Babaji's Classes from April to August, 2013

Dissolving the Mindstream

Mindfulness is one thing, but what about taking up the mind and possessing it, mastering it?

If one renounces Nature and that is as far as one goes, then one gets abhava, formlessness.  But man and Nature remain separate. What kind of oneness is that?  But if one renounces Nature by knowing that it has come out of oneself, then one gets both formlessness and the  realization of "iti iti" – "all this."  This is called Mahayoga.  This is the reason, the real meaning, of the advent of Sarada, Ramakrishna, and Vivekananda.

Is it possible to control the senses if one cannot recognize their connection to their objects?  Controlling the senses means being able to take the senses and mind off of objects at will.

I formulated the statement, "You have to know what you are not, in order to know who you are," because the American people were being led around in circles by a mere surface presentation of the great question, "Who am I."  We do not want to hear this precious philosophy only to be routed back into bondage again.  Atma-vichara, then, is not a mere question.  It is the prime dissolver of name and form in time and space.  Through it, Maya takes a final bow and leaves the stage.

What you are not amounts to all those things you can dissolve in your mind.

If one knows the Twenty-Four cosmic Principles, one becomes a knower of the internal Cosmos, which is penultimate to Realization.  If such a soul returns to earth, it will know the way perfectly, and be able to leave consciously at any time – all via knowledge of these Tattvas.

In the practice of dissolving the mindstream, we do not separate, but dissolve the elements into the senses, and the senses into the subtle elements.  This is involution.  The ignorant, at the time of death, have the elements and senses ripped away, whereas the wise involute.
If you "de-solidify" earth, you get smell.
If you "de-solidify" water, you get taste.
If you "de-solidify" sight, you get fire, and etc.
Vedanta wants us to be free from the compulsion to return to form under the regime of maya and karma.

To dissolve thoughts, one must charge up the chitta first, charge up the "stuff" of the mind.  One cannot go from negative or worldly thoughts directly to The Great Silence.  One has to render thoughts positive and then effectively dissolve them.

The ignorant person sees objects as solid matter.
The knowledgeable person sees objects as atomic particles.
The Intelligent person sees objects as solidified thought.
The Illumined person sees objects as Buddha Nature, Atman.

One cannot know an object because it has come out of one's mind as a fabrication.  It is a matter of projection.  Such a thing cannot be known because it has no abiding substance.  Only Brahman has That.

Nothing is created.  Does a wave on the ocean get created?  It simply rises and falls as a name and a form.

One realizes one's Awareness in the absence of mind and thought.  Dual mind just gets in the way.  This is also related to transcending the human brain and getting to know one's universal mind.  This becomes less a matter of intellect, and more a matter of Intelligence.

Do not lose yourself in the process of dissolving the mindstream; that is not the point.  You are not a practice.  You, yourself, are not the result of any processes.  When practicing dissolving the five elements into the five senses – for example, earth into the sense of smell – realize that these are connections, but only connections.  What am I seeing?  I am seeing the projection of my own mind.  "It is the light of Consciousness that causes the sun to shine," states the Hasta-Amalaka Stotram.  Always know the one who is observing the process, and do not identify with the process.

Oneness is so natural we do not even notice it.

You cannot produce an unproduced thing.  And even if you have a "produced" object, it was unproduced before; thus, its true nature is unproduced.  It has simply been made to look like something other than it truly is.  And, surprise!, that is the case with all the worlds, and with human bodies as well.  Everything in Maya looks other than what it truly is.....

Buddhism

Jujukai – Ten Basic Precepts of Buddhism

1-never take a life

2-never engage in stealing

3-never be unchaste

4-never speak falsehoods

5-never sell or buy alcohol

6-never recount the misdeeds of others

7-never praise oneself and deprecate others

8-never be selfish with time or money

9-never engage in violence and aggression

10-never slander the Three Great Ones

 

Ordinary mind is impure by nature.  One does not purify it, then, one transcends it.  Zen sickness, called Zembyo, is all about dealing with emotions.  It is emotion that is short-circuiting the beginning practitioner's spiritual life and practice.

