From Ramana Maharishi

D.: If trance be my natural state, why is it said that trance is necessary to be got before Realisation?

M.: That means that one should be aware of his eternal state of trance. Inattentiveness to it is ignorance. ‘Pramado vai mrtyuh’ (inattention is death itself).

D.: How can I be attentive without getting trance beforehand?

M.: Very well. If you are so anxious for trance any narcotic will bring it about. Drug-habit will be the result and not liberation. There are vasanas in the latent state even in trance. The vasanas must be destroyed.

(From ‘Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi’, Talk 317)

There are many desire patterns way below the conscious level.

That must be destroyed. This destruction is called Nirvikalpa

But first one must learn to find those latent desires – way below conscious level by deep meditation – savikalpa. It seems like a paradox to the ignorant.

The ignorant translation is how can I be conscious of something below consciousness? Does it not become a conscious level then?

The answer is what people generally think as being conscious is not true consciousness

A corollary to previous blog

So if the self is powerful then you can verify your experience of the self by display of power in lesser to bigger degrees

Patanjali in his book Yogadarshan chapter 3 describes all the powers that an be reached and how. This would solve everything that Neem Karoli baba and Jesus Christ did.

The best translation is by Vivekananda in Raj Yoga. The key versus of view vibhuti pada has been translated by Vishnu Tirthji perfectly! This translation shows his perfection! I am but their slave. A speck of dust . My Guru Dev is everything to me

So for All those who believe that they have reached the highest , prove it to yourself. Not to the public. My a display of the powers

More later. Maybe

Once, In Heaven There Was A Discussion Among The Gods To Decide Where The Miraculous Secret Power, The Power By Which Man Can Achieve Anything In This World Was To Be Kept Hidden.

One Of The Gods Suggested That It Could Be Kept Hidden In The Depths Of The Sea. Another Said It Could Be Buried On Top Of High Mountains. The Third One Thought Of A Cave In The Woods As The Right Place.

At Last, The Most Intelligent Among Them Said, ‘Keep It In The Depths Of Man’s Mind. He Will Never Suspect That The Power Is Hidden There Because Right From His Childhood, His Mind Is Prone To Wandering And He Will Not Look Within.Only The Intelligent Among Them Will Look Within, And Use The Power And Become Great.’

By Swami Vivekananda

This story is somewhat true. It is not the story of mind but the depth of one true self

When the body is old,

Life ready to fold,

The body can no longer hold

The soul untold

No longer can you breath

The heart unsteady

What will you do?

The body so dear

Now old and fragile

What will you do?

Your time has come

All friend and relatives

Can no longer comfort you

A journey to beyond

You have no friends

Save your past karma

Your screams drowned

What will you do?

And yet you spend

Weeks month and years

In nonsense deeds

Knowing nothing

Only speculation of worlds beyond

I dare you to find the world beyond

And know thyself

Don’t deceive others or yourself

Be honest

Try to find the truth.

and go to heavens while breath is in body

Reading the Gita in front of Maharajji, a devotee paused and asked Maharajji to tell him what was the quickest method to see God. Maharajji laughed and asked the man if he knew how to swim, and the devotee replied that he did. Maharajji said that , in that case, he should bind his arms and legs and tie himself to large boulders and throw himself into deep waters. “Then you will see God right away.”

Maharajji laughed.

Becoming more serious, Maharajji continued, “Arjuna never saw God in that way. I’ve never seen God. He cannot be seen with these two eyes. Only after years of practice and hard work can you hope to see him.”

Miracle of Love

Ram Dass

Neem Karoli baba says he never saw God. What did he mean ?

And no he did not mean when you tie a stone and try to swim you die and see God either

Here is a great quote ! I won’t tell you the key lime that is missing

Sincere people figure out what is missing

What is written in books, scriptures and religious texts – is nothing compared to having an experience.

Experience is far more delightful and has far more detail than all books added together

In shiv mahimna it is said

Asitagiri samam syatkjallam sindhupatre,

surataruvarshakah lekhani putra murvi |

Likhati yadi gruhitva Sharada sarva kala,

tadapi tav gunama nisha para na yati || 32 ||

असित–गिरि–समं स्यात्‌ कज्जलं सिन्धु–पात्रे सुर–तरुवर–शाखा लेखनी पत्रमुर्वी।

लिखति यदि गृहीत्वा शारदा सर्वकालं तदपि तव गुणानामीश पारं न याति॥ ३२॥

O, great master! Even, if one were to assume that the blue mountain , the ocean, the heavenly tree and the earth are the ink,the ink-pot, the pen and the paper respectively and the goddess of learning (Saraswati) herself is the writer,she will not be able to reach the frontiers of your greatness,however long she were to write!                        

