Gururaj Ananda Yogi's Teachings

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Gururaj was born and raised Parsotam Narshi Bhana in India. He lived most of his life beyond age 20 in Cape Town, South Africa.

A brief synopsis of Gururaj’s life up to age 44 is given below under ‘chronology’.

Most pertinent, to this profile, is the period in Gururaj’s life when he travelled extensively as a spiritual teacher.  From age 44 until his demise, which he predicted, at age
56, he devoted himself to teaching groups of people, amounting to tens of thousands of students, the art of personalised meditation and life transforming yogas. His teaching continues in abundance through various channels in approximately 12 countries, thus far. The vast teaching – contained in thousands of pages of transcribed talks and various recordings – has continued, after Gururaj’s passing, because of the devotion of many of his chelas (close followers).

Paradoxically, the long term continuation of Gururaj’s work will probably occur because of an outstanding event that surrounded his final months on Earth. As Gururaj said himself, his work may be relatively unnoticed for many decades or even centuries, after the present spate of enthusiastic activity to promote it, but then it will rise again, probably because of zeal and greed.

This is regrettable but this is the way mankind operates. Somebody in the future, Gururaj said, who has little or no connection with the true teachings given here during the 20th century, will form some sort of sect or religious organisation that will omit the basic message in the teaching, but glorify it in attractive ways in order to gain power based on mass ignorance of truth. This is how many religions become established. In this case Gururaj’s glorification is likely to be built on the foundation of the main event that occurred, whether we like it or not.

What was this event? An astonishingly bright star was seen in the sky, which occurrence was a total amazement to astronomers, coinciding with Gururaj’s ‘last suppers’ (as the event was referred to afterwards). Gururaj was holding a 10 day retreat – a ‘spiritual holiday’ – the only event of its kind ever held, in Cyprus during February 1987. Every supper was shared with all those gathered there with him. It was the only time Gururaj or any of those with him had ever been to Cyprus. The venue, in Limassol, was chosen randomly.

Gururaj was also sharing with his close ones a resumé of what he had taught because (he stated) his demise was upcoming and he wanted to spend time with the chelas in a family farewell, so to speak, ensuring that his followers were ready and able to continue his work. One of the facts he told the group was that he would not return to this planet again for 6,000 years.

He also spoke of a catastrophe that would occur between 2020 and 2050 if the people of this planet did not turn away from gross materiality to more spirituality. Remember this was in 1987, which was long before any of the international troubles, that started in the 2000 to 2010 decade, were in view.

During the interactive talks Gururaj was holding, on 24th February 1987, the brightest stellar explosion of modern times – Super Nova SN1987A – appeared over Cyprus. The biblical connotations are obvious. Not surprisingly the occurrence was hailed by some as confirmation of the avatar status that had been rumoured about Gururaj for many years.

At various times, surrounded by some of his followers in total silence, Gururaj would enter the (highest) state of consciousness, known as Nirvikalpa Samadhi, for considerable periods of time. This is the highest state of consciousness a human being, or any entity in any sphere of being, can attain. In this state of consciousness one gains the experience of the oneness of existence, which always has been existent and always will be. Very few humans can achieve this but it is well documented to have been achievable by Avatars.
[Unrealised humans can glimpse the oneness state but cannot hold on to it because their mind is not sufficiently controllable.]

Thus the avatar status of Gururaj gained more and more credence. Even before he had given the first explanation of the Samahdi experience, several people in his audiences stated that during the Samadhi sessions they had seen the face of Buddha, Jesus, Lao Tse and other renowned masters from the past. This continued on and off for several years.

Gururaj was a prolific poet. The following poem by him was not published until after his death and was not seen by most of his chelas while he was alive. This has also been lauded as a signal that the life of Gururaj was a reincarnation of (various, or one of the) great masters.

“I am your father, mother friend son and daughter
I am the creation buried deep down within you

Respond in which ever way you can … for love I am
Give in whichever way you want, I will never command

You can demand anything from me for your needs; It shall be yours.
I will give it with a flower in my hand.

Seek you father, mother, daughter or son, lover or beloved –
You’ll find only that in your mind’s composed metre.

Pleasure or pain, avalanches, blizzard or rain,
The fragrance of the flower that I give will sustain you.

I have kept my promise. I have come again.”

It is not difficult to imagine, given the above detail, after Gururaj’s passing in May 1988, there was a very strong interest in his work and quite a number of individuals were prepared to devote a lot of their time continuing it. Consequently almost every word he spoke in over 1500 (unprepared) talks has been transcribed and much of this material has been published. Also continuing is the training of meditation using unique personally prescribed techniques established by Gururaj in the western world. This method is highly acclaimed throughout the world by hundreds of thousands of meditators. The number taught is expected to swell to millions within the next few decades.

Chronology

Gururaj Ananda Yogi was born on 3rd March 1932 as Parsotam Narshi Bhana in the province of Gujerat in India. As a child he displayed a remarkably advanced spiritual consciousness. At age 3, his questions were consistently about the meaning and purpose of life.

He wanted to experience the ‘godhead’ and at age 5 he ran away from home seeking to find it. He visited many temples and holy men. His frantic parents finally found him ragged and barefoot wandering through a village street. When questioned, he explained that he went to as many temples as possible, but that “the gods were lifeless and would not speak to me”.

His life between the ages of 5 and 15 was in most respects quite normal for a child in his Indian culture. The one exception to this was his continuing overwhelming, intense desire to directly experience a “reality” far greater than his limited consciousness. This led him to the reading of many religious scriptures and books on philosophy.

His highly developed intuition made him more and more aware that what he sought actually lay within himself, and within all human beings. He came across many names for this greater “Reality” within. Some spoke of the ‘Kingdom of Heaven Within’, or the ‘Divine Spark Within’; others spoke of the ‘Universal Mind’, or the ‘Real Self’. The Western psychologist Carl Jung spoke of the ‘Collective Unconscious’ and various Western philosophers spoke of the ‘Superconscious Mind’.

He knew that this area of ‘Superconscious Awareness’ lay deeply buried beneath layers of conditioning in the subconscious mind. He intuitively sensed that if he could somehow penetrate these opaque strata of subconscious conditioning, the answers to all the anguished questionings of his conscious mind would be forthcoming.

His education and various encounters with gurus and wise sages told him that one of the classical methods for penetrating to this greater reality was through meditation. But what kind of meditation? Practised in what way and for how long? He could not answer these questions himself and he knew therefore that he required a teacher.

This raised yet another question: Which teacher? There were many teachers professing to impart spiritual knowledge and practices in his native Indian culture. He knew that the teacher must be right for him, must truly possess the knowledge and the spiritual force to be able to lead him step by step on his inward journey towards the conscious experience of the Superconscious Self.

His search was rewarded when, in his late teens, after visiting many ashrams and gurus, in a monastery near Almora in the Himalayas he found the guru he had long sought – Swami Pavitrananda. Gururaj was led by him step by step through the illusory veils of the conditioned conscious and subconscious mind towards the Superconscious Self.

After a period of intensive and careful preparation under the direction of Pavitrananda, Gururaj reached the critical point in his development where he was ready for the breakthrough into full illumination. Gururaj stated that “for some time my meditations had been very deep and I knew that I was ready for the experience of Nirvikalpa Samadhi”.

[Nirvikalpa Samadhi: The state of consciousness in which there is a permanent, fully opened channel between the conscious and superconscious mind].

Then on a hot afternoon the long-awaited experience arrived. In Gururaj’s own words: “Pavitrananda casually summoned me to meditate with him. In Pavitrananda’s presence I slipped almost immediately into a profound meditation. I merged into a state of blissful consciousness far beyond the realms of space and time”. It was a state of “joyful, eternal freedom, of immense peacefulness and yet vast power, transcending all the limitations and conditionings of my mind”. He knew with certainty, beyond the possibility of description, that “what I was experiencing was in fact my Real Self”. It was totally clear that “my mind, my body, my personality were only reflections and expressions of this real and true Nature”.

He said, “when I surfaced from meditation two hours had gone by – but it could have been two minutes, so far had I been from ordinary time. When I opened my eyes, everything around me was covered in gold”. He could perceive with total, immediate certainty, not as a mental concept but as a living experience, that “everything around me – myself included – as simply dancing, vibrating patterns of energy. I just knew that I was the very same joyous, unbounded energy as everything and everyone around me – indeed of all of creation”. It was as if “my consciousness was their consciousness and their consciousness was mine”. At the same time it was “as if we were all part of a vast, infinitely larger consciousness”. He also stated, “No words could even begin to describe the full reality of that experience – one must just have the experience to know.”

[This state of illumined consciousness has been called by many names. A Christian or Jew might speak of "God-realisation", of reunion with their "Divine Source". A Burmese Buddhist might speak of "Nirvana", a Japanese Zen Buddhist of "Satori" or "Enlightenment". The Western philosopher might speak of "Unity Consciousness", an Indian philosopher of "Brahman Consciousness". A Western psychologist might speak of "Transpersonal Awareness". Perhaps the most neutral term used is "Self-Realisation", since it does not imply any special religious or philosophical commitments.]

Having once fully and permanently entered the self-realised state, Gururaj could perceive with perfect clarity and simplicity a truth which he had often encountered in his philosophical reading. In his own words: “It was so very obvious to me that having realised this state, it made little difference how one arrived there – provided the path a person chose was right for that individual. One could be a Christian or a Jew, a Hindu or a Moslem, a Buddhist or a Taoist, a student of Eastern or Western philosophy.”

Indeed, according to Gururaj, a person might follow a path without any of the usual religious or spiritual connotations. Perhaps they might be involved in a system of Western transpersonal psychology, such as that of Carl Jung’s. Or one might be a practical person, immersed in the responsibilities of daily life, with very little time or concern for religious, philosophical or psychological theories. For this, according to Gururaj, “was a matter of direct personal experience – not of beliefs, philosophies or life  According to Gururaj, what was of crucial importance was a “sincere striving to reach beyond the limits of the petty ego, the small conditioned mind, to a larger Reality”. Whatever the path, one must follow it with real commitment and sincerity. If the sincerity and depth of commitment were there, then it was obvious to Gururaj from his own experience with Pavitrananda that a programme of proper meditation and self-help could also be of immense use, even invaluable.

Many such understandings and realisations emerged as the immediate aftermath of the youth’s enlightenment experience. But most important to him was the constant, deeply joyful fulfilment of a fully realised consciousness; he felt that there was absolutely nothing the world could offer him that would bring greater happiness or satisfaction than he already possessed. As a result, he began to entertain the idea of living a peaceful, reclusive life as a monk in some secluded Himalayan cave.  However, it was not to be so.

Pavitrananda insisted that Gururaj immerse himself in the world. He was to become a householder and to thrust himself into the complex, dynamic, vital civilisation of the Western world. He was to know directly – by personal experience – the pleasures and pains, the joys and sorrows, the problems and solutions, the creativity and the fulfilment to be found in a full, active participation in the world. Having gained this practical experience, he could be far more useful to active Western people when one day he began his work as a Spiritual Teacher. For it was his destiny to provide instruction and guidance – through meditation and self-help programmes – to many people in the modern Western world.

