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Question:
Isn't happiness a by-product of living?
Answer: Happiness that is a by-product of
living is material happiness, but it is not the goal. The goal in life
is to acquire that happiness which is the innate nature of the soul.
Question:
There are many people who are doing a great deal of service in the
world and it seems they're happy. Therefore, it would seem that their
happiness is a by-product.
Answer:
It seems like a by-product by doing good deeds.
They are removing the obstacles to happiness. It is similar to removing
the clouds and the sun shines forth. The shining of the sun is not the
by-product of removing the clouds, yet you may say so in a figurative
way. In the same way, when a person does good things his complexes are
dissolved, and as these complexes are being dissolved, his innate happiness
shines forth. So it is an unraveling of innate happiness. If happiness
were not deep within oneself, then it would be a difficult predicament.
There would be no liberation actually.
Question: But people are living in this world, and it is not
a happy world. All they can do is strive not to be unhappy.
Answer: That's a good beginning to avoid
pain. But to the extent that you avoid pain, to that extent certain positive
forms of happiness begin to appear. Not all people are equally miserable;
it depends upon different levels of evolution. In the midst of all suffering
humanity, there are people who have purified their minds and are therefore
closer to God within themselves. They are much happier. So positive happiness
does exist. But to begin with, as long as you do not have the positive
happiness, it is better to avoid pain and not to be deluded by illusory
happiness.
Question: Union with God means that we would lose our personality?
Answer: It means that, yes. A simple analogy
is given of a river meeting the ocean. A river enters the ocean and what
happens? Does it lose or does it gain? Both. From one point of view the
river loses, because it no longer carries its name, but from another point
of view it becomes one with the ocean. It is like a kind of loss, which
is really not a loss. You lose something that has been built on the basis
of a limited mind. It is the limited mind that has evolved ego-consciousness,
and the more that ego-consciousness drowns in the sweetness of love, the
greater the joy.
Question: Generally it is considered fortunate for someone
to die peacefully in his sleep. However, since sleep is tamasic, isn't
this really unfortunate? Is this destined for someone ruled by tamas so
that he will go to hellish worlds?
Answer: Death in sleep does not necessarily
mean that a person is dominated by tamas at the time of death. While tamas
overpowers the body, the mind may continue to be under the influence of
sattwa or rajas. Therefore, those who die in sleep may be either under
sattwa or rajas and accordingly are led to higher or lower forms of consciousness
(heaven or hell). From a normal point of view, a peaceful death in sleep
is much better than death in a state of agony.
Further, as explained before, a sage who transcends the gunas may die
in sleep, action, or meditation. In all these cases, he is beyond the
gunas
and unaffected by them.
Question: Why is it that people who try to practice self-control
become irritable and impatient?
Answer: It happens because they try to practice
control without understanding. Understanding is more important than trying.
They try to control without using the proper technique. There is not any
negative aspect of the mind that can be merely controlled. You should
substitute a positive thought rather than try to drive away a negative
one. In that way you are not trying to control with tension. You simply
present an ideal before your mind and allow yourself to grow into it.
Question: Are mental repression or suppression ever necessary
for an aspirant?
Answer: Repression and suppression are needed
to a certain degree, with the ideal of sublimation. For example, a person
is very hungry and is given poisonous food. All he wants to do is eat
it. You, being his friend and knowing it to be poisoned, first take it
away from him whether he likes it or not. Then you begin to explain to
him that the food is poisonous. The moment he understands, there is no
tension. Ultimately, he thanks you.
Similarly, when the mind is dominated by anger, you want to speak all
types of evil words, but by your reason you suppress it. When you suppress
it, energy boils up within yourself. But try to understand that there
is another project before you--by having suppressed the negative, you
have opened the mind to something positive. If, however, you do not open
your mind to something positive, then suppression is bad.
Question: Can you change your mantra?
Answer: Firstly, you must realize that all
mantras refer to the same Divine Self and are equal in merit. Therefore,
if you change your mantra there is no harm. However, ideally you should
stick to one mantra, because in this way your mind has better possibility
to concentrate. If your mind develops the habit of shifting from one thing
to another, then its power of concentration weakens.
It is just like a person who digs in a particular place in order to find
water. After digging in one place for five feet, he feels that since he
can find water elsewhere, he starts digging there. Then, he becomes further
distracted and starts in another place. Although every place will give
water, he never reaches it because of his distraction. He should rather
dig in one place until he reaches the water.
