Divine understanding

Divine understanding

DEEPAK M RANADE

 

God was born out of the interface between man's intellect and its limitations, forcing the intellect to surrender to faith, says Deepak M Ranade. But can faith ever be challenged by intellect?

Ego is a sense of doer-ship. Every action is purported with a presumed control of the outcome. If the outcome is on expected lines, it gratifies the ego, and reinforces the sense of doer-ship . If the outcome is unfavourable, the ego gets slighted. The unfavourable outcome questions the scope or influence of the doer. The intellect cannot accept the arbitrary nature of outcomes or events. Failure to predict the outcome of any endeavour exposes the limitation of its control. This limitation is then assigned various nomenclatures such as destiny, luck, and karma. The futility of analytical thought also coerces the ego to seek recourse in an abstraction called God.

God was born out of the interface between man’s intellect and its limitations. History is also testimony to the then incomprehensible phenomena like lightning being interpreted as events orchestrated by celestial powers. The influence of God gradually invaded a wider perimeter of life. God became a convenient instrument of ensuring a code of ethics in the social fabric. The limitation of comprehension continued to remain the substrate of belief in God.

Belief began where intellect ended. So did the abstraction called God. Belief and intellect are strange bedfellows. Belief is necessarily ipso facto. It cannot forge an alliance with any rational thought. Each culture proclaimed its own messiah and advocated its own doctrines not always based on sanction or rationality. Rather, every unique interpretation of this abstraction cleaved society. The abstract caught the imagination of the intellect and forced it to surrender to faith. Faith could never be challenged by intellect.

Faith became a cornerstone to make the vagaries of life palatable. It also provided a resting ground for the intellectual juggernaut. Faith surreptitiously clouded rational intellect to a point of self-destruction . It transformed abstraction to aberration. The gaps in our understanding apparently decreased with the advent and progress of science. But scientific progress never eliminated the gaps completely. Rather, it made the conundrum of Creation even more bizarre. The phenomenon of lightning was explained by modern science. But this puzzle was replaced by the dilemma over the nature of light which still remains unexplained. Is light a particle or wave? The deficiency in intellectual comprehension only modified itself, from the macro to the nano.

The unpredictable nature of the subatomic world continues to perplex even the sharpest of intellectuals. Belief, nonetheless, could not restrain the intellect to seek answers. Ironically, the intellect continued seeking answers for what it had earlier relegated to the realm of incomprehensibility. The intellect started seeking answers for what had been its nemesis, namely, God. What symbolised its own failure became a subject of its study. Before attempting to comprehend God, it was vital to first comprehend the Self.

A student of science could study any subject but would be incapable of making the Self a subject of its own study. Experiment can never investigate the Self, which is an experience of awareness. Experience transcended intelligence. A paradigm shift is needed to be able to comprehend the abstraction that we call God. This could be made possible when we move from the ambit of experiment to experience. It will require sublimation of intellectual faculties to a point of heightened awareness, elevating awareness to become all-encompassing and all-inclusive that would end the subject-object dichotomy. The only way to understand God would be to become one.

(The writer is a consultant neuro-surgeon)

 

 

Mind Set: Overcoming life's hurdles

Mind Set: Overcoming life's hurdles

 

Getting stuck is not only a necessary part of spirituality, it is a prerequisite to spiritual growth, says Mike Yaconelli

If I were to diagram my spiritual life, it would look something like this: A continual series of ups and downs, through all of my life, moving in a slow upward direction, although some of the lows would seem lower than before and some of the highs would seem higher than before.

When I picture this graph, it is not encouraging at first, because the longer I live, the further away the end of the graph appears. It is very much like the elusive end of the rainbow - the closer I get, the further away it seems.

And yet there is something you cannot see on a one-dimensional diagram, something you cannot express with lines and words. There is a hidden excitement that begins to surface, a tingling of the soul that quickens my consciousness as I gaze at this trail of God in my life. I suddenly realise a great truth-the up-and-down syndrome of my life is the fingerprint of God on my soul! It is the remains of my struggle of faith, the ups and downs of my ongoing dialogue with the God. It is the way growth looks.

