THE TWENTY-SIX QUALITIES OF THE SPIRITUAL RESEARCHER

By Matsya Avatara Dasa

From the Introduction of the book:

THE TWENTY-SIX QUALITIES OF THE SPIRITUAL RESEARCHER

When starting any type of journey we need to get the adequate equipment so that the journey will be as comfortable as possible and we will also have some basic guarantee that we will eventually be able to attain our desired goal. This also applies to the journey towards self-realization, but in this case the equipment is very special. In fact the spiritual researcher does not venture into the exploration of the external world but into the inner universe, and in order to proceed safely and successfully, he needs to develop all the noblest and most elevated qualities of his personality, many of which lie in a dormant state.

Thus the principles we will explain are not simply to be considered on the theoretical platform, but they need to be demonstrated in practical everyday life. What we are going to discuss is not a scholarly and academic elaboration but a concrete and real search, because only consistency between theoretical assumptions and practical application can bring a quick evolutionary process. This process offers innumerable benefits: on the metaphysical level it facilitates the understanding of truths that would otherwise remain dogmatic or only accessible from the nominal point of view; on the intellectual platform it creates the manifestation of discernment between what is good and what is bad. This discernment enables us to avoid many obstacles and sufferings that are often generated also in circumstances that appear very ordinary. On the mental platform one attains that serenity that, as explained by Krishna in Bhagavad-gita¹, cannot be separated from the journey of self-realization, and finally on the physical platform, the body gets the benefits of health and well-being.

If the dangers we will have to face were indicated by a clearly visible luminous sign it would be easy to avoid them, but the great dangers of life are not advertised in this way. However, these signals appear on other channels to those who possess the qualities we are going to study. Such virtues should be therefore studied and developed not in order to increase our ego but to become mature, solid and consistent persons that can offer help and a good example to themselves and to many others.

We should be able to measure someone's maturity or immaturity according to objective parameters; thus the evaluation of a particular individual should not be determined by personal liking or disliking, but by the presence or absence of specific qualities.

The virtues that we are going to consider are twenty-six in number, and they are mentioned and explained in several parts of Vedic literature; in this context I will utilize mainly two extremely prestigious texts: one, universally recognized for its authoritativeness, is Bhagavad-gita², the other, equally authoritative within the Gaudiya Vaishnava³ tradition, is Caitanya-Caritamrita⁴.

Because of their greatness and majesty these two texts have been able, in the course of the centuries, to shape the life of a great number of individuals and they place the teaching of the twenty-six qualities within a wider elaboration on the subject of perfection, so that perfection will be not considered as something abstract, theoretical and utopistic, but will be substantiated so that it can be concretely perceived through such virtues. As true mind scientists, veritable psychologists and sociologists, the special authors of such works did not stop at beautiful but abstract philosophical speculation, they have connected these qualities, veritable jewels of a character, to precise behaviors, because values that are not practiced cannot be worth much, they do not produce effects and they evaporate like snow in the sunshine.

Gita and Caitanya Caritamrita, the texts examining the virtues we are going to study, are known as religious scriptures that support and canonize a system of values contained in a particular tradition; this however does not mean that their value is merely religious, because their psychological and sociological value, too, is undoubtedly great.

Those who want to keep a clear-cut separation between science and religion are victims of a prejudiced vision that has taken roots in the western tradition, but unexpectedly help has come from quantum physics itself, a very pragmatic branch of knowledge that confirmed that a scientist's vision of the world is not different from a mystic's.

The value of texts such as the Puranas, Vedas, Upanishads, and Brahamanas is extraordinary, not simply from the merely theological-ritualistic point of view, but also because they offer a system of values that enables us to organize our lives in a happy, healthy, consistent and harmonious way.

What do the great texts of Tradition tell us? That we are happy, vigorous, intelligent, creative and willing to live when the microcosm of our body is in harmony with the macrocosm. There is no difference between systems of different size because there are laws of a supreme order, a system of values that relate and connect everything that exists. The same laws that govern the orbits of planets and galaxies also apply to the growth of a blade of grass or a cell, to the communication between synapses, to the development of neurons, to the division of the cell by which the fetus gradually develops. Inspired, constant research, determined to get into harmony with these laws, shapes intelligence that takes us to self-healing, capable of solving problems that otherwise would be delegated to pharmaceutical industry with scarce success.

It has now been scientifically proven that serene and inspired persons, who are dedicated to things they believe in, remarkably improve the level of their immune system. On the other hand when we are depressed, sad, filled with resentment, jealousy and envy, we cause a drop in our immune system.

We need to realize the importance of living happily in the company of persons who practice virtues and believe in them. We must be interested in values that have universal scope, accepted by Catholicism, Buddhism or any other system that contemplates a rise in consciousness and self-realization. Of course we will also include the secular systems because there are no more barricades between religion and social life. It is absurd to think that values can only be contained within so-called religious currents: even if it is clear that the priority of religious life is precisely the application of such values, many non-religious persons also welcome and practice them. Cleanliness, truthfulness, compassion, generosity, sobriety and ecology are not just religious but rather universal values.

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Federation of the Indian Republics at the University of Milan, I have stated that it was the Vedas themselves that supported India's independence from the British Administration. It was a special feeling to speak about Vedic civilization in those places that, in 1968, witnessed hot, vehement, and sometimes violent protest affirming values that society did not accept.

Specifically, the values mentioned and explained in the Vedas have enabled the constitution of States within a society with so many languages, races, ethnic groups and religions.

A student-professor was commenting how people are in the grip of prejudice in relation to whatever is different, and I said that such prejudice is generated by fear, because one who carries prejudice is weak and fragile by definition; an authoritarian person is weak, and this is why he needs to use force to impose himself, while one who controls his senses and has inner strength is not authoritarian but authoritative, he is not angry but serene. No matter what comes before him, he finds the correct key for its interpretation and answers adequately to the stimulation that derives from it.

