On Pain: Part 3 - Healing the inner wound

Key topics: Split energy - Health - Ego - Trauma - Dark side (Shadow effect) - Enlightenment

This is the final part of my earlier post on Pain. I felt the need to throw more light on some key topics, some familiar and some vague or unfamiliar to the uninitated on the spiritual quest.

I am not erudite with respect to some of the topics in discussion here. But you may consider applying Bruce Lee's philosophy:

• Take what is useful
• Reject what is irrelevant
• Research your own experience
• Add something original of your own

As mentioned in Part 1, we tend to live split lives. The best time in one's life is inside one's mother's womb. In spirit and body, one remains as part of the mother - doing nothing, and life takes its own course. Then comes the time when one is ready for birth. This is the beginning of life's biggest trauma - birth. Birth is extremely painful. The baby shares the pain and is scared by the mother's cries and aches. It comes out unprepared for the shock - passing through a small passage, unaccustomed eyes dazzled by bright lights, chaotic sounds, unfamiliar sensations, contact with foreign bodies - cold and shocked. The placenta with the umbilical cord is removed. The same cord which was the lifeline for the baby in terms of food and oxygen is now severed and the baby is at loss of breath. The pain triggers the crying mechanism which causes the lungs to swell and the first breath - the first gasp  - is the closest experience to the unknown - death! This separation is relieved when the baby regains contact with the mother - the familiar feeling of non-separation.

With birth came the unconscious fear of death. Until the age of 3-4 there is no ego i.e. there is no separation except the feeling of a very miniscule feeling called I Am'ness. The ego comes immediately when one realizes the first feeling of a separate identity and individuality - it brings in tremendous power. With relation to the other, one knows that one is unique and the mind creates the ego as the tool for survival and intelligence hence there is a subconscious mind protecting oneself from every possible danger - the root of which goes back to death. When the ego is fully formed, the fear of death crystallizes in strength and all actions based on doership are based on the concept of 'what should be' and 'what should not be'. Our thoughts form our personalities. Of our personality, acceptable thoughts-feelings-actions are encouraged by us while we do / we are conditioned to - reject unacceptable thoughts-feelings - actions. This rejected part of us is what is popularly known as the Dark Side / Inner child / Shadow-self.

Until we die, we keep avoiding consciously/subconsciously/ unconsciously the dark side of ourselves. This split side of us resides within us as blocked energy and we spend our lives using energy to suppress blocked energy. The more such blocks we build in our lives, the more energy remains waiting to be released. In spirituality jargon this is called 'Karma'. Karmic relationships happen to attend to unresolved blocked issues and when there is a complete healing and full and final understanding of non-duality and the experience of wholeness - such a person is siad to be enlightened. Even the final split "I" and "the other" ceases to exist and there is no longer a doer - rather deeds happen and only awareness remains. The enlightened person sees that there is only one door. From one end it reads as birth and from the other side it reads as death. They are 2 sides of the same coin.

The goal of evolution is consciousness. That of conciousness is knowledge. That of all knowledge is self knowledge. That of self-knowledge is no-knowledge. That of no-knowledge is unnconsciousness. Thus the goal of everything is to know the source as nothing. From nothingness/ emptiness emanates everything. Sound to silence, action to stillness share the same relationship as that of waves that emerge and fall back into water. This emptiness is actually the source that contains everything. Like a seed that has the blueprint of the entire tree. Hence the goal of all efforts is to reach the stage of wholeness. And the way according to nature is simply the way of least effort.

Least effort means maximum energy / undivided energy. Hence the emphasis on vegetarian foods to ensure maximum absorption of energy with relatively lower energy requirements for digestion. Meat and greasy foods that take time to digest clearly indicates that your body's existing energy store is getting depleted just to break down foods that will not give you sufficient energy. There is an imbalance in input and output of energy thus resulting in illness. Yogic exercises too revolve around the concept of balance of energy. Ayurvedic remedies also work around the concept of balancing the 5 elements of our bodies.