I am beginning to realise that the spiritual life is not so much progress as it is process. It is not a continuous climb upwards as much as it is a continuous climb. It is not the victories that matter so much as the going on after the defeats. The longer the erratic dance of faith goes on, the less you care about what God is doing, and the more you want to know about God. Spirituality is, after all, about intimacy with God.

Look at the graph for a minute. Notice the low spots-flat, long at times, surrounded by highs. Whatever the low spots are, they appear to be negative. If the high spots represent the good or positive in my spiritual life and the low spots represent the bad or negative in my relationship with God, then obviously the high spots are to be sought after and the lows are to be avoided.

But what if we do something radical? What if we remove those kind of value judgments from this graph? What if, in place of concepts like good and bad, positive and negative, high and low, we replace our value judgments with words like stalled and moving, or listening and acting, or stopping and starting, or waiting and not waiting?

What does that do to our understanding of the spiritual life? Maybe waiting is good and not waiting is bad. Maybe stopping is better than starting, listening better than acting, and stalling better than moving. Maybe one cannot happen without the other. Maybe stopping is necessary to starting, maybe acting cannot happen without listening first.

Of course, I do not believe there is many ‘maybe’ about it. I believe that our understanding of spirituality has been distorted and ruined by our artificial judgments and our one-dimensional understanding of our relationship with God.

Let me point out a couple of interesting characteristics of this graph. Every high is followed by a low and every high is preceded by a low. Maybe what the graph means is that you cannot achieve a high without first achieving a low. Maybe lows are not low at all, but just part of the highs. I would like to abandon the high or low model and rename these parts as ‘stuck’ and ‘unstuck.’ Maybe, getting stuck is necessary before we can get unstuck, which means that getting stuck is actually a wonderful place to be.

When you look at it like this, then getting stuck is not only a necessary part of spirituality, it is a prerequisite to spiritual growth.

Most people consider being stuck a negative, a sin of failure or burn-out, an indication that a person isn’t working hard enough on their spiritual life. It’s a report card on personal prayer. If you feel stuck in your spiritual life, then you aren’t doing something right because no one should be stuck with God.

Nothing could be more untrue. The truth is that everyone should get stuck with God many times because it is the prerequisite to being unstuck.

Being stuck is a great moment. It may be characterised by frustration, loneliness, or detachment, but those things are only the vocabulary of our souls telling us we are in danger. It is the cry of our souls craving for more. It is our longings and yearnings trying to get our attention. It is a summons, a call from within. It is the glorious music of disaffection and dissatisfaction with where we are now. It is the anguish of our interior life pleading with us not to give up, but to give in.

It is the Holy Spirit stopping us dead in our tracks so we can read the words that God has written on our hearts-surrender. Surrender. Put your arms around your soul, embrace your anguish, respond to your summons from God. Get ready for the adventure of growing on to the next part of your life.

Getting stuck is worth whatever anguish you must go through just so you can hear God say to you, “hang on, you are about to get unstuck.”

 

Explore the path to spiritual living

Explore the path to spiritual living

SUKHABODHANANDA, Jun 6, 2010, 12.00am IST

 

Is spiritual practice a must for everyone?

You have to insulate yourself from the effects of worldly living. The environment has its strong impact. The external world is in a rat race for greed, glamour and respectability. It does not bother about real joy and purity. Naturally, external influence affects an individual. In this rat race even if one wins one continues to be a rat. Glamour gives you an illusory joy but your soul needs to grow.

'Why does a fish in an ocean try to jump out?' asked a Zen student.

'The fish is trying to explore a world beyond the ocean,' answered the Master.

