Douglas: I hope you and Ramji enjoyed the holidays and are having a good start to the new year. Seeing and having dinner with you two in September was a highlight of my trip to Europe. Thank you again for the lovely dinner and the pleasure of your company.

I’ve been hesitant to share what I’m about to share for many months. I thought about discussing this with Ramji at Trout Lake and again at your home in Spain. That said, I love you both and I haven’t wanted to risk creating any discord between us. That said, seeing the title of your recent email: “Dharma Trumps Moksha” has inspired me to find the courage to share the following.

More than once, I’ve heard Ramji say that he would rather spend time with a dharmic person than with a person who has attained moksha.  I’ve found this to be a highly valuable perspective.  Hearing this has inspired me to make a sincere effort to “up my game” with regard to living a more dharmic life. 

Here is what I want to share:

Christian is one of my closest friends.  I’ve known him for nearly 30 years. As you know, he was one of Ramji’s “sanctioned” teachers and the two of them were quite close for a good while.  Ramji even posted some of his writings on Shining World. 

At a certain point, Christian says Ramji turned on him in a way that both shocked him and hurt him deeply.  He and I talked at length about this a few years ago and frankly, I found what he said about the way Ramji treated him to be both credible and very disturbing. 

More recently, I had a long conversation with Paul, also a dedicated student of Ramji and someone Ramji acknowledged and supported as a teacher for at least a couple of years. Same thing happened to him.  According to Paul, Ramji suddenly treated him very disrespectfully and he was completely rejected by Ramji. Paul and Sarah were shocked, deeply hurt and profoundly disappointed by this.  After hearing what they shared, I too was disappointed.  If I am to be entirely honest, hearing these things has diminished my respect for Ramji. 

To me, this is a “both and” situation in the sense that he’s both a great teacher whose wisdom has served me greatly…AND he has behaved in some ways that, to me, seem quite adharmic.

In addition to how Ramji treated them, Paul and Sarah both described in detail what they experienced as his abusive behavior toward you, especially in Bali.  Hearing this really hurt me as I love and respect you greatly.

I could go on but I’ll leave it there.  If you are willing, I’d really appreciate it if you would be honest with me about what I’ve shared here. To be clear, I respect and accept what Christian, Paul and Sarah shared with me as I have no reason to believe they were being untruthful. Please let me know how you would explain his behaviors in a way that makes sense and in a way that honors the truth.  

All of us jivas have vasanas, samskaras and qualities that we are encouraged to examine and refine. This does, of course, include Ramji. 

I sincerely hope saying what I’ve said here does not damage my relationship with you two as I value your friendship and your wisdom greatly.  I look forward to your response.

With much love and respect,

Sundari: Lovely to hear from you, and we too very much enjoyed your visit last year. Thank you for your email, for your considered thoughts and honesty about writing to me with your doubts about Ramji. I know it can’t have been easy. As it is an important topic, I have replied at length, both from the mithya and satya perspective, as it applies to me, Paul, Sarah and Christian. We are very sad about what transpired with Paul and Sarah last year, and with Christian many years ago. The saddest part is that they are still harboring such unhappy thoughts. 

Let me start with the satya perspective, as that is where everything begins and ends. The first question to ask is, as always, are you asking this question about Ramji as an inquirer and a Vedantin genuinely committed to moksa, or as a samsari? This is important because if you are the former, then the rules are different. If you are a qualified inquirer with faith in Vedanta, and if the teacher is qualified, and Ramji is, then they are always right, even when you don’t understand their behaviour towards you. You accept that Isvara is involved, you investigate and apply the knowledge. Though as the Self you are Dharma with a big ‘D”, what is dharmic or adharmic from a mithya point of view, never applies to the Self, only to mithya. And it may or may not apply from the mithya perspective in the way you think it does. It depends on several factors, but most especially in this case, if you are really committed to freedom from and for the jiva. More on this further on as it really is the crux of the matter.

When you encounter Vedanta, you are told upfront that your true nature is the nondual Self.  To assimilate that, you need qualifications, dedication and to be properly taught by a qualified teacher. If you are lucky enough to find one, the teacher will unfold the nondual methodology for you, so that your mind can be freed from the hypnosis and limitation of duality, i.e., bondage to the jiva identification, and the suffering it causes. This is the greatest gift life has to offer, and indeed, only happens by the grace of Isvara.

Self-inquiry, Vedanta, is about freedom from and for the jiva, this you must know, correct? To achieve this, we need to understand what the jiva is and how it is conditioned, i.e., its psychology. This is where all the problems lie, and where most of the teaching takes place, because the jiva is run by biases, likes and dislikes, thoughts and feelings based on erroneous thinking – it’s ego identity. That is to say, in ignorance of its true nature. But nonduality is so subtle, and duality is so persuasively persistent and resistant that sometimes it is necessary for the teacher to apply some very tough love. It may seem adharmic from the jiva perspective because it’s not ‘nice’, or may seem unkind, even brutal. But it is in fact, quite the opposite. Ramji had a lot of this from his teacher, Chinmayananda, who often ripped into him. Inquirer’s often miss the fine print when they commit to Vedanta. Expect your ego to take a beating. If you really are tired of that petty tyrant of an identity, pray for it, because in order to be free of limitation, that pesky pathetic ego must be re-educated.

We are teachers of nonduality, Vedanta. It is a flawless teaching if moksa is your main motivation. But the downside is that it is hard to teach something so subtle, and the ego is exactly that – and entrenched tyrant. The upside is that if the teachings do not assimilate, it is always on the inquirer and not on us, if we have done our job as teachers. We cannot make the teachings assimilate if the inquirer is not qualified, and we are not in the salvation game because we know nobody needs saving as they are the Self. Vedanta has nothing to do with us or anyone else as people because it is an independent teaching to remove or negate mithya and taking a stand in satya as satya. This is the truth of who we are. We can only unfold the teachings for the inquirer and help them along with their doubts.

However, Vedanta is also about people, how can it not be? While nonduality negates the person, they still exist. We do our best not to get involved in people’s psychological lives, but it is often inevitable as we are the kind of Vedanta teachers (unlike most Indian teachers, please note) who are very accessible. We invite a personal friendship with us, and help inquirers during the nididhysana phase. Most people do not realize how unusual this is in the Vedanta world, how rare or how valuable. You won’t find this easily. But it has its serious drawbacks, for us.

It is tricky teaching something as powerful as nondual knowledge because the ego definitely does not like it.  Especially in the nididhysana stage, which is all about remaining psychological (mental/emotional) issues, and negating the jiva identity – ergo, the ego. Helping here is often a difficult thankless task, with blowback for us because inquirers who are not ready to really look at their ‘stuff’ project it onto us, and often, judge us as people. If the qualifications for moksa are not solid, here we lose inquirers who hang onto their ego identity – and blame us as teachers, of course. 

Whatever you have decided you know about Ramji based on other people’s opinions of him, we both live impeccable, dharmic lives. I have lived with Ramji for almost 15 years, and if anyone is qualified to make this statement, it is me.  I know how valuable it has been for me to have had this time with him, to be his friend, and to be taught by him. It is beyond price.  This is true of anyone who finds him as a teacher and friend, regardless of whether they are qualified to know this or not. I say qualified to know, because only someone who is still bound to their jiva identity would not recognize the value, and allow their opinions, feelings, hurt or otherwise (i.e., the ego), to keep them from appreciating this.

I say this having had the same experiences that Paul and Christian had with him, as have a few others over the years. Kate, our most recently endorsed teacher, had the same experience with him last year. Though it was  very hard on her, like me, her main motivation is moksa, and freedom from the ego. She understood the lesson and applied nondual knowledge, and the change and freedom is a beautiful thing to witness. Her respect and love for her teacher are greater than ever because satya won. There is nothing that beats freedom from the limitation of duality.

My relationship with Ramji is nondual, and in that regard, it is perfect. But from the personal perspective (as people) it is not everything I would have liked. Who doesn’t have similar issues in relationships? We know we are the Self but we are still people. I have had to resolve wanting things to be different and see some uncomfortable and hard truths to overcome my jiva issues, like everyone else who is a genuine inquirer. But as stated, as moksa was my main aim, on the whole, the value of my life with Ramji, and what he has given me, cannot be quantified. I would not be who I am today without him. I live in deep gratitude for all of it, even though Ramji’s ‘God sledgehammer’ as I call it, has come for me several times, too.

As grateful as I am for my life with him, at times I felt I was entitled to justified and righteous outrage and hurt because my ego was bloodied. For others assessing our relationship from the outside, based on their own ideas of what dharmic behaviour is, or what was really going on, I understand how this could be interpreted. But things are not always what they seem, to others or to ourselves. The only real issue was that I understood the blows to be from Isvara, aimed at my Durodhyana factor, that hard fearful part in all jivas so resistant to love, to freedom, and the lessons were well learned. However, as recently as last year, after the Bali seminar, I took a really unfair blow from Ramji, and this is the first and only time this has happened. Ramji apologized for this profusely.

