Opening of the Heart

 Opening of the Heart

All scriptures, great Masters have always insisted that the heart should be open and then it evolves like a blooming lotus. The opening of the heart is also compared with blooming lotus. And the heart is often depicted as the lotus heart or HrudayaKamal. Heart is always compared with lotus. And as they say there is Sahasra Dal Kamal (a thousand petalled lotus) on the crown of your head, the destination of the spiritual journey.

(Please enjoy the video of blooming lotus above in a meditative mode and draw your own insights about your inner life.)

How does the heart open?

This is the question we often face during our inner practices. We can get a clear clue from the blooming of lotus that it is effect of the sun's rays that makes the lotus to flower or bloom or open. We can infer that our heart opens with the rays of Hid grace like sun's rays. Only Grace can open the heart.

Is the heart closed?

It appears so otherwise we will not think of opening. And all the Masters of Spirituality will not insist on the opening of the heart for success in spiritual evolution. Misery, lack of clarity and restlessness is the proof of our closed heart.

What makes the heart close?

If we can peep into our hearts dispassionately we will find that the harbouring of the following things are the reason for a closed heart: Fear, Negativity, Lust, Anger, Miserliness, Attachment, Arrogance, Jealousy, Prejudice. They are invisible realities in all of us; for whatever reasons. These things cause enormous stress in every layer of our being (broadly body, mind and soul) and make our life miserable. And every being consciously or unconsciously is praying intensely or longing intensely to get out of this mess that we got into somehow. And the stress caused is progressively increasing day-by-day instead of decreasing; the peace of mind is decreasing progressively every day. 

When does the Grace happen?

It is ONLY when the prayer or longing of the being for release is genuine, intense and we are able to wait patiently that the Grace descends, happens. And the heart starts opening up. 

What is the role of Spiritual practice in this?

Assiduous spiritual practice facilitates the Grace to continue on the seeker's heart; allows the heart to open more and more, layer by layer, petal by petal. Spiritual practice is a conscious effort to attract God's Grace. 

What is the role of Character?

The role of character is vital in the opening of heart. Constant vigil on the character and working on it facilitates the blooming of the heart easily. Vigil on the character is watching our Words, Deeds, Thoughts, Behaviour and Intentions.

What is the role of the Guru?

Guru is the bridge between the being and the God; God with form is Guru and Guru without form is God, say our Masters. He is the catalyst to hasten this process. That is why the need for surrender , saranagati, eeshwara pranidhaana towards the Guru.

What happens when the heart opens up?

The heart when it open up starts evolving to the highest possible state open to humankind. The heart becomes what it ought to be from what it is. It becomes the light for others to help them find the light too. 

Just imagine a lake FULL of lotuses and imagine the world FULL of open hearts; It is the opening of our hearts that this world becomes a better place to live in making us better and better human beings.

The Heart

The Spiritual Heart

Every human being has a heart and has two aspects - physical and spiritual. We all are aware of its importance and the main functions. If heart stops, everything stops in a human being; life ceases to exist.

The physical heart is located where everyone feels the lub-dub (72 beats per minute as they say normally) vibration on the left of their chest generally. For some people the physical heart can be on the right side of the chest also. Wherever it may be located the function of the heart is the same. The main function is to collect the impure blood from all nooks and corners of the body and get it purified through lungs and then supply to all the parts of the body. 

The physical heart is to be managed with right nourishing food, right healthy exercises, and right care in a regular way.

The Spiritual heart is also called the Centre of our existence. It is also felt almost near the physical heart though it is spread all over from head to toe according to the spiritual Masters. It is also the seat of experiences or imperiences (inner experiences) viz., emotions, feelings, inspirations and finer and finer experiences as one becomes subtle through a spiritual process. It is also where the Divine resides, the Witness of everything that happens in us. It is a place where the inner voice emanates and guides. It is also where one suffers or enjoys.

The spiritual heart is to be managed with right thoughts, right words, right habits, right behaviour and right character. And this is made possible only by paying enough attention on the heart. The Spiritual  affects the Physical. Also the physical affects spiritual though not as intensely as the spiritual affects the physical. Hence the need to take care the spiritual heart on a very regular basis. This is done through a set of yogic meditational practices. 

The Mind and the Heart

In the esoteric literature or spiritual literature, the Mind is interchangeably used for Consciousness as they point to the same thing. The Mind determines what a human being is. And it is the Mind that is the only thing can be changed in the human system created by Nature. The other two things the body and the soul cannot be changed or evolved; the body only ages and does not evolve as Pujya Gurudev says; the soul is a presence and purity by itself and hence no need of anu change. Therefore it is only the Mind that has to change for a human being to change or evolve.

Now, the Mind is a thinking faculty; thinking is its function. The Mind can be fickle or calm but thinking cannot be stopped; mind can only be regulated and disciplined; The thought-traffic can be regulated through meditation that allows us to transcend to beyond. Thus the Mind helps us to change, evolve and transcend to other higher realms of existence.

And what does heart do? The heart takes all the impressions and has been taking all impressions ever since it came into its existence from the Source and also the Witness. These impressions when repeated several times are solidified into tendencies; and the tendencies start ruling one's life. because Mind follows the tendencies or deep impressions. The Heart is the other extreme end of the Mind as Gurudev puts it. But the mind and the heart appear to be disconnected and mind tries to act independently, ignoring the heart. And that is where this imbalance in us creeps in. That is something to be corrected to restore the lost balance. This is what is possible through regular meditational practices and thus a great sense of well being is experienced. 

Human Effort and God's Grace

Whether one likes it or not, accepts it or not, realizes it or not, nothing happens or materializes or realized without Human effort and God's Grace. The whole life of humans revolves around this divine law. 

There is no success without this combination as depicted in  Bhagavad-Gita. The following Shloka says, wherever there is Krishna, the Lord of Yoga and the archer Arjuna, Victory/Success is certain.

यत्र योगेश्वरः कृष्णो यत्र पार्थो धनुर्धरः ।
तत्र श्रीर्विजयो भूतिर्ध्रुवा नीतिर्मतिर्मम ॥ 18-78॥

Here Arjuna represents Human Effort; but human effort alone is not enough for success; Lord Krishna represents the Divine Grace that supports the effort and completes it. 

It also implies that human will should be in tune with God's will for the Grace to descend. Therefore the need for one to tune with His will. Nothing happens without His will. 

It also teaches us that one should live a life that attracts the Divine Grace by moulding one's life according to the divine principles or following the heart/inner voice within.

Yoga-Abhyas is all about our effort to attract His Grace. Grace is something that happens irrespective of one's deservingness. 

It does not happen just because we desire. Even to desire Grace, we need to deserve; and one who desires generally does not deserve; and one who deserves generally does not desire. 

