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Q & A

Questions and Answers on spiritual life

What is a Worthy Spiritual Teacher Like?

A selection on the Spiritual Teacher, from Perspectives on Yoga, a new book to be published later this year.

Spiritual Teacher - a hand upIn the Srimad Bhagavatam (11.7.33-35) the first human guru, Sri Dattatreya, describes how he had twenty-four gurus, including elements, planets, animals, insects and human beings. A guru is something or someone which gives us a push in the direction of higher consciousness, which teaches us to see farther and deeper than we have before.

Sometimes a book does this, and sometimes a single word spoken by someone who had no idea it would have that effect on another person. And for those of great good karma it is possible to meet a great soul who can lift them to a higher level of awareness by various means, including their mere presence.

But some impetus to awakening is necessary for all of us. Of course, that awakening ultimately comes from within, but since we are so outward-turned it almost always requires an external stimulus of some sort.

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A true and worthy guru or teacher (acharya) will freely teach anyone who is sincere and willing to follow instruction. He will care nothing about their background or their past.

A mentally disturbed man tried to kill Swami Sivananda, who forgave him and asked him to live in the ashram and do sadhana.

Gondawali Baba (Sri Brahma Chaitanya)A man was hired by jealous Brahmin pandits to poison Sri Brahma Chaitanya of Gondawali because of his open attitudes and ways. Knowing that if he refused the offered poison the man’s intention to kill him would be revealed and he would be punished, Sri Brahma Chaitanya took the poison and swallowed it. Seeing this, the man fled in terror. By his yoga powers the saint did not die, but he developed chronic asthma.

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A worthy teacher can help anyone who wishes to change, for the divine Self is within all, and the moment anyone desires higher life he is ready and able for it. In the lives of great yogis we find examples of every kind of degradation being dispelled by their merciful teaching. What value would they be if this was not the case? The principle is that those who have dug themselves into a hole can climb out if they have a competent teacher. This is true for all. The sole factor is their intention and will.

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Lahiri Mahasaya: His Advice About Sannyasa

Lahiri Mahasaya on Renunciation - Sannyasa

Q: I have read that Lahiri Mahasaya said no one should become a sannyasi. Is that true? If so, why did he say it?

Lahiri Mahasaya told his disciples that they should never become a Dasanami Sannyasi–a member of the Swami Order of Shankaracharya. The reason was purely yogic.

To become a member of that order, a ritual known as the Viraja Homa is performed. It is not a symbol, but a powerful ritual that alters the subtle bodies and karma of the person. Its purpose is to break all ties with this world. It transmutes the person’s worldly karma into spiritual karma.

This sounds very desirable, but if the person was mistaken in taking up sannyas and finds himself unable to continue it, his subsequent life will be chaotic and miserable because he has no positive karmic store on which to draw. He will be a failure in both his social and personal life, adrift like a broken cloud in the sky. A terrible fate!

But what has been done cannot be undone in the sense that there is no reversing of the effect of the Viraja Homa. At the same time, what has been undone cannot be done–that is, the karma that was wiped out cannot be restored. Practically speaking, there is no place for such a person in this world.

The tradition of sannyasa

The Shankara Order is very modern in the annals of Sanatana Dharma and India. The dharma shastras describe the way sannyas should be taken. It was done solely by the will of the individual. Though it might be preceded by a final performance of the daily rituals of a Sanatana Dharmi, the real sannyas was the simple declaration of intention to leave (or never enter) the householder life and departure for the forest and lifelong tapasya (sadhana). In modern times this was done by the renowned Swami (“Papa”) Ramdas of Anandashram. He simply had some cloth dyed gerrua, put it on and declared that from thenceforth his name was Ramdas, and walked out of his house never to return.

Sri RamakrishnaSri Ramakrishna’s story

Sri Ramakrishna told a story about true sannyas. One day a man found his wife very depressed. When asked why she was so sad, she told him that she was about to lose her brother who was married; that he was going to become a sannyasi. “How do you know he’s going to become a sannyasi?” asked her husband. “Because he is carefully setting all his affairs in order, getting everything all straightened out and arranging things so he can take up the monastic life” was the reply.

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6 Questions That Puzzle Spiritual Seekers

spiritual seekers questions

Over the years spiritual seekers have sent questions to Abbot George, from the mundane to the philosophical to the practical aspects of living a spiritual life. This recent selection of questions and answers is shorter than some, so we will share them with you in a single blog post. You can read a wide selection of these previously printed in Satsang with the Abbot: Questions and Answers About Life, Spiritual Liberty and the Pursuit of Ultimate Happiness, which is available at Amazon.com.

1. To someone who wrote about the correct attitude to adopt toward others when interacting with them, especially those with whom the yogi has a close personal relationship.

In all relationships with other human beings we are to see the divine Self in them and realize that ultimately we are relating to the Divine Itself. The moment we think someone is “ours” ego is present and problematic. That is why sadhana is so necessary to keep our minds in the correct perspective.

2. To someone who asked about Khechari Mudra.

The khechari mudra most people talk about is solely a hatha yoga method, and a foolish and dangerous one at that. Those who “fail” to do it are fortunate.

The mudras of the yogis are solely positions of the eyes. The khechari mudra of the yogis is a spontaneous turning upward of the eyes in meditation that occurs naturally when it should. To do it deliberately is to interfere with the meditation process.

In Soham sadhana this happens naturally and can come and go during a single meditation period according to how the pranas are moving spontaneously. It happens when the sushumna is activated and the process of meditation becomes centered there. Some yogic texts speak of it as occurring when the japa of Soham enters–begins to take place in–the sushumna. Then the yogi truly is a “sky walker,” which is what “khechari” means. He “flies” in the Sky of Consciousness, the Chidakasha in the Sahasrara.

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Raja Yoga: What Is True and What is False

raja yoga header

To someone who inquired about the nature of authentic Raja Yoga.

Raja Yoga is the science of Prana, the breath being the main yogic instrument for its accomplishment. It is much more than controlling or refining the breath (for real pranayama is refinement, not control), it is the Way of Unity.

Raja Yoga both leads to and is the experience of unity with the Self and Brahman. Total unity is its only goal. This is important to recognize, because Raja Yoga involves mastery of our inner and outer life, which inevitably involves the emergence of inner powers which can easily be wasted or misapplied.

Raja Yoga and yoga powers (siddhis)

It is pointless to tell a yogi to “shun the yoga powers” any more than it would be to tell a child to avoid adulthood. Certainly, an adult is subject to many more delusions and addictions than a child, and certainly has the ability to work much more harm to himself and others. Nevertheless, adulthood is inevitable.

And so it is with the yogi: these powers will manifest in him. If he keeps his eye upon the goal of liberation in Brahman, those powers will ripen into something more, into spiritual realizations, much the same way that sexual energies conserved are transmuted into far higher and greater forces within the consciousness of the yogi.

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