Ekta, you skinny-skinny Buddha....thank you for fattening us up with new wisdom, and showing us how to feed on our own flavorless sensations.
Your Satthipatthana, which in Hebrew means "Surface Surfing," allowed us to swim deep into our ocean's mind and send memories to the surface for pleasureless bubble-popping.
What continues to astound me is how you don't use any notes. Meanwhile, I'm nothing without notes, and here are all of them from last weekend as proof:
EKTA/SRI SRI QUOTABLES
1) The highest priority is the benefit of the other person.
2) Small talk is just for getting rid of initial nervous energy
3) You can be happy without a reason, but you can't be unhappy without a reason.
4) The senses' ability to enjoy is limited, but the mind's desires are unlimited.....when the mind says it's completely satisfied, that's nirvana.
5) My aversion to someone else's habits is the cause of my own dukkha. Though by its very nature it will change, only nature can decide when.
MOHIT'S SANYA
1) My biggest challenge is to not challenge my thoughts. But judging/arguing with your thoughts is only further tangling the cords behind your mind's TV. If you just comb all your hair forward, that is, just say yes and think less, the wires and hairs will untangle themselves. Unhampered hair is happy hair :)
2) Speaking of hair, don't waste creative/thinking energy on non-hairy situations. Your brain has limited problem-solving energy, so if you waste that on problems that aren't problems (i.e. what to wear, where to eat, when to call, etc), you won't have mental energy to solve what really matters (how to help, how to build, how to create).
3) If you're awake and unaware, you might as well be asleep.
4) Doing satthipatthana before meditation is like the deep sea scrub under your nails before putting makeup on the mind with meditation. And the stronger the satthipatthana practice, the less makeup you need.
What also helps both meditation and less makeup is dim bulbs :)
5) Letting the sensations sensationalize the whole body simultaneously is like the end of a bucket bath where you get to dump yourself with all the extra water. Except bucket bath finales are for enjoyment, and satthipatthana parties are for observing.
6) Waiting too long after meditation to try to absorb knowledge is like tossing presents at a closed garage door, for them to get later washed away on the driveway. Those moments after meditation are oh so precious, when your mind is momentarily turned into double-sided tape.
7) There's something so satisfying about knowing that everything is incapable of satisfying - no need to continue looking in between the unturned couch cushions of the world.. Observe everything truly "as it is," and take everything at face value, instead of pursing an insatiable search for meaning. Somehow, knowing that nothing means anything, it just "is," means everything.
8) We have graduated from witnessing our own life as if we're in someone else's movie, to witnessing as if every moment is a new movie. Don't worry about finding sequence in the scenes; after all, life is an incongruent comedy. And if you're observing "as it is," then what does it matter as it was?
9) Manipulating the breath, instead of just observing the breath, is like using formula instead of breastfeeding........it's easier but less natural
(this analogy is from my personal experience as a former mother)
Most inputs that my mind observes still come out a shade of pink that could've only been laundered by an analytical shade of red.
The other day, I was waiting in line at Kroger, and overheard a guy behind me tell his friend "...and thank god I'm off on Wednesday night." My mind's factory processed this as "oh they have a weeknight job, oh they don't have a salaried job, oh I'm better than them........then another layer of the mind's tiramisu noticed me noticing this, and applauded for noticing at all.
Even my ego has an ego.
But Buddha's 'loving-kindness" technique in lines and times like these can help - simply speaking, instead of thinking how others are different, you simply wish others the upmost happiness - it's a quick-fix-clean of hiding everything in your closet before your in-laws come. Eventually, these judgy/fudgy habit-patterns will have to be properly cleaned instead of temporarily hidden.
I still remember watching watching one of the first Ashtavakra videos for the first time in Jayshree's basement, oh so long ago.....probably the same year that India gained independence. Ekta was describing dispassion, and I challenged that it's passion that creates creativity. She said ask Aditya, he has a lot to say on this subject, to which I thought, "who the hell is Aditya?"
Then, a skinny Shah Rukh Khan started speaking from the side, and explained how dispassion in fact enhances creativity.
When Aditya says something, it immediately makes sense, so you agree....... but then doubt seeps through later, as you understand that you've understood nothing.
Only in this past week did I truly finally understand this, at the experiential level. And regardless, if I have to choose between being interesting and passionate instead of boring and happy, give me boring and happy.
FOLLOW-UP QUESTIONS (in order of difficulty)
1) Who are you?
2) Who am I?
3) If you feel the mind analyzing (sanya-izing), do you immediately search your body for corresponding sensations? It's like, if you're wearing loose pants and suddenly feel a draft on your butt, do you immediately reach for your ankles?
4) What's your favorite color?
Love,
Mohit