Satsang with Giten on Buddha:
Bhumis – Ten Steps to Enlightenment
From Satsang Weekend with Giten, March 11-13, 2016, in Stockholm
Bhumis – Ten Steps to Enlightenment
8. ACHALA: Centering, Grounding,
Immovability
The eighth Bhumi is ACHALA, which means centering, grounding and immovability.
Buddha says that one should learn to be centered, unmoving and grounded.
Whatsoever happens, one should learn to remain unwavering.
One should learn to come closer to your center.
One will not be wavering, one will not go off-center.
Even if the whole world disappears, one should learn to remain unwavering.
The more closer you come to your center, the more silent, satisfied and happy you will be.
A great integrity and groundedness will arise in your being.
Then things will happen, but they will not disturb your center.
Life comes, death comes, success and failure come, happiness and sadness come, love and aloneness come and pain and satisfaction come.
They come and go, they pass away, but the inner witnessing center remains.
On the eighth Bhumi, the meditator and bodhisattva, the buddha in essence, also develops the eighth Paramita PRANIHAN, which means surrender and letting-go.
On the eighth level, the meditator and bodhisattva overcome all afflictions to meditation and their minds are always completely absorbed in the dharma.
Eight Bhumi bodhisattvas are irreversible, because there is no longer any possibility that they waver on the path or backside.
They are destined for full buddhahood, and there is no longer any inclinations to seek a personal nirvana.
Their resolve is to work for the benefit of others and they pervade the universe with feelings of compassion and friendliness toward all sentient beings.
They enter into meditation and emptiness with little effort.
Their skill and compassion in teaching others are automatic and spontaneous. There is no need to plan how to best benefit others, since these bodhisattva’s skillfully adapt themselves to every situation.
At this Bhumi, the bodhisattva becomes able to choose his place of rebirth.
In the book “Presence – Working from Within: The Psychology of Being”, I talk about working with people from love, awareness and silence:
Presence – Working from Within
What is presence? What does it mean to be present for oneself and for another person? What awareness components contain the therapeutic process based on awareness? How can we develop our presence so that our presence and intuition becomes a source of healing in the contact with another person? How can we be in contact with the Whole?
Working with people is basically a question of energy and awareness.
Part of the therapist’s ability comes from technical skills and part comes from the inner being. The first part of this book is about discovering our inner being, to develop a meditative presence and quality. It is about developing our own presence so that our presence and intuition becomes a source of love, joy, acceptance, awareness, healing, silence, wisdom and creativity in the contact with a client. The meditative presence aims at helping the therapist to increase the joy, depth and effectiveness in the healing and therapeutic work.
This book is designed to create an understanding for how healing happens in therapeutic work. The underlying theme of the book is meditation – but not meditation as a static technique – but as the capacity to BE with ourselves and with another person in a quality of watchful awareness, acceptance and relaxation.
The most important therapeutic capacity is the ability to be present with an open heart and to be grounded in our inner being, in our essence and authentic self, in the meditative quality within, through which we can meet another person. It is to meet that which is already perfect within a person.
Working with people from awareness is about shifting dimension from a personality oriented way of working to a being oriented way of working. It is about shifting focus from the personality, the psychological “I” to the inner being, the authentic self, the meditative quality within, the inner silence and emptiness, the capacity to surrender to life. The basic awareness component in working with people from awareness is to develop a presence and an inner quality to work from. Presence means to be grounded in our being, in our essence and authentic self. Presence is to work from a meditative presence, from the inner “yes”-quality, from a state of non-doing. Presence is to be in the moment, in the here and now.
Presence is about being available and to respond to the truth of the moment. It is to respond to the moment in a way that creates a fragrance of love.
Presence is not about trying to change another person our trying to make things happen, it is about being available and to respond with the truth in the moment.
Presence is about how every action can arise from the quality, which we call awareness – the presence of our soul.
Presence is not really something new. Presence is simply to rediscover the inner quality, which is already present within ourselves. Presence is the capacity to be present for another person with an open heart and to be grounded in our inner being. It is to be present for another person as a supporting light, a supporting presence – and simply to be present for another person can basically help.
Presence is a double and paradoxical phenomenon. It means both to be present and to be absent. It means to be present with our inner being and to be absent from our idea of a separate “I”.
Presence means to come in contact with a deeper quality within ourselves. Presence is like a flowing inner river, an inner source of energy, which gives vision, joy, inspiration, direction and creative impulses. Presence is our essence.
We all have this place deep inside ourselves, but it is often covered with personality aspects, unconscious attitudes and experiences from the past.
Working with people from love and awareness means to develop the capacity to respond to the inner being of another person, to his essence and authentic self.
Presence means to respond to another person in a way that makes his inner being deepen and expand. It is about developing a presence so that our presence and intuition becomes a source of healing in the contact with another person.
Presence is the inner being, the inner “yes”-quality, the meditative quality within, the inner silence and emptiness. Presence is to meet another person in meditation. Presence is to invite another person in meditation. It is a meeting in meditation. It is a meeting in love, joy, acceptance, sincerity, understanding, silence and oneness. It is a friendship, cooperation and an investigation after truth. And when the truth is discovered, it is larger than the two people, who are investigating it – and both people are enriched by this investigation.
Working with people from presence and awareness means to meet a person beyond the personality. It is to meet the being of another person. It is to meet the soul of another person.
