Hari
Om
'Freedays' are the 'gather our thoughts' days;
Q&As; a general review of the week so far…
Having
spent a week with folk who are at various stages of indifferent health, it has struck one how
much attached the spirit becomes to the flesh. Not that it wasn't previously
understood, on an intellectual level. However, when faced with a physical
example, it can be very hard not to say, "Aha! Detach! Detach!"
Just
because, for oneself, attachment to the physical aspects of existence has been
much reduced, letting the Vedantic understanding supplant the old habit of
living, it also has to be acknowledged that majority folk have yet to consider and accept the possibility of death simply being another stage in 'life'. This is what
Vedanta teaches; the body is like a suit of clothing, to be dispensed with once
used. If parts can be recycled, all to the good for the bodies which remain and
are in need of those parts; for the essence of personality which inhabited that
body though, it is time to get on with the next stage of experience and growth.
Taking
it one step further, Advaita Vedanta**
teaches that the departing spirit returns to source and is part of the ONE
again. It may have some karma balance still to be spent, therefore another
'suit of flesh' is formed and the spirit enters it. Thus the cycle of
reincarnation is set.
Advaita
allows for no distinction between our perception
of existence and the source of that
existence (called variously as Brahman, OM, God, etc). Its teachings imbued with indubitable logic, if read
well, and its examples and exercises applied, physically as well as
intellectually, bring the dedicated adherents to the
conclusion that All IS One and that One is the AMness within.
It
is not an easy thing to allow, though. The antaH-karana
(mind-intellect-ego-"memory") is itself an attachment and it takes a
great deal of effort to move beyond it. The ego-self becomes very, very
dominant and when we use the first person pronoun it is almost entirely in
reference to the contained and flesh-packaged, individualised self - the
jivaatman. Occasionally, we may stop and ponder, 'who am "I"
really?'... All too briefly, for then 'life' pushes in again and distracts us from
the question. However, there are a few who stick with it and begin to research
it more fully through the various techniques available. It can be through
explorations in artistic endeavour, through music, through adventure… endless
methods offer the possibility of understanding who is this "I". The
majority, though, only serve to strengthen lower-self, ego-identity.
That
ego-self attaches to other ego-selves as well as to the world of objects.
Somewhere inside there is the idea that to possess things and relationships
will keep us safe. Yet the more we are attached to things, the greater the fear of their
loss which arises, rather than an increase in feelings of safety.
This
is particularly obvious when it comes to members of family or pets being seriously ill or dying. Those who
suffer most in their grief are those who are attached in such a way as to
believe that their own life cannot function fully without the presence of the
departed one. Others will grieve long and become attached to that very grief,
as if it is a crime for them to take on happiness of any sort again. Still
others will grieve, but then find that life does indeed go on and they can
operate fully in the absence of the departed without guilt or excessive pain.
The Vedantin is not untouched by grief, but rather does not permit it to become
debilitating in the way it can be for others. Acknowledging the loss is very
much there and the absence is surely felt. However, there is also a sense of
relief for that spirit that it has chosen to move on and a prayer that it will
find an improved existence hereafter.
How
to sit with those who have the pain of breaking attachment upon them when there
is such a different understanding? Just that. Simply sit. There is no need to
preach or look dispairingly upon those who lack this understanding. The one
thing which crosses all 'understandings' is Love (with the capital 'ell').
Simply 'being there' (even from a distance) is sometimes all that is required
to bring solace and strength during such times. If the query comes as to how
one can be so calm in such a time of stress, the easy and honest answer is,
"Sit in Love for in Love there is no loss."
It
is within the mantel of Love that we can rest and drop our burden. In the time
of stress, we need not search out the big answers for what is that Love. All
that is required is to feel it and allow others a share in it.
**Vedanta
is the teaching of the Upanishads. As within Christianity, there are different
interpretations of the message. Advaita claims the unity of all without
division of the Divine; Dvaita claims all are one, but The Divine stands
separate; Vishishtaadvaita acknowledges the unity of all, whilst allowing for
the individuality of the Divine… there are other subdivisions also. On the key
points of life and its purpose, however, all the philosophical sections are in
agreement. Therefore Vedanta stands as one philosophy.