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(A compilation of various topics, prepared for Swamiji's 75th birthday in 1997)
Prayer - A Sure
Source of Strength
We
must be in a prayerful mood of humble submission to the Almighty every moment
of time. Let no one be under the impression that he is a Raja Yogi, and
therefore, not in need of God. That is a mistake. One cannot perform this feat
of Yoga practice alone. God's grace is necessary. The greatest Yogis were
humble and submissive in their attitude. Prayer works miracles, wonders; and a
humility of attitude on our side will be a great asset to us. Every day we have
to offer our prayers to the great Master, our Guru, and to the great Almighty
who is our great benefactor and friend. And, by the sincere prayers that we
offer to God, we invoke His benedictions, and God's actions are instantaneous.
He will do the Sadhana for us; in fact He does the Sadhana. All our activities
are God's activities, finally speaking. We are like small children imagining
that we are doing many things, while all these things are being done by
somebody else for our sake.
The Role of the Guru in Vital
Education
In
the modern systems of education, vital education is not there. We have
intellectual education, but nothing by way of a vital, emotional education
imparted to the very stuff of the individual, with the result that thestuff
of the individual has remained the same, as it was before. It has not been
affected in any manner. The outlook of life does not change after getting
educated in a college. The individual remains the same even after that. But, in
the Gurukula educational system, the outlook change was effected. The student
became a different person altogether when he came out after a period of
training under a master. Today, we have no personal relationship between the
student and the teacher. There is sort of commercial relationship, which is almost
the death of education. Even that relationship is now snapping. There seems to
be no relationship at all between the student and the teacher these days. The
whole framework is crumbling and we do not know where we are heading towards.
But, in earlier days, the teacher was like a father to the student. The Guru,
the teacher, the instructor or the professor was also a parent who had the
welfare of the student in his mind. Which professor has the welfare of his
student in his mind today?
The
influence of the teacher on the student is very important. The instruction that
the student receives from a teacher verbally is one thing. Perhaps the student
can have that instruction even from other sources, in schools and colleges.
But, the benefit of the influence of the teacher can not be gained from other
sources. When the Guru speaks to the disciple, when the Yoga teacher instructs
the student of Yoga, the soul of the Guru or the teacher makes an
immediate impact on the mind of the disciple. This is because the teacher of
Yoga is not just an ordinary person. He is not just another Tom, Dick or Harry.
He is an exceptional person, exceptional in every way. The Yoga teacher is not
an ordinary human being. He is one who has passed through the various stages of
Yoga training and acquired the competency to teach on account of his own
personal practice. This is very important. Unless one has himself practised
Yoga, he cannot teach Yoga. It is neither possible nor desirable to read one
book and then start teaching. It is the very practice of Yoga which is the
strength of the Yoga teacher, which gives him the confidence to communicate
vitally with the student. When this is done, a rapprochement is established
between the will of the teacher and the will of the student, because of a
mutual agreement of ideas and ideologies between the two. The student
surrenders himself to the teacher, wholly and solely, and the teacher takes on
the responsibility of looking after the welfare of the soul of the student, and
not merely his intellect. This is a very important factor which helps the
student of Yoga in his practice of mind control.
What is Tapas
The
checking of the urge of the mind in the direction of the senses is Tapas or
austerity. Tapas is a Sanskrit word which means heat. The heat of strength or
power or energy is generated and increased in our system by the restraint of
the senses and the mind. We become cold when energy is leaked out. When a man
is about to die, his legs become cold, his hands become cold, his body becomes
chill, the blood stream is withdrawn, and the Pranas retract inwardly because
of the power of the mind moving in a different way. Energy, when it is absent
in the physical body, makes it feel chill. We become cold in every way
when we lack the heat of Tapas. The heat of Tapas is something like
electric energy. It cannot be said that electric current is hot, though the
same current can produce heat when channelised in a particular manner. Electric
energy, by itself, is neither hot nor cold. It has no such characteristics.
But, it is an energy which can become anything. It can heat, it can move, it
can lift, it can do almost everything. So, the heat or energy which we conserve
by the practice of Tapas or austerity is such an impersonal energy which cannot
be equated with heat or cold or any characteristic, though this energy can be
utilised for the purposes of life which are variegated in their nature. Above
all things, this energy becomes necessary for the concentration of the mind,
because Yoga is nothing but concentration of mind and mediation of
consciousness. The whole being of a person, the whole of his mind, intellect,
feeling and spirit has to be channelised towards this supreme goal of Yoga.
