The Great Cave of the Mind

So many teachings
So many schools
So many methods
So many philosophies
So many religions and creeds
There is no end really

As there exist different societies and nations
All throughout the world
There will always be different methods
Which have been developed over the ages
To commune with the divine
To that which is unspeakable and beyond words
Unbelievable and unknowable
And the existence behind non-existence

But they all stem no doubt
From the first man who thought he saw god
The burning bush
The ten commandments
The calling of Moses to the mountain top

To great prophet Muhammad
The seal of the long line of prophets
Descendant from Abraham
Who would hide in recluse
In the darkest of caves in the mountains
Somewhere in the dirt wasteland
Of the Saudi Arabian peninsula no doubt
To commune with the client teacher
The ever present and subtlest of guides

And Gabriel was his teacher
Whose he saw in his visions
Like the great prophets of old
Who spoke to him in Arabic verses
To inspire him to guide and lead his people
And bring back the truth of the unity of the divine
And the importance of living together
In a civilized and compassionate world

Christ too no doubt
Had his moments of communion
Where God the Father revealed himself to him
In all his glory
And promised him a seat at his right hand
And showed the terror of crucifixion that was to befall him
If he chose the wayward path
The path of righteousness and loyalty

Christ was given the choice
And he chose Truth over falsehood
Professed the power of the divine
And its living presence within all of us
In the multitudes of the poor and the starving
As well as the aristocrats and rabbis
Who ultimately sent him to his death

And for this choice,
His stubborn unwillingness to deny
That he and the Father were One
He was punished and tortured
And Christianity born from his ashes
2000 years and billions of faithful
born from the deeds of one courageous man
And man he was
Child of God or not
He was of human flesh and blood
Just like each and every last one of us

We saw this journey of his
His stubbornness and willingness to die for principle and Truth
As his gift to us
Although it cannot ever be understood
Whether his message was Truth was to be followed at all costs
And that God is the blessed gift of us all
Or that, as the later Christian Fathers teach us
That he died for our sins for our salvation

Buddha too
Having grown up studying the Vedas with the Brahmin priests
Practicing asceticism after he renounced the kingdom to which he was heir
Denying the physical form of his body
Until he lay almost dead and utterly lifeless
And then he sat, just sat, under the bodhi tree
And again with the stubbornness of a child
Refused to move until the Truth was revealed to him

And the earth shook, and the beasts roared
And after he played the demons and desires
That plague the mind of us all
He saw it as clear as day
The Middle Way
The path to enlightenment
The birthright of us all
To which he devoted his life to teaching
To all those who would listen
And which teaching has survived all this time
2500 years in the making
And going stronger than ever
As its roots in Asia have migrated to the West
So far from the lands it originated from
So many ages past from which the teachings themselves were born

But one has to ask
Was this Truth revealed to these great men
And women too to be fair who we have failed to mention
Mother Theresa perhaps being the best and most recent
Woman of such divine spirit
That each and every one she came into contact with
Was her very own
Was the child of Mother Earth
Just as Sarada Devi
The great consort of Sri Paramhamsa Ramakrishna
Who treated each and every one of Ramakrishna devotees
That flocked to her after his death
As one of her own as well

‘More work is to be done for you my child’
Ramakrishna said to her in his astral form after his passing
And ‘Truth and the Essence of Being I shall hold back from you my child
Until your work is done here
After which you shall see the vision of the Ultimate Reality again
And be merged into it as your heart so desires’
As Ramakrishna said to Vivekananda
After revealing to him the secret of secrets
The wisdom of the ages
The essential and all pervading consciousness of the universe

And Vivekananda after years of wandering throughout India
Begging for his food and alms
Came crashing upon the West
With his message of Vedanta
That he had gleaned from the teachings of his Master
Through his boundless love and compassion
And wonderful visions of mystical and spiritual truths
Embodying the Truth of the Vedas
Fulfilling the modern ages’s need to have these eternal truths
Refreshed and reborn once again
In this modern age of greed and lust
Where every want is but a click or a call away

So he combined these ancient spiritual teachings
With his Western education
And genius photogenic brilliant mind
A renewed birth of Vedic wisdom
Was unleashed on the world
Where Karma, Bhakti, Raja and Jnana yoga
Are woven together in the greatest fabric
To shield the spiritual seeker
From the veil of Maya
Which has us all in her playful grasp

But digress we have
Because the point we make here
Is that in all these illustrious lives
Communion with the divine was understood
As a basic assumption of all faiths
In all the Great Books
But Jesus and Buddha especially
And of course Ramakrishna and his 12 disciples
The great prophets of our age
Taught that God is our very own

Which begs the very interesting question
Well then where can He (She) be found?
Where can he (she) be seen?
Some say in Nature
Some say in Churches
Some see him in books
Or visions and dreams (Jung)

But if we take this leap of faith
And we trust in these crazy souls
And their message of the existence of a world
Greater and stronger and more lasting than this one
To which this one in turn seems just like a passing dream
To what means must we employ then?
In order to see this Truth for ourselves
That is said to be our very birthright

