Breathlessness is Deathlessness!

What does "counter-intuitive" mean? Sitting on an airplane, ready for take-off, how many of us have wondered to ourselves: how can this thing, weighing 300 to 400 tons, possibly fly? And, yet it does: thousands of flights everyday, filled with hundreds of people, fuel, baggage and the airplane itself! But is this truly "counter" to our intuition? Or, is it counter to the experience of the senses?

Intuitively, in our dreams and aspirations, after all, flying is possible for us. Without the aspiration, fed by intuition which is the "knowing" that we can fly, we wouldn't even attempt it. So, instead of being counter-intuitive, it is really counter to our sensory experience! It wasn't until 1978 that two men climbed Mt. Everest without additional oxygen. Their feat may have defied (then) common sense, but it wasn't "counter-intuitive."

In this ascendant age of science and technology we are each day, each month, each year transcending limitations which, heretofore, would have seemed impossible. Some day, Paramhansa Yogananda (author of "Autobiography of a Yogi") predicted, we would figure out how to span the light years that separate us from distant planets and galaxies without paying the limitations imposed upon us currently by time and space.

Consider, too, our experience with illness, old age, death and all manner of suffering, including emotional and mental. When these things strike us, loved ones, or others, we know intuitively that this is NOT who we are; we knowingly separate ourselves from them, even when we accept them, at least calmly, as our present, but not permanent, reality.

It's not that we can't see these things are a fact of life for everyone. But at the same time we "know" that health is who we are and we know what is our true nature: happiness, freedom, goodness......all these are ours on an intuitive level.

Our intuitive knowing is the soul's power to fly and to seek freedom from all limitations. Our creative thoughts write novels, and plays, and make movies of past centuries and cultures; we imagine the life on earth in the future or on other, as yet undiscovered, planets. Every day in so many ways, we affirm our freedom from all limitations even if just in our thoughts, our desires, our fantasies.

In the past, breathing meant you were alive: the first breath of a baby, and the final exhalation of the dying signaled the appearance or disappearance of life. Yet the yogis tell us that "breathlessness is deathlessness." This is counter to our sense impressions; it is repudiated by the subconscious mind, which includes the body's autonomic system, for these are efficiently designed to keep us in the body and breathing. And this is a good thing from a common sense and daily living point of view. But we also posses an innate, intuitive sense of our immortality whenever we contemplate the mystery of death or encounter its stark but physical reality.

For a long time, lack of breathe meant a person was dead. That was disproved with the onset of CPR. In more recent times, it was said that lack of brain activity is certain death. That, too, has been disproved. One example is of a boy who drowned in icy water and had no signs of life for over an hour and a half. By intelligent and sustained efforts of the medical staff, he walked out of the hospital three and half days later.

Death, while at the same time a socially taboo subject in both family and medical circles, is yet a new frontier for science. A well known meditation researcher is investigating a phenomenon known in Tibetan circles as thukdam. A monk, knowing of his coming death, enters a deep state of meditation. All bodily and biological functions cease, yet, his body remains without decay or other signs of death for periods of a week or more. When does death actually occur?

Humanity, having descended to the nadir of what is called "Kali Yuga" (the dark or lowest cycle of human consciousness) around 499 AD and having, from that point, begun slowly our 12,000 year upward journey to greater awareness, has lost many of the treasures of the wisdom of higher ages. Even in the science of yoga, e.g., we've inherited from the relative ignorance of Kali Yuga cycle the association, almost universal around the world in today's cultures, between the term "yoga" and the physical body. Ananda Yoga, taught as a prelude to meditation, is viewed, as if almost unique, and is considered by others as "spiritual yoga." This is ironic because the term "yoga" is refers to the highest state of spiritual consciousness (and to the concomitant techniques to achieve it).

Another example from the science of yoga is the term Prana, or life force. During Kali Yuga this term became associated with the physical breath and with physical breathing exercises. Its original and correct meaning is a reference to the movements of intelligent energy that inhabit the physical body and which comprise the essence of the astral body. Physical breath is but the grossest, most outward evidence of life force in the body. Kriya Yoga, one of the world's most sought after and advanced meditation techniques, emphasizes awareness and control of these subtle currents in and around the astral spine, even if it, too, utilizes the physical breath as a doorway to the subtle, astral breath.

