Author | Vadim Zaporozhtsev Anandaswami Tradition Yoga School |
Place of lecture delivering | Cultural Center “Enlightenment”. |
Date | April 26, 2008 |
Yoga school address | International Open Yoga University, Yoga School of Anadasvami tradition. Cultural Center “Enlightenment” Dolgorukovskaya str. # 29, Novoslobodskaya metro station, Moscow, Russia. Tel.: 8(495)251-2108, 8(495)251-3367. E-mail: HappYoga@mail.ru. Sites: www.openyoga.ru, www.yogacenter.ru, www.happyoga.narod.ru. |
Licence | Creative Commons. You may copy, duplicate and spread this lecture. It’s desirable to give a reference to our site www.openyoga.ru. |
Typed and edited by | Elena Zvereva |
Translated by | Anna Polyakova |
Overview | There is no code of right or wrong behaviour rules in yoga. Every person has his own code of rules which is called “dharma”. Yoga tells us that the breakup of every civilization begins when wrong needless souls are born in society. On the other hand as soon as necessary souls begin to be born in society such civilization rises from the obscurity, attains its development peak and prosperity. As Tantras assert a great amount of highly forward-minded Yogins and Yoginis souls wants to be born here and they are only waiting for suitable moment; they are our children. Everything should be in time and within reasonable limits. The whole point is that as much as possible joy from fulfilment of people wishes without the following sufferings would be. This is possible only in one case: when we see the Higher in all the transitory, illusive things. If intuitive feeling of the Higher is being born inside you (only inside you and not inside your neighborhood) with any name, any form, any religious legends’ code so this Higher is really there. If this felling of the Higher isn’t born it means that it really isn’t born because you didn’t get into contact with the Higher through exactly this form. You should stay alone (face to face with the Higher) from time to time to establish links with the Higher, to know how to hear it. As regards to drugs: it’s impossible to create such thoughtform which would exclude all the following thoughts by means of chemicals. Or in normal language it means that we can’t attain Samadhi by means of chemicals. Answering the questions on a lecture theme and other questions. |
Theme 1: Does Yoga give any code of living rules?
There is no any code of right or wrong behavior rules in yoga.
Well, at previous lecture we considered such a complex structure as human society. Things looking like simple and transparent prove to be absolutely complicated in reality. Sometimes we have an impression that some questions aren’t solvable. And sometimes we lost heart while analyzing what happens and how this should happen. But also we aren’t able not to answer these questions because we all live, we have this life and our life isn’t endlessly long. So we have to answer the questions: how to live? what to do? with whom to communicate and with whom not? I.e. we aren’t able not to answer these questions but it’s difficult for us to answer them. In respect of this I remind you once again yoga conception – yoga doesn’t teach us how to live. Yoga isn’t such a didactic wise guru who would tell: “Do this and don’t do that”. Yoga isn’t engage in it. Yoga admits that our Higher I exists in everyone and this Higher I is inherently free. So how can we give any instructions to this Higher I which is inherently free? But it may also be shown how it happens on the one hand and on the other hand, which mistakes were done in previous years and which mistakes are being done now. And every person should draw any individual conclusions proceeding from his previous experience and then act according to these conclusions.
That’s why if you believe that there is such code of rules in yoga “do this and don’t do that” you have to realize there is no such code. There are only two things to which yoga calls – don’t injure other live beings (it’s true even if analyze this statement from logic point of view: we are all continuous in general and doing harm to somebody seeming to be external for us we only do delayed harm to ourselves) and don’t waste your life on trifles. It’s some kind of consciousness, some kind of deliberateness. There is such a rule according to one of aphorisms of our yoga Anandasvami tradition: if there will be vacancy and inertia “the pain follows Tamas”. We are able not to answer such questions, we are able not to set ourselves Hamlet-like questions: “To be or not to be?”, i.e. to live how life is. But before we can bat an eye we begin to grow stupid, to be satisfied with wrong things, i.e. we begin to fall into such a condition of sluggish foolishness. And our Universe laws are so that the pain always follows foolishness and this pain makes us get a move on. So this second principle – non-wasting time in vain – it’s such an appeal: “Friends, let us bar from coming of pain and feeling ourselves unwell”. And then we start to appreciate greatly time and opportunity.
In all other matters Yogins and Yoginis way of living differed from epoch to epoch, in different times and more over it considerably differed from the lifestyle of common people in the same time. Sometimes this phantasmagoria confuses people: “What then shall I do? I don’t just understand by myself what should I do and they say me there is no such rule”. There is another side of this question. There are no strict rules of behavior for the humanity in a whole because we are all different. But we may examine each person separately taking into consideration his life conditions, his problems, his intentions, his joys and anxieties, his fears and hopes. So for each man personally in every moment of time a code of rules appears. These rules are good for us to live, work, study, and have a good time, practice yoga according to them. Such a code of rules exists personally for us but it can’t be applied even to our neighborhood. We should draw this code of rules by ourselves though in part if we feel that these rules guide us to the freedom, to the something higher and inspiring. On the other hand our experience should give us a hint that if we follow these rules everything is going well with us. This code of rules is called “dharma” or in other words “road of our life”. Everyone has this road in his life and it is called “dharma”. In this sense dharma is own for every person, life road is own for everyone and naturally everyone has his own code of rules.
Souls are different; they live in a different way so they have different codes of rules.
Let’s return to the way of living. What else did ancient yogins gave us as to this tangled matter? We just touched this point that the development stage of every I is quite different despite we all look like humans. Here I speak about self- consciousness degree, responsibility degree, integrity degree – even such category may be applied here. As a rule when person follows the road of spiritual development for a long time and invariably enough he becomes more responsible for his doings; he is not inclined to do some bad things, he is inclined to observe his code of honour as a samurai without taking a step back from it.
At the same time there are souls recently being in human bodies. They are clever enough to learn to deceive but still enough foul to understand hopelessness of deception. I.e. they are enough clever to construct some combinations of many moves to deceive their neighbour, to attain happiness for themselves only. But they are still stupid enough to understand the fact that personal happiness for one man is impossible in our universe if this person doesn’t aspire for this happiness to allow everyone to drink from this source of joy. It’s impossible to create happiness for us separately if we create it on the scorn or ignoring of other live beings. Only with taking into consideration other people’s needs in happiness and joy we can make our own happiness. Speaking yoga language it means to attain the highest stage in yoga which is called “Samadhi” and then to leave our Universe and to go to such limitless expanses that we can’t even dream of now.
