Vedic Scripture or No Vedic Scriptures

Consciousness

Apr 4

Life is viewed by many as a linear process, a life that is governed not by an unfolding of a greater force but like Darwin’s survival of the fittest, luck and circumstances, up and down, from birth to death.

To our knowledge, there is no other planet where life exists although all logic would suggest that there is life elsewhere. That makes the earth and the human species either a gigantic mistake and coincidence or a very special place, chosen for specific reasons to fulfill a specific purpose. In fact, I could go a little further by stating that human beings are obviously the highest developed species on the planet although clearly not very evolved. There are animals and you’ve had them as pets that practice a higher level of integrity than some people you know.

So, if you have to, just pretend that the planet is a very special place, a place specifically chosen for a specific purpose. If I’m going to practice personal delusion, I am going to practice a form that suggests to me that there has to be something more than a material world…something more than a world where consumption of money, material gain, power, and control is the purpose of life.

Physical matter comes from somewhere.

You come from somewhere.

There is no scientific evidence to identify the location of where you come from.

But there is ample information contained in many sacred texts representing many religions and spiritual practices to suggest that the source of your being in a physical is found in a source that is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent. Whether called God or any other name, it is known throughout the world as the source of your being here. And like the planet Earth itself, you would then be charged with a specific purpose to be fulfilled while being in a physical body.

So, as you can see, there are different levels of consciousness that are unfolding. This isn’t hard to comprehend because it’s easy to see that there are some people that are more conscious than other people. While I am not only intrigued but sometimes find myself captivated by the need to understand the grander design and make-up of consciousness itself, of God himself/herself, the essence of the source itself, I am quick to acknowledge that even that is completely dependent upon the level of consciousness practiced by the individual himself/herself.

In other words, you can only see out there in the world what you see inside yourself.

Perception is not a fact. Perception is a choice.

You see what you believe whether it’s there or not and if you don’t believe it, you can’t see it even when it’s standing in front of you. So, from this point of view, the problem, for example, that is connected to the dynamic of perception that is connected to belief, like belief in God or any other Deity is apparently not your belief in it, but your belief about it.

Neither Christianity nor Islam has been able to spiritualize the world, much less a country. In fact, it has done the opposite and each is willing to kill the other in order to demonstrate how superior it is to the other.

But in order for you as an individual to grow, to evolve, to fulfill your purpose in being here, then it means you’ve got to figure out how to extricate yourself from the drama of the world and the drama of those around you that constantly seek to include you in their dramas in order to play the game.

You would have to extricate yourself from the herd and all of the trappings of the “outer” world to begin to focus on your inner world, the inner world, the inner world being the only place where you’re going to come to terms with the purpose of your being here. And whichever way this works or doesn’t work out, I am saying that the unfolding of your life and the focus on your own transformation must become the priority of your life. You don’t have to know how that’s going to happen. But if you don’t acknowledge it inside of you, you will not acknowledge it outside of you and will have but one choice but to rinse and repeat.

You see, it is what is inside that is determining the outcomes. This is clearly the case with all physicality because the seed of a pine tree doesn’t grow up to become an oak. Things happen. There are storms, the unexpected, disease…but still…inside…the pine tree is a pine tree…broken limbs and all. And the same is true about you.

So, let’s take a closer look at some principles of that process:

Your existence and the evolution of your life is the process by which the source of your life…God, consciousness, the Divine, the One…reveals itself to you at deeper and deeper levels.
This process is that consciousness manifesting itself in physical form…called you and your life. This implies that there is a will and a purpose to that process and that you are part of that process of consciousness manifesting in the physical world. Thou art That.
Thou art That may be true but it is easy for you to see that that consciousness lies hidden in most human beings and it reveals itself slowly although slowly is not required.
This process takes place in your physical life, in your physical body, and of course, in the lives of others, but in that process, the process of consciousness takes place in physical matter itself but in doing so, the process of the physical changes. A shift in consciousness creates a shift in the physical body that houses it.
This process, this unfolding of the “It” in physical matter, is the very same process that is your greatest impulse, your greatest need because it is not only the most essential movement that is governing your life but it is the only movement. Everything else that occupies your time and space is stuff you make up.
Aspiration and inspiration, going beyond your mind, beyond the duality that dominates your perceptual fields, and seeking to exceed your addictive point of view are demanded because it is your point of view, your perceptual field itself that creates your misery, your suffering.
This impulse to evolve, whether conducted consciously or unconsciously, is that will of the source of your existence that lies inside of you. In other words, the will of God IS embedded inside of you. Evolution is the process by which you come to terms with that…level after level after level.
The truth of that process, the truth of evolution, is not just something in which you are involved, it is what you are. In the Vedic scriptures, considered to be the oldest form of written text on the planet, the word “Ritam” is a keyword and according to Sri Aurobindo means “a truth of ourselves, a truth of things, a truth of the world, and of the gods, a truth behind all we are and all things that are.” This is not true outside of you but the truth inside of you because this is who you are.
The need for and the process of individual transformation is the unfolding of that truth. This means that the story of your life is not what you think it is. It is far grander.
This evolution, this process of individual transformation is not a mental knowledge that is gained by the mind through study and application but is a knowledge that is awakened inside the individual that already lies inside the individual. The process of evolution at the individual level is your becoming process, a process by which you become what you already are. Does that make sense? The process of evolution at the individual level is your becoming process, a process by which you become what you already are.