What is different scares us because it jeopardizes our certainties and some clichés we have grown accustomed to. Fear generates hostility. This is why "different" people such as Jesus, Socrates, or in more recent times Martin Luther King, have been murdered. This makes us understand that the intention of affirming a universal system of values must be based on a commonly known language that should not be too exotic, exoteric or mysterious, because this would create suspicions, fears and persecution mania. We need to relate to others as if in a pleasurable game, so that prejudice will automatically fall away.

Everyone needs a model for their own development; without a model we cannot achieve anything. As long as he had Seneca to look up to, Nero was not the madman described by history. He became crazy when he changed his model, taking his inspiration from Tigellinus.

For a spiritual researcher, an excellent model is one who has complete control over passions and impulses, or vegam. Vegam means "impulse", or a discharge of energy. In a person who is afflicted by manic syndromes, the "discharges" he feels contain a great energy, but immediately afterwards he falls into a state of depression. This is typical of the dystics, those who have a two-phase behavior: in the first stage there is courage, strength, brilliance, wit, humor and a typically manic frenzy, but because this manifestation of energy is not based on reality, it is followed by a vertical fall into depression, the good mood disappears and euphoria gives way to disappointment. Then melancholy steps in, and in the most serious phases it contains even suicidal ideas, or a dark vision that affects the surrounding people, too.

Speaking of virtue implies referring to very precise and real models that are certainly not utopistic. Today like in ancient times, these qualities can be developed by the modern sages. These values are beyond time and space, they are eternal... do you want evidence? The fact they have been experienced by traditions that did not know each other, and by persons who lived at the opposite ends of the planet, who have expressed the very same realizations.

First of all, the twenty-six qualities or virtues must been explained and shown not as abstractions, but as the fruit of a series of coordinated and conscientious efforts. They are real wealth, much more valuable than any material asset that attract thieves, tax officers, false friends, and feed pernicious desires aggravating the attachment to mundane life, that makes leaving the body even more painful. The assets constituted by virtues, on the contrary, are not lost with the body. Even recent discoveries on DNA confirm this reality and determine the environment, including the psychological environment that a being finds in his next birth.

Thus we can reveal the mystery, the enigma of why there are so many other species besides the humans; it is really conceivable that chicken only exist to be roasted and eaten? Or that lambs exist to be slaughtered at Easter? This kind of idea is pure folly. Actually all these life forms search for perfection, but their nervous system is not completely developed to harmonize with the universe. This is a fascinating subject that should deserve adequate exploration. Man is racing madly after super-technology, artificial intelligence, and certainly he deserves the credit for extraordinary discoveries, but during this search he has often forgotten the inner world, becoming alienated and confused, losing the awareness of ourselves, of the world and of life.

Attaining our goal requires a constant attention, but if we begin this journey with the proper attitude it will be enthusing and give us such satisfaction and benefits that we will feel their effects for the rest of our life. Spiritual teachings that are luminous and potentially accessible to everyone will be understood and applied by each person as much as the evolutionary level of each individual will allow. In any case, no matter from which level he starts, if the spiritual researcher is sincere and dedicated, he will be able to gradually attain perfection with patience and determination, under the guidance of a genuine Master, an acarya. Acarya is a significant term in the Tradition we are talking about: it comes from the Sanskrit acara, ‘proper behavior’, and indicates a person whose behavior is immaculate and consistent with what he teaches in words. In fact teachings become effective as much as the person that transmits them is the first to apply them in his own life. In the long run, mere theoretical teachings become boring, sometimes impossible to understand, and incapable of producing fruits. On the other hand, one who respects some principles and applies them in his own life he will be able to transmit them effectively even without enunciating them verbally, because example is much more powerful than precept.

Shri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu⁵ summarized this concept as follows: “Some behave well but do not teach, others teach but do not behave well. Perfection consists in both teaching and behaving well”.

In any environment such knowledge is constantly and practically useful: when we acquire the proper know-how we can become conscious of the atmosphere we find in an office, in a family, in a factory, in a church. We can immediately understand which psychological type our interlocutor is, but above all, these twenty-six qualities we are going to study are an exceptionally effective parameter to measure and evaluate ourselves.

This evaluation is meant to understand our shortcomings, because only by understanding them we can add what we lack, in the language of modern psychology, we can integrate our personality.

Only by understanding which qualities we should develop most we can prepare a serious work on ourselves: this is why the acquisition of knowledge is a primary factor. By analyzing these virtues everyone will be able to examine himself and discover where the deepest shortcomings lie and also where the picture looks encouraging. We will understand why in the course of the millennia the great Vedic sages, the great Masters, have explained that such qualities are characteristic of the people of a divine nature, while those who are devoid of them are characterized as darkened, dull people who generate sufferings for themselves and for all those who stay around them; sometimes even for entire communities or nations.

Behind each virtue we can get a glimpse of a world, a dimension where we need to enter to acquire that particular quality. Mere remembrance is not sufficient, what we need to do is to practice that quality, live it and integrate it in our behavior, in our intra-psychic and inter-psychic dynamics.

We can compare an individual to a tree: a burning tree risks propagating the fire to an entire forest, and similarly a burning individual risks spreading the fire to a family, a community, a project. Luckily, also the contrary is true: a strong and sweetly scented tree can expand its fragrance in all the forest, and a healthy, stable and virtuous individual can do the same thing.

