Higher Stages of Meditation (con't)

This post follows the previous post entitled: "Is Meditation Only Mindfulness: 7 Stages of Meditation."

In the prior post I identified the first two stages which I called: Mindfulness, and Focused Concentration. Mindfulness I described as relatively passive and dealing with observing the influence of the subconscious mind. Focused Concentration describes the vast bulk of meditation techniques which involve using will power, feeling and concentration in a positive direction focusing on some goal or object of meditation. 

 INNER SILENCE (Stage Three) Many people ask whether the goal of meditation techniques is to still all thoughts and mental narration. Well, 'yes' and 'no!' I call it the "goal-less goal" because the way the mind works (Yogananda called it "natural turbulence") we cannot and should not attempt to force the mind into submission like a stubborn donkey. But we CAN coax and train the mind. "Be still and know that I AM God" says the Psalmist. Yogananda called meditation "the space between thoughts." He also noted that the "soul loves to meditate but the ego hates to meditate."

Achieving inner silence is, then, a goal but must be approached very sensitively. Any tension surrounding the "effort-less effort" will sabotage achieving the goal. It can happen spontaneously in or out of meditation but it helps to be alert to it for it comes "like a thief in  the night. The experience is a refreshing dip into the silent mind and still heart. We can gently coax the silence to come by our secret longing and lo it will fill the space between thoughts and activities. At a stoplight, between phone calls, emails or projects, stop, stand or sit up straight, look up, smile, open your mouth as if to speak and be prepared to be cleansed in a weightless waterfall of peace. Befriend the silence as your best friend. Silence is always behind, beneath, above, and all around you. 

Interestingly, the deeper you go into your technique(s) in Stage 2, the more likely or more easily you can slip into silence when you shift the effort of "doing" to enter "being."

It is worth saying that the higher stages beyond silence can descend upon you in the midst of your techniques, thereby skipping the stage of inner silence. My description of 7 stages is linear only for the purposes of describing aspects of meditation but in real life,  well, "anything can happen!" But like a skillful craftsman with his tools or a gifted artist with her voice or instrument, it is the discipline of regular practice that forms the foundation for the genius and inspiration to reveal itself. 

Silence is not merely NO-THING. Silence is not empty; it is full of potentiality; it is powerful, sometimes overwhelming. Its potential is what yields the fruit of the next stage, Inner Experience. "Out of the silence came the song of creation!"

INNER EXPERIENCE  Like the stage of Focused Concentration, Inner Experience (Stage 4) constitutes the bulk of what is commonly described as experiences that take place in deep meditation: light, sound, vibration, love, peace, calmness, joy, visions, ideas and inspiration, satori and an endless variety of subtle phenomenon. Unfortunately, the ego eagerly claims credit for such things and yogis warn us from seeking these experiences for their own sake. "The path to enlightenment is not a circus" Yogananda would say. These things are milestones showing us that we are in touch at last with more subtler levels of reality. They are not proof of our sanctity or psychic powers and generally should not be discussed or disclosed openly but held quietly in gratitude. 

Such experiences are manifestations of our astral or energy body and of the astral world in which the astral body lives and moves. We don't actually achieve this ability: it's there all the time. It is our identification and preoccupation with the physical world, the senses, our thoughts and emotions that obscures what is already there. 

When such things happen we tend to doubt what we are experiencing. At some point we accept it as real rather than hallucinatory and we begin to enter into the experience by tasting its fruits of peace or joy or love. As we are able by deep relaxation and self-forgetfulness (including dispensing with the narration describing it) to receive or approach the experience with acceptance, love and/or self-offering, we begin to see these things as conscious (indeed, super-conscious), living, loving manifestations of our divine nature, God, guru or etc. 

Nonetheless, at this stage the "I" the experiencer is still very present. "I am feeling peaceful; seeing the inner light; hearing the sounds of the chakras." It is still not enough These divine manifestations of superconsciousness are there to invite us deeper into the next stage. In the Eightfold-Path this stage is called dharana.

ABSORPTION Here (Stage Five) mere words fail us for words require a subject, verb and object. Here the awareness of our separateness fades into a point of singularity of the experience itself. We are not in a trance; we are not less conscious; we are SUPER-conscious; more alive and aware--far more--than in ordinary states of waking consciousness. This is the stage known as dhyana. Usually translated simply as "meditation," this suggests that "real" meditation doesn't begin until we enter this state which Yogananda called Superconsciousness. As he also wrote, "When motion ceases, God begins." When we return to ordinary awareness, we never think "I don't know where I went." Absorption is deeply rejuvenating.

