Guru Poornima

Swami Satyananda Saraswati

Begin to practice spiritual sadhana from this day. Generate fresh waves of spirituality. Let all that you have read, heard, seen and learned be transformed through sadhana into selfless service, and continuous prayer and worship of the lord seated in all beings. It is not enough to renounce your home and duties for the sake of god-realization. You will have to awaken unshakable faith and supreme love for your lord within.

Your soul is all powerful. Your lord is all powerful. He is within you and you will be able to meet him in meditation. He will come to you in flesh and blood. He will talk to you and take you by the hand. In meditation when one rises above body consciousness, the inner lord manifests and comes to you. Then you can experience his loving and divine presence. Strengthen your faith on this occasion of Guru Poornima.

By guru's grace you are given dharma, sadhana and unshakable faith. These three you should constantly uphold. You are expected to be true and earnest in your sadhana to God and guru. Nobody should be able to shatter your noble faith and spiritual convictions.

Guru alone can break the binding cords of attachment, and release the aspirant from the trammels of earthly existence. Guru is God himself. He guides and inspires us from the innermost core of our being. He is the supreme spirit everywhere.

Behold the entire universe as guru swaroop (guru's true form). See the guiding hand, the awakening voice, the illuminating wisdom of the guru in every object of creation. The guru will reveal all the precious secrets of life and bestow all knowledge. The supreme guru manifested in visible nature will teach you the most valuable lessons of life. Worship this guru of gurus who taught avadhoot Dattatreya. The silent, all enduring earth with its lofty forbearance, the shady fruit bearing tree with its willing self-sacrifice, the mighty peepul reposing with patience in the tiny seed, the dripping water whose persistence wears away the rocks, the planets and the seasons with their order and regularity - all are divine gurus to him who will look, listen and receive. Empty yourself of your petty sense of ego. Become pure and unattached as the mountain breeze, then all the treasures in the bosom of nature will be yours. Be like the river which flows continually, steadily and constantly towards the ocean. Every moment of your life, keep moving towards the ocean. Every moment of your life, keep moving towards the supreme state of existence-knowledge-bliss. Let all your thoughts, words and actions be directed only towards this goal. You will progress and attain perfection in an amazingly short time. Purify yourself through the full moon's reflection of the glorious light of the atman.

Guru Poornima is on July 7th.

This is your rebirth day - be ready.

Empty yourself so you can be filled with music.

Bathe in nectar and await the rising sun.

As darkness disappears, shake your body and mind.

Let your old samskaras drop away.

Tune in with me on the spiritual plane

And begin to live a beautiful new life.

Guru Punima will be celebrated at Rikhiapeeth on 7^th July 2009 from 7 am to 10 am in the presence of Paramhansa Satyananda . All are welcome.

Guru Poornima

Swami Satyananda Saraswati

Just as people around the world observe All Saints Day or All Souls Day, here in India on Guru Poornima we celebrate All Gurus Day. Poornima is the full moon, which represents the highest point of realization, when the light shines in absolute and utter darkness. So, guru is the one who shines like the full moon on a dark night. Therefore, once a year, on the full moon of July, we get together and celebrate Guru Poornima and rededicate everything to guru.

We observe Guru Poornima each year in order to remind ourselves of our spiritual heritage and to re-establish our link with the higher forces that guide our evolution. Guru is the one who has completely transformed his consciousness. He lives in this world but his spirit is always soaring in the highest dimension beyond space and time. Having completed his evolutionary cycle, there is nothing left for him to do but help raise the consciousness level of humanity.

The guru tradition is not a modern one; it is most ancient. Even before the advent of man, guru existed in the form of nature, which guided the seasons, the plants and the animals. Prehistoric and Stone Age man had gurus; the animists, naturists and idolators had gurus. Those who practiced animal sacrifice, who believed in abstract gods, who wanted to learn magic, siddhi and witchcraft, had gurus.

The tradition of guru is not only confined to India. The Atlantis civilization had more gurus than any other civilization up to date. South America, Europe, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Tibet, China and Japan had gurus. The guru tradition is universal, but with so many wars and the ravages of time, it was gradually destroyed all over the world. No country was able to preserve it except India.

Therefore, we are celebrating Guru Poornima only in India, but if you study the ancient South American traditions, you will see that they also had Guru Poornima. Thousands of years ago, there must have been Guru Poornima all over the world.

Guru/disciple relationship is surely one of the most significant aspects of human development. This relationship forms the basis of all cults, organizations and institutions, whether spiritual or otherwise. When we think about the great cultures that have flourished in the past, as well as those in existence today, we realize that they too are based on this same vital relationship. All the traditions, arts and sciences have been handed down generation after generation from guru to disciple, master to apprentice, father to son.

The guru/disciple relationship is man's link with the higher faculties, the greater dimensions of his being. Without it, we would be hopelessly lost in the external world of diversities. It is only the saving grace of the gurus and masters which guides us back to the inner source from which all our higher potentials emanate. This is why the great teachers have always been regarded as the cornerstones of higher culture. Without their knowledge and inspiration, the traditions would not be enduring, the culture would not last.

In India we consider the gurus and rishis from ancient times right up to the present day, as the light and strength of our cultural heritage. What they taught and wrote in the Vedas, Upanishads and Tantras, was not an empty philosophy, but a complete science of living. They encouraged the people to strive to fulfill their lives with abstinence, self-control, inner vision and self-knowledge. These qualities have a powerful influence on the whole society. Should all the people cultivate them, you can well imagine the heights to which such a culture would rise. Indeed, it would become a virtual utopia.

Our gurus and rishis had in their minds the creation of exactly such a culture. After thousands of years of experimentations, they came up with a system by which every individual could reorient himself and push open the doors of his perception. This is the science of yoga. Just as the potter fires his clay pots to make them strong, so yoga provides heat treatment for the vulnerable mind. It tempers and makes it strong enough to bear the upheavals of life.

Although the gurus envisioned an evolved human race, and knew that such a culture had once flourished throughout the world, they were unable to effectively introduce yoga into the society of their times due to the adverse political situations. So, they remained in isolation and preserved the knowledge of this system for the time when mankind would again be ready for it.

This was the situation that prevailed right up to the twentieth century when the Age of Aquarius finally dawned. In this period, the rulership of the kings and monarchs passed into the hands of the individual. As people were given more freedom to participate in the affairs of community and state, they also began to assume more responsibility for their personal lives. At first, with the distribution of wealth and the coming of industrialization, people developed a more materialistic approach to life. But today this trend is rapidly reversing as more and more people become tired of materialism and look to yoga for a solution to their problems and a better way of life.

Now the people are ready for yoga and the time is ripe for restoring the yogic culture. Many realized souls are now moving amongst the people and helping to make yoga more accessible by establishing yoga ashrams and centers around the world.

So, today, we are witnessing the beginning of a great yogic renaissance. We are preparing for a gigantic leap forward in the evolution of mankind. Soon people everywhere will be practicing yoga, and those who are not practicing will at least know something about it. This year we are celebrating Guru Poornima in India, but before long it will become an international festivity as men, women and children everywhere, gather to dedicate themselves to the guru and to the coming of the yogic culture.

Guru Punima will be celebrated at Rikhiapeeth on 7^th July 2009 from 7 am to 10 am in the presence of Paramhansa Satyananda . All are welcome.

