrin in the body
7. Eat peanuts – ground nut,
8. No cashew- increases cholesterol,
9. No pine nuts, walnuts – use almond – limited
10. Use olive oil, sunflower oil for cooking
11. Moong dal and Whole masoor dal – use regulary
12. Use limited Urad dal and thor dal – they are acidic
13. Eat Rajma for spleen enlargement
14. Eat green cardammon 2 in the morning after break fast
15. Eat brown rice – not red rice.
16. Limited idly and dosa as it has urad dal
17. Limited tomotoes- especially the seeds are not good
18. Use tamarind – The best is Thai tamarind
19. All vegetables – the best is Bhindi,
20. Drink pomegranate juice to increase iron in the body
21. Sprouts are really good
22. Vitamins and Magnesium- take for some time and then give a gap
23. Fruits – eat apple, carrot, watermelon, pomegranate, berries – strawberry, amla, blue berry
24. In greens – Methi is good, Amaranthus is good, Palak is limited
25. Use Brown rice – mix rosemary in rice to reduce startchness
26. Use sweet potatoes, No red pumpkin , white pumpkin good
27. LOKI, KARELA, BHINDI, LUFA LUFA, Cabbage, cauliflower,beans, carrot,capsicum- all are good
28. Soup of drumstick – moringa is good.
29. Mix rosemary with brown rice while cooking to reduce starchiness

Some Mantras

Surya Mantra

OM ghRNiH sUrya Aditya

ॐ घृणि:सूर्य आदित्य

om ghriṇih sūrya āditya

Tara Mantra

OM tAre tutAre ture svahA

ॐ तारे तुतारे तुरे स्वहा

om tāre tutāre ture svahā

 More will be posted

Why Spirituality?

Why Spirituality?

This is an important question that one should ask himself before want to pursue the path of Spirituality. The path of spirituality is different from path of rituals that are followed as spirituality now. So it is necessary for us to be clear as to why we want to pursue in the path of Spirituality

The nature of the human mind is that it always wants something or the other; because of this we undergo a series of emotions which is a never ending cycle of happiness and suffering. When a person realizes this truth and wants to transcend beyond this then his true spiritual journey begins.

Most of us are stuck at the level of Material happiness and reluctantly accept the suffering which comes along with it. We assume that all the happiness in the world can be acquired through money or material happiness is the primary source of happiness. We feel that outside objects around us is the source of happiness and try to accumulate more of it, but once you acquire what you want, there is an urge to acquire more and more. This becomes a never ending process and hence we fall in the trap of suffering.

The above point is important to understand as this realization is the stepping stone to spiritual progress. Only when we understand that outside objects is not the source of your happiness but rather is a tool to secure the body and its life for future contingencies. You will come to a profound understanding that happiness is not outside. Happiness is derived from within. The moment we understand money, objects and everything around us does not affect the way we feel about our self. We start the process of transcending this apparent material world.

Then at this crucial part of our life we try to find the answer for how we can experience true happiness and how to get over this cycle of suffering. At this stage we try to understand why am I suffering? This enquiry leads to the understanding mentioned above that attachment to material objects are the cause for suffering. Then next there is a void in our life as throughout our life we were behind money and objects and now we have now left the same. Then our mind works over time to go against the will and makes us to run behind objects again, but with will power we bring a control over our attachments. At this stage we give up objects and start having control over desires, and then we question ourselves what is the purpose of our life? Because throughout our life we were behind objects assuming that it’s the source of our happiness now that idea itself has crashed in our mind.

This is the stage where true transformation starts happening with the help of a Guru, were we start understanding the nature of our existence (because we have let go of objects and external world so only option left now is to turn inward and understand the nature of our existence). Once the renunciation of the material world beings (metaphorically as we still exist on earth only mental transformation happens) the questions like what is this life? What is the nature of the life? What is the purpose of the life? And most importantly who am I? Are the questions, that arise in the mind of the seeker. This is where he steps into spiritual path and he starts letting go of his attachment towards material world and starts understanding life by learning from a Guru, studying scripture and performing sadhana.

