Awareness

A foray into the ten commandments, the six crocodiles, the eight qualities, and awareness.

Truth

Truth in its reality, the reality of the universe.

Non-violence

Non-violence does not require making a fool of oneself before someone who would take advantage of it.

Love

A subject explored enough already. Love must be seen as a response to aggression or violence. The love of God is described as the only true love. That is why we call it a unique feeling.

Purity of thought

Here lies the surface of meditation techniques, for purity of thought can be achieved through methods of contemplation.

Purity of speech

Wisdom, a consequence of auditory and visual contemplation.

Action

Act with the reality of God, as a branch of one's individual realization.

Celibacy

Celibacy falls within the path of a means of loving God. It does not prevent physical contact.

Practice

And here is the secret, in eighth position. Practice, in auditory and visual contemplation.

Devotion

Service to God.

Prayers

Reading the Vedas offered, then, and still offers today, excellent prayers. Although we could certainly write others.

THE SIX CROCODILES

We translate the crocodiles as passion.

Selfishness

Selfishness is given as the first of the six crocodiles. It opens the door to all the others. Note that altruism should not be understood as the immediate answer to selfishness. A balance between the two egos yields better results.

Anger

Anger in itself does not display as much cruelty as we tend to believe, but in fact it has never brought about a solution. It proves dangerous, for it can lead to hatred. We would prefer to find some means other than anger for eliminating our anxieties.

Jealousy and envy

Jealousy and envy are part of the complex of pride and possession. They would be the opposites of love.

Hatred

Hatred is often accompanied by the consequences of anger.

Lying

Lying, like a path, chosen by the selfish, the jealous, and the envious to satisfy their appetite.

Respect

Respect is a very great quality, comparable to love. It stands a rank higher.

Vegetarianism

Deriving from respect, it is also a matter of conscience.

Insight

The intelligence of the spiritual.

Will

Doing the best we can in the presence of God.

Shrewdness

Not rising up against bad actions, but working around them.

Living inwardly

Since the outer world offers only fleeting joys.

Following the commandments

Since the risk of pitfalls is always present.

Living with God

As the solution to our selfishness.

CONSCIOUS

Can we feel, or call ourselves, conscious? Can we assign levels to consciousness?

Consciousness vibrates within this palace where the rigidity and the suppleness of the being reside. The stage where beings learn to live and to shape their existence. From unconsciousness to absolute consciousness, we can draw up a staircase:

Absolute consciousness ~ about 1%
Being conscious ~ 4%
Being semi-conscious ~ 45% (interrelation)
Being unconscious ~ 50%

It would be worth noting that consciousness and intelligence differ by their material basis. That is, consciousness resides in the soul, while intelligence is kindled in the brain. It is plausible that variations within these levels are admissible.

Unconscious beings

Unconscious beings could be described as prisoners. They cling to fleeting pleasures. Regular users of alcoholic drinks and drugs belong to this world of unconsciousness. Of course, we must allow some room for leniency in such a judgment, but we must also acknowledge the carnage that results from it. We can place atheists within the round of the unconscious, although they stand apart by a mark of intelligence.

Unconscious beings find it harder to evolve, since their contacts are confined to many places where the great scourges of humanity reign. An inner strength vibrates within every human being. For the unconscious being, this strength is curbed by physical or moral scourges that he struggles to overcome, or that he cannot recognize or understand.

In unconsciousness there is little joy, but a great deal of suffering, by contrast. Unconscious beings, because of their character or their inability to bring anything positive to our society, burden it all the more. But the divine principle is immutable, and so it will not react to the carnage.

That is why we say that God is infinitely good.

The semi-conscious

Semi-consciousness concerns those who find it difficult to free themselves from the scourges. They are not necessarily bound to them. They have the good fortune of being able to search and to understand. They remain inert in the face of inner action. Religious limits, contexts of prejudice, persistent conflicts, and psychic fears hold them motionless.

Information and motivation, two links that help the semi-conscious in their efforts toward the summit. The semi-conscious hesitate in their evolution because life has set many traps for them. Vague movements, hypocrisy, sects, and cruelty push them back into their own ineffectiveness. The truth speaks to them.

Semi-consciousness, or interrelation, is a natural stage before the coming of consciousness, before the meeting that leads to the passage of union.

