Joseph Naft Notes

COGNITIVE PRESENCE


Cognitive Presence
(Aspect 9 of 12 of the Path to Presence)
Cognitive presence means presence in our mind, in that part of us that cognizes or mentally registers perceptions and especially thoughts. We practice cognitive presence by putting our attention into our head and being there in our mind. Doing so attracts the sensitive energy of thought, the sensitive energy of cognition, into our mind. Just as the sensitive energy in our body enables us to be in contact with our body and its sensations, and the sensitive energy of emotion enables us to be in contact with our center of emotion and our emotions, so the sensitive energy of cognition enables us to be in contact with our mind and its contents.
But presence of mind means more than contact, because contact implies a division: something or someone who is in contact with something else, an observer and an observed. Body presence means inhabiting our body, being in our body, at one with it. Emotional presence means inhabiting our center of emotion, being in our chest and solar plexus region. And cognitive presence means inhabiting our mind, being in our mind, owning our mind. We are not standing back as an observer of our thoughts. We are right there in our mind — no division and no separation. But we are there intentionally and in sensitive awareness of our mind. Here I am in my head, in the place from which I cognize, know, think, and see.
This is a far cry from our typical mental state of being lost in thought, which operates on the automatic energy. In cognitive presence, such automatic associative thoughts may continue, but now you are present in them. The thought stream, whether associative or intentional, occurs within the mind you are occupying. Cognitive presence means being the one who is aware of and standing in the thought stream and, more generally, the one who is cognizing, knowing, and seeing.
The sensitive energy of cognition tends to raise the level our thoughts. Rather than arising by their typical automatic associations, our thoughts become more relevant to what we are doing, to our situation of the moment. We have less mental clamor and chaos. With cognitive presence we are more able to focus on a topic, more able to think clearly and logically, more able to see into the heart of matters. When automatic thoughts do arise, we are aware of them as thoughts and less likely to be swept away by them.
Cognitive presence is not about intentional thinking, but rather about intentional awareness in the context and contents of our mind. While this may include intentional thinking on a particular subject, it is not limited to that because you can be cognitively present in the absence of thoughts. You can be there, in your mind, knowing and cognizing without necessarily thinking.
The practice of cognitive presence works best when coupled with body or emotional presence. On its own, cognitive presence all-too-readily gets carried away in the stream of associative thoughts, opinions, daydreams, commentary, self-talk, attractions and repulsions. The sensitive energy of cognition thins out and scatters, leaving us adrift in our usual automatic mind. But when, along with cognitive presence, we simultaneously practice presence in our body or our center of emotion, we have a better chance at sustaining cognitive presence. Our body or emotional presence helps keep us from falling prey to the thought stream. Thoughts may come and go, but we stand anchored in body or heart and see our thoughts arising and passing. Here in mind and here in body, or here in mind and here in emotion, we are.
For this week, practice bringing your attention into your mind. Enter your mind. Inhabit it. Emerge from floating down your thought stream to anchor yourself in the present. Let the stream pass through you without passing with it. Become the context of your mind and aware of its contents. Be the one who cognizes, knows, thinks, and sees through your mind. Be the knowing, the cognizing, the seeing. Be your mind.



EMOTIONS

Emotions drive us, for better or for worse. Emotions can drive us to distraction or to contact, to violence or to friendship, to self-centeredness or to service. The remarkable range of emotions, from the petty to the sublime, imparts richness to our life. All emotions share the common feature that they can and often do affect our behavior, inner and outer, as well as the quality of our experience. Emotions define our motivations and impose them on us. As such, every spiritual path addresses how to work with emotions.
In the way of presence, we begin with practicing awareness of emotions as emotions. Lack of such awareness relegates us more firmly into the grip of destructive emotions. We react emotionally to some event and we are just lost in the emotion, carried away by it. Our emotion controls us, at least inwardly, even if we do not react outwardly. Maybe someone angers us in a conversation and perhaps we choose to suppress it and not say anything. Nevertheless, the anger may seethe within. We feel angry. We may even know that we are angry. Yet the key fact is that the anger is the center of our world at that moment. We have no inner context within which to see the anger as anger, as an emotional state that arose and will pass. We collapse into the anger and have no presence, as the soul blood of our inner energies burns up. And so it goes with much of our emotional life.
One help in recognizing our emotions as emotions consists of noticing how they affect our physical body. We may experience a change in our heart rate or breathing, tightness in our chest, certain facial expressions, tones of voice, gestures, or postures. Each kind of emotion may have its own characteristic signature of physical effects. Stressful emotions also have more subtle effects on our physical health, effects not immediately noticeable. For now though, our practice is simply to see what we can see, to see our emotions in action, for example in our body.
Another help in recognizing emotions as emotions consists of noticing how they affect our thoughts. Repetitious and insistent patterns of thought can key us to their emotional driver. Thoughts can exhibit a tone that reflects the underlying emotion, just as our tone of voice often does. The tone of our inner thought-voice can manifest stressful or destructive emotions. So being aware of the qualities of our thoughts helps us recognize their emotional underpinnings.
Thankfully, the broad palette of our emotions is not all destructive. Far from it! Many emotions lift us up, both in the ordinary course of life and in our deepening spiritual practice. Awareness of emotions as emotions enables us to know which to nurture and which to let go. We allow and nurture the emotions that bring us closer to each other, to ourselves, to life, and to God. Much of our spiritual practice, such as meditation and prayer, nurtures those higher emotions.
We also allow the destructive emotions that create barriers, but we do not nurture them nor do we necessarily act from them. We allow, so as not to fight our emotions directly, which only energizes them. Any effort to suppress emotions backfires. Emotions are not illusory; they have a relative reality arising from causes within us. Suppressing emotions can, at best, only treat the symptoms, leaving their underlying causes untouched and ready to surface again and again. While we do not fight our destructive emotions, we also do not nurture them. We see and accept ourselves as we are, and our emotions they are, without layering on another level of emotional judgment and self-rejection. We see and accept and allow them to wane and disappear on their own. By opening our accepting and compassionate heart toward ourselves, including our destructive emotions, we heal their underlying causes.
Whether those causes lie in our personal history or elsewhere, they now take the shape of our identifications, our attachments, and our desires to have things be different than they are. We will address that in a later aspect of the path to presence.
For this week, please set yourself to notice your emotions as emotions, to realize in the midst of an emotion that it is an emotion that has you. If you watch television or movies you can see how the shows and commercials manipulate your emotions. If you drive, you can see how problems such as traffic and rude drivers activate your emotions. If you live with your family, you can see how the give-and-take of family life activates your emotions. In your favorite activities, in hearing a good joke, and in deep meditation, you can see and feel your joy.
Notice that this is not suggesting that we distance ourselves from our emotions. We feel and be in them, fully. We want to live fully, not impoverish our life by eliminating or stigmatizing our emotions. But we do want to heal the destructive and nurture the uplifting, without rejecting or even criticizing ourselves along the way. We open our heart and learn to love ourselves, emotions and all.

THOUGHTS

Thoughts carry power: the power to create and the power to destroy, the power to understand and control much of our world, the power to guide us toward inner freedom and the power to keep us inwardly enslaved. For these and other reasons, our civilization worships the power of thought. Consequently our education revolves around enriching the content and developing the process of thought.
But in all of that, we miss the fact that the power and quality of thought depends on the quality or level of energy fueling the thoughts. The energy most commonly giving substance to our thoughts is the automatic energy. Our endless stream of self-generating, associative thoughts runs on automatic, without any intentional direction. One thought triggers another related thought, which triggers a third related to the second. Soon our thoughts have no apparent relationship with the first thought. And then some sensory perception pops into our awareness, the sound of a word, a sight, a pain, and our thoughts abruptly fly off in another direction altogether. This semi-chaotic mind goes on all day, every day.
In itself, our automatic stream of associative thoughts does no harm and even brings value. For example, that ongoing commentary on our life provides some comfort, something familiar, a touchstone amid the constant changes of our external world. But this is where our relationship with our associative thoughts passes into trouble, where power of thought exceeds its proper place.
The first problem is the extent to which we live in our thoughts. We listen to and occasionally participate in this ongoing mental commentary. And rather than just being about our life, our thoughts become our life. We allow our attention to be swept away in the stream of associative thoughts, veiling us from the simple and ordinary perceptions of living. For example, we often do not fully see the people around us because we are too busily engaged in our thoughts. We get lost in conversations because our thoughts distract us from listening. We sometimes walk with little awareness of our surroundings or our body, because we are in our thoughts. The thought stream substitutes for a more complete life.
The second problem is the extent to which we live as our thoughts. Their very familiarity lulls us into assuming that, in some fundamental sense, we are our thoughts, that what our thoughts think is what we believe, and that we are, or rather I am, the thinker of these thoughts. But even a little observation of our mind shows that these ever-present associative thoughts are thinking themselves, constructing themselves out of the material of our memory of experiences, information, and habitual patterns, coupled with those current sensory stimuli that are strong enough to break through our perceptual filters.
Out of this emerges our personality, a complex but fairly static pattern of thoughts, attitudes, memories, and responses. And that’s who we believe we are. When a thought comes into our mind, though unbidden and by association, we nevertheless believe that is what we think and even that we are that thought. But we did not think that thought. It thought itself. Thoughts masquerade as us. The thought stream substitutes for us, allowing us to live primarily on autopilot with minimal participation in our life. The thought “I,” is not the I who we truly are. Live, in the moment, the challenge is to see our thoughts as just thoughts, and nothing more.
But if we are not our thoughts, not our emotions, not our personality, then who are we? The truest answer is that we are our will. And we shall explore that understanding in a later aspect of the path to presence.
For this week, notice your automatic, associative thoughts passing through your mind. The You who sees your thoughts is not just another thought, is not a function of your thoughts. Notice that your thoughts are not you, though they seduce you into believing that you are these self-generating thoughts chaining on in their own way. This is the ephemeral, insubstantial core on which our personality is based, the personality that we think we are, that substitutes for us. See your thoughts as just thoughTS.

