The lifeway of Yogins and Yoginis handed us down the highest yoga knowledge. Vadim Zaporozhtsev. Lecture. Pt.5. 05.03.2008

Author Vadim Zaporozhtsev
Anandaswami Tradition Yoga School
Place of lecture delivering Cultural Center “Enlightenment”.
Date May 3, 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 The Higher is the motor that meshes all the gears of Yoga. The Higher begins to become apparent for us through those things that are the most valuable: these are our energy, these are our consciousness, our prana; it’s something like an ocean that opens behind you and you derive your strength from it. That’s why communication with the Higher is yoga by itself. And if this Higher’s flow opens for you through any practices or techniques whether through Hatha Yoga or Pranayma Yoga (breathing yoga) or Krija Yoga or any other yoga then you get out of this practice on a quite new level of vitality, on a quite new level of inner power, inner awareness. How to reject suffering? What engender sufferings? Our suffering is caused by our ignorance. If we analyse very seriously and minutely the causes of sufferings origin then we will come to the karma law. That’s why our suffering comes to the karma law and our karma comes to ignorance. Until we don’t make a decision in our mind to reject this faulty practice of suffering we will intuitively feed this mechanism with our own energy. Rejection of suffering begins with making a decision; this is called sometimes “initiation”. The most essential rule among Yogins and Yoginis who were initiated into secret yogas (such as Amorousness Yoga, Tantra Yoga, Sexual Yoga) was the next: a person who took this road has to decide for himself: “That’s enough, I reject sufferings. Nobody and nothing is entitled to cause me sufferings”. If a person interested in yoga has rather good karma then he is born or he gets right away among yogins and yoginis. If he wasn’t born in this environment then he comes to necessity of communication with like-minded people as he practices yoga or grows up as a yogin. And this is naturally opened to him even if he really thank selfishly only about himself for some time but seriously worked to improve himself. But if he found a place to stay alone and seemed to be working on himself but didn’t practice yoga at all (because of maya, self-delusion) then he may stay in his illusions without any result for a long time.

Purpose of life of Yogins and Yoginis handed us down the highest yoga knowledge.

Why did the purpose of ancient Yogins and Yoginis consist just in the Higher?

Well, we are considering a way of life of Yogins and Yoginis handed us down this ancient yoga knowledge (practical yogas, exotic yogas, philosophy, axiomatics) already over five lectures. We have something to learn from them. But at the same time yoga calls us upon for never blindly copying anything. We should only mean that there are some moments and draw proper conclusions personally for yourselves.

On one of previous lectures we draw a scheme of five items to explain yogins and yoginis way of living: the first item is purpose, the second is means, and the third is method.

We had time to consider only the first item – their purpose. The purpose of life of yogins and yoginis handed us down this higher knowledge is cognition of the Higher, communication with the Higher, and discovery of the Higher. This was the cornerstone in yogins and yoginis life. This was the most important, the most valuable and the most principal thing in their life. Sometimes a question appears: and why exactly the Higher? Because strange as it may seem being born and dying from one life to another we forget our previous living conditions. Let us suppose we used any lifestyle in our life, we did something, we were engaged in something. But when we passed the boundary of death and new birth we absolutely forget all the specifics. We don’t remember where specifically we have been, what body we specifically had, what we were specifically occupied with. As a rule we don’t remember this but we carry certain tendency, certain aspirations, certain skills, certain aptitudes to our next life. We don’t remember how we got this or that aptitudes (for example, an aptitude for drawing) but it shows by itself in our next birth as a gift. These are groundworks of previous lives indeed but we don’t remember how we acquired them. Our state that we achieve up to the moment of death is always carried to the next life. If we had some achievements or on the contrary worsened our karma to a very bleak state at the moment of death then in the next life we go to the position where we died. But it happens without specifics, we don’t remember nuances absolutely.

Thus we are born and we have craving for something but we have no recollections how this craving was made. Yogin or Yogini may be born whereever you like but the biggest happiness is to be born in yogin or yogini’s family; we talked this moment over time and again. You pass to absolutely new level very quickly and easily when your father and mother are just involved in this system, when they practice by themselves. But by a number of reasons this may not happen as well. First of all you may have not quite good karma to be born at once in yogin or yogini’s family. Or another moment: for attaining purposes of your next life you were born exactly in that family, exactly in that country, in those conditions that are the most suitable for your mission. I.e. if you practice yoga and attained certain high levels in yoga then when die you may control the process of your next birth by yourself. And so you choose place, time, parents, where to be born proceeding from the living conditions at most favorable for your purpose. According to such approach you may be born in the most unfavorable conditions but these unfavorable conditions are unfavorable in everything except one – purpose of your life. This is so for the highly forward-minded yogin or yogini who has died and then has been born in their next life.

Why everything begins with the purpose? That’s because from the very first moments of your unconscious or conscious life you begin to feel that you were born here not for no particular reason. You have certain purpose and you carry it from life to life. You may be able to do nothing, you may know nothing about yoga and you may not even suspect that there are such sciences. But you are attracted to this Higher as if with a magnet and this is the first thing from which the good yoga begins. This is really Yoga spelled with a capital letter. This is not yoga to lose flesh, this is not yoga from stress or sleeplessness or any other utilitarian problem. They advertise yoga now: yoga from this or that thing, yoga to attain this or that thing… It’s good indeed and yoga helps in such situations. But this is rather gratuitous addition to yoga than yoga by itself. Yoga by itself is the Higher; yoga by itself is self-consciousness. And so you begin to look for this Higher in your life, and you begin to look for this Higher inside yourself, i.e. you begin to research how you are organized. In the same time you aspire to find display of this Higher in your life. That’s why this is the first point – purpose. You may even don’t know the word “yoga” and many people get to yoga by chance as it seems to them. He had an inclination for something Higher and then bang! – he has been faced with yoga and felt: “Yes, it’s my own!”

