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Writings and Readings Blog

Madhu Bazaz Wangu

Jung’s “Self,” Hindu Atman and Buddhist Anatta

Posted on August 27, 2010
in Being in Nature
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THE "SELF" IN CARL JUNG, ATMAN IN THE GITA AND ANATTA IN THE DHAMMAPADA The noted psychoanalyst Carl Jung has contemporized the concepts of soul and spirit with his theories of the "Self." His work on individuation and the "Self" have amazing parallels with atman of the Gita and anatta of the Dhammapada. Jung studied the working of the human mind with meticulous detail and declared that the majority of us do not have complete knowledge of our mind. Workings of the human psyche, (conscious and unconscious mind) is as complex as the workings of our body. When we say 'I know-myself' we mean we know our conscious (ego) self only; we do not know our unconscious. The ego is only a small part of the psyche. The unconscious mind...

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The Eighteenth Teaching

Posted on August 27, 2010
in Meditation, Reading
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The Eighteenth Teaching Renunciation and Freedom 1 Arjuna: Krishna I want to know what it means to renounce and what it means to relinquish and the difference between the two. 2-12 Krishna: Giving up actions based on desire, the poets know as "renunciation;" relinquishing all fruit of action, learned men call "relinquishment." Some wise men say all action is flawed and must be relinquished; others say action in sacrifice, charity and penance must not be relinquished. Arjuna, hear my decision about relinquishment; it is rightly declared to be of three kinds. Action in worship, charity, and penance is to be performed, not relinquished-for wise men they are acts of sanctity. But even these actions should be done by relinquishing to me-attachment and the fruit of action-this is my decisive idea. Renunciation of prescribed action is inappropriate when it is relinquished in...

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The Seventeenth Teaching

Posted on August 21, 2010
in Meditation, Reading
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The Seventeenth Teaching Faith and Its Power 1. Arjuna: Men who ignore the scriptures but worship with faith (shraddha), Krishna, what quality prevails in them-lucidity (sattvas), passion (rajas), or inertia (tamas)? 2-6 Krishna: The faith is threefold. Each person is ruled by the quality predominant in him--lucidity, passion, or dark inertia. The faith each man has, Arjuna, follows his inborn nature; a man's faith is his core, what his faith is, so is he. Men of lucidity worship the gods; men of passion, spirits and demons; men of dark inertia worship dark spirits and the ghosts of the dead. Men who practice horrific penances that go against scriptures and are trapped in hypocrisy and in the sense of "I" and driven by warped desires, without reason, they torment the parts that compose the body, and thus they torment me in...

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The Sixteenth Teaching

Posted on August 13, 2010
in Meditation, Reading
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Sixteenth Teaching Divine and Demonic Character Traits Krishna Fearlessness, purity of heart, determination in the discipline of knowledge, charity, self-control, non-violence, gentleness, honesty; Integrity, truth, joys in the study of the scriptures, a tranquil mind, compassion for all beings, lack of greed, modesty, patience, and reliability, dignity, kindness, resolve, clarity, absence of envy and of pride; these characterize a man born with divine traits. Hypocrisy, arrogance, vanity, anger, harshness, ignorance; these characterize a man born with demonic traits. The divine traits lead to freedom, the demonic to suffering and bondage. But do not despair, Arjuna, you were born with the divine traits. All the beings in the world are either divine or demonic; I have described the divine at length hear what I say of the demonic. Demonic men do not know what should and should not be...

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The Fifteenth Teaching

Posted on August 7, 2010
in Meditation, Reading
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Fifteenth Teaching The Ultimate Supreme Person Krishna: Roots above, branches below, the realm of sorrow is the world tree, sages say; its leaves are sacred hymns. Its branches, stretching below and above and nourished by gunas, bud in sense objects; its aerial roots tangled in actions reach downward into the world of men. Its vast form is unknown to the men in the world; unknown is the extent of its end and its beginning. Cut down this deep-rooted tree with the sharp ax of detachment; then search for that primal One from whom the whole universe flows. Find him in the place that one enters without returning; without arrogance or delusion intent on the Self alone, serene with attachment overcome, desires extinguished, freed from dualities, from joy and suffering, wise men reach that realm beyond change. Neither...

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The Thirteenth Teaching

Posted on July 17, 2010
in Meditation, Reading
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The Thirteenth Teaching The Field and the Field Knower 1-6 What is the Self--the "Knower of the field?" What is the "field?" The body is the field; the one who watches whatever happens within it is called the Knower. Know me as the field-knower in every body; genuine knowledge is knowing both the field and its Knower. Listen from me the summary of the field; what changes take place in it, who is the Knower and what his powers are. Ancient seers have sung of this in many powerful ways, with varied meters and well argued with reasoning. The field contains the five elements, "I"-sense, the understanding, the ten senses, the mind and the five sense realms. 7-12 Longing, hated, happiness, suffering, bodily form, consciousness, resolve-all these components make up the field, with its various changes. Knowledge means...

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The Twelfth Teaching

Posted on July 2, 2010
in Meditation, Reading
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The Way of Love and Devotion 1-12 Arjuna: Who understands the discipline deeply? The man who worships you with pure devotion or the man who loves the Imperishable, Unmanifest? Krishna: Those men who love and worship me with true faith, entrusting their minds on me are perfect in yoga. But the men who love and worship Imperishable, Ineffable, Unmanifest, Omnipresent, Inconceivable, and Immutable at the summit of existence, rejoicing in the welfare of all beings-they too will reach me at last. But their path is much more arduous when they cling to my unmanifest nature; for embodies beings, the unmanifest is hard to attain. But those men intent on me, who renounce all actions to me and worship me, meditating with singular discipline, when they entrust their minds to me, Arjuna, I soon arise to rescue them from the ocean...

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The Tenth Teaching

Posted on May 28, 2010
in Meditation, Reading
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The Tenth Teaching Splendor of Divine Power 1-11 Krishna: Great Warrior, again hear my word in its supreme form; Desiring your utmost good, I tell you the greatest teaching. Neither the multitude of gods nor great sages know my origin, I am the source from which all the gods and sages emerge. Whoever knows me as the unborn, the Beginningless, the great Lord of all worlds-he alone sees truly and is free from all harm. Understanding, wisdom, non-delusion, patience, truth, control, tranquility, joy, suffering, being, nonbeing, fear and fearlessness, nonviolence, equanimity, contentment, penance, charity, glory, disgrace-all these arise from me alone. The seven ancient great sages and the four ancestors from whom all beings descend arose from my own depths, mind born. The man who can understand my power and my discipline is forever united with me by his unwavering...

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The Ninth Teaching

Posted on May 21, 2010
in Meditation, Reading
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The Ninth Teaching The Magnificent Mystery 1-4 Krishna I will teach you the secret of life, Arjuna because you trust me; Know it and you will be free from suffering. This is the supreme wisdom, knowing beyond all knowledge, experienced directly, in a flash, joyous to perform and unchanging. Men without faith cannot reach me, Arjuna; they return to the cycles of death and rebirth. My unmanifest form pervades the whole universe; All creatures exist in me, but I do not exist in them. 5-15 Behold the power of my discipline; these creatures are really not in me; myself I quicken creatures, sustaining them without being in them. Just as the wide-moving wind is constantly present in space, so all creatures exist in me; understand it to be so. As an eon ends, all creatures fold into my nature, Arjuna; and I create them...

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