1.1.1 FNS
The topic of tonight is about the relationship between the Infinite consicousness and the jiiva or the little person. The great divinity which is present in each and every living being is also present in you, in the little person who identifies with their individuality. You think: " I am so and so. I live at such and such address and I have these good qualities and these feelings and you believe this is who you are. But the divine entity is within you and if you change your understanding of who you are, you will see that you are not this very limited individual, you are not the jiiva, the individual, but you are the great divinity which lies quiescent throughout this manifest universe. But you are self-resplendent and self-contained, but having forgotten yourself and believe yourself to be the individuality which you experience. But this individuality is based upon deception. For it presupposes that there are two, you and other and between the two there is a gulf. There is "I" who exists as an individual and who will do so man things and ahve a particular identity and then there are others who are apart from you . There is a world outside of you. This is the perspective of the individual and it is based in the illusion. It is not real. For all that appears to be outside of you is in fact a part and parcel of your own existence, but you are not simply the limited person who you have perceived yourself to be, bound in a body, bound within ego, confined and restrained, unable to expand into the light of radiant consciousness. You are not this bound entity, alone, separate, isolated, you are not this individuality. These sums of separation, these sums of your aloness is complete dillusion. The reality is that you are never alone, nor you are separate. A veil has been put over your eyes and so you see yourself as alone and separate entity. But it is illusion. In reality that divine presence, that Paramatma, that Supreme Self is your Own Self. Your individuality is nearly a covering you are wearing. As you wear this body, as you wear the clothes upon the body, you wear the clothes today, tomorrow you take them off and you wear different clothes. So the body is like the clothes. Today you wear this body, tomorrow you will wear another and the "I" feeling is also insubstantial. For today you are so and so, you live in such and such a place and tomorrow you will be someone else. But neither of your personalities the one today, the one tomorrow or the next day, none of these are the reality of you. For you are far more than the clothes you wear. You are far more than your physical body, you are far more than the identity you have assumed. For within you lies the spark of greatness, within you lies the divinity. And if you would pay your attention away from the identities you have assumed and withstand independent, selfabsorbed, that attention will soon come to discover that it is completely self-sustained and that you are far more than the body you have possessed. You are eternal, the bearer of the great heritage, the bearer of wealth beyond measure. You are the ever resplendent one without a second. This body, this mind, this little ego, they are all parts of you, but you exist beyond them, for you fly with the ego, you stand silent in the great forest and you pray with the humble peasant, you are in all of these as well as in the body you now possess. For the divine Purusha is in all things and all things are in Him. No one and nothing lies outside of His sphere,
no one and nothing including you.
Are there questions?
Q: Yes Ba'ba', I have questions for
Web pages. I wonder if you could talk about the technique of meditation,
any particular. I would like to hear if you have anything to say
about different kinds of meditation for different kinds of people,
different styles of meditation. Something about that.
A: The process of meditation is the
process of ideation upon the Great. In samskrit it is called Iishvara
Pranidhana. Ideation upon Iishvara, the controller of the universe.
If one ideates upon the Great, one will bring one's mind in parallence
to that upon which one concentrates. And this process opens one's
awareness to the stream of consciousness, so that mind will expand
and dissolve into pure awareness. There are are many types of
meditation which may be practiced. In Yoga, it is most common
for meditation to involve direct ideation upon the Great. There
are visual meditations, Mantra meditations, even walking meditations.
There are many types of meditations, but for a meditation practice
to be successful it must contain certain elements. The first of
which, there must be a celar and concentrated goal and that goal
should be to merge oneself into the infinite, to know the divine
through direct observation. That is the goal or objective of a
successful meditation practice. But for success, not only must
the attempt be clear and realted to the divine, but then must
also be a clear and straughtforward techniques for the accomplishment
of this task outlined in the objective and thirdly, there should
be Preceptor or a guide to assist one to properly learn the technique
and to move through the various stages of spiritual development
with ease and wellbeing. If you would learn, not in physics, you
may learn it from a book, but you will be well advised to take
a course from a knowledgable teacher, so that your understanding
of the topic may be comprehensive and you would be also well advised
to get instruction and spend time in the laboratory, understanding
the topic in a practical fashion. So it is also with meditation.
A teacher can be very helpful. Do you have another question?
Q: Yes, I have. Can you tell us something
about Yama and Niyama.
You should revert to the writings on
Yama and Niyama. But I will say a few words. In introduction,
Yama and Niyama are both sciences for the dissolution of dillusions
within the mind. They are step by step practices for daily life
which cultivate right thinking and therefore the capacity to comprehend
truth. Follow strictly over period of time, these practices are
bound to alter the thinking processes of a person and to bring
the capacity to hold reality within the mind. This is the purpose
for which these practices have been developed. They are dos and
dont's of yoga. But they are not nearly moral codes, they are
scientifically developed practices for the expansion of mind.
Alright?