Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami

Cognizantability

The Conquest of the Mind

THE TRUTH

What you are to the mind

You are not in Truth.

What seems—isn’t.

What could be—can’t.

What appears to be is not enough Even to be apparent,

For the seer is what he sees, —And isn’t in Truth.

August 4, 1959

Section 1: The Five States of Mind

Conscious

Subconscious

Sub-subconscious

Sub-superconscious

Superconscious

Have you ever seen the mind? No, you have not! You have seen the effects of the mind through its many phases and its many ramifications. Also, you have felt the results of the mind in your own life and in the lives of others. Come on a tour of the mind with me, into its depths, and find out how simple, or how complex, it can be. See for yourself how easy it is for you to control your mind and fathom your problems from the innermost recesses of your being. All that and more Cognizantability will awaken in you.

Canto One: The Conscious and Subconscious Mind

1

There is but one mind. It functions in various phases, namely: instinctive, intellectual and superconscious. These phases are manifested consciously as well as subconsciously.

2

The conscious mind, within itself, is insanity in its natural state; its only balance comes from a subconscious consciousness of the superconscious. When the consciousness sinks into perverted, instinctive phases of thought and feeling, resulting in physical action, thus eventually cutting itself off from the superconscious and intellectual spheres through untimely and immoral practices, it (the conscious mind) falls into its natural state, termed insanity.

3

The conscious mind is only one-tenth of the mind. The subconscious of the conscious mind, the sub-subconscious, the superconscious and the subconscious of the superconscious mind are the other nine-tenths.

4

The intellect strengthened with opinionated knowledge is the only barrier to the superconscious.

5

There is but one mind. The consciousness, or Ego, functions within the mind’s various phases. The one-tenth of the mind, of the conscious plane, in ramification, is carried on by its own novelty. The object is to control the conscious mind and become consciously conscious.

6

The subconscious of the conscious mind is but a reflection of the subconscious of the superconscious mind.

7

There are two sections to the subconscious of the conscious mind and the sub-superconscious mind. One section controls the physical, and the other controls the mental.

8

An uncultured nature is the result of repressed tendencies. Such a nature must be analyzed subconsciously through the conscious and sub-superconscious mind. The conscious unraveling of the repressions will then commence. This is the key to awakening the superconscious regions.

Canto Two: The Sub-superconscious and the Sub-subconscious Mind

9

The superconscious mind working through the subconscious of the conscious mind is the essence of reason. It is known as the subconscious of the superconscious or the sub-superconscious mind. The superconscious mind functions beyond reason yet does not conflict with reason.

10

Two thoughts sent into the subconscious mind at different times, with the same rate of intensity, are different from their separate conscious expressions. This self-created state manifests itself at a much later time on the conscious plane, creating disturbance to the mind.

11

The sub of the subconscious mind can only be created through the conscious mind or the subconscious of the conscious mind.

12

The sub of the subconscious mind can be understood consciously when the thoughts which created this sub are traced. These will usually be found when the conscious mind is at its lowest ebb.

13

Should superconscious expressions be dropped into the sub-subconscious, they must first pass through the conscious plane, or be given to the subconscious of the conscious mind by the sub-superconscious mind and from there dropped into the sub of the subconscious mind.

14

The sub of the subconscious mind can, and does, create situations of an uncomely nature.

15

The sub-subconscious mind, through its natural magnetism, attracts so-called temptations and unhappy conditions. The conscious mind, weakened by harmful practices, falls into this self-created trap. There the Ego seemingly suffers between the subconscious thoughts that created the “sub,” the Ego’s conscious expression, and its sub-superconscious knowing.

Canto Three: Control of Consciousness

16

Some reactions are healthy; others are unhealthy. The reaction to a reaction is destructive, whereas the reaction itself, when viewed with a balanced mind, eventually becomes an asset.

17

The conscious mind creates the future by what has gone before, through its subconscious. Should memory be weakened due to abusive practices, its creations are distorted.

18

When the conscious mind relies on its subconscious states to master the problem, having logically placed the problem before them, the result: no concern. Concern is a muddled understanding of the subconscious states of mind filled with unreasonable doubts from the conscious mind.

19

True happiness can never be found in the conscious mind or its subconscious states.

20

The seed of desire is a false concept in relation to corresponding objects. The conscious mind throws into its subconscious a series of erroneous thoughts based upon a false concept. This creates a deep-rooted desire or complex. Single out the seed of desire by disregarding all other corresponding erroneous thoughts. Then destroy that seed through understanding its relation in itself and to all other corresponding thoughts. The deep-rooted desire or complex will then vanish.

