"Maya Ki Kahani.....The Story Of Maya"

Just like Divine Consciousness Maya too pervades everything in the entire Universe and spares no one. Everything is under its clutches as it lives in every household and every nook and cranny of this world. Its main job is to maintain our distance from Him and loves to break relationships. After all it has been there ever since this Universe was created. The following story illustrates how subtly and deeply entrenched it is. There was a young boy who was very attached to his little sister and loved her no end. He always made it a point to keep her happy by whatever means possible. One day while coming back from School he remembered that his little sister had mentioned that she had not eaten ‘gulab jamuns” for a long time. He felt a surge of love for her and decided to buy some for her. He searched far and wide but could not find them anywhere. The young boy felt disappointed when suddenly his prayers seemed to be getting answered as he saw a new shop which he had not seen before. He bought some very tasty looking ‘gulab jamuns’ and headed for home to present her with her favourite sweet and longed to see her happy face. When he met her he gave her the box of sweets with love in his heart and waited for his loving sister to hug him with affection but what he saw and heard stopped him in his tracks. His little sister looked very happy no doubt, looked at the sweets he had brought for her but waived another box of sweets which she clutched in her little hand and said excitedly “Bhaiya, look what I got from your friend!” Before the boy could say anything she went inside and came out with another box and said ‘Bhaiya…..these are some more sweets i got from another fried of yours!” The boy felt very disappointed and hurt. The little boy inside him had expected to be appreciated for his efforts with which his little sister had spoiled him with. Without stopping to think he said ‘had i known you had so many sweets i would not have taken the pains to buy these “gulab jamuns” for you!” The little girl felt very hurt at her loving brother’s reaction and burst out crying and said “Bhaiya, i was showing those sweets to you so that we could add the gulab jamuns to the ones i already have and have a feast together. The ones i have with me are your favourite ‘barfis”…..i was waiting to show them to you!’ The boy realized his mistake. ….he had reacted without thinking as his hurt had been paramount in his mind. He wondered with great regret as to what had made him doubt his little sister’s intention and cried …..then they both cried and hugged each other. This is how maya acts…it can poison our mind and make us do things which are detrimental to us. It has created an ugly counterpart for every beautiful creation of God……takes us towards duality in place of unity with Him. Its sole purpose is to keep us attracted to the outside world with our sense pleasures and prevent us from connecting to the One Reality within since that is the only way it can survive. It is not possible to beat it at its own game. We, therefore need Divine intervention to see through its evil machinations. Let us all listen to our inner voice ….seek Him in all earnest and try our best to merge with Him.

"I Too Can Fly"

Many of us talk of spirituality and aspire to become spiritual but very few actually take even the first step forward on this path…..just sit on the fence afraid to take the plunge as we feel that we do not have it in us and that those who have evolved are very different from us or are blessed’ differently”! The fact of the matter is that God has given each one of us the wings to fly and reach Him, but we are not aware of it! It is illusion or maya which makes us think like that since Maya does not want us to succeed and keeps us tied down to material and sense pleasures. i would like to share a beautiful story in this connection as told by my Guruji but slightly modified by me. There was a man who had been seeking God and trying to meditate for many years but had not achieved any success. One day he was sitting under a tree feeling sorry for himself as he felt that he had not been blessed with what was needed for spiritual progress. It was then that he saw a pair of birds, sitting on a branch of the tree below which he was trying to meditate. Soon they started collecting little twigs and made a beautiful and small little nest. He continued to watch them build their nest. Something prompted him to see what happened after that which made him come there every day. A few days later he noticed that the birds had laid a few eggs. Very soon a few lovely little chicks were hatched. They started cooing like their parents and started emulating them in trying to fly. In a very short span of time all of them were flying successfully, though a little gingerly at first. But one of them was far too scared and was shying away, as it believed that it did not have wings at all…so how could it fly? The parent birds tried very hard to coax and cajole it but to no avail. They finally did the unthinkable…they pushed the little one off the branch of the tree in the hope that it would ‘find’ its wings and fly! The little one gasped with fright but found that it had spread its wings and had managed to come back to its nest and safety! It then realized that it did have wings after all! The man sitting under the tree got the message …….he understood that The Almighty had shown him that spectacle for a purpose. He had also been shown that each one of us is a bird fully equipped to fly! The man also understood that one needs to stay in the company of ‘gurmukhs’ and connect with those who have ‘flown’ themselves or have traversed the entire spiritual path and seek their guidance. Let us not feel helpless and incapable of achieving the true goal of our lives, that of merging with Him …let us believe in ourselves, seek, connect and hold the hands of those evolved beings who have take birth to show us the Divine Light.