KRIYA YOGA

Swami Satyananda Saraswati

Kriya yoga is a combination of many practices. It is related to hatha yoga in general and to the tantric tradition in particular. In the ancient scriptures or books on tantra, you find many references to kriya practices. All of them are not explained together. In `Maha Nirvana Tantra', the `Tantra of the Great Liberation', you find references to six important kriya practices. Similarly, in the other tantric texts, the practices of kriya yoga are mentioned here and there. In these tantric texts, the practices of kriya yoga are described in a very symbolic manner. With the help of my guru, I was able to decipher and explain these kriyas further. In fact, when you practise kriya yoga, you do not consider this body as a compound or a combination of flesh, blood, bone, marrow, etc., which is what you are taught in school. The basic philosophy and concept of kriya yoga in particular and yoga in general, is that this body is a field of energy.

Three forms of energy

What do we mean by energy field? This physical body which appears to be fleshy, gross and physical, is not so in reality. It has a field of energy which is not a philosophical, psychological, mythological or symbolic concept. When we talk about energy, we are not talking about an idea, we are talking about a flow of current. What is energy and what is the definition of energy in relation to the body and mind?
This physical body is three forms of energy. One is mental energy, which can be measured with the most sophisticated instruments today. Another is pranic energy or vital energy, which can also be measured by scientific instruments. The third energy is known as spiritual energy and nobody has yet measured that. These are the three forms of energy.
Out of these three energies, the first two function regularly in the body. In yoga they are known as ida and pingala, in tantra as Shiva and Shakti, and in modern science as time and space. The changes which occur in the level of these two energies during the practices of yoga are now being measured by researchers. Besides these two energies, there is the third energy called spiritual energy, or in yogic terms, sushumna. This energy has to be awakened, and to awaken it is the prime purpose of kriya yoga.
Mental energy is already functioning. It is manifest as you know. Without mental energy both you and I could not think, our sense organs could not function. The pranic energy is also functioning and that is why we are alive, food is being digested, we are walking and talking, the motor organs are functioning.
However, the third energy is not in action. It is dormant. It exists in everyone, but it is absolutely quiet, sleeping in eternal sleep. That force is called kundalini shakti. Some scholars prefer to call it primordial energy or evolutionary energy. That energy is the basis of your spiritual consciousness, your spiritual awareness.

The quality of awareness

Spiritual awareness and sensory awareness are two important terms. What is sensory awareness? You can see, hear, taste, touch and smell. This is called sensory awareness. You can dream, think a thought, feel emotions such as fear, passion, depression, elation, delight, joy, happiness, etc. This is called external awareness. All of us live in the field of external awareness except those who are idiots.
Some people have keen external awareness and others have feeble external awareness. This external awareness is very contradictory. It always moves and exists in paradox. That is why you are unhappy. There is nothing wrong with the world, with your wife or husband, with your job, or with anything, but because this external awareness is imperfect, it is limited, you become unhappy with life. In order to overcome unhappiness, to transcend the limitations of external emotions, you will have to change the quality of your awareness.
To change the quality of awareness, what do you have to do? Side by side with external awareness, you will have to develop inner awareness. What is inner awareness? In external awareness, you are aware of objects, etc., but when the inner awareness grows, one begins to know that this external awareness has a source somewhere else.
Inner completeness
The source of happiness which you think you get from your family is not from the family but from somewhere else, although you don't know it. The delight which you get from sense objects is not from the sense objects but from somewhere else. It is called the source of joy and delight- ananda. Kriya yoga must become a tool, an instrument in the hands of the practitioners to tap this source.
Unless the awakening of sushumna takes place, unless this spiritual awakening takes place, man will not be complete, no matter how much morality you practise or how many ethics you have. You may be the most virtuous man on the face of this earth, you may be the best and most compassionate, the most charitable and truthful person, but please remember that unless inner awakening takes place, all these external things will not give you delight and total completeness.
Therefore, kriya yoga should be practised in order to open the source of inner happiness and inner completeness. The great field of energy which you are, should be united with the greater field of energy. We are the microcosmic field of energy, not the total field of energy. These kriya yoga practices are very important for you to learn. They will enable you to go a long way in your life and bring you closer to yourself.


Kriya Yoga Course:

The Kriya Yoga and Tattwa Shuddhi Course will be conducted in Rikhiapeeth in English medium from the 5th to 11th December 2009. This comprehensive course will initiate participants from all around the world to the Kriya Yoga practices that have been handed down by Swami Satyananda. The practices have been structured in a systematic format so that they can be easily incorporated in daily life and bring physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well being. Sincere participants are welcome to apply for this unique course that offers advanced practical and theoretical classes along with ashram life experience.

For more information and registration details contact :
Bihar School of Yoga,
P.O. - Rikhia,
Dist- Deoghar,
Jharkhand, 814 113, India.

For reply enclose a self addressed envelope.

Tel: Rikhia 06432-290870/ 09304-488889/ 09304-799449.

AWAKENING THE SPIRITUAL MAN

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Swami Satyananda Saraswati

I have read many books from time to time, written by eminent authors on prana shakti and kundalini yoga which is a most transcendental yet, immediately useful topic. I don't necessarily agree with everything they write, but beyond a certain stage in the spiritual life, everyone has the same experiences. In the beginning of the practices which lead to fulfillment and enlightenment in yoga, there, may be differences of experience, but after a while all of us join on a common track and we have the same experience. Therefore my experience is not strictly just personal experience.

Awareness in action

I have been an aspirant and a practitioner of yoga all throughout my life. Even to this day, I do not miss even one moment in indolence. I do not wish to miss even one breath in carelessness. When I am given to the expansion of awareness, when I have pledged myself to grow out of this animal in man and, when I have set myself to express the greatest, the noblest, the purest, the brightest and most illumined aspects of spiritual life, then I must dedicate myself to this awareness all throughout my life.

There has hardly been a moment in my life when I have not been living in a different world. Please do not misunderstand me and think that I meditate for twenty four hours a day- I do and I do not. I have my own commitments. I have my own responsibilities. I have hundreds of centers all over the world. I have hundreds of sannyasins and sannyasinis, most of whom are not in their sixties but in their twenties. You can imagine that I must have some difficulty in my conscious mind and also in my unconscious mind.

On the administrative side, I have to sign not less than two hundred balance sheets every year. From three o'clock in the morning right up till nine o^'clock at night I have to sign letters with my right hand and with the left hand I am reading various publications. At the same time, I have to dictate to my secretary from Melbourne. In my bathroom I have a telecom, and from there I dictate letters. I have three telecoms for the three secretaries, so I can dictate letters from my room to theirs, such is the rush of work.

There are so many publications to print that I need to have the most modern printing press and an automatic, computerized composing machine, managed by one of your Australian swamis. Apart from this, I have to take care of enormous financial responsibilities, which run not to thousands but to lakhs of rupees. All my institutions run on a total budget of millions of dollars.

Still, yoga can be maintained, higher awareness can be stabilized and one can live above matter while having to deal with matter. That is what is taught by the Gita and other spiritual literature. We have been making a mistake. We want to live either the so called spiritual life or the so called sensual life. May I tell you that both of these lives can be lived together and there is a secret to doing this. The secret is kundalini.

Kundalini and spiritual awareness

There is no other way you can transcend the barriers, no matter what practice you follow, Oh, I can tell you the names of many great men, but none of their practices can make you transcend the boundary wall.

There is a boundary wall, an impenetrable wall of consciousness, a barrier of awareness, and beyond that there is no right of entry without kundalini yoga. You go and come back, go and come back. You see the flame of a candle, the blue lotus, the cross; you see Jesus, Rama, Krishna, Guru, and you come back. You cannot transcend that way.

What you have experienced is the deepest state of relaxation, and beyond that the spiritual experience begins. When the symbol, when the form of the subject of your meditation becomes vividly clear in your mind, when you are not aware of time and space, that is the final stage of relaxation and yoga nidra. It is only after that, that the spiritual journey really begins.

