June 29,2013 Meditation: A discipline of Self-Integration by Swami Krishnananda

Meditation – A Discipline of Self-Integration

Divine Life Society Publication: Chapter 7: The Teachings of the Bhagavadgita by Swami Krishnananda

The discipline of yoga culminates in meditation, dhyana, which is the subject of the sixth chapter of the Bhagavadgita. The art of yoga is principally the process of self-integration by degrees through the levels of the constitution of one's personality, such that when we reach the point of meditation proper there is a total concentration of the whole of one's being in the direction of the whole of that which one aspires for through this discipline we call 'yoga'. Last time we noted that essentially this is a technique of communing the lower self with the higher self.

The process of meditation is not a struggle in the sense of a fighting with nature, or with what we call the odds of life; it is an establishment of a harmony rather than a conflict, with the powers that be in which we are engaging ourselves. There are stages by which the senses and the mind have to be weaned from the points of distraction, and the highest method should not be applied when one is in the lower stage of evolution.

According to great teachers of yoga such as Patanjali, for instance, true meditation begins only when we contact reality, at least in one of its degrees. At present, we are out of touch with reality. That explains our misery in life, our sorrows, and our difficulties even in understanding what the world is made of. We live in the world of pure sensory operations or are cut off totally from the contact with reality due to our involvement in the externalising feature called space-time.

Thus, when we are seated for the purpose of this great objective of human life – encounter with Reality – in the earlier stages we guard ourselves, as we put up a fence around our field when we want to grow a harvest, or tend a garden, or grow fruits or vegetables, a fencing, a protection is necessary. We put up a protective fencing around ourselves by means of a dual action on our part – namely, the withdrawal of consciousness from sensory contact with distracting objects, and, at the same time, a focusing of this enriched consciousness upon the chosen ideal of meditation, which perhaps is the essence of vairagya and abhyasa.

 

In the process of pratyahara, the earlier or earliest stage of meditation, there is a need, first of all, to be conscious of what things there are which will distract your attention. What are your loves and hatreds? What are your inner tensions or frustrations, longings? They have to be dealt with very carefully. You have to know your strengths and you have to know your weaknesses also. Generally your weaknesses are your desires which, somehow or other, seek fulfillment by any means, fair and foul. You should be a physician of your own soul, a judge of your own self.  Meditation is a healing process that you are trying to undergo inwardly for your own ultimate blessedness, so you are concerned here with yourself and not with anything else.

Pratyahara means – the coming together of the energy of the senses with the concentrating activity of the mind. When the senses unite with the mind, you have achieved the process of total withdrawal, pratyahara, and the mind gets concentrated.

Place, time and method – these are the three techniques of concentration. The place of meditation therefore should be, as far as possible, free from nearness to those objects, persons, and circumstances which may draw your attention, either by like or dislike. A suitable time also is necessary.  The mind should be amenable to this task of concentration of consciousness. It should not be repellent – it should not be revolting for any reason. These distractions have to be dealt with in their own way – and as long as they are not fulfilled or handled in an intelligent way, your concentration of mind, spiritually, will not be a success.

The time that you choose for meditation should, therefore, be conducive as the place is. The method of meditation is perhaps more important. You have to be first of all in harmonious condition with your atmosphere, with society, with your daily routine etc., outwardly, and also in a harmony with your body and your personality. So, here comes the necessity for a spiritual initiation by a competent Guru.

The asana should be a seated, consistent posture. And then the breathing process gradually, together with the systematic, harmonious, calm process of chanting of OM, pranava will create within yourself a vibration.  This chanting of OM may done every day, for fifteen minutes, before your concentration on the object of your meditation.

Now, for the purpose of your spiritual meditation, the object - the God of your meditation is 'that something' which is the whole reality for you. So, the object of your meditation should have a double characteristic. One: outside which nothing can be, nothing has to be – it is the only thing before you. Secondly: it is the object of your emotional satisfaction. Remember: “ God is something outside which nothing exists.”

The art of meditation is the final touch you give to the whole process of spiritual practice. Spirituality is a positive art – it is not a runaway attitude of consciousness. In spiritual meditation, you are not moving away from the problems of life, you are not shirking your duties, but communing yourself with the substance and the very causative factor of every problem in life, and handling these forces as a master rather than as a slave who runs away from difficulties. A spiritual seeker is not a coward – he is a scientist in the highest sense of the term who tries to understand and control the forces of nature, rather than a person who would like to be ignorant of their existence and close their eyes to them, like an ostrich. Thus the art of spiritual living, which culminates itself in meditation, is the highest positivity of approach to Reality by a human being who is fully integrated for this purpose in a most healthy manner.

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Meditation – A Discipline of Self-Integration by Swami Krishnananda

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The transmigration of the Soul (Atman) after death by Swami Krishnananda

At the time of death, the individuality does not get dissolved, though the physical constituents may be separated and dissolved. What is it that takes rebirth? It cannot be the body, because it is discarded and it is dissolved into the physical elements of which it is composed. It cannot also be the essential Self, the Atman, because the Atman is a Universal Presence which cannot be said to be subject to transformation of any kind, such as transmigration. What else transmigrates?

The peculiar thing called the individual is neither the body nor the Atman. It is a strange admixture of localised self-affirmation in terms of space and time, and this principle of self-affirmation is impossible to define except as a peculiar pressure-point or force which is generated by the influence of space-time upon consciousness which by itself is indivisible. This point of pressure spatio-temporally occasioned is in fact the centre of what is known as the psyche, often called the mind, sometimes known as the Chitta or the Antahkarana in the Sanskrit language.

