Agni, the Creative Flame: Part 3

The 6th essay in the book by Feuerstein and Miller supports their thesis that Agni is the most enigmatic and dynamic of all ghe dieties in the RigVeda, and although western commentators may have overlooked it, it is clear from the mantra portion of the RigVeda itself that the deeper and sublter forces represented by the fire element were not unknown to Vedic rishis. In fact, very often, the mantras indicate a sublter meaning, and extremely literal translations are not sufficient. At the outset, they mention that Agni represents so many different things - at the very least, it stands for the warmth which sustains creation (sub-atomic forces), the fire of destruction, the flame of purification and the flame of love. Across nations and over the ages, it has held its special place. Deuteronomy says "The Lord is a consuming fire". The Lord descended on Mount Sinai in a fire, and only Moses could stand this fire. He had to veil his face when he turned to talk to other common folk because they would otherwise have fled in terror. The prophet Elijah was taken up to the heavens in a fire. In the New Testament, the Holy Spirit manifested as tongues of fire at Pentacost and illumined each apostle with divine light. In the Vedas, water was the element chosen to represent matter, the great nurturing mother, while the seed of life within the mother was represented by fire, Agni. The authors say that a deep spiritual experience underlies this special place given to the fire element, and that the richaas (mantras) of the RigVeda show that the rishis implied these deeper meanings often. In fact, the cryptic statements in some mantras point to whole science underlying the praises and exaltations, which has unfortunately gone unnoticed in western commentaries. 

Here, I would like to remind readers that the ancient Indian tradition talks of all manifest creation as arising from the five basic elements - translated loosely as earth, water, fire, air and space. Since all material creation comes from their combinations, it seems obvious that a rishi praising external gross water or fire or air would also be implying the subtle nature of the deity. Perhaps to some Indians, therefore, such subtler interpretations would not be surprising at all. I believe the confusion is because the mantra portion of the Vedas was used, historically, for collective yajnas (fire sacrifice rituals), and therefore, a large number of mantras pray for peace, prosperity, children, cattle, horses, protection, wisdom and happiness. This is why the mantra portion in the samhitaas is called the ritualistic portion (karma kaanda). On the other hand, the upanishads speak almost exclusively about self-realization, the supreme Truth, and the meditative practices required on the inner path, so the upanishads are called the knowledge part (jnaana kaand). This segmentation has probably led to the belief that the mantras, being older, are merely "songs of cowherds", while the later upanishadic texts are written by a society capable of philosophy and scientific knowledge. This is an extreme view and is found wanting when we focus attention on the numerous instances in the mantras where literal meanings simply do not apply and a subtler interpretation has to be explored. 

The authors mention that at least 3 different forms of external, physical fire are mentioned in the hymns of the RigVeda - fire by friction, solar fire and electric fire (lightening, etc.). However, western (and some eastern) commentators have often failed to notice that along with the literal physical meaning, each type of fire also has its symbolic and spiritual significance. The three births of Agni and his three abodes have been mentioned in several places in the RigVeda. The Brihad-devataa of Shaunaka mentions the three ramifications of Agni as Agni in this world, Indra and Vayu in the middle regions and as Surya (Sun God) in the heavens. These regions are also to be understood as the material, spiritual and intermediate realms. So when RigVeda 1.59.2 (Mandala 1, 59th sukta, 2nd mantra) talks of Agni as the forehead of the sky and the navel of the earth and the messenger between them, it also implies the uniting of the opposite poles in the awakened man, besides the fact that the Sun above and the sacrificial fire below on the earth are both essentially Agni's forms and Agni himself performs the role of the link between them too. So agni does not only represent fire, heat and electricity or the fire of creation, warmth and destruction, but also the inner fires, and in particular, efforts made by the seeker on the spiritual path. 

The authors have quoted several mantras from the RigVeda in particular, to support this. Some mantras do not even allow a purely physical interpretation. For example, RigVeda 4.1 (1st sukta of the 4th mandala), by Vamadev Gautam is considered to be highly symbolic. The 13th mantra of the sukta talks of how our forefathers freed milk-giving cows (go, in sanskrit) from dark caves. The 15th mantra of the same sukta says that the cows were freed by chanting holy mantras in the name of agni, which helped open the blocked door of the cave where they were held. The forefathers were desirous of cattle and hence did this, says the earlier (13th) mantra. Even common people today are aware that the sanskrit word "go" also means rays of light, and has forever been a symbol of spiritual illumination in literature. With this in mind, the symbolic meaning of these verses becomes absolutely clear. The writers note that the 4th mandala is considered to be among the most ancient of the vedic mantras, implying that this symbolism in the vedas cannot be dismissed as a much more recent addition. 

While the authors have referred to numerous mantras in their support, let me point to a few others which are even more explicitly spiritual and cannot be called songs of cowherds desirous of health and progeny. RigVeda 1.36.1, by Kanva Ghaur, says that we, the performers of these yagyas, by our subtle mantras, describe that greatness which develops the divinity in man, and that this greatness has been praised by rishis everywhere. Sri Aurobindo's translation (added below) also attests to the fact that the mantra talks of spiritual search, not cattle or riches. 

"The master of many peoples who labour towards the godhead, we seek for you with words of perfect expression, Agni whom others also everywhere desire." (- from Hymns to the Mystic Fire) 

Similarly, Sri Aurobindo has mentioned RigVeda 1.164.39 in his introduction to "Hymns to the mystic fire". In this mantra, rishi Dirghatamas says that the indestructible hymns fill the entire sky (ether) and all gods reside in them. Moreover, he adds - for those who do not know this, whst can the rik (vedic hymns) do? 

Another example is from from RigVeda 10.85.3, where the rishikaa (lady rishi) Suryaa Saavitri says that in preparing and drinking the juice from the soma plant, people think they know Soma, but the real Soma known to the wise knowers of Brahman - that is never drunk. 

These examples are not all. In other places too, the poets of the mantras have indicated that the real meaning is different from the literal one. Sri Aurobindo has also mentioned in his introduction mentioned above that the way "go" means light and stands for spiritual illumination, so does the vedic horse symbolize spiritual power. The vedic fire ritual also stands for the ritual between the heavens and the earth, and as mentioned earlier, the sky often stands for the spiritual sky and earth for material creation. The bull's lair, therefore, must be interpreted as the home of the gods, otherwise we would be ignoring how many times Indra has been called a great bull in the vedas. 

The list goes on, and the authors of the essay make no mistake in pointing out that in light of numerous such suggestions, many seemingly simple mantras also need to be re-interpreted. In case of Vamadeva in the 4th mandala, for example, they point out that simply the use of the words "chakrapanta dhi-bhih" for praying with vedic mantras, suggests the use of mantras as chariots which take the chanters to higher realms. This idea of mantras as chariots was certainly present in those days, according to the expert authors. The fire "produced by rubbing lotuses" hardly has any interpretation unless we think of either the puranic tale of creation from the lotus which arose from Vishnu's navel, or of the energy centres (chakras) in the human body which are symbolized as lotuses everywhere in later tantric and yogic literature. Agni must therefore be understood as the fire of penances, or spiritual practices in general, and in this sense, agni is not just the beginning and end of material creation, it is also the heart of RigVedic religion. 

