The light within

The light within is eternal and always there.

We just have to turn inward and look.

And discard our familiar shades and discomfort at seeing reality as it is.

For some, discomfort and strangeness become fear. Shading the light even more.

Why should we feel anything other than joy?

Or wonder?

Or gratitude?

The light within is truly our source and we are only going home.

Turn that changed gaze outward.

See that light within everyone and everything.

Simply look within first before looking without.

Take the "red pill."

But there is no real pain or hardship.

Just eternal strangeness.

Continually letting go, of the familiar.

Continually freeing, one's consciousness.

A little paradox or invertendo

A little paradox or invertendo.

Looking or attending deeper and deeper inside myself I experience more and more common things and states, and unifying me, with others outside me.

Looking or attending outside my body, I experience more and more things differentiating and separating me from others.

Yet if I go outside to subtler and subtler levels, I again find things and states that are common and fundamental.

But going to such subtler levels outside (finding bosons, e.g.), needs immense physical and mental energy, money and outside resources.

Going inward needs only interest. From interest, giving time, opening up to inspiration, letting go of mental strictures - all these follow naturally.

Understanding the natural rhythms of life - both inner and outer rhythms - comes mainly by going inward. Though outer rhythms are understood in a cyclical way - outer experience, inner pondering, inner experience, ponder, change expectations, experience, and so on. Understanding inner rhythms also involves a similar cycle, but outward attention is not needed.

The Real Problem

Here's the real problem of inward meditation.

When we spend all our time looking outward, we do not get an experience of the inward path. Simple, no?

Even if I sit with eyes closed, if I still think of other people or other things which are outside me physically, I am still looking outward.

My eyes cannot be turned inward to see inside my head, so I have to discard sights in order to go inward. Similarly for the other sensations.

Attention can be turned inward or outward. But if it keeps flitting between inward and outward, I am still vacillating and not able to go deeper and deeper inward.

Suggestions for meditation

Everything coming up mentally referring outside my body must be relinquished. This is the obvious, true, and completely ignored meaning of going inward.

But why relinquish? Because everything that drains mental energy - emotional hurts and pleasures - is based on things outside.

Stop chewing the cud of past events and worrying about future events.

Simply stay in the now, which keeps moving, flowing.

Let the attention move in time from second to second, but remain in the same place physically. If it has drifted away physically, let go of the distraction and the attention will come back on its own to where it was before, and where you placed it first.

This is meditation and training the attention and thus the mind.

(Please note this training is only the first step in Heartfulness meditation.)

A little exercise

(Please take a few seconds - pause - to experience each line and also pause at each comma)

Pausing, with eyes open.

   Becoming aware, of the present moment.

   Letting go, of past, and future, moments. 

   Letting attention dissolve, go to subtler levels.

   Paradoxically, letting physical senses become aware of everything happening, from moment to moment.

   Letting the attention jump lightly, easily, from sensation to sensation.

  Letting it drift lightly, continuously.

  Staying in the present, lightly, continuously.

   Again drifting,

     inward, subtler,

     outward, grosser.

Attention - thinking to feeling

Meditation is simply paying or giving attention to something without effort or with minimal effort. That thing could be outside or inside the body.

Orthogonal to inside or outside is the idea of limit. That is, that something is limited in space or time or both. Or that something is unlimited.

So something outside and limited, like a candle flame.

Or something outside and almost limitless or unlimited like universal space or universal life, by which I mean that from which all life in the universe has come.

For both inside and outside, for both the limited and the unlimited, when one uses attention the same way - with minimal effort - it is meditation.

As one rests one's attention on something, effort-less-ly, one learns about attention from practice:

• Over a brief meditation session, or a long session,
• over many iterations,
• over the ease of bringing the attention upon something at will,
• over the frequency of attention slipping away,
• over the quickness and ease of recovery to the starting object,
• and so on.

All this (and more) is training the attention through daily practice.

The choice of object decides whether meditation transforms one internally in specific ways or simply hones one's mental prowess.

A transcendental or unlimited object, inside or outside, means one's attention cannot rest on the object for a long time. It necessarily slips away.

A simple example - infinity of natural numbers. I can only hold about, say, 7 or 10 numbers in working memory at once. Beyond that, I switch to general patterns or generating algorithms or whatever helps me to think about the entire infinity of natural numbers at once.

From our own experience, and reports of unethical and immoral scientists, we know that meditation on an infinite object outside does not change us.

Not permanently.

But there are reports of people who have been transformed by meditating upon, or constantly remembering, some entity either immanent or transcendent or both (both within and without - technically called omnipresent).

Sometimes we ourselves have had a numinous experience. As we could not hold on to it as a continuing experienc-ing, it became a memory. It is still useful, for inspiring oneself and others, but one must go beyond a single, or even many, such past experiences. [1]

Feeling the meaning or presence is the next step up from meditation, simply, from thinking to feeling, when one's attention is completely filled by the object chosen to represent that presence. [2]

This complete washing out of attention is technically called samadhi. [3]

It is like tuning an old TV receiver manually and the screen then filling with images decoded from that tuned signal.

But here, when an infinite conscious presence is represented by the object of meditation, the TV screen of the attention and mind is taken over by that presence, which then works on increasing the sensitivity, resilience, and empathy of the meditator. Put differently, changing an old TV receiver from tuning into only the TV spectrum of frequencies to the entire electromagnetic spectrum. With analog and digital decoding as well!

Now, after enjoying and ruminating over it, please drop the TV analogy completely because a TV is not a conscious entity.

While there is indeed a mechanical or physical aspect to the meditative process, it is not rule bound in the way one would think if only one person were involved. As one goes deeper and deeper inside, separative factors (I vs. others) are replaced by factors more and more common to all conscious beings. For example, life and the source of life are about as abstract and common to all living beings as one can consider.

Thus, in a very simple way, one shifts from the definition of meditation itself to different objects of meditation and then from thinking to feeling.

NOTES

[1] One difficulty is due to the habituation ability of the body and mind. They like to feel and then put that feeling into memory to chew over later.

[2] The presence need not be infinite, at least initially. There is a gradation of objects from limited to unlimited to beyond.

[3] Per Sw. Vivekananda in his Raja Yoga, it takes 12x12x12 seconds, approximately 28-30 minutes of effort-less mental attention upon an object for its internal representation to fill one's attention. Once it happens many times, though, it can occur much faster, even reducing from minutes to seconds or less.

Working with saṁskāras

(Axiom - Human birth is for mental machinery to learn about itself, especially its natural limits - vast but not infinite, and work efficiently within them.)

Currently, our mental machinery is clogged by saṁskāras.

Saṁskāras are emotional residues of events. ~Daaji

Getting through events without such residues can be done in different ways, natural or forced.

Forced way - prevent or block heart feelings altogether, be like a stone.

Feelings + thoughts = emotions

Heart feelings+ "I" thoughts = mental emotions

~Sahaj Marg definition from Babuji and Daaji, and most likely why Babuji always emphasized feelings over emotions.

"I" thoughts both cause, and are caused by, saṁskāras.

Forced way implies forcibly detached, and a closed heart (cakra).

Natural way - have feelings as usual, but with zero/minimal "I" thoughts, separative thoughts, me-you-he-she-they thoughts. Tough when "I" thoughts occur so often and are encouraged and enforced from babyhood. Their reduction becomes an interim goal and zeroing the final.

Mechanical/technological/practical/objective thoughts are fine, though. They are necessary for the mental instruments to work properly. Or, such thoughts show mental instruments are working properly.