Thus it was necessary that he should marry, raise a family, and live and work in the West. In order to prepare himself for these responsibilities, he studied English and the practical subjects of commerce and accountancy. In his early 20′s, having completed his studies, he sensed that the time was right for him to move to the West.

He emigrated from India to South Africa. The choice of South Africa was largely dictated by the ease of immigration as Gururaj and his father had lived in South Africa for three years when he was a child, thereby establishing rights of residency.

Immersing Himself In Worldly Life

In South Africa he entered a business career. To pursue a career in business successfully in the highly competitive modern business community inevitably requires much dedication, energy and creativity. In view of this, it must be understood that the Superconscious Mind is a virtually unlimited resource of energy and creative intuition. Having attained the self-realised state, Gururaj had constant and far reaching access to this immense inner resource.

Consequently, he possessed a phenomenal energy level and a highly developed intuitive mind. This intuition – a kind of creative “sixth sense” – would guide him with an almost unerring accuracy in making the immense number of practical, daily decisions that modern business demands. His energy was such that he required only 2 or 3 hours of sleep per night. This enabled him to work 14-16 hours per day and still fulfil his many other responsibilities and interests.

With such inner resources of creativity and energy, it was inevitable that he was very successful in his business career. Within a remarkably short-time he became the director of a number of companies.

It was always clear to Gururaj that the accumulation of wealth should never be the ultimate purpose of one’s business activities. In his own words: “Wealth is not an end in itself. Money is simply a resource, such as any other man-made resource. The test of any resource is how well we use it. The real question is: Do we use our collective or personal wealth in such a way as to uplift ourselves, or friends, families, or our communities? Is our wealth put to positive and creative use? Or, is it used only for personal comfort, pleasure, prestige, power etc. – in others words to strengthen the small, limited ego?”

In accordance with this principle, Gururaj always used a sizeable portion of his business earnings – and much of his personal time – to further various spiritual or community projects. He was a major contributor in terms of time, energy and money to the founding of an Indian cultural society in Cape Town, South Africa – a major accomplishment for the Indian community there.

Business and community projects did not occupy all of his time or seemingly endless fund of energy for he married and raised a family. To anyone who came to know Gururaj well, it was very evident that he had a deep and sincere devotion to his family. In spite of an extremely full schedule of activities and responsibilities, he always gave much time and love to the care and upbringing of his children. He had warmth and an intuitive way with children that was quite magical to witness.

Gururaj’s ability to relate to children indicates a certain highly sensitive aspect of his personality. The outward, creative expression of this sensitivity (combined with the full access to the Superconscious) is found in yet another dimension of this multidimensional man – for Gururaj was a remarkably gifted poet.

Gururaj used poetry as an expressive medium for his inner realisations. He began writing poetry in his early adolescence, and had already received several awards in India by the age of 20. In fact, critics have favourably compared his work with Tagore’s.

One of his beautiful poems, STILLNESS OF ETERNITY, is included here. This poem – as with all of his poetry – was written quickly and spontaneously, seemingly flowing directly from the Superconscious Self to his pen, entirely bypassing the analytical intelligence of the conscious mind.

Winged birds of time fly on,
Flying to the rising sun and turning back at dusk:
A long journey it seems to reach back at starting point –
Winged birds, time’s creatures, fly on

I, that am, forever still, know -
Of no journey’s start, nor end, nor flight.

Your outspanning wings, measuring the sky,
Swift and slow, slow and swift,
Smiling at the wingless snail treasuring earth;
Both, in smog or dirt, in motion bound

I, that am, forever still, know –
Of no measure, nor motion, neither doing’s undoing.

Bewildered you in your wingedness, the wingless too –
Chained by grooves of motion’s air and earth -
Tossed and twirled and set afire, seemingly so new:
To fly on, to plod on, through many a life and birth

I, that am, forever still, know –
Of no air, nor earth, nor life nor birth, still ever new

By ordinary standards, to be a poet, a musician, a successful businessman, a community leader and a devoted family man would constitute a full life; it was certainly the fulfilment of Pavitrananda’s injunctions to “immerse himself in the world”. But it must be remembered that Pavitrananda’s instructions to him were for a purpose. His active life in the Western world was to prepare him well for a time when he, as a Spiritual Teacher, would help guide other active, Western people toward self-realisation.

Service To Humanity

For this, in Gururaj’s own words, “had been in the back of my mind all of those years, ever since my meeting with Pavitrananda.” Over the years, Gururaj became increasingly impressed with the central importance of meditation as a means of gradually acquiring access to the Superconscious Self. It also became clear that each person is a unique individual. Therefore in order to be fully effective, the meditation practice given to each person must be right for him as an individual. It must fit into one’s individual life style as a whole, enhancing every area of life, work, marriage, personal relationships, etc. – in the path one has chosen.

He evolved a method of selecting meditation practices that would meet the unique mental, physical, emotional and spiritual needs of each person. This method is based on ancient tradition, adapted for the ordinary householder who is seeking to improve their life in practical ways by utilising subtle energy from finer dimensions. Advanced practices are included for those who wish to deepen their experience and /or become much more integrated with the Self.

In 1975 Gururaj completed the business phase of his life. He continued to live in Capetown with his family, and took the vow of full-time service to humanity. Thus the remainder of his life was devoted to helping people throughout the world in their spiritual quests for self-realisation.

To this end, Gururaj, together with other like-minded people in several countries, founded the International Foundation for Spiritual Unfoldment. Within just one year, individuals in nine different countries started national branches of the International Foundation for Spiritual Unfoldment (IFSU) to help make such meditation practices easily available to all individuals who might desire them.

There is an important point regarding Gururaj and his life and work which must be made very clear. According to Gururaj, “the purpose of the external guru is to help awaken the internal guru within each person. Therefore my work is to guide people in learning how to experience their own inner guide, to awaken them to an awareness of their own greater self. When this is accomplished, my guidance is no longer required, for each person becomes a guru unto himself”.

Thus Gururaj wanted all to know that he was just an ordinary human being, different from most individuals only in the fact that he had walked the spiritual path to the goal which the great majority of people are still striving to reach – thus enabling him to be useful as a guide. He repeatedly said that what he has attained, in his spiritual quest, all other human beings can also attain.

In accordance with this understanding, he insisted that he be treated as an ordinary human being with no more fuss or reverence than the dignity required by any person, and that IFSU in no way become a “cult of the guru”. Gururaj’s prime concern was to see IFSU become a worldwide fellowship of individuals on the path to fulfilment and self- realisation.

Meditation teaching groups affiliated to IFSU evolved in England, Ireland, Spain, USA, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Israel and South Africa. Various of these organisations hosted public talks, personal interviews, workshops and residential retreats centred around Gururaj, who then spent more than half his life away from home advancing the spread of his teaching.

Gururaj was a key speaker and interviewee at the following:
World Parliament of Religions, Chicago, 1984 — The Wrekin Trust Symposium, “Mystics and Scientists,”
special guest of Sir GeorgeTrevelyn, King Alfred’s College, England, 1979 — Holistic Health Symposium
University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 1978 — International Neuropsychiatry Symposia, South Africa, 1982 –
Annual Meeting of Association for Humanistic Psychology, Washington, D.C. 1982
Conferences/Retreats: Sociedad Española de Meditación — Dansk Meditation Samfund — British
Meditation Society — American Meditation Society — Canadian Meditation Society – Irish meditation
Society. Newspapers/journals/TV: Sunday Telegraph, London, April 1983 — Yoga Today, United
Kingdom, 1984 (several articles) — Civilizations with Enrique Quesad, Madrid, Spain — Page 5 TV 5, Las
Vegas, Nevada — Today in Chicago, CBS TV, Chicago — Focal Point, KTIV TV, Sioux City, IA — Party
Line, NBC TV, Sioux Falls, S.D — Midday Am, NBC TV, St Louis — At Your Service, KMOX, CBS
Radio, St Louis

Leaving his beloveds

Gururaj’s health deteriorated from about 1984 onwards. Nevertheless he would always manage to get to residential retreats and tours, mainly in England, America, Canada and Spain throughout his final years. Sometimes he was so exhausted he would become unconscious for days on end. But he would not allow himself to be hospitalised. He would bounce back from each bout of illness like a spring lamb, to the amazement of everyone, declaring that he would serve mankind until his demise. Nevertheless his periods of good health became shorter. He died at his home in Cape Town on 17th May 1988 just days after returning from a tour of teaching on both sides of the Atlantic.

After Gururaj’s passing a little disharmony set in for a while between some of his leading chelas because he had (apparently, it was revealed after his passing) made different statements to individuals close to him, which caused some conflict. Most chelas did not want one among them to become a family leader, on the organisational front, because Gururaj had repeatedly said openly that every chela who had the determination to do so should do whatever he/she wished to do in order to promote his teachings to humankind.

The outcome of the petty disagreements was seemingly a good one. Five new organisations quickly got started (in England, Spain, Canada and Denmark) to add to the seven already existent. Several more started in the following decade. More will undoubtedly develop. Because of the strong connections established between Gururaj’s chelas when he was alive, the strength of their bonds overcame the petty disagreements that had arisen and all the societies (etc.), old ones and new ones, have to date (2005) established continued positive, productive, communication between them. This has helped expand the teaching throughout the world.

This all seems to be panning out in accordance with Gururaj’s edicts: a) that each should follow their own path; each has their own skills in a work sense, b) that an individual in business on their own account is a supreme self-responsibility opportunity and benefit is gained from the growth opportunities, c) that an individual will put more effort into their own show than someone else’s and d) one organisation growing too large is not good in respect of fairness because of  the unnecessary power that inevitably ensues.

In short, a great master has been in our presence. The love and spiritual energy radiating from this man, which was impossible to adequately describe during his life, is being transmitted to the world and is undoubtedly felt by those coming to his teaching – decades after his demise.

I would advise everyone whose path brings them to the information herein to at least give Gururaj’s techniques a try. They are not connected to any religion and are not counter to any beliefs either. They are simply yogas for self improvement; such simple practices that are mostly done during day to day activity, by using slight nuances of the mind, which can bring about virtually any change you could wish for.

