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attentioninwardsubtle bodystilledagitationselfrevealedvasanaspurifiedignorancefig.43harmonious thought and feeling states, unhelpful when they agitate the SubtleBody, extrovert the attention, and challenge concentration on subtle objects.Unhelpful vasanas are produced by the performance of activities, includingthought and feelings, from spiritually unaware states of mind.Because I don't know I'm an already peaceful, pleasurable being, i.e.the Self, I try to get peace and pleasure from a cigarette. Though short-termpleasure may be experienced 75 the practice is counterproductive because themeditator ends up concentrating on the body, reinforcing identification withit, and producing a dull state of mind. Smokers can usually meditate onlyafter smoking, when the desire is temporarily submerged. Were a meditativestate achieved by a smoker it would undoubtedly disappear with the nextcraving. The systematic destruction of the body causes increasing mental andemotional agitation, further reducing Self/self awareness.Actions motivated by selfishness and excessive concern for resultsproduce unhelpful vasanas. For example, unaware that love is my nature, Icrave it through others, and uncomfortably saddle myself with an agitatedemotion-dominated mind. 76Fear-motivated actions produce negative vasanas. Worry about thebody, health, money, gain or loss distracts the mind until it loses the power toenjoy to such an extent that worldly pleasures no longer satisfy it, let alonethe bliss of meditation.75 See “Removing the Wall” on page 4.76 See the discussion in Chapter 4 of Meditation, The Science of the Self, "A Daunting List").56
Desire-prompted activities produce unhelpful vasanas. Greed, pride,lust, deceit...religion's seven deadly sins...extrovert and stir the mind makingit unfit for meditation.WHAT TO DO?Consuming and enjoying x produces an attraction vasana for x.Consuming and not enjoying produces an aversion vasana for x. 77 Withoutan action, subtle and/or gross, a vasana will not be produced. 78 Whenexperience takes place and the mind is free of attraction and aversion novasanas are produced. If x is not consumed when the vasana for it explodesin the Subtle Body, it does not recycle but is removed from the CausalBody, assuming it is acknowledged, not reinforced by longing, or repressed.Repressed desires come back. Therefore, it is possible to add, change, ordelete vasanas.A person developed colon cancer and needed an operation. The doctorcut the abdomen to remove the cancer and caused the patient’s death.Though the operation was unsuccessful, the doctor was lauded for a nobleattempt to save a life. Another man walking down a dark alley after the barsclosed was accosted by a mugger who thrust a knife in his abdomen, killinghim instantly. The robber was vilified and sent to prison for life. In bothcases the cause of death was the same, a knife to the gut, but the killerssuffered quite different fates. Were the action itself inherently evil the doctorwould be doing time; were it inherently good the mugger would have gonescot-free. Actions in themselves are neither spiritual nor unspiritual, helpfulor unhelpful, good or bad. If the motivating attitude is the criticalingredient in the production of helpful or unhelpful vasanas, it stands toreason that changing the nature of the motivation will have an effect onthe vasana.CHANGE YOUR ATTITUDETo change our attitudes we have to cultivate mindfulness. Mindfulnessor self-awareness is constantly compromised because the vasanas extrovertthe attention factor. Mindfulness is paying attention to and identifying77 “Consumption” represents any desire-prompted activity.78 A subtle action is a thought or feeling.57
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 26 and 27: here, however, the subtle part, the
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 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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