Upeksha - Equanimity, Brahmavihara Series

The English word equanimity refers to a state of being calm and balanced, especially in the midst of difficulty. In Buddhism, equanimity (in Pali, upekkha; in Sanskrit, upeksha) is one of the Four Brahma Viharas or four great virtues (along with compassion, loving-kindness, and empathetic joy) that is the basis of everything Buddha taught and lived by. This meditation encourages us to access inner calm and peace, in the midst of all that we are going through.

Transcript

Namaskar.

I am Samira Kamalkar and welcome to the last video in the Brahma Vihara series.

Today I am taking you through Upeksha or Equanimity.

For those of you who are joining me for the first time today,

The previous videos are available in the description box.

So Upeksha or Equanimity,

The basic quality of this Brahma Vihara is a sense of calm,

A sense of sthirta.

What does equanimity mean?

Equanimity means being in the world and yet not being affected by it.

Being in a space of loving kindness and yet making sure that loving kindness is not unconditional.

Being in a space of empathetic joy but not exhilarating hysterical joy.

The Bhagavad Gita describes it very beautifully.

The word is Thita Pragya.

Being in the world and yet not being affected by it.

This practice is not a neutral aloofness or a cold aloofness.

In fact it is a radiant warmth of the heart.

That's how the Buddha also describes it.

It is not a sthirta devoid of love or joy.

But let me not speak about it anymore.

Let's experience this Brahma Vihara.

So let's jump into the practice and let's do it with the intention of staying in a state of quanumity.

Whenever you are ready please settle down comfortably and close your eyes.

So sit with a straight back,

Your head held erect on your neck and shoulders.

Allowing your shoulders to relax fully.

Place your hand on your knees.

Allow your eyes to gently close.

Take a slow deep breath to bring yourself to the present moment.

And begin the process of feeling more peaceful and centred.

Watch your breath as you breathe into your belly.

Watch it expand as you breathe in and watch it grow smaller as you breathe out.

Imagine the path of your breath travelling into and out of your body.

As it comes in it warms your body flowing through your nose,

Down your throat,

Into your lungs.

You can imagine that it keeps flowing down warming your stomach,

Your pelvis radiating out into all your limbs all the way to the tips of your fingers and toes.

Your breath travels throughout your body and as you breathe out you can take any tension that it finds out of your body.

It's like a warm ocean wave that you are riding.

Your breath brings in relaxation and takes away tension.

Feel these waves for a few moments.

In and out.

In and out.

Now take a moment to mentally scan your body for any areas where you feel there is tightness or tension or soreness.

Bring your warm oxygen filled breath to that area.

And as you breathe out try and release the tension or the soreness that you are holding there in your body with your out breath.

So breathing in relaxation and breathing out any tightness or soreness that you feel in any part of your body.

Now notice any worries,

Any fear,

Any anxieties,

Anger,

Irritation,

Jealousy or even judgement at these words that I am speaking or at anyone else that you may have felt today and just breathe into these emotions.

Noting them allowing them to flow out as you breathe out.

Another breath in into all the uncomfortable feelings that you have collected today and breathing it out.

Using the vehicle of your breath to breathe out any uncomfortable feelings that you may have collected today.

Now any thoughts or memories or plans,

Even associations with the words.

Anything other than just being here and breathing.

Just breathe into those thoughts and breathe out.

Allow those thoughts to flow out with the breath.

Don't fight them,

Don't resist them.

Just breathe them out slowly and gradually.

Allowing the body to be still and sitting with a sense of dignity,

A sense of resolve,

A sense of being complete,

Whole in this very moment with your posture reflecting this sense of wholeness.

As you sit here I want you to imagine in your mind's eye the most beautiful mountain that you know.

You may have seen it,

You may have gone there or you may have just seen pictures but it's such a beautiful mountain and the visual of that mountain has stayed in your mind,

In your memory.

I want you to visualize that mountain.

Try and see it in as much focus as you can.

Observe its overall shape,

Its peak high in the sky,

The large base of the mountain rooted into the earth's crust.

Is it steep or does it have gentle sloping sides?

I want you to notice how massive,

How solid,

How unmoving,

How beautiful this mountain is.

Perhaps your mountain has snow or mist at the top.

Maybe it has trees.

Perhaps it has just one prominent peak.

Or maybe it has a number of peaks.

Or maybe it's even a very high plateau.

Whatever its shape or appearance,

Just sit and breathe with the image of this mountain in your mind.

Observe it,

Notice it,

Notice its qualities,

The color of the soil,

The trees.

See it all in as much detail as you can.

And when you feel ready,

Bring the mountain into your own body so that your body sitting here and the mountain in your mind's eye become one.

So that you sit here and share in the massiveness and the stillness and the majesty of this beautiful mountain.

You become the mountain.

You become the mountain in your sitting position rooted into the earth.

Your head is its lofty peak supported by the rest of your body.

Your shoulders and arms are the sides of the mountain.

Your hips and legs are the solid base rooted to the mat.

Experience in your body a sense of uplift from deep within,

Up your spine.

The moment you think of yourself as the mountain,

Your posture changes.

You sit up a little straighter.

Your spine pulls up a little longer.

And with each breath as you continue to sit and become a little more a breathing mountain.

Unwavering in your stillness,

Completely what you are,

Beyond words and thought.

