Practicing the "Presence" - A Meditation

Practicing the Presence Meditation

Meditation is the art and science of learning to enter, at will, a state of deep, dynamic calmness. This requires the elimination of distracting sensory stimuli and random thoughts and feelings. As these subside, the crystal-clear pure consciousness of Self-awareness can shine like the healing rays of the sun.

A survey of meditation techniques reveals that one-pointed concentration is a common theme. Concentration can be upon a word formula (affirmation or mantra), the flow of breath, the movement of subtle energy in the body, a creative visualization, a mental image of a deity or guru, or a specific state of being (such as peace, joy, love, devotion, etc.). Either as a separate form of meditation or a preliminary technique of relaxation, one can also sit and witness one’s thoughts, feelings, body awareness, or breath.

I would like to offer a simple meditation practice that combines visualization with calm witnessing. I call it “Practicing the Presence.” Normally this phrase is used to describe various devotional techniques used during daily activity (or as a form of prayerful meditation) that involve the silent, mental repetition of a phrase or mantra. But in this instance, I offer the concept in relation to the “presence” of the body’s innate vitality, the heart’s natural love (peace or joy), and the bliss of pure, unconditioned consciousness.

PRACTICING THE PRESENCE

Posture/position:

So, let’s try it! Sit up-right (away from the back of your chair, or cross legged), chest up, shoulders relaxed down, spine in its natural curve, palms upward on the thighs, head level. Behind closed eyes gaze gently upward with positive interest but without tension.

Intention/prayer:

Hold this thought in the forehead behind closed eyes: “My intention is to still the body, mind, and feelings, dissolving all self-involvement into the spacious One mind of pure Consciousness. There I will be refreshed and at peace. I can then share this peace with others during my daily activities.”

Beginning relaxation and breath work:

Now, inhale through the nose and tense the whole body; hold the breath while vibrating the body (briefly), now exhale forcibly through the mouth. Do this a few times until you feel refreshed and relaxed, but also energized.

Next: begin some slow, even natural (diaphragmatic) breathing. Hold the breath gently for about as long as each of the inhalation and exhalations (maybe 6 to 8 counts, or more, if you like). Do three to five of these.

Now, sit and simply enjoy the peace-filled after-poise of these simple breathing techniques. Scan the body from the feet upward (mentally and intuitively) looking for and releasing any tension. Adjust your position as needed.

Practicing the Presence in the Body.

Mentally feel your entire body. It is not necessary to move to do this. Do it through the power of self-awareness. Imagine you are as conscious in your foot as in your brain; as conscious in every cell of the body as in any other. Feel the body AS ENERGY rather than as organs, tissues, bones, or fluids. Now sit very still and PRACTICE THE PRESENCE of CONSCIOUS VITALITY which inhabits, enlivens, heals and thrills every cell of your body. It may help to imagine that with each natural, incoming breath, space is flowing into the body and with each natural exhalation it is departing. Thus is the body converted from matter into dynamic energy and space. Do this for as long as it is enjoyable and present to your awareness.

Now gently tense the whole body as you inhale; hold the breath while you vibrate the body lightly; now exhale through the mouth. Relax for a few moments.

Practicing the Presence in the Heart.

Reposition your posture and inner sight (behind closed eyes at the point between the eyebrows) as needed. Visualize your heart center (not the physical heart but the center of feeling in the region of the sternum) as having double doors. As you inhale naturally and gently, mentally open the doors of the heart, letting in fresh breezes of joy and the sunlight of peace. Imagine the breath is entering through these doors of the heart. As you exhale, feel that all tension, anxiety, fear, doubt, grief, or anger are being swept away as the breath flows out from the heart . Practice this visualization for as long as it feels cleansing and satisfying.

Then, forget the breath and rest in the heart, purified. Feel the natural love of the heart rising up from a deep place of stillness. In that stillness, feel the ever deeper and more subtle bubble of joy and that resides beneath all outer emotional turmoil. Rest in that joy, and in that love. Feel you have come “home at last!” Do this for as long as enjoyable. Imagine you are sitting in comfortable silence with your Best Friend — sitting side-by-side, holding hands.

When you are ready to move on, gently tense the whole body as you inhale; hold the breath while you vibrate the body lightly; now exhale through the mouth. Relax for a few moments.

Practicing the Presence in the Mind.

Check your posture again, do a brief body scan for recurring tension, and refocus your gaze behind closed eyes at the point between the eyebrows.

As your breath naturally comes in, imagine it is entering through the portal of the spiritual eye (in the forehead). As it does so, it sweeps away all restless, petty, and random thoughts. As you exhale, imagine the breath flowing down and out the medulla oblongata at the base of the brain. Imagine that with that exhalation, the raucous citizen-thoughts of your subconscious mind are scurrying into their hiding places at the base of the brain where they gather quietly to take in all that you are doing! As you practice this feel that your consciousness is becoming ever brighter and ever more expansive as it enters a state of crystal clarity and heightened pure awareness which is wonderfully blissful. You may find that you cannot help but smile inwardly. Soon the inflow and outflow of breath have converted your mind into pure light and joy. Feel that your awareness is expanding outward in all directions taking into its perception all objects and all space as your very own reality. Imagine this consciousness is that of the great Self of all. Commune joyfully with this, your very own Self.

When you are ready to move on, gently tense the whole body as you inhale; hold the breath while you vibrate the body lightly; now exhale through the mouth. Relax for a few moments.

Sharing the Presence.

Now before ending your meditation, bring to your mind’s inner sight your family, co-workers, or loved ones. Send to them the peace vibrations of your meditation. Share the gift of meditation on its own level to the higher awareness of others, especially anyone in need of healing of body, mind or spirit, or with whom you have had some difficulty. See them in the mellow light of the presence of conscious Peace. Now go out into daily life practicing being the Presence of peace to all whom you meet.

Aum, Shanti, shanti, amen.

How Mind-Full is Mindfulness Meditation?

My son-in-law is a transpersonal psychologist and a certified meditation teacher. He's taken training in several forms of meditation from kriya yoga to stress reduction, and in teacher training in several others. We had a conversation the other day about the effectiveness of different forms and styles of meditation. Any time-tested form of meditation is helpful, let me say from the start. Nor is any one form or technique the BEST! Always it's what works best for the individual at any given time.

That understanding having been expressed, I want to share some comments on a popular form of meditation commonly known as "mindfulness" meditation. For my purposes I am referring to the technique of "sitting" while "watching" one's thoughts. You see: the essence of meditation is a fluctuation or an oscillation between what "IS" and what really "IS!" (Of course I am being facetious, here).

In other words, should we simply rest in what we are now: our thoughts, feelings, and insights, or should we aspire to a different (translate: higher) state of Being? Are we just fine or even perfect now, as we ARE? Or, do we have a higher potential that requires transcending, or leaving behind, our present reality? This has been debated down through ages in a myriad of forms.

Another way of putting it is: self-acceptance vs. Self-acceptance? Well, let's put aside abstruse philosophy (for a moment, at least) and look at meditation techniques.

The problem with what I am calling "mindfulness" meditation is that, far from "watching" our thoughts, the beginning meditator, as yet far from detached from his outer nature, simply finds himself totally engrossed in his own thoughts. Yet, at the same time, the beginning meditator never having before become particularly self-aware, might find his train or flow of thoughts rather revealing!

Yet for all of that, in the final analysis, our train of thoughts are not especially inspiring or life transforming. If nothing else, they are a bit discouraging, revealing, primarily, our own pusillanimity (pettiness).

Thus I conclude that this kind of "mindfulness" can be helpful, perhaps in the beginning, but, in the end, takes us nowhere in terms of higher consciousness. Now, some would say that with persistence these random, petty thoughts begin to subside and a higher awareness is revealed. Well, maybe: over time and with persistent and consistent effort and commitment to longer, deeper meditations. In short, in my experience training hundreds of students, I say, and I say simply and plainly, it doesn't work that way!

Our society is too overly stimulated and not sufficiently peace-filled, non-toxic, and mind-full to ever really get to such a space except in fleeting glimpses. This brings us to the "other side." Instead of indulging in one's own random thoughts, why not use will power, concentration, and inspiration to ascend to a higher level of consciousness?

The use of a positive image, mantra, word formula, or energy to take us "higher" is, in fact, the path of Self-realization as taught by Paramhansa Yogananda. Without denying some of the positive benefits of self-awareness provided for by techniques of mindfulness, I have long ago concluded that by combining will power with concentration, right attitude, and right technique we can make faster meditative progress than by simply steeping the tea of our consciousness in the dregs of our own subconscious mind. Ok, now I've said it plain and simple, like.

