Meditation and Visualization

By Matsyavatara Dasa

In the Bhaktivedantic Tradition, Visualization (darshana) is one of the most ancient and efficient techniques to deal with the psychology of the unconscious: thoughts, emotions, beliefs, which can intensely affect our personality and the quality of our life. Visualization and Meditation exercises allow us to awaken and strengthen our metacognitive faculties in relation to Self Observation, interpretation and leadership, so as to revive our deep inner wellness. We can learn to transform those beliefs which frighten us and which are the cause of serious emotional instability and suffering; we can strengthen our skill to face crisis and traumas, and improve our psychological universe.

According to the Bhaktivedantic Tradition, in order to activate and develop the introspective process, Meditation and Visualization is a fundamental and practical application, very similar to many other techniques already used and accepted in psychology and psychotherapy, whose efficiency is provided by scientific studies.

Main attention is drawn to skills of support and leadership, which are continuously sharpened a by means of the process of conceptual elaboration and visualization. By practicing, we reach a higher platform of awareness from which to understand mechanical unconscious concepts, implied meanings, lost emotional memories, vanishing relationships, misunderstandings and all those psychological objects which can be evoked, brightened, corrected, elaborated, so as to establish a higher psychological balance and success. Through the process of disidentification of the ego, we gain the ability to deal with emotions, and we can find our own self.

During the practice of Visualization there is no Auto-suggestion (Self-hypnosis): sounds, images, impressions arise in each single mind; these spontaneously evoked psychological products are elaborated with the help of guided analysis and creative sublimation exercises (writing, drawing, etc.), which help release tension. The outcome of meditation is the seed and inspiration for a next elaboration, in a personalized individual process.

What is meditation, in short? It is a significant experience to rely on and refer to underneath all our emotional experiences; it is a personal conduct of morals and ethics, affectionate connection to the image of a Divine concept which the practicioner emphatically vibrates to. The image plays a precious role, it is an open door for the person who meditates, a way to enter a higher level of consciousness and can on some occasions originate paranormal phenomena.

It sounds odd that Official Psychology ignores the archetypal level and its related energetic fields, which are able to produce phenomenas not apprehendable by our ordinary, limited instruments and rational thinking.

The Visualization - Meditation experience brings to surface memories hidden in the subconscious (samskara), lets the practicioner approach, learn to deal with and transform them. Past events shape on the conscious level, depicted as meaningful symbolic images: by the enlightening interpretation of an inner guide (istha devata), they can be elaborated within a superior awareness, which can transform negative unconscious tendencies. Conflicts and crisis are overcome, as the dark side of the psyche is enlightened and healed.

By this process, the subject can activate and transfer an energetic wave which progressively transforms negative emotions by virtue of theoretical knowledge and continuous practice: the first correction is on the cognitive rational process, the second one acts directly on the unconscious level. This is where psychological contents built by emotional negative energies lay, and where the unconscious drives of personality originate.

Within the process of meditation the practicioner addresses all the emotional energy he/she has available to his / her own God, who is usually pictured as a Divine sacred image.

According to the Bhaktivedantic discipline, besides being a useful tool in diagnosis and therapy, Meditation and Visualization experiences people to improving their quality of life, and even to complete recover from psychological symptoms which could instead be somatized and become the cause of serious regressive pathologies. In this context the cure of the symptom is just a side effect, on a global evolution process of the living entity that affects the various levels of personality and sides of life.

The Meditation and Visualization program requires will-power and the wish to correct our emotional and cognitive distortions, with the help of self-activation and the development of a deeper perception of our identity, in favor of new psychological perceptions, reaching a concrete and total relationship experience on higher levels of reality.

The value of such an experience will be thoroughly enjoyed by the person who can place and acknowledge the theoretical basis which are the ground of the Bhaktivedantic meditation science. At its highest level, Visualization (darshana) and meditation (dhyana) teach how to pursue the intimate relationship between individual things and the Whole, finding anywhere the spiritual common denominator, the foundation and support of all living entities and the world.

Visualization is a concrete sharing experience, you can learn to think and see things in a free, newer and more creative way, based on high ethical principles of universal value. You can discover the nature of living entities not as isolated individuals, rather as a network, an interconnected system.

In Meditation and Visualization, each of the participants plays the role of the doer and the witness at the same time, a chance to benefit not only from an individual experience but also from the empathic transmission of others. It represents a fundamental instrument to recover and purify the powerful energy of desire, in its endless shadows and components. It is the recovery of such energy-desire that favors a quick evolution and the discovery of inner paths to reach the metaspace of the heart, where the human being meets God and reaches the Infinite by means of an inner Guide, with the unlimited source of Love and Knowledge.

Love and Do Whatever you Like

By Paramatma dasi

Shriman Matsyavatara Prabhu, Ishtagosthi with devotees February 1^st

[...] If you want to be happy for an hour, a week, a month, no problem: there are so many ways. But if you want to be happy for a lifetime and forever, then you have to invest wisely. Happiness is linked to evolution. To feel some pleasure or to be blissful are two rather different things: a degraded person can feel the pleasure, but cannot be blissful.

