the true self1

8/13/2019 The True Self1

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No. 1/2007September-October 2007

The Path of Jnana[knowledge]

Be fearless and empty your mind of all superstitions and beliefs about God. Accept every

tiny bit on the basis of objectivity and verifiability. Doubt and reject everything unless

proved truthful, until you are convinced about the facts. But remember there are methods

beyond those prescribed by physical sciences. The Books and the Scriptures, the saints and

the prophets come to preach religion that dispels ignorance; however, it requires the proof -

a scientific parameter - for its acceptance as true.

Start without God and end without God; but in this journey get the broadness of heart that

would encompass every being on the earth. If this is done, even to a minor extent, you have

become religious; if not, you still need to reject God with greater vehemence, for it is

compartmentalizing your being into narrowness of sects and races, nations and boundaries.

Discriminate between the real and the unreal, true and false, permanent and transient, and

reject that is discriminated as unreal, false, and transient. Stick to real, howsoever

troublesome this world would try to make it for you, stick to truth howsoever difficult your

emotions, feelings and attachments would try to make it for you; then only you can know.

Knowledge is power; knowledge is bliss. Knowledge is the goal, and not happiness. Senses

give pleasure but end in suffocation; knowledge initially is awe-inspiring but ultimately

frees you from ignorance. Therefore, cultivate Jnana Tapas - austerities related to 'seeking

knowledge'. Be rational and stick to 'reason', for the knowledge is based on these scientific

foundations. Never reject 'reason', for the intuitive truth also accepts it first, only to

transcend it in course of further quest.

FOR PHYSICO-PSYCHO-SPIRITUAL UNDERSTANDING

First page C S Shah


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Focus on the body-mind complex; the body that grows from childhood through adulthood

to old age only to fall sick and die in the eventual course. It cannot be true then;

discriminate 'I am not this body', and then concentrate on the vicissitudes and vagaries of

mind. One minute it is deeply absorbed in writing this article, the other minute it flies to

far off land where my son stays. It broods on the illness of my friend and also thinks of the

lovely meeting with wife! This changing mental scenario from one minute to the next leaves

the mind in the category of 'falsehood' without any doubt. Thus discriminate and give up

identity with the mind as well. Reject both physical and emotional aspects of your worldly

existence. The same thoughts are applicable to this whole universe: it was not in the past, it

is in the present, and it would not be there in the future. Thus, this world also does not

qualify to be labeled as real. The whole universe including this 'thinking human frame' is

to be rejected as transient, on the basis of such discrimination, and according to our first

statement must be renounced. Then what remains?

Some say 'nothing' and some say the 'Spirit'; the thing-in-itself, the substratum behind all

ephemeral objects that is what remains. Try to realize, try to experience, that unchanging,

all-pervading reality and you come to know everything. 'After knowing that nothing else

remains to be known'. Reject everything that has name and form and reach the formless and

nameless entity. Your mind and language, speech and senses would not be of any helpthere, but you would experience One Immaterial Simplicity, for, you now have become one

with It!

This is the religious experience; this is the beginning of religion without God. I was a child,

a young man, and now I am this old body; the physical characteristics changed but the 'I'

remained the same. Think of that 'I' as the witness and you come towards the permanent

truth. I am awake and am experiencing this worldly show; I am sleeping and dreaming thelovely dreams; I am fast asleep oblivious to outer world but in the morning I say: 'I had had

sound sleep.' Who was the witness in all these three states? The same or different? Ponder

over the question and you shall once again come to realize the unitary consciousness as the

witness of these states also. Identification with that 'I' makes you religious, for such

identification is the source of knowledge of reality. No faith, no God, or no superstition is


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needed for such experience. It is a matter of honest inquiry. Do it, for the humanity is in

need of such knowledge, and you shall contribute to its enrichment. That is the utility:

subjective experience of the final bliss and usefulness to humanity as large.

Open your eyes; come to normal plane of consciousness and the blissful memory of the

Witness - the Atman - would now fill your eyes and ears, heart and mind with permanent

joy. The very things that you rejected as false or unreal now start appearing as filled with

the same Atman - the same 'I'. 'With every mouth I eat, with every hand I work, with every

eye I see, through every mind I contemplate'. You assume universal dimension; you do not

remain in the world, the world enshrines within your heart.

