God? Goddess? Dog? Siva? Shakti? So, Which Is It?
16/08/09 12:43
GoDog
"The difference between god and dog depends on from which direction one approaches. From the tail or the head." - Anonymous
This post is the result of a discussion between Leila and myself about what God means and the use of gender neutral language on this website. The assertion was that God is seen in the Western mind as this large judgemental male personal deity, and I agree, many people's experience of religion in a Western context can be that.
However, this would then also narrow down the conception into an exclusively Western context- a context that I reject, as a Eastern-oriented person. Also, as a devotee of Sri Durga, a goddess, I wanted to consider all of these topics clearly.
Dog Bishop
Further, it was posited that we would be alienating our yoga students by referring to the divine as any one gender and that the word "God" was male. It was, therefore, a thought to appeal to you; our readers, and students directly- with a view that assumed your ability to intelligently hear our intentions and context as well as give us a good look behind some of the concepts that enable us to steer clear of the many hazards that such a polarizing conversation might offer us.
"His" Grace
You will read on this website some references to "God" which are not in the modern conception of "politically correct (PC)" or appear to be narrow, gender-biased or male-dominate. In general, references like this will be read from the words of Swami Sivananda or his disciples, all of whom were also devout Divine Mother (or Goddess) worshipers.
It may be hard to understand contextually from our modern time, but in general the spiritual culture of that time consisted of almost exclusively male aspirants and Swamis, and thus contributes to such languaging.
Having said this, Swami Sivananda was the very first to intiate a woman into sannayas, the vow that an aspirant must take to become a swami. In this he clearly shows that he's before his time, and if you look at his organization (which is primarily based in a quite traditional Indian culture) there are still mostly male Swamis.
You Really Love Me!
However, the reverse is the case with the Sivananda organization from which I participated, and into which both Shakti and myself are initiated. In my experience, there are many more female monastics than male in the Sivananda ashrams.
The male and female principles of the universe are not seen in the Indian conception as being separate. The original ancient name for Lord Vishnu, who is typically depicted in modern times as a man, was formerly Lakshminarayan- both male (Narayan) and female (Lakshmi). There are many examples of combined deities in Indian iconography/mythology, and thus saying one, the other is implied naturally. We will assume so also here.
The Dangers of PC
Having said this, the impulse toward political correctness is an erroneous one, whereby one person treads water on a sea of eggshells for fear that any slight perturbance could throw off any other person's mind into a problem, an issue, a difficulty, an offense, and so on endlessly.
We have become a culture of people whose minds are predisposed to finding offense at every turn in every possible polarizing perspective. Our minds have been hopelessly accelerated by television and a enormous glut of choices. These factors give rise to a constant validation of likes and dislikes (raga and dwesha) in the minds of people and thus creates a mental predisposition that can be removed with only tremendous difficulty.
It is easy to see this sense of entitlement everyone else (but us) carry around with them as we walk though daily life. Our culture is now full of adaptions to this modern mental defect.
God, on Dog
Words are merely words, they do not hold anything other than the conceptions we choose impart upon them. While we can certainly accept, as a part of the intention of this site, to write things in a gender neutral way, we would not want anyone to be offended by such generic or popularly ill-regarded terms, far from it. It is this post's explicit intention to provide the perspective from which we approach these terms, and reject the popular conceits and concepts often placed upon such words, stating clearly our view.
In spiritual life, we adapt, adjust, accommodate to others. Bearing insult and bearing injury is the highest spiritual practice. Eastern cultures understand this well and this website promotes a useful movement and flow of synergy of these two perspectives. If we are to advocate a middle way in spiritual life, and if that middle way is to do what it promises, it must steer clear of all polarizing conceptions.
So, if we do or do not always step lightly and carefully through the muddy waters of political correctness in our language here, it is because we are relying upon you, the reader, to take a perspective informed by a sincere desire to steer clear of the siren song of polarizing attitudes and take the middle way, with us.
To this end, read on.
The Thing Beyond- Brahman
Friend To All
Brahman
I think it can be fairly said that to refer to a conception of "God" properly, one MUST use a gender neutral language, as the vast thing beyond all descriptions, conceptions, and qualities surely must be free of this conception also. This is why when we refer to a vernacular "God" on this website, it must be taken to mean something quite specific from our perspective, and to mean a concept that is gender neutral.
This conception is based on the ancient one that the ultimate reality called "Brahman". If we say Brahman or if we say God, they are one in the same thing. If we say He or His, this is meant in a friendly manner like referring to a father who provides to us, a family member without whom we would not be, not in a perjorative negative manner like an "Old Boys Club" where only the rich, exclusive, and powerful (men) reside.
ALL these conceptions don't even touch the conception of Brahman in scope, and merely argue for the sake of arguing, or to set one side against the other. No good is done by advancing this polarizing framework, nor does unity occur to distort one's mind in this way. We are all one. Tat Twam Asi, "Thou Art That".
In Dog's Name
Therefore, let us not nitpick each other to death with mere terms, and find out, in person, what is in our hearts and reach across and communicate that with the other, who is really your own Self. To hold a conception in our minds that includes all, even those who would appear to be a subset of some group or another; these groups form at some juncture a part of a larger whole, and so on up the chain beyond even time, space and causation until we experience that which permeates all and yet is beyond all.
It is THIS concept of ourselves as wholeness undivided, this poorna, that drives us to improve ourselves in yoga, which after all means union. Union with what? The individual experiencing itself as a divine wholeness.
So let us see everything in the light of that greatest end, to unite with all mankind, animals, earth, sky, mind and space encompassed toward our next step in a greater wholeness.
Om Shanti,
DurgaDas
Comments
Stupid Religions by OSHO
16/08/09 12:42
I ran across this excellent point by Osho. If you look carefully at what he says, it’s a good point he’s making about both religions and spiritual teachers in general. Trust in your spiritual teachers, but don’t “follow” them. A similar idea is contained in this quote I love by Matsuo Basho: “Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Seek what they sought.”
This is why the Indian conception of “God” contains so many Gods. In truth, there must be at least as many Gods as there are people’s conceptions of “It”.
Trust Is The Bridge Between You and Existence
"I call every organized religion stupid, because true religion can never be organized. True religion is always individual, it has nothing to do with the crowd. A Jesus can be religious but not the Christians. The Christians are only carbon copies. They have forgotten their own originality, their own individuality. Jesus was not following anybody. He was not imitating anybody.
That was his fault, that he did not allow the society to exploit his trust. He did not allow the crowd to reduce him into a false personality. He remained an individual. He risked his life but he did not compromise with the society. It was better to die on the cross than to live as a hypocrite. At least on the cross he was true, authentic -- himself. In the crowd, he would have lived, but not his own life. He would have been a cog in the machine -- without any individuality, without any intelligence of his own, without any realization of truth, significance, beauty and the immense grace of existence.
He could have saved his life but in fact, that would have been crucifixion. He accepted being crucified -- that was saving his life - fearlessly, trusting in existence, without any anger against the crowd. Even at the last moment on the cross, he was praying for the crowd: 'Father, forgive them. They know not what they are doing. They are unconscious people. One cannot expect from unconscious people anything more.'" -Osho
This is why the Indian conception of “God” contains so many Gods. In truth, there must be at least as many Gods as there are people’s conceptions of “It”.
Trust Is The Bridge Between You and Existence
"I call every organized religion stupid, because true religion can never be organized. True religion is always individual, it has nothing to do with the crowd. A Jesus can be religious but not the Christians. The Christians are only carbon copies. They have forgotten their own originality, their own individuality. Jesus was not following anybody. He was not imitating anybody.
That was his fault, that he did not allow the society to exploit his trust. He did not allow the crowd to reduce him into a false personality. He remained an individual. He risked his life but he did not compromise with the society. It was better to die on the cross than to live as a hypocrite. At least on the cross he was true, authentic -- himself. In the crowd, he would have lived, but not his own life. He would have been a cog in the machine -- without any individuality, without any intelligence of his own, without any realization of truth, significance, beauty and the immense grace of existence.