In the declining yugas of the BCE era, as humankind increasingly lost touch with its ability to contact divine realms and consciousness, priests of the cult of Osiris performed a ritual reenactment of the entombment and resurrection of Osiris by going into the Great Pyramid and placing the new pharoah or high priest into a coffin and sealing it with wax for a precise number of minutes. By this ritual, they would attempt to induce a near-death experience for the new pharoah so that he could experience higher realms and claim his kinship with Osiris and his lineage! A crude and dangerous ritual, to be sure, and a desperate attempt to reenact the lost mental and spiritual powers of a higher age and induce an experience of superconsciousness.

Julian Jaynes, author of "Origins of Consciousness" (1976), studied ancient traditions and writings, e.g., the Iliad, and concluded, somewhat crudely, that in former times humanity claimed to have had access to divine consciousness and "heard voices" in our heads that guided our actions. He termed this "bicameral" thinking. Thus it is that ancient scriptures, including the Old Testament, do NOT emphasize the kind of personal, egoic, existential angst and burden of personal decision making that we take for granted today. The author's view of this may not exactly coincide with our own, but it is an interesting observation. Yogananda wrote (in his autobiography) that "thoughts are universally, not individually rooted." A saint is a saint for having attuned his consciousness to divine consciousness. As the Old Testament put it, "My thoughts are not your thoughts." But a saint speaks and acts with divine attunement. The Bhagavad Gita teaches us that we who think we are the Doer (and the Thinker) are deluded for all creation is a manifestation of God, whether wisely or ignorantly.

Medical scientists are studying how to induce a kind of hibernation level so as to slow bleeding in trauma victims, to give time for heart surgery patients to regain normal function, and to resuscitate people who might even have been without a heartbeat for several hours.

Life without oxygen is possible! The wealth of testimony from the studies of near-death experiences (NDEs) shows a consistent pattern of experiences about a state of awareness never before thought possible. One study showed that a group of NDE'ers had very accurate and precise descriptions of the procedures performed on their otherwise "dead" bodies (while being resuscitated) compared with a survey of a group of medically savvy people who were nowhere near as accurate or successful when asked what procedures would likely be performed under such circumstances.

Returning now to the subject of breathlessness, quoting Chapter 26 (Kriya Yoga) of Paramhansa Yogananda's now classic story, "Autobiography of a Yogi," he wrote:

Kriya Yoga is an instrument through which human evolution can be quickened,” Sri Yukteswar explained to his students. “The ancient yogis discovered that the secret of cosmic consciousness is intimately linked with breath mastery. This is India’s unique and deathless contribution to the world’s treasury of knowledge. The life force, which is ordinarily absorbed in maintaining the heart-pump, must be freed for higher activities by a method of calming and stilling the ceaseless demands of the breath.”


In Chapter 12 of his autobiography, his guru gives to him an experience of cosmic consciousness. Entering this state, he describes it thusly: "My body became immovably rooted; breath was drawn out of my lungs as if by some huge magnet. Soul and mind instantly lost their physical bondage, and streamed out like a fluid piercing light from my every pore. The flesh was as though dead, yet in my intense awareness I knew that never before had I been fully alive. My sense of identity was no longer narrowly confined to a body, but embraced the circumambient atoms."

Rather than the materialistic view that matter has produced consciousness, the ancient teachings of a much higher age aver that consciousness has produced matter. God has become the universe by vibrating His consciousness to create an illusion of separateness. 

Scientists debate whether the mind has an independent existence apart from the brain, More and more evidence is piling up to suggest that it is so. But the mind, then, would need a source of energy. The yogis say that this is source is the source of all things, all life and is called, in Sanskrit, prana, or Life Force. This intelligent and divine life source is both macro and micro: it is the essence of all creation and the manifestation of our individualized consciousness. 