Saint Augustine says “love and do whatever you like”, but our ego does not want to love; it wants to possess, to get pleasure. The more we get contaminated, the more our faith collapses; on the other hand, the more we purify ourselves, the more our faith strenghtens. Human life is so short, we should avoid committing mistakes, as every single mistake steals us a lot of precious time and to get back on track can become hard and painful. [...]

Protecting the Creeper of Devotion

Excerpt from a talk by Shriman Matsya Avatara Prabhu - September 9, 2008

The achievement of success often entails a psychological phenomenon which on other occasions I have defined as the “next day crisis ".

This dynamic sets in also following spiritual success when, very often, dark opposing forces erupt from within and outside of ourselves.  These forces try our connection to stability, our maturity and our increased level of consciousness.  Shrila Prabhupada explains this phenomena by saying that Maya is rebelling and does anything in its power to challenge our evolutionary achievements.  On these occasions, as in every other hard event or crisis in life, if our inner strength is sufficiently solid, nothing on the outside can hamper or damage our development and our consolidated certainties.  

Envy, possession, craving for power, will to abuse, egoism, lust, greed and other conditionings of the embodied existence are ordinary things of the world under the rule of the Gunas.  When we try to free ourselves from these chains, we undertake a superhuman endeavour, just like heroes who try to conquer an order of superior nature, that ethical-cosmic order where the soul desires to live.

He who commits to this fascinating journey to that supreme Order and the divine origin which transcends it through the practice of Bhakti, must be very careful in maintaining control over his life.  He will certainly encounter weaves, tsunamis and storms, there will be stumbling blocks here and there that will hurt him and, if he is not vigilant and careful, he will easily drift away.

This teaching is particularly important for those among you who have just received the sacred Diksha, and also for all of those that have been initiated or that are undertaking an evolutionary journey. Maya attacks us when negative seeds are still hiding in our subconscious.  These seeds come from actions performed when we still didn't know the difference between order and disorder, sat and asat, reality and illusion.  Once you have re-conquered that divine order through the sacred Diksha, it is your duty to protect it with all your might, or else you will return to the position you came from.  Thieves do not attack us if we look like we’re not carrying any treasure. When we own something precious then we become an interesting target and we must move around cautiously, with attention and farsightedness.  The treasure that we must defend is the creeper of Bhakti (Bhakti-lata-bija), as explained by Shri Caitanya to Rupa Gosvami in the teachings at Prayag.  In the beginning the seed of the spiritual creeper is extremely fragile.  Lata means green shoot, young and tender.  Through the Diksha we receive the creeper of Bhakti; Shri Caitanya teaches that the devotee must become a master gardener, very careful to immediately eradicate the weeds that grow around the Bhakti-lata-bija because, if they take root, they dry it up and kill it.  The expert gardener must pull the weeds one at the time as soon as they arise.  Shri Caitanya explains to Rupa Gosvami that the monster of sin tends to show up continuously in our lives and it threatens and compromises our tendency to Bhakti.  In psychological terms, this happens in the sub- conscious when all the conditionings or seeds of "bad plants" have not been completely removed.

The Diksha is a powerful activator of this purifying inner process.  However, to reach its completion, it must be sustained and continuously fed by abhyasa, constant spiritual practice, and by vairagya, emotional detachment from anything worldly.  Meditation on the Holy Names (Harinama japa), worshiping of the Deities, devotional service, respect for the principles of Dharma and study of the Scriptures are some of the essential components of the spiritual discipline of Sadhana Bhakti.  This is necessary to eradicate poisonous plants still existing in our hearts and to de-structure the vicious samskaras lingering on in our subconscious.  It is vital to rigorously search for the company of elevated devotees that can inspire us to Bhakti through their teachings and their own behaviour and life example.

Become aware Vaishnavas, alert, responsible, loyal, honest, faithful and deeply dedicated to the practice of Bhakti.  Like expert gardeners you will be able to take care of your creeper of Devotion; this way, it will develop quickly and you will be able to reach the divine dimension of Goloka Vrindavana.  The fruits of your Bhakti-lata will be picked up by Krishna as ripen and sweets fruits, the spiritual sweetness of Bhakti.  Now that you have received the sacred Diksha do not think that you have arrived, indeed you have just departed.  Avoid sudden accidents which can destroy all that you have built up to now in a moment of absent-mindedness.  Become expert gardeners and do not allow the creeper of sin to cling to the tender Bhakti-lata, because it would suffocate it to death.  Purity is the strength and purity is possible when we cultivate loyalty, honesty, faithfulness and gratitude.  If we don't apply these principles to our daily life we cannot reach any kind of success, all the more in our spiritual life.  Now that you have received Shrila Prabhupada and the preceding Acarya's mercy through your Spiritual Master, it is up to you to make your effort to pursue the objective that you are aspiring for.  I will continue to be present, to sustain you and protect you; however you must play your part and remain fully engaged.

The work that we are accomplishing is miraculous; it is priceless and cannot be praised by material standards.  It consists in the transformation of human passions; it leads to the elevation of conscience through the alchemic process which transforms a vile into a noble and evolved person.  The dangers and challenges that we will find on our path will be many, but constant engagement and practice of Bhakti will take the worries away from upcoming difficulties.

