Five Ss to live spiritually

The lost freedom

The rational mind, the emotional mind, and the unconscious mind are all storehouses of our habit patterns. Generally, we keep taking decisions with any one or more of these brains. Since we are not aware, we keep making decisions based on the likes and dislikes of the emotional mind, biases of the rational mind, and the memories of pleasant or unpleasant sensations in the unconscious mind.

Regaining freedom with the help of five Ss

There is no easy way to get over these fixations and connect to the true self. The simple reason is that these fixations are stored deep in the rational, emotional, and unconscious mind. The following five Ss may help us re-centering our life to the true self:

1. Swadhyay
2. Shraddha
3. Samvedana
4. Swadharma
5. Samadhi

Swadhyay

Swadhyay means self-reading. This is a very powerful tool to reset our biases. The Rights and wrongs are stored in the rational mind in a particular context. We are not able to reset the same with the change of the context. Moreover, as we gather more experience we get to know that our sets of rights and wrongs were based on very limited facts.

Books written by masters of different subjects help us work on our logic and biases. We can broadly divide the books into 4 categories:

1. Books that take us from certainty to confusion: There are many books written by agnostics seekers who tried to understand the true nature of reality without any biased mind. When I read "A Search in Secret India" by Paul Brunton, it gave me a very different perspective of reality. I have not been able to meet the Yogis referred to in the book but got to know about them through the author. Books like "The Field" by Lynne Mctaggart make you understand the world of plants, intentions, and consciousness. The latest research in these areas. I read the book "My Stroke of Insight" by Jill Bolte Taylor who is a brain scientist who had a stroke in the left brain. She describes her experiences of the stroke in the book which makes us aware of a new dimension of reality. All these books shake our certainty of reality and we start exploring it afresh with an open mind.
2. Books about the present-day understanding of science and its limitations: These books help us understand the limitations of logic and our understanding of reality. I read a lot of books written by neurologists to understand the functioning of the brain. I tried to search the seat of consciousness inside the brain with V S Ramachandran through his book "The Tell-tale Brain" and "Phantoms in the Brain". I read a lot of other neurology books to understand the seat of "I". The books on quantum physics and the cosmos helped me understand the nature of reality at quantum and cosmic levels and the current gaps in our understanding.
3. Experiences of the Masters: The books written by the masters like "Ramakrishna Vachnamrit" by Mahendra Gupta, "Life Divine", "Letters on Yoga" by Sri Aurobindo, "God Speaks to Arjuna" by Paramhansa Yogananda, "Commentaries on Living" by J Krishnamurti make our rational mind understand the limitations of logic.
4. Classical texts: There are many classical texts such as "The Ramayana", "Mahabharata", different Upanishads, and "Yoga Vashishta" that help us explore an altogether new dimension of reality. I studied many books on astrology and did a lot of research on horoscopes to understand reality from a different perspective.

All these books, help us understand the limitations of our understanding and make us open. Our rational mind slowly and gradually gives way to "shraddha". We develop faith in nature. We develop certain faith in the world of consciousness. If "Swadhyay" is supported with "Satsanga" (meeting spiritual people) and "Samvad" (having discussions with such people), that does wonders provided the people whom we are discussing are not fixated on their biases.

Thus, "Swadhyaya" helps to set the rational mind right. The reason which was centered around the fixations with our biases, gets oriented to a greater reality.

Shraddha

With "Swadhyay", "Satsanga" and "Samvad", we develop an agonistic faith. We are open to the possibilities rather than being certain about our mental creation of reality based on a limited understanding of reality. This helps us re-centering the emotional mind.

The emotional mind is centered around likes and dislikes. These likes and dislikes are formed around our philosophy of life and threat perceptions. As we start realizing the wideness of the reality and limitations of our minds, the strength of our fixations with these likes and dislikes drops automatically. We start understanding the relativity of these likes and dislikes. For example, we may have a huge liking for a particular career like civil services. However, as our understanding of reality grows, that no longer remains that important in our framework of life.

We slowly develop an agnostic belief in the consciousness and start exploring the same within and outside. There comes a sea change in our responses to the situations. Rather than reacting to them, we start observing and exploring them. Each incident and experience gives us further insights into the human psyche and the functioning of nature. As we observe more, we gain more insights into the nature of consciousness.

Samvedana (body sensations)

As we discussed in an earlier post "Enemies of Freedom" the unconscious mind plays a very significant role in the functioning of the emotional mind. It acts based on pleasant/unpleasant sensations. These memories are stored in the unconscious. These sensations give regular feedback to the emotional mind to strengthen our likes and dislikes.