This pressure of consciousness causing the individual self-sense may be broadly understood as having three levels of empirical expression, viz., the conscious, the subconscious and the unconscious. Only the conscious level operates when a person is awake, the sub-conscious operates in dream, and the unconscious in deep sleep. The conscious impulses and activities of the individual are limited expressions of the desires which seek to fulfil themselves by way of contact with sense-objects. When the pressure of desires is too much and they cannot be easily fulfilled under conditions prevailing in the waking state, they operate as reveries in dream as a sort of satisfaction of strong impulses incapable of operation during waking state. But the desires of an individual are so immense and complicated that their satisfaction cannot be really achieved in a single life. Such unfulfilled longings get wound up in unconscious states, a specimen of which is deep sleep. It is the power of unfulfilled desires that acts like a projectile and drives like a rocket this complex known as the individual pressure-point in the direction of manufacturing a new apparatus for their fulfilment, under expected conditions, this new apparatus being called the newly formed body. Here is the interesting background of what is known as rebirth.

As a realised soul has no desires, it has no rebirth. Hence the passing of an ordinary person and the disappearance of a person like Lord Krishna have nothing in common. The energies which are elemental that go to contribute to the formation of a new body in the case of an individual with unfulfilled desires do not operate in the case of a realised soul, because rebirth is caused by the magnetic pull exerted by the desiring centre of consciousness upon the physical elements and the forces of nature outside. Such a desire being absent in realised souls, they have no rebirth. They merge into Universal Being. The legacy which acts as the link between the here and the hereafter is desire, which causes reincarnation. The legacy so-called is a mysterious admixture of consciousness and desire, which is the causative factor behind rebirth. It is neither the physical body formed of the five elements, nor the Atman which is all-pervading. It is not true that in death the apparatus through which thinking and feeling act is destroyed; it continues in spite of the body being destroyed. The screen of the television which projects the picture of individuality is the point of consciousness-desire, explained above, and it is not destroyed when the body is destroyed. In a way, our waking life is also a reflection of some anterior existence, which we do not remember now, since we are now in this world in a different space-time continuum, totally different from the space-time complex of the previous life. It has to be reiterated that death does not destroy the link between this life and the other life, because death is only of the physical body, and everyone knows well that a person is not exhausted by the physical frame only. There is something more in man than what appears to the eyes or to any sense-organ.

The modern theory of evolution from matter to plant, plant to life, life to mind and from mind to intellect is nothing but a corroboration of there being a continuous link from one state of life to another. Else, there would be no evolution and there would be no meaning in any form of ‘related’ life at all. All this requires deep study, and a mere cursory reading of one or two textbooks may not be adequate. The principle involves vast areas beyond the ken of the studies provided in our modern colleges and universities.

The principle of karma, or the principle of reaction which conditions the notions of good and bad etc., is not supposed to apply to the sub-human species since they do not have the self-consciousness of personal agency in action and are just guided by the natural forces of evolution. Nemesis cannot be attributed to an individual as long as it is free from personal agency in action. The sub-human species evolve in the same way as there is rise of life from matter to the vegetable kingdom, etc., as mentioned. This is not caused by karma, but by the very pressure of universal evolution.

If there is no transcendent meaning of the human being beyond the present life, no one would lift a finger or do anything in this life unless he is an idiot of the first water, knowing well that the next moment death may overtake anyone and no one can be sure that one can be alive after a few minutes more. Who, on earth, will try to do anything in this world if the next moment is uncertain, unless it is to be accounted for by an unconscious pull of the transcendent ‘Beyond’ which speaks in a language of ‘Eternity’ that there is life further to this medley of uncertainties, anxieties and insecurities here on earth? The point that man is to be restrained from undesirable behaviour and action can have meaning only if there is something more than the meaning seen in earthly life. Else, what is the point of being good or exhibiting good behaviour? Why should there be morality, why should there be anything at all, since everything is going to be devoured by death the next moment?

What is Hinduism? by Swami Krishnananda

The word ‘Hindu’ is of foreign origin. It has no association with the principles which are psychologically compounded by habit and tradition with what one vaguely feels when the word ‘Hindu’ is uttered. The history behind this word seems to go back to the time when the Greeks and the Persians came to India, maybe somewhere around the time when Alexander, king of Macedon, invaded India. The barrier which these people from outside India had to cross was the river Sindhu, which today goes by the name of Indus. The letter ‘S’ gets transformed into ‘H’ when it passes through the Persian tongue, and into ‘I’ in the Greek tongue. The word ‘Sindhu’, which is actually the name of the river, got somehow associated with the very people who lived across the river, and ‘Sindhu’, dropping the letter ‘S’, got converted into the word ‘Hindu’, and further on into the word ‘Ind’ in Greek. Thus, even the word ‘India’ has its roots in the word ‘Sindhu’. From this one can gather how both the words, ‘Hindu’ and ‘India’, do not have any real connection with either the beliefs and faiths of the people so called or even the original name of the country itself. The country is traditionally known as ‘Bharatavarsha’ or, simply, ‘Bharata’. This is something about the name itself.

Now, what does one really mean by the word ‘Hindu’, whatever be its origin? To state simply and plainly, it would mean a person who follows or lives according to the canons and principles of the religion known as ‘Hinduism’. But this would raise the question, "What is Hinduism?"

