Volume 5 November 1932 to October 1933

The Bhagavad Gita By Swami Yogananda

The Bhagavad Gita

The Battle between Consciousness

And Cosmic Consciousness

INTRODUCTION

Translation and interpretation of first stanza.

Within itself the blind mind consulted introspection, the impartial judge of all states of consciousness, asking: "My children, the crooked mental tendencies (Kurus), and the pure discriminative faculties (the pure Pandus), eager for different psychological battles, what did they?" The blind boisterous mind wanted the introspective faculty to reveal the battles between the sense-bent mental tendencies and the pure wisdom-loving, discipline-loving, self-control-evolving, wisdom faculties.

Elaborated Spiritual Interpretation

The Bahgavad Gita in the first stanza speaks of the glaring truths of how life is a series of battles between Spirit and matter, knowledge and ignorance, soul and body, life and death, health and disease, changelessness and change, self-control and temptation, discrimination and the senses. In the mother’s body the baby has to battle with disease, darkness, and ignorance. Each child has to fight also the battle of heredity. The soul has to overcome many hereditary difficulties. It has also to contend with the self-created influencing effect of the pre-natal Karma or past actions. See June East-West for complete spiritual interpretation of first stanza.

THE accompanying charts show the clash between the Ego, holding the five searchlights of sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch, and the Soul, holding the five God-revealing super inner searchlights.

Man’s soul holds two bundles of inner and outer searchlights. The soul, which is really ever-existing, ever-conscious, ever-new, individualized Bliss-Spirit, and its pure reflection, withdraws, during deep meditation, its limited matter-identified attention, with the power of the inner eye of attention. The soul beholds, through the searchlights of astral visions, hearing, smell, taste, and touch, the territory of Omnipresent Cosmic Consciousness, and its blessed boundlessness.

In this state, Prince Soul, freed from the intoxications of delusion and illusive mortal habits, thinks of all the twinkling atoms of Cosmic Energy as his own eyes. He enjoys the fragrance of Bliss in everything, along with the astral fragrance. He tastes the astral nectar of liquid, Cosmic Energy. He feels his voice vibrate, not in a human throat, or body, but in the throat of all vibrations, in his body of all finite matter. In its own state, the soul, as pure reflection of Spirit, instead of feeling the little body as the pseudo-soul, or ego, feels its blood of perception run through all the veins in the body of all finite vibratory Creation.

Soul and Ego

Now then, we find that Prince Soul, when deluded and tempted by Cosmic Delusion, or psychological Satan, becomes the limited ego. When Prince Soul identifies with the body, and its material relatives and possessions, it becomes the deluded ego. The soul, as the ego, ascribes for itself all the limitations and titles of the body with which it is identified. In the ego-state, Prince Soul, being identified with the slum of matter, imagines himself poor and limited, just as a rich prince, wandering and living in the slums, might imagine himself to be poor.

Outer and Inner Sight

The soul, as ego, has its attention identified with the outer searchlights of the five sense of sight, smell, taste, hearing, and touch, and beholds only the limitations of matter. A searchlight reveals only objects in front of it, not behind. The matter-bound searchlights of the senses, turned toward matter, reveal only the limitations of matter in front of them, and not the vast Kingdom within. In the ego state, the Soul sees not the beautiful Cosmic Energy in every speck of space, but only the limitations of human faces, flowers, and the beauty of Nature. On the other hand, the soul coaxes its attention to turn its searchlight inward, and behold, through its astral vision, the ever-burning, ever-changing, multicolored lights of the fountain of cosmic Energy, playing through the powers of all atoms.

The beauty of a face, or of Nature, is fleeting, and depends upon the power of the physical eyes. The beauty of Cosmic Energy is everlasting, and can be seen with or without the physical eyes. The astral beauties of roses, scenery, and heavenly faces, all play their infinitely fascinating roses of ever-changing colors on the stage of the Astral Cosmos. Beholding this, the soul can never be attached to the changeable objects of beauty in Nature, and foolishly expect from it everlasting beauty. The most beautiful face wrinkles and droops with age. Roses wither, and mock our desire for eternal beauty in them.

In one of my classes there were two beautiful young married persons. They were ideal lovers, the envy of all the class. I said to them: "I am very fond of you both, but I do not envy you, though your youth, beauty, and love are the envy of most people. Some day you will envy me." Whenever they sat talking with me, being swayed by the breeze of love, they would bring their faces together, like two half-opening roses, whispering fragrance and beauty under the spell of the gentle breeze. The boy was dreamy, well formed, beautiful, and so was the girl.

It was a perfect match. He said: "If only I could get a job, we would be supremely happy. Please pray for me." And I answered, feeling that my prayer was heard: "You shall have a job, but at the end of a year I shall visit you and see if that is all you need to make you happy. I will compare my love with my Beloved Omnipresence, who sings to me through stars, atoms, and nightingales, with your limited human love." A baby was about to come.

One year later, God took me to them. The boy came out of a grocery store. His back was bent, his brow was wrinkled, and he said with a bedraggled smile: "I got a job all right, but it is such hard work. However, I still believe in God." Then I saw his wife. Another baby was coming. All her smiles were gone. She greeted me with a tired, worried face, and said: "I never see my husband any more. He is in the store from eight in the morning until eight in the evening. The baby cries all the time. We hardly have time to meditate, and when we do, our thoughts run riot, and they chase us all over Creation away from God." Then I said: "Look at my serene face. My love for my Eternal Beloved has deepened and ripened. My eyes are more filled with joy than yours ever were. Wake up, without God’s love, your love, which is His reflection, will fade away. Feed your love with the ever-flowing power of His love, or it will wither into nothingness.

Old age will mar all beautiful faces. Death will destroy all the buds of youth, and cataclysms will demolish the beauties of this earth, but nothing can destroy the beauties of the Astral Cosmos. These assume wonderful forms at the mere command of your imagination, and disappear when you don’t want them. They wake again, in ever new garb of beauty, at the command of your fancy.

The ego loves to hear sweet words of prevaricating flattery, and the evanescent, fickle praises of world-wide fame, and the promise of everlasting love from the "must-die" lips of youth. The sweet voice of mothers, and the words of lovers will be buried in the grave of oblivion unless in their echo you hear the Divine Lover’s voice, and recognize His presence.

The soul turned within listens to its own voice, signing through the flute of atoms, and through the shimmering waves of all Creation. Listening to the song of the Spirit, the soul desires to hear nothing else. The soul, in the superconscious state, smells the fragrance of astral atom blossoms, blooming in the Cosmic garden, and tastes the honey of liquid, tangible joy, existing in the honeycomb of electronic space. In this state, the soul no longer revels in imitation perfumes, the lure of material greed for food, and sense pleasure. It lives by its own Divine energy, and its eternal, living state, and does not think it must depend upon physical food only.

Last of all, the ego battles to keep attention a prisoner in the domain of touch. The physical plane has promised happiness, but has given only ill health, and hastened old age, nervousness, disease, and death. The sense of touch has given only enslaving body comforts, which has made it always afraid of hurt and exertion. The soul, which has conquered the limited comfort desire of the body, feels all matter as its body, and enjoys all Divine sensations in matter as its own sensations.

The Divine, or superman, feels the smooth glide of the river over the breast of the earth. He feels the home of his Being in the ocean of space, and he perceives the swimming waves of Island Universes on his sea bosom. He feels the softness of the petals of blossoms, and the tenderness of all loves, in all hearts, and the aliveness of youth in all bodies. His youth is everlasting. He feels his body, a tiny living atom, in the vast body of his Cosmos.

The Final Battle

This final battle between human consciousness beholding the suffering, tortured lives, in changeable matter, and the Cosmic Consciousness of the soul, beholding the kingdom of all-powerful Omnipresence, must be won. The soul must battle its misguided ego consciousness of human titles, such as, "I am a man, an American, a Hindu, so many pounds of flesh, a millionaire, in this toy playhouse," and so on, and release the prisoner of attention.

A released attention will withdraw the mind of the soul, beholding through the limited searchlights of the senses, and will show it how to behold its Infinite Kingdom through the searchlights of inner perception.

Next month the second stanza of the first chapter of the Gita will be interpreted.

If heart is calmed or medulla or point between eyebrows is stimulated by will, one can control the inner and outer searchlights. By will the outer searchlights of the senses can be shut off, excluding all perceptions of matter and intensifying the luminosity and current of the inner reversed searchlights in order to see God. The outer searchlights only show material objects to the Ego and when these lights are switched off, all material distractions vanish. Then the Ego automatically turns to behold through the reinforced inner searchlights the forgotten beauty of the inner astral Kingdom.

The Bhagavad Gita

The Battle Between Discrimination and Material Desire

First Chapter, Second Stanza

INTRODUCTION

Translation and interpretation of second stanza.