"The Path And The Seeker"

The Path And The Seeker: What IS this mysterious “path” we keep hearing so much about ? Why is to so important? How does one find it and how does one “travel”on it? Who is eligible for it? These are some of the questions which often come to our mind or we wonder about. What is this Path? It is nothing but the route one takes to merge with Him……which is Yoga or union with the Divine…. The merger of the Atma with Parmatama. Unlike other paths it occurs internally and has to be travelled alone. It is like the sadhak blazing a new trail for himself, and the experiences, though fairly similar are yet different for each sadhak. The ‘Path’ is one but there can be many routes which one can take. Types of Paths: The path ultimately leads to union with the Supreme Being, which is called ‘Yoga”. The types of paths, are also designated as ‘Yoga’. Traditionally four main paths have been described. Raj, Karma, Bhakti and Gyan Yoga. Each one of us has a different temperament, based on which we get attracted to the path which we think is suitable to us. Raja Yoga is the science of restraining the mind and teaches us to concentrate with purification of intention. It ultimately frees us from the limitations of the senses and makes us transcend reason and thus reveal the potential divinity within. This control of chitta by meditation is necessary in all the types of Yogas and hence Raja Yoga can be said to be the basis of all of them. Kriya Yoga is also a part of this. Karma Yoga is the science of right action and serving without expectations. It teaches man to “be in the world yet not of it”, like the lotus leaf, whose roots are in the mud but which remains always pure. Bhakti Yoga is the path of love and devotion for God for the emotional type of person. Gyana Yoga is for the one who is reflective by nature. By the process of discrimination the gyani leaves out one thing after another of the Universe until he discovers the essential Unity. When this point is reached he sees that there is but one Self in the Universe, of which the lower selves are but manifestations. Of these it is believed that Raj Yoga is the highest. In fact, Sri Paramhans Yoganandaji has said that if you see anyone achieving unity with Him by any other methods other than Raj Yoga, then that person must have meditated in earlier births and in the present birth just starts off from where he left off earlier. None of these paths are however exclusive and in the end they converge and meet at the same point. Swami Vivekananda has said “ You must harmonize the four different paths…..” I must also mention about the ‘Yoga ‘which we normally talk about since it is often confused with the yoga we are discussing above….”the eight fold path enunciated by Patanjali is an intrinsic part of the one seeking God Realization . The first two are the yama and niyama which means the do's and don'ts of life which are like the foundation of spiritual life, needless to say if one is not established in these two, the foundation being weak the building of self realization will also be weak and can fall at even a slight tremor of test or trail. When one is firmly established in the two prerequisites he can then move on to the other steps of asan, pranayam, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana and finally attain samadhi. Asan means the right posture, Arjuna's gandive or his bow symbolizes that, meaning if the string on his bow is not taut it will not be able to shoot arrows, likewise if the posture of spine is not straight and is bent one will not be able to lift his consciousness from the lower centres of Muladhara and swadhistan to ajna, like water will not be able to flow through a bent pipe. Pranayama the next step, ( prana is “life” and ayama is “control’ meaning ‘control of life”) Pratyahara is interiorisation of the mind, dharana is fixing the mind on some aspect of God, when the mind thus stays fixed it’s called dhyana, and when the person meditating and object of meditation, and the experience thereof become one, one enters the state of Samadhi, where the knower, knowing and the known become one and are no more separate.” This too has been modified quite a bit. There is another path too, the path of the Saints, called Santmat (there are many other names as well)which actually incorporates all four as mentioned above and is based on the power of the “Shabd”, also called ‘Naam” or the Divine melody within, which is the vibration which brought about the creation of this entire Universe. “This force originates from the highest realm of consciousness and descends till our eye centre. When the meditator ventures within and brings his consciousness to the third eye he connects with this melody and travels to higher realms. Since its originating point is beyond all the lower realms it takes the practitioner directly to the realm of Anami or the Supreme abode of the Nameless One”. This is achieved with the guidance of a Realized guru. Most of the other yoga systems believe in the seven chakras within the human body as well as the “kundalini” lying at the base of the Muladhar chakra which has to be raised by various methods of meditation in order to raise one’s consciousness upwards to the eye centre first and then to the sahasrar, where it ends. Hence by these methods one can reach upto the sahasrar only and not beyond, while in the path of Santmat the atma travels from the sahasrar chakra upto Him for final merger with Him. As mentioned above the path of santmat encompasses all the four forms of yoga , namely the sadhak has his Master’s form(Swaroop) within his heart at all times along with mental chanting of the Mantra given to him by his Master (Bhakti yoga),performs his duties with zeal at all times (Karma Yoga), meditates regularly (Raj Yoga) and attains supreme transcendental knowledge by travelling within (Gyan Yoga). Why is the Path so important? Most people are of the opinion that the most important thing in life is to be good in all respects and, therefore, there is no need to traverse the path to spirituality. This requires some thought, however, as even being good requires God’s help. This needs to be explained further. Our temperament of being good, bad , evil etc is dependent upon the gunas of prakriti with which we are born, based on our karmas of earlier births. When we are born with a sattvic temperament we behave in a sattvic manner (sattvic means pure and virtuous), but if born with a rajasic guna, we will behave in a rajasic manner, which means being passionate and involved in worldly activities. If, however, we are born with a tamasic temperament (inertia, pride, arrogance, being bad, evil, lazy etc), we will continue to behave like that. A tamasic person cannot become sattvic or rajasic by just “willing” himself to or by thinking about it. The only way it can happen is by meditation. All our thoughts arise from the Cosmic mind of God, and each thought percolates down to our Individual superconscious mind, then to the Subconscious and finally to the Conscious. In the case of a tamasic or rajasic person access to the deeper layers of the mind are not possible as he is totally cut off from the Cosmic mind. Therefore, for one to become really good he must harbour sattvic or good thoughts but if one does not traverse the path to connect with God how will these good thoughts come into us? We cannot just ask our conscious mind to generate good thoughts since it is impossible to control our conscious mind. However , when we are connected to the Cosmic Mind we have access to His mind and can imbibe His qualities by travelling on the path. The human being has been born with the sole purpose of going back to his Source and in