Maya and the Matrix: Cracking the code from the language of yoga.

                               Maya and the Matrix
                               December 24, 2011

                          
             Cracking the code from the language of yoga.

   My dharma talks in yoga class will often imbibe some reference to the movie The Matrix.  Have any of you noticed? Yes, after all of these years, (1999) I am still pondering the multiple dimensions that relate to my own personal spiritual, philosophical studies, life, and destiny in this movie. I have always been very strongly drawn to The Matrix, even though I am not typically impressed by chase scenes and action. I do somehow feel a strong pursuit in translating what this movie and concept means to me, and how I can apply some of these teachings to my life. In studying it further, I have found so many translations, and of course, each commentator translates it according to their experience, their influences, their studies and lens. There is a wide range of background in the commentary. I am no different. I have gone out of my way to study some of the proclaimed influences of the Matrix beyond my own familiar radar. I am primarily versed in Yogic (be it Classical Yoga, Advaita Vedanta or Tantric), Tibetan Buddhist, Mayan (as in pre-Spain Mexico on the Yucatan) and a touch of Tree of Life philosophy. This pursuit is interesting unto itself. 

The deeper I go, I feel my life is becoming this movie. Sometimes I honestly wonder where the dream begins and the "waking" state ends. I often wonder if the movie is really happening and which is real. The Wachowski brothers, who are the creators of the film,  are quite clandestine about their influences. They rarely comment on the infinite depth of debates by others, namely sci-fi, techie, cyberpunk, psychedelic and religious in their nature (Christian, Gnostic, Kaballah, Hindu, Buddhist, to name a few) on their movie. They seem to stay out of imposing their intentions and beliefs of what the film is about, as if to, out of respect, not adulterate the ideas of the viewer. We have never heard the movie's exact message or purpose from the creators, as iconic  (and iconoclastic) as it has become.One thing I do see, it gets you to question everything, if you can see past the slick scenes, music, and moves, which are really cool too. Most stop there, as it set and actually implanted many fashion trends, style, and fads in a growing 90's underground scene. I was a fashion designer then, and too found it very impressive, but it is inviting you look into your life, without being so distracted, more deeply. The movie used distractions to force you to do the work, and investigate it's depth. In this case, the outlandish and breath taking vinyl style and Japanimation like martial arts in the movie is literally used to draw you in. It is yet another trick. It is merely incredible decoration. There is far more to the message here, quite profound and presented quietly.

   The Matrix a viewer's movie, with complete freedom to decide what it means to the witness. It is not imposing one particular belief system of any sort, making it far beyond the promotion of labels, styles, and hipster trends.  This stand back approach in their creation strikes me first by two words in Sanskrit... "Smirti" and "Shruti".  These words apply to the art of message and communication. Shruti implies that there are sacred words that exist in the material world that were (or still are) direct messages from the Source that we can listen to. This is a direct phone call, already existing in the atmosphere and from God. They were unadulterated and had no translation, which means, in this case, the message was able to stream into the matrix and be heard, but did not come from inside of the matrix. Smirti is more a remembrance of a direct line of ultra communication. It gets channeled through a commentator, or a person within maya, and often written down. Once it is written down or translated, it can be adulterated and mixed, and is now a message sent through the lens of the presenter. The Wachowski's first amazing feat was keeping silent. It seemed to make the movie very pure and direct, like an omniscience both excellent and rare. When something we "hear" strikes us with such poignant resonance, it is like it came straight from  the seed ( "bindu" in sanskrit), beyond the mind, like a direct knowing. When you get those chills that run all over your skin, pay attention to what you just heard or experienced. There is even a Sanskrit word for this, when your hair stands on end because something hit such a deep cord..."Viloma".

