Retreat Reflection #1
I really enjoyed the MLK retreat in Opihikao. I most enjoyed the community, sangha, and getting to know each other better. Between the classes, meditations, meals, and physical layout of the house, I felt that we established a nice bond. I really liked getting to share so many good meals with each other, and even learning to temper my eating around an unusual (for me) schedule!
I especially enjoyed classes with Babaji “off the air.” I felt he was more at ease to follow tangents, answer questions, and remark “off-the-cuff.” Most of all, I liked to hear about his stories and experiences, such as his time with Lex Hixon in NYC, and the story of meditating in the hot, summer classroom, waiting for the clomp, clomp of his guru’s shoes coming down the stairs, etc.
I also really benefitted by the chanting of the Gita before meditation – though I’d like to propose we change the time from 4:45 to 7:45 am!
I am looking forward to the follow-up retreat in January, 2016.
Peace,
Kyle
OUTER COSMOS
That one indwelling Reality is how you get from lowest to highest — Atman pervades all — Sentient and insentient.
In the Kali Yuga, thinking evil but not acting on it, creates no karma.
Student: But I find my thoughts do create karma.
Babaji: No, what you are experiencing there is the unwinding of past karma.
INNER COSMOS
Atman associates with the koshas, the coverings of the psycho-physical being. However, if it identifies with them, then there is suffering. This suffering increases over generations until, finally, some great soul like Lord Buddha has to come and sit for 49 days under the Bo tree to show the way out.
Get an intellectual conviction first. Let direct experience come later (after qualification). Sri Ramakrishna used the analogy of the green coconut. The green coconut’s various layers are all mixed together. But as the coconut matures, the husk, shell, and flesh become defined, and when the coconut is fully mature, the inside rattles separately from the outside. Hence, “green coconut oneness” is to think that “all is one” without knowing there are three states of consciousness, three bodies, five sheaths, etc. If one comes to know these teachings about the nature of bondage and freedom, then the latter might as well already be nipping at your heels.
You cannot dispense with knowledge until you encounter Truth. In the meantime, you have to remain on vigil.
What is impeding you in your spiritual quest? Your belief that time and space are real.
Look deep inside yourself and see the seeds for everything there. Once seen, and comprehended, thoughts about birth and death and other dualities will simply fade away.