SAMADHI Stages Six and Seven are the two basic stages (in fact there are many more sub-stages) of cosmic consciousness, called "samadhi." Stage Six is the initial experience by which we leave our body and enter the Infinite Bliss of God beyond all creation. (Technically, we have three bodies: a physical body; an energy (astral) body; and a thought (causal) body.) In this initial stage, called Sabikalpa samadhi, we return to ordinary ego consciousness with the memory of an awesome experience that we tend to claim as part of our ego. From this tendency we can easily lose the ability to go back to that state. But in time and with supreme effort and grace we can achieve the permanent state of Nirbikalpa samadhi which frees the ego forever from the hypnosis of its separate identity. I'm not going to dwell in these two final stages for two reasons: 1) I've not experienced them; 2) you haven't either! We both are better off for now focusing on Stages 1 through 5. I could describe what I have been taught in entering first an astral tunnel of light taking us to the causal tunnel of light which takes us to the white star, the doorway into Infinity. But, well, it wouldn't help us at this moment.

Joy to you!

Swami Hrimananda

Is Meditation only Mindfulness? 7 Stages of Meditation

Mindfulness meditation--both the term and the practice--dominates the field, conversations, and clinical studies of meditation. Is the practice of mindfulness the sine qua non, the final definition, of meditation? Most certainly NOT! By my account, mindfulness is only the beginning: and, an excellent beginning at that. If, for many, it is also the end of meditation, then so be it. Its contribution is worthy of the effort. ("The laborer is worthy of his hire.")

In the long history of meditation which the yogis of the Far East specialized in, there is much, much more. I'll be the first to admit that it is better to meditate than to merely TALK about meditation (or WRITE about meditation!) But it is also useful for most of us to understand the WHY, HOW, and the PURPOSE of meditation.

Based on the teachings of Paramhansa Yogananda (author of "Autobiography of a Yogi"), I've identified seven stages of meditation. These stages align loosely with the Eight-Fold Path described by the sage Patanjali in the now famous YOGA SUTRAS. I will only make casual references to the eight-fold path because I want to focus more on the experience of meditation.

The stages parallel the process of growing self-awareness that we see during a human life and in the progression from lower life forms up to sentient life. This is to say, from the sub-conscious state to what Yogananda called the Superconscious state. But, lest I digress, let's talk about the stages. I will do so in twol articles rather than one large one.

STAGE 1 - MINDFULNESS When we sit in meditation and engage in the practice of simply observing our thoughts as those thoughts arise, we are peering down into the subconscious mind. This is not a clinical statement but, if you don't mind a pun, it is an observation! Where else would random thoughts come from when we are not engaged in activity or in conscious contemplation? The value of this form of meditation is potentially enormous, especially for those who have never meditated before and have generally not been living an intentional, conscious lifestyle. The movie, "Doing Time, Doing Vipassana" describes how some prisoners in Tihar Prison in India were transformed by their 10-day Vipassana meditation experience.This simple form of mindfulness can be very powerful for everyone at least to some degree especially in direct relation to the influence of the subconscious mind on one's thoughts, attitudes, and behavior. 

The principal challenge with mindfulness practiced in this way is that beginning meditators aren't generally able to detach from their own thoughts and emotions and calmly observe them with non-attachment. Accustomed as most people are with identifying themselves with their thoughts and feeling, it is difficult for almost everyone to resist not being fully engaged in the inner dialogue of the thoughts that do arise. 

For this reason, most mindfulness techniques are really more like Stage 2 meditations because the meditator is directed to focus elsewhere while calmly accepting the appearance of thoughts as a natural phenomenon. 

STAGE 2 - FOCUSED CONCENTRATION Here we find the vast majority of meditation techniques which engage our will, feeling, and mind. Broad categories include techniques using breath awareness and control; mantra; visualization; and affirmation. The bhav of any given technique might be predominantly mental, devotional, or energetic, or some combination of all three. Some are basic such as watching the physical breath while silently chanting a mantra or affirmation; others, are more advanced because focused on the subtle or energy body in the energy centers of the chakras, the flow of prana in the subtle body, or any of their many manifestations. While will power and concentration characterize all of these, some are more passive and others more active. 

They are all "aspirational" in that the technique employed affirms a state of consciousness higher than the subconscious or conscious mind. In the practice of the technique, there remains some level of awareness of the distinction between "I" the doer and what I am seeking. 

I should point out that at any time in meditation, one might be suddenly transported into a higher state whether consciously sought or not.

In the stages of Patanjali's Eight-Fold Path focused concentration includes niyama (positive action), asana (strength and determination), pranayama (calming of life force and purity of feeling), and pratyahara (focus of the mind away from the senses).

This stage constitutes the bulk of what most people associate with meditation. But it is by no means the final or higher stages.

In the next installment we will touch upon the higher stages beginning with inner stillness, moving to inner experience and rising toward cosmic consciousness.

Stay tuned...............................Aum, Shanti, Amen!

Swami Hrimananda

Facing East: When Meditation Isn't Enough

 I, and many people I know in my circle of Ananda friends and members, have been meditating daily for upwards fifty years. Many others for several decades. Is it enough? Are our lives being transformed? Elevated? Ennobled? Fortunately the "answer" to this is not an "either-or" but a "both-and." Yes, our lives ARE transformed but maybe not as fast or deep as we had hoped when we first began. 