Yogic techniques are emerging than can show us how to safely and naturally transcend the slavery of our mind to the body. Yogananda taught a mindfulness technique (watching the breath), taken from ancient times, using the mantra "Hong Sau." He called this the highest technique of concentration.

The breath is the single most obvious barrier to concentration: when we need to focus on something, we automatically quiet the breath, or even hold it temporarily. At the same time by focusing one-pointedly upon the breath, it begins to calm down and, with proper training in the technique itself, we can relatively easily experience moments of cessation of breath. It is therefore the natural focus of our meditative attention.

The respiration rates of humans and of various animals shows that the faster the rate, the shorter the life expectancy. Scientific studies are all ready showing that meditation can slow, and even reverse, the effects of aging. Though it may seem counter to our natural, biological instincts, breathing less gives us more life; more awareness; greater health; and sustainable joy. 

Certain techniques (kapalbhati pranayam, double breath exhalation, and others) can produce momentary experiences of breathlessness: not unlike the training of astronauts in weightlessness when they are taken up in an airplane as high as they can go and then begin a rapid descent during which weightlessness occurs for a brief time.

Centering one's inner, visual focus through the forehead (the point between the eyebrows....the "kutastha") can also instantly bring breath and heart to a near standstill. This, combined with other advanced meditation techniques, is powerfully effective. No such techniques should be attempted on one's own, however. Not because they are dangerous so much, as why waste time doing something worth doing but doing it ineffectively?

As explained in Chapter 26 of the "Autobiography of a Yogi," Kriya Yoga introduces an "extra atom" of oxygen to bring the metabolism into stasis and reduce the need to breathe and thus gradually become acclimatized, like those who climb Mt. Everest without oxygen, to the rarefied "atmosphere" of breathlessness.

As we approach "absolute zero" of stillness of breath, the sense of separate identity, aka the ego, begins to dissolve. Not surprisingly, the ego is sustained by the autonomic system and sometimes balks at the possibility of its own dissolution in breathlessness. A meditator might experience momentary fear, or with the very thought "I'm not breathing," the heart and lungs kick back in. 

Gradually, over time and with practice, we overcome this hesitation. The key to this is NOT however the psycho-physiological description I've offered above. Higher consciousness is not, or should not be, a "circus." These realms are for those who sincerely, and with deep devotion and self-offering of the ego at the feet of the Infinite Spirit, seek the "truth that shall make us free" (of all limitations of ego and body). This is not for the faint of heart or for those whose wounded egos require extensive surgery: we cannot offer back to God that which, we, ourselves, do not yet possess. To become Self-possessed we must first become self-possessed!

Our hearts must be cleansed and purified by right action and right understanding. Breathlessness is, itself, only a doorway to the Divine Presence. In fact, without proper training and guidance, breathlessness can descend into lower forms of subconsciousness, including trance states, which offer to us no pathway to enlightenment whatsoever. One can, I am told, press on certain nerves and induce trance-like states. There are chemical means of inducing states of hibernation or feigned death. None of these is what this article is about. 

Think of lifting your arms up high in celebration! Imagine lifting your eyes as if at the sight of a awesome panorama! Even in such simple and ordinary acts, the mind becomes instantly still and the heartbeat can become immediately quiet. "It left me breathless!" Even human love, in its deepest forms, is silent and still. In addition to the yoga science, each of us can practice "breathlessness" at any time. 

May your breath be taken away in blissful, divine ecstasy!

Swami Hrimananda

For some follow up reading you might enjoy:
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2016/04/dying-death-brain-dead-body-consciousness-science/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=SocialAds&utm_content=ngm-deathconsciousness&utm_campaign=Membership&kwp_0=159471&kwp_4=724566&kwp_1=365650

also: "Closer to the Light," by Melvin Morse, M.D.

I Was Lost, and then Found! Life's Little Miracles

All my life and, indeed, one of my earliest memories, was suddenly being unable to find some object I had just had in my hand! As a small child, I still recall jumping up and down with great frustration having had some object, no doubt a toy, just "disappear" in front of me! I swore aloud that the "Devil must have taken it." (Naturally, being a good Catholic fellow, all such things were the work of the devil. When Cannery Row went up in flames on Thanksgiving Day in the 50's, a few blocks from our home in Pacific Grove, I was sure the devil had come up from the center of the earth--so great were the flames shooting high into the air and thick black smoke enveloping the town.)