“If we do not pursue the things in life for which we have a real need, then we are wasting a very valuable life”
The Lover  I wake up in the morning to these memories to which I have attached my identity, my sense of being a “me” that has to do something in life.  This “me” has created the circumstances that I want to escape from. I don’t want them for me. I feel I don’t want to fight the fight. I don’t want all these troubles that the day brings. Beloved one, please let me know what I do today to change this state in which I feel myself to be?
The Beloved  Life must be a fight; everything is a fight.  Every pore of your body’s fighting.  Every heartbeat that beats in your chest is a fighting for survival.  Your entire biological, physiological, psychological being is composed of fighting all the time for its survival.  That produces problems for you.  As soon as you let go, then only can peace descend.  There’s an inner mechanism in the mind that controls those actions of yours. So let it control. Why fight?
The Lover:  Yes but these demanding circumstances of my day overwhelm me and I feel unable to cope with them. I fall into depression and feel unable to find any happiness in this fight.
The Beloved:  You are already practicing some form of meditation by now, and you will indeed get meditation techniques and a meditation teacher suited for your needs.  But that’s not enough.  Meditation will give you strength to run around in the maze, to find the way out.
But also ask yourself: why you want to be out of the maze?  What’s wrong with the maze?  What’s wrong with the depression?  Better start thinking, “Let me become more depressed!” As funny as it might seem, this affirmation includes an acceptance that will change the way you fight the fight.
All fights do not need to be an uphill battle.  You make a mistake by regarding all fights to be uphill.  You can fight downhill and make it easier for you with the same effect that you desire. It’s just an attitude of mind.
Firstly, ask yourself what is the cause of your fight. Is the cause you are fighting for a good cause? And as soon as we find that the cause is good, the fight disappears from the fight because it’s a good cause.
Looking at yourself honestly and deeply in the mirror, ask yourself what you are fighting for?  The answer will come.
Are you fighting for lust, greed, avarice, covetousness? Fighting comes about because you start comparing yourself to various other things.  We compare with the Joneses, that the Joneses have a better car than I have, or the Joneses have a better house than I have.  So you start fighting, and you start fighting to get a better car or a better house instead of being contented with what you have.  And what is contentment?  It is the blood brother of peace. To be contented with what we have is acceptance.
So today, in front of your day, set your attitude on the level of the goodness; and when that is held in your mind firmly, that the cause is good, my motivation is good, then come what may, rain or shine, you accept it.  In this way reconciliation takes place between fighting and acceptance. This is where one’s discrimination comes into play, one’s motivation comes into play.
Motivation is the source of our actions. And it is by looking into these motivations that we can change our perception of the fight involved in living.
The Lover: I still don’t understand if I need to fight or accept the things in life that bother me.  I feel that I need to push against things that I think are wrong.
The Beloved  We do not need to fight at all because fighting only breeds more fighting within yourself, but that does not mean that you must take everything too complacently.  So a balance has to be found between fighting and acceptance.
Resist not evil.  One of the truest sayings in the world. Don’t resist.  Whatever the troubles the day will bring, remember that it only happens through Grace, and in any case you have created it yourself, for yourself through your own experiences. Learn from Judo or Kung Fu or the martial arts. The secret lies in not resisting.  Let the momentum of the attacker make the attacker fall.  You just flow and let him bypass so the energy he is exerting throws him down, not you.  And there lies the art of life.  You resist too much.
If you could only allow things to pass by.  Know that all this too will pass.  Then fighting becomes unnecessary, then acceptance takes the place.
You need to find the reconciliation of the opposing factors that are acting upon you today. It is the conflict created by these opposing factors that are creating the troubles your day brings to you and you need to reconcile these opposing factors. Because there is nothing wrong with these opposing factors. One part of your mind is pulling in one direction, and another part of your mind is pulling in another direction and this is creating a conflict in your mind. This conflict in itself is draining all your energy. But now, just go a bit deeper within yourself.
Stop now reading and ask your self: What I am fighting for?  Just close your eyes and think about it honestly, as honestly as you can.
The Lover:  Should I always renounce  fighting, then?
The Beloved:  No. This does not mean that if someone attacks your home, attacks your wife and children that you are not going to put up a fight, because here is a good motivation.  You are a protector of those that are weak: your wife and your children.  So in certain circumstances fighting is necessary.  In other circumstances, acceptance is necessary.  You can accept to fight and you can fight to accept.
The Lover:  That is easy when you are in good circumstances, but if your circumstances are bad you feel lost and not know what path to follow.
The Beloved:  Refuse to see whatever circumstance as good or bad. You rise above them both, and you land in the area of non-acceptance. Non-acceptance of this mundane world around you, with all its negativities. And if you reject all the negativities, you also reject all the positiveness and be in a neutral sphere where nothing can hurt you.
Life contains both these things, negativity and positivity.  But if you can rise above the good and the bad, then life assumes different proportions.  You’re minimizing the adverse circumstances and not enlarging them. Most of the fighting takes place because we create mountains out of molehills.  It is human nature at this present stage of evolution.  Everything, and especially hurtful things, assumes a great big proportion.
The Lover:  How can I know when I have to fight and when I have to just let be, then?
The Beloved:  Discrimination has to be developed by oneself to know when to fight and what to fight.
It is no use trying to analyze the mind to find discrimination.
Analysis is not necessarily discrimination, because all forms of analysis are biased.
Know that it is at the higher Sattvic levels of the mind, where through our personal effort, and through our meditations, illumination may transform our way of seeing, of discerning one thing from another.
The Beloved:  All forms of analysis are patterned.  If you visit some other country whose customs you do not understand with your analytical mind, you’d find those customs entirely wrong because it does not fit in with your upbringing, your learning, your circumstances and your lifestyle.
Analysis does not form any part of discrimination whatsoever, yet it could be used as a tool if analysis is used objectively.  But it plays a very minor part.
True discrimination comes only when one can really be quiet and silent within oneself.  Then a spontaneous thought arises within one and that spontaneity would be of such power that we would have the ability to accept anything and everything, anything and everything firstly of ourselves:  If I am lame, I accept that lameness.  If I am blind I accept that blindness, and I do not indulge in wishful thinking that I should not be blind, or if I were not blind I would be doing this and I would be doing that.  So here a fantasy world is conjured up.  Most people live in this fantasy world.  They don’t live within themselves.  Most people indulge in a form of daydreaming where they dream of things which they are not.  They place themselves in a position in their minds of which they are totally incapable.
We all want to be in a different place than the one in which we are. We often hear ourselves saying: ‘If only I had more money I would…  If only I had a lover I would… If only I had…’ You name it.    It seems as if we simply do not wish to be in the place and circumstances where we find ourselves.
But, surprisingly enough, we are in the best place we can be. It is the place that has come about which will enable us to proceed along our path of evolution through the power of Grace and karma, which work in accordance with the laws of the universe.
The Lover:  But many of the problems I have today are because of actions that others have perpetrated. I cannot do anything about that. I cannot stop others doing what they do.
The Beloved:  We are in a habit of always blaming someone else.  We blame circumstances, we blame friends, we blame parents.  If only my parents had brought me up in a different way, then I would be a different person.  We should be thankful to our parents for allowing themselves to be vehicles for us to be born through.  Because we chose our parents in that other world – in a different dimension, if those are the words you’d like to use.
A person is born into this world because of his own volition because of his own nature, because of the force of evolution and everything that he is born to, healthy or ill, or born into a rich family or a poor family (whatever it can be), is just solely because of himself.  Now when the child grows up and starts thinking, then he must realize this factor, and this is what all teachers should teach: Be responsible for yourself.  And this is not so difficult to do.  It’s not difficult at all.   It might sound difficult, but it is not.
It is very easy to admit that we are responsible for our actions.  Do not take the environment or the people around you into consideration there at all – as far as you are concerned; only take them into consideration as far as they are concerned.  So no harm is done to them.
Whatever circumstances you are placed in, you have definitely created yourself and any human being with the littlest amount of thinking ability can realize that.  So, discrimination develops with the sense of responsibility.  All these qualities we have spoken about are all intertwined.  They are not separate from each other.  One facet becomes polished. Then it enhances the entire diamond until all the facets are polished.
So write down now this three pillars, because you will be going through them in our website to unfold those natural qualities or virtues within yourself. They represent the three pillars with which we stand in front of our day and circumstances. Responsibility, Discrimination and Acceptance.
The Beloved:  As you assume responsibility for yourself, you will become more accepting of yourself.  You will become more discriminating in your thoughts and actions.  These are few very simple principles to take into consideration, simple principles to practice.  And as discrimination increases, the sting of hurt decreases until nothing will hurt you.
So say to yourself now: “I accept myself today as I am today and if today is good as we all say, tomorrow takes care of itself.  Today if I do my work well then tomorrow will be a good day for me”
These are simple principles.  It does not require even deep philosophical or psychological insight, just ordinary common sense.
The Lover:  But if the situation I am in makes me angry, should I withhold that anger and accept whatever makes me angry as good?
The Beloved:  Acceptance of any situation has a certain pacifying effect upon you as long as the acceptance does not become repression.  It depends upon situations, it depends upon temperament, it depends upon personality.  It is good at times to vent your feelings and say, “John, you are talking rubbish!  Don’t you think that this is the better way?”  So here you’re combining aggression and acceptance. “I like the way you are doing it, I accept it.  But do you not think that this road might be the better road?”  So when you find the middle road, or the combination between aggression and acceptance, then you are being yourself.
So, both are necessary in a person’s life.  Acceptance is necessary, and aggression is also necessary where required.
So then, when the heart runs away with you in surrender and acceptance, you put on the brake of analysis.  You put on the brake of the mind.  And when the mind runs away, you put on the brake of the heart to bring a balance.  And that’s what we need, a balance.
Because this world we live in cannot accept heart alone; it has to be combined with mind.  So when the man finds the balance between mind and heart, and when mind and heart joins together, then life is lived in a balanced way.  There is balance! And that is what we’re after: neither the one extreme nor the other.
So find the middle road between acceptance and aggression.  And aggression does not necessarily mean violence where you go around in pubs and punch each other up.  That’s stupidity, of course.
There are times when you have to be accepting, but there must be a reason to it.  You’re working in a job.  You don’t like the job very much, and you don’t like your boss.  You feel like punching him in the nose.  But in your field of work there are no other jobs available, and you have a wife and three kids at home.  So what do you do?  Chuck the job and make your wife and kids go hungry?  That kind of aggression is wrong.  There you have to be accepting, or at least, “I don’t like my job, I don’t like my boss, but I’m going to do this job because I have my responsibilities at home.  My wife and kids need bread!”  So you accept the situation until you find another situation that you like.
And nowadays, all over the world, things are becoming more and more difficult.  Unemployment is rising, and you just can’t get what you want.  And ninety-nine percent of the world’s population don’t like their jobs.  In the beginning there’s an enthusiasm, and that enthusiasm dies away and you do not like what you’re doing, but you have to do it.  That is acceptance.  That is surrender.  You are surrendering to a particular set of circumstances whenever it is necessary.
So, we find the balance between acceptance, surrender, and aggression.  For surrender and aggression are but two sides of the same coin.  It is the same energy that can be used in either way.  But behind that all, you preserve the silence.  Let the world go mad, but you remain sane.
The Lover:  It would be nice to have that willingness and happiness towards the day I am just about to live. To be so devoted to the actions I have to perform today.  How can I develop that devotion to my day and the actions it demands from me?
The Beloved:  When these qualities of responsibility, discrimination and acceptance are developed to a greater or a lesser degree, then devotion develops in us.
Devotion not necessarily to one’s children, or one’s wife, or husband or teacher or whatever, but just a general sense of devotion develops where everything we do, we become devoted to.  When we wash the dishes in the kitchen, we are devoted in that washing.  There is an innocence which gives joy.
The Lover:  How can I develop that devotion to my day and the actions it demands from me?
The Beloved:  Now if we want to develop this general sense of devotion to a finer level then we direct it from the general sense to a particular sense.
What I am trying to tell you is that whatever circumstances you are in, there is always a way.  And where there’s a way, there is a will. And why your will? Thy will. And the way is smoother, better, more pleasant, more life supporting because it’s Divine will.
The Lover:  Beloved,  I have dreams, desires I want to fulfill, achievements I want for my perfection. Should I not seek satisfaction of my desires? Is that not a way to perfect myself?
The Beloved:  The whole concept of fulfilling one’s desires to find satisfaction is wrong.  And the second concept that the satisfaction of desires leads one to perfection is equally wrong.  But the way out is this, is to go beyond desires and go beyond the ideas of satisfaction.  And what do you get in return when you go beyond the idea of satisfaction?  You get contentment.  You feel contented.  When you feel contented, you become more accepting and this does not mean loss of ambition.  Loss of ambition would be self-complacency.  That is something different.  Have ambition, why not to improve your lot, why not?  Nothing wrong with that.  But what is the motivation?  That has to be carefully examined.
To improve one’s lot does not really apply to mundane things (although, of course, they are necessary).  Rather it applies to one’s inner self  – where contentment really stems from.  That is where contentment comes from.  So when the mind loses the idea of satisfaction, his desires will become less and less and less.  Or if they do not become less, they will at least be sublimated.  And when that calmness comes, then the force within comes to the fore as a balm, bringing with it contentment, not satisfaction, contentment, because a contented man is a happy man.  He accepts his lot and yet does something about it.  He says, “Well today, circumstances are such…  Fine, I accept it.  I’m not going to suffer the pangs of dissatisfaction.  Fine, tomorrow let me see what better I can do and if nothing better happens, I’m still contented.  I’m not going to be dissatisfied!”   Even Christ was not worried about rewards.  He said, “I go on planting.  Some of my seeds will fall on fertile ground.  Some of the seeds will fall on barren ground and some on rocks, but it will at least feed the birds of the air.”   So he worked for the sake of working and yet he had the desire in him to do good.  He could have equally had the same desire in a reverse form.  But no, the enlightened man will always think of the goodness, never of himself, but always of others and that brings about contentment.  The man who is contented knows the value of the heart in the human breast.

