THE WAY FOR FULFILLMENT OF YOUR DESIRE by Swamy Rama Tirtha

       The very moment that you rise above the desire, the object of desire seeks you; and the very moment that you assume the craving, seeking, asking, begging attitude, you will not have, you cannot have the object of desire. Rise above the thing, stand above it and it will seek you. That is the Law.

       It has been said, "Seek and it shall be given you, knock and it shall be opened unto you." That is misunderstood. Seek and you will never find, knock and it shall never be opened upto you.

      "First seek the kingdom of heaven and everything else will be added upto you!" 
That is the Law.

Law of Karma

       The Law of Karma says that man is the master of his own destiny. We make our own environments and circumstances. Every child is the father of his father; every daughter is the mother of her mother. These statements seem to be paradoxical; they appear to be preposterous; oh, but they are the whole Truth and nothing but Truth.

       According to the Law of Karma, when you desire things, so long as you go on craving and yearning for them, they are denied upto you. But after a period of craving and yearning, after a period of desiring, willing and wishing, there comes a time when you become tired of that willing, wishing and desiring, when you turn back to it, and become disgusted and hopeless, then it is brought to you. That is the Law of Karma.

       You know that in order that a man make progress, he will have to raise one step and bring the other down, lift one foot and drop the other. Similarly in order that the Law of Karma may reign, in order that your desires may be fulfilled and realized, there must come period when you rise above the desire, when you give up the desire; and thus it is by keeping off the wish and giving up the wish that the wish is satisfied. Usually the writers on the Law of Karma lay all the stress upon the positive side and ignore the negative side of the question. Rama tells you that all your wishes must be fulfilled; all your desires must be fructified. Everything that you long for must be brought before you, but there is one condition. Before it is realized, there must come upon a state where you give up the desire, and when you give up the desire, then will the desire be satisfied.

Swamy Rama Tirtha

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Source: Excerpts from the book on "In Woods of God-Realization Vol.II"
by Swamy Rama Tirtha.
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SRI AUROBINDO's TEACHING AND METHOD OF SADHANA

       The teaching of Sri Aurobindo starts from that of the ancient sages of India that behind the appearances of the universe there is the Reality of a Being and Consciousness, a Self of all things, one and eternal. All beings are united in that One Self and Spirit but divided by a certain separative of consciousness, an ignorance of their true Self and Reality in the mind, life and body. It is possible by a certain psychological discipline to remove this veil of separative consciousness and become aware of the true Self, the divinity within us and all.

       Sri Aurobindo's Teaching states that this One Being and Consciousness is involved here in Matter. Evolution is the method by which it liberates itself; consciousness appears in what seems to be inconscient, and once having appeared is self-impelled to grow higher and higher and at the same time to enlarge and develop towards a greater and greater perfection.

       Life is the first step of this release of consciousness; mind is the second; but the evolution does not finish with mind, it awaits a release into something greater, a consciousness which is spiritual and supramental. The next step of the evolution must be towards the development of Supermind and Spirit as the dominant power in the conscious being. For only then will the involved Divinity in things release itself entirely and it become possible for life to manifest perfection.

       But while the former steps in evolution were taken by Nature without a conscious will in the plant and animal life, in man Nature becomes able to evolve by a conscious will in the instrument. It is not, however, by the mental will in man that this can be wholly done, for the mind goes only to a certain point and after that can only move in a circle. A conversion has to be made, a turning of the consciousness by which mind has to change into the higher principle. This method is to be found through the ancient psychological discipline and practice of Yoga. In the past, it has been attempted by a drawing away from the world and a disappearance into the height of the Self or Spirit.

       Sri Aurobindo teaches that a descent of the higher principle is possible which will not merely release the spiritual Self out of the world, but release it in the world, replace the mind's ignorance or its very limited knowledge by a supramental Truth-Consciousness which will be a sufficient instrument of the inner Self and make it possible for the human being to find himself dynamically as well as inwardly and grow out of his still animal humanity into a diviner race. The psychological discipline of Yoga can be used to that end by opening all the parts of the being to a conversion or transformation through the descent and working of the higher still concealed supramental principle.