Joy and gloom, life and death, this and that, all vanish in the transcendental journey

through them. You come to realize the essence of the rope as rope; the illusory snake has

vanished, for it was never there. The poor and the afflicted, the greedy and the jealous melt

before your eyes and instead stands the Spirit to be worshipped as Spirit: "Rise thou

effulgent one, rise thou who art always pure, rise thou birthless and deathless, rise

almighty, and manifest thy true nature. These little manifestations do not befit thee."

Love yourself, know yourself, and go beyond yourself as Spirit worships Spirit. Do not

bring or invite limitations of compound matter and materialism in the realm of simplicityof immaterial existence. Shun the forces of emotions and feelings only to become as broad

as this universe extending in infinity. Love, care, concern, and compassion eventually

would merge into one unifying ocean of Immortal Bliss - the Atman.

- c s shah

Tantra says: You say yes. You say yes to everything. You need not fight, you neednot even swimyou simply float with the current. The river is going by itself, on itsown accord, everything reaches to the ultimate ocean. You simply dont create anydisturbance, you dont push the river, and you simply go with it. That going with

it, floating with it, relaxing with it, is tantra. It is life.


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My page Swaran J.

.things are uncertain in their own way. So are we. We have choices, choices to move,

choices to act. We have hopes, hope to fulfill our moves, hope to get reward of our

actions. But we fail to recognize that our every act is going to be resulted in uncertainty.

Did we ever ask ourselves that why our lives are engulfed in such horrible uncertainty.

.we strive for happiness. Nobody wants to choose the hell. Still sometimes hell is our

destiny. Can we ever escape the absurdities of life? Can we ever escape the vagaries of

time?

.we talk of happiness allthe time, the times when we are experiencing the saddest

moment of our life. When the pungent most serving is part of our plate, we talk of

sweet.

. we are sad, almost in tears. We suffer a lot. Still when we talk we do not talk of

sufferings. We do not talk of tears. We talk of pleasure, we talk of joy. We talk ofescape let our voice be not submerged inthe slime of our sorrows. Let we not be

categorized with the miserable.

.but when we examine properly we find that we live our life in fragments. We enjoy

fragmented joys and sorrows. We are satisfied in the littleness of our life. That

smallness makes us highly individualized, of course highly selfish. We do not want to

confront the whole, unite with the great, which may be the end of our selfish behavior,

possibly the end to our sorrows.

.that greater whole tells us to merge in it. It tells us to loose individuality. It tells us

to loose the distinctiveness. It tells us to loose our personality. Let drop be enter intothe ocean, not simply a part of ocean.

.Ghalib wrote, esharte katra hai darya mein fnah ho jana; dard ka had se badna hai

dawa ho jana [pleasure of the drop lies in loosing identity in the river, similarly when

sorrows go to extreme, merge with great, they end by themselves.]

.we can strive to find infinite joy when we end the finite in us.

.the existence we see that of ours is not finite. It is from eternity to eternity. This

is that underlying existence of ours which we have forgotten while in active engagement

with the world. We have forgotten ourselves to be the part of greater whole. Let the

wisdom of Upanishads be part of our life--

" The in f in ite alone is happiness. There is no happiness in the small ."

-Dr. Swaran J.


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Son Chidi- A JOURNEY TO ETERNITY

-Dr. Swaran J.

Son Chidi [The Golden Sparrow] is an extraordinary piece of poetry from Aassis fifth and

last anthology NIRDESHAK, published posthumously. Aassi [1964-2001] who died at the very

young age of 37, besides being my friend, philosopher and guide,

was a Punjabi poet of great possibilities.

In the present verse Aassi talks of a journey, a journey

through the dark recesses of the mind. Why he undertakes

such a journey? In a journey of thoughts and journey with

thoughts one is helpless to talk of a choice. A choice between

continuous voyage or to be held back! It is a state of progress,

which only moves forward.