Consciousness in each one of us is like a fish that wants to explore the unknown, to evolve and grow. If you do not insulate yourself from negative forces, there will be a leakage of energies and that would hamper your growth. So it is necessary not to struggle in life and not allow negativity to control your life. One has to learn to float in life, to let go, let in the essentials and negate unessential feelings.

How can I insulate myself from negative influences?

People live life in fear. It is out of fear that they worship; out of fear they get married; out of fear of insecurity they beget children. Whenever fear emerges, there is a leakage of energy. Fear creates a hurt body and it then tries to survive by quoting philosophy and logic.

We try to protect ourselves from fear through the influences of worldly life...by acquiring more money and more power. But spiritually we can insulate ourselves from fear, only if we have trust.

We were secure in our mother's womb. At term when we were pushed out into the world, it was as though we were facing death. We experienced tremendous fear.

After being born, is it death or birth that marks our lives?

Trust that when one door closes, another door opens. Such trust insulates us from fear. The spiritual way of seeing is, if there is an impression or a negative impression of fear in the mind, one has to de-identify with it. This detachment or de-identification is the insulation that i am talking of. In yoga, it is called atma smaranam, self-remembrance.

What happens when we insulate ourselves from negative impressions?

Worldly influences do not touch us. Instead, we would be in touch with higher vibrations and open ourselves for higher influences. The higher centres in us are constantly communicating something profound to us, but we close ourselves to them. It is like a cup turned upside down. No amount of rainwater can fill the cup. The moment we are available for higher vibrations, we attract nobler aspects of life. Lower states attract lower aspects of life while the higher states attract higher aspects of life. This is the law of attraction.

Why is devotion necessary?

Devotion activates our higher centres. Devotion purifies our emotions. Devotion allows the finer vibrations to flow into our lives. With devotion, your third eye or intuitive eye opens, and you would see many meaningful coincidences occurring in your life. You will see the mysterious hand of God blessing you.

Two-hour interactive sessions and modules of meditation will be conducted by trained teachers every Sunday. Contact: Noida: 9312939812, 9810472906. Dabri-Palam road: 9868503034. For details visit: www.prasannatrust.org

 

Meditation slows AIDS progression

Meditation slows AIDS progression

 

Meditation may slow the worsening of AIDS in just a few weeks, perhaps by affecting the immune system, US researchers reported.

If the findings are borne out in larger studies, it could offer a cheap and pleasant way to help people battle the incurable and often fatal condition, the team at the University of California Los Angeles said on Thursday.

They tested a stress-lowering program called mindfulness meditation, defined as practicing an open and receptive awareness of the present moment, avoiding thinking of the past or worrying about the future. The more often the volunteers meditated, the higher their CD4 T-cell counts - a standard measure of how well the immune system is fighting the AIDS virus. The CD4 counts were measured before and after the two-month programme.

"This study provides the first indication that mindfulness meditation stress-management training can have a direct impact on slowing HIV disease progression," said David Creswell, who led the study.

His team tested 67 HIV-positive adults from the Los Angeles area, 48 of whom did some or all of the meditation. Most were likely to have highly stressful lives, Creswell said.

"The average participant in the study was male, African American, homosexual, unemployed and not on ARV (antiretroviral) medication," they wrote in the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity.

The meditation classes included eight weekly two-hour sessions, a day-long retreat and daily home practice. "The people that were in this class really responded and just really enjoyed the program," Creswell said.

"The mindfulness program is a group-based and low-cost treatment, and if this initial finding is replicated in larger samples, it’s possible that such training can be used as a powerful complementary treatment for HIV disease, alongside medications," he added.

He said it was unclear how the stress-reducing effects of meditation work. It may directly boost CD4 T-cell levels, or suppress the virus, he said.

 

Susan Shumsky in New York City

Greetings,

You are invited to attend the amazing, enlightening events that Dr. Susan Shumsky will facilitate in New York City at the New Life Yoga and Raw Foods Expo, June 11 to 13. Details are below.

