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In Awareness
The second and perhaps most significant way Munishree came in closer touch with himself was through upayoga, the yoga of awareness of life. Up means very close, and yoga means unity. Upayoga means to stay in close unity with your own Self and to cultivate reverence for life. It is the king of the yogas, because all of the other yogic disciplines are absorbed into this one. Upayoga requires vigilance. It is a practice in which you watch closely each thought you send out, each word you utter, each movement you make. The idea behind it is this: the more you scrutinize your motives, words, and actions, the less likely you are to do harm to another. The less harm you cause, the less pain and suffering come to you. Once you cease once and for all to sow the seeds of negative events, the less you are bound to the cycle of birth and death which thrives on unawareness. Little by little, upayoga leads you closer and closer to living in ecstasy and peace with yourself and with all.
Munishree practiced this philosophy in detail based on the following stanza from one of the Agamas called the Dasavaikali Sutra:
In it, the disciple questions the Master:
कहं चरे कहं चिट्ठे कहमासे कहं सए । कहं भुजंतो भासंतो पावं कम्मं न बंधई ।।?
"Kaham chare kaham chitthe kaham āse kaham saye? Kaham bhuñjanto bhāsanto pāvam kammam na bandhayi?”
“How must I walk? How must I stand? How must I sit? How must I sleep? How must I speak and eat so that I commit no harm, accumulate no new karmas, and cannot be bound by anything, thus ending the cycle of birth and death?”
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