But this sort of progress further advances into two

identical states with often diverse consequences. Most of the

thinkers regress in a cyclical path. Here identical thoughts

keep on repeating themselves causing much distress to the

thinker. But a thinker in a truly meditative poise continues

with the journey without any preconceived notion.

Contemplation of such kind occurs only in a heightened state of awareness, an awareness, in

which one is neither tense nor hurried. Zen master Yasutani Roshi describes this state in similar

words. For him this is the mind of somebody facing death. Let us imagine that you are engaged in

a duel of swordsmanship. As you face your opponent you are increasingly watchful. Were you to

relax your vigilance even for a second you would be cut down to pieces. He relates this analogy to

the outer life. In the inner world you nevertheless are in a frame of warrior but here war is among

thoughts. Your opponent is the counter thought or the thought that dissociates from the original

thought. By doing so it tends to kill the former. You become the battle ground of thoughts, a dark

arena of ignorance. That seems the exact situation as Aassi opens his verse :

In that gloomy thick forest; unable to ferret out way

I sink in the sea of darkness; no hope, no gleam, no ray

Heroically I fight back; for how long would I stay

I receive back the hurts; for hurts that I pay

Literary merit and also the

aesthetic aspect of this

remarkable piece of poetry

are to be decided by the

laureates. Here we are

discussing the incorporeal

and supposedly spiritual

aspect of this journey of

thoughts. A sort of journey

which sometimes each of

us undertakes but often

held back before taking the

final plunge.

Poetry-a class apart Aassi


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SON CHIDI-Aassi

Hanehere da sanghana jangalrah nazar na aave

jind daraya kalakhch gote khaavekise yuddhch soorme vangoonmain zakham khavan, var jhallan

meri aas bandhave eh leh-lahaundavejayee jhandaroshani da son parchameh thartharaundi hoi nimani mombatties de garam tepiyan noo main tal ian tebuchchankasees vattanbebassi kahar dhave hava shikhr dichanani di laat kambemeri soch kambe aukaat kambe

khelhan noo jalavatni mere hisse aayeerangan da jhutha sachcha aassramain sir j l iyaki te tan udeekada hoega budda Dashrathkade taan mukkega banvaas Chandraki te taan hoegee Kaushalaya tatparkarke ghar di munder te deep raushnnal na koi Lashman shashtardhariturdi hai tan mahaz ek agg vichar i

kade thar thrave kampkampavebujhan hi lagge akhari chingari viantim sahara viagle hi pal dolh deve mere upperumeedan da pura samundarchehkade parinde vangoon kholh devemere sanhven ki se naven

brahmand da darvazate mer i ungali pakar kebadali di ek sarani banaun da val sikhave

mere lahuch balada diva, sookde tufanphir vi tor ri ha hai mainu

jiven har gote pichhon dariyauchhalada hai j iv nu upparali sateh valkadam dar kadam, safar dar safar

janam dar janameh kaun hai jo mere nal hai

piranch paruche hoi vi ek Jamaal hai

jo samarpit hai mainu pani mitti agni samet

SON CHIDI[THE GOLDEN SPARROW]-Aassi

In that gloomy thick forest

unable to ferret out way

I sink in the sea of darkness

no hope, no gleam, no ray

heroically I fight back

for how long would I stay

I receive back the hurtsfor hurts that I pay

I hopefully hold that beaming flag

and in my hands it lay

agonizing pain of hot wax

that makes me loose my sway

of the tiny flickering candle

I carry on my way

my helplessness and fury of wind

with trembling thoughts they play

which make me quiver like flame

I carry on the wayIt was altogether an exiled existence

I endured to this day

yes, I begot some delights

with them I however play

There may be waiting that old Dasharatha

along anxious Kaushalaya and they

may be putting lamps on the house roofin the past foregone way

and with me now is no one

nor armed Lakshmana who slay

only trembling tiny flamethat walks with me anyway

About to get extinguished

last remains of candle that stay

with its last bit to rely! Yes, you can say

whole stockpile of hopes come apart

the moment next and they

open for me the door to eternity

enormous bliss and joy

lead me to the place [where I can]

arrange my nights and daythe alert that aflame my blood

still pushes me through anyway

as waves that push the drowning ones

to the sea-shore they lay

or sun that rouse me every mornand open my next day

to the next step, the next beginning

or the next genesis! You may say

In whose enchanting presence [now] I am

wholly dedicated to me? Pray!

has turned it into a great ecstasy


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But this battleground, this you, this awareness is separate from the mob of warrior thoughts.

