Saturday, September 22, 2018

The Seat of Awakening

All you need to do is be an ordinary person, be sovereign wherever you are, and use that place as your seat of awakening.
(Ramana Maharshi)

People ask me for a process, a way towards enlightenment. How can that be? Don’t I write about the Way daily? Wasn’t the Tao Te Ching written 2500 years ago in China, explaining the Way in 10 000 poetic words? Not to mention the Bhagavad Gita, written in the country next door, India, just around the same time with even more specific instructions: do your life’s mission without losing much sleep over what exactly you get for it, it says. Express your drives and karma in a purposeful and passionate way. Yoshua emphasized the love for our fellow beings, while Buddha added compassion for everyone and everything. What else can possibly be added? No, the way towards enlightenment had been well-stated, if there is one thing we can add is this, claim your seat of awakening, it is right where you are.

I came across J. Krishnamurti‘ s description of rightful living, and I figured that this is as good a description of the process of enlightenment as can be:

To live without any conflict requires a great deal of understanding of oneself & therefore great intelligence—not the clever intelligence of the intellect—but the capacity to observe what is happening outwardly & inwardly, understanding the whole significance of living—which is, relationship and action. Life is action, movement, talking, acquiring knowledge and also relationship with another.

The brain has been conditioned, trained, to observe what is and to create its opposite: “I am violent but I must be non-violent”—therefore there is conflict. But when I observe only violence, the nature of it—not analyse but observe—then the conflict of the opposite is totally eliminated. It is possible to live that way—completely to remain with ‘what is’, then ‘what is’ withers away. Experiment with it.

Right action means precise, accurate action; not based on motive, not directed or committed. The understanding of right action, right relationship, brings about intelligence. That intelligence will dictate what you will do to earn a livelihood. When there is that intelligence you may be a gardener, a cook, it does not matter. Without that intelligence your livelihood will be dictated by circumstance.

There is a way of living in which there is no conflict. Because of no conflict, there is intelligence which will show the way of right living. (Right Living, Essence of J Krishnamurti, by Vinod Mittal)

You want to know the process towards enlightenment? Here it is: stop looking for enlightenment, just be one with the activity you are doing right now, the people you are hanging out with, or the conflict that is bothering you as we speak. Based on J. Krishnamurti’s description there are two different dimensions to the problem statement of rightful living, of being enlightened, the first is to figure out what exactly makes you happy, what to do for a living, who to hang out with, etc., while the second is to understand that no change in this world can make you any more enlightened that you already are, here and now. Do you understand the distinction?

Sure, look for what it is that you love doing if you feel dissatisfied at the moment. If you don’t feel fulfilled in your current occupation, look for that job, that degree, that promotion, that endeavor that allows you to express your passion and purpose. Same, with your love life and your friends. Look for your soul mate if you are alone, or look for your soul tribe too if the people you are spending most of your time with leave you cold. But don’t believe that any of these changes will bring you any closer to your final destination, enlightenment, you can only find more meaning and perhaps a bit more happiness. Enlightenment comes from the engagement with the present moment, the conflict, the longing, the aspiration, the fear, the excitement. Be one with whatever it is that you are engaging with here and now and you have found your seat of awakening right in the present moment.

Enlightenment is a feeling, a peace of mind, a mind blowing experience of connectedness with the Beyond. It is a Grace of God in the end. Here and now, however, are you with all of your tensions, conflicts, cravings and aspirations. Don’t do anything about them, just be one with them. No love relationship, no dream job or lottery victory can take those away from you, just be open to the present moment and watch them all dissolve into nothingness. That’s the process towards enlightenment, you dancing with the present moment here and now. The seat of awakening is right where you are. Claim it!

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