The virtues of which we will discuss are the basis of all types of relationships in society as in spiritual life, in economics, in family and sentiments; they enrich life for anyone, in any circumstance. Maybe they cannot be applied simultaneously, all the twenty-six of them, but the more the awareness grows, the wider the application field becomes. Practice is very helpful: we start maybe by applying one quality only, then by a chain reaction the others will gradually manifest, too, and we can joyfully experience that they come one by one, sometimes in couples, of by the threes... and sometimes, in moments of confusion, all the twenty-six disappear.

Practice is perfected by constantly living in the company of these twenty-six qualities that can become a garland of sweet scented flowers we can always carry with us.

Caitanya Mahaprabhu indicated these virtues to one of his important disciples, Sanatana Gosvami, and also in Bhagavad-gita, at the beginning of the sixteenth chapter, we find a list of twenty-six virtues that is very similar. By comparing the two lists we find that any difference is only a variation of rasa⁶, or taste, emotion, sentiment.

We will introduce the subject with a description of the twenty-six qualities by Shrila Bhaktivinoda Thakura⁷: “Like twenty-six pearls or sweet-scented flowers, they constitute a necklace representing the character of a practically perfect person. The state of perfection is characterized by the presence of these twenty-six qualities”.

In the Scriptures the perfect, evolved, liberated beings such as great sages and saints are sometimes described with some of such virtues and sometimes with others, but when we make a careful analysis of their character we find that all twenty-six are present. Such virtues are certainly an attainment, not a starting point. By knowing them we become able to make an assessment of our life, to understand who we are, where we are, and in which direction we are walking.

It is rare for an individual to be able to make a deep and honest analysis of oneself, and this is why the spiritual Master is necessary. TModern men are more and more inclined towards psycho-therapists and analysts that often are not even aware of the spiritual reality of the soul, and therefore they only analyze on the basis of temporary characteristics. Within Tradition such analysis is made by the guru, who is able to see the shortcomings in a personality and proposes a therapy by engaging the disciple in devotional service, which leads to catharsis and purification⁸.

We cannot heal by ourselves alone; today we live in the "do it yourself" age and the figure of the Master has become obsolete, rejected by the majority of people. Individuals are left to themselves, everyone is master of himself and the effects are under our eyes: violence spreads, phobias and panic attacks are more and more frequent, and depression is now the fourth more common disease in the world. The "do it yourself" mentality is therefore an illusion, but when we have understood this fact it is not sufficient for us to passively cling to a Master. One who wants to have the guidance of a spiritual Master must activate himself and serve in his mission; this has been true for millennia and the sacred Texts offer dozens of examples.

We need a dynamic approach, the deliberation of submitting ourselves to the cure, a therapeutic pact in which Master and disciple take a role and respect it.

Krishna explains in Bhagavad-gita: “Go to a Master who possesses this knowledge, be humble, ask him questions and serve him”⁹.

Service and humility psychologically prepare us to understanding, in fact if our state of mind is not appropriate we will not be able to perceive the answers, no matter how deeply wise they can be.

The Masters can offer knowledge because they have realized it; one can only give what he has. Thus, by following the teachings of an enlightened person, gradually the anarthas crumble away and give way to virtues. In this way trust turns into faith and becomes deeply structured in the heart, because theoretical knowledge is united with practice that confirms the teachings. By seeing persons who have become healed,our faith in the therapy grows and we understand that the method is working. However, the cure must be administered adequately and the two parts, Master and disciple, must interact harmoniously.

In the West there is a widespread prejudice in regard to spiritual masters, because people still suffer from the dichotomy of religion-secularism. In the Vedas this does not exist because the rishis¹⁰

^{were at the same time secular and religious, they did not deny the central position of the spirit or the peripheral importance of material creation. The stimulation to approach the world of the spirit should not be accompanied by a denial or denigration of the world.}

^{Virtue, ethics, is a spiritual factor that can be manifested in the world through morals, through a series of behaviors that are based on ethical principles. The most genuine part of each religion in fact manifests as a concrete behavior in the world.}

^{The Illuminists' protest was against an abstract religiosity only showing a practical result in privileges and a monopoly of power; it did not oppose spirit in itself, but the way it was expressed in daily life. The determination of the liberal state to express values different from the confessional states was a legitimate freedom of expressing one's own spirituality that was called in a different way only as a reaction. Some anarchists have shown great virtues in their lives; they were just protesting against a corrupt religious world, but they opposed an evil by generating a situation that later degenerated into evil itself.}

^{Often the West moves between these extreme opposites, as it was brilliantly explained by Heraclitus with the principle of enantiodromy11};

even Plato speaks about it when he states that after a period of anarchy a tyrant comes, then after a while he is felled and anarchy returns. The Puranas state that such contrasts keep increasing in Kali-yuga¹². However, the sun is neither western nor eastern and virtues are of a spiritual nature, whether they are lived by Mazzini or St. Anthony. Nobody should think he is the sole repository of these virtues; fundamentalism originates from a monotheism that cultivates the idea of being the chosen people, the sole repository of the truth, but the truth that pervades the entire universe is inscribed into the hearts of all men.

1 Bg. II.66.

2 Literally, ‘Bhagavan's song’. It is a text belonging to the VI book of the Mahabharata epic, considered the Gospel of the Hindus, the most famous Sanskrit work in the world, and its authoritativeness is recognized by all the Schools of thought belonging to the vast Indo-Vedic tradition. In his commentary to Bhagavad-gita, Shankara Acarya calls it "a collection of the quintessence of the meaning of the entire Veda". It highlights the figure of Krishna, the hero God, who reveals the science of spiritual realization to prince Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra.

3 School founded by Shri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, based on the doctrine known as acintya bheda-abheda tattva, that explains how God and the souls or jivas are non-different from the qualitative point of view but different on the level ot shaktis or powers. The word Gaudiya comes from the Sanskrit Gauda, indicating the district of Gaur, the central area of Bengal, from where Caitanyadeva started to spread His teachings.