This is quite true. This is how the great saints are able to stay in samadhi for thousands of years – constantly experiencing something about God. This experience is endless. Amazing. Beyond all that is written.

Don’t get stuck reading books and pretending to knowing anything. Don’t be a fool and try to impress others with your meager experience

Don’t seek Fame or money or sex of food three is something more sublime and pure

So yesterday we read about his total neglect towards the body

In the last century there were many others who were like that too

The only difference is they choose that no one should ever know about it. But they helped a few around them, gave them an opportunity to become like them and secretly helped thousands of people in the world

So nothing is lost!

He was so oblivious of his body that he didn’t wash, his hair grew matted, his fingernails curled over, and he only ate when people put food in his hand. Ants nibbled his flesh, snakes and scorpions crawled over him.

A few devotees were attracted by the magnetic aura of the young ascetic. One, named Paliniswami, cared for and protected his body for seventeen years while he lived in one cave. Ramana sat inwardly absorbed for such long periods he often needed help to stand up .

Once he answered a question by writing on the wall of the cave in Tamil, and someone realized he was educated. Eventually they got his name and village, and through word of mouth his family was contacted.

In 1907 Ramana broke his silence to instruct an especially ardent devotee, Ganpati Muni, himself a learned yogi who had many devotees. It was an indication of the compassion that colored Ramana’s actions the rest of his life. Ganpati Muni was also an accomplished poet and scholar. Later he helped record Ramana’s teachings, and it was he who bestowed the title Bhagavan Ramana Maharishi on the renunciate youth he now took for his guru.

Be Love Now

Ram Dass

This is a glimpse of the level of renunciation and love for God and being established in self and yoga

Now who has knowledge? Please speak up

Here is a picture at Raman Ashram

All these men with wearing the garb of a monk – saffron color – a color that originally showed enlightenment – are enlightened?

So nowadays it is a common color to show – I am a brahmachari , a sadhu, spiritual person – in most cases a con job.

Wearing a robe gives no enlightenment. A robe wearing person is not a sign of enlightenment. The opposite is just as true. Wearing jeans and tie does not mean you are robbed of your enlightenment

The inner enlightenment is not dependent on the garb. Don’t get fooled by the clothes

Here is something said in plain English. Or not so in plain English. :)

Kavyakantha [Sri Kavyakantha Ganapati Muni] approached the Virupaksha cave where Brahmana Swami [Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi] was staying, and prostrating himself before him, said in a trembling voice, “All that has to be read I have read. Even Vedanta Sastra I have fully understood. I have performed japa to my heart’s content. Yet I have not up to this time understood what tapas is. Hence have I sought refuge at thy feet. Pray, enlighten me about the nature of tapas”.

For fifteen minutes Sri Ramana silently gazed at Kavyakantha. He then spoke:

“If one watches whence this notion of ‘I’ springs, the mind will be absorbed into that. That is tapas. If a mantra is repeated and attention is directed to the source whence the mantra sound is produced, the mind will be absorbed in that. That is tapas.”

The scholar was filled with joy and announced that the upadesa was original, and that Brahmana Swami was a Maharshi and should be so called thereafter. He gave the full name of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi to Brahmana Swami, whose original name had been Venkataraman (named after the Lord of Tirupati). Kavyakantha was now the foremost disciple of Sri Ramana. His disciples also came to the Maharshi. They sought and obtained clarification on many doubtful points. His Sri Ramana Gita recording these questions and answers (between the years 1913 and 1917) is divided into eighteen chapters like the Bhagavad Gita and is a great source of inspiration.

(From ‘Ramana Smriti’, KAVYAKANTHA: A COLOSSUS OF LEARNING AND TAPAS [K. Natesan])

In my opinion, the updesha or teaching is not original.

The point that Ramana Maharshi makes – of destruction of ego as the end result of meditation- shaivism experience starts at that point.

There are many layers above it which have been described in shaivism, tantra, mukta shastra etc

It is very rare to find a soul that is fully committed to achieving success in it’s search for Self. The spirit. I see around me – the whole world being devoured by materialism. Success in money Eating. Fame. Sex.

Few try on the path of God. But even most of those when on the path seek publicity and money. Make it a business. Becoming financially Rich and Spiritually a beggar.

Then amongst those who truly want success get stuck with idolising their wrong concepts and wrong guru. They simply won’t listen to someone telling them the truth.

Beyond that level, those who try – perfect guru, stick to the path, want nothing but still cannot make progress. Why? Their past karma prevent them from doing meditation perfectly. Thousands of such people may try but only one reaches success.

