“The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell or a hell of heaven.”

The purpose of this article is to bring together all the tools I’ve found helpful and effective in dealing with and managing the vasanas; those binding thoughts, compulsions, emotions, behavioural patterns and belief systems that cause so much agitation to mind and body.

Vasanas can be ‘positive’ or ‘negative’ in nature; or it might be better to term them ‘healthy’ or ‘unhealthy’. Healthy vasanas are those habits and patterns of thought and behaviour that have a beneficial effect on the mind and body; which bring peace, harmony and balance. Examples might include a commitment to self-inquiry, study of the scriptures, meditation, yoga, good eating, the steady practice of karma yoga and the ability to question and reframe agitating thoughts. Unhealthy vasanas are those compulsions, addictions and self-destructive patterns of thought and behaviour that have a deleterious effect on the mind and body — of which there are too many to mention.

Mind management is an essential component of Vedanta because, as Krishna states in the Bhagavad Gita:

“Without a peaceful, stable mind, contemplation on the Self is impossible. When one lacks the ability to contemplate, there is no peace. Without peace, how can there be happiness?”

The mind is our primary instrument for transacting with the world. Just as a grime-covered miror cannot reflect the sunlight, a dull or agitated mind is an unfit receptacle for the liberating light of Self-knowledge. That’s why Vedanta repeatedly emphasises the necessity of a qualified mind. 

In order for Self-knowledge to equate to liberation, the student’s mind must be reasonably tranquil, discerning, dispassionate and free from the relentless storm and stress of excess desire, aversion and attachment. 

This is by no means an easy feat, particularly in these disturbed and disturbing times. It is, however, a necessary one, and the results bring their own reward. Even without Vedanta, if you learn to manage your mind and deal with the psyche’s binding vasanas and samskaras, you’ll find enjoy a far simpler, smoother and happier in life, in spite of the challenges that inevitably arise in day to day living.

Be warned: it will take considerable work! 

It’s no coincidence the Bhagavad Gita is set on a battlefield. The battlefield represents the human mind and it’s a war against ignorance. This war will not be won in a single battle, that you can be sure. Ignorance is both hard-wired and highly resistant to change. 

So, please, go easy on yourself. As with anything in life, it takes as long as it takes to free the mind of its binding attachments, desires and addictions. Some people may need the support of a qualified psychotherapist to work through unresolved traumas. 

I particularly recommend Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). I only know the basics admittedly, but it’s perhaps the only mainstream therapeutic approach I’m aware of that doesn’t take the ego to be the real self. In fact, ACT objectifies the ego and talks of the self actually being awareness, or the observer self. It combines mindfulness with CBT tools and emphasises the importance of acting in accord with our true values. 

It’s worth noting that Vedanta is not therapy. It is a means of Self-knowledge, designed for people who have already worked through most of their psychological issues and traumas. It’s very likely that most students will still have a fair bit of ‘stuff’ to work through, however, and it is for that reason, the teaching offers certain tools and techniques to help purify the mind.

Bear in mind that some vasanas and samskaras are easier to shift than others. According to the Gita, some can be removed as easily as wiping the dirt of a mirror. Others, however, tend to linger like smoke from a fire, which may take some time to disperse. Unfortunately, some are likened to a foetus in the womb; in other words, they must be carried to term and are going to be there for a set duration.

The 3 Foundational Yogas

1. Dharma Yoga

First of all, an understanding and commitment to dharma is an essential prerequisite. While Vedic society placed dharma at its very foundation, the same cannot be said of our modern society. This is in spite of the fact that dharma is universal and built into the tapestry of life itself.

Dharma can be understood in three broad categories. 

Universal dharma is constant and unchanging throughout time and location and applies equally to all beings. Non-injury is the highest universal dharma. No living being, from the grandest of men to the smallest of ants or amoebas, wants to be hurt. Because we don’t want or expect others to harm us, we know that it’s wrong to harm others. Other universal dharmas based upon mutual expectation include truthfulness, non-theft, straightforwardness and purity or cleanliness.

Situational dharma varies depending on time, place and context. Whereas taking a knife to someone’s throat is usually an act of adharma and punishable by imprisonment, a surgeon will take a knife to people in order to help or save them, and is thus following dharma. It’s up to the individual to use discernment to follow the various situational dharmas that life presents. We all have different duties at different times according to our many roles as child and parent, student and teacher, employee and employer, and so on.

Finally, all beings have a personal dharma specific to them. This ‘svadharma’ is determined by our inherent narure, which itself is a product of the gunas and our personal karma. It’s imperative that we act in accordance with this svadharma and follow our nature while observing both situational and universal dharma. We each have a certain role to play in life, a purpose not of our own choosing, but factored into Isvara’s design. 

The Vedic varna system highlights four broad categories of person according to temperament: spiritual seekers and teachers and anyone involved in the propagation of knowledge and education, administrators, leaders and law enforcers, businesspeople and those with skills in commerce, and those skilled in service. We’re all naturally suited to a particular role, and each role should be seen as an equal and necessary contribution to the society.

Above all else else, an unwavering commitment to dharma in all aspects is fundamental to cultivating a pure, peaceful and qualified mind. Even the smallest infractions of dharma create ripples of stress in the mind and invariably come with adverse karmic consequences. The first step to qualifying the mind is, therefore, to be a dharmi.

2. Karma Yoga

The Gita spends a great amount of time unfolding karma yoga as a means of purifying the mind. Traditionally, only sannyasis (ascetics) who renounced worldly life altogether were seen as suitable candidates for Vedanta, the path of knowledge and liberation. Krishna makes it clear, however, that while sannyasis are able to take the shorter path (after all, lack of worldly karma automatically removes an enormous amount of stress from the mind), those with an active life of worldly karma are still capable of attaining enlightenment as long as they prepare the mind by converting all karma, all action, to karma yoga.

Practising karma yoga means performing all actions as an offering to Isvara, or God/the Divine. Our actions are therefore not undertaken simply to satisfy our personal desires and aversions, but are sanctified as worship in midst of daily living. Our every action, whether grand or trivial, becomes a way of paying the rent to Isvara; our way of expressing gratitude for all the many blessings we have been given in life (including the blessing of simply having a human birth!).

Because these actions are given to Isvara, the results of those actions belong to Isvara as well. It’s Isvara that determines and dispenses the results of all our actions. The only appropriate response is to accept those results as prasada; as a blessing from the Lord. Whether we get the results we intended or something else entirely, our mind is freed of great stress, because we respond to situations with objectivity and evenness of mind.

Over time, the practise of karma yoga—converting daily action into worship and accepting the results with good grace—neutralises the mind’s binding desires and aversions. We move from a strictly subjective, ego-driven relationship with life, to a more mature, objective viewpoint. We naturally begin to cultivate discrimination and dispassion, two of the primary qualifications outlined by the scriptures.

For seekers with any worldly karma at all—which, let’s face it, is almost everyone—karma yoga is non-negotiable. Without it, you find your mind swept hither and yon by various internal obstacles (your own binding desires and attachments) as well as external factors (situations, other people, and the various hardships and stresses of life). Karma yoga is necessary to help manage the mind and gradually convert all personal desires to the desire for moksa alone.

3. Upasana Yoga

Upasana yoga means meditation upon Isvara. This ties in with what is commonly known as bhakti yoga. With dharma as the foundation, the practise of karma yoga will eventually lead to upasana yoga. As the mind becomes more discriminating and dispassionate, it becomes clear that what we really want cannot be found in the world of objects, but is in fact the very source and essence of the objects themselves: God! 

Vedanta reveals that our understanding of God, or Isvara, is three-fold and depends upon the seeker’s level of understanding. Because it’s extremely difficult to conceptualise Isvara as the formless, all-pervading intelligence that shapes the Creation, or even as the very substance of the Creation itself, for many it is helpful to visualise the Lord as a particular form. Hence, worship of Isvara usually begins as worship of a personal deity. There are countless to choose from! It’s best to worship a form of Isvara to which you feel particularly drawn. You might want to create a daily puja ritual, offering your chosen deity water, a flower, and perhaps fruit or yoghurt. You can chant mantras, which is an excellent purifier for the mind (the very word ‘mantra’ means ‘mind protector’). The purpose of such worship is to purify the mind and begin to create a calm, contemplative and devotional disposition.

The next highest understanding of Isvara is as vishva-rupa, or the cosmic form. You expand your understanding of Isvara to encompass everything in the Creation: every being, every form, every flower and blade of grass. The entire world becomes the altar of your worship!

