Thursday - May 03, 2007

The Silence and the Word

A Commentary on the Aquarian Gospel

Contradictions

Throughout creation we find things in which there are absolute contradictions–characteristics that logically would negate each other, yet which exist together in a single thing. For example, light is both a particle and a wave. The same is true philosophically. God is both transcendent and immanent, both with attributes and attributeless, both with form and formless. How can this be? It just IS.

We, too, contain these contradictions in ourselves, physically, mentally, and spiritually. The highest activity of which we are capable–Divine Contemplation–also contains two seemingly opposite factors: Silence and The Word. On the level of the Absolute, silence is found at the core of sound, and sound is found at the core of silence. Somehow the two are really one. When we put the two together we have the practice of meditation.

When Jesus was returning to Israel from India he spent some time in Persia (Iran). Here is what the Aquarian Gospel tells us regarding a most important morning:

The Silence

“Now, in the early morning Jesus came again to teach and heal. A light not comprehended shown about, as though some mighty spirit overshadowed him. A magus noted this and asked him privately to tell from whence his wisdom came, and what the meaning of the light. And Jesus said, There is a Silence where the soul may meet its God, and there the fount of wisdom is, and all who enter are immersed in light, and filled with wisdom, love and power.” (Aquarian Gospel 40:1-3)

The phenomenon of light shining around or from the body of a spiritually advanced person is not common, but neither is it particularly rare. I have seen it several times, and in The Sermon on the Mount According to Vedanta Swami Prabhavananda gives an impressive account of seeing Swami Premananda, a disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, shining with light during a visit to the Vishwanath Temple in Benares (Varanasi).

It is not really the light that matters, but the state of consciousness–the inner illumination–which it indicates. So the magian asked Jesus where he got his wisdom, no doubt assuming that he would give a teacher or scripture as its source. Instead, Jesus told him that there is an inner state in which the Divine Source is tapped, from which all light, wisdom, love, and power flow. There is no way to know, but it might be wondered whether in enumerating these four things Jesus was thinking of karma, jnana, bhakti, and raja yogas. However, that might be, God is the source of all good, (James 1:17) and we encounter God in the Silence of which Jesus speaks.

A wise query

The magian is not without good spiritual sense. Unlike so many “seekers” who simply want to get a little buzz to brag about later, or to loot God and come away to their own and others’ admiration, he understands what divine experience is intended to produce. So: “The magus said, Tell me about this Silence and this light, that I may go and there abide.” (Aquarian Gospel 40:4) He wisely seeks to abide in God permanently. For him the quest of God is not a trip to the beach for a little bit of paddling in the water only to go back to the dry land mistakenly called “home.” He wants to merge in the ocean and remain in its depths forever. Because of this, Jesus freely speaks to him of spiritual realities.

Everywhere

“And Jesus said, The Silence is not circumscribed; is not a place closed in with wall, or rocky steeps, nor guarded by the sword of man. Men carry with them all the time the secret place where they might meet their God. It matters not where men abide, on mountain top, in deepest vale, in marts of trade, or in the quiet home; they may at once, at any time, fling wide the door, and find the Silence, find the house of God; it is within the soul.” (Aquarian Gospel 40:5-7)

Read more of this article at AtmaJyoti.org

Sunday - March 25, 2007

Meditation and the Thoughtless State

Q:In my yoga practice I have not yet reached the thoughtless state, so is it really meditation?

A:It is only natural that in the beginning thoughts will be arising during meditation. But in time through diligent practice you will find that after some time in meditation the thoughts will cease and only the intonations of Om will remain.

The statement in the Yoga Sutras that yoga is the non-arising (nirodha) of waves (vrittis) in the mind-substance (chitta) is not a reference to mere thoughts, but to the much more profound state in which the mind cannot be influenced or conditioned by external experiences. So please be assured that the presence of thoughts does not indicate failure in meditation.

Sunday - March 25, 2007

Revision to Om Yoga: Its Theory and Practice Now Available

A new revision of Om Yoga: Its Theory and Practice by Swami Nirmalananda Giri is now available as a PDF Download or to view online. The book is a complete, in-depth book on the practice of Om Yoga Meditation, the most ancient and authentic method of meditation in Hinduism.

Download your free PDF eBook,
Om Yoga–Its Theory and Practice, by Swami Nirmalananda Giri

Or view the chapters online

Below is an excerpt from the Preface:

“Which is the form of meditation that came to be foremostly employed by seekers after liberation? What should be the object of meditation by such seekers?

“The form of meditation that came to manifest as the foremost of all, for the regeneration of all seekers, was the First Word, indicative of Brahman [God, the Absolute Being1]: the Syllable Om. Meditation on Om should be resorted to by seekers after liberation. This Syllable is the Supreme Brahman.” (Atharvashikha Upanishad 1:1,2)

Yoga is all about freedom. Only a fraction of the world’s population is formally imprisoned, but the entire human race is imprisoned in the earth itself. None are free from the inevitability of sickness, age, and death, however free of them they may be at the moment. The human condition is subject to innumerable limitations. Who really controls his life fully, attains all his goals, and knows no setbacks of any kind? No one.

