Yoga of Universal Brotherhood

All that which falls within the purview of the five senses is known as the empirical. As these senses – of smell, taste, sight, touch and hearing – are the preceptors of pleasure and pain, it goes without saying that advancements in empirical science have been resulting in ever-increasing means to heighten both pleasure as well as pain.

If we devote just a few moments to look at our own such sensations from a third party point of view, we would conclude that these sensations are in fact being referred to our own ego, the sense of “I” ness. If this were not so then the same objects would have produced the same sensation in everybody and in equal degree. Thus, the ego is the traceable birthplace of all desires and also reason for the relentless but futile struggle to satisfy them.

The question is; who in reality is struggling in such a futile manner? If this is my body and this is my mind, then who is the real ‘I’? The wise call it Atman. It is always the Atman that wants to experience reality in all creation. It is always ego or ahamkara, the ruler of body and mind that always short-changes the Atman in the process. In other words, the ego domain forces an identification of the real self with body and mind.

So strong is the grip of ahamkara that even in death it remains attached to the karmana-sharira or casual body along with all unfulfilled desires. In due course the soul is reborn in another bodily form and there ensues yet another round of struggle to appease the ahamkara through the agency of available sense apparatus.

We can thus further conclude that in essence, the inequality amongst not just humans but across all creatures is simply the inequality in the latent and manifest desires, both good and bad along with the apparatus and opportunity made available by divinity to satisfy the same.

As far as humans are concerned, we see that the apparatus is misused since opportunity is greatly misconstrued. The high level of “I” ness or ahamkara inevitably makes us oblivious to our individually inherent differences in deservedness which we were born with. Leading too much distress and disharmony.

IN view of these underlying facts, all external efforts towards precipitating “peace” and “mutual brotherhood” will come to naught as the individual mind is distraught, being full of unfulfilled desires, having their roots in the subconscious, in the form of innumerable polarities. Experiencing the commonality amongst all, realizing that outer differences manifest as a result of differences in karmic past and finding an easy way to progressively free oneself from these deep-set differences would in reality pave the way towards attaining these noble goals.

Fortunately, animation of Atman into body and mind takes place due to the grace of prana shakti, the dynamic principle of Mother Nature.

If mind, which is forever engaged in desire-satisfying activities, dictated by the ego, merges into prana shakti, this divinely intelligent force which is our own higher dynamic aspect, finds its way into the hither to untraversed subconscious, which is the storehouse of all hidden, unfulfilled desires.

Prana shakti then neutralizes one by one, through precipitation of various autonomous yoga kriyas, all the hidden polarities which represent unfulfilled desires. As self-purification takes place, one can progressively experience Universal Brotherhood in its real aspect.

Why We Expect so Much

We tend to get caught in sense illusion. We feed illusions and mistake that for fulfillment. The minute what we expected to achieve does not happen, it makes us feel disturbed. And if the same situation turns in our favor, it excites our senses. However, joy and sorrow are never permanent. They have tendencies to change in accordance to the situation. So whatever is bound to change is not real and what is not real cannot be true.

What, then, is truth? Changing situations are always the reason for our happiness or unhappiness. But neither the changing situations are real nor the joys and sorrows. They are just relative terms. These are creations of our avivek or lack of discrimination that makes us float on the surface, preventing us from knowing our true nature. The five subtle organs of sense, that of touch, smell, taste, hearing and sight keep us occupied all through life and we are unable to look beyond these.

The world is bound by causation of changes; therefore nothing is permanent. Environmental changes are seen in the shifting seasons, alternating day and nights and the movement of the earth signifies these changes. On the physical plane these are present in the form of positive or negative emotions. Positive feelings fill us with joy whereas being caught in the web of negativity reflects unhappiness, insecurity, uneasiness and in its more intense form irritation and anger.

We get caught in a whirlpool of being happy or sad due to ignorance of our real self. Our true nature is love and that is concealed in pure consciousness. Depriving us of this true nature draws us to experience unhappiness and discontentment. Once we become aware that the changes are meant to be only on the surface or at the gross body level it is slowly revealed to us that we are but pure consciousness. We always exist with it. Only the discriminative power is absent.

The causes which are exact opposites are limited and occasional whereas the joy of Brahman is self-existent, universal and independent of particular causes and objects. There is no obligation to be pleased with success and pained with failure; both can be met with perfect equanimity. Our attitude to pleasure and pain is determined by force of habit. Actually it is ego-consciousness that enjoy and suffers. It continues to do so as long as it is bound up with the use of life and body and is dependent on them for its knowledge and action. But when the mind becomes disinterested and free and sinks into a secret serenity, when its consciousness becomes illuminated, it gladly accepts whatever happiness, knowing full well that these contacts come and go.

The illuminated consciousness removes avidya or ignorance and the glory of truth is revealed; the sat-chit-ananda. Deliberating on this reality gives us true insight into our pure self. Sat is truth or existence, chit is intelligence or consciousness and ananda is bliss. By constant and conscious reminders one could work towards dwelling in this permanent Truth. When all penetrating existence that is formless shapeless, Supreme energy in Creation become one with the intelligence or experiences the aspect of pure consciousness, one enters into a state of eternal happiness and divine bliss or ananda.

When a Rose is not a Rose

A wilting rose, wrinkling skin, graying hair, growing kid, all of these remind us of one fact of life, and that fact is: Impermanence. Has this fact of life ever troubled you? Disturbed you deeply? Then you are lucky, because in you, a Buddha could be born. All of us are aware of the story how Siddhartha became the Buddha because he was deeply perturbed by the scenes of a sick person, an old man and a dead body being carried to the burial ground. It prompted him to question the nature of life and led him finally to nirvana.

