Valuing present moment from Happiness

Exercise in valuing the present moment from Happiness by Mathew Ricard

Turn your mind inward and appreciate the richness of every single moment that passes by. Instead of being an endless succession of feelings, images, and scattered thoughts, time becomes pure awareness, like a luminous stream of melted gold.

When past thoughts have ceased, and future thoughts have not yet arisen, in the interval is there not a perception of nowness, a pristine, clear, awake, and bare freshness? Remain in it for a while, without grasping at anything, like a small child looking at a vast landscape.

Gem from Dhammapada

All experience is preceded by mind,

Led by mind,

Made by mind.

Speak or act with a corrupted mind,

And suffering follows,

As the wagon wheel follows the hoof of the ox.

All experience is preceded by mind,

Led by mind,

Made by mind.

Speak or act with a peaceful mind,

And happiness follows,

Like a never-departing shadow.

Sincere sparrow

Read this beautiful story of a sparrow in a book called 'Guru Vachaka Kovai' by Muruganar (story mildly edited by me to add some masala :D). This is a collection of sayings of Ramana that were compiled by Muruganar and edited by the Maharishi when he was alive.

A sparrow was once flying over the ocean with its egg held between its beaks. Due to sudden heavy winds, it dropped its egg and the egg sank to the ocean floor. The sparrow then started to take little amounts of water in its beak and spat them out on the shore in an obvious attempt to empty the ocean to retrieve its egg. The other birds were laughing at it but our little sparow continued.

Sage Narada happened to pass by and immediately went to the bird and told it how foolish it was, how vast the ocean was and told the bird that it was subjecting itself to needless pain. The bird only told him that it was its part of the deal and continued its job. Narada was impressed by it sincerity and passed on the information to Garuda, the vehicle of the supreme deity Vishnu. Garuda was so moved by the birds efforts and came down with its huge wingspan. With just a few flips of Garudas wings, the ocean parted and the sparrow was able to retrieve its egg.

Obviously the mythology part is just a metaphor. To me, the story communicates that sincerity in the service of our highest dharma unleashes forces that we are seldom aware of in our normal mode of existence.

Paradox of renunciation

Paradox of renunciation - An excerpt from the book "Happiness" by Mathew Ricard

For many people, the idea of renunciation and non attachment implies a descent into a dank dungeon of asceticism and discipline. The depressing privation of life's pleasures. A series of injunctions and bans that restrict one's freedom to enjoy life. A Tibetan proverb says: "Speaking to someone about renunciation is like hitting a pig on the nose with a stick. He doesn't like it at all." But true renunciation is more like a bird soaring into the sky when its cage is opened. Suddenly the endless concerns that had oppressed the mind are gone, allowing the free expression of inner potential. We are like weary marchers, carrying heavy bags filled with a combination of provisions and stones. Wouldn't the smart thing be to set our bag down for a moment to sort it out and lighten our load?

Renunciation is not about depriving ourselves of that which brings us joy and happiness - that would be absurd; it is about abandoning what causes us inexhaustible and relentless distress. It is about having the courage to rid ourselves of dependency on the root causes of suffering. To do this, we first have to identify and recognize these causes and then become mindful of them in our daily life. If we do not take the time to do this, we can easily fool ourselves by overlooking the relevant causes. Renunciation, then, does not come down to saying no to all that is pleasant, to giving up strawberry ice cream or a nice hot shower after a long walk in the hills. It comes down to asking ourselves, with respect to certain aspects of our lives: "Is this going to make me happier?" Genuine happiness - as opposed to contrived euphoria - endures through life's ups and downs. To renounce is to have the daring and intelligence to scrutinize what we usually consider to be pleasures in order to determine if they really enhance our well-being. The renunciant is not a masochist who considers everything that is good to be bad. Who could put up with this? The renunciant has taken the time to look within herself and has found that she does not need to cling to certain aspects of her life.

Doubter?

'You have so many doubts about / in spirituality. Have you ever doubted the doubter?' - Ramana

Not my will but thine be done

The great tamil poet Bharathi echoes these immortal words of Christ!