I recount this story so you won't be tempted, when reading my account below, to think, "Ah, gee, the guy's gettin' old and forgetful!" (While that may, in fact, be true, it is not, by any means, the big picture here.)

Once, in my forties, Padma and I took a trip to Orcas Island. I think we gave a class on Education for Life at the Indralaya Retreat. While sitting outside and enjoying the beautiful ferry ride through the narrow San Juan straits, in and around its many islands, I had (as so many men do) taken the wallet out of my back pocket because sitting on it was uncomfortable. I placed it next to me on the bench and later just got up and walked away leaving the wallet where I had placed it. 

When I got to our hotel room at the famous and classic Rosario's Inn, I suddenly discovered I couldn't find my wallet. I called the Ferry dock (long before cell phones existed) and, sure enough, it had been reported found. They said, however, that I would need to come down to meet the next Ferry a few hours hence. Everything was there, intact--even a $100 bill that had been part of a birthday gift! 

Well, a month or so ago, we hosted visitors from the Ananda Center and Church in Palo Alto, CA. After picking them up from SeaTac on a Saturday afternoon, we stopped to visit the East West Bookshop in Roosevelt Square (corner of 12th and 65th, upper plaza). Afterwards, we sat outside at the adjacent Starbucks to enjoy a cool drink and chat some more. I had my usual blue shoulder bag with me, containing all my valuables, so to speak. In fact, let me digress....

The night before I had, for some unknown but intuitive reason, reorganized all my two-thousand credit cards and shopping cards, library card, etc. etc. etc. At the moment of completing this task, long overdue, I had the distinct thought: "I shouldn't carry all these things around with me all the time!" Well, I was in a hurry and too busy to know how to divide them all. So I simply put them all back into the shoulder bag.

Now, continuing.....by now you've guessed that upon leaving Starbucks I left my blue should bag right there in the open (outside seating) next to the table and chairs we had been sitting at. But, did I notice? No! I had this odd feeling a few hours later going to dinner that something was missing but amidst the chit-chat with our friends there was no time for reflection or listening to that funny feeling in my gut.

It wasn't until the next morning, Sunday morning, on the way to church, that I knew the bag was missing. There was, in my view, at least, nothing I could do. That afternoon we were scheduled to go up to Camano Island for an all afternoon gathering of core Ananda members for lunch, chanting, meditation and discussion. There wasn't a moment to do anything. It wasn't until evening that we got home. Again, nothing I could really do. In fact, I had a friend at East West check in at Starbucks but with a casual inquiry like that, well, why would I be surprised if none of the clerks knew anything about it?

Late that night I sat on the floor of my living room with my banking records in front of me ready to call all the credit card companies. Padma and I checked online: no activity anywhere: checking accounts or bank cards. She suggested that I wait until the morning and come to bed. I did just that.

By now many hours, a day and a half had passed. No phone call, nothing. Still I had this funny feeling: mostly of disbelief that I was going to have to go through this whole process related to two checkbooks and a fistful of cards, driver's license....the whole "nine yards!" Just couldn't believe it. Was I just in shock? Lazy? Frustrated? Or, was there some intuition here?

The next morning I was up early. I was NOT going to waste my time with a phone call to Starbucks during their busiest few hours. I drove back to East West and sat in Starbucks waiting for the line to thin out. But all I saw were the young and very busy clerks: oblivious to anything but waiting on customers. I was about to leave when suddenly out from the back (a door I hadn't noticed) came a woman of "authority!" Right away I knew SHE was the one to ask. But, she was in a hurry to get out of there. I hesitated, and then stepped in her path. "Sorry to bother you, but ...... " Right away before I could finish my sentence, she said, "Oh yeah, I was about to call East West about the blue bag." 

