Commentary on the text “Yoga Vasistha. Chapter 6. The Story of Ikshvaku”
When I was thirty years old, twenty-year-olds and nineteen-year-olds would come to listen to me and sit before me. Or also thirty-year-olds. Now I am fifty, and forty-year-olds, fifty-year-olds, sixty-year-olds sit there. I think that when I am seventy, there will be a hall full of grandmothers and grandfathers. One must preach so that young people come to the sangha.
But seventy-year-olds have an advantage over twenty-year-olds — they have no illusions about worldly life, and, unlike twenty-year-olds, they are not overwhelmed by worldly desires. Twenty-year-olds are not merely seized by worldly desires; they are simply torn apart by them. It is very difficult to follow dharma at the age of twenty. But it is easier for seventy-year-olds: they have already experienced all kinds of desires, their desires have dried up, and they no longer worry about anything.
There is such a term — “attention deficit disorder.” In our modern world, doctors diagnose it in every other modern child. What is it? Simply speaking, it is rajas, when the mind cannot concentrate and when the mind has many desires. And many desires mean that there is a lot of energy, but this energy is not purified and finds no outlet, because the channels are not purified, and it can neither pass through the sushumna nor express itself in some way; then such energy becomes rajas.
Few desires mean that either there is little energy, or there is enough energy, but it has found its place, it has calmed down, risen through the sushumna along purified channels, and begun to nourish the sahasrara, begun to irrigate the lotuses in the chakras and awaken the deities in the chakras. Then coarse desires are replaced by subtle ones, and the subtle dissolve into the transcendent. Spiritual alchemy at the level of energies in a sadhu happens exactly this way. When desires are few, in our qualities we begin to resemble Ishvara, purnatva. We become collected, whole, and complete in ourselves. Then the mind becomes very strong, very refined, concentrated. It can illuminate any subtle substance, any tattva, enter any state. And even enter samadhi. It becomes discriminating, like a fine scalpel, and is capable of separating jagrat from svapna, svapna from sushupti, sushupti from turiya, and understanding the scriptures.
One disciple listened to his Guru for six to eight hours, studying the philosophy of his tradition. All the other disciples simply could not anymore: they fidgeted, fell asleep. But he listened for six to eight hours to elevated philosophy. The Guru was in samadhi and simply transmitted his knowledge. But this disciple steadfastly struggled with sleep, the desire to eat, and pain in his legs. Every day he came and listened to philosophy for six to eight hours. And then, when he grew older and performed tapasya himself, he simply began spreading the dharma throughout the whole world with incredible shakti. This is the result of a concentrated mind.
“Manu continued: When concepts and definitions arise from pure awareness within that very awareness, then it begins to consider itself an individuality. Such individualities wander in this illusory world. At the moment of insight, what is usually not seen becomes visible. Likewise, in individual experience it is possible to see the pure experience of infinite Awareness. But this knowledge cannot be read in books, and the Guru’s help will not help; it can be attained only by oneself, for oneself.”
The Guru’s help is a blessing, diksha, the transmission of the Teaching and many methods (upayas), but there is free will, which the disciple must use himself, where the Guru-tattva cannot do it for you. Your will cannot be directed by the Guru’s will if you do not have your own will for it. The disciple must show activity in order to perform vichara, in order to cultivate within himself the path of devotion; he must have the desire for self-discipline, self-vichara, constant activity. That is, this is not a passive position.
Sometimes spiritual life is compared, as I have said more than once, to a situation in which the Guru is the doctor and the disciple is the patient. The Guru listens to the problem, and then writes the diagnosis — “The disease of samsaric ignorance,” “The disease of existence in samsara (karma).” And then he writes a prescription: mantra 3 times a day, meditation 2 times a day, retreat 3 days a month, such-and-such restrictions, a vegetarian diet. That is, as a doctor usually writes in a prescription. And then he also sends the patient to narrow specialists for further examination, for example, to an astrologer to make a horoscope. As they say in medicine: “There are no absolutely healthy people, only those who have not been examined thoroughly enough.” A horoscope makes it possible to carry out such an additional examination. Or he sends him to an Ayurvedic specialist to determine the doshas and harmonize them. But all these are rather narrow matters, not fundamental ones.