"தன் செயல் எண்ணி தவிப்பது தீர்ந்திங்கு,

நின் செயல் செய்து நிறைவு பெறும் வண்ணம்,

நின்னை சரணடைந்தேன் கண்ணம்மா!"

This awesome poem by Bharathi set to soul stirring music by Ilayaraja

Lesson from a goat

I was devouring a favorite dish of mine at a bakery near my yoga class. It was the delicious 'coconut ball' that I was eating - a favorite of mine, after a long time because I have been going slow on eating at bakeries these days! As I was happily lost in eating it, a goat, fairly well built, came near me and was looking at me in a way that appeared to me to be a longing want for food. I was soon to realize that it was simply my conditioned way of thinking.

After some time, I thought may be I should give it some food and I threw a bit of my 'coconut ball', fairly nonchalantly to its right. I usually do this with crows and dogs and typically they go way sniffing at the food item immediately. If they like, they quickly eat it and then come for more. I was waiting for this scene to be played out yet again but I was in for a total surprise. I've had experience of dogs sniffing the stuff I gave them and refusing to eat them (a lesson in itself for humans who gobble pretty much everything), but I was least prepared for what the goat did next.

It paid zero attention to the crumb I had thrown it so mechanically. It didnt even flinch and continued to look at me. I thought it had missed my hand movement. So, I took some more of the coconut ball, and showed it in front of it and deliberately dropped it right in front of it. This time I was sure it would go away. But I was wrong again. Absolutely no response to the food I threw for the second time. At this point, I woke from my mechanical existence!

I didnt know what to do next. It slowly took a step towards me and brought its mouth close to me almost as if asking me to give food directly to it. I was apprehensive for I didnt know how it would be to have my fingers inside a goats mouth. I withdrew. It stared at me for a few seconds and then slowly walked away without much fuss.

For a few seconds, my mind started racing justifying my acts and sarcastically wondering at the goats gumption to be expected to be fed directly and not be thrown food at. Thankfully, I caught myself and took stock of the situation. I realized how stupid I was being. I took my share of the food, put the rest on the piece of paper I was having and placed it, far more humbly than previous time, in front of the goat. Finally, the goat paid some attention to the food and ate it!

What a startling and eye opening moment it was for me! I was a first hand witness to how the 'arrogance of the giver' springs from the 'ignorance of duality', that there is a giver and a taker. When, all such duality vanishes, there is humility and then there is only giving and taking, no giver and no taker! Thanks to the goat for being an instrument of such an important learning for me!

Cosmic Dance

Can you ensure that your dance is never out of sync with his cosmic dance!

Did you hear that bird sing?

From 'Song of the bird' by Anthony de Mello

Hindu India developed a magnificent image to describe God’s relationship with Creation. God ‘dances’ Creation. He is the Dancer, Creation is his Dance. The dance is different from the dancer, yet it has no existence apart from him. You cannot take it home in a box, if it pleases you. The moment the dancer stops, the dance ceases to be.

In our quest for God, we think too much, reflect too much, talk too much. Even when we look at this dance that we call creation, we are the whole time thinking, talking {to ourselves and others) reflecting, analyzing, philosophizing. Words. Noise.

Be silent and contemplate the Dance. Just look: a star, a flower, a fading leaf, a bird, a stone... any fragment of the Dance will do. Look. Listen. Smell. Touch. Taste. And, hopefully, it won’t be long before you see Him—the Dancer Himself!

The disciple was always complaining to his Master,

“You are hiding the final secret of Zen from me.” And he would not accept the Master’s denials.

One day they were walking in the hills when they heard a bird sing.

“Did you hear that bird sing?” said the Master.

“Yes,” said the disciple.

“Well, now you know that I have hidden nothing from you.”

“Yes.”

If you really heard a bird sing, if you really saw a tree... you would know. Beyond words and concepts.

What was that you said? You have heard dozens of birds sing and seen hundreds of trees? Ah, was it the tree you saw or the label? If you look at a tree and see a tree, you have really not seen the tree. When you look at the tree and see a miracle—then, at last, you have seen! Did your heart never fill with wordless wonder when you heard a bird in song?

You think thats air you are breathing now?

