I hope you know how much your companionship and teaching mean to me on this journey. I take such strength and comfort from both, and such pleasure in your strong honest nature, your curiosity which helps make such space for others to be inquisitive in, your deep learning and sisterhood and your generosity of spirit in sharing so freely. I am grateful and joyful in great and equal measure for your presence.

I am not sure I’ve ever had a grand plan, maybe some very tiny occasional attempts but much of it has felt like just sailing along, meeting whatever winds and currents along the way or sometimes as though being suddenly dragged ‘off course’ by some treacherous current and then, of course, one reacts.

And what is the teaching? I play with this a lot as I simply don’t fully understand yet…when you are already whole and complete then you can still be left with the questions about what is the point of volition…does it matter what I do as long as I truly feel this? Do I need to ‘do’ anything, shall I simply float on the current or should I kick out my legs and arms and swim for a shore of my choosing? It is perhaps the case that both are valid and it’s simply a case of one’s discerning choice over the two at different times. I find thinking about the concept of ‘wu wei’ very helpful in thinking about these things.

Yes these thoughts of worthiness, doingness, achievement they can plague us, perhaps they’re the shackles we seek to free ourselves from…moral imperatives so long learned. Can you imagine the weight of the propaganda machine we’ve been subjected to since birth. To see a glimmer of any truth beyond this is indeed perhaps a grand life’s ‘work’.

I am always trying to remember that I’m a human ‘being’ not a human ‘doing’

So much love dear Kate,

Judy xxx

P.s the word ‘bridges’ in yin and then again in meditation were so helpful and wonderful

~

Dear Judy,

Thank you for your fine crafted words.

A solace that a heart and mind may recognise the ebb and flow of life’s journey as the ability to take the bitter with the sweet. Wisdom gains and lies in the evolution of my reactions to those ‘treacherous’ moments indeed – the crux of understanding, how much have I assimilated thus far?

Do I keep reacting from the same core wound? Perhaps I need more knowledge of said wounds and how they show up as road blocks to living fully and freely.

With time and revelation personally I’m investigating and learning from the common unstable family structures of our western cultures, which can leave gaps in proper nurturance, protection and guidance and therefore add challenges to truly actualising, living and ‘feel’ as you say one’s whole and complete nature. It requires willingness and bravery, and indeed it is subtle. I need a lot of patience, consistency, earnestness, compassion, a love of irony and a sense of humour, – to say the least!

Then how much do I really want to be free? Attachments – sticky and invisible, often hidden in the form of thoughts and beliefs. Not even realising we’re suffering, abnormality is now normal and therefore easy to distract with endless resources at our disposal. All that being said, each with a load to bear and roles to play, so it seems.

You answer the questions so well. Any psychological suffering (often shown in the body) stems from worries of the past and anxiety for the future concerning the results of actions. Actions are limited and finite and never give the result we truly want, which is myself and I always have me. However, discretion in action is wise and useful when I start carefully analysing my own experience to see whether the results of my actions grant peace of mind, are in harmony with goals/values, and give maximum benefit to myself and others. Am I a happy person?

Instead of the feeling of floating or drifting, or that I might suddenly need to swim. Perhaps think of being your own Great Captain of a ‘Sturdy Ship’. Well prepared to weather inevitable storms. That means, this life of understanding What I Am – takes a whole lot of preparation and qualifying oneself, over and over again. “Fortune favors the brave!”. Meet the obstacles with undeniable spirit like you do, otherwise I miss out on the bliss. I don’t embark on a sailing voyage, unless I have the right skills and knowledge and I truly love sailing – meaning do only what’s appropriate to my relative nature.

Therefore the yogas are very important. The body-mind can give all kinds of trouble unless I understand them properly and do what’s necessary to take care of these instruments well, which implies understanding the laws of nature/Isvara, getting in harmony with that and having great faith and trust in it. Not worrying about death or trying to out-smart death.

