Those who see worldly life as an obstacle to Dharma
see no Dharma in everyday actions.
They have not yet discovered that
there are no everyday actions outside of Dharma.
--Dogen
Why is there a need to move from the current state of living to a more supposedly enlightened state?
This, in its womb, holds several questions which the reader might nod their head to:
- Why is the current state of living not right?
- Why did we get into it, in the first place?
- How do we know that there is a better state of living?
- Why are we born in that state?
- Why must there be a move?
- How should we bridge the eternally parallel states?
- Are they parallel?
Often one notices that the path towards spiritual completeness or enlightenment implicitly excludes our quotidian life. It is as if to say that enlightenment cannot happen in the daily setting. So many teachers and gurus have said that it is not possible to be in the world and attain to the Divine. So many teachers and gurus have said that it is vital to merge the Divine path into daily life. Undoubtedly, nearly all of the latter category have themselves renounced common life (Dogen included)!! So what is true? Does a path towards the Divine require less of the common world? Does it require an initial abstinence followed by a bringing home of the wisdom?
These in turn lead to more questions like:
- How is one to know when one can return to the world?
- Why did one have to "leave" in the first place?
- How is the mind and self going to be any different from what it was before the excursion?
- Why can't that difference be brought about with running away?
The thought that I am playing with is the state of the mind and self where every vacillation of the world is accorded its due reaction. If your mother dies, you will cry though you are aware that all beings come to pass. If you win a lottery, you will rejoice because you can now go on a trip to Hawaii and not stay impassive about the ephemeral nature of all joy. Point is, why should the self be prescribed a state of no-emotion or no-response when the same Divine to which we wish to attain has created all of what this world has to provide? This is not a case for living in ignorance but to realise the duality of the world and how in spite of the variety the Divine is one and the immeasurable joy at the Divine's feet and in the Divine's arms is blissful. And although we know one from the other, there is no point denying one or the other. In awareness, there is built a foundation for consciousness, which in turn prepares the ground for the Divine to enter into us.
So to answer the questions:
- Why is the current state of living not right?
- Why did we get into it, in the first place?
- How do we know that there is a better state of living?
- Why are we born in that state?
- Why must there be a move?
- How should we bridge the eternally parallel states?
- Are they parallel?
- How is one to know when one can return to the world?
- Why did one have to "leave" in the first place?
- How is the mind and self going to be any different from what it was before the excursion?
- Why can't that difference be brought about with running away?
So in seeking the Divine, giving up on discriminatory consciousness is possible only when the duality of the world is not presented every minute. This can be attained by either going on a long break in order to focus on the path to the Divine or by continuously rejecting the world's appetisers. Once the Divine has entered the individual being, then the individual can be anywhere and it wouldn't matter. How is one to be involved in everything of the world, responding to each stimulus appropriately and still empty the self for the Divine, without recognising and maintaining the duality of it all?
There are in fact a great many teachers, including the Buddha, who said that it isn't necessary to move away from daily life in order to be enlightened.
ReplyDeleteThe closest I have come to understanding this process is as they say in Zen: "You are already complete. You just don't know it yet." So the only thing needed is awareness.
Dear M,
ReplyDeleteJesus Christ! Where were you? I was wondering whether things were fine with you or whether you had, like so many others, lost interest in blogging and/or in this blog in particular. Anyway, Buddha himself gave up life to attain enlightenment. So I wonder whether his words carry credibility on that topic. Point is, does it require the sage to first get away and then realise that you could have done it without getting away? But why aren't they able to say how or influence others into not doing it?
This post of yours which should have illuminated and enlightened, only brings to stark focus your helplessness when faced with life and God.
ReplyDeleteThe mind, our life-desires, our body - all is the raw material with which we have to work in our avowed aim to live the Divine on Earth. But if we dont go beyond their way of being and doing, we will forever be lost in their ignorance, stupid joys and even more stupid sorrows.
