A Journal for Spiritual Living ek Published by the Blue Blue Mountain has been called one of the fore- most teachers of meditation Center of Meditation in our times. From his arrival & Nilgiri Press Mountain in the United States in 1959 on www.easwaran.org ESTABLISHED BY EKNATH EASWARAN the Fulbright exchange pro- Summer 2013 FOR PRESENTING HIS EIGHT-POINT gram until his passing in the fall of 1999, he taught to mod- Volume 24, Number 2 PROGRAM OF PASSAGE MEDITATION ern men and women his eight- point program, based on his unique method of meditation Partly they are persuaded into the water; on memorized inspirational partly, I suspect, they are pushed. They feel passages from the world’s Learning to this is a monstrous unkindness. “We’re great religions. Many thou land creatures,” they want to argue. “Why sands of people representing Swim should we learn to get along in an alien ele- the full range of cultural and ment?” That is a logical question. But after religious backgrounds attest to the benefits of his teaching. a while, through guidance and experience, He continues to teach through y friends’ children have they lose that fear of the water. Now they his thirty books on spiritual been learning to swim, and are at home in the pool. living – over a million cop- throughout the summer I We accept this as a natural part of a ies in print in twenty-seven received glowing reports about child’s education. Learning to do stunts in languages – and through the Mhow well they were doing. At the beginning, the water is part of growing up. If we never ongoing programs and publi I remember, the children themselves turned get the opportunity to see somebody do cations of the organization he founded in 1961 to carry on in a very different story. “Just looking at all such wonderful things in the mental world, his work: the Blue Mountain that water makes me scared,” they told me. it is mainly because our civilization Continued Center of Meditation and “I’ll never be able to swim!” They believed offers no real facilities for training on page 4 its publishing arm, Nilgiri Press. that, and they acted on it. When their par- From our archives: Eknath Easwaran, 1993 ents drove them into town for lessons, there was wailing and gnashing of teeth all along the road. Now these same children have invited me to preside over their graduation from swimming school. They look forward to coming to the pool now; they swim back and forth, play games underwater, even dive in the deep end. This did not come about overnight. It came through hard work, under the guidance of a good swim- ming teacher who knows just how to dem- onstrate the strokes and skills she wants her pupils to develop. The transformation starts in the “kiddie pool,” where drowning is difficult even if you have a talent for it. There the children learn to duck their heads under the water and hold their breath. They learn to blow bubbles. They hold on to the side and learn to kick. Finally comes time for the big pool, of which they are scared stiff. This is only nat- ural; after all, the water is over their heads. To their vivid imaginations, drowning is too distinct a possibility to ignore, lifeguard or no lifeguard. And it looks so far from one side to the other! BLUE MOUNTAIN
blue mountain 1 Learning to Swim Blue Mountain Center of Meditation Children are often afraid The Center offers instruction in meditation and The quarterly journal to get into the water, but allied living skills, following the eight-point program of the Blue Mountain once they learn to swim, of passage meditation developed by Sri Eknath Center of Meditation they are at home there. It’s Easwaran. The approach is nondenominational, the same with us and nonsectarian, and free from dogma and ritual. It can meditation, Easwaran be used within each person’s own cultural and reli- Summer 2013 writes: and the treasures that beckon are gious background to relieve stress, heal relation- ©2013 by The Blue not found on the surface but deep below. ships, release deeper resources, and realize one’s Mountain Center of highest potential. 5 How to Deepen Meditation Meditation, Inc. To get the most from meditation, we have to Passage Meditation: An Eight-Point Program founder learn to go deeper into 1. meditation on a passage Silent Sri Eknath Easwaran consciousness where the repetition in the mind of memorized inspirational resources for creative passages from the world’s great religions. Practiced living arise. And to do for one-half hour each morning. board of trustees this requires more than that half hour 2. repetition of a mantram Silent Christine Easwaran of meditation, Easwaran tells us. repetition in the mind of a Holy Name or a hallowed Nick Harvey Surprisingly, perhaps, to deepen phrase from one of the world’s great religions. meditation, we need to work on what Sultana Harvey Practiced whenever possible throughout the day we say and do during the rest of the day. or night. Diana Lightman 8 Deepening Meditation: 3. slowing down Setting priorities and Terry Morrison Questions & Answers reducing the stress and friction caused by hurry. Beth Ann O’Connell Easwaran answers some 4. one-pointed attention Giving full of the questions that come concentration to the matter at hand. blue mountain up most frequently when 5. training the senses Overcoming executive editor people want to take their conditioned habits and learning to enjoy what is meditation practice to beneficial. Christine Easwaran another level. What does “going deeper” 6. putting others first Gaining freedom mean? What are the signs that it is from selfishness and separateness; finding joy in Post Office Box 256 happening? And what’s the connection helping others. between meditation and the rest of the Tomales, ca 94971 7. spiritual fellowship Spending day? Telephone 707 878 2369 time regularly with other passage meditators for mutual inspiration and support. Facsimile 707 878 2375 8. spiritual reading Drawing inspiration Email [email protected] from writings by and about the world’s great Web www.easwaran.org spiritual figures and from the scriptures of all Printed on recycled paper religions.
