Meditation
Shiva is the Highest
Master of the entire yoga, meditation, and
tantra system - no one can be greater than Lord Shiva.
Meditation
(a state of concentrated attention) helps come nearer our Deities.
But meditation has also many healing effects and it is widely used
by many cultures and religions too. It usually means that our mind
is positioned beyond what is generally viewable. Its origin is definitely
in Eastern religions, where it has been practiced for over 5,000
years. Meditation can be used for personal growth, or to focus
our mind on God, or on some aspect of God. Meditation
has been defined as "self regulation of
attention and perception in the service of self-inquiry".
J. Krishnamurti used the word meditation
to denote something entirely different from the practice of any system
or method that controls the mind: "Meditation
is the ending of thought. It is only then that there is a different
dimension which is beyond time. All effort to meditate is the denial
of meditation". In his teachings
he continues: "Meditation
is never the control of the body. There is no actual division between
the organism and the mind. The brain, the nervous system and the thing
we call the mind are one, indivisible. It is the natural act of meditation
that brings about the harmonious movement of the whole. To divide
the body from the mind and to control the body with intellectual decisions
is to bring about contradiction, from which arise various forms of
struggle, conflict and resistance."
I do not have any special
connection with Science of Identity Foundation,
but I have never disconnected my memories from
Australian surfers and Bondi Beach.
Riding Transcendental Waves
Surfing and Meditation
An interview with Jagad Guru Siddhaswarupananda Paramahamsa
(Chris Butler)
FOREWORD:
Dear friend, the following interview with Jagad Guru appeared in the
Australian surfing magazine "Tracks" in the
early 1980's. We extend our thanks to Tracks for letting us
to reproduce it.
Jagad Guru is a bona-fide spiritual master whose ability to speak
from a platform of personal realization and understanding has made
him very influential in communities around the world. Because he can
present God and religion scientifically and with philosophical reasoning
rather than dogmatically and fanatically, countless numbers of people
who were previously skeptical are now finding that these teachings
have a very real application in their individual lives.
Jagad Guru grew up in the Hawaiian Islands and has been surfing most
of his life. Being fully self-realized he is able to give us unique
view into activity of surfing from the transcendental platform.
Riding Transcendental Waves
Surfing and Meditation
An interview with Jagad Guru
Siddhaswarupananda Paramahamsa
(Chris Butler)
Q: Most surfers probably regard a good tube ride as the highlight
of a solid session in the water. No other manoeuvre is quite like
it. When the surfer gets inside the tube, time seems to distort as
he flows with a twisting curl of energy – it’s an incredible feeling.
Jagad Guru: Then why does he have to keep going back in search of
the tube? That’s the trap they’re in, trapped searching for the experience
that comes with the tube. They want to keep merging with the void,
being part of that energy. It actually comes down to simply wanting
to forget their misery, so they can exist and not be aware of any
of their problems. I mean everybody is always searching for everything
to be in its right place. But there are always all kinds of problems.
So generally a surfer goes into the water to forget his miseries and
get away from it all – to get away from the hassles. But even in the
water there are hassles; the waves break on you, the water is cold,
all the other people out there are hassling you, and so on.
So surfing is a search for happiness which is natural, and the tube
ride is just another medium or means to come to that situation of
being happy. Someone else might get that very same feeling from skiing
or some other feeling where everything seems to fit. But it’s never
for long – although everything fits together perfectly for a second
or two, it never lasts.
Q: Is that a meditative state?
Jagad Guru: It is a natural condition of the spirit soul to be one,
to be feeling that harmony, while simultaneously existing as an individual,
and still feeling yourself as an individual. So the question should
be where to find that pleasure in the long run. How to actually have
that feeling all the time rather than having to struggle and getting
it once in a while if you’re lucky. The answer is to dovetail your
will with the will of the Supreme Person. Like if you’re surfing for
example, you don’t “make” the tube, you fit into a particular situation
and you fit in perfectly. The tube is there, it’s going on, now you’ve
got to figure out how you’re going to fit into it.
Sometimes you’ll stand on the beach and the tube is breaking and
then you imagine yourself; “There I am.” You mentally project yourself
fitting into this, maybe this tiny little wave breaking on the sand.
“Ah, look at that,” and you imagine yourself one inch tall riding
this perfect 40 foot wave that’s actually only six inches high. So
the idea is that you’re trying to fit into a reality that’s already
there.