Howsoever we work on the rational mind and howsoever "shraddha", we inculcate, we will not be free of the likes and dislikes unless we observe these body sensations without reaction. The more equanimity we maintain with these body sensations, the greater freedom we gain from our likes and dislikes.

The Vipassana technique helps us observe these sensations and work on them. With this, our unconscious mind also starts getting re-centered on the true self.

Swadharma

As we start becoming free of the biases of the rational mind, the likes and dislikes of the emotional mind, and the pleasant/unpleasant sensations of the body, we start gaining the right understanding of our "Swadharma" and work accordingly in this world. "Swadharma" is the true nature of the self. When we act in this world with "Swadharma", we do not form biases or likes and dislikes. our like is not driven by the craving for pleasant sensations or aversion to unpleasant sensations.

One may have the "Swadharma" of management or execution. For example, an artist may like to make a painting or sculpture and concentrate the mind on that. An administrator may manage the administration well. Somebody may be good at organizing. Some may be more full of physical energy. Some may be good at setting up the systems and think from a wider perspective.

It does not matter what a person does so long as the center of activity is the process and not the outcome. If one acts as per one's true nature of "Swadharma", one enjoys the process. The process itself absorbs so much attention that he remains perpetually in the present moment forgetting the past and future which makes him forget the sense of time and he comes to a state called "flow".

With this, the center of the activities is also aligned with the true self.

Samadhi

With the center of activities recentered to the true self with "Swadharma", we become aware of our inner self. Since our fixations on the mental biases, the likes and dislikes, and the pleasant or unpleasant sensations of the unconscious mind drop and we act while being fully absorbed in the action, it becomes easier to search for the reality inside.

In a normal state of awareness, when we close our eyes, thoughts take over and we just start dancing to their tune. We are hardly able to concentrate on the reality. But, now as we close our eyes, our attention is free to explore the inner world.

With this we start directly connecting to the true self and more and more of our life is guided by consciousness rather than biases and likes and dislikes.

Now, lets discuss all these S in details:

I: Swadhyaya: A ray of light to the well

I read "The Autobiography of a Yogi" by Paramhansa Yogananda, for the first time, around 2006 when I was at the National Academy of Direct Taxes. At that time, it looked more like fiction to me. I read it again after doing my first vipassana camp in 2012 and it carried an altogether different meaning to me.

Many spiritually realized masters, who have by their own experience understood the nature of reality, try to express the same by writing books or speaking it out. However, the same does not appeal to the rational mind. The rational mind is trapped in its own biases. For a long, scientists were quite convinced that plants have no emotion. Then a lot of experiments were conducted by scientists like J C Bose and other scientists and they demonstrated that if we have the intention to uproot a plant, sitting at quite a good distance, the plant starts emitting stress photons that can be captured by the photometer. Further experiments on plants demonstrated that if we water the plant daily, it develops a bond with us and if we meet an accident thousands of kilometers away from the plant, it starts emitting stress photons. Many such experiments have been referred to by the author Lynne Mctaggart in her book "The Field".

When we read these books, they give us a ray of hope to peep out of the mental well, we are trapped in. Most of us are so obsessed with our well that we mentally reject all these writings and do now allow the ray of light any access to our well. Few get curious and try to assign their own meaning to reality to justify living in the well. But, if we are a little curious and open to knowing the reality, these books help us quite a lot.

I read the book "My Stroke of Insight" by Jill Bolte Taylor. She is a brain scientist and had a stroke of the left brain. Being a brain scientist, she tried to make sense of the experience she had. Reading about her experiences opened me to a different world altogether. The world of neurology. How the left and the right brain function differently and how relative our worldview is.

Books like "The Search in Secret India" by Paul Brunton take us to an altogether different dimension of possibilities. Paul Brunton was a British agnostic who came to India to explore the true nature of the saints living in India. He neither believed nor disbelieved, which is the right attitude for exploration. He met different yogis in the Himalayas and penned down the experiences with truthfulness. He saw with his eyes the dead bird being made alive and many more such experiences.

I am not at all saying that we start believing in magic. I am just saying that these experiences open our minds to the existence of new possibilities. We realize the limitations of our thoughts and knowledge. The moment we understand how limited our thoughts are, we commence our exploration into new possibilities. We start making efforts to come out of our well.

Dr. Robert Svoboda came to India to do his Ayurvedic course. While staying in India, he met Swami Vimalananda who shared many of his experiences which have been penned down by Dr. Svoboda in his book "Aghora" which comes in 3 parts. The books take us through altogether different dimensions of reality.