He could have saved his life but in fact, that would have been crucifixion. He accepted being crucified -- that was saving his life - fearlessly, trusting in existence, without any anger against the crowd. Even at the last moment on the cross, he was praying for the crowd: 'Father, forgive them. They know not what they are doing. They are unconscious people. One cannot expect from unconscious people anything more.'" -Osho
Bill Maher, Religulous, Atheism, The Godless, Doubters and Agnostics
01/03/09 16:26
Knowing God
Recently, I came across a quote that summarizes my feeling about spiritual practice and the desire to connect with God in a real and personal way, as well as really speaking out against those who would claim that the ONLY logical conclusion that is rational to conclude is that one CANNOT know God.
"If then you do not make yourself equal to God, you cannot apprehend God; for like is known by like. Leap clear of all that is corporeal, and make yourself grow to a like expanse with that greatness which is beyond all measure; rise up above all time and become eternal; then you will apprehend God. Think that for you too nothing is impossible; deem that you too are immortal, and that you are able to grasp all things in your thought, to know every craft and every science; find yourself home in the haunts of every living creature... but if you shut up your soul in your body, and abase yourself, and say, 'I know nothing, I can do nothing, I am afraid of earth and sea, I cannot mount to Heaven; I do not know what I was, nor what I shall be'; then what have you to do with God? Your thought can grasp nothing beautiful and good; if you cleave to the body and are evil. For it is the height of evil not to know God; but to be capable of knowing God, and to wish and hope you know him, is the road that leads straight to the good; and that is the easy road to travel....for there is nothing that is not God. And you say 'God is invisible?' Speak not so. Who is more manifest than God?" -Hermes Trismegistus
I can understand the problem. Few in modern life has an experience of God. No one has trained us to think in any way except that which serves ‘me’. No one has a moment to spare to explore the mysterious nature of their real selves. Who has time to examine their own nature in silence anymore?
Against Regligulous-ness
In this post, I am wanting to point out some of the difficulty in things like Bill Maher’s perspective in a movie like “Religiulous”. While funny, this funny is pointing out the negative aspects of people who are ignorant. My difficulty with this is that THIS HELPS NO ONE, and is itself hypocritical.
In this film, Bill Maher dresses up as a religious person from the cult of Scientology and espouses their dogma in front of a group of people, as a way to get people thinking about how ridiculous religions are. Pointing out the silliness of Xenu in Scientology, Genesis in the Bible, the fact that Ganesha is a God with an elephant head is like making fun of someone because their name sounds funny; this impulse itself is shallow, ignorant and pointless.
Hypocritical Hypocrisy
I know Bill Maher is thought to be educated, thoughtful and analytical, but he falls into the trap of “prove it”. Nothing is provable to people of this mentality because their perspective itself limits them to seeing only their side, and this one-sided approach itself is what I think he’s protesting with the movie.
I see also that Bill Maher is very like-minded in his thinking with his apparent mentor, Richard Dawkins, who wrote a series of books that essentially leave out all experiences of mystery in life and make huge assumptions and declarations about religions, spiritual traditions, the nature of the cosmos, the mind and so on that are themselves religious in nature, as science is the religion of people like this. It would seem in the estimation of people like this that scientific people believe in the wholesale stupidity of others not like them. I am not sure that this sort of dialogue does anything but polarize debate, and this itself is also as violent as the wars they protest having been fought ‘In The Name of God’, and certainly doesn’t help people feel peaceful or loving toward one another. Witness:
So, if Bill Maher is protesting something, why then do it too? This is the very essence of hypocrisy.
Protests don’t show insight, no matter how persuasive one’s arguments may be in one direction, it doesn’t automatically make them correct. This is also hypocrisy and arguing about the ignorant’s thoughts about something which is beyond their current consciousness, as well as his own.
We see this constantly in movies- the so-called ‘good guy’ doing all sorts of bad things, killing people and so on and he’s cheered on because he’s ‘right’. Does Bill Maher imagine himself in a science vs. religion gunslinger role? Is he the One Who Can Save Us?
Who can be right when violence is the solution to all things? If one uses violent means, then ignorance must be operating behind it. This is the nature of tamas- the veiling power of the mind. This same hypocrisy is done by many and we fight then over who has some sort of infinitely regress-ible “rightness”, which is itself both ignorant and a waste of time- like two children arguing over who
Pointing out stupidity or hypocrisy among followers of different religions or how idiotic people act in relation to religion has a fundamental problem I am protesting: it’s violent, ignorant and misguided. Since the speaker, in this case Bill Maher, is advancing his own agenda that: “it’s impossible to know God, or know if there is a God.” What is this perspective except a wailing lament to ignorance itself for a resolution?
I am feeling you Bill, I spent many years not having a logical way to argue for the existence of God, and I lamented in much the same way as other thinking people. The problem here is that this is a man putting his own personal angst and wailing about his lack of connection with God into sarcasm- which is merely a mask for anger. Anger comes from a desire unfulfilled. What desire could need to be filled for Bill Maher? A real connection with God, aka his own real nature. He sounds really in touch with his intellect, but his intellect is being used by his low mind to arrogate his own agenda and the movie itself is quite one-sided. I am all for debate, but I’d like to see Bill Maher debate with a vedantic scholar!
One can use the intellect, which resides in between the high and low mind. In yoga, one is trained to put the high mind to use taking over the intellect to search logically and emotionally for one’s connection with the mysterious, to use a religion-neutral word. This silence is not proved by something, it merely is. Does one need to prove an obvious fact? I am sure that it doesn’t.
In this case, Bill Maher’s OWN ignorance is being propagated here- his ignorance of God; which, from what I can tell, is exactly what Bill Maher himself is making fun of- ignorance. Still, I protest making fun of the ignorant, as making fun of ignorance just isn’t funny.
Making fun of stupidity IS, because now one can easily play judgmental God, which is what Bill Maher is doing. He can do this completely on his own for the ‘amusement’ of other negative people who are equally ignorant of God (no matter what they SAY they are) and so why does Bill Maher have a need for God, if we can do it on our own? It’s this precise attitude I am working against in this blog post.
Looking Deeper
As I have pointed out in many other articles and blog posts, the REAL problem IS ignorance and the subsequent suffering associated with ignorance. A person without knowledge that cars need oil changes will eventually suffer through an expensive and inconvenient session in gaining that knowledge, as an example.
What we need is a solution to ignorance. The answer to this is not complicated. Every person who would read this has had the experience of moving from lacking understanding or perspective on something and then realizing what the implications or full nature of that thing is. You “get it” (whatever it is) at some point and it makes sense.
In my next article (on the articles page) on The Anatomy of Ignorance, I will talk about the nature of consciousness and how it’s come to in more detail, but suffice it to say that Self-realization is akin to gaining an ‘aha’ experience of the world and one’s Self to an extent that it is never contradicted by ANY subsequent experience. If I am Bill Maher, I would be seeking an experience like that, and not merely just poking fun at those who don’t and therefore exposing myself as someone also without this experience.
What we REALLY want is to experience the fullness of ourselves and others in a way that is not possible to contradict or be wrong. Then when I speak to everyone, I can see clearly what is happening in all situations and circumstances. Advaita Vedanta answers questions precisely like this one in some great detail and using perfect logic, to an extent that someone like Bill Maher simply is not capable of doing.
My Own Time As An Atheist
Now, I was once a devout atheist. I would tell everyone, if they asked me, and I would vehemently deny the existence of God. I see now that my view was ENTIRELY a selfish one: What had God ever done for me? Plus, everyone I knew who was devoted to God seemed judgmental, arrogant, self-righteous and quite loud about it, as if to make up for some lack of REAL feeling or experience of God inside themselves.
What I was REALLY experiencing was a difficulty understanding the ignorance of the people who said they were “God-fearing”, whatever that means. I felt judged on the whole, not listened to. I found myself going to Campus Life meetings with other teenagers trying to grasp the completely foreign idea of why a person would choose to have faith in God, when he was so clearly a vengeful one. I wanted to reconcile my own ideas about what God was with the faith I saw around me. Never was an Eastern perspective on how to become one with God offered to my mind.
During this period, therefore, I rejected religion of every sort as it felt too judgmental, scary and frightful. I think many feel this way about Western religious traditions, and it’s seemed to create a society ripe for more kinds of fear and a continuous ‘lack’ feeling. I also didn’t like feeling this way either, and I have spent now 20 years examining myself and religions, mysticism and esoteric traditions to find my way back to my real Self. I am not yet there, but I did want to speak to this topic because I am seeing movies like “Religulous” coming out making fun outwardly of religions and spirituality in general.