4 The most famous and important biography of Caitanya Mahaprabhu (1486-1534), compiled by Krishnadas Kaviraja Gosvami, who could hear the earthly lilas of the Lord from the mouth of his own Master, Raghunatha Gosvami, one of the six Gosvamis of Vrindavana, direct disciple of Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

5 (1486-1534). Founder of the Gaudiya-vaishnava School, He was considered a manifestation of Vishnu-Krishna and venerated as such. His preaching gave Hinduism a new orientation and the culture of Bengal an impulse that would never fade away. In line with the Bhagavata literature and with the previous vaishnava acaryas, Caitanya offered a faith pervaded by the personalist vision of the Absolute, to whom the devotee offers service and devotion, thus becoming free from the cycle of the samsara and attaining the highest goal of existence, love for God (prema bhakti). His teachings were the foundation of the thought system known as Acintya-bhedabheda-tattva.

6Literally, 'taste, aroma, flavor, sentiment, emotion'. Spiritual sentiments that constantly and reciprocally flow between God and His devotee. Rupa Gosvami's Bhaktirasamrtasindhu (II.32-33) explains in details twelve main rasas, of which the following five are the most famous: contemplation (shanta-rasa), service (dasya-rasa), friendship (sakhya-rasa), parental relationship (vatsalya-rasa) and romantic relationship (madhurya-rasa).

7 (1838-1914): acarya of the Gaudiya-vaishnava tradition, magistrate, theologian, poet and prolific author of works on bhakti.

8 Those who are interested in a deep study on the relationship Guru-disciple can avail the text on this subject, or the text on Traditional Indian Pedagogy, both published by CSB; please contact the Secretary.

9 Bg. IV.34.

10 Great sages, poets who compiled the Vedic literature. There are three different categories of 'seers': rajarishis, saintly kings, brahmarishis, wise brahmans and devarishis, devas that are distinguished due their saintliness and wisdom.

11 A psychological law enunciated by Heraclitus, according to which everything is transformed into its opposite.

12 The last of the four cosmic ages that cyclically follow each other and characterize the transformation. Traditionally it began in 3102 B.C., with the disappearance of Bhagavan Shri Krishna from Earth, where it is compared to the winter season for its aspects of dullness and degradation. In fact this period is characterized by the prevalence of hatred and quarrel (the world kali literally means ‘quarrel’), the increasing denial of the dharmic principles and the decreasing psycho-physical and intellectual resources of the human beings, that become less and less capable of conceptualizing, memorizing, understanding and especially living the teachings on the metaphysical realities. The total duration of the Kali yuga is of 1.200 heavenly years, equivalent to 432.000 earthly years.

The Science of Meditation - Part V

“THE SCIENCE OF MEDITATION”

Lecture by Matsya Avatara Dasa

Naples, Castello Angioino, 20th December 2008

Conference “The Science of Meditation”

HARMONIC INTEGRATION OF THE INDIVIDUAL IN THE UNIVERSE

Another important factor in meditation is social integration: not in a corporate sense, and not even in a sense of caste. In this case, social integration means the ability to interact harmonically in a constructive and evolutionary sense, with all creatures - the vision that values each creature, birds, reptiles, fish, what to speak of human beings, potential fellow travelers from whom we can learn to progress in our development. In one sense, what we have described could be a part of the most important abstentions mentioned by Patanjali, non-violence, or ahimsa. 

Finally, the fundamental factor for an effective practice of meditation is spiritual tension, that irrepressible need in each human being to turn and follow ideality. Meditation cannot exist without this need to realize this ideality within ourselves.

The principles of freedom, justice and love cannot be stopped and everyone of us tends to realize them, so as much as we dedicate to develop our idealities, we become ecologic in our environment, we favor not only the persons with whom we live, but the environment in general, and we integrate with mankind and with all creatures. This ideality, that can initially be experimented sporadically with an inconsistent practice of meditation, should become the model of our entire life, constantly and daily, if we want to attain perfection in meditation. Perfection does not exist on the human level - we can have a tendency, a movement towards something, we can walk towards something, but we do not need to be afraid of acting, thinking that because we are not perfect, our actions will be imperfect. Our actions will be imperfect anyway, but if we start walking into the proper direction and we move towards perfection, each step will bring joy, that essential, inner joy that is full satisfaction, samtosha, contentment, tushti, that makes a person extremely tolerant and humble. The level of realization we have attained is not shown by our social position, by the flags we carry or by the colors of a uniform: it is shown by our humility and tolerance.

EMOTIONAL DETACHMENT AS THE KEY FOR A HIGHER PLEASURE

For this reason knowledge and wisdom must be transformed into emotional detachment, a detachment from what is not useful but damaging, that obstructs our evolution. The first level of detachment to be applied is to withdraw the senses from their objects (pratyahara), so that they do not become wild horses - we should not restrain them with violence and repression, but rather we should channel them in an evolutionary project that is functional to our inner growth. This renunciation is not brutal deprivation dictated by dogmatism or prejudice, rather it is attractive and effective abstention that we naturally apply in the moment when we experiment something higher.