All these books help our rational minds to realize the limitations of logic. If our quest to understand reality is strong, these books prepare us to take the first step to come out of the well. They offer us a ray of hope. They act as the link between the reason and logic, we are preoccupied with, and the wider reality that we neither understand nor acknowledge. We take the first step of acknowledging such possibilities and the rational mind becomes receptive and curious to understand the scientific explanation of these experiences.

II: Swadhyay: The books showing limitations of the well

Once, we get a ray of light into the well of our fixations, We get interested to read the books that show us the reality of the well, that we have so far considered to be absolute. We set the meaning of our life in terms of good health, career, family, wealth, and social status and at best in terms of the acquisition of certain knowledge. This comprises our well. We do not want to look beyond that. When the ray of light comes to our well, in the form of the books that we discussed in the post "Swadhyay: A ray of light into the well", we for the first time become aware that the well has limitations. We try to measure the dimensions of the well by exploring the books on science.

My first book on psychology was "Emotional Intelligence" by Daniel Goleman. I read this book after writing my first Civil Services Mains in 2003. I read "My Experiments with Truth" by Mahatma Gandhi also at the same time. These books made me realize the narrowness of my well for the first time. How the emotional brain manipulates reality and does not allow reason to take over. Emotional Intelligence is a good piece by Daniel Goleman and he has demonstrated how we can use emotions intelligently. I am a great admirer of Daniel and read one more of the books written by him much later "The Science of Meditation". In that book, he discussed many experiments conducted with Mingyur Rinpoche, a Buddhist monk. I had the good fortune of having personal meetings with Mingyur Rinpoche on 3 different occasions and found him to be quite scientific.

I read many books on neurology such as "Connectome: How the Brain's Wiring Makes Us Who We Are" by Sebastian Seung sometime in 2013 after completing my first vipassana retreat. It was a wonderful book and quite close to a neurological explanation of vipassana. I tried to read many other books on neurology such as "Thinking Fast and Slow" by Daniel Kahneman. That's a wonderful book that discusses the interplay of rational and emotional minds. I read many more books on the functioning of the brain in my quest to understand the nature of self through neurology. I read the book titled "The Tell-tale Brain" by V S Ramachandran wherein he tried to search for the seat of consciousness in the brain. He discussed the concept of mirror neurons in this book. I also read a book titled "Behave" by Robert Sapolsky. That's a wonderful book giving the perspective from quantum to cosmos with a good discussion on neurology. I navigated through many more books on psychology and presently reading "The Body Keeps the Score" by Bessel Van Der Kolk.

The reading of these books has made at least one thing clear to me our well is very shallow. We know very limited things about the functioning of the brain. With such a limited understanding of the subject matter, being definite and conclusive about any of our views looks quite stupid. I decided not to act stupid at least and understand the relativity of all our opinions and logic. That is one of the greatest contributions of these books in my life that I learned the limitations of the well.

I tried to explore the depth of the well through books on quantum physics. I read some of the books written by Richard P Feynman such as "Surely You Are Joking Mr. Feynman". He makes the subject like quantum physics so easy to understand. I also read some books by Stephen Hawkins about the cosmos. I watched a lot of videos on the subject. The experiments at CERN really excited me.

In sum and summary, these books help us understand the limitations of logic and our present-day understanding. If someone has even a basic level of intelligence, one would quickly realize the limitations of thoughts and logic. We realize quickly that if we want to understand the true nature of reality, that is not at all possible with the limited science of the day. We have very limited awareness and the brain is too deceptive to allow us to explore reality if we follow its command. We have to take the command in our hands and proceed to explore reality. Logic and reason are to be used merely as a tool and not the master to guide us.

III: Swadhyay: Astrology, a definite proof of the sea:

Since 2011, I started exploring the nature of reality through one more subject called "Astrology". Astrology is the study of the planets of the solar system and their correlation with human life.

I started exploring the subject with the books of P V Narasimha Rao, who is an IITian now settled in the USA. His book on "Vedic Astrology" was the first book I read on the subject. I remember, I and my dear friend P S Sivasankaran used to discuss Astrology for hours in that period and correlated all the calculations of Astrology with Astronomy. This cleared many of our geography concepts also. 😇

I read many classic texts on Astrology after that such as Laghu Parashari, Vrihad Parashari, Phaldeepika, and many books written by K N Rao sir. In fact, I met sir at his home once. Slowly and gradually, I realized, especially after meeting K N Rao sir that the best way to learn astrology is to experiment with the horoscopes. I collected almost 400 horoscopes of close friends, relatives, and celebrities and started drawing correlations.