Now, this afternoon we ended off by talking about Kali.  Kali comes from the word Kala, which means black, and this has been well equated with the black holes that we have been hearing about, that scientists have been speaking about, where the entire universe recedes into a very compact dense matter, where vibration almost ceases and where it is so compact that even light cannot come out of it.  Now, this is the same concept behind Kali, that all the grossness, all the fragmentation that is within man must come to that stillness of that compacted energy which remains for that moment in a state of nearly staticness.  Let us see what science has to say about this.  When this balance is disturbed, there is a loss of equilibrium.  This is the process of evolution and the world is recreated anew.  The cycle continuing ceaselessly, thus in other terms Tamas is inertia, the magnetic force, the, and Rajas is the kinetic force while Sattva is the balancing force between the two opposites.  When these forces are in balance there is no motion, no manifestation, no flux, only perpetual stillness.  When this balance is agitated, all the forces begin to combine and recombine, evolution takes place and the universe slowly projected in the form of waves ’til there comes a period when everything has a tendency to revert to the primal state of equilibrium, which is a black hole.

Now, this is what Einstein has to say, as quoted by Lincoln Barrett.  The universe is thus progressing towards an ultimate heat death or as it is technically defined, a condition of maximum entropy.  When the universe reaches this state, some billions of years from now, all the processes of nature will cease, all space will be at the same temperature, no energy can be used because all of it will be uniformly distributed through the cosmos.  There will be no light, no life, no warmth, nothing but perpetual and irrevocable stagnation.  Time itself will come to an end for entropy points the direction of time.  Entropy is the measure of randomness when all system and order in the universe have vanished, when randomness is at its maximum and entropy cannot be increased when there no longer is any sequence of cause and effect.  In short, when the universe has run down, there will be no direction to time.  There will be no time and there is no way of avoiding this destiny.  Now this in scientific terms is what the Goddess Kali represents when the Goddess Kali, an aspect of Shiva, or the consort of Shiva is regarded to be the dissolver of the universe.  So, from that state of equilibrium, the universe starts evolving again.

The universe evolves layer after layer.  First, we would have the vibratory element, as it is said in the Bible, ‘First was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God’.  They, in the Tantric philosophy, they say the same thing.  Now, this vibratory element goes into another state of condensation called Akasha, which is aether, which then again turns into heat and that heat turns into gas – gas becomes liquefied and that liquid becomes solid matter.  So this is the process of evolution from the state of Pralay, which means that equilibrium, to the state of the flux that we now experience.  Now, the system of Tantra is this, that this is the evolutionary process but Tantra teaches the involutionary process.  That means that the world has, the universe has evolved and we have to reach that static state again.  So, it means it is a reversal of what has happened.  So the reversal would be solid matter into liquid, liquid into gas, gas into heat, heat into aether, aether back into the vibratory element which we know as sound.  Fine.  And then of course there is a level of the impersonal God which goes, transcends all sound as well.  Good.

Now the potential of the infra-atomic particles that we know about or that science knows about, is not only mass and energy, one point that has been missed, is the cohesive quality that is contained in the mass and the energy because mass and energy are the two aspects of the same thing, yet a cohesiveness is required and that cohesiveness is that unified field that brings all together.  And that unified field could be called Divinity which pervades all matter and energy.  Now whatever matter and energy exists, the three, the trinity, the Hindu theological trinity has to exist – Brahma is the creator, Vishnu as the preserver and Shiva as the destroyer.  So in this mass mixed with its energy or its counterpart the energy, these functions do take place until the universe reaches back to its static state where stillness is.  Now, as matter has its counterpart of energy or energy has its counterpart in matter, so the trinity that we have spoken about also have their counterparts in the female principle, ­their consorts.  Brahma has Luchsmi and of course Shiva has Parvatti or Kali.  Fine.  Now this entire process, this entire complex of heat, gas, liquid, solid matter, the, the cohesive quality that exists between matter and energy is charged with sound or the sound potential of the energy of vibration, because vibration is at a far, far subtler level than the grosser manifestations that we have spoken about.  Now sound too, has various classifications.  You have the Sanskrit word called Forta.  Now Forta means transcendental sound.  Then you have Nada which is supersonic sound, and then you have Dreni, which is audible sound.  So in our meditational practices, I get your Mantra from this Forta level which is a transcendental level.  But to make it audible I have to bring it through the various stages from this Forta to the supersonic and then from there, to the auditory level, so that it becomes audible and speakable.  So as you carry on with your meditations, you would experience the subtler and subtler levels of sound.  Fine.

So, why I mention is that the, the sound value is also incorporated, incorporated in the Tantric system.  And as I have said before and to repeat again, that our entire system is a combination of various systems where we have taken the philosophies and the thoughts and methods of the best, the best out of everything that is available, and even the best out of things that are as yet not available.  Good.  Now this means that energy is reduced again to its original vibrational state.  Now, I said just now, that there is an area which is beyond the vibrational level which is called the unknown level, the impersonal God, and scientists and metaphysicians as well, being unable to define it in words, just gave it a name. They call it the ‘Psi-field’, ‘P S I’, you must have heard of that, the ‘Psi-field’, which is regarded to be the course of the universe.  Now, that is very true, that there is a course when every cycle of the universe begins.  For even in the state of Kali, even in that staticness there is a fine vibration which through millions of year in our time, billions of years, starts pulsating, pulsating, pulsating and increasing in intensity so that, that black hole, that Kali starts exploding again, creating the universe again.  So this process is being carried on all the time through eternity.  Now when we say universe, it is normally meant to be the entirety of all things, the entirety of all existence.  But within the universe there are millions of smaller universes that collapse and are reborn again.  So we are part of one of those smaller universes which in turn is connected to every other universe and which in turn forms the entirety or the wholeness of all the universes that there are.  This is the philosophy behind Tantric teachings and this totality of the universe is the aim of Tantra to experience the universe in its full entirety.  Now we are going to discuss the ritual of Tantra.

The ritual of Tantra is based on various astronomical and astrological calculations.  Tantra has contributed so many things to this world.  I will point out to you just a few of the things, the few of their contributions.  There has been a lot of method even in madness.  Tantra absorbed and elaborated upon this sum total of traditional scientific knowledge in mathematics, astronomy, also chemistry, alchemy, the invention of decimal, or numeration including the discovery of zero in ancient India.  All mathematics would be lost without the zero.  It is one of the greatest contributions to human knowledge.  Some other discoveries include the Heliocentric system of astronomy, the concept of lunar mansions which in Sanskrit is called Nuxsutras, the precision of equinoxes and the determination of their rate, the establishment of the luni-solar year, the construction of an astronomical calendar on a scientific basis, the rotation of the earth on its axis, and this was three thousand years ago.  The knowledge of geometric principles and a contribution to algebraic symbols, the spherical shapes of the moon, sun, earth and other planets.  And yet just some one hundred years ago they used to regard the earth to be flat and three thousand years ago the Tantrics knew it was of a spherical shape – spherical shapes of the moon, sun, earth and other planets, the mean distances of the planets based on the theory of equalinear motion, with an elaborate account of various types of motion such as rectilinear and curvilinear, which is of course vibratory and rotary, momentum and impressed motion – the assumption of interplanetary attraction which Newton spoke about the other day, gravity, in order to explain equilibrium.

Tantra’s notions concerning time and space, the nature of light and heat, gravity and magnetic attraction, the wave theory of sound, are strikingly similar to the concepts of modern science.  It must however be borne in mind that these scientific generalisations were based on intuitive insight, Yogic visions and practices and intense observation of natural phenomena, conditioned by an ontological viewpoint and were not determined by experiments carried out in accordance with modern methods.  So all these discoveries were made by experience and not experimentation.  We were talking the other day of the left hemisphere and the right hemisphere of the brain, so this is what it means, that experiment is mostly a product of the thinking level, the left hemisphere, while the intuitive insights of the Yogis were more of the intuitive level, the right hemisphere, one of the thinking level, one from the intuitive level.  And they could intuit thousands of years ago what we modern scientists are just about discovering now.  Now the ritual part.  Now this is going to sound a bit ridiculous.  It sounds so to me really.  Good.

Now the ritual for love-making in the Tantric system must only be done on the eight and fifteenth day of the dark half of the month.  You see the Hindu month is divided up into two, not four weeks but two fortnights.  You have the dark half without the moon and the light half with the moon. So in the dark half on the eight and fifteenth days must these rituals be practised.  Now the practice of the ritual must be done from midnight onwards and the entire ritual takes three hours and thirty-four minutes.  (Gururaj laughs) The entire ritual takes three hours and thirty-four minutes and the actual act of union must take one hour and twenty-six minutes.  I wonder if those chaps went to work.  That is why I said from the sublime to the ridiculous.  Nevertheless, now, you’d be wondering what takes so long, (General laughter) three hours and thirty four minutes of preparation, three hours and thirty four minutes of preparation.  I do it, used to, do it very differently.  From the moment I used to come home from the office, little wifey normally knows the time, she hears the gate, and she’s at the door.  And from that time the ritual starts with a good evening kiss and cuddles and what have you until midnight perhaps.  But these people made a special ceremony of it.  Now they took three hours and thirty-four minutes in preparation.

