The importance of the process of becoming aware in practicing YOGA and in every day life (4)
The transcendence of the discursive mind and gaining access into the super-mental dimension
by Daciana Matei
You should also read the previous article, Awareness in the meditation process
Silence is the language of perfection
„Watch these trees with great attention. Even they are meditating. Meditation, above all, is plenary silence, experienced at the ultimate essence of our being. If you are truly aware that you do not know anything, then you will find yourselves in a profound state of meditation. Such a complete sincerity represents the grounds favorable to the silence which reveals God. Silence experienced deeply is meditation.” Yoga Swami
In the previous articles I have the described the path of spiritual evolution that an ordinary human being (with a consciousness limited to the material world) follows to transform and to awaken his spiritual aspiration to know himself, the surrounding world, and ultimately, his divine ultimate essence which is a spark from God, the Father. As we’ve shown earlier, consciousness expands gradually, going from its ordinary level, characterized by fragmentation and duality, to more and more elevated levels, which are fully integrating, unifying. Along the spiritual journey, that being starts to become aware of those resonance processes which involve superior, cosmic energies which will then occur and trigger, in his inner universe, more and more powerful states of happiness, fulfillment, knowledge.
Through the conscious, attentive and tenacious realization of YOGA techniques – such as ASANAS, controlled breathing techniques PRANAYAMA and meditation and introspection techniques – the aspirant becomes familiar with different horizons and spiritual depths that will finally lead him to knowing his intimate, essential nature.
Swami Shivananda describes in his book, The practice of meditation, a technique for yogi meditation: “Sit down in your favorite pose [ASANA], with your back straight, close your eyes and focus your attention on the middle of your forehead (AJNA CHAKRA), in the lotus of the heart (ANAHATA CHAKRA), or on the top of your head (SAHASRARA). Upon choosing a focusing point, keep it, do not change it! But at the same time, try to gradually activate and harmonize your other chakras as well. But if, for example, you decided to focus on the heart lotus (ANAHATA CHAKRA), you must be consistent with your choice in order to attain fast progress at this level.
If you will get startled by an enlightening spark, during your meditation, do not frighten. It will be a new experience, of immense joy. Do not come back to your initial state; do not abandon meditation. Do not stop; on the contrary, you will have to progress because you only saw a glimpse of the Truth and not the complete experience, the great Realization. This is only one level; try to ascend further and to reach the supreme goal, the infinite. Only then will you be able to resist to any temptation. Only then will you be able to drink from the nectar of immortality. It is the summit, the ultimate state. It is the final purpose.
There are infinite powers and latent faculties in you that you had no idea about. You must awaken these dormant forces by practicing meditation and YOGA. You must develop willpower, master the senses and the mind. You must purify and constantly practice meditation. Only then will you become a super-human, a complete being.
As the flame keeps burning into a lamp, the divine flame will keep on burning similarly, from the most ancient of times, in your heart (ANAHATA CHAKRA). Meditate upon this divine flame; immerse yourselves deeply into the most reclusive of places of your heart (ANAHATA CHAKRA). Meditate upon the divine flame and become one with it.”
“During deep meditation, transcend the consciousness of the body and of those surrounding you; feel the perfect unity; all sensations fade away. There is no more selfishness. An intense joy, an ineffable happiness engulfs you. Bit by bit, thoughts fade away. When you immerse yourselves into silence within the deepest form of meditation, the outer world and all sorrows fade away. Have a taste from the Supreme Peace. In this silence, the Light of Lights shines bright, the immortal happiness dwells. And this silence is the true force and happiness.”
Silence is an expression of peace, of harmony and perfection. When we’ll begin to look for silence instead of noise, our being will begin to aspire to understand things and thus, the desire of observing and becoming aware of everything that happens in our inner universe will arise. The state of silence triggers an inner process in our being that leads to clarity, higher inspiration and depth of the soul.
The more we evolve spiritually, the more we are capable of inducing states of inner peace, that will then reflect outside of us as well. Many people just make noise in order to be noticed. They talk loudly and laugh a lot, they open and close the doors around them, they make a lot of noise around them because they want to make themselves heard. But this is typical of a great deal of mediocrity and their incapacity to focus on their own being. If someone would ask them to sit down and meditate for five minutes, they would feel like it’s an eternity, they couldn’t stop fidgeting and they would even complain of some imaginary pains. They would remember every little thing that they have to do. All this “mental ruckus” blocks their connection to their inner universe and the inner perceptions at this level.
“Silence is the language of perfection” – said Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov in his work, The Path of Silence – “while noise is the expression of a flaw, of an anomaly or of a life which is still messy, disorganized and that needs to be controlled, perfected.”
When man begins to grow spiritually, he begins to love inner silence instead of the ordinary noise of the mind and he becomes more cautious with everything he does. His actions are now based on an inner state of profound silence. He will thus integrate more and more into harmony, striving for perfection.
The fusion which occurs between the mind, the heart and the spirit generates harmony spontaneously. In order to manifest it, one does not need any words and philosophical explanations. Therefore, when one asks “What is God?” sages answer through silence. Any term one might use to define God would do nothing but getting us closer to His true nature, without ever reaching it. Only Silence can define Him and only Silence can help us enter our own beings, the essential center of our being, which is but a spark of God, the Father.
The profound silence that we have to attain does not only involve the mere act of refraining from uttering any words, but it is equivalent to the complete silencing of the mind. Beyond this continuous agitation of our thoughts, an entirely new state unveils to us, in which we become able to reflect upon reality exactly as it is. The super-mental dimension that we enter is a realm of Silence.