So the authors have supported their view with dozens of quotations and we may agree that the mantra portion of the vedas may need to be interpreted keeping in mind these symbols. However, it is well accepted that going by the number of mantras dedicated to them in the RigVeda, Indra was probably number one and Agni, the "number two" of the vedic deities. Surely, Indra and all other gods have also been called sustainers of creation, omnipresent, etc., in addition to specific roles given to their personified images. Then why do these authors not pick Indra and Agni both as the heart of religion? While guessing comes with its risks, it is likely that Indra, being the cow which was milked by the great powers in different ways to create the material universe, may have come to be associated with the "passive Brahman" from whom all creation arose. Possibly, only in his fire form, as Agni, could Indra reside in dualistic or manifest creation, and help in the work of liberation. As they say in India, the path to all the higher realms opens only with the blessings of the "devi", the mother goddess. It is easy to pray to the devi because she is present to the seeker as a mother who understands her children's needs. It is not possible to simply jump from dualistic reality to the supreme non-dual One, without this intermediate stage, and religion is needed mostly for these intermediate seekers. Maybe this is why none but Agni, the Fire God, the symbol not only of physical but also of spiritual effort and desire, could be called the Heart of RigVedic religion. 

Sadanand Tutakne

Shiva: Dark Matter, God and First Yogi

Adiyogi is thus variously described in a recent book by Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, co-authored with Arundhati Subramaniam. The book itself is called "Adiyogi". The main ideas are from Sadhguru but the co-author gets all credit for the masterly exposition and fine description of the questions and context. Fine here is in the sense of "refined", a superlative term. Not just average. Some themes from the book are outlined below. 

1. Shi-va, according to Sadhguru, literally means "that which is not". A no-thing, with the hyphen being very important. This no-thing is the lap in which creation occurs. Yogic tradition, he says, has always held that beyond creation lies this realm of stillness, which is the substratum of all creation. It is interesting to see that modern scientists also now believe that some unseen dark energy is the source of creation which holds and shapes the perceived part of creation. While this point is impactful, it is equally important to also remember Adiyogi in his manifest forms. One is that of a God, around whom many myths may have been created, probably with lots of symbolic meaning. Equally important is his role as a yogi walking this earth, taking up a human form, training the seven great sages in the sciences of self realization and liberation, sending them to different continents to teach future generations, and leaving behind a gigantic repository of spiritual knowledge in the rocks of Kailash (mansarovar), Kailash of the south (Velliangiri mountains) and maybe other places too. This repository too, like the "inner intranet", is accessible to Sadhguru, and if there was a point to it, he could probably trace even the details of the personal life of Adiyogi from what remains still in those rocks. However, it seems more prudent to spend hours downloading the limitless spiritual knowledge and technology which has been left behind. Some of this knowledge/technology, he says, is for advanced yogis who have direct experience of higher realms, but it is very reassuring to note that a whole lot of it is also knowledge meant for those without any deeper spiritual realization. As recorded in the Shiva sutras, Shiva explained several paths to liberation to his wife and consort, Parvati. This is because although his own human body may have been only "taken on" or created by him, he was acutely aware of the possibilities and limitations of the human beings around him, and was clearly concerned with providing them with the knowledge and technology to transcend. Sadhguru says that a human yogi could spend a lifetime studying a small strand of what Adiyogi has left behind in these rocks. Adiyogi therefore remains way above the humans, although he uses humans like Sadhguru to transmit constantly. Those who have raised their consciousness enough can receive and understand the transmission itself, and others can learn from the re-transmission, so to speak, via the human gurus. 

2. The need to re-tell Shiva's story is because the world needs it today. The threat to human evolution, he says, is less from the illiterate than from the so-called educated. The intellect, he says, works like an axe and is successful in cutting everything down via divisive reasoning. It is essential in places, of course. However, many things in life require a finer instrument. Stitching with a knife only leaves a cloth in shreads. Similarly, we need an elevation in human consciousness today because consciousness is fundamentally an inclusive phenomenon. Yoga is therefore for those whose "selfishness" is unlimited and includes everything and everyone. As it is natural to fix a hurt arm or toe, it then becomes natural and normal to fix what needs to be fixed. 

3. The legend about the destruction of the three cities, Tripura, may have a psychological interpretation. The Tripura cities were created by power-hungry occultists. When their exploitation knew no bounds, the problem was brought to Adiyogi's notice. The three cities had to be aligned in a straight line and destroyed together, otherwise they re-generated themselves. So Adiyogi waited for the alignment to be perfect, and then just lifting his eyebrows, shot an arrow from his third eye which brought the three down together. Similarly, says Sadhguru, pride arises due to an erroneous sense of individual importance. This gets fuelled by greed and when it is threatened, gives rise to fury. The three devils have to be conquered together. Once the scattered energies are aligned together, they can be understood and shot down together by the adept master. Even the negative feelings, says Sadhguru, have no autonomous existence and are part of the larger flow of life energies. When they are understood together as such, they can be transcended, but not in isolation. The entire foundation of divisive consciousness has to be shot down together. It is not done piecemeal. 

4. When Sadhguru camped overnight at Kumar Parvat, he couldn't help his body straightening up and dismantling the small tent he was sleeping in. It seems Kartikeya, one of Shiva's sons, after some years of fighting every injustice he could find, gave up his body here in a standing position. It took Kartikeya a little time to understand that in a state of rage, anything different from one's own notions can seem unfair. Therefore, to pledge to undo every wrong in that state of mind would mean killing everyone except oneself. In a sense, the inner demons are also as powerful as the outer ones. Therefore, at some point, he decided to stop killing the outer demons and focus on the inner one. 

5. Legend says that Shiva roared when his "feminine energy", Shakti, recoiled and pierced into his chest. The roars finally led to manifest creation. Sadhguru says the 112 physical chakras suggest that Shiva roared 112 times. The two further chakras are non-physical, and much more difficult to realize. Interestingly, scientists also theorize that there may have been multiple big bangs which led to creation. A series of bangs can easily sound like a roar - like a car engine without a manifold, says Sadhguru. So the one who roared, the "Rudra", could be getting studied by scientists as a series of bangs which started off creation. 

6. Creation is from sound and every form has a corresponding sound. Some sounds therefore have direct power over material creation. This realization us the basis of mantra science and these root sounds are also the foundation from which the Sanskrit language later developed. 

7. The story of the "human" life of the great teacher told in the book sounds familiar to what we hear in the puranas. Only, they are often explained in very modern and scientific ways and language. Additinally, many may find it very informative to know why Shiva is also called lord of trees (Vrikshanath), lord of time (Kalpeshwar, Kala Bhairav, and Maha Kaal), the one facing south (Dakshinamurti), and not the least, Sadhguru's 50 percent partner in all his endeavours.

Sadanand Tutakne 

Turiya, the Transcendental State

Sri M., the living Nath yogi, has published a sequel to his autobiography. As with the original book, the sequel also mentions wonderful and marvellous events, including glimpses of past lives, astral travel, etc., which stretch our notions of "human" capabilities. Yet, what elicits the deepest gratitude from the reader is the record of some of his conversations with his guru, Maheshwarnath Babaji. Once we are convinced that the advanced yogis have a greater perception or understanding, the inevitable question arises as to how we can develop our own understanding. Here, the inspiration from the amazing is bolstered by the reassurance from experience, and gives the reader a new ray of hope that maybe he/she too could perhaps understand. In some of these conversations, Sri M mentions what Maheshwarnath Babaji told him about the ego, the right kind of practice, and the connection with the supreme witness consciousness (Turiya of Mandukya Upanishad). 

