I can see a whole lot of faces immediately, asking this question in different tones. Well, there are many different ways to look at it. One is in the url for this blog, indradhanuvu or the rainbow. It is the same light we see every moment, but suddenly, when there is a drizzle and an appropriate position of the Sun, we see it.
I am not as intellectually capable as many others to formulate new ideas and there is always a struggle to articulate too. I will not look into ideas anyway. Here, I will write about and try to communicate what I understand. Why? It is just like when I watch an enjoyable movie or when I eat good food at a certain restaurant. I want to share it with others so they can try it too. Whether they enjoy it, they can find for themselves. Before we get into all that, I noticed the usage of extremes in my previous post. Well, its just a fragment of my imagination, coming from the land of 'grand scale introductions' in movies. :P So, please bear with such language when it appears. I will be more careful from next time.
When we say spiritual, we are concerned with our own inner nature. That is a complete laboratory by itself, this body, mind, emotions, and energies. As a researcher, when we are working on something, we look into what others have done before. Does it work? What needs to be done to make it work? It is like that even with a spiritual process. Some schools and traditions give us the answers. In my case, I learn more from exploration and would like to have a freedom of inquiry. May be all those answers are right in their own way, its just that I dont know yet. There are methods that I received which helped me understand, but it is still me who is making that commitment to know.
However, there is a difference between the way external science and internal science work. The way we are doing science right now is mainly objective (exceptions exist, QBism, which resort to a radical approach where measurements of an experiment are valid only to the one doing the experiment). The inner sciences are experiential and subjective. There is more emphasis on the subject doing the experiment because everybody is unique and different. Doing the same experiment can yield totally different results for different people. For example, consider a group of people, may be your friends/colleagues, participating in a 100 meter race. Each one experiences this race differently. Even though the results are repeatable, just like any other discipline, one needs dedication and commitment to find them for oneself.
The nature of what we call as spiritual is abstract. It is said to be here all the time and we just need to see it, not with these eyes. It is said to be beyond the physical body and mind. Definitely there are many things beyond our senses, as they are limited. So, is spirituality about increasing the sensitivity of the senses? Is it about shutting down the mind? Is it about the spirit/soul? What is it?
Being sensitive, to all the life around us. There is a great deal of transaction happening constantly with everything. The very air we breath is a transaction with the trees around us. Food we eat is a transaction. Something else over a period of few hours is becoming yourself. All this is happening constantly, it is just that we are not aware of it. So, what difference does it make if we are conscious of it? The difference is that it makes me feel enormous amount of gratitude for all that is happening in this existence. I am more sensitive to my surroundings. I think twice when I consume, because everything is connected and I am grateful for what is available to me. It is not out of imagination, it is really happening all the time.
Now, there is another aspect of being sensitive, not to the surroundings or the other, but just with oneself. Unless this one is taken care of, it will cost a lot more to take care of the other. So, in spiritual process, a lot of attention is paid to oneself. Being honest is an essential part of it. How can you be sensitive to yourself without being honest about it? So, what is the self? Who am I? The body is an accumulation of food, and mind is an accumulation of data and impressions. 'I am not the body. I am not even the mind.' So, what am I? At least we should become aware of something that is not. Rather than drawing conclusions about what we do not know, it makes sense to accept that ignorance. Only then true seeking can start and there is a possibility of knowing what is.
The advantage of realizing this that the body and mind are tools is that we can enhance their performance to a greater degree. I can sit here for hours on end without moving or I can pitch it to intense activity. Similarly for the mind, there is an increased focus and clarity. It is an enormous freedom to have and I have an increased appetite to learn new things.
To me, these seem to be fundamental questions and somehow the society and almost everybody is averse to addressing them. Dont delve too deep into it they say. I agree to them to a certain extent. These seemingly very serious questions of life, if not done with certain playfulness, there is a tendency to become lifeless. Here is a funny clip from a recent movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nn-MOZ9bvzg. Sruthi Hassan' father, in this movie, has some twisted philosophy about how to 'conquer the self'. There are countless perversions of words and we dont have to go into them now.
So, how to pursue them without becoming too serious. That is where the methods come in. Prepare the soil, water the plant, provide sunlight, and the flowers will blossom by themselves. Learn any spiritual practice and give it some time to grow. At Isha, the basic practice from the inner engineering program takes about half an hour daily and it has definitely worked for me.
