Mayka,
What you are given description below are different mental states. And we are
going far away from the initial subject of self and selfless.
I don't think we're "going far away" from the subject of self and selfless at
all. Nirvana and samsara are nothing more than the working of the mind and
hence
different mental states. As I said in a previous post, we can label things with
words but this is not what they are in Reality. How you stop yourself from
being
"swallowed up in hell" is something only you can workout. But if you're looking
for 'techniques' then take a look at all the masters and you can see that what
they say in common is to realise that the mind/self is not what you are. If you
still have the wrong view that you are an individual apart from the world, then
you will experience things (phenonema) happening to you, and against you. You
are creating your own hell. Inquire into what you are. Again, we cannot say, "I
am this or that". But we can say, "I am not this" (emotions, body, thoughts
etc.). What is left is just the awareness, "I am" or Buddha Nature or God or
Spirit etc. Tat avam asi - Thou art That.
Mike
