True Freedom

“A sober person who can tolerate the urge to speak, the mind's demands, the flashes of anger and the urges of the tongue, belly and genitals is really qualified to educate the disciples all over the world”

“The Nectar of Instruction” (Upadeshamrita) Verse 1

The Vedic Rishis (the wise’ seers’ of the Vedas) were not only mystic poets, they were experts of the deep knowledge of the mind; these sages widely observed and experimented all the psychic functions of the human being. The rishis could clearly see that the so-called spontaneousness of the human being with the ordinary level of consciousness is just a satisfaction of the conditionings, imposed by one's mind; therefore, in an ultimate analysis, it is the exact opposite of a free, healthy and spontaneous attitude. In order to make free decisions without being affected by conditionings and attachments, a person has to conquer the six urges mentioned above.

Only then a progressive realization of the Self will take place, so that the individual will be able to reach the pure feeling of Love for God. In order to overcome obstacles and to achieve high levels of awareness, one should proceed with a harmonious transformation of personality, along with well pondered choices. Such choices are the result of wisely coordinated and constant efforts, so as to allow the passage from human understanding of things to the spiritual awareness and protection, until a complete development of the most elevated qualities of the Soul.

If we learn to re-direct passionate egoistic feelings and emotions towards spiritual goals, they will enhance a propensity to inner evolution and will lead to a supreme bliss of Bhakti and Love in freedom.

Remembering Shrila Prabhupada

 PART II

Due to God's mercy, Shrila Prabhupada was able to undertake the adventurous and difficult missions to satisfy the desire of his Guru Maharaja. He knew how to deal with risks, dangers, loneliness, sickness and temptations... Krishna blessed Shrila Prabhupada with such a success that, while originally owning nothing, his movement gradually reached a huge development, comparable to that of the richest and most envied companies, but even so Shrila Prabhupada remained always the person of the great inner qualities: no pride, no arrogance, no material ambitions or futile interests. He was exactly the same person when He went, with only 40 rupees in his pocket, to America, always dedicated to love for Krishna and for all creatures. Shrila Prabhupada had many talents, he was versatile, with great skills, but He was first and foremost a pure Devotee of the Lord.
He loved everyone, because in Shrila Prabhupada's opinion everyone was a potential devotee. He had always the same mood and the same tone of voice, sometimes He got vibrant, speaking with strong words, sometimes He reprimanded, sometimes He praised, sometimes He was moved, but His interest was always to improve the understanding of the devotees, their health, the image of the Movement. We must unmask the so fashionable artificial way to see an Acarya as detached from everyone and everything. Prabhupada was very interested in the success of the various services, he cared about everything working and running the best way, thus satisfying Krishna and encouraging the spiritual elevation of so many people.
Spiritual life does not mean a cold, detached attitude towards the world, we cannot live without relations, without affection, without empathy, without love. We just have to be careful to those we direct these feelings to. We should not prioritize what calls on the material level, but strive to fulfill our spiritual desires that represent our true essence. Prabhupada had Krishna in His heart and He was always thinking of what he could say or do to bring people closer to God. Krishna had a special relationship with Shrila Prabhupada who had a special relationship with Krishna: this was visible in every activity He had undertaken, either in those particular moments when, for example, He took the initiative to modify a service that maybe was stagnating, or when in the last days of life in this world He was brought in front of the Divinities on a palanquin because He was in a condition of extreme physical weakness and He could no longer walk. In every circumstance Shrila Prabhupada has proved to be a pure devotee of Krishna.
When I read the Bhagavad-gita, chapter twelve, shloka 13 to 20, I see Shrila Prabhupada. I have known many lovely devotees, but Prabhupada is the model for me.
Prabhupada was always connected to Krishna and helped everyone to offer their talents and energies to the service of the Lord.
The most beautiful part of Shrila Prabhupada is his being so devoted!
He was good at many things: a very good cook, a grammarian, a great preacher, a prominent philosopher and scholar; He was expert in playing music and in offering praise to the Lord, but His main feature was the pure and ardent devotion to God and His constant commitment to the spiritual education, in order to help others to become pure devotees of the Lord. Great it was, and surely still is, the satisfaction of Shrila Prabhupada to see people take seriously the path of Bhakti. And this satisfaction is the source of strength to all those devotees who carry Shrila Prabhupada in their heart.
Despite the apparent departure the Acarya lives forever with us, if we live with Him. As Satsvarupa Maharaja says in his book: "He lives forever ..."

