Well, I've got to say that my stay in the ashram has noticeably improved my physical as well as my mental health, despite the fact that the rules are much less strict in practice than they are on paper. The classes are mandatory, but they don't take attendance, so you can miss them now and then without any trouble. [edit]
I've taken the ashram quite seriously though, for the most part. I've been studying the
Upanishads, translated by Eknath Easwaran. Forming the latter half of each of the
Vedas, they lay out the mystical/philosophical/cosmological portion of Hindu teaching. They are absolutely beautiful.
According to Rama as he appears in the Muktika, "the Mandukya alone is sufficient for the deliverance of the aspirant." And Shankara, an eighth-century mystic, stated that if a student could study only one Upanishad, it should be this one. It is not the most dramatic or fun to read, but it's short and explains the central Upanishadic teaching nicely and simply. So in the interest of enlightening you, here it is, in Easwaran's translation:
The Mandukya Upanishad
1. AUM stands for the supreme Reality.
It is a symbol for what was, what is
And what shall be. AUM represents also
What lies beyond past, present, and future.
2. Brahman is all, and the Self is Brahman.
This Self has four states of consciousness.
3. The first is called Vaishvanara, in which
One lives with all the senses turned outward,
Aware only of the external world.
4. Taijasa is the name of the second,
The dreaming state in which, with the senses
Turned inward, one enacts impressions
Of past deeds and present desires.
5. The third state is called Prajna, of deep sleep,
In which one neither dreams nor desires.
There is no mind in Prajna, there is no
Separateness; but the sleeper is not
Conscious of this. Let him become conscious
In Prajna and it will open the door
To the state of abiding joy.
6. Prajna, all-powerful and all-knowing,
Dwells in the hearts of all as the ruler.
Prajna is the source and end of all.
7. The fourth is the superconscious state called
Turiya, neither inward nor outward,
Beyond the senses and the intellect,
In which there is none other than the Lord.
He is the supreme goal of life. He is
Infinite peace and love. Realise him!
8. Turiya is represented by AUM.
Though indivisible, it has three sounds.
9. A stands for Vaishvanara. Those who know this,
Through mastery of the senses, obtain
The fruit of their desires and obtain greatness.
10. U indicates Taijasa. Those who know this,
By mastering even their dreams, become
Established in wisdom. In their family
Everyone leads a spiritual life.
11. M corresponds to Prajna. Those who know this,
By stilling the mind, find their true stature
And inspire everyone around to grow.
12. The mantram AUM stands for the supreme state
Of Turiya, without parts, beyond birth
And death, symbol of everlasting joy.
Those who know AUM as the self become the Self;
Truly they become the Self.
OM shanti shanti shanti
The idea that we are all part of a greater whole seems obvious, even innate - I know that it has formed a part of my personal view of the world for a long time. This is what religion should be about to me: more than just an exercise in myth as metaphor, it should get straight to the point and tell you explicitly about reality as it actually is. Much of Hindu scripture is poetry, mythology, and even bare-bones instruction manual concerning rituals, etc. - but not all of it. This represents a major difference between Western and Eastern religions, and makes Eastern religion more, well, enlightening, to me at least. Perhaps it is partly a matter of personal taste - I've always had a predilection for philosophy over poetry. (I realize that some fundamentalist and literal-minded followers of Western religions would take issue with my characterization of their religions as "poetry," but in my opinion the facts speak for themselves...)
That is not to say that I don't have some problems with the Hindu world-view. During one of our lectures/question periods, I asked our resident guru (with long white beard and everything!) why the Self, the basis of everything, would create all these illusions, such that different parts of itself could not properly recognize each other. He went into a detailed but ultimately unsatisfying explanation (possibly due to a language barrier) about how our karma from past lives creates the illusory ego and all the falsehoods that accompany it. That may be, but it doesn't really answer my question - why did Brahman create maya in the first place? The Self has no personality, so it can't have done it just to amuse itself.
This question seems to be suggested, but never quite answered, in various Upanishads: "Before the world was created, the Self / Alone existed; nothing whatever stirred. / Then the Self thought: 'Let me create the world.' / He brought forth all the world out of himself..." (Aitereya 1.1.1-2) This sounds a lot like Genesis, except that Brahman creates the world "out of himself" rather than out of nothing. But, like Genesis, it doesn't explain why. The Mundaka expands a little on this idea: "The deathless Self meditated upon / Himself and projected the universe / As evolutionary energy. / From this energy developed life, mind, / The elements, and the world of karma, / Which is enchained by cause and effect." (Mundaka 1.1.8) Usually the end result of meditation is the opposite of what happens here; rather than creating divisions, meditation is supposed to eliminate them. And since when we meditate it is the same Self that is being meditated upon, by the same Self as in this passage, since we are Brahman, why would the process be any different? The Katha hints at a reason, but it appears mysterious: "The self-existent Lord pierced the senses / To turn outward. Thus we look to the world / Outside and see not the Self within us." (Katha 2.1.1) Why would the Self want to "turn outward", and what could "outward" mean if the Self is all that there is? The Taittiriya gives a longer description of the process, which is worth quoting in full:
The Lord of Love willed: "Let me be many!"
And in the depths of his meditation
He created everything that exists.
Meditating, he entered into everything.
He who has no form assumed many forms;
He who is infinite appeared finite;
He who is everywhere assumed a place;
He who is real caused unreality.
It is he who has become everything.
It is he who gives reality to all.
Before the universe was created,
Brahman existed as unmanifest.
Brahman brought the Lord out of himself;
Therefore he is called the Self-Existent.
(Taittirya 2.6.3-7.4)
So the question remains: what was the point of creating the world of maya, all this "unreality"? And since Brahman, unlike the God of the Abrahamic religions, is egoless, how could he even formulate the desire to create anything?
My personal suspicion is that unreality is just that - unreal. The world is real, as is everything in it. I can't really buy the paradox that unreality somehow exists. If it doesn't, then the whole question of why Brahman would have created it is bypassed - he didn't. Of course that still leaves the question of why there is anything rather than nothing, but perhaps I'll leave that to another entry...
I'm back in Rishikesh, staying at my old hotel. At left is a recent picture of me practicing yoga, especially for Chris and the gang. Ahh... My ski trip was a bust. Despite it being the coldest winter in 70 years, there was almost no snow in Auli. To get to what little there was, I had to hike up past the top chair lift for a kilometer, all for a few minutes of skiing on icy snow... The worst part was getting there from Rishikesh though, a 10-hour hell-ride through the Himalayas. I made the mistake of taking the bus there rather than spending an extra two bucks for a seat in a jeep. Buses should not be going to Auli. The road is paved for the most part, but many portions have been wiped out by rockslides, so quite a bit is gravel. There are no guard-rails in most places, including all the gravel stretches, with crazy thousand-meter drops to your doom just centimeters away. (Almost worse than no guard rails are the places where the rails or blocks have obviously been crashed through.) And being India of course the bus is massively overloaded and the brakes are squeaky and weak. Not to mention being crammed into a seat way too small for you so that you have constant physical pain to go along with the terror... I was trying to read the Bhagavad Gita to take my mind off it all but mostly just ended up clutching it like a good-luck charm as I stared out the window. Ah well. At least the views were nice.
