Category: Merging With Siva

The Mechanics Of Attachment

Have you ever had people come to you and tell you all of their problems? What did they do? As a pure state of awareness, they came to you as a pure state of awareness. You were not identified in the area of the mind that they are living in. So, they came to you, because they want to get out of the area of the mind that they’re living in. They’ve been living in it so long, they think they are that area of the mind, like somebody that has lived in a house so long and is so attached to it that they would rather die than move from the house. So then, they come to you and start telling all the problems. First they start with the little ones, and then they start with the big ones, and all their complaints, heartaches and everything that that area of the mind involves. Now, you can do one of two things. You can gently talk with them and bring them out of that area of the mind into your area of the mind, or they can move your awareness right into that area of the mind, too. And when they go away, you are feeling terrible. You’re feeling just awful.

You’ve gone to a movie. The movie screen is just a screen. The film is just film. And the light is just light. And yet the combination of the three can move your awareness into areas of the mind that can upset your nerve system, make you cry, make you laugh, make you have bad dreams for a week, change your whole, entire perspective of life—the combination of these three physical elements can do this, if it can attract your attention.

Now, if we are sitting in a movie, and we are realizing that we are going through moods and emotions but we are not the moods and emotions that we are going through—all we are doing is being entertained by our senses—then that’s the mystic. He is enjoying life and what life has to offer. He is even remembering in past lives when he had similar experiences that the players are portraying on the screen, and he has empathy with them. He is living a full and a vibrant life, and yet when he walks out of the movie house, or walks away from the TV, he has forgotten the whole thing. He doesn’t carry it with him. His awareness is immediately right where he is currently. That’s the power of the great eternity of the moment.

Claim the Being Of Yourself

We say, “I am sick,” and in the English language that means my body is sick, or I am aware of this body not being in a perfect state of health. The mystic knows he is not this body. He can even remember dropping off the body many, many different times, getting new bodies through the process of reincarnation. We are not what we are aware of. We are separate from that which we are aware of. We are only flowing through these areas of the mind. If we live in San Francisco, we are not San Francisco. If we live in unhappiness, we are not unhappiness. That’s only one of the cities of the mind. This is a great meditation. You can grasp this awakening in thirty seconds. You can grasp this awakening in thirty hours, or thirty minutes. You can grasp this awakening and have it come to you vibrantly in thirty weeks, thirty months, or thirty years or thirty lifetimes. It just depends upon your willpower.

As soon as we can understand awareness detached from that which it is aware of, we have a vibrant energy, a tremendous drive. A tremendous willpower is released from within us, and we live with the feeling that we can do anything that we want to do, almost as quickly as we want to do it. We want things to happen now, for we vividly see the area where they already exist within the force fields of the mind itself.

How do we live our life from this point? We begin to apply this philosophy in every department of our life. There are some habit patterns in our subconscious mind that have not caught up with this new perspective as yet, and you’ll be running up against them. As soon as you find awareness totally identified with a subconscious area that has become conscious, immediately turn inward, detach awareness from that which it is aware of and just be pure energy.

You can expect a beautiful life, a beautiful relationship with the being of yourself. Claim the being of yourself as you. You have enough knowledge now. You don’t have to discover the being of yourself and keep looking for it. Just be the being of yourself and travel through the mind as the traveler travels around the globe. The wonderful story of awareness, I could go on and on talking about it, because it is so very basic and so very, very important. This then makes an infinite intelligence and everyone the same. Only, they are living in different areas of the mind, or different houses.

Awareness, a Ball of Light

The average person who is not a mystic lives two-thirds in the external area of the mind and one-third within himself. The within of himself can be, and sometimes is, very foreboding. He doesn’t understand it. He is a little afraid of it and prefers to involve himself with external things. Possibly he’s had some inner experiences, some emotional unhappinesses, and he shuns anything that is inner. The mystic lives, and is taught to live, two-thirds within himself and only one-third in the external. In learning how to do this, the mystic is taught to become consciously conscious, or aware that he is aware. He learns to separate awareness from that which he is aware of. The person who is not a mystic, living two-thirds in the external mind, says, “I am happy,” meaning, “I am aware of a state of mind called happiness, and I am in that state, so that is me.” Or, “I am unhappy. Unhappiness is me.” The mystic living two-thirds within says to himself, “I am flowing through the area of the mind that’s always unhappy.” He doesn’t change; he is a pure state of awareness.

