We are God’s dream.

I want to share something I learnt watching a video by Swami Tadatmananda. 

So we know in the Vedic tradition, God is in everything, all of existence is an extension of God. There is no separation.  Any separation you see is an illusion. 

Swamiji explains, before the universe existed, only God existed.and God created all of existence without any external help or external material. So how is this possible?

The Vedic scriptures explain these ideas through metaphors.

Each metaphor is helpful in some ways and limited in other ways.

In the Mundaka Upanishad, the metaphor of a spider shows the creation process. A spider spits thread from its mouth, and uses this material to spin a beautiful and intricate web. It enjoys its creation, travels around the web and uses it for different purposes. Eventually it eats the web, recycling the material back into its own body. 

This is a metaphor for how God creates the universe from within himself. He experiences this beautiful intricate web, and then destroys it, all of existence returns to God. This happens in repeating cycles. 

This is a great metaphor, but here is the limitation. A spider can separate herself from her web. A gust of wind comes and the spider is blown away, or maybe  just crawls away from its web. It is quite easy to separate a spider from its web. But God can never be separated from existence. So we need another metaphor.

For this Swamiji brings in the metaphor os sleep and dreams. The Vedas and Upanishads use this concept frequently, here we we find a more useful metaphor. 

When a human, such as yourself, is in deep sleep, we dream. Our dreams create entire worlds, we live vivid  life experiences in our dream. There is always a landscape such as a house, a building, a forest etc. The dream version of us is having conversations, attending events, and for me…I am usually running late to something. Of course, even dream me is running late. 

So what is making up the material of our dreamscape? In my dream, I touch solid materials, I talk to real people, but all of this is coming from my mind. It is being created from my memories, my imagination, or my fears. I know that everything in my dream is coming into existence from my own mind. It is my consciousness that creates and animates my dream. When I wake up, everything in my dream disappears, where does it go? Back into my mind. 

If we contemplate further, we realize the dream never left our mind, its location was always within our mind. Similarly, we never leave God, all of existence takes place within God. 

Swamiji poses a question that gave me an AHA moment.

What if I dream a scenario where  I am confused and searching for answers, I call out in prayer “God where are you?”

Who would I be praying to?

Of course…dream me is praying to real me, as I am the one creating the dream. I am the creator, the sustainer, and the destroyer of this dream. Every part of this dream comes from me.

So here is how I am applying this metaphor to my life.

When my dream self calls for God, the solution is clear. I dont need external help, I just need to realize that I am dreaming, and that I can do anything in this dream.

The answer is to become conscious, the answer is to lucid dream. 

I am the main character, I am all powerful, I just need to REMEMBER who I am. I am the main character, I am all powerful, and I can save myself. 

Now, I take this metaphor and apply it to my life. Instead of always looking up and saying “God please fix this for me”, I just remind myself that God has already given me everything I need to solve anything in this dreamscape. All I need to do is remember I am all powerful, and to wake UP,  to LUCID DREAM in real life.

We are all GOD embodied, you don't need to wait for anyone to give you permission to start living from this space, you just have to CLAIM it. On your own volition.

Links:

Swamiji’s Video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOYtZYme6zU&t=656s&ab_channel=ArshaBodha-SwamiTadatmananda

Meeting your true potential

Have you ever had one of those days…hell...one of those weeks or longer, where you felt so low, that you could not even get off the floor? I have. I have had many of those days. I've felt so low that even death was too good for me. The hate, pity, shame, just eats me up from the inside and I don't have any motivation to do something about it. 

What I have learnt in my lows is that I am not the first person to feel low, and that others have definitely felt even lower than me. That meant something to me ...someone else has faced and overcome these feelings, and I can too.

One resource for those rock bottom, cant get off the floor, type of days…is David Goggins. This man is a walking statement on what it means to break through limitations. The only person to have completed Navy SEAL training, US Army Ranger school, and Air Force Tactical Air Controller training. He competes in ultra marathons running distances of over 100, even 200 miles! He also broke the world record for the most number of pull ups done in 24 hours. 

