2. IR 84-2 monoxide and all the toxins that are in your body. So it has its physiological value – fine. One value is uplifting the vibrations, the second value is helping you physiologically and the third thing is it brings the entire physiological and biological system into a rhythm. When the system – the physical body is brought into that rhythm, then the mind also goes into a rhythm and finds quietude. Now the spiritual fact involved which is most important and it is this, that after - you do 9 rounds – after about 3 rounds of chanting with a little practice, you will find the Chant will go on by itself and you will become the observer of t he Chant. By this simple method and all spiritual practices are simple; those that come to you with all kinds of gadgetries and technicalities, that is just to prolong things and charge you bigger fees. They are like some lawyers, they postpone a case and next appearance and next appearance and what have you – business. You see. So what happens, here you learn, when you start observing yourself chanting, you start to learn the difference between the small ‘I’ and the big ‘I’ that is you. The small ‘i’ is the ego self and the big ‘I’ is your real inner self, divine self. So the divine self or the super- conscious level of yourself can watch the workings of the conscious level. Like this, with practice, you will find that it becomes a daily thing in every action of your life, so that you do not become affected by anything that happens. You develop in you the idea of non-attachment. Now non-attachment does not mean running away from the world. It means what Jesus has said, ’To be in the world and yet not of the world’, that’s what non-attachment really means. So it brings you greater quietude, greater peace and your mind is not in such great turbulence and there is no emotional upheaval. So chanting is very important. Now we will do one round together, okay, clear out the lungs, get rid of the toxins. Do you know I smoke cigarettes but every month because I have had a heart operation, I have got to go for an examination every month and they find my lungs are clear as a little baby’s lungs. Do you know why? Because all the toxins that are in - I do Pranayama every morning - and I chuck out all the toxins and the lungs remain clear. It’s only in smoking, it’s alright, why I’d be too perfect. Another way it helps me is this that I tend to float off at the flicker of something beautiful or the name of God or anything like that, I seem to tend, I tend to go off into meditation and then you become non-functional. It would be okay if I went to live in the Himalayan caves but being in a practical world and having work to do, I put in some of these toxins so that I could have my feet on the ground. Nevertheless, that’s besides the point. Let’s have our Chant. Aim Hrim Krim etc.
3. IR 84-2 Open your eyes slowly. It is very uplifting and this is only one round to show you how it is done, although I do not doubt that you are not led the proper way. But it would be nice to chant together, it’s always nice to have fun, to pray together and to meditate together. Good. Fine. Were you doing a gong meditation today? Who was striking the gong this morning? Bill, would you give me the sound of that. Bill is such a great help, he is one of our strong men in the British Meditation Society. I just want to get the sound. (Sound of the Gong) Again, again. (Sound of the Gong) Thank you, Bill. This is not our Gong, is it? No, it belongs to this organisation here. The sound is really not right. Do you agree, Baldev? No. This is an old form of Tibetan meditation and the purpose of using the gong is this, that many people when they start doing their mantra – let’s just use any old mantra that doesn’t apply to anyone here, - perhaps say Ramayam, and you go on in the mind, RA- MA -YAM, Ramayam, Ramayam, Ramayam, Ramayam, Raymayam, Ramayam, Ramayam, Ramayam, Ramayam, it becomes mechanical, and that’s not the right way to use the mantra. Right. Now how it is to be done – look I am, apart from the theoretical understandings I’d give you, I am also a very practical man, because theory alone is not enough, practice is more important. One ounce of practice is worth a hundred pounds of theory. RA- MA -YAM, Ramayam, Ramayam, Ramayam, Ramayam, Ramayam - it floats away. You see the gong teaches you, as the sound dwindles away, you can hear it - (Sound of the Gong) . You see the way the sound reverberates and floats away. Now that is how a mantra should float away in the mind so that when it floats away like the gong, ‘Bong-gggg’, as it floats away deeper it goes deeper and deeper into mind. So, does your Society possess a gong? No. Now Charles and I