Layayoga: The Definitive Guide to the Chakras and Kundalini (4 page)

I said: ‘But what about Buddhism, Christianity or Islam? Were they not founded by men?’

Master: ‘Long time after Krishna left our earth, Goutama Buddha came to this world. He can be considered as the first spiritual leader in India whose name has been associated with the introduction of Buddhism. Buddha revived yoga by his own example—yoga which had become corrupted and abused by that time. In his life, he showed how to reach the final stage of spiritual yoga. He showed how, by making our consciousness void—free from all mundaneness, we could realize directly the ultimate reality where everything else is non-being. This is nirwana.’

I said: ‘What about Jesus Christ? About Mohammad?’

Master: ‘Jesus Christ was a great spiritual leader in Western Asia at that time and is regarded as an incarnation. He manifested his spirituality in that high degree, where his consciousness, raised above all worldliness, and in a state of concentratedness which contained God alone, became godly, and finally, the divine consciousness was reabsorbed in God. It was possible for his intimate disciples, who realized God in Christ and in themselves, to develop Christianity, through which, being spiritually inspired, they wanted to give the essence of spiritual truth to man for his salvation.

‘Mohammad also realized God within, in concentration, and wished to communicate the spiritual truth to man.’

I said: ‘If such great spiritual persons as Buddha, Christ and Mohammad are the founders of the great religions, why are they not effective?’

Master: ‘So long as the spiritual currents flow in a religion or in one of its forms or doctrines by the tremendous spiritual impetus of a great religious leader, religion remains alive and, consequently, becomes fruitful. But as soon as spirituality ebbs, religion becomes mere words without life.

‘When the spiritual force imparted by Buddha in his doctrine began to be diminished as time passed distortion and corruption came, and spirituality was replaced by the dead words of theory. At a certain time Shaṅkara, who realized Brahman in samadhi, was able to destroy the Buddhistic doctrine of lifeless words as then preached by the followers of Buddha, and to establish the Oupanishada One-and-All Brahman doctrine. This was possible because of his great spiritual power combined with the extraordinary brilliance of his intellect. But when Shaṅkara’s spirituality began to ebb in his followers in later times, the Brahman doctrine likewise assumed wordiness without spiritual life. In this condition it was unable to stand against the bhakti doctrine of the great bhaktiyogi Chaitanya, who was immersed in the deepest love of God, both in concentration and in daily life.

‘A religion or a doctrine when not strengthened by spirituality, cannot meet the spiritual needs of man. But even when a religion deteriorates through the withered spirituality of its adherents, there will always be some silent spiritual persons who uphold that faith or religion—the real yogis, otherwise the religion would become extinct. This is true of all religions.’

Now I recollected the three great silent yogis: a Buddhist yogi who attained a very high level in samadhi; the well-known Christian yogi, Saint John of the Cross, from whose heart intense love ascended towards God in deep concentration; and a great Muslim yogi, Abdul Gafur, who was endowed with great spiritual power.

I said: ‘It seems strange that God is not reflected in the unusually brilliant intelligence of a genius; the scientists do not know God; the philosophers only speculate about God; and God appears to remain hidden even to most followers of religion. Why is God very far away from us! Is religion superfluous for man living in the modern world?’

Master: ‘God is far away when the “sight” is submerged in the materiality of our existence; it cannot go beyond the sensory boundary; and hence God is so far away that he is not seen at all.

‘God is very far and also very near. When God is “seen” within, he is ever present in our consciousness; the contact is never lost. When God is seen within, he is also seen without; and he is also seen in what is beyond both within and without. God is within and also outside and is what is neither within nor outside. No one can say “It is this, it is not that”. It is an infinite ocean of Being and Consciousness.

‘And also God cannot be denied. To deny God means to accept the permanent limitation of our beingness. In our being also lies the substance of infinity which becomes illumined in the Beingness of God. God is our being in its supreme stratum.’