The final and highest understanding of Isvara is as the very intelligence and source of all being. For that, we have the three stages of Vedanta: sravana (listening), manana (reasoning) and nididhyasana (integrating the teaching). As Krishna states in the Gita, the highest devotion is to realise your non-difference from Him.

Upasana yoga is particularly helpful when dealing with difficult vasanas and samskaras. You realise that, as a jiva, you are reliant upon Isvara for everything, much as a baby is completely dependent upon its mother. You allow Isvara to shoulder your burden and you draw upon Isvara’s strength (which is, of course, infinite). That’s the reason programs like Alcoholics Anonymous programs work; by acknowledging that the jiva itself is helpless and instead relying upon a higher power, from which we are actually non-separate.

Satya/Mithya Discrimination

The key to freedom is the knowledge that all the jiva’s ‘stuff’— both the good and the bad — actually belongs to Isvara.

You are the Self, satya, and all objects appearing within you — whether the gross objects of the world or the subtle objects of your mind and psyche — are mithya. 

The ability to objectively discriminate between satya and mithya automatically robs the vasanas of the stamp of ‘my-ness’ given to them by the ego. They aren’t you, and they don’t belong to you. They never did and never will. 

As beautifully symbolised by Nataraja, the dancing Shiva, Isvara is doing all the doing here; from the lofty feat of keeping the stars shining and the planets spinning in orbit, to the smaller scale operations such as keeping your heart beating, your hair and fingernails growing, and generating the thoughts in your mind. All of that is mithya and mithya is taken care of by Isvara. You are satya; the Existence/Consciousness/Being from which all objects seemingly arise and into which they again dissolve.

Always remember that any thought, feeling, belief or compulsion is an object known to you. Because it is objectifiable and known to you, it cannot BE you. It only has the power to disturb you when you identify with it; when you think it is YOU. It isn’t. It’s a subtle object produced by ignorance; by non-apprehension of your true nature. All that happened was you superimposed satya on mithya; you saw a snake when actually there was only a rope. There never was a snake. The snake was mithya; it appeared to be there, but it was only a misapprehension.

Negating the vasanas as mithya might sound like spiritual bypassing to some, but it is actually spiritual contextualisation. You aren’t denying these issues or pretending they’re are not there. You’re just robbing them of the sense self-identification, which was actually the real cause of your suffering. Instead of seeing subjectively, you view them with objectivity, and are then able to deal with them in the appropriate way. By knowing them as just objects appearing in awareness, you shrink them down to managable proportions.

Journalling

I’m a huge believer in the power of journalling. It got me through some very tough times. It’s actually a very simple process. You get a notepad and pen and just spill onto the page whatever thoughts and emotions might be troubling you. You give yourself free reign to rant and rave, or to simply write whatever comes to mind. It’s best to do this in a stream of consciousness fashion. You don’t have to worry about spelling or grammar, or even necessarily having it make coherent sense. You just spill the contents of your mind onto paper. (Make sure you keep it private and don’t let anyone else read it afterward.)

I learned this technique many years ago reading a book called ‘The Artist’s Way’ by Julia Cameron. She called them ‘morning pages’. Every morning, you sit and write three pages on any subject, and you do this whether you want to or not, come hell or high water. This serves as a kind of ‘brain drain’. It relieves the internal pressure of unassimilated thoughts, events, judgements, fears, desires, and so on. It gets things onto the page, enabling you to see what’s really going on in your mind.

It also helps you process things and find solutions. Very often you’ll find the intellect stepping in and helping you to make sense of things, interpret things in a clearer light, and find constructive ways to deal with particular issues. 

I recommend this any time you’re feeling stressed or going through a particularly challenging time. It’s a potent form of therapy in itself, I assure you.

Journalling is also an excellent form of nididhyasana. As you work with Vedanta, it’s helpful to keep taking notes and to write the teaching out in your own words. This helps you go through the teaching again and again, allowing it to gradually soak in and permeate every level of the mind. I spent years doing this and found it an invaluable sadhana.

Self-Inquiry and the Pratipaksha Bhavana Technique

This is a step by step technique for getting to the root of whatever thought patterns, belief systems and values lie at the root of a particular vasana or samskara. It incorporates elements of Byron Katie’s Work, which itself is a combination of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and the Vedantic technique Pratipaksha Bhavana (applying the opposite thought). In my experience, this is best done in writing. So grab a notepad or journal and take some time to answer each question honestly and openly.

1. First of all, identify the thought behind the vasana.

Try to put it into words as a short, simple statement. For example, relationship issues might come down to the thought, “I need ____ to appreciate me.” Sometimes it helps to keep asking, “Why is this important?” “Why do I want this?” or “Why is this a problem?” You’ll be surprised how often it comes down to the thought “I’m not good enough”.

2. Identify the guna underpinning this issue.

Although sattva can cause some issues, such as attachment to pleasure and somtimes a sense of superiority, it’ll most often be the terrible twosome, rajas and tamas, at the heart of it. Rajas is responsible for the more extroverting and agitating issues; such as desire, anger, greed and covetousness, whereas tamas is more introverting, deadening and depressive, and is often associated with shame, fear, low self-esteem, etc.

3. See if you can identify the value underlying the thought.

The value at play might be a desire to be loved, or to be safe or recognised. It might be a value for status, money, or self-acceptance. Inquire into this value: is this a value that feels authentically true to who you are, or is it a value that’s been instilled into you by the society? (See below for more on values.)

4. Now, take a look at that thought, and ask yourself: is this thought really true?

In order to be true it must be absolutely true beyond any shadow of a doubt. The mind naturally invests our thoughts with truth and legitimacy, when in fact a thought is nothing but a thought; an interpretation; a mentally-fabricated story that may have elements of objective truth, but which is invariably clouded by subjectivity and all kinds of cognitive distortion.

5. Ask yourself: What is the price I pay by continuing to believe this thought?

What is the cost of keeping this thought, this vasana alive? How does it affect you physically, emotionally, psychologically, spirituality, and in terms of your loved ones, family, job, even leisure time? Explore it detail how it negatively impacts you. Shine the uncompromising light of objectivity and see how your mind begins to lessen attachment to this pattern.

6. How would things be different if you let go of this thought/pattern/attachment/vasana?

As above, explore in detail how every aspect of your life and your body and mind would benefit if you no longer had that thought? By now, you’ve hopefully convinced the mind of the pain associated with this pattern, the need to change it and the clear benefit of doing so.

7. Assume the perspective of the Self; the boundless awareness that you are, and in which this thought or pattern appears. As the Self, how do you view this thought, belief or pattern?

7. Apply the opposite thought.

If your thought was one of lack, adopt a thought of abundance. If it related to the need for a relationship, or a certain object, affirm that you are already whole and complete without that. Turn that original thought of pain and limitation into a thought of peace, happiness and limitlessness better reflecting your true nature as the Self. You are replacing a thought of ignorance with a thought of Truth.

8. Find evidence to support the new thought.

The mind, accustomed to the habitual as it is, may take some convincing of this new thought. You may need to keep applying this thought to the mind each time the original thought seeks to reassert itself. This takes vigilance and persistance. It helps to actively look for evidence to support the new thought. Write down three to five pieces of evidence which prove this new thought is as true or truer than the original limiting thought.

This is a great practice… and it really works. At first it may require consistent work. Eventually you’ll find it becomes automatic and habitual as your vasana for inquiry grows. You then no longer automatically believe every thought that passes across your mental landscape, and instead have the ability to look at mental content with objectivity and greater discernment and dispassion.

Dissolving Emotional Blocks

Whereas the previous technique dealt with things at the mental level, this next technique is one of the most powerful tools I ever found for dealing with the emotional level. It’s based on an ancient Taoist technique which I call ‘dissolving’ meditation.

Part of the mind’s job is to doubt and emote. The mind endeavours to make sense of the sensory data relayed by the perceptive sense organs. Emotions are then generated as signals motivating us to act; to advance or retreat, to engage or withdraw.

Neuroscientists have shown that emotions actually have a very short lifespan. The emotion is triggered by the release of certain chemicals which apparently flush through our entire system in the span of a mere 90 seconds! The problem is the mind tends to keep focusing on the thoughts or stimulus behind the emotion, thus continually triggering the emotional response. That’s why the above technique is helpful for getting to the root of those thoughts and breaking the cycle of emotional reactivity.

Some emotions are easier to deal with than others, however. Sometimes when we fail to assimilate our experience, we can be left with unprocessed emotions which we experience as a contraction in our body. Our prana/energy stops flowing as easily and, like water collecting into a puddle or pond, becomes stagnant. This emotional contraction can often be very painful.