Now,
if there is a leakage of current at some point in the electric circuit, the
voltage will fall. The electrical engineer will say, "There is a leakage
somewhere, and so, there is a fall in the voltage." That can happen to us also.
The voltage of our energy falls, when there is a leakage of energy in some
direction, through some avenue of the senses. So, by physical, verbal, sensory
and mental abstraction of oneself from external objects, one can conserve his
energy. And by doing so, a person not only becomes healthy physically and
mentally, but also becomes strong. A person who practises Tapas has greater
strength than the one who does not so practise and who wastes his strength by
way of indulgence in multitudinous activities of life. Swami Sivanandaji
Maharaj used to say. "Tapas is nothing but burning like fire with the heat of
energy by the control of the senses." One who performs Tapas has a glow in his
face, a lustre in his eyes, an aura around his personality, a strength in his
speech, and a capacity in his body on account of the austerity that he
performs. Every word that he speaks will have a tremendous force and will carry
conviction. But for his Tapas, the same word will be a cold word which may not
fall into the ears of any person. Tapas is austerity of the whole personality -
body, speech, sense and the mind. Tapas is one of the observances or Niyamas.
How to Test
Your Spirituality
Contacts
may be physical or psychic. All these are to be avoided in the search for the
Spirit. As a matter of fact, psychological contacts are more dangerous than
physical contacts. The mind it is that works havoc. The mind thinking a
sense-object is more vicious than a physical contact of body with body. If the
mind is not working, the physical contact means nothing. So, all psychic
contacts with objects should be withdrawn, and in this withdrawal of the senses
and the mind, if you can feel a release of all your tensions, if, in going to
the bottom of your own being in the solitude of your life, you can feel a
freedom and a happiness which the world knows not, then you are really living a
spiritual life. If nobody sees you, and you are happy, then that would be test
of your spirituality. And if you feel like fish out of water, because nobody
sees you, then that would be the contrary of it.
Because
the Spirit is alone, it wants nobody, and it wants nobody's help in this world.
It is so complete and full that you cannot add a cubit to its stature by
multiplying the existence of the objects before it. The whole universe, before
it, is a zero. As, in arithmetic, you have a figure before the series of zeros,
all zeros mean nothing without the figure preceding them, the figure here is
the Spirit. It may be One, but if this figure One is absent, there are only
zeros!
What does
Ritual Represent?
A
ritual or a performance represents an attitude, a conduct, expressed outside in
action. We may offer a leaf or pour a drop of water on a piece of stone
considering that piece of stone as our God. There begins religion. The stone is
not God, but our feeling of the presence of a higher power in it is our God.
There are psychological aspects of religion - these rituals in all the various
forms that we see in temples and in churches, for instance. The devotee kneels
down; he looks up; he holds his hands; he bows his head down and he offers a
deeply felt prayer through words of utter affection and agonised feeling of
devotion. This he does by ritualistic worships, offerings and sacrament.
Activity and
the Path of Knowledge
All
activity is a manifestation of the defective nature of the imperfect
individual. Action which is a means to achieving an unacheived end is
incompatible with Perfection which is Supreme fulfilment. Action is not the
essential nature of a thing; it is the agitation of the illusory vestures in
which things are shrouded that is called action. It is possible to change the
course of an action, but Self Knowledge is ever unchanging. Action is relative;
Knowledge is absolute. Action is dependent on the individual doer; Knowledge is
independent of the individual and rests solely on the unchanging object,
Brahman, with which it is identical. Knowledge is not subject to the process of
producing, obtaining, purifying or modifying, as action is and as the results
of action are. After an act there is something to be known or attained other
than the act; but after attaining Knowledge there is nothing to be done and
nothing else to be attained. Action is of the nature of prompting or inciting
one to something else outside; but Knowledge is Illumination itself which is at
once the breaking of the bond of Samsara and the experience of the Perfection
of the Absolute. The Jnana-Marga or the Path of Knowledge, because it aims at a
fusion of the means and the end in one, is, for those who are not endowed with
the necessary equipments, extremely hard to tread, and the difficulty is well
pointed out in such references to it as 'the razor's edge', 'the pathless
path', and the like, which show that Knowledge has a unique track of its own
which is not what is known to the mind and the intellect working with the
material supplied by the senses. "The path of the Knowers is untraceable like
the track of birds in the sky and of aquatic beings in water." Only those who
have a penetrating insight and are perfectly dispassionate can walk the Path of
Knowledge.
