Sri gurubhyo namaha.
A period of quiet and disconnection to persue a bit of sadhana, turned out to be a longer and quieter period than I originally assumed. Incase you are wondering, yes, it was lovely! A pleasure to internalise thoughts and energy. A pleasure to be devoted.
Like the siddhar Thirumular who revealed one mantra (of the Thirumandiram) at the end of each years meditation and samadhi, I will try to sum up the wisdom I gleaned from my wee meditations over the period -
'' Coal, my dear, has to be burnt. No amount of washing it will ever make it clean.''
Meditation reveals the nature of things, their true nature. The process is a slow one, one that unveils more than reveals if you ask me. The deeper and more internal the mind proceeds, the more the cobwebs that are dusted down. After a certain period the 'I' connectivity to the manifest universe dulls. In its place (for there is never a void or vaccum) a different perception takes root - one that percieves the world and everything in it for what it is. By that I do not mean the realisation that all is false or illusory. Not at all. The illusion dies when the identification of the self to the percieved universe dies. My take on the universe is what is false, not the universe itself! It is as though the various layers of self identification (done often quite involuntarily) over the years have become the many layers of cobwebs and dust covering the legendary diamond. When those layers are realised for what they really are, they sort of very gently fall apart. The process is not (not for me anyway) a fight, it is gentle and more importantly it is natural.
As I said, the dusting of the cobwebs reveals (or unveils) the diamond that lay underneath. The diamond that has always been there, and will always be there. Years of being under so thick a sheath of dust and cobwebs did not dim its lusture one bit. On the contrary, it seemed to me to be shining more gloriously than I ever imagined possible. That shine and lusture crept up quite unnoticeably in to the area of the mind where the manifest and unmanifest universe is percieved. And without realising it my take on the universe became one with the universe's real nature. Even though the awareness lasted but a few minutes, the residual vibrations linger on even now. And the message has been loud and clear
'' Coal, my dear, has to be burnt. No amount of washing it will ever make it clean.''
Ever at the feet of my Guru who is the very embodiment of the union of Shiva and Shakti.
An adventure set in the lofty heights (and dangerous depths)of Hindu thought. Insider tips? Relax, dissolve your preconcieved notions & get chanting.And by the way, dont believe all that you hear! A rudimentary knowledge of Sanskrit, Tamil and a fleeting accquaintance with the puranas and other such texts might come in handy. Wisdom takes courage.
4 comments:
Bhole Boom Shankar Nath Ki Jai!
What a surprise! As usual I checked your blog, and BOOM!!! there is the message.
If cleaning was the primary goal, then coal could be limitedly cleaned from external particles by dusting. But then, if coal itself is considered not-clean ... the very nature and characteristic of coal cannot be changed by cleaning it ... but it could be transformed into lustrous diamond over certain period of time or be burnt for other purposes. So what is the intention with coal in hand?
BABA, it is my humble request for you to unfurl the message in its entirety
Thiruchitrambalam!
Namashivaya.
Dear Ananada,
The meaning that I intended to convey through that aphorism is that the essential nature of things can never be ignored. And also that the essential nature of things are precisely that - ''essential''. So to try to convert something into what it obviously not is merely a waste of time.
That the coal changes over time into a diamond is something that is true of the example of coal. But 'coal' is not what those lines are limited to. It should hold true even if you substitute the coal with anything else.
What I intended to convey is that something thats black (coal in this example)in its essential nature, will forever be so - even if I want it to be white or blue or any other colour.And ignoring that, if I still try everything possible to change it to something I want it to be, the magic of the thing itself becomes lost on me.
For example, almost all of our perceptions of the so called 'reality' of things are based on the perciever (the I consciousness). So, depending on what kind of person I am and also depending on my current state of mind and being and my cultural/spiritual/social orientations, I have my perceptions and my bias towards or against things. All that is fine and well, but in that process I do not 'see' that something (whatever it may be)for itself - but for what it means to 'me'.
Any sadhana is a process of transformation, a process through which say the coal in our example becomes diamond. But then again, when the coal becomes a diamond it will no longer be coal (that is to say, its essential nature of being coal is no longer there). It has become something different. And it is not that process of transforming something I speak about here. Rather, I am commenting on the 'false' perception of things that occur when the perception is totally biased by ones own I awareness (which obviously dictates how such and such a thing is percieved).
This is why the same thing is different in the eyes of differnt people. Some one thinks it is poison (black coal) and someone else thinks its nectar (a diamond in potency). But what 'is' it in its own nature? Questioning thus, you will find out that everything is neither good nor bad (or that it is good & bad)in its own nature - quite apart from what the thing percieved means in the objective consciousness of the perciever.
Am I making sense or not here?
Namashivaya! Bhole Naath!
You are making perfect sense, BABA. Perhaps, I have heard similar kind of explanation from you regarding biased perception BABA. It seems lovely to learn, but difficult to apply in day-to-day life. So does it mean regular sadhana could reinforce the natural laws in our mind.
Arohara
Sri gurubhyo namaha.
@Ananda
The aphorism should have probably been said as
'' One has to burn coal,my dear.One cannot wash it clean.''
Then it will convey the meaning a bit better. And yes, you've probably heard me say similar things before - as I am always going on about it!
Even the fact that seems 'lovely' for you to learn is an indication of where you're at. Not many people will even think it lovely to learn as these core perceptions will change the way we look at ourselves and our lives in this world.
And yes, it is indeed very difficult to apply in every day life. But thats what maybe being 'conscious' is about. There must be an awareness that is always between us and our reactions to this world.Most of the time we act unconsciously and thus get roped in deeper and deeper into perceptions that are twisted.
Regular sadhana does many things, probably everything.Regular sadhana gives us the excercise that is needed to bring about that awareness into our thoughts and actions (which are almost always reactions).Then again, thats for another day. What I really wanted to express (think out loud)is that the real nature of things always elude us as long as we have expectations regarding them.We have a great inbuilt knack to only see and hear what we 'want' to - regardless of what is really seen or heard. And once this inbuilt mechanism is realised, it can be slowly dismantled.The unconditioning process takes more time than the conditioning process. It takes more work to send the fallen rain water up to the sky, while it takes much less effort for rain water to fall down to earth from the sky. Thats nature. Simple. Period.
gurupadhadhuli.
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