Theme 2: What is the main thing in development of every civilization? And where does Yoga come in here?
Analyse of every civilization development
Key point is what kinds of souls are born in children bodies.
So the souls are different, they live in different ways and codes of rules for them are also different. Let’s consider the most classical example of every civilization development including the one preserved yoga knowledge for us. Analyzing ancient India you will see the “waves”: one conqueror after another, one prevailing philosophical system after another. Sometimes these “waves” lasted over a period of several centuries, sometimes they finished very quickly in several decades or any other period of time.
And we see approximately the same situation: there is any rise of thought, then it develops up to its peak and degradation and decline always go after it. It may seem to be some law. Sometimes I hear such viewpoints that humanity is always the same, that humanity doesn’t change, that humanity is unable to become altered itself or to reach higher level. We gain this impression but it’s very illusive. We consider how a civilization grew, attained its peak and fell down then but we never consider which souls were born in this civilization in each period of time. Well, yoga tells us the following thing: breakup of every civilization begins as soon as needless souls begin to be born in this society. On the other hand as soon as right souls begin to be born in society civilization rises from the obscurity, reaches its peak and prosperity.
That’s why such things as economics, politics, certain religious and philosophic views or their absence, certain technological or science achievements aren’t yoga key points. They are the secondary things. The main thing is souls that will enter the bodies of future children. Worthy and highly developed souls will quickly turn a civilization from any development level into powerful empire, into powerful place where everyone feels good and there are all conditions for spiritual practices. If by any reason underdeveloped souls are born so these irresponsible undeveloped people will penetrate to the key posts in a society and they will destroy civilization. It is typical not only of India and Eastern countries. Considering history of Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome you’ll see such a regular occurrence: at first there were people created these supercivilizations, everything went good, then these civilizations attained their peaks and then some obscure, unobvious moment happened and everything fell to the ground. They usually say that “they got stuck in luxury, stopped doing something and barbarians captured them”. But it seems only ex facte that the prosperity spoils people. Prosperity doesn’t spoil developed souls. But temptation with wealth is very terrible for the immature souls, for those souls which still are conscious of themselves not enough. Good living conditions bring them to degradation and conformably to all country degradation. Such an interesting appropriateness comes out: powerful souls create empires, create civilizations in Rajas or Sattva condition.
We may severely criticize ancient Romans because they had slaveholding system. But analysing all possible variants for those times we’ll be surprised because they have created a supersystem for that moment where everyone showed his best qualities and the worse qualities were balanced. And rise of art, rise of science also occurred there. And scientists debate thus far why technical civilization haven’t arisen at those times as there were all the prerequisites for it. I.e. for us it seems they went their horse-drawn vehicles but contemporary archeological finds tell us: “No, they could do this technological step but they didn’t do it by any reason”. So souls with less spiritual potential begin to be born in the sequel and getting into a life fully procured by others they fall down, become degraded.
Wishing to build supercivilization create such conditions to make highly developed souls want to be born here.
So yoga tells the next thing: “If you want to build civilization, such place where your living would be comfortable, where you would be able to calmly practice yoga, where you wouldn’t have any material dependant on everyday work from morning till night or any ecological problem (i.e. go in the street and try to practice yoga breathing with car exhaust fumes) so you have to try your best to attain the following conditions: we should make all the necessary conditions for the highest, highly developed souls begin to be born among us. If such souls, teachers begin to be born among us everything will be fine”. Don’t pay attention to the appearance of a little child: this little child is only a shell, only a form and then he will grow into a great man, into a great wise man. So if he is born everything is ok. If a soul undeveloped in spiritual aspect is born it will lead to a collapse. Contemporary scientists struggle with the problem of child sex forecasting. It means to change sex of a soul which should enter child’s body. To my mind such great foolishness is out of this world. A soul wanted to be born as a girl but parents have taken advantage of the opportunity and a boy came out. Just imagine what disbalances this can lead to. We are given to do at least something here but we can’t determine whose soul will enter a body, this is not in our hands. It’s a great secret and we can do absolutely nothing with it. More precisely put this is one of the closest, the most mysterious parts in Tantra Yoga. This is the most sacramentaly guarded part of Tantra Yoga. It is said here what we should do to encourage necessary souls of teachers to be born in this or in that country. All Tibet existed only by this reason. Because you know Tibet is a country where feudal system still remains. Though there are the Chinese there now but it was so until they have come. So Tibet was such a souls enlightenment factory where everything was gear up for making the worthy souls to be born there. These worthy souls involved as many as possible of other souls not enough developed in their self-consciousness. More over they helped absolutely all the souls even through it was any peasant stayed in human body for a short while. They made all the necessary circumstances for him to live his life with the maximal benefit and to develop himself, to make rapid progress from the much undeveloped stage to the highest one. For Tibet everything exclusively came to the point: whether necessary lamas would be born here or not.
Possibility for developed souls to be born in Russia
Strange as it may seem this problem is burning issue, it is foundation stone for our country Russia. In any sense Russia is now an analog of Tibet in ancient times before this first mysterious knowledge penetrated there (Padmasambhava times or later times). I.e. it’s such a place where people have dramatically cast off their chains (mental chains in the first place) after very long absolutely terrible years of living. We forgot somehow very quickly all the amenities that were 20-30 years ago: it looks very naturally but there was little one could afford. And suddenly in one fine moment our country has become the most attractive place in search of spiritual; more attractive then all the rest of our planet. Why? On the one hand that’s because everything old, unnecessary that was accumulated has swept away now days, only open country has remained. So if necessary spikelets don’t grow up on this field now it will be overgrown with weeds because such situation of possibility can’t last for a long time. This is a very short moment. And if a country doesn’t realize its destination and don’t make these necessary conditions this moment will be missed and undeveloped souls will be born here.