Spiritualising
through Body Posture
Yoga
Asanas have a spiritual connotation. Interpreted merely as another system of
physical exercise, the Yoga Asanas may not appear to have any connection with
spirituality. But, in truth, everything connected with Yoga is somehow or the
other related to the intention of the spirit finally. This is the
peculiarity of the culture of India. Everything has some cordon with the
spirit, even the least ritual of worship, and the smallest gesture of
adoration, or study or practice. Because, the culture of India has one great aim before it, namely, to spiritualise every activity; and, in this
light, no work in the world should be there bereft of the element of the
spirit. So, even the Asana is a spiritual exercise, though one may not be able
to easily understand how a physical exercise can be regarded as spiritual.
Asana is spiritual, because of the intention behind its practice, the purpose
for which it is done, and the effect it produces on the mind particularly. The
Hatha Yoga system has an enumeration of many Asanas - eighty four, mainly - all
aiming at the bringing about of a flexibility in the various parts of the body,
so that there may not be any kind of undue pressure exerted by any part or limb
of the body causing pain, ache and discomfort. Instead of the body controlling
us, we have to control it. Generally, we are controlled by the body, because it
has its own idiosyncrasies and predilections. The body aches when we do not
attend to it according to its requirements. But, if we have some sort of a
restraint and control over the functions of the body, it yields to our
requirements, especially when we want to be seated for a long time for
meditation or Japa.
Personal
Problems in Yoga Practice
Worry
and grief constitute an obstacle in the practice of Yoga. Unfortunately, life
is always beset with sorrow and if we are to search for a man free from
vexation of every kind, we would, perhaps, not find one. Yet, Yoga cannot be
successful if mental stress is to pursue man like a hound, wherever he goes. It
is necessary for one, before any attempt at Pratyahara, Dharana or Dhyana, to
extricate oneself from these tormenting forces of the world. And the student
may, from the point of view of this situation, be able to understand what an
amount of effort is necessary on the path to keep the mind in balance; for
balance is said to be Yoga. It is only when the balance is upset, due to some
factor in life, that worry sets in. Hence, the first step in Yoga is not
Pratyahara or Dharana, but a psychological disentanglement, or a stock taking
as people do in business, and a striking of the balance-sheet of the inner
world. One has to find out where one stands. How can one do concentration or
meditation if pains are to eat into one's vitals? There are many problems that
are brought upon oneself through economic situations, social circumstances,
family conditions, etc., as also personal health and mental stability. These
are important aspects that have to be taken into consideration. Supposing that
the student is deeply annoyed with someone, will he be able to sit for
concentration at that time? No. Because the mind is already engaged in
something else and is not prepared for concentration. It has already been given
some work and it is trying to reconcile itself with negative conditions that
have been thrust upon it. Yoga is a positive state, different from all moods of
the day. There is nothing of the negative in the Yoga way of life, neither in
the mind nor in the perspective of one's vision. Misgivings about Yoga are due
to a want of proper understanding of its meaning. All anguish is to be set
right. How to do this is a personal problem. It has to be dealt with on an
individual consideration, as the answer varies from person to person.
Spiritual Life
Calls for Eternal Vigilance
The
love for the individual, limited, selfish life is many times wrongly justified
by the ravaging desires for name, fame, power, wealth and sex; by the
tyrannizing demands of the body; by lust for honour, worship, exaltation,
praise and lordship; by ambitions connected with the objective world, whatever
be the nicety and the refined garb or the polished appearance of these
ambitions. Even craving for too much erudition or scholarship is an impediment
to the spiritual seeker. These hosts of obstacles have to be stepped over; all
desires, ambitions and curiosities have to be nipped in their bud. The more
careful and circumspect a Sadhaka is, the more should he try to sharpen and
deepen his intelligence. There is no limit to the need for one's vigilance and
active consciousness. Even at the entrance to heaven, a passage may be there
leading to hell. The boat may sink even near the opposite shore.
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