Class Notes from Babaji's May visit to California and Oregon

Purifying the Mind
Mind, when it ceases to vibrate, is Brahman.  Sri Ramakrishna has said that pure mind is God.  Lord Buddha states that pure mind is Buddha Mind. Ordinary mind is finite....but "from the infinite the finite has come...."

Faster than sound is light.  Faster than light is the speed of the mind, of thought.  But Brahman "outstrips all that runs..."

We must tune this mind to be swift, to return to Original Mind, Buddha Mind.  If pure mind is God, then it must be that impure mind is not God.  Therefore, impure mind is the only thing standing in our way.  So we have to purify the mind.  This is where sadhana comes in, a great necessity.  When you purify the mind then it is nothing more than Pure Consciousness.

Impure mind can never give you realization.  Impure mind is lazy mind (tamas) and restless mind (rajas).

Vedanta and Buddhism are "mind only" schools.  They hold that the mind is responsible for all phenomena.  In other words, God is not a Creator.  There is a creator god, like Lord Brahma, but even he only projects the worlds.  He knows there is no such thing as a creation out of nothing.  Nothing doesn't exist.....

Your essential nature is Consciousness.  Do not think in terms of divisions.  They are only helpful for the analysis stage.  Once all analysis has been completed, make an apt conclusion (siddhanta) and get on with it.  There is much more to come.  Oneness does not brook even the mention of separation.

When we speak of pure senses, we do not mean to merely purify the five or ten external senses, but the king of the senses - the mind.  One of the greatest of all quintuplications (like the five elements, the five tanmatras, the five senses, etc.) is the fourfold antahkarana and Mahat, the great Mind.  These five are responsible for all of name and form in time and space.  Causation is also found in them.

Restlessness never turns into spiritual experience.  "You need Peace first and foremost," states Holy Mother, Sri Sarada Devi.  Spiritual practice comes between mumukshutvam (longing for liberation) and chit shuddhi (pure mind).

Philosophically speaking, and humorously, there is nondualism, qualified nondualism, and dualism.  There is nothing of much merit below these three stations.  If anyone ventures lower than these it may be called "drool-ism," and then one would have to practice "nondroolism" to raise oneself up.  What does "drool-ism" look like?  Like the face of all worldly activities performed devoid of the knowledge of inherent oneness with nature, all beings, and especially God/Brahman.  Do you need an example of droolism in this country?  How about singing, drinking, and dancing at the death of your enemy.

Other people's actions are not the problem - your reaction is the problem.  The real trick to remaining neutral is non-reactivity.  Then, anger, resentment, etc, cannot find you.  "Anterior to both life and mind is the Atman."   We are to know, "I was always present.  All forms, like the body, are merely add-ons."

In Tantra you are to use the positive to transcend the negative, turn poison into Nectar, if you are able.

You must try to satisfy yourself within the dharma.  Trying to satisfy your desires outside the dharma is like pouring gas on a fire to try and put it out.

In our householder civilization, based on such untenable assumptions as original sin and eternal damnation, the teaching of giving up desire brings up guilt and shame, and there arises confusion about the nature of desire.  For instance, some seekers then imagine that the desire for spirituality is a desire; that attempts at realization are based upon desires.  But these are a different class of desires entirely.  Ordinary desires stimulate more desire; desires for devotion to God and for higher wisdom stimulate dispassion.  The two should not be confused with one another, as the former leads away from peace of mind and the latter leads directly to it.

I once saw a sailboat put out to sea at Kawaihae harbor and, as soon as it was out the harbor confines, the rudder and motor assembly of the boat just simply fell off into the ocean.  The people on board could not steer at all, and just drifted away, waving furiously to the people on shore for help - who only waved back with a great show of mutual celebration.  Just like this, without daily meditation one will not have a rudder in one's life, nor a motor for any impetus towards enlightenment.

Insight vs. Outsight
You cannot be self-realized if all you know is your outer self.  Everyone is good at "outsight" but what about "insight"?

Scientists are great at the art of sakshi bhutam (witnessing objects/phenomena).  Only, we think they have not made the right conclusion yet.  They think there is some mystery in space, energy, and matter.  But the mystery, if it can be stated, is their own Consciousness.  The eye sees everything but itself.  That is the predicament of the embodied soul.  The ancient rishis of India discovered that nature is insentient and ever-changing.  They realized they had to turn their consciousness inward for answers.  They connected the outer signs to the inner origins, then to the Source.  The result is seen in eternal philosophical and religious systems like Buddhism and Vedanta.