Section 2: The Basic Laws of Transmutation

Canto Four: The Sexual Energies

21

Balance comes from understanding the effect of the emotional body upon the physical, and the physical body upon the emotional.

22

The conscious release of the creative forces through lower channels tends to slow down the physical and mental bodies, leading to a conscious sleep. When carried to excess, this leads to their ultimate destruction.

23

Transmutation must be attained and maintained to build up a so-called bank account in the subconscious of the conscious mind, so that the desires, feelings and tendencies of the sub-subconscious can be automatically handled in the purification process.

24

Sublimation is the working of the sex energies either mentally (on the conscious/intellectual plane) or through physical exercise. Transmutation is the permanent change of one form to another.

25

To consciously understand the functions of the physical body as against an educated subconscious knowing of the emotional unit, coupled with a sub-superconscious cognition of the mind as an object, is the secret of transmutation, the essence of raja yoga.

26

The creative or sex energy, with its desires resulting in passions, must first be regulated, then consciously totally suppressed. The faculties of thinking will then be stimulated enough to consciously understand its causes and effects. This develops willpower, leading the Ego from concentration into meditation, then to contemplation. After this, the passionate nature can be controlled and will be depolarized. The mind and physique will have undergone a change. Then, only then, will transmutation commence.

Canto Five: Control of Speech

27

When transmutation of the intellect is observed—which is bringing the superconscious through the subconscious consciously—subconscious transmutation is well on its way. This is not the end. This is only the beginning!

28

The use and abuse of the sexual nature causes physical and emotional upheavals. Speaking without due consideration and discrimination causes intellectual and psychic upheavals. Therefore, the control of speech is the second step in the transmutation of the creative forces.

29

Excessive talk overloads the subconscious mind, thus making it extremely difficult for the superconscious to express itself.

30

Observation is the first faculty of the awakening of the superconscious regions. This observation is cultivated by abstinence from excessive talk.

31

Continuous observation will become paramount through the conscious mind when transmutation is practiced. With the control of the speech, the forces will continue to be transmuted.

32

Transmutation brings the superconscious mind close to the conscious plane through the subconscious of the conscious mind. Then a conscious understanding of the subconscious mind as a unit is acquired.

33

The final goal of transmutation is to actually have the creative cells ever reproducing, consciously absorbed by the bloodstream. They then feed the brain and stimulate the mind. This results in a consciously conscious comprehension of the function of every current in the body as well as every thought wave, their actions and reactions. When this occurs as a physical process coupled with well-qualified understanding, your results will be unshakable and real.

Section Three: Journey of Awareness

Canto Six: Perceptions on Understanding Ego

34

The subconscious mind is externally portrayed in the world of form. Through so-called past incarnations, the subconscious mind has been created. To be unable to control what has been created in the external world, therefore, is due to insufficient transmutation of intellectual forces. Continued practice of concentration and meditation is the remedy here.

35

The conscious mind is a cross section between the instinctive and intellectual aspects. It is the point of balance between the real and the unreal, and hence the statement: “Lead us from the unreal to the real, from darkness to light, from death to immortality.”

36

When you have an egregious nature or uncomfortable feeling, it is only the cross section between the superconscious mind and the conscious mind, because the conscious mind does not want to accept or does not want to believe what it formerly has been led to believe. But the superconscious mind lays down the law to the conscious mind from what has gone before, which will repeat in the future, from little things you have observed, which will be magnified.

37

Nonreaction—one must look behind the situation. For instance, the cause is far different than the effect, and when the cause is known, the situation can be duly handled and mastered, for there will be no reaction to it.

38

When forces are generated by karmic links, they, passing through the physical body, change any animate or inanimate object directly contacting that form. The physical body becomes a sensitive transmitter of forces, either positive or negative—reacting to neither when the mind taps superconscious regions.

39

Hypnosis tends to weaken the conscious mind of the victim, depleting the willpower through the subconscious mind. Self-hypnosis, a term widely used in Western thought, is a positive state when brought about naturally, without previous conditioning through hypnotic therapy, likened to meditation, of merely “cutting off ” the conscious mind to view subconscious states through the sub-superconscious mind.

40

Reactions from strong stimulants will release some minds from inhibitions. However, as they throw the mind into unnatural states, to others they may prove unnatural in themselves, as their seeds are pleasure.