It is in this context that I have always been telling people not to fear kundalini. She is the mother aspect, the Mary of Christians, the Durga of Hindus, the aspect of energy, the aspect of shakti. Just as a scientist explodes the energy out of matter, likewise a yogi withdraws the energy out of matter. This kundalini is at once physiological, mental and transcendental. People have different opinions about this primal power which man has preserved within himself right from the dawn of creation.

For centuries and centuries, for millions of years, man has been travelling in darkness. He has made tools, he has built houses and palaces, he has created armies, he has developed languages, but still he has been living through the dark ages. Unless the alpha rhythm becomes universal and common, natural, spontaneous and ever present in the human being, he is human in form only, but not in reality.

Much of us still lives in the animal kingdom. We move by instinct, we think by instinct, we understand by instinct and that is how we pass our whole life, through a tunnel which is totally dark. We are moving but we don^'t see ourselves; we don't know which way we are going. We are going ahead but we don't know we are going ahead. That is the dark tunnel of human evolution through which all of us have been passing until now.

The moment that the energy is exploded and the awareness comes forth, you know that you are, and that is when you begin your spiritual journey, that is when you begin to feel like a human being. I know that I am. The animals procreate and we do too, but they don't know that they are procreating and we know that we are. They indulge in sex and we do too, but they don^'t know and we do. This awareness is a special privilege of human existence. It is gyanam, not gyana yoga, but gyanam.

Gyanam is spiritual awareness that has developed in man, making him aware of time, space and objects and their relationships. Maybe there is a dog who is listening to me but he does not know that he is listen­ing. You know that I am speaking, you know that you are listening, you are aware, and that is the beginning of spiritual awareness. With that you become man, and this particular awareness by which you know that you are, has to be expanded.

Purging the mind

Often the outward signs of this process of becom­ing aware are mistaken for symptoms of schizophrenia by our medical professors, teachers and scientists. If it is schizophrenia, then every man will become schizo­phrenic before he evolves into another plane of higher existence. Matter has to be split, only then can the energy explode, not in any other way. Matter cannot remain the same if energy is to come out. The mind has to be blown, broken and disintegrated. The samskaras must be broken. The emotions and the various aspects of the mind have to be separated.

You have to see all these things in your practice of antar mouna, and if you don't want to see them, then the natural course of evolution will make you see them. That is why I have always and everywhere been telling people that in the field of concentration of the mind, the more the vacillation, the better it is for your spiritual evolvement. The more the karmas and the thoughts come to the surface, the better it is for your spiritual illumination. Let them come. If they don't, if concen­tration begins at once, there is something wrong.

The soul has to pass out all the karmas. The mind has to purge out its previous knowledge, its previous experience. Even if you don^'t believe in the previous birth, at least believe in this birth. During the years of your life, how many experiences have you had? How many things have you perceived? Where are they now, and where do they come from? Those karmas, those samskaras, those seeds, those latent impressions of this life or the past lives, have to be experienced, have to be thrown out, have to be purged.

Those who follow the path of yoga should remem­ber that kundalini yoga is one of the most powerful methods of purging these impressions. It works like dynamite, like a powerful explosive. You put it under­neath and pow! It is not easy to achieve enlightenment, and it is not good for me to claim that I can give you enlightenment. Enlightenment is the last job that a man has to perform, not the first job. After that, you are fulfilled, you are complete, nothing to gain and nothing to lose- one state of being.

Therefore, in kundalini yoga the very practices which are taught in this context start exploding the personality right from the beginning. You may have read about this in books, but let me repeat again. When the kundalini awakens in mooladhara chakra, the sacral plexus, heat is generated, the emotions and passions are generated, and everything seems to be exploding and going around in circles. But the truth is that there are disturbances when consciousness awakens in any field of life.

To give an example, when a beloved husband has just left his wife, how does she feel? Just one incident in life has triggered a whole emotional explosion. In the same manner, with the awakening of mooladhara chakra, all the lower karmas are triggered, pow, pow, pow, pow! Everything comes out and you must only have patience. You must remember these words which I am speaking now. Just be patient and quietly watch what is happening- the lights, the explosions, the emotions and the passions, everything is coming up.

Living on a higher plane

This shakti is the awakening of spiritual man. This generation, the one that is coming up now, has a duty to fulfill. I know that not just hundreds but thousands of boys and girls, men and women, all over the world, are engrossed in their efforts, right or wrong, to awaken the kundalini. Some use drugs, some use mantra, others use the raja yoga methods, yet others use penance and austerities, and a few use the help of a guru.

You are not the only travellers on this spiritual path. There are millions and millions. People all over the world have been thinking of just one thing, how to awaken that power by which man can live in a different realm, but still keep operating on this earth plane. You can live on this earth with lower consciousness, and you can live here with the highest consciousness. Which would you prefer? Tell me!

When you live here with the lower consciousness, you eat chocolates and all sorts of things. And when you live on a higher plane, are you still going to eat chocolates? Of course you will! But on the lower plane everything you experience carries a reaction and it leaves impressions on your mind. That is karma, the continuity of the existence of karma. When you live on a higher plane of consciousness, you live life and you get the maximum from it because life does not react. It does not leave a chain of vicious actions and reac­tions, which cause the continuation of this horrible existence.

`My wife died! Oh, my wife died!' What's wrong? She died three years ago! That's all finished, but you are still stuck in a state of horrible grief because of karma, because you live on a lower plane of conscious­ness. You should live on a higher plane, then the enjoyment is greater and the gratification is infinite. What little you get from life is too much for you. When you live on the lower plane, however much you get from life is too little because you think, God! Maybe tomorrow I will not have anything at all! You have insecurity, fear of being looted, fear of losing the grant of nature.

Therefore, when man lives on the higher plane of existence he is not going to shun this creation. People say, “When everyone becomes a swami, what is going to happen to the world? It will collapse?” I say it will be a world with freedom. After all, what do you mean by a swami? A man who has mastery over his mind is a swami, and he who has not mastery over his mind is not a swami.

When you live on the higher plane of existence you will operate in the beautiful world, and I say beautiful because I believe it to be so, with the beauti­ful ideals of purity, compassion, and so on, which you now talk about. Before you talk about these things, you must first go up to the higher plane, and then you will see that these idealistic phrases become the reality of experience.

This evening one swami asked me if I loved him. I asked him, `Do you understand what love is?' If you come to me and ask, `Swamiji, do you like or dislike me?' I will say yes or no. But if you ask me whether I love you, I first want to know if you know what love is. When we live on a lower plane our understanding of love is limited. We understand love in relation to our existence and our experience. As we grow more and come to live on a higher plane, love takes on a different meaning. We begin to experience love in the absolute sense, without personal limitations.

Please do not mind if I tell you that you don't know what love is. You like people, you like your wife and children, you like your husband and friends, or you may dislike them. You live in a world of love and hatred, raga (attachment, liking) and dwesha (hatred, jealousy). You live in a world of these two opposites. There may be one person here and there out of millions and millions, who has experienced love, who is able to give love, the divine experience.

Prana is fact

The practices of kundalini yoga come to us at a time when they are very much needed for our humanity. This great potential energy in man can be aroused by the methods of yoga, and then the prana shakti can be expressed. Thought can be converted into idea, idea can be converted into will, and will can be converted into creativity. Dissipated energy is thought, concentrated energy is idea, dynamized energy is will, and creative energy is our objective. These ob­jects around us are materialized, creative energy. The dissipated energy which we have can be dynamized and materialized just by awakening prana shakti. If you don't awaken prana shakti, it cannot be done.

The proof of prana shakti can be seen through Kirlian photography, which records the movement of prana in each and every organism, just as your camera records your face and body. This system reveals that plants have prana, the fingers have prana, the nose has prana, this microphone has prana, you have prana, the whole life seems to be an interplay of prana shakti. When travelling by car, by train or by plane, I always think about prana moving this way and that.

