Namaskar Hi All Happy reading. Dharma --- What is spiritual knowledge? Now for some yogic knowledge in the classic style, with a bit of Sanskrit thrown in as well! The question is what is spiritual knowledge? In short, real knowledge that does not change. When a person does not forget that the Supreme Unifying Consciousness is always witnessing everything and is in everything known and not immediately knowable, this is spiritual knowledge. This spiritual knowledge can be translated in the mental sphere as well as in the physical sphere, eg by helping others so that mind moves from crude divisions to subtle wholeness in being. By the same token the 'greatest learned' is the person who understands that s/he is not at all learned. This very spiritual knowledge is devotion/Love for, of, with Divinity. So spiritual knowledge finally transforms itself into devotion after constant efforts. When knowledge realizes that nothing is to be effected by it, then alone it surrenders to devotion. When knowledge surrenders to devotion, that is spiritual knowledge. Once you have got devotion, that is spiritual knowledge. Once you have got devotion you have got everything. Mere intellectuality is not real knowledge - it is mainly the use of relative knowledge, which of course can also be used for good. Just as work is useful and can be used for good but also has practical benefits. Now three people - a jinanii (intellectual), a karmii (worker) and a bhakta (devotee), go to that mango grove. Now what will the jinanii do? He or she will count how many leaves there are in those mango trees. While he or she is counting the leaves, the karmiis will climb those trees and come in contact with the leaves, flowers and mangoes. And what will the bhaktas do? The bhaktas will enjoy the taste of those mangoes. And in the evening what will happen? The bhaktas will finish eating all the mangoes, and the jinaniis and karmiis will quarrel among themselves. So the jinana (intellectual) merely considers things, the karmii (worker) make efforts and achieve some objective, but the devotee (bhakta) goes further than this and experiences the taste - of Divinity (through doing spiritual practices). So, as far as intelligence is concerned, the so-called intellectuals have `C' grade intellects, the so-called karmiis have `B' grade intellects and the bhaktas (devotees) who are the most intelligent people have `A' grade intellects. Finding the dynamic balance between the inner and the outer seems to be one of the great tasks of our lives. And when the balance is found, the star is perfect. What is this star? The six-pointed star in an ideological symbol based on the tradition of Tantra where triangles and other symbols play an important role, and it is not at all surprising that the six-pointed star can also be found as the ideological symbol of Ananda Marga. The six pointed star is composed of two equilateral triangles. The triangle pointing up represents action of the outward flow of energy through selfless service to humanity. The triangle pointing downward represents knowledge or the inward search of our sádhaná (spiritual practices). So the star also represents an old Tantric aphorism by Shiva, who was the first to give form to Tantra some 7000 years ago. Shiva said, people should follow dharma (spirituality): Átmamoks'artham' jagathitáya ca "For self-realization and for the welfare of the universe". This is the ideological position represented by the six-pointed star. To understand it one needs to discriminate between good and bad, in order to progress. Every religion tells people to be good, and to shun evil. What do these terms means from a spiritual perspective? Actions which make one follow the unique inclination which increases the reflection of Universal Consciousness - Awareness of the Whole - are good deeds. Here, the inner motivation of all action is to proceed from the crude to the subtle, from the bondage of time, space and person to the goal of Ultimate Reality - Cosmic Consciousness (God). Anything which halts the march of unit consciousness and its expansion to that the Supreme Stance/Seity can be considered bad. Longing for earthly objects, anger, avarice, attachment, lust, pride, jealously, envy, fear, shame, hatred, doubt, vanity of all kinds whether physical, mental or even spiritual, and back-biting - are all fetters which drag the mind down and which absorb the mind in crudeness and stop its march towards the subtle. To counter these, spiritual practices (eg meditation) are required. SPIRITUALITY means pertaining to spiritual matters or concerning the Cosmic Cognitive Principle. Whereas, Spiritualism means the cult of spirits, ghosts, etc. The spiritual goal deserves the highest priority. Everybody will have to realize this. Even with psychic expansion, human beings become self-centred in the absence of a spiritual goal, and group sentiments grow in people's minds. Such people cultivate mundane knowledge but not spirituality. Spirituality means that people start contemplating such queries as, "Who am I? What is my goal? How can I reach my goal? etc." The body-like chariot of a person who is not conversant with intuitional science or proper spiritual practice, whose conscience like charioteer cannot keep the mind-like rein