Worn-out garments

Are shed by the body:

Worn-out bodies

Are shed by the dweller

Within the body.

New bodies are donned

By the dweller, like garments.

Not wounded by weapons,

Not burned by fire,

Not dried by the wind,

Not wetted by water:

such is the Atman.

Not dried, not wetted,

Not burned, not wounded,

Innermost element, Everywhere, always,

Being of beings,

Changeless, eternal,

For ever and ever.

–bhagavad gita 2:22-24

from The BHAGAVAD GITA:

The Song Of God,

translated by Swami Prabhavananda and Christopher Isherwood.

Vedanta Press.

Sylvia Boorstein, an esteemed teacher of Theravada Buddhism, once led me into a meditation exercise where I was asked to notice every thought and to label it as painful, pleasurable, or neutral.

Easier said than done.

First, ‘notice your thoughts’. Anyone who has practiced meditation in any of its forms immediately comes face to face with the difficulty in this seemingly simple task. I have been practicing yoga & meditation since the mid 70’s so some of those initial obstacles to the task have become somewhat easier.

Putting these thoughts into three simple categories was also not quite as simple as it seems. The first thing I discovered was that I had to ‘think’ about it. Many of my thoughts seemed to span across all three categories and could fit into any one of them depending on the time of day, time of year, or present day circumstances of my life. Consider the thought, “I am hungry”. If that thought is accompanied by strong, uncomfortable sensations in my belly the thought might be quite painful. If the thought is occuring just as I drive by a wonderful restaurant, the thought would fit in the pleasure column. And, if the thought occurs in the middle of a yoga asana, neutral would be the proper categorization.

The purpose of this exercise is to bring further into the light of consciousness how our desire nature governs our minds and actions. The same thing applies to that part of ourselves that resists pain. Neutrality, the middle path, brings us closer to separating reality from illusion. Nearly all thoughts that fall into the pain/pleasure column take us away from the present moment into either the past or the future. When we are thinking about past/future our mind becomes disengaged from our body. The body is always here, now. The mind is the time traveler and when it’s not here, now, is when suffering occurs. (according to G. Buddah)

The yogi’s have their own way of teaching these same truths. The Klesha’s represent the obstacles to enlightenment and mirror the same obstacles set forth by the Buddhists. Essentially it all comes down to greed, aversion & delusion.

Whew…………..heady thoughts for a quiet Sunday morning. I just finished reading Breakfast with Buddah. A good read.

According to Patanjali, there are quite a few obstacles towards reaching the promised nirvana of yoga. Sickness, apathy, doubt, heedlessness, sloth, (i love that one), dissipation, false vision, nonattainment, and instability.
The Buddhists speak of the three poisons…greed, aversion, and delusion.

Regardless of who you choose to listen to, the message is similar. Our human condition of wanting, worrying, and wondering clearly distracts us from the bliss of a higher consciousness.

What to do?

Just keep practicing.

So, the last time we discussed Eris we were talking about strife, discord, and chaos; looking for where in our lives those circumstances are showing up.

For me, Eris lands smack in the center of my tenth house which is also populated by an Aries North Node.

Eris in the tenth seems to be showing up by placing me in circumstances where I must ‘publicly’ assert myself in ways that are habitually uncomfortable. Yeeeeps!Whatdyethinkthatmeans????

Today was March 31, 2007 and I can honestly say that there’s an awful lot of ’strife’ in the world. My observations lead me to believe that the root cause is not Eris, or any other thing that is ‘outside’ of ourselves. Heal the strife within….. Eris lives in my tenth house.

April 9, 2007……thought I’d check in with Eris, the goddess of strife, discord, and struggles. Philip Sedgewick gives the astronomical position of Eris as 20AR46 as of April 2. When you have an orbiting planet/asteroid as far away as Eris is it helps to have some kind of reference/resource to help us understand. The Sabien Symbol for 21AR is ” A Pugilist Enters The Ring”. (I am refering to Dane Rudyhar’s book titled The Astrological Mandala) When Eris reaches 22AR, the forecast lightens up tremendously…..we then get to experience “the gate to the garden of all fulfilled desires.” Wow! Sounds special, doesn’t it? Let’s check back in and see when it’ll reach the twenty-second degree of Aries? …..April 30, 2007……enjoy it while it lasts because in Oct it develops retrograde motion and returns to the stance of the pugilist.

Webster defines the pugilist as: ___________________ (Fill in the blank)

Time passes slowly sometimes. Now it’s May 30, 2007 and Eris hasn’t budged. Continuing strife, discord and chaos……. and I can see the light, too.

Moving thru this kind of Eris energy for decades without end can be really, really, stressful.