The embodied souls can abstain from the enjoyment of the senses, although the taste for the sense objects remains. But if he loses this taste by experiencing a higher taste, he will remain fixed in spiritual consciousness. (BG II.59)

In Sanskrit, param literally means "higher" and drishtva "having seen": when we have developed a higher vision we can renounce a lower vision. We should not be afraid of inhibitions: some areas of the brain and some organs of the body are inhibited when we do something that requires our attention. This inhibition will certainly not prevent us from a journey of evolution, on the contrary it is something that we directly dominate and therefore we can manage in a sensitive and expert way, renouncing something inferior for the benefit of something superior. This act can be described as asceticism, in Sanskrit tapas, the ability to renounce with an act of will, a deliberate choice, leaving something inferior in order to obtain something superior. It implies an extraordinary consistency with a planning aimed at liberation from conditionings, and thus to the dissolution of all the virulent samksaras that condition the individuals, moving them with irresistible force. This benefit extends to all the guilt feelings or complexes that thrive in our unconscious and were created at some time in the history of our existence: their negative effects are dissolved and the individual becomes free from the prison where he was languishing.

Asceticism in itself does not exhaust the meaning of meditation, but constitutes an important component; it must be accompanied by prayer and right action, in other words by actions that are beneficial for all creatures, creating the least possible damage (ahimsa), for example eating only foods that were obtained with the least possible violence: grains, vegetables, pulses.

Our objective should be the structuring of our life in a really planned way, aimed at attaining the highest level of evolution in this segment of existence, and consequently aspiring to a more evolved body in our next life. Vishnu Purana explains that there are 400,000 levels of evolution within the human species: there are humans, sub-humans, super-humans, saints and criminals, so many different types as there are different psychic structures and their chthonian pushes that come from the deep. These impulses can even control and dominate man inexorably, and when they are destructive and anti-social they can push him to commit horrendous crimes. Recognizing that some of these impulses are uncontrollable and irrepressible, the judicial system has decided that such individuals should not be sent to jail but rather treated in special structures called judiciary mental facilities. However, before coming to such extreme and compromised situations, it is possible to apply preventive measures, treatments, plans and methods of which meditation is a part and a concrete example.

The Science of Meditation - Part IV

“THE SCIENCE OF MEDITATION”

Lecture by Matsya Avatara Dasa

Naples, Castello Angioino, 20th December 2008

Conference “The Science of Meditation”

THE PSYCHIC ORIGIN OF BEHAVIOR AND PERSONALITY

Actions have an extraordinary effect on us, creating a sort of photocopy in the substance of the mind that becomes impressed into our psychic structure; everything we do, everything we say, think or desire, leaves a trace. Thus, following the path of the great teachers, who know the human psyche and the soul of the human being, and especially his real divine nature and his prison, as Plato describes, and without despising the physical body, we can say that we are where we are because we have wished, thought, spoken and acted in a particular way. This vision is only apparently deterministic because it constantly evolves: in the very moment we are speaking and you are reading there is already a modification in your understanding and in your samskaras.

Each desire, thought or word, creates corresponding physical manifestations; in the Vedas the word, called vac, is described as the source of creation. It creates the worlds - and this is really a fact, because through words we express our state of mind, and therefore words must be as truthful as possible, because even before cheating others we are cheating ourselves. However just like action the word remains an external manifestation of an inner process, the process of reflection, vicara, of thought and, even before that, of desire. The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad explains that "man is nothing but desire": thus it is essential to select desires because the unconscious contains a great quantity of them, "an entire herd of restless horses", to use Plato's metaphor. We have the duty to direct and guide these impulses that surge from the unconscious, as soon as they pass the threshold of conscious thought or consciousness where we can become aware of them. Ultimately our temperament is the result of a chain of desires, thoughts, reflections, words, actions, patterns of behavior that interact with emotional components of various strength to become tendencies, characteristics of our personality that dictate our actions if we do not channel them in the correct way. In order to act on these almost unconscious stages we need to access that dimension that is beyond the threshold of awareness, and for this we may use various paths: meditation, prayer and dreams, considered by Fraud as the "royal access to the unconscious". All these paths can help us to investigate our inner dimension and to expand the radiance of our consciousness more and more, shrinking the darkness of the unconscious, of the unknown, to know ourselves in a deeper way. The practical application of such techniques requires a theoretical and practical knowledge that we can experience in everyday's life. The experience of meditation can continue while we talk, walk, eat, or sleep: we do not simply meditate when we sit cross-legged. However, to attain a continuous state of meditation and therefore to be always aware of our deep nature and of the interaction we have with the external phenomena, it is important to consider a few aspects and especially the fact that our psyche is like an arena where titanic forces of opposite tendencies constantly fight one another. These tendencies are sometimes entropic, sometimes syntropic, evolutionary and involutionary, bringing health or disease. We could express this struggle with the powerful mythological language, describing it as the endless fight between Good and Evil.

There are obstacles to meditation. According to Patanjali, such obstacles are distraction (vikshipta), and the fogging of consciousness, the dullness, the fall of the level of attention (mudha), while selective and constant attention is essential for a good result in the practice of meditation.

INDIVIDUALITY

Another central aspect we need to consider about meditation is about individuality: each individual is only equal to himself, each one is an individual, each person has his own journey. There is no real equality in this sense, because each person has lived a different life and had different personal experiences.

I have created the four divisions of human society'

on the basis of the three influences of material nature

and of the activities connected with them; however,

know that although I am the creator of this system

I do not act within it, because I am unchangeable

At the time when the individual, the spiritual being, leaves a particular physical body, he travels in a psychic bubble constituted by samskaras and vasanas, where he is enclosed, and the stronger tendencies will be the ones that will specifically determine the nature of his subsequent qualities and therefore the place, the species, and other factors connected to another material body destined to be inhabited by that particular jiva. The psychic structure is thus different from the experiences we carry on from previous lifetimes and, lifetime after lifetime, determines different births even for twins born from the same ovum - what to speak for "mere" brothers, fellow villagers, or people from the same country or culture.

The influence of the three archetypal forces, or gunas, that constitute material nature, prakriti, and the luggage of the fruits of actions performed in recent or distant times, or karma, are different for each individual and therefore, when a person wants to approach the practice of meditation, we need to know him at a personal level because each person must be helped and guided in a special way, peculiar to him on the basis of his guna and karma.