We do not desire His Grace, we wait for His Grace while we work for  our deservingness. 

Forget Thyself - Babuji

Forget Yourself - Babuji

Know Thyself is one of the three  delphic Greek maxims as Google  says. "To know thyself is the beginning of wisdom" said Socrates, we all are aware. 

But Babuji said, "Forget Thyself" in his highest wisdom. One can know thyself more easily by forgetting one's own self. He not only uttered it, but he also gave humanity a Way, a Path that leads to this state of consciousness. And that Path is called Sahaj Marg. 

Let us dwell on what is this Forgetting Thyself? To my understanding, when we observe our lives, man's performance of anything is at peak when he/she forgets himself/herself; that is when he/she is lost in the thing that they are involved in doing. Be it reading a book OR be it engrossed in a work OR be it serving somebody OR even thinking of the Divine. In all these acts, human being experiences that he is lost and the performance is best. Therefore the "Forget Thyself" is the highest state of mind or consciousness worth aspiring for. And when this Consciousness gets more and more refined, it leads us to the Beyond, the higher realms of Consciousness. There is no end to this journey. "Forget Thyself" also means that one gets lighter and lighter as one loses more and more of 'I'ness. Thus we can say, "Forget Thysel;f" state denotes a state of egolessness and therefore the Consciousness very subtle without any sort of heaviness.  

Sahaj Marg Path teaches us from day 1, how to forget one's self gradually, slowly but surely. The Heartfulness Institute offers this Path of Sahaj Marg to any one who is willing to try and 15 years of age. Our existing quality of Consciousness gets purified and refined and becomes finer and finer every time we meditate. Every time one meditates, the Masters say there is a significant shift in one's consciousness. And this shift in consciousness leads to the transformation of human being from animal consciousness to humane consciousness to divine consciousness. And the journey continues infinites in this evolution of consciousness. The human being becomes better and better.

Thoughts on Simplicity

Personification of Simplicity

 

According to the Masters of Heartfulness Sahaj Marg Meditation, there is a lot of emphasis on becoming simple if one wants to realize or experience God. And Babuji Maharaj says "God is Simple." One can realize God by becoming Simple as God is Simple. God can be realized completely as He IS, ONLY by becoming like Him. But human being is very complex, for whatever reasons. Somehow if one  gets rid of complexities that he acquired, one becomes Simple, says Daaji. 

Being Simple also means to live a Simple Life. Simple things are often very difficult to understand as we tend to think in a complex way. What is Simple Life? In life, there are desires and needs. Needs are fundamental to existence. Desires are human creations. To lead a simple life, one needs reduce one's desires and come down to NEEDs first and then even NEEDs must become minimum said Chariji. 

Babuji explains Simplicity in yet another way, saying that when all the qualities removed from a human being, one becomes absolutely simple. Heartfulness Sahaj Marg Meditation is designed towards That. 

By becoming simple, the life the human being leads becomes simple that is free of any complexities, a very plain life that oozes simplicity around. When one is Simple, Wisdom is at the peak; Ego at the lowest; Mind crystal clear. 

Simplicity also means getting rid of the entire karmic burden, desires and ego and becoming absolutely light in the spirit. This opens up the higher realms of Reality that helps one to soar higher and higher and the Consciousness keeps expanding refining itself 360 degrees, infinitely, where 'I' ness becomes non-existent.

Babuji's statement makes it clear about this kind of existence; He once said, "When I say 'I', I do not know whether it refers to my Master, or to God or to my self." A statement worth meditating upon deeply.

However this cannot be achieved overnight unless sufficient preparation has been done consistently in the past lives. Yet it can be achieved gradually at one's own pace, if practised with commitment and interest, through the Simple Heartfulness Yogic practices, even in a part of one's own lifetime.  To be Simple is neither easy nor difficult; It is easy if one wills it strong enough, it is difficult if there is no interest. 

Character and Spirituality

Character Building/Morality and Ethics and Spirituality

Character building is a Conscious process and a brick-by-brick process. Spiritual process can bring about inner change/transformation but character formation should be conscious effort of the individual that matches the inner spiritual progress. Character development does not happen automatically; it happens very slow even if it happens; therefore the need for conscious effort. If Character development does not match or is not aligned to the inner spiritual progress, such progress remains futile. Therefore no Character, no spiritual progress.

Spiritual progress happens only when there is shift in consciousness every time we meditate. That is exactly what happens to one who meditates regularly in the Heartfulness Way. There is significant shift in Consciousness (because of the Divine transmission or Pranahuti), that we are supposed to recognize and savour at the end of every meditation for few minutes what Daaji calls AEIOU process. And we are supposed to try to remember with an inner attention throughout the day of this shift in consciousness that we recognized in the everyday morning meditation. With this constant inner attention (inner consciousness) to our inner condition we carry out our daily chores, karmas, which slowly turns into devotion. 

Character development and Morality are synonymous; There is no character without moral life. Morality is all about practising the values consciously, faithfully. Spiritual progress gives the solid base that is required to hold on to values.

We can find evidences in our puranas, some characters who progressed spiritually very much with their penances but lacking very badly in Character. It is possible that a person can be spiritually advanced but with no moral character to match and that leads to self-destruction. It is like the flame in a lamp burning brilliantly inside but it is covered by black sooth preventing the lamp from illuminating.

Individual Consciousness and Collective Consciousness

All that see around – happiness, misery, tragedy, bliss in the life in and around us is a play of Consciousness, a manifestation of Consciousness. Consciousness is the real thing behind all that is visible. No Consciousness, no Existence. Consciousness is both inside and outside just like space is inside and outside. In fact, everything exists in consciousness, it appears.

Apparently every being animate or inanimate has consciousness. Every individual possesses consciousness. And this Consciousness defines what the individual is. Collective Consciousness is the total effect of the Consciousness of all individuals. Change in individual consciousness affects the collective consciousness. For instance, unless each soul is at peace, there can never be real world-peace.  Each individual has to be addressed at the level of consciousness to affect the collective consciousness. And there the need to meditate for every individual for changes in the collective consciousness to happen. Because it is only through meditation that real shift in consciousness happens that can be experienced by every individual after sufficient practice.

Samskaras and Craving

 Complexities & Impurities/Samskaras/Karma/Vasanas/Tendencies

Call by any name, they are the obstacles to our evolution; they do not lie outside, they very much reside inside. They do not allow us to be what we we ought to be. That is we are what we are. We are yet what ought to be. They are all impressions made by us in the past, the whole of our past.

Yogic processes are the remedy for getting rid of these things incrementally under a an able Master or Guru.

They are in huge volumes like mountains of Samskaras. There is certainly a possibility of these Samskaras becoming zero.

