Raja Yoga- 4

Session 7 (24.02.2009) and Session 8 (26.02.2009)

These were the last 2 sessions of the course. The main thrust and core discussion again was on God and the Time- cycle. These sessions were more or less a continuation of the last 2 sessions (http://adhvaitha.blogspot.com/2009/02/raja-yoga-3.html).

A lot of questions were asked by the participants to get more clarity on the different ages of time-cycle, re-birth, capacity and purity of soul. It was a quite complex discussion, but I felt Paramjit tried his best to make us all understand the concept of birth and re-birth of each soul and the different ages. In the end we all did a role-play of the 'time cycle and souls'.

The points I think that were clarified included:

• There is a continuous stream of souls coming to the physical world.
  
• All the souls are pure, but differ in capacity
• Souls come to the physical world pure and goes back into soul world (at confluence age) pure
• Souls who have a higher capacity and/ or purest of the pure come early ie they come in the Golden age/ Silver age
• A soul in the Golden age will have born, many times more than ones in the silver age and this process is continuing into Copper and Iron age (present)
• The less purer souls (not impure) with a lesser capacity may experience only few/ even a single birth in the Iron age
• The Purity of the souls is inversely proportional to the population of the physical world.

Paramjit also introduced the concept of 'Tree of humanity'.

• The seed of humanity, of the human family, is the Supreme Soul(God)
• The trunk of the tree symbolises the era of Golden and Silver age
• The closeness of the trunk to the seed/ root symbolizes how souls at that time embody God’s qualities. Such souls are revered as ‘gods’ and ‘goddesses’ ('Divine' beings)
• As a tree grows, its trunk expands in size and many branches and leaves are formed. New leaves signifies new souls and the population increases.
• In the copper age and later Iron age, prophet souls like Abraham, Sri-Buddha, Jesus Christ, Muhammad, Shankaracharya, Guru Nanak and so on starts appearing as people became more body conscious . New branches and sub branches signifies new religions (in Copper age) and later sects/ cults (in Iron age) respectively.
• Each Religion creates their own branch and brings with them their own followers from the Infinite Light, until they too decline and splits into many branches and sub-branches. Each branch thinks that they are the real tree...

We have three teachers in life

1. Knowledge (application of this knowledge is Wisdom)- Best way
2. Learning from experiences/ mistakes- Second best way
3. Time- It might be too late as we may reached the point of no-return.

For a Soul to come to this world- needs a physical body; so the supreme soul also needs a physical body to come to earth. The supreme soul comes to the earth in the physical being who has the most pure and highest capacity soul. This would happen (according to Paramjit, already happened)in the most spiritual place on Earth ie Bharat (India). Paramjit tells that this person is called 'Shivababa' through whom God speaks the knowledge (the easiest way to be awakened and become 'soul conscious')


Summary:

It has been a wonderful journey for me so far. Did I learn anything knew? Yes, Of course a lot of things. I think this course has helped me in understanding more about our 'true self'. The concept of 'Mind- Intellect- Sanskara' is an effective way of having control over your thoughts and subsequently your actions with the 'intellect' acting as a 'filter'.

The understanding that 80% of your thoughts are those where you do not have any control over ( ie waste thoughts) is indeed an efficient way to express positive feelings and improve concentration. It also helps when we imagine that everyone including ourselves are playing a role, when we are interacting with people in different situations.

This form of Meditation is helpful in imagining that we are 'a point of light' (soul) and could be practiced at any time, anywhere and in any position that you feel comfortable. It doesn't require any formal way of preparation other than becoming soul conscious and practicing it regularly.

I have re-discovered that I could just close my eyes and go into a 'state of meditation' when ever, I want to. Even when Iam traveling in a busy train or at a crowded place or when going to bed or waking up from sleep or just even when Iam engaged in something I could take a minute or few minutes out, imagine the positive thoughts and feel the positive energy.

The first four sessions ie being a self sovereign, awareness of body and soul, the three levels of consciousness and Karma were quite a reiteration of many aspects that we already knew or are aware through one source or other. I would say that this was the best part of the course, that were simple to understand and comprehend.

The second half ie sessions on God, Time cycle and Tree of humanity were more complex, challenging and at times difficult to grasp. The concept of space, time, infinity etc is always going to be difficult to explain and understand in such a short period of time. But I felt Paramjit has done and doing a great service by taking such sessions and explaining this version of 'Raja-Yoga' in a simple, clear and most importantly, a practical manner. Om Shanthi......

