Not-happiness

Odd phrase, i know.

i associated unhappiness, sadness, hurt, etc as feelings associated with an individual entity.
for those who believe in their own personal god, most will jump on the "god is everywhere" bandwagon, which will inevitably lead you to one day ask, why am i unhappy or why did i get hurt, etc., for if god is everywhere and god is supposed to be bliss absolute, why am i not bathed in that bliss ?  shouldn't every atom of my being ooze happiness and bliss since i am part of that "everywhere" !

hence, my use of Not-happiness; as in, how does the phenomenon of a perceived state of imperfection on a cosmic scale arise within a framework of bliss ?

this is a really tricky, slippery slope to be tackling on blog and i am pretty sure whatever is written below will be subject to an avalanche of criticism but be gentle and kindly remember, the purpose of the blog is to rekindle an enthusiasm to study and move forward on your chosen path - it is not to preach a method, but to encourage you on your own journey of self-fulfilment so interpret the concept with your own faith and apply whatever may be useful, discard whatever you consider rubbish :)

back to Not-Happiness ...

if you are a hindu, you can fall back on Karma
or a christian can revert to original sin and god's mercy or wrath
and every other faith has their reasonings for why bad things happen.

but all this is ultimately an interpretation of an observed phenomena by our minds.  but what happened before the mind even was - what "started the ball rolling" as it were...

if He is All, then that All has within Itself, the potential and as its very substratum, a capacity of infinite diversity of which our being / sense of self, is an infinitesimal expression.   ( words are very limiting so pause and try to grasp the sheer magnitude of such an Expression of the Absolute )

hence, you do not belong to yourself.  this "yourself", itself, belongs to Him expressing within the framework of infinite diversity ( good AND evil, happiness AND sadness ).

if one can look within, through the grime of your personality ( likes/dislikes, wants and expectations ), and glimpse this very Substratum, then, in a flash, everything changes !

then you "see" God and once that vision has been bestowed upon you, Bliss becomes your nature and Not-Happiness, too, is seen as His Expression while he plays this cosmic game.

yes, He is Everywhere, all you need to do is actually SEE HIM EVERYWHERE !

live well.

Ask...

i believe myself to be fairly intelligent.

so i take up some wonderful philosophical texts and claim to be "studying" them and pretend to be seeking God

now, this may sound like the braying of a person lacking self esteem but not so...

see, i have one severe limitation - i can only function within the  confines of what my mind can comprehend.. while i may be intelligent, i cannot go past the total capacity of myself.... my mind itself will be the interpreter of what i read - i will come to a point when the sum of what i understand does not equal to what i want to KNOW ..

the flippant answers of the self proclaimed prophets will ring false - for they, too, do not Know.
where is God ?  he is within - great ! where within, i don't see him ... do you ?
he is everywhere -  really, but everywhere else is without and you said he is within - and who is this me that god is supposed to be within ?
and why do i even want to know god ?  what will i do once i know him ?
the unqualified answers only further expand the waves of our confusion to a point where most will just give up and say these "men of god" are all fools !

all this noise primarily stems from a basic impurity of the mind - for such impurities will make it impossible for non-temporal and spatial experiences or to put it simply, god cannot be a "by-the-way" hobby !

humble yourself - be ready to sit at the feet of a Master who Knows, that Divine principle manifesting Itself as the Guru or Master/Teacher ( call him what you want )  -  allow yourself to be guided and forged - only one who Knows can truly bring you into the folds of what you so desperately seek.

so prepare yourself, that is the sole purpose of study, reflection and meditation - to purge our pre-conditioning : likes / dislikes, sense of egoism; need for recognition, etc.

ask questions, seek clarifications, ponder, then ask again - ask ask ask till some clarity emerges and you inch slowly past your own massive ego so that you are available to the Master.

THEN the Master will come and He will push you past that seemingly impenetrable barrier  and the peace "that passeth all understanding" becomes your own complete experience.

the knower, knowing and known are now merged into a state of Being;  Godhood

live well.