While the mention of Turiya in the Mandukya Upanishad is well known, Wikipedia adds that the same idea is also found in other and older Upanishads. Briefly, people are normally aware of only 3 main states of consciousness - the waking state, the dream state and deep (dreamless) sleep. The upanishads state that beyond these three, there is a fourth (chaturiya, from which perhaps the word turiya is derived) which is the substratum of the three and bears witness to the activities in the other three states. Once, during his stay with his guru, Sri M asked the guru to explain these references to the Turiya state and the answers given by his guru have been retold in the book. The answer is related to the answers on meditation and the identity of the observer and the observed (as Krishnamurti put it). The observer and the observed are nothing but a group of thoughts (or, parts of the same brain) differentiating themselves from some others. Inasmuch as both sets of ideas arise and play within the human brain, the grouping is somewhat arbitrary and it is clear that they are all part of the larger field of thoughts within the brain. Realizing this deeply, it seems the sages could "see" the rightful place of the individual ego as but a small bubble within the larger field, and this helped them attain a state of consciousness in which the field was primary and the ego was of no essential importance. This larger field, as it happens, is universal and at a different level, is also an ultimate witness to all states of consciousness through which the individual passes. Therefore, it is what people call the "Atman"(self or soul) and this Atman is also the universal Brahman. 

Other parts of the book are equally helpful, at different levels. In some chapters, Sri M describes his astral travels and experiences in the dream state. Sometimes, other powers are discussed - like that of disappearing by controlling the light absorbed by the body or by the much more difficult method of disintegrating and later re-integrating the root forces that constitute the body. Similarly, in one chapter, the story of Sadhu Ananda is described - an IIT engineer who gave up a comfortable career for self-realization but still could attain to the deeper realizations and samadhi exoeriences which he wanted to have. He had all but given up hope and was naturally quite disillusioned until one fine day, an elderly master yogi visited him from nowhere, and agreed to stay one night at his cottage. After finally experiencing deep samadhi, Sadhu Ananda remained a wanderer and years later, left for even higher and more difficult-to-scale regions of the Himalayas. These parts clearly inspire and are most needed by people who cannot do without some proof of the impact the practices can have.

Some other chapters provide practical tips - like the story where a master tells the disciple to stretch the mind like the strings of a musical instrument (neither too little, nor too much). The guidance goes a long way in preventing devotees from going to dangerous extremes. Similarly, the chapter where he is astrally taken to a cave which contains remnants of an extraterrestrial visit forces us to rethink some basics we take for granted. Stories from his own past lives remind us of the laws of karma and profess the idea of transmigration of the "soul". Equally importantly, they bring out not only the trancendence of many famous gurus (like Ramakrishna Paramahansa) but also their deep sympathy and kindness for their fellow human beings.

Sadanand Tutakne

Agni, the Creative Flame - Part II

In the last essay, I boldly declared that the reason why the authors suggested a new classification of the eight limbs of Patanjali's Yoga was that they wanted readers to look carefully at the more limited meaning of "tapas" - i.e., tolerance of "dualities". Further reading of the other essays, however, suggests that it could be simply that the authors were so in awe of the deeper and wider meaning of the Vedic "agni", the source of heat, light, and therefore, also the essence of any "tapasya", that they felt that "tapa" (literally, heat) should be given the most prominent place in all Vedic discussions, including discussions of Patanjali's yoga! Indeed, even the creation of the universe has been said to have been from the original "tapas" of the Universal One - therefore, how could we ever allow "tapas" to be called only one of the many rules (niyamas) of yoga! While the larger meaning of tapas is the more commonly understood one today (including any austerities done for spiritual purposes), people may not have realized how deep the meaning of this term is in the Vedas. Even the primordial "desire" which led to the creation of the universe is included within the purview of the words "tapas" and "agni" - although that was the tapas of the Almighty One (on it own Self, if we may put it that way). In another essay, therefore, they place "agni" (fire, literally) at the "heart of RigVedic religion". To wit, even Patanjaliji should not have used this great word in a limited sort of way! 

Let us look at essays 3-5 of the book today. 

3. The Hymn of Creation

(a) The famous "Naasadeeya sukta" has 9 stanzas. According to the authors, commentators who find no real meaning in it merely lack depth of understanding. In the first stanza, when it says "The Unmanifest was not then, or the Manifest", it refers to being and non-being as we know it, not in an absolute sense. It is clear from the other verses that the rishi is not suggesting that there was no life or being of any kind earlier - only that it was not "truth" or "being" as we know it. The line clearly anticipates the Samkhya idea of evolution and involution, as also the ideas regarding the "days" and "nights" of Brahmaa. Describing the impersonal One as "self-moved" and "pulsating" in the second stanza makes it clear that the rishi wanted to convey the idea of a "living being". After all, "breath" is the main characteristic of life, although breath itself may be caused by deeper "movements", expansions and contractions which we may not be able to perceive normally. 

(b) In the third stanza, there is mention of "flame-power" bringing into existence that which emerged from the void which enveloped it - a clear indication of what "tapas" meant to the rishis. The larger void has been described as "salilam" (the depths, or the waters) here, clearly showing how the oceans and "waters" in general referred often in the Vedas to space in general, and even more precisely to that original indeterminate material of "nature" into which the germ of life was placed by the Creator. Again, this is by way of explanation - we are not suggeting that the stanza betrays a dualistic viewpoint (of consciousness being different from "inert" nature). In describing how flame-power brought something into existence, the authors mention Sri Aurobindo's explanation - that consciousness, by tapas (penance, meditation, concentration, heat), brings about that which is concealed within itself. They add that such explanations cannot easily be provided by people who are not masters of meditation - therefore, it is quite natural that commentators who never took the help of modern day seers like Sri Aurobindo could never quite interpret this verse well. Similarly, they refer to the Maitrayaniya upanishad, where it is said that the Divine One generated heat, and the heat is a person and the person is the universal fire (agni). The qualification of heat as a person, according to the authors, is simply a way of making clear that the first born (Agni) was / is an intelligent force, not inert matter. 

(c) The fourth stanza uses the word "kaama" (desire) for the reason why the Impersonal One started His creation. However, this desire should not be thought of as being as limited as sensual human desires. Desire has been used here in the highest sense - it is the root propelling force, even called the seed of mind (mind being the faculty of discrimination). In the Atharvaveda, the authors say, Agni (fire) has also been called kaama, who is the creative desire and the first born too. Desire here, therefore refers to the expression of the "tapas" of the Universal One, the flame by which "That" brought forth creation from within Itself. (We all do a bit of this in our dreams, but that is at an extremely small scale, relatively, and moreover, our dreams are mostly unconscious too. Therefore, the analogy may not be correct for that reason as well.) The stanza then mentions that the seers, by searching their hearts, found the kinship between the created and the uncreate. The authors explain that matter is energy and energy may ultimately be "mind-stuff". Thus, the manifest is rooted in the unmanifest - it is brought forth in evolutionary cycles and resolved back into the original force(s) in the involutionary cycles. 

(d) The fifth stanza introduces some manifest differentiation into the One, mentioning mighty powers and "seed-bearers". There was "energy below, will above". In fact, there was now an above and a below, says a verse. The last two stanzas ask who at all could know this, given that the Gods themselves came into existence after this? Perhaps He who surveys this entire universe may know, or maybe even He may know not! The authors mention that the use of the personal He (as opposed to the impersonal "That") is important, because although "He" is the great surveyor of the manifest universe, the impersonal "That" is even higher. The purpose is to place the "That" at the very highest 

levels humans can ever conceive of - even higher than the Almighty of the manifest universe. 