HARMONIOUS

A stool, to be stable, requires at least three legs. So it is with presence. The act of simultaneously engaging all three presences of body, heart, and mind greatly multiplies our chances of maintaining our presence. The three interact and mutually support each other. When one of these presences weakens, the other two can reinvigorate it. With all three, we feel more solid; we stand firmly in the world of presence, of being here fully. So the first benefit of triune presence is the enhanced duration it enables.
Another major benefit lies in the breadth of triune presence. We become more fully human, anchored in our body with an alert, open, and adaptable mind and an appropriately sensitive heart. Our experience becomes more rounded, more balanced, and enriched. Clarity of mind is warmed by sensitivity of feeling, and both are grounded in the present moment of our body.
A third significant benefit is the intensity of triune presence, the vividness it brings to our experience. The three presences of body, heart, and mind combine to form a stronger presence than one or two could. One reason lies in the degree and quality of attention needed to enter and maintain such presence. In meeting the challenge of being in all three, we raise the level of our inner work for those moments. But there is also a feedback from our awakened body, heart, and mind that supports the intensity of triune presence.
So how do we actually practice triune presence? In recent weeks we have worked at body presence, emotional presence, and cognitive presence. Now we can work on putting it all together.
We begin the practice of triune presence during formal, sitting meditation. After thoroughly relaxing our body, mind, and heart, we turn to sensing our body. First we sense parts of it: arms, legs, torso, and head. Then we move into sensing the whole of our body and staying with that wholeness. Once we feel grounded in whole body sensation, in body presence, we add to it.
We put some extra attention into our center of emotion, into the general region of our chest and solar plexus. We are there in our center of emotion, even if there are no particular emotions at the time. We are there in readiness to feel, in readiness to be our emotion, in readiness to respond with feeling. We stay with both, with whole body sensing and with attention to our emotional center. After having settled ourselves in both emotional and body presence, we add to that.
We place some extra attention into our head, into our mind, to establish ourselves in cognitive presence. We are in our whole mind, not just in our thoughts. We are there in our knowing, seeing, thinking, cognizing part. And then we stay with all three: sensing our whole body, emotional presence, and cognitive presence. Toward the end of the meditation period, we let all that go and allow the effort and energy to soak into our being.
We also wish to live our ordinary daily life in full presence. So we can practice entering triune presence at any time during our day when we have enough spare attention for it. As with the sitting meditation version of this practice, we begin with sensing our body, the whole of it. Then we add emotional or cognitive presence. And finally we add the third. With practice, you may be able to come into all three at once. So when you find moments during your day that do not require your full attention to whatever you are doing, you can try entering triune presence and staying with it. Ultimately you may find that triune presence does not detract from your engagement in your life activity. On the contrary, triune presence may add to your attention, so that you can do whatever you are doing more fully. But, of course we maintain the caveat that critical situations (e.g., driving, chopping vegetables) deserve our full attention without inner efforts of presence.
For this week, practice triune presence. Even if you are only able to enter such presence for brief moments, those moments repeated offer a taste of new possibilities, a new way of living.

OCCUPYING THE PRESENCE

The stool of presence may be stable with its three legs of presence in body, presence in heart, and presence of mind, but that situation is not complete. The purpose of a stool is for someone to sit on it. That someone is You, your I, your I Am, the agent of your life, the one who is present in your body, heart, and mind. It would be more accurate to say that the stool is not one of presence, but rather a stool of awareness — unless there is someone sitting on it. There can be awareness of body, of heart, and of mind. But without You there as the one who is aware, the one who is present, it is simply like a robot with sensors.
The core of presence is the one who is present, the one who inhabits your body from within, the one who feels your emotions, the one who cognizes through your mind, the one who lives your life and does what you do. Ordinarily we take this one for granted. We assume that we are always here as the one who experiences and lives our life. But even a cursory investigation reveals that sensory awareness, thoughts, and actions typically go on by themselves without “You.” This is particularly obvious in our automatic thoughts, which think themselves by association, without us thinking them or directing them or even necessarily being aware of them. Such awareness often comes after the fact, when we notice that a whole train of thoughts has arisen on its own and passed through our mind.
So this final aspect of the Path to Presence involves the practice of being the one who experiences and lives our life, the practice of being here at home in our center. Be the one who sees through your eyes, the one who is aware of your thoughts, aware of your mind, aware of your center of emotion. Inhabit your body. Inhabit your feeling. In habit your mind. Claim it all as your own. Instead of letting so many of your words and actions happen on their own in a stimulus-response cycle and without your participation, say what you say and do what you do. Engage and be who you are.
The subtlety is that who we are, our I, is will. And will does not exist in the same way that material objects or even energies exist. Will cannot be touched or seen or weighed or experienced. Indeed, it is will that does the touching, the seeing, the weighing, and the experiencing. Just as our physical eye cannot see itself, will looks, but not back at itself. Will acts but is not acted upon. But we can enter our will, our I, by being it, by being the actor, the agent, the seer, the decider, the director of our attention.
There are two levels in this. At the level of the conscious energy, we can be our I directly. We have a sense of wholeness and agency, a sense that I am the agent of my life, that I am the decider, the chooser, the experiencer — here in this moment. We feel ourselves to be the one who is here. We will our self to be and we are. But … this is not our actual I. We could call this our True Self [1]. And we would do very well to live in our True Self, more and more.
To get a taste of this, just ask yourself “Am I here?” And then you answer with full intention and with the whole of yourself: “Yes, I am here.” As you do so, be here, be the one who is saying this, thinking this. This is you, your True Self, sitting in the seat of presence.
There is, however, a deeper level of I, one which we do not enter directly, but rather one to which we can open, one which we can allow to enter us. The difference between True Self and I is where it begins. With True Self, we may feel ourselves to be our own source, to be our own individual self, separate from other people, from other selves. The transition to I occurs when we, as our True Self, open inwardly to the source just behind our True Self. We open our very core to let our own higher will flow into and through us, as us. That is our I, but is not so separate from other I’s. We recognize our I as fully our own, as who we really are, yet also as not just our own, but as connected at its root, at our root, with something vastly greater than us.
For this week, practice being your True Self, and even opening to your I. Be the one who lives your life, who makes your choices, who does what you do, and who experiences your experience. Rather than leave the seat of presence empty, inhabit your own center and complete your presence

Root of Awareness?

"The root of the mystery of being lies at the root of the awareness which perceives the universe. Every human being is or can be aware that he is aware. When that self-awareness is traced to its inner source, then only can the identity of the individual with the universal be found, then only can the mystery of being be solved"

Excerpts from Gurdjieff key concepts : Spohia Wellbeloved:

1. Each moment of time has an infinite existence in eternity.
2. Gurdjieff said that each centre has its allotted time to run, but that time RUNS ONLY INTERNALLY AND IS MEASURED BY ASSOCIATIONS.

Movements - Quotes by Mme S

Behind the visible movement there is another movement, one which cannot be seen, which is very strong, on which the outer movement depends. If this inner movement were not so strong, the outer one would not have any action.

~ • ~
You must constantly divide your attention between something which is higher than yourself and your movement. You always lose yourself in one or the other. As soon as you stop making this effort, you become identified with the movement.

You must consider these Movements as a condition, an exceptional one given to you to work on your attention.

In so dividing your attention, you are filling the place that you can fill. One day you may be capable of more, but today, this is your place.

You do not realize enough that your attention is your only chance. Without it you can do nothing.

Usually you think about your movement, but you do not do it. You maintain your thought on the movement, and then when it is the time to do it you give up, and the movement is done, no matter how, without you.

~ • ~
The thought must have its own center of gravity; it cannot just be either here or there. We must find this center of gravity. It is the same for the body; if it is not centered, no movement will be possible. It is the same for the feeling.

These Movements are designed to enable us to pass from one center of gravity to another; it is the shift that creates the state. The gesture, the movement, is what is important, not the attitudes.

Bangalore work weekend

The work period in Bangalore was surpirsingly event ful. Except that I tried a combination of the arms stretching exercise with creation of sexual energy and using the ashwini mudra drew up the energy up the spine. Its crazy. I dont know if im doing the right thing. But holding the hands on the side and its pain and the counter act by the pleasure of the excitement seemed a good idea.

Its increasingly as a practice key to keep the I AM sensation as much as possible. By breathing in as I and breathing out in the whole body or solar plexus as AM.

The BIGGEST interesting new mystery for me is finding the impulse of movement. So when I walk, I just have a thought and my legs response. Can I find that impulse inside that makes the transfer from thought to action? Where does it happen? I need to find it. In the body. I need to at any cost.

""In the Movements the important thing is not the positions, but the impulse, the energy from one position to another. And nobody can teach you that. You have to watch yourself"
- Jeanne de Salzmann

From Gospel of Thomas

a Samaritan carrying a lamb on his way to Judea.
He said to his disciples, "(Why does) that man (carry) the lamb
around?"
They said to him, "So that he may kill it and eat it."
He said to them, "While it is alive, he will not eat it, but
only when he has killed it and it has become a corpse."
They said to him, "He cannot do so otherwise."
He said to them, "You too, look for a place for yourself
within the Repose, lest you become a corpse and be eaten."

