RUMINATING ABOUT THE THREE GUNAS •*ॐ*• or WE STILL HAVE A LOT OF WORK TO DO HERE KID

Guṇa : गुण) which means string, a strand of a cord or twine.

There are considered to be three Gunas:

·         Sattva -  सत्त्व  -creation - purity - Liberating thoughts, feelings and actions

·         Rajas -  रजस्) – preservation - responsible for motion, energy and preservation – actions which include the ego and so bind us – this binds us to desire and selfish action binding us to the material world

·         Tamas -  तमस्  - destruction - darkness - laziness and lethargy – this kills our spiritual life

.•*ॐ*•.. .•*ॐ*•..*•.. .•*ॐ*•..*•.. .•*ॐ*•..

This morning as I drove on to the temple grounds I arrived just a little early so I could have a bit of time to meditate before the lecture service.  As I was parking my car I had the thought: maybe I should go to the children’s class and see if the teacher needs any help. 

The thought to see if help was needed - was immediately followed by: if I am really needed, I may miss not only the meditation time but the morning service presentation also – I don’t want to go!!!  Then, in guilt, I tried to rationalize the thought: time in prayer/meditation and listening to service are also very important.  I pointed out to myself the story of Mary and Martha from the Christian Bible as an example of why I should use this time for prayer rather than service (Mary who stayed at the side of Christ focused on eternity and Martha who served in the kitchen focused on the moment). 

Because I still felt guilty about not wanting to help when it might mean giving up meditation/lecture time, I did go check at the classroom to see if I could help but no one had arrived yet.  If I am being honest I felt, ‘phewwww – off the hook’ – ouch - guilt bit me a second time!!!  Choices were becoming muddied by the intertwining of positive and negative motivations. 

It is not surprising, the morning talk was on the three gunas:  Sattva - Rajas – Tamas.  The Brother speaking shared the story of King Yudhishtara and The Mongoose.  Before telling the story, he shared that the mongoose is honored in India as he has saved children from dangerous snakes by killing the snakes:

Once the Mahabharatha war was over, the victorious King Yudhishtara of Hastinapura performed a yagna for the wellbeing of all his subjects. The yagna was conducted lavishly. Precious and expensive gifts were given away to everyone. The yagna was so grand that people would not stop singing praises of it.  The king who had initially had pure intentions when preforming the Yagna began to feel pride.  After the celebration the king was walking thru the area where the celebration had been held and cleanup was underway.  The king came upon a mongoose eating some of the food offerings from the celebration.   It was the strangest mongoose ever. One side of the mongoose looked plain and normal like any other mongoose. However much to the astonishment of everyone, the other side gleamed of pure gold!

The mongoose looked at Yudhishtara and spoke: ‘Please....!' It said disdainfully. 'I can’t even imagine why people insist of calling this a great yagna! Why? This is just a mockery...a show!’ The mongoose shook his head angrily. ‘This is not a yagna!’

Yudhishtara asked, '...why are you saying these things?’

And so the mongoose told him a story.  He told of a poor Brahmin family who gave a sacrifice with great humility and love.   He told how it was in eating the pure offering that his body had turned to gold.  He sadly stated, ‘your offering did not have the purity to change me to gold.’

The king knew the mongoose spoke the truth.  He knew he had let pride come in during the offering and sullied what had started as a pure offering. 

It was then the king looked up and across the field.  He saw his Guru – Krishna.  Running to Krishna he took the dust of his feet.  He saw the error of his ways.

.•*ॐ*•.. .•*ॐ*•..*•.. .•*ॐ*•..*•.. .•*ॐ*•..

Just so, during the lecture I saw the twisting of the gunas in my personal life - - -the twisting of good intention into selfishness.

I continue to learn about the nature of this twisting which twines issue/thought/intention together.  Even in the seemingly small personal situation this morning there is clearly the gunas at play. Immediately I saw the corollary of the story with my little personal ‘drama’ this morning before the service.  In my heart I saw The Master looking at me just as the King saw his Guru looking at him across the distance after the mongoose had spoken with him.

