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O self-luminous Divine, remove the veil of ignorance
from before me, that I may behold your light. Reveal to me the spirit
of the scriptures. May the truth of the scriptures be ever present to
me. May I seek day and night to realize what I learn from the sages.
Rig Veda, Aitareya Upanishad Invocation, UPP, P. 95

Monday
LESSON 50
Scriptural Listening
Siddhanta shravana, scriptural study, the sixth niyama, is the end of the search. Prior to this end, prior to finding the satguru,
we are free to study all the scriptures of the world, of all religions,
relate and interrelate them in our mind, manipulate their meanings and
justify their final conclusions. We are free to study all of the sects
and sampradayas, all denominations, lineages and teachings,
everything under the banner of Hinduism -- the Saivites, the
Vaishnavites, the Smartas, Ganapatis, Ayyappans, Shaktas and Murugans
and their branches.
Scriptures within Hinduism are voluminous.
The methods of teaching are awesome in their multiplicity. As for
teachers, there is one on every corner in India. Ask a simple question
of an elder, and he is duty-bound to give a lengthy response from the
window he is looking out of, opened by the sampradaya he or his family has subscribed to, maybe centuries ago, of one or another sect within this great pantheon we call Hinduism.
Before we come to the fullness of siddhanta shravana,
we are also free to investigate psychologies, psychiatries,
pseudo-sciences, ways of behavior of the human species, existentialism,
humanism, secular humanism, materialism and the many other modern
"-isms," which are so multitudinous and still multiplying. Their
spokesmen are many. Libraries are full of them. All the "-isms" and
"-ologies" are there, and they beckon, hands outstretched to receive,
to seduce, sometimes even seize, the seeker. The seeker on the path of siddhanta shravana
who is at least relatively successful at the ten restraints must make a
choice. He knows he has to. He knows he must. He has just entered the
consciousness of the muladhara chakra and is becoming steadfast on the upward climb.
Have full faith that when your guru
does appear, after you have made yourself ready through the ten
restraints and the first five practices, you will know in every nerve
current of your being that this is your guide on the path through the
next five practices: 1) siddhanta shravana, scriptural study -- following one verbal lineage and not pursuing any others; 2) mati, cognition -- developing a spiritual will and intellect with a guru's guidance; 3) vrata, sacred vows -- fulfilling religious vows, rules, and observances faithfully; 4) japa, recitation of holy mantras -- here we seek initiation from the guru to perform this practice and; 5) tapas, performing austerity, sadhana, penance and sacrifice, also under the guru's guidance.
Siddhanta shravana is a discipline, an ancient traditional practice in satguru lineages, to carry the devotee from one chakra in consciousness to another. Each sampradaya defends its own teachings and principles against other sampradayas
to maintain its pristine purity and admonishes followers from
investigating any of them. Such exploration of other texts should all
be done before seeking to fulfill siddhanta shravana. Once under the direction of and having been accepted by a guru, any further delving into extraneous doctrines would be disapproved and disallowed.
Siddhanta shravana
is more than just focusing on a single doctrine. It is developing
through scriptural study an entirely new mind fabric, subconsciously
and consciously, which will entertain an explanation for all future prarabdha karmas and karmas created in this life to be experienced for the duration of the physical life of the disciple. Siddhanta shravana
is even more. It lays the foundation for initiation within the fabric
of the nerve system of the disciple. Even more, it portrays any
differences in his thinking, the guru's thought, the sampradaya's principles, philosophy and underlying practices.
Tuesday
LESSON 51
Transmitting Tradition
Siddhanta shravana literally means "scriptural listening." It is one thing to read the Vedas, Upanishads and Yoga Sutras, but
it is quite another to hear their teachings from one who knows, because
it is through hearing that the transmission of subtle knowledge occurs,
from knower to seeker. And that is why listening is preferred over
intellectual study.
