MAHARISHI
YOGANANDA
THE PATH OF YOGA AND TANTRA
OTHER TEACHINGS
ABSOLUTE TRUTH
Don't all religions come from God? What is the difference between them in being released from this world?
Of course God is loving-kindness and compassion personified, and has created or inspired many different religions, just suitable for the different cultures and types of people in the world.
That said, we can also understand that the various religions and spiritual paths are not all equal; they are at different levels and provide different results. Just like the sun may be reflected in many different bodies of water, from the ocean to a puddle to a pot; but the reflections are of varying capacity and purity. Similarly, the completeness and accuracy of the information about God available in different religions varies widely in both quantity and quality.
For example, I grew up in the Christian religion, and it felt very frustrating, like an old suit of clothes that is too tight. My questions about God and the soul were met with evasion instead of enlightenment; I was made to feel wrong for even asking them. Unfortunately, this cripple-minded approach is typical of most Western religions; worse, if another religion or culture does have the answers they lack, then out of sectarian fear they disrespect it and refuse to hear from it.
Western culture and religion are based on fear, and especially fear of God. Fear of God is not a very strong or satisfying basis for religious culture, because the natural tendency of the soul is to love. If people are taught that the only platform for relationship with God is fear, then they will look for love only in mundane things. This leads to a civilization centered on matter instead of spirit; on the body instead of on God. And as we all experience, that is exactly what we have got.
Getting release from the karmic cycle of birth and death is a matter of divine grace. In our present conditioned state there is nothing we can do to deserve such freedom; still, to receive this salvation we have to desire it intensely. There is no other qualification. We have to want God more than matter, and dedicate ourselves to loving and serving Him more than this material world.
Serving God certainly means taking shelter of worship and prayer, especially the Holy Name. But it also means helping others who are less fortunate than ourselves to understand spiritual truth, starting with the science of consciousness and the soul, all the way up to pure ecstatic love of Godhead. This divine love is the medicine for the disease of material existence. But in Western religion, this medicine is very dilute and adulterated with all kinds of other things.
To actually cure the disease of material existence, we need strong, pure spiritual medicine, and that is found only in the Esoteric Teaching of the Vedas. I am not saying that just because I happen to be a teacher of the Esoteric Teaching; after all if you know my history, I did not teach until I had actually realized the Esoteric Teaching for myself and seen God face-to-face. So I am not teaching from doctrine, out of some book; I am teaching from my personal experience. That is the difference between a religion and an esoteric school.
The Esoteric teaching isn't the only path on the planet. The experience of oneness with God has been reported in many other traditions. How do you explain this in relation to this teaching?
The Esoteric Teaching may not be the only spiritual path on this planet, but it is certainly the highest and most complete, oldest and original wisdom on yoga and meditation, spiritual life and enlightenment. This is simply historical fact. No other path or method can claim this.
The Esoteric Teaching is the original, transcendental realization of the complete Absolute Truth. There can only be one version of the Absolute Truth. All spiritual paths without exception are expressions of this same Absolute Truth. This accounts for the numerous commonalities among different religions and spiritual paths.
However, over time this original truth has become altered and distorted in often very subtle ways. It so happens that the Vedic lineage of the Brahma-sampradaya is the clearest, most complete and undistorted expression of the original Absolute Truth available in the world today. This is because of the high spiritual standards, extensive Sanskrit encoding and advanced error-correction algorithms used in the transmission of this particular lineage.
Most people are very confused regarding spiritual truth because of multiple factors, including centuries of large-scale government disinformation campaigns and their own inability to duplicate and apply communications. My role as Master Teacher is to address and correct your confusions, and bring your understanding into alignment with the Esoteric Teaching. That is the purpose of this community.
Oneness with God is only a small part of the spiritual life. In any case, the 'oneness' under consideration is certainly only a qualified oneness: oneness in the sense of the individual jiva or spirit soul also being an individual conscious spiritual living entity, similar in quality with God. However, God is unlimited and the jiva is infinitesmal. So while there may be some oneness in quality, there is a vast difference in quantity and power.
Even one who attains Brahman realization in the classical sense certainly does not become one with God in all respects, or that the individual self ceases to exist and one becomes 'egoless'; though there are plenty of snake-oil salesmen who would have you believe that. If these people really became egoless, they would also become silent, and their bodies would quickly atrophy and die. So this so-called egolessness and oneness with God is just a fake, quackery. No one can be shown who actually attained this state. Those who claim it but do not display the symptoms are simply cheating gullible followers by claiming to be one with God.
The actual original sources of information about yoga, meditation and similar topics are the Vedas. No older or more complete sources exist. All other sources are later derivatives of these original Vedic sources.
The Vedas clearly state that there are three stages to spiritual realization: Brahman, Paramatma and Bhagavan. I have several times quoted the relevant Sanskrit verses. The Vedas also give detailed symptoms of each of these realizations, and the numerous stages of the path.
In Brahman realization we realize our similar quality with God; in Paramatma realization we realize His localized presence; and in Bhagavan realization one comes face-to-face with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and one also realizes one's eternal spiritual identity and form in an eternal service relationship with Him.
This is a great science, and Students of the Esoteric Teaching have the privilege of direct access to the source materials of that science. The system of the Esoteric Teaching is that one must be in a proper relationship with a Master Teacher to merit this privilege. This is so that the proper understanding and interpretation of the original source materials is preserved in the transmission. In this way the Esoteric Teaching remains true to the original source material without any change.
No one who has not studied the Esoteric Teaching in the proper way can get the same result. That is why the system exists, and why the Teaching is always passed down in this way. We have seen by experience that when the original materials of the Teaching are given out without proper supervision, the students are unable to duplicate it properly, and misunderstanding and chaos are the inevitable results.
The entire world is in a condition of chaos because of the careless misduplication of the original spiritual knowledge. So much so that we are on the verge of a terrible world-wide disaster. Everything has become confused, to the point where the leaders are rogues and thieves of the highest order, and honest men who know the truth can barely be heard over the noise and confusion. This is the inevitable result of failed spiritual teachings.
So whether you like our terminology or presentation or not, you have to admit that none of the great religious traditions that have spread like weeds and crabgrass in the kali-yuga have brought wisdom, peace or love among humankind. Instead, there is simply confusion, pollution, fighting and atrocities increasing all over the world. This is simply because they have given up the original method of passing down spiritual truth from the original source, and taken up their own ideas and methods instead.
Just see the result. Buddhism has not helped; Christianity has not helped; 'hinduism' has not helped; science and rationality have not helped; in fact, all these things have just created more confusion in the world. All because they have not accepted the simple spiritual social arrangement given in the Esoteric Teaching.
The Esoteric Teaching actually is the cure for all troubles and the final treatment for all suffering, because it addresses the root cause of all suffering: contact of the jiva soul with the external material energy of the Lord. It scientifically analyzes everything from the point of view of consciousness. In fact, the Esoteric Teaching is the only scientific knowledge of consciousness in the world.
But
to access this knowledge, one has to become an authorized Student in
an esoteric school in proper relationship with a Master Teacher. That
is the only way it can work. If we continue trying to do things on
the strength of our limited intelligence, the only result will be
more chaos, conflict and confusion. The Teaching says:
tad viddhi praṇipātena
paripraśnena sevayā
upadekṣyanti te jñānaṁ
jñāninas tattva-darśinaḥ
Just try to learn
the
truth by approaching a spiritual Master Teacher. Inquire from him
submissively and render service unto him. The self-realized soul can
impart knowledge unto you because he has seen the truth. ( Bhagavad-gītā
4.34)
This
is the Absolute Truth.
Are there deeper scriptural interpretations/meanings available in Esoteric Teaching or does this tradition rely only on literal interpretation? Could the fighters in Bhagavad-gita actually represent other concepts?
In our tradition we use the dictionary meaning of the words of the Vedas. The Vedas are already esoteric Absolute Truth; there is no need to introduce speculative interpretation. Absolute Truth is one; but if we accept speculative interpretation, then a given passage may be interpreted in many ways. If anyone may interpret the scripture in any way that they like in the name of metaphorical understanding, it is very dangerous. As soon as you accept that, it opens the door to chaos; certainty and conclusiveness are lost, and the clear Absolute Truth of the Vedas becomes covered by the imperfect products of human intelligence.
There are basically only two epistemological approaches to meaning or truth: the ascending path [āroha-panthā] and the descending path [avaroha-panthā]. The materialist wants to understand everything by the āroha-panthā—by metaphor, argument and reason—but transcendental matters cannot be understood in this way. The transcendentalists follow the avaroha-panthā, the process of descending knowledge. The word avaroha is related to the word avatāra, which means "He who descends." Therefore one must accept the paramparā system. And the best paramparā is the one that extends from Kṛṣṇa. Evaṁ paramparā-prāptam [Bhagavad-gītā 4.2]. Whatever Kṛṣṇa says, we should accept. This is called the avaroha-panthā.
Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī elaborately analyzes this issue in terms of the traditional discipline of Sanskrit poetics:
We should consider that words have three kinds of expressive capacities, called śabda-vṛttis. These are the different ways a word refers to its meaning, distinguished as mukhya-vṛtti, lakṣaṇā-vṛtti and gauṇa-vṛtti. The śabda-vṛtti termed mukhya is the primary, literal meaning of a word; this is also known as abhidhā, a word's "denotation," or dictionary meaning. Mukhya-vṛtti is further divided into two subcategories, namely rūḍhi and yoga. A primary meaning is called rūḍhi when it is based on conventional usage, and yoga when it is derived from another word's meaning by regular etymological rules. For example, the word go ("cow") is an example of rūḍhi, since its relation with its literal meaning is purely conventional. The denotation of the word pācaka ("chef"), on the other hand, is a yoga-vṛtti, through the word's derivation from the root pac ("to cook") by addition of the agent suffix -ka.So according to our predecessor ācārya Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī, and all other authorities in the line of the Esoteric Teaching, the dictionary meaning is preferred. In the examples you cite, the mukhya-vṛtti [dictionary meaning] is perfectly adequate and leads to a conclusive understanding of the meaning of the śloka. There is no advantage gained by assuming that Bhagavad-gītā is speaking about anything other than the fighters who were present. Any other interpretation simply obfuscates the clear meaning of the śloka, leading to confusion.
