Commentary on Paramahansa Nityananda's Chidakasha Gita–Number 7
by Swami Nirmalananda Giri

Chidakasha Gita 20-22

20. Manas and the atman are the same to all people. At the final stage of the universe, all is one. At the present stage, there is difference in their mode of breathing, thinking, and their mental tendencies.

Manas and the atman are the same to all people. Although the manas may be a problem, as considered in aphorism sixteen, still its basic constitution is the same in all people, which is why the science of yoga is timeless. It was given at the very first appearance of human beings and has remained supremely relevant and effective throughout the ages. So also is the Self the same in all.

How inexcusable and tragic, then, is the terrible disunity among all people, the drawing of absurd boundaries to shut one another out–oftentimes based on something as silly as clothing or location of home. (A Congregational Church minister that was a good friend of our ashram told us that when she came to town the church board told her that she could not rent or buy a home south of the town square “because that is ‘Catholic Town.’”) And how insane it is that skin pigmentation is a basis for division, contempt, and hatred–and more among “colored people” than among “whites.” I have encountered much more color prejudice in India–and the rest of Asia–than in America, and had Indian friends that felt deeply inferior because they were particularly dark. And some of them were Brahmins! In Indian biographies of saints, on the first page (sometimes in the first paragraph) you often find it stated that the saint was “very light complexioned.” Even worse, in many of them a point is made that someone negative or even destructive was “very dark.” In more than one book published by an influential Indian “mission” whenever I read something like this: “a woman of dark complexion” or “a very dark complexioned man” I know it will be followed by an anecdote of how evil they were–even demonic. It is very common in north India, when the subject of south India arises, to be told: “They are very dark down there–like Africans.” Sri Aurobindo (a north Indian) wrote about the utter silliness of this myth, commenting that throughout the south he often saw people on the street that at first he mistook for friends from his home state of Bengal (where, by the way, for the first time I saw a truly “black” man, never having seen a literally black person in America. A few days later I made friends with a Brahmin named Audhir who was much darker than any African-American I have ever seen). Open any newspaper in India that has matrimonial ads, and you will see over and over the words “fair complexion,” “fair skinned: or “light complexion”–sometimes as a trait of the person being described, and sometimes as a requirement for those answering the ad. This is especially true in relation to women. Even the renowned Swami Vivekananda, before he decided to become a monk, rejected the bride his family proposed to him on the grounds that she was “black.” Until we see that we are all ONE with one another and with all sentient beings, there is no hope for local peace, much less world peace.

At the final stage of the universe, all is one. That is a relief! Of course it could not be otherwise, because at the end of its evolution the universe resolves back into Brahman from which it came–and which it always was. Nityananda is implying here, also, that when the vision of unity begins then we can know it is the final state and our liberation is not far away.

At the present stage, there is difference in their mode of breathing, thinking, and their mental tendencies. This is an extremely interesting statement. Everyone but the smallest child knows that people are extremely varied in their thinking and in their mind itself. It is a matter of samskaras from previous births. But that the mode of breathing is a factor of personality is not commonly thought. Paramhansa Nityananda, as we shall see in later aphorisms, put great emphasis on breathing–on pranayama. The breath arises from the core of our being and is a major factor in all aspects of our incarnational life. Anandamayi Ma often spoke of the role that breath has in general physical health and in the cure of disease. I met a lady from Germany at a yoga conference who told me she had gone to a very popular clinic in Germany before World War II. It was called “Kundalini” and marvelous cures were worked simply through breathing and diet–but especially through breathing. So if the breath is a factor in good health it is also a factor in disease–or at least in its persistence.

However, Nityananda was intent on the psychological effects of the breath, especially in yoga practice. There is no doubt that yogis of prolonged practice breathe differently from non-yogis–not just during meditation when formal breathing exercises might be done, but at all times outside meditation. Yogananda insisted that the quality of a yogi could be gauged by his breathing, and I found it to be so. My breathing had changed fundamentally–not intentionally, but purely automatically–very soon after I began practicing yoga meditation. (The interrelation of breath and mind is discussed in Om Yoga.)

21. Fire, air, water, and earth are common to all. These may be used by all people alike. Similarly, well-water may be used by a brahmin, a pariah, and children alike.

The creation is a living entity which responds to the will and action of sentient beings–especially human beings. It can be used by them to accomplish much, but its real purpose is their evolution. Nityananda is pointing out that the cosmos is “available” to everyone to the same degree to be used by them according to their intention. The difference in use and response is purely a matter of their mind–which is one aspect of why Sri Ramakrishna would say: “The mind is everything.” Limitations do not exist in the outer world but in the personal, inner world of each person’s mind.

Also implied here is the fact that prakriti is neutral, that it is our own mind and will that determine how it reacts to us. For here is the great secret: karma is not a mere “force” and certainly not “destiny.” KARMA IS OUR MIND AND WILL CONDITIONED BY PAST ACTIONS. Karma creates karma, so to say. Karma comes from our mind, conditions our mind, and determines the kind of karma it will produce in the future. This is a corollary to the principle that seer, seen, and seeing are the same thing–the mind. So also, then, are action, actor, and acting. All is mind–as Mary Baker Eddy said to the derision of nearly everyone.

22. Manas is the gingilly [sesame seed]; buddhi is the oil mill; amrita is the oil.

Although contemporary yoga cults do their best to see that their prisoners avoid exposure to the teachings of any other than their “sadguru,” it is very beneficial to study the words of many teachers, for each one has his own style and has insights distinctive to him. Those who do so study will have a much broader understanding, and more complete picture of things than the “loyal” who pride themselves on their “one-pointed” ignorant blindness. The Chidakasha Gita is filled with insights that are not found elsewhere, and the same is true of the teaching of all authentic teachers. Sometimes the student finds truths better expressed in their words than in the scriptures themselves. After all, both are coming from human beings, none of which is absolutely complete even though enlightened–for this is the inevitable limitation of being incarnate in a material body and possessed of a human mind. (We must not confuse limitation with flaw or fault.) This aphorism is a case in point. I have never come across this anywhere else–usually just the opposite.

Sesame seeds are put into a press (mill) and the oil is pressed out. Nityananda is telling us that the manas itself is the repository of immortality–of the Self. And if through our intelligent will (buddhi) we “press” the mind through the practice of yoga meditation, the amrita of the Self will be revealed and we shall become immortal. Actually, our consciousness will be transferred from the realm of death (relativity) into the realm of Immortality–the Absolute–because we are always immortal, even though we identify with the mortal (body, mind, etc.).

A Brief Sanskrit Glossary defines amrita as: “That which makes one immortal. The nectar of immortality that emerged from the ocean of milk when the gods churned it.” The churning of the ocean of milk by the gods is a symbol of meditation, for in time the mind which we are “churning” will transform and reveal the Self rather than conceal it. (Sri Ramana Maharshi said that the mind turns into the Self.) For it is the Self that is the real amrit. Immortality lies within and without, but we need the “oil mill” of Buddhi Yoga to access it and be free.