Thus the most serious task consists in the following: necessary souls should be born here and souls of future criminals, rapists, killers and so on shouldn’t be born here as far as possible. Because you know all these representatives of criminal world don’t fall out to you of the skies. They are born as the common people but they have an innate inclination to kill, rob and rape. Why? Because they did this in all their previous lives; these souls want to live this way and we can do nothing here – it’s their free will. If a soul wishes to live in this way it has a right to live so. It’s another matter that we also have a right to do so that these individuals would be as little as possible among us. For example a criminal is born, he will make uproar, he will have a spree, he will slaughter millions of people, he will do many bad things and he will be then crushed some time or other all the same. But the point is that our society isn’t still quite ready to trace them quickly. As soon as such tendency appears still in person’s childhood our society should create such upbringing conditions that won’t enable his negative karma seeds to reveal themselves. But now we don’t have this. Nobody takes care about the children, the orphanages are crowded, and there is a whole army of homeless children. As you understand it this is a soil for a birth of those people who like such a laissez-fair.
On the other hand forward-minded souls won’t be born here without possibility of spiritual realization. This is so for a very simple reason: they have nothing to do here; being born here will be a hell for them. He was born here; he is the highest the most subtle soul and he can’t understand what is going on here, only goblins and man-eaters are around him.
Figure 1. Putting to the straight and narrow
(- And remember: each of you has to bring me a child until
the clock strikes midnight. You dare! God forbid if these
children are found not the yoga teachers!
– Oh, teacher, your desire is our command.)
What I give you this long analyze of downfall and flourishing of the countries for? This analyze is for the next thing: as Tantras assert a great amount of souls of highly forward-minded Yogins and Yoginis wants to be born here and they are waiting to seize the moment. These are our children. But they can’t be born here because we, their parents, are doing he devil knows what instead of preparing necessary conditions for them. Until we won’t prepare necessary conditions it will be very difficult for them to be born here or just being born it will be very difficult to live here. But whether we will prepare these conditions or not it depends only on us.
And now another very interesting statement reaching us from ancient times comes to the foreground: “There is no the biggest happiness than to be born in Yogin and Yogini’s family”. Pay your attention: to be born not in financially safe family, not as a single heir to the throne, not with the superabilities (seeing through the walls and so on); and all the other amenities aren’t considered adequate of children birth. Being born in Yogin and Yogini’s family is considering as the biggest good luck. Strange as it may seem whether highly developed souls will come here or not it depends mostly on the way of life that we lead. If we begin to lead a right life aimed at the Higher, if we communicate with like-minded persons, if we look not for a husband or a wife for ourselves but in the first place for a father or mother for our children among people with the similar views who proceed along the same path as we do it’s clear that we do everything most favorable for the birth of future higher children here. And if they begin to be born here – that’s all, we may know rest.
Figure 2. Partisan detachment has made a cutting in a forest
for the developed souls (Special delivery:
developed souls – the yoga teachers)
I always draw the next analogy with wartime. Any partisan detachment stays in forests and enemy presses it. And so this detachment wanders in forests without arm and food. But what is required from this detachment? Just fell a cutting in a forest and make a takeoff and landing strip to let a plane to come and to bring provisions, arm. And then it will be possible to be at war. More over it will be possible to reverse the situation and create a regular army out of this partisan detachment. Well, our planet Earth and our country all the more are now in approximately the same conditions. The situation here is obscure. It’s like a scale – it may be inclined to any side. It’s such a “Hello” to all the people thinking that everything has just happened – nothing has happened yet! Everything depends on us, everything is in our hands. And so if we build this takeoff and landing strip these souls will come to us, but if we don’t build it – that won’t do!
Theme 3: Purpose of life of Yogins and Yoginis handed us down the highest yoga knowledge
The necessity to reject the illusive things and the necessity to aspire for the Higher
Let us consider the philosophical underlying reason of Yogins and Yoginis way of life. Yogin or Yogini stop to clutch at transitory because the pain comes if you clutched at any transitory thing and don’t let it go when you should do it. These Yogins and Yoginis lived in this way: they aspired for the Higher all the time, for the other-worldly things but as well they used everything that came to them and then left them. But as soon as you said “I, my”, as soon as you clutched at something with death grip wait that the Universe will snatch this thing from your hands both with your hands what it wouldn’t concern of. I.e. on the one hand it happens that Buddha Gautama was right and those philosophers showed us a life in its most negative aspects were also right. It’s the perfect truth that everything is transient and goes to ruin, that the world is full of sufferings. But on the other hand yoga shows us that if you aspire for the Higher you may use everything and live as you like and the things that brought you sufferings will take you upwards. Here is one more analogy but just up-to-date. Imagine yourself a spaceship following somewhere very far, to the ends of the Universe and overflying different stars. When it overflies any very powerful star the gravitational force quickens its speed but as it has overflyed it this star doesn’t let it to fly further and pulls it back. The same thing happens with all our wishes whatever they would concern (I mean not only yoga practices; it may be a wish to succeed in business, to grow rich, to attain power or any social status; it may be whatever you like). When we get in field of our wishes activity they considerably speed up our internal evolution; we grow wiser, making considerable more bodily movements we grow up in any sense. But as we fulfiled our wish, took pleasure in it we have to let it go and fly to the next wish, to the next star. But we don’t let it go and the Universe tells us: “No-no, go ahead, go upwards”. But we don’t do this and this situation begins to tear us apart. Just this thing is described in all these pessimistic doctrines, in all these pessimistic philosophies – as soon as you clutched at something they called “illusive” wait for the sufferings. But there is the reverse side here: having no wishes you will never develop yourself at all. I.e. a wish leads us to the future suffering on the one hand but if we have no wishes at all we will stay at bestial animal level. For example a cow doesn’t have a wish to become a billionaire or a Nobel Prize winner; it doesn’t simply have it.
That’s why a wish from the yoga lifestyle viewpoint is neutral, it’s featureless, it is not good or bad. More over your wish is a power that will carry you faster upwards or that will on the contrary hurl you down backwards. And everything here depends on a small thing – for what we are aspiring. So the main point for Yogins and Yoginis in ancient times was to aspire for this Higher and not to aspire for illusive things. I remind you once again: we should aspire not for a husband, or a wife, or children, or wealth – all these things are very good, noble and useful sometimes. But once again as you clutch at something a suffering will come then. Everything should come and leave you harmoniously: it has come to you, you have delighted in it and it has gone further. As regards the children question: when a child is small he brings you joy, we play with him and enjoy ourselves; but he grow up then, he is bored with us, he has his own life and we let him go at ease. Everything has to be in time, within reasonable limits and the whole point is that we should have joy from our wishes fulfilment as much as possible without the following sufferings. And this is possible only in one case: if we see the Higher in all transitory, illusive things.