Feelings work at different levels, but are essentially non-verbal. They are experiential but instantaneous, not memory-driven. They affect both physical and mental instruments continually.

The conundrum is simple - how to be natural and continue to wish for naturalness, always. Even when naturalness is construed (incorrectly) as being arbitrary or random, and often nasty, if not evil.

The solution is equally simple. Consider that anything separative, especially thinking or acting against others, is "I" behaviour. As and when this becomes your own understanding, self-repair of your mental machinery will kick in.

Self-repair can take a long time. Lifetimes, even. And so must be unremitting.

Support from fellow travellers along your path (or even a part thereof), or of guides who have traversed your path multiple times, helps speed up the process.

Self-driven effort is subject to barzakh or curvature, essentially a push-back to be overcome by effort at a subtler level, if possible or if understood. Experienced travellers feel such efforts may reinforce the "I" thoughts, if done carelessly.

Saṁskāras are the simplest part of a complex and cyclical feedback mechanism. Yet, by focusing only on removing them, everything else clogging the inner instruments seems to unravel nicely.

As in sickness, there are two parts to removal of saṁskāras: cure and prevention.

Cure is also of two types - bhogam (complex and difficult) and cleaning (simple but needs daily practice).

Bhogam is unravelling saṁskāras through normal life events by witnessing. 

Witnessing is much easier said than done. The "I" as actor must be replaced by God. Or each and every act, including thinking, is offered as worship to God. Essentially, the responsibility is God's. I am only a witness to His actions through me. Everything is His - thoughts, emotions, feelings, words, physical actions. Good, bad, neutral. Everything, every situation, comes from Him too.

Witnessing is not easy to understand or practise. Unwinding takes a long time and witnessing or offering actions as worship can be derailed very easily. False yet plausible rationalisations are common. C.f. the story of the confrontation between the Brahmin who killed a cow and Indra, God of the motor organs. [1]

Cleaning in Heartfulness is called rejuvenation.

Reportedly Ramana Maharshi liberated, or in the first case, tried to liberate, a few dying devotees. He placed one hand on the head and the other on the heart and unwound all of the devotee's saṁskāras at warp speed. It still took hours the first time it worked, on his mother. [2]

A similar process occurs in the daily Sahaj Marg cleaning, which is, of necessity, gentler, self-driven [3] and done daily over years, yet, hopefully takes less than a lifetime to remove years and lifetimes of samskaras.

Babuji writes that, done correctly, seven months is enough. But Daaji says that reaching the Mind Region is a prerequisite, which entails going beyond dualities.

As sattva increases through meditative practices and going inward to more and more subtler levels, the ability to clean quickly and easily increases, i.e., more and more efficiently with less and less energy.

Prevention of saṁskāras is tougher because the changes in mental processing needed are even more drastic. The technique is essentially witnessing, at a greater subtlety. In Sahaj Marg it is called Constant Remembrance, of the Guru, as actor and source.

Generally, a positive and less-egoistic, aka sattvic, interaction creates lighter and/or fewer saṁskāras. The reverse for rajasic or tamasic ones. Heavier and more saṁskāras are obviously tougher to remove, but not so the lighter ones.

A simple analogy. A light amount of bland food is easier and faster to digest, allowing more time and focused energy for other things. Hence sattvic food in an ashram where going inward, and observing and changing inside are more important. Staying healthy is also necessary to do so. Thus, ingredients to boost immunity and help gut bacteria to thrive. Nothing icky, just pepper, turmeric, and other spices, buttermilk or yogurt, fruit and vegetables - fresh and seasonal.

Similarly, minimal creation of saṁskāras help in going more and more inward.

There are three main factors in saṁskāra creation - I (abhiniveśa) and obsessive desiring: positive (rāga) or negative (dveṣa).

Losing the first factor is the best. Minimal to zero "I" thoughts result in minimal to zero fresh saṁskāras.

Then, progressively milder likes or dislikes leading to detachment is the next best option. But this can easily be a source of prideful askesis and increase one's "I" thoughts.

I don't care what I eat. Do you?

OR

I don't care about ... But you do! (Or others do!)

Eating and diet, and all other activities, are not the issue. The related "me" thoughts are the problem.

Positivity towards others, e.g., at the levels of thinking, speaking, and physical acting, is mentally lighter than negativity, though habitual negativity - reactions - may occur faster. Positivity is definitely more expansive as well. Logically then, positive and lighter saṁskāras.

Minimal to zero storage of all saṁskāras is the crux of the issue.

Then one's responses and actions can and must change - from habitual to natural.

Habitual implies past actions, and past implies memory. Thus storage.

 

Natural implies immediate response or actions without colouration from past events. Inspired by our heart which has no memory. And the source of our life within the heart.

Yet when it is not easy to trust oneself, how does one trust God or Guru to inspire or drive our natural behaviour?

In little steps.

Bolstered by a light, free practice that shows daily results.

And by little, even unnoticed, changes adding up over time.

Enforced changes increase the "I". Those done of one's own free will leave lighter stains, easier to clean away. Positive, even enthusiastic, cooperation with commonsensical enjoined instructions is key to effectiveness.

And after all this weight-loss and now seemingly riding a bike without memory, brakes or a reverse gear, what do we do with our pure, simple, and light inner instruments?

A beautiful excerpt from a Babuji Whisper gives an answer:

Arriving at this destination is quite an achievement.

Thereafter, another trajectory will be proposed to each of you.

And if you want to, you will be able to embark on this new trajectory with full knowledge.

And from a recent powerful video of Daaji: [4]

We are all connected - intellectually, morally, and spiritually - through the invisible connection of our hearts, [which is] weaving us all into a common grand destiny.

The road to that destiny is paved by pioneers, hidden in plain sight, even from their own discerning minds.

The pioneers are catalysts of change.

Their silent acts of self-transformation will bring about a tipping point of consciousness that will change the future of humanity.

Together, their hearts beating as one will advance the way of love; that will elevate the human condition from belligerent rhetoric, growing intolerance, and rising inequity.

These pioneers represent the tip of the arrow in the silent revolution of consciousness.

And today, I introduce you to one of them: You

Mike drop.

NOTES

[1] The Brahmin claimed that Indra had killed the cow using his hands. Yet he refused to give Indra credit for the beautiful garden which he had created with the same hands! (IIRC, a Puranic story retold by Ramakrishna Paramahamsa)

[2] Subsection - Mother's Death

On the day of her death, May 19, 1922, at about 8 a.m., Sri Ramana sat beside her. It is reported that throughout the day, he had his right hand on her heart, on the right side of the chest, and his left hand on her head, until her death around 8:00 p.m., when Sri Ramana pronounced her liberated, literally, ‘Adangi Vittadu, Addakam’ (‘absorbed’). Later Sri Ramana said of this: "You see, birth experiences are mental. Thinking is also like that, depending on saṁskāras (tendencies). Mother was made to undergo all her future births in a comparatively short time." [28]

Also, from Path of Self-Knowledge (Arthur Osborne)

The end came in 1922 on the festival of Bahula Navami, which fell that year on May 19th. Sri Bhagavan and a few others waited on her the whole day without eating. About sunset a meal was prepared and Sri Bhagavan asked the others to go and eat, but he himself did not. In the evening a group of devotees sat chanting the beside her while others invoked the name of Ram. For more than two hours she lay there, her chest heaving and her breath coming in loud gasps, and all this while Sri Bhagavan sat beside her, his right hand on her heart and his left on her head. This time there was no question of prolonging life but only of quieting the mind so that death could be Mahasamadhi, absorption in the Self.

