2. SA78- 80 be intangible, although it cannot be touched, felt or seen, it is a force. So being of a higher form, love being of a higher form of energy, the plant is fed with extra nourishment and that is why the plant cries. Good. From the plant stage in the evolutionary process, one reaches the animal stage. Now even amongst animals, there are various categories, you have animals that are not so well developed and you have animals that are almost human that has in them developed a very high sense of feeling, a very high sense of thought, highly developed senses. For example, a dog can hear its master coming so many furlongs away. It has a more highly sens e -- developed sense of hearing and of smell. Now, all these things are conducive for the animal to expand its awareness of itself and this very expansion of awareness is what we call an expanded consciousness. Now consciousness is forever pure, consciousness is forever developed. Only in the process of evolution what happens is this that the consciousness is unfolded. So the very consciousness in that little atom is the same consciousness in the most highly developed man in its purest form. The difference is this that in one, it is not unfolded, while in the other, it is unfolded. It is like the example I always give that the entire tree is contained in the seed, the entire tree is contained in the seed in an involved form while in the tree itself, it exists in an evolved form for if the very seed did not have the potentiality of growing itself into a large tree, it would not have done so. So this is the process of evolution and when the animal kingdom reaches its maximum limit, it still has to progress further because its consciousness has not been fully developed so it has to enter the next stage, the next stage of the human kingdom and this would start in categories as well. The categories of a primitive man right up to man and then the god man. So, the whole purpose of evolution is an expansion of consciousness -- Brian would you like to close these doors? -- So the whole purpose of evolution is the total enfoldment of consciousness. So what actually happens is this that you have started as a pure consciousness and you end up as pure consciousness again. That is why theologists say that you come from the maker and reach back home to the maker. That's the whole basis of this theological injunction. Now the purpose of this is for that consciousness within that atom to express itself fully and become aware of itself fully where it will tell us the outer name and form of the plant, although it was a necessity. It will throw off the outer name and form of animal which was too a necessity and then in the end, it will clear off the name and form of the human, which too has been a necessity. Now, in the progress of evolution, man can progress faster than any other entity. The reason being this that man develops the ability to think and that is the only thing that differentiates man from the animal, because within the process of evolution, he has gathered unto himself the power of thinking, the power of discrimination and by the use of these

8. SA78- 80 Guru: Right to eat meat. I have been born a vegetarian from birth. Now, the question of rightness and wrongness is very dependent upon what stage of refinement the physical body has reached. To me there is nothing right and nothing wrong. I am beyond them both. To me a murderer or a great philanthropist is the same. I do not look at the exterior of a person; I look at the interior essence which is divine. Many times I sit here or lecture in England, America and all these other countries; here we have a small amount of people. In England, if John will tell you the courses have two three hundred people at a time, yeah. And I only see blobs of light, I don’t see people. So how can I see who’s doing right and who’s doing wrong? There's a little story of Milarepa. I think I've told you this but it’s worth repeating to the new comers. Milarepa said that when I was young I did black deeds and when I grew old and got some sense, I did white deeds, but now I've reached the stage where I'm beyond the black and the white. So to ask that question of me, I cannot answer, I don’t see right and I don’t see wrong, I see divinity. But now to apply the practical side to it, one could say that if you have a choice of eating refined or finer foods, not refined food, finer foods, then why choose the grosser foods? Good. There was a lady here from Durban who was the chairman of the vegetarian society there and we were talking. She tells me, “Guruji, have you ever been to an abattoir?” I say, “No, I don’t suppose I could really stand it,” she tells me that “if you watch the faces of the animals going in for the slaughter, their faces are filled with such a fear -- such a fear, it’s so app arent on their faces for they instinctively know that they are going to die”, now when this fear is created as any psychologist will tell you, your adrenaline glands starts secreting, the various toxins in the body become turbulent and when that animal is killed, you are not only eating the flesh, but also the toxins contained in the body. In Sanskrit there’s a saying, “Jaisa ahar, aisa vihar” that means, “Whatever you put in, you put out”. Man’s actions are governed very much by the food he consumes, because after all, what is this body? This body is none else but food -- this body is none else but food and the finer the intact, the finer the thought, finer the thought, finer the action. But I would never tell anyone not to eat meat, I would not tell anyone not to eat meat, what I would say is, “Meditate and do your spiritual practices”, for as the mind and the body becomes refined through spiritual practices, your need for grosser foods will become less and less and less because a person from childhood has been used to eating meat and if you stop him suddenly without the required refinement of the body, a lot of harm can be caused. The nervous system can be shot. We have thousands of meditators that write to us from all over the world, they tell us that without trying to become a vegetarian, I've automatically become a vegetarian and this happens with spiritual practices because the more refinement of the body, the more refined foods will you consume.

