Whether we function from revelation or veiling depends on our own capacity to be established in subjective consciousness which is our capacity to be conscious. Our capacity for awareness determines which path of liberation we start from.

Through the practices of the path of the individual, we purify the dominant thought pattern of “I am this body, senses, intellect, thoughts, emotions, and these things and people are objects in my perception” (idam idam – this is this) into “I am more than this body, senses, thoughts, emotions, intellect” (aham na idam – I am not this). We begin to see beyond the distinctions and sense that our identity is not limited by our bodies, senses, stories, and thought patterns. We begin to see through the process of determination-exclusion.

*** PRACTICE INSIGHT ***

Thought is energy in the form of mental formations. The nature of thought energy at the level of the individual is separation through the process of determination-exclusion. This energetic process creates binding duality. In addition to other practices, the practice of regularly reflecting on the nature of thought begins to lift the veil that the energy of thought has on our innate all-encompassing nature. We begin to see thought as an agitation of pure consciousness and realize that the more we repose in our innate nature, the less agitation, and vice versa.

Let us briefly examine what modern research has found out about thought in three dimensions: frequency, level of recurrence, and reality of thought coming to fruition.

Queen’s University in Canada did a study in 2020 with 184 subjects with an average age of 29.4 years using MRI brain scans to determine when the brain moved between thoughts. Assuming 8 hours of sleep and extrapolating from the data of observed median transition rates between thoughts, this study observed 6.5 transitions per minute, or over six thousand daily thoughts. This equates to an average of one thought every 9 seconds. Therefore, it is reasonable to conclude that humans are very motivated and driven by mental energy, i.e., thoughts. 

 I believe that most of us would agree that the vast majority of our thoughts are repetitive. I have not been able to find the original source, but there are multiple places online that quote a study from 2005 that has found that 95% of thoughts are repetitive.

 Research by Cornell University shows that 85% of what we worry about never occurs and that we are way more resilient than we envision. Another study found that 91.4% of worry predictions did not come true. In the Cornell University study, 79% of the time people dealt with the 15% of the worries that did occur better than they initially thought and learned valuable lessons from the experience. If we do the math, 85% + 79% x 15%, we arrive at the conclusion that 97% of the time there was not much to worry about. In other words, worry is only real 3% of the time.

 We can summarize the conclusions from these few studies this way:

·      The frequency of thought is very high.

·      The repetitive nature of thought is very high.

·      The reality of thought coming to fruition is very low, i.e., the vast majority of thoughts are imagined and not based on reality.

I believe that most of us would more or less agree with this view on thought across these three dimensions. Thoughts are clearly the major filter through which we tend to perceive the world. Furthermore, this filter is highly unreliable most of the time. Therefore, it might be a good idea to learn to surrender and to still our thoughts and use them sparingly including in cases when problem-solving is needed. Once we start using the thought-filter less, more of the rest of reality that lies beyond thought becomes accessible and revealed over time. The vastness of non-conceptual indeterminate reality is unfathomable and impossible to describe with language.   

In the path of the individual, we deal with the activity of thought indirectly through body, intellect, and breath-based practices. In the path of energy, we deal directly with the activity of thought by reposing in a pure thought.

Śāktopāya, the path of energy, is the path of knowledge, consuming the veil of differentiation and egoic self-absorption (“I am different”). Śāktopāya is also called jñanopāya, because it is supported by jñāna śakti, the energy of knowledge, and bhedābhedopāya, the path with supports in both duality and non-duality. With the path of energy, we consume the energy of thought-patterns. In other words, here we operate in the realm of mental energies, where we consume internal duality – me, as in my sense of self, vs. my thoughts. This happens by maintaining one-pointed awareness as opposed to having support of two points in the path of the individual (in the case of the junction points of the breath). In the path of energy there are two developments.  