I admit we need a little of both but too much of the mindfulness philosophy represents a bias against articulating and accepting a higher state of consciousness beyond mere negation of thoughts. Why not just chloroform the mind with alcohol or drugs or sleep? Is not happiness what we seek? Untrammeled, unassailable joy? Must we settle for what simply is? Must we only "chop wood and carry water?" Is that all there is? I say, and with the testimony of the masters of all paths: NO! We are much more than the mundane existence of daily life. OK, so let's accept mundane realities, but then let us move beyond them in joyful aspiration!

I began with the Buddhist paths but moved to my "home" in India where "bliss" (satchidanandam): ever-existing, ever-conscious, ever-new bliss was offered as the summum bonum of life's destiny. Sadly, much of Buddhism has fallen into atheistical attitudes, though its true masters reflect the joy and compassion inherent in higher consciousness. For this, regardless of dogmas, is the truth behind all seeming and striving. It is joy that we seek.

I say, then, that with this day and age of overstimulation we need to use the frenetic energy we have to focus upon a higher reality as our truth and not merely stew in the soup of our subconscious. Sure, spend a few minutes getting "real." Then go to a higher and truer reality through chanting, visualization, watching the breath, feeling the pranic currents, and setting one's sights upon the Guru's presence, or the divine Presence as peace, wisdom, energy, love, calmness, Aum, Light, or Bliss!

Aim high lest we fall short!

Blessings,

Nayaswami Hriman

Happy Birthday, Swami Kriyananda

These past few days Ananda members, students, community residents, and friends from all over the world have gathered at Ananda Village in California to celebrate Swami Kriyananda's 85th birthday. As I write, Padma is one of a panel of speakers there paying honor and tribute to Ananda's founder, spiritual counselor, friend, and guide to thousands from around the world.

Name and fame have not been his life's goal, nor is outer acclaim any measure of success by all but the most fleeting measures. We honor Swamiji (SK) for his personal dedication to God and his guru first, and only secondly for his accomplishments. For the latter we are grateful because those accomplishments have been the medium that has inspired, taught, and involved all who honor him today. But those would have been hollow and not sufficiently magnetic to have transformed so many souls were it not for the deeper, more intangible power of his personal effort blessed by divine grace.

Swamiji's search for meaning and truth has been one that has surveyed the entire landscape of human striving. It has not been a narrow and desparate grasping for well-worn dogmas at hand. As with many fellow truthseekers it involved turning away from the past and the orthodox creed of his upbringing.

He tells the story of his "conversion" walking late one night at the beach in Charleston, South Carolina, after he had left college (for good :) ). Politics, arts, orthodox religion, social-isms of every stripe: none of these have the power to transform human consciousness. His thoughts and ruminations intensified as he walked. He HAD to know. At every dead end he found that G-word: God. At last he could avoid God no longer. But who is this? A bearded man on a throne in some antiseptic corner of distant space? One ready to toss each of us into the burning pits for eternity for our missteps or failure to join the right faith? Surely the vast expanse of space shown to us by science is adequate to suggest that the creator of this universe must be vaster still?

God MUST be conscious, SK reasoned. Indeed, consciousness ITSELF! Ok, vast, yes. Infinite, well, certainly. But whence comes this I-ness in each little, otherwise insignificant human? Whence comes the obvious consciousness of even the lowliest worm who, when prodded, recoils in response? If God is the creator of all things and is consciousness itself, then all must have been created from His consciousness. Thus consciousness must be at least latent in all things.

In this way each of us partakes in some small measure in God's consciousness. As SK wrote in his autobiography, THE NEW PATH, "We exist, because He exists." Surely we must have the capacity (perhaps the opportunity, the duty, even) to manifest Him more or less perfectly and to deepen our awareness of God at the center of our being. He wrote: "What a staggering concept!"

SK's conscious spiritual journey from this point unfolded rapidly and descended quickly to a practical application when, having discovered Paramhansa Yogananda's story, "Autobiography of a Yogi," he took the first bus to California to meet the great spiritual teacher there. The first words he uttered to Yogananda (PY) were, "I want to be your disciple." But even a week or two before he had never heard of a guru, nor yet a thousand other terms, concepts and phenomenon he encountered in the modern scripture which is PY's autobiography.

The thesis of PY's life teachings are summarized in but a few words and phrases. The first comes to us from ancient times from the adi (first) Swami Shankyacharya who defined God as "Satchidananda." PY loosely translates this as "ever-existing, ever-conscious, ever-new bliss." It is bliss that all are seeking, whether ignorantly or wisely.
The second pithy summary of PY's teachings comes to us in many forms down through ages, no less than from the Old Testament and Jesus Christ: "love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, mind, and strength; and, love Thy neighbor AS Thyself." In more modern language, PY used the term Self-realization as the goal of union with God (the product of our devotion and His grace). "Love thy neighbor" is summarized in the term "fellowship," service to God through our fellow man. This universal teaching takes now the form of the art and science of meditation as the basis for right action in daily life.

To return, now, to Swamiji's life, it is these high ideals that have inspired SK's life and service. These ideals are universal and available to all men and women, without discrimination. The practice of yoga-meditation, especially kriya yoga, has been brought to the West and to the world as the practical instrument of soul awakening in individual hearts.

For while Ananda is a church, our teachings are broad and universal, even if, for those dedicated to the work of Ananda, we are also disciples of PY. We see no contradiction in our personal devotion to God through the Self-realization line of gurus and the universality of these teachings. Only the actual technique of kriya yoga is reserved for those who recognize that this technique is a divine gift channeled thorugh this line of masters. Grateful recognition of that gift and conscious attunement with the masters of this line are what unlock the power of kriya yoga to accelerate our path to liberation.

SK's writings, with rare exception, are to be read by anyone, regardless of faith or spiritual path. Some of his books (on leadership and education, for example), make no reference whatsoever to his spiritual lineage. As his guru before him, SK's vision is far ranging in both time and space and are for everyone. Inspiration, once aroused, can guide us to the next steps. No one, least of all SK, intends that his writings, music, and communities are only for the "faithful."

This juxtaposition of universality with a specific focus is new to religion. It provides for those who serve the work of Ananda a necessary and inspiring dynamic tension lest our dedication become narrow and self-enclosed. It also offers an example in all walks of life in understanding how to be loyal while yet avoiding narrowness. In marriage, business, health, politics, and family life, this example of BOTH-AND has the potential for the expansion of consciousness necessary to convert competition into cooperation, and conflict into harmony.

On this theme, therefore, we are grateful for both the universality of Swamiji's consciousness and the personal wisdom, friendship, and true divine love he has offered to everyone he meets. He remains in service even against the challenges of old-age and ill-health. It is the fountain spray of divine bliss that rewards his apparent self-sacrifice.

Happy Birthday, dear friend,

Nayaswami Hriman

Patanjali's 8-Fold Path - Samadhi - the Final Stage

This is the eighth, and final, blog article in this series on the 8-Fold Path, known as Ashtanga Yoga, of Patanjali. Samadhi is the name given to us by Patanjali for what amounts to both the goal of our soul's striving and the only and eternal reality there is, and out of which all things created have been born: ever-existing, ever-conscious, ever-new Bliss. This latter phrase is a loose translation by Paramhansa Yogananda of the term "Satchidananda" given to us long ago by the Adi Swami Shankacharya of ancient India. The term applies to God: the Eternal Spirit. It is lasting happiness that we seek: pure and simple.

In the stage of samadhi the soul finds its true home. Having shed the three encircling bodies of the flesh, light, and thought (physical, astral, causal), the soul merges back into the Great Light of God, the Infinite Spirit, Bliss eternal. But there are various stages of samadhi as taught in the scriptures of India. Paramhansa Yogananda simplified, and clarified, these stages into two.

The first stage, sabikalpa samadhi, is reminiscent of our description of the seventh stage, dhyana. In sabikalpa samadhi the soul achieves Oneness with God but returns to ego awareness. While the same is said of dhyana, the difference is that in samadhi the soul passes beyond the 3 bodies, beyond the 3 cosmoses and into the Bliss sphere of God, beyond all duality and vibration. In dhyana, the Oneness achieved is Self-realization as the soul, not as the Infinite. The soul here being that individualized spark of the Infinite that exists within creation.

Yogananda taught that like the caged bird finding the door open, the soul flies into sabikalpa for brief periods at first. The progression from sabikalpa to nirbikalpa is one that, to my knowledge, he did not give an account of. He did teach that the soul is not yet free in sabikalpa and can yet fall again, spiritually, by attachments and desires which may yet be stimulated.

As the bird takes time to gain confidence in his flying from the cage, we cannot say how much "time" is required to achieve final liberation once the soul experiences sabikalpa samadhi. As yet the book of life is not yet ended.