So, as you can see, there are as many ways to “become” as there are people.

You might think of it like this…that the process by which consciousness creates and is embedded in all physical matter is the process of involution. The process by which that consciousness reveals itself becomes physical matter, the process by which the physical matter awakes and fulfills the purpose of that consciousness is the process of evolution. From the collective point of view, it’s a pretty slow and painful process. From the standpoint of the individual point of view, it is here that you have the greatest amount of control, understanding, and application. You can change the world but you can change you.

This is what TruthSpring is all about…creating and developing tools, springboards, and processes by which you can take a more conscious, participatory role in your evolutionary process. The other alternative is to remain asleep and bear the consequences.

When asked about the greatest sources available to any person, when asked how is one to go about the task of personal transformation, I generally start with an explanation of:

The Vedic Scriptures and the Upanishads. The Vedic Scriptures and the Upanishads are the greatest resources of the written text of consciousness itself. As many people believe the Bible is the word of God, these two resources reveal the workings of consciousness itself. The problem for nearly every American who would ever take up the task of such a study is the fact that both the Vedic Scriptures and the Upanishads are not based upon a linear, objective, 7 habits of consciousness, kind of understanding.
Both resources highlight knowledge that is not gained through intellectual concepts but through knowledge that is intuitively seized by your inner being, a knowledge that when your inner being, not your mind, is made aware of that knowledge, the inner being says, “Yes!” Using symbols and images of a different culture and time, these resources can be difficult to understand, much less translate into twentieth-century needs and applications. But that is why they are there. This reference is, of course, a major problem for individuals who are highly religious.
The second most valuable resource available to you comes in the form of a triad of individuals: Sri Aurobindo, the Mother, and Patrizia Noreilli-Bachelet. Of course, as I have already established, birds fly, fish swim, a man walks on two, dogs walk on four, so, there are as many ways to reach enlightenment as there are people. However, if, instead of waiting for that particular pathway to reveal itself, the serious student would certainly check out the work of Sri Aurobindo and in particular, his masterpiece, Savitri.
So, not being naïve, I know the difficulties that any individual faces in taking up the task of going to Barnes and Noble and beginning the journey and purchasing “Savitri.” But is this task of reading an 800-page epic poem any more difficult than your daily life for which you have no answers other than the repetition of the same old responses that haven’t worked before?

My point is that in order for individual transformation to take place, it would be necessary for the individual to be exposed to and begin to operate from a higher knowledge, a knowledge that the mind can begin to serve. In fact, that is what your entire life is about…continuing the process of evolving to finally get to a point where your mind is willing and able to undertake such a journey. Your mind can then become an expression of that Truth and it is in this manner that you will experience transformation.

The process of disciplining your rigid mind will result in a self-development that will at some point in time exceed its previous boundaries and when that happens, you will be hooked because you will, at last, begin to see all of the answers to all of the questions you had about your life. The process of transformation is now underway!

Sri Aurobindo said, “…what evolutionary Nature presses for, is an awakening to the knowledge of self, the discovery of self, the manifestation of self and spirit within us and the release of its self-knowledge, its self-power, its native self-instrumentation. It is besides, a step for which the whole of evolution has been a preparation.”

This transformation is really two-fold:

The first is the deepening, the widening, the expansion of the inner world, the inner being.
The second is the deepening, the widening, the expansion of one’s outer world, to create a daily life that resembles the inner consciousness. This is the breathing in and out not only of the individual but of the entire evolutionary process.

