Ignorance as the Cause of Misery

The misery that we suffer comes from ignorance, from non-discrimination between the real and the unreal. We all take the bad for the good, the dream for the reality. Soul is the only reality, and we have forgotten it. Body is an unreal dream, and we think we are all bodies. This non-discrimination is the cause of misery. 

It is caused by ignorance. When discrimination comes, it brings strength, and then alone can we avoid all these various ideas of body, heavens, and gods. This ignorance arises through differentiating by species, sign, and place...........The highest philosophy of the Yogi is based upon this fact, that the Purusha is pure and perfect, and is the only "simple" that exists in this universe.

The body and mind are compounds, and yet we are ever identifying ourselves with them This is the great mistake that the distinction has been lost. When this power of discrimination has been attained, man sees that everything in this world, mental and physical, is a compound, and, as such, cannot be the Purusha. (I, 287)

Concentration helps to attain Subconsciousness

The only way of attaining to that super consciousness is by concentration, and we have also seen that what hinder the mind from concentration are the past Samskaras, impressions. All of you have observed that, when you are trying to concentrate your mind, your thoughts wander. When you are trying to think of God, that is the very time these Samskaras appear. At other times they are not so active; but when you want them not, they are sure to be there, trying their best to crowd in your mind. Why should that be so? Why should they be much more potent at the time of concentration? 

It is because you are repressing them, and they react with all their force. At other times they do not react. How countless these old past impressions must be, all lodged somewhere in the Chitta, ready, waiting like tigers, to jump up! These have to be suppressed that the one idea which we want may arise, to the exclusion of the others. Instead they are all struggling to come up at the same time. These are the various powers of the Samskaras in hindering concentration of the mind. So this Samadhi which has just been given is the best to be practised, on account of its power of suppressing the Samskaras. The Samskara which will be raised by this sort of concentration will be so powerful that it will hinder the action of the others, and hold them in check. (I, 233)

Realisation is Real Religion

 

Realisation is real religion, all the rest is only preparation — hearing lectures, or reading books, or reasoning is merely preparing the ground; it is not religion. Intellectual assent and intellectual dissent are not religion. The central idea of the Yogis is that just as we come in direct contact with objects of the senses, so religion even can be directly perceived in a far more intense sense. The truths of religion, as God and Soul, cannot be perceived by the external senses. I cannot see God with my eyes, nor can I touch Him with my hands, and we also know that neither can we reason beyond the senses. 

        Reason leaves us at a point quite indecisive; we may reason all our lives, as the world has been doing for thousands of years, and the result is that we find we are incompetent to prove or disprove the facts of religion. What we perceive directly we take as the basis, and upon that basis we reason. So it is obvious that reasoning has to run within these bounds of perception. 

        It can never go beyond. The whole scope of realisation, therefore, is beyond sense-perception. The Yogis say that man can go beyond his direct sense-perception, and beyond his reason also. Man has in him the faculty, the power, of transcending his intellect even, a power which is in every being, every creature. By the practice of Yoga that power is aroused, and then man transcends the ordinary limits of reason, and directly perceives things which are beyond all reason. (I, 232-33)

Is there really a “spiritual seeker”?

The other day we were reading asthavkra gita, yoga vasistha. the one answer that came to our minds was ignorance alone was the reason. How to understand this ignorance. It needs an objective observation or in other words. Sakshibhava. If only we can start looking at everything with that awareness to some extent we were able to see the ground reality. We need to identify first, where do we blunder, where do we misunderstand, where do we miss path.

#Rameshbalsekhar in his book puts in simple words. May be these words could throw some light on this Deepavali day so that our search for truth is on the right path.

Wishing you all a Very Happy Diwali

with prayers

amritham

Is there really a “spiritual seeker”?

What does a spiritual seeker seek? Enlightenment? What does he expect “enlightenment” to do for him for the rest of his life that he didn’t have before? If he gives some thought to this very basic question, he will come to the conclusion that what he expects

ultimately is harmony in his relationship with the “other” and peace with himself.

