- Re: Yoga Archived Message
Posted by Gerard
on December 27, 2019, 1:40 pm, in reply to "Yoga"
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"BRAIN FUNCTION versus NO MIND Q. Why this insistence on having No Mind? What is the brain for, then? Some seekers are confused by the assertion of the Sages that the thoughtless state is the perfect state and that meditation is consciousness without content. They imagine that the ‘No Mind’ of the Japanese Buddhists is a negative condition, likely to turn people into cabbages. During satsang, one lady retorted, “But I have a wonderful brain! And I will use it!” My response was: That is like saying ‘I have a brilliant spleen, a magnificent liver, or a fantastic foot.’ They are only organs, not the originators of thought. Are you aware of what it is that is hearing? What it is which is seeing? What it is that smells scents and odours? Or what it is that feels? Of course, the brain is a sensory receptor that recognises and interprets the impressions received. But does the brain have ears? Does it have eyes or nose? The answer is obvious. Those brain signals are swiftly being transferred to YOU. Then who—or what—is it that is aware of what is seen, heard, felt, smelled and tasted? The brain simply processes and arranges information. The brain itself does not think. That is not what the brain does. Yes, there are ‘thinking centres’ in the brain where thoughts may be processed and stored. And if parts of the brain are damaged or missing, then its capacity as a receptor of consciousness may be impaired. But the brain is not the originator of the thoughts. Memory is like an old juke-box that that selects certain records from the storehouse of your past and plays them incessantly, in what would otherwise be the natural tranquillity of consciousness. When life quits the body, the brain may still be in a perfect state of preservation. So if it was the brain which was hearing, seeing and smelling, then why is it not functioning at this point and complaining about being carried to cemetery—when whatever you are is no longer there? Does a radio talk, sing and play music by itself? Evidently it is only a receptor capable of tuning-in to countless frequencies from elsewhere at the turn of a dial. Such is the nature of the brain: it tunes into various frequencies, but usually without anyone in charge of the dial. The mental/emotional selector turns of its own accord and chooses various frequencies seemingly at random. The whole of existence is an invisible mass of interpenetrating frequencies or wavelengths, and what is experienced is a matter of attunement to a certain signal. Every frequency of consciousness is here and now at the same time, just as the radio frequencies and television waves which are flooding the ether, needing different receptors to pick them up, either as sounds or pictures. The human brain is such a receiver. And at different times the ‘selector dial’ operates automatically, sometimes activating the frequency of the animal nature in people and sometimes awakening the Divine. Tuning into different frequencies can bring about Telekinesis, clairvoyance, out-of-the-body experience, the Near or After-Death consciousness of bardos or other planes of existence, experience of parallel universes, time travel, mystical or Cosmic Consciousness, right up to Samadhi (super-consciousness) and the Infinite Non-Dual Awareness of the Absolute. However, in the average person brain function is reduced to mere repetition (thought retrieval) and rehearsal (repetitative thought projection) syndrome. Tell me, when did your ‘wonderful brain’ last produce an original thought? What passes for ‘thinking’ in the majority of people, is no more than the welling-up of unbidden ego-centric and repetitive memories and projected fears from the reservoir of past experiences. This unasked for thought-flow is not thinking: it is an imposition on your consciousness. It is this useless and energy-draining ‘leakage’ of unwanted thoughts from the subliminal reservoir of memory and projection that causes us stress, anger, fear, lassitude, exhaustion and depression—if we allow ourselves to buy into the thoughts and run with them. We are not enjoined to be utterly thoughtless by the Sages, but to step back from getting carried away and believing in the useless ramblings of the thought-flow, which goes on by itself—without your volition—whether you want it or not. This cannot be considered as thinking, or the actual ‘function’ of the brain. However, if we have constantly practiced the refusal to harbour thoughts, either through mantra or enquiry into the source of this incessant mental-flow, then we may find ourselves in the condition known as Samadhi—the natural thought-free state we enjoyed as infants. This is not what is called a ‘mindless’ state, but the ‘mind-free’ condition of perfect clarity, in which spontaneous and only relevant thoughts then spring automatically into a pristine consciousness, untroubled by past or future. Not only the brain, but the whole body and soul can be considered as the ‘radio’ of the Self. And the Self is what you are, not the apparatus through which it is expressing Itself. ……………………… An extract from “You Are the Light: Secrets of the Sages Made Simple” © Muz Murray. (Available on Amazon or my website: https://www.muzmurray.com/you-are-the-light )" https://www.facebook.com/MantraMuz/posts/10220131534579061 The "original thought"..notion being very ego-centric anyway..after all we are just tuning in to what is freely available to all.."negative people" are simply on another wavelength..one with which you are unfamiliar....the "attempt at harmony" being an essential human concern.. |