Sanjaya Ubacha said:

"Dristwa tu Pandavaneekam Budham Durojodhana Acharyam upusangmya, Raja Bachanamabrabeet, stada."

Sanjaya said:

"Dristawa Tada tu—After then, having seen

Pandabaneekam—The armies of the Pandavas

Budhan—In battle array

Raja Durjodhan—Emperor Durjodhana

Achacharyam (Dronam)—the preceptor Drona

Upsangame ja—repaired to

Bachanam—speech

Abrabeet—delivered

Sanjaya said:

"Then Emperor Durjodhana, after having seen the armies of the Pandavas in battle array, repaired to his preceptor Drona, and spoke as implied in the following."

SPIRITUAL GLOSSARY

Sanjaya, Introspection said (revealed)

Tada tu (after then)

Drista tu (having seen)

Pandabaneekam (the armies of discriminative qualities)

Budham (ready for psychological war)

Raja Durjodhana (Duh-Judh-An-Yasha)

(who is difficult to fight, or King Material Desire) (greatest of all mental tendencies)

Acharya Dronam (Dronam-Samskar—

past tendencies, the guide and stimulator of all tendencies, good and evil) (Historically Drona was teacher of both the Pandavas and Kurus)

Upasangmya (consulting)

Bachanam (thoughts)

Abrabeet (loudly thought within itself)

Spiritual Interpretation

Introspection further revealed: After having seen the armies of discriminative qualities in array for psychological battle (ready to fight the sense tendencies) King Material Desire went to consult his preceptor, (Habit) and deeply thought the following:

Elaborate Spiritual Interpretation

The first stanzas describe the preparation for a psychological battle between the forces of discrimination and the blind mental tendencies as revealed by introspection. The second stanza goes on to depict how, in the ordinary individual, where the sense bolsheviks rule, introspection and discrimination, being prisoners of the sense armies, are forced to be silent, but as soon as the spiritual aspirant introspects and tries to rouse and train his soldiers of discrimination by meditation, immediately Material Desire, King of all sense tendencies, afraid of losing the kingdom of the soul and body, tries to reinforce himself by consulting his preceptor, past sense Habit.

Material Desire reigns supreme in the person who does not meditate. Material Desire is the king of all sense tendencies, because it is desire which lures discrimination to follow the sense pleasure of idleness, bodily comfort, and so forth, instead of following soul happiness, which consists in all-round peace of mind. As soon as meditation awakens discriminative qualities, King Material Desire becomes extremely afraid of losing his hold in the kingdom of life and tries to reinforce himself by recalling the pleasures of past evil habits.

King Material Desire by himself is easily overcome by an act of judgment, but Material Desire, that has been ripened into habit, is hard to eject by discrimination, so King Material Desire tries to overcome discriminative tendencies by luring them with the memory of past evil habits, and the joy which they yielded. It is easy to conquer a material desire, but hard to conquer material habits. That is why we find that the spiritual aspirant, who tries to meditate, will be bothered, not only with new desires to go for distraction to shows or plays, or eat, or while away time in idle talk, or sleep, or laziness, or to travel, or to go after money, and so on, but he will also be invaded by strong habits of the body, such as restlessness, idle talking, sleep, amusements, bodily enjoyments, and pernicious habits of spiritual indifference. The spiritual aspirant should be aware of this.

Drona, or Past Habits

According to the historical story, Drona was the preceptor who had taught archery to the wicked Kurus, and to the good Pandus, but during the battle between the two parties he sided with the Kurus. Drona represents Intelligence, influenced by past good or bad actions. The good discriminative tendencies, or Pandus, and the wicked mental tendencies, or Kurus, both learned the art of wielding the piercing power of good or evil during a psychological battle, but as a bird cannot focus the vision of both its eyes on the same object at the same time, but has to see with one eye at a time, so Intelligence, born of habits, (Drona) unless purified by wisdom, usually follows Durjodhana, or King Material Desire. That is why this bad-habit-influenced Intelligence sided with the wicked mental tendencies, and helped them to use their arrows of piercing evil power against the psychologically prepared discriminative powers.

Beware, devotee! As soon as you try to meditate and rouse the powers of self-control and discrimination, you will find King Material Desire, and the wicked mental tendencies, trying to rouse the memory of your bad habits of possible sense pleasure, or spiritual indifference (Drona) and to give battle to the forces of discrimination. In other words, as soon as the devotee tries to find happiness in meditation, he finds himself tempted by memories of sense pleasures, and is often led to restlessness.

According to deep spiritual introspective intuition, the devotee who tries to meditate, finds that King Material Desire calls the material habits to behold the mighty armies of spiritual perceptions (Pandus) of calmness, vitality, self-control, and so forth, arrayed in the spinal plexuses and brain, ready to give battle to the tendencies of greed and sex-temptation, located on the outer surface of the body. The ordinary individual’s consciousness is usually located on the outer surface of the body. He is identified with the palate, with feelings of physical comfort and idleness, with nice, sweet words, falling intoxicatingly on the ear drums, with the enticements of beautiful objects, and with the lures of physical fragrance.

By indulging in the sense pleasures constantly, the ordinary individual becomes sense-ensnared. He finds himself enjoying on the surface of the flesh. This sense pleasure yields fleeting happiness, and shuts out the more subtle, more pure, and more lasting enjoyments of the silent taste of blessedness, and of the innumerable blissful perceptions which can be felt when, by deep meditation, the consciousness of the person meditating is turned from the bodily surface enjoyment to the inner perception.

When you are greedily eating, your soul’s happiness is drowned in the muddy well of insatiable greed on the soil of the palate. When you are listening to flattering words, your soul’s wisdom is sunk beneath the waters of falsehood. When you are addicted to sex-temptation, your soul’s happiness of touching God in every speck of space, with endless exhilarating thrills of happiness, is substituted for the passing, misleading, peace-destroying, physical emotions.

It is not a sin to eat with self-control, or to live an upright, honest family life, but the spiritual aspirant should be ever watchful not to get into the small ruts of material habits and sense pleasures, and entirely forget the vast, unending happiness of spiritual perceptions, felt in the Silence, and in the perceptions of the inner Centers. Mental balance, and ever-increasing happiness, are lost when sense pleasures crowd out the soul happiness felt in Silence, but it is wonderful to enjoy the pure pleasures of the senses with the joy of God, felt in meditation. They are fools who drown their souls’ happiness in the cesspools of impure, enslaving pleasures of the senses. Remember, all the sense pleasures which you indulge in, in spite of the warnings of your reason and conscience, are peace-destroying. All pure enjoyments of the senses, indulged in with self-control, produce Divine happiness.

The ordinary man wakes, bathes his body, enjoys the after-bath sensation, eats a hot breakfast, hurries to work, begins to get weary, and becomes refreshed by lunch, then works again, and goes home tired, worried, and cranky. He eats a heavy dinner, with the radio banging away, and perhaps a nagging wife working on his nerves. He goes to the movies, or dances until late, comes home very tired, sleeps heavily, then repeats the above monotonous routine all over again, three hundred and sixty-five days in every year.

By this method, man becomes a machine, which, fuelled with breakfast, goes to the office and performs automatic work, without joy or inspiration. Then the human automation is refuelled with lunch and produces more work, slowly and unwillingly. Finally, dinner is shoveled into the human machine, which then goes to the movies, walks back home again, and then shuts down partially in sleep, only to start all over again the next day with the same routine.

The Bhagavad Gita tells you to avoid this method of mere existence. It shows you how, by practicing the contact to the ever-new joy of silence, you can keep this godly state with you all the time during the mechanical performances of life. Worry, discontent, boredom, and unhappiness are the harvest of a mechanical life, whereas, the Infinite spiritual perceptions, gained in meditation, unceasingly whisper joy and a thousand thrilling inspirations of wisdom into the ears of Silence. The ordinary person knows nothing of the wine of joy buried in meditation, and unknowingly walks and wallows into the mire of the unsatisfying pleasures of the senses.

The restless man is often tempted by his past habits (Drona) of spiritual indifference, and outer sense pleasures, and tries to battle the deeper, unending joys and wisdom-whispers of inner perception, felt by concentrating in the spiritual eye between the two eyebrows. As soon as the devotee tries to meditate, he finds King Material Desire awakening the memory of sense-habits in order to stop the meditating devotee from flying to the home of eternal peace from the home of temporal, deceiving pleasures of the senses.

Description of the occult soldiers in the third stanza will be described in the next issue.

The Bhagavad Gita

The Battle between Habits of Meditation and Restless Activity

First Chapter, Third Stanza

The X-Ray of Soul Wisdom

Translation and interpretations

Of third stanza.

Pshaitam Panduputranan Acharya Mahateem Chamum.

Budham Drupadputrana taba shishayana dhimata.