With the available energy, you have the maximum opportunity for body-mind-spirit growth & development. In essence, there is maximum energy available to simply be conscious in non-duality. This awareness frees one from the bondage of doership. This is the ultimate liberation - the liberation from self - the freedom from the Karmic trap - the 'concept' of Enlightenment.

On Pain -Part2 and Nature's way of Balance

Sequel to my blog ON PAIN

Split lives-Karma-Transformation

This is my 3rd attempt to finish off from where I ended on my earlier blog  ON PAIN. My 2 attempts got lost unsaved due to internet malfunction and I hope this one turns out successfully.

In the blogpost ON PAIN, the focus was to develop an awareness on how we resist pain and live in fear of experiencing pain. The objective was to first identify that we live lopsided lives i.e we choose that which is beneficial and avoid that which is not according to our 'concept of goodness'. Our unresolved issues eat up our energy each moment until we allow ourselves to heal. We use energy to suppress energy that remains blocked within. The first part was aimed at emphasising the fact that all of us have been living conditioned lives and to seek the truth, one must observe that which is false. By seeing the false as false, the truth comes to surface. But the point is - are you willing to be peeled layer by layer? If you truly are, then you must realize that it would not be a pleasant experience. Hence that which is not pleasant, is obviously painful, and therefore only pain makes you conscious of your existence in the moment and the life of lies that you have been living. (Also refer to my post on conditioned living)

We have all learnt in school the fundamental laws of energy -

•  Energy cannot be destroyed nor created. It only changes form.
• Electrical/ Magnetic energy has a positive and a negative side. Opposites attract. Like charges repel each other.

In our basic form, we are all moving masses of energy with varying layers of density. In essence we remain energy. We have taken shape by evolving from the invisible, universal field of energy - Like a wave from the surface of the sea. This ocean is a vast invisible expanse of intelligence (God consciousness) and has been creating unique waves ( The individual I AM consciousness) and will continue to do so unfathomable by the limited human intelligence.

The I AM consciousness is the only truth there is to each one of us. It is the only fact that never changes since our physical birth, growth & development and old age. To deny the fact that I AM, leads to the next immediate question - Who is denying ? Answer : I AM.

How this I AM developed layer after layer of conditioning starting with name, gender, religion, caste, nationality, etc.. is for the seeker to meditate and reflect upon his/her own life retrospectively. The 'self' has always remained in existence only in relation to 'the other'.  The whole existence is based on duality including ourselves. From the point of I AM everything has been categorized by ourselves into opposites. We have been splitting ourselves into that which we find acceptable/ that which we know (pleasure) and that which we reject/ that which we do not know (pain).

Influenced by fear, we contain suppressed and repressed thoughts and feelings (energy). Fear is always time-based. There is either the emotion of guilt/shame for thoughts-feelings-action belonging to the past or anxiety/excitment about the future. Whereas in love, it is always a feeling of timelessness and most-importantly a state of such thoughtlessness as though all thoughts have merged into the source within. Love integrates and Fear disintegrates. Love unites, Fear splits. In fact love and fear are not to be construed as opposites. Fear is the absence of love and love is the absence of fear. Just like the moon always exists even in broad daylight; only invisible due to the bright sunlight, the same is the relationship between fear and love. In fact love is the ocean from which fear arises like a wave.

Love is the inherent driving force of each form of creation (each I AM) to merge into one-ness with the other ( the I AM in the other). Even a stone has a consciousness of I AM. Without consciousness, the stone would no longer remain a stone with a definite visible form but disperse into invisible moving atoms and molecules. If I combine my I AM with your I AM and the I AM'ness within everything in existence, the I no longer remains - There is then, only the UNIVERSAL I AM. Psychologists such as Carl Jung called it the Collective Consciousness. You need to meditate on this concept with clarity to absorb the understanding.

The only law of nature is Balance. As long as I AM... Nature is! Without my consciousness (I AM), there is no world for me, nothing for me - including my own existence. So as long as I exist ( I AM), I will continue to live in the world of opposites governed by laws of nature, so perfectly designed that each opposite energy remains in perfect balance. That means, by nature, I am designed to co-exist with my opposite energy. That means, as much as I accept what is GOOD, I must accept what is BAD in equal measure. If i reject the BAD even in the smallest quantity, I create imbalance for myself. As my acceptance of GOOD increases disproportionately to the BAD, I am channeling all my energy towards this imbalance. When destiny brings forth events/people that serve the purpose of restoring this balance, I tend to reject them and create an endless conscious/unconscious struggle to maintain my imbalance due to my ignorance.

