Ajay0

As per eastern philosophy, the process of reincarnation ends when all karma or the underlying vasanas or psychological defilement's are wiped out . This is done through the practice of awareness, total love, virtuous conduct, prana rich state and other spiritual exercises. If one is performing actions unconsciously one will be creating karma for oneself. Performing actions consciously and with love or enjoyment ensures no karma is created. So 'putting up' with the burden of a physical form indicates karma, while 'enjoying' the work indicates karma yoga.

Mindfulness is nonconceptual awareness. Another English term for sati is “bare attention.” It is not thinking. It does not get involved with thought or concepts. It does not get hung up on ideas or opinions or memories. It just looks. Mindfulness registers experiences, but it does not compare them. It does not label them or categorize them. It just observes everything as if it was occurring for the first time. It is not analysis that is based on reflection and memory. It is, rather, the direct and immediate experiencing of whatever is happening, without the medium of thought. It comes before thought in the perceptual process. ~ Henepola Gunaratana Mindfulness is present-moment awareness. It takes place in the here and now. It is the observance of what is happening right now, in the present. It stays forever in the present, perpetually on the crest of the ongoing wave of passing time.~ Henepola Gunaratana

Just came across this insightful saying by Sadhguru. There is also a basic teaching of the ancient Upanishads, where a student named Virochana develops erroneous understanding of the ultimate reality due to intellectual study of scriptures not backed by true experiential understanding. He eventually erroneously concludes that the ultimate reality is his own body, and deludedly decides to indulge in self-aggrandizement and luxury to pamper his body and self. The story of Virochana is referred to in scriptural studies to show the perils of intellectual study divorced from experiential understanding. The scope for delusion from mere intellectual studies is very high, and for this reason an accomplished guide or teacher is necessary most of the time to lead the student away from the maze of delusion.

Dzogchen basically deals with the innate intelligence or intrinsic awareness which all beings possess. It means seeing non-dualistically, rather than in the usual dualistic object-subject dichotomy. By definition, delusion is dualistic, while non-duality is ultimate wisdom. Dzogchen doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with Buddhism. It is the pure and perfect nature of all things. ~ Lama Surya Das Because awareness is self-existing, there is no effort needed or anyone who can make an effort to get it or lose it. The natural state is never lost. It is not an appearance and therefore can never disappear. It is always the same – it is not an entity. Realise that the conceptual thinker and conceptual thoughts seemingly obscure the non-conceptual natural state. Pause a thought even for an instant and the natural state is fully evident. STOP and SEE. In the seeing, pure awareness gets used to itself. ~ Sailor bob adamson

insightful article by Jiddu Krishnamurti on the state of nondual perception... https://www.jkrishnamurti.org/content/awareness

Boundary lines, of any type, are never found in the real world itself, but only in the imagination of the mapmakers. ~ Ken Wilber Great knowledge sees all in one. Small knowledge breaks down into the many. ~ Chuang Tzu Awareness is that state of mind which observes something without any condemnation or acceptance, which merely faces the thing as it is. When you look at a flower nonbotanically, then you see the totality of the flower; but if your mind is completely taken up with the botanical knowledge of what the flower is, you are not totally looking at the flower. Though you may have knowledge of the flower, if that knowledge takes the whole ground of your mind, the whole field of your mind, then you are not looking totally at the flower. ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti

Most eastern martial arts have a philosophical component to them. The native Indian martial art of Kalaripayattu has two main styles, the northern that is basically focused on self-defense and physical fitness, while the southern style is focussed more on spiritual development and inner peace. Many elements of Kalaripayattu were also adopted by the kathakali dance form and dancers to refine their art and dancing technique. Many elderly people similarly learn and practice Tai Chi for health benefits related to arthiritis, better proprioception which prevent falls and improved quality of life. So you can see here martial arts involve not just fighting but also spiritual development, self-healing as well as development of dancing technique. Kalaripayattu philosophy also states that the act of fighting in a battle should be performed without involvement of personal anger, hatred, or any emotion, but with a calm state of mind in which the warrior is unattached to those emotions. Fighting thus constitutes Karma yoga and will not generate any karma or suffering. The true battle thus is with the lower or false self and all actions are performed with this perspective in mind. Actions performed with self-aggrandizement begets a lot of karma and psychological suffering. Defeat begets a lot of psychological pain. Even if victorious for a long time, chances of a younger and better skilled opponent coming up is always there, along with injuries and old age reducing one's fitness and skill leading to possible defeat. This is evident in sports all the time. Victory in battle and sport may bring happiness, but this is also short-lived. You don't see victorious soldiers and athletes looking happy all the time. Many suffer from burnout or psychological issues like PTSD, and some even never recover from psychological ailments. Thus learning martial arts just for the sake of momentary victory in battle was considered superficial and shallow, and philosophical components were possibly added to them. Techniques were similarly shaped reflecting these philosophical principles. This enabled the practitioners to gain intellectual and spiritual benefits from them as well which were long lasting. Siddhartha excelled in archery, swordsmanship and horse-riding and won some competitions in this regard, but we all know that these skills and victories did not bring him any lasting happiness. Constant happiness is an outcome of self-conquest or enlightenment, and cost-benefit analysis shows that this is the true worthy prize for a champion.

Feelings, even the best of them, turn to negativity - disappointment, anger, discontent, resentment, jealousy, guilt, etc. A good feeling starts off being elevating, exciting, like taking a drug substance, alcohol or having sex. But what goes up must come down and feelings are no exception. So in a couple of hours or days the down side starts and you perhaps wonder why you feel moody, depressed, suicidal or just plain unhappy. ~ Barry Long The pure state is who you are but the emotions try to emulate the 'aliveness' of being through dramatization and create nervous exhaustion. ~ Burt Harding Nothing out there will ever satisfy you except temporarily and superficially, but you may need to experience many disillusionments before you realize that truth. Things and conditions can give you pleasure, but they will also give you pain. Things and conditions can give you pleasure, but they cannot give you joy. Nothing can give you joy. Joy is uncaused and arises from within as the joy of Being. ~ Eckhart Tolle The root of all desires is the one desire: to come home, to be at peace. ~ Jean Klein

Equanimity is a perfect, unshakable balance of mind.- Nyanaponika Thera Maintaining equanimity of mind in all situations should be our focus. It verily is the goal. - Mata Amritanandamayi Equanimity of Mind is Yoga . ~ Krishna (BG 2:48) Equanimous mind gives rise to a heightened awareness. - Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Your mindfulness will only be as robust as the capacity of your mind to be calm and stable. Without calmness, the mirror of mindfulness will have an agitated and choppy surface and will not be able to reflect things with any accuracy. - Jon Kabat-Zinn

In their quest for happiness, people mistake excitement of the mind for real happiness. ~ Sayadaw U pandita Many people think excitement is happiness.... But when you are excited you are not peaceful. True happiness is based on peace. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh Excitement always has an opposite; sooner or later the pendulum swings back to boredom or depression. Excitement depends upon an emotional attachment to something, perhaps a new home or a compliment. Inwardly, you may attach yourself to a daydream or a hope of getting rich. But these excitements have no stability; they wear off. So you are kept in a nervous search for more excitement, which exhausts you. But when you find inner liberty you are free from anxious dependence upon contrived thrills. Then you are happy. You are happy whether or not you get the new home, or whether or not your daydream comes true." ~ Vernon Howard The discovery that peace, happiness and love are ever-present within our own Being, and completely available at every moment of experience, under all conditions, is the most important discovery that anyone can make. ~ Rupert Spira

An insightful saying by Ajahn Brahm on the nature of desire and freedom... In eastern philosophy, a mind full of desires is likened to that of a slave in the sense that the person is manipulated by his desires unconsciously even against his discretion and free will. So a citizen enjoying political freedom, but filled with numerous desires and lacking self-mastery and contentment , is not free or enjoying freedom in the real sense of the term.

