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“Thinking about sense-objects will attach you to sense-objects; grow attached, and you become addicted; thwart your addiction, it turns to anger; be angry, and you confuse your mind; confuse your mind, you forget the lesson of experience; forget experience, you lose discrimination; lose discrimination, and you miss life’s only purpose.”
–Bhagavad Gita 2:62, 63

It is true that the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. In these two verses Krishna has described the entire journey, beginning with thought and ending in total loss. Each step should be considered well.

Thinking

Thought is power–magnetic power, particularly. That is, thought can draw or repel whatever is thought about, depending upon the polarity of the individual mind. Many times we see that people bring to themselves the things they continually think about, but we also see that thinking about something can repel it from the person. For example, the Franciscan Order is almost obsessed with the idea of poverty, yet it is one of the wealthiest institutions in the world. Thinking about poverty brought them wealth! This is not said in jest. I have seen people draw to themselves the things they detested, and seen others drive out of their lives the things they yearned for. As already pointed out, it is a matter of the polarity of the thought force, of magnetic energy.

As a rule, though, thought brings to us what we think about. Even if we begin by disliking or opposing the object of thought, in time we become attached to it, either by coming to like it (whether or not we admit the liking) or becoming unable to dispel it from our minds. We see this in the lives of many crusaders. They become what they oppose. In fact, they often oppose something to cover up their secret attraction to it.

It has long been known that the opposite of love is not hate, but indifference. Krishna is aware of this, and is counseling Arjuna to simply ignore that which he does not wish to become involved with. That is why in meditation we ignore any distractions and just keep relaxed in the awareness of the process of meditation–and nothing else. If we do this, in time the distractions will dissolve, and in the meantime, being ignored, they will not be distractions, practically speaking.

So if we will not obsess on a subject, it will not touch or capture us. This is a major point of spiritual life.

Attachment

“Thinking about sense-objects will attach you to sense-objects.” The word translated “attach” is sangas, which means attachment. However, sangas has both an internal and an external meaning–both of which apply in this instance.

Attachment means having an affinity for something, or having some feeling of desire to be aware of it or have it present. It has a definite emotional connotation. It also means to feel some kind of kinship with an object, or to feel a need for it–even a dependency.

Attachment also means to be linked to something, to become externally associated with it. This has already been discussed as a consequence of thinking continually of an object.

Obviously there is a positive side to this. If we think of that which is beneficial and elevating we will better ourselves. Sri Ramakrishna once met a young man who was psychically very sensitive, and who was being employed as a medium by some spiritualists in Calcutta. He spoke to him a truth that we should never forget or neglect to embody in our lives: “My son, if you think about ghosts you will become a ghost. If you think about God, you will become a god. Which do you prefer?”

Addiction

“Grow attached, and you become addicted.”

The word used here is kamas, which means intense craving for something. The implication is that the nature of objects is one of escalating absorption. We cannot stop at simple attachment. If we permit attachment, it will in time grow into something much worse: controlling addiction. This is the path to loss of freedom, to enslavement.

Anger

“Thwart your addiction, it turns to anger.”

We not only lose our freedom through addiction to objects, we also lose our rational faculty. For when our addictions are thwarted we respond with the ultimate irrationality: anger. Krodha means not just simple irritation but frenzied anger or fury which completely annihilates our good sense and reason.

Confusion

“Be angry, and you confuse your mind.”

Sammohas means confusion, not in the sense of simple disorientation, but in the sense of breakdown of mental coherence arising from delusion. It is a form of moral insanity

Forgetfulness

“Confuse your mind, you forget the lesson of experience.”

The Sanskrit smritivibhramah literally means to wander away from what is known, from what has been learned through experience. For it is what we know from our own experience, inner and outer, that is fundamental to our evolution. That alone is living wisdom, everything else is merely theory, however true it may be objectively. The whole purpose of the chain of births we have undergone is our gaining of practical knowledge, knowledge that is fully ours because it has arisen from our own experience and our insight into that experience. Just as no one can eat for us, so no one, however evolved they may be, can gain knowledge for us, or even impart it to us. Until we know something for ourselves it is nothing more than speculation or theory.

Indiscrimination

“Forget experience, you lose discrimination.”

