Wednesday, July 31, 2013

(July 31,2013) The Secret of Self-Adjustment

The Secret of Self-Adjustment
Divine Life Society Publication: Through Hardship and Vicissitude by Swami Krishnananda

We have heard the saying that the viaticum for a journey and knowledge that is obtained from others do not last long. Our convictions should guide us, though instructions from others may clear the way.

To come to the point, we are unhappy not because we are not wise, but because we are unable to apply our wisdom to suit the conditions or circumstances in which we live. Wisdom in the wrong place and at the wrong time has led some philosophers to grief. One should not wish to be too wise, beyond the prescribed limits. To adjust and adapt oneself to circumstances, while giving that magical touch of utter faith in the omniscience and omnipotence of God to all that we humbly try to do here is, in my opinion, better than a lofty ambition to transform the earth into heaven—which even Buddha and Christ have not done. The truly wise have often been indifferent to many things in which most people take an avid interest; and this is for a good reason, of course. Absorption, not repulsion, is the way in which Nature works. Even an initial isolation is for a higher inclusion.

If we want to be happy, we should not judge the present by a future ideal or a standard that ought to be, for the ‘ought’ is different from the ‘is’. Though the ideal should guide our present activity, we should not compare the two and feel despair. We seem to be displeased with the present setup of things because we are comparing it with an ideal which is yet to be, which is in our minds. While the ideal is good and should be in our minds always to keep our spirits elevated, we should not become theorizers and forget the causes of the present circumstance, which is differentiated from the future ideal. Our duty is to understand, and not judge. “Judge not, lest ye be judged.” Essentially, to see the good in things is real virtue, for the so-called ugliness is a phase of God’s mystery.

Nimittamatram bhava: “Be merely an instrument in work.” An instrument has no right to judge or hold opinion, but to take things as they are, and when things go beyond one’s control, leave them to Him, and not lament over the matter. But we should do what is within our capacity without involving our emotions or prejudices for certain things or even for ways of thinking. This is hard to appreciate and harder to practice, but there is no other go.

Man has many passions within him. One of the passions is the ego, which wants its ideas to be displayed throughout the world. People should not wish that their ideas should always prevail over the ideas of others. Ideas are not for lording over other people or imposing on other people’s minds. Ideas should only be expressed, and suggestions sometimes given, and if they are not accepted we should not feel internal agony or annoyance. We should not expect that our thoughts be accepted by others, for appreciation cannot be thrust into people’s minds. We are cogwheels in a cosmic machine; and as the machine works, the wheels move automatically. The Operator of the machine knows things better than we do, and it is not the business of the wheel to intrude or butt in as if it is an independent something. Its duty is merely to cooperate, not to assert. This, in my humble opinion, is the spirit of the karma yoga of the Bhagavadgita—to be in tune with a universal Be-ness.

Wholly unselfish persons cannot be found in the world. Those who are unselfish are only conditionally so. They are good under certain circumstances. Nature’s illusions called power and wealth are twin monsters that gain access into both public and private sectors. Plus, there are two gross forms in which Nature’s impulses reveal themselves in one’s person—sex and self-esteem. The slightest interference with these weak spots throws one into a fit of ireful retaliation. Hence, it is no wonder that the malady of the world has a fourfold root of power, wealth, sex and self-esteem.

Karma works in most intriguing and often annoying ways. That all our experiences are due to our past karmas cannot be doubted, because every event has a cause, and if our karma is not the cause of our pleasures and pains, to what else can they be attributed?

Our karmas come back to us as boomerangs, proving that all karma is an interference with the equilibrium of Nature. When the results of karma return to us, we have, unfortunately, no knowledge of their causes, and so we grieve and curse ourselves and the world around us when we hear something that displeases us, when someone speaks ill of us though the criticism is false, when someone imputes motives to our actions that we have never thought of, when we are done a wrong turn for the good we have done, when everyone turns against us for mistakes which we have not committed, when our friends become unkind to us when they rise to power and pomp, when our righteousness is lost sight of in the complacency and pride of those who do not want to understand others.

Though we may be aware of these shortcomings of human nature, we should have no complaints. Why? One’s pleasure is not to be sought in doing something, but in being something. Until this is achieved, there cannot be joy either in our actions or in the things that we obtain. These will give us only misery.

This world, which is full of so many bad things, is tolerated by God. Even now, in this condition, it is His. Therefore, let there be patience and understanding of even the worst of things, so that we may be at peace within ourselves even when we are insulted with ungratefulness for the good that we try to do to people. Pericles of Greece raised the status of his country to a golden age, to the height of its glory, but he was stoned to death by his countrymen. As the Lord’s ways are mysterious, we have only to wait with the patience of a servant for the descent of the knowledge of this mystery. We should not be displeased at heart, because we have no business either to be pleased or displeased with anything, though we do our duties as if we are pleased with things. We have neither the requisite knowledge nor the power to do what we want. Then, what is the way out? Should we cry and lament? Definitely not! The way out is to lift ourselves with the faith that God is great always.