The lucid consciousness of awareness awakens love, compassion, tenderness
If at the level of the inferior mind, the consciousness of the human being is limited, at the level of the superior mind (the super-mental) manifests in a higher consciousness, which is free of the ordinary constraints and limitations, touching infinity. The super-mental consciousness involves an advanced level of understanding, an entirely new language.
When consciousness elevates, we begin to experience refined perceptions and all the ineffable states which occur in our inner universe become clear manifestations of our spiritual growth and transformation. Living such moments of plenitude as often as possible and becoming as aware of their message as possible, becoming aware of the synchronicities which occur around us and prove to us that we are on the right path, the path of truth, all these aspects create the premises of a mysterious encounter with God.
When we reach the super-mental level, we become aware of the permanent interaction between the individual and the universal, we become aware of the coherence and perfect synchronization of everything. By entering the realm of super-mental consciousness, the power of knowing something directly also awakens in our being, the ability of being a lucid observer of the surrounding reality; intelligence becomes multidimensional, comprising a wide range of ideas and aspects. By awakening this consciousness, we come to master some exceptional forms of intuition, brilliant solutions, wise inspirations and divine revelations.
When the level of consciousness is ordinary, limited by the human condition, the being can only think of God in a superficial way, without actually feeling the mysterious, ineffable connection between himself and the Creator. When we are in harmony with the Divine Consciousness, wonders can take place in our being. When our consciousness expands, we can communicate with God directly, on the basis of absolute Silence, in the spiritual center of our being. Thus, we can listen to His Divine Voice or we can apprehend the messages he is sending to us through spiritual, super-mental intuition.
Sri Aurobindo says: “Unlike the inferior mind, the Super-mental has no mood swings. Its contents are enveloped in silence. It’s a blaze of lucidity, with no smoke. Once it is lit, it shines brightly and thus, the perception on the world changes, just as our every reaction. The Super-mental Consciousness does not seek to know, it does not seek to find out what it needs to be done; it is always perfectly silent, still, and it lives spontaneously, but TOTALLY, every second of existence. In its case, every being, in the the complete silence of consciousness, the desired knowledge occurs naturally, just like a shimmer of light; thus, we can get to know almost instantaneously what needs to be done, what needs to be said, what needs to be seen, what needs to be understood.”
The one who has attained the state of super-mental consciousness will always act, think and feel under the divine impulse and inspiration. He will no longer know the duality of the mind, the gimmicks of the ego. For him, there is nothing but love, compassion and superior understanding, in a complete fusion with the divinity.
For the aspirant who is on the ascending spiral of spiritual evolution to fully awaken his super-mental consciousness, he must dive into the ocean of inner silence, where there is nothing but void. A religious Hindu song says: “those who are half drowned will be completely drowned, those who drowned completely will cross the ocean.” In other words, you can not become aware of the Divine Truth by simply swimming in shallow waters. It takes courage, audacity and silence for one to be able to dive into the depths of the ocean and to know the true essence of divinity. It is only in a super-mental state, when the ego is fully transcended, the Spiritual Truth reveals. It is not outside of us, it is in our very own being. We must remove all the veils which are covering it in order to be able to see Him and to be one with Him.
Inner silence comes when you become fully aware that there is nothing to gain and nothing to lose
The great yogi and sage Yoga Swami talked about the true spiritual knowledge in simple but profound words. The complete renunciation to what we believe we already know and what we think we are, which in other words is the entirety of our luggage of concepts, our false certainties and identifications that our ordinary mind is based upon, is what opens the way to the divine reality, to the absolute source of all things and beings.
“You must always remain simple. You must permanently be empty, just like a mirror, in your consciousness. When you will be completely reduced to NOTHING – when the ego will be gone – when you will be one with the nothingness (VOID), only then you will truly be ONE with God. Only that man which is nothing intimately knows God, because God is permanently the Creative Blissful Void. Nothing is everything. To be nothing is to be in complete communion with EVERYTHING. For I am completely aware that I am nothing, for I am always a beggar – thus, I have all the things. Hence, NOTHING is actually everything. Do you understand? Can you understand this?”
“To become aware of God in your own being and to attain the state of ultimate liberation, each of you must act and work for the self, in this spiritual matter. Never believe that who promises you that he is the only one who will help you while you don’t need to do anything. Someone who is truly capable can periodically encourage us, but no one will do our duty, because, remember this, no one except GOD is capable of doing this. Even someone who is very powerful can only show us the way, he can even encourage us to follow the path, but we will always have to walk the path almost alone.”
So, in order to attain the super-mental state, the assiduous and consistent practice of some adequate yogi techniques will lead us to success. There are many techniques that can take us beyond the mind’s turmoil. The correct and consistent practice of the YOGA techniques accompanied by an adequate becoming aware process, either they are body poses (ASANAS) or breathing techniques (PRANAYAMA) or focusing and meditation techniques (DHARANA and DHIYANA), are gradually refining of our consciousness, besides the specific effects that each of them has. Thus, the transcendence of the discursive mind and access into the super-mental dimension becomes possible.
One of the simplest ways to attain the super-mental state is to focus your attention on the present moment. The ordinary mind is permanently oscillating between past and future, using its experiences in order to project the future. Focusing on the present moment, opening ourselves and fully accepting the present moment, the mind will stop, making room for silence, inspiration and for the light of the super-mental consciousness. If we practice this technique of focusing into the Here and Now, it will be easier for us to access the super-mental level and to experience this state for longer periods of time, while fully enjoying the extraordinary benefits that come with it. As a matter of fact, in the view of the great yogi Sri Aurobindo, going from the mental level to the super-mental level is the next evolutionary step for humanity as a whole.
yogaesoteric
May 2015
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