Lucky for me though, my love for him and his for me is genuine. Self-knowledge kicked in and despite the unfairness, I understood what was coming at me. The time had come to address residual dissatisfaction that had taken hold due to the last remnants of a samskara. The message behind the blow was of nondual love, even though the ostensible reason it was given was not true.  What it really was about was the end of the jiva edifice, total freedom from and for the jiva. It was about becoming fearless. It was about true humility that comes when one faces all that Isvara throws at us knowing it is irrelevant whether it is based on ‘truth’ or not. You get to say NO! to the ego, and YES! to satya. God works in mysterious ways, and the hardest blows that hurt the ego the most are usually, the most valuable, and instructive.

It’s complicated in my case because Ramji is both my teacher and my ‘husband’. Different rules apply for both, as I said. But also as stated, the most relevant point in this whole discussion, is that my main aim has always been moksa, above all. I was sick and tired of the ego identity, it had to go. Isvara gave me the grace to know who Ramji really is. He is a Mahatma. You can call me brain-washed, others have. And it is true, my brain has been washed and purified – of ignorance. Sarah accused me of ‘Vedanta double speak’, meaning I justify abusive behaviour with Vedanta.

But she is dead wrong. Mithya is the only abuser. I discriminate perfectly between satya and mithya and satya always wins because that is who I am. When Self-knowledge is firm, which by the grace of God thanks to my teacher, it is for me, everything resolves in me. I now have crystal clear vision regarding the jiva identity, and though I love it as myself and know it’s limitations, it does not have the power to delude me. Avidya is over, for me. Ramji is most certainly not an abuser, and apart from being one of the best Vedanta teachers alive, is in actual fact, the kindest, most dharmic soul anyone is lucky enough to be taught by, or know. It takes great love to give tough love, especially to those you love. To face an injured ego, and to have the courage to be so disliked.

Paul and Sarah have always been and still are, much loved by us. We deeply valued and remain tremendously grateful for their support of Shiningworld, and of us. They have been the most incredibly generous donors we have ever had. Nothing has changed with regards to them or Christian on our part, nor will it regardless of what they think or say about us. Paul and Sarah, as with Christian, were all treated with deep love by Ramji, and all three of them were given an invaluable opportunity to learn from him. He went out of his way to help all of them. Christian came to live with him for three months when we lived in Bend, and Ramji spent endless hours with him, editing his book for him. The hard part for all of them, as it was for me and Kate, is that though Ramji is always your best friend, when you come close to a Mahatma, the fire burns hot for you as a jiva.  Isvara is going to make you see aspects of your jiva you are blind to, and you are NOT going to like it. What price freedom?

From the mithya perspective, the backstory with Paul goes way back. When they first came into our life over ten years ago, they attended a seminar in Bend. We loved having them there, but Paul was disturbing the whole sangha with his constant interjections in the teaching, making weird noises, and fidgeting. People in the sangha complained to us.  It was also being recorded on the video.  Ramji asked me to speak to him, which I very reluctantly did.  I tried to do so carefully and explained it was not personal. But Paul and Sarah claimed I was terribly rude and disrespectful. I was stunned to find out in Bali last year that they still hold a grudge against me for this to this day!  Paul was simply not willing to look at himself or his impact on others, and had no respect for the fact that he was disrespecting our satsang dharma, in our home. He could only see his injured perspective, no objectivity whatsoever.

But Ramji and I could see and appreciate Paul’s enthusiastic though somewhat bombastic rajasic nature, and we know he meant well. Everyone is made the way they are made. He is a great guy, bursting with rajas, like a superannuated school kid. For ten years, Ramji reached out to him to help him grow through incorporating his knowledge of psychology into assimilating – and teaching – Vedanta. They became very good and trusted friends. Though Paul had a long way to go to become a qualified Vedanta teacher, he was doing quite well, and was starting to make some valuable contributions. We respected him and his and Sarah’s knowledge of psychology as  a method to prepare the mind for inquiry.  But as it is with everyone, the problem is always dealing with the personality, the ego.  Paul has a big ego problem he can’t see, and unfortunately, he was not liked by many in our SW community, who found him arrogant. We were both very aware of this, but Ramji is always so positive about people’s growth. He loves Paul and felt that it would work out of his system as his knowledge deepened, so he gave him a lot of latitude and encouragement.

But Isvara had other ideas, and blew the lid off, so to speak, when Paul burst into a Sunday satsang and ranted on and on about his opinions about teaching Vedanta.  We were shocked because it was so obviously out of line, though he was, and clearly still is, oblivious to this. He offended many people, some even told us that they would no longer attend satsang if Paul was teaching. Like Ramji, I hoped it would never come to this, but I had seen it coming for a long time. Rory, who is the most humble Vedanta teacher and person one could meet, came out very strongly on this point and told us we have to do something to control Paul. The result was Paul got the sledgehammer. Ramji had been so patient with him for over ten years, and kept quiet. But this time he had to tell him that he could no longer teach, that he had to be humble and just listen. Instead of understanding the lesson, Paul took it as an injured ego, as dishonest and disrespectful. The ego won. And that, as they say, is really the long and the short of it.

I truly sympathize with Paul as I know how much it hurts, how fragile and sensitive the ego is, how hard it is to see our flaws, and to win through to acceptance and nondual love. Perhaps Ramji should have been more direct with him a long time ago, but we tried being direct in Bend, and clearly, it did not work. Ramji always leans towards trusting Isvara to help people to grow without him having to be heavy handed. That’s just his nature and he avoids it until he can’t. It was not dishonesty and he was not disrespectful, as Paul claims, but doing his duty as a teacher out of love for his friend. The truth of the matter is that Ramji has always been, and still is, the best friend Paul ever had or will ever have. It is indeed sad that he cannot see this.

If you are truly dedicated to moksa, and you accept a Vedanta teacher as qualified, which Ramji most definitely is, then he is a representative of Isvara, of God, of the lineage. Isvara, and therefore the teacher, is the boss. If you understand the value of such a teacher, however much a friend or person you think he/she is, despite your limited jiva evaluations, whatever he/she says to you, you listen. If it hurts, all the better to see why and to put nonduality into practice. What else are you an inquirer for? If all you want is for your ego to be stroked, you are definitely in the wrong place, and your motivations need to be reassessed because Vedanta is not for you. If freedom is what you are after, however, you know Isvara will ask no less than everything of you. No fine print.

And Paul, who made a big point of the value of karma yoga, of having the courage to be disliked, always preaching about allowing emotions to surface but never allowing them to lead, could not practice what he preached. He could not take it as a message from God. As with the situation in Bend, again he had no ego objectivity. He let the emotion lead and took it as abuse from a person. He could not see the love, nor God behind it. Self-knowledge never kicked in and the opportunity for freedom from his ego was lost. He never asked himself why suddenly, despite being a psychologist, after ten years of close contact, taking James as his teacher and friend, and supporting Shiningworld as he and Sarah did, do they see him as unkind, disrespectful and adharmic now, when there was no indication of this, ever? It doesn’t make sense.

As for Christian, he is a lovely man, we both liked him immensely and supported his path as a teacher on SW. But after we endorsed him we found out he was using Vedanta and Shiningworld to make a living – charging people 1000 $ to attend his seminars, which unknowingly, we were promoting on the website, without realizing he was doing this. We trusted him. This is just not dharmic. It’s fine to take donations, but Vedanta is not a cash cow; it was completely the wrong motivation and against SW policy, and we told him we could not accept it. He was also encouraging another young teacher from South Africa to use our SW platform to tap our supporters for financial help for his extensive medical bills. Again, this is just adharmic behaviour.

They both deserved a very stern direct talk from Ramji, which is exactly what they got, because they were completely out of line. It is a huge privilege to be endorsed as a teacher of Vedanta, and a big responsibility.  It is our duty as lineage holders to ensure that anyone associated with Shiningworld and Vedanta upholds dharma impeccably. But Ramji was not unkind to either of them, nor did he ‘reject’ Christian. That is just not true. We suspended the teacher in SA but did not suspend Christian. He asked to be removed. Where is the disrespect, on our part? Who was really disrespectful? Christian and this other teacher were given an amazing platform to teach from, and they both blew it. It is shameful that Christian cannot be honest about it.

With Ramji, nobody ever gets shown the door. Nondual love does not change when it encounters change. Ramji and I defend the lineage fiercely, but Ramji has infinite compassion for human flaws, and love for everyone which is not modified by their behaviour towards him. If any of them had spoken to Ramji and been contrite, meaning understood the lesson and practiced humility, it could have been resolved with reference to the Self, as well as in understanding of correct jiva behaviour, especially with respect to teaching Vedanta. But sadly, they choose the smallness of bondage to their egoic grievances instead, and went public with them.