The Sanskrit text literally says that if experience-knowledge is forgotten, then intelligence (buddhi) itself is destroyed. This is terrible, for expanding intelligence is the fundamental characteristic of evolution. That is why Krishna speaks so often of Buddhi Yoga as the path to perfection.

Loss of life

“Lose discrimination, and you miss life’s only purpose.”

Again, the literal Sanskrit is even more acute, stating that when buddhi is destroyed, we ourselves are destroyed. This is no exaggeration, as the foregoing sections demonstrate.

The purpose of our entry into relativity was the development of higher intelligence so we might be fitted to participate in the infinite consciousness of God. If we impair and erode that intelligence we frustrate the very purpose of our (relative) existence.

On the other hand, if we comprehend Krishna’s words in this matter, we can see that the conscious deepening of our buddhi is the path to liberation. But most of all we can learn how to never take even the first step on the path to personal destruction. By refusing to allow our minds to mull over that which is delusive, we protect ourselves from future entanglement in the nets of delusion. If we are already somewhere along the path to destruction we can also use this list to see how to reverse the process. For the message of the Gita is always and at all times the message of hope and betterment.

Read more about the Bhagavad Gita.

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Karma means both action and reaction. Since action precedes reaction we can say that karma “began” as soon as we were able to act intentionally in any manner. Since intention implies conscious will, that would be as soon as we have evolved to that capacity–sometime during our manifestation on the animal level. (“Animal” is meant in a very broad sense that would include even micro-organisms.)

The body is the vehicle through which the individual evolves during the span of life on earth, and must be taken into serious account by the yogi who will discover that the body can exert a necessary effect on the mind. If wax and clay are cold they cannot be molded, nor will they take any impression. If molasses is cold it will hardly pour. It is all a matter of responsiveness. Only when warm are these substances malleable. In the same way, unless our inner and outer bodies are made responsive or reactive to the japa and meditation of Om we will miss many of the beneficial effects. Hence we should do everything we can to increase our response levels, to ensure that our physical and psychic bodies are moving at the highest possible rate of vibration.

A fundamental key to this is diet. For not only does the physical substance of the food become assimilated into our physical body, the subtler energies become united to our inner levels, including our mind. The yogi who observes will discover that the diet of the physical body is also the diet of the mind, that whatever is eaten physically will have an effect mentally. (One who does not know this is no yogi at all.) The Chandogya Upanishad (6.5.4; 6.6.1,2,5) tells us: “Mind consists of food. That which is the subtle part of milk moves upward when the milk is churned and becomes butter. In the same manner, the subtle part of the food that is eaten moves upward and becomes mind. Thus, mind consists of food.”

Meat is both heavy and toxic–especially from the chemicals spread throughout the tissues from the fear and anger of the animal when it was slaughtered. So our minds will also be heavy and toxic from eating meat as well as poisoned by the vibrations of anger and fear. Moreover, the instinctual and behavioral patterns of the animals will become our instinctual and behavioral impulses. Fruits, vegetables, and grains have no such obstructions. Consequently, our mental energies will be light and malleable, responsive to our spiritual disciplines. There is no greater spiritual boon to the meditator than the adoption of a vegetarian diet. (See Spiritual Benefits of a Vegetarian Diet.) By “vegetarian” I mean abstention from meat, fish, and eggs or anything that contains them to any degree, including animal fats.

Both meditation and diet refine the inner senses so we can produce and perceive the subtle changes that occur during meditation.

Our general health also contributes to our proficiency in meditation, so a responsible yogi is very aware of what is beneficial and detrimental to health and orders his life accordingly, especially in eliminating completely all alcohol, nicotine, and mind-altering drugs whether legal or illegal. Caffeine, too, is wisely avoided, and so is sugar.