Our importance and happiness should not always depend on what others think of us or feel about us. Our destiny is entirely dependent on what we are in the eyes of God. We should do our duty; let the world not respect us. But it is not easy to know what our duty is at any given moment. Particular duties vary from circumstance to circumstance, irrespective of the fact that there is one general duty for everyone, which is God-realization. Most of our sufferings and grief arise because we do not understand the shifting of particular duties in our daily life, and we make the mistake of applying the same standard to everyone, to all things and always. When God Himself adjusts His laws to the conditions of the changing times, why should we not also do that?

This superior art of adjusting oneself to circumstances should be distinguished from hypocrisy, which is an artificial attitude born of selfishness. That is why a life of real wisdom is so difficult to live; there are so many slight shades of difference even in the apparently same dharma. Our thoughts, feelings and actions should not defeat the highest purpose for which we are supposed to live. Otherwise, it will not be a correct adjustment. We should not shun the world, nor should we live in such a way that the world shuns us. This is the secret of self-adjustment. At same time, we should not forget our true Goal. Bravo! May God bless us!

Excerpts from:
Through Hardship and Vicissitude by Swami Krishnananda

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Tuesday, July 30, 2013

(July 30,2013) The Spiritual Reality

The Spiritual Reality
Divine Life Society Publication: The Yoga System by Swami Krishnananda
The physical body, being outside as a part of the physical world, should be considered an object like the other things of the world, and is constituted of the five elements. It acts as a vehicle for certain powers that work from within and our actions are movements of these powers (energy) called the  prana or vital force.  But the prana is a blind energy and it needs to be directed properly. We think before we act. The mind is, therefore, internal to the prana. We engage ourselves in systematic thinking and follow a logical course in every form of contemplation and action. This logical determinant of all functions in life is the intellect, which is the highest of human faculties, and it is inseparable from the principle of the ego in man.
All these functions of the psychological apparatus are, however, confined to what is called the waking state. The human being seems to be passing from this state to others, such as dream and deep sleep. Though we have some sort of awareness in dream, we are bereft of all consciousness in deep sleep. Yet, we know that we do exist in the state of sleep. This means that we can exist without doing anything, even without thinking. The condition of deep sleep is a paradox for psychology and is the crux of the yoga analysis. An experience, pure and simple, of the nature of consciousness alone, is the constituent of deep sleep. In deep sleep, we have consciousness not associated with objects, and hence we remain oblivious of everything external. There is, at the same time, unconsciousness of even one's own existence due to there being the potentiality for objective perception. The result is, however, that the deepest in the individual is consciousness, which is called by such names as the Atman, Purusha, etc. This is the real Self.
There are realities within the physical universe as they are there within the individual body. If the prana, mind, intellect, ego and finally consciousness are internal to the bodily structure, there are also tremendous truths internal to the physical universe. Within the five gross elements there are five forces which manifest the elements called tanmatras,  the essence of objects behind the elements. Sabda or sound,  sparsa or touch,  rupa or form, rasa or taste and gandha or smell are the tanmatras of Ether, Air, Fire, Water and Earth respectively. These powers are subtle energies immanent in the elements constituting the physical universe.
Modern science seems to corroborate the presence of these, essences behind bodies. The world was once said to be made up of molecules or chemical substances and then, atoms. Research, again, proved that even the atoms are formed of certain substances, which have the character of both waves of energy and particles of force. A great physicist called them ‘wavicles' as they flow like waves and sometimes jump like particles. These have been named electrons, protons, neutrons, etc., according to their structure and function. Their essence is force and there is nothing but force in the universe. There is only a continuum of energy everywhere. The tanmatras of the yoga system, however, are subtler than the energy of the scientist, even as the prana is subtler than electricity.
Just as behind the prana there is the mind, behind the tanmatras there is the Cosmic Mind. Beyond the Cosmic Mind are the Cosmic Ego and the Cosmic Intellect, the last mentioned having a special name, mahat. Beyond the mahat is what is called prakriti, in which the whole universe exists as a tree in a seed, or as effect in its cause. Transcending prakriti is the Absolute-Consciousness, called Brahman, Paramatman and the like. So, whether we dive deep here or there, within ourselves or within the cosmos, we find the same thing - Consciousness. And the stages of manifestation in the individual correspond to those in the universe.
The purpose of yoga is to effect a communion between the individual and cosmic structures and to realize the ultimate Reality. The yoga places before us the goal of a union wherein infinity and eternity seem to come together. The aim of yoga is to raise the status of the individual to the cosmic level and to abolish the false difference between the individual and the cosmic. The cosmos includes us and things. The individual is a part of the cosmos.
To regard the cosmos as an outer object would be to defy the very meaning of the cosmos. To imagine ourselves to be subjects counterpoised before an object called the cosmos would be to stultify the comprehensiveness of the cosmos and to interfere with its harmony and working. The yoga rectifies this mistake and hereby the mortal becomes the Immortal. As the individual is a part of the cosmos, this achievement should not be difficult. The individual is not separate from the cosmic, but there seems to be some confusion in the mind of the individual which has caused an artificial isolation of itself from the rest of the universe. This confusion is called ajnana or avidya, which really means an absence or negation of true knowledge. Here we enter the realms of depth psychology.
Excerpts from:
The Yoga System by Swami Krishnananda
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(August 3,2013) Weekly Svadhyaya - 'I' is the Greatest Bondage - by Swami Chidananda


