Blog #8
“Stop talking, stop thinking, and there is nothing you will not understand”- Seng-ts’an
Hmm… no talking, no thinking… radical.
Is it really that simple to come into a state whereby all things are understood? Can one can actually bust out, break free, loose the grip of ignorance simply by shutting up both externally and internally?
According the the Yoga Sutras, “Yes”.
Now, this may not be so simple experientially, but theoretically it sounds pretty clear cut. Be quiet (no speaky) and silence the thought-waves of the mind (no-thinky), and you get a pass to freedom… to ‘breaking out of the prison of ego’ or what the Sutras define as ignorance due to false identification of the Self with the mind and it’s contents (thoughts).
Well, okey dokey.
I am apparently, then, not my mind or it’s contents. And, as long as I mistakenly identify myself with my mind (and it’s noisy thought-waves), I will remain in darkness… ignorance. The Absolute Supreme Truth or knowledge of my deepest, truest Nature, will continue to elude me. Good grief, I will not be “In-The-Know”… ouch! By the way dear readers, this includes you… nice to know I am not alone in this sorry state of ignorance.
Those annoyingly loud thought-waves that clutter up our minds with all sorts of lies and distortions will continue to act as perfect and pesky distractors of True Knowledge as long as we let them. This veil of illusion (Self mistakenly believing that it is the mind and it’s thought-waves), is the only thing that keeps us from a complete and profound understanding of everything.
Let’s reiterate for the sake of clarity.
Mind and it’s contents too loud and distracting… silence them. Practice coming into a state of sustained thought cessation (meditation) and “Know” that by which all things are known. Experience Self as not mind and it’s contents, but as Supreme Consciousness, Pure Being.
Supreme Consciousness or Pure Being is defined here as the eternal, omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient one life beyond the myriad forms of life that are subject to birth and death, yet also contained within that myriad of form from mineral to plant to lower animal to human at it’s innermost, indestructible essence. Supreme Consciousness is our truest, unchanging Nature. It is what sets of free, liberates us, breaks us out of the prison of ego.
Whew! That is a lot of information to digest.
Let me take a turn here and get to some yoga history so that we can have a context for the philosophy I am espousing. I will be better prepared to validate the importance of yoga as an effective practice for attaining Supreme Consciousness if I can help you to understand its deep and ancient richness first.
This blog started out with a quote that infers we can understand everything there is to be understood by not talking and not thinking. I went on to back this inference up as viable, by referencing the Yoga Sutras. It would seem, then, that having a bit of information on the Yoga Sutras would be beneficial if I am to legitimize my reference.
What are the Yoga Sutras anyway?
What they are not, is an original philosophical system. The Sutras are a compilation, a reformulation of the Vedas into 196 threads (sutras) so that they can be more easily transmitted by memorization from Guru to disciple. They were compiled by a man named Patanjali a long, long time ago (no-one is really sure when, and not a whole lot is known about him). He restated the philosophy of yoga for his contemporaries as the yoga doctrine is believed to be as old as pre-history.
So now you ask, “What are the Vedas?” Good question. The Vedas are believed to be the authentic spiritual insights that were revealed to ancient Seers as they explored the inner realms of Consciousness. They are the oldest known religion of Self-knowledge that could be taught as a methodology.
Okay, so what is the methodology? It is an 8-limbed path called Ashtanga Yoga (as distinct from the Vinyasa Flow Style of Ashtanga Yoga founded by Sri. K. Pattabhi Jois). And, in the Yoga Sutra translation “How to Know God” by Isherwood and Prabhavananda, yoga is defined as a method, one of many, by which we may become united with Supreme Consciousness or the one true Reality that underlies the apparent, ephemeral universe of manifestation.
Yoga is, according to Patanjali, an EFFORT to separate the Absolute Reality from the apparent relative reality. A coming into union with that which we are… an individualized manifestation of Supreme Consciousness. It is an 8-limbed path comprised of various techniques that facilitate this Self-realization. The Yoga Sutras, then, are a means to liberation or re-membering our deepest, truest nature… Supreme Consciousness or Pure Being.
In essence, we do not practice the methodology to become spiritual or to become Supreme Consciousness, because we already are. We practice the methodology and use it as a path to facilitate stillness and purity of mind (because remember that it is the moving, noisy, impure thoughts in the mind that distract us from knowing) in order to re-awaken to, re-member and ultimately experience that one Truth that we already are which is beyond name and form.
We use the methodology, we effort (it should be noted that a relaxed effort is best as trying too hard or clinging and attaching to an outcome can actually impede progress) to patiently and diligently practice the techniques in order to prepare ourselves for Spontaneous Awakening (your own magnetic power of attraction toward awakening to your inner divineness that requires no effort on your part). We may not be able to pick the time when this “Awakening” will occur, but we can have faith that with sustained effort, it will come, and it can come in this incarnation.
A caterpillar, in it’s ‘caterpillariness’ simply follows its dharma or instinctual, divine, self-determined path by efforting (a relaxed effort, I am sure as what else does the caterpillar have to do) to build a cocoon and then it simply waits for transformation- magnetic pull whereby no effort is required by the caterpillar- into a butterfly. The caterpillar does not worry that it will not turn into a butterfly for it just knows, call it faith, that it will indeed become a butterfly.