Pshaitam (behold this); Acharya (teacher); Mahateem (great); Panduputranam (of the sons of Pandu); Chamum (army); Budham (arrayed); Drupadputrana (by the sons of Pandu); taba (your); Shishayana (by your disciples); Dhimata (skillful.)

"Oh, Teacher, behold this great army of the sons of Pandu, held in battle array by the son of Drupada, your talented disciple."

SPIRITUAL GLOSSARY

Pashaitam (the introspection says within: "Behold this.")

Acharya (Oh, Thou Preceptor, Past Habit.)

Mahateem (great.)

Panduputranam (of the discriminative forces.)

Chamum (occult psychological soldiers.)

Budham (entrenched in the spinal plexuses, ready for psychological battle) under the guidance of Drupadputrana.

Drutam Shigram padam gatirjasha shah drupadah teebragah tajjata putrana tadbishista kriyaa prokashitana, or, dhristadumnana—chanchalya charsanana jad dahjoti bidyata—The calm inner light, which is the disciple of past habits (Drona) of meditation, taba (your); shioyana (by your disciple—the inner light is the disciple of the habit of meditation) Dhumata (inner light, which is skillful in battling the restless forces of the mind.)

Spiritual Interpretation

"Oh, Thou Preceptor, Past Habit, behold Thy own trained disciple, The Calm Inner Light, skillful in psychological wars, leading the occult soldiers of discrimination."

Elaborate Spiritual Interpretation

The second stanza of the Bhagavad Gita describes how the spiritual aspirant first finds that King Material Desires is trying to arouse his evil tendencies to fight his forces of discrimination.

Material Desire is very much astonished to find that Calm Inner Light is a relative and an off-shoot of the same Past Habit tendency, and that it is arranging the pure discriminative faculties for a psychological battle.

King Material Desire was very much chagrined to find that Past Habit was not only his Preceptor, but also the teacher of the good spiritual discriminative tendencies. When Material Desire and Restless Thoughts try to reinforce themselves by Past Material Habits, and try to dissuade the spiritual aspirant from meditation, they find to their amazement that the Past Spiritual Habits of Meditation and their offspring of Calm Inner Light, along with all discriminative faculties, gather to give metaphysical resistance.

It is a psychological fact that habit is the Preceptor of both good and evil tendencies in man. When evil Material Desire tries to exercise the influence of habit to destroy the power of good, it is amazed to find that the good offspring of habit is ready to give resistance. It is very consoling to know that no matter how strong the powers of evil habit and material desire are, at any moment in life, there are the soldiers of good habits of this life and of past incarnations ready to give battle.

The occult soldiers are redoubtable, sturdy, intuitional powers which are the rear guard of King Soul. These remain hidden behind the psychological armies of discrimination, ready to stem the tide of the victorious sense-soldiers of Material Desire.

No matter how many times a man suffers from very powerful attacks of sense-habits and restlessness-producing material desires, he finds that the meditation-born, occult soldiers of this life and past lives still come to his aid. A man who is always restless and never meditates thinks that he is all right because he has become accustomed to being a slave of restlessness. However, as soon as he tries to meditate and be calm, he finds resistance from the bad habits of mental fickleness. Then, again, when the habits of restlessness try to usurp the throne of the devotee’s consciousness, they find the occult soldiers of past lives offering resistance.

It must be remembered that it is just as difficult for some people to be evil as it is difficult for others to be good. Evil cannot keep man under the influence of error forever, because he is made in the image of God. In the beginning, the spiritual aspirant finds his soldiers of discrimination guided by the desire to be good. Later, as he meditates longer and prays ardently for inner help, he finds that the clam conviction of unborn intuition, or awakening Inner Light, a veteran occult General, emerges from the superconscious go guide the forces of discrimination. This awakening Inner Light is the offspring of good Past Habit (Drona).

Habits of meditation, whether acquired recently or in the distant past, bring forth the General of Inner Light, who leads the armies of discrimination to battle all past bad habits (Drona) and King Material Desire.

The trouble with most people is that they voluntarily allow their kingdom of consciousness to be ruled by the evil tendencies born of past habits. Thus the discriminative tendencies, which are also born of past habits, remain ostracized and the occult soul soldiers, which are metaphysical rear guards hidden behind the armies of discrimination, also remain without action.

These occult soldiers appear on the scene of a psychological battle on two occasions only; first, when the advance soldiers of discrimination are completely routed by the soldiers of sense lures, and second, when the discriminative soldiers ask the aid of the occult forces through the trumpet call of meditation. Of course, it must be remembered that the occult soldiers can easily rout the forces of restlessness when they are reinforced by the soldiers of discrimination and before the throne of consciousness is usurped by King Material Desire.

It is good to start meditation at an early age, or failing in that, to start meditation as soon as the mental discriminative inclination is receptive. It is very difficult for the occult soldiers to help to reclaim the kingdom of peace after it has fallen into the hands of restlessness and material desire. Therefore, make spiritual hay while the sun of willingness to meditate shines.

Restless people are unaware of the evil-resisting power of their discriminative tendencies and occult soldiers. People who are prisoners in the hands of restlessness, and who are trying to calm themselves, will often become aware that the hidden occult soldiers are trying to emerge from the superconsciousness, to offer spiritual aid.

In the beginning, the spiritual aspirant finds that his soldiers of discrimination are guided by the desire to be good. Later, as he meditates longer, and prays ardently for inner help, he finds that the calm conviction of unborn intuition, or awakening Inner Light, a veteran occult General, emerges from the superconscious to guide the forces of discrimination. This awakening Inner Light is the offspring of good Past Habit (Drona.)

Habits of meditation, whether acquired recently or in the distant past, bring forth the General of Inner Light, which leads the armies of discrimination to battle all Past Bad Habits (Drona) and King Material Desire.

This Material Desire is so displeased that he thinks and says: "See, Mr. Past Bad Habit, my preceptor, it is your own skillful disciple, Inner Light, (born of Past Good Habits of Meditation) who is leading the discriminative forces to destroy you and me."

The good powers, born of habit, destroy their brothers, material desires, and the evil powers born of the same habit.

(The spiritual interpretation of the fourth stanza of the first chapter will be given in the March issue of East-West.)

The Bhagavad Gita

Stanzas 4, 5 and 6, of Chapter I

The Battle

Between

Habits of Meditation

And

Restless Activity

INTRODUCTION

Sanskrit: Stanzas 4, 5, and 6 of Chapter I.

Atra shura mahaswasha Bhimarjuna samajudhi yujudhana Biratascha Drupadascha maharatha—4th Stanza.

Dhristakutuschakitana Kashirajascha birjaban Purajit Kuntibhojascha Shaibascha narapungabah—5th Stanza.

Yudhamanyuscha bikranta Uttamaujascha Beerjaban Saubhadro Draupadaascha sarba aba maharatha—6th Stanza.

Literal Glossary:

—Atra (here); shura (heroes); mahaswasha (great archers); Bheemarjuna sama (equally qualified like Bheema and Arjuna); yudi (in battle); Yujudhana, Biratascha (and Birat); Draupadascha (the son of Draupadi); maharatha (great warriors).

Dhristakutu, chakitana. Kashirajascha (and the King of Kashi); birjaban (the powerful); Purajit Kuntabhojascha—(and Kuntibhoja); Shaibya-scha—(and Shaibya); narapungaba (the flower of men).

Yudhamanyuscha (and Yudhamanyu); beerjaban (the powerful); Shaubhadro (the son of Shubhadra); Draupada-scha (and the sons of Draupadi); sarba aba (all of them); maharatha (great warriors).

Literal Translation:—

Here are present mighty bowmen, as skillful in battle as Bheema and Arjuna—the veteran warriors, Yujudhana, Birata, Draupada; the powerful Dhristakatu, Chakitana, and the King of Kashi; the flower of men, Purajit, Kunti Bhoja, and Shabya; the strong Yudhamanyu, and the valiant Uttamaujas, the son of Subhadra, and the sons of Draupadi, owners of great chariots.

Spiritual Glossary of 4th, 5th and 6th Stanzas.

Yujudhana — (Yodhum Chaitanya prokashatum eshana abhilashamana)—
Sradha

or Devotion.

Uttamauja—(Utamah ojojashya eti)—Beerjam—

Vitality

or Celibacy.

Chakeetan — (Chikati janati eti) — Smriti—

Memory Divine and human.

Birat—(Bishasana atmani rajata eti)—Samadhi—

Oneness.

Kashiraj—(Pararthan Kashyan prokashyan rajata Bibhati eti)—
Proggna—

The principal enlightening faculty—Intelligence.

Drupada—(Drutam Shigrahm padam gatir-jasya eti)—
Teebrabeg—

Extreme Dispassion.

Dhristakatu—jana kataba apadah Dhrishyata)
Yama—

Power to follow prescriptive negative rules.

Shaiba—(Shibah mangalah tatsambandhiya eti shai bya mangaladayaka)—
Niyama—

Prescriptive positive rules.

