Henry:Apologize, Apologize, Apologize!
James: Apology accepted. It was good, as many people benefited. You can attend but make sure you look before you leap. We are here to learn something, in your case taking a stand as awareness. If you know what that means you become your own guru.
What happened on Sunday was obviously Isvara’s grace as I can now give you some instruction. I wasn’t angry, just completely gob smacked, because I assumed that you actually had discrimination. By discrimination I mean knowing what is an appropriate response in a given situation. Karma Yoga produces discrimination because a karma yogi suppresses his or her immediate reaction to events and assesses the unfolding situation with the idea of making a contribution. You made a contribution all right but it wasn’t appropriate from your point of view. You didn’t expect or enjoy the reaction. I’m not talking about discriminating what is real (satya) from what isn’t (mithya). I’m speaking of discriminating between two objects in the apparent reality (mithya).
What happened is that your shadow self got the better of your conscious mithya self and generated an uncomfortable experience for you. Fortunately, it was very helpful for other people, if the feedback is any indication. When we talk about qualifications in Vedanta we mean that there should be at least a minimum of dispassion, which is to say small self awareness, or the mind won’t be able to listen properly. I’m sure you’ve heard and read the words thousands of times over the years but that hidden subconscious “self” prevented you from actually assimilating the teachings. You shouldn’t feel bad about it because it was completely involuntary.
So what to do going forward? When I teach I present two basic points of view, the jiva’s and the Self’s. The teaching methodology is set up in such a way that I am constantly switching from one point of view to the other. At first, this is confusing because the mind is extroverted and consciously or unconsciously emotional, but if you actually consecrate actions to Isvara before you perform them, it gives you time to think before you open your mouth. I don’t want you to just sit there and lurk or engage with other people as people who are seeking company do. I don’t want you to contemplate.
I want you to keep one thought in mind as you listen, which is, “What point of view is James presenting now?” This will help you develop discrimination, which should benefit you in your relationships with people, which seems to be your primary interest actually. (I know you probably don’t agree.). It seems to me you’re love-starved (no blame). When you are lonely and looking for love, it sets up a conflict with the deeper desire for freedom and non-dual love. The purpose of Lesson 1 — the joy is not in the object — is to make you aware of the conflict and get you to convert the desire for the object — a relationship — into a desire for Self-knowledge, the purpose of which is to show you how to love yourself unconditionally. You have the cart before the horse. If you love yourself unconditionally because you see how beautiful it is, you will have to beat love objects off with a stick! You are irresistible. And ironically you don’t care if anyone loves or hates you. Furthermore, this condition is not narcissism.
Anyway, I won’t apologize for giving you a hard time Sunday night because it was all Isvara. I wasn’t nasty. It was motivated by incredulity, which, like all emotions, come from Isvara. I won’t publish the video to a wider audience, although many people benefited from it, even those who felt sorry for you, unless you agree. Hopefully, this incident, turned your mind inward and gave your jiva enough of a shock to kick-start the process of not-self introspection, guided by the teachings. The only way to freedom from the jiva is through knowledge of the jiva itself. Purity is the absence of secrets, which are kept in place by guilt and shame. When you’re able to say, “I’m pretty screwed up”, with a certain contemptuous self-confidence you are well on your way to freedom and non-dual love.
James
Love,
James
