The Sopana Upanishad

OM. All is One.

One being affects all beings. All beings affect one being.
Thus we have heard from the One who was before us and who remains after us.

The dull never hear it.
The passionate dull ignore it.
The wise dull forget it.

The dull passionate think of it.
The passionate deliberate it.
The wise passionate are overcome by its implication.

The dull wise remember it.
The passionate wise pursue it.
The wise live it.

OM. All is One.

Greetings and Salutations - Peace to All.

I rarely deviate from the Teachings of my Lineage but I have been granted the authority to augment such Teachings as I feel appropriate for the changing times. And so tonight, on this Old Year's Eve I will make use of this freedom and share with you what I have termed "The Mantra of Unfolding", something that I have found carries within it great significance and an auspiciousness of great weight for practitioners thereof.

I find myself speaking about mantra quite often. Many, if not most people are not really ready for what they believe to be the life of a yogi, yet their beings cry out for some sort of release from the experience of stagnation and repetitiveness of everyday mundane life. For those people, for me, for you, for many, when all else proves ineffective, there is mantra, although the domain itself is fraught with exotic, incorrect ideas. For this reason, as amelioration to this reality, the following…

Just as with Sanskrit, some words in the English language lend themselves just as well to peace and a change in one's immediate experience of consciousness (which is really what is sought by the spiritually destitute ones) and provide the springboard from which to commence a 'new' life.

One such word is "unfolding".

Now, for those who are so inclined and who can recognize that the path to peace is really very simple (it is), and if you can tap into the very feeling and experience accompanying your repeating of the word "unfolding" for nine minutes every day, then very soon if not immediately you will notice a change in your consciousness, which, if you can stay with and develop with intent will change your life for the better.

Such is the simple teaching passed on with my greatest kindness and my most gentle of thoughts to those who can find use for it on this auspicious Eve.

Namaste.

Hari AUM

Greetings and Salutations to all.

Some months ago I started selecting a few young people for a group discussion on relationships. My only selection criterion for inclusion was a humanistic sensitivity because that is fertile ground for the development of empathy, which is really the source of our shared humanity as lived out in relationships and in our general attitude towards the world.

Finally the group of eight was able to agree on a date and the gathering took place recently. The average age was 27 and by agreement this was an all-female group. What follows is an account of this three hour gathering which had the goal to review within a spiritual context, the qualities of humanistic sensitivity, empathy, care, respect, and honor in personal relationships. By all means a weighty agenda. And although this group focused more on opposite gender relationships it should go without saying that significant relationships have no limitations of age or gender, etc.

As one might imagine, the group started with a general lament about the sad state of dating, the difficulty in meeting people, the poor quality of the people one meets and the miserable relationships that inevitably seem to ensue. This was followed by some initial male-bashing which evolved into self-bashing rooted in the inability of the members to properly identify the qualities meaningful relationships should be based upon.

The women noted how easy they can become lonely, at which point they might be more likely to pursue the first or only available option without much further reflection or subsequent observation. They also noted their lack of power to take relevant action when it becomes clear things are going wrong, because at the time they are content to be with someone, anyone, at least for the time being, despite knowing the inevitable unsatisfactory outcome and its regression on the path towards humanity.

Why we seek the company of others at the time we do is something everybody should investigate because that tells us a lot about our beings, although that is a huge subject area and not the focus of this writing. These women all possess the quality of humanistic sensitivity and they are all of a self-investigative nature. To them, relationships should ideally have significance and be helpful for the advancement of their humanity and so also for humanity as a whole. In other words, relationships should be about living, which is what they seek and strive for. Relationships should not be about those people helping us towards a slow death by aiding our avoidance to develop our humanity, more often than not for their own selfish reasons of avoidance.

The qualities of humanistic sensitivity, empathy, care, respect, and honor in personal relationships are better understood once one can get past the dictionary definitions and consider them in a more spiritual context. Let's look at them that way for a while. Keep in mind that the presence of one quality is only verified by the presence of the succeeding quality, and that if one quality is missing the entire pyramid falls apart.