Beside its mukhya-vṛtti, or primary meaning, a word can also be used in a secondary, metaphorical sense. This usage is called lakṣaṇā. The rule is that a word should not be understood metaphorically if its mukhya-vṛtti makes sense in the given context; only after the mukhya-vṛtti fails to convey a word's meaning may lakṣaṇā-vṛtti be justifiably presumed. The function of lakṣaṇā is technically explained in the kāvya-śāstras as an extended reference, pointing to something in some way related to the object of the literal meaning. Thus, the phrase gaṅgāyāṁ ghoṣaḥ literally means "the cowherd village in the Ganges." But that idea is absurd, so here gaṅgāyām should rather be understood by its lakṣaṇā to mean "on the bank of the Ganges," the bank being something related to the river. Gauṇa-vṛtti is a special kind of lakṣaṇā, where the meaning is extended to some idea of similarity. For example, in the statement siṁho devadattaḥ ("Devadatta is a lion"), heroic Devadatta is metaphorically called a lion because of his lionlike qualities. In contrast, the example of the general kind of lakṣaṇā, namely gaṅgāyāṁ ghoṣaḥ, involves a relationship not of similarity but of location. [Purport to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.87.1]
Even later on in the Bhagavad-gītā, when Kṛṣṇa speaks of highly esoteric matters, the dictionary meaning is appropriate:
mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyatHere Kṛṣṇa Himself introduces a metaphor, and even so the mukhya-vṛtti [dictionary meaning] is perfectly fine. Rather than get caught up in speculative interpretation on the mental platform, one should pursue actual self-realization on the spiritual platform by chanting the Holy Name with love and offering sincere service to the guru and the Lord. Any other interpretation is a waste of time, leading nowhere.
kiñcid asti dhanañjaya
mayi sarvam idaṁ protaṁ
sūtre maṇi-gaṇā iva
"O conquerer of wealth [Arjuna], there is no Truth superior to Me. Everything rests upon Me, as pearls are strung on a thread." [Bhagavad-gītā 7.7]
Materialistic people who have no real spiritual advancement want to consider themselves more advanced than actual transcendentalists, so they imagine there is some hidden meaning in the scriptures that only they can understand. The fact is that the direct meaning of the scripture is too difficult for them to understand, so they want to speculate something indirect and metaphorical. But the scriptures themselves are already esoteric; their deep meanings are confidential, but they are an open secret. Anyone may read, but very few will actually understand. That is why it is called the Esoteric Teaching.
For example, in our previous darshan series we were speaking about the bhāvas or spiritual moods. All this information is given directly in the scriptures, but it is esoteric; unless you have experienced it, you cannot and will not understand.
MAHARISHI
Please also see our "Impersonalism (Mayavadi philosophy) FAQ"
What do you think about Maharshi's interpretation of the Vedas?
Unfortunately Maharshi follows the impersonal conclusion that God is just energy and not a person. Actually this philosophy is very difficult to understand because it is self-contradictory. For example in Bhagavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa says plainly that He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Maharshi and his line disagree with that conclusion, saying that Vyāsadeva and Kṛṣṇa are in error; but then they base their teachings on a convoluted interpretation of the Vedas, claiming that the actual meaning of the Vedic literature is different from the author's stated intentions. How is that possible? That's sort of like sitting on a branch of a tree and then sawing it off. And we see that every energy has a source or a reservoir, for example the sun is the source of light and the ocean is the reservoir of water. So even if God is energy, where is the source or reservoir of that energy? They cannot answer this question, and if you ask it they start arguing in circles.
What do you think of TMO?
Well there are going to be problems in any large organization, but in the case of TMO they originated at the top. There is nothing wrong with the basic TM practice, the mantras are Vedic although incomplete; they are only mula-mantras or seed mantras, and the object of the mantra is missing. They worship the spiritual potency of the Lord without worshiping the Lord Himself. This is like watering a seed but then when it sprouts, pulling up the plant thinking it is a weed.
The much more serious problem is in the manner of presentation and the character of the man himself. The complete Vedic Absolute Truth should be available to every living entity as a birthright. Everyone is a child of the Supreme, and is entitled to complete knowledge about their spiritual nature and eternal relationship with the Lord. No one should have to pay to get the original Vedic teachings. Unfortunately like so many groups, the TMO does not make available the Vedic source material it claims to be based on. Any serious student of philosophy and spiritual life should review the source materials of any teaching to make sure it is true to the original. Otherwise it may be merely the invention of fallible human intelligence. Such speculation is useless for real spiritual advancement.
And there are so many serious complaints about Maharshi's character. Let's just say that there are sufficient grounds to conclude that he is not a bona fide Vedic spiritual master, and therefore he cannot be compared to a genuine ācārya of impeccable character like our guru Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Is Ramana Maharshi bonafide?
Ramana Maharsi's teaching is impersonal voidism, similar to Hinayana Buddhism. This is not a Vedic teaching, it is simply fallible human speculation on the psychological level.
A student expands:
No, we do not accept Maharishi as a bona fide spiritual teacher because he is an impersonalist who denies the personality of God and does not teach the highest philosophy, which is the attainment of the perfect love relationship with God. That is also why he only commented on the first six chapters of the Bhagavad-Gita, carefully avoiding the rest of the Gita that deals with devotional service and other such personal aspects of God and spiritual life. So we reject such teachers that hold back spiritual knowledge and furthermore, indulge in the ridiculous practice of selling mantras to people who are foolish enough to buy them because they want some easy spiritual knick-knack in their life.
Please listen to these podcasts for a primer on the dangers and logical fallacies of the impersonalist philosophy:
No, instead we accept someone like Srila Prabhupada as a bona fide spiritual master. He has kindly translated and provided a beautiful and authoritative commentary on the Bhagavad-Gita As It Is. Not only that, he has translated many other priceless Vedic literatures and you can read them all for free here. Similarly, this is also an esoteric school that freely gives out the highest spiritual knowledge, holding nothing back. The price is the sincerity of the student. You may have some difficult un-learning to do, but of course it is possible and you can start by reading this and following our curriculum.
Was Ramana Maharshi empowered?
Well he was empowered in the same sense that Sankaracarya was empowered: to mislead the atheistic demons and make them fall down into a hellish condition by offending the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
tāṅhāra nāhika doṣa, īśvara-ājñā pāñā
gauṇārtha karila mukhya artha ācchādiyā
"Śaṅkarācārya is not at fault, for he has thus covered the real purpose of the Vedas under the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead." [Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila 7.110]
PURPORT
The Vedic literature is to be considered a source of real knowledge, but if one does not take it as it is, one will be misled. For example, the Bhagavad-gītā is an important book of Vedic literature that has been taught for many years, but because it was commented upon by unscrupulous rascals, people derived no benefit from it, and no one came to the conclusion of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Since the purpose of the Bhagavad-gītā is now being presented as it is, however, within four or five short years thousands of people all over the world have become Kṛṣṇa conscious. That is the difference between direct and indirect explanations of the Vedic literature. Therefore Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, mukhya-vṛttye sei artha parama mahattva: "To teach the Vedic literature according to its direct meaning, without false commentary, is glorious." [Adi-lila 7.108] Unfortunately, Śrī Śaṅkarācārya, by the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, compromised between atheism and theism in order to cheat the atheists and bring them to theism, and to do so he gave up the direct method of Vedic knowledge and tried to present a meaning which is indirect. It is with this purpose that he wrote his Śārīraka-bhāṣya commentary on the Vedānta-sūtra.
One should not, therefore, attribute very much importance to the Śārīraka-bhāṣya. In order to understand Vedānta philosophy, one must study Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which begins with the words oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya, janmādy asya yato 'nvayād itarataś cārtheṣv abhijñaḥ sva-rāṭ: "I offer my obeisances unto Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, son of Vasudeva, who is the Supreme All-pervading Personality of Godhead. I meditate upon Him, the transcendent reality, who is the primeval cause of all causes, from whom all manifested universes arise, in whom they dwell and by whom they are destroyed. I meditate upon that eternally effulgent Lord who is directly and indirectly conscious of all manifestations and yet is fully independent." (Bhāg. 1.1.1) Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the real commentary on the Vedānta-sūtra. Unfortunately, if one is attracted to Śrī Śaṅkarācārya's commentary, Śārīraka-bhāṣya, his spiritual life is doomed.
One may argue that since Śaṅkarācārya is an incarnation of Lord Śiva, how is it that he cheated people in this way? The answer is that he did so on the order of his master, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is confirmed in the Padma Purāṇa in the words of Lord Śiva himself:
māyāvādam asac chāstraṁ
pracchannaṁ bauddham ucyate
mayaiva kalpitaṁ devi
kalau brāhmaṇa-rūpiṇā
brahmaṇaś cāparaṁ rūpaṁ
nirguṇaṁ vakṣyate mayā
sarva-svaṁ jagato'py asya
mohanārthaṁ kalau yuge
vedānte tu mahā-śāstre
māyāvādam avaidikam
mayaiva vakṣyate devi
jagatāṁ nāśa-kāraṇāt
"The Māyāvāda philosophy," Lord Śiva informed his wife Pārvatī, "is impious [asac chāstra]. It is covered Buddhism. My dear Pārvatī, in the form of a brāhmaṇa in the Kali-yuga I teach this imagined Māyāvāda philosophy. In order to cheat the atheists, I describe the Supreme Personality of Godhead to be without form and without qualities. Similarly, in explaining Vedānta I describe the same Māyāvāda philosophy in order to mislead the entire population toward atheism by denying the personal form of the Lord." In the Śiva Purāṇa the Supreme Personality of Godhead told Lord Śiva:
dvāparādau yuge bhūtvā
kalayā mānuṣādiṣu
svāgamaiḥ kalpitais tvaṁ ca
janān mad-vimukhān kuru
"In the Kali-yuga, mislead the people in general by propounding imaginary meanings for the Vedas to bewilder them." These are the descriptions of the Purāṇas.