Many definitions have been given by stalwarts like Lokamanya Tilak, and such leaders of Hinduism. The area which the religion called Hinduism covers is so large that it is not easy to give an off-hand definition of it at one stroke, as any such attempt is likely to carry with it a flaw of inadequate characterisation. However, broadly speaking, a Hindu is one who holds and lives according to some of the following essential principles:

• that the ultimate reality of the universe is one and not more than one
• that the nature of this reality is spiritual in the sense of Intelligence or Consciousness
• that therefore this reality is Universal, Omnipresent, and hence at once Omniscient and Omnipotent
• that creation is a veritable Body of this All-pervading Almighty Omnipresence
• that the relationship between this reality, which is called God, and the created universe is intrinsic, organic and vital, and not external or mechanistic
• that there are several planes in this creation, broadly classified into fourteen realms known as ‘Lokas’, all which are inhabited by different categories of beings, right from the lowest level of the physical elements up to the Region of the Creator Himself
• that in the sense stated above, the whole universe and all beings are vehicles of divinity and radiant with the immanent Godhead, all potentially having the birthright of attaining union with the Supreme Almighty through gradual evolution
• that the human being is one such created species among the many others which are said to run to 84 lakhs in number
• that man, thus, occupies a stage in the process of a still higher ascent and he is not the end of creation or evolution
• that human life is to be organised by the integrating principles of Dharma (moral value), Artha (material value), Kama (vital value) and Moksha (spiritual value), the last one mentioned being in fact the infinite value of existence
• that society is also to be brought into a united force of hierarchy through mutual cooperation by the application of what is known as Varnasrama-Dharma, which means the arrangement of society into the classes of spiritual power, political power, economic power and man-power, known usually as Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaisya and Sudra, and the order of life into the levels of education, the performance of the duties of life, withdrawal from personal attachments and attainment of spiritual illumination, which stages go usually by the names of Brahmacharya, Garhasthya, Vanaprastha and Sannyasa
• that every faith, cult, creed, belief, religion or outlook represents a facet or phase of the evolving consciousness in the process of the universe, thus transforming life in the world, nay, life in the universe itself into a wide family of internally related and mutually co-operating members who have all a system of obligations and duties, excluding nothing but including everything, finally with the purpose of universal spiritual realisation.

There is no necessity to go into further elaborate details of what the word ‘Hinduism’ may suggest, because it would be clear that what is stated above would be enough to provide necessary guidelines to draw the requisite conclusions in matters of detail.

However, it has to be added that the religion known as Hinduism accepts the supernatural origin and final authority of the Word of the Veda, which consists of the Samhitas, the Brahmanas, the Aranyakas and the Upanishads. Hinduism also accepts the validity of the ethical and legal codes known as the Smritis, the Epics of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, the Puranas, the Agamas and Tantras, and also the six schools of philosophy known as Nyaya, Vaiseshika, Samkhya, Yoga, Mimamsa and Vedanta. The word ‘Vedanta’ suggests and includes also its variations known as the Advaita, Visishta-advaita, Dvaita, Dvaita-advaita, Suddha-advaita, and Achintya-bheda-abheda. It also includes the religious doctrines of the different schools of Vaishnavism, Saivism and Saktaism. Hinduism accepts and provides for the worship of the accepted Divinities of Brahma, Vishnu, Siva, Ganesa, Durga, Lakshmi, Sarasvati, Surya and Skanda among many others which are all included in the all-embracing pantheon.

Brahman Is Real, The World Of Dualities Is Unreal by Swami Krishnananda

Advaita Vedanta does not naively say that Brahman is real or that the world of dualities is unreal. To attribute this sort of statement to the system would be something like calling the dog a bad name in order to hang it. The sense in which the doctrine asserts the absoluteness of Brahman would also explain the sense in which its relation to the world of experience is to be understood. My feeling is, this doubt arises due to a superficial reading of the philosophical problem involved, just either by hearsay or reading some titbits here and there, without going into the profundities of the subject.

The Advaita Vedanta does not hang on Sruti alone, though it has no reason to doubt the validity of the word of the Sruti. Firstly, take the question concerning the Sruti: The statement that Brahman is the cause of the Veda is not to be understood as if the Veda is an effect proceeding from Brahman as the cause, in which case the Veda would be non-eternal. What this position actually means is that the Veda is to be understood as an embodiment of eternal principles or truths, and here what is to be considered as eternal is the principle involved and not necessarily the way in which it is embodied in word or language.

 

For instance, to give an example, that two and two make four can be taken as a permanent principle which cannot be changed, but the language in which it is expressed or the purpose for which it is applied need not be taken as equally permanent; because the same truth can be expressed differently in different languages and may be applied for variegated purposes. Also, Brahman does not cause the Veda as a potter causes the pot or a carpenter causes the table. Here causation is to be understood in a highly metaphysical sense, and not in an empirical way.

 

The very fact of the existence of Brahman implies the existence of the eternal principles mentioned, even as, we may say, the fact of the existence of a three-dimensional universe implies the validity of the principles of mathematics. We cannot say that mathematics is caused by the three-dimensional world, so that mathematics would be a non-eternal fact. On the other hand, the fact of the validity of mathematics is a logical consequence of the three-dimensional world of space and time, and a logical deduction does not become non-eternal merely because it proceeds from a premise. The premise is in a way the cause of the deduction in a logical process of implication, but the implication does not become non-eternal because it is inseparable from the fact of the premise. Thus, the causation of Brahman in respect of the Veda does not in any way mean the non-eternality of the Veda, if we are careful to see that causation here is understood logically and not empirically in the sense of something proceeding from something else as if the one is different from the other.

Further, it is sometimes suggested that even the word of the Veda is eternal, even as an embodiment of eternal principles. This, again, is to be understood in its proper spirit. We may explain this position thus. Though the expression of a fact in a particular language may be considered as non-eternal, in the sense that it is finite because of its differentiation from other languages, yet the fact of it being possible to express a thing in that particular way should be considered as a permanent possibility, and here the word assumes a sort of eternality, Parinaminityatva, to put it in the language of Acharya Sankara, though not Kutasthanityatva as is the nature of Brahman itself. No one can say that the English language, for instance, is an eternal fact. Yet, no one can also deny the possibility of expressing a fact in that mode of language at any time or claim that the possibility can ever be absent and be non-eternal. I hope you catch the point of this interesting feature.

