Mysticism

Mysticism is for many an uncomfortable word, because it is more than a concept that can easily be accepted by the mind.

The dictionary defines Mysticism, taken from the Creek “to conceal.” In the Hellenistic world, which followed the Creek Classical period, ‘mystical’ referred to “secret” religious rituals.

A more detailed Explanation of mysticism is communion, identity with, or conscious awareness of Ultimate Reality, Divinity, Spiritual Truth or God, through experience, intuition, instinct or insight.

In early Christianity the term came to refer to “hidden” interpretations of Scriptures and to hidden presences. We can see this in the words of Jesus.

“And he said, unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand”.

                                                                              (KJV) Luke 8:10

I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.

                                                                              (KJV) John 16:12

Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him .....

                                                                                 Corinthian 2:12 –14

Buddhists, Christian Mystics and Yogis show us the way to mystical experiences through a process of discipline of the mind and the senses in order to experience higher levels of consciousness. They speak of emptying of the mind of all things. Emptiness is not what is known in Western thought as nihilism. It is rather the idea of renouncing one’s own ideas. This for many people is scary as they would have to give up their own ego involvement in order to attain emptiness. The mind needs to be empty of all phenomenons.

A way to achieved this is through meditation, prayer and stillness.

Let us envision for a moment a world where anything is possible, than accept that things are not just possible but also probable. We often fail to see possibilities arising because we are so attached to our limited, re occurring thought patterns, our ego and its pathetic predictability, that we impede any progress toward higher levels of consciousness.

We need to realize, that there is a higher force acting upon us at all times, call it spirit or whatever you want to name it, and that we can connect with that something only when we suspend our own thoughts and our own ego. By doing so, we open up a Divine gap of peace and silence, where the power of the Infinite can enter the picture and do it’s magic.

It is through meditative practice of emptying ourselves of every thought and every attachment, as both eastern sages and western mystics have taught for thousands of years, that we can make leaps into the realm of the unimaginable, the land of true creativity.

When we open ourselves in silence to this higher force and accept its guidance, we will soon realize that we live in accordance with the will of God.

It is here where the much debated discourse of free will fits in, since we open up the possibility of Divine direction in our lives. We now talk about freedom from choice rather than freedom of choice. This Divine direction gives us freedom to rejoice every second of our existence without the stress of being confronted with our own choice, for everything always flows gracefully in an ocean of infinite bliss.

Nadis

In addition to the seven chakras of the subtle body, the Tantras have described a network of subtle channels known as nadis through which the life force (prana) circulates.

Nadi means "stream". According to the tantric treatise there are fourteen principal nadis. Of these, Ida, Pingala and Sushumna are considered the most important.

Ida is the left channel. Ida is feminine and represents the moon. Originating in Muladhara, Ida ends up in the left nostril.

Pingala is the right channel. Pingala is masculine and represents the sun. Originating in Muladhara, Pingala ends up in the right nostril.

Sushumna is the central channel. Within the Sushumna nadi there are three more subtle channels: Vajra, Chitra and Brahma nadi through which Kundalini moves upwards from the Muladhara chakra to Sahasrara chakra at the crown of the head.

The Muladhara chakra is the meeting place of the three main nadis. In the Muladhara, Shakti, the static unmanifested Kundalini, is symbolized by a serpent coiled into three and a half circles around the central at the base of the spine.

The technique of awakening Kundalini is in using Prana (the vital air), guiding its circulatory movement through Ida and Pingala down to the base of the spine into the space where Kundalini lies coiled. The vital energies of the opposite forces circulating in Ida and Pingala will be unified and Shakti Kundalini will then awaken and rise up Sushumna, energizing the seven chakras.

From Muladhara chakra, Ida and Pingala alternate from the right to left sides at each chakra until they reach Ajna chakra where they meet again with Sushumna.

Once the Kundalini Shakti has ascended through Sushumna to Sahasrara, the highest psychic center at the crown of the head, it is made to reverse its course and return to rest in the base center again.

Need to attain liberation

Only Self Knowledge can destroy ignorance and free us from samsara, the world of change and becoming and its constant sense entanglement. In the case of a un- awakened person, the mind, through the sense organs illumines the external world and its objects. But the Jivanmukta (liberated soul) withdraws the sense organs from the outside world and turns the mind inward. His mind then perceives the light of the Spirit. The knowledge of the Self shines within him.

As has been discussed under the sutras, we need to purify the mind, perform our necessary duties without attachment to the results, practice self control and compassion and love toward our fellow human beings.