Maharsi did translate Bhagavad-gita; but he translated only the first six chapters. His explanation for not presenting the final 12 chapters was Westerners are not ready for this advanced knowledge yet.
What I find most interesting is that the same progression of spiritual thought that was revealed in India over a span of 3,000 years—from Buddhism to Sankarite impersonalism to Ramanujacarya to Madhvacarya to Caitanya Mahaprabhu and His disciples—has been revealed in the West in a little more than a century. Talk about accelerated change!
The value of Sankara's approach was that after Buddhism destroyed people's faith in the Vedas, Sankara reintroduced the Vedas as the basis of spiritual philosophy. It was an intermediate step between Buddhism and Vaisnavism. But Sankara's compromising position makes his reasoning specious and misleading.
If M could get the atheistic material scientists to take a serious look at the Vedas, then he performs a similar function to Sankara. That is valuable; but if one has a deep thirst for God, then one will be frustrated and disappointed by that system.
Yes, Maharishi's system encourages people to seek God in the laws of the universe, which is better than a completely mechanistic understanding. But one cannot realize God in this way, because we do not have the intelligence. In Bhagavad-gita, when Krsna recommends astanga-yoga, Arjuna rejects it because he is not qualified to perform it. Similarly, when Krsna displays His universal form (visvarupa), Arjuna becomes overwhelmed and begs to see His 4-armed and 2-armed form, which is do dear to the devotees.
Sankara was an incarnation of Siva deputed by Visnu to cheat the atheists. It is no coincidence that Maharishi's name is Mahesh, a name of Siva. I see him as a very similar figure to Sankara in the modern world.
Maharsi seems so pure and devotional though. He can't be that bad right?
"As for those who are impersonalists and who want to commit spiritual suicide by annihilating the individual existence of the living entity, Kṛṣṇa helps also by absorbing them into His effulgence. Such impersonalists do not agree to accept the eternal, blissful Personality of Godhead; consequently they cannot relish the bliss of transcendental personal service to the Lord, having extinguished their individuality." [Bhagavad-gita 4.11, Purport]
Impersonalism spoken in the guise of devotional service is the most dangerous philosophy, because it is the classic "wolf in sheep's clothing" gambit. We see from experience that those who are influenced by impersonalism cannot control their senses.
According to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.2.32):The impersonalists are phony transcendentalists, phony devotees, phony people, hypocrites of the lowest sort. We completely reject such rascals and kick them out of our association, because we do not want to be contaminated by having any connection with them whatsoever.
ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninas
tvayy asta-bhāvād aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ
āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ
patanty adho 'nādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ
[Someone may say that aside from devotees, who always seek shelter at the Lord's lotus feet, there are those who are not devotees but who have accepted different processes for attaining salvation. What happens to them? In answer to this question, Lord Brahmā and the other demigods said:] "O lotus-eyed Lord, although nondevotees who accept severe austerities and penances to achieve the highest position may think themselves liberated, their intelligence is impure. They fall down from their position of imagined superiority because they have no regard for Your lotus feet."
The intelligence of the Māyāvādīs is not purified; therefore even though they practice austerities for self-realization, they cannot remain within the impersonal brahmajyoti. Consequently, they fall down again into this material world.
The Māyāvādīs' conception of spiritual existence is almost identical to the negation of material existence. The Māyāvādīs believe that there is nothing positive in spiritual life. As a result, they cannot understand devotional service or the worship of the Supreme Person, sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha. The Māyāvādī philosophers consider Deity worship in devotional service to be pratibimba-vāda, or the worship of a form that is the reflection of a false material form. Thus the Lord's transcendental form, which is eternally blissful and full of knowledge, is unknown to Māyāvādī philosophers. Although the term "Bhagavān" is explicitly described in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, they cannot understand it. Brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate: "The Absolute Truth is called Brahman, Paramātmā and Bhagavān." (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.2.11) The Māyāvādīs try to understand Brahman only, or, at the most, Paramātmā. However, they are unable to understand Bhagavān. Therefore the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, says: māyayāpahṛta-jñānāḥ. "Those miscreants who are grossly foolish, lowest among mankind, whose knowledge is stolen by illusion, and who partake of the atheistic nature of demons, do not surrender unto Me." [Bhagavad-gītā 7.15] Because of the Māyāvādī philosophers' temperament, real knowledge is taken from them. Because they cannot receive the mercy of the Lord, they will always be bewildered by His transcendental form. Impersonal philosophy destroys the three phases of knowledge: jñāna, jñeya and jñātā. As soon as one speaks of knowledge, there must be a person who is the knower, the knowledge itself and the object of knowledge. Māyāvāda philosophy combines these three categories; therefore the Māyāvādīs cannot understand how the spiritual potencies of the Supreme Personality of Godhead act. Because of their poor fund of knowledge, they cannot understand the distinction in the spiritual world between knowledge, the knower and the object of knowledge. Because of this, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu considers the Māyāvādī philosophers more dangerous than the Buddhists. [Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya 6.169 Purport]
I still think some benefit can be derived from following Maharisi.
I guess you have very low standards for so-called spiritual teachers, so you will get a proportionately lesser result. Your personal opinions have no weight in the face of the Vedic instructions, which come directly from Kṛṣṇa and His perfect devotees. We accept only those who actually follow the principles of spiritual life given in the Esoteric Teaching of the Vedas, not phony rascals who change the meaning of the scriptures. Quoting from Padma Purāṇa, Śrī Sanātana Gosvāmī has strictly forbidden us to hear about the activities of the Lord and His devotees from the mouths of nondevotees:
avaiṣṇava-mukhodgīrṇaṁThe scriptures and great devotees are universal in their condemnation of materialism in the name of so-called spirituality:
pūtaṁ hari-kathāmṛtam
śravaṇaṁ naiva kartavyaṁ
sarpocchiṣṭaṁ yathā payaḥ
"One should not hear anything about Kṛṣṇa from a non-Vaiṣṇava. Milk touched by the lips of a serpent has poisonous effects; similarly, talks about Kṛṣṇa given by a non-Vaiṣṇava are also poisonous." [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 6.17.40 Purport]
śrī-prahrāda uvācaRascals like Maharshi may superficially worship the demigods or the Supreme Lord, but actually he thinks that Their transcendental forms are material and temporary. Therefore he cannot engage in actual devotional service, nor can he engage others in that service. Maharshi made so many enemies in his life on account of his degraded activities that he had to hide in a fortified compound in Europe, and for the last years of his life he never came face-to-face with anyone, including his closest students, communicating only by videoconference.
matir na kṛṣṇe parataḥ svato vā
mitho 'bhipadyeta gṛha-vratānām
adānta-gobhir viśatāṁ tamisraṁ
punaḥ punaś carvita-carvaṇānām
Prahlāda Mahārāja replied: "Because of their uncontrolled senses, persons too addicted to materialistic life make progress toward hellish conditions and repeatedly chew that which has already been chewed. Their inclinations toward Kṛṣṇa are never aroused, either by the instructions of others, by their own efforts, or by a combination of both."
PURPORT
In this verse the words matir na kṛṣṇe refer to devotional service rendered to Kṛṣṇa. So-called politicians, erudite scholars and philosophers who read Bhagavad-gītā try to twist some meaning from it to suit their material purposes, but their misunderstandings of Kṛṣṇa will not yield them any profit. Because such politicians, philosophers and scholars are interested in using Bhagavad-gītā as a vehicle for adjusting things materially, for them constant thought of Kṛṣṇa, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness, is impossible (matir na kṛṣṇe). As stated in Bhagavad-gītā 18.55, bhaktyā mām abhijānāti: only through devotional service can one understand Kṛṣṇa as He is. The so-called politicians and scholars think of Kṛṣṇa as fictitious. The politician says that his Kṛṣṇa is different from the Kṛṣṇa depicted in Bhagavad-gītā. Even though he accepts Kṛṣṇa and Rāma as the Supreme he thinks of Rāma and Kṛṣṇa as impersonal because he has no idea of service to Kṛṣṇa. Thus his only business is punaḥ punaś carvita-carvaṇānām [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.5.30]—chewing the chewed again and again. The aim of such politicians and academic scholars is to enjoy this material world with their bodily senses. Therefore it is clearly stated here that those who are gṛha-vrata, whose only aim is to live comfortably with the body in the material world, cannot understand Kṛṣṇa. The two expressions gṛha-vrata and carvita-carvaṇānām indicate that a materialistic person tries to enjoy sense gratification in different bodily forms, life after life, but is still unsatisfied. In the name of personalism, this ism or that ism, such persons always remain attached to the materialistic way of life. As stated in Bhagavad-gītā 2.44:
bhogaiśvarya-prasaktānāṁ
tayāpahṛta-cetasām
vyavasāyātmikā buddhiḥ
samādhau na vidhīyate
"In the minds of those who are too attached to sense enjoyment and material opulence, and who are bewildered by such things, the resolute determination for devotional service to the Supreme Lord does not take place."
Those who are attached to material enjoyment cannot be fixed in devotional service to the Lord. They cannot understand Bhagavān, Kṛṣṇa, or His instruction, Bhagavad-gītā. Adānta-gobhir viśatāṁ tamisram: [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.5.30] their path actually leads toward hellish life.
