Daily Questions

In each case the circumstances are different, however in a general way we can say that the choices we ought to make should not so much be based on their repercussions on others, not even on ourselves but on what we believe at that point to be true and our highest.

Such is the teaching of the Gita as well where Arjuna is caught in a similar situation inwardly though the context is different. Sri Krishna, the Divine Master bids him to consider neither what the results of this war shall be upon him personally nor upon other but to act from the state of a higher poise, the dharma, the calling at that moment.

Besides it is one thing to have an impact upon our nervous emotional and sensational being and quite another to have an impact upon our soul or our higher self. There are things that seem to have apparently a negative impact upon someone outwardly and yet it may be eventually the best thing that happened to his soul and his growth.

The ideal therefore is to do what you feel and think to be the true thing to do, the right thing from your highest present perspective, the beautiful movement that springs from some deeper inner self. But whatever you decide do it as an offering to God to whom alone the results belong.

The will, like any other part, can be developed like any other part by exercising it. Several exercises can be undertaken for developing the will. For example, a very simple exercise is just being regular and punctual. This simple practice develops the will and trains our nature to act in an organized manner.

Such simple practice can be to take a decision to read a passage from Sri Aurobindo every day at a fixed time and then stick to the decision regardless of whatever difficulty one meets on the way. Or if one has to wait for food or water because it is not ready or available, then instead of getting impatient and angry one practices inner calm until one has freed oneself from the acute pang of hunger and thirst. Or if one has decided to do something but one is feeling lazy doing it, may be taking a walk or reading something or sitting for meditation, one refuses to listen to the laziness and instead goes ahead and does what one must despite the tiredness. Similarly, if one feels an impulse rising within oneself which one is not meant to express then one holds on and holds out rather than giving in to the impulse. Or if one meets with various challenges or difficulties then instead of giving up, one keeps persevering with patience never giving up until one achieves the intended goal. By doing all this one slowly develops one’s will.

Yet there are limits to which human will can strive and strain itself. Therefore, what is advised is to supplement one’s individual human will by offering it to Her Will. This way one goes beyond the limits of one’s own will by joining to the limitless. These are some of the ways that one can augment the will and with practice and Grace strengthen it beyond one could imagine.

Q: I believe that there is no one path for all and that all faiths lead to the same One (Goal), isn’t it true? Then we should expand to enjoy and accept the unity in diversity.

Alokda: There is no one path that is true but not all paths lead to the same goal. What the Sanatan Dharma does say is that the Reality is One, the wise call it by different names, ekam sat vipra bahudha vadanti and not, ekam lakshya nana pathanti.

The Sanatan Dharma does say that the Reality is one but it admits that in the unfolding Truth or Reality does appear differently. The admittance of this evolutionary principle, first of the immortal soul passing through death and rebirth and next, of the collective march of mankind, lokasangrahart, through the cycles and yugas and Avatars is the reason why the Sanatan Dharma has endured. That is how it allowed multiple approaches old and new or else it would have stopped with the Rishis of the Vedas.

Yes, one should not get stuck with mental gymnastics but equally one should not drop the mind. Else the entire beauty of the Gita revealing new truths through the questions of Arjuna would be an exercise in futility. In fact, to make general statements such as ‘all faiths lead to the One’, ‘law of Nature is all’, ‘expand the heart first’ is an example of dropping the mind rather than transcending it. The Sanatan Dharma bids us to ascend beyond the mind and then returning use the mind as an instrument of the Spirit. Sri Krishna even teaches the role of Buddhi, buddhi yoga, as the first step towards karma and bhakti.

Expanding the heart to include all is the straight road to self-destruction if one has not the wisdom or the vision of the One Divine in everything and knows His ways and different dealings with different people. It is in fact not heeding of this advice that has led to India’s fall. But people now-a-days seem to believe they are wiser than Sri Krishna and Sri Aurobindo, not to speak of the great teachings of the Vedas and Upanishads of which one has no idea because all is one and God is great and the hero defending the right and the cowardly robber and violent murderer are all same, law of nature, unity in diversity, call it whatever else.

Q:How the Divine was borne, who made him?

Alokda: The question can be best framed as ‘what is the origin of the Origin?’ Because ultimately that is where the answer will lead us finally. Also, when we use the word born, we are limiting the possibility and the process. Even when human beings are born there is a whole process that seems almost magical as one cell multiplies and differentiates and specialises driven by unseen forces till a body is formed. But the physical body is a gross form. What about thought and feelings. How are they formed and born, we may ask and it will be no less a mystery. All that we can say is that thought emerges out of some state as a vibration that takes the form of sound and then word. But how does the first vibration or first stir of creation emerge?

There must be ‘Something’ from which all emerges including Time and Space and Thoughts and Forms. In Itself THAT (whatever It is) would be beyond Time and Space, beyond Form, beyond Thought. So, we can say that IT is neither this nor this. But since IT must be in everything and everyone, we can equally say that IT is this as well as this other thing. Thus, we have at least two statuses of the Source, – one is that which is beyond everything and hence cannot be known by any instrument including our thoughts and mind. It would then be simply an Unknowable and hence whatever we may say about how It was born or came into existence would be speculation. On the other hand, since IT is in everything including us we can find it by a reverse concentration taking the support of a representative Idea or Name or Form and by going beyond these discover and become one with It. By thus identifying with the Divine or the Source we can know It or Him or Her depending on the angle of our approach. But how That came into existence would still be a mystery since we have gone beyond Time and Space. All that we can say is that IT is, IT always was and always will be. In other words, it is an Eternal Infinite that is ever unchanging even though it is the basis of every change.

Thus far thought can go and no further. Beyond this we have to go within and through yoga discover and identify and know. All that we can say is that while the whole universe is Its birth that itself is unborn or self-born, Ajanma, Swayambhu.

Q: My parents went through physical suffering before death, but after death their bodies looked beautiful, what could be the significance of that?

Alokda: Suffering during the final days of departure acts sometimes as a catharsis of much that was held back during the lifetime. It is a very good way to exhaust the burden of certain karmas, a kind of Grace that releases many karmic knots that prevent the soul’s advance. Some souls even choose it deliberately to take a leap in the inner progress. The awakened soul takes it as a purifying ordeal and it is this soul state, this inner beatitude that gets reflected in the body as long as the cellular life continues to linger after the physical departure.

We should develop the habit of reflection and discernment and pass every thought and feeling and action through that crucible and then accept or reject or modify them as per the conclusion of our highest reason, without justifying anything simply because we feel like doing it. It is our own highest thought that must decide.

Of course, the conclusions we draw should not be held rigidly since we are ourselves evolving and the things we deem right and wrong today may not be so to a more enlightened consciousness. Rights and wrongs are relative values and change as we grow and evolve through experience and as horizons widen and new light enters our sight. No mental conclusions should be held as rigid dogmas. They are at best a provisional scheme for us to navigate through life, at worst a prison of gold.

One should never do something that one is convinced about being wrong, even if the whole world says so. Otherwise, our will gets weakened and our consciousness begins to get obscure. If our family or anyone else says things we do not agree with it is good to discuss with them and if they still do not understand then leave them with their understanding. But that does not mean doing what we believe is not the right thing to do. One has to obey only the voice of one’s own inner truth or else of the Divine Guru or Master if one is blessed and fortunate to have a genuine one.

I would like to know as to what kind of evidence would you look for in the subjective psychological domain where you are dealing with states of consciousness that do not lend themselves to quantification and measurement. If it is a testimony of one’s own personal experience as in autoethnography, which is acceptable now, then there is enough evidence that states of consciousness exist that transcend the normal workings of the human mind. These states of consciousness and their objective effects have been the subject of studies all over the world since the sixties with promising results.

Secondly, there is enough empirical evidence that different forms of yoga help their individual practitioners in ways that we may not fully understand. Yogis speak about subtle laws and transactions of consciousness and energy that takes place behind our tangible observable behaviours observable by the senses as presently organised in the human body. However mysterious it may sound, it is not beyond the scope of logical possibility that there may be other and different types of sense organisation that may glimpse the forces behind the normal sense notations. Just as the animal senses the world differently, just as each human being brings his own perspective that colours the world as it reflects within his own consciousness, so too the yogi climbs beyond the limits of our ordinary perception and discovers realities behind and beyond our normal range.