When Acharya Sankara says that the Veda itself is unreal from the Paramarthika point of view, the same is to be understood in the sense of nothing being eternal except Brahman, and even the Veda cannot be eternal if it is to be understood as something other than Brahman, for there cannot be two infinities or two eternalities.  Here you will notice that the two apparently contradictory statements of Acharya Sankara are really not contradictory, for they have to be understood from two different points of view or angles of vision, from which position the statements are made.

The problem of free will and determinism can also be explained by a homely example afforded by the science of psychoanalysis, to give only one instance as to how it can be explained. The patient is made think in a particular manner by the determined will of the psychoanalyst, but patient always feels that he or she is having out of complete freedom of choice, notwithstanding the determinism of the will of the physician that is at the back of it. Perhaps you remember the interesting statement of Spinoza that a stone which is thrown into the sky by someone may feel that it is moving up of its own choice, if only it had consciousness of its movement. We feel that we eat a particular diet out of our free will and nobody compels us to eat such and such a thing, though it is well known that the choice of diet is determined by the physiological condition of the person; so where is free will here? Swami Vidyaranya, in his Panchadasi, says that free will is the way in which the omnipresent will of the Absolute (or you may say, Isvara) operates through the individuality of a created being. Here, again, it is a question of viewpoint or standpoint. The consciousness of agency in action is what is known as free will, though this consciousness itself may be impelled by a law that is operating in the universe. So, where is the contradiction between determinism and free will? Man will not be held responsible for his acts if he is conscious from the bottom of his heart that the universal law is operating through him, but he will certainly be responsible for what he does if he knows that he exists as an individual and therefore actions proceed from him and not from the universal reality. No one can do wrong unless this doing proceeds from individual consciousness which contradicts the fact of its being determined by another. Thus, there is a mix-up of arguments here, when doubts are raised as to how man can do wrong if he is determined. The doubt arises from a fallacious argument.

The problem of evil, again, is an old, hackneyed theme, which has been explained by masters of thought already. It exists in the world even as illness exists in a human organism. But do you believe that illness really exists in a person unless there is a maladjustment of the parts of the organism? The evil does not exist except as a condition of operation, and it is not to be understood as a thing hanging over us from somewhere outside. All this difficulty arises due to an anthropomorphic conception of God as somebody sitting in heaven and controlling the destiny of the universe. If God is understood as universal Omnipresence or Absolute Being, the very question of evil will be a self-contradiction, because that would imply the finitude of God. Here, again, the flaw in the argument that raises such questions can be seen.

(June 28, 2013) Spiritual Message for the Day – Space and Time

Space and Time

Divine Life Society Publication: Chapter 6:Everything About Spiritual Life by Swami Krishnananda

We belong to two realms of being, the phenomenal and the noumenal, as philosophers generally tell us. The phenomenality of our life consists in our limitation to the conditions of space, time, and causation. We think of everything in terms length, breadth, and height. This is the quantitative assessment of the things of the world. Everything is a quantity – it has some substance, and it is measurable in terms of length, breadth, and height. This is one of the conditions to which our mind is subject. You cannot think of anything without attributing to it a quantity, some shape, which is a characteristic of our involvement in spatial characteristics. The mental involvement in space, whatever it be, compels us to think in terms of quantity – length, breadth, and height. This is the specialty of space.

We also attribute a quality to an object. It is not that a particular thing is only constituted of length, breadth, and height. It has some quality, a characteristic that determines its essentiality, individuality, and distinguishes it from other things. If a particular object has no specific quality of its own, it cannot be distinguished from other objects. So, the multiplicity of things we perceive in the world is due to the characterisation of things in terms of the qualitative measurement.

One thing is quantity, another thing is quality, and the third thing is relation. Everything is related to something else. We connect one thing with another, we compare one thing with another, contrast one thing with another. This process takes place automatically in our mind, without much of an effort. Every object has a mode or a condition of existence; it is in some situation, some context, some predicament. This is a philosophical finding, a way of analysis of experience, by which we note that quantity, quality, relation, and mode are inseparable from the object, whatever be that object. This conditioning of the mind is the phenomenality thereof.

Apart from this fourfold characterization of any object, there is also a fluxation, a change, and a mutability that we attribute to things. Nothing exists in the same condition for a long time. There is, if you would like to put it so, an evolution of things. A thing which changes its characteristics by the process of self-transformation, or the evolutionary process, cannot be said to be existing; it is only moving.

Many thinkers have opined that the world is a process, rather than a thing. It is a movement, rather than a substance. Everything changes; nothing is static in this world. But, the awareness that everything is changing cannot be associated with the process of change itself. Awareness cannot change. Just imagine that the riverbed also flows with the same speed as the waters of a river; the consciousness of movement will not be there.

Change cannot know that it is changing. There should be a witness, an observer, in order that the change can become a content of the observation. You say that a railway train is moving; but suppose you also are moving with the same speed along parallel lines, you will not know that the train is moving. So, movement cannot know movement. A motionless staticity – something which is to be called permanent – has to be there in order that the evolutionary process of the world can be conceived. Change implies changelessness.

There is a non-phenomenal reality which has to be accepted as the observing medium, so that you can know that the world is phenomenal. Everything is passing away. There is a deathless noumenality in us, and also a dying phenomenality in us. That which is deathless in us – Pure Being, eternal in its nature – when it gets combined with the phenomenality of passing away, creates a feeling of discomfort and causes fear of death to arise.

All desires are an asking for the impossible, because perpetuity in time is not possible as time is a process, and not an existence. Therefore, neither your asking for endless possession in terms of having all the objects of the world – the entire Earth itself – nor your desire for endless living in the time process are justifiable. Hence, it would mean that desires are unjustifiable movements of the mind.