As confirmed by Ṛṣabhadeva, mahat-sevāṁ dvāram āhur vimukteḥ: [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 5.5.2] one must try to understand Kṛṣṇa by serving a devotee. The word mahat refers to a devotee.
mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha
daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritāḥ
bhajanty ananya-manaso
jñātvā bhūtādim avyayam
"O son of Pṛthā, those who are not deluded, the great souls, are under the protection of the divine nature. They are fully engaged in devotional service because they know Me as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, original and inexhaustible." [Bhagavad-gītā 9.13]
A mahātmā is one who is constantly engaged in devotional service, twenty-four hours a day. As explained in the following verses, unless one adheres to such a great personality, one cannot understand Kṛṣṇa. Hiraṇyakaśipu wanted to know where Prahlāda had gotten this Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Who had taught him? Prahlāda sarcastically replied, "My dear father, persons like you never understand Kṛṣṇa. One can understand Kṛṣṇa only by serving a mahat, a great soul. Those who try to adjust material conditions are said to be chewing the chewed. No one has been able to adjust material conditions, but life after life, generation after generation, people try and repeatedly fail. Unless one is properly trained by a mahat—a mahātmā, or unalloyed devotee of the Lord—there is no possibility of one's understanding Kṛṣṇa and His devotional service." [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.5.31 & Purport]
Toward the end of his life he became more and more crazy, and ordered all the Deities removed from his centers, sent all the pūjārīs back to India, and stopped all worship of everyone except himself. In other words, he was insane because of his lifelong criminal activities, offenses to God and the devotees. He thought that he had become God, but actually, because of his addiction to the material senses, he simply became dog.
YOGANANDA
Is Yogananda,
author of the perennial best-seller, Autobiography of a Yogi, a
realized being? Please help me understand him in terms of this teaching.
I took a look at his chart.
In my research on BPHS it turns
out that Yogananda was not qualified for complete liberation. Parasara
says:
The Atma-karaka of the Rasi chart, Sukra, becomes the Karakamsa of the Navamsa chart. Ketu is indeed in the 12th from the Karakamsa, but is in Makara, not Mesa or Dhanuh, and also receives Drsti from Sani and Mangal, both malefic. So according to Parasara, he does not get full enlightenment.
Now put his appearance and
activities in historical perspective.
Yogananda appeared in the West as part of a succession of Vedic
spiritual teachers in the 20th century. If we examine the spiritual
history of India in Kali-yuga, we see that a similar succession of
great teachers presented a gradual progression of spiritual
conceptions: Buddha, Sankara, Ramanujacarya then Sri Caitanya
Mahaprabhu.
We see that America was taken through the same
succession of concepts that were presented in India over 3000 years in
less than a century! This was not accidental, but a carefully conceived
and executed plan to spread these teachings worldwide. So perhaps
Yogananda was not presenting the highest platform of spiritual
knowledge, but what he was giving was in harmony with the time, the
capacity of his audience, and his own nature.
Regarding the practices of kriya-yoga,
Krsna
presents
essentially
the
same
path
of mystic yoga in Chapter 6 of Bhagavad-gita.
However
Arjuna
rejects
it as unsuitable to the life of a man of action such as
himself. Thereafter Krsna presents bhakti-yoga, which Arjuna does accept, laying the foundation for the yuga-dharma of Kali-yuga.
Is it OK to
read Bhagavad Gita by Paramahansa Yogananda?
Well, the whole point is to
receive knowledge from someone who is
perfect in self-realization. As we discussed in previous posts in this
thread, Yogananda had a specific astrological combination that
prevented him from attaining the full perfection of spiritual
realization. Srila Prabhupada explains:
Yogananda's defect was that he was attached to the mystic powers attained by yogic manipulation of the prana; therefore his teaching cannot surpass the material energy because such powers are actually material:
"As far as the mystic powers of the yogīs are concerned, they are also material entanglements on the path of spiritual realization. One German scholar who became a devotee of Godhead in India said that material science had already made laudable progress in duplicating the mystic powers of the yogīs. He therefore came to India not to learn the methods of the yogīs' mystic powers but to learn the path of transcendental loving service to the Supreme Lord, as mentioned in the great scripture Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Mystic powers can make a yogī materially powerful and thus give temporary relief from the miseries of birth, death, old age and disease, as other material sciences can also do, but such mystic powers can never be a permanent source of relief from these miseries. Therefore, according to the Bhāgavata school, this path of religiosity is also a method of cheating its followers. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is clearly defined that the most elevated and powerful mystic yogī is one who can constantly think of the Supreme Lord within his heart and engage in the loving service of the Lord." [Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila 1.91 Purport]
Devotional service mixed with mystic yoga (yoga-misra-bhakti) can at most give elevation to the higher planetary systems within this universe. It cannot give permanent relief from the suffering of material existence, or complete release from material existence itself. The Lord Himself confirms that only pure devotional service can do that:
prāyeṇa bhakti-yogena
sat-saṅgena vinoddhava
nopāyo vidyate samyak
prāyaṇaṁ hi satām aham
"My dear Uddhava, I am personally the ultimate shelter and way of life for saintly liberated persons, and thus if one does not engage in My loving devotional service, which is made possible by associating with My devotees, then for all practical purposes, one possesses no effective means for escaping from material existence." [Srimad-Bhagavatam 11.11.48]
PURPORT
Lord Kṛṣṇa has described to Uddhava the characteristics of jñāna-yoga and bhakti-yoga, both of which are considered to be spiritual processes. Now, however, Lord Kṛṣṇa clearly indicates that bhakti-yoga is the only real means to totally free oneself from material existence, and that bhakti-yoga is not possible without sat-saṅga, or association with other Vaiṣṇavas. On the path of bhakti-miśra jñāna, or speculation on the Absolute Truth mixed with devotion, one is still affected by the three modes of material nature. The pure soul, liberated from all material qualities, has no tendency or desire to engage in philosophical speculation, severe austerities or impersonal meditation. The pure soul simply loves Kṛṣṇa and wants to serve Him constantly. Jīvera ‘svarūpa’ haya—kṛṣṇera ‘nitya-dāsa.’ [Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya-lila 20.108] Pure devotional service to the Lord is called kevala-bhakti, whereas devotional service mixed with speculative propensities is called guṇa-bhūta-bhakti, or devotional service polluted by the material modes of nature. One who is actually intelligent does not make a show of philosophical wizardry but rather discerns the superiority of pure love of Godhead and takes to the path of kevala-bhakti.
So pure devotional service is the standard for one who wants to receive the highest benefits from spiritual life. Yogananda, both by constitution and by training, was involved in bhakti mixed with speculative philosophy and the pursuit of yogic powers. While this is certainly more advanced than the average person in the age of Kali, it falls short of the standard for a Master Teacher in our lineage. Why would you want to spend your valuable time reading his books if you have not yet mastered everything given by Srila Prabhupada?
I will not try to convince you otherwise but I think Yogananda was a pure devotee (the student then posted a biography).
If you want to argue that I am wrong about Yogananda then you have to present some Vedic evidence, otherwise it is just a weak, sentimental opinion. Human intelligence is fallible, and unless you an present evidence from some higher source, then no one is bound to accept your idea. My original opinion of Yogananada was similar to yours, but when I actually researched his qualification according to actual Vedic knowledge, then I had to change my mind.
"Madhvācārya, one of the greatest ācāryas in Brahmā's disciplic succession, has stated in his explanation to the Vedānta-sūtra that everything can be seen through the authorities of the scriptures. He quoted a verse from Skanda Purāṇa in which it is stated that the Ṛg Veda, Sāma Veda, Atharva Veda, Mahābhārata, Pañcarātra and the original Rāmāyaṇa are actually Vedic evidence. The Purāṇas, which are accepted by the Vaiṣṇavas, are also considered to be Vedic evidence. Indeed, whatever is contained in that literature should be taken without argument as the ultimate conclusion." [Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 24]
No man can serve two masters; nor can one walk two different spiritual paths successfully. If you try then you will just fail at both. The Yogananda school of kriya-yoga uses different techniques, and has a different result and spiritual destination, than the Bhagavata school of pure bhakti-yoga descended from Lord Krsna. You have to make up your mind because I will not permit you to study in our school without a firm commitment to our lineage.
You say "I will not try to convince you," but then you present some quotation (without a citation) as evidence; so your statements are self-contradictory and your evidence is very weak. I already have a very exalted guru, and have attained the highest realization precisely as described in the Vedas by following his teachings; so I do not need to confuse the issue by reading any other books.
A gentleman is always ready to admit his mistake when confronted by superior intelligence. Unless you can put forward convincing evidence from Vedic sources to support your opinion, then you should be willing to retract it.
This site is not a venue to make propaganda about non-Vedic paths, teachers or teachings. I requested you to present evidence from the Vedas, which you have not done, therefore my argument based on Vedic evidence still stands. If you are attached to your personal opinion that's alright, but this Forum is not the place for it.
I guess you are naively unaware of the history of the incursion of the Ramakrishna Mission in America, or how often political machinations are behind religious and spiritual organizations.
I see Yogananda's historical role as a necessary precursor to Srila Prabhupada's teaching in the West. Similar to TM, he presented a compromise with impersonalism while indirectly introducing the Vedas as an authoritative source of spiritual knowledge. Still, even most students of yoga and other Eastern spiritual disciplines were not ready to give up the impersonal view and accept Srila Prabhupada's undiluted Vedic teaching.
America has been taken in about a century through the same progression of spiritual teachings revealed in India over 3,000 years by a succession of teachers, culminating in Srila Prabhupada's introduction of the most sublime teachings of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. This remarkable accelerated spiritual evolution is a dizzying recapitulation of India's historic spiritual growth since the beginning of Kali-yuga. It could only be a deep plot by the Lord to reveal the highest truths to all people who sincerely desire spiritual elevation. While Yogananda certainly was part of that progression, he was not its highest peak. That distinction belongs to Srila Prabhupada alone.
THE PATH OF YOGA AND TANTRA
Please also see our KUNDALINI AND OTHER FORMS OF YOGA AND MEDITATION section of the Spiritual Practices FAQ
What is the problem with yoga teachings and Vedanta teachers?