So you have to dovetail your situation, you have to place yourself
so that you’re in harmony with the situation which is already there.
When you speak about God, the Supreme Being or the Supreme Person
and you talk about dovetailing your will with His, then you’re talking
about your whole life being dovetailed in such a way that through
your whole life you actually feel that oneness – that freedom from
anxiety. You actually feel a complete liberation, but even more so,
because you’re not just dealing with one little energy of God, namely
the water or this one little surf spot, but you’re dealing with the
entire existence. Then the wave you are riding is your entire life.
This is actually what a person is searching for – pleasure in unity
with God. Now they’re getting a little glimpse of it on a wave. That’s
why a lot of people after surfing or getting some tubes or getting
that higher taste can give up all kinds of things to be able to get
that tube, to be able to get in that position of harmony. So a lot
of people who are surfers become serious about making their whole
life in harmony with God, not just one of God’s waves, but the entire
wave of God. After all, a wave is just God’s energy. So you’re trying
to place yourself so that you’re in tune with God’s energy. Now if
you can do it on a vast scale or you can do it directly with God Himself,
then you can imagine how much pleasure there is in that.
The highest happiness occurs when a person has actually placed his
entire life in the hands of God and God is simply pushing him. Just
like when you’re in a tube it’s like you’re in a glove. You’re riding
the tube feeling you’re being perfectly moved along, you’re not doing
anything anymore. You’re doing things to get in that position where
you don’t need to do anything. The best part of the tube ride is when
you’re just right. You’re right there and
you’re not having to move a muscle, in fact you don’t want to move
a muscle. You’re being propelled – totally locked in another energy,
someone else’s energy. You don’t need to do anything. So you’re doing
all these things to get to that one little point of that one little
experience of being propelled by another energy and you’re happy in
it. You’re satisfied just being part of that perfect situation. But
it’s so short and so fleeting.
Now if you can imagine being in God’s hand – rather than just a little
tube which is a tiny fragment of God’s hand – then how much happiness
is in that? That’s why many surfers are actually searching for that
harmony of being in tune with God, and they are getting glimpses of
it in the surf once in a while. But this is just a glimpse, it is
not all satisfying. You need more. What you need is an eternal tube
ride, then you’ll be happy. What is that eternal tube ride? That is
when you’re perfectly linked up in connection with doing God’s will.
Just like when you’re going with the wave – you’re going with the
flow and you’re doing the wave’s will. The waves are coming this way
and you paddle out to catch them, you don’t make the waves, you catch
the waves.
So surfers by nature already know that there’s some kind of happiness
by going with an energy that’s already there – just catching it and
then relaxing – being in tune with that energy that’s already moving.
So when we talk about God’s will, we’re talking about the energy of
God. He has His own will. Just like a wave has its own will and you
harmonize yourself with it. I know some surfers look like they’re
trying to tear the waves apart but this is another thing again. If
they can’t get in the tube then they just want to tear it apart. This
is the difference. There are actually two different experiences. But
the first experience I’m talking about is the experience of being
in complete harmony with the energetic source of all energy then that
is the perfectly happy position and that is possible to achieve by
engaging in the bhakti-yoga process.
Q: Would you agree that the surfers who are trying to tear
it apart, rather than harmonize, are not succeeding?
Jagad Guru: They are not satisfied. In the first place because a
person is not completely satisfied with the tube ride for the reasons
I mentioned earlier he wants to dominate the wave. You think you’re
so powerful you’re ripping the wave apart – but let’s see you go out
to Sunset, turn the wave around and make it go out to sea. Are you
such a powerful surfer? No, you must go with it.
This is another point. Trying to tear it apart is a manifestation
of another characteristic of the spirit soul. Not only do you want
to be in harmony, but you also need to express your individuality.
You need to be active within that harmony. So you can be perfectly
in harmony with the wave and yet dancing with it. Being in harmony
with it. Relating with it. Although you’re in harmony with it and
in tune with it you’re also being propelled. While you’re in that
harmony you can dance with it – you can drive off the bottom, then
hit off the flip and fly back down. You’re going with it in oneness
but you’re simultaneously also expressing your individuality. So surfing
then shows that impersonalism – seeing God as simply being void impersonal
force – is not enough. You need to relate, you are still an individual
and you still have to be active within that harmony. When we’re talking
about being one with God we’re not talking about being nothing – we’re
talking about having an active, loving relationship with Him, having
one’s entire life based on this harmonious position as a foundation,
but within that harmonious oneness there is variety.