Now all these preparations used to take varied forms and they are Sanskrit names for it which I will explain you.  First is Nyasa which is the pscho-physical aspect to sensitise parts of the body to awaken it from dormancy.  Now for that various kinds of mantras are chanted which takes all this time.  I’ll give you a sample of the mantras in a moment.  And then they have mudra, which means gestures and finger postures to produce subjective reactions in the mind.  See all the preparation going on.  Then we have something called butasudi which means purification of the elements in the body.  Here we have the five elements that we spoke about, fire, air, water, earth, aether.  They’re all contained within the body so I suppose another forty five minutes goes on that.  And then an extensive practice of Pranayama.  The purpose of Pranayama as we all know is, causes rather, the vital point of contact between body and the real self and it also purifies the nerve currents.  So the purpose all this time spent in preparation is for the purpose of purification.  Good.   And then they also have to be in deep concentration while the things which I’ve mentioned have been done.  After a period of concentration and steadying the mind, I’m trying to work out the three hours and thirty four minutes for you, then they go into meditation, which of course the purposes is non-involvement in the modifications of the mind.  You let the mind run do what it wants to and you stand apart from it.  Right.  So we have nyasa, mudra, butasidu, primaima, concentration, meditation, and of course with all these things, the shakti or the power within, the Kundalini power is aroused, the psychic energy is aroused.  Good.

Now let me give some of the Sanskrit mantras which they feel, which accompanies, which accompanies all these various practices, taking three hours and thirty four minutes.  You’ve a few more slips there.  Right, first they would indulge in purification, then through the purification a transformation of self.  They include the guru in it also somewhere, I don’t know why, and then the worship of the Goddess Shakti and then body worship with various forms of touching.  Then from the top of her head, that is the woman, then from the top of her head to her left toe.  The Sadak, Sadak means the Aspirant, touches his shakti’s, that means his spouse’s body, accompanying his gestures with this mantra.  (Gururaj chants in Sanskrit)  ‘Om um pusaiya namaha, ………………..…’  Now this must be done twelve times (General laughter) in the worship of the body.  Then thereafter – that is the body worship – then thereafter the female organ has to be worshipped.  The Sadak then proceeds to worship his shakti’s yoni – yoni means the female organ – with the following mantra, offering water and flowers, (Gururaj chants in Sanskrit) ‘Om aim chandraiya namaha’, sprinkling water (General laughter) -  (Gururaj continues chanting) ‘Om aim suraiya namaha’, placing the flower (General laughter)  (Gururaj continues chanting)  ‘Om aim magnaya namaha’.  And like that it goes on and this must be repeated thirty three times.  And then, he then places an offering, as an offering red sandal paste and flowers on her yoni with this mantra (Gururaj chants in Sanskrit) ‘Rim Strim Om Namaha, Om bagali nai namaha ……….’   This to be done fifty four times.  (General laughter)  Good.  That is the female side.

Now lets see what happens on the male side, the linga worship, which is the worship of the male organ.  After this the linga is worshipped by reciting the following mantra ten times.  I don’t know why the differentiation.  Why only ten times for the male (General laughter) – because greater importance was attached to the female being the creatrix, being the mother of the universe.  Now in certain philosophies they talk of Herenyagurba, the golden egg, from which the entire universe was created and that represents the female.  Now this is the mantra while worshipping the male, what em! (Gururaj chants in Sanskrit )  ‘Om om misanaya namaha, om om guraiya namaha ………….’  I seem to come across better with the male organ.  Good.  Now in this process three hours and thirty-four minutes is taken up.  So I just gave you a few verses to give you a sample of it.  Now the purposes of this according to the Tantrics is to create a certain mood through ritualism and it is – for example Sunday mornings, we hear the church bells ringing, or in the Hindu temples we have the bells – it brings to our mind certain kinds of thoughts – of course this is very exaggerated – it brings to our minds certain holy thoughts.  When we hear the church bells, we automatically start thinking of Divinity, of the Church.  So here these rituals are done for the purpose of attuning the body.  Now, while these mantras are being recited, we have talked about the various things that were done, such as nyasa, concentration, etc.  Fine.

Now all the ritual worship is to integrate oneself totally.  Now according to Tantric philosophy every human being has five sheaths, in other words he has five bodies.  Right. The first one sheath is Kosha in Sanskrit.  The first one is Anamayakosha which is the physical outer body.  Then beneath the Anamayakosha is the Pranamayakosha which is the body of the life breath.  From there we have the Manainayakosha which is the mind and then the Vignana Mayakosha, the intellect.  In other words Manainayakosha and Vignana Mayakosha are the cognitive sheaths of the body and lastly and the most subtlest of all is the Ananda Mayakosha which is bliss.  So what happens here with this long ritual and the chanting of these various mantras in a particular mood of mind, on particular days worked out by their astrologers, on particular times, they create within themselves this mood where an integration of these five sheaths take place.  Now of course I’m talking of the ideal and their philosophy, I don’t know if they really achieve what they are talking about, but let us assume that they do.  Now when these five sheaths are integrated, then the polarities become one.  The polarities of sex energies in man and woman frees one from emotion.  Now these is to be remembered, that in the very act that follows for one hour and twenty six minutes, the man and woman is totally free from emotion.  The purpose of the long ritual, the reciting of the various mantras, is to free themselves from emotion, for the act is not for gratification or procreation.  They free themselves from emotion by these long rituals and the act is not for sexual gratification and neither for procreation but to transcend into realms of spiritual values.  So here is, what we do so simply, by sitting down and using our mantra, various spiritual practices that have been prescribed, we transcend all these Koshas, all these sheaths.

So, to repeat, it is, it frees one from emotion.  You do not get involved in the mind.  It is not, the act is not for sexual gratification or procreation, but it is to transcend or go beyond that all, into the spiritual realm.  And yet during the sex act, there are a few requirements too which takes the mind away.  The first one is of course control of mind by intense concentration on the spiritual value of life.  The second one is control of breath, pranayama, which heightens the vibrations so that concentration could become more effective.  And then thirdly control of semen and the ova and by doing this the orgasmic energy is gathered within.  So it is not a question of ejaculation, it is not a question of explosion, but it is a matter of implosion, so that which would be ejaculated out, is, in an explosion is now imploded within.  That is the sexual act of the Tantric.  Now, and this would also include various Assanas and Hatha Yoga also has to be studied to facilitate this process.  And the recommended Assanas of Hatha Yoga, many of you do Hatha Yoga, would be the savassana or the yoniassana or the ratiassana and these all form part of the Hatha Yoga, where the body becomes totally relaxed in order to aid the concentration on spiritual values and that combined with pranayama which heightens one’s vibration.  So all these four aspects are interlinked within each other.  Good.  Now the state that is achieved by all this, the Tantrics called is Summerassa, which is parallel to Samadhi of the Vedantist.  Samadhi as you would know is that deep state of meditation.  That deep state of meditation, I might have spoken about it before, has two aspects, meditation with form, which is called Cervikalpa Samadhi and meditation without form, which is the Nirvicalpa Samadhi.  So the end and aim of the Tantrist and the end and aim of the Vedantist is the same, is to reach that high state of Samadhi.

Now, all these things done means but one thing, it has one purpose, it is to sacrimentalise the sex act into something of Divine beauty, so that the sex act does not contain any lust.  As we said just now, it is not for self-gratification, but to find the mergence of two souls.  Two concrete entities getting together in a form of extended worship and then thereafter an interpenetration of each other so that the two souls sort of seize and experiences the bliss of oneness that could be found in Samadhi.  So it is to sacrimentalise the sex act into Divine joy and this, this is happening all over the universe, all the time.  The blade of grass grows to express its joy.  The flower blooms and that bloom itself, is a joy.  The sun sheds its light as an expression of its joy.

So there are high principles involved in Tantrism, in the Tantra, but as I said this morning it has been degenerated, debased, misused, abused by the Leftists.  This morning we spoke about the five ‘Ms’.  Now the Rightists would have different interpretations of the five ‘Ms’.  For example the Rightist would say they have a different context to it.  Mudia, the Leftist would call it wine, while the Rightist would call it intoxicating knowledge.  Munsa, munsa meat, the Rightist would call it control of speech because in Sanskrit ‘ma’ is the root of the word tongue.  Then muxia, fish, which symbolises for the Rightist the vital currents that flow in the Kundalini practices through the Ida and Pingala nerves.  And then Mudra, cereal is the Yogic state of concentration.  Good.  And of course maytuna is union, union with the Divine.  So you have these two schools of Tantric thought, one could debase Tantra, while the other could elevate Tantra.  Now Tantra, I do not recommend it as a practice.

Last year when I was in India, I went to visit an Ashram that taught Tantric practices.  I corresponded with the guru in charge of the Ashram and he invited me as a guest.  His name is quite well known here in England as well.  So after he gave his talk in the morning, from half past eight till half past nine, he left and as soon as he left I saw half a dozen couples just rolling on the floor.  How debased things can become.  Tantra is good for the person who has gone through all these various meditational and spiritual practices and that has gained such complete control over himself, a mastery over himself, he and his wife, so that they could without the long rituals, they could practice Tantra, not for gratification but to find that Divine love flowing between each other in its totality, in its fullness.  So Tantra can be used and misused, it can be abused.

So in this personal encounter, this face to face encounter or the contact of feeling between each other, the two become aware of the complex relationship of body, mind and the senses and the awareness is so heightened that the differences of ego that exists between the two partners is torn away.  And when the ego self of man and woman in that relationship is torn away, then nothing else would remain but Divinity.  See.  Now that is the essence of Tantra.  That is what Tantra is all about.  It is not particularly a subject for me but I have been requested and asked to speak about it.  Its nice to know about things for the sake of general knowledge, so therefore I spoke about it.  Now if anyone asks me to demonstrate Tantra to you, the answer is ‘No’.  Good.

More than an hour is it?  Well, do have a good night’s sleep.  It was very beautiful.  At least you have some idea what Tantra is about.

Today, we are going to talk about the science of Tantra, by special request.  Now, the science of Tantra has been so misunderstood in the world today that because of some of its teachings, it has degenerated into sexual orgies.  From Tantra has originated what in India was called the Vam Marg and they had communal orgies where a basin was placed and a woman was required – it was done in groups – to drop some article of hers, like a hanky or something, in it.  And after going through various rituals, the male members of the group used to take out an article and that article he has taken of the particular woman would be his partner.  And this was done all under the name of Tantra Yoga.  This was a total degeneration and lost the true meaning of what Tantra should be.  Although there are certain sexual Yogic rituals involved but it was for the purpose, it was for a different purpose which I will explain as we go on.  The main purpose of Tantra was to be able to transmute all actions performed, including the sex act, into something very refined, something so Divine that one expands one’s awareness.  The very meaning of the word Tantra, the word Tan, the root Tan means expansion, expansion of one’s consciousness.  That is one of the central teachings of Tantra, where every action is taken for its own value and that action is performed to its maximum potential.  And that was the basis of Tantra.  Good.

