BEING AND ATMAN (SOUL)......................

Being and Atman (soul)…………………

There is no difference between the two. Both mean the same. Because of the karmic information or so called karmas which we carry, one has got an individuality as we see and feel – for example; my Being or for that matter the Being of any other form (human or any other creature) and such Being will continue to seek life/birth or body one after the another because of the karmic content or karmas. What we call an atman (soul) is fundamentally the unboundedness which though has no individuality of its own but has got trapped in this individuality only because of karmas. That is exactly the reason that Lord Buddha used the term anatma (non-self) and Lord Mahavira never recognized parmataman as a separate entity but said that atman alone can become a parmataman.

We are n’t even an atman as is said or believed but just a bunch of karmas which is binding us to this limited body. Only because of the karmas we have this separate form or existence though at the being level we all are same and share the same unboundedness/soul/blissfulness. Also karmas is the only reason and the basis for our moving into the cycles i.e. from one birth to the other. As this being or atman evolves or transforms i.e. it becomes completely free of the karmic content then this being loses its individuality and the so called atman (soul) simply merges into the ultimate emptiness to which we know as Parmatman or Mukti or Moksha.

The only way to re-claim the unboundedness and become free of this cycle of birth and re-birth is to fully dismantle the karmas. In this tradition there are many ways to achieve this. One of the ways is of awareness wherein what is done is to strengthen the sense of witnessing or what is known as awareness. What the witnessing, which is real “me”, means is to separate one’s consciousness from the activity which one does and thus become a witness or sakshi to everything. Witnessing stops creating new karmas and also gradually dissolves the old stock of karmas and thus paving the way for “Mukti” or liberation.

Mahasamadhi/Mahaparinirvana/Mukti/Moksha and Liberation in English all mean the same thing i.e. when one attains to this state the Being simply disappears into the ultimate emptiness. Nirvana however means one who has attained or realized or got enlightened but is still in his body………….BeAware

WANT TO KNOW YOUR ATTACHMENTS? KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS! BECAUSE IN YOUR THOUGHTS LIE YOUR ATTACHMENTS………………….

In your thoughts lie your attachments. If you want to know your attachments then know your thoughts. Knowing one’s thoughts makes one aware of his identifications because thoughts are related to, arise from and revolve around our identifications, the so called attachments i.e. raga (positive attachments to which one is attracted) and dvesha (negative attachments which one is repelled from). Mostly our thoughts are about our possessions which could be anything - ranging from our own body/mind (thoughts and emotions) to relations; physical possessions; opinions; ideas; judgements etc.- which one is usually identified with and mistakenly one considers these to be as ‘myself’. Or these thoughts could be about our deep rooted tendencies i.e. habits and desires, vasanas, as we traditionally know them. These vasanas too are nothing but our identifications and thus are our attachments.

Mostly we are not aware of our thoughts. In order to be aware of our thoughts so as to know our identifications or attachments what we need to do is to start sitting alone for a while with eyes closed. What then happens is that we get confronted with an avalanche of variety of thoughts. While one goes through this process what is important is that one should always maintain his awareness. Being aware or maintaining awareness is the key. It’s only because our awareness is there that we get to notice these thoughts while we sit with our eyes closed but we fail to notice them during rest of the time even though we are fully awake and thoughts are very much there, primarily for the reason that during those times our awareness is mostly absent as we are too busy doing many other things whereas they become the focus of our attention when we sit with our eyes closed. Even while sitting with our eyes closed we will fail to notice these thoughts if we lose our awareness and instead we will get entangled or involved with them.

Another important thing to remember is that while one goes through this process, one should never label these thoughts as positive or negative or good or bad thoughts. Thoughts are just thoughts and not good or bad as we label them. This labelling is our own doing and this could be relevant only socially or morally but not beyond that. Maintaining this awareness will help us to know our thoughts and related attachments without getting involved or entangled with them. In fact for one who walks the path of spirituality knowing the thoughts is spiritually very significant and, the only goal of a spiritual seeker is to go beyond all the thoughts - good or bad……BeAware

MEDITATION IS NOT CONCENTRATION…………

Concentration is not dhyana or meditation as is understood by many. Many consider concentration practices as meditation practices for the simple reason that concentration leads to a state of thoughtlessness - a state which normally is identified with a state of meditation. Though it’s true that a concentration practice will make our thoughts to disappear but what also happens at the same time is loss of one’s awareness. For example let us concentrate on ‘third eye’ (the spot between the eyebrows, traditionally known as ‘Shiv Netra’) or for that matter on anything and you will find that though the thoughts disappear but at the same time you also lose your awareness - please try and see. Meditation on the other hand is an exercise, the sole objective of which is to gain awareness and not lose awareness. Instead of concentrating if one is meditating then may be the thoughts may still come in but he will not lose his awareness – please try and see. Precisely for the reason that concentration leads to loss of awareness this cannot be termed a meditation practice. Similarly practices involving concentration or focus cannot be termed as meditation practices – for example focusing on one’s breath. Instead if we want this to be a meditative practice then we should be saying that we should rather become aware of our breath and not focus on breathing. Focusing on breathing or for that matter anything is concentration but becoming aware of breathing is meditation. While you concentrate you may be free of thoughts but still this cannot be called as meditation  