In sabikalpa samadhi the physical form is inert, fixed, and appears even to be sleeping or dead to the casual or unknowing observer. But, by and by, with ever deeper forays into the Infinite Spirit, the soul sheds ever more its more limiting identities and attachments. At one point, though it returns to ordinary wakefulness, it retains its awareness of its Infinite source and identity. Thus is achieved the final stage of nirbikalpa samadhi and one becomes a jivan mukta (freed while yet living incarnate).

Yet at this point, past karma remains. The jivan mukta forever freed from ego affirmation or fresh new desires has a train of box cars of past incarnations to unravel the knot of ego-identity and doership. The soul now has no compelling need to rush, as time and space have been transcended. Yet if the soul wishes he can work out such past karma in any number of ways: on the causal plane, by incarnating into multiple bodies (for speed and efficiency), or by just taking his time. Perhaps the jivan mukta uses the karmic chain to remain and to help close disciples.

Yogananda taught that we cannot achieve liberation without liberating at least six others. This apparently simultaneous equation is hopefully semantics more than literal, but the point remains that we cannot achieve freedom for ourselves alone. What else would be Infinity if not union with all souls, in sympathy, love, and compassion?

Still, most souls, once freed from past karma as well, are said to vanish into the Infinite. Only if called forth by the devotion's frost of prior disciples and the will of God, would such souls appear. When at last the jivan mukta achieves final freedom, he becomes a siddha. If a siddha returns to physical form it is only to assist others and such a one becomes an avatar -- a savior. Some do so in the public eye, others unseen, each according to the divine will and the unique patterns of such soul's eternal thumbprint.

An avatar is said to have unlimited spiritual power to uplift other souls whereas a jivan mukta may have only a few disciples or a siddha somewhat more limited scope.

I've seen in my own service of teaching and of spiritual community that one can see how different souls are attracted together in seemingly mysterious ways which, over long (perhaps vast) periods of repeated incarnations, can evolve into a guru-disciple relationship. Thus it is not difficult to imagine how each soul helps free other souls, even, more or less simultaneously. Also, however, one soul may fall spiritually, perhaps greatly (or so it would appear). Yet that soul's guru-to-be by the inextricable linkage of karma finds that soul and in some way renders spiritual and material aid.

There are stories of the disciple who advances faster than the guru and who, therefore, in the bond of spiritual friendship, helps the guru who may have fallen. Here, then, we do not refer to the "sat guru" but, well, lacking a term, a guru-to-be. Indeed one's sat (savior-avatar) guru may be, say, Jesus Christ, but one may have a twin soul with whom one's path of ascension is linked. But here we edge toward an abyss of unaswered questions.

Apparently it must be so that to liberate (at least) six others, one need not be an avatar. One might be part of a larger spiritual family the head of which is an avatar, however. Swami Kriyananda writes that upon the death of one of Yogananda's most advanced disciples (Sister Gyanamata), Yogananda pronounced that she was free. Then, answering a silent question that arose in Kriyananda's mind ("Well, then, where are her six disciples?"), Yogananda added, "She had disciples." Clearly Yogananda was the sat guru, you see?

Terms such as salvation, freedom, liberation, or enlightenment have various meanings according to intention and context. Ultimate freedom will always be the state of nirbikalpa samadhi from there is no loss of beatitude, regardless of whether incarnate or in the Bliss sphere. But such usage can also mean "final" freedom, even from past karma. It just depends. Certainly many who are considered saints are not liberated in the sense of nirbikalpa samadhi: they may be wise, compassionate, devotional, or self-sacrificing. The state of samadhi may be withheld from them as they perform their God-given, karma-guided earth duties. Only later, perhaps on the astral plane, do they receive their reward, or, late in life, or, upon death.

It's very likely that among church-ordained "saints" few have achieved (in that incarnation) nirbikalpa samadhi. Thus it is that the "gifts of the Holy Spirit" can manifest long before final liberation. No doubt that's why the church abstains from its blessing until the saint is safely dead and buried! Yogananda said very few of the saints he wrote about (other than his own line of gurus) in "Autobiography of a Yogi" were free.

When, in daily life, we act with the consciousness that we are part of all, we partake of the attitude of samadhi. Yogananda recommended that we read and memorize his poem, Samadhi. (You may email me for a free copy taken from the original edition of his autobiography as published by Crystal Clarity Publishers.) I recite it everyday and have found its subtle influence growing steadily together with his presence.

He said he wrote it on the New York subway, riding up and down the line, unnoticed by anyone! His poem, Samadhi, is the latest in the line of mystical literature given to us by the great ones down through the ages. Attempting to describe the undescribable, it uses our English language and images we can relate to in this day and age. It is vibrant with spiritual power.

Think Samadhi; feel Samadh; radiate Samadhi to all.

Thank you for participating in this 8-fold blog series. I don't write for sound bites but only from inspiration, but I would be happy to receive any suggestions.

Blessings to all,

Nayaswami Hriman

8-Fold Path - Step 7

We come now to the seventh stage in the 8-Fold Path. The name given to this stage by Patanjali is "Dhyana." This term is usually translated simply as "meditation!" Obviously, there's more to it than this.

But first, a disclosure: we've run out of elements! Viewing the 8-Fold Path from the point of view of the elements of creation worked so long as we were still within duality, the play of opposites. Now, however, we come to Oneness: or at least the beginning stage of Oneness.

First, so let's go back to the term "meditation." If you've been reading this blog series all along, you know that in the previous stage, SUPER ETHER ("Dharana"), we perceive higher realities but we retain our sense of separateness. (As in "I am feeling peaceful.") So now, in the stage of dhyana, we enter into such states (we identified eight aspects of soul consciousness in the last blog) such that our separateness expands (or merges) into the state. Here's where our intellects go on tilt, along with our language skills.

How can the ego merge with Peace (or Love, Wisdom, Aum sound, Inner Light, etc.) being thereby dissolved without having some aspect of ourselves LOST? This reality being described can only experienced, not described. "You have to have been there!"

Nothing is lost in this state of Oneness. Everything is gained. Think of it this way: the ego expands into the state of super-consciousness. Consider, for a moment, that in this process ego has been already stripped of lesser identifications: with the physical body, e.g., and with states of consciousness born of duality. So what is it, then, that expands or merges? Pure consciousness or self-awareness. Consciousness cannot be destroyed, only expanded. And not in time or space, merely, for we are speaking of an abiding consciousness and reality that is eternal and omnipresent--just behind the restless sway of maya (duality).

Paramhansa Yogananda described the ego as the soul (to the extent) identified with the body (and personality, likes and dislikes, memories, etc.). The ego has no lasting reality of its own for the very things it holds to itself are evanescent and always changing, destined for the ash heap of time and space.

The soul, by contrast, is eternal. It never changes, never is born or dies. In this view, even the concept of "expanding" misses the mark somewhat. It's perhaps more like "waking up," or, as Patanjali himself describes the process, "smriti," or memory. It's the ultimate "aha moment." Peace (and each of the other aspects) are consciousness itself. They are like facets of a diamond: not separate from one another. Peace produces joy. Joy, love. Vitality, wisdom. And so on. The eight aspects of superconsciousness are, in fact, holographic: each is contained in the other.

Going back to the process of the experience, what happens is that the meditator enters into dhyana for various lengths of time but always returns to ego consciousness. This can, of course, extend over many years and indeed lifetimes if the individual keeps returning to his bad old ego haunts, only to climb back up the tree of life back to this stage. More practically speaking, each foray into superconsciousness burns up and purifies more karma and refines the body and nervous system to survive in the rarified atmosphere of superconscious.

As Emperor Soul steadily reclaims his kingdom, he is preparing himself for the next and final assault: the merging of the soul (a separate spark of divinity) back into Spirit. Hence the subject of the next blog and the eighth and final stage: final union with God, which Patanjali calls Samadhi.

As we affirm attitudes and states of superconsciousness both in daily activity and in meditation, we begin to attune ourselves to this state of the soul. Experiment, therefore, in meditation with visualizing one or more of these states. You can experiment with one each week. Here are some seminal suggestions which are perhaps best used after your meditation techniques as a prelude to entering the inner silence past doing into Being:

PEACE. Visualize the full moon bathing the landscape of your mind with rays of ineffable peace. Let the peace-light enlighten every cell of your brain and body, then, have it surround you in an aura of peace. Then send rays of peace out from your heart in blessing of all beings.

WISDOM. Visualize the sun at midday. Not a shadow or nook remains untouched by its healing rays. Feel not just its warmth but its enlightenment. Let its powerful light dissolve all sense of separateness.

