Tag Archives: Spiritual Practices

Four Questions

February 17, 2019Reflections, Sri Ramakrishna, The Gospel of Sri RamakrishnaSpiritual Practicesmahendrajani

Four Questions and Their Answers
from The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

Mahendranath Gupta, known as “M.,” met the God-man Sri Ramakrishna in February 1882 (137 years ago). He was the Principal of the Vidyasagar High School at Syambazar. He recorded in his diary Sri Ramakrishna’s conversation with his devotees, including himself. Most people know that from his notes he wrote in Bengali, the famous book Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita, which Swami Nikhilananda translated into English as The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna.

Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita has been translated into all Indian languages and probably all major languages of the world. When we read this book, we sit face-to-face with Sri Ramakrishna and enjoy his inspiring conversations. We wonder how Sri Ramakrishna explained the deepest truths of spirituality in simple words with parables and perfect analogies.

At the beginning of this book, M. asked four fundamental questions to Sri Ramakrishna regarding spirituality and spiritual practices. I reflect on these four questions and their answers again and again. One must read these questions and answers in Sri Ramakrishna’s words from the book “The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, translated by Swami Nikhilananda (pages 81-83). I am writing and commenting on these questions and answers as a part of my own study. One can think of it as my notebook about these pages.
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Question – 1: “How, Sir, may we fix our minds on God?”

Sri Ramakrishna said to do two things:

(1) Repeat God’s name (do japa) and sing His/Her glories, and
(2) Keep holy company (now and then visit God’s devotees and holy men)

Why cannot we fix our minds on God?

Sri Ramakrishna reasoned, “The mind cannot dwell on God if it is immersed day and night in worldliness, in worldly duties and responsibilities.”

What should we do?

We should do japa and meditation in solitude.

Sri Ramakrishna said, “It is most necessary to go into solitude now and then and think of God. To fix the mind on God is very difficult in the beginning unless one practices meditation in solitude. When a tree is young it should be fenced all around; otherwise, it may be destroyed by cattle (cattle means worldly or distracting thoughts and influences).”

How should one meditate?

Sri Ramakrishna said, “To meditate, you should withdraw within yourself or retire to a secluded corner or to the forest (mone, kone, and bone in Indian language). And you should always discriminate between the Real and the unreal. God alone is Real, the Eternal Substance; all else is unreal, that is impermanent. By discriminating thus, one should shake off impermanent objects from the mind.”

Note: Impermanent objects cannot give us permanent happiness. They give a little pleasure and lots of sufferings because of our false hopes created by our ignorance. On the other hand, God, the Ultimate Reality, our true identity whose nature is Sat-Chit-Ananda (Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute), removes all our sufferings and gives us Infinite bliss. It destroys all our ignorance about ourselves and the universe.
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Question – 2: “How ought we to live in the world?”

Sri Ramakrishna said, “Do all your duties but keep your mind on God. Live with all-with wife and children, father and mother- and serve them. Treat them as if they were very dear to you, but know in your heart of hearts that they do not belong to you.”

Sri Ramakrishna gave two excellent examples:

Example 1: “A maidservant in the house of a rich man performs all the household duties, but her thoughts are fixed on her own home in her native village. She brings up her master’s children as if they were her own. She even speaks of them as ‘my Rama’ or ‘my Hari.’ But, in her own mind, she knows very well that they do not belong to her at all.”

Note: I understood as follows: God has given us our parents, family members, relatives, and friends. We love them as our own and serve them. But, we should be aware that we have no control over them. God had created them, nourishes them, and when the time comes, takes them away from us. With this awareness, we can keep our mind on God while serving them.

Example 2: “The tortoise moves about in the water. But, can you guess where her thoughts are? They are on the bank, where her eggs are lying.”

Sri Ramakrishna emphasized: “Do all your duties in the world, but keep your mind on God.”

Why do we have to think of God while living in the world?

Sri Ramakrishna gave a very clear answer. He said, “If you enter the world without first cultivating love for God, you will be entangled more and more. You will be overwhelmed with its danger, its grief, and its sorrows. And the more you think of the worldly things, the more you will be attached to them.”

Note: By sincerely praying to God, we develop inner spiritual strength which helps us face grief, sorrows, and dangers of life. We have to be attached with all through God. If we attach ourselves to all, without God, selfishness comes and creates many problems.

Example 3: (Sri Ramakrishna gave a wonderful example to enhance his point.) First, rub your hands with oil and then break open the jack-fruit otherwise they (your hands) will be smeared with its sticky milk. First, secure the oil of divine love, and then set your hands to the duties of the world.”

Note: When we have developed divine love for God, our mind will be calmer, more thoughtful, and more aware of what is good and helpful and also what is not good and harmful. After that, we will be able to perform our responsibilities with sanity, devoid of weaknesses like ego, expectations, hatred, and others.

How to attain divine love?

Sri Ramakrishna said, “But, one must go into solitude to attain this divine love.”

Note: Sri Ramakrishna emphasized again to go into solitude, discriminate or analyze the Real and the unreal and do japa and meditation to develop the love for God. He gave the following example to illustrate this thought.

Example 4: Sri Ramakrishna said, “To get butter from milk you must let it set into curd in a secluded spot: if it is too much disturbed, milk would not turn into curd. Next, you must put aside all other duties, sit in a quiet spot, and churn the curd. Only then do you get the butter.”

Note: The human mind has an amazing capacity if it is focused on a higher goal. The energy of the mind can be wasted by engaging in trifle things. With this mind, we can realize God or get the highest knowledge.

Sri Ramakrishna said, “Further, by meditating on God in solitude the mind acquires knowledge, dispassion, and devotion. But, the very same mind goes down if it dwells in the world. In the world, there is only one thought: ‘lust and greed’.

Note: Sri Ramakrishna gave another wonderful example to make this point clear.

Example 5: Sri Ramakrishna said, “The world is water and the mind milk. If you pour milk into the water they become one; you cannot find pure milk anymore. But turn the milk into curd and churn it into butter. Then, when that butter is placed in water, it will float. So, practice spiritual discipline in solitude and obtain the butter of knowledge and love. Even if you keep that butter in the water of the world the two will not mix. The butter will float.”

A Question: A genuine question may come: ‘I do not have knowledge of God and have not acquired the love for God. In this situation, what should I do? Should I not perform my responsibilities?’

My Answer: This is a valid question and it comes to all sincere beginners in the path of spirituality. I will write what I have understood about this teaching and how to practice it. First of all, we have to accept Sri Ramakrishna’s teaching in principle: ‘We cannot perform the worldly responsibilities in the best possible way without developing love for God and acquiring knowledge of God.’ Now, we have to start doing spiritual practices which he had mentioned before (go in solitude, analyze, do prayer, japa and meditation, seek holy company and others) daily at least in the morning and in the evening. After the morning spiritual practice, we develop a sense of detachment and try as much as possible to perform our responsibilities with detachment, meaning with the idea that everything belongs to God and I am just a caretaker. I perform these responsibilities as an offering to God to develop the love for God and to feel God’s presence in everything. Slowly, by God’s grace, we develop the love for God and acquire knowledge about God, our responsibilities will be performed with a proper state of mind and we do not get affected by the dangers, and sorrows of life.

How to discriminate in solitude?

Sri Ramakrishna emphasized that lust and greed are the two weaknesses of a human being, which bring his/her mind down to the body-mind level and will not let the person’s mind rise to the inner Self (Atman) or God. We have to train our mind to rise beyond lust and greed. Sri Ramakrishna teaches us how to prepare our mind for this.