But in spiritual life, such doctor-patient relationships are acceptable only at the beginning. The patient is a passive position, whereas a disciple is required to take a more active position. And here the disciple is no longer so much a patient, and the Guru is not a doctor, but rather a healer who teaches the disciple to prepare medicines independently, to study the properties of medicinal herbs independently, to gather them and become a healer, because spiritual life is, after all, self-healing, self-treatment. In medicine, they say not to self-medicate, because the doctor will decide everything for you; you do not even know what pills you are being offered. And sometimes pharmaceutical companies take advantage of this and slip in some outright deception. But in spiritual life you yourselves must become specialists, you yourselves must understand all the methods, all the medicines, prepare them yourselves and determine for yourselves the direction of self-treatment, as well as help others. That is, you yourselves must become healers; therefore the Guru not only gives you medicine, the Guru himself teaches you spiritual medicine, the medicine of self-healing. Because your task is not only to be healed; your task is to become healers in the spiritual sense, both for yourselves and for others.
The Nature of the True “I”
“Regard your body and sense organs as instruments for gaining experience, not as yourself. The opinion ‘I am the body’ is a delusion, and the seeker must avoid delusions. ‘I am nothing but pure Awareness’—such understanding, if one is able to maintain it, contributes to Liberation and Enlightenment.”
When Ramakrishna was asked how he saw living beings, he said: “I see them this way. There is a pillow, and a pillowcase is put on it. The pillow is stuffed with cotton. Bodies are simply pillowcases made of skin, and Brahman is stuffed into them.” That is how simply he explained Advaita. “And into these pillowcases made of skin, sat-chit-ananda, the Absolute, is stuffed, like cotton into a pillow.” But our dualistic vision sees only the pillowcases. And Ramakrishna went on to say: “There are pillowcases made of simple fabric, and there are ones made of silk, with ornamentation, beautifully decorated. But all of these are simply pillowcases, and inside them is one and the same cotton. Do not attach great importance to these pillowcases.” The pillowcases are the sheaths (koshas); they are seen as the ego, the mind, qualities, abilities, the body, bodily beauty, male and female form, nationality, various character traits, inclinations. Saints do not attach importance to them, because behind all of them one must discover God, one must discover sat-chit-ananda.
“Until you understand that you are Consciousness, free from birth, old age, and death, you will groan: ‘Alas, I am dying’ or ‘Woe is me, my situation is hopeless!’ Such thoughts only strengthen ignorance. Free your mind from impure thoughts and concepts. Remain yourself without such concepts. Engaged in various affairs, abide in a state of equanimity and rule your kingdom in peace and happiness. Consciousness amuses itself by creating the appearances of worlds, and then again absorbing them into itself. The force or energy that binds one to this world is the same force and energy that dissolves what has been created and liberates. Just as a tree is all its parts and leaves, so infinite Awareness fills the entire Universe.”
The Principles of Shiva and Shakti
Brahman (the Absolute), when it is without attributes, is infinite Consciousness; when it is with attributes, it is infinite energy. Infinite Consciousness and infinite energy are precisely the principle of Shiva and the principle of Shakti. Infinite energy is Shakti. Infinite Consciousness is Shiva, or the Brahman of Vedanta. We cannot say that God is only infinite Consciousness, because energy also exists, and we deal with energy. But we cannot say that it is one infinite energy alone, because its essence is pure Light and nondual Consciousness.
These two sides of the Absolute are called prakasha and vimarsha. Prakasha means that Consciousness always shines. Vimarsha means that this infinite Consciousness always manifests in the form of energy, and these manifestations are the thirty-six tattvas of the Universe, which is constantly unfolding.
The Hierarchy of Tattvas and Levels of Existence
Those living beings who are wiser remain on the upper floors of these thirty-six tattvas. These are the celestials. The highest of the celestials do not leave the first five tattvas. Those among the celestials who are unable to remain at the level of Shiva-tattva (shambhavas), at the level of Shakti-tattva (shaktas), at the level of Vidya-tattva, Ishvara-tattva, Sadashiva-tattva (mandaleshvaras, Mahamandaleshvaras), that is, these are the Creator Gods — Brahmas, Vishnus, and Shivas, who create and sustain different Universes. They go lower, and they manage to remain in the mixed tattvas. Maya-tattva is an intermediate tattva, and then come the kanchukas. These are pure-impure (mixed) tattvas. At the level of the kanchukas live various gods, siddhas, and rishis. Finally, living beings were unable to remain even on these tattvas, because the mixed tattvas (pure-impure tattvas) are the level of the mental body (vijnanamaya-kosha). Living beings who were unable to remain on these tattvas go still lower, and they take their place among the lower tattvas. Some live in the subtle world, while others are already born in the material world, receiving a gross physical body.
