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Content Index
Love: The Essence of Spiritual Power
Part One: The Power of Acceptance and Forgiveness
5.1 Introduction: Ambition
A common question that one faces in the journey towards adulthood is ambition. "What do you want to do?" or, "What are you going to do with your life?'. This question is essential for our personal development as it involves our search for answers about who we are. This quest though starts much early in our childhood, during our most formative years from two to six, the sign of which is when a child begins to role play, imitating their parents or other personalities dearest to them. As children matures and begin to realize that they 'own' their life, they begin to ponder about the possibilities of their future. Usually during our early years when idealism is a reality more than a probability, the sky is the limit to what we can achieve. What happens to this idealism as we mature in life is very important in determining the course of our life. Whether we achieve the goals we set for ourselves, therefore succeeding as we had envisioned or otherwise substituting our idealism for seemingly more practical goals, thus modifying our goals, usually to something lesser than our ideals. The line of thinking about what is success that you are going to encounter in this seminar will likely seem unconventional to you. However, this is the yogic perspective, a perspective that eyes the world from its inherent spiritual nature. The key to understanding this view of success has to do with the origins of idealism.
5.1.2 The Wonderment of Idealism
Youth is generally considered a time for idealism, though of course idealism is not necessarily limited by age. Anyone can be idealistic about life at any age. However, the general perception is that idealism withers away over time as one begins to understand the realities of life. The possible causes for the loss of idealism, we will explore later. For now lets dwell on the feeling of idealism.
Being idealistic is a wonderful state of mind. More than anything else, it is a perspective of life and our part in it is seen from the most positive angle of our personality. We see ourselves at our best. We are able to conjure a grand vision of what we can accomplish as a human being. We feel exhilarated when we are in idealistic pondering. It is an inspired state, full of energy and confidence.
Idealism is by no means an ineffective faculty of our mind. In fact the most innovative human inventions and discoveries are products of idealism. Language, philosophy, ethics, codes of conduct come from idealism. Even scientific discoveries and and inventions find their sources in idealism. Such examples of idealism are all around us too. From architecture of buildings to the internal combustion engine, telecomunications, even the humble light bulb can be sourced from the idealistic musings of their original creators. What then gives idealism its wonderful quality and abilities? The yogic answer is the spiritual force we know simply as love.
5.1.3 Love, The Fountainhead of Idealism
Love is one of the most abundant, easiest felt and easiest stimulated emotion. If you doubt this then observe children and infants. Unencumbered by subconscious conditioning and limits, infants and young children are full of love. They glow in it, and as much as we love children, in most cases, they have more love to give us than we have to give them. Children are so full of love that they can barely contain themselves as it flows out of them as their enthusiasm, exuberance and their ability to forgive. As they grow older children limit the spontaneity of their love based on their observation of life and what they are thought.
It is this 'childish' love that also manifests as ideals. Idealism is an evolute of love. As ideals, love is a spiritual force as well as an emotion. It is in fact as powerful a spiritual force as willpower is. The difference between willpower and the "power of ideals" is that while willpower is nuetral or blind in its application, that is, it can be used equally for noble or evil deeds, ideals that have love at its base cannot be used nor stimulated for evil ends. The force of love, especially as ideals can never be used to be inconsiderate or hurtful of another. If someone was compelled to be inconsiderate or hurtful they would have to give up their ideals first.
As an additional observation lets look at unfortunate situations where some children turn out to become criminals. Every child is born naturally innocent and pure. They know how to love as instinctively as they know how to suckle. Basically it is second nature to them. Eventually they become idealistic youth. If a child unfortunately turns out to be a criminal as he or she grows up, it is because at some point they gave up their ideals. In otherwords no one is born to be unkind or corrupt, it has to be inculcated in them. The 'criminal' example is an extreme example, but it highlights just how important ideals are in shaping ones life and future; and why it is a spiritual force that must be encouraged and allowed to blossom and never disuaded.
Unfortunately in the mainstream psyche of communities all over the world idealism is very much underrated compared to realism. This is a dangerous trend for any society and it will do a lot of good for the planet if it is reversed to emphasize idealism.
5.1.4 Idealism and Realism
The dictionary definition of idealism is as follows:
1. the practice of forming or pursuing ideals, esp. unrealistically : the idealism of youth. Compare with Realism.
2. (in art or literature) the representation of things in ideal or idealized form. Often contrasted with Realism.
The definition of idealism is longer than this, but they all emphasize that idealism is basically unrealistic. This is why, the spiritual point of view is unconventional. Realism is based solely on material results. Idealism however is not based solely on material results but gives equal importance to spiritual results. This key distinction between these two points of view, realism and idealism, can be best illustrated by an example. Imagine a billionaire who became rich through realism. In this example he is a drug lord.
Realism in this context is the philosophy that when push comes to shove, winning at all cost is always better than losing. That means if one needs to 'step on another's head', be inconsiderate, or even cheat to meet their ends, it is alright, so long as they come out on top. Oddly enough many mainstream communities in the world seem to tolerate this. Known drug lords today exist because as long as they are not convicted in a court of law, and convention allows for methods to escape the law legally, in general community will gawk at and even admire their wealth. They can even reach celebrity status despite their shadowy dealings. Politicians and rulers who are down right tyrants in their country also survive on realism. It is incredible to see how despite their cruelty such people are still given a places of honor as statesmen in international meetings and councils. Until they are behind bars, it is acceptable by society for them to be afforded privileges and even praise. This example is not a repudiation of the just law of innocent until proven guilty. It simply illustrates how realism can raise a person who is dearth of ideals, cruel and dangerous up the ranks of society. This is the danger of over emphasizing realism as opposed to idealism. People who come up by inconsiderate realism will eventually become the victims of their own actions and are usually passing fads. Society often forgets them or relegates them to the Halls of Shame when they fall or once their cruel ways surface for all to see.