At eight o'clock in the evening she was finally released from the body. Sri Bhagavan immediately rose, quite cheerful. "Now we can eat," he said; "come along, there is no pollution."

There was deep meaning in this. A Hindu death entails ritualistic pollution calling for purificatory rites, but this had not been a death but a reabsorption. There was no disembodied soul but perfect Union with the Self and therefore no purificatory rites were needed. Some days later Sri Bhagavan confirmed this: when someone referred to the passing away of the mother he corrected him curtly, "She did not pass away, she was absorbed."

Describing the process afterwards, he said: "Innate tendencies and the subtle memory of past experiences leading to future possibilities became very active. Scene after scene rolled before her in the subtle consciousness, the outer senses having already gone. The soul was passing through a series of experiences, thus avoiding the need for rebirth and making possible Union with the Spirit. The soul was at last disrobed of the subtle sheaths before it reached the final Destination, the Supreme Peace of Liberation from which there is no return to ignorance."

[3] Sittings with the Heartfulness Guide or a trainer, group meditations or satsanghs are even more effective.

[4] The video is a promo for, and has quotes from, Daaji's Spiritual Anatomy book. The few sentences immediately before the quoted lines increased their power dramatically - for me - by giving more context:

The journey commences from the heart, the pulsing center that unlocks the portals of growth and enlightenment. The heart is the inner guide, the real guru, on the journey to the Absolute.

Inner space journey

Imagine you must command a manned spaceship taking off from Earth next week. 

• What physical and mental exercises would you do to get ready?
• What would you study for the mission in this week?
• What would you prioritise?
• If you are not sure of your return, what would you do to wrap up your life here?
• How would you check your preparations, however minimal they may be?

Going inward is similar in many ways. But there are huge differences, and some similarities:

• You have to restart using disused abilities. The sooner the better. You cannot go inward only by looking at or doing outward things.
• Mental srength and muscles build by going ever deeper and deeper inward
• But relinquish more and more outward - bodybuilding - stuff to go to subtler inner levels
• Yet, mens sana in corpore sano, your mental and physical instruments must function efficiently
• Ultimately, you have to let go of everything you know in order to become that which underlies not only you, but every living being in the universe
• If you cannot let go of "you", you cannot go to the subtlest level - as simple as that
• Everyone came - manifested - from the subtlest level, everyone can go back
• They simply must have interest in doing so
• There are many fellow inward travellers at various levels of subtlety
• You will be helped in ways you cannot imagine now
• You will, in turn, help others similarly
• This is a cooperative journey for all humans - keep good logs and share them
• Time is not a concern. If you let go immediately and sufficiently, you will reach the subtlest level right away.
• Staying at the subtler levels is a problem. Your instruments are not used to turning the other way.
• "Work as if you have all the time in the world, but none to waste"

NOTES

[1] Tip of the hat to Isaac Asimov's Fantastic Voyage.

Purifying the mind-field

Think of ice. Not made from pure water - not just molecules of H2O. With soil, minerals, metals, microorganisms, and so on. With impurities. Also imagine this ice was made from moving water, not still water. The ice crystals made are thus not clear or transparent. Light going in gets reflected in odd directions due to the complexities within.

When ice melts (in sunlight or mild heat), the impurities stay solid, and can be mechanically filtered out, say with a sieve. Not all of them, though. Sieves with such fine screens are difficult to find and work very slowly. They get clogged quickly. Flimsy and soggy filters are slower than stiff metallic ones.

The complexities in ice, though, disappear when it turns back into water.

When water is further heated, it turns into vapour and naturally leaves all its impurities behind. Directing this vapour away to another container is enough to get pure water by condensation. And, if the surrounding temperature is low enough, to get pure ice with simple crystals.

Now imagine your mind-field moves between a similar set of grosser and subtler states. In a grosser state, it contains more impurities and complexities. In a subtler state, they are left behind, obvious or tangible, and so can be cleaned away more easily. But note the two parts carefully - subtilization and filtering. Or subtilization and moving away. For the mind-field, though, moving the attention away to something much or infinitely subtler may itself cause subtilization of the mind-field.

The effect of this cleaning is a matter of daily experience with the Heartfulness Rejuvenation/Sahaj Marg cleaning practice. Exactly how it works is a matter of one's own research and one's own ideas. But it explains why one is able to meditate better after cleaning. That is, one is better able to rest one's attention effortlessly on something for longer, and without internal disturbances. After all, we specifically remove impurities and complexities by the rejuvenation/cleaning.

In a very limited sense, the three gunas - sattva, rajas, and tamas - can be considered as vapour, water, and ice, respectively. Tamas and rajas have more mechanical aspects and correspond better. Sattva is the most psychological and closest to consciousness or awareness. A physical analogy for it is much less exact. Still, taken only in the sense of lightness and expansiveness, ice->water->vapour sequence corresponds to tamas->rajas->sattva.

NOTES

[1] Ice also has a surprising property - water in solid state is lighter than water in liquid state. It floats. Thus it forms a barrier between the cold air above and the water beneath. And this stops an entire body of water from turning into solid ice. Thus allowing fish and other underwater residents to move about and not freeze as well.

Heartfulness/Sahaj Marg prayer - a logical perspective

(Disclaimer: Not an official explanation. And not for the blindly-devout/superstitious sans experience or practice either.)

(Please read a beautiful quote below from Babuji first [1])

The Heartfulness/Sahaj Marg prayer is mysterious, many-faceted, and its effects change with practice and attitude. Its three lines are deceptively simple:

O Master, thou art the real goal of human life.

We are yet but slaves of wishes,

    putting bar to our advancement.

Thou art the only God and power

    to bring us up to that stage.

It has tied up abhyasis and preceptors in polemical knots while they strive to explain the seemingly straightforward meaning without coming across as proselytisers. Especially to those who either detest or avow this Commandment from the Old Testament: You shall have no other Gods but (or before) me.

I found it strangely inconsistent with Babuji's writings on Brahman in Reality at Dawn, where brahma-laya - devolution into Brahman - is termed the final state. He describes no God or Guru as an intermediary there.

Yet, a different perspective came up when the real goal was considered as a spiritual condition or state:

• Master refers to the inner Master.

• The inner Master in an abhyasi's heart is linked to the inner Master of a Guru.

• A Guru whose inner Master is in brahma-laya can transfer, through this link, increasingly subtle experiences and conditions to a regular practitioner, as the practitioner advances.

• For the Guru, brahma-laya is both infinite and dynamic. There is no final static state.

• Inner Master-inner Master transfer is completely controlled by the practitioner's interest and regularity of practice. The transfer may then occur naturally and automatically by osmosis as the abhyasi matures and needs less hand-holding.

• Interest leads to cooperation with the Guru.

• Trust and faith develops from experience, leading to surrender (pejoratively known as blind obedience).

• A practitioner who does not have sincere interest, cooperation, or surrender, unwittingly blocks, or cannot accept, what is transferred over the link.

• And even if something does get transferred, it cannot be retained or assimilated. [2]

Babuji describes a simple algebraic expression for laya or merger: if A = B, and if B = C, then A = C.

Since there are layers of saṁskāras around the heart, with regular cleaning (by the abhyasi, preceptor, and Master in Sahaj Marg), the link becomes more and more clear, or less and less clogged. It is then able to transfer more and more faithfully what the inner Master of the Guru continually gets from the Source. Until, at the highest,  A = B, and then A = C.

Algebraically, all very well!

But a jīva is subject to wishes and as long as he's a slave to them, he is unable or unwilling to co-operate, let alone surrender. How then can he progress? From practice, and practice alone, comes everything else. And this practice is nothing but simple attention, from irregular to regular meditation and thence to witnessing. Also called constant remembrance.

