The Science of Meditation (part 5). By Matsyavatara dasa (Marco Ferrini)

In the Veda “Vac” is the root-word that creates the Worlds. It is so, as we reveal our mood with the use of words and they must be as true as possible, since before deceiving others we deceive ourselves. The word, as the action, is however just an exterior manifestation of an inside process, the process of reflection, vicara, of thought and before it of desire. In the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad it is explained that “Man is nothing else but desire”. Thus, it is essential to select one’s desires, since quite a few reside in the unconscious: “an entire herd of pawing horses” quoting Plato. We are supposed to orientate and direct these unconscious drives, as soon as they are crossing the threshold to consciousness or conscious thought, becoming thus aware. Our temperament is the result of a concatenation of desires, thoughts, reflections, words, actions, repeated actions that involve an interaction of more or less emotional factors, becoming tendencies, salient features of our character that incites the actions to take, if we do not funnel it in the right way. In order to act upon these quasi-unconscious phases, it is necessary to accede the dimension that resides beyond the threshold of awareness; there are different ways to do it as meditation, prayer and dreams that Freud indicates as “the royal road to the unconscious”. All these ways can help us in exploring our internal dimension and expanding the lightness of our consciousness, thus restricting the darkness of the unconscious, as well as of the unknown, leading us to a deeper acquaintance with ourselves. The application of these techniques requires different theoretical and practical areas of knowledge, that can be experienced in daily life. Meditation experience can endure while talking, walking, eating, sleeping: we do not meditate just when we sit in a crossed-leg posture. But to reach a constant meditative state and to be always aware about our deep nature and its interaction with the phenomenal exterior, we need to consider some aspects: first that our psyche is like an arena, where titanic oposing forces are continually raging and struggling. 

Sometimes these are entropic tendencies, sometimes they are syntropic, evolutive or devolutive ones, good or bad for health. Through the potency of the mythical language, it can be defined as the ceaseless fight between Good and Evil. There are several obstacles to meditation; Patanjali outlines these obstacles, like distraction, vikshipta, obfuscation and blunting of consciousness, the lowering of attention, mudha, whereas a selective attention is fundamental to succeed in meditative practice.

Another central aspect we have to consider about meditation concerns the individuality. Every individual is peculiar to himself, everybody is an individual with his own path, there is no sameness within these terms, since everyone has a human story and personal experiences.

According to the three modes of material nature and the work associated with them, the four divisions of human society are created by Me. And although I am the creator of this system, you should know that I am yet the nondoer, being unchangeable.

When the subject, the spiritual being, leaves his physical body he travels incorporated in a psychic bubble constituted by samskara and vasana; the strongest tendencies will particularly determine the nature of next birth, consequently the place, the belonging to a certain species and other factors related to a new material body designed to be inhabited by that particular jiva.

The psychic structure differs by the experiences we carry forward from our previous lives and, life after life, it determines different births also for monozygotic twins, what about “simple” brothers, fellow countrymen, compatriots or people who shares the same culture. The influence of the three archetypal forces, guna, that compose the material nature, prakriti, and the background of recent or less recent past actions, karma, are individually different, therefore, when a person wishes to start a meditation practice it is suggestible to get acquainted with him/her personally, since they should be assisted and introduced in a special manner, peculiar to them and according to their guna and karma. If the individuality, the specificity of that particular model of personality, is unique, then liberty should be conceived as its natural corollary. No practice can deprive individuals of their liberty and no Master shall deny liberty to his disciples. There shall not be any induced suggestion, but obedience related to free will to accept an offer from a model considered pre-eminent by the individual. In this relationship the liberty of the meditator must always be respected, because the person will be able to meditate to the extent that he or she will be free. Certainly, he will make mistakes, he will not avoid to be subject to mental automatism typical of who knows how many past lives, he will not immediately succeed to renounce and get beyond all obstacles, like mind conditioning, a certain habit, food or beverage, a relationship etc… but if we know the positive sense of liberty and recognize the specificity of that pattern of transitory personality, then the individual will be free to express himself accordingly to his or her consciousness level, without any destructive imposition, but rather by offers infused with the pure spirit of bhakti, loving relationship, prema, with an affective investment, as Love by definition does not need any counterpart, it is self-sufficient. Another important factor in meditation is the social integration, not with a corporatist meaning, much less of caste. Social integration means the capability of harmonic interaction, constructive, evolutive and with all creatures, the attitude to valorize any creature, whether they are birds, reptiles, fishes and what about men, potential travel companions from whom we may learn, in order to grow and develop spiritually. In a certain sense, all that can fall within one of the most important abstentions Patanjali indicates: Nonviolence, ahimsa. Finally, one fundamental element for an effective meditation practice is the spiritual tension, that irrepressible need every human being has to apply and orientate towards ideality. Meditation cannot prescind from the necessity we have to realize our Inner Identity.