4. The Meaning of Suffering in Yoga

(a) As mentioned earlier, this essay talks about the view of suffering in Patanjali's Yoga Sutras. Tendencies (vrittis) are either conditioned by ignorance (kleshas) or not conditioned by ignorance. The kleshas are themselves of 5 kinds, but with the first one being the root cause of all others. They are - avidya (ignorance), asmita (I-am-ness), raga (attachment), dvesha (aversion) and abhinivesha (thirst-for-life). Action conditioned by ignorance brings about cycles of rebirth and sorrow. Ignorance leads to identification of the seer with the seen, which is the direct cause of suffering. Suffering, according to Patanjali, arises in consequences, heat (mental vibrations which cause suffering) and sub-concious impressions, and also because of the opposite movements of the gunas (primary energies). Therefore, says Patanjali, everything is nothing but sorrow to the one who discrimminates. The grosser aspect of the klishta vrittis (tendencies conditioned by ignorance) are eliminated by meditation (dhyaana), but the subtler aspects are only eliminated by the highest states of samadhi. 

  

(b) The authors add that while the tendencies not conditioned by ignorance (aklishta vrittis) are helpful in countering ignorance, they too lie within the sphere of ignorance. Therefore, in the ultimate endeavour, they too need to be dissolved. Of course, many of these ideas have been found useful in psychotherapy too, although the purpose of yoga is higher. 

5. Forerunners of Yoga: The Kesin Hymn 

RigVeda X.136 has seven verses, which seem to describe the amazing "long-haired ones". Although the "long--haired one" is  term which has also been used for the Sun in the Vedas, that meaning does not apply here. Many of the 7 verses explicitly talk about the "munis" (monks, people who perform austerities), and that meaning applies to the first verse as well. The amazing powers described in some verses are also, thereby, not powers of the Sun God, but powers of these "munis" who have been described here. Even if we allow for some debate about the first verse, the other verses make it clear that the munis were considered exceptionally advanced and remind us of some of the powers that Patanjali too has described in the Yoga Sutras. Comparing the Sun God to munis - if the other meaning of "kesi" is to be taken all the way - itself makes it clear that the munis were considered to be highly advanced in their spiritual achievements and worldly powers. 

(a) The first verse says that the long-haired one endures heat (agni), poison and the two worlds. He sees the world and the heavens and is said to be that light. Poison here surely suggests tolerance to the "poison of the world", but could also refer to the ability to physically withstand some amount of actual poison.The use of the term "svar" when talking about their gaze suggests that the verse refers to their wisdom (vision), which was not limited to a worldly kind of wisdom. The second verse adds that they glide with the wind when the gods penetrate them. This gliding probably does not refer to physical gliding, but to the power - mentioned later by Patanjali too - of being able to project the subtle body out of the physical, via meditative techniques. In the third verse, the rishi of the verse confirms the point by saying clearly that the mortals only behold the physical bodies of "us munis". 

(b) The fourth verse talks of the muni as traversing the middle region, divinely impelled, and being the friend of every god due to his piety. The "middle region" is a translation of "antariksha", which ordinarily means space or sky. Here, as per Sri Aurobindo, it refers to a middle plane of consciousness which is subtler than the gross consciousness of the material world (the "earth"), yet not as refined and subtle as the consciousness in the highest spiritual worlds (svar-loka). From these middle regions, it is clear how the sage flies, shining down on all forms (on the earth). The next verse seems to confirm this, saying that the muni is the "wind's steed", friend of the Lord of Life and that he dwells within "both oceans, the upper and the lower". Not knowing about yogic methods of control of life energy, some commentators write that this verse refers to the Sun God, who is the "wind's steed". However, other commentators have pointed out that methods of breath control as part of penances (tapas) were well known in the Vedic times - and in fact, other than the rishis (who may have been more "insiders" and householders), at least 3 groups of ascetics were known at that time - the munis, the vraatyas and the brahmachaaris. Thus, it would not be surprising if the term "wind's steed" referred to the munis' knowledge and mastery of the life force, "praana", or "breath", simply. Similarly, when the sixth verse talks of the kesin wandering in the path of nymphs (apsaras) and angels (gandharvas), it seems the rishi is taling of a subtler cosmos in which they muni rode / glided, impelled by the divine force. According to the authors, apsaras and gandharvas are surely not earthly creatures. 

(c) The seventh verse mentions how the Lord of Life churned for the kesin, that which was "unbendable", when the kesin drank "from the poison cup" in presence of Rudra. According to the authors, this is hardly about a cult of drinking monks, it rather refers to the yogic practices where the "praana vaayu" pounds the "taamasic" (inertial) element of the body and prepares the for something higher. In Hindu mythology, Lord Shiva is said to have held the poison which came out of the churning of the oceans in his throat. The churning of the ocean is a great symbol for the preparation of body and mind for higher yoga. When the verse talks of the muni drinking with Rudra, it probably refers to the self-mastery of the munis, which made them "one with Rudra", or "godly" in nature. It also clearly symbolizes the muni taking on the suffering of the world upon himself, thereby, sharing the poison of Rudra, so to speak. Although times have changed, sages did - and even now continue to - take upon themselves the sins or sufferings of the world, to alleviate the karma of the world. 

Sadanand Tutakne

Agni, the Creative Flame - Part I

Some books cannot be summarized. Even if some attention is paid to the details, the summary would not reflect the sheer linguistic skills of the scholars, their attitude towards the subject, the depth of their knowledge and of the "life" they bring to "dry philosophy" in their essays. One such set of scholarly essays is compiled in a book called "The Essence of Yoga", by Georg Feuerstein and Jeanine Miller. It seems the book was first published in 1971. It contains seven essays, some by Feuerstein, some by Miller, and one written jointly. These writers can provide more appropriate translations (given the context) of many Sanskrit words compared to what others in the field have provided and also have a devotee's love for their subject, which enables them to accept that many of the Vedic rishis were probably people of considerable spiritual experience and understanding, just as many of the saints in the Christian tradition are known to have been. All this cannot be captured by a simpleton like the present author whose use of language has been restricted mainly to logical analyses and social communication essential for survival. Nevertheless, I here try to bring out a few key themes in their essays - especially those points which immediately caught my attention. At one level, this may just be a way to spend a Saturday, but at another level, it is motivated by the same creative fire which drives achievement in the market economy. The outer and the inner fire are basically the same; the grosser and the subtler fire are essentially one, and according to these scholars, when the rishis/rishikaas talked of the one, they typically implied the other too. This is to be expected - when we are constantly involved in an endeavor, our other communication typically keeps coming back to that one central idea. We mean to convey both ideas even though the metaphor is something external or different from the central idea. So was it with those sages. Grave mistakes of interpretation can be avoided by simply keeping this in mind when reading some of the ancient texts. 

A brief listing of the contents of the book is as follows. 

Essay 1: The Essence of Yoga

Here, the eight-fold path of Patanjali has been outlined with short explanations. As in other essays, the explanations are backed by numerous quotations and original thoughts. 

Essay 2: Some Notes on RigVedic Interpretation

Criticizes some early modern translations and interpretations as being too literal and therefore often missing the main point (any deeper meanings). Agrees more with the likes of Sri Aurobindo, who also argued against the same. 

Essay 3: The Hymn of Creation

Translation and detailed commentary on the famous "Naasadeeya Sukta" of the RigVeda. 