In sum, to get or attain a spiritual condition that is the base of all human existence, if I have a spiritual link with someone who has it, the most effective way for me to get that condition is by focusing my attention entirely on the link. Thus the "only God and power" bit. [3]

NOTES

[1] God alone is in fact the real guide or guru, and we all get light from Him alone.
     But only he who has cleaned his heart to that extent feels it coming therefrom,
     while a common man engrossed deeply in material complexities feels it not.
     He therefore stands in need of one of his fellow beings of high calibre to help him in that direction.
    We may call him guide, guru, master or by whatever name we like,
         but he is after all a helper and a supporter,
         working in the spirit of service and sacrifice.
    His role is by far the most important, for it is he who, as a matter of fact, pulls the real seeker up
    and enlivens him with the light which is lying in him under layers of grossness.

    ~Babuji

[2] Sufis, per Idries Shah, say spiritual evolution has its own incontrovertible rules. If an aspirant is spiritually deserving, a Master cannot refuse him. Per contra, if he is not deserving, a Master cannot serve or help him. Especially not the way he wants. Or how he thinks he deserves to be helped.

[3] Babuji said that God has no mind. So for "only God and power", if puruṣa-viśeṣa or Special Personality is under reference, this inner Master is īśvara, one beyond saṁskāras. Yet, perhaps not inactive like the puruṣa in classical sāṁkhya . Whence the power part in "God and power". But I am still working out this explanation, so don't take it too seriously...

In defence of intellect and epistemology

A black-and-white dichotomy is often set up between one's heart and mind, and or between one's experiences and those of others. As usual, Indian darśanas offer a much more nuanced, practical, and commonsensical take for life.

In simple terms: having my own experiences, learning from them, and learning from the experiences of others.

The highest priority for understanding one's inner and outer world should be given to one's own direct experiences, pratyakṣa.

But since the physical sense and motor organs can change (degrade or improve with training, age, illness), sensations should not be treated as unchanging, only as rough approximations. In scientific terms, say, true to zero decimal places instead of to five places after the decimal. So 21, not 21.00089.

Also, there is a constant and immediate interaction between the mind-brain (indriyas and cortexes) and the physical organs. This increases the level of approximation. Say, accurate to the tenths than to the units level. So 20 or 30, not 23 or 39.

However, even at low specific levels, direct experience still has highest priority. It changes from the physical level inwards.

Priority is next given to the mental frameworks one generates from one's own experiences, anumāna. Please note this is very different from learning by rote or learning from teachers who grok not what they lecture about at tedious length. The technical term in the pātañjala yoga sūtras for words or concepts lacking corresponding real-world experiences is vikalpa.

Even when based on one's own experiences, mental or conceptual frameworks are even more of an approximation since they are even more subject to training (especially bad training in logic or reasoning by others), age, illness, etc.

The lowest priority, surprisingly, is given to the experiences or teachings of others, even those of Gurus or Rishis, āgama. This may puzzle traditional sādhaks, especially those on a mystical path. It need not, since the experiences of others, no matter how advanced they were, are simply maps. I must undertake the journey myself and not fruitlessly obsess over its maps.

For example, I recently found how limited and flat-out wrong Google Maps can be for trips to Indian villages. But this does not mean villagers necessarily give better directions. The best option was - directly travel to a place using Maps, ask villagers for directions, when somewhat nearby, to locate the place, drop a GPS pin in Maps upon finally reaching the place, and share the pin with others. Even then, due to circumstances like roadwork or rain and flooding on a particular day, the GPS pin and Maps may still not be enough to get someone else to that place. Especially at a specified time.

This example also shows the often complex and recursive interactions between possible ways of knowing where to go and how to reach there. Life, and even more importantly, the inward or spiritual journey, is no different. But the sāṁkhya-yoga darśana has elegantly reduced many confusing and complicated epistemologies to just three ways of valid knowing. Other darśanas strive to expand the number beyond these three strictly-necessary channels, but the additional ones can arguably be reduced to these three.

And as far as defending the intellect goes, it should be obvious by now that one's intellect is very much necessary to use any map, especially Google Maps :-) Still one's intellect and mind should primarily riff off one's own experiences, and not rely totally or blindly on the experiences or theories of others.

Intellectuals and self-validation

Most intellectuals have great difficulty understanding the simplicity of meditation first, and then practising it regularly even if they do start. Illiterates or non-intellectuals find it much easier to continue since their experience is immediate and not mediated or bogged down by intellectual frameworks.

12 seconds of resting one's attention on the same object without force is a starting point. 12x12 seconds, approximately 2.5 minutes is next. 12x12x12 seconds, approximately 30 minutes is accepted as the highest - samadhi. What occurs at each level has to be experienced personally, though rough ideas are given for understanding.

In even simpler terms, it is about rediscovering the pathway inward. It is not new, just unused. Again, intellectuals have difficulty going beyond thought, so these long-forgotten inward levels are tough for them to accept.

This is a self-correcting and self-validating practice, and so even more difficult to understand theoretically for one with years, nay, lifetimes, of being validated only by others. Of course, they in turn similarly validated others. Others - outside one's home and outside one's body. And in doing so, they have blithely handed over the keys to their own peace, happiness, love, and contentment to others.

NOTES

[1] C.f. Acceptance and grace

[2] C.f. Bottom-lines

Ashrams as hospitals

All ashrams are spiritual hospitals, more or less effective depending on the presence of the living Guru, its own spiritual charge, and the sadhana of its inmates and visitors.

Just as a patient goes to a hospital to get physically healthy, a sadhak goes to an ashram for spiritual health. Attaining good mental health is a natural intermediate step.

In Sahaj Marg terms, spiritual health means removal of samskaras, one's own accretions, self-created images and biases, generally negative. If positive biases are created, even temporarily, they tend to be restricted to groups of some kind, and create their own problems. It doesn't matter how large or small the groups are, they are still bounded. And this is not complete spiritual health. Please note a sudden transformation or epiphany, while useful, is not stable or dependable. Complete or greater and greater spiritual health comes from relinquishing more and more self-created issues. As Babuji said, "More and more of less and less!"

What do patients do in a hospital? If the hospital is trustworthy, patient-oriented, and not avaricious, peace, positivity, and trust arise naturally in the patient. They respond better to necessary medical treatment without worrying about their financial health. Drastic interventions like surgery don't create unnecessary stress. They understand or accept the immediate actions cheerfully. Also cheerfully do they accept the post-hospitalization advice for changes in diet or exercise or medicines.

What should sadhaks do in an ashram? If it is trustworthy, sadhak-oriented, and not avaricious, peace, positivity, and trust arise naturally in them.

The treatment though is very different. Chariji said that it is like heart surgery without physically cutting open the heart.

The vibratory charge in the ashram does all the work.

Interactions create more intense reactions - positive and negative. These reactions, simply witnessed, allow for removal or unwinding of samskaras. Indulged in, samskaras get further intensified.

Sometimes people behave erratically or irrationally without understanding why.

Emotions can run riot.

Physical stresses such as allergies, fever, joint pains, energy and hormonal imbalances, and so on can all occur. There are also health problems arising from shared spaces, especially toilet facilities.

This doesn't mean one should not take medicines for physical symptoms, quite the contrary. 

In fact, it is often better to go in good mental and physical health to an ashram. Then, one can withstand the grosser level stresses much more easily, and respond to the spiritual treatment much more easily.

One returns home recharged or freshly-charged. Then one has to retain, and if possible intensify, the charge by practice at home.

