Yukteswar Teachings 7

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Yukteswar's Kingly Ideas
Steps and Stages Homeward

Yukteswar's Kingly Ideas

Henri Matisse. Decorative Figure on an Ornamental Background. 1925. Detail.

Samkhya's Self is Unwavering Reality - Self-Knowledge. [See all]

Previously

Yukteswar's study accepts that God Is. On the previous page Yukteswar tells that Parambrahma (Spirit or God) is everlasting, without beginning or end, beyond Time (kala) [Hos 21].
Yukteswar also talks of constituents of the cosmos, and uses the ancient Hindu philosophy of Samkhya to that end. Ordinary Samkhya is an an atheistic system, says Gavin Flood. However, theistic tendencies of Samkhya were developed later. For example, the sixteenth-century theologian Vijnanabhiksu acknowledges that the system does not need the idea of a Lord, but - Well, you get what you get. [Ith 235]
Samkhya tells there are many separate selves. When such a self (at first without an object) draws to itself subtle material, "spiritual awareness" is first formed. Next a deep ego consciousness arises, and from it what it takes to speak, grasp, move, procreate, evacuate), and mind.
The title and last part of Yukteswar's book show liberation as a certain inward "aloneness", or separatedness in Supreme Reality. There are added meanings to Samkhya's term kaivalya (liberation), such as transcendent self and witness self in our daily mind. The inward Self is hardly ever found through severe activity. [Ith 234] Adi Shankara describes it:

There is a self-existent Reality, which is the basis of our consciousness of ego. That Reality is the Witness of the state of ego consciousness and of the body. That Reality is the constant Witness . . . your real Self. That Reality pervades the universe . . . Its nature is timeless Awareness . . . This is your real Self, the Supreme Being . . . It is unwavering. It is Spirit itself. [MORE]

What this Page is About

Here we render and quote central parts of Yukteswar's message in his book The Holy Science [Hos], and draw some lines of comparison. Yukteswar asked his disciple Yogananda in 1920, when Yogananda was on the brink of leaving India for Boston onboard "The City of Sparta", to use this book as the pillar of his Self-realization yoga teachings in the West, we are told by Sailendra Das Gupta in his work Kriya Yoga and Sri Yukteswar [A]

Exceptional Comprehension

Yukteswar says in his book The Holy Science [Hos]:

The purpose of this book is to show as clearly as possible that there is an essential unity in all religions . . . and that there is but one Goal admitted by all scriptures [Hos 3].
The object of this book is to point out the harmony underlying the various religions [Hos 4].
The highest aim of religion is Atmajnanam, Self-knowledge [Hos 6].
After A.D. 499 . . . the intellectual power of man started to develop [Hos 16].
There are indeed exceptional personages [who] can grasp today what ordinary people can not . . . those exalted ones . . . require nothing of it [Hos 18-19].
God, the only Substance in the universe, is therefore not comprehensible by man of this material world, unless he becomes divine by lifting his self [Hos 22; cf. Net xxiv].
Directing his attention inward he can comprehend within him the . . . Force and Feeling, the sole properties of his Self - the Force Almighty as his will . . . with enjoyment . . . and the Feeling Omniscient as his [enjoying] Consciousness [Hos 22-23].

Yukteswar says further, in essence:

The Word, Time, Space, and the Atom are one and the same. These four ideas are the four beasts of the Revelation and give rise to confusion . . . The cause of creation is the individual Atoms, the thrones of Spirit. They keep the Spiritual Light out of comprehension, which makes man ignorant even of his own Self. [Hos 24-25, rendered]
Kutastha Chaitanya is Omnipresent Holy Spirit, and is called the Holy Ghost which shines on the individual parts of Darkness. Ignorance is repulsion and does not comprehend the Spiritual Light. [Hos 26, rendered]
Fifteen attributes plus Mind and Intelligence constitute the seventeen "fine limbs" of the subtle body. These fifteen attributes with two poles - Mind and Intelligence - of the spiritualised Atom constitute the fine material body [Hos 21, 31, abr]

Steps and Stages Homeward

Here are abstracts:

The highest goal is freedom from unhappiness. The heart's immediate aim is cessation of all suffering, and the ultimate goal is complete destruction of sufferings. [Hos 50]
The real necessities of the human heart have nothing to do with anything outside his Self. They are essential properties of his own nature. Attention turned inward satisfies heart wants. The one with a contented heart that focuses on anything he chooses, can comprehend. [Hos 51]
Man can withdraw awareness inward and in so doing be freed to comprehend his own Self as Real Substance. Hence Self-Existence comes to light. [Hos 52]
A thus purified heart actively manifests spiritual light. He has been anointed by the Holy Spirit thus and becomes Christ, the anointed Savior, the Son of God, and unifies himself with the Supreme Reality. He becomes one integrated whole and is saved forever. [Hos 53, 42-43] [READ ON]

Adhering to good company

By "the dictates of our conscience and . . . our natural liking, we will at once find that we favor those persons whose magnetism affects us harmoniously," he teaches. "If on the other hand we disobey the warning . . . without listening to the dictates of our pure conscience, and keep the company of whatever has been designated as Asat [not good, etc], an opposite effect is produced and our health is impaired and our life shortened." [Hos 69-70]
Yukteswar maintains that "natural living is helpful for the practice of Yama" and Niyama, the don'ts and do's of yogi living. [Hos 70]
Magnanimity of heart is the antidote to prejudice, family pride, and smugness. [Hos 71]

Yoga Proper

Moral stands need to be cultivated, and some good courses to adhere to in life help too. On top of it there are body postures to train oneself in, control of life energy (prana-yama), and the inward-turning stages of successful contemplation. They are pratyahara (inward-turning of the mind, firm and steady focus (dharana); prolonged such focus, dhyana (Zen in Japanese); and still more steady focus, called samadhi ("deep contemplation"). [Hos 71-72]
Yukteswar says that proper meditative practices enable man to enjoy life - including the domestic life. [Hos 72]
He also says "Life and death come under the control of the yogi who perseveres in the practice of Pranayama." [Hos 73] - How few there are who live to demonstrate it.
Man enjoys due to desiring enjoyment, but he can never be satisfied unless and until he heads inward, Selfward. He can satisfy his heart very quickly in that way. [Hos 74]
By the fixing of your attention the yoga state of samadhi can come. [Hos 75]
What is called samyama is called "concentration of the self" by Yukteswar. Such focus opens up to much, including become a Divine Being in the self-help yoga way. Riveting attention on the "sensorium", the Door, is for opening and entering the secret Way. The specifics of it are not divulged in the book, but what he refers to by sensorium is the sushumnadwara, the door [dvara: door, gate] of the internal sphere. [Hos 75-76]
In yoga teachings the sushumna is a subtle vessel of awareness and energy along the spine - rising from the muladhra chakra at the perineum to the crown of the head, (sahasrara chakra). A chakra in this terminology is a vortex of energy.
"There [at the sushumna door, near the sexual organ] he perceives . . . John the Baptist, or Radha [mistress of Krishna], and hears the holy Sound (Amen, Aum) . . ." [Hos 80] Oh well . . .
By activating the "down-to-earth" vortex and thereby "lifting the son of man", various stages are entered. They are Bhu, Bhuvar, Swar, Mahar, Jana, Tapo, and Satya. [Hos 80]
The yogi enters into the world of fine matter and activates his conscience (consciousness) on the way to attaining a clean and pure heart. The clean heart becomes able to comprehend Real Substance in the universe. Going "on" (inwards) from there he "reaches the region of the Holy Ghost" and then he can be unified with his own Self - seeing that "nothing in the universe exists besides his own Self." [Hos 81-86]
Difficult question to some, perhaps: Can you be unified with the Self you are?
Yukteswar talks for purification and spiritualization by mantra (sounds of syllables or words). The mantra should help to make the real sound of OM audible. [Hos 87]

The Seven Lokas

Yukteswar goes into seven spheres [lokas, realms, spheres, planes] from the Eternal Substance, God inside and outward to the gross material creation. "Through these seven centers or churches, the Ego or son of man passes toward the Divinity." [Hos 92]. Here they are in ascending order:

The lowest sphere is always visible to everyone.
The second sphere is "the sphere of electric attributes". The gross matters of the creation are entirely absent from and it is marked by ("is conspicuous by") the presence of the fine matters only. Hence it is called Ordinary Vacuum.
Around and utside of the Atom (individuality) is a sphere of magnetic aura, Swarloka. It is marked by the absence of all the creation, and is therefore called Great Vacuum by Yukteswar.
The fourth sphere, called Maharloka, is the connecting link between the spiritual and the material creation and is also called the Door and Way. This sphere or level holds a middling position.
The fifth sphere is that of Sons of God, wherein the idea of separate existence of Self originates among reflections. This sphere is above the comprehension of anyone steeped in the physical world, and hence called incomprehensible.
The next, according to him, is the sphere of the Holy Spirit which is undisturbed ever-patience that is not approachable even by the Sons of God, and is called inaccessible.
The innermost in his scenario is the sphere of Real Substance, Sat. "No name can describe it," he says, and calls it the nameless.