Gita chapter 7 verse 3

So this is not too discourage any one. But it gives 3 reality checks

1. Perfection is rare. Hint : true gurus are even more rare.

2. Perfection is uncompromising. Meaning there is no compromise in purity. Or love for God. Love for God alone

3. Those who cannot reach there it is due to their own deficiencies not the deficiency of the path of Yoga

I do not call what you see or hear on the internet at yoga. It is something very unique that is given from guru to disciple privately

When the man had taken prasad and was about to leave, he took a hundred rupee note and put it before Baba ji.

“What is this ?”

He said, “Baba ji , it is for the bhandara.”

Baba ji took the note , tore it into pieces and threw it into the river. The man gasped, but had no words to say. He went away very sad and disappointed.

Baba ji said to me, “You didn’t understand ? You should never accept money or eat the food offered by a miser. You can never digest that. That man has so much money , but he never gives anything in charity or feeds anybody. I know him well.”

By His Grace

Dada Mukerjee

There is a bigger hint in the story

What is called happiness is only svarūpa [the ‘own form’ or actual nature] of ātmā [self]; happiness and ātma-svarūpa [our own actual self] are not different. Ātma-sukha [the happiness of self] alone exists; that alone is real. Happiness is not obtained from any of the objects of the world. We think that happiness is obtained from them because of our lack of discrimination.

(From ‘Nāṉ Yār?’ [Who am I?], Par. 14)

-Translation

This is from Ramana maharishi

Everyone seeks happiness. But they seek happiness outside the body. Happiness from food. Money. Glory. Sex. Looking good. Praises.

Yet when body dies all is lost. However if you realize the source of happiness it becomes enduring

That’s a lie. Good Software

A depiction of ashwamegha yagna

Please take it seriously.

Right?

“The ultimate achievement of reason is to recognize that there are an infinity of things which surpass it.” 

I won’t give any commentary on this

Multiplicity of individuals is a moot point with most persons. A jiva is only the light reflected on the ego. The person identifies himself with the ego and argues that there must be more like him. He is not easily convinced of the absurdity of his position. Does a man who sees many individuals in his dream persist in believing them to be real and enquire after them when he wakes up?

This argument does not convince the disputant.

Again, there is the moon. Let anyone look at her from any place at any time; she is the same moon. Everyone knows it. Now suppose that there are several receptacles of water reflecting the moon. The images are all different from one another and from the moon herself. If one of the receptacles falls to pieces, that reflection disappears. Its disappearance does not affect the real moon or the other reflections. It is similar with an individual attaining Liberation. He alone is liberated.

The sectarian of multiplicity makes this his argument against non-duality. “If the Self is single, if one man is liberated, that means that all souls are liberated. In practice it is not so. Therefore Advaita is not correct.” The weakness in the argument is that the reflected light of the Self is mistaken for the original Light of the Self. The ego, the world and the individuals are all due to the person’s vasanas. When they perish, that person’s hallucinations disappear, that is to say one pitcher is broken and the relative reflection is at an end.

The fact is that the Self is never bound. There can therefore be no Release for It. All the troubles are for the ego only.

[A question was asked why it was wrong to say that there is a multiplicity of jivas. Jivas are certainly many. For a jiva is only the ego and forms the reflected light of the Self. Multiplicity of selves may be wrong but not of jivas.]

M.: Jiva is called so because he sees the world. A dreamer sees many jivas in a dream but all of them are not real. The dreamer alone exists and he sees all. So it is with the individual and the world. There is the creed of only one Self which is also called the creed of only one jiva. It says that the jiva is only one who sees the whole world and the jivas therein.

D.: Then jiva means the Self here.

M.: So it is. But the Self is not a seer. But here he is said to see the world. So he is differentiated as the Jiva.

(‘Talks with Sri Ramana Maharishi’, Talk 571)

From Ramana Maharshi

This is synonymous with being still

This is from Ramana Maharshi

Anyone try it yet?

If you look at evolution, our ancestors had a very simple ( maybe peaceful too) mind and life. They had to hunt for food. Take care of make and continue their generation

They could not be bothered by complex ways of lighting a fire or heat

As far as evolution in religion is concerned most people have a very simple idea of God. A mighty figure, looking like a human, can do anything and quick to reward and punish. And when we die he will deliver judgement. People believe all they have to do is say i believe in God or recite his name or once in a while listen to a lecture and observe religious holidays and be smug and happy that you have liberation

But as you try to make progress and you think you realize religion talks about a few more things

Purity

Doing good things

Not judging others

Many will feel comfortable in believing that they are pure, they do good things etc. However when you truly want to make progtess, you start to observe your mind

The genius of Patanjali said don’t worry about the label God. Just try to calm your mind. And at that moment, you try to observe your mind. You try to sit in meditation and suddenly are shocked at the millions of random thoughts and emotions that go through the mind. Some good and some bad. And your aghast that you have no control over it. Your imagination that you control the mind or body is no longer true. Your a hostage to your own mind. You have no Peace. Thoughts of anger, hostility, ego, food, money, sex are constantly on your mind.