First and foremost, spirituality translates into an overpowering urge either to do this and not that, be this and not that, say just this and not that, whatever be the shoulds and shouldn'ts be regarding renunciation, embracing of life in the tenets and teachings of all - from the Buddha to JK. Only the person knows whether the urge he feels is the highest sincerity-propelled truth vibration or just another of the varius forces of the unregenerated mind, life and body.
#"How is one to be involved in everything of the world, responding to each stimulus appropriately and still empty the self for the Divine, without recognising and maintaining the duality of it all?"
- The answer is simple :
There are 3 recognisable entities here -
1.your little self
2.your better self that reaches out to the Divine, wants to LIVE THE DIVINE IN THIS WORLD, WHILE BEING SUBMERGED BY LIFE,that wants to transform the little self as its Divine True Self, the sordid earth as its true Divine Earth
and,
3.the Supreme- who is the all, who is the motive force, the way ,the wayfarer and the goal and destination too.
Now let's see what needs to be done--
1.Know in all its crevices, nooks and crannies your little self. DONT LIE OR DENY ITS undeniable capacity to recognise and maintain the duality of life.
2.Let that in you that is able to perceive the Divine in whatever small or big way act as a conduit between this duality driven liitle self and life, and the Eternal Supreme Divine Consciousness-Force.
3. Place all of you - good bad ugly little big dual singular great or mean - at the feet of/ in front of this Divine Consciousness as before a mirror, all the time.
This exercise will make the connection between Life and God, and you will see the Truth behind and in the duality of life and man as God intended, and not be overwhelmed and content with looking at the dualities with the eye of ignorance in a melodrama that is only interesting to tamasic men that do not knoe the rasa with which God enjoys life to the fullest (of course, I, have a hotline to God; ans so am savvy to His ways :-D)
Dear P,
ReplyDeleteThank you for the elaborate comment. Personally there is little helplessness but a lot of questions. As I have often held, I really could do with the companionship of the gods and seers.
What you and most other wise men miss is the simplicity of converting the phrases like "go beyond" into actions that people can adopt. What use is wisdom and insight if it cannot be translated into simple actions for the simpler folks to follow? If at the end all you are going to say is "go beyond" without letting me, a mere mortal, know what that entails, your words are fabulous but only serve to fill a few moments with awe.
If that were the effect of spirituality (an overpowering urge) how does it differ from an obsession or a motivation of impact?
So I follow your way and know myself in its entirety.
I do all that you say and tomorrow find myself cheated of Rs. 1000. What do I do? Place that grief at the feet of the Lord? And all grief and sorrow and pain and pleasure and joy? And then?
You, as most wise men, have rushed to effects and lazily given up on what needs to be done.
It is easy for someone to place things at the feet of God. It takes but a determination. But when they are battered with the constant vagaries of life and they look upward and ask why? then you probably would not be of help to those souls in anguish.
No one is overwhelmed by anything and hence, the answer was "Yes and No". I think you missed a crucial portion in the post which talks about the how this is not a case for living in ignorance.
Point is, wise men throughout the world have quite consistently failed at providing an answer to how (even if it had to be tailored to each living soul) and JK was safe enough to say that a how cannot exist. What I wish to do is provide a (minimal) how and this post was the first step in laying out the foundations of the questions that might want us to explore the how in a better manner.
When the post mentions emptying oneself, in enjoying the world and recognising the Divine joy, in partaking in this and that, idam thathah-scha, what is aspired is different from a life in ignorance, but a life where every single moment receives it due while living in the Divine realisation.
"Personally there is little helplessness but a lot of questions."
ReplyDelete###
Having a lot of questions with regard to reconciling God and Life shows a helplessness as being unable to do so, and especially in the last cry of a question in the last sentence of the post- anyway, if you are not helpless with regard to living God in Life, Iam glad.
" ...What you and most other wise men miss is the simplicity of converting the phrases like "go beyond" into actions that people can adopt. What use is wisdom and insight if it cannot be translated into simple actions for the simpler folks to follow? If at the end all you are going to say is "go beyond" without letting me, a mere mortal, know what that entails, your words are fabulous but only serve to fill a few moments with awe."
