(July 31,2014) Spiritual Message for the Day – Ideal of Yoga by Sri Swami Sivananda

 Ideal of Yoga

Divine Life Society Publication: Yoga and Realization by Sri Swami Sivananda

The understanding of Yoga and Vedanta is not an intellectual acceptance. Salvation from birth and death in this phenomenal world is possible only through Yoga. Miseries start due to ignorance by which the soul gets attached to human name and form. All the elements of the body are subject to change, disease and death. The mind, too is subject to change. The only changeless entity is the Immortal Soul, and its realisation is the ideal of Yoga.

The individual soul’s identification with the physical sheath is so deep-rooted that it is difficult to break oneself free from the thraldom of earthly life. The human life is a continuous process of self-perfection. No one is born perfect. In the childhood, when the scope of reason and discrimination is yet unfolded, we acquire various impressions from the environments. We acquire habits, tastes, likes and dislikes which go to form what is called character.

In the common parlance what we mean by character is just a pattern of correct, dignified, honest and suave manners or behaviour. But character means much more than that. It essentially implies self-culture, purity, self-restraint, unselfishness and nobility of thought, word and action. The process of Yoga is a means to the attainment of the finest of character.

Life opens up two paths before every individual—one is called the Preyo Marga and the other Sreyo Marga, i.e., the path of pleasure and the path of goodness or righteousness. The path of pleasure has an easy access; it is momentarily very exhilarating, titillating, tantalising and fascinating but in spite of all these, the Preyo Marga is always fraught with deceit, fear and ignomity, hostility and dissension, frustration and derision. Yet, the power of illusion is such that people invariably prefer the path of pleasure, irrespective of all its calcining ill-effects. While, on the contrary, the path of righteousness or goodness is very hard to tread and its exacting demands might often deny one the common pleasure of life, and yet this Sreyo Marga is the only way out of mundane unrealities. It is the only consolation of our existence.

The ideal of Yoga points out to man the transitoriness of earthly pleasure, or the finitude of temporal objects. It extols the value of righteousness and emphasises the need of detachment and selflessness in the performance of that which is good. Through this process of selfless actions, one purifies the heart.

Through the process of Raja Yoga, one restrains his senses and the mind, cultivates ethical propensities, cleanses and strengthens the internal vital organs, and thereby prepares oneself for spiritual enlightenment.

Then there is the process of Bhakti Yoga. It is the process of pulverising one’s ego and emptying oneself of all impurities for the love of God. It is the path of self-dedication or self-surrender. All loyalties are centred here in God alone. He alone is perceived in all creations. He alone is worshipped everywhere. He alone is sought at all times and in all places.

Bhakti has several stages. From gross stages, it takes one to subtler states. It has to be cultivated gradually and must find its expression in one’s every action and behaviour with others.

Then the final stage of evolution is the fruition of the process of Jnana Yoga. It is the path of self-enquiry and self-analysis. Here one attempts to penetrate into the very core of things and perceive the Reality behind. Here one identifies oneself with the absolute Consciousness that repletes all creations and yet remains unaffected by the pairs of the opposites, by change and finitude. This Consciousness is the real nature of man. The veil of illusion envelopes this Consciousness and its forgetfulness entails sufferings and fruitless groping in the void of unreality. The process of rending asunder this veil is called Jnana Yoga, and one’s identification with the supreme Consciousness and merging ones individuality in it is called Self-realisation.

All paths are interconnected and interdependent. One has, therefore, to take the aid of all the processes of Yoga in order to effect a harmonious development of the human personality. The ideal of Yoga enables one to live a happy and fruitful life, conducive to one’s own personal usefulness as well as to that of others. No crude denial or suppression is implied in the ideal of Yoga. What is required of us is a rational, judicious attempt in purifying and perfecting ourselves, to sublimate carnal drags, to dedicate to and submerge our individuality in the cosmic Will, to rise above the pairs of the opposites, to be ever intent in grasping the lessons that Nature provides us, to evaluate between the right and the wrong, the real and the unreal, and to direct our attitudes accordingly, and finally to fruitfully use our capacities in the service of the creations of God.