You say your visit to us was the highlight of your year, yet you are ‘disappointed in’ and have lost respect for Ramji, based on what you think you know as relayed to you by other people’s experience, which you think is credible. From whose perspective? Are you certain you know the whole story? You must surely know that respect or disrespect is highly subjective, and only applies to mithya, where anything can be true or false. There are always many sides to everything when Maya is involved.

But the most pertinent and important question here is this: have you ever had reason personally, to lose respect for Ramji? Like Paul and Sarah, you are a psychologist, that is your means of knowledge. But you are at best a part time inquirer, from what we can ascertain. As with Paul Sarah and Christian, Ramji has given you the greatest gift possible – Self-knowledge.  Yet you judge him as a person, according to your likes and dislikes, or yours and the psychological assessment of others?

Do you know the root meaning of the word respect? It is to look again: re – spect. Respect for ourselves or others is built on what we value, and on the law of non-injury as we see it, or as it applies to us. It is also curated by our biases and conditioning.  So when we say we gain or lose respect for someone, we mean we have judged them according to our values and subjective ideas, either finding them up to our standards, or wanting. Consider this fact: Ramji has been teaching for more than 50 years, and he has literally thousands upon thousands of testimonials from people whom he has helped to find the ultimate prize – freedom, and who will testify to his infinite kindness and patience. Who do you choose to believe?

Yes, indeed dharma trumps moksa. But dharma is a tricky thing because though based on the principle of non-injury, what is dharmic for you is subjective and, it is situational. Sometimes, we have to have the courage to cause hurt to others to follow dharma, and to be honest. Non-injury can come in ways that hurt us deeply, and unless the cause of our hurt is someone intentionally causing injury, the reward is great if we get the lesson it delivers. If we look at that hurt from the perspective of Self-knowledge, the opportunity to put nonduality into practice is invaluable because freedom and fearlessness are the result. But Paul, Sarah and Christian, all purportedly ‘true Vedantins’, were not able to do that, even at the behest of a Mahatma.

So, what is it you, or they, want? A ‘perfect’ person, according to your ideas of what that is, to teach you Vedanta? There is no such thing. Ramji is a Mahatma, there is no doubt about this, though you are obviously free to doubt it. All god’s have feet of clay. As the Self, nobody is more or less special, and teaching Vedanta does not make us special. Though we are all perfect as the Self, as teachers, we are all flawed vehicles who do our best to give our best for Isvara. And we work extremely hard to do so.

Ramji is the Self, but as we all do, he has his God given character as a person, which is sometimes hard to deal with, from the jiva perspective. I cannot say it has been all easy for me. It has not. I had to overcome unhappiness that arose from residual jiva issues of my own, as stated. Self-knowledge does the trick, if it assimilates, and the freedom of nondual love is extraordinary.

Ramji knows that he is not everyone’s cup of tea, an acquired taste. But I can tell you this. There are very, very few people alive today, or have ever been alive, with a love so big, so unconditional, and who have given as much to help as many people find the truth of their being, and to live it, as Ramji has. He spreads happiness wherever he goes, and will continue to do so until his last breath.

A good question here, if you are inclined to judge him, is: ‘what have I done, where is my contribution, really’?

Please feel free to share this email with Paul, Sarah and Christian, send them our love. I look forward to your reply, and will post this satsang anonymously on Shiningworld.

Much love

Sundari 

However, there’s a weakness in the Gita: when Krishna reveals both the good and bad aspects of reality, Arjuna is overwhelmed and asks for it to be taken away. Krishna should have insisted that Arjuna confront and accept all aspects of reality, rather than avoiding them.“

Absolutely no disrespect to John or yourself, but this isn’t a fair or legitimate criticism of the Gita. 

Right back in the second chapter, Krishna highlights the dualistic nature of samsara and how the play of the opposites, light and dark, joy and sorrow, pleasure and pain, are unavoidable and must be accepted and endured with a spirit of even-mindedness. This even-mindedness, samatvam, is one of the key values he encourages us to cultivate.

I cannot emphasise this point enough: Krishna certainly does not suggest avoiding rather than dealing with the less pleasing aspects of reality. Quite the opposite! One of the Gita’s key themes (as not just a moksha shastra but a dharma shastra) is that Arjuna must face up to his duty and take action, even though his duty is not a pleasant one, to put it mildly. 

It’s Arjuna that tries to wiggle his way out of this by repeatedly expressing an interest in renunciation. Krishna shoots him down each and every time. He points out that Arjuna’s desire to take to sannyasa goes against both vishesha dharma (the dharma of the situation) and Arjuna’s personal swadharma. So, Krishna is not suggesting Arjuna “avoid” the painful and less pleasant aspects of life in the dharma field—he makes it clear that Arjuna must face up to and fulfil his dharma. Dharma is paramount and must even come before moksha. (Of course, if Arjuna’s swadharma was a mumukshu and not a warrior, the situation would be different).

Possibly John was referring to when Krishna grants Arjuna the cosmic vision of vishwarupa; Krishna as Ishvara; the entire cosmos and every facet of it, “good” and “bad”, including time, life, death and decay. Shaken by this vision, Arjuna asks Krishna to resume the familiar form of his mentor.

Krishna does so so he can continue to relate the rest of his teaching (we still have the remaining third of the Gita to come at this point). This was basically a literary device to depict the universal nature of Ishvara. His point has already been made; Ishvara is both that which is pleasing and that which is not. Again, to quote what he said in chapter two: 

“While the senses give rise to heat and cold, pleasure and pain, these experiences are fleeting; they come and go and must be endured. Those who remain even-minded in both pleasure and pain have true discrimination and are qualified to attain liberation”.

Most the Vedantic scriptures presuppose the seeker has already cultivated a sufficiently qualified mind. The Gita is quite unique in that it provides a blueprint for taming the mind. A person with significant unresolved emotional and/or psychological problems sadly isn’t a candidate for Self-Knowledge, but for (hopefully) most seekers, the proper application of dharma, karma yoga, bhakti and upasana yoga lay the foundations for Self-Knowledge by cultivating a discerning, dispassionate and devotional mind and heart. I believe when the fourfold qualifications are in place, it’s far less likely a seeker will succumb to enlightenment sickness. They’re kind of a fail-safe; one must skip them at their peril! 

Just wanted to “defend” the Gita. There is no weakness. 

Some buddhists say this reality is meaningless 
That reality is an empty void
That can produce anything

Some hindus say this reality is illusionary 
That reality is Consciousness
Empty but containing everything
Unstructured but Eternal 
Undivided Indescribable
Blissful shining unknowable
Actionless incomprehensible.
How to be this dharma ?
The pathway of nirvana.
How can you say this world is true and not true
Everything is what it is even a shadow on the wall
How can you say I am not therefore I am
Being all of this knowing and knowing all this Being
A point of light in the watching eye of the eye ?

“The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell or a hell of heaven.”

The purpose of this article is to bring together all the tools I’ve found helpful and effective in dealing with and managing the vasanas; those binding thoughts, compulsions, emotions, behavioural patterns and belief systems that cause so much agitation to mind and body.

Vasanas can be ‘positive’ or ‘negative’ in nature; or it might be better to term them ‘healthy’ or ‘unhealthy’. Healthy vasanas are those habits and patterns of thought and behaviour that have a beneficial effect on the mind and body; which bring peace, harmony and balance. Examples might include a commitment to self-inquiry, study of the scriptures, meditation, yoga, good eating, the steady practice of karma yoga and the ability to question and reframe agitating thoughts. Unhealthy vasanas are those compulsions, addictions and self-destructive patterns of thought and behaviour that have a deleterious effect on the mind and body — of which there are too many to mention.

Mind management is an essential component of Vedanta because, as Krishna states in the Bhagavad Gita:

“Without a peaceful, stable mind, contemplation on the Self is impossible. When one lacks the ability to contemplate, there is no peace. Without peace, how can there be happiness?”

The mind is our primary instrument for transacting with the world. Just as a grime-covered miror cannot reflect the sunlight, a dull or agitated mind is an unfit receptacle for the liberating light of Self-knowledge. That’s why Vedanta repeatedly emphasises the necessity of a qualified mind. 

In order for Self-knowledge to equate to liberation, the student’s mind must be reasonably tranquil, discerning, dispassionate and free from the relentless storm and stress of excess desire, aversion and attachment. 

This is by no means an easy feat, particularly in these disturbed and disturbing times. It is, however, a necessary one, and the results bring their own reward. Even without Vedanta, if you learn to manage your mind and deal with the psyche’s binding vasanas and samskaras, you’ll find enjoy a far simpler, smoother and happier in life, in spite of the challenges that inevitably arise in day to day living.

Be warned: it will take considerable work! 

It’s no coincidence the Bhagavad Gita is set on a battlefield. The battlefield represents the human mind and it’s a war against ignorance. This war will not be won in a single battle, that you can be sure. Ignorance is both hard-wired and highly resistant to change. 