.•*ॐ*•.. .•*ॐ*•..*•.. .•*ॐ*•..*•.. .•*ॐ*•..

·

.•*ॐ*•.. .•*ॐ*•..*•.. .•*ॐ*•..*•.. .•*ॐ*•..

It is not the actual choice I made but rather the attitude motivating that choice which twists the twine - - -  Raveling / Unraveling the karma of lifetimes.  I am told the direction to Creator is the one which unravels - so that we might set ourselves free.  How subtle is this twisting and un-twisting.  How I lie to myself and then to others trying to convince of the virtue and purity of my choices.  How boring I find this drama which is self - created. 

So, I spin one way and then the other – raveling and then unraveling.  Sometimes moving slowly and sometimes quickly towards that place of STILLNESS. 

.•*ॐ*•.. .•*ॐ*•..*•.. .•*ॐ*•..*•.. .•*ॐ*•..

Always moving

Always moving

Until perfect homeostasis found

The Birth of Fear: April 17, 1961

 

 

 

 

On April 17, 1961 the invasion of The Bay of Pigs1 was launched.  This was the beginning of a deep fear in me.  I was almost eleven years old and just starting to have a world view concept.  This was the beginning of feeling there was no ‘safe place’ on the entire earth.  This was the beginning of a fear which was to grow over the years and drive much of my life.  My parents, my friend’s parents and my neighbors were all glued to the TV sets as they and the commentators were verbalizing their fears and concerns.  The TV commentators were giving update after update each one more dire than the one previous.

In 1963 I was in the 7^th grade at El Segundo Junior High School on the west coast of California.  I remember walking from west to east across the lunch court.  The court was empty and I was walking between classes while ruminating on the recent news on the television about people building fallout shelters in the home and those without access to fallout shelters being taught (again) in the schools about ‘drop and cover’ techniques. We did practice ‘drop and cover’ in school.  We all pretty much knew that the drop and cover would not save us from a nuclear attack (which we believed was imminent).  My parents felt that building a shelter was foolish as who would want to live in a world after The Bomb.  I remember stopping and looking around the empty court wondering, ‘where can I go to be safe?’ I certainly knew that under any of these tables there was no safety to be found even though that is what I was being taught to do.  I did believe that there must be a safe place to go and I was determined to find that place.

In more recent years, added to the threat of us destroying one another thru wars came in rumblings from The Mother Earth herself.  We had so abused her it was becoming necessary for her to begin making adjustments to obtain balance / homeostasis.  Earthquakes, Tornados, Hurricanes and other events were on the increase.  Climate change was now a recognized and accepted reality.  Related to the North American continent the Native Americans who describe this land as Turtle Island tell us that as predicted long ago by the grammas’ and grampas’:  the turtle is beginning to go back under the water – the shore lines are no longer safe.  For this reason many are choosing to move away from shore lines: some a few miles and others thousands of miles.  Perhaps there is more safety as the turtle goes under to be on the top middle of the turtle's back; however major bomb silos are also housed in the middle of her back. (Just because it is a bit safer from the raging of The Mother Kali along the coast does not mean it is really safe anywhere.) 

 



 

 

Ultimately – there is no place which promises physical safety.  Coming to understand this has not been so much a giving up of hope as a releasing of fear.   The only place any of us can truly live is RIGHT HERE and RIGHT THIS MOMENT.  This is not to say I do not make plans for creating a safe environment – I do.       

The primary priority now is creating and being peaceful on the inner landscape of my thoughts and feelings.  Perhaps this is a luxury which comes with age.  I hold little hope for a peaceful world for the humans and others over the next 100 or 300 years, as we continue to conduct ourselves overall in a barbaric and selfish manner.  I do believe some will survive and that 1,000 years from now we may indeed return to the garden. 

 

 

 

 

1.       Link to public history of the Bay of Pigs from the JFK Library  http://www.jfklibrary.org/JFK/JFK-in-History/The-Bay-of-Pigs.aspx