9. SA78- 80 I have experimented on this where in India, in the Himalayas, through yogic practices I brought the body to such a refined level that I used to go without food and water for 21 days at a time where you could live purely by extracting the Prana in the air. This goes to show the various levels or various categories that the body can go through. So do not worry about eating meat, but do be concerned about your meditations, do them regularly and yet some conscious effort could be made also, that if a person eats meat three times a day, breakfast, lunch and supper, they can reduce it to two times a day and gradually to once a day, then once every two three days, once a week, once a month and once never (laughs). Good, I think its 12:00 now so we have a break for tea.

1. SA78- 80 Public: Guruji -- umm -- you told us < 0:00:03.6 > did man descend from the apes? And if so, why does his form change to the present? Guru: Hmm good. The question evolves on the principle what are the mechanics of evolution? Did man descend from apes or this -- did it ascend from other sources. Good. Now there are very many theories involved as far as evolution goes. Now, let us ask the first question, is evolution a reality? Or is it just a fixture of one's imagination? And if evolution is a reality, to what strata of life does it apply? Now, there are people that do not believe in evolution at all. There are certain theories that do maintain that man came onto earth as he is while the re are old theories that would tell you that right from the mineral kingdom I've always talked of the big -- big bang theory where millions and millions of atoms were released in this explosion and all those atoms had to go through a process. Now, people think that a stone is lifeless, but even a stone has life in it as does the little atom. The life in the stone consists of the earth and the atom consists of the motion that is produced in it. Now wherever there is motion, there is a force in operation, that force is life. So even in the minute’s atom, there is life. Now life assumes various forms for one purpose, it is to give this force contained within the atom and expression and it can only express itself by expanding itself. What do we mean by expansion? By expansion we mean that that very force in its own expression should come to realise itself and what is the basis of realisation of this force is to develop a consciousness. In other words, this force must become conscious of itself. Now, to acquire this consciousness, it cannot jump from a very low form of consciousness to a very high form. Intermediate steps are required. If a child is in Standard 2, it has to go through 3, 4, 5, 6 until it reaches Metric. Likewise, in the theory of evolution, that very primal atom that contains this force has to go through various stages. Now, it has been discovered that this mineral, this atom which falls under the mineral kingdom has to go to the plant kingdom, from the plant there is a higher form of life. This means that that very primal atom is now assuming a greater consciousness and we do all know that scientists have now proved that a plant also has feeling. In a recent experiment, in a room where one plant was burnt with a cigarette and the other plants felt the pain of that plant that was burnt. The other plants were wired up to electronic devices and those plants actually screamed. We do know that when we do gardening, if we treat the flower or the plant kindly, the flower grows beautifully and this is the whole theory behind <0:04:53.8> for example, where so much love is given to that so called inanimate object and that because of love, that inanimate object flourishes and finds greater and greater expression of its s elf. What is the relationship between the love you shower to the flower and the flower? Now love is the highest form of expression of this energy although it could

3. SA78- 80 discriminatory powers, he can enhance or push forth quicker the process of evolution so that he can realise himself as the pure consciousness. Now why does man want to realise himself as the pure consciousness? Because he wants to be happy, consciously or unconsciously every person strives for happiness and happiness only comes about through total integration of one’s self, mind, body and spirit where the three aspects of man functions as a totality and when man can function as a totality, then he has known, recognised, cognised, appreciated, lived his life in totality and that totality is self realisation. So to recap, the whole process of evolution is for man to find himself. That is why the scriptural injunction say “Man know thyself”, know thyself as a pure consciousness that you really are. Get rid of the veils that has covered you, these veils were necessary for the process of evolution and as one progresses on the path, the veils are shed -- are shed -- are shed. The onion is peeled off -- peeled off -- peeled off, every layer goes and goes and goes until what is left? Nothing. But that nothingness is