Kuntibhoja—(yana kuntim kun amantrana Daibabibhutiakarshika, shaktim Bhunakti Palyatasa)—
Asana—

Bodily posture for physical and mental stability.

Yudhamanyu—(Yudham chaitanya pro kashamaba manu Kriya jasya sa)— Pranayam—

Control of Life Force, heart, and sensory motor telephonic nervous system.

Purajit Pauran endriadhistatridaban jayati eti)
Protyahara—

Faculty of withdrawing consciousness from the senses, which is the result of pranayam, or control over the Life Force, which is the medium of bearing the messages of the senses. This follows pranayam.

12. Saubhadra—(Subhadrayam eti saubhadra Abhimanyu eti prasidha—abhi—sarbatra manuta prokashata—Dharanadhyansamadhyatmak aba. Patanjali says Troamakatra Samjamah Bibhutipad Samjama—Self Mastery. The occult trio, Self-Mastery.

Self-mastery depends upon the acquiring of four states of consciousness:

First, Prohjihara, or the state of withdrawing the attention from sensory disturbances;
Second, Dhyan, or the state of focusing the withdrawn attention on Spirit;
Third, Dharana (conception) or the state of holding the attention of Spirit;
Fourth, Samadhi (identity of meditator and object of meditation) or that state of realizing Oneness with Spirit.
Spiritual Interpretation

It is very interesting to find that the splitting of the root meaning of the Sanskrit names in the Gita yields us the names of the psychological warriors which we have been discussing. Not only do we find these psychological warriors spoken of in the Bhagavad Gita, but they are also mentioned by the sage Patanjali in his writings on Yoga. It is very encouraging to know that the same Truth is given in both of the foremost Scriptures of India.

Patanjali was one of the greatest of Hindu Yogis and his Sutras describe the scientific technique of uniting the individualized soul with undifferentiated Spirit. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali were compiled after the birth of Christ, but the Bhagavad Gita was given to the world long before the birth of Christ. It was Patanjali who understood that the Bhagavad Gita was the "Song Celestial," by which the Lord wanted to unite the souls of his ignorant and wandering children with His own Spirit. This was to be accomplished scientifically through spiritual law. Patanjali explains this very clearly in definite metaphysical terms, while the Gita gives it in allegory.

These metaphysical soldiers, mentioned above, must come to the aid of the devotee who wants to battle the evil soldiers of the senses. King Desire, Durjudhana) tells his preceptor, Drona, (past habit) about the spiritual, occult soldiers who were lined up in battle array in the spinal plexuses.

Almost every soul is a prisoner of the senses, which are entrenched on the surface of the body. The soul’s attention is lured away from its inner kingdom in the medulla, the Spiritual Eye, and the plexuses, to the outer region of the body, where greed, temptation, and attachment have their strongholds. The devotee, who wants to lead King Soul away from the misery-making slums of the senses, finds that he cannot do so without a severe clash between the soldiers of the senses and the Divine soldiers of the soul.

The fourth, fifth, and sixth stanzas of the Bhagavad Gita describe the metaphysical soldiers of the soul which are roused by meditation. The fifth, sixth, and seventh stanzas describe the soldiers of the senses which become excited and try to hold back the awakened soul and to resist his occult armies which struggle to rescue him.

The man rolling down hill finds no resistance, but as soon as he wants to climb up he meets great resistance, so it is with the man who is fast sliding into evil. He does not find resistance until he tries to reverse his direction and climb up the hill of virtue.

The man who wakes up and tries to become better finds his evil habits clashing with his desire for self-control. If the soul wins the first psychological battle through self-control, it finds that it has to go through another and more subtle metaphysical battle between the faculties of Self Realization and its own pre-natal and post-natal evil habits.

The first stanza of the Gita describes the initial psychological clash between discrimination and sense habits, through which every spiritual novice has to struggle. Also, the subtler metaphysical battle between the forces of Self-Realization and those of the innate sense habits has to be won before the soul can be enthroned again in its cerebral kingdom and reign with its Divine courtiers of intuitional qualities which reside in the spinal plexuses.

The great metaphysical generals, which lead the soldiers of spiritual thought to battle, along with their characteristics, will now be described, as the explanation is given of the fourth, fifth, and sixth stanzas. Following that will be given a description of the generals of the subtle senses which hold the Ego (the pseudo soul) as their prisoner.

The soul encounters the highest metaphysical battle after winning the moral and psychological struggle between good and evil thoughts. The deep introspection of the Yogi (spiritual aspirant) reveals that King Material Desire, before the inner battle was waged, began to survey the metaphysical warriors of the soul (stanzas 4, 5, and 6) and his own sense soldiers, as described in stanzas 6, 7, and 8. King Material Desire addresses his preceptor, Drona, (Material Habit) saying: "Behold, here are great metaphysical warriors. They are":

1. Divine Devotion vs. Irreverent Satanic Disbelief.

2. Vital Celibacy vs. Debauchery.

3. Spiritual Memory (the Soul’s memory that it is part of Spirit) vs. Material Delusion (that which makes man forget God).

4. Oneness with God in Samadhi (the state after deep meditation) vs. Delusion, which makes the Soul behold the diverse forms of matter and the pairs of opposite instead of One Spirit.

5. Discriminative Intelligence vs. Evil Reason.

6. Extreme Dispassion vs. Extreme Material Attachment.

7. Power to follow Spiritual Law vs. the desire to indulge in poisonous forbidden fruits of sense lures.

8. Wholesome, positive, discipline vs. misery-producing evil ways.

9. Proper bodily posture, (helpful in meditation) straight spine, etc., vs. improper bodily posture conducive to laziness and flesh attachment (bent spine and slouching attitude).

10. Inwardly controlled Life Force reversed on eternally satisfying God vs. outwardly flowing Life Force, revealing the lure of the senses.

11. The faculty of withdrawing consciousness from the senses (This power is attained after gaining control of the Life Force) vs. sudden scattering of the mind on matter, due to hidden pre-natal material habits.

12. Meditation after withdrawing the mind from matter vs. occasional distractions.

13. Dharma (Truth).

The Bhagavad Gita

Different States of Samadhi

Chapter I, Stanza VII

Sanskrit:

Asmakamtu bishista ja tannibodha Dwijottama

Nayaka mama sainyashya samgartham tan brabeemi ta.

Literal Glossary:

Dwijottama (Oh you flower of the twice-born).

Asmakam (of us) tu (also) ja (those) who are bishista (renowned and important); mama (of my) sainyashya (army); Nayaka (leaders); tannnibodha (know them); ta samgartham (to inform you); tan (them); brabveemi (I speak of).

Literal Translation:

Listen, too, Oh flower of the twice-born Brahmins. The generals of our army who are prominent among ourselves, these I speak about for your information.

* * *

Chapter I, Stanza VIII

Sanskrit:

Bhaban Bheesmascha Kripascha samitrinjyah

Aswathama bikarnascha Saumadattir-jayadrathah.

Literal Glossary:

Bheesmascha (Bishma and); Bhaban you); and Karna, and Kripa, Samitinjaya, the victors in war. Aswathama, Bikarna and Jayadratha, Saumadatti (the son of Somadatti.)

Literal Translation:

You Bhisma, Karna, and Kripa, the victors in battles, Aswatthama, Bikarna, and Jayadratha, the son of Somadatti, all belong to our party.

Spiritual Glossary of Stanza VIII:

1. Kripa—Bastunyanyatwam Kalpayati eti Kripa—Abidya—Delusion.

2. Bhisma—Jasmat panchatatwani bibhati sa Bhisma (Bhees-ma) chidabhasas Jibanamantarjotih, jana Jibah bisayan prakhsanta, tasmadabaishida—bhavasa ddarsanashaktirbhabati chaitanyatwat drastriswarupashecha. Ataduvayaguna Bidyamantwadyam—Asmita—Inner seeing Ego.

"Drikdarshan shaktyorakatma taibasmita." Patanjali yogasutra sadhanpad (the consciousness in which both the seer Ego and its discriminating power are present.)

3. Karna—Ragah—Attachment—Karansheelah eti Karna (Krina) Katabyah asmin Jibanamashaktitwat Ragah. "Sukhanushaee Ragah," Patanjali Yogasutra sadhantad (that inclination which seeks happiness).

4. Bikarna—Dwasa—Repulsion—Akaransheelah eti Bikarna (Bi-ki-an) Akartabyah.

"Dukhanushee Dwasa"—Patanjali Yogasutra—Sadhanapad (that which brings suffering).

5. Jayadratha—Abhinibasha—Body-bound inclination—Ramitwa anurakto Bhutwa jayati utkristrupana tisthati. Swarashabahee Bidushopi twananubandhovinibashah—(even as the long-caged bird, finding freedom, is afraid of it and looks back at the cage reluctant to leave it, so also, even great wise men whose knowledge flows like a continuous stream, are infatuated with the body when forsaking it at death).

