Understanding the Ascetic’s Path

May 12, 2010 by krasskova 0 Comments

I recently had the good fortune to be asked to teach a class for a group of folks heavily invested
in deepening their spirituality and bettering their service to their Gods. One of the things that
people were most interested in during my lecture series was the subject of ascetic practices. Part
of the interest lay in the fact that pretty much nothing is needed to engage in these practices and
part of the interest stemmed from the fact that in every religion the world over, the self-same
practices crop up again and again and again. Some modern mystics, Northern Tradition shamans,
call this body of practices the Ascetic’s Path. They are one of many ways to open oneself to the
Gods, to create the necessary mindset of receptivity and while these practices may not work for
everyone (in fact, if , as you read, every atom of your being rebels against the idea of
incorporating these practices into your devotional or magical work, then it’s probably NOT the
road for you), for some, they are a powerful tool in the erstwhile spiritual toolbox.

So just what do we mean when we use the term “Ascetic’s Path”? Well, this path is one of eight
methods – called the Eight Fold Path – of practice that may be used for achieving an altered
state, increasing one’s sensitivity to energy, and for making oneself more receptive to the Gods.
The actual eight ‘paths’ are occasionally debated in various traditions but ascetic practices are
always among them. These practices not only benefit a person spiritually, but may also be used
to achieve specific results magically.

Ascetic practices include but are not limited to fasting, disciplined meditation, a regimen of
internal and external cleansings, sensory deprivation, paring down of one’s possessions, and
voluntary celibacy (which I already discussed here in a previous article). To the American mind,
this body of practices is most often associated with medieval Christianity, and particularly
summed up in their religious vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. And while it’s true that
Christianity as a tradition did at that time, emphasize asceticism in its adherents, it’s important to
note that nothing about ascetic practices is particularly Christian, or Buddhist, or Muslim, or
Pagan, or anything else. They are tools, pure and simple and they’ve been found in religious life
at least as far back as the early Roman Empire, if not further.(1) In the Eastern world, they were
very likely known and practiced well before that.

The keywords for this particular path are discipline, purification and paring down. It’s all
about going inward to open to the Gods (or to open yourself magically). The focus of this type of
work is very much on the body and may seem, at first glance, unfairly harsh. The purpose is not,
however, to punish the body and the motivation doesn’t stem from any belief (or shouldn’t stem
from any belief) that the body is shameful or sinful. Raven Kaldera in his book “Wightridden”
writes: “its purpose is not to work the soul up into a state of high vibration in order to blast it
open, but to work it downwards into a place of utter stillness and silence, so that it may open
gently and slowly.” (Kaldera, p. 165). As Mr. Kaldera further notes, it’s certainly not about
instant gratification. It is about the slow stretching of one’s spiritual and magical muscles. And
this is done, not by indulging the body, but by mastering its hungers so that they no longer
provide any type of blockage or distraction to one’s spiritual development. The physical body is
our primary interface with the world and the way in which we experience everything, including
our spirituality. Ascetic practices hone and shape if not the body itself, our way of utilizing it as a
spiritual tool. In a way, it’s about learning to honor the body as it is, about “coming to terms with
limitations and restrictions” and learning to use them as tools. (Kaldera, p. 166).

The particular beauty of this path is that it requires nothing external to the self. To do it well, in
fact, is to embrace a deep, abiding and mindful interiority of practice that brings with it a
discipline that will aid the practitioner in all aspects of life, not just spiritual or magical work.
Discipline, while largely denigrated in modern culture, is a gift that we can give to ourselves, one
that lays the foundation for future excellence in the Work and in our daily work. Because of the
three-fold emphasis on discipline, purification and paring down, this path is an extremely
accessible one. It doesn’t take a lot of money or fancy tools, or hard to find books. It only takes
the will to begin and persevere.