###
Eroteme, I have told you how to go beyond ordinary responses by connecting to the Supreme Divine Consciousness, which is done by offering of all that we are to It. It is a practical solution, well-lived and followed.
"If that were the effect of spirituality (an overpowering urge) how does it differ from an obsession or a motivation of impact?"
###
Anyone who is even a novice on the spiritual path knows the difference between obsession, desire, aspiration etc etc , not just as meanings in dictionaries, but as vibrational differences; they, if sincere avoid nurturing "desires", always follow that which has the purity of the spiritual movement. Development of consciousness, automatically develops discriminatory powers as to the source level of the many impulses in one.
"So I follow your way and know myself in its entirety.
I do all that you say and tomorrow find myself cheated of Rs. 1000. What do I do? Place that grief at the feet of the Lord? And all grief and sorrow and pain and pleasure and joy? And then?"
###
Poor Eroteme, follow the way, and yYOU answer your own questions above - understand that my first comment was not an attempt to enter into a theoretical or a metaphysical debate about the points in your post. Your last question in the post truly cried out to me, and I have in all affection and concern for your true need to connect God and Life have written out what works for me beautifully. When I place all at Her feet, besides the intangibles that abound as realisations and transformation of nature, there is an unmitigated continuous bettering of my sheer material life, beauty becomes evident, the sordid doesn't come near me, pain and disease come with the wisdom of how to annihilate them.
Consciousness is all, and surrendering to the Divine ChitShakti/Consciousness Force only deepens, widens my puny little consciousness to the Highest levels.
"You, as most wise men, have rushed to effects and lazily given up on what needs to be done."
###
Not at all - what needs to be done is to know how to and then live a Life Divine on Earth. I am well into that, are you? - according to your way of doing so? . I am aware of all the enormous work that may never end until even the mortal body is divinised to its last cell, are you? What do you want to do from this second onwards to live God on Earth?
"It is easy for someone to place things at the feet of God. It takes but a determination. But when they are battered with the constant vagaries of life and they look upward and ask why? then you probably would not be of help to those souls in anguish."
###
When I place all of me at God's feet, His is the strength that takes the battering, His is the knowledge that makes me do the needful step by step, and I live with the unshakeable wisdom that God wants utmost beauty, harmony here on earth, and He is the Power that abrogates all that makes for suffering. Your speculations, sincere though they are, the various possibilities that only our mind can see, but never KNOW with certitude the heart of the matter, are because you question my solution without practising it. Dive into the ocean, and you will see that your questions, if any remain, will be of a different nature altogether.
"No one is overwhelmed by anything and hence, the answer was "Yes and No". I think you missed a crucial portion in the post which talks about the how this is not a case for living in ignorance."
###
Read your post, Eroteme -
"Point is, why should the self be prescribed a state of no-emotion or no-response when the same Divine to which we wish to attain has created all of what this world has to provide?" - You are totally presumptuous when you proclaim that the self has been prescribed a state of no-emotion, a no-response. When you live your True Self in the Divine, their is a bliss of heightened sensitivity, rasa, without all the murky melodramatic negatves of the usual human response. Know that there IS a RIGHT WAY FOR MAN TO BE, THAT RETAINS THE PRESENT POSITIVES/BEAUTY AND REMOVES ALL THE UGLY AND THE UNNECESSARIES.
"This is not a case for living in ignorance but to realise the duality of the world and how in spite of the variety the Divine is one and the immeasurable joy at the Divine's feet and in the Divine's arms is blissful. And although we know one from the other, there is no point denying one or the other. In awareness, there is built a foundation for consciousness, which in turn prepares the ground for the Divine to enter into us."
You do not know how to reconcile your two levels of consciousness. Therein is your ignorance, though of course you need/want the knowledge to do so.
your post gives no method to get out of ignorance; doesn't say what is the first step for me to connect God and Life.