While each sadhak feels the effect personally, the work is done impersonally. There is really nothing to do except one's own spiritual practice, and note down what is happening internally and externally. The hospital case sheet is replaced by one's own journal. In a sense, the nurse and attendant for my spiritual treatment in an ashram is myself. And rightly so, because how would another sadhak know what is going on with me internally?

The ICU in an ashram is personal contact with the Guru. Few people can take that intense spiritual charge on a long-term basis. Put differently, it is difficult to stay light-hearted, positive, and think only universal and spiritual thoughts all the time while the Guru is pulling out so much crud from within.

If the Guru calls you, know that there is something - or many things - wrong with you spiritually. Most likely, some immediate correction is needed in one's spiritual practice or attitude or other aspects of your life. Paraphrasing Chariji, why would someone be happy and pleased by incessant visits to - or by - a doctor?

Sadly, all human beings suffer from spiritual ill-health. Very, very rare are those in good to great spiritual health. Not so surprisingly, they also frequent ashrams, much like interns in a hospital.

In sum, staying open-minded and open-hearted is the best way to visit an ashram. But understand that it is treatment, not entertainment. And strive to feel better and better internal health by being constantly yet lightly attentive inwards.

A final caution. Any ashram that deliberately creates physical, mental, financial, or so-called spiritual stress should be avoided. And not just because it is thinly-veiled abuse. They are not effective spiritual hospitals. Please be gentle with yourself.

Using both heart and mind for decisions, especially life-changing ones

Rational people believe emotion has no place in their lives and that they only use logical analysis for life-changing decisions.

Heart-oriented people or emotional people believe only impulses from their heart are at play in their decision-making. They may make or change decisions quickly, often disconcerting rational folk.

In yoga and Sufism, both the heart's impulses (heaviness, fast beats, peace/silence/naturalness) and the mind's logic are considered valid factors in decision making. While I don't have details of techniques from either path, there is a little-known gem from Daaji that gives a nice algorithm to combine heart and mind as instruments:

https://youtu.be/iMKZebmjNnw - How to sync your heart and mind?

Delightfully simple and lucid techniques to satisfy both the logical mind and the impulsive heart.

Please watch, try to remember the points, and then watch again. Like me, you may have missed some crucial ones :-)

And for the rationalists who ask why the heart at all? Why not stick only to logic? The answer is the heart "sees" patterns across a huge expanse of data. Distributed processing across vast timeframes, even an entire lifetime, as well. Yet, its response is immediate. Making sense of the response using the slower and relatively more sequential processing of the logical mind is the crux of the issue. And Daaji has addressed it brilliantly in this video!

Concentration and meditation

Attention with mental force on an object = concentration

Attention without mental force on an object = meditation

Attention on the same object without force for an extended time also creates a state called concentration. Same result, but reached with lesser expenditure of energy.

Attention without force, aka meditation, is initially subject to the impurities and complexities present in the mind-field. They raise distractions and attention moves away from the initial object, as is usual outside of meditation. This movement away also happens due to outside sensations like sounds which cause immediate mental reactions.

In Heartfulness/Sahaj Marg, rejuvenation or cleaning removes the mental sources of distractions, and reduces reactivity.

Training the mind-field in meditation consists of accepting distractions have occurred, every time, and returning to the original object as lightly as possible. The subtlest possible way is to merely recognise the movement of attention. The return is automatic and natural.

Reduction in energy of a mental activity is termed as the conversion - laya - of rajas and tamas into sattva.

Bottom-lines for spirituality

The basics. The foundation. The bottom-lines.

Move attention from:

• saṁsāra to kaivalya (pātañjala yoga sūtra)
• preyas to śreyas (kaṭha upaniṣad)
• śrama to karma (Daaji)
• outside to inside (various, many)

Implications:

1. From outer sensations to inner ones
2. From outer sense organs to the inner one
3. From separation - others outside - to unification - others inside, leading to, "Others? What others?"
4. From individual work to transcendental work

Peace and inner instruments

From a Sufi teaching story [1]:

"How much of my life is being wasted while I wait? Waiting for someone to tell me what to do, or for something to happen which will change my condition and frame of mind?"

Babuji: A truly happy man is one who is happy under all circumstances.

According to the Sufis, man has better and more reliable inner senses and the capacities to educate them than constant emotional stimulus. [1]

(Unpacked: According to the Sufis, man has better and more reliable inner senses than those arising from constant emotional stimulus. And man's capacities to educate or train those senses include better and more reliable ways than such constant emotional stimulus.)

Thus, my understanding of levels of peace:

1. At peace only when a desire is met. [2]
2. At peace only when there is peace outside.
3. At peace even when, or despite, no peace outside.
4. At peace sometimes, and then steadily, as one's inner peace manifests more and more.
5. Peace flowing out, and even pacifying the outside sometimes, and then always.
6. Peace is actually eternal and everywhere at subtle levels, only awareness fluctuates - from subtle to gross levels.

(Normally, we move between the first two levels without knowing the other levels, or even absolute peace, is possible. With simple accumulation of spiritual practice one moves to deeper levels.

The fifth level is a siddhi from uninterrupted ahiṁsa per PYS 2.35 - ahiṁsa pratiṣṭāyām tat sannidhau vaira tyāgaḥ)

The Sanctuary of John the Baptist [1]

SAADI, THE SUFI author of the Persian classic, The Rose Garden, writes of a visit to the burial place of John the Baptist, in Syria.

He arrived there one day, exhausted and footsore. But then, as he was feeling sorry for himself, he saw a man who was not only tired, but had no feet. Saadi gave thanks to God that he, at least, had feet.

This story, on the obvious level, means "be grateful for small mercies." Its teaching on that level is found in all cultures. It is useful to help one to find a larger perspective in his situation when suffering from disabling self-pity.

The employment of such tales for emotional purposes - to switch the mental attitude and to make a person contented with, and perhaps even momentarily grateful for his lot - is characteristic of the conventional type of instruction.

Modern sophisticates say: "All that Saadi did was to inculcate so-called moral virtues - his work is outmoded."

Traditional, crude, sentimentalists may say: “How beautiful to dwell on the misery of others and one’s own comparative good luck.”

But Saadi, being a Sufi, included in his writings materials which had more than one possible function. This tale is one of them.

In Sufi schools, the piece is treated for what it is - an exercise.

The student may benefit from whatever "uplifting" moral may be the conventional interpretation.

But, without introspection, yet with self-observation, he should be able to say:

"I realize that changes in my mood are dependent on emotional stimuli.

"Do I always have to be dependent upon 'seeing a man with no feet' or reading about it before I realize that 'I have feet'?

"How much of my life is being wasted while I wait for someone to tell me what to do, or something to happen which will change my condition and frame of mind?"

According to the Sufis, man has better and more reliable inner senses and capacities for educating them than constant emotional stimulus.

The object of the Sufi interpretation of this lesson would be nullified if it caused people to start an orgy of self-questioning of an emotional kind.

The purpose of pointing out this Sufi usage of the narrative is for it to be registered in the mind, so that the student may in the future notice a higher form of assessment of his situation, when it begins to operate in him.

NOTES

[1] Idries Shah, Wisdom of the Idiots, pg.150, The Sanctuary of John the Baptist

[2] Daaji: therefore, zero desires => infinite peace

Spiritual evolution - a flow perspective

Turn the attention from always outward to inward long enough and deep enough, repeatedly, until it can effortlessly go both outward and inward at will or as needed.

Let all energy points/knots turn into chakras and then into lotuses and then into almost nothingness, so energy can flow freely at all levels.