 

When the realized soul's consciousness returns to Everyman's consciousness, everything has come full circle.  It is only that we need to know the difference between Everyman's consciousness and nondual Consciousness, otherwise we cannot transcend the former.

 

Buddha never meant that Shunyata was empty of the Seer.

 

Swami Vivekananda said, "You are never in maya; it is maya that is in you."  So we must be done with it for good.  That means Self-realization.  And do not worry about the word, "Self."  Lord Buddha said,"The Self is master of the self, who else can that master be?"

 

Refuse to leave enlightenment; lay down the law to the mind and senses.

 

The innate perfection of everything is Buddhism's special facet.

 

The result of dispelling doubt is the realization that we are imbued with Buddha Nature.

 

The Significance of Dream and Deep Sleep States

Mastering the deep sleep state means first acknowledging it and then encountering it.

 

If we move consciously into deep sleep, we could then prove to ourselves that we are truly a formless Essence, that we pre-exist form.

 

The Soul is stationary; it does not need to go anywhere.  It just dreams itself into different situations.  To quote Gaudapada, "The Atman dreams itself into form using the power of Its own Maya."

 

In successful meditation, one brings one's consciousness along, but in deep sleep, consciousness is left behind.

 

People give themselves to Om when they go to sleep.  It becomes everything to them: "The Word was God."  Then they wake up and "the Word was with God."

 

If one wants radiant dreams, then one needs to illumine the waking state.

 

I received an email the other day, and the student asked me: "How do I make my dreams lucid?"  I responded, "How else?  By making your waking state lucid."

 

The ego is what enjoys things....or not.  So in deep sleep, the ego must go away because one does not remember anything.  In deep sleep one goes formless and experiences complete peace.

 

Whatever one has done and become in the waking state shows up in the dream state.  The dream state is what heaven is when one leaves the body.  Therefore, whatever one becomes in life is what is available for one's next state of consciousness, and one's next birth.

 

If you want to have a rebirth in knowledge, in awareness, then you need to have a conscious life and death beforehand.

 

Karma and Karma Yoga

Karma Yoga means to engage only in obligatory and sanctioned actions, and even then, assuming only what one has the capacity to perform.  We must avoid acting when we are restless or lazy. Otherwise, actions will be marred and karma will come back at us.  So, we do all action in equanimity of mind.

 

Mixed karma is the result of doing actions under the sway of rajas and tamas.

 

If your senses are attached to objects they are impure, but if they are not attached, then they see, taste, touch, smell, and hear, free from bondage-producing karma.

 

Bliss comes from the death of ignorance.  Action is supposed to lead to knowledge, and after knowledge comes, one renounces action.  If one does not get knowledge from action, then one is up a creek without a paddle.

 

Can karma destroy karma?  No.  Can meditation destroy karma?  That is not its best use.  Meditation is for seeing God face to face.  To destroy karma, try acquiring Wisdom.

 

Wisdom purifies your love, your meditation, your action.

 

Few will gain liberation at any time.  But more can become free of ignorance.  One does this with knowledge.  With ignorance gone, one can do whatever one pleases without creating negative karma.

 

One cannot help the world because there is no world; there is only Brahman, and Brahman does not need your help.  You need your help.  So help yourself, and when you do, the world – which is just a manifestation of the Self – will be helped.

 

People are only trying to influence others with their ignorance.  They themselves are not getting up and out of ignorance, yet they still hope to help others.

 

The Avatar

Avatars – what do they show us?  They use powers, but not for show, and not to convince qualified seekers, but for the doubters.  Avatar has an especial interest in the suffering and the lowly, and even the evil – those beings who cannot break through their evil tendencies.

 

Why do we sing Hari Om Ramakrishna?  Is it so he will save us?  No, we call on him as an Exemplar, not a Savior, in order to show us how to raise ourselves up, and to neutralize our karmas.  The Avatar introduces one to Formless Reality.  Superlative Souls merge like hailstones in an ocean – in the ocean of the formless Brahman.

 

So when we sing Hari Om Ramakrishna, at the very least, we are taking refuge, surrendering our rascal egos at His Feet.  Or, better yet, for higher vision, to show the way.

 

The difference between a Savior and an Exemplar becomes clear once one engages in sadhana.  It is like the difference between a professor and a knower of God, the difference between one who knows a city via a map, verses one who has actually been to the prime location — to Samadhi, in God.

