sign in sign up
<<
Home , Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, Yogaswami

EDUCATIONAL INSIGHT Know Thy Self 14 Daily Enlightenment Lessons

ATI O C N U A

D L From the teachings of E

I N S S T I G H

any are the ways that can lead one to the magic is that by changing your own conscious- seek enlight en ment—a spontaneous ness and relationship with the world, you change moment of ec static expanded con - the entire cosmos. ¶The path requires you to fi rst M scious ness, a fear-evoking brush with overcome fear, confusion, anger and selfi shness. It death, a random meeting with an extraordinary then teaches you to live with de tach ment, with com- or the sudden realization that there must be more passion for all other beings and with wisdom based to this existence than sex, money, food, clothes and on knowledge that all is right in the universe. Finally, power. It matters little how we stumble upon the the spiritual quest takes you from darkness to light, inner, spiritual path. What does mat ter is how we from death to immortality. Knowing who you are proceed once we discover it, what tradition we em- and what you should do, you naturally live poised in brace, what techniques we employ. ¶These fourteen the eternal now, intuitively open, free of illusion and lessons are designed to offer seekers a few keys about happy in heart. ¶These fourteen lessons are a sum- self-discovery from man’s oldest spiritual tradition, mary of life’s path, from the beginning to the end. one that is unique in its devotional nondualism. It Read them each morning at breakfast. It will be fun is a simple refl ection, neither advanced nor arcane. for the whole family and give them a great start for Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami developed these the day. Each time they hear a lesson, it will be new lessons for seekers on the path who were inquir- and fresh to their mind because deeper insights will ing about the intriguing metaphysical aspects of come. Take a lot of time with them under a special self-inquiry, like affi rmations, , chak ras and tree, or in your favorite chair or secret place. Listen to releasing strained magnetic attachments in life and this ancient wisdom as being a message to you and relationships. Each lesson ends with a challenge to you alone and absorb it into yourself as a one total- help put these principles into practice. ’s great ity. ¶To know thy Self is the greatest knowing of all lineages teach the importance of knowing the knowings. To know thy Self is the greatest security of inmost Self, the nondual Reality that exists as the si- all securities. To know thy Self is the greatest wealth lent core of every soul. ¶In the East, this is called the of all wealths. To know thy Self is the greatest path , or great Self. This is not the intellectual of all paths. Proceed with confi dence; you are on the or emotional self. It is not the physical or personality right path. Awake! Arise! Go forward! The path has self. This is the Divine Self deep within you. Knowing been cleared long ago by the . Its end is in sight. this Self is the true purpose of life on Earth. On the There is much to be learned along the way, but don’t path to the Self, one thing is certain—change. And tarry. Keep pushing onward, upward and inward.

