Understanding Spiritual Progress
The ancient Vedic tradition had a systematic way of learning. The learning was not about competition – to prove who is better than whom. Vedas are only about learning the knowledge of the self and being conscious of it. The art of the state of being is what we must perfect. This is why the rishis introduced various methods which slowly lead to development of the consciousness. The Vedas contain the major source of knowledge which involves every secret of creation.
The vastness of the Vedas can never be measured as they are nothing but infinite wisdom compiled into four sections as Rig, Sama, Yajur and Atharvana Veda. How many years back were they formed? Nobody knows. Swami Vivekananda says they are eternal. They never had a beginning or an end. There is in depth knowledge of astrology, astronomy, atomic science, medicine, black magic, classical music, sculpting, arts and many other forms of arts like dance etc.
All these forms of knowledge were passed on by the rishis through word of mouth. This system of learning was always maintained to improve memory and concentration. The Guru-Disciple system of learning was carried on over milleniums and the way of learning was through ”listening” and repetition.
Writing was encouraged only after the student had finished memorizing through listening. The chanting of the Vedas and Upanishads is still in its original form in South India today. One has to master the pronunciation of the syllables, chant with a musical tone and the sound has to come from the navel. All these were prescribed with scientific explanations and much of it is lost today. South India gave birth to the Upanishads and Vedas. – Swami Rama.
Rishis have said through their scriptures that each mantra or Sanskrit syllable when chanted reverberates through the nervous system and this vibration directly connects with the cerebrum and activates different parts of the brain. In this process, the memory, concentration and intuition improves over a period of time.
Along with this knowledge, slowly they also introduced various techniques of breath control, yoga for cleansing of the body and mind. The Guru always knew how much knowledge the student is worth receiving based upon his/her progress. This was very similar to a doctor increasing and reducing dosage to a sick patient.
With gradual assessment of the student’s progress the master would introduce the student with greater techniques of meditation, breath control and other kinds of advanced knowledge in mystical science. All these were done with a purpose and the student was always made aware not to become too proud or arrogant with spiritual progress.
Spiritual progress often in many people induces an attitude of narcissism. The moment they see their neighbour or friend advancing in a naturally gradual pace, they get intimidated and try copying or imitating by proving that even they can do the same. For e.g. if a man has sees Sri Sathya Sai Baba doing miracles, he would immediately try to imitate and prove that even he is just as great as him by inviting people to witness the exhibition of his “limited” knowledge. There have been many people who tried copying Sai Baba and have been proved as tricksters.
History has been a witness to such kinds of people always. They always want to loudly proclaim, “I have attained self-realisation. I feel I am in bliss today. I am going to greater states of trance. I have been able to transcend all states of consciousness.” This is unfortunately a very low state of the mind which is “aiming” to jump at levels which the person hasn’t reached yet. They must be careful enough not to run forward only because they see a person whom they know personally, or their loved one has progressed quicker than them.
Why measure your progress with another person’s advancement? Spiritual progress is not like a school lesson where you have to complete your syllabus within a term and sit for examination. Your spiritual progress is only important to you and you don’t have to proclaim to the world that you are progressing or you have attained enlightenment. Some people even start imagining that the moment they have started meditating they are a great messiah and are born for a divine deed.
They haven’t attained any knowledge of the absolute and ridicule all scriptures given to us by the great rishis, and say they receive it directly from only some unknown “ozone” layer of the mind. This is also not helpful at all but totally – a terrible state of destruction. It is just like a boy who has never been to school to study anything but ridicules the whole learning system and says – “I will build a school and teach everybody.”
In Vedic learning, there are three ways of learning the truth which are – Shravanam, Mananam, Nididhyasanam. Shravanam is listening to the truth constantly until you have become one with it. Mananam is reminiscing with the truth until you have progressed to a state of realization, and Nididhyasanam means direct realization of truth by experiencing the truth.
So, listening to truth – reminiscing with truth – both needs knowledge of the scriptures. One also needs knowledge of scriptures so that memory is filled with positive guidance. You don’t have to make a hotchpotch of all different scriptures. You can adopt any one single scripture like the Bhagavad Gita and start learning from it. You can pick one single shloka from it which speaks about attaining the divine self and follow it obediently. Not dropping the single point of truth until realized, is the way of following a dedicated path – instead of letting the mind flit here and there just like wandering around a vegetable market, thinking that you need to buy everything you see when you won’t be using all of them.
You may not have a physical guru. The scripture which you read dedicatedly is enough to be your guru. Discipline is all about studying, reminiscing and constantly yearning only for soul-realization. But the moment you start learning, if you start imagining that you have attained God already, and also start allowing all sorts of hallucination into your mind, then no scripture, no master or no truth will be of any use to you.