Let us enquire, is suffering truly in the fact that our skin is less charming or in the fact that we are not as much in control of our business or household as we were 20 or 30 years ago? No. Our suffering is in the non-acceptance of change.

Why do we resist change? It is because we are afraid of losing the beautiful experiences of life. Love, pleasure, significance, happiness, comfort and other beauties of life that we cherish, we do not want the ruthless wave of life to wash them away. We do not know what the 'new' might hold for us. Fear of uncertainty drives us to resist change. On the contrary if permanence were the nature of life, then what if pain, displeasure, anger, disappointment, fear, frustration and the whole host of unpleasant experiences continue ad infinitum? That would be, being stuck in a hellhole.

Seated beneath the Pipal tree 2,500 years ago, Buddha taught the Pratitya Samutpada Sutra which said, "True happiness is this is not, then that is not" True happiness is sourced in wisdom that everything changes. Change happens as the factors that go to constitute something change. Your skin changes when there are biological changes. That we know. What causes a relationship to change? The emotion you feel towards a person is dependent on the perceptions you hold at that point of time.

As life throws up more and more experiences, your perceptions keep changing. Love, affection, friendship do continue through life but they, too take on the changes life brings on them and evolve with time. That is why it started. It changes with passing years. If necessary awareness is brought to it, it has the potential to give you more joy and togetherness. In unawareness the relationship could degenerate into pain and displeasure.

As we observe the truth of what the Buddha spoke, we come to clarity, to peace with ourselves. Who have we to blame? What can really be held responsible for our unhappiness? Some deep seated anguish, disappointments and yearnings lose charge over us as this wisdom dawns. All of us have a control freak hidden in us shrieking for absolute power over everything; all of us have a perfectionist hankering for the creme de la creme in every situation; all of us have a lover in us looking out for ideal responses from loved ones. How do you think our thirst could ever be quenched? It can only be appeased. Hence, the Buddha spoke of freedom as the appeasement of all obsessions. Our obsessions can be appeased when we see what life is at this moment; it is not the next moment. A rose is not a rose if it stays forever.

What Do You Think

A person is said to have achieved yoga, union with the Self, when the perfectly disciplined mind gets free of all desires, and becomes absorbed in the Self alone.                      Gita 6.18

We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.                    Gautam Buddha

The powers of the mind should be concentrated and the mind turned back upon itself, as the darkest places reveal their secrets before the penetrating rays of the sun, so will the concentrated mind penetrate its own inner most secrets.                    Swami Vivekananda

The thinker is the thought. We would like it to be different so that the thinker may explain the things to himself by means of the thought.

Full of Faith

A man of faith, absorbed in faith, his senses controlled, attains knowledge and knowledge attained quickly finds Supreme peace. But the ignorant man, who is without faith, goes doubting to destruction. For the neither doubting self there is neither this world, nor the next nor joy.                Gita 4.39-40

Faith is composed of the heart's intention. Light comes through faith. Through faith men come to prayer. Faith in the morning, faith at noon and at the setting of the sun. O Faith, give us faith!                   Rigveda

The Thirst of Fame

Generally everything in life comes in pairs. Not in terms of opposites but in terms of ensuring balance inexistence. Like rights come with duty, freedom comes with responsibility and so on. The secret is to identify the pairs. Some of them are visible and taken for granted. For some others, you have to play something like a memory game..... You have to search out the pair. When any concept is understood along with its pair then it becomes firmly rooted and gives more results than when it is tackled or pursued in isolation.

One such single which is hunting for its pair is fame. Most people seek fame. Some want international recognition and work towards that some want national acclaim and yet others are happy being the leader in the family circle or the colony community. Again the reason for the fame and the talent being showcased can be as varied as flowers in a garden. To celebrate the idea of fame we also have many record books that document the different fields.

Our quest for fame is perhaps only younger than our quest for truth. Psychologists say that every human being seeks immortality and therefore seeks fame..... So that they live beyond their calendar years at least in name. And that is why there is the obsession to 'become'.

Fame brings immediate power. Sometimes the power of fame may not bring any wealth. But it brings honor and respect. What makes the fame lasting? What pairs with fame? Much too often fame is confused with the riches it might bring it is believed that if money is made, dignity and respect will naturally accrue. That is not entirely untrue. Money does buy many things..... But that which is bought, also sells is it not? As the market decides the price for such things, the halo of fame remains, but the substances that makes it, in terms of adulation and trust that the famous inspire, gets whittled down.

On looking a little closer one finds that, since the power wielded by fame is derived from it, lasting fame will accrue only when you recognize from whom you have derived that power and invest it back in them or that. Sacred books live eternally because they invest the reader with the power of divine blessing. Leaders derive their power from the people, parents from their children, a cook from the people who scour his food, a designer from his craftsmen and so it goes, in every field of life.

The pair of fame is thus service, which is to be useful. When there is service, fame comes automatically and this fame is rooted in a noble activity. To remember this is the path to the kind of fame that lives after you is what makes you immortal. That is why a good teacher is remembered at all times and is 'famous' among students of the school and their families.

The Sanskrit tradition identified long ago that the eternal quality of fame and the dignity it inspires is oft-smudged by the grime of life. What remains and dominated all actions is the desire for fame. So it is said humorously in a subhashitani (a couplet which has an inherent lesson in it) that break a pot, tear your clothes and ride a donkey, if you may, but make sure you become famous - at any cost! But surely, not at the cost of crossing the thin line that divides fame from notoriety?