Remembering Shrila Prabhupada

PART I

In the sacred occasion of the departure of Bhaktivedanta Swami Shrila Prabhupada, we pray Shri Krishna to empower us with strength so that we could carry in our hearts the example of His extraordinary life, character, deeds and works forever. Those who were able to witness His life and teachings, had the greatest luck to testify the changes in their lives and in the lives of so many people.

These transformations are the great events from which we can draw an inexhaustible inspiration: Shrila Prabhupada gave us the opportunity to live in the spiritual awareness. The path traced by Him is followed by hundreds of thousands of people, and the most favored are those who welcomed Him in the heart, dedicating their service to the realization of His dream, that is make available the love of God to as many people as possible regardless of race, creed, culture, social position, politics or religion.

36 years ago Shrila Prabhupada left His physical body and this material world to return to where He came from, the spiritual universe. We pray Bhagavan Shri Krishna to give us the purity to be able to celebrate His glories properly. By celebrating His glories we become aware of his greatness, and becoming aware of the greatness of a pure devotee of the Lord, we can experience the greatness of God. In this way, practicing the nine paths of Bhakti, we can realize our divine nature and become purified from the distortions of psychic structure and its conditionings.

We take this special opportunity to increase our sincere attachment to the lotus feet of Shrila Prabhupada, to humbly serve His teachings and His way of life so as to bring us closer to Him and to Shri Krishna through the nine paths of love mentioned before.

Shrila Prabhupada allowed hundreds of thousands of people to transform their lives by changing their vision, allowing them to get rid of the identification with the material structure that covers their eternal Self. Shrila Prabhupada gave the possibility to understand the difference between the spiritual Self, the body and the mind and to realize the divine potential of each person regardless of age, gender, social status and culture. The term Acarya means exemplary. Through His example and model of life, Shrila Prabhupada made the teachings of the Shastras feasible.

A person can take the Bhagavad-gita, read some sublime passages and reflect: "How nice it would be to live like that, but who is able to? I would not be capable of doing that for sure." We need a model, an example, there must be someone who lives the teachings of the Bhagavad-gita constantly, faithfully, coherently, and joyfully. The sacred work becomes a person, and the highest aspirations become applicable in our lives. It is exactly what happened to all of us. Why? Because Shrila Prabhupada experienced Bhakti so intensely and joyfully, no matter what life presented to Him in terms of ordeals, difficulties and obstacles to overcome. His relying on Krishna at all times without ever becoming fatalistic allowed this great Acarya to live in this world in pure spiritual consciousness. Faith is not a fatalism, it is an evolutionary creativity for searching the best solution for the existential problems; if we direct our efforts towards the spiritual evolution with commitment and faith, such solution will appear as Paramatma in the heart, as well as through the expert guidance of the Spiritual Master in the outer world.

The Great Departure.

Dear devotees, please accept my obeisances;

All glories to Shrila Prabhupada and Shri Shri Radha Govinda Deva.

Jaya Shri Shri Nityananda Gauranga!

Jaya Shri Jagannath, Shri Baladeva, Subhadra Maharani Shrimati!

I hope to find you in good health and spiritually inspired.

Some days ago my dear disciple - Omkrishna Mataji - left the body and this mortal world and headed for the supreme eternal abode of Shri Krishna.

The two sons, daughters in law and grandchildren attended to her all the time in high spiritual consciousness, lovingly and with devotion.

Besides being herself a sincere devotee, Omkrishna Mataji had the great blessing in this life to live in a family of special devotees, all of them very dear to me.

One of her sons was next to her at the very moment she passed away, and has accompanied and sustained her by chanting uninterruptedly the Holy Names.

My most fervent prayers go to this disciple so dear to me, who was always cheerful, playful and joyful, who was so moved every time we met, and I’m also asking you to pray for her too.

I pray she can soon play happily in the company of Lord Krishna and His eternal companions and friends.

With deep emotion,

Matsyavatara dasa

School of Life: How to Learn from Good and from Evil.

The Sacred Texts tell us that without receiving mercy from the Spiritual Master and from the Supreme God it's impossible to overcome for good the egoistic attachment toward mundane things. In order to succeed, not only we need to have received divine benevolence, we must have kept it too.

In which way we can receive mercy? Firstly by seeking it ardently, and behaving consequently, by dedicating ourselves with diligence and faith to spiritual practices and so awaken Love and Awareness.

And in which way we can keep it? By offering it to others. Then and only then, through constant and coherent efforts toward achieving Bhakti in our lifespan, we will be increasingly able to discriminate reality from illusion, the essence from appearance, the eternal from ephemeral.