May all beings be peaceful.

om

………………dharma and karma and how that plays out in my life. The last time I pondered this polarity was here, in Arjuna’s tale in the Bhagavad Gita. Destiny, fate, call it what you will. We have ALL recognized the appearance of such events in our lives. Some of us recognize these synchronicities in their personal lives, and neglect to see same in their public lives. Others vice versa. Are you thoroughly confused now? You might be……..that’s the nature of polarities ( and dualities, too). It’s enought to make your head spin! Then you throw into the mix all the air sign people( Gemini, Libra, Aquarius) with whom duality & polarity are a daily/minute-to- minute struggle/agony they live with. Whew………………enough all ready. The futility of pondering duality is immeasurable.
Time to sit.

In the beginning there was no existence.
Existence appeared and grew.
It became an egg.
The egg broke open.

One if its halves was of silver, the other gold.
The silver half became this earth.
The golden half became the sky.
The membrane surrounding the white of the egg became the mountains.
The membrane surrounding the yolk became mist and clouds.
The blood vessels rivers.
The white became the sea.
And the yolk was the sun.

Indian Upanishad

About 6 years ago I had the great good fortune to meet Sylvia Boorstein, a meditation teacher from the Theravada tradition of Buddhism. I loved her at first sight. She was the epitome of The GrandMother archetype for me. Round, jolly, sparkling, and chock full of the kind of everyday wisdom that only comes from deep study and years of personal practice. I assisted her with her 5-day program at Kripalu Center and became enamoured of Metta Meditation as a spiritual practice. Every summer for the following four years I returned to Kripalu to assist, practice and learn from Sylvia all about metta and the practice of lovingkindness.

Metta Meditation is a practice that was given to the Buddah’s students whereby particular phrases are repeated over and over, as in a mantra practice. The difference is that the phrases are first oriented towards oneself, then directed towards someone else, and finally for the well being of All beings. Beginning with oneself is critically important as the following quote of Gautama Buddah suggests.

“You can search throughout the entire universe for someone who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself, and that person is not to be found anywhere. You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection”

Nice.

The Hundredth Monkey

by Ken Keyes, jr. The Japanese monkey, Macaca fuscata, had been observed in the wild for a period of over 30 years.

In 1952, on the island of Koshima, scientists were providing monkeys with sweet potatoes dropped in the sand. The monkeys liked the taste of the raw sweet potatoes, but they found the dirt unpleasant.

An 18-month-old female named Imo found she could solve the problem by washing the potatoes in a nearby stream. She taught this trick to her mother. Her playmates also learned this new way and they taught their mothers too.

This cultural innovation was gradually picked up by various monkeys before the eyes of the scientists.

Between 1952 and 1958 all the young monkeys learned to wash the sandy sweet potatoes to make them more palatable.

Only the adults who imitated their children learned this social improvement. Other adults kept eating the dirty sweet potatoes.

Then something startling took place. In the autumn of 1958, a certain number of Koshima monkeys were washing sweet potatoes — the exact number is not known.

Let us suppose that when the sun rose one morning there were 99 monkeys on Koshima Island who had learned to wash their sweet potatoes.

Let’s further suppose that later that morning, the hundredth monkey learned to wash potatoes.

THEN IT HAPPENED!

By that evening almost everyone in the tribe was washing sweet potatoes before eating them.

The added energy of this hundredth monkey somehow created an ideological breakthrough!

But notice.

A most surprising thing observed by these scientists was that the habit of washing sweet potatoes then jumped over the sea –

Colonies of monkeys on other islands and the mainland troop of monkeys at Takasakiyama began washing their sweet potatoes.

Thus, when a certain critical number achieves an awareness, this new awareness may be communicated from mind to mind.

Although the exact number may vary, this Hundredth Monkey Phenomenon means that when only a limited number of people know of a new way, it may remain the conscious property of these people.

But there is a point at which if only one more person tunes-in to a new awareness, a field is strengthened so that this awareness is picked up by almost everyone!

(from the book “The Hundredth Monkey” by Ken Keyes, jr. The book is not copyrighted and the material may be reproduced in whole or in part.

In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna lays out a plan for Arjuna which begins with the instruction to find his dharma, or true purpose. It’s a tough lesson to learn when you’re on a battlefield facing a huge army of opponents that include family, friends, and loved ones. Arjuna was having a difficult day.

Finding our true selves and our true purpose can either be a life long pursuit or recognized in a flash of intuition. Either way is challenging at best. Here’s the plan that Krishna shared with Arjuna.

1. First, discover what your dharma (purpose) is.

2. Then, do it full out, hold nothing back. Give it your full attention.

3. Next, let go of the ‘fruits of the action’ or said another way, detach from the outcome.

4. And finally, dedicate your actions to the greater good of all beings.

Yeah, right! What Krishna doesn’t say is HOW to actually DO these things. There is no manual or instruction sheet on how to figure out what your life purpose is. And, if you are one of the lucky ones to have discovered it on your own, there remains no actual instructions on HOW to accomplish the other three pieces.

………………………………..to be continued