The Passions of the Psyche (mind, Psychology) by Atman Nityananda

The Passions of the Psyche (mind, Psychology)

Passions (faults, defects) are psychological elements that are not natural or inherent constituents of the mind and psyche (psychology) but have developed in our psyche due to unconscious living and ignorance of our divine nature.

The passions or faults of the mind and psyche, in general, cause our mind and psyche to suffer, dysfunction, under-function (below its potential), and cause us pain and unhappiness on both an individual and collective level.

The following psychological elements (passions, faults) that we carry in our psyche keep us in a state of unconsciousness, ignorance, paranoia, separateness, misery, and unhappiness.

Working with and eliminating them from our psyche is of paramount importance for achieving our transformation into true human beings primarily and then into spiritual beings, that is, beings of light, love, peace, awakened, and living in conscious union with their divine nature.

This list mentions the most fundamental ones on which the rest develop.

LIST OF PASSIONS

Self-love, pride, Conceit, Arrogance, Narcissism

Desire as:
Love for hedonism (lust, gluttony)
Love of power
Avarice
Ambition, Vanity
Greed,

Emotions

Impatience
Envy, Jealousy
Anger, Hatred, rage, Resentment (and all other aspects of anger)
Fear, Insecurity, anxiety (and all other aspects of fear)
Indolence, Laziness,

Two important pairs

Like – dislike,
Attraction – Repulsion

Finally,

Attachment & identification with all of them

Without their elimination, there is no freedom, enlightenment, self-realization, and liberation from matter and suffering.

Self-enquiry, Self-knowledge and Freedom - Nisaradatta

Freedom from the ego-self is the fruit of self-enquiry

Turn away from your desires and fears and from the thoughts they create and you are at once in your natural state.

Q: Is not self-knowledge the reward?

Nisargadatta M: The reward of self-knowledge is freedom from the personal self. You cannot know the knower, for you are the knower.

Q: Myself, full of desires and you, full of desires; what difference would there be?

Nisargadatta M: You identify yourself with your desires and become their slave. To me desires are things among other things, mere clouds in the mental sky, and I do not feel compelled to act on them

The mind cannot know what is beyond the mind, but the mind is known by what is beyond it. The jnani knows neither birth nor death; existence and non-existence are the same to him.

Immortality is freedom from the feeling: 'I am'. Yet it is not extinction. On the contrary, it is a state infinitely more real, aware and happy than you can possibly think of. Only self-consciousness is no more.

The death of the mind is the birth of wisdom

Q: The person goes and only the witness remains.

Nisargadatta M: Who remains to say: 'I am the witness'. When there is no 'I am', where is the witness? In the timeless state there is no self to take refuge in.
The man who cherishes the feeling 'I am' is self-conscious. The jnani holds on to nothing and cannot be said to be conscious. And yet he is not unconscious. He is the very heart of awareness. We call him digambara clothed in space, the Naked One, beyond all appearance. There is no name and shape under which he may be said to exist, yet he is the only one that truly is.

Q: What about the witness? Is it real or unreal?

Nisargadatta M: It is both. The last remnant of illusion, the first touch of the real. To say: I am only the witness is both false and true: false because of the 'I am', true because of the witness. It is better to say: 'there is witnessing'. The moment you say: 'I am', the entire universe comes into being along with its creator.

The trinity: mind, self and spirit (vyakti, vyakta, avyakta), when looked into, becomes unity. These are only modes of experiencing: of attachment, of detachment, of transcendence.

Om! The three main objectives self-inquiry - by Atman Nityananda

 

The three main objectives self-inquiry

The three objectives we use self-enquiry is discerning our divine essence from apparent or lower self, investigate the psychological issues and tendencies and maintain conscious contact with our divine essence (the silent space of consciousness within) and be established in it.

1. To Discern our Divine Essence from the layers or 5 sheaths.
2. To inquire into the Psychological structures and tendencies.
3. To Establish our attention in our True Self, that is, in the silent space of Consciousness.

