Stages of the Spiritual Path
(Comments on the Patanjali’s Scheme)
In ancient times,
Indian rishi Patanjali highlighted the
principal stages of the ascent to spiritual heights,
to the Primordial Consciousness.
He distinguished eight major
steps of this ascent: yama — niyama —
asana — pranayama — pratyahara
— dharana — dhyana — samadhi.
However, since the first two of the above-mentioned
steps are very similar and are supposed to be
practiced simultaneously, it makes sense to regard
them as one and view this system as a seven-step
“octave”. Let us look at these steps.
Yama and Niyama
These terms are translated as
effort and relaxation or exertion and
rest. This
stage consists in mastering fundamental ethical and
psycho-hygienic rules of a spiritual seeker’s life.
The first rule is called
ahimsa — non-harming. It means trying not to
injure, as far as possible, any living being in
deeds, words, thoughts, or emotions.
This also includes the principles
of ethically correct
nutrition and, which is no less important,
getting rid of coarse
emotions, which are the result of ill thoughts
and often lead to rude words and actions.
One can make ethical mistakes,
including crimes, as a result of either ignorance,
lack of understanding of the universal order and of
one’s own place and role in it, or out of indulging
in the emotions of spite, condemnation, resentment,
anxiety, fear, etc., which are vicious
manifestations of the lower self.
Sathya (truthfulness) is
the second rule of yama. Jesus Christ said about
this concisely: “…Let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your
‘No,’ ‘No’” (Matt 5:33-37). One can deserve respect
from people and from God only by behaving in this
way.
Yet, there are cases where one
cannot tell the truth, because this can harm
someone. In such instances, it is better to evade
answering the question…
By lying, one becomes a sinner
before God and a captive to one’s own lies before
people, since he or she will have to apprehend a
disclosure and to live in anxiety, instead of the
state of steadfast pure peace.
The third rule is asteya —
non-covetousness, renunciation of the desire to
possess something that belongs to someone else. One
should totally concentrate on the cognition of God.
Craving for material objects, especially those
belonging to others, is an utter perversion of the
true orientation of consciousness, which at the same
time leads to harming other people.
The fourth rule is aparigraha
— limiting one’s possessions to necessary things.
Unnecessary things only distract our attention from
the essential: from being focused on attaining Mergence with the Creator.
Brahmacharya — the fifth
rule — literally means “walking the path of
Brahman (the
Holy Spirit)”. This
implies renunciation of worldly desires
(except for attending to elementary needs of the
body) and redirection of the attention toward
God, searching for Him first with the mind and then
— with the developed consciousness.
This rule implies sincere
renunciation of seeking worldly fame and honors,
accumulating things which are unnecessary in the
world of Brahman, and embellishment of the body.
Some people interpret the
Brahmacharya rule only as celibacy (sexual
abstinence). But this is too narrow of an
interpretation. Besides this, sexual continence is
even unnecessary provided spiritual attitude toward
sex. On the contrary, celibacy can lead to
prostatitis in men, energetic “fading” of women and
result in consciousness growing “callous” — in both.
Such continence really does not contribute to
progress on the spiritual Path. What is important is
not abstaining from sex, but freeing oneself from
being obsessed with it and from sexual contacts with
inadequate partners.
The sixth rule is saucha —
maintaining purity of the body. The main thing here
is to wash the whole body with warm or hot water and
with soap — daily, if possible. This cleans the
skin from deposits of perspiration salts, which
upset the normal functioning of the whole organism.
Saucha also implies brushing the
teeth and so on.
There are also special
therapeutic saucha techniques, such as enema or an
abstersion of the nose and of the nasopharynx by
drawing in salted water. There is no reason for
using them regularly, though.
It is also not advisable for all
people to practice cold-water showers. This is
beneficial as a tempering or a toning up procedure.
But for those who need to establish themselves in
peace and harmony it could do harm.
The seventh rule is mitahara
— pure nutrition, i.e. the one which excludes
products made of bodies of killed animals. Also, one
should take food in an emotionally favorable
environment. In no circumstances should one eat on
the background of conflict conversations or bitter
arguments, as well as in presence of malicious or
irritated people. One may perform a
meditation before
taking a meal in order to harmonize the inner state.