Our consciousness is infected with an impetuous tendency to see outside itself, and never look into its own Self. Being becomes ‘becoming’ when consciousness projects itself as a movement towards an object of sense. Being becoming ‘becoming’ is a contradiction. You can know many things about this world but you can know nothing about your own Self.

Desiring immortality, a hero on the spiritual path introverts his consciousness and sees what is happening inside. The Chhandogya Upanishad tells us that the entire space which is so big – all the stars, the clouds and the rain, the sun that shines, and the moon – all are inside the heart of a person; and this little heart is as wide as the space outside.

Really speaking, there is no bigness about space. It is not vast, as it appears. It is a sensory illusion that is created by peculiar operation that defies our understanding, as infinite distance can be seen to the right side, as well as the left side. If you keep two mirrors on both sides and place yourself in the middle you will find yourself infinitely projected on both sides. Distance, which is not there, can be seen as if it is there. There is no depth in the mirror; it is a flat surface, but it can project a phenomenon of endless distance, both ways. Such a confusion can arise on account of a misplacement of context in the perception of things.

Really speaking, there is no depth in space, and there is no linear movement of time; they are illusions created by a peculiar kink in the operation of consciousness, as is the case in the dream world, for instance. The distance in spatial expanse in the dream world, and the time process to which you are subject in the dream world, are contained within the little waking consciousness into which the whole world of dream will be absorbed when you wake up.

Knowing all these things, we should not be entangled in attachments of any kind, because all attachments, all desires, are something like the desires that a dreaming individual may evince in terms of objects that are visualised in dream. They are inside the waking consciousness only, yet the mind runs outside as if they are outside. Similar is the case with this waking world. We have separated ourselves from this organic structure of the universe, and we behold it as if we are an observer of this world, of which we are really a part. This is the fall of man, as it is called in the scriptures. Therefore, all attractions and beauties of life, all things in the world which appear to be desirable, are concoctions, erroneous evaluation of our consciousness, which has become topsy-turvy in its observations – the external looking like the internal, and the internal looking like the external. Knowing this situation, it is up to the seeker of truth to absolve oneself from these tricky operations of consciousness, which has wrongly visualised itself as isolated from the Whole to which it belongs.

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Chapter 6:Everything About Spiritual Life by Swami Krishnananda

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(June 27,2013) Spiritual Message for the Day – Pratyahara (abstraction)

Pratyahara

Divine Life Society Publication: Paths of the Yoga by Swami Sivananda

What Is Pratyahara?

Pratyahara or abstraction is that by which the senses do not associate with their own objects and imitate, as it were, the nature of the mind-stuff (Chitta).

NOTES

Pratyahara is abstraction. It is the withdrawal of the Indriyas from the objects. The senses are assimilated in the mind which is rendered pure through the practice of Yama, Niyama and Pranayama. The mind becomes more calm now. The nature of the Indriyas is to have always connection with the objects. Where the vision is turned outward (Bahirmukha Vritti), the rush of fleeting events engages the mind. The outgoing energies of the mind begin to play. When they are obstructed by the practice of Pratyahara, the other course for them is to mix with the mind and to be absorbed in the mind. The mind will not assume any form of any object. Hitherto, the Indriyas were following the mind like the other bees which follow the queen bee. Just as the bees fly as the queen bee flies, and sit as it sits down, so also, the Indriyas become restrained as the mind is restrained.

Pratyahara itself is termed as Yoga, as it is the most important Anga in Yoga Sadhana. This is the fifth rung in the Yogic ladder. The first four rungs deal with ethical training and purification of body, mind and Nadis. Now with Pratyahara, proper Yoga begins which eventually culminates in Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi. Hence in Kathopanishad also in Part VI, Sloka 11, you will find: That firm control of the senses, they regard as Yoga. Again in the same Upanishad it is stated in Part IV, Sloka 1: The Self-existent created the senses outgoing, therefore, one sees outside and not the Atman within. Some intelligent man, with his senses turned away from their object, desirous of immortality, sees the Atman within.

Benefits of Pratyahara

Thence (from the practice of Pratyahara), comes the supreme mastery over the senses.

NOTES

Yogins enjoy sound, etc., without Raga and Dvesha. Worldly persons enjoy with Raga and Dvesha. This is the difference. The Yogi, not becoming a slave of the Vishayas, enjoys as a master out of his own free will. The Yogi enjoys by remaining as Tatastha (quite indifferent) with Raga and Dvesha experiencing the effects viz., pleasure and pain. The Indriyas cannot grasp the objects even though they are placed before them. This is Indriya Jaya. There is a difference between control and supreme control. By controlling one Indriya alone, the other four will not come under your control. When the mind is rendered pure and one-pointed and when it is turned inwards towards the Purusha, then and then alone supreme control of all organs follows.

He who has practised Pratyahara can have good concentration and meditation. His mind is always peaceful. This demands patience and constant practice. It takes some years before one is well-established in Pratyahara. He who has mastery over Pratyahara will never complain of Vikshepa or distraction of mind. He can sit in a place in a busy city where four roads meet and meditate whenever he likes. He does not want a cave for meditation. Just as the tortoise draws in on all sides its limbs, so also, the Yogi withdraws all his senses from the objects of sense through the practice of Pratyahara. Pratyahara gives power to the practitioner. When the Indriyas are withdrawn from the objects, then you can fix the mind on a particular point. It is Dharana or concentration which is dealt with in the next chapter. Pratyahara and Dharana are interdependent. You cannot practise one without the other.