Now the above passage seem linked to this one from Gospel of Philips

God is a man-eater. For this reason, men are sacrificed to him. Before men were sacrificed, animals were being sacrificed, since those to whom they were sacrificed were not gods.

Let Manifest

How does one get freedom from likes and dislikes?
Right now as my brain is wired, i like all happy events and I like avoiding unpleasant events.

Answer from Eternal Now.(http://awakeningtoreality.blogspot.com/)

You may also want to try the natural way of ‘letting whatever arises to manifest openly and unreservedly ’. For one that has experienced the non-duality of observer and observed and taste the sensate reality free from the sense of self, the way of ‘let manifest’ is a natural progression.

In order to do that, deeply understand that there are more problems when attempting to suppress your preferences, likes and dislikes. Therefore the first step is to experience and realize that ‘suppression’ is not the way. If we think that ‘suppression’ is way or when the arising upsets us, then unknowingly we will attempt to prevent their arising.

Second, understand clearly that letting “likes and dislikes” manifest is the first step towards liberation. We cannot prevent what that is hardwired from arising. As long as the seed is there, there will be manifestation. We may not be aware of these tendencies when they are latent but “let manifest” is the first step towards freedom.

Third, non-dual with whatever sensations that arise. When the sense of observer is gone and uninterrupted, that is the sense of freedom. It will also dissolve those tendencies eventually as all share the same taste.

Buddha on sensations

That which feels the object is vedana, its characteristic is to experience, its function is to realize the object...
It follows that in order to realize anything at the experiential level; one has to work with vedana.

Without mind, matter alone cannot feel anything. It is the mind that feels, but what it feels has an inextricable physical element-the sukha-vedana (pleasant sensations), dukkha-vedana (unpleasant sensations) and adukkhamasukhavedana (neutral sensations).

For the actual practice taught by the Buddha, it is this physical aspect of vedana which is of particular importance, since it is the most direct and tangible way to experience the anicca (impermanence) of ourselves, and so to develop wisdom. Anicca is a fact to be realized not by merely relating it intellectually to the outside world. Rather, it must be experienced internally. We must experience ourselvesexperience ourselves as we really are-each a transitory phenomenon, changing every moment. This experience of aniccaexperience of anicca at the level of sensations results in the gradual dissolution of attachment and egotism. Describing the importance of the physical aspect of vedana for the realisation of nibbana (liberation), the Buddha said-

Just as in the sky different windsas different winds in the sky blow from east and west, from north and south, dust-laden or dustless, cold or hot, fierce gales or gentle breezes- many winds blow. So also within the body arise sensations, pleasant, unpleasant or neutral. When a meditator, striving ardently, does not lose his constant thorough understanding of impermanence even for a moment, such a wise person fully comprehends all sensations. Having thus comprehended sensations, within this life he becomes freed of all defilements (and becomes an arahant or vedagu). Such a person, who is vedagu (one who completely understands the sphere of sensations), being established in Dhamma, after death attains the indescribable state beyond the conditioned world because he knows sensations thoroughly (their arising and passing away and also the state beyond sensation).

Again emphasizing the fact that the sensation manifests in the body, he said-


Suppose, meditators, there is a public guest housepublic guest house. People come there from the east, west, north and south. People who are Ksatriyas, Brahmins, Vaishyas and Shudras. Similarly, meditators, various sensations arise in this body-pleasant sensations, unpleasant sensations and neutral sensations arise; pleasant sensations with attachment, unpleasant... neutral... arise; pleasant... unpleasant... neutral sensations without attachment arise.

The above passage clearly describes the process of Vipassana, whereby through observation of sensations in the body (kayasmim), a person can be fully liberated from suffering. First, it describes different types of sensations (pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral) which a meditator easily understands and experiences by practising Vipassana. By constantly observing the sensations in the body, one experiences the characteristic of arising and passing away. This objective unremitting observation is sampajanna (constant thorough understanding of impermanence). According to the Buddha, one who practises sampajanna is a wise personwise person, knowing experientially how sensations arise and pass away within the body as a result of the repeated contact of sense objects. This person knows that when one begins to relish the pleasant sensations and abhorr the unpleasant sensations, misery is generated and multiplies. Without sampajanna, one remains unaware of the deeper unconscious level of the mind. It is in the darkness of ignorancedarkness of ignorance that an unconscious reaction begins towards the sensations. This momentary liking or disliking soon develops into craving or aversion, the reaction repeating and intensifying innumerable times before it bursts forth into the conscious mind. If importance is given only to what happens in the conscious mind, then because of one's ignorance of the underlying reality, one becomes aware of it only after the reaction has occurred repeatedly. One allows the spark of sensationspark of sensation to ignite into a raging fire before trying to extinguish it, resulting in unskilful physical and vocal actions. By practising sampajanna, one learns to observe the sensations within the body objectively, permitting each spark to burn itself out without starting a conflagration. By observing the physical aspect of vedana, one becomes aware of the reality that the vedana that has arisen is impermanent. With this understanding, one remains equanimous and prevents any reaction from occurring. Constant observation of vedana in this manner by anicca-bodha gives rise to detachment. With this attitude, one can prevent not only fresh reactions of craving and aversion, but also eliminate the very habit of reactinghabit of reacting, and thereby gradually come out of suffering by transcending all the sensations and becoming what the Buddha calls a vedagu-



One who is completely detached from vedana, and has gone beyond the entire (field of) vedana (to reach vedana-nirodha) is called vedagu.


Emphasising the arising of sensation in the body which results in the attainment of nibbana, the Buddha said in the Patthana-



Pleasant bodily sensation is the cause for the arising of pleasant sensation of the body, unpleasant sensation of the body, and attainment of fruition (nibbana) in relation to the strong dependent condition. Unpleasant bodily sensation is the cause for the arising of pleasant sensation of the body, unpleasant sensation of the body, and attainment of fruition (nibbana) in relation to the strong dependent condition.


This shows that the Buddha gave foremost importance to sensation for the realisation of the ultimate truth.

By moving with full awareness, remaining detached from the sensations within and without and observing them objectively, one reaches the cessation of consciousness.


Feeling the same pleasant or unpleasant sensations in the body, an ignorant personignorant person reacts to them and multiplies his or her sankhara. In contrast, a Vipassana meditator with the wisdom of sampajanna emerges from the old habit pattern and becomes fully liberated. Thus our bodies bear witness to the truthwitness to the truth. By observing sensations, we can advance from merely hearing about that truth to experiencing it directly for ourselves. When we meet it face to facemeet it face to face, we become transformed by the truth and faith arises in us, based not on blind belief but on experience.

Dependant Origination

(from Buddha Dharma Education Assocation http://www.buddhanet.net/funbud12.htm)


Today, in this tenth session, we are going to take up a very important topic in Buddhist studies and this is the teaching of dependent origination. I am aware of the fact that many people believe that dependent origination is a very difficult subject and I would not say that there is no truth in that belief. In fact, on one occasion Ananda remarked that despite its apparent difficulty, the teaching of dependent origination was actually quite simple; and the Buddha rebuked Ananda saying that in fact the teaching of dependent origination was very deep. Certainly in the teaching of dependent origination we have one of the most important and profound teachings in Buddhism....

....Let us take a few examples that establish the nature of dependent origination. Let us take first an example used by the Buddha Himself. The Buddha has said the flame in an oil lamp burns dependent upon the oil and the wick. When the oil and the wick are present, the flame in an oil lamp burns. If either of these is absent, the flame will cease to burn. This example illustrates the principle of dependent origination with respect to a flame in an oil lamp. Let us take the example of the sprout. Dependent upon the seed, earth, water, air and sunlight the sprout arises. There are in fact innumerable examples of dependent origination because there is no existing phenomenon that is not the effect of dependent origination. All these phenomena arise dependent upon a number of causal factors. Very simply, this is the principle of dependent origination.

Quote by Buddha
"In this way, Ananda, conditioned by feeling is craving, conditioned by craving is seeking, conditioned by seeking is gain, conditioned by gain is valuation, conditioned by valuation is fondness, conditioned by fondness is possessiveness, conditioned by possessiveness is ownership, conditioned by ownership is avarice, conditioned by avarice is guarding,[*] conditioned by guarding and resulting from guarding are the taking up of the stick, the knife, contention, dispute, arguments, abuse, slander, and lying. Evil and unskillful actions of many kinds thus appear in profusion."[

On watching the tendency of solidification of experience

Must watch the tendency to understand the 'habit' of solidifying of experiences. And to understand that the psychological pain is 'one of the many faces of the self as is the 'watching of phenomena as a detached observer and non identification.

Must also try to understand what Buddhism talks about dependant origination.

Valuable note from Ravi

All this goes on as H describes it so well. As if we are puppets of some play.... How to bring the kind of attention that is independent of all this, which can see all this. The one which needs to fix this, that and every other thing is a pretender to the crown and expects obeisance. It even begins to use the language and the forms of the work for its purposes.

"What is needed? To remember that being human is an immense privilege and a wonder? Or?

"What does it mean to be free?
"I look forward to this week of work together. Perhaps we can find the place at the edge between what we know and what we do not know...and become available to the unknown."

Excerpts from the Gnostic Gospels

Gospel of Thomas

1.After all its not what goes into your mouth that will defile you. Its what comes out of your mouth that will defile you.

2.Whoever blasphemes against the Father will be forgiven, and whoever blasphemes against the son will be forgiven, but whoever blasphemes against the holy spirit will not be forgiven, either on earth or in heaven.