january/february/march, 2014 today 39 a. manivel LESSON ONE SEEKER: is there a simple key to SEEKER: what can i do when old LESSON TWO understanding life, especially at diffi cult attitudes fi ght my spiritual convictions? times? GURUDEVA: Yes. Meditate on a river. GURUDEVA: When we start on the spiritual The River Follow it as a visual image from its source path, the past, held in our subconscious The Power to the end where it merges into the sea. mind, is there as a friend or an enemy to our Realize that you have a river of pure life quest. For years we have repeated statements Of Life force fl owing through you at this moment. and attached meaning to them in our Of Affirmation Hold that realization permanently within thoughts and words. This has programmed you. You can now clearly see where you our subconscious and helped form our life as have been clinging to the bank of life’s we know it, for the sub conscious brings into river. Openly observe just how long you manifestation the impressions we put into it. have been clinging to various negative To succeed on the path, we must change the attachments by hold ing awareness in the subconscious and remold its magnetic force area of fears, worries, doubts of the future with new ideas and new con cepts. This can and regrets about the past. To perceive our be done through the pow er of affi rmation. attachments is the fi rst step we take toward An affi rmation is a positive statement re- being a detached and independent spiritual peated to oneself to create a specifi c effect in being. Through the power of affectionate the mind. SEEKER: How does one choose the detachment, we separate awareness from right affi rmation? GURUDEVA: First we must that which it is aware of. We lovingly let go realize what we do not want. Then we must of negative attachments. But being detached take steps to change it. For example, if you does not mean running away from life or feel “I can’t,” you cannot. But you can re verse being insensitive. When we have the ability this pattern and change the fl ow of magnetic to let go, we can at last live in the of mental force by saying orally and feeling the moment. We are warmer, more friendly, through all the atoms of your body “I can. I more wholesome, more hu man. SEEKER: will. I am able to accomplish what I plan.” Why do we be come attached? GURUDEVA: Repeat that statement fi fty or a hundred We become attached because we do not times a day. Your subconscious may counter stop to understand that the experiences that with feelings of “I can’t. I won’t. I am not able.” conceived the attachment were only a rapid, But you must not give up saying “I can. I will. a waterfall or an old tree trunk blocking one I am able” until you fi nd the subconscious of the little rivulets as it tried to merge with actually creating situations in which you can the great stream ever merging in to the ocean. and are able to be successful, happy and ac- Learn to let go of the banks of the river. Let quire what you need, be it temporal goods go the past. Let go the future. Let go reaction. or un fold ment on the inner path. Satguru Live in the eternity of the moment and say reminded us, Whatsoever you to yourself, “I am the master of my body, my think, that you become. That is the great mind and my emotions.” Satguru Yogaswami secret.” TODAY’S CHALLENGE: Repeat the declared: “Let happiness and sorrow come affi rmation “I’m all right, right now” each and go like the clouds.” TODAY’S CHALLENGE: time you fi nd yourself worrying about the Go to a river or a stream, sit beside it in a past or the future. Gently but fi rmly bring quiet place alone and see the water as your your awareness back to the present and a. manivel a. manivel own life force. Watch how it fl ows past all reaffi rm the fact that you really are all right, A family fl oats down the river Ganges in a mythic raft, their faces obstacles, accepting ev ery change it meets, right now. Learn to live in the now. Aum. A seeker is seated on a fabled one-wheeled chariot, representing his uplifted in detached trust of the Divine. Behind, two quarreling men mind’s movements. The power to move toward gloom and failure or as it moves steadily toward its goal. Aum. are stranded on the banks of the river, unable to progress. upliftment and success—lies in his words and thoughts.

40 january/february/march, 2014 january/february/march, 2014 hinduism today 41 LESSON THREE SEEKER: are there defi nite steps on the SEEKER: i have been meditating for years, LESSON FOUR inner path? GURUDEVA: Yes, there are fi ve but with lit tle success. Why? GURUDEVA: steps on the path of enlightenment. These Unfoldment doesn’t take a lot of time. It Five Steps to steps are really regions of , just takes a lot of willpower. Someone with Willpower, the each more refi ned than the last. As minimal will power may sit at attention Enlightenment awareness becomes refi ned and detached, and concentrate and meditate every day for as it comes under the conscious control of years and years and years and constantly be Fuel of Attainment the spiritual will, we are able to penetrate distracted and constantly be unsuccessful. each layer in succession until the fi nal Another person can be extremely successful goal is reached. SEEKER: What are the fi ve in a short pe riod of time because he has steps? GURUDEVA: Attention is the fi rst step. willpower. The previous way he lived his It is the ability to hold awareness steady, life gave a great strength to his will, and he centralized in the area that we choose. From goes soaring within on that power. Will is this point we evolve naturally into the next the fuel which carries awareness through all step, concentration. The hummingbird areas of the mind. It is that spiritual quality poised over the fl ower be gins to concentrate which makes all inner goals a reality. The on it, to study it, to muse over it. Through will has to be cultivated, just like you would the abilities of concentration, med itation cultivate a garden. The energies have to all be slowly becomes available. In you fl owing, in a sense, through one channel, so are seeing the fl ower as it actually is. New that everything you do is satisfying, complete, knowledge is fl ooding through you from beautiful. SEEKER: How can I strengthen the inside, and you are joyously alert and my willpower? GURUDEVA: The more will- content. From sustained meditation, we enter power you use, the more you have to use. It contemplation. We plunge deep er, deeper, is an unlimited power within you. Finish deeper with in, beyond the external form each job that you begin. Keep each pro mise into the energy and the life within the cells that you make. Fulfi ll each plan that you of the fl ower. We are absorbed in that energy. have set in motion, provided it is true, kind, We become that energy that pervades every helpful and fulfi lls a need. The right thing atom of existence. Ultimately, contemplation for you to do may perhaps be the hardest. leads to Self Realization, to the very deepest This, then, is the very thing you should impel samadhi, where in you, in a sense, go with in yourself to accomplish. Do this and ex peri- one at of that pure energy and into ence your will be coming stronger and every the Pri mal Source of all. There is noth ing you part of your na ture responding beautifully. can say about it, be cause there are no areas Do a little bit more than you think you are of the mind in which the Self God exists, able to do. That also exercises the will. Every and yet, but for the Self the mind would time you exercise your will, you strengthen not exist. It is un speakable Truth, known it. Yogaswami told devotees, “Resolve and act. only by the knower. Satguru Yogaswami Whatever you do, do it with all your might.” put it simply, “First step, second step, third TODAY’S CHALLENGE: Pick a task that you step—and so on, till you come to the top.” have left unfi nished for a long time and TODAY’S CHALLENGE: Find a quiet place. Put resolve to complete it. Schedule the time, a fl ower in front of you and concentrate on then stick with great determination a. manivel a. manivel it. Try to think ten consecutive thoughts to your plan and com plete the project A Sivabhaktar strides boldly along the path, moving toward Self about the fl ower without interruption. even better than expected. Aum. An indomitable will is required on the spiritual path. Here a man Realization, assured of Siva’s loving closeness. All the while, Siva is has vowed to build a temple atop a remote hill. Each stone must be Keep trying. Keep trying. Aum. within him, symbolized by the refl ection in the lotus pond. carried from the river below. Only his willpower sustains the effort.