I was highly impressed by the profundity of the Master’s knowledge; and not merely that, I began to feel a real spiritual foundation upon which his knowledge was based. I began to appreciate that something deep and powerful was utilizing his intellect as an avenue for the outward expression of inner truth. I was proud of my learning and I devoted fifteen or sixteen hours a day to my studies. My pride began to be demolished; my arguments began to fail. However, I put one more question, and that was the last of its kind.

I asked: ‘Why is this “cosmosity” which is the root of all our sufferings?’

Master: ‘It can as well be said that because of the “cosmosity” we are given a chance to enjoy so much.’

‘Why has the universe been manifested? Who can answer that, and if it is answered, who can understand it? When human power cannot produce it, when human intelligence cannot penetrate into it, how can that question, as such, be helpful. Human intelligence is too small to solve the mystery of the appearance of the universe. But there is the possibility of the human mind being in a state in which the image of the universe is not recorded, and the mind is in tune with something which is neither material nor mental, but the non-material-non-mental reality. In this reality there is no trace of the universe, of mind or of matter. Its realization is both mental and nonmental. The mind of our everyday life, which perceives the world, desires, feels pleasures and pains, thinks and wills, is not all, but only one aspect of our being, represented by I-consciousness around which is whirling the sensory world. Again, the mind in its other aspect completely closes its doors to the world and does not desire, think, and will, but realizes the Supreme Reality which is all, and besides which there is nothing else. Ultimately this unitary experience merges into a beingness which is itself the beingness of Supreme Consciousness.

‘The Infinite Power Principle is the being of the Infinite Supreme Consciousness. In its purely power aspect, that is, power isolated from Supreme Consciousness, it is no longer infinite as it is no longer the being of the Infinite Consciousness. Thus it is as if a finite section of the infinite being in which the Infinite Consciousness appears as a finite being. This finiteness in infinity is the phenomenon of the mental and material universe. The universe is real when the Infinite Consciousness is veiled, but unreal when the finite being is no being as is “seen” in the Supreme Being.

‘The finite being manifesting as the I-consciousness is nil at the infinite point, but this nothingness appears to be something when the supremeness of the Being is veiled. In other words, a phenomenon of Godlessness, which is in reality a nonbeing, emerges as a being. But there is a possibility of arousing spirituality amidst mundaneness, which leads to liberation. Spirituality is the awakening of Godliness in consciousness. So spirituality is not something engrafted into man; it is in the highest aspect of his nature, through which man can manifest his God-being, which is his own being in its supreme aspect. Without spirituality man is a hopelessly restricted being moving aimlessly, with his lust and greed, in the mundane ocean.

‘Religion is the means to the spiritual realization of God. Without this realization, religion is mere words, or an order of no value. That is dead religion. Real life comes to religion through yoga. Yoga is the intrinsic part of religion. Without yoga religion is no religion; without yoga religion is lifeless. All the great spiritual leaders and many of the adherents of a religion have made yoga the basic spiritual practice.

‘The natural transformation of sense-consciousness, which is perceptive in character, and in which uncontrolled thoughts are constantly arising—and these thoughts are often tinged with unrestrained and unspiritual affectiveness—into a nonoscillatory concentrated form, in which is held what is spiritual and divine—is yoga. Yoga is the highest order of the human mind. And still in its supreme aspect, yoga is the supreme spirituality in which beingness is only of God. There is nothing else, all is God.’

The Master stopped. It was very late at night. So I bowed to him and left with a ‘heart’ full of deep thoughts.

I began to ponder over what the Master had said in our long discourse. Many thoughts came to my mind. What is this life! We find that living is associated with desiring, willing, thinking and emoting. These activities usually have two modes of expression. In one, we see that man desires and experiences pleasure in enjoyment and also suffers pain and sorrow. In pleasure-seeking, he does not hesitate to commit excesses. He becomes sensual and greedy. We all see that, in spite of his sexual, alimentary and other excesses, he is able to manifest his other qualities. He thinks brilliantly and constructively. He becomes an educationist, scientist, artist, and philosopher.