3.Lucky is the lion that the human will eat, so that the lion becomes human. And foul is the human that the lion will eat, and the lion still will become human.

Gospel of Philip.

1.The slave seeks only to be free, but he does not hope to acquire the estate of his master. But the son is not only a son but lays claim to the inheritance of the father. Those who are heirs to the dead are themselves dead, and they inherit the dead. Those who are heirs to what is living are alive, and they are heirs to both what is living and the dead. The dead are heirs to nothing. For how can he who is dead inherit? If he who is dead inherits what is living he will not die, but he who is dead will live even more

2.Names given to the worldly are very deceptive, for they divert our thoughts from what is correct to what is incorrect. Thus one who hears the word "God" does not perceive what is correct, but perceives what is incorrect. So also with "the Father" and "the Son" and "the Holy Spirit" and "life" and "light" and "resurrection" and "the Church (Ekklesia)" and all the rest - people do not perceive what is correct but they perceive what is incorrect, unless they have come to know what is correct. The names which are heard are in the world [...] deceive. If they were in the Aeon (eternal realm), they would at no time be used as names in the world. Nor were they set among worldly things. They have an end in the Aeon.

3.These are powers which [...] man, not wishing him to be saved, in order that they may [...]. For if man is saved, there will not be any sacrifices [...] and animals will not be offered to the powers. Indeed, the animals were the ones to whom they sacrificed. They were indeed offering them up alive, but when they offered them up, they died. As for man, they offered him up to God dead, and he lived.

4.Before Christ came, there was no bread in the world, just as Paradise, the place were Adam was, had many trees to nourish the animals but no wheat to sustain man. Man used to feed like the animals, but when Christ came, the perfect man, he brought bread from heaven in order that man might be nourished with the food of man. The rulers thought that it was by their own power and will that they were doing what they did, but the Holy Spirit in secret was accomplishing everything through them as it wished. Truth, which existed since the beginning, is sown everywhere. And many see it being sown, but few are they who see it being reaped.

5. No one will hide a large valuable object in something large, but many a time one has tossed countless thousands into a thing worth a penny. Compare the soul. It is a precious thing and it came to be in a contemptible body.

6.It is through water and fire that the whole place is purified - the visible by the visible, the hidden by the hidden. There are some things hidden through those visible. There is water in water, there is fire in chrism.

7.What the father possesses belongs to the son, and the son himself, so long as he is small, is not entrusted with what is his. But when he becomes a man, his father gives him all that he possesses.

8.God is a dyer. As the good dyes, which are called "true", dissolve with the things dyed in them, so it is with those whom God has dyed. Since his dyes are immortal, they become immortal by means of his colors. Now God dips what he dips in water.

9.It is not possible for anyone to see anything of the things that actually exist unless he becomes like them. This is not the way with man in the world: he sees the sun without being a sun; and he sees the heaven and the earth and all other things, but he is not these things. This is quite in keeping with the truth. But you saw something of that place, and you became those things. You saw the Spirit, you became spirit. You saw Christ, you became Christ. You saw the Father, you shall become Father. So in this place you see everything and do not see yourself, but in that place you do see yourself - and what you see you shall become.

10.Faith receives, love gives. No one will be able to receive without faith. No one will be able to give without love.

11.God is a man-eater. For this reason, men are sacrificed to him. Before men were sacrificed, animals were being sacrificed, since those to whom they were sacrificed were not gods.

12.As for the Wisdom who is called "the barren," she is the mother of the angels. And the companion of the [...] Mary Magdalene. [...] loved her more than all the disciples, and used to kiss her often on her mouth. The rest of the disciples [...]. They said to him "Why do you love her more than all of us?" The Savior answered and said to them,"Why do I not love you like her? When a blind man and one who sees are both together in darkness, they are no different from one another. When the light comes, then he who sees will see the light, and he who is blind will remain in darkness."

Habit

Breaking of habits as a basis of sadhana appears to be quite interesting. Our false personality finally manifests into habits -physical, emotional and intellectual. We seem trapped and imprisoned by these habits and are powerless to do any thing 'out of character'.

Breaking of habits allows us to break the walls around us and then merge with the habitless and hopefully, the right action would follow guided by what is needed to be done and not based on the likes and dislikes of the habits.

True freedom, it seems, is freedom from habits.

Sadhana for the rest of the life

"Dispense with words. Turn the attention towards the organism."

"Discover what it means to have a real connection with the body."

" Discover what it means when the call to Work comes from somewhere other than the intelligence of the intellect."

Oasis

Its been 6 days. There is a lightness. The breath flows in and out of both nostrils freely. As though at the top of the head is a hole that allows air to flow in and out freely.
There is a lightness. I am not carrying on my shoulder the constant ache of sexual desire. And when that weight is removed suddenly I am light.

Nothing else has changed. But this is grace. This lightness. There is no effort. Everything can be done in me as need be done.

Faint fears of knowing one day this could go away. But right now none.

This is a taste.

If this is a record that is ever going to be read by any searcher...remember, all the effort and hard work and sacrifice is worth this moment.

Do your work

Harish..

You have got much. Now dont be lazy.
You have got on to something big after years of struggle and sacrifice.

Dont let go. Work harder. Listen. Just listen.

Feeling the I in different parts of the b.ody

Interesting exercise. To feel the "I" in the hands..or the feet or the face..

Insights on the Work

The Body is always in the Present Moment.

How to work well? Especially exercises that one cannot do even repeatedly? Its about egotism. We should not do this Work for personal benefit. We need to do it for our parents, and the people around us and for the people in the world. Its about duty now and not about personal search or about whether its fun or not. I have this physical body at my disposal to purify and make transparent so that the energy can flow down and help.." may Thine be on earth as it is in Heaven".

work period 2009

Work period 2009

The Gurdjieff Work is something else. It is not about “my” search. It is about creating a live pool of consciousness from which will incubate newer searchers and a cumulative pool of consciousness created out of the combined Work of everyone in the pool. This pool is the food for all and with this food, more efforts.
This work period one understood the beginnings of the word 'responsibility'. To be a Senior in the Work. To be responsible means “to respond” not react. To everything. To everyone. And the first step towards that is to listen. To everything. To everyone.
So what is my responsibility? In the Work, to keep it alive. To have searchers at all levels so that the current flows without any break, at any level. And to Work myself. Ceaselessly. Because the domino effect of one person working is unbelievable. One person gives energy to the pool that energizes everyone else's effort and when everyone Works, the surge in the pool is a huge multiple of that single drop that a single person contributed.
How do I Work Intelligently?
I need to develop the sensitivity to what is needed right now. To what needs to be served right now. So that the energy that wishes to evolve will not return disappointed.
I need to Listen. Learn that language of the voice of the energy behind the words. Of the wish of the energy behind the sensations. Of the fervour of the energy behind the racing thoughts. I need to keep Working, till I find a true taste of the connection that Mme De Salzmann speaks about.

Paying gratitude to the breakthrough

There is such a freedom when the search now excludes search for the "I". Now there is the joy of just being aware. However this is a gift from nature. From universe.

I now need to convert these fleeting glimpses of just experiencing without the experiencer or the "i" into a constant practice of experiencing pure. Sensation of the body, sensation of the breathing, sensation of hurt, of hunger, of anger.

God give me ur support.

Pulsations

When there is money in the bank or in the wallet, there is a constant steam of pulsation from that source. That provides ways for it to be spent. When there is a relationship - be it the boss, or girlfriend or wife or child or dog, there is a constant pulsing. There is the body that is constantly sending pulsations of its own needs. Everything stored sends pulsations so that action takes place and creates movement. As though nature is constantly pulsing and moving and creating. THe Awareness watches all this. How does the right action take place here? Is it the relative intensity of the pulsation? or something that guides? How can this guiding voice be found over the din of the mechanicality of habitual decision making?

The movement

It seems like a breakthrough. One needs to watch what is real. The sensation of the body is real. The sensation of the breathing is real. There is no I. Everything is an occurence. A phenomena that is experienced. Thoughts. Emotions. And when the I is removed then there is a shift that comes with the change in the vantage point. So 'I' dont breathe. 'I' dont eat. There is a sensation of taste and smell. There is a feeling of satisfaction. Body and mind follows its laws from the power of nature.

On birthday

How do i be more alive today? like i was the day i was born..! how do i know im alive..and know im alive..tomorrow..day after..day day after? i need to know i exist..i need to be present otherwise what is the point in having a movie ticket and not going for the show ?

Waiting

How does one have a complete sense of surrender? Leave everything to the Universe? Especially since people involved in certain situation are dependent on you? Your employees, family? When is waiting the right action?

Quote by Nisargadutta

" There is only Life. There is nobody who lives a life"

Body and I

It appeared during the yoga class yesterday..and as I type now, that the body follows instructions from me. Its like driving a car. Since I dont see clearly the 'hand-off' point of the instructor (me) and the body's receiving of it in its 'receiving centre', I think Im the body. It seems to be a very subtle communication. There is something in the consciousness(me) that has a 'wire' into this body. It appears that Im the "Will" but the body can be disobedient and refuse compliance.That is when this difference gets blurred because "I" gets identified with the body. So long as the body is given instructions to do what 'it' likes, there seem no issue to separate "I" and 'the body'.

I need to continue to recognise and believe that Im not just the body only the driver of the car.