42 hinduism today january/february/march, 2014 january/february/march, 2014 hinduism today 43 LESSON FIVE SEEKER: what is the superconscious SEEKER: what is karma? GURUDEVA: LESSON SIX mind? GURUDEVA: Out of Parasiva, Absolute Karma is the law of cause and effect. Every Reality, ever comes the fi rst manifestation action that we perform in life, every thought Superconscious of mind—superconsciousness or in fi nite that we think, has its reaction. People often Karma: Rules knowing. The superconscious mind is ask, “Why is this happening to me? It doesn’t the mind of the soul—the mind of God seem fair!” Were they able to observe more Mind Of Light Siva. The su per conscious mind is the deeply, they would see all the ingredients of the Game most wonderful area of the mind that that came together out of the past to create there is, but we’re not always aware in the the conditions they are passing through in superconscious mind, because we’re gener- the now. They would observe that every ally in the subsuperconscious, aware of the action is like planting a seed. The fruit of that conscious mind. Or we are aware of our seed, harvested perhaps years or lifetimes own subconscious mind or that of another. later, is reaction. We face those reactions But the more we de tach awareness from through other people and through our own subconscious binds, from conscious-mind actions. We throw a boom erang. It travels at tach ments, the more we become super- out into the air, turns around and comes conscious. The superconscious acts in the back to us with equal force. In a similar way, now. All superconscious knowing comes to our actions and thoughts, be they loving you intuitively, in a fl ash out of the nowhere. or hateful, set up patterns of reaction that is more direct than rea son and far return to us with equal force. SEEKER: How more accurate. SEEKER: How do we know should we face our karma? GURUDEVA: By when we are supercon scious? GURUDEVA: applying the wisdom of the sages to the When we feel as if we are living totally in experiences encountered in life, we resolve the moment, when we subconsciously iden- our karma rather than create new karma. tify ourself as an in tense, vibrating entity of By gaining conscious control of thoughts the eternal now, that is superconsciousness. and attitudes, by right ac tion, we can Occasionally, in deep meditation we see control the fl ow of karma. Then we stop the head fi lled with clear white light. That creating un complimentary karma and can is superconsciousness. When you are consciously face the reactions of the past superconscious, you may see yourself as pure without the confusion of additional day-to- life force fl ow ing through people, through day reactions. Face each challenge by tell- trees, through everything. When you are ing yourself, “This is the kar ma I was born in contemplation, so en grossed in the en er- to face. I came here to spir itually unfold, to gies within you, you dy nam ically feel that face and ac cept the of this and all peace of the central source of all energy. You my past lives.” Life is the classroom. Kar- realize that you are the source of all energy, ma is the teacher. Yogaswami summarized, the center of all consciousness. That, too, is “The present is the result of past action. su percon scious ness. Satguru Yogaswami Man is the architect of his future.” TODAY’S explained, “The source of knowledge is mine. CHALLENGE: Today, each time you fi nd The key of existence lies in the palm of my yourself mentally blaming others, stop. Let hand.” TODAY’S CHALLENGE: Sit quietly in go of all feelings of resentment, helplessness meditation. Relax your body, regulate your and injustice. Act on this knowledge: all a. manivel a. manivel breathing and seek the light within your that comes to you, good and bad alike, is As the superconscious awakens, the seeker’s third eye, the ajna head. This light which lights your thoughts self-created and contains a les son to be Each soul is responsible for his own karma, a concept symbolized chakra, reveals a world of light and sound, inner peace and mystical here by a sculptor’s carving himself out of a granite stone, just as is the light of superconsciousness. Aum. learned. Learn the lesson and be free. Aum. experience. This woman inwardly sees Siva dancing on her head. we create experiences through our thoughts, words and deeds.

