Day 30-5: Triguna Sahitam - Beyond the Three Gunas

The other evening Mandeep treated me to a lovely vegan sandwhich from a favorite DC restaurant Java Green. It included seitan in the taste of chicken. Seitan is a wheat gluten- based food. Well, I ate it & half way through had the thought “hmm…I think this is going to backfire in the long run. Well, let’s see what happens. And, I’ll be extra dillegent about just noticing whatever feelings/experiences arise out of this meal and not associating those feelings with thoughts or people or situations.”

Well, sure enough I awoke the next morning feeling heavy & dull. Ugh. Even after my morning sadhana – yoga, chanting, pranayama, Sudarshan Kriya, meditation – I still felt heavy and dull. After lunch, I took a nap which I haven’t done in months. There it was the Wheat-gluten dull drums.  This could be described as Tamasic in the body. And, rest assured, I was Tamasic in the mind.

“I think I’ll quit my work on this project…I don’t have the energy for that ….”

Halt!

That’s a Tamasic thought. Acting on it would be identifying with the passing experience of Tamasic.

“Ugggh,” says my mind, “I don’t have any friends…I think I will…”

Halt!

That’s another Tamasic thought. Drop it!

“My near & dear ones are not so…”

Halt!

That, too, is a Tamasi thought.

You see how it goes, yes?

Had the food been Rajasic I might have been in…

“I can’t sit still in this house any more! Let’s go! Let’s go!”

Saatvic thoughts & body?

More like this: “Hmmm…what a wonder! My mind is calm and focused. I will sit and do my work and later go about my next chore…”

What we eat greatly influences the three gunas of Tamas, Rajas, and Saatva. Also, who we hang around with and where we hang out, as well as other factors.

Do what you need to do. And remember – these three gunas are always always always changing. Don’t get stuck identifying with any one of them – there in lies the pitfall. “Oh, I’m such a dull person.” “Oh, I’m an angry person.” Not so! Those are passing clouds. They want to pass by. Don’t hang on to them. They are just clouds passing by your center which, like the sun, is bright, vibrant, shining love on all, loving! If you say “deep down I’m a depressed person” or “an injured one,” well, keep digging because you haven’t gotten to your true center. Those are all just on the periphery. 

Every human being is pure love. Just go a little deeper. How? Meditate! Observe! Let go!

Here it is… Jai Gurudev! Victory to the Big Mind.

New York ART Excel (All Round Training in Excellence) Programme - La Cas...

Here it is! Breathing & Meditation for 8-14 year olds. Yay!

Look at the Future!
This is from the Art of Living Website - Meditation

Day 30-4: An End to Violence

Is it possible to end violence in the world? I ask this question seriously and contemplate it every so often. Is it possible?

I used to say, “no.”

Now, I’m finding “yes.”

1.     Violence comes from stress and mis-education. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (Guruji!) gives the example of a terrorist who happened to take an Art of Living Course while in prison in 2001 and discovered that there is heaven on Earth as he dropped his stress through the learning of breathing techniques (pranayama) & meditation & Sudarshan Kriya (the rhythmic breathing technique that is – miraculous! For relieving stress).

The terrorist had been promised heaven only in the afterlife and so with finding heaven now while alive, he announced the end of his terrorist activities and began a life of service to all of humanity – not just his “own” people.

All violence comes from stress in our system. Even if it’s yelling in our car at another driver (who can’t even here us). Or kicking the cabinet when we trip over something on the floor. If we are relaxed, calm and cool, we don’t react with such extreme bursts of anger and aggression.

2.     Violence comes from the glorification of aggression in society. When Sri Sri was a child Mahtma Ghandi was revered for his nonviolence. He says that in school children who lost their temper weren’t thought highly of by the other students. Today, anger and aggression has been linked with prestige. Can you imagine when the time will again arise that a child exhibits centeredness and calm in the face of ridicule or an experience of disappointment, etc.? And other children revere that child.

3.     Violence against women arises because of the identification with the body. If you think you are just the body, then you are addicted to the whims of the body. But we are much subtler than this body. Beyond the body we are the breath and my breath is your breath is the world’s breath. It flows in and out of one being to the next.

And beyond breath even subtler is the mind, intellect, memory and then the ego. And beyond the ego at the most subtle level is the Spirit, the Self. When we experience ourselves at this subtle level – through meditation, Sudarshan Kriya, - then we drop our obsession with the body.

I am inspired by my understanding to reach children and teach them meditation and yogic breathing (pranayama) and their version of the Sudarshan Kriya so that they can manage their anger, anxiety, fears, etc. And so they know themselves on these subtle levels from an early, early age. Oh, what a world this will be!

Awwww, shucks. Here I go again… Jai Gurudev! Victory to Our One World Big Mind! 