I also bought into this when I was a child during my ‘vengeful atheist’ period when I proclaimed I was an atheist to my father, who said very logically (and so I had to agree with him) “There is no way you can know if there is or isn’t a God, so you must be an agnostic. Atheists KNOW there is no God.” This, on the face of it seems very reasonable and rational logic. I realize now that this is merely a state of mind and from which side one approaches it.
Survival
In an age of excess, we had been schooled to believe that one must survive in a hostile world filled with many imagined fears to supplant REAL ones- supporting one’s self financially, defending one’s self against those who would judge you, put you down, and our emotional competency, patience and abiding nature has gone away. We fill every moment with stimulus- TV, radio, activities so we can meet the expectation of being a “go-getter”. People who are go getters are praised to the skies, and monastic people are denied, debased, and analyzed into irrelevance.
Those who do adopt this survival stance often only have apathy to look to as an alternative to solve their problems, and many of us have tried this. Later this turns into cynicism and self-righteousness and control disease and violence in speech, deeds and internal thoughts. Where is God to be found in such a person’s outlook? The idea that we must be the change we wish to see in the world is one that assumes a great responsibility for one’s actions, thoughts and consequences.
From Many To One
Your ability to survive and acquire things still doesn’t allow for a lack of fear, surrounded by so many possessions. Vedanta argues logically that fear can only come when there are two (getting to two is easy, from there, Pandora’s Box is no longer just a parable). To resolve this one must see everyone as one’s Self. In so doing, one begins on a journey where one can apprehend God.
I love the quote we were often told at the ashram about one of Swami Vishnu-devananda’s favorite examples:
“Sometimes when you go to scratch your head, you poke yourself in the eye. You don’t scream and curse at your hand for poking you in the eye, because you see it to be a part of yourself. If one sees everyone as a part of one’s Self, one cannot be afraid.”
Sure, some of the ‘stories’ of religions are outrageous from a modern perspective and mythologies don’t feel ‘real’ to anyone, except when you see that they in fact parables and lessons. Yet we watch TV, movies and listen to the radio constantly.
Given that these myths were the original TV, then it’s easier to understand where they were coming from. Now we have entirely too many parables and tales coming our way, ALL of which are teaching us some lesson in some form. EVERY TV show is teaching us some moral lesson or another, so what use do we have anymore for religion? When the conclusion of all these TV shows is that vengeance is good, and skill at beating people up, shooting them with a gun and so on is OK, because I am on the side of ‘right’- well this sure sounds like a recipe for millions of people to believe what Western religions have been doing for thousands of years. On the other hand, it also pushes people away, or makes them so cynical they can feel nothing. I think this is where atheism has come from so much in the last years.
My disagreement with this view comes after seeing the amazing and in depth logic on the other side of this picture found in Vedantic literature. There ARE ways one can know of the existence of God, yet the Western vengeful God perspective contains little about how to get there, nor is silence of the mind addressed in any real way. So, steeped in this culture, how am I to find my way to God? In general I will not, or it will take much of my lifetime to get past all the cultural influence enough to form my own identity enough to challenge this widespread perspective.
I am reading a book now by the head of the Vedanta Society of Western Washington- Swami Bhaskarananda. It’s called “From Many to One- Essentials of Vedanta”. This is not close to being my first Vedantic book I have read, but I am always amazed how logically one can argue for the existence of God, and for it’s practical pursuit in silence and meditation.
The intellect is a tool that sits in the middle between the high and low mind. It can be used to justify either position. One position takes you away from your own real nature, and separates you from others. Your habits can free you or keep you bound. We see many who feel restricted by this vengeful perspective and so rage against it, using the very anger (coming from a desire unfulfilled- the desire to attain integrity and oneness) that the misfits in culture have always used. Yet this keeps one angry in a completely ineffective way. One must transcend ignorance to become great and to get one’s needs met for integrity, wholeness and respect. Your intellect can be used for this purpose too- not merely to justify or rationalize one’s conditioning and perspective.
I look forward to your comments and perspectives.
Thanks,
DurgaDas
Recently, I came across a quote that summarizes my feeling about spiritual practice and the desire to connect with God in a real and personal way, as well as really speaking out against those who would claim that the ONLY logical conclusion that is rational to conclude is that one CANNOT know God.
"If then you do not make yourself equal to God, you cannot apprehend God; for like is known by like. Leap clear of all that is corporeal, and make yourself grow to a like expanse with that greatness which is beyond all measure; rise up above all time and become eternal; then you will apprehend God. Think that for you too nothing is impossible; deem that you too are immortal, and that you are able to grasp all things in your thought, to know every craft and every science; find yourself home in the haunts of every living creature... but if you shut up your soul in your body, and abase yourself, and say, 'I know nothing, I can do nothing, I am afraid of earth and sea, I cannot mount to Heaven; I do not know what I was, nor what I shall be'; then what have you to do with God? Your thought can grasp nothing beautiful and good; if you cleave to the body and are evil. For it is the height of evil not to know God; but to be capable of knowing God, and to wish and hope you know him, is the road that leads straight to the good; and that is the easy road to travel....for there is nothing that is not God. And you say 'God is invisible?' Speak not so. Who is more manifest than God?" -Hermes Trismegistus
I can understand the problem. Few in modern life has an experience of God. No one has trained us to think in any way except that which serves ‘me’. No one has a moment to spare to explore the mysterious nature of their real selves. Who has time to examine their own nature in silence anymore?
Against Regligulous-ness
In this post, I am wanting to point out some of the difficulty in things like Bill Maher’s perspective in a movie like “Religiulous”. While funny, this funny is pointing out the negative aspects of people who are ignorant. My difficulty with this is that THIS HELPS NO ONE, and is itself hypocritical.
In this film, Bill Maher dresses up as a religious person from the cult of Scientology and espouses their dogma in front of a group of people, as a way to get people thinking about how ridiculous religions are. Pointing out the silliness of Xenu in Scientology, Genesis in the Bible, the fact that Ganesha is a God with an elephant head is like making fun of someone because their name sounds funny; this impulse itself is shallow, ignorant and pointless.
Hypocritical Hypocrisy
I know Bill Maher is thought to be educated, thoughtful and analytical, but he falls into the trap of “prove it”. Nothing is provable to people of this mentality because their perspective itself limits them to seeing only their side, and this one-sided approach itself is what I think he’s protesting with the movie.
I see also that Bill Maher is very like-minded in his thinking with his apparent mentor, Richard Dawkins, who wrote a series of books that essentially leave out all experiences of mystery in life and make huge assumptions and declarations about religions, spiritual traditions, the nature of the cosmos, the mind and so on that are themselves religious in nature, as science is the religion of people like this. It would seem in the estimation of people like this that scientific people believe in the wholesale stupidity of others not like them. I am not sure that this sort of dialogue does anything but polarize debate, and this itself is also as violent as the wars they protest having been fought ‘In The Name of God’, and certainly doesn’t help people feel peaceful or loving toward one another. Witness:
So, if Bill Maher is protesting something, why then do it too? This is the very essence of hypocrisy.
Protests don’t show insight, no matter how persuasive one’s arguments may be in one direction, it doesn’t automatically make them correct. This is also hypocrisy and arguing about the ignorant’s thoughts about something which is beyond their current consciousness, as well as his own.
We see this constantly in movies- the so-called ‘good guy’ doing all sorts of bad things, killing people and so on and he’s cheered on because he’s ‘right’. Does Bill Maher imagine himself in a science vs. religion gunslinger role? Is he the One Who Can Save Us?
Who can be right when violence is the solution to all things? If one uses violent means, then ignorance must be operating behind it. This is the nature of tamas- the veiling power of the mind. This same hypocrisy is done by many and we fight then over who has some sort of infinitely regress-ible “rightness”, which is itself both ignorant and a waste of time- like two children arguing over who
Pointing out stupidity or hypocrisy among followers of different religions or how idiotic people act in relation to religion has a fundamental problem I am protesting: it’s violent, ignorant and misguided. Since the speaker, in this case Bill Maher, is advancing his own agenda that: “it’s impossible to know God, or know if there is a God.” What is this perspective except a wailing lament to ignorance itself for a resolution?