And that is aim of a Spiritual process; to make it happen here and now not after death.

Zero Samskaras is said to be the state of liberation.

 

Craving/Restlessness/Longing/Intense Desire/Spiritual Thirst or Hunger

Again call by any name, it is innate and intrinsic to every soul. The Soul longs very intensely, one knows NOT for what? The Soul is ever restless. And this restlessness manifests in so many hues and colors, such as being restless for earning money, power, knowledge, fame  happiness etc. and assuming we gain all these things,  even then the soul is restless. There is always some unknown deficiency that is felt. It is like a bottomless pit. It is very challenging to quench its thirst, fulfill its hunger.

And so this search is ignited intensely at some point and we try to purse this voice that has no language, it is a deep urge that cannot be avoided and drives one to the intended goals.

Craving is great fuel to move forward in the field of spirituality especially. What I understand is in other fields, all accomplishments/failures are more or less the results of working out of our Samskaras, called Bhog in Sanskrit.

It is ONLY in the spiritual quest, that the soul's hunger seems to be little fulfilled, confirms that we are proceeding in the right direction. But nevertheless the longing becomes more and more intense as one feels apparently closer to the thing that is being craved for.

This quest has revealed all the scriptures that we have today and more are being discovered/revealed; It appears to be an unending process.

But the pursuit of a spiritual process is something that is fulfilling and makes one feel being getting closer and closer to the thing that the soul is restless for.

How does the Craving for Reality begin?

It is intrinsic or innate character of every soul; some are conscious and some are not. When we use this word Craving, it means a Conscious Craving.

How to increase the Longing?

It can trigger any time of the life; the sooner the better as it is driving force or fuel for spiritual growth/evolution.

One can increase the longing by associating oneself with the thirsty seekers either in person or through books, or serving humanity voluntarily or any other method that occurs to the heart.

One cannot value Spirituality without Craving; and that is why it cannot be forced on anyone. Food is valued only when one is hungry. Pursuing a spiritual practice even mechanically on a daily basis also triggers or invokes the unconscious Craving.

Craving for Reality in some is unconscious because one is more engaged and busy with Samskaras.

The Mind and the Heart

 The Mind

Mind is the kingly thing in the human system; the most critical and a very delicate instrument.

Mind is NOT our enemy. Mind makes or mars our life. It is to be handled very carefully and very delicately.

One should have a friendly attitude towards one's own Mind. Then Mind will listen to us, we can master it over a period of time and practice.

Mind includes Mind, Intellect, Ego and Consciousness.

Like eyes see, ears hear, tongue tastes, nose smells, Mind thinks; Thinking is the function of Mind.

Consciousness is like the sky in which Mind Intellect and Ego are embedded like planets in the sky. Therefore change in Mind, Intellect and Ego effects a change in the Consciousness.

Intellect's function is to discriminate. It is Not our enemy too.

Ego is there to implement what is decided by the Intellect. So Ego is also not our enemy when tamed. Ego is very useful to compete with one's own self.

But all these subtle bodies are to purified and thus refined. This is possible ONLY through Meditation.

As our life revolves around these subtle bodies, and also determines what we are, there comes the need to refine to refine our Consciousness.

Thus regulating, purifying and refining the Mind is critical to all if one wants to be better and better in the real sense.

Where does the Mind reside? It is spread all over the body; it is not an organ. It is intangible. All subtle bodies are intangible and invisible.

There are two ends of the Mind - one is Intellect and the other is the Heart; It is a spectrum with Intellect and Heart as two extreme ends.

 

The Heart

The Heart is a very sacred part of our being. Because it is where the Divine resides, one can feel through Meditation.

There is a physical heart, an organ that beats untiringly without rest lub-dub, lub-dub. When this heart stops everything stops.  This physical heart is from where the impure blood is purified through lungs and supplies to all nooks and corners of the body to continue its existence.

There is a Spiritual heart where one has his/her experiences. The Experience is related to the heart. It is the Centre of our Existence. It is also the seat of emotions. Our life is guided by the feelings that we have in heart and the inspirations captured through them. This heart is also the Centre of our Individual Consciousness.

Incidentally or as per cosmic plan perhaps, the spiritual heart is also at the centre where the physical heart beats.

The path that follows the Heart-centered Meditation is Heartfulness. We shall explore it later.

The heart is the compass of our life. It always guides in the only direction that we must proceed in life. And the heart's actions are spontaneous unlike actions through mind. Unfortunately for whatever reasons, human being has moved away from following the heart and so the stress and misery in and around us. The solution is to go back to heart and follow it. Heart never misguides. It pops up every time we do something wrong.

Moving away from heart is walking into darkness of stress at all levels. Make a U-turn and walk into the Light of pure awareness by following it.

But it is NOT easy because we have come too far, and the heart is unfortunately clouded or shrouded by so much unnecessary stuff that it appears to be polluted.

So the need to pay attention on our heart, clean the heart, pray from the heart, live with our heart slowly by practising Meditation with this orientation.

Let us remember that we can never avoid heart nor we can avoid God.

Some more thoughts about Spirituality

 

Some more thoughts about Spirituality

Spirituality is all about Spirit. If there is NO Spirit it is just a ritual. When you add the spirit or heart it becomes spiritual.

Spirituality is all about looking within; exploring within; watching our thoughts, emotions and actions and beyond.

Spirituality is about transcending senses, transcending mind, and traversing the higher realms of Consciousness.

This journey causes refinement in the human being at all levels.

Spirituality is a journey from Gross to Subtle to the Subtlest.

Spirituality is a journey of inner transformation from what we are to what we ought to be.

Spirituality is also a journey from known to the Unknown.

Spirituality begins when we transcend religion or outgrow religion and not rejecting religion.

Spirituality disciplines the mind, calms the mind, makes the mind more peaceful, tranquil and thus enhances the performance in everything that we do.

Spirituality helps us to excel in everything that we do.

Spirituality is all about moving towards inner perfection.

Spirituality is the need of the hour for ALL.

About God

God is NOT a person.

God is to beyond senses, cannot be touched, smelt, seen, heard or tasted; But He can be experienced deep inside our heart; And that is why one Needs to meditate.

God is simple, human being is complex; Unless one becomes Simple like God, one cannot realize God.

What is preventing one to experience God who resides in every heart? It is our complexities and impurities; It is our desires, Samskaras (karma) and ego. To be devoid of all these things is being like God.

Meditation gives you an incremental experience of God or the Divine.

The closest qualities of God - Peace, Inner Silence (absence of thoughts), Tranquility, Bliss, Wisdom, Love etc.

Some thoughts on Spirituality

 

Let's do some soul-searching: do we really need God? Or are we 'thinking' that we need God? We need to answer this very honestly to ourselves. Then begins the real journey of Spirituality. Do we really crave for Him? if yes, for what?