44 hinduism today january/february/march, 2014 january/february/march, 2014 hinduism today 45 LESSON SEVEN SEEKER: what is reincarnation? SEEKER: what are the chakras? LESSON EIGHT GURUDEVA: Reincarnation is the natural GURUDEVA: The chak ras are great force cycle of birth, death and re birth. We are centers or nerve ganglia in the physical Reincarnation: not the body in which we live, but the im- body, the astral body and the body of the Chakras, Centers mortal soul which inhabits one body after soul. When inwardly perceived, they are another on the Earth during its evolutionary vividly colorful and can be heard. Chakra is Ocean of Lives journey. Like the caterpillar’s transformation a Sanskrit word meaning “wheel,” as these Of Consciousness into a butterfl y, physical death is a most are spinning circles of energy and re gions of natural transition for the soul, never to be mind power. The muladhara, the foundation feared. The belief in reincarnation brings a or “root center” at the base of the spine, great sense of peace. Knowing that the soul governs memory. Above it are six chak ras evolves from life to life gives a re mark able which control reason, will power, cognition, insight into the human condition and ap- divine love, di vine sight and illumin a tion, preciation for all men in all stages of spiritual res pectively. Be low the muladhara are seven de velopment. SEEKER: What happens when lower chak ras, realms of the in stinc tive, we die? GURUDEVA: We simply step out of animal nature, making fourteen major chak- the phy sical body and we’re in our astral ras in all. SEEKER: Are the chakras connected body, and we carry on as usual in various one to another? GURUDEVA: The chakras refi ned force fi elds according to where we are interconnected by three major psychic are in the mind at the time of death. There nerve currents or nadis through which fl ow we see people who have also “died” and all forces of life and mind. The ida nadi others who have left their physical body is passive-fem inine; the pingala nadi is while sleeping. On the astral we aggressive-masculine. Directly through the relive many experiences of our earthly life, spinal cord runs the sushumna nadi like a creating for ourself heavens or hells. When shaft of pure energy. When ida and pingala our lessons have been learn ed and our are balanced, the chak ras all spin at the same reactions resolved, we slough off the astral velocity, and awareness is re leased to soar body, then enter a new physical body. The with in. This is ac complished through hatha conditions we reincarnate in depend on yo ga, controlled breathing and meditation. how we have conducted ourself through Finally, through sus tained states of in tense our many lives and what we were thinking contemplation, the cosmic energy with in about when we died. The ac tions and re- sushumna, the kundalini or “ser pent pow er,” actions we set in mo tion in our last life form which is at this time playing up and down the tendencies in the next. Re in car nation the spine like a thermo meter, rises to the ceases when all karmas have been resolved, 1,008-petaled chak ra at the top of the head, has been well performed and God and we go beyond consciousness and become fully realized. This is known as mok sha, or the Self, in total Self Realization. Yogaswami liberation from rebirth. Yogaswami lamented, prayed, “O, cave-dwelling , universal “Oh, the endless anxieties of endless births! energy lying coiled and dor mant within me, When will these delusions end?” TODAY’S arise!” TODAY’S CHALLENGE: Study the people CHALLENGE: Ob serve in one day: a pregnant around you. Try to in tuit who is functioning woman, a new born infant, children at primarily in the higher chakras of love and a. manivel a. manivel school, a wedding, an el derly person and a understanding and who is functioning in Here Siva, as , guides the reincarnation process as a soul is cemetery. Encompass the complete cycle the the lower, instinctive animal nature. Aum. Seven instinctive chakras are depicted here in the legs and feet, embodied, grows to manhood, then declines into old age and death, seven central chakras, and seven subtle chakras above the head. soul passes through, life after life. Aum. to be reborn again to experience the world and evolve. Their realms of consciousness are shown as shaded bands.