Because sound is the first creation,
knowledge is transferred through sound of all kinds. It is important
that one listen to the highest truths of a sampradaya from one
who has realized them. The words, of course, will be familiar. They
have been read by the devotee literally hundreds of times, but to hear
them from the mouth of the enlightened rishi is to absorb his
unspoken realization, as he re-realizes his realization while he reads
them and speaks them out. This is Saiva Siddhanta. This is true sampradaya
-- thought, meaning and knowledge conveyed through words spoken by one
who has realized the Ultimate. The words will be heard, the meaning the
satguru understands as meaning will be absorbed by the
subconscious mind of the devotee, and the superconscious, intuitive
knowledge will impress the subsuperconscious mind of the devotees who
absorb it, who milk it out of the satguru himself. This and only this changes the life pattern of the devotee. There is no other way. This is why one must come to the guru open, like a child, ready and willing to absorb, and to go through many tests. And this is why one must choose one's guru wisely and be ready for such an event in one's life.
Sampradaya actually means an orally transmitted tradition, unwritten and unrecorded in any other way. True, satgurus of sampradayas do write books nowadays, make tape recordings, videos and correspond. This is mini-sampradaya, the
bud of a flower before opening, the shell of an egg before the bird
hatches and flies off, the cocoon before the butterfly emerges. This is
mini-sampradaya -- just a taste, but it does lay a foundation within the shishya's mind of who the guru is, what he thinks, what he represents, the beginning and ending of his path, the sampradaya he represents, carries forth and is bound to carry forth to the next generation, the next and the next. But really potent sampradaya is listening, actually listening to the guru's
words, his explanations. It stimulates thought. Once-remembered words
take on new meanings. Old knowledge is burnt out and replaced with new.
This is sampradaya.
Are you ready for a satguru?
Perhaps not. When you are ready, and he comes into your life through a
dream, a vision or a personal meeting, the process begins. The devotee
takes one step toward the guru -- a simple meeting, a simple dream. The guru
is bound to take nine steps toward the devotee, not ten, not eleven or
twelve, only nine, and then wait for the devotee to take one more step.
Then another nine ensue. This is the dance. This is sampradaya.
When
a spiritual experience comes, a real awakening of light, a flash of
realization, a knowing that has never been seen in print, or if it had
been is long-since forgotten, it gives great courage to the devotee to
find that it had already been experienced and written about by others
within his chosen sampradaya.
If all the temples were destroyed, the gurus would come forth and rebuild them. If all the scriptures were destroyed, the rishis would reincarnate and rewrite them. If all the gurus, swamis, rishis, sadhus,
saints and sages were systematically destroyed, they would take births
here and there around the globe and continue as if nothing had ever
happened. So secure is the Eternal Truth on the planet, so unshakable,
that it forges ahead undaunted through the mouths of many. It forges
ahead undaunted through the temples' open doors. It forges ahead
undaunted in scriptures now lodged in nearly every library in the
world. It forges ahead undaunted, mystically hidden from the unworthy,
revealed only to the worthy, who restrain themselves by observing some
or all of the yamas and who practice a few niyamas.
Coming under a satguru of
one lineage, all scripture, temple and home tradition may be taken away
from the eyes of the experience of the newly accepted devotee. In
another tradition, scripture may be taken away and temple worship
allowed to remain, so that only the words of the guru are heard. In still another tradition, the temple, the scripture and the voice of the guru are always there -- but traditionally only the scripture which has the approval of the satguru and is totally in accord with his principles, practices and the underlying philosophy of the sampradaya.
Wednesday
LESSON 52
One Focus Per Lifetime
Life is long; there are apparently many years ahead. But time is short. One never knows when he is going to die. The purpose of sampradaya
is to restrict and narrow down, to reach out to an attainable goal. We
must not consider our life and expected longevity as giving us the time
and permission to do investigative comparisons of one sampradaya
to another. This may be done before making up one's mind to follow a
traditional verbal lineage. After that, pursuing other paths, even in
passing, would be totally unacceptable.