But do we find in him spirituality as a mode of being in his life? Does he not live without God? Many people may talk of God and religion, but mostly it is mere talk. Of course, there are a limited number of people who think of religion seriously, who search for God sincerely, and are moral and spiritual by nature. Therefore, it is possible for man to manifest his spiritual qualities despite his sensuality, greed, and all excesses.

Is it possible to make spirituality a living factor in life when there is so much strong worldly desire for the satisfaction of which the whole being is involved? If we are advised to renounce all worldliness, it would be impossible to achieve, because of our supreme attachment to sensory objects; if we are asked to reject sexual and other pleasures, it will not work, because they are as deeply ingrained in us as if they were parts of our organism.

Does initiation help? This thought came into my mind. Is it not necessary to be spiritually prepared? Am I really qualified for it? I also thought the opposite. Will not initiation release spiritual qualities in my nature? It may be that a certain degree of preparedness is necessary for a pupil; but will not initiation itself sow the spiritual seeds in him? This is how my thoughts continued for some months.

One day the friend who first introduced me to the Master came to my house and told me: ‘The Master has fixed the date of your initiation which will take place outside Calcutta in a lonely place; so be ready for it.’ I was very surprised to hear this news. The thought came into my mind: ‘Has the Master seen something in me of which I am unconscious myself?’ I do not know. I could not speak for some time. My friend smiled and said: ‘Everything will be all right.’ He was himself an initiate.

However, my initiation took place on the date fixed. In initiation, the guru gives to a faithful and serious disciple a specific mantra. The mantra is a great aid to concentration. Initiation was rather sudden in my case. I also heard from our mother (the Master’s wife) that the Master’s initiation also happened suddenly and that in connection with it a miracle occurred.

The Master began to feel spiritual thirst when he was young. Day by day it grew more and more intense and ultimately it drew him to a great Tantrika and layayoga master, Bholanatha. He told my Master: ‘Your spiritual aspiration will be consummated through the Tantrika form of yoga.’ Then he gave some instructions to the Master and asked him to come back after a few months.

The Master went back home and started to carry out the instructions given him. He then began to feel a very great desire for initiation, and this continued to increase. He became restless, and one day he ran to the Tantrika yogi Bholanatha.

The guru said: ‘It is just the time for your initiation. I will perform it to-day. Go and take your bath.’ After doing this the Master returned to his guru. Then the guru said to him: ‘Now you have to bring the bilwa leaves (Aegle Marmelos—wood-apple) for worship and oblation. The leaves should be new and not spotted or torn.’ Then he pointed to a bilwa tree situated at a little distance from the place, and said: ‘That tree is very big, and good leaves are only on a thick branch which is very high. It may even be impossible for you to reach the branch with a long bamboo pole. You need not worry. Go and stand under the branch calmly and the branch will come down to you by itself. Do not be afraid: go!’ The Master was very much surprised to hear this. However, he went there and saw the enormous bilwa tree. He also found the huge branch bearing good leaves, but it was so high that he could not reach it even with a very long pole. Then he stood under it calmly. After a while the Master saw that the immensely thick branch was bending slowly downward and it came down so much that it was possible for the Master to take some leaves with his hands. He came back with the leaves. The guru initiated him, and also taught him more spiritual practices. At that time the Master was about nineteen years old.

After my initiation the Master instructed me in the first stage of concentration according to layayoga. He said: ‘Concentration should be practised every day and regularly. The morning is the best time for it. Concentration may be divided into two parts: preliminary and regular. As soon as you get up, sit on the bed in a yoga posture, facing towards the north and concentrate on a white divine form, as advised, in the white twelve-petalled lotus just above the head. Then think that the amrita—the immortal life-substance—is flowing from the divine form by which you have been completely bathed; then think that “I have been energized and immortalized by amrita; I have no disease, no senility, no death, no sorrow” Think deeply, make your thinking vital. The regular concentration can be done either after this, or after your bath, which should be taken after the evacuation of the bowels and oral cleansing. Better do this part of the concentration after your bath.’