Devotees confide in Hari, Guru and Vaishnavas, in their special divine protection.  The Scriptures explain how we must mould our own behaviour.  The Spiritual Master and the Vaishnavas help us and guide us with their example and they offer us all the necessary instruments to work on our rehabilitation, to defend ourselves from dangers and to avoid the wrong attitudes and actions our mind will keep proposing to us.  The subconscious hosts destructive and self-destructive samskaras that the Diksha can incinerate, however it represents the beginning of the process, not its completion.  It is therefore inevitable to engage with personal and continuous commitment and feed the fire of Love for God that can make any obstacle harmless and destroy any conditioning.  Do not fall under the illusion that the false conceptions that you have stored in the past will cease to exercise their influence the day after you receive the Diksha.  It is up to you to resist to them, to use 100% of your strength to defend yourselves and be assured that, where you cannot reach, Hari, Guru and Vaishnavas will help.

Walk very carefully on this razor blade called initiated life.  If you take the wrong step, you hurt yourselves.  With an error, or a wrong answer, you can open the door to a dangerous energy that will overcome you.  If you drink even one drop of arsenic, you are doomed.  You are responsible for this, choose your desires, thoughts, words and company very accurately and if you realize that you have made a mistake, immediately initiate the correction process before it is too late and you lose your Way for a small initial deviation.   

Finally a life of responsibility!  As Dante said in his Divine Comedy "you were not made to live like brutes, but to follow virtue and knowledge."  Animals live day by day, they perceive the world but they don't perceive themselves.  Only in the human form we have the opportunity to understand who we are, where we are and where we want to go and what is the purpose of our life.  We have instruments to evaluate and orient ourselves to create the scenario that we desire to place ourselves in.  Initiated life is wonderful, but it also means engagement and responsibility.  Be carefully conscious that in this world, failure and deviation from the right way is normal.  When one understands the sense of his existence, how can he fall?  It would be hell, laceration, schizophrenia.  Bhakti cures this devastating illness of the conscience, but we must seriously engage ourselves without ego-centred plans to reach the highest purpose, Love for God and for all living beings.  Gradually the soul will rediscover its world and become completely satisfied on itself.  It will not look for external things because it will have realized the purpose of life itself.

Forces of Light and Forces of Darkness - in the Bible and in the Vedas

By Matsyavatara Dasa

In the great myths of Bhakti-vedantic and biblical tradition, as in many other millenary civilizations, even before the creation of the human being, the divine mind manifests special beings who immediately play different roles in the good and in the evil.

The biblical tradition tells about angels and demons existing before the world, before the creation of man. These two sets of archetypes (the archetype of light represented by the angels headed by Michael, and the archetype of darkness represented by the demons headed by Lucifer) come in direct conflict and immediately engage in a cosmic war between the forces of good and the forces of evil. The Bible explains that Lucifer (literally his name means “the bearer of light”) was originally created by God as the most glorious of angels: he was a protecting cherub and God awarded him with goods and beauty. But Lucifer proudly aspired to become similar to God, and the pride and corruption of his heart led him to his fall as Satan, a Hebrew term meaning “the opponent”.

Once humans are created, the furious battles between the titanic forces which represent the good and the titanic forces which represent the evil, is already running. As the myth reports, these two different energetic fields have their cosmic value and have always been present in the human psyche. Let’s translate in modern psychological terms the ancient language of myth and its symbols: angels are the luminous archetypes of the good and demons the dark archetypes of the evil, but both represent functions of the personality.

Also the great Vedic myth portray the fight between good and evil as occurring between two categories of beings which manifest in the cosmic mind: the devas, celestial beings led by Indra, and the asuras, dimmed beings headed by Vrtra. Very similarly to the biblical myth, also these two different categories of beings represent the archetypes of the good and the archetypes of the evil respectively in ethic-moral terms or, in psychological language, the evolved or unevolved functions of the personality.

The great myths we made reference to, describing the origin of the cosmos and of life with images and metaphors, explain that man was created on some sort of battlefield, where good and evil are raging. Man is called to choose between good and evil from the very beginning.

Man seems to be in an extremely difficult condition: he has limited power to face and fight against forces which appear unlimited. In fairy tales this concept is portrayed with the image of the child against the ogre: a depiction of the powers which tower above man, like a twig in a hurricane.

In Bhagavad-gita, Krishna explains to his friend disciple Arjuna the nature and the characteristics of the mind, governed by universal psychic laws, and exhorts him to learn to manage and dominate his mental contents. After listening to Krishna’s words, Arjuna looks confused, bewildered, and declares himself unable to control the mind: “The mind is flickering, turbulent, obstinate and very strong; I think that subduing the mind is more difficult than controlling the wind” (VI.34).

What does it mean, subduing the mind? It means discovering and learning to manage one’s unconscious dimension. In the West, Sigmund Freud was the first to elaborately theorize on the complex concept of the unconscious, in the 19^th century, whereas in the East this psychic dimension had been known for millennia to sages and scientists of the Vedic, Upanishadic and Pauranic cultural world. In their description, the unconscious comprises thought objects and psychic charges, in Sanskrit termed samskaras, which remain unknown and inaccessible to other ones of the same nature, at times forming complexes or causing other personality disorders. We are all influenced and badly conditioned by our conscious, that unexpected and unwanted guest who acts as the master in our own house.