The 5 Sheaths: According the Advaita Vedanta our apparent self is constituted by five Sheaths.

The five sheaths are:
1. Annamaya Kosha (food-sheath),
2. Pranamaya Kosha (vital sheath),
3. Manomaya Kosha (mental sheath),
4. Vijnanamaya Kosha (intellect-sheath)
5. Anandamaya Kosha (blissful sheath).

‘Maya’ means full. ‘Kosha’ means sheath

You can read about the 5 Sheaths in the following text of Swami Sivananda: Discrimination between the Self and the non-self by S. Sivananda  

You van also read the book Vivekachudani: Adisankarcharya Vivekachudamani.pdf

A brief analysis of the different types of self-inquiry

Discerning our Divine Essence from the layers or 5 sheaths

Explore our divine essence beyond the body, energy, mind, intellect, and ego. Self-inquiry reveals the true Self within.

This type of inquiry is based on the teachings of great masters and spiritual traditions that help us to investigate our immediate experience. Based on the knowledge we explore one by one the layers of our apparent existence.

The purpose of this inquiry is to realize that we are not them and to discern our immortal divine essence (Consciousness) from all the layers.

Inquiring into the Psychological structures and tendencies

Dive deep into your psyche. Self-inquiry unveils the layers of your mind, helping you understand, overcome and eliminate egoic tendencies, emotional and mental patterns, false beliefs and overcome psychological issues.

We dedicate time every day at our place to investigate and delve into the issues and psychological reactions and tendencies we have observed during the day manifest in us.

This process allows us to realize their mechanical repetitive nature, their illusory quality, their causes, and consequences. Through this process we realize that we are not these emotional and mental reactions and we become able to stop identifying with them.

Finally, we use certain means, such as prayer, mantras and EFT, to dissolve part of their energy and weaken them as much as possible for the time being.

Short and Long prayer for the dissolution of Ego

However, it is highly recommended this aspect of self-enquiry to be used throughout the day whenever it is necessary to avoid or cease identification with sensory reality or mental and emotional reactions and make them subside.

Establishing our awareness (attention) in the silence space of Consciousness

The self-inquiry is perhaps the most powerful means to cease identifying with psychological expressions and sensory impressions and anchor our attention in the silent space of consciousness.

This type of Self-inquiry is a process by which we withdraw our attention from any objective experience and focus it on the silent space of Consciousness within ourselves. To facilitate this process we use some question or questions such as, “To whom do these thoughts arise?”, or “To whom does this emotion or impulse arise?”, or “To whom does this perception arise?”. The answer is, “To me.” And then we ask: “Who am I?”, or “What am I?”, or also, “What is the source of the Me or I?”.

This aspect of self-enquiry is practiced in both cases, as a seated meditation and as a means of remaining in self-awareness and detached witnesses of the inner and outer world moment by moment throughout the day.

However, this practice can be successfully practiced as the main or only method of practice by mature aspirants who have developed a pure sattvic mind that involves the development of important sattvic qualities or skills such as devotion, self-awareness, detachment, discernment, dispassion, clarity, one-pointedness of mind and steadiness of mind.

Less mature aspirants should follow a more comprehensive practice that will include a variety of practices related to all aspects of our existence aimed at the purification of the mind and heart and vital energy, the elimination of egoic tendencies of all kinds, and the development of the sattvic qualities of mind and heart.

This is the most direct way or method to focus and stabilize our awareness on our essential divine nature and finally establish ourselves in it.

You can read about the practice of Self-enquiry, The Practice of Self-Enquiry Enquiring ‘Who Am I?’ -Ramana Maharshi

The ‘secret’ to a plentiful life, a life of harmony, happiness and contentment is to have a sattvic mind free from desires and ego and to live in every moment in conscious contact with our true Self (Consciousness).

🌺 Peace, Love, Harmony