Question 232: Seek the atmic principle within

meadow The young Rama asks “What is flesh, what is body, what are bones?” The Sage responds with an insightful explanation of consciousness, chitta, what we would know to be the body, the senses, the mind – in any other word, our consciousness, our bodily awareness, our perception of maya, this world of illusion. The solution? Seek the atmic principle within and discard everything else, the Sage advises.

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Question 231: The Story of Muni Kag Bhusunda and management of breath

Kalpa tree In answering a question to the young Rama, Vasishtha is reminded of his encounter with Muni Kag Bhusunda, who resides in the Sumeru Hills in a kalpa tree. Upon questioning, Kag Bhusunda explains how he has both form and immortality, through both creation and dissolution, again and again, and again. Kag Bhusunda explains the process of kumbhaka, stability in prana and apana, management of the breath process.

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Question 218: The Many and the One

The Many and the OneThe human condition we are born into – Brahman itself – clothed with illusion and our selected karmas has us see, feel and reacting to many phenomena. We are e-motion, energy set into motion when we tumble out of the womb. How is it that we see all this varigated universe with all its life-forms when there is only One? This is the question the young Rama presents.

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Question 216-217: What is the proper inquiry?

the proper inquiryIt is said that we should spend up to 75% of our time in self-inquiry. Even those who take sanyas are encourage to mingle in society and observe their reactions. This is self inquiry. When you travel in a carriage, do you take the carriage as ‘I’? Look at the Sun. It gets reflected in a small pot filled with water, in a broad river, in a mirror, or a polished pot. For this reason does the Sun feel that all these things are ‘He’? Does it get sad when the pot breaks, or the river gets dry? This is exactly like that. If you take ‘I’ to be the body, then it is all bother! If you don’t take it so, you will shine like the sun, independent of anything else.

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