You will have to keep them separate. Mostly the thinkers join with battle. They join with the

thoughts; either the same or the opposite thought. The wakeful distress of being the battleground

of thoughts is now replaced by pleasure or sorrow of the thoughts. This sort of pleasure or sorrow

does not open new vistas. It comes and goes on cyclically.

But this concentrated awareness is the only light you have on this unlit murky path. This

itself may be the source of distress, for to remain in the sustained state of awareness you have to

put an effort to it. As points out Aassi:

agonizing pain of hot wax; that makes me loose my sway

of the tiny flickering candle; I carry on my way

my helplessness and fury of wind; with trembling thoughts they play

which make me quiver like flame; I carry on the way

Thinker in Aassi does not satisfy himself with this linear journey. He adopts many ways and

many forms and during the journey. While in an emotional mould his thoughts create images of

fellow journeyers who have been separated long back. He is distressed by their absence:

There may be waiting that old Dasharatha

along anxious Kaushalaya and they

may be putting lamps on the house roof

in the past foregone way

Or he takes another turn of partially compromising with the situation and finding help from

within:

and with me now is no one;

nor armed Lakshmana who slay

only tiny trembling flame [of consciousness]

that walks with me anyway

jischon talashada han mainapne hon di paribhashamain te meri mombattikina suhavana hai eh hanehra

jo de riha hai mainupukhatagi bhar iya eh sukhad dukh

that distress of thorny waywho now will define my new being

is it me, my candle or say?

how blissful is now this bleak darkness

how joyful are woes of the day!!

-Tr anslated by-Swaran J.


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Literary merit and also the aesthetic aspects of this remarkable piece of poetry are to be

decided by the laureates. Here we are discussing the incorporeal and supposedly spiritual aspect

of this journey of thoughts. A sort of journey which sometimes each of us undertakes but often

held back before taking the final plunge.

But Aassi takes the risk of entering into the perils of unknown. This final decision does not

come out of the logical mind. Neither this is the act of will nor that of wisdom. It is the momentwhere every rationality of the mind is to be kept away. It is the end of everything known. It comes

instantaneously. It is the end of both acceptance and rejection.

About to get extinguished; last remains of candle that stay

With its last bit to rely! Yes, you can say

Whole stockpile of hopes come apart; the moment next and they

open for me the door to eternity; enormous bliss and joy

Lead me to the place [where I can]; arrange my nights and day

While talking about this transition from the rational worldly mould to the higher thoughtless

mould Aassi does not elaborate much on this point. Perhaps nobody is able to. Any description of

it will come out only from thoughts and memory, the things which are in the frame of time. So

how can Aassi talk about the things which are timeless? How can end of thoughts be described

with the activity of thoughts? But still he claims it to be the act of forces within his very being:

the alert that aflame my blood; still pushes me through anyway

as waves that push the drowning ones; to the sea-shore they lay

or sun that rouse me every morn; and open my next day

to the next step, the next beginning; or the next genesis! You may say

Is this the end of journey or its beginning? For him definitely this is the beginning. He does

not even hesitate to call it the next genesis [birth]. This contact with the ultimate reality is only to

be perceived; only to be experienced. This is not to be conceptualized or described within the

framework of worldly languages. You cannot taste sweet simply by uttering the word sweet.

Neither can you describe sweetness in a way that others can experience similar sweetness. For the

correct understanding you will have to eat something sweet. As he says:

In whose enchanting presence [now] I am; wholly dedicated to me, pray!

has turned it into a great ecstasy; that distress of thorny way

who now will define my new being; is it me, my candle or say?

how blissful is now this bleak darkness; how joyful are woes of the day!!