The great big propaganda machine is called Ignorance and like Existence is beginningless, not subject to birth and death, however, unlike existence it can be negated, seen for what it truly is – not actually real. When I no longer see the serpent, and relax with the revelation of the rope, I see the truth in the false, fear goes away and freedom reigns. Let knowledge guide your life. Learn to see what I am not.

Expect the unexpected because nothing is as it seems. The anticipated may never come. Keep an open mind that’s curious and always fresh.

Below is the meditation on the ‘bridge’ by Swami TV we practised in class and an article on Wu Wei by Rory Mackay.

Enjoy,

Love,

Kate

Om

“Sthira sukham asanam.”

That is the yoga Sutra, an aphorism, very brief but complete. “Sthira sukham asanam.”

There are three words, and the word is always a bridge. Meaning, you hear the word, of course, the meaning flashes in the mind. Then, you reach beyond the word— to the thing.

For example, sthira means “still,” that is about the body. So, keep the body still without any movement except for the breath. That is sthira.

Look at the mechanism one more time. You hear the word sthira, get the meaning “still,” and then reach beyond the word to the body, and keep the body still.

If you do not reach beyond the word, which is possible. Then, the word and its meaning remain as an idea, a concept in the brain, which is not of much value.

Therefore, you should reach beyond the word, always. Sthira—keep the body still. Now, sthira is not a concept anymore; it is the thing.

Sukham is about the mind —relaxed. Sukham means “relaxed.” So you hear the word, word’s meaning, but then you allow the mind to relax.

Sthira sukham—that covers the body and the mind.

Then, what remains after the body and mind? I remain— asanam. Asanam means “to be,” the being— to be.

So, we start with the body, crossover, come to the mind, crossover, and arrive at yourself—asanam—“I be.”

You may begin with the heart—“I be” in the heart. There is nothing to do. It is just—“be.”

This is meditation. This is how you use the word as the bridge to arrive at yourself and then abide in yourself—asanam—“I be.”

In doing so, you have left the body behind.

“I be.” You have left the mind also behind. “I be.” Meaning you have set aside all emotions, and ideas, notions, etcetera. The entire content of the mind is set aside, and you arrive at yourself—“I be.”

This is meditation because the body is still,

the mind is relaxed and quiet, and— “I be.”

This is how the meditation, very simple,

transports you away from the humdrum of the daily life into your own pure being—“I be.” You may even say, “I am.”

That is meditation— “I am.”

Though, I said heart in the beginning. You may notice that the pure— “I am”— is boundless, spaceless, timeless, and it is not the person. It is impersonal. “I am.” Very simple.

Meditation is very simple.

“I be.”

Om

Here’s something to think about, Joe.  Joe needn’t be ignorant.  But he doesn’t need to think that Self knowledge confers a special status.  In fact, it confers the opposite, the status of ordinary awareness.  Ordinary is a dualistic term we use advisedly to point out the fact that if there is only awareness; it is impossible to make a big story about differences.  

When you understand Vedanta properly, along with scripture, you can say I know who or what I am, without falling in the special status trap. Vedanta is “normal” yoga.  Seeing oneself as non-different from others is a great blessing.  So keep an eye on the part of the mind that tries to distinguish itself.  Teach it to blend it.  If you stick your head out Isvara will cut it off.  In Handel’s Messiah, it says.  “He makes the rough places plain.”  A spiritual person should have an acute appreciation of this fact.