And what does the ordinary human being want most in life - one who is reasonably comfortable in life and not below the poverty line?

A little thought will bring one to the conclusion that what every human being ultimately wants is also a harmonious relationship with the other and peace with himself.

A spiritual seeker usually has no clear idea of what he is seeking. He may term it as self-realization or enlightenment. What he really has in mind is an experience of ecstasy, something on the lines of a photograph he might have seen of the sage Ramakrishna or a Sufi saint in ecstasy.

He does not realize that any experience is essentially temporary, time-bound – a few minutes or a few hours – and is not what the sage has really got out of his enlightenment. What the sage really has is a deep, ultimate understanding – with or without an experience.

What the understanding has brought him is a deep sense of peace within himself and a sense of harmony with the other, whether the other is a close relative or a total stranger. This is not a temporary experience but a lasting one, the very basis of his daily living.

It is very necessary for the spiritual to understand this fact clearly in order to avoid deep frustration after years of spiritual seeking. 

by Sri Ramesh Balsekar

 

Constant Meditation - its Results

What results from this constant meditation? ..............The result of these meditations is that we can meditate as easily on the fine as on the gross objects. Here the Yogi sees the three things, the receiver, the received, and the receiving instrument, corresponding to the Soul, external objects, and the mind. 

There are three objects of meditation given us. First, the gross things, as bodies, or material objects; second, fine things, as the mind, the Chitta; and third, the Purusha qualified, not the Purusha itself, but the Egoism. By practice, the Yogi gets established in all these meditations. 

Whenever he meditates he can keep out all other thoughts; he becomes identified with that on which he meditates. When he meditates, he is like a piece of crystal. Before flowers the crystal becomes almost identified with the flowers. If the flower is red, the crystal looks red, or if the flower is blue, the crystal looks blue. (I, 228-29)

Thoughts that Pacify Chitta

We must have these four sorts of ideas. We must have friendship for all; we must be merciful towards those that are in misery; when people are happy, we ought to be happy; and to the wicked we must be indifferent. So with all subjects that come before us. If the subject is a good one, we shall feel friendly towards it; if the subject of thought is one that is miserable, we must be merciful towards it. 

If it is good, we must be glad; if it is evil, we must be indifferent. These attitudes of the mind towards the different subjects that come before it will make the mind peaceful. Most of our difficulties in our daily lives come from being unable to hold our minds in this way. 

For instance, if a man does evil to us, instantly we want to react evil, and every reaction of evil shows that we are not able to hold the Chitta down; it comes out in waves towards the object, and we lose our power. Every reaction in the form of hatred or evil is so much loss to the mind; and every evil thought or deed of hatred, or any thought of reaction, if it is controlled, will be laid in our favour. 

It is not that we lose by thus restraining ourselves; we are gaining infinitely more than we suspect. Each time we suppress hatred, or a feeling of anger, it is so much good energy stored up in our favour; that piece of energy will be converted into the higher powers. (I, 222-223)

To be a Master of Nature - Internal and External

According to the Raja-Yogi, the external world is but the gross form of the internal, or subtle. The finer is always the cause, the grosser the effect. So the external world is the effect, the internal the cause. In the same way external forces are simply the grosser parts, of which the internal forces are the finer. The man who has discovered and learned how to manipulate the internal forces will get the whole of nature under his control. 

The Yogi proposes to himself no less a task than to master the whole universe, to control the whole of nature. He wants to arrive at the point where what we call "nature's laws" will have no influence over him, where he will be able to get beyond them all. He will be master of the whole of nature, internal and external. 

The progress and civilisation of the human race simply mean controlling this nature........The end and aim of all science is to find the unity, the One out of which the manifold is being manufactured, that One existing as many.

Raja-Yoga proposes to start from the internal world, to study internal nature, and through that, control the whole — both internal and external. It is a very old attempt. India has been its special stronghold, but it was also attempted by other nations.(I, 132-33)