The problem with the various yoga teachings is not that they are wrong or inauthentic, but that they are not the real dharma for this age.
kaler doṣa-nidhe rājannThis is confirmed in many places in the Vedas:
asti hy eko mahān guṇaḥ
kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya
mukta-saṅgaḥ paraṁ vrajet
"My dear King, although Kali-yuga is an ocean of faults, there is still one good quality about this age: Simply by chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, one can become free from material bondage and be promoted to the transcendental kingdom."
kṛte yad dhyāyato viṣṇuṁ
tretāyāṁ yajato makhaiḥ
dvāpare paricaryāyāṁ
kalau tad dhari-kīrtanāt
"Whatever result was obtained in Satya-yuga by meditating on Viṣṇu, in Tretā-yuga by performing sacrifices, and in Dvāpara-yuga by serving the Lord's lotus feet can be obtained in Kali-yuga simply by chanting the Holy Name of the Lord." [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 12.3.51-52]
dhyāyan kṛte yajan yajñaisSo it is not surprising that sincere souls get immediate transcendental benefits by chanting the Holy Name. It is, however, very import to avoid the offenses to the Holy Name. One who is offensive or hypocritical cannot get the benefit, though they may execute so many other Vedic principles perfectly from an external point of view. This is the secret of success.
tretāyāṁ dvāpare 'rcayan
yad āpnoti tad āpnoti
kalau saṅkīrtya keśavam
"Whatever is achieved in Satya-yuga by meditation, in Tretā by offering ritual sacrifices and in Dvāpara by temple worship is achieved in Kali-yuga by chanting the Holy Names of Lord Keśava congregationally." [Viṣṇu Purāṇa 6.2.17, Padma Purāṇa, Uttara-khaṇḍa 72.25 and Bṛhan-nāradīya Purāṇa 38.97]
ataḥ kalau tapo-yoga-
vidyā-yajñādikāḥ kriyāḥ
sāṅgā bhavanti na kṛtāḥ
kuśalair api dehibhiḥ
"Thus in the age of Kali the practices of austerity, yoga meditation, Deity worship, sacrifice and so on, along with their various subsidiary functions, are not properly carried out, even by the most expert embodied souls. [Brahma-vaivarta Purāṇa]
tathā caivottamaṁ loke
tapaḥ śrī-hari-kīrtanam
kalau yuge viśeṣeṇa
viṣṇu-prītyai samācaret
"In this way the most perfect penance to be executed in this world is the chanting of the name of Lord Śrī Hari. Especially in the age of Kali, one can satisfy the Supreme Lord Viṣṇu by performing kīrtana [chanting the Holy Name of the Lord].'' [Skanda Purāṇa, Cāturmāsya-māhātmya]
Most so-called Vedānta teachers, have never even read the Vedānta-sūtra, but rely on derivative works, especially Śaṅkarācārya's speculative commentary. This process of speculation has ruined everything, therefore our school is very careful to stay away from it. We only accept the conclusions of the Vedas in their complete and literal dictionary meaning, without taking anything out of centext; and that esoteric meaning is the actual Vedānta. The proof is that by practicing it sincerely, even for a short time, one can directly feel the results.
What do you think of yoga in the West?
Western teachings on yoga are broken in lots of ways. In my area of spiritual teaching, it seems that the commercial interests and media that sell yoga and meditation to the public have redefined terms like 'yoga', 'meditation' and 'tantra' to suit their commercial objectives.
For example, 'yoga' now just means a set of stretching and breathing exercises, instead of a comprehensive culture of spiritual life designed to provide the ultimate cure for all kinds of suffering. 'Tantra' is now just another sex technique to sell to frustrated males in a gross material culture, instead of compassionate instructions how to live a spiritual life in the material world. 'Meditation' is now just another stress-reduction technique instead of a way to realize one's essential spiritual nature and eternal relationship with God.
In the ancient Vedic tradition of the Esoteric Teaching, in
which I
have the good fortune to be an Initiate and Master Teacher, the first
principle I have people study are the three ways in which their
knowledge of
yoga and meditation are defective:
You have an insufficient quantity of knowledge.The knowledge
you do
have has been distorted.You have the wrong quality of knowledge.
If you doubt these assertions, our podcast, "The
Hard
Questions ", will convince you that the same distortions and
omissions that occur in the political news also occur in our Western
spiritual teachings.
You may be right in some of what you say above. However many students start out looking for physical benefits with yoga and with a good teacher some realize the body, mind, spirit benefits.
OK, I will sell you a car. You pay me the price of the car, and I will give you one wheel. Oh, you can't go anywhere? Well, for another price I will sell you one seat. Still have a problem? How about a gas pedal? Or a steering wheel? Hey, it's all part of a car...
Now do you see the problem with this approach? People are offering, "I will teach you yoga." Then they give one percent of yoga, and people wonder why they are not getting the promised result. This is called "bait and switch." I offer to sell you one thing, but deliver something inferior.
In yoga, like anything else, the whole is more than the sum of its parts. So if we offer to give someone yoga, and only give a small part, then we are deceiving them. People want the truth, not some game of deception.
We are giving the truth, but people have become so dull, they want something less. This is because they have been cheated so many times that they actually come to expect it. This is called material conditioning. So due to material conditioning, somehow this deceptive yoga game is going on. But we offer the complete original sources of information about yoga, meditation and consciousness, which is the secret of life. This is the Esoteric Teaching.
You
can get this information now by watching our online videos. If you
have any questions, you can join our online community.
Why don't ordinary yoga schools reveal the original, complete instructions on yoga in the Vedic literatures to their students?
Not only the church, but any organization is a means of controlling or restricting access to information in a structured way. This can be good or bad, depending on the intention and methodology behind such control.
Anyone who knows the Absolute Truth certainly cannot be controlled by any political means, because he has access to a source of truth completely beyond the material world. Nor will such a self-realized person consent to identifying himself as any material designation, be it a country, race, sex, religion or what have you.
As Jesus accurately said, "My Father's house has many mansions." In other words, the Kingdom of God is not the bland, homogenized fantasy of the organized religions; it is rich with variety and a multiplicity of unique environments. In fact, there is an unlimited variegatedness of spiritual abodes, forms, relationships and pastimes in the spiritual world.
Each living entity's relationship with God is unique, and cannot be limited by the finite ideas and uniform concepts of lame theological misinterpretation. God will not be contained by any church; rather, He allows us to establish so many churches just to give a hint of the unlimited spiritual variety in the Kingdom of God.
In the case of the Western yoga schools, they are basically trying to sell the sizzle without the steak, if you will excuse the metaphor. Yoga promises such tremendous benefits that everyone will be interested in it. Yet these benefits are hidden behind cultural and political barriers; as we discussed in recent posts, Western cultural, political and economic leaders have reasons to restrict access to the original yoga teachings, and even to engineer vast disinformation programs to obscure it.
The ordinary yoga school does not take on the difficult job of bridging the disinformation barriers, but even though they provide only a particle of the ocean of yoga wisdom, they pitch it as the whole enchilada. This classic bait-and-switch is, IMHO, morally reprehensible. It really amounts to consumer fraud, because they are not really providing yoga, only an exercise form based on some derivative subjects.
The real aim of the hatha-yoga exercises and stretches is to sit effortlessly, so that you can meditate very nicely. Incidentally, the exercises also improve your health; but that is not their real intention. Similarly, real meditation incidentally provides everything else that we need in life, materially and psychologically. Yet that is just a side-effect of the actual function of self-realization.
In the West today, we are culturally conditioned to care about the symptom rather than the cause, the appearance rather than the function, the immediate rather than the ultimate. This cultural obsession with the immediate has led to a neglect of the long-term result of, well, just about everything. We do not seem to care that by accepting instant results, we lose some very profound long-term benefits.
Of course it is easier to go down to the local church or yoga center and simply accept that we are getting religion or yoga. But the deeper we look into either subject, the more apparent it becomes that they are selling the sizzle for the steak.
We are not going to kid you: the path of the Esoteric Teaching is long, complex and arduous. But then, we are giving the real, original yoga path that leads to the real, original destination of religion: connecting the individual soul with God.
Is it possible to write these responses in the highest spirit of yoga- union, connection, love? This way, the message gets across from higher self to higher self, without involving ego more than necessary or causing defensiveness and hurt.
I am writing these messages in the highest spirit of truth. There is a tremendous fraud being perpetrated in the name of yoga. The world is in a precarious spiritual situation. If you were aware of the original materials on yoga, you would have the same opinion.
If a friend is walking along the street, blissfully unaware that he is about to be hit by a speeding car, it becomes my duty to warn him in a loud voice or even push him forcefully out of the way. It is no time to be 'nice' and talk about 'love and light', because it is an emergency.
Your perceived need to be 'nice' even when the times are calling for a strong, ethical re-examination of how yoga and other spiritual teachings have been misused, is innappropriate. There is a need for messages like this, just as there is a need in Washington for investigators like Fitzgerald who just put Lewis Libby under indictment, otherwise these rascals would lose all sense of ethics.
Well, it's the same in the spiritual field. There is a need for a strict Master Teacher to keep everyone in line with the original Vedic teachings on yoga, or they would continue to distort the teachings until they become unrecognizable. Actually we have reached that stage already.
I am appalled at the impotent mess that the yoga world has become. It has lost all legitimacy in the light of the original Teaching. I will not hide my head in the sand and make believe that everything is OK. There is so much cheating going on; someone has to expose it.
When humans change the Absolute Truth, its real meaning becomes lost. When humans change the original Vedic methods and instructions of yoga, no one can attain the intended result. In fact, almost no one these days even understands what the original intention of yoga is.
I cannot stand idly by and watch my most beloved Vedic teachings continue to be misrepresented. Sorry if you misinterpret this as being from ego. It is from duty only. If you really appreciated our work, then you would help instead of criticizing.