Our real self, the spirit, is ever perfect and free. But it has forgotten that. So it identifies with its present experience of bondage and consequently suffers in countless ways. Our situation is like someone who is asleep and dreaming that he is being tortured and beaten. In reality he is not being touched at all; yet he is experiencing pain and fear. He need not placate, overpower, or escape his torturers. He needs only to wake up. Yoga is the procedure of self-awakening.

Om Yoga is the way to freedom from suffering and limitation. “What world does he who meditates on Om until the end of his life, win by That? If he meditates on the Supreme Being with the Syllable Om, he becomes one with the Light, he is led to the world of Brahman Who is higher than the highest life, That Which is tranquil, unaging, immortal, fearless, and supreme.” (Prashna Upanishad 5:1,5,7)

Regarding Om, the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali simply says: “Its repetition and meditation is the way.” (Yoga Sutras 1:28) The Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita, as well as the Yoga Sutras, advocate meditation on Om, the sacred syllable that both symbolizes and embodies Brahman, the Absolute Reality.

It is my hope that you will test for yourself the spiritual alchemy of Om Yoga that is set forth here.

“This is the bridge to immortality. May you be successful in crossing over to the farther shore of darkness.” (Mundaka Upanishad 2.2.6)

Swami Nirmalananda Giri
Atma Jyoti Ashram

Sunday - March 25, 2007

Success in Yoga: Krishna's Advice in the Gita

Success is one of the gods of the modern world–but only material success. Krishna, however, is interested in success of spirit, and we should be, too. So he begins this seventh chapter of the Gita, saying: “Devote your whole mind to me, and practice yoga. Take me for your only refuge. I will tell you how, by doing this, you can know me in my total reality, without any shadow of doubt.”1

Perhaps one of the reasons Vyasa chose a battlefield as the setting for the immortal dialogue of the Gita is the necessity for cutting straight to the facts without delays. Once the battlefield is entered, diplomacy is left behind–if it had not failed there would be no battle. Only the facts–the immediate facts–now matter. It is no surprise, then, that in all spiritual traditions we find military references and symbols to some degree. This verse certainly embodies the factuality and urgency of battle–traits that we require in our own personal battle for higher consciousness. Here then are the factors necessary for our success.

“He must consider the necessity of making yoga practice the core of his life.”

Devote your whole mind to me, and practice yoga. It is only to be expected that an inquirer will not commit to such an intense involvement with yoga, that first some experience of its value must be gained. But it is absolutely essential that once the aspirant comes to see the value of yoga he must consider the necessity of making yoga practice the core of his life–everything else must become secondary. In fact, anything found to conflict with the practice of yoga must be eliminated from the yogi’s inner and outer life. Without this complete dedication success in yoga is impossible.

I am not saying that everything in a person’s life is to be displaced by yoga, that yoga is supposed to crowd out everything so that nothing else remains, but only that yoga must be central to the yogis life and be given first priority. This is because every element in our life must be looked at from a yogic perspective and ordered accordingly. Since most people’s lives are conglomerates of addictions rather than principles or rational choices, this can be a very difficult matter indeed. With this in mind, toward the end of the Gita Krishna tells Arjuna: “Who knows the Atman knows that happiness born of pure knowledge: the joy of sattwa. Deep his delight after strict self-schooling: sour toil at first but at last what sweetness, the end of sorrow.”2 To reach the sweet we must first go through the bitter. It would not be honest to tell you otherwise.

There should be no “hidden charges” in yoga. Right from the first we should know what will be required of us if we intend to persevere. And we must decide to meet the requirements. Otherwise it is all a waste of time for everyone. The mind must be totally dedicated to God as the Supreme Goal and the Supreme Means. This is because real yoga is nothing less than communion with God right from the start, however faint or tenuous it may be. For “the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.”3

Take me for your only refuge. That is, we must make God the only answer to our internal problems, and not resort to mental and emotional gimmicks that will only hide the troubles. Even though we should sensibly do our best in a practical manner in relation to our external difficulties, even there God should have priority so our external tangles will not turn into mental turmoils.

If we will observe these two principles, Krishna assures us: “by doing this, you can know me in my total reality, without any shadow of doubt.” Then he continues: “I will give you all this knowledge, and direct spiritual experience, besides. When a man has that, nothing else in this world remains to be known.”4 Then we will be ready to get out of what a friend of mine used to call “this dumb kindergarten” and move up to a higher level of evolution. About time!

The few

The benefits of yoga are so marvelous, yet: “Who cares to seek for that perfect freedom? One man, perhaps, in many thousands. Then tell me how many of those who seek freedom shall know the total truth of my being? Perhaps one only.”5 Why so few? Because few will devote their whole mind to God, practice yoga, and take refuge in God alone, making God the Sole Reality in their life. Such persons are rare, but we must at some time or other in the round of rebirths become one of them. Why not now, rather than later?

1) Bhagavad Gita 7:1 [Go back]
2) Bhagavad Gita 18:37 [Go back]
3) Proverbs 4:18 [Go back]
4) Bhagavad Gita 7:2 [Go back]
5) Bhagavad Gita 7:3. “Then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved? And he said unto them, Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.” (Luke 13:23, 24) [Go back]