The Blue Mountain Center Eknath Easwaran depends on donations to Schooled in both Eastern and Western traditions, carry on its work. Every Eknath Easwaran took to the spiritual life amidst a gift, large or small, is much successful career in India as a professor of English appreciated and put to good The Blue Mountain journal is free. Postage literature, a writer, and a lecturer. After coming to use. The Blue Mountain the University of California, Berkeley, on the costs apply for delivery outside the US. Center of Meditation Fulbright exchange program, he established the For a two-year subscription to Canada or is a 501(c)(3) California Blue Mountain Center of Meditation in Northern Mexico, the cost is $15. nonprofit corporation. California in 1961. His 1968 Berkeley class is believed For all other countries, the two-year Contributions to the Center to be the first accredited course in meditation at any subscription cost is $25. Please visit our are deductible from state Western university. His deep personal experience website, www.easwaran.org, to sign up to and federal income tax. and his love for his students have made the ancient receive the journal. art of meditation accessible to those who hold jobs and lead active lives among friends and family. 2 PUBLISHER’S PAGE
to Swim,” is taken from his book the next day’s meditation will be Conquest of Mind, which is devoted to deeper. just this subject. Using the ancient We hear so much today about how The Fruits of Indian image of the mind as a deep meditation helps us cope with stress pool, Easwaran compares learning to and lowers blood pressure. Easwaran Meditation dive below the surface to what we do wanted us never to forget that the real in meditation when we take it to a goal of this ancient art is nothing less deeper level. A swimming pool isn’t all than Self-realization: discovery of the that deep, but consciousness is fath- changeless reality that is our real omless: the deeper we go, he says, the nature. more we can benefit from what medi- Easwaran’s articles are followed by tation offers. exchanges with his students on these In his second article, “How to topics: “Deepening Meditation: Ques- Christine Easwaran Deepen Meditation” (p. 5), Easwaran tions and Answers” (p. 8). The answers explains some of the connections he gave over the years to searching between meditation and the rest of the questions from sincere students are e are continuing our day, and how and why all the points of valuable complements to the material series on Sri Eknath his program work together to deepen in his books, so we hope to feature this Easwaran’s eight-point not just meditation but the quality of kind of material in future issues. We program of passage our lives. If, in meditation, we go love to hear from you. Wmeditation, devoting this issue to the through the words of a passage like the relationship between going deeper in Prayer of St. Francis – “Lord, make me meditation and what we do during an instrument of thy peace” – we need the rest of the day. to go through the day acting as an Christine Easwaran Easwaran’s lead article, “Learning instrument of peace. If we can do this, For the Board of Trustees
Instructions in Meditation
* Choose a time for meditation when you can sit for * While meditating, do not follow any association of half an hour in uninterrupted quiet. Early morning is ideas or allow your mind to reflect on the meaning of best, before the activities of the day begin. the words. If you are giving your full attention to each word, the meaning cannot help sinking in. * Select a place that is cool, clean, and quiet. * When distractions come, do not resist them, but * Sit with your back and head erect, on the floor give more attention to the words of the passage. or on a straight-backed chair. A back support may be helpful. * When you reach the end of the passage, you may use it again as necessary to complete your period of * Close your eyes and begin to go slowly, in your meditation until you have memorized others. mind, through the words of a simple, positive inspirational passage from one of the world’s * Resolve to have your meditation every day – great spiritual traditions. however full your schedule, whatever interruptions threaten, whether you are sick or well. LEARNING TO SWIM
Continued the mind. But with the right Their differences seem to keep getting for its private satisfactions. And as from page 1 training, any of us can learn in our way. long as we remain at the surface like to be at home in the world of the And underlying this level, largely this, we can never see through the mind, just as those children learned unsuspected, lies the depths of the mind clearly. We have little choice but to be at home in the water. collective unconscious. There is only to be tossed about like a toy boat in its one collective unconscious: at bottom, fierce storms. Beneath the Surface everyone’s unconscious is the same. But we can learn a different per- Classical Indian mysticism compares The deeper we get, the more clearly spective. In meditation we discover the mind to a lake, which for most of we shall see that our differences with that we are not the mind. It is an inner us is continually lashed into waves by others are superficial, and that ninety- world of its own, an environment we the winds of emotional stimulus and nine percent of what we are is the can learn to move through. Just as response. The real storm winds are same for everyone. those children now go to the pool four: anger, fear, greed, and self-will. To the extent that we can turn with eagerness on their faces, when One or another is generally blowing. our back on our petty, private mind- I find tempests rising in the mind I As a result, the water is in a constant world and learn to dive into deeper have learned to swim with joy. I can state of agitation. Even when the sur- consciousness, we can free ourselves dive to the bottom and bring up face appears calm, murky currents from the influence of the storms that pearls, the infinite inner resources are stirring underneath. stir up those shallow waters at the that are the legacy of us all. Instead of Through meditation and the other surface. At the same time, as we get feeling threatened by adverse circum- powerful allied disciplines, however, deeper, we move closer and closer to stances, I can remain calm and help the lake of the mind can be made other people; we feel closer to life as a to change those circumstances. absolutely clear. When not even a whole. This, in effect, is what learning Instead