Accept energy coming into you and going out of you. Then, turn all your outgoing energy inward and let it become subtler and subtler. At the subtlest it is Divine Love.

Repeatedly surrender all reactions to incoming energy consciously to the inner Master. They become lighter and lighter, until perhaps they are no more. [1]

Accept whatever comes peacefully and uninhibitedly, keeping the above in mind. [2]

Consciously let your inner peace and joy and Divine Love flow outward, at as many levels of subtlety as possible, as much as you can.

Change from mostly tamas and/or rajas to mostly, if not almost entirely, sattva. This happens naturally through repeated effortless surrendered meditation.

NOTES

[1] True vairāgya and a simple yet beautifully effective application of PYS 1.37 - vīta rāga viṣayam va cittam

[2] This is abhyāsa and, with [1], PYS 1.12 in its entirety - abhyāsa vairāgyābhyām tad nirodhaḥ

Learning, sharing, evolving

There is a set of learning levels described in What Did You Ask At School Today, Book 2 [1]:

1. Remembering what is taught exactly as it is taught.

2. Remembering it later (at least a year, or even a lifetime, later)

3. Being able to apply the learning/understanding to new problems

4. Being able to teach it to others (so they also reach this level - a recursive ranking)

Humans are all about experiencing, learning and understanding from their experiences, and sharing their understanding with others:

pratyakṣa, anumāna, āgama

But if you can share your understanding to the level that not just your understanding, but your very experience is evoked in another, that is true āgama. [2]

Doing it optimally, for a significant portion of the human species, such that the experience of one human then spreads effortlessly across the entire species, is the grand problem of spiritual evolution.

(Removing crud - mala, vikṣepa, āvaraṇa - from the internal and external senses of that significant portion of humanity, for an exact evocation of their experiences, is an antecedent grand problem!)

NOTES

[1] Mukunda, Kamala V. 2019. What Did You Ask At School Today: A Handbook Of Child Learning Book 2. HarperCollins Publishers India

[2] And that is the only distinguishing mark of a true teacher. A true spiritual teacher does this for her inward experience.

Competitive or cooperative spirituality

There is a very simple analogy of the spiritual journey. Think of an always glowing lamp. Covered by layers of dirt. When all layers of dirt are removed, its light spreads limitlessly. Removing the layers of dirt is the entirety of the spiritual path.

(This analogy, of a hurricane lamp and dirt on its glass, is from Chariji)

Analogies are obviously limited. Depending on how you like to think of Reality, that lamp, its light, and everything around it are one, in space. Or there is no real distinction at one level of vibration. The layers of dirt are not all the same vibratory levels either. E.g., there is physical dirt and mental dirt. Mental dirt is described variously as veils, impurities, complexities. There is also energetic dirt when the physical body functions abnormally. And so on. Babuji terms all dirt as grossness.

All authentic spiritual paths try to get every human to understand that the light is their own and they also created that dirt. So there is nothing I can do for spreading the light, except cleaning, or better, letting go of my own dirt.

How the cleaning is done varies across paths.

Once the light shines as it can, and should, the real evolution of life, especially of human life, can happen.

Sahaj Marg is aimed from the very beginning to be something very simple and effective for all humanity. Babuji said that very little of his work was on abhyasis. Its prayer says ... goal of human life ... 

Still, very few humans seem to appreciate the self-discipline, spareness, and lack of colour or rituals in Sahaj Marg. Even the immense peace and tranquil love felt occasionally, or often, slips away into the subconscious. And of those who do appreciate, many cannot look inwards all the time, especially in the midst of outward activities. And so they look for succour outside.

Babuji called Sahaj Marg "civilized madness"! This was in comparison to avadhutas who get lost in Divine madness and also lose normal behaviour.

Daaji has been working to bring all spiritual paths to work together. He has succeeded to a great extent with Indian yoga schools, at least the authentic spiritual ones. Like Chariji said earlier, and Daaji says now, black marketeers and criminal gangs seem to work together more harmoniously than spiritual organisations.  Each spiritual organisation fights to prove it is more effective. Or worse, the only effective one! When viewed from the perspective of human evolution, it is such a waste of time, money, and other resources.

Babuji said about Mahesh Yogi (of TM fame) that he is also working to bring peace of mind to people. And why should he stop him from working?!

What I have understood so far is that once one understands one's own internal progress at removing one's own dirt or grossness, there is no need for outside validation. Even from the Guru or seemingly more experienced travellers. It's nice to be validated or appreciated once in a while. But it's not necessary when one does one's practice. After all, how difficult is it to understand an increasing lightness and peace? Or since temporary troubles result in greater lightness and peace afterwards, that they are meant to remove some specific grossness?

Some tools or techniques do have to be learnt for immediate use - how to become calm after being disturbed, how to prepare for a disturbance ahead, how to avoid hurting others, how to help others effectively, how to stay positive, how to avoid adding more grossness or heaviness, how to remove freshly added dirt, and so on. Basically, how to stay light-hearted. Sincere and serious spiritual teachers offer a version of some or all of these techniques.

Understanding all this is crucial to getting past spiritual politics - natural, or at least endemic, - to organisations, and focusing on one's own spiritual practice and its useful context.

Levels in Towards Infinity

Introduction

The spiritual journey is difficult to describe in words, especially those usually used for outward journeys. Still many mystics have tried their best to explain, their own, or the ones on which they guide others. They need not be alike.

Babuji wrote or dictated Towards Infinity, a travelogue/map of the Sahaj Marg/Heartfulness Way journey, in a superconscious state. So he didn't repeatedly describe all the details as one goes to or from each point or levels. But it is possible to come up with a general "algorithm" from going through all the descriptions and give an explanatory perspective on going from level to level.

(Daaji has given an exegesis of the yatra in Towards Infinity in a series of articles, collected in the December 2017 edition of Heartfulness Magazine)

General algorithm

At each point or level [1]:

1. sālokya-ta - "getting the air of the place" per Babuji
2. sāmīpya-ta - becoming roughly like that, near that level, start merger 
3. sārūpya-ta - taking on form of that level, continue merger
4. sāyujya-ta - merger completed, digested, assimilated

These make up increasing laya in or at that level. Babuji terms it laya-avastha in general.

Then living like that level/point and its characteristics, until that level has been sufficiently experienced. [2]

Then negativating those characteristics, that level and its vibrations, to leave for the next subtler level. Negativating means transforming the grosser level vibrations into their subtler cause.

(How? This can be done simply by reaching the next level. Or someone - whose mind-field has merged with that level - can go to that level and raise your own mind-field to that level by physical and mental proximity. Or by pranahuti - subtlest possible level - along with a sankalpa, by Master.)

Repeat...

Another perspective

In Towards Infinity, Babuji talks about sāyujya-ta or refined identicality and then about going to a subtler level to get to the next point. sāyujya-ta of two things is at the same vibratory level. Compare water in water against water in water vapour. Or, food is matter and when it is in sāyujya-ta with us, it has been digested in our material body such that we don't feel it any more. (In our spiritual yatra, we are food and we are also digesting ourselves in the Divine at different levels!)

Then we go to the next subtler level by changing the vibratory level. Babuji calls this negation sometimes. "I negativated it!" he said when light came to him in meditation.

The present layer is the effect of a subtler causal layer. By negation or laya or merger of the sāyujya-ta itself, we go from effect level vibration to cause level vibration.

Thus, our spiritual journey may be understood very simply as going from grossest to subtlest vibration levels.

Background 

A few background ideas, from Sāṁkhya-yoga, may be helpful to understand the logic and implications.

