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The physical body is the body that we know, which eats, moves etc in the waking state. The mental body is that we use when we dream. We might be lying in our house in the U.S.A however our mind may be in some other country. That time we are employing our mental body. We also use our mental body in the waking state as our faculty of thinking is going on continuously in the waking state. The causal body is that we use when we are in deep restful dreamless sleep. During the entire sleeping cycle there are phases when the mind becomes dormant and there are no thoughts. This is the time when we experience the causal body.
These three bodies are not separate as we may think. They are tightly coupled. Consider two curved lines drawn on a piece of paper in such a way that they intersect at seven different points. If one of the lines represent the physical body, the other line represents the subtle body and the paper represents the causal body, the
THE NITHYA YOGA PRACTICE
Part Three - CHAKRA AWARENESS:
seven points at which the physical body and the subtle body meet the causal body are the locations of the seven energy centers. These seven energy centers are present at the intersection of the physical, subtle and the causal body. They exist at a metaphysical plane. Some recent research in aura photography has been able to even photograph these energy centers.
These seven energy centers are associated to particular emotions in our Being. These emotions are a result of the engraved memories or samskaras which we have accumulated in the past. These samskaras block the particular energy center causing physical and mental disturbances. The samskaras are present in our being because of the absence of awareness.
When we flood awareness on these energy centers, the energy center starts becoming unblocked from negative emotions and then we start emitting positive emotions like love and compassion. Most of our diseases are psychosomatic. They have their roots in the mind. What we see is just the effect and so we never really understand this mind-body connection. When a particular energy center gets blocked, the part of the body near that energy center gets affected. We can see when we worry too much our stomach gets upset. It is important to keep the energy centers cleansed to promote mental health.
All of these emotions like fantasies, imaginations, fear, worry, attention need, jealousy, ego and discontentment have negative existence. If there is some object in the room and you are asked to take the object out of the room, you can pick up the object and take it out. In this case, the object has positive existence. However, let us say that there is a dark room and you are asked to take the darkness out of room. You cannot really take out the darkness because darkness has negative existence and therefore cannot be taken out. If we turn on a light however, the darkness will be removed automatically. All of these emotions have negative existence just like the darkness in the room and we cannot really take them out. What we have to do is bring in the light of awareness in our being and the negative emotions will disappear automatically.
Once Buddha tied a knot and asked one of his disciples to untie the knot. The disciple tried to pull the knot hard making the knot tighter. Then Buddha asked another disciple to untie the knot. This disciple first looked at the knot carefully. Then he slowly untied the knot. Buddha then explained that if you have to untie the knot of ignorance in your Being, you first have to learn to look carefully. You have to flood your Being with awareness and the negativity will be instantaneously obliterated.
In this step we will put our complete awareness on each energy center starting from the muladhara chakra to the sahasrara chakra. This way, step by step we move upwards, reaching the crown center. We should become the energy center when we are asked to put awareness on the energy center. We should feel the energy center completely
Just be un-clutched for the next seven minutes.
The mind is nothing but a collection of thoughts. One thought after the other coming in succession. By our very nature our thoughts are unconnected. They are like bubbles in a fish tank. The bubbles in the fish tank are not connected, they are distinctly separate. But they just appear to be connected. In a similar manner our thoughts are not connected though they appear to be connected.
You can try this small exercise. Sit for ten minutes silently and simply start recording your thoughts. Write down all your thoughts as and when they come. Don't try to control or stop thinking. Just be silent and witness the thoughts coming. The moment a thought comes quickly write it down on paper. Do this for ten minutes. At the end of ten minutes read out whatever is written. You will see that it's a mad man's diary. There is utter chaos. There is no connection between the previous thought and the next thought. All the thoughts are un-clutched and unconnected. Only when you write down your thoughts you come to know that the thoughts have no real connection. You may be thinking about having a cup of coffee and the next moment you may think about some office work, which is pending. There is no real connection between having a cup of tea and the office work. Both are independent events. Even if there are two consecutive thoughts about the same event the thoughts are unconnected as there is no continuity. There is always a gap between these thoughts.
There is a time of silence between the thoughts. The thoughts by their very nature are un-clutched. The problem happens when we connect these thoughts. We connect these unconnected thoughts and suffer. For example; we might have eaten ice cream ten years ago, we might have eaten ice cream seven years ago, we might have eaten ice cream two years ago and we might have eaten ice cream yesterday. All these experiences might have been very pleasurable for us. We might have enjoyed
THE NITHYA YOGA PRACTICE 77
Part Four - 'BE UN-CLUTCHED'
the ice cream each time we ate. The trouble is that we connect these experiences and create an imaginary shaft or an understanding that eating ice cream makes us happy. So we try to repeat this experience in the future. We always connect similar thoughts and create a shaft. It might be our experience that sometimes we don't enjoy the ice cream as much as we enjoyed it some days ago or a year ago. Even if we don't enjoy the ice cream we will make ourselves believe that we like the ice cream. Because we have got into the habit of connecting the thoughts; we unconsciously start accepting that we enjoy ice cream.
