Sunday, September 18, 2022

Divine Magnetism - Bhishma, the Sacklers & Treta Yuga

We live in an age of Ego! An age of the Individual. This is not a critique because former centuries, medieval times, was an Age of Serfs. These labels are not precise but they are like pointers: by "serfs" I mean that upward mobility, individual liberties, opportunities for creative advancement were rare, so rare that few even dreamed of them.

In this age, the age of Ego or Individual, we demand our rights; our freedoms; and the opportunity to pursue our dreams and desires. Just as some serfs might have become war lords or kings, so some individuals today are more like indentured serfs. It is a mixed bag but each age has its overriding character and ours is the age of ego.

In the great epic of India, the Mahabharata, one of the lead characters, named Bhishma,

Bhishma represents the ego principle in the allegory. Bhishma has the power to decide when and how he dies. The symbolic meaning of this is that only the ego has the right and power to surrender itself to God. 

Until that final supreme act of renunciation, the soul, identified with the body, can roam for countless lifetimes through the halls of an infinite and unending creation. 

So it is that the ego claims for itself even its spiritual victories. We can, for example, find ourselves proud of our humility. Such is the paradox of the delusion of ego. Attachment blinds the ego so that even its idealism can turn to ashes. 

This lesson is the story of the Sackler family: founders of Purdue Pharma, makers of the oxycontin opoid. Three brothers, Arthur, Raymond and Mortimer, set out to help to millions of people who suffer from chronic pain.


First Valium and later Oxycontin were supposed to be harmless and non-addictive. But their goals were quickly submerged by greed, dissolved in what became an irresistible high-energy marketing campaign. Their claims of harmlessness were false and before they could be called to account they had pocketed billions of dollars at the expense of countless lives and great suffering. The philanthropy of the Sackler family seemed at first idealistic but later presumably became a subconscious act of expiation. In the end, even their acts of philanthropy were disavowed.

In our age of reason, evidence, and science we imagine it is we, our egos, that are in control. We imagine that the history of humanity is one of emerging intelligence and power rather than a long decline from higher awareness of a long past golden age. Whether for good or ill, the ego claims or blames itself or other egos. Few see the hidden hand of karmic law and divine intervention silently guiding our destinies. 

In our high handed sense of individuality we look back in time or even in the present time at those who conduct rituals, symbolic offerings and sacrifices, as acts of superstition. While superstition cannot be denied, perhaps such rituals are a residue of something deeper and more powerful leftover from a time long lost in history when humanity communed with God in nature. We scoff at sun worshipers but are we sure we know what we are scoffing at? Can we say for sure that images of the sun weren't but symbols for something far greater?

According to the teaching in India of the cycles of time, the Yugas, there will come a time two thousand years or so from now that human consciousness will begin to acquire mental power. In our present age, humanity suffers from memory loss and inability to concentrate. But long ago and to come again in future millennia exists an age where mental power is beyond what the grasp of the human mind in the present age. I am convinced that the practice of meditation is the beginning of a long period of transformation into the next higher age. Meditation enhances concentration and psychic ability.

In the next age, the third or Treta Age, Swami Sri Yukteswar, the guru of Paramhansa Yogananda, says that humanity will comprehend divine magnetism. He doesn't define divine magnetism because he says, as I've already quoted, it is beyond our grasp at this time. But he is speaking of the general run of human consciousness. Nothing prevents you or me from attempting to seek such comprehension.

 

What is magnetism and how is it created? When electricity flows through a wire, an electromagnetic field is created around the wire. That field has magnetic properties. Electricity, Sri Yukteswar says, is the animal current of magnetism: meaning it possesses very little intelligence! But when a human being concentrates with great intensity and for a length of time, even years, on a goal there is created a magnetism that draws toward himself the natural consequences of that magnetism, for better or worse.

Divine magnetism, then, would be a term that acknowledges that the intelligence, consciousness and will-power energy necessary to create magnetism comes from a higher level of consciousness than that of the individual. Paramhansa Yogananda said as much in his well known statement that "thoughts are universally not individually rooted." 

So we return then to what appears on the surface as the vestiges of superstition: prayers of sacrifice and ritual offering. There was a time in descending Treta Yuga, which ended about 3,000 BC, when humanity had intuitive awareness of divine magnetism and could, by mental power, attune himself to accomplish whatever he sought. Let me quote from chapter three of the Bhagavad Gita:

10. Prajapati (God in the aspect of Creator) brought mankind into manifestation, and in so doing gave man the potential for self-offering into a higher (than human) awareness (through yagya). Along with this gift He enjoined mankind, “Whatever you desire, seek it by offering energy back to the source of all energy. Let this sacrifice (yagya) be your milch cow of fulfillment.”