The sum of all this is that we must do more than meditate. We must live out our spiritual aspirations by so ordering our lives that we will most quickly advance toward the Goal. This is done by observing Yama and Niyama, often called the Ten Commandments of Yoga (See Foundations of Yoga). They are:

• 1) Ahimsa: non-violence, non-injury, harmlessness;
• 2) Satya: truthfulness, honesty;
• 3) Asteya: non-stealing, honesty, non-misappropriativeness;
• 4) Brahmacharya: sexual continence in thought, word and deed as well as control of all the senses;
• 5) Aparigraha: non-possessiveness, non-greed, non-selfishness, non-acquisitiveness;
• 6) Shaucha: purity, cleanliness;
• 7) Santosha: contentment, peacefulness;
• 8) Tapas: austerity, practical (i.e., result-producing) spiritual discipline;
• 9) Swadhyaya: introspective self-study, spiritual study;
• 10) Ishwarapranidhana: offering of one’s life to God.

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This is Part 11 of A Catechism of Enlightenment–a serialized commentary on “A Method Of Enlightening A Disciple” from Shankara’s Upadeshasahasri–A Thousand Teachings

17) “He is the self-luminous and formless Purusha, uncreated and existing both within and without. He is devoid of prana, devoid of mind, pure, and higher than the supreme Imperishable.” (Mundaka Upanishad 2:1:2)

This first point has already been considered, but how is it I said that Brahman is neither inside nor outside anything? It is true–the upanishad’s intention here is to indicate that Brahman is all-pervading. But never does Brahman “contain” anything nor is It “contained” by anything. The Gita emphasizes this, too: “This entire universe is pervaded by me, in that eternal form of mine which is not manifest to the senses. Although I am not within any creature, all creatures exist within me. I do not mean that they exist within me physically. That is my divine mystery. You must try to understand its nature. My Being sustains all creatures and brings them to birth, but has no physical contact with them.” (Bhagavad Gita 9:4, 5)

Prana is the “substance” of life, but it is really not alive at all, any more than the mind–which is only a field of energy–is conscious. We mistakenly attribute life and consciousness to subtle energies, when they are really only mirrors reflecting the life and consciousness that IS Brahman and the Self. It is wisdom to never attribute divine characteristics to anything in relativity.

18) “As a lump of salt dropped into water becomes dissolved in water and cannot be taken out again, but wherever we taste the water it tastes salt, even so this great, endless, infinite Reality is Pure Intelligence alone. This Self comes out as a separate entity from these elements and with their destruction this separate existence also is destroyed. After attaining oneness it has no more consciousness [of separation].” (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 2:4:12)

Brahman is an absolutely unitary existence which is pure consciousness alone. All “else” is simply a momentary appearance, a dream.

The Self makes for itself dream-bodies from the dream-substances of the various worlds. And so it becomes “separate”–but only in experience, not in reality. When the bodies taken on by the Self dissolve totally, the mirage of independent, separate existence vanishes.

19) “He [Brahman] transformed Himself in accordance with each form and each form of His was for the sake of making Him known.…This Brahman is without antecedent or consequent, without interior or exterior. This Self, the all–perceiving, is Brahman. This is the teaching of the Upanishads.” (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 2:5:19)

Of course Brahman does not change, but enters into each form and appears to do so, making it Its own. The purpose is not to hide or veil Brahman, but to reveal Brahman to the evolving consciousness that is incarnate along with Brahman in those many forms. This is contrary to ordinary thinking, which shows how little value there is to most people’s ideas. Here, too, the problem is insistence on simple–and therefore simplistic–interpretations of the upanishadic teachings.

Nothing precedes Brahman and nothing succeeds It. There is only Brahman–and the Self–in the beginning, middle, and end. Nothing is either inside Brahman and outside Brahman, because there are no “things” at all.

There is another idea presented here: Brahman has no parts, no “in” or “out,” but is a thoroughly homogeneous Being, an absolute Unity. In God there can be no “inner” or “outer,” no “higher” “or lower,” no “greater” or “lesser.” When the upanishads and Gita appear to contradict this, they are only speaking loosely to get their ideas across to Maya-blinded and limited human minds.

20) “It is different from the known; It is above the unknown.” (Kena Upanishad 1:4)

In relative existence there are both the perceived and the unperceived, the known and the unknown. Even the extremely subtle levels of relativity, despite their luminescence and their power, are still material, and not at all Spirit.