I started with the D1 chart and slowly started reading almost all the division charts. Initially, there were many difficulties in understanding the subject. During nights, I used to sleep with certain unsolved questions and when I get up in the morning, the answer will come to my mind.

It's a very rich subject and capable to show us with certainty that there is an entire sea outside our well. If not misused, it makes us ready to take a definite step to come out of the well. The problem with the subject is that it is being practiced by an insecure lot of so-called astrologers who are using it for the mundane benefit ignoring its true potential.

If we understand Astrology from the correct perspective, it is so precise that can only wonder about that. We understand the fine distinction between "free will" and "destiny". We understand that the situations we have to face, come into our life as per the law of nature. However, our responses are completely in our hands. we may decide to lose our temper or may remain equanimous which is a complete free will.

We also get to understand that our mind behaves differently under different Dashas and under the influences of different forces of nature, and if we let the mind take over our control, it will put us in great difficulty. We also get to understand the interplay of different forces of nature inside us. We get to understand that the well is too limited and too artificial a division. The entire universe is connected and acts as per the laws of nature.

IV: Swadhyay: Guidance from the masters living in the sea

We will discuss the books written by the masters living in the sea. Such books provide us clear guidance about the ways and mean to come out of our well of ignorance and explore the sea full of possibilities.

While staying at the National Academy of Direct Taxes, I had the privilege of having access to one of the best libraries in India. I read some of the books written by J Krishnamurty at that time. They did not make much sense to me at that time till I came in contact with J Krishnamurti Foundation during my Banaras Vist sometime around 2017. Since then I came in touch with JKF and keep going for regular discussions there. After coming in to touch with Vijay sir there, the words of K (as they call J Krishnamurty) started making sense to me. I read many of his books including "commentaries on living". I listened to many of his videos such as discussions with David Bohm which were really exciting.

During NADT's stay, I also read some of the books written by Osho. Books written by Osho make a lot of sense to me. However, I was not really much convinced by the accumulation of wealth and the lifestyle he followed. In fact, sometime around 2018, I read the book "Man and Divine" written by psychoanalyst Sudhir Kakkar and I could logically understand a lot of things. I also read the book The Analyst and the Mysic" written by Mr. Kakkar about the mystic sadhana of Ramakrishna Paramahansa. He tried to distinguish mystical experiences from hallucinations. That was a really engrossing book that I read.

One of the books in NADT days that I really liked was "Mahasamar" by Narendra Kohli. Kohli ji has explained Mahabharata in 7-8 volumes and it's a mind-boggling analysis of the characters of Mahabharata. I also read his "Todo Kara Todo" on Swami Vivekananda. These two books formed my real interest to explore the world of possibilities.

In Mumbai, I read books written by the masters like Ramesh Balsekar. He was a disciple of Nisargdatta Maharaj, who has a famous book titled "I am that". One of the first books by Ramesh Balsekar, I read, was "Your Head in Tiger's Mouth" and actually I felt as if my head is in a tiger's mouth after that. That is such a powerful book to feel the power of the sea. Later I read many of his books like "Consciousness Speaks", "Peace and Harmony in Daily Living" and "Pointers from Nisargadatta Maharaj". His books laid the foundation of my journey.

In the meantime, I read the commentary on Bhagwad Geeta by Sri Aurobindo. I remember that book had a very long-lasting impact on me. After coming to Delhi, on transfer, I came into contact with Ramakrishna Mission and started regular interactions with a few monks. I read "Ramakrishna Vachanamrita" and "Ramakrishna Kathamruta" by Mahendra Gupta. These two books are one of the most powerful books I have read so far. They contain the entire life of Ramakrishna and his experiences from somebody who experienced them very closely. They also contain the talks of Ramakrishna with his disciples. These two books alone have the power to show the sea of possibilities directly to anybody.

After that, I also read "God Speaks to Arjuna" written by Paramhansa Yogananda, and "Autobiography of a Yogi", for the second time. These two books were so powerful to wake me up each day at 4 o'clock in the morning to read these books. While Autobiography of a Yogi is the autobiography of Yogananda ji, "God Speaks to Arjuna" is the commentary on Bhagwad Geeta from a very different angle. It explains as if the battle of Kurukshetra is happening inside us and it provides clear guidance on how to live life.