But divine beings who have realized Brahman to a sufficient degree do not descend below the first five tattvas, unless they are Avatars (divine incarnations). Avatars periodically descend in every yuga. It is programmed in this way by the Brahmas, the Creators and sustainers of the Universe, that in every epoch there must be a descent of an Avatar to maintain the line of transmission, to maintain dharma.
The Nature and Mission of Avatars
What does Avatar mean? It means that he possesses sixteen kalas, sixteen levels of spiritual realization. It means that he contains within himself the fullness and purity of the first five tattvas: Shiva-tattva, Shakti-tattva, Sadashiva-tattva, Ishvara-tattva, and Sadvidya-tattva. And all this purity and fullness of the five pure tattvas descends through the mental and astral worlds and is directly embodied in the physical world as a flash of rainbow light, as a five-colored rainbow radiance, either with a deity or with a seed syllable in the form of an intention. Therefore, when Dattatreya was incarnating, Rishi Atri had various visions: first, a three-headed boy appeared in a rainbow body, and there was also a vision of three Gods corresponding to the three gunas. That is, the pure tattvas pierce the three worlds and are embodied in an earthly material body.
When an Avatar descends, he has his own mission. This mission consists in embodying the sankalpa of the being that emanated this Avatar from the higher levels of the Universe. Various deities bestow upon such Avatars many blessings, which are subtle shaktis from the higher five tattvas, for example, subtle jnana-shakti, iccha-shakti, kriya-shakti, ananda-shakti, and many others. They are represented in the form of attributes. Therefore, when an Avatar is incarnated, spiritual people see him, and they also see his attributes. The place of the Avatar’s appearance begins to shine with the lights of sattva.
The Influence of an Avatar on the Subtle World
The fire of sattva begins to slightly stir the local spirits, astral beings, and local gods who control the elements. All of them sense magical changes in the world, the vibration of space. All magical beings sense a change in the magical background of that locality. Sometimes you, too, can feel it; it is not so difficult. Because if you practice, then your body becomes like a scanner, your sahasrara becomes like an antenna that reads the surrounding environment, the surrounding locality.
But one must not be overly sensitive. There are people who develop the purity of their channels or come into contact with the subtle body and become too sensitive. For example, when they eat food, they feel all the thoughts of the cook in it. If the cook was worldly or was thinking about the wrong things, then they cannot eat at all. This is too much sensitivity. One must move away from the astral plane into turiya, so that other people’s thoughts cannot affect you. Or they sit down on a bench (and on a bench, naturally, all sorts of people have been sitting for years) and feel their channels becoming clogged, energy flowing into the svadhisthana chakra. And they think: “That’s it! The end of my practice! Five hours of pranayama and kumbhaka have gone to waste.” They sat on the bench for only twenty minutes. Or they sit on a train next to people and think: “How impure these people are, they eat meat.” Not only are their channels clogged, but they also feed their own mind with this. And then they really feel their channels becoming clogged, and their mind becomes clogged as well: “I don’t want to sit with these people. They are dirty, and I am pure.” They become established in such thoughts. Then the Guru says: “Pure vision! If you have pure vision, your channels will not become clogged even among dirty people. And you will see that there are no dirty people at all, but only God playing in these bodies.” That is, one must not “overdo it” with the sensitivity of the channels, with the sensitivity of the subtle body; otherwise it will be difficult for you to live, you will not be able to go out at all, you will be very vulnerable. But what about the siddhis, the practitioners of one taste, who could eat any food and be among any people? This means they have some other realization, a better one.
The Divine Retinue and the Cosmic Confrontation
Divine beings who sense the change in the magical background, the radiance of the sattva spreading out, come to see who has changed the subtle world in such a way. And if the subtle world has been changed, then it means the physical world will be changed as well. They come to pay their respects to such an Avatar: “The Avatar is preparing to incarnate! Namaste to the Avatar!” And they bring him their gifts. Then the guardians of the locality go there, and spirits come. But various demonic beings also come, beings who very much dislike the change in the magical background, the increase in the proportion of sattva in that locality. Asuric beings think: “What is this? The world is slipping out of our control! What sattva has come here? What divine spirit has appeared here?” You know that there is always this confrontation between the gods and the asuras, while human beings are in the middle.