Similar is the case with painful experiences. The pain which we experienced ten years ago, the pain which we experienced seven years ago, the pain which we experienced three years ago and the pain which we experienced yesterday are independent events. There is no connection between these events. But we create an imaginary shaft and start thinking that our life is a pain. If we have had many pleasurable experiences in our life we say that our life is a pleasure. But actually neither of it is true. Our life is neither pleasure nor pain because the very process of connecting these events is a mistake. The idea that the thoughts are connected is a misconception. And that too we don't connect all the thoughts. We connect only those thoughts that we remember and create the shaft. Just as from a bunch of flowers we pick up few flowers and create a garland, from millions of thoughts we have, we connect few thoughts that we remember and create a shaft. Creation of the shaft is the original sin.
When we create the shaft we suffer. If we have created a shaft of pleasure then we try to extend the shaft because we want to experience the same pleasure again. If we have created a shaft of pain, we try to break the shaft because we want to avoid the pain. We can neither extend the shaft nor break the shaft because the shaft does not exist. The shaft itself is a myth. The creation of the shaft has become one more shaft for you.
All your experiences are independent experiences. The moment we connect these experiences, we have created hell for ourselves. We have created suffering. Now we can understand why suffering is also imaginary. It is based on something imaginary. It is based on something unreal. It's just an appearance. The shaft is unreal; it does not exist. The suffering that is created due to the shaft is also unreal. Once we realize this we are liberated.
Because our thoughts are so powerful, they have the capacity to clutch with other thoughts and create an imaginary shaft. The process of creating the imaginary shaft is the function of the ego. Ego is nothing separate from the thoughts. Instead it's characteristic of the thoughts to create a shaft. So really speaking the ego does not exist because the shaft does not exist. The shaft is imaginary. Ego is just a name we give to this process of creating a shaft. A sense of continuity is created because of this shaft. This gives us the illusion of the ego.
Right now, all of our thoughts clutch because we think that we have an ego. All of our thoughts by their very nature are independent so the idea of the ego is also imaginary as there cannot be anything connecting these thoughts. So by our very nature we are un-clutched. We are enlightened and just we have to realize it.
Once a disciple goes to a Zen master and asks him 'how can I become Buddha?' The master gives him a tight slap on his face and says that you are already a Buddha. If Buddha comes and asks you that how should he become Buddha what would be your reaction? Same is the reaction of the Zen master. We are un-clutched by our very nature however, this just needs to be understood.
A person based on one's destiny experiences pleasure and pain. We don't have a choice. We cannot choose either pleasure or pain. But we have the choice of not connecting these experiences and creating imaginary shafts. We are attached to a person or a thing because we create shafts. The relationship, which you experienced three years ago, the relationship, which you experienced a year ago and the relationship which you are experiencing now are independent events. The moment we connect these events, we are trying to extend or break the shaft. If the relationship is a pleasurable relationship, we expect the relationship to be pleasurable even in the future. If the relationship is a painful relationship we try to break the relationship or we create an idea that the relationship is not good for us. What we don't realize is that at each instant we are experiencing a new relationship. Because at each instant two new people are associating as by our very nature we are unclutched. The real problem is not caused because of pleasure or pain. The real problem is caused due to our incorrect understanding of both and eventually the creation of imaginary shafts. In the case of a sage, if there is pleasure he will enjoy the pleasure and forget it. If there is pain, he will suffer the pain and forget it. He does not carry these experiences in horizontal time. The moment we carry an experience in horizontal time we suffer.
We can experience life living in this world and still be centered in peace and harmony. There is no need to renounce anything external. The smaller self has to be renounced. Once we stop creating these shafts, we will realize that the identity, which we were trying to hold on to, was the very reason for suffering.
The moment we drop that identity, we enter into bliss, then the outer incidents won't affect us because we have given up the habit of connecting these incidents. Every incident is a new incident for us and we start seeing life in a much more beautiful way. Everything seems joyful and blissful. We stop taking things for granted.
Once we start accepting life from moment to moment, bliss happens to us naturally. External circumstances can impact us only if you allow them to. Nobody can disturb us without our silent permission. People complain that we may live our life in the moment but if others around don't, they will exploit us. We should be very clear that nobody can exploit us or disturb us without our silent permission. Once we understand that we are un-clutched, bliss naturally follows.
