dwai

I can't dance. I can't talk. Only thing about me is the way I walk. ~ Genesis.

There is only one true identity. And that identity is free of all attachments. Its very nature is bliss, joy, love, awareness. Only by eschewing all the transitory identifications can we realize our true identity. The problem becomes when we don't have a framework to believe in, while we are working towards that objective (of finding out our true nature or true identity). What do you believe in? There are two ways to go about it (here you means anyone). Find a system that you find most plausible and devote yourself to following it's directions Don't believe in any system but have the conviction of intent to not give up whatever course of enquiry you have undertaken, sort like "moon or bust" type attitude. Don't give up, no matter what the outcome might be. Keep at the enquiry doggedly. The purpose to live is to find out who is it that is suffering? To feel that there's nothing to get happiness from or no purpose to live is also a type of suffering. Who is it that is feeling this way? Like the question above, it also indicates that there is someone who is feeling these pains. Who is it that is feeling these pains? If you find this answer, you will find out who you really are. All you need to do is seek the one who is suffering. Find out if that person even exists. If that person doesn't exist (ie the one who is suffering), then is there suffering at all? It is akin to playing a role of a victim of a terrible fate in a play and forgetting that it is just a role, and suffering the character's victimhood.

I don't have privs to move. Did you mean @dawei?

If it works...why not

The more I reside in the heart, the less I find the need to look for differences like "us and them". At one point I used to think it was necessary to be "discriminating", to be able to tell "the wheat from the chaff". But when seeing from the "heart", there IS no separation, all are ONE. Like Lao Tzu had said, "Most people laugh when they hear my words". What is this opening of the heart that is being talked about? That is a great mystery. One cannot understand it by using the thinking mind. If you replace Tao with Brahman, you will see they are not different.

Stay with that sound and go deeper

Rest your mind on instead of “focus” on your heart chakra and see what happens

Problems we have with syntax. Darned thing starts as soon as there is more than one 😜 🙏🏾🙇🏻

Yes agreed. But I find that it sublimates issues people have with me vs you, mine vs yours, and so on to a large extent. Perhaps better than "One" it would be "Non-separate".

There are also varying thoughts on where 3rd chakra is located. Some people think it is the solar plexus (and so did I). But, now I find that it is the navel.

Agreed

I've not met Nisargadatta Maharaj in person, but per all reports, he was considered enlightened. Swami Chinmayananda was considered enlightened. There are many buddhist masters who are considered enlightened and have/had drinking habits, smoking habits, etc. Reading his teachings have had a HUGE impact on me. I don't think I'm qualified to judge people like him. I don't think awakening has anything to do with how the personality continues to behave. There are plenty of stories of crazy wisdom type awakened masters through the ages.

My friend and I were talking about this (in context of Nidhidhyasana). We should be able to tell between wants and needs. If there is "like/dislike", it is a want. A desire (just like Jeff pointed out). Nidhidhyasana is to see each like/dislike as they arise and avoid negate them consciously. For instance, he spoke about the issue of food habits or drinking alcohol. Do you want it? Do you need it? For instance, some people might need meat from a physiological basis. But for most it is a "want" (a like or preference). So then see what happens when you actively deny yourself it. Do you feel it negatively affects your life? We also know of masters like Nisargadatta Maharaj being heavy smokers. Swami Chinmayananda used to use snuff (tobacco).

I find my likes and dislikes losing their "power". They still exist but they don't bother me much. I'm just a nobody. Who knows how it is/was for great sages like Ramana Maharshi?

There is a statement that not even all deities are "enlightened" per se. So it is not unusual to find that deities have likes and dislikes too. When I responded to your OP, I was thinking about past life Samskaras, etc. But those samskaras remain only until one is fully awakened. It seems awakening is not enough. There has to be a clearing too...falling away of the vasanas/samskaras completely. That said, it seems that the prarabdha (already set in motion) karma has to play out, simply because of the condition of the body existing. So, some of these will show up and then the "free one" recognizes them as they rise, and takes no action.

I think like and dislike is okay as long as we don’t cling to them. For example, you have a cold and you can’t get yourself to drink a milkshake. Leaving aside the physiological aspects of why, you “dislike” milkshakes at that point. Should you continue to dislike milkshakes when you are feeling better, just because it has become a “habit”, or if your identity depends on being the “guy who hates milkshakes”, then it will become a neurosis (or whatever technical term is applicable). I hope I made sense

https://www.arshabodha.org/adiShankara/DrigDrishya-9.pdf

Maybe it is part of the "awakening"? Its not a on-off binary thing it seems. More we immerse back into the world, more we find we have to release to become "Free-er"?

