The Story Of Indra | Dharma Talk

In this dharma talk, we begin with the story of Indra, to remind us that any time we get attached to a "good" or "worthy" image of ourselves, we are simply setting in motion the beginning of our downfall to the "unworthy" image. Any image creates separation and pulls us into the illusion of duality. Being mindful of this image, we can remember to see how the good conditions arose and to have gratitude and appreciation instead of taking on some image of ourselves.

Transcript

So the story starts out where the earth is in a terrible predicament.

This monster,

Vitra,

Has closed up all the waterways.

So all the life is dying,

The plants,

The trees,

The animals,

The humans,

Everything is dying,

What's left is suffering,

And it's just a terrible,

Terrible state.

So Indra,

Who is the king of gods and the governor of the world,

Is in this fierce battle with Vitra,

And eventually Indra realizes that he has this box of thunderbolts,

And so he takes one of the thunderbolts and he throws it at Vitra,

And Vitra dies instantly,

And all the waterways open up,

And the earth is replenished,

And the animals are rejoicing,

And the plants are rejoicing,

And the humans are rejoicing,

And everyone is so happy.

And Indra says to himself,

What a good boy am I.

And with that he thinks,

I'm going to go up to the cosmic mountain and build a palace and a city worthy of such a good boy.

So he goes up to the cosmic mountain,

And he meets with the carpenter to the gods,

Vishwakarma,

And he tells Vishwakarma what he's looking to build,

And in no short order Vishwakarma gets to work,

He's not subject to the constraints of a normal world,

So very quickly the palace is built,

The city is built.

But every time Indra goes to see Vishwakarma,

He wants something more,

He wants the palace to be more grand,

He wants more buildings added on,

More statues,

More waterfalls,

More and more and more.

And this keeps going on and on,

And after a while Vishwakarma realizes,

He thinks,

My God,

We're both immortal,

This could go on forever,

His desires are endless.

So Vishwakarma goes down to meet with Brahma.

So Brahma is down in the lotus pond of the universe,

Resting on a lotus that is coming out of the navel of Vishnu.

So Vishnu is sleeping and in his dream he is dreaming the universe.

So Brahma sits there on the lotus and Vishwakarma comes down and he bows and he says some pleasantries and then he lets Brahma know what's going on,

What his problem is with Indra,

The challenge that he's having.

And Brahma hears him and he says,

Ah,

I got it,

I got it,

Don't worry about it,

Go back to the palace,

Just keep doing what you're doing,

I'll take care of this.

So the next day,

The next morning,

At the gates of the palace,

This beautiful blue boy appears,

Radiant divine light coming off him,

He's ethereal,

Everyone is drawn to him,

Little children,

People are following him as he wanders around the grounds of the palace.

So eventually he works his way inside the palace and to the throne and he sees Indra and he pays his respects and they sit down and as they're having a little chat,

Indra says,

So,

So my friend,

What brings you here to my palace?

And the boy says,

Well,

I have heard that you are building a palace like no other Indra before you.

And I have looked around the grounds and I see that you are building such a palace as no other Indra before you.

Well,

Indra's a little like shocked,

Like,

What do you mean,

Indra's before me?

Young man,

I think you are mistaken,

I am the only Indra.

And the blue boy looks at him and he says,

I have seen them come and go.

Just think,

Vishnu sleeps in the cosmic ocean,

Dreams the universe,

Out of his navel arises a lotus and a Brahma,

Every time Brahma opens his eyes,

A new world comes into being,

An Indra to govern that world,

He closes his eyes,

The world goes out of being,

Indra goes out of being,

He opens his eyes,

A new world,

Another Indra,

He closes his eyes,

Opens his eyes,

And a Brahma lives for 432,

000 years,

At which point he dies and the lotus goes back into the navel of Vishnu and a new lotus arises,

A new Brahma,

Opens his eyes,

Closes his eyes,

And there is galaxy upon galaxy upon galaxy,

Brahma opening his eyes,

A new world appears,

A new Indra,

Closes his eyes,

He said,

You would be more likely to count all the grains of sand on the earth than you would the number of Brahmas,

Let alone the number of Indras.

And as they're having this conversation,

A line of ants starts walking across the floor,

Thousands of them,

And they both look down at the ants,

And the boy kind of chuckles to himself,

And Indra,

Really taken aback by all this information,

Says,

What are you laughing at?

And the boy says,

You shouldn't ask if you're not willing to be hurt.

Indra says,

Tell me,

I'm willing to be hurt.

And he points at all of the ants,

And he says,

All former Indras,

They rise from the lowest depths,

Spiritually reincarnating again and again and again to the highest state,

Indra,

The king of all gods,

They get in a fight with Vitra,

They use the thunderbolt and destroy Vitra,

And they declare,

What a good boy am I,

And with that begins the downfall back to the lowest form again.