The Science of Meditation (part 4). By Matsyavatara dasa (Marco Ferrini)

The Collective Unconscious represents the World of Archetypes, of Symbols where an American, an Indios, a citizen of Cape of Good Hope, an Eskimo or a Chinese have same essential systems of reference: actually, this is the universal nature of symbols.

The concept of memory or remembrance, in Sanskrit smritaya, becomes crucial as what can be remembered on conscious or unconscious level. Memories are all the more conditioning when deeply situated in the unconscious mind; if a conscious memory or thought can be temporarily and voluntarily put aside by the person who is trying to concentrate and focus on something else, an unconscious memory, just because of its nature, cannot be directly and consciously dealt and it will affect and act upon the person. Such experiences, registered in the deep unconscious (karmashaya), are known as samskara, where sam means “together” and kara derives from the Sanskrit root kr and means “to do”; these experiences are neither positive nor negative per se, but their importance is due to the powerful influence on the individual, who, generally speaking, wrongly thinks to be the sole author of all his actions. Similar experiences attract themselves and produce deep grooves in the unconscious psyche, authentic paths along which the individual retrace same steps. These psychic grooves represent the individual inclinations, vasana, that also are neither positive nor negative. Hence, unconscious often acts upon us without knowing, driven by our inclinations that can be for Art, Science, Harmonization or Abuse, Peacefulness or Bellicosity; obviously, in order to really master ourselves, we have to clean up our minds thoroughly and to sweep away especially the negative inclinations. There are very precise and effective techniques, that enable a voluntary transformation of the unconscious elements; this willing action is fundamental to start the meditative process. Just so, we can free our intuitive capacity, “the way of the heart”, that will be cleared only if the heart will be adequately purified. Actually, in order to bring to light the reality of ourselves, we cannot base our knowledge on sensory perception that represent just 0,1% of the external and internal reality, and it cannot even be based on the information circulating within the society, especially in this society where we live, highly technological, completely extroverted, aimed at exterior projects and where opinions are often prejudices. The critical capacity is properly represented by the practice of Socratic dictum “I know that I do not know” that invites questioning, to not accept something as a priori just because observable through the senses or logical reasoning, to doubt in a constructive manner one’s own deepest convictions. So it is possible to transcend the concept of reality anchored in the material and psychic world, to overcome the mere rational function and the intellect that has “short wings” as Dante says, rediscovering our pure intuitive faculties that are typical of childish psyche, that underlie modern scientific research processes. From this perspective, we do not refuse the intellect in general - “the good of intellect” still paraphrasing Dante - since it is a precious means of investigation if not abused at the expense of other cognitive channels , but it must be properly used to get as free as a pole vaulter who, after having made the swing faster, puts off and releases the pole to fly away. All great discoveries are made by brilliant intuition, just later Positive Sciences as Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry will verify them experimentally, in order to make them clear to everybody, besides who conceived them. To explain, to share with others one’s own discoveries or realizations are feelings relevant to compassion, karuna, and to transmit them in a persuasive manner and with typical respect in the spirit of offering  is fundamental for collective and individual growth, since what is offered to others will be given back to us. The best way to do ourselves good is to be doing good to others by offering what is most precious to us.
The actions we have taken affect us in an extraordinary way , releasing a photocopy in our minds that is embedded  in our psychic structure; whatever we do, whatever we say, think, desire leaves a trace. Hence, in reference to  Great Teachers and Connoisseurs of the Psyche, of Human Soul and Human Being, but above all of Man’s Divine Nature and Prison (quoting Plato and not despising  the physical body), we can affirm that we are where we are since we desired, thought, said and acted in a certain way. This vision is apparently deterministic, whilst in constant evolution: in the very moment we are talking or that you are reading, the change of our comprehension and samskara has already begun. Every desire, thought and word give birth to relevant and corresponding material manifestations.

