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My dear
associates in the Path,
1.
We have gathered again on the most
auspicious occasion of Rev. Babuji Jayanthi and
we all endeavour to be in his remembrance
through the celebrations. Master on a similar
occasion said “We should utilise this occasion
in getting into the Master and Master alone,
which will act as food and tonic for spiritual
elevation.” But it is our experience such a
condition does not prevail in us through out.
There is no denial of the fact that we all love
our Master very much heart and soul. Yet the
lower mental states have their own way of
sneaking in and distract us from the sweetest
feelings of the Master. I was wondering why this
happens with so many aspirants and I share some
of my thoughts on this occasion.
2.
Recent studies in personality problems
found that just one act of self-control depletes
our ability to have self-control in another
unrelated area. For example, when subjects were
told not to eat chocolates sitting right in
front of them, their persistence in puzzle
solving deteriorated. When they were told to
suppress an emotional reaction to a movie, they
had problems solving a solvable anagram. It is
concluded in the study that this is the
overwhelming reason why willpower only works in
the short term. We only have the conscious
resources to exhibit willpower on one (or at the
most two) fronts at one time.
3.
This is why it is so hard to stay
disciplined with eating, exercise, studying, and
the like. Any self-regulatory strategy has costs
with respect to depleting a person's general
resources for self regulation. It is obvious
this is the problem we have to remain in the
thought of the Master through out despite our
will to do so. It is also observed in certain
studies on the functioning of the mind that our
conscious mind is only able to process
approximately 50 bits of information a second,
while our unconscious mind processes
approximately 11 million bits per second. That
means our unconscious mind processes information
about 220 thousand times faster than our
conscious mind. Thus our conscious mind is
actually the bottleneck in effecting true
change, as its main role is getting us through
the present here and now. This fact is what
Master stressed when he instructed us to give a
suggestion during meditation and also prayer and
allow that to work in the subconscious.
4.
Therefore we have to use the switches
residing in the unconscious/ subconscious to
bring desired behaviour patterns. For example,
if our goal is weight control, we would
naturally want our unconscious mind to
automatically desire healthy green foods, water,
healthy tonics, exercise, etc. without having to
think about it consciously. Or if our goal is to
be more productive, we would want the actions of
setting goals, rewarding ourself for success,
focusing on our projects to be automatic. It is
obvious that if we have to consciously think
about it all the time, we will exhaust our
resources. These are just a few examples to make
the point clear. Similarly we have to allow the
subconscious to continuously work towards our
goal. This is the logic used by the Master when
he asked us to offer prayer before going to bed
and he did clarify that the prayer will be
running through the night in the subconscious
plane. A sincere prayer offered before going to
bed enables us to get up with the thought of the
Master when we wake up. This we all experience
everyday.
5.
This is one of the reasons why if we
follow the instruction of the Master to just
give a suggestion, be it meditation or prayer
and allow that to work in the subconscious or
unconscious plane we find the results are very
good. On the contrary if we try to consciously
apply all our mental resources to be in a
condition of what we would like call focussed we
tend to get into mental strain and confusion.
6.
In the MRI studies which I am not able to
fully recall conducted at the University of Iowa
they could actually see the brain following
instructions under suggestions. People are
actually shutting off the feelings of pain, and
they could see the pain gateways in the brain
being blocked under strong suggestions. I am not
trying to find any justification for the process
given by the Master as no such thing is
necessary but would like my associates to know
that thought given as suggestions works. It is
our experience that the suggestions which are
not vocalised and are penetrated into the hearts
of the aspirants have worked wonders in many
cases. It is also our experience that when the
aspirants instead of being receptive to the
Pranahuti entertain their own thoughts during
individual sittings they really do not derive
much benefit. During meditational exercises of
PAM it is absolutely necessary that we live in
an attitude of yielding and do not use our
mental, vital and physical resources to improve
the quality of meditation. We need to be sincere
in our meditational practices.
7.
Sincerity is a tough characteristic to
understand, develop and maintain and this
applies also to our efforts to meditate and
follow the instructions of the Master in all
sincerity. There is no doubt that all of us are
sincere and all of us desire to work for the
Master. But more often a person is sincerity is
taken for granted. It is likely that we define
the word sincerity to mean “without hypocrisy or
pretence, not feigned, and true.” Sincerity is
essential for anyone interested in ending misery
in any walk of life and who in truth, wants
freedom. It is necessary to note that sincerity
has nothing to do with sentiment, commitment,
religion, spiritual practice or well meaning.
8.
Sincerity is not possible without
questioning belief. Such questioning is
sometimes called scepticism, but it is possible
to be sceptical without being sincere. One can
proclaim a doubt about anything, even against
weighty evidence, and spin sophisticated
arguments. But that leads to endless
argumentation. Doubt is a means to
understanding, not an end. When we consider the
doubt about the first successful effort to climb
the Mount Everest we thought it to be a hoax
because it had never been achieved before. When
Master said that now the entry into Central
Region is possible we doubted it as no such
thing has ever happened earlier. The point of
doubt is not to doubt, but it is a means adopted
to rid oneself of errors. A person cannot be
sincere without scepticism, for a sincere person
is not interested in winning; the person is only
interested in freeing himself from error and
finally seek truth/freedom. In the spiritual
path sincerity is a tool that we can ill afford
to ignore.
9.
I had dilated a bit on the too obvious. I
have a reason. During meditation or
contemplation several flashes of light or
melodious tunes or a feeling of ‘Eureka’ does
happen to many aspirants. To accept them without
doubt is naïve: to deny them is ignorance. The
border line between genuine and faked experience
is very thin. It is here we need to have some
awareness of the various conditions as
imperienced by the forerunners in the path. ISRC
has endeavoured its bit to provide such
information. Imperiences of the Divine Path are
as numerous and varied as the stars and stellar
constellations. While some spiritual traditions
called some formation as “Seven Sages” (Sapta
rsis) some others called the same formation as
Ursa Major; in the same manner spiritual
conditions which are essentially the same are
given different names and descriptions in
several traditions.