       This, however, cannot be done at once in a short time or by any rapid or miraculous transformation. Many steps have to be taken by the seeker before the supramental descent is possible. Man lives mostly in his surface mind, life and body, but there is an inner being within him with greater possibilities to which he has to awake - for it is only a very restricted influence from it that he receives now and that pushes him to a constant pursuit of a greater beauty, harmony, power and knowledge. 

       The first process of Yoga is therefore to open the ranges of this inner being and to live from there outward, governing his outward life by an inner light and force. In doing so he discovers in himself his true soul which is not this outer mixture of mental, vital and physical elements but something of the Reality behind them, a spark from the one Divine Fire.

       He has to learn to live in his soul and purify and orientate by its drive towards the Truth the rest of the nature. There can follow afterwards an opening upward and descent of a higher principle of the Being. But even then it is not at once the full supramental Light and Force. For there are several ranges of consciousness between the ordinary human mind and the supramental Truth-Consciousness.

       These intervening ranges have to be opened up and their power brought down into the mind, life and body. Only afterwards can the full power of the Truth-Consciousness work in the nature. The process of this self-discipline or Sadhana is therefore long and difficult, but even a little of it is so much gained because it makes the ultimate release and perfection more possible.

       There are many things belonging to older systems that are necessary on the way - an opening of the mind to a greater wideness and to the sense of the Self and the Infinite, an emergence into what has been called the cosmic consciousness, mastery over the desires and passions; an outward asceticism is not essential, but the conquest of desire and attachment and a control over the body and its needs, greeds and instincts are indispensable.

       There is combination of the principles of the old systems, the way of knowledge through the mind's discernment between Reality and the appearance, the heart's way of devotion, love and surrender and the way of works turning the will away from motives of self-interest to the Truth and the service of a greater Reality than the ego. For the whole being has to be trained so that it can respond and be transformed when it is possible for the greater Light and Force to work in the nature...

       This is Sri Aurobindo's teaching and method of practice. It is not his object to develop any one religion or to amalgamate the older religions or to found any new religion - for any of these things would lead away from his central purpose.

       The one aim of his Yoga is an inner self-development by which each one who follows it can in time discover the One Self in all and evolve a higher consciousness than the mental, - a spiritual and supramental consciousness which will transform and divine human nature.

Sri Aurobindo is an emanation of the Supreme who came on earth to announce the manifestation of a new race and a new world; the Supramental.- Comments by THE MOTHER.

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Source: Excerpts from All India Magazine Aug.2007 A monthly magazine of 

Sri Aurobindo Society, Pondicherry.

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PRANAYAMA

(Swamy Rama Tirtha 1873-1906)

Pranayama literally means "control of breath". The Hindu books on yoga gives eight principal methods of controlling the breath. But Rama will lay before you only one method known as Pranayama, a very important method of controlling the breath. This is a kind of physical exercise. Those who think that this Pranayama has got something mystical, some divine meaning in it, are mistaken. Those who think that the highest Realization culminates in it and that there is nothing higher than it, are mistaken. Pranayama or this control of breath has nothing supernatural in it. It is an ordinary exercise. Just as you go out and take physical exercise, so is this, a kind of exercise of the lungs. There is no real significance in it, nothing mystic about it.

BENEFITS OF PRANAYAMA

It will cure you of many physical diseases. Most of your diseases leave you; consumption, diseases of the stomach, blood diseases, and almost every diseases will leave you if you practise that. We will now see what is that.

METHODS OF PRACTICE

In order to practise Pranayama you must sit in a most comfortable, easy position to sit cross-legged is the most comfortable posture, but this posture will kill you, a West Indian. You may sit in an easy chair. Keep your body straight, back-bone stiff, head-up, chest out, eyes front. Place the right hand thumb on the right nostril, and inhale the breath slowly through the left nostril. Go on inhaling slowly, until you feel at ease, go on inhaling as long as you conveniently can. While inhaling, let not the mind be vacant. While you are inhaling, let the mind be concentrated on the thought that all omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent divinity is being inhaled, that you are drinking divinity, the Godhead, the whole world, the whole universe. Well, when you think you have filled in the air to your best, then close the left nostril, through which you were inhaling, by finger; thus when you stop both strips, let not the breath escape through the mouth; keep the inhaled breath within you in the lungs, in the stomach; in the abdomen; all the activities being filled with air, the air which you have inhaled, and when the breathed air is in you, let not the mind be vacant, let the mind be centered in the idea, in the truth that you are divinity, the Almighty god that fills, permeates and pervades everything, every atom and molecule in the universe