And when a divine Avatar incarnates, various deities descend together with him. They have the form of human beings, but in their subtle spirit they are not human, because they descend not from ordinary spheres, but from divine ones. All of them are gods and goddesses who make up the Avatar’s retinue (many goddesses Lakshmi, Sarasvati, many protectors, lokapalas, helpers, charanas, sevakas). All of them strive to take incarnation in order to help the Avatar fulfill his mission. All of them are connected with him by long-standing karmas, and they want to accumulate good karma, to perform this seva on the material level. It is like when a president decides to fly somewhere in America, the “retinue” travels with him. And some go in advance: to book a hotel room, make arrangements, establish contacts, prepare the necessary meetings. And these are deities who are born before the Avatar. They too are born in the form of human beings, but their karma, their destiny, is inscribed by Brahma in such a way that they accompany him and arrange all these meetings. There are those who are directly such a retinue. Therefore, the manifestation of an Avatar is always the descent of a great shakti, a large group of gods, for the sake of fulfilling the divine plan.
The Purpose of Divine Intervention
The result of such a divine plan is a change in the situation on Earth, an adjustment. Why is adjustment necessary? Because earthlings are constantly deluded. Earthly kings fall into illusions, kleshas, obscurations, and begin to rule selfishly. People themselves also enter various wrong states. Society periodically falls out of balance. And then dark demonic forces from the subterranean worlds (nagas, rakshasas, pisachas) begin opening portals into the world of humans, tearing the astral fabric of the universe, and simply breaking through, devouring human souls, seizing them, striving to introduce their unrighteous laws, change the basic ethics, and disrupt the harmonious balance of sattva, rajas, and tamas in the world. That is, the Earth, like all worlds (and the Earth especially), is such an arena of balance and rivalry among various forces. And since divine beings are also observing this world, they periodically make decisions about correcting reality. For this purpose, they send such spiritual special forces to correct the locality.
When the Avatar incarnates, he manifests his games, his companions help him, and he creates a new religion or restores a forgotten religion, lost lines of transmission, because all lines of transmission systematically degenerate. Teachers leave the body, and they have not managed to leave behind worthy disciples. That is it: the line has degenerated, samaya has been lost, the gods have departed, the practices have lost their power. This happens constantly.
Shankara as an Avatar and the Restoration of Advaita
For example, Shankara was such an Avatar. Advaita existed before Shankara, but in Vedic India a thousand years ago, who knew Advaita? No one; everyone followed either rituals, or charya and kriya tantra, or Shakta practices, or dualistic superficial upasana. The Avatar came and said: “Let us look into the Vedas! What are you practicing here? Where have you wandered off to, in fact?” Shiva himself descended, sending his emanation into his mother’s womb. Shankara said: “Look at the original essence and meaning of the Vedas. Look at the Absolute, at God, who is beyond name and forms. Look directly into the view, contemplation, and awareness.”
In the same way, Dattatreya came as a unique Avatar. Vishnu descended many times in utterly incomprehensible forms when there were problems on Earth. Many saints carry within themselves various divine powers, and sometimes Avatars can act even while presenting themselves as ordinary people, ordinary Teachers, or ordinary saints. They have a special mission, but they do not act as Avatars, although they may be parts of such Avatars. They are not purna-Avatars. A purna-Avatar is a rare phenomenon; partial incarnations occur more often. They do not declare themselves to be Avatars; they simply act, accepting all the foolishness of the world of people. This is called vidya-maya.
Vidya-maya — the Art of Conscious Illusion
Vidya-maya is the acceptance of conscious illusion and all the ignorance of this world in order to help this world. In other words, such saints play along with the world of people, pretending that they have certain desires; moreover, they even give rise to them in order to understand the world of people and help, to find contact and somehow win people over. It is like an adult who came to a kindergarten and began studying children. Then he thought: “The children are playing with blocks; I need to understand what kind of game this is, sit down with them, and play.” All of this is vidya-maya.
Partial Avatars can be different. Yuga-Avatars are Avatars who come in each yuga. Shakti-Avesha-Avatars are those who contain a special power within themselves; they contain some aspect of God’s shakti, they embody the shakti of some higher deity (kriya-shakti, aishvarya-shakti, iccha-shakti, or jnana-shakti). Some power acts, overcoming the resistance of samsara, astrology, and karma. This is nonsense, but it acts very cumulatively, producing a great effect in this world. There are lila-Avatars — those who simply amuse themselves and bless the world of people through their amusements.
Vidya-maya is the art of controlled illusion, managed illusion, or abiding in conscious illusion, when an Avatar, possessing complete knowledge (or even not an Avatar, but a siddha or jnani), pretends as if he supports all the illusions of the world of people. But he supports them without identifying with them, and he has a certain strategy. That is, he does not merely support the illusions of the world of people; he leads people in a certain direction. He shows them the path to Liberation in their own state. The question is: why support them at all, why not say, “Abandon your illusions and set out on the path, accept the Symbol of Faith and practice”? If people were told this, they would not even listen. It is necessary; it is such a subtle tactic, which is called “the skillful means of the awakened.”