At previous studies we took a good and rather detailed look at yogin purpose in his regular life, it’s communication with the Higher. And all the other purposes are minor. If this priority happens in our life then we are securely protected from the life adversities and failures. Because if you live for any thing (more clear and tangible) sake then you are glad getting it and you suffer without getting it. Sometimes you get it and you are disappointed with it, so there are no guarantees. But every step bringing us nearer to the Higher makes us a present of happiness in the most abstract sense of the word. I.e. approaching to the Higher we don’t remain disappointed with it.

Purpose of yogins and yoginis practiced ancient yoga knowledge and handed us down this tradition was neither in earning money nor in power nor in continuation of a family nor in discovery of any universe’s laws (to get Nobel prize), not at all. Their purposes consisted in the Higher. But on the other hand these yogins and yoginis may saw the Higher through either attainment of financial might and attainment of power or mind development and discovering any laws and through these scientific laws they perceived the Higher. So all these things become a method for you to come nearer to the Higher. The same thing happens with parents or children – when our children aren’t a purpose for us by itself but the way of paying sacred debt as we studied it. That’s because somebody gave us our bodies also and without these bodies we wouldn’t speak here about the Higher. On the other hand if we see the displays of the Higher in our children then for us they become one more way to cognize the Higher.

At the last lectures we returned to this subject several times because if you don’t understand this thing you won’t understand the rest of other practices. You can receive all the superabilities some time or other but you won’t become happier with them. More over receiving them you begin to feel yourself as if you lost time. That’s why even aspiration for the superabilities isn’t priority in yogin or yogini’s life. If the Higher opens to you through these superabilities then this is good. But if it doesn’t open to you through them then these superabilities are the same nonsense, the same boredom, and the same disappointment as all the other things. So if we understand that the Higher is important for us and consider all the other things only as means by use of which we perceive this Higher then we are ordinarily protected from misfortunes, from global failures in our life. There are different kinds of failures, for example these may be tactical failures when you wanted to implement something but didn’t manage to do this. You failed and never mind it. Imagine that you gave up all your life for any purpose implement and you have implemented it but it turned out that you are bored. You wanted to become a billionaire, you aspired for it and you have become but there is no happiness, there is no something other-worldly…

There is more practical application of the notion “Higher”. We had a Bhakti Yoga seminar here in Cultural Center “Enlightenment”, all the information you can find on the Open Yoga University in Moscow site www.openyoga.ru. There we touched this subject. I won’t repeat it now but I will give utterance to the most principal moments. Ironically enough the Higher isn’t any abstract idea alienated from real life for us. The Higher is the motor that revolves all yoga gears. If you begin to meditate and turn your mind to the Higher during meditation then your meditation becomes deeper and deeper like it or not and you reach superconcentration unwittingly. If you enter a glade on a river shore and see any beauty of nature then you begin to perceive the Higher perceiving this beauty of nature. And your breath is changing, your thoughts in your head are changing, even metabolism inside you is changing and you are joining to this Higher, joining to this ocean of prana, i.e. vitality.

The Higher begins to shows to us through the things that are the most valuable for us. This is our energy, this is our consciousness, this is prana, it’s something like an ocean which opens in front of you and you derive your strength from it. That’s why communication with the Higher is yoga by itself. If the flow of the Higher shows for you through any practices or techniques whether it would be Hatha Yoga or Pranayma Yoga (breathing yoga) or Krija Yoga or any other yoga then you get out of this practice on a quite new level of vitality, on a quite new level of inner power, inner awareness.

I will remind you once again that among Yogins and Yoginis this point goes further. Let us suppose that such science as Tantra Yoga (interaction between a man and a woman at all the levels including sexual one) may be turned to the cognition of the Higher through your husband, wife, yoga partner, i.e. by means of interaction. And all the rest things are only instruments that help this Higher to show nice that is called “without a hitch”. I always refer to sexual practices because everybody “practices them on the sly” all the same but they can understand what they have to do and so they receive not very good result. Numerous mantras, yantras are only conditions. They only ensure the flow of the Higher to go without difficulty. But there is nothing to speak about at all without the Higher.

So everything begins from the purpose and this purpose is the Higher. It’s not an abstract thing. I want to tell you again and again that it may seem to you from my words, from any ancient treatises that the Higher is any abstract elusive thing, that it’s any twaddle that can’t be caught. We can’t catch the Higher, it’s no possible to describe it, it’s no possible to give any definition to it, we can’t even well and truly think over it indeed. But when there is the flow of the Higher this flow comes to us through form of quite concrete feelings from practice, images and apparitions; they are impregnated with this Higher in some way. And when it comes it comes to us as a source of power. More we take it up more powerful we become, and we manifest ourselves more. As it is said in ancient texts: “A Brahman found a place to stay in private, he sat down to meditate and began to perceive Brahma or began to take up Brahma in himself”. Civilized people can’t understand what is meant by this. Whether he takes an oxygen in his blood vessels, whether he gain some good impressions when everything is beautiful, whether he is engrossed in any philosophical idea – we can’t understand this because behind all these explications there is an appeal to something beyond expression. It is said there: “A Brahman experienced Brahma comes out of this state powerful”. We make guesses about things he has learnt there. But he learnt there exactly this Higher. And if there is this Higher then all the rest of practices work; and if there is not this Higher then they hardly begin to work.