This weekend I will teach Yoga and Vedanta in Bayreuth. As you probably know Yoga and Vedanta is not the same but it is also not different. How exactly is it not the same, and how is it not different? Here’s a little excerpt from my book on Patanjali Yoga Sutras, called the “Power of Know”:

“Fifty-three years ago, at the tender age of twenty-seven, inspired by an epiphany, I set off for India to “find myself,” which perhaps sounds rather comical these days. After practicing kundalini yoga and experiencing higher states of consciousness too numerous to mention for several years, I missed an essential fact that truth-seekers of every generation seem to miss: the distinction between knowledge and action. Mostly we are doers trying to get what we don’t have or avoid what we don’t want. When we try to apply the action model to the search for truth, we always come up short, because the freedom we seek is the very nature of the seeker himself or herself. The message of these commentaries on the Yoga Sutras makes it clear that there need be no conflict between what we do and what we know. Rightly understood, only a path that combines experience and knowledge leads to the transcendent freedom of which the sage Patanjali speaks. This book is dedicated to doers and thinkers everywhere who are trying to release themselves from the sense of limitation and inadequacy that bedevils every human heart.”

Price:
Live at the Bayreuth Yoga Vidya Center 50,00, to register send an email to Shambu – bayreuth@yoga-vidya.de.

If you would like to join online, send a donation of 50,00 Euro to cover the technical costs to https://shiningworld.com/donation/ and let Georg at georg.shiningworld@gmail.com know about it.

Love,

Ramji and Sundari

https://shiningworld.substack.com/p/live-stream-yoga-and-vedanta-bayreuth

I don’t like to bother you with trivial things but I’ve been watching some Satguru videos and some other Neo guys.  He seems like an OK person but some of the things he talks about seem pretty weird.  I won’t be surprised if you don’t answer this email but I’d be happy if you did.  Thanks so much for everything.  My life is not the same since I started listening to you.  I sent a donation too.

Much love, Sharon

Dear Sharon,

I’ll make you happy.  I get quite a few questions about Satguru, so maybe Isvara wants me to say a few words.  One never knows what rich and famous people do behind the scenes.  If he’s up to no good, he’s certainly good at hiding it.  I think he is a good guy. He’s very clever, intelligent and confident as are a lot of Indians.  But as far as spirituality is concerned, he’s just another spiritually materialistic Neo Advaita guy. He has no teaching and will promote any half-assed stupid “spiritual” idea that comes to mind, of which there are plenty.  The exotic flavor appeals to Westerners who live boring, hard-working unimaginative lives.  It’s romantic India at its deceptive worst.  No blame.  I was attracted to it for that reason, and I don’t regret falling in love with it. Fortunately, I fell out of love when I met a real mahatma.  He’s this generation’s Kalki Avatar, the guy that got $5,000 for a 21-day retreat that reversed your brain and made you one of the 144,000 enlightened beings that saved the planet during the harmonic convergence. 😀  Vedanta is for normal, hard-working common-sense people so the idea should be “normal yoga.”

That you wrote shows me that Vedanta is working because you aren’t taken in by appearances.  Thanks for the donation. 

Love,

James 

Dearest Ramji,

I just finished transcribing the second question I asked you last Sunday during your Zoominar. This one was on the topic of the separate factors in the experience of pain (sensorial data and conceptual interpretation of those data) and the ever-present bliss of awareness. Your answer was very enlightening for me. I was thinking that perhaps other of your students, especially those dealing with physical pain, may find this satsang helpful? So, I am attaching it in the event you wish to post it along with your satsangs in your website. Of course, whatever you decide is fine with me.

Could you talk about the difference between pleasure and pain (body oriented) and happiness and suffering (conceptual)?

Ramji: Yes, pleasure and pain is inevitable, as far as the body goes. But the suffering is all the thoughts that you have about pleasure and pain. That’s all. You have no choice about pleasure and pain. The Gita is very clear about that.

Now, you actually can control pleasure and pain to a large degree if you manage the gunas. This is assuming you know what it is to manage the gunas.  For example, you can avoid acting when you are too rajasic or tamasic for the situation you are confronted with.  When you are too rajasic or too tamasic you make mistakes and break the physical laws of the universe, and damage your physical instrument. For example, sports people who live right on the edge of danger.  The just factor in injuries because they are too rajasic. They are going so fast that the mind gets ahead of the body, they make a mistake and injury comes. If you are too tamasic, your mind is going to be behind your body, it is not going to be there to protect the body and to anticipate problems.  So you will get wacked. If you can manage these two energies, you can avoid a lot of pain.