It is totally opposed to other systems that teach of detachment, that teach of asceticism because the Tantrics believe that detachment is totally unnecessary but attachment is necessary.  But to be attached in such a way that one could get the maximum value of the object.  If you are sitting down eating a meal, let the table be well laid and let the cooking be so well dished out, that you’d enjoy the maximum value of what you are eating; eating not swallowing, there is a difference.  Good.  So, every action in life, including the sexual act, including walking, including seeing, hearing, touching, feeling, should become sublime.  One should have total awareness of every action one performs.  Most of our actions are in a habit pattern, many things we do, we do habitually without even knowing that we are doing it.  An addicted habitual smoker for example, if he was really aware of his smoking, he would cut his smoking down to its minimum amount.  But he’s sitting there chatting to you and without even being aware of his smoking, by automatic reflexes, his hand would just push out to his cigarette case and he would light up the cigarette without needing it.  A reflex action, a conditioned action because of habits that he has acquired.  So most of life is habit, ninety percent of life is habit.  A person has a pattern of going to bed at twelve and he’ll go to sleep at twelve.  If he has a habit of waking up at seven, he will wake up at seven, in a habit form.  But that very person can will himself – for example, a very simple device is to repeat to yourself while you are going to sleep that ‘I am going to wake up at four o’clock’ and you will find that you will awake at four o’clock.  Your clock will be wrong but your waking time will not be wrong.  So, the mind is capable of all these things and the mind is capable of moving away from set patterns.

So, to repeat, the basic teaching of Tantra is to getaway from set patterns and become fully aware of the actions we perform.  We are sitting down in our chairs, how many of us are fully aware of our sitting down?  How many of us are feeling the bottom of the chair under our rear? How many of us are fully aware that we have our hands crossed?  It’s just a reflex action.  How many of us are really aware that our arms are folded?  It’s just something done.  Tantra teaches awareness in everything performed, including one of the vital biological functions, one of the strongest urges in man, which is sex.  So to be fully aware of that aspect, is one of the aspects of what Tantra Yoga is all about.  They do believe that what is here is above.  And if you cannot be aware of what is here, meaning the physical source, then how can you ever be aware of the higher self?  So their way, the Tantric way, is to start from the physical body, the awareness of the physical body and then to lead oneself to the awareness of the subtle body that is within one, and from there on, one becomes aware of the spirit.  So, their process is from the exterior to the interior.  Our process is from the interior to the exterior.  There lies the difference.  Yet, yet within our teachings too, there are certain Tantric principles involved.  Our teachings combine the best that could be gleaned from all knowledge of the world.  Good.

So, when they say that what is above is also here, they mean that be aware of yourself.  Be totally aware, be totally aware of the surroundings, of the environment.  Feel those vibrations.  Feel the vibrations in your body and from there, through various rituals and practices, one becomes totally aware of the inner self, for the real aim of Tantra Yoga is to reach the unified state which is Yoga.  That is why it is called Tantra Yoga.  Yoga means union, to reach the unified state.  Now this can be achieved through various means as we know, Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, and amongst all, Raja Yoga, and amongst all these several forms of Yoga, we have this Yoga as well, which has been totally misused and abused.  Therefore I do not encourage it.  Fine.  But the philosophy underlying Tantra Yoga is very sound, very sound and totally verifiable, by modern science.  Tantra Yoga is very old.  Some of its ritual relics have been found in Harapa when excavations were made and they found that they were about three thousand years old.  Now, Tantra came to India mostly from the Tibetan/Chinese border.  It came from the Tibetan/Chinese border and it got consumed in the way of life that was in India at that time and also by the Aryan influx into India.  And therefore Tantric teachings contains within itself teachings of the Vedas, the Vedantic teachings, teachings from the Great Epics and teachings from the Puranas.  So Tantra combines within itself, with the knowledge that was brought from across the borders from Tibet and from China, it has also accepted the principles of Vedantic teachings.  And the central principle of Vedantic teachings is this, that the Atman and the Brahman are one, the individual and the universal is but one.  The little ‘i’ merges away into the big ‘I’, into a oneness.  Now this is also the basis of Tantra and therefore our teachings do accept this principle and we cannot say that it is of Tantric origin.  It is.  Tantra is a mixture of many theories and many teachings of all kinds of Sages that existed.  Good.

Now, as I said, the basic aim of Tantra is to find that wholeness.  Now, that wholeness is symbolised by Shiva and Parvati, meaning the positive and the negative aspects of all creation.  Now, when we use the word negative, we use it in the sense of the wires that bring us electricity in this room.  You have the positive wire and you have the negative wire and both are needed in polarity, to bring about the oneness of the light.  So, the purpose of Tantra is to awaken, as they would call it, the Shakti force or the Parvati, normally referred to as Shakti, within oneself and allow the Shakti to merge with Shiva.  Here Shiva is not represented as in the Hindu trinity as the lord of disillusion or destruction, but here Shiva is represented as the impersonal God, Brahman.  And the process would be this, that the manifestation of the Manifestor has to merge away again into the unmanifest.  So that which is manifested goes back into the unmanifest.  Now, this is very well proven by science and this is very well accepted by most philosophies in the world, western as well as eastern, for the principle remains the same that we go back from where we have come.  Scientists of course talk in scientific language.  They maintain that from this explosion we always speak about and through the propulsion in this universe, matter again condenses itself into what is known as the black hole.  So, in a space, say four miles square of the black hole, the entirety of the universe is contained.  And that in Sanskrit, in Hindu theology is called Pralaya where there is a state of equilibrium.  So the purpose of Tantra is the same, is to reach the state of equilibrium by merging the manifestation with the Manifestor.  Of course they use symbolic terms, such as Shiva and Shakti. The Shakti is represented by the Kundalini Yoga which forms a part of Tantric teachings.

Now, on my last trip I made two tapes I think it was on Kundalini, so you could refer to that and we do not need to go into the various facets of the various chakras or vortices of energy that links the subtle body within man to the grosser body.  And it is only by the, by the proper linking, by stimulating the vibratory processes, by heightening the vibration of the subtle body that we could really transfer those energies to the grosser, physical body.  So to repeat again, the Tantric process is the same as the Vedantic process.  It has the same principle of Christianity, to find ourselves in the position, to develop to that state of consciousness where ‘I and my Father are one’, where Atman and Brahman is one and in Tantric terminology where Shakti becomes one with Shiva.  So, that is the aim of Tantra.

Now Tantra also divides up or has other names for Shiva.  Shiva is known as Purusha. Purusha means the male element in all creation and Shakti means the kinetic energy.  Shiva or Purusha is represented as being static while the energy that is manifested from Shiva is forever in motion.  It is kinetic, it is dynamic.  So therefore in that cult of Tantra, if we wish to call it a cult, greater emphasis is put upon the female side of creation, for all manifestation is regarded in their terms to be the female aspect of that wholeness.  So, the Manifestor is male and the manifested is female which forever is in motion and she is really the creatrix of this universe.  They believe that it is not Shiva that created this universe. – what a lovely compliment to women – it is the woman that created the universe although she got the force and the power from Shiva.  So, all manifestation we see around us is Shakti, also known as Prakritti.   Prakritti means nature and nature is regarded to be feminine.  So we have the two terms, Purusha the male element and Prakritti, the female element.  So, there too the Manifestor and the manifestation which are but two aspects of the one wholeness.

Now we know, science has proved this, that in every male there is some woman and in every woman there is a bit of man in her.  This is unavoidable.  So if you study Hindu mythology or Tantric mythology you’d find a statue of Shiva, which is half male and half female.  And the name for it or the Sanskrit term for it is Urdanarishvara, Urda, half, Nari, woman, Ishvara, Lord, the Lord that is composed of half male and half women.  And in various parts of India, those of you that have been there would have seen these statues.  It is the expression of a wholeness according to Tantric terms that the male component of the universe can never be on its own.  It has to have its female counterpart.  So this statue, which people worship according to their ways, we won’t go into the rightness or wrongness of it, they worship this Urdanarishvara, which is a combination of the two forces, male and female.  So, they maintain that one cannot do without the other, it is a partnership.  And that is our view too in modern days.  It is a partnership, for the two forms the wholeness.

And it is the misinterpretation of this wholeness between male and female that has brought about so many malpractices.  Originally the concept is solid and sound because every philosophy accepts the creator and creation, Manifestor and manifestation, Shiva and Shakti.  Every theology, every philosophy accepts that principle because in creation or manifestation there has to be a polarity.  And it is by bringing into conjunction the polarities within oneself that one fully realises the meaning of Urdanarishvara, then only are you a complete integrated being.   Now this can be interpreted in moral and ethical values as well.  We know that the male has certain characteristics which are dominant in him and we do know that the female has certain characteristics which are dominant in her.  The male has the aggressiveness, he is the hunter, he is the doer, the boss in the house, the king of a castle.  He has that, those ways, he has those ways inherent in him.  I don’t know if I told you this, one fellow told me that “I buy my own pants but my wife chooses the colour!”  (Gururaj laughs)  Ah, yah.  But that is good, that’s a good partnership.  Perhaps the chap is colour blind and he can’t view things objectively, so why can’t his better half, better half, choose the colour.  Yes, fine, good.

So from the word Udanarishvara, which leads to the highest level of existence where Shiva and Shakti is involved, to the finest subtlest level of creator and creation, Manifestor and manifestation, from that word Urdanarishvara was derived another word, called Urdangina.  Urda means half, Ungina means body.  That means your female counterpart is half of yourself.  That is why I keep on saying to people that I am guru not for monks or aesthetics.  I am a guru for householders, whereby living in this world, mundane or not, one can find fulfilment by being able to have that partner in life.  That partner fulfils so much within man and the man fulfils so much within woman.  The man teaches the woman a bit of aggressiveness, of course I’m not referring to the rolling pin, yeah, but there has to be that aggressiveness.  By aggressiveness, I mean that force or the power of assertion which is quite well demonstrated in many countries of the world where the time of woman’s slavery has gone and she could stand up and be equal to her man.  Oh yes, oh yes, there has to be that equalness not necessarily equality, but equalness.  When I use the word equality, I mean that man has his dharma and woman has her dharma.  Man has his duties to perform and woman has her duties to perform.  So in that sense I use the word – there is no equality because there is a division of labour, but within the boundaries of each, there is an equalness in the performance of their dharma.

So, this is one of the principles of Tantra, where that equalness is found and yet at the same time greater emphasis is placed upon the woman.  And when I start talking later about the worship that is involved and how the woman is worshipped and elevated to the state of a goddess, it’s quite a ritual that they go through – we’ll speak about it as the talk goes on.  Fine.  So the difference there is this, although recognising Purusha or Shiva as the Manifestor, they also put greater emphasis on the manifestation which is the energy that sustains and keeps in motion this universe.  Shiva is sleeping while Shakti is active.  You have seen pictures – some of you might have visited Sudjuraho, that’s in Madyapradesh, Central India, where you have beautiful temples with fantastic sculpture showing various sexual poses and most of the time the female is more or less the active partner rather than the man.  And you’d find that.  And that was just to show that the energy, the female aspect, the manifestation, the energy is of greater importance as far as the universe is concerned than even the Manifestor because the Manifestor sits aside.  He is the boss, so called, he sits in his office and the orders that are given in the factory are carried out by the energy involved in the workers because that boss, the Purusha, could do nothing at all although he is the Manifestor.  He can only be self-contained within himself and there would be no creation if this energy was not set free.  And this energy that was set free is regarded by the Tantrics to be the female counterpart.  I’ve got a few notes here.