 

Avatars are always looking toward the innate perfection of beings, as opposed to harping on sin.

 

Suffering

Everyone has to admit "There is suffering."   Suffering is everyone's business, then.  Even the atheist should begin to think this way, for then selfless service can become his/her God.  The suffering of others is our business too.

 

Fear is both a motivator and a paralyzer.  It all depends on mental ability.  Tantra, "That which saves," transmutes poison into Nectar.

 

How do I get free of suffering?  Suffering will always remain, but we can transcend it.  Some cherish the idea that there is a good world, a place free of suffering.  That is the first thing that a wise seeker rejects.  It is far better to begin with peace in the midst of the ongoing fray.

 

If one does not know the Divine Being within, then one turns the body into a mindless party.  Such empty celebrations go nowhere, and only end in suffering tomorrow to the same degree that one enjoyed today.

 

Seeing through appearances is the directive of every soul — to not suffer at the hands of the world.

 

Everything will come clear to you if you separate yourself from the source of your problems.

 

You are your own fulfillment, but you must first find your Self.

 

Knowledge and Truth

There has to be an end of knowledge in Truth.  But that is a far cry from ignorance ending with knowledge.  Knowledge is only inferring, or pointing to That which cannot be described.

 

Vedanta is not a path, it is something to make your path, every path, better.

 

There are those who listen to a teacher speak Truth and agree with 95% of what he says, while the other 5% form their "issues."  So now they have an issue with the teacher.  Maybe some of them resolve that issue and feel a little relief, but up comes another issue.  This is the wrong tact.  Truth is the door to Freedom.  Instead of focusing on the 5% you do not agree with, you should focus on the 95% you agree with.  Swift progress will then be made, and your issues will simply disappear.

 

Fear is the absence of knowledge.

 

Songs in the West are drawn from emotion.  But in India, songs are drawn from devotion married to philosophy.  Therefore the lyrics are pregnant with meaning.

 

Everyone agrees that Love is the Essence.  But we cannot love rightly until we get rid of ignorance.  If we have the thorn of ignorance, we need to take a thorn of knowledge to remove it.  Then we do not need either of them anymore, and we can go beyond that final duality.

 

If you see something as it really is, you will then have no fear of it.

 

Swami Vivekananda has put it in a nutshell by stating: "If you have known the Atman as the one Existence, and that none else exists, for whom and for what desire do you trouble yourself?"

 

 

Ego

Student: "Is it possible to destroy the ego internally, but bring it out for work in the world?

Babaji: Sri Ramakrishna says one cannot destroy the ego while the body lasts.  Actually, one cannot really destroy anything.  So, Sri Ramakrishna says to ripen it.  The unripe ego is the cause of all our problems.  Surrender to a higher power is the answer, to Ishvara, preferably.  As I like to recite, from Vivekananda's poem to Sri Ramakrishna: "I make a complete offering of myself to my Guru, who is an all-powerful wave of purity rising out of the infinite ocean of Shakti.  Whose lila floods the being with a love that destroys all doubts and who is the ultimate healer of the chronic disease of worldliness and attachment. I surrender my life, mind, and soul to the divine Lord who appeared in human form, and whose superhuman actions are inconceivable to mortals.  Whose life reveals and exemplifies nondual Truth and removes the incapacitating effects of relative existence.  May His Blessed Name be eternally Triumphant!"  So the mind/ego complex has to be surrendered, and as this is accomplished, it learns how to shift — all without shifting.  So if you ripen the ego, it will not insinuate itself in ways that are binding.

Religion and Spirituality

I want to give religion a capital R again, said Vivekananda.  You see, left with a small "r" it is ineffective for convincing anyone of Truth and God.  Thus, as I have observed, it has lost its case in more ways than one.

 

The one-size-fits all theory only tortures many feet.

 

Without cosmology, one's philosophy is incomplete.  Without philosophy, one's spirituality will be inaccessible.

 

Spirituality is not religion, and it is not philosophy either.  Rather, it is a good combination of both when subjected to practice.

