The Three Gunas
In the last newsletter we talked about the formless nature of our true Self. We talked about the fact that regardless of our identification with the body we are not that in our essence. We are pure consciousness. So, what have the three gunas to do with this? And what are the gunas to begin with?
“When one experiences that thoughts, feelings, perceptions and actions continue without being caused by the Self, the question naturally arises, “Who is doing this thinking, feeling and acting?” The answer is that the fundamental forces of nature, called in Sanskrit the gunas, are responsible for everything in creation. I said earlier that the Ascendant is the Source of everything that is. This is true, but the Ascendant never leaves its Infinite, Ascended status to create the Universe. Where then did the Universe come from? The answer is that it came from the three gunas – the three fundamental forces that cause everything to exist.”
MSI, Ascension
Ascension Attitudes take us into the Ascendant, they take us beyond the three gunas. It is not important to grasp the concept of the three gunas, but it is good to realize that what we have been offered through this practice is a simple and effective way to anchor our awareness deeper than the appearances of our sensory perception. We do not have to be stuck in the identification process that binds us to the experience of only the very surface of our consciousness, the 5-10% level of the thinking mind.
The simple choice for appreciation, instead of criticism, has the power to shift our awareness. In this moment of choice we consciously redirect our focus so that it is no longer caught in the surface appearances but it is used to connect with the deepest reality that is present inside of us at all times, that Force that brings all Good to all of us all the time. There is no complication or difficulty to this choice. Perhaps its simplicity and ease is what easily blinds us to its true power and significance. Only direct experience and mastery of this choice will truly open our hearts to what is beyond the surface appearances.
“Even the least self-hatred destroys all love on Earth and in the Universe. You must love yourself, because that is all there is to love. You need to learn that you are the Ascendant, you are the One.”
MSI, Second Thunder
Nataraja Ishaya
“Be without the three gunas.”
The formula for success in life is to free oneself from the influence of the three gunas. How is this done? By Ascending – by taking the awareness to its Source in the Ascendant. When this happens, one experiences that thoughts, feelings, perceptions and actions continue: they always were caused by the action and interaction of the fundamental forces of Nature, but now there is no longer any ego involvement, there is no longer any thought that “I am thinking, feeling, perceiving, acting.” The gunas playing on the gunas give rise to thoughts; gunas playing on the gunas give rise to feelings; gunas playing on the gunas give rise to perception; gunas playing on the gunas give rise to action. Thus the entire field of human life, subjective and objective, is under the dominion of the gunas.
In the waking state we mistakenly assume authorship for our thoughts, feelings, perceptions and actions. This mistake is corrected in Perpetual Consciousness: in every experience, in every thought, in every action, the enlightened realizes that “I do not act at all.” Everything comes from the gunas acting on gunas; when this is understood, not as a dry intellectual concept but as a direct, living experience, Perpetual Consciousness is stabilized.
MSI, Ascension!
The immutable
The ultimate universal Being is the basis of the gunas; therefore it is said that the “I” of the unmanifested omnipresent immutable Being is the Creator. He is the Creator and at the same time, ever remaining established in His own Being, is uninvolved, “the non-doer”.
This may be further clarified by an example. Oxygen and hydrogen ions combine to give rise to the properties of water. The water freezes, giving rise to the properties of ice. In these different states of gas, liquid and solid, the basic elements – oxygen and hydrogen – remain the same. In as much as they are fundamental material from which gas, water, and ice are formed, oxygen and hydrogen could be said to have created these different substances. But because they remain oxygen and hydrogen through their various states, they could be said to be non-doing. Such
is the state of ultimate Being. Lying at the base of all creation, it is the “author” and, remaining unchanged, it is the “non-doer” and “immutable”.
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Commentary on Bhagavad Gita 4:13
Being Unattached
When the state of Being, or pure consciousness, is firmly established in the very nature of the mind, one lives quite naturally this state of pure existence separated from the field of activity, even while ego, intellect, mind and senses are engaged in action. One finds that the field of activity remains in the province of the three gunas and is no longer intimately connected with one’s existence. This is how one naturally ‘remains unattached” in the midst of activity. This state of knowledge fills the whole field of one’s understanding. That is why the Lord says: “knowing that it is the gunas which act upon the gunas, remains unattached.”
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Commentary on Bhagavad Gita 3:28
Scientists study links between brain, meditation
Meditation matters. Brain scientists are using the age-old practice to understand stress and pain reduction, attention spans, even compassion.
To unravel the workings of the brain, neuroscientist Michael Posner and colleagues at the University of Oregon have turned to an ancient discipline: meditation.
A recent experiment tested college students' ability to focus their attention and filter out distractions. Half the students received training in mindfulness meditation while the other half received relaxation training.
After five days, meditators outpaced nonmeditators on the attention test, and they became significantly better at handling stress. Saliva
Improper food can cloud the experience of Ascending. This is why it is good not to eat heavy food just before Ascending. Also excessive tiredness can affect the quality of our Ascending. Things like drugs and alcohol are highly contrasting to the nervous system. They work in quite the opposite direction from Ascension. There are no do’s and don’ts in Ascension, but it is wise to be intelligent about our own Self-development.