So just as the caterpillar attains Self-realization (it is not a caterpillar at all, but a butterfly), we too can experience Self-realization and be established in it. We sit still and study our own Consciousness, and then wait for Samadhi (direct knowledge). We can then abide in this as Self-Actualized beings knowing all that is to be known.
I like this, but that is mute. Let me continue.
The Yoga Sutras have 8 limbs: Yama- abstentions like non-lying, non-stealing, non-harming, chastity, non-greed; Niyama- observances like contentment, cleanliness, mortification, Self-study, devotion to god; Asana-
physical postures that are practiced with steadiness and ease and keep the body balanced; Pranayama-
breath regulation to control prana (universal enlivening force); Pratyahara- withdrawing the mind from sense objects; Dharana- concentrated focus; Dhyana- sustained, uninterrupted focus on a single object for 2 minutes and 24 seconds or meditation; Samadhi- direct knowledge, enlightenment (this has several stages).
The first 6 limbs can be practiced using that relaxed effort that I alluded to earlier, but the last 2 can only be “caught”. In other words, that is the part where you sit still and wait with alert attention for “spontaneous awakening” or the pull of your own magnetic power of attraction toward union with Supreme Consciousness which requires no efforting on your part… this is where the caterpillar (you) waits in it’s cocoon (gets still) until it naturally transforms (remember, it doesn’t have to do anything for this to occur nor can it make it occur) into a butterfly.
Easy peasy, right? Well, if it isn’t it should be. Perhaps, we make it too hard. I mean, you cannot get there by thinking. You have to feel it, experience it, live it. And, for some the methodology is not necessary. They do not need to practice the techniques. Some individuals experience spontaneous Self-realization… lucky so and so’s. And, others use the techniques until they no longer need them. Then there is me who seems to need every technique available and it looks like I will continue to need them right on through several more life times. But, I am okay with that… really, I am!?!
I am going to leave it at that for now for I am weary and my head hurts from so much thinking (see what I mean, several more lifetimes).
Next month, part two.
Your thoughts so far?
Go easy.
Lovingly, me
huh???????????
I know. It is a bit much… LOL
This is my first ever blog, so here goes… As I try to take this all in, I can’t help but think of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (i.e. physiological, safety & security, love & belonging, esteem or ego, self-actualize, know & understand, and aesthetic). These are unconscious motivators that drive us to work through everyday. To find that true sense of self one must find that inner self where all of their needs are in alignment. When a person is doing what they are truly fitted for, they will have the ability to be ultimately at peace with their self. When I think about this phrase “Stop talking, stop thinking, and there is nothing you will not understand” I believe that when you quiet your self and become actualized to your own idiosyncratically, than you are able to have a clearer emergence of yourself. Sometimes just “being” is the best way to understand and gain clarity to life.
I do hope this makes sense and adds to any discussion
Wow, thanks for the primer on eastern philosophy. very succinct and informative.
I find it interesting that Yoga has an 8 armed methodology and the Western philosophy I am more familiar with also has an 8 armed path with presumably the same intent. Coincidence? probably not.
“the Yoga Sutras, then, are a means to liberation or re-membering our deepest, truest nature… Supreme Consciousness or Pure Being.”
I find it most interesting, right off, that you feel the Ego is a prison which needs to be escaped. Umm, I thought we come here by choice to experience and bring those experiences to the Whole. The Ego is the building those experiences are stored in.
While it is true in nature that a caterpillar does not have to do anything (other than follow its nature) to become a butterfly, we are not caterpillars, we have goals and dreams and desires in being, and these lead to experiences.
I also do not believe the caterpillar “knows” what it will become, I believe it just does what feels right.
I guess my BIG question is: What is the Yogic philosophy for doing?
I mean what is the point of re-membering I am One with all, if I am in this reality and do not Act as if I am One with all?
Sorry if I am sounding contentious, that is not my Intent, just trying to understand.
I have more response, but a little is good for now,
Peace
GREAT RESPONSE!!! Shows you are definitely thinking and digesting the philosophy.
Don’t try to over-think it though. The thought-waves are the actual cause of feeling separate and not connected to the one Absolute Truth underlying all of manifestation… the thoughts are just too noisy. They go like this, “I am tired, I am not good enough, I am lonely, I am great, Life is good, She hates me, I am hungry, I need to get busy, Where will I get rent money, I am separate and alone.” You get my drift.
When we attach to these thoughts as if they were permanent, absolute and the only truth, we have identified with them as the totality of who we are (ego). This is just not the case in terms of Absolute Reality because the thoughts are temporary and fleeting. They come and go. If we were only our thoughts, then who is it that watches them? What is that something (or no-thing) that observes, “Where did that thought come from?” And, what is it that watches that thought? What is the thing behind the thoughts? The thoughts must be mere objects that can be perceived or there would not be an awareness of a perceiver perceiving them. There is this silent watcher watching the thoughts jump from this to that. Interesting, huh? Anyway, I got a little side tracked. So, as out thoughts skip around, our emotions follow. This creates excessive drama and generally pain. We become fearful and suffer.
