What If The Yugas Were Personal?
In the Rigveda, a ‘yuga’ can refer to generations, a long period, a very brief period, or a yoke.
In the Mahabharata, the word ‘yuga’ is used to describe the cycles of creation and destruction, with four world ages of Krita Yuga, Treta Yuga, Dvapara Yuga, and Kali Yuga.
But what if ‘yuga’ applies to personal development?
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BUDDHA IN THE MUD is a blog - a living book based on the Dzogchen teachings. Our teacher is life, and life is karma. In this way, Dzogchen is practical - no bells and whistles required. 
There is no doubt that ‘yuga’ applies to personal development as everything is interconnected functionally. All is one and All is none.My question is: How to treat personality without slipping into the division of Ego. What is a personality in a unified context?
Hello,
Ego is our collection of karmic tendencies – the ideas to which consciousness clings. By observing these reactions, ego becomes our teacher.
This whole set-up represents our personality, our persona, our mask. This teacher, which is with us until enlightenment, becomes our play thing, and is no longer a problem for consciousness, or anyone else.
There are two aspects to full realisation; our true nature and whatever obscures this.
They now become a unity; by virtue of one, the other is known.
Tony
This is brilliant- explains it all. I love the idea of ego bring our teacher and that through that which obscures our true essence we can come to know it our true essence…
Whatever occurs in life is a teaching when we watch our reactions. In this way, we return to a neutral state of pure consciousness. All we’re doing is letting go of a moment and re-assessing a situation, because our mind goes into a habitual pattern.
That is practical Dharma practice.
Tony
Watching my reactions…Whenever I (often) do, I do not return to a serene neutral state but I immerse myself in a pitiful state of vain existence. I guess it is an all or nothing game and the mind is a bad consultant. As most of us, I have no foundation, no belief, no religious consolation, no target, no standing ground, I do not even pray. I try to make the best out of my ignorance but my energy is failing me.This all vanishes only whenever I may help someone. There I overcome myself.Promitheus
I think maybe it’s the subtle difference between watching our reactions from a slight distance at which point we can sometimes see that our ego is not ‘real’ and is fleeting and in this realisation we can come to know our true essence which is unchanging …. as opposed to getting caught up in our own reactions at which point they feel ‘real’ and we cannot see the wood from the trees…we can spiral downwards into the state of ‘vain existence’ you describe…been there often!
The world around us has been tricked into believing in ever changing illusions.
This is just like Plato’s shadow projections on a cave wall. Now we have the internet.
Tony
We find a system that suits our temperament, or maybe it finds us.
We can follow a system for a while, and then it may change direction.
We learn something, it opens doors, we go through and see what’s next.
This blog is basically Buddhist, but it does not reject any path that leads to the esoteric.
The ultimate goal is realising that the truth is reading these words right now. It’s that simple, but some make it sound complicated.
We just have to value that simplicity. We are uncontaminated consciousness.
Tony