Mice see the cheese but not the trap. In the same way conditioned souls see the promises of pleasure in this world's things, but hardly can understand that this pleasure hides a trap. A mortal trap.

How to be detached from the world and its overwhelming beauties? How can we resist when we see something appealing, pleasing, good smelling and shining? We should think about it in connection to God. It is difficult to deny this world; the more we deny it the more we are attracted to it, risking to become hypocrites who refuse the world's attractions outwardly while inwardly craving them (Bhagavad-gita III.6). Therefore we should not refuse this material world's beautiful things, but to use them to serve God with Love, correlating them to our spiritual origin, and living them in the vision of eternity. Accordingly, in any circumstance of our life we can connect to the Lord and to our deepest spirituality. Even bitter experiences, the biting words we received, the mistakes we made, at the end can turn into gifts, only if we can learn from the lessons they offer us. Gratitude and appreciation can permeate everybody and everything appear in this world, because we make use of every experience to get closer to God.

This gratitude can be felt and can be expressed both when we receive "good things", and when we get "bad things", being conscious that the light of the day cannot be appreciated without the night's darkness.

As you would expect, it is necessary that we learn how to discriminate between vice and virtue, between good and evil, so we can choose once far all righteousness and be firm in sattva-guna, but also we must be aware that Reality is beyond. It is that pure spiritual dimension in which mundane good and evil are transcended, and they merge in the "sommum bonum": the supreme goodness beyond duality. And supreme goodness is unconditioned pure Love that change and purify everything. Such dimension can be reached when any desire we have becomes an offering to the Lord and all our perceptions are dedicated to His service.

By living in this perspective we will find treasures around each corner, hidden in any occurrence of our life. And we will walk toward death full of gratitude because we understood that by practicing Bhakti even death leads us to life.

Why are we lonely?

The search of love usually starts with a feeling of  loneliness, it is not just a problem of physical company, rather of awareness and inner power. Loneliness originates from a fragmented psychological image which as a consequence produces a kind of separation of a person from other people, from all the creatures, from the world and its Creator.

The solution of the problem of loneliness  is not to be found in a partner, so as to compensate the fear of being alone, nor it can be found  through the greedy possession of luxury items, nor through holidays as an “escape from reality”, nor by diving into a crowd of people, nor by burning out through a job that does not bring any satisfaction, nor by following religious principles in a conservative and passive sort of way. It will work instead, by starting to love people around us sincerely, without any selfish interest, with an attitude to expand even more the circle of love – never secluded to a single exclusive species –  and in doing so gradually heal our feelings of loneliness, uncertainty and frustration.

The charming prince or the fairy with turquoise hair of the fairy tales, that will love and trust us, will unlikely appear unless we start to appreciate and love everybody else. After all  love is not something that lands on us accidentally: we experience and grow it with the attitude and the behavior of our daily life. By learning to relate with the persons around us with love, and making this mind-set a life practice - since to feel affection is a potential capability of all living beings - by practising love this quality develops and becomes an effective ability to love.

Paradoxically enough, if nowadays couple relationships do not last it is because love is not considered as a priority any more, but other aims are being focused on: useful and comfortable means like gratification of senses,  social and economical status. But love requires respect of the beloved as a spiritual essence, as a unique person; only in this way we may be able to help the others to realize their potential values, and find deep satisfaction by rediscovering and expressing the best version of themselves. For this reason love means knowing the other deeply.

Love and thus the solution of the problem of loneliness, is the ripe fruit of a conscious, active and dynamic effort towards reaching our deep self until we experience a real feeling of communion and reunion within diversity, by appreciating the peculiarities of each person, without falling in affectionate dependency or strong attachments. We can share something with the others only when we really possess it. 

Love relationship, when thoroughly experienced, reaches its height in the realization of our relationship with God, the unique source of the variety of human beings and all that exists, being the source of love itself.

Love is a universal and indispensable quid, an intrinsic  modality of the being, that must be neither denied nor repressed, rather oriented and gradually elevated towards constructive evolutionary levels. Within love, the female and male features try to unite in order to find again the fulfilment and deep satisfaction in order to integrate themselves. By reaching maturity such integration may be conceived on the individual level as well.

