God and Truth
Question: What is God in your view?
Swami: What IS is God! Hence, perhaps the Sanskrit for God is Isa which is perhaps synonymous for Is[var]a. However, before we jump to any conclusions we should ask ourselves the right question. Is what I am seeing in front of me something which IS or something which appears to be or a mere projection of my mind desire, hope, fear, etc.? Do I see what is, as it is? Can the finite mind ever grasp the Infinite, can the conditioned mind see anything as it is, unconditioned? Does not the mind by its very act of seeing project its own preconception on to what is? Hence, I feel God is transcendental.
That which IS, is everywhere at all times. And by the mere fact of His omnipresence, God is the indweller. Not in the sense of coffee in the cup, but in the sense of space 'in' a room. Room or no room, space does not undergo diminution, division or change. And this omnipresence is most easily accessible 'within' oneself. God is immanent. Again, when we look without bias at what is, we realize that there is infinite variety in creation - diversity without disharmony. In this diversity we often see forces which have diametrically opposite natures for example, water and fire, both of which are parts of one creation. In the same way there are apparently contradictory forces in our own body which in fact are complementary.
The world, too, is made up of such complementary forces which apparently look like contradictory forces. When their complementary nature is realized, there is harmony. Otherwise, there is disharmony. Harmony is the synthesis of opposites, where the two forces achieve their complementary character. It is the subtle middle path.
But the pendulum never pauses in the middle! Hence, in the world there is constant swinging of forces, one way or the other. It is hard to realize the harmony. Such harmony alone IS. Hence, God who is supreme harmony, bursts into manifestation as an avatara (Krishna, Buddha, Jesus, Moses, Muhammad) in order to restore the realization of harmony, to enable us to realize that harmony alone IS, and that He is the synthesis of the opposites, which transcends both... a transcendental Being that the mind and intellect cannot touch, nor ignore because He is in the depth of our being.
Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita points to it in these words: 'Whatever you are searching for, you are searching for Me, God.' You cannot get away from that. You may love your family, teach your nation, but in effect you are only trying to reach out beyond the little self, to the perfect love. Even if we think that we have mastered the scriptures, deep down within us there is still an urge to reach out, to experience this. Yet, most often we do not recognize it in the proper light. The Divine is in us, all the time stirring this Divine restlessness. To recognize it as Divine requires a certain amount of wisdom and insight. Why is it that otherwise nothing satisfies us? Because God who is transcendental, whom the mind, the intellect cannot comprehend, is deep within us, the very Self. Until that realization is reached through the love of God, this restlessness is not going to stop. So love your God with all your heart and all your soul. He is transcendent; He is immanent.
He is never a God to whom you can dictate terms. He is not dependent upon what men do.
The God of the Exodus - always before Israel, calling them away from themselves towards Himself.
Again imaged in the New Testament in the person of Jesus. God as love - but calling us out of ourselves to follow the Son.
Father Terence comments:
The Judaic-Christian understanding of God as transcendent and immanent: In Exodus III, 13-15, God reveals his name to Moses - Yahweh - from the Hebrew verb 'to be:' I am Who I am, I will be Who I will be. Yahweh is an ever present and active God among his people - the one who SAVES - Exodus story. But it is a name that cannot be grasped and dominated by men or the affairs of men. He is independent and transcendent.
Question: Where to find God?
Swami: All religions declare that God is everywhere: yet, we do not experience His omnipresence! There seems to be a veil between Him and me. If God is omnipresent, what stands between Him and me? Surely, it is the 'me.' It is the 'me' that has given rise to all these concepts, symbols, rites and religious organizations. I must get closer to the reality of God, not by dividing the one into good and evil, divine and undivine, but by lifting the cover (which is the 'me'). This does not involve division or judgment, but only the realization of oneness through love.
Question: What is Truth?
Swami: 'There is no religion higher than Truth' is the doctrine of the Theosophical Society. The Upanishads declare, 'Truth alone triumphs, not falsehood.' Mahatma Gandhi said, 'God is Truth.' And Jesus Christ was asked, 'What is truth?' (John XVIII, 38) and he did not answer, for a very good reason. Truth is not definable and it is not a demonstrable object, nor something which can be given by one to another.
Throughout history we have consistently and persistently committed this error: we have endeavored to define Truth, and to hand Truth down to others, and thus blasphemed against it. The truth that is thus packaged and handed down is not truth, but it is a thought about Truth. And the Truth that is thus received by the other person is not the Truth, but a concept. The conception is always of the same substance as the conceiver: the conceiver covers the conception with error, and limits it, thus making it non-truth. Conception can only be of the description and the description is a thought, not the Truth.
Hence, though the realization of the Truth should make us free (ref. John VIII, 31-32), the various and different conceptions of what is described as the same Truth have led to the very opposite of freedom. It is clear that there is just no alternative to the direct realization of Truth, and this demands that each one of us should discover it for himself.
If we pursue the inquiry and inquire into the nature of sorrow, we shall perhaps discover that sorrow is born of thought, that sorrow is thought. When thought is absent (for example, in sleep, under anaesthesia, and in shock) sorrow is absent too. Hence, we realize that there is a way to end this sorrow, and that there is a way to rise above thought, while yet living an active life in the world.
This, however, does not mean that we can eliminate thought from life altogether: a realistic observation of life enables us to see clearly that this is impossible. Thought has its own role to play in our life. But we should find a way to ensure that thought does not bring about sorrow. For it is thought that brings about sorrow and then it is thought again that experiences it!
When we see this clearly, sorrow disappears! Thought continues to illumine the world to us: but, in the words of the Upanishads, 'even as the sun that illumines the world is unaffected by what goes on in it, this inner light that illumines our life does not produce sorrow.' There is freedom!
Religion
Question: Is Yoga a religion?
Swami: Yoga is not a religion, but just 'religion,' in its own original connotation: 'that which binds again.' And this word 'yoga' has its first cousin in the word 'yoke.' Yoga has been made to sound mystifying: yet it has nothing whatsoever to do with magic or mystery, psychic powers or astral travel, occultism or other-worldliness. It is closer to life than most people imagine. It is the art of living in tune with God, yoked to God.
That is what we mean by 'religion,' though this word has lost its original meaning in the welter if 'isms' that the beast-in-man has created. When I once stated that 'We urgently need a religious revival in the world,' someone questioned me, 'Which religion?' Not Hinduism, not Islam, not Judaism, and not Christianity: but, if I may use the word, 'Religionism.' Religion means binding the human soul with God. Once again: not 'my' God or 'your' God, but God.
Question: Is religion in opposition to science or is there a common meeting ground between the two?
Swami: Somehow we have arrived at the conclusion in the world today that either science or religion is at the base of all our troubles. Men of religion feel that science is leading man away from God, from the true values, and by aiding in the creation of weapons of destruction has brought man close to self-extinction. Scientists take no notice of this, for in their own mind they are pursuing the noble quest of truth in their way. On the other hand, inellectuals and rationalists blame religion for fomenting dissentions and divisions among humanity, though true men of religion assert that no religion sanctions hatred and violence and that religious wars are a misnomer.
Religion can be blamed for irreligious consequences and science can be proved to be unscientific. But how does this solve the problem that faces us - the Men in the Street? What are our guiding principles - those of the common men and women who constitute the majority of mankind? The first and foremost is the instinct of self-preservation. Man wants to be healthy and happy. If science promises this, he will accept it. And if religion (e.g. temples, worship, pilgrimage) promises this, he will resort to it. When he is healthy and happy, the next thing he seeks is an avenue for self-expression - to express or to manifest his nature. Up to this point he is not essentially different from what we consider to be the 'lower' orders of creation.