the process evolving by learning from his multiple experiences (of multiple births). This involves a complete transformation of our personality……from a human form of self centeredness, egoistic behavior, envy, anger, greed, desires, etc to an ultimate God like form…. which is essential ….after all to merge with Him we perforce have to become like Him with all His characteristics of profound love for all beings, kindness, compassion, forgiveness, wisdom and generate that scintillating bright aura which encompass all of humanity. For this to happen one has to first connect with one’s self followed by dissolving into Him. This is possible only by travelling on the Path as taught by a realized guru. What happens on the Path? As one progresses on the path of spirituality, one gains a lot of experiences depending on the stages of his evolution namely, with the opening of the Third Eye, ‘Divine music’ becomes audible/appreciable, the type being commensurate with the stage one is at. It may also be associated with various coloured lights and visions. With the “ascent” one notices dramatic changes in one’s personality and negative emotions gradually give way to profoundly positive ones, love for all beings plays a very important part. Compassion, kindness, empathy, forgiveness, fearlessness, a cool and calm demeanor ……one becomes ‘happy without reason”. Along with this one develops oneness with all His creation and one gains a lot of ‘powers’ which have been called ‘ridhis and sidhis’ (which, unfortunately, often prevent further evolution if one gets attached to them). As one evolves to reach and merge with Him, the positive changes of one’s personality translate into his daily life and one radiates a bright aura (tej) and generates positive vibrations (a result of having imbibed His spiritual vibrations) which are transmitted to all and sundry. One’s body identified ego becomes less and less till it disappears completely at the time of merger with Him…..and the drop becomes the ocean. Everyone is eligible to traverse the path, though the progress depends upon the keenness and the ‘tarap’ of the seeker. The Seeker: Like the various types of paths which can be trod, so also, the yearnings for the Almigty by the seekers too can be quite different. At one end of the spectrum is the seeker who is obviously pining for Him but in other cases it could be very subtle. When we take birth in this world we bring with us whatever experiences we have gained in our previous lives, which means that none of us are at the same level….the spiritual knowledge or experience each of us has is of a different degree. Most often those who have come already evolved to a certain extent start questioning the purpose of their lives and as to why have they been born? They also wonder ‘Who am I”? It is this category of people who want to evolve further and start “looking around” or searching for Him and may resort to reading the Scriptures, going to temples, doing worship at home or elsewhere, go on pilgrimages, search for gurus etc. Many keep wondering as to whether what they are doing is correct or not and are perpetually questioning themselves. Another category gets intense feelings of ‘homesickness’…..which home they want to go to is very very obscure in their minds …but their heartfelt desire is to reach ‘there’…..but how they will get there is a very big question mark in their minds. There are some who, though seem to be living wholesome lives still feel that ‘something is missing” from their lives. They are unable to put a finger on the ‘missing link”, though. At times, one may go through very tragic or nerve shattering experiences like sudden losses or unexpected developments beyond one's control which make one realize that one really is not the doer and that there is a higher power which orchestrates everything. Such instances are turning points in one's life and propel one to traverse the path. It is the people who sincerely seek or the ones who are ‘homesick’ are the ones who are ultimately blessed by a true guru. They of course need to go through various other experiences before that actually happens, though. These can be in the form of ‘chance’ meetings with people who are already on the spiritual path, or certain situations or circumstances which are ‘created’ in their lives which then take them forward. They could also have prophetic dreams or connect ‘vibrationally’ with others on the path who then facilitate their meeting with a true guru by acting as “catalysts’. By a vibrational connection i mean meeting people who ‘vibrate’ at a similar frequency with them. This happens because of their subconscious mind propelling them forward and urging them to do certain things which facilitate the meeting. There are instances where the guru has woken up the sadhak during sleep asking him to “wake up”….meaning ‘arise, awake and connect to yourself”! Seekers can thus be likened to an ice berg….the biggest chunk of ice being submerged inside water and a very tiny bit above. The tiny bit above the surface of the water is that part of the seeker which has not been swallowed up by the world (read material things and being away from God) he lives in and may be tuned to his religion or to Spirit. The size of this varies according to his present spiritual evolution. If he is a little more evolved than others then the tiny part may be a little bigger. The part of the iceberg above the surface of the water would be bigger still in those who have come into this world even more evolved than others. The job of the guru is to pull as much (or all) of the submerged part and guide him to yoga (union with the Almighty) Once contact has been established the Guru initiates the sadhak……..and teaches him the method of meditation as well as the mantra he should chant mentally. In this method, if the guru is truly realized, he soon manages to get the student to open his Third Eye following which further spiritual progress takes place. The Guru then commences to teach. His teachings can take various forms namely by his pravachans which comprise of imparting wisdom from the Scriptures along with his own commentary on various subjects. Once initiation has taken place the seeker meditates on the guru’s image at the centre of the forehead. Further spiritual evolution takes place with more and more meditation on the part of the sadhak and more and more guidance on the part of guru, who literally guides the sadhak’s atma higher and higher by travelling ahead of him and taking him through the various stages to the ultimate merger with Him. On the Path he keeps pointing out pitfalls from which the sadhak needs to avoid. Often the message the guru gives can be quite subtle. For the seeker to truly evolve the presence of a realized guru is essential in his life, without which true progress cannot take place. As one evolves it slowly dawns on the seeker that the shabd and the Guru are one. This merger is followed by complete merger with the Divine, heralded by profound bliss and the breathtaking aura of His brilliance! May we all be guided on to the path and to …….His heavenly abode! Acknowledgements: ‘Vivekanand, The Great Spiritual Teacher” The Internet‘The Mystic Way” http://wayofmystics.webs.com/thepath.htm My Blog Posts http://www.speakingtree.in/public/spiritual-blogs/seekers/wellness/mantra-meditation-on-the-chakras-and-their-health-benefits http://www.speakingtree.in/public/spiritual-blogs/seekers/mysticism/is-sahasrara-the-ultimate-destination http://www.speakingtree.in/public/spiritual-blogs/seekers/science-of-spirituality/the-gurus-appearance-and-spiritual-evolution-of-the-student Input from my spiritual brother Sri Dhairyanandaji

Is Sahasrar The Final Destination?