"Point is, wise men throughout the world have quite consistently failed at providing an answer to how (even if it had to be tailored to each living soul) and JK was safe enough to say that a how cannot exist. What I wish to do is provide a (minimal) how and this post was the first step in laying out the foundations of the questions that might want us to explore the how in a better manner."
###
Your questions and answers show your sincerity, but there is no depth of experience wherein you have at least for one moment lived the spiritual truth of God and Life being one. The post shows you floundering between the awareness of the duality and a corresponding dual response that life demands of you, and the Eternal Unchanging nature of the Divine.
Maybe at a future date another post would be of concrete and critical import...But not here.
"When the post mentions emptying oneself, in enjoying the world and recognising the Divine joy, in partaking in this and that, idam thathah-scha, what is aspired is different from a life in ignorance, but a life where every single moment receives it due while living in the Divine realisation."
###
To give a moment or a person his due, you should know them with the eye of the highest consciousness. If not you will have no clue as to what the texture of every moment is, what the nature of every person you encounter is; you HAVE to replace the shallow faculty of a mind that goes by appearances and words to a deeper vision of the soul.
In other words, you cannot tread the ignorant paths of the human faculties while 'living in the Divine Realisation', because living in the Divine Realisation automatically transforms the human faculties to their true divine nature.
Only. Only. Only the Divine. All else either becomes their Divine Truths or disappear...
6:14 PM
Dear E (and P),
ReplyDeleteInteresting arguments back and forth.
At the end of the day, enlightenment has always been described as incredibly simple and yet extremely difficult - because it cannot be described or grasped by the mind.
"That Tao that can be named
Is not the real Tao."
We are also told that God, or Divine requires nothing from us. It - God, Brahman, Tao, is complete unto itself and we're just playing a game. So the idea of frustration at not being able to get to the end in itself shows some lack of understanding. There is nowhere to go, there is no end to achieve - no end like "reaching enlightenment." Thinking that this goal is to be achieved is to be caught in duality again - I am "here", and enlightenment is "there" and something I "do" will take me there. But as your original quote in the post so beautifully puts it, the Divine sees no such separation. The Divine is everything that is - here, there and the space in between.
If you believe the Buddha was enlightened, I'm sure you can give him credit for what he said :) otherwise you just consider him a normal human being whose words you would take with a few pinches of salt.
So, what to "do" with life? Its a question I have been struggling with as well at times. And the answer is simple - it doesn't matter. If your children play hide and seek - does it matter whether they hide beneath the roots of the tree or behind the pot at the front gate? What we can do is become aware of the nature and rules of the game better in order to enjoy it - but all enjoyment is lost once our ego says "we have to play the game only to beat someone or in order to achieve something." Consider two children - who work immensely hard at becoming good at the game - but one is aware that its only to enjoy himself more and no matter whether she succeeds or not she will still get her parent's love at the end. The other is aware only of an illusion of separation and an egoistic need to win. If the second child wins or loses, she will still spend time just thinking of how to win again the next day and not be aware of the much larger things in her life like her parents' love for her.
The Buddha refused to answer questions about is there a God precisely because such questioning invariably originates from the mind - which simply cannot grasp true reality.
Dear P,
ReplyDeleteI still believe I haven't made myself clear to you and the post does speak about realising the Divine and is venturing into realising the "how". If asking questions is helplessness, it is unfortunate that you think so. I shall quietly recede and pray that we speak the same tongue soon... :-)
Dear M,
I agree with you on the wordlessness of the Divine, but I simply wish to raise the questions that have also plagued me in order to meditate on them. Like a koan!
Whether I believe the Buddha is realised or not, enlightened or not is of lesser consequence. Like what Krishna said, posterity will only discerne based on the actions performed and hence, He would do his duty. Buddha didn't gain nirvana while playing with Rahula or while walking the gardens with Yashodara. JK too needed seclusion. Lao Tzu was (supposedly) all by himself for years before he was clear and simple. Ramana Maharshi too, Sri Aurobindo dropped it all. Even Zarathustra. I am yet to find an exception. Probably Krishna, but then, He is called a God! ;-)
The "here" "there" paradigm is what gives rise to the questions in the post. What I call parallel is what (I think) you call here and there.