Visualize a little ball of light. We’ll call that man’s individual awareness, and that light is shining right out from his eyes, and this little ball of light is going through the mind. It’s going through the area of the mind that’s always unhappy. It’s going through the area of the mind that’s always dreaming, the area of the mind that’s delightfully happy, the area of the mind that’s in absolute bliss, the area of the mind that’s absolutely in jealousy all the time, the area that’s in fear all the time—many people live in this area of the mind; it’s quite crowded with lots of balls of light there. This ball of light flows through the area of the mind that’s in resentment. It’s like a churning ocean. It’s a delightful place to be in, especially if you’re a little ball. You get bounced all around. Then there’s the area of the mind that is completely peaceful and has always been peaceful. No mood or emotion has ever been in it to ruffle it, because that’s the peaceful area of the mind. The one who meditates seeks out this area to become aware in. Man’s individual awareness is just like this little ball of light, and it’s like a camera. It photographs. It registers. It understands. It is pure intelligence. Man knows where he is in the mind, but the first step in awakening on the path of enlightenment is to separate awareness from that which it is aware of.

Śiva’s Perfect Universe

Slowly, slowly, by performing Gaṅgā Sā­dha­na you will blend your external consciousness with our most perfect universal consciousness. While sitting by the river, close enough to touch the water, on a rock or tree limb, you are truly uninvolved with everything but yourself. You are now in tune with nature itself. Earth is there. Water is there. Fire is there. Air is there. Ākāśa is there. All the five elements are there. They are outside of you to see and feel, as well as inside of you to see and feel. The goal is to release that part of your subconscious mind that doesn’t blend the within of you with that which is outside of you. You perform this blending by listening to the river murmur, “Aum Namaḥ Śivaya, Śivāya Namaḥ Aum,” the sounds of Śiva’s perfect universe.

Now the challenge. This will not be an easy task. The quiet of the noise of nature will release thought after thought from your subconscious mind. So, when each new thought arises—a mental argument or something which has not been settled in your past, an appointment missed or an image of a loved one—gather up the prāṇic energy of the thought and put its vibrations into a leaf. To do this, hold the leaf in your right hand and project your prāṇa into it along with the thought form that distracted you. Then release the leaf and with it the thought patterns into the river. Let the river take them away, while you listen to “Aum Namaḥ Śivāya, Śivāya Namaḥ Aum” of the river as it does. Each time this happens, thank the river by humbly offering a flower with the right hand into the river in appreciation of its having absorbed the worldly thought. To show appreciation is a quality of the soul, something not to be ignored, and, therefore, a vital part of this sā­dha­na.

Sā­dha­na is performing the same discipline over and over and over again. Just as we methodically exercise the physical body to build up its muscles, we perform spiritual disciplines over and over again to strengthen our spiritual, inner bodies. Perform Gaṅgā Sā­dha­na time and time again. You will rapidly advance. Remember, the outer river is symbolically representing the inner river of your own nerve system, life force and consciousness that flows through you night and day. So, even as you sit on this rock and look upon the water, in a mystical way, see it as your own super­con­scious energies, taking away these problems, worries, doubts, ill-conceived and unresolved experiences of the past. Flow with the river of life and merge in Śiva’s ocean of oneness.

Performing Gaṅgā Sādhana

Close your eyes and visualize a river flowing into the sea, and see yourself holding on to the bank of the river, and the river flowing on past you. Now let go of the bank of the river and flow down with the river and merge into the sea of life. Feel yourself, right at this instant, living in the here and now. Holding on to the river bank, we hold the consciousness of time and space. Holding on to the banks of the river of life is to recreate within you fear, worry, doubt, anxiety and nervousness. Detach yourself from the banks of the river and again be free. Love the banks as you pass, with a love born of understanding, and if you have no understanding of the bank, study your attachments until you do.

Learn to concentrate the mind so that you can study not from books, but from observation, which is the first awakening of the soul. Learn to study by practice. Learn to study by application. Become a student of life and live life fully, and as you merge into the sea of actinic life, you will realize that you are not your mind, your body or your emotions. You will realize that you are the complete master of your mind, your body and your emotions.

There is a sacred practice you should perform to keep flowing beautifully with the river of life. It will be a challenge to discipline yourself to set aside the time, but it will benefit you. You must sit by a rolling river and listen to the river saying “Aum Namaḥ Śivāya, Śivāya Namaḥ Aum,” as its water runs over the rocks. Listen closely to the water connecting to the rocks, and you will hear the sacred mantra of life, “Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.” Relax into the sounds the river is chanting and try to be in tune with the perfect universe. The cosmos is perfect, you know. Its laws are divine, its timing flawless, its design unique.