I am feeling you Bill, I spent many years not having a logical way to argue for the existence of God, and I lamented in much the same way as other thinking people. The problem here is that this is a man putting his own personal angst and wailing about his lack of connection with God into sarcasm- which is merely a mask for anger. Anger comes from a desire unfulfilled. What desire could need to be filled for Bill Maher? A real connection with God, aka his own real nature. He sounds really in touch with his intellect, but his intellect is being used by his low mind to arrogate his own agenda and the movie itself is quite one-sided. I am all for debate, but I’d like to see Bill Maher debate with a vedantic scholar!
One can use the intellect, which resides in between the high and low mind. In yoga, one is trained to put the high mind to use taking over the intellect to search logically and emotionally for one’s connection with the mysterious, to use a religion-neutral word. This silence is not proved by something, it merely is. Does one need to prove an obvious fact? I am sure that it doesn’t.
In this case, Bill Maher’s OWN ignorance is being propagated here- his ignorance of God; which, from what I can tell, is exactly what Bill Maher himself is making fun of- ignorance. Still, I protest making fun of the ignorant, as making fun of ignorance just isn’t funny.
Making fun of stupidity IS, because now one can easily play judgmental God, which is what Bill Maher is doing. He can do this completely on his own for the ‘amusement’ of other negative people who are equally ignorant of God (no matter what they SAY they are) and so why does Bill Maher have a need for God, if we can do it on our own? It’s this precise attitude I am working against in this blog post.
Looking Deeper
As I have pointed out in many other articles and blog posts, the REAL problem IS ignorance and the subsequent suffering associated with ignorance. A person without knowledge that cars need oil changes will eventually suffer through an expensive and inconvenient session in gaining that knowledge, as an example.
What we need is a solution to ignorance. The answer to this is not complicated. Every person who would read this has had the experience of moving from lacking understanding or perspective on something and then realizing what the implications or full nature of that thing is. You “get it” (whatever it is) at some point and it makes sense.
In my next article (on the articles page) on The Anatomy of Ignorance, I will talk about the nature of consciousness and how it’s come to in more detail, but suffice it to say that Self-realization is akin to gaining an ‘aha’ experience of the world and one’s Self to an extent that it is never contradicted by ANY subsequent experience. If I am Bill Maher, I would be seeking an experience like that, and not merely just poking fun at those who don’t and therefore exposing myself as someone also without this experience.
What we REALLY want is to experience the fullness of ourselves and others in a way that is not possible to contradict or be wrong. Then when I speak to everyone, I can see clearly what is happening in all situations and circumstances. Advaita Vedanta answers questions precisely like this one in some great detail and using perfect logic, to an extent that someone like Bill Maher simply is not capable of doing.
My Own Time As An Atheist
Now, I was once a devout atheist. I would tell everyone, if they asked me, and I would vehemently deny the existence of God. I see now that my view was ENTIRELY a selfish one: What had God ever done for me? Plus, everyone I knew who was devoted to God seemed judgmental, arrogant, self-righteous and quite loud about it, as if to make up for some lack of REAL feeling or experience of God inside themselves.
What I was REALLY experiencing was a difficulty understanding the ignorance of the people who said they were “God-fearing”, whatever that means. I felt judged on the whole, not listened to. I found myself going to Campus Life meetings with other teenagers trying to grasp the completely foreign idea of why a person would choose to have faith in God, when he was so clearly a vengeful one. I wanted to reconcile my own ideas about what God was with the faith I saw around me. Never was an Eastern perspective on how to become one with God offered to my mind.
During this period, therefore, I rejected religion of every sort as it felt too judgmental, scary and frightful. I think many feel this way about Western religious traditions, and it’s seemed to create a society ripe for more kinds of fear and a continuous ‘lack’ feeling. I also didn’t like feeling this way either, and I have spent now 20 years examining myself and religions, mysticism and esoteric traditions to find my way back to my real Self. I am not yet there, but I did want to speak to this topic because I am seeing movies like “Religulous” coming out making fun outwardly of religions and spirituality in general.
I also bought into this when I was a child during my ‘vengeful atheist’ period when I proclaimed I was an atheist to my father, who said very logically (and so I had to agree with him) “There is no way you can know if there is or isn’t a God, so you must be an agnostic. Atheists KNOW there is no God.” This, on the face of it seems very reasonable and rational logic. I realize now that this is merely a state of mind and from which side one approaches it.
Survival
In an age of excess, we had been schooled to believe that one must survive in a hostile world filled with many imagined fears to supplant REAL ones- supporting one’s self financially, defending one’s self against those who would judge you, put you down, and our emotional competency, patience and abiding nature has gone away. We fill every moment with stimulus- TV, radio, activities so we can meet the expectation of being a “go-getter”. People who are go getters are praised to the skies, and monastic people are denied, debased, and analyzed into irrelevance.
Those who do adopt this survival stance often only have apathy to look to as an alternative to solve their problems, and many of us have tried this. Later this turns into cynicism and self-righteousness and control disease and violence in speech, deeds and internal thoughts. Where is God to be found in such a person’s outlook? The idea that we must be the change we wish to see in the world is one that assumes a great responsibility for one’s actions, thoughts and consequences.
From Many To One
Your ability to survive and acquire things still doesn’t allow for a lack of fear, surrounded by so many possessions. Vedanta argues logically that fear can only come when there are two (getting to two is easy, from there, Pandora’s Box is no longer just a parable). To resolve this one must see everyone as one’s Self. In so doing, one begins on a journey where one can apprehend God.
I love the quote we were often told at the ashram about one of Swami Vishnu-devananda’s favorite examples:
“Sometimes when you go to scratch your head, you poke yourself in the eye. You don’t scream and curse at your hand for poking you in the eye, because you see it to be a part of yourself. If one sees everyone as a part of one’s Self, one cannot be afraid.”
Sure, some of the ‘stories’ of religions are outrageous from a modern perspective and mythologies don’t feel ‘real’ to anyone, except when you see that they in fact parables and lessons. Yet we watch TV, movies and listen to the radio constantly.
Given that these myths were the original TV, then it’s easier to understand where they were coming from. Now we have entirely too many parables and tales coming our way, ALL of which are teaching us some lesson in some form. EVERY TV show is teaching us some moral lesson or another, so what use do we have anymore for religion? When the conclusion of all these TV shows is that vengeance is good, and skill at beating people up, shooting them with a gun and so on is OK, because I am on the side of ‘right’- well this sure sounds like a recipe for millions of people to believe what Western religions have been doing for thousands of years. On the other hand, it also pushes people away, or makes them so cynical they can feel nothing. I think this is where atheism has come from so much in the last years.
My disagreement with this view comes after seeing the amazing and in depth logic on the other side of this picture found in Vedantic literature. There ARE ways one can know of the existence of God, yet the Western vengeful God perspective contains little about how to get there, nor is silence of the mind addressed in any real way. So, steeped in this culture, how am I to find my way to God? In general I will not, or it will take much of my lifetime to get past all the cultural influence enough to form my own identity enough to challenge this widespread perspective.
I am reading a book now by the head of the Vedanta Society of Western Washington- Swami Bhaskarananda. It’s called “From Many to One- Essentials of Vedanta”. This is not close to being my first Vedantic book I have read, but I am always amazed how logically one can argue for the existence of God, and for it’s practical pursuit in silence and meditation.
The intellect is a tool that sits in the middle between the high and low mind. It can be used to justify either position. One position takes you away from your own real nature, and separates you from others. Your habits can free you or keep you bound. We see many who feel restricted by this vengeful perspective and so rage against it, using the very anger (coming from a desire unfulfilled- the desire to attain integrity and oneness) that the misfits in culture have always used. Yet this keeps one angry in a completely ineffective way. One must transcend ignorance to become great and to get one’s needs met for integrity, wholeness and respect. Your intellect can be used for this purpose too- not merely to justify or rationalize one’s conditioning and perspective.
I look forward to your comments and perspectives.