Notes on meeting with Prof Seshan in Bangalore

1. Again now, again now. Only present moment.
2. All events coming in my life is a way of universe communicating to me. If my response is right then the universe will communicate correctly and things will start changing.
3. I have to take responsibility for everything happening to me.
4. Discipline in everything. Eat half a stomach full always. Sex leave it to nature.
5. Attitude: Ah now I have relief that I don’t have to blame others for everything.
6. If one has a deep wish and will to be mindful always it will happen. That is the only thing required.

Lighter journey

The attitude to the search seems to be the key. How can i let this journey be natural..like the natural ripening of a fruit. let this happen. unbud.

how can "suffering" be approached from an attitude of joyousness instead of something very tragic and hinting of martyrdom? Nature made sex fun. No one would procreate if it was all hard work.

So there must be a way for the search to the way towards inner life to be fun..if indeed its in line with nature's plan of action..

Bangalore Work Weekend

John said the theme is " as I am". So how is it going to be not in a 'work mode'? how is it that i can be as I am and yet keep an attention inside to watch these personalities at work? or see where the edges of my personalities as i am in real life and truly learn how to be 'as i am' in life but never consider internally? what are my roles in life ? what are the times when these roles contradict each other and thereby create a personality crisis if happened simultaneously? can see my masks of each roles?

In-Out

"What we say aloud is my personality. What we say inward is our essence. Now can we say aloud what we say inward and say inward what we say aloud?" - Orage.

Till the Work Period

Found my Partkdolg Duty from now to the Work period. May god give me strength. Let this be not 'my' work but what is needed to be done thru me. Let the inner lovemaking commence. replacing all else. the denying source holds the key. So the inner child can be born.

To sing along

It appears to me that the world runs in a manner that is quite fascinating. The initial impulse of action seem to come from us – and this impulse is based on our wishes, ambitions, fears, desires, self importance. Then there appears to be a will of the Universe, a definite plan by which there is a design being sought to be put into fruition. The universe seems to use the initial impulse of our personal action and then controls it towards what it wants to finally achieve.
At our personal levels these appear to be successes or failures, happiness or sadness, achievements and disappointments. But in a larger scale these probably are only the execution elements of the Universal plan. Like say we want to build a dam and then channels to guide the waters to the various villages and then the fields within those villages. If the river had dreams of its own to travel to other villages or other fields, these would be termed as disappointments. We would have a sad river who had wishes of its own but kept getting barriers and over time it changed course to avoid the barriers so it could continue on its own personal path. At our level we just executed an architect's plan of a dam. But if the river’s personal wishes were exactly coinciding with our plans, then of course the river would be contented and happy.

The secret seems then to be, to kind of read the language of where the Universe is nudging us to do its will and pretty much go there. So what happens to personal wishes? They are real..feel real.

On the other hand the question is, why do we have this dichotomy? Why were’nt we programmed such that our wishes were only that the Universe wished us to have ? I guess like the mango tree that grows mangoes or the tiger that hunts and kills. Therein I think lies the mystery and privilege of a human life. We have an option of a small choice. Why is that given to us?


…My heart longs to join in thy song,
But vainly struggles for a voice’
I would speak, but
Speech breaks not into song,
And I cry out baffled….
-Tagore

Balance Sheet

It is interesting to read that the vivifyingness of the vibrations of the energy from food happens only after it crosses the note "Sol". Sol as per Gurdjieff is in the Cerebellum. The Do is in the Stomach, Re is in the Duodenum, Mi in the Liver, Fa in the hemispheres of the head-brain and Sol in the Cerebellum. Then interesingly La it seems "passes thru the nerve nodes of the spine and the breast to form the sperm in men and eggs in the ovaries.

Sol in Cerebellum is interesting. It is the point where the body balances. And balancing is a continuous activity. Almost like the Buddha's middle path. Or like Gurdjieff have been to have remarked ..its easier to go either extreme. Total silence or total fasting. Attention is needed when we speak only what is needed and eat only what is needed for example. This requires our active participation. This the the Sol.
So then what is my Sol with respect to my relationships? What is asked of me? what is the balance I seek? is it the balance between love and attachment ?

Watcher

It now seems that the only task is to watch. Watching seems to be the only responsibility. It appears that the duration and the quality of watching is a function of the amount of energy one accumulates. Hence Sadhana. To create more energy and to reduce energy leakage.

S1 12 and being Exioehary from Beelzebub

Beelzebub calls Si12 being Exioehary. And then he talks about abstinence and the results thereon.
Page 807
"The result of these serious pnderings of theirs was that the conviction at first arose in them that this self perfection could probably be actualised by itself by ejection from oneself in the customary manner these substances formed in them called sperm....

..and it was only the second generation of them who ultimately, after long conscious observation and intensive active mentations, categorically understood that this was indeed possible, exclusively on the condition of a ceaseless fulfillment of Partkdolg-duty..

and he goes on saying that monks who abstain but does not perform their conscious labours and intentional suffering either go fat or go very thin.
Mme De salzmann says about energy."...if its not taken by the higher, its taken by the lower." And this can mean all kinds of imagination, restless of the body and so on.
Unconscious and involuntary process of the Exioehary indeed is disatrous and dangerous.

Language of the Universe

Chosing the right action,, it appears is about trying to learn the language of the universe. The only way to learn it, it appears is through trial and error. Krishnamurti says that only when we watch our thoughts arise can we truly be free of the control, of mechanicality, of past templates of action based on reactions.
So what is right action? The action that the Universe wishes to get done through me? And how do I sense where this urge/impulse is coming from? On one hand there is the pull of the ego, and all actions designed to preserve the personality and on the other hand the urges coming from the Universe? How do I understand this language of the urges?

How do I see things with more and more impartiality? Maybe use mediums of perception that cannot be manipulated and corrupted by the mind? Like the sensation of the body and feelings?

On Losing Control

J Krishnamurti..

"One must inquire into the whole problem of control. Most of us try to control our responses our reactions; we try to suppress or to shape our desires.....So can you live a life without single control? - which does not mean induldging in whatever you want. Please put a question to yourself: can you live a life - which is at present so disastrous, so mechanical so repetitive - without a single sense of control? This can only happen when you perceive with complete clarity; when you give your attention to every thought that arises-not just indulge in thought.

When you give such complete attention then you will find out that you can live without the the conflict that arises from control.

What am I the food of ?

It is interesting to read about what Gurdjieff had to speak about classification of consciousness based on firstly what a creature eats, secondly by what it breathes and finally by the medium he breathes.

Man feeds on H768 (food), breathes H192(air), and lives in H192(air). A worm feeds on H1536 ( say coarse flour..coarser than say the rotis we eat), breathes H192(air) and lives in H1536.
A fish feeds on H1536, breathes H192 and lives in H 384(water).
A tree feeds on H 1536, breathes partly H96/partly H192 and lives in H3072(soil).

Humans cannot directly eat H1536 which worms or lamb or fish can.
Therefore it is possible to say that the intelligence of a matter is determined by the creature for whom it can serve as food. Therefore for eg..a baked potato has more intelligence than a raw potato?

So how do i become food of the gods? How do I bake well so the gods eat me?

Man's food is H 768. This he cannot change. He breathes H192. This he cannot change. But what is can improve is in intake of "impressions" and this way intake finer impressions into his organism. A man is not obliged to take in the dull impressions of H48. He can have H24, H12, H6 and even H3. This changes the whole picture..for those who produce and feed their factory finer hydrogens..will be different from those who feed their machine will less finer hydrogens..

and so the more i bake, the more i would take in nourishment from finer and finer hydrogens..and feed the gods..?

"I am food, I am food, I am food! I am the eater of food, I am the eater of food, I am the eater of food! I am the uniter, I am the uniter, I am the uniter" - Taitriya Upanishad.

Sacrificing suffering

...quote from Ouspensky as told to him by G. "Another thing the people must sacrifice is their suffering. A man will renounce any pleasures you like but he will never give up his suffering...."

what does that mean...to sacrifice one's suffering..? is it freedom from self pity? or is there anything more in this..?

why is the word sacrifice used...is there something voluntary here as opposed to running away?

Octaves and Chakras

Interesting talk by Sri sri where he talks about the emotional aspect of the energy at different chakras.

At the (Base of spine)Mooladhara - the energy manifests as either activity or passivity.

At (perinium) Swadishtana - it takes on the manifestation of sexual sensations

At (Navel) Manipura - it manifests as Jealousy or Generosity

At (Heart) Anahata - it manifests as Love or hate

At (THroat) Vishudhi - it manifests as Gratitude or Sadness (catch in the throat?)

At (eyebrow centre) Ajna - it manifests as Awareness or Anger

At (top of the head/fonataine) Sahasrara - its pure joy.

It is amazing to see that in each chakra we can see the manifestation of the descending the ascending octaves -one with a lower emotion and the other with a higher..and the sex centre is even more interesting. seems to be an intersection point.

Who is?

Kabir says O Sadhu! God is the breath of all breath.

Who is breathing..?

Who is watching..?


Is attention the tongue on which we taste all experiences?

Food Factory - THanx to Anu

Ignore button

I seem to have an ignore button..whose job is to quickly sweep under the carpet any impression falling on my. When I caught the bastard in the act, it was amazing. There is a constant stream of impressions coming to me..be it the impression of a stranger or the impression of a planeful of people as I enter an aircraft..or inward shrinking to avoid touching people in a crowd. And for a millisecond i experience it. VEry clearly. And then before it gets registered into me consciously, the Ignore button appears and very clearly says "ignore this" and its gone.

And therefore my life is lived partially!

So constant vigilance..for the Ingore button

Partaking of the sensations of the body

How can I continue to get an unending stream of sense impressions from the body? How Do i remember to sense my body all the time?