But it is also totally
unacceptable to assume the attitude of denigration of other paths, or
to assume the attitude that "our way is the only way." There are
fourteen currents in the sushumna. Each one is a valid way to escalate consciousness into the chakra at the top of the skull and beyond. And at every point in time, there is a living guru, possessing a physical body, ordained to control one or more of these nadis, currents, within the sushumna. All are valid paths. One should not present itself as superseding another. Let here be no mistake about this.
The yamas and niyamas
are the core of Hindu disciplines and restraints for individuals,
groups, communities and nations. In fact, they outline various stages
of the path in the development of the soul, leading out of the marul pada into the arul pada, from confusion into grace, leading to the feet of the satguru, as the last five practices indicate -- siddhanta shravana, mati, vrata, japa and tapas.
Since the sampradayas are all based on Hinduism, which is based on the Vedas, any teacher of Indian spirituality who rejects the Vedas
is therefore not a Hindu and should not be considered as such. Anybody
in his right mind will be able to accept the last section of the Vedas, the Upanishads, and see the truth therein. One at least has to accept that as the basis of siddhanta shravana.
If even that is rejected, we must consider the teacher a promulgator of
a new Indian religion, neo-American religion, neo-European religion,
neo-New-Age religion, nonreligion, neo-sannyasi religion, or some other "neo-ism" or "neo-ology." This is not sampradaya. This is not siddhanta shravana. This
is what we speak against. These are not the eternal paths. Why? Because
they have not been tried and tested. They are not based on traditional
lineages; nor have they survived the ravages of time, changing
societies, wars, famine and the infiltration of ignorance.
For sadhakas, yogis, swamis and mendicants who have freed themselves from the world, permanently or for a period of time according to their vows, these yamas and niyamas
are not only restraints and practices, but mandatory controls. They are
not only practices, but obligatory disciplines, and once performed with
this belief and attitude, they will surely lead the mendicant to his
chosen goal, which can only be the height that his prarabdha karmas in this life permit, unless those karmas are burned out under extreme tapas under the guidance of a satguru.
Some
might still wonder, why limit oneself to listening to scripture of one
particular lineage, especially if it has been practically memorized?
The answer is that what has been learned must be experienced
personally, and experience comes in many depths. This is the purpose of
disregarding or rejecting all other sampradayas, -ism's, -ologies and sects, or denominations, and of limiting scriptural listening to just one sampradaya,
so that each subtle increment of the divine truths amplified within it
is realized through personal experience. This and only this --
experience, realization, illumination -- can be carried on to the next
birth. What one has merely memorized is not transforming and is
forgotten perhaps shortly after death. Let there be no mistake that siddhanta shravana, scriptural listening, is the only way; and when the seeker is ready, the guru will appear and enter his life.
Thursday
LESSON 53
Mati: Cognition
Cognition, mati, is the seventh niyama. Cognition
means understanding; but deeper than understanding, it is seeing
through to the other side of the results that a thought, a word or an
action would have in the future, before the thought, word or action has
culminated. Mati is the development of a spiritual will and intellect through the grace of a satguru, an enlightened master. Mati can only come this way. It is a transference of divine energies from the satguru to the shishya, building a purified intellect honed down by the guru for the shishya, and a spiritual will developed by the shishya by following the religious sadhanas the guru has laid down until the desired results are attained to the guru's satisfaction. Sadhana is always done under a guru's direction. This is the worthy sadhana that bears fruit.
Mati, cognition, on a higher level is the awakening of the third eye, looking out through the heart chakra, seeing through the maya, the interacting creation, preservation and dissolution of the molecules of matter. Mati is all this and more, for within each one who is guided by the guru's
presence lies the ability to see not only with the two eyes but with
all three simultaneously. The spiritual intellect described herein is
none other than wisdom, or a "wise dome," if you will. Wisdom is the
timely application of knowledge, not merely the opinions of others, but
knowledge gained through deep observation.