Thanks,
DurgaDas
Religion & Spirituality
13/02/09 21:06
This Holy Moment
It’s taken an entire life’s practice, much pain and causing of pain throughout. These are the experiences that have stripped me of my pretenses and my self-sabotages. I have gotten in greater touch with the real person who is myself behind the shaming voices of my parents, the culture, and my peers who I see are often as lost as I felt for many years. I would like to be here with you in this recorded moment of writing to honor that in yourself also. Choosing to be here at this precious moment is what is important for me now. At this point in my development, it’s still important for me to share my past as a tool to understand my present. I hope you will join me, here and now.
Scared of Religion
As a 2 year-old child, I was baptized Catholic, and we went often to a Southern Baptist Church; YES, they are as loud as they are reputed to be. When I was two years old- and I think this is my earliest memory- I got scared in a Southern Baptist Church by a man standing up and shouting at the top of his lungs- PRAISE JESUS!!
We lived in a house near a row of Churches in that part of town- maybe a mile or so away. They even had a Campus Life building there at one time, and a man-made pond we used to swim in. Me and my best friend Billy did everything together in that circular neighborhood. I learned to climb trees (and jump off the top of our house), throw a Frisbee, and ride a bicycle at this house. All the houses had a 10 foot grass border around them so you could go anywhere using that, as a kid.
What is amazing is that I still remember the address quite clearly, even though I lived there only the first 3-4 years of my life:
So, we were about a mile away from this house, and I got frightened by this man screaming, so I went home.
Unbeknownst to me, this left the entire congregation looking for me for some hours! According to my mom, they looked for me for quite a long time, and she finally went home to find me there petting the dog, much to her relief. I apparently had no time for her concern.
She says that I apparently looked up at her, serious as anything, and said “Never take me back there.”
It’s very interesting to me that I am so interested in spiritual life and religion as we all feel it was meant to be. I am greatly saddened by the power and control games played by those who are entrusted with our spiritual guidance. At this point in the history of man, it’s unclear which has caused more sadness in the world- religion or political dictators of various sorts.
Freedom
True Religion is about freedom. This is the religion of Swami Sivananda- “I am a true Hindu, a true Sikh, a true Christian, a true Parsee....”
This freedom is won through a cessation of the modifications of the mind, not through repetitions of dogma nor beliefs of various kinds, even though I have them too ingrained in my mind from years in Western culture.
Understanding Ourselves Through Astronomy
It seems clear enough, from factual evidence that much of what we base our religions on is based in seasons, timekeeping, astronomy and eventually astrology. Various political movements, of which Christianity is most popular in the West at the moment, have co-opted the festivals of the pagan religions at the time, and this allowed the acceptance of Catholicism in the Mediterranean countries in power at the time.
Even the story of Jesus has been created from astronomical stories, which are almost universal in nature. In this, the evidence is overwhelming: the birthdate that falls during previously mentioned festivities (aka Winter Solstice), and ‘the three wise men’ (aka the belt of Orion)
and the ‘story’ of the cross (aka: The Northern Cross)
and other such evidence that finds this mythology (derived from astronomy and subsequently astrology) to be almost identical throughout specifically Northern Hemisphere cultures, regardless of origin or influence from outside cultures- Krishna, etc. all have similar birth stories, reincarnation, etc. For a lot of information about the cultural stories about this, just look on the internet. This information is everywhere, like here and here, for example, in far more detail than I could go into here. Many qualified people comment and, I think correctly, rationally examine these questions.
Many myth-busting websites and go into this, and some of the carry on with compelling conspiracy theories of various kinds, and certainly many large and bad things have happened for many, many years under the name of religion. I am not so sure we need to throw the baby out with the bathwater, and abandon the extraordinary aspects of mystical traditions that are founded on direct experience, rather than any external reflection of stars on our minds or what have you.
Contrarian Religion
However, this is not MY conception of religion, nor is it the context upon which anything on this site would comment. Those with triggers around religion- either for it or against it, will find in these words a decidedly contrarian version of religious life. Religion suffers in the popular conception- as does it’s collary aspects:
It is my perspective that any root level spiritual experience MUST be carried on the living backs of monks of every faith and creed, regardless of the factual basis of their beliefs- be it in Jesus, Buddha, Lao Tzu, or Krishna- or less popular or widespread beliefs.
I believe this way because I believe in mystical traditions that put discipline into turning one’s energy INWARD. This is key. No star or planet can inform one’s mind about the freedom needed for real spiritual progress without turning one’s energy inward. In this discipline, we discover our own freedom. Religion serves us mainly to give us tools to understand the divine in others and therefore ourselves- in our own unique way and to help us turn inward.
“Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise men of old. Seek what they sought.” - Matsuo Munefusa (”Basho”)
"No man can reveal to you aught but that which already lies half asleep in the dawning of your knowledge.
The teacher who walks in the shadow of the temple, among his followers, gives not of his wisdom but rather of his faith and his lovingness.
If he is indeed wise he does not bid you enter the house of his wisdom, but rather leads you to the threshold of your own mind."
— Kahlil Gibran (The Prophet)
Again and again we are cautioned in this regard, and yet we are lulled by religiosity and righteousness of those who would control us.
Spirituality and religion are meant to teach us one thing:
How To Control Ourselves.
The Four Paths
There are four fundamental paths to work within, one leading to the other:
Mystic traditions include (and often emphasize) the third and fourth, while often most Western traditions do not, with some minor populations inside the Jewish faith that embrace meditation and mysticism. Notice how we remove in Western culture anything but the pragmatic aspects of the third, however, and turn asanas into mere exercise.
The Unknown Third Level: Meditation
Notably, I have observed the common religious experience among Westerners to be mostly of the first and second aspects, and mostly the next stages are denied, or suppressed in their expression. These first two aspects are often coupled with a judgmental attitude toward someone who cannot embrace selfless service or the prioritization of God over one’s self.
These selfless and devoted attitudes are important, yet one must have tools to overcome the mind’s conditioned insistence on left-brained factual aspects to be able to get to it. Mental silence IS the right brain.
Meditation and it’s precedents- yoga asanas (postures), pranayama (breathing exercises), pratjahara (withdrawal of the senses), and dharana (concentration), can all give this feeling of connected-ness that is more vast than can be explained in words. It is in this unknown (by most) experience that we find out why true religion and it’s traditions points us to this direction.
This is often experienced as a deep pain and aversion toward ANYTHING religious or even too formal or rigid. Again the pervasiveness of media greatly contributes to this, as you can read in Neil Postman’s work: Teaching as a Conserving Activity.
Christianity in particular seems to place a huge emphasis on “I am nothing, Jesus is everything” and “not my will but thy will, My Lord...” attitudes in their devotees. This emphasis can lead to a system of control easily. If one just does actions in service, one’s service can be taken for granted or misused- like in the case of the military, where enormous discipline is applied to turn one into a tool for killing when ordered to do so.
Far from being subordinate attitudes, these second level attitudes are in fact, the easiest way to reach God-understanding in this age we live in. There is not a lot of thinking involved. Consider the case of Brother Lawrence, for example. Yet, over-emphasize it, or speak to a person without a devotional mindset and we have a recipe for someone to leave religion entirely because of the enormous psychic pressure applied.
Speaking for myself, I didn’t have an easy time (as you can tell from my example of my 2 year old mind’s response!) with the Devotion aspect. Those I teach spirituality to often have a similar problem embracing that type of experience. It take a real humility to accomplish, so one must serve selflessly first to begin to shrink the influence of the ego.
Once I found the third level- path of meditation- I knew it was much more appropriate for me, and it gave me enough tools to manage my emotional chaos so I could clearly see my way to serve and be devoted in a way I hadn’t grasped previously.
Of course, there are negative or dark aspects to all four paths, and one must be cautious not to ‘go to the dark side’ with them. Still, if one can train the body and the mind- in the third level- many other benefits that you may have skipped in a reluctance to embrace the first two can begin to reveal aspects of the mind previously hidden to you.
Since many of us by default and cultural misunderstanding find ourselves in the third level by doing physical asanas, it’s important to grasp what context this is in. Raja yoga is the royal road to liberation from the cycle of birth and death- I encourage you- do not bandy this kingly science about lightly or use these skills for trivial ends or selfish means. Religion is designed to provide a context, and a spiritual teacher’s main job is provide context.
