Month: September 2020

Compassion

Posted on by ahymsin

Before he took Saṃnyāsa Swami Veda Bharati, when he was known as Pandit Usharbudh Arya, gave a lecture entitled – “Practical Spiritual Attitudes” (1980).

The Sanskrit word for compassion is karuṇā,1 which implies doing something.

Compassion is not a passive quality or a passive attitude, but an attitude that implies some act. Compassion is not pity, which comes from a superiority complex. Compassion is not sympathy. In sympathy, you see someone crying – you also cry; in compassion, when you see someone crying, you give him your joy. In sympathy, you take someone’s sorrow; in compassion you give someone your joy. The great beings, the incarnate beings, the great avataras (the Buddhas and the Christs) and the masters are not sympathetic beings, but compassionate beings. As I said, the word karuṇā implies doing something. When they feel that compassion, they go out and do something to remove that suffering.

In yoga philosophy there is a word for the Four Right Attitudes that one is asked to cultivate. And in the Yoga-sutras of Patāñjali, which is the bible of the yogis, these Four Right Attitudes are described.2 One must cultivate the Four Right Attitudes. There are called, in Sanskrit: maitrī, karuṇā, muditā and upekṣhā.

Maitrī: friendship and love towards those who are happy.
Karuṇā: compassion to those who are in any kind of suffering.
Muditā: joyfulness, happiness, a feeling of gratification, to see others being virtuous and making spiritual progress; to feel joyful at seeing someone do an act of love, an act of compassion, devote oneself to higher principles, see someone moving towards the sublime.
Upekṣhā: indifference towards evil, much in the same sense that Jesus said, “Resist ye not evil.”3

These are the Four Right Attitudes that are enjoined upon us to cultivate, to develop. The collective title for these four attitudes in Sanskrit is Brahma-vihāra, which means “frolicking in God.”

There are all kinds of questions one can raise about the quality and attitude of compassion. People say, “Well, I just don’t want to suffer. If somebody suffers, that his problem. We see [nowadays], more and more, of this attitude articulated and practiced. “I don’t want to get involved.” “I don’t want to be bothered.” “I don’t want to intrude.” “It’s too much trouble.” You’re living in an apartment, and someone picks up a child in anger and smashes him against the wall. You hear it happening and do nothing. “It’s not my business,” you say. “I do my morning meditations.” Excuse me, but to hell with that meditation if it teaches you such a withdrawal; it is of no consequence – it’s a sickness.

Compassion is a quality that we cultivate constantly. It requires initially taking trouble, but later, on it doubles your joy. Anyone who has practiced compassion and has done those acts of compassion has a far greater feeling of gratification than one who just sits by and watches the world suffer.

Compassion may be understood on two different levels. One is the level in which you understand and share ordinary human suffering. That human suffering can be of many kinds. Someone is hungry. You know what hunger is like, so you help. Even if you don’t know what hunger is like, you help – someone like Mother Teresa of Calcutta and so on. And the compassionate beings have the subtlest and the most permanent kind of joy in life – because that joy is not dependent on somebody coming and giving you something which is not in your hands, but a joy in which you go out and give somebody else something. In the first kind of joy that people derive from people coming and giving you something, you are not free; there is no freedom – you are dependent on somebody else’s whim. You keep expecting, and you keep getting frustrated. Well, that is one way of deriving joy – sitting there waiting for someone to give you something. It’s a hit-and-miss thing. You never know if you’re going to get it or you’re not going to get it. There’s nothing certain about it, and you sit there on tinder hooks just waiting: “Will he?” “Will he not?” “Will she?” “Will she not?” If he doesn’t, if she doesn’t, you’re down in the dumps.

But then, you have the other kind of joy in which you’re not dependent on anybody. You go out and give, and by that fact you derive a joy, you derive a satisfaction, you derive a gratification. That is the joy of freedom – irrespective on any response, irrespective of any thanks, irrespective of any gratitude.

I was saying that on the human level there are many different kinds of suffering towards which you exhibit and practice compassion: Ordinary physical suffering, which is quite manifest. There are many hungry, and many sick, and many orphans. But there is compassion towards another kind of suffering, which is very difficult to practice – and that compassion is towards what in the Yoga philosophy is called the kleśhas. The word kleśha refers to a pain of mind which is synonymous with an impurity of mind, a stain in the mind. We all have stained minds – stained with pride, stained with egotistical thoughts, stained with selfishness, stained with cruelty, viciousness and malice, gossip, stained with anger. It is very easy to satisfy the hunger of a hungry man out of compassion. It is very difficult to pacify the anger of an angry man out of compassion – because our ordinary response to anger is always anger.

We must understand that these kleśhas – the pains and stains of the mind as synonymous – the things that you call evil or sinful, or unvirtuous or unmeritorious, or antisocial – take whatever terminology you like; the labels don’t matter – whether it’s a “sin” or an “antisocial behavior,” it amounts to the same thing – or whether it’s a “psychological disturbance,” it’s the same thing.

So, to consider someone’s anger also to be a pain and to treat it in the same way in which you would treat somebody’s hunger is very difficult. A hungry man cries and shouts at you to have you satisfy his hunger. We do not realize that the angry man cries and shouts at you, not that you may shout back, but just as Jesus said, “Which of you, if your son asked for bread, would give him a stone to eat.”4 If you meet someone who is angry, would you give him pacification, or would you give him more anger? Treat an angry man the same way in which you would treat a hungry man. That is called compassion.

To learn the art of pacifying someone’s anger is compassion. Hunger cries for bread. Anger cries for soothing. Most of us have a gross sense of compassion: to give bread to the hungry. But we don’t have the finer sense of compassion: to give soothing to the angry. Because anger, too, is a pain of mind.

So, this subtler compassion we often fail to develop. Some would like to consider forgiveness as a part of this compassion, but “compassion,” I believe, is a much wider, more all-embracing term. As you refine you own mind, your perception of other people’s painful behavior changes. Your perception of their destructive behavior changes, and then you act out of compassion, not to change someone’s behavior, but to change the feeling, to change the sentiment, to replace their sentiment with a more positive sentiment.

This is on a human level. But when we come to the level of the great masters, the incarnate beings, the spirit beings, the celestial beings, the angelic beings, the great masters – Jesus and the Christs and the Buddhas of the world – then we have an even more enhanced view of compassion.

There is a figure in Tibetan Buddhism. One of the five major Buddhas or the enlightened figures that they honor and venerate, is called Avalokiteśhvara. Avalokiteśhvara simply means “the Lord looking down.” Not looking down upon us, but looking down at us in compassion. It is very much like the figure of a mother standing over the crib of a sick child who is asleep. The great beings, of whose existence we are hardly aware of – in the same way that a sick infant who is sleeping is not aware of the mother’s existence, whom we hardly ever give thought to except when we want to get picked up and nursed on a breast – yet they stand there and often reach down to help.

There is a vow that a Bodhisattva has to take. The word bodhisattva means “a potential Buddha, a potential Christlike being, someone who has taken the vow to reach that goal of enlightenment at the end of his journey. And the moment a person rises to that status, he takes a special vow. Ordinarily we are all going on in the world, but there comes a time when we come what the Buddhists call the sotāpanna, “the stream-entered ones”5 – that we have entered the main stream of spirituality and have started flowing with the current of the divine will. But you have to flow a long way before your mind is truly made up – truly made up! It doesn’t mean that you say, “Yeah, yeah! That’s what I would like to do. Yeah, I think I’ll try it for the next six weeks” and you give up in six days. No, when your mind is truly made up, you have made your decision for life, after life, after life – not just for the next one year. Not for just three years. Not just for the duration of your stay in Minneapolis because there is a nice center here. “Oh, I’m sorry, I fell away from doing my practices because I moved out of Minneapolis.” No, none of that. “I have a job offer. It is very lucrative, Dr. Arya, but I’m afraid to move from here because there’s a nice center here and it keeps me inspired.” I appreciate that appreciation of the Center but, my friend, it’s a weakness. Be self-inspired. Wherever you are – in the middle of a desert. So, not that kind of a decision, but a decision that you know will continue – you may accept reincarnation or not, but from my point of view – from incarnation to incarnation to incarnation, until my goal of enlightenment is reached. At that point he becomes a potential Buddha, there’s no turning back, he takes a vow.