So, please, go easy on yourself. As with anything in life, it takes as long as it takes to free the mind of its binding attachments, desires and addictions. Some people may need the support of a qualified psychotherapist to work through unresolved traumas. 

I particularly recommend Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). I only know the basics admittedly, but it’s perhaps the only mainstream therapeutic approach I’m aware of that doesn’t take the ego to be the real self. In fact, ACT objectifies the ego and talks of the self actually being awareness, or the observer self. It combines mindfulness with CBT tools and emphasises the importance of acting in accord with our true values. 

It’s worth noting that Vedanta is not therapy. It is a means of Self-knowledge, designed for people who have already worked through most of their psychological issues and traumas. It’s very likely that most students will still have a fair bit of ‘stuff’ to work through, however, and it is for that reason, the teaching offers certain tools and techniques to help purify the mind.

Bear in mind that some vasanas and samskaras are easier to shift than others. According to the Gita, some can be removed as easily as wiping the dirt of a mirror. Others, however, tend to linger like smoke from a fire, which may take some time to disperse. Unfortunately, some are likened to a foetus in the womb; in other words, they must be carried to term and are going to be there for a set duration.

The 3 Foundational Yogas

1. Dharma Yoga

First of all, an understanding and commitment to dharma is an essential prerequisite. While Vedic society placed dharma at its very foundation, the same cannot be said of our modern society. This is in spite of the fact that dharma is universal and built into the tapestry of life itself.

Dharma can be understood in three broad categories. 

Universal dharma is constant and unchanging throughout time and location and applies equally to all beings. Non-injury is the highest universal dharma. No living being, from the grandest of men to the smallest of ants or amoebas, wants to be hurt. Because we don’t want or expect others to harm us, we know that it’s wrong to harm others. Other universal dharmas based upon mutual expectation include truthfulness, non-theft, straightforwardness and purity or cleanliness.

Situational dharma varies depending on time, place and context. Whereas taking a knife to someone’s throat is usually an act of adharma and punishable by imprisonment, a surgeon will take a knife to people in order to help or save them, and is thus following dharma. It’s up to the individual to use discernment to follow the various situational dharmas that life presents. We all have different duties at different times according to our many roles as child and parent, student and teacher, employee and employer, and so on.

Finally, all beings have a personal dharma specific to them. This ‘svadharma’ is determined by our inherent narure, which itself is a product of the gunas and our personal karma. It’s imperative that we act in accordance with this svadharma and follow our nature while observing both situational and universal dharma. We each have a certain role to play in life, a purpose not of our own choosing, but factored into Isvara’s design. 

The Vedic varna system highlights four broad categories of person according to temperament: spiritual seekers and teachers and anyone involved in the propagation of knowledge and education, administrators, leaders and law enforcers, businesspeople and those with skills in commerce, and those skilled in service. We’re all naturally suited to a particular role, and each role should be seen as an equal and necessary contribution to the society.

Above all else else, an unwavering commitment to dharma in all aspects is fundamental to cultivating a pure, peaceful and qualified mind. Even the smallest infractions of dharma create ripples of stress in the mind and invariably come with adverse karmic consequences. The first step to qualifying the mind is, therefore, to be a dharmi.

2. Karma Yoga

The Gita spends a great amount of time unfolding karma yoga as a means of purifying the mind. Traditionally, only sannyasis (ascetics) who renounced worldly life altogether were seen as suitable candidates for Vedanta, the path of knowledge and liberation. Krishna makes it clear, however, that while sannyasis are able to take the shorter path (after all, lack of worldly karma automatically removes an enormous amount of stress from the mind), those with an active life of worldly karma are still capable of attaining enlightenment as long as they prepare the mind by converting all karma, all action, to karma yoga.

Practising karma yoga means performing all actions as an offering to Isvara, or God/the Divine. Our actions are therefore not undertaken simply to satisfy our personal desires and aversions, but are sanctified as worship in midst of daily living. Our every action, whether grand or trivial, becomes a way of paying the rent to Isvara; our way of expressing gratitude for all the many blessings we have been given in life (including the blessing of simply having a human birth!).

Because these actions are given to Isvara, the results of those actions belong to Isvara as well. It’s Isvara that determines and dispenses the results of all our actions. The only appropriate response is to accept those results as prasada; as a blessing from the Lord. Whether we get the results we intended or something else entirely, our mind is freed of great stress, because we respond to situations with objectivity and evenness of mind.

Over time, the practise of karma yoga—converting daily action into worship and accepting the results with good grace—neutralises the mind’s binding desires and aversions. We move from a strictly subjective, ego-driven relationship with life, to a more mature, objective viewpoint. We naturally begin to cultivate discrimination and dispassion, two of the primary qualifications outlined by the scriptures.

For seekers with any worldly karma at all—which, let’s face it, is almost everyone—karma yoga is non-negotiable. Without it, you find your mind swept hither and yon by various internal obstacles (your own binding desires and attachments) as well as external factors (situations, other people, and the various hardships and stresses of life). Karma yoga is necessary to help manage the mind and gradually convert all personal desires to the desire for moksa alone.

3. Upasana Yoga

Upasana yoga means meditation upon Isvara. This ties in with what is commonly known as bhakti yoga. With dharma as the foundation, the practise of karma yoga will eventually lead to upasana yoga. As the mind becomes more discriminating and dispassionate, it becomes clear that what we really want cannot be found in the world of objects, but is in fact the very source and essence of the objects themselves: God! 

Vedanta reveals that our understanding of God, or Isvara, is three-fold and depends upon the seeker’s level of understanding. Because it’s extremely difficult to conceptualise Isvara as the formless, all-pervading intelligence that shapes the Creation, or even as the very substance of the Creation itself, for many it is helpful to visualise the Lord as a particular form. Hence, worship of Isvara usually begins as worship of a personal deity. There are countless to choose from! It’s best to worship a form of Isvara to which you feel particularly drawn. You might want to create a daily puja ritual, offering your chosen deity water, a flower, and perhaps fruit or yoghurt. You can chant mantras, which is an excellent purifier for the mind (the very word ‘mantra’ means ‘mind protector’). The purpose of such worship is to purify the mind and begin to create a calm, contemplative and devotional disposition.

The next highest understanding of Isvara is as vishva-rupa, or the cosmic form. You expand your understanding of Isvara to encompass everything in the Creation: every being, every form, every flower and blade of grass. The entire world becomes the altar of your worship!

The final and highest understanding of Isvara is as the very intelligence and source of all being. For that, we have the three stages of Vedanta: sravana (listening), manana (reasoning) and nididhyasana (integrating the teaching). As Krishna states in the Gita, the highest devotion is to realise your non-difference from Him.

Upasana yoga is particularly helpful when dealing with difficult vasanas and samskaras. You realise that, as a jiva, you are reliant upon Isvara for everything, much as a baby is completely dependent upon its mother. You allow Isvara to shoulder your burden and you draw upon Isvara’s strength (which is, of course, infinite). That’s the reason programs like Alcoholics Anonymous programs work; by acknowledging that the jiva itself is helpless and instead relying upon a higher power, from which we are actually non-separate.

Satya/Mithya Discrimination

The key to freedom is the knowledge that all the jiva’s ‘stuff’— both the good and the bad — actually belongs to Isvara.

You are the Self, satya, and all objects appearing within you — whether the gross objects of the world or the subtle objects of your mind and psyche — are mithya. 

The ability to objectively discriminate between satya and mithya automatically robs the vasanas of the stamp of ‘my-ness’ given to them by the ego. They aren’t you, and they don’t belong to you. They never did and never will. 

As beautifully symbolised by Nataraja, the dancing Shiva, Isvara is doing all the doing here; from the lofty feat of keeping the stars shining and the planets spinning in orbit, to the smaller scale operations such as keeping your heart beating, your hair and fingernails growing, and generating the thoughts in your mind. All of that is mithya and mithya is taken care of by Isvara. You are satya; the Existence/Consciousness/Being from which all objects seemingly arise and into which they again dissolve.

Always remember that any thought, feeling, belief or compulsion is an object known to you. Because it is objectifiable and known to you, it cannot BE you. It only has the power to disturb you when you identify with it; when you think it is YOU. It isn’t. It’s a subtle object produced by ignorance; by non-apprehension of your true nature. All that happened was you superimposed satya on mithya; you saw a snake when actually there was only a rope. There never was a snake. The snake was mithya; it appeared to be there, but it was only a misapprehension.

Negating the vasanas as mithya might sound like spiritual bypassing to some, but it is actually spiritual contextualisation. You aren’t denying these issues or pretending they’re are not there. You’re just robbing them of the sense self-identification, which was actually the real cause of your suffering. Instead of seeing subjectively, you view them with objectivity, and are then able to deal with them in the appropriate way. By knowing them as just objects appearing in awareness, you shrink them down to managable proportions.

