Saturday, March 5, 2011

Anxiety & Despondency: Path to Enlightenment?

March 7 each year is the anniversary of the date in 1952 when Paramhansa Yogananda left his body in the presence of a large crowd gathered at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles at a banquet in honor of the newly appointed ambassador to the United States from India.

Around this time each year, we celebrate the victory of those souls who have achieved final freedom in God. Yogananda is such a one and many great saints there have been, east and west, down through the ages and yes, even in modern times!

But the path to enlightenment is no Sunday church picnic, no tiptoeing through the tulips of life. In the Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna, the great warrior and one of the five Pandava brothers fighting on the side of "right" (soul aspirations), slumps in his chariot upon viewing the opposing armies in the allegorical Battle of Kurushetra.

Arjuna sees the kinsmen whom he must slay and despairs for the "sin" in killing his own kith and kin with whom he has been raised. These relatives are those qualities of ego consciousness with whom we have been "raised" in the long process of upward soul evolution. When the time comes when we must consciously confront our intention to seek enlightenment and the realization that we must outgrow material sense attachments and ego affirmations, the battle line is drawn and we experience a feinting spell, so to speak.

Trees and birds and flowers and mountains don't appear to suffer anxiety, despair, dread, shame or despondency! Hence we enjoy nature and our pets for their innocence and freedom from ego self seeking. This, for many, may represent (ok, at least in part) a subconscious desire to look backwards over the spiral staircase of soul evolution to what we imagine is a more innocent and free level of existence. (Obviously by compassion and appreciation of God's creation we can also have feelings of kindness, empathy, and love for nature.)

Even on the human level, Paramhansa Yogananda (and his disciple and founder of Ananda, Swami Kriyananda) taught, we find many gradations of consciousness. When the soul first appears in human form, it may seem more whole, happy, and free of anxiety, enjoying the blessings of a human body and its enhanced abilities and awareness. In the last one or two centuries this is sometimes sentimentalized by concepts of the "noble savage" or some other, now out of date, and somewhat "politically incorrect" stereotypes. Yet such a stage does exist, whether in blue jeans or tiger skins.

You see, the masters teach that the ego is a necessary step on the journey towards superconsciousness. On the human level, we can go up and down for what must amount to "forever" -- chasing the rainbows and will-o-the-wisps of desires, fantasies, and the healing of nursed hurts and suffering. The soul identified with the body is Yogananda's definition of the ego. All such statements are inadequate to fully explain the mystery of our delusion, but this one gives us the idea that there is a part of our "mind" that is veiled by the compulsions and concomitant desires of human existence and another part that is untouched, eternal, and blissful. It's whether we look "up" or "down", or "backwards," or "forwards" as to what we see as reality.

It should come, therefore, as no surprise that the ego experiences alternating states of inspiration and despondency on the spiritual path. When we look backwards (or down), we see what we have attempted to give up: pleasures of self-indulgence, satisfactions of ego-affirmation and the hope of recognition, and the seeming security of being surrounded by name, fame, money, and self-directed desires.

Yogananda commented that moods which come seemingly uninvited or without apparent cause are the result of past indulgences. We must, he said, accept them even-mindedly and then make the effort with will power and divine grace to be happy and cheerful under all circumstances.

Without wishing in any way to put aside chemical or organic causes, or the results of life's traumatic experiences, I believe, and so do others (there are many books on this subject) that the widespread incidence of anxiety, despondency, and fear, especially among spiritual seekers and meditators, is in part the necessary stepping stone towards enlightment.

The masters say (Ramakrishna, Yogananda, e.g.) that there does come a time when the path to soul freedom becomes "effortlessly liberating." At the same time we see in the life of Buddha and Jesus Christ the torments of maya (satan, delusion) attempting even in what seems to be the final moments before cosmic consciousness, to draw these souls back into the temptation that fulfillment can be found in the adoration and pursuit of material desires and power.