Humanistic sensitivity is more easily identified by the absence of its antithesis, selfishness. People who are all about themselves more so than they are for others exemplify selfishness and lack humanistic sensitivity. The tricky part for the group was that some people see in one a means to satisfy their own selfishness and so may appear to be unselfish. One can easily be fooled. The clue to unraveling this is to look for the presence of the quality of empathy, which can be expressed like this:

"You know, like you I am human. I suffer just like you and screw up just like you. Our joys and sorrows are very much the same and I understand how hard it is for you because it is hard for me too since we share this human condition which is largely composed of self-created suffering. We are more similar than different. I understand all this because I live it, and I recognize that you live life just as I do, and so I can say, because we have this shared humanity, that I have a reliable insight into your experience of what it feels like to be human."

While disagreements and misunderstandings are commonplace in all relationships, once you find yourself misunderstood more often than not and the situation does not improve over time, it is probably not a suitable relationship, and while the statement of empathy by itself indicates an understanding of the concept, it is of course not enough. True empathy is only given life when it naturally creates care, and care is expressed as something like this:

"Since I know how it feels to suffer and I know you suffer in the same way, I care as deeply for your condition as I do for mine, and I will do whatever it takes to make things better for you, for me, and for the world since that is our mutual goal."

But how do we know the expression of care has validity? People can care largely because such caring takes care of their own needs more than their caring takes care of you. Well, we will know because true care is only given life when it is practiced with respect, and respect can be expressed as something like this:

"I understand that we are individual beings and that we have different lives, different views, and different ways we live our lives. I respect that and I am at peace with that. I am not going to tell you what to do or try to change you in any way – change is something we do by ourselves, something we have to learn and discover for ourselves, and in the end we have to change by our own understanding and volition. There is something permanent and meaningful in what is self-taught. I understand that we are both doing the best that we are capable of, given who and what we are and what we know. By agreeing to work together on making things better by means of our association and interaction we can be of tremendous help to each other without intruding on each other's individual paths."

Again, while the statement indicates a willingness to become co-workers against life's suffering and may also even indicate the beginning of a potential friendship, while significant, by itself is not enough.

If one has humanistic sensitivity which creates empathy, and such empathy creates mutual care, and there is respect, what follows naturally on these is the quality of honor, and honor, like charity, begins at home. First we have to honor ourselves before we can have honor for others. We can express honor as something like this:

"I honor myself, my humanity and my values created and developed by the qualities of humanistic sensitivity, empathy, care, and respect, specifically as practiced in personal relationships. In the same way I honor your being as it exists as an individual entity, and as it exists in my consciousness. In other words, I honor the you in you and the you in me. I further recognize the Gestalt-like entity we have created because of our association and interaction – that which we call 'our relationship' - and I honor that as well. I will not in any way knowingly or deliberately bring harm to you as individual in the world, or to that you existing within my consciousness. Nor will I bring harm to me or to our relationship simply because I have become incapable of doing so."

If one can attain to this level in a personal relationship then the relationship is significant and worthy. Then, in the presence of another human, we have no need for fear or mistrust, no need for shame or embarrassment, no need for lying, cheating, omission or deception, simply because we have nothing we would want to hide. On the contrary, we have a desire to expose those things that make us want to hide so that they can be brought to light and together with your friend, resolve them. We have then become our true selves in the presence of another human being, and becoming who we truly are is the goal we are all trying to achieve, especially those individuals initially having humanistic sensitivity.

Friends who have and share these qualities create in one another an openness of being we can take with us into the world. People not having these qualities lead us down the path of samsara - a perpetual cycle of developmental insignificance resulting in stagnation and experienced as being stuck in a bad place.

In my opinion, other than perhaps self-inquiry, friends possessing these humanistic qualities are the most significant evolutionary opportunity provided to us. And as we know, such friends are extremely rare. To become prepared for when they show up in your life, and to then recognize them is perhaps some of the most auspicious skills we can work on.

I am confident that in the southern Maine area, there are eight women who are today more suited to these tasks. May you be so suited as well.

As always, the kindest of my thoughts and the most gentle of my blessings extend to you all.

Namaste.

AUM Shanti – Peace to all.