41

When deep in the study of philosophy, should the consciousness make a sudden jump to external lines of thought, apparent superstition may result. As cycles repeat themselves, this too will pass away.

42

Reason from the conscious mind, with the subconscious desire that the end in view will ratify some instinctive or mental craving, leads to destruction.

43

A line of reason from the conscious mind placed before one living in superconscious states will not be in harmony with the latter. When the same data is placed on the sub-superconscious mind of the former at a later time, it will intuitively be presented in a harmonious fashion, agreeable to the latter.

44

To be controlled by karma is to be governed by the instinctive planes of being. To control karma is to transmute the energies; this karma will then not willfully be controlled, but will be understood and not reacted to.

45

The Ego must learn to live within the laws of things and forms; not in things or for forms. This is nonreaction.

46

The Ego passes through the stages of the conscious mind, then through the subconscious spheres into the sub-superconscious regions, until total superconsciousness prevails. Little of this, if any, is retained by the conscious mind. In continuation, the Ego passes back through the sub-superconscious and subconscious-conscious realms into the conscious plane. There it consciously views the conscious mind. As a result, the physical body dissolves into the nothingness of the mind’s creation.

47

When the superconscious pushes the desired knowledge through the subconscious, that is as close as the superconscious can come to time and space.

48

Attachment is of the reasoning plane. Therefore, all attachments must be given up subconsciously, through understanding, before the Ego can go beyond the conscious mind. The conscious mind can be controlled through concentration, which leads into meditation (after the physical body has been stilled). This then unfolds into a state of contemplation, and finally the Self, spirit, Truth, or samadhi, is realized.

49

You can’t go into anything with freedom when you need it. You must be desireless and observe.

Canto Seven: Sleep and Dreams

50

Sleep is a cleanser for the subconscious mind. By the use of willpower this can be done slowly or quickly.

51

When the Ego functions in subconscious or sub-subconscious dream states, situations are created. These situations remembered while in a conscious state, termed awake, will create on the conscious plane similar happenings.

52

Thoughts created at the time of intense concentration remain vibrating in the ether. When the Ego enters the etheric or astral plane in sleep, this powerful thought vibration generated while in the conscious mind draws the Ego to the spot of creation; then the Ego re-experiences the activities first concentrated upon. Another mind concentrated upon the same thought at the same time will intensify the above-stated situation.

53

Upon passing into a state of sleep, the body’s five positive currents are systematically depolarized; this allows the Ego to pass from the physical plane into the sub-superconscious regions. When the body is fully recuperated, the currents are again polarized, thus pulling the Ego back into the physical body, hence the conscious plane.

54

When the Ego “wakes up” from sleep, the physical body should be immediately put into action. To go back into the state of sleep immediately after naturally becoming conscious causes the five positive currents to be unconventionally depolarized—the Ego passes into the sub-subconscious regions.

Canto Eight: Chakras

55

To cognize the states of mind in relation to the physical body, it is necessary to understand the nervous system and the forces operating through it.

56

There are two nervous structures: the cerebral spine (brain and spinal cord), and the sympathetic or ganglionic. The sympathetic consists of a series of distinct nerve centers or ganglia, extending on each side of the spinal column from the head to the sacral plexus.

57

The ganglia are called, in Sanskrit, chakras, or “disks.” About forty-nine have been counted, of which there are seven principal ones.

58

The seven principal chakras are:

1) sacral ganglion muladhara

2) prostatic ganglion svadhisthana

3) epigastric ganglion manipura

4) cardiac ganglion anahata

5) pharyngeal ganglion visuddha

6) pineal ganglion ajna

7) pituitary ganglion sahasrara

59

These chakras are guided in their unfoldment by the sympathetic system’s three principal channels, called in Sanskrit nadi, meaning tubes: 1) sushumna passes from the base of the spine to the pituitary through the center of the spinal cord; 2) pingala, corresponding to the right sympathetic; 3) ida, corresponding to the left sympathetic.

60

The kundalini does not begin its activity through the sushumna until the ida (negative) and pingala (positive) have preceded it by forming a positive and negative current along the spinal cord powerful enough to awaken the sixth chakra—ajna. The first chakra then awakens in its entirety as the kundalini force is drawn through the sushumna, stimulating each chakra in turn, concluding with the unfoldment of the sahasrara center in the brain.

Canto Nine: Mantras

61

Some languages in the Far East are created according to the natural expressions of the different stages of the mind in viewing their own creations; these languages are created to present mental pictures of things to be expressed. They can be understood when listening from superconscious states, even should the listener not consciously comprehend the language.