   Many people believe that this movie was meant to break down codes and constructs.  Hollywood is in this case the representative of collective, programmed consciousness, which does a good job, like magazines and television, at telling us how things are, what we need, and who we should be. Just like advertising, it is trying to capture our attention all the time. Our attention is energy, and potent energy at that. Anything that grabs our attention is  an unconscious influence, streaming right into our being. This movie is a deprogrammer and a code cracker, which is where the movie begins, with neon green codes falling from the sky like our own mathmatical equation waiting to be solved, yet at the moment, because of it's color, still artificial. This movie is literally using the palette of the movie industry paradoxically to break down what mass consciousness can do to us; hypnotize. If ever we are seduced into sedation, we have just given up our free will, which, according to the laws of karma took great work. Free will came from our past merit. Choice is a human gift. Very few beings have total free will. Humans do, yet often get bribed into giving it up. This movie used a mass consciousness tool to break down the hypnosis of movies and the matrix and was successful at it. It is a movie to deprogram Hollywood, which is programmed to program us. This is the cracking of the code you see at the very beginning in neon green.  You even see it in the manipulation of the label of the Warner Brothers insignia. Crack the code, and you are free to create your own real world. May all beings be free.

  There are a few words in studying the etymology of the word matrix that relate to the veil...the sanskrit words ma ( mother earth), manas (mind) and  maya (illusion or time), related to the english words material, measurement, manifest, matter, math, montage, movie, manipulate...  The definition of a "matrix" is a situation within which something else originates. In mathematics, it is an array of symbols, numbers, and expressions that contain both column vectors and linear equations, just like it's shape, with both vertical lines (Shiva) and horizontal lines (Shakti) that create a grid like set  or constructed tapestry.  Baudrillard, one of the film makers only proclaimed influence besides the obvious cyberpunk movement, of which they asked the star, Keanu Reeves to read before accepting the role, described this, the "manifest as most know it and experience it, is a fake, artificial copy". He turned to Walt Disney as his greatest example of how the majority experience the world; those caught in the collective of artifice and copies of something original they have not really experienced at all yet, yet they think they have. He called this "simulacra and simulation". In the movie, the matrix refers to anything material which only creates bondage if we do not know it's essence. The movie is insinuating that  far fewer than we think are really experiencing the essence. Even those that seem to be portray spiritual awareness do not know, like Zypher, (Lucifer) originally on the rebel upper worlds side. 

  If we do not know how to hack the system and get to the Real, we are ruled by trickery and artificial intelligence, portrayed as machines in the movie... much like people who have no self realization or Universal consciousness. Experiencing the world this way is like eating what we think is real, but is empty food and fake, enjoying fabricated  art and having artificial reproduced relationships, yet being fooled that it is the real deal, which might even feel pretty amazing, albeit a fraction of what you could experience from it or create, free of the puppetry. Unless we question how things are, we could be the one hypnotized, and this makes us dangerous to ourselves, others, and the environment as a whole. It could be you, the one reading this right now, even if you think you are not. This is when the kingdoms in the matrix get out of order. I see The Matrix movie as a modern day ancient plea from the spirit world, begging us to crack the code, and be ready to fight our deepest battles to realize the truth of origin of all things, getting to the real with a capital "R". 

   The movie revealed an extremely uncomfortable process for us if we too choose (remember how important choice and free will is here) to endeavor the journey to "beat the system". Trinity and Neo were famous underground hackers who did. They  pulled out and unplugged their programs in the matrix. If we too can do this, things like art can actually be new creations, and relationships can have soul recognition, free of being bound by our creations or our relationships. You can be above and below. This is why I do not like the word "transcend". Remember when the movie showed small machines sucking on many human life forces  for juice, like human batteries? (I can not stand that scene. It gives me the total creeps) Remember how Neo was called Coppertop? (a Duracel battery) It is because WE are the portals. We contain Real life force. Why would I want to get out of this?  Instead of "transcending", I like to think of "preserving" my essence. Know your essence and you are no longer dangerous to us all. Keep your eyes wide open though. The thing is, you will now be perceived as a threat to those that are still enslaved. Did you see how many agents tried to stop Neo's freedom? That is very very real also. There are agents. If you are a "hacker", you are now able to communicate with the Upper Worlds and the  rogue rebels concerned with justice. The agents do not like this.

