Control of senses and organs of action - Atman Nityananda

Control of senses and organs of action 

Control of the senses and organs of action is of the most important factors for controlling the mind and dissolving desires and cravings for sense pleasures.

It is desire and passion that set the mind in motion, make it anxious, agitated and extroverted, and prevent us from maintaining peace of mind and experiencing the peace and bliss of our essence. Therefore, it becomes obvious that the dissolution of desires and craving for sensory pleasures of all kinds is the means to keep our mind calm, steady and focused and to experience the peace and bliss of our essence.

Among the means for the dissolution of desires and cravings is the control of the senses, the organs of action and the mind. Control of the senses and the organs of action helps us to control the mind, and control of the mind helps us to control the senses and the organs of action, so we should aim to control both.

Our true nature is experienced in the silence and stillness of the mind. So, the restless, distracted and agitated mind is the greatest obstacle to experiencing the peace and bliss of our true Self. To control the mind, it is of great importance to control the senses and organs of actions and at the same time over time to dissolve the desires, cravings and egoic tendencies that control our mind, senses and organs of actions.

To control the senses of perception means to prevent them from getting attached to the sensory objects thus giving rise to the expression of egoic tendencies and causing us to lose the calm and peace of mind and heart and to identify with them. It also means that we allow our senses to come in contact with all that is of a sattvic nature and prevent, as far as possible, them from coming in contact with that which is related to our ego´s cravings, passions, attachments and impressions of a rajasotamasic nature.

By not allowing the senses to come in contact with what our ego desires, we do not allow the ego to express and nourish itself. And on the other hand, by allowing sattvic impressions and spiritual impressions (which are also sattvic in nature) to enter our mind, we nourish the mind with sattva and impressions related to inner development and transformation grow in us. In case we cannot avoid contact with rajasic and tamasic impressions, we need to detach ourselves from the objects by deepening Self-awareness and withdrawing the senses from the objects; these two actions are, in fact, aspects of the same process. That is, the withdrawal of our senses from objects involves withdrawing our attention from objects and focusing it, as far as possible, on inner silence.

Concerning the organs of action, the most important thing is to control the organ of speech and the sexual organs.

Speech is one of the organs of action that keeps the mind agitated and extroverted and prevents us from experiencing the peace and bliss of the Self. That is why some of the great sages kept an intense silence and that is why they were called Munis (in Sanskrit), that is, silent sages. Sri Ramana Maharshi is one of them and also Sri Muniraj a devotee of Mahavatar Babaji.

Since speech is the externalization of thoughts, if we want to control our mind, we must also control our speech. The more we speak, the more our mind will be extroverted and distracted and the more difficult it will be to control it and keep it calm and centred in our Self. That is why we have to control our speech, keep silent as much as possible, speak when we need to, and avoid chattering. Speaking and especially chattering keeps our mind in constant activity, keeps us identified with our mind and ego and nourish egoic tendencies. So, controlling speech helps us a lot to control the mind but also all the other senses as well.

Moreover, by constantly talking we lose a lot of energy and, without energy, it is difficult to control the senses and the mind. As for any other activity, we also need energy to perform spiritual practice and control the mind and senses.

When we maintain silence in speech, we can more easily remain aware of the silence and peace of our true Self, be attentive to and observe what is going on in our mind, and effectively manage the selfish tendencies that manifest within us. Keeping silent help us keep the mind silent and this is the foundation for deep meditation and samadhi through which we can experience the peace and bliss of the divine Self. That is why, in spiritual teachings, control of speech is one of the basic disciplines to be practiced.

Another important organ of action is the sexual organ. When it is under the control of lasciviousness it causes the mind to be restless, agitated and extroverted. Lust for sexual pleasure is one of the greatest hindrances to spiritual life and to attaining Self-realization.

Control of sexual organs and dissolution of lasciviousness is of great importance to control and purify the mind, meditate profoundly and experience the peace and bliss of our divine Self. Sexual lust is one of the most potent tendencies that keeps the mind extroverted, attached to sensual sensory impressions, agitated, impatient, and the cause of other egoic tendencies such as pride, jealousy, worry, dissatisfaction, anger, violence and fear. It is the mother of all other sensory pleasures and also the main tendency that keeps us attached to the body, hence it is one of the main, if not the main, source of misery and suffering.

Control of sexual organs and dissolution of lasciviousness is also of great importance because conservation and conversion of sexual energy are fundamental and necessary for inner growth and transformation. In the sexual energy are found the most important subtle energies (Ojas, Tejas and higher Prana) which are the foundation of the inner development of the higher capacities of the mind and our spiritual transformation and higher states of consciousness.

We can control sexual organs through control of other senses such as vision, taste, touch and speech, control of thoughts and imagination and systematic work on eliminating sexual lust.

