Notes from Babaji's classes in Oregon, San Francisco, Hawaii, and various prisons.
Yogic Connections
At the yogic level, if you are disconnected from something, then you reconnect with it and then transcend it. "Freedom from the senses, not freedom to the senses," is the yogic way. (Swami Aseshananda)
People often attribute sentiency to things in Nature, such as fire, but where is sentient intelligence coming from? It is coming from you. "Fire illumines not, lightning illumines not, the sun illumines not -- Intelligence (you) illumines all those.
To reconnect with nature means to connect nature back within yourself. It all arises from you, after all. "The world is your very own." "The Kingdom of Heaven is within you." From the standpoint of nature, nature is an illusion, but from the standpoint of the Self, "All is Brahman." Neti-neti, appears in conflict with iti-iti. [Note: From the standpoint of Nature, there are many separate objects coming in and out of time, hence it is all illusory. From the standpoint of Nature, we practice neti-neti, discrimination between the Unchanging and the changing. However, from the standpoint of the Self, where only Brahman exists, one practices iti-iti, "all this, all this."]
It seems sometimes that the great ones speak in contradictions, but this is only because one moment they are speaking from the relative point of view and the next from the Absolute view. The aspirant must develop the ability to discern the difference.
Krishnamurti spoke about reconnecting with Nature. Connect how? Not via entertainment, enjoyment, pleasure, or leisure. Connect Nature to the senses, and senses to the mind, and thereby see that nature is not separate from you, but has come out of you. Then you will go beyond the creation theory and comprehend the principles of projection and superimposition - a much more valuable understanding.
The power of the eye to see, of the ear to hear, etc., point us inward to the mind and then to God. If I've lost touch with Nature, I have to reconnect to it first in order to get free of it. Knowledge of the world and nature is not for purposes of moneymaking, but for mastery and freedom. The idea is that if I don't know a thing, then it has power over me. Instead of taking objects as things for ownership or pleasure, I take them as objects of meditation. So I connect up earth to smell, water to taste, fire to sight, etc. -- this connects me from the physical body to the subtle body. Then I begin to find that I am not Nature at all, I am Spirit. And then I can make that final connection that Nature has come from me via my own innate knowledge. This is a mature form of neti-neti. How is it that we say "All is Brahman," but then we say I am not the body, prana, mind, etc.? So, this process of connecting up with Nature proves to us that all these gross and subtle principles have all come out of us. It is only then that we are able to enter the early stages of samadhi. Sasmita is not just samadhi with a trace of ego -- it is samadhi with a ripe ego. You finally see how God disports via ego. If we feel that Vedanta has left us with a feeling of aversion for the world and beings, then our understanding has not matured. We have to understand that we have three bodies: physical, subtle, and causal, and that as we encounter them in turn we move inward towards the Atman.
Krishnamurti, whose ashram we visited on our last pilgrimage to India, says that man needs to reconnect with nature. But when you reconnect to nature you don't want to make the mistake of thinking "I am nature." All your nightmares happen in dream and waking because you are trying to take on nature, to be nature. But nature is insentient, while you are the ever Conscious Self. Fire represents the power to see, and so is a symbol of intelligence; it's inside of you, but you are the Seer. The sun, therefore, is saying "wisdom" because it lights up the world. It is Wisdom in the physical realm.
The West was never taught that objects were for anything other than pleasure, ownership, and convenience. They were not taught that all objects are a symbol for the Divine, the Purusha, Atman. When we see an object we either have attachment or aversion. But these are two of the kleshas (obstacles). We think that to connect with an object we have to attach to it. The beauty of the Yogic Way is that you observe all things in waking, dream, and deep sleep without detachment. [note: Kleshas are: ignorance of the Self, egotism, attachment, aversion, clinging to life. All karma-producing thought are based on these five.]
Why do Buddhists say that objects are empty? Because, besides being nothing but swirling particles, they can't fulfill you; you can't really grasp them. Vedantists add another point: all these objects have come out of your mind. They are yours already. So why are you attached to them, and why do you lament their passing and apparent disappearance?