And here is where religion comes into play
And the mastery of the mind becomes the game
And the practices laid out by so many masters over the millennia
By so many priests and sages
With their myriad of of rituals and spiritual practices
Sadhana the Hindus call it
Penance of the Christians
In different tongues with different instruments
In different nations and faiths throughout the world
Since time immemorial
In all religious sects
In all esoteric and mystical creeds

We confront the power of the mind
And the energy that courses through and gives life to the embody
Which connects us with
The embodied soul and energy of the Cosmic Mind
The great giver of life to all created beings
And the Universe itself

The mind itself though, perhaps our greatest tool
Its almost overwhelming potency
Of drawing not just correlations and connections
But seeing differences and distinctions as well
As categories and systems of thought
Spread throughout the linguistic tree
That has been embedded in each and every one of us
Since even before we could walk

And these symbols, these ideas
To Plato at least were primary
Subsidiary was the world around us
Physical reality
The Allegory of the Cave from The Republic
Shows us this great idea
Forms and Ideas
Lead us to the ultimate reality of the Sun

But Plato used dialogue and dialectic
So no one really truly knows
What he taught in his Academy
What his beliefs truly were
His dialogues were read aloud no doubt
And debates arose about ethics and morality
And the structure of the perfect society
Of the role of Myth and Truth
And how his great master Socrates
Died the death of all deaths
Taking the hemlock
Rather than denouncing the only thing he knew
Beyond any doubt whatsoever
Was that he knew nothing
And by knowing nothing
He was the wisest man in all of Athens
As proclaimed by the Oracle at Delphi

But Plato’s Forms, Aristotle’s Categories
These divisions and classifications
And associations which can be drawn
Inherent, contingent, associative, primary etc
It doesn’t matter which system of thought
One believes or trusts or puts the most credence into

The path, the way
Laid out and kept alive in the East
All these millennia
Captured away in ancient schools of learning
And old dusty books and manuscripts
Copied by hand through the ages
Translated into so many different tongues
Interpreted and commented on by so many renowned and brilliant scholars

Where the passage of knowledge
From teacher to student
Lasted centuries and centuries
And lineages could be quoted
Back thousands of years
As a waiter or waitress would read a custom menu
At a fancy Italian restaurant in NYC

So we have the books and these religious systems
That the prophets left us with
And we have these mystical traditions
Which survive in various forms in the East
That are now being introduced back into the West
And religions are being rejected
With their hypocrisy and rigid dogma
And political contamination

And people flock more toward
Individual practices which promote peace and harmony
And have a practical and positive impact
On their lives and the lives of those around them
So that their lives can be more fulfilling
So that virtue can be understood
And practiced and integrated into daily life
In an integrated and powerful way

And the sins of nations
Can perhaps be healed
Without the need for violent revolution
Which has been the way of the past
The heritage of the human race

And in each of these systems
That have now been introduced to the West
Be they Buddhist, Taoist, TM (Transcendental Meditation)
Zen Buddhism or Christian Prayer,
Muslim submission to the will of the one true god Allah
Or the chanting of the names of the different manifestations
Of the supreme power of Brahman
Which has been kept alive in so many different forms and rituals
In the great land of India
The system of Yoga
Their great gift to the world

It is the power of symbol,
The power of thought,
The power of sound
The power of grace
The power of Faith
That each has in common

And with this basic start
And an explanation of these various symbols and words and chants and hymns
In each of the respective theo-philosophical systems
Either godless (Buddhist or Taoist for example)
Or monotheistic like the Judeo-Christian-Muslim faiths
Relate back to the one true Creator of all that has been created

The first cause as Aristotle would call him
The Good of Plato from which all Forms and Ideas come forth
Which are naturally ordered in the most elegant way possible
‘All who do not know geometry may not enter here’
The words inscribed outside his illustrious Academy
The first Academic institution in the history of mankind

And yet these symbols
Which must be categorized and organized in our mind
That play out as the string of words and thoughts
That ring in our heads when we sit in meditation practice
No matter what school we have been taught from
Or what tradition – theological, philosophical or religious – we come from and adhere to

All lead to the same source
EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM
These thoughts and symbols
If we follow their course
Emerging from the Universal Mind
And then germinating and manifesting
In the small mind that is tied to this physical form
Which we borrow for such a short time

COMES FROM AND ENDS UP IN
THE VERY SAME ESSENTIAL BEING
WHICH IS WHAT ALL THE GREAT PROPHETS
TAUGHT TO ALL OF THEIR FOLLOWERS

This is the great Mind the Buddhist tradition speaks of
When these thoughts calm down and serenity can be found
Even for a moment
It is then that God’s grace can be found
Not as a gift from someone other than ourselves
But as a self-evident and essential feature
Of not only the natural world with which we live and breathe
But also of the spirit that animates us
And which connects us to every living thing
That we share this world, and the next, with
And that exists in each and every moment
For every being that inhabits this world