 ‘I’ is The Greatest Bondage

The entire question of Bondage and Liberation, of human consciousness and Divine Consciousness, of sorrow and Joy, hinges upon this crucial point, namely, what is your relationship with the mind? In the ultimate analysis, your entire life and its struggle is in this area only. The outer manifestation has its root and cause inside. So, ultimately, it is only the solution that is inside that will have a lasting effect.

The ancient Buddhist texts say: “Mind is the slayer of the Atman, Slay this slayer and attain the light.” This means that we are all prey to the tyranny of our inner, latent tendencies, which are the very essence of the individual’s behavior pattern. The mind is only a bundle of vasanas. The crux of the whole problem of Bondage and Liberation is explained in a simple way in Yoga Vasishtha: “Liberation is attained when there is manonasha (the cessation of mind activities).” When the vasanas are dormant, the mind is not there. The mind sinks and subsides in the state of deep sleep. ‘I’ is eliminated together with the mind. ‘I’ is the mind; mind is the ‘I’. In deep sleep vasanas are in a state of dormancy. When the latent tendencies are in a state of dynamic manifestation in the active state, you find that the mind becomes a tyrant. Vasishtha has summed up the whole process of Liberation as a process of destruction of vasanans. Ultimately, the final blow that is given destroys the mind itself. People will say, “Oh, that is a very fearful prospect. With what will I think ‘I am’?” This is a great delusion. We cling to this delusion, this evil, this little filth of limited consciousness. The annihilation of the ‘I’ is the grandest and the greatest and the greatest good fortune. The best thing that can ever happen in life is for ‘you’ to be gone. You are the kingpin of the whole problem of Bondage.

‘I’ is the greatest bondage. It is the opposite of light, bliss, peace, perfection, wholeness, truth. The practice of Yoga, results in gradual thinning of our vasanas, which spring out from this little I-consciousness, and ultimately the mind itself vanishes. Mind is the myth. But when it is there, it seems to be everything. Your essential being is Satchidananda. You are a wave of Ananda upon that ocean of Paramananda. That is real identity. It is pure Consciousness. This pure Consciousness, disassociated from any limiting adjunct, is pure bliss. “I am Existence filled with awareness. I am this wave.” The wave is never apart from the ocean. Merge into the vastness and become one with the vastness. “I am the ocean, immeasurable. My depth cannot be fathomed.”

Continue to Read:

Self-Knowledge by Swami Sivananda
Nature of the Mind – Moksha Gita by Swami Sivananda, commentary by Swami Krishnananda
The Cause of Bondage by Swami Krishnananda
Brahman as Consciousness or Intelligence by Swami Krishnananda
The Self as the Universal Whole by Swami Krishnananda

Monday, July 29, 2013

(July 29,2013) The Human Situation

The Human Situation
Divine Life Society Publication: Thus Spake Swami Krishnananda by Swami Krishnananda

The main question which engages one's attention almost everyday is of the way to tackle what may be called the 'human situation' in the world. Man's circumstances are very much related to what he does and what he is yet to do. And it is not easy for him to decide what is best for him.

Most people come to grief due to the wrong notion that they can succeed by 'asserting' themselves. The truth is just the opposite. The false idea that self-assertion can bring success is based on the ignorance of the fact that there are also others in this world that can equally assert themselves and stand against the assertion from any particular individual or center of action. No one has ever succeeded in life, who confronted the 'others' in the world with his ego. All egoism is met with an equally strong egoism from outside. To take always one's own standpoint, whether in an action, an argument or even in feeling is to court 'opposition', while the law of life is 'cooperation'. Self-assertion, thus, is contrary to nature's laws and shall stand defeated in the end.

All egoistic action, whether in mind, speech or body, evokes a similar action from other centers of force in the world and to live in such a condition is aptly called Samsara, an experience in which perpetually warring elements react against one another and bring about restlessness and pain. The remedy against Samsara is the art of 'appreciation' of the existence and feelings of others who also demand an equal recognition in the scheme of creation. Whenever you say or do anything, start it from the standpoint of the other who is in front of you, listens to you or is concerned with what you do. You are then more likely to succeed in life than by any other means which you may think is really effective.

