An Exercise to bypass it all. The short–cut!

We are now onto our final exercise.

Not about the Wheel of Change, or the Wheel of No-Change. In short it’s the:

Wheel of Suffering!

We will draw a circle, and on the outside we will put some words to describe briefly some variety of life experiences that we have. I have chosen a few words, but you can choose your own words and based on what you assess as the main components of your life experience.

At the centre of this wheel is written.

Witness.

(As in – “I am the witness of all experience”)

This is the final wheel, and the final exercise, because it’s where we sit, if we are Self-Realised. We understand that the world goes on around us, but we are at our core a rock-steady presence in the unity of the True Self.

There is an individual self, or soul There’s also a oneness with the Cosmic Self because the underlying “substance” that we are is Consciousness.

This is where we stand and accept life with equanimity, poise, calmness and serenity.

There is no change, because there is no chance of change at the centre in regard to the essence of consciousness, which is Existence Knowledge, Bliss.

However, around us is this business of the circus – Maya, which is the comings and goings of Life and the Universe.

You can describe it anyway you like, but the essence of it is ignorance of True Self – due to the egos dictatorships We are “a loser” in this struggle although the ego will say we are the winners. It’s an inability to achieve stability in the spirit/souls right to dominance, as the human mind/body is allowed to be in charge. It is important to recognize this. If you don’t recognise it as such you don’t begin the Journey to Self-Relisation. You don’t escape the egos clutches and you are doomed to subservience. In the Wheel of Suffering, you will not go then to the centre.

This wheel of suffering also incorporates the wheel of the “opposite of suffering”, which is the very nature of Self-Realisation, established at the centre.

How though will you stay in the centre? (If you get there). What will you do to make it so, at any time or under any circumstance? This will take practice to do and we will not be picking or choosing our preferred lifestyle to make it so. “I’ll have this bit of life. I won’t have that bit”. We will be distinctly in our own Special Place, no matter what place we are in on earth.

I have a given one method as an option, but there are many religions, spiritual pathways and gurus/teachers out there. Something else may be your preference and choice. My method is as per my previous book: Om Divine Grace Yoga. Here though I have tried to present different options and perspectives with a therapeutic slant, and have sought to avoid traditional terminology too much, (Such as “the spiritual journey”). However there are some spiritual techniques and practices based on ancient Buddhist and Hindu teaching regarding their perspectives of the psychological and mental awareness aspects of yoga. This is where the word yoga means “to unite”, and it’s not the physical practice of doing postures. Here a mental and philosophical posture, or psychological posture, is enumerated as far as theses Therapeutic Journeys are concerned.

However, this may not be your cup of tea to use eastern philosophies and spiritual practices. You can do this, just as well with whatever your religion and spiritual practice is providing. You can still have a firm centre where you stay in your sanity.

I don’t have an entirely new message for you, in this book as I haven’t expounded on other methods in my previous books, simply because I was a monk, so many years in India. That’s what I learnt and that’s what I’ve been doing for the last 50 years or more.

At the same time I’m not saying my messages are better, more helpful or more superior to any other method any other journey that you want to undertake.

I’m simply offering an option, and if it’s not something you want to do, then maybe you might find just reading this material to be of some interest. Even entertaining possibly, and that’s fine. I produce my art and here it is, and that’s what my writing is – a spot of my artistic creativity.

However, I will mention again the benefit of having a mantra and repeating it, and that is the core anchor to hang onto when the sea is rough.

The qualities of nature

In our exercise we have written: Happy, Sad, Hurting, Bored, Tired.

There are three qualities of nature to be aware of here.

If you are into healthy activities, healthy diet, and engaging in spiritual practice, our nature has some “purity”. This is in Sattva – “pure”.

If we are in engaged in the world of pleasure seeking, or engaging in life for material benefit mainly we are Rajasic – self-seeking.

If we are living in darkness, and addictions, we are Tamasik. – living in the dark nature.

Therefore there are three qualities of nature, and three types of food, and three types of activities, and so on.

Have a guess which quality you are sitting in predominately!

In pure mode, meditation is spontaneous and does not necessarily involve sitting in a quiet room. However it becomes also natural to enjoy contact with spiritually minded people, who also meditate, or have some devotional philosophy. Although the Realized person doesn’t feel the need to journey to anywhere on this plane or even to follow any rules, that spiritual practice usually mandates “living sanity”. Nevertheless the qualities of nature still exist, until final Eternal Transcendence. If we are in pure mode we cope with life in equipoise. In this mode though, we may not even be seeking self-realization or engaged spiritually, as we maybe are just happy and satisfied enough, if we are lucky to have this personality type. (Or more likely, have great Karma)!

When we are in this mode we like activities with health giving outcomes, both mental and physical. This means also we eat simple healthy food and avoid stimulating food (Remember the pleasure seeking” business)! Think coffee here! Alcohol is here, but alcoholic drinking is Tamasic and of a dark nature, when it becomes destructive. Going down dark roads and you’re sick of it all? It means you’re in Tamasic mode!

From a realized souls perspective the qualities of nature act at all times, but the soul/self is the witness of those activities. So from that perspective technically we can be Enlightened, and yet behave in the mode of any of the Gunas. Or “qualities of nature”. E.g., “the drunken master”, as described in some Tibetan texts. (It’s theoretical)!

Rajasic persons like the pleasures of life: good food and wine, with “life in the fast lane” a popular goal. Then consequently we suffer physical problems from the minor, to severe, such as heart problems, money loss, addictions, and depression/anxiety. We are high sometimes and depressed sometimes. We can rage and rant, fueled by desire, and aim for own personal gain, although this is then leaning more to the dark side. The Tamasic road is dark, and we may be deeply into addiction, but now at a painful level. Violent, stupid or destructive, become descriptor words.

Life and the Universe is Maya in its illusory and transient presentation to our life experience.

There are other ways of seeing this, by entering the state of Enlightenment or Realisation.

Maya is then no longer an obstacle on the special pathway, our Sacred Journey.

Then we are: The Witness to the Gunas. We are then unaffected as we have transcended all.

Next is:

What is “activity transcending meditation”?