“When I take this vow, I declare to all the past Buddhas, to all those who have become enlightened, and I declare to all the living beings in this universe – I shall not desist,
I shall not step back, I shall not be discouraged, I shall not break this promise and this declaration – even if my body is to be burned in a million fires – I shall not move from this path.”

And the vow of the Bodhisattva is:

“I shall work for the removal of pain from all living beings. The purpose of my enlightenment is to come to the place where I have the power, the strength, the capacity, to remove their pain, to take their pain upon myself — that I shall not enter the final Nirvana, the ultimate abode joy or whatever, till all the living beings have been liberated from their ignorance and from their pain.”

This is the Vow of a Bodhisattva, the vow of a potential Buddha. And it is for this reason, it is said, that they continue to come back, continue to be reborn, continue to incarnate – or leave their Himalayan abodes and come down into the world, and help and guide, irrespective of whether we respect them or wish them to perish. This is called compassion.

There are all kinds of stories of compassion. And I’m just going to tell you one story of compassion at all the different little levels. There is compassion at ordinary human levels, which many of us are capable of practicing. A mother practices that compassion towards an infant. And if you were to go to a planet – to a “brave new world,” as per Aldous Huxley,6 where babies are incubated, it would be unbelievable for the people there to experience, to believe, to accept, to understand, to grasp, to comprehend even the slightest idea of what “mother” is. So, also, for us – it is incomprehensible as to what a master is! Because we, too, are living in a “brave new world” where such compassion is not experienced.

It is a kind of compassion which gives a blessing even to an assassin. There is a story of a great swami who was born in the last century. He was a great reformer and, as you know, reformers are never popular in at least some segments of society. He was a compassionate person, but very critical of the ills of the society that he was trying to reform. And, you know, the vested interests always try to do something to you to stop you. If they can’t buy you, then they threaten you, and if the threat doesn’t work, they actually carry out the threat. So, finally they bribed his cook, who poisoned the swami, to get rid of him. You see, the orthodox never understand that reforms cannot be kept back by assassination. The oppressors never understand that the people will rise irrespective of any oppression you visit on them. The conquerors never understand that the conquests are all futile. So, the reforms that that swami instituted really raised his country out of a mire of what was regarded as the dark ages. But, anyway, at that moment, at that time, they managed to poison him, and there was no antidote. And he found out that it was his cook who had been bribed. He called his cook to him and said, “You have been found out, and my followers are going to be very unhappy with you. Now, you served me for many years. Here are bills of 500 rupees. Take them tonight and run and go get out of the country before the police catch you.”

The man is all in tears. Okay, so let’s say you don’t do this; you hand him to the police. What good does it do? What does it create? What does it do for you? And what does it do for him? But that moment, when the Swami takes out the 500 rupees and hands it to him and says, “Run,” all the repentance comes flowing out. The tears purify him – purifies him! The swami dies, and the cook went, and he was safe. You see, you cannot do such an act without a quality of compassion – that all the so-called evil acts in themselves are painful.

There is a story by the famous French author, Voltaire. I don’t recall it exactly as it was written, but the gist of the story is that there was at one time a thief, a rogue, a robber, a murderer who spent his whole life torturing people and destroying their lives, and killing and stealing and robbing. And upon his death, the messengers of the powers-that-be came, and the judgement was passed: “You go to hell!” “Have I not been enough of a hell already? Is there another hell now?” Do you follow. One who understands an evil act as a painful act is compassionate – and tries to pull the person out of his evil, tries to pull the person out of his spiritual failure and his psychological suffering.

Comment: It is the same thing with Christ when they were crucifying him, he said….

Yes, “Forgive them for they know not, they know not, what they do.”7 It is their ignorance, and the need to pull them out of their ignorance.

Question: Did Gandhi also bless the person who shot him?

Gandhi had no time to say anything. When he was shot, his mantra was “Ram,” and the mantra “Ram” came out of his mouth. When he was shot: “Ram! Ram!” and he could not say anything more. But I know that if he had any life left or words of power, he would have given forgiveness – no question about it. Most people do not know that the man who shot Gandhi, before doing so, bowed to him, because he, too, did it out of his own genuine conviction, but he respected the man. It’s a question of a whole long history of Indian national politics. I don’t need to go into that. It was a very bad time for that country. There was a question in the mind of the people between pacification and, you know, every country has its own problems, and you know – “We have all these enemies out there. And who is this man, practicing pacification when we should be strong and powerful and have a big army,” you know – and so on and so forth. “Teach them a lesson!” It’s the same everywhere.

I don’t know if I have ever told you the story of Rantideva. It’s a half mythological story of a very ancient king whose name was Rantideva.

King Rantideva had practiced love, compassion, charity all his life. If anyone came asking, he never refused. There was no blemish on his character. So when he died, the story goes, the messengers of heaven came and said, “Well, Rantideva, the king of paradise waits for you. Now let’s see, you have been almost perfect, but there have been one or two failures” – as is in the life of any human being – “there have been just one or two failures. And our orders are that when we take you to heaven from this earth, we have to take a detour so that you pass by outside the boundaries of hell — just pass by, outside the boundaries of hell, and then continue on to heaven.” He said, “Alright!”

So, King Rantideva is taken to heaven by way of hell, and as he reaches outside the boundaries of hell, he hears the cries of the denizens of hell – all in great pain and agony and suffering – all the infernal tortures. (They are described in Indian literature almost exactly as they are described by Dante; a thousand years ago, fifteen hundred years ago, two thousand years ago, they wrote the same exact thing.)

“King! Stay! Your reputation has come even all this way as a kind, compassionate, loving being. The very hot winds that flow out from hell, come and touch your merit-purified body and return as cool breezes. Just for a moment they reduce our agony. King, stay!”

So King Rantideva says to the messengers of heaven, “I cannot go with you. I have to stay. It has always been my vow to help, to take upon myself the suffering of others. You all agree that it is a good thing; otherwise you would not invite me, after my mortal death, to come to heaven. I must remain here. You can all go.”

“O King, you can’t do that. You are breaking all the laws of karma! The whole universe is one time. If the laws of karma are broken, everything goes topsy-turvy, and upside down. The sun will not rise in the right place tomorrow. All the orbits of the planets will be disturbed. Do you know what you are saying? Your karma is to come with us to heaven. We can’t let you stay here.”

The King says, “But my karma is to stay here and help these people. If my presence cools the breezes of hell, I must stay.”

“No, King, that’s not allowed. They are suffering for their bad acts. Come to paradise and enjoy your life there because of your good acts.”

“Is there nothing I can do?”

“No, King. I’m afraid not. No, your karma time is over. You don’t have a mortal body anymore to do those acts with.”