Quote from Pentland "I need to come back to the work of sensation because the container is coated in me through the transformation of my energies. And this transformation cannot take place at the level of my functioning—the forms that this energy takes. As long as I’m taken by that level, there can be no transformation.

So I begin to discover through the work of sensation that I can be aware of energy and vibration before they have taken form.

And this is the first step towards that transformation by which a container could exist for my inner life, which would give me the opportunity to study the appearance of the forces that act through these energies."

Sensation exercises

Dr. Kenneth Walker

"At a very much later date the great importance of the faculty of attention in our work was again brought home to us. This was after Ouspensky's death, when some of us went over to Paris to study under G himself. G immediately taught us a number of exercises in muscle-relaxing and in what he called 'body-sensing', exercises which were and still are of greatest value to us. We were told to direct our attention in a predetermined order to various sets of muscles, for example, those of the right arm, the right leg, the left leg and so on, relaxing them more and more as we come round to them again; until we have attained what we feel to be the utmost relaxation possible for us. Whilst we were doing this we had at the same time to 'sense' that particular area of the body; in other words to become aware of it. We all know, of course, that we possess limbs, a head and a body, but in ordinary circumstances we do not feel or sense them. But with practice the attention can be thrown on to any part of the body desired, the muscles in that particular area relaxed, and sensation from that region evoked. At the word of inner command the right ear is 'sensed', then the left ear, the nose, the top of the head, the right arm, right hand and so on, until a 'sensation' tour has been made of the whole body. The exercise can, if required, be rendered still more difficult by counting backwards, by repeating strings of words or by evoking ideas at the same moment that the relaxing and sensing is being carried out.

"The question may well be asked: 'What benefit can possibly result from learning all these yogi tricks with the body?' This is not difficult to answer. There are three reasons for doing such exercises as these: the first is that it is excellent training for the attention; the second that it teaches a person how to relax; and the third that it produces a very definite inner psychic change. This change can be summed up in the statement that the exercise draws together parts of our mechanism which previously had been working disconnectedly. But external descriptions of these valuable exercises and of the results obtained from them are quite useless. They can only be understood by personal experience of them, a fact which emphasizes once again the impossibility of imparting knowledge of this kind in a book. All special exercises of this kind have to be taught by word of mouth, and, so far as I know, they have never been committed to writing.

Ouspensky's Chemical Factory

Hydrogen 12, Sex Centre and so on by Ouspensky

quotes from Page 257 ISOM - ouspensky.

What is meant by mechanicalness with respect to sex energy ?

Everything that people do is connected with sex. Politics, religion, art, theatre, music, is all sex. Do you think people go to the theatre or church to pray or to see some play? That is only for the sake of appearances. The principal thing is that theatre as well in the church is that there will be lots of women and lots of men.

Mechanicalness is especially dangerous when people try to explain it by something else and not what it really is. When sex is clearly conscious of itself and does not cover itself up anything else. ..On the contrary sex which exists by itself(without self image? fantasies?) and is not dependant on anything else is already a great achievement.

What is si 12 and its role ?

Hydrogen Si 12 is the hydrogen which represents the final product of the transformation of food in the human organism.This is the matter with which sex works. And which sex manufactures. It is the Seed and the Fruit.

What is the “dual nature” of the shock at Si 12?

Hydrogen Si 12 can pass into the Do of the next octave with the help of an additional shock. But this shock can be of a dual nature and different Octaves can begin. One outside the organism and one in the organism iself.

The union of male and female Si 12.constitutes the shock of the First kind and the new octave begins with its help and develops independently as a new life. This is the natural way the use the energy of Si 12.

But in the same organism there is a further possibility

What is the further possibility?

This is the possibility of creating a new life “Within” the organism in which the S1 12 has been manufactured, without the union of the two principles, the male and the female.
A new octave then develops within the organism not outside it. This is the birth of the Astral Body. You must understand that the astral body is born of the same material of the same matter as the physical body, only the process is different.

How is the Astral Body created?

The whole of the physical body all its cells are so to speak permeated by emanations of the matter Si12. And when they have become sufficiently saturated the matter Si12 begins to crystalise. The crystallization of this matter constitutes formation of the “Astral Body.”( is this what the tantric practices aim for?) Formation of the Astral Body is possible only in a healthy normally functioning organism.

So is complete sexual abstinence the answer?
Firstly sexual abstinence is necessary for transmutation only in certain cases that is for certain types of people.
For others it is not at all necessary.
For certain types a long and complete sexual abstinence is necessary for transmutation to begin. But once it has begun abstinence is no longer necessary.
In other cases it does not require abstinence but once begun, tansmutation takes all the sexual energy putting an end of normal sexual life or the outward expenditure of sexual energy.

So is sexual abstinence useful for Work or Not ?
It is useful if abstinence is in ALL CENTRES. If there is abstinence is in one Centre and full liberty of imagination in the others, then there could be nothing worse. Further abstinence is useful only if the man knows what to do with the energy he saves in this way. Otherwise nothing can be gained.

What is abuse of the sex centre ?
It means wrong work of the centres in relation to sex. That is action of sex centre through other centres and action of other centres through the sex centre. Or the action of the sex centre from the energy borrowed from the other centres or the action of other centres from the energy borrowed from the sex centre.

Can you explain little more?
Remember that sex centre works with Hydrogen 12. This means that it is stronger and quicker than other centres.The energy of the sex centre that is not used remains and passes on to the other centres. Finding expression for itself through them. ( As Mme De Salzman would say if its not taken by the higher it will be taken by the lower).
The energy of the sex centre in the work of the thinking, emotional and moving centre can be recognized by a particular “taste”, by a vehemence which the affair concerned does not call for.

What must be done to struggle against the “abuse of sex” ?
Right work on neself begins with the creation of a permanent centre of gravity. The role of the sex centre in creation of a permanent centre of gravity can be very BIG. According to its energy, that is to say, if it uses its own energy(meaning I think, just being conscious of it as itself and not thru another centre) the sex centre stands on a level with the higher emotional centre. This alone will indicate a comparatively high level of being. And in this case if the sex centre worked with its own energy and in its own place, all other centres could work correctly in their places and with their own energies.



Can sex be regarded as an independent centre?
It can. And if ALL THE LOWER STOREY IS TAKEN AS ONE WHOLE,THEN SEX CAN BE REGARDED AS THE NEUTRALISING PART OF THE MOVING CENTRE.

Quote

Two similar quotes :-

Man is not a note. He is a complete octave. His feet on the ground and his head in the heavens.

Now here's a quote that is so amazing " May your roots find water and the leaves the sun".

Right now

Right now, I can sense a suffering. Its closest physical aspect is a kind of a ache in the nerves. Is this like stuff given to me to purify? While I feel the ache, I dont feel the resistance or the need to escape this. I watch the ache. Then I watch the "I". And wonder. What the hell is all this? THe I quickly now does not exist. Just the ache and the awareness of the ache. Then if I disappears, then what is the focal point and the starting point of all activity? Like breathing. Who is breathing? Am I passive as I watch or is there a part of me that is also doing? What is the form of me who is the passive watcher? Am I formless? All I know is I exist..or if I is imaginary..then existence is? what the hell is all this..

EavesDropping

Can I hear my voice while speaking or reading ?

Can I overhear my thoughts while Im thinking?

-Pentland

Energy aspect of material

Lord Pentland says "Seeing is the energy aspect of material. Not the forms aspect."

How can i experience this world from the energy aspect of materials, as opposed to the form aspect?

Is this by sensation? Each time a visual - happy, sad, sensual, cruel - strikes my eye ? In addition to the forms aspect that is captured by the senses can i sense its trace on my body?

Is this also something to do with the place of my "I" ?

And then the non-visual imagery - taste of food, dreams,thoughts and so on..?

How can I now include the energy aspect of everything I experience on the material?

Wake up insights from Lord Pentland

"Seeling mechanicalness as a force".

"There are different qualities of attention."

"You need to observe your attention.."

"The wish is your only initiative"

"If a method is fixed it cant be active ".

New Direction - Guidance from Universe

I continue to get incredible support from the Universe.
Excerpt from Lord Pentland.

Question :Would you suggest that one select some aim in the morning some proper method to pursue to accomplish development of essence ?

Answer: I dont see how your question relates-making the same old good intention. What is not mechanical about what you say?....

Then a quote.. (maybe on a question of what do we work on..?)

" We study ourselves in relation to sleep and waking...."


Then..."nothing resulted in attempting too much.."

It appears that the search itself cannot be mechanical at this stage for me. Mechanical from a stand point of tasks versus achievement. Its now got to be intuitive and really to study how alive or asleep I am at all time. Yet I need an anchor frm self deception. The body can be of help. Witnessing and sensing. In a way setting it the way it is formulated also is mechanical. What is not mechanical I guess cannot be formulated.

New DIrection for my search

In a Group meeting Michel De Salzmann said that the Higher needs to act on myself. THis is more important than myself making efforts and the like, as Ouspensky emphasises.

The Latter is more exoteric, it is all right in the beginning and not later.

Ouspensky does not talk about sensations,movements or attention. So the work may become psychological.

Now something new is needed.

Receptive Attention

Rather than Active effort or

Wrong Super Effort.

In another meeting with Michel,I mentioned to him that I was thinking of writing on ahimsa, non-violation and yagna, sacrifice and exchange of energies between levels. He said that he has been much interested in NON MANIPULATIONS and how to

LET THE HIGHER HAVE AN ACTION UPON ONESELF.

This is where he feels that an emphasis on Effort, Super Effort and such can be MISLEADING.