The Science of Meditation (part 3). By Matsyavatara dasa (Marco Ferrini)

The Science of Health or Ayurveda (the Sanskrit term “ayur” means life, force, health) studies in a detailed manner the Nature of Human Being and his relationship with a full range of energies. Ayurveda extends the interaction overview of body, psyche and consciousness from an intra-individual level into an inter-individual one. Hence, behavior and single actions are considered not only as a result of one’s own apparatus, but as an interaction with other bodies, psyches and consciousness. This point is very important, making us able to reconduct to this phenomenon many of present conflicts, both on an individual and collective level. As a matter of fact, conflicts that cannot  be solved inwardly are extrojected onto people around us, no matter if close or distant. The connection between different elements of the Created cannot be reduced exclusively to relationships, but permeates the entire Universe: just think about Bell’s Theorem, that enunciates the correlation between two particles entering into contact, sharing same experience, synchronizing and endure in resonant state also when separated or one of them is modified; this variation is instantly extended to the other particle in no time.

There is nothing in the Universe that is separate from everything else. Everything is connected and as we can identify micro-networks and neural circuits, it is possible to identify much larger macro-networks beyond any one single individual. In the Veda, in the Gita, in the Upanishad, in the Yogasutra and other scripts of the Indo-Vedic Tradition, it is possible to find these principles clearly described with an incredible specificity of language and in general the vision of man as a creature composed of different subtle bodies or layers, going from the more gross to the more subtle and that are not limited just to the material and psychic elements. From the above scheme it is possible to notice that the material body is just the most external layer of the human being; this grossly visible layer is called “annamaya kosha”. Annamaya means food energy, since the physical body is nourished by food. At more subtle level it is possible to identify the energy called prana, that each human being has and that is individualized and specific for every living being: this level is defined “pranayama kosha”. The physical body does not have an own energy, it would not even stand without the vital energy that provides force for it, that makes it able to move and makes it so precious: all this is possible thanks to the energetic layer composed of “prana”. For example, Acupuncture practice is based on this energetic support. Actually, if the energy provided to the body is not fluidly distributed some energy blocks may occur. 

At a deeper and more subtle level after “pranayama kosha”, there is the mental layer, “manomaya kosha”, hence the energy layer depends upon the mind. Pranayama kosha is directly dependent upon mind, upon our mental state, thus it is not possible to develop ecologic energies to sustain our body without having first reeducated our mind. 

This message is given by the Rishi, the Spiritual Masters belonging to the Indo-Vedic Tradition, and it is a fundamental teaching to be immediately considered, as Krishna explains in the Bhagavad-gita: the mind can be our best friend or our worst enemy, it could be the way of healing or cause of death, disease, paralysis. The mind has priority in health research, even before the physical body, since the body depends on it. In this scenario we can write out Juvenal’s statement: “mens sana in corpore sano”. In general, body and mind are so interdependent and interactive that any failure would be transmitted immediately each other, therefore they have to be treated simultaneously.

For this reason Patanjali indicates as basic step in the path of Spiritual Self- Realization, codified in the Yoga Sutras, some ethics fundamentals (yama and niyama) for the harmonization of the psycho-physical health. The support of the mental layer is the intellective layer “vijnanamaya kosha”. On a level of psychic dimension the intellect is constituted by deep convictions, which represent conscious or unconscious conditioning for people who base their lives on them. These deep convictions, stored by the intellect, sustain the mental structure. 