Happiness is self-generated as the mind becomes still. As we become involved with the desires of the world, we lose that centering, that stillness. ~ Dr. Frederick Lenz Happiness arises from within. It is a quality of your innate nature. Thoughts distract you from consciously abiding in and enjoying your innate nature. Thoughts create all desires and desires can be all-consuming. Your mind can convince you that attaining a particular object of desire will make you happy. The truth is that when your mind is still, a natural feeling of happiness arises within you. Your true nature is causeless and living causeless happiness is your natural state of being. ~ Jac O' Keeffe For most people to be happy, there has to be a person, place, or thing involved in their happiness. In true happiness, there are no things involved. It's a natural state. You will abide in that state forever. ~ Robert Adams

Self-awareness is yoga. ~ Nisargadatta Maharaj Awareness is ever there. It need not be realized. Open the shutter of the mind, and it will be flooded with light. ~ Nisargadatta Maharaj Deepen and broaden your awareness of yourself and all the blessings will flow. You need not seek anything, all will come to you most naturally and effortlessly. ~ Nisargadatta Maharaj A quiet mind is all you need. All else will happen rightly, once your mind is quiet. As the sun on rising makes the world active, so does self-awareness affect changes in the mind. In the light of calm and steady self-awareness, inner energies wake up and work miracles without any effort on your part. ~ Nisargadatta Maharaj

Identities have functional utility. Beyond that, if they are seen as a source of selfhood through emotional attachment, they can be a potential source of conflict. The terms Christian, Muslim, Jew, American, Russian, Chinese,Bosnian, Serb, male, female can have functional utility. But if an emotional self is attached to them, they can become a source of emotivity, conflict and violence. Good people are those who can embrace these identities for their functional utility alone. Those who lack self-knowledge are the ones who imbue their functional identities with emotional attachment so as to create an artificial sense of self to desperately hold on to.

The great perfection is non-conceptual awareness. ~ Dzogchen True self-knowledge is nothing but awareness itself, naked and unadorned by any concepts. ~ Gilbert Schultz There is only this moment, the now. That is all there is. All else is imagined. ~ Adam Oakley The cause, the 'who' or the 'me', has no substance or independent nature of itself. It is just an imagined thing based on past events, experiences and conditioning. ~ Sailor Bob Adamson Be what you are 100% - then there is no room for a 'me' to play havoc with the concept of identity. ~ Gilbert Schultz

You are the unchangeable Awareness in which all activity takes place. ~ H.W. Poonja We are not separate from the Natural Awareness we experience within the present moment. ~ Metta Zetty You are primal awareness. Life is only primal awareness. Between two thoughts or two perceptions you are. You know moments in your life when a thought completely disappears into silence, but still you are. ~ Dr. Jean Klein “You realize your true identity as consciousness itself, rather than what consciousness has identified with. That's the peace of God. The ultimate truth of who you are is not I am this or I am that, but I Am.”― Eckhart Tolle The truth is you really are nothing, but this nothing is full, whole, infinite in everything and everywhere. This nothing is conciousness itself. It is already whole, complete and fulfilled. This is the amazing irony. ~ Gangaji

This is very intelligently and eloquently put. Thank you for this. Yes, I would like to put a similar saying of Thich Nhat Hanh over here to reiterate it... “The secret of Buddhism is to remove all ideas, all concepts, in order for the truth to have a chance to penetrate, to reveal itself.”

The Self is pure consciousness. ~ Ramana Maharshi Remove the ego and avidya (ignorance) is gone. Look for it, the ego vanishes and the real Self alone remains.~ Ramana Maharshi To be free from bondage the wise person must practice discrimination between One-Self and the ego-self. By that alone you will become full of joy, recognizing Self as Pure Being, Consciousness and Bliss. ~ Adi Shankaracharya When I say, ‘Meditate on the Self’ I am asking you to be the Self, not think about it. Be aware of what remains when thoughts stop. Be aware of the consciousness that is the origin of all your thoughts. Be that consciousness. ~ Annamalai Swami Tayumanuvar, a Tamil saint whom Bhagavan (Ramana Maharshi) often quoted, wrote in one of his poems: ‘My Guru merely told me that I am consciousness. Having heard this, I held onto consciousness. What he told me was just one sentence, but I cannot describe the bliss I attained from holding onto that one simple sentence. Through that one sentence I attained a peace and a happiness that can never be explained in words.’ —Annamalai Swami: Final Talks, pages 67–68.