So from that point of view, you should stick to one mantra. If you choose
one and find that it is not what you wanted, there is no harm in choosing
another. But once you choose it, stick to it.
Question: Suppose you have been practicing mantra for a certain
time, and then due to various circumstances you don't practice it as much.
Would everything that you accomplished in practicing be lost?
Answer: No spiritual progress is ever lost.
The impressions that you gathered through the repetition of mantra continue
to exist in your unconscious and exert their beneficial influence. On
the other hand, if you continue to keep up with your mantra, it is much
better.
Question: Isn't the purpose of a mantra to silence the mind,
to keep thoughts from dominating it?
Answer: The purpose is to free the mind from
its distractions and to direct it towards God, to develop a spiritual
feeling. Since mantra is a short prayer and a constant affirmation of
Divine Presence, if you are constantly exposing the mind to the awareness
of God and that the awareness of God is within you, then it automatically
works miracles in the form of elevating your mind. That is the central
purpose of a mantra.
Question: Should a person perfect his ability to practice meditation
before going ahead and teaching it?
Answer: In any form of teaching, never wait
to become perfect. Start teaching whatever you know and you will automatically
begin to perfect yourself more. If you wait to become perfect, you will
never become perfect. The secret is that the more you give, the more you
receive.
Question: Would you explain how repetition of mantra helps
to control the mind?
Answer: Repetition of mantra is an effective
method of controlling the mind. A mantra consists of mystic syllables
or words. Sounds in a particular mantra are related to certain psychic
centers in your body known as chakras. (This is a scientific fact.) Some
sounds are jarring to the mind. Some sounds are melodious. Also, words
have a very strong influence over the mind. Some words, when spoken in
a bitter way, can hurt a person--such is the power of words, that a friendship
of many years can be broken in a few seconds just by words. On that basis
the science of mantra has been developed. Sages discovered special words
and recorded them. For example, "Om, Om, Om," "Om Sri Ramaya
Namah," "Om Namah Shivaya," and "Om Namo Narayanaya."
"Om" is the root-source of all mantras, and when you chant the
"Om" mantra, it creates a special vibration, which begins to
promote harmony in your body and mind.
A mantra is repeated with two attitudes--firstly you repeat the mantra
verbally, and secondly, you start developing a feeling that what you are
repeating is the name of the Absolute Self, the name of God. So in this
way, with each repetition you are invoking the presence of the Divine
Self. A mantra becomes like a short prayer, or constant affirmation of
Divine Presence, constantly reminding you that you are in touch with God.
If you do not have a mantra and if you simply say to yourself with feeling,
"I am in touch with God, I am in touch with God," it will in
itself give you a sense of relaxation. But this is not a mantra. If you
adopt or are initiated into a mantra, it is a more scientifically planned
approach to Divinity, and practicing your mantra has a definite influence
on your unconscious. Mantra has a great part in Yoga.
Question: I know scientists who can concentrate for hours,
and yet they have never repeated a mantra.
Answer: Concentration can be achieved in
many ways, and mantra is one of the important ones. Academic or scientific
concentration is of a different type. Its project is not research into
the nature of the spirit, but research into the nature of matter.
Entering into concentration is a kind of yoga, but in order to be perfect
yoga, it must be directed towards the intuitional realization of the Self.
Otherwise it becomes a lesser yoga. From a broad point of view, every
concentrated state of mind is yoga and every achievement is a yogic achievement.
What all great people have achieved in the fields of painting, music and
science, has been due to concentration of mind--and that is yoga--but
the highest yoga is directing mental concentration to Self-realization.
Question: I am having trouble reconciling working for a salary
and karma yoga. I try to maintain the attitude that everything I do is
for God and not to care for the fruits of labor, but the practical reality
of needing a paycheck to survive tends to weaken that ideal. How can I
sincerely promote this while my mind is always thinking that I am overworked,
underpaid, and working for a company that is very unorganized?
Answer: Fire is preceded by smoke. If you
become upset by smoke you cannot kindle fire. In the same manner, if you
become upset by the limitation of work (or jobs) you cannot become adept
in karma yoga. In spite of the limitations, you should continue to keep
up the ideal of karma yoga to the extent it is possible. Earning a living
is important to keep your mind free of that pressure, so you can direct
your energy freely towards your sadhana (spiritual practice) and towards
works that are more selfless and uplifting in nature.