Where man can distinguish himself is the third principle - self-control. Self-control implies and presupposes self-awareness. Only one in a million perhaps is interested in this. Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita reveals that only a rare seeker discovers the Truth (VIII.3). The Katha Upanishad echoes this divine utterance: 'The senses and the mind have been created with an outgoing tendency and therefore man always looks outside, but a rare hero turns his gaze within himself, aspiring for Self-realization.
Even if we can bring about world brotherhood tomorrow morning, what then? We shall soon discover that one brother kills another. This has happened throughout the history of the human race. And this will go on till that rare hero turns his gaze within and realizes that the real source of mischief is within. The roots of evil are within, the roots of hatred are within, the roots of unworthy desires are within. These have to be pulled out there. If these roots are not there, the evils they grow into will not appear in your conduct. Whatever be the provocation, you will not hate or kill. You do not bite a dog because the dog bit you and thus provoked you to retaliate! Self-control will become natural when we cultivate this self-awareness, when we turn our gaze within. This is the first principle of Yoga.
I do not say that all people must practice Yoga and that Yoga will bring about world peace and brotherhood. This will only start another cult. But those men who live a life of self-control, who have self-awareness, who have eradicated the very roots of evil within themselves, are yogis. Only they will live a life of peace and brotherhood. The vast majority of other people will naturally look up either to religion or to science to make their lives a little healthier and happier than they are at present.
Question: Religions are different throughout the world. But are the people who practice these religions so different?
Swami: As you travel from what is called one country to another, you meet different people who look different, who behave differently, who speak different languages, who dress differently, but underneath all this you discover that they have a common denominator: they are all human beings.
You wonder why you did not discover this earlier! You were taken in by superficial differences: many of them owe their origin to accidents of history, climatic conditions, and in some cases social upheavals. Pain and pleasure, hunger and thirst, disease and old age, birth and death are common to all.
You look at your own life, your culture, your upbringing, your education, the books and the newspapers that you read, the propaganda and the preaching you listen to - you hardly find any serious mention of this commonness of humanity. Even in religious teaching this commonness of humanity is treated with a flippant superficiality which makes no impression on anyone. Yet, religion is not religion if it does not enable us to see that as human beings we are one.
If you are serious, you discover that somehow something deep within each one of us has resisted this religious spirit and rejected it. The spirit of religion has failed to touch and to transform it. On the other hand, this divisive factor that is deep within each one of us has even polluted the spirit of religion.
People loosely talk of religious conflicts. But, violence is incompatible with the universal religious tenet that God is omnipresent. We have not understood what religion means: we only profess to be religious and we pay lip-service to religious tenets.
Yet the seeking mind is exactly the same all over the world, and the obstructions to the seeking mind are also exactly the same all over the world. There are traditionalists, fundamentalists, die-hards and dogmatists everywhere in the world. You find them in as many numbers among the swamis and yogis as you find them in other cults. So the obstructions are the same, or the 'devil's dance' is the same everywhere. The awakening of intelligence is also the same everywhere, and the people who experience this inner stirring of consciousness are, luckily for the world and unluckily for us, very few. The problems that they experience in relation to the majority of die-hards are also exactly the same.
The Spirit is free and that Spirit is somehow encased in a body, in a spiritual, psychological and emotional structure. Then, as you the seeker struggle with your own trap, you suddenly begin to understand without any criticism, without the least judgment or condemnation whatsoever, the problems that confront others, who may be totally trapped and who may love the trap of tradition, of dogma. You don't feel like condemning them because you realize that you are also struggling with your own physical, psychological and emotional needs. Even though your Spirit is free, you still got trapped in all this. It is then you realize the extraordinary 'play' of the Divine. (It's the only word that can perhaps explain that even what may be an awakened intelligence still experiences these limitations.) Therefore the wandering swami or yogi, the wandering person with an awakened intelligence, is in sympathy with the entire universe and has not a harsh word for any living being on earth. He is in love with the earth.'
Question: What is the importance of churches and temples?
Swami: We do not have to build temples for the Lord - he has wisely ensured that we shall never be without one, by providing the head of each one of us with two 'temples,' as the sides of our face are called. (Ref. 1 Cor. III, 16). God is within this temple: god is the innermost consciousness. That is what the ancient sages and seers have said. Too much preoccupied as man was with the satisfaction of his animal instincts, he ignored this and erected temples of stone. When he was exhorted to sacrifice those animal instincts, he substituted the poor dumb animals which he freely 'sacrificed' and 'making a god of his palate' offered them to appease his own appetite. When, still later, other great redeemers appeared on the world scene (like Lord Krishna, Lord Buddha, Lord Jesus), he quickly deified them instead of listening to their counsel and restoring purity to religion.
Hinduism and Judaism had no founders: perhaps it would be wise to say that they are not religions in the accepted ('theological') sense of the term. Krishna did not establish a religion. Buddha was not the author of Buddhism. Nor did Jesus found Christianity. They all 'descended' into the world of man in order to remind him that God or Truth or reality was within his own temple, that religion did not consist of rituals but of righteous living, and that the animal to be sacrificed was not outside him but within his own heart.2 But our churches, temples and mosques and the idols of religious ideologies that we have erected in our own intellect have imprisoned us and we are unable to see beyond the walls thus erected around us. The God within our own temple is glorious. He is Peace. He is Bliss. He is eternal, immortal, the Life of our life.
Question: Is apathy the same as the rejection of established religion, or of certain beliefs and forms of worship, or of traditional patterns and authority?
Swami: The established religions themselves drastically change their doctrines, beliefs and rites. Such 'renewal' goes on all the time in all religions.
On the other hand, such a rejection itself may be the very opposite of apathy! Docile acceptance of dogma may well be the surest indication of apathy, a comfortable and dull state in which there is no enthusiasm at all. Such apathy is found in both the affluent and the deprived communities in the world. In the former it is born of a faith in the material acquisition and political or military power (though this is often rationalized by the clever intellect as the divine will, the divine plan or divine grace); and in the latter it is born of sheer hopelessness (which again is somehow masked by the laws of karma or the virtues of poverty and suffering). Most of the established religions of the world subscribe to one or the other of these theories, and wittingly or unwittingly promote apathy.
Yet, their own founders (if one may call them so) were not so apathetic. They questioned the authority of the self-appointed authorities. It is the establishment that ploarizes the community into the authority and the subject: to the authority obedience seems to be easy, desirable and good, whereas to the subject such obedience is hard, painful and unjust. This polarity sets one up against the other, and there is a power struggle which seems to be inevitable to all establishments.
Rebellion against authority or establishment often produces short-term enthusiasm, but in the long run the rebel becomes the established authority, and once again the community sinks into apathy.
Yet, there is no apathy in lfe! Apathy exists only in the sphere of the mind, of thought, of concepts and beliefs. Security, peace, happiness and order are life's constants. However, the human mind believes that all these can be easily had by conjuring up palliatives and half-truths which, if repeated often enough, will banish all the problems that the mind creates in life. Thus were the various beliefs born, thus did the religious, political and economic doctrines come into being. These, again, harden into establishments very soon, and the whole problem starts all over again - the polarization, the authority and the apathy.
Life does not brook this; and hence, periodically there is a crisis in the life of human beings individually, and humanity as a whole. This crisis is really the crisis of conscience. This crisis is a powerful challenge to authority: awakening apathy has no choice but to challenge authority, in order to flare up into enthusiasm.