The first one is reposing with one-pointedness in a pure thought. One of the practices in this path is pure or “aligned”-with-reality thought (śuddhavikalpa). In practice, this means reposing in thought by being established with one-pointedness in an elevated thought that describes the ultimate reality, such as: “I am consciousness and this universe is an expression of and inseparable from consciousness,” or simply, “I am consciousness.” These thoughts are called sattarka, or right reasoning, and the practice of sattarka is meditation (bhāvanā). Therefore, the highest purpose of thought, i.e., determinate knowledge, is to remove all traces of duality, revealing the indeterminate, ever-free, self-luminous consciousness. It is only then that thought has truly fulfilled its purpose. When we begin to view thought from this perspective, suddenly or gradually, our daily mental struggles based on an endless array of thoughts become way less important.

tathāhi vikalpabalād eva jantavo baddham ātmānam abhimanyante sa abhimāno ‘taḥ pratidvandvirūpo vikalpa uditaḥ saṃsārahetuṃ vikalpaṃ dalayatīti abhyudayahetuḥ |

sa ca evaṃ rūpaḥ samastebhyaḥ paricchinnasvabhāvebhyaḥ śivāntebhyaḥ tattvebhyo yad uttīrṇam aparicchinnasaṃvinmātrarūpaṃ tad eva ca paramārthas tad vastuvyavasthāsthānaṃ tat viśvasyaujaa tena prāṇiti viśvam tad eva ca aham ato viśvottīrṇo viśvātmā cāham iti | sa cāyaṃ māyāndhānāṃ na utpadyate sattarkādīnām abhāvāt |

It is because of the power of thought constructs (vikalpa) that living beings wrongly conceive of themselves as bound (baddha). A firm conviction (abhimāna) regarding one’s own nature becomes the cause of freedom from saṃsāra [repeated births and deaths]. When this new vikalpa arises, it neutralizes those vikalpas which are the cause of bondage. This new vikalpa becomes the cause of ascent (abhyudaya), enabling one to attain his or her own innate nature (svabhāva). This is as follows: the supreme reality is unlimited by nature and consists of an undivided singularity of consciousness (saṃvidmātra). It transcends all the principles of limited nature which terminate in Śiva. This renders stability to all and is the vitality of the universe. Through it the universe ‘throbs’ with life, and that is “I” (aham). Therefore, I am both transcendent and immanent (viśvottīrṇo viśvātmāham). This kind of conviction, however, does not arise in those blinded by māyā [illusion], because they lack right reasoning (sattarka), etc.

Tantrāsara, beginning of Chapter 4, translated by H.N. Chakravarty and Boris Marjanovic in Tantrāsara of Abhinavagupta

Swami Lakshmanjoo describes śāktopāya practice as maintaining an unbroken chain of awareness, a firmness of awareness, in the center between any two thoughts or actions. If one is unable to maintain firmness of awareness in the center, one descends into the path of the individual. If we are able to maintain an unbroken chain of awareness, we have the recognition that our essence pervades the expressed objective world – aham idam (I am this).

*** PRACTICE INSIGHT ***

The highest purpose of thought is to remove all traces of duality, revealing the ever-free, self-luminous consciousness. It is only then that thought has truly fulfilled its purpose.

PRACTICE § Pause for 10 minutes. For 5 minutes, mentally repeat with one-pointedness in your heart center a thought that for you describes the ultimate reality, for example, “There is only one consciousness,” “There is only one light,” “Everything is light.” Then, stop repeating the thought, and for 5 minutes repose with one-pointedness and stillness in the heart center. §   

The second development is the fruit of the first development – glimpses of the thought-free state. At the higher level of the path of energy, pure thought matures in the revelation of and increasingly frequent glimpses of the thought-free state (nirvikalpa), beyond all conceptual distinctions. We begin to have the direct recognition that the essence of the expressed objective world is not different from our essence – idam aham (This I am). Through the two-fold movement of self-reflective capacity, we consume cognitive objectivity and move into the path of consciousness.

The practices in the paths of the individual and energy result in stages of thought purification. Tantrāloka verses 4.4-5 describe six stages of thought purification from unclear to supremely clear with five intermediary stages. Thought purification has a direct relationship with the strengthening of consciousness – the purer the thought, the more consciousness, and vice versa. The last stage of supremely clear thought is the thought-free state, which is the state of consciousness unsullied by differentiated knowledge.

We polish the mirror of our consciousness with our spiritual practices through increased clarity of thought along this spectrum. We gradually see the world and ourselves more clearly. We can use these stages to inquire within and assess where we are on the journey of thought purification and to expose the differentiated knowledge expressed as thought patterns that we are still attached to and resist letting go of.