62

All superconscious languages can be spoken and/or comprehended superconsciously when the esoteric science of language is understood.

63

The essence of language, resulting from superconscious expression, can be summed up in one word, namely the Sanskrit word mantra, meaning “incantation.”

64

Mantras chanted in languages other than those of superconscious origins tap only the subconscious of the conscious mind in a form of auto-suggestion. Mantras of a superconscious origin awaken the sub-superconscious states of mind.

65

Use of mantras awakens various brain cells so that the Ego may vibrate superconsciously. They are the subtlest superconscious thoughts before the Ego enters fully into a superconscious state.

66

The mantras, like a medicine, need not be understood by the conscious mind as to composition or literal meaning. Their own meaning will be made clear when practiced with faith and concentration at auspicious times.

67

Mantras intensify the five states of the mind, separating them to be viewed consciously, and their corresponding centers in the physique and brain. Before practice begins, precaution must be taken that physical and mental cleanliness is made manifest.

68

The practice of mantras will harmonize the physical body with the mental body through the five great somatic currents, which in turn harmonize the five states of the mind while unfolding the seven chakras.

69

It is said that the faithful practice of certain mantras alone will bring material wealth and abundance. This practice, however, only aids in transmuting the creative energies, thus calming the conscious mind, strengthening concentration and giving unlimited vitality so that full use can be made of all states of mind consciously to attract material abundance.

70

To aid in the depolarization and transmutation of creative forces, certain mantras are chanted. These logically concentrate the conscious mind. harmonize its subconscious and magnetize the brain. This draws the creative forces from the instinctive to the intellectual and superconscious regions.

71

The letters A-U-M, when correctly chanted, transmute the instinctive to the intellectual, and the instinctive-intellectual to the superconscious. Direct cognition will then be attained.

72

The A-U-M harmonizes the physical body with the mind, and the mind with the intuitive nature.

73

The Aum placed before or after a word adds power and concentrated forces to the word.

74

The Aum projected through thought after or before a spoken word adds concentrated force to the spoken word.

75

As there are five principal states of the mind, there are five types of mantras: 1) the mantra uttered with the voice; 2) the mantra uttered with the voice and projected from the mind; 3) the mantra projected from the mind; 4) the consciousness of the mantra being projected; 5) the mantra uttered without the utterance, physical or mental.

Canto Ten: Esoteric Theories

76

Esoteric teachings are to place the mind in correct channels after transmutation is well on its way—until then they would only register as excess intellectual knowledge in the subconscious of the conscious mind. A certain amount of superconscious awakening is necessary to cognize the esoteric modes of thought.

77

When the conscious mind becomes balanced through the practice of nonreaction, the other states of mind elucidate, unravel, themselves before it, through the sub-superconscious mind. This is the nature of the mind—it is also called spiritual evolution.

78

The laws of the mind come superconsciously; they pass through the conscious plane and are registered in the subconscious of the conscious mind. Later they are comprehended subconsciously, then put into practical usage consciously.

79

To bring forth a law of the mind or the solution of a problem, three facts or points must be had about the subject in question. Concentrate on each point individually, then meditate upon them collectively. The superconscious, through the subconscious, then will give the law or solution. To hold the law or solution consciously, the three points, which are of the conscious mind and its subconscious, must be remembered in their original logical order.

80

A conscious mind trained by another mind teaching from supercon scious states is able to consciously retain its own conscious expressions.

81

The superconscious mind can only cognize what the lower states of mind place before it, or what it has placed before itself through the lower states of mind due to some previous cause. This is why the Ego must return to the conscious plane after living in superconscious thought— for all thought is in time and space and is stimulated through the effort of the will. Though the superconscious mind is the essence of time and space, Spirit—Truth—is beyond this object, the mind.

82

The deep thinkers of the Far East only have to deal with the instinctive plane. From there they can cut themselves off and become superconscious beings.

83

Deep thinkers of the West have to deal with the instinctive and intellectual planes. While the beings of the Far East can cut off the instinctive without comprehension, the beings of the West must thoroughly comprehend the instinctive/intellectual before passing into higher superconscious planes.

84

The sub-superconscious mind has all the answers. But when the sub-subconscious mind is mentally overly congested, the thoughts cannot be passed through. The sub-superconscious mind lies in silent knowing.

85

The subconscious mind can only know or put in order what you have al ready put into it or absorbed from the conscious plane. That is why you have to come back to the conscious plane to accumulate various pieces of information and facts so that when you go back into superconscious realms, the sub-superconscious mind can reorganize that.