How can
you claim to be the only one with real truth? Other yoga teachings are
useful in my opinion.
I sometimes get comments from disgruntled and envious people like, "Any group that claims to be the only one with the real truth is based on ego," and "What gives you the right to use our group to promote your business?" First let's get some issues straight.
Everyone is distorting the truth. Disinformation has become a pandemic on this planet. If you think the information on the evening news is portraying the actual facts, you are extremely naive. Don't you know what 'spin' means? Even my own Godbrothers are busily changing the books of our Spiritual Master, the better to match their own misunderstandings, and give their students their own ideas on his authority.
The
yoga scene today is based on a similar, but much more ambitious
disinformation campaign created by the British colonial occupation
government of India to disempower the Vedic civilization. This is not
my speculation, but historical fact. Want an education? Google
"British created Hinduism" and read a few of the 339,000
results. See also our Hinduism FAQ.
The contemporary idea of 'yoga' based on the bodily/psychological materialistic conception of life, with a little faux quantum physics and trendy pseudo-tantric shamanism thrown in for edginess, is a far cry from the original grand edifice of scientific yoga portrayed in the Vedic literatures. Accepting the so-called 'yoga' available from commercial sources today as the real thing, is about like buying a steering wheel and thinking it is as good as a car.
Neither will take you where you want to go.
What do you think of Sahaja-yoga?
Sahajiya means 'natural,' and the scriptures of the Esoteric Teaching, and particularly the recent Master Teachers in our lineage, warn us that it is a deviant sect that should be avoided. In India, the sahajiyas even dress up as women and have homosexual relations in the name of 'yoga.' They are trying to imitate the spiritual pastimes of Kṛṣṇa and the gopis in Goloka Vrndāvan, but they have no realization at all. Their is simply an external practice on the bodily platform.
I looked at the Sahaja-yoga website and found something similar. No one can 'found' a branch of yoga. Yoga has existed for thousands of years. All the bona fide sources are at least 5,000 years old. Anyone who claims to invent something new is just speculating.
Anyone who advertises Kundalini and Shaktipat styles is simply cheating by promising instant enlightenment. Authentic self-realization is not cheap or easy; it requires lots of knowledge and years of work on oneself. Anyone who accepts the idea of shaktipat is a fool, and they will be cheated.
Kundalini is just sex energy, physical passion, channeled into the ida & pingala nerve channels on either side of the spine. It can produce a kind of euphoria, but this is just temporary, at best. What is the point? Real self-realization is not based on the body or chakras, but on the spirit soul.
According to the Esoteric Teaching, real self-realization produces profound changes in consciousness. Unless we can transcend gross and subtle bodily consciousness, and find our real identity as spirit soul, there is no question of self-realization. And such actual changes of consciousness are permanent, because spiritual energy is eternal. Any progress made on the actual path of self-realization is never lost.
So when we see so-called gurus and spiritual teachers having personality problems, getting depression and so forth, we can understand that this is a fraud. Actually anyone who simply observes their faces can see they are suffering from mental imbalance. There is no need to even read their teachings.
We (my predecessors and myself) are not kidding when we say that the Esoteric Teaching is the only lineage offering the original complete yoga teachings, at least in the English language. Everyone else is cheating; they have added some kind of spin. What is the need? The original teachings are complete and perfect.
But you have to make some effort to study them seriously, that's all. Most people these days want an instant fix, and so they set themselves up to be exploited by cheaters. Then they become so jaded that if by good fortune they do come in contact with the real thing, they accuse us of cheating too.
Anyway you should know that we simply wish everyone the best good fortune, and therefore offer them the highest quality teachings from the original Vedic sources. It worked for us and it will work for you also.
What do you think of Tantra?
The understanding of Tantra prevalent in the West is completely distorted from the original Sanskrit Tantras I studied in India. Western so-called 'tantrikas' take everything very cheaply, remove it from the original Vedic spiritual context, and misrepresent the Tantras as some kind of material sexual technique, vaguely related to hatha-yoga. Nothing could be further from the actual truth. Most of these nonsense people teaching 'tantra' have never read a word of the original Tantras, what to speak of studying in an actual Tantric school. They are completely unqualified rascals and cheaters. They just give the bait and switch.
"Bait and switch" means to sell you one thing, and deliver something else, generally something inferior. This is generally understood as a fraudulent act. To offer to teach someone 'yoga', and then deliver an exercise and stretching course, is tantamount to consumer fraud. Similarly, to offer to teach 'tantra', and then encourage illicit sexual activity, is completely fraudulent. It is a case of the blind leading the blind, and both fall into the ditch.
The whole thust of Western civilization has been the commoditization and commercialization of the sacred, to the detriment of the people. The leaders have become swindlers, deceiving the public. Materialistic culture is like a foolish child, pouring gasoline on a fire. We are about to see in the most graphic terms what is the result of such foolishness. When the oil begins to run out and the energy bubble pops, massive chaos will result as the entire illusion disintegrates. The truth will out. This will happen in our lifetimes, so get ready.
First of all, the Tantras are an enormous body of literature: thousands of volumes of Sanskrit codes, written by many different authors over a very long span of time. There are so many schools of Tantra. Are you referring to the Vedic Vaisnava Tantras, the Kashmiri Saivite Tantras, the South Indian Tantras, the Tibetan Buddhist Tantras, the Punjabi or Sikh Tantras, or even the Chinese tantric classics like The Yellow Emperor?
Tantra simply means 'practical instructions.' The theological conclusions of the Vedic literature such as Vedanta-sutra (also widely misunderstood in the West and even in India) guide our spiritual practices, but how to implement spiritual life in the material world so that we make the greatest advancement and actually realize these teachings? The role of the Tantras is to guide us in practical matters of spiritual life.
Generally the Tantras, like the Puranas and Upanisads, are divided into three categories: sattvika (the mode of goodness), rajasika (the mode of passion), and tamasika (the mode of ignorance). Krsna says:
sattvaṁ sukhe sañjayati
rajaḥ karmaṇi bhārata
jñānam āvṛtya tu tamaḥ
pramāde sañjayaty uta
"The mode of goodness conditions one to happiness, passion conditions him to the fruits of action, and ignorance to madness." [Bhagavad-gita 14.9]
Our school follows only the Vedic literatures in the mode of goodness and the transcendental mode. However, most so-called 'tantra' in the West is in the mode of ignorance because it advocates sexual irresponsibility and ignores the instructions of the most important Vedic literatures like Bhagavad-gita. If you have not read Bhagavad-gita As It Is or understood the exalted philosophy of the Srimad-Bhagavatam, the crest jewel of the Vedas, then you are certain to be misled by cheaters posing as instructors in so-called 'tantra.'
The standards of actual Tantric schools are very high. You must come at least to the platform of brahminical initiation (Vaisnava diksa or second birth) to even begin to study real Tantra. But if we realize real Tantra then we come face-to-face with God, and have no more material life or desire. It is so very high, so very powerful.
OTHER TEACHINGS
What do you think of BAPS? They consider Swami Narayan to be an incarnation of Kṛṣṇa.
I have done some research on BAPS (Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha) and it is very interesting. You are right, they consider Swami Narayan to be an incarnation of Kṛṣṇa. Some of the many sub-groups of Swami Narayan followers take him to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and believe that he is even higher than Kṛṣṇa, which is, of course, absurd.
There is no question that Kṛṣṇa can incarnate in this world as and when He sees fit; but generally there is some indication in the scriptures, such as the various predictions regarding Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. And also as far as I have been able to ascertain from their teachings, Swami Narayan did not manifest the qualities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead in his body, such as arms reaching to his knees, certain patterns in the lines on the palms and soles of his feet, etc.
On the other hand, many of their teachings are very authorized and bona fide, especially their condemnation of impersonalism and voidism, the importance of celibacy, japa of the Holy Name of the Lord etc. And they certainly have established a very strong organization, which is now reaching out worldwide. Their success is a striking contrast to the failures of ISKCON and Gaudiya Math. Of course, as soon as you scratch a little under the surface, there is evidence of schisms and other organizational politics, but on the whole, their organization is commendable.
Śrīla Prabhupāda's attitude toward BAPS was based on some encounters he had with their devotees, who insisted that Kṛṣṇa was an incarnation of Swami Narayan, or some nonsense like that. There is a Morning Walk conversation in Bombay 3/29/74 where he discusses the subject with his disciples and guests. His point is, "Why do they chant 'Swami Narayan' when the Vedas instruct us to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa?" And it is true, there is no instance of that mantra in the Vedas.
My sense of the stature of a teaching like Swami Narayan's and its popularity is that it is on a human scale and level; thus it is easier to accept and understand than a highly elevated and esoteric teaching like Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavism. As Śrīla Prabhupāda once said,
"When you are selling diamonds, you don't expect many customers. But if you are giving cut glass, the fools will come. When you are presenting the most valuable thing, you cannot expect many people to purchase it. For example, if you are selling diamonds, you cannot expect the whole population of England to purchase them. When there is a question of diamonds, the customer must be rich. Similarly, to be qualified to understand God is also rare. Only the fortunate and pious can understand God. Still, we are giving facilities for everyone to understand God. That is our mission."So while a popular religion like BAPS may be understandable to a wide audience, a high Esoteric Teaching like the Kṛṣṇa-bhakti of Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is always going to be less popular. This question is ever before us: do we keep the high original teaching, or water it down for the sake of popularity?
I think ISKCON and Gaudiya Math are both examples of a misguided attempt to reach a popular audience, and both failed on that account. In both instances, instead of waiting for a qualified successor to appear, they chose a political solution instead of a spiritual one, and everything was spoiled. They thought that they would lose popularity if they didn't choose a successor right away. This greed was the cause of their ruination. We have to be careful not go down the same road. Making the same mistake two generations in a row is not acceptable; making it three generations in a row would be suicidal.
