Notes from Babaji’s classes in Portland

Saturday, September 27, 2008
Durga Puja Day: Teachings on the Divine Mother

Babaji presented 3 charts:
Waves in the Ocean of Mature Universalism
The Three Gunas of Nature
Prakasha Shakti, The Revealing Power

In true spiritual life one must be able to switch gears — from the Advaitic to the Tantric, from inward yoga to external karma. A car doesn’t run smoothly if one fails to shift speeds accordingly. So, you should be able to step from Advaita, the nondual perspective that detaches from all name and form, to Tantric deification of form — without skipping a beat. And know that form can give way to formlessness — this also should be “substitutable.” Sri Ramakrishna expressed his ideal of universalism using the analogy of cows out in the pasture. There, they all mix together in a friendly manner, but at night they each have their own stall. He therefore meant that His devotees should be able to live with those of all spiritual traditions. Still, you have your own stall. That means you have your own Ideal. But it doesn’t mean you can’t partake of the wisdom of other ideals. “Share the Road” as the signs say in Portland, Oregon. In true universalism, the Deities become interchangeable. There is the personal Deity, and then there is Its nondual or formless “counterpart” that is identical with those of all other deities: Shiva/Paramashiva; Vishnu/Mahavishnu; Shakti/Mahashakti, who is one with Brahman; who dances on Shiva. The Great Master stated, “If I hadn’t searched for God in every religion, then I wouldn’t have had any peace of mind.”

Satsang Notes from Babaji’s Autumn Teaching Visit to the SRV Mainland Ashrams

What is the difference between Babaji’s classes and satsangs?  From our notes it is not so obvious, to be sure.  During weekend classes in the ashram, Babaji delivers 3 hours of teachings.  We ready ourselves for this and practice concentration.  In the early days it seemed very difficult to take in so much indepth knowledge in one sitting (with a break!), but over time we became acclimatized to it.  We learned to accept as much as we could receive and trust the rest would work its way into our understanding.  Babaji calls this the “sponge method.”  Repetition is the salt of spiritual life.  Anyone who has studied years with a teacher ends up being grateful for all the repetition, for it creates links, unseen at first, in our minds, and as more teachings come over the months and years, they link up with these certain foundational links.  Sometimes a link will sit there for years until the perfect auspicious moment when a situation or train of thought suddenly brings it to the surface of consciousness and a new plateau of understanding is revealed.  We call Babaji’s three-hour classes a “pleasant austerity” and delight in the intense Wisdom atmosphere we experience in them.

Satsangs, on the other hand, are more informal and are an opportunity for students to ask questions about what we heard in class, what we have studied on our own, or even questions arising from daily life.  SRV satsangs are generally held after arati, an evening devotional service where elements, senses, and our minds and hearts are surrendered to God and we offer the traditional arati hymn, Om Hring Ritang, to Sri Ramakrishna.  Then we retire to the back of the shrine room.  Babaji opens with a brief and spontaneous discourse to help set the atmosphere for peoples’ questions.  The notes below are highlights from these short discourses and his responses to questions.

  In the second issue of Mundamala we announced that Babaji had agreed to a request by the SRV Board of Directors to extend the length of his visits to the mainland. In his longest West Coast visit to date, Babaji has just recently completed five and a half weeks of teachings, initiations, concerts, classes, and pujas, culminating in a …