End Of Knowledge

Tag: End of Knowledge

  • Steady Wisdom: Day 57

    Steady Wisdom: 108 Verses On Changing My Thinking

    DAY 57

    I am not the body, nor the prana, nor the sense organs, nor the ego, nor the mind, nor the intellect.  I am the eternal consciousness that witnesses them all. 
    -Sarva Vedanta Siddhanta Sara Sangraha V.835
    Meditation

    How can I even speak of the body-mind and its various functions?  It is because they are all known to me, the consciousness that illuminates them.  And just as the sun is never the objects it illuminates nor is it affected by them, I am never the body-mind that I illuminate nor am I affected by it.  OM. 

    Read Series Introduction

  • Steady Wisdom: 8 Week Progress Check

    Steady Wisdom: 108 Verses On Changing My Thinking

    DAY 56-Week 8 Progress Check

    Arjuna said, “What is the description of the person with steady wisdom, whose mind abides in the self?”
    Krishna said, “The one who is not affected by adversities, who is without yearning for pleasures, and is free from longing, fear and anger, is said to be a wise person whose knowledge stays unshaken.” 
    -Bhagavad Gita 2:54 & 56
    Meditation

    I am the self.  I am not affected by adversity.  I do not yearn for pleasure.  I am free from longing, fear and anger.  But freedom from adversity, yearning for pleasure, longing, fear and anger is not a state I attain—it is my very nature.  When my mind conforms to this knowledge, it is said to have steady wisdom.  But I, the self, am free from wisdom, steady or otherwise.  OM. 

    Read Series Introduction  

  • Steady Wisdom: Day 55

    Steady Wisdom: 108 Verses On Changing My Thinking

    DAY 55

    Knowing I am really the self, I play the game of life without being deluded by it. 

    -Ashtavakra Samhita 4:1

    Meditation

    This much is clear:  I am the self, the one reality; the body, mind and world are false.  Despite knowing this, the body, mind and world continue to appear.  But this is no problem because I am no longer deluded by their appearance.  OM. 

    Read Series Introduction

  • Steady Wisdom: Day 54

    Steady Wisdom: 108 Verses On Changing My Thinking

    DAY 54

    I am free from impurities such as attachment.  I am not affected by the suffering of the body.  I am the self alone.
    -Avadhuta Gita 1:67
    Meditation

    I am the self alone and I alone exist.  I cannot be tainted by my own self and I cannot be attached to my own self as if it were a possession that belonged to me.  Therefore, I am ever-pure and unattached. OM. 

    Read Series Introduction

  • What is samsara in Hinduism?

    Q:  What does the term “samsara’ mean in Hinduism? 

    A:  Hinduism is very diverse, with numerous different religious sects and philosophical schools.  So you’re going to get different answers depending on who you ask.  To be clear, I am answering from the perspective of Advaita Vedanta, particularly Advaita Vedanta as taught by Shankara, Swami Dayananda and Dayananda’s students.

    Swami Dayananda defines samsara as “the life of becoming.” In other words, it is 1) Identifying with the body and mind, thinking it is who you are and 2) Subsequently believing that the mortality and suffering of the body and mind belong to you. Further, you believe that the qualities and character of the body and mind define who you are.

    Because of this you are always trying to become something other than what you are.  Perhaps you want to be happier, perhaps you want to become immortal to escape death. Or perhaps you want something more mundane like a slimmer waistline and a more respectable position at work. Either way, feeling like you need to be something other than what you are, that you’re not good enough as you are, or that you’re somehow lacking is a painful cycle: this is samsara.

    This painful cycle of thinking that you’re the body-mind continues (perhaps over lifetimes if the theory of reincarnation is true) until you see directly realize that instead of being the flawed, mortal, ever-changing and limited body-mind, that you’re the immortal, changeless, limitless brahman (the very essence of the entire universe) that is always perfect just as it is.

    But you asked “What is samsara?” not “how do I end it?” so I’m getting ahead of myself.  That’s an answer for another day. 

    All my best – Vishnudeva