So it is said sign of progress is to know your own weakness first. How can you get better if you can’t cleanse your own mind.

It is like water and dirt in a glass. The dirt is settled in the bottom and you think the mind / water is clear. The moment you try to empty the glass, and empty it , the dust that is settled muddies the water. This is the example Yogananda have to his Brother.

Anyway this is normal process of progress

Unfortunate that you may believe in this. But cannot really go in that direction! Many lives have gone by. And yet again and again people come back. The same way. Every birth they believe they think they know it or have the right technique and yet no progress

Yogananda said perfection can be reached by anyone – anyone in 12 years. Can be difficult but it is certain if you meditate exactly to his specification

Remember knowledge is not what the brain can understand. To know is experience. Can you truly and honestly say you know your existence before the body, any body?

If not stop the fantasy of being wise

Take a few amino acids, throw in some water carbohydrate and fat for nourishment and see what happens. – of course not that simple but take a look at this zygote become a tadpole.

So the leader DNA, now directs the rest of the one cell to divide multiple into different types of cells and reorganize the shape, create neurons, heart muscle etc!

JUST AN INERT DNA!

This brings us to several questions. Do animals have a soul? Christianity and Islam don’t believe so. Hinduism believes they do.

Does the soul enter the body after the body is formed, half way through or when the zygote is formed?

Cells multiply. You can create an artificial ear from a stem cell. Is there life or soul in there?

Are these chemical reactions giving the illusion of life? Illusion of soul?

So you may ask five different people and get 6 different answers. Each one can be dogmatic about theur answer. No matter how foolish. Why? It would be difficult to disprove?

So who really knows the answer? If there is a soul or spirit then one who has fukl experience of it would know! So if you don’t know or you have doubts then you have not experienced your spiritual self. The Atman. Or even the soul.

Does the soul remember? How? There was no brain structure from one body to the other

Simplest way out of this headache is to deny existence of the soul. This is all humbug. Insane fantasy. Signs of a weak mind who needs strength from a figurative thing called God

Other way out is experience it. Meditate. Throw away your books and blogs. But do it properly. Not in some self delusional, self approved style which you imagine is the right way or something that you learned from a bigger fool than you – a fake Guru

Here is a little except from Scientific American! Reading the whole article is very interesting

In the beginning, all of space rang like a bell.

It was the immediate aftermath of the big bang, and the universe was filled with a torrid plasma—an energetic soup of particles and radiation. Although that plasma was remarkably smooth, it wasn’t completely smooth. There were slight density and pressure gradients that pushed material around, says Lloyd Knox, a cosmologist at the University of California, Davis, “and when stuff gets pushed around, those are sound waves.”

The ringing happened everywhere, so intensely that we can still sense it 13.8 billion years later. It has been detected directly in the cosmic microwave background, the afterglow left over from the big bang’s fading fireball, and it has been closely analyzed via the same basic physics used to study the structure of the sun. In fact, the primordial reverberation is so well measured and modeled that it has been used to deduce the precise rate at which the universe is expanding, a number known as the Hubble constant. That constant, in turn, is the cornerstone of our modern understanding of the size, age and structure of the cosmos.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/have-we-mismeasured-the-universe/

So what does it have to do with meditating? One sign of making progress in meditation is hearing different sounds and music. The first music that is heard is the sound of the bell! Does that ring a bell? The early signs after the big bang?

Or can you connect it with the Hindu tradition of ringing a bell while entering the temple?

You can read more about it in Maha yoga vigyana. I don’t think it is available in English. That book is a jewel with multiple treasures of what you should experience in meditation. It is a compilation of a dozen odd ancient scriptures all on yoga.

So give up your ego. Stop fooling yourself and others. Pray earnestly for going in the right direction. Give up your foolish concepts of what you imagine meditation is but hi to the different mansions Jesus talked about. Once you go there you will prefer those places to this world! That’s a quote from the book

Please don’t make the grave error in thinking I have any of those things. I only quote books.

Quotes can be a guide. Can be a milestone and uplifting

Some quotes are likely to be misunderstood and hence dangerous. Here is one from Ramana

M.: Who is a Master? He is the Self after all. According to the stages of the development of the mind the Self manifests as the Master externally. The famous ancient saint Avadhuta said that he had more than 24 Masters. The Master is one from whom one learns anything. The Guru may be sometimes inanimate also, as in the case of Avadhuta. God, Guru and the Self are identical.