But what is to be done when, for example, an enemy attacks you? Are you to assert yourself, or not? Here again, the decision that you take should depend upon the nature of the consequences that would follow from the step that you take. The unselfishness of an action is judged from the extent to which it is conductive to the realization of a higher value in life. To know whether a value is higher or otherwise, it has to be viewed both in its quantity and quality. Quantitatively, is it beneficial to the largest number of people possible? And qualitatively, does it tend to the realization of the highest reality capable of being conceived as accessible? Or, to put it concisely, how far is it spiritual?

Excerpts from:
Thus Spake Swami Krishnananda by Swami Krishnananda

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Sunday, July 28, 2013

(July 28,2013) (Story) Prince or Fisherman?

Prince or Fisherman?
Divine Life Society Publication: Vedantic Stories by Swami Sivananda

A prince, the royal heir to a great kingdom, son of a great emperor, set sailing in a ship. The ship is caught in a cyclone and dashed upon a rock. In the shipwreck all perish except for the prince who clings on to a floating piece of wood. He is washed ashore to an unknown land where no one knows him, and the land is strange and he is penniless, and starvation has made him ill. Some fishermen take pity on him and nurse him back to health.  After some time he gains strength and becomes part and parcel of the fishermen's colony. He has almost completely forgotten everything about his former state; but for faint memories of his previous life in the palace. In this way he grows up as a fisherman, putting up with all the hardships of a fisherman's life.

Likewise, the Jiva is the ship-wrecked prince which has forgotten its home. Searchers are going country after country but who can recognize the prince among millions of people? Such is the condition of Jiva.

From a state of plenitude it has come to the position of beggary, ill-fed, sometimes starving.  And just like searchers have been sent by the king for the Prince, searchers who are the saints, the children of God, and the spiritual books, are there to help rescue the lost Jiva.

Ultimately, after years of searching, someone who is closer to the emperor manages to recognize the prince. By way of certain birth-marks on the prince, he could identify the prince without any fear of error, and he informs him that he is a prince, heir to a royal heritage.

Even though the prince is finally convinced, he declines to leave the fishermen. Deep attachment has grown between him and the fishermen and he cannot entertain the idea of leaving his foster-mother and foster-father. But the searcher tries to convince him.

This is the process that takes place when the Guru tells the Jiva that his real nature is bliss. In spite of the unlimited wealth, the Jiva is attached to this miserable existence.

So, Guru has to wean the aspirant from the state of forgetfulness. An inner struggle ensues when the prince finally gets convinced by the knowledge given by the searcher. To get back his lost heritage, he has to make efforts to break the attachment, and this going back is called Sadhana.

Divine Life Society Publication:
Vedantic Stories by Swami Sivananda


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Saturday, July 27, 2013

(July 27,2013) What is this Ego? By Gurudev

 What is this Ego?
Divine Life Society Publication: The Ego by Swami Sivananda

Ego or Egoism or Egotism or Ahamkara in Sanskrit is the self-asserting principle or Tattva born of ignorance or Prakriti. Abhimana is egoism. Garva is egoism.

The seed of this ego is the differentiating intellect or Bheda Buddhi. It is the ego which has created the idea of separateness from God or the Atman. It is the ego which is the root cause for all human sufferings and births and deaths.

This ego identifies itself with the body, mind, Prana, the senses. Wherever there is ego, there are mineness, selfishness, likes and dislikes, lust, anger, greed, hypocrisy, pride, jealousy, delusion, arrogance, conceit, impertinence, Vasanas, Trishna or cravings and Vrittis or Sankalpa, clinging to this earth-life (Abhinivesha), agency, doer (Kartha) and enjoyer (Bhokta).

You must have very clear understanding of the nature of this ego, if you want to annihilate egoism. Killing of egoism is killing of mind only. Destruction of thought, desires, cravings, mineness, selfishness, jealousy, pride, lust is really destruction of mind or egoism. Control of senses also is annihilation of the mind or egoism.

This egoism assumes a subtle form. The gross egoism is not so dangerous as the subtle egoism. Institutional egoism is a subtle form of egoism. The man identifies himself with the institution and gets attached to the institution or cult. He has no broad-mindedness or catholicity.

The working of egoism is very mysterious. It is very difficult to detect its various ways of working. It needs a subtle and sharp intellect to find out its operation. If you practise introspection daily in silence you will be able to find out its mysterious ways of working.

This ego likes his own birth place and district, people of his district, own mother tongue, his own relations and friends, his own ways of eating, mode of dressing. He has his own predilections and preferences. He dislikes others' ways of eating, dressing etc.

This ego wants to exercise power and influence over others. He wants titles, prestige, status, respect, prosperity, house, wife, children. He wants self-aggrandisement. He wishes to domineer and rule over others. If anybody points out his defects, his vanity feels offended. If anyone praises him he is elated. This ego says, I know everything. He does not know anything. What I say is quite correct. What he says is quite incorrect. He is inferior to me. I am superior to him. He forces others to follow his ways and views.

