How to Live from Within... a few checklists
… you must never say: “I shall first purify my thought, purify my body, purify my vital and then later I shall purify my action.” That is the normal order, but it never succeeds. The effective order is to begin from the outside: “The very first thing is that I do not do it, and afterwards, I desire it no longer and next I close my doors completely to all impulses: they no longer exist for me, I am now outside all that.” This is the true order, the order that is effective. First, not to do it. And then you will no longer desire and after that it will go out of your consciousness completely.[1]
How to live from within? All one’s life one is exposed to wisdom from various cultures and one’s own spiritual tradition. Many things one imbibes, and many remain at the level of ideas. The following Checklists have been developed as an aid to put these ideas into practice, to make them real. Yes, one can read some more passages, feel inspired for a brief time and then once again the humdrum of one’s nature seeps in. And the next course, the next workshop, the next book make one realise the slip-back. But if one has evolved a structure that makes one accountable for one’s own growth, then there is a greater chance to fight against this unconsciousness, and to make a sustained effort – through the day – to live from within.
Here is one possible way... if it suits one's temperament... Checklists that offer a few possibilities at various levels – physical, vital, mental, psychic. They will work best if they grow out of your own observation of your slip-back points. You may add these to what exists or evolve new ones. But keep in mind that the basis of these checklists is spiritual – not moral or religious; they are culled from the principles of inward living at various levels. For instance, I may have a mind that is devious and manipulative. This, I notice, is reflected in my interactions with others, in my speech that acquires craftiness, misuse of my mental sharpness to put another one down, harshness, etc. So, I mark myself for my speech – did I speak harshly today, was I insensitive with my words, etc. The check-point is not a moral value, but has arisen from self-observation and an inner need to control the manifestation of a negative attitude.
PHYSICAL
Mon/Tue/Wed...
Forgot / Practised
- Did I respond to the beauty and consciousness in material things while using them?
- Did I organise my papers, my instruments, my work environment harmoniously?
- Was I sensitive in my speech?
- Was I conscious in my speech?
- Was I straight and frank in my speech?
- Did I make the best use of the resources available?
- Did I exercise today?
- Was my posture and body movement reflective of grace, suppleness and sound health?
- Did I offer my food to the Divine?
- Did I eat consciously?
- Did I sleep after in-gathering and offering?
VITAL
Mon/Tue/Wed...
Forgot / Practised
- Did I exercise my will?
- Did I give in to movements of the lower vital (jealousy, anger, greed, control, ill-will, pettiness, exclusion, division)?
- Did I encourage movements of the higher vital (love, compassion, generosity, self-giving, wideness, empathy, sensitivity)?
- Did I seek my own self-interest?
- Did I sublimate my interest, preference for a larger aim?
- Did I indulge in self-justification and/or blaming others?
- Did I respond egoistically to people and situations?
- Did I step back before responding?
- Did I take responsibility for my actions?
- Did I offer my emotions to the Divine?
MENTAL
Mon/Tue/Wed...
Forgot / Practised
- Did I indulge in negative thoughts?
- Did I think positively about people, about work, about goals?
- Did I concentrate on what I want to be?
- Did I widen my perspective when in a disagreement?
- Did I gather my attention on what I was doing?
- Did I refrain from making judgments about others?
- Did I use my mind to justify the vital?
- Did I use my mind to put down others or to score a point?
- Did I practise mental quietude?
- Did I indulge in psychological deception, manipulation, subterfuge?
- Did I offer my aims and activities to the Divine?
PSYCHIC
Mon/Tue/Wed...
Forgot / Practised
- Give up all personal seeking for comfort, satisfaction, enjoyment or happiness
- Be only a burning fire for progress
- Never do anything for the sake of pleasure
- Never forget the goal you have set before you
- Never get excited, nervous or agitated
- Remain perfectly calm in the face of all circumstances
- Never take physical happenings at their face value
- Never complain about the behaviour of anyone, unless you can change in his nature what makes him thus
- Before you eat offer your food
- Before you sleep offer with a quiet aspiration that the sleep is restful and calm
- Before you act, concentrate in your will that your action may not in any way be harmful to your progress
- My mind is incapable of judging spiritual things
- Anuradha (The Gnostic Centre, India)
(First published in 'The Awakening Ray' 2004)
Keywords: Inwardising, Spiritual practice, Self-awareness, Self-observation
[1] The Mother, Collected Works of the Mother, v.5, pp.214-15
Hi Anuradha: Thanks for this. I have a question about how you actually put it into practice.