Pre-register for her workshop here:
http://www.newlifeexpo.com/expo-pre-reg.php?expo=20

Who Is Susan Shumsky?

Dr. Shumsky, foremost expert in spirituality and pioneer in the field of self-development, has taught yoga and spiritual disciplines for over 40 years. She is the best-selling author of Divine Revelation, Miracle Prayer, How to Hear the Voice of God, Exploring Meditation, Exploring Auras, Exploring Chakras, and Ascension. She spent over 20 years in the ashrams of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, guru of the Beatles and of Deepak Chopra. She spent another 20+ years studying New Thought and metaphysics. She is the founder of Divine Revelation®, a unique system for developing a profound connection with Spirit and for clearly hearing and deciphering the "still small voice" within.

Attend Dr. Shumsky's events at the expo:

"What Yoga Really Is"
Saturday, 1:00 pm, Herald Square Room

What is yoga, and what are its roots and history? Surprisingly, the word yoga comes from the Sanskrit root yuj: "to yoke." Thus yoga means "integration" or "union." However, this is not union of your nose with your knee. It is union of your individual soul with universal Spirit. The roots of yoga are deeply embedded in wisdom of ancient India, in the Bhagavad Gita of Lord Krishna and the Yoga Sutras of the sage Patanjali. Dr. Susan Shumsky, who has practiced yoga and meditation sine 1967, will inspire you to practice true yoga-integration and wholeness of consciousness.

Kumbh Mela--A Spiritual Adventure
Sunday, 5:00 pm, Soho Room, 3rd Floor

Since 2001, Dr. Susan Shumsky has taken tour groups to the Kumbh Mela ("Festival of the Nectar of Immortality") in Allahabad and Haridwar, India. She will present hundreds of stunning photographs so you can visit and experience this awesome event yourself. This amazing workshop includes historic details with inspiring, informative storytelling. Maha Kumbh Mela is a spiritual gathering where saints, seers, sages, and seekers bathe at the auspicious moment—once every 12 years. Holy men and women from Himalayan caves make a rare appearance to bless the people at this extraordinary event. This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for the lucky ones. A staggering 100 million people attended the 2001 Kumbh Mela—the "greatest recorded number of human beings assembled with a common purpose."—Guinness Book of Records. During this awe-inspiring workshop, you will experience this unique, once-in-a-lifetime blessing for yourself, firsthand.

Pre-register for the workshop here:
http://www.newlifeexpo.com/expo-pre-reg.php?expo=20

Where

New Life Expo
New Yorker Hotel
481 8th Avenue at 34th Street
New York, NY 10001
Tel: (516) 897-0900
Website: http://www.newlifeexpo.com.

New Life Expo Show Times
Friday 3:30pm - 10:00pm
Saturday 10:00am - 9:00pm
Sunday 11:00am - 8:00pm

Visit Dr. Shumsky in her booth #213M.

Volunteer

If you would like to volunteer to help at the booth for 4 hours, in exchange for a free pass to the expo, please email divinerevl@aol.com.

Register Now

Pre-register for Dr. Shumsky's workshop here:
http://www.newlifeexpo.com/expo-pre-reg.php?expo=20

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Path to super consciousness

Path to super consciousness

 

Practice makes perfect...

I began meditating 52 years ago. Since then I haven’t, to the best of my recollection, missed a single day of practice. No stern-minded self discipline was needed to keep me regularly at it. Meditation is simply the most meaningful activity in my life. I wonder how people live without it.

Meditation gives meaning to everything one does. The Bhagavad Gita says, “To the peace-less person, how is happiness possible?” Inner peace is like lubricating oil: It enables the machinery of our lives to function smoothly. Without mental peace, our emotions and the various demands placed upon us in our lives grind together and create inner stress, leading eventually to a physical or nervous breakdown.

Psychometric studies have shown that meditation produces a healthy ego, that it expands a person’s world view and enables people to cope better with the stresses of life. Meditators, in addition, have shown significant gains in overcoming depression, neurotic behaviour, and feelings of social inadequacy.