everything. Scientists try to find something on which they could base their theories, mystics try to find nothing and that nothing is everything. Now, here’s a story which I might have quoted before, the story goes like this that a chela goes to a Guru and asks, “What is that divinity? What is the basis? What is the essence of all creation?” So the guru says, “Go to that Amalaki tree and get me a fruit,” the chela did so. “Open up the fruit and take out a seed”, the chela did so. He says, “Now break the seed” and when the chela broke the seed, there was nothing in the seed so the Guru says that “that very thing which you see as nothing has all the energies within itself to produce the seed which produced the tree that gave you the fruit of life. So, science fails in finding all the everything in that presumed nothing because scientific progress is so limited that what they regard to be empty is filled with that energy -- that energy at such a fine subtle level that scientific instruments cannot measure it yet, but the mystic uses other means to know that essence, the means he uses is to dive deep within himself though meditational and spiritual practices whereby he recognises, appreciates this very subtle energy and it -- and in appreciating the subtle energy within himself, he finds the very same subtle energy without himself, outside himself and when he finds these two forms of energies that which is within and that which is without and knows that this is the same, he finds oneness with the entire universe and finding that oneness with the entire universe, he becomes the universe. The universe is in the palms of his hands. When he reaches that stage of -- of making himself at one with the universe, at one with all creation, then he is fully integrated. Then he can say, “I and my father are one” and such men -- such masters have lived as he would know.

4. SA78- 80 So you see the process of evolution is right from that very primal atom, right through to find the oneness with the entire universe. Yes, and when you find the oneness with the entire universe, with the entire creation, you can still go beyond it, but that beyond ness from the entirety of creation is not a matter of evolution, its an automatic happening where you are one with the universe and yet you are apart from the universe, observing the univer se functioning and enjoying the play of the universe for is all these not a play? Play of the various forces that constitute this universe and you can only observe the play and enjoy the play and find the joy in the play when you can stand apart from it and that is what is meant by the biblical injunctions, to be of the world and yet not of the world. So that is the process of evolution. Now evolution is restricted. There are two factors involved in the entire universe, the relative and the absolute. Evolution is restricted to relative life, evolution is restricted to relativity. The absolute does not require to evolve for it itself is totally evolved. It is the totality; it is the empowering force behind relativity. We know the saying, “So down here, so above” good . The absolute can never exist without relativity and relativity cannot exis t without the absolute. The manifesto cannot exist without its manifestation, fire cannot exist without its heat, the flower cannot exist without its fragrance. I cannot exist without love. Yes, so where there is a manifesto, there has to be a manifestation and where there is a manifestation, there has to be a manifesto. It is so simple. Good. Now the absolute does not require to be evolved, it is only the relative that requires evolution and when we reach the state of the absolute, evolution ceases for us and it becomes a play. From the primal atom to the stage of the finest, subtlest relative, millions of years has gone by from the relative point of view, but form the absolute point of view, there is no time, there is no space. It is just a happening. One bubble has come up in the construction of the entire universe. A momentary bubble, but when we are involved in the relative, then it seems millions and millions and millions of years (coughs). And because we measure things in time and space, we find all the suffering that humanity goes through. When we acknowledge the factor of time and space, we measure things in a linear fashion from point A to point B and it is this very process from reaching point A to point B, it is this very process of starting from Cape Town to reach Salisbury. That is long journeys ahead of us, this long driving or this plain trip is odious it’s tiring and man becomes weary, oh still how far to go -- how far to go. But from the absolute view point, you have gone form nowhere to nowhere because from the absolute angle, there is nowhere to go. It all is this <0:23:02.2> (laughs). There is nowhere to go for where can the absolute go when it is everywhere, omnipresent. It has nowhere to go, a permeating force, a power which just is -- which just is. It has not to become, it is being and not becoming.