You see, this whole business of prana is fact. Up to now, we have been materialistic. We have seen matter and we have accepted matter. Beyond this, however, we have only postulated; we have never really believed. We would say, `Supposing there is...' But now let us say, `Definitely there is prana.' The fun of it is that people say the body contains prana, and I say the opposite, that prana contains the body. People say that God is in us; I say no, we are in him. Are we his containers or is he our container? Oh yes, I remem­ber a story about this.

The picnic

There were four friends who went for a picnic on a weekend. One was a philosopher, one a botanist, one an astrologer, and the last a musician. Each wanted to contribute something to the picnic, so they decided that the musician would take charge of the cooking, while the others went to bring the different food items.

The astrologer climbed a coconut tree to pick some coconuts and while he was doing so, a donkey brayed. He took out his book and read that a donkey's bray at a certain time of day is very inauspicious, so he threw away his coconuts.

The botanist went to a greengrocer. He looked at the cucumbers and decided they were too flatulent. He went to the potatoes, but they had too much starch and carbohydrate. The spinach had too much oxalic acid, and the cabbages were all reserved for this convention. The shopkeeper suggested onions, but the botanist said, ^`No. If it is union it is alright, but if it is onion it is all wrong, and we don't want it.'

The philosopher went to fetch some oil for frying. He was bringing it back in a little bottle when suddenly there came to his mind the question of whether God is the basis for creation, or creation is the basis for God; whether Brahman, the supreme being, is the basis for the universe, or the universe is the basis for Brahman. Who contains whom? Then he began to question whe­ther the bottle contained the oil, or the oil contained the bottle. He remembered that in logic they say that if there is any difference of opinion on a subject, it should be settled by practical experience. So, he decided to drop the bottle on the ground and see. It broke into many pieces and all the oil was spilt.

Meanwhile, our musical brother was cooking the rice. When the rice started boiling, the bubbling sound of the water made a nice rhythm, so he started beating on the pot in time to it. However, the rice pot didn't keep to his timing, so he took a hammer to it, as drum­mers do when they are adjusting their drums. Of course, he knocked the pot over and all the rice was lost.

Now, when the others came back, they all sat down feeling tired and hungry. These four intellectuals didn't have much to show for their picnic. And so it is in sadhana, that due to our limited ideas and intellectual concepts, we totally miss the point of the practices and consequently, we have little of any practical benefit to show for our effort.

Prana shakti is the basis of yoga, the basis of kundalini, the basis of creation, the basis of all human activity, the basis of all animate and inanimate exist­ence. Just because the scientists of our time are late in discovering prana shakti, why should you be late also? This prana shakti is going to give you extra energy in your daily life so that you can overcome depression and sorrow. When you are lacking prana shakti, you are depressed, you are tired, you can^'t remember, you feel shy, you are schizophrenic, and so forth.

Increase your potentiality

We should now start to practise yoga continually and system­atically- hatha yoga, raja yoga, asanas, pranayama, mudras, bandhas and kriyas. Gradually, not in one year but in a few years, you will increase the scope of manifestation of this wonderful, incredible power.

What I have been speaking about is not a philosophical utopia, it is a scientific matter. The people who are involved in yoga and meditation, in Zen Buddhism, or in any system, no matter where they are, must now take up this topic and go ahead with their own experiments in their own lives.

Prana Vidya Course:

An advanced sadhana course of Prana Vidya will be conducted at Rikhiapeeth in English medium from the 12^th -18^th October 2009. This course gives sadhaks the unique opportunity to experience yogic techniques for the subtle control of energy by utilizing breathing practices and visualizations. This comprehensive course is designed for those wanting to deepen their yogic practices and to experience the subtle influences of prana and the chakras. These ancient techniques are particularly powerful when practiced in the spiritually charged atmosphere of Rikhiapeeth.

For more information and registration details contact

Bihar School of Yoga,
P.O. - Rikhia,
Dist- Deoghar,
Jharkhand, 814 113, India.

For reply enclose a self addressed envelope.

Tel: Rikhia 06432-290870/ 09304-488889/ 09304-799449.

NADA YOGA

Swami Satyananda Saraswati

Any practice or technique of meditation that brings about complete cessation of consciousness is called laya yoga. There are many sadhanas recommended in laya yoga, and nada yoga is one. The word nada is derived from the Sanskrit root nad meaning “to flow”. Hence the etymological meaning of nada should be a process or a flow of consciousness. Ordinarily the word nada means sound. There are four stages of manifestation of sound according to frequency and subtlety or grossness. The four stages are: (i) para, (ii) pashyanti, (iii) madhyama and (iv) vaikhari. These four stages of sound should be understood scientifically.

Para nada

Para means ‘transcendental’, ‘beyond’ or ‘the other side’. It is beyond the reach of the indriyas, or sense organs, and the mind and other means of cognition. Hence para nada is the transcendental sound. It is indicative of a truth that there is a sphere of superconsciousness where the sound is heard in different dimensions.

Students of classical music are aware of the fact that every note is made up of different numbers of vibrations per second. They vary in length, speed and pitch. In Indian music these vibrations are called andolana. In one second a sound may make many thousands of vibrations. Above a certain level of high frequency, sound becomes inaudible and can only be perceived subjectively. The ears cannot receive such sounds that are vibrating at a very high rate. Therefore, we are not aware of all the sounds that are present in the cosmos. Sounds having a very high frequency are transformed into silence. Beyond a certain limit, the ears do not have the capacity. No one can hear or understand a sound like that even if it is present.

Para or transcendental sound has the highest vibration frequency. This intense vibration faculty makes para inaudible. Various texts mention that para sound has no vibration. It is a sound that has no movement and therefore no frequency. It is a still sound, but we cannot conceive of a sound that has no vibration, no movements, no motion. When a sound goes to its maximum pitch, it attains a sudden stillness, and that is para nada.

In the Upanishads, the sound of Om is said to be the manifestation of para. The audible chant of Om which we produce is not para because it is physical, subject to our hearing, understanding and logic. Therefore, the audible Om cannot be called the transcendental Om. Para is a cosmic and transcendental sound devoid of all movement. It is both still and infinite. It has shape and light too. Its nature is jyoti (light). It is different from all sounds usually heard or conceived. The Upanishads clearly state, “that is Om, that sound is Om.”

Pashyanti

The second stage of sound, which has less frequency and is more gross than para, is pashyanti. It is a sound which cannot be heard, but it can be seen. Pashyanti in Sanskrit means ‘that which can be seen or visualized.’ The ancient scriptures maintain that sound can also be perceived. How does one see a sound? Well, have you ever heard a piece of music in a dream? This particular dimension of sound, as it is in dream, is called pashyanti. It may be called a mental sound, which is neither a conscious sound nor a semi-conscious sound. It is a subconscious sound pertaining to a quality of mind and not belonging to the quality of the sense organs, like the tongue or ears.

When I say out loud “Rama, Rama, Rama, Rama,” it will be called vaikhari, but when I close my eyes and mouth and go in and repeat mentally the sound of Rama, visualizing its colour and form with the inner eye, it is known as pashyanti. When the word or the sound is heard in a sphere where one is not aware of the outer surroundings, it is called pashyanti. When every outer sound is extinct and you hear a new sound altogether unlike the nature of audible sounds, know it as a special sound or the nada of pashyanti.