“Ananda” means inexhaustible happiness, bliss. It cannot be compared to the pleasure of the senses, that does not even represent the shade of such happiness. Euphoria, excitement, orgasm, they all have a beginning and an ending, therefore sages consider them illusory result of the human life. When the creature is completely satisfied in himself, he does not have any other aspiration. The one who experiences “ananda” feels a sense of community with all creatures, he wishes to be a friend to everyone and actually he becomes benevolent to all living beings. In fact, conflicts are signs of dissatisfaction and suffering. Ananda is essential to stay in healthy, a popular Neapolitan proverb says: “To a cheerful heart, God will provide”. Hence, the intellective layer is sustained by a layer of bliss or constitutive happiness, “anandamaya kosha”, essential for the physical well-being. Actually, interior gratification assures harmonization and balance of all physical, energetic and psychic structures, whilst a depressed mood or negative emotions, as explained by Prof. Genovesi previously, affect badly the immune system and suppress it throug hormonal desynchronization. 

Ananda pertains to atman: the real source of energy has a spiritual nature, it is neither physical nor psychic energy, but a spiritual enery; besides ananda, atman is characterized by eternity, sat, and consciousness, cit. 

We are spiritual entities, we are atman and it is impossible for us to lose features like sat, cit, ananada, whatever happens, since they are intrinsic and inseparable from what we objectively and intimately are, although they may be more or less clouded by ignorance, neglected or atrophied. Through an introspective path, one undergoes a reservoir of unconscious experiences, almost unknown, but he or she has to interact daily with. These unconscious experiences can be individual or in common with other creatures and represent an integrant part of the universe as a whole. This last case was coined as “Collective Unconscious” by Carl Gustav Jung.

The Science of Meditation (part 2). By Matsyavatara dasa (Marco Ferrini)

Krishna in the Bhagavad-Gita, one of the most well-known and loved scripts shared among different Schools of Thought in the Indian Continent, says that Knowledge means to distinguish the field (body) from the knower of the field (Self). To detach oneself from the body does not mean to refuse or despise it, in this wise there would not be real detachment since, as Heraclitus said, what attracts will disgust and vice versa.

In order to overcome the opposites of attraction and disgust, in Sanskrit called raga and dvesha, it is necessary to balance the opposites, to find the conjunction and to harmonize them. In this research of balance and harmonization, yoga, points out the importance of mediation. The term yoga derives from the Sanskrit root yuj, literally meaning “to unify, to connect”. As a matter of fact, yoga is the science for the Reintegration of the individual self with the Supreme Self, of infinitesimal consciousness with the Cosmic Consciousness. In the Bhagavad-Gita are described different types of yoga and Patanjali, in his famous treatise on Yogasutra that is one of the first and most relevant Schools of Mankind Psychology, describes eight phases to develop the Yogic Discipline (ashtanga yoga) where meditation is placed just as penultimate phase. Before entering a meditative state, the aspirant yogi has to purify his mind and heart by abstaining from activities that are against the spiritual evolution, yama, and engaging himself in favorable ones , niyama. Then, one has to become an expert in postures, asana, that enable to perceive the body as little as possible and afterward to learn the art of breathing, pranayama. By turning inside himself and detaching sense-organs from objects, pratyahara, trying to concentrate on his attentional resources towards an unique direction, dharana, the yogi predisposes himself to the very meditation, dyhana, where the flow of attention is not anymore called away by exterior interferences and thanks to which he will reach a stage of complete interior absorption, defined samadhi. The Pre-samadhi stages are necessary to resolve conflicts between the different psychic structures and functions, through the harmonization of personality and before aspiring to the complete absorption of the meditative seed, bija, all the more so the Self. The approach to meditation must be gradual, since first it is necessary to develop a certain knowledge arising from awareness of small realnesses, without the presumption from time to time to have conquered Reality and Truth thinking to be definitely illuminated. What happens by meditating is a continuous and progressive realization of Reality, that reveals itself slowly until it is clear, evident, bright and natural, so natural that it would be impossible to conceive it differently.