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Paths of the Yoga by Swami Sivananda
Pratyahara or Abstraction by Swami Krishnananda
 

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June 25,2013 Spiritual message for The Day - Do You Want Time To Think (about) God?

Do You Want Time To Think (about) God?

Divine Life Society Publication: Everything About Spiritual Life by Swami Krishnananda

 

The cosmos is one integrated completeness. We are not merely inside it; we are inseparable from it. The hands and the feet are not inside the body, and they are not outside the body. They are the body. In a similar manner, you can imagine that you are not outside the world, nor also are you inside the world, but you are the world. If that is the case, what are you looking at with your open eyes? You can imagine the error of sensory perception. A deep analysis is called for here in the interest of any spiritual seeker.

 

You will find that this is a hard task, because the habit of consciousness to look outward and place itself in the limited context of an observer of the world is so strong. Indriyani pramathini.  The sense organs have tortuous, impetuous, gale-like force, which are nothing but the avenues of the gushing of consciousness in an externalised fashion through an imagined space-time complex.

 

A spiritual seeker, therefore, is perpetually vigilant. Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, the great saint, in one of his statements, tells how you have to be cautious, and never be wool-gathering. Suppose it is heavily raining, and it is the middle of the night. You find a little shelter – a little thatched hut. You sit there just to have a little respite from the dark and this pouring rain outside. By the starlight, you see that a snake is crawling out of a hole, and another snake is by your side; and behind you is a scorpion. Everywhere you find little creatures coming, dreaded things showing their heads, and you are sitting there because you can’t go out in the heavy rain. Will you sleep even though you are tired? The whole night you will be looking all around, from ten directions, to see what is happening. What happened to your fatigue, and your wish to sleep? It has gone because of the fear of what is there around you. You can give several examples of this kind where it is possible for you to get highly concentrated on a thing, and never forget it.

 

You may say that the mind is very mischievous, the senses are strong, desires are powerful, or that you are unable to concentrate your mind. These arguments arise on account of your lukewarm affection for the ideal that you are choosing. You may be tired, you may be thirsty, you might not have eaten for several days, and you would like to rest, but if you are carrying a large fortune in your pocket, which is your very life, as it were, it will not permit you to think of anything else except that. The value that you see in a thing will enable you to concentrate on it.

 

Perhaps, we cannot see enough value in living a spiritual life. There are so many mistakes we commit in the very thought of what spiritual life is. Often, we think it is an other-worldly life. We think that it is a movement towards a reality that is not in this world, that it is far away from us, that God is not in this world, and that we have to die here in order that we may reach the Absolute which is above this world. The transcendent character of the world, of felicity, God above in heaven – these ideas arise in us because of the limitations to which the sense organs are subject by the operation of space, time, and cause. God is not transcendent. He is neither outside nor inside, nor we can say that He is everywhere. All these ideas arise on account of definitions that we attribute to Him in terms of space, time, and causation.

 

If you know the value of attaining God, you will think nothing else in your mind. But you do not believe that there is as much value as the scriptures, saints and sages say because you think that there is some value in this world also. Who can say that this world is valueless? This pull from the world, which is apparently full of value, contaminates your love for God who is apparently transcendent to your sensory perception. Even the concept of God is vitiated by the involvement of the mind in space, time, and cause. That is why you find even a few minutes of meditation is very difficult. Neither can you do japa, nor chant the name of God, study, svadhyaya, or concentrate – nothing is possible because this world, which is working havoc in terms of our vicious activity of the sense organs, prevents you from knowing the true noumenal indivisibility of Being which is independent of and completely free from the phenomenal texture of your temporal personality.

 

Lots of time is to be devoted for this purpose. Spiritual life is a whole-time occupation. You will live for it, and die for it. Spiritual life is not one kind of activity among other activities in which you are getting involved: “I have to go to the factory, I have to go to the shop, I have to maintain a family, and I have to do meditation also.” So, you consider meditation on God as one among the many other activities of life, not knowing that it is not an activity at all. It is an inwardness of your Being to which you enter, and it comprehends all other things in your enumeration. The factory-going, working, amassing wealth, and all other things are included within this.

 

The indivisible Being, which is the God whom you are aspiring for in your meditations, is inclusive of all things. The mind will not accept this truth. It will say, “It is not so. The world is there. It is beautiful, and it can give a lot of satisfaction.” Who can say it is not? Do you think that this world is hell? The mind says, “It is like heaven. I can get whatever I want from this world,” and it gives a little corner in a limbo of your existence for the seat of God; and finally, you will find that God is completely excommunicated from this world. The world kicks God outside. As in Aesop’s fable, the camel kicked the Arab out of the tent. This is what is happening to poor God. We have given Him a little niche of our life, grudgingly; we have no time for Him, but we do not understand that all time is included in Him.

 

Why do you want time for thinking God when it is Timeless Existence? Do you want time to think God? It is Pure Being as such; it is your existence. Do you want time to exist? How much time do you want to exist? It is a meaningless question. Existence does not require a time. If that is the case, the thought of God, meditation on God, or the absorption of your consciousness in God does not require time, because it is a timeless operation of your consciousness.

 

Knowing all this, withdraw your sense objects. Never be a slave to the temptations of the senses, and do not play second fiddle to the mind, which is just dancing to the tune of the sense organs. Be under the guidance of a good teacher, a master, a guide, because however much you may hear, your mind will not retain all these things. When you go out, 90% of this goes out. Nothing is there; the whole thing is washed off because the mind is powerful. Repeated study, continuous svadhyaya, satsanga with saints and sages, Guru Upadesha, an honest search for God and a real wanting it is required. ‘Real wanting’ is to be underlined. If you really want it, it has to come. As it is well said by a great master, “Ask, and it shall be given.” If you ask for it, it shall be given. If you don’t ask, it is a mistake. So, be happy. God bless you.