Madhyama

A form of sound having lower frequencies than para and pashyanti, but still subtler than the audible vaikhari form of sound, is known as madhyama. It is a sound produced in whispering. No audible effect is produced in it. Madhyama produces very minute vibrations in the act of a whisper. In an ordinary sound, two objects strike against each other in order to produce sound. But in madhyama no two things strike violently so as to produce audible sound. For example, when a sound is produced like ‘thuck, thuck, thuck,’ it is called a gross sound. The word madhyana means ‘in between’ or ‘middle’, so madhyama means a middle sound, a whispering sound or the sound of a whisper.

Vaikhari

The fourth and gross stage of nada is called vaikhari. Vaikhari sound is audible and producible. The spoken sound is vaikhari. It is produced by friction or by striking two things against each other. Its frequencies of vibration are conducted within a certain limited range.

To sum up, vaikhari is the gross quality of the vocal organs, madhyama is the subtler quality of the same physical organs, pashyanti is the quality of the subconscious or unconscious, and para is the quality of the soul.

The universe and nada

According to nada yogis and the scriptures dealing with the subject of nada yoga, the nada brahma, or the ultimate and transcendental sound, is the seed from which the entire creation has evolved. A nada yogi believes that the world is but a projection of sound alone. The whole macrocosmic universe is a projection of sound vibrations. From that sound the whole world has evolved. In the Bible there is the reference: “In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God.” This word is called the nada or the shabda. Sufis in India call it surat. Surat or shabda yoga is another name for nada yoga practice. The Sufi saints of philosophical temperament also believe that out of sound and form the world evolved. The nada yogis believe that the five elements, five karmendriyas, five jnanendriyas, the fourfold mind and the three gunas have evolved out of one eternal sound. It means that prakriti, the material, mental, psychic and intellectual universe, is all an outcome of nada brahma. This is the ultimate belief of all nada yogis. So a nada yogi believes in a reality which has manifested itself in the form of vibration. It is a vibration that either does not vibrate at all or at such a high frequency that it is beyond the reach of the human faculty.

The eternal or original nada has the highest rate of frequency and vibration. When any object vibrates at a tremendous and unimaginable speed, it becomes still. It means that the highest point of motion and vibration is stillness. And that nada appears to be the creative principle of all matter and the entire material substance.

Nada yogis contend that everything in the universe originated and evolved from the eternal and infinite nada. In this context a study of the Upanishads is recommended, with special reference to Nada Bindu Upanishad and Hamsopanishad.

Music is also a materialized form of nada and the movements of prana in the body are also nothing but the expressions of nada. The purpose of nada yoga sadhana is to find out the primal, the finest, the ultimate inner sound - the word or shabda. In order to discover this transcendental and non empirical sound, the process starts from the external gross sound. From there the ultimate form of sound is conceivable only through going into the deeper realms of our consciousness.

The centre of nada

There are different centers where the transcendental nada is said to be situated. Bhaktas try to find the centre of their ishta in anahata. Yogis try to find the centre of intuition in ajna. Vedantins try to find the centre of hiranyagarbha in sahasrara. Likewise, nada yogis locate the centre of nada in bindu. Bindu is the centre where the continuous, eternal, inaudible, unbroken and unbeaten sound goes on. For the purpose of the discovery of nada, it is true that the bindu has to be discovered primarily and finally.

Before venturing into the depth of this science, it would be better for the aspirant to locate or discover the mental, astral and psychic nature of the sound of nada. Different nada yoga practices are introduced in order to help the aspirant to get through the different psychic and non-physical sounds, before the consciousness can finally be attuned with the real nada.

Practice of nada in bhakti yoga

The practices meant for bhakti yoga are also included as practices of nada yoga. When a bhakti yogi performs mantra japa, in the first stage he tries his best to maintain awareness of the sound produced by the mantra. After having developed a deeper awareness of the sound of the mantra, he stops producing an audible sound vibration and in the second stage tries to intensify his awareness on the basis of the mantra repeated in whispered tones.

When this task is accomplished satisfactorily, he stops whispering and repeats the same mantra mentally. He tries to hear the mental and subtle notes which, though inaudible, can be visualized through a deeper form of awareness. Sometimes at this stage, it is possible to actually experience hearing the same mantra internally. The bhakti yogi will feel as if he has really chanted the mantra in an audible tone. When the awareness of mental mantra chanting is absorbing and the mind is completely fused in a deep realm of awareness, mantra or nada is transformed into a constant inaudible repetition which will appear to the aspirant on the plane of consciousness as audible; but it will be imperceptible and inaudible to others. This is the way to experience the nada in the practice of mantra yoga by bhakti yogis.

A few kriyas combined with bandhas and mantras should also be included in order to stimulate the dormant psychic regions. The aspirant should begin the task of discovering the first sound or nada by plugging the ears and listening to the inner sounds. When the practice is fairly advanced, the ears need not be plugged in order to commune with the different dimensions of sound. Instead one should try to commune with the inner sound during the stillness of the night without closing the ears. It is easy to apprehend the inner sounds at midnight or early in the morning.

Music and nada yoga

Music is also nada yoga, where the music is rendered absolutely scientific and classical in order to experience the nada. The development of musical systems in the past was done strictly in accordance with the views of nada yoga sadhanas. The well known and most ancient Sama Veda is always sung with a scientific exactness and in accordance with nada yoga sadhana.

At different stages of conscious awareness, the mind is easily attracted by different waves of nada. Certain vibrations of nada seem to be agreeable at a particular time, while others are disagreeable at a particular time of the day. Certain combinations of nada are agreeable to some people and disagreeable to others. In music these nada vibrations are known as raga or musical notes. A raga having short vibrations is not relished by some. The morning music of India, like the Bhairava or Bhairavi raga is appealing to a few, but not to all. I like the midnight music of India, the Malkos, the Durga, or the Jogia ragas. The evening raga, like Bhimpalasi, is also popularly appreciated. Generally, girls and boys at a tender age prefer Bhairavi. This shows that the mind reacts differently to different sound waves at different times.

Music can be taken up as a spiritual sadhana, as a preliminary practice, or just as a pleasant, interesting and inspiring sadhana of nada yoga, through which the mind can be attuned to the subtlest vibrations before proceeding to discover the last transcendental sound of nada.

Nada in the koshas

These sounds which are heard are true. They are the symbols of the content of the mind and of consciousness. The mind rests on these symbols and it goes in quickly with their help. These sounds are experiences of the deeper layers of consciousness belonging to annamaya kosha, pranamaya kosha and manomaya kosha. These sounds are not imaginary. They may be understood as the vibrations of different spheres of one’s existence. The physical, pranic, mental, supramental and the ananda or atmic are the five spheres of one’s existence. In different spheres of existence different sounds are heard. There are physical sounds first, but when consciousness becomes fine and transcends the physical plane, it will come in touch with the subtle sounds of the movements of pranic consciousness in the physical body.

The entire range of human consciousness is divided into three, or subdivided into five parts. The conscious state consists of the annamaya and the pranamaya koshas, and these two bodies are made up of food and of prana. The second sphere of the personality is comprised of manomaya and vijnanamaya koshas and mainly contains mental and astral matter. The third dimension of consciousness is the realm of anandamaya kosha, which is full of bliss.

In the practice of nada yoga, the manifestation of nada takes place in accordance with the relation established between the mind and the other spheres of consciousness. For instance, if the mind or consciousness is rooted in the physical body, by closing your ears you will hear the sounds or vibrations produced by the movements of the heart, lungs, brain, blood circulation and the process of metabolism and catabolism that are going on inside the body.

If consciousness has penetrated the pranamaya kosha, you will hear many more sounds. And if the mind has gone deeper into the anandamaya kosha, then all other sounds will disappear and in its place the effect of nada yoga will remain.