A spiritual-minded man thinks that God is all-pervading and takes God for his Guru. Later, God brings him in contact with a personal Guru and the man recognises him as all in all. Lastly the same man is made by the grace of the Master to feel that his Self is the Reality and nothing else. Thus he finds that the Self is the Master.

(From ‘Talks with Sri Ramana Maharishi’, Talk 23)

The reason it is dangerous is because 99.9999% of the people only know self as either the body or ego. And reading the above it boosts their ego and that plummets them further down

Part of the problem of the quote is the translation. If you use the word atman which signifies the spiritual self, the son of God then there is less chance of misunderstanding.

M.: Who is a Master? He is the Atman after all. According to the stages of the development of the mind the Atman manifests as the Master externally. The famous ancient saint Avadhuta said that he had more than 24 Masters. The Master is one from whom one learns anything. The Guru may be sometimes inanimate also, as in the case of Avadhuta. God, Guru and the Self are identical.

A spiritual-minded man thinks that God is all-pervading and takes God for his Guru. Later, God brings him in contact with a personal Guru and the man recognises him as all in all. Lastly the same man is made by the grace of the Master to feel that his Atman is the Reality and nothing else. Thus he finds that the Atman is the Master.

So there are many who believe in Reiki and spiritual healing

Then there is the famous example of Rasputin in Russia who healed the czar / tsar sons of hemophilia bleeding. This story, I believe is true and many attempts have been made to find the science behind it

Another new kid ( last two decades) is Kirlian lines and photography. It is an attempt to find human aura and make a variety of wild claims of healing to hypnosis to healing.

For those who are into science I have an interesting video of how you can see the magnetic lines and force with a simple home project

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=75wrs0PLl_s&feature=youtu.be

In yoga, the aura is known as prana. Similar to Qi or chi. However the yogi are masters in prana. They have been able to identify 10 different types of prana. Out of them 5 are the main

Prana, spans, Saman, Udana and vyana.

Ayurveda has described these 5 prana based on their function. The Bhagwad Gita describes these prana as essential to meditation.

Without mastery over these prana – nothing can be achieved. Kirlian lines and Reiki would seem like a childs attempt of walking with a plastic stethoscope and trying to explain medicine.

There are 8 steps of yoga. Yama, niyama, Asana, pranayama, pratyahar, dharma, dhyana, and two types of Samadhi

Without any display of reasonable Yama and niyama, true knowledge of prana is not given. Period.

The so called Guru, who try to teach meditation or awaken Shakti in the masses are doing nothing. They use their oratory skills and influence susceptible individuals into believing an awakening. This is not advisable. Please don’t fall for it. Be discerning. Learn the right thing

Prana is described in the Bible also. But different words are used.

Mark 16:15-18

And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

Without knowledge of prana meditation is not possible. The attempts of meditation without prana is a total joke.

Prana helps in meditation. Helps in healing. And it does have its own aura. But it cannot be captured by any current technology. Rasputin somehow had acquired control over prana and used it to heal and control the Tsar. The outcome was quite sad. Even evil. Knowing this a true Guru only gives general idea about prana but it is not truly revealed in the masses. Purity of the disciple in thoughts action and heart is essential.

What is purity? That is a long topic for some other day.

If you want to know about prana read Raj Yoga by Vivekananda. It is an authentic source

http://shardsofconsciousness.com/user/sites/shardsofconsciousness.com/files/ebooks/RajaYoga_Vivekananda.pdf

It was one of my earlier books I read as a child.

THE ONLINE VERSIONS OF PRANA AND PRANAYAMA ARE NOT ACCURATE AND SHOULD NOT BE ATTEMPTED. THERE ARE MANY ONLINE YOU TUBE VIDEOS OUT THERE WITH THOUSANDS OF CLAIMS OF CURING DISEASES AND MORE. THE GREAT GURUS ARE NOT FOOLISH ENOUGH TO GIVE TREMENDOUS POWER TO THE CHAOTIC CORRUPT WORLD. IT IS MY UNDERSTANDING THAT IT IS A CAREFULLY SHROUDED WITH HIDDEN STEPS NEVER REVEALED.

There are two ways

Take a tunning fork. It is constantly vibrating. You can try to stop the vibration by holding the top, times and yoke or just by holding the base.

A supreme method is holding the tip

What will it be?

Oops this is what a tantric does! Oh terrible tantric though are great!

Let me stop the puns.

Go read an easier blog

Think a little. The body is the result of thoughts. What do you think it means? As you read this, you are having thoughts. Do you think those thoughts can create your own body?

Or was he talking nonsense? Or does it mean we have not really learnt to meditate to even understand what he meant by thoughts?