went to Liverpool, of course he lives outside Liverpool and in this shop we saw this beautiful gong – it’s about that size – slightly small er perhaps and I said to Charles, ‘Let’s go in here and have a look and it was something really nice’. I tested the sound and it was just perfect. But the shopkeeper wanted £50 for it and of course the British Meditation Society, or the other, the Irish Meditation Society can’t afford that although it would be something really worthwhile to have. One could only ask for a donor to donate the price of the gong and Bavna, you are coming to the English Course. From here we are going to Liverpool, to your home, for a day or two and then we can get the gong and bring it with us to the English course, so you could bring it back here. But if anybody could give a pledge for the Irish Meditation Society, - it would be good if it was an Irish person, it would be good for you, I will leave it to you. Fine. Now, we are going to do Purification Practice. Now just a few words of explanation what the Purification Practice is all about. You see when a person sits down to meditate, the person comes rushing in from a hard day’s work or is very tired and flops himself down and say ‘apple, apple, apple, apple, orange, orange’. No, that is not going to be effective. You have to be in a relaxed state of mind. The Purification Practice is to give you the relaxation before you start your
4. IR 84-2 Mantra Practice. Fine. But the Purification Practice has to be done with all sincerity. You should be sincere about it and not like a parrot that will just repeat things. You must feel it and if you go, say to a Western, a Christian Church, you hear the bell ringing, the church bell. And as you approach the church, you hear the bell and it automatically puts you into the mood of the church, although afterwards you transcend the mood, but you can start off with the mood. If you go to the Buddhist Temple, you’d find the gongs going all the time, same principle. If you go to a Hindu Temple, in front there is a big bell and as you enter the Temple, you ring the bell and let the sound reverberate through your brain. And then they s tart with the various kinds of ceremonies and what have you. So just let me give you an example of it first to see how it goes. Aum Vaak Vaak - you use these two fingers and science has proved – the two middle ones – that’s it, the two middle ones, right and science has proved that these two fingers somehow gives off the greatest amount of energy. So even in our healings I teach my healers that they are only to use these two fingers. They give off the greatest amount of energy. Science has proved this by mechanical means and Kirlian photography has also proven greater emanations of energy or aura or whatever you want to call it, through these fingers. So these two fingers are always used. For example when I gave him his, Arun, his spiritual name, you saw I used these two fingers because that is through which the greatest amount of energy is given. For example, say your wife or husband has a headache, use these two fingers, gently rub and you will find that the headache, you know the tension - headaches are produced by tension mostly - and it relieves it quicker because of the amount of energy, so these two fingers are used. Let me do this first. I won’t do the whole lot, jus t part, number one. Aum Vaak Vaak, Aum Prana Prana, Aum Shakshu Chakshu, Aum Shotram Shotram, Aum Nabhi, Aum Reedyham, Aum Kunthaha, Aum Shiraha, Aum Rahubya Yashobalam, Aum Karatalkar Yashobalam, - to all. Then you do this Practice not only for ourselves but we offer this to all. It actually means, Aum Vaak Vaak let my speech be pure, feel it sincerely, let my speech be pure, let me not tell any untruths. Aum Prana Pranaha – let my breath take in and give out the vital energies. Prana is vital energy, the life force that’s in a person. Let that be pure and vital. Aum Chakshu Chakshu, let my eyes only see the goodness. Aum Shotram Shotram, let my ears only hear good. Aum Nabhi, naval, this is the solar plexus area where there is, as all knows a whole bundle of nerves there - let those nerves be purified and not tightened up so that my whole body could feel the benefits of it. And then Aum Reedhayam, the heart, let my heart always be pure and loving. Aum Kunthaha, may I always speak in a sweet way, never in a harsh way, never to hurt anyone, but always in sweetness. Aum Shiraha, top of head, let my mind, my brain always be filled with good thoughts, good thoughts for myself and to others. Then Aum Rahubya Yashobalam - you touch the knees - let me have strength, my limbs. And then Aum Karatalkar Yashobalam, put your arms up, may this be for all.
