Losing body consciousness
Most of us believe that we are our body. The physical frame in which we reside is given a name, and we invariably associate ourselves so closely to this physical frame and the name, that we believe that we are the body. But, many great men of the past, saints and seers have repeatedly told us that we are NOT the body. Is there any truth in what they say? One must verify it for oneself. No believing or disbelieving in their words is of any use to us. How does one verify what they have said?
If we have to realise that we are not the body, it is sufficient if we can exist, but not feel the presence of the body. That would prove beyond doubt that we are NOT the body. How to feel this?
Try imagining what those rishis in the past who meditated endlessly for ages would feel after some time in meditation? There would be silence, and soon one would drown oneself in silence. In that silence, we would still exist, and yet, not feel the presence of the body. So, the key to realise this is to be in meditation, in deep silence.
One would immediately want to ask if it is necessary for one to spend years in meditation like those rishis. The answer is No. The reason being that it is important to achieve silence of the mind, and drown into that silence. Number of years is of no importance. Through a daily practice of meditation for a few minutes, one would soon achieve a state of thoughtlessness, which is essentially the silencing of the mind. After a few more days of practice, one would easily be able to stay in this silence for longer periods of time, and drown oneself into the silence. Once that is achieved, you have realised that you are not the body.
So, all it takes is a few minutes of meditation everyday. It would be very useful if one tries to stay calm and sit in silence, with eyes closed, everyday for about 15 minutes each in the morning and the evening. The benefits are countless. A lot of them is well known, thanks to the innumerable yoga and meditation classes that have sprung up everywhere. It surely is a great stress reliever, and helps in better productivity in our work. But, meditation can give us much more than just these. The highest of which is the realisation of all those 'esoteric' stuff mentioned in the Vedas and the Upanishads. Of course, meditation alone cannot give us all that, but meditation, along with many other things can help us in that realisation.
If we have to realise that we are not the body, it is sufficient if we can exist, but not feel the presence of the body. That would prove beyond doubt that we are NOT the body. How to feel this?
Try imagining what those rishis in the past who meditated endlessly for ages would feel after some time in meditation? There would be silence, and soon one would drown oneself in silence. In that silence, we would still exist, and yet, not feel the presence of the body. So, the key to realise this is to be in meditation, in deep silence.
One would immediately want to ask if it is necessary for one to spend years in meditation like those rishis. The answer is No. The reason being that it is important to achieve silence of the mind, and drown into that silence. Number of years is of no importance. Through a daily practice of meditation for a few minutes, one would soon achieve a state of thoughtlessness, which is essentially the silencing of the mind. After a few more days of practice, one would easily be able to stay in this silence for longer periods of time, and drown oneself into the silence. Once that is achieved, you have realised that you are not the body.
So, all it takes is a few minutes of meditation everyday. It would be very useful if one tries to stay calm and sit in silence, with eyes closed, everyday for about 15 minutes each in the morning and the evening. The benefits are countless. A lot of them is well known, thanks to the innumerable yoga and meditation classes that have sprung up everywhere. It surely is a great stress reliever, and helps in better productivity in our work. But, meditation can give us much more than just these. The highest of which is the realisation of all those 'esoteric' stuff mentioned in the Vedas and the Upanishads. Of course, meditation alone cannot give us all that, but meditation, along with many other things can help us in that realisation.
9 Comments:
In deep sleep, even the mind is put to rest...but you know that you have had a deep sleep..You know so because, you are neither the mind nor the body but something else that can exist independent of the mind and the body.You are something else that does just one thing in this world..exist. The same 'something else' comes alive during meditation as the author says, when all the noises in the mind are stilled and you see the 'something else' observing the surroundings more intensely than you normally would....
right karthik...it happens in deep sleep too...where on coming out of sleep, you logically explain that inspite of the loss of consciousness of mind and body...you obviously existed. Otherwise, you would be dead. This is logical deduction.
