Liberation is freedom from the finite (1 of 2)

Good morning friends.  Liberation is freedom.  Yes this is true.  It’s the kind of action of freeing from control or domination.  Whatever we want to do, we can do it as we have a freedom for ourselves.  

Form is a wave perceived by the ocean of consciousness in an attempt to understand its own formlessness. This duality is imagined and the sense of am-ness crystallizes as a discrete entity that thrives on other forms or cognizing entities to assert its own form. 

It seeks cognizance from other forms to recognize its own transient form. What is eternal is the formlessness that is the precursor of form.

Form is obsessed with tangibility. The sense organs are mere instruments to reinforce this belief in form as the true self. The form continues to believe it is a discrete independent entity. It has total conviction in these deceptive sensory modalities of perception.

Relativity is based on the fact that perception changes as the observer’s state changes. One form cannot understand the precise nature of another form. Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle also underlines the shortcomings of our sensory perceptive modalities, where the senses cannot determine the precise position and velocity of a particle simultaneously.

Sensory modalities can never fathom formlessness. Formlessness transcends the senses. When form has to decipher the formless it must first abandon the conviction of its own form. The brain has various centers which serve as destinations for perceptive inputs. It therefore has a strong discriminatory ability to separate the subject from the object. This discrimination is mediated via the sense organs and is the most powerful tool for effecting duality. Comprehension is totally a derivative of the sense organs.

There are many ‘silent areas’ in the brain whose exact function is not known. These areas could be mediating supra-sensory cognition, cognition that is not based on a subject-object dichotomy, cognition that uses itself to recognize itself.

 

Money creates a false sense of independence (2 of 2)

On the other hand, some people blame money for all the ills in society. There are others who even consider it an evil. Just as possessing money brings arrogance, rejecting it too makes one arrogant. Some people who renounce money take pride in their poverty to draw attention and sympathy.

However, ancient sages honored money or maya as a part of the divine and transcended the grip of its illusion. They knew that when we reject or hate something, we can never transcend it.

They honored wealth as Goddess Lakshmi, the consort of Narayana. She is born out of yoga. It is yoga that transforms the bad karma and brings out latent skills and talents. It also brings up ashtasiddhis, the eight perfections and nav nidhis, the nine wealth.

Yoga helps one move from arrogance to self-confidence, meekness to humility, dependence to interdependence, from craving for freedom to the recognition of unboundedness and from a limited ownership to oneness with the whole.

\When people lack faith in the Divine or in their own abilities or in the goodness of society they suffer from a deep sense of insecurity. As a result all that appears to provide security is money. They rely on something that is not certain, and end up getting upset. Uncertainty causes craving for stability.

The world is of change; the Self is of non-change. We have to rely on the non-change and accept the change. This is like perceiving the real as unreal and unreal as real. In fact, all miseries are unreal. A wise man knows that happiness is real, as it is our very nature. Unhappiness is unreal because it is inflicted by memory. When we see everything as a dream, then we abide in our true nature — love, joy and peace. We then understand that money is not all-important. Values, sense of belonging, love and care are more important. – The Times of India

Website: www.artofliving.org.

Money creates a false sense of independence (1 of 2)

Good morning friends.  Some people, money is their God.  Money is everything.  Money creates a false sense of independence.  They said . . . money is the root of all evil.  But we should always remember that It must be use in a right way. 

Money gives one a sense of freedom and ownership. We believe that with money we can own anything, that we can put a price tag on anybody’s services. 

Ownership of something means total control of its existence. When we buy a piece of land, we feel that we own it, although the land continues to exist even after the owner is no more. How can we own something that outlives us?

Money also gives the idea that we are powerful and independent, blinding us to the fact that we live in a world of interdependence. We depend on farmers, cooks, drivers and the services of so many people around us. Even an expert surgeon cannot operate by herself. She depends on others. Because we pay for their services, we overlook the fact that we depend on them.

If we look at why most people with money are arrogant we will find it is because of the feeling of independence that money brings. The awareness of dependence on the other hand makes one humble. The basic human quality of humility is taken away by a false feeling of independence.

Can money really reflect the worth of a person? We cannot put a value to human life. Wealth can be attained through one’s skills, abilities, inheritance, or through corrupt means. The means of attaining wealth brings its own consequences. The very motive for corruption is peace and happiness. Yet peace and happiness remain elusive when the means are corrupt.