The spiritual seeks now learns the reason for his unhappiness and realizes that mind and ego are the source of all suffering, mind and ego gives rise to desire which is the cause of all the suffering. Then with meditation and learning from the teachings of the scriptures the apparent problems that he is facing would be of no consequence for him as he would just see all problems as the ones created by the mind, and he is not the mind or the ego but the observers of the both. At this stage he starts differentiating between himself and what is not he; through enquiry he will understand that he is not the body, prana, mind, false knowledge that he is the body and mind or the bliss arising from material object. He realizes that these are the objects of the experience and he is the observer of these. At this stage he finds true and everlasting happiness. Further he will realize that this observer which is the source of all objects is not restricted to himself but pervades everywhere as consciousness. This the ultimate stage where he realizes all is one and merges with the supreme consciousness. Getting away from the suffering permanently transcending Maya.

Note realization is not something which he creates or something that one searches for, this truth already exists but he realizes it now. At this stage realization happens and the apparent world becomes a maya for that being

Maya – The Grand Illusion

Maya – The Grand Illusion

If you go an elderly person ask what is life? They will just say that life is just a farce, they will say that things happen and we can control few and most of the other things are out of our control. We just ride the wave of what is happening to us with little or no control.

Though we feel that we have control on what we are doing or deciding, this control is conditioned by our surrounding, the way we are brought up and the habits/tendencies that we have acquired. It is these factors which have very high influence on our life which takes away our freedom and act based on the limitations that we are put into.

So these limitations that we are put into is nothing but Maya, to be precise the joy, sorrow, money, planets, talk, thought are all considered as Maya in Advaita Vedanta. To put in simple terms anything that can felt, seen, felt, understood or perceived is Maya. All that is physical is Maya.

Now this point creates lot of disturbance to people who are engaged in this world thoroughly and have difficult time agree with this point.

So why the yogi’s of the past and present say that the world and all the apparent things around is Maya, in fact Krishna say’s that world appears out of his Yoga Maya, or it arises from his yogic powers. This gives us a hint now that Maya is the power of the Brahman. This power arises out of Brahman and goes back into it. Meaning the apparent world arises out of Nirguna Brahman and goes back into the same, so one thing that remains always is Brahman and what comes and goes as a world is just nothing but a wave in the ocean of Brahman.

Now let us dwell more into this, the point here is that there is an underlying string which is the cause of all and this underlying factor gives rise to all that is. Now when there is something which is the source for the apparent world then how can the world be true existence? Its existence is completely dependent on Brahman. So now point becomes clear that world is a manifestation of Brahman.

Now people will come up with an argument that, the world is a manifestation of the God and hence there is God and from the God this world has come into being this existence and hence this existence is true as it is a manifestation from the Lord.

But Advaita goes even further to say that the world does not exist at all this world is just an appearance in the consciousness of the Brahman. This is where things get tricky. How and why do they say that this world does not exist at all?

It’s like this when a man dresses up like a women , the perceiving eye gets confused and misidentifies man to a women. Now we know that he is a man but his outer covering and dressing is making him to look like a woman but reality he is not. So man in this case is the absolute truth and looking like women is the Maya. The Man here has transformed himself to a women even though this has deceived others. Does it change the fact that he is man? No absolutely not.

Similarly the consciousness projects itself upon itself this world and assumes itself as this limited world, but this is wrong as it’s true nature is the absolute (Brahman) and the world is the projection in its consciousness. So for example if a person imagines himself to have four hands and now if he gets confused between reality and imagination and considers himself to have four hands. Does it change the fact that he has four hands? Absolutely not, so it is his mental projection (A mental image viewed as reality) which is giving raise such delusion.

This way it is quite clear that the apparent world and us are nothing but the projections in the Consciousness. It’s like we are in a child’s game where one day he build a castle and the next movement breaks it apart, similarly we are born in this projection (appear in the consciousness) and die in the same, but in reality there is no birth or death as everything is one reality i.e. Brahman. We have just put on this dress of body and discard it which is of no relevance to us as there is just Brahman.

Balance

Balance

We always talk about balance in life, what does this really mean when a person wants to lead a meaningful and fruitful life?