He says, “Well, if that is the case, I stand here and declare that all my good karma which entitles me to paradise, all the good karma that qualifies me for heaven, I hereby take, and with a great act of will and concentration, I hereby donate it to all the denizens of hell so that, through this good karma given to them, their miseries may be reduced – that, through the results of these good acts that I have conferred upon them, their miseries may be reduced, I hereby give. So, now I have no more good karma. I have given it all away. So, goodbye!”

The messengers of heaven said, “Do you know what you have done, King?”

“What? What have I done?”

“You don’t know what you have done?”

“No, I don’t. I have given my good karma away, so you have to go now. I don’t have any more good karma left.”

“No, by this act of charity you have doubled your good karma. Now come along. You have to stay in paradise twice as long.”

He said, “I do not seek kingdoms. I do not seek wealth or pleasures or even an empire extending over the entire universe. I do not seek even the termination of the cycles of reincarnation, nor do I seek paradise or liberation. Lord, if you were grant me a prayer, may the suffering of all living beings accrue to me so that they may be freed of their suffering.”

It’s a very ancient prayer.

One of the verses in India with which Hindus end their prayer liturgies in the churches is:

“May the wicked become good.
May the good attain peace.
May those at peace be liberated.
May the liberated ones liberate others.”

So, the purpose of our aspiration to enlightenment is to have the strength, the power, the capacity to carry greater responsibility. Because if you, yourself are in bondage and ignorance, you are no good to anybody. You will answer anger with anger, and you will keep on adding to the suffering of the world.

There is the story of a king who called his priest to him to read the scriptures.8 There is a tradition in India where priests are called to your home to read the scriptures, and sometimes these readings go on for a week, two weeks, months – a year! It would be like if you were to ask a priest to come to your home and read the whole Bible to your family and recite it to the neighbors from beginning to end. It’s done with great fanfare and song and ceremony and feasting and so forth.

Now the story about this particular text is that it was originally taught by a great sage to another king, way in the past. And it is said that by the time the sage finished teaching this scripture to the king, in seven days’ time, the king was liberated by listening to this scripture.

So now this king asks his priest to come and read him the scripture slowly, every day. And a week passes, two weeks pass, a month passes and two months pass. And then [the king] says to his priest, “But Sir, you read this scripture to me for two months, three months, six months, almost a year. And you have been saying, according to the scriptures, that when this was taught by the sage Vyasa to King Janamejaya, that within one week, King Janamejaya was liberated. Now, reverend Sir, you have to tell my why, when you read the scriptures to me for such a long time – much, much, much longer than the original one week – why am I not liberated?”

So, the priest said, “Well, King, you have to give me some time to think of an answer.”

“Alright! How much time do you want?”

“Well, how about three days?”

“Okay, you have three days. And if you don’t come up with an answer, off with your head!”

“So the priest goes home, and he doesn’t eat and he doesn’t drink, and when his wife asks him questions, he grunts. His children come and try to sit in his lap, and he brushes them off. “Something is bothering, poor Daddy?”

So, one day, two days pass, and on the third day his eldest daughter – who was yet a little child, but who was precocious in wisdom – really, really insists: “Father, Father, you’ve got to tell me! You’ve got to tell us! Come on, come on. Tell me, Daddy, what’s wrong? What’s bothering you?”

“You wouldn’t understand. You’re just a little child. Leave me alone.”

“No, no, Father. Tell me, tell me.”

So, the father tells her the story. “And this is what happened, and the King wants an answer by tomorrow morning. I can’t think of an answer to the King’s question, so when tomorrow comes, your mother is not going to have a husband, and you are not going to have a father.”

So, the girl says, “Father, take me to the king, will you?”

“Take you to the king?”

“Yes! I’ll tackle him.”

“How will you tackle him. Here I am, a great man, a learned priest, a wise man, a philosopher, the court philosopher of the country, and I can’t answer the question. And you’re going to answer the question?! Okay, tell me the answer.”

“No, no, no, I’m not telling you the answer.”

So, she insists, and the poor father, having no other resorts, takes his little girl along to the court. And the king sees the little child and picks her up and plays with the child, and so on and so forth. And then, after a little while, the child starts to cry, and king says, “What’s the matter?”

“Oh, I’m bored. I want to play an interesting game.”

The king says, “Yes?”

“But I don’t want to play my interesting game in front of all these courtiers here. Send them all away.”

“Alright! Court dismissed! Go on! Everybody go home – holiday!” And they start to go home.

“No, you have to save one or two persons – one person. Keep one person back.”

“Okay! What’s the game now?”

She says, “Well, I want you to stand over there by that post.”

The king says, “Alright.”

“And now I want to tie you around the post.”

Alright, so it’s a child’s play, you know. The king is game, and so he allows himself to be tied to the post. And so. he stands there tied, and he’s squirming.

“Now, have your courtier tie me to this other post.”

So, the child stands by the other post, and the courtier comes and ties the child around the post. And the child says, “Now send him away. Tell him to go home.”

So, the king says, “Okay, you go home.”

And now, both of them are standing there tied up. And after a few minutes, when the child is sure that the man who tied them up has really gone far, she starts squirming, and she starts crying, and she starts complaining. “Untie me, King! King! Untie me! Won’t you untie me, please/ These ropes are hurting me.”

The king says, “How can I untie you? I’m tied up myself.”

“You mean you can’t untie me while you yourself are tied up?”

“Well, no! Don’t you know, you silly child, what you have done?”

“That original sage, who taught that original scripture to that original king for seven days – the king was liberated because the teacher himself was a liberated being. My father is just an ordinary man. A philosopher he might be, but he isn’t liberated yet. So how can his reading a scripture to you, liberate you in seven days?”

So, you have to be above the ordinary pains in the world and have that wisdom, that freedom, that mastery before you can go out and really do true and high compassionate deeds in the world. In the meantime, you do what you can. You start your social service, and you give to charity, and you do your philanthropy, but remember that quite often they become acts of ego. Alright?

You start with the little compassion towards the hungry. Then you move on towards compassion towards the angry – a person’s mental suffering – and then you move on to the higher compassion, which includes the entire universe towards which you are compassionate.

Once upon a time in Hindu mythology, the king of paradise, named Indra, was sitting and enjoying himself with song and dance. And as he was sitting there on his throne, his glance fell down to this planet Earth, and he said, “My! Look where I am. And look at that hog in the mud down there – wallowing in mud.”

So King Indra, the king of paradise, sent prayer to the Lord, the Creator, and said, “Lord, why did you put me up here, and then put that hog down there to wallow in the mud? Why did you do that? What kind of existence is that down there? You are the creator of that?!”

And the Lord said, “My dear King Indra, where you are, you think you are enjoying some pleasures?”

India says, “Yes. Sure! It was very kind of you to put me here. I have a very happy life indeed.”

“So, would you like to leave these pleasures?”

“No!”

“You see, I want you to know that that hog, wallowing in the mud, is also enjoying his pleasure, and ask him if he wants to leave that mud.”

Indra says, “Who would want to wallow in that mud?”

“Alright, from this moment on, Indra, you are a hog. Go down there.”

And Indra, the King of Paradise, came tumbling down right into the same mud pool on Earth as the hog he saw, and now he’s a hog!

And he lies down. “Ah! This wonderful mud here!” And he wallows in the mud and enjoys himself, and he forgets that he is King of Paradise.

But the celestial sage, Narada, comes, and the Creator Lord whispers to him, “Look! You are Indra’s guru. Look what’s happening to him!”

The celestial sage, Narada, comes down to Earth and says, “Hey, Hog! I’ll make you a human being.”

The hog says, “What?! What kind of existence is that? You come down here and join me in the mud.”

“I’ll make you King of Paradise,” says Narada.

“Ugh! There’s nothing like this mud. Come on in!”

