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.