ReplyDeleteI've always been both attracted to and wary of checklists. The attraction is "you cover all the bases" - things you'll look at that you might otherwise not.
My wariness is the same in regard to all "techniques" and "methods." I remember years ago teaching a mindfulness workshop. Someone said, "I don't understand, all this "scrupulousness" just makes my mind more tense and anxious."
Our mental and vital ego LOVE having projects to do, goals to accomplish, and we can easily take a checklist and turn it into, "I'm getting better and better every day." The Mother mentioned this phrase, it was part of Coue's "positive thinking' that was so popular in the early 20th century. She also noted that it can be very easily used by the ego.
My sense is, to take any of these, and do them from the surface personality, is most likely going to strengthen the ego.
There's at least a dozen or so places throughout Questions and Answers and dating back as far as Her days in Paris where She tells us to open to the vastness of the Self or Soul before doing any such exercise. I've been finding, in my "elder years," this to be more true than ever. I look back and see how I've done reviews of the day such as you suggested, and find when the more I let go of ANY sense of a separate "me," the more likely whatever reviewing I'm doing will be more and more "done" by Her.
I'd love to hear from you as I find this is as close to a universal challenge in IY as I've ever seen. I VERY VERY VERY rarely see this warning. It's often expressed intellectually:"Well, you should step back into your psychic."
Well, guide me. Help me experientially, not just with words or quotes, to establish that infinite, spacious, boundless consciousness (without even having to label it Self or soul or psychic). And THEN - from THERE, the flow of seeing and intuitive recognition of the tricks of the mental, vital physical egos are so obvious and Her Energy, Her Shakti, working quite specifically in clearly identifiable locations in the body is a whole different thing. And we can see it the next day in our attitude toward others, toward physical things, in the way we deal with anger, irritation, fear, in the way we eat, sleep, exercise, when we forget and DO complain and judge spiritual things (which of course we WILL do and do for much of the day and for the most part, our minds are happy to check that off the list because our minds hardly see how much we do it!!) As I'm probably doing too much of now:>))))))))))
I agree with the limitation and the danger of using Checklists. Personally, for me, the checklists are like note-taking and highlighting for myself the key points for practice from something the totality of which has touched my consciousness. The practice too is not mind-driven but consciousness driven to the extent the key points are ingrained in the consciousness. Mental self-awareness aids. At the same time, these are always temporary and serve as a phase only. I always see structures as aids that need to evolve as one evolves and also that need to be broken, questioned, re-framed if required, quite frequently. Otherwise they constrict and limit. These checklists are from much earlier in my journey - that is not to say that they have no relevance for me today - and I share these from the premise that for some they might aid in their practice for some time.
Delete(Ah, couldn't get the Google Account to link - this is Don again:>))
DeleteHi Anuradha: After I submitted these various replies, I was actually considering deleting them as they might have come across as overly critical. I'm sorry if they did - these are some things I've been feeling with particular intensity over the last year as I have been giving more presentations and questioning MY OWN approach not just to IY but sadhana in general.
But I see you've taken it in the spirit in which it was offered, and I agree - they can be very helpful, temporary aids.
Much appreciated!
Very true what has touched the Consciousness, not a mind-driven project. Beautiful!
FOLLOW UP QUESTION:
ReplyDeleteThis line I wrote above:
There's at least a dozen or so places throughout Questions and Answers and dating back as far as Her days in Paris where She tells us to open to the vastness of the Self or Soul before doing any such exercise.
I can't think of a single book on IY (excluding, of course, Mother and Sri Aurobindo, who write about this all the time) or video, which gives practices from the point of view of what Sri Aurobindo has written countless times - he says it quite explicitly in the Yoga of Self Perfection where he goes into the nature of the instruments, saying, "In truth, what we are NOW is NOT a mind or body but an infinite spirit.