So to achieve the union between the Manifestor and manifestation, certain psycho-yogic practices are necessary.  Now, these practices would include meditation for example, contemplation for example, Kriya yoga and various other forms, for they are interconnected, including Kundalini Yoga, they are interconnected to the very sexual act.  They’re interconnected to the very sexual act because if a person has not developed that heightened awareness of oneself, then it would be difficult to become aware of one’s partner or one’s beloved.  It would be difficult to become aware of the potentiality of the partner.  So all these Yogas with yantras and mandalas and meditation – we use some of Tantric practices as well – meditation is to expand our awareness so that we could encompass all that is manifest within ourselves.  So how is it done in Tantric Yoga?  In Tantra it is done, you cannot as I always say approach the abstract because that remains a conception.  Somebody said there is a god, so we believe there is a god.  And there is one if we can experience that god.  And sages, yogis, true gurus have experienced the abstractness, have experienced the Manifestor but for the ordinary man to reach that stage, he has to first try and experience manifestation.  And that manifestation, fully experienced will make him know and experience simultaneously that which is unmanifest.  So because he’s reached the totality of manifestation automatically and without effort, he would know the unmanifestor as well.

So in these psycho-yogic practices which culminate in the sex act, all these preparations are necessary of practising these Yogas.  And when I said earlier that it has degenerated and become orgies, was because of man’s lust.  And this is not the teaching for today.  Tantra could be ideal for the person that has achieved mastery over himself, for the person that has total control over all his senses, that has so much awareness that the interpenetration of man and woman could be so sublimated that the Manifestor and the manifestation becomes one.  So, then the real value of Maytuna, that is the Sanskrit word for coitus, is really known, otherwise it is just a physical act, a biological act like urinating, passing faeces.  It could be nothing more, totally physical, perhaps with some heightened activity or heightened emotions or heightened passion.  Yes.  Then he remains on a total animal level.  But by being able to sublimate this very drive, this very energy, one draws to oneself the subtle forces within oneself, the Kundalini power as well as the spiritual force into such a oneness that you are totally merged away, you are totally lost.  You are not aware of the body any more.  You are not aware of the mind any more.  You just are.  It is an “isness” where the highest form of bliss is experienced.

If we could use an analogy, it would mean an orgasm which is a million, million, billion, billion times more powerful than the animal orgasm.  So this is the aim of Tantra of how to elevate one’s energies, how to increase the vibrational rate of the various chakras or vortexes of energies, how they could interflow, how the energies could interflow between the various subtle chakras and reach gradually to that heightened awareness whereby Shakti becomes one with Shiva in the Sahasrara Chakra.  Now, this is on the individual level between man and woman, husband and wife.  But the same process if you think carefully, is happening all the time, in all creation.  Everything is germinated – the birds and the bees, you know about that.  How many don’t? (Gururaj laughs)  Yeah.  Everything.  Even a flower cannot grow without it being germinated.  So this is happening on a universal scale.  Why should it not happen on the individual scale while still preserving whatever moral standards we have to preserve?  Whatever our conceptions are, whatever our beliefs are, is a different matter altogether.  We are seeking the union, the totality, the oneness between man and woman, so that it could become like that statue, Urdinarishvara, where both are combined into one wholeness.

So all these psycho-yogic practices is just but a preparation.  Without that preparation, without that self-control, without that deep understanding, without the realisation or some intimation or knowledge or the discrimination between Manifestor and manifestation, it could just become an animal act.  Now, as I said before, there is a sect in India called the Vammargis, very Leftist, they believe in the five M’s, M for Mary.  They believe in the five M’s and it has degenerated so much that without the five M’s that union cannot be found, an idle, untruthful justification of their acts.  Those five M’s are – I’ve got it somewhere here – those five M’s are Mudia which means wine, Mansa which means meat, Matsia which means fish, Mudra which means parched cereal and then Maytuna which means sexual union.  So these Leftist Tantrics practise this and it has even been incorporated in their rituals where they must have the wine, they must have the fish, they must have the meat and cereals to go with it.  We might call it bread – I don’t know why they forgot the soup! (Gururaj laughs)  because it seems quite a course doesn’t it?   Well, you start with the fish and then go to the meat and (General laughter), and of course the Mudia or wine follows, the, the, the white with – how does it work? – white with fish and what goes? I know very – red with meat.  I don’t know what they consume with Maytuna, each other, beautiful, each other.

So, instead of sublimation it is a degradation, a degeneration where these senses are lost, where they would insist on the consumption of grosser foods, for example, and the imbibing of intoxicants and they lose their senses by too much wine and then indulging in the sexual act.  And they say ‘We indulge in Tantra and we forget ourselves.  We find that union’.  How untrue.  It is like saying that you would have some psychic experiences going on a trip by taking LSD.  So this was the ancient form of trip taking, mood making.  You see how things can generate from a very sublime principle of finding that union, that spiritual union to something which just is but debauchery.  And many of these practices are done in groups.  Phew!  Right.  So it is actually venting one’s lustful desires that has been practised instead of sublimation.  Yet what has caused this, because one of the principles of Tantra is this, that you must rise by that which you fall.  Listen to this very carefully, that you must rise by that which you fall.  So you become degraded by excess of wine, excess of this, excess of that, so use the same very means by which you have fallen, to rise up again.  That is their theory.  We don’t know how practical it is, because if a person is an excessive drinker, I don’t know how he can get out of it by more drinking.  So it seems a contradiction, but this too is the justification used by, not the real Tantrist, not the people that sublimate but the Leftists that use the teachings of Tantra for their own lustful needs.

Now, Tantra has contributed something very beautiful to this world.  They have contributed a very beautiful art form and some of you might have seen Tantric paintings and Tantric sculptures.  The Tantrist is, very seldom would want to express his senses, he very seldom wants to express what he hears or sees or touches.  He wants to express something beyond that in his art and thereby go beyond the third dimension and reach the fourth dimension.  Some of these paintings and sculptures are so beautiful that if you are of concentrated mind you could just by looking, go into a different dimension altogether.  So, as with everything, good and bad can evolve out of everything, even from something which is not good, something good can come.  And from something which is good, bad can come and even something better can come.  So this was a great contribution to art by the ancient Tantric artists.  They have in their art a symbol of two triangles, one pointing up and the other pointing down which we do find as a symbol in other religions as well.  The one represents Shiva and the other represents Shakti.  Don’t confuse this with gurushakti, that’s something different.  One represents Shiva and one represents Shakti, intertwined, so that it forms a five-pointed star.  Now, these five points in turn – you see all Tantric art is very symbolic and being symbolic it can convey a different dimension to our vision and to our understanding – good – so the five points in that star, we’re taking this particular picture as an example, the five points represent the five elements that constitute the universe.  Earth, water, fire, air and aether, those are the five constituents of the universe.  So the five constituents of the universe cannot come about without the conjunction of Shiva and Shakti.  So you see how beautifully, in a very simple diagram, it could show us the entire meaning of creation.  It could take us into a different dimension altogether.  So, here in these two triangles, one facing up and one down, you would find it also to be the combination of static and kinetic energy and which is of course the basis of the functioning universe.  And whenever we see differences, it is just because of various forms of concentration of these energies, various different forms of concentrations where a certain substance would seem more subtler, while another substance which would seem more grosser.

Now, behind this all they worship a Goddess, Goddess called Kali, the Goddess Kali.  So, the Tantrics, their object of worship is Kali.  Now, the woman is symbolised as Kali, the woman is symbolised as Kali, the woman being the energy in the world, the woman being the motion in the world, so that if I could offer you all my weaknesses, all my discrepancies, if I could offer all that to you, the very motion that you are creating will destroy my shortcomings.  Therefore, the Goddess Kali is usually known as the Goddess of destruction, but destruction in the way of our shortcomings and not destruction in the sense as opposed to construction, to destroy our weaknesses, to destroy our sins.  So in this machine, this universe that is all motion, symbolised as the Goddess Kali, who in turn is symbolised as one’s beloved, I penetrate you with all my weaknesses so that you could destroy it.  And here too, Kali is always pictured as black.  The word Kala comes from Kali, black.

Now, here too science verifies this as we spoke about just now, the theory of the black hole where everything, the entire manifestation is sucked in, right, where in blackness, all different colours, all hues are absorbed and all colours cease in that blackness, in that which is black.  So it means all manifestation because it has been manifested, it has to return into the Manifestor.  This is the symbolism of Kali, that is the Goddess that is worshipped mostly by the Tantrics, that the entire universe, the entire manifestation represented as all the various things we see around us, consolidates itself into the Goddess Kali, which is black.  So all these various colours and hues of manifestation disappears and that oneness of Kali is there, which is the counterpart of Shiva.  So here Kali, another name for Kali is Shakti and Shakti is the counterpart or the manifested aspect of Shiva.  If you have a lamp there will be a shadow under the lamp.  It is because of the light of the lamp that the shadow occurs.  Destroy the shadow and you destroy the light.  Destroy the light and you destroy the shadow.  Those are two aspects, the female and the male aspect of all creation, of all manifestation.

And this brings us to exactly one o’clock and we shall – this clock has manifested hour one.  All leads to one, even the clock!  Good.  So this evening we shall continue with this talk where I will discuss the various ritual forms, the various worship forms.  Some of them are aesthetically not so appealing but I’ve been requested to talk about it and I will.

Gururaj Ananda Yogi used to speak in his satsangs about the path of unfoldment, to emphasize the fact that there is no development, the soul is completely developed, there is just an unfolding. But in this path, that  goes from Silence to Silence: What is traveling? Have we traveled a path or have we not traveled at all. And if it has been a journey: Who experiences this journey?

We “know” that the spirit of the human being, or the universal spirit, is omnipresent. It has nowhere to go and nowhere to come from. It just is. So what journeys? Is it really and experience, or is it an illusion? Even if it is an illusion, then how is illusion experienced? All illusion or delusion is just a counterpart of reality, as it’s own “non-existence” exists within that It that we call reality.

We come from nowhere and we are going nowhere, but just give a little space between the “w” and the “h”. You are now here and that is the important factor to recognize in practical life. Nevertheless, the mind has a habit of inquiring.

The  mind is conditioned through the process of evolution into going through various stages whereby it gains these experiences. Who gains the experiences? The mind gains the experiences.

A HUMAN BEING HAS THE CAPACITY TO EXPERIENCE THE ENTIRETY OF THE UNIVERSE; THE SPIRIT CANNOT

So, the experiences having been gained by the mind, of the mind, and from the mind bring us to a simple idea: There is nothing outside the mind. The human mind is as vast as the entire universe, and if you individualize it, it only means that you are viewing one bubble in a vast pond. And that bubble has no separate existence from the pond. A human being has the capacity within himself to experience, with the mind, the entirety of the universe; while the spirit remains aloof, for the spirit cannot experience this journey. Therefore we say, “From Silence we proceed, and we return to Silence.” It means that the mind that has been manifested, as fragrance is from a flower, goes through this journey, be it illusion or not, and then finds itself at total “at-one-ment” with the spirit. That is the journey, so in reality there has been no journey.