What is the Higher which is beyond words and thoughts? How to aspire for it?
Intuitive feeling
Here the most interesting thing from this theory point of view begins. It calls us to aspire for the Higher but what is this aim like? How can we understand it? Here I live, a common man. Yes, I like this conception; yes, I understand that as soon as I clutch at something I will feel bad. Yes, I agree I have to reject it somehow or take a different view of it. But another question appears here: “And what to aspire for?” this a very difficult question because the Higher doesn’t have any language expression. The Higher is the Higher for to be beyond words and thoughts. And the most interesting is that if we were even professors of Sanskrit and learned yogins we don’t understand the Higher all the same. The Higher is the Higher for to be above, to be beyond. And here one effect appears – it’s the effect of religions. Yoga dissociates itself a lot from this effect but describes it rather well and holds it in high respect.
Different names and images were given in different times to describe this Higher, different stories, jokes, facetious sayings and mythology were used. But strictly speaking it’s only an attempt to express the Higher but it can’t be put into the words. Numerous religions appeared in this way and all these religions call us to appeal to the Higher. Sometimes this Higher is realized as some concrete things such as concrete words, dogmas, guidelines and so on. It happens so that it was a good for person to follow this for want of something better and if didn’t follow it everything became bad for him. Firstly, abstraction degree of these religions was different for different people. Secondly, things were different in different times. Thirdly, you should remember there are people not versed in spiritual respect and we should talk concretely, clearly and understandably with them, they won’t simply understand any abstraction. But a man sophisticated in spiritual soul-searching hearing something like Greek mythology about the creation of the Earth and following events usually tells: “Yes, it must be an analogy with something more higher but don’t wait I will understand it word for word” or differently speaking: “If it is written somewhere that God has created the Earth and people in seven days don’t wait I will believe in it. I think it’s any allegorical story given for people who had undeveloped abstract thinking”. But any professor will say: “What seven days you are speaking about? The time was created later than our world”. So several nuances appear here.
That’s why on the one hand everything is very simple – aspire for the Higher. And on the other hand it’s very difficult to describe this Higher. And what does remain there to do for us? The only one thing remains – it’s an INTUITIVE FEELING OF THE HIGHER. There is no doubt that there were different names, callings and notions. But all these notions weren’t worth a brass farthing if the Higher hadn’t been intuitively felt over them. That’s why when they said “Shiva” in any Tantras treatises they meant that it was the Higher showed in any concrete form because it’s difficult to think abstractly. On the other hand any orthodox Hinduism current where its followers singing “Om Namah Shivaja” all the day long is looking like any sect with its another minor deity to which they bow to the ground. I.e. it comes out that if an intuitive feeling of the Higher was born inside you through any form, any code of legends etc. so it means that this Higher is exactly there personally for you and not for your neighborhood. And if this feeling wasn’t born inside you it means that you didn’t set up a channel with the Higher through this concrete form. Thereby it comes out that on the one hand the Higher is beyond expression and we can’t say anything about it and on the other hand we can intuitively feel the Higher as a dog scent traces of its master as if intuitively by its mind, feelings and whatever else. Well, we push forward there; we have a longing for it. So if we feel like this it serves as the only criterion for us to realize that we got on the trail of the Higher as a dog coming upon the tracks. And without feeling this all these images, yantras, mantras, Tantras and other chaff stay only form, packing, shallow things because I don’t feel the Higher over them.
Ancient Yogins and Yoginis felt perfectly well in every religion or philosophical current if the Higher showed for them through these currents.
Thus it comes out that ancient Yogins and Yoginis didn’t see a lot to give any code of laws: “Here is the Higher and here is not. If these and that things were presence so it’s the Higher. And if these and that things weren’t presence so it’s not the Higher at all”. Nobody of them took care about it but they accepted everything. They supposed that for any philosopher the Higher could show in the one way, for any religion it could show in the other way and so on. As for them they were members of all the religions, they were members of all the philosophies but with the one reservation – if they felt the Higher. If they felt the Higher in any variety of Hinduism so the Higher was there. If they felt the Higher in any variety of Buddhism so the Higher was there. But if they didn’t feel it so the Higher wasn’t there.
So such confusion appears sometimes here: on the one hand these Yogins and Yoginis kept aloof from all the numerous religions figures, philosophical systems, and numerous sects and groups studied something and on the other hand each of them felt himself absolutely perfect in every religion, in every philosophical system more over he felt in his element as it has been his own religion or philosophical system. This engendered a large layer or group of people calling Kaula-doctrine in certain varieties of Tantra. One of the possible translation variants of the word “kaula” is “the family”. The Higher is our parents, we are all their children. Someone likes to see the Higher like this, another – like that but strictly speaking by the highest standards we don’t have two mothers or two fathers in any system all the same. In the same way there are no two or three Highers. The Higher is the one but it shows itself differently. That’s why these people never took part in any religious arguments or public debates about whose religion was fairer and whose philosophy was more complete. They didn’t care about all these but they felt perfectly well in every system. So they had such a distinctive feature that they could speak the same language as a representative of any philosophical system: Buddhist has come – they spoke with him on the Buddhism language; follower of tantra extremist practices has come – they had something to talk about with him; an orthodox Brahman has come – they couldn’t wish for anything better than to talk over his philosophy refinements with him!