Later I read some of the books written by Sri Aurobindo like "Life Divine" and "Letters on Yoga". Sri Aurobindo has a very different style of writing. I think, among the contemporary guides, he is the only one who gives a complete understanding of the subject from the evolution of the cosmos to the functioning of the brain. He tells clearly that spirituality is not about knowing something, but it is all about living life.

I read many books written by Swami Sivananda such as "Mind, it's mysteries and Control" and Swami Satyananda as published by Bihar School of Yoga. I found the book "Yoga and Kriya" to be quite comprehensive on the subject.

All these books are written by different masters after having experienced the wideness and vastness of the sea. Since the sea is too vast, it is difficult for anybody to write much about it. Any of these books will contain only a partial glimpse of the sea, But even that small glimpse is so powerful that it may take us out of the well of ignorance. The more one reads these books and the more his reason understands its limitations and the more one appreciates the vastness of the scale at which nature operates. These books definitely motivate us to come out of the well of ignorance to live life in the vast sea. They help the rational mind to realign to the vastness and to come out of the narrow well of ignorance and ignorance-driven fixations and obsessions.

V: Swadhyay: The sea itself entering the well

We will discuss some of the books that are themselves like the sea coming to the Well of Ignorance to make us experience the sea directly.

The first book which has had a great impact on my life is "Ramayana". Ramayana is the story of two types of characters. One who lives life centered around Ram and the others whose life is centered around material or mental pursuits. It shows a range of possibilities to us. On the one hand, we have Manthara and Kaikeyi whose emotional mind was so centered around their attachment to Bharata that they sent Rama, Lakshmana, and Sita to the forest for 14 years. On the other hand, we have Kevata, whose emotional mind was so full of bhakti and shraddha towards Ram. On the one hand, we see the highly intellectual Dashratha getting disturbed after sending Ram to the forest, on the other hand, we see Janaka's intellect highly evolved and completely connected to Ram who did not get even an iota of disturbance even after her newly wedded daughter was forced to go to the forest for 14 years.

We see how the old samskaras may derail our life from spirituality in the form of characters like Kumbhakarana, Meghnatha, and Ravana. On the other hand, we also see how the old samskaras help us excel on the path of spirituality in the form of Vibhisana, Sugriva, and Sita. We see how a person can perform his Swadharma completely devoted to Rama by seeing the characters of Bharata, Hanuman, and Lakshmana. If We read Ramayana carefully, probably it has answers to all the questions that we face in daily life.

In Ramayana, there is also a story of Ram getting disillusionment with the world and finding life to be meaningless. Guru Vashistha and Vishwamitra answered all the questions of Rama at that time. The entire conversation of beautifully recorded in "Voga Vashistha". It's a beautiful book answering many questions straight forward.

The second book that is equally powerful is Mahabharata. Mahabharata is again the story of different characters whose center of life is around Krishna and others who have the center of life away. I feel that Mahabharata is the most comprehensive psychological analysis of life. It analyses all types of emotions and shows us all the possibilities. We can live life in a very narrow band like Duryodhana, Shakuni, and Dhritrastra; or we can live life full of possibilities like Pandavas. It tells us how the rational brain represented by Vidura becomes powerless with the emotional mind represented by Dhritrastra. It also shows how fixation with rules becomes the cause of our suffering and destruction, through the character of Bhisma. It also shows how the emotional mind plays tricks on us by disguising its real desire to become a great warrior with the duty of a friend.

The high point of Mahabharata is the teaching of Bhagwad Geeta, which comes at no other time than the battle of Kurukshetra. After all the injustice done to the Pandavas, the battle of Kurukshetra is about to start between the Pandavas and Kuravas. At this time, Arjuna gets disillusioned and confused between the duty as a relative and the duty as a warrior. Krishna clears all the doubts. While living daily life, we also waste a lot of time in these confusions and Bhagwad Geeta can be our guide in all these situations.

We also have many Purans and I loved reading "Bhagwad Purana". The stories in Bhagwad Puran have so deep meanings. If we sit quietly and contemplate on the stories of Bhagwada, they reveal all the mysteries of the universe to us.

There are many Upanishads that have disclosed all the secrets of life to us. I read many of the Upanishads and Kathopnishada is my favorite one. This is the story of Yama and Nachiketa. Yama offers all types of temptations to Nachiketa and Nachiketa has no liking for any of these offers. His mind is fully centered around the ultimate truth of the universe and he wants to know the same from Yama. Yama is finally forced to tell the same to him.