Shri Nityananda: The Everlasting Beatitude

In order to understand Shri Nityananda Prabhu’s image in the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition, we have to know the Avatara doctrine, which describes the way the Lord appears in this world in behalf of His spiritual energies. Shri Nityananda  Prabhu is a manifestation of compassion, of mercy and of divine love. He is the supreme Person, God himself who stepped into history and made His appearance in this world in the second half of the sixteenth century, according to the Western calendar. Like in the Shrimad Bhagavatam literature, which narrates Shri Krishna-Balarama’s adventures, in the Caitanya Caritamrita and the Caitanya Bhagavata, respectively written by Krishnadas Kaviraja Gosvami and Vrindavana das Thakur, they narrate Shri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s and Shri Nityananda Prabhu’s divine adventures.

Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu is Krishna himself, who is manifested with a special rasa, that of Shrimati Radharani. Shrimati Radharani’s love for Krishna is experienced and manifested in full by Shri Caitanya Mahaprabhu who lives in Shrimati Radharani’s rasa and that ontologically  represents the divine union between Radha and Krishna. Shrimati Radharani is endlessly and for ever in love with Krishna, the same as Shri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s love is everlasting and infinite.

Like Shri Krishna, whose brother and inseparable friend is Shri Balarama, Shri Caitanya has an inseparable friend too, whose name is Shri Nityananda. They are inseparable in the feelings of love that join them together. Shri Nityananda Prabhu would have shared Shri Caitanya Deva’s company all time long, however he had to fulfill his mission in behalf of His beloved associate: to travel from city to city in order to spread the holy name of the Lord. Therefore Nityananda, together with one of his best friends, Shrila Haridas Thakur, engaged himself completely in the diffusion of the sacred science, practising Harinama Kirtana and Harinama Sankirtana. In this way, by sharing this responsibility with other dear devotees, in this supreme mission that is the diffusion of love for God, Shri Nityananda Prabhu became one of the most dear Shri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s spiritual associates.

Like Balarama, enterprising, strong, outgoing, generous, always compassionate towards the devotees, whose manifestation was considered as one of the original spiritual Master, the same Shri Nityananda Prabhu preached the sacred science and  spread his teachings to all the people of good will, in the practice of Bhakti. 

The Help Everyone Needs

The path of spiritual evolution is marked by different phases, breakthroughs,  deviations and stagnations, falls, imprisonments and  progressive liberations.
Even the man who has testified the important improvements on the path of spiritual realization and is sincere in his intention to evolve, is still bound to make mistakes and therefore is subject to karmic conseguences due to the remaining unsolved conditionings. 
However it is at the time of crisis that a person needs our affection more than ever, needs our help through comprehension  and forgiveness in order to try once again and overcome the limits, that had been structured in the numerous past lives.
As I have been observing for decades, the persons meet a lot of difficulties along the path of evolution, and it is rare that one proceeds steadily and coherently, rather everyone makes steps backwards and forwards according to one's peculiar characteristics: the individuals most advanced in the inner growth are those who make more steps forwards than backwards.
Through their walking towards spiritual love and perfection all these souls in the prakriti world need encouragement, most of all when they are in the process of rolling back. A sincere help received at the most crucial moments of life is the best call in order to carry on along the right path.

Christmas class

By Madhavipriya Dasi

We depart for Villa Vrindavana for the lecture given every year on Christmas day by Shriman Matsyavatara Prabhu.

On the path of Villa Vrindavana a huge holm-oak has fallen down and obstructs the road. We see its gigantic roots torn-off from the dirt. In this world, even what looks so impressive and seems almost unassailable, falls down. The search for another dimension, in which to live, is such a priority that it is the only thing really important to do.

We enter the Temple and we immerse ourselves in a sweet song dedicated to Shri Krishna-Gopala. The devotees are dancing and offering prayers. The Deities are dressed in pink and blue shine of a light that is not of this world. The lecture begins.

“Today we celebrate the glories of a great devotee of the Lord, Jesus Christ, a pure son of God, a shakti-avesha avatara, as He was defined by Shrila Prabhupada. With Christ we celebrate the glories of all the pure devotees of all the authentic spiritual traditions of all languages and skin color. The common denominator of these great personalities is that they all brought a message from another world, another dimension, where there is not only peace and justice but also freedom and love. Their message is of freedom.” What does freedom mean? The Shrimad Bhagavatam explains that moksha consists of freedom from any identification with the dimension time-space sarvo upadhir vinir muktam. Our predisposition to freedom will be more or less in accordance with our way of life, sattvic or rajo-tamasic. In Bhagavad-Gita (II.25) it is explained that the spiritual soul is not contaminated, nor transformed, then what hamper our predisposition to reach heaven while we are alive? What detours us? What interrupts our march toward freedom? The conditioners of the psyche. More precisely, the ancient samskara that produce memories that generate a renewal of egotistical attachments. If the good discerning tattva viveka is not constant, where it is lacking, the good predisposition to reach heaven is interrupted and obstacle elements enter the conscience. We reach freedom only if we learn how to handle our emotions and our thoughts without depending on them any longer.