ENERGY. Imagine that within yourself, like at the center of our earth, there exists a cauldron of molten fire. All lower elements such as earth and water are being assimilated into the fire of vitality. Being at your own center, it fires you with the desire and enthusiasm (and strength) to go within, into the inner silence. There the molten fiery prana begins rising through the volcanic chamber of the spine upwards its exit at the spiritual eye.

LOVE. Visualize Divine Mother - beauty, compassion and wisdom incarnate --- coming to you with the reassurance of Her eternal love. Let Her love fill you and dissolve all sense of separateness.

CALMNESS. You are floating in deep space: billions of miles below, above, and in all directions. Stars, planets, and galaxies all float in your mental space. You are calm, confident, and connected with all life. Nothing and no one can harm you, for you are One with all things created.

AUM. Imagine you are hiking in the forest. Step by step the sound of a roaring waterfall grows steadily louder and surrounding all space by the time you reach the waterfall’s edge. You sit beside it and begin to absorb its healing soothing vibrations until you are lifted out of yourself into the remembrance of your true and eternal Self.

LIGHT. Visualize a golden light at the point between the eyebrows. Feel this golden light flooding you with its enlightenment dissolving you as you gradually merge into it.

BLISS. Begin at the heart center. Feel the bubble of joy that resides beneath all restlessness. Let this bubble expands upward to the spiritual eye and then all around of you. Feel a bursting smile within you. Let that bliss expand outward in all directions until nothing exists except that Bliss.

During the day, you can create an affirmation or find one for each of these in Swami Kriyananda’s book, “Affirmations and Prayers for Self-Healing.

Blessings,

Nayaswami Hriman

Advice on which direction to sleep

The following text comes from the writings of Paramhansa Yogananda.

Question: What is man’s relation to the earth?

         Answer: Each of us has a living relation to the universe. Our body may be compared to the earth. The rivers are the arteries, the stars are the eyes, vegetation is the hair. The same chemicals of which the earth is composed make up our body. The earth goes through the same processes of life which we go through. Just as we have more water than solids, so the earth has more water than solids. The earth is the biggest cannibal of all, for it not only eats vegetation but flesh as well. It eats up all living things and gives them back again in other forms.

         We have motion; the earth has motion. The earth has life; we have life. We work out a  certain destiny; the earth is working out a certain destiny. The earth has the same pattern as the body. The north and south poles of the earth are comparable to the human spine, and there are seven magnetic centers in the earth corresponding to the seven occult centers in the spine of man. As our body has billions of cells, so the earth is holding billions of tons of molecules and protons of light together.

Tremendous Vibrations

         Our bodies and nervous system are subject to the tremendous vibration of the earth, and also the stars. When we go higher and higher in spirituality, we begin to feel all the forces around us and gradually grow conscious of them. Thus we begin to understand the wonders of creation.

         Our mass thoughts and actions can change conditions in the world. In order to have a harmonious vibration on earth, we must live a pure life.

         Some places have more holy vibrations than others. When too much sin is created on the surface of the earth, it explodes in earthquakes, floods, eruptions, and so on. The vibrations of the earth are upset. The sinful vibrations are finally absorbed by the earth.

Earth Currents

         We should live outdoors as much as possible. We cannot live without air or light or the vibrations of the earth. When we sit on the earth, we receive healing currents.

         In meditation the devotee should not sit directly on the earth because he receives the currents of the earth, which tend to keep his thoughts earthbound. If he sits on  blanket, he will find that his body currents will be cut off from the earth current, and his body will then be free from magnetic disturbances while meditating.

Head towards East

         When lying down, the devotee should have his head toward the East and his feet to the West so that all the currents will go down his body. The impurities then cannot go to the head.

         The head toward the East means wisdom. The head to the South means longevity. The head toward the  North means sickness and even early death, because there are so many cross currents. The head toward the West gives dreams. The head, therefore, should be either to the East or to the South with the feet to the West or to the North. This is important to know.

         The greatest of all sins is ignorance—not to know what lies in our body. What wonderful beings we are! And the Sustainer of this universe is knocking at the gate of our heart, trying to walk in through the portals of silence and make within us a garden of happiness with the roses and blossoms of immortal qualities. If we will only let the Divine Gardener come in, we will see that all the weeds will wither and the Divine Gardener will grow the blossoms of immortality peace, and joy eternal.^[1]

---

^[1] From Talks and Articles by Paramhansa Yogananda   Inner Culture, November 1939

8-Fold Path - Step 6 - SUPER ETHER!

The 6th Stage of the 8-Fold Path of Patanjali is called "dharana." I don't recall the literal translation of this Sanskrit word but it refers to that stage of meditation in which one or more of the eight aspects of superconscious are experienced. From the standpoint of our theme of the elements, Yogananda calls this stage SUPER ETHER. We saw in the prior blog post that the 5th stage was ETHER (space). We described that space as the calmness which precedes action. Well, SUPER ETHER is a reference to the even finer medium which is thought or consciousness itself. This, then, is consciousness before it enters a spatial awareness.

Imagine day dreaming. You are staring out the window completely lost to thought. Perhaps you don't even hear someone calling your name. Your eyes are open but you are not seeing any objects. Your mind is elsewhere. With the fifth stage (ETHER) representing the ability to shut off the five senses, it is natural that the next stage takes place on the astral plane and its perceptions are those of subtle realities.

In meditation, "dharana" means that meditator experiences peace, wisdom, energy, love, calmness, inner sound or light, and bliss as the observer. "I am feeling peaceful," for example. The meditator may hear the inner sounds of the chakras or the symphony of all of them -- the sound of AUM. He may see astral light in the forehead (behind closed eyes), or, the spiritual eye itself (3 concentric rings of gold, blue, and white).

But throughout the experience the observer ("I") is separate and aware of his separateness from the states being observed and felt. This is, in another sense, the "thinking, separate mind." Technically one doesn't have to be "thinking" a long line of thoughts in this state, but one is consciously self-aware even as one feels uplifted into a state of deep peace, love, or is receiving a flow of intuitive insights (as wisdom), and so on.

This state has its center at the base of brain and is considered to be the negative pole of the 6th chakra. It is aligned with the part of the brain called the medulla oblongata. Here also is called the "Mouth of God." As the physical mouth is the entry point to the physical body for the sustaining value of food and water, the medulla oblongata (in the astral body) is the entry point for Life Force (known as as cosmic consciousness, and also as prana). Just as a corpse cannot be revived by food and water but must first be "alive," so too that "aliveness" is caused by a flow of Life Force from the astral body which in turns receives that intelligent (causal) energy (astral) through the opening of this chakra.

When we leave the physical body at death, we leave through this doorway after rising through the tunnel of the deep spine, known as the sushummna. The light at the end of this tunnel is often reported by those who have had near-death experiences but who return to life. The light seen is the light of the astral world to which we go (in our astral and causal bodies) after "death."

The negative pole of the 6th chakra is also the seat of our I-ness, our sense of separateness, and of ego. Here ego is neutral, neither "good" nor "bad," just separate. We need ego to function in the body. When ego becomes prideful, energy is blocked at this center and the result may include a tightening of the muscles around the medulla which pulls the head back and gives the decided appearance of a person "looking down his nose!"

When we speak of the next two centers we will see that this one, the seat of ego, is the last great spiritual test of the soul in its upward journey towards Cosmic Consciousness and Oneness with God. As great as are the delusions of sense objects and of maya, the greatest test is the "pride which goeth before the fall." It is our sense of ego.

So here we see posed our human dilemma: we can see the promised land (peace, wisdom, love etc.) but the "I" cannot enter it, because I am still the observer and Peace still, yet, but an object (pleasant enough, to be sure). This basic existential relationship will only elongate and be exaggerated as we go down the spine and out through the senses into the material world. Once our soul does this it gets caught up for untold lifetimes pursuing will-o-the-wisp dreams of complete fulfillment: in possessions, positions, human love, pleasure, wealth and power.

Oddly enough those pursuits are somewhat easy to pierce the veil of delusion, but, alas, only mentally. For when one disappoints us, we simply move on in search of yet another. So, instead, here at the literal threshold of Oneness we see this promised land but, like Moses, we cannot enter it -- yet.

For the meditator on the upward path to Self-realization, however, this is a decided improvement and reward for the efforts made to date. I have said previously that these stages aren't to be taken literally or only sequentially. It's just easier to explain them intellectually in that way. For many of us have very profound experiences of superconsciousness (peace, wisdom, power, love, calmness, sound, light, and bliss), but they are fleeting and inconsistent, and, indeed, sometimes a "one-time shot." Often a person has such an experience and its purpose, spiritually speaking, is to ignite one's resolution and inspiration to embark consciously upon the inner path. After that, when the honeymoon is over, we have to do the hard daily work of spiritual disciplines and introspection.