Means in the way of living of Yogins and Yoginis handed us down the highest yoga knowledge

Nobody and nothing is entitled to cause me sufferings!

We considered the purpose above. The means goes further. The means is to reject sufferings. The means is to reject illusions. We are called to refuse to suffer. We are told: “Here you are living and suffering. But you have to refuse this because until you suffer you will never get your hand near the Higher”. A question appears here: “Well, it’s good to refuse suffering. I don’t want to suffer by myself but how to do this?” Yoga gives the next answer: our suffering is caused by our ignorance. There are no principal causes of suffering besides ignorance.

A man used to attribute sufferings to the quite concrete conditions or phenomena: I am suffering because of little salary; I am suffering because I feel lonely, sad and I am bored. Or I am suffering and I don’t see why: may be I have poor digestion, may be I have low spirits or power; it also may be other more subtle aspects of suffering that only exist. If we analyze very seriously and minutely causes of suffering origin we undoubtedly will come to the karma law, i.e. everything that we have now isn’t anything abstract that accidentally fell to us. Everything is result of all our previous lives and of all those tendencies that we inherited or carried over our previous lives, over our previous births. I.e. suffering hinges on our karma; it doesn’t exist be itself.

Sometimes I hear such nonsense from the stand of yoga axiomatics: a person is given an appointed amount of sufferings and of delights. They allege that delights and sufferings counterbalance each other. They say that these things have the same nature. Yoga strongly objects this point of view. Yoga affirms that the state of happiness, joy and delight really exists but suffering is a delight energy which is directed against this delight energy by itself. As soon as this mechanism appears (when our own energy begins to oppress itself) a thing called “suffering” arises. As you understand even sufferings come to delight. I.e. energy of suffering is the same as energy of delight but directed to another side. There is no suffering energy in its pure form. Just as there is no darkness – there is only absence of light. We have to clearly understand this. Because if you raise sufferings to the level of something unshakeable that really exists (as there is one kg of sugar and one kg of something bitter), if you think about sufferings as if they would really exist then you will never get rid of them. This happens until you believe in something: until you believe in a thing you revive it.

As we remember from yoga there is no suffering. But at the same time we use delight energy in the way that we begin to suffer. Then we convince ourselves that suffering really exists, it’s very difficult for us to get rid of it. That’s why our suffering comes to karma and our karma comes to ignorance. Over numerous lives we use delight energy in a wrong way through our foolishness: we divide it in some way into two parts, set them at loggerheads and begin to suffer with this.

More utilitarian moment comes further: until we don’t decide to refuse this vicious practice inside ourselves we will intuitively feed this mechanism by our own energy. My favorite example tells about opportunity of struggle against something that is unpleasant, harmful and causing us many problems. Let us suppose they struggle against the terrorists all over the world. Everybody tries to catch them somewhere, to shoot them. We can fight with them as long as we want but they won’t become fewer. Until we don’t find their financing source they will arise: if there is supply of money or something else such services will exist.

Roughly the same situation we have in our life. We finance our problem with our own energy. We do this for so long time and so unconsciously that we aren’t even aware of this. We aren’t aware of all these cobwebs, inner thoughts, of all these inner logics per which we create this suffering mechanism.


Figure 1. Renunciation of Suffering
(- How can I find like-minded persons? Nobody wants
associating with me. I don’t have friends, a-a-a…
– I just said: “Stop moan!!! Stop moan!!!”)

Renunciation of suffering begins from making a decision; it is called sometimes “initiation”. You must have read in numerous intelligent books that a future adept of secret sciences has to take an initiation before get into any mysterious tradition of yoga or Tantra. These mysterious rites are absolutely strikingly described in different books. It’s clear that everything differs in different philosophical systems. But strange as it may seem one the most serious moment called “true initiation” is awareness and making a decision not to suffer any more. These are so called “vows” and in the issue of them a person received an initiation. In this sense we are all omnipotent: we are living as we want. Somewhere very long ago we made a decision through ignorance that there may be delights as well as sufferings in our life. We consented to this (I don’t know whether evidently or implicitly). We declared through any foolishness our will to start up this mechanism that splits our delight in two parts and sets them at loggerheads.

Another question is how this has arisen? It has arisen in some way by itself. Rather many texts and knowledge in JnanaYoga (it explains creation of the Universe and evolution of each of us) are devoted to this but we won’t touch here either logic or superlogic. We will consider purely practical thing: there was one important rule among Yogins and Yoginis initiated in secret yogas (Amorousness Yoga, Tantra Yoga, and Sexual Yoga). A person chose the road of yoga fast methods decides for him: “That’s enough, I refuse sufferings. Nobody and nothing is entitled to cause me sufferings”.

This is such an aim so called “said as cut”. Of course nobody abolished our karma. Even if we decide this then echo from our previous positive or negative doings comes with delay all the same. They come indeed in form of different situations. Some of them are extremely unpleasant for us, others are nice but they are result of our previous karma.

Once again: this is the highest initiation in purely practical yogas. We may reason about any philosophical conceptions of being as much as we want, we may try to practice this, that and the other as much as we want but in the environment of Yogins and Yoginis handed us down this knowledge nobody dealt with you if you haven’t made vow of renunciation of suffering, they simply didn’t deal with you.

What does it matter the ways in which people want to live? Somebody wants to be such a conscious masochist and drives his personal universe into the darker and darker state. Everybody has right; everybody has free will how to live. Nobody can encroach on free will. It’s clear that no one yoga school, no ancient teaching will ever encroach on your free will. That’s why if you have declared your will to live and to admit sufferings to your universe then you live but don’t wait that any secrets, any Tantric powerful practices will open immediately to you, nobody will do this. If you find something out occasionally then it’s your karma if you will excuse.