Once you have pain, there is nothing you can do about it, except look at your relationship to it.  The suffering is in the subtle body.  The way you manage the mental and emotional suffering is by subtracting the mental and emotional issues around the pain by taking it as prasad. In other words, seeing the inevitability of the pain, seeing it as Isvara’s will, and putting my attention on the Self, or on some other thought that does not produce pain.  So, there is always an opportunity to avoid the suffering to a large degree, although it is difficult to do that when you feel the pain.  It is very difficult to keep your mind on some other thought, because the pain is always there, so there is always a tension and it is a form of suffering, too.  

So there is no magic bullet to remove pain, but you can remove a lot of the suffering.  And it is the only intelligent thing to do, because if you don’t manage your mind when you are in pain, then your life is going to deteriorate because you won’t be able to function effectively, particularly around other people. Nobody likes to be around people who are in pain, because the pain leaks into them by osmosis. It is all mithya stuff, but it is tricky. Some of this stuff you just have to suffer as your parabdha karma and be as cheerful as you can around it.

Marie: Just to clarify my question.  It just strikes me suffering is very conceptual, but the pain is more sensorial. It’s like in a different language.  And there is still some interpretation of the sensorial data.

Ramji: Yes, there is!

Marie: I have chronic pain that fluctuates, and I play with this concept quite a bit. And there are times that the pain is not too high, and I can interpret it differently, which causes relaxation. 

Ramji: Yes, that is right.

Marie: But where I was going with this was more at the extremes. If I were fully anchored in pure awareness, and the raw data, the sensorial data of pain were to come up in front of “Me;” the sensorial data would be there but the interpretation would not be there. 

Ramji:  Even if the interpretation is there, it is still mithya.  But, that’s right. The solution is to discount the interpretation as mithya and stick with the bliss of awareness because the bliss of awareness is present too! In other words, underneath, behind that pain and behind that interpretation that is taking place in the Subtle Body, behind that sensorial data and the interpretation of that data, there is a current of well-being, satisfaction bliss operating all the time.   It is the bliss of existence, because of which you always want to live another day, pain or no pain.  So, Definitely, the interpretation disappears and if you train yourself to keep your attention on that, then sometimes the pain just disappears too. 

The meditation of ashtanga yoga is very good for that; it teaches you how to develop that concentration on the Self, and how to deepen that attention, and  how to get totally absorbed in that object, that is, in the Self, Awareness, to the point that you can avoid the pain to a large degree. Sometimes completely! Like in Ramana’s case, he was so good at meditation, at samadhi, that he didn’t realize that his body was being eaten by insects. He just sat there absorbed by the intense bliss of awareness, that he was unaware of his body.  Some yogis decided to take care of him and heal him; they cleaned him up and looked after him from that point on.

So, it’s a lot of work!  The best thing is to be very deliberate and rational and think about what you are doing before doing it and not put yourself in situations that are going to produce pain. And you can do that!

I’m 80 and I can fall down and break a limb. I work outside in a very steep hillside trimming trees. I use a power saw and other implements.  I can easily go tumbling or cut-off my leg with my saw.  But I am very very conscious and very aware, and I don’t let any other thoughts intrude my mind.  I don’t want to get pain or suffering.  On the other hand, you should do what is right for you to do even if it involves danger or you won’t grow. 

Marie: Would that be equivalent to developing a vasana of staying with the bliss of pure awareness?

Ramji: Yeah! You want a samadhi vasana!  I’ve a new book on the Patanjali Yoga Sutras coming within the next month.  Look for it on the website.  We’ll advertise it in a newsletter too. There is some practical information about how you can develop this concentration and this deep meditation, and train your mind to become more powerful.

Marie: Thank you, thank you.