Essay 4: The Meaning of Suffering in Yoga

Explains the idea that separative tendencies (forgetting the Universal One) lead to "non-meritorious" action which makes for repetitive cycles of birth and death. Also the nature of this sorrow and the root cause - the identification of the seer with seen.  

Essay 5: Forerunners of Yoga: The Kesin Hymn 

Translation and commentary on the "Kesin Hymn" of the RigVeda. The sadhus mentioned in the Kesi hymn seem to be accomplished masters who lived more like the ascetic (renunciate) yogis of later periods. 

Essay 6: The Heart of RigVedic Religion: Agni, Flame Divine

Mentions at least 3 forms of Agni (fire) in the Rigveda, bringing out the deep symbolism prevelant throughout the Vedas with numerous examples. This needs to be acknowledged and kept in mind to arrive at any reasonable interpretation of many of the hymns. Early modern translators / commentators often got it completely wrong because they refused to look beyond the literal meaning. 

Essay 7: Meister Eckehart - Mystic or Yogin? 

Brings out parallels between the teachings of Meister Eckehart and advanced teachings of Yoga and Vedanta. In the process, makes some memorable remarks about yoga too. 

Today, I take up only the first 2 of the essays and also do not attempt to summmarize the entire commentary. Only a few bullet points are added about those parts which appealed most to me. 

1. The Essence of Yoga

(a) Mentions Jean Gebser's views on the evolution of human consciousness, according to which, man's consciousness passed through four mutations. The archaic level was where the soul was almost asleep. Next was the phase of magical consciousness, in which man perceived some aspects of nature more than he does today, while other aspects were perceived less, compared with today's consciousness. Next came mythical consciousness and finally today we are in the "mental" mutation phase. Gebser also mentions a fifth - integral consciousness. The main point is that man's capabilities and perception of nature was in some aspects more in the earlier phases - and legends about his fall from paradise ages ago refer to these mutations, whereby some aspects directly experienced then, were lost as society evolved. While some of these "powers" are not given prominence in Yoga, these changes were a prime motivation behind man's religious experiments. The "lost paradise" that man has been trying to win back - though not in the old fashion when the links to the heavens were unconscious - has its roots in some actual experiences and changes that man witnessed over the course of his evolution. 

(b) Although yoga is used and discussed often in the context of psychotherapy and physiotherapy, it is interesting to note that the yogic texts mostly require the practitioner to be of sound mind and body to start with. Thus, these yoga texts were not intended mainly for these purposes. Rather, the purpose was to help the holistic development of the already healthy man, with each step "de-humanizing" the personality a bit more, to allow the "divine" personality to manifest and flourish in its place. 

(c) The eight members (limbs) of Patanjali's Yoga are then described. Their brief descriptions are as follows. 

Yama - ethical precepts regulating social life

Niyama - ethical precepts with regard to the inner (individual) life

Aasana - bodiy posture

Praanayaama - control of life energy 

Pratyaahaara - withdrawal of the senses from the outer world 

Dhaaranaa - 'binding' of the mind, usually translated by concentration

Dhyaana - [concentrated] reflection, usually called meditation

Samaadhi - 'unification', best rendered as enstasis. 

Now within niyamas, we have 5 precepts, one of which is "tapa", typically translated as "penances" or ascetic exercises. Here the authors mention that they would like to propose another classification of the eight limbs, in which all the following members (Asana to Samadhi) could be classified within "tapas". Given several books where this word has been used to describe austerities in general, clearly, there is a case for what they say. In fact, all yoga, all ascetic practices are often clubbed together under the banner of "tapash-charyaa" when people use that term these days. Hence the authors' proposal is not wrong, going by that meaning. However, tapas also has a slightly limited meaning, mentioned in the celebrated Vyaasa-commentary (this is said to be a different Vyasa, not the author of the Mahabharata) and also mentioned by Sri Sri Swami Yukteshwar Giri, guru of Paramahansa Yogananda. Tapas, in this literature, refers to tolerating "dwandwa" (dualities), where dualities have been explained by examples like heat and cold, hunger (fasting), vows of silence, etc. The scholars who have quoted from innumerable texts - including the Vyaasa commentary - have also mentioned this limited meaning in their discussion. If this limited meaning is used, then clearly, the later limbs (Asana to Samadhi) are not necessarily included fully under tapas. Yet they propose their alternative classification, as if it is not clear that it simply depends upon what meaning of "tapas" we use. Could it possibly be that they overlooked the fact that the entire discussion revolves around this small detail - regarding how broadly we define tapas? Possibly, but I offer a different explanation. With the meaning of "tapas" having become so wide these days, readers would naturally have a tendency to forget the smaller meaning - "tolerance of the dualities". This is not an acceptable state of affairs because tolerance of the opposites can be such an essential "tool" in the practitioners' toolkit that it needs to be highlighted and brought to the fore in public memory. By pretending that the matter is bigger than a mere play upon which meaning we use, and by exhorting readers to decide on the classification by looking at the references themselves, the scholars have attempted to highlight the importance of this "tolerance of dualities", because they understand and believe in its special place throughout yogic practice. This ties in well with their very reverent approach to the text and to the Vedic literature in general too. 

(d) In explaining the term "Ishwar" or "God" in the text, they make it amply clear that the philosophical discussions on the exact nature of God mentioned in the text are more side-issues than of great importancce. One must remember that in yoga, the practical experience was the goal, not how beautifully the cosmology behind the practice was presented to the intellectual. Although people have made a big deal of the "dualism" in Patanjali's book (purusha and Ishwar being different inasmuch as Ishwar has special characteristics), this is not really the purport of the book. Even self-realized Vedantic (Advaitic) teachers maintain that multiplicity is retained in the Universal One, only the separative consciousness is abandoned. Therefore, portraying yoga as being essentially dualistic seems like a misinterpretation. (Here, we should keep in mind that according to Shrimat Swami Hariharaananda Aaranya, the Shvetaashwatara Upanishad is known to belong to the ancient yogic tradition, and anyone who has read a translation cannot but agree that the Shvetashwatara is a wholly Advaitic text. The portrayal of all yoga as being dualistic therefore does seem to be a misinterpretation, in the ultimate analysis.) 

2. Some Notes on Rigvedic Interpretation

(a) Early modern western (and in a few cases, eastern) commentators were too literal. Only recently, with Jean Herbert, do we see the beginning of an endeavor to understand the Vedas with the help of modern Hindu sages and seers, which is essential given that innumerable sources point to the rishis being people of immense spiritual realization and understanding. Ignoring the Indian tradition and stopping at literal meanings of words was also fueled by a prejudice - in academic scholars - regarding the capabilities of primitive man. This is reflected in the case of a drawing made by an Australian aboriginal in which the head of a man was drawn without a mouth. Scholars attributed this to the non-sophistication of the artist - rather than accepting that the artist could sketch as well as anyone else, but did not draw the mouth due to some notion of aesthetic beauty. The same prejudice, say Feuerstein and Miller, can be seen in many translations and interpretations of the Vedas. Some of the western commentators seem to have accepted the "seer" status of many Christian saints, when writing about the Christian scriptures, but never showed the willingness to accept that the same is said of several vedic rishis. It is heartening to see that these trends are now beginning to decline. 

