Vol. 126

Q: I remember strongly you saying that you wonder how many practitioners [of spirituality] are really firm and tenacious in this modern time. How is the strength of mind to go toward the ideal born?

MASTER: What is first necessary for all practitioners is the practice of discernment. That is, to know the dharma (truth, law) of this world.

You may be familiar with the phrase, “all compounded things are impermanent”—everything in this world is impermanent, that is, everything in this world changes. The world and the mind, and of course the body, too, none of these are eternal.

There is another phrase, “all phenomena are without the Self.” Phenomena refer to this world. This phrase means that there is no Atman in this phenomenal world. Atman is and means the Truth. [That is to say,] no matter how you seek happiness and freedom in this world, it is impossible to find them in the world to begin with, for that is how the world is. [Therefore,] first and foremost it is a necessity to thoroughly and completely discern about this “all compounded things are impermanent” and “all phenomena are without the Self.” Discerning is not about remaining in the place of merely understanding the verbal meaning, but it is about discerning to investigate whether there are attachments to wrong things in your own mind or not; and if you find that there are, then you have to remove them promptly.

There is another one—“everything is suffering.” Although this may be perceived differently depending on the degree of suffering that is experienced, if you think and discern deeply and realistically [about the reality of things], the body that you may think will exist eternally, the mind, and your loved ones, will all be gone one day, or sometimes [these things] change into suffering. No matter what your mind wishes, the result of these things will end in suffering.

To ascertain the state of this world and the mind thoroughly and completely is discernment, and through this, you need to direct your mind to the Nirvana of stillness, to the world of Truth, to the state of Truth. And by being exposed to the words of Buddha, of Shri Ramakrishna or of other saints, the willingness to aim towards that Truth arises. Then the rest is that, by following the right teachings, steer your body and mind away from the ignorance just mentioned, so to speak, and practice to bring [the body and mind] in line with the Truth.

Being firm and also tenacious is about the power of your will, your firm conviction to aim for the Truth, Satori, and your genuineness. That is, you are required to concentrate your power on Satori alone. In order to make that single-pointed focus unrelenting, daily observation of and attention toward [your own mind], as well as sadhana, are overall what are necessary and are what will deepen and advance that concentration.

Recognizing the Eternal Existence

Saturday, November 15, 2003, Kyoto

MASTER: The practice of discernment can be done smoothly only by always confronting your own mind with the Truth. Thinking by groping around within the realm of the thoughts of your own mind alone cannot be called the practice of discernment. That is nothing other than having thoughts, or thinking. When you say discernment, since it is the task of bringing the Truth and your own mind to a point of confrontation, discernment is practiced and done by meditating on the Truth.

As an iron rule, or law, you have heard that Truth has to be heard first, then pondered upon, and then meditated upon. “To be heard”—there are cases in which you hear by words, and there are cases in which you hear or you come to know through reading scriptures; and another way is that, even if you may not have read or heard it, you sense it intuitively, straightforwardly from within. These are expressed as “to be heard.”

Then next is “to think about it.” When it comes to the teaching of Truth, you may frankly agree with it. Nevertheless, normally the mind may think and act in a way that is contradictory to the Truth. Therefore, it is necessary to realistically think about which way is truly correct—the Truth or the thoughts of your mind and your actions. Of course, you don’t need to agree with that Truth without knowing why, even so, the thoughts of your own mind cannot be reliable either, so to speak. Either way, there is still uncertainty. Therefore, by thinking, you delve into it amply.

When you continue to do that, then the next realm comes, that is the realm where you will be able to sense the essence; that is the realm of meditation. So, think about it, delve into it, and that concentration will be heightened and deepened, then penetrate into and arrive at the essence—that is the course of how it goes. So then, you will discover what is correct; and if the content of your mind’s thoughts is imperfect in terms of the line of Truth, then you immediately correct that. It is a requisite to practice thoroughly in this way. In order to be thorough in practice, it is indispensable to bear the Truth in mind, which is the most important thing, always, no matter what issue may arise. The vital matter at hand has to do with your own existence itself. No matter what your mind thinks, or what happiness the mind gains, when you die eventually, you cannot do anything with those things, and the more your mind attaches to them, the more suffering weighs on you when you are pulled away from them. Because the mind is attached to things that are not Eternal, or things that are not based on the Truth, as a result, suffering comes from being pulled away from or losing those things. However, since your “Existence,” your own substance, is not the mind but the essence itself that is in the depths beyond the mind, which is your real Self, the Existence that can never be churned around by the fickle experiences of the mind, by realizing this Truth, you will never become confused or troubled. Even when death comes to you, you will not be shaken by that at all. By you yourself recognizing that Existence, that Eternal Existence Itself, the practice of discernment becomes easier to do.

Remove Anything That is Conditioned

Saturday, July 19, 2014, Kyoto

Q: I’ve been applying the practice of discernment when the sense of superiority or inferiority, or the thoughts based on the pain-bearing obstacles arise by seeing what those thoughts would result in or by tracing their cause back toward the ego-consciousness or ignorance. Is what I’ve been doing the correct way of practice?
MASTER: That is not enough. The causes that are producing that sense of superiority or inferiority, or the various senses of discrimination are the ignorance in the mind, sanskara and karma—but that is what’s obvious. Now, the question is how did such a sense of superiority or inferiority come to be produced? If you look at such situations from a different angle, there you can see that the sense of superiority or inferiority comes by comparing your mind and various things to others. No matter what subject you take, that applies to all of them. However, whether those objects are others, things or events, these are situations that are transient creations. What if the conditions were to be different, or, if it were to be another person? You may feel a sense of superiority when it comes to person A, but you may have a sense of inferiority when it comes to person B. That shows that the state of the mind clearly changes according to the object. If you take a look at such workings of the mind and the changes that involve unlimited objects, these are going to continue to change endlessly. That means that whatever the mind thinks within these conditioned situations, such as a sense of superiority or inferiority, or various other things, are not absolute conditions, but they are merely transient conditions, therefore, these reactions are only reactions to the conditions that happen to be there, and these conditions do not hold absolute value and are not based on the Truth. In this way, it is important to recognize the fact that the mind, which is reacting to such things, is itself wrong, and to therefore then remove all conditions and make things unconditioned.
So then, what can be matched with that which is unconditioned? That is veritably the Absolute Truth, or that which is Equal, or that which is Freedom, or that which is Eternal. These do not cause disturbances to the mind. Therefore, everything that is conditioned should be removed. So, you practice to remove the mechanism of the mind itself, in which the mind activates the ignorance and pain-bearing obstacles within conditioned settings. That is why, if you concentrate on God or the Truth, which are absolute and what the mind can rely on unconditionally, the mind will gradually come to no longer be shaken by its various changes that arise from the background of ignorance. Practice in this way.

Finding the Cause From Conditions

Saturday, August 25, 2014, Kyoto

Q: Once I come to recognize that the ignorance or the pain-bearing obstacles are activated in certain situations, should I work on that by identifying and breaking down the conditions that make up that situation?

MASTER: It is considered to be that ignorance and pain-bearing obstacles are buried in sanskara, the latent memory of the mind, just like seeds of plants in the field of the mind. When the perfect opportunity comes along, then they sprout, grow bigger, blossom, then bear fruits, then they become karma. The time to sprout is determined by cause and effect—for example, take a plant, the cherry blossoms have their cause within the tree, and when the warm air of spring or the right timing of the season comes, then they blossom right away, and in the same way, you can consider that pain-bearing obstacles manifest due to a certain kind of timing, or cause and effect. So, when you apply the practice of discernment, your attention should not be about the conditions of timing, but you have to look at your own thoughts, your notions, your ideas that arise from encountering those conditions, and investigate their cause.

To give an easy example, let’s say that your mind has nothing to concern about, and then one day, you suddenly meet a woman, and let’s say that you are very much attracted to this woman. [The point is,] at that moment, rather than prying into her affairs, or investigating why this is happening, there might already be a longing for a woman that is latent within you, and the ideal image of a woman might already be within you; and that is what manifested in front of your eyes. Although normally you would just be casually passing by, the fact that your mind reacted specifically to that one woman, means that you saw and sensed your ideal there. Then, you can suspect that that means you must have already had a certain kind of image of an ideal woman within the depths of your mind, and that is the cause. If you investigate further into that fact, then you will be led to recognize that if you have an ideal image of a woman, that means you are seeing right there some kind of happiness in this world. Then you can continue to investigate further into the fact that you believe that that happiness you are seeing can bring you true happiness. This is how you can keep looking at or investigating the cause. That is the way to practice discernment. Although I spoke about the case of [the object being a] woman as an example, the object could be a job, or it could be a lifestyle, or any other thing, with the exception of the Truth—there may still be a part of your mind that is being drawn to something in this world. To get to the bottom of that, whether it is really and infallibly a reliable thing or not—that is the essential point of discernment.