The Sahasrar, or the thousand rayed lotus, of life and light is situated four finger’s width above the top of the head, with all the petals directed downwards. It is also called the Crown Chakra and has always been considered the level to be achieved spiritually. It shines like a thousand suns in its power and glory and is also called the Brahmarandra or Brahma’s Door, the gateway to the Absolute. It is said that it is closed to the ‘ordinary’ individual but when one is highly advanced, this door opens and one ascends through it into the Beyond. It is commonly known that the fifty letters or sounds of the Sanskrit alphabet are on the petals of the Sahasrar. The fifty letters or sounds, in multiples of twenty, equal the one thousand petals of the Sahasrar. Each alphabetical vibration is connected with a specific petal on the lotuses in the spinal chakras .Petals are actually rays or vibrations, which, singularly and in combination, along with the five tattvas and other principles of Nature are responsible for the various psychological and physiological activities in our physical and astral bodies. The rishis realized the potencies of these vibratory “bija” or “seed” sounds and devised the various mantras based on them. The Mantra for the Sahasrar chakra is “Aum”. (If you wish, you may kindly refer to my earlier blog http://www.speakingtree.in/public/spiritual-blogs/seekers/meditation/aum-and-gayatri-mantrastheir-deeper-meaning ) Genesis: As we are aware, the human soul is encased in three coverings or bodies, namely the ideational or the causal, the subtle or astral, and the gross physical body. The physical body is both created and sustained by the astral body, which mainly consists of prana. The creative life energy of the astral body descends into the physical body through the seven chakras situated in the spine and the brain. (Kindly refer to my blog, if you so desire http://www.speakingtree.in/public/spiritual-blogs/seekers/wellness/mantra-meditation-on-the-chakras-and-their-health-benefits for more details about the chakras) Our physical body is structured on similar lines as the astral. Just as the physical body has a brain, spinal cord, nerves and nerve plexuses so also the astral body has an astral brain of a thousand rays…the thousand-petaled lotus along with an astral spine with its chakras of light and energy and an astral nervous system with its “nadis’. Through the Astral nervous system flows “prana” which gets differentiated in the physical body into the various currents which carry on the function of crystallization, circulation, assimilation, metabolism and elimination ( Vyana, Udana, Prana, Samana and Apana Vayus). The Sushumana is the main astral channel and has two other astral nadis on either side, the “Ida” on the left and the ‘Pingala” on the right. There are about 72000 such nadis which constitute the Astral Sympathetic nervous System. The Ida, Pingala and Sushumana reach only as far as the Agya Chakra or the Third Eye and not any further. The Sushumana also has another astral spine called ‘vajra’, within which is present is another one called ‘chitra’, which controls our spiritual activities. All three of these spines are controlled by the Sahasrar. Specific rays and intelligence emanating from the Sahasrar are reflected to the various spinal chakras giving each its characteristic activities and consciousness. (Sri Paramhans Yoganandaji …’God talks To Arjun……”) At the sacral centre or the Muladhara chakra lies the nadi which is coiled like a serpent and is called the Kundalini, which ends its journey at the Sahasrar chakra from where it arises. Similarly the third covering, the Causal Body is pure consciousness, which has a spiritual brain and a spiritual spine called ‘Brahmanadi’. Consciouness flows from the causal to the astral body and finally into the physical body and becomes increasingly deluded due to sense pleasures. It is, therefore, clear from the above that the Sahasrar is related to the Astral body and the Causal still needs to be negotiated. The Kundalini and Consciousness: As has been clarified above, systems in which the kundalini is made to rise by various methods of meditation, it is possible to raise one’s consciousness only upto the Sahasrar chakra and not beyond since the kundalini ends at that point. Similarly by various methods of Pranayam, consciousness can be raised only up to the Third Eye since the Ida , Pingala and Sushumanana end there and do not go beyond. When we withdraw our consciuousness from our surroundings by meditation, the sushumana becomes active and helps in channeling our consciousness upwards but cannot take it beyond the Third Eye or the Sahasrar chakra. All systems of yoga, therefore, have this limitation. Thus if our Consciousness reaches up to the Sahasrar by any spiritual method we can reach only up to the Astral body (since the sahasrar is part of the Astral) and cannot go beyond the Causal. At this juncture it would be worthwhile