Seven stages of creation are suggested by this. [Hos 32-35]. Inside the Door (sphere four) it is incomprehensible, inaccessible, and nameless. Outside it you may detect two vacuums and the material world, your body-self included, he finds.

Vacuum Views

No one needs to freak out over vacuums or vacuum, heavens or heaven.

Bodhidharma says sunyata means outward-turned Essence. Hence, the concept of emptiness is too empty.
"The Void . . . (Skt. Sunyata) is not the void of nothingness, but the Thatness, the . . . Origin of all that constitutes finiteness . . . the unenlightened alone regard It as being nothingness".W. Y. Evans-Wentz. [Tiy 119n]
"Regard not the Void as being Nothingness." [Tiy 119]
"All-Pervading Intelligence . . . is the Formless Void." [Tiy 166]
"Many people are afraid to empty their minds lest they should plunge into the Void. They do not know that their own mind [contains] the Void." [Huang-po]
Dogen [1200-53] too denies that sunyata (emptiness), is "nothingness, non-existence, or non-reality." Dogen [says] sunyata is not the denial of real existence - it expresses the absence of anything other than real existence." [See Szi, Chapter "Bussho"]
"You must have been there during the void to be able to say that you experienced a void," says Ramana Maharsi [Rat 132] [COMPARE].

"The particular meanings of "emptiness" vary with the particular context and the religious or cultural tradition in which it is used," says the Britannica. [Ebu "emptiness"].
By the way, Northern Buddhism enumerates eighteen degrees of the Voidness, starting with Internal Voidness; External Voidness; Internal and External Voidness in union; Voidness of Voidance itself. Next on the list is Great Voidness; Real Voidness; Compounded Voidness; Uncompounded Voidness; and Boundless Voidness. Voidness number 12 is Natural Voidness. Number 13 is Voidness of Phenomena and so on. There are voluminous works and commentaries devoted wholly to the expounding of these eighteen degrees of the Voidness, informs W. Y. Evans-Wentz. Well, would you know! [Tiy 206n]
Now try to heed these words by Shankara: "Study of the scriptures is fruitless as long as Brahman [God] has not been experienced. And when Brahman has been experienced, it is useless to read the scriptures." Piousness suggests intentness of the soul on its own nature, or "intentness on the reality of the Self", he says too, and "The learning of the learned may bring enjoyment but not freedom — Freedom is won by a perception of the Self's oneness with the Eternal, not by rites and sciences." [SHANKARA TEACHINGS]

Five Sheaths, Koshas

Yukteswar also teaches that the Son of God is covered by five sheaths, koshas. He is "screened by five coverings".

The grossest sheath is of matter. This coating may nourish and support the material world. Take care not to do it to your long-range loss. [Hos 35-36]
The "envelope" inside the body is of Prana (life energy, vital energy), and thus called Pranamaya Kosha.
The third layer from inside is the Mind.
The "layer" inside it is Magnetic Intelligence that determines what is truth. This layer is the seat of knowledge, says Yukteswar.
The innermost covering is the Heart, also called the Atom, which feels great bliss. The Atom Heart!

On page 24 Yukteswar says the World, Time, Space and Atom are one and the same, and on page 35 he says the Atom (Heart) is composed of these four ideas. What kind of teachings is this? "The atom is composed of the Atom and three more one-and-the-same ideas"? It is Yukteswar's teaching. The "Atom Heart" covering contains all ideas, might be added, and why not "A perfectly Self-contained Heart may serve you all right"? Inside the Heart is that Nameless Reality.
The Way inwards is to withdraw into the Heart (of four ideas), and so on, till one is free from bondages in Subtle, Bright Light. It is being [Hos 42].
The teaching of koshas, sheaths, are generally well supported yoga teachings. They are concisely described by Ramana Maharsi.

Hay

"Make hay when the sun shines."