Śāmbhavopāya, the path of consciousness or awareness (also called the “Divine means”), consumes the veil of separation and the pattern of self-rejection (“I am separate from the divine”). This path is about maintaining the thought-free state and being immersed in and living from the dynamic stillness of the luminosity of pure consciousness untarnished by distinctions. That is why śāmbhavopāya is also called icchopāya since its source is icchā śakti, the energy of divine will before manifestation, and abhedopāya, the path of non-duality.

The energy of divine will is the impulse within oneness directed towards creation. This stirring precedes the energies of pure divine knowledge and action, i.e., the blueprints for and accomplishing creation. Therefore, we can describe divine will as the “pre-creative motionless impulse.” Divine will can also be described as the desire before knowing and acting. The desire is not directed towards another subject or object. Therefore, divine will is the initial arousal of consciousness within itself.

Here, we surrender all our limited desires into the freedom of divine will. We must also surrender the desire for liberation because it re-inforces the separation between the individual and the divine. The depth of surrender is so deep that we no longer need support of two points or even one point, but the supportless state of consciousness itself. All that remains is stillness and subtle stirring of will within consciousness.  

Consequently, we are not talking about practices that emphasize concentration but encounter the all-pervasiveness of consciousness. In other words, instead of one-pointed, these practices are all-pointed. The Vijñānabhairava and the Svacchandatantra have verses that spell this out, and Abhinavagupta elucidates this idea throughout his corpus.

In addition to surrender, we must repose in the effortlessness and spontaneity inherent in the freedom of consciousness, a topic which we will explore later in a separate chapter on the energy of freedom.

Consciousness at the level of divine will has inherent self-reflective capacity (vimarśa) – aham aham (I am that I am). There is only one. There is no other. Contrast that with the self-reflective capacity at the level of energy which is pure thought and glimpses of the thought-free state; at the level of the individual, it is the realization that one is more than the body and mind; and in ordinary existence, it is the conceptual belief that one is the body and mind.

*** PRACTICE INSIGHT ***

The thought-free state brings us to the most luminous and supremely clear self-reflective capacity –

the direct realization that there is only one knowing subject, reposing in bliss and freedom.

We can see that there are gradations of self-reflective capacity depending on the level of maturation of consciousness of the individual. Traversing the paths of liberation is the gradual purification of the capacity for self-reflection and the luminosity of self-reflective capacity, until we reach the highest sacred repose, which is the permanent direct realization that there is only one knowing subject, resting in bliss and freedom.

We will study that there are stages of repose along the way. In the path of the individual, we use as support for our awareness the breath, mantra, points on the body, etc.; in the path of energy, one-pointedness of thought; and in the path of consciousness, there is no support except for maintaining the thought-free state.

The self-reflective capacity of consciousness (vimarśa) is the thought-free state. Thought (vikalpa) is agitated vimarśa. Said differently, vimarśa is unagitated thought. Vikalpa is limited vimarśa engaged in the differentiated play of consciousness.

Therefore, bondage is conceptual, it is imagined. We will show that Abhinavagupta states this explicitly. Bondage is conceptual at the level of the veils of doership and differentiation. At the level of the veil of separation, bondage is non-conceptual – it is the illusion of separation from divinity on an energetic level beyond thought. This final veil can only be lifted by the divine itself through grace.

I believe that because bondage is ultimately imagined, the Tantric masters, as we will discuss, value the practices of dhyāna and bhāvanā – creative contemplation. In these practices, we can imagine that we are in fact divine by inserting a sense of love and devotion into all we do. As a result, over time, we automatically unimagine that we are body-mind. We will also study a higher form of dhyāna and bhāvanā called pratibhā – intuitive insight.

Anupāya is the path of no means. It is the pathless path where we live as a pure expression of the divine and therefore beyond all paths of realization. The path of no means is the autonomous state of the light of consciousness (prakaśa) reposing in the bliss of itself as aham – I am. Anupāyais also called ānandopāya, the path of bliss, because it is supported by ānanda śakti, the energy of bliss.The energy of bliss is the support of the other three paths to liberation.