We can bring this stage into daily life by affirming peace (etc.) in our actions, our thoughts, and our hearts as we go about the busy-ness of living. This is mere affirmation unless supported by actual inner experience in meditation, however. As we view life and others, so we become ourselves. Hence a focus and affirmation of higher values helps us, in time, to unfold and become those states of consciousness. Hence the positive and necessary value of the stage of dharana and the element of SUPER ETHER.

Blessings,

Nayaswami Hriman

I'm Still Here

I'm still here. I will finish the 8-Fold Path series, soon. Life at Ananda Seattle has been very full. Today the residents of Ananda Community set aside a day of retreat: meditation, service projects, meals, discussion, and chanting together. We dedicated the day not only to a re-affirmation of our ideals and way of life, but to the memory of Narada (James) Agee, a resident and friend-to-all who died suddenly less than two weeks ago, on April 26. We hope to post a blog entry soon on the AnandaSeattle/blog with a simple biography and stories of inspiration from friends around the country.

At home we had guests - Padma's cousins from Austria visiting. It was enjoyable even if in our enjoyment the emails and inbaskets silently accumulated. So, no excuses but it's been a full time. Underneath a quiet satisfaction holds a space where ripples and rumbles of challenges: personal, family, friends, work and Community -- come and go. Quantity and quality vie for supremacy. Depth and breadth rise up like Ike and Mike in a comedy routine. The only thing to do is to show up. You have to be present to "win."

The world (is it just mine? I doubt it) seems to be an unsettled place right now. Even Spring can't make up her mind. So, onwards to the 8-Fold Path series.

Aum, Hriman

8-Fold Path - Step 5 - ETHER!

The 5th Stage of Patanjali's 8-Fold Path is called PRATYAHARA and is associated with the element of ETHER. Ether refers to what we more commonly refer to as "space." Space is the invisible element in which objects appear and appear as separate from each other. The time-space continuum posits a relationship between objects and the space they inhabit and the concept of time.

All objects appear on the invisible fabric of space. Space is created by vibration. This magic-mirror show has two sides: one that seems to show that all objects are separate, and another that reveals they are all connected and part of the same underlying reality.

Isolation and loneliness are potential steps towards personal disintegration and even suicide, if not the more common despondency and depression which is all but epidemic. One of the many benefits of meditation is a sense of connection with the people and world we inhabit. We could say that mental health presumes a feeling of connection with the space we inhabit. Our "space" includes all objects and all people of co-inhabit that space.

Space being invisible is ethereal, or non-material. And as experiments in quantum physics with sub-atomic particles reveals, matter, or particles, appear out "of the thin air" of supposedly "empty" space. In the popular book, "The Holographic Universe," the author quotes a scientist as saying that there is more latent energy in one cubic foot of empty space than has been calculated to exist in all the visible matter of the known (estimated) universe. (Even to me, the claim seems over the top, but even if it's only fractionally true, the essential point remains.)

From a meditative point of view, indeed, from the point of view of consciousness, it is out of the empty space of quietude that ideas, thoughts, images and feelings appear, even unsought or unexpectedly. The greatest creative triumphs are always a process of "something coming out of nothing." This "nothing" is far from nothing even if it validly can be said to be no-thing.

The point here is that this stage of spiritual awakening represents the realization of mind-space, or consciousness as a reality that precedes thought and precedes the reactive process of the lower chakras and their powers of perception and knowledge. Ether is the foundation for the grosser elements. It is also the invisible precondition for the appearance of the tangible creation and reactive, feeling consciousness.

While the 8-Fold Path necessarily describes the stages of ascendency, by definition, it describes the process of descent into creation as well. This stage emanates deep calmness, the eye at the center (or the beginning) of the storm of maya (waves of feeling, action, reaction and movement). Like the television screen whose blue image immediately precedes the images and words which subsequently can appear across its face, space and calmness are neutral and yet expansive and inclusive such that all things which follow depend and are connected to it.

Paramhansa Yogananda wrote "God's body is space. If you want to feel God, feel space within you and all around." He gave the visualization of one floating in deep space with millions of miles below, above, and all around you. While to some, this visualization would seem cold and lonely, the reality of the experience is that it invites us to have a sense of connection and oneness with all creation. The result is a calm, confident, and knowing level of consciousness.

In India's epic story the "Mahabharata" (of which the famous scripture, The Bhagavad Gita is but a chapter), the elder son (Yudisthira) sets an important stage for a part of the story when he gambles away his (and his younger brothers') kingdom. We humans gamble away our happiness when, thinking we can play in delusion simply because we can see that it is delusion and because we are, at present and as yet, unattached to it. But we gamble and we lose our perspective, our calmness, and our wisdom because the magnetic power of maya (delusion) exists in the macrocosm and is bigger than any individual perception. For the dice of life are loaded for those foolish enough to think they can play the "great game" without getting caught.

Many a devotee reaching certain insights of divine wisdom feels the exhilaration and sweeping vista of that wisdom and gets caught again because he pauses, entranced by the view below. He forgets to keep "climbing" upward along the spiral, spinal staircase, gazing steadily ahead to the goal and thus falls again as if mesmerized. By now you can sense how subtle this stage is and how fraught with spiritual danger it can be. Without the support of others of like mind and especially a true guru, the truthseeker easily falls prey to temptation.

This stage carries with it the meditative power to shut off the five sense telephones (represented by the chakras below it and itself.) Full realization of pratyahara and the power of the ether element is to cut off at will the sense stimuli and signals of the five senses by concentrating the mind into perfect stillness beyond the intrusion of restless thoughts.

Whereas the fire element relates to right posture and fixity of body for meditation, and the heart center for purification of desire into devotion, the ether element represents focus of the mind in one-pointed concentration. Hence, step by step, control of body, emotions, and thoughts! These are the prerequisites to the higher stages of the 8-Fold Path which follow as one ascends.
There is a vibratory connection, too, between the fifth chakra (ETHER ELEMENT) and the practice of watching the breath. Paramhansa Yogananda taught this technique with the mental repetition of the mantra HONG-SAU. Hong Sau is the seed mantra for the Sanskrit words "Aham Saha," which means "I am He." The mantra resonates with the astral sound of the pran and apan currents of prana as they move through the ida and pingala nadis (channels) and impel the physical body to breath in and out. The calming of the breath by concentration upon it lifts us toward the breathless state where thoughts cease and pure self-awareness begins. This is the ether soul consciousness upon which all thoughts, feelings, and actions subsequently play unceasingly in the storm of duality (maya).

Yogananda put it this way: "When motion ceases, God begins." This stage of ETHER then is the doorway to the higher stages of the soul consciousness.

Practice watching the breath in meditation. When the breath enters mentally chant HONG. When the breath goes out of its own, mentally chant SONG. The full technique is taught at Ananda meditation classes in person, online, or in books published by Crystal Clarity Publishers, Ananda's publishing division.

Feel space in the body and all around you. Feel the space between the words and sound you hear. Everything you experience is being projected from the invisible ether of space without which the appearance of separate existence could not be intuited.

Blessings, and until we meet again at the 6th Stage of Enlightenment!



Nayaswami Hriman

Resurrecting Easter from the Dungeon of Dogmatism!

I read in TIME MAGAZINE recently of a famous and popular fundamentalist pastor who has said that he feels Christianity is on the brink of great changes. Well, I, for one, hope so and I am happy to hear someone like him say as much, too! As Paramhansa Yogananda put it back in the Thirties and Forties, tongue-in-cheek, "Jesus was crucified once, but his teachings have been crucified daily ever since."

I do not intend to put down other sincere truthseekers and their credos. My purpose in these thoughts is to walk a fine line between "I come not to destroy the law and the prophets but to fulfill them" and "I bring not peace, but a sword." [Both are the words of Jesus Christ.] Truth is often at the center line between opposites. No one formulation of truth can be anything but an effort to explain a reality that is intuitive and unitive, and therefore, by its actual revelation, it "is, and it is NOT" (to quote the Indian woman saint, Ananda Moyi Ma).

We live in a world that contemplates vast vistas of time and space: the years of humankind's existence on earth keeps enlarging backward in time to millions of years. Space has become so vast in our calculations that it defies anything but the conclusion that the odds of advanced life forms such as exist on earth are nothing less than 100%.

So how can one have one foot in the modern "religion" of science and another foot in the religion of our grandfathers without falling flat on one's metaphysical face? How can one man who lived 33 years over 2,000 years ago on one lonely outpost of a planet on the fringe of one galaxy (of billions) be the savior of the world when most of the world before, during, and after this man's life never heard of him?