It is difficult to tell which particular nada belongs to a particular sphere. In India, illustrations are given in the form of symbolic stories. The individual consciousness, which keeps on soaring high and discovering the transcendental notes, is symbolized as Rishi Narada in Indian mythology. Without denying the historical existence of Rishi Narada, the esoteric significance of the word Narada should be understood. Narada is supposed to be a rishi who has a veena in his hands. In nada yoga, the sound of the veena is considered to be the music of a very high sphere. According to all the traditional nada yoga cults, the nada of the flute and veena belong to that sphere of consciousness where dwaita bhava, or the duality of consciousness, ceases to exist.

Nada yoga in the Bhagavata

Nada yoga is illustrated in the great book entitled the Bhagavata (different to the Bhagavad Gita). A symbolic and allegorical description of nada is given in the form of the story of Krishna. It says, “Lord Krishna left his place at midnight and went into the jungle. It was the full moon night of the first month of winter. He began to play the flute. The echo of the flute spread in the calm and undisturbed atmosphere. Music rose from the jungle and was heard by the gopis (the village cowherd girls). When they heard the sound of the flute, they immediately left their houses and their husbands, forgetful of all that was taking place. They ran, without consideration, to the place from where the nada from the flute was emanating. They started dancing about the flute player. After some time, it so happened that each one found herself dancing individually with Krishna.”

The story seems fantastic, but in fact it is not properly understood by people of the world. It is understood only by nada yogis. They consider Krishna to represent that higher sphere of consciousness where the nada of that sphere emanates during the deepest state of nada sadhana. When the emanation of flute music takes place, the senses, the indriyas, or the sense-consciousness, forsake their respective objects and withdraw from their respective centres of pleasure and perception. They recede and go back to the place from where the flute sound or the nada is emanating. There the senses dance around the nada. In that state, the senses completely withdraw from the outer objects. In other words, a yogi may say that dharana has taken place and dhyana is about to dawn.

In Sanskrit the word krishna means, ‘that which draws’ or ‘that which attracts’. It is derived from the root word karshan. So the word krishna means ‘the puller’, ‘the withdrawer’, or ‘the attractor’. It also means ‘farmer’, and, the word gopi means ‘cow’. In Sanskrit, go means ‘senses’, ‘cow’, ‘poor’, ‘humble’ and the ‘whole perceptible universe’. Ordinarily, the word gopi means ‘the daughter of a cowherd family’. Symbolically, gopi means ‘senses’. And who are the husbands of the senses (the gopis)? It may be said that for the eyes, the form is the husband, and for the ears, sound. When the music of a flute is heard, the sense of hearing leaves or withdraws itself from the outer audible sounds and merges itself in the inner nada. This process is called pratyahara.

Anahad nada and anahata nada

What is anahad nada? No one has been able to tell even till this day. Some say that it is the cosmic sound of Om. Others say it is like bhramari, a sound resembling the unceasing and unbroken sound of the honeybee. Some say that it is the beat of the heart.

Some people call it anahad, while others call it anahat. These two words convey two different meanings. Anahat derives from ‘an’ and ‘aahat’. ‘An’ means ‘no’, ‘aahat’ means ‘that which is striking, hammering or beating’. Therefore, anahat means ‘no beating or striking of two things’. Usually a sound is produced by two things striking against each other, but anahat is a sound which is not produced by striking. It is spontaneous and automatic. Some scholars say that the nada is anahad. ‘An’ means ‘no’, and ‘hada’ means ‘boundary’, or ‘compound’. Hence anahad means ‘without any limit, without any boundary’, or ‘without any specification.’ It is a sound upon which no limits can be put. It can be any sound.

The ultimate nada

The ultimate nada that manifests in the highest sphere of consciousness is indescribable. It is a sound coming from the sphere beyond the anandamaya kosha. A nada yogi believes that the actual point where the individual consciousness fuses with the cosmic consciousness is in the highest state of nada. The aspirant or sadhaka realizes his higher consciousness in nada and sees the whole universe in the form of sound.

Nada Yoga Course:

A Nada Yoga Course will be conducted at Rikhiapeeth from 1st - 6th July 2009 in English medium. This comprehensive residential course will enable participants to experience the techniques taught of Bihar School of Yoga aimed at penetrating deeper layers of the mind by utilizing the medium of sound and vibrations.

For more information and registration details contact

Bihar School of Yoga

P.O. - Rikhia,

Dist- Deoghar,

Jharkhand, 814 113, India.

For reply enclose a self addressed envelope.

Tel: Rikhia 06432-290870/ 09304-488889/ 09304-799449.

How relevant is yoga for children

Swami Satyananda Saraswati

We are all children. We have created children in our own image. It is not merely that we have created them and they grow up in any way they like. We aspire to see a great flower budding out of them.

In the past people thought that yoga was only necessary for grownups. For centuries children were not concerned with the practices of yoga. People believed that yoga was a mystic or occult practice, a type of magic, or a chase after some unseen object. Therefore, children were kept out of yoga groups.

After thinking about the scientific reasons for introducing the practices of yoga to children, I made many experiments on children to see how yoga influences their body, mind and personality. I was compelled to conclude that yoga has a very important role to play in the structure and development of children's minds and bodies, and that children should be exposed to the practices of yoga.

One reason why yoga should be included in the education system is to maintain the health of the pineal gland, thereby creating a balance between the physiological and emotional personality of the child. Furthermore, in the classroom children do not respond favourably to teaching. They respond out of compulsion, out of fear. Their only objective is to pass the examinations.

In the yogic system, however, education is carried out by a process of transmission. Children are psychically very sensitive and they respond much better to a transmitted form of knowledge, rather than compulsion. Their capacity to imbibe is fantastic. It isn't necessary to tell children all the academic details. Nature has provided them with the necessary amount of intuition to know what is good and bad. But, unfortunately, this natural gift is gradually being destroyed by modern methods of teaching. Therefore, in trying to educate children, we must remember the importance of transmission.

Energy patterns

When a child grows up, he has many adjustments to make. Sometimes the energy patterns in the body are in disharmony for physiological and biological reasons. The sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems may be unbalanced. Yoga practices can bring about changes in the human personality by influencing the endocrine system. Yoga postures in general and concentration in particular maintain the health of the pineal gland, which balances the emotions and the mental functions, creating the necessary balance in hormonal behaviour.

Children are mobile energy patterns. It is not enough to feed them with food or stuff their minds with book knowledge. Food is necessary to keep the body going. Stuffing the brain with arithmetic and geometry is necessary to make them a professor, an administrator, a doctor or a lawyer. But at the same time you have to take care of the thousands and thousands of energy currents that are flowing in to the body, and that ultimately maintain the whole structure of their existence.

Self-discipline

When the child reaches his twenties, the metabolism slows down slightly and at this time a system of discipline is needed. Self-discipline is not institutional, religious or social discipline. Discipline is knowing what you should and should not do. There is a system of balance in the physical body. If you know the secret of how to create harmony between the energy patterns in the body, you can automatically create an idea of discipline in the child.

Discipline is an expression of profuse harmony in body and mind. Discipline is not teaching the gospel to children. You don't have to do anything to the child. Imposed discipline and morality are the first things that mankind has to leave behind and forget. Grownup people always think they have great wisdom and that it is their duty to teach children the right way. Maybe the children are right and we are wrong. There is a difference between them and us. They can't understand us and we can't understand them. It has been my difficulty with young disciples - I think my own way and they think theirs. But this is a difference I understand. Now, therefore, the children will have to be disciplined by indirect methods, and this discipline comes through the practice of certain yoga postures and pranayama.

How to develop genius

The foremost problem of children is that they try so hard to have a first class memory, to be top in the class, but they can't actually make it. What limits their capacity? It means that the brain's circuits are not all functioning. If we divide the whole brain into ten compartments, in the normal brain only one part is functioning and able to cope with daily life; the other nine sections of the brain are still silent.

