Iha and Para

    Our existence on this planet is almost a miracle! It has no logical or rational explanation. Mysteries surround our birth and death. So far, no plausible explanation is forthcoming for our existence. It seems ‘no purpose is served merely eating and sleeping, whiling away time in seeking joy in extraneous things’. Moreover, all our thoughts and actions, attitudes, behaviour, problems of hunger, disease, old age and death are not in our hands. Life is full of and probabilities. Nothing is certain here. What we see and believe may not be true at all! Things have to be seen in the background of an unstable earth, a vast expansive universe that is ever on the move, a universe of no known magnitude or dimension, and of illusory nature bound by Time and Space. In fact, this Time that creates Space by its movement is by itself an illusion! If Time is illusion, the space created by it as well as the objects that fill it and endure are also illusion. Illusion of illusion is delusion. Thus, there is no end to this delusion, ignorance.

    We, as the humans, should realize the fact that we are nothing but specks of dust, star-dust, at tha! These jivas or vibrant life-forms are like sparks of fire flying out of flames. Once we realize ‘who we are’, where do we come from, and where do we go from here when we die, or how we give up one mortal body and take another soon after, the ‘Reality’ dawns on us. We are truly the spiritual entity- the atman, embodied in an earthen shell like a pot made of clay susceptible to leakage and breakage. Symbolically, a pot filled with water is broken at the time of cremation of the dead bodies. This signifies the fact that the inside and the outside separated by an earthen shell is no more, and everything is one! 

    However, the purpose of our existence is yet to be defined. The ancient scriptures are our best guides. But, we neither have the complete texts of these, nor do we ever understand their coded language. The story of the arrival and departure of a jivatman on this planet is narrated here. It is an autobiography of the soul. Thus, the soul only speaks here. It is an intuitional knowledge obtained from parame vyoman in yogic trance.

     This spiritual study, like any other discipline calls for determination, steadfastness, keen interest, focused attention, concerted effort, and serious practice of yoga, and devotion to Guru. There should be a sense of purpose in life in order to attain to the highest level of existence and enjoy supreme bliss that is possible for any human being. Spiritual journey is more arduous than the journey in the material and sensuous world. Material world is also hazardous full of uncertainties, failures, disappointments, disillusionment, and frustrations. It is endless, with countless wants, insatiability, cravings for more and more, and finally, ordained to repeated births and deaths. The spiritual path is no less unpredictable and hazardous- full of unknown twists and turns and glaring mysteries, secrets, and coded secret words (mantra) that may often lead to doubts and disbeliefs, and sudden loss of faith and interest.

   Another hazard of this spiritual journey is that the sadhaka moves slowly away from the lower, ‘here’, the physical, material, concrete, the sensible, logical, rational and sensuous gibbering towards the higher, ‘there’, metaphysical, spiritual, abstract, nonsense, rather senseless(?), and silence. Worldly people are prone to treat this as madness. Most of the teachings of Great Masters are based on these principles and still people run to them! It seems paradoxical that people want solace in times of their distress and look to these renunciates, but do not want to follow their teachings in their daily life! For instance, if one tries to become a Swami Raghavaendra Tirtha, one should strictly follow in his footsteps and take to sanyas at the early age. If one follows his footsteps, the first casualty would be his wife and the next, his mother. As we know, Raghavaendra Swamy’s wife Saraswati Bai committed suicide and mother died in distress. In fact, most of the cases of mystics there are untold misery and sufferings before reaching to higher spiritual power. Moreover, nothing such as success is guaranteed here.

    The teachings of Acharyas like Shankaracharya, Madhava (Vidyaranya), or Badarayana will never be understood unless one experiences the way of life they lived. Shankara experienced untold misery and things have changed over time. It seems thus impossible for a common man to come to spiritual field, adhyatma, giving up the hearth and home, sensuous worldly life. Nobody wants to leave the cosy life of comforts and take to a life f a recluse and severe askesis (tapas). Hathayoga is out of question. Even those who have tried and succeeded to some extent have suddenly fallen from grace!

     What we mostly see around us as spiritual seekers or teachers of yoga are not what they should be, with exception, of course. Self-Realization (Atma sakshatkara) is not easy. Those who have attained to this highest state of spiritual state, pure consciousness, do not have any interest in worldly affairs for they have crossed the Mental-mental state of evolution and have stepped into Spiritual realm (See Aurobindo) after discarding their mundane existence, albeit, they spend time here till they cast off their physical body. They live a life of absolute bliss unaware of the happenings to other earthlings. This should not be construed as a selfish way of life since these blessed souls have been emancipated, redeemed, or liberated! They rejoice in Brahmn consciousness.

   The most important point to be noted here is what Sri Krishnananda, Shivananda Ashrama, Hrishikesh, says: “Nothing that comes from outside is of any help in attaining to the knowledge of the Self.’ thousands of teachers and preachers go on talking and talking without any substance. Many do not know what they are talking about. This can be verified from their life style. If some boast of 50,000 followers, some boast of 400 ashrams all over the world; some say, they have never read a scripture in their life but still talk like, “devil quoting the scriptures’. The truth is very simple: “If i suffer from stomach pain, i only should take the medicine”. Unless i learn to sit in a place for just two minutes a day nothing is possible. The first step is taken when you take a crash course in Transcendental meditation and ashtanga yoga. It must be remembered, the first four steps of Patanjali yoga sutra, such as, yama, niyama, pratyahara, and Ishvara pranidana can never be strictly followed in this life. Nobody can ever attain to the last state of  Samadhi remaining in worldly life lecturing on philosophy and religion. This is the reason why interested persons leave everything and rush to Himalayas and undergo tremendous hardships. We want bed tea and timely breakfast, lunch and dinner and friends to chat, and at the same time aspire for enlightenment! Lo! There are gurujis and swamijis who advice to stay in family and practice yoga. The result is riding two horses (suti and asuti) at the same time. Contemplation, dharana and Samadhi are very important for attainment, atma jnyan and emancipation.

 Hence, one who  is enjoying the material benefits cannot ever think of the supreme bliss that brings eternal peace and happiness without any external support. the paramarthika cannot be attained without giving up the aihika.