Why do you stay in prison when the door is wide open? Inquiry as a path to self-realization.

Hello friends so we've been discussing the book living in the light which I co-wrote with Sarah finger and the subtitle is yoga for self-realization yoga for self-realization so as we explore some of the contents in this book what I want to share with you today is something that was inspired from Reading Somerset mom's book there is his age where right in the beginning he talks about Gyan yoga and a quote from the Kata upanishad which says the sharp edge of a razor is difficult to pass over that's the way I say the path to Salvation is hard the path to Freedom the path beyond the conditioned mind to the freedom that allows us to generate manifestations from a field of infinite possibilities and the ability to create anything that we want ultimately also the ability to self-regulate our body to have an integrated experience of mind-body spirit in the world um to actually go beyond the fear of death understanding that both the death and birth are um constructs mental constructs based on uh limited or false identity um there are many parts to getting there this book deals with Raja yoga but it also deals as a result with the eight limbs that I've mentioned before which includes uh yamas and yamas rules for social and emotional intelligence Asana um understanding how body posture shapes self-regulation and healing because uh postures are seeds of awareness regulating the breadth for ideal self-regulation also modulation of the autonomic nervous system um number five pratyahara withdrawal of the senses and going deep into interreceptive awareness and the ability to regulate our internal organs and then samadhi the power of intention intention and Transcendence that's Royal yoga but there are other yogas as you know the yoga of Love called bhakti yoga The Yoga of action called karma yoga and then the razor's Edge Gyan yoga using the intellect to correct the mistakes of the intellect so what are the mistakes of the intellect uh number one false identity number two subject object split number three assuming uh that matter is fundamental reality number four naive realism uh which says that the world is exactly as perceived by the five human senses and and many other issues that actually uh create illusion the idea that sensory perception is accurate is false so since your perception creates magical lies which are called Maya or myth and in that is the play of creative intelligence that we refer to as leader the play of the Divine that we experience as the infinite diversity of experience in the universe so let's today uh take a little time to reflect on inquiry which is a path of yoga that we can say is Yoga of the intellect and the most basic question on this part is who am I or what am I so let's look at that very carefully first of all who will ask the question what am I does the body ask the question it's obvious no okay does the brain ask the question how can a material object be curious or wonder or frame questions the brain has actually um just showing you the neural correlates of the question but who what is asking the question and once you ask the question um then one can go a little deeper into that reflection am I the body so what is the body well the body itself is a magical lie because it is perceived through the five senses which are narrow bands of sensory experience and with bits of experience we cannot experience the whole so all we see is the physical body which is an interpretation of Sensations images feelings and thoughts furthermore the body is not a noun it's a verb it begins as a fertilized egg then it turns into a zygote an embryo baby a toddler Etc all the way to Dusty death so what we call the body is the interpretation of a perceptual activity in our awareness the awareness that knows this body as this is not the body it knows this body as this but that awareness can also remember this body as the body of at least a school boy and teenager I can actually not only remember what I can see on the screen of my Consciousness what I look like when I was a teenager or a boy or a young adult Etc so what I call the physical body itself is a magical illusion it's a perceptual activity generated in Consciousness appearing as this at this moment but forever shifting and therefore there's no way I could be the body the body itself is a concept for a changing perceptual activity which is a modified form of awareness known as or experienced as this if I'm not the body then could I be my mind well the mind is a changing stream of thoughts in fact these thoughts are so um ephemeral and ungraspable that the collection of these thoughts weaving a story is who I usually think I am but if you did not identify with your stories would you still exist and the answer seems to be I would you know I would actually be free of my stories and therefore have access to much more creativity and because right now the stories are kind of bamboozling me into a false assumed identity which we call the mind and the story around that mind is what we call the ego personality so I'm not that either I'm not the mind I'm not the body I am not my emotions they're as ephemeral as anything else they come and go uh my personality is changing and evolving as I as I grow in insight and intuition and deeper understanding so then what remains if I'm not my body if I'm not my story if I'm not my mind if I'm not my emotions and if the intellect is actually giving me the experience of or interpretation of magical lies because all it's doing is interpreting Sensations into perceptions which are totally inaccurate then if all of that is not me what's left what's left is that which modifies itself as all of that changing experience the changing mind the changing body the changing emotions and the changing stories hopefully Liberation from stories ultimately is all liberation so what's left what's left is infinite possibilities what's left is that which is formless and Without Borders what's left is that which is infinite what's left is that which is without cause or a causal what's left is irreducible fundamental self-regulating self-evolving self-healing and [Music] a never-ending Horizon of creative intelligence that's who we are and knowing that is freedom and so we see here that inquiry and using the intellect can help us go beyond the intellect into what is called salvation Salvation is hugely translated as being saved but saved from whom same what be imprisoned that is created by our own mind and the imprison of the conditioned mind the prison of the conditioned mind what Rumi says very beautifully why do you stay in prison when the door is wide open and the reason why we stay in prison is that the walls of the prison are also invisible and yet they they hold us prisoner think about this let me know what your thoughts are if you agree you disagree but much to explore as we also explore this book and living in the light um yoga for self-realization understand that self-realization is realizing the true self who you really are has nothing to do with self-improvement although self-improvement in that we experience a more joyful energy body loving compassionate heart clear mind and lightness of being is a byproduct but self-realization his ultimate freedom from suffering and therefore salvation foreign [Music]

Channel: The Chopra Well

Views: 26,622

Keywords: Deepak Chopra, Deepak, Chopra Global, Chopra Foundation, NeverAlone, Meta Seva, Seva Love, Philosophy, Meditation, Quantum, Science, Spirituality, Metahuman, Total Meditaiton, Abundance Book, Inner Path to Wealth, Conscious Living, Mindfulness, Breath Work

Id: gisLOpeKnqo

Length: 11min 48sec (708 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 29 2022