When the word “condition” can be applied to something, is when various situations and circumstances of this world come to you and you yourself become confused or shaken by them, which means that you are swayed or influenced by conditions. All conditions are transient things; the mind and body may react to them, but the real Self has no relevance to them at all, the real Self has nothing to do with any conditions. It just exists. That alone is the Reality. If you investigate things in this way, then the mind will stop becoming attached to something, and instead the mind will rather be directed toward the Truth, the Existence. You should make the mind become a good tool and use it toward That.

Discern the Conditions

Saturday, July 7, 2001, Kyoto

Q: In the case of meditating on the kinds of things that the mind is unable to understand, such as how this world exists, is it better to practice by reminding ourselves of some word that can become a hint, like nama rupa (name and form) or ahankara (consciousness of the self), from time to time, and then think about the meaning of that word? Or is it better to just go at it without any preconceptions?

MASTER: Both. Both are necessary. Until a certain point, these words are needed as a material to use when you apply the practice of discernment, as I just mentioned. These are [in the realm of] nama rupa, however, the more important clue is indeed upadhi. Whatever is a condition or is conditioned, referred to as upadhi, even though the material of that condition [or of what’s conditioned] differs depending on each individual’s mind, if it’s conditioned, it means that it is composed of and held up by the impressions from specific experiences within a certain limited time and space of this mind, which goes by a specific name. Therefore, first there is a mind, which is a condition, there is the world, which is a condition, and there is an experience, which is a condition; and from there these conditions become more and more complex, then the mind’s world is held up by that respectively. The most influential factors of conditioning are latent tendencies, and these are considered to be the cause that lead to experiencing a [specific] thing. Since it is understood that those tendencies have been imprinted from experiences going back in time from before that experience, these tendencies cannot be limited to this lifetime, but must also extend into the time spent in past lives.

If you look at the content of this, since it can be said that the conditions that are categorized under what are called self-consciousness, ignorance and pain-bearing obstacles have created and built various concrete impressions, then nama rupa has been attached there from the start. Since from the moment that one is born into this world, one is inevitably born within [the condition of] nama rupa, it is considered that that is inevitably one of the factors for conditioning that one comes with.

Therefore, when you practice discernment, presumption holds that the ideas that are held up by such specific conditions, are not the Truth, and that if the conditions were to be different, then the result would also be different. I just said, presumption, but this is not an imaginary thing, that means that in actuality, there is a possibility that this can happen for real. Therefore, in the realm of meditation, the experiences that you actually have through the five senses and the world, which are created by the ideas in the mind, are not that much different, for either one of these worlds are coming from within the mind, and both are worlds that are conditioned by the mind. And the conclusion of that is that since these conditions are not absolute, since they are merely relative things, because of their relativity, they cannot be the Absolute that is the Truth. To come to this point, that is where there is nothing to be done other than to put an end to thoughts altogether, that is, to put an end to the activities of the mind.

Thorough Non-Possessiveness

Saturday, March 3, 2001, Kyoto

MASTER: No matter what it is, if there are thoughts that arise, it means that you are identifying those thoughts with the self, the “I,” or that the relationship of possessing something is established. That means that this relationship is a state that is formed by certain conditions, and that even though the object of what is conditioned differs according to the person, the structure is the same; there is ego, and due to the working of pain-bearing obstacles, you desire something and attach to it—that structure is the same for everyone. As long as there is a relationship of possession between the one who possesses and what is being possessed, no matter what thoughts arise, this structure applies to them all. Even if it is something that is not based on pain-bearing obstacles, even if it is the knowledge that is called wisdom or the Truth, as long as there is a self who knows that, then it means that there is a structure of knowledge itself, and there is the one who is understanding that knowledge—that is still imperfect. Therefore, as a practitioner deepens meditation, what one must always pay attention to is to continue to practice to remove possessions. If the mind possesses something, it means that it is not perfect. Since it can be said that if your mind possesses something, it means that the mind is depending on that subject, therefore, whatever it is, you must pay attention so that you can thoroughly see that structure and remove that relationship.

Even in the level of samadhi, too, even though the materialistic desires are not there anymore, there is a sort of comfort that comes, and using the words from the Yoga Sutra, it is a comfort likened to bliss—even then, if there is a consciousness who knows that bliss, and there is a bliss that is known by somebody, and there is the bliss itself, if that relationship is there, then you have to remove that bliss. If that bliss is removed, then the consciousness of the self alone is left there. Then, that too holds up the relationship of these three—the consciousness of the self, that is, the self knows the self—so, you practice to remove that consciousness of the self.

When you deepen the mind through meditation and samadhi in this way, the mind will come to not have anything to pick up anymore; that is, no thought or notion will arise anymore. Then the mind is left with nothing, and it becomes something that is vacant, then the state that is as if being absent of the self will come; that is like becoming transparent. However, that is not the end yet. After that, the Reality of the Truth Itself will be awakened. Practically speaking, if you practice meditation following the procedure just mentioned now, That Reality will definitely come to be realized. Because it is Reality, that’s what exists. The mind is so transient, it is always perturbed, and keeps changing. You cannot say that the mind stays the same even for one moment. Existence is not an ambiguous thing, that substance itself is veritably One and it is the Only Existence that never changes. You are required to completely still the mind, and to do solely that in its entirety.

Burn Out the Root of Vasana

Saturday, February 5, 2005, Kyoto

Q: I’ve noticed that when my practice of discernment in meditation is incomplete, I am still bound by my tendencies in daily life. Whatever the result of meditation might be, should I bring my focus to God or to the Truth, or to my job or task in daily life?

MASTER: Tendency, or vasana, is something that is elusive. It is difficult to grab onto, just like trying to catch the smell of garlic. When it comes to your tendencies, no matter what they might be, you should ignore them as things that cannot be relied on. At the same time, no matter what [a certain] tendency might be, it will become karma eventually, and also, since the cause of it derives from ignorance and pain-bearing obstacles, you have to rather look at its cause, because that is more manageable. In order to grasp the cause, you have to bring another side [to the table], which is true knowledge, or the wisdom of Truth that you’ve been constantly learning, and you have to bring that face-to-face with the cause to compare the two, and as you continue to concentrate on that, then that will lead to a clear answer regarding which one is correct. Of course, things that have been formed by some condition will come to be burned away due to being that which is imperfect. Truth can neither be burned, even if you try, nor can it cease to exist, even if you try to get rid of it; therefore, it is unnecessary to attach to the Truth either. What you must do is get rid of the unnecessary things [in your mind], which means to burn them away completely. Therefore, you should not get too caught up by those tiny branches and leaves, but rather you should just find the root, or what it can be attributed to—the original cause, exactly as it is. That is the content of meditation in raja yoga.

Q: So it means that, even if the issue arises in front of me, what I should see is the root part of that within my own mind.

MASTER: Yes. And, you don’t need to be too nervous about your various actions or the trifling movements of your mind. The more you tense up about these things, the more it results in karma, in other words, that results in escalating that tendency into memory. Therefore, the training to not be too worried about such things is also necessary.

Cut Off the Chain of the Causal Relationship

Saturday, January 24, 2009, Kyoto

Q: I tried to practice “living in the now” after learning that living in the now is a serious fight, however, I notice that most of the time my mind is thinking about the past or the future, and there is almost no time in which my mind is truly focusing on now, this very moment. What is it “to live in the now”?

MASTER: This is not about approaching the issue from the perspective of time, such as present, past and future, but instead, it has to be approached from the aspect of karma, which is action, after all—thoughts are the core of action, karma—so you have to approach it from the aspect of the causal relationship of karma itself, in other words, from the thoughts of the mind.

Generally speaking, there is no one who can live out their entire life without having setbacks or failures. I think that it can be said that, whether big or small, actually in most cases, one inevitably experiences large setbacks or failures, or, suffering and sadness are the nature of this world. Although the scale of suffering may differ from person to person, whether one is young or old, the damage that the mind has received must hang over us like a big scar. If one goes through such experiences, if you investigate where their roots come from, you ought to always be able to find them within yourself in your own past.

This leads to the assumption that if there were nothing in the past that could be a cause within you as such, this suffering [that you are experiencing] should not be there. Even so, since you cannot cancel out your past, and also, since you will come to understand later on that you yourself have created the various causes before you knew you were doing so, it is quite difficult to, in advance, try to not create a cause that might produce suffering later on. So then, [if you think deeply and realistically about the way to resolve your issue,] you will come to understand that at least in order to prevent receiving the damage that comes from suffering or sadness, there is no other way but to cut the chain of the causal relationship between the cause from the past and its result, which is suffering. Of course, unless one continues to practice Yoga, applying the teachings in action, the strength to cut off that chain cannot be born.

After all, all arises due to the fact that you inevitably attach to whatever the mind thinks, and even if it’s something that you think is good, it could end up in suffering; whether you think something is good or bad, either way it all derives from the fact that you can’t help but get attached. So then, ultimately, what it comes down to is the reason for which you are attached. Then, from this point on, unless you confront your mind with the Truth of “all compounded things are impermanent” or “all phenomena are without the Self”—that is, unless you bring the ultimate Truth to confront whatever you think, desire and attach to, to see whether there is Truth there or not, the thoughts of your mind as a whole cannot come to be eradicated.

Only through persevering in discernment until this point is reached, and only through eliminating the habits of your mind, the habits that are based on your karma, will it become possible for you to cut the chain of the past cause and the future result for the first time. If you can grasp even the subtleties of the karma that is formed within the frame of time, and of the karma that is inseparable from time, then the attachment to your thoughts and your actions will come to an end. Only then will the [state of] mind that is not swayed by the past come to be established in your mind for the first time.

Therefore, when it comes to living in the now, after all, unless your mind transforms, practically speaking, it is difficult to do that. It means that “at this moment” is a superficial thing, that there is a relationship of karma and time within your own mind, and that also there is the state of your own mind that has attachments, and there is the ignorance that produces these—what it boils down to is that that root of ignorance has to be eliminated. Therefore, it is required to at least understand this firmly and in a realistic sense, and to then tell your mind and educate your mind about that. Then, you will no longer be troubled by past memories or by your attachments or obsessions, and you will come to not be worried about the future. This is the actual manifestation of what it is “to live in the now,” and that is what is sometimes called going beyond time or transcending time.

Ignorance Does Not Exist

Saturday, June 1, 2019, Kyoto

Q: Does ignorance have a base or does such a thing as the root of ignorance exist? When it comes to the fundamental ignorance, from the point in time when the phenomenal world is formed, even if a practitioner of Yoga dispels his or her own ignorance, is it something that does not cease to exist as long as this world is developing? Does it exist from the very moment the world manifests?

MASTER: Yoga is realism, or in other words, what’s important in Yoga is to get to the bottom of whether things exist or do not exist; and in this sense, Yoga takes the view that ignorance does not exist to begin with, it is a false delusion for which there is no cause but a mistake that has struck the mind. However, for the mind, that ignorance has a firm presence, and through it, the pain-bearing obstacles and karma are produced one after another, and in this world of phenomena, veritably, the mind cannot avoid experiencing it. Therefore, even though the mind may perceive that it exists, the truth is that it does not. That which is ignorance does not exist to begin with! Therefore, there are no pain-bearing obstacles or karma that derive from ignorance either.

Bold Discernment—God is the Only Truth

Saturday, December 19, 2014, Kyoto

Q: To practice discernment thoroughly and completely is quite a difficult thing. Even though I think that I am able to discern thoroughly, nonetheless, when another occasion comes along, that [issue of] the mind comes to the surface again, so it’s a game of cat and mouse. Does intensifying bhakti or one’s enthusiasm have some kind of effect on discernment?

MASTER: Yes, it does. Since in bhakti you think about God alone, and God is that which is Truth, everything else besides the Truth, such as ignorance and pain-bearing obstacles, will gradually and naturally disappear.

Truth is also referred to as God, or Existence, which is the true Self, or as Sat Chit Ananda (Existence—Consciousness—Bliss), and there is only That; and everything else is all like a dream world created by the mind. Therefore, when it comes to discernment, in order to avoid it becoming a game of cat and mouse, you should proceed boldly [bearing in mind] that God alone is the Truth, and everything but God is that which is unnecessary or that which arises from ignorance.

It is exactly what Jesus said, though he put it a bit differently: “Simply say yes or no. Anything more than that comes from the evil one.”¹ What is indicated by “evil” is ignorance. And by saying this, what he means is the same kind of thing.

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[1] Matthew 5:37

Discernment and Bhakti Meditation

Saturday, November 3, 2018, Kyoto

Q: In the midst of practicing discernment, when it is like I’m pushing my mind more and more continuously, a tremendous fear starts to arise, like wanting to run away in the middle of it all—which way is better: to bring bhakti there and burn it away with the heat of enthusiasm, or to face it and continue to push my mind to the corner until the fear is gone?

MASTER: Both ways are effective. The practitioner can choose the way that feels easier. The process or the content of practice in discernment is to uncover the pain-bearing obstacles and ignorance, or that which is not the Truth, that may still remain within the mind, and because these are false and unnecessary things, true knowledge, or the wisdom of the Truth arises there and then whatever is unnecessary becomes clear and comes to be eliminated. This becomes a way of pushing the mind in the approach of discernment. What’s indispensable for that is the teachings of Truth.

The other of the two ways, bhakti, is to bring the mind solely to the Existence of the Truth, which involves a personal God. Then, since that object, which is the Existence of God, is the Truth Itself, naturally pain-bearing obstacles or ignorance are not there. In this sense, it is the same as bringing the Truth Itself to the mind, therefore, the more bhakti deepens further and further, the more the mind is filled with the Truth alone, and without going through the battle of discernment, whatever is unnecessary will fade away and will eventually disappear—that is what would happen.

Q: When pushing my mind into a corner, there was a time when, as I conjured up the image of my ideal saint and thought about what I should do to unite into One with that ideal person, what I saw was the difference between my ideal and myself, then I thought about what creates that difference, and that led to discernment again. So does that mean that, instead, if it is in the case of taking the approach of bhakti, I should rather make the emotion, or the feeling of admiration and longing within myself grow?

MASTER: Right, grow that within yourself more and more. While subtle battles still remain there, it is also normal to take turns applying discernment and then applying bhakti also, as I just mentioned. As that progresses, either of these two will come to prevail entirely and discernment will come to be completed eventually.

Q: Discernment needs a tremendous willpower, doesn’t it?

MASTER: Yes, it does. An enormous power is required. At the beginning, when you start to embark on the practice of discernment, you proceed by employing the power of will to involve your mind, however, as that deepens, it becomes meditation, or a meditative state of mind, and if you are in that state, the plans of the mind cannot reach it, such that either the Wisdom that is the genuine Truth is born naturally, or the acquisition of what you’ve learned naturally comes as its result. Therefore, that doesn’t mean that the element of bhakti is not there. So then, if you think about the people who have completed discernment, even though they may indeed all be called saints now, since they all had the same flesh as us and spent their lives with the same mind as us, then the more you deepen your practice and your state in Yoga, the more the realm they share in common, in which they interact closely, comes. Therefore, you should push yourself to the corner more and more.

Q: If that fear is gone, then does new wisdom come?

MASTER: Yes. When the fear itself is gone completely, such a feeling as fearlessness, the absence of fear, will arise.

Approaching the Essence in Meditation

Saturday, February 8, 2014, Kyoto

Q: I’ve always been practicing meditation on the Truth that Shri Mahayogi realized, with Shri Mahayogi’s image, his gestures or poise, being the entryway. But one day, I meditated on what Existence is. Can the object of meditation be changed naturally?

MASTER: It can be changed sometimes, however, since that is not the point, and since you have to look at it from a content-oriented view of how closely you were able to approach that content, which is the essence of the object of meditation, and to what extent your experience was unified with that, it’s not good to just keep chasing after your object of concentration—because that is only the entrance, nothing more. So then, how was the content?

Q: There are days that I can concentrate, and there are days that I am not able to.

MASTER: The point is not about whether or not you were able to concentrate. It is about how much you grasp the content, how closely you were able to approach It, whether you were able to sense and experience the essence of the object in meditation more concretely—that is important when it comes to meditation. Now, you said “Existence,” what did you perceive Existence to be?

Q: It feels like I still end up questioning what Existence is.

MASTER: What I am asking you is, since you are using the word Existence, what do you mean by Existence?

Q: If I borrow the words of the teachings, “that which is eternally changeless, continuously existing,” immediately comes to my mind, and it is still hazy but I feel like I’m feeling something like that in my meditation, too.

MASTER: In Chapter 3 of the Yoga Sutra—the Chapter is called Vibhuti Pada, and an easy translation of that makes reference to supernatural powers—there are more than thirty siddhi explained, which are something like mystical abilities or wisdom, like intuitive knowledge, and it also explains the three psychological states of concentration, meditation and samadhi as the preliminary steps. One of the sutra in this chapter mentions that by sanyama—in which concentration, meditation and samadhi are put into one word, meditation—through this triunity, in other words, through sanyama, one can know the voice of all kinds of living beings, and there is a sutra that by concentrating on a word, what that word indicates is revealed. Usually, words are used casually—that is, the mind is blindly given an idea and therefore believes to be convinced by it, or thinks that the mind understands it—however, in actuality, the essence of the word and what the word indicates is something that is totally elusive. Let’s say that you pick up a word, for example, the word love, if there are ten people concentrating and meditating on love, the results of understanding about love may differ. If so, it cannot be said that a conclusion about its essence will be reached; for those understandings are merely each individual’s own understanding, adding the impressions from ten individuals’ own respective experiences of the mind, so it can be said that that is not the pure essence. However, through sanyama in Yoga, you will be able to know the pure essence itself that is not defiled by personal experiences.

In this sense, for the word “existence,” too, first, you should think on your own about what’s familiar, such as what the usual understanding of the word “existence” is, or what you have heard or learned about it, and contemplate on that. Then that leads to the following: existence indicates existing, if something exists, then it means that if that existence is gone one day, then at that point, that existence does not exist anymore; if something exists or does not exist in the frame of time, it is incomplete in the strict sense of existence. If you think in this way, and continue on, it leads to the facts of various things in this world, be it matter, the various impressions or feelings of the mind, or knowledge, ideas called recognitions, too, all of these do not necessarily continue to exist in the same way. The mind itself, too, is no exception, and it itself keeps changing—what happens when the mind sleeps, or is gone from time to time, or dies? If you think about it in this way, you come to recognize that the idea that the mind has toward “existence” is actually not existence. Therefore, strictly speaking, it can be concluded that existence is something that the mind cannot grasp the essence of. Even so, through Yoga, true Existence is knowable, you are able to know true Existence, or actually rather than knowing, you can experience that you yourself are That.

Now, how do you experience That? Just pursuing the word Existence is pointless. The place where It is hidden is beyond the mind, or That is behind the depths of the mind. The key to reaching It is the “I,” in tracing back the I-consciousness, using that as a point of entrance, when the false I-consciousness—the false I-consciousness being the ego, which is one of the components of the mind—vanishes, the real Existence Itself emerges. That is why it is meaningless to concentrate and meditate on the word Existence. This is something that has to be done by logically clarifying it through strict discernment prior to meditation. Regarding the concrete way of inquiring into the consciousness, “I,” as just mentioned, since the “I” is a consciousness, you should practice meditation in a way that is as if you are diving into that consciousness.

And, you just mentioned that the form of concentration is different, but because of the essence of this (pointing to himself) is That, there is no difference. You mentioned my gestures or this or that as your point of entrance, but instead, you should bring your concentration to the essence. I have mentioned the three objects of meditation as “Who am I?”, “That which is called God,” or “the Truth”—and these three objects are the same. Even though as the keys for the point of entrance, the objects based on these three words are different, they are the same thing—That which is without a second.

As I said, that’s what being thorough and complete in discernment means—you make your mind come to be prepared by getting the mind to the point where it will no longer be swayed by anything, where it will no longer be caught up or become obsessed over anything, because in this way, the mind will have nothing that it can depend on, in other words, you let the mind be in the corner where it cannot even mention anything in meditation or say what Existence is, that is to say, corner the mind to that extent. And since, even then, what still remains is the I-consciousness—this kind of thing is something that is quite difficult to make vanish—you use that as a clue in discernment.

In Yoga—this is something that, due to the influence of Sankya philosophy, or it can also be said that it is actually something that came to be reflected in Sankya philosophy because of the mastery attained by the yogi through their actual empirical experiences—it is considered that the mind is constructed by three main pillars. There is buddhi, which is the first part of what is commonly called the twenty-four principles, and buddhi is what is referred to as mahat in the aspect of the macrocosm—these two are the same. It is like the first element when it comes to recognition, such as the faculty of discernment that judges and decides. And ahankara, the I-consciousness, or the ego-consciousness, arose from that; then by buddhi and ahankara, the situation of objective recognition such as differentiation or distinction between all things sets itself up. And manas, that is the faculty of thinking, and feeling, so to speak. Manas is also translated in modern language as thought. These three are addressed as the major elements for the mind with which the mind operates. Another thing is memory—there is a device called memory that acts as a general container of the mind; with buddhi and ahankara too, it is only because of memory that they can recall the consciousness, “I,” without interruption, and there are some things like reference points for making decisions that are also stored in memory. That has developed into the psychology of Yoga, or the analyzation of the mind. Yet, these are simply like the tools for acting in this world; therefore, these themselves are irrelevant to good or bad. However, the thing is that, by adding ignorance to these, in other words, in computer terms, by the shades of coloring that the software adds, what evolves are various desires, attachments, and then karma. Then it is there where the good and bad are born, and karma increases and diminishes, and increases again, like that.

Give Up the Mind

Saturday, September 7, 2019, Kyoto

Q: I’ve been practicing discernment on my mind, and gradually I’ve started to recognize the fact that I am expecting or seeking happiness in others and the world, and that these are not perfect, not the Truth. You have taught me that true Happiness exists within, how should I enter within?

MASTER: It boils down to the concrete way of practicing discernment. As everyone goes through various experiences, I think that there are many times that you experience pain or setbacks. Also, you may have various thoughts such as hopes or wishes. Whatever it might be, rather than bringing up an afterthought out of nowhere as a problem, there has to be something that is coming and going in the mind, and it is that something, which the mind is honestly feeling, that is the easiest place to start, as it is a clue for discernment.

Then, you need to grasp well the essence of it realistically, what kind of a thing that is, what it itself is. At the same time, if you observe the one who is thinking about it, then you conclude that it’s you—that is, it is your own mind who thinks that. Then going back again, you continue on discerning whether that thought is perfect and whether it matches with the Truth, or whether its cause is based in ignorance, and you discern to clarify that completely. And if you continue on further to the point where you discern who the protagonist of the mind that is having that thought is, that is, if you proceed forward to realistically clarify the point of who the “I” is, then your interest in this world will almost have disappeared—because the world constantly changes, and it is not absolutely perfect. The concrete way to practice discernment is to penetrate into things all the way to the bottom, to discern clearly and thoroughly, and to abandon them completely. To discern is to give up such thoughts of the mind. To give up is, in other words, renunciation. If the discernment is practiced thoroughly and thoroughgoingly, this renunciation is done automatically. When the eternally right answer called the Truth comes, no matter how strongly the mind used to believe in something that is imperfect, the mind comes to realize clearly that the mind was mistaken, and that these things that the mind believed were imperfect. That is what it means to give up.

Then, the power of attachment of the mind toward these mistaken things vanishes at once, and they come to be renounced. Even so, only the I-consciousness is quite challenging to work on—it does not disappear. However, since that I-consciousness too can stand only while having some kind of object in the world, such as some kind of thought, that is, since it is something that can exist only in a relationship where there is dependency on those things, if that object that the I-consciousness depends on or that dependent relationship comes to be eliminated, then the ego will come to fade away.

Q: Does it mean that by discerning the thoughts and ego, I should train and meditate to remain in the real Self?

MASTER: Yes. That’s why I said to discern thoroughly and thoroughgoingly. Thoroughly and thoroughgoingly means to clearly discern things down to the subtle aspects, and to go further to their cause, as I just mentioned.

Even though you pick a starting point from the gross level, from the various things that you feel through the experiences in this world, a conclusion can be drawn and it can be dismissed due to it just being a shade of coloring that is particular to the mind, respectively, so to speak.

Q: Does it mean that what and how one reacts when someone says something varies according to each individual, respectively?

MASTER: Right, it varies respectively according to each individual, also, it means that even though there is a common background, which is referred to as the pain-bearing obstacles, such as wanting to be perceived as good, or wanting to be comfortable, or wanting to avoid pain, in terms of the phenomena, these are what have each individuals’ shade of coloring. So then, continuing further, when it comes to the reliability of that common part, strictly speaking, that too differs by the individual, as each person’s thoughts differ. Yet, the inevitable fact of having these thoughts to begin with is the common thing. So then, you discern what that really means, in other words, whether there is the nature of Truth there as the essence or not. And furthermore, you discern whether the mind itself, which creates these thoughts, is the Truth that can be said to be Real or not.

If you pursue this manner of thorough and thoroughgoing discernment, it will result in neti [(denial)] of everything—this is not, that is not. To put it simply, what it refers to is something that is just like peeling away the layers of an onion, which may sound merely symbolic, but practically speaking it is just like that. When you peel away all of them, there is nothing left.

Practice Through Renunciation

Saturday, February 26, 2000, Kyoto

Q: During daily life, I hear sounds within, is it better to restrain them?

MASTER: Originally speaking, you must condition yourself not to have such symptoms at all. Even if it is in daily life, you must always bring your mind under control to not have such a thing. These are all hindrances that attract all your attention, and make the mind move.

Q: So then how should I practice to do that? Does it mean that I should put my attention on God always?

MASTER: In a proactive way, yes, you should. And the negative or the way of denial is indeed the practice of discernment and renunciation. Both ways have been practiced as a pair. Which one is more important? It is renunciation. Of course, renunciation is done if there are things that need to be renounced. In other words, only if you have things that need to be discerned, can you renounce them for the first time. Therefore, what can be concluded is that first you need to gain the wisdom, strength, or power, or whatever you can use, for discernment. That is to say, you have to deepen your practice and state of Yoga. After deepening It, you discern what you need to discern, and renounce it. Then further, you continue on to deepen that more and more. Then continue on discerning. Then renounce again. In this way, you have to continue on until you arrive to the point in which there is no object to renounce anymore. At that time, you will really acknowledge that great phrase, “neti, neti.” That is the raw, vividly realistic expression that arises authentically from one’s actual experiences.

When you experience some kind of sign or indication, you need to be able to intuit the meaning of it. For instance, take light—there is light that is simply light (pointing to the light on the ceiling), like this, and there is sunlight or moonlight. There is also light that emanates from matter, a luminous body. And, perhaps the theory of light in the theory of relativity that Einstein solved may refer to the light that is a universal substance, that which exists as the essence of this world, like the atom, is light. [Through discernment], you will intuit the meaning that light is the essence of this universe. It is not to fathom something by means of logic—if you experience that fact, then simultaneously you absorb, or intuit the truth of it without any logic. However, if you experience that, then what should be experienced next should be the experience of abandoning that experience, and that is renunciation. That is, no matter how significant that content might be, in other words, even if you sense and experience the root of the world, there is still a gap between that and the Truth, the essence. Therefore, that is renounced—meaning that that will be discerned and renounced.

But the thing is that, this process is veritably the most interesting and dynamic aspect of Yoga; and there are several names of samadhi listed, such as savitarka, savichara, sananda, sasmita, and etc.—as you approach going deeper into the depths of the mind, going from an object’s grossness to its subtleness, unnecessary things will be removed, and as the result of that, these samadhi will manifest accordingly; what these respective samadhi indicate are the passing stages of going toward the essence. Therefore, you need to experience this. Of course, in order to experience samadhi, the practice of meditation, and therefore, concentration, are indispensable as the preliminary stages to go towards that.

The Sense of Thorough Discernment

Saturday, August 18, 2012, Kyoto

Q: How can I verify that through the practice of thorough and thoroughgoing discernment karma and sanskara have come to disappear?

MASTER: That can be verified in every scene. What I mean by every scene is that you can see that in every action in your daily life, in every dialogue and in every interaction with people, too. And, you can sense that through the way of your own action and conduct.

Q: Concretely speaking, how would I sense that?

MASTER: It is by being completely detached from various things and events in this world; even if you know these, the mind is not disturbed, it is completely unaffected by these. It will feel as if it is completely irrelevant to these things—not only to worldly things, but to the extent of your own body and mind as well. On the contrary, you will feel from time to time that One Existence exists alone there. “There” means within you. In this way, single-pointed concentration in its entirety will deepen more and more. Rather than saying single-pointed concentration will deepen, as the unnecessary things are coming to be removed or eliminated, veritably single-pointed concentration will be achieved.

The Dismantling of the Mind

Saturday, December 7, 2019, Kyoto

Q: Regarding the practice of discernment, because Shri Mahayogi taught me to investigate the structure of the mind, and also because Shri Mahayogi taught me the meditation on the twelve dependent originations, I have kept practicing to observe and check these teachings with my own thoughts. Then, I had the actual sense that was as if the mind was being dismantled, and I sensed and experienced the fact that there is no reality in the mind itself. Then, I got the sense that [these] little thoughts and past memories are trivial things, so then, even with the things at my job that I used to drag out or linger on, or that my mind would get caught up in, I’ve come to the point where, as these things arise within me, I’m able to abandon them immediately, for the mind has no reality. Is this the right way to proceed?

MASTER: Great!! That is good.

Indeed, truly, the dismantling of the mind is possible. That being said, at this moment, this mind is working, too. What is it that is dismantled then? It is the ignorance and the pain-bearing obstacles that are clinging to the mind—so, it is about these things vanishing. That is what the dismantling of the mind means. The mind, as I always say, is not independent in its nature. The mind cannot act without always depending on something. That is why the mind brings various thoughts to depend on. If there is no thought, the mind can no longer act. In this way, the mind always brings a thought, and that becomes a desire, which then becomes an attachment, and in such a way the mind is somehow trying to create a situation in which the mind can act, and that is all it is. To dismantle that means precisely to remove these conditions. What would be left then after that? It is the completely empty mind. However, since it does not mean that the mind loses the inherent function of the mind itself, and since the workings of listening, seeing, or understanding, like now, and also thinking thoughts based on the quality of sattva, remain as its function, it’s not a problem at all. The materials that you are attached to, or the conditions, will be gone, and the mind will be always in the state that is as if being empty. It feels like comfort and ease!

Veritably, the state of serenity is born there.

Name and Form Exist Only Within the Mind

Saturday, February 6, 1999, Kyoto

MASTER: Every single thing is a world of thought created by name and form. You must recognize this firmly and realistically in meditation. Unless there is name and form, what is there is only something indescribable. And even that “something” can be in the pitch darkness of this macrocosm or in the pure white light—in any case, it is the state in which the mind cannot express what it is. Whatever it is, if you want to express something, it needs to have a name, in other words, a word has to accompany it; and if that something is classified into various names, naturally there is a distinction of form involved. Name and form are, after all, valid things only in this world of phenomena, and the mind is naturally involved with this phenomenal world.

On the other hand, the Truth, which is changeless, exists beyond name and form, and furthermore, It exists even beyond the mind, which is created by name and form. What exists in the state where all of these completely cease to exist, is that which is Truth, God, Eternal Truth, which people have sought since time immemorial. The point to which the mind can discern is up until name and form; because if you want to go deeper than that point, then name and form have to vanish. This is accomplished in meditation.

There are many events and happenings, and the mind thinks about various things. So many men, so many ways; to each his own; it takes all sorts to make a world. One’s own mind also remembers various things in the framework of time. All this too is imperfect, it’s just that the mind is simply experiencing impermanence. Good, bad, the universe, the world, everything—if you investigate it carefully, everything can be traced back to name and form. No matter how that scenery, or the world, changes, whether it is a primitive age, or a medieval time, the present time or the future, even if its state changes, what is there is name and form. Name and form are the structural matter created by the mind. In a certain sense, being obsessed and attached to such figments of imagination that are not the Truth—Truth being the eternally unchanging Reality—is a mistake. In other words, you need to deny name and form, and seek the unchanging Reality alone.

That is an important point in meditation. You can enter the practice of meditation starting from any matter or thing, however, the part that I just mentioned is the bottleneck. In other words, you must go beyond that. If you do that, then your attachment to this world, as well as the great beyond ceases to exist. This is not about becoming nihilistic, indifferent or irresponsible, rather, it means that you can be engaged in things from a neutral state.

Dive Into the Secret Cave

Saturday, April 3, 2004, Kyoto

Q: Shri Mahayogi suggested for me to practice a meditation to extinguish words. For example, during the meditation without using words, when I meet some sort of subtle consciousness, how should I continue in meditation from that point?

MASTER: Even if you enter into the dimension of that consciousness, and if words still arise there, it can be said that you are still in the dimension of words. Just about anything, whatever it might be, whatever the mind thinks, all of it is expressed through words, whether concrete or abstract. And, even if you express the pure consciousness, the word “consciousness” is attached to it. So, what is meant by going to the point where words vanish is that by using words until the utmost limit, you need to reach the source from which the words arise. Just like it is said that the source of a word is nama rupa (name and form), that is where all and every phenomenon arises. You need to pursue and investigate until that far, and reach the point where the word itself does not arise anymore. Until then, words are indispensable.

Seeing it from a different aspect, nama rupa begins from the point where the relative phenomena are born. The point where nama rupa vanishes is when one enters into the Consciousness of the absolute Oneness, and it is there where nama rupa completely vanishes.

Q: Is the clue to use until then that there is a perceiver, an object of perception, and an act of perception?

MASTER: Yes, it is.

Q: Is it that by clearly ascertaining that or clearly distinguishing that, the perceiver will be left alone?

MASTER: If you look at it from that perspective, that is so. However, as long as the mind intervenes, it is through the mind that the perceiver does that work, or the act of perceiving. Then, when the object of perception vanishes along with the act of perceiving, by the content of the perceiver itself becoming separated from the relative functions of the mind and the mind becoming non-functional, the perceiver becomes the quality of sattva. Then, it receives the Consciousness of the true Self. From that point comes the establishment of the Consciousness of the pristine true Self alone. That is the Absolute Consciousness, and it is the state where the relative phenomena called nama rupa no longer appear. All of these things are achieved by diving into meditation more and more deeply. Therefore, it’s important to be thorough and deepen it thoroughgoingly.

In meditation, a word brings a word, or in other words, a word relates to another word, or the concept as an image appears with words one after another. However, even that, too, through deepening your meditation more and more thoroughly, gradually, that force itself, which is like a magnet drawing things towards it, weakens, and words gradually disappear. The disappearance of words means that the disappearance of the magnetic force that is inherent in the mind itself, in other words, the attachments and memories are what are disappearing. That is to say, that is what raja yoga expresses as becoming the quality of sattva.

In any case, it’s important to be thorough. Because, truly, before you know it, the mind is wearing many things, and has those things attached to itself, so you have to learn consciously, and follow the Truth through the act of meditation. Truth is something that is independent to begin with, there is nothing that the Truth depends on. It does not depend on any word, conversely, no word necessarily depends on the Truth either. Therefore, deepening thoroughly is the only way—for this is the same as any approach of yoga you take. The secret cave is beyond the depth of the mind.

* * *

Testimonies from a Practitioner

Specialized Meditation Course, 2019
—Aiming to Be a Yogi

Program By Sananda

Part 10: Act on Your Ideal

Sananda: Today is the tenth session. We have two more sessions left. This winter, Shri Mahayogi will be in New York at the time of the New Year. I don’t usually see Shri Mahayogi during the New Year time, but I’m spending this time thinking about how Shri Mahayogi will not be in Kyoto then. Well, when Shri Mahayogi is not present for three months here, it feels long to us. Though, if he were to be gone for two months, then we would surely feel that he would come back very soon.

Anyway, the session today is a bit different from the sessions before, and I would like us to focus especially on living in Yoga and to learn about that. Now, this course is specialized in meditation, and during the session, we meditate for 45 minutes, but how have you been doing with this in your daily life? Has your meditation deepened practically? I think that meditation is all about actually practicing indeed, though you may not have much time if you are busy; yet, if you just leave it alone, then most likely you will not sit for meditation. Interestingly, [when it comes to general things], by nature, even when we leave things alone, we human beings move and act, but, even though that is so, since we don’t tend to sit for meditation when we leave that alone, I think it is rather something that we have to practice intentionally and consciously.

Shri Mahayogi often says, “If you want to deepen your meditation, sit for meditation for at least one hour,” and he says, “if possible, two hours.” That means that if we want to deepen our meditation, we have to practice to sit firmly for that long. Probably, although that amount may still be considered to be small, unless we practice firmly that way, we might not be able to taste the best part or the height of meditation, therefore, in order to enhance the inner aspect of yourself, you should practice to firmly sit in meditation.

Now, the theme of today is to “act on the ideal.” I think that Shri Mahayogi always, or at least from time to time, says, “have an ideal.” I’m sure you’ve heard him say that. Haven’t you? No? You haven’t heard him say that much? “Have an ideal”? Now, what he means by an ideal is a concrete image of what you want to be more than anything else; he says that, “the ideal is what you really want to become more than anything else,” and for the sake of attaining that, you spare no time for sleeping or eating, and that the ideal, the figure of what you want to become, is something to strive hard for—to strive hard for to that extent, that you forget to sleep or eat. Indeed, when I heard that, I too thought that we don’t usually have such an image. When you hear “have an ideal,” if you reflect on yourself, what’s your case? You may not have an ideal, and that might be something most people generally have in common. Now, Shri Mahayogi has also said that it is, in other words, “what you set your mind to and aim for.” He said that about having an aim. Hearing that, I thought that if there should be some aim in Yoga, then it would be better to clarify what that is for my case, or rather, I must have something concrete in Yoga that I set my mind towards and aim for.

Shri Mahayogi was no exception, I may have spoken about this before, but Shri Mahayogi said that when he was in his teens, he practiced setting his mind toward and aiming for something, and that was precisely why he was absorbed in discriminative meditation at a café to the extent of not having any thought of going to school; and that was because he had set his mind to aim for clarifying the truth of this world and the Truth. Yet, according to Shri Mahayogi, it seems that that was not necessarily happening naturally around the time he moved up from junior high school to high school. Rather, he said that he made a conscious determination to ascertain that. Hearing that, I thought that he made such a firm determination at that point. “I had a serious and exceptionally uncommon aim,” he said, and his aim was, whether in the realm of the world or in the realm of the Truth, to clarify the truth of the world, or the truth of God, and he said that, “it was necessary to verify whether Yoga is actually the path to realize the Truth or not”—“the aim was to confirm that.” I thought that even Shri Mahayogi used the notion of, “setting his mind on something and aiming for it,” so we must not be able to progress without having an aim. I thought that it’s not good if we are doing Yoga casually, because not much will progress in that way. We are just kind of managing it somewhat—solely because of Shri Mahayogi. But after hearing that from Shri Mahayogi, I thought, although we may think that we’ve been able to walk on the path, even when we are doing Yoga casually, the truth is that we definitely have to have our own concrete aim and set our mind to it.

Now, in regards to the aim, or the ideal, Shri Mahayogi said, “Just having the thought of an aim or ideal is insufficient for anything to be done by that.” He said that action has to be taken, it has to be executed, it has to be acted on, and you cannot let it end as a mere dream, it has to be realized, and only then will it become meaningful for the first time. He said that only simply having that thought within the mind is meaningless. Hearing that, I thought that I have to strive to do things that make me actually realize that, indeed.

When he said that, he also said—you all probably know this—to have “an image of your ideal.” It’s not the ideal, but the image of your ideal, that is to say, it’s good to have an image of your ideal in a concrete figure. In other words, he said that there must be someone in the past who actually realized the same as what you are setting your mind to aim for as your own ideal, which you may call a precursor, but that that would be the image of your ideal. The ideal figure is the person who actually lived in this world and realized it—that is why that person is your ideal, the ideal person for you. Because that person is the person who actually lived in this world, that person will be easier for you to grasp—I think that is why Shri Mahayogi probably said to have an image of the ideal.

Recently, I often think that about how Yoga is not knowledge or philosophy at all, in other words, how Yoga is not something that is conveyed by these things—indeed, what we are all feeling through our interactions with Shri Mahayogi, probably some of you have felt that at the Cave in New York, too, is Shri Mahayogi’s vibration…it’s something that is impossible to verbalize, or should I say it’s the vibration of the Truth, or should I say it’s the pure vibration or… I think that each person has their own unique vibration, and that is the vibration of karma. That’s why people whose frequency of vibration match get along well, and if it doesn’t match, they don’t. But the thing is that, as long as you stay locked up within your own frequency of vibration, it’s hard to get out of that; you cannot get out of your own vibration of karma—it’s pretty difficult. However, if we are with Shri Mahayogi, only by being with him, our frequencies of vibration are raised. I truly think that such things happen, and within the great vibration of Shri Mahayogi, our own vibration of karma is weakened, which lets us truly feel that pure vibration—such a thing is actually happening, I think. Because of his vibration, you are all here, for you are drawn to Shri Mahayogi. I thought that that is how Yoga is conveyed and transmitted. That vibration is transmitted. I think that that vibration vibrates a disciple’s heart, and that disciple carries on the vibration of the Guru in the same way, and then that vibration will be conveyed and transmitted to the next. I thought that it is not through mere words and such things, but it’s through that vibration. Therefore, the vibration of Buddha has been transmitted even until now, it is not gone—but it is not from the scriptures or from words, rather it is through the heart of the person who is living on That, I think.

But then, Shri Mahayogi once said the following when we were doing the class called Siddha Marga. “You should exclude the Avatara from your own image of an ideal.” That is because the Avatara are too pure—of course, we can taste their vibrations, but, Shri Mahayogi said, “It is difficult to take an Avatara as your reference, particularly for how you can walk on the path of Yoga with the aim you set your mind to walk towards.” He said that, therefore, it’s better to have someone closer, like a saint who is not an Avatara, as your ideal image. They are outstanding excellent persons, too, but they still had not attained Satori when they met their Guru. But then, while receiving the teachings from their Guru, while they were going through struggles, they found their ideal, and then they realized their ideal—it is exactly in their processes that we can see that they respectively had their troubles or sufferings, their own struggles and conflicts. Shri Mahayogi said, referring to their impulse, that this would be “a good reference for you all.” Our own questions, as well as a reference for how they walked this path, how they found their aim, how they set their mind to it, etc., are displayed in their various biographies, and I think that we can probably see how they cultivated that determination and the process of how they actually realized their aim. And I think that that is where we might be able to sense the vibration of their impulse, their struggles and thoughts. That was the reason why Shri Mahayogi said it that way. Of course, it is fine for us to have Shri Mahayogi as our ideal, nonetheless, it would be difficult for us to see how Shri Mahayogi approached it, because, in a way, he is someone who was already in completion from the beginning.

Anyway, there is a way of bhakti to try to be one with Shri Mahayogi by thinking and feeling him, and that is a correct way, however, when it comes to you yourself living on your ideal, if you place Shri Mahayogi as your ideal, then you have to become Shri Mahayogi; that means that you have to actually realize the different yoga like he did, and in short, just like Shri Mahayogi, just like what Shri Mahayogi is doing now, you have to actually practice and realize the act of self-sacrificial service to the entirety of humanity. But instead, if you take a direct disciple of Ramakrishna, for example, you can see how the process was until that disciple reached Ramakrishna—how that disciple proceeded, what the processes were that he went through. I think that since these saints, [who were not Avatara,] can become great references for us, since every saint was truly noble in the way he or she lived and there are many things that we ought to learn from and emulate, therefore any of the saints are fine for us to take as our personal ideal, truly. You can pick from amongst the saints that you like, I think any saint will be a good reference for you, and that saint can lead you. In this way, I think that having the objective to set your mind to aim for something should be taken as being a significant cause to have, an important thing to do when you live as a yogi. An aim is nothing to do with how you are at the moment at all, for how you are at the moment is not important. Ambition—that’s good to have; the aim is the highest aim—because the aim in Yoga is Satori. Yet it is quite important to concretely find what you will set your mind to aim for within That. Because if you do, then you will be able to see what you have to do daily in order to attain that. You will think and reflect on yourself—“Will I be able to attain my aim if I remain doing things in this way? And I think it would be good to reflect on these things for yourself and renew [your aim].

Now, when I observe the way the direct disciples of the Avatara were, which I’ll speak about in the next session, their lives were indeed not only about attaining their own Satori. When I observe their lives, I can see they thought that their own Satori was not enough, and everything they lived was for the sake of others’ happiness, indeed—that is in the case of all the saints. And I think that that was because they lived the way their Guru, Ramakrishna, lived, as their ideal, and they actualized that. I think that indeed, in the end, that will be what we’ll aim for—if we are the direct disciples of Shri Mahayogi. It is not at all satisfactory if only one’s own self receives benefit; certainly, our own suffering, too, is a struggle, so we should work out our own salvation first, in other words, we have to begin from that. Because unless we are saved ourselves, there is no way we can save others, first, we should begin to work out our own salvation, however, the work of the direct disciples does not end at that level. I think that, ultimately, what we ought to actually practice is to live for all people, just like Shri Mahayogi—just like Shri Mahayogi is doing. Just like Shri Mahayogi is living for the sake of us, and for the sake of all, we have to come to live in that way, I think.

This was what I wanted to speak about. And, sure enough, inevitably, what Shri Mahayogi says is, first, as I just mentioned, the enhancement and enrichment of our internal state is essential. Absorbing and mastering the teachings of Shri Mahayogi through experiencing them is what that means. I think that since it is only when we are able to come to realize a certain enhanced internal state or unshakable mind within our own selves that we can get closer to our aim or aspiration, indeed, in this sense, naturally that enhancement of our own internal state comes to be crucial. No matter how many books we read, even though our brains or our intellects might get satisfaction in gaining information, we will probably not be fulfilled by that. Then we probably ought to be led to the point where we come to face, “Are all these things that I’ve been learning true, are they fact?”, “Does the Truth really exist?”—that is, if we’ve really been practicing. Although we may have gone through some kinds of realizations or some kinds of various spiritual experiences, even so, I am sure that there will come a point where we will wonder, “Does Truth truly exist?” At that moment, although we have our authority as Shri Mahayogi, we are required to have firsthand experience of it within ourselves—certain realizations, certain experiences [of Shri Mahayogi’s teachings, or of the Truth] are required. For me to master through experiencing them, there is nothing but to actually practice them—that’s what I thought. Because it all comes down to how much one is engaging in sadhana, how much one is actually practicing, how much one has been practicing. And, certainly, meditation is the central sadhana among all spiritual practices and disciplines of Yoga—I think that if you observe the way the saints in the past lived, you probably sense how much they meditated, that they certainly did a lot of work, yet their original source is their internal spiritual experiences in meditation, indeed, and having these as a cause, that is what came to manifest in their actions. In that sense, we, too, have to enhance our internal state and practically experience the teachings of the Truth—and for this, there is nothing but to devote ourselves to actual practice, I think. Perhaps you may be working sufficiently, or what you are doing may not be sufficient and you can continue to work more, however, if our internal state comes to be further enhanced, then we will be able to do good work; in that sense, I think we have to truly practice more and more from now on. This is what I sense.

Now, thinking that perhaps how my aim, or in other words, how my ideal has developed, might become your reference, I will speak about that. It is true that, from the beginning, I was inquiring into Atman or the Truth, however, these were not yet something that I could call my ideal or my aim. Indeed, this is something that you will be bestowed with, or led to by your Guru while you are devoting yourself to actual practice, I think. In other words, I don’t think Shri Mahayogi would say “this is your aim,” rather, he would lead you to that, I think. Now, Shri Mahayogi said once when I asked him: “As the enhancement of your internal state is coming to be fulfilled, your own role and mission will naturally be revealed.” Hearing this, I thought that that is how it would be; this is nothing to do with one’s own wishes or likes, or this is not something that is chosen by one’s strengths or weaknesses, but it will become apparent as one is devotedly practicing Yoga—or rather to say, that enhancement of one’s internal state is the cause of it, because causality works for this, too, that enhancement of the internal state becomes a cause, and due to the act of causality, I think that cause will naturally manifest itself as action.

