Brahmacharya, Happiness, Celibacy, Ananda

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Hari Om Fellow Sadhus....

 

Please bare with me regarding this post, it will surely be rewarding.

I have sort to address each concept of the subject line individually.

 

with love and respect

 

bindu

-

 

Brahmacharya:

True Brahmacharya is acceptance of the omnipresence of Hari, it is to

realize, that all that is knowable or unknowable is also the same

Hari. After all doesn't sri-Krishna say he is all that exists? Here

is a poem about him.

 

Where Can I Go?

 

Oh Krishna, where can I go

but into the heart of you?

where does anywhere exist but in you?

who am I ... but for you ?

it is only because of you that I exist

I am yours . of myself ..... I am not

 

Oh Krishna what was I before this ?

before I knew you

before my heart who am I?

When the over-bright wonder

of my soul shines forth who will deny you?

 

Oh Krishna

You are my very self

of myself ..... I am not -

I reach the soul of you and find -

not myself but you - nothing but you

everywhere everywhere..... nothing but you!

 

Oh Krishna, fair sun of truth

this soul which you have given me

is nothing but your own

through it I live, through it I love

by it am I lifted to you

oh Krishna, Dear Krishna.

-----------

 

Happiness:

The nature of the Consciousness, is to seek itself which is happiness

or ananda. Seeking for emotional or psychological gratification

through action or doership which seeks results of actions is not

ananda, it is pleasure and happiness. Neither happiness nor pleasure

is or can be compared to ananda, rather ananda is the transcendental

joy of The-Lord-in-himself.

 

Here is included an Excerpt From Sri-Jnaneshwar - - The first

chapter in the book Amritanubhava or The Nectar of Self Awarness

 

 

 

The Union Of Shiva and

Shakti

 

 

I offer obeisance to the God and Goddess,

The limitless primal parents of the universe.

 

The lover, out of boundless love,

Has become the beloved.

Both are made of the same substance

And share the same food.

 

Out of love for each other, they merge.

And again they separate for the pleasure of being two.

 

They are not entirely the same

Nor are they not the same.

We cannot say what they really are.

 

Their one great desire is to enjoy themselves.

Yet they never allow their unity to be disturbed

Even as a joke.

 

They are so averse to separation

That even their child, the universe,

Does not disturb their union.

 

Though they percieve the universe

Of inanimate and animate creation

Emanating from themselves,

They do not recognize a third.

 

They sit together on the same ground,

Wearing the same garment of light.

>From time past rememberance they have lived thus

United in bliss.

 

Difference itself merged in their sweet union

When, seeing their intimacy,

It could find no duality to enjoy.

 

Because of God, the Goddess exists,

And without Her, He is not.

They exist only because of each other.

 

How sweet is their union!

The whole world is too small to contain them,

Yet they live happily in the smallest particle.

 

They regard each other as their own Self,

And neither creates so much as a blade

Of grass without the other.

 

These two are the only ones

Who dwell in this home called the universe.

When the Master stays awake,

And performs the function of both.

 

When He awakes, the whole house disappears,

And nothing is left.

 

They became two for the purpose of diversity;

And both are seeking each other

For the purpose of becoming One.

 

Each is an object to the other.

And both are subjects to each other.

Only when together do they enjoy happiness.

 

It is Shiva alone who lives in all forms;

He is both the male and the female.

It is because of the union of these two halves

That the whole universe exists.

 

Two lutes - - one note.

Two flowers - - one fragrance.

Two lamps - - one light.

 

Two lips - - one word.

Two eyes - - one sight.

These two - - one universe.

 

Though manifesting duality,

These two - - the eternal pair - -

Are eating from the same dish.

 

The Shakti, endowed with chastity and fidelity,

Cannot live without Her Lord.

And without Her,

The Doer - of - all cannot be.

 

Since He appears because of Her,

And She exists because of Her Lord,

The two cannot be distinguished at all.

 

Sugar and its sweetness

Cannot be told apart,

Nor camphor and its fragrance.

 

If we have the flames,

We have also the fire.

If we catch hold of Shakti,

We have Shiva as well.

 

The Sun appears to shine because of its rays - -

But the rays themselves are produced by the Sun

In fact, that glorious Sun and its shining

Are the same.