I am not as intellectually capable as many others to formulate new ideas and there is always a struggle to articulate too. I will not look into ideas anyway. Here, I will write about and try to communicate what I understand. Why? It is just like when I watch an enjoyable movie or when I eat good food at a certain restaurant. I want to share it with others so they can try it too. Whether they enjoy it, they can find for themselves. Before we get into all that, I noticed the usage of extremes in my previous post. Well, its just a fragment of my imagination, coming from the land of 'grand scale introductions' in movies. :P So, please bear with such language when it appears. I will be more careful from next time.
When we say spiritual, we are concerned with our own inner nature. That is a complete laboratory by itself, this body, mind, emotions, and energies. As a researcher, when we are working on something, we look into what others have done before. Does it work? What needs to be done to make it work? It is like that even with a spiritual process. Some schools and traditions give us the answers. In my case, I learn more from exploration and would like to have a freedom of inquiry. May be all those answers are right in their own way, its just that I dont know yet. There are methods that I received which helped me understand, but it is still me who is making that commitment to know.
However, there is a difference between the way external science and internal science work. The way we are doing science right now is mainly objective (exceptions exist, QBism, which resort to a radical approach where measurements of an experiment are valid only to the one doing the experiment). The inner sciences are experiential and subjective. There is more emphasis on the subject doing the experiment because everybody is unique and different. Doing the same experiment can yield totally different results for different people. For example, consider a group of people, may be your friends/colleagues, participating in a 100 meter race. Each one experiences this race differently. Even though the results are repeatable, just like any other discipline, one needs dedication and commitment to find them for oneself.
The nature of what we call as spiritual is abstract. It is said to be here all the time and we just need to see it, not with these eyes. It is said to be beyond the physical body and mind. Definitely there are many things beyond our senses, as they are limited. So, is spirituality about increasing the sensitivity of the senses? Is it about shutting down the mind? Is it about the spirit/soul? What is it?
Being Sensitive
This is a simple way to look at spirituality, for me at least. Sensitive, not sentimental. If there are any psychoanalysts, they would categorize me as a hyper sensitive person. I personally dont believe in all that they conclude about people, types of people, and moreover the very tendency to categorize everything around. There are many comprehensive rebuttals to this and can be found elsewhere. I just brought this up so that there wont be a misunderstanding when we talk about being sensitive or any other aspect on this blog. We are not looking at them from a psychoanalysis point of view.Being sensitive, to all the life around us. There is a great deal of transaction happening constantly with everything. The very air we breath is a transaction with the trees around us. Food we eat is a transaction. Something else over a period of few hours is becoming yourself. All this is happening constantly, it is just that we are not aware of it. So, what difference does it make if we are conscious of it? The difference is that it makes me feel enormous amount of gratitude for all that is happening in this existence. I am more sensitive to my surroundings. I think twice when I consume, because everything is connected and I am grateful for what is available to me. It is not out of imagination, it is really happening all the time.
Now, there is another aspect of being sensitive, not to the surroundings or the other, but just with oneself. Unless this one is taken care of, it will cost a lot more to take care of the other. So, in spiritual process, a lot of attention is paid to oneself. Being honest is an essential part of it. How can you be sensitive to yourself without being honest about it? So, what is the self? Who am I? The body is an accumulation of food, and mind is an accumulation of data and impressions. 'I am not the body. I am not even the mind.' So, what am I? At least we should become aware of something that is not. Rather than drawing conclusions about what we do not know, it makes sense to accept that ignorance. Only then true seeking can start and there is a possibility of knowing what is.
The advantage of realizing this that the body and mind are tools is that we can enhance their performance to a greater degree. I can sit here for hours on end without moving or I can pitch it to intense activity. Similarly for the mind, there is an increased focus and clarity. It is an enormous freedom to have and I have an increased appetite to learn new things.
To me, these seem to be fundamental questions and somehow the society and almost everybody is averse to addressing them. Dont delve too deep into it they say. I agree to them to a certain extent. These seemingly very serious questions of life, if not done with certain playfulness, there is a tendency to become lifeless. Here is a funny clip from a recent movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nn-MOZ9bvzg. Sruthi Hassan' father, in this movie, has some twisted philosophy about how to 'conquer the self'. There are countless perversions of words and we dont have to go into them now.
So, how to pursue them without becoming too serious. That is where the methods come in. Prepare the soil, water the plant, provide sunlight, and the flowers will blossom by themselves. Learn any spiritual practice and give it some time to grow. At Isha, the basic practice from the inner engineering program takes about half an hour daily and it has definitely worked for me.
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