This whole vicious circle will come to an end only when we look at life and become aware of its truth. We see how life on earth comes into being, and undergoes the various changes known as youth and adulthood, and even old age and death: we see how every transgression is accompanied and followed by a balancing reaction. The wise man does not wish against any of these. When this truth concerning the totality of life is seen, at that very instant we are freed from the resistance to the natural 'law and order' of life; we transcend the pains of these changes and experience an inward peace and joy which is beyond the division known as time. We realize that security and freedom do not lie in defying life but in thoroughly understanding it (standing under, not overcoming). Life organized is subject to change: but the spirit of life is itself unchanging. Life organized is the body, the spirit of life is intelligence.
The intelligence in the body is able to nourish the body utilizing the elements that are freely available in the world - sunlight, water, air and food. It does not endeavor to abolish diversity. It takes the same elements, the same food, and is somehow able to sustain the diverse creatures. The mind, the thinking faculty, treats this diversity as 'difference' and then tries to find the unity in that diversity. Concepts of difference, diversity, unity, etc. exist in the mind, not in life.
Is it not possible for the mind to drop these irksome and destructive concepts? Then, the intelligence will similarly be able to nourish the mind and the spirit of man with healthy spiritual food from every available source whether it be labelled Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, or nondenominational! Thus nourished everyone will grow in spirit, without creating an establishment and all the mischief it gives rise to, without becoming an authority on the subject, and thus without apathy, as intensely alive as life itself ever is.
1. Interview with Swami Venkatesananda on PRIORITIES, Sept. 25, 1982. Presented by Tony Howes of ABC radio 6WN, Australia.
2. Father Terence aptly quotes from Isaiah (I: 11, 13 & 15-17): 'What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? I have had enough of burnt offerings... Bring no more vain offerings... Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; defend the fatherless, plead for the widow.'
God's Will - Free Will
Question: Do we have free will or is everything already pre-ordained by God's will?
Swami: In the bible, the first 'I,' the first ego, is represented by Adam. Adam thought he had free will and sought a way to express it. Now, watch carefully! As if to sanction his free will, God tells him he may do what he likes, but he may not eat from one particular tree. How does Adam exercise his free will? By disobeying. The exercise of free will by the ego is contrary to Divine will, although on the surface this does not seem to be so.
Now we come to the life of Jesus. His teaching is very clear. He says not even a sparrow will fall to the ground unless it is the will of God. Nothing can happen without God's will! We see that when the ego exercises its will, it is always guided by pleasure, profit and prestige. Thus we ask to be saved from pain and ask for that which is pleasurable. But really and truly it is God's will alone that is done.
Let us come back to the story of Adam. God gave him free will and, in an indirect way, Adam exercised God's will by denying God's will! God created Adam in his own image and then indicated that he was free to choose what he wished to do. By disobeying God's words he demonstrated that he had free will - yet this apparent disobedience was still God's will! Nothing ever happens contrary to God's will, but as long as the 'I' is there, as long as the ignorance is there, it has free will.
Question: Does the operation of God's will depend on our prayer, assertion or affirmation?
Swami: No. Yet, this prayer is very fruitful, for the simple reason that it puts us in touch with Him, it fulls our mind with His thought, and it wipes out selfishness, 'Self-willing' and egotism. Nothing ever takes place in this universe which is not His Will. The impulsive villain and the restraining hand are both powered by Him. From the human standpoint, action and reaction both spring from His Will and manifest His Will. To realize this is to be liberated at once from all idea of sin or evil: but this concept should not be used as an 'escape-valve' to slip through.
If the realization of the Omnipotence of the Omnipresent and Omniscient Divine Will (other than which nothing else is), liberates us from the sense of sin and evil, it should also liberate us from pain and grief: the man who inflicts it on us does nothing but His Will. Fulfillment of prayer is a byproduct of this God-contact, granted only to one who does not seriously wish for it, and is not making such fulfillment his goal.
The true yogi who lives by this bhavana (attitude), truly feeling that His Will runs this world-show, will be constantly conscious of God and the actions that proceed through him will be automatic to the ego, but conscious and purposeful to the Divinity in him. That is: the ego does not act, but the Divine uses even the ego as His instrument.
The foolish man often misappropriates all the credit for good work to himself, and throws the burden of evil doing upon God - 'It was His Will.' On the contrary, the godly man would give credit for all the good that proceeded from him, to God; and if a blameworthy action of his is brought to his notice, he would hesitate to say, 'His Will,' even if it was beyond his control. He would humbly take the blame upon himself, feeling that God cannot err. Thus, he cuts at once at the root of the ego and therefore evil. The soul-elevating music belongs to Him and the false note to the defect in the reed!
Question: How am I to know my duty or His Will, so that I may do it in the spirit of karma yoga?
Swami: Often this eagerness to know His Will is the worst obstruction to it. The ego wants to assert, 'I do His Will:' and it therefore does not do His Will. The formula, 'Thy Will be done' is only help in this sadhana (spiritual practice) coupled with humility and meditation. By prayer and meditation we should be in tune with Him. Any selfish motive or desire should be ruthlessly hewn down with the axe of relaxed vigilance. The duty will be clear and the march along the path of His Will will be effortless. Father Terence comments: Discernment of God's will is difficult and complex. Indication that we are doing as He wills is found in the fruits of the Spirit, e.g. love, joy, peace, etc. - ref. Gal. V, 22-23; Ephes. IV, 15-16.
Question:'Thy Will be done.' How does one understand what 'Thy Will' is?
Swami: Here Yoga comes to help as a technique. First of all, we are cautioned that the earlier teachings are important. In Yoga they are called yama and niyama. The names do not matter. If you have studied the Sermon on the Mount carefully, word by word, and if you have been able to assimilate that teaching to the best of your ability, you do not need anything else: that is yama, niyama.
So you study the Sermon on the Mount and assimilate the teachings to the best of your ability. You go on studying, memorizing these teachings until your heart becomes similar to these teachings, so that your heart is not your heart any more - it is the Sermon on the Mount. (And when the doctor places the stethoscope to the heart he hears the Sermon on the Mount!) Assimilate it, then what the yogi calls the disciplines of yoga like yama and niyama become effortless, not automatic - natural, just as the heart beats are natural. Then virtue and righteousness become natural, there is no effort.
This aspect of Yoga is misunderstood even by yogis who think that all virtues described in yoga texts are commandments: Thou shalt and thou shalt not. They look like commandments but they are only descriptive of a certain state of the yogi. When the teaching has been assimilated, this is the key to the yogi's heart. Study these teachings. That is the first step in Yoga and Christianity. Then gradually ascend the Mount, having laid the foundation of ethics and righteousness. Jesus is already standing there. He will tell you what His will is!
Prayer
Question: What is prayer? What is communion?
Swami: Prayer is the key to what yogis call meditation or what Christians might call communion. There is absolutely no difference between the true meaning of meditation and communion. Communion is not just a ceremony. Some say that it is very important for meditation to buy the right type of cushion, and special clothing; and you should sit with your back straight and so on. All this is ritual, ceremony. It may be very important and of great help, but that is not meditation. I am not saying that these things are unnecessary. All these may be essential aids, but essential aids only, not meditation. Meditation is communion. Communion is meditation.
What is communion? 'Comme-une,' communion is 'like one.' Similarly, what is atonement? You were trying to reach out to the truth, to the Divine and you slipped. Which means you have fallen away from that. Now you must reach atonement. At-one. We have this communion-atonement, which are the same: to regain that oneness. This is Yoga. So, whenever you slip while ascending to the Kingdom of Heaven, pray.