How can one misguided act committed in error, ignorance, passion, or delusion and in the minuscule boundaries of earth time and space condemn one's invisible spirit to an eternity of torture and suffering? Worse yet, for the simple fact of not having ever heard about this one man called Jesus Christ?

Is it possible we can embrace Jesus, his life and teachings, without condemning the rest of the beings of this planet and universe to hell? Each of us has for our neighbors and co-workers, people from other nations, races, and religions. Can we not see the obvious unifying needs and nature of all peoples as essentially no different than our own?

How, then, can true and original Christianity be resurrected from the tomb of ignorance? If Jesus truly lived, died, and was resurrected as the New Testament and its saints, martyrs, and sages down through ages proclaim and have given their lives to attest, surely, he must have been bigger in scope than so many of his self-proclaimed followers insist? There must be somewhere to be found a bridge, a life raft, to bring Jesus into the modern world and ever-expanding universe?

Fortunately, there is such a bridge, and surely not only one. But one such wayshower is the world renown yogi from India, Paramhansa Yogananda. His life story, "Autobiography of a Yogi," inspires, delights, and educates millions on every continent from the day it was published in 1946 to this day, today. Yogananda represents a teaching and revelation that goes back beyond the dim veil of recorded history in the world's oldest continuous spiritual tradition: that of the rishis of India.

When the first English translations of India's hoary Vedas and other scriptures reached the shores of America in the early 19th Century, the so-called Transcendentalists (Thoreau, Emerson, Whitman) recognized the overarching wisdom and termed it a philosophy, not a religion. More correctly it should be called revelation, for philosophy is only intellectual speculation about reality, truth, and ethics. In India this body of wisdom has long been termed "Sanaatan Dharma," the "eternal truth (or "religion"). It implies that what is handed down is as universally applicable as the law of gravity which does not depend on man's belief or awareness to hold sway.

In accordance with aspects of all faith traditions and the teaching of metaphysics everywhere, this world and universe is said to be a dream, a visible manifestation of the consciousness of the Creator who remains as yet untouched by the dream, just as a playwright is no more good nor evil owing to the characters of his creation. The playwright's intention is to entertain and to educate. Both the audience and the actors know that it is but a play but the actors strive, nonetheless, to play their role as best as they can and according to the script and intention of the playwright.

All is God, there is none else. This doesn't deny the relative evil we encounter or enact, but that evil is evil because it takes our consciousness further from the experience and realization of God as the only reality behind all seeming and appearances. Evil is an affirmation of separateness. So, too, are ego-affirming attitudes, emotions, and self-gratifying or seeking actions. Good is good because it expands our awareness to realities larger than ego.

The only begotten son of God, therefore, is that spark of divine realization that is crucified by selfishness and resurrected by goodness. It appears in every age, as the rishis of India have proclaimed since time immemorial, in the living person of those beings who, in past lives (many lives), achieved the final victory of permanent realization of their Oneness "with the Father." Their appearance, as saviors, or avatars, is a personal and dynamic promise of immortality and the proclamation, once again, of the "good news" of our souls as children of God.

Jesus used the personal pronoun "I" in proclaiming his Oneness with the Father and for that affront to the ego-entrenched priesthood of his time, paid the ultimate (human) price: persecution and death. His bodily resurrection, like that of many similarly God-realized souls, gave tangible testimony to those with "eyes to see" that we are not the body but we are the Infinite soul, existing since eternity ("Before Abraham was, I AM").

The time has come to realize this divinity through the science of meditation and to put aside divisive dogmas and creeds. To recognize other Christ-like masters is not to diminish the God-realization of Jesus, but merely to make it truly "catholic" ("universal") and personal to each and every one of us though it take many lifetimes. This is the promise of sages down through ages and the promise of our soul's immortality that can be resurrected by our recognition of the Guru-preceptors who come to awaken our memory.

Let us not hesitate, therefore, to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, knowing that it stands forever, today and yesterday, as a beacon of light, faith, and hope for all truthseekers everywhere.

Blessings,

Nayaswami Hriman

AIR ELEMENT-STAGE 4 of the 8-Fold Path of Patanjali

And now we come to the middle step on the eight-fold Path of Patanjali’s Ashtanga Yoga. We are half-way, as it were, to the goal of life: cosmic consciousness (Oneness, or samadhi). The elemental aspect of step 4 is AIR. The Sanskrit name of the fourth stage is PRANAYAMA. So let’s do some exploratory digging:

Pranayama. This term is comprised of two basic Sanskrit terms: prana, and, yama. Prana refers to the intelligent energy which activates and underlies everything in creation. In the practice of yoga it is associated with the breath and its many qualities and manifestions such as movement (in, out, up and down, restrained, expelled) or qualities (warm, cool, energizing, calming, oxygenating, detoxifying and so on). The physical breath is prana’s most visible, most material manifestation. Hence if a person is breathing we say “He is alive.” If he’s not breathing, we say “He is dead.” In the deeper or more advanced practices of yoga (meditation), prana refers less to the physical breath and much, much more to the astral (or subtle) energy which moves in the central astral spine known as the sushumna.

Prana has many other manifestations on the subtle astral realm such as light (seen in the forehead in meditation), as sound (heard inside the right ear and expressed in human vocalization as AUM), bliss, calmness, love, peace, vitality, and wisdom.

Yama we have seen in the first article as the term for the first stage of the 8-Fold Path. It means, simply “control.” Control here is more than the “grit-your-teeth-I-am –in-control.” Rather it means that one has an inner awareness of the realities of consciousness that gives one access, realization, and power over their innate qualities.

Now before we go to the qualities of the AIR element, we have some more work to do. No single blog article can do this stage justice. Pranayama also describes the basic thrust of many, if not most, yoga practices. We have breathing techniques which are described by this term. For example, the alternative breathing technique, sometimes referred to as nadi shodamam is a pranayama.

We have the advanced meditation technique of kriya yoga, popularized by Paramhansa Yogananda in his “Autobiography of a Yogi,” and it, too, is a pranayama. The term “pranayama” refers (like the term “yoga” itself) to BOTH the practices and the goal of the practices. A deep lesson is thus implied for while we seek the goal (of union), the goal is already there, just behind our seeking!

The fourth stage of the 8-Fold Path also is characterized by the heart’s quality of feeling. The most central feeling of our nature is love. Here, at the half-way point to cosmic consciousness, the feeling aspect of consciousness, known as chitta¸ must make a decision (from moment to moment, day to day). Should our feeling descend the subtle spine and go out through the lower chakras to identify with and seek fulfillment through the senses and the world of sense objects? Or, do we ascend the upward path that dissolves our ego-body-identified consciousness and expands toward Infinity? Do we love because we feel more joy in loving than in judging? This upward feeling of love moves toward Love itself, which is to say, more practically speaking, towards devotion to God, one of His aspects, deities, or through the guru.

And now, at last, the element of AIR. I confess that in relation to the importance of both pranayama (practices) and devotion to God, the aspects of AIR seem less vital or relevant to me than in the three chakras which precede this one. Still I offer some thoughts in our contemplation and meditation upon the AIR element.

Air is vital to life. Its relationship to pranayama (seen now as breathing techniques) is obvious. This chakra controls the vital functions of heart, lungs and the strength and mobility of arms and hands. Through our arms (and hands) we grasp the world, we hug our loved ones. But air gives to us (physically) our very life. If we think of air as encircling the earth in a blanket of life-sustaining oxygen, we see air as the very basis, however invisible it is to us, of our life. And what is life, without feeling? Without love? Surely life has no meaning without love?

An eagle soaring high above the earth sees the earth in a perspective unlike that of earth-bound mortals. This eagle sees all life in its interdependence, seeing both its diversity and its unity. Thus air gives life and the eagle of life appreciates, respects, and loves all, as parts of a greater whole. This eagle, if truly wise, looks upward to the heavens to the Giver of Life, to the source of Love itself. For we do not invent love, nor yet the impulse to seek and express it. It is an inextricable aspect of life itself and cannot be separated. Life, love, breath have a relationship that cannot be merely understood, but only experienced.

The more we live in the pure AIR of love that is without attachment or condition, the greater satisfaction we can experience. For love with attachment is bound to suffer. Rarely is true love found in the earth-bound, desire driven egos of humans. Death itself, if not betrayal or disillusionment, robs us of the object of our love. It is Love, Life, and Air (as a symbol of the others) that silently draws us onto Itself.

For those of us in our practice of meditation who employ pranayamas, we would do well to bring to the table of our practice the quality of devotion and feeling, lest our will-direct breathing techniques become dry and mechanical. Even hatha yoga can be performed as an act of devotion. Love life, love each breath, as the invisible manifestion of Spirit in human form. Worship, then, if you will, if you dare, on the altar of Spirit, in the temple of silence, in the flow of the Breath of Life.

