Seeds to understand progress

Daaji gave a simple and increasingly subtle sequence:

From I to We to Thou

This fits wonderfully into all the daily practice elements too!

I - Meditation

We - Cleaning

Thou - Prayer

Just seeds, but beautifully expandable!.

One simple expansion, vis-a-vis subtlety:

- I keeps changing with each meditation, going to subtler and subtler levels.

- We, or my relationships with others, keep changing to become more and more natural and simpler with each cleaning at subtler and subtler levels.

- Thou or the Divine within (the innermost Self, for the theistically-challenged) is able to "talk" or "respond" better to me with prayer at subtler and subtler levels.

Another expansion, in terms of increasing priority or importance:

Meditation < Cleaning < Prayer (I  < We < Thou)

Setting up a lifelong meditative practice

TL;DR: Flow of Sahaj Marg/Heartfulness practices - both daily and weekly - must be natural and become increasingly lighter for lifelong practice. Simple interest or curiosity, and enjoyment are sufficient.

What I have observed is that long-time abhyasis, including me, have trouble with

• the why aspect of the practice,
• the self-assessment of progress,
• which technique(s) to use when, and
• understanding that sporadic intense efforts (somewhat like all-nighters at college) are counterproductive in this field which needs daily, but increasingly lighter -- and lifelong -- inputs.

Sahaj Marg [Heartfulness] is simple, but not easy.
~Chariji

The reason for difficulties with regular daily practice boils down to something equally simple -
lack of priority as daily tasks or activities.

Prioritization comes naturally from

• simple interest,

• a desire to repeat some familiar and pleasant experiences daily, and

• a desire for new and unfamiliar experiences daily - those which pique the interest again.

Essentially, a meditator goes blind and deaf into a strange territory of vibrations. Sensing works very differently here.

The inner guide helps unfailingly, but that help may not occur the way one wants or expects, and more importantly, the help can also be felt only with an increase in sensitivity.

Sensitivity in turn increases only with a) repeated practice in turning attention inward while detaching it from outer sensations and (inner) memories (thoughts, emotions, sensations, etc.). In other words, daily meditation.

Sensitivity also occurs only when b) the consciousness or attention can both move or expand freely, and rest equally freely. For this free movement and light rest, daily cleansing away of emotional weight, or emotional residues, of past events is absolutely necessary.

Inner sensitivity also occurs only when c) an inner connection is used so much that it becomes palpable. Put differently, signals or data or inspirations come through that inner channel. But they must be regularly and actively solicited, received, and used. This is done by the daily prayer.

Individual sittings with a meditation trainer/preceptor cleanse deeper and subtler samskaras from the farther past, and give glimpses and tastes of subtler levels and conditions.

Meditation trainers are interchangeable. The best trainers anyway try to step aside, or let go of their agency for inner work, so that the abhyasis' inner connections are free and clear, allowing them to draw through those channels whatever they need for spiritual progress.

In a sense, a trainer is only a thermometer or some such measuring instrument for the inner connection. Or perhaps a hose, controlled by a gardener who changes the flow as needed.

Still, since it is difficult to let go of outer or outward relationships with other humans, one can aim for minimal scheduling effort and set up a weekly routine with the same preceptor for individual sittings . This gives maximum time and effort to the inner journey.

The last element, satsangh or group meditation with others, again should be as light and natural as possible, with maximum attention given to the inner journey and minimum attention to social interactions. Interactions, though, let abhyasis understand their
- inner journey,
- inner connection, and
- inner peace better, and
- gauge how many deeply-buried samskaras still remain to be cleaned away.

In sum, there are

• individual at-home practices,

• paired practices, and

• group practices.

All are intertwined and have complementary effects.

Understanding

• why to do,

• what to do, and

• when to do

different parts of a practice are crucial.

But simple interest, curiosity, and

• a light,
• positive,
• unstressed,
• enthusiastic or heartful, and
• caring or mindful,

attitude yield wonderful understanding and motivation.

 NOTES

Crucial for transition of attention from inside to outside and retaining the meditative condition are:

• progressively turning attention inward --surround sounds/sensations, relaxation-- and
• developing awareness of the gifts of meditative practice through the AEIOU and balancing exercises

Also crucial for motivation and palpable spiritual progress are:

• bhaṇḍāras through ecstatic large-group meditations and the physical presence of the Guide.

But they are not covered in this post on why a lifelong meditative practice should be (re)set up at all.

Obtuse seekers

Spirituality is easiest to understand with practical, day-to-day physical analogies.

E.g., change of direction - inward vs. outward

Some other ideas are needed to flesh it out, though.

Attention is one. So is vantage point.

Putting these three together, one can define the spiritual journey as the journey resulting from changing the direction of one's attention from outward to inward with respect to the vantage point of one's body.

Subtle vs. gross does not quite fall as simply into a physical analogy, but Babuji gives a wonderful example - trying to use a crane to pick up a needle. The need to use something else - fingers - that are at the same or subtler level of dimension as the needle is immediately obvious. Yet, one's attention does not, and should not, get stuck at the level of "fingers." Regular practice for further subtilization to perceive much subtler objects and conditions and patterns is a must.