Balance is more to do with mind not getting afflicted with desires and addictions. In short balance can be simply explained as a state of being where a person interacts with everything and yet he is not attached to it but will enjoy the material world to the fullest.

Here the person will welcome all aspects of life as same and does not exhibit extreme emotions under any situation. Though he is subjected to pleasures and pains of life he will always experience both with a stable mind which allows him to look at the problem as an detached person rather than investing emotions into the issue.

Balanced person will view the pleasures and pains as no different to each other as after pleasure there is pain and after pain there is pleasure, such being the state of life a balanced person understands this fundamental fact and lives a life which is beyond the both, he will always look at both state of living as temporary and ever changing, which in due course of time he will discard both of them as these feelings are nothing but a problem created by the human mind and they are not real, as we can be happy for no reason if we control our mind thoroughly. To justify this let us take an analogy some people find happiness in music whereas the few think it as nothing but noise. A source of pleasure for one is a source of pain for the other. Hence here both pleasure and pain is both mental phenomenon and if mind is ignored/subdued/controlled then for such person everything is one as he has no reason to feel happy/unhappy for anything from external sources and yet he is very contented internally which leads to an inexplicable happiness beyond words.

So balance is nothing but the natural state of any being, before the mind was corrupted by various impurities of desire, ego etc.

What we have to try and achieve is this balance in life where we enjoy life to the fullest and yet we are not attached to anything.

Question and Answer Part 2

Dec 12^th 2017

D : Again is it that the mental affirmations of that person which resolved problem and not the tantric rituals.

M : Yes, it is only the mind and the will power that counts in such healings and problems resolutions.

D : Further our family itself was affected by black magic some years ago and we faced many problems because of this. There were many accidents that we faced but nothing fatal. Lot of fighting in the house etc. Hence we had to perform some puja and our problems reduced little and I started doing Sri Chakra puja and over a period of time these problems reduced and  good things started to happen. The question here is Sri Chakra puja is a ritualistic worship and how is that our problems reduced because of the ritual as this should not work. Is it that our affirmation in our mind were so strong that positive things started happening.

M : Yes, it is the combination of your positive thoughts and faith on Sri Chakra that brought about auspiciousness. Had you brought a stone in place Sri Chakra, the same auspiciousness would have happened.

D : I was under the impression that black magic works on mind level where the practitioner performs some rite so that it affects the other person making him to take wrong decisions at crucial time. Which leads to problems in his life. But if these rituals itself does not work then why are people suffering because of this. Again is it the karma playing it's role here or is it that new karma is being generated by doing these negative acts.

M : I do not believe in black magic at all. But I have heard from many that they are under the influence of black magic and some remedial measures worked for them. When someone comes to me with this problem, I ask them to change Narasimha mantra and they are relieved. When someone tells you that you are under the influence of black magic, naturally your mind anticipates worst things to happen. When mind decides negatively, inauspicious things begin to happen. It could be both. We can generate new karmas or we could be experiencing the effect of the existing karmas. We do not know and nobody knows. It is Divine Secret.

D : Then I should without any questions should conclude that be it black magic, tantric rites, or vedic rituals, visiting places, pujas and even performing shraddhas has no purpose and we should enhance our mind and work towards achieving grace of the lord. Uncover the true self within us?

M : Yes, you are absolutely right. But you should have absolute faith in formless Brahman. It is difficult to work with subtleties and it is easier to work with gross forms. Ceremonial rights have no relevance. I have explained this in two series. I do not know whether you have read them. Please read these two articles.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7hF_DO6BMULa1dlTjlWMU9hSk0/edit

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B7hF_DO6BMULck1RNWxnaXFfM2s/edit

D : Further my father was an astrologer who used to prescribe remedial measures for many problems.  Especially when it came to marriage related issues he used to tell people to go to Rameshwaram and perform some rituals.  I have seen hundreds of marriages that were not happening earlier were settled within few weeks to months after performing this puja.
So again is it that the intention/affirmations were strong enough to resolve their issues.

M : It is not only the affirmation, it is also the faith they have on your father. This makes things to happen.

D : Again whose intention was strong is it the person who did the puja or is it the person gave the solution.