The Misunderstood Fourth Level:
Knowledge
From the dictionary:
1. The state or fact of knowing.
2. Familiarity, awareness, or understanding gained through experience or study.
3. The sum or range of what has been perceived, discovered, or learned.
4. Learning; erudition: teachers of great knowledge.
5. Specific information about something.
In Yoga, one is more specific about what one ‘knows’ than in a dictionary. It is expected that one deduces from one’s own experience answers to life’s questions. In yoga, however, knowledge also comes from the study of scriptures and applying what you learn to your life. ONLY then does the experience transform you, and only then can knowledge be truly transmitted. It’s the energy behind your decisions, thoughts, actions and words that is transmitted to people.
Context:
1. The part of a text or statement that surrounds a particular word or passage and determines its meaning.
2. The circumstances in which an event occurs; a setting.
Many in modern life make a mistake to take merely the words of a person- and, thanks to pervasive media influence- often out of context. Anything taken out of context divides us from each other and from ourselves.
Contextualization is the very heart of knowing itself. Only the energy of putting things in context and perspective can transmit learning to someone else. Hardly ever do we talk about teaching and learning as a method of bracketing experience into a context. In this way, if things are taken out of context for a long time, then it becomes merely book knowledge. Often people with a great grasp of the context of things write books that do not impart this kind of knowing unto others, and as a result, their subject is dry and tasteless. Life is not like that- it’s moist and soft, difficult and agonizing. It’s emotional as well as technical where feelings and needs accompany factual information.
It’s often assumed that factual knowledge feeds needs, yet in our method of schooling and interacting these feelings and needs are stripped from what is said or communicated. This is another great reason why ‘knowledge’ is felt often to be so dry.
Looking into the dictionary definition further, I find context to be an amazing word to describe my point. Consider the first part of the definition: “The part of a text or statement that surrounds a particular word or passage and determines its meaning.”
So, if we imagine the fact of modern life being really determined by it’s expression. Through it’s modes of expression we get how we think and feel about ourselves. These thoughts, feelings and needs then get expressed according to our competence at communicating them. If we have been schooled to constantly think of communicating dryly, as I believe we have, through rote memorization and factual regurgitation, we will come to value what has been valued about us- our ability at those things. Punishment and rewards around those dry factual communications will take over our mentality, as I believe it has, and then we will suffer from a lack of connection and a lack of meaning. We will feel separate from ourselves and thus begins a pattern I have talked about before.
Knowing in the context of yoga is far different. It explicitly singles out context and challenges you to find your own context as well. Compassionate Communication helps get us across the gulf between each other to express what is alive in us. What is alive in us is not factual. Any context that doesn’t address the context leaves out a large part of us, and in time we can experience a confusion with how we are being reinforced and how we are feeling and what are needs are.
Religion’s aim is to provide a context for living in connection with one’s True Self. All major religions have at their root an understanding of the human mind designed to relieve the three stresses of life: physical stress, mental stress and spiritual stress. Putting things in context allows one to grasp one’s own way home.
A Child’s Mind
I had no way of understanding this as a child- all I knew was that I was scared. I spent a majority of my life as an atheist. My father would caution me against atheism, saying “you have no way of knowing if there is a God, and therefore, cannot be an atheist.” I took his point to mean that I didn’t recognize a God- in myself or others- and therefore must call myself an agnostic. This was agreeable to me for a time, until I needed a perspective that wasn’t founded in a negative. With this, I began to spend time around people who had a connection to themselves and to others in a profoundly different way.
I had found spiritual life and religion, as I took time to find myself inward. Again, I am using religion in a positive way here. To be clear, ‘Spirituality’ is merely a politically correct term for non-judgemental religious belief. Religion is now clouded in feelings of judgement and ‘the hell that awaits’. Heaven is here and now, no where else. Hell is here and now or not at all. There is no future nor a past, there is only now.
Finding Now
There is a lovely story of a man studying the Hopi language:
Link to the full interview here. Again, in this interview, it’s context that matters.
When one finds now, one finds real religion, real spiritual life, and the source and experience of the mystical traditions stretching back to the beginning of time. What we need is not positive thinking, but right thinking. We need a shift in ourselves to re-contexualize our existence, and meaning automatically follows from it. Living inside meaning is a way I like to describe the feeling I have in my ongoing present.
While some looked outward, many others looked inward. To bridge the gap, many have labored to bring back and preserve much of what was said, observed and experienced by those who lived the calmness of life in true religion. I have gone there later in my life and I can now see clearly the path I took to get here. I enjoy talking about this more than anything else in life, yet I cannot give you my understanding of it. You must find your own.
Stick To It
Be cautious of the internal impulse that allows one to meld every possible spiritual tradition into one- and therefore in practical terms- none. I did this for some time, seeking, seeking, seeking for something that would grab me and allow me to evaluate it according to a list I developed in my logical head about what it “should” look like. This is typically a way to avoid the needed discipline employed by the ego.
Here is a good Q&A from Swami Sivananda about this tendency, couched in a discussion about mantras, but could also be easily applied to any other area of life:
“I know that one should not change one's Mantra, but I have been initiated into a Mantra and since then, I have developed more devotion to a different deity and I feel the vibration of its corresponding Mantra more powerfully. Should I switch anyway?
You are right. One should not switch Mantras. Many meditators share the experience described above. And yet it would be a major mistake to switch Mantras. It is a common mental pattern to get bored with something we have been doing over a long period of time. Everything else seems very new and refreshing in comparison. However, regularity is essential in order to go deeper and deeper in meditation. Switching Mantras every few years or months has been compared to the man who wanted to dig a well in his backyard and kept on digging a new hole, every time it became too hard. At the end the backyard was full of holes and none of the "wells" were deep enough to reach the water.”
This tendency also keeps one separate. I have seen many who do this and turn back at any hint of religious feeling, as the grip of fear is triggered. Look deeper. One must have substantial courage to engage in a religious or spiritual life. To put all one’s moments into a spiritual context is difficult, yet rewarding in ways I hadn’t imagined as a child.
To do so, one must risk being wrong and choose a tradition and stick with it. Develop discrimination about where your fears originate, rather than reflexively ascribing them to your teacher or your chosen tradition.
This is more important than I can express and it’s a first real symptom of one’s ability to control one’s mind. Once this success is with you, it powers many other smaller ones along with it.
There is a tension between controlling one’s Self and being controlled. To walk this fine line takes a keen mind and a patient heart, with a lot of love and support from teachers and people who value religious and spiritual life. Look for this support and you will find it, as I did.
Thanks for your kind attention.
DurgaDas
It’s taken an entire life’s practice, much pain and causing of pain throughout. These are the experiences that have stripped me of my pretenses and my self-sabotages. I have gotten in greater touch with the real person who is myself behind the shaming voices of my parents, the culture, and my peers who I see are often as lost as I felt for many years. I would like to be here with you in this recorded moment of writing to honor that in yourself also. Choosing to be here at this precious moment is what is important for me now. At this point in my development, it’s still important for me to share my past as a tool to understand my present. I hope you will join me, here and now.
Scared of Religion
As a 2 year-old child, I was baptized Catholic, and we went often to a Southern Baptist Church; YES, they are as loud as they are reputed to be. When I was two years old- and I think this is my earliest memory- I got scared in a Southern Baptist Church by a man standing up and shouting at the top of his lungs- PRAISE JESUS!!
We lived in a house near a row of Churches in that part of town- maybe a mile or so away. They even had a Campus Life building there at one time, and a man-made pond we used to swim in. Me and my best friend Billy did everything together in that circular neighborhood. I learned to climb trees (and jump off the top of our house), throw a Frisbee, and ride a bicycle at this house. All the houses had a 10 foot grass border around them so you could go anywhere using that, as a kid.
What is amazing is that I still remember the address quite clearly, even though I lived there only the first 3-4 years of my life:
So, we were about a mile away from this house, and I got frightened by this man screaming, so I went home.
Unbeknownst to me, this left the entire congregation looking for me for some hours! According to my mom, they looked for me for quite a long time, and she finally went home to find me there petting the dog, much to her relief. I apparently had no time for her concern.
She says that I apparently looked up at her, serious as anything, and said “Never take me back there.”