The West thinks in terms of particles of matter.  But the East thinks in terms of the matras of the Word.  The West thinks the only reality is external.  But when you study the particle of meaning in a word, you release the power of Yoga.

"Inside and outside" - assume them to be one and meditate on them as one.  Then you will receive the all-confirming insight.

If you imagine time to be real, then everything becomes ponderous and burdensome.  If you know it to be illusory then you are free from incremental knowledge and plunge into the infinite.

How do you know if something is spiritual?  It does not undergo change.

Kaivalya-Freedom
Kaivalya means to separate from the whole mess and become your Self.  To put it simply, nature always forms things, but your nature is formless. If you give in to nature, and let it have its way, then it will mayically convince you that you are a form.  Nature is insentient; you are Sentient.  Nature is full of suffering; you are naturally blissful.  Do we suffer in deep sleep?  No, it is a state of formlessness.  Do you suffer before birth?  No, you are formless.  Do you suffer after death?  No, you are either in heaven or in Brahman.  At present you are having a relationship with Nature, but you should only allow it to be an association.  If you identify with Nature, you tend to dream yourself into insentiency.  To fully awaken, you have to make a break, get a divorce.  That break, according to Patanjali, is Kaivalya.  Seedless Samadhi, uninterrupted, ensues thereafter.

The problem is not in maya, for maya is insentient.  As Vivekananda has said to us, "You are never in maya; it is maya that is in you.  So get rid of it and be done with it."

Here is a jar that contains 50 - 50 water and oil. Water represents the body/world, and the oil symbolizes the Spirit.  If you shake the jar it appears that oil and water mix.  But by observing the jar for about 45 seconds you see that they do not.  This is true of matter and Spirit as well, of nature and Consciousness.  They appear to comingle nicely, but in the end they are of different qualities.  But do not renounce the world out of aversion due to finally realizing this fact.  Observe as well how the two are interconnected.  Then fullness, rather than mere emptiness, will be yours.

All the darshanas of India, including Buddhism, say that when you see the interconnectedness of everything - when you see how name and form are fashioned, how everything is dependent on everything else - you will want out!  This is Kaivalya!  It is isolation from everything that is not directly and essentially your very Nature.  You can get it all back later, because it is all within you.

Vedanta & Yoga
Personally, I have not found anything philosophically, intellectually, religiously, or spiritually that could not be understood via Vedanta.

When I was young I was walking around feeling Brahman but seeing maya.  So I knew I had to get serious if I was to be able to see Brahman everywhere.  When I was 19 years old I discovered these teachings and I have found them to be a world unto themselves, their own special loka of inner realms.

Vedanta is that acidic truth that will transform your mind, whether in a few days, weeks, months, years or a lifetime, but eventually it will.  It is that Truth, as Christ said, "Know the Truth and the Truth shall set you free."

The true luminary says, "The only true Freedom for me is transcending the five sheaths.  I transcended avarana and vikshepa Shakti and found myself in sattva.  Then I transcended sattva as well."

We consider everything in Yoga and Vedanta from the standpoint of the observer.  Departing worldly society, you join the "society" of the Seers in this position.

India is big on the Teacher.  You get two things from the Teacher: clarification and intensification.

Once mind gets clarification, then it needs intensification.  Clarification means hearing the truth and intensification means meditation.  You need to take this knowledge in with a peaceful mind and digest it.  But people are merely taking in bits of relative knowledge and piling them atop each other, hoping to sort them out later.  But what if the learning process gets stymied along the way or death overtakes you before the sorting can take place?  Then one takes all these random fragments to death, and into the next life.  Then, "Supplies!"  There is karma and repercussion by the truck load, and clarification and intensification become unrecognizable, therefore impossible.

You have to blow up the lotuses [make them bloom] with Knowledge, especially the upper four.  Divine Mother loves Wisdom.  She is the Mother of Wisdom.  If you come to Her in ignorance, She says, "Oh, poor thing, you need some grace and compassion."  But come with Knowledge and She is pleased.  Come with love and you win Her heart.  However, love cannot truly be Love until the mind has clarification and intensification.

Do not just prance about chanting this Truth of nonduality in the New Age.  Realize it.  Bring Light to yourself first, because you are everything.  When you realize that Light in yourself, you will see It in everyone.  When they see that you see that Light in them, they will get the idea.