The free souls are free from resentment, rancor and other negative emotions that contaminate and paralyze the conscience, such as revenge and hate, which hamper the evolution with their presence. The capability to dominate the mind opens the door to freedom and to the best way to dominate and harmonize the mind is focalizing it on Krishna. If the psychic emotions do not attach themselves to a center, they are like planets without an orbit. This center, in religious terminology, is God, the Handsome Supreme Who has the capability to attract all the energies, and in psychological terminology the Inner-Self. The devotee puts any thought, emotion and desire at the service of the Lord. He offers to Him any action and it is in this manner that he disconnects from the dependence and influence of the psychic fields and from the consequences of his actions. This is why in Bhagavad-Gita (IX.34) He says to Arjuna:”If you meditate constantly on Me, if you act as My devotee and you offer to Me all your actions with spirit of sacrifice, if you respect Me and offer Me your prayers, and you bow in front of Me, you will obtain freedom and will come to Me.”

As Bhagavad-Gita explains in VII.14, you can overcome the influence of the gunas only if we give ourselves to God, by offering everything to Him, by founding our life on the modality of sacrifice. Sacrifice ourselves means become sacred. It is the modality of offering to God in the Bhakti spirit that allows for the consecration of the waters of the mind and makes our rapid evolution possible.

Special souls descend from the everlasting reality to give us the message of freedom, to inspire us with a divine life and immortal love. Without their teachings and their mercy we cannot relight our spiritual desire to make it Divine love. Only if we can understand their mercy, we can purify our desires, thoughts and emotions and divert them toward the research for God.”

Shriman Matsyavatara Prabhu reads and comments wonderful excerpts from Bhagavad-Gita that describe the characteristics of the freed dimension.

Moksha means freedom from death but also from birth, from suffering but also from the so called pleasure which in reality is the source of pain. In the Hindu-Vedic literature we often see the image of the wheel of samsara which produces death and rebirths. This wheel is composed of six rays: virtue and vice, pleasure and pain, attachment and repulsion.

When we act egotistically, whether in sattva guna or tamo guna, we start the wheel with the six rays where living as deva in the celestial planets or as asura in the dark planets, will always entail death and rebirth. It is why the pure devotees always speak to us of a world which is beyond the sky and the infernos, beyond the worldly goodness, beyond the cycle of deaths and rebirths.

The great stories of freedom that we find in the holy books are metaphors of that dimension that is the true purpose of those that descend from there to bring us news from that transcendent world. Transcendence is the dimension of immortal Love (Bhagavad-Gita XVIII.54).”

The attending devotees asked various questions. Freedom and transcendence are the center of our attention.

“What does living in transcendence mean and is it possible to do it while we are still in this world? Yes, at the same rate as our developed heart purity! Even a small and short experience of the transcendent reality can change our life because it allows us to experience that dimension which is pervaded by sentiments, tastes, or rasa, so fascinating that nothing else, in comparison, has value as explained by Jiva Gosvami when he commented the second verse of Bhaktirasasmrita sindhu.”

There are more questions in reference to Buddhi-yoga, analogies between Bhagavad-Gita and the Gospel, the meaning of shloka XVIII.66 of Bhagavad-Gita. We understand ever more that the teachings and life models of the pure devotees are like lighthouses in the dark night of incarnation. We can hope to proceed without incidents, by freeing ourselves from conditioners and reaching that transcendent dimension of immortal Love only in accordance to the path lightened by their teachings and life examples.

Nature of the Mind in Indovedic Psychology

By Matsyavatara Dasa

ABSTRACT

Indovedic psychology does not reduce the science of psychology to neuro-physiology because it recognizes the existence of a reality beyond the body and the mind - the conscious subject - who experiences through the psychological and physical instruments. This deep and unchangeable self, situated beyond space and time, is the real reference point of cognitive experience. Perception, reflection and elaboration of data is enabled by the consciousness function of atman, which utilizes the mind as its organ of action. Mind, therefore, is not a reality having its own independent existence: it is not a subject but rather an object.

In order for the Western public to conduct a serious study on the nature and origin of the mind in Indovedic Psychology, they must first of all take into consideration the roots of this science, which go deep into the rich and vast philosophical universe of India, containing innumerable power-ideas and universal symbols that powerfully stimulate the imagination and creativity of human beings.