46 hinduism today january/february/march, 2014 january/february/march, 2014 hinduism today 47 LESSON NINE SEEKER: who is lord siva? GURUDEVA: SEEKER: what is the nature of our soul? LESSON TEN Lord Siva is God, the uncreated Supreme GURUDEVA: Our individual soul is the Being. My satguru, Sage Yogaswami, immortal and spiritual body of light that Our Great proclaimed: “The Universal One is Siva. That animates life and reincarnates again and Our Pristine, without place or name is Siva. The splendor again until all necessary karmas are created known as Aum is Siva. That which has no and resolved and its essential unity with God Siva form is Siva. That which is the Truth is Siva.” God is realized. Our individual soul is the Immortal Soul Lord Siva, God, was never created. He has creation of God Siva and the source of all our existed forever and has created all things, higher functions, including knowledge, will including everybody’s individual soul. God and love. Our soul is neither male nor female. Siva is a one Being, yet we un derstand Him It is that which never dies, even when the in three perfections. Parasiva, Ab solute four outer sheaths or bodies—physical, Reality, timeless, formless, spaceless, is His pranic, instinctive and mental—change form unmanifest fi rst perfection. His second and perish, as they naturally do. The soul perfection, Pure Consciousness, or Parashakti, body is our innermost form. We are not the is all-pervasive, infi nite, and is found in physical body, mind or emotions. We are every action and particle of His creation. His the immortal soul. SEEKER: Does the soul third perfection, Primal Soul, Parameshvara, actually grow and ma ture? GURUDEVA: For is our personal Lord and Ruler of all three the sake of understanding the mysteries worlds. It is comforting to know that Lord of the soul, we distinguish between the Siva is the Divine Father/Mother. That close soul body and its essence. As a soul body, to us, that watchful and that loving is our we are individual and unique, different great God Siva. SEEKER: Does God pervade from all others. At the core of our subtle everything? GURUDEVA: Infi nite is Siva’s soul body is Satchidananda, or immanent all-pervasive, superconscious, exalted Love; and at the core of that is Parasiva, or mind. His Be ing is within every animate transcendent Reality. These are the nucleus and inanimate form—sim ul tan eously, all of the soul, which does not change or evolve. at once, in ev ery inner and outer universe. They are eternally perfect and one with This un bounded Satchidananda has neither God Siva. We may liken the soul body to an beginning nor end. All is within it. It is acorn, which contains the mighty oak tree within all. Satguru swami proclaimed: but is a small seed yet to develop. The soul “You will know Siva if you re main still. God body matures through experience, evolv- is Love. God is Truth. God is all things. ing through many lives into the splendor God is everywhere. The whole world de - of God Siva ultimately realizing Him pends on an unknowable energy for all its totally. Ev en when God Realization is at- activities. It is all the same whether this tained, the soul body con tinues to evolve energy is called God or given any other in this and other worlds until it merges name.” Yogaswami intoned, “Everywhere, with the Primal Soul as a drop of water all the time and in everyone you can hear merges with its source, the ocean. My guru the voice of God.” TODAY’S CHALLENGE: affi rmed, “It will not be an overstatement if Try to fi nd one place where God Siva is I say that man is God.” TODAY’S CHALLENGE: not. Search everywhere, in all seriousness, Perform this simple exercise. Lift your a. manivel a. manivel throughout your home and outside as arm, then lower it again. Ponder, “Is not the Every soul’s ultimate goal, in this life or another, is to realize its well. In the process, see if you can prove to energy within my arm the same energy This awakened soul, hands lifted in worshipful awareness, oneness with God. That union is depicted here as Lord Siva and a contemplates the formless Parasiva (the purple Sivalingas) and Siva yourself that God Siva is All and in all. Aum. of Siva within all living things?” Aum. jnani meet and merge beneath a banyan tree. in form as Maheshvara and Satchidananda (the blue Lingas).