I do not know if you are aware of how to pray. Most of us do not pray to God. Most of us prey upon God and upon men. I think that is the only reason why God keeps Himself so scarce! Can you imagine God coming here now? You know what His fate would be? All of us would jump upon Him and tear Him to pieces crying: 'Give me this, give me that. First me!' Communion is just the opposite. Communion is offering ourselves totally to Him so that we become one with Him. So prayer is something different from what we have made of it. It is an expression of one's devotion to God; and since it is an expression, it involves concepts and words: verbal and non-verbal expressions.
Father Terence comments: The focus for prayer is certainly communion - Christ-consciousness - awareness of the Holy within and without. Highlight of Christian prayer - celebration of the Eurcharist - where there is a meeting of God in Word (Scripture) and sign (Bread and Wine). The sign is incomplete without eating (communion). We seek to become what we eat, viz. Christ. Hence the name given: 'Holy Communion.'
Communion is also sought in other ways - meditation, contemplation, other prayer forms, other sacramental signs, e.g. Sacrament of reconciliation (i.e. seeking at-one-ment with God).
Question: In what way do Hindu prayers differ from Christian prayers?
Swami: Prayers are prayers, addressed by Man to God! Why do we label them Hindu prayers, Muslim prayers or Christian prayers? The language is different, but the content, the message, is the same.
We use even these words - Hindu, Muslim, Christian - indiscriminately. Out of these our mind fashions images, masks. These masks then collide, bringing in their train disharmony, conflict and violence.
Someone defined Hindu as one who has banished himsa (violence) from his heart. A Muslim is one who has surrendered himself to God. A Christian is one who loves God and loves fellowman. Three words whose meaning is identical, if you are sincerely looking for the meaning and not for an excuse to distinguish yourself from the other and to distinguish yourself above the other!
Such indiscriminate discrimination is a sign of ignorance. But, what is ignorance? It is not an object or an entity which is supposed to obstruct our vision. Ignorance is a type of knowledge that tells us that we are looking in the wrong direction or through wrong glasses which pervert our vision. (Hence, it is denoted by the negatively-worded a-vidya or a-jnana in Sanskrit.) We are looking: but we are not looking in the right direction and in the right perspective. We do not bother to 'meet' a brother-seeker professing another faith; and even if we do meet him, we look at him and his faith through the glasses of prejudice and indiscriminate discrimination. If we abandon this, we might still see the distinguishing characteristic of 'our' faith, without even wishing to distinguish ourselves or consider ourselves as superior or inferior! Allah in Arabic (is) God in English and Isvara in Sanskrit: the words are different, the languages are different, the spelling is different: but they connote the one truth.
Father Terence comments: One aspect of true prayer - is coming to awareness, i.e. the removal of the veil which distorts our vision. Ref. 2 Cor. III, 16ff.
Removal of the veil brings recognition of the unity we share: Ephes. IV, 4ff.
Question: Can the Easter story be paralleled with anything in the Hindu scriptures?
Swami: Why should we divide scriptures into Hindu scriptures and Christian scriptures? They are common: they have a common message; they are the heritage of the whole of mankind. By regarding some as 'mine' and some as 'other,' we develop blind faith in the former and equally blind antipathy in the latter. Sanskrit is not my mother-tongue; nor is English! If I can learn them, there is no reason why the average 'westerner' should think he is incompetent to read Sanskrit and understand the scriptures in their original.
Translations are always subject to corrpution, though unintentional. The two words 'Durga Saptashati' can be simply translated into '700 verses concerning Durga,' not to be deified, not to be feared or discarded, but to be carefully studied. Even the word 'Durga' has a simple meaning: 'difficult to reach or approach.' Jesus Christ illustrated how difficult it is for man to seek true salvation, by demanding of the man who professed to be a faithful adherent of the Commandments, 'Sell all that you have and follow me:' he did not!
The spiritual truth which is ever-present in all is revealed only by a crisis. The divinity of Jesus was revealed by the Crucifixion and the Durga Saptashati tells us that the Divine Mother revealed herself whenever evil threatened to overwhelm the good. Yet it is the evil that helps reveal the good: which is perhaps a reason why the day of Christ's Crucifixion is called Good Friday, and a reason why the demons that oppressed the devas and challenged the Divine Mother Durga are also remembered in the scripture.
The Easter story and the stories of the Durga Saptashati have much in common: the immortality of the spirit, and the availability of redemption to all are dramatically proclaimed. The words of the angels in the garden outside the tomb: 'Why do you look for the living among the dead?' remind us that resurrection is not of the dead but of the ever living.
Jesus spoke in parables; the Durga Saptashati is in parables, too! The first of the three stories deals with the power of sleep: and one is reminded of how the disciples of Jesus fell asleep on the night of his betrayal. You do not sleep, but sleep overpowers you. And so, you cannot wake up: when sleep leaves you you wake up. Yet, with the help of an alarm clock you can wake up and throw off sleep. Similarly, you are in the grip of spiritual ignorance. You cannot shake it off by self-effort unaided by Divine Grace; the Divine Grace is like the alarm clock.
The grace is earned by utter devotion to God in humble recognition of one's own powerlessness to conquer the great delusion. Hence, we pray, we worship. On the night of the betrayal, Jesus went into seclusion and prayed fervently. When threatened by the demons, the gods prayed to the Divine Mother Durga.
Question: Why is it that our prayers seem to go unanswered?
Swami: When you have a headache, you do not go on praying, 'I want aspirin' but you go and find the remedy. You pray for wealth and work hard to get it. You pray for relief from illness and you do not rest till you get rid of it. Yet, you pray 'Lord, free me from egoism, lust, anger and hatred' or 'Lord, let me behold you,' but do nothing more about it. Even the prayer becomes mechanical, meaningless and insincere. When the prayer goes unanswered, the sincere man re-examines the whole position, knowing that either the effort is not strong or it is misdirected. He wonders, 'Where does the prayer arise? What is the power that makes me think, speak and pray?' Only if that source is pure, is the prayer granted.
Question: We call ourselves Hindus, Buddhists, Jews and Christians. We worship God in various ways, and we read the scriptures. Yet this does not seem to have brought about the least change in us. Why is this so?
Swami: We have made images not only of Krishna, Christ, Buddha and other holy ones, but even of their teachingsl Krishna's 'Yoga,' Jesus Christ's 'Kingdom of God,' Buddha's 'Nirvana' are all but images in our own mind to which we pay homage, for to us they are not meaningful.
Why so? Because we have not started where they began their own life. We therefore do not see what they saw. We do not understand what Yoga, Nirvana, Salvation and Liberation truly are: we worship the words, the images.
A German Buddhist monk living in Singapore is fond of saying: 'I do not want to become a Buddhist, I want to become a Buddha.' In order to do this, you must look at the world afresh: Buddha did so too, though saying this does not help! When you directly become aware of the conflicts that are tearing our society apart, and of the confusions within yourself, then this awareness itself will act instantly, spontaneously and powerfully. As my Master Swami Sivananda used to say, 'It transcends reason, though it does not contradict reason.'
This awareness cannot be taught; and it need not be taught. Have you ever crossed a road without first looking to your right and to your left, and have you ever been threatened by a car speeding towards you, and do you remember how spontaneously and instantly you acted to save yourself? You did not have time to think, to reason, and to come to a right decision! Look within and see. Your actions are either impulsive and motivated by 'feeling' or calculated and motivated by 'reason.' These actions always leave you dissatisfied and confused. Hence our life remains confused and we are moving from one dissatisfaction to another.
However, 'spontaneous' action cannot be 'practiced!' It has to happen. It happens when you vigilantly keep a watch over the fountain-source of action within yourself and ensure that the action does not spring from feelings and from reason. This watchfulness or awareness will act spontaneously.