of moving away from difficult ripple disturbs the surface, you can to swim in the unconscious is all people, I can actually enjoy their com- look into the crystal waters of the about. pany, move closer to them, and win mind and see the very bottom: the I have read of people who can race them over. divine ground of existence which is along on a Harley-Davidson and leap This vast treasury is within the the basis of our personality, which over a row of cars. This is an accom- reach of all. Sri Ramakrishna, one of in Sanskrit is called simply Atman, plishment, I agree. It requires daring, the greatest mystics India has ever “the Self.” training, and resolution. But of what produced, sang ecstatically of what On the surface level of awareness, real use is it? By contrast, with that waits to be discovered at the seabed everyone seems separate. We look same kind of daring, you can learn to of consciousness: different, wear different clothes, have go deep-sea diving in the fathomless different speech patterns, different lake of the mind. In our contempo- Dive deep, O mind, dive deep ambitions, different conditioning. rary world, when most people, I think, In the Ocean of God’s Beauty; This is the physical level of awareness, feel helplessly at sea, this is a vital gift. If you descend to the uttermost below which the vast majority of us When you master it, your life becomes depths, cannot see because of the agitation of a beacon that others can follow. There you will find the gem of the mind. The mind, of course, has been the Love. Just below the surface is the level of subject of very serious study. But personal, individual consciousness, a from the point of view of spiritual Once we have learned to dive comparatively shallow region which psychology, how can we expect to deep in meditation, there is no end is easily stirred by the winds of sense understand the mind by using the to the resources we can bring to our impressions and emotions. The more same methods we use to study the daily life, no challenge we will be physically oriented we are – that is, physical universe? The very concept unable to meet. Each morning we the more we identify with our bodies of entering the unconscious while can descend to the depths and gather and feelings – the more caught up conscious is beyond the scope of our armloads of precious jewels: breath- we will be in this mind-world of con- imagination. We identify ourselves taking gems of love and wisdom, lus- stantly changing forms. In this state with the mind, so how can we expect trous pearls of patience and compas- it can be quite a chore to get close to to study it objectively? As long as we sion. And we can distribute them other people; all our awareness is believe we are the mind, we take for freely, knowing we have an infinite caught in the things that make us granted that we can find fulfillment inheritance from which to draw seem separate from them and unique. by catering to its demands and living every day. • 4 HOW TO DEEPEN MEDITATION
ing. At the breakfast table, when there fall asleep, you may not be able to is a little provocation, you should be get up. Every morning’s meditation How to able to smile and come up with a kind is a kind of warm-up session for word. In the evening, when you come stretching your capacity to rub off Deepen home tired, you should still be able to the angles and corners of your per- be kind and supportive. This is how sonality. Meditation old habits are changed, old patterns of There is a famous definition in thinking are transformed – with little the Bhagavad Gita: “Yoga is even- By Eknath Easwaran changes in thought and behavior dur- ness of mind.” Here, yoga means not ing the rest of the day. only meditation but the essential art That is why I say that it’s not of living. The Gita is trying to say am going to make a num- enough if you meditate regularly or that keeping on an even keel ber of practical suggestions for longer than half an hour. The rest of through life’s ups and downs will deepening meditation. It does your day must facilitate that medita- protect your mind against pulling a not matter whether you have tion. If you have a good meditation in muscle during the day. Not only beenI meditating for a long time or a the morning and then yield to com- that, it will deepen your meditation short time; all these suggestions are pulsive urges, dwell on yourself, or get the next morning too. equally applicable. They are not taken self-willed or angry, you are undoing Most people could make a lot from books; they are the distilled all the work you did that morning in more progress in meditation if they observations on my own experience, meditation. would learn to keep the mind from offered in response to a question that On the other hand, if you go on getting agitated. That is one thing I serious students ask over and over: doing your best to follow the rest of learned quickly, right in the midst of “How can I go deeper?” this eight-point program throughout my university work. I had all kinds Surprisingly, it is not during the day, not only are you going to of responsibilities and difficulties, meditation that you make progress in have a better meditation on the fol- and often even personal conflicts, meditation; it is during the rest of the lowing day, you are beginning to solve and I found quickly that if I could day. What you do in meditation is get your problems and even to help other keep from getting agitated when the power, install the dynamo; the people solve theirs. When you’re able dealing with these problems, I could actual work is done after you open your to do your job with cheerful concen- see the results in meditation the very eyes, get up, and go out into the world. tration, when you can give and take next morning. In the actual practice of medita- when things go wrong, when you’re tion, when you are going through an working under pressure and are able Detachment inspirational passage like the Prayer to remain kind, you’re helping your In the Gita, this skill is called of St. Francis of Assisi – “Grant that meditation immensely. So try to vairagya: the absence of personal I may not so much seek to be con- remember every day that you are par- entanglement, in which things and soled as to console, to be understood ticipating in meditation even at people are valued for what we want as to understand” – you are driving breakfast, at work, at school, in the to get from them. Don’t get entan- these precious words deeper and garden, everywhere. gled in anything, the Gita means: deeper into