Blessings,

Nayaswami Hriman

8-Fold Path - 3rd Stage - FIRE!

The third stage of Patanjali's 8-Fold Path towards enlightenment is called, simply, ASANA. (Patanjali is the rishi in ancient India who wrote the "bible" of the yogic path in what is known as the Yoga Sutras, or Aphorisms.) Most readers know this word in the context of yoga postures, known generally (in the plural form) as ASANAS, or postures.

Since only a superficial interpretation of the 8-Fold Path would imagine Patanjali was suggesting that to achieve enlightenment one must practice yoga postures, what wisdom is being offered to us here? For one (and I mean that literally), ASANA is singular, not plural. So right away we know that this isn't about yoga postures. But it IS linked to right posture, at least as a symbol.

But here Patanjali, in the great tradition of hoary sages down through ages, throws out a red herring (actually, as I understand it, he didn't eat herring. Perhaps if he had encountered a red herring, he would have thrown it out. Well, no sense speculating.) Indeed, one of the almost tongue-in-cheek aspects of these bearded sages is the use of words that have not just multiple meanings but meanings that might throw you off the scent unless you have a wise teacher or developed intuition!  (Omar Khayyam, in the Sufi tradition, used images of wine and romance to disguise his true wisdom.)

To be consistent with my prior two articles, let us find the key by examining the third stage from the point of view of its elemental quality: FIRE. If we think literally of fire (as in "How do you combine earth and water to produce fire?"), we might miss subtler points. Think, instead, of the fire at the center of the earth. In this molten chamber, the molten (liquid-water) meets the earth in high temperatures. As the stomach converts both beverage and meal into energy at the center of our being, the third stage, ASANA, is aligned with the third chakra, opposite the navel. FIRE then refers to the otherwise unseen, INNER energy that vitalizes all atoms and molecules, whether of earth or water (meaning anything in liquid form). (Did I mention in the previous two articles that the first stage, YAMA (earth), has its energy center (vortex or chakra) at the base of the spine? And, that NIYAMA, the second stage (water), is opposite the sex organs?)

Fire in the belly in relationship to the word ASANA (posture) hints at the straight posture of the meditator. It is this inner fire of energy which is reflected in the straight spine and conveys alertness, energy, vitality, and the drive and self-initiative of one who stands tall and walks and talks straight.

Whereas with the first two stages of our path toward enlightenment we are struggling with overcoming the hynosis of matter attraction, ego affirmation or protection (YAMA), and with establishing good habits and becoming self-sufficient (NIYAMA), the inner path of Self-realization through meditation could be said to begin in earnest at the third stage, ASANA. Paramhansa Yogananda taught that there exists at the manipur chakra (opposite the navel) a subtle passageway known as the brahmanadi which is the doorway to our soul consciousness. This article is too brief to explore this vast and technical subject more than superficially, but suffice to say the deeper meaning of the inner fire is that we go within, seeking ot unite with the prana (Life Force) within ourselves as the object of our aspirations.

When the intelligence and energy of ASANA spills one-sidedly out into the world of the senses we exhibit anger, ruthlessness or controlling and abusive tendencies. It is the destructive aspect of fire. The straight spine with a vengeance, so to speak, creating hell on earth for everyone around you. But turned within, this is the fire and energy of prana. It can serve as a lantern to guide our path upward in the labyrinth of the inner path and spine. It offers us zeal and strength, self-control and yields the fruits of health and vitality.

On the level of daily life, it has been well documented, even if anecdotally, that a straight spine adds years of healthy, zestful living to one's life. One with correct posture tends to think straight and act with honor and virtue. It represents that stage of maturity where values, mores, and good habits have been internalized and made our own. No longer is our behavior the product only of outward influences, reward and punishment.

Let's not forget that the practice of yoga postures can contribute to both a straight spine and the deeper aspects of vitality and self-awareness suggested by the third stage of the 8-Fold Path. Whereas the aspect of self-control exhibited by the power of YAMA is in relation to the objects of senses, the Self-control of the FIRE element relates to our determination and enthusiasm for Self-realization through meditation. ASANA is the power to control the body in order to be still (and "know that I AM GOD").

There is also a creative aspect to fire. The reproductive creativity of the WATER element (sacral center or swadhistan chakra whose intelligence guides the reproductive organs) is in relationship or in response to the world around us (especially people and circumstances). The creativity of the FIRE element comes from within. It manifests new ideas and new projects without necessarily any obvious outward influences or compulsions. It is just this kind of inner drive that is the necessary foundation for one who meditates. No one can meditate for you. Meditation is creative because it opens us to the world of endless possibilities and inspirations.

Very few people have good posture. You will find how good posture will help your digestion and convey that sense of vitality and righteousness that can help both your meditation and your life. There are yoga postures that can help ignite the fire in the belly. In chakra meditations there are "bandhas" (locks) used at the navel (manipur chakra) center that can stimulate the life-giving, uplifting intelligence prana of the third chakra whose awakening is the third stage of the 8-Fold Path: ASANA.

See you next week, with PRANAYAMA! 

Nayaswami Hriman

8-Fold Step 2 - the Water Element

The second stage on the 8-Fold Path described by the sage Patanjali long ago in India is called NIYAMA. Literally the word means "non-control." (You had to be there.......ha, ha!) Seriously, the context is the opposite of the first stage, Yama (control). As my approach in this series is from the viewpoint of the elemental qualities, let's move to the WATER ELEMENT.

Whereas YAMA (Earth) is to embrace the Oneness and connection with all life, thus dissolving our sense of lack, the impulse to assert ourselves over others, the need to compete, to win, to put others down and so on, the WATER element nurtures life and provides a necessary element to the earth's fertility. This requires a deeper understanding from Patanjali's view "from above" or "from within."

WATER refers to the RIVER of LIFE in the spine. On the 8-Fold Path NIYAMA signifies our living "in the spine." This means: living centered within (not self-centered, however). So whereas with EARTH we dissolve material desires and attachments, with WATER we live in the flow of energy and divine grace within. When Jesus Christ was asked "Where is the kingdom of heaven?" (he was constantly telling parables that started "The kingdom of heaven is like ..... "), he replied simply (and for once without another parable): "The kingdom of heaven is within you."

The Bhagavad Gita says the astral body, or subtle spine, or "kingdom of heaven," is like an upturned tree. The Bible has repeated refences to the "river of life" or the "tree of life."

WATER also has specific qualities of consciousness both as the element of water on our planet and also as the grace of Spirit when it flows within and through us. Water symbolizes purity. Flowing to the lowest point and toward the sea, it is humble and offers itself in service and surrender. Water is necessary to life. Water that overflows the banks of EARTH can, however, become destructive and dissipated. EARTH could be said to be masculine and WATER, feminine. Yet both require strength: the one in relation to outer realities; the other, in relation to being inward. The male reproductive organ is outside the body; the female organ, withdrawn and within the body.

EARTH (Yama) can sometimes express itself as dogmatic, reflecting the beginning student's affirmation of rejection of material attachments and desire to establish himself in his spiritual practices. We should exercise forebearance around such people because this may be a necessary stage for them (provided they don't lapse into judgmental attitudes or worse). WATER (Niyama) reflects the calmness that comes from having established positive attitudes and actions and doesn't need to express its qualities outwardly in self-affirmation.

EARTH brings us peace, just as we feel peaceful in nature. Cessation of attachments and destructive behaviors brings great relief to the nervous system, our conscience, and our soul's love of peace. From that state of peace, the WISDOM of WATER floats to the surface of consciousness. It is only when we are peaceful that insights come to us. This is not unlike taking a vacation and, once away from one's routine, finding that new ideas for one's work come to you. When our actions proceed from non-attachment, we see more clearly what is true and needed.

Similar to YAMA, there are five distinct aspects to this second stage. CLEANLINESS (Saucha) is seen in all path traditions and spiritual paths in the more obvious forms of ritual cleansing, fasting, and dietary habits. Patanjali wrote from a higher point (but one that would endorse such wholesome practices, as well). For as Jesus put it in the Sermon on the Mount: "Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God." Centered within, in deep meditation, the face of God is revealed as pure light, His heart as pure love, His voice as the sound of AUM (Amen), and so on. On a human or social level, being mindful of boundaries, avoiding gossip and judgment of others, avoiding the habit of rescuing people, interrupting their speech, helping in ways that are truly helpful (and not out of critique or one-upmanship) are examples of being clean. Cleanliness has its EARTH (yama) corollary in ahimsa (non-violence) discussed in the last article.

With perfection of Saucha comes the power (known as a siddhi) to transcend the physical compulsions of the body, its organs and functions. In a long meditation, perhaps of many days, one is free from hunger or the need for the bodily functions of elimination.