Sri Ramakrishna said, “Together with this, you must practice discrimination. ‘Lust and greed’ is impermanent. God is the only eternal substance. What does a man get with money? You get food, clothes, and a dwelling-place; nothing more. You cannot realize God with its help. Therefore money can never be the goal of life. That is the process of discrimination. Do you understand?…. What is there in money or a beautiful body?”

Sri Ramakrishna said that when one discriminates, then one finds that even a beautiful body consists of bones, flesh, fat, and other disagreeable things. Why a person should give up God and directs one’s mind to such things, like lust and greed? Why a person should forget God for their sake?
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Question – 3: “Is it possible to see God?”

Sri Ramakrishna said, “Yes, certainly. Living in solitude now and then, repeating God’s name and singing His glories, and discriminating between the Real and the unreal – these are the means to employ to see Him.”

Note: Wow! Sri Ramakrishna emphatically said that ‘God can be realized’. It is a great assurance. He also told the spiritual practices through which one can realize God.
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Question – 4: “Under what conditions does one see God?”

Sri Ramakrishna said, “Cry to the Lord with an intensely yearning heart and you will certainly see Him. People shed a whole jug of tears for wife and children. They swim in tears for money. But, who weeps for God? Cry to Him with a real cry.”

Sri Ramakrishna sang a song:

Cry to your Mother Shyama with a real cry, O mind!
And how can she hold Herself from you?
How can Shyama stay away?
How can your Mother Kali hold Herself away?

O mind, if you are in earnest, bring Her an offering
Of bel-leaves and hibiscus flowers;
Lay at Her feet your offering
And with it mingle the fragrant sandal-paste of Love.

Sri Ramakrishna continued, “Longing is like the rosy dawn. After the dawn out comes the sun. Longing is followed by the vision of God.”

Note: Sri Ramakrishna clearly described the state of a person’s mind that is ready to realize God. There is no ambiguity in this. With spiritual practices, we hope to develop intense desire and a need to realize God. Sri Ramakrishna gives more examples to give a clear picture of intense longing.

Example 6: Sri Ramakrishna said, “God reveals Himself to a devotee who feels drawn to Him by the combined force of these three attractions: (1) the attraction of worldly possessions for the worldly man, (2) the child’s attraction for its mother, and (3) the husband’s attraction for the chaste wife. If one feels drawn to Him by the combined force of these three attractions, then through it one can attain Him.

“The point is, to love God even as the mother loves her child, the chaste wife her husband, and the worldly person his wealth. Add together these three forces of love, these three powers of attraction, and give it all to God. Then you will certainly see Him.”

Note: Again, a very clear picture of the force of the longing has been given. People are familiar with these three forces of love. Now, we have to combine these three forces of love and give it all to God. In order to attain a worldly thing like degree, money, position, power etc. people give up so many other distractions and focus their mind to attain that thing. Sri Ramakrishna says that seeing God is not impossible if we apply our full mind and heart to realize God. Whatever yoga we practice, whether Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Karma Yoga, or Raja Yoga, one needs intense longing to realize the ultimate goal of the four yogas, namely God-realization.

The Final Word – Surrender

Example 7: Sri Ramakrishna concludes his answer with the following: “It is necessary to pray to Him with a longing heart. The kitten knows only how to call its mother, crying, ‘Mew, mew!’ It remains satisfied wherever its mother puts it. And the mother cat puts the kitten sometimes in the kitchen, sometimes on the floor, and sometimes on the bed. When it suffers it cries only, ‘Mew, mew!’ That’s all it knows. But as soon as the mother hears this cry, wherever she may be, she comes to the kitten.”

Note: One can relate to this example more when one gets familiar with the Asian Indian atmosphere where the doors and the windows of a house are mostly open and street cats carry kittens into the houses. Cats carry kittens holding them in their mouths, put them at various places and look for their food. Cats know that at different timings, different places of the house are safer. The point is that one has to completely surrender to God with an understanding that ‘God is my father and mother and will take care of me.’ We have to go through various situations in life, good or bad; no matter what, hold on to God and intensely pray to God. Especially during the suffering, we have to bear the pain of life and call on God. If our prayer is intense, God will definitely come.

Note that Sri Ramakrishna had developed an intense longing to realize God, had a vision of Mother Kali, and then throughout his life, he remained in the God-consciousness state. He had also completely surrendered himself to Mother Kali.

(Thanks to Rushil Desai and Sonali Tatapudi for editing this post.)

Four Spiritual Practices and Four Yogas – IV

October 7, 2014Reflections, YogaSpiritual Practicesmahendrajani

This is the fourth and the last post of the series “Four Spiritual Practices and Four Yogas.”

“Congratulations to 2014 Graduates”

The high school graduates are already in colleges and the college graduates are either working or in graduate colleges. I am sure these spiritual practices will help them and all of the readers.

In the first part, I shared my thoughts on Jnana Yoga and Karma Yoga, in the second part on Raja Yoga, and in the third part on Bhakti Yoga.

In this post, I am going to share my thoughts on the four spiritual practices, which are considered the practices of the four yogas. These four practices are not mutually exclusive, meaning they do have a few things in common and are interconnected. For example, it is very difficult to be a Jnana Yogi without devotion, self-control and unselfish service. Similarly for all of the other three yogas, one cannot be exclusively one kind of a yogi. Swami Vivekananda wanted his disciples to practice all four yogas to speed up their spiritual paths. Practicing all four yogas is like driving a car with four cylinders instead of one cylinder, or flying an airplane with four engines and not only one.

The First Spiritual Practice (Jnana Yoga):

The first spiritual practice consists of Reading, Reflections, and Meditation.

(The numbering first, second, etc. is just for listing purposes. They do not signify the order of the practices. Any of the four practices could be the first practice.)

(i) Read and Reflect:

We have to read the scriptures and the lives and teachings of realized souls, and reflect upon them for the following purposes:

– to realize that the goal of human life is God realization, which is the highest state of knowledge that a human being can attain.

– to realize that this highest state of knowledge provides everything that a human being is seeking: peace of mind, unlimited bliss, a deeper understanding of life, and fulfilment.

– to learn that even though we have to live in this world and perform our duties, the goal of life is NOT making money, producing children, and running around to do errands to acquire little pleasures.

– to realize that no worldly pleasure or object can give us unlimited happiness in life. Worldly objects and sense-pleasures are limited and can give us only limited happiness and in return, we pay a very high price and suffer bitter consequences.

-to find out the way to realize God.

– to understand the characteristics of a person who had realized God.

– to learn how saints and sages have struggled hard to realize God.

– to enjoy reading about God and His/Her devotees.

– to realize that there is one life, one consciousness, and one God whom Vedanta refers to as Brahman. The same Brahman resides in each one of us as a soul called the Atman. It is divine. Its nature is Sat-Chit-Ananda (Existence-Knowledge-Bliss absolute). That is our true identity and to realize It is our goal.

– to intensify our desire to realize the Atman lying within us.

If we read the scriptures and the lives and teachings of saints and sages but cannot fulfill the above purposes, then our reading and reflections become only an intellectual exercise. There is very little gain.

When we read teachings of saints and sages, we have to remember that everything we read may not be applicable to us at that time or, in some cases, may not be applicable at a later time either. There are some universal teachings that are applicable to everyone all the time. But, there are also teachings that were given to specific devotees and are only applicable to similar minded devotees in similar situations. Sri Ramakrishna taught things according to the needs of the devotees. Some may look contradictory. For instance, one of Sri Ramakrishna’s devotees lacked courage and did not stand up for the right cause. Sri Ramakrishna told him to be courageous, to be bold and stand up for what he believed to be true. However, when another devotee, who was aggressive in nature, came to Thakur in the exact same situation, Sri Ramakrishna asked him to be humble.

(ii) Meditation:

Along with reading and reflections, we have to meditate on Brahman which is permanent. The nature of Brahman is “Sat-Chit-Ananda” – Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute.