Some people just want speed during progress. They constantly think, “How fast am I progressing? Yes, I know that I am progressing now. I can see many things. I can feel God because I feel great today.” Next day, your wife or husband will cheat on you and you will feel like committing suicide. Then that will be the point where you will know that spiritual progress has been zero.
Spiritual progress is about attaining mental calm, compassion and being at peace. When you attain the perfection – you will stop speaking about it or even mentioning that you have attained it. You will just “BE”. But not constantly shouting loud to the world after one day’s meditation and proclaim – “I was in bliss today. I meditated and attained God. Tomorrow by 11:30 a.m. in the morning, I will be enlightened and start enlightening the world. I was personally blessed by Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.” A man who speaks like this is nothing but a fool and, just a blind man leading the blind.
This is why the Guru always advised disciples never to think of what they WANT to be. The Guru always advised and still a real Guru advises disciples not to ever have pride over spiritual progress, not to desire for a consequence or a result. The moment you are aware that you are experiencing something and you speak of that experience and share it with others – that energy is dissipated immediately and all that you have attained in meditation is lost. It not only takes years, but sometimes even 1001 or more incarnations to attain spiritual perfection. It is never attained overnight and even the one who has attained it, doesn’t stop to move further.
Spiritual practice is something very personal and should be secretive. It is like a personal affair between you and God and it is not supposed to be advertised. The moment you feel like speaking about it and blowing your own pipe – know that you are nothing but a narcissist.
I just want to end by saying – don’t compete with your friend or relative or whoever. If they are progressing further, let them – but don’t try to prove with your ignorance that you are better than them only because have mastered one art of occult. It is no different from selling hamburgers on the street. You may be able to read people’s minds or peep into their space and prove that you are great, but it is nothing but disrespecting Divine Mother’s gift and soon it will be taken away.
Learn to see God in others and learn to bend when it is time to receive knowledge. There is nothing wrong in bending in front of a person. Instead trying to prove another person smaller by sharing knowledge or telling them what their purpose in life is – or feeling that a close associate is sharing divine knowledge because he/she wants to prove you smaller is a state of absolute arrogance, dull-headed and state of zero spiritual progress. Then it is better you forget spiritualism and sell “chai” and “samosa” on the sea beach. This way you won’t be disrespecting spiritualism!
When You Are Ready, The Christ Comes
I might sound a bit too harsh to my brothers and sisters who have been worshiping Jesus Christ as “The Saviour” and Messiah for the past many years believing that he will be coming back on a so called day as “Judgment Day”. Through my love for God, the basic learning “I” or the consciousness that exists in DM received over the years was to respect every faith and see the common universal truth in every religion. “I” as in “me” the person hate to use the alphabet “I” because it induces narcissism to a great extent. The most dangerous letter which leads to the downfall of mankind, is the “I”.
The more we use this letter “I” the more egoistic we become, the more selfish, proud, arrogant, hateful, egocentric, egomaniacal and every negative emotion that surrounds this alphabet. For the letter “I”, the whole world revolves around it. Nothing is more important to the “I” than the “I” itself. The “I” in us stands tall like a tree with its branches spread out with leaves and fruits. These branches are thought patterns growing out of the “I” in different directions with offshoot of leaves, flowers and fruits. If this “I” was to be removed, then nothing would exist.
I just happened to read a story couple of days back on how an ascetic was waiting for thirty long years to attain “Christhood” or “Buddha” or “Krishna”. All three mean the same as Christ = Kristos = Kritsnam (Sanskrit) = Buddha (Sanskrit). In spiritual terms, this is the third eye upon which we concentrate during meditation and slowly activate the Chakra and this Chakra is known as the Ajna Chakra. There are seven main Chakras which run along the spine starting from the perineum all the way up to the cerebrum. The first at the bottom is Muladhara, genitals is Swadhisthana, at the navel is Manipura, heart center is Anahata, throat is Vishuddha, third eye Ajna, and cerebrum is Sahasrara.
Embodiment of Love
Coming back to the story which I was mentioning, inspired me to believe and share that when we are ready, “The Christ” will come. Swami Purushottamananda was a disciple of Swami Brahmananda of the Ramakrishna Mission, Dakshineshwar, Kolkatta. He was more than seventy years old and spent a hard life of an ascetic meditating in the cave of Vashishta (22 kms from Rishikesh), alongside the banks of the Ganges river. You can visit this cave even to this day, and it is said that many great seers and messiahs have meditated here including Christ during his visit to India. We Indians believe Christ visited India.
