Articles

Parama Pujya Swami Nityananda Giri (Rajahamsa), Kryia-yoga Acharya and Astrologer

1. Kriyā-yoga for Happy Life

• Friday, March 05th, 2010
By Swami Nityananda Giri (Rajahamsa)

Illusory World of Mind

In present day world we all have become slaves to our mind. Whatever we do, we do simply being swayed away by our emotions, influenced by our thoughts and desires or being attracted by allurements. But this should not be like this. We have to be master of our mind. If we go according to the wrong ideas of our mind we will commit mistakes. For example we may meet a person ugly in outlook and develop an unwelcome attitude towards the person but the person may be very nice by nature. This means we are deluded by the ideas of our mind and could not be able to take a right decision. But all our activities are first done in mind and then are expressed as speech and/or actions. And here our mind is cheating us. Therefore we have to clean our mind so that we are not cheated.

A pampered child demands a toy, then starts crying for it and after getting it soon he is dissatisfied and either throws away or breaks the toy to cry for a second one, similarly for third, fourth and so on. Our mind is like a pampered child, like the spoiled son of a rich person who is addicted to alcohol or drugs, wastes money and does not obey his parents and elders. First he did not control his son from the beginning and now cry to the situation, still then is not able to leave attachments. Similar is the situation of our mind. Can we do anything positive with such a mind? We want to do something then after doing that we think this was wrong. Again we want to do something and again commit the same mistake. When shall we come out of the wrong impressions of the mind? If our mind accepts something as noble even if that is not worthy to be noble, we accept it as noble. Similarly if mind accepts something as horrible even if that is honorable we accept it as horrible. Sometimes even if we understand proper, we neglect it and do not work on it. We want to follow our ego blindly. This ego is the spoiled child of our blind mind. This blind mind is king Dhŗtarāstra and ego is its elder son Duryodhana, full of desires. We live in this kingdom of lawlessness. This is the reason we create problems for ourselves, and dangers for others.

Right Understanding

In Śrimad Bhagavad-Gitā (3-42) Lord Kŗşna has said,

indriyāņi parāņyāhurindriyebhyah param manah,
manasastu parā buddhiryo buddheh paratastu sah.

Our organs, indriyāņi, viz. sense organs and action organs are said to be greater, parāņyāhuh (than our body), mind is greater than the organs, indriyebhyah param manah, intellect is greater than the mind, manasastu parā buddhi, and one who, yah is greater than the intellect is He, buddheh paratastu sah, the Self.

             In this saying lies the solution to our problems. We have to bring our mind under the control of our intellect means under the control of the discriminating intellect, and intellect under the control of the Self. Then in our life it is only happiness. According to the sayings of Lord Buddha, “From right understanding proceeds right thought; from right thought proceeds right speech; from right speech proceeds right action and from right action proceeds right livelihood”. So we have to make noble our thinking, belief-system and thought processes means we have to make our internal organ, mind, pure. According to Upanişads,

śreyaśca preyaśca manuşyameta-
stau samparītya vivinakti dhīrah,
śreyo hi dhīrobhi preyaso vŗņīte
preyo mando yogakshemadvŗņīte. (Ka. U.: 1-2-2)

The preferable (the exulted ones), śreyah, and pleasurable (the attached ones), preyah, both approach a man, manuşyametah. A man with discriminating intellect, dhīrah, separates, vivinakti, the two, tau and chooses, abhi vŗņīte, the preferable in place of pleasurable, śreyo hi preyaso; but a man with dull intellect, mandah, prefers the pleasurable for the growth and protection, preyo yogakshemadvŗņīte, of the body (for him body is the self).

Prāņopāsanā develops Discriminating Intellect

             But how a discriminating intellect will develop, how mind will be cleaned? For this we need faith and devotion, we should read scriptures, control the senses; and all these happens in mind only. So we need some thing where mind is absorbed and that is our prāņa, the vital force. It was said in Yogic scriptures, ‘indriyāņām mano nāthah manonāthastu mārutah’, mind is the master of sense organs and the air (breath) is master of the mind. So we have to take the help of our breath. Everyone experienced that when there is anger, greed, fear, sex, frustration, desires, emotions etc are in our mind our breath also becomes different. That is the reason to keep our mind in equanimity we have to make our breath stable. This is our practice. Entire Vedic literature sings the glory of the knowledge of prāņa, prāņavidāya. According to Prśnopanişad (6-4),

“sa prāņamasŗjata prāņācchradhām kham vāyujyotirāpah pŗthivīndriyam manh,
annamannādvīryam tapo mantrāh karma lokā lokeşu ca nāma ca”,

He has first created the prāņa, the Life Force. From prāņa he created faith, ether, air, fire, water, earth, organs, mind, food, vigour, austerities, mantras, actions, worlds and name .

