Post by Owain on Dec 30, 2023 16:54:26 GMT
Ishwara is the Supreme Self, unaffected by any affliction, karma (action), consequence thereof, or impression of desires.
This is the state of consciousness of the Supreme. We should try to maintain our own consciousness as high, therefore, as possible. When afflictions come, we should accept them and not think of them as affecting ourselves. Moreover, we should not even see them as afflictions.
When the blows of karma strike us in our lives, no matter how heavy the blow, we should not lament, but rather welcome their freeing influence. While we are forced to undergo the pains of karmic consequences—perhaps receiving an unfair demotion at work; perhaps being falsely accused in a court of law; perhaps afflicted unjustly by opprobrium—we should bear those contretemps cheerfully, as does God, by telling Him, “I live forever unshakably in Thy bliss.”
When desires arise in the mind, we should tell ourselves (even when the power of delusion makes us submit to them), “It is not I who have this desire. It is merely the power of delusion acting through me.”
We are children of God, and should conduct our lives in that consciousness even if we are still, for the present, steeped in delusion. As my Guru often said, “The worst sin is to call yourself a sinner.”
1-25 | In Him is fully developed the seed of omniscience.
All things—even the smallest atom—contain that seed. Evolution is the manifestation of consciousness as it expands to reclaim its place of origin in omniscience.
In a book of mine, written many years ago, I show that Darwin’s Theory of Evolution is mechanistic and therefore wrong. Here Patanjali explains why it is wrong. Consciousness is manifested in everything, everywhere. Survival of the fittest is fine as an explanation of what happens, but if a leopard is born in the jungle without spots, it is intelligent enough to move to an environment where spotlessness will not be a disadvantage. If it has a tawny skin, it might move to the desert where its movements will be less easily observed.
1-26 | Unconditioned by time, He is the Supreme Instructor of even the most ancient of teachers.
In India, antiquity commands great respect. Thus, God is the Teacher of all teachers—not because He is the oldest, but because His existence transcends time itself.
How could God be conditioned by time? To create the universe, space was needed. To create time, there had to be movement through space. Both space and time are delusions.
Time is inextricable from movement; movement is inextricable from space. The time it will take you to find God, therefore, is essentially equal to the time you yourself decide that it shall be. That decision is not God’s to make: It is yours! The one catch is, you cannot make that decision so long as you continue to abide under the delusion of time.
Our planet and solar system undergo cycles of time in which galactic influences submit humanity to rising and falling levels of awareness. Owing to our current position in the present cycle, we are a little over one hundred years into an age of energy. And everywhere, today, one hears the word “energy.” As we advance into this age, which will endure a total of 2,000 years (not counting the “bridge” periods of 200 years each before and afterwards), we will be able to travel to distant planets and, essentially, see through the delusion of space.
In the next and higher age, due to endure 3,000 years, time, too, will be seen to be a delusion. In the descending, 12,000-year cycle that preceded our present rise toward ever-higher awareness, at least two sages wrote about the lives of people who were as yet unborn—many, in fact, living today! I myself have come upon some of these ancient texts while traveling in India. The accuracy of those seemingly impossible predictions is enough to stagger the mind.
Time, space, and movement, however, are delusions. The color shirt you, as an individual, will put on today was known thousands of years ago! The only free will you have, really, is the decision whether to turn toward God or away from Him.
1-27 | The expression of Ishwara is the hidden sound of AUM.
Several of the translations I have consulted call AUM the “mystic” sound. I do not believe Patanjali would have used that word. In fact, the Sanskrit word Pranavah, used here, means the cosmic sound of the universe. It is not mystic or mysterious, and certainly not for those who are able to hear it. But it is hidden from our physical ears.
AUM can be heard in meditation, especially. It is the vibration which made possible the manifestation of the whole universe. When the Supreme Spirit, Purusha, decided to produce Creation, (as I stated earlier) it caused the storm of maya, or delusion, to blow over the surface of the vast ocean of consciousness. Thus appeared the waves of duality. Those waves—vibrations on the vast ocean—produced everything in outward existence. Science declares that matter itself is only a vibration of energy. The ancient seers of India declared that energy is a vibration of thoughts, and that those thoughts are only vibrations on what I have called the vast ocean of consciousness.
AUM comes in three distinct vibrations—sounds, therefore. The first sound, known in legend as the Creator Brahma, is a higher sound. The second (the Preserver Vishnu in ancient legend) is somewhat lower. The third (the Destroyer, Shiva) is a deep, all-dissolving sound.
These three special deities, Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva, are really only personifications of the three aspects, or phases, of AUM. None of the Hindu images of the gods are idols. They are, rather, symbols of ideals. Shiva as the destroyer of the universe may be considered beneficent even as physical death is, in truth, beneficent, releasing most souls for a happier life (however temporary, as long as they must return to earth in new bodies) in the astral world.
