dwai

Not everyone needs to be a sadguru. Such “individuals” appear once in many generations and provide inspiration for millions of jivas to become Self-realized. There’s that famous parable of the lion cub who was raised in a herd of sheep. Even after he was fully grown, he bleated, ate grass and cowered at the roar of other lions and hid with the other sheep. One day a lion attacked the herd and only this sheep-lion was left behind. The lion asked the sheep-lion, “why are you bleating and cowering?” Sheep-lion replied, “but you are a lion and I’m a sheep. We are afraid of you as you eat us.” Lion told him, “are you sure you are a sheep?” sheep-lion said, “of course. I’ve been a sheep since I can remember.” lion took him to a pond, and told him to look in the water. In the reflection the sheep-lion of course saw two fully grown lions. In an instant he realized he had always been a lion, and never a sheep. He roared at the top of his lungs and his delusion of having been a sheep evaporated Yes. Once the ice cube is in the ocean, does it have a choice but to melt?

It is not as hard as it seems. People have a tendency to over-complicate things There is no such thing as "incomplete jnani" -- a jnani is one who knows, directly, without any doubt, their true nature. You think the Rishis from whose mouths we got the Vedas were Sanyasis? Almost all of them, were "householders". The Brihadāranyaka Upanishad was a conversation between Rishi Yajnavalkya and his wife Maitreyi (if memory serves me right, he had two wives -- Maitreyi and Katyayani Gargi. The traditional way was to fulfill all four stages of the varnashrama dharma with a few exceptions. Though it must be said, the context of the Brihadarnyaka Upanishad is right before Yajnavalkya becomes a sanyasi.

Ramana maharshi used to say, “true sanyasa is simply in dropping of attachment and clinging”… There are two kinds of sanyasa - * vividhisha sanyasa * vidvata sanyasa the first is that of the seeker - who might renounce their personal identity and dedicate themselves to seeking the second is that of the jnani, who, by being stable in their true nature, naturally stops the clinging and aversion business.

Main thing about standing is to learn the correct alignments and learning to suspend from the martial crown. Once you learn how to suspend the crown, and get into correct alignment, just breathe and release the muscles in the upper chest downward. The weight should not crash down on your joints (hips, knees, ankles), the weight should go to the ground — correct alignment will ensure that. suspend the crown Tuck the chin slightly so your eyes end up looking a bit below the horizon line. tuck your tailbone as if you’re sitting on a barstool or a large beach ball bend your knees slightly so they are not locked lean your upper body slightly forward at the hips, just enough so that that you’re not falling forward keep your toes straight and parallel to each other release the muscles in your upper chest (like your pectoral muscles are sliding off the chest down towards your belly) Relax and breath softly, gently into your lower abdomen Be patient — like you have nothing else to do, no checking time, etc. just wait and observe. rest your finger tips lightly on your upper thighs, shoulders down, elbows and slightly out to the sides and sinking downward

I went through a phase in my life where I would frequently face multiple opponents in dreams -- initially in physical confrontations, and after I started my spiritual practices, in psychic confrontations. The multiple opponents could be due to the fact that I was attacked by about sixteen guys (from a rival school) when I was in high school -- ambushed one evening while I was walking home on a desolate little side-road -- it was a most traumatic event -- I was helpless -- there was no way I could fight off those many guys...so a cycle of shame, guilt, self-loathing (eventually) started. That led to all sorts of psychological and physiological problems for me, that took more than 20 years to resolve... After I started my spiritual practices, I was going through an especially difficult period, when a yogi visited me in a dream, and told me to practice a mantra. I woke up chanting the mantra under my breath, and I practiced it daily, as he told me to -- the problems started resolving themselves within 2 weeks -- I mean serious existential ones. And then, I somehow knew how to use the mantra in my dreams to deal with troubles (especially psychic ones) -- when I'd find certain unsavory characters come at me, I'd form the "sword finger" in my dream, say the mantra mentally and the characters would literally disappear into a puff of smoke. This became a specific pattern for many years -- often these types of characters would appear (sometimes in the form of loved ones, family members, etc) -- and the mantra would make them disappear. When I started doing Aikido, I'd have dreams where these "enemies" would attack me, and I'd do the aikido techniques on them, but they'd just roll and jump right back....so frustrating. After I had the realization one day, the next few times these dream "enemies" stopped by, instead of fighting them or vanquishing them, I decided to lovingly hug them, knowing them to be my own Self, and lo and behold! they merged into me. There is no longer the "forgetting" my 'Self' in dreams...

Care to share more on that? I've had similar "revelations" in dreams, maybe we can exchange notes (also wondering if our shared lineage has some role in this)...

Yes.

The martial arts aren't just for the body...they are also for the mind.

I’ve found most of what’s been written to be true for me, in my little journey. A wonderful thing happens if we can step out of the way, so to speak and see the patterns emerge, enmesh with each other and evolve. At the root of these “pathologies” is the fear of death. Death manifests in different ways — as death of a persona we uphold in our minds, as death of ideas and beliefs, death of our physical abilities, death of older pathologies that drive us towards “self-improvement” and “cultivation”. All these fears are essentially rooted in the fear of non-existence, that one day we will be gone, and that we will cease to be. But nothing is farther from that — the “we” that we are, is indestructible, incorruptible, impossible to vanquish and will never cease to be. But the martial arts which we use as shields and weapons to avoid the seeming inevitability of our demise, also can become the tools for liberation — we can transcend the obsession with methods and our craving for more (and more). They can help us transcend fear, little by little, take us into direct presence of our inner/true nature and pull the proverbial rug of opposition from under our feet!