So, in past spiritual models, you learned of the lives of the ascetics who abandoned earthly life and the horizontal to fully concentrate on reaching and residing in the transcendent Divine. Skip all the daily stuff and head into the ethers.

This endeavor, of course, has its place in how you would go about transforming your life, but once the inner is forged, what are you to about the outer, the world that needs your help? This is why we advocate the balance of the horizontal and the vertical, the physical and the spiritual, of taking your newfound understandings and growth and consciousness out into the outer world and while you’re in the business of transforming your mind and your inner life, why not go about the business of transforming your business, your everyday life? Well, of course, you would!

But it’s pretty easy to see and admit the chasm that exists between the Vedic Scriptures and everyday life in the United States. Once again, you can only solve the riddle of you…that’s all you need to do because in doing so, you solve the riddle of them because they is you and you is them! Why? How could this be? Because consciousness is the source of their existence, too. God isn’t just in some people. God is in all peoples, including the ones who commit evil.

Let’s take a closer look at the blueprint of the being called you. It’s like I’ve always said, if you have the right tools, you can fix just about anything.

So, let’s a closer look.

There are two parts of you that underneath all of the mental, physical and emotional debris are playing out.

The soul is the spark of consciousness, of the Divine, of God, that lies inside of you. Your soul lies deep within, under all of the crusts of regret, shame, guilt, ignorance, rage, hopelessness, powerlessness, self-loathing, pain, grief, struggle, and a million other conditions that while appearing to be real, are not.

The psychic being is well, think of it as the intermediary between your outer world and your soul, your inner world. The psychic being is not your soul but is the personalization of the soul in the outer, visible world. Each soul is unique and each soul is eternal. The psychic being develops over the course of life that is formed as you come into greater contact with the consciousness that lies within you which could be stated as the knowledge that is your soul.

Best said that when your outer life begins to resemble the dreams you have about yourself, the life that you have always wanted to have, to live when you start doing that, the psychic being enlarges, greater integration is experienced in your life and work, your life is being governed more and more by the knowledge and consciousness of the inner world than by events and circumstances of the outer world.

In the process, your psychic being causes the outer world, your everyday life, to begin to conform to the inner vision, to the inner voice, to the consciousness within, even an inch at a time. This working out of your outer through your inner is your evolutionary process and eventually, the psychic being eventually wakes up and becomes the expression, the voice, the eyes, and the ears of the soul.

All growth and movement in the outer world that has to be worked through. And, by the way, that’s a pretty substantial amount of working through for any human being. Well, it is done by way of the psychic being, who connected to the soul, begins to make progress, however difficult and painful that may be. The psychic being becomes, as the Mother describes it, the sheath of the soul. This progress, this continuing evolving psychic being remains with the soul after death and the process begins again. That’s why it’s so important to never give up, to stay in the game, because if you don’t address the crusts of unconsciousness, your stuff, in this lifetime, then you’re going to have to do it again in the next lifetime and who wants to keep repeating agony?

This evolution can be tremendously enhanced through the acquisition of knowledge, the stuff of which the Vedic Scriptures and the Upanishads are written. So, make sure you understand the process…your soul is the very content and context that the Vedic Scriptures and the Upanishads rest upon. Your soul is the spark of the divine that lies within…it is God within, the image of God within. But you don’t know that.

So, the formation of a conscious, spiritual path, to begin to consciously participate in the evolution of your soul, the enlargement of your psychic being, requires a change of “information” so to speak. This can only come about through accessing a different basis of knowledge, otherwise, you are doomed to stay the same and rinse and repeat.

As time goes by, this process creates greater and greater harmonization of our outer and inner worlds such that long before the complete union between the psychic being and the soul is made, one can begin to live an incredible life! Even a small amount of growth produces exponential outcomes. It’s not like there won’t be any more difficulties…of course, there will be…but now all of the outer circumstances are The movement to a greater self-perfection, to consciously, deliberately choosing to change, to get out of jail, initiates and causes to be manifested a WAY to change.

For as you can see so clearly, you are not alone!

The outer you who is stuck and chained in the horizontal is attended to by way of your psychic being who is connected to your soul. You are not alone! Everything you need, every answer to every question, lies within. But this psychic connection needs to be fed, to be nurtured, and this comes by way of realization, of knowledge that now deliberately sets into motion the movement of transformation…even a thought at a time. But this takes effort and discipline and deliberate action so that your learning now has to be organized in a certain way, directed toward a particular path, and eventually, undertaken.

