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Thread: "he revives the divine consciousness of his previous life"

  1. #1

    "he revives the divine consciousness of his previous life"

    Namaskar,

    I have visited this forum quite a bit for over a year now and would like to humbly offer this introduction.


    My background is that I was brought up in a Christian family in the United States. I was always a questioner when it came to the beliefs in Christianity, but I never broke completely free of a lot of the fear and guilt that it taught me.


    A little over two years ago (in the summer of 2014) I went through what I can only describe as a period of initial awakening. I became horrified and depressed by all of the things I was seeing in the news. At this time my body also began to reject eating meat. I had tried to become a vegetarian several years ago out of compassion for animals, but my ignorance in nutrition led me to begin eating meat again - this time, however, my body and soul could no longer bear the thought of eating meat.


    I began to sleep very poorly as I was consumed with pain for other beings on the earth who were suffering. My mental and physical health were suffering severely when a friend of mine recommended that I see an Ayurvedic doctor. I was very intrigued and decided to see him. It was a turning point in my life as he gave me a diet to follow, daily asanas, pranayama techniques and taught me about meditation.


    It was not long after my initial visit and reading about Ayurveda and yoga that I had a very vivid dream. I fell out of a large slide or tube into a classroom. There was an Indian man with a mustache dressed in western clothes teaching at the front. I thought I was invisible but the man looked at me directly, wrote something on a piece of paper and said, "When you wake up, learn about this:" - he held up the paper and it said something like "Brhman". In the dream I could not read it correctly and thought he must have just spelled a word incorrectly. I woke up and began searching for words with those letters and soon found Brahman.


    This started my studies of the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita and of the different Sanatana Dharma traditions. I had tears when I heard some of the words spoken to Arjuna because I had never heard anything that made so much sense on a spiritual level. I must say that I was also led to read the Tao Te Ching and a lot from the teacher Swami Lakshmanjoo - I read a commentary of the Bhagavad Gita by S Lakshmanjoo and it helped to make things even more clear.


    At this point I would have to say that the Bhagavad Gita, some of the Upanishads, the Tao Te Ching and Kashmir Shaivism have helped to remove a lot a of ignorance that had covered my knowledge for most of this life. I still feel like a neophyte when it comes to meditation, but I am continuing the process, where "no effort is lost."


    There is a lot more to the whole story but just wanted to give a little summary. Thank you for listening and thank you for your model of devotion that naturally attracts the seeking hearts, rather than forcing beliefs on to people as the religion of my upbringing had done.

  2. #2

    Re: "he revives the divine consciousness of his previous life"

    A few weeks ago, there was a seagull in the parking lot where I work that was walking around with broken wing that he was dragging behind him. I felt terrible for the bird and called a wildlife animal hospital and they said to catch him and bring him into the hospital. I coworker helped me to catch the bird, we put him into a box and I brought him to the hospital.

    Several nights ago I had a dream that I was with a dying bird in some kind of hospital. I felt very helpless in the dream – I couldn’t help the bird to feel better as it was dying.

    This weekend I received an email from the animal hospital saying that the bird’s wing could not be fixed, and they had to give him a lethal injection because they could not put him back in the wild in such a condition.

    I felt extremely sad that not only did the bird’s wing not heal, but it was put to death in a cold hospital and I couldn’t be there for it at least at that moment. I think that I would have felt depressed for much longer, but I began to think about the different things I’ve been fortunate to read in the past couple years. At any rate, the following quotes helped me to feel better and I just wanted to share them with everyone who cares to read any of this. Thank you for listening and I wish everyone health and happiness.

    The nonpermanent appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed. (2.14)

    the person who is not disturbed by happiness and distress and is steady in both is certainly eligible for liberation. (2.15)

    For the soul there is neither birth nor death at any time. It has not come into being, does not come into being, and will not come into being. It is unborn, eternal, ever-existing and primeval. It is not slain when the body is slain.
    (2.20)

    One who has taken his birth is sure to die, and after death one is sure to take birth again. Therefore, in the unavoidable discharge of your duty, you should not lament. (2.27)

    All created beings are unmanifest in their beginning, manifest in their interim state, and unmanifest again when annihilated. So what need is there for lamentation? (2.28)

    he who dwells in the body can never be slain. Therefore you need not grieve for any living being. (2.30)
    -Bhagavad Gita, ch. 2



