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Total Surrender, Part Two

Author: Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami

Description: Description: Wise gurus will not initiate anyone into rāja yoga techniques who does not have a sweet nature and a natural outpouring of bhakti. A kindly, gentle nature must precede rāja yoga sādhanas. Bhakti is the base and the bedrock of spiritual unfoldment. Coming up through the lower chakras is quite an ordeal. But once the individual goes through the fear chakra, he comes to Lord Gaṇeśa’s feet and enters the realms of memory and reason clarity and understanding. The unfoldment through the chakras is a journey of consciousness. Shum series: rehka; narehka; dimnarehka. "Master Course Trilogy", "Merging with Siva", Lessons 143-144.

Transcription:
Good morning everyone. We are continuing with "Merging with Siva" Chapter Twenty-one entitled "Total Surrender" from 1990. Wednesday, Lesson 143 "Bhakti is the Foundation "Bhakti is a state of mind, an arrival at an inner state of consciousness. People who become angry, people who become jealous, people who are fearful, people who get confused are living in the asura loka. They are the ones who upset others and experience revenge. They have yet to come up even to the āṇava mārga and attain a little appreciation of themselves. They have yet to experience being secure in their own identity. "They have yet to 'be their own person,' 'find their own space.' They must first close the door on channeling asuric entities. Once firmly planted on the āṇava mārga, they begin feeling that they are God’s gift to the world and may seek out a spiritual teacher. If the teacher does teach them karma yoga and bhakti yoga, they begin to realize that there are forces in the universe, souls in the universe, who are much greater than they are now or will ever be for a long time. Once this happens, the die is cast. They are on the spiritual path to their own eventual enlightenment. "Our scriptures, the Śaiva Siddhānta scriptures, are filled with stories of the greatest jñānīs who performed karma yoga and bhakti yoga and also spoke out the highest truths of jñāna. The tales explain that during auspicious days of the month they performed intense rāja yoga tapas. This is the yoga—the arms and the head and the torso of yoga. You do not perform only one yoga without all the others. It is an integral whole. "On occasion we observe devotees pilgrimaging to a temple, prostrating so devotedly. But after leaving the temple, they slap one of their children. We know that upon entering the house they argue with their spouse and complain about their in-laws. Where is the true bhakti here? This is what bhakti is not. Unfortunately, the children who observe this hypocrisy remember it for a long, long time. A child might think, 'You love Lord Gaṇeśa, Mom, but you can’t love me.' When you love a baby, you will not hit it when it cries, even if the crying disturbs you. "Wise gurus will not initiate anyone into rāja yoga techniques who does not have a sweet nature and a natural outpouring of bhakti. No one auditions for the symphony orchestra until he has mastered all that his first, second and third music teachers have taught him. "Suppose a devotee who is not virtuous is taught an intense rāja yoga meditation and practices it ardently over a long period of time until a burst of light is seen. Then the devotee, now feeling quite above others, argues with his parents, or flashes out in anger when talking to a friend. At that moment, all the good merit and benefits of the rāja yoga awakening are erased. This is because the prāṇa of higher consciousness has been dissipated by the angry words, which now burn deeper into the mind of others than they would have before. No, a kindly, gentle nature must precede rāja yoga sādhanas. That is for sure. "Bhakti is the base and the bedrock of spiritual unfoldment. A devotee who has an amiable nature, who is a good, considerate and giving person, is obviously a bhaktar. The disciplines of bhakti yoga make one a devotee, and a devotee is a very selfless type of person. These disciplines can take many forms, but the fruit of bhakti yoga, which is a loving disposition, must be attained before one can go further on the path with security. The proof is in the actions and attitudes of the individual. If he really sees Lord Śiva in and through all things, how can he not be a bhaktar? If he truly understands the law of karma, he cannot possibly resent any happening. "He knows that the experiences of today were created in the past. He truly knows that today’s actions mold the experiences of a future time. Yes, bhakti yoga is the bedrock of all minor and major