And so the great sage, the guru Narada, has to say all kinds of prayers for that hog’s soul.

And still, Indra the hog doesn’t want to be liberated. He struggles and he resists. “Who are you to try to take me away from this lovely, enjoyable mud pool? Look at this hot, sunny day. I’m having fun!

You see? But poor great sage Narada, out of his compassion, does everything possible – this is a long story cut short – and finally, willy-nilly, the hog is transformed back into his real station, sitting on his throne as Indra. And that other hog is still wallowing in mud.

So this is the ultimate compassion.

Editor’s Note

1 Quoting several commentators on the Yoga-sutras, Swami Veda has written: “Karuṇā compassion, is the desire to remove the pain of others as if it were one’s own, with the constant thought as to how their pain may be reduced or removed. This must be an unconditional sentiment toward friend or foe. This prevents the desire to hurt others and the pride that develops at seeing oneself comfortable while others are in suffering. When fully cultivated, this virtue of compassion wards off hatred (dveṣha).” (Yoga-sūtras of Patāñjali with the Exposition of Vyāsa: A Translation and Commentary, Volume I – Samādhi-pāda by Pandit Usharbudh Arya, D.Litt., p. 343.)

2 See Swami Veda’s commentary on Yoga-sutras I.33 — maitrī-karuṇā-muditopekṣhāṇāṁ sukha-duḥkha-puṇyāpuṇya-viṣhayāṇāṁ bhāvanātaśh chitta-prasādanam (“By cultivating and impressing into oneself the sentiments of amity and love, compassion, gladness and indifference with regard to those comfortable, those suffering, the virtuous and the non-virtuous (respectively), the mind is purified and made pleasant.”)

3 Matthew 5:39.

4 Matthew 7:9.

5 For more on sotāpanna: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sot%C4%81panna

6 Brave New World (1932) by Aldous Huxley, considered to be one the most important books of the 20th century, is a dark science fiction novel of a future “engineered” totalitarian World State. The title was taken from an ironic line in Shakespeare’s The Tempest: “O wonder! / How many goodly creatures are there here! / How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world, / That has such people in it.”

7 Luke 23:34.

8A variation of this story can be read here: http://aumamen.com/story/king-and-a-scholar-in-delusion. In this version, the Bhagavata Purana was originally read to King Pakishit by Shukadeva. Here is another variation: http://kabirassociationoftoronto.org/2019/04/13/the-way-to-liberation/

 

Symbolism of Kamandalu & Kalasha

Posted on by Mandala

During the month of August, the STORYTIME Zoom sessions at The Meditation Center in Minneapolis featured a story from the Yoga Vasisththa about Queen Chudala and King Shikhidhvaja.

Kamandalu

In this story, the King Shikhidhvaja becomes disillusioned with his life of luxury at the palace and decides to renounce his royal position to live the austere life of a renunciate monk. He goes to the forest, builds himself a meditation hut, and keeps only a staff, a dinner plate, a cup, a tray, mala beads, a garment to cover his body, a deerskin to meditate upon, and a kamandalu.

What is a kamandalu? A kamandalu is an oblong water pot, which has a lot of symbolism connected with it. For a yogi, it represents a simple, self-contained life of asceticism. In making a gourd kamandalu from a pumpkin, the inner pulp and seeds are cleaned out leaving only the outer shell, which is interpreted as the removal of ego, leaving a cleansed person who is fit for self-realization. The water in the kamandalu represents amrita (the elixir of life, the nectar of immortality.

The kamandalu also plays a part in Hindu mythology, and there are many depictions of the gods and goddesses holding a kamandalu or depicted on the hands of gods, such as Shiva and Agni, Varuna, Ganga and Sarasvati. In the Devi Mahatmya, the goddess slays demons by sprinkling them with holy water from her kamandalu. Dhanvantari, the god of Ayuvedic medicine, after the Churning of the Ocean between the demons and the gods, arises from the Ocean of Milk with the nectar of Immortality in his kamandalu. Some legends say that the origin of the ancient Sarasvati River flowed from Brahma’s kamandalu, and in Buddhism, Bodhisattvas like Avalokiteshvara and Maitreya are shown carrying kamandalus.

Kalasha

In his book, Philosophy of Hatha Yoga, Swami Veda Bharati has written about a traditional Indian chalice or kalasha, which he relates to spiritual healthiness:

The kalasha is a water jar shaped like the head, used for bathing, to carry holy water, and so forth, as well as to make devotional offerings of water. And right from the very beginning a child is taught to take the vessel full — full of water, never empty — down to the river in the morning to sit and meditate after bathing. A person takes this full vessel of water — always fullness, symbolic of what a human being most cherishes as a child — mother’s breast on the emotional level or human head full of thoughts — never emptiness, always full [purna]* — and sits with this full vessel of water. Sometimes, if you want to pray for a sick person, you place your hands on this full vessel of water and sit in meditation. In your mind at the end of meditation, surrender the fruit of that meditation with a healing prayer for that person and give him the water to drink, or sprinkle the water on him as a healing touch.

After the morning meditation under a tree on the grass by the river, one brings that full vessel of water home. The vessel is never carried home empty. It was thought, if you were leaving for a trip and someone brought a full vessel of water, it was a very good omen; it was symbolic of having a good journey. Fullness was always emphasized. Sometimes a few blades of grass or a few leaves would be placed in it before walking home. In fact, even in the modern languages of India asking somebody, “Are you well.” is “Are you kushala?”  The word kushala means: he who brings something green in the morning after worship, meaning “Are you well enough mentally to wake up in the morning and go out and do your meditational worship, well enough to walk all that way, balanced enough to remember to pick something green and put it in that full water vessel and bring it home?” All of that is involved in the word, kushala. Are you kushala? Are you well?

*One of the Morning Prayers: in the Himalayan Yoga Tradition:

Om!
pūrṇaṁ adaḥ pūrṇaṁ idaṁ pūrṇāt pūrṇaṁ udachyate
pūrṇasya pūrṇaṁ ādāya pūrṇaṁ evāvaśhī ṣhyate
Om! Śhāntiḥ! Śhāntiḥ! Śhāntiḥ!

Om!
That is full/complete/perfect. This is full/complete/perfect. Perfection arises from the Perfect.
Taking the Perfect from the perfect, It remains as the Perfect alone.
Om! Peace! Peace! Peace!

(Translation by Stoma Parker)

How to deal with the deep historical trauma and violence of racial prejudice?

Posted on by Mandala

Question

I have felt very little yogic guidance to deal with the deep historical trauma and violence of racial prejudice and racial division that our community is dealing with.

Answers

Stephen Parker (Stoma), Lalita Arya (Ammaji), Carolyn Hume, Charles Crenshaw, Carol Crenshaw, Randall Krause (Mokshadeva), Shi Hong, Wolfgang Bischoff, and Michael Smith have responded to this question.

Stephen Parker (Stoma)

From a psycho-spiritual perspective, we know that trauma not only affects people during a given lifetime, but that it is also encoded in our DNA both genetically, in the code itself, and epigenetically, in terms of how genes are activated and expressed in the structure and function of our nervous system. This is a biological way of looking at the process of emotional purification through which we deal with the original trauma, ignorance, through which we see ourselves as limited beings, vulnerable to trauma.

All of the first five limbs of Patañjali’s rāja-yoga embody different approaches to this emotional cleansing and stabilization: relationships with others and with ourselves (yama and niyama), our bodies, physical and subtle (āsana), our breath and subtle energy (prānāyāma) and our senses (pratyāhāra). Each of these domains contains many practices that help with healing trauma. Research on using yoga to heal trauma, which is becoming voluminous, demonstrates that yoga is at least as effective as the best that other trauma therapies have to offer. (For more, see Overcoming Trauma Through Yoga by Emerson and Hopper and Trauma Sensitive Yoga in Therapy: Bringing the Body Into Treatment by Emerson.)