This ego will lurk like a thief when you start introspection and self-analysis. It will elude your grasp and understanding. You must be ever alert and vigilant. If you obtain the grace of the Lord through Japa, Kirtan, prayer and devotion you can easily kill this ego. Through Lord's grace only your self-surrender will become Perfect.

When this ego melts in the cosmic ego you will attain communion with the Lord or Self-realisation.
May you realise the goal of life and attain everlasting Bliss through annihilation of this little ego!

Divine Life Society Publication:
The Ego by Swami Sivananda


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Friday, July 26, 2013

(July 26,2013) Process of Initiation by The Guru

Process of Initiation by The Guru
Divine Life Society Publication: Commentary on the Panchadasi – Chapter 7 Triptidipa Prakaranam by Swami Krishnananda

In the Upanishads there are two types of description of reality. One definition is called avantara vakya and another is called mahavakya.  Avantara vakya is the statement which merely tells us that something exists. It will not tell us where it is. Brahman exists: asti brahma.

Existence alone was prior to the act of creation – One alone, without a second. This is avantara vakya. And the identity of that existed prior to creation, with our own self is the mahavakya. Its existence merely as such, as an object of our knowledge, is indirect knowledge born of avantara vakya. When it is said that we are inseparable from it, right from eternity, the mahavakya –  the great statement of instruction – has been communicated.

One alone without a second did exist. Therefore, we cannot exist outside it. Therefore, it is understood, it is implied, that we are inseparable from that. This is aparoksa experience, direct knowledge.

There was a Guru called Varuna. He had a son called Bhrigu, who was also a disciple. This is an illustration taken from the Taittiriya Upanishad. “Teach me Brahman,” said the disciple to the Guru. “That from which everything comes, that in which everything subsists, that to which everything returns is Brahman. Meditate on this,” was the instruction. After meditating, the disciple went to the Guru again, “Teach me Brahman.” “Contemplate this physical sheath as Brahman.” He meditated, and went again, “Please teach me Brahman.” “Contemplate the vital sheath as Brahman.” He meditated on that, and went again and said, “Please teach me Brahman.” “Contemplate the mental sheath as Brahman.” He meditated thus, and went again to the Guru and said, “Please teach me Brahman.”

 Why did he go again and again? There was some defect in the instruction and also in the experience thereby – that is to say, in considering physical, vital, or mental sheaths as Brahman. Again the disciple went, “Please teach me Brahman.” “Meditate on the intellectual sheath as Brahman.” He again meditated on that, and went again to the Guru and said, “Teach me Brahman.” “Meditate on the bliss of Brahman.” After that he did not go again. When bliss has been experienced, why should we go to the Guru afterwards? The Guru is rejected because bliss is a greater Guru than the Guru who brought us the bliss.

In the beginning, it was only a definition by way of an indirect instruction. Brahman is that which is the cause, sustenance and the end of all things, and it is that which is pervading the physical body, that which pervades the vital, mental, intellectual sheaths, that which is the ultimate bliss that we experience in the state of deep sleep. Having consciously entered into that sleep, if we can be conscious that we are sleeping, we are in direct contact with Brahman. As we cannot be conscious that we are sleeping, that contact is not possible. We come back in the same way as we went into it.

The Guru Varuna did not directly tell Bhrigu what Brahman was. He wanted the disciple to work his own way, by his personal effort, and so he only lead him gradationally, stage by stage, through the levels of experience, right from the conceptual idealisation of God (Brahman) as that which exists as the volition, the sustenance, and the end of all things, that which is in the physical and other sheaths, that which is the ultimate bliss.

Bliss in an indication of Brahman; it is not Brahman itself. The bliss of the causal sheath which the disciple experienced is an indication of Brahman's bliss. It is not Brahman itself. That is to say, when we enter the state of deep sleep, we are not experiencing Brahman, though maybe, theoretically, it may be equal to our landing ourselves in Brahman.

If our plane suddenly requires fuel it lands somewhere, at some airport, and we do not even know which country it is, whose airport it is. If we do not even know where we have landed, and simply know that we have landed, that is something like an indirect jumping into the Brahman state. But actually, landing in sleep – that blissful experience of the condition of sleep – is not Brahman experience because we wake up from sleep into the mortal experience of the physical existence. If we had really gone to Brahman, we would not have woken up.

Therefore, the causal experience of Brahman is only an indication and not a direct experience. This experience has been undergone gradually through the physical, vital, and other sheaths. It is a final indicator of Brahman's existence. It is a signpost which tells us that Brahman is appearing, but Brahman has not yet appeared.

