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Resetting The Compass

It should be clear by now that it is the limitations of our senses and the resulting wrongful identification with this false reality, and what we incorrectly consider to be “ourselves”, that prevents us from seeing beyond this illusory plane of existence (called “the illusion of maya” by the Hindu philosophers), and knowing firsthand a more substantial form of reality.  As we shall soon see, it actually goes beyond that...because of our false sense that this illusion is reality, and this reality is all we know, we inexorably become *attached* to this physical game our senses play, making it quite difficult to break free,   

Furthermore, we now have a pretty good picture of the cosmos, and humankind’s place in it.  We can see that everything can be arranged in a long chain, from matter at the bottom to energy/spirit at the top – with human beings, composed of both, between.  We are blessed with a higher consciousness than animals and plants, but perhaps not as much as those beings who may lie above us but cannot be seen for the same reason. 

If we are indeed locked into this illusion of maya because we identify ourselves with the “self” that experiences the physical plane, but which is simply a temporary manifestation of that plane, then it seems obvious that in order to escape this situation we need to discover our true "Self" (note the use of a capital "S" here) .  

How do we go about doing that??  Apparently, we need to go back to what was said at the beginning about looking within,  Here is a clue: look for something eternal and unchanging!!

If our true Self is not the body, nor the mind, nor the self that is created when energy/spirit is united with our physical bodies, it therefore must be the only other thing present: a spark of that pure energy/spirit itself.  And this is exactly identical to Plato's eternal and unchanging Highest Good, as well as what we earlier called "the essence of life" itself.

“There is no reality except the one contained within us. That is why so many people live such an unreal life. They take the images outside of them for reality and never allow the world within to assert itself.” ― Hermann Hesse, Steppenwolf

Now, it is not sufficient just to believe this logic may have merit.  One must experience reality themselves in order to truly know it completely.  Don't just take someone else's word for it - especially mine!!  Believe me, I do not claim to be "there" yet - only heading in that direction. 

Like the numerous spokes of a wheel that all lead to the hub, there are many ways to do this.  Some have discovered true reality through psychotropic substances, some through rituals based on the Kabbalah, some are given mystical visions - some, like the whirling dervishes, achieve it through dance!!  But my path - especially because it appears that I was guided in this direction, but also because it resonates within my very soul and certain experiences along the way seem to confirm it for me - is through the eastern philosophies.

Note that the use of the word "God" in the passage below does not have the same connotations as it does in the West.  It stems from the belief that the ultimate reality is satchitananda, meaning "being, consciousness, bliss", because it would not be the Highest Good if it did not actually exist, and it is deemed to be the culmination of all consciousness, as I have previously argued (i.e. where on the chain of being does consciousness stop if it does not continue all the way to the top).  But, like the Taoists who say "that which can be told is not the eternal Tao", the highest concept of reality is also featureless and beyond all form.  Therefore, satchitananda is actually not held to be characteristics of any "entity" - which is considered to be the eternal subject without object - but it simply describes its "essence".  However, the reader may feel free to substitute the word "pure energy", or some other term, that fits their perspective. 

According to Swami Prabhavananda in Spiritual Heritage of India:

"(T)he word darshana, which is usually translated 'philosophy', means in Sanskrit "seeing or experience". From this we may gather that Indian philosophy is not merely metaphysical speculation, but has its foundation in immediate perception.  God and the soul are regarded by the Hindu mind, not as concepts, speculative and problematical, as is the case in Western philosophy, but as things directly known. They can be experienced not merely by a chosen few, but, under right conditions, by all humanity...

This perception, it must be made clear, is not of the senses, nor must it be confused with the operations of the intellect, nor of the emotions; it is super-sensuous, transcendental - something not to be fully explained in rational terms. The Mandukya Upanisad speaks of three states of consciousness - waking, dreaming, and dreamless sleep.  These are common to all men.  In addition, there is Turiya (The Fourth), the transcendental state - known also as samadhi - which may be described as the ultimate consciousness. Though it is realizable by all men, they do not experience it in their spiritually ignorant condition. Indian philosophers call the transcendental state by various names, but all of the names unmistakably point to the same concept...

The Hindu, however, is careful not to confuse reveries, dreams, hallucinations, and hypnotic spells with transcendental experience.  Before a state is recognized as genuinely transcendental, it must pass certain tests.

First, the revelation it brings must be...something which is otherwise unknown and unknowable. The transcendental revelation is therefore not a revelation of things or truths normally perceived or generally known, nor of truths capable of ordinary perception or of apprehension through the ordinary instruments of knowledge. And yet it must be universally understandable in relation to human experience, and must be communicable to us in human terms.

Second, the truth it reveals must not contradict other truths. It is necessarily beyond and above reason, but it must not contradict reason."

The Upanishads are texts that were added to the original Hindu scriptures, the Vedas, at a point in time when it was realized that the numerous "gods" of the Vedas were simply manifestations of a single ultimate Being, and rituals were thereafter internalized through meditation instead.  These marked the beginning of the yogic tradition, and what is referred to as the Vedantic (i.e. after the Vedas) period which is the one that I identify with and will be discussing further on another page.