to mention a little about the Third Eye since it plays such an important role in spiritual evolution….. what does it look like? There is a dark opal-blue globe within a quivering ring of flame. By deep meditation, an extremely brilliant star may be seen in the centre of the blue. The star is the gateway to Spirit. (Sri Paramhans Yoganndaji).When one travels through the golden disc one reaches the astral plane but to reach the Spirit beyond the causal pane one needs to travel through this star. It has also been described like the flame of a candle. This is what Sant Kabir Dasji has to say about it: ‘Between the two eyes is the Master, the messenger of the Lord. Between the black and white moles is the shining star, and within that star dwells the unknown and unseen Lord. Between the eyes is the Master, the Messenger of God. Between the eyes shines a tiny petal and within the petal is the hidden door. On that door adjust your telescope. Thus with ease go across the world’s deadly sea. Between the eyes is the Master, the Messenger of God. In the City of sunn I reside o friend where resounds the melody in its all pervading force. Now the Master and Kabir are eternal companions. And he leads Kabir to the mansion of shabd. Between the eyes is the Master.” The Sahasrar chakra, therefore, is not the last but actually the first step to union with Spirit. The reason is quite obvious. Merging with God means merging with Spirit which is beyond the Astral and Causal realms. Since the Sahasrar is a part of the Astral only in order to evolve further we need to go beyond it. This creation was brought about by a vibration, called ‘shabd’ or “Aum” which is in the form of sound and light .This is the Divine melody which is the direct connection between human Consciousness and Divine Consciousness and is forever present. How Does Union With Spirit Take Place? Saints achieve this through their connection with the Shabd (known variously as Naam. Anhad Shabd, Aum, Kalma etc). ‘This force originates from the highest realm of consciousness and descends till our Eye Centre”. When a realized guru blesses a sadhak with Naam Daan or initiation, he brings about the sadhak’s Consciousness to rise to the Third Eye(kindly refer to my earlier blog if you wish http://www.speakingtree.in/public/spiritual-blogs/seekers/science-of-spirituality/the-gurus-appearance-and-spiritual-evolution-of-the-student ) Where he connects with the shabd through which he rises to higher realms. “The Master initiates a disciple into the mystic path he or she attaches our soul currents to shabd or naam and turns our soul currents from their usual tendencies of outwards and downwards to inwards and upwards.” (The Mystic Way)During initiation the Master also teaches a mantra to be chanted during meditation on the sound current and to focus one’s mind on his “swaroop” at the eye centre and to “follow” his swaroop. . The Guru then “leads” the sadhak so that his Atma then travels through various stages or “Khands” , namely, Dharam Khand, Karam Khand, Gyan Khand, Saram Kahand and finally Sach Khand. The Dharam Khand corresponds to the ‘Sahasra Dal Kawal” or the sahasrar chakra and has its own characteristic sound and the vision as seen in the form of light of a specific colour.(My Guruji). It is now clear that we actually have 12 chakras instead of 7 as described in Yoga but this number becomes 22 when subdivided. The Sach Khand is the abode of the Supreme Being and this khand has four more stages called, Alakh, Agami and Anami or the Nameless One. (The Way of Mystics) Hence the sadhak’s journey actually commences from the sahasrar. As the Atma progresses, it travels through these various stages, each being recognized by its specific sound and the colour of the light. It should be noted that the sounds, visions and colours are different from those associated with ascent through the spinal chakrsas when the kundalini rises up the spine towards the sahasrar.All these stages are associated with tremendous changes in the sadhak’s personality along with progressive improvement in intuition and wisdom. Sant Kabir has described each and every stage in great detail. They may have other names too and each has its own number of petals , not unlike the petals of the Astral chakras. For example ‘Bhanwar Gupha” has two petals, Mahasunn (great darkness) has 16, Achint Deep has 12…..so and so forth. (The Way of Mystics). It is said that when ‘maha pralaya’ takes place, all the regions up to the gate of Sat Lok ie below Sach Khand get destroyed. We should, therefore make Sach Khand our destination, so that we never come down. Let us, therefore, strive to actually connect with the Shabd/Aum so that we can travel through the astral and causal realms and merge with the Spirit beyond Creation. Sources: “God Talks To Arjun….The Bhagwada Gita” and “The Second Coming Of Christ’ by Sri Pramahans Yoganandaji. ‘The Mystic Way” http://wayofmystics.webs.com/thepath.htm

'Consciousness....."