Hindu and Buddhist thinkers, with a singular unanimity declare that Avidya (ignorance) is the source of our anguish and all our trouble. Man’s nature of oneness with the living universe is lost. He develops an egocentric view of life and puts his individual preference above social welfare. He develops an acquisitive instinct and looks upon every other being as his potential enemy. He clings to nature, to his neighbours, in short, to everything, which is evanescent. He becomes a divided being, tormented by doubt, fear and suffering. There is a split in his oneness. The world in which we live today is the world of incessant fear. But the tragedy is that we are not as yet fully conscious of our ignorance. The more sick we are, the less sensible we become. Religion is the conquest of fear, an antidote to failure and death. We cannot dispel our doubts by drugging ourselves with myths and illusions. A temporary psychological peace may be obtained, but it cannot endure. True freedom from fear can only be obtained by Jnana, Wisdom.

Excerpts from:

Ideal of Yoga - Yoga and Realization by Sri Swami Sivananda

 

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(July 30,2014) Spiritual Message for the Day – Intellect and Intuition by Sri Swami Krishnananda

 Intellect and Intuition

Divine Life Society Publication: The Foundations of Philosophy by Sri Swami Krishnananda

In intellectual analysis truth is distorted and falsified to some extent, for here existence gets separated into the subject and the object. Without duality there is no intellectual function, and with duality there is no knowledge of reality. The intellect breaks up the unity of being into a system of isolated terms and relations. The predicate is differentiated from the subject and then dovetailed into the subject itself by being made an adjective of the latter. The unitary existence is thus divided into a primary and a secondary aspect, which occasions false perception. An aggregate of an infinite number of particulars cannot give us the Absolute. Sense, feeling, thought and understanding, together with volition, are below the level of intuition. 

In intuition there is no adjectival predicate required to qualify the subject, for it is knowledge of existence in essence. Logical knowledge takes one away from insight into the truth of things; it gives us a superficial glimpse of the manner in which objects appear to us in the world. Man’s powers of knowledge are not adapted to comprehend reality. It is intuition alone that is capable of bringing the various particulars together to form a harmonious whole and enable the self to enter the portals of Reality.

Intellect and intuition are not really opposed to each other. Intellect is lifted up and universalised in the purified state of intuition. Intuition does not negate intellectual perception but transfigures it in a higher perception. The purpose of the intellect is fulfilled in the illumination of intuition. While intellect gives us a shadow, intuition takes us to the substance. Intellect functions on the belief in the partiteness of things, but intuition enters directly into the whole object, right up to the essence. What intellect achieves is understanding, while that which is gained in intuition is practical wisdom. The intellect functions on the wrong basis of the assumption that the results achieved by the process of the distinction of the knower and the known are fully trustworthy. The complete synthesis of knowledge would be a union of principles where the intellect is overcome, where reason rises above itself and where differences are obliterated. This achievement is not possible as long as the seeker rests contented in the human consciousness. The moral urge within him to reach perfection points to the existence of a knowledge which is unlimited in every way. There can be a fulfilment of this aspiration only in Aparoksha-Anubhava (non-mediate experience).

Reason always bases itself on sense-perception. The test of truth is not verifiability by sense, but non-contradiction and agreement with the revelations of the deepest source of knowledge.

Intuition in its highest reaches is not knowledge of being but knowledge as being. Self-knowledge is the summit of intuitive perception, and it is inseparable from self-existence. It is the only true and direct knowledge. All else is relational, mediate, inferential and presupposes the characteristics of knowledge as attained in intuition. It is the light of the Self that flashes forth and overshadows all knowledge which man is acquainted with in the world. The possibility of an intuitive knowledge is demonstrated in the metaphysical acceptance of the absoluteness of the Self. There is, ultimately, only one ‘I,’ the universal Self asserting itself everywhere in creation. This Self is at the back of all thought-processes, all rational knowledge, all psychical operations. 

Strictly speaking, we should not equate Self-realisation with intuition in the sense of any kind of perception, even if it be the highest perception, for Self-experience is being itself. Swami Sivananda remarks: “Knowledge through the functioning of the causal body (Karana-Sarira) is intuition.” “Atma-Jnana (knowledge of the Self) is above intuition. It transcends the Karana-Sarira. It is the highest form of knowledge. It is the only reality” (Mind and Its Mysteries: p. 83).

The universe is presented as a collection of fragments due to the discursive and dividing activity of the intellect. An intuitive knowledge of an object bestows supreme power on one over that object. The intuition of Reality is, verily, omniscience, and omniscience is at once omnipotence. This is to attain to existence, knowledge, power and freedom in their completeness. 

