Thank you, for spending time on my messy mail and sort it out.
It seems I sometimes do not make much sense in words. Often I see thoughts, feelings and perception as different and non-different at the same time.
It seems that the content of the mind and the mind itself is an object of many colours, shapes and movements. Anyway, the firefly is flying and satya / mitya becomes clearer.
Sundari: You are most welcome, I am happy to hear this Murry. Well done for sticking with the teachings and applying them to your life. The mind observing the mind is interesting, though it is different from the Self observing it. Your experience is common for most inquirers as Self-knowledge starts to work to reduce ignorance. The mind starts objectifying the jiva and seeing with nondual vision, as the Self, the non-experiencing witness. I think we have been through this teaching before, but it won’t hurt to repeat it:
The non-experiencing witness is the non-dual Self, but it functions in two ways, as the opaque witness or jiva/Isvara (saguna brahman – with qualities) and the transparent witness (without qualities – nirguna brahman/Awareness). The opaque witness is the mind/ego watching itself, either as a jiva deluded by Maya (samsari), or as the Jivanmukta, free or Maya. The transparent witness is the Self, pure Awareness.
The Self is not really a witness; it is a seer that never began or ceases. It is the all-seeing eye or “I” that sees only itself because there are no objects for it to see. It would be more appropriate to say that the Self, seeing only itself, is that which knows the seer with reference to the seen, only when Maya is operating. The Self-aware Self appears as a seer; but it never actually is a seer, unless seeing refers to its own Self.
When ignorance is operating on the jiva, it thinks that the seer is different from the seen, the subject and object are different. Isvara is also known as saguna brahman because it operates Maya (the gunas), but unlike the jiva, it is never deluded by them. When tamas and rajas arise in saguna brahman, then Awareness apparently becomes a jiva and is deluded by Maya.
As nondual vision becomes firmer, the subject/object split resolves in you, but the jiva still apparently experiences duality. It is just no longer identified with it as the jivanmukta, so though thoughts/feelings are still activated according to the stimuli coming from the field appearing in the mind (and as you say, these take on subtler and subtler manifestations), the jiva responds appropriately without creating unwanted karma.
Murry: The more important thing for the jiva is to quiet down a bit – so to calm the mind.
Sundari: Yes, aiming for sattva is a primary goal for inquirers, which means bringing rajas and tamas into balance with sattva. Not as an end in itself but because the jiva wants to experience peace of mind. Sattva is the springboard guna for moksa, it is not moksa because all the gunas are objects known to you, the Self. The Self is unaffected by what is going on in the mind as the mind too is an object known to it. But as moksa is for the jiva, obviously, you want it to have a peaceful life. To achieve mind management, knowledge of what makes up the field and governs all vasanas (the gunas) is required. All choices are then made with knowledge and karma yoga, with the aim of maximizing sattva.
Murry: Self-knowing settles slowly. So, the work is then to make the logic real, so to speak.
Sundari: The logic of Self-knowledge is always real because it is about you, the Self, but I understand what you mean, speaking as the jiva. It is the one factor that is always present and never changes. But for Self-knowledge to become the default position of the mind, all the steps of self-inquiry must be completed, as discussed previously. Remember that you do not gain anything when Self-knowledge obtains, it’s just the removal of ignorance that establishes permanent nondual vision.
Murry: You once said that there is a qualitative difference; to see from the self’s point of view and the jiva point of view – the ego-I, which ‘self-reflects’. These last weeks I recognized this easier.
Sundari: Yes, good. See above.
Murry: A word, it’s meaning rather, that pops up a lot, is ‘consecration’. Would you say that this is karma-yoga? It feels good, like making a sculpture, or like a giving – ever open and solid. To consecrate all thought/things: object, to where it belongs – which is Isvara, to whom/what jiva belongs?
Sundari: Yes, consecration is the essence of karma yoga and applies to every action, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant. As you know, karma yoga is simply an attitude you take towards action. It is the consecration of all your actions to Isvara in a spirit of gratitude and the understanding that you can act in an appropriate and timely manner, but you are not in charge of the results. You know that only Isvara is in charge of the Field of Existence and takes care of the needs of the Total before my small needs. Therefore, I take all results that do come as prasad, as a gift of grace, and exactly what I need. I do not complain, whine, or become depressed when I do not get what I want. The whole point of karma yoga is to understand that you are not the doer and to negate your likes and dislikes, you offer them to Isvara.
Everything belongs to Isvara anyway, so karma yoga is not ‘giving back’ as such. It is simply acknowledging a fact, and in so doing, making all acts holy. We are all borrowers here, borrowing everything from Isvara. Karma yoga also activates gratitude, which feels very good for the jiva. Isvara does not need our gratitude because it is not a person; gratitude is a gift for the jiva. To live in gratitude for the jiva means to acknowledge the dynamic field of reciprocity which takes care of all its needs, a field in which it lives out its karma. A life without gratitude is a spiritually, intellectually, and emotionally impoverished life.
Karma yoga feels good because it is performing one’s duty, cultivating the right attitude toward life, thus conforming to the pattern and harmony of creation. One becomes alive to the beauty of the cosmic order, a life committed to performing all actions as a consecration. It takes skill to perform an action with the right attitude, which is doing what is to be done, whether you like it or not, with the grace of acceptance and gratitude for all life gives us.
Much Love
Sundari