That my friend,

Is your destiny,

The path you are on.

As the story continues on,

He is able to redeem himself and not take this fall,

But we're going to stop right there for the purposes of the Dharma talk today,

Because we can all relate to that temptation to want to get lost in,

What a good girl am I?

What a good person am I?

What a kind person am I?

What a good meditator am I?

What a good spiritual person am I?

What a good generous person am I?

What a good employee am I?

What a good boss am I?

But what we don't see is every time we get lost in that good image of ourselves,

We have just set in motion the downfall,

Because while we are so intoxicated in the image of me as something good,

As something superior,

We forget that everything changes,

Conditions change,

That when we have the conditions of a good meditation to not get lost in the image of me as a good meditator,

Because a few days later,

Maybe a few hours later,

The conditions change,

And we have a meditation where our mind is just all over the place,

Right?

Where we have the conditions,

Where something really good happens at work,

And all the conditions are coming together for us to do an amazing product launch,

To save a product launch,

To close the big deal,

The big sales,

Save the big client,

Right?

To be the good employee,

The employee of the month,

The one that's getting all the praise and all the credit and all the accolades,

That the conditions can be arising for that.

But then a few weeks later,

Maybe the conditions are arising for someone else to come in and save the day,

For them to be getting all the praise and all the accolades,

And for us to not feel as though it's taking away from us,

But if we get lost in the image of I'm the best employee,

I'm the good employee,

I'm the good boy,

Then when that credit goes to someone else,

We suffer.

Or when we have the good conditions,

When all the conditions are arising for kindness to arise,

The conditions where we are able to be generous and help someone else,

And it feels good to have been able to be kind.

Maybe some people are praising us for that.

But then a few days later,

The conditions change,

And we're feeling stressed,

And we're overwhelmed,

And we had an argument with someone or someone criticized us,

And we find we're walking past a homeless person,

And instead of putting money in their cup,

We actually start judging them,

And we're feeling very stingy.

But because we believed the image of me as the kind person,

If we believed the image of me as the kind person,

Then we have this huge fall,

Because now we realize,

Oh my God,

I'm not the kind person anymore,

Now I'm the stingy person,

Because the conditions changed.

We think that the suffering and the going into the illusion only happens in the bad image,

In the unworthy image.

But it is tied to the good image,

Because the good image and the bad image,

Or the worthy image and the unworthy image,

Are just two sides of the same coin.

But we're so focused only on the unworthy image.

We think that's the problem.

So we let the worthy image,

The good image,

The getting lost in the I'm so great image,

We just let it run around freely,

We don't think twice about it.

But what we don't see,

Because what we don't see,

Is what the good image is towing behind it,

Is the bad image.

That is what's following it.

Like the cart follows the ox,

The bad image follows the good image.

And in the good image,

If any image is suffering,

Because any image is bringing us into the illusion of separateness,

Because if I'm seeing myself as somehow I'm special,

I'm different,

I'm unique,

I'm superior,

What am I feeding?

Arrogance,

Pride.

The more that I see myself as special and unique,

As though I am a good girl,

I did all this myself,

The more I am separating myself from everyone else as being different.

So that connection and that belonging that we all strive for,

That we all want to feel,

Goes further away from us.

We're not seeing reality that everything is arising through causes and conditions,

Interdependent,

Interconnected.

The meditation,

The good meditation,

Was simply through good conditions.

The mindful moments,

Good conditions.

The moments that arise to be able to,

For us to step up and do something really heroic,

Really courageous,

Really kind,

Good conditions.

Even when we look at things like,

Like we look at an athlete and we think,

But the athlete,

You know,

The track star,

Right,

They came out first,

They did that.

No.

They had trainers and coaches and family that helped them and that drove them to their training when they were young,

That made their meals for them,

That gave them the money to support them,

Right?

And all the other track stars there on that day too,

All of them,

They are arising because of everything,

Because they woke up and they didn't have a headache,

They didn't get something in their eye just before the gun went off,

That they weren't feeling sick,

Right?

And based on what all the other people were feeling,

That maybe one person that had an accident the day before and had a bad ankle,

A bad knee,

That why one person is coming out ahead,

One form is coming out ahead.

We see it as that individual,

Them doing it,

But it is related not just to everything that is happening in that moment,

Including all their biology and DNA,

Right,

That gave them maybe the right physicality for that sport.

But every single person is playing a role.

And all the previous conditions of how that person got there,

It looks like one person winning did it on their own,

But it is an interdependent,

Interconnected event.