Generally lectures and texts meant to popularize the philosophical and psychological aspects of Indovedic civilization depict only the externals of phenomena, which are not observed, studied and described in great detail.

Because such cursory treatment is frequently misleading, we feel a strong duty to present the topic in depth. Also, due to such inaccurate and incomplete information this fascinating heritage hasn't been successfully integrated in the Western cultural, leaving the Western public mostly unaware of the immense heritage of Indian culture in the fields of psychology, philosophy, religion and sociology.

Prejudice, colonialist bias, outright falsification and the other Euro centric clichés from the 18th century which generated the vast majority of the Indology texts (even recent ones), are now crumbling under the blows of modern scientific research.

Several new findings combined with the diminished justifications for exploitative attitudes increasingly reveal the genuine culture of India; not only as one that hails from antiquity, but as great civilization in its own right in both substance and destination. Furthermore, it is revealed that this culture has developed with the aim of reactivating and cultivating within each individual the essential strength and introspective talents, and powers of self knowledge and self transformation that lay dormant within. Regrettably, because of successful affirmation of the manipulation and technological and financial control from the West, these powers and functions have been neglected and have long since been forgotten.

However, the same overpowering and subtle influence of man on things, and of man on man, is again opening, even tragically, the painful wound of insufficient answers to the existential needs. Having lost awareness of our own real self in the dense mists of ignorance, and neglected our duty to find the purpose of life, we are at risk of throwing our contemporary society in an ever-spreading neurosis.

The science of psychology in Vedic India, most probably the first of its kind in the history of humanity, offers knowledge and methods that: concretely and efficiently help the harmonious development of the personality, fully integrate all aspects of consciousness, reconcile opposites, and harmonize the subconscious elements of the self. Furthermore, the amalgamation of the elements of Indovedic psychological understanding leads to the creation of an integrated, fruitful, and totally satisfactory connection between: feelings and thoughts, intuition and reason, deep subconscious issues and operational rationality, leading to the solid and ultimately fulfilling experience of realizing one's relationship with the higher planes of existence.

We are not dealing here with some abstract descriptive formulation, independent from the people who express it and those who may eventually use it. On the contrary, it is a practical living philosophy, which is made all the more sensible if the recipient is able to receive it with the intention of broadening his own awareness.

In the ancient Indian tradition, each science is considered not a separate discipline, but rather as a part that is strictly interconnected with all the other parts, in a universal project, an organic and integrated program of learning and education, aimed at the development and growth of the human being on all anthropological levels. Therefore each science contributes the maximum benefits when it is studied and applied in synergy with the others. Traditionally, it is understood that only this type of knowledge can give that complete picture of man and the world necessary for a balanced and fully conscious life.

Generally the Westerner tends to focus his attention outside himself, and therefore, although he has become expert in analysing with precision and completeness the phenomena of the objective reality, still remains quite ignorant in the study of his own self and of his inner reality.

Experimental sciences offer an important contribution in the field of perception by providing sophisticated instruments for observation and research, enabling us to probe the phenomenal and trace out the laws governing it. However, modern scientific research (especially quantum physics) has already demonstrated how much the observation of reality and reality itself also depend on the consciousness of the observer, on the viewpoint he has developed.

In order to make our research more reliable, therefore, it is necessary to study not only the object, but the subject too - and even more carefully than the object. We need to analyse the subtle functions of his mind and body, and understand the nature of his deep and unchanging self.

In this regard, the Indovedic texts offer an inestimable heritage of knowledge that can integrate the acquisition of today's objective disciplines with a science that is extremely ancient and yet surprisingly modern. They explain in depth the dynamics of the inner world, of which external reality usually is a projection, by using an effective method, successfully tested for thousands of years, for the development of the perceptive instruments and the elevation of consciousness. In facts, the ancient Indian culture and specifically the tradition of Yoga offer the most ancient school of psychology, capably describing the nature and functions of the psyche with accuracy, using a scientific system and specific language, and in such detail that even modern psychology will be greatly benefitted.

According to the Vedas the mind is an object rather than a subject; it is the “filter” used by the conditioned being to see the world. Defined as “internal sense”, the mind has a key role in determining the quality of the existence of every individual, because it is the operative center which directs each action. The quality of mental health determines the quality of perception, and hence the quality of behaviour and life, too. Vedic literature explains that neither time nor space are absolute realities, since they are lived individually according to specific modalities. Phenomena like old age, death, relationships between persons, and between persons and things are therefore connected to subjective states of consciousness. The study of the object should therefore be conducted together with the study of the subject and instruments of perception, exactly because perception and representation of the world depend on the forma mentis of the observer.