Sacrifice of one's ego-self allows an exchange with higher levels. THis is the real issue of effort.

It cannot be spoken about but needs to be practiced in response to a conscious demand.

(-Ravi Ravindra ..Heart without Measure)

Eye for I

The lower I - that seem to be accompanied by the self image and the personality is an interesting study.

There seems to be certain energies that the physical body comes in contact with with help from the lower I.

FOr example the pleasure waves that surges inside the body when one receives attention or praise. It appears that without this lower I, sexual orgasm would be impossible. FEar too.

Then do wen need the lower or fake I to have any experience of any sort?

I feel that thankfully that there experiences that dont need the lower I - the personality. Like sensation of joy when one eats a delicious mango or a sweet, the joy of a massage, the pleasure of a perfume..

HEre there is pure sensation. I guess that is why the Work keeps a lot of focus on sensations. It appears more objective.

Between effort and letting go

It has been a week of torment. One one end, I feel my time is running out. Im not trying enough. Ive not put my life on the line for my search. And then so much clarity from Ravi-ji.

"Dying to oneself is not easy. It is dying to all my habits, accumulations and the whole of my past, dying to everything I know and have experienced. But none of this can be forced. Nor can it be undertaken with ambition as an ego project.

To some extent a deep-seated letting go is needed--almost as if I am not responsible for my life, my activities or my spiritual development.

I did not bring myself here. I could not possibly be here without the agreement, or even connivance, of the higher forces. So it is their concern and their problem. They can do with me what they wish and what they determine I need."

So this is what I need to practice. A DEEP SEATED LETTING GO. SO THE HIGHER FORCES WHO SENT ME HERE CAN DO WHAT THEY WISH TO DO WITH ME.

So then what is the RIGHT ACTION from my side ? Here Ravi-ji says.

"This is not a call to laziness or to resignation. It is much more a freedom from ego ambition. I accept myself as I am, not what I should be, and then I listen to the higher forces--which is the same as listening to deeper parts in myself--and I try to bend as they suggest.

Gradually I begin to see that dying to myself is dying to my habits of thought and feeling, to my self-importance, to my fears and to my suffering."

And then he talks about the way in which we practice this so it becomes a NEW WAY.

"Maybe I will die like a dog. Even this has to be accepted. Becoming anxious about it is not going to help. Disgust with the world or with myself and with the low-level quality of my efforts and my wiggling out or with my safety nets can impel me to work harder a little, but this does not have sufficient energy. What is needed is more and more opening to higher, and therefore more suitable and more potent, energy.

As Patañjali says in the Yoga Sutras, higher vairagya comes from a vision of Purusha; then something fundamental settles in my attitude towards the world and towards the worldly ambitions and fears in myself."

AND THEN HE SUMMARISES THE SEARCH WHICH FOR ME NOW IS A GOSPEL FOR THE FUTURE.

"We will not cease searching--sometimes with hesitation, sometimes with great impulse. Ours is only the search. We do not know whether we will reach the destination or not. We don't know what the destination is; we simply imagine it. Perhaps our imagination is based on what we have read in the scriptures or what we have heard from the sages. This imagination cannot be free of our own fears and ambitions. The fact is that we do not know. So we listen to ourselves again--and your e-mail is an expression of that listening and sharing with fellow searchers--and not lose heart; we stand up and begin our journey once again. We were brought here when the time was right, and we will be taken away when the time will be right. Then we will recommence our journey from where we will be at that time.

Ours is a journey without end. The end is either for the buddhas or for the dead stones. You and I are alive and we will persist--wondering, questioning, searching, resting periodically and then walking again."


Oh What Grace !

Rite Now

Having experienced the joy of present moment it is hard to not to want to repeat it. This happened when I landed at Hyderabad airport and suddenly there was this excitement of watching what will happen next in my life. It was like watching a reality show not knowing what next. Sometimes a face pops up, a car passes by, the cell fone rings. It was an amazing experience. I wonder why I often kill this by getting lots in thoughts.

Weight of the body

It appears that the weight of the body on my being is something that I am not conscious of. Its like a sound in the background that I have become so used to that I stop noticing it. Sensation appears to be the way to probably separate the body and the being and therefore sense the weight that the being is dragging along. It’s a different experience of sensation when one is sensing the body as a weight on the being as against sensing the body from within.

I guess this is probably what is meant by meditation. To create the internal silence so these entangled impressions can be de tangled and therefore towards a more truthful response.

Body

How does one engage with the body in the journey to understand the "I" ? In any case the body seems to be the first port of call. It seems to be the first within reach. I now feel the weight of the body. Its salty taste. Right now. Now what? Feel the difference between the "I" and this body? When will I be able to experientially break the knot of the inner imagery of being the body? Permanently? and escape death by dying before hand.

Attention

Michelle Salzmann talked about Attention being the real I. Everything else is given - the body by the planet and the mind and thoughts by society and its conditioning.

What I get in Grace I pay back in attention.

Silence is..

Some Glimmer of hope. The last week, there were a couple of moments when there was actual inner attention while speaking. Still a long way off. Still catching myself once the speech is over. But there is hope and will report here to track progress.

The Octave of the Sexual Energy

So here's a live experiment for me to sense the movement of my sexual energy Octave.

Starting point: 9th March : Orgasm
Octave : Do is the Resolve to maintain a resistance to physical release of sexual tension.
Today : Resolve is strong. We are probably in Do or Do Re.

To watch for : Mi - Fa : Where the resistance will be under pressure and the interval must be crossed.

Reporting : Everyday.
Task : Avoid Sexual Impressions and watch the movement of the sexual current in the body.

Date : April 5th.

Reporting:

Was on a low sex drive since ORgasm. Initial impulse form Orgasm was of no more Orgasm.

Then MArch 12th Orgasmed again. But initial Impluse changed to intensifying Sex Drive.
Intense suffering till April 3rd. Then now Impulse calmed down.

Looks like the April 3rd was when I crossed the Fa. I am not sure which is the Do here. is this the first Orgasm on March 9 or the one on Mar 12th.

Considering that the initial impulse changed, I think a new Octave crossed over on the 12th and that must be the Do.

So in terms of number of days the Mi Fa Gap for me is from March 12th to April 3rd. That is 22 days.


Now if I apply the ratios
24 27 30 32 36 40 45 48

do re mi fa Sol La Si Do

The Octave will last for 46 days. Theoretically. So that means the Octave will last till 27 th April.

The next shock will be on the 5th Stopinder. at Sol. Which will be around 20th April.

April 23rd: I can see that the sexual energy is on the rise again. This could be the Sol and if used for Internal Purposes as mentioned in Beelzebub, it will produce internal results. For me, this is to sublimate the energy with Kundalini Yoga. With the grace of all the forces.

May 5th. Sexual energy is on the ebb from an internal sense. There are external stimuli that bring in sudden peaks but overall the energy is not all burning and consuming

God Help me

The Life is burning bright in this decaying body. Will this be a life wasted? Why am I not Working Hard? Dont I see the Terror of my Existence? Death is always round the corner. Dont I need to get aquainted with Death instead of suddenly finding myself without moorings of the 'identity' and the "body" at the point of death and then Thrashing away madly? Esp when the Thrashing is attachment to something that i know is a fiction..

God Help me. To stay with the Iam more and more times a day. God help me with the strength to stand firm and not run away when opportunities for tearing away the false masks of my personality arises. God help me my giving me the insight before the body goes back to its mother earth.

Reminder

I can see that I am forgetting my aims, my practices. Days are passing by. I dont see the terror of my existence. I seek shortcuts. God please help me.

I go back to getting the taste of my personality in interraction with others. This means sensing the impression of faces and people around me.
Then hear the sound of my voice as I speak.
Then speak consciously. Awareness and sensation on the throat.

New Organs

The Third Ear...Hearing from the Third Ear

The Intelligence of the Heart

Wings in the Coffin

In the dead of night, a Sufi began to weep.
He said, "This world is like a closed coffin, in which
We are shut and in which, through our ignorance,
We spend our lives in folly and desolation.
When Death comes to open the lid of the coffin,
Each one who has wings will fly off to Eternity,

But those without will remain locked in the coffin.
So, my friends, before the lid of this coffin is taken off,
Do all you can to become a bird of the Way to God;
Do all you can to develop your wings and your feathers."



(Farid ud Din Attar, translation by Andrew Harvey and Eryk Hanut - 'Perfume of the Desert' )

Status Feb 10th

It has been about 14 days - 2 weeks after the Work period. I can see that my initial momentum in terms of speaking consciously and hearing my self speak is dying down. But It is better than before the work period. I probably have another few days to etch this inside my consciousness permanently before it dies out. And to listen to my Voice as i spoke.

Today in the reading of Beelzebub I could intermittently listen to my voice as I read from the text. I could sense that Im using this body as a musical instrument like a flute or a saxophone. Im reading "thru" this body. And then as though this body is a magic machine, where it recognizes text and converts them to voice.

As I speak I must continue to remember the role of my body. And my right engagement with it.

