Vedic Community Forum

Thank you for the Key Vedanta Concepts sessions. I appreciate reviewing the concepts and feel more grounded in them. Some of the imagery coming out of these has been so helpful.

In Session 3 Acharya Shunya talked about accepting that karma is bringing things and taking things. That it is all happening for our best. She added that she recognzed that and just enjoys her kitchari and cherry blossoms. She also enjoys her student’s presence, but added that she does this without saying “oh, you’re here this time, but not last time”, that was too much arithmetic to keep. The keeping of arithmetic really hit me as a way to identify attachments. I often feel I do this, keep track of what exactly is supposed to be happening in the realm of likes/dislikes, raga/dresha. It is exhausting.

In Session 4 she asked why does the big goal matter while we’re in our own fish bowl caught up in our attachments, aversions, grief, anger, delusions. That we are caught in a cycle of acting out from delusions and further strengthening our attachments and aversions. I pictured myself in the middle of a fish bowl with the attachments, aversions, grief, anger, delusions circling around me over and over again. This crystalized my samsara for me.

So, lately when I feel caught up in the world, suffering in the world, I ask myself “isn’t this just my jiva in the fish bowl doing arithmetic?" I can then usually separate from it to some degree or completely.