Stan: Hello, Sundari. Thank you for those wise words. I’ve been contemplating them.
Indeed, there are some adjustments to be made. I know I am free, but there are still squatters trying to take a stand in “place” of the Self. I will focus on keeping life as sattvic as possible and building a life that promotes such conditions, continuing with the sadhana. I plan to make some worldly contribution, as I’m often hearing svadharma-related thoughts rising and falling away, each one offered up. It’s not easy to be a karma yogi in the world today, but it is the only way. Ultimately, Isvara will decide what contributions are required, and in his name I will make some plans for the future. Finally, I am ready to plan a future. “Trust in God but tether thy camel.”
Sundari: Good to hear from you again. It is par for the course during the nididhyasana stage that the mind squatters will be making a fuss. After all, they don’t want to be thrown out now, do they?! Just keep doing karma yoga on all emotions that arise, offer them to Isvara in the moment. The greatest contribution you can make is to keep your mind on the Self and live free of the jiva.
Stan: Thankfully I have not been too overcome by the relationship vasana. As a result, the end of the current relationship is looming, as it is becoming clear to the significant other that I am not down for the mutual emotional dependence that is the usual point of samsaric relationships. I made it clear from the start, but sometimes these things must play out before each other’s true motivations are understood. Again, I feel another layer of the maternal bond being stripped away. Isvara is throwing up the deep roots of bondage. Anxiety arises due to the loss of the comfort that such a bond can bring. But peace comes in knowing the inherent suffering that comes with it. The ego is still struggling to accept its true position and so wants to invest, but its desires are quickly severed by the sharp sword of discrimination.
Sundari: Good for you. It is sad that samsaric relationships come at such a price, but what to do. They can be managed with karma yoga, but if you are dedicated to living as the Self, sometimes the price is too high. Who needs to work that hard?
Stan: I don’t have an issue understanding that experience is dependent on consciousness and that consciousness is always free of experience, thus they are synonymous. That is, once the thought is subtracted from the experience. Or one understands that Experience with a capital E is the substratum for all names and forms. I know experience plus a thought is mithya. I know the law is mithya, but nonetheless, the law is an eternal principle created by Maya and Isvara. What I meant is that “knowing” the law of conservation is an object but also an eternal principle in Maya has been helpful for objectifying the jiva and understanding how it interacts with the external world. Furthermore, understanding the law as one of Isvara’s basic laws, i.e. action-reaction, is helpful too. I find it useful to be conscious of Isvara’slaws even though they are objects known to me. I find an understanding of psychological, environmental and biological laws all help in triguna vibhava yoga. I hope that all makes sense?
Sundari: Yes, totally. You have put it better here, so I understand what you mean now. Yes, this whole show is no more real than a puff of smoke, but at the same time the Creation is an eternal principle in awareness, either manifest or not, and it runs on very predictable laws or it could not function. Therefore Vedanta has no quarrel with science. The laws of physics are part of samanya dharma, universal laws. They are twofold: (1) the moral laws governing the Field of Existence that apply to everyone personally, like non-injury, honesty, fairness, etc., (2) the macrocosmic laws of physics, like gravity, electricity and thermodynamics, etc. These laws behave the way they behave whether you are aware of them or not and cannot be changed, only understood. Universal laws work the same way for everybody and cannot be contravened without consequence.
Stan: Thanks again for your guidance!
Sundari: Much love to you too.
~ Sundari