The Taoist dissolving technique is extremely simple. If you find yourself dealing with difficult or unprocessed emotion, you simply take some time out and isolate where you’re feeling this sensation in the body. It might be in your chest, abdomen, the pit of your belly, or your throat or head. 

The key is to assume the role of objective witness, and simply bring your attention to this pain or discomfort. Be curious and open; don’t resist it, but don’t get lost in mental stories about it. Simply be willing to feel it. Get a sense for its vibration and quality. Sometimes it’s helpful to give it a label, but you do so objectively and dispassionately, as though you’re a scientist studying some fascinating phenomena. So you might say, “Here is a feeling of sadness/hurt/anger etc.”

All you need to do is spend some time directing your conscious attention to this emotion. Although it may be painful, you simply hold it in your awareness, without any sense of resistance and without trying to change it. As you keep holding it in your focused awareness, you’ll find it naturally begins to uncontract and relax. 

The Taoist metaphor is that blocked emotion/energy is experienced as ice; hard and unyielding. As you spend time holding it in your attention with laser-like focus, you’ll experience this ‘ice’ gradually melting into water. It’ll start to flow more freely and you’ll feel a great sense of release as it does so. The key is then to keep your attention upon it until this ‘water’ eventually evaporates into thin air. The sense of release will feel extraordinary, particularly if you’ve been carrying this unprocessed emotion for a while.

This simple technique is the essence of simplicity and it works every time. Some emotions are easy to dissolve; just a little focused attention and they quickly disperse. Others take longer and may require repeated sessions. As with all these tools, persistence is key.

Be the Witness

Mindfulness is all the rage these days and with good reason. The term originates in Buddhism, and the key to mindfulness is being an impartial witness to your experience; your thoughts, emotions and bodily sensations. By impartially witnessing these gross and subtle phenomena, they cease to pull you into identification with them, which is the source of all misery.

Vedanta’s equivalent of mindfulness is called sakshi bhava, which means ‘being the witness’ — which is, of course, what we are all along! To practice sakshi bhava is to practice Self-knowledge; to take a stand as awareness and know that all objects, whether gross or subtle, are appearances in you and cannot therefore be you. You, the Self, are sakshi, the witness.

The more you simply witness the arising of all the mind’s various thoughts and emotions, the greater power you have over them. The key is to divest them of all subjectivity and to remain objective and impartial; to always see the body and mind and all its sorrows as objects arising in you—you being the all-pervading and transcendent awareness that is ever untouched by them.

This will give you greater insight into the workings of the mind. You’ll witness with greater clarity and objectivity the patterns of thought and behaviour that arise and be better equipped to deal with whatever thoughts and behaviours cause agitation and suffering.

Practice Objectivity

This leads to our next practice—objectivity. 

The Self is entirely objective. Just as the sun shines upon all beings, saints and sinners alike, the Self is that which allows the entire universe to be, lending its existence and sentience to every aspect of the creation without a hint of favouritism. It’s the jiva, with its assorted likes and dislikes, desires and aversions, that superimposes a veil of subjectivity upon the world of objects. 

Objects themselves are value neutral. They possess only the value we ascribe to them, and that value is entirely determined by our likes and dislikes. In the Gita, Krishna prescribes objectivity as one of the keys to managing the mind. Objectivity means to strip an object of whatever value we have superimposed upon it and see it as it is—in other words, to reduce the object to its own status; neither fully good nor fully bad.

This is a particularly helpful practice when dealing with objects of desire or attachment. We desire the object, or are excessively attached to it, because we’ve been investing it with a certain mind-created value. 

One of the keys to breaking free of binding desire and attachment is to continuously contemplate the down side of that object. Our tendency to only see the upside, much of which is largely a projection of the mind, is what generated the desire and attachment in the first place. To consciously reflect upon that object’s inevitable downside helps create a more balanced and objective vision.

Manage Those Gunas!

Much has been said about the importance of managing the gunas. In fact, it’s so important I should probably have listed this alongside the three foundational yogas. Everything in the material creation is conditioned and determined by the interplay of these qualities. Therefore, the ability to understand and master the gunas is essential to a healthy and happy life. 

The latter chapters of the Bhagavad Gita explore the gunas in detail and how they relate to different aspects of life. I also strongly recommend James Swartz’s “The Yoga of the Three Energies” book which is an excellent manual for managing these qualities. 

I’m not going to go into great detail here. Suffice to say, as I wrote in my Bhagavad Gita commentary, rajas is your ticket to passion and pain, tamas is your ticket to ignorance and indolence, and sattva is your ticket to freedom. 

It’s essential that we learn to burn off excess tamas by cultivating the appropriate amount of rajas. People prone to depression and inertia benefit from going to the gym or any other form of work-out. When tamas rears its ugly, apathetic head, it’s helpful to stir up a little desire and set some positive goals that are in line with your dharma. These should, of course, be done as karma yoga.

Rajas can be managed by cultivating as a sattvic a mind as possible. All the tools above will help with this, including karma yoga, dharma yoga, upasana yoga, meditation and so on. 

The entire purpose of spiritual practice is managing rajas and tamas and generating a pure and sattvic mind. When the mind is sattvic, we see clearly and have the ability to exercise proper discrimination and make sound choices in line with our highest values and true priorities. 

A sattvic mind is also a happy mind! Rajas and tamas make happiness impossible because both create so much pain and sorrow. If a person does nothing more than cultivate a predominantly sattvic mind, they’ll live a largely happy and satisfying life.

Do a Values Inventory

Although this is last on the list, if anything it should be near the top because the value of values should never be underestimated—and yet frequently is.

Until you have a healthy and dharmic value system your life won’t and can’t work particularly well. Indeed, you’ll find yourself beset by constant conflict and confusion.

Most of our values are instilled into us at a very young age. We don’t choose such values; they’re chosen for us. Some of those values will inevitably be false or harmful ones and that’s why there’s so much suffering in our supposedly ‘developed’ world. Why else would otherwise intelligent people base their level of self-worth on their bank balance or marital status, or worse, something ridiculous such as how many ‘friends’ they have on Facebook or the number of ‘likes’ they get for their latest Instagram post.

Even though we know such things don’t really matter, many people still have a value for them—and that includes spiritual seekers, believe it or not. This comes down to what we call ‘partially assimilated values’, which is when we have a value for something, but it may not be a fully assimilated value, or it may contradict another value we hold. This always results in inner conflict and confusion with regard to our actions. 

Often spiritual people have a partially assimilated value for moksa or enlightenment but also a value for seeking happiness in worldly objects. Which of the two will win out? Whichever value is strongest. Given that our value for materialism has been programmed into us from almost the moment we first developed language and cognition, smart money is on that.

Our values shape our priorities and our priorities then determine our actions and behaviour, which in turn become the building blocks of our entire life. That’s why it’s essential that we do a value inventory—particularly if you happen to be plagued by troublesome vasanas. Very often a conflict of values lies at the root of it.

It’s vital that we have clear set of healthy values that are in harmony with who we are.

So I suggest getting out the journal and taking some time to figure out what’s really important to you and what you truly value in the depths of your heart. 

The alternative is blindly and unconsciously trying to live up to the materialistic and worldly values conditioned into you by family, peers and media. So much of people’s suffering comes from self-judgement and self-condemnation for not living up to their values—which aren’t in fact ‘their’ values at all, but are simply the values they’ve unconsciously inherited from almost the moment they developed language skills. 

Chapter seventeen of the Gita provides a wonderful checklist of values for the seeker of liberation. I recommend referring to that and allowing the scriptures to inform your value system rather than the adharma of our consumer-crazed culture. 

Don’t be like the ignorant masses and live only to consume. Be a contributor! Make it your highest value to give at least as much as you take from life. Follow dharma impeccably and commit to polishing the mirror of your mind, to not only make it a fit receptacle for the liberating light of Self-knowledge, but to make it shine; to be as true an embodiment of who you really are as you possibly can. The world needs that. The world needs you.

All Vasanas Are Eternal and Impersonal

Dear Sundari, it’s so nice to have satsang with you. It’s a brilliant idea to not lose the continuity of the sessions when Ramji is out.

Sundari: Thank you Lia, it has always been in the cards that I would also teach ‘live’, and Isvara decided the timing. I will continue to do so even when Ramji is back. Thank you for your feedback, I am so glad that you could attend the satsang last Sunday. Your presence is always welcome and a benefit to all.

Lia: Last satsang I asked this question about the vasana: “I’ve heard that the vasanas from previous lives can be inherited in this life. But if the vasanas belong to the temporally incarnated jiva which is only a tool for experiencing the material world, how can happen this kind of “transference” from a no longer jiva to an incoming jiva, if they have a beginning and an end?” I answered my question properly I but asked to write you an email so you can share more information about that topic. However, I am surrendering to Ishwara, but I’d appreciate all your help and answers.