6. Saumadatti or Bhurisraba—Karma—Action—Bhurim bahulam srabah ksharanam jasha eti. Jabanna Khisyata Karma shubhancha and shubha mababa Tabanna jayata Mokhsa nrinam Kalpasatairapi (as long as past Karma does not fade away, so long is it impossible to attain final emancipation in several incarnations).

7. Bhaban—Drona—Smaskar—Past tendency—Karmanam drabeebhabam bipakam eti drona (dru-na) y Sati mula tadbipako jatyayurbhogah—Patanjali Yoga-sutra sadhanpad.

8. Aswathama—Basana—Desire—Asnuban sanchayan tishati eti (ash-ba, shtha-man) daha nastopi na nastobhabati.

Tasamanaditwanchashisonitwat—Yogasutra kaibalyapada.

Spiritual Interpretation:

King Material Desire is very anxious to win the bodily Kingdom, but as soon as he tries to do so he is confronted with the war between its sense-soldiers and the metaphysical soldiers.

King Material Desire realized that the Preceptor Past Habit Tendency, though principally on the side of his wicked sense soldiers, was also the preceptor of the good, metaphysical soldiers of self-control, and therefore he was afraid that the skillful metaphysical soldiers would defeat his strong evil soldiers.

The idea is, that as soon as the soul descends into the body, its entire consciousness begins to flow toward the body. Hence, the material habit is predominant in almost all individuals. Material Desire, being born of material habit, is also predominant in the early stages of life. For that reason, on the eve of a psychological battle, when the soul and its metaphysical soldiers became awakened and try to reclaim the lost, the Past Tendency is especially liable to side with the evil soldiers of the senses. That is why we hear King Material Desire speaking of Preceptor Past Tendency as fighting for him.

Still, King Material Desire knows that Preceptor Past Tendency was also the tutor of the following metaphysical soldiers:

One, devotion; 2, vital celibacy; 3, spiritual memory; 4, Samadhi (Oneness); 5, discriminative intelligence; 6, extreme dispassion; 7, power to resist evil, or negative good power; 8, power to follow positive rules or positive good power; 9, proper bodily posture, helpful in mind control; 10, inwardly controlled Life-Force reversed toward God; 11, faculty of withdrawing consciousness from the senses. (Dhyana, or meditation.)

Therefore, King Material Desire wishes the evil Past Habit Tendency to know first about the error-resisting opposing metaphysical soldiers, their principalities, and their strength. This was done to show Evil Habit the strength of Good Habit, and how Evil Habit could be overpowered.

After doing this, King Material Desire tells his Preceptor Past Evil Habit about the following sense soldiers:

One, delusion; 2, only seeking Ego; 3, attachment; 4, repulsion; 5, flesh infatuation; 6, Karma, action; 7, past evil tendency; 8, desire, and so forth

King Material Desire is afraid that the metaphysical soldiers and the Preceptor Good Habit Tendency will be able to defeat the sense soldiers plus the preceptor of the bad habit tendencies.

Evil Habit Tendency, along with King Material Desire and his soldiers, could not possibly rule the body without having a serious clash with good habit and its metaphysical soldiers.

Stanzas IV, V, and VI in Chapter I of the Bhagavad Gita describe the metaphysical soldiers which were arrayed against the sense soldiers mentioned in Stanzas VIII and IX. Now, it will be seen that the two sides are about equal in strength.

Birat, or Samadhi, is the leading general of the metaphysical soldiers, as Bhisura, Asmita, or Delusion-Born Ego Consciousness, is the most famous general of the sense soldiers. The Ego consciousness in man is always ready to resist Samadhi, or the consciousness of Oneness with God.

The Ego and the Soul

The Ego consciousness in man tries to keep the soul attached to matter in the form of individual traits and mortal desires born out of them. The Soul, being a reflection of the Omnipresent Spirit, ought to reflect its omnipresent, all-knowing character. It is the pure, perfect reflection of the Spirit, but when it forgets its own real nature and becomes identified with the body and its attachments, it loses its consciousness of Omnipresence and becomes conscious only of the limitations of the body. This body-bound soul is called Ego. The soul in the Ego state is a prisoner of the flesh and its limitations.

The soul, through meditation, can reach the state of Samadhi and thus can do away with its Ego or matter consciousness. Reaching Samadhi, or Oneness with God, is the only method by which the Ego consciousness can be completely defeated.

Samadhi is the great general of the metaphysical army which leads the soldiers of devotion, vital celibacy, spiritual memory, discriminative intelligence, extreme dispassion, negative good power, positive good power, proper bodily posture, reversed Life-Force, and withdrawn consciousness from the senses to battle the soldiers of Ego, Bhisura, or King Material Desire.

There are different stages in the realization of Oneness. There is the realization of Oneness of the Ego and the soul, and that of Oneness of the Soul and Spirit. There are really three kinds of Samadhi: Jara, or unconscious trance; Swabikalpa, or perception of Spirit without the Waves of Creation; and the third and highest state is that of perception of the Ocean of Spirit with the Waves of Creation.

The unconscious state is useless for the most part because it is produced by a physical control, or by the mental anaesthetic of keeping the mind blank. In this state a sense-bound soul can only be kept from increasing its attachments. It can never acquire wisdom or roast the seeds of pre-natal or post-natal bad habits. In this state, the mind is unconscious within and without.

It is related in the Hindu Scriptures that a wicked snake charmer went into a trance and fell into a well. The well dried up and became full of dirt and the man remained buried there for a hundred years with his body perfectly preserved in a state of suspended animation. At the end of a hundred years some people who were digging out the old well found him and revived him by the application of hot water. As soon as he regained consciousness, he began to scold and curse the people for stealing the musical instruments with which he charmed the snakes. His hundred years of unconscious trance had not roasted the seeds of bad thought habits or cured him of his wickedness.

In the Swabikalpa Samadhi state the attention and the Life-Force are switched off from the senses and are kept consciously identified with the ever-joyous, ever-wise Spirit. In this state, the soul is released from the Ego consciousness and becomes conscious of Spirit beyond Creation. By repetition of this state of Samadhi, the soul absorbs the fire of Spirit Wisdom, which roasts out the seeds of mortal desires. In this state, the soul, as the meditater, its meditation on the Spirit, and the Spirit as the object of meditation, become one. The Wave of Soul meditating in the Ocean of Spirit becomes merged with the Spirit. It does not lose its identity, but only expands into Spirit. In this state, the mind is conscious of the Spirit within only. It is not conscious of Creation without.

In the most advanced, or Nirbikalpa Samadhi state, the soul does not expand itself into the big Spirit, but realizes itself and Spirit as existing together. This is the highest and most enjoyable state in which the Ego consciousness, the soul consciousness, and the Ocean of Spirit are seen all existing together. It is the state of watching the Ocean of Spirit and the Waves of Creation at the same time. In this state, the individual does not see himself any longer as John Smith related to his body and his outer environment, but he sees that the Ocean of Spirit has become not only the Wave of John Smith, but also all the waves of all lives and of all things. In this state, the soul is conscious simultaneously of Spirit within and of all Creation without.

The Swabikalph Samadhi and Nirbikalpa Samadhi states are described int he following ancient Hindu song:

"In the Swabikalpa Samadhi Yoga (union)

You will drown (melt) yourself (Ego) in yourself (Spirit).

In the Nirbikalpa Samadhi Yoga

You will find (see) yourself (Ego) in yourself (in Spirit)."

The Ego consciousness tries to keep the body under its control by reminding it of the limited physical relations of country, race, nation, family, possessions, characteristics, and so forth. The soul is held to the body by the Ego consciousness. Struggling of the state of Samadhi through meditation is the way to overcome the Ego consciousness. In the highest Nirbikalpa Samadhi state the soul unites its Ego consciousness of race, country, family, body, possessions, and characteristics with the omnipresent, omniscient, all-blessed Spirit. The Ego reminds the Soul of its limitations, while Samadhi reminds the Soul of its omnipresence.

Before General Samadhi can defeat the body-bound Ego, it is necessary for the Soul to call out its other metaphysical soldiers to defeat the army of the senses. This battle will be described in the next issue of East-West.

The Bhagavad Gita

Conquering Temptation

Chapter I, Stanza IX

Anya cha bahabah Shoora madartha tyaktajeebitah

Nanashastrapraharanah sarba yudhabisharadah.—Stanza 9.

Ahya cha (and others)

bahabah Shoora (many warriors like Shalaya Kritabarma, etc.)

Nanashastrapraharanah (possessing many wespons)

Sarba (all of them)

Madartha (for my sake)

tyaktajeebitah (ready to lay down their lives)

Yudhabisharadah (well trained of battle)

Literal Translation:

And other diverse warriors, also well trained for battle, and armed with various weapons, are present here, ready to lay down their lives for my sake.