You should have a practical insight into the job you do for earning a
living. If it is possible for you to find a better and more agreeable
job, you should do so. If you use your intelligence to better your economical
circumstances, you are not opposing the ideals of karma yoga, because
you will be placing yourself into better circumstances for practicing
selfless service. At the same time, you should not give up what you already
have without having secured something better.
Question: At times when I am in meditation, I feel more drawn
to the Sahasrara Chakra than I do to the Ajna Chakra. Why is meditation
on this Chakra not promoted more than on the Ajna since it is higher?
Answer: Ajna and Sahasrara are interlinked.
Ajna paves the way to the Sahasrara, and Sahasrara helps to perfect the
unfoldment of the Ajna. Therefore, you may meditate upon any of the two
centers according to your liking.
Question: In dedicating your actions to God, should each action
be preceded with that specific mental thought or is a general mental attitude
to that effect enough?
Answer: It is better to practice this art
of dedication by repeating your mantra and developing a special attitude
prior to the performance of any work. While performing the work, you should
remind yourself of your dedication again and again. This practice will
create a spiritual habit. And later, there will be a spontaneous awareness
of dedication that will permeate all the works that you do.
Question: In the waking state, the ideal for eradicating negativity
is by sublimation and being a witness to your thoughts. What can be done
about gross tendencies that manifest during Dream State, when I tend to
identify more with my thoughts? If I have a dream where I show violence,
for example, should I not let it bother me and just wait for a time when
my practices will carry over into dream?
Answer: The gross tendencies that manifest
during dream state are based upon the subtle impressions (Vasanas) of
the unconscious. One cannot deal with them directly. In the daily life,
a plan is evolved by an aspirant to create positive impressions in the
unconscious. By the practice of selfless action, Japa (repetition of Mantra
or Divine Name), meditation, enquiry, and by a harmonized life, one continues
to create positive impressions which in turn overpower the negative impressions.
In the course of time, there arises a spiritual vision, which is unobstructed,
whether one is dreaming or awake. Keeping this in view, you should not
worry about such tendencies when they manifest in dream; rather, you should
continue to intensify your effort in daily life of promoting positive
impressions.
Question: Which is a higher development--to be repulsed by
anger, lust, etc., or just to see them as obstacles of the path to be
overcome?
Answer: In the beginning you should learn
to see the impurities of the mind as obstacles on the path, and reflect
upon their harmful effects on your personality. As you advance, a sense
of repugnance develops towards them, and therefore, whenever these tendencies
begin to raise their heads you defy them immediately. For want of attention
and support, they begin to die away and are sublimated into positive qualities.
However, in this case, "repulsion" is not of a sentimental nature;
rather, it is an expression of a healthy personality.
For example, a heavy smoker is delighted when someone smokes near him.
He is tempted to join the smoking feast. But when he has quit the habit,
he is no longer tempted by the smoke. Rather, he is repulsed by it. Similarly,
when you renounce the habit of anger and other impurities, you develop
repulsion towards them. Naturally this is a higher development. Still
higher is a state where these impurities are rooted out and the mind is
no longer concerned with opposing them or defying them.
Question: We, as human beings, talk about love. How important
is it that we love each other? Is it more important to have Divine Love
than human
love?
Answer: Divine Love is the goal. Human love
can become a means or a way to Divine Love, depending upon your understanding
of the mystery of life. On the other hand, if human love is the ultimate
in your personality, if you think that this is final, that this is all
there is, then that love becomes confused. You cannot secure human love.
However, you can have it and make it more beautiful by recognizing the
Divine Love, which is behind it.
It is just like trying to kindle a fire. First you encounter smoke and
sparks. That smoke is an important stage, and if you continue there will
be fire. Human love is a kind of smoke. If you have Divine Love, human
love becomes more meaningful, more profound. It is not selfish. But if
you do not have Divine Love, human love becomes limited, entangling and
creates bondage.
Question: Since no relationship is permanent, many people might
feel that it is perfectly okay to end their relationships. This is what
we're having so much of. The statement that no relationship is permanent
disturbs me.
Answer: But that is just a statement of fact.
No relationship is
permanent because no personality is permanent. You are not going to be
permanent as the present personality; your partner is not going to be
permanent as the present personality; so from that point of view no relationship
is permanent. But, if there is Divine Love, every instance of human love
develops on a deeper basis. If Divine Love is lacking, then human love
becomes superficial and only creates bondage. Therefore, if people advance
on the path of Bhakti Yoga, they become more loveable, more loving, and
the goodness of their hearts unfolds more and more. They become more sacrificing
in the acts of their love in every way.