Journalling

I’m a huge believer in the power of journalling. It got me through some very tough times. It’s actually a very simple process. You get a notepad and pen and just spill onto the page whatever thoughts and emotions might be troubling you. You give yourself free reign to rant and rave, or to simply write whatever comes to mind. It’s best to do this in a stream of consciousness fashion. You don’t have to worry about spelling or grammar, or even necessarily having it make coherent sense. You just spill the contents of your mind onto paper. (Make sure you keep it private and don’t let anyone else read it afterward.)

I learned this technique many years ago reading a book called ‘The Artist’s Way’ by Julia Cameron. She called them ‘morning pages’. Every morning, you sit and write three pages on any subject, and you do this whether you want to or not, come hell or high water. This serves as a kind of ‘brain drain’. It relieves the internal pressure of unassimilated thoughts, events, judgements, fears, desires, and so on. It gets things onto the page, enabling you to see what’s really going on in your mind.

It also helps you process things and find solutions. Very often you’ll find the intellect stepping in and helping you to make sense of things, interpret things in a clearer light, and find constructive ways to deal with particular issues. 

I recommend this any time you’re feeling stressed or going through a particularly challenging time. It’s a potent form of therapy in itself, I assure you.

Journalling is also an excellent form of nididhyasana. As you work with Vedanta, it’s helpful to keep taking notes and to write the teaching out in your own words. This helps you go through the teaching again and again, allowing it to gradually soak in and permeate every level of the mind. I spent years doing this and found it an invaluable sadhana.

Self-Inquiry and the Pratipaksha Bhavana Technique

This is a step by step technique for getting to the root of whatever thought patterns, belief systems and values lie at the root of a particular vasana or samskara. It incorporates elements of Byron Katie’s Work, which itself is a combination of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and the Vedantic technique Pratipaksha Bhavana (applying the opposite thought). In my experience, this is best done in writing. So grab a notepad or journal and take some time to answer each question honestly and openly.

1. First of all, identify the thought behind the vasana.

Try to put it into words as a short, simple statement. For example, relationship issues might come down to the thought, “I need ____ to appreciate me.” Sometimes it helps to keep asking, “Why is this important?” “Why do I want this?” or “Why is this a problem?” You’ll be surprised how often it comes down to the thought “I’m not good enough”.

2. Identify the guna underpinning this issue.

Although sattva can cause some issues, such as attachment to pleasure and somtimes a sense of superiority, it’ll most often be the terrible twosome, rajas and tamas, at the heart of it. Rajas is responsible for the more extroverting and agitating issues; such as desire, anger, greed and covetousness, whereas tamas is more introverting, deadening and depressive, and is often associated with shame, fear, low self-esteem, etc.

3. See if you can identify the value underlying the thought.

The value at play might be a desire to be loved, or to be safe or recognised. It might be a value for status, money, or self-acceptance. Inquire into this value: is this a value that feels authentically true to who you are, or is it a value that’s been instilled into you by the society? (See below for more on values.)

4. Now, take a look at that thought, and ask yourself: is this thought really true?

In order to be true it must be absolutely true beyond any shadow of a doubt. The mind naturally invests our thoughts with truth and legitimacy, when in fact a thought is nothing but a thought; an interpretation; a mentally-fabricated story that may have elements of objective truth, but which is invariably clouded by subjectivity and all kinds of cognitive distortion.

5. Ask yourself: What is the price I pay by continuing to believe this thought?

What is the cost of keeping this thought, this vasana alive? How does it affect you physically, emotionally, psychologically, spirituality, and in terms of your loved ones, family, job, even leisure time? Explore it detail how it negatively impacts you. Shine the uncompromising light of objectivity and see how your mind begins to lessen attachment to this pattern.

6. How would things be different if you let go of this thought/pattern/attachment/vasana?

As above, explore in detail how every aspect of your life and your body and mind would benefit if you no longer had that thought? By now, you’ve hopefully convinced the mind of the pain associated with this pattern, the need to change it and the clear benefit of doing so.

7. Assume the perspective of the Self; the boundless awareness that you are, and in which this thought or pattern appears. As the Self, how do you view this thought, belief or pattern?

7. Apply the opposite thought.

If your thought was one of lack, adopt a thought of abundance. If it related to the need for a relationship, or a certain object, affirm that you are already whole and complete without that. Turn that original thought of pain and limitation into a thought of peace, happiness and limitlessness better reflecting your true nature as the Self. You are replacing a thought of ignorance with a thought of Truth.

8. Find evidence to support the new thought.

The mind, accustomed to the habitual as it is, may take some convincing of this new thought. You may need to keep applying this thought to the mind each time the original thought seeks to reassert itself. This takes vigilance and persistance. It helps to actively look for evidence to support the new thought. Write down three to five pieces of evidence which prove this new thought is as true or truer than the original limiting thought.

This is a great practice… and it really works. At first it may require consistent work. Eventually you’ll find it becomes automatic and habitual as your vasana for inquiry grows. You then no longer automatically believe every thought that passes across your mental landscape, and instead have the ability to look at mental content with objectivity and greater discernment and dispassion.

Dissolving Emotional Blocks

Whereas the previous technique dealt with things at the mental level, this next technique is one of the most powerful tools I ever found for dealing with the emotional level. It’s based on an ancient Taoist technique which I call ‘dissolving’ meditation.

Part of the mind’s job is to doubt and emote. The mind endeavours to make sense of the sensory data relayed by the perceptive sense organs. Emotions are then generated as signals motivating us to act; to advance or retreat, to engage or withdraw.

Neuroscientists have shown that emotions actually have a very short lifespan. The emotion is triggered by the release of certain chemicals which apparently flush through our entire system in the span of a mere 90 seconds! The problem is the mind tends to keep focusing on the thoughts or stimulus behind the emotion, thus continually triggering the emotional response. That’s why the above technique is helpful for getting to the root of those thoughts and breaking the cycle of emotional reactivity.

Some emotions are easier to deal with than others, however. Sometimes when we fail to assimilate our experience, we can be left with unprocessed emotions which we experience as a contraction in our body. Our prana/energy stops flowing as easily and, like water collecting into a puddle or pond, becomes stagnant. This emotional contraction can often be very painful.

The Taoist dissolving technique is extremely simple. If you find yourself dealing with difficult or unprocessed emotion, you simply take some time out and isolate where you’re feeling this sensation in the body. It might be in your chest, abdomen, the pit of your belly, or your throat or head. 

The key is to assume the role of objective witness, and simply bring your attention to this pain or discomfort. Be curious and open; don’t resist it, but don’t get lost in mental stories about it. Simply be willing to feel it. Get a sense for its vibration and quality. Sometimes it’s helpful to give it a label, but you do so objectively and dispassionately, as though you’re a scientist studying some fascinating phenomena. So you might say, “Here is a feeling of sadness/hurt/anger etc.”

All you need to do is spend some time directing your conscious attention to this emotion. Although it may be painful, you simply hold it in your awareness, without any sense of resistance and without trying to change it. As you keep holding it in your focused awareness, you’ll find it naturally begins to uncontract and relax. 

The Taoist metaphor is that blocked emotion/energy is experienced as ice; hard and unyielding. As you spend time holding it in your attention with laser-like focus, you’ll experience this ‘ice’ gradually melting into water. It’ll start to flow more freely and you’ll feel a great sense of release as it does so. The key is then to keep your attention upon it until this ‘water’ eventually evaporates into thin air. The sense of release will feel extraordinary, particularly if you’ve been carrying this unprocessed emotion for a while.

This simple technique is the essence of simplicity and it works every time. Some emotions are easy to dissolve; just a little focused attention and they quickly disperse. Others take longer and may require repeated sessions. As with all these tools, persistence is key.

Be the Witness

Mindfulness is all the rage these days and with good reason. The term originates in Buddhism, and the key to mindfulness is being an impartial witness to your experience; your thoughts, emotions and bodily sensations. By impartially witnessing these gross and subtle phenomena, they cease to pull you into identification with them, which is the source of all misery.

Vedanta’s equivalent of mindfulness is called sakshi bhava, which means ‘being the witness’ — which is, of course, what we are all along! To practice sakshi bhava is to practice Self-knowledge; to take a stand as awareness and know that all objects, whether gross or subtle, are appearances in you and cannot therefore be you. You, the Self, are sakshi, the witness.

The more you simply witness the arising of all the mind’s various thoughts and emotions, the greater power you have over them. The key is to divest them of all subjectivity and to remain objective and impartial; to always see the body and mind and all its sorrows as objects arising in you—you being the all-pervading and transcendent awareness that is ever untouched by them.

This will give you greater insight into the workings of the mind. You’ll witness with greater clarity and objectivity the patterns of thought and behaviour that arise and be better equipped to deal with whatever thoughts and behaviours cause agitation and suffering.

Practice Objectivity

This leads to our next practice—objectivity. 