Beginning with discipline, the first step on this path involves committing to regular practice. One
little discussed aspect of ascetic work, is that of ongoing, regular devotional and prayer work.
These things attune the mind and heart to the Gods. Setting time aside daily for prayer and
meditation, and striving to be mindful of the presence and blessings of the Gods throughout the
day is an excellent way to incorporate elements of this path into one’s regular practice. One thing
that everyone can do is to devote time each day to establishing a gratitude practice. The ascetic’s
path isn’t just about disciplining the body. That, in fact, is secondary to the real work of
disciplining the mind and soul. It’s all about the grueling, never-ending work of self-examining
and awareness. A gentle, non-threatening and useful place to begin is to examine your life for
those things you are grateful for, those experiences, people and blessings that you feel enrich
your life. We’re physical beings and our spirituality is expressed through a physical medium and
it’s important to honor that in the body of those things with which we are blessed. I know of one
woman, so dedicated to this practice, that every night as part of her meditations she examines her
day and writes down three, four, half a dozen things that she’s grateful for from that day alone.
It’s made her far more mindful in both her spirituality and her interactions with others and that, is
part and parcel of what this path is all about.

The second key to the ascetic’s path is simplicity. Essentially, strive to clutter your life as little as
possible. This means embracing a radical honesty with oneself, in one’s relationships. It means
stepping out of the consumer culture that so defines us as a nation. It means being mindful not
only about one’s purchases but also about how one utilizes one’s resources and budgets one’s
money. It also means being consciously mindful about how one’s purchases affect the
environment. This whole path is about developing an exquisite mindfulness that can sometimes
be exhausting, painful but always spiritually rewarding. So clean your house. Go through your
closets and donate your old clothes to goodwill or a comparable charity. Go through your
possessions and decide what you no longer need and donate it to charity or give it to friends.
Clutter is the enemy in this path. We spend so much of our lives ensnared in the ceaseless clutter
of noise, possessions and the external pressure to buy more possessions that it can be very
difficult to find room for anything else, very difficult to hear that still, small voice within calling
us to something better, to BE better. Fuensanta Plaza, co-author of: “Root, Stone, and Bone” says
it best:
“It’s important to clear the clutter, of the mind even more than one’s space, because that internal
clutter, that mental clutter stands between us and the Gods. Part of the reason it’s important to
have an uncluttered living space is because it helps to have an uncluttered soul. As without, so
within. As the living space, so the soul.”

–Fuensanta Plaza

This path, more than any other (in my opinion) teaches a person to reach for something beyond
his or her own desires.(2) So clean your house, go through your possessions, learn to budget and
discipline your spending habits. This isn’t saying don’t treat yourself, but be mindful about
where and how you spend your money. This is the practice of mindful consumption.

Now the above two practices are something that pretty much everyone can do. There are,
however, other practices involved in this path that may not appeal to everyone. For those who
feel called to them, however, they are extremely effective and useful techniques.

Fasting

The most common ascetic practice is that of fasting.(3) This is perhaps the most obvious of the
practices in that the physical emptying mirrors the internal emptying. Fasting can be a difficult
practice, especially at first, yet it is very, very powerful. I personally have a love/hate
relationship with fasting. I’ve used it for cleansing both physically and spiritually, for shaking
loose my spirit’s hold on the physical body, for extended trance work and for the sheer discipline
alone. It’s incredibly effective and at the same time physically, emotionally and even
psychologically grueling. Food is the most fundamental of nourishers and in our culture of
physical abundance, where food is a highly charged part of our social experience, it can carry an
enormous amount of psychological and emotional weight…weight one may not even realize
until suddenly the food is removed and even worse: forbidden. The very process of being
emptied brings with it an immense vulnerability. Emotional (and energy) blocks and shields just
crumble as the body’s energy pathways are opened by virtue of the act of consciously stripping
away. Fasting is not just an exercise in spiritual discipline but an exercise in utter and complete
vulnerability as well.