How do we meditate on the Existence Absolute part of Brahman? We should realize that the whole universe came from Brahman. The universe resides in Brahman and is nourished by Brahman. Ultimately, the whole universe will dissolve in Brahman. Brahman is the Ultimate Reality. Everything else is constantly changing and exists only for a short time, even though this short time could be millions of years. We meditate and realize that Brahman has become everything. A potter makes various utensils from clay. Everything was, is, and will be clay. A goldsmith makes various kinds of ornaments like necklaces, rings, earrings, bracelets from gold. They all look different, but ultimately it is all gold. Similarly, we meditate and realize that Brahman has become all people and all things around us. We then desire nothing to possess and hate nothing.

Also, through meditation, we realize that the same Brahman is residing in us as the Soul or the Atman. A pot filled with ocean water is floating in an ocean. The water inside the pot is the same water lying outside the pot. All the qualities of the ocean water exist in the water of the pot. Similarly, Atman has all the qualities of Brahman. Meditate on the idea that an individual is like a pot filled with ocean water freely floating in an infinite ocean. When the pot breaks the water inside merges with the water outside. The pot is our ego, which separates us from the infinite Brahman. This is how we meditate on the Existence Absolute part of Brahman.

We meditate on the Knowledge Absolute part of Brahman. Through meditation, we realize that Brahman had created all the brains of the world, is creating more brains now and will create them in future. The Ultimate Brain is Brahman. Each brain has partial knowledge and is a part of that Ultimate Brain.

We meditate on the Bliss Absolute part of Brahman, and realize that all of the happiness in the world is either a direct, or reflected, or deformed bliss of Brahman. Satvik happiness, derived from purifying the mind, doing prayers, meditating, and doing unselfish service to society, is a direct experience of the Bliss of Brahman. Rajasik happiness, which comes from fulfilling pleasures of the body and mind, is a reflected Bliss of Brahman. And tamasik happiness, which comes from ignorance and harming people, is a deformed Bliss of Brahman. Rajasik and Tamasik happiness bring more miseries and bondages with them, while Sattvik happiness frees us from miseries and bondages.

All of the happiness of the world combined together is just a small fraction of the Bliss of Brahman. The Bliss of Brahman which has been realized by many does not depend on any person or any object of the world. When we realize our true identity, which is our divinity or Atman, then we experience this Bliss of Brahman. Then and only then do all the miseries of life vanish.

There are various ways to meditate as a part of the Jnana Yoga practice. We can think that

– an individual self is like a bird flying freely in an infinite sky of consciousness

– an individual soul is a fish swimming freely in an infinite ocean of consciousness

– an individual soul is a point of light in an infinite luminous surrounding that envelops everything

– an individual self is a pot filled with ocean water and is surrounded on all sides by the ocean water (Consciousness of Brahman)

– in the heart there is a lotus, and in the middle of this lotus is an un-flickering steady lamp. The lamp represents the Self-awareness and un-flickering of the lamp represents our steady mind being merged with Brahman.

– a light spot in our heart (representing the Atman) slowly increases and merges into an infinite, all-pervading illumined space

– the whole universe is covered with divine consciousness or Brahman just as everything around us is covered with water during the monsoon

The bird and the sky, the fish and the ocean, the pot and the ocean, the light spot and the illumined environment are all supports for the beginner to focus the mind. Then they become steps to realize that everything is Brahman including oneself.

The Second Spiritual Practice (Bhakti Yoga):

For Bhakti Yoga, there are three major practices: Prayer, Japa, and Holy Company.

(1) Prayer:

One must do prayer at least twice a day – once in the morning and once in the evening. We should be aware that prayer is more than physical food. A sincere seeker of God should not miss any day without prayer. In the initial stage of spiritual development, one should not miss prayer for any day and one should make all efforts to keep a fixed prayer time. Later on, when love for prayer and God increases, one will naturally follow the regularity of time and prayer. At that time, if one is helplessly engaged in some other activity, one’s mind will start praying even if one physically misses the regular prayer.

The length of the time for prayer is not important. The important thing is to be sincere in our prayer. We have to focus our mind on the prayer and its meaning, and feel the presence of God. If our prayer is sincere, then God comes and enjoys our prayer. Suppose in a prayer we may say, “O God! You are my mother and father. You are my sibling and a friend. You are my knowledge and wealth. You are everything for me.” If we say this, we should feel that God truly is our mother, father, friend and everything. If we only do this one prayer sincerely, feel its meaning, think about it, and practice it in our lives, then no other prayer is necessary. As a result of this one prayer, all of our worldly demands, desires, miseries, fear and weaknesses will go away. Through this one prayer we can have God-realization.

Initially, the mind may wander around, so a variety of prayers is necessary. But we hope that our mind becomes focused in some part of prayer. As we progress, our mind remains in prayer and one thought of the prayer can lift the mind to God and enjoy His/Her presence. Prayer is necessary to develop love for God. Sri Ramakrishna says that when love of God develops, then by listening to God’s name, one has “romanch” (goose-bumps), tears of joy flow naturally from the eyes, and one does not like anything else except name of God. At that time, one’s life becomes transformed for good. All of the virtues described in the Bhagavad Gita shlokas 12.13 -12.19 manifest in the devotee. These virtues include loving all, hating none, having humility, being truthful, lacking jealousy, and balancing the mind in all circumstances among others.

To do regular prayer at home, one needs a prayer room or a quiet prayer corner. That place must be used solely for prayer. It has to be clean and may have an altar with pictures of the forms of God that one likes. One can decorate it with flowers, clothes, and other items. Try to keep the decoration simple. Too much decoration may distract the mind; simple yet artistic decoration may create a pleasant environment. Lighting a lamp and burning incense create a mood for prayer.

Prayer may include worship, arati, hymns, bhajans, dhoons, doing japa, and reading inspiring biographies and teachings of Holy People who have realized God. If people cannot sing, then they can listen to arati, hymns, bhajans, and dhoons from audio CDs. Prayer can be a silent prayer done in one’s mind. The idea is to forget everything about the world, including one’s body and focusing the mind on God. If a prayer is done sincerely, many inspiring thoughts may come on the surface of the mind, doubts may be destroyed, the mind becomes serene and peaceful, faith in God and one’s own divinity becomes stronger, the restlessness of the mind starts going away, and one develop inner strength to face any problem in life.

(2) Japa:

Prayer should lead a devotee into the important spiritual practice of Japa. Japa is the repetition of God’s name with love. The name of God comes in the form of a Mantra. These mantras have been evolved over thousands of years and, by repeating them, many have had God-realization. That is why these mantras are potent. Repeating them properly with a true love of God will produce great spiritual results. If one can get a mantra from a God-person who has realized God or has been much advanced in spiritual life, then the mantra has a special power. If one has not found such a person, then one can select a mantra of the form of God one likes and repeat it with sincerity and love. God will be happy with this repetition too.

In japa, we can think that God is happily and lovingly sitting in front of us just as our loving father, mother, grandparent, or any spiritual teacher is sitting in front of us. One can then meditate on God’s feet, hands, chest, ears, eyes, mouth, and whole face while repeating the mantra. Then, meditate on the lotus feet of the form of God. One can also think of the life incidents and teachings of the form of God to whom one is praying. Sometimes it is helpful to read life incidents and teachings of the form of God before doing japa. For example, one can read from the Ramayana before doing japa of Lord Rama; one can read a portion of the Bhagavatam before doing japa of Lord Krishna; one can read the Shiva Purana or the meaning of the Shiva mahimna hymn before doing japa of Lord Shiva; one can read The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna before doing japa of Sri Ramakrishna.