CONTENTMENT comes naturally to one who has given up material desires. It thus pairs naturally with the YAMA aspect of asteya (desirelessness). Bliss and joy bubble up from the deep waters of contentment, or SANTOSHA.

AUSTERITY (TAPASYA) is another aspect of NIYAMA, but one greatly misunderstood. This word in the English language conjures up hair shirts, self-flagellation, long fasts, lying on a bed of nails, wrapping wet sheets around the body sitting in the Himalyan snows and all sorts of less than inspiring images to modern sensibilities. First of all, its YAMA corollary is BRAHMACHARYA, self-control of the senses. That makes sense, of course. But as NIYAMA is grace and being centered in the Self within, AUSTERITY is the natural by-product of both BRAHMACHARYA and NIYAMA and it refers to the practice, habit, and state of remaining Self-aware in the midst of all activities. The true practices of tantra, including the famed powers over nature that can be summoned, proceed in part from the powers yielded over natural impulses and redirected inward where WISDOM and knowledge of all things is revealed to the inner sight. Indeed psychic power is the fruit of AUSTERITY.

SELF-KNOWLEDGE (Swadhyaya) arises from living more within. From this comes the power to commune with and be guided by astral, higher Beings. It pairs with Aparigraha: the YAMA aspect of non-attachment to one's body, possessions, or identification with ego. Whereas aparigraha brings knowledge of past lives, swadhyaya brings us in contact with astral Beings. Those who attempt to do this through short-cuts such as passive, trance channeling do so at great risk to themselves. Such can be sure that what they attract will not be saintly and high-minded souls. Often this aspect has been described in terms of studying the scriptures. As the Yoga Sutras are a scripture, no one could argue with this practice, for sure. But true Self knowledge, which is wisdom itself, comes in inner silence.

The fifth and final aspect of NIYAMA is devotion to God (Iswara Pranidhana). With the previous four aspects clearly focused upon living more inwardly and with non-attachment to senses and their objects, we may wonder how devotion fits in. The path to enlightenment as two basic stages: the first is to go within and break the hypnosis of matter identification and fulfillment. The second is more existential and relates to our sense of separateness (quite apart from personality traits, habits or anything outward) which remains with us until final liberation. The natural flow of WATER and the river of life in the spine is, or should be if enlightenment is the goal, UPWARD, moving progressively through the stages of awakening which follow and upward in the spine toward the highest centers where the soul resides and enlightenment comes. Giving ourselves to the Supreme Lord, the highest reality, Infinity, Love, Light itself is to aspire to return to the Oneness and the Bliss which is our Father-Mother and transcendent Truth. Devotion aligns with the yama aspect of truthfulness, for the highest truth is that God is the only reality.

Some of the practical manifestations of niyama include such things as regular fasting, calmness under all circumstances, keeping a part of mind in the watchful, Self-aware state at all times, having periods of silence, retreat, and seclusion, practicing active contentment even when desires are aroused, chanting, practicing the presence of God (through japa, mantra, inner chanting and mindfulness), enduring extremes of hot, cold, or other conditions that we cannot necessarily control in the moment, even-mindedness, cheerfulness, study of the scriptures and truth teachings, introspection, and seeking spiritual counsel from time to time or as needed.

Blessings to all,

Nayaswami Hriman

8-Fold Path : Step 1 - Harmony with Earth

The practice and path of kriya yoga is based, in part, upon the universally applicable description of the stages of enlightenment propounded by Patanjali in his now famous "Yoga Sutras." Books have been written aplenty and the Raja Yoga Intensive course which I have been teaching since 1995 is based squarely upon the 8-Fold Path. I intend to write a series of article on each of the eight stages as propounded by Paramhansa Yogananda and his disciple, and founder of Ananda Swami Kriyananda.


Yama is the first stage. Yama means control and, for my purposes in this article, I will take this in the direction of embracing the earth, nature, and the world we live in from the standpoint of spiritual consciousness. "Control" then means, for this purpose, "realization" or complete oneness or understanding of the natural laws that govern this earth plane -- as seen from "above."

Patanjali describes five specific attitudes and powers which characterize such a realization. "Ahimsa" (made famous in the west by Mahatma Gandhi) means to see all beings, all creatures, and all life is our own. In this realization all impulse towards anger, violence, or judgment have vanished.

As Swami Kriyananda writes, “Non-injury embraces our oneness and is sustained by it. Harmfulness on the other hand, incites endless opposition.” We should contemplate this truth and make it more and more our own realization. He suggests this affirmation to use: "I send out the rain of blessings to all, that love be nourished in all hearts."

Satya or truthfulness is the second attitude whose power is the power of our word to be made manifest from only our statement of it. Satya goes beyond stating mere facts, for truth is of the highest order and beneficial always. It means facing reality AS IT IS and then, with complete acceptance, courageously and creatively making the effort to change it if that is appropriate.

Satya includes Ahimsa because looking for the good in all things helps us to live more in the eternal now – the ultimate truth of reality.

Try these for contemplation and affirmation of Satya: "Truthfulness means seeing things as they really are, but then looking more deeply for ways to improve those realities." Affirm: "What is simply is. Fearlessly therefore I accept the truth, knowing that, at the heart of everything, goodness can be found."

Asteya is the next attitude and refers to the absence of greed, envy, or desire for that which isn't yours. In a sense this is a variation of Satya for it recognizes self-honestly that an object, recognition, or circumstance does not presently exist in respect to oneself or around you. Non-greed is the term often used and its corollary on the second stage of the 8-Fold Path is the obvious one of contentment. As we perfect our realization of this consciousness we find all things that we need for our sustenance are drawn to us with no obvious effort on our part.

Contemplate then this truth: "Desirelessness means spurning non essentials in order that we may give our whole attention to what is lasting and true: God. We can think of renunciation as an investment of our energies for a long-term profit." Affirm: "I spurn the tempting magic of this world with its rainbow bubbles, ever ready to burst. See where I fly: high above the mountains. I am free. I am free."

Brahmacharya is the next related attitude. It generally is seen to refer to celibacy or sexual self-control but the term can be translated as “flowing with Brahma” and, in general, it also refers to all five senses. Too-frequent indulgence (mental as well as physical) in avid sensory pleasures gradually robs us of our life force and capacity for enjoyment. In the process our physical and mental health is compromised as nervousness, anxiety, depression alternates with the highs of anticipatory, imagined or indulged pleasures.

Simple experiments with truth reveal that moderation actually increases enjoyment and presence of mind during indulgence brings great calmness and a more lasting satisfaction. When we lose “ourselves” in pleasure we come out of it slightly embarrassed and our nerves and nervous system on edge and ourselves slightly uneasy. I like to put it this way (echoing aspects of Gyana yoga practices and tantra): “You have to be present to win.”

When we flow with the energy of prana and the awareness of the Self we are constantly refreshed and energized. We experience great health, vitality, and, indeed, memory "like an elephant!" When we give our power away by seeking fulfillment in objects and experiences we demean the Self which is Bliss itself. A part of ourselves is darkened and confused and in the end we lose our physical and mental vitality.

Swami Kriyananda writes: “If a lake is made to feed into too many streams it will soon become drained. The sensualist imagines that by giving up pleasures he would renounce happiness. But the more one lives in the inner Self, the more one glows with happiness, good health, and a radiance of well-being and inner freedom.” He offers us this affirmation: “I am strong in myself. I am complete in myself. All that I see await discovery within my inner being.”

Aparigraha, or, non-acceptance is the last of the five attitudes and practices which manifest through the earth center expressing realization of yama. Whereas non-greed relates to our attitudes towards things that we do not have, non-acceptance means non-attachment and non-identification with those things which are ours to steward. Most notably: our own bodies and ego. By extension, too, all objects in our possession, including skills and talents. The siddhi that arises from complete non-identification in this way is the remembrance of past lives. Thus the God’s eye perspective of this earth plane at last ascends beyond the current incarnation and backwards through time to view many lives.

Each of these vibrational aspects of yama can be practiced in the here and now wherever we are on the scale of perfect realization. Kindness, truthfulness, contentment, moderation, and even-mindedness are qualities everyone can experiment with and improve upon right now.

When you meditate, imagine your body is like the earth. In its size and weight, alone, it is immovable and fixed. In this, visualize that you are immovable in your commitment to right attitude and right action. Now visualize the earth as if from outer space. Gain the God’s eye view of our sensory and material attachments, revealing their smallness, their fleeting gains, and their inexorable erosion of our health and happiness for what they are: a part of an unending flux of opposites which in sum total leave us unsatisfied and weak. Be strong in your Self. Be free. Be blissful.

Blessings,

Nayaswami Hriman