In silence, you know what needs to be known

When the mind is perfectly silent, pure like a well-polished mirror, immobile as a pond on a breezeless day, then, from above, as the light of the stars drops in the motionless waters, so the light of the supermind, of the Truth within, shines in the quieted mind and gives birth to intuition. Those who are accustomed to listen to this voice out of the Silence, take it more and more as the instigating motive of their actions; and where others, the average men, wander along the intricate paths of reasoning, they go straight their way, guided through the windings of life by intuition, this superior instinct, as by a strong and unfailing hand. This faculty which is exceptional, almost abnormal now, will certainly be quite common and natural for the new race, the man of tomorrow.

— Mother Mirra (Words of Long Ago, p. 164)

(Picture by Angela Marie)

Scriptures are just signposts (Bhagavad Gita 2.45-46)

Vedic literature is pertaining to the three attributes of nature. Transcend these three attributes O Arjuna… be free from duality, ever-balanced, free from the thoughts of getting and keeping, be established in the Self.

To the Self-realized person, all the Vedas (scriptures) are of so much use as a reservoir is, when there is a flood everywhere.

— Bhagavad Gita 2.45, 46

Scriptures, books, quotes, etc., are just signposts that guide us along the path of Self-realization. Signposts help you find the way, but once you have read the signpost, you have to leave it behind and proceed with the journey. But what if you spend all your time admiring the signpost?

Everything in nature is composed of the three attributes of nature, namely sattva (balance), rajas (activity) and tamas (inertia), in varying proportions. The mind too is part of nature, and so the mind too is composed of these three attributes. But the real Self is beyond all nature, it’s beyond all the dual conceptions of the mind. If mind can be compared to air, then the Self is the pure space in which the air exists and moves about. The scriptures, at best, can only clear the misconceptions of mind so that the Self, that is beyond all qualities, can be realized.

Scriptures can give us an idea of the ultimate possibility, but an idea is just a concept in the mind, it’s not the reality. To have an idea of the possibility is not the same thing as actual realization of the possibility. There is a tendency to become satisfied just knowing the possibility. This can give a false sense of accomplishment and can lead to disillusionment in the end.

For example, consider a person leading a miserable life, toiling day and night just to make ends meet. One day he discovers a piece of paper in which his grandfather had written that a huge mass of gold is buried beneath the floor of the house! Now, this information may give him relief, may excite him, but he has to actually dig the floor and get the gold. The paper is extremely valuable in helping the person discover his true wealth, but he would be foolish if he is to be attached to the paper or to be satisfied with the information alone and not take any further action. It doesn’t help him if he memorizes the words in the paper and recites it everyday, it makes no difference. But once he actually digs the floor and gets the gold, he can throw away the piece of paper.

So with the scriptures for a person who has realized the true nature of the Self. The scriptures are so much use to him/her as a reservoir is when there is flood everywhere. It doesn’t mean the scriptures are harmful, the realized person may re-read the scripture, maybe for the poetic beauty of it. But a Self-realized person won’t need the scripture anymore.

Ultimately, spiritual progress is a personal thing, it’s not about showing the world the extent of your scriptural knowledge.

You cannot indulge and yet be alert

“You cannot be worldly and yet be pure in the pursuit of Reality. Our difficulty is we want both, the burning appetites and the serenity of Reality. You must abandon the one or the other; you cannot have both. You cannot indulge and yet be alert; to be keenly aware there must be freedom from those influences that are crystallizing, blunting.”
~ J. Krishnamurti, Ojai 1st Public Talk, 1945.

“One who is in search of knowledge should give up the search of pleasure and the one who is in search of pleasure should give up the search of knowledge.”
~ Chanakya.

The dawn of wisdom

“I am the wisdom of the wise.” — Bhagavad Gita (Song of God)

Photo credit: shoebappa

This blog is titled ‘The fire of wisdom’. What is wisdom? Is wisdom something to be gained? Is wisdom something that can be acquired? Is wisdom like a vegetable that you can buy from the market? Or is it like money that you accumulate and deposit into a bank account?