The Seers/Yogis made this inward journey for the purpose of freedom, and not for any other purpose (like using and enjoying).
[Commenting on his chart, "Yogic Connections," wherein the connections between each element are made to its associated active and cognitive senses, then to the subtle sense object (tanmatra), and then to the cosmic idea in the mind, Babaji made the following points, with regard to how we are to meditate on these principles:]
Siddhanta -- Arriving at a conclusion
Siddhanta vakya shravana: If you hear the words of a teacher and they make you concentrate upon something with the aim of reaching a conclusion regarding its reality, you marvelously make a shift from being a worldly person to a spiritual seeker. You begin to inquire, "Is this really real?" Your questioning is now based upon a sound philosophical basis. Even making a wrong or incomplete conclusion is better than "sitting on the fence," where one never makes any headway. In other words, stating a conclusion in front of those who can't make a conclusion will shake things up. And even if it is not a mature conclusion, having stated it will cause any error in it to show up. Then one can move forward. So give up your pride and ego about always having to be right....
Death of an Ego
The ego death is so painful. So don't have one. Don't espouse an ego; if you can't do that, don't cling to the ego; if you can't do that, then go to work. That will help wear it down.
There's one thing you can renounce -- the hollow self. Should something that is empty be allowed to cause such suffering?
If you can't have a "no-death" of the Atman (Enlightenment), then at least have a death from self-surrender.
Speaking of authentic swamis, they have no ego death, for they have no actual investment in the world.
We have to dedicate ourselves if we are to live a spiritual life. And if we can't give all of our life like the swamis do, then we will have to do it in terms of renouncing the ego. This task is accomplished in the mind.
The characteristic of a ripe ego is self-surrender, humility, and detachment.
You don't have to get rid of ego, you have to ripen it. When ego is refined it is full of Light -- the Cosmic Personality.
Guru, God, and Sadhana
Guru Anushashana -- the scriptures will not be an open book until you get a real teacher. Combine the revealed scriptures and the living God (Guru).
We [SRV Associations] try to renew peoples' interest in the scriptures.
The scriptures are like a lava tube that keeps the lava hot till it reaches the ocean, and adds land to the island. The scriptures of India have been sheltered over the ages right to this time of the Kali Yuga and the West...a time of spiritual darkness (kali yuga). They've remained pure due to the practice of certain principles by singular individuals over long periods of time.
Most people read something and they're done with it. But that's not how it is done with scripture. You read one verse, or you hear it, and then reflect upon it for a long time. How long?......according to Shankara in the Vivekachudamani scripture, "a long, long time...."
So if you want to ripen your malas (limitations) you will do japa, meditate, study, and perform selfless service. If you can't do these then surrender to Sri Ramakrishna. This is a practice too, one with its own special characteristics and benefits.
But there is also Buddhi Yoga/Mano Yoga as taught by Holy Mother. You examine what is in your mind and you give up what is detrimental. Can you do that? Brooding, worrying, low self-esteem, self-worth -- if you can renounce such as these you will become a true renouncer.
The 4 Treasures are not practices. You either have them or not. If you want a practice, you have to go to Yoga. [Note: The Four Treasures are: discrimination, detachment, the six jewels (inner peace, self control, contentedness, forbearance, concentration, faith), and longing for liberation.] With practice of Yoga these Four Treasures will develop in you naturally...almost without your knowing it.
Bhajan, puja, and arati (devotional singing, ritual worship and offerings) - these three alluring offerings are important to do in order to keep the bhakti side of our practice going.
When a true devotee moves to or buys a new house, he/she establishes the Deity first -- this ensures purity of location. Do your Siva puja everyday and establish Hanuman in your home. This gives great strength. Once you create this sacred space, then purity of action can manifest there. Envisioning Thakur (The Lord) in your mind, and establishing Him there in that sacred space conduces to purity of mind.