 

To have a reflection, one must have an object.

If we see a reflection, then we infer that

An object exists.

Likewise, the supreme Reality which is One

Appears to be two.

 

Through Her,

The absolute Void became the primal Person;

And She derived Her existence from Her Lord.

 

Shiva formed His beloved Himself;

And without Her presence,

No person exists.

 

Because of Her form,

God is seen in the world.

Yet it was he

Who created Her form of himself.

 

Embarrassed by Her formless Husband

And Her own graceful form,

She adorned Him with a universe

Of myriad names and forms.

 

In unity, there is little to behold.

But She, of good fortune,

Brought forth the world as a play.

 

She made evident the glory of Her Lord

By spreading out Her own body - form.

And He made Her famous by concealing Himself.

 

He takes the role of Witness

Out of love of watching Her.

But if He cannot see Her,

He abandons Himself as well.

 

Because of Her,

He assumes the form of the Universe.

Without Her,

He is left naked.

 

Although He is manifest,

He cannot be seen.

It is only by Her grace

That he appears as universal form.

 

When He is awakened by Her,

Shiva perceives the world.

Then He enjoys this dish She serves,

As well as She who serves.

 

While He sleeps, She gives birth

To the animate and inanimate worlds.

When She rests,

Her husband disappears.

 

When He conceals Himself,

He cannot be discovered without Her grace.

They are as mirrors, each to the other.

 

When He embraces Her,

It is His own bliss that Shiva enjoys.

He is the Enjoyer of everything,

But there is no enjoyment without Her.

 

She is His form,

But Her beauty comes from Him.

By their intermingling,

They are together enjoying this feast.

 

Shiva and Shakti are the same,

Like air and its motion,

Or gold and its lustre.

 

Fragrance cannot be separated from musk,

Nor heat from fire;

Neither can Shakti be separated from Shiva.

 

If night and day were to approach the Sun,

Both would disappear.

In the same way, their duality would vanish

If their essential Unity were seen.

 

In fact,

Shiva and Shakti are ever averse

To the primal unitive state

>From which AUM emanates.

 

Jnanadev says,

"I honor the primal pair of Shiva and Shakti

Who, by partaking of the sweet dish of name and form,

Shed light on the Essence which supports them."

 

Embracing each other, they merge into one,

As darkness and light at the breaking of dawn.

 

All levels of speech, from Para to Vaikari (1)

Merge into silence

When their true nature is realized,

Just as the ocean and the Ganges both merge

Into the primal waters When the time of Dissolution comes.

 

The air along with its motion merges

Into the universal air;

The Sun along with its brilliance merges

In the elemental fire at that time.

 

Likewise, while attempting

To see Shiva and Shakti,

Both the seer and his vision disappear.

Again and again I offer salutations

To that universal pair.

 

They are like a stream of knowledge

>From which a knower cannot drink

Unless he gives up himself.

 

When such is the case,

If I remain separate in order to honor them,

It is only a pretended separation.

 

My homage is like that

Of a golden ornament

Worshipping gold.

 

When my tongue says the word, 'tongue',

Is there any difference between the

Organ which utters the word

And the object it represents?

 

Although the names, 'Ganges' and 'Ocean' are different,

When they commingle,

Are their waters not the same?

 

The Sun is both the source

And the object of illumination;

Still it is only one.

 

If moonlight illumines the moon,

Or if a lamp is revealed by the light of itself,

Is there any separation here?

 

When the lustre of a pearl

Plays upon itself,

It only enhances itself.

 

Is the sound of AUM divided into three

Simply becuase it contains three letters?

Or is the letter 'N' divided into three

Because of the three lines by which it is formed?

 

So long as Unity is undisturbed,

And a graceful pleasure is thereby derived,

Why should not the water find delight

In the floral fragrance of its rippled surface?

 

It is in this manner I bow

To the inseparable Shiva and Shakti.

 

A reflected image merges with its object

When the mirror is taken away.

When the air is still, the ripples vanish.

 

A man comes to himself

When he wakes from sleep.

Likewise, I have perceived the God and Goddess

By waking from my ego.

 

When salt dissolves,

It becomes one with the ocean;

When my ego dissolved,

I became one with Shiva and Shakti.