Fortunately the world still idolizes it's successful idealists. Personalities who are beacons of love and kindness are hailed as the examples for current and future generations. For instance an idealist like Mahatma Gandhi will be remembered until the last days of human history. More importantly an idealist can live life with a fulfilling sense of contentment with oneself. Such a life can be defined as a true success.
5.2 Yoga and Idealism
What we have established so far in the introduction to this seminar is that idealism is a tangible spiritual force that is an outgrowth of love. Idealism is as tangible a force as willpower or concentration. Its main function is to guide our actions and intentions towards a path that brings out our noblest aspirations and values. Idealism therefore, has a vital role in being successful.
The yogic goals of God Realization and enlightenment take idealism to its highest altitude. In applying yogic principles in all areas of life my guru advised, "whatever you do, do it with perfection". Whether it is sweeping the floor, gardening or writing a newsletter, Gurudeva would insist that we be meticulous and bring out 100% of our best effort. This insistance is a yogic ideal all true practioners of yoga strive to apply. From the yogic perspective living by our ideals should be natural, it should be something we strive to maintain and not struggle to live by, for our individual ideals are very much part of being of who we are.
One of the attitudes Gurudeva's monks were taught to strive to hold was what he termed "child-like spontaneity". Child-like spontaneity is not being childish, instead it is being as responsive, as exuberant, as forgiving and as joyful as children in living and while performing tasks. Such striving can enliven our childhood ideals, especially if they had been buried by the realism of life. Thus an important part of my training with my guru was to erase subconscious conditionings that had over the years smothered my natural idealism, so that it bubbled into consciousness as naturally as it did during my childhood. In this effort of reclaiming ones idealism achieving clarity in the subconscious is the key and the best tools for this are forgiveness and acceptance.
5.2.2 The Yogic Ideals
The ultimate yogic ideal is the realization of the innate connection of one's awareness with God's Consciousness. From this realization emerges the pursuit of an idillic life where the goal is to achieve spiritual balance that harmonizes this realization with all spheres of ones life. This pursuit entails perfecting emotional restraints and observing some practices which conditions ones personality in harmony with the realization of unity with God. These restraints and observances are listed in the guidelines for harmonious living that can be found in the first two limbs of Ashtanga Yoga; the yamas and the niyamas.
The Yamas
Ahimsa: Non-violence. Cultivate peace, abhor violence. Not harming others by thoughts, words or deeds.
Satya: Truthfulness. Being truthful and honouring promises.
Asteya: Non-stealing. Refraining from theft, cheating, coveting and other crimes of greed and jealousy.
Brahmacharya: Sexual purity. Controlling lust by remaining celibate when single and faithful in relationships.
Kshamaa: Patience. Being patient with trying circumstances as well as being tolerant and understanding with people.
Dhriti: Steadfastness. Cultivating confidence and perseverance. Overcoming fear, indecision and changeableness.
Dayaa: Compassion. Expressing empathy and sensitivity. Conquering callousness and cruelty towards all beings.
Aarjava: Honesty, Straightforwardness. Admitting shortcomings and wrong doings.
Mitahaara: Moderation in appetite. Controlling eating habits by eating fresh and natural foods, avoiding junk foods and striving towards a vegetarian diet.
Saucha: Purity and cleanliness. Upholding purity in body, mind and speech.
The Niyamas
Santosha: Joy and serenity. Seek joy and serenity in life.
Hri: Remorse. Be modest and show shame for misdeeds.
Daana: Selfless service and charity. Be generous, perform service and charity without thought of reward or personal gain.
Aastikya: Faith in God and religion. Cultivate belief in God and the path to enlightenment.
Ishvarapujana: Personal worship of God. Cultivate love of God through personal worship.
Siddhanta Shravana: Scriptural study. Study and reflect upon scriptures and the words of the wise.
Mati: Divine cognition. Seek the truths of life through meditation and be a disciple of a spiritual guru.
Vrata: Religious observances. Fulfill religious obligations and vows. Attend temple services regularly. Observe religious festivals and fulfill vows.
Japa: Mantra recitation. Reciting mantras or other religious chants. Deepen love of God through devotional chanting and singing.
Tapas: Regular spiritual disciplines. Performance of regular spiritual disciplines and penance. Nurture soulfulness through hatha yoga, meditation and perform penances or other acts of purification when needed.
In yoga these ideals are guidelines and not commandments. In general they are universally applicable to any belief system with a little modification. Comparing these guidelines to one's own personality can rekindle past ideals that may have been forgotten or buried deep in the recesses of memory.
Our natural ideals are a reflection of the most postive potential of who we can be. It is based on the purpose of each of our existence and thus is very personal. We may share some of our ideals with others, but it is rare to find two persons who have the exact same set of ideals. We do not have to cultivate these ideals for, they are an inherent part of our personality. What we can cultivate is to master living by our ideals.
5.2.3 Recovering our Ideals
Though we do not need to cultivate our ideals we do need to recover them especially if we have lost the urge to live by them. This can happen if one becomes disenchanted from living because of bitter experiences in life or if the "dog-eat-dog" world becomes ones reality.
The source of ideals is love. They are ever present in the deepest recesses of our spiritual being, our soul. When there is clarity in the subconscious mind these ideals surface as our personality. To understand what I mean with clarity of the subconscious we need to get a little into yoga metaphysics.
According to yoga philosophy, our mind is comprised of three basic parts. The deepest and most spiritual part of us, is the superconscious mind. The superconscious mind is a term that my guru coined to describe the mind of our soul. It is also called the mind of light and through it shines our life force, love and our spiritual potentials which reflect as our ideals. Immediately after the superconscious mind is our subconscious mind. This is the mind of our memory and personality. The subconscious also acts as the go between for the superconscious mind and the third and most external part of our mind which is the conscious mind. Through the conscious mind we experience and interact with the world around us.