'Karma' is nothing but the unresolved struggle of imbalance carried over lifetimes. Each karmic debt paid is an act of restoring each act of imbalance. The act of living in split energy, reduces all the way until the initial balance is restored. But again, Karma exists only when I AM. The concept of Karma is prevalent only when existence with its pair of opposites governed by nature's law of Balance is perceived by consciousness ( I AM). Without my consciousness, the concept of Karma does not exist. If I AM NOT, NOTHING IS. This nothing is the source from which I AM'ness in each seemingly opposite forms arises. And it is the same nothingness in which all opposites merge into unity. That unity is the feeling of love. Love is the feeling in which I AM and YOU ARE merges into one feeling as WE ARE. There is no self. For self is the beginning of the chain of events creating opposites. LOVE is truly all accepting and it is the only unconditioned, pre-existing, primary energy binding everything in existence- For all rivers find their way to the sea!

As a final reference to the two points aforementioned concerning the scientific laws of energy, living out your Karmas simply means that in this life, you are a changed form. Events and people that you would tend to avoid or hate, often appear to you in this life for the purpose of acceptance and integration(opposite charges attract). Thus pain is the sensory signal of that which is eager to appear, be accepted and heal your inner wounds to return you to your wholeness.

Thus in our daily lives, we need to observe how we consciously/unconsciously split our energy. Instead of fighting our negative emotions, we need to breathe in the feeling, accept and integrate the same unto wholeness. You may have heard of the saying THAT WHAT YOU RESIST, PERSISTS. It is only that part of you waiting to be released from a blockage of not one, but perhaps many lifetimes.

So, accept all and resist nothing - You are THAT from which everything has appeared - The Good, The Better, The Best; The Bad, The Worse, The Worst.

 

LET LIFE FLOW...

*********
Ratish

Fusion music

My favorite fusion songs:

1. Heer - by the Pakistani band Junoon (Album: Azadi) Rock + Hindustani Classical music

2. Gurus of Peace: A.R Rahman & Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Pop+ Hindustani Classical

3. Devadoothan (Malayalam movie): Carnatic + Western symphony.

4. Jiya Jale (A.R Rahman - Dil Se): Carnatic + Hindi lyrics + A dash of Malayalam lines

















5. one of my very favourite songs: Krishna Nee - by Colonial Cousins: Western (Leslie Lewis) in sync with Classical (Hariharan)

The enchanting female voice: 5 gems

Women have innate softness and soothing energy that reflects in their singing.
With an open heart and an empty mind, one can truly appreciate the power of some unique genres of music to transport you out of this world ! The following clips are some of my personal favourites:

First - Saltwater (Thrillseekers remix):

Second - No ordinary morning (Chicane):
Lyrics:

If there was nothing that I could say
Turned your back and you just walked away
Leaves me numb inside I think of you
Together is all I knew

We moved too fast but I had no sign
I would try to turn the hands of time
Then look to you for the reason why
The love we had passed me by

And as the sun would set you would rise
Fall from the sky into paradise
Is there no light in your heart for me?
You've closed your eyes, you no longer see

There were no lies between me and you
You said nothing of what you knew
But there was still something in your eyes
Left me helpless and paralyzed

You could give a million reasons,
change the world and change the times,
Could not give me the secrets of your heart
and of your mind
In the darkness that surrounds me now
there is no peace of mind
Your careless words undo me,
leave the thought of us behind
You could give a million reasons,
change the world and change the times
Could not give me the secrets of your heart
and of your mind
In the darkness that surrounds me now
there is no peace of mind
Your careless words undo me,
leave the thought of us behind  
 *********

Third: Enya [ May it be - Lord of the Rings]

Fourth: Loreena Mckennett (The Book of Secrets):

Fifth: India's very own Lata Mangeshkar [So gaye hain - Movie: Zubeida]

 

Music for the soul

Karunesh's magic

Title: Alibaba

One of my favourite musicians and this track is bound to lift your spirits with it's audio and video. Check it out:

 

 

On Pain: Part 1 - BOON or BANE ?