Day 30-3: I’m just waiting on a friend

7:28pm – I’m meditating while Chetana is falling off to sleep in the other room. And, her falling to sleep most often involves some noises – I think of them as her end-of-the-day Bursts of Energy! to shout out so she can sleep. Well, it would probably be best to wait for her to be asleep so I can relax and let go into the meditation. However, I’m not doing that today.

Wisdom?

Here it is: I allow myself to just be completely in the moment – not awaiting the next little burst of sound from Chetana (which, in fact, may or may not come). And, I drop the thoughts of calculating her total possible sleep as a result of the “delayed” bedtime. And I just sit in the moment. I’m not waiting for anything. I am just here. I notice my eyes relax  - although I had not noticed they were tense. My jaw is next. And I slip off into my meditation…and, at some point I realize, Chetana is quiet, too.

I look to bring this skill to the times I find myself waiting – which is so much a part of our life, isn’t it? Practicing the art of a calm mind that just “is” while the body waits.

Here it is… Jai Gurudev! Victory to the Big Playful & Wise Mind.

Day 30-2: Can’t move towards the Self if you are blaming your Self

Listening just now to Guruji’s talk “Conversation with the Master” in which he says that blaming ourselves is one of the biggest hindrance to progressing on the spiritual path. How can you move towards the self, – which is the definition of spirituality - if you are blaming your self?

He guides us to strike a balance. Recognize our qualities that are negative, but don’t get stuck in blaming ourselves. And don’t go to the other extreme and just ignore these qualities. Strike a balance.

Checking in:

What negative qualities do I have?

Let’s stare with one:

-       Getting stuck in “how things should be” and blaming others if they don’t go “as planned”

Let’s see about switching that into balance …

Day 30 – 1: Four Types of People in the World

You know, with the “small mind” (the one that says – “I don’t like this” & “I do like that” & all the rest of it) it isn’t always easy to feel the oneness with everyone.

And Patanjali – the Daddy of Yoga, who wrote the Yoga Sutras wherein lie the “how to’s” of yoga – well, he knew it. For the beginner, seeing everyone & everything as part of you, isn’t easy. The “like” and “dislike” is strong in the mind.

So, Patanjali offers some advice for us. (So lovely.)

In Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s commentary on Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras he explains:

Patanjali says there are only 4 types of people in the world & he tells us how to deal with them:

4 Types of People in the World	What to do
1. Happy People	Be friends with them. This will eliminate jealousy. Just as we’re happy when a loved one is happy, so it is if you are friendly with those who are happy.
2. Unhappy People	Don’t be friendly with them, but be compassionate towards them. If you are friendly with them, what happens? You become unhappy, isn’t it.
3. People who do good things	Feel happy with them. Feel you are one with them. Feel that you are doing the act with them. Competition will not come up and the tendency to criticize those doing good work will not arise.
4. People who do not-so-good things	Ignore & educate. Ignore them in your mind. If someone says something which is not true, just ignore them. It’s not worth thinking about. (Usually, though we do the opposite. We tell everyone. We chew on it in the mind.)

Day 25: Well, it happened – Start Over!

Well, indeed, I didn’t post anything yesterday and I committed to 30 Days, one post per day. For my integrity and commitment to myself, I will now start again from Day 1 and continue non-stop for 30 days. That’s being friends with myself! It’s not a failure or a punishment. It’s just a game and this is the rule of the game as I set it to be. So, Day 1 is tomorrow! 

Day 24: The Weeks in Review – Manana – Game Time!

Manana – chewing on the knowledge that has bubbled up. Going back again & again & again. The mind is always bombarded by emotions & thoughts. And again & again finding our center using the wisdom and knowledge that bubbles up in life.

Consciously stopping to look at life to see the lessons that are there to learn - the process of life. Like the artist who is always discovering new ways to express or the musician who is always training their voice to new skills, like that we study our lives and keep learning and going deeper.

The emotions and thoughts will still arise, but will they stick? Will they float by? Will they throw us off center? Yes and No. That is the game. Again and Again and Again…going back to the study of life. And the joy! It is a game, after all.

Day 23: Friends / Family, Day 7 – It is what it is.

11:02 AM – Birthday card hand delivered to our neighbor in celebration of her 80^th Birthday~

8:21 PM – over dinner my mom & I recall my childhood friends.

Wisdom:

It’s easy to say “Oh, I’m this way because such & such happened to me when…” or “I’m like this because I did [you name it] as a kid…”  That’s really a useless game – 1. Of sifting through the past to see what caused what --- useless; 2. Of saying “oh, it happened to me…I am the victim…I am like this because…” ---- useless.

Whatever happened has happened. Over done. Kaput. And, in blaming something/someone, etc., we are putting ourselves at the “mercy” of the situation. We are weakened. Taking responsibility is power. This is what is. And this is what I do now. And that’s just how it is.  So much power is available to us when we are just with whatever “is.” Then we can act with clarity. We’re not reacting or looking for others to solve our problems.  Off we go…into the wild blue yonder!