Conscious beings

The steps are taken, the actions are set in motion, they experience life differently. They know and feel the real and its works. Harmony settles within them. The path is reached and lived, they open themselves to God. They give back their love and their joys with fervor. They become less aggressive, healthier, more creative, or more imaginative. They remain, however, within the subtle, since they have not broken through every barrier of the ego. So they can, of course, still fall.

Absolute consciousness

Absolute consciousness concerns those who detach themselves from the outer nature, or who attach themselves to the higher nature.

Here we find contemplative souls, devoted souls, and consecrated souls. These maintain the world in relation with the inner cosmos. For them, there is no rest.

Auditory and visual contemplation allows entry into the world of absolute consciousness.

Divinity

It is reserved for beings who attain or possess the highest spiritual accomplishments. We do not rule out that everyone may benefit from it. For divinity, in itself, concerns the question of union. It must be understood that it is innate. The principal evolutionary gateways, such as the disciplines and practices of meditation, allow one to draw closer to reality. Those who possess sufficient knowledge manage to create a divine atmosphere with the support of consecrated beings. Consequently, divinity resides in only a few particular beings. It nonetheless holds a collective value, since no divinity can be the product of a single unit, but rather of a union.

Appendix

The appendix is a complement of terms to highlight in a bedside book of knowledge. A small conclusion meant to refresh the memory or what has been learned.

Action - Action and love
Understanding and living, or living and understanding
The example - Faith
The forces that thrive on imperfections
Harmony - Ignorance
Not belittling the self - Summary
Learning and knowledge - Time

Harmony

The real problem does not lie at the level of harmony; it arises rather from a lack of balance.

Harmony and the lack of balance are typical of Yin and Yang, of movement, of passivity, or of transformation. Harmony as a choice within the divine relationship.

The lack of harmony as a weight upon human structures.

Harmony could be understood as the balance between good and evil.

Harmony has a direct bearing on the transformation that allows for evolution. The chance to reach the Divine. Why wait?

However, harmony cannot be made subject to spirituality. It belongs to the realm of brain matter. Many harmonious beings use no method of contemplation.

Faith

Faith, a great secret, sits within the field of the great qualities. On the other hand, one must be wary of those who exploit faith. The list would be long to draw up, since each of us could offer our own judgment on it. One must beware of the exploitation of faith.

Faith can be seen as health for the ego. But extremes in faith cause certain problems at the level of the soul. Boundary troubles, if not outright limits, since many hold faith only to satisfy their ego and never enter into it deeply.

Faith is one of the greatest qualities a human being can possess. Even so, faith does not allow for elevation the way contemplation does. The being who stays bound to faith without seeking to rise higher makes a mistake.

For us, the possibility of union is called auditory and visual contemplation, “Shabda” and “Téjas.” First, the being must have faith, and then, if he wishes to evolve, he must devote himself to contemplation. Otherwise he is surely caught in the grip of a swindler and will remain within interrelation.

Time

Time allows us to grasp the states of things.
Time is the armor against obstacles.
Time is what sustains phenomena.
Time is a space that only humans can fill.
Time is the means by which we become aware of things.

Action

Mahabharata: You have a right to action, but only to action, and never to the fruit of action, let not the fruit be your motive!

God created humankind — let us say this to allow for the understanding of this paragraph. This being could not, like Him, be immutable; He therefore conceived it with an ego and the possibility of action. To make it equal to His image, that is, immutable, “immortal for us,” He deprived it of the fruits of action. This is probably one reason for humanity's disorders.

The true meaning, or the way to understand it, is that the fruit must not be the reason for the action.

Example

Do not try to convince; example is always the best way to give good sense, a sound way of life.

Action and love

Action and love belong to the human being. They are part of the spiritual genes, spiritual DNA. In humans, action and love are possible and tangible. Animals are devoid of them. For them, there is only instinct.

Our Creator acted in order to create the universe, and may, at times, compromise Himself for the sake of destiny, or for the protection of His work. Always with reservation, however, since immutability prevails.

Action serves to allow either evolution or destruction upon the planet.

Love and action can be connected once we understand that our main reason for living is to unite our energy with that of a divine or universal power. To do this, there is but one way, that of the method or the practice — in our case, auditory and visual contemplation, “Shabda” and “Téjas.”

When a human being enters into relation, or into contemplation, he then understands that his actions are made only of love.

The forces that thrive on imperfections

These forces that brought imperfections into our world — take, for instance, alcohol and drugs — have as their cause the distortion of spiritual reality. This has already been mentioned, of course, but the problem can be examined further in another direction.