5. IR 84-2 Now you take the water in your left hand, right, left hand, Ted. It is the left, right, it was your left. You’re right in both hands. Aum Vaak Vaak, repeat, Aum Vaak Vaak, Aum Prana Prana, Aum Chakshu Chakshu, Aum Shotram Shotram, Aum Nabhi, Aum Reedhayam, Aum Kunthaha, Aum Shiraha, Aum Bahubya Yashobalam, Aum Karatalkar Yashobalam, to all. Now we come on to the second portion. Aum Buha Punatu -, Punatu means again, - Aum Buha Punatu Shirashi, Aum Buvah Punatu Naytrayam, Aum Svahaha Punatu Kanthe, Aum Manaha Punatu Ridayam, Aum Janaha Punatu Nabhayam, Aum Tapah Punatu Padyam, Aum Satyam Punatu Shirashi, Aum Khan Brahma Punatu Sarvatra. Now while doing this, do it slowly and feel that your speech will be pure, good, truthful, your breath will be sweet and you are taking in the Prana, the vital force and giving off the Prana. Because every time you breathe in, you are breathing in the vital force and when you breathe out, you are doing so much good. You are helping the plants and flowers to grow, you know that, they need that carbon monoxide or whatever you call it, to help to grow. Yes. Everything of us is made therefore for some benefit not only for ourselves but also for others. Now Section number three is a Pranayama Mantra. And of course you have the meanings next to it on your forms, I won’t repeat that. But you take one deep breath and in that breath, without breathing in again you say them one, two, three, four, five, six, seven -, right, fine. Aum Buha, Aum Svaha, Aum Manaha, Aum Janaha, Aum Tapaha, Aum Satyam. You see the breath is out all the time, breathe out, its Pranayama. There are many forms of Pranayama, this is one form. Aum Buha, Aum Buha, Aum Svaha, Aum Manaha, Aum Janaha, Aum Tapaha, Aum Satyam. Now if you do step one, two and three about three times each or six times each depending upon you, depending on what time you have and how much effort you want to put into it, then after that you’ll feel very relaxed. Your mind will be filled with pleasant thoughts, what have you, and then you sit down to meditate. This is just a demonstration of what a Purification Practice is. Now remember the hand is the extension of the mind. I’ll give you a simple example. If you study, say speed reading - you know I read thesis of students and what have you and thousands of letters and I finish about at least 10 books a week, that is my reading habit. And I read this way, it’s called ‘Aerial reading’. I just pass my hand across and I have the whole paragraph, the whole paragraph, whole paragraph, whole paragraph. You can try a simple experiment. Just read with your mind any passage and then try reading with your finger under it and you will find your reading will go faster. With a book, just try it out. Just follow with your finger the line and you will find your reading will go faster and as you become more practised then of course you can do Aerial Reading. What I am trying to point out to you, that the hand is an extension of the mind, so therefore when we use our hands in doing the Purification Practice, it becomes more effective. Aum Vaak Vaak, Aum Prana Prana, Aum Chakshu Chakshu, Aum Shotram Shotram, it’s an extension, you put it into action and it becomes more stabilised in the mind. Otherwise you can do it mentally when you’re strong enough,
6. IR 84-2 you can do it mentally, Aum Vaak Vaak, your thoughts are there. And water is one of the primal elements of the earth and why water is used, it has a cooling effect. You know in India and many other Middle Eastern countries when you go to a funeral, you are not allowed to go into the house of the deceased without, you know, washing your face, hands and feet. It can’t be done. It is a very primal method of hydrotherapy. It is very good. And you know yourself if you are very tired, you lie down in a hot bath, it relaxes the muscles and things. There’s a lot to say about water. There is a lot to say about earth, for example, too. Have you ever seen Indian women - look i t I am not an Indian, I was born in India, educated there, brought up there spent years and years in the Himalayas studying under the various Masters and all these things but after I found God that is within me and have become one with Him, I find myself a universalist. Although I was born in the Hindu religion, if someone asks me, am I a Hindu, I say yes. If someone asks me, am I Christian, I say yes. If someone asks me, am I a Buddhist, I say yes. Are you a Muslim, I say yes. I am it all. Because once you find the basis of all religions, you will find them to be the same and that is what our Emblem is all about. All the various different religions portrayed on it, based on five lines which in musical notation we use five lines, symbolising harmony. So let there be harmony amongst all the religions in the world for one purpose, to be led to the light within. That is why you find the flame in the centre. So we were talking about mud. Have you watched the hair of Indian women not westernised women, their hair is so smooth, so silky to the touch and do know what they use to wash their hair – black mud. They rub the black mud into the hair and they wash it off and the hair is silky smooth and shiny. So it is