...On Being Human

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~

Namasté

on being human...

1. You will receive a body. You may like it, or hate it, but it's yours for the entire period this time around. A question that you may ponder is who received this body? Thus begins the lessons.

2. You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called life. Each day in this school you have the opportunity to learn lessons. You may like the lessons or not, you may think they're irrelevant and stupid, but you will be given lessons just the same.

3. There are no mistakes, only lessons. At times you will feel a mistake has been made, that is part of the lesson. Growth is a process of trial, error, and experimentation. Failed experiments are just as valid as the experiment that brings success.

4. A lesson is repeated until learned. A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it. When you have learned it, you can go to the next lesson. In many cases multiple lessons are in process. Periodically, the lesson will be re-presented to see if you still remember it.

5. Learning lessons does not end. There is no part of life that does not contain a lesson. If you are alive, there are lessons being offered. If no lesson is being presented, it is likely that you are no longer alive.

6. There is no place better than 'here'. When your 'there' has become a 'here', you will simply acquire another 'there'. That will again look better than 'here'.

7. Others (people that is) are simply mirrors of you. You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects something you love or hate about yourself.

8. What you make of your life is up to you. You are given the tools and resources needed. What you make of them is up to you; the choice is yours.

9. The ultimate answer lies inside you. One only needs to start the process of looking/experiencing within. If you continue to look outside your own realm then more lessons will be added.

10. You will (most likely) forget all this. This fact in and of itself is a lesson.

11. Once you fully wake-up the lesson plan has been completed. ( we end on number 11 owned by Rudra for obvious reasons)

praṇām

[Eastern Mind]

Awesome. Sometimes we forget, eh.

I received today a book of affirmations in tme mail, and as usual, I opened it randomly to see what would come up:

"If others harm me in thought, word, or deed, I do not resent it. Rather, I let it awaken compassion, kindness, and forgiveness."

Aum Namasivaya

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~

Namasté

I wrote

You will receive a body. You may like it, or hate it, but it's yours for the entire period this time around. A question that you may ponder is who received this body? Thus begins the lessons.

Maybe a look 'under the hood' will be of value.
We are considered dehina or dehin - the embodied ones. If we click down one more level we see this word deha¹ देह is to plaster, mould , or fashion the body. Another view of deha ( or body) is śarīra, that which is easily destroyed. Here is a way to look at this:

sthūla śarīra - or the gross body
sūkṣma śarīra - or the subtle body; some also call this the liṅga śarīra (liṅga meaning mark or sign)
karaṇa śarīra - causal body.Many read or heard of the 5 kośa-s¹ that reside in these 3 bodies - it's just another way of grouping and looking at the dehin - the embodied ones, in a different light. What then is the kośa-s covering? The Self, or ātman.
Lets take a look at these 5 kośa-s that are alluded to in the taittirīya upaniṣad (bhṛgu vallī or the 3rd chapter)

anna-maya kośa - the 'sheath of nourishment' , forming the sthūla-śarīra or gross body mentioned above
vijñāna-maya kośa + manomaya kośa + prāṇa-maya kośa - the 'sheath of intellect or will or life' , forming the sūkṣma-śarīra or subtle body
ānanda-maya kośa or 'sheath of happiness/joy' , forming the kāraṇa-śarīra or causal bodyLets group them more towards one's daily frame of reference:

Physical - anna-maya kośa - it is anna or food that makes our frame and nourishes us
Energy - prāṇa-maya kośa - the vital breath
Mental - manomaya kośa - manas is mind
Wisdom or Intellect - vijñāna-maya kośa , (some add-in buddhi-maya kośa to this) - vijñāna is vi+jñāna to discern (vi) + knowledge (jñāna)
Joy/Happiness - ānanda-maya kośa - some call this 'pure happiness', one of the three attributes of ātman or brahman in the vedānta The taittirīya upaniṣad informs us that each one of these coverings are an expression of Brahman:

food (anna) is Brahman
prāṇa (vital breath) is Brahman
mind (manas) is Brahman
understanding (vijñāna) is Brahman
happiness or joy (ānanda) is BrahmanIn this section of the taittirīya upaniṣad it is bhṛgu that is in search of the Supreme. His guru is Varuṇa. His guru directs him within. One of the teachings, as I see it, is that of looking within yet appreciating that all along the way, the 'scenery' is also Brahman.