The means to liberation: grace vs effort 

The sacred repose practices that we will learn are within all paths. The paths of the individual and energy are the cremation ground for the dualistic mind, burning the mind into oneness, leading to the path of consciousness. As we will see, the yoga of stillness (nirācārayoga) is the path of consciousness.

Each path can take us to the ultimate reality, it is just a matter of the starting point. Where a yogi(nī) begins their practice depends on the level of grace that the divine has bestowed on the individual. The Tantrāloka describes 9 main levels of grace.

We have been graced by divinity; we have been awakened by divinity to begin to see that we are not what we think we are in our ordinary existence. Even if we start from the lowest level of grace and practice the path of the individual, the fruit of the practices of this lowest path can take us all the way to liberation directly. Abhinavagupta always emphasizes this point – any practice, or any level of practice, can take us all the way. Or we can gradually move into the path of energy, and then into the path of awareness.

It does not matter what stage we happen to be in – grace is always present, right here, right now. What matters is responding to this grace with effort by doing the practices, by making the practices a consistent rhythm in our life. We just have to make that choice.

We must understand that the lower the path, the more effort we have to bring to our inner work. We have to bring our commitment and discipline to all paths, but the path of the individual and the path of energy require more effort. In the path of the individual, which is the embodied path, the body has to exert an effort, which is more demanding that if we operate at the level of energy. At the level of energy, we surrender to the energy and the energy does the inner work. In the path of consciousness, we are in the thought-free state beyond form and energy. The inner work is subtle, is about stillness, and requires less effort as awareness does most of the work.

The following charts are trying to depict:

·      The inverse relationship between effort and the paths: the lower the path, the more effort is required; the higher the path, less effort is required.

·      The direct relationship between the level of grace and the paths: the lower the level of grace, the lower the path; the higher the level of grace, the higher the path.

·     The inverse relationship between individuality/duality and the paths: the lower the path, more individuality/duality; the higher the path, less individuality/duality.

·      The direct relationship between divinity/unity and the paths: less divinity/unity, the lower the path; higher divinity/unity, higher the path.

·      The inverse relationship between suffering and the paths: the lower the path, more suffering; the higher the path, less suffering.

·      The direct relationship between bliss/freedom and the paths: less bliss/freedom, the lower the path; higher bliss/freedom, higher the path.

Of course, these relationships only appear linear in the sequence of time-space continuum. In fact, even in the time-space continuum, one can experience cessation of linearity. As we already discussed, one can leap directly from the path of the individual to the light of pure consciousness. Liberation can happen in an instant. At the highest reality of the eternal moment of the light of consciousness there is no such thing as non-liberation. The light of consciousness, out of its inherent freedom, creates the appearance of non-liberation in part by means of the time-space continuum. The veils of duality and paths to liberation operate within the time-space continuum of the ever-spinning wheel of the five divine powers that we will discuss next.

PRACTICE § Pause for a few minutes and reflect on where you are in this time-space continuum along the spectrums described in the charts above. Do not judge yourself, just observe where you are in your spiritual work. §

During the inner journey, I have fallen into multiple traps: obsession with doing the techniques perfectly, the belief that the journey is a slow grind, unconscious separation of spiritual life and everyday life, spiritual bypass, unconscious over-reliance on the guru in the place of owning and strengthening my own connection to the divine, etc. Note how each of these traps reinforces duality with varying subtlety, in effect making the path itself an obstacle. The insights of sacred repose have been a major revelation, completely changing my practice, allowing me to go much deeper than ever before.

Based on my experience and that of my students, I am certain that the sacred repose teachings and practices you will learn in this book, if taken up in earnest, will greatly amplify your inner unfolding. Through sacred repose practices, we develop the capacity to catch and abide in the moments of repose inherent within the ever-spinning wheel of the five divine powers.

The five acts of the divine 

Consciousness (Śiva) descends into creation and individuality by performing through its power, energy (Śakti), the five divine acts: creation (sṛiṣṭi), maintenance (sthiti), dissolution (saṃhāra), concealment (tirodhāna), and revelation (anugraha).