And we can think of the difference because you might think,

Well,

No,

I'm taking away the joy then of winning.

Well,

There's the joy of winning,

The excitement of it,

Me separate,

I did this,

The beginning of the fall,

Or there's the acknowledging,

This is amazing,

That this is happening through this one right now and it feels so good to get the accolades and the praise,

But I share this with every single one here,

Every one of my teammates,

Or not just my teammates,

Sorry,

Every one of my competitors.

You got me here also.

And we can share the joy with others in this way.

Genuine gratitude.

And out of that gratitude,

Wisdom,

The wisdom to understand there is nothing here that did this independently.

It is all arising causes and conditions.

So when we have this understanding,

And we have the good meditation,

And there's no thoughts at all,

We're deep in samadhi,

We're in the jhanas,

Right?

And when we come out of that condition,

We appreciate,

We go,

Wow,

Good conditions,

Thank you,

I appreciate that,

That was amazing.

And there's no grasping,

Right?

Because we know what happens when we have the good meditation,

When we think I did that,

I'm the good meditator.

Then we get to the next meditation and we're grasping at it,

I gotta get back to it,

Instead of having the understanding,

Okay,

Different conditions,

Let's see what happens.

And in that state,

Because you're not grasping,

You're not clinging at the state that you had before,

You're not making yourself into anything out of this,

You're recognizing the reality that you did not make that meditation happen,

It was the conditions,

You have now added one of the conditions that is more likely for you to have a more peaceful meditation.

Even if your mind is all over the place,

You're not pushing back on it.

Because there's an understanding,

These are just the conditions that are happening.

There's a letting go,

There's a loosening around it.

And when you understand that and you have a mindful moment,

It was a difficult conversation,

Maybe a moment in a store,

Someone was acting out,

And you could see you wanting to kind of push back,

But you didn't,

There was some mindfulness there.

And instead of walking away and thinking,

I was so mindful,

I'm so much more superior,

Because I was mindful and they weren't.

Instead we think,

Thank you,

Thank you for the mindfulness arising in that moment.

I'm so very,

Very grateful,

Because it did make the situation better.

And in that way,

We stay being mindful.

But if we start making an image out of me being mindful and I'm more superior,

We are no longer mindful.

So we're more likely to stay being mindful.

We're less likely to judge the other person because we understand our conditions of why we arose,

We understand they had different conditions.

And if we have the situation where we're able to be kind to another person,

The conditions arising for kindness,

We understand it's not about me being superior or I'm being kind,

Because I could not have been kind if there wasn't someone else that needed my kindness,

Or needed my generosity,

Or needed that charity in that particular moment.

They were as much a part of this as this one here is a part of it.

So again,

This understanding,

It's not me making this happen,

It's these conditions arising and having genuine gratitude for those conditions as they're arising,

Not pretending they don't exist,

Not denying them,

Right,

But really being able to feel our heart being full with the joy of this,

Of the reality of that all of this is arising.

And I feel so fortunate to have been able to be kind,

To have been able to have been the employee of the month that month,

Or to have that mindful moment,

To have been the good friend,

To have been the good daughter,

But to not get lost in any image because those conditions will change.

Not that we have to go from here to here,

We don't have to make this massive drop,

But just they'll change,

We'll go from the good friend to just the friend,

There weren't any conditions to do anything spectacular in,

Just the mundane moments of being a friend,

Right,

Or being a daughter,

Or being a mother,

Right?

And so just understanding this more that this is the reality,

None of us are as doing this,

None of us are doing this,

But it's hard because our society,

Our culture,

Really reveres the individual,

We really celebrate the individual,

And there's so much wanting to claim my success and claim what I did as though I did it all on my own,

But we have all done that,

And we have seen how that turns out,

Right,

It's just the beginning of the fall,

And the more we think about ourselves,

The less happy we are.

Study after study will show you that,

Western studies will show you that,

And yet our model,

Our values in the West are all about the individual,

Fame,

Wealth,

Success,

And it does not bring us happiness,

We know this,

We wouldn't be here if that weren't the case.