Volumes and volumes have been written on this mystical subject but it still remains an enigma. With great humility i wish to share my understanding of this ubiquitous entity called Consciousness. There has always been a debate as to whether the brain came first or Consciousness? What do we mean by the term Consciousness? Many attempts have been made to define it. What Does Physics have to say about it? Looking at it from the Scientific perspective, it is the very “ground of being” says Amit Goswami, the famous physicist, and this “being” includes both mind and matter. He further adds that ‘consciousness is the mediator of the interaction between mind and body.”According to Schrodinger it is a “singular without a plural”. It was with the advent of Quantum Physics that Consciousness received its due and we need to go into some detail. Nick Herbert in 1993 said ‘The world exists not as a solid actuality but only as shimmering waves of possibility…….Whenever someone chooses to look at it, the atom ceases its fuzzy dance and seems to ‘freeze’ into a tiny object with definite attributes, only to dissolve once more into a quivering pool of possibilities as soon as the observer withdraws his attention from it. This apparent observer induced change in an atom’s mode of existence is called the collapse of the wave function or simply the quantum jump.’ It then became clear that something new must be added to ‘collapse the wave function’. John von Neumann concluded that the only known entity fit for this task was consciousness. He said that ‘the world remains everywhere in a state of pure possibility except where some conscious mind decides to promote a portion of the world from its usual state of indefiniteness into a condition of actual existence.” The term ‘collapse’ basically means the change from possibility into actuality. Our Sages concept of Consciousness: Our sages have called it “existence-awareness-bliss” which we know as ‘Sat-Chit-Anand”. Here ‘Chit” stands for Consciousness. As we are aware there are three states of Consciousness…..Jagrat, or Conscious, awake or wakeful state, Supta or Subconscious or sleeping state and the Sushupta state, also called the Superconscious state, Krishna Consciousness or Christ Consciousness. According to Swami Jnaneshwar Bharat, the Aum Mantra denotes four levels of Consciousness and three transition levels. Each of the three sounds of the Aum Mantra (A, U and M) symbolize specific states of Consciousness after which there is silence which is the Fourth State and is Consciousness or awareness itself, while in between are the transition states. (Kindly refer to my earlier blog for more details http://www.speakingtree.in/public/spiritual-blogs/seekers/mysticism/atma-and-satchitananda) Sri Paramhans Yoganandaji has called it ‘primordial awareness” Consciousness basically arises from God. ‘God the Father and Cosmic Consciousness are synonymous; Christ, the Son and Christ Consciousness are one and the same. God the Father emanated from Him His son, Christ Intelligence and Cosmic Energy, the Holy Ghost.”As we are aware Holy Ghost and the word “Aum” are one and the same. Holy Ghost , Aum or Shabd is the vehicle for union with God the Father. Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj feels that “awareness is primordial, which is the original state , beginningless, endless, unsupported, without parts, and without change.” According to him “Consciousness is on contact, a reflection against a surface, a state of duality. There can be no consciousness without awareness, but there can be awareness without consciousness as in deep sleep. Awareness is absolute ,while consciousness is relative to its content” he further says that Consciousness is partial and changeful while awareness is total, changeless, calm and silent and is the common matrix of every experience. According to Yoga, God Consciousness is called ‘Kaivalya”, which means touching Ultimate Reality. Samadhi is the technique to achieve it. In this state God is seen differently at different times and in different “forms” depending upon the karma of the person seeking Him. How has Cosmic Consciousness ‘descended’ to permeate all matter? Sri Paramhans Yogananda has given a beautiful narration….’As a mighty river that brings fertility to the plains has its source in the mountains high above, so the source of the river of consciousness is Cosmic Consciousness, Spirit, the ever existing, ever conscious ever-new Bliss that transcends creation. Descending into creation –into every particle of thought, life energy, and matter constituting the causal, astral and physical realms-Cosmic Consciousness is called Christ Consciousness. Flowing into the soul and pure mind of man, it is called superconsciousness. Carried on the current of life energy down through the subtle spinal centres (chakras), losing its divine awareness in body in body identification, it is called subconsciousness, operating the body-mechanism through the life energy in the physical brain, spine, and viscera. Descending further, out into the muscles and senses, the river of consciousness settles in the level of the ordinary waking state ,enlivening the muscular and sensory activities of the body, and creating desires for and attachments to material experiences.’ As long as consciousness is identified with the senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch it makes us conscious of matter. But when we meditate, we withdraw our consciousness from the five senses and gradually attain superconsciousness. The internal consciousness of ordinary people operates only from the lumbar, sacral and coccygeal centres. Those who love the Divine work from the heart centre, but the calm, unshaken yogi operates from the cervical centre. Someone who can feel his presence in the entire vibratory creation has awakened his medullary and Christ centres, while the illumined yogi functions in the cerebral centre of Cosmic Consciousness. (Sri Paramahans Yogananda). What this translates into is that those whose consciousness is focused on the lower three centres are predominantly tamasic, when related to the Anahat Chakra, Rajasic. When, however, people whose consciousness is focused on the higher centres are either Sattvic …or have moved beyond. How Does Consciousness Manifest? Consciousness is the ground of reality, of the reality which connects one reality to another…..it pervades everything in the universe, the link between ‘matter” and what is unmanifest, between