 Cultivating a peaceful mind is aided by a peaceful heart that is unperturbed by pleasure or pain; that discriminates between what is real and unreal and does not lust after sense pleasure.

The goal ought to be Liberation from suffering of various kinds that are the result of selfish desires and actions

The Self, soul is deathless, birth-less, eternal and of real substance in every individual. It is the unchanging reality behind the changing body, sense organs, mind and ego. It is Spirit which is Pure Consciousness and is unaffected by time, space and causality

As the unchanging Reality in the individual is the Self (in Sanskrit Atman), he unchanging Reality in the universe is called Brahman. Brahman is also beyond time, space and causality and is the all-pervading Spirit. Vedanta declares, the Atman and Brahman are the same. The knowledge of this identity is called Self-Knowledge which upon realization delivers the aspirant from the bondage of the world and brings liberation.

Atman as the embodied soul derives its experience in the relative world through three stages of consciousness. In the waking state it experiences the gross objects of the outside world; in the dream state it experiences subtle impressions, purely mental and created by the experiences of the waking state; in deep sleep it enjoys peace and remains as the witness of the absence of activities of mind and senses. In this state, it is close to its real nature and the subject, object relationship is absent. All these three stages still belong to the realm of relativity and ignorance. The fourth state, which in reality is not a state, is called Turiya. Here the Self is realized as pure consciousness without subject and object – pure Being. Turiya pervades all three states and forms their substratum. In other words, Turiya is the source from which the other stages are happening.

Emptiness is an idea derived from the insight that all things contain the essence of everything.

Form is emptiness, emptiness is form. Nothing exists independent in and of itself.

I am both connected to all that preceded me and to all that will follow me, being all things, I therefore cannot be one thing.

Without singular characteristics I cannot be defined solely as this or that.

I am empty because I am everything.

All various forms exist in the mind of the perceiver. Their substratum is Spirit. Names and forms associated with different objects of the phenomenal world are changeable and therefore unreal. Only that which does not change is eternal and real.

All things in the phenomenal world are endowed with 5 characteristics: existence, perceptibility, attraction, forms and names. Of these the first three correspond to Sat, Chit, Ananda or Existence, Knowledge and Bliss belong to Brahman or the Self which is the basis of everything and the other 2 to the relative world

The aim of Non-Duality is to prove that there is no distinction between living beings and Brahman or God and between the different living beings themselves. The one Lord is concealed in all beings.

There are 3 aspects associated with the Self. They are the gross body, the subtle body and the causal body. One should distinguish them through discrimination from the Self. The gross body, is the medium through which the Self, Soul experiences pleasure and pain. The subtle body consists of 5 pranas (prana or in-breath, apana the downward moving principle expels unassimilated food and liquid vyana the circulating force, udana the ascending life force, which helps the soul to pass out of the body, samana fostering digestion.

The all-pervading Atman or Self does not shine in everything. It is manifest in the buddhi (that which determines the true nature of things, intellect) like a reflection in clear water or in a stainless mirror. Atman, Self is the Witness of all functions.

The Soul or Self interpenetrates the body and the sense organs yet it is totally different from them. It is the eternal subject and unchangeable consciousness. One may reason that the Atman or Self is not just the witness but also the participant. The answer to this is: just as the moon seems to be moving when in actuality the clouds move, so also the Self appears active when in reality the senses are active.

On Attachment – attachment, pleasure and pain etc. exist as long as the buddhi or mind functions. They are not perceived in sleep, when the mind ceases to exist.

An individualized soul (when identified with ego) is conscious of the existence of other beings and their Creator, God. It regards itself as limited by time and space and the law of causation. It thinks, it is samsara, or relative being subject to birth and death, thus becoming pray to fear. If a person sees the slightest difference between himself and others, he feels uncomfortable. He who thinks God is separate from himself has a tendency to be overcome by the fear of God. But the Self in reality is not the individualized living being; therefore the fear is groundless and due to ignorance.

The mind, the sense organs are illumined by the Self alone. They are insentient by themselves. That which cannot be seen by the eyes, but by which the eyes see other objects – That alone is Brahman; realize that and not what people worship (through ignorance).

Their own Self – The Self, or all pervading consciousness, and that alone, is the substratum or real essence of the mind, ego, and sense organs.