This puny mind…

We think we read the Bible. Or Ramana or Aurobindo. Or Gita. Or the previous quote of Ramana

We slowly understand it. And what happens? We feel elated. We get ego but the one E we don’t get is evolve. It just did not change your meditation experience. ( Like the previous blog experience of meditation) neither did it change personality or decrease our desires ( for fame sex food finance)

So a smart person should have this attitude. Oh my God. This is a huge task. I need to figure out how to get there. I am desperare to get there. Who can guide me. Who can help me. Books can’t give this level of power. I am no where. I am a disgrace by displaying ego and desires and emotion.

This is how I felt in my very young days. And I found a Guru

A Ramana Maharshi quote from yoga Vasistha Maha ramayana

What actually exists is only ‘ātma-svarūpa’ [our own essential self]. The world, soul and God are ‘kalpanaigaḷ’ [imaginations, fabrications, mental creations or illusory superimpositions] in it, like [the imaginary] silver [seen] in a shell. These three appear simultaneously and disappear simultaneously. ‘Svarūpa’ [our ‘own form’ or actual self] alone is the world; ‘svarūpa’ alone is ‘I’ [our ego, soul or individual self]; ‘svarūpa’ alone is God; everything is ‘śiva-svarūpa’ [our actual self, which is ‘śiva’, the absolute and only truly existing reality].

(‘Who Am I?’, Paragraph 7)

It is to be experienced. Not understood silly.

Once you realize it, according to Yogananda, the world becomes like putty. You can change it any way you like.

Those giants are far and few. The people who reveal these things are not the giants. He and a few others – reached there saw it and came back to us with this great thing. They know the way there. They are the only people who can take us there

This occurs every 4 years. It is a festival in India and is currently going on. It lasts for about 2 weeks.

The location of the Kumbh Mela keeps changing. This year it is in Prayag. The next one in 2023 will be elsewhere. The four places are

Prayag
Haridwar
Ujjain
Nasik

More than 10 million people flock to the Kumbh Mela. This is where Babaji met Yogananda’s Guru Yukteshwar. I will recap the famous incident

Yukteshwar was in the Kumbh Mela and Babaji sent one of his disciples to get Yukteshwar. He addressed Yukteshwar as a Saint and asked him if he could write a book that would unite the western civilization with the eastern.
Yukteshwar replied and said he was not a Saint. Babaji, replied , those whose I have been divinely directed to call a Saint, never cast off the title.

Back to Kumbh Mela

People take a bath in the holy water during the Kumbh Mela. Before the occasion starts, People respectfully stand by the river and no one goes in the river until they say it is ok for them to go in. During the 30 min time when they are told to stand outside, people believe other divine personages like the Aghori take a bath. Such Aghori choose to remain invisible. The people who gather there are very eager and constantly pray and hope that one of the Aghori will cast their eyes on them.

The major attraction of going to the Kumbh Mela is the hope that a divine personage will bless them

The festival of Kumbh Mela has a story behind it. The Devas in heaven had lost their powers. They were losing to the Asuras. So lord Vishnu told them, you should drink the nectar of immortality from the ocean. In order to extract the nectar, you will need the cooperation of the asuras.
So on an auspicious day, the Asuras, in hope of getting the nectar ( the devas had no intention of sharing it though), helped the Devas. They took the Meru mountain and used it as a churning rod. They put the Mountain in the middle of the Ocean and used the powerful Vasuki snake as a rope. And on one side the Devas and on the other side the Asuras started churning the ocean.

First what came out of the ocean was Poison. Everyone was afraid of it. They went to Lord Shiva and he said nothing to worry, I will drink it. He drank it and his neck instantly turn bluish. Hence he is called Neelkanth also. Then many other great treasures came out. Finally the nectar – KUMBH came out. This is where the devas stole it and the places where the Kumbh or nectar spilled is where the people gather every 4 years. Haridwar, Nasik, Ujjain and Prayag.

Lord Vishnu took the form of Mohini to deceive the Asuras. Finally, Laxmi appeared from the ocean and he gave his daughter Laxmi to Vishnu for marriage.

There is a rather funny shlock in Sanskrit. It says who says clothing is not important. Looking at the clothes, Samudra or ocean gave poison to Lord Shankar (he is usually poorly dressed or naked) and gave his beautiful daughter Laxmi to Lord Vishnu (who is very immaculately adorned)

Now, of course, this whole story is the story of how to meditate and conquer the mind. That remains a topic for another day.

Somehow, I never finish my stories.!

Here the word knowledge was originally used as the word gyana by lord Shankar Acharya. Gyana means to know. So the English translation was incorrect. The problem arises with the lay person thinking gyana as knowledge. But that interpretation is false.