11. (Prajapati continued:) “With this offering, commune with the devas (shining angels), that they may commune also with you. Through such mutual communion you will arrive at the highest good.”

12. (Prajapati concluded:) “By communion with the devas you will receive from them the (earthly) fulfillments you desire. He who enjoys the gifts of the gods without returning due offering (of energy) to them is, verily, a thief.”

The simple act of blessing your food before meals is both a holdover and yet also an affirmation of this universal truth. We might do this by mere force of habit, or, hopefully with conscious gratitude and recognition but it is symbolic of this all-but-forgotten truth. Our universe, our body and our life is the result of magnetic forces.

The Vedas, it is believed, appeared during the previous (descending)Treta Yuga. In the Vedas there exists a body of literature and ritual called the Karma Kanda. These are prayers and sacrifices for obtaining material and egoic goals. As human consciousness was steadily declining away from subtle awareness, these rituals were created that humankind would know from whence comes material sustenance, lest we forget entirely.

We live in an age where, for the most part, humanity, engrossed in the material world of reason and science, believes we are the doers of our fate. This is a good beginning but it is only a small part of the picture of human destiny. Enlightenment, Yogananda taught, is achieved by what is only 25% of our effort; 25% the effort of the savior or guru; and 50% the grace of God. While our effort is 100% of our will power the final goal takes much more. Even worldly success, when studied sensitively, depends on other people and the surrounding culture and circumstances. I believe it was the scientist, Max Planck who noted that scientific breakthroughs were achieved on the shoulders of those who came before.

Learn to tune into divine magnetism: first, the magnetism created by your own focused devotion in daily meditation; then, in the magnetism of offering all that you are, do and possess back to God in gratitude and for the operation of the divine will for your soul upliftment and the benefit of others. 

Those who practice advanced pranayams like Kriya Yoga can relate to the divine intelligence in the astral body as the "shining angels" of the chakras. Magnetism results from the devotional practice of pranayam drawing to oneself higher awareness and the help needed to grow spiritually.

Magnetism rules our destiny: first the magnetism of our past actions, which is to say our karma. Then, the magnetism created by our present actions. But if we lack will power and focus, our magnetism will be weak. Meditation can help develop concentration and will power and when meditation, and every act we perform, is offered into the divine magnetism for guidance, we can only find increasing happiness. "Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven, and all these things will be added unto you!"

God is the Doer. We did not ask to be created. We did not create this vast and awesome universe. Let us tune into the divine magnetism that creates and sustains all life, however invisibly to our sense and to our ego-awareness. Fear not and complain not but do your best and leave the rest.

In divine friendship,

Swami Hrimananda



Monday, September 12, 2022

Unworthiness vs Entitlement?

I've been intrigued with the concepts of "entitlement" and "unworthiness." In their exaggerated forms such attitudes are easily dismissed. If being entitled refers to a person who is arrogant and demanding, or by contrast, to someone self-abasing or self-loathing, it is obvious these attitudes are unbalanced and unhealthy.

Paramhansa Yogananda, author of the now classic story, "Autobiography of a Yogi," would say that "superiority complex" and "inferiority complex" are both forms of egotism. I recall my teacher, Swami Kriyananda (who was personally trained by Yogananda) wryly quoting this statement when some of us were initially resistant (as in "aw shucks") to his proposal that we be ordained as ministers.

Yet, at the same time, Swami Kriyananda often spoke of or wrote about the differences between spiritual or religious attitudes in former times as opposed to the attitudes encouraged by Paramhansa Yogananda in his public teachings up until his death in 1952.

The wisdom-seed for these differences are contained in the cycle of ages described by Swami Sri Yukteswar in the Introduction to his book, "The Holy Science." But for the purposes of this article, I will sidestep its technical explanation and terminology.

In the unworthiness "camp" we have concepts like sin, original sin, and past life (bad) karma. In the entitlement "camp" we have what Yogananda described as "prayer-demands," "you are a child of God," and affirmations such as "I am He" (Hamsa) or "I am Brahma (Aham Brahmasi)." So which is it?

Those who know me well, also know that my life mantra is BOTH-AND! Thus, some will NOT be surprised if I answer that question with the response: BOTH-AND!

Is it possible that we are BOTH unworthy AND entitled? Recall that one of the most controversial questions of Christianity was, and remains, "Who am I?" Is Jesus Christ God? or Man? or BOTH-AND?