Puzzled, I asked, "Why East West?" She said I saw all the Ananda stuff and figured East West was the best bet! I said, "Well, you're in a hurry or I'd kiss your feet!" Needless to say, I bought an expensive hot coffee drink and sipped it contentedly all the way home in the car to join my friends at breakfast!

All my life I have found that I need to clasp my car keys to my pants (through a belt loop); clip my cell phone to my belt and hang on to that wallet....I've tried everything: shoulder pouch under my shirt; a tiny wallet with a leather or metal clasp.............let's not even talk about my glasses!!!! Maybe I just move too fast and clearly don't pay sufficient attention to putting things down. I am hardly alone in this.

On a trip to India with my daughter Gita (we did the pilgrimage known as the "Char Dham," visiting the holy headwaters in the Himalaya of the Ganges and other holy rivers), we were leaving the Himalayas driving downstream along the Ganges. We stopped for lunch at a lovely restaurant. There again, hung on the chair, I had again left my small day pack with everything I own in it! When I discovered it many miles downstream as we were racing to the Dehra Dun airport for a flight to Calcutta, our guide uses his cell phone to call the restaurant. He finds a cab driver to get the bag and drive in our direction as we drive back toward him: in hopes we'd see each other! OMG! Well, we did  see each other, and I got everything, and I mean everything (cash included) back!

Not sure when my "good" karma will run out but I try my best to stay present with my "things!"

My sense is not so much of "Thank God" for such favors, it is, rather, the quiet, calm, knowing smile that, though I do my best, somehow, at least for now, Divine Mother makes "good," as Krishna puts in the Bhagavad Gita, "my deficiencies." For me the blessing isn't a material one, it is that sense of divine play; the sense that the world we inhabit is far more than we think it is; that "magic" (divine magic) exists for those with eyes to see and ears to hear. It is the playful sense of God's presence in even the littlest of things.

Joy to you!

Swami Hrimananda

Can Yoga Trump Politics?

Well, it seems America has safely got past both political parties' conventions. What a time we live in! The voices of America are at fevered pitch, shouting irrational imprecations from all sides. It seems the Western world is having a spasm of liberal regrets; our egalitarian principles strained under the dark clouds of fear, envy, violence, and hatred as if uninvited "guests" are attempting to crash the gates of a formerly decorous and homogeneous "party." The civil niceties of public debate, once secure in white shirts and club ties, have abandoned themselves to the jostling rainbow crowd! (ok, a slight exaggeration: democracy has always been messy, noisy, and rancorous!) Globalism, once the great "white hope" of liberalism (free trade, freer movement of peoples) is now under attack for it is seen to benefit the few at the expense of the many and at the cost of legitimate national interests.

A yogi is committed to the summons of Patanjali (of the "Yoga Sutras") to seek the calm center within: where likes and dislikes, opinions and emotions, subside into the bliss beneath all seeming.

On the left, the yogi finds "ira" (the upward moving channel in the astral spine--associated with inhalation) which can be expressed outwardly, as the power of love and compassion; on the right, the "pingala" channel (downward moving away from outward involvement--cause of the exhalation), expressing non-attachment and acceptance of the law of karma! Mercy and justice: two sides of a coin. 

What's a yogi to do?

Paramhansa Yogananda aligned himself with the (political) party of Abraham Lincoln! He declined to express his thoughts, except as "concerned," regarding FDR: the father of social security, progenitor of how government can help people in need, and, in later decades, manifested as Welfare entitlements; more recently, Obamacare! Yogananda put it this way (as many have also): while it's fine and good to feed someone hungry, it is better to give him a job and better yet an education.

Jesus Christ, too, actually said these words: "The poor ye shall have always...." Yet the Bhagavad Gita avers that the yogi feels "the pangs of sorrow and joy of all men." When Jesus Christ stated that "those who have, more will be given; to those with little, what they have will be taken away" one might think his words were a plank in the Republican platform! In all fairness, yet apropos in any case, is Paramhansa Yogananda's explanation for Jesus' strange sounding words: those who put out energy will receive energy back in spades; those who do not, will lose what little they have. Or, as one hears so often with a twang and a smile, "Da Lord helps dems who helps demselves!"  And Jesus also said that as often as we feed the poor, clothe the naked, visit those in prison, etc. we do it to Him!