Consciousness conceals itself as the universe on the canvas of its own being. The individual is caught in the concealment inherent in the endless cycles of creation, maintenance, and dissolution both at the macro and micro levels. For example, at the macro level, by divine design (as we will see below in the discussion on the levels of reality) our true nature is concealed through the energies of separation, limited will, limited knowledge, limited action, time, and space. At the micro level, each perception, thought, emotion, etc. has the power to bind us if we identity with it.

However, with practice, over time, we realize that revelation is inherent in concealment. We begin to have a different perspective on concealment and contraction. Instead of getting disturbed about the endless game of concealment, we develop the discriminating capacity to see the revelatory doorways inherent within concealment. As we will see in the discussion of the nameless state, in each perception, by really slowing down and through stillness, we can access the luminosity of non-sequence of the eternal moment of pure consciousness.

With practice, over time, we also begin to enjoy (bhoga) the universal divine play. We gradually outgrow our suffering and karma and in increasing freedom enjoy the show. The combined shows from Las Vegas, Broadway, Hollywood, and Bollywood, that have been created and will be ever created, pale in comparison to the divine play of consciousness set up through the 36 levels of reality.

The 36 tattvas (levels of reality)

The 36 tattvas, or levels of reality, represent a map of the fabric of creation showing human beings both the creative descent of consciousness into the world and individuality, and the ascent of human consciousness into divine consciousness. I think that it is very important for the yogi(nī) to study this map in detail or at least understand the key principles of the map discussed below, because this is our own map for liberation. The map is also a barometer that we can use regularly to self-reflect on the maturity of our own consciousness.

We can synthesize the 36 tattvas into 6 levels.

Pure tattvas (śuddhatattva). This is the highest level where consciousness and the innate bliss of consciousness, before the actual creation, set up the blueprint for the universe and individuality through the triadic powers of pure divine will, knowledge, and action. The script is prepared.

Coverings (ṣaṭkañcuka). From the ground of illusion (māyā), consciousness creates the five coverings: limitation of time, limitation of space, and the contracted forms of the pure triadic divine powers of will, knowledge, and action. The stage is set.

Individuality and nature. After veiling itself, consciousness descends into individuality. That is, Śiva, consciousness, becomes the individual, puruṣa. Another meaning for puruṣa is soul. At the level of puruṣa, the individual is only veiled with separation and not with doership and differentiation. From the point of view of ascent, puruṣa is the state where the individual is established in the thought-free state, or the path of consciousness.

Therefore, we could say that the path of consciousness is the path of the soul merging with its divine source, the path of energy is the path of the purification of ego and mind to rediscover our soul nature, and the path of the individual is the path of internalizing our basic energies (body and mind) to enable the purification of ego and mind. 

The reflection of individuality in the world becomes nature, i.e. objectivity. That is, Śakti, the energetic power of consciousness, becomes nature, prakṛti. The actors enter the stage.

Internal organs of cognition. Intellect, ego, and mind come next so that individuality can cognize itself and nature. These are the 3 internal organs of cognition. The inner drama within the actors begins.

External organs of cognition and action. Next come the senses and the organs of action and cognition. The actors can act out the inner drama in the world.

Elements. Finally, we have the 5 elements. The scenery is ready.

Then, the inner drama is acted out on the stage of the universe. The play is on.

The map of the levels of reality holds profound insights and secrets, including the principle that the lower rests in the higher 

The fundamental principle of the levels of reality is that the lower rests in the higher. Each level supports the level below it. As we will see, this principle is key to understanding the teachings and practices of sacred repose.

The highest reality of consciousness only rests in itself. It is supportless and pervades all the levels, down to the earth element. Consciousness only endows the individual with self-reflective capacity, and not the objects of creation.

·      Levels 6-31 are internal to the individual.

·      The 5 gross elements (tattvas 32-36) are external to the individual and inter-subjectively evident to everybody within the world of objectivity.

·     Tattvas 1 to 5, which are the source of all other levels of reality, appear external to the individual living in duality, or rather the bound individual is not aware of them, but of course ultimately become evident to all sentient beings.

·      Therefore, out of 36 tattvas, 26 are internal to the bound individual, at least based on their comprehension of the world rooted in ignorance, but not ontologically.