The Gita puts it this way: “But behind the manifest and the unmanifest, there is another Existence, which is eternal and changeless.…It is my highest state of being.” (Bhagavad Gita 8:20,21)

21) “That is called the akasha, is the revealer of names and forms. That within which these names and forms exist is, verily, Brahman. That is the Immortal; that is the Self.” (Chandogya Upanishad 8:14:1)

It is understood that Brahman is All, that whatever we see or experience is a manifestation of Brahman. Yes, it is all a dream, but Brahman is the substratum-substance of the dream. So as yogis ascend in awareness of higher and subtler realms of existence–realms of consciousness–there comes a level which is both relative and absolute, both supremely subtle vibratory energy and spirit-consciousness. This level is indistinguishable from pure Spirit because it is pure Spirit. Yet, it is a “level” that has a relative existence. This is the primal Akasha (Ether) that is properly called Chidakasha–Etheric Consciousness. It is the Element of elements, yet it is the Absolute. It is both relative and transcendental, depending on which way the yogi is “looking.” (Please be aware that to try and make some sense out of this I am having to speak a lot of nonsense to give a hint of what actually is the situation.)

From this Akasha all name and form have arisen, and it itself reveals them–makes them manifest by producing awareness of them. This is possible only because it IS name and form–at least seemingly so. So Brahman and the Self are all that “is.”

22) “This is never born, nor does it die.” (Bhagavad Gita 2:20)

Neither Brahman nor the Self have a beginning or ending, an origin or a dissolution. Nothing that is “born” and is therefore inevitably going to “die” is Brahman. But Brahman is all such. Only a yogi untangles this seeming paradox.

• Read more installments of A Catechism of Enlightenment.

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“Foolish, ignorant people indulge in careless lives, whereas a clever man guards his attention as his most precious possession.”
–Dhammapada 26

George Washington spoke more truly than he knew when he stated that eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. For those who seek the ultimate liberation, constant awareness is a prime necessity. On the other hand, “Foolish, ignorant people indulge in careless [heedless] lives.” Interestingly, the Venerable Thanissaro Bhikkhu renders it: “They’re addicted to heedlessness.” This is certainly so. There is a persistent urge toward self-destruction that habitually grips most people, impelling then to negligence, carelessness, and outright blindness to what little reality we are able to perceive if we will to do so.

It is astounding to see how feckless most “spiritual” people really are in relation to their inner development. Over and over they endanger themselves and incur great risk, particularly psychically (mentally), either doing things that can only rebound to their detriment or failing to do that which will protect and strengthen them. They simply do not take seriously the fact that this entire world is a maelstrom calculated to whirl them around and around by continual birth and death, drowning their consciousness from life to life. They take no account of their daily lifestyle or their environment, physical or metaphysical. And the field of their personal relationships is the most chaotic and destructive of all.

There is such a thing as healthy fear–the force that sends us indoors in a hailstorm and up a tree when a dangerous animal is around. This is completely lacking in the foolish.

I heard of a school board that interviewed prospective drivers of their single bus. To each one they asked a single question: If you were driving a bus full of children and came to an ice-covered bridge without any railings on the side, how close could you drive to the edge without being afraid of mishap? The estimates were various, but one man replied: “I would drive straight down the middle as far from the edges as I could get, and even then I would be terrified every second until I got across.” He was the one they hired, for they did not want any driver who could feel confident in endangering their children. We need the same grave caution regarding our own lives and aspirations to higher awareness.

It is, however, pointless to warn the foolish against disaster, because that is what they are hoping for. Then they can stay in the pig wallow and grunt to their hearts’ content, telling their fellow porkers about how they used to be “into” Hinduism/Buddhism, meditation, “and all that” (maybe even a monk or nun), but not anymore. They just live and let live. Got a joint? How about coming home with me?

The wise prize clearsightedness–and clear thought and action–above all treasures of earth and heaven, aware that not for a moment do they dare to fold their hands and sleep the sleep of inner death. [“Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: so shall thy poverty come” (Proverbs 6:10,11). “Consider and hear me, O Lord my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death” (Psalms 13:3).] Their vigilance will be their liberty. For them is the admonition of Buddha: “Do not indulge in careless behavior. Do not be the friend of sensual pleasures. He who meditates attentively attains abundant joy.” (Dhammapada 27)

Read more commentaries on the Dhammapada.

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