Here there are several principles in operation. Almost all of these practices are performed in a balanced way, on one side and then on the other. This stimulates the integration of the cerebral hemispheres and completes the development of our capacity to process experiences of trauma. The mindful way in which all practices should be performed stimulates the medial prefrontal cortex of the brain which is in charge of integrating and “re-wiring” the nervous system. Mindful awareness allows us to change the structure and functioning of the brain and nervous system: you gradually re-program your brain. It also stimulates the creation of new connections between the limbic systems, which monitor the arousal of our emotional responses and hold in memory holistic “snapshots” of trauma we have experienced (flashbacks), and the cerebral cortex which contains centers for language and sensory function. In this way, we gradually reframe our incomplete memories and weave them into the narrative of our lives so that they can truly become part of the past rather than arising in our minds continuously in the next moment.

Every yoga practice contributes something. Every practice deepens the mindful awareness of the operation of racism in all of us—and that is the only place you have the power to change. We may be “woke,” but that doesn’t mean we are not racist in our unconscious beliefs and behavior. Trying to change other people often transforms into violence because of our impatience. It has taken more than 20 generations to construct all of the assumptions, beliefs, and habits that comprise our racism and it cannot all be undone in a single life. Swāmī Veda used to say, “It takes 1,000 years to change a culture.” Gandhi understood this well. He knew that he needed to engage his satyāgrahis (“apprehenders of truth”) in emotional purification with themselves because it was essential that the British colonizers be confronted firmly and lovingly in order to effectively hold up a mirror to their behavior and shame them into leaving. Otherwise, they would simply be dismissed as rioters. (And that is what Churchill believed out of his own sense of racism.) This is also an example of what is called the middle path in Buddhism. The Dalai Lama does not blame the Chinese. But he still holds them accountable at every turn. And the Chinese know they cannot control him, which is what makes him so dangerous to them. He manages to do it with a genuinely sweet smile and a loving giggle that never gets hooked by rage and violence.

People often did outrageous things that one would think would have made Swāmī Veda angry. In the last 20 years of his life, I never saw him give in to impatience with people’s limitations. It is part of why he was so beloved and why people always felt heard and understood by him. He listened to them no matter what. He never criticized them if even constructive criticism was unlikely to be heard. If the difference seemed intractable, he would simply ask to sit in meditation with the person, and eventually, their anger (and pain) would melt. This toughest of all loves (compassion) is ultimately the only healing for the trauma of racism and every other smallness of heart.

As I thought about the translation of upeksha in the process of writing Clearing the Path, I decided that I preferred to call it non-reactivity, because what happens is that one doesn’t just put their emotion (samskara becoming vrtti) into action, but rather can observe and mindfully decide what action to take. Indifference implies non-action and that is not what upeksha is about. I think of Oskar Schindler, who responded to the Nazis skillfully in ways that in other contexts would be considered exploitative. As a result, tens of thousands of lives were saved. To just be angry and demonstrate or directly oppose in whatever way would simply have gotten a lot of people killed. So these answers are not simple. And in our current situation, we seem to have yet to come to the most skillful interventions.

Lalita Arya (Ammaji)

One of the basic tenets of our Tradition is to observe the saying: “Vasudaiva kutum bakam” – Sanskrit meaning -” The World is one Family”.

When we believe this, we, as initiates in the Himalayan Tradition of our Elders, automatically see everyone as ONE in the Great Consciousness – there are NO differences between any sentient beings…humans, animals, trees, any living being is part of who we are. Unfortunately, this takes a long time, sometimes lifetimes to realize. But our learned teachers, guides, and those who show us the Path have more experience in the practice of what this actually means.

With the training given in all the classes attended, the lectures of all the leaders in the Sangha, and the teachers who are busy trying to guide – we try to practice within that scope which covers an attitude towards the divides that humans create due to misguided information, childhood nourishment, and education.

Let us not expect our Teachers to say “Hey students, this is a bad thing, or this is a good thing”…this is not the WAY…these realizations have to come from within oneself for them to REALLY mean something to be put into actual practice.

Baba, our treasured Guide, gave such excellent discourses, and lectures, and wrote so many books, BUT always admonished in the end – “Do not believe every word I say or write, go and find out for yourself.”

With many blessings, we keep to the path that we find for ourselves based on the ancient Teachings of – The World is One Family.

Carolyn Hume

We are blessed to have teachings, practices, and philosophy. These are an invitation to explore and to practice until one has firsthand knowledge of their veracity or non-veracity. Whether one accepts this invitation or to what extent one accepts the invitation is one’s choice. Also, if one accepts the invitation, generally speaking, personal growth and transformation may manifest over a lengthy period.

If the teachings have given you little yogic guidance, then that is what you have experienced. Why this is the case I cannot say. Perhaps you would be interested in re-acquainting yourself with the teachings of Swami Rama and Swami Veda.

Circumstances exist and sometimes can seem negative to us. However, they also provide grounds for spiritual growth.

When we speak of suffering, we can think of Swami Veda talking about “The cause of suffering, in the Yoga-sutras, is ignorance.” And further:

“Ignorance is

  1. to mistake the permanent for the impermanent and the impermanent for the permanent,
  2. to mistake the pure for the impure and the impure for the pure,
  3. to mistake pain for pleasure and pleasure for pain, and
  4. to mistake the Self for the non-Self and non-Self for Self.

This is the four-fold definition of ignorance, and the first three arise out of the last one. To mistake the Self for the non-Self and the non-Self for the Self is the greatest ignorance.”

As we can see/feel ignorance and resulting suffering in our own lives, we can also see/feel suffering in fellow beings. In the process, this can help open our hearts and minds to embrace all, or as Swami Rama has said many times “love all, exclude none.”

Charles Crenshaw

One of the first things that I remember my master said to me when I was in a group at HI [ed: Himalayan Institute], was you suffer because you identify with the things of the world. I thought, I’m a black man in America, this is nonsense. How can I not identify with this body? If I don’t it will be killed for lack of proper protection from a system that devalues my existence.

You suffer because you identify with the things of the world, my master said. The first thing in the world that I identified with was the mind. The next identity was with a body. When I stop identifying with these things there is peace. There would be peace for everyone if we stopped identifying as male/female, this or that. As Ammaji reminded us: the whole world is a family.

In the course of my experience on the path, I have despaired more than once. Once when SVB, before he was SVB, helped me past a difficult spot in life when I felt like abandoning the path of meditation for a more militant take on situations like we are experiencing today. Long past that time, I have used the tool of EFT to help me through some difficult spots concerning ‘institutional racism’ in addition to my daily meditation practice. I have pages of things that I had been conditioned by, things that I have tapped on that were in my less-than-conscious mind. Things that were, in hindsight, preventing me from having the fearlessness required to achieve the goal that my master said was attainable in this lifetime, even me. A black man from America. My daily practice of seeking the silence that is the core of us all is my only solace in these times. This is just the two cents of an ole sadhu wannabe whose only words of comfort hearken back to those of Ramakrishna and the Isa Upanishad: Oh divine mother, have mercy, please lift the veil of this your world bewitching Maya so that we might see beyond the golden disk that hides the face of reality. Om Shanti Shanti Shanti

A further thought, following on Stomaji’s input:

SVB focused us on chitta prasadanam, the pleasantness of mind needed to have success in meditation addressed in the Yoga Sutras I.33. He informed us that Buddhist Vipassana teachers called it brahma viharas, the divine abidings in texts like Visuddhi Magga (The path of purification).