Some thoughts on Spirituality

Actually in my understanding of Spirituality, it is Universal, an approach to go beyond everything. There cannot be Spirituality without Meditation. And hence Spirituality is synonymous with Meditation; they go together.

Let's explore Meditation. nd its purpose. It is an evergreen topic and almost the buzz word of today as someone said.

The very purpose of any Meditation is to regulate the ever-wavering mind; It is all about regulating the thought traffic. Meditation is also about transcendence to go Beyond into higher realms of Consciousness, that can makes one a better and better human being and then turn into a Divine being. In fact, the mind helps one to evolve his/her Consciousness if regulated.

The purpose of life is To Evolve Everything in this Creation is evolving Consciously or Unconsciously. Evolution is a Natural process. Therefore Nature always supports Evolution. A Spiritual Process is one that helps one to Evolve Consciously; and one will discover the cooperation Nature immensely. A Spiritual process or an ideal method of Meditation helps the seeker to hasten this process of Evolution. And human being is the privileged creature that evolve consciously and attain greater evolutionary heights. There is no end for Evolution.

Gross, Subtle and Causal Bodies

The human system comprises of Gross, Subtle and Causal Bodies. Gross body is the physical body; Subtle Body or bodies mainly are Mind, Intellect, Ego and Consciousness. Causal body is the subtlest body without whose presence, the other two bodies do not exist.

What is that which evolves in this human system

Gross body or the physical body cannot evolve; it can only age. Its evolution if at all is very limited. Causal body or the Soul/Atma is already said to be pure and therefore nothing to evolve. Therefore it is only the Subtle body that evolves and has no limitations whatsoever.

Three States of Consciousness that a man dwells in

There are three levels in which a human being dwells generally:

1) Waking State (Jaagrudavastha)

2) Dream State (Swapnavastha)

3) Deep-sleep state (Sushupti avastha)

There are other states that can be achieved through yogic processes such as Meditation:

4) The Fourth State (Turiya)

5) The Turiyaateet

and beyond; there is no end.

Evolution of Consciousness

As said earlier, it is the subtle bodies that evolve viz., Mind Intellect, Ego and Consciousness. Chit, Manas, Buddhi, and Ahankar in Sanskrit. All these 4 Subtle bodies are collectively called Anathakaran in Sanskit. It is the evolution of Anatahkaran that happens through systematic Meditation techniques under an able guide.

Chit or Consciousness can be understood as sky in which Mind (Manas), Intellect (Buddhi) and go (Ahankar) are embedded just as planets are embedded in sky. Therefore when the Mind, Intellect and Ego are purified, there is evolution in Consciousness to that extent.

Spirituality, Mysticism, Sufism, Yoga

They all speak the same thing and approach is same - looking within. Yoga or Spirituality is both art and science of looking within.

The Need for Guru or Guide, an Adept in this journey is crucial in this inner-exploration

As in any other field, a seeker needs an adept who is familiar with the Path to guide and support to trek the path. Guru is like catalyst in this process.

How to search for a Guru

We cannot search for a Guru, Guru happens. We cannot decide who can be our Guru with our limitations. We just wait for the Guru to happen with hunger for spirituality.

How to know whether the Guru we found is right for us?

The heart recognizes immediately. Our rational mind rebels. Nevertheless we need to convince our logical mind. We can test him/her the way we feel and arrive at a conclusion. But we should not waste our time testing Guru all our life. Once we are convinced, we should bind ourselves with him forever and start obeying him.

My suggestions however

Talks on the Gita - Vinobha Bhave Publishers: Sahaj Marg Hierarchy Publication Trust

The Supreme Yoga - Yoga Vasishtha Swami Venkatesananda Motilal Banarasi Das Publishers

Ashtavakra Gita - Ramakrishna Mission Publications

Authentic Yoga - Yoga Sutras of Patanjali PY Deshpande Publishers: Heartfulness Education Trust, Kanha Shanti Vanam Hyderabad

All books are available in Amazon

Consciousness

Consciousness is today's buzz word than ever before, both in the Scientific Community and of course among the seekers of Truth. Though this Consciousness has been dealt with very thoroughly by our ancient rishis long back. Let's try to explore this a bit.

What is Consciousness?

The meaning given in an online dictionary says: Consciousness is the state of being conscious; awareness of one's own existence, sensations, thoughts, surroundings, etc.

Spirituality says, Consciousness has everything to do with Mind, Intellect, Ego. The Consciousness is like a sky that has Mind, Intellect and Ego embedded in it. Mind (the thoughts), Intellect (The discrimination faculty that decides what is right and what is wrong) and Ego (a faculty that implements what is decided by the Intellect through something called Will) in theire pure form. These are the main tools of Consciousness by which we either rise or fall in the evolutionary journey.

The Consciousness also contains infinite layers where all the impressions/tendencies called samskaras/vasanas/karma/complexities and impurities/vrittis of the soul, that are formed during it's evolutionary journey towards the Perfection or the Pure State. 

The Consciousness is spread all over layer of Life Force Layer(Pranamaya Kosha) and Physical body layer (Annamaya Kosha) also. 

Therefore, Consciousness is also said to be the expression of the soul. It is the Consciousness that defines the human being. It is the change/transformation in consciousness that brings about the change/transformation in the human being. So change in Consciousness is critical for the human being to change: that is change in mind(thoughts), intellect(refined) and a ego(subdued and humble) brings about the desired evolutionary change, the change for the better.

Individual Consciousness and Collective Consciousness

There are two types of Consciousness apparently viz., the individual Consciousness and the Collective Consciousness. 

Individual Consciousness is what every individual human being has; and the Collective Consciousness is the sum total Consciousness of all the individuals in a group or a planet as a whole. There is a French word for this - egregore.

Every individual Consciousness affects the Collective Consciousness. Therefore the need for emphasis on the individual consciousness. Evolution of the Collective Consciousness can happen only through individual Consciousness. And evolution has no limit. It is a journey towards Infinite.

The very purpose of individual Consciousness is to evolve.

How does the Consciousness Evolve?

Consciousness evolves naturally, every soul is evolving naturally at it's own pace, but it is very time-consuming. It is a very Natural Process whether we know it or not. 

But this process of evolution can be hastened or accelerated if done consciously in line with Nature. Then all evolutionary forces that includes Nature contribute thus making the process faster.

This process of hastening the evolution is called a spiritual process or Meditation. All Meditations are or should be directed towards this spiritual evolution and not anything else. The biggest miracle is the human transformation to the highest; there is no other miracle aboove this.

Some meditations are simple and easy, some are tough, some are very time-consuming, some are almost difficult to practice. The soul generally and naturally chooses the process that it is comfortable with.