Neuroses and psychiatric problems basically have its roots in a feeling of not being love, of not being part of the Whole. People with psychiatric problems have lost their contact with their own roots. They have lost contact with the inner being, with their inner center. They have lost contact with their own inner source of love, truth and wholeness.
In reality, we are really one with the other person. We are not separated from the other person. Through giving love to the other person, we are really giving love to ourselves. When we give love to another person, we are really giving love to the Whole.
When two beings meet, a presence, a love, an acceptance, a silence, a meditation and a meeting beyond separation occurs. There arises a sense of perfection, a feeling of coming home.
I think that I have always had the ability to turn my attention within myself and to go into the inner presence, to go into the inner silence and emptiness, when I have needed it. In this inner silence, I can let go of all frustration, fear, anger and sorrow. The spiritual dimension in therapeutic work basically works, because we are all one. Working with people from awareness is basically about working out of that which is already perfect within a person. Working with people from awareness is basically about seeing what develops and expands the inner being of a person. It is about bringing forth into the light of awareness the unconscious psychological patterns that prevents a person from being in contact with his own authentic being. It is about seeing what prevents a person from being nourished from his inner source of love, joy, acceptance, truth, silence, wisdom and wholeness. It is about seeing what expands the total being of a person both in relation to himself, in relation to other people, in relation to creativity and in relation to the Whole to be able to take further steps in his spiritual growth.
Working with people from awareness means to develop and expand that which is already perfect within a person. It is about seeing what expand the inner being of a person and to see where the development potential is in the life of the person for example in meditation and inner growth, in relationships or in creativity. It is about seeing what creates difficulties in a person’s inner growth, in his relationships with other people or in his work and creativity.
Presence is about finding our own unique way of being and working with people. It is about working from the authentic inner being, from the meditative quality within ourselves, from the inner source of love and truth. It is about discovering what we really want to share with other people. It is about discovering that which makes our heart dance with joy to share with people. It is about discovering that which really touches us and awakes a deep feeling of joy and meaning to share with other people.
When we are authentic, when we act from presence and awareness, it also gives nourishment to the inner being of the people around us.
Life does not come with a manual. The challenge of life is to learn to trust life. In courses, I create a situation where course participants can discover their own inner being and to learn to listen to their own heart, to trust their own intuition, joy, intelligence, inner light and understanding. The courses are a situation to learn to live their own truth.
Working with people from awareness is based on the understanding that our advice is only authentic when it comes from our own insight, understanding and experience.
Sometimes my course participants have complained that I do not give them specific advice about what to do or not to, but giving advice is easy. And it takes away the person’s own responsibility to listen to his own inner source of love, truth and wisdom, which already know the right answer. This may also be an answer that I do not see.
The atmosphere and climate of a group of people can either be a “yes”- or “no”-climate. The atmosphere in a group of people can either be uninspiring, dull and boring when the people of the group says “no” to listening to their own truth and do not chose activities that are nourishing for their souls. The atmosphere of a group of people is loving, creative, exciting and inspiring when the people of the group says “yes”, listens to their own truth and chooses activities that are nourishing for their souls and have a high level of joy and satisfaction.
In my own life, I took a conscious decision many years ago that I wanted quality in my life. It was a conscious decision that I wanted people around me that are prepared to say “yes” and to take responsibility for themselves – and who do not just take energy by saying ”no”, not taking responsibility for themselves and resist being present in different ways.
Truth is a quality in the moment. It arises when we have trust to what happens and when we are in contact with what Existence wants us to do. This quality makes the moment shine with an inner joy and satisfaction. It gives a deep inner satisfaction, which radiates on the outside as love like pebbles creates waves on water.
When we say “yes” to the truth of the moment, our whole being expands.
Presence is about daring to stay in a quality of “not knowing”. Presence is about resting in the silence and emptiness within without knowing what the next step will be. Presence is about daring to rest in the emptiness within, which has no past or future, and where authentic impulses arise in the moment.
In the therapeutic process based on love and awareness, there exists no “I” – just a presence, a love and a truth in the moment. It is to live in trust and appreciation for what life chooses to offer. It is to float with the river of life; it is to rest on the river.
The depth in healing- and therapeutic work comes basically from the capacity to allow things to be as they are, without any wish that they should be different than they are and without any will to change them. This means for the therapist to develop an accepting attitude, a trust and a compassion, for how life develops moment to moment.
To work from our inner being is to meet another person in love, joy, meditation and silence without any barrier in-between.
When the therapist can rest in himself, without intention, without ambition, without trying and without fighting, then every new opportunity to meet a client becomes a source of joy.
It becomes a joy to work with people on a spiritual plane, to act for that which is larger than ourselves.
– Swami Dhyan Giten
Paramitas – Ten Provisions for the Inner Journey
8. Surrender, Letting-go
The eighth Paramita is PRANIHAN, which means surrender and letting-go.
Buddha says: You have to do much, but the ultimate happens when you are not doing anything, when you are in a state of letting-go.
Pranihan is a state of letting-go.
You have to anything that you can do, it will prepare the ground, but it cannot cause the truth to happen.
When you have done everything that you can do, then let go, then relax.
To be able to surrender, we need to develop a trust.
In that trust and relaxation, in that letting go, the truth happens.
Truth is not something that we can do.
Truth is not something that we can invent.
Truth comes, it descends, when we surrender, when we let-go.
– Swami Dhyan Giten
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