Yogananda taught that both Buddha and Jesus Christ were avatars. Hence their "temptations" could not have been "final" in the usual sense. Yet evidently even avatars enact the great dramas of the spiritual path both for the benefit of our instruction and for the fact of having taken on human form and the necessary veil that descends upon the soul even for such souls to some degree.

Do not judge yourself or your fellow devotees for the temptations they face, the temporary errors they succumb to, or the anxieties or despondencies their "enhanced" consciousness might experience. The price for growing awareness includes growing strength and energy feeding, at times, ego consciousness. This is part of the journey to liberation. Both Swami Sri Yukteswar and Lahiri Mahasaya (each considered an avatar) hesitated and experienced a wave of trepidation when informed of their imminent demise.

Yogananda experienced and expressed the fullness of his humanity in his grief for the loss of his mother and on numerous occasions in his life, including the happy and laughter-filled moments. Yet, as Swami Kriyananda observed, one could see in Yogananda's eyes the hint of dispassion, a sense of other-worldliness, or the presence of Infinity untouched by passing circumstances.

This is the great mystery of life and consciousness: how we can both be divine and human. At once untouched and yet engaged. A fully authentic life, at every stage of our soul's progress toward freedom, is one that partakes in each of these aspects, human and divine, as they appropriately manifest in our consciousness. Real progress can be made when we embark upon expressing the fullness of our Being with courage and conscious effort, offered in humility and for guidance upward to the Divine.

Happy "Mahasamadhi" for each and every one of us.



Nayaswami Hriman



Friday, February 25, 2011

If Your're Seeking Freedom

It is encouraging to see citizens of several middle eastern countries stand up to their dictators. The joy such people feel in their political success is naturally tempered, at least by observers, with the question "What next?" Still I think most applaud their sacrifices, courage, and victories.

We tend to think of these changes in terms of their outer form and effects. We don't necessarily reflect on the change of attitude and awareness that precedes and allows for the outrage and revolt that follows. The American revolution which has been studied by so many and so well documented shows how the emerging sense of self-identity and universal principles of individual liberties and self-worth were the basis for the explosion of energy that made that revolution a success. The odds, statistical, economic, military, and strategic, against the revolution's success were overwhelming.

The real revolution which could be said to have begun (admittedly an artifice of creating a sense of time and history) with the American revolution is far from over. That which we take for granted in a country like America, is far from the norm in most countries. In this country, the boundaries of individual liberty are outwardly affirmed but in reality exist only upon the fragile membrane of consciousness, attitude, and social consensus. The raw tools of governmental control or abuse exist like bacteria or parasites that inhabit our bodies. It would take only an infection of fear, economic collapse, threat of war, pandemic or natural disaster to trigger the forces of governmental control. Those tools are the immense structure of law enforcement, surveillance, and raw military power.

My real point and thought for this day, however, is that action, change, and revolution flow from a rising tide of human consciousness that sparks courageous, self-sacrificing action. This can be expressed by heroic spiritual dedication, creative and bold new scientific, artistic, or business ventures, as well as political movements.

A revolution in religion is growing like a slowly moving tsunami far out at sea heading towards land. More and more people are tired of sectarianism, empty ritual, and fragile dogmas. The clash of religious cultures which we see around the world is nothing compared to what's coming. An outer "enemy" is the easiest to identify and to attack, especially when inhabiting a separate continent, nation, or culture. The more difficult challenges are those which come from within. Religionists save their greatest venom for their own rivals, just as in politics, business, art, and science.

In time, those who think in more universal terms (and I don't mean the uncommitted armchair philosophers) will be the target of more traditional religionists. In every traditional faith there are those (and their numbers are, I believe, growing steadily) who reject the narrowness of the majority of their faith. The practice of meditation, e.g., represents a revolution against the need to depend upon a priestly class, outward rituals, or dogmas and creeds. When the meditation revolution rises to general visibility, the intensity of attacks in the sphere of religion, such as we have seen in politics in the last one hundred years, will be seen.