Father Terence comments: Jesus' one request to his disciples was 'Follow me,' i.e. do as I do, live as I live.
World, Life and Relationship
Question: How does the yogi tackle the battle of life?
Swami: Disease, doubt and restlessness of the mind are all obstacles and they manifest in us because of lack of one-pointed devotion. Remember the Biblical commandment: 'Love the Lord with all thy heart, all thy mind, and all thy might and being.' We must apply that wholeheartedness not only to devotion to God but to everything we do. That is Yoga.
The whole life is Yoga when real integration exists in us and we are able to apply a totally integrated personality to whatever we do. The entire message of Yoga is contained in the single commandment to love with one's entire being. Patanjali echoes this in his Sutras when he says, 'In order to remove the obstacles on the path of yoga, an integral approach is necessary.' (11.29) Whatever I may practice, if I am not sincere in the sense of whole-souled dedication and an integrated approach, Yoga is not possible.
Yoga is integration, wholeness. Sincerity here means that I do not only accept it intellectually, but also emotionally, with my whole being. If there is insincerity, then only part of me accepts. It is the emotional assent that provides the energy for what we do. When the emotions are stirred, they provide an almost constantly increasing supply of energy. When it comes to intellectual comprehension and dry discussion, the head becomes heavy, the mind gets dull. There is no energy. It is the emotion that is needed to supply the energy.
Therefore, if there is not a wedding of intellect and emotion, then there is no energy available for the yoga that you and I practice.
Question: What is the most important problem the spiritual aspirant should seek to resolve?
Swami: Our immediate problem is not answering such academic questions as 'Does God exist?' or 'Who created the universe?' or 'How many cells are there in an average brain?' The most pressing and urgent question is of human relationship. The lives of Krishna, Buddha and Jesus Christ illustrate this truth abundantly: whereas the natural elements (the wind, the fire and the waves of the ocean) implicitly obeyed them, man did not! This rebellious spirit in man will not easily be subdued, not by others' dictation, nor by mechanical methods adopted by oneself, but by self-knowledge alone.
Yoga is such self-knowledge. Even the yoga postures are meant to aid the seekeer to attain knowledge of the physical body. From there on, he has to seek to know himself - the prana, the mind and its vagaries, and ultimately his very self. It is only when it is discovered that the 'self' itself is a thought, albeit the first thought, that selfishness or egolatry will cease to be. That is the end of our problems, and that is the aim and the culmination of Yoga.
Question: How does one reconcile the apparent diversity of the world with the unity or oneness described in the scriptures?
Swami: There is a view which is comparable to the dream state, where we realize that we are all one, created by God, living in God, as part of God, non-different from God, and yet playing the role of diversity, which is analagous to the dream state. It is not truly real, the drama is taking place in someone else's mind. That, I believe, is the esoteric interpretation of the beginning of the Bible - 'In the beginning. . .' The Jewish Qabbalists interpret this in two ways. Instead of the 'beginning,' they substitute the word 'head' or 'mind.' The Hebrew word given means 'head' or 'mind.' So if you substitute that word 'beginning' with the word 'mind,' the whole meaning changes. Where did God create the world? In His own mind. That is, He did not create something and throw it outside, as a mother giving birth to a baby, but all this is still taking place in God's own mind!
The Qabbalists also have a beautiful vision of the Truth, where they say that old Adam is still dreaming in the Garden of Eden. The story says he fell asleep and that God pulled out a rib and made a wife for him. That is taken as literally true, that Adam is still asleep and has not yet awakened; all this diversity, all this creation, etc. is still happening in Adam's dream.
The third vision of the Reality is: uttamah purusas tv anyah paramatme 'ty udahrtah yo lokatrayam avisya bibharty avyaya isvarah (Bhagavad Gita XV.17)
'But distinct is the supreme Purusa called the highest Self, the indestructible Lord, Who, pervading the three worlds, sustains them.' Where no diversity is seen at all, but oneness alone is seen to be the Reality, in exactly the same way as you can visualize this body as composed of billions of cells, or you can see the one body, forgetting the diversity implied in it. These are the three views given of God, the world and the Self.
Father Terence comments: Body image used by Paul - 1 Cor. XII, 12-31. Diversity, but one spirit.
Question: How can one best relate with the different people one comes into contact with?
Swami: One is truly good only when one's whole being is good. The Bible contains a beautiful saying by Jesus, 'When your eye is single then your whole being is full of light.' This means that the whole being is integrated, harmonized in Yoga - and then only does goodness become spontaneous, natural. How does such a person behave in the world? Patanjali, in his Yoga Sutras gives us a very beautiful description: 'Be friendly towards the happy ones, sympathize with the unhappy ones, rejoice with the holy ones and be indifferent towards the evil ones.' (1. 33) If you adopt this attitude in all your human relationships, you will enjoy peace of mind.
Question: The scriptures tell us that the world is a product of our own ignorance. How do you explain this?
Swami: The first thought is 'I.' Then this first thought, this 'I' creates thoughts of the world. In the Bible we have the beautiful story of Adam and Eve - the first romance. If you watch carefully you will see this same truth in that story. God created Adam, and Eve was projected out of Adam. The Bible says that God actually created Adam; He did not take a separate piece of matter and create Eve out of that. The story goes on to say that, having created Adam, God made Adam project Eve out of himself. Before Eve could be created however, Adam was put to sleep! This is symbolic and beautiful. God is omnipresent and even Adam is part of this omnipresence. First of all comes sleep, ignorance, and in that state of ignorance Adam (ego) is born. His ego then projects the world.
Father Terence comments: Ignorance is sin, i.e. our inability to see reality as it is, to see as God sees. Jesus' call to repentance was a call to knowledge of the Truth - to be able to 'see' again (ref. stories Mark X, 46-52 and VIII, 22-26).
Conversion and repentance are not only sorrow for sin, but a reorientation of one's life based on the new perspective of reality. It is the process we engage in to shake off ignorance.
Question: How do we inspire people to discipline themselves?
Swami: The late Cardinal gilroy answered this question beautifully during a conversation we had in February, 1972: 'By placing one's own life as an example,' he said, but without claiming to be perfect, for 'without God's help it is not possible for man to achieve the ideal of goodness he sets for himself.' This was the Cardinal's sheet-anchor, as it were. There should be a genuine aspiration to be good and to do good; and there should be an equally genuine understanding that this is possible only by the grace and with the help of God.
On the other hand, there is a tremendous pull towards materialism, towards power and money, which are the two most corrputing influences in the world and in the life of human beings. 'Human nature is the same all over the world,' said the Cardinal. Everywhere people seek short-term advantage, without realizing that such an attitude only promotes conflict in society which is in relation to one's fellowmen. With bliss radiating from his face, the Cardinal said, 'I have retired. I have no power. I am poor, I have no money.' And yet, there was that unearthly glow in his eyes, a wonderful spirit that had the power to transform the lives of those who were fortunate enough to seek his company.
'You find good people all over the world, among the poor, among the simple folk,' he said, 'and even the wicked man endeavors to rationalize his actions and his attitude, so that even he does not wish to be known as a wicked man, but as a good man. Therefore, it is evident that there is a natural law in the universe that inclines man towards goodness. We should appeal to that in our own approach. And again and again we should emphasize that man cannot reach this goodness without the grace and the help of God.' It is that genuine humility that protects man from the traps of power and wealth, and sustains his vigilance.
Question: 'I and the Father are One.' (John X, O) What was Jesus' consciousness that made Him make this declaration? How can we share this consciousness?
