The All Seeing " I " or "not"? What is Mind-full-ness?

A fellow meditation teacher commented that in the midst of a recent class that he was teaching, he suddenly became self-conscious and found that the flow of inspiration stopped. Being also a professional artist with a very creative and visual way of self-expression, he described it this way when I asked him to write it up:

 ....everything was going fine, until the eyeball turned around and looked at me. Then I found my mouth talking words but now without meaning.  Empty words....A little later, this happened a second time, the eyeball turned around to look at me.  The words again became empty, words without anything behind them.  I knew what to do this time.  Just turn the eyeball back around. It was the ego.  It's empty.  It has nothing.  In trying to do the words, it had nothing to say....So, the the flow needs to be towards others, for others...."

As I have no issue with or need to add further to the comment "the ego is empty and has nothing (of its own)," I feel the subject worth here pursuing is "What is mindfulness?" We hear the term often in articles and books and conversations on meditation. It's more likely to be associated with Buddhist forms of meditation than with yoga lineages. For example, in the tradition that I represent (Kriya Yoga as taught by Paramhansa Yogananda), that term is used only occasionally. 

So what IS mindfulness?

Did my friend, in mid-sentence, suddenly become mindful? Shouldn't mindfulness bring greater calm and sense of connection? For him, his experience emptied his words of both meaning and feeling. He suddenly felt disconnected from himself. In a flash he had a kind of existential crises of meaning. No doubt some self-described intellectual would laud that experience as an authentic encounter. But my friend didn't see it that way, and I trust his "take" on it. 

There are two kinds of mindfulness, just as there are two kinds of flow. In ego consciousness, mindfulness inclines to becoming self-conscious and, as my friend noted above, being self-conscious is when you "freeze-up," so to speak, and no more words come out (or they stumble out like drunks at 2 a.m.). The other kind of mindfulness is of the Self-aware variety which produces the calm out of which words (or actions) flow, to quote Patanjali's "Yoga Sutras," like oil from a drum.

The flow of action similarly can be either "mind-less" as when we get all caught up, avidly or in a panic, in the moment and lose Self-awareness entirely, or, there is a unitive energy flow in which the present Self is fully engaged, as in "one with," the action. A downhill skier or ice skater (or that type of action) would be a typical example where intensity of attention reflects both being "in control" (Self-aware) while the art, grace and responsive skill reflect the flow aspect. BOTH-AND!

As you can "see," the higher mindfulness in both cases is essentially the same. And, I might add, that should be no surprise because "oneness" has no "other."

Krishna states in the Bhagavad Gita that one cannot achieve the "actionless state" of Oneness by not acting (or by refusing to engage with life's demands, one's "karma," or one's legitimate duties). Stillness is the precursor to oneness. But stillness is not merely or not only the cessation of motion. It also includes the elimination of the ego principle, or to say it differently, the sense of "doer-ship" and the sense of separateness from the act (of perception) itself.  

Just as playing a video game of race cars doesn't make the race cars real, so too our bodies and personalities are like vehicles which our higher Self uses to drive our Car-ma (Karma) around to complete the errands and lessons for which we incarnated. Just as too many car crashes in the video game will make the game end too soon and we a "loser" because of our lack of skill, so too must we learn how to drive our vehicle with precision and skill so we can complete the tasks we've been given as we grow towards enlightenment and freedom.

The regular practice of scientific meditation techniques which can take us to a deep and calm inner awareness are the most effective way to gradually transform ordinary "fight or fright" ego self-involvement into the state of calm confidence from which we can flow through daily life (including meditation) with greater and greater ease, naturalness, and harmony.

With practice we become aware that this state is not merely our own, but something greater. But trying to describe this in words is where experience ends and philosophy or belief enters. Both belief and philosophy are helpful, but neither should substitute for the only thing that really counts: the actual realization of this harmonic state of Being.

Thus, now, we return to the subject of mindfulness. Is it empty or is it full? To quote the woman saint, Ananda Moyi Ma (see "Autobiography of a Yogi" by Paramhansa Yogananda), "It IS; and yet, it ISN'T." In fact, there are times when it feels empty and times when emptiness is dynamic with latent potentiality; and, everything in between. "No-thing," sometimes described as Infinity, has neither form nor beginning nor an end, you see?

In many meditation traditions, the techniques taught involve various objects of contemplation, concentration, and meditation. Emptying the mind is just one of many techniques or goals of meditation. Stilling the conscious and subconscious flow of thoughts, mental images, and feelings is best accomplished, for many (if not most of us), by having an alternative focus rather than forcing by will or by relaxation the restless mind from doing what the ego and body-bound mind does best (which is to affirm and protect its separate identity). 