When you decide that enough is enough and that you’re done with being unhappy and unfulfilled, I promise you that a path will be made available for you.

Now, that process is going to take place sooner or later whether or not you choose to do it because it is the very reason you’re here and you can’t do anything about that but you can postpone it, you can deny it, you can substitute a plan of your own for it, you can corrupt it, but eventually, you will wake up.

But why delay? There’s just too much pain involved. But once the connection to your psychic being, to that inner voice is made, is a fixed reference point and cannot be taken from you. You’re on your way whether you’re aware of it or not. Your path to truth has now been established. If there was a definitive characteristic of this formation, of your contact with your psychic being, for me, it is the clear distinction between what is true and is false, between what is real and what is not real. And this is, as I’m sure you can understand, an invaluable skill because it allows you to know where to place your energy and time and where not to.

As far as the Vedic Scriptures or the Upanishads are concerned, I’m not recommending reading them because that would be unrealistic on my part. But where will you gain this level of knowledge if you do not?

There is a recommendation I can make but my recommendation means nothing and you have to come to grips with this on your own.

But I promise you that when you decide that enough is enough and that you’re done with being unhappy and unfulfilled, I promise you that a path will be made available for you. But the recommendation I can make is to read the works of Sri Aurobindo, the Mother, and Patrizia Noreilli-Bachelet. The sheer volume of these three individuals is daunting but life-changing. For me, Aurobindo is the link between the Vedic Scriptures and the Upanishads, and Savitri which I have spoken about many times contains the knowledge of those works in a more comprehensible and modern fashion.

In the materially focused and psychologically ill world in which you live, it is the neglect and imprisonment of your true self that is the cause of all of your issues. Simply put, the absence of understanding of your existence is the source of your pain. The current psychological responses continue to address the outer layers of your life without any connection to the deeper, spiritual core which is the source of your joy, your strength, and your mastery. Your outer world is a reflection of your inner world and until the world is addressed, your outer world will not change.

Terry and I were traveling for work and we stopped at a Wendy’s to grab a bite. A scene was taking place at the counter where an irate customer was angry with the clerk. In an angry and threatening tone, the customer said, “I didn’t order this!” The clerk did a great job by apologizing and asking the customer what he did order. The customer said, “Well, it sure wasn’t this!”, shaking his #1 combo hamburger at her. The clerk said again, “Can you tell me what you ordered?” The customer repeated, “Well, it sure wasn’t this!” He slammed the hamburger on the counter and walked out. I enjoyed the scene a great deal and realized that a lot of people are that way. They know what they don’t want but don’t know what they do…and then when you do know what you want, the question becomes, “How?”

The integration of spirituality, of consciousness, into your daily life in a deliberate and disciplined manner is your next step. The vertical, the Divine will provide the how. It is up to you to decide when you will begin.

the absence of understanding of your existence is the source of your pain.

I want to end this message with a quote from Aurobindo about life and the process of evolution:

“Nature labored for innumerable millions of years to create a material universe of flaming suns and systems; for a lesser but still interminable series of millions, she stooped to make this Earth a habitable planet. For all that incalculable time she was or seemed busy only with the evolution of Matter; life and mind were kept secret in apparent nonexistence. But the time came when life could manifest, a vibration in the metal, a growing and seeking, a drawing in and a feeling outward in the plant, and instinctive force and sense, a nexus of joy and pain and hunger and emotion and fear and struggle in the animal, a first organized consciousness, the beginning of the long-planned miracle. Thenceforward, she was busy no more exclusively with matter for its own sake but most with palpitant, plasmic matter useful for the expression of life; the evolution of life was now her one intended purpose.
And slowly, too, mind manifested in life, an intensely feeling a crude thinking and planning vital mind in the animal, but in man the full organization and apparatus, the development if yet imperfect mental being, the Manu, the thinking, devising, aspiring, already self-conscious creature.
And from that time onward the growth of mind rather than any radical change of life became her shining preoccupation, her wonderful wager. Body appeared to evolve no more; life itself evolved little or only so much in its cycles as would serve to express Mind heightening and widening itself in the living body; an unseen, internal evolution was now Nature’s great passion and purpose.”

And here you are. It is your development, your transcendence, your transformation that explains and justifies your existence and provides credibility to the possibility of living an extraordinary life and fulfilling your deepest potential.