Each of us is literally a walking universe that senses, acts, thinks, feels, analyzes, and is bound by the five coverings (tattvas 7 to 11) created from illusion (tattva 6). Most humans function at or below the level of ego with a limited capacity to look up. Ego and mind are considered levels 15 and 16 respectively, i.e., ego and mind are 14 and 15 levels respectively removed from pure consciousness. Levels 1-14 are extremely well obscured by the gravitational pull of the ego. The ego reinforces our limited identity, keeping us magnetized to the middle of the spiritual ladder – we are literally stranded. Yet, the apparent complexity of the individual is anchored in bliss and freedom which pervade all of creation.

The intellect is an important lever for activating the process of awakening. We begin to use our intellect to develop the discriminating awareness to look up the spiritual ladder as opposed to using it to reinforce our ego and duality.

Now, let us discuss the premise that the fundamental principle of the levels of reality is that the lower rests in the higher. The deeper level of understanding of this principle is that the energy and awareness of the higher level supports the lower level.

For example, the awareness and energy of level 12 of the individual or soul (puruṣa) supports level 13 of nature (prakṛti). In other words, the source of the field of objectivity is the individual or soul. The world of objectivity does not exist independent of the perceiver (this is confirmed by quantum physics). With the teachings and practices of sacred repose we arrive at the direct recognition that there is only one knowing subject, resting in bliss and freedom. We move from sakala-pramātṛ, the individual or soul subject creating the microcosm, to Śiva-pramātṛ, consciousness creating the macrocosm.

Similarly, the ego rests in the intellect. The analytical awareness and energy of the intellect allows us to analyze and rise above the tricks of the ego. When we don’t use our discriminating awareness, the ego can take over. The ego is designed to pull us down and keep us stuck at the level of objectivity. We see this every day in our “modern” society. Humanity is obsessed with materialism, creating disharmony on our beautiful planet Earth at every level.

Moving further down the ladder, the mind is the apparatus of the ego. The mind reinforces the ego with its own instruments – thought and emotional patterns. When we act out of self-willful and self-centered habitual thought and emotional patterns, we either create new karma or reinforce old karma.

We can think of the mind as a library of differentiated knowledge. Each book is a series of impressions of dualistic consciousness and each sentence is a thought. The ego decided to build the library, so that it has a place to live in. The intellect can investigate whether the library and its knowledge are all that there is and whether the library makes one happy and fulfilled. The intellect can discern that the new books which we have added to the library are not really different from the existing ones and do not enhance one’s overall state of well-being. 

The intellect can also decide to try something different: to burn all the books, demolish the library, and investigate the unknown – what lies beyond differentiated knowledge. The intellect can also see the books, thoughts, and concepts as crystallizations of consciousness, and vehicles for its play. The metaphor of burning conceptuality, purifying it, and clarifying it, is important in the tradition. But also seeing thought as the energy of consciousness (citiśakti), as its creative display. Therefore, intellect, in its highest form, is a catalyst for awakening.

Stuck between a rock (field of objectivity) and a hard place (field of activity)

Below the cognitive inner organs (mind, ego, intellect), sit the lower 20 layers depicted on the tattva chart, which represent the gross and subtle elements, the powers of perception, and the powers of action.

In terms of our spiritual growth, we seek to internalize the energy contained on these levels in order to transcend the misunderstanding that our interaction with material life is something outside ourselves.

Swami Khecaranatha, Wearing God’s Mala, The Seva Sutras

The ancient inner scientists appropriately called the organs of action karmendriyas (karma means action). Through our self-willful actions, using the organs of action such as our words, the acts we perform with our hands, and our reproductive abilities, we could hurt other people, creating karma in the process.

Unfortunately, we often use our free will to perform actions that bind us, reinforcing the concealment from our divine nature. These actions are choices we make moment by moment. It is always a good idea before we say something or do something to consider the inner condition from which we are about to act and the possible ramifications of our actions.