Sundari: The question of reincarnation comes up regularly, and you will see that we have answered it many times if you use the search function in the satsang section on our website.  Here is a slightly longer answer than I gave you on Sunday:

The whole idea behind reincarnation is dualistic, implying that the apparent reality is real and has continuity, meaning that time exists, So let’s inquire into what time is. If reality is non-dual Awareness, which we know it is, then there is nothing other than Awareness. Time is a construct, an uphadi or limiting adjunct, created by Maya, beginningless ignorance or duality so that we can make sense of experience. It is mithya, meaning not real, because it is not always present (as in deep sleep) and is always changing. If you are identified with time, you are looking at the changeless through a changing instrument, the mind.  This is bondage. Though the jiva is called the experiencing entity, who is the jiva, really, and what is it experiencing? The whole point of self-inquiry is to negate the reality of the finite personal jiva and to realize that you are only ever experiencing your non-dual Self, who never ‘incarnates’ because you are unborn and undying. If the Self did incarnate, that would mean you, Awareness, begin and end with the birth and death of the body. 

Nonetheless, the apparent jiva exists because you can experience it, and it can only experience thanks to the presence of the Self. When you know you are the Self and not the jiva (body/mind entity) how you relate to experience changes but experiencing continues. You just no longer identify with it. Though life (experience) seems linear, we never experience anything in the past or the future, only the present. There is no real continuity to anything in the apparent reality. Just the constant recycling of the eternal and universal vasanas. How long is the present? A lifetime, a year, a month, a minute, a millisecond? The moment you try to categorize time, it has already passed. Time, therefore, isn’t any specific measurement. What is it, then? This question has plagued humans for a long time; it still does. Einstein stated that time and space are the same thing and form the fifth dimension, space-time. That insight made a difference in how humans relate to and harness the power of the field of existence. But it made no difference to human bondage or suffering.

From a personal human perspective, time is the space between events or experiences. Imagine if everything happened simultaneously; it would not be possible to make sense of the world. The essence of the experience of events is stored in and by the mind. Memory is simply catalogued and categorized events. Could you say an event took place previously if your mind didn’t record that event? You could not, which is why memory is such an important function of mental well-being. People with dementia who lose their memory also lose their sense of self (small s).

Time is the distance between the memory of an event and another memory or current experience. It is an illusion. If time is the space between memories formed by the mind, what or who sees the presence of the memories and ‘time’? Awareness is the witness to time/memories. Is Awareness affected by any function of the mind? Does Awareness actually have anything to do with the mental illusion called time? Would time exist if Awareness weren’t there to see it? No to all these questions.

This is precisely what we mean when we say that Awareness is ‘out of time’ or ‘timeless’. Vedanta says that Awareness isn’t a factor in the production of time; only experience and memory are.  Yet, as stated, Awareness must be there for time to exist and memories to form. That is why time depends on you, the Self, but you don’t depend on time. You see time, it doesn’t see you. You are the seer unaffected by time. You are free of time. Nothing ever happened. So, what difference does it make if the vasanas are experienced in this life or an apparent ‘past’ life?  Without Self-knowledge, the vasanas cannot be dissolved, remain binding and the doer cannot be negated.

Once ignorance has been removed and the knowledge that your true identity is Awareness and not the jiva is firm, then you understand that the person is no more than a conglomeration of tendencies, likes and dislikes or vasanas given by Isvara. It creates a certain personality and a life story. Both Isvara and the jiva or the apparent person are objects known to you, Awareness.  “Your” conditioning comes from Isvara, or the Causal body. There is only one Causal body and only one Subtle body. Therefore, all vasanas are universal and not personal, though they appear to be to the jiva identified with the body/mind and its story.

Thus, as Awareness, you do not claim anything. Nor do you set out to perfect the apparent person.  What for if the person is not real?  All you need to be free is to understand the jiva’s conditioning in the light of Self-knowledge so that you can be free of the limitation of identification with objects that the hypnosis of duality imposes on the mind. The apparent person will always be limited as they will never leave the apparent reality, meaning that the conceptual jiva is always subject to Isvara, even though as Awareness you are free of Isvara and the jiva, as you know. The eternal Jivatman is never in mithya and was never conditioned by anything because it is the Self.  All things mithya are ‘within the scope of Atman, the Self’.

The subject of reincarnation is not such a big topic in Vedanta because self-inquiry is about negating the notion that you are the body/mind, the doer. The scripture says that you die and reincarnate which each thought. The whole idea of reincarnation depends on who you think you are.  If you are religiously inclined and identified with being a person, then the ego will be attached to the idea of a future life ‘beyond this life’ wherever ‘heaven’ may be.  If you are spiritually inclined the ego will be invested in the idea of a past life and reincarnation.  As Vedantins we know that no life is real, and nor is time, as explained. 

Once you understand that you are not the person, it is not terribly important to know what tendencies the jiva inherited from a ‘previous’ life, i.e., whether the person re-incarnates or not because you know that you, Awareness, are eternal. The person is just an idea that appears in you. Like time, the person is an uphadi; it is just a name for the Self apparently under the spell of ignorance. The person (personality) will never reincarnate because he/she is not real. Real is being defined by that which is always present and unchanging.  Only Awareness fits that description. Why bother with who he/she was in the so-called “past” or will be in the so-called ‘future’ when this life is no more real than the ‘last’ one? As Awareness, you never had a life. You have no past and no future.

Though the Subtle body is an eternal principle in Awareness, like Isvara, it is not real, though it is relatively real with reference to the short-lived individual. The Subtle Body (vasana bundle) is called the “traveler” because it is that which may or may not reincarnate, i.e., find another vehicle in which to express, with a different set of life karma.  But that particular person will not be the same and will have no memory of ever having been who they were in their last life. So, again, what difference does it make?  Whether reincarnation happens or not has no bearing on your present life. The belief is nothing more than a false sense of security for the ego looking for continuity. What does have a bearing on your current life is whether the mind is under the spell of ignorance, or not.

The spiritual arena has built up a very elaborate fantasy around the belief in reincarnation because the ego is afraid of death.  Some people do have ‘past’ life memories, it’s true—but what difference do they make in the here and now? As I said, knowledge of past lives will not help the mind render the binding vasanas non-binding.  Only Self-knowledge has the power to do that.

Each apparent jiva incarnation is just a playing out of the gunas, which creates a story with a name and an address. It is no more than a holographic movie playing out on the movie screen of the Self. The main takeaway from the answer to your question on the topic of reincarnation (and it bears repeating because it is so important with reference to moksa), is that although the story of the jiva may seem personal, it is not. As there is really only one Self there is really only one mind or Subtle Body seemingly appearing as many. There is only one story with no past.  It is the eternal story of ignorance and knowledge. If you understand the difference between satya/non-duality, and duality/mithya, you will not be concerned with so-called past lives, nor worry about the future.

Much love

Sundari

Ramji:  All good here.

I just took a vacation. I spent 4.5 weeks on the road, camping, immersed in nature. This trip raised many questions. I feel somehow at the moment out of balance.  What strikes me most is that despite my strong desire for freedom, I am still very much caught up in the search for security.   I still hold myself personally responsible for ensuring my physical, material, etc. safety. This is sad as it weakens my bhakti for Isvara. And holds me in attachment to Jiva. “My persona is responsible for my safety.”

Regarding security, from a very early age I took charge of the financial situation in my life and saw financial security as a matter of freedom. My Jiva has a vasana: security is freedom. I see how I try to preserve the objects, so that they do not break and so on… How I try to maintain everything clean and safe… I see how financial losses, defects in objects that are expensive to repair, loss of students, etc. move me, bring conflicts to the mind, activate my aversion, activate insecurity and mistrust.

As I am taking myself to be the doer, when I try to be safe, I take myself also to be the doer and I wonder, how to break this? How to break this illusion? Do you understand what I mean? I think I am responsible for my security and also to make something to burn this vasana.   Do you think that observing the obstacle and practicing Karma Yoga is the solution? What would you advise me?

Ramji:  It’s your sacred duty as a karma yogi to take care of your karma on behalf of Isvara, so you should diligently and enthusiastically look after your material needs.  You should feel good that you are looking after these things, not guilty.   Isvara is both Awareness and Matter so you are looking after Isvara’s money, body, automobile, etc.  Your attitude is dualistic.  Ultimately karma yoga results in liberation, which is the discovery that you are completely secure with or without worldly stuff.  In fact you will realize that the worldly stuff isn’t worldly at all.  It is, was and ever will be only you, the Self. 

