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yajvan
01 January 2009, 10:28 AM
hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~

Namasté

I have heard on several occasions in the last week the notion of 'escape from reality' , or ' people what to escape, to take a break from reality'…. I thought how odd.

What 'reality' are these people thinking of? I was reminded of one thing Svāmī Kṛṣṇānanda said - the affirmation of a reality independent of what reality really is, is called the ego.

That is, this 'escape' is not from reality that is sattā, Being, wholeness, joyfulness, but the from a 'reality' of duality, of multiplicity, fragmentation - being pulled left and right by the senses, which is tiring - it is this they want a break from. They wish to regain svasthatā, well being.

Svāmī Kṛṣṇānanda also suggests that this affirmation of individuality, jivatva, is something separate from the organic structure of creation that is cause of the sorrow and suffering of the jiva. He says, births and deaths are metered out to the individual in order that it ( the jiva) may be reformed in the field of experience in the world for the purpose of enabling it to return to the normal state of consciousness which is universality of Being.

People seem to know innately that there is more then just 'this' - meaning duality, fragmentation, thrashing. Yet many take this as 'reality' only due to the condition they experience every day - it is quite real to them.
Yet this many times is the motivator ( me thinks) i.e. the fragmentation, duality, contradiction, etc. that puts many on the quest for something greater. This 'apparent reality' plays its role to push and prod people to look for something that has greater joy (kam), but anchored in peace, even-ness (sāma).

In the Chāndogya Upaniṣad, chapter 7, Sanatkumāra-ji says to Nārada - my dear Nārada, happiness is not anywhere and yet it is everywhere; it is in the completeness of Being you can find happiness.
This dismay of the 'apparent reality' is the first step on the path. This path, called adhva, or adhvan, always seems to have two ways: the one path you are on, and the other of where you wish to be.

praṇām

saidevo
02 January 2009, 08:58 PM
Namaste Yajvan.



That is, this 'escape' is not from reality that is sattA, Being, wholeness, joyfulness, but the from a 'reality' of duality, of multiplicity, fragmentation - being pulled left and right by the senses, which is tiring - it is this they want a break from. They wish to regain svasthatA, well being.


Yes, it is ironical that people seek to 'escape from the reality' (thinking that the apparent reality of the duality of life is the Reality), whereas they should actually seek to 'escape into the Reality'!

Let us try to ponder the difficulty to associate oneself with the 'real' Reality from the POV of a layperson in his/her daily life.

• When I look at my hand, I know it is 'mine'--it is not 'me' or 'I'. However, when I look at my face in the mirror, I see it as 'me' or 'I'--not as 'mine'. It is strange that while I can see all the other outer parts of my body (even my back to some extent) I can't see my face without the aid of a mirror! So I conclude that my face is 'me' or 'I' for the simple reason that it is not known to me except as a mirror image (in a mirror or photograph). In other worlds, I believe the reflection to be the reality in this case.

• As with my waking life, I have no direct visual perception of my face in my dreams, yet my face is the only reality I associate with 'me' in my dreamlife experiences. But then there is neither me nor my face in deep sleep; enlightened people tell me that this faceless reality is the Reality--the 'Real I or Me', which is the same for all beings of life. I scarcely believe that third state to be more real than the other two states of my existence, for the simple reason that I have no face in that state, and so I don't remember how I was in that state.

• Thus in any case I need a face to face the reality. Every being in this universe has a face; even my God has a face! Face is said to be the index of the mind but for me it is the index of the Reality. Face is what readily distinguishes one being from another within the same gender of the species.

• Why is the face so important--even ubiquitous? When I think it over from my current level of exposure to spirituality (I am a layperson remember), I find that four out of the five jnanendriyas (organs of perception) are housed in it. That leads me to a weird thinking: if the human beings are just self-sustaining faces with no bodies, with only speech and facial expressions to communicate, there will be no strife in this world at all! Universal peace and happiness will prevail because nobody--or rather no face--needs anything more than the other to sustain itself!

• I also find that speech, which is perhaps the most vital of the five karmendriays (organs of action) and mind, which is the force behind and the field of action all the indriyas is housed in my face (which is synonymous with head). Apart from my physical self, even my emotions, feelings and thoughts are mostly associated with a face or have their own faces. Do disembodied souls and ghosts have a face? Sri Yuktesvar, guruji of Yogananda tells me that they do: a person retains his/her appearance even in the afterlife.

• Why are the humans provided with a body, the trunk then? This thought brings up the answer that the body is for the sole purpose of procreation--the means to multiplicity. Even as the body indulges in the selfless act of procreation (which is the desire to give and share), it is the body that gives me the feeling of 'my' and 'mine' (which is the desire to take and possess).

Although I am thus faced with the overwhelming reality of the face, I have a vague but distinct feeling that this reality cannot be the Reality because its face is ever changing! For something to be real, the wise people tell me, it needs to remain unchanged in time and space; they also tell me that it needs to remain unchanged in the all the states of human existence.

I guess then, that I need to escape the reality of the face into the reality of the faceless, unchanging, absolute. For this I would need to learn to efface the faces in my thoughts, feelings and action, including my own face, and get used to the realization the face is nothing more than--a facade!

yajvan
02 January 2009, 11:20 PM
hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~

Namasté saidevo,


I guess then, that I need to escape the reality of the face into the reality of the faceless, unchanging, absolute. For this I would need to learn to efface the faces in my thoughts, feelings and action, including my own face, and get used to the realization the face is nothing more than--a facade!

Your post was inspiring and insightful to read, thank you.
We live in this duality, this differentiated state of awareness some call vikalpa विकल्प variation, variety , diversity awareness.

To 'loose ones face' then is to move from the varied , differentiated state to a condition of undifferentiated fullness.

The Svaccanda Tantra says it something like this, When you fix your awareness not only in two, but in three, you are carried to God Consciousness and you become one with Svaccanda (Bhairava).

What's this? It suggests going from 2 to 3 ! How can 'more' bring 'less' ? This 2 we know as the opposites found in diversity, multiplicity ( vikalpa ). What then is the sense of going to 3?
The awareness of two, dvaya द्वय or two fold, suggest me ( the experiencer), and everything else I perceive or that which is experienced. Yet this śloka suggests 3 brings a-dvaya or a=not + dvaya=two.
The wisdom of 3 (trika) suggests the gap between the 2 or the junction called saṁdhyā (some write sandhyā), the 3rd place of awareness. It is at the junction that turya ( the 4th) can be found.
That is , between any two (dvaya) such as the inhaled breath and the exhaled breath, between thought 1 and a new thought 2, between sensation 1 and sensation 2, there is this saṁdhyā ( junction ) that is neither 1 or 2 and hence is called the 3rd, the mahdya मध्य, the middle, standing between 2, a 'neutral' if you will.
This is where one can find this turya, this Divine Awareness. Differentiated awareness (vikalpa) does not exist here. This is the 'escape route' TO Reality and it exists in the pseudo-reality many think is the ~real~. This is the māyā one swims in every day... that just between thought 1 and thought 2 , resides the fabric of Reality that, without it, all 'this' could not exist. Yet many see the 'thought' as reality and not the fabric that underlies and supports it.

It is the 3rd that many a sadhu is developing and practicing to reside in this turya - then it is turīyātīta, beyond the 4th, stable and lived at all times, we call it the SELF.

Thank you again for a most insightful post.

praṇām