Daily Offerings from Alokda

What really is Yoga? Literally it means a state of union, – a union between what we are and what we could be; a union between our external consciousness now driven by a thousand forces of ignorance and our depths so that our inmost soul and the Divine becomes the true Master even of our most outer being and all its movements; a union between the dark half of existence in which we right now labour fruitlessly and with much suffering and struggle and, the bright half that remains hidden and unclaimed where Peace and Bliss are the very law of life; in other words a union between Soul and Nature, God and the World, Man and the Cosmos.

This union cannot come until we have found the central key hidden behind the multitudinous appearances of nature. This key cannot be found in our present egoistic state which only keeps up the division and walls us apart from everything and everyone else. This key cannot be found even by merely a universalization of our being, even if it extends as far as the universe and beyond for the reconciliation will still be missing between the diverse and different elements of nature, their right law of arrangement with respect to each other, termed the Rta of the Vedas. Beyond the ego-ridden individual consciousness and the fields of cosmic ignorance there exists a transcendent Truth whose countless Rays reach out and embed themselves in each and every atom of existence. It is the original Truth, the very Source of all that is. Even though it transcends all, it is yet hidden in all and holds all creation in its vast embrace. It is, to use the image of the Upanishad, the Speech of our speech, the Intelligence behind all intelligence, the Power behind all manifestations of power, the Mind behind our mind, even the Sense behind our sense. It is the state of constant and dynamic Perfection, a state of perpetual Harmony at rest and in movement. It is this transcendent Supramental Sun that is the key to a perfect union. Short of it we can have various degrees of union with different levels of the higher consciousness but it will always be incomplete and therefore unable to change earthly life into the mould of the eternal Perfection that ever exists beyond creation and within its very depths as its secret core and base.

If there were not this bud of eternal perfection enclosed within us we would not seek perfection at all. But one of the signs of human evolution is this relentless seeking for perfection in countless ways and in every sphere of life. Indeed there are a thousand ways that we strive for perfection and a thousand ways that men can and do approach the Source, the Divine Perfection within them. Helplessly we are driven towards It, attracted as it were and in the end no resistance can stand in the way since that is our core and our Destiny that cannot be denied for long. However There is a key within man, a secret ‘something’ hidden in the very depths that can directly respond to this Supramental Truth now beyond the reach of our mind and senses, beyond the grasp of our emotional being and a will maimed by ignorance and desire. It is this hidden key that can put us directly in contact with the supreme Truth and help our nature receive and bear the Rays that may otherwise find the Divine Touch unbearable and scorch in the Presence of that Sun of Truth. That entity within us is, in fact our true identity, it is a part and parcel of the Divine, a fiery portion of the Wonderful, a spark of That which burns yonder in Space and guides and flow and flux of Time. That key is the psychic being, the secret soul in man.

It is the psychic being that can open the rest of our nature to the Divine Influence and carve a temple of eternity out of the transient mud and water constituting this body. It is the psychic being that can orient our nature to the Right and the Light so that all its movements begin to flow swiftly and smoothly towards the Eternal rather than in a crooked and deviant way as they now do. It is the psychic being that can put us back on the straight and sunlit path that the mind has lost and hence struggles and gropes in the darkness of terrestrial nature. But for that the psychic being itself must first disengage itself from this deviant flow, extricate itself out of the thorny bushes of a fallen nature, retrieve its powers now covered by unconsciousness and falsehood, recover its truth and reclaim its immortality. That is the first and immediate task of this great journey that should preoccupy us for the rest very much depends upon how much we succeed in this. Once this is done the rest is a matter of time. This is the key to the golden temple door of things beyond.

Being Human is to be vulnerable but being human is also to be mighty. The best in us emerges only when we face the greatest vulnerabilities of our nature. That is why God created humanity so that through our vulnerabilities we may carve a path towards greatness. Greatness is not what men ordinarily think it to be. It is not about success, not about fame or money or any other such material gifts of life. It is not about recognition by other men or even unusual capacities and talents gifted to us by Nature and God. These things are simply exaltations of the great Creatrix Energy in us, moments in time when the eternal fills us with abundance and leaves it to us to use them rightly or misuse them to our own peril.

To use them rightly is to further increase them. To misuse or waste or misspend these gifts is to lose them. And it is the worse for us since when we do not have something, Nature expects little from us. But once she has showered her gifts, – whether material or psychological, then to waste them is to commit a travesty against her great purpose. But that is a different matter. Men may regard such gifts as greatness but there is nothing great about it from the perspective of the man who has been endowed with these. Even if he has acquired things for himself through the utilization of inborn capacities, it is nothing much since it is for himself that he has increased them. Such a selfish utilization of the materials offered to us by Nature may look great in the eyes of others but is in fact not the best utilization of our capacities since no man is an island and we live poorly if we live for ourselves alone. To have everything but for ourselves or, for our little circle of family and friends, is to acquire little and a poverty of another kind. True greatness lies in facing the impossible within and around us. True greatness emerges out of the shadows that we confront within and conquer.