Thus dhyana or meditation is not concentration but pure awareness. Meditation is awareness and awareness is meditation. In fact any practice which empowers one’s awareness can be termed a meditation practice. An enlightened being is one who has become all awareness and is meditative all the time i.e. – he has become naturally aware or said to have reached the heightened state of awareness.

Another aspect is that when we practice concentration our consciousness or chetna is fixed or stuck with the object of our concentration but when we are aware or meditative then our consciousness is clearly separated. In that separated state one becomes an observer (witness or sakshi) which is our real identity. Though concentration is needed for our functioning effectively in the world or for achieving certain things in our life but if the goal is Liberation then concentration cannot help take us beyond, so called MUKTI or MOKSHA i.e. becoming free from the cycle of birth and death. Concentration is thus limited but awareness or meditation is unlimited / boundless /all-inclusive and all pervasive one which makes the person meditating to be one with everything……………….BeAware

Next Post: In your thoughts lie your attachments.

MEDITATION MEANS YOGA OR UNION WITH THE EXISTENCE…….

Meditation means YOGA. Yoga here means union or being one with everything and not in the sense as we usually understand i.e. yogasanas. One can therefore say that meditation is Yoga and Yoga is meditation. An enlightened being is one who has become one with the existence. There are four ways to achieve this state of union or yoga – karma yoga (yoga of action), bhakti yoga (yoga of devotion); gyaan yoga (yoga of intelligence) and kriya yoga (yoga of internal action). Whatever the yoga or combination of these one may follow but the purpose of all this is to achieve the state of union with the existence. In that state the person is in tune with the existence i.e. to have become pure awareness or an observer or a witness or a simply knower as we know them by different names. The five bodies which we are made of are – annamaya kosha (physical body), manomaya kosha (mental or mind body), pranmaya kosha (energy body); vigyanmaya kosha (transitory body) and anandmaya kosha (bliss body). In the state of yoga we experience bliss for which we have to work upon our first three bodies which are physical in nature. Once these physical bodies are in perfect tune then only we can experience blissfulness or Ananda or state of union with rest of the existence, the so called turiya state. When one is meditative then his suffering ends because in that state he becomes a part of the whole and hence is in touch with the reality or truth. That’s why one can say that meditation is awareness and awareness is meditation…………………….BeAware

Next post - Meditation is not Concentration

ONE CANNOT DO MEDITATION…………..

Meditation is a conscious sleep – fully aware but at the same time both body and mind are fully rested. Sleep is also in a way meditation but unawares and unconscious. What we call sleep is unawareness because in sleep we lose our consciousness and we are not aware of our existence. However when the same thing happens in awareness, we call it a meditation. Meditation bhitar se jagne ki kala hai - meditation is to become aware from within. Being meditative or meditation becoming a quality means being fully aware 24/7 – also known as enlightened state i.e. the state in which one has just become a gyaata (knower) or saakshi (witness) or drashta (observer) to everything. The important thing about meditation is that one cannot do meditation like one cannot have a sleep by trying to sleep because meditation is not a doing. Watching one’s thoughts or one’s breath too is not a meditation because watching also becomes a doing. Meditation is a non-doing i.e. you are not doing anything both at the body and mind level but you are simply there. In fact all the saadhna or practices are to prepare and move the saadhak in that direction only so that meditation can happen naturally like a sleep. We can only practice doing meditation which means to practice sitting still - still in body, still in mind (includes both thoughts and emotions) but fully conscious and alive. When we have done enough practice of this then only can the meditation happen which means to have become pure awareness…………BeAware  

ALERTNESS IS NOT AWARENESS…..…….