Trouble is the "new thought" movement represented by meditation and attitudes of universality does not, by its very nature, engage in fighting. Yet, nonetheless, within the ranks of traditional faiths such people will naturally rise to positions of leadership and visibility and their acceptance by hierarchy will be far from easy.

So, whether you hope for revolution in ecology or global warming acceptance and change, politics, religion, art or science, understand that it is a change in consciousness that is the foundation for all lasting and meaningful change. Much more and much greater change is needed on our planet if humanity (and its non-human fellow inhabitants) are to survive and thrive.

Prepare yourself for great changes. Change is by defintion destructive. Don't think this recent string of seemingly "easy" political victories is a sign of the ease by which other changes will come. Don't forget that many gave their lives, were imprisoned, tortured, or deprived of liberty and means of support to affect the changes we've been witnessing.

It takes courage and cooperation with others of like mind. Don't hide in the sand. Prepare yourself; change yourself; and work with others. Ultimately, it is God's power that sustains this universe and our heartbeats. Live more in God-consciousness and you will be free already and secure forever.

Blessings, Nayaswami Hriman

Saturday, February 19, 2011

The Singularity is Near?

I just learned a new phrase, The Singularity! It's not a new concept, however, because though it is a term borrowed from astrophysics describing a point in time-space where none of the usual rules of physics applies, it now refers to the prediction that computers will someday be smarter than we. With the exponential growth in their computing power Raymond Kurzweil author of a book by the title of this article thinks, as evidently some others, that in the year 2045 computers will overtake us and the end of civilization as we know it will occur. Golly, as if we didn't have enough to worry about!

It's hard not to laugh at such hubris. Oh, I don't mean that computers won't keep getting smarter and do lots of things, both beneficial and potentially destructive, but that such seemingly "smart" people can be so "dumb." I don't mean to be arrogant or unkind, here (after all I hardly know the fellow), but only that our super-rational scientific types still thoroughly believe that consciousness is a by-product of the process of evolution that has produced the human brain. I admit that why should they bother with the concept that this vast, complex, beautiful and awesome universe could be, itself, the manifestation of a supreme, overarching, or infinite consciousness?

But it's not as if they can admit that it's just as possible as their own theory, and, in fact, given our interest in the subject, probably slightly more likely than theirs. All the lightning fast intelligent computations imaginable are not going to randomly produce the Mona Lisa or the Tempest or the Bhagavad Gita, unless by prior (human) programming.

I don't really want to argue with anyone, nor will I pretend to know anything. It feels silly for a chump like me to take exception to smart guys like him, but I posit for your contemplation that the essence of consciousness is a combination of self-awareness and feeling. I, at least, cannot fathom how any machine, no matter how intelligent, can feel or be self-aware except mechanically by being programmed to label certain processes or conclusions as being one or both.

Some might say, "How can a computer have a soul?" Problem is, who knows what a soul is? Well, that's true for happiness, too, or, for that matter, consciousness itself. Only intuition attests to the state of happiness or self-awareness. It cannot be proved. So too the Indian scriptures aver: "Iswar Ashidha" - God cannot be proved. Does that mean neither you nor I can say that the computer ain't got one? Well, ok.....we've painted ourselves perhaps into a corner. Sure, the computer might insist it has feelings, or a soul ..... does that make it so?

Well, perhaps this is all too academic for most of our problems today! I just thought I'd share with you something I read about in my weekly TIME MAGAZINE (how embarrassing to admit I read it at all!). I find it slightly amusing, that's all. I suppose what harm can these nerdy types inflict as a result of their grand predictions? I'm sure their machines will inflict all sorts of harm but I won't blame the machines.

I was alive (or I think I was) when TIME MAGAZINE pronounced GOD IS DEAD. Now it has declared that humanity - our bodies, our minds, our civilization - will be completely and irreversibly transformed. Not only inevitably but imminently. "Beam me up, Scotty!" I'd be age 95 in 2045, so sorry, friends, I'll probably miss the event.

Blessings, Hriman