the various sheaths or the five koshas, body, prana, mind, intelligence and bliss. It is the driving force which initiates all processes……acts as the ignition for all chemical processes in our body, initiates all thoughts and thoughts into action, it is the ‘primordial awareness” and if i may say, it is the “awareness of being aware”…it is always present even when ‘unconscious’ as that stage is the stage when we are not aware of being aware…but all functions continue as if by remote. It is the very foundation…’mula-adhar’ of not only our being but also of the entire Universe…remember the Muladhar chakra, the four petals of which denote ‘Mana’, ‘Budhi:, ‘Chita” Ahankar”? Consciousness is that subtle reality which is present between all of us…present in all beings and links us all by merging into each other….i am you and you are me at the same time being him/her….it is like a loving mother whose love is always enveloping us whether we are in her physical presence or not. It is that Divine Light permeating all of the manifest or unmanifest worlds, it is the vibration which initiated all of creation…..it is the Aum/Shabd/Amen….continuously creating, maintaining and ‘destroying’……changing form and recreating the same into another form…the moisture in the cloud…the rain drop….which drops on the ground, loses its individuality as the drop, merges with the earth …..only to change form again as it is the energy which cannot be destroyed nor created. It is that ‘prana’ which is present in all, the energy responsible for keeping us alive. It is consciousness, the energy which changes form to carry out the myriad functions required for the functioning of the entire Universe. When the One became conscious of itself it gave rise to the entire created and manifest or umanifest universe (s). It is the very thought which comes in our mind, initiates an action, seemingly disappearing but remaining in the ether only to initiate another action elsewhere or in someone else’s mind and the process goes, on ad infinitum. It is the initiator of the thought, the thought itself, the action culminating from the thought, the after effect of the action, the consequence…it is the feeling i have whether of love, kindness, compassion, forgiveness or dislike, jealousy….. It is what makes us ‘see’ a sound, as it is what initiates it, is present in it and still remains when the sound has disappeared….so also with our hearing…….it is consciousness which makes us “see,” “hear” , “talk”…….the external organs for these being essential only till we retain the body …after which we can still continue to do so without these ‘appliances’…all because of consciousness. During advanced stages of meditation as described by sages, consciousness is ‘felt’ as the divine light descending down into one’s being from the head going down to each and every cell and atom of the body in its brilliant silvery sheen or golden splendor, perfusing every nook and cranny of the body, emanating out, expanding the body aura multifold, going out in to the Universe to merge with all its surroundings…..the Universe and I become one. Sri Paranmhans Yoganadaji has described it ever so beautifully ‘The yogi learns to expand his being into Spirit and Its cosmic consciousness……the yogi’s soul not only feels the cosmic consciousness in all creation, but beyond it, to the farthest reaches of the vibrationless sphere.” The yogi being one with God, beholds His consciousness appearing as the sapidity in waters, the luminescence of the moon and the sun, the cosmic sound and light roaming in the universes and the eternal ether, the perception of all sentient beings and saintly souls, and the Aum or truth vibrations of the Vedic Scriptures …… How can we experience it? As is obvious Consciousness is everywhere..it is in front if us, behind us, above us, below us, it is both inside us as well as outside us……..in fact we are totally immersed in it but are not aware of it. We need a teacher, a realized Guru to first make us aware of its existence and then to help us experience it and to finally merge with it completely. A Guru does this by making us learn to open our Third Eye at the centre of the eyebrows after which we come face to face with our atma and our ‘Nij ‘mind disengages us from our bonds with our ‘Pindi’ mind, which is keeping us stuck to the dictates of our senses…takes us higher and higher finally dropping off itself and bringing about a merger of the Atma with the Paramatama. The three components of Consciousness namely knower, knowing and known become one! Sources: God Talks to Arjun …The Bhagavad Gita” and “The Second Coming Of Christ” by Sri Paramhans Yogananda “Quantum Doctor” by Amit Goswami “The Spiritual Science of Kriya Yoga” by Goswami Kriyananda

I Had A Dream....

Dear Friends, Am taking the liberty of sharing with you the truly wonderful dream i had this morning, still so vividly imprinted in my mind. They say early morning dreams come true! i saw an exquisitely beautiful little lamb, absolutely white in colour, nuzzling up against me, seeking attention. She emanated vibrations of pure love…..i caressed it affectionately and she curled up ever so close to me giving me that wonderfully warm feeling of Divine Mother’s loving “sparsh, which i cannot forget. That touch full of love still lingers.i said to her ‘May God bless you”. A strange thing happened, the beautiful lamb became a small smiling little child, a glowingly beautiful one, laughed …and said to me ‘God bless You”! Then i saw a little monkey on the ground, trying to jump on to my shoulder…but however hard it tried, it did not succeed. Then a dog came along, a small, quiet, good looking one with very deep and beautiful eyes full of love for me and just kept looking up to me in all earnest as if all that mattered to him was me! When i woke up with a smile on my face….it was with a feeling of tranquility and profound peace and happiness….all the three images had left an indelible mark with their messages…..the lovely little lamb had shown me pure divine love, the little monkey told me not to let my mind rule me and the faithful little dog was there to tell me about faith in Him. Let us live our lives bathed in Divine love and faith in Him and not allow our notorious mind to dictate to us……the mind is like a bewitchingly beautiful child, full of ‘beans’, naughty, almost impossible to pin down…..it is always running away from us, like a playful child, laughing and enjoying itself but beyond our reach!