Sri Sathya Sai Baba of Puttaparthi was travelling with his devotees by bus around this region and as soon as the bus reached the road leading to this cave he asked the driver to stop. Baba, through his divine insight knew there was an ascetic living in this cave and therefore sensed his thirst for self-realization. This was the moment for Swami Purushottamananda – a moment of readiness, a moment of awakening. Baba with all His unconditional love took the Swami inside a room and closed the door. The Swami greeted Baba and they sat together right beside each other. No sooner they sat, Baba very sweetly like a Divine Child, rested his head on the Swami’s lap and immediately, the whole room was filled with bright light. Baba’s effulgence seemed to cover up the entire darkness of the room and thus Swami’s thirst for realization was quenched forever.
The Christ did come through Sai Baba and enlightened another Christ living in this very cave. And, when you make yourself ready, the Christ in you will also come at the right time.
Note: For complete details on the story please visit: http://www.saibaba.ws/miracles1/the_cave_of_vasishta.htm
Who are you when you practice yoga?
Yoga is to bend our body. The muscles and veins get flexible, but there is one more which needs to get totally crushed in the process, so that you realize you are not the process in itself – but the consciousness – and that which needs to get crushed is the ego! How shall you bend your ego and make it non-existent? Watch your mind in the process and analyze what happens with the “I”. Try to find out, what happens to the real “you” through the process of bending and stretching in different directions.
Are you just the body or do you feel there exists something beyond the sensation of stretching experienced in different parts of the body? Where is the mind centered exactly when you practice yoga? What were you before you started the practice and how were you changing when you were shifting into different postures sequentially and what did you become after you finished your practice? How many times have you observed yourself while practicing yoga? Could you remain silent mentally while practicing yoga? These questions may seem unnecessary but yet they hold a lot of importance. Physical action can bring positive results to some exent, but they don’t offer the complete end result which is annihilation of the ego. There has to be a mental effort, an inner will power has to be developed further to create greater awareness of the self which exists through the moment of the entire practice.
Yoga is like the fire and the ego is the offering into the fire and thus it becomes an austerity, a sacrifice of the very personal attachment which is the false “I”. The more you become detached from the practice, the further you increase the awareness of the self. We may feel pride over self-achievement. We may feel superior or joyful for a period of time for having perfected a posture. But this pride is also an offshoot of the ego. The feeling of achievement is also an achievement of the ego and not the self.
The self ever is. Whether you attain flexibility, balance and perfection in yoga asana or not, the self ever is. The self remains calm like the ocean. The self remains ever flowing like the river and doesn’t question about your progress. The self doesn’t get disappointed if you are not able to do yoga. So, how do you keep your mind in a neutral state through the process of the practice and never let yourself feel either joy or disappointment regardless of the results thereof? You can be non-expectant and yet practice yoga. You have to stop expecting the fruits from your karma and yoga is also karma. Only when you don’t expect fruits and just practice yoga in a state of absolute neutrality, you will be able to know what it is like, to humble the ego and become more aware of the self.
Be aware always that you are offering your complete senses and mental afflictions to the self when you practice yoga.
J.Krishnamurti – Good & Evil : Part 3 (of 3), Q&A’s, Brockwood, 1984
J.K. sums it all up in part -3 of this series of question and answers by saying that the good which is ever endless lies within and it’s an inward journey if one wants to look for it. He says, it’s the most beautiful journey one can ever take. Truly, beauty lies in the spirit and not in the flesh or the mind which is, controlled by the five senses of perception and five senses of action which are known in Hindu vedanta as ‘Pancha Gnanedriya, Pancha Karmendriya’.
Coutesy : YouTube – Seastarwatcher
J.Krishnamurti – Good & Evil: Part-2 (of 3) – Q & A’s, Brockwood, 1984
A continuation of part – 1 where Jidduji continues to enlighten us on what is good, and what is bad or evil. He continues to focus on the present day evil that has been created by man on earth which is nothing but division in every part of our lives. He continues to stress on the evil of authority which is so inherent in each and every human being who wants to control. He stresses on…to say that evil is present in each and every one us in the form of authority and division and it is mainly psychological and each one of us supports it.
Courtesy: seastarwatcher (YouTube)
J. Krishnamurti – Good & Evil : Part – 1(0f 3), Q&A’s, Brockwood, 1984
A beautiful discourse which begins on good and evil, Jidduji puts this question into each and every one of our minds and asks us to question our selves, if at all there is something known as good and evil and if it is there then what is it, and how does it function. Is it in the mind or in the world? He explores the different spectrums of this question and finally the answer begins to come from within. He very nicely brings us to the point of duality which concerns each and every one us. As all of us live in the opposites, this question forces us to look for the good which is common and single for all and doesn’t change from person to person, culture to culture…a good that is universal and permanent.
Courtesy: seastarwatcher (YouTube)
About the author
Drunken Mystic as he loves to call himself is based in Chennai and loves practicing yoga and is also into meditation. He has a passion for theatre, blogging, writing and expressing his views. Drunken Mystic believes he is always lost in eternity!