You've certainly encountered the image of the devil on your left and the angel on your right: each giving advice and offering their respective support, right? In a recording of Yogananda's voice he humorously remarks that "In the day you are a devil but at night, an angel!"

Life is confusing. It is a paradox on so many levels. We strive and work so hard for so many things even though we all know, perfectly well and logically, that we will end up dead at any time, sooner or later. We know that smoking, drinking, cheating, lying, stealing, being lazy and eating junk food are bad for us but that doesn't seem to stop very many people, does it? 

We are quick to criticize others and just as quick, if not quicker, to justify ourselves! When bad things happen to us we instinctively feel these are foreign to our nature. When good things happen we feel this is surely ours. 

In former times, the overriding hallmark of spiritual attitude and behavior, both East and West, was one of unworthiness. Whether we call it the result of sin or bad karma, we "spiritual schumucks" needed to supplicate or make sacrifices to the Divine Being or gods and goddesses in order to make amends, or to go to confession and be given the penance of saying certain prayers; or, to accept Jesus as our personal savior whereupon his sacrifice on the cross absolves us. 

As St. Paul wrote to the Galatians, "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man sow so shall he reap." The need to pay our debts is an undeniable precept. It is embedded in human consciousness.

At the same, however, I don't see that fear or sorrow is as strong a motivation for being good as perhaps it once was (if it ever was). Referring back to Swami Sri Yukteswar's book, "The Holy Science," he describes the upcoming age (beginning around 1900 A.D.) as an age during which humans grow in "self-respect." 

When I think back to the American Revolution, the revolutionaries were offended by being treated in a way that disrespected their "inalienable rights." The history of America could be described as one during which the personal liberties and rights of individuals were continually a focus for discussion, protest and legislation. Consider the sentence in the Declaration of Independence: "we hold these truths to be self-evident."

The affirmation of personal liberties and rights is the opposite of unworthiness. I recall the phrase "just because" being used during the heat of the "Black Lives Matter" controversies. Black lives matter, in other words, "just because." No explanation or justification is needed for our innate value as human beings is "self-evident."

From the viewpoint of religion, this is a radical change even if from the standpoint of eternal truths it is nothing new. But the change in emphasis is important as well as practical. But, the emphasis is not simplistic. Let me explain.

If my insistence on entitlement is aggressive, arrogant or at the expense of the greater good, then it is the ego insisting on its entitlement. But to recognize my innate desire for and potential for goodness and, by extension, that of all others, than this is "soul-entitlement." A reverse description would apply equally to unworthiness. If I acknowledge that I have hurt or stolen, then this can be the soul's recognition of its need for grace, redemption, and forgiveness, and the need to change. But if my will power is paralyzed and I insist I am a victim of life and am blaming others, then this is the ego refusing to use its God-given will and intelligence to face current reality and to take steps to make changes.

As is taught in the Bhagavad Gita and in so many other scriptures, we are children of God and our destiny is to be reunited with the perfection that is God. To achieve realization of this truth requires a combination of self-effort and divine grace. Our souls are like gold covered in mud. The mud needs to be washed off in order to reveal the gold. Repeated error, especially over countless past lives, is the mud of our subconscious tendencies that block the soul's light from shining. 

Unsurprisingly, therefore, it is, once again, a BOTH-AND. The way to enlightenment can be described as either the Via Negativa or the Via Positiva. We can dissolve the ego or we can expand the ego. The end result is the same: Self-realization in God. 

But the point I wish to make is twofold: Yogananda generally emphasized soul-expansion and secondly, he did so because human consciousnesses is evolving in the direction of self-awareness and self-respect. Both points, however, are very general. In private and with the individuals who came to Yogananda for personal training, Yogananda emphasized BOTH the need to transcend ego affirming habits and attitudes, AND, the value of devotion, sympathy, compassion and selfless service. The very nature of any description of God-communion, samadhi, or cosmic consciousness is one of an expansion of consciousness towards Infinity!

Swami Kriyananda pointed out that those who insist that upon enlightenment that "we" vanish into nothingness are mistaken. The bonds of ego identification are surely dissolved in the state of nirvana, but the result is an expansion of consciousness into Pure Consciousness which is bliss. Consciousness is the source of creation. Consciousness may be "No-Thing," but it is not nothing.

Swami Kriyananda's book, Sadhu Beware, is a practical and modern playbook on overcoming ego. And yet as Yogananda once quipped to Swami Kriyananda, "When ecstasy comes, everything (else) goes!"

So you see, both unworthiness and entitlement have two octaves of applicability and we would do well to be conscious of the difference and choose the higher path.

Blessings to all!

Swami Hrimananda!