Egoism causes attachment — "Ignorance . . . is nothing but a particle". . [Hos 48].
Complete destruction of sufferings is possible within — Being conscious may destroy troubles. [Hos 50, 51]
Man's Self is indestructible, Real Substance — Supreme wealth, Paramartha, is the ultimate goal. [Hos 52, 51]
Man attains bliss by focusing his attention inward for a while. Yoga has methods for it. [Hos 51]
The Heart becomes purified in Bright Light — What is called the OM sound is the way to Brahman (Spirit) — Uniting one's Self with Aum (OM) is for transcending to one's Fatherhood deep inside. [Hos 53, 55-56]

Yukteswar on Love

Loving well is turning love away from others, Yukteswar divulges.

Love expels germs of diseases. It makes healthy and helps one understand. [Hos 56]
Without Chit attraction (he calls it "natural heart love"), man cannot live - he becomes often excited and suffers. He can never find any peace. [Hos 57, etc]
The secret is in directing one's love away from anybody into the Godlike Supreme. [Hos 58] It means: Stop loving them; accept Divinity inside! Hence, free and spontaneous love can be good, and being truthful is above tanning. [cf Hos 61]
"The power of love has been beautifully described" - Yukteswar. [Hos 97]

Powers

The Son of God may find giant powers at his disposal. Patanjali, and Yukteswar, speaks of eight such powers. In Buddhism there are more such powers at one's disposal. The enumerated "Patanjali powers" are:

The power of making one's body or anything else as small as he likes . . .
The power of magnifying or making one's body or anything else . . . as large as he likes.
The power of making one's body or anything else . . . as light in weight as he likes.
The power of making one's body or anything else . . . as heavy as he likes.
The power of . . . obtaining anything he likes.
The power of . . . bringing anything under control.
The power of satisfying all desires . . . by irresistible will force.
The power of becoming Isa, Lord, over everything. See John 14:12. [Hos 94-95]

Well, would you know!

Regulations of Living: Yama and Niyama

Yukteswar goes on to enumerate the don'ts and do's of basic yoga, as they are listed in Patanjali's Yoga Sutras. The don'ts and do's are differently laid out by different authors. Yukteswar tells Yama comprises noninjury to others, truthfulness, nonstealing, continence, and noncovetousness, and niyama means purity of body and mind, contentment in all circumstances, and obedience (following the instructions of the guru). That is his definition of the subject. [Hos 62]
Clearing the mind is fine, he says, and what he calls natural living. Living depends on the selection of food, dwelling, and company. However, man also has to experiment and reason to get at natural living. [Hos 62-63]

Things to Eat for Yogis and Many Others

From their teeth, Yukteswar holds men and women are fruit eaters, and judged by the shape and length of the digestive tract - stating that

the bowels of the frugivorous animals are 10 to 12 times the length of their body; their stomach is somewhat broader than that of the carnivorous and has a continuation in the duodenum serving the purpose of a second stomach.
This is exactly the formation we find in human beings, [Hos 63-64]

Yukteswar decrees - and that "man bowels are 3 to 5 times the length of man's body" measuring "from mouth to anus." He makes this good point: "man is, in all probability, a frugivorous animal." [Hos 64-65].
Yukteswar does not tell that the pig is much like man by the yardsticks used. Roots and vegetables help too -
"In men of all races we find that their senses of smell, sound, and sight never lead them to slaughter animals," says Yukteswar. "Can flesh then be considered the natural food of man, when both his eyes and his nose are so much against it, unless deceived by flavors of spices, salt, and sugar?" [Hos 65] - He does not tell that in Vedic India people used to eat meet. Says Encyclopaedia Britannica: "In ancient India, killing people in war or in capital punishment and killing animals in Vedic sacrifices were acceptable to many people who for other reasons refrained from eating meat." Mind "a fleshless diet". [Ebu "Hinduism"]
He also talks for milk! "By observation of the nourishment of the young we find that milk is undoubtedly the food of the newborn babe." [Hos 66] - Mind "the protection and veneration of the cow, which gives food without having to be killed." [Ebu "Hinduism"]
"From these observations the only conclusion that can reasonably be drawn is that various grains, fruits, roots, and - for beverage - milk, and pure water openly exposed to air and sun are decidedly the best natural food for man . . . well chewed and mixed with saliva . . ." [Hos 66]. You may include some vegetables too!
"Other foods are unnatural to man and produce diseases, mental and physical, and ultimately lead to premature death", he says. [Hos 67]

He Does not Advocate Very Much Sex

Interestingly, he also says, " In the sexual desire everyone has a very accurate thermometer to indicate the condition of his health." He holds that "sexual desire in its normal state makes man quite free from all disturbing lusts." "The sexual organ . . . is in a sense the root of the tree of life." He also says "Man well instructed in the proper use of sex can keep his body and mind in proper health and can live a pleasant life throughout." [Hos 68]. Let us hope that.