All the Nondual teachings that are popular these days, which are held in such low esteem in the IY community (many if not most inspired by Ramana Maharshi) tend to disparage this attitude. I've always found this baffling as it's always been the way I practice IY, and it seems to me it' just pervades Mother and Sri Aurobindo's writings, whereas when I talk about it in virtually any IY venue, I'm looked at as if I'm talking well, Sanskrit? No, Swahili, or Martian.
Tat Tvam Asi - we hear it intellectually, or we repeat the words, but it's true. I've never been Don, and you've never been Anuradha. But to say this in an IY forum seems some how unorthodox, yet there are countless times throughout Their writings that they say this.
It seems to me this is the best counterbalance for using a checklist. START from the Truth. It's there even Sri Aurobindo's summary of his teaching (1934) . I am not the body, the vital, the mind. This is not a theory. it's true. I can know this directly. THEN any work with the checklist IS NOT BEING DONE BY "ME".
Yes, I have tried the above too... specially when experiencing physical pain : ) - I am not my body, neti, neti... and it has worked too. But, I am not consistent in my practice and at different times I need different methods. And these come spontaneously to me.
DeleteSorry, forgot to put my name in the comment posting - "Yes, I have tried the above too..."
DeleteHere's an example of what I mean (you can find hundreds of similar phrases in Mother and Sri Aurobindo's writings; I don't know of a single book or video otherwise that emphasizes these things and if anybody here can help me understand why, I would greatly appreciate it)
ReplyDelete(from "The Incredible Reality of You," by Lucia Lorn)
Attention shifts from one word to the next, one thought to the next, one feeling to the next, one sensation to the next, one object to the next –
but it is all happening within silent non-moving Awareness itself.
There is no boundary between inner and outer in Awareness itself.
Inner and outer Awareness is one field of pure Awareness.
The apparent boundary is only a deeply ingrained idea, not a reality.
You are Awareness itself—not your thoughts, feelings, sensations or perceptions.
You have been identified with your mind and body and overshadowed by your perceptions of the world around you.
All inner and outer experience is happening within the field of unbounded pure Awareness itself.
Be with the Presence in the space around you…
At the end of the day, my takeaway from Sri Aurobindo and The Mother is - no method and all methods are okay - it is the AIM that is important - and based on that, whatever serves your temperament, need, present evolution... This freedom is what I relish, though this freedom also comes with a great responsibility to carve out the path ever anew for oneself (taking guidance from Sri Aurobindo and The Mother), towards the goal set by Integral Yoga.
Delete(Don here) Interesting comment. I'm not aware of anywhere the Mother or Sri Aurobindo have ever said this 'no method" is unique to IY. The Chan Buddhists (and the Christians and Jews. and Muslims and Shinto and, well, all of the greatest contemplatives, yogis, mystics, etc) were famous for following the Taoist bent of their nature and. rejecting the "method"orientation of some Buddhists.
DeleteBut the Chan folks were flexible- - as Anuradha expressed it above and as you also said - no method and all methods.
This is NOT meant as a criticism, just an awakener - we (the IY community) have gotten in this funny habit of emphasizing many things as original and unique inIY literature that in fact are quite common. We may not realize it today as we live in a technological age and the renewal of mystic and yogic traditions over the last 150 years has emphasized method and technique. Look at the Gita - except. for a broad statement about meditation with almost no specific "techniques' in Chapter 6, there isn't a single technique in the Gita - or the major Upanishads, or, well, look at the Dhammapada and Mother's commentaries.
I say this primarily as a warning to myself rather than a judgment of others. I've been fascinated and at times egotistically dependent on techniques on and off over the years (and goodness, books!- Sri Aurobindo said, you can read a lot of books or no books at all - NONE - for sadhana!!).
Sorry folks if I sound overly critical in these comments - seems to me, I could be very wrong, these misunderstandings regarding method and technique and uniqueness are so frequently repeated in our community they're worth pointing out.
In fact, regarding the AIM, from the first day many decades ago when I came across IY IS the uniqueness of the AIM - but when we. - well, not, when *I* generalize that uniqueness to other aspects of IY which are not unique, it seems Mother taps me on the shoulder and sweetly whispers, "Mmm, Don, hold on there!"
Sorry, forgot to put my name in the comment posting - "At the end of the day..."
Delete