enlightenments. Devotees who are very kind people, devotional, obedient, intelligent, will fulfill whatever assignments their guru gives—be it a pure advaitic path, the rāja yogas or the path of karma yoga." Thursday, Lesson 144 "Lower States Of Mind "When someone begins on the path from states of consciousness below the mūlādhāra, in the confused thinking areas of the mind, in the angry chakras, religion will be to them a superstitious, forboding, very unclear area. These chakras are also known as talas, or states of darkness, self-concealment and distortion. They are the 'nether poles' of the higher chakras and of the seven corresponding lokas. Confused thinking we can define as 'self-preservation thinking.' When a person is within this chakra, the feelings of 'me and mine' are strong. It is a state of outward passion and sense indulgence. This is the vibration of the talātala chakra, which could be translated as 'under the bottom level,' 'place-nonplace' (tala-atala), or 'realm of nonbeing.' In this fourth center below the mūlādhāra, the protection of one’s small universe at all costs is the consciousness. Should such a person ever become uplifted, since his consciousness is deep within the lower chakras, he would first come up in consciousness into jealousy, the sutala chakra, meaning 'great lower region,' a 'good matter' state of spiritual darkness ruled by desire and passion. The feeling of jealousy is a higher consciousness than that of the chakra below, which confuses the thinking. The next upliftment, after jealousy and confused thinking, is the release into the chakra of anger, the second force center below the mūlādhāra. This is the vitala chakra, translated as 'the region of the lost,' 'realm of division or confusion.' The upliftment to follow anger is to enter the chakra of fear, a state of spiritual annihilation called the atala chakra, meaning 'without bottom,' or 'no place.' Fear is a higher consciousness than anger or jealousy. It is people who live in this chakra who make up the masses who fear God rather than love God. "The fifth chakra below the mūlādhāra is called rasātala, literally 'state of sense enjoyment.' This is the true home of the animal nature. Here personal selfishness predominates. Persons strongly in the consciousness of this force center care nothing for the problems and suffering of others. "Below this, dare we speak of it, is the mahātala, 'the greatest lower region' where ego rules supreme. This is the realm of unconscionable acts, wherein perpetrators feel absolutely no remorse for the most heinous wrongdoings. The conscience is completely dormant for those locked in this realm. Negativity, depression and other dark states of mind are the order of the day for those in the mahātala chakra. Finally, at the bottom of consciousness is the pātāla chakra, 'lower region of wickedness' or 'fallen state,' where dark ignorance rules. This is the realm of vicious destruction, of revenge, murder for the sake of murder. Basking in the twisted vibrations of this area of consciousness, depraved transgressors torture others without a thought, express malice without a twinge of conscience, harm others in innumerable ways for sheer enjoyment and take delight in the emotional, mental and physical suffering of fellow humans and all beings that cross their path. Hatred is the ruling force in the pātāla chakra; malice reigns supreme. Far from reason, and farther still from compassion and insight, are those who live in the darkness of this area of mind. "We can see that coming up through the lower chakras is quite an ordeal. But once the individual goes through the fear chakra, he comes to Lord Gaṇeśa’s feet and enters the realms of memory and reason, clarity and understanding. "It is at this point in the unfoldment through the chakras, which is a journey of consciousness, that he would begin thinking of others and seek to benefit them more than himself. From here on, the path of spiritual unfoldment is not as ominous as it was before. There are no threatening areas, except that it is possible to fall back into lower consciousness." So then we have some Shum that relates. Shum series. rehka Sticky, odic congestion. narehka The lower chakras; all arguments, contests, fights are maintained from rehka; the consciousness of contentious words and their meaning. dimnarehka Entrance to the lower chakras; this portrait names the knowledge of the maharaja who controls his realm well by keeping the lower consciousness doors shut within himself as well as within his people; an elder or family patriarch interested in performing the duty of keeping prana flowing smoothly among members of the extended family. dimnarehka. Thank you very much. Have a wonderful day.