  The Nebuchadnezzer ( historically a king who sent the "pure race" into exile) in the movie is where the rebels reside. They live outside of the matrix in the Upper worlds. They too each cracked the code,  or were not born into the matrix to begin with (the idea of a true Zion that existed before man fell). These rebels have the ability to pull out of the group hypnosis into the upper worlds, yet still have the choice to enter into the matrix anytime they choose. Because they know the reality about the enslavement of those that still do not know or are not ready to crack the code, they are threatened by agents each time they enter, who do not want to see them free. According the the movie, anyone that does not know how to crack the code, like the hacker/hero archetype Neo (anagram of One) is a slave, and those bought into the system, "plugged into the machines" are unfortunately all dangerous, like a pandemic disease, until they are ready to find out the causal measurements and equations. Those sedated or falsely medicated still can turn on you. "They can even look like normal people that we know. They can be on the television... they can be there when we pay our taxes..." 

   The "rebels" are not this. That is why they are stripped down in the movie, even in their clothes and surroundings. What you see is the real deal. Nothing shiny or deceiving. They have gone through a questioning period to pull out of all of this, called "neti neti" in Sanskrit, which means to go through a very intense discernment process of "not this, not this. The word for discernment in Sanskrit it "Viveka", and is the primary theme of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras. The rebels unplugged from the masses so that they could no longer be programmed by "machines"( heartless, unintelligent,  and those that never question, but just follow all commands).  I have a current teacher who repeatedly emphasizes to me how important it is that at some point in our lives we question everything. We must never become an "agent" to anyone or anything, not even a teacher we love, or a practice we have invested in, but to find our personal purpose. We must be completely willing to do things differently, and to activate the new, never done before. I know many yogis  and others that are radical and choose to experience radical affirmation. The Bhagavad Gita, the most popular book in India and obvious parallel in this movie is a timeless example of this. Arjuna, another hero archetype, had a meltdown in Chapter 11 with Krishna as his guide (like Morpheus) where everything fell apart after he was given a glimpse of the secrets of the Universe. He was not quite ready to see this, but, because he questioned everything, there was power in concern for justice, which brought real sovereignty to an entire kingdom.

                                             How quickly the seeds multiply

   In many scenes in the matrix, the agents who are after the hero and "One", Neo, seem to multiply according to his capacity. As Neo grows, his resistance grows, and when this realization begins to trip him out, the seeds in his own mind seem to produce even more agents. So often our yoga practice is about the expansion of our container and potential, according and directly revelatory to our training and work, which we all need A LOT of. It is work, yes indeed.  It is interesting to note, as the spiritual warrior Neo begins to own his purpose, and to know and accept himself more, his shadows also multiply in their measurements. His resistance resists more as he contains more light and self realization. Is this another trick in the matrix? Also, are there really forces out there that do not want us to be liberated, and want us to remain in bondage? It is a good question to ask ourselves, especially as we increase our awareness and unpeel the layers of what is real and sound. These are the battle scenes in the matrix, so classic in many myths. When the stakes are high the battle increases our strength, strategy, and capacity. This gets us to encode divine origin. It also shows us there are those in the spiritual world that want us to do this, to attain self realization.
 
   There are power in numbers when we gain access to above as we live in below. We learn this in our reiki attunements... there are spiritual guides, guardians, angels, archangels behind maya and the veil, rooting for us, fighting for us, and wanting us to get out of any possible manipulation and in the essence of the real, where things can be appreciated and supported to the ultimate divinity, if only we communicate with them. Sacred word and sound is also an ongoing theme in the movie. It is how the rebels can travel above and below. Neo (Son of God), Trinity (Spirit), and Morpheus (Father) were all able to be in both the Matrix, and the Upper worlds, where most all others, including the agents, where trapped in the Matrix and had no idea how to break the code or find the key. It is why they were so interested in Neo. He could do both. He was above and below, but not trapped. He could communicate telepathically, as well as in analog and digital. Analog represents frequencies that are able to be picked up and received anywhere. It is how they entered the matrix, where digital, as when the rebels used cell phones, is only picked up by like frequencies, or like others. This type of communication was the most direct.

