MATT HUISH YOGA : TALKS & SLOKAS
THE DIRECT WAY, TALK ON CHAPTER 9 OF THE BHAGAVAD GITA
April 14, 2009
Yoga Mandiram of Portland
Year 1 TT Notes/Class of 2008
Instructor: Matt Huish
Slightly Modified by Matt on May 4, 2009 for easier reading
“The Lord said: To you, O Arjuna, who do not carp, I will propound this, the greatest mystery of knowledge combined with realization, by understanding which you will be released from evil. It is the supreme science, the sovereign mystery, and the supreme purifier. It is perceived by direct experience, it accords with dharma, it is easy to practice, and it is imperishable. Men without faith in this dharm do not attain Me, O dreaded Arjuna, but return to the path of the world fraught with death.”
Bhagavad Gita 9.1-3
These first few verses of chapter 9 in the Gita lay out the differences between the direct and the gradual paths. They follow on the verses of chapter 8 which discuss the gradual path and the effects of karma. Krsna in chapter 9 gives a very direct approach, which is superior in many ways to that which is given in Chapter 8. On first read it might be easy to miss what he’s saying here.
Nothing is as purifying as this knowledge. If one does not enter into this direct way, there’s a certain cyclical process that unfolds with one’s journey.
Taking these verses, we can put it all aside for a moment, step out of our conceptual layers, out of our book knowledge, out of hearsay, out of what the teacher tells us, out of yoga, out of Vedanta and we can recognize directly Truth as direct experience, as this is our birthright. This way involves conviction, acceptance, surrender, freedom from doubt. It involves willingness. Are we willing to accept our birthright? Are we willing to accept who we are, entirely and completely? If we are then we find this is very easy. Truth is already at hand - nothing needs to be done whatsoever. There’s no path, no arrival, no relinquishment, no renunciation, no acceptance, no rejection, no bondage, no liberation. What is, is, and no matter what action we take - no action we take changes this. Reality is That. Reality is Sat. Reality is Real. All we have to do is ask ourselves, “What is real?” and be willing to feel the full impact of that answer, which has been staring us in the face since we were born. No need to worship a blue-skinned god, or master paschimottanasana. Very profound, and very easy, and easy to overlook. Mind wants to run to something flashy, exciting, unreal. Living in reality is vast - it has no boundaries - none, whatsoever. It’s brahman, bhri, expanding without limit. Because of this, the mind can be terrified, terrified of accepting its own inherent truth. As it dissolves into the expanse, there’s nothing but the clear vastness of the sky, shining with its own inherent brilliance.
These first 3 verses are the sum essence of this chapter. As he goes on it’s still pretty direct, but not as direct as these 3. These first 3 deserve some examination and contemplation. If you understand what they point to, you can throw the book away and never read it again.
Question: With the process of training your mind, using the breath - is it just a matter of persistence in recognizing the tendency to be distracted?
Response: You’re talking about the gradual way. What we’re speaking of here exists here and now. The requisite, as he says, is faith. There can be no doubt and with one swift cut duality is swept aside. It’s very radical and very direct. One has to be willing, first and foremost, to see, to be.
Example: Imagine you’re watching a movie. It’s like watching a movie and then suddenly recognizing that you’re watching a movie, and you see the situation for what it is. Crude example. It’s not that the movie’s not still playing, but you understand it for what it is. What we’re talking about is direct recognition of reality. Ramana Maharshi has said that to Know the Self is to Be the Self. Knowledge and Being are one and the same. Not like knowing 2+2=4. There’s a direct conviction with this because there’s nothing that can contradict it. This isn’t like my philosophy vs. your philosophy. Philosophy and belief are based on experience - there is no experience of Self - Self is the basis of experience. Thus, all philosophies, experiences, states of mind, potential arisings are included within it. It cannot be refuted, because to do so would be to deny your own existence. Nagarjuna the great Madhyamika Buddhist of the 2nd century annihilated the opposition who claimed otherwise. Ultimately, all this phenomenal arising is display. If you choose to recognize truth, no matter where you turn or go, you can’t escape it. Recall the Mandukya Upanishad which states that all experiences and states are encompassed within the 4th. There is no way to escape it. How can you escape yourself? It’s not possible.
Question: Can you recognize it (the Self) and then lose it?
Response: The mind appears to lose it, but the mind never really has it. It - the Self - is all there is. It’s just this.
Question: But the mind fears it?
Response: Confusion or liberation - it’s just 2 sides of a coin. The Self is always the Self. Awareness is always aware, whether it’s aware of confusion or its natural state.
Question: Is the awareness just attaching to the mind?
Response: The mind is just the display, or the adornment of awareness, like the rays of the sun are nothing but the sun, but they appear to be something different. Take a look at the sun - where does it end? Particles just keep going and going and going. If there were no magnetic field around the earth, it would be stripped dead right now. So, what we see as the sun, and what actually is the sun, is not always the same to us, but the sun is always the sun, what it is. In our confused state the rope appears to become a snake. It’s a confusion, a certain confusion that exists. If we see it for what it is, even though there might be a forgetting, it doesn’t matter, because the Self is always the Self. No matter what we do, no matter how many lifetimes we work on ourself, we won’t be any better or worse or closer to our true nature. No practice will bring us one bit closer to truth. It’s right here - we’re swimming in it, can’t escape it, we are it. It takes a certain faith, a certain willingness to really accept that.