Ramji: You’re welcome. 

If reality is non-dual as Vedanta states, the Self and the mind are understood to be non-different if name and form is subtracted.  If I am ignorant that I am the Self and identify with the mind, I think that the mind and myself are different.  I say, “I have a mind.”  So to attain non-duality on that level I would need to attain nivichara samadhi, which is subtracting the name and the form because the mind stuff and the objects of knowledge are non-different.

But the mind is actually insentient even though dualists think it is sentient and identify with it.  The mind is subtle matter, which is not conscious, and gains sentiency only when the Self illumines it, not before.  Therefore, the Self is the sentient factor.  If the Self is the sentient factor, then non-duality would demand that the mind and the Self are the same, but the verse says the mind and the name and the form are the same.  If A equals B, then B equals A.

The mind and the Self are not the same.  The mind is the Self in so far as whatever sentiency it enjoys is borrowed from awareness, the Self.  But the Self is not the mind because the mind is known to it.  The Self, the conscious subject, never becomes what it knows.  It can’t become anything other than what it is…existence shining as awareness…because it is immutable.  If there was an actual connection (yoga) between the Self and what it knows, liberation would be impossible because experienced objects of knowledge would modify the unborn witness.  Dualists do not properly understand the separation of the seer and the seen because they identify with the secondary witness, the Subtle Body, a reflecting medium, also known as the reflected self, which is modified by the vritti gunas playing in it.  They think the seer and the seen exist in the same order of reality and try to unify it.  Yoga means to join or connect.  But they cannot be connected by doing yoga because both are existence shining as consciousness.  One can only connect two different things.

In verse two Patanjali says, that removing the vrittis in the mind-stuff, the reflecting medium, causes the seer “to shine in all it’s glory” in verse 3.  But the Seer is always shining.  It is unborn eternal consciousness.  Even if there were a causal connection between the Self and the mind, removing the vrittis from the mind would not remove ignorance, the root of the vrittis.  Only knowledge does.  Knowledge, as we have seen, is generated by sound…words to be specific…and those words need to appear in consciously designed sequences i.e. logically if they are to remove the vrittis generated by the non-apprehension of the Self.  Non-apprehension is not something one does.  Something that can be known can also be unknown.  Removing vrittis, which are effects of ignorance, does not remove the cause, which Patanjali call “root” ignorance (moolavidya or Maya). 

James:  Yes.  He was a mystic and a yogi.  Kriya yoga is not karma yoga although it looks like it.  One of his disciples, Swami Kriyananda, tried to recruit me back in 1970. 

I have read many Shining World Satsangas, especially those that talk about the difference between Yoga and Vedanta. I begin to understand what you say about the experiential line and the path of knowledge. About the experiential language in Yoga. That we should not trust what we feel – Feelings are Mithya, they are not real. 

James:  You shouldn’t necessarily distrust them either.  You should stop and think about actions what feelings imply.  If I am an addict and I feel like quitting, that feeling will be helpful, assuming that I realize that my addiction is working against me.  Vedanta suggests that you keep your highest value in mind all the time…freedom and non-dual love…and evaluate the feeling with reference to it.

I have studied the Yoga Sutras, but it was not a good course.  I read or listened to it in one of his videos that perhaps Patanjali confused Satya with Sattva. I see clearly that many in the spiritual world confuse a spiritual experience with enlightenment. Until I met Shining World I thought that enlightenment was a spiritual experience.

James:  Yes, most of the so-called modern “enlightened” non-dual teachers are dualists because they confuse sattva with sat, existence shining as consciousness.  When the mind it sattvic it mimics consciousness, which is a very nice experience but when rajas and tamas change the mind, the sattva disappears and with it the enlightenment turns to endarkenment.  Temporary enlightenment is just unmanifest ignorance. 

I wonder why an enlightened master uses experiential language. If non-dualism is the ultimate truth, why does someone who has realized the Self use experiential language?