(b) Psychologists like Jung have helped cure some of this prejudice by teaching that myth is a necesary stage between conscious and unconscious cognition and that ancient myths are a revelation of divine life in man. Here, let us recall Paramahansa Yogananda's comment that although epics may be consistent at several levels, it is the psychological interpretation of the epics which was considered to be the most important in his circles (e.g., his guru and guru' guru). Clearly, vedic rishis would also 

have used symbols and myths to express some truths which they "saw". Let us also recall that Yaska's Nirukta is a commentary on the Nighantu, in which sage Paraashar compiled the several different meanings that the Vedic rishis attributed to any single word (say, "go") in the vedas. Why would the Nighantu / Nirukta be an essential part of any vedic study, if the words carried only their "usual" meanings in most cases? Clearly, not only do words have different meanings in different contexts, but more than one meaning (say material and spiritual) was often conveyed by the rishis in the same verse. Yes, the scholars agree that all rishis might not have attained to the same exalted state and that many of the 1,028 hymns (adding up to a total of more than 10,000 verses) in the Rigveda do seem to be purely mundane verses with no additional symbolic interpretation but this still does not mean that there aren't "enough" verses with a clear spiritual / deeper symbolism. Even in the simpler verses, say the authors, when describing the most mundane of things like throwing dice, an ethical undertone is clearly visible in the verses throughout the Vedas. It is time to approach the subject accepting the exalted states of realization where the rishis came from, and the authors hope to prove, using the numerous examples in the literature, that such interpretations fit the Vedic verses rather well. 

Sadanand Tutakne

Transcending the illusion of the opposites

According to J. Krishnamurti, man vascillates between the opposites, but it is only by deeply understanding the illusion of the opposites that we can be free of its limitations and encumbrances. Only then is the mind really free and attentive to the real. The movement is then from the real to the real, not from the known to the known. In the world of opposites, thoughtlessness is inevitable, since the never-ending tussle between the opposites wears the mind down. This perpetuates habit and habitual patterns of thinking, and the mindlessness of habit can clearly not put an end to fundamental problems. Craving, he says, is at the root of this and hence, that also needs to be understood if the development of this illusion is to be understood and transcended. This brings to fore the central question which many of us, not being experts in the teachings of K, would like to ask - what do we mean by the illusion of opposites and how can we understand it deeply and transcend it? The natural question arises from the empirical observation of the extremes, of course. We see some people being tall while others are short. Weather outside is sometimes hot and sometimes cold. The mind is at times happy and sometimes unhappy. Social systems offer a full menu of choices from radical communism to extreme capitalism or individualism. We perceive goodness in the world at times, but perceive evil at times too. Then what is the "illusion" here? Perhaps choices can be made, but what is meant by transcending the opposites? Is this all purely a description of higher states of consciousness and awareness in which these differences seem immaterial? If so, then is this discussion of any help at all to those who have not experienced that higher state of consciousness? 

It turns out that K has talked about this illusion and the way to tackle it in many places. Just search for his views on "opposites" on the internet and see some of the shorter and longer publications which come up. It is not merely a description of an advanced state which is beyond mankind and hence can only serve to further mystify the already confused mind. K has strived, in fact, to soften the impact of the emotional excitement, bewilderment and disorientation people may feel when such "unattainable" states are described to them. For the most part, he avoids pushing people into confusions which can cause agony. His term "illusion" is rather clearly defined and his methods are not totally outside the capabilities of ordinary humans. As in most places, K is not here talking about physical differences in people, technological memory (like how to drive a car), or just the fact of weather-changes having some effect. It is in the psychological domain that he wants us to follow his words. Faced with the fact of anger, greed, doubt, pleasure, attraction to food or clothing, repulsion towards the other social system, or any other similar psychological reality, man "creates" its opposite instantly and habitually starts a war against the basic reality of the moment. Forcing the mind into opposite patterns, expects the suppression of the initial fact to "cure" him and his society. Or, being averse to the idea of suppression, makes a habit of magnifying the initial problem by expressing too much. The conflict between good an evil which results is never-ending and serves no purpose other than to wear people down. Devoid of strength, the mind goes a step deeper into habitual patterns which require no thought. Carelessness and further insensitivity then further enhance the internal conflict and create more misery for the mind, which had created the opposite side hoping that the opposite would cure him of the initial malady and misery. 

This does not mean to suggest that goodness, kindness, calmness or peace are devoid of substance or that they are not part of the same reality which we call ourselves or the world. Only that the peace which was instantly created by mind as a mere habitual response based on tradition and memory was no more than a mental concoction, and hence merely an illusion. Maybe clever, but not in touch with facts and not real. Hence, creating further misery, as per the process outlined above, instead of delivering man from the misery. The entire process of knowledge and accumulated memory participates in this process and ends up being a barrier to awareness of what is, which was not the intention. Hence the need to deeply understand what these opposites truly are, how we create them and why the counterfactual design only breeds dullness (lack of awareness). 

Again, if every reaction is a reflex based on memory, how can we ever solve the problem of anger or evil within ourselves? Is K saying that evil is permanent? No, according to K, observing is the ultimate action in this part of psychology. Observing something puts an end to the thing - memory does not have to then periodically chew the cud regarding the event. Facing the fact choicelessly, the mind sees anger, boredom, habit, sensation and all related processes clearly as they are. The flame of awareness burns or dissolves the initial fact, so memory does not have to grapple with it for eternity. The intention to dig, by itself, does not bring out water from the depths of the earth. We also need the tools to be sharp. Similarly, here, the awareness needs to be without condemnation, justification or judgment. Because all of these processes of memory merely add to the internal conflict and tire the person out. That perpetuates carelessness and brutality. That perpetrates the thinker as separate from thoughts, which is another conflict. Gentle awareness, on the other hand, without pushing for one result or the other, without condemnation or justification, is conducive to understanding the intricate details of the processes of the mind which creates these "illusions", and is the way to the discovery of reality. Of course, the words "the way" indicate a set path and may promote beliefs once again, which is against the intentions of the teachers, but if understood simply, then they can convey the right impressions too. Like land left fallow after a harvest, this choiceless awareness also rejuvenates the mind which is otherwise injured by the constant war of the opposites.

The judging and evaluating mind will want to know whether Patanjali is wrong in mentioning the use of contrary thought as a way to deal with negative impulses (violence, envy, laziness, etc.). Firstly, let's be clear that often, the measuring mind is just an outcome of the desire to dominate a conversation. It seems necessary while the excitement prevails and then feels like a dissipation of energy. Inquiry starting from there may mislead more than help. Then again, there are measurements which even the more serious enquirers may want to consider exploring, so that they may understand. From that perspective, it may be good to consider the fact that Patanjali's recommended use of contrarian thought is as a conscious method, within a larger, integrated system. Done gently and consciously, the contrarian thinking will not make the practitioner lose awareness of the fact of the negative impulses being present. It would promote conscious awareness of all aspects of the mind, which is K's purpose and method. Done forcefully, without awareness of the method as a method, it may create all the illusions of duality that K is arduously trying to take us away from. 

Yet another interesting fact is that Patanjali also differentiates between methods which can help mitigate grosser disturbances and those which can go beyond and lead to complete dissolution of the qualities and aspects of ignorance. Meditation reduces the grosser manifestations of the great ignorance. For further progress, repeated meditation, and the impressions of freedom left on the heart by repeated "successes" in overcoming different limitations via meditation are necessary. Meditation is still perhaps necessary, but it is not sure whether it is sufficient. Or, perhaps it is better to say that meditation on limited objects or forms is not sufficient. Either way, the road to final dissolution is not half as easy to explain as the road to the intermediate successes. At least for the present author right now. K has himself said that truth is a pathless land. Therefore, when pitting the Patanjali view on contrarian thought against this teaching of K, let us keep in mind that Patanjaliji himself was often providing routes to the interim successes - on which, the advanced yogi would have to build further to get to nirbeeja samadhis and full absorption. 