These sacred texts also emphasize that "moksha", or the attainment of freedom from the limitations and sufferings of physical life, is the supreme aspiration of all Indian philosophy.  

Shankara, a sage of the Vedantic persuasion, speaking on this, says "A man is born not to desire enjoyments in the world of the senses, but to realize the bliss of jivanmukti [liberation while living]" and "Blessed is he who attains illumination in this very life; for a man not to do so is his greatest calamity."

Swami Prabhavananda tells us that this ideal is reiterated throughout the Upanishads.  But in these same scriptures it is pointed out that:

"(I)f a man fails to attain the supreme goal in this life he can attain it in some other life, for he will be given unlimited opportunities, by rebirths, to reach the goal of perfection. The failure to attain direct experience of the truth, and consequently of freedom, is due to man's spiritual ignorance, which is all but universal, and which forms the chief cause of sin and suffering. It can be dispelled by direct knowledge of ultimate truth obtained through purification of the heart, and through a constant striving for detachment of the soul from worldly desires. By transcending the limitations of the body, the mind, and the senses, one may enter the superconscious state."

The logic behind the belief in rebirth will be outlined later. The question now is, if one were to choose the path of eastern wisdom, then how would they proceed from here??

"The methods of attaining this highest state of consciousness are hearing about, reasoning about, and meditating upon the ultimate reality. One must first hear about it from the Sruti (i.e. scriptures), or Vedas, and from the lips of a guru, an illumined teacher. Then one must reason about it. Finally comes meditation upon it in order to realize the truth for oneself.  Different schools offer different methods of attaining the same goal, but all agree in recommending the practice of yoga, or the exercises prescribed in the art of concentration and meditation. To tread the path of philosophy is to seek after truth and follow a way of life."

But before a sadhu sets out on the quest after truth (his sadhana), he must fulfil certain conditions. Shankara sums them up as follows:

• First, there must be discrimination between the real and the unreal.  This statement means, not that a man must possess complete knowledge of absolute reality, which is attained only after long practice of meditation, but that he must unfailingly subject the nature of things to a rigid analysis by discriminating between what is transitory and what is abiding, or between what is true and what is false.
   
•  The second condition is detachment from the selfish enjoyments of life.  The aspirant must learn that the highest good is realized not through worldly pleasure, but through a continuous search for the infinite, the enduring joy.  This ideal of renunciation must be realized by a gradual purification of the seeker's heart and mind.
  
  Deliverance from spiritual darkness, entrance upon the path of illumination, comes only through annihilation of the false ego.
    
• A third condition is that the student must acquire tranquility of mind, self-control, patience, poise, burning faith in things of the spirit, and self-surrender. These are called the six treasures of life. 
   
• The thirst for moksha, or release, is the fourth condition.

The reasoning behind the second and third points is that one cannot see one's own true reflection in the waters of the mind until the waves are calmed enough that they become a mirror-like surface.

Kalidasa, the great Hindu poet and dramatist, has beautifully expressed these requirements. He says that the ideal of renunciation consists in owning the whole world while disowning one's own self. 

Radhakrishna likewise points out that we must sit in a boat on the water without letting any of the water into the boat.

Once again, we are informed by Swami Prabhavananda:

"To the Hindu mind, psychology has its inception in the thinking self and not in the objects of thought. It is not content with merely observing the workings of the mind in the normal planes of consciousness, as is the case with the modern system called behaviorism, but points out how the mind ranges beyond the conscious plane of psychic activity, and how the resulting experience is even more real than experience of the objective world. It differs also from the psychoanalysis of Freud, in that, though it accepts the subconscious mind, it holds that man is capable of controlling its impressions as well as those of his conscious mind, and of attaining to the superconscious state, which no school of Western psychology has yet taken into consideration.  By teaching the normal mind methods of restraining its own vagaries, with the aim of gaining supreme mastery over itself, and of ultimately rising above itself, Indian philosophy distinguishes its beliefs from those of all other known systems of philosophy or psychology.  The Yoga system of Patanjali deals specifically with the process of mind control."

The yogic path has numerous tools at the disposal of a persistent sadhu (3): bhakti yoga, karma yoga, jnana yoga, raja yoga, hatha yoga, kundalini yoga, tantric yoga, kriya yoga, as well as the Sutras of Patanjali and other sacred texts such as the Bhagavad Gita and the Upanishads for example.  These are all beyond the scope of this paper, but will get added to my web site as it is eventually expanded.  Meanwhile, books on these are all available through the Ramakrishna-Vivekanda Center and elsewhere.

I will be including a good measure of them on my Eastern Wisdom pages.

A quite interesting and enlightening summary of the above may be found on the Be Here Now podcast, episode 7.

I promised that this story would connect my spiritual roots to the branches of my tree of life.  And so this shall be the topic of the final two chapters of this treatise. 

Select "Next Page" to continue.
 

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(3) From the Sanskrit root sadh, which means “make straight,” or “reach one's goal,” the term sadhu refers to a mendicant, ascetic, or any holy person within Hinduism who has renounced all earthly attachments with the unswerving objective of connecting to the Divine. 

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This page was last updated on February 12, 2023

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