Why this is so important? Just because of simple reason: it is useless to pump you full with energy until you declare your will to suffer somewhere in your heart of hearts. More you will be pumped full more you will pervert it and it will lead you to greater declines. What is the use to give you energy, knowledge or something else if treacherous mechanism lays in your underlying level? You will immediately direct it against yourself. And you have right to live in this way.

The means is renunciation of suffering or renunciation of ignorance. We like to suffer for the only one reason: through ignorance. Sometimes we (I lay stress on this) aren’t even aware of this. It is inside us for so long time that it determines our life instinctively without asking us. And we have to put an end to this some day. Or we have to attain any level of self-consciousness and this level begins when one fine morning you tell yourself: “That’s enough!” and begin to work in this direction.

We consider all these things to let you understand why yogins and yoginis acted one way and not another. It’s not the only possible way of living; there are so many ways of living as many people are. What a practical conclusion from this was widespread among Yogins and Yoginis? As a result of renunciation of sufferings you begin to avoid everything that imposes you sufferings in the first place. Believe: there are many circumstances in your life and many people which will keep imposing you sufferings regularly and very refinedly. They want to live in this way and they begin to impose this way of living on us also. And we begin to copy unintentionally there mode of behavior, i.e. “he who lies down with dogs, gets up with fleas”. If we begin to communicate with some people who complain all the time, with whom everything goes always badly then we begin to whine before we could bet an eye. And as soon as we start whining everything begins to be bad with us as well. I always tell about this famous American smile. When you ask American he always replies that everything is good. They intuitively know this law that whining only aggravates the situation.

Renunciation of sufferings spills over further into the next moment: “litmus paper” will appear in your life. Do you know what the litmus paper is? Chemists have such a paper impregnated with certain solution. It helps to define what chemical substance a chemist has. He uses it and it may turn red or blue. I.e. this is such a device which detects and recognizes. Just the same situation happens with Yogins and Yoginis. One fine moment you suddenly realized that you started suffering. Your life seems to be continued but you catch yourself at a thought: “Oh, I’m suffering; am not I?” if you will keep leading the same life this should become such a signal: “Stop! Why I’m suffering? Who or what causes this?” You made a vow of non-acceptance of sufferings. I will remind you once again – you say to yourself: “Nobody and nothing is entitled to impose sufferings on me”. If they need my help then this is one question; people sometimes have problems, they come sometimes and say: “Oh, I have a problem, please help me”. But sometimes they make a person of us to which they always complain. You say: “Let me help you” but he answers: “No,…, I don’t need, you can’t do anything all the same”. So don’t complain! Because this pointless whining is an attempt to impose strange way of living on you – sufferings. There is one more very important practical thing. If you don’t realize it then there will be no question of either Tantra Yoga or Sexual Yoga or Amorousness Yoga. The most imperceptible thing is sufferings that will be imposed on you by your nearest people: parents, children, husbands or wives, friends and who ever you like. The easiest way to deal out for us such an injection of sufferings is the way through these channels, through these people dearest for us, people nearest for us, people that we love. And that’s all; you got caught whether the purpose of your life doesn’t consist in comprehension of the Higher but in something more concrete (parents, family and friends, children, your husband or wife). On the one hand this seems to be your purpose, your priority but on the other hand you will receive all your problems through this channel. And they will be so subtle that all the problems of ancient people (such as save themselves from an infuriated tiger and so on) are nothing compared with them. This leads astray a huge number of unaccomplished practitioners in Russia and in the West.

In this spiritual sense in the West as well here in Russia all the ground is sown with these poor practitioners’ bones (in a figurative sense). They flirted with Tantra Yoga, they flirted with Amorousness Yoga, with this or that but life made any circumstances, it closed them on the everyday life, it frightened and disoriented them, brought sufferings home to them and that’s all – Good God . It is the most typical situation.

And again how magnificently everything is in books: “Find for your practices any partner…” and everything is absolutely high there, absolutely quickly, you don’t need to practice Hatha Yoga for 40 years, you are able to quickly realize all methods. It seems to be joy. One would think why the throngs of people don’t go to the Enlightenment? But they don’t go there and the reason is inside us. Not in methods. The methods are really honest that would realize all your wishful thinking or the most unrealistic, fabulous and beautiful dreams. Yogas don’t lie. The problems consist in us. One of these problems is that who and what ever you like will begin to impose sufferings on you before you could bat an eye. And if the Higher is not your purpose then this situation decoys you into a trap in some way. And more over if you accept these sufferings that’s all, boom!, trap’s cover slams and you get caught until your next life. This is totally unpleasant. More over it’s not reasonable to spend your life in this way.

As soon as you feel sufferings or dissatisfaction with your life standing, communication with family and friends, as soon as you feel this taste of negative it becomes a serious sign for you to stop and give a meaning: “Do I move in right direction? May be I allow subconsciously compromise with wrong thing? May be I bought something with my eyes closed?” The danger consists in a thing that we buy somehow unwittingly and pleasantly. One day – hop – and you have already realized yourself: “Aha, I have stick in”. And nothing makes people more stick in during life than their relations. There was a “method of honourable escape” in ancient times by this reason. It means to go somewhere into monastery. You don’t have family and friends, you close the gate in some way, and you close an access to you. This is a method to a certain extent indeed. But this method isn’t final. Most likely this is some pause to summon up energy and then we have to come back to the same things. By the way if you don’t come back in this life then you will be able to do this in the next life. You can spend all your life in monastery but it’s not clear what a situation will be in your next life if you are born in human body. Thus renunciation of suffering is renunciation of ignorance. And I remind you this logical chain once again (though Hatha Yoga is superlogical but now we are considering its part that is well analyzed with our logic). So, there is no other source of delight outside of us besides the Higher. We are happy only when the Higher came to us through any form. But if something comes to us and we can’t feel the Higher in it then we aren’t glad and more over we are disappointed.

