Amanaska

“When we’re talking about the ‘spiritual life’, I don’t know what you are thinking, but I think it’s very important that we consider the obstacles in the path of spiritual awakening or spiritual flowering. And one may of course, write down a list of obstacles in the spiritual life,  like, ‘I don’t have enough time and I don’t find time to meditate, and I find it hard to do the asanas because my body is rather stiff ‘and, all that kind of stuff. And to talk about all those things, is to I believe, to remain in the superficial dimension of our understanding.

“The real obstacle, not only to the spiritual life, but to the very act of living itself, the one and only obstacle is the self. Now this is a very peculiar statement, and many people may not vote for it, because many people may not perceive the truth in the statement – that for every obstacle, in every sphere of life, in every dimension of life, if I say that you yourself are the obstacle, they are not going to make much sense out of it. So one has to be patient enough in order to give ear to the statement that there is a living and moving energy in the field of consciousness, which we have identified as the self. And it is the presence and the perpetual activity of the self, which is the hindrance to a harmonious blending with the whole of life. That’s my contention.

“And I want to explain that a little bit. So this applies not only to the spiritual sphere of life. It applies also to our professional sphere. It also applies to the sphere of interpersonal relationship, both within the family and out there in the marketplace, at large. It applies to every sphere of life. Now why is this obstacle so all pervasive- the movement and the activity of the self? Because the activity of the self kind of denies us the freedom to perceive life as it is, because this energy is so very alive and it is kicking, it kind of overwrites on what life has to give us, on what life wants to communicate to us, by saying that, before life is going to tell us that I’m giving you this, please receive it with Grace; we speak the words of the self, that I want this, can to get it?

“Now, in making a declaration, that I want this, can you give it to me, we have actually refused to listen to what life is whispering in our ears. Now life wants to relate to us in a certain way. And that tenor of relationship between life, on the one hand and ourselves on the other, is actually a communication between the Divine and us. But when we are not patient enough and we are not sensitive enough in order to be in order to listen to it by being silent enough, then we completely miss out on the communication between the Divine and us; by superimposing our own wishes and our own demands on what we think life has to give us.

“So, it’s a very topsy-turvy situation and we are not listening enough. We are not sensitive enough and we don’t care how life wants to relate to us. But before life wants to relate to us, according to a certain cosmic rhythm and a cosmic pattern, I think we are trying to dictate terms, as to what life should give us and what life should do to us. And in taking that very posture, I think we are missing out on right living and right thinking and right action and everything that is right and harmonious in life.

“Now this energy, which is kind of topsy-turvy and which is not allowing life to communicate with us, not allowing life to speak to us, this is the energy of the self. Now my contention is, that the first assignment we have to do, not only as spiritual people, but also as sensitive and intelligent people who want to live life fully and intensely, our first job is to get the self out of the way, because the self is full of mischief. The self is full of a divisive mentality. It is always thinking in terms of profit and loss, and it wants to win in every battle, subtle or gross between itself and life, between itself and a supposed adversary. And so long as this energy is operating, I am saying that you’ve missed out on the very act of living and that your life is a waste. That’s my contention. Hmm.

“So, what do we do? So we need to pay attention, whether we are spiritual people or whether we are people, who are not particularly interested in the spiritual life, but we are trying to live life intelligently, in the profession, in the family, at work, in the marketplace, in all spheres of life. We need to understand this very disruptive energy, which is divisive and which is conflict begetting, which is fundamentally dishonest, which is hypocritical.  Can we get this energy out of the way? That’s the question. Now this is an enormous question.

“This question was first asked not by the Buddha, also, but by the World Teacher              Sri. J. Krishnamurti. The Buddha addressed a completely different question. Can we end suffering? Hmm. And it was pointed out by Krishnamurti that the self is the architect of this inner suffering and outer suffering. Therefore, our first assignment, especially in the spiritual sphere of life, is to see if this assignment makes sense that we have to understand this energy called the self, and we have to see, if the entire momentum of this self can come to a grinding halt very naturally not in a very coercive way. No, not like that, but through understanding, so that the whole of life begins to move on a different orbit altogether, in a different dimension, where harmony and the oneness of life and the totality of life, that gains precedence. So can we do that?

“Now, that is the challenge we start with in Amanaska Yoga, to get the self out of the way. And for that, what should we do? For that, we have to study the self. We have to study its mentality. We have to study its operating modalities. And then we will find out if you do that without criticism and without judgment and without condemnation, that this energy will subside under the condition, that the Awareness, which is at the very root of our being that Awareness which has been atrophied, so to speak, will be allowed to function and allowed to shine on the activities of the self.

“Then, you will find that this disruptive energy of the self, becomes calmed and is tamed and is silenced. Now that’s the first assignment. And it may also be the last, and after that, you will find that you are actually free. You are free of what? You are free of the monster of the self. And once you are free, you’ve got the freedom from this very divisive activity of the self, this very destructive activity of the self. Then, you will act automatically very intelligently because the default setting of the self has gone a missing. And instead of that, there is another setting which comes to occupy its place and that is the setting of Prajnya or Intelligence, and that communicates with life that has a face to face encounter with life, that receives what life is giving us and that will ‘talk back to life’. And the whole movement of life should move in that orbit in that dimension that I believe is the higher way to live the human life”.

– Sankara Bhagavadpada