Tagged: conscious

How to pay attention accurately? – Question by reader

“HOW TO PAY ATTENTION ACCURATELY? The funny thing about this path is that: I want to have experience whenever I want, as long as I want. The problem is when I pay attention inaccurately, I feel tension and no experience. But when I “just be” and forget about paying attention, I may loose awareness and become “unconscious”, thus performing wrong actions. So how to pay attention but not to feel tension. How can I keep my experience constantly and accurately?”

Dear reader,

Thank you for your question!
Life is a continuous experience. There is no need to “want something,” when there is always something as long as we are “nothing.” 🙂

In the physical world, we become “good” at “something” with practice. In the Spiritual world “to be good” is already inherent.

Thus, all we need to “do,” is to become aware of it. Our consciousness improves as we develop greater awareness of ourselves.

This “looking inwards” cannot be put in words as to specifically tell someone what to “do.” It is observation, looking, being appreciative, being aware of everything with an open mind.

As long as the mind is busy with “stuff,” and rapt into it, there will be “unconsciousness.”

That is why , “emptying yourself” (your mind) is what will allow us to be an active participant of the moment, then attention happens.

Tension is a product of a made up “I” (mind) who wants to control “you” (another made up entity.)
The “good” “I” who is spiritual, pure, knowledgeable, who needs to shape up the “vicious” “I” in you.

It is just an intellectual game. 🙂

“Attention without tension,” are wise words which are not meant to be understood intellectually. They are meant to be observed in ourselves.

Every time, we use our reasoning to understand a spiritual teaching, we need to be careful not to misinterpret it by adding intellectual reasoning.
We just need to observe that teaching in ourselves.

Performing “wrong” is done when “you” are there with your own beliefs, prejudices, ideas, standards, wants, wishes, desires, hopes, etc. That is with a mind full of stuff. That is being “unaware.”

Best wishes!

Detachment and Repetition: Keys for self-transformation.

detachment

When we become aware that we need to change, we understand intellectually the reasons why we need to change, however, many times we find ourselves repeating the same mistakes over and over.

This will create a sense of guilt and anger for, we are able to understand but we cannot make that change internally.
Then we blame the sanskara, the situation, our fortune, etc.

What happens?

As psychologists can tell us, we have a conscious mind and a subconscious mind. When we repress certain habits through just intellectual understanding, these habits may not be observed in our conscious behavior until something “changes our stage.” It could be a situation which made us “angry” when we “shouldn’t,” and then; we may get discouraged with our “effort making “ life. We will blame ourselves and promise ourselves that this will be the “last time.”

Let us talk about dreams. They will be there and those repressed activities will be so “real,” that we think are real until we “wake up.” That is the unconscious.

“Effort making” to change a habit then, will be fruitful when the unconscious is changed as well so it will be in harmony with the conscious. The same thing. To be conscious takes “effort,” but if we change the “unconscious” then things will be “effortless.”

That is why, “repetition” of something is heavily stressed in BK life. Amrit vela every day, Murli class every day, to do the drill 108 times, to stop for traffic control every hour; etc, etc. In that repetition, is how “unconsciously” we will repeat what we have practiced. That creates a strong habit.

However, this “magic” of transformation will not take place quickly unless 2 elements are included:
1) A sense of love towards those practices. If we do the drills or Amrit Vela without love for that practice as when looking forward to it; changes will not be quickly. It will take a long time. That is why, BapDada teaches with love. Otherwise, is monotonous. Tedious.
Even repeating the name of “God” with love is a technique used by many religions so, that love sooner or later will change the individual into a sweet person, who all of the sudden will see everything with that sweetness, with that love; that is “he will see God everywhere.” Notice, that the practice brings love in ourselves and that love will transform us when “practiced.”

2) Desire to transform by having no other desires: As long as there are desires in our minds, we will suffer. As long as there are desires, we will repeat the same patterns , our old habits and we will rationalize those patterns.

This is why, becoming detached from the happenings of life is a healthy way to understand the motive behind desires. That detachment does not mean not to enjoy life and everything that happens in it, but rather not being dependent on something in particular.

I may live alone. I am fine. I may live with company, I am fine as well. There is no rejection. No “control,” but just acceptance of things are they come. That is detachment.

In that detachment, there are no desires, but all desires are already fulfilled.

Note that love is born in that space of lack of desires, in that emptiness of mind, in that peace.

When we find peace, we find love.

Question: Dear avyakt7, When asked by a SOUL about your introduction, you wonderfully gave your realizations in your post. This SOUL would like to know on a famous QUOTE in SPIRITUALITY: “knowledge is only an achievement of the brain, whereas realization is the awakening of the soul”. Would you kindly share your CHURNING on it, for the benefit of SOULS in search of realization?

Thank you for your kind words, dear soul. Thank you for being a wonderful supporter of this blog through your participation! 🙂

I’d like to change that quote a bit: “knowledge is a virtue of the soul. It is wisdom. The issue is that we have forgotten it, because we have forgotten our “true” self.

Then, spiritual teachers will be necessary to allow us to remember that. That is BapDada for us BKs. When we use only our intellectual understanding to make sense of teachings without realizing that the teacher is pointing us into our own inner search, then; we will make out of those teachings a dogma, a rigid body of “knowledge.”

That “knowledge” is merely intellectual. Hollow. It just requires intellectual understanding. It will make us good speakers and good writers, but not “new,” self transformed human beings.

On the other hand, a realization is the understanding of the heart. There, the mind and the intellectual thinking is not needed. It is the unconscious “old sanskaras” catching up with the conscious the “new” sanskaras, so there is automatic change. In that change there is no repression nor renunciation.

A realization like that is true understanding….Awakening of the soul!

Thank you for your thoughtful quote, dear soul!

Best wishes!

Question: What happens in case of unconscious/Subconscious stage? Whether the “Soul” is sleeping of “Brain” is sleeping? Just wanted to know what is the relation between “soul” and “brain” during unconscious/Subconscious stage?

Thank you for your question! 🙂

In a nutshell: The soul is the driver of the car. The brain is the “key” to start the car. If the soul cannot find the key, the car cannot start.
The relationship of the driver with the key, is not a relationship but just a need if the car is to move anyplace.
Once the driver is done driving, he puts the key away. The key is still there, but it is not starting the car.

We can use fancy names such a “conscious,” “unconscious,” “subconscious,” etc. Key starting the car, key in the starter without starting the car, key in the pocket of the driver… 🙂

The interesting thing is that we feel those “stages” every day of our lives.. 🙂