To know God or self can only come from experience not from understanding or reading books

Here the word knowledge was originally used as the word gyana by lord Shankar Acharya. Gyana means to know. So the English translation was incorrect. The problem arises with the lay person thinking gyana as knowledge. But that interpretation is false.

To know God or self can only come from experience not from understanding or reading books

“The senses are superior (to the physical body) the mind is superior to the sense faculties; the intelligence is superior to the mind; He (the Self) is superior to the intelligence.”

The devotee seeking Self-realization is aware that the most important object in life is to uncover by meditation his soul’s supreme bliss.

Meanwhile he learns to develop his discriminative intellect, mind, senses, and body, to keep to the path of true progress toward his gold, and to avoid the three ditches of physical, mental, and spiritual suffering.

In other words the devotee realizes the proper order in which he should seek development –first and always in his soul consciousness, then in his intelligence, mind, senses, and body.

The man in delusion caters first to the appetites of his body, in utter disregard of the development of its superiors– senses mind intellect and soul.

~Paramahansa Yogananda, “Bhagavad Gita: God Talks With Arjuna” III:42

Sweet Mother, where does our true spiritual life begin?

The true spiritual life begins when one is in communion with the Divine in the psychic, when one is conscious of the divine Presence in the psychic and in constant communion with the psychic. Then the spiritual life begins, not before. The true spiritual life.
When one is united with one’s psychic being and conscious of the divine Presence, and receives the impulses for one’s action from this divine Presence, and when the will has become a conscious collaborator with the divine Will — that is the starting point.
Before that, one may be an aspirant to the spiritual life, but one doesn’t have a spiritual life.

Traditional yoga does not have the word psychic.

So what is the psychic? It is a somewhat liberated soul – very far from atman or self and also very far from God – that is surrendered to the divine will.

That soul – has its mind, intellect and emotions subdued. If someone hurts them they don’t get hurt. Oh God’s will. If they lose money. They are still happy. It was part of the divine plan. If they gain money. They are not happy or excited. Just peaceful. They work with divine guidance. At this stage they slowly begin to talk with divine people from the past. Not an imaginary talk but face to face

This may seem very high but much much more is there beyond it.

The poem is from Savitri my Aurobindo. It describes the Atman. Which is much higher than the psychic.

Here is an excerpt from a medical journal

Binge and heavy drinking may trigger a long-lasting genetic change, resulting in an even greater craving for alcohol, according to a Rutgers-led study in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.

“We found that people who drink heavily may be changing their DNA in a way that makes them crave alcohol even more,” said Distinguished Professor Dipak K. Sarkar, senior author of the study and director of the Endocrine Program in the Department of Animal Sciences at Rutgers University-New Brunswick. “This may help explain why alcoholism is such a powerful addiction, and may one day contribute to new ways to treat alcoholism or help prevent at-risk people from becoming addicted.”

Yogis have maintained that our thoughts shape the body. This is especially true for future births. Our thoughts often match the thinking of the parents where we are to be born. Moreover, since our inner consciousness is more alive than our outer thinking, it registers every reaction we have and deep down knows all the bad karma we did, it further shapes where we are born. Thus future parents and appearance is shaped in a complex pattern based on karma and thinking.

This article shows how the pattern of thing can actually shape even our current DNA!

D: Would it not be better if the saints mix with others?

M: There are no ‘others’ to mix with. The Self is the only Reality.

(From ‘Maharshi’s Gospel’: Bk. I, Ch. 6)

This is a very high status where all you see is God. So the concept of others did not exist. If others do not exist, then what do you read? Who do you talk with?

However most people do a con job. They say no one else exists for intellectual discussion but in reality when someone hurts them, or they have a need for sex or talking, they quickly forget that only God is there

So this kind of understanding is a con job. However Ramana Maharshi lived it – without getting angry or upset or doing anything for his body

If there is dirt and dust on a mirror, we cannot see our image. So ignorance and wickedness are the dirt and dust that are on the mirror of our hearts..

#VoiceofVivekananda

In traditional yoga the heart is not the throbbing heart but the antarskarana

So many people, after reading Vivekananda, Nadeem Karol Baba or Lahiri Mahashaya or Babji accept them as their Guru

Or Krishna

This is quite good. Builds up a stronger foundation to go further in spirituality

However, to have a real guru you must meet them in person. No matter how great the guru is, if he is not physically present and you don’t meet him in person he cannot be your guru.

Why not? A guru does not give talks or discussions or give gyana ( knowledge ). He does something more. What he does – only he knows. But he gives an inner experience and an awakening. The disciple has firm conviction after that. The description of awakening has been given in many places.