3 States of Consciousness that a human being generally exists

There are three states of Consciousness where the human being exists:

1) The Waking State (Jagrudavastha in Sanskrit)

2) The Dream State (Swapnavastha)

3) The Deep-Sleep State (Sushupti Avastha)

All these three states of Consciousness have to be transformed into finer states of Consciousness which are many.

Higher States of Consciousness

We shall talk about two higher states of Consciousness that a human being can possibly dwell in: 

1) The Turiya State or the Fourth state: This state of Consciousness is experienced in deep meditations; The experience of deep-sleep state is experienced in the waking state that is during Meditation. This is Turiya the forth state. 

2) The Turiyatit State : This state of Consciousness is experienced when this Turiya State continues during all the rest of the time even after such meditation where Turiya is experienced.

What happens when the Consciousness evolves to higher states?

Firstly an individual becomes better and better human being till he comes truly divine.

The main faculties of human being called Anthahkaran viz., Mind (Manas), Intellect (Buddhi), Ego (Ahankar), and Consciousness (Chit) becomes subtler, purer and finer and therefore powerful, effective and evolutionary. Therefore sharper skills develop that makes man more effective and also to explore higher and higher levels of consciousness; 

Anad that is Evolution.

Heartfulness Meditation - a Path for Evolution of Consciousness

Heartfulness Meditation is a simple system of Raja-yogic Meditation that promotes a heart-centric life that has very effective tools for the evolution to happen in the human being at an individual level.

Basically there are four main practices or tools to be practiced on a daily basis that contribute to our evolution of Consciousness in an incremental fashion.They are:

1) Heartfulness Relaxation Method that relaxes the body and mind, thus prepares one for Meditation (a 5-7 minutes process)

2) Heartfulness Meditation with the aid of Divine Transmission, that teaches us how to mediate on heart. (at least for 30 minutes to start with).

3) Heartfulness Cleaning, a unique process that involves inner purification of Chakras, the various centres of human evolution.

4) Heartfulness Prayer, a tool that allows one to connect with the innermost core of one's being the higher Self and be centred as one progresses.

A regular practice of these four tools results in a shift of consciousness on a daily basis that develops into a meditative state of mind in the individual, a yogic state with which a human being performs better and better in all facets of his life. Progressively the quality of consciousness gets more and more refined and subtle. There is progressive increase of peace in the heart and stress minimized. The individual will be in a better position to face the everyday challenges without panicking and being least stressed. Only experience is the best giver of the real knowledge. Anybody above 15 years of age is welcome to try and get benfitted enormously. 

Moksha or Liberation

 Moksha can be understood as a higher consciousness that is worth aspiring to. Moksha essentially means liberation. Liberation from what? From the bondage of the dualities that we are all caught in. For example, Day-Night, Light-Darkness, Contentment-Desires, Restlessness-Peace, Compassion-Frustration, Courage-Fear, Clarity -Illusions, Pleasure- Pain, Knowledge-Ignorance etc. We are torn and bound within these pairs of opposites. The World that we are living in is full of these dualities or pairs of opposites. It is our Consciousness/Awareness that is bound or free. So Moksha is the state of higher Awareness that takes us beyond the dualities of life that we call bondage. This bondage is the cause of our miseries and suffering we all can easily experience. We cannot have one without the other; that is bondage. However there are yogic practices to achieve this higher consciousness.

The Higher State of Consciousness called Moksha when one achieves lives in a way that is untouched by these dualities and so no impressions are made that is the cause of re-incarnation. And therefore there is a choice of having a re-birth or no rebirth. The soul will be enjoying this choice. And this is something that can be experienced when one is still in body also. Not only after death. Therefore it is a matter of achieving or arriving at a higher consciousness called Moksha. There is still a tremendous spiritual journey to trek after this. This is the least a human being must aspire to. Therefore Moksha is an evolutionary state of Consciousness that is possible to be experienced here and now.

The Heart-Centric Life

 

My dear friend Thyagaraju has invoked the word ”heart-centric” in the discussion forum, and he felt that I can share something about it. I therefore attempt to express what is inexpressible about the “heart” and its place in our life. I try to be as brief as possible.

Heart is our Centre of Existence (CoE). Physical heart is only a container and that too is the CoE of our physical body, in the sense that if this stops, everything stops in the body. The physical heart is the place from where the purified blood from lungs is supplied to all nooks and corners of the human system.

But here we are referring to the spiritual heart, an idea through which a person is described such as kind-hearted, warm-hearted etc. We never say one is kind-minded. The heart describes what a man is.

Heart is the Source of the Divine which is also our Source of our existence, if any difficulty in accepting, you can take it as an idea. It will take us somewhere surely. Let’s try it.

Heart is also where the innermost voice is, which we call as Voice of Conscience (Manassaakshi). Therefore the heart never misguides one in life. Even the mind or intellect are supposed to follow the heart but apparently behave as if they have nothing to do with the heart. The heart’s voice is still alive in us however feeble it is for us to listen.

It is this Voice that guides us when we are about to do something wrong or undesirable, pops up every time we are trying to cheat, or being dishonest for instance. But man successfully manages to suppress it and goes by the head.

And it is said and can be verified in one’s own experience that “Buddhi Karmaanusaarini”. That is the Intellect follows the Karma/Impressions/Vasanas irrespective of what heart says. But even intellect should be resonating with heart and vibrate in tandem. The nest moments in our life one can recount are when one followed his/her heart OR the moment when intellect worked in perfect harmony with heart. These are matters of personal experience.

In Spiritual Science, this heart is figuratively called the “Anahata Chakra” or the Heart Chakra. Surprisingly, the Heart Chakra is a Chakra which is connected to all the other Chakras directly. Therefore there are many spiritual traditions that suggest to meditate on Heart Chakra. Anything you do on heart is distributed all over the human system that includes – Sthool, Sookshma, Karana Sharirs.

Heart is also the Centre of Feelings and Inspirations and our life revolves around feelings and inspirations. All sacred scriptures have accepted that heart is where the Divine resides. Therefore the way to God or Reality is through the heart.

We can safely say keeping in view all what has been said above, that Life will be what it ought to be if we follow the heart or even the head should follow the heart. Every time that we act away from the heart we create stress for ourselves. It is no surprise why every human being is so stressful like never before. Reverting to heart can be the only solution.

Modern research also reveals that heart has it’s own intelligence within and it does not depend on our intellect much. (Refer The HeartMath Institute).

Therefore living life in a heart-centric way IS the way forward for all of us. Please try and see. Be an Experimenter, the Experiment and also the Result of your own Experiment.