Prāņa is the first part out of the sixteen parts of the God. Everything has been created from prāņa and merges in prāņa and to know the prāņa we have to take the support of our breath, prāņavāyu. We have to learn prāņopāsnā, worship of prāņa; by that our internal subtle organs viz. mind etc will be pure, concentration will increase, intellect will be sharp and discrimination capability will develop. That is yoga, which is the practice part of yoga. That has been known as kriyā-yoga. This is the technique to balance the exhalation, prāņa, and inhalation, apāna; this is technique of suspension of breath, prāņāyāma. This is the technique of merging the prāņa and apāna, inhalation and exhalation in to vyāna, the air that wholly pervades in the body. And for higher yogis it is the technique of winning over udāna, the air in body that has upward trend. These all are called Kriyā-yoga. If we practice then there will be no tension in our life, we will not become living dead-bodies. We will always remain in life. This is the key to the happy life.

(From Kriya-yoga: The Science of Life-force)
Copyright © Swami Nityananda Giri

3. Burning Desires And Attaining Liberation Through Breath Technique ( prāṇakarma)

By Swami Nityananda Giri (Rajahamsa)

Wise does not Pray for the Mortal Objects
Desires are bondage and if you have no desire than it is the liberation, only this much is to be understood. These desires are the impurities of the mind, mano mala. When these impurities are reduced and new impurities are not created in the mind then the person moves towards the liberation, and that is nirvāṇa. This is the teaching of Lord Buddha. Bhagavatī Śruti, the Vedas, also teaches this to us. The Lord of Death, Yama, while teaching to Naciketā says,

parācaḥ kāmānanuyanti bālāḥ

            te mṛtyoryanti vipatasya pāśam;

atha dhīrā amṛtatvaṁ viditvā

            dhruvamadhruveṣviha na prārthayante. (Ka. U.: 2-1-2)

Ignorant man follows his desires, he is extrovert, and he is caught in the vast trap of death. So the intelligent ones knowing the immortality, the eternal among the mortal objects does not pray for anything here.

            The natural tendency of our mind is to be extrovert, for that reason we are always trapped in thirsts, desires. To such men like us Bhagavatī Śruti is addressing as bālāh, child, or the ignorant ones whose discriminating intellect has not been developed. This is the reason we wish to enjoy the objects like sounds, touches etc, and again fall to the trap of death. One who desires the mortal things becomes mortal. In the words of Ṛṣi Patañjali, ‘vṛttisārupyamitaratra’ (Ygs.: 1-4), ones form appears as according to ones mental tendency. When the seer is not established in the Self, at that time his form appears according to his tendency. Since all our mental attitudes are running after the impermanent objects even if it is the post of the King of gods, Indra pada (may be this post is in this world), our existence that finds its own form in those impermanent objects attains to death again and again. The net of this death is very large since the objects are many. This is the reason we are not attaining the peace of mind, equanimity. But one who is intelligent, has discriminating ability, whose knowledge is holding the Truth by experience; he only knows the immortality, knows his Own Form, he separates the eternal from the non-eternals. He knows that the ignorance, the desires and the actions arising out of the ignorance are the form of world, are the form of death. For that reason he does not fall on the trap of desires.          Lord Vāsudev Śrīkṛṣṇa has also said this,

            labhante brahmanirvāṇamṛ ṣaya kshīṇakalmaṣāḥ;

            chinnaddaidhā yatātmānaḥ sarvabhūtahite ratāḥ. (Sh. Bg.: 5-25)

The seers whose sins have been thinned out, whose doubts has been eradicated, whose senses and mind are under control by the Knowledge of the Self,  who are engaged in the benefit of others,  they achieve liberation in the form of the Brahman.

            kāmakrodhaviyuktānāṁ yatīnāṁ yatacetasām;

            abhito brahmanirvāṇaṁ vartate viditātmanām. (Sh. Bg.: 5-26)

The wise men whose minds are free from lust and anger, those who know the Self, they are absorbed by the liberation in the form of the Brahman.

            For liberation the sins and the doubts must have to be thinned out, one should be free from lust and anger. These require burning the desires, control of the organs and control of the mind. This would lead to liberation in a process of purification of the mind, attainment of knowledge and renunciation of actions or fruits of actions.

            Only this much is the knowledge, to know the Self that has no desires, no volitions of the mind, not to engage the mind on the sense objects. But how this will happen? We read this, listen this, knew this in our mind and intellect but are not established in this. Some spiritual practitioners say, ‘ we read and analyze the content of the scriptures, we receive the knowledge but this does not last long’. What is the meaning of such sayings? Meaning is this knowledge is on the surface of our mind; this has not gone deep within and that is the reason this knowledge does not last long, because we are not practicing this in a proper way. Then what is the proper way?