In any event as these kośa-s cover the ātma we begin to experience limitations (niyati¹). This is where the challege to remember begins.
This also helps us better understand why the wise say we need to reverse the process (pratyāharā¹) to experience ātman or our Self - as these coverings that build up on the dehin. This IMHO is the matter at hand for the embodied ones.

praṇām

words


deha देह- to plaster , mould (fashion) the body ; form , shape , mass , bulk
dehin देहिन्- having a body , corporeal ; a person, creature some write dehinaḥ - embodied ones
śarīra शरीर that which is easily destroyed or dissolved ") the body , bodily frame , solid parts of the body
sthūla स्थूल - coarse , gross , rough. thick , stout , massive , bulky
sūkṣma सूक्ष्म - subtle , atomic , intangible
liṅgaṃ लिङ्गं- means 'mark' or 'sign'
karaṇa करण - doing, or causing
kośa कोशa case , covering ; a succession of cases which make up the various frames of the body enveloping ātma.
niyati नियति - restriction, restraint
pratyāharā प्रत्याहार - drawing back , withdrawal especially of the senses from external objects

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~

namaste

The kaṭhopaniṣad (2nd adhyāya) also calls us, that is the dehin - the embodied ones, from post #1 above, puram ekādaśa dvāram or the city (puri - city, fortress, town) of 11 ( ekā 1+ daśa10) gates (dvāra).
Now, just extending puram we have puruṣa. It is said this puruṣa पुरुष is pure śayati iti = dweller of the city.


These are the two notable concepts to consider. The dweller in the city (puri) and this city has 11 gates. We as the city (puram or puri) of 11 gates. 'Gates' inform us of entry and exit points. In the Upaniṣads, and even in the Bhāgavad gītā we are referred to as puruṣa, and sometimes pauruṣa पौरुष meaning manly or human, having 9, 10, or 11 gates.
What are these gates?

9 gates : 9 openings i.e. 2 eyes, 2 ears, 1 mouth, 2 nostrils, and 2 below the waist.
10 gates : 9 openings forementioned + the navel.
11 gates : 10 gates forementioned + vidrti विदृति or the opening in the top of skull (some call it the suture)So why mention this? Because it (again) gives us a clue to the question posted in post #1 above:

A question that you may ponder is who received this body? Thus begins the lessons

The śloka informs us that puram ekādaśa dvāram , that was just reviewed, belongs to One unborn (aja) of upright (avakra - straight)
mind (citta). We know this One as Brahman. for He is the one that is unborn, eternal, Supreme.

Hence from this śloka, we can then deduce that the One, becomes the many. That the dehin - the embodied ones, are truly an expression of the Supreme that throttles Itself back via the 5 kośa-s previously mentioned.
Hence the truth unfolds as etad vai tat , orThis is indeed That. As Brahman is known as tat-tva or That (tat) One (tva).

praṇām

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~

namaste


Awesome. Sometimes we forget, eh.

Sometimes we forget and then just one thing will trigger a correct memory. Sometimes its a view, a smell, a touch, and all the dots line up and one says 'what am I doing? what is this life, these actions I have been doing... something needs to change ( I need to change). '

That is one of the 'lessons' - the 'trigger' and the mind is opened, a new view is seen. I am sure many had these experiences - some call an epiphany, chance, a coincidence.


For the blessed, even a word or two from a competent guru is enough to bring one to full awareness of the Self.


praṇām

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~

namaste

I thought I would contribute just a bit more to this string as I was inspired by viewing some humans as of late.

One thing I find uncanny about humans: they do the same things (again and again) and expect different results.

I am sure you had this experience of mis-placing your keys and look and look. You ( as do I) return to the same room you just looked in to see if for some odd reason they chose to return there, even though you have checked it twice.

I see a few other things also... I see people ( in the west) get married 3,4, 5, 6 and yes 7 times. They must expect 'things will be different this time', but once again the relationship goes awry and one is back to grief. The person wishes to re-capture some happiness that was felt ( even for a fleeting moment) that was experienced. So they look, and try again. The laws of probability and possibily at work, hoping that this happiness or contentment of (___ fill in the blank___) occurs again. But to their chagrin it does not. It most cases ( not all) it is the other person that was 'just not right'; not them, but the others.

Also within this human experience is living in the field of the 3 guna-s; within the 31 tattva-s found in (non-dual) kaśmir śaivism and the 24 tattva-s from the sāṁkhya and vedānta schools. It makes one reside within the body or śarīra, 'that which is easily destroyed or dissolved', the bodily frame. We then think this is all that there is.
That is, for some, from birth to death, the only awareness that they have experienced is the cycle of wake-dream-sleep , again and again.
They never venture (or know) there is something more fundamental then these 3 cycles.
They then are considered the paśu – any tethered animal; a domesticated animal, compare this to a wild animal mṛga. The ~fence~ for the paśu is made of 31 posts ( the 31 tattva-s) that are have 3 cross beams (wake-dream-sleep) that hold the fence upright, as it holds the paśu within.

Are there more ideas ? Sure. And is there a way out ? Absolutely.



praṇām