One Intention, One Remedy | Atisha's 7 Point Mind Training

Namaste and a very warm welcome to all of you in this daily morning live meditation session with me,

Dhyansay.

When we as children go to a magic show and also as adults some of us still enjoy going to a magic show,

We see the performer disappearing objects,

Reappearing those objects,

Performing all the illusions in front of your own eyes and you enjoy them,

You are amazed by them,

Your logic is challenged,

Is defied and for a moment you want to believe that what you saw is all real,

If you are just happy with just the illusion,

With the belief that what the magician has presented to you is reality,

Then spirituality is not for you.

If you are there at the magic show and if you come out of the magic show by paying,

Going there,

Going through the process and coming out only with entertainment,

Then spirituality is not for you.

Because spirituality is not entertainment,

Spirituality is that longing,

That curiosity to know what is behind the illusion,

How did the performer perform that illusion,

At least confirm that what you saw,

What your logic wants to believe that what has been presented to you is real,

Is not real.

Along this longing,

Along this journey of discovering that what you saw was just an illusion,

Just a trick put together very carefully and your logic still holds true,

It's just the way you start to see things differently.

If you go on that path of spirituality,

You see that the world that is there in front of you is also a magic trick,

Is also an illusion.

You want to believe it that it is real,

But it is just a trick put together so that your logic cannot capture it,

So that the reach through your mind is incompetent to comprehend and you conceive of it as reality.

And the strange thing that happens along this path,

When you unfold this illusion as merely a trick,

You come across the real magic,

Which is life itself.

You see that life is nothing but magic.

You cannot grasp it with logic,

You cannot explain it,

You can only live in it,

You can only live it,

You can only enjoy it,

You can only be it.

But to come to that point,

To come to that point where you see the entire life as magic,

As real magic,

As not the illusion that is there as a trick put in front of you,

That takes a few steps,

That takes a journey to reach to that point for that illusion to break,

For that clarity to reveal to you the real magic that is life.

Along this journey,

We take wisdom from different sources,

From different works of people who have put and dedicated their entire life in uplifting human consciousness.

One of the works is from Atisha,

Where he gave seven points of mind training.

We have covered six points already in the previous sessions,

Which is the core of mind training,

Which establishes the discipline,

Which establishes the essentials of mind training.

But Atisha is very compassionate,

He is very considerate of you,

Of all the meditators.

So he gives one more point,

He gives some more sutras,

Some more guidelines,

Just to ensure that you don't fall through the cracks.

That whatever has been taught is solid,

Is in place,

And along with that you have some more sutras in case you come across this in life or that in life,

Where the first six points and the core teachings are somewhat not coming in handy.

The sutra for today is,

When you do all activities,

Do it with one intention.

All activities should be done with one intention.

And all adversity along the lines of these activities should be dealt with one remedy.

So in today's sutra of point number seven,

What Atisha is pointing at is two things.

One intention in all activities that you do.

He is saying,

Carry this one intention in everything that you do,

Not just the practice of meditation,

But your entire 24-7,

In all activities that you do.

This one intention you must carry.

What is this one intention?

First of all,

Understand that in all activities,

Atisha is asking you to carry an intention.

What is an intention?

Intention is when you commit to have a certain stance,

When you commit to have a certain view.

He is not saying have goal,

He is saying have intention.

It is very important to reflect on the word intention.

That is what you can do.

You can only have the intention.

The rest unfolds by itself.

If you force,

If you carry grand goals,

If you are stressing yourself for the goal,

For the purpose,

Then all along the journey there will be misery.

All what you can do is carry the intention.

Intention is from your side you put your commitment in place and the rest you wait for it to unfold by itself.

What is that one intention?

In the deepest meaning,

In the deepest of practices,

That one intention is liberation.

That you want this illusion to go away,

You want to be liberated from the illusion and you want to be in the real magic of life,

In the reality of life.

That is one intention that is Atisha trying to give you and revive in you in all your activities.

In different traditions,

In different forms,

This one intention of getting rid of the illusion and coming across the reality,

Coming across the real magic is explained in different words.

Moksha,

Nirvana,

Enlightenment,

These are all the same words pointing at the same intention,

Pointing at the same experience.

So what Atisha is saying,

Carry in all activities that you do,

This one intention that you want to be liberated.

This liberation means,

Let us unfold this,

What can this mean for us.

In the deepest meaning,

It means the liberation from life and death.

Because that is the greatest illusion that we are carrying.

That we are constantly repeating this circle of life and death,

Not just in this one life,

In several lives,

One after the other,

But we just are unaware of it,

We remain completely asleep about it.

This is one significant question.

We never ask ourselves throughout our lives,

Why are we born.