While you are sitting alone by the side of the river being one with the perfect universe—the earth, the air, the fire, the water and the ākāśa, the mind—when a thought arises from your subconscious, something about your daily life, a problem or difficulty, pluck a leaf from a tree or bush, mentally put the problem into the leaf and place it into the river. The river will carry the leaf away along with the thought you placed into it. Then pluck a flower and humbly offer it into the river with both hands in loving appreciation for doing this great service for you. Perform this Gaṅgā Sā­dha­na each month, and you will advance on the spiritual path.

Be Like the River Water

You can plainly see that we have to go into the subconscious basement and straighten it out, if need be, by letting go and becoming free. That’s easy to say. It’s a little more difficult to do. Why? Because the basement took time to fill, and it takes time to clean. If we were to straighten out the subconscious basement too fast, that would not be good. It would be going against a natural law. It would be like pouring hot water on plants, as they do commercially, to make them bloom quickly. We must not force natural laws, so we take time in our spiritual un­fold­ment. The more time you are willing to take, the less pressure you have on yourself and the faster you will attain a permanent enlightenment.

Let’s look again at the river of life as it flows into the sea, and again relate that to ourselves and see ourselves letting go of the river banks, merging ourselves into this river, flowing with it and realizing ourselves as the essence of life. Let us not worry about the past ever again. Do not even think about the past. Face everything that comes up in the light of the present, not in the darkness of the past.

Be like the river water. Water flows freely anywhere, easily finding its way around rocks and trees. Be pliable in your life, moving in rhythm with life. Let go of everything that blocks the river of life’s energy. Watch your thinking and be careful of your thoughts. Judge every action that you make, judge every word you speak, with this law: “Is it true? Is it kind? Is it helpful? Is it necessary?” Become your own kind judge and make each second a day of judgment, for each second is really a day if you live life fully. If you live completely each second, you will experience many days inside each twenty-four hours.

Be free from life’s attachments and don’t allow any more negative attachments to occur in your life. Loosen yourself—be free. Attachments bring all sorts of complications. Freedom brings no complications at all. So, that is what we have to do, recreate our lives each second. Become affectionately detached and manifest a greater love through action. Selfless service to mankind makes you free in the world of mortals. Measure yourself objectively with the river of life and merge with it into the sea of life. Let your service to mankind begin at home and radiate out to the world. Begin at home, with those closest to you, before venturing out among friends and strangers. Let your example be your first teaching. Be free from the past; abide in the present; detach yourself from the future; and live in the eternal now

“Nobody Understands Me”

In practicing affectionate detachment, we are learning to live in the here and now, right in the moment. We are awakening the power of direct cognition, the power that enables us to understand what happens, when it happens and why it happens. We are tuning into the river of life, the great actinic flow. This river flows directly from the essence of being through the subconscious basement and the conscious-mind main floor, creating life’s experiences. Along the way, our cognition of these experiences completes the cycle of its continual flow. That is what we have to learn to tune into. All of our higher teachings give us that wisdom. It is a great step to learn it intellectually and to be able to talk about it, but once that step has been taken, it is not a great step anymore.

This wisdom must first be applied at home, then at work. Then it has to be applied among all of your acquaintances and friends. Everyone should understand you and about you, and if you feel there is someone close to you who does not understand you, that signifies that the part of yourself that this person represents does not understand what you think they do not understand. If someone who is close to you does not understand your inner nature, you do not understand your inner subconscious yourself. Why? Because you have only intellectually grasped certain things; you have not fully realized these concepts. He, the friend, as a reflection of yourself, therefore, will not quite grasp your studies or your concepts. As soon as you understand yourself, by having purified yourself, you can explain your realization to your friends in a way they will understand.

When explaining yoga teachings, use common examples like the following: “If you plant a seed and water it, you will eventually give birth to the flower.” That is simple and complete. Anyone can understand it. Use little examples and stay away from big terms, mysterious words, for little examples of life are powerful. Talk about trees and how they grow. Talk about children and how they mature into adulthood. Talk about flowers and how they bloom, and relate these to the laws of life. Talk about the mind and how it can be opened up through yoga techniques of concentration and meditation, and you’ll become a great missionary of Hindu Dharma and do much for yourself as well as others.

Those who say “Well, nobody understands me. I feel all alone on the path” are going through a period in which they have memorized everything but understand very little and therefore cannot explain or convince their fellow man of these great truths due to the fact that their subconscious basement is still full. When we only learn intellectually and have not put dharma into practice, our subconscious is still cluttered by uncognized memories.