From the unconscious rise impulses, energetic drives that the individual didn’t even know he had, and which often clash with the plans, desires and perspectives of the conscious self. The subject finds himself torn from within by this intra-psychic conflict, not produced by external agents but by sordid forces, which rage under the level of consciousness. Sometimes, the emergence of unconscious contents in the shape of impulses can have an overwhelming effect over one’s willpower and the lifestyle that the conscious self had deliberately chosen.

Albeit by a different language, the masters of Indovedic tradition agree with great Western psychologists in explaining that man has to deal with formidable forces which roam about its psyche, and he has to fight them in a long series of battles, not seldom throughout his whole life. A life of struggle, but not against an external enemy: the enemy is within.

As Krishna well explains in Bhagavad-gita (VI.6), he who fails in educating his psyche has lost the battle and the mind becomes his most terrible enemy, a ruthless tyrant, the great condemning inquisitor, the jailor who inflicts pain until one is bleeding. But to he who has succeeded in dominating the psyche, it becomes his best friend, an instrument for liberation, through which one can experience bliss in this world. Between subduing the mind and being subdued by the mind, there lies the same difference separating heaven from hell, in psychological terms well-being from malaise, happiness from pain. There is no need to wonder now whether hell exists as a physical place; for sure, there exists a hellish state of mind, by which the person seems to have lost all hopes and is slave to a depressive state, chronic bad moods, caused by a lack of vision and planning. In these conditions, the subject can’t see and does not even seek out solutions, he just attributes all evils to external causes, without having the dignity or the strength to understand his mistakes and stand responsible for them. The dark archetypes dominate his personality, chain it and oblige it to rotate around the orbit of the ego, as in a sort of obsession without exit.

In the biblical myth, the prince of the angels, the most beautiful and luminous angel, decides to betray God. This is the beginning of the combat between the luminous and the dark archetypes, between good and evil, because one group of angels decides to support Lucifer while another choose to continue the maintenance of order, the source of their strength, joy and beauty. In the myth, the archetype of faithfulness wins over the archetype of betrayal: in the Vedas Indra defeats Vrtra, and in the Bible Michael defeats Lucifer.

In the Vedic and Pauranic cosmogonical perspective, the dimmed beings, asuras, are always depicted engaged in planning to conquest and dominate the universe, just like in Christian theology Lucifer or Mephistopheles keeps on hatching plots and setting traps to assert his power. In both traditions, the archetypes of the good bring order and justice, represent enlightening forces which give high inspiration and allow to see beyond mere sensory perception, overcoming the ego conditionings. Alone, man cannot succeed in this endeavor, he cannot compete against the appalling evil forces, against the powerful dark archetypes, yet he possesses the strength to transcend the conditionings implied in his “humanity”, by connecting to a higher source of love, life and knowledge, which is his very origin. All great spiritual traditions describe man in the image and likeness of God, not for his external appearance, but in his essential divine nature, which is an emanation and a part of God Himself.

Bhagavad-gita (XV.7) explains that originally living beings are eternal manifestation of God, infinitesimal expansions of his infinite potency. In the incarnate condition, they nonetheless live as if encapsulated and trapped inside a psychophysical structure which limits and heavily conditions them, once the living beings (jivas) identify with it. Due to this identification, the subject progressively loses awareness of his divine essence and entailed powers. This awareness can be recovered, reawakened, so that in man the forces of the good can once again predominate on the forces of evil, and the higher functions of the personality can defeat and disrupt the negative ones, regaining and properly redirecting their energetic charges.

Managing and Overcoming Crisis

By Matsya Avatara Dasa

During the course of his life, each individual must face crisis, tensions, and emotional conflicts. These occurrences are not negative per se, they can become negative only when the individual cannot handle them and does not solve them. This can result in neurosis. If instead they are handled with the right attitude, consciousness, and elevated motivation, they can represent the indispensible evolutionary stimulation to reinforce ones qualities and reach higher balances through the recognition and the overcoming of certain limitations. He who learns to solve natural tensions that arise within himself, (and those produced by external entities) can, in fact develop a more mature and integrated personality if he does not allow these tensions to become chronic but instead turns them into important chances to acquire new learning experiences. On this subject, Adler explains: “A small difficulty leads to normality, a big difficulty leads to neurosis.” He who knows how to recognize his own particular emotional crisis and neurotic tendencies will be more capable of preventing them from becoming degenerate personality troubles. We are all continuously dealing with the process of readjustment of our inner tensions, and no one should feel above these tensions. We should instead learn to handle them in a constructive and evolutionary fashion by initiating the process of transformation and inner re-education that will allow us to harmonize and transcend them. This is possible mainly through the teaching and the stimulating life examples of balanced persons who possess an elevated level of consciousness. They can be points of reference for the work that we have to do on ourselves.

The term “crisis” is of Greek origin, meaning “change”. The Chinese, to represent the “crisis” concept utilize two ideograms: the first one expresses “danger”, the second one “opportunity”. In both civilizations, the Greek and the Chinese, we see that this phenomenon implies the necessity of choosing, distinguishing, separating and deciding.