And even after the practical, less mystified, workable part of the teaching has been understood, it is not clear how many of us can even practice this for more than an hour a month or an hour a year! This is why K always reminds us that the word is a symbol, but the word (or the name) is not the thing. It is a pointer, but to know what it points to, we have to walk. The ending of duality, time and the petty thinker may actually mean much more than what we have discussed today - but in speculating too much on the unknown, we perpetrate the processes of duality by hating the simpler aspects of the teaching as the "lower" aspects, which are so less exciting relative to the unknown "higher" aspects. Gently recognizing that suffering as a concoction of the mind, we can proceed to the next step.

Sadanand Tutakne

"Of Mystics and Mistakes" - further revelations by Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev

First of all, welcome friends to another edition of the spiritual discussions. Other than providing information based on available literature, these sessions satisfy curiosity, provide a channel for "right effort", and not the least - provide us with some time to reflect on what is probably the most sought after question of human life. Naturally, they are likely to leave us with a sense of grandeur, and that's intended too - let's keep in mind that "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy". However, entertainment is not the sole purpose either. Analogous to entertainment which contains a social message, these discussions also have a higher target. How far that higher purpose is served here may depend upon our attitude and aptitude, but it is hoped that a cheerful and entertaining tone will help all participants gather something from the discussion. For more serious commentary, readers are advised to take the help of any fully self-realized saint close to their heart. 

"Of Mystics and Mistakes" is a relatively recent book of conversations with Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, a contemporary yogi who needs no introduction to this blog. A "questioner" puts a question, and Sadhguru responds. In the process, the reader is brought into awareness of many most marvelous facts about life and the world. As the first section of the book explains, perception limited to the five sense organs may be acceptable for survival, but proves to be a mistake in the higher order of things, when we step out of this excessive concern with survival and improving further and further on the criterion of survival. The mystics, on the other hand, who have opened themselves to perceptions beyond just the five senses, can strive to get out of the web of this erroneous view. No wonder then, that organizations started by advanced yogis often pursue the explicitly stated purpose of bringing man to a direct realization of these higher-dimensional realities. With advanced perception, some "superhuman" possibilities may also come within the realm of the possible - like Swami Vivekananda who once held a medical book in German in his hand for an hour and could then reproduce any page of it to the doctor he was speaking to. Of course, there is a difference between the development of these powers and spirituality itself, just as there is a difference between pure science and technology (which concerns itself mainly with utilitarian applications). So occult (and occult powers) are mostly like a utilitarian application of some dimensions of reality which people may not ordinarily know of and hence occult is different from the pure science of spirituality, which is what Sadhguru is looking to develop. The main impediment for most people who want to enhance their perception is the chattering mind - i.e., chattering thought and emotions. This includes thoughts to "stop the mind", etc. too, which make the mental process more important than it actually is. Sadhguru asks whether anyone with spiritual aspirations worries about stopping their heart when they come to a spiritual discourse! So instead of cultivating "impossible" attitudes like trying to stop the mind, practitioners may do better to develop the "saakshi" (witness) mind, which can be a simple witness to all thoughts and emotions which arise and fall within the mind. This also brings up the question of how to decide on who is a good guru, given all the trickery in the world. Sadhguru agrees that people should not blindly fall for things and then end up hurt. They should choose very carefully. However, he adds that maybe one way to differentiate the real teachers from the rest is to observe what they demand - if they demand merely money or property, they are probably not worth it; you should only go to places where they demand your life!

The typical yogic idea of focusing on one thing is very helpful. Sadhguru humorously advises that even if you could play the game of being annoyed or angry for all the time, you would reach there. The problem is that we cannot do anything wholeheartedly and stay on it without being distracted. In that sense, "multi-tasking" does not help. The reader may recall that focused attention is the central idea in Patanjali's description of meditation too, although even the act of meditation is later discussed as an "external practice" for nirbeeeja samadhi (seedless samadhi), although it is an integral part of the eight-fold yoga to attain sabeeja samadhi (samadhi with the seed of thought or other object of attention). While thought and emotion are to be kept stable, the rest, he says, must be allowed to run wild, to make it possible for the human form to "break the bubble" and perceive something beyond the ordinary sense-mind. The spiritual process is about developing the intensity required to break this limitation of ordinary consciousness. This, by the way, also includes the "intention of being good and ethical". More evil has been done in this world by people who claim to have been driven by "good intentions", say Sahdguru. Not having the ability to perceive anything beyond themselves, these people had strong convictions and ended up doing horrible things. In this sense, the spiritual process is a bit supra-logical. You cannot always be caught in your own logic - you need to perceive more than that. The process is also not about mastering one particular element or process with the end-result of using it for survival. Mastery over the elements - whether levitation or some other power which is not yet available to common people via technology - is another circus, which Sadhguru says he has wasted two lives working on and is not the goal of spiritual processes. Rather, surrender may be called more the aim here. The overwhelming detail of life makes people feel that mastery over some aspect of nature or physical reality is the ultimate objective. However, like the elaborate dresses of some courtesans in the olden days - which could all be taken off by a single pin which only the courtesan herself knew of - nature's millions of details also turn around a single key, which is the self. Hence, the manner in which individuals take and deal with the developments of surrounding nature are more important that levitation or walking on water. He again laughingly adds that if by walking miles and miles on water, we forgot to walk on land, then we would need to again teach ourselves how to walk on land! This, of course, does not mean that stories about people with marvelous powers are false. Sadhguru has himself seen and known of different yogis with different kinds of powers. Only that he has had enough of it and that mastery of that kind (over one aspect of nature or the other) is not his goal with his disciples. The goal is to help make people truly perceive beyond ordinary life, and with that satisfy the deepest urge (and suffering) in mankind to achieve greater and 

greater degrees of satisfaction. If we could remain "untouched" by life - just as children are - right up to the end of our lives, then the goal would be met. 

This does not, however, mean that Sadhguru would like children to be initiated early into deep meditation, etc. Rather, he insists that closed-eye meditations and perception of higher dimensions of life should not come too early in life, because in the early part of life, the "physical will" in the body is not well-developed. Knowledge of higher dimensions with this base leads to the life force exiting the body early. While some yogis who started perceiving early lived more complete and richer lives that people could imagine, yet, it is a fact that they also left the world much earlier, for one reason or another. It is only after the age of 14 years that the physical will of the body becomes strong, says Sadhguru. Paraashar took his son Veda Vyaasa as a disciple early in life because of Vyaasa's insistence, but he ensured that Vyasa was trained in a lot of physical yogic exercises, so that the physical element in the body would have a strong and healthy will. It is due to this that Vyaasa had his long life, says Sadhguru - which is estimated to be over 340 years by some people. Otherwise, like with Adi Shankaracharya and Swami Vivekananda, a reason to exit early from the physical is easy to find for the child-yogis. There are other such subtle processes working in nature which Sadhguru accepts and explains about in the conversations. One is about the influence of the moon and its cycles. Like the tides in oceans, some physical and subtle processes in man are also related to the cycles of the moon, he says. The full-moon night, for example, is typically soothing and conducive to deeper and peaceful meditations, while the no-moon night is a night when energies are running wild. Therefore, for some kinds of hard penances, he says, the availability of that energy on the no-moon night is helpful. In the supremely famous "dhyaanalinga" temple constructed by Sahdguru, the pancha bhuta araadhanaa (for purification of the five basic elements) is held on the no-moon day. Sadhguru says that the way the five elements are integrated within a person determines many things like the health of the person. With better integration, health and other benefits follow directly and this is the reason for this particular puja. Of course, the cleansing of the five elements is not just for health - it is also a very fundamental and important process in many forms of yoga and is considered by many to be essential for spiritual development. As for how Sadhguru first experienced the higher dimension, Sadhguru mentions what he has on many TV interviews and in other books. Once he rode up to Chamundi hill on his motorcycle and sat there - as was popular amongst youth in those days. Suddenly, as he was just looking, for the first time in his life, everything around him became a part of himself and was extremely alive. The pure bliss of that state was indescribable. He thought he had stayed in that state for only 15 or 20 minutes, but when he looked at his watch, four and a half hours had passed. Similar experiences happened many times after that too, he says, but this was the first experience which truly showed him a unity between what he had until then perceived as "me" and "you" or subject and object. 