 

I have paid homage to Shiva and Shakti

By uniting with them - -

Just as the inner space of the plantain tree (2)

Is united with the space outside

When its outer covering is removed.

 

---------------------------

 

Explaination of the Foot Notes

(1)

Para to Vaikari In the philosophy of Shaivism, there are four

levels of speech corresponding to the four bodies of a person, each

subtler than the one before. Vaikari, the gross speech, emanates

from madhyama, the subtle speech the level of the chakra or energy

body - - which emanates from pashyanti, the causal level or the level

experienced as deep dreamless sleep - - which emanates from para, the

supra-casual level. Para, the place where the initial thought-

impulse originates, emanates from the perfect silence of the

Absolute, the Self.

 

(2)

Plantain Tree. The plantain tree, said to be hollow at its core,

serves as a common metaphorical image to convey the idea of the

identity of the inner and outer, the individual soul and the

universal Soul.

 

---

 

Celibacy:

 

Lord Buddha has said:

 

If the strings of the lute are too tight they will break

if to loose the lute will not play.

 

This means that to much pressure on the body will break it or make it

sick; To little and it will be useless or of no use to one in the

quest for truth.

 

The employment of this means to allow the body to live within its

nature. For example it eats, it excretes, it sleeps it is susceptible

to extremes of temperature and it must be kept clean both inside and

out. So then give it what it needs to remain healthy. Starving it

will stress the whole system, the same applies with denying it water.

 

Many many times you will read expressions of disgust at the body and

its processes but these are ridiculous because the things that are

denigrated in those writings reject the body simply because of its

nature.

 

Why would lord Hari reject a part of himself as not worth anything?

if he did then he would be rejecting the whole of himself due to that

fact that he is all that exists (i.e. he is the omnipresence and the

omniscience)

 

There is the story of a woman who was a devotee of lord siva who saw

a snake who had been run over by a car, she stopped and took the

snake home, thinking this is lord Siva's cobra i will nurse it back

to health. When the snake became well it bit her and as she was about

to die she said to the snake why did you bite me when i saved your

life? The snake said because it is my nature.. The body is the same

as that snake.

 

Abstaining from sex indefinitely will cause it to block up on an

endocrinal level and cause other deeper emotional and psychological

discord. Sexuality helps it maintain emotional and psychological

balance. Until realization sex acts like a release valve for the

whole system like a pressure relief valve on a boiler. If this valve

becomes blocked the boiler will explode. In the same way if we block

the valve we will crack.

 

However having said that, abstinence is advisable even necessary at

certain times such as when we are going through an intense period of

developement as sometimes happens in our sadhana. But at this time we

can use sexaulity like a tool to let off a little steam, whereas if

we did not the mind may become too agitated by meditation pressure

and act up or throw a tantrum like a spoilt child..

 

It is better to work with a compliant child than a rebelous one, so

it seems good advice, that when we go to meditate we should placate

the body with what it NEEDS before hand. i.e. if it is cold warm it,

if it is hot cool it, if it is hungry feed it, if it is unable to

relax due to sexual feelings have sex... if it is tired let it sleep.

 

This way it will cooperate in its own transcendence. otherwise it can

only distract us more readily.

 

The mind is like a pool, when we throw in stones there are ripples

when the ripples exist and we put in our hands to try to stop them

they grow worse not better.. We should elt the mind subside due to

non-interference this is what it means to be the witness-

consciousness.

 

Denying the body equates to throwing stones, trying to stop the

ripples, equates to denial once the ripples have started, if you are

alive they have started. This is not to say if we have desires

fulfill them, it simply means we should endeavour to maintain a

healthy balance. I.E. Buddhas, not to tight not to loose idea.

because if we don't it does nothing but cause more discord as in the

example of the mind-pool.

 

Also if we deny the body love it is like denying part of hari love so

it will get sick. This is garanteed. Imagine a man who did not

maintain his car that car will break down. if he did not put in

petrol it will stop. if he never drove it, it would soon not start.

the body is not different. it is the car we drive to lord Hari, it

should be serviced regularly until we arrive.

-

 

Ananda:

 

 

S.A: hello again

bindu: hello there.

S.A: when you go through all the philosophers in the west throughout

all the ages, can any of them be said to be enlightened; Kant maybe?