The guru's guidance is supreme in the life of the dedicated devotee who is open for training. The verbal lineages of the many sampradayas have withstood the tests of time, turmoil, decay and ravage of external hostility. The sampradayas that have sustained man and lifted him above the substratum of ignorance are actually great nerve currents within the sushumna of the awakened satguru himself. To go further on the path of yoga, one will encounter within his own sushumna current -- within one of the fourteen nadis within it -- a satguru, a guru who preaches Truth. He will meet this guru in a dream or in his physical body, and through the guru's
grace and guidance will be allowed to continue the upward climb. These
fourteen currents, at every point in time on the surface of the Earth,
have a satguru attached to them, ready and waiting to open the portals of the beyond into the higher chakras, the throat, the third eye and the cranium.
To say, "I have awakened my throat chakra," "I now live in my third eye" or "I am developing my sahasrara chakra," without being able to admit to being under a guru, a satguru who knows and is personally directing the devotee, is foolishness, a matter of imagination. It is in the heart chakra, the chakra of cognition, that seekers see through the veils of ignorance, illusion, maya's
interacting preservation, creation and destruction, and gain a unity
with and love for the universe -- all those within it, creatures,
peoples and all the various forms -- feeling themselves a part of it.
Here, on this threshold of the anahata chakra, there are two choices. One is following the sampradaya of a satguru for the next upward climb into the vishuddha, ajna and sahasrara. The other is remaining guru-less, becoming one's own guru,
and possibly delving into various forms of psychism, astrology, some
forms of modern science, psychic crime-detection, tarot cards,
pendulums, crystal gazing, psychic healing, past-life reading or
fortunetelling. These psychic abilities, when developed, can be an
impediment, a deterrent, a barrier, a Berlin Wall to future spiritual
development. They develop the anava, the ego, and are the first renunciations the satguru would ask a devotee to make prior to being accepted.
Coming under a satguru, one performs according to the guru's direction with full faith and confidence. This is why scriptures say a guru
must be carefully chosen, and when one is found, to follow him with all
your heart, to obey and fulfill his every instruction better than he
would have expected you to, and most importantly, even better than you
would have expected of yourself.
Psychic abilities are not in themselves deterrents on the path. They are permitted to develop later, after Parashiva, nirvikalpa samadhi, has been attained and fully established within the individual. But this, too, would be under the guru's grace and guidance, for these abilities are looked at as tools to fulfill certain works assigned by the guru to the devotee to fulfill until the end of the life of the physical body.
It is the personal ego, the anava,
that is developed through the practice of palmistry, astrology, tarot
cards, fortunetelling, past-life reading, crystal gazing, crystal
healing, prana transference, etc., etc., etc. This personal ego
enhancement is a gift from those who are healed, who are helped, who
are encouraged and who are in awe of the psychic power awakened in the
heart chakra of this most perfect person of the higher consciousness who doesn't anger, display fear or exhibit any lower qualities.
Friday
LESSON 54
Untying The Bonds
The three malas that bind us are: maya, the ever-perpetuating dance of creation, preservation and dissolution; karma (our prarabdha karma, brought with us to face in this life, along with the karma we are creating now and will create in the future); and anava, the ego, ignorance or sense of separateness. Maya can be understood, seen through and adjusted to through the heart-chakra powers of cognition, contentment and compassion. Karmas
can be harnessed through regular forms of disciplinary practices of
body, mind and emotions, and the understanding of the law of karma
itself as a force that is sent out through thought, feeling and action
and most often returns to us through other peoples' thought, feeling
and action. But it is the anava mala, the mala of
personal ego, that is the binding chain which cannot be so easily dealt
with. It is the last to go. It is only at the point of death, before
the greatest mahasamadhi of the greatest rishi, that the anava mala chain is finally broken.
If we compare this anava mala, personal ego, to an actual mala, a string of rudraksha beads, the purpose on the path at this stage, of mati, is to begin eliminating the beads, making the chain shorter and shorter. The mala should be getting shorter and shorter rather than our adding beads to it so that it gets longer and longer. A warning: if the anava mala -- symbolically a garland of rudraksha
beads -- has thirty-six beads and it steadily grows to 1,008 because of
practices and the adulation connected with them within the psychic
realms of the pseudoscience of parapsychology -- such as bending
spoons, telepathy, channeling and ectoplasmic manifestations -- this
1,008 strand of rudraksha beads could become so heavy, so
dangerous to the wearer, that eventually he would trip and fall on his
nose. The wise say, "Pride goes before a fall." And the still wiser
know that "spiritual pride is the most difficult pride to deal with, to
eliminate, to rise above in a lifetime." The spiritually proud never
open themselves to a satguru. The mystically humble do.