For example, the awareness of being different than the body can arise suddenly, as in the case of diagnosis of terminal illness, of irreversible and degenerative pathology, boosting the patient not to concentrate just on the physical structure that is subject to such a devastation, but on himself. From this perspective, as explained through different MCE works for several Italian Hospitals and Health Care Institutions, death must not be seen as a physical event, something concrete, but more as an abstract concept, since there is not concrete end of something, but the transformation in something else. On the other hand, the aim of disidentification may be progressively reached through an introspective process that enables to understand that the body is our external means, we must not identify ourselves in it, but consider it precious, useful and dear to us serving to future experiences and acquaintances. The human body and personality do not represent exhaustly the entirety of the person, but are simple aspects. The eminent divine part of us considers these aspects, as in general the human dimension, like reduction and constraint, a sort of prison.

Nevertheless, in Plato’s Metaphor the soul cage must not be considered obsessively as an oppression, since it is evolved material structure equal to the elevation degree of the consciousness housed in it. Therefore, everyone inhabits a certain body and consequently takes with it determined pathologies or a healthy state.

Health and Wellness

By Matsyavatara Dasa

Nowadays, various forms of Yoga are known the world over. In numerous cases however, Yoga has been reduced to its physical aspect (asanas or postures), with scarce knowledge of its ancient original tradition, as well as its true meaning and objective. There are actually few individuals who can apply this ancient science in its globality, aware of the physical technology it has developed in thousands of years.

Yoga is based upon the wisdom of the Vedas, which reveal the secrets of the universe and of the conscience; by its inner-self technology, one can regain a real and everlasting wellness, and ultimately realize the spiritual and immortal nature of the one’s real self.

Not an escape from the world

Traditional ancient Indian literature contains elevated teachings of philosophy and psychology, but the chore is about the art of living: learning how to move in the world and relate to the creation and its creatures in a right and harmonic way. Indian sages have indicated this attitude, encompassing the spheres of thinking, feeling and acting, by the word Yoga, from the Sanskrit root yuj, which means “to join, unite, put in contact”. This contact or union, which becomes communion at the highest levels, is between the infinitesimal atman and the Supreme Being Paramatman. Yoga could be compared to a bridge joining the human and the divine dimension. Like all authentic spiritual paths, it is not an escape from the world, nor a contingent flattening, but utilizes all the physical and psychological instruments available to emancipate the creature from the limits and sufferings of the conditioned existence, and to re-discover its essence. In the view of ancient Indian thought, the imminent and the transcendent dimensions touch each other, they are an integrated extension of one another.

Yoga utilizes all the physical and mental instruments of the individual, to obtain emancipation from limits and existential sufferings.

Spirit and Matter

The material world is not in antithesis to the spiritual world. The universe is conscience in expansion; ultimately, matter is energy and its source transcends the physical dimension, while at the same time it sustains and pervades that same reality. In this stimulating perspective, the world appears as a gigantic, charming laboratory, in which the spiritual and therefore eternal individual experiences repeated joys and pains, successes and defeats , births and deaths, searching for his real identity. The veritable disease of the West is the unilateral concentration on what is external to the subject, the neglect for studies on the person and his vital necessities, which in reality extend much beyond psycho-physical needs. Once the individual discovers his place in the universe and his relationship to creation, creatures and Creator, he can again enter the dimension described by the Vedas as "overflowing with light and bliss", already during his earthly experience. Yoga is a term mentioned numerous times in the main Indian books (Veda, Bhagavad-Gita, Bhagavata Purana, and Upanishads) and in many other important works of classic Indian literature. Through the science of Yoga, the individual can participate in his real immortal nature and again draw from that inexhaustible reserve of knowledge, consciousness, and bliss which belongs to him. This realization mitigates or eliminates existential ailments, not only related to the physical body, but mostly to mental and moral sufferings.