Of course, this is also part of reality (the thoughts, emotions, pain and suffering), but this is relative and not constant for anything that changes and can fall away is not the deepest part of reality that is always present and is contained within all else. One moment we are up, the next we are down. It is always changing. We ride that stinking roller coaster all over the place. And, yes it is a real part of our creative need to experience nature, just not the deepest, unchanging part.
So, the point is not to not ride the roller coaster, but to ride it with awareness knowing it is just that … a roller coaster ride. It will eventually fall away. What remains? The part of me that will continue to watch as “I” (ego) experience all that I need to experience. Next, ride might just be a bungee jump. But, as I begin to identify myself with not my thoughts, but with that part of me that is thoughtless, there is peace and joy that comes with this deeper knowing. This is just a bungee jump and it won’t last. I am not the bungee jump permanently. What I am, is Pure Being that was not born and does not die. I am at my very essence that from which all else arises… Supreme Consciousness. This provides an unchanging sense of unity and the inherent unbounded joy and peace that comes from that sense. I can really enjoy that bungee jump because I know it is fleeting and not my deepest nature.
The ego is a prison because it limits our perception of who we are to the thought or are sense of “I” and this brings us into a feeling state of isolation, separateness, and continued duality (right/wrong, up/down, good/evil, etc). This limited view binds us and keeps us in ignorance or bondage of our deepest, fullest, truest nature (hence the need to break out of the prison, for bondage is the opposite of freedom and liberation which is what we are magnetically drawn toward (back to the butterfly). We are so busy thinking, we cannot hear/see the deepest part of ourselves which if we could glimpse or become conscious of would give us back our lasting sense of connection and unity which brings us a deep sense of joy and peace.
If we have a deep sense of joy and peace and we know that we are connected to each other not just by our experience of manifestation, but also by that deepest part of us that is exactly the same in everyone then maybe we can stop being mean to, hating, competing, killing each other. Ya know? If I realize that I am in you and you are in me (didn’t Christ say this?), well, that naturally brings me feelings of love and compassion for you and for everyone and everything because at the very core, we are all the same.
Reiterating this because it is very important, the thoughts themselves are not necessarily ‘bad’, just noise-makers keeping us trapped in delusion for we are not our thoughts at our deepest level of being. It is the mistaken belief that we are limited to those thoughts and that the thoughts are our truest nature that is the issue.
The ego, as defined in yoga philosophy, is simply that construct that has identified solely with the mind and is therefore limiting. We are so much more than that.
It’s like a lake. Say that your mind is a lake. When the mind has too many thought-waves, like when a lake has lots of ripples on the top, you cannot “see” your truest, deepest nature that lies behind the thought-waves or is the seer, the watcher, the witness of the thought-waves, just like you can not see the bottom of the lake because it is disturbed by the ripples on top.
You are the whole lake of course, but that deepest part of you that is motionless and untouched by the thoughts/ripples and never dies or is disrupted lies behind/below the thoughts/ripples. Because we cannot see the bottom of the lake/what dwells behind the thought, however, we assume we are only the ripples/thought-waves… this just isn’t the case.
In yoga, this is the veil of illusion. The idea then is to still the ripples/thought-waves in order to rent in two the veil of illusion and come into a state of Pure Being whereby we have a larger vantage point and can actually consciously “see” the experience in its entirety.
The ego, in yoga philosophy, causes us to over-identify with all of our thoughts, emotions, etc. to the detriment of being able to actually get still and know our truest, deepest, purest nature that does not die. You do not suddenly not DO. In fact, if you remember in the discourse, there is quite a bit of efforting going on. And, one does not suddenly not enjoy or experience life. But, one watches with attention so that instead of being caught up in the drama unconsciously, we watch the drama unfold consciously and with awareness knowing it is just that… drama.
The point of knowing your deepest truest nature, is so that in this relative universe of constant change where nothing lasts forever (except for that pure beingness that is at your very core) you can experience the joy and peace of residing in that which does not change or die… the One Universal Consciousness of which we are all a part of while you are actually experiencing all there is to experience in nature.
The idea is that we suffer. In order to suffer less, know your true nature and abide in it. You are not denying this relative reality of manifestation, only acknowledging that this is not the deepest part of you and this knowing allows you to be free from thinking you are only what you think.
This is quite heady again and repetitive, and I have other work to do, so I am going to stop for now. Keep the dialogue coming sweetie. Whew. See you tomorrow.
Polly, just got your response to the blog today. Nice to have a professional Psychologist give some way pertinent feedback. You are right on and plugged into the Being-ness thing. Not much else matters. Peace, Jeri
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Interesting post, I’ve just started yoga myself and am wondering whats the difference betwwen yoga & pillates, just asking?
dear mariel,
i don’t really have insight into pilates so i cannot really effectively answer your question. try both and see for yourself would be my advice. glad you have begun your yoga journey.
perhaps…
not sure what you are referring to, but glad you read the posts.
easy
talk away
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