The Taittiriya Upanishad says satyam jñānam anantaṁ brahma: Truth, Knowledge, Infinity is Brahman. This is another way of saying sarvaṁ khalvidaṁ brahma: God is Brahman. If all is Brahman, what does it matter to us? It matters very much because we are not outside it. After having being told that Brahman is Truth, Knowledge, Infinity, we are instructed into a further reality of the fact of our being non-separate from that Brahman which is Truth, Knowledge, Infinity. This is how gradual instruction is imparted by the Guru to the disciple in the process of what is known as initiation.

The graduated technique adopted by Gurus in teaching disciples varies from person to person, from individual to individual, and from one state of evolution to another state of evolution. And this case of Varuna teaching Bhrigu to pass through all these stages of Brahman being immanent in the five sheaths, and experiencing the final bliss of Brahman as it is manifest in the state of sleep, is one category of graduated instruction by the Guru to the disciple.

Excerpts from:
Initiation by Guru - Commentary on the Panchadasi by Swami Krishnananda

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Thursday, July 25, 2013

(July 25,2013) The Aim of Objective Analysis

   The Aim of Objective Analysis
Divine Life Society Publication: The Yoga System by Swami Krishnananda

As all thoughts can be reduced to five types of internal function, all objects can be reduced to five bhutas or elements. The five great elements are called pancha-mahabhutas, and they are (1) Ether (akasa), (2) Air (vayu), (3) Fire (agni), (4) Water (apas) and (5) Earth (prithivi). The subtlety of these elements is in the ascending order of this arrangement, the succeeding one being grosser than the preceding. Also the preceding element is the cause of the succeeding, so that Ether may be regarded as containing all things in an unmanifested form. The elements constitute the whole physical cosmos. These are the real objects of the senses, and all the variety we see is made up of forms of these objects.

Our sensations are the five objects. We sense through the indriyas or sense-organs. With the sense of the ear we come in contact with Ether and hear sound which is a reverberation produced by Ether. Touch is the property of Air, felt by us with the tactile sense. With the sense of the eyes we contact light which is the property of Fire. With the palate we taste things, which is the property of Water. With the nose we smell objects, and this is the property of Earth.

There is the vast universe, and we know it with our senses. We live in a world of fivefold objects. The senses are incapable of knowing anything more than these elements. The internal organ, as informed and influenced by the objects, deals with them in certain manners, and this is life. While our psychological reactions constitute our personal life, the adjustment we make with others is our social life. The yoga is primarily concerned with the personal life of man in relation to the universe, and not the social life, for, in the social environment, one's real personality is rarely revealed. Yoga is essentially a study of self by self, which initially looks like an individual affair, a process of Self-investigation (atma-vichara) and Self-realization (atma-sakshatkara). But this is not the whole truth. The Self envisaged here is a consciousness of gradual integration of reality, and it finally encompasses all experience and the whole universe in its being.

While the psychology of yoga comprises the functions of the internal organ, and its physics is of the five great objects or mahabhutas, the philosophy of yoga transcends both these stages of study. The yoga metaphysics holds that the body is not all, and even the five elements are not all. We do not see what is inside the body and also what is within the universe of five elements. A different set of senses would be necessary for knowing these larger secrets. Yoga finally leads us to this point. When we go deep into the body we would confront its roots; so also in the case of the objects outside. When we set out on this adventure, we begin to converge slowly at a single centre, like the two sides of a triangle that taper at one point. The so-called wide base of the world on which we move does not disclose the truth of ourselves or of objects. At this point of convergence of ourselves and of things, we need not look at objects, and here no senses are necessary, for, in this experience, there are neither selves nor things.

There is only one Reality, where the universal object and the universal subject become a unitary existence. Neither is that an experience of a subject nor an object, where is revealed a knowledge of the whole cosmos, at once, not through the senses, mind or intellect - for there are no objects - and there is only being that is consciousness. Yoga is, therefore, spiritual, superphysical or supermaterial, because materiality is shed in its achievement, and consciousness reigns supreme. This is the highest object of yoga, where the individual and the universe do not stand apart as two entities but come together in a fraternal embrace. The purpose of the yoga way of analysis is an overcoming of the limitations of both subjectivity and objectivity and a union of the deepest within us with the deepest in the cosmos.

Excerpts from:
The Yoga System by Swami Krishnananda

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The Essence of Guru Gita by Swami Sivananda

The Essence of Guru Gita by Swami Sivananda

Gurudev Swami Sivananda Maharaj


The Auspicious Peace-chanting should be done in the beginning as it is the custom of righteous people and as it brings the desired fruit. Bhagavan Vishnu is the Auspicious One. The Lord who sits on Garuda is Auspicious. The Lord who is Lotus-eyed is Auspicious. The Lord Hari is the Abode of Auspiciousness.   (1)

Prostration to the Infinite Vishnu who is Full and ever exalted, who is the cause of the sprout of the whole universe, who is the highest manifestation of Existence-Knowledge-Bliss. (2)

