Oops.
I miscalculated my prior post a little, so now I try to correct it...
The fifteen problems of life, which you refer to (I haven't recently read them,
but I will assume their existence for the point of discussion's sake on their
own merit), all partake of the relative values of the three gunas. I don't even
have to refer to the imperfection, or proneness to error, which the five
mahabhutas might tend toward, since the influence of the three gunas' tendency
towards error is powerful enough to consider on their own lack of merit.
Namely, the gunas are merely concerned with their narrowness of vision with
regard to time. They don't bother looking at the whole. Their only concern is
with the phases of time, namely: starting something -- as is the case with
sattwa: in all purity something is begun; and rajas, mobilizing beginnings to
keep on going; and tamas, with putting a stop to something. If sattwa doesn't
like how tamas or rajas is conducting their business, then sattwa will always
find fault with either of the two other gunas saying to itself: "How fruitless
are their endeavors; I can't wait on the other two any more; let's start
something already and not bother with maintaining or ending anything any more."
Likewise, rajas will find fault by assuming that starting something is not good
enough; it has to be maintained to be worthwhile. And tamas will also find
fault by becoming bored with the whole mess and want to put an end to it all!
But the Absolute is the sole undifferentiated state of being absolute, so no
quality of fault, or non-fault, can be ascribed to it. Thus, it can not combine
with any of the five mahabhutas to contribute five more types of problems to
the whole mix.
Neither can the gap contribute any problems by combining with the five
mahabhutas since it is also blameless. It's sole endeavor is to act as a
transition for both the Absolute and the relative hoping that the relative will
transcend and get to the Absolute supreme status of life, and also the gap will
endeavor to bring the Absolute out of itself to fulfill the aspirations of the
relative with the glory of the Absolute's Surpreme Nature.
So, only the three phases of the wholeness of life, the three partialities of
the cycles of living, the three gunas, can contribute to there being any
problems in life, for life is essentially wholeness lived through cycles of
partiality which start their relative existence, maintain it for a while, and
then cease to exist as a relative experience. Any presumption which places the
three gunas, or anything else which they could combine with, as anything more
than a mere partial degree of importance with respect to the wholeness of
completion found only in the unmanifest, is a false presumption leading toward
suffering, ignorance and bondage. And anything which they could combine with
(such as the five mahabhutas) is merely to make life more complicatedly
interesting and mysterious -- but not necessarily any better at fulfilling our
desires; just varying them here and there.
So, here's my correction...
The gap IS a field of differentiation, unlike the Absolute next door. The gap
has the capacity of distinguishing between the flow of life in the direction of
either: transcending or manifesting. But the gap can't be faulted (unlike the
three gunas), because it always seeks an interaction between the Absolute and
the relative in some direction or the other. Thus, as far as the gap is
concerned, wholeness must never be left out of experience, whether that
experience leads to wholeness or merely more experience of a relative type.
Leaving wholeness out of any experience would be fatal to Dharma and we would
lose our memory/smriti -- the fulfillment of our desire through lack of
wholeness (Dharma often being defined within the TM movement as "support of the
Almighty power of Nature").
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "luvgemlight" wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Share Long wrote:
> >
> > luvgenlight there's a wonderful audio tape Maharishi made in Jan 1971 in
> > which he explains that the 15 fundamental problems of life listed in
> > chapter 2 of the Gita can be generated by combining the 3 gunas with the 5
> > mahabhutas. He actually begins to list them on the tape: sattvic
> > problem in pritivi, sattvic problem in jala, sattvic problem in tejas,
> > etc. So maybe:
>
> > a is akasha = Ishwara/being
> The stage upon which all of the following transpires, and not transpires!
>
> > g is prana
> The gap between any two breaths -- between the exhalation of the prior and
> the inhalation of its successor -- contains the smriti/memory of all breaths.
> Without smriti/memory, there would be no support (Dharma) of Almighty Nature
> (akasha = Ishwara/being), and not a single breath would arise.
>
> > n is tejas
> The fire of tejas/samadhi "burns away" (Shiva/tamas) anything which is
> non-Self.
>
> > i is jala
> The water of jala/life develops the ash residue of samadhi into "greater
> expressions of wholeness" (Brahma/sattwa).
>
>
> > m is pritivi
> The earth of pritivi hides the development of life in a cocoonal/womb of
> immortality (Vishnu/rajas). {"From Bliss, all of this comes, and to Bliss all
> this goes."}
>
> >
>
> I think we've got something developing here....
> First of all, this implies that the three gunas are the source of all fifteen
> problems since it's their interaction with the wholeness of life (as
> Brahman): being(a), the gap(g), and the whole field of the relative
> represented by the gunas themselves(n-i-m) which spawns all fifteen problems.