One contemporary book that may be placed in this category is “Savitri” by Sri Aurobindo. That book is so profound that whenever anybody reads that book, it takes one quite close to reality. It contains a very deep and profound truth. It is the story of Savitri bringing her dead husband Satyavan back from Yama. It is actually a story about setting the center of life back to the divine from this material world.

Each of these books is quite unique and tries to bring the sea of divinity to the well of human ignorance. Though, most of the time, it’s very difficult to appreciate the truth revealed by these scriptures with our ordinary level of consciousness. However, They do bring the sea directly to our well of ignorance. If we read these texts with a peaceful mind, they have the capacity to change our lives significantly.

VI: Shraddha: Coming out of the emotional trap of likes and dislikes

As the rational mind becomes aware of reality, it loses its fixations on the rights and wrongs and the center of our rational thinking changes significantly from these fixations to infinite possibilities.

Our fixations exist at 3 different levels. Firstly, in the rational mind, in the form of rights and wrongs. Secondly, in the emotional mind, in the form of likes and dislikes, and thirdly, in the unconscious mind in the form of pleasant and unpleasant sensations. We need to work on all these 3 to realign our center of existence from fixations to the world of possibilities.

Generally, our likes and dislikes drive our life. They are of 3 types:

1. Tamas: Tamas means the desire to continue with what we possess. We want to live in our homes, have our health intact, live with the same family members, stay in the same city, not want any disturbance at the workplace, and want our social status to remain as it is.
2. Rajas: Rajas means desire to achieve something. We want a better home, to have better health, to marry, to have kids, to shift to a better city, to have a better workplace, have more wealth, to have name, fame, and knowledge.
3. Satva: Satva is the desire to have harmony. We want to have harmony in our investments, our family, relationships, organization, and society. We want to set up systems to bring about this harmony.

All 3 desires are based on likes and dislikes. Some of us have more tamasic desires and some have more rajasik or saatvik. That depends upon our nature. However, at the center of all these desires exist an illusion. Strong identification with the object of desire. That object may be health, home, wealth, relationships, name, fame, or knowledge. Our motivations are driven by that object. As we grow in physical age and keep taking almost all our life decisions centered around these likes and dislikes, we get more and more fixated on them. We forget the true nature of the self.

As our rational mind recenters to reality with Swadhyay, we get some tiny windows to peep out of the world of these likes and dislikes. We slowly develop "Shraddha". "Shraddha" is different from belief. Belief is just another like. "Shraddha" is the conviction that "I" do not know the reality and there exists a wider reality. It is founded on the realization of the limitations of our own intellect and conviction in the existence of wider reality. It is based on experience. While on the other hand, belief is a mental conviction in some possibility that we have not experienced. We may believe in the existence of God or heaven or hell, based on what scriptures say, without actually experiencing them. That acts as another like and does not really help much on the spiritual path. Spirituality is all about experiencing the real and there is no place for imagination or belief here.

Generally, we keep reacting to situations as per our likes and dislikes. We become happy, excited, and full of joy, whenever the situations are favorable and we become sad, unhappy, stressed, anxious, and shocked, whenever the situations are unfavorable. Most of the time, we get so engaged with the emotions that we lose the awareness of our true selves. We make mental stories and keep repeating the same. We plan a trip to a favorite place. Even before reaching the place, we reach there mentally. Even after coming back from the place, we keep recalling the fond memories. Similarly, the memories of hospitalization and the pain we undergo keep haunting us. Each time we mentally repeat these experiences, we make mental stories of the experiences.

Thus, we get fixated on certain emotions like a child who gets fixated on a certain toy. As we grow up physically, we realize the limitations of our perspective and become free of these childhood fixations. But the fixations that we form in adulthood carry with us lifelong. We stop growing after that. Coming back to Shraddha, it helps us observe. In the moments, when the emotional drive is too strong, probably not much can be done. However, in the moments when emotional drive slows down a bit, Shraddha helps us realize the limitations of these fixations. It helps us reconnect to the true self.

On the battlefield of Kurukshetra, Arjuna encounters two conflicting emotions. One to fight the battle to bring harmony to Hastinapur. The other is not to fight his relatives. In this state of confusion, he approaches Krishna with Shraddha. Krishna guides him to observe his emotions carefully and he realizes his limited perspective. He reconnects to the self. As the center of activity changes from emotions to the true self, he starts performing his duties with Swadharma.

Shraddha helps us observe the wideness of our true nature. We start exploring the depth of the sea, rather than surfing on the waves at the surface. It blesses us with precious moments wherein, we connect to the true self rather than endless travel in the reaction loop of the likes and dislikes.