Francine: Upon returning from the trip, Isvara presented me with some indications of financial losses. Situations were presented that normally cause me discomfort, distress… One of the situations seemed very difficult to solve and could cause me considerable financial damage.  My impulse in the past would certainly be to get into the despair modus, to act impulsively, to get emotionally out of control.  But I tried to keep my mind focused on reading scriptures, doing Asana, Pranayama, Meditation and trying to keep as much balance as possible as I tried to solve the problem.

Yesterday a light came to my mind. I started to play with a potential loss, as if it was a gain. I thought: what is the biggest gain I can have from all this history, even if there is a financial loss? I thought: keep myself balanced, keep myself focused on what is bright; to think of the ephemerality of everything in the field of existence as a certainty; verifying that this situation is Isvara helping me to face my desire for security etc etc etc.

Ramji:  Good for you!  This is the right attitude.  Duality has a bright and a dark side.  You can chose one or the other…. or both. Both is best.

Francine:  I started to see a difficult situation as “profit”, the biggest gain of all. Do you understand how I play at the moment with the situation? Even though I have a material loss, I am actually making a super profit by taking a step beyond the vasanas I need to take care of.

Do you think this strategy makes sense? I really do not know what will happen, but I try to maintain myself focused. I pray that Isvara blesses me to burn this powerful vasana- the desire, the attachment for security. 

Ramji: It’s about time you figured it out, sweetheart.  I’ve been saying this forever.   You’ve been faithful to Vedanta for several years now and the teaching is starting to assimilate.. It’s the only strategy that makes sense.  Good for you!!!

Much Love,

Ramji

Dear Ramji,

So happy to hear from you!  Thanks for your response and for sending the treatise on so many topics.  I read the whole thing, although I do better with shorter,” less is more” pieces.  I will respond to the things that spoke to me most. 

First, I will respond to your personal note to me.  Let me be clear, I need to clarify my position.  Yes, I have one but do I have to be attached to it?  NO.

Ramji:  Usually people are attached to their opinions but, you are right, attachment to them is optional. 

Therein lies the issue.  If people want the shot, get it.  That is not my concern, although I do have concern for my loved ones who get it because of my safety concerns about it.

Ramji:  Well, people view threats and the solution to threats differently according to their conditioning, what Vedanta calls svadharma, personal values.

I am against censorship and forced vaccination to keep one’s job. 

Ramji:  It is indeed unfortunate that sometimes people have to choose between one alternative and another but such is the zero sum nature of duality.  But an employer has a different dharma from an employee, meaning different priorities and values.  Since the employee depends on the employer for his or her job, he or she doesn’t have the option to override the employer’s duty to his or herself and his or her relationship to the business.  There is always a power imbalance in social institutions, business and financial entities, even families.  So, you can’t actually condemn the employer if he or she sees the collective as more important than the individuals in it.  It is his or her duty to enforce the will of the group.  The needs of the total come first…think the law of eminent domain. Think majority rule, which is the basis of democracy.  If children’s desires trumped their parent’s desires you have no family. 

That in my opinion is concern for justice, which also matters to me.  Yes, justice is a position and I do have a bias against Bill and Tony, and Big Pharma, who have censored lifesaving info.  Is it not okay to have an opinion as long as one is not attached to it? You had an opinion about the shot.  You said you got it for the greater good.  What if I think the shot is unsafe and  is poison and not for anyone’s good?  Am I supposed to adopt a position for myself and others that I don’t believe in? Am I a lemming who follows obediently or do I question authority and think for myself? I choose the latter.

Ramji:  Sure.  But that choice has consequences over which you have no control.  The spiritual issue is this: should you allow your mind to be disturbed about things over which you have no control? 

I don’t know what you shared on You Tube, but if they challenged your opinion, then it must have been questioning the efficacy or safety of the shot as “misinformation.”  Just out of curiosity, what did you write?

Ramji:  I pointed out that the virus and the vaccine are “not-real” from the point of view of the Self, existence shining as consciousness, and acknowledged that from the point of view of the world they are real.  However, sadly their algorithm wasn’t programmed to recognize the distinction between the bliss of existence and the miseries of daily life, so they gave me a warning and the option to contest the warning.  But I was happy to be censored because from the worldly point of view the virus is a treat, as is the vaccine, at least according to some.  Was it just that they censor me?  Yes, from their point of view, no from mine.  But was I attached to my point of view?  No.  It doesn’t matter to me what groups or individual’s think.  They are free to think what they want.  And I’m not a rebel.  I respect things that have power over my body and mind.  

Things that I have shared with people are ways of possibly protecting oneself and building up the immune system by having a high vitamin D level and taking helpful supplements rather than thinking the shot is the only way to prevent COVID.

RamjI: Sure, but many people, myself included, do both; get the vaccine and the booster and take care of the immune system by living a very conscious healthy lifestyle.  About 80% of the people I know took the vaccine.  Nobody reported unwanted side effecs.  In fact, tens of billions of doses have been administered and the population of the world keeps increasing.  

I know you will say that the “lamestream” media censors the “the truth” but actually there is only one media.  The views of anti-vaxxers are available for anyone who wants to google them and their “evidence,” which doesn’t meet the definition of evidence, is also available.   A belief or an opinion is only evidence of itself.  But anti-vaxxers tend to think the majority should share the anti-vax view.  If anti-vaxers were a majority there would be no vaccine and that would be “fair,” since in a democracy the majority rules, at least theoretically.   If anti-vaxxers ruled would the people who wanted vaccines legitimately feel a sense of injustice?

I have tried to help them to see what is happening with censorship and free speech.  Both of these topics fall on deaf ears.  My ego likes to think that my research is valuable to others.  Not getting the response I hoped for only brought me pain as I said before and did not bring peace to them as I can be too forceful sometimes in relating info. So I stopped educating. I will admit, I have been judgmental of people who don’t question or think in this regard, but I own that it is my issue, not theirs and gives me a chance to work on myself.

Ramji:  I wait until I am asked for my opinion generally or I set up the big picture context before I offer it so that people aren’t expected to conform to my views.  I nearly left Sundari two years ago because of her Duryodhana factor, offering unsolicited unwanted advice to one of my friends.  It was a very painful time for her but a very positive experience because it forced her to choose between her relationship with me and her tendency to tell people, including me, “the truth according to Sundari.”  She quickly apologized and my friend has no hard feelings. In the two years since, I noticed that the tendency to “share” her opinions has gradually disappeared.  And she told me recently that she was happy and grateful for what happened and that she had finally mastered that judgmental interfering part of her mind.  

Does Vedanta not allow one to take a stand on something?  Or does Vedanta allow that as long as one can stay unattached and unjudgmental it is OK to have an opinion that is perhaps kept more to oneself.  Yes, I know how challenging that is , but aren’t we here to work on that anyway?

Ramji:  Of course you can have whatever opinion you want, but dharma trumps “honesty” every time.  Every human being has a hard and fast expectation of non-injury because reality is a benign non-duality.  So one should always consider one’s actions, speech and thoughts in terms of the principle of non-injury.  No, your thoughts don’t injure others, except when they become words.  But they injure your mind.  An aggressively opinionated person is not comfortable because he or she is injuring his or her self not because others don’t accept their views.

Vedanta insists that once you mature and understand that taking a stand as a flawed mortal entity is a bad life choice, you must take a stand in your true nature, which is unconditional love. To become an unconditionally loving person is to actualize one’s full potential.

You said “justice isn’t real because it depends on injustice and doesn’t take into account the mortal law of karma.”

Ramji:  The moral law of karma, not the mortal law, Kathy.  I explained the moral law of karma in the paragraph on non-injury above.

I don’t really get how this applies to withholding info that could be helpful to a wide number of people or forcing people to get a shot they don’t want because the government or some group of people who profit by it think they should.  How does one make decisions about life or one’s health if you don’t believe that something is good or bad. You obviously think the shot is good for you unless you have acquired info and a viewpoint that is different.

Ramji:  Who appoints who to keep God’s laws?  In fact the law of karma/dharma “blesses” people who conform to it and “punishes” those who don’t.  It’s an impersonal, self-equilibrating mechanism.  Nobody needs to take the moral high ground, although it is one of human’s most unattractive tendencies.  All you need to do is to be sensitive to the needs of others.  However, if someone requests your views, get it in writing in triplicate, have it notarized and then let them hear your wisdom.  