Please check out this video from Matrix-1 - fight between neo and morpheus

Have you ever had this feeling of watching yourself go through some activity: the feeling where one part of you is going through the activity while another is passively aware that you are going through the activity. I am sure there would be some experience like that - mid way through some argument where you started feeling bored with it, mid way through a boring journey, a sudden surreal experience, during a sad event in your life etc etc.

That part of you which is passively aware of you going through an experience is the seer. For most people, it occasionally shows its head and then disappears, not to be seen for a long long time. But, this need not be the case. With a little bit of conscious effort, the seer can be kick started, nourished and be made healthy. This seer is the part of you that is permanent and unchanging. Its the canvas on which the constantly changing and evolving part of you, your personality, is pictured upon! Most often, due to the total absence of the seer, individuals are lost in the personality, the so-called lower self. This leads to a lot of unnecessary suffering - lot of retainment of pain from the past, lot of silly comparisons with others, conflicts etc etc. The lower self resides in the mind and higher self shows its face only when the activity of the mind subsides. By constantly practicing awareness, slowly but steadily, some of our life force is taken out of the lower self and is given to the higher self.

For the average person, almost all of his/her life force is given to the lower self. With constant practice of awareness, slowly but steadily, small shares of the life force is shifted to the seer. Initially the lower self cries foul at this and tries to smother the seer. Though it might succeed in this in the short term, this can never really totally happen. The eternal seer is eternally resilient and will come back from its ashes! When sincerely nourished for a short period of time, the seer quickly gains in strength and then comes a point when the life force is evenly distributed between the lower and the higher self and its game on!

Already the individuals life would have become lot more saner and calmer. With some more practice, the seer becomes all pervading and takes up most of the life force while the lower self is retained to add seasoning to life (granted, all seer would be a little bland :D). At this point, one will be able to see the arising of suffering in the mind. At this point, ones mind is so much under ones control, that the seer can simply decide not to indulge the mind in its need to suffer. The seer would tell the individual something equivalent to what Morpheus told Neo in the fight. Check out this part again. Then, the arising suffering may simply be shaken off in an instant - just like what Neo did. And this is no fairy tale. A powerful seer is so much under control that it will no longer put up with a mind that decides to go its own way. It will kick the mind on its butt and ask it to behave. How many times have we all cursed some software that decided to go its own way. The mind is nothing but software. Lets better bring it under control by awakening our seer.

See Thy Lament

How we like to lament! It gives an instant spike in our feel good curve when we lament about something, anything, be it the food, traffic or heat. Heat, aah yes! I've heard people bitching the Chennai heat at least a thousand times in the last two months! And none of them are not construction laborers who actually stay out in the sun all day!

Why do we do this? It mostly grabs the attention of the listener and that gives us a kick. There is a part of us that thrives on the attention others give us. It works in many dimensions and lamenting is probably one of the gross dimensions. We are now used to doing it so often and so much that we hardly notice the kick. We many times lament even when we are alone. It is well and truly an addiction. This disease, if one may call it so, is a beautiful demonstration of what a 'samskara' is.

Enough of cursing the summer!

Samskara is a habit that we acquire that has become so extremely habitual that the habit can be considered to be self perpetuating. Lamenting is a beautiful example of the same. It starts out because others have it and it gives us a poor kick every time we indulge in it due to the attention it garners. But, soon, our consciousness is shaped by this and we start lamenting all the time. A perfect demonstration of how we build up samskaras.

Lamenting is an important case in study because, for most people, it is a fairly shallow samskara. In other words, it can be easily transcended by the mere act of being extremely conscious and aware every time we have the urge to lament. If all of lamenting is too big to bite, lets just take the heat. Once you decide, truly, that you wanna be aware of the rising of the urge to lament every time it happens, things start to change. You might stop mid lament a few times and within a short duration you will be able to be totally in control as the urge arises. At this stage, the urge may simply be discarded without a second thought. At this stage, one may be considered to have transcended ones need to lament about the heat.

This sets a very powerful precedent. The simple truth is that all samskaras are like that. They get formed due to some indulgences, get deeper due to our unconscious continuation of it and becomes second nature before we know it. Again, by the simple act of watching them, most samskaras may be transcended.

Lets all vow right now that we will watch our lament about the summer heat!

Silence

"Words mostly entertain. Silence transforms" - Ramana