How To Realize God, Part Two
Author: Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami
Description: Description: When the soul is spiritually mature, we know when we’re ready to know the Self. In each birth we must fulfill more goals leading to the one ultimate goal. All other aims and ambitions pale under the brilliance of even the thought of realization of Satchidānanda and Paraśiva. Harness the lower nature remnants of jealousy, anger and hatred. You are much more than the body, mind and emotions. Wrong identification of who we are must be unlearned. Rather than thinking of yourself in a very limited way: You are a radiant, conscious soul that never dies, that can control the mind and directs the emotion toward fulfillment of dharma and resolution of karma. "Master Course Trilogy", "Merging with Siva 1984", Lessons 3-4.
Transcription:
Good morning everyone. This morning we are continuing with "Merging with Siva" Chapter One titled: "How to Realize God" from 1984.
Lesson 3
"Defining the Destination
"How can we know when we’re ready to know the Self? How do we know when the soul is spiritually mature? When we begin a journey and clearly define our destination, then we must begin from where we are, not elsewhere. Clearly defining our destination requires knowing where we are, requires determining whether or not we want to go there at this time. We must ask whether we have the means, the willpower, to get there. Are we ready to leave the world, or must we fulfill further obligations in the world and to the world? Have we paid all of our debts? We cannot leave the world with karmas still unresolved. Perhaps we desire something more, some further human fulfillment of affection, creativity, wealth, professional accomplishment, name and fame. In other words, do we still have worldly involvements and attachments? Are we ready for the final journey life has to offer? Are we prepared to endure the hardships of sādhana, to suffer the death of the ego? Or would we prefer more pleasures in the world of “I” and “mine”? It is a matter of evolution, of what stage of life we have entered in this incarnation—is it charyā, kriyā, yoga or jñāna? When the soul is spiritually mature, we know when we’re ready to know the Self...
So, in terms of a comment on that, reminder when Gurudeva uses the term "evolution" he's not talking about the scientific idea of evolution of your physical body such as Darwinian theory of evolution, talking about the evolution of the soul body-anandamaya kosha. So is our soul body mature enough? and our soul body matures by living many lives on earth.
"...When one is bound down by his past karmas, unhappy, confused and not performing with enthusiasm his dharma—be it born or chosen—making new karmas as a result, his lethargy results in despair.
"The camel walks slower with a heavy burden and stops if the burden is still heavier. The burdened have no sense of urgency, no expression of joy. They have stopped. They are standing on the path holding their troubles in their hands, unwilling and unable to let go. Worship of Lord Gaṇeśa sets the path of dharma. Go to His feet. He alone can perform this miracle for you. He will release the mental and emotional obstructions to spiritual progress. He will remove the burdens of worldliness. To live the perfect life of the gṛihastha dharma, of family life, brings as its fulfillment the all-knowing bliss of Satchidānanda, realizing ourself not as formless Paraśiva but as the pure consciousness that sustains and pervades all forms in the universe. This is a sense of urgency on the path of enlightenment, but only when we are unburdened of karma, only when we are walking the path of dharma. Only then can true yoga be practiced and perfected.
"All Hindus without exception believe in reincarnation. In each birth we must fulfill more goals leading to the one ultimate goal which after many births well lived will loom before us as the only goal worthy of striving for in this lifetime. All other desires, all other aims and ambitions pale under the brilliance of even the thought of realization of Satchidānanda and Paraśiva.
In fulfillment of our duties to parents, relations and the community at large, become a good householder, be a good citizen, live a rewarding physical, emotional and intellectual existence. These are the natural goals of many. Once this is accomplished in a lifetime, it is easy in future lives to perpetuate this pattern and evolve toward more refined and more difficult goals, such as gaining a clear intellectual knowledge of the truths of the Āgamas and Vedas, most especially the Upanishads, and establishing a personal contact with Lord Śiva within His great temples through the fervor of worship."
Lesson 4
"Harnessings the Energies
"Still other goals must be met: quieting the energies, the prāṇas, through prāṇāyāma, purifying or refining mind and emotion, quelling the ever-constant movement of the restless external mind and its immediate subconscious, where memories are stored, preserved memories which give rise to fear, anger, hatred and jealousy. It is our past that colors and conditions, actually creates, the future. We purge the past in the present, and we fashion the future in the present."
So that's always important to remember. Sometimes particularly if we're facing challenges we hear something like: "It's my karma, what could I do?" You know a kind of a fatalistic approach that karma is just something that's just bound to happen and there's no way around it. So we can't change the karma that's come to us from the past but where we have total choice, we have refashioned the future in the present. So sometimes forgotten. We have a choice as how we act in the present and that's good in our future.
"All of these emotions are the powerful force that bursts the seals of the psychic chakras, four, five, six and seven. Once harnessed, turned inward and transmuted, this life force drives the spiritual process forward. Ours is the path of not only endeavoring to awaken the higher nature, but at the same time and toward the same end dealing positively and consciously with the remnants of the lower nature, replacing charity for greed and dealing with, rather than merely suppressing, jealousy, hatred and anger."
So my comment:
Again here we see Gurudeva's emphasis on the importance of dealing with the lower nature, a subject many teachers do not emphasize that much. So it's not that the lower nature is overwhelming us as Gurudeva uses here the word "remnant". It pops up now and then fairly strongly, but not all the time. Jealousy, hatred and anger.
" Most people do not understand that they have a mind, that they have a body and emotions, that what they are is something far more lasting and profound. They think they are a mind, (So Gurudeva's distinguishing between having and being.) They think they are a mind, they presume they are a body and they feel they are a given set of emotions, positive and negative. To progress on the spiritual path, they must learn they are not these things but are, in fact, a radiant, conscious soul that never dies, that can control the mind and directs the emotion toward fulfillment of dharma and resolution of karma."
Comment:
This is a fine exercise you can do now and then, can't do it all the time. Watch your thoughts and see when you say "I am" rather than "I have". For example "I am a bit sad this morning" versus "My emotions are a bit sad this morning." So, "I am not sad, I am the soul. The soul is never sad but I have emotions and the emotions are sad." so.
"While living in a normal agitated state of fears, worries and doubts, seeing the deeper truths is impossible. To such a person, there is no doubt about it: “I am fearful. I am worried. I am confused. I am sick.” He says such things daily, thinking of himself in a very limited way. This wrong identification of who we are must be unlearned. Before we actually begin serious sādhana, we must understand ourselves better, understand the three phases of the mind: instinctive, intellectual and superconscious. This takes time, meditation and study—study that must culminate in actual experience of the instinctive mind, the intellectual mind and the transcendent subsuperconscious state of the mind. Seeing the mind in its totality convinces the seeker that he is something else, he is the witness who observes the mind and cannot, therefore, be the mind itself. Then we realize that the mind in its superconsciousness is pure. We do not have to purify it, except to carry out its native purity into life, into the intellect by obtaining right knowledge and transmuting the instinctive or animal qualities. This is accomplished from within out. It is not as difficult as it may seem."
Thank you very much. Have a wonderful day.
[End of transcript.]