On Pain

"Without pain there is no consciousness
Without consciousness there is no intelligence
Without intelligence there is no understanding
Without understanding there is no peace
Without peace there is no happiness
Without happiness, there is... pain..  " - Ratish         

Our original nature is that timeless, spaceless, state which is beyond pleasure and pain. And that state is the background on which every event flows and becomes an experience through our senses in the conceptual framework of time-space.

What is meant by timeless and spaceless? If you truly understand what meditation is, you would appreciate the truth that it is an action of no-action. In other words, you are not doing anything. You are simply relaxed without thoughts. There is no more subject (the perceiver/doer) and no more object (perceived/ fruitive action). There is complete surrender to what-is - that eternity where past, present and future all merge into one source. From this source came consciousness i.e. the feeling of I AM. When this 'I' emerged, simultaneously 'the Other' emerged. The experience of opposites explodes thereon unto male-female, now-then, life-death and other forms of duality. Pain-pleasure is one such example of duality. One does not exist without the other, has not existed without the other and shall not exist without the other. Why is duality perceived and experienced ?

Can you ride a bicycle with only one motion? Can you chew with only one way motion? What will the earth be if there were only days or only nights unlike the usual day-night pattern? What would happen to you if your body is involved only in consumption and no ejection? What is cancer? Living cells that refuse to die as normal cells do in the process of growth and thereby ensuring new cells appear and old cells disappear. The thread that runs through all the aforementioned examples is the fundamental law of equilibrium.

There are no laws of nature - rather there is only one law - the law of Balance. We and all the forms that appear around us are nothing but energy in motion. We are vibrations of energy in distinct patterns. Each moment there is an experience of creation - simultaneously- destruction.
Take the example of serial lights that are hung on buildings on festive occasions. From the bird's eye view, it appears to be one stream of light moving in a meaningful manner. Upon closer examination, one realizes that it is not a flow of a light as one body, but a synchronized and artisticallly created pattern of light synapses from each bulb in the series. Our existence is very much the same. Like the on-off pattern of the lights, creation and destruction takes place much to the bewilderment of our limited individual sentient capacities, but on the whole creation and destruction are very much balanced and if all our senses could combine into The One Sentience / Universal 'I' / God, the whole of existence would present itself as a perfectly intelligent design.

Coming to the subject of pain: Pain finds its roots in thoughts. Pain is blocked energy (by the self) seeking attention in order to find its' acceptance and integration into the original non-dual energy source. Some sages say 'Thought is your enemy'. Let us understand this statement.
What is the 'mother of all problems' thought? The thought of subjectiveness - 'I' and 'The Other'. We place ourselves as the doer of a particular action or attribute a specific action as being done by 'the other'. Thus we are already living in split energy. As events occur moment to moment, the split spreads like tributaries and distributaries of a river. To achieve perception, the mind projects the concept of space and to gain understanding by associating the perceptions, it projects the concept of time - split into past, present and future dimensions. Therefore, the truth is revealed in the understanding of 'WHAT IS' as a state of timeless, spaceless non-conceptualness. There are no thoughts creating energy split and thus all projections can be arrested at this stage by thoughtless observation/ choiceless awareness/ pure consciousness thereby assimilating all split energies into The One Source. There is total absence of the subjectiveness - the concept of doership. There is no THAT and no I. There are no pronouns, only verbs. For instance, the expression I am angry is replaced by Anger exists. Meditation takes the individual to a such a state of non-individuality.