86

They say that the superconscious mind is all-knowing, all-pervading, knows past, present and future. However, the superconscious mind can only know what the lower states of mind put before it for comprehension and elucidation. The superconscious mind is beyond. It can elucidate and predict the future by happenings of the past, blended with the solidarity of character.

87

Willfulness stems from the emotional body.

88

The deep thinkers in the Far East have previously passed through the instinctive-intellectual stages of the mind, unconscious through what they were passing. They must return, however, and function fully conscious of each state in which they find themselves. This is termed “Truth in action.”

89

Those who hermit themselves away from the external world of things, repulsed by the instinctive plane, having previously so suffered through it, are the ones who create a God separate from themselves to depend on and worship. When they realize their true nature, they may function without negative reaction in all states of consciousness.

90

Walking can quiet the subconscious of the conscious mind. Breathing from the diaphragm gives a balance when the subconscious of the conscious mind is disturbed, for this makes the conscious mind consciously conscious of what is passing through the subconscious of the superconscious, which physical organ is the spleen and is centered in the diaphragm.

91

The mind uses the brain; the brain sends messages to the various nerve centers which appear to be miniature brains. The solar plexus is their focal point; hence the solar plexus is called the seat of emotion. When the breath (breath is life) is sent down into the lower regions of the lungs or diaphragm, the solar plexus pours energy, prana, into the smaller nerve centers all over the body. These external nerve centers or brains thus receiving their energy subconsciously think. These nerve centers are externally represented as people or animals. The internal nerve centers, however, are represented externally by astral and higher mental-plane beings, when seen, termed visions.

92

The solar plexus holds the sub of the subconscious mind, but when awakened, it is the sub of the superconscious mind.

93

The lymph system is the external manifestation of the nerve forces. The ganglia are the way-house for the nerves. They register the nerve impulse which collects the lymph. This is carried by the blood.

94

Lymph is the manifestation of Prana. Thoughts, or thought forms, are the products of the lymph.

95

The blood is the carrier for the lymph. The heart is the organ for the blood. The diaphragm is the organ for the lymph. The lymph carries the nerve force—negative chyme and positive chyle. Milk carries the lymph from the cow.

96

The spleen is the placenta that nourishes the solar body. The reason why one must keep the body seventy-two hours after death is for the spleen to form the aura around the astral body to give it strength to soar to higher spheres.

97

Insanity results from lack of lymph in the brain. The organ of the mind, namely the brain, is developed to a large extent by deep, expansive thinking. When, however, the lymph and prana (the controlling elements) are removed from the brain, the mind can run without discrimination through its various accustomed channels. It is the lymph and prana which harmonize the mind with the body.

98

Discrimination is the result of an abundance of lymph in the brain through transmutation of the vital forces.

99

The sex function draws off lymph from the spleen. When done to excess, it draws off the lymph from the heart as well. The cells of the heart are broken down and when replenishing themselves build massively back (as do the muscles develop while lifting weights). The system is accelerated to the height of emotion when the sex function or perverted states thereof accrue. However, the physique is unable to attain normalcy, as the life force of the body, namely the lymph, has been exhausted. Only after the lymph again is carried by the blood in abundance can the physique come back to normalcy. However, during the interval, complications can be and are created, such as enlarging of the heart, weakening of the lungs, cancer, diseases of membranous kinds, etc.

The Self God

1

The  Self: you can’t explain it. You can sense its existence through the refined state of your senses, but you can’t explain it. To know it, you have to experience it. And the best you could say about it is that it is the depth of your Being, it’s the very core of you. It is you.

2

If you visualize above you nothing; below you nothing; to the right of you nothing; to the left of you nothing; in front of you nothing; in back of you nothing; and dissolve yourself into that nothingness, that would be the best way you could explain the realization of the Self. And yet that nothingness would not be the absence of something, like the nothingness inside an empty box, which would be like a void. That nothingness is the fullness of everything: the power, the sustaining power, of the existence of what appears to be everything. 