under control, does not move properly. Intuitional science in the true science of driving the chariot properly. Disaster is inevitable, if the responsibility for driving the chariot is given to one who is ignorant of the spiritual science of driving. People may be cynical about spirituality. Cynicism results when the internal aspect of life being is neglected. It is understandable that while moving forward and working in individual life, people sometimes become tired; this happens to everyone. But to become totally dissatisfied with the world means that the mind simply becomes assailed with cynicism. There is no reason to become frustrated in life. Movement and challenge is a characteristic of life, but a more important characteristic is buoyancy of spirit. Cynics lack this buoyancy of spirit. Society today is desperately seeking the path for true progress. Without spiritual progress there is pessimism or the complex of hopelessness. This not the essence of this universe. Optimism is the goal of the universal humanity. So in no circumstances should cynicism or nihilism be encouraged; rather when the good and ethical people of this world sit together and decide what should and should not be done, they will certainly find the proper path. The internal clash of any discourse involving many peoples should never be discouraged; on the contrary, it should be directed along the proper path of multifaceted well being found on spirituality. To understand spirituality means to overcome dogma. A lot in people's lives are based on superstition rather than a scientific approach to intuitional or spiritual science. There is no hell or heaven. If the Lord taught righteousness to some and not to others, that would not be fair. And if, for that reason, one got to heaven while others didn't, would that be fair? That would also be favouritism. But this very thought, of eternal heaven or hell, is faulty. It is a defective approach. People speak like this due to ignorance and lack of proper philosophical understanding. Today's progressive human society cannot have any respect for these ideas. People used to say that one went to heaven, and enjoyed a good life if one did good actions, or underwent suffering if one did bad actions. This notion is somewhat better than the notion of eternal heaven and hell, because the results of action have a beginning and an end. One remains in heaven or hell only until one's potential reactions to actions is exhausted, then takes another birth. But this is not a perfect idea or a proper goal either. One's goal should be to establish oneself in Truth. Eternal hell or heaven is a totally defective idea. We should not encourage these approaches. There is no hell or heaven, and no one will go to hell or heaven for eternity after death, or lie in a grave forever; nor will anyone have to wait until any Day of Judgment. By constant ideation on God through spiritual practices involving surrender to the Supreme, and by constant service - i.e. the inner and outer of the two triangles making up the six pointed star - one can consummate one's reactive momenta (potential reactions to past actions) and establish oneself in Godhood. That is, move the unit mind to merger into Cosmic Consciousness. This is the meaning of yoga. So, "yoga" is "union" and his is the root meanings of the Sanskrit word of 'yoga' (pronounced 'joga'). Not as in union of mind and body; but as in union of self/unit consciousness with the Divine/Cosmic Consciousness. This is the only essence of Tantra. Union of body and mind makes no sense as both are relative entities and relative entities cannot attain permanent union. They are subject to time, space and person. Rationally the only union possible is with the Consciousness that is beyond relativity. That is, the Infinite Consciousness. There can never be ultimate union of body and mind mainly because the body dies. However, there can be harmony between them but union is impossible. Sometimes yoga is seen to mean 'addition'. For instance two plus two is equal to four. But, for a mystic, for an aspirant of the mystic goal, or mystic desideratum - the spiritual Self, Yoga is not only addition, but Yoga means unification. What sort of unification? It is just like sugar and water. In case of addition, say, there are two apples - in case of addition there will be one apple, then two, three, four. Every apple will maintain its individuality or its identity. Before addition the identity that was maintained by a particular apple remains the same even after addition. But in case of unification, i.e. sugar and water, you won't find the sugar any more; it becomes one with the water. This is unification. In the realm of mysticism, yoga means this type of unification, i.e. just like sugar and water, and not like two plus two. Two plus two is like maintaining egos in a street of egos. A pedestrian looking at shop windows seeing only their own reflection, but never practising the art of inner reflection. The art of inner reflection is that spiritual practice that leads to complete union of unit self with Cosmic Self so that there is no distinction at all. Spirituality is to develop the Cosmic Consciousness that is latent in you. When this is attained, there will be no mean wanderings. There will be