The Self is entirely objective. Just as the sun shines upon all beings, saints and sinners alike, the Self is that which allows the entire universe to be, lending its existence and sentience to every aspect of the creation without a hint of favouritism. It’s the jiva, with its assorted likes and dislikes, desires and aversions, that superimposes a veil of subjectivity upon the world of objects. 

Objects themselves are value neutral. They possess only the value we ascribe to them, and that value is entirely determined by our likes and dislikes. In the Gita, Krishna prescribes objectivity as one of the keys to managing the mind. Objectivity means to strip an object of whatever value we have superimposed upon it and see it as it is—in other words, to reduce the object to its own status; neither fully good nor fully bad.

This is a particularly helpful practice when dealing with objects of desire or attachment. We desire the object, or are excessively attached to it, because we’ve been investing it with a certain mind-created value. 

One of the keys to breaking free of binding desire and attachment is to continuously contemplate the down side of that object. Our tendency to only see the upside, much of which is largely a projection of the mind, is what generated the desire and attachment in the first place. To consciously reflect upon that object’s inevitable downside helps create a more balanced and objective vision.

Manage Those Gunas!

Much has been said about the importance of managing the gunas. In fact, it’s so important I should probably have listed this alongside the three foundational yogas. Everything in the material creation is conditioned and determined by the interplay of these qualities. Therefore, the ability to understand and master the gunas is essential to a healthy and happy life. 

The latter chapters of the Bhagavad Gita explore the gunas in detail and how they relate to different aspects of life. I also strongly recommend James Swartz’s “The Yoga of the Three Energies” book which is an excellent manual for managing these qualities. 

I’m not going to go into great detail here. Suffice to say, as I wrote in my Bhagavad Gita commentary, rajas is your ticket to passion and pain, tamas is your ticket to ignorance and indolence, and sattva is your ticket to freedom. 

It’s essential that we learn to burn off excess tamas by cultivating the appropriate amount of rajas. People prone to depression and inertia benefit from going to the gym or any other form of work-out. When tamas rears its ugly, apathetic head, it’s helpful to stir up a little desire and set some positive goals that are in line with your dharma. These should, of course, be done as karma yoga.

Rajas can be managed by cultivating as a sattvic a mind as possible. All the tools above will help with this, including karma yoga, dharma yoga, upasana yoga, meditation and so on. 

The entire purpose of spiritual practice is managing rajas and tamas and generating a pure and sattvic mind. When the mind is sattvic, we see clearly and have the ability to exercise proper discrimination and make sound choices in line with our highest values and true priorities. 

A sattvic mind is also a happy mind! Rajas and tamas make happiness impossible because both create so much pain and sorrow. If a person does nothing more than cultivate a predominantly sattvic mind, they’ll live a largely happy and satisfying life.

Do a Values Inventory

Although this is last on the list, if anything it should be near the top because the value of values should never be underestimated—and yet frequently is.

Until you have a healthy and dharmic value system your life won’t and can’t work particularly well. Indeed, you’ll find yourself beset by constant conflict and confusion.

Most of our values are instilled into us at a very young age. We don’t choose such values; they’re chosen for us. Some of those values will inevitably be false or harmful ones and that’s why there’s so much suffering in our supposedly ‘developed’ world. Why else would otherwise intelligent people base their level of self-worth on their bank balance or marital status, or worse, something ridiculous such as how many ‘friends’ they have on Facebook or the number of ‘likes’ they get for their latest Instagram post.

Even though we know such things don’t really matter, many people still have a value for them—and that includes spiritual seekers, believe it or not. This comes down to what we call ‘partially assimilated values’, which is when we have a value for something, but it may not be a fully assimilated value, or it may contradict another value we hold. This always results in inner conflict and confusion with regard to our actions. 

Often spiritual people have a partially assimilated value for moksa or enlightenment but also a value for seeking happiness in worldly objects. Which of the two will win out? Whichever value is strongest. Given that our value for materialism has been programmed into us from almost the moment we first developed language and cognition, smart money is on that.

Our values shape our priorities and our priorities then determine our actions and behaviour, which in turn become the building blocks of our entire life. That’s why it’s essential that we do a value inventory—particularly if you happen to be plagued by troublesome vasanas. Very often a conflict of values lies at the root of it.

It’s vital that we have clear set of healthy values that are in harmony with who we are.

So I suggest getting out the journal and taking some time to figure out what’s really important to you and what you truly value in the depths of your heart. 

The alternative is blindly and unconsciously trying to live up to the materialistic and worldly values conditioned into you by family, peers and media. So much of people’s suffering comes from self-judgement and self-condemnation for not living up to their values—which aren’t in fact ‘their’ values at all, but are simply the values they’ve unconsciously inherited from almost the moment they developed language skills. 

Chapter seventeen of the Gita provides a wonderful checklist of values for the seeker of liberation. I recommend referring to that and allowing the scriptures to inform your value system rather than the adharma of our consumer-crazed culture. 

Don’t be like the ignorant masses and live only to consume. Be a contributor! Make it your highest value to give at least as much as you take from life. Follow dharma impeccably and commit to polishing the mirror of your mind, to not only make it a fit receptacle for the liberating light of Self-knowledge, but to make it shine; to be as true an embodiment of who you really are as you possibly can. The world needs that. The world needs you.

I’m writing this on the morning of the Winter Solstice 2023 and have been reflecting on the way human beings have, throughout time, approached this darkest time of year.

We live in an age in which a great many of us take the miracles of electricity, running water and central heating for granted. Throughout almost the entirety of human history, however, the Winter months represented a life and death challenge. For many, it may have been a feat simply to stay alive, warm and fed.

I love the fact, however, that in spite of it being the darkest and bleakest time of year, the Solstice has traditionally been a time of festivity and celebration; a way of transmuting the burden of worldly hardship into a celebration of life, light and cheerful anticipation for better, brighter days to come.

Whether you are Christian or not, there’s a lot of rich symbology in the story of Jesus’s birth. The essence of the Christmas story is a Divine light kindled amid the darkest of times. This light already exists in the heart of all beings as the reflected Consciousness of Brahman, the Self; truly the “Father” of all that exists.

I sometimes get asked an interesting question. If everything in creation is Divine, why is there so much evil, suffering and sorrow in the world? Why are corporations, politicians and people in positions of power waging wars, committing murder and destroying the planet? If it’s true that everyone is essentially God assuming name and form, why do many people live with such closed hearts; selfish, materialistic and prone to adharmic actions?

The answer is that while everyone is Divine, not everyone manifests that Divinity.

As long as our mind and heart are conditioned by the influence of rajas and tamas, we are unable to express and actualise our true Divinity in thought, word and deed. Even though it’s always there, the inner light has no real way to shine through the prism of a mind tainted by gluttony, delusion and materialism.

Sadly, this accounts for the current state of our world. Lower values such as greed, lust for power and narcissistic self-interest all too often supersede higher values and attributes such as kindness, compassion, cooperation and love. You only need to take a look at the headlines on any given day to see ample evidence of this.

None of us can single-handedly change the world, or even the people around us, but we can change ourselves.

We each have a choice. Do we seek to express and bring forth our Divinity; that which is highest and best within us? Or do we allow negative cultural conditioning and the greed and dissatisfaction of tamas and rajas to be the driving force in our lives?

There’s an ancient Chinese proverb which states “It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness.”

In actuality, then light is already there; and it will never not be there. We simply need to clean the lamp of our minds to allow it to shine in all its splendour.

The birth of Jesus represents a symbolic kindling of the inner light in the darkest of times; the shifting to a higher, Divine consciousness that happens by surmounting our lower nature and baser instincts and impulses. 

This upliftment of consciousness means seeing the best in all and cultivating higher qualities, values and behaviour in our lives. It means an unceasing commitment to following dharma, because dharma is synonymous with God.

The Bhagavad Gita outlines twenty key dharmic qualities of mind that can be cultivated in order to express our inherent Divinity. These qualities are as follows:

1. Resisting the tendency to pander to our ego and its endless desires, addictions and lower impulses.

2. The absence of pretention and the need to impress and manipulate others.

3. Non-injury to all beings.

4. Having an open and accommodating attitude toward life rather than a rigid, closed mindset.

5. Straight-forwardness, honesty and the harmonious alignment of our thought, word and deed.

6. Service to your teacher. This doesn’t mean becoming a slave to the guru, but simply honouring and respecting your teacher and doing your best to realise and embody the spirit of the teaching.

7. Cleanliness in all aspects; physically, mentally and in terms of our actions, habits and behaviour.

8. Steadfastness; the ability to persevere and commit to your true goal with constancy and determination.

9. Mastery over the mind. Perhaps then most important quality a human being can develop! The mind is a wonderful servant but a terrible master. It must be appropriately trained and brought into alignment with dharma and the higher values outlined in the scriptures.

10. Dispassion toward sense objects. Another vital qualification for all seekers. Many waste their lives in a haze of blind, narcotic hedonism. It’s vital that we learn to master and control the senses, lest we be controlled by them.