The eighth rule — santosha
— consists in constant maintaining a positive
emotional attitude. If we feel the presence of the
Lord and devote the life to Him totally, if we do
not act out of self-interest, if we know that He
is constantly watching all, leading all, teaching
all, that He creates difficulties so that we could
learn and then He Himself helps us to find
solutions to the problems — why would we not live
in the state of permanent joy?
The ninth rule is svadhyana
— philosophical discussions, conversations, and
readings that make for a thorough comprehension of
the meaning of our lives and of the Path to
Perfection.
“Fix your mind on Me…” — thus Avatar Krishna defined
in the Bhagavad Gita
the first steps that man should take on the Path to
God.
The tenth rule — tapas —
implies any kinds of self-restraint and
self-constraint for the sake of overcoming one’s own
vices. Among other things, tapas teaches us
spiritual discipline as well as to follow the
principle “it must be done!” as opposed to the
principle “I do only that what I want!”
The eleventh rule is
Ishvarapranidhana. This implies feeling that
everything existing is pervaded with the
Consciousness of the Creator (Ishvara), feeling His
constant presence everywhere, seeing Him as a
Teacher and Witness of everything that I do and that
happens to me.
There are also four very
important rules:
— kshama — tolerance to those who
think differently;
— daya — mercy, kindness;
— arjava — simplicity, lack of
arrogance;
— hri — lowliness of mind, and
also a lack of: self-admiration, self-pride because
of one’s actual achievements, and conceit —
self-praise on account of one’s imaginary virtues.
Asana
In this context, the word asana
means a posture, a steady position of the body.
There are special methods of working with the body
in order to prepare it for further stages of the
spiritual work. Systems of asanas and other
exercises of this stage of work are collectively
called hatha yoga.
They also help one to acquire the skills of initial
concentration and provide the entry-level
development of the energy structures of the
organism.
One should start doing asanas
only after studying and accepting the principles of
the previous stage. Practicing hatha yoga without
switching to cruelty-free diet leads to coarsening
of one’s energy and to growth of coarse power, and
this, in turn, leads one astray from the true Path.
The best time for doing asanas is
early morning — approximately 4-5 a.m.
Each session has to be followed
by shavasana — a deep
relaxation of the body and mind while lying on the
back for about 20 minutes. If one does not do this,
health disorders may occur, such as deterioration of
the eyesight, anxiety, insomnia, etc.
To do shavasana, lie down on the
back with your eyes closed. Make sure you feel
comfortable in this position. Nothing should
distract you. Relax the body starting from the
toes. Imagine that a vertical plane — like a
glass wall — starts moving through your body
from the toes to the head, leaving no tension
behind. Feeling of all parts of the body that
are behind the plane disappears. Alienate them
by saying mentally: ‘This is not mine, this is
not mine!…’ If a feeling of some parts behind
the plane reappears — move the plane through
this section once again. After the plane has
passed the head, you can experience the
following states:
The first state: self-awareness
vanishes. You fall into something resembling a
deep sleep, but this is not a sleep.
Self-awareness is regained in about 18-20
minutes. You feel thoroughly rested, as if after
a long deep sleep. This is quite a blissful
state. You do not have to stand up abruptly,
just enjoy it.
The second state: self-awareness
is retained, but absolute peace comes down on
you. You may scan the entire body with the inner
sight. You may enter the inner space of your
body from below. You may see light and dark
regions. Gray or black colors represent
disorders on one of the energy planes, which
correspond to active or still latent stages of
diseases. Try to gather all dark stuff in heaps
with a rake, as it were, and throw it outside
the body.
When doing shavasana, we may
also experience involuntary exits from the
material body: we may suddenly feel ourselves in
our usual form but in an unnatural position —
for example soaring above the floor, standing on
the head, and so on. There is nothing to worry
about: once we feel like getting back into the
body — we will find ourselves there right away.
However, under no circumstances we should
encourage ourselves to perform such exits: these
are still exits into a coarse spatial dimension
— into the so-called astral plane. One
should learn how to exit immediately into the
highest space dimensions; but the methods for
doing this are different.
Children under age of 12 must
not be taught shavasana: having realized that
they are out of the body, they do not always
want to get back into it.
Pranayama
Working with energies within the
body and within the energy cocoon that surrounds the
body is the task of raja yoga. And the first stage
of raja yoga is
pranayama, which is translated as work with
energy.
Sometimes this term is
incorrectly interpreted as breathing exercises. This
is an atheistic error. In reality, it is the energy
of consciousness that is moved during pranayamas,
but one may perform this — for convenience — keeping
time with the breath.