The energy of separation (māyāśakti) is where the objectification of consciousness begins to happen, with the end result the universe as we know it, from a grain of sand on the beach to the countless galaxies. Nature (prakṛti), as an extension of the energy of separation, is the amazing ever-new moment-by-moment expression of the divine and the choice of the divine to conceal itself in creation. Divinity does this out of the bliss and freedom of its own existence in order to expand its bliss by hiding itself and remembering itself again and again. Scripture describes this as the play of consciousness.

Nature is situated above the cognitive inner organs and refers to the manifest world of matter. Nature includes not just the natural world but also the world of the mind, including our thoughts and memory. In other words, nature does not just encompass the material objects of creation, but also the non-material objects of creation, i.e., the objects of our thoughts arising from past impressions and our imagination, including our dreams and mind-created stories. Therefore, nature creates external and internal objects and duality perceived and analyzed through the intellect, ego, and mind.

The end result is, as depicted in the tattva chart, a limited knowing subject (tattva 12) with a tendency to predominantly look down the tattva ladder. In other words, the limited knowing subject is stuck between the field of objectivity and the field of activity.

This predicament becomes even more nuanced. Nature has three qualities (guṇas): sattva (light, harmony, virtuousness, positivity, purity, clarity), rajas (activity – both bad and good, energy, passion, egoism), and tamas (inertia, slowing down, resting, darkness, chaos, apathy, violence, delusion).

The guṇas pervade all the layers below nature. We can verify this with our own experience. For example, in people and objects we can sense light, activity, and inertia in various proportions.

We can also detect the three guṇas in our own egoic patterns. For example, a common rajas tendency is to feed the ego by keeping the mind active – we continuously try to achieve something in the world by incessantly planning our next move and over-analyzing the past, while harmony (sattva) and slowing down (tamas) take a backseat. Egoic patterns fortified by imbalances of the guṇas bind our energy and consciousness to duality and re-inforce karma lifetime after lifetime.  

The karmic sandwich

Swami Rudrananda (Rudi) used to say that karma is a shit sandwich that we don’t have to eat. I borrowed that yummy metaphor to illustrate the karmic sandwich – being stuck between the field of objectivity and the field of activity.

As human beings, we continuously feel both external and internal friction. We feel friction externally as we engage the field of objectivity (other people, objects, and situations) – our ego meets other people’s egos in the process of trying to find a sense of accomplishment by pursuing money, career, etc. Internally, in our minds, we may struggle with our own self-worth and wonder what to do or not do in order to feel better about ourselves. Using the organs of action, we act out in the world from our egoic patterns and create consequences from our actions.

Endless causes and effects, both from other people’s actions and our own, interact in what I call the field of activity, creating the state of the world as we know it. We all operate karma sandwich food trucks, competing who will create and eat the best tasting karma sandwich! It is a never-ending loop inspired by the ego.

At some point, through grace, we begin to understand that we have to stop acting out of our own limited will to free ourselves from all veils of duality. In this discussion, we are concerned with karma, which results from the friction between our ego and the fields of objectivity and activity. Burning our karma frees us from the veils of “I am different” and “I am the doer.” We begin to see with our intellect (Level 14) that we do not have to eat the karmic sandwich and can look up and past differentiation.

One of the ways we burn karma is by getting still and not acting out our limited desires, a skill we develop as we focus more and more with our inner work on repose. This teaching was probably first developed by the early Jains. Becoming still physically, mentally, and in the breath, was the most natural way to stop karma by simply ceasing to act. However, given the past storehouse of unexpressed karmas, the early Jains also introduced the idea that stillness also exhausts past karmas.

Actions (karmas) resulting in pleasurable or painful experiences create impressions (saṁskāras) on the mind (manas/citta) over time. These experiences are driven by the desire of humans to find completion in the world of objectivity through other people or things. Unprocessed impressions seep into the subconscious mind, reinforcing our perception of duality lifetime after lifetime by motivating our unconscious behaviors. Unresolved saṁskāras create a tendency, a particular recurring egoic behavioral pattern (vāsanā). These egoic patterns pervade our thoughts and result in specific thought patterns (vṛttis) that drive our behavior of seeking pleasure and avoiding pain.

We can think of saṁskāras and vāsanās as weeds that we have created in the garden of our own consciousness. We create and propagate the weeds through our self-willful actions until the beautiful garden of our luminous consciousness is veiled with layers of weeds. And then, one day, grace pulls the weeds apart, giving us a glimpse of our innate nature and our spiritual journey begins – we start weeding out the garden of Eden.