I think the main reason people so willingly got the shot is fear. Some may say that it is for the greater good, but on some level they believe the shot will save them from getting COVID.  (Even thought Dr. Deborah Birx who was on the news every night with Fauci now says that she knew it would not prevent infection and might only lesson severity.) The reason I think this is because even after people got the shot, they were still afraid to be around unvaccinated people.  So much fear these people have!  And so much blame towards unvaccinated people who dare to think and question what they put in their bodies with such an untested product!

Ramji:  Pleasure and pain are built into life’s setup.  And fear of injury or loss is the most powerful motivator.  Keeping that in mind, precaution is an intelligent spiritual value.  It is not fear, however.  It is having a plan for dealing with unfortunate eventualities. 

One of the main things you said that really spoke to me is this—“My reality is seemingly useful to me and is subject to cancellation by your  reality.”  So true!  Everyone has a different reality and mine should not be better than yours.   You are entitled to yours and I am to mine.  Because I like bottom lines for the sake of simplicity, this is what I think and this is slowly becoming my understanding, but you know I have a  very opinionated mind with passionate feelings to work through so it will take a while!  ACCEPTANCE! Non-attachment to my expectations and better to have none at all. Buddhism 101. Let people be who they are and accept them as part of the ONE. No need to fix anyone. Love yourself with your foibles and let others have theirs. I agree with you that “whatever a person believes should not matter to them if it keeps them from experiencing  the ever-full and complete love that they are.”  I really need to remember that.  Thanks!

Ramji:  You’re welcome, Kathy.  There is actually only one self although when you take the bodies into account it seems as if there are many different self’s.  If you say the word “I” and don’t say one more thing everyone will understand because we are all the same self.  We exist and we are consciousness.  Nobody needs to tell us that because it is self-evident.  But when you add a whole lot of modifiers, qualifiers and qualities to that “I” you get differences.  This is what Ramana says in Sat Darshanam, a classic Vedanta text. So the best way to relate to people is to relate to them as non-different from you.  You wouldn’t consciously injure yourself so if there are only apparent, not real, differences, then all your relationships will be positive.  People will see themselves in you.  This is why I am successful. 

Does sharing information about something indicate a “disturbed mind” or is it about how it’s delivered? Do you really not have an opinion about anything anymore?  Or are you just not attached to it?  You share it and let it go?Why does a contrary view have to be a disturbance?  Are we supposed to just agree with everything someone says and never express another view?

Ramji:  It’s how it’s delivered and the big-picture context.  It seems as if I have opinions, but I don’t.  In fact I present them as “mine” so I can satirize them.   I only traffic in what I know.  People have beliefs and opinions because they have doubts.  So it is best to use Self inquiry to convert beliefs and opinions into knowledge or discard them, because for every belief and opinion there is someone who has come to the opposite belief or opinion honestly.   

Beliefs and opinions are handed down from generation to generation and picked up unwittingly from others according to the natural proclivities that come with birth…first the family, then the culture, politics, etc.  It’s osmotic, unconscious.  One should question them in light of one’s highest value…freedom and non-dual love…and discard those that don’t serve it. 

Is this a belief or an opinion?  It seems so, but not really.  It is common sense wisdom.  If people chose to identify with self-insulting, self-limiting beliefs and opinions knowing full well nothing we think or feel is etched in granite, they deserve to suffer, like alcoholics and smokers who know better but choose to continue indulging their samskaras.  

Is it an opinion to say they deserve to suffer?  It is a statement of fact because they are suffering.  Life is very just.  You can’t escape your karma unless you choose to escape and take the requisite steps, which always involves a certain amount of discipline.  Of course nowadays people are so lazy and entitled owing to affluenza that they don’t tend to avail themselves of the escape hatch.  Vedanta is the escape hatch. 

I like what you say how “life, like a loving mother looks after us in every way. It lovingly gives us measured does of joy and sorrow to purify our hearts , etc.” I am glad that your life is so successful, you have a huge following to your teachings, and love in your life.  You probably never think about how the shot could be harmful and trust that whatever is meant to happen will happen no matter what.  Isn’t that the Vedanta teaching?

Ramji:  Yes.  Everyone likes to hear that they are beautiful, free and adequate…because they are.  Nobody likes to hear voices of diminishment. 

How long will you be in Trout Lake and the States?  It would be lovely to see you again. I might be driving west in September, but driving there in time for the retreat would be challenging, plus I have 2 commitments on Aug. 22. Still wondering how long you will be there. I trust all will go well!

Ramji:  I will be there till August 31, then back to Spain, Lord willing and the creek don’t rise.  I love you, Kathy.

James:  Yes. This is very beautiful writing.  It is very moving, your bhakti. 

This search touches me, moves me. I am not afraid to see. I am not afraid of the attachment to individuality fading away. 

Since our last conversations about my doubts regarding my marriage, I went through a deep process of self-observation. Despite the agitation of the mind, the internal conflict, the urge to act on impulse, I have tried to observe all this and investigate what was behind the crisis. I tried to practice Karma Yoga, hung my qualifications on the bathroom mirror to look at them daily, etc.

My Jiva went through many changes. I can stay home alone for many days and don’t feel the need to have friends around to keep me company… Being in contact with other people is no longer important to me. 

When I am with people around, I don’t feel bad, but depending on the degree of superficiality that can happen in encounters, people can bore me… I can’t feel connected to many people. My biggest enjoyment is reflecting on Yoga and Vedanta, and I don’t have many people around me with that interest. I try to accommodate… Do you see this as something negative?

James:  Absolutely not.  That is exactly the way things are with me.  You are on the best path that isn’t a path.

I have also lost the sex drive or it has become very weak. I feel more open, more attentive, more available for my husband, but sexually it feels like something has worn off. I don’t see sexual intercourse as important anymore. Sometimes I have the feeling, if I separate tomorrow, that I don’t need to look for another partner. When we talked in the past about my crisis in marriage, it seemed unthinkable to me to live without a partner, without sex. Today this prospect doesn’t scare me. Anyway, I am married and my partner has sexual desire. Perhaps what is happening to me could represent a problem in my marriage. But I would like to ask you if I should see what is happening to me as something negative. 

James:  It is a completely positive way to be.  You don’t need someone to lean on even when you think you do.  The spiritual path is a path to independence.  Sex is fine when you don’t need it.  But it is quite natural to loose interest.  It is a typical samsaric habit, limited in every way. 

In my personal life, I remain productive, I work, pay my bills, organize my house… In my relationships with people I try to be helpful and kind. My level of transparency has increased. When I don’t like something, I look for a way to show it to the other person with care and love.

James:  Learning how to assert yourself in such a way that others get the message but don’t feel rejected or hurt is wonderful.  I love this letter, the kindness, the transparency.  You are a pure soul. 

I say all this because when we start on the spiritual path, there is a risk that we will want to drop everything and go to a cave in the Himalayas, to an ashram… Sometimes I wonder whether or not this desire to be alone, the decrease in sexual desire that I am experiencing, contributes to the duties that I have to fulfill in order to burn my vasanas, my karma, etc. 

James:  The desire to be alone is the aloneness vasana eating up the worldly vasanas.  When you think about it, we are always alone even when we are surrounded by people.  Nobody can get into the Self.  Swamiji used to say, “The spiritual path is walking all alone to the alone (the all one).”

Everything just happens… It is not the fruit of my Jivas decision… And I do not see it as positive or negative…   I think, I just observe it… I used to write fiction in the past… But I did not write the texts at all… The texts wrote themselves… The act of writing used to show me what would happen with the characters. It was not my decision at all…  I think life is like that… We observe and it shows us what is the next task. The Jivas life writes itself. 

A big hug. Love, Francine

Om and Prem,

James

Well summer is in full swing. I moved from bait fishing to fly fishing.  Being a knowledge-minded person, the endless amount of information and applied skill needed to fly fish is a great chew toy for the mind and being on the water, especially moving water is a moving meditation.  My life has been sufficiently simplified that I can go any time I want.  Wyoming is loaded with plenty of amazing fishing within a 45 min drive in any direction so I am having a great time. The phrase epistemological humility comes to mind as I laugh at myself getting flys caught in the bushes. My seemingly never ending string of sloppy casts are free of the jiva’s need to look good or smart or capable and instead accepting right where “I” am, at the beginning.

I had a wonderful thought about the river as a metaphor to the mind.  The water is always flowing just as experience is always happening.  If there are no obstructions the water flows smooth and effortlessly.  But life has its twists and turns, the mind eddies and laments as if resisting its new course. Vasanas are like rocks in the water. The stronger the and bigger the vasana the more disturbance in the flow. But always the sun is just shining witnessing the flow of experience. The happiness I feel is not dependent on the river of mind being straight and free of obstruction.  The jiva is in the flow trying to accomplish the tasks of life. Once in a while his efforts bear fruit or they don’t.  His offering is the humility to not care if anyone thinks he is a good fisherman.