Singing dhoons, bhajans, or hymns also help in focusing our mind in japa. Japa leads one to meditation. While doing japa, when no other thought except the thought of God remains in the mind, then meditation begins.

Sri Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita, “O Partha! I (God) am easily revealed to the person who is constantly engaged in spiritual practices and is thinking of me with focused mind.”

(3) Holy Company: Sri Ramakrishna said that Bhagavat, Bhakta, and Bhagavan are the same, meaning that the scriptures of God, the company of a devotee of God and being with God are all the same. To develop love for God, holy company is most important. We need a living example. We need to see and be with a person who truly loves God. In the world we find people everywhere who love money, name-fame, shopping, food, comforts, and worldly pleasures. It is rare to find someone who truly loves God and finds that all other worldly are pleasures less important. Many saints have praised the importance of having holy company. Sometimes a simple action, expression, or hint coming from a holy person may transform our lives completely for good. Through this, our doubts can be destroyed and our faith in God becomes stronger.

But how do we know if our company is holy? A company is holy if in their presence our holy thoughts come to the surface of our mind. Through sincere prayer, we can prepare our mind to understand the spiritual impact of holy company. Many times people go to God-people and discuss politics or trifle worldly things that they themselves cherish. But, this is not the purpose of holy company. Out of love and a desire not to hurt others, holy people may talk a little bit about these things, but they really cherish talks about God and spiritual development more than anything else.

Swami Adiswaranandaji used to say that people make counterfeits because money is valuable, and mimic gold because it is precious. No one mimics dirt because it is not precious. Similarly, since holy company is the most valuable thing in the world, a few people may try to mimic holy people. As people have to be careful about counterfeits, people have to also be alert about holy company. But once we find true holy company, we should think that we are blessed by God. We have to take advantage of such holy company to develop spiritually. The Shrimad Bhagavad Gita says that we have to respectfully approach God-people and ask our questions to remove our doubts, to develop love for God, to understand the true nature of God, and to find and remove obstacles of our spiritual path.

The Third Spiritual Practice (Raja Yoga):

The two main spiritual practices of Raja Yoga are self-control and the focusing of the mind.

(1) Self-control by practicing values:

Most people think Yoga means physical exercises. However, this is an extremely simplified meaning. Yoga exercises are good in that they keep our bodies in good shape. Yet, the only purpose of maintaining our bodies is to prevent them from being an obstacle in realizing our inner divinity – God residing in us.

This is the same purpose for the breathing exercises (Pranayam) of Yoga. Breathing exercises help the mind to be ready to focus on our inner divinity or Atman. However, Swami Vivekananda warns us, saying that these breathing exercises have to be done in the direct guidance of an expert and in a measured way. If the exercises are wrongfully done, then they may damage our brains. Shri Shankaracharya says that if we do not realize our inner divinity or Atman through the breathing exercises (Pranayam), then we are torturing our nose.

The real self-control comes by practicing values including yama (practice of non-violence, truthfulness, not to steal, practicing celibacy, and simple living) and niyama (practicing purity, contentment, austerity, study of scriptures, and worship of God) of Raja Yoga. Let us keep it clear in our mind that sincerely practicing values to get control on our senses and mind is real Raja Yoga. In his Raja Yoga book, Swami Vivekananda describes the following values to become a yogi:

“He who hates none, who is the friend of all, who is merciful to all, who has nothing of his own, who is free from egotism, who is even-minded in pain and pleasure, who is forbearing, who is always satisfied, who is ever devoted to yoga, whose self has become controlled, whose will is firm, whose mind and intellect are given unto Me-such a one is My beloved bhakta.

He from whom comes no disturbance, who cannot be disturbed by others, who is free from joy, fear and anxiety-such a one is My beloved.

He who does not depend on anything, who is pure and active, who does not care whether good comes or evil, and never becomes miserable, who has given up all efforts for himself, who is the same in praise or in blame, silent and thoughtful, pleased with what little comes his way, homeless, having the whole world for his home, and steady in his mind-such a one is My beloved bhakta.” (Translation of Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 12, shlokas 13 –19)

When we see so many values to practice, we become disheartened. But, in the same chapter, Swami Vivekananda says, “Be not afraid if you are not perfect in all of these (values). Work and you will succeed.” If we truly practice any one of the values described above, then all of the other values will come to us.

(ii) Focusing our mind (Meditation):

The purpose of all the efforts of Raja Yoga practices (including the practicing of values) is to attain control over our self and become fit to focus our mind to attain the highest knowledge – to realize our inner divinity and be free from all bondages.

Every day, we have to sit and try to meditate on our true identity. Our true identity is Atman, which is eternal. By discriminating between what is permanent and what is not permanent, we can focus on our Atman. For example, our body and the mind constantly change. Because of the unchangeable Atman in the background, we perceive these changes of the body and mind. We should try to focus our mind on the unchangeable Atman. We have to try to go beyond our sense of “I”, which is limited to our name and form, our gender, our age, our achievements, our belongings, our desires and attachments, our limitations, our birth, and death. Our true identity, the Atman, is beyond these limited things. It is eternal, infinite, formless, Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute. If we try to focus on this Atman every day, by denying all the false identities, then with other supportive activities we will be able to make progress and we will start feeling our true identity. What is the test of our progress? All of the characteristics or values described in the above-mentioned Bhagavad Gita shlokas will start manifesting in our lives and we will feel blessed. Then, we will find the true meaning of life and life truly becomes worth living.

Focusing our mind is not an easy task. Arjun, the hero of Mahabharat who could focus his mind in archery on an eye of a bird sitting on a tree, told Sri Krishna in Bhagavad Gita that to focus the restless mind in meditation is as extremely difficult as controlling the powerful wind. Sri Krishna agreed to Arjun and said, “O Mighty Arjun, yes, the mind is restless and very difficult to control. But, through constant practice and detachment, it can be controlled. This Yoga (realizing Brahman) is extremely difficult for one who has no self-control. But, this Yoga can be attained through proper spiritual practices by one who has self-control.” (Gita 6.33 – 6.36)

The Fourth Spiritual Practice (Karma Yoga):

The practice of Karma Yoga is unselfish service.

Who can do unselfish service?

We all have to perform our responsibilities and we are happy when we can do something for others. All of this constitutes service. Karma Yoga teaches us how we can make this service a spiritual practice.

Many people like to give lectures and/or guide others without building up their own lives. Similarly many people want to do service without first becoming fit to do service. Only a person who is “unselfish” or sincerely “trying to be unselfish” can do an unselfish service. “Trying to be unselfish” means to be committed to realizing one’s true identity as the divine Atman. He/she sees the same divinity in all beings and all things in the universe. Until one realizes this identity or ‘sameness’ in everything, one cannot be truly unselfish. If we are selfish, we might do harm to people whom we are serving. For example, if I am attached to my children, then I might be ignoring their weaknesses. I may not be able to tell them what is right and what is wrong. And in the name of doing service, I might be indirectly nourishing their harmful activities.

While doing service, somehow desire for name-fame, recognition, worldly-gain of any form creep in, and the service deteriorates into an ugly form of selfish worldly activity. If one does any work with a selfish motive, then it is okay, but doing selfish worldly activity in the form of service is ugly and counter-productive. A sincere Karma Yogi has to constantly watch him or her to avoid seeking any selfish motive from his/her service.

How can one be unselfish?