To summarize, action (karma) can result in an impression (saṁskāra) which over time can create a tendency (vāsanā), which in turn energizes a thought pattern (vṛtti), motivating our karmic actions.

We ultimately free ourselves from karma by realizing that the highest action is non-action. How do we apply this teaching in practice? First, we have to stop creating new karma by surrendering our egoic tendencies and by being still (in repose). Second, in stillness (in repose), we begin to recognize our past patterns, burn them by not acting them out, and in the process, release the energy of the pattern, which expands our awareness. We then repose in our innate nature, until, in greater stillness, a deeper pattern is revealed to be released.

Surrender and repose are key to our liberation

We must learn to apply the insights of the map of the levels of reality. When we truly understand that the lower is supported by the higher, in our inner work we must let go of the lower to reveal the higher. We immerse ourselves so deeply in the lower that the lower becomes so still that the higher reveals itself. The former is surrender and the latter is repose.

Surrender and repose (stillness) are the fundamental spiritual principles that we must master in our inner work. This insight cannot be overemphasized. This discernment is inherent in the very fabric of creation, and we must wholeheartedly embrace it. We should apply this teaching in our inner work every day. In the practice section, each of the 17 meditations is essentially about surrender and repose.

One common theme that I hear from many practitioners is “I don’t know how to surrender my thoughts, my mind, my emotions, my ego, and my sense of individual self.” This perspective is understandable as each of these aspects of our being has a tremendous grip on us. These are all agitating energies that we have unconsciously reinforced lifetime after lifetime, binding ourselves tighter and tighter around the illusion of individuality, creating what seems like endless suffering. Going a level deeper, these aspects are fed by our attachments and projections (new or karmic) related to money, career, sex; avoidance; doubt; lack of faith; etc.

So, how do we surrender all these agitating pests? Surrender is about finding the sweet spot between grace and self-effort, where surrender simply happens. Fortunately, repose comes to the rescue.

If we are stuck feeling that we cannot surrender a limiting layer of our being (whether it is lower-level aspect such as a specific attachment, or a higher level such as the ego), we practice reposing in that layer and becoming profoundly still in it. Over time, in the stillness of repose, the higher level inevitably reveals itself, and our consciousness expands. We also realize that there is joy in surrender because the higher level is inherently freer. The higher level was simply obscured and difficult to see when we were stuck in the lower layer.

Over time and with practice we recognize that surrender and repose reinforce each other. We can repose our way into surrender, or we can surrender into repose, or we can do both.

For example, we can offer in surrender a limiting thought pattern. In the moments of stillness between the emergence and subsiding of the thought pattern, we repose in stillness with one-pointedness. Repose over time does not allow the thought pattern to manifest again. In effect, through repose, we are surrendering the thought pattern by not energizing it with our awareness. We are weakening the thought pattern by not engaging it through the stillness of repose, until at some point it simply completely melts in awareness.

Practicing the matrix of surrender-repose over and over again prepares us for the ultimate surrender of our limited egoic identity. All thought patterns and karma are attached to identity. We can surrender all the little pieces – this thought-pattern, that piece of karma – one at a time until no identity is left, or we can surrender the identity to which all these things are attached in the first place. As we practice surrendering the bits and pieces, we are tilling the ground for the ultimate inner sacrifice – that of our limited identity – into the freedom of pure consciousness. One of the practices introduced later in the practice chapter is specifically designed to facilitate the process of offering the mind into freedom ("Surrendering into stillness practice – surrendering the mind into freedom”).

The salmon has no choice but to journey back home, because the beacon (grace) is always calling. Freedom is inevitable. But how can we make the journey at least a bit faster and more natural? We are all familiar with this amazing statement by Archimedes, “Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.” Lifting this statement (pun intended) from the great Archimedes into a spiritual context, naturally synthesizes the pointers I am trying to describe here in a practical framework:

Give me surrender long enough and stillness on which to place it, and I shall move the universe, to reveal the supreme secret that there is only one supreme knowing subject resting in bliss and freedom.