The goal of our practice is not to put up with crap, but to eradicate suffering in all its forms. These were the words of the guru who taught me Mahamudra and so much else.
That said, analytical antidotes to human suffering only help us cope with the endless pains of relative reality. Using only these seven flavors as antidotes to our suffering of body and mind is like using band-aids on the deep wound of our humanity — though I’ve heard it said that a complete understanding and acceptance of the final flavor of Mahamudra (that all we experience is the result of our own past thought, speech and action, or karma) is powerful enough to transform lower into higher consciousness.
Mahamudra practice alone cannot lead us all the way to enlightenment, nor does it remove problems; what it does is lighten the sting of our suffering by revealing the true nature of samsara. Once we’ve begun to unmask samsara, we must simultaneously begin to uncover our own true nature — which, according to great sages like Ramana Maharshi, is sat-chit-ananda, pure existence-pure consciousness and pure bliss.
The real journey of the committed seeker is an inner one which intensifies when we use tools such as Mahamudra to splash great arcs of light on to our individual paths toward the spiritual heart. To borrow Hesse’s poetic translation of the Mundaka Upanishad’s golden verse:
Om is the bow
The soul is the arrow
Brahman is the arrow’s goal
At which one aims unflinchingly.
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mira prabhu 
Sometimes I sincerely wish just good pure thoughts could end all suffering -that we had days when all humans would only think good thoughts, despite their professions.. be they policeman, politician, tailor,, soldier or dictator.
Even if we all tried to think pure thoughts – an impossibility until the roots of evil — bad vasanas or predispositions are simultaneously erazed — it would be quite a while before the effects would show — because each of us is carrying mountains of invisible karma. The only thing that burns everything down instantly is moksha or enlightenment — this is what the gurus say at least and I for one believe it utterly — or else, what’s the point? So glad you are back, Meena!
Brahman is the archer. Also the bow and the arrow and the target .
Nothing to do; just be.
Passengers on the Ramanna train need not carry their baggage on their heads.
Cost of the ticket: total surrender.
Yes, countless facets of One — and yet I must disagree with you, as usual, on the Absolute-Relative argument — there is a lot to do when we are in human form — and total surrender is a helluva job!
On Tue, Oct 22, 2013 at 10:01 AM, mira prabhu
What exactly is Samsara?
Ajay, one definition of Samsara is in Mahamudra Post #3 — the condition of being forced by the power of one’s own karma to repeatedly take on an impure body and mind. But simply,think of it as the particular and unique relative reality each person experiences — as opposed to the Absolute — which is the same in all of us and according to eastern phil is existence-consciousness and bliss (Sat-Chit-Ananda). If you google “samsara”, you’ll come up with a million definitions…
Your posts always make one think…..
Sometimes we do not know why things are the way they are (suffering etc). Accepting that fact and going with it is a great starting point for serenity and peace of mind. Sometimes I think we humans have invented religious and spiritual mythologies/concepts because they simply can’t accept that they do not know the answer to the question of how this is all done and why. So….karma, devils,religions, etc, are created so we can sleep at night. We tend to fill in the blanks with something when we don’t know the answers. Too often I hear people say that what they heard ‘rings true’ when really they just like the concept – following this ringing sound is a belief that what they heard is true without any fact behind it, just the ‘feeling’; that it’s true. So they go with it, calling it intuition etc. And so it goes. I do believe in the possibility of anything, but what I know and what I like to believe are probably two different things.
“The magician does not want to reveal the trick and spoil it for you.
Stop asking it to and enjoy the miracle”.
from the movie 1 Giant Leap
We are all magicians — if only we knew it! And karma is the machinery to effect that magic in our lives – understand the nature of reality, and then you can really play with it…
On Fri, Oct 25, 2013 at 10:15 AM, mira prabhu
Brilliant Mira ji as always.
Thank you, Harprit! I am just reflecting the brilliance of great gurus. Love!