Incarnations of Vishnu are avatars whose manifestation of God is a divine attempt to preserve dharma, or righteousness, on earth.
The first vibration of AUM brings all things into manifestation. The second keeps them manifested. The third dissolves them back again into the Supreme Spirit.
It is similar, in a way, to the sound a car makes: first, when it is still being brought up to speed, and emits a relatively high sound; second, after it has reached the desired speed, and emits a steady hum; and third, as it comes to a stop and gives a sort of growl.
AUM is often, and legitimately, written OM in English, which language contains few pure vowels. In English, that O is pronounced O-U. (In England, in fact, the sound is taken even further, making it E-O-U.) But for correctness in the sound of AUM itself, the O-U suffices, with the first syllable pronounced, not o, but a as in what. In most other languages, AUM, when written OM, is pronounced somewhat as we would if we rounded out the name, Tom.
In Sanskrit, the letter A has two sounds: a as in “what,” and a as in “father.” AUM should be pronounced with that short first a; then u as the double o in “moon,” and m as it is, normally, in every language I know. These three sounds stand for Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. When these sounds are heard (preferably in the right ear) in meditation, the first is a higher sound; the second, medium; the third, low.
Therefore is the threefold AUM chanted first in a higher register (three rising notes), then medium (two rising notes), then low (again, two slow, rising notes).
AUM, heard in meditation, is like a steady, low hum, growing in intensity as one’s meditation deepens until its vibration seems to rumble throughout the body. To listen to AUM is an advanced yoga technique, and one properly received in person from a qualified instructor.
1-28 | To repeat it (truly) in deep meditation (i.e., to listen to and become absorbed in AUM) reveals its true meaning.
To repeat AUM truly is not merely to repeat it with the voice or the lips, but to merge in the actual sound itself. One hears it first in the right ear, then in both ears, then gradually throughout the body. As the devotee absorbs himself in that sound, he gradually realizes that his little body is only a little vibration of the great vibration of AUM, expanding to infinity. When he attains oneness with that Cosmic Vibration, he enters what is called AUM samadhi. He then perceives all manifested Creation as consisting of the innumerable vibrations of Cosmic AUM.
The Om technique is one of the best ways to overcome ego-consciousness. This is because the best way to overcome ego-consciousness—the main obstacle to spiritual enlightenment—is to expand one’s consciousness beyond the confines of the body.
Kriyananda Patanjali
This is the state of consciousness of the Supreme. We should try to maintain our own consciousness as high, therefore, as possible. When afflictions come, we should accept them and not think of them as affecting ourselves. Moreover, we should not even see them as afflictions.
When the blows of karma strike us in our lives, no matter how heavy the blow, we should not lament, but rather welcome their freeing influence. While we are forced to undergo the pains of karmic consequences—perhaps receiving an unfair demotion at work; perhaps being falsely accused in a court of law; perhaps afflicted unjustly by opprobrium—we should bear those contretemps cheerfully, as does God, by telling Him, “I live forever unshakably in Thy bliss.”
When desires arise in the mind, we should tell ourselves (even when the power of delusion makes us submit to them), “It is not I who have this desire. It is merely the power of delusion acting through me.”
We are children of God, and should conduct our lives in that consciousness even if we are still, for the present, steeped in delusion. As my Guru often said, “The worst sin is to call yourself a sinner.”
1-25 | In Him is fully developed the seed of omniscience.
All things—even the smallest atom—contain that seed. Evolution is the manifestation of consciousness as it expands to reclaim its place of origin in omniscience.
In a book of mine, written many years ago, I show that Darwin’s Theory of Evolution is mechanistic and therefore wrong. Here Patanjali explains why it is wrong. Consciousness is manifested in everything, everywhere. Survival of the fittest is fine as an explanation of what happens, but if a leopard is born in the jungle without spots, it is intelligent enough to move to an environment where spotlessness will not be a disadvantage. If it has a tawny skin, it might move to the desert where its movements will be less easily observed.
1-26 | Unconditioned by time, He is the Supreme Instructor of even the most ancient of teachers.
In India, antiquity commands great respect. Thus, God is the Teacher of all teachers—not because He is the oldest, but because His existence transcends time itself.
How could God be conditioned by time? To create the universe, space was needed. To create time, there had to be movement through space. Both space and time are delusions.
Time is inextricable from movement; movement is inextricable from space. The time it will take you to find God, therefore, is essentially equal to the time you yourself decide that it shall be. That decision is not God’s to make: It is yours! The one catch is, you cannot make that decision so long as you continue to abide under the delusion of time.