Prostration to the Guru who is the witness of the intellect, who is to be known through the Vedanta, who is the Source of Absolute Consciousness-Bliss, who is the Essence of Truth and Bliss. (3)
Guru is Brahma. Guru is Vishnu. Guru is Siva. Guru is the Supreme Brahman Itself. Prostration to that Guru. (4)

Prostration to that Guru, who, through the collyrium of Knowledge, opens the eye of him who is blinded by the gloom of ignorance. (5)
Prostration to that Guru, who shows the Truth of the word ‘Thou’, who pervades the whole universe of mobile and immobile creation with its stationary and moving creatures. (6)

Prostration to that Guru, who shows the truth of the word ‘That’, who pervades the whole universe of mobile and immobile creation in the form of the Undivided Infinite. (7)
Prostration to that Guru, who shows the Truth of the word ‘Art’ (in the sentence ‘That thou art’), who, in the form of the Mass of Consciousness, pervades the whole of the three worlds with their mobile and immobile inhabitants. (8)

Prostration to that Guru, who is beyond Nada, Bindu and Kala, who is Pure Consciousness, Eternal, Peaceful, beyond space and untainted. (9)
Prostration to that Guru, due to whose Existence the world exists, due to whose Effulgence the world is illumined, due to whose Bliss all are happy. (10)

There is no reality beyond Guru. There is no penance beyond Guru. There is no knowledge beyond Guru. Prostration to that Guru. (11)
The form of Guru is the root of meditation. The feet of Guru are the root of worship. The teaching of the Guru is the root of all Mantras. The Grace of Guru is the root of Salvation. (12)

The water with which the feet of the Guru are washed is the sacred drink. The remains after Guru’s meal are the proper food. Right meditation is on the Form of Guru. Constant Japa is of Guru’s Name. (13)
For the purpose of acquiring knowledge and dispassion, one should drink the water with which Guru’s feet are washed, which cuts at the root of ignorance, which overcomes birth and the bondage of Karma. (14)

Kashi is the abode. Ganga is the water with which Guru’s feet are washed. Siva himself is the Guru. The Taraka Mantra is undoubtedly the Supreme Brahman. (15)
The aspirant (disciple) should please the Guru by offering him seat, bedding, clothing, vehicle, ornaments, etc. (16)

One should offer to the true Guru, one’s body, senses, life, wealth, friends, relatives, the self, the wife and all. (17)
The Guru alone is the whole world, including Brahma, Vishnu and Siva. Nothing greater than Guru exists. Therefore Guru is to be worshipped. (18)

Without any feeling of shame one should fall in full prostration before the Guru and adore the Guru through action, mind and speech, at all times. (19)
The baths taken in pilgrimages to the seven oceans bring only a thousandth part of the effect produced by drinking a drop of the water that is used for washing Guru’s feet. (20)

When God is angry, Guru is the Saviour. When Guru gets angry none is the saviour. Hence, obtaining the family-Guru (a suitable Guru), one should properly take shelter under him. (21)
Daily one should devoutly prostrate oneself in that direction in which shines the pair of the feet of the Lord of Lakshmi. (22)


ब्रह्मानन्दं परमसुखदं केवलं ज्ञानमूर्तिं
द्वन्द्वातीतं गगनसदृशं तत्त्वमस्यादिलक्ष्यम्
एकं नित्यं विमलमचलं सर्वधीसाक्षिभूतं
भावातीतं त्रिगुणरहितं सद्गुरुं तं नमामि
brahmānandaṃ paramasukhadaṃ kevalaṃ jñānamūrtiṃ
dvandvātītaṃ gaganasadṛiśhaṃ tattvamasyādilakṣhyam

ekaṃ nityaṃ vimalamachalaṃ sarvadhīsākṣhibhūtaṃ
bhāvātītaṃ triguṇarahitaṃ sadguruṃ taṃ namāmi
|| 23 ||


I prostrate myself before that Guru, the Existence, devoid of the three Gunas, beyond comprehension, the witness of all mental functions, changeless and pure, one and eternal, transcending the pairs of opposites, expansive like the sky, reachable through the sentences like “Thou art That,” the Bliss of Brahman, the Giver of Supreme Happiness, the Mass of Absolute Wisdom. (23)

I constantly prostrate myself before the blessed Guru, who is the physician for the disease of Samsara, who is the adorable Lord of Yogis, who is blissful, who is the Source of Happiness, who is always pleased, who is the Essence of Knowledge, who is identical with the Real Existence. (24)

One should meditate on the Divine Form of the Guru, as seated in the centre of the lotus of the heart, as installed on the grand throne, who shines like the lustre of the moon, who is ready to give the desired boon of the attainment of the Existence-Knowledge-Bliss. (25)
I prostrate myself before that Guru, the Brahman, the Consciousness-Bliss, the eternal Knowledge, the taintless, the formless, the reflectionless (beyond appearances), the pure, the eternal. (26)