For example, I heard that in India there is some person in the government, an official at the level of deputy minister, who is considered an incarnation of Dattatreya. He is called Guruji. He smokes cigarettes, he is guarded by security with assault rifles, he has his own cabinet, an office in the government. And yet he is considered an Avatar of Dattatreya. Perhaps not a full one, but a part (amsha). He is performing some secret seva of his own. I thought: “Well, Dattatreya can amuse himself in different ways. If he wants, he can be like that too — an Indian official with a cigar. He is fond of various tricks. He can give people blessings and awakening through different methods.” All of this is vidya-maya. That is, vidya-maya is the art of maintaining conscious illusion, pretending that you are not awakened.
When many inexperienced and proud spiritual seekers enter the path, there is another point: they pretend as if they are awakened. Pride wants to show this. Rajneesh Osho had a disciple who, as soon as he left Rajneesh in Rajneeshpuram, created a commune somewhere in Europe, gathered people there, and began to teach them. But Osho laughed at him and said: “No, he is not awakened.” This disciple claimed that he was awakened, but as soon as Osho came to visit him, he admitted that he was not awakened and at the same time said: “Well, Guru, there is such a great desire to be awakened.” Osho laughed at him. This is vidya-maya in reverse, when there is a desire to create the image of an awakened one.
But truly awakened beings, on the contrary, conceal their awakened state in order to help people within their conditions. Because if they manifest their awakened state, it is impossible to help them; otherwise people will not accept it. It is like with children. When adults play with children in order to establish psychological contact with them, they must descend to their level, speak with them in their language, so as to win them over somehow. If an adult starts speaking to children in an adult language, the children will be bored and uninterested. Every psychologist knows this. And Avatars use vidya-maya, speaking with people as with children, in their language, using their concepts.
Seeing God in Everything — Ramakrishna’s Experience
“Alas, the ignorant person does not understand this, although Awareness is present in every cell of his body. One who sees that Consciousness is everything enjoys infinite bliss.”
When Ramakrishna was once worshiping in the temple of Mother Kali, he suddenly had a flash of awakening, experienced the state of samadhi, and saw God in every thing, in every object. He had flowers for puja, which he offered during arati. He took these flowers and began scattering them in all directions, because if God is in everything, then puja must be performed for everything.
Usually, when we make an offering, God is localized for us in a specific deity. It does not occur to us to perform puja to a little table, a speaker, a sofa, the walls, or a person entering. We say: “This is a form of God; it has such-and-such qualities. It has one hundred and eight names, it has one thousand and eight names, there is a Gayatri, a seed syllable, a Gita, a kavacha, holy places, mythology, the history of its origin, and its own scriptures.” But a glass, a speaker, or a sofa has neither a Gita, nor a kavacha, nor a seed syllable, nor mythology, nor temples, nor devotees. Every deity has its own temples and devotees, but they have nothing. How can they be God?” And it does not occur to us to throw flowers to them, but Ramakrishna saw this; his mind opened wide in nirvikalpa-, savikalpa-, or sahaja-samadhi. He began offering flowers to everything that was around.
And when we perform upasana, when we perform puja, we worship the deity, but we imply that the energy of this deity and its consciousness are spread throughout everything, and we meditate on this all-pervading consciousness.
Question: “Guruji, in that case, did Ramakrishna see God in himself, that is, himself in the role of God?”
Yes, he did. He saw that too. He said: “Today I saw many forms of God. One of them is before you.”
When Ramakrishna wanted to go to Vrindavan, he thought that everyone there was in ecstasy over Krishna. When he came to Benares (to Varanasi), he thought that everyone there was in nirvikalpa-samadhi twenty-four hours a day. He arrived and saw that there was nothing of the sort, that all people were just like people, all ordinary, with their worldly desires. But in Vrindavan he thought: “If Chaitanya, the gopis, and Krishna were here, then there must be holy energies here,” and he began to pray. And when he was sailing in a boat, he saw two very beautiful youths; they were Chaitanya and his companion. They were moving toward him, very beautiful, with golden bodies. He shouted to them and raised his hands. And when they entered his body, he entered samadhi, lost consciousness, and fell from the boat. Another time, when he came to Varanasi (to Benares), he saw at the cremation grounds how bodies were burning, corpses everywhere, and nearby a large luminous and radiant white figure with reddish matted hair was walking, carefully drawing out the souls and whispering the name of Brahman into the astral ear of each soul (giving diksha), and by means of this name the soul attained liberation. Therefore it is believed that one who leaves the body in Varanasi attains liberation, and many Hindus come specially to leave the body in Varanasi.