Swami: Communion with God. Jesus Christ affirms: 'I have become One with God.' Is it possible for you to retain this ego-centered personality and at the same time aspire to that? This is the greatest foolishness that we commit. Perhaps that is why Jesus let fall these words, 'Father, let this cup pass' (ref. Mark XIV, 6). To remind us that even in His case, such a thought could arise. In our case it could arise a million times over, but the sincere spiritual aspirant keeps on and on until all traces of desire, craving and will other than the Divine Will disintegrate. Then we really and truly can feel the truth of what Jesus said: 'What I have done you can also do.'
What we need is profound understanding, direct understanding, not cosmetic or superficial knowledge. Someone described the mind in meditation, the mind in direct contact with the Divine, (which is the mind in communion) and gave a beautiful example. Pick up a fairly large pebble, take it to the swimming pool where the water is calm, drop it in and note how beautifully, how intelligently that pebble draws a straight line through the water. Without deviation it goes straight down, without stopping, without being distracted or side-tracked. That is the mind in meditation. That is the mind in Holy Communion.
Can we discipline our mind in this way? Yoga is nothing but a system of such discipline. Discipline not in the sense of brutal control: 'I will not do this, I will do this.' The moment one applies will to this practice one agitates 'the swimming pool,' then the 'stone' also is distracted, agitated, side-tracked. The will is the play of the ego. I am not saying that the will is not necessary for all the other things, but in spiritual practice one must not use the will at all for the spirit does not employ will. The spirit employs insight. The spirit is insight.
To kindle the spirit of insight, study the teachings of Christ, study the teachings of Buddha, Krishna and others. They are exactly the same and all ennobling, uplifting. But assimilate these teachings so that whatever disciplines have been described there become natural to you. We cannot calculate love, humility, without becoming hypocritical. All these virtues should become natural to us and the heart should naturally seek the Divine, without being prompted, without being goaded, without any motivation, without even treating the Divine as a goal. Then there is Communion. This is Yoga.
Question: How do I know who is holy, how do I know what good company is?
Swami: Am I the one to decide if someone is holy or not? Should I undertake to discriminate between what is good or what is evil? Such discrimination involves judgment: and such judgment itself is evil! Even the word 'discrimination' may not mean 'divide and decide.' Viveka or 'discrimination between the real and the unreal' may really signify something completely different from what we have assumed it to be. All religious authorities declare that God is omnipresent. Surely, that is what the original mystics saw. If that is the truth, to draw close to that is satsanga (company of the truth). A study of the history of religion shows us that it has not been possible to preserve and to perpetuate the purity of the mystics' vision. The human intelligence loves to discover; and hence it first covers the reality with ideas, concepts, symbols, rites and religious organizations.
Unfortunately, this seems to be inevitable and invariable. But, fortunately, the truth is ever there, only to be discovered. To discover, one must have the moral courage to see the cover, not to avert one's gaze from it. To discover, again, one must have the courage to lift the cover and not be lost in admiration of it, however enchanting it may be. Such a discovery is satsanga. We draw close to the truth, without either rejecting the encrustation of the false or getting stuck in it! This is discrimination.
Father Terence comments: We are called to refrain from judging - we do not see as God sees - and do not have the ability to look into one another's hearts. Ref. Romans XIV, 2-19; 1 Cor. IV, 15, (don't even judge yourself!); Matt. VII, 1-5.
Question: What does charity really mean?
Swami: Love of simple life reveals that many of our so-called necessities are not really such, and love of charity unveils the endless vista of happiness that can be ours if the objects we call 'ours' cease to be so. We do not do charity because we have no faith in God and feel that our happiness depends on the objects we 'possess' and so cling to them. Vulture, one of the twenty-four gurus of Lord Dattatreya (ref. Srimad Bhagavatam, The Book of God, Nov. 22 by Swami Venkatesananda), taught him that so long as one clung to earthly objects of enjoyment, one was surrounded by the enemies of one's happiness who wanted to snatch those objects from him, and that true happiness consisted in renouncing them.
What one possesses has got to go: letting the possessions go voluntarily, through charity, is the magic wand that converts pain into pleasure, the womb of misery into the fountain of happiness. Hence all saints, sages and prophets, and all the major religions of the world extol and insist upon charity.
The Taittiriya Upanishad commands: 'Gift should be given with faith; it should be given in plenty, with modesty, with reverence, with sympathy.' The Bhagavad Gita classes that as the best charity which is given to those from whom we do not expect any help in return (XVII.20). This doctrine is expressed by our Master Swami Sivananda, in the words 'spontaneous overwhelming generosity.' Lord Jesus was unequivocal in his glorification of charity: 'Come, 0 blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.' (Matt. XXV, 34-6) Thus does he actually enumerate the kind acts of charity. And he explains that 'inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to Me.' (Matt. XXV, 40)
Father Terence comments: Charity is another word for LOVE - in Christian sense of agape, i.e. total dedication and devotion to the welfare of the other, regardless of sacrifice and personal cost. It embraces the sharing of possessions (almsgiving). This was an aspect of the early church (ACTS IV, 32-35).
Those who begrudge the generosity deprive themselves: ref. James V, 1-6; 2 Cor. IX, 6-10.
Question: What is the value and purpose of self-punishment or penance?
Swami: Self-punishment implies the resolve never to commit the prohibited action. We have always tried to escape the consequences of our actions. The power of prayer invoked is believed to remove the sinful tendency, the root of evil. Though we believe that God forgives our sins, especially when prayed to with sincerity and faith, we recognize that if this forgiveness is procured easily, faith might be mistaken for self-deception. Moreover, the mind will not forget the evil deed and may again be tempted to repeat it.
To prove our faith to ourselves, to act as a powerful deterrent which would prevent the senses and the mind from committing the evil deed again, and as an immediate and voluntary attempt at working out the 'karma,' we punish ourselves. Prayer and this self-punishment together wipe out the effects of the sinful conduct - the most important of which is the impression left by the act on the mind, which eventually craves for repetition, leading us to perdition. All forms of self-punishment are effective only if the repetition is prevented: as emphasized by the command of Lord Jesus, 'Go ye and sin no more.' The entire process of confession and atonement releases the tension created by the sense of guilt. God's Grace is earned by charity and prayer.
Father Terence comments: Penance is an expression of a conscious desire to change one's life. Association with 'metanoia' (Greek) conversion 'a turning around.' Penitence is more than outward acts -more an inward change of heart: ref. Jer. IV, 4; Ezek. XXXVI, 26.
Question: What (in your view) is the symbolism of the manna God sent to the Israelites in the desert?
Swami: The Jews were sustained by manna during their exodus from Egypt. That 'manna' was derived from the Hebrew man hu meaning 'What is it?'
Perhaps man hu (manna) refers to the spiritual quest (Who am I? What is this world? Who is God?) Exodus XVI tells us the story: The people of Israel saw 'it' and did not know what it was and in response to their query Moses told them, 'That is the bread that God gave you.' The spirit of inquiry or the spiritual quest itself is the manna. Inquiry into the self is the key to immortality or Self-realization.
This manna had to be immediately 'eaten' as otherwise 'it bred worms and became foul' (Exod. XVI, 20). This could well mean: Do not let this quest become an intellectual exercise, but let it be quickly assimilated so that it becomes the living truth. To do so we should dare to free ourselves from worldliness and venture into the vast unchartered and pathless 'desert' or spiritual realm. May God lead us there! Father Terence comments: Deut. VIII, 8 - comments on this event - man lives authentically only from God's word and law, this manna being the Word of God.