Whatever you want to call it, I consider it a further elucidation of the golden rule. The guidelines for achieving this pleasantness of mind are loving kindness, compassion, gladness, and equanimity. Seems simple enough, but when we dig deeper we come to understand the profoundness of this teaching, and why we have so much turmoil in the world.

YS [Yoga Sutras] says we are to develop loving kindness towards those who are comfortable in the world; compassion towards those who are suffering, gladness towards the virtuous, and equanimity towards those who are non-virtuous. The last abiding causes most people (ME!) the greatest difficulty. Why? It can also be worded as indifference to evil, though this is not the best wording. Equanimity is the better choice because it makes us consider our part in the world we live in. There is an axiom in the world of psychology: you most dislike in others what you most dislike in yourself. This is commonly called projection.

How does this projection fit in with what I am thinking about the divine abidings, our pleasantness of mind? The wise teachers of meditation knew that it wasn’t easy to have equanimity towards the non-virtuous, towards evil. But they also knew that it wasn’t easy for us to have loving kindness, compassion, and gladness towards those who were close to us or even someone neutral in our eyes. You may question this, but thousands of years of the psychology of subjectively understanding the mind may clear up any misconceptions that you might have. Just read the texts.

For example, developing compassion or gladness towards those who are close to us often led to attachment, per the ancient spiritual psychologists. This might be a hard pill to chew, but attachment and love are very different per Swami Rama; attachment is a hindrance to developing pleasant mindedness. The solution for beginning the systematic approach to achieving our pleasant mindedness was one simple thing: Loving kindness towards ourselves. The ancients said that this was the first thing that needed to be developed before there could be mastery of loving kindness directed at others, AND the remainder of the abidings.

If I developed loving kindness towards my very own self and then worked on mastery of the other abidings. What would be in my mind that I might project onto the world? What kind of world would that be if we all developed chitta prasadanam? This might be highly impractical in light of world conditions, but it surely relates to HOPE.

Carol Crenshaw

Our job as teachers is to keep teaching all the yogic practices of all rungs. We are blessed to have these tools and to have been using them for many years. They help us stay stable during these challenging times. This is not the case for people who don’t have such tools. Therefore, we need to keep sharing and teaching so that more and more people change from the inside out. It’s the only way of real change and something that the world is crying out for right now.

Randall Krause (Mokshadeva)

Over the years, as a meditator, racist thoughts or feelings would arise in my awareness from time to time. When that happened, I’d notice them. I knew that my beliefs and intentions were quite different from theirs and realized that these thoughts and feelings came from my cultural programming. Meditation and mindfulness enable me to have the space to observe these thoughts and feelings and to choose my actions rather than robotically acting them out. I can use my volition to choose actions that, over time, might reduce the strength of those racist thoughts, such as being more inclusive, and less exclusive in my actions. Also, I can reach out to others, including people different from me, to create relationships with them. It’s easier to feel racist against those who are “other,” and more difficult to do so when those others are friends.

This practice of noticing thoughts and impulses that arise from the depths of the subconscious mind and choosing whether it is a thought or impulse worth strengthening or weakening is a good yoga practice. We strengthen that to which we pay more attention, that which we act out, that with which we identify. We weaken that from which we withdraw our attention, that which we toss out of our minds, that with which we dis-identify. This is a practice of emotional purification.

The world is full of suffering. We can do our little part to make things better, but we can’t save the world. What is in our power to do is to work incessantly to purify our emotions and our actions so that we don’t add to the world’s suffering but rather relieve it to some extent. Yoga gives us the tools to do this.

With gratitude and respect for our teachers and Tradition

Shi Hong

Suffering happens in one’s own buddhi. So it’s all about working on changing one’s own mind, not about changing others or the world, as we all learned from Swami Veda.

If it is not for racism then it will be for divides based on religion, political belief, wealth, taste for music or neighborhood. You name it. Speaking of the neighborhood, as someone who did not grow up watching “Mr. Rogers” on TV, I only recently watched a movie based on the original Mr. Rogers and was immediately captured by the character featured in the film. After watching a few YouTube clips on Mr. Rogers I have concluded that this man must have attained “citta-prasādana” which per Yoga Sūtras can be derived from Brahmavihāra, or “frolicking-in-brahman,” one of the most important purifying practices in the yoga and Buddhist traditions.

It is worth noting how the Buddhists, at least a leading figure from one of the many schools, interpret the practice. Below is a brief transcript of a lecture given by the late Venerable Bhante Punnaji, a Theravada Buddhist monk from Sri Lanka, on the topic of Brahmavihāra (adapted from the YouTube Channel of “Bhante Punnaji”).

Metta (maitrī)

The teaching of the Buddha is based on Metta (Pali) or Maitri (Sanskrit). That word means Universal Goodwill, Universal Benevolence, or Universal interest in the welfare of all beings, a concern for the welfare of all beings. That means it is a broad mind, not a narrow mind. The Five Precepts (note: roughly equivalent to the yamas of the Yoga Sūtras) are practiced not to avoid punishment or to gain rewards. The Five Precepts are practiced because we are concerned about the welfare of others. The Five Precepts are mainly concerned about how we relate to other people. The first precept is about not harming anyone. The second precept is about not stealing. The third precept is about not committing adultery. The fourth precept is about controlling our speech which hurts other people. The fifth precept is about taking intoxicants or being carried away by our emotions such that we begin to hurt others. So we are trying to avoid that. All that is based on how we relate to other people. It is based on a concern for the welfare of all beings, not only thinking about ourselves. It is based on a broad mind. That breadth of mind is called Metta or Maitri. This is why I call it universal benevolence or universal goodwill. We cannot have metta for one person. This is why it is not just love. Love is something you can have for just one person. But Metta is for all beings. You cannot have metta even for the people of your own country. Patriotism is not metta. Metta cannot be only for human beings with no compassion for animals. That is not metta. Metta is for all beings. It is a concern for the welfare of all beings. That is the broad mind where we think of all beings. It is very important to understand this because the morality or ethics of the teachings of the Buddha is based on a broad mind. And when we cultivate Metta we are cultivating a broad mind.

Karuna (karuṇā)

When we cultivate metta, metta turns into Karuna. Karuna is not another kind of thought or a different kind of mental state. Karuna is an expansion of metta. Metta grows into Karuna. What is Karuna? Karuna is where we don’t distinguish between ourselves and others. That others are as important as ourselves. Karuna is like the depth dimension. Metta is like the length and breadth, the area dimension. When we talk about volume, we are talking about length, breadth, and height. These are three dimensions. Karuna is the third dimension. Metta is two-dimensional, like area dimension. We are spreading out to include all beings in the universe. Karuna is about how deeply are we interested in the welfare of all beings, just as a mother thinks of her only child, and is even willing to sacrifice her own life for the sake of this child. In the same way, we begin to become concerned about the welfare of all beings. And we lose our selfishness In Karuna; the Selfishness disappears Just like a river falling into the ocean and losing its identity. It becomes the water of the ocean. The river is no more. In the same way, when Karuna appears, the self disappears and that disappearance of self means all unhappiness disappears because all unhappiness is self-centered

Mudita (muditā)