The Man in the Mirror

to judge others seems to be a universal flaw within the matrix of the mind.

we seemed compelled to comment or impose our value system on others, and conversely, be the object of assessment as well ...

here is another leaky pipe in our life force - this mental dissipation; drying out our potential and leaving us as withered, fractured personalities.

why do we do this ?

simply put, we lack vision - there is no higher calling to serve humanity as a whole or to evolve beyond our petty confines of our body, mind, intellect make up.

the path of least resistance is always downwards and so too is it with ourselves.

if we were to pause, and actually assess ourselves against the measures we so easily impose on others, we would undoubtedly fall painfully short !   but who has the courage to do this ?  who will stand naked in front of the mirror of his own soul and truly look at that mangled mess that makes up our tortured persona ?

it is far easier to belittle others -

the few who do possess that mental stamina to engage their own personalities are able to forge forward in their search for what truly matters.   the natural question to follow would be "so what truly matters" ?
but that would be putting the cart before the horse.

personality integration is the first step.  look within, look long and look hard.
are you ok with what you see ... do you feel content, do you feel lost, are you capable of loving, is there an emptiness, are  you constantly just trying to fill time, are you ok when you are alone ( just quiet - not reading or on your ipad )

lots of questions - and this is important !

question yourself - spend time with yourself

only when you know where problem lies, can a solution be sought.
only when you are whole, can you move forward...

the paths are many, the goal is one - but to take that critical step, to even have the motivation to take that first step, YOU must be available to yourself... so ask yourself, are you worth the effort ?

live well.

Take your Medicine !

we can all hear the echos of our mother's voice even today .. running after us with that deep red syrup threatening us with all sorts of punishments if we didn't stop and take our medicine.

seems decades later, our benevolent sages are still doing the same : preaching the wisdom of the ages and pleading with us - don't just listen and forget ; you have to do it !

sit quietly, withdraw your senses, quieten the mind, and then ... allow yourself to be absorbed into that Silence.

every stage may, at first, seem to be an impossible struggle : sit quietly - the minute we sit, a flood of a million unrelated thoughts will start bouncing off the wall of our mind - an uncontrollable chaos

withdraw your senses : with all 5 senses having had free reign your entire life, that is a tall order indeed !

so how do we do this : practice !

it is the same for any endeavor, whether learning to ride a bicycle or run a marathon - learn the basic principles and then practice.

every faith has their own avenue ... don't let the words of what is being described bog you down : try and experience WHAT is being described.

the medicine, laying still in the bottle, in not going to cure you - you have to take the medicine !

the paths have been laid out, the signboards have been erected, the check post guards have been posted to  continually point you in the right direction ; all you have to do is start walking !

live well..

This Moment

life is for the living.

the dead and the unborn have no use for it.

most of us, however, seem to prefer the above 2 rather than actually living life.

for when we do , it is with a crippling fear or agitation borne out of the dead or unborn, what in layman's terms would be the past or hope.

all action done in the past layer onto our personality an imprint. this imprint would be simplistically labeled as our ego-sense : i did this !  do you know who i am ?  i have achieved that !   all actions done in the past, glued together, seem to be what we call up to gauge our self worth or self esteem and what we take great pleasure in ramming down other people's throats.

what we plan to do, and of course we must all plan, is the etching we scribble of the road we hope to walk down in the future ... though whether such a road will ever materialize is of no guarantee and in most, instead of grounding us with purpose, this unknown future overwhelms us with anxiety : "what if" it isn't so.

so in the swamp of our mind, with its countless thoughts, we try to wade through the mire of our dead past and our unborn future ... both now devoid of the spark of life.  this is invariably how our present is extinguished  ... then at journey's end, we lament " life just passed me by " - there is no mystery here ... of course it did !

what is the solution to this dilemma ?

renounce both : stop the avenues of dissipation of your very life force.

if you plant the seeds of a mango tree, one cannot expect peaches ...

hence what has been done, will bear its own fruit.  nothing can change that.  so your present moment is an expression of your entire past bearing its cosmic fruit.  how you act ( not react )  upon what life lays at your feet today, will be the seeds being sown at this very moment, and they, too, will inevitably be the bricks and mortar used to lay the road to your future.

so be in the moment, still your mind and act with all the grounding of your faith - without arrogance or a sense of self ( letting that ego go ).  religions are many, but spirituality is universal ... within your own belief, live every breath as a beacon of an expression of that Spirit.  lay your labour at his feet - then there is no anxiety of what the future may bring : let whatever come, come as His gift to you... you have done your bit, now let Him do His :)

live well.