So the lesson that we can learn from all this is that we have to keep our teaching true to the original high standards of Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, even if it means having fewer followers. And if no one is self-realized at the time of the guru's disappearance, we must have the patience to wait until Kṛṣṇa reveals the one who He has chosen. After all, it is His Esoteric Teaching. That is the real conclusion of guru-tattva.
What do you
think of Śivānanda? I am not convinced that he is against the
principles of bhakti.
We do not accept Śivānanda
because he tries to accept all sides of the
debate. He accepts Vaiṣṇavism, he accepts Śaṅkara, he accepts the
sectarian Śaivites, Ramakrishna, Kālī-pujā, 'hinduism', Sai Baba,
Christianty, Islam, etc. etc.
He is not a man of principle, but a politician who tells everyone what
they want to hear. His descriptions of bhakti, for example, are faithful
to the bhakti-śaṣtra; but then his descriptions of these other contradictory faiths are
faithful to their scriptures. Whether you are convinced or not is not
the issue, but our concern is how well we represent our lineage on the
matter. Everyone can't be right, so we follow the direction of the
Supreme Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
What do you think about Sai Baba? I was cheated by him.
Anytime Sai Baba or his followers are involved, there is bound to be deception. They especially prey on ignorant, gullible sentimentalists.
Our Esoteric Teaching has a much higher grade of epistemological process. Everything that we accept must be verifiable by at least three sources: guru, sādhu and śāstra. If not, then we don't accept.
"The most important process is hearing (śravaṇam) from the guru, sādhu and śāstra: the spiritual master, the saintly ācāryas and the Vedic literature. Sādhu-śāstra-guru-vākya, cittete kariyā aikya: we should not hear the commentaries and explanations of nondevotees, for this is strictly forbidden by Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī, who quotes from the Padma Purāṇa:
avaiṣṇava-mukhodgīrṇaṁ
pūtaṁ hari-kathāmṛtam
śravaṇaṁ naiva kartavyaṁ
sarpocchiṣṭaṁ yathā payaḥ
"One should not hear anything about Kṛṣṇa from a non-Vaiṣṇava. Milk touched by the lips of a serpent has poisonous effects; similarly, talks about Kṛṣṇa given by a non-Vaiṣṇava are also poisonous."
We should strictly follow this injunction and never try to hear from Māyāvādīs, impersonalists, voidists, politicians or so-called scholars. Strictly avoiding such inauspicious association, we should simply hear from pure devotees. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī therefore recommends, śrī-guru-padāśrayaḥ: one must seek shelter at the lotus feet of a pure devotee who can be one's guru. Caitanya Mahāprabhu advises that a guru is one who strictly follows the instructions of Bhagavad-gītā:
yare dekha, tare kaha, 'kṛṣṇa'-upadeśa
“Instruct everyone to follow the orders of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa as they are given in the Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. In this way become a spiritual master and try to liberate everyone in this land.” [Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya 7.128]
A juggler, a magician or one who speaks nonsense as an academic career is not a guru. Rather, a guru is one who presents Bhagavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa's instructions, as it is. Śravaṇa is very important; one must hear from the Vaiṣṇava sādhu, guru and śāstra." [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.2.37 Purport]
People like Sai Baba and his followers are avaiṣṇava. Sai Baba thinks that he is God! Anyone who believes this nonsense is simply insane. We should not hear from such insane people, for that will simply make us more and more confused. Instead we should read Śrīla Prabhupāda's books, because that will cure all our misunderstandings and confusion.
What do you think of EST?
The est training was tremendously popular. At one point someone estimated that almost 50% of the population of the San Francisco Bay area had taken the est training or some variation thereof. And yes, it was a money machine for the creators. My so-called friends at the time pressured me into taking it. What a waste of time and money.
But one thing that I 'got' from it was that if you set up a certain situation, with people playing certain roles, then others will automatically slip into their expected roles and play along, even if they have no idea what it is all about. This gave me a great insight into organizations like ISKCON, where if someone plays the role of guru and others play the roles of cohorts and followers, then even if they have zero qualification, people will accept the whole show as real.
In current political parlance, this is called 'truthiness': if a well-crafted lie is told, over and over again, with apparent conviction, people will start to believe it. This is a typical tactic of the demons to establish The Big Lie, and it works because people have no other source of knowledge. We are very fortunate to have Śrīla Prabhupāda and the Absolute Truth of the Vedas.
What do you think of Flower of Life?
The 'Flower of Life' is a study of so-called 'Sacred Geometry', which is a Western expression of the Vedic Shilpa Shastra or Vaastu Shastra. The same mathematical relationships are at the heart of the Vedic musical science. However, in these commercial workshops it is taken out of the original Vedic context, which changes the meaning from a science that reveals God, to an atheistic exercise in subtle materialism. This is similar to when Yoga is taught outside of the original Vedic context; it loses its spiritual value and becomes merely a materialistic exercise form, an idle curiosity for bored hipsters.
There is no meaning to Sacred Geometry except in the context of understanding how God has designed the universe, because the axioms and truths of geometry could not be created by merely human intelligence. But taking such a body of knowledge outside the Vedic context suppresses its relationship with Krsna, distorts its meaning and cripples its benefits by restricting its domain to the gross and subtle physical realm.
In this connection, please see my essay on the ontological significance of Content and Context. There is also a video on the subject here: Esoteric Teaching Introductory Seminar Part 1-C: "Content and Context".
If you ask these people where their knowledge of Sacred Geometry comes from, you will get some vague reply about 'ancient knowledge' or 'esoteric traditions.' Well, specifically what ancient knowledge, what esoteric tradition? Where is it written down, and who is the original source of this knowledge? They do not say, and will not reveal the sources of their teaching to the public. This is because they are not really connected with, and do not actually follow any ancient tradition, but are just speculating based on limited, defective human intelligence—but they don't want their customers to know that.
We give all our students access to the the original Vedic literature. That way you can see the original Sanskrit text, word-for-word synonyms, English translation and an extensive commentary by the greatest spiritual master in our lineage, Srila Prabhupada. The whole process of translation and interpretation is completely open, transparent and accountable. We also make public the disciplic succession of our gurus all the way back to Sri Krsna, the original spiritual master and the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the original source of these teachings.
"This Bhagavad-gītā As It Is is received through this disciplic succession:
1) Kṛṣṇa, 2) Brahmā, 3) Nārada; 4) Vyāsa, 5) Madhva, 6) Padmanābha, 7) Nṛhari, 8) Mādhava, 9) Akṣobhya, 10) Jayatīrtha, 11) Jñānasindhu, 12) Dayānidhi, 13) Vidyānidhi, 14) Rājendra, 15) Jayadharma, 16) Puruṣottama, 17) Brahmaṇyatīrtha, 18) Vyāsatīrtha, 19) Lakṣmīpati, 20) Mādhavendra Purī, 21) Īśvara Purī, (Nityānanda, Advaita), 22) Lord Caitanya, 23) Rūpa (Svarūpa, Sanātana), 24) Raghunātha, Jīva, 25) Kṛṣṇadāsa, 26) Narottama, 27) Viśvanātha, 28) (Baladeva) Jagannātha, 29) Bhaktivinode, 30) Gaurakiśora, 31) Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī, 32) His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda." [Bhagavad-gita As It Is, Introduction]
No other school makes this information public; because if they did, they would have to admit that they have changed the teachings over time. Usually this means they have taken knowledge that was originally spiritual and made it material. That is, they have taken the Absolute Truth out of relationship with God, turning it into ordinary material relative truth. In other words, they are cheaters.
What is your opinion on the Brahma Kumaris and the Kabbalists?
It is not a matter of my opinion, but of Krsna's opinion. Krsna is accepted in all the Vedic literature as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the origin of all beings and states of existence. Therefore His opinion in spiritual matters is considered final.
Both the Brahma Kumaris and the Kabbalists are impersonalists; they consider that God is ultimately impersonal. So Krsna says:
kleśo 'dhikataras teṣām
avyaktāsakta-cetasām
avyaktā hi gatir duḥkhaṁ
dehavadbhir avāpyate
"For those whose minds are attached to the unmanifested, impersonal feature of the Supreme, advancement is very troublesome. To make progress in that discipline is always difficult for those who are embodied." [Bhagavad-gita 12.5]
None of these groups can present an example of someone who is completely realized in the impersonal form of God. As I discuss in the podcast 'Oneness' Means Nothingness, a person who actually realized complete oneness with Brahman would be devoid of personality and action, practically comatose and unresponsive. What kind of spiritual life is that? On the other hand:
ye tu sarvāṇi karmāṇi
mayi sannyasya mat-parāḥ
ananyenaiva yogena
māṁ dhyāyanta upāsate
teṣām ahaṁ samuddhartā
mṛtyu-saṁsāra-sāgarāt
bhavāmi na cirāt pārtha
mayy āveśita-cetasām
"For one who worships Me, giving up all his activities unto Me and being devoted to Me without deviation, engaged in devotional service and always meditating upon Me, who has fixed his mind upon Me, O son of Pṛthā, for him I am the swift deliverer from the ocean of birth and death." [Bhagavad-gita 12.6-7]
Realization of Krsna is extremely ecstatic, and instead of stopping all activities, results in the perfection of activities because all our activities become acts of love. This state has to be experienced to fully appreciate its ever-expanding wonders.
"The stage of perfection is called trance, or samādhi, when one's mind is completely restrained from material mental activities by practice of yoga. This is characterized by one's ability to see the self by the pure mind and to relish and rejoice in the self. In that joyous state, one is situated in boundless transcendental happiness and enjoys himself through transcendental senses. Established thus, one never departs from the truth, and upon gaining this he thinks there is no greater gain. Being situated in such a position, one is never shaken, even in the midst of greatest difficulty. This indeed is actual freedom from all miseries arising from material contact." [Bhagavad-gita 6.20-23]
The only process that reliably leads to this goal is bhakti-yoga, specifically offenseless chanting of the Holy Name of the Lord. If you engage in this chanting process, you will very quickly experience for yourself that dry impersonalism cannot be compared with the bliss of love of God. Please also see our Impersonalism FAQ.