48 hinduism today january/february/march, 2014 january/february/march, 2014 hinduism today 49 LESSON ELEVEN SEEKER: where did this world come SEEKER: what is life’s ultimate goal? LESSON TWELVE from? Is it real? GURUDEVA: Lord Siva GURUDEVA: The goal is to realize God created this and numberless other worlds Siva in His absolute or transcendent state, The World of relative reality for to inhabit as which when realized is your own ul timate Self Realization: they evolve. This world, and indeed all of state—timeless, formless, spaceless Truth. existence, is , the principle of matter. That Truth lies beyond the thinking mind, We Live in While God is absolutely real, His emanated beyond the feeling nature, beyond action or Life’s Ultimate Goal world is relatively real. That does not mean any movement of the mind. Being, seeing that the universe is illusory or nonexistent, this Truth then gives the correct perspective, but that it is impermanent and subject to brings the external realities into perspective. change. It is an error to say that the universe They then are seen as truly unrealities, is mere illusion, for it is entirely real when yet not discarded as such. This intimate experienced in ordinary consciousness, experience must be experienced while in and its existence is required to lead us to the physical body. One comes back and back God. There fore, we call it relatively real to again into fl esh simply to realize Parasiva. distinguish it from the unchanging Reality. Nothing more. Yet, the Self, or Parasiva, is an SEEKER: Why is there so much suffering experience only after it has been experienced. and misery in the world? GURUDEVA: The Yet, it is not an experience at all, but the only nature of the world is duality. It contains possible nonexperience, which registers in its each thing and its op posite: joy and sorrow, aftermath upon the mind of man. SEEKER: goodness and evil, love and hate. Through What is the path to the Self? GURUDEVA: experience of these, we learn and evolve, In each birth we must fulfi ll more goals fi nally seeking Truth which transcends all leading to the one ultimate goal which after opposites. The world is the place where our many births well lived will loom before us destiny is shaped, our desires fulfi lled and as the only goal worthy of striving for in this our soul matured. In the world we grow lifetime. We know the Self, which is God from ignorance into wisdom, from darkness and which is ourself, on ly when we enter the into light and from a consciousness of death guha, the cave within, as a way of life, not to im mortality. My satguru said, “The whole just a temporary, ex per imental, psychological world is an in which all are doing trial. We know the Self within ourself only .” We must love the world, which is when we fully turn into ourselves through God’s creation. The world is a glorious place, concentration, med itation and con tem plation, not to be feared. It is a gracious gift from and then sus tain the resulting samadhi of Siva Himself, a playground for His children Satchidananda in hopes of fi nd ing—de- in which to interrelate young souls with the ter mined to fi nd—That which cannot be old—the young experiencing their karma described, That which was spoken about while the old hold fi rmly to their dharma. by the great , Parasiva, beyond a stilled The young grow; the old know. Yogaswami mind. My satguru proclaimed, “When the explained, “The world is a training college. mind and the soul be come one with God, it Some are in kindergarten. Some are in the is samadhi.” TODAY’S CHALLENGE: Sit and B.A. class.” TODAY’S CHALLENGE: Observe a visualize above you nothing, be low you youth playing, a mother teaching her child, nothing and all around you nothing, and try a. manivel a. manivel a worker at his task. Strive to see the world to dissolve yourself into that nothingness. A woman refl ects on the world she lives in, a life fi lled with family, as a classroom of experi ence, an “ashrama Thus deepen your understanding of the In a mountain cave a , after meditating and worshiping, meals, gatherings, duties, conversations, sorrows, celebrations, transcends his mind, realizes the Self God and, elated, holds both in which all are doing sadhana.” Aum. Self. Aum. discoveries, responsibilities and varied relationships. hands high knowing he is one with Siva’s perfect universe.