There are many ways to fast. One may choose to forego anything but water. This is, for me, the
most difficult. One may omit certain foods (like meat and sweets) for an extended period of time.
This is a minor fast, but also very useful. One may choose to eat only one meal a day. One may
abstain from all solid food. For someone just starting out with the process of fasting, I
recommend fasting only one day and slowly working yourself up to more. How one fasts is less
important than how one goes into and comes out of the fast itself. Fasting is very hard on the
body, this goes without saying. Suddenly breaking a fast can have problematic and unpleasant
effects. However long you choose to fast, you should take that same amount of time to ease out
of the fast, starting first back on broth and juices and working up to solid food. I personally
recommend doing the same to go into a fast…take a couple of days to slowly decrease your food
intake, going from solid foods to liquids to the complete fast. The important thing is to break it
slowly, easing back onto solid food.
Isolation/Sensory Deprivation

I’ve written about the benefits of silent fasting in this column before so I shall not do more than
touch upon the subject now. Part and parcel of the Ascetic’s Path is removing oneself from the
distractions of the outside world in order to better focus one’s attention on the internal process of
cleaning out and paring down. Isolation is a powerful thing. We live in a world where we are
always plugged in: ipods, blackberries, computers, cell phones, beepers. Engaging in this body of
practices means choosing to step out of that fast-paced, constantly connected lifestyle for
however long or short a time. It means giving up the computer, the cell phone and other devices,
the tv, radio, ipod. It means committing a set amount of time to one’s devotional work sans all
outside distractions. I often recommend taking a weekend and a journal and allowing yourself
only the journal and your prayers and nothing else. For some, it is a welcome respite from the
sturm and drang of the external world, for others, it is absolutely maddening. For everyone, it
can be very enlightening.

Some people take this a step further and meditate veiled, with ears plugged and eyes covered.
This is a modern means of recreating the Norse practice of utiseta or sitting out, where one
meditations in isolation covered by a thick cloak, cut off from the external world, seeking
wisdom from the Gods and ancestors. Developing a relationship with silence, which has its own
voice, its own rhythms and patterns and pull, can dramatically increase one’s sensitivity to that
which is unseen: be it magical energy or the presence of the Gods. It readies the mind and heart
and spirit and deepens one’s receptive potential.

Cleansings

One of the most important aspects of the Ascetic’s Path is that of personal cleansing.
Purification, purification, purification on every possible level from cleaning your house, to
devoting yourself to a regiment of cleansing baths, to taking herbal mixtures internally to cleanse
is an indispensable part of this body of techniques. While the taking of internal cleansing teas is a
bit beyond the scope of this article (I recommend speaking to a qualified herbalist about which
herbs and tisanes can safely be used for internal cleansing; there are many), there are numerous
ways to perform external magical/ritual/spiritual cleansings. The old saying “cleanliness is next
to godliness” has something to it where the Ascetic’s Path is concerned!

My absolute favorite cleansing bath is a beer bath. It sounds strange, but it completely cleanses
the aura (and I mean completely). One adds a bottle of dark beer to one’s bath and immerses
oneself completely. I first learned of it from my grandmother as a German folk custom, but I
later came across almost the same bath in Mickaharic’s “Spiritual Cleansing” (he adds salt).
Regardless of where it comes from, it’s a fantastic cleansing technique. Another basic cleansing
bath is a cup of apple cider vinegar and a handful of salt added to the tub. If you don’t have a
bathtub, you can still do cleansing baths. Mix the liquids up, or, if you’re using a combination of
herbs, make a strong infusion from the herbs, then stand in the shower and pour it over your
head. This is actually the more traditional way (in hoodoo at least) of taking cleansing baths.
There are hundreds of bath recipes and I recommend picking up a copy of Catherine Yronwode’s
“Hoodoo Herb and Root Magic.” She offers detailed correspondences in the back of the book,
which list herbs by function. Any combination of purification and cleansing herbs can be added
to the bath. Truly though, salt works just as well. Simply bathing mindfully: consciously
visualizing all the psychic and emotional gunk we inevitably pick up during the day washing
away as the water flows over you, is a good way to begin incorporating cleansing into your
practice. This is an old, old idea. There was a specific class of priests in ancient Egypt called web
or webet (feminine form) priests. Their function was purification and cleansing and they were
required to bath FOUR times a day. Cleanliness is next to godliness indeed!