Wisdom XVI, 20-29 -takes up this spiritualized theme. Same theme taken up by Jesus:
In his temptation - Matt. IV, 1-4: 'man does not live by bread alone.'
Then he proclaims himself, not only as the new Moses who gave the manna, but the new manna itself, in so far as he was the Word of God: see John VI, 26-58.
Question: Did Jesus Christ teach love?
Swami: I don't know if he was teaching love. He was love obviously, and when you are love, what you teach is love all the time. Can you do anything else? He was considered a teacher, there was no doubt about that. But you know the famous parable about the sower: the seeds that fell on the rocks perished. You may be the best teacher in the world, but if the seeds fall on rocks they will get roasted. Nothing happens to them. Look at the world. This is the world where Jesus walked, where Buddha taught, Socrates taught, Krishna taught and look at it now. When you go round the very places where all these great people are supposed to have walked and taught what do you see?
Question: But how do you teach love, or is it necessary to teach love?
Swami: No, it's the other way round. If you are love, whatever you say is love and if a student comes to you, what you teach him is nothing but love. But unless he is receptive he may turn round and hit you. He may turn round and say, 'Don't talk rubbish.' So unless the other person is receptive, your teaching is of no value. Temporarily you may have won your point. If you apply the theory of probability to what I am going to say, what would be your answer? In the Bible, people brought a woman who had committed adultery to Jesus and wanted to stone her (ref. John VIII, 1-11). Jesus said, 'He who has not sinned let him cast the first stone.' That was a direct challenge to them. His words were full of love, but unfortunately, to them it sounded like a challenge. So they hung their heads down in shame and walked away. Is it not possible or probable that some of them eventually became his persecutors? It's probable. So although such teaching may appear to have some effect, it does not change a person until he is open. Therefore, to teach love is impossible, but to communicate love is possible, communicate in the sense that when you and I are one at heart, then it is possible non-verbally to communicate love.
Father Terence comments: Jesus teaches love in Word and Deed. Love is unconditional. In Jesus' death - no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends.
Question: Is there such a thing as a 'Holy War?'
Swami: Jesus said: 'Ye resist not evil' (ref. Matt. V, 39). This does not need nor does it permit another word of comment or elaboration. What seeks such interpretation is already a subtle resistance to the teaching itselfi From then onwards it is easy gliding into rationalization of violence and perpetuation of conflict, which one endeavors to exclude from the instruction - 'What Jesus said does not apply to this situation.' For instance, there are some who insist that self-defence is not covered by the teaching; then the 'self' by vicious stages extends to one's family, culture, religious group, nation, etc., and of course, people say that it is one's duty to defend all these, and it is noble to die for them (which in effect means, the defender isn't prepared to die but does everything to kill). A lot of bitterness is left behind. The victor is haunted by fear; the vanquished bears a grudge. The excavation exposes the simple truth: the defenders and the culture they defended, the conquerors and the people they conquered, have all vanished, leaving just a pockmark on the earth. Even while they were alive none of them was happy, none enjoyed peace: there can be neither peace nor happiness where there is hate and consequently fear. The conqueror does not win either a war nor wealth, but he wins the enmity of the vanquished.
The aggressor is wiped out sooner than the aggrieved; he is dead even while he is physically alive. Even if the aggressor survives the oppressed, it is only by lending with, living with, and being absorbed by the survivors of the oppressed. This (peaceful co-existence) could have been effected without the aggression and its ugly consequences. The weak and the oppressed have the strength of the Lord as their succor: and the Lord is impartial. He who knows this knows what is meant by 'resist not evil.'
Father Terence comments: Ref. John XXIII's encyclical Pacem in Terris (1963) and writings of Vatican II.
War and violence cannot be justified. While they continue to be they will be a reflection of a spiritual immaturity. An indication that we have not yet 'arrived.
Lucifer - Light and Darkness
'The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light; but f you eye is not sound, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!' (Matt. VI, 22-3)
Question: What is the devil? What exactly does the expression 'Prince of Darkness' mean?
Swami: I'm not familiar with the devil and therefore I really don't know who and what that is! However, there is an interesting periodical called 'The Plain Truth' and in a recent issue there is a definition given of Satan, the devil. This 'thing' called Satan was originally Lucifer; Lucifer means 'the light.' He disobeyed God and from that moment he became known as Satan. The original word in Hebrew merely meant 'adversary.' If you contemplate this, probably you will begin to realize that everyone is Satan to everyone else: if I don't like you, you are Satan, if you don't like me, I am Satan.
If we take the original definition - that of disobedience to God - again I'm nearly certain that no-one is going to disqualify from being called Satan. So what is the devil? We have the same problem in the Sanskrit scriptures. First of all the words of angels and demons; angels are called sura. Sura literally means 'being of Light,' and asura literally means a 'being of darkness.' A being of light is one in whom there is clarity always, and a being of darkness, in the words of Jesus: 'If the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness.' (Matt. VI, 23) It is a very important and delightful expression which is not easy to understand and even if it is understood, it is very uncomfortable. How can light be darkness?
There are three categories: one, a being of darkness; two, a being of light; three, a being whose light is darkness. Jesus says: 'Everyone to whom much is given, of him will much be required.' (Luke XII, 48) If you have been given the truth, more shall be expected of you than of the person who doesn't know what it's all about: to whom the light has been given an enlightened living is expected.
So first you have the enlightened being, one who is a being of light. That person lives in clarity: his motivations are clear, the hidden springs of his own actions are clear, his mind is clear, transparent, and his values, goal and behavior are clear. Then there are those who are beings of darkness - they don't know, they are confused, they don't even think or consider anything. They are what has been very beautifully described as 'frogs in the well.' In those of the third category there is clarity, but that clarity itself is darkness, is perverted. They say that 'All those who oppose us must be destroyed.' Which means 'I am the holder of the monopoly of truth and everyone else who doesn't agree with me must be destroyed.' If your pet dogmas are challenged you are prepared to kill, to murder. They have somehow perverted Truth and rationalized it to suit their own view. This they do not see: one small piece of the mechanism is tucked away. That's what dogma does to you.
So the clarity is there but it is kept in a non-negotiable position -it has become dogma, and from there the rest of the world is viewed. That is, you are the dogma - the light has become darkness. You cannot argue with such people, there can be absolutely no dialogue, no communication, nothing, because it is the dogma that is looking at everything else.
Question: Will Life lead them to the truth sooner or later?
Swami: I hope so, but then nobody lives that long! For fifty or sixty years you can live as a total idiot, but then the mischief is done. Some person is fanatic and brutal and kills off people because they do not fit into his dogma; then you say, 'Oh yes, but he'll be alright in the next birth and all those that were persecuted will be better off ...' That doesn't suit anybody, and unfortunately the dogma is left behind. Hitler is dead and all his aides have been executed, persecuted, but the dogma is left behind. So it is like the weeds in your garden: you throw them into the rubbish dump, but they start growing there and somehow or other come back into your garden.
Question: But if the weeds are always there, is it not up to the person to choose?
Swami: That's it, that is what is called clarity, and that clarity must be uncompromisingly clear. This makes life very difficult, uncomfortable. First of all you do not take anything for granted. When something is taken for granted that becomes dogma.
A friend asked the other day, 'How do I know that I live?' 'I am breathing.' No, sorry, if you stick a needle into your tire and puncture it, your tire will also breathe. Then you say, 'I speak, I talk.' Look at the tape recorder, that can also talk. So even that question has to be asked eventually, till you come to that point where you cannot argue nor even indulge in internal dialogue any more. Then you see that something ΓΌ, but that something cannot be converted into dogma because it cannot be thought of. Clarity must lead you there, then you are a being of light. Then you do not have to obey 'God' or something else, you are
'That,' you are the image of God. Finished. There is no more trouble, no more division.