I am not highly knowledgeable on this subject, but this is the input I can give. As per yoga masters, yoga or meditation should be performed on an empty stomach, as well as with empty bowels, if possible. (I would say this goes for mental clarity as well, and not just for meditation.) Meditation is much more easier that way. Or else, the chances of an agitated mind is high, which can be detrimental to meditation and the objective of creating an equanimous mind which sets the platform for awareness. If you are observant or keep a log, you can perceive these patterns for yourself. During certain periods of time, or bodily conditions, mental agitation tends to arise. Knowing this, one can resolve these issues by employing proper techniques and tools.

You are awareness. Awareness is another name for you. Since you are awareness there is no need to attain or cultivate it. ~ Ramana Maharshi Your true nature is awareness and not what your mind is producing. ~ Burt Harding The more you identify with your mind, the further away you are from your Self (awareness). ~ Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev Awareness is who we are and forgetting that leads to suffering. ~ Vicki Woodyard Mind is nothing but the absence of your presence. ~ Eckhart Tolle

But grace is won through purushartha (self-effort). You win grace in proportion to purushartha performed. A man who has understood by his intelligence the superficiality, illusion and danger (of entrapment) of all sensory pleasures through direct observation or hard experience, will obviously endeavor earnestly to gain joy and bliss of a more lasting sort. It is such earnest effort that attracts grace. Also, in this inauspicious time of the Kali Yuga where stark imbalances in nature , religious and national conflicts and threat of a nuclear holocaust arising, it is all the more important that all people should endeavor to learn about nondual perception and put it into practice, rather than waiting for grace to hand it over to them. Nondual perception or meditative mind can heal dramatically much of the fissures and deep wounds in nature and humanity. This is highly practical as it enhances economic and survival potential for the human species , and mark great strides in spiritual and material prosperity for all beings. Anyone in their right mind would consciously choose overall prosperity over destruction at any chosen time. Right view, understanding and knowledge can enable them to make correct judgments that can bring this about. I have read accounts of people having brief moments of nondual perception by serendipity (and not choice), considering it a very beautiful experience , and seeking explanations for the same, hoping to repeat it. They did not know that it is their natural state, and was ignorant of its mechanism. If one knows the mechanics behind it, one would obviously replicate it at will or keep it a steady state if needed or possible. (Grace perhaps may also mean that the person has gained the fitness for higher sources of happiness other than sensory pleasures due to contemplation, correct reasoning and views.) 'If there is no meditation, then you are like a blind man in a world of great beauty, light and colour.' ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti

The Self stands beyond the mind. ~ Nisargadatta Maharaj All happiness comes from awareness. ~ Nisargadatta Maharaj The Self (awareness) alone can give you happiness. All happiness is from the Self. All trouble, sorrow and suffering is from the mind. ~ H.W.Poonja If you do not mess your mind, you will naturally be joyful. ~ Jaggi Vasudev

This shows clearly that you have not done your scholarly due diligence or homework, and have faulty premises or weak foundations for your arguments, and this is why you are unable to perceive, and more importantly attain the joy of the Buddha nature present within yourself. Buddha in the Kesamutti Sutta have emphasized independent investigation and knowing for oneself, instead of depending upon the words of others... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kesamutti_Sutta The Kesamutti Sutta states : He emphasizes independent investigation and inquiry in the Ghanavyuha sutra as well. 'O monks and wise men, just as a goldsmith would test his gold by burning, cutting and rubbing it, so must you examine my words and accept them, not merely out of reverence for me.' ~ Buddha ( ghanavyuha sutra )(Sutra of Dense Array) He is not a salesman promising heaven in return for blind faith in him or his teachings. Independent and critical examination of his teachings and practices is also part of the Buddhist doctrine, so that faith if developed, will be based on solid experiences of one's own, and not just others testimony.

Okay. Let us agree to disagree then.