    A yogi…does not experience joy thinking “I am joyous” and sadness thinking “I am sad.” Rather, he experiences “this is sadness” and “this is joy,” just as an ordinary person experiences external objects in his daily life…The yogi experiences his joy and sadness just like an object, separate from his being…He experiences, “I am always in myself, the same in happiness and sadness.”
    -The Supreme Awakening, p. 208 - S. Lakshmanjoo



    “You grieve when it is not worthwhile to grieve. If you grieve when somebody is dead, why do you keep quiet when somebody is born? Why don’t you pound your chest at that time and grieve that he will someday die? This is not wise behavior for you. It does not suit you.
    ….
    The happiness, pain, pleasure, sorrow, sadness, ups and downs of this life – they are connected with body. They are not connected with your soul….Nothing is destroyed, nothing is created. Creation and destruction is seen but it is not existing. Someone is born, someone is dead; it is seen but nothing is born, nothing is dead. Tolerate them – you must have that courage to tolerate them in this life. That is the way how you will possess the heroic state of mind.”
    -S. Lakshmanjoo, commentary - The Bhagavad Gita in the Light of Kashmir Shaivism



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    Re: "he revives the divine consciousness of his previous life"

    Namaste Mushika

    Very insightful introduction. I am a beginner hence can't offer anything to you than thanking you for this post.
    Anirudh...

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    Re: "he revives the divine consciousness of his previous life"

    Namaste,

    A belated welcome to the forum.

    Appreciate the selected quotes that you brought to the forum.

    Pranam.

  5. #5

    Re: "he revives the divine consciousness of his previous life"

    Namaskar,

    Thank you, @Anirudh and @Believer for your welcome and for helping to make the forum discoverable by questioners and searchers from different corners of the Earth.

    Just to follow up a little with the idea of grief and compassion, and how true understanding helps one to overcome the paralysis that can come with grief, I just wanted to offer the following from some reading. Just to read it was liberating and wanted to share:


    The knower of Truth does not see death or disease or sorrow. The knower of Truth sees everything and obtains everything everywhere...(Chandogya Upanishad, VII, xxvi, 2).

    OM. There is in this city of Brahman an abode, the small lotus of the heart; within it is a small ākāśa. Now what exists within that small ākāśa, that is to be sought after, that is what one should desire to understand.
    (Chandogya, VIII, i, 1)


    As far as this great ākāśa extends, so far extends the ākāśa within the heart. Both heaven and earth are contained within it, both fire and air, both sun and moon, both lightning and stars; and whatever belongs to him (the embodied creature) in this world, and whatever does not, all that is contained within the ākāśa of the heart.
    (Chandogya Upanishad, VIII, i, 3).


    Those of his fellows who belong to him here, and those who are dead and whatever else there is which he wishes for and does not obtain – he finds all that by going into his own Self. For there, indeed, lie those true desires of his, covered by what is false. As people who do not know the spot where a treasure of gold has been hidden somewhere in the earth, walk over it again and again without finding it, so all these creatures day after day go into the World of Brahman and yet do not find it, because they are carried away by untruth.
    (Chandogya Upanishad, III, i, 2)


    He who consists of the mind, whose body is subtle, whose form is light, whose thoughts are true, whose nature is like ākāśa, whose creation is this universe, who cherishes all righteous desires, who contains all pleasant odors, who is endowed with all tastes, who embraces all this, who does not speak, and who is without longing -- He is my Self within the heart, smaller than a grain of rice, smaller than a grain of barley, smaller than a mustard seed, smaller than a grain of millet; He is my Self within the heart, greater than the earth, greater than the mid-region, greater than heaven, greater than all these worlds.
    (Chandogya Upanishad, III, xiv, 4 – The Sandilya Doctrine).


    The Self, indeed is below. It is above. It is behind. It is before. It is to the south. It is to the north. The Self, indeed, is all this.
    Verily, he who sees this, reflects on this, and understands this delights in the Self, sports with the Self, rejoices in the Self, revels in the Self, Even while living in the body, he becomes a self-ruler. He wields unlimited freedom in all the worlds.

    (Chandogya Upanishad, VII, xxv, 2 – Instruction About the Infinite).


    Thanks again and I wish everyone health and happiness.


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    Re: "he revives the divine consciousness of his previous life"

    Hari Om!

    Mushika,

    Delighted to read your post and may I offer a most warm welcome! Please continue to visit and post often. You have a lot to offer.

    All the best on your journey.

    Om

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    Re: "he revives the divine consciousness of his previous life"

    Hari Om and Namaste Mushikar,

    Thank you for such a nice introduction. Hope you enjoy your time here at HDF!

    OM

    FFTW

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