Far from abrogating the importance of the body, the Ascetic’s Path incorporates our physicality
into its practice as a key point. The body is a partner in this work, the lens through which one is
able to focus one’s awareness and hone and deepen one’s spiritual and magical senses. Just as
with a martial art, steady, regular discipline develops the soul memory just like performing kata
regularly develops the body’s memory. The key is focus, mindfulness and above all else,
consistency.

"The word "occult" means, "hidden from the average person". The occult refers to the spiritual
truths of life that are hidden from most people because of their unawareness caused by their
emotions, desires and cravings. The occult is not negative. It involves hidden energies that
manifest the changes in this physical world. Occultism is the study of certain techniques that will
enable you to become aware of these subtle energies. As you become aware of these subtle
energies, you can then control them and use them in a positive, constructive way."

- Goswami Kriyananda Extraordinary Spiritual Potential

"The word "occult" means, "hidden from the average person". The occult refers to the spiritual
truths of life that are hidden from most people because of their unawareness caused by their
emotions, desires and cravings. The occult is not negative. It involves hidden energies that
manifest the changes in this physical world. Occultism is the study of certain techniques that will
enable you to become aware of these subtle energies. As you become aware of these subtle
energies, you can then control them and use them in a positive, constructive way."

- Goswami Kriyananda Extraordinary Spiritual Potential

The Laws of Occult Success

by Sri Goswami Kriyananda from
Extraordinary Spiritual Potential
1. The Law of Clarity

The first rule is that you must have a clear conception of what you want. Do you want a million
dollars? Do you want to be a vice-president of your company? What do you want?

The law of clarity can be divided into two areas. First, ask yourself what you want in terms of
what you are trying to accomplish. You must be specific. It may be, “I want to develop ESP.”
Then you must ask yourself, “What does that mean to me? What is it? What am I going to do
with it? What do I want it for?” Answering these questions for yourself will help to bring about
clarity of thought. Secondly, and more importantly, ask yourself what you want out of life itself.

This will make you more aware of the three forces within your soul that affect you. First you
have the conscious desires of this lifetime. Secondly, you have karma from the past. Using
modern terms, these are subconscious proclivities or energies. Thirdly, there are the desires of the
people around you. What are they desiring? This will affect you. If you have four brothers and
five sisters who feel you should be a nun, whether you know it or not, those psychic vibrations
will drive you to the point where you feel if you don’t become a nun you are not a good person.

So you have your conscious forces or desires driving you, you have your subconscious energies
driving you toward things, and finally you have the desires of those around you affecting you.
You should understand these three, for the problem lies in the fact that rarely do they all come
together—rarely do they all agree with one another.

Let me give you an example of when these three do blend together: This lifetime you want to
become a priest, in your last lifetime you wanted to become a priest and did so, and now your
mother and father want you to become a priest.

If you have these three coming together, there will be a one-pointedness in your life. However,
most of us are splintered into three beings with three levels of energies, and thus we do not have
a clear conception about our lives. We are lacking the law of clarity, an important factor in
developing ESP.
You must begin your true occult development by reflection. For one full day, close the door, turn
off the telephone, and be by yourself. Keep the radio, the phonograph, and the television off. Do
not read ... just exist. Simply reflect on the following questions: What am I feeling? What do I
consciously want? What do I really want, consciously? What do I feel I want? What are my
desires?

You can even look back to your past, over the last five, ten, fifteen, or twenty years, and reflect
on what you have desired, what you have done, and where your energies have been poured.
These insights will give you a clear feeling awareness, both consciously and subconsciously.

Then you should reflect: What does your mother want to be? What does your father want to be?
What does your brother want to be? What does your teacher want to be? What do they want you
to be? Remember, these desires have been deeply imprinted upon your nature. This reflection
will help you gain clarity in your life.

According to western tradition, a human being is made of a body and soul, the soul having been
put into the body. This theory is very simplistic and just isn’t true. You are composed of almost
an infinite number of bodies. In yoga and in the occultism of the orient these bodies are called
mayakoshas, or transitory sheaths. Of these, five are most vital: the physical sheath, the mind
sheath, the knowledge sheath, the energy sheath, and the bliss sheath. Each of these sheaths has a
memory tract of its own and a built-in mechanism for self-survival; thus each sheath may be in
conflict with the others.