Question: Does it take faith because the mind is afraid to let go?
Response: Lots of doubt, 2nd guessing. Might completely recognize it, then think, “Oh no, that’s too simple. All the sages say it’s so complicated, and the Upanishads are so confusing, and I’m just a totally fallible individual.” We think we have to attain the 25th state of Samadhi or completely master our mind, or wrap our leg behind our head. This is not the case. With the direct way, none of that shit matters in the slightest. Certain sages will disagree. The mind will talk you into all sorts of shit, but it’s just a display. It’s like bad media, mental media. Just the flapping of a crow’s wings in the wind.
Question: In recognizing that, it’s voice won’t be as loud eventually...
Response: Doesn’t matter if it’s loud or quiet - it’s just adornment. There’s no should or shouldn’t with this. I’m not telling you to follow the direct path, just telling you what it is. It’s useful to know so you don’t bullshit yourself to death. If it’s something that utterly doesn’t make sense to you, better to stick to the gradual, and something will dawn inside you one day. The end of the gradual is the direct - there’s no other way. At some point awareness meets itself, and in that meeting there’s not a meeting, because how can something meet itself? Even the process of inquiry is somewhat contrived. In the beginning, it’s like a dog chasing its tail: Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? Oh, Yeah. Even the “Oh, Yeahs” disappear after awhile, because why have to keep saying it? It just is. Some folks say it’s silly/pointless to talk about it. This is also bullshit. Why not talk about it? Doesn’t change anything about it. May help, may not. Doesn’t matter. Self is Self.
Question: What if karma dissolves?
Response: There is no karma. No one liberated, no one in bondage at any time (Mandukya Upanishad). No actor, no action (Nagarjuna).
Question: So, once someone has this knowledge, how do they make decisions in everyday life, how do they cope with the “movie” that they’re in?
Response: There’s no decision. There’s no movie.
Question: It seems to me that they’d just sit and meditate all the time.
Response: Why? Why sit? There’s stuff to do.
Question: How do you bridge the gap between higher and lower knowledge? How do you navigate through irrelevant knowledge?
Response: I haven’t said anything about irrelevance. There’s nothing to decide, there are no decisions. Action depends on an actor. Now, so you’re not utterly confused, someone from the outside will see this person acting in just a normal way. There’s nothing to distinguish them in any way. This is why a man/woman of knowledge is difficult to determine. Mind can’t pick it up. Mind looks for power/siddhi - but Knowledge and siddhi are two different things. Something will resolve itself when you know the answer to the question of who you are. Ramana Maharshi said you’ll know the answer between free will/predestination when you know definitively who you are. If you don’t, that question will forever exist as a certain struggle inside yourself. The gradual way depends upon the ego, the individual. The gradual way involves “someone” walking “some path” toward some “liberated state.” But the direct path cuts through that immediately. Who is this person walking this path? We are examining the very axiom of the basis of the mind. This mind is like a ghost. It becomes very solid and real, a slippery thing out of the corner of our vision. Because it’s not examined, it takes on a life of its own, layers expand, drama ensues. When you look directly at mind itself, what do you see?
Answer: Quietness. Clarity.
So you look directly, and there’s quiet clarity. Is that true any time you look at any thought? Raise the most disgusting, horrible thought, hold it as a picture, and look directly at it and tell me what you see. Then raise the most beautiful, wonderful thought, and do the same. There’s nothing there - it’s like a ghost. If you look directly at it, it’s gone, nowhere to be found. What remains in its place?
Answer: Space. Quiet. Clarity. It stops - the mind stops.
Was it ever there to begin with? Some would say it was never even born. Powerful, huh? All it takes is just opening your eyes and seeing. Don’t know what it is? Look at it, put it right on the table and just look at it, very clearly and directly. Don’t doubt your ability to do that, because you are that clarity. That clarity is you. The clarity sees everything: confusion, liberation, nothing, everything. There’s nothing beyond this.
There’s no in/out, container or contained. Yet, there’s nothing outside of this clarity. This clarity is always clear, always clarity itself. Tired, depressed, angry, hungry, whatever, waiting, going, coming, talking, quiet - doesn’t matter. Is there anything apart from This?
Is clarity ever concerned? Is the luminosity itself ever perturbed? Fundamental state ever different? No. Whatever comes or goes, lives or dies, That Itself is forever unchanged.
No matter what direction you go, you’re always facing the Lord. Even through the darkest experiences, there’s no place where you’re not facing the Lord. Who’s the enjoyer? Who witnesses every act?
Recognize the basis in whatever you do: this is the direct way.
What else does one want to be devoted to but truth? Devoted to the unreal? The real is inseparable from cit, from ananda. Sat - cit - ananda - this is our reality. Consciousness is the real (Aitareya Upanishad).
Any other doubts? Any more depression?
I want you to take this stuff and swallow it and let it go down. Don’t forget. If you forget, it’s very simple. Just ask yourself: “Who is it that forgot?” Have courage to stand in the light of truth itself. Don’t be like the people in the cave looking at the shadows. Turn around and walk out.