MEDITATE WITH URMILA TABLOID
How do you attain self-realisation? We have the answers to enjoying the ultimate reality
The last piece,’ Journey Back to the Subtle’, reflected as to why subtle objects hold significance; subtle aspects bosom the greater truths while the gross, that is, the solid/ dense energies carry the weight of illusions and impermanence.
Where does this subtlety end? It stops at the discovery of the ultimate reality, the realisation; ‘Who am I’? When one realises their true nature (swarup) then the journey ends. Till then, life cycles continue.
GREATER REALISATIONS
When gross forms are considered as truths that is when we start misaligning from our true swarup and feel friction in the body-mind complex. Our true swarup/nature is made of innate goodness, divinity. The gross forms are impurities, layers of non-serving thoughts, emotions and deeds.
If you notice, all our earthly experiences drive us towards knowing our true form; ‘Who am I?’ and in this process, the journey is backward to innate goodness of our swarup. Why do you think non-serving experiences force us to learn our strengths, wisdom and ‘opens our eyes’? ‘Our eyes open up’ to what? Is it to the greater realisation/s?
When we cling to dense emotions of attachment and fear, we suffer. These emotions carry the weight of anxiety, resentments, anger etc when active. Know that emotions can be heavyweight or light. The question then is, why do we attach to dense emotions?
This is because of: a) ignorance, that is, lack of correct knowledge and
b) attachment to false identifications; ‘I am rich’, ‘I am sad,’, I am this’, ‘I am that’.
No emotions are permanent.
SWARUP IS PERMANENT
There is a deeper question of why emotions are heavy/ light? Emotions obtain their quality from even subtler aspect of gunas/ attributes: sattva, rajas and tamas. (purity, activity, and inertia/ ignorance). (The entire cosmos is a projection of three gunas mixed in various proportions, including the cosmic process of creation, sustenance and dissolution).
Even emotions are characterised by permutations and combinations of three gunas. The emotion of kindness has more of sattvic attribute as opposed to maliciousness which is heavy/ tamasic. Thoughts too are composition of gunas; a nurturing thought is sattvic, a destructive is tamasic, product of ignorance.
Know that guna compositions can be changed. The heaviness of the thought, ‘no one supports me’, can be transmuted to, ‘I know, I am supported by the Divine.’ The recomposition of guna energies is done by subtler aspect of mind (manas) and intellect (buddhi/ mahat).
When intellect (buddhi) is put to the task of better reasoning, enabling decisions are made. Intellect, subtler than mind, can be deployed to change the mind because mind’s nature is mostly indecisive.
As you notice, mind, emotions, thoughts all are changeable, then what is permanent? It is the swarup that exists beyond all gunas, even the sattvic aspect. Swarup is limitless, changeless, attribute-less, mindless, formless. It is beyond all prakriti (nature). It is sat (truth) and anand (bliss) as chitt (body-mind-ego complex) is rid of heaviness and impurities.
Let’s understand better. Our five sense organs (organs of perception / knowledge or gyanendriya) are made from the purity of sattvic guna, the primordial elements of ether (space), air, fire, water and earth (also known as panch mahabhutas).
So long as the panch mahabhutas function in their sattvic form, there is alignment. If not, disharmony is felt. Example, in aggression, arrogance one’s fire element is unbalanced, as much as in sparkless-ness.
The karmyendrias or the five organs of action (hand, feet etc,), formed by the rajasic guna, falls in disharmony when their purity is not matched with sattvic senses (actionthought misalignment). Both indriyas ought to function in sattvic state.
Holding on the sattvic state is the real work, especially in times of adversity. That is when one’s swarup starts to unfold. A true yogi lives in this involute state of bliss.
When gross forms are considered as truths that is when we start misaligning from our true swarup.