Wisdom of the Dhammapada

The wisdom of the Buddha, the Awakened One, is Dhammapada. The Dhammapada verses are the original teachings of the Buddha, which were few. Over time, much more has been written as the Buddhist philosophy, not all of it in alignment with what the Buddha spoke about. Here are a few Dhammapada verses.

Our mind shapes our lives. We are what we think. Suffering follows evil thoughts as the wheels of a cart follow the oxen that draw it.?1.1?

Brihadharanyaka Upanishad says: Our desires shape our will. Our will shapes our actions. Our actions shape what we are. …Our desire at death determines what we become in our next life. 4.4.5

This is the law of karma in essence. We are what we sense, feel, think, desire and do. We bear the consequences as exhalation follows inhalation. The steps to reduce the effect of karma are to

1.???Move inwards from the sensory perceptions

2.???Clear the inner space through reflective healing?

3.???Still the cleared mind by disengaging from thoughts?

Be mindless and lose the fear of the samsara cycle of death and rebirth!

Those who put on the saffron robe without purifying the mind, who lack truthfulness and self-control, are not fit to wear the saffron robe. 1.9

Shankara says of ascetics in Bhaja Govindam: Bald or hairy, clad in coloured robes, sporting many a mask, these fools who pretend but do not see,??live to fill their bellies.

The truths from over a millennium earlier have only been compounded by evangelists, preachers and guru who pretend to spout wisdom only to lie and mislead. Anyone who has renounced desires would as a natural consequence still one’s mind, renouncing the desire to speak. Anyone who speaks tells lies. Stay away from them.?

Your consciousness and guide, the guru, lies within, not on TV!?

If you find no one to support you on your spiritual path, walk alone. There is no companionship with the immature. 5.61

Shankara says in Bhaja Govindam: Good companionship leads to detachment. He further adds: Detachment leads to the absence of desires. In the absence of desire, the mind turns still. When the mind is still, one awakens.?

It is good to have companionship. However, when companionship is not with people of shared beliefs and vision, it is better to walk alone.?

Bad company corrupts. Walk alone, if need be!

Few are those who reach the other shore; most keep running up and down this shore. 6.85

Shankara seeks help poignantly in Bhaja Govindam: How long will I keep dying, be born again after sleeping in a mother’s womb? My Lord, please help me cross the cycle of samsara.?

The plaintive cry of spiritual seekers of all faiths through all times is to cross the endless cycle of birth and rebirth. Awareness of one’s energy being is the first step. In order to stay in that energy state, not being encased in the shell of a material mindbody is the next and more difficult task. As the Upanishad and Bhagavad Gita say when we drop our desires we break that shell.?

Break the shell and be mindless!?

One day’s glimpse of the deathless state is better than thousands of years of life without it. 8.114

Isa Vasya Upanishad says: Everything in this universe is energy

A glimpse of the deathless state is the self-realisation of one’s energy state. This is our natural state. Samadhi refers to our coming home to that original state we rose from, as a holographic fragment of the energy of creation. In the absence of this realisation, one goes through thousands of births and deaths bound to the cycle of samsara.?

Break through the cycle of samsara, meditate and glimpse your true state of energy!

It’s hard to attain human birth, harder to live like a human being, harder still to understand the dharma, but hardest of all to attain nirvana. 14. 182

One without fear and greed, like and dislike, is free, is Holy 26.384

All creatures of this universe are energy beings and equal. Most creatures are sentient, therefore feel, and perhaps think. Human beings have a greater degree of awareness, which is both a blessing and a curse. Other creatures obey the law of nature. Humans struggle to break free of the rules of nature, and dharma, considering these impositions. The more they struggle through greed and fear of nature, the more they are caught in the samsara cycle of birth and death. When they let go of this struggle, the mind is still and nirvana, and enlightenment results.

Please subscribe and share with your network. Please do write in, resonant or dissonant. Let’s have a conversation.??

Ram is a co-founder and mentor at Coacharya?https://coacharya.com . Ram's focus is the integration of Eastern wisdom with modern science, spiritually, systemically and sustainably. Visit Coacharya.