Crisis is therefore a decisive point of change that arises suddenly or gradually and that solves favourably or unfavourably the situation or its environment. It is, however a phenomenon characterized by the interruption of balance previously acquired, and by the need to transform the usual schemes or behaviours that no longer seem adequate to handle the present situation.

During a crisis, mainly when it is deep and acute, everything is undergoing a sudden change from which the individual can undergo transformation if he implements new solutions or can become incapable of adapting and moves toward degeneration.

In physiological crisis, which are also called ‘evolutionary’ or ‘of development’, the subject experiences changes between infancy and adolescence, adolescence and adult age, adult age and senescence and senescence and death, which is the conversion from one dimension of the existence and another. These crisis generally occur gradually giving the individual time to prepare himself for a journey of inner growth and self-consciousness. the evolutionary crisis is obviously of unrestrained nature.

Another category of crisis is the accidental one. For example, one caused by a great economical loss, a serious accident on the job, a traffic accident that could create a permanent disability, a mourning, the loss of a person dear to you, abandonment, or in this specific case a betrayal.

In an evolutionary crisis the individual has the capability of obtaining all the necessary instruments to manage and overcome the change through the progressive altering of his life conditions. The accidental crisis however, happens in a sudden and threatening manner. It compromise ones health, psychological balance, social and economical status, etc.. It requires more inner resources and a more mature capability of intervention from the individual.

The accidental crisis generally happens through the following dynamics:

• The happening of an unforeseen episode

• The connection between this episode and previous tensions that had already determined a conflict situation within the subject

• The incapability of the individual of dealing with crisis in an adequate fashion by using his usual mechanisms of understanding and elaborating such events.

In accordance with the social-cultural level and mainly the evolutionary level of the individual, there could be different scenarios in response to the crisis. The two main ones can be synthesized as follow:

• A state of maximum opening to change toward situations both positive or negative

• Incapability to accept change due to some mind closure and emotional and cognitive blocks of the individual

Some of the determining elements of the crisis phenomena are the time factor (duration) and the intensity (energetic load), or the relevance of the affective, cognitive and relational changes that are dealt with.

In the general evaluation of the crisis phenomena it is also important to consider if it is a one-time crisis or if it is tied to a certain experience that, if it is not solved adequately, tends to reappear with time, an example being the phenomena of death, the transfer from one existence to the other.

Crisis can be handled mainly in two ways:

1 - A quick intervention to simply reduce the harmful effects of the moment, this would be a sort of temporary “treatment” to save the subject from immediate danger.

2 – Through the intention and the engagement to repair its deeper causes, to completely and definitely solve it.

During the crisis it is required that the individual adapts to the new situation by elaborating judgment in relation of the changed context and by assuming an appropriate and mature position. It is indeed this ability that constitutes the foundation of a responsible attitude toward experiences and will give the individual a relative autonomy in relation to the environmental conditioners. Learning to handle crisis means learning to handle even the most negative events without being overcome by them, it would enable the individual to take advantage of the precious opportunity to elevate his consciousness, by referring to those universal values that allow him to go beyond the obstacle with his conscience and his heart.

One must be able, if necessary, to distance himself from his own opinions and convictions by knowing that most of them reflect the cultural and affective world that he has lived in and therefore they are capable of improvement.

Self criticism, the capability of using another point of view to remove oneself from previous life experiences and analyze and elaborate them in a proper way, is more than ever indispensible in the management of a crisis. Its overcoming necessitates of a full development of the meta-cognitive faculties.

Let’s remember that the events per se are not the cause of our disgraces or fortunes. What is really determining is our attitude or the attitude that we have toward people, situations and happenings.

If it is this we desire and we predispose ourselves in a correct way, even a negative event can be transformed into a precious and rescuing opportunity for growth and elevations.

When we elaborate on the crisis it is important to consider three fundamental factors:

- No one can escape from crisis for it is a norm in human life. To realize this is positive because it prevents us from falling into feelings of rage, mistrust or injustice while we deal with our weaknesses or difficulties which appear external. It is in fact a distorted vision that leads us to believe that problems are outside of us. In reality we can understand that the direct and indirect causes are to be looked for inside ourselves.

- We must uncover our problems, removing those means potentiating them, thus becoming even more frail, weak and helpless because the enemy is much more dangerous when it acts without being noticed. Our effort should concentrate on facing every crisis as soon as it arises and as soon as we recognize it as a crisis. Denying crisis by creating false justifications or alibis means letting the problem grow and deeply structuring it within ourselves until the research for solution becomes ever more difficult and demanding in terms of time, efforts and energy.

- Our future is always modifiable; therefore the most important and determining factor will be our reaction to the crisis. The past is a completed journey, but all that lies in the future is open to transformation. Therefore nothing is fixed or irrevocably pre-established.

- We should distance ourselves emotionally from crisis, understand it’s identity and evolutionary functionality, and consider it as a chance to solve problems, overcome our limitations and ascend to higher levels of consciousness, joy, and love.