When the division arises you think - an other very important word - that you are the 'son of the Being of Light,' that everything is absolutely clear, that God's commandments are absolutely clear to you. For instance, you become the disciple of somebody and whatever he tells you you obey. But not quite, because there is an inner resistance: 'Why should I do what this man says?' and that inner resistance is overcome by another thought which says, 'If I obey him I will become the leader of his group, I'll become his deputy; therefore when he goes away I will become he, or if I go somewhere else I will be his representative.' Even if these motives are not there, you will at least think, 'If I obey him I will inherit the kingdom of God, eternal Life.' So you are not obeying him, you are only doing what you want to do.
This 'clarity,' this 'obedience,' goes on for some time, but as this obedience flows, or seemingly flows, the ego also builds up, and it builds up one little corner that is non- negotiable: 'These are my Guru's teachings, I am going to obey my Guru and build a set of truths. This package of truths I have inherited.' If they are your truths they will be absolutely clear to you, but they are not, they are too painful. So you don't examine them, they become something like the tumor with the fibrous tissue around, and you keep it there comfortably to use against others.
You started off by saying, 'I must obey this person one hundred percent because he is divine - divine also means light. At some point, however, you tip out of this compromise and you are content with the package of luminous doctrines, but when they are packaged they have become darkness: that which was light has become darkness. You carry a brilliant lamp in your hand, but for fear that it may be hurt by somebody, you put it in a nice tin and then carry it - 'I am carrying my Guru's light.' Of course you are carrying your Guru's light, but it is of no use to you or anyone - it is in darkness.
So, the entire clarity has gone, your obedience has gone and you are merely trying to destroy others. At least if you are selfish enough to see a little bit of light to illumine your own path that would be good; here you are not doing anything.
You started out as a Lucifer, fond of Light, the Image of God, reflecting His glory, love and goodness. Soon all these became a little package of dogma. The dogma contains the light within itself, but with unclarity, because to you this has become a dogma. Why? Because it is not clear to you, and therefore you are not going to spread that light, you are going to use the container of that light to hit other people.
Question: The concept of obedience is exalted in the scriptures. But what does it really mean to the devotee, the inquirer?
Swami: While obeying the Master there must be clarity within. Are you obeying or are you merely thinking that it is good to obey this man?' Then you are obeying yourself, not the Master. That is, while doing whatever you consider to be the right thing in obedience to the Master, there is also a resistance in you. Are you the resistance or are you the obedience? Which one are you?
Every motive is born of resistance. There is a desire or a will to obey and then there is resistance. So you create a reason why, a motive - that is not obedience.
You start off as a Lucifer, wanting to inherit the Light, see the Light, willing to pay any price for this Light, this clarity, from the Master; therefore you are prepared to obey. Then arises this thought: 'My God, this seems to be very difficult, and the end-result is not guaranteed.' Since the Master doesn't guarantee that you'll become enlightened, his successor, is it worthwhile obeying him, or is there a simpler method? Then this rationalization, this motivation gets better understood so the resistance, the impulse to obey and the motivation all churn around within you, and immediately the clarity is gone. The reason to obey is gone, therefore one doesn't even consider that obedience.
In the Yoga Vasistha there is a beautiful expression:
gamyadesaikanisthasya yatha pant hasya padayoh spando vigatasankalpastatha spandasva karmasu (VI.2, 1:15)
'When one has made up his mind to go to a certain Place, his feet function without any mental activity; function like those feet and perform action here.' You have made up your mind to go to the beach, and the feet walk without any further problem. It may be said that your legs obey the intentions of your brain. It is not as if your right leg says, 'Oh no, I would like to stay here' and the left leg says, 'We really must go to the beach' - the whole thing moves without any effort whatsoever. Similarly, is there such an effortless act in strict accordance with the Master's will? We have completely dropped the word 'obedience.' Is there an effortless action in total accord with God's will? What happens to 'me,' the ego?
In this concept of obedience is already built a total inner harmony and integration which is Yoga. You want to do exactly what God or your Master wills, and when there is resistance this light turns full blast upon it and says, 'What on earth are you doing here?' In that light, the resistance dissolves - there is effortless action and therefore motiveless action. Only then does goodness become spontaneous, natural. It is not easy at all. Such obedience is found only in the rarest people, only in the enlightened. People talk about obedience, but obedience in the sense that it has to be imposed, which shows that it is not there.
So, if you are seeking the Light, you must be extremely careful, vigilant and uncompromising. A motivation arises and there is a bit of confusion, but this confusion is not accepted as confusion -it becomes rationalization. It gently pushes a few things into one corner, marked 'not negotiable,' and these non-negotiables become dogma and when dogma arises there is disobedience. This disobedience looks like obedience, has all the trappings of obedience - that is when the Light has become darkness. Similarly, the angel Lucifer suddenly becomes Satan. Lucifer, the Light, turns into darkness when there is this inner confusion, unclarity, and therefore 'obedience' to what one - the ego 'regards' as the Light - that is not the Light. In order to discover that Light, one must continually seek.
It needs tremendous humility to undertake such a search. I saw it only in my guru Swami Sivananda. Searching is humility and a willingness to look at all points of view as possible expressions of truth. You do not reject anything offhand, nor accept anything blindly, but you inquire with respect, with an openness; maybe the light is coming from this direction.
You could present a view diametrically opposed to Swami Sivananda's, he would still sit and lend you a very patient ear and not contradict you at any point. And after all that, he might even give you coffee, fruits, books and so on! On some occasions he would walk back into his room, very grave; and even if he was utterly convinced that you were wrong and he was right, he would contemplate the whole thing, then probably a day or two later he might come and give you some answer.
In order to contemplate all those views there has to be literally nothing of yourself, except as the seeker as such. And the seeker is the light. You cannot see anything without being the light.
This inner light is not something like an external lamp which you can hold in your hand and go - the inner light is you! That is the 'Lucifer' - the spirit of inquiry. Quest and quest and quest, go on questioning, leave nothing unquestioned forever.
This story from Srimad Bhagavatam translated by Swami Venkatesananda draws interesting and valid parallel to the story of the Fall of Lucifer.
The Story of Jaya and Vijaya
The body of all beings is the product of the elements. And through ignorance, the false notions of 'I' and 'mine' are born. Then there arise feelings of pain and pleasure, honor and dishonor, praise and censure, etc. All these are absent in the Lord. Hence, he who fixes his mind on the Lord, whatever may be his intention, earns his grace. Many have become one with him by fixing their mind upon him through love, hate, fear, friendship and devotion. For instance, the gopi attained him through love, Kamsa through fear, Sisupala etc. through hate, and Vrsni by being related to him, you by friendship and we by devotion to him.
One day the sages Sanatkmnara arrived at his abode and sought to enter. The Lord's attendants, Jaya and Vijaya, taking them to be mere boys, prevented them from doing so. The sages thereupon pronounced a curse upon Jaya and Vijaya: 'You have lost your discrimination! Hence you are unfit to be here serving the Lord's lotus feet. Descend as demons.' Later they mitigated the curse by granting: 'You will return to your abode after three incarnations.' Hence they were born as Hiranyaksa and Hiranyakasipu, Ravana and Kumbhakarna, Sisupala and Dantavakra. Purified by their whole-hearted devotion to the Lord through enmity, they have returned to the Lord's abode as his attendants.