PRECAUTION

Be natural in every part of this breathing process. Make efforts, do your best to lengthen every process, but do not fatigue yourself. Do not work much yourself. If after performing only the firs two processes, say, the inhalation and keeping the breath in your lungs, you feel tired, stop. Stop, you are under no obligation. The next day be more considerate, and while performing the first processes or the second process, try to keep your energies reserved, so that you may be able to continue the remaining processes; be judicious.

***

Source: In Woods of God-Realization Vol-II by Swamy Rama Tirtha (1873-1906)

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UNDERSTANDIDNG BRINGS COMPASSION

June 11, 1963, Thich Quang Duc, a Buddhist monk from Vietnam, burned himself to death at a busy intersection in downtown Saigon to bring attention to the repressive policies of the Catholic Diem regime that controlled the South Vietnamese government at the time. Buddhist monks asked the regime to lift its ban on flying the traditional Buddhist flag, to grant Buddhism the same rights as Catholicism, to stop detaining Buddhists and to give Buddhist monks and nuns the right to practice and spread their religion.


While burning Thich Quang Duc never moved a muscle.

Before the Vietnamese monk Thich Quang Due burned himself alive in 1963, he meditated for several weeks and then wrote very loving letters to his government, his church, and his fellow monks and turns explaining why he had reached the decision. When you are motivated by love and the willingness to help others attain understanding, even self-immolation can be a compassionate act. When Jesus allowed Himself to be crucified, He was acting in the same way, motivated by the desire to wake people up, to restore understanding the compassion, and to save people. When you are motivated by anger or discrimination, even if you act in exactly the same way, you are doing the opposite.

When you read Thich Quang Duc's letters, you know very clearly that he was not motivated by the wish to oppose or destroy but by the desire to communicate. When you are caught in a war in which the great powers have huge weapons and complete control of the mass media, you have to do something extraordinary to make yourself heard. Without access to radio, television, or the press, you have to create new ways to help the world understand the situation you are in Self-immolation can be such a means. If you do it out of love, you act very much as Jesus did on the cross and as Gandhi did in India. Gandhi fasted, not with anger, but with compassion, not only towards his countrymen but also toward the British. These great men all knew that it is the truth that sets us free, and they did everything they could to make the truth known.

Budhist and Christian practice is the same--to make the truth available--the truth about ourselves, the truth about our brothers and sisters, the truth about our situation. This is the work of writers, preachers, the media, and also practitioners. Each day, we practice looking deeply into ourselves and into the situation of our brothers and sisters. It is the most serious work we can do.

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Source: LIVING BUDHA, LIVING CHRIST by THICH NHAT HANH
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LOOKING INTO OUR FOOD

Mindful eating is an important practice. It nourshes awareness in us. children are very capable of practicing with us. In Budhist monasteries, we eat our meals in silence to make it easier to give our full attention to the food and to the other members of the community who are present. And we chew each morsel of food thoroughly, atleast thirty times, to help us to be truly in touch with it. Eating this way is very good for digestion.

Before every meal, a monk or a nun recitesthe Five Contemplations: "This food is the gift of the whole universe--the earth the sky, and much hard work. May we live in a way that is worthy of the food. May we transform our unskillful states of mind, especially that of greed. May we eat only foods that nourish us and prevent illness. May we accept this food for the realization of the way of understanding and love."