I came across David Wilcock's teachings. What are your thoughts on him?
While there may be a grain of truth in this man's writings, his process of obtaining knowledge—"channeling"—is unacceptable. The whole point of Vedic knowledge is that it is from a source higher than human.
"Vedic knowledge is not a question of research. Our research work is imperfect because we are researching things with imperfect senses. We have to accept perfect knowledge which comes down, as is stated in Bhagavad-gītā, by the paramparā (disciplic succession). We have to receive knowledge from the proper source in disciplic succession beginning with the supreme spiritual master, the Lord Himself, and handed down to a succession of spiritual masters. Arjuna, the student who took lessons from Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, accepts everything that He says without contradicting Him. One is not allowed to accept one portion of Bhagavad-gītā and not another. No. We must accept Bhagavad-gītā without interpretation, without deletion and without our own whimsical participation in the matter. The Gītā should be taken as the most perfect presentation of Vedic knowledge. Vedic knowledge is received from transcendental sources, and the first words were spoken by the Lord Himself. The words spoken by the Lord are called apauruṣeya, meaning that they are different from words spoken by a person of the mundane world who is infected with four defects. A mundaner (1) is sure to commit mistakes, (2) is invariably illusioned, (3) has the tendency to cheat others and (4) is limited by imperfect senses. With these four imperfections, one cannot deliver perfect information of all-pervading knowledge. Vedic knowledge is not imparted by such defective living entities. It was imparted unto the heart of Brahmā, the first created living being, and Brahmā in his turn disseminated this knowledge to his sons and disciples, as he originally received it from the Lord. The Lord is pūrṇam, all-perfect, and there is no possibility of His becoming subjected to the laws of material nature." [Bhagavad-gita, Introduction]
Really, the man's orientation is evident from the title of his website: "Divine Cosmos". In other words, the Universe is the supreme. This is contrary to the Vedic understanding that the cosmic creation is and emanation from the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore it is not supreme, in fact it is temporary and material.
Actually, if we analyze this website, we can find an unlimited number of philosophical faults. He may be good at compiling interesting scientific facts about the changes in the solar system, but his theology is ultimately impersonalism or atheism disguised by fine words. Krsna presents Bhagavad-gita and other Vedic scriptures just to give us the discrimination to avoid being taken in by such rascals.
Without a bona fide guru he will only go round the same old circles of birth and death in the material world, and also lead others astray. There are so many people like him, presenting their fallible opinions as fact, claiming to have a source of transcendental knowledge when in reality they are simply presenting their own limited thoughts.
He is fundamentally dishonest and insincere; a truthful person would admit that they don't know, and go in search of a real teacher. That's was my attitude beginning at age 3, so if a child can understand that then anyone can. No, it's not a matter of knowledge but of sincerity, and he is not sincere. Therefore he is a rascal and we do not want to associate with such rascal people
Reading the Bhagavad-gita or our essays on the Esoteric Teaching is one thing; being able to think the philosophy through for oneself is quite another. Just because something sounds nice and is expressed with fine diplomatic words doesn't mean it's worth a darn. The Devil is a fine orator, and can even quote scripture, but if you listen to him you will be deceived into selling your soul.
We have to get beyond just having opinions about spiritual life, and actually acquire the ability to think for ourselves. That way we acquire a solid philosophical core, a massive center of gravity so that conflicting teachings cannot deviate us from the Absolute Truth. That's why guru means 'heavy'; his mass of realized knowledge has such gravity that no one can push him away from the actual Absolute Truth.
Impersonalism is simply Godless atheism and voidism dressed up in fine-sounding religious language. It is the source of all the evil in the world; if everything is one and we are all god, then there is no standard of morality, no right and wrong, no good or bad. It is but a short step from that seductive self-deception to the endless chaos and violent exploitation of Kali-yuga.
A student answers:
"Though many of us have not reached consensus about who or what God actually is, we must also follow the logic and admit that all of our most fundamental conceptualizations of God must be considered in this model as well.
When we strip away the religious and denominational distinctions of various belief systems on the planet and try to weave a single thread through their teachings, we are left with the simple fact that the fundamental nature of God’s Energy is Love and Light.
Since its nature is loving, we are told that it seeks to have everyone else feel the same way; it is continually striving to have each conscious life form in the Universe reunite with that Love and Light as much as possible. Hence, Jesus taught us to “Love thy neighbor as thyself.” We are told that God is evolving, through the free-will decisions of its apparently separate participants. The whole universe changes as we choose to reunite in Oneness.
The key point
that can connect the concepts of God, Love and physics is the idea of
sympathetic vibrations,..." [emphasize mine]
[taken from 'Science
of
Oneness', David Wilcock]
I hope, I don't have to
explain, what the problems with this kind of 'science' is... (Answer:
Impersonalism. Please see the Impersonalism FAQ)
Are Mayan cosmology and similar teachings in line with devotional service to Krishna?
The ancient Mayan spiritual knowledge, like all ancient civilizations, was originally connected with the Vedic teachings. Unfortunately, most of the Mayan heritage was destroyed by the conquistadores. All we have now is just a few degenerate fragments of this once great civilization. We can see from these fragments that their knowledge was great; but the system and the original sources have been lost.
You cannot find any teaching in the world to compare with the Vedic tradition. The Vedic literature includes a checksum system similar to that used in computer systems to preserve the integrity of the ancient texts. And even among the sources of the Vedic tradition, you cannot find anything to compare with the ontological analysis and advanced theory of consciousness of the Esoteric Teaching. It gives insights and spiritual advancement unobtainable by any other means.
The specific qualification of this Esoteric Teaching is that it contains everything found in other teachings, and it also contains much more that is found only in the original Vedic lineage. In other traditions, this higher-level knowledge has either been lost, or its value compromised by being taken out of its original context. If you do a careful comparative study, you will certainly come to the same conclusion.
What do you think of existentialism?
Read this hilarious conversation between Prabhupada and an existentialist, absurdist "priest". Here's an excerpt:
Srila Prabhupada: The thing is, you are saying that life is absurd, and I am saying that life is not absurd. Who will settle this? Who will settle it—whether you are right or I am right’?
Priest: I don’t think it can ever be settled.
Srila Prabhupada: It will be settled at death. That’s all. A rascal may think foolishly that life is absurd—but death will not be absurd.What do you think of Saint Tiruvalluvar's Tirukal? Especially his words on good association in chapter 46: The Avoidance of Base Company?
Well these flowery quotations apparently sound very nice, but if we look deeper we can see that the philosophy is flawed and insufficient. What is the actual criterion of good association? Tiruvalluvar leaves it up to us to guess, and maybe we will guess wrong; but we know from the Esoteric Teaching of the Vedas that it is God consciousness.
satāṁ prasaṅgān mama vīrya-saṁvidoActually Tiruvalluvar's philosophy is not Vedic; it is heavily influenced by Jainism and Buddhism, therefore pure Vaiṣṇavas do not accept him. Vedānta-sūtra and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam completely smash the atheistic philosophy of Buddhism and the indeterminate logic of the Jainas. Therefore such materialistic philosophers are very much afraid of the Esoteric Teaching.
bhavanti hṛt-karṇa-rasāyanāḥ kathāḥ
taj-joṣaṇād āśv apavarga-vartmani
śraddhā ratir bhaktir anukramiṣyati
"In the association of pure devotees, discussion of the pastimes and activities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is very pleasing and satisfying to the ear and the heart. By cultivating such knowledge one gradually becomes advanced on the path of liberation, and thereafter he is freed, and his attraction becomes fixed. Then real devotion and devotional service begin." [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.25.25]
The Esoteric Teaching is above and beyond such faulty conclusions because it gives the complete Absolute Truth. It provides not only God's name, but even His address and phone number; anyone who sincerely desires to attain complete self-realization in this lifetime can easily adopt the pure Vedic path and get the result. But those who take to the uncertain methods of the Buddhists and the shaky logic of the Jainas only confuse themselves and also deviate others.
Therefore it is the association of such diplomatic people that we must avoid to attain complete success. When we read sophistry like this:
Wealth will be bestowed on good-minded men...We can understand that this is actually just thinly veiled materialism. Prahlāda Mahārāja says:
Goodness of mind leads to bliss in the next world...
dharmārtha-kāma iti yo 'bhihitas tri-vargaTherefore do not be deceived by such pious-sounding nonsense. It does not lead to self-realization, but only to fruitive material results. At best it leads to the heavenly planets; but Kṛṣṇa says:
īkṣā trayī naya-damau vividhā ca vārtā
manye tad etad akhilaṁ nigamasya satyaṁ
svātmārpaṇaṁ sva-suhṛdaḥ paramasya puṁsaḥ
"Religion, economic development and sense gratification—these are described in the Vedas as tri-varga, or three ways to salvation. Within these three categories are education and self-realization; ritualistic ceremonies performed according to Vedic injunction; logic; the science of law and order; and the various means of earning one's livelihood. These are the external subject matters of study in the Vedas, and therefore I consider them material. However, I consider surrender to the lotus feet of Lord Viṣṇu to be transcendental." [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.6.26]
antavat tu phalaṁ teṣāṁThe difference between the planets of the demigods and Kṛṣṇa's planet is that both the demigods and their planets, as well as all benedictions granted by them, are material and temporary. Only full self-realization and attainment of the spiritual world are eternal and spiritual, and anyone can reach this by the Esoteric Teaching of the Vedas.
tad bhavaty alpa-medhasām
devān deva-yajo yānti
mad-bhaktā yānti mām api
"Men of small intelligence worship the demigods, and their fruits are limited and temporary. Those who worship the demigods go to the planets of the demigods, but My devotees ultimately reach My supreme planet." [Bhagavad-gītā 7.23]
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