VII: Samvedana: Doing it Vipassana way

Each life is full of immense possibilities if it is centered around the true self. We constrain ourselves by getting fixated. These fixations are contained in the rational mind in the form of rights and wrongs, in the emotional mind, in the form of likes and dislikes, and in the unconscious mind, in the form of pleasant and unpleasant sensations. We need to work on all these three levels of fixations together. We work on fixations in the rational mind by Swadhyay and the likes and dislikes of the emotional mind by Shraddha.

So many of us work on the rational and emotional mind and yet feel stressed and worried most of the time. We fail to realize the reason because the reason lies much deeper in the unconscious. Each of the experiences we like, results in the generation of neurotransmitters that make us experience pleasant sensations in the body. Similarly, the experiences we dislike, result in unpleasant sensations in the body. The memories of these pleasant and unpleasant sensations are contained in the unconscious.

It's not one-way traffic rather it’s two-way traffic. These pleasant and unpleasant sensations give feedback to the emotional mind. The more we enjoy these sensations and the greater the craving for likes and aversion for dislikes. This can be understood with two examples. We meet a good friend after a long time. Immediately, our emotional mind likes it. We recall the old good days. It creates pleasant sensations in the body. We like these pleasant sensations and want more of these sensations. This liking for the pleasant sensations gives feedback to the emotional mind that strengthens our liking for the friend.

Another example is encountering a boss we do not like. We meet the boss each day and each day we feel unpleasant sensations in the body that give feedback to the emotional mind and our dislike for the boss gets stronger each day.

Generally, working on the rational and emotional mind is not successful because of the strong memories of the pleasant and unpleasant sensations stored in the unconscious. Since we are not conscious of these sensations, they keep coming from the back door and strengthen our likes and dislikes. Howsoever, we work consciously on the emotional mind, and the likes and dislikes come back again much stronger.

There is a simple trick, we can fix this problem with. That is being aware of these sensations with equanimity. The moment, we become aware of these sensations and observe them without reactions, we break the loop of fixations in the unconscious mind.

It seems difficult to be aware of these sensations since we have got so used to the loop due to years of practice. We start with the breath. We are generally unconscious of our breathing. But if we wish, we may become conscious of the same. So first we start becoming aware of breathing. As we gain awareness of our breathing, we slowly start focusing on a small area of our body such as the tip of the nose, and start becoming aware of the sensations in that area. Slowly, we start becoming aware of the sensations in the whole of the body. While being aware of these sensations, we focus on their temporariness and not their pleasantness or unpleasantness. With this awareness, the feedback cycle breaks and we become free of the fixations.

We can become free of the fixations in the rational mind, emotional mind, and unconscious mind by the triple S of Swadhyay, Shraddha, and working on Samvedanas through Vipassana. Since the rational mind, emotional mind and body sensations work in a loop, we need to work on all these three together to get rid of the fixations.

VIII: Swadharma: Living life like Krishna

Coming to the fourth S: Swadharma, we generally take decisions in our day-to-day life centered around the rights and wrongs of the rational mind, the likes and dislikes of the emotional mind, and craving for the pleasant sensations and aversion for the unpleasant sensations, as stored in the unconscious mind. Due to these fixations, we hardly take any decision as per our Swadharma. Swadharma is our real nature. All of us are good at doing one or the other thing. Some of us are good at management like organizing a function. Some of us are good at fine works of art such as painting, singing, or dancing. Some of us are good at physical activities such as sports. Some of us are good at intellectual analysis such as auditing and programming. Some are good at exploring new areas of knowledge and teaching the students. All these are our Swadharma.

Swadharma has nothing to do with religion. It’s just doing what we are good at. We are not able to live life in Swadharma because we are caught in the loop of fixations. Our rights and wrongs drive our life. For example, in certain orthodox societies, the female members of the family are not able to live a life of Swadharma because the female going for the job is considered to be wrong. Sometimes our likes and dislikes decide the type of life rather than the Swadharma. For example, somebody is good at a particular subject but takes the other subject during graduation due to peer pressure. We like to move along the peers for the sake of social approval and that’s a very strong like of the emotional mind. Sometimes, our craving for pleasant sensations and aversion to unpleasant sensations drive our life rather than Swadharma. For example, sometimes our job assignments demand heavy-duty work and we become cynical and critical of these opportunities because they are not so pleasant for the body. In my job, there is one such example. Going on search duties (called raids) requires work in difficult conditions day and night. At times, we have to be awake for nights together with very little rest. That is why it is disliked by many. The unconscious mind has a natural aversion to such sensations. However, that assignment gives us a lot of insights into the world of tax evasion.