The depth of help from a living Guru is beyond imagination. All books, scriptures are worthless compared to a living Guru. Even God pales compared to a living Guru. This may seem far fetched and I understand why.

My words may seem dismal and disappointing but a true Guru, once he accepts you, he will follow you till your liberated. Come back repeatedly. It is not an easy task. Obviously they won’t do it for masses. Maybe a few. And every time they come back, they lift a tremendous burden. The love of a Guru is beyond imagination.

A Guru will not accept a disciple lightly. He will test the disciple. Almost all fail in his test. The test is not a written quiz. It is a test of determination to progress. A test of emotional strength to endure without complaint hardship. A test of dedication. A test of unwavering surrender. It is not a test for a day or an hour. Could be years. You will not know it is a test. Someday I will write more.

But if you succeed in passing his tests the rewards are unimaginable

The modern day concept of a Guru is weak. A Guru that accepts a disciple without testing the disciple is not a Guru. A disciple that reads about a Guru and imagines that the Guru has taken the person as a disciple is not a disciple.

Ramkrishna tested Vivekananda many times. Yukteshwar tested Yogananda. But these are Guru of a different category.

So don’t be satisfied with an imaginary Guru. Yes I still worship Yogananda and Vivekananda. But I know their teaching and writings are genuine. They can bless me. Guide me. But to be a Guru – it is much much much more

Of all the writings I have written this is the most revealing. My apologies to the great Gurus for revealing this much

Matthew 16:24 King James Version (KJV)

²⁴ Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

Here is a beautiful verse from the Bible. There can be multiple interpretations

Bear the cross – endure your karma

Deny himself – destroy one’s ego

So why should we do that?

In reply to that Jesus says

Matthew 16:25 King James Version (KJV)

²⁵ For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

If you don’t deny yourself – destroy your ego – then you will lose yourself

Lose his life – destroy his ego.

If you can do it then you will find the true self. Your soul. Your spirit. Pure. Unadulterated by ego. Or material desires. Or carnal desires. Or desires for food. Drink. Money.

So how do you do that? Bear your cross and follow Jesus.

Meaning follow the path he took. He had no problems being put on the cross. He had love even for those who crucified him.

Can we have that kind of love?

Subtly, there are a few other deeper meanings. It hints at a technique of meditation.

Matthew 16:24 King James Version (KJV)

²⁴ Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

Here is a beautiful verse from the Bible. There can be multiple interpretations

Bear the cross – endure your karma

Deny himself – destroy one’s ego

So why should we do that?

In reply to that Jesus says

Matthew 16:25 King James Version (KJV)

²⁵ For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

If you don’t deny yourself – destroy your ego – then you will lose yourself

Lose his life – destroy his ego.

If you can do it then you will find the true self. Your soul. Your spirit. Pure. Unadulterated by ego. Or material desires. Or carnal desires. Or desires for food. Drink. Money.

So how do you do that? Bear your cross and follow Jesus.

Meaning follow the path he took. He had no problems being put on the cross. He had love even for those who crucified him.

Can we have that kind of love?

Subtly, there are a few other deeper meanings. It hints at a technique of meditation.

Love life lost life

Life loves love

Love lost in life

Love love to live

This is a very difficult poem to understand. Love here is God in some places and other places the passion for things

Yogananda is liberated. He may come back in a hundred years to guide a few others. When he comes back initially he will remain in meditation for a long time. Expose himself for a few years and then go back.

Such high individuals do no remain in limelight for more than a decade, and only reveal their highest self to a dozen or less people

Yogananda said, oh I spend most of my waking time in higher world’s. Thus for such great individuals going to those higher world’s is so easy.

For them where is death? They see the departed, talk with the departed in heaven

In sleep we forget our body. In anesthesia, we are unaware of our body. Yet consciousness exists without awareness of body.

Atheists believe that without brain consciousness cannot exist.

The yogi know that consciousness is there without the body

I feel compelled to share a little about this great prophet

He was born in Israel in the 8th century. His sayings belong to the old testament. He often compared his relation with his wife to Israel relation with God

His wife Gomer was not faithful to him but he continued to love her unconditionally. ( Akin to God loving Israel and humans even though we remain engrossed in pleasures of food and flesh)

His previous quote proved he was a Yogi. It could only have been written by a great Yogi! The meaning of the quote is a matter of explanation at a different time!

The quote is indeed perfect

I was surprised to read this in the Bible

This verse gives the essence of all of spirituality

With eyes open walk the wise

The immortal soul only changes abode

The only death is keeping eyes shut closed

The spirit has life The body has death

The spirit has love the body passion

The spirit has light the body darkness

The spirit all mighty the body in fear

So take your pick eyes open or closed