Mati has
also been interpreted as "good intellect, acute intelligence, a mind
directed toward right knowledge, or Vedic knowledge." Good intellect,
in the context of a Hindu seer, would be right knowledge based on siddhanta shravana,
scriptural study. Acute intelligence, of course, means "see-through" or
panoramic intelligence which cognizes the entire picture rather than
only being aware of one of its parts. "A mind directed toward right
knowledge or Vedic knowledge" refers to the intellect developed through
siddhanta shravana. The study of the Vedas and other
scriptures purifies the intellect, as belief creates attitude, and
attitude creates action. An intellect based on truths of the Sanatana
Dharma is intelligent to the divine laws of the universe and harnessed
into fulfilling them as a part of it. To this end, all the prarabdha karmas
of this life and the action-reaction conglomerates formed in this life
are directed. The intellect, like the emotions, is a force, disciplined
or undisciplined, propelled by right knowledge or wrong knowledge. It,
of itself, processes, logically or illogically, both kinds of knowledge
or their mix. What harnesses the intellect is siddhanta shravana,
study of the teachings and listening to the wise of an established,
traditional lineage that has stood the test of time, ravage and all
attempts at conversion.
The intellect is a neutral tool which
can be used for bad or for good purposes. But unlike the emotions,
which are warm, and also neutral, the intellect is cold. It is the fire
of the kundalini force -- impregnating the intellect, purifying
it, burning out the ignorance of wrong concepts, thought forms,
beliefs, connected attitudes, causing an aversion to certain actions --
that forges the purified intellect and spiritual will of cognition,
known as mati. Mati, in summary, is the harnessing of the intellect by the soul to live a spiritual life.
Saturday
LESSON 55
Purifying The Intellect
There are many things which have their claim on
people's minds. For many it is the physical body. The hypochondriac
thinks about it all the time. Then there is the employer who has bought
the intellect of the employee. The emotions consume the intellect with
hurt feelings and the rhetorical questions that ensue, elated feelings
and the continued praise that is expected. And then there is
television, the modern vishvaguru that guides the intellect
into confusion. As a dream leads only to waking up, television leads
only to turning it off. Yes, there are many things that claim the
intellect, many more than we have spoken about already.
The
intellect is guided by the physical; the intellect is guided by the
emotions, by other people, and by mechanical devices. And the intellect
is guided by the intellect itself, like a computer processing and
reprocessing knowledge without really understanding any of it. It is at
the stage when anger has subsided, jealousy is unacceptable behavior
and fear is a distant feeling, when memory is intact, the processes of
reason are working well, the willpower is strong and the integrity is
stable, when one is looking out from the anahata chakra window of consciousness, when instinctive-intellectual thought meets the superconscious of the purusha, the soul, that the inner person lays claim on the outer person.
There is a struggle, to be sure, as the "I Am" struggles to take over the "was then." It's simple. The last mala, the anava "mala,"
has to start losing its beads. The personal ego must go for universal
cosmic identity, Satchidananda, to be maintained. This, then, is the
platform of the throat chakra, the vishuddha chakra, of a true, all-pervasive, never-relenting spiritual identity. Here guru and shishya
live in oneness in divine communication. Even if never a word is
spoken, the understanding in the devotee begins to grow and grow and
grow.
Some people think of the intellect as informing the
superconscious or soul nature, instructing or educating it. Some people
even think that they can command the Gods to do their bidding. These
are the people that also think that their wife is a slave, that
children are their servants, and who cleverly deceive their employers
and governments through learned arts of deception.