• There is a transformation - pariṇāma - from subtler to grosser levels (of vibration). [3]
• This transformation is real, actual. [4] A grosser level is always the effect of a subtler level. That is, a cause is transformed into an effect, but is still retrievable or achievable.
• The transformation can be reversed, i.e., from a grosser to a subtler level. [5]
• These transformations are not in physical space. [6] 

NOTES

[1] From what I have read till now, the idea of recurrence of these stages is entirely original to Babuji. In other paths, these or slightly different stages cover the entire spiritual journey, they occur only once. E.g., the vaiṣṇavites. Their analysis is obviously much more coarse-grained and so less helpful in daily sadhana or understanding one's journey across its many ups and downs. Sufism has a similar set - fanaa - dissolution - and baqaa - subsistence, which is supposed to occur only once. Again much more coarse-grained.

[2] To be determined (TBD) by one's Guide.

(Or, very rarely, by one's memories of past sadhana, perhaps from previous lives. Alternatively, by the Divine itself.)

[3] Another word for transformation is manifestation. Creation is a misleading word because it implies a creator separate from creation.

[4] advaitins want sadhaks to regard transformation as unreal. At least, until one is settled in a highly subtle stage. While a commendable intention, this confuses sadhaks and novices completely!

[5] Mentally, or better, in the non-physical inside the body. This reversal is not permanent, so one can go up and down the levels at will.

[6] There are physical effects, on the physical body, but physical space is not a factor. Simple example - one has subtle transcendental ideas and gross individualistic ideas using the same brain in the same head. While sāṁkhya-yoga does discuss transformation of physical elements [7], they are not necessary for a spiritual practice initially. Since physical space is not important, neither is time.

[7] Babuji, paraphrased - 

"matter to energy" says science, "matter to energy to absolute", I say.

AEIOU and balancing techniques

Daaji asks abhyasis to do the AEIOU and balancing techniques after meditation to hold on to their condition, or lead a meditative life. I have extended them a bit with some specific details in a few steps, as well as expanding on Daaji's balancing technique to return from a purely inward meditative awareness to "normal" active awareness. [0]

The AEIOU exercise:

Awareness

Become aware of the condition of your heart, the chest area. It's OK if you can't put words around it, just feel the condition there for a few seconds. Next, your mind - the head area. Lastly, your physical condition - scan all the joints from jaws to toes. Remember to scan your spine and arm joints. [1]

Expansion

Think or imagine that your condition is expanding outward, with you as the centre. Like a sphere or balloon. As it expands, let it suffuse everything around- both living and non-living things (air particles, furniture, microorganisms, people, the space, everything). [2], [3]

IOU - Imbibe, become One, Unite.

Next, come back to yourself. Imbibe the condition. Let it go deeper inside your system. Let it unite, become one with you, assimilate and digest it.

As it goes deeper and digests, you can no longer hold on to it, it will go out of your conscious awareness. Let it go. It will slide into your subconscious and continue to steep there. [4]

That was the AEIOU. Next, the balancing technique.

Balancing inside and outside

To come back to normal, yet a more spiritualised, awareness, become aware of your inside and your outside. The space inside and outside the body.

Just a simple feeling awareness, there's no need to think.

Try to become aware of both inside and outside at the same level, simultaneously.

One way is to go deep into the centre of your body and then look outwards. See both the inside and outside from that vantage point. [5]

Summary

Please do both the AEIOU and balancing exercise after every meditation and cleaning session. Or after any other dedicated spiritual exercise. It should take only a minute or two, max. The benefits unfold very palpably in time.

NOTES

General

From this abhyāsa comes vairāgya - in a way. First change negative or indifferent attitude to positive attitude naturally, through meditation/cleaning/prayer. Then, let go or stop working with the conscious positive attitude. It continues within, subconsciously. And you no longer have to work at doing the right thing. It happens naturally. A different meaning of vairāgya :-D

[0]  Daaji's explanations in 1) a Nov 2023 article: Remembrance made simple, 2) a May 2022 video:
      Things to do after meditation, and 3) a 23 Oct 2017 video: AEIOU - States of Consciousness

[1] On Awareness:

This is awareness of your condition. Do it any way you like, though. These three elements - heart, mind, body - make sense to me.

Also try to compare how you feel now against how you felt at the start.

[2] On Expansion:

Let this expansion happen as effortlessly as possible.

Gently.

Also try to expand a bit more every day, without strain.

Try variants on different days - I use two:

1. Expansion in time - think of the places you are going to visit that day. Let your condition suffuse those spaces. Again, let all living and non-living things in those spaces share in your condition.

2. Expansion to people - think of a few people, whoever comes to mind immediately, within a second or two. Share your condition with them and their surroundings.

If you come up with other variants, please do share with me. My three are space, time, and people.

[3] Why Expansion in AEIOU:

This has a direct effect on how your condition changes your view of others - the world around and everything in it. Indirectly, it affects others because your attitude towards them changes and they, in turn, are free to respond positively.

[4] As you feel subtler conditions, you find yourself able to describe those grosser than them. Remember - this is an infinite journey!

[5] Keep in mind that you keep going deeper inside. So the inner vantage point should do the same.

Spiritual practice - a factory reset

TL;DR: Every so often, at least once a year, do a 100 hours of practice as if for the very first time. Then assess. C.f.:  Spirituality for Children

Often, self-driven or self-directed activities lose their original focus, motivation, and enthusiasm. This is especially true for spiritual practitioners who join an organisation and find they have become comfortable only in certain groups and activities within the organisation. Even if they stay out of the sadly inevitable groupism, they have difficulty taking the extreme solution of going solitary and meeting people as if for the first time. Emotional memory along with hurts and guilt at hurting others slowly starts to build up and joy in the practice often diminishes.

The foundation of the inward journey is lack of memory, especially emotional memory. This allows the internal non-physical organs to function at maximum efficiency. Put differently, without expectations to compare against. Chariji used to quote this phrase from the Gita: āścaryavat paśyati. Like a wide-eyed infant who is wonderstruck and joyously gurgles at everything. Joy is a beautiful characteristic of a bhakti margi.

Every so often, every six months or every year, it is helpful to go back to the basics, the introductory literature or videos. You then remember why you started and what led you to this particular path. You can also check - am I doing the practice correctly? Or has it morphed away from the instructions? Is what I am seeing or hearing or thinking or otherwise experiencing matching what generally happens? Or is it completely different?

In many contexts, a reboot is done. Essentially this is what you do to reset a machine when it behaves improperly - slowly or incorrectly. A factory reboot or reset is done when you want to dump everything and set up a machine the way it was manufactured. All personal and custom data are removed.

Here we reboot or reset ourselves. A partial or full reboot of some sort is an ancient technique used generally to drop the ego. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is said to have thrown away one of his intellectual works. Shams is reported to have either dumped Rumi's books in water or asked him to throw them in the water.

Chewing the cud of one's own experiences or knowledge of the experiences of others or the theories and explanations based on experiences are useless. A spiritual life is inherently memoryless. It's like riding a vehicle without a reverse gear or even a brake. Your experience can keep changing moment by moment.

Now, how to go about this reset?

Do a 100 hours of practice as if for the first time, as in Spirituality for Children.

(Heartfulness practitioners may skip the introductory or Masterclasses step, though it won't hurt, and you will appreciate them more with your increased sensitivity from years of practice, even irregular or wrong practice.)

Spirituality for children

An exact approach based on traditional pramāṇa [1] for children, at least 15 years or older:

1. Understand that just as you can pay attention to the physical world - the body and outside the body, you can also pay attention inwards. Systematically.

