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here, however, the subtle part, the soul, 30 does not miraculously dematerializewhen the physical body gives up the ghost.The theory of reincarnation suggests that when the physical body dies,the conscious mind separates and, propelled by the momentum of all previousactivities, seeks out and takes up residence in the fertilized egg implanted inthe uterine wall a short time after conception. Before this marvelous event,experienced by the mother as “quickening,” no separate being lives in themother’s body. Now that the individual has secured a point of entry into thematerial world it gestates until it’s capable of living outside the womb whereit can work out unfilled samskaras.The samskaras, like seeds, carry a sort of psychic DNA, thepotentialities and proclivities built up in previous births. Exceedinglydynamic, they supply both the blueprint for the new life and the energynecessary to translate it into living reality, the so-called "will to live." On thephysical level they program the DNA, the determinant of physicalcharacteristics, and on the psychological, the information that will outpictureas the subtle body (mind, intellect, ego), the character or personality that willdevelop. Their technical Sanskritic term is “vasanas,” fragrances, or“samskaras,” 31 formations, and their psychological address is the karanasharira, the Causal Body, or in western terminology, the Unconscious. Theseseedlike energy "waves" of consciousness, being subtler than physical matterare unaffected by the death and rebirth of the body. When a new physicalentity is established in the uterine wall they propel the subtle body to enterthe physical. The parent's samskaras are instrumental in attracting aparticular individual to the womb. Though there are apparently exceptions,nature, through the agency of the macrocosmic mind, matches reincarnatingsouls with parents who can supply them with the situation necessary tocontinue their spiritual evolution. Thus matter, from the reincarnationperspective, is thought to be a creation of Consciousness for the purpose ofIt's spiritual evolution.How do we know of this hidden process? Obviously the senses areuseless because they cease to function at death and are incapable ofperceiving the vasanas which are even subtler than subatomic wave/particles.Inference, a valid means of knowledge, suggests that reincarnation happensbut doesn't reveal how seeds of past activity manifest in the present.Reincarnationists claim that this knowledge is obtained directly from yogis30 I’ve used the word “soul” in these commentaries to refer to the Subtle Body.31 A vasana is the trace left in the sub or unconscious by an individual action or thought. When a number ofvasanas accumulate they become a samskara, a fomation, or complex.26
who, through a mystic method, remain conscious during the birth/deathprocess. 32Intriguing as the idea may be, physical reincarnation plays a modestspiritual role. The opening stanza, it will be noted, does not list a singlephysical qualification for liberation. Though pursuit of spiritual goals maybe enhanced by a healthy body, physical suffering often motivates strivingfor higher goals. Spirituality is concerned with an individual’s bodilyattachments, opinions, ideas, and attitudes - not the body itself which theverse says is just a counter across which experience is transacted.To counteract the tendency to glamorize, romanticize, and worship itwe should remind ourselves that it is little more than a meaty waste tube.Filled with blood, bile, mucus, urine, and feces it is a breeding ground fordisease, and only seems sentient because of its association with andproximity to the spiritual essence enlivening it. Merely an instrument, itshould be neither venerated nor reviled.Pleasure and pain, neither inherently good nor bad, are instructionalstimuli delivered by the body to the conscious being within who interpretsthem according its vasana-induced conditioning.Only with a dispassionate knowledge of the body can bodyconsciousness be transcended, the first self-realization stage. Conversely, anunscientific understanding of this dearest of conditionings makes spiritualprogress next to impossible. The idea behind meditation is to separate thespiritual essence, the living being, from the non-living material conditioningssurrounding it. These conditionings may be visualized as layers clinging to acentral core - like an onion. Discrimination, 33 the technique unfolded in thistext, is peeling off the layers in one’s understanding to get at the essence, theSelf. The next layer after the gross body,"The Subtle Body, is composed ofthe instruments of experience:the ten senses, the five pranas, mind and intellect."(13)The ten organs are: eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin, hands, feet, speech,anus, and sex. The activities of the organs are controlled by the life force orprana which is responsible for health and vitality. The prana in its passive32 A fascinating book, “Introduction to Tantra,” by Lama Yeshe, as do many Eastern texts, discusses thisprocess in detail.33 Viveka27
Page 1 and 2: SELF-KNOWLEDGE"I am composing this
Page 3: REMOVING THE WALLIf happiness or un
Page 8 and 9: "Action cannot remove ignorancefor
Page 10 and 11: lowing blissful cosmic experiences,
Page 12 and 13: Something tells me this knowledge s
Page 14 and 15: ody.We aren’t our feelings and em
Page 16 and 17: The belief that I am a waker comes
Page 18 and 19: If I’m the sleeper ego, the bliss
Page 20 and 21: itself out and disappears back into
Page 22 and 23: imaginations; ego, filled with self
Page 24 and 25: The next few days saw many experien
Page 28 and 29: state manifests as awareness and ac
Page 30 and 31: At this point in the text the “No
Page 32 and 33: time when it was appropriate? Greed
Page 34 and 35: Simply knowing that everything is a
Page 36 and 37: in the light of the Self.”(19)Tho
Page 38 and 39: ationalized or self-validating cred
Page 40 and 41: through which the Enlightened Being
Page 42 and 43: Of course the idea of a deluded Sel
Page 44 and 45: Since ultimately all transactions,
Page 46 and 47: Nearly everyone has, at moments of
Page 48 and 49: The complex process of experience i
Page 50 and 51: can't. The creative process is, acc
Page 52 and 53: eautifully mixed by the Mind (see "
Page 54 and 55: (Intellect's preoccupation with the
Page 56 and 57: attentioninwardsubtle bodystilledag
Page 58 and 59: attitudes, especially those which e
Page 60 and 61: specific results. For example, we t
Page 62 and 63: DESIRE IS STRESSOne major source of
Page 64 and 65: Meditation and Self knowledge go ha
Page 66 and 67: Put together, the sattvic elements
Page 68 and 69: Sleep is a symbol for ignorance, an
Page 70 and 71: THE BODYNo particular physical posi
Page 72 and 73: THE BREATHThe breath, as you’ve u
Page 74 and 75: If the ego insists on intruding, ma
Page 76 and 77:
of objects in the Self alone and ex
Page 78 and 79:
(40)One symptom of enlightenment si
Page 80 and 81:
“As dawn dispels darkness before
Page 82 and 83:
Listen carefully to the next conver
Page 84 and 85:
This, the last, and the next five v
Page 86 and 87:
Imagine Consciousness arranged in l
Page 88 and 89:
nothing more is to be seen, and whi
Page 90 and 91:
The word, it is said, "killeth." Ho
Page 92 and 93:
agitationattentionfactor“Third Ey
Page 94:
OM TAT SAT94
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