Dharma thoughts: its just about remembering

Prachi, my student who think is more like a little guru to me, once said that some of us feel like aliens in this world perhaps because we are from some oth

er part of the universe. And maybe we are homesick. And then, any case, as all the philosophies assure us -- this lifetime would pass in a blink and we would have made this one part of a whole package of  lifetimes. Adi Shankaracharya says we have to go  through 84 lakh lifetimes to come to this human state which gets a glimmer of the cosmic truth. So, maybe it is all just a rite of passage and we would be past this life, too, in a jiffy.
All of this life, mirage, as all the Saints say, would not matter at all.  Why does that idea offer relief! For those of us being buoyed by a spiritual momentum, there is something very soothing about that thought! Others may fret, and crave a longer life or possibly a deathless state!

Here is Buddha's quote and was he saying the same thing?
"You will forget
and your mind
will lead you away from yourself
Remembrance will lead you home. "

I recall how in Laghu Yoga Vasistha translated by K Narayanaswami Aiyer the world is depicted as a mirage like thing, unreal as  to a child born of a woman married to a reflection. I tried to dig out the quote but could not find it today. But it is an exhilarating quote that speaks of the world in quantum terms, as an image that whose only reality is that it is unreal.

It seems some of us want something that is not of this world. Listen to this Sufi quote:
He (God) asked me, "Bayazid, what do you want."
I replied , "I want what you want."
God was pleaseand said
I am yours and you are Mine."
Shaykh Bayazid Bistami.
 

What does one want?

Nowadays it tires me when people discuss spiritual life as if they are out shopping and are discussing the best bargain. The other day I heard there was some lady in a hillstation who claimed to be reincarnated Satyavati and she could read your aura and help you attain some divine life purpose. Whatever. I think a lot of crap unfortunately is floating about in the name of spiritualism, and attracts shoppers who are looking for a find that they will never wear.

Spiritualism is a private thing and it becomes simpler and simpler, if you understand it is so. It is as if you revert to the skin on your body, instead of seeking clothes to cover up something you are ashamed of. So, yes, spiritualism is really back to the basics.

Here,a quote from a very practical Sufi book I picked up The book of Sufi healing, by Shaykh Hakim Moinuddin Chisthti

Once I saw the Most High God in a dream,
He asked me, " Bayazid, what do you want?"
I replied."I want what You want."
The Most High God was pleased and said,
"I am yours and you are Mine."

Moments of extreme clarity

Everything falls in place during meditation. But reality bites when u open your eyes. And already the intuition u felt is swept away. This is also the play of Maya. She does not like u to reach the goal, teasing you sometimes with sleep sometimes with dullness of mind, as happens after your lucid thinking. It is amazing. But u can give up fighting that. The veil opens when it chooses. We are lucky to catch a glimpse. But the veil slips back. And u feel you had only dreamt it all.

U can remember. U can do. You cannot both remember and do. The mind can accommodate only one task. If you remember and things get done any case. Here u can think of what u do when you struggle with a musical note you wish to catch. Sometimes getting the right attitude can help u catch the tune faster, without effort. Sometimes mulling a lot and splitting the tune into its technical aspects will help you get the tune.
If you use the first trick (drawing similar parallels to how we may train that slippery mind) of attitude, there is one catch. Sometimes you get the tune right, sometimes wrong. So, that is why while the attitude may help u catch on to a tune fast, you must still clean it up technically and break it up.

If you use the second tech (again using the same analogy for what u wish to do with your mind), then the problem here is that you split up the tune so much that the whole attempt sounds jerky. The breaks in the sound pattern are more pronounced and they jar. And this break in tune can make u sound nervous and actually tuneless.

So clearly using just one tech does not work, though each has its strengths. So also with the mind-watching.

Do u just remember? Do you just do? The thing is that as with the musical note, both aspects have to be constantly a reference in our minds as we perfect our skills at that task.  U may try them individually initially. Then together. The main focus, u remember while singing, is that of the attitude. the tune falls around it gracefully. As u swing into the attitude, you must remember also the technical breaks.
But you must not seek to do. You must just remember. This is the toughest part of the whole attempt actually and again a big hurdle. Because when we remember we also seek to do. That can cause that jerky, nervous singing.  Remembering calmly is all that is required. The doing happens around it.

Now, if we could do that in the living that will be another place we have reached in our minds. Free.