OM & the Trinity

Om, taken through the Trinity, becomes prana.  Prana, taken inwardly, is Shakti.

 

The Trinity creates, sustains, and destroys all in Sattva.  Brahma loves to create the worlds with love aforethought, not malice as an afterthought.

 

Know that Siva is that part of you that can destroy/dissolve everything.  Make as close a friend of him as you do with Lord Brahma, the Creator, and Vishnu, the Sustainer.

 

Om generates the light of Intelligence.

 

Intelligence is a living "sheen" off of Om.  Intellect is its container.  My body may be a product of Nature, but it begins as a thought in the mind.

 

OM stands for "Original Mind."  But one must use it correctly or it will be om, "ordinary mind."

 

Become attracted to the Nectar of Naturalness, like a salt doll is attracted to the ocean.  Everything is soluble in Brahman; it has all come out of That.  That is why we learn the Twenty-four cosmic principles.  Form has come out of mind, and mind from Om, so repeat Om before sitting for formal practice to remind yourself that Om is humming inside of me.  Where else would it be?

 

Vedanta & Its Cosmology

A sharira is a container or sheath for essence.

The body is a container for prana.

Prana is a container for mind.

Mind is a container for Intellect.

Intellect is a container for Intelligence/bliss.

Intelligence is the first compound, and it creates a sheath for itself called the Atmamayakosha.

 

There is no point of contact between desert sands and the water of a mirage.  Similarly, Atman and the sheaths or modifications of Prakriti/Nature have no real contact.

 

Koshas are more sentient; akashas are insentient, and a good system for measuring the different realms.  Koshas partake more of sattva, and akashas more of tamas.

 

Ordinary beings who read the akashic record are simply playing with prana and psychic prana.  They look down/out from the pranakasha to the bhutakasha.  If they looked further within, they would behold higher intelligence.

 

Western science is pseudo Advaitic, based on conservation of energy and transformation of matter to energy and energy to matter.  A higher and deeper form of oneness is yet to be realized there.

 

I am birthless and deathless.  I am not in time and space; time and space are in me.

 

Everything good comes in threes, called "triputis — wisdom teachings.  Everything that is confusing comes in twos: life/death, pain/pleasure, virtue/vice, etc.

 

Dharma, Sadhana, & Spiritual Life

We should not have to seek for a path; it should be present for us at birth.  So much time is wasted looking for the path, and also debating whether God exists or not.  God is existence.  Realize It and live in It thereafter, forevermore.

 

At the start of yearning for Enlightenment, everything rises to get in your way.  The confluence of opinions will rise to thwart you.  Even family does not want you free; they only want you bound with them.  What is behind this yearning?  The desire to find the Source.  One often experiences exhilaration and desolation in turns; this is the result of having one foot in spiritual life and one in the world.

 

Jnana and dhyana, study of revealed Truth and meditation — put these two together and youwill make progress.  Just do the practice and the results will come.

 

People who live in the present are only living through a series of experiences.  They never know the experiencer.  The present is only a phase of time.  What we want is to live in the eternal moment.  All stops there — thought, action, etc.  One becomes perfectly stable – unmoving – and everything moves about and around one.  The world conspires to stop us from doing this.  How?  Via rounds of mundane human convention.  We think we are progressing, but it is all illusory.  God is inactive.  If we want to realize Him, are we not going to have to become unmoving?

 

The eternal moment equals Asparsha (non-touch) Yoga, also called Advaita Yoga.  Any sadhana can be pedantic.  So call on shakti, on sattva, on devotion.  Let there be spontaneity that allows for consciousness to flow, and a willingness of mind to push through dry periods.  You can always wait them out, but that is less than ideal.

 

Why are we not to accept gifts?  Not just because of strings attached, as they say, but because doing so places one's focus on matter.  If our focus is on matter, then we will not see our prior lifetimes and remember our eternal nature.

 

Yoga is all about getting back one's power.  It would help if one had mastered prana in a previous lifetime, and then one would have plenty.  Even if one experiences dry periods, that is merely prana going up and down; one need not go down with it.  An uninspired period is a blockage of upward moving prana.  Throw out the sandbags and the hot air balloon will rise of its own.

 

The whole practice of sadhana is to get one to the place where dawns the realization that one has always been free.