These facts just touch upon the intensity and grit of David’s character, the more I learn about him, the more I see how deep and intricate his story is. It is not his physical achievements that drew me to him, it is his understanding that every battle we fight is mostly fought in our minds. The mind is the most powerful tool we have, and if you train it well, you can use it to accomplish anything.  The physical fitness gave him a way to work on his mental fitness, a way to "callus" his mind, and this opportunity is available to anyone. 

In this post, I am going to discuss a concept from Goggins’ work that I found motivating and meaningful, during those rock bottom days.

The Real You is on the other side of the comfort zone

If you have lived your life in the comfort zone, that is, you do the things you want to do and don't do things you don't want to do. Then you are only engaging with a small part of your mind, Goggins calls this 20% of your brain. This part of your mind has a loving and soothing voice, it tells you that “you are doing your best, and that is good enough”. This voice represents the comforting mother figure that provides unconditional love and reassurance. This voice makes us feel safe, that everything is going to work out and we are good enough as we are.  Goggins felt starved for love as a child, as his mother was going through her own battles. He craved that voice more than anything. Our childhood wounds can make us predisposed to cling to that loving voice. 

Now on the other side of your mind is another voice, Goggins calls this the 80% of your brain, he says people try to stay far away from this voice. Yet even from afar, the voice seeps into our thoughts, telling us that “you are not doing enough”. The downfall of modern society, says Goggins, is the tendency to label this voice as cruel and insulting. This is the wrong way to look at it. If there are any cold hard truths that need to be said, it is this voice that will have the courage to say it to you. This voice is going to remind you that you are not maximizing your potential, you are not using your mind and body to the best of its ability. 

So why do people do anything to avoid engaging with this part of the brain? Because this voice does not represent the comfort zone, it represents the suffering zone. If you choose to turn this voice up louder, listen to it, and work for it. Well, you are going to go through a lot of suffering, anguish, darkness, failure, failure, more failure, and then finally….the light on the other side. 

This will not come easily, it will require you to consciously do the things you don't want to do. You are used to just doing what keeps you in your comfort zone, whatever that is. Whether its addictions and vices, or the more productive versions of comfort in areas like career or fitness. This has trained you to do what you like. That will just keep you in that 20% zone. Yet you will believe that you are giving it your all, or something close to it.

If you decide to turn up the volume on the other voice, and start listening to it, start finding out what the other 80% of your brain is about. Now you will suffer…you will succeed, but you will suffer in the process of getting there. 

Goggins tells us that its not about being a masochist. Its about finding and claiming your true self, the very best version of you that shines bright. That true self is waiting on the other side of all that suffering. You won't be able to meet him or her in the comfort zone. Just doing whatever feels good and comfortable, just keeps you further away from this true self. 

Goggins stated that his greatest fear was the possibility that he would die without ever reaching his potential. The voice in his head told him that it was possible, that he could make it and achieve all his dreams..but he was afraid of the work it would take to get there.

So what does it mean to do the work? It means to repeatedly do the things that you don't want to do, to repeatedly cause yourself discomfort. Goggins calls this “callusing the brain”. You will experience mental pain, which will build and train you. You don't just do it a few times either, you do it over and over again until the discomfort is more common than the comfort. This is the level at which you need to be working to cross over to the other side, achieve your dreams, and meet your best self. 

How did this help me? Well.. in those “woe is me” moments, where my brain is telling me that I cannot try any harder. Goggins reminds me that my brain is LYING to me, I can do more, I can try harder, and the truth is…I have barely started trying. Get up and try again! Break through your mental limits, and find out exactly who you are on the other side of suffering.

Blog Post Title Three

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.

Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. The beauty of your story is that it’s going to continue to evolve and your site can evolve with it. Your goal should be to make it feel right for right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does.

Blog Post Title Four

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.

Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. The beauty of your story is that it’s going to continue to evolve and your site can evolve with it. Your goal should be to make it feel right for right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does.