You know a man could try to grow rich hard working. He worked and worked and suddenly the Higher has shown him through his wealth. He is happy and he says: “Yes, I toiled all my life, I grow reach and I am happy now”. But it happened so only because the Higher has come to him through form of riches. It may happen in a different way: riches have come to a person but without the Higher. And this person says: “I worked and worked and worked for all my life. I have earned riche and now I don’t know what to do with it. It doesn’t make me glad; I can’t even spend it because there is nothing to buy”. The same situation happens with all the other things. So if there is this taste of the other-worldly Higher then we are happy with all the objects and phenomena coming to us. If there is no Higher we stay disappointed then. Or we may cool off these things. This concerns everything from such prosaic things as money ending with subtle other-wordy things. For example I saw a girl, I fell in love with her, I married to her and I am happy – happy – happy. But suddenly one moment comes when my girl with whom I fell in love, get married stops please me at once, I am bored with her. A girl hasn’t changed, she isn’t guilty, and nothing seems to be changed. Amorousness Yoga examines exactly these subtle questions. Until the Higher showed for you through a girl you stay in love with her. As soon as we stopped seeing the Higher through her we have lose our interest in her. The same situation is for a girl with a young man. Until we see the Higher in him he is interesting for us; as we stopped to see it he becomes uninteresting and dull for us, we are bored with him.

If there is the Higher then there is gladness, happiness, delight. On the other hand there is some incomprehensible ignorance, effect of maya, effect of illusion. Maya is illusion, ignorance; this is a thing utterly strange and mysterious; maya is not good or bad thing. They try sometimes to set forth maya as something negative. It is not a negative thing. But we may use maya (illusion) in a negative way for ourselves. Then we create such a mechanism called “suffering” inside of us. I.e. we divide our delight energy in two parts, set them at loggerheads and then we feel suffering. And this will happen until we take a decision to get rid of this mechanism. And if we have taken a decision to rid ourselves of this mechanism then we have to work to neutralize negative tendencies of our earlier karma. That’s because we have had time beforehand to do so many unpleasant things through ignorance and nobody has canceled this. Even if we take a decision not to suffer any more but we took quite contrary decisions during our previous lives and that’s why our sufferings will continue some times as an echo under their own inertia.

And at last the next moment. Since we have taken a decision not to suffer any more every display of suffering is such a signal for us that will show us very clear and quickly those moments which require improvement, comprehension, purification and transformation. That’s why Yogin and Yogini takes this decision that nobody and nothing is entitled to cause them sufferings and if the sufferings come then it’s an evident sign that we make a mistake somewhere, that maya snaps somewhere into action. Try to catch it, try to catch this mistake where we are in the wrong. For example, a little boy does a problem from mathematics textbook. He has done it and sees that the answer is incorrect. The first reaction is that there is a mistake into the textbook and he did everything right. This is the most typical situation when we are all so goody-goody, so pure, so highly forward-minded and spiritual and the world around is very angry that’s why I’m suffering. No, my friends, it happens in a different way indeed: these are we who made a mistake somewhere and the world turned with suffering to us. That’s why we have to remove this mistake. And this not quick deed, this is thorough and calm deed. But may be an additional happiness consists in this: when you realized that that’s all and you begin actively rearranging your inner Universe.

Renunciation of ignorance spills over into a necessity of communication with like-minded people

In Yogins and Yoginis’ environment this spilled over into beginning of communication with like-minded people. For example, people working with computers have such a notion “wandering error”. When your computer doesn’t simply work it’s clear that something has broken. But it may work, work and then one day it breaks and then it starts working again… and you are trembling with fear because you don’t know at what moment it will break again. This is the most fearful thing. Thus we have these “wandering errors” inside of us which is very difficult to catch: at one moment it is, at another – no. If you communicate not with like-minded people when you have a million of your own wandering errors and they start moaning around you, they start groan then you will feel wretched because of this whine around you. As they say it is bad enough as it is but there’s no getting away from here. That’s why you have to communicate with like-minded people in the first place. I.e. with those people who actively reorganize this Universe just as yourself. And I haven’t communicate with those who gave the reins of government god knows to whom, who thank up suffering by themselves, who live and look for the next stroke. You know that like as he sailed on a ship then he laid down steering control and wait until he will be stricken against this either one thing or another. Instead of taking steering control and steering to where he needs he groans: “Oh! Everything is bad. Everything will be worse but nobody knows when”. Well, take steering control, everything is in your hands!

This is what is called the circle of contacts, circle of like-minded people or friends on your road. Sometimes it is called with Sanskrit word “Sangha”; this is a kind of group of like-minded people. There are so many people in the world and they lead different lives. But if we go towards our aim, if we have take a decision not to suffer any more then we have to filter our communication as well. Thus it will be much easier for us to attain self-realization. Yogins and Yoginis handed us down this knowledge tried to communicate only with like-minded people because of this reason. The next point will be further: to pay sacred debt, this continuation of a family. I.e. our mother and father gave us our bodies for life; in the same way we have to pay this sacred debt or to help another people: there is no matter whether it will be your children or children of your friends and acquaintances. Everybody has to pay this sacred debt if he wants to be born in human body in his next life. But whishing to be born in a body of monkey or crocodile you may not wonder about this; and when you die you will enter that body which will fall to your lot.