The techniques

The most ancient forms of Yoga are found in the Veda Samhitas,specifically in the Rigveda, conventionally considered the most ancient book that humanity has knowledge of. For instance, mentions are made of mantrayoga, based on the inner and outer recitation of mantras (mantra meditation), which illuminates the deep areas of the unconscious and allows entrance to a higher level of consciousness. Among the Upanishads, 11 are explicitly dedicated to Yoga, and are in fact called Yoga Upanishads. They explain the postures or asanas, the respiration techniques or pranayama, and the ultimate goal of these ancient practices: re-establishing the forgotten relationship with the Supreme Being. They also analyze the various phases of yoga and emphasize the importance of the active process of concentration, which gives the possibility to eliminate false identifications and breaks the chains that tie to samsara, the cycle of repeated births and deaths. A relevant treatise on Yoga is found in the Bhagavata Purana, where Krishna describes to his devotee and friend Uddhava the logic meditation, by which it is possible to develop awareness of the self and of the cosmic Being, and to restore the harmony between the self and the universe, man and God.

Spiritual realization

In the Bhagavad git,a Krishna utilizes the term Yoga to indicate the perfect action, illuminated and illuminating, the one leading to a secure result, in respect of the law and support to the cosmos. The same term is used to define equanimity and balance, among the main characteristics of the evolved spiritual person. In chapter 6 of the Bhagavad-gita, which can be rightly considered a psychology treaty by itself, Krishna enounces a series of Yoga doctrines that correspond to the ones described by Patanjali in his Yogasutras. The requirements for those who are seriously interested in developing a complete knowledge of Yoga are basically two:

• Jijnasa, the intense wish for knowledge. The ideal student focuses his attention only on the Supreme objective, on the solution to existential problems, and abandons the superficial research and dispersion on thousands of different objects.

• Abhyasa, dedication, constant practice; the attitude that reserves the necessary resources and energy to the study of the self.

The Brahmasutras, another text referring to Yoga, says: Icchami Brahman, “I’m longing for Brahman”, I wish for spiritual realization: the yearning, the will, are fundamental, because to obtain good results in Yoga, it is necessary to exercise control on the senses, to dominate the mind and at the same time receive its petitions and demands without denying them. This teaching was already stated by Patanjali, thousands of years before the repression theory elaborated by Western psychological science.

Naturally, the major reference to Yoga remains Patanjali’s Sutras; they explain that the preliminary preparation to yoga practice is the ethic aspect, which cannot be disregarded. Yoga consists of three interacting phases: rigorous consistency, study of one’s self from the psychological and spiritual perspectives, and finally the rejoining with the cosmic divine order and with God. This will first reduce and then completely eliminate the sufferings from the so called material existence, allowing the person to find its perfect balance and original harmony.

A true psychological auto-analysis

Sufferings (klesha) are of four origins: ignorance of one’s spiritual nature, identification with the ego and its multiple manifestations , the fatal and inseparable pair of attraction and repulsion, and the phobic terror of death, resulting from the attachments to certain life conditions and from the conviction that the individual will die with the body.

Becoming conscious of the origin of suffering through an in-depth psychological auto-analysis is the first step to reduce its manifestations, but its trails, the seeds at the bottom of conscience, can disappear only at the end of a serious and constant work done by the individual on himself, with the help of verified elaboration and meditation techniques. Our present experience, the circumstances and situations we live in, are the consequences of our past actions, pertaining to this life or to previous existential vicissitudes. In this context, conflicts arise mostly from the error of identifying the inner witness, the self, with the object of perception, which belongs to the external world and, in varying degrees, carries the imprint of the three qualities of nature, called gunas: harmony, energy, inertia. This wrong identification is a serious obstacle, because it hinders the perception of truth. The error comes from the witness ignoring its ontological nature, therefore the person is invited to take a route towards mental decontamination and conscience evolution through the famous 8 Yoga phases, which are: abstentions, observances, postures, breath control, introspection, concentration, meditation and samadhi or absorption in Reality.

The starting point is obviously the condition of our ordinary conscience, where the mind is restless and agitated by mental dynamics which are hard to eradicate; but the science of Yoga, if practiced seriously and with the assistance of an expert, allows you to take over the helm of your life and eliminate emotional blocks and complexes. We can thus regain height towards the enlightened peaks of conscience since, as Durkheim says, the real success in mental activity is to surpass ourselves.

The constant practice of yoga techniques allows you to take over the helm of your life and eliminate emotional blocks and complexes.