In short, crisis is an imbalance, a disharmony that prompts us to a change that often requires concentration, transformation, sublimation and transcendence of the opposites. It can be permanently overcome in a higher way only thanks to the highest faculties of an individual, his adhesion to the universal ethical order (dharma) and the rediscovery of bhakti, the Love relationship with God and His triple expression: Creator-Create-Creatures. To solve the crisis we must situate ourselves at a transcendence conscience level and penetrate the space of our deep conscience (our spiritual essence), where disharmonies and opposites connect in superior and sublime harmony. For this purpose, culture or simple acquisition of data are not as necessary as wisdom, which is an invaluable gift that comes from the glorious mix of high knowledge, experience, and life coherence. This is how we reach intrinsic happiness that does not depend on what happens out of ourselves. Happiness is not utopia if we learn to walk in the world with harmony and in accordance with the Divine Order that regulates the cosmos life of every being. In summary, every step that we take breaks a balance, but only to build a superior one.

Leonardo for Everybody

By Paramatma Dasi

Bhaktivedanta Ashrama, January 23rd 2009

Shriman Matsyavatara Prabhu is sitting at the table with some devotees; he is having breakfast and he is talking to Premabhakti das about his experience on special wall decorations. Premabhakti das explains that nowadays, by means of a very peculiar method, it is even possible to have, on the wall of your sitting room, the Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci.

“Mmm, Leonardo for everybody” says Shriman Matsyavatara Prabhu in a puzzled tone. “On the one hand it means a wide diffusion, on the other hand it means that what's special will become ordinary”, He adds. His comment, for the benefit of the few devotees present, soon turns into a short but very interesting lesson. Shriman Matsyavatara Prabhu’s thought is that one thing is to go and admire Leonardo’s work at a museum or in an ancient building: in that case we are accompanied by our will and desire to meet Leonardo’s art. But to have Leonardo’s work on a wall at home and to walk continuously before it, it gets it too familiar and that spoils everything. In the end we will not even longer notice Leonardo's masterpiece, though it is as large as the wall.

“This is why – carries on Shriman Matsyavatara Prabhu – the Murtis are kept in a special place and before drawing the curtains of the temple, and opening or closing the doors, we ring bells and blow conches: because in that very moment we have to be fully aware and totally present. The world is a balance between union and separation. Too much confidence is not good, it makes you unable to correctly discriminate, to give something or someone the right value and generates addiction and pain. On the other hand, being too far apart is not useful either. It works the same in our relationships: between Guru and disciples, between parents and children and between partners. We should not to let events nor people stick to us, we should approach them in a sacred way”.

A note by Paramatma dasi:

I am so thankful to Guru Maharaja for the numberless “matchless gifts” that He always gives us and that inspire me to hold on to my old and good habit which I called “Guruvaca”. What He explained this morning struck me for its freshness and consistency.

Today everybody can have most anything... is it really ok? We take everything for granted, we are unable to prepare ourselves - we are unable to prepare our consciousness - for the most important moments of our life and of our present day. Everything is cheap, everything is near at hand, and everything can be at the same time so easily thrown away.

In traditional times a son or daughter used to offer obeisances to his/her parents, a wife used to lovingly take care of her husband showing him respect; a husband used to lovingly protect his wife. What to say about the everlasting and sacred relationship between Guru and disciples!

The Shastras were just for a few people, yes, but not to favour a classist ideology, rather because it was clear that without the right approach they would remain, as we read in the Garuda Purana, “a mirror for the blind”. This is why we offer our humble respects to the devotees, to the Spiritual Master and to the Murtis, and stay quiet in a holy place, turning off also the engine of our mind.

Putting everything on the same level without discrimination makes life mean, pale, frustrating. According to Bhagavad-gita for a self-realized yogi earth, stone and gold are alike, but certainly not because he can't distinguish between them, rather because he transcends duality. Anyhow, all those who have not reached such a self-realization level yet, should be careful and sensitive towards reality: when you don't recognize something (or someone) you cannot give it the right value and when it happens you will be forced to lose it. 

DEATH: a Stage of Life

By Matsyavatara Dasa

No matter what our descendant roots are, noble or of humble origin, rich or poor, old or young, illuminated or not, we are all destined to die. We know that it is inevitable, but we deceive ourselves by thinking that others will die before us, that we will be the last to go. Death always seams far away. Isn’t it a misleading way of thinking? Isn’t it an illusion, a dream? This makes us negligent and we shouldn’t believe it. We should be courageous and prepare ourselves, because sooner or later death will knock at our door.

(Yamamoto Tsunetomo, samurai monk of ending 1600)

Death is most likely the most complex, painful and captivating phenomenon with which man has always had to deal with; generally it irrupts very strongly in the story of an individual, of a family unit and society reality, often leaving behind desperation, emptiness, and mental derangement.

Intelligent people of every era, though living in health, have come across this problem with genuine spirit of research, looking for the comprehension of the events that obligatorily move to a different level from the one merely pertinent to the sensorial perception.

The thought of death is located deep in the human soul and strongly affects the entire course of life and the character, mostly operating at a deep conscience level.

The objective of this analysis is the reinterpretation of the phenomenon, reinterpretation that takes the abandoning of those preconceptions structured in our mind since the green age, and connected to apparent realities and to the destructive image that the idea of death carries with itself.