Are they false evidence just because the average normal humanity does not experience it? Well, he would if he undertook the experiment that the yogi engages in, the experiment of transcending the human formula, of course if he fulfils the conditions of the particular yoga. This is only reasonable since every experiment needs certain conditions and even when all conditions. So, if we take it that direct experience is the only valid evidence in the psychological field then the only way to prove or ‘disprove’ would be to sincerely undertake the experiment and find it out for oneself. That at least is a fair enough requirement from a strictly scientific point of view. The fact that most yoga practitioners who sincerely undertake the yogic journey do experience some change in their consciousness, of varying degrees, which is why they continue to hold on. This is also the reason why yoga has never died unlike religions and belief systems since it is a science that asks us to engage and participate and not accept anything merely as a belief. Though it is unfair to use the methods used in physical sciences to the psychological operations, yet whatever scientific studies have been done till date using different paradigms have shown positive and promising results.

If all this is not evidence enough then I am not sure what exactly is meant by evidence. Yoga, unlike a belief system, is practicable, observable, with its results replicable. But the scientist has to undertake the journey first himself making his own inner field the laboratory of evolution through yoga. Most are not ready to undertake this journey and pass their judgments on a priori denials and ideological beliefs and under the spell of scientific dogmas like the adherents of any religion. Well naturally they do not find any evidence. The blind does not see the sun nor the ape understand the man though the two appear similar in certain ways. But their lack of vision and understanding is not a proof that either does not exist. As to majority, the beliefs of majority has often contradicted scientific evidence and there still people who believe that earth is flat. There are also people who combine an intuitive sense to fill in gaps of understanding and accept evolution as valid though the strictest scientific evidence may be missing like the missing links. Yet we do not discard it as fiction. So too with yoga.

We have the right to ignore the yogic knowledge provided we have put in our efforts in that direction to understand its processes through direct personal application. If not then both science and humility demand that we stay within the boundaries of our ignorance and leave others to follow their faith and see where it leads them. To each his own faith, whether it be a faith in science and its methods, a faith in yoga and its methods, or both.                 

Either way, one has to work through the difficulties of human nature and the challenges posed by the ego and desire self. There is no free lunch as the saying goes. So the law of evolution, sacrifice and mutual respect is as much required in love marriage as in an arranged one. The rush of vital attraction that unfortunately goes by the name of love does not last long and after it has served the purpose of drawing two people together, it usually retires into the background leaving them with their inner resources to work out the marriage. The advantage of ‘love marriage’ is that it allows variation by giving a wider option and hence Nature seems to prefer it now since it permits better chances of evolution. Arranged marriage, on the other hand poses less challenges as it allows the basic comfort zones to continue.  

The Source of all Power is the Spirit. It lends its energies to the mind, heart and bodily life. Now it is up to us (to an extent) to use this energy or power which is given to us by the Divine. When we use it rightly according to our genuine human needs turning the rest, towards progress (in different ways and along the lines of our nature) then these powers increase in us. If we turn them towards the Divine then they not only increase in quantity but begin to undergo a change in quality. This is the logic of spiritual evolution.

A reasonable moderate expenditure of energy for genuine human ends which includes sexual interchange for progeny and for a certain intimacy and physical union when two beings are truly in love keeps the normal balance of our human state. On the other hand indulgence and waste of energy for pleasure, relieving boredom in activities such as excessive sexual indulgence, gossiping, animated vital interchanges, partying and all the rest naturally drains the energy given to us for health, harmony and progress. What is worse is that we draw the deficit from very inferior sources through various forms of interchanges.

Some get completely caught in a vicious cycle or a web of dark forces that pulls them towards an Asuric and even demonic life. Even if one is saved from such extremes, an excess of any kind on the physical, vital and mental domain makes one prone to illnesses and loss of vitality with ensuing frequent fatigue that makes one vulnerable to various forms of psychological disorders such as Depression as well.

This is where the necessity of sexual control as well as other forms of control such as of speech, emotions and vital activities stands. It is not so much a moral as it is a scientific principle which is quite consistent with logic as well as common sense.