M : Nobody is wrong, as their intentions are good only. No accrual of karmas here. If money is a predominant factor then karma accrues.

D : If the intention of person is strong then the change results in meddling with karma which cannot happen?

M : Karma is the ultimate. Intention becomes strong only when karma permits. Karma acts in the most subtle way.

D : But how come this has happened to so many people exactly after performing rituals and not before that.

M : This is strange coincidence. Lots of things can be discussed on this.

D : I'm asking same questions again as, I have seen few situations which shows that there were effects of some rituals but the question is how?

M : I have answered earlier.

D : You say that we should not keep idols in houses which are larger than thumb in size. So if one has kept an idol in his house then does that mean that he has to pray to it. Meaning we are told that if saligrama or sri Chakra is in the house everyday we have to offer naivedhyam and puja. Is it necessary to do all these things. Currently my brother has saligrama and sri Chakra with him and he is not doing any puja. Even though this represents duality if we keep yantra in a house we have energise it by doing it? Or is it Ok that you can stop offering puja once you know it is not necessary.  If it is not necessary then what will you do with these yantra and saligrama. Should this be kept in home without doing anything?

M : I don’t think I would have said that idols should be of one’s thumb’s size. I don’t believe in that. But when you have some idols or saligrama or Sri Chakra, you have to at least offer some naivedya. Even water will do. Krishna wants only a leaf, one flower, one fruit and water. You should continue to keep this at home by doing only a simple naivedya of water

D : Though these idols serve as a symbolism for the divine within we would have invested time in doing puja to it and it would have been energised because of this. or is it that idol is not energised but the idol has acted as a medium to energise our self (that is our mind and body has evolved by these practices).

M : These idols are only medium that connects cosmic energy with individual energy. It is only the cause and not the source.

D : When it comes to nadi astrology written by rishis like Agastya,  they provide in the nadi many rituals that one has to perform for resolving their problems. When they know that these will not work why are they providing such methods. If they cater to people who follow dharma shastra these rituals. Does it not lead to false impressions that are created by these rituals.

M : Nadi astrology is absolute fraud.

D : In sabija samadhi we burn our negative impressions in our mind on a continuous basis. By this we are able to clean our mind from all impressions created earlier also this will act as a method to correct personality defects.  So Ideally out mind has the capacity to burn karmic impressions at this stage? Is this possible?

M : No karmas can never be burnt. They have to be experienced. Karma also gives good results and bad results.

Dec 21^st 2017

D: Idols act as a medium between the self and the cosmic (energy) Brahman. So first stage of spiritual path is to find the GOD within us and then in the second stage we see same Brahman in all, so this leads to merger with the Brahman?

M : Idols do not act as a medium between the self and Brahman. Only our breath is the connecting link between cosmic energy and individual soul. There are two steps in Self-realization. One is ritualistic path. This is like pre-schooling. Here we worship idols by performing various rituals including fasting, etc. This attunes our mind to go for formless Brahman. The devotion for a particular form transforms us to seek formless Brahman. Therefore, getting straight into spiritual path without any forms is very difficult and not advisable too.

D : When we do idol worship does to link us to the self within us, meaning when I’m doing abhishekam on an idol. It is the symbolic representation of doing abhishekam to the self within us? Or the abhishekam is for the cosmic Brahman? 

M : First state in spiritual path is to realize the Self within and later on realizing that Brahman pervades everywhere, His omnipresence. When you abhishekam etc, yes it is symbolic representation only. Normally, during external worship, the self within is brought out into the idol. Then idol is worshiped and after the worship is over, this energy is taken back into the body as the Self. Again this is also symbolic.

D : If everything is karma related then what control do we have on our life? If we have freewill, which is beyond the control of karma. When will this come into picture?

M : Not everything is karma. Some of the acts, we create and some acts happen due to karma unfolding. Which actions we create and which actions unfold due to karma is not known to us. There are only two secrets and both of them are called Divine secrets. They are - 1. The amount of karma we have and 2. What is in store for future including time of death? Yes, freewill is surely beyond the clutches of karma and only by using this free will we create either new karmas or expend our existing karmas, as karmas manifest only due to differentiation.