At first sight this seems to be hypocrisy: this man is well received at everywhere, he is quite at home everywhere but at the same time he is by himself. Because if you belong to any sect it always requires: “You may cast not a glance at any other sect. Don’t speak with them at all. Don’t try to know about their life because they live badly. Everything is wrong with them but we are right”. You understand of course that for Yogins and Yoginis it is baby talk? By this reason there is such rule in yoga – yoga never interferes in religions. YOGA DISTANCES ITSELF FROM RELIGIONS. That’s because yoga stays by itself; it’s not for or against religions. Though in the same way YOGA DISTANCES ITSELF FROM SCIENCE AND MEDICINE. These are tree directions in which yoga doesn’t ever interfere. When they ask me in another time how yoga treats this or that disease I always reply that yoga doesn’t treat anybody, medics do this. Of course there are very powerful means helping to get rid of these or that ailments and diseases but these are medics who treat. These are priests who teach religion. Science is made by scientists. YOGA IS THE SYSTEM OF SELF-KNOWELEDGE. Yoga feels equally good whether you live in contemporary epoch with developed science or whether you would have lived 700 years ago when there was no trace of science at all. All the same this system of self-knowledge both was and is. It doesn’t matter for yoga whether you are living now and splash around all these religions or whether tomorrow any new super-religion appears and tells that all the previous religions were erroneous and now this new religion is right. And yoga doesn’t take care about this because religion is private business of everybody. You know it must be written in our constitution that religion in private business of everybody by the simple reason that the Higher is far above everything. That’s why it can become apparent through every religion and every religion can be just. More over at the same time all the religions can be just but it doesn’t mean at all that the Higher isn’t reduced to religion only. The Higher is there to the Higher. Every religion is like a vessel and the Higher is like an infinite ocean. How can you put an infinite thing to a finite one? That’s why such an interesting moment is always observed: each yogin is very respectful to every religion. More over clever Yogin and Yogini always has something to talk about with the representative of every religion; they always find areas of contact and points of consent. Clever Yogin never begins to say: “Your religion has this and that aspects. Come on, tell me about your nonsense”. He never set any religion at nought; treat it with humiliation or as if tempting it. Unfortunately I observe sometimes such situation when certain particular know-alls think that they just know the Higher. So they catch any poor devil sincerely believing in his religion and begin to tease him finely: “How will you explain us this or that?” But the soul of this poor devil may be just inexperienced; he may have only one gleam of something Higher. And this know-all is found and begins to give rise to doubt in his mind in every possible way. Thus a man catches a very negative karma for him from the yoga stand because you call the Higher just opened to a man (even if he is not developed intellectually) in question by showing off your intelligence. That’s another talk that religions may be very different. But making a man to doubt about the Higher the Universe will take you in hand in the same way; it will call your own views in question. That’s why among Yogins and Yoginis there were never such know-alls – cynics who would have exposed anybody. They never did this even if it had been any Papua New Guinea’s religion where everyone danced around the fire with spears, where the higher spirit was showed through form of any ram which had to be eaten during the full moon and then everybody get into the paradise. I.e. it may happened so that that man set up connection with the Higher through these actions and this is better than nothing at all. So Yogins and Yoginis always distanced themselves from every religion. I.e. if any religion was congenial for you, if something opened for you through it it’s all right then, go ahead. But you have to understand that in exactly the same way something quite different may be opened in this religion to other people.
They say that more blood was shed for religion wars in ancient times than for anything else (it may be quite true). In India such immunity was formed with respect to all this – we all should learn it too. They say sometimes: “Here I will go to India to learn their way of living”. Don’t learn the way of living in India. As a way of life they mean their caste system, early marriages (when children just go to school they arrange them such a courtship displayed that our paedophiles simply keep still). God forbid us to transfer all these things here but on the other hand they have tolerance of other people’s views; they must shed much blood before they learn tolerance.
Thus the Higher may be revealed somehow in every system of views, currents, philosophies; and the only one thing is important – you should intuitively feel it. In certain sense it will protect us against further disappointments.
Question: “What did Tibetans do with needless souls when they had been born?”
Vadim Zaporozhtsev: “As you understand we can’t control the birth process. I imagine what would happen if we could control it as well. Just imagine that any band leader was born somewhere on the Earth and began to gather like-minded people to his cohort – it’s very good that we don’t have this opportunity.
So it happens so for time to time that not quite necessary souls come here as well as the very necessary ones. There is the basic mass, average statistics and also there is a kind of extremes: ones are very good and others are very bad. And we have to track these both extremes very quickly. They equipped entire expeditions to find the next Lama’s reincarnation in Tibet in spite of its huge territory where it was not very easy to find. Exactly in the same way we have to track negative souls but it’s much more difficult to do. We should create any protective and guarding systems with the help of certain mantras and special practices. These systems will surround these needless angry souls from every quarter with a shroud of kindness and will lead them on a life road to open their best sides and to make the worst sides not to open.
I tell you once again we can’t change people but we can make all the conditions not to reveal their negative karma and on the contrary to open some gleams of positive karma. What the situations may be? There may be the very different ones. That might be true that such cut-throats sometimes turn into the absolutely perfect heroes in any war, i.e. this quality may be used for protection of other live beings. But it depends of a place where the soul would get to. It may get to any army waging some good wars, i.e. protecting something – and it will be the one thing. But it will be quite another thing if this soul gets to any thugs band. I.e. the soul will receive the same quality but everything depends on how it will be used.
In general this is formed when every person, every member of society create a tendency to positive, a tendency to helping other people, to any noble moments and motifs. For example, one veteran of war told me a story happened in a small maritime town. A very dismal ship company assembled on his vessel and they showed their best qualities when the war had started. Though if they would have assembled in society in time of peace… By the way many of them came then to a bad end: the war finished, they returned to the peaceful life and their negative tendencies revealed themselves again. They became again terrible cut-throats and were hardly killed then. But they were absolutely outstanding courageous and brave people. So this veteran wonders all the time how can it be.
Do you know at one time there was popular notion: “Live by the rules of the underworld”? And what the rules did we have in Russia? We had government and a lot of different mafias. In every developed country only one mafia should be and it is called “government”. This single mafia destroys all the other mafias because even two mafias can’t expand together; but we have any laissez-fair for some reason… Sometimes they broadcast and televise this way of living showing this criminal life (all these new obscure Robin Hoods, etc.) in heroic form. Do you watch TV? They say something is bad and it becomes really bad because we begin to find conceivable even unconsciously that this can be. So we generate this cloud of thoughts of tolerance as a radio set and the criminal will feel itself good, will feel in its element in this tolerance cloud. In any other country where the thoughts of intolerability are generated the criminal thoughts aren’t born and even having been born they don’t prove because they feel uncomfortable. So we can set up a roadblock upwards for needless souls or open a road for them by means of our tolerance or intolerability, by means of our playing up to them or not.