Open yourself to the Blessings of God

“Prayer with devotion is a wonderful means of opening oneself to the freely flowing blessings of God, a necessary link of man’s life to the Infinite Source of all benefaction. But it takes a long time for prayer to be effective when the mind is outwardly roaming. That is why one hour of Kriya Yoga meditation can bestow more effect than twenty-four hours of ordinary prayer.

“Those who practice the technique of Kriya deeply for even a little while and sit long in meditation in the resultant stillness, find that the force of their prayer is doubled, trebled, a hundred times more powerful. If one enters the inner temple of silence and worships before the altar of God with prayer and invocation of His presence, he comes quickly. When the consciousness is withdrawn from the sensory surface of the body and its surroundings and centralized in the cerebrospinal shrines of soul perception that is the most effective time to pray.”
                                                                 Paramahansa Yogananda

Our Inner world

Our Inner world

Last week we spoke about the importance of breaking through our self imposed limitations, of our mental map.

Today we explore ways of breaking out of these limitations. We will at times refer to some of the religious teachings. For those who have an understanding or open mind on the subject, the comments expressed are easy to follow, but for others the subject presented may illicit questions and challenges. Perhaps this provides an opportunity for us to observe our mental fixedness or flexibility.

Much of what handicaps us in life is based on fear. We are reluctant to attempt something new because we fear that we may fail. Fear paralyzes. It is fear that creates rigidity and holds one back from expressing creatively. This is why for many people following familiar activities and habits is a preference to stepping outside one’s comfort zone.

‘There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love’.

                                                                             1 John 4:18

It may sound simplistic, but the solution to break out of fixed pattern thinking and behaviour is one of adventure and love, of self expression which is natural to us, as it is part of our intrinsic nature.

From a religious and spiritual perspective the universe as it is perceived buy us, is an outflow of consciousness and love from the source, which we call God. This outflow creates forms and life, and when it has fulfilled its purpose; it is redeemed again, or drawn back into its original state.

Everything including human beings emanates from the source and is eventually draw back into it. That which is of nature returns to nature and that which is of spirit returns to spirit.

Science views the creative process differently: A Belgian priest named Georges Lemaître first suggested the big bang theory in the 1920s when he theorized that the universe began from a single primordial atom (we know now that there are smaller particles than atoms, even smaller than Quarks). The idea subsequently received major boosts by Edwin Hubble's observations showing that galaxies are speeding away from us in all directions.

But the big bang theory leaves several major questions unanswered. One is the original cause of the big bang itself. Several answers have been proposed by scientists to address this fundamental question, but none has been proven and even testing them has proven to be a formidable challenge.

The scientific view points to a recognition that our sense perceptions, even in conjunction with the most sensitive instruments cannot grasp the concept of an original cause. And why is this so, it is because consciousness and love cannot be measured, they can only be experienced.

Upon some reflection everyone will know that love is real. We all crave it and experience it in its various forms whether on a physically, mentally or spiritually level. If we conjoin our creative process with surrendered love to its source, we elevate our thoughts (which are none other than subtle vibrations) and activities to the highest sphere in creation, which represents pure love and in this process perfects the love in our own being.

Another way of expressing this is:

“God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him”

                                                                                                                                                                   (1 John 4:16)

Jesus taught that we should love or care for one another and that we must love God with all our strength, with all our heart, with all our soul, and with our entire mind.

                                                                                (Matthew 22:37)

What does this mean, it implies, that all ones thoughts and activities should be performed as an act of love and given as an offering to God. This is the true worship of which Jesus spoke; it is elevating all one’s efforts to the highest level possible. It is the way to perfection.

Be perfect therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

                                                                                                                                                         Matthew 5:48

The consciousness that Jesus taught is universal. It is for everyone. Christians may claim Jesus for themselves, but this claim in itself breaks the law of universality.

We really need to study and internalize the teachings of the masters without referring to labels, as labels lead to limitations. Jesus taught and lived and was one with universal Christ consciousness, or the intelligence in the universe. He also practiced the law of correspondence which states: ‘as above, so below’. But his main purpose was to direct us to God realization, to oneness with God

"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in (the consciousness which is in) me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father (the source).

                                                                                                                                                                   John 14:12

We need to embrace these teachings without bias in order to expand from ego consciousness to universal or Christ consciousness. It is a consciousness of oneness, it is moving from duality to non duality, from darkness into the light, from fear to the source of love. When we understand love as it was meant to be understood, we become love, we have reached the end of sorrow.

 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! For, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

                                                                                 Luke 17:21

The whole cosmos and its processes are within us. All we need to do is, to become awake to it.