the unconscious. That’s don’t get all embroiled in how you what concentration means. If the Warming Up feel about it or how you think it will words fall so deep into the uncon- Of course, this works both ways: benefit you. Whatever you do, do it scious that they begin to change your meditation makes it easier to get with detachment. Gradually you can ways of thinking and reacting, that is through the day without agitation. learn to concentrate completely on what meditation is for: we become You can look at meditation as warm- the job at hand – whether it is inter- what we meditate on. up exercises for the rest of the day so esting or not, whether it appeals to But that doesn’t happen if you that you don’t get tense and sprain you or not – and then drop it at will meditate and then spend the rest of your mind. Without meditation, if at the end of the day. the day following the same old pat- you go and try to work with people This skill is essential for improv- terns, reacting in the same old man- who are difficult like yourself, you ing meditation, for to the extent you ner. We need to draw upon the power may not be able to digest your dinner are glued to the events and problems released in meditation to implement afterwards. You may have difficulty of the day, you can’t help Continued on the words on which we are meditat- falling asleep, and if you do manage to taking them home with next page 5 HOW TO DEEPEN MEDITATION
Continued from you. The day’s distrac- ventilated as fundamental issues of are distractions in life. If you don’t previous page tions will slip into your life and death – differences so ridicu- have any distractions during the day, mind, where they will continue to lously small that to waste time and you won’t have any distractions in claim your attention while you’re vitality over them is tragic. If you can meditation. That is the sum and sub- asleep and insist on more attention keep yourself from getting agitated by stance of it. the next morning in meditation. such things and keep your mind on Where do distractions come from? This doesn’t mean neglecting your an even keel throughout the day, tak- Where do your distractions come work, of course. Just the opposite: you ing the rough with the smooth, the from? The list may seem different for give whatever you are doing your Gita would say you are mastering the each person, but the variations are complete attention, your very best art of living. If you can laugh it off just details. Everyone gets distracted effort; then, when you go home, you when things go against you while still by the same kinds of thoughts: work, give your full attention there too. Full giving your very best, you are master- family, past experiences to relive or attention everywhere – an unbroken ing the art of living. If you are able to regret, future events to plan for or get thread of attention throughout the throw yourself heart and soul into a anxious about. It’s a very familiar cat- day. That is yoga. selfless job that you don’t like, or work alogue, and the answer is universal: The same strategy applies to per- harmoniously with difficult people to minimize distractions, go to the sonal entanglements, which is where instead of ploughing a lonely furrow, source – where they arise. almost every human being has trou- you are mastering the art of living. Somebody was asking me recently ble. If you want to give your best to And all of these skills will take your how to minimize distractions. Mini- any relationship, you have to be meditation deeper day by day. mizing self-will is minimizing dis- detached – not from others, but from tractions. Reducing the number of yourself. Otherwise you’ll always be “All Life Is Yoga” things one does to please oneself is thinking about what you can get from Here is a good motto to have on your reducing the number of distractions. that relationship. If you’re completely desk, which I think is taken from Sri The more you starve self-will, the detached from yourself, you’ll be Aurobindo: “All life is yoga.” For the fewer distractions you will have. thinking about what you can give. true spiritual aspirant, every day is That is the all-important connection You come to feel the needs of every- yoga day. Every moment there is a between meditation and the rest of body else exactly as if they were your choice, from the time you wake up the day. own, which means you cannot be until you go to bed: shall I do what negative, you cannot be unkind, you is temporarily pleasing, appealing to As Meditation Deepens can only be supportive. my ego or senses or self-will – which When there are no distractions in And this, in turn, helps meditation. is very easy for everybody – or shall meditation, the mind process slows You can remind yourself every day I choose to do what will benefit all? down automatically. And when the that progress depends upon how Shall I eat what appeals to me, or shall mind slows down in meditation, you much you are aware of the needs of I choose food that will strengthen my go deeper into consciousness. These others and how much you try to meet body to work for all? Shall I refrain two go hand in hand: in fact, the slow, those needs. Even though we hear this from doing trivial little things to unbroken flow of attention is what often, it is not easy to keep it in mind. please myself so that I can give my sinking deeper into consciousness That is why I say it over and over time to helping others? There are means. again: being aware of the needs of all choices like this all day long – and Below a certain depth in medita- those around you helps your absorp- interestingly enough, as you keep tion, when you have really learned to tion in meditation. The connection on making right choices, you’ll find concentrate, there will be a living is easy to see if you think about the fewer distractions in your meditation. charge in the words on which you are other side of the coin: if you get In the early days, when I had to meditating. Then it’s no longer a line absorbed in your own private plea- look through mountains of medita- that you are reciting; if your concen- sures and profit, that will act as an tion notebooks from my students at tration is unbroken, the words will impediment to this ideal of total Cal, one question that kept coming up fall right into the depths of your con- absorption. was “Why do I have so many distrac- sciousness, where they come to life. Remind yourself every day, there- tions in meditation?” I would write, “When you keep thinking about sense fore, to cultivate a sense of propor- “Because you have so many distrac- objects, attachment comes . . .” As you tion, a sense of what truly matters. I tions during the day.” Distractions are repeating words like these from hear petty personal differences being come up in meditation because there the Gita, their application also comes 6 HOW TO DEEPEN MEDITATION
