WHERE IS GOD IN THE MIND?

God is not in the front of the mind, in full view, but is just out of sight in the periphery, leaving some to conclude that He is shy.  God is not shy.  According to Vedanta, God is found in the fourth level of consciousness.  The levels, or states of consciousness, are waking consciousness, dreaming sleep, deep dreamless sleep, and then turiya, that pure intuitional consciousness also known as transcendental consciousness.

WHAT ATHEISM ACCOMPLISHES

Buddhists are atheists, although some of them allow themselves wiggle room by saying that they are agnostics.  Given a choice, though, most of them will say little on the matter.  They'll just say, like the Buddha said, that the existence of God is speculative philosophy and therefore has nothing to do with their central concern which is ending human suffering. 

Buddhists believe that the key to eliminating human suffering is avoiding attachment.  Attachment results in frustration, when, for example, what we are attached to is late to appear, if it appears at all, or only partly appears, and otherwise is unsatisfactory in some way, and believing in God is the heaviest attachment of them all.  It is a supreme source of frustration and suffering.

What atheism accomplishes, therefore, not only for Buddhists but for all atheists, is that it uncomplicates their lives.  Atheists, including Buddhists, are not forever looking over their shoulder wondering whether they are on good terms with God, or even, for that matter, whether they are connected with Him at all.  

CYCLE OF OPPOSITES

The push of night leads to the pull of day.  The pull of day leads to the push of night.  The push of birth leads to the pull of death.  The pull of death leads to the push of birth.  War becomes peace.  Peace becomes war.  Every opposite is resolved by its counterpart in a never-ending cycle.

FEELING ALIENATED

"It is as if this body belongs to someone else."  "I don't feel comfortable in my own skin."  "It doesn't feel like my life." 

Feeling alienated from oneself is something that we have all experienced.  The perception can occur at any time, but happens most often when the mind is turned deeply inward, into the ground consciousness that is the Atman.

Covering the Atman are five sheaths called kosha.  They are located one within the other and are what we experience as our selves.  Starting with the outermost sheath, they are:

(1) The Annamaya-kosha, which is the base physical sheath.  It is nourished by food.

(2) The Pranamaya-kosha, which is the subtle or vital sheath.  It vitalizes and holds together body and mind.  As long as the vital principle is present in the organism, life continues.  This sheath manifests itself as breath. 

(3) The Manomaya-kosha, which is the sheath of the mind.  It receives sense impressions. 

(4) The Vijnanamaya-kosha, which is the sheath of intellect.  It is the faculty that discriminates or wills. 

(5)  Lastly, the Anandamaya-kosha, or the sheath of bliss, which is the ego or causal body.  It is called the sheath of bliss because it is nearest the blissful Atman. 

The Atman remains separate from the sheaths and unaffected by their properties.  Still, it is aware of the sheaths, and it is in these moments of awareness that a person, who believes his true identity is the sheaths rather than the Atman, feels most alienated from himself.

NISARGADATTA MAHARAJ

"In reality, there is no death because you are not the body.  Let the body be there or not be there, your existence is always there; it is eternal."

"Discover all that you are not -- body, feelings, thoughts, time, space, this or that -- nothing, concrete or abstract, which you perceive can be you.  The very act of perceiving shows that you are not what you perceive."

"There is nothing to practice.  To know yourself, be yourself.  To be yourself, stop imagining yourself to be this or that. Just be.  Let your true nature emerge.  Don't disturb your mind with seeking."

These are among the sayings of Nisargadatta Maharaj, an Indian spiritual teacher and guru who lived in Mumbai between 1897 and 1981.  He was born Maruti Shivrampant Kambli and became renowned for his teachings of Advaita (non-dualistic) Vedanta.

With his direct and minimalistic explanation of non-dualism, he is considered the most prominent teacher of Advaita since Ramana Maharshi.

He gained worldwide recognition and followers with the 1973 publication of his most famous and widely translated book I Am That, an English translation of his talks by Maurice Frydman.  A free PDF version of the book is available on the internet.

