March 2005 shiva sutras:Cognitive Shift

Title

cognitive shift

Link to Audio

Cognitive Shift

Transcription

Functioning of cognitive shift

It’s a wonderful word, cognitive shift. Usually, your mind continuously tends to work towards suffering. For example if you find yourself totally out of all the problems for some time, for few minutes, you feel something is missing in you that you’re not as you’re supposed to be. So you try to find something. That expansion or emptiness is too much. So you try to create a fence of suffering. Or you run to any extent, you run to the extreme and try to create some fence. You can exist only with suffering. The moment you eradicate the suffering you can’t exist as ego. As ego, as a small i you can exist only with suffering. Suffering only gives you that boundary consciousness. For example, if you don’t have any fear you will not have boundary consciousness. You will be so deeply relaxed you will not even remember you have a boundary. The moment you have the fear of death only you start entering into the boundary. The fear of death only creates the boundary for the whole land. As long as you don’t have boundary, whole planet earth is yours. The moment you put the boundary you have only that land as yours. The moment you enter into dhukka, any dhukka, any desire, immediately you will have the problem whether it’ll be fulfilled or not. Even a small desire like you should come here and take this fruit it can be simply be fulfilled, it’s not at all a big thing. But according to the intensity of the desire you will start worrying - by that time I may fall, somebody else may take the fruit. Even if its a small desire, once the intensity enters into the desire, you will have a terrible fear. It’ll be very simple thing, it’ll be just your everyday routine, but the moment your intensity enters you will be having the fear, the thoughts whether it’ll be fulfilled or not, the worry. The moment the intensity enters into any desire, the moment emotional attachment enters into any memory, the fear starts. Any emotional attachment to any memory will awaken the fear and then the worry. Then you know you’re already at the boundary. Actually as you are, you are just a free being, just a vast expanse of land. Visualize as if you’re on the top of a hillock, vast expansive hillock, or a big field. The problem/difficulty is, the moment you think or you get the thought of desire or fear or worry, you make a boundary, you make a fence. The more intense the desire, the saller the fenced area. more intense the fear. If the fence is small, more intense the worry, and the fence becomes smaller! The moment you start identifying yourself with the fence, you lost the eternity. The problem is, you can’t live with such a vast expansive consciousness, you feel its too much! Whenever you get the glimpse of it, again you start thinking, your mind just wants to catch some problem, you cant survive as a simple i without any problem. And you create something or other. One more thing. When we put the fence, we put the fence for the sake of our safety, our security. But after seeing the fence 2-3 times you really start think you can’t go out of it, you yourself get caught in the fence. 1st you build a wall for the sake of security, then finally you start feeling it has become a prison. So all your identification is utility, for the sake if utility. Unless you identify yourself with your boundary you wont be able to go to

your shop. Early morning you identify yourself with your boundary to go to your shop. you can do it playfully, very playfully. Identify, go and do the job. When you feel its too much, when you don’t want, relax. Desire and fear, when they both merge and meet you get worry. Fear is father, worry is child. These 3 creates boundary sense for You. This is what I say mental setup of mithya. Continuously you work towards the ephemeral. Even if you don’t have any problem you start.