I agree with you in that it doesn't matter what we do with this life. In the grand scheme of things, the Divine will lead us exactly where we were intended to go, so what we do hardly ever matters. Like the Oracle said in Matrix "Ohh, what's really going to bake your noodle later on is, would you still have broken it if I hadn't said anything?".
Dear E,
ReplyDeleteThe whole idea of koans (I thought) was to banish questions from the mind. They're supposed to push the mind out of questioning mode and go into direct experience - which again cannot be described in words. What else could be the purpose of a statement like "What is the sound of one hand clapping?"
As far as renunciation is concerned... The Buddha did try and renounce everything and it got him nowhere, which is why he starting practicing and teaching the "middle path". After his enlightenment, the Buddha led a significant life to be sure, but he was still in the world. The sutras tell about him playing with children as well. After his enlightenment, he went back to meet his wife and his son - even though he did not choose to continue his old life. In fact, as the story goes, the first step of Gautama towards his real enlightenment was when he discarded being the renunciate and accepted and enjoyed a bowl of rice from a girl who gave it to him.
But I ask my original question which I think is central. If you are following a Master who you believe is enlightened - you have to believe that he knows the whole truth - more than just what his path has been. And if so, you should accept what is said by all the Masters who say that yes, you can know the Divine in your daily life. If you think your Master does not speak truth, then shouldn't you doubt the path he took (of renunciation) as well?
There are ample ways of being silent in our daily lives. I would agree that someone who is in a high-stress mode every hour of every day filled with thoughts about the concerns of daily life probably will not gain nirvana very soon. But there is such a thing as being present while doing any task - again something recommended by the Buddhists.
Dear M,
ReplyDeleteLet me clarify what a koan was intended for. Unfortunately the example you picked is a question too!! A koan is anything that can stir the consciousness. It could be a thought, a Haiku, a flower falling or a question (like in your example). By purging myself of the questions and placing them all over my chamber, I can sit silently and look at them without deliberately seeking an answer. Hence, the liking to a koan.
reading this post and the ensuing comments, I was reminded of something I read long ago:
ReplyDelete***There are those moments when one feels that, when confronted by the ceaseless forces that relentlessly prod the flow of History; one is helpless- one has no choice but to be carried along with the current of Destiny. One finds oneself in a position of conflict- sometimes as a rebel against the current, at other times holding the reins in ones hands in full control, flowing along placidly, and then there are those times when one has to simply let go and meekly succumb to Fate in a gesture of mute surrender. But then there are those other moments when one feels that all these external forces have no significance whatsoever. What is important is, that which is nurtured within us at the time of Dissolution of the Self- a stage where the entire external cosmic phenomenon- creation as a whole-becomes trivial- that moment when one feels as if the self has been prised open like an oyster-the past, the present and the future is reduced to void and the I is dissolved, i.e. : becomes nonexistent.
Attempt has been made to strike a balance- where the two levels or stages are brought to a meaningful coexistence, but this quest is generally rendered futile. Such a situation is almost utopian fallacy and one is left with no choice but to resort to easier solutions; that is to draw an endless line of demarcation between the two stages and then standing at one point, claim that the other point is illusion and vice versa. The other alternative being that one can first live and experience one stage in all its totality and essence, believing it to be the Ultimate True experience, then later face the next stage, seek its solution forgetting the previous experience completely and let this transfer of experiences of the different stages in the course of Time be a continuous affair. Gradually, one gets accustomed to the incongruence of the difference in realities in the two stages. Then perhaps can one claim that it is this very diversity of the contradictory situations, the coexistence of paradoxical experiences that characterizes the personality of Human existence. And that the human personality is unique, because he succeeds in living through the diverse situations without settling for a compromise.