It is no coincidence nor a mere mental trick that the usual "objects" of meditative concentration have their own attraction and often possess an innate psycho-physiological or vibrational power of their own. Examples include watching the breath, feeling the energy within the body, focusing on a mental image either abstract (light or sound) or personal (the guru or a deity), or, a mental repetition of a mantra, affirmation or prayer.

The purpose of one-pointed concentration is to, ultimately, go beyond and merge into and beyond that object into the state of oneness. (Patanjali enumerates some of the stages and aspects of this progression.)

Here, then, we see yet another example of Krishna's advice: how the "action" of concentrating inwardly (combining intention and will with reverence and devotion) leads to the actionless, non-dual state of oneness. Merely "trying" to empty the mind, while certainly possessing worthwhile aspects, is more difficult for our over-stimulated, often toxic, stressed, and electrified (cell phones, computers, EMF's of all kinds) state of mind and body. We are accustomed to acting towards a goal and even if it must be admitted that the meditative state is not the kind of goal that is outside our self,  like winning a promotion. Indeed, the state of oneness, sometimes called superconsciousness, is a state "realized" as always present at the still center of the the merry-go-round of ego involvement. Thus, Krishna's counsel remains as practical today as it was 3,ooo years ago.

Blessings and joy to you who is not, but simply IS I AM,

:-)  Swami Hrimananda

Essence of the Bhagavad Gita

Essence of the Bhagavad Gita

India’s most beloved scripture consists of one chapter of the world’s longest epic story, the Mahabharata. This chapter of some seven hundred verses is composed as a dialogue between Lord Krishna and his disciple, Prince Arjuna. It takes place as they are sitting in Arjuna’s chariot surveying the opposing armies: theirs, the Pandavas (think, “good guys in white helmets”) and the Kauravas, (the quintessential “bad guys”).

Of course the scene is allegorical although the battle of Kurukshetra is considered a historical one. The exhortation to do battle is a metaphor for the battle of life to which the soul is called in its mission to seek freedom through reuniting its consciousness with that of its Creator.

As each culture is divinely guided to its highest potential, it is curious to contemplate that the Hindu “Bible” is a call to war while the Christian bible (New Testament) is a call to “turn the other cheek.” East and West, respectively, embody certain attitudes that would do well to seek balance: the one, perhaps too passive; the other, too aggressive.

The are many great themes in this wonderful scripture for the instruction of souls in all times and places . Among the themes in the Gita (that I will explore in a 3-week class series—see below) are the soul’s very first encounter with suffering and good and evil. Arjuna, seeing that the opposing forces consist of his very own cousins with whom he was raised, questions the rightness of killing them in battle. Are they not, his very own?

Did not Jesus ask, “Who are my family but those who walk the path toward God with me?” The "family" may be taken literally as one’s birth family who typically resists the effort to dedicate oneself to the search for God. Or, more deeply and more importantly, the "family" is our  own subconscious material desires. The soul, upon reaching adolescence or early adulthood, comes face to face with the need to separate himself from his past in order to begin his spiritual journey aligning the conscious mind towards the guidance of superconscious (guru) mind. And yet, this past, these familiar traits, are my “family!”

Krishna eschews all sentimentality and urges his devotee to take up his “bow” and fight in this just and noble cause -- the very purpose of our creation. All habits and traits which are of the ego are never killed but their energies transmuted and sublimated into higher forms, just as in the teaching of the law of karma and reincarnation, the soul never dies but is simply reborn into new forms. In the wilderness and silence of meditation, we don’t “die” but in fact are reborn into the kingdom of the soul’s consciousness. 

Our fears are groundless -- that without our past, subconscious or ego affirming traits there is no "I." But everyone must confront this existential dilemma face-to-face.

What, then, Arjuna asks, is right action? How can you know what is right or wrong? Outwardly it is difficult, Krishna admits, but that action which is not in pursuit of ego-motivated results, which is offered to God in self-offering and devotion and with no thought of personal gain, will guide us to the heights of Self-realization more surely than any other.

The grace of God and guru, the preceptor, must be sought in silent, inner communion and in righteous outward action. In attunement with the silent flow of grace and wisdom, which like the quiet sound of oil pouring from a drum, guides our thoughts, feelings, and actions, we will sail our raft of life toward the seemingly distant shores of freedom.