In Tibet they never tolerated this laissez-fair. On the contrary they repeated about the karma law over again; they said that if you had done something bad so you would have got it at full scale and nobody would have prayed for avoidance of you. Something reducing negative qualities of negative souls and discovering their positive qualities was created even on the thoughts level. In addition they used also certain mantras, rituals and ceremonies. These are very powerful things but one-time, they are like a surgical procedure and Tibetans tried not to drive into the surgery. Just like a human immunity overcomes all the diseases and we don’t need any additional interference healthy society needs no Yogins’ forefathers. But all the same they had “an armoured train” on the siding. There were great tomes of “black magic” in Tantric Buddhism with the most dismal practices but there is no getting away from this; it’s like Kalashnikov’ submachine gun being hanging somewhere there and hiding just in case. But once again taking Kalashnikov’ submachine gun is a last resort; in no civilized country they don’t usually come to this. Here is very ticklish issue: do the mass media report to anybody or not? It seems they don’t report to anybody, it seems to be free but there is no this freedom indeed because only dismal ideology shows from them (now in Russia). Of course I take a simpler view of these things because I roughly understand how these particulars are revolving. Everything is rather cynical here. There is rating, there is money, there are serials and there is an audience attention, there is a demand for these subjects. And these criminal chronics will be on from morning till night until there is a demand for them. And what can we say here in general? We can say nothing, let it continues as it goes. Only one thing disturbs me: this situation concerns private channels where they weren’t born yesterday but what about the government channels? Is that really so that russian government wishes to create here good living conditions keeping to show all this dullness and pettiness? There can be no absolute freedom in this sense. The freedom can exist only together with responsibility; but now there is no responsibility that means that there is no question of freedom as well. This laissez-fair must be closed down. We used to be afraid that they will begin to tighten the screws and the screws are tightened just now but to the other side, I mean to the way of criminal.
You know just in Soviet times they picked up the habit of glue “Moment” sniffing. Several children were overdosed and died; so many irate articles were published in newspapers. And what do you think? Hundreds of people began to die after the issue of these newspapers. Everybody read: “Oh, what an interesting thing this glue “Moment” is. It can be sniffed as well…” Do you understand it was advertising? And whose karma it is? Who urged these small children on dyeing? It looks like the journalists. They may say: “No-no, this was none of my doing. I just covered these events. I’m all so goody-goody.” – No, my darling, you are not goody-goody at all. The only difference between now and then that it was foolishness at that time and now it’s not foolishness, now it is really advertising indeed: praising you – that is good, criticizing you – that’s much better. Being told something in any context you have a potential opportunity to earn money. Pay your attention they show every day how one singer defeated another, how one movie star got drunk and fought with somebody – in the majority of cases these are public relations even if very subtle. If an audience begins to forget any figure it means that they have to run advertising on TV but it is more than many people can afford. So they undertake another move: to whack somebody in the face on the Red Square and publish it somewhere on the You Tube to let everyone watch, download and thus make their rating to increase, i.e. this figure stays alive still. That’s why as to Yogins and Yoginis way of life you should remember we aren’t able to struggle against this, let’s the president or somebody else struggle against this. But we don’t have to play up to this because starting to play up we become a part of this system. Here we approximate to the Mahatma Gandhi’ ideal of “concept of nonviolence (ahimsa) and nonresistance” (there was formerly this Hindu “saint”). I.e. don’t catch these journalists and lick them – no, what for? – It’s bad indeed. And really a man earns money, may be it’s the single way for him, and may be he couldn’t do anything else. It happens so as a rule that he may have his own problems very touching sometimes. But on the other hand it’s not quite good to play up to him. That’s why there remains only skipping, and it’s not your debt to come down hard on everything. And it’s quite different situation if it was your own debt, if you got money for it and you take kickbacks one after another and you turn a blind eye to this…”
Lecture continuation.
As ancient yogins affirm the Higher speaks with everyone at every moment but it’s very unobtrusive.
It happens so that contact with the Higher becomes the dominant factor among Yogins and Yoginis. If there is no this Higher for us or more precisely put if we don’t feel it it will become only a question of time when we feel bad. And the Higher is the most sensitive-intuitive-individual and on the other hand it is common for everybody. There is another statement in yoga and Yogins and Yoginis way of life; it says that the Higher speaks with each person on his own language understandable for this person. So the Higher speaks with everyone at every moment as ancient yogins affirm. But we are not aiming for listening it; we even don’t look at its direction at all. We only hear a noise background from the cars passing by in the street but even physical analyser of sound vibration can tell you what the brand of a car passed by is. I.e. contemporary science can recognize a million of nuances in the most obvious things. But in this sense Yogins and Yoginis go further: they try to see the one being beyond the visible.
And here another question appears: may be the Higher doesn’t want to communicate with us? May be it exists by itself and we live by ourselves; we aspire for it and it looks so coldly at us: “Aspire for me, don’t you? Ok, you may aspire but I don’t care about you, live there by yourself, flounder by yourself”. There several philosophies explaining this for us and driving us at the same result. This result is that the Higher communicates with us, it speaks with us at every moment, and there is no second when it doesn’t tell anything to us. It speaks with you in your sleep, it speaks with you in your waking hours, it speaks with you at the moment of death, at the moment between death and birth, at the moment of birth… It speaks with you from one life to another, from animal stage to human one. And now the Higher is speaking with you: it speaks through the noise of these tyres, it speaks through the light of this lantern but we can’t simply hear it. More precisely put we don’t hear it, we clutch at form: a car passed by, a noise from it – and that’s all, we stopped. But this noise somehow stimulated our perception or this incitement was given for us for trying to find the sense in something else from someone standing on the other side above everything.
So the Higher communicate with us. But on the other hand it’s extremely unobtrusive; it will never come into your life if you say: “I don’t know this Higher and don’t want to know it!” (as at that animation: “the food is not bad right here for us”). The Higher doesn’t break your freedom. You have your freedom, your freedom is extended absolutely to everything including that you may recognize the Higher or not. If you don’t recognize it the Higher tells: “Well, you don’t recognize me. So, you are entitled to this”. And if you recognize it the Higher tells: “Oh, hello! You see me at last! How are you?” Another question appears: how does the Higher speaks with us? It speaks with everyone on his own personality language that is comprehensible for him. And a language which it uses to speak with your near friends, with like-minded people, with your relation, with any chance person, with whoever you like may be quite different. That’s why each Yogin and Yogini handed us down these knowledge meant finding a language to communicate with the Higher also as their purpose. Sometimes a question appears: the Higher is able to answer us, isn’t it? Yogins and Yoginis reply that it really can. And in more obvious and accessible way than all the answers taken together and it is another matter that we don’t understand them sometimes. In any sense the purpose and the means merge. We aspire for the Higher; it’s our purpose and the means is to understand a language which the Higher speaks with us. Some Yogins and Yoginis had got it from their childhood, other Yogins and Yoginis acquired it: they were born in Yogins and Yoginis’ families where this atmosphere, this aura had already been and small child learns everything including feeling of the Higher. It much easier to learn this feeling of the Higher if you are born in a family where the spirit of the Higher is just soaring. But pay your attention it’s very personal for everybody, in his own way.