Worshiping The Prāṇa Is The Way

Lord Vāsudeva has said,

            sparsānkṛtvā bahirbāhyāṁścakshuścaivāntare bhruvo;

            prāṇāpānau samau kṛtvā nāsābhyantaracāriṇau. (Sh. Bg.: 5-27)

One has to shut all the sense objects like sound etc, the gaze is to be fixed in the place between the eyebrows, and the exhalation and the inhalation are to be balanced that are moving within the nose.

            So all the sense objects or all the desires for enjoyments are to be shut down, such thoughts are not to be contemplated in the mind. How? By fixing the gaze between the eyebrows means one has to practice the concentration in Ājñā Cakra, in the place between the pituitary and the pineal, the life force is to be fixed in that place. That again, how? By balancing the exhalation, prāṇa and the inhalation, apāna, within the nostrils means inside the body. This technique one has to learn and practice. This is the way to control the sense organs and the mind, this is the way to sharpen the intellect, and this is the way to be free from the desires, the anger and the fear. This is known as prāṇavidyā, the knowledge of the prāṇa; this is known as prāṇopāsanā, worshiping the prāṇa. This is Karma-sanyāsa yoga, yoga of renouncing the actions and their results. This is Kriyā-yoga, by doing this action, kriyā, one shall be renounced from the actions. By doing this breath technique the practitioner will know his prāṇa, know the Īśvara who is the First Born, the Hiraṇyagarbha that is the sum total of all the powers of knowledge and all the powers of action.

(From Kriya-yoga: The Science of Life-force)
Copyright © Swami Nityananda Giri

Swamijee at Sheshnag during a pilgrimage to Amaranath Cave shrine in Kashmir, Himalayas.

2.Breath Technique (prāṇakarma) makes Our Body a Temple and Life Worshiping
• Friday, March 05th, 2010
By Swami Nityananda Giri (Rajahamsa)

Proper Attitude

Our life is worshiping and body is a temple, we should have this belief. Then only there shall be peace in our life. As we keep the deity room or meditation room in our house clean, our temples clean similarly we have to keep this body temple that is a real one clean; then only God will sit there. We have to leave all the forbidden actions and have to surrender ourselves before God. And for that we have to make our internal subtle organ, mind, very pure. When we talk about our body this implies our gross and subtle bodies because what ever we shall do we do through them only and the causal body does not come under the purview of our action. By subtle body we mean our mind, intellect, ego and subconscious. The work of our gross or physical body is controlled by our subtle body, that is why it is very important to clean it otherwise how we shall make our God to sit there.

Divine and Demonic Properties

The problem with us that though we want light but we prefer to remain in darkness. We are living in hypocrisy. How self-surrender and selfishness can go together? Greed and charity, cruelty and kindness, adultery and being faithful to your partner, ego and broadness, illusion and reality, to these entire how can we keep together at the same time? But we like that, we want nobleness but prefer bad qualities and this is the reason we fail in our spiritual life. If we want to ride over this situation we have to leave the demonic qualities within us. We have to learn what are divine properties and what are demonic properties. On the sixteenth chapter of Śrīmad Bhagavad-Gītā the Lord has described these in details. Fearlessness, purity of mind, establishing in yoga of meditation for realization, charity, control of sense organs, oblations and sacred duties, studying scriptures, austerities, righteousness of mind, body and senses, nonviolence, truthfulness, absence of anger, renunciation, equanimity, abstaining from malicious gossips, compassion, absence of craving even on contact with objects, no egoism, no fickleness, vigor with sublimity, forgiveness, fortitude, cleanliness, not to be reactive, not to seek excessive honor and other such qualities are divine properties.

            On the other hand the opposites of these like stubbornness, arrogance, pride, anger, hypocrisy, ignorance, demonstrating ones wealth and power, not knowing the difference between activities to be performed and abstinence, un-cleanliness, bad conduct, falsehood, unholy desires, anger, hatred, jealousy, satisfying ego, sensuous pleasures or lust, to be blind by wealth and power, brutal force etc are the demonic properties as described by the Lord. We have to learn the division as per scriptures and work according to the rules prescribed by the scriptures. The divine properties are the cause of liberation whereas the demonic properties are the cause of bondage. We have to leave those activities forbidden by the scriptures.