Airline attendants give the instruction, "Put your own mask on first before helping others."  So do not pass out from ignorance before performing your dole of true service; get illumined!

Sanatana Dharma does not come and go.  It is eternal; it only rises and falls. When one dharma, called a "yuga dharma," gets encrusted over time, a new one rises.  But they all emerge from and submerge into Brahman.

Buddha did not find a relative end to suffering, but an ultimate end to suffering.  Doctors and scientists cannot even find a relative end.  So Buddha says to forebear until you realize the absolute end, which is beyond the duality of pleasure and pain.

Anywhere the illumined soul goes, barriers will fall.  It is all in Consciousness.  You are there, so It is there.

Until you understand emptiness, you cannot understand that "emptiness is form and form is emptiness."  And until you experience fullness, neither of these options is possible.

This is why we feel the ancestors close to us, the gods and goddesses, saints, sages, seers and the Trinity - it is because of the interconnectedness of all things based in the innate Oneness of Reality.

Yoga and Vedanta were never separate.  The Upanisadic rishis were in love with Yoga.  These philosophies are the two black rocks you want to smash against each other, leaving absolute clarity.  You need to cut your spiritual teeth on them and break down old habits, conventions and conditioning via them.

In truth, there is the fire of Yoga and nearness to Brahman.  The fire of Yoga will destroy your past and present karmas and samskaras.  Nearness to Brahman deals with present and immediate karma.

We cannot talk about transcending attainment until we have done our homework.  We are complaining that philosophy is just a bunch of words that titillate the mind.  But we have not earned the right to say that because we have not looked into the words via study and meditation (jnana and dhyana) and found their deep meaning - a profound set of meanings which generate Wisdom Samadhis.

Objects are objectionable.  They take up mind space, not just physical space.  Maya possesses this covering, overfilling effect.  If you can remove the covering effect you can see Reality.  But to do this you cannot use these outward-seeing eyes; you need to tune your consciousness to a subtler state.  Like Dalai Lama says: There's the appearance chair (form), the real chair (swirling particles), and the Buddha nature chair (essence).

Getting in Gear
You have three bodies: gross, subtle, causal.  Not one of them is truly Formless; not one of them is truly Brahman.  Learn to see beyond the three illusory bodies into the three bodies of Buddha, and into the body of wisdom.  Then I will have no problem with your preoccupation with the "body."

So long as consciousness operates at gross, subtle, and causal levels, so long will consciousness appear to be moving.  The Advaitic Seers, having realized the stationary Self, have settled themselves in the immovable state.  Simulate that in meditation and become eternally stable.

At present you are like a car with three gears: gross/physical, subtle/mental, and causal/formless.  Some beings, unaware of their true nature, are as if driving down the freeway of life in first gear only!  When they discover their inner nature they will find the gears of mind and formlessness.  However, you also have an "overdrive," called Turiya, the Witness of all three states.  You need to be able to shift gears, then, and this all takes place by the grace of the fourth state of Turiya, or Atman.

You wouldn't drive down the highway in first gear.  That is what it is like to only be in your waking state.  The physical body and waking state of consciousness is like first gear, and most people never shift out of it.  When you shift into second gear you enter the mental realm of the subtle body and dream state.  These are two more gears yet available to us.  Most people are driving down the highway of life in first gear and they do not know how to shift to second, what to speak of third gear where they begin to touch peace and bliss.  People are constantly shifting between the lethargic physical body and the restless mind.  This is the road of retardation, not the road of radiant Reality.

You dissolve the distinction between waking and dreaming.  You do this by getting mastery over both states.  In the dream state you walk around knowing it is a dream.  Entering deep sleep in full awareness makes you a candidate for the "Peace that passeth all understanding."

People think there is something mystical about the elements.  But if anything, the mind is what is mystical.  It created the five elements.  Why not look there for the mystery?

Rebirth, the Word, and Worlds
Rebirth is the primary cause of disease.  Being born without discriminating wisdom is the secondary cause; both are very significant.  Germs, cold, poor eating, etc, are lesser causes.  But whatever the causes, neutralize them all with the mantra combined with living a spiritual life.

Karma and Reincarnation require that you look into a series of prior lifetimes, which makes a lot of sense to deep thinkers.  Otherwise, God comes off as a capricious being, blessing some and cursing others, and we would not care for a God like that.  Karma is also an ennobling doctrine, because it puts all the power for change in our hands.