Then we can look at the food deeply, in a way that allows it to become real. Contemplating our food before eating in mindfulness can be a real source of happiness. Every time I hold a bowl of rice, I know how fortunate I am, I know that forty thousand children die every day because of the lack of food and that many people are lonely, without friends or family. I visualize them and feel deep compassion. You do'nt need to be in a monastery to practise this. You can practise at home atg your dinner table. Eat mindfully is a wonderful way to nourish compassion, and it encourages us to do something to help those who are hungry and lonely. We needn't be afraid of eating without having the T.V. radio, newspaper or a complicated conversation to distract us. In fact, it is wonderful and joyful to be completely present with our food.

***

Source: LIVING BUDHA, LIVING CHRIST by THICH NHAT HANH

Neither defiled nor immaculate

Defiled or immaculate.

Dirty or pure. These are concepts we form in our mind.

In the City of Mani there are many young prostitutes, some of them only fourteen or fifteen years old. They are very unhappy young ladies. They did not want to be prostitutes. Their families are poor and these young girls went to the city to look for some kind of jobs like street vendor, to make money to send back to their families. Of course this is not true not only in Manila, but in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, in New York City, and in Paris also. It is true that in the city you can make money more easily than in the countryside, so we can imagine how a young girl may have been tempted to go there to help here family. But after only a few weeks there, she was persuaded by a cleverer person to work for her and to earn perhaps one hundred times more money. Because she was so young and did not know much about life, she accepted and became a prostitute. Since that time, she has carried the feeling of being impure, defiled, and this causes her great suffering. When she looks at other young girls, dressed beautifully, belonging to good families, a wretched feeling wells up to her, and this feeling of defilement has become her hell.

But, if she had an opportunity to meet with Avalokita, he would tell her to look deeply at herself and at the whole situation, and see that she is like this because other people are like that. "This is like this, because that is like that." So how can a so called good girl, belonging to a good family be proud? Because their way of life is like this. the other girl has to be like that. No one among us has clean hands. No one of us can claim it is not our responsibility. The girl in Manila is that way because of the way we are. Looking into the life of that young prostitute, we see the non-prostitute people. And looking at the non-prostitute people and at the way we live our lives, we see the prostitute. This helps to create that, and that helps to create this.

Source: The Heart of Understanding

by THICH NHAT HANH:

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BREEZE IN SUMI PAINTING

In Japan there is an art form called Sumi Painting. Sumi painting uses just black ink and a brush. Black ink is black ink, but black ink is not black as a single colour. If you paint a pine tree with black ink, that one color creates many colors. Perhaps you have seen a sumi paintings; tiny boat, fisherman in the boat, ocean. And in the corner, just one tree; that's all. Can you imagine this? Just one tiny boat, and just one little tree, and no colours, just white. White in one color, but from white, space is created, and many colors. From this you can see the huge scale of the world; sunny days, cloudy days, oceans -- all this expressed in different ways. From sumi painting you can feel this, that is why in sumi painting black is not just black.

Another characteristic of sumi painting is that with sumi painting you have to listen to the rhythm of the universe, the rhythm of the world--the tree, the boat, the ocean. The ocean is white, but you have to have eyes to see, ears to listen to the rhythm of the ocean, the rhythm of the boat, the rhythm of the tree. This is very important. For instance, there is interesting poem composed by Ikkyu Zenji, a famous Zen master. It says:

And what is it, the heart?

It is the sound of pine breeze

There in the sumi painting.

According to Buddhism, mind is just like the sound of the pine breeze in the sumi painting. There, on the paper, is the pine tree, and the ocean, and the boat. And you can feel the breeze, and the sound of the breeze, from the painting.

In another poem a Zen master says:

The breeze in the sumi painting---

How cool it is!

Even oneness disappears

When culminating in not-two.

Two means the dualistic world. For instance, when you want to swim, there is the ocean and there is you. It is dualistic. "Culiminating in not two" means jump into the ocean. Ocean and you become one. That is the ultimate state of becoming one. In other words, oneness is not an idea of oneness. The oneness of the ocean and you is something active, something that leaves no trace of form. Activity is constantly moving from movement to movement. We do not realize it, but mind it always picking up activity right at the moment of activity. When you pick up activity, immediately immediately it is form or experience. But right in the midst of activity there is no form. All you have to do is just be there. This is oness.