Path of Returning

            If we analyze then we shall find that all these demonic and divine properties are qualities of the mind, so we have to make our mind pure. This is yama, rules and niyama, regulations described in yogic scriptures. The rules are five viz. nonviolence, truthfulness, non-stealing, sexual restrain and reducing wants to minimum; and the five regulations are cleanliness, contentment, austerities, study of scriptures, knowing the God. All the divine properties come under these five rules and five regulations. They also come under the six-assets described in Advaita Vedanta in general and control of mind, sama, and control of senses, dama, in particular. This is the foundation of spiritual practice and without observing these we will simply end with failure in our spiritual life. This is the path of returning, nivŗti mārga. In yoga and tantra scriptures this is described as the way of fish, mīna mārga. As the fish swims against the water current we have to move against the path of desires, pravŗti mārga. To move against the current, dhārā is Rādhā, we have to reverse dhā and rā. The principle called Rādhā is path of returning or renouncing the desires. Rādhā will take us to Lord Krishna and dhārā or way of nature or desires will take us to bondage. And for this we have to observe control of senses and control of mind.

Sense Enjoyment kills
Bhagavatpāda Śri Śankarācārya has given us the examples how the attachment to sense objects takes one to devastation.

            śabdādibhih pañcabhireva pañca

                        pañcatvamāpuh svagunena baddhāh;

            kurańgamātańgapatańgamīna

                        bhŗńgā narah pañcabhirañcitah kim. (Vi. C.: -78)

An animal being attached, baddhāh, to only, eva, one object out of fives, pañcabhih, like sound etc, śabdādibhih, due to its own nature, svagunena, meets the death, pañcatvamāpuh, as in case of deer, kurańga, elephant, mātańga, insects, patańga, fish, mīna, and bee, bhŗńgā, whereas what, kim, will happen to humans, narah, those are attached, añcitah, to all the fives, pañcabhih.

                        A deer is attached to sounds and while listening to the song of a hunter it comes close and the hunter’s arrow hits it. An elephant is attached to touch and hunters exploit this. They dig a trench and on the other side they keep a female elephant, having a desire to coupling the elephant falls on the trench and found himself in captive. Insects are attached to vision and die in mass when they see fire. A fish is attached to taste and is captured by fishing through feed on a hook. A bee is attached to smell and dies inside a lotus in night when the lotus is closed. Whereas a human being is attached to all the five viz. sound, touch, vision, taste and smell, then how he will save himself. Therefore we must have control over five sense organs. Without controlling ears, eyes, skin, tongue and nose we cannot move one step in the way of God. This is called control of senses, dama, and this is not possible without controlling the mind, sama.

Mind is the Cause of Bondage and Liberation

From this we understand that the main instrument of our spiritual practice is mind. And according to yogic scriptures;

mana eva manuşyāņām kāraņam bandhamokshayoh,

bandhāya vişayāsaktam muktai nirvişayam smŗtam. (Bb. U. - 2)

Mind, mana, is the cause, kāraņam, of bondage and liberation, bandhamokshayoh, for humans, manuşyāņām, mind attached to sense objects is bondage, bandhāya vişayāsaktam, and detached mind is liberation, muktai nirvişayam smŗtam.

All the seers and teachers of yoga are saying this. To this Rishi Patanjali says that when actions of mind are halted is called as yoga, this is samādhi and in this state the practitioner knows his own Self, knows God the Cosmic Self. Here the qualities of the Nature are merged in the God, Puruşa, and he is established in the seat of Only One, kaivalya pada. The techniques that we do for this is known as Kriyā-yoga, that is Kaivalya-yoga, that is Raja-yoga. The breath technique is its main basis. This has been referred in Upanişads as prāņopāsana, worshiping the vital force.

Breath Technique cleans the Mind

If we do the breath technique, if we worship our prāņa then our mind will be cleaned. We shall be able to obey the rules and regulations; we shall be able to control sense organs and mind. We will receive divine properties. Then on the process of pratyāhāra, withdrawal, dhāraņa, concentration, dhyāna, meditation and samādhi, we will attain the Only One. Our entire life will be worshiping and body will become temple of God. This breath technique is based on scriptures and one has to learn it from a master. Then by practicing one has to become expert on it. This knowledge of prāņa is as Kriyā-yoga. To this Lord Vāsudeva said in Śrimad Bhagavad-Gitā (4-29) as,

apāne juhvati prāņam prāņepānam tathāpare;

prāņāpānagatī ruddhva prāņāyāmaparāyaņā.

One has to oblate, juhvati, the act of exhalation, prāņam, into that of inhalation, apāne, and act of inhalation into that of exhalation, prāņepānam tathāpare. By that when the movements, gatī, of exhalation and inhalation, prāņāpāna, are stopped, ruddhva, one becomes expert in breath practice, prāņāyāmaparāyaņā.

            This technique is described by the Lord in chapters four, five and again in details in chapter six of Śrīmad Bhagavad-Gītā. This is the yoga of meditation. In the words Bhagavatpāda Śri Śankarācārya this is internal practice for Knowledge.

(From Kriya-yoga: The Science of Life-force)
Copyright © Swami Nityananda Giri