Practically, in order to be unselfish, one has to be selfish for one’s own spiritual development. We have to realize that in an absolute sense, we cannot do anything good in the world. The world is perfect as it is. Many people have tried to make this world a perfect place, and we see that the world has not become perfect and the fundamental problems remain same. Only the formats of the problems change. The problems created by jealousy, hatred, greed, and other vices continue to appear in different forms. Should we not try to do good then? Yes, we must try to do good for others in whatever way we can. But we have to remember that by trying to do good in the world we are doing good to ourselves. A true Karma Yogi is thankful to God for receiving an opportunity to do something good for others and in this process is able to expand himself/herself from his/her little self. If we have the spiritual goal to realize our true identity, which is the Self or Atman, then we can think of this doing good as a spiritual practice to go towards our Atman. We will then measure the success of our service not by the changes we have made in the world, but in terms of how much progress we have made in realizing this true identity and ‘oneness’ (seeing the same Atman in all). This way, even if the people whom we have served turn against us and blame us, we will not be disturbed. We will be able to remain calm and continue to serve. Also, if the people whom we have served praise us and shower us with worldly things, we will not be flattered or become tempted, but remain calm, controlled, and continue to serve without any selfish motive.

What makes us selfish?

We know that worldly attractions, prosperity, desire for name and fame, recognition, body-mind pleasures etc. make us selfish. Yet if we go deeper, we find that “me and mine-ness” and “doer-ship” also make us selfish. All worldly temptations come from these things. When we separate ourselves from Brahman, the Ultimate Reality, with the “little ‘I’”, covered with the body and mind, then the “me and mine-ness” and the “doer-ship” begin.

How do we get rid of the “me and mine-ness” and the “doer-ship”?

In order to get rid of these two, we have to start looking at ourselves and the world in their Reality. We have to recognize that some power or God has created this world, that It is nourishing this world, and that It will dissolve this world. We have very little control on ourselves and on the world. In fact, we have no total control on our own bodies. This limited control may even be a good thing because, with total control, we may harm ourselves. We have to remember that the world was going on before our birth and will go on after we die. Compared to the whole infinite universe, we are just tiny little things. Yes, as the Atman—a part of Brahman—we are infinite and have infinite power as Brahman. But, as our limited selves with just our bodies and minds, we are finite and have very little power. By realizing that we are the instrument in the hands of Brahman, the Ultimate Reality or Power, we can lose our “me and mine-mess” and “doer-ship.” Sri Ramakrishna says to take care of all of our responsibilities as caretakers, appointees of God, or as instruments of God. He gave the example of a baby-sitter who raises children of his/her master as his/her own but knows very well that they do not belong to him/her. Another practice in ridding ourselves of selfishness is to offer the results of our services to God.

Conclusion:

In brief, it is good to keep in mind the following four spiritual practices in order to attain the Ultimate Spiritual Goal:

(1) Daily prayer, japa and meditation

(2) Reading from inspiring books and keeping holy company

(3) Practicing values and

(4) Doing unselfish service.

I sincerely wish all the best to all who are striving for spiritual development. May God help us all.

(My special thanks to Ronak and Nisha Parikh for their help in editing this post.)

Four Spiritual Practices and Four Yogas – Part II

July 14, 2014Philosophy, Reflections, YogaBhagavad Gita, Spiritual Practicesmahendrajani

This is a second part of a series of posts

Congratulations to 2014 Graduates!

In the first part, I briefly talked about the philosophies of Jnana Yoga and Karma Yoga before describing simple but effective spiritual practices of the yogas. In this part, I would like to share with you briefly what I understood the practical major points of Raja Yoga.

One can learn more about Raja Yoga by reading the Bhagavad Gita (especially chapter 6), Swami Vivekananda’s book “Raja Yoga” and Swami Adiswaranandaji’s book “The Four Yogas”.

The Four Yogas - Swami Adiswarananda — The Four Yogas – Swami Adiswarananda

Raja Yoga: Raja Yoga is a path to realize the Ultimate Reality or Brahman or God that is lying within through self-control and focusing the mind. As sun-rays gathered by a magnifying-glass creates fire, similarly the mind, gathered by self-control and focused on our inner divine Self (Atman), reveals our true identity. This is God realization.

Raja Yoga logically and scientifically describes the stages of progress from the beginning to the last stage of realizing the Ultimate Reality. These steps are different states of our mind. Once we go through all of these stages, we understand all the aspects of our mind. These are the famous eight steps of Raja Yoga.

Seven Steps of Raja Yoga & Eighth step of Vedanta:

(1) Yama: Yama constitutes of five practices to help attain self-control:

(i) Ahimsa (Non-violence): One should not hurt anyone physically, verbally, and mentally. Any thought, or word, or an action which harms any person keeps our mind in an agitated or reactionary mood. With such a mood, a person cannot focus one’s mind completely. We can focus our mind partially on the Self along with harmful thoughts. But such partial focus cannot help us to attain the highest knowledge. A person with idea of revenge or harming others cannot be a decent human being, not to talk about a Yogi. Therefore, 100% focus of our mind is necessary.

(ii) Satya (Truthfulness): In order to be a Raja Yogi, one has to practice to be truthful in thoughts, speech, and actions. Hypocrites and dishonest people cannot progress in any Yoga. Being truthful prepares a ground to begin our journey to realize the highest knowledge.

(iii) Asteya (Not to Steal): Respecting the property of other people and not stealing builds up self-control. These properties of others could be in any form.

(iv) Brahmacharya (Practicing Celibacy): Sri Ramakrishna said that lust and greed tie mind of a human being to the lower planes and will not let it think anything higher. Brahmacharya is to control lustful thoughts, speech, and actions. There is a short story that encapsulates this point. Someone once had a mongoose as a pet and he had a small ground for it to go around. The ground was surrounded by a wall. To stop mongoose from running away, the owner tied a brick to its tail with a string. Each time mongoose tried to climb the wall to go away, the weight of the brick brought it down. Lust and greed are these weights.

Lust is a natural instinct in all beings to continue the creation of the universe. But, it is a small part of human life. Human beings are not born just to produce more human beings and die. There is much more to life. People forget this and orient their whole lives around this lust-oriented joy. Therefore, they miss a lot of uplifting joy of life which the scriptures describe. The Upanishads say that the sum total of all worldly joys is lesser than one-billionth of the bliss one gets by realizing Atman.

Those who try to fulfill lustful desires are either not aware of or forget the fact that these desires are like fire and attempts to fulfill them are like adding ghee into it. The more we put ghee into the fire, the more it intensifies. It is like the Myth of Sisyphus. Each time one rolls a stone up, it rolls down. Sri Shankaracharya says that trying to fulfill all worldly desires and simultaneously get the highest knowledge is like trying to cross a river holding a crocodile.

What can be done? Not all people can live a life of celibacy. It is true that only 1% of human beings truly renounce everything and fully dedicate their lives for God-realization and service to humanity. In Bhagavad Gita, Sri Krishna says, “All legitimate desires come from Me (God)” (Gita 7.11). That is why in the Hindu system there are four parts of life: Brahmacharya, Gruhastha, Vanprastha and Sanyas. In the younger ages (up to 25 years), students should practice celibacy and devote all their time and energy to acquire moral and spiritual knowledge, learning various skills to make a living in the future and to build their character. Then, there are two choices. One path is to renounce everything for God-realization and service to humanity. The second path is to get married, raise a family properly, and get control over lust and greed. And then, after having experienced the world, they can renounce everything for God-realization and service to humanity. This is Vanaprastha and Sanyasa. Sri Ramakrishna said that after one or two children, the husband and wife should live like brother and sister and should help each other in their spiritual progress. This is possible if they understand the importance of spiritual practices and the bliss, peace, knowledge, and fulfillment that follow. This has to be done very carefully without damaging an individual’s mind and his/her relationship with the spouse.

Controlling and focusing the mind on God or Self is not an easy task for it needs tremendous will-power. This will-power comes from controlling the lustful thoughts and other desires through which our energy runs out. This is where spiritual practice becomes difficult and we need help from the All Mighty. We have to sincerely pray and try. If we are sincere, at right moment help comes from the All Mighty. Actually, devotees feel that only by God’s grace can we do spiritual practices.