The third stage of life in traditional Vedic dharma is vanaprasta. The vanaprastin's children are grown and are probably raising their own children. There was no fogginess in this stage, no inadvertence like is seen in elderly worldly souls who go into retirement. Vanaprastins say to themselves, "Our life is almost over, we should definitely use our time to study and meditate." They don't brood and then ask "where am I going?" That's a stupid question. They are the Lord and Mother in a human body. Where do you think you're going to go? Back to the Lord and Mother, of course.
My teacher would state from the podium: "Don't idealize the Real; realize the Ideal." You see, if people do develop some measure of belief in or devotion to God, they usually relegate it to the sensational, the phenomenal, the mystical. They attempt to tack add-ons to something that is already complete and perfect. This is idealizing the Real. Better to see Reality as it is, and raise yourself up to It -- realize the Ideal.
God is eternally existent, pure, perfect, divine. You don't have to create It. People's mistake is that they are recreating God everyday via their mental projections or, as Swamiji described, "...throwing up such queer ideas of our fancy such as gods, angels demons, etc...."
You get to the Father through the Son. Then you can become a free soul in your own right. You should neither abandon the teacher nor cling to the Guru. Just look at where he/she is pointing, not at their finger.
Holy Mother said, wisely: "Do you expect that anything substantial will come without concentration of mind? The mind, at this stage of life, is essential. You will have to take the mind with you when you realize Brahman"
Consciousness is all-pervasive, but it lights up different aspects -- the gross state, subtle state, etc. -- depending upon the quality of mind.
If we do spiritual practices that turn the senses inward upon the power of the senses, then, when we let the senses focus externally once more, we see that they have changed their perspective. But you should know that the change is not in the senses or in Brahman, but in the mind and its power of sankalpa.
If you believe the scriptures come from the intellect of man, then they will change with man's intellect. You should instead maintain the perspective that the scriptures are the Word of God; in this way they do not get tampered with. The seers caution against the dualistic scriptures. They advise the revealed scriptures. You will know them because they deal with one's union with God. They also describe the nature of the world (maya) and the obstacles to realizing this union with God. So God, the soul, and the world -- these three things are treated in the scriptures. God stands on one side, and the soul on the other. The world lies in between. Ask it to move out of the way.....
Worldliness and suffering
The worldly go to the world. The spiritual go toward God. We need have no anxiety about this. Now, can we change human nature? This is what the Ramakrishna Order declares to be the only miracle: the transformation of mind resulting in the building of character.
Politics, maya, etc. -- good and evil -- do not get sucked into the world. As a spiritual devotee you have to renounce it. Then from that position do your work.
Leave the stand against evil to those who are qualified for it. Can you watch your countrymen die and suffer without becoming violent yourself, like Dalai Lama or Gandhi did? These beings are qualified. Forbearance of suffering qualifies certain beings to be special leaders of men. Their actions are all based in sacrifice. They suffer in knowledge, and take it all on as sacrifice.
Worldliness was the problem in Sri Ramakrishna's time, but now we are seeing the effects of this prolonged, inordinate worldliness: extreme restlessness, even a form of insanity masquerading as normality.
You can neither perform actions nor give up actions so long as you are in ignorance. Both of these crucial modes are only consummated in knowledge, and beyond.
Deceitful, worldly, even intellectual life, cannot compare with religious life, dharmic life and divine life, what to speak of beyond life as Sri Krishna shows us.
Sri Ramakrishna spoke of going from the Nitya to the Lila and back again. In this regard He did not mention Maya. But everyone else goes from the Nitya, which they don't know anything about, straight to the maya, and stay there for many lives. They just suffer there.
The famous Vedantic saying is "Brahman satya, Jagad mithya - Brahman is real, the world is unreal." People complain when they hear "The world is unreal," and cry out in protest. But what about the good news? "Brahman is Real." This just shows how attached they are to the world....and how little they love God!
Nothing that proceeds by attachment ever works. Only that which proceeds by detachment succeeds, but you have to hold this attitude of detachment for a long time.