The part of the consciousness
that works during pranayamas should transform into
white flowing light. With this light one washes away
all bio-energetic contaminations located in the
body. This results in general improvement of the
health and elimination of various diseases. Also the
consciousness itself turns into a mobile and active
power.
Below, a few general purifying exercises of the pranayama type
are described.
Stand up. Bend slightly to your right so that your right hand is hanging freely without touching the body. Try to feel your hand thoroughly from the shoulder joint to the wrist. Imagine that a pump chamber, to which “air”-light is being fed through the hand like through a hose, expands and contracts in the chest with every inhaling and exhaling. Special attention should be paid to the exhaling. Try to achieve the clarity of feelings. The “hose” should be as thick as the hand and nothing should prevent “air”-light from moving freely inside it.
Perform the same exercise with the left hand, and then with each leg. The “hose” to each leg should come down from the chest through the corresponding side of the body.
Place images of two vessels, for example, barrels, under your feet. One of them is empty; the other is full of white liquid light. Touch this light with your foot-hose and pump it through the body-pump into the other barrel. With each inhaling the pump chamber inside the body and the head is expanding, drawing the light from the full vessel through the leg. With each exhaling the chamber is contracting, the light pouring out through the other leg into the empty barrel. The light cleanses the whole body from inside.
When the barrel with the light gets empty — fill it up again and overturn the content of the other barrel into an image of fire so that all dirt that has streamed out burns. Turn the body around over the barrels and repeat the exercise.
After that repeat the same, placing the barrels under your hands.
In this way you should attain the feeling that your whole body is filled with bright white light.
The room in which pranayamas are performed should be lit by either natural sunlight or by filament lamps. Fluorescent lighting does not fit for this purpose: it has a very unfavorable energetic impact on the human organism.
The word pratyahara means
“removal of the indriyas
from material objects”. Pratyahara is the stage at
which the aspirant learns to control the “tentacles”
of the consciousness that are called indriyas in
Sanskrit. This allows achieving the ability to see
in subtle and subtlest layers of multidimensional
space, as well as to exit from the material body
into these layers and settle in them, accustoming
oneself to their subtlety, tenderness, and purity.
The concept of indriyas exists only in Indian spiritual culture.
Europeans with their simplified and degraded religious ideas usually are not capable of grasping this kind of knowledge. Even in translations from Indian languages they substitute the word indriyas with the word senses; by doing this they completely reject the immense methodological significance of pratyahara concept and of principles of work at this stage.
Europeans translate the term pratyahara as control over the senses. But senses are not everything that is denoted by the term indriyas, since indriyas include
the mind as well. It is also essential that the image of “tentacles” evoked by the word indriyas provides profound understanding of the principles of functioning of the mind and consciousness, as well as of
the methods of controlling them.
Krishna presented a fundamental knowledge about working with indriyas in the
Bhagavad Gita.
He said about the indriyas of vision, audition, smell, touch, proprioreception,
and about those of the mind. And indeed: concentration of attention on an object
through any organ of sense or through the mind is very similar to extending a
tentacle to that object from the body. When we switch concentration to another
object, we detach our indriyas and move them to it. In the same manner, the mind
creates its own indriyas, when we think about something or someone. People with
developed sensitivity can perceive other people’s indriyas that touch them. In
some cases, such people can even see those indriyas and therefore can influence
them.
Krishna said
that man should learn is the ability to draw all
his indriyas from the material world inwards,
just like a tortoise retracts its paws and head
into its shell. Then man should extend his
indriyas into the Divine eons in order to
embrace God with them, to draw himself to Him
and to merge with Him. That is, our task on the
spiritual Path is to direct the indriyas of the
mind and then those of the consciousness — to
God in order to merge with Him eventually.
Now Sathya Sai Baba — a contemporary Avatar and Messiah, an incarnation of God in human body —
teaches about indriyas. Many of His books have been translated into Russian but in all of them the information about working with indriyas was lost due to inadequate translations.
One cannot attain control over indriyas without mastering the ability to shift
the concentration of consciousness between the chakras and main meridians, i.e. the meridians that make up microcosmic orbit
plus the middle meridian.
Dharana means maintaining proper
concentration. Proper concentration means keeping
one’s indriyas on God. In
other words, this is a manifestation of man’s
aspiration toward God, toward Merging with Him.