James:  Good question.  A lot of Self realized people who use experiential language are not Self realized according to Vedanta’s definition of Self realization, which is the hard and fast knowledge “I am existence shining as consciousness.”   Obviously this means that the I is not endowed with instruments of action and a willful I-notion.

On the other hand it is possible to express knowledge with action words if you take the implied meaning of the words.  Vedanta also uses action words in this way more or less to inspire doers to seek the Self, since people are actually seeking the Self when they are doing things…they want freedom from want and they want to enjoy the momentary bliss of reflected awareness when they get what they want.

At the same time Vedanta makes simple statements of fact like You Are That or I am Consciousness or Consciousness is All There Is, which are not action words.  You can only understand them…or not.  Nothing you can do can prove them because the one who wants proof doesn’t understand that he or she is only a conceptual entity born out of ignorance of these facts.  I’ve just finished some commentaries on Ramana Maharshi’s Sat Darshanam which uses action words and I explain how to see them.  I’ve attached it to this email so you can get a better idea of this issue.     

I even began to wonder if Patanjali knew who he was. I wonder if someone who teaches with experiential and dualistic language actually knows who he is. Is it a mistake to think that way?

James:  He may have been Self realized because yogis sometimes become inquirers and get the knowledge.  He obviously wasn’t taught by a mahatma or he would have presented the fact that you…consciousness is samadhi, meaning the Self values every object with the same value; they are all mithya.  If samadhi is a statement about your nature then what can you do to get it, except know it? 

He probably wasn’t Self realized, however, because he connects removal of the vrittis with the appearance of the Seer.  Obviously, the Seer exists prior to the doer (the remover) so he must mean that freedom is gained by doing i.e. sadhana, which it isn’t.  Karma is gained by doing sadhana.  It doesn’t really matter if he was or wasn’t because the idea he is famous for contradicts the logic of existence. This is not to say that the removal of unhelpful vasanas isn’t an extremely and necessary tool to prepare your mind for Self knowledge  

Perhaps, among the people who follow Shining World, there are many who have dedicated many years to Yoga. Wouldn’t a Shining World course on Yoga Sutras be useful for people like us? At least we don’t pass on erroneous information to our yoga students… What do you think about it?

James:  It’s a good idea.  I will do it.  I was just thinking about doing another text and maybe this is Isvara giving me a hint.  

I talked with a friend, also Yoga teacher, and she told me that Vedanta is not practical, it is too mental. I said that I practice Vedanta. I observe what I think and I try to separate what is real from what is not real. Consciousness is real. What I am. Everything that changes is not real. This is a practical exercise or not? And when I observe my thoughts and feelings and see that I am too connected to them, I also practice Karma Yoga. I offer to Ishvara. I try to offer, everyday, as much as I can to Ishvara, also myself, my good feelings, my satisfaction, my love… 

James:  Vedanta is totally practical.  There is no contradiction between knowledge and action.  Do action for the things that need changing and inquire to gain knowledge.  You have the correct view.  Yoga people are doers first and foremost.  They are goal oriented.  Mainly the goal is to be heathy, which is a good goal.  However, what do you do with your energy once you are healthy?  Yes, a good portion goes to maintaining one’s health, but what about the mind and intellect?  What are you doing to make them healthy?  The goal of the mind is to remove ignorance.  It is naturally curious.  It doesn’t like ignorance.  It needs good food and Vedanta is good food.  It will make the mind strong and flexible.  So it’s a both/and, not an either/or.      

Love,

James

Sundari: This is covered in the book, but yes, because as long as duality still conditions the mind, you will have problems in relationships because you think you are transacting with “another” when there is never anybody “out there,” only gunas conditioning the mind “in here.”

Stan: I am interested to pursue the idea of “practising karma yoga every moment of every day, with every thought, word and deed before you act on them.” I do this a lot, but not nearly enough. Can you give me some examples and advice on how to do this consistently?