Traditional Indian thought (except for the Advaita-vedanta system) does not raise doubts on the objectivity and reality of the world, but states that our mental images are one of its components, and quite real in themselves as well.

The objects and their corresponding images may not be identical, but are certainly very strictly related, since they are parts of the same process of structuring things.

Indovedic psychology does not reduce the science of psychology to neuro-physiology as is the tendency of some modern psychology schools. This they do generally by negating the specific reality of the psyche in relationship to the reality of the body, and equating the cognition product with a structure that can be reduced to the activity of the nervous system. This then is considered to correspond to physical and biological laws, which are constructible according to objective and experimental parameters. According to Indovedic psychology the psychic objects (ideas, thoughts, images, emotions, feelings, etc) are not less real and tangible than the physical ones. They are characterized by their own structure and function and can be studied through a methodology that is different from the methods used for tangible bodies and consists mainly in the epistemological method named pratyaksha and based on sense perception.

Modern schools of psychology do not interpret the individual psychic process in a theoretical environment based on the materialism-positivism duality, but Indovedic psychological science is different because it recognizes the existence of a reality beyond the body and the mind - the living force, or the conscious subject - who is experiencing the acts of seeing, thinking, feeling etc, through the psychological and physical instruments.

This deep and unchangeable me, situated beyond space and time, simply defined as the self by the ancient sages, is the real reference point of the cognitive experience. This self is described, in different contexts, with the definitions of atman, purusha or jiva; all these names indicate the living entity: the spiritual self, or the real subject of perception, who is capable to give light to the intellect, vitality and consciousness to the body.

In Indian psychology, the mind (just like the body) is constituted of material energy (prakriti), that has a particular and more subtle nature than the gross physical elements. Western psychology on the other hand identifies the mind (when its specific structure is recognized) as the subject of cognitive experience, and gives no consideration to the existence of an unchangeable self (spirit soul) as the place of consciousness and the “center of gravity” of the personality.

According to the Vaishnava Vedanta the consciousness, which is one of the three main attributes of the spiritual self or atman, can be altered by substances or psycho-physical forces (while the spiritual being cannot, as his intrinsic nature always remain unchangeable), but it cannot be explained in material terms as if it were a bio-chemical product. It is the consciousness that produces bio-chemicals, and not the other way around.

Thus perception, reflection and elaboration of data is enabled by this function of atman, whose main attributes include consciousness and which utilizes the mind as its organ of action. Mind, therefore, is not a reality having its own independent existence: it is not a subject but rather an object.

Together with the body, the mind is a very sophisticated and powerful instrument that a human being can utilize to know himself and evolve. However, as with all instruments, if not used in the correct way it can be badly damaged, with serious consequences to the individual personality.

The classic texts on Yoga, and in general on the Indovedictradition, emphatically state that a human being must learn to manage and utilize the psychic instrument, take full control of it and direct it in order to facilitate the acquisition of the deepest possible knowledge of oneself and the world.

In order to properly utilize and even to cure the mind, we must first of all know it deeply, understanding its structure, functioning, extraordinary faculties and limitations. To do that, the essential thing is not identifying with it. When the subject misidentifies his own psycho-physical instruments of thought and action as the self, he thus loses awareness of his own original individuality, who is spiritual in nature. As a consequence, the being becomes more and more alienated from his real self, and enters in a state of deep confusion and depression.

Indovedicliterature explains the psychological mechanism that misidentifies consciousness with the sum total of one's psychic contents and with the body, manifesting the ahamkara, the sense of ego or the reflected and conditioned consciousness.

The ahamkara constitutes the first stage of the personality splitting, and subsequently the field of consciousness becomes isolated and limited to the body and mind, thereby losing its original integrity¹.

In the Indovedic  traditional understanding, the study of the mind cannot be separated from the study of the self²; in facts the psychic component and even the physical component can only be effectively and permanently healed in the context of the development of a deep awareness or spiritual consciousness.

The mental field is somewhat primary with respect to the physical body and works as kind of a map from where the body receives its structural references. The Indovedic psychology explains the dynamic connection between the mental images, the energetic field and the physical body. In the science of Yoga, rupa is the level (bhumi) of the form. This includes the mental form and also the psycological one³, on which the physical body depends. The rupa level itself depends on a superior reality level called vibhuti⁴.