As we start realigning the center of our rational, emotional, and unconscious mind to the universal consciousness, away from the rights and wrongs, likes and dislikes, and the pleasant or unpleasant sensations, more and more of our decisions start getting guided by Swadharma.

We may look at the life of Krishna. His decisions were always guided by Swadharma. He did not, for a moment, think that it would be wrong to leave his parents and friends when he was moving from Brij to Mathura guided by his Swadharma to fight with Kansa. He was not concerned about the rights and wrongs when he ran away from the battlefield while fighting with Jarasandha. The rights and wrongs did not decide his guiding Bhima while he was fighting the battle with Duryodhana.

Krishna’s life was also not driven by likes and dislikes. He liked Radha so much but that like did not stop him from going to Mathura. His liking for Pandavas did not stop him from giving the support of his army to Kauravas. Krishna’s life was also not driven by the craving for pleasant sensations or aversion to unpleasant sensations. He joined the battle of Kurukshetra despite being so comfortable in Dwarka. All his life decisions were driven by Swadharma and that is what he told Arjuna while giving the preachings of Bhagwad Geeta to him.

Life of fixations around rights and wrongs, likes and dislikes, and pleasant and unpleasant sensations is very limited and shallow. It’s like surfing on the waves all our lives. On the other hand, the life of Swadharma is rich like diving deep into the ocean. We can not live the life of Swadharma unless we become free of the fixations. However, the opposite is also true. If we live a life of Swadharma, we do not get fixated on rights and wrongs, likes and dislikes, pleasant and unpleasant sensations, and live a life full of freedom.

IX: Samadhi: Directly experiencing the sea

Now let’s discuss the fifth and the last S, which is Samadhi. Samadhi means coming out of the well of ignorance and experiencing the sea of universal consciousness. Samadhi has developed a very negative connotation in contemporary society due to the erratic ventures of some people with “Yoga”. “Samadhi does not at all mean leaving the world. It is living life with the alignment of the center of the rational, emotional, and unconscious mind to the universal consciousness and our actions being centered around Swadharma. When we recenter our life to the universal consciousness, away from the rights and wrongs, likes and dislikes, and craving or aversion to the pleasant and unpleasant sensations, we start experiencing the universal consciousness.

Generally, when we sit in meditation, closing our eyes, we experience our minds full of thoughts. Different fears and worries start troubling us. Sometimes pleasant memories flash into the mind. We identify with these thoughts and start getting engaged with these thoughts. Thoughts keep filling our minds, one after the other and we keep flowing with them. Sometimes, we bring our attention back to the breath and concentrate on what’s happening in the body. In these moments, we start engaging with the body sensations. Sometimes, we feel itching, and other times heaviness in the legs or the back. We again start engaging with these sensations and attention is fully lost in these sensations.

There are hardly any moments wherein we are free. Sanyasa is freedom from the body and thoughts. As we work with Swadhyaya and Shraddha, work on Samvedana with Vipassana, and live our day-to-day life with Swadharma, our fixation with the rights and wrongs, likes and dislikes, and pleasant or unpleasant sensations drop. While sitting in meditation, we start being aware of the reality. We stop flowing with our thoughts and are able to look at reality as it is. We are able to witness what is going on inside our body as a third person.

In these moments of Samadhi, our understanding of the reality of our true self gets broadened. We get to understand so many new dimensions of our real nature that we were so far unaware of. This new understanding helps us get rid of the fixations further. The old vicious cycle of fixations gives way to the cycle of liberation:

All five Ss support each other. As our rational mind becomes pure, it supports the emotional mind to get rid of its fixations. As the emotional mind becomes pure, it helps the unconscious mind to get rid of its fixations with pleasant/unpleasant sensations. All these help us live life with Swadharma. All these help us experience Samadhi while sitting in meditation. Vice versa is also true. The experience of Samadhi helps us getting rid of the fixations of the emotional, rational, and unconscious mind. Living the life of Swadharma also helps us get rid of all these fixations.

These have been termed as different types of Yoga. In Jnana Yoga, we try to drop the fixations by working on the rational mind. In Bhakti yoga, we try to drop the fixations by working on the emotional mind. In Vipassana, we try to drop the fixations by working on the unconscious mind. In Karma Yoga, we try to live life without identifying with the result of our actions. In Raja Yoga, we try to forget everything and fix our attention on the universal consciousness. All these Yogas complement each other. The right mix of these depends upon the nature of our fixations.