Wish you all a very Happy Christmas, best time of the year for intro-inspection in an environment filled with joy and happiness. Right now, I don’t have much to say as most of us are already busy in celebrations but I can convey my feeling using a Youtube video of Celine Dion sung “So, this is Christmas”, this is not just a video song, its a brief introduction to philosophy of Christmas, which can be only enjoyed when we are free from all our worries, problems, fears.
Please spare some time to watch this Video.
Tags: happy christmas, merry christmas, philosophy of christmas
Yogic mind in spiritual progress is a part of last post titled “Mental Purity & Three Fold Yoga”.
The next stage is the level of intellect where the power of discernment between what is right and what is wrong, is exercised. This includes the reasoning faculty and in general, the development of intellectual mind which imparts the right knowledge about the material world. This is the scientific mind that thinks rationally to filter truth from untruth in the phenomenal world, up to this level both science and spirituality share the common objective of knowing the truth unclouded by emotion and self interest. In spiritual terms, this is the gnosis or the Vijnana level where knowledge about the reality of material existence is obtained, upto this level one’s thoughts and actions are connected with the material world. In terms of Yogic techniques, one could associate Bhakti Yoga with emotional purification while intellectual pursuits could be covered in the Jnana Yoga, both the processes of emotion and intellect purification involve an effort towards identification of the supreme reality of existence. The lead to the realization that material existence is not the ultimate reality. There is a higher existence of intuitive life, that of universe mind and universe will, that is more creative, more powerful and free from the opposites and dualities of nature like pleasure and pain, good and bad, likeness and dislike etc., this life of spiritual intuition is blissful, beyond material limitations and always intuitively right in thought and action. In this life, one is in tune with Prajna, knowledge of cosmic existence and is always at peace with this knowledge. Here one is not affected by pettiness of material desires, limitations and restrictions of a conditioned mind, but enjoys the freedom of a universal life where personal desires are elevated to the universal will to do good to all. The transition from the intellect level to the pure intuitive level marks the change over from reasoning mind of materialism to complete surrender to the supreme power.
Normally, for a man of intellect, to do devotional surrender to God since he lacks the emotional back up to do so. But, if the intellect is used to know the infiniteness of absolute reality, and if the surrender is done out of respect for the vastly powerful entity, its infinite and eternal existence, the surrender is likely to be much more effective and everlasting. The knowledge brings all doubts to naught and gives a sense of insignificance to the individual in the vast universe. When a person with the knowledge of the reality surrenders, he becomes a true devotee. Such a person is the Jnani Bhakta, who is a devotee not because he is helpless and wants protection but he knows that this object of worship is truly infinite and eternal.
In the supramental existence, the operating laws relate to the unified whole rather that individual entities. The decision of good and bad, right and wrong, concerns the existence as a whole and not for any specific individual, group or subgroup of individuals. In a sense, it is the will of God that is supreme and not the rationality of the individual mind. Therefore, what happens intuitively is for the whole creation and is inherently for the betterment of every one. God is impartial to our preferences and dislikes because universal mind is, in its very nature, pure and uninfluenced by human ego. The whole exercise of spirituality is about merging our mind with the universal mind, for then we think as He thinks. The threefold Yogic Path (Karma, Bhakti and Jnana) brings this transition by making our mind move over from being body centric to emotion centric and then to intellect based discernment, with the knowledge acquired about the Reality, the mind sheds its materialism and surrenders to intuitive reality.
“Yogic mind in spiritual progress” is continued from previous post titled “Mental purity & Three Fold Yoga” written by Sh. V. V. Rampal which were published in “Kalyana Kalpataru” a monthly for the propagation of spiritual ideas and love for God.
Tags: infinite eternal, material existence, material world, mind body spirit, philosophy of yoga, philosophy spirituality, philosophy yoga, spiritual intution, spiritual progress, spiritual progress yoga, three fold yoga, universal mind, yogic mind
5 Layered Concept of Human Development
The Panckosi(five layered) concept of human development towards perfection, occupies an important place in the Upanisadic thought. This five layered structure of human personality underlines the course of mental and spiritual development where one rises from pure body consciousness to the ultimate subtle states of self realization. This structure describes the steps in the path that leads one from animal mind to the state of human perfection where the person identifies oneself with the universal existence of one mind and oneness of whole creation. Having known the path to perfection, one obviously needs to know how to follow this path.
The threefold Yogic path is the practical solution towards achieving this goal. The knowledge and practice have to go together in order to succeed.
Three Fold Yogic Path
Movement of Mind from Body Centric to Activity Centric
The movement of mind from being body centric to activity centric is the first step (movement from Annamaya to Prananmaya). Here one tries to offer all his actions to the supreme power by dissociating from the fruit of his actions. He acts because actions are necessary in the material world for existence. Desiring the fruit of action increases his attachment to the individuality consciousness.
Renouncing the Fruit of Action
By renouncing the fruit of action, he moves from individual consciousness to universal consciousness which is a step in the right direction towards spiritual growth. It helps him to reduce his ego-involvement by thinking of others in preference to himself. Any movement in thought from self based desires to universal good is a step towards spiritual attainment. In spiritual terms, linking the Jivatma with Paramatma is the essence of spirituality. In layman’s terms, it means shedding individuality and linking the personal self with the universal self. Selfless action helps in achieving it through performance of actions in the material world. It amounts to saying that when you do the action, do not associate it with the ego of being the doer. Think of yourself as part of the universal will that needs actions for sustenance of life.
Selfless Actions & Patanjali’s Eight Fold Yoga
When actions are done in selfless manner, the quality of action will automatically improve. This will improve one’s conduct both in personal as well as social context. This much desired improvement in conduct is a common theme in most religions; be it part of Sila or the Yama and Niyama aspects of Patanjali’s eightfold Yoga.
Purification of Emotional Content of Human Personality
The next step is the purification of the emotional content of human personality (movement from Pranamaya to Manomaya) through thought control. The level of mind, that includes desires and emotions, is purified through the process of concentration of thoughts to one point, a process in which wandering thoughts are ignored and full concentration is applied to the object of concentration. This means giving full attention to one thought to the exclusion of all others. Both Bhakti and meditation relate to this process that purifies the thought stream and develops the capability to provide full attention to whatever you think to do. This is the preliminary stage of Samadhi where one can move inwards by shutting off external sense inputs and concentrate on one idea or image.
… to be continued in 2nd part titled “Yogic Mind in Spiritual Progress” … which will be published later in this blog…
This article Mental purity & Three Fold Yoga was written by Sh. V. V. Rampal which was published in Feb 2007 edition of “Kalyana Kalpataru” a monthly for the propagation of spiritual ideas and love for God.
Tags: body centric activity, eight fold yoga, fruit action, human development concept, material world, mental purity, patanjali yoga, philosophy spirituality, philosophy yoga, spiritual, spiritual thoughts, thought control, thought power, three fold yoga, yoga