 

 

 

 

 

Attempt to Express the Inexpressible Gratitude

 

This is my favourite Mudra of my First Master Pujyashri Parthasarathi Rajagopalachariji (July 24, 1927 - Dec 20, 2014). This picture was taken when he just concluded Meditation by saying ‘That’s all’ perhaps in Pune in 90s. One can feel the radiation of the deep Compassion and profound Love with which he is looking at his flock and humanity at large.

I started Sahaj Marg on March 23, 1990 at Hyderabad, India. I was introduced by a brother called MS Padmanabhan who was a guard in Indian Railways known to me. Shri Dr. Subba Rao was my Prefect who introduced me into the Mission with 4 Introductory-Meditation sessions. Within a month Dr. Subba Rao used to constantly tell me that I need to go to Chennai and meet Master at the earliest and also used to say, “Krishna, never leave His feet in your life.” I took it to heart. I was in the way of exploring various Gurus and Missions as a part of my inner quest to find my answers to innermost queries that I had a LOT that were bothering my mind at that time. In that spirit I decided to meet him and found an opportunity also. This was the Celebration of Babuji’s Birthday at Jaipur, Rajasthan on April 30, 1990. I reached Jaipur by April 27, 1990. Master was staying in the Palace and abhyasis were waiting to meet him where he was expected to sit. I was also waiting for him to come. I never had any idea of how he looks like as I have not seen any of his photographs. I only heard something about him from Dr. Subba Rao. I had no other acquaintance but him in the Mission.

He finally arrived, a towering tall personality, well-built, charismatic, and holy at the same time, his face radiating bright light, his presence mesmerising. He has not yet talked. He came and sat on a chair. I was sitting nearby but only looking at him with awe and wonder… no thoughts, no questions, not feeling like talking, a deep inner silence as if all my questions that were bothering for years were absolutely silenced or it was as if I found instant answers without his talking to all my queries spontaneously. There was immense peace experienced within that I never experienced before and my heart instantly was wedded to him and said, “Your search for something stops here and just be with him.” And when I heard him talk, I was floored by the Lion like voice that had tremendous Conviction, Clarity, Content, Wit and humour and the spiritual power to penetrate into and transform any heart with great ease. Naturally my heart committed itself to him; I had no choice; and decided that this life is for him and him only from this instant. That was my profound First Exposure to Beloved Chariji. And that great moment, that profound state of awe and wonder continues to unfold even now. For me this moment is as fresh as it happened today. And this is the moment that is carrying me still and has been protecting me in the turbulent periods of my spiritual career. I have been associated with this Master from 1990 to 2014 physically and of course eternally in the spiritual sense.

Ever since April 27, 1990 when I had the first Darshan of the great Master, my life has taken great turn. It was not the same and constantly improving in a natural way. He fixed my engagement with my better half Ramani, an abhyasi too in the Mission and solemnised our marriage on April 30, 1993 at Babuji Memorial Ashram, Manapakkam, Chennai. He named my son and daughter as Radhakrishna and Nalini. He gave me the opportunity of translating the Sahaj Marg literature into Telugu which still continues ever since 1992. He has been a great Protection in so many ways in my spiritual career. He allowed me to publish a book compiled by me (and supported by my dearest Brothers Ulhas and Shareef) titled “HeIS” that he liked very much. The book was released in July 24, 2004 at Thumukunta, Hyderabad. He also released another book compiled by me titled “Fire Eternal” during a Bhandara in Tiruppur. He approved my decision of taking to Voluntary retirement in Sep 2007 and said “ My blessings”. And I am experiencing his blessings very vividly. Made me a Prefect on Dec 16, 2012 at Manapakkam, Chennai. He also acknowledged my other compilations and expressed that they be preserved for possible future-printing titled “Pearls from Deep Within”, “So you see…”, and “Divine Showers”. He made me a member of Editorial Board for Sahaj Marg literature (in Telugu) in 2012. Approved backdrops designed and conceptualised by me for various Bhandaras of the Mission. The concepts were, “Serve to Deserve”, “He IS”, “Consume yourself and illuminate others” and “We should work All as One.” He also permitted me to be a faculty in the Centre for Research Education Sadhana and Training (CREST, Kharagpur) and allowed me to organize Telugu Training programs during 2011-2013. He has also permitted me to translate the Whispers from the Brighter World messages into Telugu in 2013.

His association physical, mental, emotional and spiritual through his Presence, his teachings, his Work trained me unconsciously on the various aspects and traits of my personality and Character and laid a great foundations in me that are slowly manifesting with the blessings of Pujya Daaji under whose guidance my training and my spiritual pursuit continues. All my training was more indirect than direct. He was gracious enough to answer a few of my personal letters to him that changed my life’s orientation.

I longed for a personal relationship with him physically as a student/disciple which I feel has not happened. Though my First Moment was driving my spiritual pursuit, I had some disappointments with him in some way or the other because of my lack of necessary understanding that I now feel. I was especially annoyed when he apparently used to pamper certain people when there were more people who were ready to die for him, I felt. But the tremendous training that I am benefitted with outweighs considerably more than the disappointments. And now all the disappointments are also dissolved after Daaji shared the pain that Chariji has undergone in his lifetime.

And towards 2014, when he was seriously ill, my heart started feeling the pain of separation and the worry that I could not complete my spiritual journey during his time gripped me. It was unbearable and could not share it with anybody. That is the time I was blessed with a dream where Pujya Chariji hugged me and said, “I know you are a hard worker.” I said, “I want ONLY you, I desire nothing else.” To this he said, “it shall happen, don’t worry.” And handed over me to Revered Daaji. It was an effortless smooth transition that I never expected happened later after his Mahasamadhi on Dec 20, 2014 at Chennai. A renewed spiritual consciousness took over me and is still unfolding in front me under the guidance Beloved Daaji whom I have accepted heartily as My Gurudev that I used to address Pujya Chariji in my correspondence. And my journey thus continues…

 

 

Regulation of Mind through Heartfulness Practices

Most of us if not everybody are not conscious of the need to regulate our minds until life knocks on our heads hard. We get on in life with the default state of mind that we somehow got from birth. But Life teaches us the need to regulate or discipline our minds at some stage of life. We are lucky if that stage arrives at an early stage of our life. However the effect of the current upheavals that the world is undergoing like never before in the history of mankind is somehow making the humans introspective and turn inwards to search for answers to the existential questions such as “Why am I born?”; “What is the purpose of human life?”; “Who am I”; “Why there is so much suffering around?” “How to be happy under all circumstances?”etc. Our Science and technological advancements have no answers and the questions stare at us day in and day out more intensely than ever before perhaps. Scientists today are engaged in the research on Consciousness like never before; and it is no surprise that there is more inclination towards Meditation, Yoga and the Evolution of Consciousness today.