the mineral properties of the earth, especially black soil. And here the most richest firms in the world are cosmetic manufacturers. They are the richest firms in the world, millions and millions and billions of dollars are spent on cosmetics. Different cultures have their ways, so we can’t go and change the whole world but I am trying to give you example of the value of the five primal elements that constitute the world, water, air, fire, earth, blah, blah, blah. Okay. So we did that, we did that, we did that. Now any questions? You see I felt it my duty today to demonstrate certain practical things especially to new meditators and some of the old ones of course know. It is always good to be reminded I think. Questioner. You said in one of your tapes that ... happiness ........ (inaudible) Gururaj. Very few. All of us seek the secret of happiness but very few
7. IR 84-2 Questioner .................................... (inaudible). Gururaj. Jump in a lake. Good. Good. Good. Who in this world wants suffering? There are certain sects in the Hindu religion, in the Islamic religion, in the Buddhist religion, Christianity that go through various penances and make their body suffer. In India I have seen certain so called Yogis that would stand on one foot for Kingdom come and thinking that by doing that penance that they would reach enlightenment. I have seen others in India that would stare into the sun all the time ‘til they become blind. And of course, in the Christian religion too we have penances. I believe in one thing that no amount of penance can lead you to enlightenment and if you overdo it too, it too will lead you to disillusionment. A certain amount of penance is necessary fo r one purpose only and that is to discipline one self. Because human beings require some discipline and by having some discipline, you don’t go wild, that’s the whole purpose behind it. We are like horses and disciplines are the reins. You allow the horses to run but the reins control the horses in what path to go and not run wild. So we must have a certain amount of discipline but not extreme penances that make us suffer. And that many, many times could become fanaticism. The Hindu Swamis for example preach celibacy; it’s a form of penance. They say you sublimate your sexual energies and turn it into orgis, a Sanskrit word which means light and that is totally impossible, scientifically impossible and in every mystical way it is impossible. And you ar e stopping something which is totally natural so why go through penances. Because that’s the saying. They say it’s something you’ve brought a certain kind of suffering upon yourself and that causes a lot of repressions and inhibitions. Right. I think I have told this story on some Tape, some talk somewhere, I never remember where. As a matter of fact every talk I give if you ask me a half hour later what did I talk about I would say I don’t know unless I listen to the tape myself. There was this one young couple who met some Swami and the Swami said ”If you want to reach enlightenment both of you must practise celibacy, total continence, celibacy”. A month went by, two months went by, three months went by and they became nervous wrecks, nervous wrecks. So they heard of me and they came to my place, my Centre that I had in Capetown, in the centre of the city. They came to me and they explained me their problem and I said forget all the Swami’s nonsense, Swami is a monk and of course monks deal a lot in monkey business, I said ‘You go to bed together tonight - you’re husband and wife’. Three weeks later they came to me, they were totally normal and loving. While they were practising this celibacy, they were at loggerheads with each other and became irritable and emotional and couldn’t
8. IR 84-2 concentrate on their work and things like that. So everything must have its natural course and it is not necessary to inflic t any misery or suffering upon us. Now the question is if suffering comes to us without our doing, then what. There is only one way. You can not, you cannot change the man that makes you suffer. But you can change yourself. You can gain that inner strength within yourself that whatever is inflicted upon you, runs off you like water off a duck’s back. So there is the secret in how to avoid suffering. There you strengthen yourself, and you strengthen yourself with spiritual practices which of course is a way of finding happiness. So if you take the analogy of the oblong piece of wood and you cut it with the thin there and the broad end here and the bottom block would be thin in there and the broad end there, oblong piece of wood. Now life works that way. At the broad end there would be happiness and at the thin end there would be suffering. So as y ou proceed along this sort of triangle and as you proceed away from misery, more and more and more happiness comes and when more and more happiness comes, the misery from the other end starts diminishing and leads to happiness. So the entire block of wood becomes happy. Do you get my point? So by instilling a greater thought, a better thought, a more stronger thought in one’s mind, the misery will disappear because nobody wilfully wants to be miserable. And