Just like a river falling into the ocean and losing its identity it becomes the water of the ocean. The river is no more. In the same way, when Karuna appears, the self disappears and that disappearance of self means all unhappiness disappears because all unhappiness is self-centered.  “I don’t have this. I don’t have that. I feel like this. I hate that.” That kind of thinking is the unhappiness, the suffering. When that self-centered thinking disappears, there is no unhappiness anymore. You become happy as a result. That happiness of selflessness is called Mudita. Mudita is happiness, but not self-centered happiness. It is the happiness of selflessness. This is why although the Buddha was aware of the sufferings of all beings he was never unhappy. He was happy all the time. Otherwise, he should have been crying all the time because he saw the unhappiness of all beings. Although he was aware of the sufferings of all beings he was happy. That happiness is the happiness of selflessness. That is Mudita. That Mudita or happiness is not an emotional excitement. Even Metta is not an emotional excitement. Karuna is not an emotional excitement. It is a very calm, tranquil state of the mind. Metta, Karuna, and Mudita are not different states of the mind. It is the same state seen from different angles

Upekkha (upekṣā)

When we speak of metta, karuna, mudita, and upekkha we are looking at the same state of mind from different angles. What is upekkha? When the mind is calm and tranquil, the mind is not centered on what is going on outside. Whatever is going on outside does not disturb the mind. Gain and Loss, Fame and Ill-fame Praise and Blame, Pleasure and Pain — these are the eight vicissitudes of life, the changing vicissitudes of life.  When these vicissitudes change, the mind is not disturbed because the mind is focused within, not outside. That is the perfect tranquility of mind. That perfect tranquility of mind means the mind is focused within, not looking for pleasure outside, not looking for happiness outside. That is the meaning of Upekkha.

Q: When we practice metta meditation we are only meditating that may this person be happy and peaceful but not actually doing anything for the person. So what is the use of it?

A: When you practice metta you are only broadening your mind. In broadening your mind you are not thinking about yourself. You are simply thinking of all beings. That is the important thing to understand. You don’t think of two persons — yourself and the other person. You are thinking of all beings, like thinking of the ocean full of water, instead of thinking of drops of water. You are not practicing metta toward one person.

Now on the question of this is not taking action to help other people you have to understand that you are not an all-powerful person. You have to start with that. You are not trying to change the world by doing this. You are only trying to change your mind. You are not trying to use your force to make everyone happy. No. Even the Buddha could not make everyone happy. He could only change his mind. So this is only to change your mind, not trying to change the world. This is the problems that human being are trying to do. Human beings developed the mind to be able to think and reason properly. That is how this thing called science began. And what did science do? Science created all kinds of machines to change the world. Now we have fans to make us comfortable. We have air conditioning. We have lights. All that is changing the world to suit our desires. What has happened? We are in fear that there will be a war in the world that will destroy the whole earth. Has crime disappeared in the world? Has war disappeared in the world? Has terrorism disappeared in the world? With all these efforts, why? Because the human beings with all that intelligence were trying to change the world and not themselves. The Buddha understood that same principle which is today called determinism. Determinism means understanding that whatever happens in the world happens only due to necessary conditions. That same law in Buddhism is called “paticca-sammuppada,” translated today as “dependent origination”. Why didn’t the Buddha make a machine? Why didn’t the Buddha make airplanes, ships, electrical fans, and air conditioners since he knew this dependent origination principle? Once Mara came to the Buddha and said, “Oh the Buddha is very powerful with all the psychic powers. If he were only to make the wish to make Mount Everest into a mountain of gold it would be done. You have such power. Out of compassion for the suffering being, please make that wish.” So the Buddha said, “Yes, Mara, I can do that. You have understood my power. But, do you know, if I did that how many people would be killed as a result? Because everyone will want to own that mountain of gold and there will be wars. So instead of doing that, I aim to change people’s minds. Show them how the mind can be changed and transformed thereby producing arahants, bodhisattvas, and buddhas.”

That is what the Buddha wanted to do — to change the people, the characters of the people, the minds of the people. So the metta meditation is not a meditation to change the world. It is a meditation to change your mind. It’s very important to understand that.

Wolfgang Bischoff

Dear Shi Hong, thank you so much for your wonderful contribution.

I am thinking about writing my contribution. It is not a theoretical one, but it is very personal. I am 73 years old and must confess that I needed my whole life until now to learn about the horrible prejudice against other human beings than the “Arians” we were supposed to be. But this horrible inner attitude was also directed towards disabled human beings and women.

Learning about it was shocking but learning to overcome this deep-rooted mindset took me my whole life. Through our beloved Guruji, I learned to listen inside to get to know my true nature. I realized that I was so grateful that I started preaching to people about what I had learned. But when Guruji left his body and I saw his most advanced students fighting with each other, I realized that there was something wrong with my behavior. I was full of gratitude and love towards my beloved teachers, but I realized a kind of spiritual arrogance in myself mainly preaching to others but not being able to listen to them. So I started studying the laws of listening and realized that most of us used the old-fashioned way of experts to download the past and project it onto the future. By listening now to other people mainly to the ones I normally avoided talking to I started seeing the differences in worldview. But still, it was a kind of discussion which means conflicts and fights going on about who is right.

Then I discovered empathic listening by feeling what the other person is feeling and starting not to see a difference between me and the other person. But still, life did not change. All the time I had a diffuse inner impression that something new wanted to develop but I did not know how to allow that to happen.

Then I started to get to know through Otto Scharmer from MIT Boston the generative listening process. This was a great realization. Because all my inner work, to become still, to observe without judgment, to sense the unexpected world, and to feel complete helplessness and ignorance together with friends or other people allowed us to pre-sense the shy impulse of the future which wants to come to us. Fear and anxiety developed and were slowly overcome by the courage to look into the unexpected of the future. Little experiments tried to bring it down to earth and with the marveling eyes of a child I experienced something new to happen, greater than myself and anything I have talked about, full of love and miracles.

So I learned to listen against all my old habits of a bad education with an open mind, an open heart, and an open will to act according to the impulse of the future. And I realized that by learning to listen I slowly learned what it means to develop an open mind, a pure mind with no judgement, a wide mind as wide as the ocean. I realized that even in my own spiritual family I hardly experience the art of asking questions to one another. So I developed the art of asking questions and listening as much as I could without judging.
So slowly what Shi Hong has written in his Buddhist citation is developing in my heart—a love for all beings and even the earth seeing it as a living being.

My conclusion is that we have a great chance to overcome racism and negative prejudices by developing a small circle of spiritual friends and practicing with them the four levels of listening.

Michael Smith

This is a related question that, maybe, needs to be addressed.
“What does one do in the face of a clear and present evil?
Swami Veda gave the example of walking down the street and seeing an elderly woman being attacked. What is the proper course of action in such a case?
Swamiji said that you need to prevent what was happening in the most non-violent way possible, and he gave a sequence of actions depending on the level of the assailant’s continued assault:

  1. Shouting at him
  2. Calling for help
  3. Throwing something in his direction
  4. Physically restraining him
  5. Incapacitating him
  6. Killing him

The definition of “violence” that he gave was using “excessive force.”

Swamiji said that if a person sat passively by, there would be a lot of negative karma: not only for the assailant but for you, by allowing it to happen.

One translation of “Kurukshetra” is “the battlefield of dharma,” and one of Swami Veda’s favorite passages about dharmic action in the Gita was when Krishna told Arjuna:

“Dedicating all actions to Me,
with your mind on the Self,
free of expectation and free of the thought ‘mine,’
fight without the fever of fear and anxiety.”
(Bhagavad Gita 3:30)

This would be acting with upeksha, the fourth of the Brahma-viharas.

About how to bring about a “change of heart” in people who are actively causing or supporting the suffering of others and the planet, I don’t think that is possible through laws or argument or force — “A man convinced against his will is of the same the opinion still” — but by deep, heartfelt listening – one-on-one – as Wolfgang said.