Fortunately, it is better late than never that we are trying to be more aware of our inner Self, Mind and Consciousness. Our Rishis of yore and Spiritual Giants born in this country discovered innovative ways of discovering our Selves. Heartfulness System of Meditation is one such effective systems prevailing in India 100 years old tradition. Regulating Mind is the most important ingredient in the process of Evolution of Consciousness.

Mind is a critical component of Consciousness and the main cause of one’s fall if it is not regulated and also becomes the cause for our emancipation if regulated. The words Mind and Consciousness will be used interchangeably in this context. Consciousness technically has four main components: The Mind, Intellect, Ego and Consciousness called Manas, Buddhi, Ahankar and Chit in Sanskrit language. In the present context regulation of Mind includes all other components also. All these are invisible entities/faculties inside our human system.

The question comes how to handle these invisible faculties that are responsible for our life. If one observes keenly, the life of a human being revolves around these four things. And they are polluted by our fears, worries, negativity and impurities such as Desire, Anger, Jealousy, Miserliness, Pride/Arrogance, hatred etc. These impurities create complexities that our mind is stuck with. Complexities are complicated thought patterns created due to the impurities that we have accumulated over a period of time. Now the job is to restore the original purity of these faculties and NOT to reject them. The whole attitude should be to NOT to treat Manas, Buddhi, Ahankar as enemies but befriend them and put them to right use for our evolution.

The Heartfulness practices were received from above by the Great Rishi Shri Ram Chandra  (of Shajahanpur, UP, India) of 20^th century when he was in the highest Yogic State of Consciousness. They are very simple practices designed to suit the needs of the busy modern man. They can be easily integrated into our modern day life. In fact one of the cardinal teaching says, one should balance the material and spiritual aspects of life for the successful flight of the soul to soar high; and one should not ignore one for the other.

What is Heartfulness at the outset? Heartfulness is all about heart essentially; the centre of our Consciousness; a place where we experience everything; the seat of the Divine; where one experiences Feelings and Inspirations; the compass of our life; the source of inner guidance, the Conscience; and so many other things that we would discover as we tread the path.

The Simple Heartfulness Practices include Relaxation of body and mind (that relaxes and prepares one for Meditation); Meditation in the morning; Cleaning Process in the evening; and Prayer as a Yogic process at night just before going to bed.

What makes Heartfulness stand apart from other prevailing practices is Transmission of divine energy or Pranahuti in Sanskrit and the yogic process of Cleaning. Transmission is a subtler than the subtlest energy prevailing in Nature; a vibration less vibration that has the power of transforming a human being at the fundamental level that percolates to the surface as we progress. The Yogic process of Cleaning is something that removes the past impressions that includes negativity; also removes the heavy emotional baggage associated with the impressions thus making us feel lighter and lighter. Anybody with a brief practice with an open mind can experience the effects of Transmission and Cleaning.

The Relaxation process removes the stress accumulated at various parts of the human body, relaxes the mind to an extent and makes the practicants ready for Meditation. The purpose of Meditation is to regulate or discipline the Mind; The purpose of Cleaning is to get rid of the past and negativity and also to deepen the Meditations; The practice of Prayer on a daily basis helps one to get rid of guilt feelings that causes heaviness in the heart and also helps one to develop selflessness, humility, an attitude of surrender to the Lord.

As cited above, the Mind, Intellect, Ego and Consciousness are the invisible entities/faculties whose state defines the life of a human being. They are also called the Subtle Bodies, or the Sookshma Sharir in Sanskrit. The idea of any Yogic and Spiritual system is to restore the purity and simplicity of these faculties that are corrupted by complexities and impurities also called Karma, Vasanas, Samskaras in Sanskrit created by our wrong thinking and actions. In other words all the subtle bodies are stressed out and Yoga is the process of de-stressing everything about the human system at all levels.

Normal interactions with the external world done with “I” consciousness forms impressions on the heart and gradually solidify into tendencies or Samskaras which in turn would settle on these subtle bodies and misdirect/misrule the subtle bodies that effect human life in total. These impressions/samskaras can be removed by the Heartfulness Yogic process of Cleaning. Deeper impressions can also be cleaned with intense Cleaning procedures. Anybody with a brief practice can experience the lightness or the buoyancy that is experienced at the end of the Cleaning session; and a sense of simplicity and purity starts prevailing. This Yogic process removes the hold of the past on us and allows to approach life with freshness and thus one can avoid developing Prejudice the greatest evil in human being that arrests our growth. This practice also improves one’s will-power and self-confidence.

Meditation according to Heartfulness is continuously thinking about the source of divine light present already in the heart of the human being. Thought is supposed to be highest thing or kingly thing in the human system. We use the thought power in this Heartfulness Yoga to restore the Purity and Simplicity in us. As we meditate, the thought evolves/matures into feeling; that is we start with the thought of “the source of divine light in the heart” and as we hold onto this thought for some time we start feeling the Presence of this Source of Divine light. Over a period of time one starts to almost get rid of thoughts and attains an almost thoughtless situation (it is important to remember that this is not the goal of meditation). After every Meditation one feels a state of Peace and also there is a shift in consciousness. Meditation facilitates the expansion of consciousness to soar higher into the sky of Super Consciousness and also dive deep into the sea of Sub-Consciousness. A peaceful heart performs at its peak in every endeavour. Expansion of Consciousness helps one to become more accommodative, more tolerant, accept the challenges in the right spirit and thus solve effectively.

And the Prayer is something that connects us with our innermost Self, the real Self, the higher Self, the Lord. And it is practiced at the end of the day just before going to bed; that is the last activity of the day. There is a four-line prayer prescribed the Heartfulness System which when repeated mentally twice or thrice with an attitude of humility, love and devotion and meditate on the meaning of the prayer, creates a vacuum or emptiness in the heart, that would instantly connect to the higher Self and one starts receiving the transmission from the Source indicating the connectivity. The practice of this prayer on a daily basis over a period of time changes the inner environment into prayerful state always attracting the Grace of the Lord. The qualities that one develops through this are humility, selflessness, an attitude of surrender, love, patience, empathy etc.

In the final analysis, the Mind whose function is to think and the breeding ground of thoughts becomes full of divine thoughts, the most refined thoughts; Intellect evolves into Intuition and then into Wisdom; Ego transforms or gets refined into Humility or Love. And the Consciousness evolves into a Divine Consciousness. And this is termed as the Evolution of Consciousness to the highest.

The practice of all the above practices on a daily basis develops a meditative state in one’s self and acts as an armour that protects us from forming fresh samskaras or impressions. This meditative state is also called Constant Remembrance that finally matures into Love Divine, the unconditional Love and finally ends up in attaining the state of the highest human perfection that is open to any human being.

