Jnanis And The Path They Teach, Part One
Author: Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami
Description: Description: "It is the inner life, the spiritual life, that alone brings eternal, unchanging happiness. All experience is impermanent and thus cannot bring lasting joy. In time the soul seeks to know God consciously. The soul seeks intentionally to know “Who am I? Where did I come from? “Where am I going?” The purpose of the world is two-fold. Experience and liberation. Look to the satgurus, the sages and the siddhas to help you. In Saivite Hinduism the path is divided into four progressive stages in the quest for God: charyā, kriyā, yoga and jñāna. In Tamil: Nalupadasaivam: "The doctrine that the initiate should pass successively though charya, kriya, yoga and jñānastages and thence obtain moksha." "Master Course Trilogy", "Merging with Siva" Lesson 316-317. Patanjali's Yoga Sutra 2.15, 2.18.
Transcription:
Good morning everyone.
We are starting with "Merging with Siva" Chapter 46, titled: "Jñanis and the Path they Teach" and it is from 1984.
Lesson 316
"The Holy Path To Śiva’s Feet
"So many in the world are unaware of the great joys that are the reward of a religious life lived well. (That's a nice sentence. Read it again.) So many in the world are unaware of the great joys that are the reward of a religious life lived well. They seek their fulfillment outside of themselves and fall short time and time again. One day they will conclude, as you all have, that it is the inner life, the spiritual life, that alone brings eternal, unchanging happiness. This outer world and consciousness can never bring the soul real contentment, real fulfillment. Oh, you can find a temporary happiness, but it will be followed by its opposite in due course. The outer consciousness of the material world is by its very nature a bondage. It binds one through karma. It binds one through māyā. It binds one through āṇava, or ego identity and ignorance. That is the nature of the world, to bind us."
Then a comment:
Yoga Sutras verse 2.15, meaning Chapter 2 verse 15 presents the same idea: “To the discerning ones, all is indeed sorrow, whether from the suffering caused by impermanence, affliction, saṁskāras or the turmoil of the guṇas’ activities.” So my comment on the verse reads: An ordinary person focuses on the transient enjoyments that come from experience. A wise man, however, looks beyond the moment, knowing that all experience is impermanent and thus cannot bring lasting joy.
So that's the idea that Gurudeva makes too is that not that the world doesn't provide some happiness but it doesn't last very long. That's the point that's made in the Yoga Sutras, say therefore the experience is actually one of suffering though it starts out with temporary joy.
Back to the text:
"When the soul has had enough experience, it naturally seeks to be liberated, to unravel the bonds. That begins the most wonderful process in the world as the seeker steps for the first time onto the spiritual path. Of course, the whole time, through all those births and lives and deaths, the soul was undergoing a spiritual evolution, but unconsciously. (Interesting point the soul has always been undergoing a spiritual evolution but initially it's an unconscious one, you don't realize it's happening.) Now it seeks to know God consciously. That is the difference. Its a big difference."
And Yoga Sutras commentary, Chapter 2 Verse 18 states the same idea as follows: "The perceivable world, characterized by illumination, activity and inertia, (The three gunas.) consisting of the elements and the senses, exists to provide both experience and liberation." In other words, the experiences we have in the world prior to consciously pursuing spiritual unfoldment are needed to cause us to finally pursue unfoldment. So the purpose of the world is two-fold, experience and liberation.
The text:
"By this conscious process of purification, of inner striving, of refining and maturing, the karmas come more swiftly, evolution speeds up and things can and usually do get more intense. Don’t worry, though. That is natural and necessary. That intensity is the way the mind experiences the added cosmic energies that begin to flow through the nervous system.
"So, here is the soul, seeking intentionally to know, “Who am I? Where did I come from? “Where am I going?” A path must be found, a path that others have successfully followed, a path that has answers equally as profound as the seeker’s questions. In Śaivite Hinduism, we have such a path. It is called the Śaiva Neri, the Path of Śiva. It is a wide and unobstructed path that leads man to himself, to his true Self that lies within and beyond the personality, lies at the very core of his being.
"I want to speak a little about the inner path today. You all know that it is a mystical path, full of mystery. You cannot learn much of it from books. Then where to look? Look to the holy scriptures, where the straight path to God is described by our saints. Look to the great masters, the siddhas, or perfected ones. Look to the satgurus, who have themselves met and overcome the challenges that still lie ahead for you. Look to them and ask them to help you to look within yourself. Much of the mysticism which is the greatest wealth of Hinduism is locked within these masters, who in our tradition are known as the satgurus, the sages and the siddhas. There is much to say on this. As Yogaswami told us, “The subject is vast and the time is short!".
Lesson 317
"Four Stages of Evolution
"Let me begin with something that may at first come as a surprise to you. All men and women on the Earth are doing exactly as they should and must do. People complain, “I wish I were rich. I wish I lived somewhere else. I really should be a doctor. If only things were different.” But in the final analysis, we are all doing exactly as we want, as we must, doing what is next on our personal path of evolution. Nothing is wrong. Nothing should be that is not. Even the drunk, even the thief, is part of the cosmic dance of God Śiva. Not that you should ever think of being a thief, for there is much difficult karma there. Just realize that he, too, is evolving. He, too, is Śiva’s creation, and what he does is, for him, somehow necessary.
"Look at the world. Warriors have to fight their battles. Priests have to take care of their temples. Businessmen must sell their goods. Farmers must grow their crops and tend their flocks. Teachers must pass on knowledge. Each one has to do what he has to do in the great cosmic dance of Śiva. Each one follows the path of service leading to devotion, which leads to spiritual disciplines of yoga. Finally, that yoga culminates in the attainment of Truth, or God Realization. These are the four mārgas leading the soul to its very Self.
"For Hindus, the path is seen as divided into four stages or phases of inner development. Some say karma yoga, bhakti yoga, rāja yoga and jñāna; others say “charyā, kriyā, yoga and jñāna. Either way, it is basically the same—progressive stages followed by the soul in its quest for God. We are speaking here of the way the ancients attained their realizations, how they lived their lives, suffered, went through mental pain in their tapas, walked the San Mārga path through life—charyā, kriyā, yoga and jñāna—and in that process unwound the karmas of the past, learned to live fully in the present, abashed the person of themselves to be the soul of themselves. They practiced true yoga to obtain release from rebirth, moksha, which only the realization of the Absolute Truth can give. There is, of course, no action too great to render to persist on the path of enlightenment, once the path has clearly been defined."
So, commentary:
There is a very useful term that is an alternate name for Saiva Siddhanta, Tamil word, "Nalupadasaivam". It literally literally means Saivism of four stages: nalu-four, pada-stage, Saivam-Saivism. The concept of Nalupadasaivam directs our attention to the practices of Saiva Siddhanta which of course are the four padas of charya, kriya, yoga and jnana. The University of Madras Tamil Lexicon defines Nalupadasaivam as: "The doctrine that the initiate should pass successively though charya, kriya, yoga and jñāna stages and thence obtain moksha." Isn't that a terse statement of our philosophy, very nicely done. And it even says initiate. Brings in the idea of initiation. So Nalupadasaivam really captures the term of spiritual growth.
Thank you very much. Have a wonderful day.
[End of transcript.]