3

But after you realize the Self, you see the mind for what it is—a self-created principle. That is the mind ever creating itself. The mind is form ever creating form, preserving form, creating new forms and destroying old forms. That is the mind, the illusion, the great unreality, the part of you that in your thinking mind you dare to think is real. What gives the mind that power? Does the mind have power if it is unreal? What difference whether it has power or hasn’t power, or the very words that I am saying when the Self exists because of itself? You could live in the dream and become disturbed by it. Or you can seek and desire with a burning desire to cognize reality and be blissful because of it. Man’s destiny leads him back to himself. Man’s destiny leads him into the cognition of his own Being; leads him further into the realization of his True Being. They say you must step onto the spiritual path to realize the Self. You only step on the spiritual path when you and you alone are ready, when what appears real to you loses its appearance of reality. Then and only then are you able to detach yourself enough to seek to find a new and permanent reality. 

4

Have you ever noticed that something you think is permanent, you and you alone give permanence to that thing through your protection of it? 

5

Have you ever stopped to even think and get a clear intellectual concept that the Spirit within you is the only permanent thing? That everything else is changing? That everything else has a direct wire connecting it to the realms of joy and sorrow? That is the mind. 

6

As the Self, your Effulgent Being, comes to life in you, joy and sorrow become a study to you. You do not have to think to tell yourself that each in its own place is unreal. You know from the inmost depth of your being that form itself is not real. 

7

The subtlety of the joys that you experience as you come into your Effulgent Being cannot be described. They can only be projected to you if you are refined enough to pick up the subtlety of vibration. If you are in harmony enough, you can sense the great joy, the subtlety of the bliss that you will feel as you come closer and closer to your real Self. 

8

If you strive to find the Self by using your mind, you will strive and strive in vain, because the mind cannot give you Truth; a lie cannot give you the truth. A lie can only entangle you in a web of deceit. But if you sensitize yourself, awaken your true, fine, beautiful qualities that all of you have, then you become a channel, a chalice in which your Effulgent Being will begin to shine. You will first think that a light is shining within you. You will seek to find that light. You will seek to hold it, like you cherish and hold a beautiful gem. You will later find that the light that you found within you is in every pore, every cell of your being. You will later find that that light permeates every atom of the universe. And you will later find that you are that light and what it permeates is the unreal illusion created by the mind. 

9

How strong you must be to find this Truth. You must become very, very strong. How do you become strong? Exercise. You must exercise every muscle and sinew of your nature by obeying the dictates of the law, of the spiritual laws. It will be very difficult. A weak muscle is very difficult to make strong, but if you exercise over a period of time and do what you should do, it will respond. Your nature will respond, too. But you must work at it. You must try. You must try. You must try very, very hard, very diligently. How often? Ten minutes a day? No. Two hours a day? No. Twenty-four hours a day! Every day! You must try very, very hard. 

10

Preparing you for the realization of the Self is like tuning up a violin, tightening up each string so it harmonizes with every other string. The more sensitive you are to tone, the better you can tune a violin, and the better the violin is tuned, the better the music. The stronger you are in your nature, the more you can bring through your real nature, the more you can enjoy the bliss of your true being. It is well worth working for. It is well worth craving for. It is well worth denying yourself many, many things for—to curb your nature. It is well worth struggling with your mind, to bring your mind under the dominion of your will. 

11

Those of you who have experienced contemplation know the depth from which I am speaking. You have had a taste of your true Self. It has tasted like nothing that you have ever come in contact with before. It has filled and thrilled and permeated your whole being, even if you have only remained in that state of contemplation not longer than sixty seconds. Out of it you have gained a great knowing, a knowing that you could refer back to, a knowing that will bear the fruit of wisdom if you relate future life experiences to that knowing, a knowing greater than you could acquire at any university or institute of higher learning. Can you only try to gain a clear intellectual concept of realizing this Self that you felt permeating through you and through all form in your state of contemplation? That is your next step. 

12

Those of you who are wrestling with the mind in your many endeavors to try to concentrate the mind, to try to meditate, to try to become quiet, to try to relax, keep trying. Every positive effort that you make is not in vain. Every single brick added to a temple made of brick brings that temple closer to completion. So keep trying and one day, all of a sudden, you will pierce the lower realms of your mind and enter into contemplation. Then you will be able to say: “Yes, I know, I have seen. Now I know fully the path that I am on.” Keep trying. You have to start somewhere. 

13

The Self you cannot speak of. You can only try to think about it, if you care to, in one way: feel your mind, body and emotions, and know that you are the Spirit permeating through mind, which is all form; body, which you inhabit; and emotions, which you either control or are controlled by. Think on that, ponder on that, and you will find you are the light within your eyes. You are the feel within your fingers. “You are more radiant than the sun, purer than the snow, more subtle than the ether.” Keep trying. Each time you try you are one step closer to your true Effulgent Being.