It is out of our weakest points that the seeds of mightiness can be born. And therein lies the true greatness of man, a greatness that all can share, nay even more so those who consider themselves deprived and weak for it is to them is given the challenge and the possibility and the opportunity to rise out of the ruins and build out of the ashes the glory of a yet-to-be glimpsed future. Therefore, we must never get disheartened by life, never feel discourages, whatever our present ills and adverse fate for out of our adversity is born the greatest of force that the Divine Wisdom uses to push open an unseen door within us. For one who can face adversity without breaking down, for someone who can take on the great challenge of nature the very adversity helps to catapult them towards the summits of nature. Man’s greatness is not in what he is for what he is is but a gift of Grace or a mask of nature. His real merit lies in what he makes of the materials given to him. It is easy to build something beautiful when all the material is provided to us but far more difficult to create something lasting and enduring out of little. Therein lies our true challenge, – the challenge of being human, the path of our ascent towards supermanhood. Not simply by exalting and aggrandizing nature but by chasing the shadows out of the corners and recesses of our being and filling these gulfs with Light and Peace and Love and Beatitude and Bliss.

The Great Mother reminds us of Her constant Help is this process. She is ever with us holding our hands and carrying us in Her wonderful heart of untiring Love and infinite Grace. To those whom She has blessed outwardly are no doubt among Her loved ones but those whom She has Blessed inwardly, with the strength to climb towards the summits not yet won, whom She has even seemingly deprived outwardly so that their strength can rise up to the challenge, these are Her favourites, Her closest and chosen ones in the great work She has descended here to do amidst the dark and bright, dangerous and delightful appearances of the world. The first type are Her children who are still laboring in the early years of schooling wherein the Mother cares and provides all that they need and also gives them enough opportunity to learn and grow through the school of ordinary human experience. But those whom She loves most and works to carve true greatness out of our frail and human stuff, She casts them into the midst of the battlefield of life, takes upon Herself to train and educate them right here in the midst of the great battle of life where truth and falsehood, light and darkness are locked in a deadly combat. And yet they are never alone for not even for a moment the Divine Mother and the Divine Teacher leaves them unattended. Always She holds the rein of such lives and the destiny of such souls in Her safe hands turning all the sweet-bitter experiences of life into the honey of divine living. For such is the work She has undertaken and such is the work She will accomplish, – to build immortal things out of our transience and mortality, to open and take us through some hidden narrow passage in the darkness of ignorance towards the Light eternal and the Love Supreme. This is the knowledge we must shelter in our hearts as we move through the different appearances of life. The ignorant mind may give them values of good and bad, pleasant or painful but in reality, in their true essence they are neither of these dualities but only the hands of the Divine Architect and the Artist shaping out of our crude stuff eternal Good and unfailing Bliss and the Harmony that is built by Beauty and truth and Love.

Alok Pandey

The idea of ‘Integral Health’ goes beyond healing. It goes also beyond keeping a body free of diseases and physically fit. Mere physical fitness without a corresponding fitness of mind and vital parts, of thoughts and feelings is an animal-like fitness. Even worse, since physically strong and fit body with a crooked and deviant mind may well become an instrument to wreak havoc upon the world. That is far from being the ideal of Integral Health. In the vision of Integral Health, the mind and the body as well as the vital energy has to become instruments of a Higher Consciousness, of the Spirit hidden in Matter.

In this view, the body itself is evolving and has to evolve further so as to accommodate and adapt to the higher ranges and levels of Consciousness that seek to express in earthly life. The process of this adaptation and change of the body-mind instrumentality is called transformation. This change or transformation is a two-fold process. On one side, the human being puts in effort through aspiration, rejection and surrender; on the other hand, the Higher Consciousness descends and changes the body-mind complex and their capacities and functioning. But before the Higher Consciousness can descend and act, a fundamental preliminary change is needed, which is called the psychic change.

The psychic change means that instead of the body and mind being at the mercy of desires, they should become expressive of the soul, our inmost truth. Presently, our mind and body habitually respond to rage, fear, lying etc. All these dark mixtures have been poured into the vessel called the body by our past evolution. Our cells respond to these forces habitually, strongly conditioned through millenniums. Our tongue automatically lies without any necessity, our hands and feet habitually move, restless as a monkey, or slip into inertia. In fact most of the things we do or think are habitually, mechanically, automatically driven by the past impetus of Nature. We have to slowly replace this by a higher intelligent-will called ‘Buddhi’ and then orient the instrument to respond to the soul-impulsions, the deeper, truer will in us. Our actions have to become more conscious and deliberate. This would apply to everything and every area of life. Our relationship with others and the world; our thoughts, feelings, motivations; our work and rest, exercise and walk, sleep and dreams, speech and silence, eating and enjoyings all must be impregnated with an aspiration for Light, Peace, Harmony, Strength, Joy. We may do the same exercises and eat the same food as any other health-regime may suggest but behind it there will be another will and aspiration and it is that which brings the difference.

In essence it would mean a double labour. The first is to engage in daily activities with moderation and balance, most of all with a conscious aspiration. Secondly, to take out some time every day to reflect on the true purpose of life; to practice interiorisation through meditation and concentration and, to practice quietude, peace and equanimity in every sphere of life.

Alok Pandey