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Aassi has experienced this sweetness. For him now even woes are now blissful. He is now

with his real existence. This is the end of sorrow, as Buddha, the enl ightened one oncespoke about

this sphere of real existence of man for our understandings:

For there is a sphere, Brethren!

where there is-neither earth nor water

light nor air

neither infinity of space

nor infinity of consciousness

nor nothingness

nor perception

nor absence of perception

neither this world

nor that world

both sun and moon

I call this-

neither coming nor going

neither motion nor rest

neither death nor birth

It is without stability

without procession

without a footing

That is the end of sorrow. [The Udna, tr. by Strong, p.111]*

For me this Son Chidi is what his real existence is. The existence, where he acts right from

an all empty consciousness and not from one that is ever fortified by memory laden ego with all its

restricted choices. This symbolic weightless, golden sparrow is now separated from the heavy,

worldly ego. Though he is not unresponsive to the painful consequences of his choices in this new

existence, but he is free now. Free to choose and free to accept the tension and responsibility of his

choices.

*Quoted in Buddhism and Christianity by J. E. Carpenter.

TO READERSAND WRITERS-------------------------------------------For circulation among friends only-------------------------------------------You can share your views

and experiences on psycho-

spiritual matters. We also

need your feedback to our

endeavor. Your views and

writings can be sent on the

address that follows. They

can also be sent via e-mail.

Dr. Swaran J.Editor

The True Self..a physico-psycho-spiritualmonthly bulletin11-Ganpati Enclave

Ganda Singh Wala Road

Majitha Road

Amritsar [India]

[M] 9815621557

e-mail:

[email protected]

ContinuityI am he as you are he as you are me and we are all one.

-John Lennon


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How Long Healing Takes

By Alan Cohen

The secret of healing is the same as the secret of allsuccess: What you think is what you get. If you expect thathealing will be long, difficult, or impossible, it will be. If youexpect it to be quick, easy, and available, it will be. As HenryFord noted, Think you can, or think you cant, and eitherway youll be correct.

Healing doesnt ask whether you have been in pain for 30minutes or 30 years. It is always available in the nowmoment. Consider two rocks that have sat underwater in astreambed; one has been submerged for 10,000 years and

other for 10 days. If you place both rocks in the sun, they willtake the same amount of time to dry off. Likewise, if you turnon a light in a dark room, it matters not whether the roomhas been dark for five minutes or five years; the room is justas light the moment you flip the switch.

Well-being is our natural state, and life is always seeking toreturn us to it. What hampers well-being is not some externalfactor, but internal resistance. All pain, physical, emotional,or spiritual, begins and is maintained by a factor of pushingagainst. When you release your resistance, healing rushes

in. Life wants us to be healed and constantly moves toaccomplish that; it simply awaits our cooperation. To behealed physically, emotionally, mentally, or spiritually, youdont have to make anything happen. Just let go of what youare resisting.

Our culture has instilled within us many beliefs about whoand what can be healed, and how long it takes. Many ofthese beliefs are based on limiting thoughts to which otherpeople have subscribed. If you do not think the samethoughts, you are not subject to the same results. Whendoctors or psychologists cite statistics of what happens to

people who exhibit the same symptoms as you, they are simply noting how other people havedealt with this issue. What you do with it may be entirely different, and you are not bound to landon the same square. The only thing that determines where you land is the train of thought youtake to get there. Step onto a different train, and you will arrive at a different station.

A true healer holds more of an investment in wellness than illness. He or she rejoices in gettingyou out of therapy rather than keeping you in it. Some in the healing professions depend on

Mind Body Alan Cohen

.OUR MOTTOPure physicalityPure movement of

awareness

within the body

within the brain

within the neurons.

no influence

religious or dogmatic

psychological or spiritualno preformed opinion of

these

no guidance

no conclusion

intense questioning

intense effort

intense need to find

till one is very near to

to cross the borders

till one is very near to the

pure intelligence within

till one is very near to have

an INSIGHT!!!-The True Self


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continued visits from their patients, so they may unconsciously influence the patient to stay ill forthe doctors or therapists own purposes. While it is rare that a healing professional wouldconsciously or purposely keep a patient longer than he or she needs to stay, many do sowithout recognizing the underlying dynamic.