On the Brink of the Absolute

1

The higher states of consciousness very few people are familiar with, having never experienced them. They are very pleasant to learn of, and yet out of our grasp until we have that direct experience of a higher state of expanded consciousness. The mind, in its density, keeps us from the knowledge of the Self. And then we attain a little knowledge of the existence of the Self as a result of the mind freeing itself from desires and cravings, hates and fears and the various and varied things of the mind. I say “things” because if you could see hate, you would see it as a thing that lives with one as a companion. If you could see fear, you’d see it as a thing, and as understanding comes, that thing called fear walks away down the road, never to return. 

2

As you unfold spiritually, it is difficult to explain what you find that you know. At first you feel light shining within, and that light you think you have created with your mind, and yet you will find that, as you quiet your mind, you can see that light again and again, and it becomes brighter and brighter, and then you begin to wonder what is in the center of that light. “If it is the light of my True Being, why does it not quiet the mind?” 

3

Then, as you live the so-called “good life,” a life that treats your conscience right, that light does get brighter and brighter, and as you contemplate it, you pierce through into the center of that light, and you begin to see the various beautiful forms, forms more beautiful than the physical world has to offer, beautiful colors, in that fourth-dimensional realm, more beautiful than this material world has to offer. And then you say to yourself, “Why forms? Why color, when the scriptures tell me that I am timeless, causeless and formless?” And you seek only for the colorless color and the formless form. But the mind in its various and varied happenings, like a perpetual cinema play, pulls you down and keeps you hidden within its ramifications. 

4

In your constant striving to control that mind, your soul comes into action as a manifestation of will, and you quiet more and more of that mind and enter into a deeper state of contemplation where you see a scintillating light more radiant than the sun, and as it bursts within you, you begin to know that you are the cause of that light which you apparently see. And in that knowing, you cling to it as a drowning man clings to a stick of wood floating upon the ocean. You cling to it and the will grows stronger; the mind becomes calm through your understanding of experience and how experience has become created. As your mind releases its hold on you of its desires and cravings, you dive deeper, fearlessly, into the center of this blazing avalanche of light, losing your consciousness in That which is beyond consciousness. 

5

And as you come back into the mind, you not only see the mind for what it is; you see the mind for what it isn’t. You are free, and you find men and women bound, and what you find you are not attached to, because binder and the bound are one. You become the path. You become the way. You are the light. And as you watch souls unfold, some choose the path of the spirit; some choose the path of the mind. As you watch and wonder, your wondering is in itself a contemplation of the universe, and on the brink of the Absolute you look into the mind, and one tiny atom magnifies itself greater than the entire universe, and you see, at a glance, evolution from beginning to end, inside and outside, in that one small atom. 

6

Again, as you leave external form and dive into that light which you become, you realize beyond realization a knowing deeper than thinking, a knowing deeper than understanding, a knowing which is the very, very depth of your being. You realize immortality, that you are immortal—this body but a shell, when it fades; this mind but an encasement, when it fades. Even in their fading there is no reality. 

7

And as you come out of that samadhi, you realize you are the spirit, you become that spirit, you actually are that spirit, consciously, if you could say spirit has a consciousness. You are that spirit in every living soul. You realize you are That which everyone, in their intelligent state or their ignorant state, everyone, is striving for—a realization of that spirit that you are. 

8

And then again for brief interludes you might come into the conscious mind and relate life to a past and a future and tarry there but for a while. But in a moment of concentration, your eye resting on a single line of a scripture or anything that holds the interest of the mind, the illusion of past and future fades, and again you become that light, that life deep within every living form—timeless, causeless, spaceless. 

9

Then we say, “Why, why, after having realized the Self do you hold a form, do you hold a consciousness of mind? Why?” The answer is but simple and complete: you do not; of yourself you do not. But every promise made must have its fulfillment, and promises to close devotees and the desire that they hold for realization of their true being hold this form, this mind, in a lower conscious state. Were the devotees and disciples to release their desires for realization but for one minute, their satguru would be no more. Once having realized the Self, you are free of time, cause and change.

Letters from Lord Ganesha

The First Letter from Lord Ganesha

Introduction: These letters were read clairvoyantly from the Akasha by Gurudeva in the early 1970s.

1.1 

Glitter, glint and gleam your temples.

1.2 

Clean them well.

1.3 

These are the twinkle that is seen by those who do not see.

1.4 

Guard the gilded throne of Siva’s stall.

1.5

Keep it well lit and open. 