How, ever, can a yogi reconcile these seemingly opposite principles and precepts?

Life would be unbearable if we did not believe in and understand the law of karma: cause and effect. If one cannot believe that he can improve his life, he will sink into despair. Spiritually as well as materially, one must put out the effort and the energy to lift ourselves. Even if, in the end, and in response to our efforts, help comes from "above" (whether divine or governmental), no one can put us through school against our will; no one can make us healthy against our will; no one can do an excellent job except ourselves. The cycle of initiative creates a magnetism that draws a universal and supportive response--from whatever source(s). This is the basis for yoga (and meditation) itself. [Dogmatic Christians sometimes excoriate yoga practice as being presumptuous citing St. Paul, "Not by works alone...but by grace." Common sense and experience show us, however, that by our efforts we can attract success: material AND spiritual!]

And thus we find (yet again and again), how the truth lies, often hidden, in the middle. The art of compromise is the art of life itself. Mercy and justice must, like Queen and King, rule together the kingdom of the body politic.

The party lines of both parties have their own, internal justifications, even as they possess their own delusive, unexamined biases or agendas. On just a few of the issues being shouted consider such pairs of opposites as:

America, as any other country, must have control over who enters it. Yet we benefit from the influx of other peoples. At the same time, and given the chaos and hatred in the world, we surely have a right to exclude those who intend or would do us harm.

In the past two centuries, successful groups of immigrants have integrated into the culture of America by learning our common language and respecting and integrating some of our (better) customs even as they honor and preserve their own.

Other industrialized countries surely by now, a half century after the last world war, and decades after the so-called "fall" of communism, ought to contribute to the cost of their own defense (assuming they do not, for I don't really know the facts.)

America's many adventures into places like Vietnam, central America, Afghanistan, and the Middle East have been less than successful and too often self-serving, peppered with the all-too-often corruption of values that war provides opportunities for. Even if you believe that we "meant well," violence begets violence and should be employed sparingly and with mercy. That we have ignited a push back, and even hatred, in playing the "Great Game," is hardly surprising.

Examples of what I view as our past mistakes (owing perhaps to our hubris, naivete, or hidden, self-serving motives) include: while it was our duty to track down Osama Bin Laden, did we really have to take on the Taliban (we still haven't won that war); Saddam Hussein! What a tragedy that under the guise of "weapons of mass destruction" we convinced ourselves (as a nation and our entire Congress) to go after the guy. Countless, endless and continuing suffering has been the result. Never mind the billions or trillions of dollars of added national debt. Was this adventure to finish what the (then) president's father didn't? Was it to secure oil that subsequent years have shown we don't actually need?

Vietnam, as with Iraq, Afghanistan and other adventures, had for its failing that the locals didn't want our "help" (destroying their country and their people). In most cases, in fact, they haven't "deserved" being rescued, having their own scores to settle with each other. Yes, it's hard to watch others suffer under corrupt regimes, I agree.

Communism fell for three reasons: one, the West had the strength to confront it on its own terms, making war a poor choice for both sides; two, our very prosperity and freedom (our ideals) are in tune with righteousness and with the age in which we live and thus proved far too magnetic; and three, it was based on false (and godless) precepts. If we had applied these principles to contain and confront the injustices of Saddam, Bin Laden, Ho Chi Minh and others, while yet offering an attractive alternative to their suffering peoples (providing aid, refuge, education etc.) we would have won the only thing worth winning: people's hearts and minds.

Of course we must defend ourselves from those who hate and who attack us, yet have we examined honestly the reasons we are so hated? On the other hand, do not the peoples of other nations vote with their feet in wanting to come here, even if they, like ourselves, take issue with the political or military past actions or policies of our country?