Meditation develops concentration, so essential for success in every activity. Often I have found, by meditation-induced concentration, that I can accomplish in an afternoon what others have taken days or even weeks to complete. In three days, some years ago, I wrote melodies for eighteen of Shakespeare’s lyrics in a single day.

Inspiration, which many highly creative people consider out of their hands, can be summoned at will by one-pointed concentration, and by magnetising the flow of thoughts and ideas in meditation. Physical fatigue can be banished also, by putting ourselves in tune with inner abundance, flowing to us from infinity. The deeper this attunement through meditation, the greater the abundance we experience in every aspect of our lives.

It was from a great master of yoga, Paramhansa Yogananda, that I learned the art and science of meditation. I read his Autobiography of a Yogi in 1948, and was so moved that I took the next bus from New York to Los Angeles, where he had his headquarters. The day I met him, he accepted me as a disciple, and I lived with him as a monk for the remaining three-and-a-half years of his life. I have been his disciple ever since.

The path of yoga that he taught was the ancient meditative path of raja yoga. The teachings of raja yoga are the best guide to meditation that I know. They are completely non-sectarian, and can be practised with equal effectiveness by anyone regardless of their religious affiliation. Their goal is super-conscious realisation: the realisation of who and what you are in your highest, spiritual reality. It is, as you can see, a very personal goal for each seeker.

They are for the beginner-meditator who wants an easy-tofollow , self-consistent system based on the practical experience of a great master. They are also for experienced meditators, to bring them to a deeper level in their practice, and to offer them answers to problems they may have encountered in their practices. Third, they are for people who are on a spiritual path but don’t realise the importance of direct spiritual experience. As Paramhansa Yogananda put it, “Meditation is to religion what the laboratory is to science.”

Fourth, they are for people who, without necessarily realising it, seek a deeper meaning in life. Finally, they are for those who, while not ready to take up meditation, desire deeper understanding of the nature of consciousness. I am aware that some people prefer to omit God from any effort at self-improvement, including the practice of meditation. And yet, without aspiration towards some higher reality, one is left meandering mentally. Whether you call that higher reality God, it is infinitely above your normal waking state of awareness. It is, in fact, your own Self, and offers the fulfilment of all your deepest longings.

(Ananda Sangha will hold meditation workshops based on teachings of Paramhansa Yogananda on April 4 in Delhi, Gurgaon, and Noida. Please call 9899014209 or (0124) 405-9550. www.anandaindia.org )

 

Meditation can help cut pain's emotional impact

Meditation can help cut pain’s emotional impact

 

Meditation makes pain less unpleasant and reduce its emotional impact, says a new study.

To reach the conclusion, scientists from The University of Manchester recruited individuals into the study who had a diverse range of experience with meditation, spanning anything from months to decades. It was only the more advanced meditators whose anticipation and experience of pain differed from non-meditators.

The type of meditation practised also varied across individuals, but all included ''mindfulness meditation'' practices, such as those that form the basis of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), recommended for recurrent depression by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) in 2004.

"Meditation is becoming increasingly popular as a way to treat chronic illness such as the pain caused by arthritis," said Dr Christopher Brown, who conducted the research.

The study, to be published in the journal Pain , found that particular areas of the brain were less active as meditators anticipated pain, as induced by a laser device. Those with longer meditation experience (up to 35 years) showed the least anticipation of the laser pain.

Dr Brown, who is based in Manchester's School of Translational Medicine, found that people who meditate also showed unusual activity during anticipation of pain in part of the prefrontal cortex, a brain region known to be involved in controlling attention and thought processes when potential threats are perceived.

He said: "The results of the study confirm how we suspected meditation might affect the brain. Meditation trains the brain to be more present-focused and therefore to spend less time anticipating future negative events. This may be why meditation is effective at reducing the recurrence of depression, which makes chronic pain considerably worse."