Thank God there is no more need to throw boulders in the river to create more and better opportunities to get something.  I am free and it is wonderful. The world and people are driving by the river trying to get where they are going so they can accomplish their dreams.  My desires continue to wither on the vine. The ideals, the collective ego identities, companionship, reputation, pleasure, all pale in comparison to nondual peace of mind. 

As always forever grateful….. 

I hope everything is well. Things are good with me. Here’s a story about something I just figured out about the teaching. 

Sometimes when I’m puzzling through things I will have imaginary conversations with the  people involved, and I try explain things to them over and over as a way of working towards understanding it myself.

James:  It’s a good way to think things through. 

This is an old story: A few years ago there was a situation in my family that resulted in a big rift between me and one of my nephews, and it persisted for years. I gradually became furious with the guy. Eventually I understood why he acted the way he did and as soon as I understood about 90% of the anger that I had towards him just evaporated immediately. But there was about 10% of the anger that took some time to dissipate, and because of that I didn’t go to the family Christmas get together that year. He was going to be there for the first time in many years and I still had enough anger that I thought I might say or do things that I would regret if I ran into him. 

So tonight I was having this imaginary conversation with my sister, his mother; about all of this.  In the imaginary conversation I explained I no longer have any anger about the situation at all, that 90% of the anger head vanished immediately when I understood why he did the things he did, and the other 10% that persisted for a little longer before it was gone as well. I referred to that anger residue as “habitual anger“, and that habitual anger takes a little while to run out of steam even after the anger due to cause is completely gone. 

I never looked at it that way before, and suddenly I felt I understood the concept of vasanas better and also the work that continues to need to be done during nididhyasana after self-realization. The vasanas are habitual thoughts, states and processes that persist for a little while even though the cause of them is gone.

Do I have that right?

James:  Absolutely.  I couldn’t have said it better myself.  It’s anger residue waiting for the opportunity to express itself.  It was wise not going to that family gathering.  You outfoxed the vasana.

I realize you’ve covered this clearly many times, but the light bulb really went off for me tonight. 

As a consequence I also recognized other changes I need to make, areas where I’ve continued allow unhealthy habits even after ceasing to identify as the person/doer.  Allowing these vasanas maintains a sort of unpleasant and unhappy “ghost of self” even after identification as a person has ceased. 

James:  Great metaphor.  I’ll use “Ghost Self  for the title of this satsang. 

I did a quick search and found this satsang which is so clear. 

I know I’ve studied all this before but it sank in in a new way tonight. 

Much love, 

Kenny

I want to get your input on my understanding of vasanas/karma.  The gunas (Iswara) are not a person, but impersonal FORCES which are the blueprint and perception of every experience (the thought portion of experience) and karma/change. 

 Ramji:  Yes, but to say they are the perception of every experience is not correct because there is only one perceiver, the Self, and it is guna free.  The gunas can’t perceive because they are material forces.  Knowledge doesn’t perceive, action doesn’t perceive and matter doesn’t perceive.  So, aided by Maya, the Self perceives.  I understand that this is not the import of your question.  I’m just being picky about the language. 

This includes the experience of the limited I, calling itself I, a person, a conscious being.  This is a vasana driven identity passed along from eons ago, is it not?

Ramji:  Yes.  It is a conceptual entity that arose after billions of years of cosmic time.  It began when Consciousness (assuming the presence of Maya) became self-aware. 

Because at 2 weeks of age there is no limited I, it is a learned concept of separation or difference from objects, a perception of separation from the field that is dictated by the already existing  vasanas.

Ramji: Yes.  The sense of separation is unconscious from the individual’s point of view but becomes conscious when the gunas have established the physical body securely in the material world.  The sense of separation or incompleteness builds up over time, as you say in the next sentence. 

Vasanas build up over time,  So I  have “lived” here for thousands of years and the tendencies of every living being (jiva) has accumulated in form of the unconscious that drives /motivates desire, action or karma for each jiva.

Ramji:  Yes.

Human Jiva learns of this process when he examines his personality/psyche (but has no direct access to the bank of all the vasanas, which is Isvara).

Ramji:  Correct.

Can I extend this to matter, electrons are also driven by “tendency” to go to their lower energy state no matter how much you try to keep them up in the excited states.

Ramji:  Yes.  It is an inexorable force.  Excitement (rajas) morphs into its opposite, entropy and disappears only to reappear later in an endless circle. 

SO, when you tell us experience is the result of past actions, it is actions of the entire field built up over millions of years in a bank of vasanas (Iswara), who is an I that has lived over millions of years?

Ramji:  Yes.  It is an “eternal person.”  It is a conscious entity that is aware of everything that happens and keeps a record.  In Vedic science it is called chitra gupta, which means a scribe.  It “writes” everything that happens down.  Its vasanas are “words.”  Recall the first mantra of the Mandukya Upanishad, “OM, the word, is all this.”  All this refers to all knowledge, action and material matter.  The “words” it “writes” are sounds, vibrations with an inexorable absolute creative power, that keep the cosmic “wheel” spinning.   

….not sure if I can say it is the eternal Jiva which in a human mind can claim I, act based on the forces of subconscious and collect karma, etc.

Ramji:  Yes, you can.  Isvara and Jiva are both you, existence shining as unborn ever-full awareness.  It is all that Me.  Conceptual, non-eternal jiva can’t claim it because it isn’t conscious and it is just one of countless objects that momentarily flash into being and then disappear.   

At some point in “time” jiva realizes that awareness/being is its very essence because of which he thinks, perceives/feels, emotes based on what vasana is influencing.

Ramji:  Yes, indeed.  It can “realize,” which is a conscious event, because it is non-different from Consciousness.

Then, existent/awareness (I) is out of time so I have nothing to do with the sequential  transformation of vasanas into desires and desires into actions and actions into vasanas. 

Ramji:  Yes.  The “then” is incorrect because cause and effect language doesn’t really apply but I think you know that.    

There is no discrete being, just I, the “ground of being.  The word “I” is really a pointer to that which is silent/presence and has no discrete form shape, subtle or gross but somehow IS the form and shape of everything that exists.

Ramji:  Yes!

A bit of intellectual questioning.  I know this supposes cause and effect and/or projection of all of this including the time period for all of this to evolve.  If you think you need me to hear your words/answer we can do a zoom, or better yet wait till I see you in Trout lake. Otherwise , email will do.

Ramji:  Why wait?  I had my red pencil out but couldn’t use it.  You have it all right.  I tidied up your words a bit so as not to confuse others.  The basic idea…that you can claim Isvara status…is very radical so you need to be mindful of the context in which you claim it.  It is entirely appropriate to discuss it with me, however.  Knowing your non-separation from jiva and Isvara destroys jiva’s sense of limitation, separation and inadequacy.  Krishna, speaking as the Self, says that a person who understands non-duality “is dear to me,” which means “is me.”  When he addresses Arjuna as a friend he is saying that there is no difference, in so far as friendship the perfect mirror of the truth. 

Thanks Bossman!  So glad you decided to keep the satang this Sunday. Easter is for the BIRDS. 🙂

You are most welcome.

Much love,

Bossman

Hi James, it’s been a while, how are you? 

James:  Never better.  

I’ve been less consistent with it all in more recent times due to a number of factors, particularly a house move. That said, I’ve kept in touch with some texts and am always attempting to stay consistent with karma yoga, guna management and meditation. I’m finally relatively settled in the new place and it’s time to ramp up the mission, Operation get the F*%$k out of Samsara. In light of this, I have some doubts that keep bugging me if you don’t mind. 

James:  Helping people get out of samsara is what I do.  

The world has become blah, the zero sum nature and pointlessness of all the run-around has become annoyingly obvious. I feel dull, ripped off, sad even sitting in this knowledge. At the same time Vedanta blooms in necessity, to understand the world and having no relief package would appear disastrous, so it’s not all bad.  

James:  Appreciating the zero-sum nature of samsara, is the key to freedom from samsara.   

This is further compounded by my other recent hard realization, that despite feeling that I have a decent grip on the teaching, actual assimilation is a big leap, more than I assumed in the earlier days. So I guess what I’m saying is I feel a bit overwhelmed and disheartened, worried I’ll be stuck in the uncomfortable limbo for a long time, perhaps many many years, I sure as hell can’t turn back and moksha sure as hell isn’t going to fall in my lap. Perhaps this is more a therapy session than a satsang haha. Could you provide any insight or advice on the scenario? 