A centered,

Rooted,

Unmoving presence.

You are the mountain.

Rooted,

Centered and still.

As you sit here you are aware of the fact that as the sun travels across the sky,

The light and the shadows and the colors are changing moment by moment.

Night follows day and day follows night.

Sometimes the sun is shining high in the sky straight down on you the mountain.

You feel the rays of the sun,

Sometimes warm,

Sometimes burning.

At night you see a canopy of stars.

You see the moon and then again the sun.

And through it all,

The mountain just sits,

Day and night.

It experiences the changes in each moment,

Constantly changing yet always just being itself.

That mountain that is you.

It remains still as the seasons flow into one another,

As the weather changes moment by moment and day by day.

Calmness through all that change.

You the mountain.

In summer the grass on the slopes turns brown.

You feel dusty.

In the rains you wear a coat of brilliant green.

There are streams gurgling on your slopes.

In winter you are covered by a blanket of mist.

In any season you feel the changes.

Sometimes clouds,

Sometimes fog,

Sometimes rain,

Sometimes sun.

Sometimes people come to see you and they comment on how beautiful you are,

How majestic.

Sometimes they complain that the pebbles in you hurt their feet or it's not a good day and they can't see you very clearly or they've seen a better mountain than you.

But none of this matters to you the mountain.

And you remain your essential self at all times.

Clouds come,

Clouds go.

Your magnificence and your beauty are not changed.

Not changed one bit by the weather or by how people see you.

You just sit there being yourself,

Being majestic and magnificent.

At times you're visited by violent storms hit hard by rains and winds of unthinkable magnitude.

And through it all you the mountain continue to sit unmoved by the weather,

By what happens on the surface,

What happens in the world of appearances.

And the same way as we sit tonight in meditation we can experience the same unwavering stillness and rootedness in the face of everything that changes in our own lives over seconds,

Over hours,

Over years.

Change is constant and within that change the only thing that stays is your magnificence.

The only thing that stays is your unwavering stillness.

Now I want you to think of a situation or a person in your life who evokes very strong feelings in you.

Could be good feelings,

Could be bad feelings but strong feelings.

Now bring that person to your mind and watch your feelings.

Keeping in mind that you are the mountain.

The feelings are clouds.

You can watch them but you don't have to become them.

You are the mountain.

You are not the clouds.

You are not the weather.

And so what you feel for this person or this situation does not change you.

It does not make you more or less.

Rest in that knowledge for a moment.

The knowledge that you remain who you are immaterial of who the person is,

What the situation is.

Your essence remains the same.

Now look at that person or situation again and watch your response.

You are the mountain.

You are strong and stable.

You can withstand any storms,

Any weather.

You don't deny the existence of storms.

Storms are a way of life.

They happen in life.

But you know that you don't have to take every storm personally.

And you meet it with equanimity,

With upeksha.

You can endure periods of darkness of the night.

You can also handle the fierce glare of the sun.

Your appearance may change but you remain the same.

I want you to carry with you the silence,

The stillness and the wisdom of the mountain.

Through your days,

See if you can sit like the mountain,

Still and grounded through changes of weather,

Time,

Seasons.

Allowing day and night to come and go.

Accepting change not resisting it.

Allowing people to come and go.

Allowing situations to come and go.

Take these qualities into your day.

Allowing the weather and the seasons of life to come and go.

Feeling yourself present and rooted,

Centered and still.

Unmoved by the storms,

By the wind,

By the cold,

By the rain,

By the moments of darkness and light,

By joy and by sorrow.

Living and breathing in the essence of equanimity.

Allowing life to unfold around you.

Allowing life to continue to unfold around you.

This feeling of rootedness,

Stillness,

This feeling of being a mountain.

This is upeksha.

This is equanimity,

The fourth brahma vihara.

And this is what we will carry with us in our lives and live it.

Every time you go through a situation which shakes you remember that you are the mountain.

Majestic,

Magnificent,

Calm,

Centered and rooted.

Now please slowly bring your attention back to your breath.

And listen to these beautiful words by Rumi.

This human being is a guest house.

Every morning a new arrival.

A joy,

A depression,

A meanness.

Some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all.

Even if they are a crowd of sorrows who violently sweep your house empty of its furniture.

Still treat each guest honorably.

He may be clearing you out for some new delight.

The dark thought,

The shame,

The malice.

Meet them at the door with laughing and invite them in.

Be grateful for whatever comes because each has been sent as a guide from beyond.

Take a few moments to let these words stay with you.

Noticing how you feel throughout your body,

Your emotions and thoughts compared with before when we started the meditation.

No judging,

Just noticing and breathing.

That's all.

Staying in this space for a few moments.

Whenever you are ready,

Gently wriggle your fingers,

Your toes,

Stretch your hands and arms.

Slowly open your eyes and smile.

Carrying with you the spirit of the mountain,

The spirit of Upaksha,

The spirit of Ikhwanabadi deep in your heart.

Be blessed,

Dearest one.

Reviews

Thank you. I really enjoyed that and needed it today. I will look for your other talks and meditations. I wish I could give more and in the future I will

Cloud's come and they go...

Es un viaje relajante y cautivador. Te llena de sabiduría y solidez , temple y estabilidad. Namaste 🙏🏼