Month: January 2020

Steady Wisdom: Day 31

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Steady Wisdom: 108 Verses On Changing My Thinking

DAY 31

I am other than the body so there is no birth, death, or decrepitude for me.  The senses do not belong to me so I am uninvolved with, and unaffected by, the objects of the senses such as sound etc. 
-Atma Bodha V.33
Meditation

The body is a temporary form that arises in me, pure being, like the form of a pot arising from clay.  Just as clay is present and unaffected before, during and after the arising of the pot, so am I present and unaffected before, during and after the arising of the body.  Therefore, there is no birth, death or decrepitude for me. 

The senses are temporary forms that appear in me, pure consciousness, like waves arising from water.  Just as a wave cannot belong to water because a wave is nothing separate or different from water, the senses cannot belong to me because they are nothing separate or different from me, pure consciousness.  Just as water is unaffected (fundamentally unchanged) by a wave, so am I unaffected by the senses and their objects. 

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Steady Wisdom: Day 30

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Steady Wisdom: 108 Verses On Changing My Thinking

DAY 30

I witness my body acting as if it were someone else’s.  There is no reason to be disturbed by praise or blame. 
– Ashtavakra Samhita 3:10
Meditation

How strange is it that while I am absolutely clear that I am not another person’s body, I identify with this body that looks and feels closest to me, call it “myself” and claim its actions as my own.  But how can this be?  I witness the bodies of others the same as I witness this one—they are all thoughts known to me. As such, this body cannot be me.  I merely witness it acting, the same as I witness the actions of other’s bodies.  Just as I cannot be praised or blamed for the actions of other’s bodies that I witness, I cannot be praised or blamed for the actions of this body that I witness.  I am the action-less, blameless self.  OM. 

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Steady Wisdom: Day 29

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Steady Wisdom: 108 Verses On Changing My Thinking

DAY 29

I have no body nor am I bodiless.  I have no mind, intellect or senses.  It cannot be said that I am either attached or unattached.  My nature is ever-free; there’s no illusion for me. 
– Avadhuta Gita 4:12
Meditation

There is no illusion for me; despite the appearance of the body and mind I know I am pure being, reality itself.  Just because I have no body does not mean I am bodiless.  Just because objects cannot attach themselves to me (affect me) does not mean I am unattached.  Embodied and bodiless, attached and unattached are dualistic opposites.  I am non-dual so I transcend them all.  I am ever-free.   

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Steady Wisdom: Day 28

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Steady Wisdom: 108 Verses On Changing My Thinking

DAY 28

The fact is that I am not conscious of anything either within or outside myself, either one at a time or simultaneously.  Nor am I non-consciousness.  Therefore I am neither a hearer nor a thinker, nor a knower of anything; I am the eternal, inmost witnessing consciousness.
– Sarva Vedanta Siddhanta Sara Sangraha V.840
Meditation

I am consciousness—I alone exist.  Because there is only me, there is nothing within myself or outside of myself to be known, either one at a time as a series of thoughts or all at the same time as a group of thoughts. But how can I not be a knower if I am not non-consciousness?  It is because knowing is a function of the mind, the same as hearing and thinking.  As eternal witnessing consciousness I do not actively know the functions of the mind.  Rather, I passively reveal the mind, similar to the way the sun passively illuminates the comings and goings of the world.  Since anything revealed is none other than myself, nothing is ever truly revealed.  OM. 

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Steady Wisdom: Day 27

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Steady Wisdom: 108 Verses On Changing My Thinking

DAY 27

I am not the body nor do I possess a body.  I am not the doer or the enjoyer.  I am ever-free consciousness, the witness of them all. 
-Ashtavakra Samhita 15:4
Meditation

I am consciousness; I witness the appearance of “my” body similar to the way I witness the appearance of a tree, a house or the body of another person.  And yet, while it is abundantly clear that I am not a tree, a house or someone else’s body, I think of this body as myself, referring to it as “I” and “mine.”  I claim its actions as my own, rejoicing when the results are good and lamenting when they are not.  As such, I continuously vacillate between happiness and suffering.  But is this body myself merely because it appears to be closer to me than a tree or a house?  Is it myself simply because it appears in my consciousness more frequently than a tree or a house?  No, the body cannot be me because it is known to me.  The body cannot be me because it comes and goes while I, remain.  I am ever-free of the body. 

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