 

bindu: Kant? almost...

 

bindu: One John locke is the closest i ever saw, along with Ralph

Waldo Emerson... Plato was very close, so was socrates - Aristotle

was a not, though he was very intelligent.

 

S.A: Why are india and tibet cradles of spiritual teachings etc. But

they pale in comparison to even to very ancient indian stuff, why is

that? Is it just because of the desperate seeking being so much a

part of their life

 

bindu: No, the seeking is because India is the mind/heart and soul of

the world.

 

S.A: do you mean that literally or in what way? it is not devloped,

yet spiritually is there anything equal to its spirutal traditions,

tibet only or the chinese taoism. i have actually come to the

concluision that western philosophy is not for the seeker, actually i

came to that conclusion years ago.

 

bindu: In answer to your question on india being the mindheart soul

etc.. i mean it literally.

 

bindu: You Said this earlier >>>

"I have actually come to the concluision that western philosophy is

not for the seeker"

 

You are coming from the point of view of the individual only ... it

smacks of the thought that there is a seeker. This is not the case at

all. The whole Consciousness (omniscience) seeks/evolves in itself.

People think they evolve but that is not true either it evolves them

as bits of itself which make up the whole. The seekers (so-called)

who to western ideas etc.. are being prepared for immersion

in the Sanatan Dharma.

 

S.A: All are a necessary part of the whole.

 

bindu: yes necessary.

 

S.A: What is sanatan dharma?

 

bindu: It the process of the evolution of the consciousness. Or of

the Consciousness being Conscious of consciousness which is

omniscience.

 

S.A: ok

 

bindu: Its pinacle is in the Indian traditions, the highest point in

this world is Trika Saivism.

 

S.A: And the answer to the question of why india is why not?

 

 

bindu: Yes, all religions eventually evolve to union with god.

 

S.A: But how do you know that Trika Saivism is the highest > because

it is experimentially testible?

 

bindu: Conscious union with god can only come through the highest

pinnacle of consciousness. I am not implying that there are levels

and hence specialness of one way over another . or of one sytstem or

belief over another.

 

I am saying that all systems and all knowledge reaches the pinnacle

of being only in the omnipresent omniscience this is dissolution in

the Conscious Absolute. This can only be achieved through a sameness

or equality of the import of the seemingly diverse bits of knowledge

or belief which Appear to be of "An Hierarchical Form" but the fact

is that the existence of any piece of knowledge or wisdom is

dependent upon the existence of all the rest such that there is no

superior or inferior knowledge in the omniscience.

 

S.A: Because others are realized who follow different religions

approaches etc. Trika Saivism might be the most accurate *decription*

 

bindu: We can think like this...

 

If "I GOD" made any bit of my own omnipresence more important than

another then I would be talking about favouring one bit over another,

this would mean I would discard one bit at a certain time in favour

of another .. but the rule of my own being (vis omni-what) cannot be

contravened else I deny my very own nature.

 

I cannot make one person lucky or special over another because that

would also contradict My very nature. No one is special - nothing is

special - nothing is better - Nothing is auspicious. It is belief in

the specialness of this or that that makes us believe one action is

more auspicious than another, but how can that be considering there

is nothing but The Lord? He alone is the doer There are no others.

NOthing is worse. If it was that would mean knowledge of good would

preempt knowledge of evil while the truth is that it is all merely

the knowledge owned by Sri-Krishna About himself. The trouble comes

when one thinks he exists separately from Sri-Hari. After all merging

with Him is the goal of being. (vis-seeign all as nothing but Him

inclusively).

 

S.A: So each system has it purpose suiting each reflected self?

 

bindu: yes, that is right this way the nature of each being is

experieced in the life it leads. This is how The I Am is omniscent.

Yet each being being a part of Hari, has within its power the ability

to transcend its current postion via learning more about That. The

level it occupies is only relative to the knowledge it has about Hari

Its level of desire and ability to love Hari gives it the intellect

to understand at a higher level. More devotion = more knowledge.

 

S.A: learning about 'their' own self?

 

bindu: No, learning about Hari. learning about their own self is to

learn about the ego. This binds them tighter it does not free them.