When people come across the great teachings of spirituality they want to emulate all the virtues cited therein, but they try to reach for these before they have purified their minds. You see, there are all these unresolved karmas and samskaras lurking in the impure mind, the beginner's mind. Practicing devotions and meditation with an impure mind often proves futile. Disillusionment is the result, and people give up the path. This lack of follow through is called alabdhabhumikatva in Yoga. Beings try unsuccessfully again and again, but this inability to reach the goal is due to the lack of gaining initial qualification. And if one repeats this shortcoming one develops a samskara for failure. It is thereby that people who were once aspirants merely go back to the world, because it is easier to get success in the world. The "Pearl fo Great Price" therefore always alludes them and, as Sri Krishna states, "they fall into wombs that are shrouded in darkness, and worse...."
What is a spiritual life? It consists of: meditating daily, study of scripture, practicing devotions and performing daily japa, and turning all work into worship. Notice that these represent the four classic yogas: raja yoga, jnana yoga, bhakti yoga, and karma yoga. If people would embrace and enact these their suffering would disappear....their unnecessary suffering, that is. One can't get rid of necessary sufferings; they are the grain of sand in our bed, the hair in our food....but they help us build up our character.
Form and Formlessness
If mankind had begun life by learning that God is Consciousness instead of a form, we would not be having these many problems we face. Consciousness, here, doesn't mean consciousness of the brain; that can be "knocked out." But the Light of Consciousness never goes out. We are all sharing this one undivided Consciousness, but It gets apparently divided up by all these different dreams and overlays. So, as the Upanisads advise us: "Render the interior and exterior into one indivisible state. Then meditate upon that state, pass your time contentedly, and be free."
If you had been taught that God is formless you would never have run afoul of religion and philosophy. You would know God as essentially formless. Though God manifests in all forms, and in varying degrees (i.e., plants, insects, animals, mankind), It is not the form.
Anytime you have or perceive a form, it covers the formless Reality. If you recognize formless Reality, but via Maya (a conjuring) a form springs up, then what happens to formlessness? It merely moves into the background. It is the seer, only, who keeps Brahman forward....
What are the two most important things I need to know before I take on a body and go dream journeying? First, that Reality is changeless, the Soul is changeless; and second, there is no birth or death. These take place on the surface of existence, like waves appearing and disappearing on an ocean's surface.
Consciousness is One, but It can break into many. However, this diversification never changes the One. It is explained by the luminaries as an all-pervasive oneness, not a numerical oneness.
You have to transcend the six transformations. Why? Because the Soul does not suffer them. The Soul does not undergo birth, death, growth, disease, old age, decay, or death.
Om is the word of Brahman, signifying the gateway into formlessness.
As Vedantists, we don't strike off dualism; we don't throw away form. That would amount to pulling the rug out from others prematurely. Form is important. And besides, we too, at the most rudimentary level, have connected earth with smell; water with taste, fire with seeing, etc. By doing this we have seen how Consciousness trickles down into form.
If you're talking spiritually, then when you involve, you are transcending the five sheaths. [note: 5 sheaths: body, vital force, dual mind, intellect, ego]
The rishis taught their children that they were not the physical body, and taught them what it consists of and how it is affected by the 6 transformations. Naturally, they saw that one should not want to be the body. [note: 6 transformations: birth, growth, disease, old age, decay, death]
How does one get beyond the six transformations? By learning about the Three Bodies (gross/physical; subtle/mental; causal/undifferentiated). These three are called the non-Self. These bodies are projections of the mental complex. Science, religion, psychology, etc., look at existence via just the material cause. But there are, on Vedic record, at least four other preceding causes.
"From the Infinite the finite has come" -- and this is our connecting point back to the Origin. It's all infinite, from inner space to outer space. It is just that as one goes deeper into inner space one beholds more and more intelligence, whereas in outer space one finds only a monotonous few elements.
Consciousness is an all-pervasive Verity, but ego gets involved and lights up only one section or portion of awareness at a time. Now I'm with my ancestors, now I'm with the gods, now I'm with Siva. Try to stay with Siva!
Brahman, which is all-pervasive, takes form, "as it were." Brahman is pure being, indivisible, but the body-mind complex naturally tends to limit the principle of all-pervasiveness.