It’s very interesting to me that I am so interested in spiritual life and religion as we all feel it was meant to be. I am greatly saddened by the power and control games played by those who are entrusted with our spiritual guidance. At this point in the history of man, it’s unclear which has caused more sadness in the world- religion or political dictators of various sorts.
Freedom
True Religion is about freedom. This is the religion of Swami Sivananda- “I am a true Hindu, a true Sikh, a true Christian, a true Parsee....”
This freedom is won through a cessation of the modifications of the mind, not through repetitions of dogma nor beliefs of various kinds, even though I have them too ingrained in my mind from years in Western culture.
Understanding Ourselves Through Astronomy
It seems clear enough, from factual evidence that much of what we base our religions on is based in seasons, timekeeping, astronomy and eventually astrology. Various political movements, of which Christianity is most popular in the West at the moment, have co-opted the festivals of the pagan religions at the time, and this allowed the acceptance of Catholicism in the Mediterranean countries in power at the time.
Even the story of Jesus has been created from astronomical stories, which are almost universal in nature. In this, the evidence is overwhelming: the birthdate that falls during previously mentioned festivities (aka Winter Solstice), and ‘the three wise men’ (aka the belt of Orion)
and the ‘story’ of the cross (aka: The Northern Cross)
and other such evidence that finds this mythology (derived from astronomy and subsequently astrology) to be almost identical throughout specifically Northern Hemisphere cultures, regardless of origin or influence from outside cultures- Krishna, etc. all have similar birth stories, reincarnation, etc. For a lot of information about the cultural stories about this, just look on the internet. This information is everywhere, like here and here, for example, in far more detail than I could go into here. Many qualified people comment and, I think correctly, rationally examine these questions.
Many myth-busting websites and go into this, and some of the carry on with compelling conspiracy theories of various kinds, and certainly many large and bad things have happened for many, many years under the name of religion. I am not so sure we need to throw the baby out with the bathwater, and abandon the extraordinary aspects of mystical traditions that are founded on direct experience, rather than any external reflection of stars on our minds or what have you.
Contrarian Religion
However, this is not MY conception of religion, nor is it the context upon which anything on this site would comment. Those with triggers around religion- either for it or against it, will find in these words a decidedly contrarian version of religious life. Religion suffers in the popular conception- as does it’s collary aspects:
- the value of monastic life
- the quality of monastic devotees (both current and former)
- the mentality of monastic devotees (both current and former)
- the relevance of monastic devotees (their perspective is dated)
It is my perspective that any root level spiritual experience MUST be carried on the living backs of monks of every faith and creed, regardless of the factual basis of their beliefs- be it in Jesus, Buddha, Lao Tzu, or Krishna- or less popular or widespread beliefs.
I believe this way because I believe in mystical traditions that put discipline into turning one’s energy INWARD. This is key. No star or planet can inform one’s mind about the freedom needed for real spiritual progress without turning one’s energy inward. In this discipline, we discover our own freedom. Religion serves us mainly to give us tools to understand the divine in others and therefore ourselves- in our own unique way and to help us turn inward.
“Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise men of old. Seek what they sought.” - Matsuo Munefusa (”Basho”)
"No man can reveal to you aught but that which already lies half asleep in the dawning of your knowledge.
The teacher who walks in the shadow of the temple, among his followers, gives not of his wisdom but rather of his faith and his lovingness.
If he is indeed wise he does not bid you enter the house of his wisdom, but rather leads you to the threshold of your own mind."
— Kahlil Gibran (The Prophet)
Again and again we are cautioned in this regard, and yet we are lulled by religiosity and righteousness of those who would control us.
Spirituality and religion are meant to teach us one thing:
How To Control Ourselves.
The Four Paths
There are four fundamental paths to work within, one leading to the other:
- Karma (Action)- Selfless Service
- Bhakti- Devotion
- Raja- Meditation
- Jnana- Knowledge
Mystic traditions include (and often emphasize) the third and fourth, while often most Western traditions do not, with some minor populations inside the Jewish faith that embrace meditation and mysticism. Notice how we remove in Western culture anything but the pragmatic aspects of the third, however, and turn asanas into mere exercise.
The Unknown Third Level: Meditation
Notably, I have observed the common religious experience among Westerners to be mostly of the first and second aspects, and mostly the next stages are denied, or suppressed in their expression. These first two aspects are often coupled with a judgmental attitude toward someone who cannot embrace selfless service or the prioritization of God over one’s self.
These selfless and devoted attitudes are important, yet one must have tools to overcome the mind’s conditioned insistence on left-brained factual aspects to be able to get to it. Mental silence IS the right brain.
Meditation and it’s precedents- yoga asanas (postures), pranayama (breathing exercises), pratjahara (withdrawal of the senses), and dharana (concentration), can all give this feeling of connected-ness that is more vast than can be explained in words. It is in this unknown (by most) experience that we find out why true religion and it’s traditions points us to this direction.
This is often experienced as a deep pain and aversion toward ANYTHING religious or even too formal or rigid. Again the pervasiveness of media greatly contributes to this, as you can read in Neil Postman’s work: Teaching as a Conserving Activity.
Christianity in particular seems to place a huge emphasis on “I am nothing, Jesus is everything” and “not my will but thy will, My Lord...” attitudes in their devotees. This emphasis can lead to a system of control easily. If one just does actions in service, one’s service can be taken for granted or misused- like in the case of the military, where enormous discipline is applied to turn one into a tool for killing when ordered to do so.
Far from being subordinate attitudes, these second level attitudes are in fact, the easiest way to reach God-understanding in this age we live in. There is not a lot of thinking involved. Consider the case of Brother Lawrence, for example. Yet, over-emphasize it, or speak to a person without a devotional mindset and we have a recipe for someone to leave religion entirely because of the enormous psychic pressure applied.
Speaking for myself, I didn’t have an easy time (as you can tell from my example of my 2 year old mind’s response!) with the Devotion aspect. Those I teach spirituality to often have a similar problem embracing that type of experience. It take a real humility to accomplish, so one must serve selflessly first to begin to shrink the influence of the ego.
Once I found the third level- path of meditation- I knew it was much more appropriate for me, and it gave me enough tools to manage my emotional chaos so I could clearly see my way to serve and be devoted in a way I hadn’t grasped previously.
Of course, there are negative or dark aspects to all four paths, and one must be cautious not to ‘go to the dark side’ with them. Still, if one can train the body and the mind- in the third level- many other benefits that you may have skipped in a reluctance to embrace the first two can begin to reveal aspects of the mind previously hidden to you.
Since many of us by default and cultural misunderstanding find ourselves in the third level by doing physical asanas, it’s important to grasp what context this is in. Raja yoga is the royal road to liberation from the cycle of birth and death- I encourage you- do not bandy this kingly science about lightly or use these skills for trivial ends or selfish means. Religion is designed to provide a context, and a spiritual teacher’s main job is provide context.
The Misunderstood Fourth Level:
Knowledge
From the dictionary:
1. The state or fact of knowing.
2. Familiarity, awareness, or understanding gained through experience or study.
3. The sum or range of what has been perceived, discovered, or learned.
4. Learning; erudition: teachers of great knowledge.
5. Specific information about something.
In Yoga, one is more specific about what one ‘knows’ than in a dictionary. It is expected that one deduces from one’s own experience answers to life’s questions. In yoga, however, knowledge also comes from the study of scriptures and applying what you learn to your life. ONLY then does the experience transform you, and only then can knowledge be truly transmitted. It’s the energy behind your decisions, thoughts, actions and words that is transmitted to people.
Context:
1. The part of a text or statement that surrounds a particular word or passage and determines its meaning.
2. The circumstances in which an event occurs; a setting.
Many in modern life make a mistake to take merely the words of a person- and, thanks to pervasive media influence- often out of context. Anything taken out of context divides us from each other and from ourselves.
Contextualization is the very heart of knowing itself. Only the energy of putting things in context and perspective can transmit learning to someone else. Hardly ever do we talk about teaching and learning as a method of bracketing experience into a context. In this way, if things are taken out of context for a long time, then it becomes merely book knowledge. Often people with a great grasp of the context of things write books that do not impart this kind of knowing unto others, and as a result, their subject is dry and tasteless. Life is not like that- it’s moist and soft, difficult and agonizing. It’s emotional as well as technical where feelings and needs accompany factual information.