Seven Stages of Spiritual Development
“This understanding is attained through the study of scriptures and in the company of the wise. This is the first step. Reflection and questioning are the second. Non-attachment, or psychological freedom, is the third.”
“Psychological freedom” is not quite the correct translation. “Psycho” means soul. Vairagya is not psychological freedom. It is precisely freedom from the movements of the soul. Western psychology, by the word freedom, means freedom of self-expression for the soul, freedom for the ego. That is, the modern free person with his rights, developed democracy, freedom of creativity and self-expression is its ideal. But Western people have not even dreamed of the level of freedom spoken of by the Eastern sages. What does freedom, as understood in the West, represent? It is anava-marga, anava-yoga, developed ahamkara, the freedom to satisfy desires, the freedom to constantly expand the list of desires and satisfy them. But in reality this is a certain kind of slavery, only more subtle.
Freedom in the Vedanta tradition, in the tradition of the siddhas, is the freedom to transcend the soul, to purify the soul. It is freedom from the soul itself, because by soul we mean the subtle body, manas, ahamkara, buddhi — the antahkarana, the entire inner instrument. Freedom implies that we free ourselves from the soul itself and soar in the dimension of turiya, and then use the soul as an illusory instrument, as an illusory body in the capacity of energy (shakti). Such is freedom in Brahman. But if the soul is not mature, if it has not yet traversed the path of the antahkarana, has not developed the ego, manas, and buddhi, that is, if anava-marga has not been completed, then freedom in Brahman is not possible for it; it simply will not be able to make use of it. It will get lost in this freedom and lose awareness. This will be jada-samadhi.
One Western man studied various Vedantic scriptures, and then heard that some mahatmas can grant liberation with a single touch. And he imagined such a device; he said: “I picture some kind of chair like a dentist’s chair, with many wires. Any person lies down in it, and liberation can be given to him simply by connecting terminals to the brain and directing a certain energy there. Then every monkey could also be made liberated.” That is how he reasoned. But this is impossible, because a monkey’s antahkarana has not been created at the proper level, it has no qualities, and the subtle structures of consciousness have not been cultivated. And even if a saint lays his hand on it, it will receive shaktipat and enter samadhi. But what kind of samadhi will it be? The pranas will enter the sushumna, but it will be jada-samadhi (dark samadhi), because the higher subtle levels of consciousness will not be realized. Anava-marga must be traversed.
The Sixth Stage — the Causal Body and Jagrat-Sushupti
“The fourth is the breaking of the bonds of tendencies and conditionings. Happiness from realization is the fifth step; here a person lives as if in a half-sleep. Self-Realization is the sixth step, in which the sage is immersed in an ocean of bliss and lives as though in a state of deep sleep.”
The sixth step of Self-Realization means that the causal world, the causal body (buddhi), dreamless sleep, has become accessible. And when we train in Shambhavi-mudra, Mahashanti, Atma-vichara, we are striving precisely to open and make accessible the causal body, the causal world, and to become established in a state of contemplative awareness without boundaries, limitations, or concepts. All this is called niralambha meditation or amanaska-yoga. Such a state is also called jnana sagara (the ocean of wisdom). One who has reached this sixth stage realizes: “No one comes and no one goes; I do not come and I do not go, because infinite consciousness permeates everything, does not depend on geography, and does not stand still.” The body moves, the samskaras of the subtle body move, but the infinite consciousness of the causal body in dreamless sleep has nowhere to move and has no one who would move; it abides as immovable being.
Take, for example, being, space (and infinite consciousness in dreamless sleep is closest to space): can we say that the space from one box, if we bring a box here, has moved and entered this place? Space, the emptiness inside the box, is something motionless, something separate from the box itself. Can it be said that the space inside some box can be destroyed or that it can be released? These are only our illusions. It can neither be destroyed nor released; it is always the same, always one and the same.
We do not create space; we cannot even influence it in any way. But we can discover it, we can see it. To forget it or to discover it is within our power. And the process of discovering, while awake, the infinite space corresponding to dreamless sleep (sushupti) is precisely the process of discovering natural awareness. When it reaches its culmination, this is called turiya. But before you reach jagrat-turiya, what must you pass through? Through jagrat-sushupti; all monks know this.
