Right response is Meditation in action.

Yesterday and today was stimulator class in my driving training program. It is like virtual driving. Road will be seen on the screen and I have to drive the car virtually.  Since it was the first time, it was too difficult for me to see the rear view mirror, side view mirror and the road ahead.  I did not get the steering wheel in my control.  Yesterday I drove the car many times on platform and kicked few posts as well. Today, it was much better. With all my attention, I could able to drive in the lane.  Even if I loose one second attention, then anything can happen.

Attention is very very important.  Just as we give attention while driving we must pay attention to our living too. Body is the vehicle and the mind is driver. An attentive mind knows how to drive the car. It takes appropriate decisions at appropriate places.  Even a moment of inattentiveness may lead to accident.

While cooking a curry, suddenly a doubt came, whether I put salt or not.  I must be thinking something else while cooking, that's why I was not sure about whether I put salt or not. This is inattentiveness.  Thoughts of doubt arise when there is no inner sureness. Inner sureness can come only to an attentive mind.

 Attention is gnana shakthi. 

 Attention is the ability to know. 

 Now, I can see why people are often struggle to take decisions.  Most of us live our life with forgetfulness. We don't do anything with full attention.  An attentive mind is like a bright light showing the road and signals ahead clearly.  It is very natural for an attentive mind to find out its way, when to turn left and when to turn right, which speed to go and easiest route to the destination and the journey too will be enjoyable.

Right decisions are the fruit of right living. Right living is living every moment in attention.  Right actions can happen if we live our life 24 hours daily with attentiveness.

The right response is meditation in action. 

I am a little bubble

 I am a little bubble
Standing in between sky and ocean
Father the sky
Mother the ocean
As a combination of both of them
I hold his hands 
And roll on her lap
Fun and frolic
With winds of desire

May this bubble
Dissove and Disappear

I am Here and Now
One with Sky and ocean.
Forever and ever.

You are not the elements

Ashtavakra Gita
Chapter 1 - Verse 3

You do not consist of the elements - earth, water, fire, air or even ether. To be liberated, know yourself as consisting of consciousness, the witness of these. 1.3

If only you will remain resting in consciousness, seeing yourself as distinct from the body, then even now you will become happy, peaceful and free from bonds. 1.4

The body is born out of the earth. It is growing by getting energy from air, water and sunlight. When it dies, it disintegrates and get back to the elemental level.  The cellular functions, respiration, digestion, formation of blood, bone and muscle are happening on its own without our intervention.  It's fully controlled by Nature and it works smoothly according to the predetermined programming.  

Son, do not associate yourself with those elements.  This association is the bondage. 

You say, I am ugly or beautiful. I am young or old. I am stupid or wise. I am healthy or sick.  Beauty, health, sickness, young and old are related to the body. Mind is nothing but a subtle part of the body.  Just as the body hormones fluctuates, the moods of the mind swings.  Either of them are not in your control.  The food only converts into body and mind in a course of time. World is nothing but  the play and interplay of bodies and minds which are basically elements.  

You are not the body or mind and you are not the enjoyer of both too.  

The only relationship you can have with this world is to be a witness. 

 The movie is on the screen of your mind and you be seated and watch the show.  You are not the screen, you are not a character, you do not go through the experiences.  You are not lost in the drama. You are mere the witness of all happenings.  

To be liberated, know yourself separate from all these happenings.  Seeing yourself distinct from the body, you are happy, peaceful and free now. 

Ashtavakra gita - The five principles

Ashtavakra gita
Chapter 1
Verse 1&2

Janaka: 

How is knowledge to be acquired? How is liberation to be attained? And how is dispassion to be reached? Tell me this, sir.

Janaka would have felt that something is missing in his life in spite of having huge wealth, fame and pleasures that life can offer. There was yet something to be acquired, attained and reached. He wanted to have knowledge, liberation and dispassion. He must have felt suffering because of ignorance, bondage and passion. So, he asked for the opposites, knowledge, liberation and dispassion.  

He was not only a great king of a huge nation, but he was scholarly too. He has studied the Vedic literature and have enough skills and knowledge to rule the kingdom. But, he felt that the knowledge was not sufficient to dispel the darkness in his heart. So, he wanted to acquire knowledge from Ashtavakra who was a liberated sage. 

What is the bondage? What made him ask for liberation?  He was a king and he had all the freedom to do whatever he wanted to do. He could go wherever he wanted to go. Still, he felt himself to be bound and constrained. He wanted freedom.  Freedom from what?  Freedom from his habits and patterns. 

 Everybody wants to be happy and free, but what does not allow one to be happy and free is their own habits and patterns. They are bound by  body and mind.  Body and mind go through tremendous change every moment influenced by the environment and circumstances. The state of body and mind is fluctuating and this fluctuation causes pain and suffering. 

Freedom is freedom from fluctuation. 

As an intelligent man, Janaka has noticed that his passions were not letting him to rest and relax.  They had put him in never ending chains of actions.  He found himself to tormented by his passions and rolling like a football hither and thither pushed and pulled by desires. He has seen that this passion had not taken him anywhere but made him like a  restless wanderer and deserted one on the road. He wanted to have the cool comfort of a home within where he could sleep and rest. So, he asked Ashtavakra how to reach the destination called dispassion.

Ashtavakra:

If you are seeking liberation, my son, shun the objects of the senses like poison. Practise tolerance, sincerity, compassion, contentment and truthfulness like nectar.

The mind seeking satisfaction in objects is the cause of misery.  What we hear, touch, feel, see and smell have the potential to bind us with them. They give us a little bit of pleasure but take away the precious gift within, the joy. They elude our mind and clouds the intellect. They are poison to our intelligence. Son, shun the object of the senses like poison.   

Practice tolerance, sincerity, compassion, contentment and truthfulness like nectar. 

Tolerance: Not grumbling or complaining or have bitterness when life brings unpleasant experiences in front of you.  This ability to withstand the pain with calmness is tolerance. Pain, hurt and discomfort are inevitable in this world. Navigating through the pains and pleasures without resentment or bitterness is tolerance.

Sincerity:  Whatever we are doing, doing with honesty is sincerity. Saying one thing and doing another thing is not sincerity. Do it completely and do it honestly. This is sincerity.  

Compassion: Daya is the word used for compassion. Daya is not only towards others, but towards oneself.  

A good doctor would remain calm, collective and detached while treating his patients, otherwise, he will not help the patient.  When he himself gets infected, he must maintain the same calmness and detachment and look at the disease from distance and treat it. Often, we are compassionate towards others faults, but quite uncomfortable with our own faults. We punish ourselves severely.  

Not shaken by the dirt, filth and tears of others as well as one's own dirt and filth is compassion. 

Contentment:  Contentment is a state of needlessness. Contentment is the understanding that the objects of the world cannot fulfill me.  Contentment means not to be hungry for pleasure. Contentment is absence of hopes and expectations.

Truth:  Truth is what is right now.  Ashtavakra says Janaka to practice Truth.  What we see in forms are all changing. That which changes with time is false. What is that which does not change in time?  The one who is watching all the changes is not changing.  Watching the falseness honestly is the practice Ashtavakra suggests by the word Truth.