One often comes across the concept of "surrender" in religious and spiritual teachings and at some point on the Path it becomes a forefront issue. Even if not, it can be an interesting idea to play around with. I mean, who surrenders? Why surrender, and to whom or what? And why is the idea so prevalent and stressed?

Well, it is stressed because it is usually not omissible for development. It may come to the seeker in a variety of ways; a statement such as "losing your life so that you may gain it", or that you need to be "born again before you can enter the kingdom of heaven".

So what is this stuff about "surrender"?

I say this often, and now again, so please bear with me; yoga is extremely simple in its most basic of forms. If something is overly difficult it probably is not yoga, or it is and you are not ready for the particular stage you are attempting. Yes, there is work, and it is not easy, but it also should not be overly complex or too difficult. When you are ready, it will be doable, albeit with some effort.

Descartes said so humorously "cogito ergo sum" (I think, therefore I am), and most people sort of stick with this idea, and take it the step further into believing that they are who they think they are. Ask anybody and they will rattle off the usual descriptions and names and titles and so on. It is seemingly simple and correct and understood, and besides, if you don't like what or who you think you are, you can always change what you think about yourself, and so change yourself. But of course, you are not changing your Self at all – you are only changing what you think and modifying your self-concept.

The Self exists as is without modification. It needs no changing. It cannot be changed. It exists whether there are thoughts or not. It is really the pervasive Energy available to you to use to create your self-concept by means of your mind. The Self only needs to be realized. And to realize It there is only one way – one has to become It. But in order to become It, you have to give up your ideas about It because You are not what or who you think. The moment you stop thinking (or rather, identifying your Self with your mind), you start uncovering who You are. You are always there. It is only that you have this mistaken identity of a self-concept, and you believe that You are that. You are not. And the belief that You are, conceals the Self, and is the source of all misery.

It helps to grasp the two-you thing first. One you is this self-created, thought-up you. It consists only of mental concepts and descriptions and attributes that your mind has assigned to it for various reasons of likes and dislikes and ego identification. Whatever follows your words "I am…" reflects this self-created you. Whatever you think of yourself, those thoughts, feelings and ideas, are self-created mental constructs, and the conglomeration of all your mental (including psychological) efforts is what you call "me". And it is this self-created, thought-up, and really, illusionary "me" that has to be surrendered to the "real You". That is what is meant by "surrender".

That there are two "things" one refers to as "you" inside of a single entity immediately becomes a logical inconsistency (even to the mind!). But the mind does not make real and unreal distinctions, nor does it fool itself. It merely produces thoughts according to direction. Your consciousness attaches to either your self-concept, or it re-merges with your Self, and that is your choice to make.

If you make the mistake of identifying who You are with who you think you are, you exist in a state the yogis call "illusion", since the center of your experienced universe is then based upon and functions according to the principles of a mistaken idea that your consciousness accepts as real. It is like working on a lengthy mathematical equation after you have made an initial error at step one. Even if you follow all the laws in some great book of instruction and solicit the help of your peers, it really doesn't matter how long you slave through it, your conclusions about yourself and everything related to that "me" – all of it – will always be flawed at each and every step.

Fortunately the work is frustrating and hard and always produces questionable conclusions mostly productive of irritation, doubt, pain and at times great suffering. And at that point one may get tendencies to go back to the very beginning and take a new look at the foundational principles of your being and your ideas about your self and your Self. And there is no principle more foundational than what you call "I", and no more potent a question than "who am I?"

If you miss (or choose to miss) this step of asking "who am I?", you'll start a new search for a better calculator and buy more manuals and visit more experts and even do a refresher course in math, or find somebody to help you either manage and manipulate your mind changing skills, like a therapist or like-minded escapist friends, and keep occupying yourself with the plentiful outer distractions of all kinds to help you to avoid the question of who You are, which can initially only be approached and found in silence.

But if you are seriously reconsidering your original thought, the "I" thought, and you examine how it came about, and by what power, and you can begin to discriminate between the real You and the made-up you, what follows is the practice (indeed a practice), of surrendering; or the re-directing of your consciousness away from the identification with the idea-self to the consciousness of your Being, which is consciousness to begin with, and which is a lot more peaceful and all-encompassing and loving, and filled with Bliss.