But God in the aspect of the
Creator or Holy Spirit is inaccessible for the
direct perception at this stage of apprenticeship.
Our loving thirst for God can be partially quenched by working with an Image of a specific Divine Teacher, for example, Jesus Christ, Babaji or Sathya Sai Baba — the One, Whose form in His past incarnation is familiar to us.
If we hold
the face of a Divine Teacher in the
anahata on the background of emotion of
the most intense love that we are capable of, we
gradually enter a state when it is not I who
look at the world from the anahata, but Him.
This denotes the state when the Yidam
(this is what this Image is called)
“becomes alive”, and the meditator is partially
merged with Him. After that, one may live in
Unity with Him in the anahata, or having moved
the concentration of the consciousness to the
chakras located in the head, one can address Him
in the anahata as an Advisor and a Teacher. This
is not an illusion, but the Divine Teacher
entering into His Image created by the meditator.
He may also become an Instructor in one’s
meditative trainings. He will lead His devoted
disciple through His Consciousness — into the
Abode of the Universal Consciousness of the
Creator.
“If you can visualize the Image of the Teacher in your consciousness with the most complete clarity, you can transfer
your consciousness into His, and thus act through His Power, as it were. But for this, you must visualize the Image of the Teacher with utmost precision, to the minutest detail, so that the Image does not flicker, suffer distortion or change Its outlines, as frequently happens. But if following the exercise of concentration one succeeds in invoking the steady Image of the Teacher, through this one may gain the greatest benefit for oneself, for those around one, and for the work.” [1] (Hierarchy: 90).
“You may be
asked how the entrance upon the path of Service
is defined. Certainly, the first sign will be
renunciation of the past and total aspiration
toward the future. The second sign will be
realization of the Teacher within the heart not
because it is one’s ‘duty’, but because one
cannot behave other way. The third sign will be
rejection of fear, for he who is armed by the
Lord is invulnerable. The fourth will be
non-condemnation, because he who strives into
the future has no time to occupy himself with
the refuse of yesterday. The fifth will be
filling of the entire time with labor for the
future. The sixth will be the joy of Service and
completely offering oneself for the good of the
world. The seventh will be spiritual aspiration
toward the far-off worlds as a predestined path.
According to these signs, you will discern
spirit that is ready and manifested for Service.
He will understand where to raise the sword for
the Lord, and his word will be from his heart.”
[Hierarchy:196]
Those students, for whom working with Yidam does not bring immediate results, may benefit from practicing visualization. They may practice creating images that help develop chakras or visualize blissful pictures of communicating with living nature, etc. But only those images, which are filled with exultation of happiness, harmony, joy, subtlety, and bliss will make for one’s correct spiritual development. Corresponding types of paintings, musical compositions and art photography, etc. may also serve as an aid.
Dhyana
Dhyana is the stage of meditative
training that leads one to Samadhi.
Meditation is work of
consciousness aimed at the development of
consciousness on the path to the Perfection and to
the Mergence with the Creator. Meditation is
practiced at three stages of the Patanjali’s scheme.
At the dharana stage, students
among other things, learn how to expand the
consciousness in the most subtle and beautiful
manifestations in the world of matter. By means of such
attunement, they establish themselves in the sattva
guna. (And through working with Yidam they may
immediately come in contact with the Fiery
manifestation of the Divine Consciousness and
experience Samadhi).
At the dhyana stage, students
work on increasing the “mass” of the consciousness and
obtaining power in subtlety.
At the next stage, their efforts
are focused on interaction of the consciousness with
the Consciousness of Universal God and on merging
with Him.
At the dhyana stage, the
meditative work is especially effective if it is
performed on special
places of power
— areas on the Earth’s surface that have a special
energetic impact on human beings. Among the variety
of them only those should be chosen that make for
expanding of the consciousness in the subtlest
eons. A correctly selected
sequence of such places ensures that the most
complex tasks of correct crystallization
(i.e. quantitative growth) of consciousness can be
solved easily and with little effort.
For the same purpose, one can meditate during athletic exercises, as well as practice winter swimming and meditative running [2].
The structure of the human organism responsible for meditation is the lower bubble of perception (this term was introduced by Juan Matus; see [2,4] for details) the principal part of which is
the anahata chakra, supplied with energy by the lower dantyan (a complex of the three lower chakras). This is why success of the work at this stage depends on the level of purity and development of the entire system of seven chakras, which is combined into one complex by the meridians that have been mentioned above.