These are
the prototypes of the well-developed ignorant person, even though he
might feign humility and proclaim religiousness. It is the religion
that he professes, if he keeps doing so, that will pull him out of this
darkness. When the first beam of light comes through the muladhara chakra,
he will start instructing his own soul as to what it should do for him,
yet he still habitually dominates his wife, inhibiting her own feelings
as a woman, and his children, inhibiting their feelings in experiencing
themselves being young.
But the soul responds in a curious
way, unlike the wife and children, or the employer and government who
have been deceived through his wrong dealings. The soul responds by
creating a pin which pricks his conscience, and this gnawing,
antagonistic force within him he seeks to get rid of. He hides himself
in jealousy, in the sutala chakra, until this becomes unacceptable. The confusion of the talatala chakra is no longer his pleasure. He can't hide there. So, he hides himself in anger and resentment -- a cozy place within the vitala chakra -- until this becomes unbearable. Then he hides himself in fear, in the atala chakra, fear of his own purusha,
his own soul, his own psyche, his own seeing, until this becomes
intolerable. Then he hides himself in memory and reason, and the being
puts down its roots. The change in this individual can only be seen by
the mellowness within his eyes and a new-born wisdom that is slowly
developing in his conversations among those who knew him before.
Sunday
LESSON 56
Transmuting Willpower
Willpower is a pranic force which exudes out of the manipura chakra.
This energy, when directed downward, can be used up through excessive
reason, excessive memorization, fear and amplification of fears, anger,
the perpetuation of resentment without resolution, amplified by
instinctive jealousies, all of which eventually dissipate the
semi-divine energy of willpower and eventually close the manipura chakra.
But when this same energy of willpower is upwardly directed, it pulls
memory into a purified memory, making it forget what has to be
forgotten, namely wrong knowledge, and remember what has to be
remembered -- siddhanta, the final conclusions of the rishis who live within the sahasrara chakra, the siddhas who are contacted through great tapas.
There is no reason to believe that developing and unfolding the ten petals of the manipura chakra
comes easily. To develop an indomitable will capable of the
accomplishments needed as a prerequisite to make the upward climb to
the anahata, vishuddha, ajna and sahasrara chakras, and
to sustain the benign attitudes of humility, is certainly not an easy
task. But it comes naturally to one who has attained such in prior
lifetimes, an older soul, I would say. Fulfilling each task one has
begun, putting the cap back on the toothpaste tube after squeezing the
toothpaste on the brush, the little things, and perfecting the yamas and the niyamas, especially contentment, austerity, giving, faith and regular worship, builds this indomitable will. These are mini-sadhanas one can perform on his own without the guidance of a guru.
Yes, it is the little things that build the indomitable will that
dominates the external intellect, its memory and reason abilities, and
the instinctive impulses of fear, anger and jealousy. Doing this is
just becoming a good person.
Willpower is the muscle of the
mind. We lift weights, exercise, run a mile, all to develop the muscles
of the physical body. The more we perform these practices, the more
muscular we become. The process of strain reshapes the cellular
properties and the structure of the muscles. Intermittent rest allows
them to build up double. Strong muscles appear on the body as a result.
The manipura chakra is the sun center of the physical body and
of the astral body, the place where all nerve currents of these two
bodies meet and merge. It emanates the power of life. It is the seat of
fire, the agni homa. It is the bridge between the ultimate
illumination and a prolonged, ongoing, intellectual processing of
ideas, coupled with instinctive willfulness. Let there be no mistake,
we must get beyond that by transmuting this tool, willpower, into mati,
cognition, where its energies are usable yet benign. Therefore, the
more you use your personal, individual willpower in your religious
service, in your business life, your personal life, your home life,
your temple life, in fulfilling all the yamas and niyamas, the more willpower you have. It is an accumulative, ever-growing bank account.
Of
course, you can lose some of it through lapses into fear, anger and
jealousy, just as in an economic depression one loses money. But you
can also court an inflation by seeking higher consciousness in the vishuddha chakra of divine love through the anahata chakra of direct cognition, through understanding the oneness of a well-ordered, just universe, both inner and outer.
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