That’s why the second point, means, comes to a formation of “Sangha” or of circle of contacts, circle of like-minded people or sometimes yoga ashram is meant here. This is an analog of our university where people study and live together. Numerous yoga schools were arising in the same way. I.e. these were such groups by interests and it’s certainly better to pay sacred debt (little ones) with like-minded people. Further we will consider more in detail this moment that yogin or yogini was looking for mother or father of his children and not for husband or wife for himself. They were looking for father or mother of their children not among someone off the street, not without looking where but in their circle of contacts. And if this yogin and yogini got subsequently married such marriages were very steady then. These were like-minded people alliances; these were such alliances when “a husband and a wife should look not at each other but in one direction”. Only then they can go together, only then they can live side by side. Thus here appears a heritage aspect. These groups of people carried this tradition from one generation to another and it was passed on in many respects from farther to son, from mother to daughter and so on. This wasn’t related with any genetic characteristics or choosing by God as people try to represent it sometimes, not at all. “Here are they, worthy. And others are not”. As you understand there is only one step from such ideas to fascism; there was nothing of the kind in yoga.


Figure 2. Communication with Like-minded People
(- You know I reflected on transcendental things today…
– That’s cool!
If you want to meet God be a sociable yogin.)

Thus it happened that these people tried to live together. As a result they stood out for a certain community and each people could join this community, this was only a question of soul status. They were existing for rather long time. The last strong surge of this tradition may be seen in 6-12 centuries AD. This was perhaps the last surge of such yogic tradition when huge groups of Yogins and Yoginis lived in the name of practice. They reached great results due to joint practicing. They were like a fire that burns down and only firebrands remain after it. The same thing happens with all the knowledge in yoga that we dispose. They are like poor firebrands from the fire of knowledge that was burned in that time. There were other surges before this last one but they were very small, local whereas at that time it was most probably something fantastical.

So there is a necessity of looking for like-minded people, communication with like-minded people, looking for a husband or a wife, for a partner for you among like-minded people. This results from the second point – means, i.e. it results from the very concrete things – from renunciation of suffering.

It’s clear that situation began to take a turn for the worse in the course of time. Formerly some people were born inside from one generation to another, some people came from the outside. Once again they were separated according to neither national nor genetic sign. I hear sometimes that this sangha (ashram) was formed nearly with DNA-analyze detected whether this person suited them and that didn’t. This is nonsense, my friends. This is a question of soul stage, at what stage there is a soul in its self-awareness. There was a holiday of life in these groups of like-minded people; there were all the conditions for practice; there were all the numerous techniques, practices, like-minded people who always told everything to you, who taught you. Then the major part of these Yogins and Yoginis absolutely naturally, evolutionally has attained the most higher point of enlightenment, realization and has left out planet another time. Somebody has remained to preserve this nucleus of yoga, to hand it down to our days. All these things make a part of sangha.

And I would like to speak about Tantra Yoga methods. Why do I always spoke, I’m speaking and I will speak about Tantra Yoga? That’s because nowadays an interest to it rises owing to the presence of sex in it. And it will continue to rise. On the one hand these practices are very powerful indeed. On the other hand who else doesn’t try to defame them, to pervert and to sully their reputation? But if not to practice with like-minded people then it was never even mentioned about any real Tantra Yoga practice. Of course there are such practices in Tantra Yoga when your partner, husband or wife may not even suspect that you are spiritually developing in this sphere. But this is rather exclusion than rule. You can’t find like-minded people for you so easy; you won’t just find partners for you and what may be the matter then?

To organize this group of like-minded people it shouldn’t be simply a group of like-minded people. This should be such a layer, a group of people with similar world outlook, with common mental and ethical qualities, with quite well-established notions about “how I will live and how I won’t; what I will do and what I won’t do under any circumstances; with whom I will communicate and whom I will avoid”. So it wasn’t such a narrow group as they try to represent it in a form of some clan or closed sect. No, it was such a layer most of all. To get into this layer you have to realize your necessity in it. A man has to go a part of his road alone. Only self-sufficient person can live with other people, coexist with them. And it happens so that people go through different development stages in yoga. Like there was an ancient man, a cave dweller there was a cave-yogin who took himself off everything and said: “That’s all, don’t disturb me. I’m trying to improve myself”. He goes away to a cave, he is meditating and practicing some yogas. But he does everything alone, only for his personal needs, he does no pair practices, there is nothing of this kind and even this isn’t assumed. Only those people who have passed through this phase begin to really appreciate communication with like-minded people. This is like a new evolutionary stage. So this was like a cooperation of self-sufficient people. This wasn’t any sect or clan where they would control each other (“Where you go?” etc.) as in mafioso-like structure.

More over there were no strict identification rules in these Yogins and Yoginis’ environment; this didn’t utterly allow tracking them. Sometimes I hear that they begin to track that one yoga school did this things, another yoga school passed that way. When I hear it I grip hysterical laugh because all the yoga reached us passed through Tantric schools. And in Tantric school there was particularly famous Kaula-doctrine. We have just touched it: such a person is quite at home in every culture, in every religion, etc. He may wear any clothes he likes, he may pray to any god he likes but at the same time he is in some way inside and outside of all these, he is open to everything and at the same time he is looking for like-minded people.