Cravings

even the tone of the word conjures up a negative aura.

yet we are all consumed by them, all the time.

we want this, we want that - we want it all !

as a child we wanted that blue bicycle or that long haired doll; as a teenager we wanted that stunning girl or a flashy car; as adults we want bigger homes and recognition or power ; as old people we want someone to care for us and then, it's over...

everything seems to change, our wants, our needs - that doll simply won't do at 70.

sounds like an exhausting life of constant flux !

yet we do it, all of us.   oddly enough, when we get what we have "always" wanted, we get bored of it and then want something else .. the car for a jet, the apartment for a house, the Louis Vuiton for the Channel ...

why ? because we are in search of something that will give us happiness

however, simply put, an inert object is incapable of "giving" us anything - its only value it that which we endow it with ... and as we "change" our value system changes - something so precious ( the doll ) can become utterly worthless !   we went through all that mental anguish while craving, planning how to get it, imagining how much better our lives would be once we had it and then worrying about its preservation and anxious about its protection only finally to be frustrated in trying to dispose of it !

such a waste of mental energy - such a drain on our very life force - all that precious time: gone !

yet, we start that cycle all over again, every day, with a hundred new cravings - one can only smile at the irony.

our physical expression ( body ) is drawn to the myriad of the world's objects
our mental world oscillates in the typhoon of our emotions
our intellect consumes itself in rationalization and trying to hold the floodgates in check of the above 2.

the fire of all 3 being ceaseless fed by the fuel of the perception of our world - for we all know we perceive the world differently and as such, we all go through our own hell of the vortex of objects, emotions and thoughts.

hopes, fears and cravings - our constant companions.

but i feel happy when i get it : really ?  look closely... all that really happened is that once the craving ( be it physical, emotional or intellectual ) is satisfied, the mental oscillation that spurred us on is momentarily stopped - we perceive this respite as happiness. in truth, it is a fleeting moment of a lack of agitation - big difference between the two.

within moments of buying the house, worries about renovations start - fights about colors and brand named appliances ; furniture has to be chosen, dining chairs are never comfortable enough, everything is too expensive - and when its done, someone will damage something, anger flares up - oh, the frustration of it all !  where has all the joy gone ?

we exist in a realm of fear :  fear of not having, fear of preserving / protecting and fear of loss  ...

yet all we wanted was to be happy ... is that too much to ask ?  not at all, it is your right to exist only in a state of perpetual joy -

so where did the plot go wrong ?   we all need things; we need money, we need a home, we have to pay for our kids education, we need to vacation - true, no arguments there - so we apply ourselves, we persevere - but where did the happiness go ?

well, first, you need to weed out the needs from the wants.
then apply a little intelligent self control
finally, with the staff of dispassion in one hand and discrimination in the other, walk though life knowing the difference between what is real and what is perceived : non apprehension can only lead to misapprehension - and that, is your glittering road down to nothingness.

a rope in the dark may look like a snake and hence evoke fear but what is there to fear if you know it is simply a rope.

raise your awareness, be vigilant against the deluge of the pair of opposites ( likes / dislikes, wants / aversions ) and most of all, discriminate between what is real ( constantly true ) and what is fleeting ( subject to the ravages of time ) ...  once you get an inkling, apply it your life and see the change !

these are several complex concepts all strewn together - if the desire to evolve is there, you can apply yourself, investigate them : convert the information you garner into knowledge and then into your own wisdom and if not, that's ok too :)

be happy and live well.

Savitri

 (Picture taken from the Web)

below is an excerpt from SRI AUROBINDO's SAVITRI ...  

It is a huge work and most will never get through the entire piece : here is his attempt to put into verse his protagonist's expression of That... i find it hauntingly beautiful and each line can stand as a theme of meditation.

expanding your mind, here is a chance to "see" from His standpoint ( not possible, i know, hence the work is written in verse thereby bestowing upon the author poetic license )

one can find fault anywhere if you look hard enough, so don't.... just enjoy and allow yourself to be enveloped by his rapture...

live well.

Passionless, wordless, absorbed in its fathomless hush,

Keeping the mystery none would ever pierce,

It had no kinship with the universe:

There was no act, no movement in its Vast:

Life’s question met by its silence died on her lips,

The world’s effort ceased convicted of ignorance

Finding no sanction of supernal Light:

There was no mind there with its need to know,

There was no heart there with its need to love.

All person perished in its namelessness.

There was no second, it had no partner or peer;

Only itself was real to itself.

A pure existence safe from thought and mood,

A consciousness of unshared immortal bliss,

It dwelt aloof in its bare infinite,

One and unique, unutterably sole.

A Being formless, featureless and mute

That knew itself by its own timeless self,

Aware for ever in its motionless depths,

Uncreating, uncreated and unborn,

The One by whom all live, who lives by none,

An immeasurable luminous secrecy

Guarded by the veils of the Unmanifest,

Above the changing cosmic interlude

Abode supreme, immutably the same,

A silent Cause occult, impenetrable,—

Infinite, eternal, unthinkable, alone.