Inspiration, revelation, insight, intuition, ecstasy, divine sight and supreme bliss are the seven planes of knowledge. And there are four sources of knowledge, viz. instinct, reason, intuition and super-intuition or Brahma-Jnana. Instinct is found in animals, birds, etc. In birds (for example) the ego does not interfere with the free divine flow and divine play. Hence the work done by them through their instincts is more perfect than that done by human beings. Have you not noticed the excellent work done by birds in their building of wonderful nests? Reason is higher than instinct, and is found only in human beings. It collects facts, generalises, reasons out from cause to effect, from effect to cause, from premises to conclusions, from propositions to proofs. It concludes, decides and comes to judgment. It takes one safely to the door of intuition and leaves him there. In intuition there is no reasoning. There is direct perception of truth. We know things by a flash. Intuition transcends reason, but does not contradict it”.  

Intuition is the voice of the inner man, the faculty by which the individual tries to apprehend itself in eternity. 

The knowledge of the limitations of reason is an acceptance of there being a knowledge transcending reason. Knowledge of a boundary implies the knowledge of what extends outside the boundary. The aspiration for infinite knowledge, the urge for perfection, points to an experience which speaks, in the language of silence, of its supremacy over all things known to man. Intuition is, as it were, the antenna by which the Absolute feels its own self in the objects of the universe. Intuition heralds the coming of the experience of Brahman. It establishes in the universe a divine family, and fulfils the promise of a universal brotherhood of all created beings. A feeling of kinship with all things is possible only on the foundation of the perception of oneness. Perfect knowledge has the characteristic mark of uniformity, for it depends on self-accomplished and truly existing objects. Whatever is permanently of one and the same nature and endures without undergoing change in the history of time is acknowledged to be true. The knowledge of truth is perfected knowledge. In it a mutual conflict of opinions is not possible, for it is rooted in what is equally true to all persons and things, everywhere and at all times. Intuition is the golden key to blessedness.

Excerpts from:

Intellect and Intuition – The Foundations of Philosophy by Sri Swami Krishnananda

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(July 29,2014) Spiritual Message for the Day – A Simple But Powerful Spiritual Practice by Swami Atmaswarupananda

 A Simple But Powerful Spiritual Practice

Divine Life Society Publication: Trust God by Swami Atmaswarupananda

It is common thinking throughout the world to make a division between the spiritual life and the secular life. But if all is one, if God alone is, then perhaps the purpose of our spiritual life is to recognise that there is no such thing as secular life, that all life is spiritual. It is a question of where our consciousness is. The purpose of our spiritual practices is to raise our consciousness to a point where we recognise the fact that all life is divine.

Most of the time our consciousness seems to be in what we could call a secular level. Is there a simple practice that we could observe during the day that would help raise our consciousness in a steady and consistent fashion?

We may not be able to find time during the day for longer periods of spiritual practice, but usually we can find times when we can just sit—in the kitchen, in the office, no matter where—for a few moments, and close our eyes and relax. That practice alone will help to steady our consciousness. If we add to it repetition of God’s name, our mind will become focused, our consciousness will be raised. And as we are repeating God’s name we can recognise that something is aware of that repetition. We don’t create a witness, because that’s just another thought, but whatever is in our mind, we recognise that something is knowing it.

That something can never be grasped, but it is never absent whether we are sitting quietly, whether we are active, whether we are dreaming or whether we are in deep sleep. The remembrance of that ungraspable witness raises our consciousness and puts us in another dimension. And all this can be done in a few moments.

The spiritual life is not, at its core, something dramatic. Except in very rare circumstances, it is a step by step journey that continues for years. Some time ago one of our senior devotees passed away. She was a housewife who for years and years had followed regular spiritual practices. She didn’t seem to be anything special, but when she was having her health crisis—even though she could have expected to have many more years to live—she was totally resigned to whether she lived or not. Swamiji (Swami Chidananda) marvelled. He said it is a result of her many years of consistent spiritual practice.

So we shouldn’t underestimate the inner spiritual power of something like simply—for a few moments as frequently as we can—sitting quietly, repeating God’s name and being aware that there is an unknowable witness who is always silently knowing everything.

Excerpts from:

A Simple But Powerful Spiritual Practice - Trust God by Swami Atmaswarupananda

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