From the very beginning of meditative training until the absolute Victory of Merging with the Primordial Consciousness, one should always remember that the man’s main merit is measured by the level of
the development of his spiritual heart. It is by spiritual heart that man can
merge with God. Thus, it is the spiritual heart that man should develop and keep
pure in every possible way. Everything said above allows one to take it not as a nice figure of speech or a metaphor, but as a quite practical knowledge and instruction.
The steps of the ladder of the spiritual ascent that we are discussing now are meant for teaching one how to position consciousness, first, in anahata, then to ensure the growth of anahata within the body and, after that, beyond it — within the cocoon, then within Earth and beyond the planet in the highest eons.
In this way we can grow ourselves as Love. God is Love, and one can merge with Him only after becoming a Great Love, a Great Soul of Love (Mahatma).
And there are no other ways of attaining Divinity, except for those fundamental steps that were describing here.
Samadhi
This stage includes a range of highest spiritual achievements — from the first Samadhi to Mergence with the Primordial Consciousness in the Abode of the Creator.
The consciousness of the spiritual seeker prepared at the previous stages becomes capable of getting in contact with Consciousness of God in the highest eons. These first contacts give one a vivid novelty of bliss, which is what the term Samadhi denotes [6].
In contrast to Samadhi, Nirvana is one’s stable
Mergence with the Consciousness of God, when the
feeling of localized “I” disappears. The term
Nirvana means complete burning away,
i.e. losing the individuality in Mergence with
God. In this state, an individual consciousness,
having expanded and dissolved in God, feels
itself as God.
In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna speaks about Samadhi and about the principal stages of Nirvana: Nirvana in Brahman (the Holy Spirit) and Nirvana in Ishvara (the Creator).
But in India,
the term Nirvana became widely used by
Buddhists since some time. Then this term along
with Buddhism was “forced out” from India by
Hindus. Instead of using the term Nirvana,
Hindu schools started to expand the meaning of
the term Samadhi by adding to it various
prefixes (for example, nirvikalpa-samadhi).
Various schools used these composite words, and
because of this the meaning of term Samadhi
became “diffused” and lost its unambiguity.
Therefore, it makes sense to get back to
accurate terminology introduced by God through
Krishna.
So, in order to get from Samadhi (Contact) to Nirvana (Mergence), one has to have a large and strong individual consciousness, developed by preceding trainings. In addition to this, it has to be firmly established in Divine subtlety.
If these two conditions are fulfilled, then all one needs to do is to just find an entrance into the required eon, enter it, and dissolve in its Consciousness using the method of total reciprocity, which one has to master in advance [2]. The latter includes not only meditative skills, but also ethical preparation. This preparation consists in destroying one’s lower self in every possible way and replacing it with
the collective self first, and then with the universal Self, i.e. the Paramatman. This is the only way man can connect to
the unlimited Divine Power.
“…We have an inexhaustible reservoir of psychic energy!” [1] (Hierarchy:394), says God.
But “if one were to expound the conditions and the aims of Yoga, the number of applicants would not be great. Terrifying for them would be the renunciation of selfhood…”[1] (Hierarchy: 451).
In connection to the above said let us read a quotation from the Carlos Castaneda’s book The Power of Silence: “…War, for a warrior, is the total struggle against that individual self that has deprived man of his power.” (see [4]).
One explores the highest eons one after another. Before starting exploring the next eon, one has to accumulate
the power of consciousness for a long time. The only exception is the people who approached these stages in their previous incarnations and maintained the
necessary amount of personal power and the level of the subtlety of consciousness.
Bibliography
1. Agni Yoga. Hierarchy, Naberezhnye Chelny, 1991 (in Russian).
2. Antonov V.V. — Spiritual Practices (Training Aid). “Polus”, Saint Petersburg, 1998 (in Russian).
3. Antonov V.V. — How God Can Be Cognized. Autobiography of a Scientist, Who Studied God. “Polus”, Saint Petersburg, 1999 (in Russian).
4. Antonov V.V. — The Teachings of Don Juan Matus.
5. Antonov V.V. — The Original Teachings of Jesus Christ. “Argest”, Saint Petersburg, 1996 (in Russian).
6. Antonov V.V. — God Speaks (Textbook of Religion). “Polus”, Saint Petersburg, 1999 (in Russian). |