Spiritual Interpretation:

And other diverse warriors of temptation, well skilled in psychological warfare with good and armed with various sense lures, are abiding in the kingdom of the body, all prepared psychologically to use their entire living power to fight for me (King Material Desire).

Elaborate Spiritual Interpretation:

King Material Desire, with his soldiers of physical craving, is always afraid of the soldiers of the good. Therefore, on the eve of a psychological clash, he reviews his own forces of evil and the defending forces of the resisting good.

It is easy for a man to go down a deep, gradually descending subway, but it is when he tries to climb back out of the depth that he finds resistance, and it requires effort to overcome it. Likewise, the man who lives completely controlled by his material desires, born of bad habits, does not feel any spiritual resistance within him. He goes smoothly down the depths of evil. It is only when he tires to climb out of the subterranean pit that he finds resistance from evil desires and habits.

The above ideal warns the spiritual aspirant that, as soon as he tries to change the course of his life from evil to good, he will find the awakening of material desires and an army of pre-natal and post-natal bad habits ready to give battle to his sacred resolutions and holy actions instituted to find emancipation from earth bondage.

Material desires are gathered by the soul through incarnations, from the time it leaves the abode of Spirit. Mundane desires are born of material habits. Pre-natal material habits appear as worldly instincts, and after birth, material habits appear as strong tendencies. King Material Desire describes these matter-bent tendencies as great psychological heroes skilled in the use of various psychological weapons.

Whenever the spiritual aspirant becomes inwardly awake, he finds that his consciousness becomes the battleground where the mental warriors of bad tendencies, with their weapons of temptations, rally to fight the forces of good habits and discrimination armed with the weapons of wisdom.

Most people who are meek prisoners of bad habits do not encounter any resistance, or battle with the various weapons of lure used by bad material tendencies. Ordinarily, such people are so engrossed in their bad habits that they don’t dream of a spiritual escape, but, whenever a spiritual aspirant does stop from his mad rush toward evil and wants to tune back toward the good, he finds evil habits consciously using many missiles of temptations to destroy him.

A story will illustrate this:

Mr. J. was a confirmed drunkard, making a nuisance of himself to his family and neighbors. He met a saint and took the vow to abstain from drinking. He asked his servants to hide his costly wine in locked boxes and to keep the key, and instructed them to serve the liquor to his friends only. Everything went along all right with Mr. J. for some time because of his joy in the power of a new resolution against drink. For a while he did not feel the unseen gripping lure of the liquor-tempting habit.

As time went on, and he felt himself proof against liquor temptation, he asked his servants to leave the key of the wine room with him so that he could serve the red liquid to his friends himself. Feeling further mental security, he thought it was too much bother to go to the cellar to get liquor for his friends, so he kept some wine bottles hidden in the parlor. After a few days, Mr. J thought: "Since I am proof against liquor, let me look at the sparkling red wine in the bottle on the table."

Every day he looked at the bottle. Then he thought: "Since I am absolutely proof against temptation, I may just as well smell it." This went on for a few days. Then he thought: "Since I no longer care for liquor, I will take a mouthful of wine, taste it, and then spill it out." He did this. Then he thought: "Since I am so strong and am proof against liquor, there will be no harm if I drink once and swallow a little." After that, he thought: "Since I have conquered the liquor habit, let me take only one gulp of wine at a time, as many times as my unenslaved will desires." Then he found that he got drunk and kept on being helplessly drunk every day in spite of his will, just as he had before.

The above illustration shows how:

1. The liquor drinking habit was put down temporarily by the strong resolution to conquer.

2. It shows how Mr. J. failed to realize that his resolution against liquor had not had enough time to ripen into a good habit. Every devotee should remember that it takes from five to eight years to substitute a good habit for a strong bad habit. Before the strong good habit is formed, the devotee must stay away form his evil habit-forming environment or actions, as was proven by the way Mr. J disregarded this law, brought his wine bottle near him, and gradually reawakened the memory of the drinking habit. Therefore, in preventing the nourishment of bad habits, one must get away from evil surroundings, and above all, one must never bring evil thoughts into the mind. The latter causes the former and is more dangerous.

3. Then again, Mr. J. not only forgot that he should not have brought liquor so near him, but he also forgot that he should have recognized the psychological weapons which his bad habit used to defeat his good resolution.

4. The liquor habit remained unseen, hidden in his subconscious mind, secretly sending out armed spies of desire and pleasing thoughts of taste to prepare the way for the re-invasion of the liquor habits, which was to come back again and usurp the body and soul of Mr. J.

If you have a tendency to live on the misery-producing material plane, learn to stay away from tempting environments outside and to cast out thoughts of temptation from within. Surround yourself with the right kind of environment, and keep your mind filled with the kind of thoughts which will produce the effect that you desire.

(The Bhagavad Gita is one of the greatest books on the art of super-living and its readers might apply its truths to great practical advantage.)

The Bhagavad Gita

Battle Between Soul and Ego

Chapter I, Stanza 10

Aparjaptam tadasmakam balam Bhismabhirakshitam

Parjaptam twidamatasam balam Bhimabhirakshitam.

Asmakam (our) Tad (this) balam (army) Bhismabhirakshitam (protected by Bhisma) Aparjaptam (unlimited) tu (whereas) Atasham (their) Bhimabhirakshitam (protected by Bhima) edam (this) Parjaptam (limited).

This (our forces protected by Bhisma) is difficult to count, whereas their army, defended by Bhima, is easy to count.

Spiritual Glossary:

Bhisma Abhas Chaitanya or Asmita—The Pseudo-Soul, or Ego.

Bhima Bayutatwana—By the powerful flowing force (Life Force) acting in conjunction with vitality and breathing exercises.

Spiritual Interpretation:

When the spiritual devotee snatches himself away from the snare of the senses, practices breathing exercises, and tries to control the Life Force, material desire, (with the Pseudo-Soul, or Kingly Ego) with his countless soldiers of earth-bound inclinations, tries to fight the spiritual efforts of the Divine aspirant.

The man sliding down evil paths finds no resistance, but as soon as he tries to oppose his evil habits by the adoption of spiritual laws of discipline, he finds countless instincts of temptations roused to fight and foil his noble efforts.

In this Stanza the two important opposing generals of the forces of good and evil are Bhima and Bhisma. It is found that Bhima, the Soul-guided vital force and breath-control, leads to Soul consciousness. For this reason, the Soul-guided vital force is spoken of as the greatest enemy of Bhisma, or the body-identified Ego.

How Bhima, or Breathing Exercises, Help You to be Spiritual:

By proper breathing exercises, as taught in the classes of "Highest Self Realization," the venous blood is burned out and the body is electrified. When the body stops decaying, the heart gets rest and learns to control the Life Force moving through the five sense-telephones of touch, smell, taste, hearing, and sight.

Of course, when the Life Force is shut off, the material sensations cannot reach the brain to snatch the attention away from God and entangle it in the material world. That is why Bhima, or proper breathing exercises, and the few strong soldiers of concentration, intuition, inner perception, calmness, self-control, and so on, can be awakened to fight the forces of the Pseudo-Soul, or Ego.

It is the breathing exercises that are responsible for cutting off the nerve force through which the sense impulses reach the brain and invade attention with darts of material desires. Therefore, Bhima, or Soul-guided Life Force, is the principal enemy of Ego, or Bhisma.

Revelations About the Genesis of Ego Consciousness:

On the other hand, the purpose of Bhisma, or Ego, is to keep the Soul’s attention continually busy with the living reports and countless enticing ways of sensations. The Ego, or Pseudo-Soul, instead of throwing the searchlight of attention on God, keeps it reflected on the senses. The Ego consciousness is the consciousness of Prince Soul in bondage in the slums of the body. Hence, it is the Ego, and the deluded fleshbound consciousness of the Soul, which is responsible for awakening all the countless soldiers of temptations couched within the human body.

Without Ego consciousness, the entire army of evil and temptation vanishes like a quickly-forgotten dream. If the Soul dwelt in the body without being identified with it, as the Souls of saints do, then no temptations could keep it tied to the body, but the trouble is, as the Soul descends into the body, it projects its individualized ever-conscious ever-new Bliss nature and identifies itself with the limitations of the body and its relations, and then thinks of itself as the miserable Ego of many temptations.

At this point it must be realized that the identification of the Soul with the body is only imaginary and not real. Essentially the Soul is ever pure. Ordinary mortals allow their Souls to live as flesh-entangled Egos and not as Spirit’s reflection, or real Soul.

A wealthy boy prince went into the slums and lived there so long that he thought he was poor and miserable. He ascribed to himself all the troubles that go with poverty, but when he was forcibly brought back to his palace and lived there for some time he realized that he had never been poor except in his imagination.