Jagrat-sushupti means that while awake you are, as it were, in dreamless sleep. But you are not asleep; you are adequate. It is not that someone addresses you and you are absent: “I am actually in dreamless sleep!” No, in jagrat-sushupti you must be able to speak, laugh, move, manifest will, perform any logical operations, have developed intellect, memory, logic, clarity, a sense of humor, adequacy, and the ability to communicate. But at the same time, against this background, you have the experience of a much subtler consciousness, and it is not obscured by your conceptual activity, your goal-setting, communication, bodily actions, or will. This is jagrat-sushupti. If it were a static state possible only in meditation, then we would not speak at all of the path of sahaja, the path of the natural state, the path of integrating contemplative presence in action. But that is precisely more of a tendency toward pralaya-kala.
One Master came and saw a disciple sitting in meditation. This Master asked: “What have you learned while I was away?” The disciple sat with a straight back and remained sitting for a long time without moving. The Master said: “Well, you have learned to sit well, like a stone idol, like a stone statue. But have you learned to do the same in movement?” Jagrat-sushupti is when you can abide in a state similar to space beyond thoughts, while at the same time manifesting activity and movement. This is the path of self-liberation.
Self-Liberation in Action
Thanks to abiding in the inner center, your activity is naturally liberated at the moment it arises. There are three levels of such release. Thoughts arise and are immediately liberated either like snowflakes falling into the ocean, or instantly, like a snake (when it is coiled, it strikes in such a way that all its coils are instantly untied), or like a thief sneaking into an empty house, for whom there are no obstacles. Words and actions manifest, and they also self-liberate because you abide in a state similar to the sky. This is jagrat-sushupti. There is not a single action that is not liberated. Whatever you do, everything is self-liberated. There is not a single perception that is not liberated. Whatever you see, hear, lick, smell, or touch, everything is self-liberated. That is, it does not penetrate your consciousness, it does not reach it, it leaves no sediment in your soul, because within you there is a universal solvent.
About ten years ago I once spoke about “Aqua Regia.” There is such a concept in chemistry; probably everyone knows it. Sulfuric and hydrochloric acid are mixed, and this mixture can dissolve anything whatsoever. This is called “Aqua Regia.” And the natural state, if it is concentrated and strong, is like “Aqua Regia”: whatever is thrown into it dissolves; whatever you perceive dissolves. This is self-liberation, because liberation from perception occurs through abiding in one’s natural nature. And to abide in one’s natural nature means to abide in one’s causal body, at the very least.
Abiding in the Causal Body
You cannot create the causal body, invent it, or deny it. Of course, you can, but that solves nothing; you already have it. Just as you have a heart, a liver, and a spine, you also have a causal body, and this is your natural nature. There is nothing fantastic here, nothing unusual; it is inherent in you by nature.
But the question is how to transfer perception into the causal body. And when you have received direct introduction and work with contemplation, such perception is transferred sooner or later. But it must be transferred in the waking state. At least, one should not immediately strive to transfer it during life; there may be difficulties. It is useful to experience it in meditation for some time, and then one must come out. Because if one enters samadhi for twenty-one days, life may end if it is not continuously nourished. There is life in the body, there is prana in the body, therefore one must come out of samadhi, one must support life, movement, and activity, but the memory and experience received in the causal body must be brought into this world, into action, into service. This is the state of jagrat-svapna. One must remain in this natural state in everyday life.
Confirmation of the Stage of Conception
Self-liberation means that you abide in the causal body as in your natural nature. It is from here (from jagrat-svapna) that sahaj samadhi begins. And when the Guru gives confirmation to a disciple at the stage of conception, he confirms jagrat-svapna for him. And if this is the conception of a high state, then it may even be jagrat-turya.
The Guru does not give confirmation when a disciple says: “I had samadhi in svapna when I was sitting with my eyes closed, not moving and not thinking, but now it has gone.” The Guru says: “No, no, that is not it. Neti-neti.” Or the disciple says: “I was in transcendent consciousness, outside the body, beyond waking, dream sleep, and dreamless sleep. The great turiya opened to me!” The Guru asks: “And where is it now?” “And now it has gone.” The Guru says: “No, no, that is not it. Neti-neti.”
The confirmation of the stage of conception is different: it is when it is present at this very moment, in these circumstances, in this situation, in this conversation—you do not forget, you remember God. That is, by means of this state you realize pratyaksha-advaita—direct experience of non-duality. You are in God at this very moment. This is what “here and now” is.
Everyone says “here and now.” Go into any shop that sells New Age goods, and they will tell you “here and now.” But who understands what it is? It is hridayam; it is an expression from the tantras, an expression of the saints, which has simply become fashionable slang. At the very least, it is abiding in jagrat-svapna. It is not such a simple thing. For the sake of this, people perform great tapasya, train themselves for years, do seva, sadhana, and perform samadhi. This is jagrat-svapna.
