Dr.Rajesh Savera, Dhruv Sharma and Wrucha Jiwane organized an online session on facebook on Ekotara Agama 11.1 – 11.10 on 26th january 2025. The Ekotara Agama is one of the scriptures in ancient tradition that offers guidance on how to understand and overcome various negative emotions and tendencies.These emotions when controlled can lead to suffering and hinder inner growth.
Desire is one of the main forces that lead individuals away from enlightenment. It often results in attachment to material possessions and worldly pleasures which can bind the soul to the cycle of birth and death. In the Ekotara Agama, desire becomes an obstacle when it becomes excessive and unbalanced.
Passion is closely linked to desire but focuses more on the attachment to specific outcomes, people or experiences. It creates inner turbulence and prevents a person from remaining calm and centered. In self development practice, it is encouraged to cultivate detachment to avoid being controlled by passion.
Anger is considered a destructive emotion that fosters negative actions. It arises from frustration, unfulfilled desires or injustice.
In Buddhist practice, samatha (calm abiding) and vipassana (insight) are two essential forms of meditation that lead to a clear understanding of the mind and its patterns. The idea of not “falling into the pit” refers to avoiding being overwhelmed by distractions, negative emotions, or defilements that can arise during meditation. Samatha helps stabilize the mind by cultivating concentration and tranquility, while vipassana leads to profound insight into the nature of impermanence, suffering, and non-self. The Buddha’s teachings emphasize effort, perseverance, and mindfulness. If you do fall into the pit of distraction, negative thoughts, or attachment, the key is to recognize it with awareness and make the effort to come out.
Through sustained practice, mindfulness, you can gradually cultivate the clarity and wisdom needed to overcome these challenges.The process of meditation is not about achieving perfection immediately, but about cultivating the resilience and insight to rise, again and again, from moments of distraction or difficulty.
Greed is an unsatisfied desire for material goods. It creates a sense of scarcity and discontentment, leading to attachment and the accumulation of worldly desires. The teachings emphasize contentment and self-sufficiency as antidotes to greed. Overcoming stinginess is seen as essential for human well-being.
Ignorance or the lack of true understanding of oneself and the nature of the universe, is considered the root cause of all suffering. The Agama teaches that knowledge and self-realization can dispel ignorance, allowing one to see the world and oneself clearly.
The Ekotara Agama encourages people to overcome these emotions by cultivating awareness, detachment and compassion aiming for self enlightenment and liberation from the cycle of suffering.
To watch this session, please click the link below:
