by Gurani Anjali
To the seeker after truth much repetition is necessary. Much. Repeating the sacred mantras, repeating the sacred songs, repeating the readings of the sacred texts. Constantly bring to mind the blessings of life. Constant repetition is so necessary for the seeker after truth. To the seeker after truth every stone is lifted up, every veil is uncovered, every illusion discriminated away. The seeker after truth will constantly be restless until the truth is sought, until the truth is embodied. The seeker after truth finds no rest.
What happens when the truth is found? It has been said so many times before “The truth makes you free”- it will set you free. Free to be what? Free to uphold the truth. Once you find the truth, then you have to be the bearer of truth, you have to uphold it. It’s not getting free and then saying “Well, now I’ve got it all together. Now I can go do what I want to do. But change? Why? I can do anything I want to do. So let’s go roast a big fat pig. Let’s have a luau, Let’s have some beers, let’s have some drinks. Let’s go dancing, let’s go skiing, let’s do all those things that I could not do because I was doing sadhana (method, means). Now I know the truth, now hmm… now the sky’s the limit. Now I can do everything.”
Now you have got a surprise awaiting. After you find the truth, then you have to protect the truth. And you have to care for it, you have to uphold it. You have to be the bearer of truth. Which means, you’ll be constantly keeping a check on yourself, which is a wonderful thing to do for a change. Instead of someone else telling you what to do, you’ll be watching over yourself.
Find the truth. Om Isvara (Highest Vision). Perfect purusa (pure consciousness). Untouched by klesa (affliction). Untouched by avidya (ignorance). Asmita (I-am-ness), raga (attachment), dvesa (aversion), abhinivesa (clinging to life): purest purusa. That is to be worshipped. That is to be given adoration. Offerings of flowers and incense, giving alms to the needy- all for purusa. Purusa is to be worshipped, silence beyond mind.
Silence is always touching silence. And in the touching of silence, there produces sound. Silence is always touching silence. And when silence touches upon silence, there is manifestation of the silence. And it takes form and it takes color. And it becomes all it can become. When silence touches upon silence. Did you ever try that? Take one hand- it’s silent. Take another hand- it’s silent. Put them together. There has to be heat, there has to be vibration, there has to be sound. Okay, take one hand, take another hand, and come on, get it together [clap], silence touching upon silence. This is just a small, simple example. You can carry that further into your daily life, and see how silence is always touching upon silence. To bring out the form and the color of silence. Om purusa. Om lsvara. Perfect purusa. Untouched by klesa. There is joy and jubilation when silence touches upon silence. There cannot be anything else but joy and ecstacy. Because silence is touching upon silence. And that’s what we are seeking. We are seeking that ever-silent experience of life. The life which says more than the mind can imagine.
But without the mind, we do not know how to act, and we don’t know what to do. So we do bring the mind constantly into our existence, so that it may lead us to do all that we must do. We have so many names, so many experiences that are locked in the mind, but at any given moment you can go exploring the mind for experiences you forgot or that you long for, and the mind is ever-ready to produce. Just like a computer, it will produce anything that you want it to produce. So there, too, we must worship the mind because it is so perfect, it is so real, it is so ready, and it is always there. Mind is everything. Without mind what can we do?
So when silence touches upon silence there is joy and there is jubilation. And that is experienced in silence. When that experience occurs, there is laughter, there is an overwhelming power of existence, knowledge and bliss. The experience of sat-cit-ananda (existence, knowledge, bliss) is enjoyed when silence touches upon silence. And that is happening all of the time, silence is touching upon silence. Some know it and some do not.
When you experience that, there is a state of nirodhah (restriction). And in the state of nirodhah, citta-vrtti-nirodhah (restriction of the modification of the mind), that experience of the silent jubilation can be overwhelming. But, because the mind is filled with all kinds of activities, one rarely experiences the silence touching upon silence. May you experience that as the days go by. Always, silence is touching silence, always, but we don’t see it. You don’t see it, but it is always occurring. It has to occur in that manner. There is no other way for it to occur. The manifested world comes out of silence and it is when silence touches upon silence that the manifested world is experienced. To the seeker after truth this is an important experience. Seek it daily in your life. May you experience it. It’s a wonderful experience.
Yoga is way of life, it’s a science, it’s a philosophy. To some it’s a religion. In the beginning of any spiritual undertaking, there is much ritual. One must do this and do that, do a lot of things. In the beginning of any spiritual undertaking lots of rituals must be attended to. Now why are these rituals important? Some know and some don’t. And some don’t care either way. Some are hearers of the truth, some are listeners; some are just bored, don’t know what to do, don’t care.
There are all kinds of seekers. Some are passionate, some are very ardent, and some just do things because they are supposed to do it. Some think maybe if they do the rituals, they’ll get there. But, they don’t care either way. The Guru has to deal with all kinds of personalities. Just because an individual is in an ashram, it doesn’t mean that he or she is a seeker after truth. They’re just window shopping, or they have no other place to go, so they just hang around. There are all kinds of people in an ashram. Some are just waiting for something to give them a great WHAMMO. And then they may say, “Oh, oh, this might be right; now I’ll get on.”
There are some people on the path just waiting to see what will happen next. Whatever, it doesn’t matter, this is the karma of each individual. So, among seekers after truth, seekers after truth also have to realize all people who enter the Ashram are not lambs. They may be wolves in sheep’s clothing. So you’ve got to watch out for who may appear in front of you. But more important, you have to see the you that appears with you all the time. And that is a little difficult to do. So there are many seekers after truth, all kinds of seekers. Some are very sincere and some are very insincere. You have to watch out for that.
The seeker after truth is the individual who has gone through much suffering, who has seen the illusions of life, and doesn ‘t want to play games anymore. That’s the seeker after truth. There are many rituals, all kinds of rituals. The seeker after truth has to do the rituals. Now why does one have to do the rituals? Anyone know? Yes?
“To learn.”
To learn. Anyone else?
“To embody.”
To embody. Anyone else? Yes?
“To break the habits of the past…”
Anyone else?
“To develop humility.”
To develop humility. To develop humility. But first there has to be the seeker. If there’s no seeker, you can’t break the habits of the past, you can’t develop humility, you can never embody the truth. There has to be a seeker first, so you have to find the seeker.
The seeker is steadfast. Steadfast, whether it rains or shines. Whether the circumstance of one’s life is messed up or not, the seeker after truth is steadfast. The rituals are there to help the seeker after truth to focus, to become one-pointed. First there has to be a seeker, then there has to be the practice of one-pointedness, focus. So the rituals come into play to bring the mind to the place through which the seeker after truth may journey further into the realities of the ritual. The ritual is: putting some fruit on the havan (altar); igniting agni (the Vedic god of fire, fire, the light of consciousness); burning the incense; putting flowers; attending to the sunrise and sunset; doing tapas (lit. heat, austerities); doing the yamas (abstinences) and niyamas (observances); practicing silence; practicing and observing fasting; doing so many things- cleanliness, asanas (Yoga postures) – all these are rituals. So that the seeker after truth may focus.
Some may be on the path for years and have never focused once, but attended to all the rituals. So first we have to find the seeker, the true seeker, the one that is really seeking. Gautama Buddha looked out from his balcony and he saw the suffering all around. And he said “Why am I here with such luxury? I must go down there.” He was a true seeker. He went down, walked among the people and experienced the suffering of the common man. You have to come down, you have to come away from your wandering mind. You cannot continue to be a vagrant all the days of your life, going here and going there, and begging for every little pleasure you want. You’ve got to come down and become a true seeker. Then things change. Then the rituals begin to speak to you, and they open up to you.
Rituals never open up until the seeker after truth is true. Water mixes with water, oil mixes with oil, air flows into itself; in everything like goes with like. The seeker after truth has to be truthful. You must seek the mahapurusa (Great Consciousness) with all your heart, with your entire body, all your mind. Then purusa-nature may show itself to you. You can open up a fruit and you’ll be able to see wonders that the common eyes cannot see. There are so many truths that are hidden. And rituals are very important to perform. They give focus; they create one pointedness, attention. Everything else flies away, and that one-pointed focus occurs. And to the seeker after truth, that is ecstasy, that is joy. You have to be a seeker.
Sure you have problems in life, sure you have money problems health, sickness suffering-all these things are part of the human condition. But you have to go beyond the human condition and become a divine human being. See, there is the other side of your nature, the divine human: Seek your highest nature, be a divine human, be like Isvara, “purest purusa, untouched by klesa.” When one performs the rituals one must be in that state, beyond the klesas, untouched by them. When you stand in front of agni (fire, flame), the highest witness, always present, then you can speak to agni, who carries out all your wishes, who brings to light all that you need to know.
But you have to be a sincere seeker. You know how agni is. You cannot put anything near agni. Agni will burn it up, if it is impure. You cannot put your finger next to agni, it will bum you up, because you are not ready to be one with it. Burning. “Get away from me! You are defiled. You are not pure yet. Don’t touch me.”
And you know in life you cannot touch many things. Even in relationships, you cannot touch a human being if you have a little bit of selfishness in you. Or self-centeredness. You cannot go next to that person, that person is like agni. “Don’t come next to me, I’ll burn you up. You are unfaithful, untrue. Get away! Stay away! I don’t need you.”
But if you are honest and sincere, then the relationship flourishes. A little bit of asmita, a little bit of “I need something for me, from you” you ‘re not getting it, definitely not. You have to be totally, totally pure and truthful. Every relationship breaks up, because a relationship signifies fire, agni. Agni is very, very pure. You cannot lie in a relationship because the flame of agni flickers within you. It is your purusa-nature. So when we are in relationships, and when we are in situations, every situation, agni is there. Sometimes when you are cooking dinner for yourself, and if you don ‘t have one-pointed attention on your dinner and really have the desire to eat, that food becomes a waste. Something lacks. Salt is not enough, spice is not enough, or it doesn’t cook well. Because there is not that passion, no love, no desire- 200 per cent- to have and to be, in worshipping.
You must always have a worshipful attitude. Not just caring, like a Good Samaritan, but to care because this whole world is a karmic evolution. So we have to do realizing that what we do does not end. It continues. If we do something of a negative nature, that negativity continues to be. It takes form in other ways, and it lives on, it spreads. Nothing that we do in this life is ever lost. It all continues to be, until purification takes place.
Rituals are very important. Every position we take, every situation we are in, everything we do, is a ritual. Some know it and some don’t. Whenever there are two people there is kuruksetra (lit. field of the Kurus, circumstance). And Krsna is always advising Arjuna: “Now perform Arjuna, perform.” In the beginning Arjuna is very scared. He says, “No I can’t. I can’t. I can’t. But I don’t know how to. Why should I? Why should I?” Until chapter 11 of the Bhagavad Gita. Krsna says, “Okay, you doubting one, you doubt so much, you’re not listening to me, okay, I’ll give you a treat that will last a lifetime.” And K]-1_1a shows him his divine form. Arjuna was brought to his knees. That’s the first thing that happened, he was brought to his knees. Here he was, a warrior, with his sword and everything, ready to fight, you know, a big, strong guy. But then when he saw the great vision he was brought to his knees. He had to go down. He had no other place to go but to go down and worship K]'(la at his feet. K]'(la was his Guru, was his advisor, was telling him where it’s at. But Arjuna, no! He was too proud, he was a warrior. But he was brought down to his knees. And after that he had to study Yoga to be a true warrior.
You have to come down to your knees. You cannot stand in front of agni, or in front of the Guru, and play those little games. Because those little games have no place. You get burnt. You have to be very honest. Be very pure. Be very sincere. Rituals- everything from eating to sleeping to drinking, from taking a shower to going here and going there, every segment of our life is a ritual to the seeker after truth. So you have to find the seeker first. Find that seeker in you and see if you are really a seeker. If you really want to know the mahapurusa, and if you want to be the bearer of the truth. And if you want to uphold the Yoga dharma, if you want to be a liberator in the world, if you want to lead individuals into the path of Yoga, if you want to uphold the sanctity of life, then know if you are truly a seeker after truth. Om santi.
Lots of things to think about now, right? Everything is a ritual, everything. Sometimes just sitting and not doing anything becomes a ritual. Sometimes you feel lazy, you don’t want to do anything, and you feel like: “Who is there to do it for? Why should I do it? You know, no one cares if I live or die. So who cares anyway? So I’ll do nothing, right?” Sometimes you feel like that, like doing nothing. So sit down, get fat, do nothing. And in that doing nothing and getting fat there is a ritual. You can’t get away with anything until you consciously say to yourself, “I am a seeker after truth.”
Let those words become a mantra (sacred speech), you see. Let them become a mantra: I am a seeker after truth. I won’ t settle for anything else but the truth. The truth meaning: the True; meaning: the Reality. The truth, the real, the one without a second, the reality. I am a seeker after the true, the truth.
Why do we seek the truth? Because there is always a covering on everything. You know in relationships how people are, they are always covering up their true feelings. They are being nice when they really want to be rotten. That’s an unreality. So you want the reality. There is always a cover-up on everything. Take an orange for instance, there is an unreality around it- the skin. So you have to peel the skin off. Peel the skin, then you get the fruit. Right? Right. So once you peel the skin off, ah! The orange is juicy, so succulent. You can enjoy it.
You have to look for the reality. Therefore, be a seeker after truth. Everything has a cover. When people speak, you don ‘t believe half the things they say because 99 per cent of what they say is a cover-up. So you have to go to the real, the truth in every activity you perform. Look for the cover-up. Remove the cover-up and then perform the activity. Take the unreal away and allow yourself to be with the real, the real thing.
There is always a real nature to everything. Like jewelry for instance, you can buy stones that are really precious stones, and then you can buy synthetic stones, and they both look the same. So you have to look closely and you have to make sure you have a true gem cutter to tell you ,which stone is real and which isn’t. And then again you cannot trust some gem setters. You have to take it for a second opinion and go to another gem cutter. Same thing with doctors, nurses, all kinds of teachers. There is the real teacher and then there is the teacher that is just a teacher, working for the system, and working for two months vacation, with pay. Now can you imagine all that covering up? No wonder the society is failing like it is. Because there is so much cover-up on everything.
So the seeker after truth must know that he or she is really a true seeker, and then he or she must perform the rituals. The rituals will get you centered and focused, and after that humbleness will come, embodiment will come, and a closeness will occur. And then relationships will flourish, money problems will end, you’ll enjoy good health, and you’ll be alright after that. You’ll be made strong to support the Yoga dharma, to protect the truth and to be a bearer of the truth. Namaste (I bow and praise).
Let us bless the prasad. Prasad is sanctified food. In our Ashram we serve fruit. Prasad has to be sweet, the sweetness of life. The succulent flavors of the fruit, which is our life. There is a softness to our life. There is a zest to our life and our life presents life, and in the presentation of life, life becomes. This and much more is prasad . Prasad also shows us the way of sacrifice, to live for the other, to bring life to another. Prasad is alive. We can never eat rotten fruit, or fruit that is decaying. Prasad teaches us to be fresh and juicy, teaches us to be overflowing, teaches us to bring out the joy of life which is our life. In the presence of another we are to be like a fruit, that someone can live through us by thought, by word, or by deed. We are living prasad in the world. The seeker after truth is a living prasad in the world. Through us others may live. Prasad shows us this and much more. Shows us the silence, teaches us how to be quiet, shows us fearlessness, because life is never-ending, prasad is never-ending. This and much more the seeker after truth can find out. (While holding hand in the chin mudra:) For those of you who are here for the first time, the three fingers represent the past, the present and the future; the circle represents eternity. And then when we put our hands out like this, and we take a deep breath, and look at agni for a moment, the great witness, who is watching every action. May our actions be pure, may we be honest, may we, be humble. Let us infuse these bits of fruit with the power of om, for om is everything. Take a deep breath. Om Santi, Santi, Santi.
After we end this meditation, prasad will be served. Let us end this meditation with the Brahma Mantra. This mantra is a very important mantra for this age. This is the Kali Yuga (the last and worst of the four ages), the Iron Age, where anything goes and everything goes. All values are stripped down, all honor is being struck down. There is no honor for father or mother. There is no honor for teacher or educators. There is honor for the Guru. There is no honor for the sun, the moon, the stars. There is no honor for the earth. There is no honor for living beings around the world. This is the Kali Yuga age.
Paramesvaraya vidmahe;
Para-tattvaya dhimahi
tan no Brahma pracodayat.
Om Santi, Santi, Santi.
May we know the Highest Lord;
May we meditate the Highest existent;
May that Brahman guide us.