Notes from Pratibodha Sessions

(Pratibodha sessions were conducted by my mentor, Empty Boat, in Auroville.)

Perception and the perceiver

In normal circumstances, it’s impossible to differentiate the two, because of the various lenses through which we perceive. For us to see what really is out there, we must be free from the lenses that we have built, consciously and unconsciously, over the years: lenses that colour our perception.

The analogy of a movie projection screen helps us understand this better. Imagine a screen that holds traces of every movie ever projected onto it. Soon it would be difficult to watch a movie on it. The traces from past movies interfere so much with what is being projected now that it’s difficult to see what is currently going on. So the prerequisite to watching a movie as it is meant to be watched is to have a clear screen, with no traces. This screen is our mind. We need to be aware of the various traces we carry in our mind, and strive to clear them out in order to see.

These traces are of two types:

• The state of our being, as impacted by our previous experiences.
• The beliefs that we form through our past experiences.

What is a state, and why is it important?

Think of listening to soothing music. The act of listening to soothing music transforms an agitated mind into a tranquil one. This could make us believe that the music is so powerful that it transformed us. However, the trick is to go one step behind the music, to the state that produced that music. Only a person in his highest state of being, in a tranquil mind, can produce music that has the power to transform the state of the listener. The same is true of a beautiful story that evokes positivity as we read it, or a poem that evokes love in our heart, or an artwork that evokes admiration as we see it. In all these instances, it’s the state of the creator that is more important, and that creates the impact, more than the act of the creator, which is merely an expression of that state.

When we admire great people impacting the lives of so many, we may want to replicate their actions, falsely believing that it’s their action that creates the impact. So, while trying to mimic the action that is outwardly seen, we miss seeing the beautiful and powerful state of being that gives life to those actions. Action has little value without the state.

In summary, we are all like a transmitter. Through our actions, speech, and presence, we constantly transmit our state. So, what value does our state provide?

Beliefs

If habits are what we routinely do, beliefs are what we routinely think. Beliefs are our personal truths. These are things we hold dear and feel to be true, having formed them through various life experiences in the past.

Our beliefs define how we feel. A crappy belief gives a crappy feeling. A positive belief gives an empowering feeling. So changing our beliefs can change our feelings, and it feels like our beliefs are the big boss. However, similar to the previous topic of state and action, the trick is to see one step before how beliefs get formed, and that previous step is the feelings themselves: a certain life experience that triggered a certain feeling, upon which our belief system started forming. So if we hold on to a feeling long enough, it can change our beliefs. Our beliefs then generate the feeling, which then changes the general state of our being.

Connecting the dots

So how are these perceptions, states, and beliefs related to our day-to-day life?

We act based on our perception. Our perception is controlled by the state of our being and our beliefs. So if we want to change our actions, we must work on the lower-level levers that control our actions. To summarize: “feel good to do good”, and not the other way around, “do good to feel good”.

Feeling → Beliefs → State → Perception → Action

The 42-day technique for transformation

If we hold on to a feeling long enough, it can change our beliefs.

The three feelings, the three gateways, for evolving our state are:

• Curiosity
• Gratitude
• Compassion

We form a group of minimum 3 or at most 4 people who hold each other in this 42-day journey. Every day, each one of us picks one of the three gateways and holds it as the intention for the day. The group shares with each other their individual intentions for the day as the day begins. We have set this to 6am in the morning.

Every 90 minutes, an alarm goes off on everyone’s mobile as a reminder to check whether we are able to hold on to this chosen state. We take a minute of silence and a deep breath to get into the chosen state of the day.

Remember, what is important is to “feel good” in order to “do good”. The emphasis is on oneself first. Care needs to be given to oneself first, to “feel good”. So, while we practise these gateways:

• Let us first be compassionate to ourselves, forgiving ourselves for a past that still holds us guilty.
• Let us first be grateful to ourselves, acknowledging and appreciating the unappreciated work of our body and mind that keeps us alive.
• Let us first be curious about ourselves, inquiring and learning about ourselves through all our life experiences.