Likewise, when, by proper breathing exercises, the five sense-telephones are disconnected, then Prince Soul’s attention is automatically switched off from the Ego consciousness and misery-making senses. Then the Soul, finding itself, says to itself: "I was never anything but ever-new joyous Spirit, and I only imagined I was a mortal man subject to temptations."

However, it is hard to realize that you are not a fleshly Being and that in reality you are neither a Hindu nor an American Temple, nor any of the other limited sense-bound things you appear to be. God, in sleep, in an unconscious way, makes you forget all your flesh consciousness. Sleep is a salve to make you forget temporarily your hallucination about matter. Meditation is the real panacea by which you can permanently cure yourself of the day-dream of matter and all its evils, and realize yourself as pure Spirit.

Of Course, unless the Ego is killed by snatching the attention away from the senses and identifying it with God, the devotee finds his spiritual experiences of vitality, self-control, and so on, born of breathing exercises and life-control, or Bhima, ready to be challenged by the Ego consciousness and its countless soldiers of temptations.

The Bhagavad Gita

Location of Various Powers

In the Centers

Chapter I, Stanza 11

Sanskrit:

Ayanasu cha sarbasu yathabhagamabasthita Bhismamababhirakshan tu bhabantah sarba abouoe hi.

Literal Glossary:

Ayansau (the divisions of the army); cha (too); sarbasu (all of them); yathabhagamabasthita (in their right positions as placed); bhabantah (ye); sarba (all); aba hi (must); Bhisman (Bhisma); aba (alone); Abhirakshantu (guard).

Literal Translation:

King Material Desire (Durjodhana) speaks to preceptor Past Tendency (Drona).

All of you, being stationed in your respective places, in the divisions of the army, do protect Bhima.

Spiritual Glossary of Stanza 11:

As described in the previous Stanza, Bhisma, or Ego, is the principal Power which fights the forces of the Soul. Meditation relaxes the mind from matter, and shows the unlimited Kingdom of the Spirit and puts it on matter and the physical body. King Material Desire considers Ego consciousness as the primary power which deluded the Soul and caused it to be entangled in the meshes of flesh and matter.

The Ego is more powerful in exercising delusive influence, and defeating the soldiers of the Soul, than its preceptor, Past Tendency. Even Past Tendency can be killed by a good, strong, new tendency, but it is very hard to kill the Ego consciousness, which makes the Soul think of itself as a body weighing so many pounds, containing brittle bones, subject to poverty, sickness, and death, and many other limitations.

This Ego, which is conscious of being identified with a body, is carried in the heart of the Soul through many incarnations. That is why King Material Desire is strong and strives to protect the body consciousness by all means, for that consciousness, along with the army of limitations, can keep the Soul a prisoner of matter.

King Material Desire thinks that even if Past Evil Tendency is destroyed, other evil tendencies may be created to keep the Soul in bondage, but King Material Desire is afraid that if the Ego consciousness is slain in the psychological battle during the spiritual skirmish of meditation, the Soul will remember its state of Cosmic Consciousness and will be able, with its power, to annihilate all the armies of delusion and desire. King Material Desire’s existence depends upon the existence of the Ego consciousness.

The Spiritual Battle Array is as follows: The soldiers of the Soul are listed first. They are the power to follow prescribed rules, the power to follow prohibitive rules, self control, soul-controlled vital force and breath, and calmness and intuition, and they are situated in the coccygeal, sacral, lumbar, dorsal, cervical, medulla, and reflected Spiritual Eye Centers, respectively. The soldiers of King Material Desire occupy, together with he true forces of the Good, the coccygeal, sacral, and lumbar plexuses, plus the entire skin surface and the dugouts of the uncontrolled senses.

Another version of the above Stanza is that on one side are assembled

(1) the Spirit as Christ Consciousness (Krishna, of the Bhagavad Gita),
(2) the power of Samadhi (or intuitional Oneness with God) in the medulla and the point between the two eyebrows, and
(3) King Calmness (Yudhistira) centered in the cervical skiey plexus, as Divine Devotion, and
(4) Bhima, or Vital Breath and Power, in the dorsal breath center, and
(5) Arjuna, or Life Force, Patience, and Self Control, in the lumbar-fire center, and
(6) Nakulor, or power to follow good rules, in the sacral-water center, and
(7) Sabedeva, or power to follow prescribed rules, in the coccygeal or earth center.
Then on the other side, the senses also are assembled in the coccygeal, sacral, lumbar, dorsal, cervical, and medulla centers as Bhisma, Drona, and Kripa (as Ego and its inclinations); Material Pride, or Shalya; Material Attachment, or Shakuni; as Greed (Karna and Bikarna); Anger (Duhshashan, hard to control) and Jayadratha, (fear of death) and King Material Desire, (Durjodhana) respectively.

[The Sanskrit names are given for reference to the historical and psychological names, for the convenience of Sanskrit scholars, but can be omitted by the average reader if found confusing.]

The Bhagavad Gita

Material Desires and Meditation

Chapter I, Stanza 12

Sanskrit:

Tasya sanjanaynyharsam Kurubridha Pitamaha.

Singhanadam Binodoehai Shankham daddhau protapaban.

English:

Grandsire Bhisma, oldest and most powerful of the Kurus, with the purpose of cheering Durjodhana, blew his conch shell with a lion-roar.

Spiritual Interpretation:

It must be noticed that Kurjodhana, King Material Desire, did not find any response from his preceptor Drona, or Habit, even though in the Eleventh Stanza he says: "Let all the soldiers of the restless mind (The Wicked Kurus) get together and protect the bodily Ego Consciousness." (See July issue of East-West).

This is because Preceptor Habit was also the teacher of the discriminative tendencies (the Pure Pandus). In other words, the Bad Habit and its wicked mental tendencies, are often concentrated on the invading Good Habit and its discriminative tendencies, and they have no time to pay attention to the thoughts and urgings of King Material Desire to protect the supremely important Ego. In a psychological battle between good and evil tendencies, Bad Habits think themselves of sufficient importance to crush the Good Habits. Usually the Bad Habits do not realize the very important parts which Material Desire and Ego play.

In a psychological battle between the habit of yielding to temptation and the habit of self-control, the latter may easily subdue the former, but it is very hard for Good Habits to overcome newly created, constantly evolving material desires of the body-bound Ego. Material Desire, and Ego, or body consciousness, go together.

Body consciousness (Bhisma) gives rise to material desire (Durjodhana). Material desires are born, not only due to bad habits, but also to the body attachment of the Ego. If this body consciousness, or Ego, is conquered by the consciousness of Omnipresence, in Spirit, then King Material Desire and all his armies of sense tendencies are instantly slain. Body attachment of the Ego and its desires flee like darkness before the light of Soul’s consciousness of Omnipresence.

Of course, we find King Material Desire (Durjodhana) urging Drona (Habit) and the sense soldiers to protect Ego, or body consciousness, (Bhisma) who is the root cause of all material desires.

The all-knower, Ego, mentally saw that Material Desire did not find any response to his Stanzas, so the Ego sent a strong vibration of determination (blew the conch shell) in order to cheer King Material Desire. This prevented him from getting discouraged because he did not get any response from the Bad Habit which was furiously busy making plans for fighting Good Habits.

It is a fact that in meditation the devotee finds his body consciousness resisting the consciousness of Omnipresence. He also finds that the Ego consciousness often wants to make an encouraging noise by breathing fast, and thus inviting the senses to destroy the breathlessness of meditation. The minute the Ego breathes fast, (the blowing of the conch shell which produces material sounds through the action of the air) then the Material Desire of the body is awakened and cheered and fights to drive away the vast Spirit Consciousness which is born of our stillness and meditation.

During meditation, any material vibration set forth by the Ego helps to awaken the material desire to revive the consciousness of the body, and to dispel the consciousness of the vastness in Spirit.

Chapter l, Stanza 13

Sanskrit:

Tatah shankhasheha Bharjasaha panabanakagomukha.

Sahasaibabhyahanyanta sa sabdotu mulobhabat.

English:

After Bhisma blew, then conch shells, big drums, jabors, cow horns, and trumpets sounded from the side of the Kurus and the noise was terrific.

In the following Stanzas, up to the 18th, we find that the inner psychological battle is carried on through the vibratory sounds emanating from the sense tendencies and the discriminative tendencies.

After Ego creates a material vibration, the senses also begin to create different vibratory sounds in order to drown out the musical Astral sounds of the discriminative tendencies in the plexuses of Centers.

All students of the Yogoda Fifth Lesson can understand that during the earlier state of meditation, when Ego consciousness is awake and blows the conch shell of breath, then the sense organs, of heart, circulation, and lungs make many peculiar thumping, throbbing, and purring sounds to drown out the fine Astral music emanating from the Astral Body.

Bhagavad Gita

Obstacles to Meditation

Chapter I, Stanza 13

SANSKRIT

Tasya sanjan ayanaharsam Kurubridah pitamaha sinhanadam binodachai shankham dadhou protapaban.