WHAT IS A SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE?

What exactly is a spiritual experience?

A spiritual experience can only properly be assessed by its intensity, which is to say by the intensity of its after-effect on the experiencer.

Attempting to analyze the circumstances of the event in an effort to decide whether it was spiritual or not is a waste of time, for some quite external cause, such as certain drugs or an illness may have been behind it.

Some will want to know whether the experience was an hallucination, but it is better to ask what the experience has left one with, now that it is over.  A true spiritual experience, even one that is not particularly intense, must at least slightly affect the experiencer for the rest of his life.

The highest spiritual experiences can only be known in "samadhi."  Samadhi is quite unlike the other states of consciousness--waking, dreaming, and dreamless sleep--for it is really a kind of superconsciousness.  In samadhi, a person knows his absolute identity with the Atman, who he really is.

VARIETIES OF SAMADHI

"A super-conscious state in which an individual experiences his identity with the ultimate Reality, Brahman," is the general definition of samadhi.  However, there are technical variations of it depending upon whether it is in Vedanta philosophy or in Yoga philosophy.

Savikalpa samadhi in Vedanta philosophy is the first stage of transcendental consciousness and is where the distinction between subject and object persists.  The spiritual aspirant in this state may have a mystic vision, with or without form.

Nirvikalpa samadhi means, literally, "changeless samadhi," and in Vedanta philosophy refers to the transcendental state of consciousness wherein the spiritual aspirant becomes completely absorbed in Brahman, so that all sense of duality is erased.

Savichara samadhi in Yoga philosophy refers to the state in which the mind achieves identity with a subtle object of concentration, mixed with awareness of name, quality, and knowledge.

Nirvichara samadhi is a term in Yoga philosophy referring to the state in which the mind achieves identity with a subtle object of concentration, minus name, quality, and knowledge. 

Nirbija samadhi means, literally, "seedless samadhi," which in Yoga philosophy refers to the state in which all thought-waves are entirely stilled and all sense of duality ceases.

SATORI VS. SAMADHI

Zen Buddhists say that satori is not like samadhi in Vedanta, but a stage beyond it.  Satori, they say, comes suddenly and momentarily, and if it continues for more than an instant, it is not satori.  This is the view in the Lin-chi and Rinzai schools.  The Tsao Tsung and the Soto schools support a more gradually developing satori.

All schools of Zen agree that satori described in mental or emotional terms is not satori, as it is beyond communication and explanation. 

Satori, whether it comes suddenly or gradually, is an experience that is repeated.  Over time it brings maturity to the practitioner.  The initial experience, known as kensho, is the most important one, it is said. 

But then, samadhi is also repeated, sometimes daily or even hourly for a lifetime, as with Sri Ramakrishna.  Samadhi, like satori, defies description.  It is unlike any other human experience.

NEKKHAMMA

Nekkhamma is a Pali word translated as "renunciation," or "the pleasure of renunciation." It conveys specifically "giving up the world and leading a holy life," and "freedom from lust, craving and desires."

Nekkhamma is the first practice associated with "Right Intention," in Buddhism's Noble Eightfold Path.  In the Theravada list of ten perfections, nekkhamma is the third practice of "perfection," and involves non-attachment (detachment).

Worldly desires based on craving, cruelty to living beings based on anger, and the misdirection of one's own path through ignorance, are all destroyed by real renunciation.

Bhikkhu Bodhi is an American Theravada Buddhist monk who was appointed the second president of the Buddhist Publication Society and who has edited and authored several publications concerning Theravada Buddhism.  He describes the various and ultimate benefits of nekkhamma:

"Contemplating the dukkha (suffering) inherent in desire is one way to incline the mind to renunciation. Another way is to contemplate directly the benefits flowing from renunciation. To move from desire to renunciation is not, as might be imagined, to move from happiness to grief, from abundance to destitution. It is to pass from gross, entangling pleasures to an exalted happiness and peace, from a condition of servitude to one of self-mastery. Desire ultimately breeds fear and sorrow, but renunciation gives fearlessness and joy."