From this arises the ability for self-liberation. That is, self-liberation then happens naturally. You do not need to do anything; you simply need to remain, because the causal body possesses the natural, innate ability to liberate everything. It is as if you have a torch in your hand: you do not need to do anything; when something flies toward the fire, it burns up by itself, because the nature of the torch is to burn everything. Everything happens by itself, but you must be vigilant so that the torch does not go out. Only in this sense is vigilance needed. Therefore, this is self-liberation.
Question: “And who abides in the causal body? Is buddhi or ahamkara gathered at the level of the causal body?”
Your perception abides at the level of the causal body. Ahamkara is lower. Buddhi perceives the causal body. Therefore, partially, yes. But in general, it is your perception. And your perception is something difficult to define, because it can be in buddhi, in ahamkara, or anywhere at all. That is, it is consciousness that can be cast into any form. Every person is indefinable in his perception. The Atman is indefinable. It seems that it can be defined, but these are all frameworks into which we drive ourselves through identifications: I am Russian, I am a man, I have a body, I have such-and-such a memory. All of these are labels that gradually fall away if we practice self-liberation.
The Wisdom of the Saints and Self-Surrender
Therefore, in the minds of saints there are no complex constructions, no loaded concepts, no dead-end situations; they easily untie all problems with a single snap of the fingers. Why? Because they abide in the causal body, and there is neither the problem there, nor the one who experiences it, nor the process of becoming aware of the problem itself; there are only sat, chit, and ananda. In the causal body it is perceived as ananda, but not yet deeply, not completely to the end; whereas in turiya it is perceived in absolute, triumphant fullness.
Therefore, saints very easily unravel people’s problems simply by abiding in such a causal state and connecting their state with theirs. Another question is that people cannot always make use of this advice or attune to their bhava, because their minds are strong and their karma is still vibrating very intensely. They need time for their karmas to quiet down a little, and they need simply to remain in such a presence for some time, or to practice this themselves.
Self-surrender means that, while abiding in this causal state, they give themselves to it completely. But at the same time, wise control and guidance must be present, so as not to become pralaya-kalas, not to lose action in the view or contemplation, and not to lose contemplation in the view. That is, there can be very many subtle nuances here. This is the art of natural awareness. This is the maintenance of jagrat-svapna. This is nididhyasana; this is the stage of gestation, which comes after the stage of conception.
The Process of Nididhyasana and the Dissolution of Karmas
If you wisely maintain jagrat-svapna in everyday life, then jagrat-turya will come. Not immediately, but gradually; this state must be carried through. Nididhyasana is a lengthy process, because many karmas have to be dissolved. In your subtle body, in the ahamkara, various old causes that you have created will surface, different moods (bhavas), various desires. The subtle body will continue to reveal different possibilities, to stir up different energies and desires. But if you abide in jagrat-svapna, in the causal body, then they arise and dissolve.
Ramakrishna said that he deliberately kept one or two desires. He had no desires at all, but in order to interact with people and live in this world, he deliberately kept one or two desires or invented them. That is, if there is no desire, then one must invent it so that there is some attachment to this body, to this world. But inside a true yogi, in reality, there are no desires at all.
Many saints deliberately keep certain desires in order to be reborn, to help disciples, to live long. And what kind of desires are these? Mainly it is seva (service), that is, the desire to spread the Dharma, the desire to help disciples, the desire to build temples, to preach. Pure desires should be retained. Therefore everyone should generate certain subtle and pure desires, for example: “I wish to spread the Dharma. I wish to preach the Dharma. I wish to serve God. I wish to build temples. I wish to write books or publish sacred texts.” Create such subtle spiritual desires that will help rather than hinder.
The Seventh Jnana-bhumi
“The seventh step is transcendental; it is Liberation itself. In it there is beautiful unity and purity, and beyond that it is utterly indescribable.”
This is the description of the jnana-bhumikas, as you have understood, in the “Yoga Vasistha.” There are seven lands of wisdom. And the seventh jnana-bhumi is called turya or turyaga, when the fourth state—turya—is experienced. This state of turya has eight levels, and they are called nijananda, nirananda, sahajananda, jagadananda, and so on. But for now we will not speak about them.
Shiva Prabhakara Siddha Yogi Shri Guru Brahmananda Avadhuta ki—jai!
Shri Guru Swami Vishnudevananda Giriji ki—jai!