"Atma And Sat-Chit-Anand"

What is the relationship between the Atma and Sat-Chit-Anand? Let us first try to understand what Sat-Chit-Ananda is since we hear and talk about it so often…. Sri Paramhans Yogananda has described it as “the Sanskrit word for God that expresses the essential nature of Spirit as eternal Being or truth (Sat), infinite consciousness (Chit) and ever new Bliss (Ananda)” “Sat” stands for Truth and since the only real truth is God it means the highest level of Cosmic Consciousness which is free from all negativities of ‘raag’, dvesh’ or any faults. There are many other names too like, Being, God the Father (the Christian Bible),Par-Brahman of the Bhagavad Gita and Vedantic philosophy, Paramatama of the Yogis. Para –Purusha and Transcendental Spirit , and Sadhguru. All these names mean the same. Sat is also the supreme pure essence of Cosmic Consciousness “Chit” stands for Consciousness, while “Ananda” is bliss. Consciousness itself needs some further clarification. As we are aware there are three states of Consciousness…..Jagrat, or Conscious, awake or wakeful state, Supta or Subconscious or sleeping state and the Sushupta state, also called the Superconscious state, Krishna Consciousness or Christ Consciousness. According to Swami Jnaneshwar Bharat, the Aum Mantra denotes four levels of Consciousness and three transition levels. Each of the three sounds of the Aum Mantra (A, U and M) symbolize specific states of Consciousness after which there is silence which is the Fourth State and is Consciousness or awareness itself, while in between are the transition states. “A” represents the Waking State and is also called the Conscious, Gross or the Vaishnavara state, followed by the transition stage called Unmani. “U’ represents the Dreaming, Unconscious , Taijasya or the Subtle states, followed by the transition stage called Aladani. “M” is representative of the Subconscious state also called Prajna, and Causal state. This is then followed by the transition stage of Samadhi. Consciousness has also been classified as Conscious, Subconscious and Superconscious which has been subdivided into Individual (Soul) and Universal Superconscious states (God). Bliss is part of the Causal Body. (Our body has three parts, the physical, made of matter, called the Sthula sharer, the Astral or Sukshma shareer (the pranmaya and manomaya koshas are part of this ie prana and mind) and the Causal Body comprises of Intelligence (Vigyanmaya kosha) and Bliss or Anandmaya kosha). If we look at the Nature of Sat we realize that it has no beginning, middle or end, has existed in the past, is present now and will exist in the future, is changeless, is not conditioned by time , space or causation, exists during Jagrat, Swapna or Sushupti, it exists as one homogenous essence (Sada Ekarasa and Sada Ekarupa). All these qualities are present in Atma as well. Hence Atma is Sat (Swami Sivananda). Swami Sivananda further elaborates that ‘Atma is Chit for it shines by itself unaided by any other light and illuminates the whole Universe”. He explains that “this lamp of body filled with oil of Karma, the fire of Atman igniting the wick called mind acquires the name of Jiva and removes the darkness of Ajnana. This power is really in Atman and not in others.” According to him, Atma is Ananda as well! “Ananda is that bliss which is eternal, uncaused and unexcelled” which is the real nature of Atma also. It, therefore, becomes clear that Sat-Chit-Ananda are not three distinct entities and not different from one another either and that Atma is the same as Sat-Chit-Ananda. To achieve a stage of Sat-Chit-Ananda we need to connect with our Atma or the Self. (http://www.speakingtree.in/public/spiritual-blogs/seekers/god-and-i/godselfand-the-connection may be referred to) How do we experience Sat-Chit-Ananda? This can happen only by the opening of our Third Eye, situated a little deep to the centre of our forehead. This is also called the Agya Chakra. The Atma can be appreciated only after the opening of the Third Eye, which opens to the inside and not out as our ordinary eyes do. It is here that the three nadis, namely, “Ida”, “Pingala” and ‘Sushumna’ meet, which is why it is also called “Triveni”. Normally the Sushumna, a part of our astral body, is non functional. It is only when we manage to shift our consciousness from the “outside” to the ‘inside” that out sushumna starts functioning and takes our consciousness to the Agya Chakra. The Agya Chakra controls the manomaya kosha and the intelligence sheaths ie mind and intelligence and its qualities are Sat, Chit and Anand. When we go beyond the mind and intelligence we experience bliss, or , in other words, when the mind and intelligence sheaths are exposed the bliss sheath is visible, which is the same as connection with the atma or the Self. Till such time the Third Eye is not opened our consciousness remains lower down. (According to yoga it is awakening of the kundalani which takes the consciousness upwards). My blog http://www.speakingtree.in/public/spiritual-blogs/seekers/meditation/kundalini-risingwhat-is-the-best-method could be referred to. One need not wait for this to happen, however, if one can learn to connect with the Shabd or Aum as taught by a Realized guru, who after initiation can bring about the opening of the Third Eye directly without taking recourse to the kundalini. As we are aware, the Shabd or Aum is that vibration (comprising of sound and light) which is responsible for the creation of the entire universe and is the direct ‘link’ to God beyond creation. (kindly refer to my blog http://www.speakingtree.in/public/spiritual-blogs/seekers/meditation/aum-and-gayatri-mantrastheir-deeper-meaning for more details) When the Third Eye opens with the appreciation of “Aum”/”Shabd” it results in the appreciation of Sat or God which is associated with a sense of bliss also. The atma then must travels through five stages or Khands……namely dharma khand, karam khand, saram khand, gyan khand, and sach khand for complete merger with Him. Let us all try to achieve a state of Sat-Chit-Ananda and become one with that scintillating brightness which no one has ever been able to describe fully.