Oneness is the rhythm of the sameness of ocean and you. And that time it is called "to swim." To swim is constantly to swim. If something is wrongly with the power of your body, you cannot swim. So your whole body and mind must be operating smoothly; that is "to swim." It is leaving no trace of my any form. That is why the Zen master says, "Even oneness disappears when culminating in not-two." That is the breezer in the sumi painting. It is not something dead. It is not something dead. It is something you have to realize. It is cool. "How cool it is" means you cannot explain, but you can feel how cool it is. that is most important. If you leave no trace of any form, experience becomes just like a breeze in the sumi painting.

In sumi painting, there is something painted by a brush, but even though you paint the pine tree on paper, that pine tree is not something painted. It must be something alive, something that is exactly the same as the pinetree living in nature. At that time, people are moved by the painting. When you really understand the pine tree, the pine tree becomes alive on the paper. You can feel the breeze moving in the pine tree. You can feel the sound of the breeze and how cool it is. You cannot explain it, but it is beautiful.

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Source: RETURNING TO SILENCE: Zen Practice in Daily Life by Dainin Katagiri
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ROSE AND GARBAGE

"Neither defiled nor immaculate".

Defiled or immaculate. Dirty or pure. These are concepts we form in our mind. A beautiful rose we have just cut and placed in our vase is immaculate. It smells so good, so pure, so fresh. It suppports the idea of immaculateness. The opposite is a garbage can. It smells horrible, and it is filled with rotten things.

But that is only when you look on the surface. If you look more deeply you will see that in just five or six days, the rose will become part of the garbage. You do not need to wait five days to see it. If you just look at the rose, and you look deeply, you can see it now. And if you look into the garbage can, you see that in a few months its contents can be transformed into lovely vegetables, and even a rose. If you are a good organic gardener and you have the eyes of a bodhisattva, looking at a rose you can see the garbage, and looking at the garbage you can see a rose. Roses and garbage inter-are. Without a rose, we cannot have garbage; and without garbage, we cannot have a rose. They need each other very much. The rose and garbage are equal. The garbage is just as precious as the rose. If we look deeply at the concepts of defilment and immaculateness, we return to the notion of interbeing.

In the Majjhima Nikaya there is a very short passage on how the world has come to be. It is very simple, very easy to understand, and yet very deep. "This is, because that is. This is not, because that is not. This is like this, because that is like that."

Source: The Heart of Understanding Commentaries on the Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra by THICH NHAT HANH

***

CARRYING THE PAST

       Zen monks, Tanzan and Ekido, who were walking along a country mud that had become extremely muddy after heavy rains. Near a village, they came upon a young woman who was trying to cross the road, but the mud was so deep it would have ruined the silk kimono she was wearing. Tanzan at once picked her up and carried her to the other side.

       The monks walked on in silence. Five hours later, as they were approaching the loding temple, Ekido couldn't restrain himself any longer. "Why did you carry that girl across the road?" he asked. "We monks are not supposed to do things like that."

       "I put the girl down hours ago." said Tanzan. "Are you still carrying her?".

       Now, imagine what life would be like for someone who lived like Ekido all the time, unable or unwilling to let go internally of situations, accumulating more and more "stuff" inside, and you get a sense of what life is like for the majority of people on our planet. What a heavy burden of past they carry around with them in their minds.


       The past lies in you as memories, but memories in themselves are not a problem. In fact, it is through memory that we learn from the past and from the past mistakes. It is only when memories, that is to say, thoughts about the past, take you over completely that they turn into a burden, turn problematic, and become part of your sense of self. Your personality, which is conditioned by the past, then becomes your prison. Your memories are invested with a sense of self, and your story becomes who you perceive yourself to be. This "little me" is an illusion that obscures your true identity as timeless and formless Presence.