Question: So would we be correct in thinking
that human love is the same
as that which operates as the instinct of love.
Answer: The profoundest instinct of love is to love God; but it has become
refracted and is expressed in every living being according to the nature
of evolution. So the human being is capable of expressing love in many
forms. Although an animal is capable of loving in one particular form,
more at the biological level, the root-source behind all expressions of
love is love of God.
Question: What
is your understanding of free choice and how does it operate?
Answer: Free
choice is awareness that you can change your conditions, that awareness
develops when mind is purified. In Yoga terminology, it is when sattwa
develops. When that happens, your personality is harmonized and there
is more goodness, peace and contentment. You begin to discover that there
is a mighty power within you and that you are really not helpless; you
are capable of doing whatever you really want to do. So to the extent
you allow sattwa to grow, to that extent you will experience freedom.
But if your mind becomes distracted, as happens in bad company, or when
it is full of desires, or full of anger and hate, then you begin to develop
the idea that you are bound by destiny and have no strength. So rajas
promotes that reliance on destiny. When tamas arises, your mind is grossly
involved in anger, violence, hypocrisy and other degrading sentiments,
and you suffer the greatest loss of mental freedom.
Question: The
transcendental Self is entangled in this material condition because of
ignorance. How can Brahman descend from this state of enlightenment and
perfection into a state of ignorance, which is the cause of the world-process?
Answer: In order to understand how
Brahman descended into limitation, you must realize that the very question
being asked, is being asked by an intellect which is in itself in a state
of limitation. For example, suppose in your dream you ask the question
as to where the snake (snake-in-the-rope) came from. That question is
valid only in the Dream State. Similarly, if you consider the human predicament
from the point of view of intuition, the questioning mind itself has to
be treated instead of trying to find the answer.
If you have a lantern in your hands, don't look for darkness and ask where
it came from or for how long it existed. The fact is, as you take the
light and explore the darkness, to your surprise the darkness doesn't
exist.
Similarly, Vedanta says to practice meditation and find the light. When
that intuitional knowledge develops, then you realize that you were never
really caught, that you were never really in a state of bondage. If you
were really in a state of bondage, you could never be freed. So, the bondage
has been an apparent development caused by a form of illusion, a form
of misunderstanding. Vedanta calls it ignorance, and treating it requires
philosophical discipline of the intellect. The moment you tax your intellect
by asking why and when, the intellect becomes confused, saying such things
as "Well, since even great people can't tell me why and when Brahman
created this world, then why should I practice anything when everything
is so confused?"
Question: What
are the characteristics of Shiva the Destroyer?
Answer: Shiva
is worshipped in two ways: Shiva the destroyer and Shiva the benevolent.
Whichever aspect you worship, accordingly, that aspect will develop. If
you are worshipping Him as the destroyer, then, again, you can worship
Him in two ways, as the destroyer of physical objects or as the destroyer
of psychological obstacles. So, by meditating on Shiva > as the psychological
destroyer, you destroy attachments and subtle mental defects. By worshipping
Shiva as the physical destroyer, it emulates the gross type of destruction
and is a lesser type of worship. Desiring the destruction of enemies or
fulfillment of an egoistic desire is a negative development.
When you are worshipping Vishnu, there, again, you have the possibility
of adopting different attributes. If you adopt the attribute of grace,
then you become graceful. If you adopt the attribute of power, then you
become powerful, and through the attribute of knowledge, you gain knowledge--as
Lord Vishnu is the embodiment of knowledge, power and grace. The attribute
you acknowledge in God begins to develop in you.
Through the worship of Ganesha, you overcome obstacles and gain auspiciousness.
Ganesha also, can give anything else, because He is a symbol of the same
Absolute. His elephant form is symbolic of majesty; His large trunk is
full of the intuitive movement of mind. He has only one tooth, or tusk,
and it symbolizes nonduality. Everyone else has two teeth, those of raga
and dwesha, attachment and hatred. In Him, His one tusk is broken, symbolizing
His one aspected movement--duality has been broken. He has a gigantic
body, symbolizing how He includes the entire universe. He sits on a rat,
which is the symbol of intuitive vision that cuts into the subtle desires.
He holds in one hand the sweets of liberation and in the other hand the
book of knowledge.