(v) Aparigraha (Living with minimum belongings and not receiving any gift or favors from others): Those who have a higher goal of God realization or attaining the highest knowledge need all of the possible time and resources to make progress on achieving this goal. They cannot waste their time maintaining lots of unnecessary material things. That is why they select a “simple life,” meaning to live on minimum number of worldly things. For example, they question to themselves: How many minimum numbers of clothes, shoes, toiletries and other things are needed for me to live? They will find out what the minimum liabilities they should go into are. They chose bare necessities over luxury.

Receiving gifts or favors from others creates a sense of guilt to pay back in some form or other. The giver may have some form of expectation that may result in guilt if we cannot fulfill them. A question comes: “In house-holders life how can we avoid not receiving gift or favors?” The answer is, “We should receive gifts or favors only in unavoidable situations. And whenever we receive any gift or favor, we must try to give back more than what we have received. This way no guilt will be left and mind remains free.”

(2) Niyama: Niyama constitutes the following five observances:

(i) Saucha(External and internal purity): Cleanliness of the body and mind is very important. Cleanliness of body is easy to maintain, but cleanliness of mind takes a long time. When mind is clean, only then does the divinity manifest from within. Thus, cleanliness of mind is the ultimate goal. A Raja Yogi should have this goal of purification in mind and constantly work for it. As mind gets purified, one advances towards one’s true identity, The Divine Self or Atman. One develops a sense of purity, and consequently impurity will make one uncomfortable. We have to remember that whatever takes us away from our divine Self is impure.

(ii) Santosh(Contentment): A student of Raja Yoga develops a sense of contentment. Being in the world, it is natural that we have desires. We need to fulfill legitimate desires. But, we have to realize the following facts: (1) We cannot fully satisfy all the worldly desires. The more we try to fulfill these desires, the more they grow in intensity. (2) The fulfillment of worldly desires gives us little pleasure initially, but then we have to pay a high price for our energy, time, and resources. At the end, the consequences make us suffer more than the pleasure. (3) Worldly desires make us slaves of worldly objects and people. We cannot think and act independently. (4) It is always good to have desires which help us grow spiritually and give us better understanding of our lives. Thus, we have to keep our legitimate desires minimum, be happy with what we have and what we get, and continue striving for spiritual development. Scriptures say that “contentment is the greatest wealth one can have.”

(iii) Tapas(Austerity): We have to learn to bear the pain that comes when we make efforts for spiritual development. People suffer so much to attain a worldly thing which eventually gives them very little joy and still they do not complain. Why then should a spiritual seeker complain in bearing a little suffering which will give infinite joy? If we are forced to remain hungry, it is painful. But, if we willingly fast, then it is an austerity.

(iv) Swadhyaya (Study of Scriptures): A study of the scriptures is important. In the beginning, it is good to listen to the experts who had practiced what the scriptures say and had developed spiritually. Listening to intellectuals who do not practice the essence of scriptures will not help much. Through the God-realized people, we can learn essence of scriptures and practice them. This way we avoid spending our time understanding useless and unnecessary things. We will also avoid misinterpretations of the scriptures. Furthermore, we have to learn what is applicable to us at this given point. Many inessential things of the scriptures are necessary to preserve the essential things. For example, a banana skin is necessary to have banana. But, we have to remove the skin and eat only the banana.

(v) Ishwar Pranidhana (Worship of God): Some form of worship of God is necessary to develop love for God. Also, for a person with body-consciousness, it is important to think God with a form. It will be easier to focus on God with form than God without form.

(3) Asana: We have to master a sitting posture that is comfortable and will help us focus our minds on God. We have mastered a posture if by sitting in that posture we can forget our body and comfortably think of God for an hour or more. Usually, this posture consists of sitting on the floor with crossed legs. For a normal healthy person, the mastery of this posture can be developed through regular spiritual practice. Those who have been advanced in the spiritual path say that sitting crossed-legged while keeping the spinal column, neck and head in straight line, helps focus our minds on God or our spiritual ideal. The Bhagavad Gita also describes the same posture in the shlokas 6.13.

(4) Pranayama: Our breathing is connected with our state of mind. If we are calm, then our breathing is slow, smooth, even from both the nostrils, and has fewer inhale-exhale units per minute. If our mind is excited, agitated, angry, or scared, then our breathing will be faster, shorter, and will have more units of inhale-exhale per minute. Also, we do not need to breathe from both of our nostrils all the time. This depends on our state of mind. Naturally our mind is calm when night meets day and in the evening when day meets night. These are the best times to pray, do japa, or meditate.

Raja Yoga also teaches how to do the opposite – to control the mind by controlling breathing. This has to be done systematically and in the presence of an expert. Otherwise, one may damage one’s mind. Along with this breathing exercise (Pranayama), one has to do all the practices described above for self-control.

(5) Pratyahara: We must get control over the mind’s power of attaching and detaching to our sense-organs. This can be done with 3 things. (1) One must observe how various thoughts come and how the mind gets attached or detached from the sense-organs and their objects. Mostly, the mind gets attached to the sense-organs and their objects through desires, causing the mind to wander around. By observing the mind and having desire to get control over the mind, the desires and thoughts get reduced over a period of time. (2) One must have the will-power to withdraw the mind from the sense-organs and their useless desires. Using too much force is not good. This has to be done cleverly without breaking the mind’s ability to function. (3) One must explain to his/her mind how useless it is to run after every desire that comes to the mind. By discrimination, from all desires, we have to separate the favorable and legitimate desires and the harmful illegitimate desires. Then, tell the mind to get rid of the latter desires and focus on the favorable and legitimate desires.

(6) Dharana: Practice to focus the mind on God or Self (Atman; our True Identity) and keep it focused as long as possible. The mind has to be focused and must remain steady like the flame of an oil-lamp or the candle in a windless environment. If we can focus our mind continuously on God or Self for twelve seconds then it is called Dharana. Imagine, we have to focus continuously for only twelve seconds! But, the mind’s activities are very fast and can in fact be measured in nanoseconds. However, yogis can still control and focus their mind on God or Self. Many people focus their mind unconsciously on the worldly object they love. We have to use this ability in the spiritual path in order to obtain the unlimited bliss, deeper knowledge of ourselves, unselfish love for all, and fulfillment of life.

(7) Dhyana (Meditation): When the focus of our mind becomes steady, then we can go into meditation. Twelve seconds of continuous focus of our mind on God or Self makes one unit of Dharana and twelve such units of Dharana makes one unit of Dhyana or meditation. When people say that they are meditating, then they are actually NOT meditating. Because, when one is aware that ‘I am meditating,’ that is a distraction of the mind. In meditation, there is no awareness of anything except the form of God or Self. One only becomes aware of the meditation after the actual meditation happened. Trying to meditate is different than meditation. In meditation, there is no awareness of body, time and space.

(8) Samadhi: This is the final stage of consciousness in which the meditator, the object of meditation, and the meditation become one. Twelve units of meditation lead one into Samadhi. It is very difficult to attain Samadhi. However, it is not impossible. People have witnessed Sri Ramakrishna attaining Samadhi often. Any thought of God or any uplifting thought would take his mind to either God (Mother Kali) or further into Infinite Atman or Brahman. Doctors have even checked his physical state during Samadhi and found that all the activities of body have stopped, though his face continued beaming with divine bliss. In Samadhi, Sri Ramakrishna was oblivious of the space, time, and environment. Only towards the end of his Samadhi would his mind slowly become aware of space, time, and environment. Regaining consciousness, his words would become very powerful, filled with inspiration and wisdom. Being one with the Universal Mother in Samadhi, he used to say, “The Universal Mother speaks through me.” By a mere look and touch, he transformed many people’s lives for good. These people (his direct disciples) inspired millions of people all over the world. Following Sri Ramakrishna’s guidance, they uplifted themselves, removed their sufferings, experienced infinite bliss, and served humanity with their unselfish service. This is the outcome of Samadhi. A person experiencing Samadhi can improve lives of millions of people.