5. SA78- 80 In relativity, the process of evolution is becoming from stage to stage to stage, from the absolute, you just are. So when we talk of evolution, we are talking entirely from the relative aspect of life. But from the absolute, as I said, “No going, no coming, it’s all here and now”. And that is why Blake might have said, “To capture the eternity in a moment”, in a moment for all is here and now. There's no past, no present and no future, it is now; a momentary now that constitutes this entire cycle of relative creation, now. One flesh and the flesh ends and another flesh starts up. Cycle upon cycle upon cycle and so on and on and on it goes, goes on and on and on and because it goes on and on from begin less time, to use the word time, to endless time; no beginning no end, we call that eternity because it cannot be measured in its process. The begin less and endless cannot be measured in space, that's why we call it infinity. So know that now that even the relative is eternal and infinite. But what happens to the individual you? That is the question. When that stage is reached where you have become one with the finest relative, the totality of all relativity, then there is only emergence, you merge away with the personal totality which in other words is called the personal god and from there you merge away into the absolute, beyond definition, ineffable. The eternal symphony and then you are living in both worlds consciously (coughs) pardon I've got a bit of a cold. So you live in both worlds consciously where you have the total experience of that which is absolute and at the same time, you have the total experience of that which is relative. What a life of joy, what a life of bliss where you have known absolute existence, where you have known absolute knowledge and absolute bliss. Now, knowledge, existence and bliss are attributes. They are definitions of man's mind, of what could be. So here again in the world yet not of the world where you appreciate the attributes to its fullest and you appreciate the absolute to its fullest because here the absolute is the adjective of the nouns and it’s the combination of the adjective with the noun that creates this completeness in life and that every man is capable of achieving in this lifetime by doing meditational and spiritual practices. You see how simple it is? It’s round the corner -- it’s round the corner, open the door, that's all. Open the door. So to recap, evolution is within the confines of relativity and the concept of no evolution at all is in the area of the absolute. Okay Mark? Good. Next question. Public: Guruji, I'm gonna give a < 0:29:08.3 > thank you -- u mm -- would you mind defining Kriya yoga? Umm -- is it a technique of one of the -- of world yoga or is it a specific skill of yoga? Guru: Kriya yoga was expanded very much by Yogananda. Kriya yoga have to do a lot with many rituals and ceremonies. The purpose of these rituals and ceremonies is to bring a man into a certain moo d. I have seen worshippings in the

6. SA78- 80 various temples of India where very carefully, the little brass objects are polished, the incense is lit, the little lamps are lit with so much love and devotion that here I am serving divinity. Now, in this process, in this process, the mind -- this is psychological. Kriya yoga has a lot to do with the psychology of man. So in the process of this preparation, the mind slowly calms down and gets into a certain devotional mood, but if Kriya yoga ends there, then it is nothing else but mood making. It is not supposed to end there, this is a preparation to go beyond the moods, it is a preparation to transcend the various moods that we have created in this devotion. Good. I have a different interpretation of Kriya. Kriya means to act, to perform. In our system of meditations, you automatically within a few minutes, reach the state of mind where you can start going beyond the moods. The greatest mood should be not in that time of worship or that yoga that is practiced, but the greatest mood or mode should be in the waking state of life where every action is a Kriya, where every thought is a Kriya, for thought too is an action on a subtle level. Thought is just as tangible as this table in front of me because it exists in a more subtle form, it -- it might not be tangible with sensual reality, the reality of the five senses but through meditational practices where you learn to go beyond these five senses and use the sixth sense that is within you, then thought becomes tangible for thought too is matter, thought too is composed