1.6

No night doth fall upon His Holy Form.

1.7

He is the Sun, both cold and warm. Piercing vision of deep, inner spinning wheels pierces through the twinkle and the clinkle of your temple Ferris wheel.

1.8

These enjoy the darshan flooding out.

1.9

Those caught in chain-like discs of darker hours see only glitter and the flowers. 

1.10

When we come, as puja calls, we hardly see those who cannot see.

1.11

We see those who can, clear and crisp, their wasp-like form in the temple, they adorn lovingly the floors. 

1.12

I tell you this, Saivite brahmin souls, have no fear to shine the sparkle all the year. 

1.13

Gild the gilded forms anew so that your temples appear just built.

1.14

Appeal to every chakra wheel; one spins one and then the other. 

1.15

Gild—the base, the rudder, the anchor of it all—doth stimulate.

1.16

And sound, the one that hears.

1.17

Smell, the controller of the glands.

1.18

And so, when chakras spin all through, your temple will be always new. 

1.19

Once you realize that some see, and others do not condescend to kneel, but stand and look with open mouth as sight and sound rush in along with drainage from the bath, be not afraid to open wide the door.

1.20

Those who enter will eventually prostrate on the floor. 

1.21

Keep it clean, and gild and glint anew.

1.22

That is your job, what you have to do. 

1.23

Love, Lord Ganesha

The Second Letter from Lord Ganesha

2.1

Keep track of your paces, for your walk makes marks.

2.2

Each mark is a reward or a stumbling block.

2.3

Learn to look at the step you have made and the step you have not made yet.

2.4

This brings you close to Me.

2.5

I’m not doing anything.

2.6

If I were any place, I would not be.

2.7

You are someplace, doing something.

2.8

You are not. 

2.9

Insofar as this is a fact, there then is some semblance of Me in you.

2.10

If you are not what you apparently are and you keep track of your paces fore and aft in your mind, the karma balancing out the dharma is nothing. 

2.11

Always live as nothing, and your mission is fulfilled immediately.

2.12

You do not have to live long, but live well while you live.

2.13

Be sum total at any point in time. 

2.14

The mind through which you think you travel, or of which you think you are, is not.

2.15

The awareness of which you think doth travel, or which you think is aware, is not.

2.16

Therefore, what is?

2.17

That is a mystery, to the mind, to awareness, but can be solved by you and Me coming close together.

2.18

Let’s do it now. 

2.19

Love, Lord Umaganesh

The Third Letter from Lord Ganesha

3.1

Softness comes when you are precise, concentrated, with a sense of penuriousness.

3.2

The concentration of the intellect comes from a vast, expansive ability accrued which has brought an intricate intellect into usage.

3.3

Softness, therefore, and a demure countenance and approach to life and associates must be accrued through these means. 

3.4

If you are not soft in your intellect toward others, refrain from speaking as well as thinking.

3.5

For the true intellect is accrued from within oneself, and by listening to your guruji, who stimulates the within of you for this to occur. 

3.6

Obedience is the keynote here, and the ravaging forces of emotion are rejected.

3.7

And I dismay as you retreat into the devilish worlds in the plane beyond My sight.

3.8

I sit waiting for your return. 

3.9

Because I am here, it all exists.

3.10

The pole holds the feathers that dance in the wind of desire around it. 

3.11

Therefore, the thing that we seek is countenance, precision and self-effacement.

3.12

You know the rest.

3.13

I wait for your return. 

3.14

See Me first before each advent into another Lord.

3.15

I am the gatekeeper, the Mother that cares for you and makes you just right for the Father.

3.16

I am the now that makes you ready for the then.

3.17

I am the dragon that scares away the untimely events in your life due to the ignorance within your dharma. 

3.18

I am the innovation of your karma, if you come to Me, My Being, your Being, when you get here, now. 

3.19

See to this.

3.20

I command you.

3.21

I implore you.

3.22

I do puja to you by ringing My little bell in front of Me, by eating a ball-like sweet goody and by lighting the fire of Siva, My Father, in My Father, through My head, burning at the top of My head, your head, burning there, a flickering flame burning there on nothing except the dross forces of your dharma, the accumulation of your karma of this life, burns away the top of your head, My head, Our head. 

3.23

Success on the path is assured for you who have the good fortune to hear, to see, to read or to have been told to this message, is blessed by your good fortune, is in tune with Me, your Self, and I introduce you to realms beyond your limited vision at this very moment.

3.24

Love, Lord Ganesh