> So, all fifteen problems relate individually to how well does: sattwa (herein
> represented by "i") relate to being (as represented herein by "a = akasha"),
> and how well does rajas (represented by "m") relate to being (akasha), etc. I
> guess the three gunas are used as the standard for sourcing all problems in
> life since the gap, and the Absolute, can't source any problem whatsoever
> since they are non-differentiated within themselves (in other words, the gap
> and Absolute are non-relative). Otherwise, we'd have ten more combinations
> between the gap and the Absolute interacting with all five mahabhutas. So,
> it's up to the three gunas to initiate problems. Hey.... It's a tough job and
> somebody has to do it? ;-)
>
> > But how to jive with:
> >
>
> Secondly,
> see commentary above on each of the five mahabhutas...
>
> >
> > a = Ishwara/purusha
> > g = Dharma/smriti
> > n = Shiva/tamas
> > i = Brahma/sattwa
> > m = Vishnu/rajas
> >
> > Anyway, thank you so much for all this but especially about the
> > relationship between dharma, smriti and kama. I have a friend in
> > Vancouver who will also enjoy reading this.
> >
> >
> >
> > ________________________________
> > From: luvgemlight
> >
> >
> > > Thank the god of fire that re-enforcements of more revolutionary
> > > millenarians have finally spoke up up on this list. Welcome LuvGemLight
> > > to the fray. You got through to us. You are on the front line here
> > > out-numbered with only a few of us by your side. There's quite a few
> > > non-meditators and counter-revolutionaries lie-ing in wait to bush-whack
> > > meditators who come out here. It's a terrible place to stand up. I
> > > am glad you are up here with us. It often takes fire to fight fire. And
> > > water. What did Maharishi say about water in relation to Agni fire? You
> > > know, as a cannoneer to fire a cannon you have to ram swab the barrel
> > > with a wet mop before you load the charge or the powder charge might
> > > spark off and go BOOM as you load it. In a fight many a cannoneer lost
> > > their fingers and hands ramming loads if they ran out of water in their
> > > swab bucket and came to be without swab water on the battlefield of
> > > llife. Water, does water have something
> > elemental to do with Gem Light Therapy? The role of water in chakras and
> > Gem Therapy? Did Maharishi ever talk about this? You seem to be deep with
> > this. I appreciate that.
> > > -Buck
> > >
> >
> > I don't know. But if I were to track down the symbolism, I'd start with
> > close analogs to the water symbol, such as "ocean of bliss". Maharishi
> > definitely has something to say on bliss...
> >
> > http://www.detlef108.de/Maharishi-Sat-Chit-Ananda-mp3.m3u
> >
> > shortcut...
> > http://www.tinyurl.com/mmy-ananda
> >
> > Edgar Cayce spoke of only four elements being required and everything else
> > the body needed was made from these four irregardless of anyone else's
> > advice to the contrary. These four elements are: water, salt, soda, and
> > iodine. Attempting to apply the agnim template could result in...
> >
> > a = water
> > g = salt
> > n = soda
> > i = iodine
> >
> > ...which might seem to work, but leaves out the 'm' phoneme. Let's take a
> > different approach...
> >
> > Ishwara is the personal supreme almighty diety whose impersonal essential
> > nature is purusha, or being.
> >
> > Dharma is an actual diety second only to Ishwara. Dharma's impersonal
> > essential nature could be described as 'kama' = desire, but a more factual
> > description might be 'smriti' = memory, which Nada Ram described recently
> > -- during Maharishi's birthday 2013 celebration -- as having a secondary
> > meaning besides memory: fulfillment of desire. So, Dharma is Smriti;
> > regaining my memory (an Arjuna quote of the last line of the Bhagavad Gita)
> > is also regaining my Dharma (my support of the power of Almighty Nature;
> > or, how else shall I fulfill my desire?).
> >
> > Well, Dharma is positioned, not within the relative, but within the gap
> > between the Almighty and the relative. This is what makes Dharma second
> > only to the Almighty and superior to everything else within the relative,
> > such as all the other dieties, including, but not limited to...
> >
> > Brahma, whose impersonal essential nature is: satwa
> > Vishnu, whose impersonal essential nature is: rajas
> > Shiva, whose impersonal essential nature is: tamas
> > Ganesh, whose impersonal essential nature is: vata
> > Mother Divine, whose impersonal essential nature is: kapha
> > Surya, whose impersonal essential nature is: pitta
> >
> > ....if I've got my six primary dieties of the relative field right (along
> > with their six impersonal essential natures)?
> >
> > So, Dharma is superior to the three gunas and the three doshas which lie
> > between the three gunas along with their respective personal dieties
> > (Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva, plus Ganesh, Mother Divine, and Surya) and
> > Smriti is superior to Prakriti (the field of the three gunas).
> >
> > Well, this gap wherein lies Dharma and Smriti tugs in both directions: it
> > tugs on the relative to transcend the relative and go to Being, and it tugs
> > on the Absolute to come out of itself and manifest itself into the
> > relative. A better template to include the gap (better than the Edgar Cayce
> > quote from above) might be...
> >
> > a = Ishwara/purusha
> > g = Dharma/smriti
> > n = Shiva/tamas
> > i = Brahma/sattwa
> > m = Vishnu/rajas
> >
>