It’s necessary to remain all alone from time to time in private with the Higher.
Hence it follows another moment that will be more seriously considered in the sequel. This moment concerns a point that everyone has to keep away from time to time from all the diverting factors and to stay alone over any period of time. But the matter is to remain alone not in literal sense but in that sense that we should switch from communication tide “human – human” over to another tide “I – the Higher”, i.e. people may be around you or may not, it doesn’t matter. But in truth it’s very difficult to be able to communicate simultaneously with people living with us, people that we know, that we love and to communicate with the Higher at the same time. We need to reach a great stage of yogic concentration for this. This is for the high-flyer yogins; we are far from attaining this stage. It was quite good understandable among Yogins and Yoginis and it was prescribed obligatory staying alone over some time. If you don’t stay alone over some time you won’t get in touch with the Higher and even getting in touch you won’t be able to keep it up. That’s why cloistering, locking you up in your monastic cell or in your cave and practicing there over any time was considered to be necessary in many traditions, currents, and religions. But pay your attention you should have spent there not all your life but any time to learn to recognize the voice of the Higher. Living with family and friends is a permanent practice and if you didn’t draw up this course of living your relations will be overheated. For example after communication with your loved one, after practicing Tantra Yoga in bed or I don’t know doing what else it is obligatory for you both to stay alone, in private with the Universe. Otherwise you will be overheated. Otherwise you may quarrel, fight with your partner, smash dishes, become in the sulks with each other and not to speak with each for three days – and all these after half an hour later joint Samadhi. It’s a common situation. I always want to make a thought that our problems aren’t born yesterday, the day before yesterday or even five thousand years ago clear for you. All our problems are conditional on our Universe structure. They were always in different form, in different moments. And the most ridiculous thing is that all these problems have been solved long ago and we simply don’t know about it, we trigger the same backflash. So we have to stay alone from time to time to establish connection with the Higher. And as Yogins and Yoginis teach us if everything go off well the most interesting things will begin then. But this is more practical part of knowledge; it is the foundation of Tantra Yoga when you learn to see the Higher in your husband or wife, in your parents and children, in your friends and familiars, in strangers in the streets, in all the objects and phenomena, in animals, planets, in the entire Universe, in everything whatever you like. This is called such a sophisticated word “Sadhana”, i.e. such a practice. But it come out that you communicate with the Higher directly as they say for the encouragement and then you communicate with this Higher by means of other people, e.g. by means of your girlfriend. That’s why if you don’t find this channel to the Higher in your girlfriend it will be no point to practice sexual parts of Tantra Yoga; it only will be exquisite sex. There is nothing bad in sex; quite the contrary it will enrich your “inner life” as they say. But there is another part of yoga for this, it is called Sexual Yoga. There you are as partners in a contest or on a dance, i.e. you simply work out some feelings, energies and so on. But beginning to speak about Tantra Yoga we have to establish this channel with the Higher.
Question: “Here is dharma. And if a military man has to do his deal well even if it would be cruel so this poor journalist writing about glue “Moment” has also to do his job for his newspaper editorial staff?”
Vadim Zaporozhtsev: “Just imagine I’m a journalist, I wrote this article entailed all these things. But I’m responsible man; I’ve done it only through ignorance. And the next time when they tell me: “Write a number of articles about glue “Moment” once again” I answer: “No, friends, I’m sorry, it’s not my dharma to kill children”. We may do foolishness through our ignorance sometimes but realizing that it becomes a hard time for somebody because of your action you have to define for yourself is it your dharma (i.e. your destination to be a killer in our example) or not. That’s quite another talk that any freak may always turn up and begin to cry “Yes, my dharma is to kill people as many as possible”. But it’s an individual marginal case and it have to be considered separately. And if you understand you can act once or twice through ignorance but it will come home to you some time or other. And if you continue to do the same things when their consequences came home to you so you will get negative karma at full scale. To create a gloomy, dark karma one more very important factor is necessary – it’s motivation, i.e. “I do harm because I do it”. On the other hand we do millions of actions; then we clutch our head “What on earth made us come here?” but we draw conclusions. That’s why it’s impossible to turn this question to dharma. I’m not against journalists, they are all nice people though extremely cinical. I bear no grudge against them, some people hate them, and they say the journalists to be cooked at the Hell. I don’t think so. They just do their job. The only one thing I call you upon for is “My friends, if you have an opportunity to act wisely do it”. Journalist has to get any person talking. I was a witness of this many times; I remember there are seminars to where journalists come, catch a guru and begin to wheedle him into material. They become such darlings, the most charming, they pry into his feelings but then they disappear. And so this poor devil guru calls them: “When will you show me your material?” and they reply: “Who are you? Just go to!” I.e. their cinical exploitative treatment is a part of their profession. They are the risk group because if he wheedled someone into information, that man opened to journalist but didn’t receive reply reaction. So this will be a negative chain and this journalist will be born gloomy, sullen and not talkative person in his next life. He will be glad to communicate with somebody but his karma will twirl him so that he won’t be able even to move his tongue. There is a risky component in every profession and in yoga teaching as well. I may begin to tell you just now: “My friends, I have a medicine from all the diseases. Let’s club together 100 dollars each and you’ll get happiness”. But many people teach yoga exactly in this way. Now they receive their 100 dollar but what will they do in the next life? How will they give this back? That’s why there is risk in every profession and our task is to realize it. Sometimes we can do something through ignorance for a long time but only until the moment when we begin to realize. While you stay in ignorance the higher virtues turn a blind eye to you; this is called “happy ignorance”. But as soon as you are conscious what do you do so oh no, that won’t do! – this is atonement for advancement in spiritual evolution”.
