“Humility; pridelessness; nonviolence; tolerance; simplicity; approaching a bona fide spiritual master; cleanliness; steadiness; self-control; renunciation of the objects of sense gratification; absence of false ego; the perception of the evil of birth, death, old age and disease; detachment; freedom from entanglement with children, wife, home and the rest; even-mindedness, amid pleasant and unpleasant events; constant and unalloyed devotion to Me; aspiring to live in a solitary place; detachment from the general mass of people; accepting the importance of self-realization; and philosophical search for the Absolute Truth — all these I declare to be knowledge, and besides this whatever there may be is ignorance.”

Bhagavad Gita 13: 8-12

One of the greatest sources of suffering is living seeking recognition from others. Most of our mental constructs are based on the fear of not having such recognition; or not to be “loved” or accepted; hence arises our idea of role or gender. The concept of “love” is based on an image of how the other should be, as how we must be to love and be loved. The disproportionate patriarchal idea of family, nation, race, makes us live in a state of unconsciousness based on the belief where culture and social morality are above our human possibility. This takes us away from the truth, because it does not matter against what we want the other to see in us. It leads to suffering the need of belonging to a herd, a group that recognizes us as part and better yet, as a perfect member or model of the pack.

Culture is an operating system that leads to suffering; the beliefs, paradigms, cultural ideals and the idea of belonging prevails over individuality, truth, love and our relationship with God or Dharma. The operating system of beliefs, mental constructs, roles and fears, is ignorance; being free of it, is knowledge.

The opposite of the quest for recognition, is the search for inner truth and understanding of detachment. The inner truth or self-realization is the equanimity towards suffering. The work of the master plants and shamanic quest or any true spiritual path is to come out of ignorance, seeking the path of truth, knowledge of oneself and self-realization. Vedic truth is a state of understanding and many ways of healing can interbreed in the pursuit of knowledge.

The attachment to the body leads to the lack of knowledge about the process of existence or samsara. Samsara is a Sanskrit term, refers to the cycle of birth and death, also called “the wheel of destiny”. Vedic philosophy shows how the process of bhakti-yoga, the process of consciousness, is a very effective method of liberation from material bondage. Restoring the original consciousness allows us to break the cycle of samsara and return to the spiritual world, to our true home.

Aspects of absolute truth proclaimed by the Vedas can help us understand the states of being; and its relationship to the universe. In principle, the self has an impersonal relationship with the universe (Brahman), then moving forward becomes localized (Paramatma) and finally becomes personal in the realization of (Bhagavan).

The comprehension of existence begins with the understanding that everything is energy and that this energy is vibration of consciousness. The consciousness of all is the beginning of existing; when we realize that the body, mind, things that we perceive and the same perception, are part of the impregnated material reality of God; what the Vedas call Brahman or the impersonal truth. At this stage of being we are able to understand the vibration, the sound of the drum emitted by the verb that is shaping the universe in a constant dance, expressed in the form (medicine-men). When we realize that this sound comes from the universe and that is also issued in our hearts, we locate the divine consciousness in ourselves. We discovered that we are part of everything, that we hold the divine vibration, that there is no outside or inside and that everything is God (shamanism). We realize that we are co-creators of the infinitesimal of the infinite, while not in control of anything. We understand that we are subject to the laws of the universe and that we are the universe, but at the same time we are eternally individual. We understand that everything is God, but we are not God. We understand that God controls everything, but we are responsible for our actions and reactions (karma). In this state of being, the idea of God ceases to be a belief that we use to evade our responsibility, from father God who judges sinful man, punishes and leads beyond the existence of free will. Our relationship with God becomes a real relationship with the energy of the divine, which is only knowledge, wisdom; through love and compassion.

This is part of the Vedic transcendental knowledge. If we observe, it’s the spiritual processes of almost all primitive cultures begin to feel the existence as a first step to walk toward God, not as an act of belief, but of consciousness.

“Therefore the doubts which have arisen in your heart out of ignorance should be slashed by the weapon of knowledge. Armed with yoga, O Bharata, stand and fight.”
Bhagavad Gita 4:42

In the Delphic oracle lays the phrase “know thyself” . The larger door towards healing or self-realization is precisely the comprehension of the self and their abilities, anarthas* or energies of transformation. An act of healing comes from the own understanding of suffering, to transmute the energy of attachment to pain into comprehension of karma.

In any path of seeking consciousness, exists different states; from the understanding of our union to the forces of the earth, to the discovery of ourselves and our relationship with God or Dharma.

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*Dharma: Teaching or understanding of existence. Ethical duty in relation to God.
*Anartha: Unwanted bad habits. Things that are making us suffer. Attachments, desires, fears; Means to consider unreal objects as real.

Bhagavad Gita – The Bhagavad Gita (Sanskrit Bhagavad Gita, “Song of God” or “The Lord’s Song”) is a Sanskrit text from the Bhishma Parva of the Mahabharata epic. For its religious depth, quintessential Upanishadic and Yogic philosophy and beauty of verse, the Bhagavad Gita is one of the most compelling and important texts of the Hindu tradition. It is considered by many to be one of the world’s greatest religious and spiritual scriptures.

The Bhagavadgita is written in the form of a conversation between Krishna and Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra just prior to the start of a climactic war that gives birth to the era of Kali. Responding to Arjuna’s confusion and moral dilemma, Krishna explains to Arjuna his duties as a warrior and Prince and elaborates on a number of different Yogic and Vedantic philosophies, with examples and analogies. During the discourse, Krishna reveals his identity as the Supreme Being Himself (Bhagavan), blessing Arjuna with an awe-inspiring glimpse of His divine absolute form. In many ways seemingly a heterogeneous text, the Gita reconciles many facets and schools of Hindu philosophy, including those of Brahmanical (orthodox Vedic) origin and the parallel ascetic and Yogic traditions. It comprises primarily Vedic (as in the four Vedas, as opposed to the Upanishads/Vedanta), Upanishadic, Sankhya and Yogic philosophies.