We may give ourselves biological process based explanations,

But what is the underlying force?

What is the underlying reason?

What is the underlying reality?

Why are we born?

What is this birth?

We never ask ourselves that question.

The moment we start asking ourselves that question,

The entire grounds on which this illusion of birth and death is founded,

Grounded,

Starts shaking up,

Because you start going into the roots of it.

Why are we born?

So that would be the deepest intention that you can carry to break this illusion of life and death,

To come out of the illusion and be in the reality where there is the real magic of life.

But you can for yourself set any other intention which allows you to move further,

Which connects your all the dots of your all events throughout your day,

No matter what you do,

If you have this as a mantra,

As an undercurrent,

As a very subtle focus in all your activities,

Whatever intention,

Be it this grand breaking down of illusion as the deepest intention,

As the greatest intention,

Or very simply whatever connects to you,

Whatever resonates to you which connects your entire dots of daily life,

Set that intention in your daily activities.

This will keep you motivated,

This will keep you moving further every second,

Every moment of life towards this breaking down of the illusion and coming to the reality of life.

The second,

In all adversity,

Use one remedy.

What is that one remedy that works in all situations?

That is also interesting to see that Aatishya is giving a blanket answer to all adversities,

He is saying there is one remedy which solves all the problems,

And that one remedy is awareness,

Because all adversity,

All problems are rising out of the unawareness.

So if you are facing challenges along the path of spirituality,

Along the path of meditation,

Along anything in your life,

Any adversity,

Any challenge,

What Aatishya is saying,

Become aware.

Become aware of the entire situation,

Become aware of yourself,

And in that awareness,

The solution will unfold by itself to you.

That is not a promise of Aatishya,

That is an experience that has been proven by different wisdom traditions,

By different masters,

Different people who have gone through the journey of meditation and spirituality,

That awareness has led to unfoldment of the solution of all adversity.

So take these two as mantras that in all activities set one intention in your life,

And the second whenever you come across adversity,

Remember to become aware.

Start with yourself,

Become aware of yourself first,

How you are feeling in that moment,

How you are responding or reacting in that moment,

What is that moment,

How are others in that moment,

Don't let the situation contract your awareness,

Rather expand your awareness that will allow you to find and unfold the solution by itself.

With that,

Let us move into today's meditation,

Today's silence.

Let us do one small intention setting exercise and from there on moving into silence.

How to do that?

Pick one intention that you think will connect all activities of your life,

And when you do that,

Load it onto your breath and eventually we will along the lines of my guidance in meditation load that intention on the third eye chakra which is the center of awareness which will allow us to have this intention throughout our daily lives.

Let us give it a try and see what manifests in your experience.

Please close your hands,

Put them in your lap,

Close your eyes,

Sit in a posture that is upright and comfortable for you.

How about that,

Here just in case that… Set an intention that can connect all activities of your life,

Something that you can always let as an undercurrent.

It could be liberation,

The highest intention possible,

Or it could simply be moving towards a positive experience of life,

More beautiful experience of life,

More wise way of living.

Choose any intention.

And as you breathe in and out,

Remember this intention,

Load this intention on your breath.

In other words,

Remind yourself of your intention,

With every breath that you take.

One intention on which you will draw all your energy.

And as you breathe in and out,

Remember this intention,

Load this intention on your breath.

With every breath,

Draw energy from all directions,

And let this intention set strong with every breath.

And as you breathe in and out,

Remember this intention,

Load this intention on your breath.

Through the breath,

That intention becomes a part of your body,

Of your mind,

Of every corner of yourself.

One intention.

And shift your awareness to your third eye center,

The region in between your eyebrows.

And while you have your focus on your intention,

Keep your awareness on your third eye center,

Bringing this intention to your third eye center.

Don't force anything.

Your attention,

Your energy,

Your awareness,

Your thought,

All at your third eye center,

On the intention placed at your third eye center.

Keep your eyes relaxed,

As your attention is at your third eye center,

On the intention.

And let go of all focus.

Focus all concentration,

And remain still,

Centered,

And silent,

With your awareness not at anything particular,

Not at one point,

Not at one object.

Allowing the intention to become a part of your energies,

On its own,

Effortlessly,

While you sit in silence and awareness.

Allowing your awareness to become a part of your energies.

If you wish to continue,

Let go in this silent awareness of everything else,

And remain still,

Silent,

And aware,

As long as you like.

All very gently and slowly,

You may open your eyes,

Maintaining the stillness,

The awareness,

The silence,

And this intention that you have set for yourself,

Becoming a part of all your energies.

Let that also become a part of all your activities during your day.

Set that intention for not just one day,

But for your entire life.

I'll see you tomorrow at 7 am,

Central European Time.

Namaste.