These forces that take advantage of unconsciousness or of a lack of knowledge do so for one reason: the possession of matter. Through the accumulation of material goods, they can enjoy life, materially, of course. Whether we call them the devastators, the demons, or “asuras,” they cannot grasp the relative meaning of our inner possibilities. As a result, they are deprived of the Presence. For those who thrive on imperfections cannot enjoy perfection. They will be relegated to the world of imperfections.

Ignorance

Ignorance takes part in the reasoning, or the belief, that the body, or the brain and the ego of humans, are the only persisting reality.

This tendency is adopted by most human beings, since the inner substance hides within this human body. To grasp it requires a method. How many believe that we are made up of cells alone? One would have to believe it is a large majority.

It is likewise ignorance to believe in the inner residence without understanding it or living it. This facet, being more arbitrary, offers the possibility of conquering the element of inwardness, but also opens the door to exploitation.

Not belittling the self

We prefer not to belittle the self, whether through suppression or through indulgence. Mocking a flaw, or laughing at another person's difficulties, saddens the victim, turning it into the hardest barrier to overcome. For the causes of his difficulty already isolate him. All these little jabs, over time, provoke serious discord.

We prefer not to belittle the self. This is a deep difficulty for us to work around, since it is part of a game.

Understanding and living, or living and understanding

It seems difficult to understand what we cannot see. On the other hand, the reverse can be felt, since God is not a sign to be deciphered, but an action within lived experience. He can only be understood by those who live Him. Those who try to explain Him without having inhabited His immaterial form run up against the mental or moral obstacle of God.

So, better to live before understanding.
This is the emblem of this book.

Learning and knowledge

Learning stands before knowledge, like the unfolding of the image before the lens. Between these two contexts, learning and knowledge, the one on the path to realization must strike a balance. For if he lingers at the stage of learning, he will have great difficulty reaching the cosmic vibrations and colors held within him. These states, “Shabda” and “Téjas,” as we know, are propelled forward by the techniques within an initiation.

Learning: books, lectures.
Knowledge: practice
Initiation admits knowledge.

Commentaries

Here are commentaries in relation to an Upanishad.

You are neither water, nor earth, nor air, nor ether. In order to free yourself, know that you are the Atman who sees these things, and whose nature is intelligent.

If you can abide in intelligence, having broken your association (mental) with the body, you will instantly become one, enjoying peace and free of bonds.

Contemplation brings the being an intelligence, indeed a way of thinking, a different conception. It allows for the improvement of the ego. Worries and torments become sources of absolute bliss and boundless peace, once the power of knowledge does its work within each of us.

Sole witness seeing all things, you are truly free. What constitutes your bondage (bonds) is that you see this witness as something other than yourself.

Those who imagine themselves bound are truly bound; those who imagine themselves free are truly free. The popular saying: “As is the thought, so is the action,” holds true.

Individuals bound to the servitude of their ego find themselves released through will, action, or contemplation, which aids in the refinement of thought.

You exist within yourself, without stain, ever full and ever placid. You are of an unfathomable intelligence, calm and unshaken. Direct your thoughts toward the sole intelligence.

Through this verse, we can glimpse the answer to our troubles by directing our thoughts toward spiritual intelligence. That intelligence then translates as “contemplation,” which allows the soul to let go of the illusory form of the outer world.

The deception that is the world exists within me because of ignorance.

The love we bear for objects whose nature is illusory comes from what we do not know.

The values born of ignorance do not curb the light that we all carry within us.

Lack of will, intoxication, induced anguish or stress, social troubles, and confusions of the ego are all steeped in ignorance. They fail to reach the spiritual light that our Creator emits.

Humans, masters of their own minds, knowing that all is visible, and essentially non-existent, seeing nothing to attain and nothing to avoid.

Those who have rid themselves of every inner stain, who are free of all notions of difference, and who have risen above all things, feeling neither pleasure nor pain.

Matter is at our service, but we must not be at the service of matter. In the Mahabharata, we find a verse that explains this way of thinking well.

Without attachment, without pride, without desire and without hope, freed from every bond and set apart from all things, I live happily, watching all created objects appear. Every effort causes suffering, but no one knows it. Happy are those who attain peace by having learned this lesson.