 

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Everything About Spiritual Life by Swami Krishnananda

 

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(June 25, 2013) Spiritual Message for the Day – What is Our Connection With This World?

What is Our Connection With This World?

Divine Life Society Publication: Living a Spiritual Life by Swami Krishnananda

Are we connected with it?

We seem to be connected with the world because we are dealing with certain things in the world daily, which makes it clear that we are related. But are we really connected with it, or is it only an imaginary connection? It does not seem to be that we are really connected, because we came to this world alone and we seem to be living alone, to some extent; and when we pass away, we go alone, which may make us feel that there is no real connection with the world. But every day we are dealing with the world as if there is a connection.

We may say, “I have nothing to do with anybody here; I am independently sitting, and I will go to my room when the satsanga is over.” But it is a hasty statement. We have a connection not merely with the people here, but with even the walls and the very ground on which we are sitting, the sky, and the air that we breathe. We have a connection with all these, which we will realize when we probe into the situation properly.

We have social relations, personal relations, sensory relations, psychological relations, metaphysical relations, and finally, there is an indescribable spiritual relation, the consciousness element in us. We should not try to interpret things in the world through the sense organs or merely through the logical intellect, which is not going to be a success.

The scientist’s consciousness is the observer of all the experiments that he is conducting in his laboratory. The scientist forgets that he is directly involved in the observations that he is conducting. The moment the scientist realises that his presence is as important as the presence of the objects of observation, he will find it impossible to isolate himself from the study of that in which he is engaged in the laboratory. Then he will realise that the study of the world is the study of his own self. Know thyself first, and you will know everything else.

Tena tyaktena bhuñjitha (Isa 1) is the word of the Isavasya Upanishad. On the one hand, we can have everything in the world; on the other hand, we can have nothing in this world. No sadhaka who is really, sincerely engaged in strenuous practice can forget this aspect.

We can experience the whole world, enjoy it, by renouncing it. The true possession of an object is in the act of the renunciation of the form of the object. Objects cannot be possessed because they are outside us. When the name and form aspect of the object, which creates the externality of it, is renounced, we become the possessor of the object entirely. The whole world becomes ours; otherwise, not a particle of sand or even a broken needle can be called ours. So, on the one hand, nothing belongs to us; on the other hand, everything belongs to us.

Everything belongs to One Person, if you call that Being a person. In religious parlance we call it Mahapurusha, Purusottama. In the Vedic style we call him sahasraśīrṣā puruṣaḥ (Purusha Sukta 1). The Mighty Being, the Central Consciousness, the God Almighty of the universe is the owner of all things, including our own selves. We are not the owner of anything, and no one can own us either.

In every field of life, we will find a protective element operating. This protective energy has to be developed from within us by not diminishing the potential of our personality. What we are craving in our longing for an object of sense is really not there. What is there is something else, which is hidden behind the perceptive faculty.

The tattva, or the true basic substance or substantiality of the object, is commensurate with our own being. There is an atmatva present in the object, the visaya-chaitanya, as they call it, as there is an atma-chaitanya in our own self. All the three processes of perception are called chaitanya or consciousness processes. The ‘within’ is called atma-chaitanya, the process of perception is called pramana-chaitanya, and the object itself is called visaya-chaitanya. Though it is a visaya, there is a chaitanya inside it. But if we catch the soul, the atma-tattva or the chaitanya of the object, we are establishing a rapport with it. It is called samadhi in yoga parlance. Then the whole world, all objects, dance around us as if a dance of the cosmic nature is taking place under the central sun of Universal Consciousness.

Otherwise, if we consider ourselves as puny individuals, pure physical subjects relating to physical objects, the tragedy of the world cannot end. Desires will rise up like waves in the ocean and dash down everything that goes near them. Spiritual practice is a hard job, therefore. It is not easy. One cannot know how a sadhaka moves. The track of sadhana is not visible to the eyes; it is like the track of birds in the sky or of fish in water.

All the three processes of perception are involved in the consciousness setup: atma-chaitanya, pramana-chaitanya, and visaya-chaitanya. If we can behold a person or a thing, or the world as a whole, as a centre of consciousness, it becomes ours. Then it is that we experience it and enjoy it. Otherwise, it is something to be renounced completely. Tyaga, renunciation, precedes the experience and enjoyment of an object.

Therefore, even to become a great master of yoga, total renunciation is necessary in order that we may be capable of total possession and total enjoyment. That is why a jivanmukta-purusha is called a mahatyagi, mahakarta, and mahabhokta: nobody can renounce as he renounces, nobody can work as he works, and nobody can enjoy as he enjoys. These are the secrets of self-perfection and self-restraint.

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Living a Spiritual Life by Swami Krishnananda

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Pratyahara by Swami Sivananda



 

 

The Yogic student should practise Pratyahara after getting some success in the practice of Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama. Pratyahara is abstraction or withdrawal of the senses from their objects. The senses are held in check by this practice. Real inner life begins when the aspirant is established in this practice. That Yogic student who jumps at once to the practice of meditation without practising abstraction is a deluded soul. He will have no success in contemplation.

 

Pratyahara checks the outgoing tendencies of the senses. It puts a break, as it were, on the senses. Pratyahara follows automatically the practice of Pranayama. When the life-force is controlled by the regulation or restraint of breath, the senses become thinned out. They are starved to death. They get emaciated. They cannot hiss now when they come in contact with the objects.

 

Pratyahara is a trying discipline. It is disgusting in the beginning but later on it becomes very interesting. You will feel immense inner strength. It demands considerable patience and perseverance. It will give you tremendous power. You will develop immense will-power. During the course of practice, the senses will run again and again like a wild bull towards objects. You will have to withdraw them again and again and fix the mind on the Lakshaya or point. That Yogi who is well established in the practice of Pratyahara can meditate quite calmly even in the battlefield when countless machine-guns are fired.