Thank you.

 

 

 

Tools for Character Development - Introspection

 The meaning of the word “Introspection”, as an online dictionary suggests is soul-searching, looking within, contemplating on one’s own thoughts, emotions and feelings, self-analysis or heart-searching. Introspection especially is an un-ignorable tool to improve one’s inner spiritual life.

What Introspection is NOT

Introspection is NOT meditation; it is NOT concentration; is NOT sitting quietly.

What Introspection IS

Introspection is to look within; looking at one’s own self as a third person without being judgmental; watching one’s own self “as he/she is” and finding one’s own self as it is.

Introspections helps one to accept one’s own self as he is. Acceptance being the first step to Change one’s self. It helps us to identify our strengths and weaknesses/problems. Helps us to watch one’s own thoughts, emotions and feelings as they are. Helps one to identify the areas that can be worked upon; identify the areas that are difficult to work upon; and also helps us to identify the areas where there is no possibility to work upon and accept them.

That which can be worked upon should be worked upon consciously and got rid of immediately. To deal with the areas that are difficult to work upon, we need to invoke the help of the Divine within or with the help of the Guru can be got rid of. The areas that appear to be impossible to work upon must be accepted heartily as they are by adjusting ourselves thinking it to be a part of the Divine Scheme and think that they have a significant role in our ultimate evolution. Thus ‘introspection’ as a tool can play a very vital role in accelerating our natural evolution.

Death

 Anything that is born is sure to die at some point in time. In fact, the moment it is born, it has already begun to die like the unwinding of a clock. It is only a question of time. In the same way, the moment of our death should be the moment of our birth also. 

What is Death really?

How does it happen?

When does it happen?

Why does it happen?

What dies really?

Where does it happen?

Who is the cause?

These questions often stare at us, generally with no answers except to take refuge in the great scriptures and the experiences of great saints.

They say that the human being is a complex of body, mind/consciousness, and soul or the spirit or the being. One is subtler than the other and the soul or being is the subtlest entity. And it is the body that dies NOT the other two - mind and soul. In Nature, anything that is subject to change dies.

The human being is said to be comprised of three bodies - Sthool Sharir (Physical body), Sukshma Sharir (Subtle body), and Karan Sharir (the Causal body). And what we call Death is nothing but the death of Shool Sharir.  

The human being is so structured that they say it comprises of 5 sheaths/layers/koshas - Annamaya kosha (the layer of Physical body), Pranamaya Kosha (The Life Force layer), Manomaya Kosha (The layer on Consciousness or Mind), Vignanamaya Kosha (The layer of Wisdom or real knowledge) and Anandamaya Kosha (The layer of Bliss). All the koshas are spread throughout the human frame, they are so intermingled that they cannot be separated. One layer s subtler than the other. At the time of death, all these layers withdraw one by one. So our Saints say, that Death happens by stages and not suddenly. 

When a human being dies, they say, "he is gone." In every language strangely we speak the same thing "Mar gaya" (Hindi); Chanipoyaadu" (Telugu); "Satthi poyitaan" (Tamil); and so on. That is as long as the human being is alive, we refer to his body but when he dies we refer to something other than the body. Though the body is very much there in front of us. But as long as we are alive each one of us identifies ourselves with this body. The body-consciousness is predominant. Therefore the fear of Death. 

Nobody precisely knows to this date, as to when, how, why, and where the death happens. That is why all have to agree that it is in the hands of the Creator (if any) or the Unknown called God.

How to know what is Death? There is only one way perhaps. And that is - one has to experience Death before the actual Death as one of the saints said. Is that possible? Yoga says, Yes. Especially the Heartfulness Sahaj Marg System says, Yes. By establishing ourselves in the soul-consciousness thoroughly detaching totally ourselves from other layers of Consciousness, perhaps that is the ONLY possibility. 

This System of Yoga teaches us how to die every day in an incremental fashion and not being aware of it. (But not to worry, every time there is death, there is also birth. So while learning how to die properly, we also learn how to live properly through this Yoga. It is both an art of living and the art of dying.)

During Death, the physical organs, the senses, the life-force, (the prana) everything is withdrawn stage by stage. Something like one achieves through Samadhi condition. In Yoga, we consciously practice this withdrawal with the help of the Guru or Master and experience Death while the body is still alive. Perhaps it can be called a sort of spiritual simulation of death. And when one experiences Death in such a way, it is said that one achieves mastery over death and life and perhaps the choice or need for being born again or to die again rests with the Soul. And the spiritual journey or Yatra continues towards Infinity.

My Favourite Bhajan - Dinan Dukh haran ... written by Surdas that invokes Bhakti/Devotion to the Lord

Dinan Dukh haran ... written by Surdasin Brij bhasha in 15th century and sung greatly by Jagjit Singh. Also it was sung by the great saint from Shahjahanpur (UP, India) Shri Ram Chandra ji Maharaj, affectionately called Babuji,  the ONLY song that was recorded lovingly by his disciple Shri Parthasarathi Rajagopalachariji Maharaj. The pangs of separation of the Seeker from his beloved expressed so beautifully! The lyrics and meanings are as follows:                                               

                                  Deenan dukh haran dev santan hitkari

ajamil geedh byadh inme kah kaun saadh

panchhi ko pad padhaat ganika si taari

deenan dukh haran dev ...

dhruva ke sar chhatra det

prahalad ko ubari det

bhakta hetu bandhyo setu

lankpuri jaayi

deenan dukh haran dev .....

gaj ko jab grah grasyo

duhshashan cheer khasyo

sabha beech krishna krishna draupati pukari

deenan dukh haran dev .....

itne hari aaye gaye

basnan aaroorh bhaye

surdas dware khado aanadhro bhikhari

deenan dukh haran dev santan hitkari

deenan dukh haran dev .....

Meaning :

 

The Lord who removes the pain of the sufferers and the humble;  well wisher of all the saints

Azamil , the vulture , the hunter , tell me who was perfect among them?

Who taught great words  to a bird and made it Ganika (a man who lives with a 

went to a prostitute -here Azamil ) who moved him  across this bhavasagar the ocean of this world ...

Who protected Dhruva's by giving him  shelter, and saved Prahalad

Who constructed the bridge to go to the city of Lanka,  for the sake of a devotee?

When the Crocodile grabbed the Gajraj (the elephant) in his jaws ...who came to save him ?

When Duhshashan unrobed Draupadi,

 "Krishna Krishna "  called Draupadi  from the midst of  the Hall ..

Who saved her with robes? 

So many times God has (descended here) come and gone...

but Surdas, a blind beggar  is still standing at Your doorsteps -

When You have showered  so much  grace upon so many,

Why don't you also be kind towards me.