But the mind assumes that this is a  journey, that there is a journey. What are the reasons for this? The spirit just is, while the mind travels thinks it is traveling from here to there. From the beginning of the present cycle of this universe there is a manifestation, wrongly called creation, because creation requires a will behind, while manifestation is just an emanation. It is the nature of the manifestor to manifest, like it is the nature of a flower to give off fragrance, but there is no will involved. The powers in the manifestation are known in sanskrit as the three gunas, tamas rajas and satvas. It is this interaction between darkness and light that operates in the manifestation of this universe, which is the Universal Mind also.

THE MIND CREATES EXPERIENCE

The entire mind, or the universe, is nothing else but a propulsion which seemingly goes forth in our concept of linear time and space. In the third dimension that we exist in, we find this movement proceeding from A to B, while beyond the mind there is no space and no time. Like Blake said, “Eternity in an hour”, we would rather say, in a moment.

In this process put forth through manifestation in which the three gunas operate, the mind feels itself traveling. Why does it feel itself traveling; why does itself feel mixed up in the process of evolution? In this process of contraction and expansion generated by the three gunas, matter and it’s various atomic structures is always in motion. The mind enmeshed in this process of contraction and expansion thinks it is moving.

If you watch a wave in the ocean, you think the wave is coming from a distance and going to the shore. This is not so. There is a rhythm in the ocean created by currents where each wave is bobbing up and down where it is, and the next then bobs up and down, and so on so forth giving us the illusion that the wave is moving from that end to the shore. Likewise there is the flux of the universe, the perpetual motion that perpetuates itself, within itself, by itself, because its nature is motion. What we are trying to find is that which is silent behind all the motion: for that which is motion cannot be silent, and that which is silent can have no motion. Very simple.

The mind because it has the ability to act and interact within its own components, becomes more and more complex, and it is this very complexity that adds onto the motion of the mind. The  mind creates the experience, and the mind itself is the experiencer, for the eternal spirit within humanity is beyond all experience of motion or anything else. It just is. Here it is a question of a superimposition.

Heat rises from the sun. The sun does not intentionally create the heat: it is the nature of the sun to give off heat. Similarly, that eternal energy, in its very silent form, first manifests itself as mind.

When mind assumes this motion, it also finds a direction, and this direction is what we term as will- Divine Will. Because there was Divine Will, all this you observe, including our individual wills, has come about.

This is very true from from the theological point of view and the philosophical point of view. But from the mystical point of view, this truth assumes a totally different approach: In the manifestation which one could call Divine Will , the Will itself becomes the individual mind. Here there is no differentiation between mind and will. Ordinarily it is the directed activity of an individual mind, which is self-created, that is called will.

When manifestation occurs, this divine force, in the process of manifestation, has to grossify itself in the form of matter, or grosser energies. From the subtlest level of that silent energy, ever inaccessible like in limits in mathematics, this divine force assumes the form of activated energy, and the more that energy is activated, the grosser and grosser it becomes. This is why science today can neither reach nor explain the entire structure of atoms. Scientists talk of sub atomic matter and sub-sub atomic matter, but when coming to experimental experience it will be impossible to capture the nature of that energy, as the very test-tube they are using is made of the same energy in which they are trying to trap it in.

What can be proven is only that which has motion. Yet motion  is such that at the moment you view it, it changes, and viewer in it’s own changing cannot have a true picture of that motion at its most subtlest level. That is why we know so little, from laboratory experiments, of the mind.  (to be continued…)

Gururaj Ananda Yogi

International Foundation for Spiritual Unfoldment

Meditacion Barcelona

That is how it comes about that in scientific terms, one cannot prove that energy. What can be proven is only that which has motion. Yet motion is such that at the moment you view it, it changes, and you do not have a true picture of that motion at its most subtle level. That is why we know so little, from laboratory experiments, of the mind. Yet a whole vast range of the mind, over 90 percent, exists which is unexplored. As technology develops, there will be instruments or certain inventions which will probe a bit deeper into the mind. The 10 percent, explored, can become 15, 20 or 30 percent. But we want to know here and know the entirety of the mind, and the mind, being so involved in itself, cannot know itself.

When you are involved in a problem, an emotional problem, you cannot think straight because you are involved. But if you separate yourself from the machinations of the mind, you can view the mind from a different perspective altogether. That is why we have counselors, so that when you are in a  rut (someone told me the other day, a rut is nothing else but a coffin with both ends open), you can go to a counselor who can view the subject or the problem objectively, because he is not emotionally involved. Many times people involved in a business deal will say, “let me sleep on this” That means that at this moment I am so involved in this problem that I need to let my mind rest. Tomorrow I shall look at the proposition with a rested mind, more objectively. In this process what travels from point to point is nothing else but the mind.

Now, where can the mind travel to? That is the other question. We have said that the spirit within a human being, or the spirit which pervades the universe, is omnipresent. If the manifestor is omnipresent, then its manifestation must be omnipresent too. Where is there a place for the mind to go? What happens is this: There is just a shifting of energies in the mind. Because there is contraction and expansion going on all the time in the universe, polarities are created. You lift the weight from this side of the scale, and you add some weight on the other side of the scale. The pendulum is forever swinging from one end to the other, and that is happening in the universe. That is what is known as contraction and expension. So the mind goes from nowhere to nowhere, while the energies are just shifting.

Through spiritual practices, we are also working with energies. We are also activating energies, but activating grosser energies and very systematically leading those grosser energies toward the more and more subtle energies which are in the mind. The mind has the conscious level, various strata of the subconscious level, and the superconscious level. All this falls under manifestation, and all manifestation is relative. It is relative to the Absolute.

Within the confines of this whole scheme of things, relativity has its gradations: The conscious mind, which is gross; the subconscious mind, including the various subtler levels of the subconscious mind (psychiatrists and psychologists only delve 10-15 percent into the subconscious layers) and beyond that vast subconscious field, the superconscious mind. So we start with the subconscious mind and lead it gently through the layers of the subconscious to the superconscious until we experience the finest, subtlest relative. When we experience that, we can safely say that we have the universe in the palm of our hand.

So there lies the movement from grossness to its subtler levels; yet it is standing still. All the movement in the ocean you see is surface movement. Really speaking, the ocean is not moving. It is there. So, if we think of movement and that which lies between the area of Silence to Silence, nothing has moved. Silence reamains the same and the superimposition remains the same. So, traveler, where do you come from and where are you going to? Nowhere.

It is all here and now. Of course, there are the theories of reincarnation and karma and “reap what you sow.” They also are true at certain levels. But in reality, a person  moves nowhere, and the apparent movement is only the mind experiencing itself at its subtler and subtler levels. That is the greatest illusion: By thinking that I move, I sit still.

For the mind to experience the subtler states, various forms of evolution are necessary, and this evolution from very gross matter to the present stage of humanity has taken millions of years, proceeding through various forms. Yet the substance of all those forms is not different. The substance that makes up the vegetable kingdom is the same substance that makes up the animal kingdom, which is the same substance that makes up the human kingdom. In essence, the substance remains the same. What is this body? It is nothing but food.

These very same substances, assuming different shapes and forms are given names. This table and I are not at all different from each other; we are of the same substance. This table is at a grosser level, and I, having developed the power of thought, am at a more subtle level. That’s the only difference. This table cannot think, the animal cannot think, but I can think; it is just a matter of degree, not of difference in substance. The molecular and atomic structural framework of this table is the same that structures me. The great illusion is accentuated in human beings, because people have reached that certain evolutionary stage where they are thinking.

The great illusion comes about because a person thinks that he thinks, while he is not really thinking. The less a person thinks, the more he experiences. The very process of thought, if wrongly used, can be the wall between the changing unreality and the unchanging reality. That does not mean that we need to destroy the mind – the mind is a great instrument and is to be used.

A sharp knife given to a delinquent boy can be dangerous. But the same sharp instrument in the hands of a surgeon can help perform an operation. So the mind has to be consciously directed. The power and force of the entire universe is contained in the mind, but it has to be directed.

If the mind tries to direct itself, then many things can happen, including misdirection, because the instrument is trying to work upon  itself. So we use meditation and spiritual practices to go deep to the superconscious level, which is the closest to the manifestor. We let those subtler energies remodify the thought patterns of the conscious mind, for the conscious mind is a conditioned mind, and we’ve got to use a subtler force to be able to repattern and overcome the conditionings of the conscious mind.

Most of our troubles are of the conscious level. These are in turn pushed forth from the subconscious level. The left hemisphere of the brain, which is said to control thinking, analysis, verbalizing, and symbolizing, is connected to, not apart from, the right hemisphere of the brain, the part that is said to be a link to the intutive ability and the universal mind. Through meditation and spiritual practices we enliven this connection, first in the organ of the brain, and then in its subtler layer, which we call the mind, it’s subtler self. The entirety of the mind has been grossified into the organ called the brain to give us the individuality that we have. Of this brain, three pounds in weight, containing twelve billion cells, we use only one millionth part.

So, by activating the right hemisphere, we are energizing the left hemisphere, and therefore there is greater clarity of thought, greater concentration, and greater one-pointedness: and all  these qualities  plus others make one’s life successful. Not only we are using the energies of the left hemisphere, but, as a result of spiritual practices, we are also drawing upon the intuitive level. If we combine the analytical with the intuitional, how much more forceful our actions become, how much more truthful our thinking becomes. In this way we are led to right thought and right action.

So after practice, over a period of time, the mind gradually starts functioning in a spontaneous manner, to do that which is right. Then thinking is not necessary; you just do. You would, for example, come to a fork in the road, and you would just ver spontaneously take the right road. Your analytical mind will not tell you why or how you did it.

What is working is that intuitional level, which fulfills your every need, not your every want. With “want” the left hemisphere comes into play: “I want a million pounds, I want a 50-room mansion, I want this, and I want that.” That kind of analysis leads only to ego-boosting.

Now, all this exists within the framework of the traveling from Silence to Silence. This is the motion that is created. When that which we are calling the left hemisphere dominates us, we are enmeshed in our ego-selves, which know only this: me and mine.

If the mind is empowered by what we are calling the right hemisphere, the intuitional level which has its roots in the core’s of one personality, which we also call the heart, then “me” and “mine” disappears and it is “thee” and “thine.” For the core of the human personality, though outwardly seeming individualized, also exists in its universilezed form. So what happens to a person is this: He can exist as an individual and yet at the same time be universal, for he has now realized, through his spiritual sadhana , how vast he is. When this happens, a person, being divine, recognizes and experiences this Divinity.

to be continued in Journey of the Soul – III

Soon coming.

MEDITACIÓN BARCELONA

I am at this very moment re-organizing all the information I have in the website. It will soon come up in a very nice and gratifying user experience