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samples revealed lower levels of the hormone cortisol when the meditators were subjected to an anxiety-inducing math quiz.
"This is the first time I've ever been involved in anything like meditation," says Posner, who conducted the experiment with Yi-Yuan Tang, a visiting scholar. But he sees promise in using the ancient mind-training practice to understand how the brain regulates awareness and attention, an area of neuroscience he helped pioneer.
Meditation is making a big comeback among brain scientists after its first heyday in the 1970s. Advances in brain imaging and monitoring have made it possible to see inside the brain and explore the
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biological forces creating and driving conscious thoughts.
"Now we are in a position to ask questions about people's experience and measure brain activity in close to real time," says Clifford Saron, a scientist at the Center for Mind and Brain at the University of California at Davis. And with growing numbers of people turning to meditation for stress relief, Saron says, there's a pressing need to figure out how the many forms of mental practice actually work.
Already, studies reveal the brain may be far more flexible and capable of reorganization than long assumed. Evidence suggests that even the capacities for happiness and compassion may be trainable skills that meditation can improve, says Antoine Lutz, a scientist at the Waisman Lab for Brain Imaging & Behavior at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
To read the rest of the article go here.
A Prayer
MSI states in the back of the Enlightenment Book that “Most today think of prayer as a request (or a demand) for God to fulfill desires. Prayer in its true sense, however, is a form of communication between the soul and the Higher Powers in Nature. Prayer can be considered a way of asking for what is best from the perspective of the highest levels in Creation. Prayer is a way of orienting the limited self to the Universal Self.” He goes on to say more and to relate it to the fact that “Thus true prayer is Ascension and Ascension is true prayer.”
As a child I often heard and read the Prayer of St. Francis. My Dad was such a devotee of St. Francis that the Prayer was printed on the back of the Holy Card that was passed out at his funeral a few years ago. Now as an adult, and having practiced Ascension for about a decade, I still resonate with the heart and soul’s yearning to unite with the Beloved, the Ascendant, that is in that prayer.
The prayer is as follows:
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light
And where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled
as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying (to self) that we are born to eternal life.
It is in the dying to the limited self, the identity with the ego, that we wake up to the realization of our Oneness with God and we are born to eternal life. Ascension is therefore the perfect prayer for that to happen. It is in Praise, Gratitude, Love and Compassion that we can experience what the Prayer of St Francis is asking for and fulfill our heart’s greatest desire, union with the Beloved.
Nandisvara Ishaya
Retreat Testimonial
I began ascending in Sept 2008 and attended my first Ascension Retreat in Sooke B.C. just a few weeks ago, Oct 2nd - 5th, to be exact. Prior to the retreat I was working at a job that I knew was a compromise. But because I thought it would be irresponsible to quit my job without creating another one I began applying for jobs that I was more than qualified for. Yet each time I did not get a response. And often, while typing my cover letter my computer would freeze and I would have to shut it down and I would lose my resume. When I emailed my resumes to my husband’s computer to be printed often they would come out of the printer garbled or upside down. Completely frustrated by all of this, I quit my job search altogether, sensing that something else was supposed to happen other than what I was forcing.
Immediately after the retreat I felt as though my world had expanded. I knew in my heart that my present job was complete. And within a day or two a business idea literally popped into my head including the name of the business and what the decor would look like. The money to start the business presented itself and so have the perfect partners.
Belinda Higginson
Victoria, B.C.
Upcoming Retreats
Due to popular request, we have added more Ishayas’ Ascension Retreats to the schedule. Attendees have noticed a large shift in their awareness and experience of life after attending even the three day minimum. Many of these people are new ascenders. Even though some have had concerns over their ability to ascend for longer hours, everyone was been pleasantly surprised by their experience at the retreat.
The power of a few days of ascending in a dedicated group environment with guidance from the teachers has been proven over and over again. As one draws the mind inward, the perspective broadens and widens, consciousness expands quickly, as well as the healing of stress from the nervous system. Reminders at the retreat to be more gentle and innocent with the practice helps many retreatants find more ease and can more easily drop into a deeper experience of their own Divine Nature. Returning to life allows one to see quickly some of the illusions that have driven circumstances and needlessly fed repetitive patterns of life.
I invite you to consider a retreat. Many choices are available. All of the retreat locations are comfortable and beautiful. Remember registration is required minimum of 30 days prior to a retreat. Please register as soon as possible; some retreats have a more limited capacity.
Retreat schedule:
Missouri
Dec 23-January 1, 2010: 3 night to 10 night
(come any of the dates available)
Switzerland
Dec 26 – January 2, 2010: 7 night retreat.
Missouri
January 15-22, 2010: 3-7 nights
(you must attend the first 3 nights)
Sooke, BC (Canada)
January 22-27, 2010: 3-5 nights
(you must attend the first 3 nights)
Missouri
February 12-19, 2010: 3-7 nights
(you must attend the first 3 nights)
Our Websites
The Ishaya Foundation
http://www.theishayafoundation.org
Hong Kong website
http://www.theishayafoundation.asia
European website
http://www.theishayafoundation.eu
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This is the 52nd edition of the Ishaya Foundation newsletter.
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phone 1-888-ISHAYA1
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