along, not just their meaning, bring- best choices throughout the day. That consumed all my smaller desires, so ing with it an appeal – “Don’t let your is the proof that your meditation has that my progress in meditation was mind dwell on sense objects” – and a been good. If you see that the vital rather rapid – just because I did not kind of resolution not to let your applications of the inspirational pas- have many other desires and distrac- attention wander to sense objects sage are with you, your meditation tions to struggle against. because “attachment breeds desire, has been very good. If they are not So try to focus your attention all the lust of possession which, when with you, there is still considerable the time on the supreme goal. Renew thwarted, burns to anger . . .” room for improvement. your commitment every day. It is a Now all the practical applications The secret here is unifying your commitment that will benefit every- of those words will come. Such a desires around this supreme goal. Due one around you. And as your spiritual wealth of application to daily living! to the inestimable blessing of my awareness grows, you’ll find more and You’re no longer meditating on teacher’s love, once I turned to medita- more opportunities for contributing words; you are meditating on the vital tion, there was nothing that I wanted to the welfare of those around you. applications of eternal truths. And the except awareness of God, and for that I Remind yourself every day that test is that after you finish your medi- was prepared to pay any price that was meditation is not for your benefit tation, the application of the words asked of me. That very desire, as it alone; it is for the benefit of the will follow you, helping you make the grew stronger and stronger, gradually whole world. • QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
“going deeper,” as I usually simplify it, Many times when I’m meditating means getting far enough below the sur- it seems like I’m just getting into Deepening face of consciousness that we discover it when half an hour is up. How that this body is not who we are. It is do I know that I’m ready to go Meditation: only a covering, which we learn to take deeper or meditate more? off in meditation. Much later and much Remember, when I keep talk- Questions deeper, we make a similar discovery ing about depth in meditation, it is not about the mind. And when we finally the time that matters; it is the depth. If & Answers learn to slip out of body and mind and you are increasing your concentration intellect and even ego in meditation, and keeping your mind calm and one- By Eknath Easwaran there is nothing but the Self. This is the pointed during the day, distractions ultimate reality that most religions call in meditation will become fewer and God, so in traditional language, when fewer and your mind will slow down you go deeper in meditation, you are naturally. moving closer to God. When this happens, it is very What do you mean by “going to Living fully is living to the very important to come to a retreat if you a deeper level”? How does that height and depth of our being, of possibly can. There are people leading relate to going to a higher state which we cannot have any idea until these retreats who have been meditat- of consciousness? we really see the height. Most of us ing for many years and who have been think our height is something between trained to check about your eating Well, I also talk about going five and six feet. Gradually, in medita- habits and exercise and sleep and work forwards, and even sideways. These tion, you begin to straighten up. Little and friends and entertainment and a are all just metaphors. But it is inter- by little you grow taller and taller until lot of other matters that have to be esting to see that mystics East and your head goes above the ceiling. Peo- carefully observed before you increase West talk the same, so there must be ple look and say, “He’s grown above his your period of meditation. But always something universal about them. For house!” – which is the body. (The ceil- remember that if you can meditate example, every mystic talks about the ing is the intellect.) half an hour every morning and eve- soul being hidden deep within, and The marvel is there is no limit to ning without fail, at the same time, many have compared spiritual prog- our height. It is this awareness that with sustained enthusiasm, and give ress to climbing a mountain. every day you’re able to grow a little your very best to the rest of these dis- But “going deeper” is also more more that is really living. The vast ciplines during the rest of every day, than metaphor. As you may know, majority of human beings get up the your meditation cannot help deepen- Indian mysticism – and some Western same height and go to bed the same ing dramatically. mystics too – describe the Self height – assuming there isn’t any It is essential in these stages not to as being covered by a number of shrinkage. This isn’t really living. lose hold of the passage. It is possible “sheaths” or “bodies,” so that personal- Until we turn inwards – yes, I am mix- to lose the passage and not even know ity is like those little Russian dolls that ing metaphors – we cannot under- it, so that you think your mind has nestle inside one another. stand how great our true height is. slowed down when it is simply wan- The outermost sheath is the physi- People who have no depth at all dering in the unconscious. The inspi- cal body, and inside that is a kind of have no height at all. That’s why a little rational passage is your safety line. body made of the senses, which look breeze will blow them over. A puff of Whatever happens, you must be able out on the world around us. Those two circumstance will shake them to their to maintain your concentration. You layers are very outward-oriented. foundation because they have no foun- must be able to hold on to the inspira- Deeper still lies the world of the mind, dation. That’s why I say that in order to tional passage and not let it go even which has three layers: emotions, live at our best – we needn’t even use for a second. That is very important intellect, and ego. the word spiritual or religious – to live advice for everybody, beginners and To realize the Self, which is at the fully, vitally, never being afraid, never longtime students alike. If you fall very center of all these wrappings, we being tired or getting tense, and mak- asleep, you are losing the inspira- have to turn away from the sensory ing our life a rich gift to everyone who tional passage. If your mind wanders, world and look into what mystics call comes in close contact with us, I don’t you are losing the inspirational pas- the heart, the inner person, the world sage. If your attention is think there is any other basis than the Continued on within – the world of the mind. So practice of meditation. divided, you are losing the page 10 8 Levels of Consciousness being physical, is subject to decay; but the subtle body is a field of forces, which are nonphysical in the sense that they