The practice of surrendering is rare in some ways because it feels like dying, though it is only the death of the self-concept. But surrendering is also highly auspicious since it brings the practitioner to any one of a multitude of Paths. And as Yogi Berra says, "If you find a fork in the road, take it." Because you have to do something. Stagnation is not really a good option. Choose the path to your real Self at this fork. The other path leads in a circle the yogis call "samsara", which has the implication of wandering the same paths over and over again, which is not really an attractive idea.

Is it any wonder that one of the oldest messages from mankind's wise ones for the generations to follow and even carved into the pyramids is "Man, Know Thy Self"?

Think about it… uhm, well, no, don't. Just be.

Namaste.

OM Shanti…

For most dedicated seekers and practitioners of any inward-looking path - yoga being one of these - depending on your dedication, your strength of desire for liberation and your consistency of practice, there will be hills and valleys in the experience of your path.

Sometimes, meditation and even life in general comes to you quickly and easily. You seem very in tune. Things are smooth. Other times, no matter how hard you try, things just don't seem to go so effortlessly at all. These are the ups and downs of the Path, and they are in my experience quite natural and I believe them to actually be required.

It is said by the wise that yoga comes and goes. You know when it is here and you certainly know when it's not. Regardless, the Holy War must be fought wisely. When you are strong, advance. When you are weak or your enemy is strong, hold your ground. Fighting against a strong opponent when you are weak is foolish and you will quickly tire and lose. Know that yoga will come again and the tide will change and you'll be able to advance a little easier once again. Just hang in there and continue your practice as best as you are able to.

It happens every so often, usually during one of these exceptionally strong and easy times, that we may be blessed with a powerfully amazing insight that really rocks our world and changes our entire outlook for all time into the future. A spiritual evolutionary leap has been made, and though these leaps are rare, they do happen and they happen at the appointed time when we have developed sufficiently to understand the deeper meaning of such a leap on a more evolved level.

The elation one feels during such a leap, specially when it involves a quality of the experience of Oneness, is way beyond anything previously experienced, and our experience of it is one of pure unequaled Bliss sometimes almost unbearable and in many cases can be quite terrifying.

It is exactly in such forward leaps where there lies a danger that I have been witness to on a number of occasions, as well as having fallen prey to such very traps myself - and not only once. So I feel I should lay some of that out here now in case others have had similar experiences or in the event someone should have one, which is quite likely if you are reading this type of material in the first place.

The trap comes to us during and after the experience in the form of a firm belief that we are now enlightened and that all our searching and practice, our learning and insights have now come to the ultimate complete and final end of all spiritual evolution for all time. Hmm, well careful now.

Such convictions can have drastic if not severe consequences on us and our environment and the people around us, and can at times even be dangerous when subsequent actions are taken in a dapper but foolhardy way.

In states containing such glimpses of the experience of Oneness, our outlook changes drastically on many intricate levels of being. There is a feeling that one can do anything without limit – take over cities and countries if you'd like or rule the world or do nothing at all – and acting on any or none of those extremes seems inconsequential to one at the time. There is no difference between this way or that way, between right and wrong or even life and death. It is a precarious position and caution must be taken.

Such a state can last seconds, minutes, hours or days, and in the resulting high caused by the residual effects of the experience, one can come to some drastic conclusions and plan some seriously radical actions which would be unthinkable otherwise, and even worse is that one believes one is doing so from a state of enlightenment.

But here's the rub – all these conclusions and plans and actions will once again be understood as drastic and radical and dangerous as soon as the major effects of the state fade into the background again, which invariably they do. It is in the proper, deliberate and measured incorporation of the residual effects into your being where the lessons live.

So be careful when the feeling strikes you that you are now enlightened… again,  because you are in all likelihood not quite there yet. You have most likely only taken a step forward, and a small step at that. Relax, enjoy the experience, absorb and learn all you can from it over the appropriate period of time.

During this fortunate leap-event, don't chase after the feeling when it starts fading, and don't even try to recapture it because doing so will certainly hasten its departure since the very power of such desirous intent of trying is exactly contradictory to being, which is really the nature of the state to begin with.