Raja Yoga- 3

First and Second Session: http://adhvaitha.blogspot.com/2009/02/raja-yoga.html
Third and Fourth Session:http://adhvaitha.blogspot.com/2009/02/raja-yoga-2.html

Fifth Session 17.02.2009

Today Paramjit introduced the concept of God, which is the third way to settle ones Karma ie Remembrance and constant awareness of God

He first asked "who are your parents?" . If the question is asked to Sheep, it would say 'sheep'; an elephant will say 'elephant' etc similarly a human being (in 'body consciousness') would say its a Human or a 'Soul Conscious Being' would say its a soul and its the 'Supreme soul' (or Paramatma)

He/ she is known by different names like Prabhu, Ishwar, Jehovah, Allah, Bhagawan, Shiva, Jesus etc
His / her qualities include Oceans of love, purity, peace, happiness, mercy, bliss etc....
His /her roles include father, mother, friend, companion, brother, satguru, teacher etc
His/ her home is the 'Land of peace' or the 'incorporeal world' (Nirakar)
We communicate with God through our thoughts(ie Raja Yoga)

He gave the example of the first name JOHN who is known differently, but is all the same name

e.g: John (Leicester)
Sean (Ireland)
Juan(Spain)
Jean (France)
Johan (Holland)
Johann(Sweden)
Ian (Scotland)

(BTW in Malayalam he is known as Yohanaan)...

Similarly, Saint Nicholas (UK) is known as Santa Claus(US) or Father Christmas...Likewise God is known by many names like Prabhu, Ishwar, Jehovah, Allah, Bhagawan, Shiva, Jesus etc

A 'Guru' is a person who leads us from Darkness ('gu') to enlightenment('ru'); Satguru is a true guru.

I note that there is no equivalent word or term for Guru in English (like a lot of Sanskrit words). I am always wonder-struck by this divine language. The more I learn Sanskrit the more I feel the power in each word, each sentence, each hymn. I also felt the positive vibes with each pronunciation and one needs a proper Guru to understand this better. I should write on Sanskrit language (and Samskrita Bharati) soon in a separate blog.

God has infinite love, unlimited, ocean of love,peace, bliss. He/ she is beyond defamation, beyond praise. He/ she is the creator, sustainer and the destroyer. One point here I was not in complete agreement with Paramjit was when he said 'God is not Omnipresent'. Paramjit says God is present only in the incorporeal world. ie a non-physical world. God cannot be a human being because human beings have to go through the cycle of life and death where as god doesn't. Paramjit says this is one of the differences between a soul and a supreme soul.

Like an insulated electric wire,the 'insulation' of body conscious has to be removed to become soul conscious. Switching of TV doesn't stop transmission...so when we become soul-conscious we are able to recognise the overflowing love and bliss transmitted continuously by god. God never give sorrow, but always pass on happiness. When you remember god, you come to have 'god like qualities'. Its always a 2 way communication..experiencing all his love.

Paramjit then mentions the story of a person who believes that God would protect him all the time ie having cent percent or more faith. Once there was severe flood. This person believed that god would come for his help and so did not accept any other help. The water levels were rising. A pedestrian passing by said, "hey come on..the water is rising". This person replied, No.

As the ground floor flooded he went to first floor. After some time a 'boat' came and offered help. he denied it. Later he went to the roof and then a helicopter came to his help, but he did not accept help. later he drowned and reached heaven. He asked God why was he not helped during floods and allowed to drown. God replied " What I cannot understand is that I first send the pedestrian, then the boat and later the helicopter, But why didn't you accept any help?"!!

Realising and remembering God is like a spiritual lottery; do not beg....take it from God. We have a right over god ..he is always giving..'am I taking' is the question.....This power from god enables Karma; settles Karma with out suffering

People who are ignorant, disobeys God like Adam and eve, Pandora's Box, Sita crossing the 'Lakshman rekha' etc...No human being can be god...God is beyond the cycle of birth and death
and this seems to be the main difference between from humans.

Sixth Session (19.02.2009)

Today's topic was on TIME.

"Time don't control me, I control time".

In western concept time is linear. however, in the east time is cyclic..like the 'rain cycle'. ie the cycle of clouds-rain-water-streams-river-sea-evaporation-water vapour-clouds-rain etc.

When the water come down to earth as rain drops they are pure and clean. But they take the external dirt while flowing through river, sea etc and later when it become vapour and rain again, it become pure. Like wise every soul is pure, but have different capacity. Similar to electric bulbs(20w, 40w, 60w ore 100w) or a beaker with 1l, 2l, 5l, 100l capacity or a runner who can run a Marathon(26 miles) or a half-marathon, or some one who can run 5milesor 1mile, each soul has a capacity.