FREEDOM

If individuality, the specific character of that particular model of personality, is unique, we need to reflect on the concept of freedom as natural implication. No practice should deny freedom to the individual, and no Master should deprive his disciples from freedom. There should be no pressure, but a free choice of obedience to an offer, a proposal by a model we consider more elevated than others. The relationship with the person who meditates must always be based on freedom, because a person can meditate as much as he is able to be free. There will certainly be mistakes, he will probably not be able to escape some automated mental patterns that might have been influencing him for so many lifetimes, he will not be immediately able to renounce something - an obstacle, a conditioning, a habit, a food, a drink, a relationship - but if we understand freedom and recognize the specific nature of that model of transient personality, the individual will be free to express himself according to his own level of consciousness without destructive impositions, but rather with offerings inspired by the pure spirit of bhakti, loving relationship, of prema, with an investment in affection, because by definition love does not need anything in return: it is sufficient in itself.

“When we dedicate ourselves to spirituality or science, we are not doing something extra. We should not think like “let priests or scientists deal with it”. Nowadays we should go beyond this kind of mentality and we hope that the new millennium will help in this sense. For his/her own complete self-realization, each one of us primarily needs to satisfy both the rational needs of the intellect and the deep aspirations of the soul”.

Matsya Avatar Das

The Science of Meditation - Part III

“THE SCIENCE OF MEDITATION”

Lecture by Matsya Avatara Dasa

Naples, Castello Angioino, 20th December 2008

Conference “The Science of Meditation”

THE UNCONSCIOUS "PEOPLE"

During our introspective journey we encounter a number of experiences that the individual lives unconsciously, almost unknowingly, but that keep interacting with him every day. These unconscious experiences can be individual or common to various creatures, and constitute an integral part of this universe in its entirety. This is the case of the collective unconscious described by Jung. The collective unconscious constitutes the world of archetypes, the world of symbols, where eventually an American, an Indio, a person who lives in Cape of Good Hope, an Eskimo or a Chinese, have the same essential reference systems: this is indeed the universal nature of symbols. Such is the crucial importance of the concept of memory or remembrance, in Sanskrit smritaya: what can be remembered both at conscious and unconscious level.

These memories are all the more conditioning when they are unconscious, because a memory or a conscious thought can be temporarily or voluntarily put aside by a person who may be trying to concentrating on something else, while an unconscious memory, precisely due to its nature, cannot be directly and consciously managed by the individual, who becomes agitated by such memories. Similar experiences stored in the deep unconscious or karmashaya are called samskara, where sam means "together" and kara comes from the Sanskrit root kr meaning "to do". In themselves these experiences have no positive or negative value, but their importance is in the powerful influence they have on the individual, who generally and incorrectly thinks that he is the author of his actions. Similar experiences attract one another and dig deep grooves into the unconscious psyche, veritable paths on which the individual always treads, reinforcing them more and more. Such psychic grooves are constituted by the individual tendencies, vasanas, that are also positive or negative. So we are often agitated by the unconscious without knowing it, pushed by our tendencies that may be artistic, scientific, harmonizing or oppressing, pacific or hostile, and obviously in order to really become the masters of ourselves, we must clean out such tendencies, especially the negative ones. There are very precise and effective techniques that enable us, through the use of will power, to transform the contents of the unconscious: a fundamental work in order to engage in the path of meditation. Only in this way we will be able to free our intuition power, the "path of the heart", that we can successfully walk only if the heart has been properly purified.

INSTRUMENTS OF KNOWLEDGE: INTUITION BEYOND PERCEPTION

In order to attain knowledge we can not depend on sense perception, that as we have seen already, allows us to know maybe the 0.1% of the external and internal reality, and we cannot even depend on the information broadcast in society, especially in a society like the one we live in, highly technological, completely extroverted and finalized to the realization of external projects, where judgments are often prejudices. In this case discrimination constitutes the application of Socrates' motto, "knowing we do not know", and is an invitation to question oneself, to not accepting something blindly only because it appears to our senses or to our reason, to constructively question our deep beliefs. In this way it will be possible to overcome the concept of reality that is anchored to the physical and psychic world, overcoming the mere rational function, the "short-winged" intellect (in Dante's words) and by rediscovering the pure intuition faculties, typical of the child psyche, that are at the basis of modern scientific research. In this perspective we do not want to deny intellect in general, the "treasure of intellect" (again, in Dante's words), because it constitutes a valuable instrument of research when it is not misused to damage other channel of knowledge, that must be properly used but with detachment - just like in pole jumping, the athlete must use the pole to make the jump and then drop it in order to complete the leap. 

All the great discoveries come from brilliant intuitions and only later they are verified experimentally through positive sciences such as mathematics, physics and chemistry, so that they become evident for all and not only for those who have "given birth" to them in the first place. Explaining, or sharing our discoveries and realizations with others, constitutes the sentiment of compassion, karuna, and transmitting them in a convincing manner with the typical respect of the spirit of offering, is fundamental for the growth of the individual as well as for the good of others around us. Because whatever we give to others always comes back to us, and there is no better way of benefiting ourselves but doing good to others, offering them what is most precious for ourselves.

The Scienze of Meditation - Part II

“THE SCIENCE OF MEDITATION”

Lecture by Matsya Avatara Dasa

Naples, Castello Angioino, 20th December 2008

Conference “The Science of Meditation”

YOGA: THE SCIENCE OF UNION

The word Yoga comes from the Sanskrit root yuj, literally meaning "to unite, to connect". In fact Yoga is the science for the reintegration of the individual self with the supreme Self, of the infinitesimal consciousness with the cosmic Consciousness.