Wisdom, to me, is a state of being, the natural state of being. Wisdom is not something you acquire or accumulate. Buddha was called Buddha (the wise one) not because he acquired wisdom from somewhere else, but he simply removed the veil of ignorance and raised himself to his natural state of pure wisdom. Being in wisdom is your real nature. All you need to do is to uncover yourself and get rid of certain prejudices, misunderstandings, misconceptions, attachments that prevent you from realizing your real nature. The sun has always been shining behind the clouds. The cloud is temporary, but you think that being cloudy is your real nature. Sometimes, without your asking for it, the clouds of ignorance break up a little and you get a glimpse of wisdom, just for a moment, and you call that phenomena as intuition. But it’s not necessary to be at the mercy of the clouds. You can systematically blow away the clouds and let the rays of wisdom totally bathe you!

There are various methods to blow away the clouds of ignorance. Sheer devotion to God can raise you to the level of God who is nothing but wisdom. When you learn to enjoy unselfish work, you can free yourself from attachments that prevent you from being in the state of wisdom. Certain physical postures called yoga asanas, and exercises like pranayama can free you from inflexibilities and free the energies that gets clogged up in parts of your body and in nervous centres and you will be able to freely access the state of wisdom. Meditation and awareness can directly expose the dross in your mind and you can’t help but to rid of the dross, and then wisdom shines. Sparks of wisdom in the form of words coming through wise men and women can burn away a little ignorance in you, that’s what this blog mostly deals with.

There is no best method to disperse the clouds of ignorance. The best way is to use all these methods in varying proportions according to your circumstances. The important thing here to remember is that all these methods don’t deal with wisdom directly, they only help you clean up the impurities and ignorance. No master, no method, no book, no blog can ‘give’ you or ‘bring’ you wisdom. All they can do is make you aware of your ignorance and it’s upto you to choose wisdom or ignorance.

Wisdom is not personal. There is only one wisdom. It’s not my wisdom or your wisdom. There is only one sun whether you look at it from Antarctica or Australia or India or Mars or Jupiter. Wisdom is there for you to behold, but it’s not something you can hold on to. Wisdom flows. It’s like the present moment. When you try to hold on to the present moment, it’s already past! When you say ‘my’ wisdom, it’s no more wisdom, it’s only the residue. And wisdom is not in the future, you cannot anticipate wisdom. Wisdom IS. In fact, present moment awareness is a gateway to the state of wisdom… in fact, living in the present moment is wisdom.

Wisdom is not dependent on you. That you are currently experiencing night time doesn’t mean that that the sun has vanished. It’s always there on the other side. Just that you live in that half of the earth that is temporarily hidden from the rays of the sun, that temporarily goes through the phase of night. When you raise high above earth, when you come out of your comfort zone and float in space, there is no more night and day for you, you have transcended relativity, you are directly exposed to the sun of wisdom. It’s true that life on the dark side of the planet can be beautiful too. Living in the shadow, we have greatly been enjoying the beauty of moon, the twinkling stars, the meteor showers, and what not! But darkness is not eternal, the night has to give way for the day, sooner or later. And don’t you think we have lived in darkness for long enough? So long that we have totally forgotten that there are such things as sun and day. Don’t you think it’s time for dawn? Whether you are ready for it or not, the dawn is coming! Now, you don’t even have to raise high above the earth, you don’t have to renounce the the world. When the dawn comes, when sun of wisdom rises, it lights up everybody and everything right here on earth. Don’t worry that you will miss your stars and the moons. The sun is much more brilliant than the moon and all the stars combined, the day much more beautiful than you can imagine. The thieves that thrive in darkness — the dark forces — are so desperate now because these forces know that their times are coming to an end. The era of ignorance is coming to a close. Better prepare yourself for the dawn! Prepare yourself to bask in the glory of wisdom!

As the rising sun dispels darkness from men’s eyes and discovers what before lay hidden, so the dawn of knowledge removes evil from men’s intellect and reveals the Atman. Then do men know themselves as the Atman, and the Atman as themselves. — Bhagavatam.