maya and ignorance

[Guest guest]

Gloria;

 

 

We can examine this matter from two perspectives: one's experience and

nondual philosophy.

 

Experience goes first, cause it is most important.

 

One goes to the opera. One cannot understand, perhaps, the words, but one

loves the beauty of the voices. The divine music sends thrills through the

body.

 

It is much like this when experiencing the world as the Voice of the

Mother. One loves the Voice but one may not understand the words. What is

most real about reality? The Mother's Voice is Permanent, universal, Real.

The words of Mother's song are transitory. We love the words not only for

the words themselves-which we may or may not understand--or appreciate, but

for the experience of the Sensation of the Mother's Voice (Manifest

Reality). It's like having a cake--and falling in love with the cake.

Eating the cake is an added bonus., but not essential to our love of the

cake for its own sake.

 

Like you, I love the world that I see and hear. Impermanent reality, is

equally as real and marvelous as Unmanifest Reality--especially when one

considers that it is all our very own body, our own voice. The

realization we arrive at is that it is the activity of tasting, hearing,

seeing, feeling that we love. When we fall in love with the activity of

Awareness we do change.

 

Sounds that we once heard and registered as annoying become less

noticeable--seem to disappear. If one asked you, isn't that sound

annoying, you might reply--"Yes, I suppose so. I hadn't noticed." One may

not enjoy each and every individual scent or flavor, but one falls so in

love with aroma, with taste, that one simply doesn't eat what one may not

like--an takes no notice or thought about 'hating' this flavor or that.

One's discernment doesn't depart, as one falls in love with Awareness, but

the doer and the done tend to just disappear into the love of doing--for

its own sake.

 

Monks in India have been witnessed smearing their bodies with feces. It is

not the particular odor of feces that they love, it is the marvelous

activity of Awareness that smell Is. And so, even shit smells good when

one loves the Awareness that is Smell.

 

Kashmir Shaivism often uses the term 'ignorance'. The Shiva Sutras say

that Universal Awareness is One's own nature. Ignorance is being unaware

of Universal Awareness as one's own nature. Universal Awareness means just

that: universal--excluding nothing.

 

The nondual Shaivism of Kashmir teaches that Universal Awareness is

Creative--active: dynamic. Swami Chetanananda writes admirably about this

in his texts, Dynamic Stillness. But from my own perspective, his books

while very practical and useful, do not always effectively characterize how

one's consciousness transforms when transformation occurs.

 

This is important because when one hears the Zen Buddhist speak of

No-mind, the nondual Shaivite will understand this precisely--by virtue of

Her experience of setting aside the sensations of her particular mind, body

and ego, and recognizing the Source of all experiencing. In perfect

stillness, she discovers absolute perception--and cannot help but fall in

love with all that she perceives. She will realize that her perception is

Her own nature as Perceiving, that She is Perfect Awareness of Her own

Sensation Body.

 

Why is She creative?

 

Because this is Her nature as extraordinary Bliss.

 

Here is my view: God, as an active, creative Siva exists. But to think of

Siva, and Siva's will to create, (knowledge, will and action), as a

'personality' in the traditional, human, linear sense of personality, is, I

believe, a mistake. The One Universal Moment contains infinite moments

each containing the One Universal Moment. From a very practical,

experiential perspective, the Sensation of Being God, that is, infinitely

diverse while equally absolutely One, is so overwhelmingly marvelous that

it is the Self's nature to Be Manifestingly. I effervesce. That is my

true Personality. I effervesce not because I must do so, but because my

joy is so great that it is my nature to overflow. That is what recognizing

one's nature as all-inclusive Awareness feels like. I love my

aliveness--so much so that I flow absolutely freely.

 

Hmm, come to think of it, this probably covers the philosophy part.

 

Let me know if this is useful to you, Gloria.

 

Madhya