Bhagavad-gita describes various types of Yoga and in his very famous treatise on the Yogasutras constituting one of the foremost and most important Psychology Schools created by mankind, Patanjali defines eight stages of development of the Yogic discipline (Ashtanga Yoga) where meditation, dhyana, only constitutes the second-last stage.

Before entering a meditative state, the aspirant yogi must purify his mind and heart, abstaining from those activities that are contrary to the spiritual evolution (yama) and engaging in the activities that favor it (niyama). Next, one should become expert in keeping postures, or asanas, that enable us to become less disturbed by our body, and then learn the art of breathing, pranayama. By turning within and withdrawing the senses from their objects (pratyahara) and trying to focus our attention resources towards one direction (dharana) the yogi prepares for meditation proper, called dhyana, where the flow of one's attention is not distracted any more by external interference. This meditation will enable him to attain a stage of complete inner absorption, defined as samadhi. The stages that precede samadhi are required to solve the conflicts between the various psychic structures and functions, through the harmonization of personality, before aspiring to a complete absorption in the meditation seed, the bija, what to speak of the self. 

The approach to meditation must be gradual, because first we need to develop some knowledge derived from the attainment of the awareness of small truths, without the recurring presumption of having conquered Reality, Truth, and final enlightenment. What happens during meditation is a continued and progressive realization of Reality that is slowly revealed until it becomes apparent, manifest, clear and natural, so natural that it is impossible to conceive something different from it.

For example, regarding the awareness of our being different from the body, it can come all of a sudden, as in the case of a diagnosed terminal disease, an irreversible degenerative pathology that forces the patient to concentrate not on the physical structure that is subject to that devastation, but on his real self. In this perspective, as reported in many ECM works in various Italian hospitals and health assistance centers, death should not be seen as a physical event, as something concrete, but rather as an abstract concept, because there is not a real end of something, but rather a transformation in something else. On the other hand, de-identification can happen as a progressive goal of an introspective process that enables us to understand the body as something that is external to us, with which we are not identifying. However, in this realization we see the body as a valuable instrument, useful and treasured, we can employ for further knowledge and experience. 

THE SPIRITUAL BEING AND HIS BODIES

The human body and the human personality are not the all-in-all of the person, but they are merely aspects of the person. The eminently divine part of ourselves considers such aspects, and thus the human dimension in general, as a limitation, a stricture, a sort of prison - the soul's cage in Plato's metaphor. However, we should not see it as something obsessive and oppressive, because it is a structure evolved by matter and its degree of evolution is comparable to the degree of elevation of the consciousness that lives in it. Therefore every person inhabits a particular body and, with it, carries a particular pathology or state of health. 

The science of health or Ayurveda (the Sanskrit word ayur means life, strength, health) studies in details the nature of the human being and his relationship with a vast array of energies. It expands the scenario of interaction between body, psyche and intra-individual consciousness to an inter-individual level, therefore the behavior, as the sum of the actions of the individual, is considered as the result not only of one's individual apparatus, but also as the result of its interaction with the body, psyche and consciousness of others. This factor is very important because it is the basis of many conflicts that afflict man at present both at an individual level and at the collective level; often conflicts that we cannot solve internally are projected externally, on the people around us, both near and far.

The connection between the various elements of creation cannot simply be reduced to relationships but it permeates the entire Universe: just think of Bell's Theorem, enunciating that two particles in contact, sharing the same experience, remain in resonance and synchrony even when they are separated, and by activating a modification on one of them this variation also simultaneously extended to the other, in no time.

Thus in the Universe there is nothing that is separated from something else: everything is inside the network and, as on the micro level we can identify networks and neural circuits, on the macro level we can see much greater webs, that extend beyond the single individual.

In Vedas, in Gita, in the Upanishads, in the Yogasutras and in other texts of the Indo-Vedic tradition we can find descriptions of these concepts expressed in an incredibly specialized language and in general we find the vision of man as a creature that is composed by many "bodies" or layers, that go from the grossest to the subtlest and are not limited only to the material and psychic bodies. 

In the above diagram we can notice that the material body is only the most external covering of man; this layer, made of gross matter and visible to all, is called annamaya kosha. Annamaya means energy of the food, because the physical body is sustained by food. At a subtler level it is possible to identify the energy field, prana, belonging to each human being, individual and specific for each living entity: this level is called pranamaya kosha. The physical body has no energy of its own, and would not even be able to stand without this vital energy, the energy sheath of prana, that enables it to move and makes it so valuable. This energy field is utilized by acupuncture, for example: when the energy that supports the physical body is not properly distributed, we can have some energy blockages. 