Karma and Reincarnation are not Absolute Truths.  But people are generally not ready for those.  They have not qualified themselves for nonduality, so these relative teachings help in the interim.

Reincarnation is not to be understood by the way the New Agers think of it, in terms of what personality you once were.  The ego is always unreal.  You cannot find what does not really exist.  The point of seeing past lifetimes is that these were all assumed by you upon the substratum called pure Consciousness.  That is the thread running through the pearls.  It is why we know who we are after awakening from deep sleep, and how we cognize the flow and sense of all our past memories.

Ignorant people do not know where they have come from.  They think they are a body that emerged from the womb as a baby.  This is called the material cause.  Look into the Vedanta and its philosophical concomitants to find that there are many other levels of causation besides that - efficient, primordial, subtle, causal, cosmic, remote - even the Causeless.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God - This means that God and His Word are slightly different.  God, Brahman, cannot be a cause of anything.  In Vedanta we would indicate the shakti power as the dynamism of the Word, and that all the worlds effloresce from there in a trickle-down effect.  Eventually, when consciousness gets sufficiently "dumbed down," you get a block of granite.

Face off with Death.  Fear of death is the lowest hell.  Say to yourself: "I do not exist, I do not have senses, body, or mind."  Be content with this.  You will end up with a simple "I am."  This is not morbidity.  Swami Vivekananda advised that if we have fear of death, we should meditate on it - face off with it.

Some people are walking around lacking control of their senses, this is called a distorted life.  Like a tone that goes out from a bell and decays, people who only go outward are constantly facing the ills and pains of birth and death.  But what if they knew that the sound is inherent in the bell, and that sounds rise out of it again and again?  When you comprehend the Word, Om, then you know that everything is nonoriginated and arises from Intelligence.  All forms are just manifestations of your own Intelligence.

We did not come out of the earth, but out of the mind.  Man is mind (manus yatvam).

The Seer merges the outside (A) with the inside (U) and rests in the third (M).  Then he transcends all three (svara/turiya).

Your practice of meditation is a practice of dissolving the mind consciously.  We do this naturally each night in deep sleep.  So simulate deep sleep, but carry your awareness inside with you.  It is not so hard to do.

Meditate on Consciousness as being seamless - to get beyond distraction and fear.

Because "chit happens" we have to make it un-happen. Your mind is constantly taking forms, so you must make it responsible for dissolving them as well.  Leaving mind outward and untended is tantamount to producing a chaotic world.

If you have practiced the three purities, you have recognized that mental asana is more important than physical asana.  Mental asana is "this Self is Brahman."  So set up this asana first, and then sit in your preferred posture.

As an individual mind you project your dreams at night.  No one else does that for you.  And as a collective mind, you create this world of your waking state.  God has no part in that, being formless and transcendent.  Beyond the projections caused by waking and sleeping lies your true Nature.

If you are unaware of your dream state and its import, or that you have a mental body, then you are relegated to thinking the physical world to be the only reality.  Further, even those who think they have a mind are only thinking about the small box of the brain.  They just have a brain-body connection, and so they do not develop spiritually, what to speak of the mind which is different from the brain.  They just pass out of the third chakra and return through there, like their ancestors.  You cannot work out karma in heaven; you have no solid body.  So then you just return to earth....and still you do not develop yourself?

Cosmic Mind refers to Brahma, Vishnu, Siva, or Ishvara (Ishvari).  Collective Mind refers to all the beings that come out of these deities.

Pithy Points to Ponder
Yamas and niyamas are "merit badges" of early spiritual practice that will stand you in good stead throughout your life.

What does the object represent?  Attachment, obsession, and selfish ownership.  What happens in accord with it?  Decay, destruction, theft, disinterest, boredom.  Now are you attached to it?

Being, shining, loving - think of yourself like this.

People say to pray to God.  But this world, and your life in it, is the answer to your earlier prayer.  Now, how will you use it?

Recognize the Gunas, gain control of them, and from there you can transcend them.

If ignorance dies in you, you are well on your way to enlightenment.

The world is only real so long as you know Brahman to be Real.

We prefer the sponge method to the sieve method.  We inundate you with the teachings so that your ego will give up swiftly.

The Chosen Ideal is God with form.  You are also God with form.  You are cut in the image of God.

Formlessness is the foundation for form, not the other way around.

All the worlds, from the Bhutas to the Trinity, are like pearls strung on a single thread - a thread which is our true Nature, called Pure Awareness.  The trouble is, we get hypnotized by the pearls.