The idea of becoming nothing or void is not satisfying to the soul
either. Spiritual life means oneness yet simultaneous diversity. I’m
one with God, yet still I’m separate from Him, I’m an individual,
and God’s an individual. Yet I’m one with Him in love and will.
Q: Many aggressive surfers boast at their ability to conquer the
wave. They think they are somehow conquering that force of nature
by ripping the wave apart.
Jagad Guru: The fact is, even a person who is aggressive has to use
the wave’s energy. They have no energy of their own. The reason a
person who is an aggressive surfer has so much power, or the reason
that they move so fast, is not because they are really great people,
or strong or something – it doesn’t have anything to do with that.
It is a matter of being able to find that part of the wave where there
is the most energy and utilize that to gain speed or power and go
with it. They have to go with it. They may think that they are conquering
the wave but there is no such thing as conquering the wave. Let’s
say you are an aggressive surfer and you get really locked in on a
tube, how do you conquer that? Like a tube at Pipeline or something.
If you get hit by it how are you going to conquer it? You just get
dragged over the coral. The only way that you can conquer it is to
find that spot as far back as you can where you’ve got that speed
to break out of it, right? You can’t fight it and make it turn around,
you have to go with it.
Or let’s say that it’s a smaller tube and it hits you and you continue
on your board. Let’s say just for example, you go into a shore-break
and it looks like it is going to break on you. It tubes over you,
and instead of kicking out you decide to go with it and stand up,
so called defeat it. You just hit it, blast through and keep going.
The only way you can do this is if, while your eyes are closed, you
perceive which way the energy is moving and balance accordingly. You
might break through it but then you haven’t defeated the wave – you
just lost it. The point is that you couldn’t be moving if you weren’t
going with the energy of the wave – you have to go with it otherwise
you lose it.
The more aggressive surfers are getting into the finer parts of the
wave where they are actually tuned into and utilizing the greater
energy of the wave. As far as guys who just turn the board backwards
by the strength of their thighs, that’s something else. But they still
wouldn’t even be able to do that if they weren’t on the wave. In other
words, they can’t do that on land. You can’t do that on land just
standing there with your board. Let’s see you turn it backwards and
forwards and move it at great speeds.
Skateboarding is an attempt, but they need a hill, the same thing
with skiing. So you just go with the energy already provided by nature.
The whole thing is based on going with the flow, if you don’t go with
the flow you will either lose the wave or fall off the board – you
get “crunched.” Ultimately a person has to give up his idea of defeating
the wave. They need this idea that they defeated Sunset or they defeated
a wave, or they defeated something due to their desire to put themselves
in the illusion that they have defeated death. “This tube was chasing
me and I made it out. I have defeated death again.” So I go out there
and catch it so that I can make believe it was chasing me and I beat
it. It’s like going to a horror movie to experience the fear. You
go to Sunset horror movie so you can have that fear and defeat it.
You feel that you are not a man. What does a man mean? It means defeater,
number one, lord, master. But these are illusions of mastership –
you are just a little ant making believe he is some kind of master.
If you go half a mile in the sky you can barely see Sunset Beach
and how big the waves are. All the guys out there look just like little
ants and they’re thinking; “I’m great.” But in reality they are nothing.
So none of us are masters, we have to recognize that we are all dominated
or subordinate. We are all energies and we come from the Supreme Energetic
and our business is to be in tune or in harmony with Him, acting as
His servants. As long as we are trying to be masters, then we have
to continue to experience the fear of death. We can live in illusion
for some time that we are defeating death, but ultimately death comes
and takes us.
Q: Most surfers try to sort of live in the high they get from
the surfing experience, trying to extend or perpetuate that feeling
on land, or get frustrated when they don’t.
Jagad Guru: Then they get skate boards.
Q: And a few other extras, like drugs, sex and booze.
