TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS
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To review:
That which is natural is rooted in non-duality; all which involves unnatural thinking and / or supernatural thinking is rooted in duality.
Whether speaking of Maharaj's lesser focus on the Nisarga Yoga in the beginning or discussing his near-total focus on abiding naturally in the end (as opposed to trying to live supernaturally and / or unnaturally), it is granted that all of that is relevant only to the AM-ness, but presently, what happens in the AM-ness impacts every person far more than anything to do with the THAT-ness.
So, to continue with excerpts from the book Why NISARGA YOGA in addition to the Advaita Teachings? as considerations about the Nisarga (natural) fashion of abidance are offered:
Using the Deer, not Persons, As the Model
Someone asked why one suggestion in particular is often offered here, namely, using the deer as a model for natural living. He noted correctly that he could not "drop out" and move into the woods and live like a deer, as much as he might like to. He even noted that if he tried it for a while, he would probably not like that lifestyle at all.
The reason we were talking in the first place was because it had recently become clear to him that what he had been doing so far with his life was not "working," that his lifestyle was presently marked by misery and suffering and self-destructive acts rather than happiness or lightness, so he was asked: "Since your life so far has not been modeled on the deer - or anything else that lives naturally - on whom has your life been modeled?"
He answered, naming several people. Then he was asked, "And how's that been working for you?" After a pause of considerable length for consideration, his reply was: "Got it." A perceptive young man, he has seen for years how insane "the world" is. The time had arrived for him to see that he had also caught "the world's" sickness - the Ultimate Sickness - and that he needs to move the focus from "them" to "self."
So the recommendation is to use the lifestyle of the deer as a test to contrast (a) natural, ego-free, Nisarga style, AS IF living with (b) the lifestyle of personas and their accompanying egotism. Further, the invitation is to avoid taking the recommendation so literally if one is to find all that can be revealed by the suggestion.
Those with some insight and analytical skills can look beyond the most basic and literal conclusion that "This guy says I have to move to the woods and live like a deer to be happy. That is insane."
To the contrary, the wise know that one cannot be content if one is not free; the wise can see by observation that deer are quite content most of the time; the wise can see the connection between being content and being perfectly and totally free; the wise can then find what the deer is free of that persons are not free of; then the wise can find what they are not free of that the deer are free of; and then the wise can see exactly what they must be rid of if they would be free and content.
A deer is free of the desire to be seen and to “stand out.” It will typically do what is required to blend in with its environment and “fade into the background.” A deer does not like to make noise and does not want to be heard. It can move along a thousand-yard path through the woods and tread so gently that a human ten steps away would not hear it.
A deer has no “mind” so it engages in no abnormal thinking. A deer lives naturally, not unnaturally and not supernaturally. A deer does not care about appearance, is not cruel, is not envious, and does not feel entitled; a deer is not unavailable to its mate and offspring because the deer have not been rendered hard and cold and cruel and detached as a result of that all-too-common type of cold-blooded conditioning and programming referenced in earlier;
a deer is not afraid of the quiet, is not impulsive, is not religious or spiritual; a deer is not self-contradictory or moody or unpredictable or unstable; a deer will not overeat, does not like chaos, and does not eat fermented berries in an effort to become intoxicated and to try to “escape” or avoid whatever challenges it must face.
By contrast, a person / persona that is working to establish and maintain a false image wants to be seen. Persons typically do what is required to stand out and to be noticed. Persons exhibit arrogance and egotism, and as they work to create and maintain an image, they want to be heard.
Persons hate the silence and love the noise . . . especially the noise that they generate, including speeches, informal talks, sermons, diatribes, loud music, lectures, appearances, screaming, shouting, etc.
Persons, with their incessantly-active “minds,” are constantly engaged with and disturbed by their abnormal thoughts. Persons live unnaturally or supernaturally instead of naturally, and persons are often addicted to chaos.
They often use substances or certain destructive behaviors to try to escape, or at least to forget temporarily, the misery or suffering or boredom or turmoil that comes with all of the roles that they have assumed and are playing.
Persons trapped in their ego-based narcissism must surround themselves with other persons in order to have an audience. They need to be seen, and they require constant praise and applause and positive feedback. The deer experience no narcissism.
Narcissism is labeled as a “personality disorder” by professionals, and rightly so. Humans must be attached to one or more personas in order to exhibit the traits of any personality disorder. Deer have no personality, so they have no personality disorders that can disintegrate into full-blown mental problems or even insanity.
As a result of their egotism and body-mind-personality identification, persons care about appearance, can be charming one moment and cruel the next, and can be close one moment and distant the next; the deer, by contrast, are like one that has realized fully: free of learned ignorance, steady as a rock, and capable of feeling but incapable of emoting.
Persons, unlike the deer, are envious, feel entitled, are afraid of the quiet, are impulsive, often assume religious or spiritual personas, and are self-contradictory or moody or unpredictable as a result of living a lie and refusing to see that their personality / personalities bring defects and liabilities that mark and mar their relative existence.
Thus, the invitation to look at the “standard,” the deer, to test the degree to which natural living is happening in the relative existence. The deer never fails as a model for applying the principles of Nisarga Yoga:
the deer lives naturally, does not accumulate, has no identity, engages in no destructive or self-destructive behaviors, avoids conflict whenever possible, follows a minimalist lifestyle, avoids excess in all ways, might have a mate and offspring or might not, adheres strictly to the principle of non-attachment, and stays aware and conscious of his surroundings rather than walking about as if asleep.
To know if you are trapped in one or more ego-states, find the honest answer to the question, “Are you living in the fashion of a deer, or are you living the way that the sleepwalking, non-realized human masses are living out their relative existence?”
To be continued.
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