Re: getting the whole story
hariḥ om̐
~~~~~~
namasté & hello
Let me offer just a few things that may help advance the conversation or at least improve the resolution of what we’re peering into.
– detachment is not the means, but what occurs or blossoms along the way.
– the self (small ‘s’) is not so much false as it is not the whole Self. Think of a lightbulb that is covered by a sheet. Some light eminates though the sheet but not its full brilliance. Like that, this small self is like a fraction or a beam of light that gets through and not the full brilliance. It is ~false~ only to the extent of not being the full/whole brilliance of Self.
what we do away with or are attempting to do away with is attachment
– attachment does not occur until we say ‘I’ or ‘mine’ or ‘me’. In all 3 of these cases these terms rise due to ahaṃkāra (अहंकार). If there is no ahaṃkāra how can anyone be attached to anything? Why ? Because I could not say ‘this is mine’, or ‘I’ want this or that. See the point?
The first thing that rises when we awake in the morning is this ‘I’. See for yourself. Just before waking, within that quiet period still a bit in sleep and engaging in wake, there is this period this small gap...see what occurs. You will find this 'I' this 'me', this personality enage. This is what is meant by 'I' - this personality this ego we that as our self; our frame of reference as we think or perceive who we are. Yet look for this ‘I’ in deep sleep it is not there, right? But ‘you’ are there , you still exist. Yet you will say , but I am not aware of anything. That is correct your awareness is not directed to any-thing ( no object, thought, feeling, these are things) it resides in itself, it remains in its self unperturbed by any-thing. This is Being...
this is the notion of what rāmaṇa mahaṛṣi said: your duty is to be, and not to be this or that. This is the steadiness of Self; the silence of Self. My teacher called it restful alertness. Your attention is not dragged here and there and caught in objects of experience... it remains settled in itSelf.
You see, each night one settles into stillness again in deep sleep – then upon awakening this ‘I’ engages again and we are back into the fractured world of difference, and this Self participates as self ( small ‘s’) going here and there. So , one’s practice is to remain in Self even in activity; being restfully alert even while doing things. This is the definition of kriyā yoga.
This is the instruction given by kṛṣṇa-ji (bhāgavad gītā chapt 2 verse 48) : yogasthaḥ kuru karmānī- established (or steadfast) in yoga ( union) perform actions (karma). One is steadfast in (the)Self, Being, pure awareness. One Is walking and even talking but restfully alert. One is accomplished in kriyā yoga which = karma yoga and has fulfilled the instructions of the Lord. This is the Blessing of knowing (the) Self.
... but doesn't enlightened people say I ? Yes. When we say I it is really small i and = to small 's'elf ; when they say I it is = to universal Self
devoid of smallness, and infinite in nature... So, infinite and complete it too includes small self with no limits. You see , if Self is Being and
all inclusive it must too include small self , but that no longer is one's frame of reference. Ones frame of reference is undifferentiated, un-fractured wholeness, fullness. One sees everything as the expansion of one's Self. This is the blessing.
इतिशिवं
iti śivaṁ
यतस्त्वं शिवसमोऽसि
yatastvaṁ śivasamo'si
because you are identical with śiva
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