What does it take to change? Paramhansa Yogananda said "The soul LOVES to meditate; the ego HATES to meditate." But is it enough to meditate? And, besides, isn't it the EGO that is meditating? Yogananda told the story of a man who was being troubled by a demon. Seeking help, he was given a powder to say a mantra over and throw into the face of the demon. But when he attempted to do this, the demon just laughed claiming that before the mantra could be recited he, the demon, leapt into the powder. Yogananda said that demon is the ego. 

The ego gets plenty of brickbats in the world of meditation and spirituality. But, paradox though it be, it's what we start with. Were I a happy puppy or a satisfied clam I wouldn't seek Self-realization, would I? Nor, I suppose, therefore, would I have a need for it. 

How many hundreds of meditation apps and meditation teachers offer self-help forms of meditation: self-help for health, relaxation, insomnia, concentration, and creativity? There are many benefits to the daily practice of meditation. 

But can meditation transform us spiritually, too? Up to a certain point, yes, but self-effort, techniques, concentration are not enough. True: it is the, ego harnessing intelligence and will that, having received the inspiration to seek something greater than itself, begins the daily practice. But the ego, like Moses who was not allowed to enter the Promised Land, is marching to its own doom; it must be radically transformed and expanded beyond the body and personality and so, like Moses, must "die" before reaching the goal.

Before I say "You will need a guru" with the result that you will stop reading, let me go another direction (first). In the bad old days of the 1960's and '70's when altered states of consciousness were sought with liberal sprinklings of chemical additives, there was a greater interest in achieving ego-transcendent states of consciousness. As the fads ebbed away into "let's get rich while we can," meditation was turned over to the scientists for research purposes. This is not a bad thing, mind you, but applying a materialistic bias to meditation has also dumbed it down towards a stoic "chop wood and carry water" goal. (I'm all for managing stress but my response to this is to ask "Do you remember Frank Sinatra singing "Is that all there is?"")

Swami Kriyananda's book, "Awaken to Superconsciousness," has for its theme that meditation offers us the opportunity to nurture our connection with what Yogananda dubbed the "Superconscious mind." This is a step up from exploring the influences of the subconscious mind upon our thoughts, emotions and opinions. Observing our thoughts in their native stream of consciousness may be helpful for being more aware of these subconscious influences; and, alternatively, substituting beautiful or relaxing imagery or music may be helpful for relaxation; but no matter how much more we live a conscious, intentional life, we are still in the conscious mind. We are still stuck with the basic "I." A better "I" for sure but is it enough? I doubt it. For one thing, uncertainty, loss of every kind, illness, old age and death stalk us 24/7. How secure and how happy can we remain in this world of ceaseless change? The watchful ego is the protector and defender of the realm. Smugness, over-confidence, and prideful self-indulgence will surely be the ego's undoing. Can we ever rest secure in the ego?

The basic thrust of meditation from the standpoint of its own tradition and history is the intention to awaken our awareness to more subtle realities; more refined states of mind; less ego oriented behavior; and, to higher states of consciousness, including the ultimate or absolute state of Being. The Superconscious mind offers us the potential to align our consciousness with the greater mind of all-knowing intuition: the source of true confidence. While this realm is available and accessed unknowingly to all people, it is not under the command or control of the ego. Its influence is tailored made to our unique needs. Mozart "received" symphonies; Albert Einstein, E=mc2. I, the inspiration to write this article!

The Superconscious mind is, relative to our ego, "Other." You may, if you wish, call it "God," the "Soul," the "Atman" etc. etc. So far as its influence goes, however, the ego remains the arbiter, the decider of whether to accept or reject the promptings of Superconsciousness. We see this often in the quiet promptings of our conscience: one of the voices of Superconsciousness. 

Sometimes the Superconscious has to communicate to us through dreams because all too often the conscious mind is so restless and preoccupied that we are not paying attention to the subtle voice of the Superconscious mind. To make matters worse, it takes experience to distinguish subconscious promptings from Superconscious ones. This is where the practice of meditation offers valuable support.

Not surprisingly, therefore, meditation is the most effective practice to open up the channel to Superconsciousness: hence the name and theme of Swami Kriyananda's book. The part of meditation that does this best is inner silence. In turn, inner silence is most readily achieved if we have a time-tested method(s) to rest the mind, relax the body, and calm the emotions. Thus various meditation techniques are helpful before attempting to enter into inner silence. The longer and deeper one can be still in body and mind, the more we are opening and clearing the channel through which the Superconscious can influence us. 

But the ego fights this process and typically claims as its own the ideas and inspirations that it receives. This, then, is where the need for the Superconscious to take human form comes into play. The Superconscious in human form is needed to get our attention and to make real and personal the guidance the ego needs to gradually let go of control. It is far too easy for the ego to stay in control when the guidance is only internal.

But how many people have a personal and enlightened guru-guide? Very few. A popular spiritual teacher is not necessarily enlightened and, how much guidance are you likely to receive from a person with thousands or millions of followers?

The tradition of disciple-guru relationship and the tradition of the inner path of meditation is strongly focused on renunciation and self-discipline. Transport these traditions into a "spiritual-but-not-religious" extroverted culture that is strongly self-directed and ever-affirming personal liberties and you can end up with a great many meditators stumbling around in the labyrinth of the mind.

Therapy, coaching and counseling are among the fastest growing professions in America today. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates a 20% growth between 2014 and 2024. Isolation and anxiety produced by the Covid pandemic have, I imagine, accelerated this trend. So while the traditions of the inner path invite the practitioner to "go within," the need for 21st century meditators would seem to suggest the need for a "guide from the side" since a "sage from the stage" is difficult to find. 

Meditation has been lifted out of the culture of the East and dropped into a very different culture in the West. As a resident of one of the Ananda communities worldwide, and as a decades long teacher of meditation (and meditation teachers), I see that meditation by itself is simply not enough for most people to affect the kind of transformation that meditation has to offer. 

For starters, our culture has converted both meditation and hatha yoga (postures) into something more ego and body affirming than was classically their purpose. Even if there could be found a truly enlightened guru, only a few in this "me-first" culture would give themselves wholly to be transformed. Put another way, few meditators are ready for a true guru.

So, how then, can meditation help us achieve more than relaxation, concentration, vitality and creativity? How can meditation help us experience Superconscious states of the higher (soul) mind? 

First: we actually have to sincerely want that level of transformation. I've had meditation students react fearfully when hearing about cosmic consciousness or even higher states of awareness. Second: we may need help to gain greater self-awareness of our subconscious influences. Third: we may need help to re-direct old thought-patterns into new and self-expansive ones; Fourth: we need the tools of transformation in the form of advanced meditation techniques like Yogananda's Kriya Yoga; Fifth: we may need to be open to the spiritual and meditative guidance of those we feel can guide us even if they are not enlightened gurus.

I believe that the increase in the use of therapists, counselors and coaches represent a small but growing trend toward seeking greater self-awareness in this otherwise extroverted and materialistic culture. Yogis are generally not versed in the tools of this decidedly Western profession. The spiritual teachings are wonderful but making them real in one's own daily life takes hard, introspective work for which we in this culture are ill prepared. Quiet mind and still body don't come easily to our over-stimulated, frenzied lifestyles.

And I'm not limiting the help that I see we need to learning more meditation techniques or going to more retreats and workshops. These are important and have a place, of course, but I'm referring to something more personal. Ironically, the ego has to undergo healing and achieve some degree of wholeness before it can begin to surrender to a higher power. I know stories come to us of great devotees whose total surrender to the guru freed them in one lifetime but let's face it, most of us carry far too much karmic baggage. We need friends and wise guides to help us. Perhaps in a future lifetime the depth of our sincerity and magnetism will attract a guru whose very touch can liberate our souls.

I know that devotion to God and guru is "an inside job" and is not dependent on proximity to any human form but that level of devotion is rare. The effort to develop devotion remains a very powerful spiritual practice and should be included in our toolkit of transformation. My observation of the life of meditators and devotees suggests to me that much more is needed at this time and in this culture. 

In this regard, I think of the story of the Princess Draupadi: a devotee of Krishna. Krishna suggested that she practice meditation. Her response was simply, "But Lord, how can I practice meditation when my mind is wholly upon you?" Krishna just smiled and turned away. Devotion to the Supreme Lord is the quickest way to soul freedom. But alas, few are the devotees with the courage and conviction of this truth.

Among the fast growing number of professional therapists, coaches and counselors are few who walk with us on the inner path. One must choose a guide carefully and intelligently, therefore. Suggestions for such a search are beyond the scope of this article but my purpose is to point out the need among meditators for help in shedding the subconscious and activating the conscious mind. As a teacher of meditation teachers, I think it would help if potential teachers and spiritual counselors incorporated some of the tools of the emerging coaching field. I believe such tools can accelerate a person's access to the transcendent realm of the Superconscious mind when added to the other, traditional techniques and attitudes of raja yoga.

My daugher, Gita Matlock (www.gitamatlock.com), is a coach and on her recent visit to us recommended to me books by the author Nancy Kline (www.timetothink.com) for how to help others. I found the steps and principles outlined there to be completely congruent with the essence of Self-realization principles, but only using different terms and applications. The technique of asking questions is highlighted and has a long and ancient history. So too has the assumption of the essential goodness of people and our own power to find answers from within. Marvelous reading and I recommend it for Self-realization teachers and counselors.

Ours is a new age (Dwapara Yuga) and a new culture. Truth may be one and eternal but its manifestations are infinitely varied. If we are to help one another, let us tune into the song of Dwapara: individuality; respect; listening; and empowering.

Blessings and joy to you!

Swami Hrimananda

Kriya Yoga: the New Covenant; the Second Coming

 [This article was inspired by a talk I gave at a Kriya initiation at the Blue Lotus Temple in Bothell, WA]

 

In anticipation of the consciousness of the third millennia A.D., the rishis of modern India have explained the path to enlightenment in rational, scientific terms. For the lingua franca of our times is, in fact, science. In former times, however, deeper spiritual truths were conveyed in parables, metaphors or allegories and were understood intuitively rather than intellectually.

Long ago in the highest or golden age, highly advanced spiritual beings possessed the intuition, the inner sight, by which they cognized subtle realms, astral beings, higher truths and the Divine presence. Indeed, it is said in the ancient texts that the first humans were so enlightened that after observing the natural wonders of creation they sat in lotus pose and merged back into God. These souls had no interest in playing the game of hide and seek with God. So, God decided to raise the stakes and make the creation more attractive so that these beings would want to stay and play with Him. In the Bible version of this story, Adam and Eve fell to the temptation to be "like” God and enter into the drama of duality, experiencing good and evil and all the opposites which attract or repulse.

Well, it's just a story though it seems that God has played an unfair trick on us. While contemplating the whole sad affair, it occurred to me that maybe there’s another way to explain what happened to us. (No explanation, however, can satisfy our heart's yearnings.) It might be related to the explanation of the cycles of time as revealed by Swami Sri Yukteswar in the introduction to his only book, “The Holy Science.”

In that book, Sri Yukteswar stated that the twelve thousand years ending on or about 500 A.D. constitute a long period of decline from the highest age of virtue and wisdom to the nadir of the larger twenty-four thousand year cycle. Biblical scholars place the Garden of Eden somewhere just after 5,000 B.C. Maybe what really happened was that the gradual loss of God consciousness and the concomitant rise of ego consciousness was the real “fall” described in these stories.

Then somewhere after 2,000 B.C. we find that humanity’s oldest scriptures, the Vedas and the scriptures that followed, came to be written down perhaps because the oral tradition could no longer be relied upon as human understanding and virtue declined.

Nonetheless, what remained would have become dry parchment were it not for the repeated appearance of great souls’ generation after generation all the way to the modern age, including the lineage of the Self-realization masters. Saints are the true custodians of faith and the avatars are the prime movers who offer wisdom in the midst of the ebb and flow of human consciousness.

Whatever the facts that led us here, here we are. Faced with our own modern troubles, let us admit that neither world peace nor a cure for cancer will bestow upon humanity the pearl of great price of true and lasting happiness. As some of the lyrics in Swami Kriyananda’s happy but instructive song, “Secret of Laughter” puts it: "You can win the world but still be poor, win peace and live like a king." No matter how great are the blessings of science, the yogi’s cliché is still true: "The only way out is IN."

God, knowing our present needs, has sent to humanity a great gift in the form of Kriya Yoga. Though an ancient science, it was lost in the dark ages but for us now it has been resurrected by the deathless prophet, Mahavatar Babaji. Kriya is a priceless gem, a chintamani, offered to those who sincerely seek help in their journey towards Self-realization.[1] Kriya is more than a meditation technique that uses the breath; it is more than a series of core techniques; it is a way of life, indeed, a new dispensation bestowing knowledge and grace that can propel us quickly over the ocean of delusion. Kriya is a relationship with God through the agency of the divine gurus. Initiation into kriya establishes and affirms the connection between disciple and guru. The technique acts as an instrument of transmission of the guru’s guidance and grace.

Swamiji states in his booklet, “A New Dispensation,” that Yogananda wrote in his commentaries on the “Bhagavad Gita” that sometimes in history a sea of calm appears in the midst of the storm of maya.[2] Perhaps when a world savior descends like a comet into this world of darkness taking on human form, he does so through a vortex, a wormhole that lingers to and from eternity. Those who are drawn to this eye of calm in the middle of the storm of duality find rapid spiritual progress just as the apostles of Christ were transformed in those three brief years. 

I think of the Day of Pentecost described in the Acts of the Apostles.[3] That day, the Holy Ghost descended upon them in the form of tongues of fire and as a wind. The apostles spoke in diverse languages and some three thousand people were converted to the new covenant in Christ. 

Yogananda said his coming to the West was the “second coming” of Christ. He said that those who were ready to receive him would be baptized by the Holy Spirit through Kriya Yoga. A new covenant, a new dispensation has arrived he said. “The time for knowing God has come!” Yogananda declared.

Just as those apostles blessed by the Holy Spirit were destined to change the course of history, so too is Kriya is destined to uplift humanity in this age of Dwapara Yuga.[4] Kriya opens the door that we may commune with the Holy Spirit as the Aum vibration, and on its wings ascend like a dove into superconsciousness.[5]

So, what, then is this technique, this “kriya?”

In Yogananda’s now famous story, “Autobiography of a Yogi,” he wrote that "The ancient yogis discovered that the secret of cosmic consciousness is intimately linked with breath mastery. This is India's unique and deathless contribution to the world's treasury of knowledge. The life force, which is ordinarily absorbed in maintaining the heart-pump, must be freed for higher activities by a method of calming and stilling the ceaseless demands of the breath."[6]

As we come into the body with our first breath and leave the body by our last breath, so breath links us with the subtle (astral) world from which we have come and to which we return. We incarnate again and again on the basis of the unfinished business of our likes, dislikes and our past actions. Once incarnate, the world of duality begins with the duality of inhalation and exhalation. Our breath is the foundation and prerequisite for our life in the human body. The cycle of the breath is also the foundation for the reactive, emotional process of like and dislike. Indeed, Patanjali in stanza 2 of the renowned Yoga Sutras defines our soul freedom by the cessation of that process. It is really and truly that simple.

We can't just hold our breath, however! If we tried, we'd pass out and the nervous system would re-start the breathing process. Moreover, the breath is, itself, only the necessary starting point for how we can explore the far subtler causes for our reincarnation: desire! Like those first humans, or like our first foray into creation, we WANT; we LIKE; we DESIRE this and FEAR that!

Made in the image of God, we want to be like God and manifest the great play of creation, experiencing good and evil. But unlike the Spirit beyond by creation and unlike the son of God hiding silently at the heart of every atom of creation, we forget “Who am I?” We become identified with the play like a bad actor who forgets he’s only an actor. You could even say that it is not “I” who reincarnates but it is my desires--likes and dislikes and the unfinished business of past actions--that reincarnate into the great cycle of inhalation and exhalation to find resolution and release. Our thoughts and actions are our offspring and after countless lives we have an entire nation of subjects, indeed slaves, yearning for satisfaction and, knowingly or unknowingly, to be free. 

As Christ the redeemer taught his disciples to commemorate his living presence through the Eucharistic form of communion, so Paramhansa Yogananda (and his lineage which includes Christ) has brought to us inner communion through Kriya Yoga. As Jesus gave the ritual of communion, so Babaji gives us the inner fire rite of kriya.

In his first book, “Science of Religion,” Yogananda explained the science of inner communion. It is based on the cessation of breath and the reactive process through a time-tested and safe method of breath and life control. Yogananda called Kriya “the airplane route” to God because it works on the source of our delusion rather than upon its effects.

As the storm of breath is quieted, we begin to "see." We become "seers." Just as when we see attractive objects of the senses we are drawn outside of ourselves, so too when we begin to “see” the far more attractive world of divine magnetism and the higher realms we are drawn inward. Our life current is drawn away from the body and into the subtle, astral body and then upwards towards the higher realms. It's like a cosmic game of "Musical Chairs." When the music of creation stops, the one without a chair (of attachment) rises. The song of creation is built atop the dance of breath and when breath ceases, creation vanishes and our spirit rises. This, then, is the shortcut to freedom. This is what happens at death and when meditation takes us into breathlessness, it is the little death. It is thus a preparation for the final exam.

It would be a mistake to suppose we reject God’s creation as evil. It is our identification with it that we seek to cauterize. It was God’s original intention that we enjoy the creation with God. How could God, bliss itself, bliss eternal, not wish to share that bliss? But the drama of creation could not sustain itself if there were no drama. There can be no drama without free choice and no free choice without good and evil to choose from. Drama is the métier of the play.

For the purpose of dissolving our identification with the play, Kriya seeks to dissolve our commitment to playing in it. The force and power of that commitment is a force that is called kundalini. Kundalini represents and in fact IS the deeply magnetic commitment we have made to our separateness from God. By dissolving this commitment, we unleash the power to reunite our life force with soul force. Again: we have been given a shortcut. Cauterize the “I” or ego principle and the rest falls away from lack of interest in playing, that is to say, in reacting!

This commitment to our “mortal delusion” anchors our consciousness in the body at the base of the spine. Every positive and kind thought releases some of its power upward toward the brain wherein resides the soul. But kriya practice is far more powerful than random thoughts of kindness and acts of virtue. By daily practice of kriya yoga, we ascend upward through the lights of the tree of life along the spiral staircase of wakefulness. Along this path lie the subtle energy centers of the astral spine known as the chakras. The chakras are both doorways out into the body (and into the world beyond it), and, when the life force is restrained and coaxed inward, they are doorways into the subtle spine where we experience true baptism into eternal life. In Chapter 6, verse 46 of the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna praises the yogi and yoga-meditation as the greatest and fastest path to Self-realization. 

When by daily kriya practice we begin to neutralize the ceaseless work of the breath, we find that our reactions to the world within and without begin also to become pacified. It's not just in meditation that we become more aware but also in activity. Nor is this process merely the result of self-control. We discover that being calm and centered in the Self is increasingly natural; less and less must we use our will to restrain our impulses. We begin to live in cooperation with grace.

As the inevitable karmic bombs of life explode, we remain centered; we live ever more fully by faith in God. "What comes of itself," Master would say, "let it come." The stale cheese of sense delights yields to the refined cheese of life-sustaining, eternal life (prana). This is what is meant by Jesus and other saviors when it is said that we achieve "eternal life." By living more by life force, living more AS energy centered within, we gradually slough off the snake-like skin of body-attachment. We become an angel of light and energy. Ultimately, we will pass through the portals of life and death with the same awakened consciousness. This is what is meant by the promise of our immortality: unbroken awareness and ever-new joy in that awareness.

In kriya we begin with the physical breath. This is like a door handle to the doors of the inner sanctum. The doors are the chakras and the inner sanctum is the astral spine, called the sushumna. The practice of kriya constitutes the true "fire rite" mentioned in ancient texts such as the Bhagavad Gita. With each "kriya" we offer the "inhalation into the exhalation" as Krishna describes in the Gita until they neutralize each other in the vision of God as prana, life energy.[7]

During the practice of kriya, the movement of life force around the sushumna acts like a magnet rotating around a wire and generates an increasingly powerful electro-magnetic force that loosens and dissolves countless vortices (“vrittis”) of commitment and attachment. But enough of words, “The time for practicing kriya has come.”

Blessings to you!

Swami Hrimananda

PS: See Chapter 26, "Kriya Yoga," of Yogananda's now famous book, "Autobiography of a Yogi." Ananda centers worldwide offer training and preparation for kriya initiation.

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[1] Chintamani is a wish-fulfilling jewel in both Hindu and Buddhist traditions.

[2] Maya  refers to the material world of duality, emotions and thoughts which obscure the essential divine nature of all things.

[3] New Testament, “Acts of the Apostles,” Chapter 2

[4] “Dwa” means “second” and “yuga” means “age” or “epoch.” The second age in the ascending arc of 12,000 years began in approximately A.D. 1900 according to Swami Sri Yukteswar in his book “The Holy Science.” See also the profound treatise on the Yuga cycles: “The Yugas,” Joseph Selbie and David Steinmetz, Crystal Clarity Publishers.

[5] “In the beginning was the Word….” John Chapter 1. The “word” is the holy vibration of Spirit called by different names such as “Amen,” “Aum,” and so on.

[6] Chapter 26

[7] Bhagavad Gita, Chapter IV:29

America Today and the Spread of Intentional Communities

Hello friends, I have not written a stitch since January this year (2022). Videos have eclipsed writing, or so it might seem these days. Videos are evanescent, however, and require a greater commitment of attentiveness than writing which many people can scan quickly (and then re-read if a deeper interest in the subject is triggered).

There is a video series on Benjamin Franklin by Ken Burns. And the end of Franklin's life, after the Constitution of the United States had at last been ratified by the states, Franklin publishes his views on the compromises that were needed for the states to agree. On the one hand, Franklin acknowledged the value and significance of that document and the intentions behind it; on the other hand, he also acknowledged that the continuation of slavery represented a score that was yet to be settled in achieving the stated goals of American independence.

Thus it is simply a fact that the birth of this nation could only have happened by a delicate balance between the federal government and the states. The consent of the governed is an essential premise in the American system but it is circumscribed by the consciousness of the governed. Democracy works poorly if the citizenry and its leaders are corrupt, selfish, and deeply biased or divided, unwilling to compromise and cooperate. In the face of chaos and paralysis, a natural impulse is to want a strong and authoritative leader. We see this in the history of Rome. We see it today.

China's leader, Xi Jinping, touts the efficiency and material success of his nation on the basis of its authoritarian system. Other nations too, it has been said, are now weakened democracies inclining to favor 

authoritarian leaders. The founders of America acknowledged both explicitly and implicitly that the great American experiment would only work with an educated and somewhat enlightened body politic. If society devolves into violence and conflict, the need for safety, security and authority will obviously arise like a tsunami to inundate personal liberties, freedom of speech and much more. 

One of America's great treasures is its diversity and our acceptance of it. At the same time, the push back in fear and rebellion to that diversity constitutes one of the greatest threats to that diversity. Yet it must be also admitted that this diversity itself may pose, or appear to pose, a threat to freedom if, for no other reason, decision making and consensus is paralyzed. I believe that history and biology suggest that diversity is an advantage and a benefit but the perception that it is a threat is a very real threat in itself.

Humanity faces many objective challenges but the greatest challenge is the personal and subjective challenge of consciousness. Fear triggers a return to more primitive responses of "fight or flight." Too rapid changes in society and on the planet are triggering large scale fear-responses owing to mass migrations, technological change, climate change, and economic insecurity and inequality.

Historically, humanity has lived under brutal and authoritarian conditions of one type or another. So it is natural that that many see centralized authority as the remedy for insecurity or chaos. Though while the middle ground of peace and harmony is certainly yearned for, as a practical reality it's never been hardly more than a dream. I admit that a dream bubble did seem to exist for some Americans for a few years (think 1950's) and it has been somewhat true relative to most of the rest of the nations of the world. But, in any case, this bubble of light, if ever did exist, is rapidly fading into the dusk of increasing civil unrest and divisiveness.

A new paradigm is trying to be born. It could be said to have started with the founding of America but its birth was flawed and contained defects born of the consciousness of its times. It still has a long way to go but its characteristics are increasingly clear, attractive, and recognizable. Its salient features are embedded in the America self-image and include freedom to act, opportunities to realize one's cherished dreams, scope for individual initiative and creativity and acceptance of personal responsibility. These qualities tend to extend into a respect for the rights of others and an inclination to cooperate with others. 

In the history of America the shortcomings of its citizens to manifest these characteristics resulted in struggles around the evils of racism and exploitation. A strong national (federal) response to these shortcomings has been the remedy of choice. Since the end of the Civil War, the power of the central government has grown more or less steadily.

But those very salient characteristics are at odds with a strong central authority. Nationalized solutions to social injustice and inequality have the potential to stifle individual initiative and self-responsibility even if some people feel they keep at bay the extremes of wealth and poverty.

This earth is a school, not a resort or paradise. So nothing I might suggest is intended to be a solution. It is, rather, directional. Based on the insights given to us by Paramhansa Yogananda (and including the wisdom of his guru, Swami Sri Yukteswar, and the views of Ananda's founder, Swami Kriyananda), I believe humanity, led largely by America, is stumbling uncertainly but surely towards manifesting more clearly, if imperfectly, those salient characteristics of individual freedom and initiative.

Individual initiative when guided wisely naturally inclines toward respect and cooperation especially where others of like-mind are concerned. Freedom is infectious; cooperation, rewarding. It is, after all, one way of describing the universal Golden Rule, is it not?

"Left" represents compassion. "Right" represents justice. Compassion should be expressed wisely lest it devolve into enabling the very conditions it seeks to remedy. Justice without compassion favors the status quo. The division between "left" and "right" is a false one, promoted on the basis of ignorance and/or self-interest because, in truth, each have their place and their voice in public and private life.

Nothing can stop the increasing commingling of races, religions and cultures that is taking place in the twenty-first century and no country more than America is experiencing this process at a faster clip. Diversity is here to stay and, as such, will only grow.

What then are its consequences? Diversity can seed innovation and creativity but it can also spread confusion and chaos. The admixture of diverse lifestyles and values might propel some to seek their own "kind." But by "kind" I do not mean the further establishment of ghettos or segregation. Such are physical barriers and such barriers are steadily eroding. Instead, the true "races of humanity" divide along the lines of consciousness, not outward appearance or culture. 

Division of any kind will generate some level of competition or conflict but I'd rather not dwell on that. Instead, my point of emphasis is contained in the fiery words of Paramhansa Yogananda in July of 1949 when, at a Beverly Hills garden fundraising party, he suddenly and inexplicably "sowed into the ether" the prediction that intentional communities would (someday) "spread like wildfire." 

Given that the term "wildfire" is far more threatening than promising (especially in the western states of America, including California where he spoke those words), I have to assume that the spread of communities will come at a time of and as a result of great chaos and conflagration. If this is so, then so be it!

Books have been written on the problems of modern America and the shortcomings of her people. I see no need to emphasize these. Suffice to say, we have lost touch with the simple joys and skills of living in harmony with nature, with one another and with higher values and divine consciousness.

America's resilience and ethos of self-reliance needs to be elevated to include cooperation with one another and cooperation with higher values and consciousness. As the title of a Sunday Service reading at any Ananda temple puts it: "Self-reliance vs self-reliance." We are part of a greater reality. We are not, except by choice or ignorance, separate from the world around us, both natural and divine.

The halting progress towards affirmation of individual initiative is occurring in many ways: the internet, for example, is a symbol and a tool for flattening the hierarchy of information (admittedly also spreading false information); education, of course has been the symbol of progressiveness since the 19th century; the paralysis, indecisiveness and corruption of values of the central government is pushing the pendulum of power back to the states in a motion reminiscent, for better or worse, of the days of the Constitutional battles. Even smaller jurisdictions, like cities, are taking on global issues like climate change. 

The individual is the key to change. Intelligence alone, whether artificial or rational, is not enough. Inspiration and courage, linked with intelligence and reason, are crucial.

De-centralization coupled with voluntary cooperation will be the gold standard of future civilizations (living up to the name of "civil"). It will take centuries for this new paradigm to emerge clearly and successfully, though it will always be imperfect.

But small intentional communities will be the basis for this shift in human consciousness in the direction of increasing awareness. The path however is strewn with the brambles of war, famine and catastrophe: the necessary price of progress given human consciousness at this time. Those of us with the prescience to "do it now" will silently serve many to come and in the process bring to ourselves an aura of magnetic protection. 

Such communities will run the gamut of form and spirit but the Ananda communities are inspired by Paramhansa Yogananda whose powerful words that day in July 1949 have prompted us to declare Yogananda the "father" of the communities movement. The higher the ideals upon which a community is founded and more vigorously its adherents strive toward them, the greater will be its impact. Ananda communities are based on prayer, meditation and service and are guided by principles of cooperation, respect, simplicity and moderation. 

But whether social, ecological and/or spiritual, the spread of communities is just beginning and, to quote the words of a children's' song, "Nothing can stop my progress."

Ever-new,

Swami Hrimananda!