The Indian scriptures say there is a great deal are not measurable in the objective world. But that doesn’t hiding our real Self – covering it up, if you like, in dense make them less real. We can’t see electricity, but we can see layers of mistaken identity. the effects of it. Similarly, though we can’t see anger, we can I came across a perfect illustration of these levels of per- see the effects of it, not only in damaged relationships but sonality when a friend showed me a Russian doll shaped even in damage to the body in heart attack or stroke. And like an egg, apparently made from one piece of wood. I although we can’t see forgiveness, we can see the effects of had never seen a doll like this, so I turned it around in my it in the healing of emotional wounds. hands admiring its artistry. Then, anticipating my surprise, Imagine the Self at the core of our set of Russian dolls, my friend took the doll back, held it up before my eyes, and looking out at the world through all those layers! No won- twisted it open. What had seemed solid was only a shell; der we see as through a glass darkly – very darkly indeed. inside was another doll exactly like it but smaller, fitted to The Gita is trying to tell us that our life is really what our the outer one as nicely as a hand inside a glove. consciousness is. Everything we do and say and think This is the Gita’s idea of body and mind: one hidden is based upon the state of consciousness we have at the inside the other and possessing the same form. moment. When we are happy, we don’t have any serious Teresa of Avila has a nice turn on this image: she invites complaints against life; but if we’re depressed, though we us to think of ourselves as a castle with concentric cham- may have all the satisfactions that make for happiness, we bers made of pure crystal. Imagine a Russian doll made of feel empty inside – not because the world has changed, but crystal; wouldn’t it be beautiful? The outermost shell, the because there has been a change in consciousness. body, would be opaque, but the one inside would be a bit One big problem is that this is our personality. We think translucent. And at the very center would be the Atman, it is who we are. Not only can we not imagine removing which shines as pure intelligence. The more we identify it, we don’t really want to; we’re rather fond of it, and we with the Self, the Bhagavad Gita would say, the brighter our imagine others feel the same way. This is a very limited whole life will be. Conversely, if we think we are no more view. The word personality comes from the Latin word than the body, very little of the imprisoned splendor within persona: a mask. What we call personality is the mask of us can shine forth. the ego, which hides the divine essence that is within. In In fact, this idea that we are the body is the most mon- this perspective we are all impostors, acting separate and strous superstition that humanity is subject to. No case of self-centered and angry and playing all kinds of undesir- mistaken identity could cause greater grief. At the very able roles. Our real nature is to be naturally good, natu- least, as William James put it, this is so limiting a view that rally kind, naturally big-hearted. It may not show, but all it leads us to think and act as if we had no more resources the conditioning that makes us selfish, self-willed, violent, than our little finger. and even cruel is a mask that can be taken away. That is Just as we have a physical body, the Gita says, we have why I find that image of a Russian doll so appealing: you a mental or “subtle” body consisting of thoughts, memo- can imagine taking off mask after mask until the innermost ries, desires, and other such intangibles. The physical body, Self is revealed. • From Essence of the Bhagavad Gita QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
Continued from inspirational passage. If if it were not there. This is the begin- has not slowed down; it has stopped, page 8 you are not giving your ning of the loss of body-consciousness: leaving you in Alice’s Wonderland. very best attention, you are losing the the burden of the body seems to have Eventually, at a certain great depth, inspirational passage. So whatever been lifted; the weight of the ego has your repetition of the words of the happens, don’t let go of the passage; been laid down. inspirational passage will do away with don’t let it slip away. I don’t have any Second, as you get absorbed, you subject-object duality entirely – just hesitation in saying that as long as you are no longer dealing with distractions for half a minute or so, just “the span can cling continuously to the inspira- or with the problem of sleep in medi- of an Ave Maria.” At that time it is tional passage, you can descend to any tation. Where you used to fall asleep, almost as if you’re not reciting the depth in the mind in safety. now you’ve learned that the very wave words of the inspirational passage, but of sleep that used to overcome you the words of the inspirational passage What are the signs of absorption can be ridden down into deeper con- are reciting themselves. in meditation? sciousness just as a surfer does. When This is a very poor attempt at you see a wave of sleep coming from explaining what cannot be explained, First and foremost, you will the depths of your consciousness, but these are some of the signs that begin to consider the joy of others a instead of lowering your head and suc- absorption is slowly beginning. But little more important than your own. cumbing, you can jump on the wave of make sure that you don’t let go of the That will probably begin with your sleep and keep awake, concentrated