Pursue the Truth.

on lease

Ive been such a fool. The body belongs to the planet. Is run and governed by the nature that runs that planet. And to think that I owned and governed it ! The planet breathes it. Manages and controls every cell. I don’t know dick about this body. And then it comes – like it did last night and pulled out all the sexual vitality from me, as I was asleep.
It is like I was living in a house that I thot was mine. I didn’t know a damn thing about the house. Where it came from and who built the house. Maybe I know a little- where the switches are maybe..i figured out how to use some of the appliances. I just found myself living in the house. I find the house getting cleaned, laundry done, rent paid – and I never even wondered how it was getting done.
It was all staring at my face and im so stupid that I didn’t realize that I just didn’t own the house..didnt run it. Some one else owned the house. He ran it. I just happened to be there. Don’t know from where I came. And where I need to go from this house.
The owner is damn sweet. Did everything very quietly and silently as though I would get embarrassed if I found out that I was just a trespasser. So much compassion and understanding.
But today morning, when I realized that someone had entered the house and extracted from the house, what I thought was my body, the sexual fluids which I thought I had kept under my lock and key, I realized that I don’t hold any key. The key is of the owner. I imagined I had a key. The house is not mine. Now everything falls into place. My breathing. My body functions. Nothing is being done by me. The house is being managed without me.
I need to now leave. Im so embarrassed but Im grateful to have found this. I have to find my own house. I have to open the door and step out. Stop looking at this house from the outside and longingly try beautifying i

Personality

There is now a task of watching the personality as it comes up when I speak.
Mme De Salzmann says “We can oppose this tendency as we talk. The personality has to stay in the background passively. As our machine speaks, and we hear ourselves speaking, we could see personality and we can oppose it.”
She then says towards the end-“ They are like me, but they are different. How are they different? I have to be open to this; I have to let in the impressions coming from them, so that I can understand how are they different from me and I from them. This is one of the obvious aspects of the search for knowing myself. The others help me to feel who I am, and to have a taste of the differences”

Now again Mme De Salzmann also says “ Besides this I have to understand that to the others I am the “other”.
Can I sense this when I speak to people. See them as they see me as the other? This may be a powerful exercise.

God pls help me.

Mme De Salzman - (These are words from another level altogether!)

1950 – Mme De Salzmann

Why can we not digest impressions? What could this mean? Where do our impressions fall? Never on our essence. The personality always reacts, functioning like a wall from where the impressions rebound. This is the kundabuffer-a wall between the outer world and reality. Personality steals the food of the inner child.

We can oppose this tendency as we talk. The personality has to stay in the background passively. As our machine speaks, and we hear ourselves speaking, we could see personality and we can oppose it.

You do not understand the relationship among yourselves because you do not understand the relationship with your work. The relationship among yourselves are a little better now than in the past years, but then it could not have been any worse. You have to remember your relationship with your aim. Try to stop when reacting mechanically and remember a place inside yourself, the place of the ideal and the aim. Then again there can be a relationship between you and your aims and ideals. Then you will eat differently, you will walk differently. More passions is needed. You have to remember yourself more often. When you are in a right relationship with your aim, only then could you be in a right relationship with each other. The way you are now you cannot work together.

“Why am I here?” There are two possible answers. “Well, I cam here because it was oferred.? The other deeper, reason is my search and my relationship to this work. Finally, I do not know who is it that came. I do not know the one that came.

When I understand this then I can begin to understand the meaning of my being here. I am here to get to know myself, and all the circumstances in which I find myself are a help for this purpose. From then on I take everything differently. I discover that I am not alone. And I begin to understand that I am fortunate to have an opportunity to get to know myself through my relationship with others.

If I am here, I know well that it is, first of all because it was offered to me, and this serves an inner need which has been partially discovered. But starting from this, what could have I offered to myself? What could be my deepest reason for coming here? What am I searching for? New impressions. What kind and for what purpose? This I did not know. And I needed help to find in myself the echo of a deeper and more real reason. And to find the thirst for the question Who am I? –everywhere and under all circumstances- and to recognize the impossibility of discovering this by myself. Alone, that is not possible. My trying becomes automatic, my effort quickly gets lost in lies, my understanding becomes dull if it is not vivified by an influence whose materiality is finer.

Under these circumstances there is a searcher’s group around a center, which is more alive and meaningful. A group are the other. What it mean the others? What are these others representing to me? What am I expecting from them? Is it enough just to tolerate them? Not possible to avoid their presence?

But these ‘others’ first of all are like me. Yes, they are my neighbours. And not only because they have two eyes, one nose,two ears, and generally because they look and behave like me. But besides the feeling of belonging to the same species, there is a unity of search, of interest and its direction with most members of my group. This cannot escape my attention.

They are like me, but they are different. How are they different? I have to be open to this; I have to let in the impressions coming from them, so that I can understand how are they different from me and I from them. This is one of the obvious aspects of the search for knowing myself. The others help me to feel who I am, and to have a taste of the differences.

Besides this I have to understand that to the others I am the other. Until this touches me, a large part of my search is closed off from me. I am the other for him. And to myself also am I not sometimes an other? A stranger. Sometimes, I can even see that this unknown being, this stranger, is much more I than I take myself to be all day.

Simultaneous inward and outward look

How does one simultaneously keep an attention inside as well as outside ? Not when one
is silent but when one is talking to someone. The personality or the limited ego is so sharply
dominating when one is talking to someone. Either in person or on the phone. The other
strong moment is when a woman looks at you. That attention is probably the strongest
moment when one’s ego and personality comes out sharpest. One forgets ones self
awareness. The power of getting attention from the female is a powerful force. It is a
n lethal piece of programming by nature and I guess this is why the initiates in the
Buddhist religion are taught not to meet the eyes of the opposite sex. It’s a bit like
lifting heavy weights before your muscles are all ready.

Carrying the body

Im carrying a bag on my shoulders. I can sense the weight of the bag. When Im talking to
someone or when im walking on the road thinking about something, there is this constant
nag of the weight of the bag on my body.
I feel that the weight of the body on the being is like the weight of the bag on the body.
I can sense this weight. There is always a contact point with it. But it is so heavy and
dominating that I can only feel the body as though that’s the only thing hanging on to me.
I need to sense this. The body. And that should be easy since this body seems to be constantly
stuck to me from all sides ! Just sensing the body will allow me to be in right alignment with
the body. Right relationship. And understand some thing more about myself, that freedom
from the body dominating this presence so completely allows me to.

Reposing in the Self

What is meant by reposing in the Self. Or constantly try to be with with Self.
It seems to be that once stays with pure awareness. The point between the in
breath and the out breath for me seems to be a point where I can sense that
point – the meeting point of me and the self. So I repose at that point. T
he meeting is associated with a feeling..a nice feeling..as tho there is a
sensation of nerve that is getting stimulated.

coating of consciousness

It seems to appear that I anoint every object with my consciousness.
It is my consciousness or awareness that gives it life. If I see a person
that person can be a lifeless doll, but in a subtle process I seem to coat him
with life. Otherwise bodies are just shells or toys.

sensing of the body

The sense of the body..rather the weight of the body can be felt all the time on the field of awareness. Like we sense a strong emotion..the body can be sensed like that..like a resistance that we are sublimating..

the sensation or the weight of the body can be felt all the time..and maybe sensing it will give freedom from the body..like sublimating emotions by sensing them..

its a new direction..

Amazing line from Aurobindo Book

“Consciousness is in truth the only organ.”
This is really true. The experiencing of any impression from any sense organ is really by the consciousness. As tho when Im looking..the consciousness is loaded on the sense organ. So freedom from senses or to go to the essense of experiencing “a sight” or a “sound” we need to distill the consciousness from the organ.


Another Amazing line

“The body is a marvelous instrument – docile, enduring, full of inexhaustible goodwill.”
This is so true..its such a sweet statement. I suddenly had this overpowering affection for the body. Its like my doggie. Really sweet. Takes so much abuse. Always complying. This seems to have changed my relationship so completely with my body. Especially the word Goodwill…the body has so much goodwill.

Meister Ekhardt on St. John's " I saw the Word in God"

Tell me, good Sir, do Father, Son and Holy Ghost speak the same word in the Godhead or has each a different word? ' -- In the Godhead there is but one word; in it the Father in the Godhead speaks into his unborn essence and into his born essence, the Father flowing into his Son with all that he is and the Son speaks the same word, and the Father and the Son flow into the Holy Ghost and the Holy Ghost speaks the same word. They speak this one simple word in their essence and each speaks the same word in his own Person, and in their common nature they discourse the truth and the Persons receive the essence as it is essentially. Yet the Persons receive from one another. They bow down to the essence in praise, lauding the essence; and the unborn essence pronounces its unborn word in the Persons, lauding the Persons, and the Persons receive the essence every whit and pass it on to one another. This unborn essence is self-sufficient, without birth and without activity. Birth and activity are in the Persons. The Persons say they are the truth and that creatures have none of the truth. When the soul attains to this divine speech she speaks this very truth and is the Deity to every creature as well as to herself. This comes of his indivisible nature and therein creatures are a matter of the will. The bad are bad and the good good, the Persons preserving justice in the Godhead. They give the bad their due and the good theirs.

How..when

DIE BEFORE YOU DIE...

its a race...between the body that is subject to time and the soul's stage of evolution...can sadhana accelerate this...what is my role?

Bayazid

Bayazid is recorded saying " For thirty years I went in search of God and when I opened by eyes at the end of this time I discovered that it was really he who sought me".

"The thing we tell of can never be found by seeking, yet only seekers find it (Dermenghem)

The tree veils

the sufi saint Bayazid says

"THOSE WHO ARE MOST VEILED FROM GOD ARE THREE.

First is the Ascetic who is veiled by his Ascetism.
Second is the Worshipper who is veiled by his Devotion
Thrid is the scholar who is Veiled by his Knowledge

sufi story

there is this beautiful sufi story about this sufi saint who asks a girl carrying a lamp

"Where did this fire come from?"

THe girl quickly blows out the lamp and says

"Where did this fire go "