Six Centers of Spiritual Consciousness: Raja Yoga also includes six centers of consciousness.

These centers are in the spinal column and match with the nervous-system of a human being. According to Raja Yoga, the consciousness of a person moves along three subtle nerve channels called Ida, Pingala, and Sushumna. If we take a horizontal figure eight ( or the infinity symbol and pile up several of these symbols one on top of the other, that would resemble what prepares the nerve channels of Ida, Pingala, and Sushumna. The left circle represents Ida, the right circle represents Pingala, and the middle hollow part is Sushumna. This column goes from sacral plexus to the top of the brain. The different plexuses that have centers in the spinal column do match with the centers of Raja Yoga. Usually, the messages between brain and other nerve centers travel through Ida and Pingala. Yet, a Raja Yogi, through control on the senses and mind, develops a faster communication between brain and the senses through Sushumna. The signals travel through air like wireless communication. It is amazing that when Swami Vivekananda explained the work of Sushumna, the wireless communication was not even invented.

These six centers of Raja Yoga range from the lowest plane of gross impulses to the highest plane of pure bliss.

(i) Muladhara (Center symbolized with a four-petal lotus): This is the first state of consciousness. When mind is at this level, a person thinks only of food, guided by gross subconscious desires.

(ii) Swadhisthan (symbolized with a six-petal lotus): At this level of consciousness, a person is constantly swayed by gross impulses, imaginations, and animalistic propensities.

(iii) Manipur (symbolized with a ten-petal lotus): This is situated at the naval level of an individual. At this level, one feels that as clouds obstruct the vision of sun, the clouds of gross urges and impulses are obstructing the Truth.

(iv) Anahata (symbolized with a twelve-petal lotus): This is situated at the level of heart. When consciousness rises at this level, an individual starts getting a glimpse of the Ultimate Truth or God or Self. Every now and then the clouds of the gross urges go away and one has spiritual vision of God or Self.

(v) Vishuddha (symbolized with a sixteen-petal lotus): When mind rises to this level of consciousness and stays there most of the time, then all impurities of the mind goes away.

(vi) Ajna (symbolized with a two-petal lotus): This center lies between eyebrows. At this level of consciousness, one has clear vision of God or Self. However, it is as if an extremely clear and thin glass surrounds this God or Self. This clear glass is the thin ego of a person who wants to enjoy the vision of God or Self.

Vedanta talks about seventh stage of consciousness.

(vii) Sahastrara (symbolized with a thousand-petal lotus): It is located at the crown of the head. When the consciousness rises to this level, an individual becomes one with God or Self. All the ideas of identification of an individual with body and mind vanish. An individual’s consciousness merges with the Universal Consciousness. Now a person feels Oneness with all. One feels that everything is manifestation of consciousness (Brahman). One directly sees that consciousness (Brahman) has become everything. There is no matter.

With above mentioned practices of Raja Yoga, one can raise one’s consciousness from the lowest level to the highest level.

Dangers:

(1) Usually people think that Yoga refers to just a few physical exercises to live a healthy life and get some mental peace. This wrong impression prevents them to get something higher. It is like people seeing few pictures of Himalayas and thinking that they have seen Himalayas. By just seeing a picture, they cannot get thrilling experience of the grandeur and beauty of Himalayas.

(2) People look at the requirements to be a Raja Yogi and become afraid that they can never be such a yogi. The steps of Raja Yoga are so clearly described that people get overwhelmed. But, with determination and practice, one can become a true Raja Yogi.

(3) In Raja Yoga, “Laya” is a great obstacle. When people travel in a car or a train or a plane, they fall in sleep by the rhythm. Similarly, in Raja Yoga when people try to meditate, most of the time “Laya” comes and people cannot separate this lazy state of mind from the actual meditative state. People spend years remaining at this stage believing that they have attained meditative state. A highly meditative state and a state of inertness look alike. Swami Vivekananda clearly stated the difference between a person in Samadhi and a person in deep sleep. He said that an ignorant person feels physically good after falling in deep sleep, but remains ignorant. On the other hand, when an ignorant person goes into Samadhi, he becomes wise.

(Thanks to Ronak Parikh for editing this post.)

Four Spiritual Practices and Four Yogas – Part I

June 23, 2014ReflectionsFour Yogas, Spiritual Practicesmahendrajani

(This is a first part of a series of posts)

When 12^th graders of 2014 class were graduating this year, I reminded them the four spiritual practices. I told them that these practices will help them to grow spiritually and will bring them inner peace and fulfillment of life. Getting good education, making money, having a good family and all other legitimate joys of the world are good, but one has to pay a very high price for these joys and these joys are short-lived. Without spiritual practices one cannot have longer-lasting happiness, proper understanding of life, pure love, and inner peace.

The four spiritual practices covers all the four yogas described in Bhagavad Gita. I am sure you know that one of the major contributions of Bhagavad Gita is the description of four Yogas: Jnana Yoga, Karma Yoga, Raja Yoga and Bhakti Yoga. Let me first share with you briefly my understanding about these four yogas.

(To acquire full knowledge of these four yogas, we have to study Swami Vivekananda’s lectures on these yogas which were given in New York, study Bhagavad Gita, listen to the experts, reflect upon them, practice what we had learned, and acquire the highest knowledge.)

The Four Yogas - Swami Vivekananda — Lectures of Swami Vivekananda on Four Yogas

‘Yoga’ roughly means a path to connect with the Ultimate Reality which we may call Brahman, God, the Ultimate Truth, or the Supreme Power. The Sanskrit root of the word Yoga is yunja, means to connect.

Jnana Yoga: This is path of Knowledge. By proper reasoning which we call discrimination (viveka) between real or permanent and impermanent one can realize the Ultimate Reality or Brahman. Along with discrimination one needs renunciation (vairagya). When we find something which is impermanent, we have to discard it even though our senses and mind crave for it. For example, body and mind are constantly changing and so they are impermanent. Thus, the pleasures of body and mind cannot be the goal of our life. We must seek something beyond these pleasures.

With reasoning we have to realize that there is something unchangeable behind our body and mind in whose background we perceive the changes of our body and mind. This Unchangable is called Atman, a part of Brahman in us. We have to realize this Atman. This Atman is divine. It is our True Identity whose nature is Sat-Chit-Ananda, Existence-Knowledge-Bliss absolute. We have to realize that only by realizing this Atman we get infinite bliss, infinite knowledge, and infinite life which is immortality.

We must realize that this Atman is in all irrespective of people’s color, creed, culture, country, religion, gender, or any other differences. The final stage is to realize that Atman or Brahman has become everything living and non-living.

Practices: One of the practices for Jnana Yoga is reading and/or listening to scriptures and trying to understand what the Ultimate Reality is. We do not reason to denounce what has been said in the scriptures, but reason to understand what they say. Once we understand what the Ultimate Reality is, then we have to meditate on It and realize It. We should have a direct perception of the Ultimate Reality. We perceive that our true identity is Atman and not body and mind. It is NOT an intellectual knowledge.

Test of Achievement of the Goal: What is the test to know that we have realized the Ultimate Reality? The test is that one manifests in one’s life the characteristics of ‘a person with steady intellect’ as described in Bhagavad Gita (Gita 2.55-72). One sees the same Ultimate Reality in all. One loves all, hates none and be ready to sacrifice one’s life for the good of all just as loving mothers do for their children.

