Kena Upanishads
Waking up to the Upanishads
Hmmm! I woke up, after a rough night of worry and concern (a chattering monkey mind :)), with those words ringing in my head as well as the word "Atman" flashing across my psyche. I am not Hindu. I do not understand Hindu scripture though I read some of it (but then again, I love to read all scripture from all religions). I especially love this translation of the Kena Upanishads. It makes sense to me. So I can see why it comes to me in the midst of an overactive ego mind.
What is Atman
Atman, I have learned about through my studying the yoga sutras of Patanjali. It is, as I have learned in Satchidananda's translation, "the Self", which is defined as the "Seer" or "Knower". (page6, 98) So I guess it is befitting that the mental lecture I received today on the Kena Upinshads used the word "Atman" as its visual aid. Atman is what sees, what hears, what illuminates speech and what thinks. That is what I come away with.
I Know Nothing
Anyway, why did that come to my mind? Why that and not something from my Christian upbringing? At least there I could fake some sort of "learned knowledge" on the subject. I do not have any learned knowledge what so ever on Hindu scripture other than what I read and understood in my heart. I, in fact, know nothing about anything really. Do any of us?
When my little me is in charge taunting and teasing the monkey in my head to act up...some wise voice within me tells me not to listen to the chattering it creates. I am reminded quietly, gently that I know absolutely nothing. Ego tries so hard to convince me I know lots more than other people do just because I "studied it" or "read it". ...but this wise Self, this Seer, this Knower...this Atman within me...that does know all...tells me that in my little form I know nothing while It knows everything. Hmmm!
For some reason I am thinking of Shultz from Hogan's Heroes repeating to himself, "I see nothing! I know nothinggggg!!! "
(oops...I think I might have committed some you tube faux pas by putting that video clip here. My apologies...totally ignorant in the ways of YouTube ethics and legalities)
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I Feel Everything: Our Youth Are Suffering
As I have mentioned, I have been seeing and feeling the suffering of others so acutely lately, especially it seems those between the ages of 18-25. I have been seeing, hearing, and being asked to help those who are depressed, suffering from a great deal of anxiety, suicidal and/or addicted to drugs, alcohol or other brain numbing behaviours. These individuals who report they cannot sleep, over eat or don't eat at all, or cannot even think about sitting still, seek bits of hope in some futuristic adventure that they feel requires mind altering substances. They come to me and I feel so helpless.
The addictive substances or behaviours used, I realize, are a form of self medication. The addictions become the focus for mental health professionals and are seen as the "problem" but they are just manifestations of it. The real problem is the suffering these kids are experiencing for whatever reason they are.
Not That Which People Here Adore
In their young and beautiful minds is painful thought activity that they try so hard to escape from. They do not yet see that they are not that activity, those thoughts and feelings...they are over identified with. They see themselves separate, unworthy, undeserving of blessing as they attempt to compete with "images" of perfect, exciting lives of perfect and beautiful people on their social media screens. They struggle to keep up with social expectation of what they should be not realizing how unrealistic and unhealthy that social expectation is...(what people here adore).
Not Taught to Be Happy
Do you realize that not in any part of North America's educational curriculum are children taught how to be happy? They are taught how to compete, how to get a job in a competitive market place but not how to be happy, as if it isn't as important.
Competing Against Unreality
They are competing against images, not reality. If they can not get at least some of what these other people have they feel like failures and losers. They have not learned of reality yet...of the true Self and of ego. They believe what is going on in their minds is life; it is who they are. So ultimate escape, then, sometimes means escape from self, escape from life...and we know where that takes them. It starts with this desire to self punish because of the shame they feel for not being perfect, then an urge to sabotage life potential through risky behaviour and then a desire to numb and most concerning, some will even end their own lives.
That is the reality of what I am seeing around me. I "Know nothing" but I feel a great deal because it is hitting too close to home. I feel heaviness as a result.
Why?
Why is it showing up in my life now? It seems like too many people and circumstances are coming to me at once to be coincidental. Why am I seeing and experiencing it and most importantly what am I supposed to do with it?
I don't know...I don't know anything. I just feel it...so I seek the wisdom of God (or Braham) , my greater Self, the Knower and the Seer within me. Show me how to help, I plea, or show me how to let go. I wait for an answer.
I think that is why I thought those words upon awakening ( my literal awakening lol) this morning, why I am seeing what I am seeing in my figurative awakening process. I am to learn something, I guess. Mostly, I am to learn to get beyond my own little me and my monkey mind to compassion, metta kindness and a sincere intention for light, joy, and peace for all. As we all are, I am to take part in the healing of mankind in some small unidentifiable way.
Not About the "Little Me"
I don't know much but what I do know is that it is not about the "little me" anymore. It never really ever was and I am sure it never will be again.
So I take these beautiful Hindu words to heart. I add to them the lessons from ACIM, that I opened up to this morning...Light and joy and peace abide in me. Lesson 112:1 Light, joy and peace (the Atman) reside in all of us and if we can at least tap into it within ourselves we will have something to share with those who need it most. We will help with the healing of the world. Is that not why we are here?
All is well in my world.
References
ACIM Workbook for Students
Not That Which the Mind Can think...(Jan 2013) Moonlight Way. Retrieved from https://moonlightenedshelves.wordpress.com/2013/01/04/not_that_which_the_mind_can_think/
Sri Swami Satchidananda (2011) The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Yogaville: Integral Yoga Publications.
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