It is necessary to develop these silent areas of the brain if you want to give an expression to genius. Children's genius has to be expressed, but nobody knows how to develop the genius in the child. To do this we have to create a systematic process to awaken the silent areas of the brain. These silent areas are the dormant potential centres of energy. Within them is education, knowledge, awareness, a completely computerized process.

To awaken the qualities of perception children have to be exposed to the practice of meditation. Each perception has a completely different formation when it penetrates into the brain. We all know that the brain has archetypes. In yoga these are called yantras and mandalas. You can train yourself to perceive these things through sound or through any process of inner visualization. If you are able to develop the perception of symbols and language that already exist in the brain, then you can bring the cosmic computer into action. The child can become a master of the thousands of faculties stored in the brain by developing the power of perception and bringing this storehouse within the area of conscious command.

Training of the structural basis of the brain is discipline. If you are not able to discipline the energy patterns of your brain, you will not be able to increase the faculties of perception, even if you accept religious discipline. You must increase the capacity of perception and awareness of your children by scientific means. You do not have to push your children to practise yoga. If children know that yoga is a method for the enlargement of their perception and awareness and the development of their personality, they will be the first to practise yoga.

The mission of the child

Everybody should know what they must do. Children are all made to follow the same system, but this is wrong. Everybody is born with a different innate capacity. Some are made to be intellectuals, some to be politicians. There are so many faculties which can be developed. Do parents know what is the inherent capacity of their child, or do children know for themselves? For instance, when I was in my twenties, if I had not decided the road which I have taken, maybe I would have been a tremendous failure in life.

A person who is capable does not succeed everywhere in life but only in that particular field for which he is made or chosen. Who is going to decide the mission of the child? That is the perfect puzzle, the greatest question. I do not refer to vocation here - becoming a professor or a doctor - that's a different matter for which we receive a particular education. I am talking about a greater dimension of education which teaches us what we have to do, which shows us what the expression of our existence is going to be and how we can best fulfil it.

There are many young people today who are floating in darkness like ships without rudders. This is not because there is anything wrong with society, or because they lack discipline. They are rudderless because they haven't found a base for their existence. If you can give this to children, you are giving them the ultimate education.

The harmony in the society of children should not just be discovered in society. We should expose them to the practices of yoga in a gradual way, not only in the schools and other educational institutions, but yoga schools also must have a separate wing for children. To teach yoga to children is the easiest of all jobs. In fact the children are gurus and we are the disciples. It has always been said that the child is the father of man. In the same way the disciple is the guru of the guru.

All over the world most people have children and the children are going to be the good and bad citizens of tomorrow. If their personality is not completely integrated, that will be the structure of your society. Whether it is politics, social events or a great war, the children of today will be directing affairs. If you want to produce scientific thinkers and statesmen, the children are there. Let us create products of the finest quality by teaching our children yoga.

If children are given the opportunity to develop spiritually while receiving their education, they will do so much better than we grownups, because they have no conditioning. Their mind has not been brainwashed and is like a fresh flower. The destiny of the whole world depends on the little children. The children we are teaching today will form our culture tomorrow. We have had our turn, now let us help the children understand the secrets of themselves and the mysteries of life.

Antar Mouna

Swami Satyananda Saraswati

When you concentrate and try to unify the vagrant tendencies of your mind, sometimes you feel strain. Because of that strain, you get a headache or some other complaint. Therefore, while practicing concentration, you have to evolve a method by which there may be no strain. Just as a tired person goes to bed and falls asleep without struggling with restlessness or insomnia, even so there are various methods for achieving spontaneous concentration and meditation.

The best method of concentration starts with prayer. When we start concentration directly and abruptly, the influx of blood abruptly increases in the brain. Various ideas keep on haunting the mind and hamper meditation. All the impressions of the actions done during the day come rushing up to the surface of the mind. If you want to meditate on Om, you naturally desire that nothing else should come to your mind. But for various reasons your daily experiences and impressions come to you during meditation. Therefore, the best time for meditation is brahmamuhurta, between four and six in the morning.

It is also necessary that the mind should slumber partially when you start the practice of meditation. If there is controllable drowsiness, concentration will be keener and better. At night, when drowsiness overpowers you, if you meditate on your ishta devata, you will definitely succeed. You should not start concentration before you have entered into a state of partial drowsiness. It is better to meditate in the early morning hours. You are not fully conscious although you feel that you are.

Some people meditate at odd hours of the day. This is good, but you must have experienced that while practising concentration during these hours, some tension is felt by the brain. Meditation should be effortless and spontaneous. If you practise the right technique of concentration from the very beginning, you will have no difficulty. The first practice to bring about this state is inner silence, or antar mouna.

Relaxation

Inner silence has many graduated states. In the beginning you should relax yourself mentally. If you do not understand what mental relaxation is, imagine how you feel when you return home from a hectic business round in the scorching sun and relax on a soft sofa in an air-conditioned room. You have to be aware of this type of relaxation.

Sit in any comfortable asana with your spinal cord straight. Close your eyes and try to relax yourself mentally. The technique is to feel that you are going to take a rest. Do not entertain any strenuous thought in your mind as you generally do. Experience peace and a feeling of rest, joy and comfort. The more you are able to relax, the more you will be able to practise concentration. Be aware of yourself and of your position. This is called self-awareness. Your limbs should also relax. This may take some time. Relaxation is a process which requires an effort in the beginning, but afterwards it is effortless.

Witnessing the thoughts

Try to visualize the chidakasha, the space in front of the closed eyes. Is the chidakasha changing its colour or not? Do you see a star or anything else there? What do you see in chidakasha? Some see stars, some see colours, some see light, some see only darkness. Never mind whether you see anything or not, but keep concentrating on chidakasha. Many thoughts will arise. Let them come. There may be thoughts, sounds or different feelings. You may experience an itching sensation or a tremor in your system, but try to remain a witness of all that. Do not identify yourself with any sound, sensation or thought that arises in the mind. When visualization of chidakasha is over, you should begin introspection of the thoughts.

In this process, you do not fight with your thoughts but maintain an impartial attitude towards them. Whatever thoughts come to your mind, let them do so. With closed eyes remain a witness of the various thoughts coming into your mind and do not try to consciously control the thought process. Do not get disturbed when various thoughts overwhelm you. Nor should you try to trim or eliminate the thoughts. Just become a witness and feel the thoughts passing before you slowly like a freight train. After some time this practice becomes very interesting.

In this process, you should be aware that "I am thinking." This consciousness has to be kept alive in the mind constantly. The only caution to be taken is not to identify with the thoughts. Awareness of the thinking process should be maintained throughout. "I am thinking" should be the constant awareness.

This method works subjectively to bring about a state of cessation in the process of thinking. In case of impure thoughts, awaken an awareness that you are only witnessing them while they are passing though your mental plane. If you do not identify yourself with such thoughts, they will be suspended without any effort. You should not be disturbed by bad thoughts or elated by good thoughts. Do not think that your meditation is very nice when good thoughts only come to your mind. Thoughts of any type, shade and dimension, whether good or bad, should be merely observed without any involvement.

Thought regulation

Many thoughts arise in the mind. Sometimes they arise with compelling force and it seems as if some unseen force within us is causing their upsurge. We may be averse to certain thoughts of passion, we may not like to enter into worries and brooding, but in spite of all our sincere efforts we fail to check the waves. This is proof that we lack control over the mind and we must evolve some effective method for settling these vagrant forces in their proper place.