Years ago a woman at a seminar reported that she had been doing primal scream therapy forseven years. Finally she felt healthy enough to tell her therapist she was ready to leave therapy.To her surprise, the therapist told her, You cant leave now youre just getting started.

Inferior healers will tell you that you will never get well. Better healers will tell you that you canor will get better over time. True healers will tell you that the healing you seek is available to younow. What a healer tells you is a reflection of the beliefs and expectations you hold. Changeyour attitude and you will change your prognosis. Who is the real doctor? The mind ofthepatient.

Examine your beliefs about how long you think healing should take. How long have you beenputting up with pain or a situation that is not working? How long have you not had use of a partof your life that you would rather enjoy? What do you think needs to happen before you can feelgood? If you answer with any factor outside yourself, you only delay your release. Answer with

My thoughts create my life and you are very close to the health you seek and deserve.

Simply love yourself, forgive yourself and life, and know that the universe wants for you whatyou want for yourself. As much as you desire well-being for your child or the people you love,thats how much life wants well-being for you even more. What you have done or what hasbeen matters not. What you think and do today matters very much. The now moment is yourpoint of power.

In the Talmud, a wise rabbi posed three questions we should all ask ourselves constantly:

If I am not for myself, who will be for me?

If I am only for myself, what good am I?

If not now, when?

Alan Cohen is author of many popular inspirational books, including best-selling, The Dragon Doesnt Live HereAnymore and Mr. Everits Secret: What I Learned from the Worlds Richest Man. Alan will be offering a six-monthpersonal mentorship program. For information on this program or to receive Alans daily inspirational quote andmonthly newsletter, visitwww.alancohen.com,[email protected] , or write P.O. Box 835, Haiku, HI96708.Editor.

"Each religion has helped mankind. Paganism increased in man the light of beauty,

the largeness and height of his life, his aim at a many-sided perfection; Christianity

gave him some vision of divine love and charity; Buddhism has shown him a noble

way to be wiser, gentler, purer; Judaism and Islam how to be religiously faithful in

action and zealously devoted to God; Hinduism has opened to him the largest and

profoundest spiritual possibilities. A great thing would be done if these God-visions

could embrace and cast themselves into each other; but intellectual dogma and

cult-egoism stand in the way." -Sri Aurobindo
http://www.alancohen.com/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.alancohen.com/


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You Can Be a Light Unto Yourself...

To be aware is to watch your bodily activity,the way you walk,the way you sit, the movements

of your hands:it is to hear the words you use,to observe all your thoughts,all your emotions, all your reactions.It includes awareness of the unconscious,with its traditions, its instinctual knowledge,and the immense sorrow it has accumulatednot only personal sorrow,but the sorrow of man.

You have to be aware of all that;and you cannot be aware of it if you aremerely judging, evaluating, saying,

"This is good and that is bad, this I will keepand that I will reject,"all of which only makes the mind dull, insensitive.

From awareness comes attention.Attention flows from awareness whenin that awareness there is no choice,no personal choosing, no experiencing...but merely observing.And, to observe, you must have in the mind agreat deal of space.A mind that is caught in ambition, greed, envy,

in the pursuit of pleasure and self-fulfillment,with its inevitable sorrow, pain, despair,anguishsuch a mind has no space in whichtoobserve, to attend. It is crowded with its owndesires, going round and round in its own backwaters of reaction. You cannotattend ifyour mind is not highly sensitive, sharp, reasonable, logical, sane, healthy,without the slightest shadow of neuroticism.The mind has to explore every corner of itself,leaving no spot uncovered, because if there isa single dark corner of one's mind which one

is afraid to explore, from that springs illusion...

It is only in the state of attention that you can be a light unto yourself, and thenevery action of your daily life springs from that lightevery actionwhether youare doing your job, cooking, going for a walk, mending clothes, or what you will.

This whole process is meditation... J. Krishnamurti

Last page J. Krishnamurti

FOR CIRCULATION AMONG FRIENDS ONLY

Publi shed in publ ic interest byPrakriti-a natural healing centreBULLETIN EDITOR- Dr. Swaran J. e-mailomcawr_sj@ yahoo.co.in


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