Have no fear, it will return again sure enough when you are ready and capable of assimilating and accommodating the experience again, but not before. Besides, it is not something we can lose – that state we so vehemently pursue is only our very own Self. It cannot be chased as such and it certainly cannot be lost – it can only be hidden from our view by our ignorance in the form of our desire to lay claim to it.

During these blessed spiritual forward-leaps - and yes there will be a number of them on your Path – try to not make any radical plans or take any drastic extraordinary actions. Take the time you need to absorb the full potential of the experience and let it fade in its own due time. Don't push it or pull it or try to hold on to it. Simply continue with your sadhana (practice) just as before. Remember that it is this practice that "rewarded" you with this divine blissful experience and prepared you to be able to recognize it, so continue with what worked for you before. It will work for you again.

The great ladder has many steps. It is not wise to exclaim at every step "I'm enlightened!"  No, relax. The value is in the journey and the journey itself is the Path. The steps, well, they are only steps. Value them, yes, but try to not overvalue them.

Enlightenment becomes apparent to you at the end of the journey, not at every step along the way. Life is lived much more fruitfully in the seconds than in the hours or days or years or lifetimes of the journey. Enjoy the seconds - they are much more plentiful than the hours or the years, and they are also much closer to the Now.

Namaste.

OM Shanti – Peace unto You.

I have mentioned a number of times that Tantra is about energies inside of you, some negative and some positive, and I don't mean 'negative' in a bad way – more like the opposite sides of a magnet. Some energies attract, some repulse. The practice of Tantra aims to balance these energies.

Now, we live in "two worlds" in a manner of speaking, the inner and the outer. In Tantra even these two seemingly opposite worlds are to be merged into a whole.

It is no use only practicing the management of the energies inside of you. You also have to practice the management of the outside world, and in a Tantric way manage the interchange of energies between the inner and the outer worlds as well in some way.  In the outer world such a way manifests itself fairly clearly in a form we call serving, and it can be a very, very tricky thing to do properly.

So often we want to help, whether we are called to it or not – we feel a need to serve - and we serve by giving something to somebody else, whether that be of our possessions or money or energy in the form of helping them out. And some of that is fine, really we should be doing some of those things whether we are doing it properly or not.  It is, however, much better for you and for those being helped or receiving, as well as for the whole universe if such service can be done properly. So, how can we serve properly?

Tantra gives us a word: Seva – which means "selfless service".  You serve or give without having any comeback from it in any form. And that is the tricky part.

If you examine your giving, most likely you will find your ego somehow involved somewhere in the process – like it makes you "feel good" to do good, or better, to do "right". Ha! Yip, you have just duped yourself.  You are not being "good" when you serve if when you serve you think you are being good. Forget about being good and kind and generous and all of that, because when you stop thinking about these things you will be good and kind and generous - you will be natural.

True service – serving or giving – is in and by itself holistic and natural and without effort of any kind. That may sound strange, since we think of "spending" energy or money or something in service, but think of the exchange of oxygen and carbon monoxide that trees manage when night changes into day. It is not as though they "think" about it (well, you get my point) – and every part of the whole benefits in a real and natural way. The entire service (if one should even call it that) is reciprocal. As given, so equally is received, like a to-and-fro flow or a Divine Dance between the so-called inner and outer worlds. It is this Dance that is experienced as pure Bliss – not the thrill of ego that accompanies our service or giving so often – but a pure unfolding of the Self in the world. And it is not as though this Bliss is the reward. No, it is your natural state of being when it is not being interfered with by your ego.

So how do we do this serving properly? How do we remove ego from the process of serving?

Well, first we have to understand that we have to serve – and that this service itself is as natural as our own being, and also that we can only serve in such a natural way when we are in our natural state of being. We are not in a natural state when we start relating the service to something else, which we do by analytics. In other words, we judge whether to give or not because of a host of other logical and reasonable considerations – how much to give, how to give, when to give, to whom we should give, and even if we should give or not. By then the art of true service has been lost, and so also the natural balance of the whole process. Analytics only become involved because of our ego. Even our belief that we are "rescuing" somebody contains an analytical element, so be careful with your rescuing of people.

