nn 1,2

1.5.2.1 desire, 1.4.8 spir. in practice

Tonight I will speak upon the topic of the relationship between the desire for worldly life and the desire for spiritual life. You know, many people think they would enjoy the pursuit of spiritual life but, in fact, they are not really so motivated in that direction. They are more motivated to give a major portion of their lives to the sustenance of their daily living.

Now, occasionally there will be an individual who will find that this daily life does not entirely fulfill them. They will find that their heart and their soul are restless for more. They want something greater than themselves which they can feel they are committed to. They want to feel that their lives have a purpose beyond mundane existence. Such people are well suited for the path of sadhana. They are well suited to put their feet on the path of inward exploration.

There are many people who have some attraction to inward exploration but they are not well equipped. They do not have a proper practice, or they may know a good meditation technique but they do not have a proper guide. This also is an impediment on the spiritual path. Now, there is one other impediment that a person may come across. That is, when pursuing the path, they may have a good practice, they may have a proper guide, but they may find that their worldly life is so involved, so demanding that they have no time for spiritual pursuit. It may happen that a particular person may find that, although they are sincere, they have attraction for the Great, they have proper practice and Guru, still, so many persons make demands, so many things must be done, so many responsibilities are there in their lives, that the spiritual life seems beyond their capacity. They find "Oh I would meditate but I can find no time. I would meditate but my father does not like it, my uncle says it is bad and he objects. I would meditate but it is not fitting into my life as it has been". Or even the person may do some meditation but it is so short, only some little part of the day is spent ideating on the Supreme, maybe fifteen minutes, maybe twenty. Then the rest of the day, the person is ideating on the material world, is ideating on all the problems that have come in the life, is meditating on the qualities and characteristics of the manifest world. Only some very small portion of the day are they contemplating the qualities and characteristics of Parama Purus'a. The rest of the time they are contemplating the qualities and characteristics of the mundane existence.

So, what may a person do who has this obstacle? Who cannot find the time in their life for contemplation upon the Great? They will have to assume a strict code of discipline. They will have to practice a strict discipline saying to themselves "I will wake up in the morning, I will get up in the morning and I will do my meditations before I begin my day. I will set the clock one half hour earlier". They will have to make some effort and then during the day, though they are engaging in so many acts, they are fulfilling so many responsibilities - the children are there, work is there, the parents are there, there are so many things to do - yet, during the day they must take some time to remember who it is they are surrounded by, for whom they work, and who it is that is working. They must keep ideation remembering here and there throughout the day the Divine Entity who is surrounding them during their daily work, in their daily lives. So not only is it important to take time for contemplation of the Sublime through meditation, but it is equally important to take some time during the daily activities to contemplate the Infinite in the expressed universe.

Now, this Divine Entity is a very gracious person, this Divine Entity is a gracious being. If you make even a small effort to get to know Him, to get to know Her, He will in turn make a great deal of effort to get to know you. So, for your small effort; just a little a little earlier in the morning you will wake, during the day you will take just a moment here, just a moment there, to remember; and for that effort, for that small effort, that Infinite Being will in turn make a great effort to come in contact with you. So you are making some effort to come in contact with the Infinite and the Infinite, in turn, is making some effort to come in contact with you. In this way, you form a mutual relationship. You get to know each other. In fact, that Entity already knows you but you have forgotten Him, you have forgotten the Sublime. So when you begin to remember, He in turn remembers you. Contemplation of the Sublime during worldly activities is a very important aspect of the spiritual path.

Now, there are those who contemplate taking up a spiritual path but they find that not only are there some difficulties with worldly obligations but there are also difficulties with the desires of the mind. Though they try to concentrate on the Great, when they sit to meditate, they find they are thinking of so many things; they have added the check book, they have gone to the grocery store, they have driven the children to the park, and now they are going to work. All in one half hour of meditation! This can be a very difficult problem. The mind is so involved in the daily functions that during mediation those functions dominate the mind.

There are some very basic solutions to this difficulty. First of all, make the time of mediation regular, make the place a sacred place. A place you come to meditate each day. This will help the mind. Secondly, if Yoga postures, Asanas, are done, this will also help to still the mind. And thirdly, if you begin your meditation by offering all that you are and all that you have to the Great, it will help to concentrate your mind. In addition, if this mental activity is overly disruptive, there is one further solution that can be made. It is to allow ones' mind to contemplate the Infinite in infinite forms. That is to say, if the thought of the grocery store comes in the mind, the moment the mind is aware, then immediately the thought should be placed "What is this grocery store? What is this activity? It is the form and action of the Great". And so the string of desire which has gone to the grocery store is turned towards the Great. Likewise, all thoughts and all actions which come in the mind are thus transmutated by this line of thinking.

If a person has a very active mind, when they sit for meditation they may do their practice for one minute, for two minutes, and then their mind is off here and there. This is because they are a very active person, they lead a very active life so the mind is also active and goes about. It is not bad, many people have this type of mind. If it is the case, then this practice will help. Always think wherever the mind wanders, that this too is the form of the Lord. This engagement, in which my mind has wandered, is the manifestation of Parama Purus'a in my mind. This desire, which has brought my mind, this action which has brought my mind here or there, is the action of my Lord. Like this, contemplation on the essential nature of all activities and all objects during the meditation practice will aid the person with an active mind. Then the mind may be brought back to the point of stillness and the practice that is being employed. Never become discouraged by this difficulty with meditation. It is natural for a person who has an active mind to have the mind go this way and that.