on inspirational passage, and that during family and friends and then extend the inspirational passage. Then you the day you follow all these disciplines to your co-workers, but generally find that you’re not on the same old with sustained enthusiasm: repetition your sense of separateness from those level of awareness; you have changed of the mantram, training the senses, around you will be less and less, so to a deeper level. Interestingly enough, and particularly, opening your aware- you identify with each of them more you may feel greater pressure in your ness to the people around and not let- easily. And that will rub off on them head at that level too, just as if you ting self-will or selfishness come in the too. were diving deeper into the ocean. way. Secondly, your senses will gradually (Incidentally, this conquest of sleep This period of absorption, on the come more and more under your con- doesn’t come suddenly or by magic. one hand, is a very difficult time. On trol. As you begin to look upon your There is a very difficult phase where at the other hand, it is terribly exhilarat- body as a vehicle of loving service, for times, in spite of your best intentions, ing. You’ll find attention trying to example, your motivation for eating you fall asleep in meditation and are escape from your control in so many will become very different. not even aware that you have fallen ways that vigilance and concentration In meditation itself, I can give asleep. The way to break out of that are required every moment. You are you a few little hints as to the signs of stage is not during meditation only, changing from one level of conscious- absorption. One of the earliest is that but during the rest of the day. You go ness, where all of us are conditioned to your senses slowly close down. You about being alert about your senses, walk, to an unknown level where there become so completely absorbed in the not yielding to their tantalizing call. are no landmarks that you are familiar inspirational passage that there are no You look for opportunities to turn with, and where you may find yourself sounds, no distractions. As St. Teresa your back on self-will and repeat the at a loss how to harness the immense of Avila says, all the bees of the senses mantram more; you become more par- energy that is coming into your hands. have come back to their hive and are ticular about what you do before you It is essential that this energy be har- sitting there quietly making honey. fall asleep at night. This kind of vigi- nessed for a selfless purpose rather Sounds, though there may be a dim lance will enable you to break through than for pleasing yourself. Fortunately, awareness of them, will seem at first as not only the last stages of the sleeping all the disciplines of the eight-point if they are coming from far, far away. problem, but many of the other prob- program count as a selfless purpose, Eventually you will not be aware of lematic stages as meditation deepens.) so you can pour all your excess energy them at all. Other physical sensations, Third, the inspirational passage into walking with the mantram, self- too, will cease to impinge on your con- slows down greatly, but the theme is less service, and generally putting sciousness. All this will be like writing still clear and the connection is still others first. on water; these distractions will not intact. Please make sure, when the Gradually, when the mind becomes have any effect at all. You enter a stage inspirational passage slows down like still and the ego is reduced to its mini- of what I can only call quiet intoxica- this, that you’re able to keep the con- mal size, a tremendous experience tion, in which the body feels almost as nection intact! Otherwise, meditation takes place: you lose your nexus with
10 QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
the past. It is not that you don’t cially if you take a moment or two to tion, my mind became still. According remember the past, but there is no recall your life a few months or a year to all that I had learned, when my emotional entanglement. You can look earlier. After decades you’ll go beyond mind became still I should have been upon mistakes in the past with detach- the passage entirely, go beyond all the bankrupt. Instead of that, I felt I had ment and compassion, which is a very words, but even a little of the regular awakened from a dream. I saw the vast necessary condition for all of us who practice of meditation will release a wisdom that is present in every human are on the spiritual path. As detach- healing wisdom into your daily life. being, the vast love that is present in ment grows, we are released from the This distinction between intellec- every human being, which is called tyranny of the past; the link between tual knowledge and spiritual wisdom the Atman in Sanskrit: our real Self. us and our past is cut, and we look at puzzles many people today, particu- On the one hand, you get access past mistakes as we might watch oth- larly those who received a university to all this wealth of wisdom – which, ers in a film. education. I too received this training, by the way, you get only when you live first as a student and then as a profes- for others; you’ll never get access to it Do the insights you’re talking sor, so naturally I thought that the when you live for yourself. But you about come while you’re in intellect is the highest mode of know- don’t lose your intellectual training;
meditation or from the ing and there is nothing beyond. Then, I still use all my training as Continued on subconscious level later in the day? in one of the great climaxes of medita- a professor to reach every next page
As you go deeper and deeper within, you will find that the source of all wisdom is there within you. It is only information that we can get from outside; all inspiration comes from within. The deeper you go every day in meditation, therefore, the more wisdom you can bring up. Equally important, that wisdom is connected with the will. Many people know what damage smoking does, but they cannot give it up; there is no con- nection between that knowledge and the will. In meditation, once you get that insight, the will is immediately connected. It’s a different kind of knowing. That is why St. Francis of Assisi says that our knowledge is only as deep as our action. So that’s what meditation does: it not only brings wisdom from within; it connects it with the human will.
If we’re concentrating completely on the passage in meditation, how can we get this wisdom?