Basically, we need to create a balanced union of these bodies. This relates to the law of clarity.
What do you want? Make sure that each level of your being is going in the same direction, that
the mind energies are not scattered. However, also be sure that what you really want is not
something another part of your being wants. Be sure it is not something your body wants or
something your mind wants. You must be in control.

One might ask, “What do you want?”

He may say, “A hot fudge sundae.”

But he doesn’t want it, his physical body does!

“What do you want?”

“I want a beautiful woman.”

He doesn’t want it, his mind does!

In this respect, most of us are all over the place. The sheaths are not balanced. You need clarity in
the conception of what you really want.
2. The Law of Absorption

First of all, the law of absorption is the law of being fed. The secret of this law is that a vibration
must be fed. Whatever you feed will live, grow and affect you.

For example, a physician in Indiana was once told he could help a greater number of people by
being a politician, and would certainly make a good politician at that. This one thought burnt into
his mind year after year and for decades was subconsciously being fed. All of a sudden, he gave
us his medical profession and became a governor. The thought finally affected him.

That which you feed will grow and affect you. If developing ESP is what you are trying to do, it
must be fed. You must pour mind energies into its development by practicing the techniques that
will be given.

The world is surrounded by vibrations. Clarity is important and is the thing that will enable you
to feed a vibration. When you feed a vibration, that vibration controls your life. Some vibrations
will be absorbed into your mind-body, either consciously or unconsciously. Thus, if you do not
have a clear conception of your life, and if you do not follow the law of clarity, your
subconscious mind will take over and feed your strongest desire—either from the past, or from
the strongest person in your life (e.g., mother, father, brother, priest, rabbi).

Whether you know it or not, in the variety of vibrations, there are truly on three vibration that we
automatically begin to feed:

 that which gives us power,

 that which gives us pleasure,
 that which gives us knowledge.

In the law of absorption, you need to clearly understand which of these vibrations you are
attuning to.

The law of clarity and the law of absorption are consistent in that you must consciously feed a
vibration. As a matter of fact, it is almost impossible to establish a vibration of non-feeding.
Even the thought, “I will feed no thought ... I will feed no thought ... I will feed no thought,” is
feeding something. By nature existence is assertive, the mind active. There is always a push
toward something. Something is being fed, even if it is a feeding of “shanti, shanti, shanti,” or
“shalom, shalom, shalom,” or something of this nature.

Thoughts such as “I can’t ... It can’t be done ... They can’t do it ... Nobody can do it ... It’s
impossible” are all negative types of thinking. I call these types of thoughts destructive thinking.
You must begin watching your thoughts. Strong psychic development necessitates constructive
thinking—taking hold of the positive and feeding that positivity. It also necessitates that you feed
the clarity of your conception of what you want and what you have a right to. This is extremely
important.
3. The Law of Pre-abstract Thinking

The third law is to develop and motivate your mind-body complex by pre-abstract thinking,
rather than by desire. If you are going to exercise psychic control over your life and be a genuine
help to others, you need to stop being controlled by your desires and past-life proclivities.
Instead, you must learn to do what needs to be done by free will rather than compulsion. Desire
is a powerful emotion, and we are lost in the grip of our desires, like a person swept up in the eye
of a tornado. Lost in the ocean of emotion, we have relinquished the conscious direction of our
lives to subconscious desires.

Often when someone begins studying yoga and they are told they should let go of all their
desires, they become fearful. If you ask them why, they will say, “I’m afraid if I give up my
desires I’ll become like a zombie. If I get rid of my emotions, I’ll walk around dead.”

This is not true! Emotions are one thing, however, inspiration, aspiration, and feeling are
something entirely different. You have to begin leading your life not by what you desire or by
what your stomach or anatomy wants, but rather by pre-abstract concepts. You must begin
leading your life by understanding the nature of your mind-body complex and what is
realistically healthy and unhealthy for it. Learn to lead your life by what you will, not by what
you desire. This is the greatest protective mechanism you can have against yourself.