Question: “How will glue “Moment” poisoning affect children’s karma? Let’s think logically.”
VadimZaporozhtsev: “I don’t know. The Universe is superlogical. Only our life is logical and when we pass up after death, when all our bodies depart from us it would be logical to continue living there as we lived on the Earth. But everything changes there; it’s superlogic and we can’t say anything about it”.
Question: “Is it good or bad to be a drug addict?”
Vadim Zaporozhtsev: “To be a drag addict person is extremely bad. And if somebody of you takes hemp in this or that kind I guarantee you that you will never get your hand near Samadhi and your reincarnation will be respective. If you think that this open your creative ability or this is something psychedelic as our bohemia used to say it’s an utmost illusion. I tell this not from my own point of view but from the yoga theory stand. There is such thing in yoga: we can’t create a thoughtform eliminating all the other forms of thought. Speaking human language it means “it impossible to attain Samadhi”, those Samadhi that will take you outside the limits of cause and effect, outside the limits of karma. That’s why, my friends, if you guzzle down then give up. If you have never try this then don’t try, don’t buy these books of people of the sixties, of lsd- users, of western narcomaniacs. They all died from the liver cirrhosis, took many russian and western people to the grave with them, so that we lost count but they continue to popularize new way of living, new way of thinking. You won’t be able to create anything steady by means of chemicals because everything is limited by your physical body. There is a limit roughly speaking. So they will think up the most ingenious hemp and it will pump so much energy into you that you will really be in high very hard. But after certain energy leap associative relation inside your body will begin to tumble down and you will chemically turn to a jelly. You know it will be just the same situation: here you are listening nice music, you are listening and listening, it keeps inspire you, you are flying now, you are in-flight… but then clap! and a battery is flat and this follows by poignant silence or grinding sound. Life of people spending a huge number of second under cocaine is like this. They think they will die in the same way, some people think they will have a heavenly death through drugs overdose. Dear friends, heavenly death through overdose never takes place. Only the most horrible torments take place at the moment when battery is flat and physical body gets detached from subtle body. That’s why I tell you again and again: if someone has a temptation to flirt with psychedelics (there are so many kinds of this hemp, it may be more or less dangerous sometimes) in any form don’t try them if you haven’t tried them before; you will get hooked on them before you could bat an eye.”
Question: “It comes out true yogins don’t smoke a hemp? I have seen such photos…”
Vadim Zaporozhtsev: “True yogins don’t smoke a hemp. Yes, I saw photos also… There is another moment: sometimes they demonstrated their superabilities somewhere in India, that nothing has an effect upon them; but it’s a doubtful yoga publicity. Once again everybody begins with hemp, it isn’t so dangerous but the problem is that nobody stops on hemp. Why? Because it is not enough. More is fix more sensations you will get. So people pass on stronger drugs, i.e. hemp has no more effect and they pass on something stronger but this is direct way to grave. Dear friends, please don’t use drugs in the name of all those people lying in a ground and being gnawed by worms. Bohemia especially gets on my nerves not even lamebrains – what can we expect from them? – but he is from bohemia, he took a hit and gave birth to a work of art…
Figure 3. Say “No” to drugs
(- Throw out this baddie.
– Go away, old bones, I’m a Samadhi)
There is a theoretical statement in yoga: according to our bodies’ structure (our body consists of three parts: rough physical, subtle and causal) a thing we called enjoyment isn’t outside us, it contains inside. There is any mechanism letting this enjoyment out. One of illegal mechanisms to let it out is drugs. But drugs have an effect only when there is our physical body. When physical body gets detached from subtle one drugs effect ceases at the same moment. More over it’s like a spring being squeezed to one side then it makes dash to the other side to compensate that fact that you didn’t merit these drugs according to your karma. If drug addict stayed alive he is in high with withdrawal pains. If he died so he is “so merry” there, simply dying is less pleasant. If you attain to enjoyment, if you really wish to go through this experience so welcome: practicing of some yogas you will make your organism to produce internal matters, endorphins that will give you everything you look for into the most ingenious drugs to the maximum. But after it you won’t feel negative and quite the contrary you will feel positive because you merited it. And if you do everything exactly in this way you will pass on the next level of enjoyment – enjoyment on a level of casual body. This is a thing which drug addicts seek for but they never get it because at the last moment a physical body stops bearing it and gets detached from casual body and that’s all. So music finishes and yogin gets full enjoyment from his physical body. But physical body is limited, and enjoyment from physical body is limited also. The reverse associative relations are directional on our source of consciousness, source of energy, source of prana but this source is limited through physical body. And then the second stage begins like in rocket, we begin to get enjoyment from subtle body. None of grungy drug addicts has never even dreamed of this enjoyment. They always seek to this, they dye with overdose but they never reach it, they simply can’t reach it. Our body is arranged like this, that’s why don’t waste your time. If somebody wastes his time you can’t reform him but don’t play up to him, it’s a blind alley in theory. This is not popularization of healthy lifestyle, I don’t feel sorry for those who died, they were fools by themselves, there was no need for them to try… they had to understand what they did, if he died – so he died, if he got hooked – so he got hooked and also died – I’m not sorry, it serves right! They had to think: they got human body and how did they treat it? But I’m indignant at the next things: a) when they make others to get hooked on drugs; b) when they make others to get hooked by means of some bohemian books where they write that something supposedly open to them in this ecstasy, that they saw something while used LSD or they overeated themselves with psychedelic mushrooms and got the essence of being to know. In general it’s propaganda and they even carry any law into effect… but never mind this law, they won’t be able to do anything with laws. It’s for your life: starting to popularize drugs or to parade them you will receive negative karma by yourself. But the most interesting thing is that in theory, axiomatically (you know here is an axiom twice two makes four, it is neither six nor eight nor ten but four) your will get nothing. Why do I speak so emotionally about it? Because the list of failures tried drugs is horrible. I was personally acquainted with many of them, they all were giving hope artists, philosophers, writers and simply casual but very good people; it’s scary. Do you understand it’s not so scary that he died? His last years are terrible: he turned into jelly, he had no money, he is thrown about from one side to another and this is disgusting. I hear sometimes such a phrase: “I have to try everything”. My friends don’t try everything. If you want to feel enjoyment you have never dreamed about practice yoga, there are yogas that will give you this.”