We feel certain shivers as the love of God draws near. We also encounter certain sorrows that translate into a tightness in the throat.

Rare, in this world, are those who nurture no attachment for known things, and who do not chase after unknown things.

Those who feel neither fear at the thought of the end of their earthly life, nor aversion toward their own condition, and who take things as they come, those are happy.

At peace everywhere, their heart pure, free of all desire, these liberated ones shine everywhere.

Since we more readily follow a path of unconsciousness than the way into the palace of God, we will more easily understand why the human being feeds on attachments.

When you feel neither fear nor aversion, you shine above all others.

Those whose minds have merged into the Atman, freed from classifying knowledge, freed from dreams and torpor, attain a state that is beyond description.

Knowledge is lived by those who reach union within the divine forms. It is difficult, even pointless, to explain it to those who are just beginning this study. Later, those who master the experience possess enough energy to pass knowledge on.

Success in achieving goals in this world brings pleasure. But without universal renunciation, one does not become happy. Through the simple disappearance of illusion, those who possess clear sight shine, and they are freed from all suffering.

All of this (the world) is simply a production of the mind. The Atman is continually free and eternal.

Good and evil do not touch the inmost self of those who know “That.” Though it may appear covered in smoke, the sky itself is untouched.

Who could prevent the man of higher mind, who has understood that this whole world is nothing other than God, from moving as he pleases? In a world made up of four kinds of beings, from Brahma down to the blade of grass, only those who know God have the strength to cast off what is painful to them.

The absolute soul runs through every being. Through the strength that its nourishment provides — that is, meditation — the being can cast off what harms or burdens him.

Who is this fortunate man in whom the urge to gaze upon the spectacle of the world, the passion for life, the love of pleasure, and the thirst for possession have grown calm?

What human pleasures truly bring deep peace to a being? Even glory and fortune bring no calm. They leave the soul empty of its vibrations. Pleasures and sorrows, wealth and poverty blend together and scatter in the actions of those who achieve their own perfection.

Having gained a deep knowledge of essence and spirit through the practice of indifference and serenity, he who is an excellent master becomes a savior of the world.

We become Masters when our consciousness anchors itself firmly within the deep practices of contemplation. To possess power is to be the servant of God.

The search for truth creates within the being a bond that becomes inseparable from his nature. Mastery brings him the understanding of this truth.

Know that friends, lands, houses, wealth, and trials are like things seen in a dream, or like those a magician conjures up, and last only a few days.

The world, furnished with a multitude of objects, is part of illusion, or of the dream.

Happiness and pain, birth and death, are caused by past actions. Knowing this as certain, and knowing that nothing can be changed about it, free of fear, one is not tainted, even as one acts.

This wondrous material world, with its many aspects, is truly nothing. Knowing this, free of desires and of the knowledge that distinguishes and separates, one finds rest.

In Hinduism we come across many passages mentioning incarnation. A single life does not allow one to arrive at, or to understand, what essence is; all the more so since many do not even seek it. Birth and death, or death and birth, recur until perfection is reached.

This knowledge renders the eloquent mute, turns wise men into fools, and active men into the inactive. Consequently, those who hold a love for the objects of the senses must avoid it.

Knowledge changes the direction of actions. The wise man does not directly become a fool. But the actions that were once directed by the brain now build themselves according to his realization, or his liberation.

Contemplation makes illusion, seen as reality, disappear.

During his active life, the human being will seek to improve his earthly life through material means, neglecting his spiritual reality.

Since the world is a reflection of the mind, we prefer that the being who wishes to evolve begin doing so from within. By nourishing his inner self, the being sustains his evolution and his balance.

Fools find no peace, whether by acting or by refraining from action. The wise find their rest through the simple certainty of truth.

Rest belongs to the wise, for fools do not seek it. They seek to excite their senses, caught in the grip of duality. Death and rebirth, which Hinduism calls “samsara,” are part of our mind. They allow for the change of body.

Those who become skilled through practices of contemplation gradually detach themselves from “samsara.”

Only fools show repugnance for the things of the world: houses, wives, children, bodies, and so on. For the wise, who have lost all idea of a “self” existing within the body, where is attachment, and where is non-attachment?

Here is the wise conclusion we expect to find in a good sacred book. Those who have achieved balance within their minds gradually detach themselves from matter. They do not treat it with repugnance, but nor do they worship it either. For they know their true rest, that of living with their inner self in communication with the inner Self.