Pleasure is in fact a state of denial and also a state of ignorance. What could be the most pleasurable moment in any of our lives? Pleasure in the state of ignorance could be referred to that stage of your life when you were inside your mother's womb, blissfully and significantly unaware of your own existence until you went through one of the most traumatic experiences of your life - your birth. With the pain of birth you experienced the feeling of I AM'ness because your body was struggling against a hostile new environment to survive. Immediately after birth this 'I' was seeking the mother ['the other'] as an instinctive response mechanism designed by nature.
Pleasure in the state of denial sets in when our ego is formed in the early childhood. By the age of 3-4, our mind begins to learn and experience fear and personality structure begins to develop in a split pattern i.e. accepting the pleasant and suppressing the unpleasant through denial and suppression. Our description of ourselves is only in association with that signifies pleasure, meanwhile blocked energies continue to remain within us with/without or conscious knowledge of the same. For instance the virtue of sacrifice can be misrepresentated by masochism and in a mentally conditioned state of appearing as a 'hero' the Self-denial becomes even more pronounced.

It is only pain that brings up our blocked energies to surface, to enable us to heal by identifying, accepting and integrating the same within us unto wholeness and equilibrium. Hence pain must not be avoided but at the same time one should not uphold pain as a noble virtue - for it is only the mind then deceiving itself.

Pleasure and pain are then to be looked upon as complementary opposites. In their respective extremes, one always appears to mirror the other. To quote Mikhail Naimy from THE BOOK OF MIRDAD:

"Yours is a world of cradles turning into tombs, and tombs becoming cradles; of days devouring

nights, and nights regurgitating days; of peace declaring war, and war suing for peace; of smiles

afloat on tears, and tears aglow with smiles."

And finally to quote Nisargadatta Maharaj:

" Please puts you to sleep. Pain wakes you up. If you don't want to suffer, don't sleep."

Life's Lessons from Martial Arts

Pearls of wisdom from Martial Arts

Now & Zen

dedicated to all  - especially fellow martial artists all over the world!

* A man who has attained mastery in an art reveals it in his every action - Samurai maxim

* The mind should be nowhere in particular - Takuan

* You and your opponent are one. There is a co-existing relationship between you. You co-exist with your opponent and become his complement, absorbing his attack and using his force to overcome him - Bruce Lee

* The angry man will defeat himself in battle as well as in life - Samurai maxim

* To know and to act are one and the same - Samurai maxim

* In order to achieve victory, you must place yourself in your opponent's skin. If you don't understand yourself, you will lose 100% of the time. If you understand yourself, you will win 50% of the time. If you understand yourself and your opponent, you will win 100% of the time - Tsutomu Oshima

* Technical knowledge is not enough. One must transcend techniques so that the art becomes an artless art, growing out of the unconscious - Daisetsu Suzuki

* The less effort, the faster and more powerful you will be - Bruce Lee

And the final lesson in any martial artist's training:
* To win a hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the highest skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the highest skill - Sun Tzu (The art of War)

Splendid poems from THE BOOK OF MIRDAD - by Mikhail Naimy

THE BOOK OF MIRDAD is my no.1 favorite book - in fact if the essence from the words of this book could be absorbed by you, then you don't need any other spiritual books to guide you. It is no ordinary book. A dictionary would assist your mind in understanding the words. But it is your intuition that will guide you in absorbing the nectar of wisdom that the author offers. No wonder he did not feel the need to write any other book after this one!

God is your captain, sail, my Ark!

Though Hell unleash her furies red

Upon the living and the dead,

And turn the earth to molten lead,

And sweep the skies of every mark,

God is your captain, sail, my Ark!

Love is your compass, ply, my ark!

Go north and south, go east and west

And share with all your treasure chest.

The storm shall bear you on its crest

A light for sailors in the dark.

Love is your compass, ply, my Ark!

Faith is your anchor, ride, my Ark!

Should thunder roar, and lightning dart,

And mountains shake and fall apart,

And man become so faint of heart

As to forget the holy spark,

Faith is your anchor, ride, my ark!

And another poem from the same book which is truly motivating:

Though feverish days toss you hither and yon,

And starless nights enfold you in their gloom,

And you be cast upon the world’s crossroads,

With no footprints or signs to show the way,

Yet would you fear no man or circumstance,

And would you have no shadow of a doubt

That days and nights, as well as men and things

Would seek you soon or late and meekly beg you

To command them.

For you have gained the confidence of Night.

And he who gains the confidence of Night

Can easily command the coming day.