But Alas! What about those who have lived a life of utter simplicity taking instances, experiences as they come, living the present moment to the fullest, savouring its flavour and essence, seeking and perhaps finding in them a meaning to their lives and who are left unmoved by the magnificence of the Cosmic Reality. They who are not overwhelmed by the surreality of the meaning of life in totality. Such people are contented with things as they are; they are satisfied to know that Reality is simple, natural with all the strings attached perhaps. But to the seeker of the Beyond, the mundane poses innumerable questions to which he relentlessly seeks answers, he is dissatisfied with the business of existence, which to him seems trivial in the face of the general scheme of cosmic reality. To whom does he turn to for answers?
This is what perhaps Kanupriya attempts to probe-The individual relates personal experiences to his miniscule self as it applies to his day to day existence, but gradually he is compelled to evolve in his understanding of the Universe in its entirety. He is confronted with the colossal Reality, of which he is but an atom. This collection of poems, then perhaps is an attempt to trudge those very paths that the seeker treads, in his quest of Self-discovery.***
(preface to 'Kanupriya' by Dr. Dharmveer Bharthi- )
rgds
ardra
Eroteme, a slick slip away - what better way to make me 'recede quietly' too?
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I would like to make one remark that it is upto every person to know what he has to do when - when a reclusive withdrawal is needed, if at all, and when a deep plunge into the world's ways, if at all. And all dithering in taking a determined decision to walk the ways of God, can be filled with the interesting textures of the mind as it is, the heart's varied emotions or the vitalities power plays - their capacities and their limitations are a world in themselves.
But sincerity is sweet, and infinite deferring I hope is avoided by all, to whom such things are of primary importance, if not of the only importance.
# Dear Manan,
What you have written reaches out to me because of its simplicity and the truth in it. Though oft-heard, your points nevertheless affect me positively.
In this context, I would like to say that something I read in this blog http://soaktheedge.blogspot.com/2007/12/blog-post_12.html
managed to provide a clue as to a completeness of a spiritual experience in life.
Hello,
ReplyDeleteIt’s been a while since I’ve caught up here .. this post is so interesting, I often sit and question similar things only I’m not able to articulate it as well as you have. The comments here have further provoked a great debate an interesting chain of different thoughts and opinions .. a good read. I’m loving Parvati’s comments though.
Wow! My first double digit comment for this quarter!! :-D
ReplyDeleteDear A,
Its been a long time since you came here. How have you been? Thanks for sharing the extract. It is uncanny how similar the thoughts in them to the ones in the post and comments.
Dear P,
May the sky fall on my head the day I wish you to depart from this blog. :-) Sincerity has only this much to serve. I believe the Divine flame must be lit in the soul, and that is not an act of sincerity. Thanks for sharing NotR's post.
Dear S,
Long time! :-) Glad you liked the post. Sometimes my post appear to be baits for Parvatiji's thoughts and comments to pour out here.
The soul in man is the Divine Spark in him - it is always lit.
ReplyDeleteSincerity in the rest of the human elements of the human being, in deciding once and for all to live only the Divine, in being singleminded about doing all to live the Divine Truth, nurtures this spark of the Divine in man, this soul in man, to grow into a flame and then become a towering fire of Agni burning all in man to a Divine Purity and to their Divine Intent and Content.
I think sincerity at all levels, in any field, is the magic key that opens all doors to excellence and perfection, but more so in Spirituality, where even the best practitioners are beset, as a quotidian factor of spiritual living, by hostile and deceptive forces and beings that are camouflaged in pleasant facades; and are saved only by the insight to the truth of anything provided by his sincere adherence to his Spirituality and Spiritual Destiny...
# Your replies to comments are also potent baits that trigger more from me; ultimately, your thoughts and your confidence seem to be encased in a rigid airtight logic's chamber that delightfully provokes one to do all that one is capable of, that would break those walls of intransigence. There is more to life, man and God than the mind's invincible logic, and you would reap richer treasures if only you would recognise this fact of the absoluteness of the existence of this More in the heart of all creation...
# Sorry about the ceaseless flow of words from me. Truly hope to stop with this comment here for this enticing post here.
Your co-operation is needed of course :-D!
Good Night!