 

Alambanas, objects utilized for meditation, reveal Brahman.

 

"Kundalini shakti loves to sport in the Puryastaka body." (Lord Vasishtha), but She will not do so if that eight-fold body is impure.  What makes it impure?  Not that it is just lower nature and has passions, but that a person takes it as real and uses it for impure ends.

 

What do you mean by a "pure mind?"  Can one really purify the mind?  Does anyone really realize just how much psychic muck is in there?  Everything is in the mind.  So to purify the mind means to control and transcend it, to transcend dualities.  Dualities are also impurities.  It is in the nature of mind to be dual; but one cannot let it all out indiscriminately.

 

Renounce things, and space begins to diminish.  Then one enters more subtle spaces.

 

Student: Sri Ramakrishna says you can still fall below the heart chakra unless you reach the vishuddha (throat) chakra.  So if one reaches the heart, are they really free of rebirth in ignorance?

Babaji: There is always a chance of falling out of Yoga as long as the mind has not had nondual samadhi.  Existence at the heart chakra is more known for being attended by devotional bhavas, not nondual samadhi.  The chakras at the throat and third eye, then, must be awakened, opened — at least for those who court Formless Reality.

 

Tantra & Mantra

Once you master dravya shuddhi, external purification, you can take it anywhere — superimpose it everywhere.

 

We do not proclaim the Mother; She comes to us and makes us Still.  Then, those who like stillness will come of their own accord.

 

Is prema associated with all bhavas, moods?  No.  Primarily, it is associated with madhura bhava, that of lover and Beloved.  The other moods are attended by raga bhakti when the practice goes within.  Prema tends towards oneness.

 

Kundalini is called Tripura Sundari, and is the Essence of the Mantra.

 

Mantra is for God with form; Mahavakyas are for formless Reality.

 

Vichikirsa is the demiurge, the divine urge to proliferate the Divine Wisdom of Siva.  He cannot do it alone.  Like Sri Ramakrishna in Nirvikalpa, He cannot move.  Shakti comes near Siva, then, and His Wisdom gets manifested.  That is Vichikirsha.

 

Mantra is the sacred art of rapt repetition.

 

Immerse your mind in the Deity whom you are communing with via the mantra.

 

The Aksha Malika Upanisad states: "Practicing mantra on the mala destroys ignorance, neutralizes old karmas, and keeps new karmas from forming.  Mrtyor is not the only means of death.  Ignorance and non-alertness springing from ignorance also figure in."

  

Teachers, Students, Luminaries

People use me as a therapist, but I am not.  People wonder if I am a shaman, but I am not.  People think I am a philosopher, but I am not.  When one puts on the robe of a Guru, one has to be true to God.  Sri Ramakrishna taught about the three kinds of gurus: inferior, mediocre, and superior.  The inferior guru merely gives instruction without enquiring about the student's progress.  The mediocre teacher makes repeated efforts to bring the teachings home to the student, and pleads with him to assimilate them.  But the best teacher is like the physician who appears at your door and forces the medicine down your throat.  So, the teachings must be given in the right atmosphere by the effective teacher.

 

"Realization dawns on the mind in stages."  This insight of Sri Ram cures us of thinking that illumination comes only in a flash.  If it does, it is likely that it will go away in a flash too, and that is the gauge by which to measure authentic realization.  Illumination tends to stay when it dawns slowly.  Make the best and apt conclusion you can make, then, and strive to live in it.  The world will rise up and show you what is wrong with your conclusion.  Then you will make the proper adjustment.  In this way move slowly but securely into Brahman.

 

Importantly, we should notice that the illumined beings who return to the earth, to embodiment in order to help others, are not becoming environmentalists, politicians, or doctors, etc.; they are giving the people the dharmic teachings that purify their minds and lead them to Enlightenment.

 

A student of an ancient rishi once said: "You always talk about Brahman, but what about the world?"  The rishi replied: "Oh that!  It is just the overflow of the bliss of Brahman."  You see, the luminary lives in the body without suffering.  He has transcended the world.  But the student does not know two of these: does not know Brahman, and does not know the bliss of Brahman.  The student, as of yet, only knows the world.