With huge scientific and technoloical advances over the past 150 years, we now often see conclusions emerging from science which tell the same story as older yogic teachings or legends which hide deeper meanings within an outer shell of symbolism. Science is now exploring seriously whether there were multiple big bangs instead of one. This is exactly what is conveyed in old tales of Shiva roaring in anger when "Shakti wakes him up" and then rising from his slumber. Shiva roared multiple times. The yogis have always seen the human body as a microcosm which has an imprint of the external cosmos in it. This body has 112 physical chakras or junction points where life energy is coupled with the body. Another two chakras are non-physical, he says. From the body, we know that Shiva can only roar 112 times. Science says 84 of these roars (big bangs) have already happened. What happens after the 112th bang is difficult to describe - it may be in a completely non-physical dimension. Science also suggests that the first form of manifest energy (after the big bang or big bangs) must have been ellipsoidal in nature. Yoga has always maintained the deepest respect for the ellipsoidal form - which is the shape of shiva lingas, which have been misinterpreted by some as being phallic symbols. So will the ultimate form of energy prior to its dissolution into the non-physical be ellipsoidal in form. Oscilloscopes can show the "form" of sound waves - what kind of wave it leads to, the amplitude, frequency, etc. Vedic tradition (and similarly many other ancient traditions) has always described sound and vibration as one of the earliest manifestations, from which all else has manifested. The reader will recall that even science is now coming to the theory that the most basic parts of creation are "conscious" thrusts of energy - which reminds us of the old teaching that the Universal One, who is pure consciousness, has become both matter and consciousness within matter (purusha and prakriti both arise from the same ever conscious One). This knowledge of the subtler dimensions of reality was also used for various purposes by the makers of temples in ancient India. Sadhguru says that before the bhakti (devotion) movement changed the nature of temples completely, temples in India were centres of energy which also served some purpose in ordinary life. Devotees could go to particular temples and receive the energy required for progress on some dimension of life or the other. The dhyaanalinga temple constructed by Sadhguru uses this ancient science - only that the dhyaanalinga being the only physical linga available today with all seven basic chakra awakened is an energy form which motivates people to meditate and develop holistically towards the higher life. Other dieties with 1-2 chakras awakened can help on selected dimensions of life. After the bhakti movement, everyone wanted to construct a temple to celebrate their devotion to their form of God - therefore, temples were created in every nook and corner off the country. One consequence of this was that the ancient science of creating temples as energy-centers lost its importance. In some of these temples, the deity has been created by yogic processes which require some life force to be transformed to serve given larger objectives. In case of the Kali temple at Dakshineshwar, the life energy used to "sustain the deity" there is provided by animal sacrifice. Sadhguru says that great saints like Sri Ramakrishna did not ask for the animal sacrifice at the temple to be stopped for precisely this reason. They knew that people would in any case slaughter the animals in slaughterhouses for food - hence, it was perhaps better if the slaughter was used to transform the life energy of the animal to sustain the energies of the temple which served the spiritual needs of the devotees. Not that the creation of deities and temples requires animal sacrifice (or, human sacrifice for that matter!) says Sadhguru. However, some life energy has to be used, he says - adding that even a clap is a release of life energy. Sadhguru will not, in fact, allow the use of animal or human sacrifice in any of his temples. However, without some form of energy released and transformed into the required form, the temples constructed in this way would lose their vitality. He adds that temples where the deity has become a "withdrawing life force" are in fact detrimental to people rather than helpful. It is better, he says, to "kill" these withdrawing energy forms if people could allow that, rather that let a withdrawing energy affect people negatively for hundreds of years! With these considerations in mind,  he created the dhyaanalinga with a special process which requires no physical maintenance. The other "devi temples" he consecrated, are however, not nearly as unique and require much less of him too. Naturally therefore, he says he is willing to consecrate many more devi temples but there will be only one dhyaanalinga. His physical body cannot go through the consecration of another dhyaanalinga. 

In the last section of the book, Sadhguru again talks about conquest versus surrender, quoting the story of two yogis with opposite temperaments - Siddhalinga and Allamma. Siddhalinga had made his body strong and hard as a rock, and according to the story, was aboout 280 years old when he met the gentle and soft soul that Allamma was. He challenged Allamma to show him something he had achieved through yogic pratice, boasting that a sword could not cut him. As part of the demonstration, Siddhalinga had Allamma hit him on the head with a sword - and the sword just bounced back from the head as if it had hit a rock. Then Siddhalinga told Allamma that he now had the right to use the same sword back on Allamma - simply because Allamma had hit him with the sword as part of the test. He did exactly that, but only to find the sword pass through Allamma's body as if it had passed through thin air or water. Siddhalinga thereby realized that the yoga of gentleness was no less that the yoga off strength and became a disciple of Allamma. Sadhguru states that today's world would have had fewer problems if the masculine approach of conquest was not so predominant. He also talks there of five kinds of dreams and why it is best to not read too much into dreams but rather just enjoy them, whatever they are. The first is nothing but a reflection of conscious desires in the dream state. The second kind of dream may point to an event about to happen - but is typically presented in a very oblique way, making it very difficult to infer what it really points to. The third kind of dream may reflect some "karma" residing within the system - but it is useless to try to relate it to past lives, etc., because past lives are mostly not in the range of conscious experience of the individual. So there is a great risk of misinterpreting simple fears (like those of dark places) to events of a past life, just because a difficult situation was seen in a dream. Also, it is seldom complete enough to make any sense of it anyway. The fourth dream is actually not a dream in the ordinary sense - it is a power to crystallize things by powerfully projecting one's thought and will. To the extent that it is a creation of the person's own will, this is also a dream. However, it is conducive to liberation. Bhaktas of a high order (devotees) are known to have this power. The fifth kind of dream cannot be logically described and hence is best not to go into it, says Sadhguru. 

Kriyas (and other yogic practices) strengthen the 112 chakras and help people transcend ordinary life's problems many times - but even such preparations cannot succeed in 100 percent of the situations. Those who touch the remaining two supra-physical chakras (113th and 114th) reach a state where any work they do always helps in the process of their liberation - so they have not to bother with "what" to do to make progress. Karmic (including genetic) tendencies, habits and the naturally divisive nature of perception may all create barriers to the human being's transcendence, but the greatest contribution of the Adi Yogi (Shiva, the first yogi) to humanity, says Sadhguru, is the idea that we can evolve beyond our limitations and the technology (yoga) to bring about this transformation. 

Sadanand Tutakne