India is multinational country like many countries near Himalayas, near Sri-Lanka. And that’s why such a cross-cultural, cross-national cut happens: people belonging one yoga school dressed sometimes in different ways, spoke sometimes different languages, but this was the unity. This gave birth to many myths about the higher teachers, mysterious countries (there is such a lost country where people attained unprecedented peaks of yoga and other moments, where everything was seeking to spirituality). All these myths getting hazily to nowadays were right born from these groups of Yogins and Yoginis communicated with like-minded people.

If a person interesting in yoga has rather good karma then he just gets or he is born in Yogins and Yoginis’ environment (I will remind you once again that this consider to be the most happy birth). If he wasn’t born in this environment then he comes to a necessity of communication with like-minded people as he grows up and practices yoga. I.e. this is a certain stage on your road. As soon as person has implemented certain yoga abilities this opens to him by itself. Before this a person is more self-absorbed as a rule, he is inclined to develop only himself: “Here I’m seating in my cave and I will struggle with my own Samadhi and I don’t care about the other entire world”. If he really thought in this selfish way and seriously tries to improve himself then he passes very quickly to the next stage where it is necessary to communicate with like-minded people. But if he found a place to stay alone and it seems to him that he improves himself but really he doesn’t practice yoga and all this is maya, self-deception, he is utterly in his illusions then he may spend to many time there. Well, pay your attention that all the teachers of the humanity who came they went off as well to lead their own solitary life. And after they came back; this is the next stage and it is absolutely necessary. In Yogins and Yoginis environment such words always sound: “There is no higher happiness than communication with like-minded people; this is the most subtle pleasure. All the other things pale beside this”. But in order to look for like-minded people you have to be up-to-date and to show certain mental outlook.

Another prophecy

Further everything becomes very merry and interesting. There is yogic prophecy. I’m calling you upon to think about every prophecy with humor. But on the other hand it is that is called “Tale of sense, if not of truth! Food for thought to honest youth”. And well, according to this prophecy if this process of consolidation goes at this new level then the mankind will survive; if no then the mankind will tumble down and annihilate itself by itself. And it is said there that there were some civilizations before nowadays which hasn’t survived. Why? That’s because a mental field of sufficient number of responsible Yogins and Yoginis is required to hold the humanity up and not to allow it to come down to chaos. Here numerous stories walk around about wise men seating in Himalayas and guiding the history of mankind by their thoughts. You understand that this is only a story: nobody can guide the history of mankind; every individual is endowed with free will and lives as he wants. But if there are sages guiding mankind history then we will able to make out an invoice to them: and what about Hitler? and what about some maniacs? and why did you miss killers after all?

As you understand this is our exaggerated notion. Even the greatest yogin being possessed of all the superabilities is also limited in this sense and with the only one thing. It means sanctity of freedom of another person’s or another microcosm’s or another little universe’s will. That’s why we can’t guide the mankind with such an iron hand. Mankind is free to make foolish things but somewhere to balance them also. It has at least to guide its freedom on its development and not on annihilating of itself. And it needs sometimes some help.

That’s why it said in prophecies that the next stage will come when a mankind goes to a new evolutionary stage. And this evolutionary stage won’t be associated with our bodies changing. No. It will be associated with a change of our inner world outlook when we cease to be so wild. If this doesn’t happen a mankind will have to disappear.

Yogins and Yoginis looking for like-minded people will create protective fields that would guard our civilization against a breakup. And here consists guarantee of mankind passing to a new stage. There is another interesting thing already purely practical; it touched practices for any rajah. Rajah is such a little king, little lord, princeling who has small principality and who is a chief there. India was divided into these principalities over a long historical period and now they form part of these or those Indian states. But earlier there was its own ruler in every principality. There were real rulers’ dynasties sometimes. One very mysterious thing is related with this. It was awfully vulgarized and vitiated later because as soon as any practice falls into hands of people at Pashu (human-animal) stage and not Vira stage they immediately vulgarize this practice. As a rule if a rajah was an adept of any yoga school and there were like-minded people (yogins and yoginis) around him then the Golden Age came in his principality. Illnesses and terrible epidemics suddenly disappeared to somewhere; conquerors slaughtered each other by themselves. So in general flourishing was observed in the most incomprehensible way, everyone lived well. Into the common people many hazy rumours always filtered about rajah and his rani or with his concubines practiced secret practices which includes sex and certain invocations and all that and after their practices peace and flourishing came. There was protection from rakshasas as well. Rakshasas are the souls of animals in human bodies. Such a creature is born: in outward appearance it looks like a human but he is an animal according to its development level. I.e. it was like a protection from maniacs. And our maniacs are quite understandable but there were maniacs with the otherworldly superabilities, it was entirely gloomy situation. It was considered that when rajah and his rani did any practice in sexual alliance then there was so powerful outbreak of light at the subtle level from this practice that all these souls of maniacs, semi-humans, semi-god knows whom just scattered out of fear. They couldn’t bear this because this light outbreak burnt them. It’s understandable that the common people, peasants turned this into superstitions, into obscurantism more over. But the fact remains: this consolidated its grip on society and was passed on. These practices were kept in secrecy. These were medieval times and people were quite bloodthirsty. Remember the Middle Ages: there somebody killed and poisoned someone all the time, there were conspiracies and fight for power, there were more than enough persons interested in taking away kingdom from rajah. And having done these practices rajah: a) drove off dark forces; b) gave prosperity to all people; c) made conditions to flourishing of science, philosophy, literature and art. We still keep on admiring with work of art of ancient India. If these fields of power were built everything went good. And who took care of this? Rajah took care of this with his concubines or different variants may have been. These practices began to penetrate to people at low level of their spiritual development, to uneducated and not very bright people. Unworthy, less-understanding, dirty people began to do these practices. The most fanny thing is that it was working for some time. I.e. practices worked by itself for people who understood nothing in Tantra, in yoga, in higher practices. Then still more it was turned into superstitions and at last it generally turned into some medley of black magic and obscurantism.