Our planet and solar system undergo cycles of time in which galactic influences submit humanity to rising and falling levels of awareness. Owing to our current position in the present cycle, we are a little over one hundred years into an age of energy. And everywhere, today, one hears the word “energy.” As we advance into this age, which will endure a total of 2,000 years (not counting the “bridge” periods of 200 years each before and afterwards), we will be able to travel to distant planets and, essentially, see through the delusion of space.
In the next and higher age, due to endure 3,000 years, time, too, will be seen to be a delusion. In the descending, 12,000-year cycle that preceded our present rise toward ever-higher awareness, at least two sages wrote about the lives of people who were as yet unborn—many, in fact, living today! I myself have come upon some of these ancient texts while traveling in India. The accuracy of those seemingly impossible predictions is enough to stagger the mind.
Time, space, and movement, however, are delusions. The color shirt you, as an individual, will put on today was known thousands of years ago! The only free will you have, really, is the decision whether to turn toward God or away from Him.
1-27 | The expression of Ishwara is the hidden sound of AUM.
Several of the translations I have consulted call AUM the “mystic” sound. I do not believe Patanjali would have used that word. In fact, the Sanskrit word Pranavah, used here, means the cosmic sound of the universe. It is not mystic or mysterious, and certainly not for those who are able to hear it. But it is hidden from our physical ears.
AUM can be heard in meditation, especially. It is the vibration which made possible the manifestation of the whole universe. When the Supreme Spirit, Purusha, decided to produce Creation, (as I stated earlier) it caused the storm of maya, or delusion, to blow over the surface of the vast ocean of consciousness. Thus appeared the waves of duality. Those waves—vibrations on the vast ocean—produced everything in outward existence. Science declares that matter itself is only a vibration of energy. The ancient seers of India declared that energy is a vibration of thoughts, and that those thoughts are only vibrations on what I have called the vast ocean of consciousness.
AUM comes in three distinct vibrations—sounds, therefore. The first sound, known in legend as the Creator Brahma, is a higher sound. The second (the Preserver Vishnu in ancient legend) is somewhat lower. The third (the Destroyer, Shiva) is a deep, all-dissolving sound.
These three special deities, Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva, are really only personifications of the three aspects, or phases, of AUM. None of the Hindu images of the gods are idols. They are, rather, symbols of ideals. Shiva as the destroyer of the universe may be considered beneficent even as physical death is, in truth, beneficent, releasing most souls for a happier life (however temporary, as long as they must return to earth in new bodies) in the astral world.
Incarnations of Vishnu are avatars whose manifestation of God is a divine attempt to preserve dharma, or righteousness, on earth.
The first vibration of AUM brings all things into manifestation. The second keeps them manifested. The third dissolves them back again into the Supreme Spirit.
It is similar, in a way, to the sound a car makes: first, when it is still being brought up to speed, and emits a relatively high sound; second, after it has reached the desired speed, and emits a steady hum; and third, as it comes to a stop and gives a sort of growl.
AUM is often, and legitimately, written OM in English, which language contains few pure vowels. In English, that O is pronounced O-U. (In England, in fact, the sound is taken even further, making it E-O-U.) But for correctness in the sound of AUM itself, the O-U suffices, with the first syllable pronounced, not o, but a as in what. In most other languages, AUM, when written OM, is pronounced somewhat as we would if we rounded out the name, Tom.
In Sanskrit, the letter A has two sounds: a as in “what,” and a as in “father.” AUM should be pronounced with that short first a; then u as the double o in “moon,” and m as it is, normally, in every language I know. These three sounds stand for Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. When these sounds are heard (preferably in the right ear) in meditation, the first is a higher sound; the second, medium; the third, low.
Therefore is the threefold AUM chanted first in a higher register (three rising notes), then medium (two rising notes), then low (again, two slow, rising notes).
AUM, heard in meditation, is like a steady, low hum, growing in intensity as one’s meditation deepens until its vibration seems to rumble throughout the body. To listen to AUM is an advanced yoga technique, and one properly received in person from a qualified instructor.
1-28 | To repeat it (truly) in deep meditation (i.e., to listen to and become absorbed in AUM) reveals its true meaning.
To repeat AUM truly is not merely to repeat it with the voice or the lips, but to merge in the actual sound itself. One hears it first in the right ear, then in both ears, then gradually throughout the body. As the devotee absorbs himself in that sound, he gradually realizes that his little body is only a little vibration of the great vibration of AUM, expanding to infinity. When he attains oneness with that Cosmic Vibration, he enters what is called AUM samadhi. He then perceives all manifested Creation as consisting of the innumerable vibrations of Cosmic AUM.
The Om technique is one of the best ways to overcome ego-consciousness. This is because the best way to overcome ego-consciousness—the main obstacle to spiritual enlightenment—is to expand one’s consciousness beyond the confines of the body.
Kriyananda Patanjali