Rising toward increasingly subtle levels, after the energy level we find the mind level, manomaya kosha, therefore the energy sheath depends on the mind. Thus pranamaya kosha directly depends on our mind, on our state of mind, and therefore it is not possible to develop ecological energies to support the body if we do not take care of the rehabilitation of the mind first. This is the message transmitted by the rishis, the Spiritual Masters that belong to the Indo-Vedic Tradition, a basic teaching on which we need to work immediately, because as explained by Krishna in Bhagavad-gita, the mind can be our best friend or our worst enemy. It can be the vehicle for the healing process or the cause for disease, infirmity or paralysis. Thus the mind is the priority in the search for health, even before the physical body, because the physical body depends on it, as in Juvenal's motto, “mens sana in corpore sano”. In general, mind and body are so inter-dependent and so interacting, that some damage in either of them is almost immediately transmitted to the other, therefore they must be treated at the same time. For this reason, Patanjali teaches that the first step on the path of spiritual realization, codified in his Yogasutras, some fundamental ethical norms (yama and niyama) for the harmonization of the psycho-physical structure. The mind sheath is supported by the intellectual sheath, vijnanamaya kosha. At the level of the psychic dimension intellect (buddhi) is constituted by deep beliefs on which people built their lives, consciously or unconsciously. Such deep beliefs lie in the intellect and are the support of the mental structure. Ananda means inexhaustible happiness, bliss. It cannot be compared to sense pleasure, as sense pleasure does not even constitute the shadow of such happiness. Euphoria, excitement, orgasm: they all have a beginning and an end, and therefore the wise people consider them as illusory products of human life. When the living being is completely satisfied in the self he does not have any other aspiration; one who feels ananda experiences a sense of communion with all creatures, wants to be a friend for everyone and becomes benevolent towards all living beings. In fact, conflicts are a symptom of dissatisfaction and suffering. Ananda is essential in order to remain healthy: a popular Neapolitan saying goes, "God helps the merry hearts". The intellectual sheath is thus supported by a sheath of bliss or essential joy, anandamaya kosha, fundamental for our physical well being, because inner satisfaction guarantees the harmonization and the balance of all the other structures - physical, energetic, psychic, while a depressed mood and negative emotions affect the immune system by depressing it through hormonal de-synchronization, as it was also explained in the lecture of Professor Genovesi.

Ananda belongs to atman: the real source of energy of the person is of spiritual nature. It is neither physical nor psychic, but spiritual energy, and besides ananda, its characteristics are eternity, sat, and consciousness, cit. We are spiritual entities, we are atman and sat, cit, ananda are characteristics that we cannot possibly lose, no matter what happens, because they are intrinsic, they cannot be separated from what we objectively and intimately are, although they may become more or less veiled by ignorance, neglected or atrophied.

The Science of Meditation - Part I

“THE SCIENCE OF MEDITATION”

Lecture by Matsya Avatara Dasa

Naples, Castello Angioino, 20th December 2008

Conference “The Science of Meditation”

MAN'S SEARCH FOR HIS OWN IDENTITY

First of all I would like to draw your attention on some cosmogonical aspects that will help us to understand the context where man stands. Today's man has forgotten where he is coming from, he does not know where he is going any more, but above all he does not know who he is, because he is totally identified with an external and temporary identity. This de-contextualization of man is one of the most serious problems that afflict present society and cannot be solved simply through scholarship. The research on one's own self constitutes the basis for meditation, as confirmed by the great texts of the Indo-Vedic tradition such as the Samhitas, Upanishads, Itihasas and Puranas, that can be compared for a very interesting dialogue with the contemporary Western Tradition. Among the many writers and Masters of knowledge that have explored instruments the immense Vedic Culture to get inspiration and concepts for their doctrines and theories, we can mention Carl Gustav Jung and his “individuation of the self”. Individuating one's self means knowing one's deep nature, without being limited by a fallacious and superficial level such as the level of sense perception.

The signals and the information that come to our consciousness from the external environment through the sense organs and the subsequent elaboration at the cortex level only represent a small part of reality, even below the 10% indicated by Prof. Genovesi during the previous presentation. Sense perception is zero compared with the knowledge of reality, and this also applies to our power of comprehension because it is subject to, and thus conditioned by, our sense perception. Therefore not only the senses (indriya) are fallacious, but the mind (manas) that constitutes the collecting area of the perceptive information is fallacious, too, precisely because it is based on sense perception.

The tendency (vasana) of the mind to depend on sensory data leads to the development of a pre-constituted, rigid and generally structured perception of the world, and when this perception is not integrated, it can not be useful to the definition of individual identity. The issue of the nature of personal identity is crucial to the effect of meditation. Indo-Vedic psychology identifies man in his entirety: just like the universe is called "the three worlds" as it is constituted by Earth, intermediate dimensions and Heaven, similarly incarnated man, too, has a threefold nature: physical, psychic and spiritual. The earthly constitution, solid and physical, is the material body, comprising that complex structure - the most complex material structure known to date - that is the Nervous System, but it also possesses a system that, although still material, has a subtler nature that cannot be graphically defined or positioned in space, or even measured in terms of time. Finally, there is the most intimate nature of man, the engine of life itself, its real essence and identity: the spiritual nature. According to Vedic wisdom, each living entity is ontologically atman, an eternal spiritual spark.

To simplify further, we could say that man's identity is split between two aspects connected to the different psycho-physical conditions that the individual has experienced along the various existential cycles of his history. One is the historical or false ego, that is the sum total of the psychic contents with which the individual identifies, called in Sanskrit ahamkara. The other is real, eternal and unchanging, beyond any space and time: his spiritual nature.

The fundamental faculty to access the dimension of meditation is constituted by attention that, contrarily to what is claimed by extreme positivism embraced by modern Western psychology, is not controlled by the Nervous System, but is supported first and foremost by the atman, the unifying center that keeps the personality together and that ultimately offers a unique and special character to the personality. The spiritual self uses the physiological and biological parts of the so-called "human" individual only as an instrument, nourishing and moving his energies. All the Schools of the classic Indian tradition (Sampradayas), all the lineages of the great Masters (acharyas) who have lived the Vedic teachings in their daily life, recognize the atman as the fundamental principle.

In Bhagavad-gita, one of the most popular texts shared by the different Schools of thought of the Indian continent, Krishna defines knowledge as that which distinguishes the field (the body) from the knower of the field (the self). Distancing oneself from the body does not mean rejecting or despising it; this would not be real detachment as what attracts us will eventually repel us. Heraclites also explained this point. In order to go beyond the duality of the opposites - attraction and repulsion, respectively raga and dvesha in Sanskrit - we need to rebalance the opposites, and to find the connection, the harmonization between them. In this harmonization, in this search for balance, in this case in Yoga, meditation is particularly important.