Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Fastest Way to Self Realization

Self Realization : Realization of the self. It is just the realization of the existing self and there is no need to add anything to the self. The self is ever pure and animates all the beings and it is changeless and everlasting.

Our responsibility is to just remove the layers that cover the 'I' by transcending 'i', where 'I' is the real self and 'i' is our imagination or the mental image of what we consider ourselves to be.

This is not to be achieved. Achievement is the play of the mind. It has to be realized. It is a simple happening that will happen by awareness.
This realization could be as quick as the blink of the eye as told by many realized masters. It is the start of the realization of the real self. As the progress happens, one completely transcends the mind and is able to use the mind as a pure channel for receiving the messages of the higher self.

This sounds too simple for the mind which may not allow one to realize this truth. So, in many cases, some techniques aid in this process. The techniques will just help quieten the mind (by shifting the awareness) and the rest of the process happens on its own. When the mind takes rest, the flowering of the consciousness happens in the human being.

The simplest way to achieve this, is to shift the awareness on the being that will give rest to the ever active mind. It is not very tough to get the awareness of your energy body or the being. Just close your eyes and feel your hand or feel your head. When you are comfortable doing that, just extend the awareness to your whole body. When you are able to feel your complete energy body, it will just dissolve and make the mind pure. This state is called as total dissolution in the vipassana lineage. This will give a good rest to your mind and would help realize the ever existing consciousness.

Initially, one could realize a short gap between the thoughts. Gradually the gap between the thoughts would increase which is the real indicator of a successful meditation. As the gap between the thought increases, the consciousness flowers. The same is achieved by directly observing the thoughts without analysing them along with breath, as in Zen meditation.

This simple and powerful guided meditation (Eckhart Tolle stye) may help you get aware of your inner being.
 
You can watch more of Eckhart Tolle's videos to understand his teachings better or could attend a vipassana meditation retreat in the lineage of Goenka which would be really beneficial for making a quick progress.

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Realizing Truth - Possible only without mind

The Truth of human existence or the eternal truth or the so called liberation could only be achieved transcending the mind. The same has been referred to as nirvana, enlightenment and mukti. It is not possible to comprehend the ultimate truth with the help of the mind as the human mind has a lot of limitations. A human being is not just made of mind and body. There is one more important component, the consciousness, which animates the mind and the body.

To understand consciousness, you have to rest in consciousness and become consciousness itself (already you are the consciousness). This is possible when the mind is given rest and the consciousness is allowed to flower. Every human being is realized and nothing more has to be added or learned to attain that state. It is not a state to be attained at all. It is a state that has to be realized. To realize that state, we have to just remove the barrier, the curtain, which is the mind.


The consciousness is like a white canvas and our thought pattern is like the painting on the canvas. The painting is so rich with colours and overwhelming that we forget the canvas or fail to even notice it. When the layer of the paint is removed, the canvas becomes visible. In the same manner, when the continuous thought pattern is given a break, the consciousness makes itself visible and one can find one's reality.

We human beings, generally have a created set of thoughts. We create an identity like a doctor, engineer... and give that character a set of attributes and claim it to be the self which is a mind created play and not the reality. If one renounces the thoughts and realizes the eternal consciousness, one comes out of the play of the mind and gets established in the reality.

Monday, June 6, 2011

Is Vegetarian Diet a Must on Spiritual Path

This is one of the questions that pop up in the mind of one who is new to the spiritual practices. Many of the masters gave a lot of stress on a vegetarian diet.

There are even some famous masters who had given a green signal for non-vegetarian diet. Even the Buddha allowed his monks to eat meat if it is not heard, seen or learnt that the animal is not killed especially for that monk.

What we eat has a direct impact on our mind and body. But, the same food may not have the same impact on different persons. It greatly depends on the make-up of that individual.

Osho was not against the non-vegetarian diet for common people. But, he was very clear that the non-vegetarian diet is not suitable for spiritual aspirants as it makes the body gross and makes it gravitate more. But, Osho considers egg as a vegetarian diet and considers it acceptable.

S.N.Goenka who teaches Vipassana, a meditation practice given by Buddha is greatly against killing animals for the sake of eating as it breaks the sila.

If you do a research, you may find some who support a non-vegetarian diet and some who greatly condemn the non-vegetarian diet for some specific reasons. But, if you want to get to a conclusion that would satisfy you, it is best that you experiment with yourself and find out what is good for you.

If you are a vipassana meditator and sensitive enough, you could find a lot of gross sensations coming up and the body becoming very hot after a non-vegetarian meal. It may even continue like this for a few days. You may be able to find this sudden arising of gross sensations on the body if you are on a vegetarian diet for at least a few months and practicing vipassana regularly and sensitive to the feelings. This proves that a non-vegetarian diet is not suitable for meditation. But, it may not be the same at all stages of spiritual development.

In meditation, one has to move from gross to subtle and do a deep purification of mind and body. For this a vegetarian meal may support. But still, it is better that you experiment for yourself and find out the best that suits you. At the early stages, at least till subtler bodies are sensed, it is better to be on a vegetarian diet.

Even great realized masters have consumed non vegetarian diet. So, we cannot come to a conclusion that this is good and this is bad. At a higher level, any food consumed without any craving or aversion is the same, with the attitude to cultivate the physical and subtler bodies.
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Update:  Recently I have been going through a lot of channelled information. Their view is, eating flesh is not unethical.

Personally I feel that non-vegetarian diet activates the lower chakras. So, there may be more production of sexual fluids and stronger sexual instincts. If you know how to transmute the sexual fluids through meditation or when making love, you can get benefit out of that. If the energy does not move up and feeds continuously the lower chakras, it will not help in the spiritual progress. In that case, it is better to be on a vegetarian diet, until the energy channels are purified.

When you are sensitive, you know what a specific type of food does in your body. According to your lifestyle and the meditative practice, you have to select the food you need, intuitively.




Thursday, June 2, 2011

Working Nature of Vipassana

If you have attended a 10 day vipassana programme, you would have observed S.N.Goenka telling on how different people understand how vipassana works. I have my own understanding of how vipassana works with the Eastern philosophy as the background.

A human being has three bodies: physical, astral and causal. The physical body is the gross aspect which is visible to the physical eyes. The astral body is subtler and the causal body is still more subtle compared to the physical body.

After death, the astral body is also dissolved. It is only the causal body that remains the same (with +/- karmic debts). This causal body is said to be the store house of the karmic imprints. If the causal body is cleared of all the imprints and dissolved, liberation is achieved.


In Vipassana, what we do is observing the sensations. When a strong sensation pops up and gets dissolved, it takes along with it the deep karmic impressions thus relieving us of its impact on our life.

As said by the teacher S.N.Goenka, the sensations are directly related with the unconscious mind. The causal body is also related with the unconscious mind. In my opinion, as we go subtler and subtler observing the sensations, we start directly working on the causal body. When these imprints start coming up and gets cleared, the deep impressions come up to the surface and gets worked on thus paving the way to liberation.

One more great advantage of vipassana is that, when we are consciously aware of the sensations we prevent a new action from leaving a deep impression, as karma, which will have its impact.