Vedic literature and many experiences of life demonstrate that the discipline of Yoga not only stops the degenerative processes, but even begins the regeneration and the healing process. Yoga and Ayurveda teach that healing is started by the individual himself, therefore they encourage the active participation of the patient, whose willing cooperation, behaviour and positive attitude are essential. The pharmacologic treatment is used only in extreme cases, as it has frequent and unwanted collateral effects.

According to Indovedic psychology, real success does not mean producing “normal people”. It means helping people to free themselves from identifications and conditionings, even from those considered “normal ones”, which in reality constitute the worst among illusions and slavery. Often it has been demonstrated that the so-called “normality” is not a synonymous of health, but it is a precarious psychophysical equilibrium itself, often sustained by medication. Obsessions and phobias, depressions, mild and chronicle manias, learned incapability, selective blindness, search for frustrating and traumatic relationships are syndromes that we don’t notice simply because the majority of people are affected by them.

Treatment of the being on all anthropological levels, including the level of the spiritual self, rarely considered in therapies practiced by mainstream medicine, allows the individual to gradually recover awareness of his own deep individuality, which remains always unaltered even in case of serious pathologies of the body-mind system, as it is ontologically characterized by an intrinsic harmony and well being, transcending time and space.

Even in a case where the treatment wasn't completely successful due to the seriousness of the initial condition, it can continue to produce effects in the subsequent life or lives. In this sense the soul's immortality and transmigration constitute a concrete and satisfying answer to many existential questions. In the Indovedic  perspective indeed, not even death can compromise the continuity of experience and individual consciousness.

However, the author does not intend to diminish the value of Western psychology, but rather to present the opportunity and possibility to operate a new synthesis between knowledge and experiencs of East and West, to attain a dynamic integration that comprises the entire anthropological sphere and contributes to a higher harmony between man and man, and between man and Nature.

Our wish is to overcome the anachronistic oppositions as the East-West concept, precisely. Knowledge is an universal patrimony, and the more it becomes integrated, the more it will be capable to give man the answers he needs.

References

- Akhilananda, S. (1953). Hindu Psychology.

- Barrow, J.D. e Tipler, F.J. (1995). The Anthropic Cosmological Principle. 

Oxford, Oxford University Press.

- Capra, F. (1975). The Tao of Physics.

- Chandogya-upanishad. Translated by Svami Gambhirananda. 

Calcutta, Advaita Ashrama, 1992.

- Caraka-Samhita. Editor Translator Prof. Priyavrat Sharma. 

Delhi, Chaukhambha Orientalia, 1994.

- Cohen, G. e Spiro, T.M. (1988). Matter, Space and Time. Jaka
Book.

- Coppola, F. (2002). The Secret of the Universe. Pisa, Saggi

Ist. Scientia. Online: www.segreto.net/segreto.

- Danielou A. Yoga: the Method of Re-Integration. London.

- Deutsch, D. The Structure of the Multiverse. Online: http://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0104033.

- Deutsch, D. The Fabric of Reality. London, Penguin, 1997.

- Gupta, A.S. (1982). Classical Samkhya. A critical Study. Delhi, Munshiram Manoharlal.

- Guyton, A.C. (1996). Neurosciences.. Padova, Piccin.

- Shaw R. Cosmological Psychology. In: Thoughts on Synthesis of Science and Religion. Calcutta, Bhaktivedanta Institute, 2001.

- Sinha, J. (1996). Indian Psychology. Delhi, Motilal Banarsidass.

- Talbot M. (1997). All is One. Milano, URRA.

- The Brihadaranyaka-upanishad. Mylapore-Madras, Shri Ramakrishna Math, 1951.

- The Vedanta Sutras of Badarayana with the Commentary of Baladeva. Translated by Rai Bahadur Srisa Chandra Vasu. New Delhi, Munshiram Manoharlal, 1979.

- Thompson, R. God and the Laws of Physics. In: Synthesis of Science and Religion – 

- Critical Issues and Dialogues. Calcutta, Bhaktivedanta Institute, 1987.

1 In this case the individual, completely identified with a distorted and partial vision on himself, unable to perceive anything else, is not even capable of realizing his own conditioning and the fragmentation of his own awareness. This state of consciousness is typical in the most serious mental conditions, like psychosis.

2 It is interesting to note that in the Western tradition the term psychology originally meant ‘science of the soul’ (from the Greek psykhé ‘soul’, related to psykho ‘breathe, blow’).

3 By using the word mental, we refer to the superficial level of mind. By using the word psychic, we refer to the mental structure in its whole.

4 The third of the seven levels called bhumis, described in the science of Yoga. In the case of vibhuti the level is of energetic nature.