2. For at least 100 hours, follow a light, regular, daily practice [2] that takes you inwards, away from physical sensations, memories of sensations, and away from anything or anyone outside you. In other words, away from the outside world and ideas or thoughts about it.

3. Make a map of your own personal inner world, especially how you turn inward; emotions, thoughts, and/or sensations at different levels; how you go deeper inward; how you return to outward attention.

4. After 100 hours, compare your map with that of others. Good ones to compare against may be those of mystics or of Gurus from your chosen path [2].

The 100 hours will give enough experience to understand the experiences behind the words of others. [3] Reading the words without practice merely builds imaginary frameworks without any validating experience.

NOTES

[1] In India, the traditional ways to validate knowledge or understanding are called pramāṇa. Three ways are
a) pratyakṣa or direct experience (from my own practice),
b) anumāna or conceptual framework (my own understanding) based on pratyakṣa, and
c) āgama - validating my own experience and understanding against reports or teachings of trusted others.
(Respectively 2, 3, and 4, of the approach above)

[2] The Heartfulness Way practices are an effective inward approach. To start, take a set of guided introductory sessions first. Available online through the Masterclasses at heartfulness.org. Or through a nearby trainer or centre via heartspots.heartfulness.org.

[3] For Heartfulness practitioners, Daaji's March to Freedom articles in the Heartfulness magazine, Babuji's Towards Infinity and Efficacy of Raja Yoga. Also, Babuji's Autobiography or the 1944 Whispers vol. 1, or Chariji's In His Footsteps, vol. 1. Please do not read before practising for at least 100 hours.

neti-neti to reconcile sāṁkhya and advaita

(Background: understand the Vedantic neti-neti technique - to reach the absolute Self by systematically discarding subtler and subtler, yet not eternal, selves by going inward. Sāṁkhya texts don't talk about practical techniques, but from satkārya vāda and yoga's, or Sahaj Marg's, laya technique, neti-neti can be applied with a twist. The twist is that a self at every level is real, but to reach the absolute Self, the subtler cause of each self - yet another real self - has to be reached and, in turn, transcended, until all lower selves are in laya, and finally the puruṣa is totally uncovered.)

For a one-word reconciliation of "illusoriness" of advaita and "realism" of sāṁkhya - translate neti, neti as:

not (only) this, not (only) this

Or,

not (just) this, not (just) this

An extended traditional translation considers the second iti to point to a different "thing".

not (only) this, not (only) that

Or

not (just) this, not (just) that

EXPANDING IMMANENCE TO IMMANENCE+TRANSCENDENCE

It is like thinking that God is found only in temples. That is OK at first. Then one shifts to God is found in churches and mosques and other religious and not obviously-religious or spiritual places as well. Then:

God is everywhere.

God is inside everyone.

God is in living and non-living things.

God is in all living and non-living things.

God is also beyond all living and non-living things.

God then becomes more abstract, more like a principle or a field.

Yet, God is something that can be felt palpably, tangibly, continuously - every-where and every-when.

(Also see Stages in Vedanta and  The Absolute - Time, Space, and Causation - redux)

NOTES

It is good to 1) discard everything except what one is studying. Initially. Then, after a certain level of understanding, one is able to shift from a tunnel vision of limited data to 2) encompass larger and larger scope or area or volume and reconcile the seemingly diverse and irreconcilable data with the general and minimal theory. Finally, or even at the beginning, 3) spiritual experiences underlying limited theories help in understanding variegated data and theories. Respectively, 1) tamasic, 2) rajasic, and 3) sāttvic jñāna.

Moderation in self-analysis

Those unfamiliar with spirituality may have the idea that it requires obsessive physical sacrifice or at least obsessive mental commitment. Here's a more nuanced perspective on issues with self-analysis [1]:

[when] self-introspection becomes a fad [fashion], it leads to spiritual hypochondria;

[yet] neglect of a searching gaze within may result in:

• a delusive self-complacence and
• cessation of progress in the proper direction [1]

In simpler words, look within systematically, say a daily introspection, not just randomly or only when it is popular. Otherwise, you may end up imagining you are full of spiritual illnesses. And then waste time and energy - both yours and others' -  trying to recover from them. This is a falsely negative situation. Masochism is a vivid example.

In a falsely positive situation, you become complacent and self-satisfied, long before it is warranted. A competent trainer will tell you something along the lines of "Dilli abhi door hai" (Delhi is still far away).

Both situations are related to memory.

When one analyses using only a part of the relevant available data, the result is invalid. It may still be right or wrong, but since the process is incomplete, the result is undependable.

So if one reads, or better, hears about negative attitude or character, self-introspection then may bring up exactly that attitude or character within oneself. A self-fulfilling prophecy, in other words.

To get around this problem, Babuji said, "Forget thyself", instead of "know thyself". Of course, that doesn't mean doing immoral or unethical things and trying to forget one did it. Just avoid "spiritual hypochondria" through self-analysis, especially if that is done by someone else on you. Then it becomes other-analysis!

The other aspect, a false complacency (tuṣṭi), also comes from looking only at positive data within. This also blocks progress, but differently, by thinking no further progress is needed.

NOTES

[1] Sw. Sivananda (or Sw. Krishnananda - more likely from the phrasing), Divine Life magazine, 1959.

Understanding Sahaj Marg/The Heartfulness Way practices

(Disclaimer: This is my personal understanding and so not to be taken as official Sahaj Marg/The Heartfulness Way explanations.

The terms may be understandable only to abhyasis and the ideas probably appreciated only by regular practitioners and/or trainers.

The general direction of each element is one way - to or from the inside.)

Two elements

Morning meditation - sitting from the inner Master

Evening cleaning - sitting from myself, supported by the inner Master

Two elements with a different perspective

Morning meditation - listening to the inner Master

Night introspection+prayer+meditation - communicating to/with the inner Master

Other elements

Individual sitting - sitting from the inner Master and mind-field of another abhyasi - the trainer, enhanced and supported by one's inner Master.

Universal Prayer and other sankalpas - undergirded by the inner Master, building and enhancing a positive attitude and supportive mind-field for humanity, and individuals and groups of humans. Initially. Then extending to all life.

Constant remembrance - real-time, as-needed, sittings and communication with the inner Master. To paraphrase Babuji - everything can be completed by constant remembrance; all the time it is charging. [1]

Group meditation - individual sittings for everyone in the group, plus work on interrelationships, plus work on group as a whole. This extends across all groups sitting at the same time in different locations.

Bhandara or celebration - group meditation with Grace. Grace can descend at any time, but it is certain and especially palpable during a bhandara, to which abhyasis across the world come. Perhaps the certainty is because they will change the mind-field of their own areas when they return.

NOTES

A sitting has only two activities - cleaning of the mind-field and transmission to it. Both activities are guided by prayer, and infused with universal, positive, sankalpas. For optimal effects, trainers should be in a state of positivity, gentleness, and humility. And realise the fragility and delicateness of the mind-field upon which the work is happening.

Transmission is always the same, the subtlest possible forceless-force. But when it goes through a mind-field, that absolutely pure, universal , attributeless love may get coloured and so become grosser. Hence the injunction that trainers should clean their mind-fields before giving sittings.

[1] Babuji in Shahjahanpur - Audio CD-1-02 Point of Intercommunication

03:30: I'm telling you, everything can be completed by Constant Remembrance.

Even meditation is not so useful as the Constant Remembrance, but we must do it. It has some specific purpose also. Meditation has some specific purpose also.

But you see, this Constant Remembrance is very useful.

Now I'm telling you: all the time charging. You are thinking of God and charging is there.