Sankara says in Nirvanashatkam 'sadā me samatvam na muktir na bandhah, cidānanda rūpa śivoham śivoham', 'I am neither in bondage nor liberated, I am always in the state of equilibrium. I am of the nature of pure auspiciousness, the energy of Shiva.' Both bondage and liberation are concepts created by the mind. Liberation exists as long as there is bondage however, if there is no bondage, liberation will also loose its meaning. That is what Sanakara is referring to. If we are trying to go inward or outward, as long as we are going somewhere we are missing the truth. The very process of traveling or going takes us away from the truth. Truth is here and now and there is no need to go anywhere and no need to travel anywhere. Again, the very process of traveling shows that we have created a shaft. We are seeing some progress. There cannot be any progress, because there is nobody who is progressing. The individual is dying at every instant. Then who will progress?
When we are un-clutched, automatically we will explode in 360°. Then the question of being material or being spiritual won't arise. Sankara says that he is neither in bondage nor liberated. He has gone beyond both and both are just concepts. Our self can never be improved. Some people work on self development. What self will you develop? Is there a self to be developed in the first place? A sequence of un-clutched thoughts is all that we are. If we try to develop the self all you would end up doing is to create a shaft of the idea that my self is developed. It will give you a good feeling. There might be one thought that thinks that the self is developed. But it's merely a feel good feeling. Really speaking the self cannot be developed, the imaginary self can only be eliminated. As long as we are trying to develop the self, we are creating a shaft.
As long as the mind is present the identification with the unreal continues. Sankara says that 'Brahma satya jagat mithyā, jīvo brahmaiva na aparah' which means that 'Brahman is real, the world is unreal and the individual soul is non-different from Brahman.' What he means here is that only when the mind ceases to exist, the Brahman shines forth. The reality shines in its own glory. As long as there is mind, there are thoughts. Thoughts always hover in the past or the future. There can never be a thought about the present. In the present there can only be consciousness. So as long as thoughts are present we will continue to create shafts. We will connect these thoughts and create imaginary shafts of either pleasure or pain.
The moment a shaft is created there is identification with the unreal. The reason is that we connect these unconnected thoughts. The very process of connecting thoughts is reason for misery in this samsāra sagara (world). Because we connect thoughts, the imaginary identity (which Sankara calls as Jiva) comes into existence. When the Jiva appears the world of mithyā (made of unreal) appears. When we un-clutch automatically the false identity disappears and the Brahman consciousness is revealed.
We have two types of identities. One is the identity that we show to the outer world and other is the identity that we show to the inner world. The identity that we show to the outer world is called ahankar. The identity, which we show to the inner world, is called as mamakar. Both of these identities are in constant conflict with each other. For e.g. outwardly we may project that we are such and such person but inwardly we know that we are lacking in someway or the other. There is always a discrepancy between these two identities. The identity, which we project to the outer world, is always more than what we actually are. A person always tries to prove superior in front of others. Identity, which we project to ourselves, is always less than what we actually are. You might have observed that we are never satisfied with our own selves. Constantly we are trying to improve ourselves in some way or the other. Either we are dissatisfied spiritually or we are dissatisfied materially.
This inner identity that we carry always lacks something and the outer identity that we carry always exceeds the normal. Hence both these identities are always in conflict. That is the reason we have to be very careful when we talk because we rarely talk what we think. If we start directly reproducing our thoughts into words people around us will start running away from us.
Ramakrishna used to say that bringing your thoughts and words together is true spirituality. That will happen when we go beyond these two identities. Both of these identities are false identities. These identities are a result of the shaft we create. They don't exist in reality. As long as we are associating with these identities we are caught up in samsara. Once we go beyond these two identities, we become enlightened. All the time we are creating, sustaining and destroying thoughts. The process of creation (Brahma), sustenance (Vishnu) and destruction (Mahesh) is constantly going on. When we stop creating, sustaining and destroying, we go
In the final step, we just sit silently with a blissful mood and listen to the mantra chanting. We should just feel connected to existence and feel the vibrations of the powerful mantra within our being.
The mantra are a way to express gratitude to existence or the Master for endowing upon us this great wisdom, which liberates us from ignorance and helps us attain the state of eternal bliss, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM.
If you are interested in rituals, you can also perform the guru pooja (offering gratitude to the Master) in this step by yourself reciting the mantra and performing the ritual.
If you are not interested in rituals, you can just be silent and listen to the mantra. Even by just listening to the mantra it would do you immense good. Mantra carry vibrations, which can transform your Being to make it more pure and blissful.