From the 'soul world' there is a constant drop of souls to earth( which enter a human body) like rain drops. Each quarter in this time cycle are called

Golden age
Silver age
Copper age
Iron age

There is a small gap between the iron age and next Golden age called the 'Confluence age'. The Golden age(like 'heaven') and Silver age (like 'semi-heaven') are ages when people were 'Soul Conscious'. In this half, ones actions are neutral.

In Copper age and Iron age (like 'hell') humans are 'Body Conscious'. During this second half (ie during the start of Copper age) 'religions' came (like Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity , Islam etc). Life span starts getting shorter and shorter as time progresses through the ages , population increases. The purity of souls decreases. In Iron age as Iron gets rusted quickly (unlike gold) people are also rusted with impure thoughts and actions.

God intervenes in the confluence age and takes them back to the soul world. Paramjit stopped this session by asking to think about four questions, which he would discuss in the last two sessions:

1. How does God intervene?
2. Who would know this is God?
3. Where
4. When this will happen?

A few questions were asked by the participants. There were a couple of people who joined at this session. They asked questions on God/ Time etc.

Summary so far: The concept of God and Time were introduced in the last 2 sessions. Interesting topics, explained with a lot of examples. I very much enjoyed the initial four sessions on being a self-sovereign, being soul conscious and Karma. However, I felt that the concept of Time and to some extent God, were a little more complex and a bit confusing.May be with time, the concept of time could be understood better.

Raja Yoga- 2

First and Second session: http://adhvaitha.blogspot.com/2009/02/raja-yoga.html

Third Session (10.2.09)

Soul is a point of light which has three different levels of energy/ consciousness

1. Mind (Conscious)
2. Intellect (Conscience)
3. Sanskaras( Sub-conscious)

Mind creates a thought and then experiences the thought; The intellect acts like a filter, it analyses the experiences and thoughts and finally the action is made. This creates an imprint on our soul and this is called Sanskaras (or sub-conscious mind), that determine our personal traits.

Paramjit explained this by an example of smoking addiction. How we first generate the thought of smoking due to various reasons (trail or peer pressure or other reasons), then we act and later we act with out intellect and thus it becomes a habit/ addiction. Its a vicious cycle. In order to break this habit or stop the addiction we need to use our intellect to filter out the urge to act sub-consciously. Therefore the key to stop or quit an addiction or habit is to awaken your intellect.

When one is 'body conscious' ones intellect is sleeping and when one is 'soul conscious' our intellect is awake. Remember the most important aspect of Raja Yoga meditation is to consistently making our intellect stronger and thereby strengthening our conscience.

Paramjit also emphasised on speaking less and listening more that is a key communication skill. So speak less, speak softly and speak sweetly.

Fourth Session (12.02.2009)

Today's session was on Law of Karma.

Paramjit explained to us Karma ie 'the law of cause and effect'. As Laws in physics state there is an equal and opposite reaction to every action; in Spiritual terms this is "To what ever I give, I get back an equal amount".

The types of Action:

1. Positive
2. Negative
3. Neutral

A positive action would be to help others, to serve, to smile etc. A negative action is hatred, be angry, to hit etc and a neutral action is like "Iam going to write an article"...Now what you write can be a positive action or a negative action depending on the content.

There are 2 important aspects in Action

• Actions are determined by intentions
• Intentions are based on Awareness

What determines the action is not the 'act' itself, its the intention behind the action.. Both the Murderer and a Surgeon have a knife in hand to 'rip' open the body......but ones intention is to take life and others is to save life...

Similarly Paramjit gave the scenario of a recent charity dinner where one person comes forward and when every one looks on writes a hefty sum on a cheque and hand it over to the lord mayor. He gets a great applause. Another person meanwhile walks quietly along the side of the auditorium, writes a similar amount and drops it anonymously. No body notices this action. Both the persons were giving the same amount...so the action is the same, but the intention is different. Both had opened a 'karmic account'. The first one had settled it then and there itself, when he gets the applause, instant popularity and probably a television interview. For the second person he has now got a 'credit' in his/ her 'karmic account'.

In the cycle of "Past- Present- Future", the vital part is present. The present is 'the gift'. Make good use of present. Do positive action with good intention, unconditionally. Your past(or past karmas) cannot be changed and future (according to the law of karma) is based on present and past actions. So do good action altruistically in the present.

There are 3 ways to settle karma
1. Suffering
2. Good action
3. Is possibly the easiest way(?), which Paramjit promised to explore in the next session

A few more quotes from today

"Be simple and be a sample"
"Never give sorrow, never take sorrow"

We are half way through the course. It has been a fascinating journey so far and re-discovering ourselves. I must conclude that Paramjit is doing a great service to the society. om shanthi............