of the same atomic molecular structure as this table, but in a very subtle form. So I would say the greatest Kriya is how we live our life day to day, and there's a very simple principle involved in it, be good, do good. And if you can’t -- if you can’t do good, don’t do anyone any harm (laughs), you see. So, Kriya starts from the very moment a person wakes up, his very first thought should be a kindly thought, a compassionate thought, a goodly thought. When he washes himself, now this is all part of Kriya yoga. When he has a bath, let him be appreciative of this wonderful gift of water for it is one of the five elements that constitutes this entire universe. How privileged am I not to be able to have the blessings of this water? When he dresses himself, puts on his -- puts on her dress, he puts on his suit, do you know what went into making that suit? The farmers raised -- if it’s a wooll en suit, raised the sheep. How kind has it been of the ability to have sheep whose wool we take? It has to go to factories, it has to go to the wool cleaners, dyers, weavers, thousands of people are involved in this process before you received the suit. Can’t we sit and think and appreciate that I've got this suit on, but there is sweat and labour of thousands of people involved in that, thinking of that, appreciating that. Isn’t that Kriya? Isn’t that part of yoga? For yoga means union. Union with what? With divinity and are those thousands of people that made the suit, are they not divine? Union -- union, Kriya yoga -- Kriya all the time performing of action all the time for Kriya is action.

7. SA78- 80 You sit down to eat at the table your breakfast. How wonderful that cereal was made? Think of how it grew, think of how it planted, think of all the elements of the universe that were combined to create that wheat? Sun, air, water, all the minerals in the earth all combined to grow that wheat and I have the privilege of eating it, is that not Kriya? That appreciation of divinity and you feel that all these elements that created this wheat is so part of me and I have the privilege of eating it. Then you go to your shrine after breakfast, I go first and then I have breakfast (laughs). Every flower that I put on my altar, oh what it took to grow the beauty of this flower, look at the biblical injunction that all of Solomon's riches could not produce that Lilly that grows in the field, something to that effect, that's the gist of it? Look at the beauty that no wealth could buy this rose or make this rose for me and that I have the privilege of offering at the altar, is that not Kriya? I go to work, sit in my motorcar, look at the industrial revolution that went on over hundreds and hundreds of years, thousands of years since they created the wheel that revolutionised all industry, that gives us all these little so called comforts. Look at all that thousands of years ago and all of that, all that knowledge of great mechanical brains was put together to create that motorcar so that I could drive. Look at all these cold wars that are going on in the oil crisis. Because they don’t appreciate the beauty of divinity for even divinity is there in that oil and petrol, yes . So I go to work in appreciation, look at this gift given to me, look at all these blessings bestowed upon me from the moment I've opened my eyes in the morning. Now this very same process can be used throughout the day in work, in recreation, in loving your wife and your family, what a blessing? What blessing. For from the moment we opened our eyes, to the moment we close them at night, everything is a blessing, and the realisation of that blessing and acting accordingly in appreciation of the blessing is Kriy a yoga. And even while you sleep, Kriya yoga is still carrying on besides you being conscious of anything with the subconscious mind gone to sleep -- ah, you're back from Israel? Lovely -- when the subconscious -- when the conscious mind goes to sleep, all the process are still going on, you're breathing, all your organs are functioning, your heart is beating, Kriya, action all the time. So it is a 24 hour of the day occupation in appreciating, recognising Kriya yoga. It’s not just the half an hour at the altar and performing certain mantras and ceremonies for this is the aim of Kriya yoga to produce this to appreciate the action of life and the skill in action and knowing the skill in action, all our actions are enhanced to its fullest value. And that is how we become Kriya yogis (laughs) good, fine. Next question okay? Public: Is it right to < 0:41:59.8 >