And yes, Hillary, we should be hopeful and positive! Our nation and its ideals give to us strength in righteousness, prosperity in our creative energies, and joy in our freedoms. "Greatest nation on earth" is rather boastful for my tastes, but the influence of America, for better or worse, upon the rest of the world is undeniable. The lure of success and freedom is irresistible. These are our strengths. We should live them here at home, first; their example is, and has always been, the beacon of light and hope to others. But they, like we, must earn their freedom by their own self-effort.

I prefer compassion over the strict justice of karma but I question how much and how long western societies can offer extensive and liberal safety nets and entitlements in the face of the energy, creativity, and ambitions of other nations who are "coming up" and who, as a result, are equalizing prosperity around the world. Our standard of living is, so I am told and so it seems to me, declining as that of other nations is rising. It all has to balance out (to zero). Do entitlements help people or do they force a resented dependency upon them?

I'm certainly in favor of the idealistic society that enjoys prosperity and health for all but the question here is the issue of "idealistic." How productive must an economy be to afford the "ideal" safety nets? Even if it were to be achieved, would the result itself prove to be "idealistic?"

You see, in the final analysis, it is not governments that create a prosperous, secure, and healthy society, but individuals: their hard work; creativity; initiative and ability to work together for the common good. Government acts as a moderator and fulcrum that provides protection, justice, and balances the seemingly opposing interests of people or groups of people with shared interests. (Think the classic capital vs labor!)

If a nation becomes so materially successful that it can offer the perks of universal health care and guaranteed minimum income, well, fine but these things, like personal health, are never guaranteed and must never eclipse self-effort and personal responsibility for one's life. 

And, they have their own cost. Becoming dependent on government largess and the promises of politicians is a recipe (long-term) for revolution: for passivity breeds resentment and there is no joy in it beyond going to sleep or enjoying an uneasy comfort. By contrast, initiative, even in the face of hardship or disadvantages, may take courage and commitment, but in putting out energy for self-improvement we experience confidence, satisfaction and joy. I remember an Ananda T-shirt years ago with the slogan: "Energy and Joy go Hand in Hand."

As a yogi for whom the lessons of India's beloved scripture, the Bhagavad Gita, is taken to heart one of its initial precepts is that we must fight the "battle of life." Sublimating our lower, passive nature into an upward flow of energy towards Self-realization: this is the hue and cry of Krishna to those waking up to life's realities. It's message does not include pretending we can attack everyone else's injustices around the world using brute force.

Returning now, for a moment, to the current elections, we yogis do not separate the "energy," the intention, or the consciousness of the individuals who seek to represent us from their stated aims. The message cannot be separated from the messenger. The extent to which "the end justifies the means" is forever humanity's dilemma. Voting for character (nobility, compassion, universality, acceptance, intelligence and goodwill) should be the ideal yardstick by which we weigh our minuscule role as voters. Both Republican and Democrat ideals are, in principle, true and worthwhile: each holding the other in check. I'd rather have a president with intelligence, goodwill and integrity, regardless of political affiliation because in our country effective power (I prefer "influence") is subject to checks and balances and requires compromise. 

Life, being by its nature "dual," a mixture of good and evil vying constantly for supremacy, demands that we remain ever awake to do what is right and just, as well as merciful. Would that prosperous nations place more emphasis on helping other lesser fortunate nations even as we protect ourselves from their destructive tendencies. A new "Marshall Plan" would do this ravaged planet some good and there would be work aplenty: from healing nature to healing wounds and educating minds, there is no lack of positive outlets for humanity's creative energies. It is not hunger or ill health that is life's scourge so much as lack of a creative and productive outlets for one's energies. I think of the millions of under employed and unemployed youth worldwide and despair for the lack of opportunities to engage their imagination, creativity and commitment. And yet, there is SO much to be done: reinventing agriculture; enlightened self-interest for business; holistic education; educated and self-care driven health care, nothing less than a revolution in both life style and consciousness awaits the awakening of our courage and wisdom.

Whether donkey or elephant, we must share this nation and this planet and so let's look for the positive and the truth in one another's firmly held precepts even as we commit ourselves to living our ideals. Personalities are but stand ins for the consciousness that animates them.

Joy to you,

Swami Hrimananda