Dangers: Many people love Jnana Yoga because they think that Jnana Yoga means just read books and meditate. The other Yogas require many other things to do than reading and meditating.

Jnana Yoga is not just reading and meditating. In Jnana Yoga, one has to acquire total control over senses and mind. One has to become completely desire-less since desire binds the body and mind to the worldly objects which are impermanent and makes one forgets Atman. Sri Ramakrishna found that lust and greed drags the mind to the body and mind. At some point if he was touching a coin or even a metal he used to get an electric shock. His body-mind completely followed what his discriminating intellect said.

One of the dangers in Jnana Yoga is that a person thinks that ‘I am one with Atman. I am not body and mind.’ But in reality he/she slowly becomes inactive and lazy. He/she neither makes any spiritual progress nor acquires anything in the world. His/her behavior does not match with the characteristics of a spiritually advanced person described in the scriptures. Such a person never even listens to any advice from an expert person.

Karma Yoga: Karma Yoga is a path to attain the highest knowledge or to realize the Ultimate Reality or Brahman through performing actions or responsibilities.

Each individual by birth has been assigned responsibilities. For example, parents have responsibilities towards children and children have towards parents. We have civic and other responsibilities. Karma Yoga says that just by properly performing one’s responsibilities one can attain the highest knowledge. Swami Tyagananda of Boston Vedanta Society, USA, says that each action is like a key. It is the same key; if we turn it right it locks the door and if we turn it left it opens the door. Thus, the same action if we perform it in an improper way it makes us ignorant or slaves while if we perform it in a proper way, it leads us towards the highest knowledge and makes us free from bondages. Bhagavad Gita says, “Skillfully performing every action is Yoga.” (Gita 2.50)

What is the right way to perform any action?

The following ways are all connected. They are divided just for convenience.

(1) Work like a master, not like a slave: When we work, we become slave of the results of our action. Most of the time the result of the action occupies our mind more than thinking and applying effective ways to perform the action. Suppose a student while studying for a test, occupies his/her mind with thoughts like ‘Am I going to pass the test?’, or ‘What grade am I going to get?’, ‘What if I fail the test?’, ‘What if I don’t get grade A?’ Then, the student has more chances not to do well on the test. A player who keeps thinking of winning or losing the game has higher probability to lose the game. Also, the result of our action decides whether we will be happy or sad. It has been proven by many examples from people’s lives that those who focus more on the performance of the action and provide themselves all the necessary skills and tools have a better record of achieving success consistently. Such people learn from their failures, improve themselves constantly, and enjoy what they are doing. These people work like masters. People who are slaves of the results of actions, are constantly under tension, and remain miserable most of the time. Such people cannot enjoy the actions. They hardly learn from their failures and blame the whole world about their failures.

One may ask: ‘Is it possible not to think of the result of any action?’ ‘Is it wise not to think of the result of action?’ It is true that we cannot avoid thinking of the result of our action. Actually, we have to think of the result and see that our actions bring good results. But, thinking wisely about the results and not becoming slave of the results is the technique we have to learn. That is Karma Yoga.

Those who are devotees of God offer the results of their actions to God. If good results come, they thank God to help them achieve success. If the result is not good, they think that God wants them to learn something and improve. Thus, they do not get attached to the results of their actions. They perform their actions with fully focused mind because they think that they are doing God’s work. Peace immediately follows when one offers the results of actions to God (Gita 12.12)

One way to develop detachment for the results of actions is to keep in our mind the fact that everything belongs to God (the creator, the sustainer, and the dissolver) and we are appointed to perform our responsibilities. Sri Ramakrishna said that work like a house-maid who works in the house as if everything belongs to her, but in her mind she knows that the Master of the house can give her layoff and she has to be ready to quit everything any minute.

No work is inferior: Each responsibility (if it is not harmful to oneself and others) is important. No work is inferior. Many times one does not like one’s own responsibility and likes other people’s responsibilities. Bhagavad Gita says that it is better to perform one’s own responsibility than performing other people’s responsibility (Gita 3.35).

Keep mind balanced: Through properly performing every action one can attain inner peace and highest knowledge. Properly performing means keeping the mind balanced. We have to learn to keep the mind balanced. Passion is needed to perform any work. But, passion has to be controlled as we control the gas-paddle while driving. Pumping gas in necessary when we drive, but we harm ourselves and others if it is beyond control. Bhagavad Gita says that the highest ideal to attain is to be like ‘action-less’ when one is fully engaged in action and when we meditate we look like in the state of ‘action-less’ but our mind is fully active controlling all our thoughts (Gita 4.18)

Keep higher motive: Karma Yogi’s goal is to realize one’s own True Identity (Atman), the divine inner Self. Performing actions are just means to attain to that. If there is no higher motive, then we become like machines. Actually, every action we perform, every word we speak, and every thought we think leaves a mark on our mind and that builds up our personality. According to our personality we react to any situation. If we build up positive and constructive personality, then our reaction to the situation will be proper and beneficial. The result will be joy, better understanding of people and creating an unselfish loving environment. If we build up negative and destructive personality, then after every situation comes depression, reaction, anger, jealousy, and a state of blaming whole world for the failures. Such agitated state of mind cannot give us happiness and inner peace.

Acquire proper tools and skills: Bhagavad Gita describes four things which are under our control to successfully accomplish any work; knowledge of the field of action, field of action, tools required to perform action, and to perform any action. Suppose I want to pass a test in one field. I must register for the test (field of action), I must buy books or needed material to study for the test (tools needed), I must attend classes and study the material (knowledge of the field), and I must take the test (to perform action). All these are under our control. But, I may get sick on the day of the test, I may blank-out during test, I may have a flat tire and cannot make the time of the test or something happens and I do not pass the test. Thus, the result is not in our hand. If we do all the four things which are in our control, then there are higher chances to get a good result. But, there never will be 100% guarantee to expect a positive result (Gita 18.13-14).

Develop service attitude: Finally, the authority (scriptures) on the Karma Yoga say that we have to learn to perform every action as a service to God (or as an offering to the welfare of humanity). What we gain is knowledge, purity of mind, self-control, and freedom from all bondages. Of course, these will bring inner peace, unlimited happiness, and fulfillment. Great Saint Shri Shankaracharya says that ‘May my every action be a worship of the Lord Shiva.’ We perform every action with focused mind, with love and care, and for the good of all as if we are worshiping our beloved God. We perform every action with knowledge and devotion and for knowledge and devotion.

This is a fact that whatever we do for our own body-mind enjoyment has limited joy. We will never be happy with it. We want more and more. But, if we do service unselfishly for the good of others give us unlimited joy and will remember forever. Swami Vivekananda said that those who live for others really live their life. The rest (those who perform only selfish activities for one’s own body-mind pleasures) are more dead than alive. Also, by doing good to others we do good to ourselves. Let us be Karma Yogi and live a joyful life.

Practices:

1. We have to know our responsibilities and start performing them.

2. Learn the skills of Karma Yoga from Bhagavad Gita, Swami Vivekananda’s lectures, from the experts, and experiment these lessons in our lives. This way we keep improving in our performance of actions.

3. Measure the success of Karma Yoga by our spiritual development and not by the actions performed.

4. Practices of other three yogas help to become a better Karma Yogi.

Dangers:

1. If we do not have spiritual goal, then just performing responsibilities wears us out and brings harmful reactions.

2. Without spiritual goal, service to others can develop ego, and desire for name and fame. Many a times, “mouth bites the hand which feeds it”. People whom one has helped may insults or criticize for no reason. At that time, one can get frustrated.

3. One gets easily attached to the work. Then spiritual growth gets forgotten and the purpose of performing actions will not be served.

(to be continued in the next post)