We generally confuse alertness with awareness which is not true. Alertness is not awareness or being alert is not being aware. Alertness is of the mind which is rather needed for survival in the world. In fact, in terms of alertness we are nowhere close to the alertness of many other creatures, for example a dog; cat or a snake who happen to be far more alert than us. I want to differentiate the two with an example – while we sit in meditation, the whole objective is to be in the knowing i.e. to be aware of whatever that happens within or around us at the level of the body, mind (thoughts n emotions) and energy level. Hence to be on toes or being watchful for all these happenings is alertness and not awareness but to simply be in the knowing of such happenings if any, without reacting to or entangling with them, is what we refer to as awareness or meditation. Awareness is far more fundamental to our existence and to attain and sustain the state of pure awareness is the only objective of all the spiritual processes and practices. Alertness is like a watchman being alert to the movement of suspicious characters or one being alert to any specific danger etc. Alertness is thus a survival technique. Alertness and awareness are therefore two different dimensions altogether. If one is alert he may not be aware but when one is established in awareness then one is in the knowing of everything. Awareness means to be here in the PRESENT or NOW. One who is here in the PRESENT or NOW becomes a kshana or sunya as Buddha called it which means no mind or gap between two thoughts. While one is in kshana, he is free from suffering as opposed to a time, also a name for mind, which we are usually in and hence the suffering………….BeAware.

FREEDOM IS OUR TRUE NATURE, THE REAL ‘ME’………

The ‘freedom’ which we normally understand is really not a freedom. Why it’s so is for the reason that most of the time our responses are not by conscious choice but are rather driven by our past memory, karmas, as we traditionally know them. Such auto responses are mechanical in nature and hence are not actions but reactions. A reaction is always compulsive and hence unconscious whereas an action or a response is always a conscious one.

Compulsion means unconsciousness and therefore binding in nature. Freedom on the other hand means liberation – liberation from our karmas which limit us in so many ways. A reaction is a bondage which not only binds us but also limits us from discovering our true self. A bondage makes us repetitive i.e. doing the same things again and again in our current life and also becomes a reason for another life.

The real freedom comes from awareness that is when we consciously choose our responses and when our actions are guided by our present moment awareness, the so called free will. Awareness is real freedom because it does not bind us but releases us from our past karmas which is also the basis of our suffering. Awareness means becoming a witness or an observer - creating distance from the body and mind - which is also our true self or real ‘me’. Once we are established in awareness then every action is by choice and is therefore a real freedom. A new sense of freedom is born. Whatever we do in awareness does not bind us. Awareness also makes us free from everything – pain, pleasure and the cycle of birth and rebirth. Awareness is not in the realm of physical and is beyond our body and mind.……….BeAware

One who lives his life in awareness is free of his Karmas……..

What we know as Karma is nothing but a memory which we carry forward from one life to the other. A large chunk of this past memory which we gathered over our evolutionary process as a human being is known as Sanchit karma as opposed to prarbhada karma which is a small part of our past memory which we have to live in our current life. The Sanchit karma is not in our conscious memory and hence usually not accessible though the same is very much present there with us in the form of subconscious memory.

This memory is not only there but also affects our karmas which we do in our current life in a big way and is said to be responsible for certain chronic diseases and many of those repetitive patterns including the misery which we undergo in our life. The reason past life regression and experiences are very popular now-a-days is the belief that by recalling or accessing those past memories one can get rid of these diseases or patterns.

The important thing which we need to understand is that we accumulate this past memory which is there only for the reason that we have lived our past lives and continue living our current life unconsciously i.e. in awareness. It’s only unawareness or unconscious living which gathers karmas or so called past memory. On the other hand whatever we do or live in full awareness not only releases us but also does not leave its marks behind in the form of karmas. Past lives to that extent become irrelevant.

Only because of our unconscious living the past lives or memories have become important. If we can live our life consciously then there is nothing like past life. In fact knowing about our past lives will not help us in any way because in those lives also we did the same what we are doing now i.e. doing the same things again and again. The only thing which can release us off memory of our past lives is to become aware and start living our life consciously. Once we are fully established in awareness then in a moment we are free of our past memory or karmas. If we do not do that then we will continue accumulating new karmas unawares as we did so far………..BeAware 

ONE IS SPIRITUAL IF HE IS AWARE............

Awareness is said to be the screen or stage on which is played the whole drama of creation. Though awareness is beyond the physical i.e. the creation which we can see but at the same time everything arises from awareness; survives and thrives in and around the awareness and upon dissolution everything sinks back into the awareness. The whole universe is just that i.e. sat – chit – ananda – being - consciousness -bliss.

Awareness means one has become an observer, sakshi or witness to everything. Spirituality is not what we normally understand like going to religious places or following certain religious beliefs or reading scriptures and religious books. Being spiritual means to be aware. In fact it would not be wrong to say that the other name for spirituality is awareness. Awareness is spirituality and spirituality is awareness. One is said to be spiritual when he begins to follow the path of awareness i.e. living life consciously in full awareness. The only difference whether one is spiritual or a materialist is to be seen in the fact if one is living his life consciously or not. One can be spiritual while living in the world and one can be materialist while being a sanyasi – difference is only of being conscious or unconscious. An enlightened master is one who has become pure awareness and is able to maintain and sustain his awareness all the time.