Only thing I can say is Sat Chit Ananda

https://ia800806.us.archive.org/29/items/VasisthaSYogaSwamiVenkatesananda/Vasistha-s-Yoga-Swami-Venkatesananda.pdf

In my opinion, each of us go through precisely the journey that we need to go through and nothing else. For some it might not be necessary to practice forgiveness. For others it might be. I think forgiveness is a powerful tool to, to use in removal of dualistic mentations. It is a form of non-attachment. I suspect the word "forgiveness" connotes a transaction. It is not. Imho, it is a relinquishment, a letting go.

Thank you too Yes i can see that. However, the empirical fact is that most people in this world operate primarily from the "rational mind". So the mental patterns of judgement, discrimination start getting programmed from very young ages. Would you not agree that this is a reality of the human condition? That's why various traditions have the exhortations to follow certain types of behaviors...yamas and Niyamas of Yoga or the Paramis and brahmaviharas of Buddhism. Isn't forgiveness also a result of loving kindness and non-attachment? A letting go of a position (of being negatively affected by someone else's (or one's own) actions or inactions)? As we all know, it is one thing to say we forgive someone and a totally different thing to actually forgive. Also thought I'd add the following -- For me, I found that when I'm not attached to any position, I don't experience others' actions as being inherently harmful to me. So even if there is no inherent lack of separateness, there is no defensive reaction to others' actions. Subsequently, when we realize that the separation between two individuals is apparent only, then no question of "forgiving" arises, as there is no separate being to forgive.

Reading all these exchanges (and I seldom come to the Buddhist discussions...so apologies to CT and others if I'm going astray), two things struck me. Love and Hatred as two opposite poles The concept of forgiveness Love (or non-hatred) is not a mental position at all. Hatred is. Love is the natural condition of the heart-mind. Hatred is an artificial "veil" created by the thinking mind. Whenever we 'see' from the heart-mind, we are in effect expressing love, seeing love and experiencing love. When we use our rational mind to 'see', we are creating divisions and separation and hatred is a very short path from there. Forgiveness - I thought that metta or Maitri (loving kindness) is one of the primary pre-conditions of Buddhist practices. So with that in mind, why is forgiveness not a natural result of that? Can one continue to exhibit metta without forgiveness? Isn't metta a result of operating from the heart-mind anyway? If so, then where is the case of "not forgiving"? I think others have pointed out that forgiveness is not something to give to the "other", but rather is a "letting go" of the sense of being wronged by another. Or in other words (a bit more deeper sense), forgiveness is about letting go of duality of me and you.

Also in terms of dream encounters, I've been having them for a long time. First time was during an exceptionally difficult time. I got laid off for a while during the economic downturn of early 2000s. I decided it was a good time to start a serious meditation and taijiquan practice, along with pranayama etc. As the weeks rolled into months, my despair at being out of work was growing. I prayed with all sincerity, asking for some divine help. That night an unknown yogi came to me in a dream and gave me a mantra to practice. I woke up and realized I had been chanting that mantra in my sleep. From that day it became my regular practice. Interestingly, within two weeks, I got a job. And though I've not seen that unknown benefactor after, the mantra has been a source of great love and peace to me. It's been almost 17 years since then. My personal connection to the deity of the mantra I realize goes beyond this lifetime.

Beautiful anecdotes, please keep them coming let me share my story. My first connection with a divine being was with Satya Sai Baba (who was not in corporeal state when I was first connected with him). My Master, who is also a huge Baba devotee started connecting me to him. i would see him in the inner eye while doing taiji at my master’s home and later at my home too. Eventually I started seeing him in these gigantic forms, like he was the world himself. One day I saw him enter my body through the crown point and settle down in my heart. In that instant I knew that he was not separate from me anymore. It was he who was looking through my heart at the universe. Fast forward several months from there, my master told me how he connects with others (from the heart/middle dantien). And the way I felt when Baba sits in my heart suddenly made sense. I started to experience unity with others, like I’d find myself in their hearts suddenly. Or I’d be walking and suddenly realize that I was walking on myself the road, seeing myself the dogs, people, trees, sky, and so on. there are a lot more stories, and yet to be given credits to fellow travelers (some are fellow bums here). But I’ll stop here now.