Per Daaji, Masters give or plant seeds internally. Such seeds have to be nurtured by spiritual practice for flowering and fruiting and further seeding to occur. Again, a physical analogy, but one that must be used carefully.

 

A similar physical analogy given is that of a planting a spark, which must become a flame and fire. And yet, Babuji prefers the final fire to be an electric one that gives intense heat without smoke. Here the analogy changes from organic growth to immediate manifestation!

And what does all this have to do with obtuseness?

Analogies are fine for an initial understanding of what is happening internally through regular practice. They must be discarded or forgotten after a point to avoid limiting, straitjacketing, or preventing the very real transmutation of inner attention, observing instruments, if you will, from gross to subtle, from crane-jaws to fingers.

Indian dārśanikas, aka philosophers, have given primacy to one's own dynamic experienc-ing over one's understanding or conceptual frameworks based on the continuing experiencing process called living. (The limited static physical analogy used is eating mangoes vs. talking about them.)  One's own conceptual frameworks come second - along with activities for using, building, modifying, and destroying them. The least importance is given to the experiences, and reporting or conceptual frameworks, of others. This gives tremendous freedom and encouragement to a spiritual practitioner to trust herself, but frightens a nonpractising intellectual out of his wits.

Obtuse seekers imagine that they can reach great levels of subtlety simply by knowing or repeating terms that spiritual geniuses used to describe their experiences.

There are two immediate problem:

 

a) the terms are verbal reports of a subtle inner experience and inherently grosser than the experience itself, and 

 

b) a report freezes a dynamic extended experienc-ing in time and space.

 

(In science, this is called sampling and is done many times over an extended period. Here, done just once.)

There is at least the saving grace in India that terms, especially Sanskrit ones like the mahavākyas, can be used as seeds for contemplation and may result in regeneration or replication of another's experienc-ing. This is however not guaranteed if the practitioner has stuffed his head with undigested commentaries and exegeses of such verbal reports. Letting go of conceptual straitjacketing is an absolute necessity for experienc-ing to occur.

Another simple and unfortunate example of obtuseness is lack of awareness of mental processes. There is no need to go to very subtle levels either.

A seeker who does not understand that "I" and "you" refer to physical bodies and objects in the outside world is going to have trouble reaching a level subtler than the physical. And if they compare, criticise, or even compliment others, they are still directionally challenged. They think they are looking and going inward, but their gaze is still frozen outward.

Relinquishing verbal descriptions and conceptual frameworks is absolutely necessary at very subtle levels, even if they were useful as encouragement initially. Such relinquishing happens naturally when the chattering emotional mind shuts down. Obtuse seekers, though, imagine that something has gone wrong!

There is a great deal of intelligence involved in spirituality, but it is not the usual intelligence that comes from intellectual wrangling. Instead it arises creatively and spontaneously, and even effortlessly, when the limited ego is relinquished. This relinquishing when it occurs naturally is true humility, not the artificial suppression or denial that obtuse seekers extol.

Sleeping in satsangh

On falling asleep and snoring in Sahaj Marg satsanghs.

First the traditional understanding why an upright alert posture is part of samadhi from Talks with Ramana Maharshi.

Talk 391

The same sannyasi visitor, Swami Lokesananda, asked about samādhi.

M.:
(1) Holding on to Reality is samādhi.

(2) Holding on to Reality with effort is savikalpa samādhi.

(3) Merging in Reality and remaining unaware of the world is nirvikalpa samādhi. [See table]

(4) Merging in Ignorance [tamas] and remaining unaware of the world is sleep. (Head/neck bends in sleep but not in samādhi).

(5) Remaining in the primal, pure natural state without effort is sahaja nirvikalpa samādhi.

D.: It is said that one remaining in nirvikalpa samādhi for 21 days must necessarily give up the physical body.

M.: samādhi means passing beyond dehātma buddhi (I-am-the-body idea) and non-identification [or giving up identification] of the body with the Self is a foregone conclusion.

There are said to be persons who have been immersed in nirvikalpa samādhi for a thousand years or more.

However, in Sahaj Marg, at first, samādhi is the spiritual condition of the outer Master transmitted to the inner Master within the abhyasi via prāṇahuti.

Initially, the abhyasi's inner instruments cannot perceive or sustain the Master's condition. They relax and so do the outer instruments, resulting in a state akin to physical sleep.

But mental and spiritual work still continue for the duration of the satsangh or sitting.

Therefore, there is no Merging in Ignorance as in 4) above and this is why abhyasis slumped over are not really sleeping mentally.

With repeated merger in the inner Master's condition, abhyasis are able to reach and sustain subtler inner states by themselves. Then, Master's mental efforts also reduce and the abhyasis are physically relaxed but not sleeping.

However, not reaching subtler levels and falling asleep during satsangh/sittings could also be due to one or more of these mundane reasons:

• lack of regular practice
• lack of proper sleep
• physical or mental exhaustion
• overly comfortable with current mental levels and so unwilling to let go

Rarely, one may also fall asleep for the reasons below. Usually though, the resulting state - not getting absorbed at all - is the exact opposite of sleep!

• fear of unknown subtler levels or fear of losing the "I" of known levels
• lack of trust in the inner Master