As possession of money creates the illusion of independence, money is often referred to as maya. A Sanskrit phrase sums it up: Miyate anaya iti maya – That which can be measured is maya.

How you perceive yourself defines your freedom (1)

Good morning friends.  First of all what is freedom for you?  For me, freedom is a self-realization or spiritual self fulfillment that is not incompatible with the existence of natural causes of the will act.  If you have your freedom,  you can do anything you want.  You will feel that you fulfill all the things.  How about you, how do you define freedom? 

Is freedom a choice or bondage?

People imagine that they are free. If you look at yourself closely, it will become clear to you that you are bound. Most of us lead mechanical lives. Our perceptions, conclusions and beliefs are mechanical, too. So freedom in this scenario is no more than an illusion.

In order to be free, your functioning has to change from the lower states of consciousness to the higher states of consciousness. You are free to evolve, but if you are mechanical, you are not free.

Our inner nature is freedom. In fact, freedom is not the absence of bondage. If freedom is other than bondage, then freedom is bound by its freedom for it is free only in freedom and not in bondage.

Why are we not satisfied with life despite abundance?

Even though existence is in abundance, man is bound by poverty. Generally people are not prosperity consciousness, but are poverty consciousness. People operate from scarcity and not from abundance.

We are not satisfied with life as our level of being attracts a particular kind of life. Your life is like a small wheel and one is connected to bigger or smaller wheels. It is necessary that we disconnect from the smaller wheels of life and connect to the bigger ones. The smaller wheel represents name and fame, money, power… learn to disconnect. We are connected to them through our attitudes. There is a collective consciousness of small wheels and hence we are pulled by this consciousness into an abyss. Even wars are caused by these influences not necessarily by those who want war.  – The Times of India

Satsang: Swami Sukhabodhananda

For a better relationship, let yourself be puzzled

Good morning friends.  There are times in our lives, we commit mistakes and later on we realize that.  It’s natural thing.  We don’t totally stop that, but we can avoid it.

Do you find yourself thinking, I know she’ll say… or I know she wants…?  If so, you’ve fallen into the trap of letting outcomes from the past rule the outcomes of the future.  Thinking you know your partner is the fastest route to stagnation.  There is no room for transformation here;  no freedom for growth, experimentation or mystery.  And mystery is where romance, interest and sex all reside.

If stale thinking is overtaking you, remind yourself that your partner is a stranger to you—a mysterious “other” with reactions, thoughts and values you have not even begun to tap.  Instead of saying, “I know what she’; think,” ask her.  “What do you think?”  give her a chance to reveal herself to you. 

Adapted from the book From This Day Forward:  Meditations on the First Years of Marriage, by Toni Sciarra Poynter.

What to do when guilt attacks?

Good morning friends.  Have you every feel any guilt before in your life?  It’s not a good feelings…..right?  Sometimes we do things which we should not intend to do, that’s why after wards we feel unhappy for that and sometime we feel guilty.  Let me share one article which I have read.  It’s a good one. 

Guilt is generally a good thing.  It keeps our impulses in check, inspires us to protect our families and communities, and helps us learn from mistakes.  Unfortunately, it can also fuel depression and anxiety, or overwhelm accident survivors and war veterans.  If left to fester, bad guilt can literally ruin a person’s life.

So how do you know if you’re suffering from good or bad guilt?  And what can you do about it?  There are five-step path to guilt freedom.

1.    Recognize that guilt is normal.  You’ll hear people say, “if only I had done this, I could have made a difference.”  This is the prefrontal cortex—the guilt center of the brain, which is responsible planning, forethought, judgment, and impulse control—trying to make sense of the situation.  The average criminal’s prefrontal cortex tends to be relatively quiet, but the area is overactive in people who tend to worry or who are racked with guilt.

2.    Identify the type of guilt.  If it’s helpful guilt, take the message seriously: “Yes, I should stop smoking.” If it’s destructive (why did I live when others were killed?), seek professional help.

3.    Understand the triggers.  When guilt’s nipping at your heels, write down exactly what you’re thinking.  Are your thoughts rational, or are they just shredding your insides like a salami slicer?  Putting your thoughts to paper will help you see the situation more objectively.

4.    Make amends.  If your guilt stems from having hurt someone, take action.  Apologize, write a letter, or offer to help that person in some way.

5.    Forgive yourself.  This is key.  When you can say, “I did the best I could,” or “I can learn from this experience,” guilt is on its way out. – Daniel G Amen. M.D