That’s Greek

The laughing emoji is in appreciation of the fine art of "insider" directions -- "Don't go to butchers where the Jamaican ladies don't line up " Usually, I've seen if you go to good south Asian butcher shops, you get good meat (most big ethnic grocery stores have attached butcher shops unless they are explicitly vegetarian). Befriend the butcher and the store manager and they'll even let you know when the best stuff arrives

Check if you have Indian stores nearby. They usually have good goat meat

making my signature goat curry — marinate 2 lb goat leg cut up in small pieces with turmeric (1 tsp), cumin powder (1 tsp), red chili powder (1/2 tsp), dried fenugreek leaves crushed (1 tspn), olive oil (1 tbspn). Roast onion (1 large), ginger (2 tspn), tomato (2 large), cilantro (1 bunch) and then blend into a paste. 2 large russet potatoes cubed and roasted. Stir in the goat with the potatoes, stir fry for 4 minutes, add in the curry paste and add salt to taste. cook in a pressure cooker or in slow cooker with optional 1/2 cup of water. Add enough water to not let the dish dry out while cooking.

Minimal conditional ignorance

This is called “lesha avidya”

There certainly can be an oscillation initially between the old habits and the unchanging Self, in the mind. It is the mind which is deluded or is illuminated. It’s a bit different from lucid dreaming in my experience/understanding. In (typical) lucid dreaming, the dreamer’s identification is with the waker, not the unchanging true nature. So there is effort required to gain “control” in the dream. When realization happens, many things automatically change and shift to align with this original identification. For example, fear of death disappears. Most old habits lose their power, and so on. Main thing is that the recognition of our True Nature remains throughout the 3 states of waking, dreaming and deep sleep. Old patterns arise in the dream state and can be released/dissolved. This kind of “lucid” dreaming I found was effortless — not as the waker but as that which recognizes itself in the dream objects/beings that appear before it. Same thing happens also in the waking state.

The arguments are age-old, across multiple traditions. Because the individual strives and works hard towards realization, but that which is realized, once realized, turns the individual transparent. it is a very subtle shift, but is permanent. Preparation is gradual, complex and difficult, realization is sudden, simple and easy. Because after realization it becomes apparent that all the effort, time and complexity was unnecessary — paradoxical, at the same time, the time, effort and complexity did happen. Is there a causal relationship between the two? Not really, because one is already what they’re seeking.

For the transactional context, sure. Imagine you wake up with amnesia on the set of a play. You believe it is “real” and act and behave like that — enemies are enemies, friends are friends, love and hate with total conviction. Then one day you realize that it is just a play. What happens to that conviction and seriousness? Won’t it just become a play? Sure enjoy the play while it lasts. You’ll be in deep trouble if you take it seriously ... unable to get off the ride Nothing wrong with memories...they are the rules of the play. I’m not even referring to the head when I say mind or memory. Memory isn’t in the body at all...it’s all in the “cloud”, it has always been in the cloud. The local memory of the body is simply a cache of a limited set of events and things needed to boot up this play/game. this is where I would disagree. The source is nothing but consciousness. There is nothing apart from the source — there is no taomeow apart from the source (aka consciousness). so a person with Alzheimer’s is a doorknob? Things don’t become conscious because of memory. Memories are possible because you are conscious. A doorknob has no purpose for existence without some conscious being with the memory of how and why to use the doorknob. A conscious being doesn’t need a doorknob to exist. Actually it doesn’t. I just showed you that memory depends on consciousness — consciousness is perfectly happy and contented to be without memory or any other thing.

That really depends on the framework one subscribes to, doesn’t it? If the original (enlightened consciousness) is a memory, then it is a thing of the past. I would suggest that Consciousness pure is no a memory at all. It is an active presence that illuminates everything. Rather all these different embodied personalities, such as one’s 6-year personality, 6-month personality, and so on are memories, encrusted and stored in the mental apparatus. That which makes repetitive patterns rise again and again are not memories per se, imho. They are tendencies which are reinforced because of the lack of clarity of one’s true nature as unaffected, unattached pure consciousness — the attachment to these personalities. I would also suggest that absolutely no gap is left in the universe because these personalities are just projections of consciousness upon consciousness. Consciousness is ever complete, spotless.

feel free to share your thoughts...

All is One. One is All. Why resist? Why cling? Freedom lies in between... Resistance and clinging. Let go, just be.

Thought we could have a little poetry thread going. Whenever you feel inspired, type out a few verses of original poetry. No rules need to be followed. Here’s one I wrote a few minutes back — The Battle of lofty heights Looked up and what did I see? A battlefield in the sky... Clouds on two sides facing each other, lined up for a melee. Like fluffy spacecrafts high above With perforated sails... They lurch and charge repeatedly, But with drunken ant-like gait. And just as it begun, It was over too.... The sky a clear slate of blue. Not a trace of either side, Only a resplendent azure hue!

Are there really subdivisions in consciousness? Or is it in the minds?

Getting news of people passing away — young people. My classmate from school lost his younger sister today — I’ve seen her since she was a toddler — couldn’t have been older than 40! The situation is dire — the people who’re succumbing are affluent and are able to get to hospitals. I shudder to think of the plight of the underprivileged who don’t even have access to hospitals!