If this is not done, mental exhaustion will result and sedatives will have to be introduced to ease the mental tension. When thought waves are not regulated, they become part of our habits and under their hypnotic sway many years of our life are wasted. The series of thoughts assail us unawares. We wake up at the instance of nervous breakdown, mental fever, neurosis and the like, when it is too late for us to overcome them. It is beyond the power of any physician. If care is taken well before the crisis takes place and thought regulation is rendered a part of our mental habit, then we can keep away various mental ailments successfully.

What is the remedy? Yoga prescribes a method by which one can become the master of the thoughts. You need not control your thoughts. You need not kill your mind. You must only attain complete mastery over your thoughts. One who has attained mastery over the mind keeps it as a trained servant. When the mind is properly kept under control, it can help you in many ways. One of the methods to train the mind is thought regulation. This consists of creating a particular thought voluntarily and dwelling upon it for some time, then rejecting it altogether.

Here you voluntarily create any thought of your liking and after thinking over it for some minutes you set it aside by your willpower. It is much better if you begin with lower thoughts. Voluntarily create and dwell upon themes of jealousy, anger, greed and the like for some time and finally set them aside with a mental stroke. It is easier to begin in this way because the mind is used to lower thoughts and such thoughts in fact act as centres of gravity for our consciousness.

Pious thoughts are soon forgotten and the mind finds it easy to slip away from such thoughts, while it is almost a task to detach its interest from thoughts of jealousy, anger, greed, fear, passion, pride and so on. The mind seems to have a greater affinity for lower thoughts while peace, compassion, love, forgiveness and the like are usually missed by the mind during meditation. Good resolves are always forgotten while evil intentions remain in the mind for long periods of time.

Practise in this way. Pose a particular thought. Retain the same thought in the mind for some time with vivid imagination, then dispose of it. If you practise this method for some time, you will learn a technique of removing any permanent thought that haunts your mind. This method is extremely useful. You can choose any thought you like, but be careful not to identify with the thought. Be conscious throughout of what you are doing. Do not allow any thought to come without being willed. Reject such thoughts which come to you of their own accord. Do not get attached to the thought. Practise with detachment. Have a vivid imagination of what you are thinking.

Sometimes while thinking there will be confusion. You will not be able to observe what you think. When this happens, you must meditate upon your ishta devata at once. Keep a few important points for meditation on your ishta devata in view. Try to think of the particular deity through general observances. Think of the whole picture of your ishta devata, the place where it is kept and the surroundings. Have a vivid imagination of this from the general to the particular. Thereafter, the same practice of thought regulation may be repeated according to your convenience.

Thought suspension

Now let us discuss the third process of antar mouna, inner silence. Concentrate on chidakasha. You will experience various shades of light, stars, illumination and astral figures. You should remain a witness of these experiences. The chidakasha or the astral plane is before you. You can project your subconscious mind over it if you have a deep sense of meditation.

Throughout this practice you should remain conscious of the incoming thoughts and set aside every thought which comes to you. You are engaged in setting the thoughts aside. At the same time you are aware of what is taking place within the astral realms. If you can do this, you can step into meditation without any effort. Then visions of astral events will follow. You are standing at the gate. You are seeing your thoughts coming to you. You inner chamber is open from all sides. Thoughts can enter from any side. You have to take a central position and from there have a look everywhere. From which side is the thought coming? When you see a particular thought lurking, stop it.

Have a constant awareness of chidakasha. See the astral patterns forming in it. If you observe them for some time, you will understand what is meant by astral patterns. You will experience various invisible vibrations floating across chidakasha. Gradually try to become more and more aware of chidakasha. Let your consciousness become so deep and intense that you do not feel like taking your mind away from chidakasha even for a moment.

There should be no analysis of the experience of the astral plane whatsoever. Thus, when you continue to observe the state of nothingness, you will realize various astral realities which so far have remained out of sight. There comes a state of mind when the vast fields of astral realization are left open to you and the whole stock of latent knowledge is apprehended. When astral figures start floating on chidakasha, start meditation on your ishta devata in calmness and silence.

However, if you have even a little success in this sadhana, you will have no necessity to meditate on the ishta, the form of the ishta will automatically arise from within. If you practise this faithfully, you will attain the stage of nirvichara, thoughtlessness. You can repeat the whole process again, but a beginner should never overdo this practice because it is quite different to relaxation. With this practice you complete the preliminaries and enter into the first phase of meditation. It is only after perfection of this practice that you should take up further meditations which are higher and deeper.

The problem of sleep

I wish to give a warning, however, to all those who are keen to pursue meditation to the extent of realization and samadhi. Meditation should only start after the scientific process of relaxation has been completed. If not, they will always talk of sleep, lethargy, and failures that follow entering meditation abruptly.

During the practice of meditation, the main problem is sleep, which you experience as you relax. First drowsiness dawns and then deep slumber. For those who want to remove tensions, sleep is necessary, but those who seek spiritual evolution will have to find a solution for this problem. If you want to attain samadhi or to contact the astral body, the mysterious kundalini and other higher forms of meditation, it becomes all the more essential to know the technique to overcome this difficulty.

The complaint of all aspirants is that when they succeed in attaining inner silence, they fall asleep and realize it only afterwards when the awareness revives. No doubt they feel fresh, but spiritual evolution is arrested there itself. Even in the case of earnest aspirants, their spiritual progress is arrested because they enter into slumber. Housesholders who have to discharge various duties remain ever busy and are under continuous strain. Naturally they fall asleep even with a little concentration.

The other difficulty is that if the consciousness does not slumber partially, inner silence is difficult to achieve. So, there is difficulty in both ways. The mind has to be drowsy to a certain degree and, at the same time, one has to be careful not to sleep. Therefore, it is necessary for those who want to avoid sleep during meditation to keep a few points in mind. First, you will have to practise detachment. You will have to reject the continuity of thought by constant and persistent practice. This is the first solution.

The second solution is asana and pranayama. When you get up in the morning, have a wash and practise some asanas like sarvangasana or sirshasana. This will check the tendency to sleep. Deep breathing as in ujjayi pranayama decarbonizes the system, removing drowsiness while increasing introversion. When you feel that you are about to sleep, start nadi shodhana pranayama and kumbhaka, using the ratio 1:4:2. Practise five rounds and then concentrate. This is beneficial for those who face waves of depression due to tension and continuous thinking. If you can minimize the degree of depression, you will be able to visualize the object of your meditation very clearly.

Some people sit in padmasana and meditate for hours at a stretch, feeling themselves to be in samadhi. This is not samadhi, however, it is the after effect of the day's strain. Of course, you can remove your mental depression by this suspension, but you cannot go forward on the spiritual path. If you practice asana and pranayam before meditation, then there will be no suspension.

Some aspirants sit for meditation, but they do not know what they are doing. Having heard about kundalini, they desire to awaken it and apply extra pressure to that point. There is bound to be depression. Therefore, it is essential to practise meditation under the guidance of a master. Meditation is a scientific process and it must be learned properly. Just as you require a map and guidance before starting any external journey, especially if you do not know the way, the same principle applies for the internal journey which is undertaken through meditation.

Along with sleep, visions are another disturbing factor in the primary phases of meditation. When you meditate with closed eyes, visions begin to appear, then there is temporary suspension of awareness. Again visions, then suspension and once again visions. All this happens because samskaras float upon the mental surface. You want to forget many unwanted things, you reject them, and therefore they go into the background. In due course this brings about bad after effects.

If you dislike a person, it does not mean that he has gone out of your mind. Rather he is very much in your mind. His memory will disturb you in meditation. So whatever difficulties you may have, you should annihilate these impressions either by rationalizing them or sublimating them through detachment. If you want to attain higher meditation, you will have to go beyond sleep and also the expression of astral contents in the form of visions. This can be achieved by the practice of inner silence, which is a method of purging the accumulated samskaras from the mind and a first step towards actual meditation.