you do find some religions with fanatical ideas that want you to go through penances like I told you just now, you stand and just stare at the sun for months and months and months until you become blind. What use are you to the world if you do that? It would be very easy for me for example to go and sit in a Himalayan cave and meditate all the time but then what use am I going to be to my people around the world. So let me be up and about and work, to do something good and that should be the aim of all. Because the more you do good for others in the same way as I said sometime, somewhere that the giver is always the receiver. You do one little good and that ten times of that good will rebound on you. Then look at the mental satisfaction you get also, mental peace, not satisfaction, peace you get. You do some good service to someone and you will find yourself much more at peace. But let that come as a service not with any motivation, that’ Oh for this organisation or for that church or that synagogue I go around with the collection box and they will put in and this that’ Fine. I am doing good. I may myself be good. But the motivation must not be ego. Because once the ego-self, ego is involved, then you are thinking of yourself. You are not selfless and no amount of good would be of any value if it is not selfless. It must be a total giving of one’s self, mind, body and spirit. And you go look after her for a week or two and she gets better. But in your mind, ‘Ah I went to look after Auntie Jane’ and once you have some little quarrel with Auntie Jane, then you remind her of it. ‘You know when you were sick I came to look after you’. That is not service, that’s self ego. So whatever little service can be done in life must be done with total sincerity. Look at the time when Jesus lived. You know the story of the widow’s mite. She just had one little
9. IR 84-2 coin, that’s all she had, the poor widow and she gave it. And yet, those that were rich gave thousands and thousands, but Jesus said, that the widow’s mite was more important and of far greater value than all the thousands that were given by them. For here was real giving, her last. I’ll tell you this story of myself, I arrived in South Africa totally penniless. I qualified as an Accountant before I came to South Africa. Now as any professional person will tell you that it is a very difficult job to build a practice, it could be a medical practice, an accountancy practice or a legal practice. It takes time to build up your practice, to get more and more clients and so it expands, and I had just started and I didn’t really know anyone. So one day - I didn’t have a car or anything - so one day, I was standing at a bus stop and I had about three miles to go to reach where I lived with some people and I had six pence. It was pounds, shillings and pence in South Africa at that time. Today it is the Rand and cents. So I had six pence in my pocket and I was at the bus stop waiting for the bus, ‘buuss’ – is that the way you say it?. And here a woman, it was very cold, a woman came up to me and she had a little baby in her arms and she said, “Sir, could you help me with the bus fare”. She looked in such and such a way. So I looked at her and I gave her the six pence I had, the only six pence I had. “Take it, take it” and in the cold I walked for three, four miles to where I stayed. I only use these examples to illustrate the point I am trying to make, because by illustration a point can get driven home, far better. So the secret of suffering is not really necessary in our lives. But the secret of happiness is necessary. I like some of the teachings of Buddha. He lived in Palaces, Royal Palaces, he was born as a Prince, he had all the wealth and everything his heart desired. Then after that when he left his home, he left his wife and child behind, to find the meaning of life because of certain things he had experienced. He saw a man suffering, he saw an old man, he saw a corpse passing etc. And he wanted to know why, why, why, the suffering, why. He left home and went into the forests and did so many penances and meditations and all kinds of things. So his penances were severe until he became totally emaciated. And then when he found both lots of pleasure and lots of penances and suffering, he decided the best way was to choose the middle road, where there is a balance. Because as long as this world will exist, as long as you exist, be sure to know that you will never ever achieve total happiness. Total happiness only comes to the God realised man because he is even beyond happiness, because happiness must have its opposite, pain. You could never have pain without happiness and neither happiness without pain. You might have a high today and a low tomorrow. Just like a seesaw, as I said many times. But when you rise above that all, you are in the area of Bliss that has no opposites at all. So what is the practical thing in man’s life, is to find the middle road. Do not go for extreme happiness and do not go for extreme misery. Balance the two and life becomes better until you reach the stage where you can go beyond them all. You see. And when you go beyond them all, you are definitely living in a different world. You can be embodied, you have all your biological functions, nothing is done to excess, nothing is done to excess. Everything properly balanced and you