Unfortunately conditions in our Universe and it laws are so that the higher practice gives good and helps all beings if it is practiced by a man on high level of his spiritual development. And just the same practice turns into something absolutely obscene if it falls into hands of spiritually undeveloped people. This remained to our days. I hear here and there that there they practice any chakra – puja, here they do any sexual practice that can be named only “group sex” and no differently. It is vexing because if I knew about this practice it means that there was serious leak and people who practiced it are “wooden-headed”. I.e. here I won’t run ahead to the practical moments of Tantra yoga, etc. but nobody has ever to know about practice not to influence on its result. And if I know about any practice I understand that those who try to practice it somehow don’t understand anything in it.

Figure 3. Tantric Practices
1) Before the secret practice:

Rajah and rani, local whimperers (- I have a pimple on my nose! A-a-a! – And I have two… A-a-a!) rakshasas, local violents, the Ganges)

2) After the secret practice:

(6 a.m. (- Oh! What if I go to make perpetual motion! – And I, and I, and I will invent Mendeleev periodic table), (- Blah-blah-blah, how blue is the sky… And we aren’t defenders of robbery after all…), (- Friend, let’s break into a run to bathe into the Ganges! – Ok, friend!)

Gossips or between you, me and the lamppost

Evil or good tongues say indeed that India has made again very swift rise. They say that they earn more on software in India than we on petroleum or gas. They are seating there and writing their little programs and they are paid money and we sell our resources. Such a story goes within the narrow circles: Indian economy rise supposedly began after they have partially resuscitated practices. And they really create favorable conditions. As the most favourite theme today in India is the display of goddess Lakshmi, goddess of success, goddess of dough, then the evil tongues affirm that their welfare particularly is provoked by digging up of some ancient manuscripts and beginning to make the welfare of the country by using them. But they make it with a very great disbalance sideward to the finances. No one rajah ever did this in his principality. I.e. what do you need money for if tomorrow any war or epidemic begins, if rakshasas are born in your principality or anything else happens? Money can do a lot but this is the very narrow instrument. But again these evil or good tongues say that though they use these practices attracting welfare but this is one-sided using which doesn’t guarantee happiness at all. So if you wish it and know English you may order any puja for your business flourishing by internet; they just have got this. What for personally travel to India? Just pay by internet and they will do everything in the best possible way. The funniest thing is that this kind of services enjoys popularity. And it enjoys popularity among Hindus working in the west countries and ordering favorable rituals at their place in India by internet. All these secret practices, pujas, manuscripts are wonderful of course but they are only scraps of the knowledge that was lost, that didn’t reach us, that works at its last gasp there in India.

Well, what an analogy can be drawn here? Imagine in VII century there was a factory with computer production research-and-development center. And one last operational computer reached our days in any way; a man pushed bottoms for the last time and they work for the last time. Tomorrow it will be broken and they won’t be able to make the same computer; they won’t even be able to repair this one because they don’t understand principles. That’s why all these secret mantras, yantras, visualization practices are really working if they fall to your lot in a state of nature. They are like the Kalashnikov gun indeed: it was made god knows when but it can actually shoot today. Nobody knows how to make it. It went to us only because priests in any temple kept it very well. But this will go away quicker then we think. That’s why pujas may stop working by internet very soon or may be they continue working – I don’t know it. They will work or won’t only in one case: if people who would adapt them to the new living conditions are found. Well, all these delights of life.., you may not even take care about them. Did these mantras or yantras reach you in a state of nature? A question appears here: whom to give this knowledge to? Who will use this knowledge?


Figure 4. Uncle B. about his long-standing worries
(So many tantra practices I know. And whom to give them to?
Whom to teach them? A-a-a… Won’t they really die with me? A-a-a…
But stop moaning!)

There is a hope, it has to be

And the most fundamental question at last. If a group of like-minded Yogins and Yoginis practicing yoga, protecting indeed their country against rakshasas by their mental field is formed then these practices will tend to be rediscovered even if they were lost. Some time practice of reading people’s thoughts at any distance appeared exactly in such narrow aspect. Everything that has ever been made, thought up or discovered can be made, thought up or discovered now as well as in future. We are all done in the same likeness. And everything that sages could do in ancient times we will be also able to do today. We will be able to do it in full-scale if there is this group, this layer of like-minded people. If it is then geniuses will be born in this environment; there will be practice, everything will be well-tested, everything will be perfect. Now we have something at least. Firstly, this knowledge will be passed on further and secondly it will be increased, rediscovered. That’s why in this sense it is not only a guarantee that you will understand many yogas reached us from ancient times but it is an essential condition that you will rediscover many other yogas which you dream about but which didn’t get to us or which got to us in incomprehensible form. All these concern the second item, the means. I.e. the purpose is the Higher, the means is renunciation of ignorance engendering a thing called “circle of like-minded people”.

Wishes

So my friends, if you have someone to talk about yoga like I have then I’m happy for you. If you don’t have then I wish it happens as soon as possible. Without this layer, this circle of communication I would still understand nothing in yoga by myself. That’s why I call you again and again: we can’t reform people but we can communicate with those people that we need to and avoid communication with needless people. The highest happiness that we only get in our life is communication with like-minded people. All the other pastimes apart from communication with the Higher pale beside this highest happiness.

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