50 hinduism today january/february/march, 2014 january/february/march, 2014 hinduism today 51 LESSON THIRTEEN SEEKER: what is a satguru? GURUDEVA: SEEKER: what is yoga? LESSON FOURTEEN There are many kinds of , who are BODHINATHA: is the yoga Lord Siva’s instruments in lifting the veils of of devotion. It is the practice of external Satguru: the ignorance to where knowledge exists in its worship which begins by attending pujas, Bhakti: the pristine purity—gurus of music, gurus of art, ceremonial worship, at the temple and later gurus of dance, gurus of philo sophy, but most develops into conducting simple rituals in Spiritual Guide important is the satguru, the yoga guru, the one’s own home shrine. The goal of bhakti Yoga of Devotion siddha guru of enlightenment. A satguru is a yoga is to awaken a deep devotion, a heartfelt fully matured and realized soul who ac tively love of God that transforms our nature, helps us in our religious life and personal giving us a softened, mellow heart. A devotee unfoldment. Not all gurus are satgurus. The well established in the practice of bhakti satguru is the jnani, the enlightened being yoga profoundly enjoys going to the temple who sees beyond duality and knows the and absorbing the purifying and uplifting oneness of all. He is the illumined one, fi lled blessings that come from the Deity during with light, fi lled with love. He sees God the . SEEKER: How does bhakti yoga everywhere, in all men. He is the one who relate to meditation? BODHINATHA: Based simply is and who sees no differences. That is on his many years of teaching experience, his difference. SEEKER: Does one really need Gurudeva came to the conclusion that it is a guru? GURUDEVA: With rare exceptions, a a waste of the guru’s time to give training guru is necessary to guide the aspirant on in meditation before devotion has been the path as far as he is willing and able to awakened through bhakti yoga. Gurudeva go in his current incarnation. The guru is found, time and again, that the attainments needed because the mind is cunning and achieved in meditation were not sustained the ego is a self-perpetuating mech anism. It except where a foundation of devotion had is unable and un willing to transcend it self fi rst been established. One of the reasons by itself. Therefore, one needs the guidance is that meditation makes us more aware of another who has gone through the same of our subconscious mind, including any process, who has faithfully followed the path unresolved problems with our family and to its natural end and therefore can gently our own personal ego. Becoming aware lead us to God within ourselves. It is the of such matters can be quite disturbing. satguru’s job to inspire, to assist, to guide and If we are strong in our bhakti yoga, then sometimes even impel the disciple to move the blessings we feel when we go to the a little fur ther toward the Self of himself temple uplift and console us during these than he has been able to go by himself. Re- challenging times. If we are not, then facing member, the satguru will keep you on these problems can be very diffi cult and the path, but you have to walk the path cause us to give up regular meditation yourself. Satguru Yogaswami taught, “The altogether. Yogaswami enjoined, “Cherish the company of great souls is necessary. Love of Lord in the recesses of your heart. Everything the satguru is most praiseworthy.” TODAY’S everywhere is subject to His Will.” TODAY’S CHALLENGE: Seek out and have the darshana, CHALLENGE: Gather eleven fl owers in a “holy sight,” of a special person who lives a basket or bowl. Select a picture or statue of sacred life. Afterwards stop and carefully Lord that inspires you. Offer the a. manivel a. manivel explore the affect that his or her presence fl owers one at a time to the image while Life’s highest grace is to see, to know, to hear and to commune with had on your mind and awareness. Aum. chanting the “Aum Sri Ganeshaya A man and wife prostrate before God Siva. This devotional a living satguru. A devotee falls at his guru’s feet, prayerful that salutation subdues the ego, strengthens humility and opens the Namah.” Visualize Him blessing you, and feel training, protection and perhaps initiation may come. doors of rapport between the worshiper and the worshipful. your devotion fl ooding out to Him. Aum.

52 hinduism today january/february/march, 2014 january/february/march, 2014 hinduism today 53