10. IR 84-2 become a better person. A cruel thought comes into the mind, an unhappy thought comes into the mind, you become the observer of the thought and let the thought play. And the thoughts as I said many times before are like monkeys on a tree. If you want those monkeys to be quiet, you don’t go and shake the tree, then they will jump more. Thoughts are like that. But if you just leave them alone, they’ll quieten down by themselves. So learn the middle road, the middle balanced road. I have to work for 8 hours a day you say, work for 8 hours and put your best into it. And by putting your best into your 8 hours of work and you put your best into it, your mind will be lightened and it will say ’I have done a good days job’ and by doing that you have a good 8 hours sleep. Many people suffer from insomnia because they have a conscience, they feel inside, ‘I have not really done a good day’s job today’. How can you sleep properly unless you must just be totally loco? Now like that, this is just a simple example, but if we put our best, according to our capacity and ability, into anything which we do, you’d find happiness grows and suffering diminishes. We do not say ‘Away suffering’, you cannot. The more you say this, the more it comes back to you. ‘Resist not evil, as it’s said in the Scriptures’. Don’ resist it, let it just flow, observe it and as it diminishes you become and more happier. Do you see? What time do you have to go to lunch? Can we wait a few minutes? I know there was one place where we had a Course; I don’t know if it was England, Charles was it where they insisted one o’clock sharp because the staff had to go home. We understand their problems too. This Englishman went to a Scottish doctor and he asked the doctor “Could you give me something for liver”. So the doctor sold him a pound of onions. What is the name of your river here that we passed, Liffey, Liffey, Liffey, So this one Englishman was drowning in the river Liffey. So a Dubliner met a Welsh man there and he asked “Would you know how to save the Englishman”. So the Welshman said “No, I can’t swim”. So the Dubliner replies, “Good”. Do you know what’s the world’s hardest job. The world’s hardest job is to explain Irish jokes to an Englishman. And then this Scotsman needed £500 in a hurry, he had to raise £500, he needed it urgently. So do you know what he did. He took all his empties back to the bottle shop. The Welsh people, by the way, let me not forget them. Do you know where they sit on? On their brains.
1. IR 84-2 Gururaj. Om bhur bhuvah Om shanti, shanti, shanti. Today you are initiated in your Spiritual Name, Arun – it means Herald of the Dawn. You know one of the meditators, a very beloved meditator wrote this poem for me, beautifully designed – “A Rose Garden” – shall I read it to you? It’s interesting, really. Life itself as fragrant as fragile, as lovely Not two flowers are alike. Look at them the way you please, Like the days, that costly flower is given to you by God. Like the people you meet, all unique, all of them lead you away, By the surprising everlasting game of fate. Like the dreams you have asleep or awake, come into your mind, With a divine light and goodness of your inner spirit. But take care never to lose sight of this beautiful garden, your present paradise. And to the writer of this poem - (Applause) Now you have done your chant this morning. Many of you that have not come to other Courses from Ireland, have never heard me doing the Chant – so do it with me. I will lead it – so, for the new people, I mean. Bavna is qualified in doing it, but perhaps I have been requested that I should do it. We will just do one round. Now many people think it is like a rosary, you might regard that to be a rosary, but there are far, far deeper meanings. The words that are used Aim Hrim Krim Chumundi Yai Viche Che Che – they come from the original sounds from which this entire universe is composed. But they are in a grosser form but the deeper implication is of the primal sound. It contains all the elements of which this universe is composed and the universe is composed of fire, water, earth, air and ether. Those are the basic five elements in the composition of the universe. When you do this Chant what happens, the first thing is that, it uplifts the vibrations, it brings the vibrations to a far finer level from its grossness, for one. The chant is done in such a way that when you say Aim Hrim Krim Chumundi Yai Viche Che Che, you are not breathing in, you are exhaling. Now exhaling is far more important than inhaling. Inhaling comes naturally but exhaling is controlled, so the syllables are made to such a measure, where the proper amount of exhalation takes place. Now by exhalation, what you are doing is getting rid of the carbon
11. IR 84-2 You know what’s harder than a diamond? You know what’s harder than a diamond is to take a Punt note out of a Scottish man’s fist. Now well, you enjoy your lunch very much. See you this afternoon. I am getting old, travelling round the world.