You know, there are those whose minds are dominated by different forces. Some peoples' minds are very calm. They easily are without thought. It is the very nature of their mind which allows this. Other peoples' minds are very active. They go this way and that to one degree or another. If you have an active mind, do not think you are unsuited for spiritual life, it is not the case. In fact, that very active quality which brings so many thoughts in the mind, that very active quality will also help you in meditation, because that same active mind may get activated towards the Infinite.

So, if the mind is active do not let it be a discouragement. Apply these simple techniques and you will find that the mind is coming back again and again to Parama Purus'a. Back again, back again, and in fact it will come to the point where, wherever the mind wanders, you will think "Oh, where can it go, wherever it goes it is only to Him that it goes towards. It is only to the Divine that the mind goes. The grocery store, the shopping trip, the problem at work, it is only Him taking so many forms, so many differing activities in my mind". So all these actions become the very form of Lord, and though the mind may flit about, Lord is everywhere that you look. So where can you go? You flit one way, you flit another still you only go to that Lord, that Infinite Entity in the multiple forms of this universe. So this is the very simple technique for an individual with an active mind.

Now, there is one other difficulty that may be experienced by one who would seek spiritual life but who has many other involvements. That is, the difficulty in understanding the conceptualizations which are presented in spiritual philosophy. At first, some of these concepts may seem somewhat foreign, they may seem complex. It may seem they are disconnected from your life. "How can I understand these things, what is the relevance to my life, to my personal life, to my upbringing? They are from a foreign land, the ideas of foreign people". You may think like this, there are those who do. Now if this kind of thinking is there, if there is some difficulty with the philosophical aspects, with the belief in the God, with the process itself, then I say, Yoga, is a science. It is not a religion. You need not believe in anything, you need not assume that anything is correct because someone has told you. You be skeptical, you be analytical. You use your discrimination, but you do the practices and do them well and you pursue in the laboratory of your own mind the practical approach and you see if the results are gotten. This is the rational approach to spiritual life. There need be no belief.

You may be an atheist, you may be a skeptic, it does not matter. It is a science. It requires no true believers. It is a practical approach for those who would experiment in the laboratory of the mind to discover the latent potentialities held within them. It requires no prior training, no set beliefs, no understanding of philosophy. If you like the philosophy, if you study the philosophy, so much the better. It will help you in your experiments. But, if you do not, it does not matter. You do the practice, you do it scientifically, you do it regularly, and you will see there will be changes in your life. This science of Yoga, it was invented many thousands of years ago, and it has been handed down through the ages, from one who has mastered these techniques to another and another. The science of Yoga is a very practical approach to personal transformation.

It is not a religion of one particular country or one particular people. This science has existed in some modified form in many parts of the world under many different names. The Mesopotamians, the ancient cultures of the Mediterranean, knew of this science and it was practiced in secret schools. In the ancient Mayan culture there were also secret practices that were done by those who had particular interest in spiritual life. Those in the Mayan culture had a particular interest in the exploration of the Infinite. In so many ancient cultures this science has existed though often these practices were reserved for those very few who showed potentiality in the spiritual realm. They were not given to the common person because in those times, the common person was much less developed in the intellectual realm and more developed in the physical realm. So the common person was not always fit for the practice.

The ancient ancient sages of those cultures would select those individuals from among the people who showed potentiality for spiritual life, who showed potentiality for the development of inner knowledge, and they would initiate them into the sacred practices. Now, in this modern time, these practices are freely available to anyone who would like to learn. In every country of the world these practices have become freely available. Many common people, without years of arduous preliminary practices, may learn these spiritual techniques for the transformation of consciousness. Do you know why this is, why they are given so freely at this time? They are given freely at this time because the world is changing. There is a great transformation occurring which is affecting human consciousness. Human beings are becoming more and more sentient, more and more involved with cognitive function, with conceptual functions, and less and less with physicality. The minds of human beings are getting more complex.

Now you may say this is not beneficial, all this means is that the intellect has grown and the person has so many problems, this is a problem, that is a problem, oh my, it is so complex. This may be true on the surface, but in fact this complexity means that the mind has greater development, greater involvement. The mind of an individual who has this mental complexity, this intellectual development, the actual mental faculty grows in magnitude as opposed to the physical faculty and this growth in magnitude of the mental faculty allows an individual greater and greater access to more subtle conceptual notions. Thus, the world is more suited for understanding of subtle conceptual practices and the science of Yoga is now available for any and all who would like to learn. It is no longer only for the few, it is for the many. And I think that the time will come when many of the concepts being introduced at this time will seem natural to human beings. They will be an ordinary part of the daily life and the conceptual understanding of ordinary people. The world is changing and with that change, there come many changes in the lives of human beings. The time is right for the practice of Yoga, for the union of the little and the Great.

So, if you want to explore the possibilities and potentialities of your mind, you take upon yourself a spiritual discipline. You get proper instruction and you go forward to become all that you can be. You experiment in the laboratory of your own mind, you perform the experiment thus, and you get the results.