What Spiritual Practice Is Not

-from Charlotte Joko Beck

I perceive Spirituality as not a goal but a journey,
It is a practice,it is living,it is lifestyle , below words are from Joko Beck what practice is not! - Venkat

Practice is not about intellecutally knowing the physical nature of reality, what the universe consists of, or how ot works.

Practicie is not about achieving some blissful state. It's not about having vision.
Pracitice is not about having or cultivating special powers.

Practice is not about having nice feelings, happy feelings.
It's not about feeling good as opposed to feeling bad.

Practice is not about some bodily state in which we are never ill, never hurt, one in which we have no bothersome ailments.

Practice is not about achieving an omniscient state in which a person knows all about everything, a state in which a person is an authority on any and all worldly problems.

Practice is not about highlighting all sorts of "good" qualities and getting rid of the so-called "bad" ones.

If our boat full of hope, illusions, and ambition (to get somewhere, to be spiritual, to be perfect, to be enlightened) is capsized, what is the empty boat?
Who are we?
What, in terms of our lives, can we realize? and what is practice?

Life is like a bridge, don't make your house on it

One of the maxims I liked:
"Life is like a bridge, don't make your house on it"

Do we know our origin, where did we come from?
I am not convinced with answer saying it is "a pure biological phenomenon"

Where do we go after life?
We die?, what does it mean, what is happening when my biological system stops responding?
Will I still be able sense myself?

From what we see in the world; lives coming and going on the planet,
this maxim makes sense:
"Life is like a bridge, don't make your house on it"

Why do we get attached to things/people here?
None of the relationships, bonds and happiness are permanent, so as this life.

Because life is that way, why do we worry about it?
Let's not get attached, not get carried away with thoughts,
This whole process of life is a journey from one location to another.

Therfore, Life is like a brdige, let us not make our home on it.

Effort!

Make effort to know!
Analysis, reasoning, serious thinking, and everything else keeps your ego satisfied some or otherway.
Stop thinking-pause mind; trught reveals by itself in absolute silence.

Let me stop writing more and start meditating.

Body: A dress

Body is a dress,
Yes, what I am recognized by most today is my dress that I wear this time.
I am clothed with this body,
Unlike my cotton or other clothes, this cloth is unique,
It can change, it can grow, it can react to my treatment,
It has simple sine curve,
It begins when you ought to take a form,
Since then it takes differen forms as the time passes,
If you are conscious about this dressed body;It passes away when you decide to undress;

...More comes in next post..:) Till then happy dressed body.

Void, Emptiness, and Nothingness;

I find myself in Void.
I see emptiness filled in me.
Appears scary in first glance…
By and by I realize that is my trueness;

Other than void and emptiness, nothing appeals more than nothingness,
All relationships, deeds, activities are just superficial,

I am what Void is,
I am where emptiness is everything;
Off late, I frequently visit my new home called Emptiness..

Copy of 'Me'

A cloudy evening in Redmond,
Walking back home from work,

Nearing my home, a few minutes away,
I see, a copy of Me (Venkat, my name in short), has went forward and unlocked the door,
Double checked myself, Am I here or really reached home and went inside,
I figured out, ’Me’ still walking to unlock the door;

"I tried to analyze, why this did happen:
A copy of me running ahead and unlocking the door;
No apparent reason was figured out, so the incident forgotten"

Again, after couple of weeks,
It happened, Copy of me re-appeared,
At the same scenario, and same gestures,
Copy of me went ahead and unlocked the door,
This time I really observed the incident deeply,
Yes, there is a Copy of Venkat went ahead;
But unlocking the door is not real; it did not really take place; it is virtual;
Opening the door has happened inside me, it is not just a thought or a mind game;

This incident has truly unlocked untouched, unopened and unseen doors in me;
Since then I see a Copy of Venkat, try to differentiate the one I think actually IS and the Copy Venkat.
Still trying to locate who is where;
Meditating to recognize the Actual Venkat and Formed Venkat

Let me see, when I can update you with this Test Results!!

Disease called EGO - with bug fixes

Consciousness is one's own true identity.
Yes, Ego is the single source of identity of your social being.
Ego is the conscious ID card for your social being.
Ego isn't a disease as it is, as posted earlier in this blog.
Apparently, ego is dangerous than Cancer, when you cannot think anything beyond mere Egoistic life.

Now I can see non-egoistic life, an un-diseased life,
But now and then I still find falling sick of this disease;
Comparatively, Venkat is better now;
He is cured,
Meaning, he is not completely alright, but he is alright in his incompleteness.