Raja Yoga- 1

Tonight we went for the second session of Raja Yoga at Peepul centre. This is the 8 session (4 week course ie twice per week; Tuesday and Thursday) meditation course organised by Brahma Kumaris of Leicester. The course is free and helps people look 'into' themselves, to attain peace and happiness what ever the situation is. I first went for this course in 2006 (though I did not finish the course at that time); this time I hope I would be able to complete all the eight sessions.

Meditation is the process of re-discovering, remembering and using the positive qualities already dormant with in our selves. From dormant to dominant...

Paramjit (who delivers the course) said that Raja-yoga has 'no single magical solution' to everyone's problems; It gives us the tool to work out our problems and find solutions or happiness. He reminded to constantly say "Iam a peaceful being" ie Om Shanthi....

First session (Tuesday- 03.02.09)

The aim of the course is to become self-sovereign ie become a master of yourself, your mind. Yoga means Connection/ Link/ Union ie a link between you and your mind.

The most important message from last session is about MIND. Mind is a non physical organ- A subtle energy.

In the mind, we first generate a thought, then we visualise these thoughts, analyse these thoughts, process them, remember other similar thoughts, imagine thoughts and take a decision.We are the creator of thoughts and we experience the thought. Every thought is energy. Thoughts determine how we feel.

There are four types of thoughts:

• Positive
• Negative
• Waste
• Planning

The positive thoughts are peace, happiness, hope, smile, wisdom, truth, freedom, self-respect, co-operation, love unity etc. Positive thoughts are constructive and makes you and people around you better. You have a positive aura or a connotation around you. Your face shows that and other people can feel the positive energy radiating from you; (every thought is 'energy') therefore positive thoughts generate positive energy. Keep on smiling with positive thoughts..Remember, Face is the index of mind..

Negative thoughts are anger, jealousy, frustration, sadness, hatred, lies etc. These are destructive and creates a negative connotation for you and people around you. Mind is like a rubbish bin. If we fill it with anger/ things of past it will generate more stress and bad odour. Remember, Anger is one letter ('D') short of DANGER

Waste thoughts are thoughts that often revolve around the past which we cannot change and do not have any control over. The vast majority (more than 80%) of our thoughts are 'waste' thoughts.

Planning thoughts are Neutral thoughts. Planning thoughts are acted upon creation eg washing face, putting on shirt etc, but do not emotionally affect us ie they do not have a positive or negative connotation associated.

There is no guarantee or certainty what will happen tomorrow or even next second. When you go to bed there is no guarantee that we will wake up tomorrow and every day we wake up, be happy and feel that we have a great day ahead of us, filled with all optimism and happiness. This also doesn't mean that we shouldn't plan anything; there should be a general planning, but not probably the finer aspects..that's all in the hands of someone/something else and this is not in our control.Yesterday is History; Tomorrow is mystery; and Today is ' the present' ie what you have. so enjoy it, be happy.

What we say, what we do and what we feel all have their origin in mind. The energy of the human mind is thought.The first and foremost step in Rajayoga is to recognise your thoughts. Try to have positive thoughts ie you are challenging yourself the way you think; between you and your mind. When one fully understand and harness it, one is able to master ones life and produce thoughts which give the most happiness and peace.

Second Session (Thursday 05.02.09)

The aim of todays session is to realise the true identity of self.

Who are you? Paramjit asked

One said 'Iam David'
Another said 'Iam a Human being'
Some one else said 'Iam a divine light inside'
Another person said 'Iam a Personality' (interesting to note that 'Persona' means Mask)
Another opinion was " Iam playing a role" ie a wife/ mother/ daughter etc

So is that a difficult question? Simple question but difficult to answer.
Who Am I? What is my true identity
The answer is Iam not 'this body', but Iam the soul/ spirit

The whole idea of this session is to change from " Body Consciousness" to "Soul Consciousness". when we are in the 'body conscious state' like majority of us are we are attached to conditions ie everything is based on the role we have. The whole happiness is on being the role/ external things..... like attachment to a person ie role of a father/ mother/ sister/ brother or Identifying ourselves with the qualification/ creation/ your new car etc.

When some one is in "Soul Consciousness" everything will be unconditional.. so it will be GIVING and not TAKING as in 'Body conscious' state......

Everything in the world will change. Our body/ cells are replaced regularly and we are not 'our body' a few years ago. Cells are constantly being removed and replenished. The only thing that doesn't change is CHANGE itself. According to laws in physics, Energy cannot be created nor destroyed and so Soul is eternal (but body will change)

Paramjit said about the example of a Surgeon at the hospital. A Surgeon when he operates on some one asks to bring in 'the patient' and if unfortunately the patient dies asks to take out 'the body' illustrating the point of soul and body. Understanding that you are soul being and not body being can be relatively easy, but to realise or experience that 'truth' may take time.