To face this arcane and dramatic argument in the over-rational perspective, lightly expressed and surely unusual for the western culture, we need to take an “inner journey” , to the roots of our deepest and concealed experiences. The rational mind can capture and encode the physical reality, but not all the reality is reconductible to this level. How can the rational function explain in a full and satisfactory way the “intra-psychic” dynamics? How can it answer the existential questions on the imperceptible nature of oneself and explain the mystery of life? In front of death or of a disconcerting medical report even the most solid rationality will vacillate showing all its limits.

The sages of the Vedas, mind and life scientists who belong to a millenary tradition, indicate how the human being complexity must be studied in its entire bio-psychic-spiritual reality. The classic Indian works explain that barriers between the physical, psychic-energetic and spiritual-metaphysic do not exist; the same human life is a combination of these three interactive dimensions of reality. Man does not only have a physical body but also a psychic body, which represents one of the fundamental bases for the development of the personality. But physical and psychic do not complete the picture of a human being: the physical body and the mental structure are two tools utilized from the purusha, the spiritual self, the subject that perceives, thinks and acts using in fact the body and the mind. Only those that are fully conscious of their self can influence deeply and with determination their physical and psychic bodies, activating inner resources that allows the rediscovering of the auto-healing path. What unifies the physical world and the psychical world, that makes them interactive and gives them a meaning is the self, the vital spark, the witness, the one that sees, that hears, that understands; all the rest are tools.

We need to underline that every living being is eternal, therefore the living entity does not have a beginning (anadi) or an end (ananta). The Veda knowledge teaches that we do not die with the body but at the moment of the spiritual journey out of the body we are moved elsewhere aboard of the psychic structure. From this perspective we can transcend the mistaken contraposition of the binomial life-death, rediscovering the living being’s dimension in which death, being a life phase, is not in opposition with life, but with birth. Similarly, the “asleep” state of consciousness, the one without dreams, is not in opposition with the “wake” state of consciousness. If we made life coincide exclusively with the wake experience, then we can say that sleep has nothing to do with life, but we know very well that it is not true at all. Without sleep there could not be the wake state: during sleep the neurons healthily interact, all the cells easily surrender their wasted products and regenerate.

In the Fedone, Platone makes Socrate say, in one of his last phrases: “The time has come that I must go; every one of us continues with his or her program: I go off to die, you all go on to live, but no one knows who will be better off, only God knows”. And Tagore wrote: “Birth and death are two parts of life, just like to walk you must lift a foot and then lay it down”.

Birth and death are two dots in a circle that the sages of the Veda s call samsara, the repeated cycle of birth and death, since, like the Bhagavadgita teaches, all that is born will die and all that dies will be reborn.

Birth and death are like awakening and going to sleep: we are here before we awake and we are here again after we have fallen asleep. The similitude between dream and death is very close.

The fear of death, besides the terror generated from the unknown, from the journey to an unknown destination, is primarily constituted from the fact that we must leave the objective world, the body, our dearest people, the social position, the prestige, the richness, the pleasure of food, of sex and various possessions. Yet, doesn’t the same happen during our dreams? In the dream doesn’t the subject abandon its physical body? Doesn’t he abandon the social prestige? He abandons a large quantity of things for which he has often developed a morbid attachment. The realization of the self permanence in a different dimension from the one of the wake state of consciousness, is something to be reinforced when we have the resources to make an investment of knowledge, to resolve the problem of death in life.

Death, as the Vedas teache, is a passage towards another dimension, passage through which we renew our lives’ projects; it is not the end, but the beginning of a successive existential cycle. It is like exiting from a theatre scene and entering into another; the actor does not disappear, he is gone only to the observer’s eyes; the same is for the living being at the death moment: the protagonist does not disappear, but simply goes elsewhere. The Gita compares the body to a dress; death is like undressing from old clothes and wearing new ones.

Our prejudices, the social schemes, the way of facing certain phenomena and certain passages of life, are to be reconsidered at the renovated light of intelligence. The image of the self is not what the mirror shows. Death can lose its dramatic power if we come to a new vision of reality, by acknowledging and experiencing ourselves beyond the multiple masks of ego.

The fear of being annulled, zeroed, terminated, is the product of a certain culture, a prejudice, a negative dogma that generates tormenting thoughts, swinging between remorse and irony. Many make irony on death trying to exorcise their fear, but the right approach to the phenomenon must be honest, serious, through an in-depth study, not only intellectual, but experimental.

The subjective world and the objective world, the psychical introverted and extroverted functions and the needs of all the living being should be harmonized. It is by harmonizing these functions that we can grow up, that we can illuminate our personality. Life is a continuum, birth and death correspond to the appearing and disappearing of a physical body, and the same is for the appearing and disappearing of thoughts, illusions, wishes, opinions. If emotionally detached we put ourselves in the position of observers, we can see that the psychical contents float in our conscience as objects on the surface of a river, and therefore we can manage them at our best. What slips off our control, instead, is all that we identify ourselves with and obviously what we ignore.

The fear of death is caused by the identification with our body. Who identifies himself/herself with the body they are wearing will experiment, as years go by, growing fear and terror of death.

