Tag: Swami Vivekananda

Steady Wisdom: Day 105

on By

Steady Wisdom: 108 Verses On Changing My Thinking

DAY 105 – Week 15 Progress Check

The steady-minded one who knows their nature [to be the self] understands that all that is seen has no real existence.  Why should they consider one thing acceptable and another unacceptable? 
-Ashtavakra Samhita 3:13
Meditation

I am the self.  All that is seen (the body-mind and world) is but an appearance that has no reality apart from me, reality itself, similar to the way that a clay pot is but an appearance that has no reality apart from clay.  Just as a clay pot is but a relative appearance that in truth is absolutely nothing other than clay, the body-mind and world is but an appearance that in truth is nothing other than me, the absolute itself. 

If the body-mind and world are unreal, then how can they really be acceptable or unacceptable?  Alternately, if the body-mind and world are none other than myself, how can I who transcends all duality be either acceptable or unacceptable? OM. 

Read Series Introduction  

Steady Wisdom: Day 92

on By

Steady Wisdom: 108 Verses On Changing My Thinking

DAY 92

I am undifferentiated. For me there is no karma, no liberation-in-life and no liberation-in-death. 
-Ashtavakra Samhita 20:4
Meditation

I am one alone and I have no internal divisions or differences.  In the absence of distinctions such as the agent of action (ego), the instrument of action (body) and the action itself, how can there be action (karma) at all?  Since action does not truly exist I cannot be bound by action or its results.  Because I am not bound, I do not need not be liberated, either here in this life or in death—not that life and death apply to me in the first place.  OM. 

Read Series Introduction

Steady Wisdom: Day 87

on By

Steady Wisdom: 108 Verses On Changing My Thinking

DAY 87

I am neither bound nor free because bondage and freedom are illusory concepts. The universe, though appearing in me, only appears to exist because of ignorance.  Knowing I am the self, my belief in the illusion ceases. 
-Ashtavakra Samhita 2:18
Meditation

I appear to be bound by the universe when I believe it is real.  But the universe cannot be real because it continuously changes in the waking state; it is periodically replaced by an ever-changing dream universe in the dream state; and it is completely absent in deep sleep. How real is that? 

Perhaps the universe is still there when I don’t see it in the state of dream or deep sleep?  Even if it is, that does not establish its reality.  For if it were real, it would continue to be evident in dream and deep sleep.  For that which truly exists is self-evident and does not need to be established any means of knowledge such as perception.  The self alone is self-evident and self-established.  I am that self and I alone exist. There is no bondage to escape from and no freedom to strive for.  OM. 

Read Series Introduction

Steady Wisdom: Day 62

on By

Steady Wisdom: 108 Verses On Changing My Thinking

DAY 62

I am infinite and pure, free from attachment and desire.  I am at peace.  Objects are illusory and they do not limit me in any way.
-Ashtavakra Samhita 7:4
Meditation

Attachment and desire are but thoughts and feelings that periodically appear in my mind.  As a lamp is not limited by the objects it illuminates, I am not limited by the thoughts and feelings that are known to me. Therefore, when the mind is tainted by attachment and disturbed by desire, I remain pure and fully at peace.  OM.

Read Series Introduction

Steady Wisdom: Day 53

on By

Steady Wisdom: 108 Verses On Changing My Thinking

DAY 53

I am devoid of thought, even when engaged in thought; I am devoid of the sense-organs, even though I have them; I am devoid of intellect, even though endowed with it; and I am devoid of the sense of ego, even though possessed of it. 
-Ashtavakra Samhita 18:95
Meditation

I am not a thought.  I am not the sum of my sense perceptions.  I am not the reasoning faculty of my mind.  I am not even the sense of “I.”  All of these things are transient objects that are known to me and I am not what I know.  I am the self, untouched by them all. 

And yet, thoughts, sense perceptions, etc. are all me because they have no existence apart me, existence itself.  They depend on me but I do not depend on them.  How inexplicable but liberating is that!  OM. 

     Read Series Introduction