11. Absence of egoism and the ability to see beyond the ego part of our nature.

12. Being aware of the limitations of birth, death and body-identification. This means becoming clear about the zero sum nature of material reality and knowing with surety that lasting happiness can only come from within.

13. Absence of the sense of doership. This comes from analysing all the consitutent factors necessary for action to take place. Ultimately, all actions are done by Ishvara, which alone is in control of all factors in the material field.

14. Absence of excessive attachment to our family members, friends, home and belongings. This doesn’t mean we don’t love those in our lives, but that we love with what Swami Dayananda calls “dispassionate caring”. Attachments bind the mind and prevent the full assimilation of Self-Knowledge.

15. The ability to retain even-mindedness and equanimity even amidst life’s greatest challenges and hardships.

16. Unswerving devotion to the Divine.

17. The ability and willingness to retreat to quiet places and disengage from the world’s constant hustle and bustle.

18. Being able to feel happy and content by oneself; or the absence of craving for the company of other people.

19. Constant and unwavering application of Self-Knowledge to the mind. This alone liberates!

20. Devotion to spiritual Truth. This understanding of the true nature of Self and Reality must so strong that it overrides the mind’s tendency to relate to life through a screen of division, separation and disconnection. It means seeing ourselves as we actually are, pure Consciousness, and not the body/mind/ego we might initially appear to be.

What we have above is a checklist for cultivating higher values in alignment with our true Self. By consciously adopting these qualities, we light up the dark night of ignorance and transcend the pains and suffering inherent to identifying solely with the aggregates of matter; the body, mind and ego.

As the dark days begin to lengthen and the light again returns, why not make a commitment to embodying the spiritual Truth of the ages and to fully realise, actualise and express your inherent Divinity? 

That, more than anything else, is what our world needs and is the very doorway to lasting peace and freedom. It reveals to us the light that is always within us, ever present and always shining. It simply requires the commitment to dharmic living and the cultivation of a pure, sattvic mind in which to manifest our own inner light. 

What greater gift can we give the world?

Happy Solstice, Merry Christmas and a good New Year to you!

Meditation (nididyasana) – Sunday December 10, 2023

• What is meditation?  The process of Complete Objectification of the Doer.  5-10-15 rule is a long (or short) process depending on the teacher’s karma.
  
• What does the Objectification of the Doer imply?  That I need to take my vasanas seriously i.e. see that they are unhelpful to myself and others.  What is the downside of taking them seriously?  I may get stuck in the necessary satya/mithya teaching.  I will dismiss my vasanas as unreal (mithya) when they are real (satya) for a jiva.  Jivas are deluded; although they are unreal, they think they are real.     
  
• Why should the Doer be Objectifed? 

               (a)  Suffering remains if it isn’t.  Suffering is
                      attachment to the results of my actions.
               (b) Why does objectification create a doubt in the
                     doer? Because the Self is attached to the doer
                     owing to Maya. 
               (c)  Objectification obscures the misunderstanding
                      that freedom is only happiness for the me-self,
                      not for others. 
             (d) It generates the belief that saving the world, not
                   saving the me-self is the greatest virtue, causing
                   individuals with low self-esteem to seek fame and
                   suffer grandiosity.  AHAM story

The Power of Fear

              (4)  Can a teacher help in this process or is a teacher only
               meant to teach moksha?
Yes, but most teachers don’t because fear causes emotional relationships.  Why don’t emotional relationships work?   They destroy friendships because from the jiva point of view both the teacher and the taught are right.  Nobody is right.  Both the teacher and the student are virtue itself.

(5)  What is trust? 

Willingly following a teacher’s suggestions assuming the teacher’s ego is completely objectified.  When a doubt occurs, the student knows he or she is always wrong and Isvara’s words in the form of scripture is always right as explained by the teacher. 

Why is it difficult for the student to trust the teacher?  Because he or she has no way of knowing if the teacher’s ego is completely actualized. 

Lack of knowledge of the stages of objectification
creates doubt and prevents growth.

The Stages

•   A Self-Realized teacher who thinks that Self-Realization is the last stage and doesn’t know the value of Self-actualization.  Dharma trumps moksha.
  
•   A Self-Realized teacher who is in the process of objectifying the doer.  He or she identifies with the “still small voice” that speaks when the mind is sattvic i.e. Ishwara2.  Identification with Isvara 2 is the God complex.  It is an inability to accommodate uncertainty.  “I am right because I know the facts!” 

        Why should I accommodate uncertainty and desire?  
     Because no matter how much you know
there is always something that it unknown.  

Remember, Vedanta objectifies the Doer and the Self objectifies Vedanta, which  means that the teacher and the teaching are only real until the nididyasana practice disappears.  Until then a teacher in nididyasana is liable to trust Isvara2, when in fact Isvara 2 is not trustworthy.   

Why is There No Final Stage?

Because there is only ME, existence shining as unborn consciousness.  I am not a teacher because I am not a jiva.  It is me but I am not it.  I am not right or wrong.

 I don’t trust Isvara because I am Isvara. 
                         

He asked me what I thought.  After explaining the correct way to view this teaching, I told him God was his actual father and that it was not right to jeopardize his hard-earned sattvic lifestyle out of a sentimental need to convince himself that he was a dutiful son, particularly since the father was unappreciative of his son’s sacrifice.   Here is his reply.   

Honesty is the Best Policy

DearRamji,

I did end up leaving my father to fend for himself.

Ram: Let’s think of it as consigning him to the loving embrace of Isvara.

In the end I decided it was best to be honest with him.  I told him that it wouldn’t do to bring him back to my house so he can repeat the same irresponsible behaviour, expecting me to make up the difference. This precipitated a long discussion about my opinion on his lifestyle, which he poorly attempted to defend.  In the end, he was forced to concede that his gambling and self-centred perspective had not done anything for him or anyone else for that matter. I felt good being honest with him.

Somewhere along the line I had made a decision to just love him for “who he is ” and not try to change him.  But now that I know I am the Self it is obvious that co-signing his bad behavior isn’t loving him for who he is.  It’s just avoiding conflict. 

Ram: His behaviour is not who he is.  At the same time, how much luck have you had changing anybody’s behavior. 

The Gita is very clear about this issue.  If it’s true that Arjuna, who was rajasic/sattvic, is meant to engage in battle with the dark parts of himself, appearing as an unfortunate relationship with his cousin, who was a gambling cheat, how much more important is it for someone like you, who have struggled to sattvasize your life for a long time, to engage in battle with that needy part of your self?

He swears he is gonna change and all that.

Ram:  They always do, but at his age it is a hollow vow.

I really don’t care at this point. But it does feel good to choose to protect the life I have been striving to live through concrete action. I am a little worse for wear and it was a set back to my peace of mind but nothing a little sadhana can’t handle. 

Ram:  Good for you. You are just starting to appreciate the value of a pure-minded lifestyle.  It’s wrong to jeopardize it.  That’s why Isvara disturbed your emotions when the “good” son part was about to fuck things up. 

Always remember, Isvara is your Mom and Pop.  At some point you need to become your parent’s parent. 

A Careful Dog

If I chose to stand as awareness, then Mike becomes an object known to me that is worthy of my care.  If I had two dogs, one of which was neat and tidy and one a sloppy eater, it wouldn’t be fair to give the careful dog’s food to the careless dog.  It would rob the careless dog of the opportunity to learn from his actions and the careful dog to get proper nutrition.  Maybe on some level the causal body has the power keep an individual from doing the right thing.    

Ram: Yes.  Pain gets normalized as virtue, the martyr complex; If I’m suffering on your behalf, it proves I’m a good person.  All it proves is that you like suffering, which is definitely perverse.

Virtue Signalling

Seeking to remove other’s pain does nothing for me or for my dad unless I’m virtue signalling to myself, which is beating a dead horse. 

Interesting how the need to be “good enough” arises from inadequate love and support. But then it brings one eventually to spirituality.   So, no harm done.  Thanks again. Non-duality rocks!

Ram:  No doubt about it!!!

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/17/opinion/biden-Israel-leadership.html

The way one looks at the world depends on one’s conditioning.  Hopefully, your primary caregivers were classy people who did not consider the needs of others inferior to their own.  A hard and fast appreciation of the principle of non-injury modeled by them is life’s most valuable asset because dharma is built-in.   

That certain things are always right, and that others are always wrong is moral clarity.  It is wrong to injure one’s God-given body and mind and the God-given minds and bodies of others.   Clarity on this topic guarantees relationships built on love, the only other reasonable option.  Love cradles a benevolent creation in compassionate arms.  It is an unassailably true that each and every one of us, including evil doers, wants to be loved and harbors an expectation of non-injury.      