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Source: Excerots from the book "A NEW EARTH" - 

Awakening to Your Life's Purpose by ECKHART TOLLE

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INWARD MASTERY

When Alexander the Great visited India after conquering all the other countries in the world that were known to him, he wanted to see the strange Indians of whom he had been hearing so much. He was just led to a monk on the bank of the Indus river. The monk lay there on the sands, bare-footed, naked, wearing no clothes and not knowing where from his tomorrow's food was to come, just lying there and basking in the Sun. Alexander the Great, with his crown shining, dazzling with the brilliant diamonds and gems that he had got from Persia, stood beside him in all his glory. Beside him was the monk with no clothes on. What a contrast! The riches of the whole world represented by the body of Alexander on one side, and all the outward poverty represented by the saint on the other side!. But you have simply to look at their faces to be convinced of the poverty or riches of their true souls.

Here is the saint whose soul was rich; here is the saint who had realized the richness and glory of his Atman. Beside him stood Alexander the Great who wanted to hide his inner poverty. Look at the beaming countenance of the saint, the happy, joyful at the beaming countenance of the saint, the happy, joyful face of the saint. Alexander the Great was struck by his appearance. He fell in love with him, and just asked the saint to come with him to Greece. The saint laughed, and his answer was: "The world is in Me. The world cannot contain Me. The Universe is in Me. I cannot be confined in the universe. Greece and Rome are in Me. The sums and stars rise and set in Me."

Alexander the Great, not being used to this kind of language, was surprised. He said, "I will give you riches. I will just flood you with worldly pleasures. All sorts of things that people desire, all sorts of things which captivate and charm people will be in wild profusion at your service. Please accompany me to Greece."

The saint laughed, laughed at his reply and said, "There is not a diamond, there is not a sun or star which shines, but to Me is due its lustre. To me is due the glory of all the heavenly bodies. To me is due all the attractive nature, all the charms of the things desired. It would be beneath my dignity, it would be degrading on my part, first, to lend the glory and charm to these objects, and then go about seeking them, to go begging at the door of worldly riches, to go begging at the door of flesh and animal desires to receive pleasure, happiness. It is below my dignity. I can never stoop to that level. No I can never go begging at theirs."

This astonished Alexander the Great. He just drew his sword and was going to strike off the head of that saint. And again the saint laughed a hearty laugh and said, "O Alexander! never in your life did you speak such a falsehood, such an abominable lie. Kill Me, kill Me, Kill Me! Where is the sword that can kill Me? Where is the weapon that can wound Me? Where is the sorrow that can tamper with my happiness? Everlasting, the same yesterday, today and for ever, pure and holy of holes, the Master of the Universe, that I am, that I am. Even in your hands I am the power that makes them move. O Alexander! If this body dies, there I remain the power that makes your hands move. I am the power that makes your muscles move." The sword fell down from the hands of Alexander.

Here, we see that there is only one way of making people realize the spirit of renunciation. From the worldly point of view we become ready to renounce everything only when we become rich from the other point of view.

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Source: In Woods of God-Realization by "Swami Rama Tirtha"

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PURPOSE OF CREATING THIS BLOG

"The only major purpose of a book on mysticism should be to persuade the reader to ENGAGE in mystical practice".

-KEN WILBER-

kanno doko - Interacting communion

"To Paint the Portrait of the Bird" by JACQUES PREVERT

First paint a cage
with an open door
Then paint
something pretty
something simple
something beautiful
something useful
for the bird.

Then place the canvas against a tree
in a garden
in a wood
or in a forest.

Hide behind the tree
without speaking
without moving...

Sometimes the bird comes quickly
but he may take long years
before deciding.
Don't get discouraged.
Wait.
Wait years if necessary.

How fast or how slowly the bird comes
has nothing to do with the success
of the picture.

When the bird comes
if he comes
observe the most profound silence
till the bird enters the cage
and when he has entered
gently close the door with a brush.

Then erase all the bars one by one
taking care not to touch any of the bird's feathers.
Then paint the portrait of the tree
choosing the most beautiful of its branches
for the bird.
Paint also the green foliage and the wind's freshness
and dust of the sun
and the noise of the creatures in the grass in the summer heat.

And then wait for the bird to decide to sing.

If the bird does not sing
it's a bad sign,
a sign that the painting is bad.
But if he sings it is a good sign,
a sign that you can sing.

So, then, so very gently, you pull out
one of the bird's feathers
and you write your name in a corner of the picture.