There is no such thing as THEIR OWN self. All selves are mine - I Am

All The more they realizae this the closer they come to Me. So Says

Lord Hari.

 

It works in total harmony there is no such thing as evil in Him. It

is an all around omniscience existing as all knowledge on all levels.

 

S.A: Could it be called perfect balance of knowledge - a continuum?

 

bindu: yes, the name of that is omniscience knowledge is present

everywhere. Thus the Cosmos is nothing but a mass of

knowledge/consciousness existing as the knowledge He have of His own

I-am-ness.

 

S.A: ok. what IS knowledge, . something that can be KNOWN?

 

bindu: Knowledge is consciousness - consciousness is knowledge.

However knowledge to men is particular it is not a mass.

Knowledge/Consciousness to Him is ALL. I am knowledge first, then my

i-am-ness comes. The first knowledge is of who I Am, then the I-am-

ness comes. Wetness is not water Water is water. I am not NESS - "I

Am." everything else is "NESS" it has qualities.. attributes... i am

not an attribute. I Am The Whole.

 

S.A: yet this is occurring in what I AM how? There are not and cannot

be two I AM's

 

bindu: yes, To illustrate that there is the following.

 

When i was a yoing man somthing i read said the Universe is nothing

but knowledge; i cannot remember where i read it

then a few days later i was in the shower and i saw that if anyone is

to become enlightened (really enlightened) he/she must become

omniscient. There is no other choice because either the god knows

himself or he does not.

 

So i set out to find That, Omniscience that is ---

 

i read and read and read and studied for 20 years then one day i was

driving a tractor in a park and Siva himself came into my body and

revealed it. The connection that connects omni-what together is Love,

without it there is no connection. How to love like that?

 

S.A: love is the glue.

 

bindu: yes, then i went out and tried to become a bhakti yogi. Only

krishna has expounded the nature of his own Omiscient and omnipresent

being everyone esle and every other philosphy only talks about bits.

So i set out to learn it all so i could find the whole of lord

Krishna. Then he came and showed me how it works.

 

We must die into devotion - into love. that is what the enlightenment

experience is it is a stupdenous love.

 

S.A: for all that is.

 

bindu: It is more than that, it is a Love that is self-loving i.e.

Love loves Love. It is a caseof the Lover the beoloved and the Love

becoming one. This is called para-bhakti. Love is the end all and be

all of enlightenment

without it it is impossible. That is why the India traditions talk

about devotion to the Guru. It is why other traditions can find the

Lord. But in my case i would not accept any human Guru, so i went

straight to lord Krishna himself. i went to the supreme authority. i

hunted Him down in every book i could find i stalked Him in all the

ancient traditions and vedas. i studied the Bhagavad-Gita and the

Ramayana. i hunted Him and only Him. Then i found Him in my own heart

by devotion only.

 

The experience of every single person who achieves this is the same

in the fact that they merge with the one they are devoteed to. This

is utterly indispensible. Yet as is set out in the Siva Sutra there

are three different levels..

 

S.A: How is one to show devotion to their very own self?

 

bindu: why easily scott, everything is The Self. Everything. So treat

it all with utter respect, as if it were He Himself, becaause it is.

this is the end result of moral.

 

Direct the deepest feeling you can imagine toward the whole. Serve

the whole, Notice the whole. It is He Himself! Who else can it be?

 

S.A: And it is my very own SELf, how then can this be happening

between two people.

 

bindu: It isn't. this is why and how the yogic sadhu merges with the

Guru.

 

S.A: It is simply a part of what I AM

 

bindu: The Guru is The Lord, He is Krishna but He is not that man,

who seems to be sitting there etc. He is in all hearts. Find him...

 

S.A: ok, must go I have to teach again, thankyou so much for the

wonderful chat, see you later

 

bindu: your students are also him, bye now.

 

S.A: hello, I have just reread over the above. After what we have

spoken about devotion can only be to the whole to the total, which

means unconditionally accepting everyone and everything into ones

heart. in this way the self shines clearly through a reflected self.

 

bindu: yes. however it is also to see that the person you refer to in

the statement "Ones Heart" is not Ones Heart at all because That one

to which this refers is not Sri-Hari in himself, it is the Ego. There

are NO ONES, there is Only HE all Hearts are His YOH have no heart at

all..