The Crest Jewel Lies Hidden Within

by Sri Goswami Kriyananda from Advanced
Guide to Meditation

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I would like to relate a story that has great symbolic meaning and to recommend that you
practice the technique suggested in the story.

Once upon a yogi time, there was a powerful king. He was exceedingly wealthy and successful.
One day he thought, “Because my life has been so full, I should make a pilgrimage.” Normally
his servants carried him on a palanquin, but on this pilgrimage he was determined to walk. Also,
he decided to fast and abstain from water.

On the day he began his pilgrimage, it was 100 degrees in the shade. Because he was not
accustomed to walking and fasting, he became quite hot in a short time. He kept thinking, “I
would really like some water. But if I ask for water, my servants will not admire me.” So he
continued walking. At high noon, he came to a bend in the road and saw a pond of water. This
was too much! He could not contain himself! He was so thirsty he did not ask his servants for
water but immediately ran to the pond and scooped up water with his palms. In his rush to do
this, the crest jewel was ripped from his turban and fell into the pond.

Crest jewels are giant-size jewels, the most perfect of gems. They have immense value. Thus, the
king immediately screamed to one of his servants, “I have lost my crest jewel! Come find it!” A
servant jumped into the water and started looking for it. The king screamed again and another
servant jumped into the pond. When these two servants could not find his precious crest jewel,
other servants jumped into the pond to search for the king’s treasure. The king sat down and
lamented, “My crest jewel, my most valuable possession. I’ve lost it!”

Then, out of the corner of his eye, the king saw a little yogi walking down the road toward him.
The king thought, “This yogi will help me.” He called to the yogi, and the yogi came over and
asked, “Your majesty, how might I serve you?”

The king replied, “I’ve lost my crest jewel!”

“Oh, that’s nothing. I can find it for you.”

“Will you?”

“Yes. It’s no problem.”

The king thought that the yogi had given him the power to find his jewel. Therefore, the king
jumped up and started to run toward the water. But as the king stood up, the yogi requested,
“Please sit down, your majesty.” Thus, the king sat down.

The yogi continued, “The first thing you must do is order your servants to get out of the water.”

“No,” the king said, “Let them continue looking for the crest jewel, while you help me find it.”

“No, no, get them out of the water! That is a requirement.”

“No, no!” responded the king.

“Goodbye, your majesty. I can’t help you if you will not listen to me,” said the yogi as he stood
up and started walking away.

The king pleaded, “Please sit back down and help me!” In desperation, the king decided to
remove all of his servants from the pond. At this point, the yogi pulled out a little book from his
pouch. At first the king became very excited thinking that it was a book of charms for finding
lost objects. But then the king saw it was the Gita, and he asked, “Are you going to read some
magic chants?”

“No,” said the yogi. Hearing this, the king ordered his servants back into the water.

Again, the yogi said, “If they go in the water, I leave!” Thus, the king ordered his servants to sit
back down and he sat there in desperation. As the yogi read the Gita aloud for a while, the king
became very interested, exclaiming, “That is really fascinating.” After some time, the yogi put
the Gita away and said; “Now the crest jewel can be found.”

Surprised with the way the yogi abruptly stopped reading, the king ask, “Aren’t you going to
read more?”

“No. The crest jewel awaits,” replied the yogi. They both stood up and walked toward the pond.
Because the yogi had been reading for quite some time, the mud in the water, which had been
stirred up by the servants looking for the crest jewel, had had time to settle. The water was now
clear, and as the yogi looked into the calm pond he could see the fish swimming around. He
could also see the footprints the servants had made. And in the clear still water he could see a
little round hump of mud.

The yogi said to the king, “Look! You can see all that is in the water. You can even see the
contour of the bottom of the pond. And from the mirrored surface of the pond, you can even see
the sun above.” He then reached into the water and pulled the hump of mud out of the water. It
was the king’s most precious treasure, his crest jewel.

This simple story, like all yoga stories, is didactic. It illustrates, symbolically, that the mind is a
pond and that the crest jewel is our self-awareness that we lost. In the thrust to quell our thirst,
our desires, we have lost our most precious treasure! Thus, we immediately throw our servants,
our thoughts, our emotions, and our will power – into the pond to find it. These servants activate
and disturb the mind. Then we throw in more thoughts and more emotions arise, which only
muddy the water more.