So it's to be mindful of the good image also,

Everyone is okay with wanting to let go of the unworthy image,

And yet we cling to the worthy image,

They are inseparable,

You cannot have one without the other,

And it's not denying the joy of achieving something,

Of having completed a big project,

Of getting the praise,

But it's that acknowledging as you're feeling that appreciation from some others that you helped,

That you're also acknowledging all of the things that went into that,

All of the people that were kind to you,

That planted those seeds of kindness to ripen in you under the right conditions,

That the good meditation when it comes,

It was from all of those meditations that weren't so pleasant,

Where you really were struggling,

But you sat there anyway,

And it's even to have gratitude,

Like thank you for sitting there and sticking through it,

Right,

So it's to really appreciate and to really feel that in our heart,

Because there's nowhere for this to fall off a cliff,

In the model of the good image,

Bad image,

We're just going around in this cycle,

We go up,

We have that fleeting moment,

Right,

Relatively speaking fleeting moment,

And then we're back down again because someone else is getting the praise,

Oh I thought I was the good girl,

They can't be a good girl same time as me,

Right,

So we compare,

We get jealous,

We get resentful,

Right,

And it just leads to this continuous cycle,

Right,

But in this way,

Every good thing that's ever happened,

We can savor it,

We can remember just thinking of all the conditions,

Thinking back all the previous conditions that led to that and realizing like wow,

That is amazing that that happened,

That turned out that way,

And it keeps us open,

And we're not clinging,

And we're not grasping at it,

We're not getting lost in the illusion of separateness,

Because the good image will always pull us back into the illusion of separateness,

And then the bad image is going to come behind that,

And then the berating and the beating ourselves up,

So let's really pay attention to how we keep going into the illusion of separateness,

It's not just the unworthy,

The quotes,

You know,

The bad image,

It's the good image,

It's any image,

It's any image,

Feel it,

Feel the good conditions,

Feel the appreciation of it as it's moving through you,

Of the being kind,

For those of you that did the kindness course with me last week,

Excuse me,

Last year,

And that I have a lot of the classes up on my teacher's page,

I kept saying to us,

When we reflect on it,

Don't reflect on me being a kind person,

Reflect on the feeling of connection from the kindness,

Right?

There's openness in there,

There's no clinging,

There's no grasping in that,

Right?

This is what we're trying to do,

So we can remember Indra,

And remember his fall,

You know,

The fall of all the previous Indras,

The countless Indras,

Falling back down to the ants,

To the lowest of levels,

So when you notice you're getting a little lost in that image,

Oh there it is,

Oh,

Breathe,

Come back,

Don't beat yourself up,

You caught it,

Fantastic,

If it's a remembering of something good,

Remember from the standpoint of all the people that helped,

All the conditions that arose in there,

Feel it there,

Feel it in your heart,

Feel the sense of connection through it,

Feel the joy,

Feel the non-grasping in that,

We can't come out of the illusion of separateness while holding on to any image of ourselves,

It doesn't bring us happiness,

It doesn't bring us peace,

It doesn't bring us connection,

We do become more arrogant,

More prideful,

And more stingy,

See the good image for what it is,

Just another way of bringing us into the illusion of suffering,

Be mindful of the good image as much as you are mindful of the unworthy image,

So that when you do find yourself in the unworthy image,

You can also recognize that as simply conditions,

I wasn't feeling particularly generous today,

Maybe you're a little tired,

Maybe you know you just got a big bill,

And so there wasn't wanting to give some money to someone else,

And because you can see that through causes and conditions,

There's no beating yourself up there either,

There's the wisdom of understanding these are the causes and conditions that are arising,

I don't have to beat myself up,

I don't have to make any image out of it,

Because in that way we're also more likely to say but you know what,

Maybe I'll just put one peso in,

Because I do always want to keep that little part of my heart open,

Right,

There can be some wisdom just in the the letting go of it,

Right,

Understanding the conditions,

Also understanding the conditions that I had to say no to that person,

I couldn't help them,

Because there was the wisdom of knowing I was at my capacity,

And these are the conditions,

I'm not trying to live up to some image of always being kind and and to the point where it harms my own mental well-being,

Because we're always available,

We're always doing something for someone else,

There's no wisdom in that,

So this allows us also we're not trying to live up to some image,

It allows us to be able to say I'm not able to do it this time,

But maybe at a later time I can,

And to not get stuck in the image then,

Oh no I'm not a kind person,

We want to let go of any image,

And we've got to be able to see reality,

We can't see it through the lens of me as the center of the universe,

So be mindful of any image,

But particularly,

Because I think we're all trying to be quite mindful of the unworthy images,

Very mindful of the worthy image as well,

That is the beginning of the downfall,

And we can avoid that,

We can avoid that.

Reviews

This woman is amazing. Love the energy, voice, pacing and personal insights. Hope to have an experience in person one day.

Thank you for this great insight 🪷

thanks for going deeper in explaining causes and conditions- it helped me to understand at a deeper level ⭐️💛✨⭐️💛✨⭐️💛✨⭐️💛✨⭐️

So elegantly and beautifully communicated and taught. Very grateful. Helped me feel this lesson instead of carrying it around at an intellectual level and not feeling it or living it. As a result suffering for it. Challenge is slipping back into attachment to an image as our western society domesticates and rewards individualism and image projection in lieu of authenticity.