What wins death is love, together with consciousness. Love is the strongest feeling, it outlives death, because living means to give and receive love. To love in its widest meaning is to love life itself, therefore all that is living: all creatures. This should set our way of life, of eating, of relating with others. The more we love life and we understand its nature, the less we will fear death.

Dante's Journey and the Bhagavad Gita

Jagannath and His Gospel of Universal Peace

By Matsyavatara Dasa

I offer my respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of the Vaishnavas saints. All glories to Shri Shri Guru and Gauranga.

Peace is a universal value, ever pursued by the human being, who needs it to fulfill his duties with serenity and success, in respect to the environment, to others and to himself.

All authentic spiritual traditions portray the precious value of peace and are based on common principles such as love, fraternity, solidarity, compassion, mercy and charity.

Among the Vaishnava Saints, Caitanya Mahaprabhu, together with His Eternal Associates, is undoubtedly the incarnation of these principles. Lord Jagannath in His turn, links all of the above values, as a symbol of universal and fraternal love, peace, life, empathy and compassion toward every living being. In His fascinating form, Shri Jagannath reveals His nature of Soul of the Universe and Supreme Love, through His big, sympathetic and merciful eyes and His arms that seem to invite to a wrapping hug.

Jagannath is known as the liberator of the fallen souls, as He who gives the four purusha-artha (dharma, artha, kama, moksha), happiness, serenity and harmony, all of which are channeled towards bhakti, Supreme love for God.

God is the source and sustainer of individual, social and universal peace. It is therefore on a spiritual basis that peace, the authentic and lasting one, can be researched, built, developed and maintained.

Peace is the result of coordinated and constant efforts. It is first of all the continuous practice of deep knowledge, which implies an ample vision of all dynamics involved and is therefore an indispensable assumption for the recognition of the proper line of behaviour to be followed in every circumstance. This line enables for the tangible development of peace at all levels: individual, domestic, social, political, economical and so on.

Religious science and traditions of all times agreed in stating that there are universal laws, governing life in the cosmos (the term cosmos in Greek means in fact 'order'). Specific laws regulate and sustain the entire creation and every manifestation of life, from the human being to the microscopic insect. They are expression of an order, defined as 'implicit' by modern quantum sciences, hidden beyond tangible reality, and from which the 'explicit order', the one visible and perceivable in Nature and its phenomena, derives.

In the Vaishnava tradition, this order on which life and unity of the cosmos are founded, is named dharma, from the Sanskrit root dhr, meaning 'to bear, to sustain' or ritam, from the Sanskrit root r, meaning 'to proceed', designating in this case the 'regular flux or trend' of things.

Jagannath, Lord of the Universe, is indeed the origin and the home of this order, thought by Divine intelligence for the well-being of each creature and conceivable in particular by human beings, who have the capability of discernment and, above all, of love towards less developed creatures, fellow men and God.

Being really interested in building peace, means being interested in knowing these universal laws, which are recognized and venerated as the expression of a superior intelligence, Cosmic Conscience or God, by religious men of all times. Peace means synchronizing one's dynamics with the cosmic dynamics, by harmonizing them with each other; or learning to move in harmony with the universal and eternal order, the breach of which causes imbalance, lacerations and conflicts, within and without. Peace is not therefore just a morale necessity, but is indispensable for the survival of mankind, tightly and indissolubly connected to life of the entire creation and of all creatures. In lack of such consciousness, peace is alas destined to remain a very vague concept, subject to be exploited by people, truly pursuing other purposes.

Every authentic religion brings a universal vision, because it teaches, even with diversified terms and ways, that nothing is separated from the rest, that the one is connected with the whole and the whole is connected to the one. The word religion derives from the Latin religere, which means 'to unify, to connect', such as the word Yoga derives from the Sanskrit root yuj, which has the same meaning. Without Yoga, or the reconnection of the individual conscience to Cosmic Conscience, there cannot be true peace, as peace is obtained only by the individual who has acquired a deep consciousness of the unity of everything that exists. He must perceive the common Source that connects everything and be aware that the well-being of one is not separated from the well-being of others. Love for God constitutes the maximum warranty for peace, because loving God means loving all living beings, by considering their common origin and their indissoluble union with Him.

In Bhagavad-gita, (V.29), one of the fundamental texts of the Vaishnava religion, it is explained that peace will be reached by those who, by recognizing God as the final Beneficiary of all sacrifices and austerities and Supreme Friend of all living beings, will offer their service and pure devotion to Him. The very essence of Vaishnavism is indeed bhakti or love for God (Vishnu-Krishna), which includes love for the creation and all creatures, as expansions and revelation of the Absolute. This is why in the Vaishnava tradition, the principle of ahimsa or non-violence is not exercised exclusively towards human beings, but towards all living beings because compassion, solidarity and mercy cannot and must not be reserved to only one race or species. Again, in Bhagavad-gita, II.66, Krishna says that if man's intelligence is not connected to the Supreme – with all this statement implies – peace, shanti, will not be reachable, and if peace is not reachable, what to say of happiness (kutah sukham).

Every religion, if authentic and authentically lived, contributes to the restoration of harmony between Creator, creation and creatures, by favoring the evolution and well- being of all living beings, all aiming towards the infinite Love of the same, unique God. Jay Jagannath!