I am not saying, “Don’t think” or “Don’t study.” I am saying that if you wish to find your crest
jewel, your self-awareness, you must be able to remove all the thoughts and emotions that
muddy up the waters of your mind. Give the waters of emotion time to settle. In time, you will be
able to see not only into the pond, but from its mirror-like surface, you will also be able to see
what exists above the pond, even if you are looking down.

The Zen monks relate the wisdom of this story in their own fashion when they say, “Sitting
quietly, doing nothing, spring comes!”
We need to slow down so that we can become attuned to nature, which moves at a much slower
pace. We need to allow nature to quiet us. When we permit this to happen, our perceptions of
everything become clearer on all levels. We have clarity instead of confusion.

Yogis and mystics have always said that education is a powerful tool and that you should avail
yourself of as much education as possible. However, formal education is often a matter of
memorizing data, and though data certainly is valuable, we must all learn to think. Think! It is
one of the greatest abilities we possess. Think, but do not emote! Use your mind, but cultivate
the ability to turn off your “emotional button” and to keep it off. You should be able to quiet your
mind at will so that you can enter into the outer fringes of Samadhi and thus expand your horizon
of awareness and resolve any problems that arise in life.

Quieting the mind is a prerequisite technique to advanced meditation.

The Basic Laws of Karma

by Sri Goswami Kriyananda from The Laws
of Karma

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If you can laugh, that laughter produces attitudinal karma that will give birth to many other seeds
of joy, and thus soften other karma. If you anguish, this anguish is a karmic condition that can
release not just tears, but many seeds of pain.

Each person needs to understand which conditions will release the positive karma seeds and
which conditions release negative karma seeds.

Do that which releases positive karma. Do not do that which brings about the release of negative
karma.
Life is all about being happy. But what is happiness? It’s balancing your self-awareness. It’s
turning back toward yourself, and away from the creations in which you are enmeshed.

Yoganandaji once said to a disciple, who was having a great deal of trouble with his spiritual life,
“You are having the same problem you had in your last lifetime.”

The disciple said, “Huh?”

Yoganandaji continued, “Yes. I knew you well. What you are doing now is what you were doing
then. You were sitting in a tavern and someone bumped into you. You thought nothing about it.

“However, the people there said, ‘You’re not going to let that guy get away with pushing you
around, are you?’

“Then a woman at the table remarked, ‘you’re not much of a man if you let someone push you
around and do nothing about it.’ This went on and on until you finally felt compelled to stand up
and fight. At last you and he were standing face to face, reaching for your guns. You were killed.

“You see,” Yogananda continued, “when people allow themselves to be pressured, they lose their
own free will. The goal of life is a movement toward freedom and liberation. If you and he could
only remember, ‘This is ridiculous,’ and back off, you would continue life. However, one feels
that backing off means the opponent has won. This offends the ego and so you fight to win. You
must realize that you win when you do not allow your ego to kill your own body. You win
because you have not allowed conditions to manifest that draw you into a force field from the
past. Let us do everything because of our own free will, not because of hardened habits of the
past.”

A man wrote to me last year who is spending 20 years in a prison. When he was 22, he was
driving in a truck with several other kids. They thought it would be fun to throw a brick through
a large glass window. Hearing this idea, he got out of the truck to leave the group, but someone
called him a chicken! So he got back into the truck. Then they drove around the corner and threw
the brick through a window. The lights in the building went out. There was a lightning flash and
something exploded. They all got excited and stepped on the gas and sped away around the
corner, only to see that in the middle of the street was a woman with a baby. The driver of that
truck is serving time for manslaughter. The other kids were not charged. Interesting, is it not? He
had gotten out of the truck! All he had to do was to keep walking and his life would have been
completely different. It was that one second when the pressure struck him (the karma attitude of
the past). That one event triggered the gunpowder, like a match to dynamite.