James:  Yes.  You got high on the idea that you are the Self but your desire for security and pleasure pulled you away from the path.  You have bits and pieces but don’t understand the big picture, the five stages of Self inquiry aka Vedanta.  You need to organize your life around your practice, not the other way around.  Please start over.  Go to ShiningWorld home page and click the start here arrow and proceed logically and patiently.  You should have a daily practice.  For instance, karma yoga, the first stage involved five daily practices, etc. I can’t help you until you are clear what is actually involved.  Vedanta works.  Read the satsangs on the website, which are testimonials to the transformative power of this great teaching.  Once you are committed I am happy to guide you.   

Ok so the second thing is killing vasana related. I feel at this point I only have one major binding (problematic) vasana to neutralise. You’ve probably never heard of this one, the sex/relationship vasana. My entire 20’s and early 30’s could be defined by this alone. I’ve had numerous failed relationships and am absolutely certain I want none of it anymore, I tasted the forbidden fruit for the first time in a while recently just in case something had changed and Ishvara made it very clear that enough is enough. So anyway, I’ve ditched the dating app and have embarked on a celibacy quest. Yep, it’s harder than I thought. Question is, should I go straight Pope or should I cut myself some slack? I have the discipline to go all the way (i think), but just want to be sure it’s worthwhile. I don’t really know how else to do this vasana in good and proper? 

James:  Sin intelligently.  Commit to Self inquiry and throw the dog a bone now and then.  Full Pope doesn’t work.  You don’t have the temperament for it.  Don’t think that sex isn’t one of the most blatant zero-sum endeavors in samsara.  You need to learn what love is.  Read the Yoga of Love.  You should have a daily devotional practice.   

This one is a bit random…. given apparent duality and all that, would this mean that everyone’s suffering is proportionate to their happiness in a single lifespan? For example if someone (a friend of a friend) would have many years of pain well beyond the norm does that mean they would be leveled up to experience an equal amount of ease at some stage in their life? 

James: No.  This question is born out of an insufficient understand of the law of karma.   

Sorry I’ve got a few. I’ll just say it, I have issues with frustration (anger at times), both towards my own health challenges and at aspects of the world. Adharmic behaviours seriously piss me off, real suffering pisses me off, stupid selfish people piss me off. I know I’m not supposed to be taking it as real and the importance of killing likes and dislikes and all that. My question is.. how the hell do i do that? I know it’s not real but it feels real for the jiva. I just don’t know if I can “love” it all. I even know it’s all happening in my mind, which makes me feel like shit. In addition to this, I have a hard time with karma and bhakti yoga, I honestly have beef with Ishvara who is facilitating all this apparent nonsense. I read something to the tune of Isvara is not the issue, ignorance is, in one of your books recently, which I couldn’t grasp. If Ishvara is the whole show then isn’t ignorance as much IT than anything else? If I didn’t know that Ishvara was everything then I’d love that explanation because I could continue my tirade against the dumbass godless asuras. But we are taught that this kind of view and attitude will keep us stuck in the hell hole (or is it paradise?), hard to tell for an ignorant jiva. 

James:  As I said above, you need to start over.  Stage one is karma yoga.  It is desire and anger management. Once it starts to work your mind will calm down enough so it can start to understand what needs to be done.  You don’t understand the difference between emotion and devotion.     

My final question is less a rant, sorry about that, I’ve been bottling this up for awhile. I want to understand what it actually means to “offer” actions to Ishvara as part of karma yoga. Is it just saying “here Ishvara” mentally throughout the day, which I’ve been doing, while not really knowing what that means.

God this may seem like a stupid rookie question but I’m unsure. Is it a word symbol which is used as a shorthand way of “acknowledging that all the factors involved in being able to perform this action are gifted by Ishvara, Ishvara is the performer and the giver of the results, so I offer up the idea that any of this is me”. Is it essentially an application of the non-doer knowledge?  

James:  Yes.  It is offloading the emotion before you commit to an action so that you can act dispassionately as the Self would act if it were in a body, which it is but which you don’t appreciate.  It is seeing every situation as a opportunity to contribute to your environment aka Isvara, not an opportunity to cotton to your likes and dislikes.  As I said I haven’t time to untangle your messy mind.  You need to calm down and take baby steps.  You are way ahead of yourself, caught in the spell of rajoguna.  The desire/anger is clouding your intellect.  Isvara has sent you to the right place, no doubt, but there is no quick fix.   Rome wasn’t built in a day. 

Further to this, you instruct an attitude of gratitude. Admittedly I’m not the best at feeling gratitude, not hopeless but I’ve definitely developed a victim vasana over the years. That said, I am committed to working hard to transform that. I have developed an early morning devotional practice where I pray and sit in silence contemplating the gifts of Ishvara, which is a pleasant experience. Is this sufficient or do you have any other tips? 

James:  Good.  There is not one thing in life that you value that you created.  If you are the author of your life, you can own it, but everything you experience, whether it is in harmony with a like or a dislike comes from Isvara, the world.  

I’m glad you wrote.  It is an honest letter.   Think of my reply as tough love.  I think you’re starting to figure out that the big spoiled baby act doesn’t work, which is the dawn of wisdom.  Vedanta works, but you have start over.  To repeat, you have most of the bits and pieces but they need to be stitched together.  If you really commit yourself you will make rapid progress.  So the first step is to stop thinking of yourself as Jack Jones.  Think of yourself as a karma yogi and concoct a workable identity day by day.  You’re a clever guy, perhaps too clever by half.   Don’t bite off more than you can chew.  And throw the dog the occasional bone.  And please make regular donations to ShiningWorld.  It’s incumbent on inquirers to support the teaching and the teacher.  

Much love,

James

I hope you’re physically well and enjoying life. I recently read Sundari’s satsang about the deep childhood samskara’s which are or have prevented the full assimilation and effect of perfect freedom from and for the jiva for her.  I must say l find her honesty very refreshing as teachers of freedom seldom share what is happening (mithya as it may be) in their sadhana. To have the courage as a jiva to let her students know that she is still dealing with those pesky vasanas is actually commendable and shows that she has great character. Anything less than 100% tripti just isn’t freedom.

On the other hand, knowing that one is the Self – if it is completely firm knowledge – goes a hell of a long way to make a Vedanta student’s life beautiful even if there is some ignorance tucked away somewhere deep in the bowels of the causal body waiting to reveal itself to the light. And l guess it takes as long as it takes.

My question is subtle territory at least from my jiva’s perspective but if anyone can tell me the answer it’s you Ramji.  In my own sadhana l have noticed that, although l am looking at life from a vantage point which obviates the need to interfere with anything that’s apparently going on in mithya, still sometimes I’ll begin to become aware of an uncomfortable feeling and as l watch it fades and soon after l will feel like l’ve reached a new level of clarity speaking as the mind.

These days the Satya/mithya vasana is internalised to the extent that l no longer consciously need to discriminate because mithya is seen as Satya anyway, seeing everything as myself, however these very subtle changes for the jiva often occur and l was wondering whether this is bits of unseen ignorance being neutralized? Of course what else could it be.  At the same time l understand that there is no ignorance from my perspective, speaking as awareness. This is quite difficult to put into words actually.

So l hope you’re able to understand where I’m coming from here? Any pointers would be very much appreciated. This is in no way a problem and ordinarily I wouldn’t have bothered you with it but because of Sundari’s satsang l thought it ties in with it and would therefore be worth the email and I hope you’re not too busy?  If so I can wait as long as it takes because all vasanas are ultimately resolved in the fullness of time anyway and they cannot touch me anyway. Thank you for your time Ramji. God bless.

Ramji:  Isvara blessed me with a glimmer of sattva and I’m emerging from jetlag as we speak.   Yes, I was surprised and delighted that Sundari chose to share her stuff.  People need to know that it’s quite fine to be a people. 

Anyway, your question brings up a subtle point.  I wouldn’t say that what’s happening is due to a loss of ignorance but to the loss of the effects of ignorance, which are thoughts, etc. that survive hard and fast Self knowledge.  For want of ignorance the thoughts, emotions, etc. that were generated by ignorance, fall away.  There is a verse in the Bhakti Sutras that says for a Self-realized person with non-dual bhakti love grows and grows. 

Of course love doesn’t grow or shrink, but when a (formerly) binding vasana, due to lack of support from the jiva, merges back into awareness it produces a feeling of lightness, expansiveness, satisfaction, etc. which is more or less continuous, so it feels like everything is getting easier, better, etc.   It’s a both/and as usual.  You think  you can’t feel better than you’re feeling now and you can’t but tomorrow you feel even more satisfied and grateful.  You find yourself appreciating the smallest things with great tenderness.  It is a great wonder.