Swami Rama said, “Attention is love,” and Stoma once said that in dealing with clients, he did not come in with a psychiatric agenda, but prepared himself beforehand by meditation, and then just listened attentively . . .  and “waited for openings.”

“Openings” would be placed in a conversation when a sign of a person’s “humanity” is visible – where some warmth, kindness, or humor is shown – where a person lets down his defenses for a minute and becomes vulnerable.

Then, at such a time, there is an opportunity to come in and “throw a blanket of love” over the person. And that “blanket of love” – coming through you from a higher realm – would have the power to be transformative in some way.

This subtle change would not be a change of opinion – like a political preference about whether to vote one way or the other – but would be a gentle softening and smoothing out in the entire fabric of the mind-field. And because of this “sea-change,” all of one’s relationships would become more sattvic and a whole host of collateral things might result. –  being a more caring parent, husband, wife, joining in a charitable cause – who knows what would happen sometime down the line – becoming a vegetarian, buying an electric car, putting in solar panels.

I don’t think that a change of heart can happen in any other way but through grace from above – but we can be instruments of that grace by opening to it through our meditative practice and day-to-day compassion. As Stoma said, “This toughest of all loves (compassion) is ultimately the only healing for the trauma of racism and every other smallness of heart.”

Please read Swami Veda’s talk, titled “Compassion” (1980) where he talks about “the ultimate compassion.” [Please see the article “Compassion” in this newsletter.]

Once when Swami Rama was told that people were teaching Power Yoga in the USA, he said, “Do you want to know what Power Yoga is? It’s when a group of people are angry and are fighting, and you come into the room, and everyone becomes peaceful and happy.”

“The meaning of personal power is: those who came in your presence angry came away smiling.” (Swami Veda’s Sayings, p. 34.)

In July of 1988, Wolfgang came to The Meditation Center and talked about his first meeting with Swami Rama and also about the therapy work that he was doing at his Institute in Ahrensburg, Germany, using the Hakomi method of Ron Kurtz (another student of Swami Rama).

Here is a story that Wolfgang told

“We received a file from the court in which we were told that Mr. Thunderstorm was coming. That was his real name! The note said, ‘Please talk with him only in the company of a policeman. He is a double murderer, just out of prison.’ I had had a lot of experiences with prisoners, but I was very afraid. I said to myself, ‘This is crazy!’ I told the rest of the people at the Institute that he was coming, but he arrived early when I was not there – because he had no relation to time.

And when I finally came later, everyone was shivering. They said, ‘Mr. Thunderstorm is here!’ And everybody was shivering because he had shouted at everybody about me not being there. And no one knew what to do. And, you know, he had tattoos up and down his arms. He was a very threatening person. He had big muscles because the prisoners puff up their muscles to impress the other prisoners. Very serious thing in prison, really threatening to be there with other criminals. They need to do it sometimes, I think. So, he came, and I was shivering too. And he smelled of alcohol, walking through the doorway of my office and shouting at me. On the outside I was calm, but on the inside, I was tense, and I was shivering.

He started talking, so I just listened, and I looked at myself. And I saw, that because of my fear, I was not able to see him or hear him or understand him. I could only think of the sentence: ‘If you talk with Mr. Thunderstorm, you have to have a policeman on your side.’ Because in a situation in the courtroom, he had knocked down a door and it was very threatening to the judges, you know. It was a serious situation. So, I looked at myself, and I saw that because of my fear I could not see him, I could not listen to him, I could not recognize him, and I could not understand him. I tried to calm down my fear. I did not say a lot. I just tried to calm down and tried to open my heart – but it was not possible.

And he continued to talk – crazy stuff! And suddenly he gave this word to me: ‘Prison.’ ‘Prisoner!’ ‘Killed two persons!’ He had killed two people when he was eighteen years old. So, when he said the word ‘prison,’ I just looked into his eyes, and I really looked into his heart, and I said, ‘You were in prison. I was in prison, too. I know what prison is like. Awful, isn’t it!’ He looked at me, and when he came in contact with me that way, he became silent. And then I said, ‘Do you know what? You’re a great man with a great heart, but until now, no one has seen it.’

Do you know what happened? He collapsed in his chair. He had never heard something like that before. He collapsed. He was silent. He looked at me. ‘Yah!’ he said. He came in like an enemy and went out like a friend. So I said, ‘I need to come to your flat and visit you.’

Later I visited him, and he greeted me like a friend when I came, and we talked. And suddenly he said to his wife, ‘Go and get him the poems.’ So, she went and brought back two big pieces of paper. Now, you must know that he killed two people. He had no schooling at all, no education at all – and he had a heart as big as I have ever seen in such a person.

I read though the poems, and they were the most wonderful poems about love and yearning for human warmth and love that I have ever read. I was nearly weeping when I read these poems in that flat with him, you know. I said, ‘You really wrote that?!’ ‘Sure!’ he said. ‘Sure!’ ‘How did you do it when you can’t even write?’ And he said, ‘I sit sometimes in my chair and I say these poems, and my wife writes them down in one sitting.’ He throws these poems out in a single session!

So, do you know what I did? When I wrote my expertise for the court case, I put his poems in the expertise – and it was not normal to write poems for legal people. And we met with the court people again – where before they had felt so threatened with knocked down doors and so forth, but they were very friendly.  And he wife said the next time in the court room, “When you published his poems in this paper for the court case, it made us feel like there was someone that was really understanding him.” And that next time in court he was like a baby. It was a serious case, like needing to take a child away because there was no one to take care of him. And he agreed that I should look for a family that could watch over him. You know, and he was not fighting about it. Can you imagine that? So, this is like putting what we have learned in yoga into a normal daily situation.”

Editor’s Note

If you have any questions about your spiritual practice, you may write to the AHYMSIN Spiritual Committee at adhyatmasamiti@gmail.com.

Prayer in Action

Posted on by Mandala

3:30: With the mind centred on the Self, dedicating all actions to Me, free of expectations and free of the thought “mine,” fight without the fever of fear and anxiety.

He alone who has learned to direct all his energies and the power of his thoughts, emotions, and desires to attain the knowledge of the Self has freedom. The common man remains conscious only of the world of objects, but those who are conscious of the self-existent Reality direct all their energy inward with a one-pointed desire to attain immortality. Ordinary people are ignorant because of their outward desires. The objects of the eternal world constantly lead one to identify with the changing phenomena and to forget the nature of the Self, which is unchanging and everlasting.

Sri Krishna therefore says, “O Arjuna, dedicate all of your actions with a one-pointed mind focused on the highest Self with no expectation or attachment whatsoever. Without fear and anxiety, fight the battle of life.” This verse talks of dedicated action, which actually is prayer inaction. When we pray but cannot dedicate our actions, that prayer is not of much use. Dedicating all of our actions and the fruits we receive therein is higher than the prayer that is uttered by our lips. The poems and hymns we utter are not as profound or as important as dedication of the fruits of our actions. There are two kinds of people: one who praises God all the time, the other remains silent and performs his actions, dedicating all the fruits of his actions to the Lord. It is clear that the latter prayer is superior to the former.

Editor’s Note

This is an excerpt from Perennial Psychology of the Bhagavad Gita by Swami Rama. 1985 edition. The translation of the Sanskrit verse into English was done by Pandit Usharbudh Arya. The commentary is by Swami Rama.

For all Swami Rama’s and Swami Veda Bharati’s published works, please email hyptbooks@gmail.com

Published works of Swami Rama and Swami Veda Bharati are also available at other venues.