So, every god that is presented in Hindu mysticism is surrounded with
symbolism. All that you see around a god, his clothes, his every adornment,
has symbolic meaning. Every god is the symbol of the Absolute. However,
you have two choices of worship; if you are advanced, you worship the
Absolute through a symbol. If you are not advanced then you worship that
god for certain results and your worship is dictated by your ego. If it
is dictated by your ego, then you are receiving perishable results. On
the other hand, if you are worshipping for the sake of mental purification
then it has imperishable results.
Question: I am having a very difficult
time reconciling the explanation of how the world is derived from Brahman
with the practical realities of daily life. I realize the problem lies
in the fact that I am trying to understand it with a limited mind, but
still there seems to be something missing. If Brahman is perfect and transcendental,
then why project, even as a fancy, anything at all? Why should Cosmic
Mind ever come about? How can there be an absolute law, such as karma,
in a relative world? How can there be practical realities in an illusion?
It just seems that if Brahman hadn't projected anything in the first place,
there would be no ego, no world-process, and no need for Self-realization.
Answer: Intellectually
it is difficult to reconcile with any explanation of the world offered
by any philosophical system. However, the intention of Vedanta philosophy
is to help you to develop intuitive vision. Intuitive vision is like waking
up--once you wake up, you no longer seek the whereabouts of the objects
seen in dream. This "waking up" is done by the practice of meditation
and enquiry (reflection). Even in dream there are practical realities
relative to the dream world, and when you wake up those realities become
false. In the same way, there are "realities" in practical life--the
sense of ego, the egoistic values, the perceptions of the objects, the
Law of Karma, and others-- but when your mind is enlightened, all these
become false, or mere appearances.
The realities of your childhood have become meaningless today. Similarly,
the realities of a person who is filled with egoistic desires become meaningless
when he rises above them. And again, the realities of this world become
meaningless when the mind is enlightened. If a person who is frightened
by a snake-in-a-rope were to say, "If the rope had not projected
the illusion of the snake in the first place, I would not have been frightened,"
his statement would be as illusory as the snake-in-the-rope in the first
place. Similar is your statement, "If Brahman had not projected the
world in the first place..."
Generally speaking, it is only when faced with adversities that a person
reflects, "If the world had not been projected, how wonderful it
would be!" However, when there are prosperous conditions one does
not entertain this type of thought. The intellect becomes confounded because
it tries to negate only the negative aspect of the world. If the intellect
were to see both, prosperity and adversity, in the same light, it would
then be intuitive and the world would appear as the unruffled Ocean of
Bliss.
Question: The
Gita states that when the three gunas are transcended, a yogi is not affected
by them. In explaining this, you said that sattwa helps the luminous state
of mind and that tamas helps to sustain that peaceful state. If a sage
has transcended the gunas, how do they still exist for him?
Answer: The
human personality is composed of the three gunas (sattwa, rajas, and tamas),
and is constantly influenced by them. Even after Enlightenment, the personality
of a sage is maintained by his fructifying karma (prarabdha karma). But,
though living in a body, a sage transcends the body. You may live in a
house and yet move in and out of it. In the same way, a sage exists in
the body and yet is beyond it. Transcending the body does not mean that
the body becomes non-existent. Similarly, transcending the gunas does
not imply the cessation of the gunas. The gunas continue to exist as long
as the body lasts, but they do not obstruct the intuitive vision of the
sage. In the state of bondage, a person is affected by the gunas. Sattwa
causes attachment to pleasure. Rajas creates dislike or hatred towards
pain. Tamas drags a person to a state of dullness and gross-mindedness.
When the personality is disciplined, however, the very same gunas begin
to help an aspirant in his spiritual movement. Sattwa gives opportunity
for inner reflection and meditation. Rajas provides energy for performing
karma yoga (selfless action). And tamas provides physical and mental rest.
In the case of an enlightened sage, these gunas become transformed into
mystic processes that glorify that state of realization. As long as a
sage has a body, the three gunas continue to operate in his personality.
However, he is not affected by them. If you are flying in a plane beyond
the clouds, it does not matter whether the clouds are dense, silvery or
become thinly dispersed. But if you fly below the clouds, the variations
of clouds will affect the plane. In the same way,the variations in gunas
do not affect a sage who is beyond them.
On the other hand, the gunas serve a different purpose in a sage. Sattwa
continues to fill his mind with luminous thoughts. Rajas enables him to
perform actions for the well-being of all and tamas gives needed rest
to his body while creating an inertia of a higher type. If the experience
of a higher state becomes steady through inertia, that form of inertia
is divine. This is what happens to a sage.
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