I had two ideals, originally. As I always say, one is to realize the Truth, and another one is to assist in Shri Mahayogi’s Mission. I wanted to use this body and mind for that even a little, or I should rather say, I thought I would be so grateful if Shri Mahayogi can use this body and mind—so these two are my ideals. Now, for the reason I have two ideals—if I practice and seek only Atmavichara, it will end within me, meaning it will end at the personal level, therefore I would not direct myself to serve. That is why I have two aims. I didn’t set my ideals forcefully, as I mentioned the other day, too, the thing is that, when I work with Shri Mahayogi, I feel so joyful. So, I am extremely happy that this body and mind, my Life is used for Shri Mahayogi—that is my joy, that was what I thought; it was not the impulse of the world, rather, as I worked together with Shri Mahayogi, I indeed felt quite naturally how happy I was to work for Shri Mahayogi—I think that was why my ideals became two. Therefore, what it means to be working for Shri Mahayogi is to communicate the Truth that Shri Mahayogi is preaching and demonstrating, that means to communicate That to others through my own self realizing That more and more—so I strive to become someone of a caliber who is able to do that.

Now, when it comes to the aim or the ambition to set my mind towards, though we don’t need to prove to others that if we truly practice the Yoga that Shri Mahayogi teaches, we can realize That, I really aspire to realize That. Truly, if the Yoga that Shri Mahayogi teaches—whether for me that’s jnana yoga, raja yoga, bhakti yoga, or karma yoga, it doesn’t make a difference which one of them—if it will purify one’s mind such that one can realize the Truth exactly as Shri Mahayogi says, I truly aspire to demonstrate and live on That. Because, indeed, Shri Mahayogi proved the validity of Yoga that has been continued through time immemorial, therefore his disciples should also prove that, or as a disciple, I aspire to realize That. That is what I feel.

Do you have any questions?

Maybe not today?

I think that in regards to finding your ideal image, this is something that you should do concretely. There are many great saints, that could be a disciple of Ramakrishna, or Yogananda, or other great saints; and any saint you may choose, only through admiring and meditating on him or her, the vibration of your mind, of your heart comes to change. I think that the more you think of them, the more you concentrate on them, you will begin to resonate with their vibration, their state of mind or their thoughts. I suppose that you actually practice that, or you can do that towards Shri Mahayogi, of course—but since the approaches that these great persons took, in other words, how they set their aims or ambitions, will be greatly helpful for us in approaching how we can go close to Shri Mahayogi, in this sense, too, it would be good for you to have an image of your ideal. You may have one already, though.

Madhri: Sananda-san, do you occasionally meditate having an image of an ideal besides an Avatara, concretely speaking?

Sananda: In my case, since most of the time I naturally rather meditate on the formless God, Atman, that is my main practice of meditation. But, as for Ramakrishna’s direct disciples, I meditated on his main direct disciples, and I was inspired by the way they lived, and they gave me great strength. I meditated on Turiyananda and Brahmananda. And I meditated on Vivekananda a long time ago. Why do you ask?

Madhri: Because I’ve not heard much about it from you, so I wanted to hear about that.

Sananda: I did. I meditated on them. When I meditate on, for example, Shri Mahayogi, or on other saints as I just mentioned, I am drawn to them so much and my mind, my heart become that vibration. Even so, somehow, it might be something to do with my innate nature, my meditation goes back to the formless Atman. It’s easier to meditate that way, or it is strange to say it’s easier, so rather to say, I can’t help but be drawn toward the formless Atman. And, of course, they themselves, too, went through these experiences internally—they’d had experiences of Atman, and that is where I am drawn to, probably; so, rather, my meditation on them would naturally go toward how they approached Atman and realized That. So, I feel like during meditation, their forms or names, too, disappear, and my focus goes toward the aspect of them facing Atman—because I am more drawn to that. Nonetheless, I think it is really good to concentrate on an ideal being. The reason is that, if you are only practicing within the confines of your own nature, your own world, the realm is so small, and because it is too cozy there, it is quite important to see and experience their dynamic Satori, the way they lived their lives, indeed—I especially feel that way lately. In a way, in the confines of your own nature, to think or to say that your own preference of practice is bhakti or jnana, is too small of a way of thinking or too small of an approach. They lived on their ideal—Shri Mahayogi says that we should meditate on their lives; their lives—that means it is about how they concretely lived, the way they lived, and rather than being about detailed episodes, it is about the ways in which they lived, how they lived—I thought that it would be helpful and therefore good to try to penetrate into and feel how they actually walked on the ground in their lives, what they thought of as they rose in the morning, what they did, and also, what their thoughts and feelings were behind the works they did after their Realization, or rather to say, it is necessary for us to go through that.

When our own aim or ideal that we will each set our minds toward becomes clear, as it grows and comes to be established, then we become unwavering, firm and consistent. Our daily life becomes unwavering—having the firm attitude to not be affected by what happens, whatever happens. That is because, if you are clearly seeing your ideal, and because you are living in order to realize your ideal, even though many things happen at your job or in your family life, I think that, indeed, an axis, or a sturdiness will be born, with which you will not be swayed by such things at all. Perhaps, you might have already become that way, even so, you should strengthen it much more. Have an aim, have ambition—have “a serious and exceptionally uncommon ambition.”

Now, let’s move to meditation. We will have a five-minute break, and then we will begin meditating.

(after a ten-minute break)

Alright. Is everyone here? You should be careful not to be tight or tense in meditation. When you are tight or tense, the mind follows and you will not be able to concentrate. Okay, we will meditate for a longer time today.

Let’s begin.

(After meditation time)

Do you have any questions?

Regarding an episode with Shri Mahayogi, which I’ve spoken about several times, even in Shri Mahayogi’s case, he said that he decided to live having Buddha as his ideal. It was about five years ago when I heard about that, so it was rather recently. I’d never heard anything like that before. When he was at the age of nineteen, he had reached a point where he had no questions to meditate on whatsoever, and from what I heard, he then thought about how he would live from that point on, and determined that he would live the way that Buddha lived, and he set his mind on living as Buddha as his ideal. And in short, he said: “I’ve been living while putting ‘non-possession of any single thing’ as my ideal.”

Hearing that, I thought that without saying anything about it to anyone—though this is not something that you necessarily say to others—he has been continuing to live silently in this way. And, because Shri Mahayogi also said, in regards to how he would live on that, that, “He decided to emulate Buddha”—and not only that, but he just said that one day, as if nothing happened—so it was not necessarily he said that that was the way I or we should live, but still, I thought that from the fact that he verbalized that, he didn’t need to say otherwise, and what he said must be a message that he wanted to convey about where there is a very important way of living that we must emulate. Nonetheless, I think that such a way of living must not be a very easy thing to do.

Shri Mahayogi also said then that, “Since the times we live in are different from that of Buddha, we can’t live exactly the same way as Buddha, but even so, it is possible to be closer to that.” Whether Ramakrishna, or his direct disciples, too, I think that we can see that all of these great beings had very similar ways of living, and that is where our ideal way of living lies—it would be difficult for us to live like Shri Mahayogi due to our karma, yet, even so, he said that “it is possible to go closer”; so then, in order for us to practice to do that intentionally and consciously, I thought that what it all boils down to is having an ideal, an image of an ideal.

Alright then. Let’s end the class here today.

Thank you very much.

Attendees: Thank you very much.

Teachings of Shri Mahayogi

Testimonies from Actual Practitioners

Teachings of Shri Mahayogi

Discernment is to Know the Truth of This World

Recognizing the Eternal Existence

Remove Anything That is Conditioned

Finding the Cause From Conditions

Discern the Conditions

Thorough Non-Possessiveness

Burn Out the Root of Vasana

Cut Off the Chain of the Causal Relationship

Ignorance Does Not Exist

Bold Discernment—God is the Only Truth

Discernment and Bhakti Meditation

Approaching the Essence in Meditation

Give Up the Mind

Practice Through Renunciation

The Sense of Thorough Discernment

The Dismantling of the Mind

Name and Form Exist Only Within the Mind

Dive Into the Secret Cave

Testimonies from a Practitioner

Part 10: Act on Your Ideal

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