Written Messages

 16.5.2016

Paris, France

A dear and devoted disciple from America shares a Swadhyay. He also shares a poem by well known Astrophysicist, Carl Sagan, which perhaps triggered the Swadhyay. The poem and his Swadhyay constitute Message 317.

Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space “Look again at that dot.

That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there-on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

“The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot.

“Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

“The Earth is the only world known so far to harbour life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.

“It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.”

Swadhyay:

Specifically, from the line I have highlighted – “In our obscurity…” – this body felt the sensation of that suffocating loneliness promoted by mind. Insight knows that life has no interest in purpose – life is only for being, not becoming. Mind perpetuates the myth that there must somehow be a purpose, a tangible rationale for living. Accordingly, the mischievous mind generates depression and despair, hurry and worry, based on what should be. This overshadows the simplicity and acceptance of what is, creating conflict about ourselves and everything in the world around us. Mind wastes our entire lifetime to be saved either through dramatic rescue, profound explanation, some shoddy little Gurus or some “burning bush” biblical awakening.

This body has seen all of this happen, most recently in the past few months. Allowing mind to fertilize the growing despair of purposelessness leads to the vicious circle of apathy and inaction. It seems that this can go on for weeks, months even years.

But the very moment we align ourselves with life – with the natural forces that wait patiently beyond the foggy mind – that very moment there seems an immediate shift wherein the quest for meaning and the desire to be saved drops. All insecurities and false conditionings are moved aside as a natural alignment rushes in. This transformation seems to happen immediately, although this body did not notice it until a number of days had passed (this time). Looking back now after a week has passed, in such a short period such immense changes have taken place. The direction is irrelevant because there is simply movement, no more stagnation. Movement alone is adequate. If I look at all areas – physical, mental, emotional, financial, environmental, inter-personal – clearly the change is universal in all aspects of being. So it now is clear that events will happen and deeds will be done. It is none of my business to speculate what would happen! As long as I remain in what is life, everything will flourish from moment to moment. But alas, how easy is to forget this insight and remain amused in the silly activity of ‘I-ness’.

Jai Joe