The greatest wisdom is found through the practice of yoga: silence of mind and body in contemplation of the divine Presence. The greatest action is that which is offered without thought of self in devotion at the feet of Infinity. The greatest feeling is love for God and for God in all, given without condition and expressed in daily life with humility, compassion, and the wisdom of the soul.

Krishna gives Arjuna a taste of his overarching, infinite consciousness as Spirit but the experience proves so overwhelming that Arjuna at last asks to see his beloved friend, Krishna, again! Thus it is that we do best if we approach God in form: as the preceptor, or in the impersonal forms of love, light, sound, peace, etc., or in the form of a beloved deity. The abstract thought of infinity is too much for the human mind and heart to bear, much less to love.

Much, much more wisdom is shared in the Gita: the qualities of nature and consciousness and how to distinguish the higher from the lower, whether in religion or in daily life.

Tuesday night, at the East West Bookshop, 7:30 p.m., February 5 (12, & 19^th), I will share these beloved teachings with friends. My text is Swami Kriyananda’s most inspired work, based on the wisdom of Paramhansa Yogananda, Essence of the Bhagavad Gita, (Crystal Clarity Publishers, Nevada City). We will film the series and the hope is to make it available online at a future date.

Blessings to you,

Nayaswami Hriman

4th of July Reflections

Fourth of July for Yogis!

Which is Better: Republican or Democrat?

I would venture to say that most of us who are practitioners and proponents of the practices and precepts of yoga are overwhelmingly self-identified as Democrats. While yoga is all but synonymous with the so-called “New Age” or with the “Green Movement,” yoga itself is as “old as the hills” and teaches precepts, morals and ethics that are unquestionably traditional (and universal). The cliché, “Even the devil quotes the scriptures,” is as true for yoga as it is for Bible thumpers. We tend to view reality through the filter of our own tendencies and biases, even in our search for truth.

Consider that conservatism in its emphasis upon tradition and the status quo represents the caution that derives from an understanding that fundamental values never change and that change for the sake of change often derives from restlessness and infatuation with novelty both for its own sake and as an excuse to reject reality as it is (or at least due to ignorance, inexperience, or rebelliousness). Conservatism in American culture emphasizes the need and opportunity for each person to take responsibility for himself whether in failure or success. To that end, the conservative ethos distrusts government intervention. Of course we know that under the banner of such values can hide selfishness, greed, and a lack of compassion by those in power and wealth whose status is threatened by any effort on those less privileged to assert themselves.

Democratic values emphasize individual worth, too, of course. But here the emphasis is tempered by the inclusion of the good of all arising from compassion and desire to share the freedom and prosperity with those less fortunate. Such compassion is clearly a fundamental value. One of the core differences lies in the role of government to effectuate justice and promote freedom and prosperity. In truth the difference is more ephemeral than real, since both political parties have initiated many government reforms, policies, and programs to one end or another for the betterment of those less fortunate.

Paramhansa Yogananda, the legendary master of yoga and author of the world renowned classic, Autobiography of a Yogi, stated he was a Republican, a member of the party of Abraham Lincoln. He decried the seed planted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Great Depression which was to sprout into what he might (had he lived longer) have also termed the modern “Welfare State.” Every few years there’s some movement to reform the gargantuan entitlement systems that have their origins in FDR’s seemingly compassionate desire to create safety nets through social security and government funded work projects. 


Even the pressing issue of health care in the United States has as its core issue the tension between the need for individual initiative, participation and responsibility, and the compelling social value and obligation to help those less fortunate. A health care system that simply dispenses care without thought of individual initiative is, let’s face it, unaffordable and, given the limitations inherent in the scarcity of resources, therefore unfair, as perhaps everyone may get something but many have too little and quality suffers deplorably. By contrast, a health care system based solely on individual initiative and financial wherewithal isn’t a health care system at all and is both unfair in that many suffer needlessly when even but “reasonable” acts of sharing and compassion would alleviate much suffering.

Those who practice yoga (the term which more correctly refers to meditation than to physical exercises) know full well that no one can do it for you. No one can “make” you meditate or practice yoga poses. The intention, the desire, the motivation, and, yes, the grace to practice disciplines of bodily, mental and emotional self-control, offering the ego into the Spirit can only come from within — just like creativity, ambition and any number of impulses that bring health, success, and happiness to the human spirit. At the same time, almost no one would practice yoga if others didn’t share the art and science selflessly. This starts with the rishis and great masters of yoga and includes many, if not most, yoga teachers who serve without material recompense.


Jesus Christ said, as if running on the Republican ticket, “To those who have, more will be given, and to those who lack, that which they have will be taken.” Energy attracts success; lack breeds inertia. Only the spark of desire can ignite the fuel of Life Force to drive the engine of self-effort towards fulfillment and self-improvement. Government assistance can spark or enhance self-effort in one but stifle it in another. Entitlement is the necessary legal and social consequence of legislated assistance which tends to dehumanize its recipients and rob them of the opportunity of giving back or of attracting it by merit. This fact alone doesn’t necessarily mean that it isn’t the obligation of society to render aid to others in need, however.

It has well said that to feed a man who is hungry is to allay his hunger for a few hours; to teach a man to feed himself (through a skill, e.g.) is yet a greater gift; to open the heart and mind of another to the power of the universe (of Spirit) is the greatest gift. Jesus Christ openly counseled the value of compassion, of feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and imprisoned.

So, you see, it’s a spectrum that, once we exclude the extremes of heartless insensitivity or naked greed as well as the useless bleeding heart effort to save others from themselves (Jesus said, “The poor ye shall have always….”) against even their own will (for which they will only “bite the hand that feeds them”), we see that one’s attitude derives from one’s individual temperament. Thus it is that you can be either a Republican or Democrat in good faith, goodwill, and in good conscience as a practitioner of yoga. I suppose it could be said the former is more masculine (emphasizing justice) and the latter more feminine (emphasizing mercy). But of course someone is sure to object to that analogy!

A Republican yogi might be more inclined towards valuing self-discipline and the ten commandments of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras (the “yamas,” rules of self-restraint, and the “niyamas,” the rules of right behavior). He might tend to think in terms of karma and reincarnation wherein one’s past actions lay the groundwork for one’s present circumstances and inclinations and against which only self-effort (united to Divine grace) can lift us from the consequences of past actions. This yogi would tend to see withdrawal from the ways of the world and nonattachment as guiding precepts. Ego-transcendence and desirelessness would be important values and practices. Such a one might feel in tune with Krishna’s statement in the Bhagavad Gita that “it is better to fail in the effort to perform one’s own dharma (duty) then to succeed in performing the duties of another.” If this yogi becomes too focused on these values however, he may become cold, ruthless, unfeeling, and insensitive to the needs of others. Yogis are cautioned that without the balancing qualities of the heart the ego becomes inflated and the yogi may be tempted to seek yogic powers rather than soul freedom in God.

A Democratic yogi would tend to go more by heart, by devotion, by seeing God in all. Krishna counsels us the “Gita” that a true yogi feels the joys and sorrows of all as her own. She would understand the need to expand her sympathies and consciousness to embrace the whole world as her own true Self. Thus expansion of consciousness through the heart (rather than annihilation of ego through mental effort and will power) would be the preferred path to freedom by the Democratic yogi. She might, however, tend to rescue others, to do things for them that they ought best to do for themselves. She might find herself subject to mood swings, from enthusiasm and compassion to self-doubt, depression, and self-induglence unless she is guided calmly by reason and wisdom and avoids becoming too attached to individuals or particulars.

Of course I am stretching a point and placing the tongue securely in the cheekiness of the eye’s twinkle! For what unites both of these is the wisdom to respond to life’s opportunities, challenges and perceptions with the flow of God’s grace, whether taking the form of justice or compassion. For a mother, too, must learn to discipline her children even as a father must, at times, act with mercy. For in our souls we are neither mother nor father. The middle path (which indeed is found in the spine of the yogi!) necessarily activates wisdom, compassion, and practicality in measures appropriate to the rising current of Life Force of our own karmic needs.

“Oh, Arjuna, be thou a yogi!” Eschew superficial self-limiting identities such as “democrat” or “republican.” While American culture inclines perhaps more to individual liberties and self-initiative, we also embody a spirit of cooperation and enlightened reason, guided by God. Such is the grace and wisdom of our founding Fathers. We have much to celebrate and be thankful for in our heritage and culture, but also much yet to learn and much effort needed to balance justice with mercy.

May we understand that true freedom is freedom from delusion and is found only in the transcendent, redeeming power of Oneness in God. As chains cannot bind the human spirit neither can personal liberties to express desire driven likes and dislikes free the soul. Let us seek freedom of the soul and share the bounty of our liberty with all.

Blessings to you this 4^th of July!

Nayaswami Hriman

God: personal or impersonal?

This week is “Holy Week” in the Christian calendar. Coincident as both Easter and Passover is to the beginning of Spring, these religious celebrations express the Spring themes of hope and renewal.

My topic today would seem unrelated to Holy Week but the renewal promised by the great saints and scriptures, and echoed by Mother Nature in springtime, is a renewal of and in the Spirit. The question of whether to approach God as Spirit (impersonal) or as incarnate (personal) is raised in every tradition, every generation, every faith and in every soul seeking inner communion and inner renewal.

Great debates have raged through the millennia on this issue: some sects espousing the impersonal, others the personal. Swami Kriyananda, direct disciple of the renowned yogi, Paramhansa Yogananda (author of “Autobiography of a Yogi”), and my teacher (and founder of the worldwide network of Ananda communities) has taught that “infinity includes infinitesimal.”

“Why, then,” he is effectively saying, “should there a conflict?” God is the essence of everything and everybody! Armed with the expansive vista given to us by science and confronted with the narrowness of view of sectarian faiths, many educated people reject all religion and specifically any expression of devotion towards a person, alive or otherwise. Who can blame them?  “Idolatry,” Swami Kriyananda writes in his classic text, “Art and Science of Raja Yoga,” “is the bane of religion.”

And then there are those who worship God in the form of their “guru,” such as Jesus Christ, Krishna, Buddha, Rama and so many others. Such devotees may scoff at those pretentious enough to imagine they can approach the Infinite Spirit on their own terms, which is to say, from the insignificant soap box of the human ego. There are those who reject any form and insist that God is Spirit and no representation whatsoever can be made.

We humans all too often mistake the form for the spirit behind the form. We are hypnotized by our reaction to what we feel is the attractiveness (or repulsiveness) of external objects, including mental constructs such as theology or philosophy. We miss the point, in other words. We also cling desperately to our own ideas of what is right. Our insistence betrays only our uncertainty, however.

To the woman at the well in Samaria, Jesus taught that “God is Spirit and seeketh those to worship Him in spirit and in truth.” To worship God in spirit is to commune with the divine Presence in inner silence. To worship God in truth is to seek true wisdom and to walk the path of righteousness (dharma) in daily life.

Try these experiments in prayer and meditation  for yourself. First: sit in meditation and visualize the image of one of the great saints or masters, such as Jesus Christ, Buddha, Yogananda, or any other. For as long as you can calmly concentrate and while dismissing as often as necessary passing thoughts, hold that image behind closed eyes. As you do so feel that your heart is open. You may wish to visualize your heart as an open lotus, rose, or an upturned chalice. The fragrance of the flowers waft upward in adoration, or, in the latter image, let the crystal clear waters of peace flowing from the “master” fill your cup. When you feel complete, then sit still, in the silence and absorb the after-effects of your visualization.

As a second experiment, visualize a golden light behind closed eyes. See that light entering the brain and flowing down into the body and then encircling the body in a halo or sphere of Light. Rest in the gentle but vibrant healing balm of that Light. Now, expand that Light outward in all directions: to your home, your family, your neighbors, your city, country and encircling the earth, bathing all life in the peace-light of your heart. Now send this Light out into the universe and feel this Light is the great Light of God, your Father. Mentally affirm, “I and my Father are One!” When finished sit in the silence and just BE STILL and KNOW that I AM.

You can combine both of these starting from the personal and moving to the impersonal. St. John the evangelist describes Jesus as that Light that cometh into the world, that lighteth every man, and which is God and has created all things since the beginning of time. “Before Abraham was, I AM.” Paramhansa Yogananda taught that Jesus as a person wasn’t a divine creation so much as Jesus, the unique soul, had become wholly identified with the Father-Spirit. The difference between a Jesus Christ and most people isn’t one of kind, but of degree. We need only to come to the same Self-realization that the great masters have achieved through the combination of self-effort and divine grace.

Think, then, of yourself as a spark of that great Light. There is no conflict between you and the great Light of God. So long as we hold the candlelight of our own ego close to our eyes we do not notice the great Light that surrounds us. It’s a matter of attention and direction of our focus. God has descended into flesh to become the creation, and to become YOU. But as the wave cannot call itself the entire ocean, so we must shift our attention from the particular form Spirit has taken (in ourselves, others, and in the creation) to the formless, nameless overarching Spirit which is found in the vibrationless sphere of inner silence. This doesn’t happen in a day, but as Krishna promises in the “Bhagavad Gita,” “Even a little practice (of this) will free you.....”

A blessed and holy celebration of the great Light that rises in the East(er).

Nayaswami Hriman