A good suggestion is to actually practice giving since most of us tend to do it only when we "want" to, which is ego again, and don't want to sometimes when we are asked to. So start giving randomly. (One of my friends on this site is "RaK" – Random Acts of Kindness, and what a cool idea that is!)

To practice, give to one or two random people every day, without planning to do so in any orderly fashion, and try to keep your thoughts about it to a minimum. You don't have to go far or look far to find where or who to be in service of – everything and everyone is in "need" of our service – as we are in "need" of theirs. It is a natural and reciprocal interchange of natural and opposite energies.

Such giving can take many forms – money, stuff, kind words, a compliment meant sincerely, and so on, but without thinking about it. Just feel it, and then do it. After a while it will become natural - just as natural as you are when you don't think about it. And it will then be good and kind and generous – all of those, and more – naturally.

Namaste.

Most of my friends on this site have some interest in yoga. Many of them teach yoga. I have spoken with some of them and others who teach, and they concur that as a yoga teacher one has to constantly manage any disequilibrium between the teacher and the seeker brought about by deference from the seeker. The proper dismantling of disequilibrium is crucial for learning and true communication to take place.

I find it regrettable when I hear that a seeker feels me so "qualified" that they defer to me and my being, and that they do this by lowering themselves or conversely, placing me "above" them somehow. I have even heard that some seekers feel intimidated to discuss yoga with me even when they really want to, purely because of this disequilibrium.

In almost all interaction with seekers – really with all people – I am aware of the possibility of disequilibrium and work to counter it if it should appear.  Personally, it is one of the most terrible feelings for me because instantly all true communication is prevented, all learning is hampered, and our discussions are usually then steered away from important life items to the mundane, where I am once again considered by them to be equal to them, and where they then feel comfortable once more.

I surmise that the reasons for the creation of such disequilibrium may be because of the outer world setup. For example, if you want to learn about mathematics, you would go to a math professor to teach you. For both the "learning" of yoga and the learning of math, most aspects are similar except for the point of deference.

For instance, before you go and learn math, you have to have a desire to learn it, maybe for a number of "reasons" either inner or outer or both. You have to "go" to the teacher (the classroom) and sit down and prepare to absorb (be quiet and listen). One has to be empty of preconceived ideas and opinions and open your mind for receiving the information, otherwise there can be no absorption of the material.  But when the material is processed over time it is converted into knowledge, and then you know math.

Everything is sort of the same with the "learning" of yoga. You must have a desire (seen as a prerequisite) to learn. You would approach a yogi (or teacher of yoga) and, as the word "Upanishad" reflects, to "come and sit down near" a teacher, empty yourself of preconceived ideas and notions, prepare to absorb the teachings and over time process them into Knowledge.

But, I think, here is the difference: The professor is also seen with some high regard (mostly), and this high regard is seen by some to be a valuable aspect to the learning process. The professor is admired and respected because he or she is seen to be "giving" something over to you that you desire, and which, after you have obtained, will be good for you and your life further on.  As a willing sacrifice you may even stand in line to get his autograph in his book that you bought.

This same deference, to some extent or another holds true for all those people who teach us about things that are intricate, and seen by us as desirable and of great value, and that we want to learn about for the sake of our happiness, and that is fine, but it should not hold true for yoga.

The beauty of yoga is that it is the great equalizer, because yoga is not about the teacher, but about you. In the deepest sense, the less inner involvement you have with the teacher, the better off you will be, because then you will be busy with your Self rather than with the teacher, which is the whole goal and purpose of yoga to start out with.

It is really not about the teacher as much as what it is about the teaching, and it is really not as much about the teaching as it is about the learning, and it is really not as much about the learning as it is about the absorption, and in the final analysis, it is really not as much about the absorption as it is about You, because in the end that is what yoga is all about.

If you are seeing your teacher of yoga as "higher" or anything related like that, then you are complicating things for the "teacher" and you are pretty much obstructing yourself from learning anything and communicating openly (properly).

The Truth is that You are not different or separate from Me. We share the same space and time and that is the most natural and Blissful experience of all. But for us both to get to that experience together is a process, and the most fundamental step in that process is to realize that we are equal in all ways.

Then teaching can begin, and so can learning.

Kind Regards and Gentle Thoughts,

Namaste.