In the dynamics of these three parts of the mind, it is the subconscious that can create the obstacles for living according to our ideals. This is because the subconscious can cut off the natural spiritual glow that shines from the superconscious mind, the seat of our ideals, with clutter, which are the unresolved experiences of our life. As a simple analogy to explain this mind-process, lets take a bulb that is lit to represent our ever-brilliant superconscious mind. The light from it contains our ideals. Our awareness which is a short distance away from the light and looking at the light is the conscious mind. The space between our awareness and the light is the subconscious mind. Unresolved experiences are represented by thin sheets of black glass. Every time an experience of life is not resolved a sheet of black glass is lodged somewhere in the space between the light and our awareness (the subconscious mind). Naturally this blocks a little of the light bulb from our awareness. If we keep accumulating more unresolved experiences in the subconscious, the light we can see from the bulb begins to reduce. If we do not do anything about this plight and continue to clutter the subconscious with unresolved experiences, eventually we will be altogether cut-off from the light of the superconscious mind. At this point, our ideals are still present as the bulb continues to shine, but we will feel so distant from our ideals that they seem impossible to uphold.
Thus the accumulation unresolved experiences in the subcoscious over time can block the presence of the soul from ones normal state of consciousness to the point that the soul can seem non-existent and ideals are easily forgotten. Naturally from this point, to recover one's ideals one has to start resolving the unresolved experiences and regain the clarity of the subconscious.
5.2.4 What Are Resolved And Unresolved Experiences?
All experiences we go through in our day to day life are stored as memory in the subconscious mind. According to yoga philosophy how these experiences sit in our subconscious is important. When an experience embeds in the subconscious mind as memory it creates an impression in the subconscious. This impression in yoga is called vasana. Yoga identifies three types of vasanas, they are positive, positive-negative and negative. If we used the earlier analogy of the bulb being the supersconscious mind, then the positive impressions can be liked to sheets of transparent glass, the positive-negative ones are sheets of semi-transparent coloured glass and the negative one the opaque sheets of black glass.
As you can surmise, resolved experiences are the transparent glass, unresolved experiences are either the coloured semi-transparent or opaque black glass. In this classification, the quality of the experience, whether it was enjoyable or painful does not matter. In other words, an enjoyable experience can create as strong and as black a negative impression as a painful one. It all depends on how the experience ends up in the subconscious.
Lets look at an example. Roy's childhood friend is going immigrate to another country and he is attending a send-off party. They have lots of fun during the party reminiscing the good-old-days. This is a positive experience, however at the end of the party when they are all saying their goodbyes, Roy is suddenly struck by the reality that he will not see his friend for a long time, maybe even never again. As he shakes his friend's hand before departing, he is very, very sad. While driving home, this sadness turns to the fear of loss as he extrapolates who else he will eventually lose in his life. All this goes into the subconscious that records not only the event but our perceptions and feelings we felt. Despite all the fun at the party, the sadness and fear colours the impression of the party experience in the subconscious and a positive-negative vasana is formed.
Another example, something bad happens to Nathan. A thief stole somethings from this him. He becomes angry and hateful at the thief. The unfortunate experience settles in the subconscious as a negative impression as it oozes hate and anger. It is black. A few days later the thief is caught, but by that time Nathan's belongings are gone for good. Nathan learns of the unfortunate circumstances of the thief that drove him into crime. Compassion is the result, he feels pity for the thief and forgives him, but allows the laws of the land to take its natural course of justice. The subconscious will use the feeling of forgiveness and automatically related to the original negative vasana of the theft. Then like magic, Presto! The original negative, black impression turns to a positive transparent one. This negative impression has been resolved. For Nathan, when this process happens, that is the resolution of the negative experience to a positive one, he feels relieved as if a burden has been lifted from mind.
We can identify whether we have resolved or unresolved experiences in our subconscious mind easily. All one has to do is to go down memory lane. If you come upon a memory that is joyful, inspiring or results in satisfaction without any residual feelings of pain, regret or loss, this is a resolved experience. If you stumble on an experienced that is either confusing or mixed with joyful and painful experiences these are the positive-negative vasanas that need to be resolved. The totally negative vasanas which cause nothing but regret, pain or feelings of revenge are clearly unresolved. However, as in the previous example, unresolved experience can be resolved and their effects in the subconscious can be transformed from a burdensome blockage to contented clarity using wisdom.
5.3 The Power of Acceptance and Forgiveness
Having explored idealism and peering into some of the processes of the subconscious I can now delve into the crux of this seminar–Acceptance and Forgiveness. Acceptance and forgiveness are powerful tools of self-development as they can be used systematically to help recover ideals along with many other benefits to our life. Idealism itself is a potent spiritual force that is often underestimated in its usefulness. Thus clearing the path in our life to allow our ideals to surface is an important goal of yoga.
5.3.2 Acceptance
To forgive someone or even something (we do get upset at things other than humans too!) we first have to accept the pain, hurt or injustice inflicted on us or our loved ones. Acceptance begins the process of healing unresolved experiences in the subconscious.
Ones ability to accept has very much to do with ones philosophy in life or faith. Faith can provide a platform for accepting untoward events in life. Yoga philosophy understands that events in ones life are the result of ones karmas. Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs, Shintos and Taoists believe in the law of karma. The law of karma is just one way to accept events that occur in life, other philosophies can offer different platforms for handling the basic of understanding why certain experiences happen in our life. However one chooses to understand the reason for an experience ultimately the goal is to accept the experience without any form of denial.
Acceptance, especially of harsh experiences usually comes gradually and in retrospect. From the yogic perspective acceptance is complete only when one accepts the happening of an event and ones participation in it. In other words we must accept what happened to us and also how we initially reacted to the incident. For instance, if we got angry and reacted extraordinarily or embarrassingly out of character we must also accept our reaction without judgement or justification. It is not important how others may perceive us from our reactions, it is more important that we accept when we had misbehaved if we did.
In the context of this seminar acceptance is not about accepting to remain in an unjust or hurtful situation. I am deliberately highlighting this point so acceptance in this seminar is not misunderstood to mean accepting a passive state of servitude or slavery in an unjust situation, such as being abused or discriminated. Acceptance in the context of this seminar is a state of mind that we hold to helps us to resolve the burdens in our subconscious mind.
5.3.3 Forgiveness
Forgiveness is what fosters our release and independence from the burdens in our subconscious. In this function, forgiveness is more than a simple concept, it is a powerful ability. Once there is acceptance forgiveness is possible. The level of forgiveness that I am referring to is at the subconscious. Levels of forgiveness may be a new concept to you. It was introduced to me by my guru.
Gurudeva explained that if we are wronged by anyone for any reason we must forgive them in our subconscious sincerely and immediately. However this doesn't mean that we show the aggressor that we have forgiven and forgotten. We only acknowledge to them that we have forgiven them when they come to us in remorse and sincerely ask for our apology. This rule however must be applied with commonsense, since there are many situations where we should just as well forgive and forget subconsciously as well as externally without requiring an apology. Instances of these may be if the offender is an infant or an innocent child and if the cause of pain is mother nature herself (nothing much we can do about this, might as well forgive and forget!).
I learnt from my guru that forgiveness is more for the benefit of the forgiver than the aggressor, for it is the victim who carries an obvious burden in their mind. From the yogic point of view unless such memory are reconciled through resolution and equanimity is reached with the experience, this burden is no different than a extra weight one has haul day in and day out. Even if one learns to forget or deny these experiences the burden still persists in the subconscious. Reconciliation through forgiveness can relieve this burden. Thus the benefit of forgiveness is victims and not the aggressors. My guru also taught that once forgiven subconsciously, the aggressor should only be made aware of this forgiveness once he or she apologizes sincerely and if necessary atones for their misdeeds. This protects the victim from being continually abused and taken advantage of. Not allowing oneself to be abused or to be taken advantage of knowingly is as important as being able to forgive. My guru strongly advocated the right to protect oneself even for children. Forgiveness therefore doesn't mean being a passive acceptor of torture and abuse.
5.4 Yogic Techniques of Acceptance and Forgiveness
There are numerous techniques in yoga that use acceptance and forgiveness to release the burdens of the mind and give clarity in the subconcious. Harnessing the ability to accept and forgive builds spiritual strength. Since every unresolved experience in our mind is unique, every effort to resolve the experience demands different ways of approach in applying acceptance and forgiveness. During my training with my guru, learning to accept and forgive were essential as a way of getting to know God intimately. Since God is love, exercising these two processes of love draws one closer to God. It is the goal of yoga to help a yogi uncover his or her innate oneness with God as love.
Among the yogic techniques for resolving experiences are prayers, asking for counsel from gurus, meditative introspection and even hatha yoga (yoga exercises). All these techniques can purify the subconscious from its negativity. In this seminar we are going to explore three techniques that deal with three kinds (these three will be explained later) of unresolved vasanas in the subconscious. The first uses prayer, the second hatha yoga and the third vasana daha tantra ( a method of introspection).
Before we get into these techniques it is important for me to point out that there are times where we have to use acceptance and forgiveness on ourselves, such as when we offend or hurt someone else. We must accept our mistakes and also forgive ourselves for the transgression first. This will naturally lead to us asking for forgiveness and atoning for our misdeed if necessary. If we do not do the first step of accepting our fault, we will go into denial, justifying our actions in one way or another. In the subconscious mind, even if we can justify our transgressions, the memory will settle as an unresolved vasana. The subconscious will register our offence and denial as a negatively charged vasana that needs resolution. If we do not do anything about this, we will be carrying a burden in our mind no matter how vigorously we justify the rightness of our action. If we are to clear this negative vasana in the subconscious, we have to accept our shortcomings, forgive ourselves and then take steps to make amends for the wrongs we had done.
When a memory in the subconscious is resolved there is a boon. This boon is the lesson to learn from the experience. This lesson is valuable as it will help us better deal with similar situations that may surface in the future and also help us help others resolve the same or similar experiences.
5.4.2 Using Prayers To Purify The Subconscious
Praying is the most widely used method for purifying the subconscious. It is very easy to do and very natural. It is therefore a great way to start the process of purifying the subconscious. The act of praying itself begins the process of subconscious purification. One can also learn or create prayers that ask God's help to purify one's life from past burdens. These prayers can also be done as affirmations. Yoga philosophy encourages all efforts to communicate or connect with God as these draw blessings from God. It is this blessings that helps clear some of the dross of unresolved experiences in the subconscious. Even if we think that when we pray we are relating to God externally, a metaphysical dynamics occurs within us as we pray.
The connection made with God in prayer opens the channels of energy to flow from God to our being. Mystically seen this energy are rays of bright spiritual light that courses through the channels in the subconscious mind that were blazed through by prayers. Through this simple process provided by praying even if the subconscious is congested with unresolved vasanas one is able to feel God's invigorating blessings. Depending on the devotees perspective of God, that is whether God is external to or within the devotee, the blessings can be felt coming from an external source or from deep within the devotee, usually from the heart. As the rays of Gods spiritual blessings courses through the subconscious some of the unresolved vasanas are automatically resolved without us having to do anything else. Yogi's consider this a Grace of God. Thus for yogis this is the most important function of prayer, for above all a yogi values a clear, unburdened subconscious. Thus the power of prayer to purify the subconscious.
God exists in us as the essence of our life. My guru used to say, "God is the Life of our life". Capital L, Life, refers to God, Who is our creator and also the source of our life. Therefore irrespective of religion or the form of God one prays to, connecting to God through prayer is universally effective. Yoga philosophy emphasizes the connection we form with God during prayer rather than the method.
A Guide To Effective Prayer
The key principal of effective prayer is devotion. Devotion to the Creator is important to a yogi as the yogi seeks to tune his mind by concentrating on God and establishing a clear pathway to God's Being within him or herself. This is easiest done by expressing devotion, either through ritualized prayers or by praying silently to God. According to yoga philosophy, for a yogi to make the clearest connection to God, one must give up the fear of God. Fear of God, in yoga, is considered rudimentary in the path of spiritual evolution. It usually applies to people who need to fear a higher power to tread the path of virtue. Usually by the time a devotee feels the stirrings of true devotion, which is the love of God for love's sake, they would have already given up the shackles of fearing God. If ones connection to God is based on fear of God's wrath or punishment, then God will seem a distant and disconnected from him or her.
The power of regular prayer is that this pathway of clarity within ones subconscious becomes permanently established overtime. When this happens it becomes easier to concentrate on God and God's blessings in ones life seem more apparent. As this process continues, the subconscious becomes ever more lighter and clearer as the dross of unresolved vasanas gets dissolved by virtue of God's Grace. This naturally allows for more of one's innate spiritual brilliance to shine through to ones normal consciousness. The result is that we feel closer to God. We can become so sensitive to Gods presence that whenever we enter a house of worship we will feel the presence of God in these places. Eventually this closeness leads us to begin meditative practices, which at this point becomes easier because of the increasing clarity within the subconscious. This evolution from external prayer to internal prayer through meditation can eventually lead to a pristinely pure subconscious mind, which when attained leads to God Realization or the realization of ones unity with God, the goal of yoga. If you refer back to the Niyamas above, you will observe that it emphasizes devotional practices in various forms such as reading the scripture, performing penances, having a personal worship routine and visiting holy places regularly. The goal of this emphasis is to acquire and maintain clarity in the subconscious.
Choose the style of prayer that you are most comfortable with. The form of the prayer is not very important for yogic development as the quality of the prayer. This quality is based on one's devotion to God and how free it is from the fear of God. There are many forms of prayer to choose from, even reading scripture on a regular basis is a form of prayer, along with chanting God's holy name on a rosary, doing simple or elaborate worship ceremonies, singing to God or playing music dedicated to God. As long as there is consistency in the practice, daily is of course the best, but even if it is every few days, so long as it follows a routine, the subconscious will begin to show signs of gaining clarity as God's shakti floods into it, clearing unresolved vasanas.
While prayer is a powerful tool for clearing the subconscious off of its darkness, it is not the panacea for clearing the subconscious of all its unresolved vasanas. There are some vasanas that cannot be cleared through prayers alone. This is because the process of clearing some types of unresolved vasanas requires physical action or, some of the vasanas have lessons within them that must be learnt or understood before it can be dissolved into resolution. For resolving these negative vasanas yoga provides other techniques. They are Hatha Yoga and the Vasana Daha Tantra.
5.4.3 The Esoterics of Hatha Yoga
Hatha yoga which is more commonly known as yoga exercise is an exercise system devised by enlightened yogis to primarily harmonize the body and mind with the soul. While hatha yoga does help keep the physical body fit and toned, the effect for which this exercise system was designed is spiritual. It was never intended for body building or as an aerobic sport. In fact in India there are other systems of exercises that are as ancient as hatha yoga that are meant specifically for building muscle mass and stamina. Professional wrestlers and soldiers were trained with these exercises. These exercises are still practiced and involve weight lifting and vigorous aerobics. One of the amazing spiritual effects of hatha yoga is its ability to purify the subconscious mind off of its unresolved vasanas. It may seem rather unlikely that an exercise technique can have such an effect, but from the yogic perspective this is natural.
Yoga philosophy teaches that mind is not isolated to the brain, in fact the entire physical body is part of the conscious and subconscious mind. Even memory is not entirely stored within the brain's nerve connections. The organs too function as repositories of memory. The heart, the eyes, the liver, the pancreas, the spleen, the kidney, the stomach, the gonads, the larynx and the joints are all part of the subconscious mind that can store vasanas both positive and negative. In their function as part of the mind, the organs and limbs of the body are coordinated by the spiritual chakras that are along the spinal column and in the head. The smooth functioning of these chakras is essential to the physical body and the mind. Through these observations of the interrelations between the body, mind and spirit, yoga philosophy postulates that just as the mind can effect the processes of the body, the reverse is also true, that is, that the body can also be made to effect the mind. From this theory hatha yoga was born.
Hatha yoga exercises put the body into different positions and situations in such a way that it forces a spiritual energy known as prana to concentrate in certain parts of the body and in certain chakras. Prana has a cleansing effect when it comes to its reaction to unresolved subconscious vasanas. According to yoga philosophy, inflexibility is one of the signs of build up of unresolved vasanas. This theory is based on the fact that babies and children are very flexible when they are born. At this stage their subconscious mind is still clear and unencumbered by negative vasanas. Unless this condition is maintained, over time we accumulate negative vasanas in the subconscious and this then causes the inflexibility in various parts of the body. Hatha yoga then seeks to reverse this process of build up of negative vasanas in the subconscious by bringing the body into the same or similar condition of flexibility as when it was a child.
Therefore hatha yoga, like prayers, is able to purify the subconscious mind off of negative vasanas. Prayers alone cannot necesssarily get rid of all the dross in the subconscious mind. Some negative vasanas require more pointed application of prana to dissolve its heavy vibrations and bring it to the resolved state. Like prayers this is an automatic function of hatha yoga. There is no need to figure out which memory is being resolved and why, it just happens. The better a yogi gets at doing hatha yoga poses, the easier it is to feel the harmony of body mind and soul. This harmony is a direct result of a subconscious that is becoming more clear, thus allowing the God's shakti from the superconscious mind to better permeate into our normal consciousness.This tangible benefit of hatha yoga is why it's practice has become so popular.
Hatha Yoga Practice Guidelines
For the purpose of subconscious purification doing hatha yoga three to four times a week is sufficient, of course if one can do it daily it is best. There are over 2,000 hatha yoga postures that can be learned. However one does not need to do all of them to get the benefits of hatha yoga. There are many schools of hatha yoga such as Iyengar Yoga, Bikram Yoga, Kripalu Yoga, Kriya Yoga.These yoga schools develop their own of hatha yoga sequence. My guru also developed a yoga sequence that contains 24 yoga postures known as the Chakra Asanas. This sequence was specifically designed to effect purification in all parts of the subconscious mind. The 24 yoga postures are grouped into 8 sets. Each set is connected to one of the chakras. The yoga sequence starts with postures connected to the muladhara chakra and moves successively to postures related to the next higher chakra until it reaches the seventh chakra, the sahasrara chakra on the crown of the head. To optimize the subconscious purification effect of each asana, a colour that is related to the chakra of the set is visualized while doing the asanas. The colour stimulates the chakra and enhances the flow of prana out of the charkra into the parts of the body and mind that the chakra governs. Since this Chakra Asana sequence of Hatha Yoga covers all the main chakras, the subconscious purifying effects of hatha yoga can reach all areas of the subconscious mind.
The Chakra Asana system of hatha yoga can be found by clicking here. The Chakra Asanas starts from No. 4 in the playlist, titled: The Chakra Asana Series Intro & Set 1 Siddhasana. Please also go through the beginning of this playlist as it has important guidelines and cautions that one must be aware of before beginning hatha yoga practice. If you have learned hatha yoga under an instructor before you will probably have learned all if not most of these asanas. What will be new is the sequence and colour visualizations related to the asanas. If you have not done hatha yoga before, please do not attempt to do these asanas by yourself. Learn them from a qualified instructor first. If you are not able to do any of the asanas they can be substituted with one you can do that can create a similar effect. A yoga instructor should be able to advise you on this.
How are Hatha Yoga, Acceptance and Forgiveness Connected?
Hatha yoga may not seem like an obvious vector of acceptance and forgiveness. However, the calming and invigorating effects of hatha yoga is caused by the rush of spiritual energies that are stimulated by the exercises. When practiced consistently hatha yoga can improve ones ability of acceptance and forgiveness. Temper also responds very postively to hatha yoga. My guru would explain this phenomenon produced by hatha yoga by equating the improved flexibility of the body with corresponding improvement of flexibility in the mind. Metaphysically the improved ability of tolerance in the mind is directly related to a clearer subconscious. As the practice of hatha yoga clears the subconscious off of more and more unresolved dross, naturally more space is created in the subconscious to contain and deal with any situations that may arise. If the subconscious is overloaded with unresolved problems, everytime a new problem arises there is no space in the mind to contain anymore negativity that one can react very badly. In other words the subconscious mind is so filled with unresolved problems that it is very difficult to contain anymore un-resolutions that it pushes the problem back to the external consciousness causing unbridled and unrestrained negative reactions.This is a reason why temper can get worse over time. Hatha yoga is a wonderful and effective tool to turn a negative tide in the subconscious and bring one back to peaceful harmony and equanimity.
5.4.4 The Three Kinds of Unresolved Memories
There are basically three kinds of unresolved vasanas. The first is created by situations that cannot be helped. For instance we get stuck in a traffic jam because of weather conditions. Stress builds up, we get angry, but there is nothing we can do to change the situation. We have to accept the reality of the situation and work with its consequences in patience and wisdom. If we do not accept this situation and continue to fume over it the memory of the situation will be contained in the subconscious as a negative vasana of helplessness and other emotions we felt. These kinds of negative vasanas can be resolved by prayers.
The other kind of negative vasana are memories caused by our interaction with people close to us and strangers. It is mainly the pain or injustice inflicted by others unto us, though much of these are unintentional or at least was not meant to hurt us very seriously. Sarcasms, pranks, jesting at anothers expense are some examples of these situations. We may be deeply hurt by these situations. However despite the pain, the relationship remains cordial and we do not require apology from the person to maintain the relationship. As far as we are concerned these situations are like water under the bridge, but we still react badly to the memory of these situations when they surface. This means the vasanas created by such experiences remain unresolved. If prayers do not resolve these negative vasanas, hatha yoga will surely take care of them. These vasanas also include intentional pain caused by strangers, that is, people whom we will probably never meet again or whose apology is not relevant to us.
A third kind of negative vasana are those that contain memory of intentional pain or injustice that we had inflicted on others ( those who are close to us or strangers) or intentional hurtfulness that others (acquaintances or people dear to us) have inflicted on us, for which we require an apology or some form of atonement before the relationship can be normalized. This third type also includes vasanas that cannot be reconciled through prayer or hatha yoga entirely. Prayers and hatha yoga may be able to reduce the vasanas emotional intensity but not able to resolve it completely. Usually there is some lesson or wisdom contained in the experience that we need to extract before this kind of negative vasanas can be resolved. This lesson can only be extracted from these vasanas when we face them consciously. A yoga technique that is available for resolving such 'heavy' negative vasanas is the vasana daha tantra.
5.4.5 The Vasana Daha Tantra
Vasana, as was revealed earlier means the emotional impressions etched in our memory from an experience. Daha means to destroy with fire and tantra means method. Vasana daha tantra is a method of purifying the subconscious from undesirable emotional impressions using fire.
My guru would often say that doing the vasana daha tantra, is like doing psychic surgery. The vasana daha tantra is actually a simple yet potent technique of purifying the subconscious mind. The process is even simpler then prayers and hatha yoga but it is not necessarily easy. The vasana daha tantra uses the power of acceptance and forgiveness head-on. It involves us reliving unresolved memories by recollecting them, then accepting the experiences, then releasing the experience through forgiveness and finally destroying the memory symbolically.
The vasana daha tantra is very direct when dealing with heavy subconscious vasanas. In general we wouldn't have as many of these 'heavy' vasanas as we would the other two 'lighter kinds' that can be overcome through prayers and hatha yoga.These heavy vasanas are much more darker in a sense and more burdensome to lug around in life than the other two kinds of unresolved vasanas. They can be big stumbling blocks in our future if we choose to ignore them. Therefore resolving these vasanas is important to both our spiritual as well as material well-being.
In Ashtanga Yoga, vasana daha tantra a is a dharana technique, since it involves working in a deep area of the subconscious mind that holds the heaviest negative vasanas. In general most people will protect themselves from these dark impressions in the subconscious by having them stored in the deepest recesses of their subconscious mind in a cocoon of denial.
In the practice of Ashtanga Yoga, when a yogi reaches dharana, which is a state of super-concentration, the subconscious will begin to churn and bring up even the deepest of vasanas to be dealt with. If all these vasanas are resolved successfully then one will be able to progress in ones meditations towards God Realization. On the other hand if the yogi chooses not to resolve these vasanas, he or she will likely give up their quest when they reach this stage. All yogis who start out on the path of God Realization will eventually have to face this test of ones own subconscious purification to achieve the final goal of God Realization. It takes a lot of courage to go through the ultimate stages of subconscious purification and it can only be done when one is truly ready.
Doing the vasana daha tantra does not require that one is a yogi looking for God Realization. Anyone can do the vasana daha tantra and reap the benefits of clarity in the subconscious. The process is simple enough. All you need is some paper to write on, a place with some privacy and a place to burn the paper safely. To do the vasana daha tantra, you write out any memory that causes painful emotions to surface, write out the memory in detail including describing the emotions you feel without editing or censoring anything. During the writing you must allow the emotions, whatever they may be, to surface and express themselves without restraint. Having written out the memory, the paper you wrote on is crumpled as if it is rubbish and then taken to a fireplace to be burnt.
The Vasana Daha Tantra Explained Further
Thus vasana daha tantra is a simple method. There are no meditative techniques, yoga postures or mantras to learn. All one has to do is to write out ones memories and then burn them. Though it is not necessarily easy to dig into the subconscious and bring out the darkest vasanas. This process requires fortitude as one will encounter painful or regretful emotions as the memories unravel and incidents are relived. My guru would call these memories paper dragons. He would say that these negative vasanas seem scary like ferocious dragons in our mind, but actually they are nothing but paper dragons that cannot harm us since the events are of the past and we are only vicariously living through them however distasteful they may be.
After a few months of entering Gurudeva's monastery in Kauai, Hawaii, he told me to start doing the vasana daha tantra. He explained to me that all I had to do was to write out my memories and burn them immediately after without letting anyone read them. At first I wondered how this would help me meditate, and wondered if I even had anything to write in the first place. At that moment I couldn't think of anything to write. That's exactly what I told Gurudeva, that I had nothing to write. He laughed and just told me that I have reams to write. He told me to start by praying to Lord Ganesha to unlock my subconscious and then begin writing aum, aum, aum..... until the first thought appears. He also told me that I can write out the thoughts any way I liked. It could be a narrative, a conversation, a description or addressed as a letter to the main character of the memory. As long as the format was conducive to unlocking the emotions within the memory. He also told me that there was no need to be neat or be concerned of the handwriting. At first I had frivolous thoughts of no consequence, like memory of a movie I saw the day before or an amusing conversation with a colleague. As I got into the flow of writing out the thoughts the first serious negative vasana appeared. It concerned the experiences I went through with my family and community when I made my decision to pursue my ambition of God Realization and be a Hindu monk. As soon as I hit that vasana, thoughts began overflowing with intense emotions as the memories of conversations and incidents appeared. My stomach churned, my chest became tight. My first instinct was to write about something else and to avoid this subject altogether, but I realized that this is exactly what Gurudeva wanted me to get out of my system. I wrote pages upon the pages the first evening that I started doing vasana daha tantra. I wrote until I felt my subconscious was drained of content. I felt exhausted from this simple practice, but I had another crucial step to complete the vasana daha tantra, that was to crumple and burn the paper. There were more than 30 sheets of paper. In the monastery as a conservation effort we never used fresh sheets of paper for vasana daha tantra. We used photocopy paper that had print on one side and blank the other which were destined to the trash for recycling. As I crumpled each sheet I began to feel an unusual sense of relief. It felt like all the negativity from my subconcious regarding that vasana psychically transferring to the paper. It was not until I saw the paper burn–the thirty odd sheets of paper created a large bon fire–did I feel as if a burden had lifted off of my mind. I felt so much lighter and brighter in myself and the exhaustion disappeared and I felt a gush of energy as I saw all that paper burn.
Fire has always been an important element in Hindu worship. It is used extensively in worship ceremonies as a medium of transferring blessings from the deity to the devotee. Fire is also acknowledged as a necessary force of destruction that is required for the maintenance of spiritual and material balance. Hindu deities representing Supreme Godhead are often pictured holding a pot of fire to symbolize the forces of destruction in the natural cycle of creation, preservation and destruction. In the vasana daha tantra, fire assumes the role of consuming and destroying negativity, and it is amazing how our subconscious is so naturally attuned to the symbology of fire as a cleanser. It is not until you burn the papers of your vasana daha tantra that you feel the relief from subconscious burdens.
My guru would recommend all this disciples to do the vasana daha tantra on a regular basis as part of a maintenance programme for the subconscious. He was very methodical about it. He would tell us to go back into our past and write 10 pages for every year of our life. So if a person was 25 years old, he or she would have to write 250 pages as their initial effort to clean up their subconscious mind. Of course it is impossible to write 10 pages for the ages when we were infants and children ( Age 1 to about 6 or 10). Gurudeva would just tell us to compensate the number of pages as we got to the later years. After finishing this vasana daha tantra project of writing 10 pages a year, he recommended that we write 10 pages every year as a regular routine and to do the vasana daha tantra whenever we felt the need.
Wisdom, The Outcome of Vasana Daha Tantra
Vasana daha tantra is one of the most practical way of dealing with deep seated unresolved vasanas. Doing prayers and hatha yoga regularly can help us better manage the reaction to these vasanas as they surface then we would otherwise be able to. While the process of doing vasana daha tantra may be arduous, what we learn from resolving these vasanas will be meaningful to us. These lessons are important to our ultimate spiritual evolution. This is why they remain unresolved in the subconscious until we are ready face them to extract the lessons within them. In a sense these unresolved vasanas are precious in that they can help us in our spiritual growth.
Once we learn the lesson that a vasana has to offer, it is resolved. A sign that a vasana is resolved is when we stop reacting emotionally to the memory. While we will not forget the experience, we will have made our peace with it. To successfully resolve a deep seated unresolved vasana may take a more than a few sessions of vasana daha tantra. Usually when one first uncovers a negative vasana and writes about it, the vasana can be so filled with emotions, it is hard to even translate to words. If you ever encounter this situation then instead of writing words on the paper, just vent out the emotions by scribbling vigorously on the paper. Don't even bother to write sentences describing the situation, just scribble until you feel all the emotions drained out of the subconscious, then crumple the paper and burn it. After that take a break from the vasana daha tantra session for the day. The next day, get back to the same memory, you will find it is less filled with emotions and the process of acceptance has started, though you may still be overwhelmed by emotions, they will be less intense than the previous day. Each time you revisit the same memory day after day it will become less emotionally charged and you will feel comfortable writing about the experience. An indication that the vasana has been completely resolved is when you begin to write very objectively about the experience and start to write the understanding you gained from the experience, almost as if a third party is writing about the experience. Thus it may take several sessions of vasana daha tantra to clear an unresolved vasana, so do not set a time limit to clearing a negative vasana, take all the time you need to do a thorough job with each unresolved vasana. There is much to gain from resolving the negativity in the subconscious and the time will be well worth it.
The lessons uncovered from resolving these vasanas does not have to be complicated. In other words we do not have to psycho-analyze the vasana intellectually to figure out the lesson it contains. The lesson will appear to us very naturally. In fact in most cases, the lesson is simply to accept that the experience has happened to us and forgive the offender(s) and just like that the vasana is resolved. Otherwise the lesson can be very obvious, such as do not repeat the same action or mistake again. Occasionally we will encounter a vasana that results in a profound lesson. Whatever we gain from unravelling these negative vasanas, the end result is, we will become more positive and wise for having cleared them.
Vasana daha tantra uses acceptance and forgiveness in its process. Many of these vasanas are about experiences where others have inflicted pain or injustice on us. The very fact of having the courage to write about these experiences is a form of acceptance, where we acknowledge the memory and are willing to resolve it. Usually resolving the memory involves forgiving the offender(s). Forgiving becomes so much easier once we have weeded out the emotions from the memory.
There are also deep seated negative vasanas that have to do with our transgressions against others. These vasanas are usually wrapped in a cocoon of denial and justification. Generally when we uncover these we will be able to write immediately without much emotional interference as we write out the justifications of our actions. It can take a few writing sessions before we can free ourselves off the denial and begin to accept with humility our mistakes. Then as we continue to write remorse will surface and eventually we will be able to forgive ourself sincerely. However not all of these vasanas can be resolved through vasana daha tantra alone. In cases where one has to offer apology or do physical atonement to pay for the misdeed, vasana daha tantra will compel the need to take such actions. Any atonement that is required should be what the offended party needs to be able to forgive. In cases where the offended party can not be contacted anymore or is deceased then spiritual atonement can to be done to compensate. A trusted priest or a guru can help recommend a form of atonement according to the transgression in such cases. Once the apology is accepted or the atonement is completed the vasana will resolve.
Thus the vasana daha tantra applies the power of acceptance and forgiveness directly to resolve the heaviest negative vasanas in the subconscious mind. Vasana daha tantra may be a simple tool, however, don't let this fact lead you to underestimate its efficacy in solving some of the most difficult problems you may be facing. Such deep seated vasanas in ones mind can be the root cause for many problems such as addiction, depression, phobias, bad temper, being rebellious, inability to concentrate, general feeling of debility, lack of zest for life; the list goes on. In fact just doing the vasana daha tantra alone, can create the much improvement in ones life. In many ways doing the vasana daha tantra is like seeing a psychiatrist, though in this case the psychiatrist's proverbial couch is the paper, pen and the fireplace. The psychiatrist itself is ones innate inner intelligence.
5.5 Acceptance and Forgiveness in Conclusion
If one is able to incorporate prayers, hatha yoga and vasana daha tantra into the routines of ones life, one will have in practice a complete process in place to maintain a purified subconscious. Generally prayers can be done daily, doing hatha yoga at least thrice a week is good enough to maintain the cleansing of the subconscious of its negativity and doing one or two hour sessions of vasana daha tantra at least once every two weeks is good enough. This whole routine can be adapted very naturally without requiring much change in ones lifestyle. If you need inspiration to get these routines going in your life, just try doing the vasana daha tantra! Give it a few attempts until the flood gates of unresolved memories in the subconscious open and begin to flow. You will realize how immediately positive you will feel after doing vasana daha tantra and how it effects your overall outlook of life, which will be more positive than ever.
As we had explored in the first seminar on subconscious concentration, the subconscious is a powerhouse within us. It can shape our life. In this seminar we have learned that our innate potentials both spiritual and material are encapsulized in our ideals. Therefore coupling clarity in the subconscious with subconscious concentration (which is also easier to accomplish with an unencumbered subconscious)will give us impetus to live the best possible life that we can envision for ourselves. This is ultimately a spiritual vision.
5.5.2 The Next Evolution of Love
Love is many things such as forgiveness, acceptance, affection, benevolence, care, selflessness, charity and so much more. Ultimately according to yoga philosophy, love is God. The path of love therefore leads to its source that is God. Indeed the path of God Realization described in Ashtanga Yoga is a path of ever deepening and broadening love. The ultimate states of God Realization are experiences of universal love.
In this seminar we maintained our study of dharana (the sixth step of Ashtanga Yoga). Both love and willpower are facets of super-concentration. In the next and final seminar of this series we will be looking into the seventh step of Ashtanga Yoga which is dhyana (true meditation) and the final eighth step which is samadhi (God Realization).
If you have any questions regarding this seminar, or wish to organize this seminar in your locality (for now this is confined to within Malaysia and Singapore), you can email me at:
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