Sundari: The only way is through mind management, understanding the different types of thoughts that the mind conditions to and why – the gunas from which they arise. There is actually no need to dig into your psychology if you understand the gunas. If you do, you act to remedy the way the mind is thinking instead of trying to correct the situation you find yourself in – i.e. to get what you want.

The joy is always there, even if the jiva does not feel joyful. It cannot not be, because it is you. Ramji, in his inimitable way, says practise the FYFY – “fuck your feelings yoga”! While we honour our feeling nature as a jiva, as long as feelings are running the intellect, you are in trouble. Ignorance never gives up without a fight, it is the only thing that never dies a natural death, as does everything else in mithya. Only Self-knowledge kills ignorance. If all the roots are not pulled out, it will sprout again, you can count on it.

Stan: Christ, don’t I know this! It sprouts and sprouts again! On a practical level, how do you practice the “fuck your feelings yoga”? I think that is just the one for me. I guess it is really triguna yoga? For example, right now I am tired, and my partner is irritable, and I am sitting in the bedroom feeling anxious. There is an uncomfortable feeling in the chest. I am the witness to that feeling and the thoughts around it. If there is no identification with the feeling, then there is no problem and there is peace. I am guessing that when strong feelings come they need to be identified and that the thoughts need to be observed and my true identity asserted?

Sundari: Correct, see above. Managing the mind through guna knowledge is the only way. I have attached a version of the requirements for inquiry and enlightened lifestyles to this email.

The only way you get to enjoy the jiva or any object is when you are free of dependence on it and attachment to it. The jiva is loved wholeheartedly the way it is, but you are not free of it until all its programs no longer cause agitation or denial, i.e. do not modify to the gunas.

Stan: By this I presume you mean that no matter what is running – fear, desire, depression, fantasy – I just remain as the Self and refuse to get involved?

Sundari: Yes, taking a stand in awareness as awareness and practising the opposite thought, with the karma yoga attitude. It takes practice and it feels like hard work, and “clinical” at first, but what price freedom? Total freedom from the jiva means you are not bothered by it anymore, because all its emotional agitation has been converted to devotion to the Self (see the last stage of Self-inquiry in the attachment).

The last stage of Self-inquiry (nididhyasana) can take a long time to complete, but don’t be put off by that. Just keep consecrating each thought word and action to Isvara on the altar of karma yoga. I think I said this to you in our last exchange, but it bears repeating: when the need samskara arises, if you get hooked by the turbulent thoughts and emotional patterns inherent in being the small, limited, needy jiva,even in seemingly small day-to-day issues, you will never be free of it. The ever-changing and limited idea of who you are trying to keep alive as the person is just a memory, a guilt/shame-inspired thought. For the most part, it is a toxic program. Get rid of it; pay it no heed!

The first step is to see the program for what it is, where it originates from (beginningless ignorance/the gunas/Maya). There is no blame. The next step is to say NO! to the VODs [voices of diminishment]. Just do it. There is no law against this, because they do not speak the truth about who you are. Be vigilant and keep doing it, no matter how long it takes, one thought at a time. Never give up and do not defend or protect the little ego-self. That will only strengthen the samskara.

Satya and mithya is duality if you think the jiva is as real as the Self. Taking a stand as the Self means the jiva is as good as non-existent. You are Self. You are not The Self and the jiva, although the jiva is you. So, when jiva appears, dismiss it through understanding. It does not require you to change your relationship with your partner or anyone else. All it requires is changing your attitude to the attachment to them – to the idea of who you are to them, and they to you.

Stan: Thank you for all your advice so far – I have had enough of suffering – all I want now is freedom from it. Whatever will be will be – just going to keep doing the karma yoga and the Self-inquiry – what the hell else is there to do?!

Sundari: You are so right. When you have got to this stage, you know that there are no other options – and the best news is you have the road map out of the quagmire of duality, Vedanta. It works, trust it.

~ Much love, Sundari