Jagad Guru: They don’t do those things for the harmony, rather they
do them to forget their frustration. Actually they are trying to void
out. They want to become nothing. That’s why they’ll smoke dope or
whatever, they want to become nothing and forget their misery. In
other words, practically speaking, the highest happiness that a surfer
knows is temporary forgetfulness of his misery. He lives a miserable
life then goes out and forgets his misery for one tube ride. But,
even that took him all kinds of misery, by getting cold in the water,
the wind, hassling and so on. So the question is: Can’t you be happier
than that? Isn’t there something more than that? We say yes, there
is higher happiness.
Q: For the average surfer caught up in the ways of the
world, what would you suggest if he wanted to evolve?
Jagad Guru: If they get on the waves of transcendental sound, they
will be transported into a condition of self-realization, understanding
who they are, and they’ll gradually taste the nectar of spiritual
bliss. If they practise hearing the Gopala Govinda Rama Madana-Mohana
mantra for example and chant alone or with their friends, they’ll
actually be transported. They can ride the waves of transcendental
sound into the spiritual sky. Anyone can begin like that. It doesn’t
cost anything. It costs less than surfing. You don’t need to give
up anything, you can even chant while you’re in the water. So by transcendental
sound a person can be transported into a condition where they are
actually happy, they are actually tasting happiness. Which is what
everyone wants. Everyone wants pleasure, so pleasure’s the goal. If
you ride the waves of transcendental sound you’ll actually taste spiritual
pleasure. Such pleasure far surpasses the temporary happiness we derive
from this material world.
Q: For many Western people that sounds far too simple, just to
believe that by chanting some “Indian verse” they can achieve fulfilment.
Jagad Guru: Well, some would think surfing is a pretty stupid thing
too. “That’s a pretty absurd thing, that you get so excited by going
out there on this piece of foam and riding one of those wave things.”
Isn’t that an absurdity too?
Q: Could you elaborate on the strength and inner power of mantra
meditation?
Jagad Guru: First let me say that a mantra is not an “Indian verse.”
A mantra is made up of a combination of God’s names and God and His
names are not American, Indian, Australian, or whatever. The effect
of chanting God’s names is so powerful because God is so powerful
and He has appeared in this age as His names. If you say God cannot
appear as His name, then you’re denying His all powerful position.
And if you say why would God do this, He doesn’t need to answer that
because He’s all powerful. He’s the one that makes the rules. He’s
the one who does what He wants and now you have to figure out how
to get in tune with Him.
You don’t have to say how come the wave is going this way. You just
ride it. You are subordinate, you’re dominated. You may think it’s
simple – so then you must be like a child again and become a little
simple. Haribol! Chant the names of God.
© 1991 Science of Identity Foundation
Chris Butler Speaks- Wisdom
Sri Ishopanishad: Mantra 10, Inner Peace
The wise have explained that one result is derived from the culture
of knowledge, and that a different result is obtained from the culture
of nescience.
~Sri Ishopanishad, Mantra Ten
For one who lives a hedonistic life, a life in which nescience is
cultivated, the results are envy, anger, greed, impatience, disrespect
for others, anxiety, depression, hatred, ever-increasing lust, forgetfulness,
frustration, dissatisfaction, duplicity, fear of death, and so on
.~ Jagad Guru speaks (Jagad Guru Siddhaswarupananda Paramahamsa)
Science of Identity Foundation
(On the other hand,) for a person who cultivates wisdom or true knowledge,
the results are inner peace, satisfaction, patience, respect for others,
freedom from duplicity, compassion, joyfulness, remembrance of his
spiritual identity, freedom from the fear of death, freedom from anxiety
and depression, and so on.
~ Chris Butler speaks (Jagad Guru Siddhaswarupananda Paramahamsa)
Science of Identity Foundation
The negative social results of a society populated primarily by hedonistic
people should be obvious to anyone. A society of self-centered, animalistic
people who have no other interest than their own sense enjoyment cannot
be at all peaceful or progressive—either materially or spiritually.
~ Jagad Guru speaks (Jagad Guru Siddhaswarupananda Paramahamsa)
Science of Identity Foundation
(On the other hand,) the positive results of a society populated
mostly by people who are serious about cultivating wisdom and spiritual
understanding should be clear. If the citizens are peaceful, satisfied,
respectful of others, compassionate, selfless, and so on, then society
will be progressive both materially and spiritually.
~ Chris Butler speaks (Jagad Guru Siddhaswarupananda Paramahamsa)
Science of Identity Foundation
Chris Butler Speaks- Wisdom