 

In the practice of Pratyahara you will have to drag the outgoing senses again and again from the sensual objects and fix the mind on your Lakshya or point, just as the cart-driver drags the impetuous bulls and fixes them to the yoke. You must take particular care to drag the senses gently. Some aspirants draw them vehemently. That is the reason why they experience a little headache sometimes.

You should practise withdrawal of the senses one by one. dealing with the most turbulent senses in order. If you try to manipulate all the senses at one time, you will fail.

 

Mind is the commander-in-chief. The senses are the soldiers. The senses cannot do anything without the co-operation of the mind. If you can disconnect the mind from the senses, there will be abstraction of the senses automatically.

 

If one has intense Vairagya, practice of Pratyahara will be easy. Dispassion is the enemy of the senses. Some Yogic students practise Pratyahara for 2 or 3 years and yet do not attain success, the simple reason being that they have not yet fully annihilated the cravings and lurking desires. They get themselves attached to some sensual objects. Discrimination helps a great deal in attaining success in Pratyahara.

 

A Bhakta or a devotee does not practise Pratyahara. He tries to get himself drowned in the Prem of the Lord. He attempts to fix his mind either at His lotus feet or charming face. Consequently he gets established in Pratyahara. A Raja Yogi practises Pratyahara deliberately. A Jnana Yogi does not practise Pratyahara but tries to identify himself with the hidden Self in all objects by negating the names and forms.

 

Divine Life Society Publication: Pratyahara by Swami Sivananda

(June 24, 2013) Spiritual Message for the Day – Attain Brahman By Discrimination of Reality

Attain Brahman By Discrimination of Reality

Divine Life Society Publication: Discrimination of Reality – The Philosophy of Panchadasi by Swami Krishnananda




The fall of the Jiva takes place in seven stages: Avidya, Aviveka, Ahamkara, Raga-dvesha, Karma, Janma and Duhkha

The whole cosmos is materialized out of the five elements, and in it are situated the various Lokas or planes of existence. The worlds thus produced differ in their quality, intensity and constitution in accordance with the nature of the desires of the Jivas for whose experience they are made to manifest.The subtleties of the bodies of Jivas also vary in accordance with the worlds they inhabit. Thus the Devas or celestials have no physical body, and there are those who have only the causal bodies bringing them into great proximity with the Reality.

The Universal Consciousness in forming this physical realm is known by the name of Vaisvanara or Virat. When it animates the physical cosmos, all Jivas in all the fourteen planes of creation, are characterised by externality of consciousness, due to which they are deprived of insight into their own inner essences. This absence of true knowledge involves all Jivas, notwithstanding that some of them may be endowed with greater degrees of understanding. Being thus bereft of true knowledge the Jivas engage themselves in activity for the fulfilment of their desires. This fulfilment stimulates further activity in the same direction, and there is no end to this process, as desires are endless. The Jivas, thus, drift helplessly like insects caught in the currents of a river and find it impossible to get out of the whirls of the flow. Samsara or world-existence comes to an end only when the Jiva recognises its true identity with the Absolute.

The fall of the Jiva takes place in seven stages: Avidya, Aviveka, Ahamkara, Raga-dvesha, Karma, Janma and Duhkha.

The first stage is when the Jiva is deprived of its universal consciousness and is made to feel as if it is not there at all. This is Avidya, the negation of Reality and the cause of the manifestation of relative reality. Avidya becomes the source of the erroneous identification of the Self with the limited existence in the form of a personality or a body. The Jiva under its influence begins to honestly feel that there is a real diversity of things and these are all absolutely real.

The Jiva in its waking state is really a part of the universal Virat and ought really to know that its existence is impossible apart from Virat, but when, due Aviveka, or non-discrimination given rise to by Avidya, it begins to feel otherwise, and asserts its independence, considering the other parts of Virat as objects of its consciousness, Ahamkara or ego is thereby developed which veils the ultimate Reality and confirms the value of its own personal experiences as set in opposition to those of others.

This principle of Ahamkara, while asserting its finitude and imperfection, is automatically made to feel an intrinsic want in itself, and struggles in every way possible, to overcome the limitations by fulfilling the wants. The finitude of the Jiva being ultimately rooted in its erroneous identification with a particular body by forgetting its essential nature, the desires born of it assume infinite forms and it becomes impossible for the Jiva to fulfil them by finite means. Thus, its desires and the actions directed to their fulfilment, exceed the limitations set to it by the short duration of its life, which it can live through any particular body.

A succession of births and death is the result, with the false hope of complete satisfaction of the desires born of finite nature. Ahamkara causes likes and dislikes for particulars (Raga-dvesha), which is the incentive for all action (Karma). The binding actions infused with desires bring about birth in a body (Janma), and there comes in the grief (Duhkha) of the Jiva.

A proper understanding of this state of affairs is a part of Viveka that should form the equipment of a sincere Sadhaka or spiritual aspirant, endeavouring to attain Brahman through knowledge. It is with this qualification that one should approach a spiritual preceptor or Guru, being dissatisfied with the worlds of desire and action, and with the genuine longing for freedom from Samsara. The Guru should be a Srotriya and a Brahmanishtha, one well-versed in the scriptures and established in Brahman. He instructs the disciple in the true nature of Brahman.

The company of a genuinely great preceptor is the result of maturation of one’s past good deeds, and to such a blessed soul, he becomes a veritable shady tree to cool its thirst in the desert of life. (Verses 15-31)

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Discrimination of Reality – The Philosophy of Panchadasi by Swami Krishnananda

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