No..The something else exists even when you die, i.e., the body dies. The something else existed when there was no creation, i.e. before big-bang...The something always existed and will always exist.Infact evrything else(including mind,matter) is but a form of 'something else'.
This is a really long post, there have been better commnetaries by great people on this topic, so bear with me. I also suggest you start reading some books to broaden your understanding of what goes on in the spiritual realm....
Well, you will understand it this way...
That 'somethingelse' has other, better names: Brahman, Atman,Tao,Chi, etc.
While Brahman is the infinite, comsic conciousness that surrounds us, the atman is a spark of that cosmic conciousness present in every individual, you and me included.
Now, Brahman is what always existed, exists and will always exist.
By creation I mean, the creation of this universe including the world we live in.
The reason Brahman always existed is because, Brahman is the source for this creation.
If you can grasp this, I will go further and say that, before creation, Brahman existed in an unmanifested form. That is, the Brahman, a source of infinite energy was dormant, latent, pure spirit. The Brahman in this form had a collective conciousness..It knew that it was everything that is, but it couldn't experince its infinite magnificence in this latent way.....So there was a spontaneous need to manifest itself into a form...i.e. the infinite cosmic energy, spirit wanted to take form and go from its limitless,boundless state to the limited state(by taking form).
(We think we are limited don't we, atleast our body limits us..That is what they mean when they say look inward..beyond the body, there lies the source,Brahman, manifested in you as Atman.
"The human body is just one of the forms the Brahman has taken in this world to experience its glory".).
At that instant, the whole of the universe was created..The design was purely made by brahman..the creator, god, call it whatever you like...And you can't help marvelling at it right...you were also a part of it..All the individuals of the earth, every living being in this universe had a say(collectively) as to what the design would be before they chose to manifest themselves on the earth. Remember, before creation the atman in us had no identity, it was submerged in Brahman, the collective identity,i.e. to say the atman came out as an individual conciousness out of brahman during and after creation.
Now why would a limitless, boundless, infinte comsic energy and spirit want to take a form as a being on earth..
To state briefly: It was to experience its magnificence(as explained earlier). Why can't you experience your own magnificence in the uncreated state(see above), that's because there is nothing with which you can compare and say that you are more magnificent than other in the unmanifested form.
E.g.: If you were to be a drop in an ocean..would you have any identity...No.Can you experience the magnificence of the ocean, given the samll tiny drop that you are..Again, no.
Hence the formless brahman, takes form in this world and you, I everyone is the embodiment of that Brahman and our purpose in this world is as stated earlier, to experience ourselves(literally), to know that we have no limitations, to know what Brahman is..yay, experiencing Brahman, verily is what is also known as enlightenment..That is the purpose of life.
When the world gets destroyed either due to global warming and its ensuing phenomenon or due to the end of 'Kali yuga' , nothing is left but pure brahman(i.e. unmanifested energy).
http://www.srivaishnava.org/sgati/sddsv2/v02019.htm - This is an excellent site to know more about kali yuga(the current period/era).
This post might be too heavy for one reading(also,I might not have been clear in some parts of this dissertation)..Take time, absorb if possible and shoot away questions in the next comment.
Cheers
Karthik.
(P.s: Now I know why philosophy doesn't appeal to normal people...It doesn't make sense, atleast at first glance even if you were to write it in the most lucid,coherent way, which ofcourse I am noway near to :)).
good discussion guys...
magnificient post and equally interesting comments!!
great job guys!!
Meditation is a good temporary way of bringing the astray mind back to normal. But the permanent way is to realize that there is something beyond the mind, called the soul.
right... that realisation doesn't come without actually transcending the mind, for which, again meditation helps.
Intellectually everyone can understand that... but that doesn't make one a realised soul.
Can anyone tell me at what point in a human birh does the Atman enter a body. Bhagavad Gita says Atman leaves a body and enters the next one as one would shed off his old clothes and take a new one. How and when does that happen.
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