Where to live

"We can easily understand . . . after breathing fresh air on a mountaintop or in an expanse of field or garden, that the atmosphere of the town or any crowded place is quite an unnatural dwelling-place. The fresh atmosphere of the mountaintop . . . freely ventilated with fresh air is the proper dwelling place for man according to Nature."
Do not believe everything you hear, and consider altitudes too. This picture of Sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay on the summit of Mount Everest in 1953 was taken by the New Zealand explorer Sir Edmund Hillary (1919-). Thin air, a hostile climate, dangerous storms, and nowhere to live are not good for thriving.

Bible Props

Yukteswar uses many passages from Revelation to prop up his Samkhya thinking and yogi outlooks. Here is one that deserves mention: One day on the island of Patmos John

was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, which said: "Write on a scroll what you see."
I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was someone "like a son of man," dressed in a robe . . . His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow . . . and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun. [Revel 1:16]
I fell at his feet. [Revel 1:10-17]

Yukteswar uses such passages to illustrate yoga teachings, and Yogananda follows suit, and so does SRF, the fellowship Yogananda built. But Yukteswar nowhere advocates slavery, which is Biblical - Hm!

Onword

Next page is devoted to the garden of Eden and various understandings about it. Yukteswar taught (indoctrinated) Yogananda in it, and "If there were no receivers, there would not be so many deceivers" too.

Literature

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[A]

Sailendra Das Gupta: "Kriya Yoga and Sri Yukteswar"

Literature

Ak: Yogananda, Pa.: Man's Eternal Quest. SRF. Los Angeles, 1975.
   Ay: Yogananda, Paramahansa. Autobiography of a Yogi. 1st ed. New York: Philosophical Library, 1946. Online. [oaks.nvg.org/pv6bk12.html]
Ebu: Encyclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica 2006 Ultimate Reference Suite DVD. London: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2006.
Ha: Yogananda, Pa.: Autobiography of a Yogi. 12th ed. Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF). Los Angeles, 1981.
   Him: Zaehner, R. C.: Hinduism. 2nd ed. Oxford University Press. London, 1966.
Hos: Yukteswar, sw: The Holy Science. 7th ed. Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF), Los Angeles, 1972.
   Ins: Prabhavananda, sw: The Spiritual Heritage of India. 2nd ed. Vedanta. Hollywood, 1969.
Ith: Flood, Gavin: An introduction to Hinduism. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge, 1996.
Mux: Bühler, G. tr: The Laws of Manu. Banarsidass (Reprint from Oxford University's 1886-edition). Delhi, 1984.
   Pa: Yogananda, Pa.: Autobiography of a Yogi. 11th ed. Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF). Los Angeles, 1971.
Say: Yogananda, Pa.: Sayings of Yogananda. Self-Realization Fellowship. Los Angeles, 1958.
   Scf: Yogananda, Pa.: Scientific Healing Affirmations. Self-Realization Fellowship. Los Angeles, 1958.
   Scp: Yogananda, Pa.: The Science of Religion. Self-Realization Fellowship. Los Angeles, 1953.
   Sf: Klaus K. Klostermaier: A Survey of Hinduism. State University of New York Press. Albany, N.Y, 1989.
Sob: Self-Realization Fellowship: Paramahansa Yogananda in Memoriam. SRF. Los Angeles, 1958.
   Viom: Jolly, Julius tr: The Institutes of Vishnu. Banarsidass. Delhi, 1965.
   Wo: Chatterjee, Satischandra and Datta, Dhirendramohan: An Introduction to Indian Philosophy. 7th ed. University of Calcutta. Calcutta, 1968.
Xm: Radhakrishnan, S. ed: The Cultural Heritage of India, Vol. 3. Rev. ed. Ramakrishna Institute. Calcutta, 1953.

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© November 2006, Tormod Kinnes. All rights reserved.