It’s often assumed that factual knowledge feeds needs, yet in our method of schooling and interacting these feelings and needs are stripped from what is said or communicated. This is another great reason why ‘knowledge’ is felt often to be so dry.
Looking into the dictionary definition further, I find context to be an amazing word to describe my point. Consider the first part of the definition: “The part of a text or statement that surrounds a particular word or passage and determines its meaning.”
So, if we imagine the fact of modern life being really determined by it’s expression. Through it’s modes of expression we get how we think and feel about ourselves. These thoughts, feelings and needs then get expressed according to our competence at communicating them. If we have been schooled to constantly think of communicating dryly, as I believe we have, through rote memorization and factual regurgitation, we will come to value what has been valued about us- our ability at those things. Punishment and rewards around those dry factual communications will take over our mentality, as I believe it has, and then we will suffer from a lack of connection and a lack of meaning. We will feel separate from ourselves and thus begins a pattern I have talked about before.
Knowing in the context of yoga is far different. It explicitly singles out context and challenges you to find your own context as well. Compassionate Communication helps get us across the gulf between each other to express what is alive in us. What is alive in us is not factual. Any context that doesn’t address the context leaves out a large part of us, and in time we can experience a confusion with how we are being reinforced and how we are feeling and what are needs are.
Religion’s aim is to provide a context for living in connection with one’s True Self. All major religions have at their root an understanding of the human mind designed to relieve the three stresses of life: physical stress, mental stress and spiritual stress. Putting things in context allows one to grasp one’s own way home.
A Child’s Mind
I had no way of understanding this as a child- all I knew was that I was scared. I spent a majority of my life as an atheist. My father would caution me against atheism, saying “you have no way of knowing if there is a God, and therefore, cannot be an atheist.” I took his point to mean that I didn’t recognize a God- in myself or others- and therefore must call myself an agnostic. This was agreeable to me for a time, until I needed a perspective that wasn’t founded in a negative. With this, I began to spend time around people who had a connection to themselves and to others in a profoundly different way.
I had found spiritual life and religion, as I took time to find myself inward. Again, I am using religion in a positive way here. To be clear, ‘Spirituality’ is merely a politically correct term for non-judgemental religious belief. Religion is now clouded in feelings of judgement and ‘the hell that awaits’. Heaven is here and now, no where else. Hell is here and now or not at all. There is no future nor a past, there is only now.
Finding Now
There is a lovely story of a man studying the Hopi language:
Link to the full interview here. Again, in this interview, it’s context that matters.
When one finds now, one finds real religion, real spiritual life, and the source and experience of the mystical traditions stretching back to the beginning of time. What we need is not positive thinking, but right thinking. We need a shift in ourselves to re-contexualize our existence, and meaning automatically follows from it. Living inside meaning is a way I like to describe the feeling I have in my ongoing present.
While some looked outward, many others looked inward. To bridge the gap, many have labored to bring back and preserve much of what was said, observed and experienced by those who lived the calmness of life in true religion. I have gone there later in my life and I can now see clearly the path I took to get here. I enjoy talking about this more than anything else in life, yet I cannot give you my understanding of it. You must find your own.
Stick To It
Be cautious of the internal impulse that allows one to meld every possible spiritual tradition into one- and therefore in practical terms- none. I did this for some time, seeking, seeking, seeking for something that would grab me and allow me to evaluate it according to a list I developed in my logical head about what it “should” look like. This is typically a way to avoid the needed discipline employed by the ego.
Here is a good Q&A from Swami Sivananda about this tendency, couched in a discussion about mantras, but could also be easily applied to any other area of life:
“I know that one should not change one's Mantra, but I have been initiated into a Mantra and since then, I have developed more devotion to a different deity and I feel the vibration of its corresponding Mantra more powerfully. Should I switch anyway?
You are right. One should not switch Mantras. Many meditators share the experience described above. And yet it would be a major mistake to switch Mantras. It is a common mental pattern to get bored with something we have been doing over a long period of time. Everything else seems very new and refreshing in comparison. However, regularity is essential in order to go deeper and deeper in meditation. Switching Mantras every few years or months has been compared to the man who wanted to dig a well in his backyard and kept on digging a new hole, every time it became too hard. At the end the backyard was full of holes and none of the "wells" were deep enough to reach the water.”
This tendency also keeps one separate. I have seen many who do this and turn back at any hint of religious feeling, as the grip of fear is triggered. Look deeper. One must have substantial courage to engage in a religious or spiritual life. To put all one’s moments into a spiritual context is difficult, yet rewarding in ways I hadn’t imagined as a child.
To do so, one must risk being wrong and choose a tradition and stick with it. Develop discrimination about where your fears originate, rather than reflexively ascribing them to your teacher or your chosen tradition.
This is more important than I can express and it’s a first real symptom of one’s ability to control one’s mind. Once this success is with you, it powers many other smaller ones along with it.
There is a tension between controlling one’s Self and being controlled. To walk this fine line takes a keen mind and a patient heart, with a lot of love and support from teachers and people who value religious and spiritual life. Look for this support and you will find it, as I did.
Thanks for your kind attention.
DurgaDas
What is True Religion? by Swami Sivananda
03/01/09 15:13
Thanks to Ganesha on Facebook for this one;
by H.H. Swami Sivananda, pictured below:
Not by mere argument or discussion can religion be taught. Not by precepts or moral canons alone can you convert a person to be religious. Not by point to your loads of sacred literature or miracles of your Chief can an aspirant be won over. Practise religion and live up to its teachings if you want to evolve and attain the Goal of Life. Whatever be your religion, whosoever your prophet, whichever be your language and country, whatever be your age or sex, you can easily grow if you know the way to crush the ego, to destroy the lower nature of the mind and to have mastery over your body, senses and mind. This is what I have found out to be the way for real Peace and bliss eternal. Therefore I do not try to convince people by heated debates and arguments.
Real Religion is Religion of the heart. The heart must be purified first. Truth, love and purity are the basis of real religion. Conquest of the lower nature of man, control of the mind, cultivation of virtues, service of humanity, goodwill, fellowship and mutual amity, constitute the fundamentals of true religion. These ideals are included in the mottoes of the Divine Life Society. I am very particular in propagating these ideals on a wide scale. I do not waste time in finding out suitable authoritative statements from scriptures to satisfy the curiosity of aspirants. I lead a practical life and try to be an example to the students for moulding their lives. Know that true religion begins when you go above body-conciousness. The essence of the teachings of all sages and saints, the fundamentals of all religions and cults, are the same. People needlessly fight over non-essentials and miss the Goal.
May the Divine Life Movement, the harbinger of peace, harmony and exalted life shed its lustre and glory throughout the world.
Om Shanti,
DurgaDas
by H.H. Swami Sivananda, pictured below:
Not by mere argument or discussion can religion be taught. Not by precepts or moral canons alone can you convert a person to be religious. Not by point to your loads of sacred literature or miracles of your Chief can an aspirant be won over. Practise religion and live up to its teachings if you want to evolve and attain the Goal of Life. Whatever be your religion, whosoever your prophet, whichever be your language and country, whatever be your age or sex, you can easily grow if you know the way to crush the ego, to destroy the lower nature of the mind and to have mastery over your body, senses and mind. This is what I have found out to be the way for real Peace and bliss eternal. Therefore I do not try to convince people by heated debates and arguments.
Real Religion is Religion of the heart. The heart must be purified first. Truth, love and purity are the basis of real religion. Conquest of the lower nature of man, control of the mind, cultivation of virtues, service of humanity, goodwill, fellowship and mutual amity, constitute the fundamentals of true religion. These ideals are included in the mottoes of the Divine Life Society. I am very particular in propagating these ideals on a wide scale. I do not waste time in finding out suitable authoritative statements from scriptures to satisfy the curiosity of aspirants. I lead a practical life and try to be an example to the students for moulding their lives. Know that true religion begins when you go above body-conciousness. The essence of the teachings of all sages and saints, the fundamentals of all religions and cults, are the same. People needlessly fight over non-essentials and miss the Goal.
May the Divine Life Movement, the harbinger of peace, harmony and exalted life shed its lustre and glory throughout the world.
Om Shanti,
DurgaDas