10.
Doubt is related to the problem of
instruments of observation and knowing. The
problem is complicated when we accept certain
means of knowing like the Apta vacana and Sruti.
I do not want to talk about this problem as it
was dealt with on earlier occasions. The freedom
from errors of observation and feelings and
ideas which is in fact one of our main goals is
not a matter to be taken for granted. The
question is, are we sincere to get rid off
these? Agreeably people wish to be free of
troubling pains but it is not all that sure that
they would like to get rid of their erroneous
beliefs and habits. I personally know many who
stick to odd notions of worship and practice
rituals and unverified beliefs on avowed
authority willingly maintain erroneous beliefs
and habits because they are consoling and
comforting them.
11.
Can we call this sincerity? This is
similar to a politician who uses the truth when
it is to his advantage but discards it when it
is inconvenient. It also is like a friend who
professes never to lie to his/her friend but
neglects to speak things that would be difficult
for his/her friend to hear. This is usually
rationalized as caring for the “feelings” of the
others involved when in fact it usually is
manipulation and self-centered fear. However if
the truth is expressed plainly it would put the
others in a position to make informed decisions
about their relationship. If we will tell a
friend something that we will not tell our
mother, then our mother is not our friend. It
should be obvious to any sincere person that any
union (yoga) or relationship is not loving if we
have to abandon truth to maintain the union.
Unfortunately with many aspirants this is the
malady as they tend to ride more than one horse
at a time.
12.
It is perhaps true that sincerity is not
as common as we believe: it is in fact rare.
Many wish to persist in thinking that they are
sincere refusing to acknowledge the error
because it is comfortable or suggestive of
egoistic fulfilment. We have noticed that herds
of people are seduced by pretense particularly
when it is sophisticated (our babas, masters,
guides and gurus) or aesthetically pleasing (our
utsavams and brahmotsavams etc.) to their
beliefs, expectations, and conditioned habits.
13.
Some of us think that Intellect,
intelligence, and education may be the antidote
for credulity, but history does not seem to
warrant such a conclusion. Wise men have often
said that “Learning and judgment are often not
granted in equal measure.” Political and social
pretenses have been a cause of much suffering,
and some of the most common vectors for
contagious pretense are religion, dogma, and
creeds. Some of the greatest minds responsible
for the most advanced breakthroughs in science
have been people who have accepted untested
religious ideas and beliefs. Their sincerity and
scepticism were only fragmentary and were
fixated in their areas of expertise.
14.
To err is human, but to invite and
persist in error, through pretense, is delusion.
Delusion has nothing to do with intelligence or
the lack thereof. Delusion is not about making a
mistake, being limited, or not knowing anything
in particular as all these require no effort.
However, it takes effort to alter reality in the
mind with pretense, prejudice, and beliefs and,
hence, to delude oneself. The motive to delude
oneself is to sustain and console an ego that
otherwise would be exposed. It should be obvious
that we can not entertain or invoke in us
delusion and sincerity at the same time. They
are contradictory and we need to reject all
delusions to know the truth. This vairagya is
fundamental to any significant growth in
spirituality.
15.
It is held by some English writer that
there are four causes of ignorance:
i)To
follow the example of weak and undeserving
authorities.
ii)
The influence of custom without proper
verification.
iii)
The opinion of the unlearned crowd.
iv)
The concealment of one’s ignorance in a
display of apparent wisdom.
These
same four causes or plagues of ignorance may
well be taken to be the causes of enormous
egoism. Significantly it is the fourth one
listed above which is the worst as it is the
spring board from which all human evils emerge.
16.
It is obvious that one cannot be sincere
and yet at the same time indulge in the habits
listed above. Some may try to indulge in this
double riding as they “sincerely believe” in
such aforementioned authorities, customs,
opinions, and one’s own display of wisdom. For
any rational mind it is clear that while
clinging to the previously listed habits there
is no way out of error and consequent ignorance.
Such a position brings to our mind the words
ignorance, arrogance, and indolence and do not
suggest even remotely ideas descriptive of
sincerity.
17.I
do get many mails in which the aspirants confess
that they are trying to be sincere in their
efforts to do the sadhana as prescribed by the
Master and also are trying very sincerely to
follow the Commandments of the Master. I may be
pardoned when I clarify that “Trying” to be
sincere as an idea, is a camouflage for
insincerity; it is an
opposition to our will and, as such, is
dualistic. The inevitable dualism that is
inherent in conscious thinking is back here. It
is necessary to follow the Master
unquestioningly without comparing what he said
in contrast or in consonance with some other
thinker or sage. Such an exercise is perhaps
permissible during study or work but surely is
suicidal during meditation in this path.
18.This
is why Master has asked us to meditate after
offering the prayer silently in the thought of
the divine light without luminosity. When we
remain silent without giving any attention to
any activity our mind is quiet and has no power
to distort and no ideas with which to identify
the self. It is then the Prayer alone is heard
and it is the company of the Master that alone
attracts our attention. We get merged in it. To
be aware of the Master who has accepted us (and
that is introduction to the PAM) and to accept
Him totally as our only friend and beloved is to
get initiated in the path. There are no external
rituals to be observed for either but internally
we need to offer our heart and soul to Him and
externally dedicate ourselves totally to His
cause. When we feel Him in our heart all the
time and love Him all the time then we will not
be out of the state of the Union and the
breathless embrace of the Master is felt more
intensely during meditation. Such an embrace is
what we had just now even as we have it every
time we dwell in Him.
Pranam.
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