Why should one become spiritual or follow the path of awareness? Only if we can raise our awareness to the level that we become a witness or observer to everything then only can we live in complete freedom i.e. be free from suffering while we are alive and be liberated from the cycle of birth and re-birth post this life also known as LIBERATION or MUKTI or MOKSHA. In Indian tradition MUKTI is also considered to be the sole objective of every human being. In fact this human potential makes us unique and different from other creatures in the sense that we can become conscious of our existence which no other creature is capable of becoming.

The fact is that most of the times except for few moments of awareness we are living our life unconsciously which means that our current actions are influenced by the information which we accumulated in the past, commonly known as karmas. We are generally ruled and guided by our karmas in the form of past conditioning, past memory, opinions ideas etc. All our vasanas (traces of past karmas in the form of desires and habits) are rooted in our sub-conscious mind which find expression unconsciously and thus feeding on each other and thus strengthening our subconscious and unconscious mind. Though the subconscious mind is there which is a product of memory of many births but this continues to rule and guide our life and hence the suffering. Suffering means to move in circles or doing the same things again and again. Reaction i.e. action which is guided by our past conditioning is unconscious and hence makes us to suffer. Also reaction binds us and we end up accumulating more karmas in the process but on the other hand an action which is conscious not only does not lead to new karmas but also frees us from the past karmas and thus help us achieve our goal of LIBERATION. The reason one of the great Indian saints said dukhia sab sansar (the whole world is suffering) is because of this reason that mostly our living is unconscious i.e. ruled and influenced by our past karmas. Since we continue living unconsciously and thus accumulating more karmas as well, not only our suffering persists but we also continue moving from one life to another because we now need more life times to settle the backlog of these past karmas also known as sanchit karmas. 

However the good thing to know is that if we want we can become free from this suffering and this is possible only by following the path of awareness i.e. becoming more n more aware and not to be ruled by our past karmas. Also if we can maintain this awareness to the last moment of our life then LIBERATION (MUKTI) becomes a certainty because awareness is liberation and liberation is awareness. Now question arises as what should we do to become spiritual i.e. to strengthen our sense of being observer or witness? In fact to be spiritual we do not have to do anything specific like renouncing the world but live our daily life with full awareness i.e. without being ruled by our past memory or karmas. If we watch the things as it is or do the things as needed but without being influenced by past karmas then it means that we are spiritual and thus becoming aware. This though appears to be simple in saying but difficult in practice because all along we have been living our life in unawareness. No sooner we try to bring in awareness than the same is hijacked by our mind and the same old game continues. Hence what is needed is practicing awareness. Beginning to meditate is the step in this direction which will definitely help us raise our awareness over a period of time. The whole purpose of meditation is to strengthen one’s awareness. In fact one can safely say that meditation is awareness and awareness is meditation. This awareness which we practice during the meditation sessions then starts spilling over to our other daily activities of the day and thus becoming still more aware. A moment comes when we become meditative all the time i.e. pure awareness. Awareness thus is the key to one’s becoming free from suffering and also to one’s liberation…..BeAware

Introduction To My Blog

Before I formally start posting my views on my blog titled as “awarenessisthekey” I would like to offer my profound gratitude and thankfulness to my Guru, the most revered Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev a great yogi, mystic, visionary and a contemporary realized master. I have been following Him for quite some time. As a result of his GRACE and blessings I can dare to say that I could make some headway on the path of spirituality. His teachings inspired me a lot and continue to do so. What I realized from his teachings is that the whole conundrum of spirituality can be summed up and understood in one word and that is – AWARENESS. In fact it will not be wrong if I can mention this that spirituality is awareness and awareness is spirituality. Spirituality is not leaving the family and becoming a monk. Spirituality is also not what we normally understand as going to the religious places or reading scriptures etc. Spirituality basically means living our daily life fully consciously and in awareness. If one begins empowering and enhancing his awareness in his daily life then he is said to be on the path of spirituality. The reason that we must follow the path of awareness is two-fold – first to become free from suffering as we live this life and secondly to be liberated from the cycle of birth and re-birth post this life, also known as MUKTI or MOKSHA which is also considered as the only purpose and possibility of a human life. Awareness therefore is the key and that’s the reason I have chosen this name for my blog. I have decided to walk this path of awareness with full determination. For me AWARENESS is my dharma and that establishes the way for my karma going forward so as to create my life in the direction I want. I wish to share more on this topic in the days to come………BeAware