We invite you to set aside your beliefs and opinions, political and otherwise, and read the essay below, which ShiningWorld endorses unequivocally.  It is  offered by a New York Times editorialist, whose race, creed and politics are irrelevant, and showcases the moral clarity that the President of the United States brought to the world in light of the recent events in Israel.  It shows that during trying times particularly, the Truth shines in all its glory.  We are not worthy to stand with Truth if we countenance injury to ourselves and others.      

Please offer advice on why I should forgive.  I recently lost my 15-year-old cat, who was like a son, and who passed away due to a critical condition that could have been managed if attended to promptly by his doctor. The doctor, an old friend, used to mock us for being overprotective and disregarded our concerns about the cat’s well-being.

Had he taken us seriously, the cat’s painful passing might have been prevented or eased. It’s hard to forgive this ex-friend for his insensitive attitude toward a living being. We trusted his professionalism and never expected such behavior. Sadly, we changed doctors too late, and it was only in the last 2 or 3 weeks of my cat’s life that we received proper care. The other doctors agreed that timely intervention could have controlled the condition. From the individual perspective, forgiveness is challenging, and feelings of rage, grief, resentment, and guilt weigh heavily on my husband and me. As peaceful individuals who value compassion and love as part of our daily life and dharma, this situation is exceptionally difficult to navigate.

Right Attitude

This one is on you, sweetheart.  You have been listening to Vedanta for more than one year and are presumably practicing karma yoga.  There are no bad outcomes for karma yogis.  Subconsciously, you are angry at yourself for failing to recognize that although it is natural to grieve when a love object dies, one should never lose sight of the fact that what is born, dies.  Small loves and big loves are subject to this rule.  Yes, things attract and amuse us, but nothing was created for the enjoyment of specific entities.  A single principle operates here, so the creative force is also the destructive force.  To keep it simple, “The Lord gives and the Lord taketh away.”  The lesson we all need to learn at some point is: joy is not in objects.  It is the nature of the self.  We let ourselves down when we fail to appreciate this fact.        

Also, you seem to have forgotten that everything created by God belongs to God, not to you.  In all of existence, there is only one copyright.  Karma yoga is based on the idea that you are at best a caretaker and a contributor, not a creator.  The duty of karma yogis is to appreciate the upside of every situation and manifest gratitude for the sake of yourself and others.  Imagine how your doctor friend must feel now that you hate him.  Obviously, you don’t like it either or you wouldn’t have written.

You benefitted from a from a long and happy relationship with one of God’s beautiful creatures.  You trusted him with the care of the cat for a long time presumably.  And he must be more aware than anyone of the shelf life of our furry friends.  It’s wise to wean oneself as love objects approach their sell-by dates. I forever remind loved ones of my impending demise.  Why should they suffer when I am in the hearts of everyone?   

A certain degree of attachment comes with anything that gives pleasure—food, sex, and money etc.—but the emotions you describe are excessive and need to be managed properly.  I noticed the absence of the word guilt in your list.  If you were a dedicated karma yogi, guilt would have forestalled the resentment and rage.  When you feel guilty you can’t blame someone else, particularly an old friend.  Guilt means that you let dharma down, which is only as good as the support it gets from us.  It’s not all about your feelings, Cindy.  Yes, they seem real now but they are not real in any way.  Just as life is life, cats are cats and feelings are feelings.  Karma yoga is fear and desire management. It produces dispassion. If you feel this way over a cat, how are you going to feel when your husband dies and a doctor “mismanages” his care.  God manages and God mismanages.  What use is control?   

Right Action

Negative feelings exist. They come when they come. The second part of karma yoga is offering them to Ishvara because they are on Ishvara, not you.  How so?  You don’t think “I will be angry now, and then observe feelings of anger, rage, resentment etc. arise.  Anger is triggered by FOMO, fear of missing out on one of life’s pleasures, but it is difficult to admit that you feel this way because it contradicts your good opinion of yourself. So you look for a scapegoat, in this case your friend,, the (ex) doctor.  Blame is another sign of low-self esteem, so once you have processed the loss of your cat it is likely that you will have to process blame unless you forgive yourself for blaming him. If you must blame,, blame God.  It won’t be disturbed. 

 Karma yoga is knowledge of the zero-sum principle. If there is a downside there is an upside.  Since we are also blessed with free will, we are free to look on the bright side.  To whit: the cat’s love is Ishwara’s love, which is available in all mammals, so this situation offers the opportunity for JOMO, the joy of missing out.  Be happy when objects come and when they go. 

Or get another cat.  Cat love is cat love. Or just be happy for all the other things in your life that give you happiness now, particularly your old ex-friend, the doctor, who can always appreciate your love.  Perhaps he was trying to alert you to your excessive attachment.  Even if he was insensitive, he couldn’t be otherwise, as he is just the product of his conditioning, as are all sentient beings.  Nobody is devoid of love.  Think of all the things he does love, including animals.  Would he have taken that profession if he didn’t? 

It is also likely that your love of the cat masks a lack of self-love. This situation may have been Ishwara attempting to bring this unwanted fact to your attention.  Ishwara is a jealous God.  It wants all your love, which is beautiful because love of God includes love of everything. What isn’t God?

You didn’t share the conversation with your doctor.  Did he give the reason why he wasn’t medicating the according to your wishes?  Of course, it is incumbent on doctors to follow the Hippocratic oath and relieve pain whenever possible.  Anyway, I’m not a veterinarian so I can’t speak with authority on this topic, but if it was up to me, I would do everything within my power to relieve its pain.  Since it was obvious that the cat was on its last legs, pain pills were probably a reasonable option. 

Actually, the best course of action is to co-opt the suffering and put the animal down in a painless way before you enter the danger zone. There is more to this situation than the loss of a cat; the loss of discrimination of one of the four qualifying pillars for assimilating Vedanta.   

         Maybe this whole business is just cat envy.  It just came to me that we love animals because they have a leg up on us, owing to the fact that they don’t think they shouldn’t suffer.  So, are they suffering when they are suffering?  Pleasure and pain are inevitable, but suffering is optional.  Cats don’t have that option because they don’t have free will, but we do.  Failure to choose that option is on us. 

Forgive yourself, Cindy.  And center your life around the teaching.  Don’t try to conveniently fit the teaching into your life.  Death, the creative/uncreator, sits mercifully on every shoulder looking for the right opportunity to reap us.  It is not good or bad.  It is just a fact.  Respect Ishwara and thereby respect yourself. 

Much love,

Ram

Rory: Well, at this level everything is about dharma. Basically, the body wants to live and be well, because life loves life. That’s why we have the miracle of an immune system and why, the body will innately steer us to what’s good for it rather than what’s harmful. We’re gifted with this wonderful apparatus and, as its trustees, part of our dharma is to look after that body–and to look after our mind as well, for that matter. Life always throws challenges our way. That’s simply inevitable given the nature of duality. While Vedanta gives us the Knowledge that, ultimately, we are free of this duality, and that who we are cannot be impacted or damaged in any way, we still must navigate the apparent world as best we can. We do that by living according to dharma. Some things we have to accept, for Isvara’s decisions are often final. But other things we must fight, which is precisely why the Gita is set on a battlefield and Krishna is telling Arjuna to get off his ass and take action 🙂

I’ve seen critics of Vedanta, who know some of the basics but not the nuance of the teaching, make arguments such as “well, if we’re the Eternal Self, then why bother doing anything in maya? Why don’t we all just kill ourselves, because it’s not “real”, after all?” The answer is that, even though we know that we are the Self and not the instruments of body, mind and ego, we should not live with an impassive fatalism. We must take the gift of life, and live it with full appreciation and commitment to dharma. The highest aspect of dharma is non-injury, which is why it would be terribly wrong to throw ourselves in front of a bus for no reason other than we know that, as the Self, we are deathless.

As the saying goes, it’s wise to accept the things we cannot change and have the courage to change the things that we can–if doing so is appropriate and conducive with personal and universal dharma. If you have a treatable illness and you decide not to treat it because, heck, you’ll die some day anyway, then you’re arguably committing a violence against Isvara; Isvara in the form of your body and also your loved ones, who’d presumably rather like you to stick around! Life is a gift and it should be cherished and maintained, and, if necessary fought for–which, again, is the basis of the Gita and Arjuna’s predicament.

For the jnani, the knower of the Self, there’s no longer a personal identification with the body. It’s just a vehicle. But, again, it behooves us to take care of that vehicle. If your car is falling to pieces, you get it repaired, or it becomes useless to you. If it’s beyond repair, then you get a new one. Same with the body! If it’s repairable then it should be repaired, and if not, then that must be accepted with grace.

Questioner: Isn’t it the ignorance of not knowing our true self that is causing all this global panic/anxiety surrounding covid?

Rory: It’s the ignorance of not knowing our true Self that causes all the generalised suffering and stress in our lives full stop. That’s the very root of samsara, and it has its basis in fear; the fear of believing ourselves to be separate from the Whole and totally at the mercy of a cruel and indifferent external world.