Our purpose in life is to bring ourselves back into balance, happiness and abundance, while
getting rid of negative karma. Most often the change in attitude will bring a change in karma.
Most often a change in karma will bring a change in attitude. Attitude often causes karma to
manifest. What is a good attitude one moment is a dangerous attitude the next moment. Look at
many love relationships. At one moment a woman is thinking, “Wow! I’m married, whoopee!”
And three years later (if not three months), she is saying, “My God, how did I get in this mess?
I’ve got to get out of this.” Most often, it is our attitude that causes the feeling of confinement or
joy.

The Right View

by Sri Goswami Kriyananda from
Intermediate Guide to Meditation

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In case you don’t know it all civilizations are insane. Anytime you get two or more people
together, insanity sprouts up. It is your responsibility to strengthen your family, assisting them to
become saner. It’s your responsibility to strengthen your civilization and make it saner. How do
you make these saner? There is only one way: by entering into your meditation and becoming
saner yourself. How do you become saner? By meditation and meditation alone; because
meditation allows you to know your enemy, your destructive desires. They are destructive and
dangerous because they keep you limited to your old patterns. Convert these desires into a desire
for wisdom, or peace and tranquility.

It is not wise to keep digging into the past. The emphasis should not be on what you were in a
past life; nor what your mother and father did or did not do. The yoga tradition, also, says don’t
worry about tomorrow. An ancient poem says:

Yesterday is only a memory, and

Tomorrow is only a dream.

Today is the reality.

Take this moment of time, this eternal now, by learning to overcome your emotional imbalances
and insanities, by reducing your extreme reactions to events and things. Do this and you will
learn the three Secrets of Life.

 What needs to be done.

 How to do it.
 When to do it.

Of these, timing is the key factor. Most people have an idea of what and how but need to master
the art of when. Like a successful actor or businessman, it is not just what is known. Most of all,
timing has to be mastered. Each person has a given timing pattern, and internal rhythm. The
intuitive realization as to when something should be done needs to be developed, and ultimately
mastered by everyone.

There is a pervasive misunderstanding that, when corrected, dramatically improves one’s life.
Confucius, the Chinese sage, said it best, “Don’t do unto others that which you would not have
them to do unto you.” Through some historical distortion we have dropped the “not” saying, “Do
unto others ... “ But this mis-application of the primal Golden Rule has created great upheaval. A
perfect example comes from my life. As a very young child, it seemed that people disliked me. It
was just after their birthday that the dislike was the strongest. One day the realization dawned
upon me. They were aggravated with me because on their birthday I followed the Golden Rule
and gave them a book (doing unto them what I wanted them to do to me). But, they hated books
on philosophy and theology. Have I made my point? Don’t do unto them, as you would have
them do unto you. This involves an assumption that they are like you, and that you are like them.
In fact, they are unique. Relinquish the self-centered tendency, purify the distortion of the
Golden Rule and do unto others as they would like you to do unto them.

Use meditation as a psychotherapy to forgive and forget the person who hurt you, while
redoubling your effort not to hurt anyone. At sometime in your life, you will evolve to the
realization that the person who hurt you really was in serious trouble (emotionally), and that they
did the very best that they could, under the circumstances. Can you do better toward them? When
this awareness comes, it carries the realization that you, yourself, have hurt many more people
than you intended. With this realization, compassion manifests.

Meditation is a technique for gaining the Right View, the correct attitude toward life and people.
All life is meditation. Every child, every animal has the meditation state. However, as we grow
up, and become cultured, we oft-times become hard, harsh, and lose that original viewpoint. We
replace the expanded meditational viewpoint with a cold, suspicious attitude.

Have you ever watched a woman going into the business world and then see her seven years
later? Many become hard as nails, just like most businessmen. It takes a very special soul to go
into the business world and not become hard. The same is true as we walk through life. The
secret is in keeping the Right View. Life is about being happy. Happiness cannot be obtained
without wisdom. Wisdom is not some abstract concept. Wisdom is a lifestyle. This non-dual
action is called Kriya.
Either one lives the wisdom lifestyle or one lives to perpetuate ignorance. There is no middle
ground. One always has karma from the past. Regardless of this, choose wisdom. Live the
meditative life.