One who addresses the Guru as “thou,” who says “hum” before the Guru, who speaks indecently in the presence of the Guru, becomes a Brahma-Rakshasa (a formidable demon) in a waterless forest tract. (27)
One should know the Supreme Brahman, the eternal, the formless, the quality-less, by affirming his being Brahman Itself, as a light is in relation to another light. (28)

I adore the Satchidananda, which is beyond the reach of thought, the Master of the Universe, eternal, full, formless, quality-less, indwelling as the Self of all. (29)
Guru is Siva. Guru is God. Guru is the relative (friend) of human beings. Guru is the Atman. Guru is the Jiva. There is nothing other than Guru. (30)

The Guru who has no knowledge, who is a liar and a hypocrite should be shunned. He does not know how to bring peace to himself. How can he give peace to others? (31)
They are not Gurus who are infidels, who are given to sin, atheists, of differentiating temperaments, who take pleasure in women, who are of bad conduct, ungrateful and roguish. (32)

I take refuge in the Lord, the Guru, who shows the inner secret by brushing aside all phenomenality, by removing all doubts, and by integrating the consciousness. (33)
There are many Gurus who extract the life out of their disciples; but rare is that Guru who removes the pain in the heart of the disciples. (34)

His Guruship really shines who is very able, discriminative, full of spiritual wisdom, pure, and mentally bright. (35)
Gurus are pure, peaceful, good-natured, speaking very little, devoid of passion and anger, of righteous conduct, and self-controlled. (36)

He who does not care for the Guru who gives him initiation into the mono-syllable (OM), goes to the wombs of dogs in hundreds of births, and is born among pariahs. (37)
Death is inevitable to him who abandons the Guru. Poverty catches hold of him who abandons the Guru-Mantra. He goes to the Raurava hell who abandons the Mantra given by the Guru. (38)

The seven crores of great Mantras are all for the bewilderment of the mind. There is only one great Mantra, the two-lettered word “Gu-ru.” (39)
“Gu” is darkness. “Ru” is its remover. Because one removes darkness, he is called a “Guru.” (40)

One should, full of devotion, go to a Brahman-knowing Guru, with offerings to the Guru, desiring to acquire the knowledge of the Vedanta, with faith in the sentences declaring the Final Emancipation. (41)
First is the hearing in front of the Guru. After that is the reflection upon (what is this word). Then profound meditation becomes the cause of Full Knowledge. (42)

Even as born-blind man has no knowledge of forms, so one cannot get the Knowledge of the Reality even in crores of creation-cycles, except through initiation by the Guru. (43)
When the Grace of the Guru descends, then faith in hearing the stories of God, in meditation, etc. dawns. The disciple should be tranquil, self-controlled, extremely dispassionate, full of great faith, devoted to the Guru, and established in austerity. (44)

The disciple, approaching the Brahmanishtha Guru, circumambulating round him, prostrating himself before him, saluting him with folded hands, with much humility, should ask, “O Lord, O Guru, tell me the secret of the Supreme Truth in its fullness.” (45)
He shall reap the fruit of Jnana, who, with supreme devotion, worships the Guru, who is the Parameshvara, the imparter of divine knowledge, utterly unknowable by those of dull understanding, correctly knowable through the words of the Guru, seated in the hearts of all, peaceful, all-pervading, omniscient. (46 & 47)

He who has supreme devotion to God, and to the Guru as much as to God,—to that blessed soul these truths reveal themselves. (48)
People cross the ocean of Samsara by sitting in the strong boat of the sentence of the Guru, blown by the wind of the power of practice and past Samskaras, and steered by the pilot, Guru. (49)

Difficult it is to renounce sense-objects, difficult is the vision of the Truth, difficult is the attainment of Self-realisation, without the Grace of the Guru. (50)
Prostration to the Guru, Siva, the essence of Satchidananda, worldless, peaceful, supportless and effulgent. (51)

Thou art Vishnu. Thou art Brahma. Thou art the god Mahesvara. Thou alone art the form of Sakti. Thou art the attributeless Eternal. (52)
Prostration to Thee, the being of Peace, the great hidden Secret, unthinkable, immeasurable, beginningless and endless. (53)

Prostration to thee, the Existence, the cause of the universe. Prostration to the One Consciousness, the support of all the worlds. Prostration to the Truth of Non-Duality, the bestower of Salvation. Prostration to the Brahman, the all-pervading and eternal. (54)
Prostration to Dakshinamurti, who appears in the threefold form of God, Guru and the Self, who pervades everything with his form like the sky. (55)

Prostration to Dakshinamurti, the origin of all kinds of knowledge, the physician to those suffering from the illness of Samsara, the Guru of all the worlds. (56)
This (Guru Gita) is the destroyer of all sins, the bestower of Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha. One obtains through this whatever object of desire he desires. This is certain. (57)

Who, pure in heart, full of knowledge, incessantly recite this Guru Gita—by even seeing them and touching them, one is liberated from rebirth. (58)
Om Santih Santih Santih!

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