If you’re giving complete attention to the words of the passage, their meaning cannot help going in. You may not be aware of it happening, but you will see the fruits of it in your daily life – not necessarily the same day, though that can happen, but espe- QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
Continued from one of you. When I started I don’t feel capable of that kind seem to be going anywhere, don’t con- previous page teaching meditation, I of faith. cern yourself with results; don’t ask if began to look at all my experiences, you are going forward or backwards or clarify them, classify them for the pur- The Gita gives very good sideways. We have nothing to do with pose of communication. That’s how all advice: the only right we have is to these things; our part is simply to do my books came to be written. But the do what we can; the results are in the our best. actual work was done in meditation. hands of the Lord. Don’t give up; keep It is entirely below the surface level trying and all this will come to frui- When I try to concentrate that you blaze a trail into deepest con- tion. Gandhi says, “Full effort is full harder, I just get tense. What am sciousness, just as you might blaze a victory.” That is all you are concerned I doing wrong? trail through wilderness. As the trail with. Do everything you can and leave goes deeper and deeper, you see for the results in the hands of the Lord. You can look upon your medi- yourself how real is the world inside In the early stages of meditation, tation room as a swimming pool. You and what resources beckon. That is most of us are likely to do fairly well. come in the morning and get into the why I keep telling you to get greater Many, many times – perhaps even hun- pool, and some days you swim well, depth in your meditation: so that you dreds – when I asked students after a but at the beginning there are also can get over this hypnotic spell that few months how their meditation was times when you just seem to float the goals worth following are out in going, they would say naturally, “Oh, about on the surface with one of those the external world rather than within. very well. There is nothing so difficult tires around your waist. What do you Unshakable security, high ideals, as you try to make it out. ‘Razor’s edge’ call them? Inner tubes. No matter immense energy, selfless ideals: all – what razor’s edge?” And I learned to how hard you try, you can’t get below these are inside; they don’t have any- be patient and say, “Very good. I am the surface; you just stay there for the thing to do with what is outside. If you glad; you seem to be a natural.” Then, stipulated half-hour. To go deeper, deepen your meditation, you can after a few months more, I would ask you have to get rid of the inner tube, make this discovery yourself – and again, “How is your meditation?” And which is what you do by minimizing once you do, half the battle is over. they would reply, “Stuck.” distractions during the day. (I under- This is the rhythm of meditation: stand that in southern California, the When you started to get below a little progress, then getting stuck. one use to which swimming pools are the surface and forget your That’s the time when you just keep on rarely put is swimming. They are for body, wasn’t that scary? plugging. Keep on, keep at it, keep at having parties around, with ample sup- it, keep at it, until the Lord gives you plies of refreshments and many variet- It wasn’t easy, and at first I was another push and you break through ies of inner tubes. To get the benefit afraid when it began to happen, the to a deeper level. And then all is pan- out of a swimming pool, you have to way the mind panics when you start demonium again, because a change in swim. It’s the same with meditation.) to go under water. But it’s not depri- the level of consciousness changes Making your greatest effort without vation; there is another side. When your whole perspective on life. Your tension is a skill that will seem natural my concentration got so deep that I outlook changes, your relationships once it is learned. Meditation is con- didn’t hear the cars on the road, didn’t change, the whole world changes, you centration, and concentration is relax- feel the chair, wasn’t aware of my don’t know where you are. It takes a ation because there is no division in body, I began to have a distant glim- long, long time to learn to walk on that the mind. When you’re concentrating mer that there was a shining presence level, almost like a little child trying to deeply, you are relaxing. So when I within me that dispelled all my fears. learn to walk; you walk a few steps and talk about effort, I don’t mean physical Until then I had been afraid, but my then sit down suddenly. But finally strain. Instead I would suggest trying eagerness and my passion for Self- you get the knack of it – and then it is to attend to your will, which during realization overcame those fears. again no progress for a while, until you meditation means particularly draw- The way I would look into your are ready to go deeper again. ing yourself straight and making a mind is that there is fear and uncer- All this can be bewildering, and continuous effort to see that attention tainty on one side, but there is also the much of it cannot be understood at all doesn’t waver. Over a long period of beginning of faith on the other side, until later, when you look back. That is time this continuous effort will the beginning of certitude. If you can why I keep repeating that whenever become natural. That may take years, deepen your meditation, you can meditation is difficult, whenever it is but once concentration becomes natu- deepen your faith. disappointing, whenever it doesn’t ral, there is no more effort.
12 QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
I can relate to meditation, but for health; sense training helps the If you do all these with a continuous why talk about all these other mind be one-pointed, just as a one- flow of attention, you will be deepen- “ancillary disciplines”? pointed mind helps train the senses. ing your meditation and your whole Both help govern negative passions, life. I had a friend in the olden days and transforming passions helps to “In other words,” my friend com- who used to ask that. He would say, “I still the mind, which is the goal of plained, “you can’t join the union if understand meditation, but why bring meditation. you don’t have a job, and you can’t get in all these other points? Isn’t medita- Putting meditation first makes all a job if you’re not in the union.” In tion enough?” the other disciplines easier, which in those days I didn’t know how to In particular, he simply detested turn helps take your meditation answer that kind of remark, but today any reference to sense training. Medi- deeper. Repeating the mantram I just say, Don’t look upon these as tation yes, even mantram yes, but for throughout the day keeps the mind separate disciplines. They are all ways heaven's sake, don’t talk about sense calm and kind when you run into of doing the same thing: training the training. trouble, and being able to go through mind, quietening the mind. But the So I said, these all help each other. the day with a calm mind means foundation is the regular, daily prac- Sense training is not only necessary fewer distractions in meditation. tice of meditation.• New Young Adult Website:
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