INQUIRING WITH FRIENDS ABOUT THE GITA TEACHINGS: FB 2010

Kora Koos : Chap3.V43: O mighty armed! Thus realising That which is superior even to
the intellect (buddheh param), and submitting superficial self-identity unto the power of
That Self-existent core of being, let the hard-to-overcome foe in the form of the blazing
desire to always get and become more (kamarupam) dissolve. One friend pointingly
remarked that if soul is the passive witness then who will do the work of eliminating?

Rajan Sood Wondorful Koraji. Your post contains real wisdom. After knowing the
ATMA, which intellect will give importance to mind that always hankers after ever
unfulfilled desires.

Kora Koos @Rajanji! The real difficulty of language: the intellect can never know the
ATMA because intellect is but a mental tool used for processing and making sense of
information and events, whether material, academic, cultural or even spiritual.... The
ATMA is the One Life Underlying the Whole Universe reflected through the space of
attention. So ATMA shines only through attention: a state of no tension, of letting-go, of
surrender not to something or someone, but just surrender to the now. Intellect, through
its internal lectures, is boisterous agitation, turbulence and interference with the now and
thus disrupts attention. Disrupted and contracted attention cannot reflect THAT. This is
not some esoteric teaching or doctrine, but a simple fact that can easily be verified by any
sensible person.

Kora Koos Inquiring with you is so enriching! Thank you for being so inquisitive!

Rajan Sood It is the same case here as well. Like-mindedness is a very rare commodity.

Kora Koos When enquiring in this way, kora and rajan disappear and there is only
inquiry flowing and revealing...

Rajan Sood This is Ramanna Maharishi's " Who Am I ". When it is realized that kora and
rajan do not exist or are unreal, you are bang on. This is awakening.

Kora Koos @Rajanji! self appears when the space and energy of attention is focused,
compacted and restricted. In fact, it is this shrinking of the energy of attention that creates
the sense of self and the attendant sense of fragmentation and incompleteness, which it
then strives to fill up with so much stuff. Compacting of this energy may take the form of
obsessive desire, ambition, lust, anger, greed, pride, delusional thoughts, envy, hurt,
frustration, defensiveness, escapism, retaliation.... By the very seeing, “ikshana kriya”, of
this factor of disorder and sorrow, which is the compacting of the space and energy of
attention, it undergoes a very subtle change and starts to lose its compactness. It then
starts to unwind, to uncurl, to defocus and to open up. Through this opening up and
expansion of the space and energy of attention, the self starts to fast until it loses all
energy and withers away. But like any ghost or shadow, or like the heads of Ravana, it
can sprout again when the (im)proper conditions reappear...

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 Dwarka Kalantry I am reproducing the question I asked on another thread "Knowing the
Soul-subtle and in every respect mighty and meritorious, we must restrain the mind with
our intellect and kill this desire, our most formidable enemy." Also "The soul is above
all" & Bhagwan is asking us to slay the desire. The soul does not do anything it is witness
observer then who kills this enemy? Here is an abridged explanation to 3:43 from Sadhak
Sanjeevani by Swami Ramsukhdasji: Pain and pleasure are in the insentient nature
(prakriti) of the embodied soul, while the sentient (soul) does not undergo any
modification. But when it identifies with the insentient (body, etc), it has to undergo pain
and pleasure. The sentient (soul) by identifying with insentient becomes enjoyer. The
enjoyership remains in the ego (where there is identification of the soul with the body). A
man, has desire to enjoy pleasure, while self is naturally a heap of joy. Therefore, on self
realization, desire (for sensual pleasure) totally perishes, forever. Best regards.

Kora Koos Two birds, inseparable companions cling to the same tree.
One of them eats the sweet fruit, the other looks on without eating.
On a similar tree, the subservient-self sits grieving, absorbed, deluded by its own
impotence. But when it sees the Other Ruling-Self, in all Its glory, then its grief passes
away. Mundaka Upanishad

Kora Koos Atma me shudhyantam jyotiraham viraja vipapma bhuyasam (Vedas): May
we all realise our enlightening nature and thus rise above the clouds of impurities and
sins.

John Wilson Experience shows that conceptualizing Reality into categories of "work",
"struggle", and especially "eliminating" and "extinguishing" is a conditioned human
tendency, but is inappropriate when dealing with the divine. That which Loves and
sustains and transforms glorifies without the negativity implied in these words (by
knowing the wholeness of life). The "blazing desire" comes to know contentment through
relaxation, observation, awareness.

Kora Koos So. Thus realising, through observation and awareness, That which is superior
even to the intellect (buddheh param), and letting-go the superficial self-identity into the
power of That Self-existent, let the hard-to-overcome impediment in the form of the
blazing desire to always get and become more (kamarupam) come to a natural rest.

Kora Koos This interesting insight provided by Sir John gives an important clue as to the
proper approach towards handling the energy of the blazing desire to always acquire &
become something more. He proposes relaxation instead of repression & struggle to
eliminate/ extinguish it coupled with direct observation of the movement of desire with
awareness. So the desire is keenly observed with awareness as it arises in consciousness
with its demands, formulations, thoughts, emotions, projections and its focusing of
attention exclusively on the object of desire. This observation in awareness liberates the
space and energy of attention from its exclusive focus and, thus deprived of the focus and
automatism, the energy underlying the blazing desire undergoes a subtle change of form
and effect...

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Kora Koos As attention becomes less and less focused on the desire and its movements
and more and more open to relaxation & observation in pure awareness, the quality of the
mind changes from desiring to attending, to openness, to being, to the witnessing
awareness, full of contentment and freedom.

Kora Koos What an enlightening approach on this deepavalli night. Thanks to Sir John.
Pranaams. This relaxation and direct, immediate observation in awareness has been like a
meditation, revealing, insightful, enlightening...

Om Kiran relaxation instead of repression & struggle to eliminate/extinguish it coupled

with direct observation of the movement of desire with awareness. ...yes indeed......This
relaxation and direct, immediate observation in awareness is indeed like a meditation,
revealing, insightful, enlightening...have found this to be very much true.............

Ramaswamy Sathyanarayanan Kora Koosji, Simply outstanding contribution. There is no

other path other than adhering to the rules of life prescribed. No short cuts!! The key
word is to create a condition of Attention Deficit, for the burning desire. This can be done
only by concentrating on work as demanded by tour swadharma.

Kora Koos @Ramaswamyji! Agreed sir, the key is to be attentive even to attention
deficit and by pouring attention into the deficit, the latter loses its compactness and
contraction resulting in a relaxed, poised awareness of what is actually taking place, here
and now, both internally in consciousness and externally in relationship with life and
others. However, the "only concentrating on work as demanded" seems to another form
of contraction and exclusive focussing...let us meditate further into that for clarity and
understanding…

Om Kiran Creating a condition of Attention Deficit , for the burning desire.....this

definitely works out fine for insignificant desires.....but speaking of burning desires......its
like sweeping the dust under the carpet......things look okay on the outset, but the desire
remains under the surface ..smouldering......usually ending with a violent spurt
later.......such desires are best tackled head on......face them squarely.....observe them with
awareness, as an outsider......and slowly but slowly make it possible for Self to root them
out........

Kora Koos Meditation does not involve struggling against, repressing, escaping. It is
attending to any arising in consciousness or any occurrence in existence as captured by
experiencing with awareness and relaxation. It involves mustering the energy of attention
in the space of herenow awareness for looking at any actuality without any background
story interference. It is as if nature or existence is, so to say, looking at the arising or
occurrence. So through meditation, the shadow disappears into the Light of Awareness...

Om Kiran well said Kora.....