Ignorance and illusions - Atman NItyananda

Atman Nityananda at Babaji's Ashram
Hairakhan Vishva Mahadam

Ignorance and illusions

 Ignorance and illusions go together and assume diverse forms of expression. Living in ignorance (not being conscious of our true Self)  keeps us in a dreamlike state, the main characteristics of which are living in identification (primarily with body and mind, not be conscious forgetfulness (of our true Self), attachment, fear, separation, having false beliefs and illusions about ourselves, life and God and developing a wide variety of defects such as pride, lust, arrogance, greed, anger, jealousy, guilt, envy, hatred and pairs of opposites such as like-dislike, attraction-repulsion or aversion, sympathy-antipathy, love-hatred. All of these ultimately cause us misery and suffering.

 Some important illusions when living in ignorance:

 Perceiving and believing that the body is ourselves, instead of Consciousness, that is, identifying what we Are (Consciousness) with what we are not (Body-mind-ego).Seeing the temporal as eternal and not seeing the eternal reality (Consciousness).

Seeing ourselves and the world as what it is not.

Seeing the changeable as immutable and not seeing (realizing) the ever-present immutable truth (Consciousness).

Seeing the world outside of us and separate from us (Consciousness), when it is within us (Consciousness) and one with us (Consciousness).

Living as if we will never die when the only certainty is that death will happen soon (even 100 years later is too soon).

Believing that happiness can be found in objects, pleasures, relationships, fame, recognition, acquisitions and success, and ignoring that it resides in the heart, in our divine essence.

Believing that the obstacles to our happiness are outside of us and not within us, in reality, it is us, that is, the ego that we mistakenly take as ourselves with all its tendencies and programming.

Believing that others are responsible for what we experience within, (worries, anxiety, annoyance, fear, hurt, anger, discomfort, etc.) when in fact, the cause is within us (our programming, ignorance, emotional, energetic and mental patterns and tendencies and our beliefs).

Believing that we need to be loved to experience love when in reality, we are love and can experience love despite the attitude and behaviour of others towards us.

Seeking stability and security outside ourselves, in the outer world, where everything is unstable and changing.

Believing that we do not live in ignorance or delusion while we live, that we know while we do not know.

Believing that the affairs of the outer life are more important than those of the Soul.

Believing that the conditions for practice will be better tomorrow than today. However, we can only practice today (or better now), and tomorrow will be a new tomorrow, which in reality will never come as the only thing that exists is now.

What is flow and what does it feel like when you are in flow? - Atman Nityananda

 What is flow and what does it feel like when you are in flow?

Flow is the state that has been observed in athletes, musicians, dancers and others, and which according to their description corresponds to what in spiritual teachings is called Samadhi. Flow is something that occurs without being sought by athletes, etc., and is achieved through action, by the absorption of mind and consciousness in action. Whereas Samadhi is deliberately sought by spiritual practitioners and is achieved primarily by abandoning all action by sitting in a position of stillness. But there are also traditions and teachings that use some action to achieve Samadhi, such as the dervish dance in the Sufi tradition.

Psychologists claim that the flow state can only occur when the activity is very interesting, challenging and the practitioner is highly motivated and has a very high capacity to perform the activity. Indeed, these factors are very important, obviously the most important for athletes, dancers, etc., but in my experience speaking they are not exclusive for entering a flow state or Samadhi. We can enter a flow state even when what we are doing does not have the above conditions. That is, we can be in flow even when we are walking, talking, doing the dishes, etc. Of course, for this to happen, knowledge and skills are needed, which can be acquired through what we generally call spiritual practice. Among these skills, concentration is the most fundamental. However, purposeful, deep and steady concentration is possible when we develop some other important skills.

Csíkszentmihályi called flow "the secret of happiness". Similarly, for spiritual seekers, Samadhi is the state they aspire to in order to experience ecstasy, fulfilment, peace and limitless freedom.

Djokovic

Psychologists describe people in the flow state as being in a state of intense concentration, with their thoughts focused on the experience rather than on themselves. That the activity is done without intentional effort, that they are in control of the situation, have a clear sense of direction (clear goals) and that the experience is not physically or mentally exhausting. Also that they lose their sense of time, or that they have a concentrated perception of time (that time seems to fly quickly) and feel as if there is a merging of their actions and their awareness. That they have a reduced sense of self or even that they are losing their sense of self.  

Similarly, Samadhi is a state of deep absorption of the mind in the object of concentration, in which there is a total lack of effort and sense of agency (loss of the sense of self, -egoic self) accompanied by transcendence of the sense of time, and there is an experience of indescribable freedom and beauty (deep peace and bliss).  

Samadhi is the highest state through which we enter into complete conscious union with God and experience the freedom, peace, fulfilment and bliss of God. Prolonged Samadhi is also the means to completely dissolve the ego and attain full and uninterrupted union with God. This is what we call theosis, enlightenment, self-realisation or liberation.