Follow the thoughts and symbols
But latch onto a system of symbols you are attracted to
That you have faith and devotion in
For these are fundamental requirements
For any successful endeavor
Which will get you to practice and learn
Even when it is the last thing in the world you’d like to do
While buried in this world madness
Of capitalism and greed

And don’t reject your thoughts as they come
Don’t try to quiet them
Don’t try to do anything with them
The Zen Masters say just let them arise and fall
Like passing waves in an ocean
But this is misleading for those of us that struggle
And where suffering and pain is real
And heartbreak and disappointment rests around every corner

So our thoughts will yield emotions
Yes they will
Some painful and hard to stomach
Some joyous and uplifting
But we must let them all go
And know them for what they truly are
Manifestations of the Great Mind
In our small mind that have manifested
In our seemingly insignificant life

And these these waves lead to further thoughts
Which emerge from the very same source
All leading onward and onward in a seemingly endless flow
Of a mind that will never settle
The caged monkeys Paramhamsa Ramakrishna used to call them

But do not fight them
Play with them, accept them
As manifestations of the great Mind
The Great Cosmic Spirit
In our own lives and in our own being

Let the thoughts and their associated emotions come and go
But have faith in whatever system of belief that drives you
That we are all not lost
And that that which has created the universe itself
Rests within our breast
Just as it rests in the spirit of every living creature
That crawls and walks and runs on this great Earth
And perhaps on other Earths like ours that we knoweth not

And what you just might find
As this madness and frustration
Of the attempt to control that which is uncontrollable
Is that as the thoughts arise,
They can be transformed
To the symbols of the tradition which you have chosen
And you can bring the mind back
To focus on the highest of the high
The greatest good
Satchitananda itself
In whatever form suits the individual soul
And our lives which are filled with all these thoughts and emotions
Can be accepted for what they are
Expressions of the great Mind and Spirit
Which is the source of all
Every last one of us

This is what has been taught
By all the great Masters that have found the way
And passed it down to us
This is the importance of following a teaching
That you have a path, and a set of symbols
Through which the truth can be revealed
Be you have a teacher or not
For we are all our own teachers
And there is no greater teacher
Than our own inner voice
Although help is always welcomed of course

But a path must be chosen
And these symbols
And thoughts and sounds
Interesting enough you will find
Will begin to get more and more abstract
Higher Ideals will be presented
Built upon the acceptance of the lower thoughts and deeds
Which plague our Soul
And the belief and faith that just maybe
We are not lost in a sea of greed and selfishness
And that a shepherd is among us
Who will not abandon any of its flock

And with this belief, this Faith
We can find our thoughts and ideas becoming crystallized
Just as Plato described them
In his Allegory of the Cave
And as the thoughts dim down
And the Forms and Ideas move higher and higher
And more virtuous and more Good

We will break our chains
See the visions of shadows on the wall
That we thought were real all this time
And we will pass beyond the entrance
Of that great deep cavern that we had spent our whole lives in
Believing it was real

And our guide will show us
Our anima or animus as Jung would call him
They will show us the way out
And they will point into the sky
While our eyes adjust from the great darkness
That covered our whole being for our whole lives
And say, ‘See look. It is the Sun that shines true light’
‘And those shadows should be abandoned for what is true and real’

So do not fight the thoughts or the emotions
Embrace them as difficult as they may be
Forgive, let go of anger and hate
And open your heart to allow for Plato’s Good
The Sun of his universe
To shine in your heart and mind

And maybe if we are lucky
And our practice is sound
And our heart is true
And a genuine effort for balance and harmony
And understanding and empathy
For those with whom we must live and work
Some peace can be found
In the madness of our times
Where the writing of mystical poetry
And the belief and faith in the reality of the world of the spirit
Is considered madness and ethereal
With no practical value
By most if not all

Regardless, all the practices are the same
The symbols and methods are slightly different
But to open up the clarity and purity of mind
One must start with faith in something
Submission to something larger and greater than us as individuals

And then let the thoughts flow
And let the waves subside
And let the new waves form at the same time
New and powerful waves
Of Goodness and Righteousness
And Virtue and Love
Inspired by whatever teaching or whatever Master
That has touched you in some way

And then and only then
Will the true transformation take place
And you will find after all that
Ironically enough
That the reality we must live and work in
To survive and thrive
And feed our endless desires
For wealth and power
And Lust and Greed
And the world of the spirit
Which we place our faith in
And if we are lucky see glimpses of
From time to time
Could not be further apart

And then the problem presents itself
Perhaps the greatest challenge of all
That which marks the true masters
Is the problem of the integration of the two worlds
Where the inside and the outside are in balance
And the world of the spirit and the world of ‘reality’
The materials world and the world of the Soul
Can coexist and perhaps thrive together
In harmony and balance

A man can dream
That is what poets do
Namaste