one Universal 'You' who will forget is own self in the serenity of the serene, the exaltation of Consciousness and the holy touch of the supremely blessed. - based on the works of Shrii Shrii Anandamurti --- Interwoven Web of Life "The planet is in fact one interwoven web of life. I must love my neighbour as I do myself, because my neighbour and myself are interwoven. If I hate my neighbour, the hatred will recoil upon me. If I treat my neighbour's pain and grief as foreign, I will end up suffering when my neighbour's pain and grief curdle into rage. But if I realize that in simple fact the walls between us are full of holes, I can reach through them in compassion and connection." - Rabbi Arthur Waskow "Human life is an Ideological flow." - Anandamurti 'Ideological Flow and the Eight-Fold Path' A'nanda Vacana'mrtam Part 30 "That humans are mind-preponderant beings - that in this regard they are the greatest of all living beings, is substantiated by the facts of their day-to-day activities. In spite of being given kicks and blows, a dog or a cat runs after dried crumbs as soon as it sees them. But after insulting a man you will find it very difficult to appease him, no matter how many delectable dainties you place before him; for although human beings are living organisms, they are certainly not beasts." - Anandamurti 'Supreme Benevolence and Mundane Pleasure (Shreya and Preya)' Subhasita Samgraha Part 3 What is parapsychology?! It's the psychology of the mind in relation to cause and effect. This universe is an intricate web of vibrations. Everything is connected. Whatever happens is the effect of something else, and the cause of something else again. "When a blade of grass moves, the whole universe quivers." Everything is incidental; nothing is accidental. We usually refer to something as an "accident" because we can't see what caused it, but certainly it was caused by something! "Everything comes from something. Nothing comes from nothing." This concept is also expressed by Newton's 3rd Law: "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction." That's also true for the mind. Whatever happens to us we store in our mind until it can be expressed as a reaction. Take the example of a rubber ball: you press into it with your fingers (that's the action); the dent stays there for some time (that's the potential reaction); then the dent comes out again (the reaction). If we experience a bad reaction, we tend to say that something bad happened. But it was only the reaction of a previous action, because everything is stored in the mind waiting for the chance to express itself. The more chances of expression, the more pure the mind will become, and the more free and at ease we will feel mentally. So everything happens for the best. Whether it's pleasant or unpleasant, we should always view it as something positive, because it's freeing the mind of it's past actions. --- Akbar and Birbal There was a very popular emperor called Akbar who ruled in India in the 16th century. His favourite minister was Birbal, a very wise and witty man. One day the two of them went hunting. Akbar was cutting his arrow out of an animal he had just killed. His knife slipped and he cut his finger off. Birbal told him: "Don't worry, everything happens for the best." Akbar was enraged at the seemingly uncompassionate Birbal. He told him to get out of his sight and never to return. Birbal got lost. Akbar was then captured by a local forest tribe. On that day, according to their custom, they were supposed to sacrifice a man to the "gods." So they decided to sacrifice Akbar. But the chief noticed he had a finger missing, and let him go because he wasn't worthy enough. Akbar realized that Birbal had been right: if he hadn't cut his finger off he would be dead by now! When he got back to the palace, Akbar ordered his men to find Birbal and bring him back. But it took them a whole month to find him: he'd had a bit of a rough time, living in the forest on berries and roots. When he was finally brought before the emperor, Akbar saw his sorry condition and asked his friend and minister for forgiveness. Birbal replied, "No, it's okay, everything happens for the best." "But how can you say that, after all you suffered?!" Akbar exclaimed. Then Birbal replied, "Because if you hadn't sent me away when you did, they would also have captured me, and since I hadn't cut my finger off, I would have been killed!" --- Forwarded to you soon is an in depth tantra meditation and yoga article: Tantra: The quest for the ecstatic mind by Kathleen Kesson The article clearly outlines the essence of tantra teachings which is the basis of meditation and yoga. It shows the relevance of various topics for both personal and collective (social) progress, particularly in the field of education. Such an approach underpins the essence of teaching meditation - which, of course, is a practical and spiritual practice through which understanding is gained through doing and insight. All knowledge gained, however, from the realisations that one experiences through the doing of the practices is shared in many ways - through stories, learned articles, collective events and social service projects. So goes the motto of 'Liberation of Self and Service to All'. Will be sent soon.