   Remember when Neo starts to become the mirror, and the mirror (another word for maya and matrix) starts to take over his body? This happens once he decides that he wants to really know what the matrix is. His life feels empty and he no longer believes what everyone else does. To do this, he must take the red pill, where he then gets unplugged from the system that everyone is plugged into. He is asking questions, and he wants to self examine, and decode to then reprogram and encode the truth. Did you see how hard that was? He was tossed into sewers, raw. It did not look comfortable. He looked around, and everyone was "asleep" in controlled incubators. That use to be him. How disturbing is this, especially when they may be your loved ones, or you? This is truly draconian in it's affects and proportion. This time of year (Holidays) is riddled with simulations in images, advertising and media. It is really a time to question and be careful about what images we choose to imprint into our consciousness, what truths we tell ourselves, and what coding we allow into our DNA. Deprogramming is not easy.

   There are 2 things that Neo has on his side, that I feel as a modern yogi, are the key ingredients to our liberating desire, moksha in the moment.... One is to keep good company, "Sanga" in Sanskrit. You are the company you keep, and the words they say. Neo, like Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita, keeps very good company when he chooses Krishna to be on his side. It is not a lot of company. It is a smaller group, which can make it feel deceiving and lonely (as the desert of the Real in the movie suggests, or more so warns that we all feel when we get closer to the Truth), but he has Morpheus (the ruler of dreams) and Trinity ( the Holy Spirit) on his side. He has the best company, and the spiritual world, as well as the physical is praying he/we get it together enough to recognize the power in being a rebel of the real.  Morpheus and Trinity had to collect Neo in the underworld with Rob Zombie playing in the background, and he was the Savior and One. Maya/matrix at work again. You just never know.

   The second ingredient...When Neo enters the Oracles kitchen (who is the all knowing Divine Mother), the message above the door (our personal door into ourselves that we all must enter) says "Know Thyself". I believe this sums up what the matrix is, and why it is here. Know thyself truly, be see through, get your strands decoded, and we will stand up time and time again, even in challenge, by choice. This choice will then also be in communion with the Upper worlds. You will have Trinity and Morpheus on your side. What more do you need? The thing is, do we truly know ourselves? The movie questions the choices you are making, and whether you allow your stakes to be high enough to know. Would you risk everything and do whatever it takes?  When the stakes are high, you are getting closer to the Real deal in the Upper worlds. The stakes must be high for us to feel what is real, and there is always risk involved because there will inevitably be so much change. Some, as the movie says, are so plugged into the system, so entangled, that they are just not ready for change like this. For those masses, change will happen to them and at them. This can not be escaped. But "know thyself", and we experience the electricity of our essence,  self reliant...which raises the odds that others now currently in the system will too. Everyone must know themselves, or it will never work.  I remember a dear Buddhist teacher, Geshe Michael Roach, saying this to me. Otherwise, we are all always at risk. I found an old buddhist saying one time on a tea bag that took me a very long time to understand..."Act as if everything you do matters tremendously, until you realize what you do matters nothing at all."

                        "There will come a time when you dodge bullets no more."

  What is the matrix? It is what gets us to ask what is the truth, and what is real. According to the movie/maya, it is the only way we can support the matrix, by first asking the question. When Neo is waiting to speak to the Oracle, he meets a young Buddha. The Buddha has realized the nature of an object he is holding, which was a spoon. Once he does, he can bend it. He reveals that it is not fixed. This is the same for us. Our imprints, "samskaras" are not as fixed as we think, and you will be able to call out quite quickly "glitches in the system" before they actually activate and change you. Remember when Neo saw a deja vu? It was the repetition of a cat walking forward and back. It was a glitch in a program. They were able to call out this program before it became complete chaos. He was no longer going to allow a loop to play out again. He got out of the loop, and his guides helped him see this. Watch for those programs you have. Watch for familiar moments. Know what it is. Know where all things come from. Knowing where all things come from, you could stop chaos from happening before it entered your periphery. You could walk through a wall right now if you really understood this statement. Chapter 3 of the Yoga Sutras speaks all about doing this. These super powers are called the Vibutthis, and we all have them, but they are dormant and numbed in most all of us. We must pull the anesthetic out, and train to handle them, flying, just like Neo does at the end. , Morpheus did tell Neo, "there will come a time where you dodge bullets no more." You can do anything, and nothing can get at you anymore.

As the young buddha said in the waiting room of the Oracle; "Do not try to bend the spoon. That would be impossible. Instead, find the nature of the spoon. Only then will you realize there is no spoon." And then there was light...

                                  Picture of Neo at the very end of his purpose.