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.

Love upon silencing the emotional mind

There are two aspects to thinking - mechanical or technological, and emotional and/or egotistic.

The first is a necessary part of human life, its dharma or ṛta. Its training and application occur both formally and informally.

There are two ways I know of by which the second aspect becomes silent. This training and application is absolutely personal and informal.

Such silencing is by removal of saṁskāras [1] as in a) Sahaj Marg cleaning, or b) through the much more onerous and finicky process of choiceless observation or bhogam without ahaṁkāra.

Per Jiddu Krishnamurti, the energy liberated or made tangible by this silence is Love.

Put differently, from sat-cit-ananda emanates the emotional layer of the mind (among other things). Resolving or silencing or merging that layer back into its source is laya. Thus exposing ānanda or Love.

The memory-less aspect of the emotional layer in laya, of  ānanda, is not appreciated enough.

Chariji once suggested meeting people every time as if for the first time. With minimal, perhaps zero, bias. This is a cure or a workaround for existing biases, and is another way to look at bhogam and resolution of the emotional layer.

For prevention, per Daaji, one should behave in such a way that biases or saṁskāras don't accumulate at all. Or, re-accumulate, after they have been removed.

Maxims Six, Seven, and Eight of the Ten Maxims of Sahaj Marg from Babuji directly address the behaviour to adopt to avoid saṁskāras.

Put so baldly, it sounds like a transactional mentality.

Yet the Master of Sahaj Marg is a living example of memory-less loving behaviour. As were the earlier Masters.

NOTES

[1] Daaji's wonderfully evocative phrase  is "emotional residue".

Imagine going inward

Imagine your body, slowly dissolving, senses and organs relinquishing their places in your mind.

Imagine your mind losing the weight and the strong, gross vibrations from the body fading away.

Imagine your mind slowly becoming aware of the lighter vibrations that underlay the bodily vibrations.

Imagine a world without physical sensations, just vibrations, subtler and subtler, presences and entities in vibrational states alone. [1]

Imagine flailing around, drowning, desperately trying to make sense of a world shorn of decades, no, millennia, of familiar vibrations; trying to grab something, anything; seeking stability somehow, anyhow.

Imagine being too afraid to go to even lighter levels and frantically struggling to get back to familiar vibrations. Gasping, trembling, you come back to your body. Shaken, you swear - never again!

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Now, imagine the same journey with a benign presence which takes you inwards, level by level, coaxing you to enjoy the ever-unfolding peace and joy. And brings you back to your body awareness gently, your mind at peace with all the levels, remembering how the weight built up gradually on the way back.

With every session, the dissolution, the laya, into subtler levels, happens more and more easily, faster and faster. Lesser and lesser effort is needed to surrender and relax consciously. The muscle memory first for body relaxation, then the mind memory for different levels.

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Now, imagine a careless, not-so-mindful presence being the guide. One that can go instantly to a particular level and has become totally obsessed by the vibrations there. In that whirlpool of a presence, imagine your mind also reaching that level violently, unable to stop itself, or slow itself, drowned. Your mind doesn't know how it reached there or the details of the way back. But its memories across millennia of the physical vibrations take it back. Yet the sheer ecstasy of the subtler level may take your mind back, especially if that presence is around. The distaste at the violent journey lingers and destabilizes the mind, rendering the practice of regular inward journeys troublesome.

NOTES

[1] This world is reached every night by those who get to NREM/deep sleep [2],[3]. Those conscious in deep sleep can remember the experience. The others experience but don't remember.

[2] Technically, per Vedantic psychology, mental activity stops completely in sushupti. So a better phrasing may be deepest levels of REM sleep.

[3] In Indian philosophies, e.g. Sahaj Marg, that discuss post-death experiences say the non-material aspects of a human being try to return to familiar environments, basically another human body ASAP. Deep meditative experiences that go entirely beyond the physical senses give a foretaste of death.