LITERAL GLOSSARY

Protapaban (the strong); Kurubridah (eldest of the Kurus); pitamaha (grandfather); tasya (his, i.e., Durjodhana’s); harsam (joy); sanjanayan (to create); uchai (loudly); sinhanadam (roared like a lion); binodya (having sounded) shankham (conchshell); dadou (blew).

LITERAL TRANSLATION

The strong, eldest of the Kurus, Bhisma, the grandfather, in order to enliven Durjodhana, now roared aloud like a lion and blew his conchshell.

The entire family of the Kurus, and the Pandus of India, symbolizes the tree of human consciousness. God the Father, (Santanyu) through His first consort, primordial intelligence (Ganga) in Nature, gives birth to the human Ego Consciousness (Bhisma). Then, through His second consort (Satyabati), primordial matter, the offspring of the law of relativity, Divine primordial element and Divine ego, (Bada, Byasa, Chitrangad, Bithitrabirja) are born. On the other side the Divine Ego, through the first consort, Doubt, gave birth to the psychological child or blind mind (Dhritarashtra). This Blind Mind, through his first consort, Power of Desire, (Ghandhari) gave birth to King Desire and Durjodhana, children of a hundred mental tendencies (Kurus).

Then the Blind Mind, through his second consort, Baishya, the attachment to desires, gave birth to the child of "Desire to give battle to psychological tendencies," Gujutsu.

Then the Divine Ego through his second consort (Ambalika) the positive discriminating faculty, gave birth to the child of pure discriminating intelligence, Pandu. Then this discriminating intelligence, Pandu, by his first consort, the power of dispassion, (Kunti) gave birth to the children of the vibrating ether, vitality, and fire elements, (The Three Pandu Princes). Then this selfsame pure, discriminating intelligence, through his second consort, (Madri), the faculty of attachment to dispassion, gave birth to the two offsprings of vibrating water and earth elements, (Two Pandu Princes.)

SPIRITUAL INTERPRETATION

King Material Desire had called upon the Preceptor Past Habit to protect General Ego with all the soldiers of the senses, but when the Preceptor Habit did not give inner support, General Ego himself roared with the vibration of pride.

Students of meditation will find that during deep meditation and identification with the Soul, the breath becomes still, but due to the lack of long-continued practice in meditation, the ego brings back the consciousness of the body, which revives the respiration, which begins to roar like a lion. This roaring sound is the vibratory conchshell of Ego, which revives the soldiers of the senses and cheers up King Material Desire to rally against the powers acquired by deep meditation.

The devotee must remember that during deep meditation, when the breath becomes calm, a very enjoyable state of peace is produced, but due to the Ego Consciousness, the thought of the body returns and the fickle, loud breath revives, rousing all material desires and sense distractions. The devotee should not be discouraged at this but should, by deeper concentration, learn to calm the breath and the senses. When King Material Desire does not get support from Past Bad Habits, the Ego comes to cheer and strengthen him.

CHRONOLOGY OF CREATION, SYMBOLIZED IN GENEALOGY OF THE KURUS AND PANDUS

Shantanu The Transcendental...

Para-Brahman—God the Father of Creation

Ganga (1st wife)

Chaitanya, Consciousness—

Nature as Intelligence,

Maha-Prakriti or Holy Ghost

Eight psychological children:

Kultastha Chaitanya, and six governing intelligences, and ahamkara, universal ego—

Bhishma

Satyavati (2nd wife)

Primordial Nature as matter

Psychological Children:

Vyasa

Consciousness of relativity and discriminating power to discern differentiation

Chitrangada—

Mahat-Tattva,

Divine Primordial Element

Vichitravirya—

Divine Ego

Ambika ( 1st wife)

Negative doubt

Dhritarashtra

Manas, the blind sense-mind

Gandhari ( 1st wife)

The power of desires

Duryodhana

(Vainglorious desire)

and his brothers, the 99 other Kurus

(Sense tendencies)

Vaishya (2nd wife) The attachment of desires

Yuyutsu

The desire to give psychological battle

Ambalika (2nd wife)

The positive discriminating faculty

Pandu - Buddhi, the pure discriminating intelligence -

Kunti ( 1st wife)

The power of dispassion

The Five Pandava Princes

Yudhisthira ...Vibratory ether element (akasha tattva)

Bhima ...Vibratory air or life-force element (vayu tattva)

Arjuna ...Vibratory fire element (tejas tattva)

Madri (2nd wife)

The power of attachment to dispassion

Nakula ...Vibratory water element (ap tattva)

Sahadeva ...Vibratory earth element (kshiti tattva)

Draupadi

kula kundalini—the coiled life force that energizes the spinal chakras.

The Bhagavad Gita

Physical and Astral Sounds

Chapter I, Stanza 14

Tatah sankhascha Bahijarshcha Panabanaka Gomukhah Sahasaibavhyahanyanta sah shabdastumulobhabat Tatah (them); sankhascha (conch shells and); bhaijarscha (kettle drums); panabanaka gomukah (trumpets, tabors, and cow horns); sahasa aba (most suddenly); abhyahanyanta (blew forth); sah shabdastumulobhabat (that sound was tremendous).

In the 12th and 13th Stanzas we saw how the Ego consciousness revives material desire and the senses by disrupting the calm breath. The four factors of mind, breath, vital essence, and body are ever interrelated. When any one of the four factors is disturbed, the other three automatically become disturbed too.

Hence, the devotee who aspires to develop uniformly and steadily in spirituality must always calm the mind with the practice of concentration, keep the breath quiet by proper breathing exercises, preserve the vital essence by self-control and good company, and keep the body quiet and not in perpetual motion and restlessness.

When Ego disturbs the breath after deep meditation, the Soul again tries to revive its intuitive consciousness by the revival of Astral vibrations. As Prince Soul returns to his spiritual kingdom in meditation, he passes from the flesh consciousness through the Astral Kingdom. The way of the Soul from the body to superconsciousness lies through the Astral Kingdom. The Astral Kingdom constitutes the vita-electrical system of the body. As the body is woven with tissues of flesh, so the Astral body is woven with filaments of the electrical Life Force.

The circulation, pumping of the heart, and movement of breathing in the physical body all emanate physical sounds. The Soul hears these sounds when it is concentrated on the inside of the body. When the Soul, as Ego, concentrates upon the outside body, it hears the sounds of the physical world, but as the Soul, in meditation, passes from the physical sounds of matter and the droning sounds of circulation, and the thump of the heart, it begins to hear the various vibratory sounds of the Astral vital forces, like the blowing of conch shells, or round, full, rolling vibrations.

In the battle between the Ego and the senses pulling towards the body, and the Soul moving towards the Astral, the devotee hears the roaring sound of the breath when he becomes identified with the body, but listens to the Astral bells and music of the spheres when he approaches the Soul through the Astral Kingdom.

Stanza 12 specially describes those ugly vibrations of the senses (Kurus), which keep the devotee’s attention upon the internal physical body. These sounds, emanating from the vibrations of the senses, are shrill and disturbing like the cow horns, tabors, and kettle drums.

Tatah swataihairyukta mahati shyandana sthitou Madhabah Pandabaschaiba dibbou shankhou pradathmatuh. Tatah (after then); swataihai (with milk-white steeds); yukta (yoked); mahati shyandana (in the grand chariot); sthitou (seated); Madhabah (Krishna); cha Pandaba (and Arjuna); dibbou (celestial); shankhou (conch shells); pradathmatuh (blew splendidly).

Then, also, Madhabah and Pandabah, seated in their grand chariot, pulled by white stallions, blew their celestial conch shells splendidly.

The 14th Stanza describes how the devotee’s consciousness (Arjuna) in meditation beholds itself seated in the chariot of Intuition with the Soul Force (Madhaba) vibrating different conch-like Cosmic sounds.

In meditation, behold the chariot of Intuition, drawn by stallions of white lights racing in all directions from a dark blue center (Soul’s abode).

Madhabah (Ma, Lakshmi, or Primordial Nature.) Dhaba (Husband, or Krishna—the spiritual blue telescopic eye through which Christ Consciousness can be perceived).

Surrounding this blue light is the luminous white or golden light, the telescopic Astral Eye through which all Nature is perceived.

The 12th and 13th Stanzas describe the gross vibrations emanating form the senses, and Stanzas 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 describe the spiritual experiences and vibrations emanating from the Soul and the Astral Kingdom. The gross vibrations are heard when the Soul is still on the plane of the consciousness of the inner body with its heart beats, and so forth. The Astral vibrations are heard when the Soul goes beyond the sounds of the inner physical body. The spiritual Astral Vibrations, which are heard by the Soul in its journey through the Astral, are described in the 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, and 18th Stanzas. These spiritual sounds will be described in the next issue.