"[The] Self -existent [One] has [created] the [senses as turned]...to the outer world.Those therefore who [seek] outside will never find that [which is within]. There are the few who,wanting to know the truth, turn their eyes inward and in their own souls behold the glory [of the Self]." (Katha Upanishads, II.i.1.)
Vivekananda, Complete Works, page 231, Kindle
Are you one of the few wanting to know the truth?
Michael A. Singer basically opened his podcast from yesterday (I am a day behind in my listening) with what I read before going to bed and what I heard Alan Watts speak about in my meditation this morning. This reminded me of the teachings of Uell S. Anderson and it was like...Wow! All these teachers are coming together to point to this one truth. There is one truth in one mind and we are all that mind!
I could see how all these teachings echoed what Vivekananda taught and his teaching came from the ancient Vedas of the East. Introducing these teachings to the close-minded West and the Christian mindset that still believed/believes the insurrection and the Holy Wars were justified, must have been such a challenge for Vivekananda and Yogananda and others. Yet, there was such a simple truth in these teachings, as the above quote alludes to....that when one is willing to truly listen they cannot help but turn their eyes inward.
Singer started by saying how all teachings are some how related and then he talked about how our perceptions are illusions in a sense ...only there because of our sense organs. As part of the guided meditation I listened to today, Watts too explained how the outside world is actually inside. What we are perceiving and experiencing is just a result of sensory neurons and the interpretation made by the brain. It is an inside game. Non-duality, what Vivekananda and Vedic teachers taught, is all about this internalization of the cosmos...the creation of all in the mind.
I am the soul, the ever free; [I] never was bound. Time is in me, not I in time. God [as a concept...my input] was born in my mind.
Page 231
Everything else, is not a delusion, but an illusion. We are so busy focusing on matter, we do not see Spirit. We are seeing a snake where there is only rope and reacting as such.
We are never deluded. We always know truth, only our reading of truth is mistaken at times. You can perceive only one thing at a time. When I see the snake, the rope has vanished entirely. And when I see the rope, the mistake has vanished. It must be one thing
Both Singer and Watts shared today that consciousness, the One universal mind, gives meaning to everything. Focus on seeing the snake and you live in fear. Fovus on seeing spirit and what is beyond all matter, including all mind stuff and you see reality. Focus on seeing the rope (or the lines on the road) and you live in peaceful neutrality.
We need to remember that there is something very powerful within us...interpreting all this sensory information we are taking in. It is not the brain or the body doing the actual observing and experiencing. As Singer says, the mind is much higher than the brain. We are that Universal Mind. We are not the body, the personal mind, or what it perceives. We are much greater than that and we are untouched by what is happening to "this human" out here with its forever firing neurons. ...
Just as my soul is [to] my body, we, as it were are the bodies of God. God-souls-nature-it is one...Mind is something [which is] neither force nor matter, yet begetting force and matter all the time. In the long run, mind is begetting all force, and that is what is meant by the universal mind, the sum total of all minds.
page 231
As if reading the book along with me, page by page, Singer goes onto say how pranayama ( breath work) is one means of anchoring us to that Universal Mind so we don't keep leaving it. This chapter I am reading in Vivekananda's great works is about pranyama. Ironically, breath was also the focus in today's meditation, again with the purpose of keeping us anchored to Universal Mind.
So we as part of the universal mind are souls here to evolve. We are going to make a lot of mistakes as we do. We are constantly going to get pulled away from universal mind and get lost in the dramas of personal mind again and again. Instead of trampling down the self with self when we do that, we can honor and appreciate each learning opportunity that comes with our mistakes.
Be thankful that the dumb part of your mind[personal mind] made you smarter [brought you back in a round about way to Universal Mind].
Michael Singer
Use every opportunity in life you can, to turn the eyes inward to behold the glory that is there.
All is well!
Uell S. Anderson (1977) Three Magic Words. Wilshire Book Company.
Michael A. Singer ( July 21, 2024) Learning to Handle Reality. https://tou.org/talks/
Swami Vivekananda ( ) The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Volume 1.4.3-1.4.21. Kindle
(I have been reading this book for years now and I am only halfway through volume one. Can you imagine how big this book would be if it was in hardcopy? lol)
oops...just noticed I left my notes up lol
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