Philosophy of Soul and Matter

Author(s): Chitrabhanu, Clare Rosenfield
Publisher: Jain Meditation International Center
Catalog link: https://jainqq.org/explore/006979/1

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THE PHILOSOPHY OF SOUL AND MATTER
GURUDEV CHITRABHANU

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THE PHILOSOPHY
OF SOULAND MATTER
by
GURUDEV SHREE CHITRABHANU
Edőed by "LARE ROSENFIELD
JAIN MEDITATION INTERNATIONAL CENTER 401, East 86th Street, NEW YORK, N.Y. 10028
TEL:(212) 534 60 90 / 362 64 83

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© Author 1997 Edition First, 1977 Edition Second, 1979 Edition Third, 1991
Price Rs. 45.00 By the same Author: Lotus Bloom Fountain of. Inspiration To the Citizens of Tomorrow Inspiring Anecdotes Bondage and Freedom The Beacon Jain Master Speaks to One World Ten Days Journey into the Self Sense Beyond the Senses Realize What You Are The Psychology of Enlightenment Twelve Facets of Reality
PRINTED IN INDIA
Published by Dhanjibhai P. Shah Navbharat Sahitya Mandir 134, Princess St. Bombay - 400 002. Opp. Patasha Pole, Gandhi Road, Ahmedabad - 380001 (India).

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Introduction
Preface
Chapter One
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter Five
Knowing Sentient from Insentient Energy
Distinguishing 'I' from 'Not I'..
Chapter Two
Chapter Three Realizing what you are
Chapter Four
Recognizing your Part in the Law of Karma
Transforming your Vibrations...
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9
57
78
Jal

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THE IMMORTAL SONG
May the sacred stream of amity flow forever in my heart,
May the universe prosper, such is my cherished desire;
May my heart sing with ecstasy at the sight of the virtuous,
And
I may my life be an offering at their feet.
May my heart bleed at the sight of the wretched,
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the cruel, and the
poor,
And may tears of compassion flow from my
eyes;
May I always be there to show the path to the pathless wanderers of life,
"
Yet if they should not hearken to me, may I bide patiently,
May the spirit of goodwill enter into all our hearts, May we all sing together the immortal song of brotherhood,
The immortal song of sisterhood,
The immortal song of brotherhood....
Y
-Chitrabhanu

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INTRODUCTION
Once Gurudev. Shree Chitrabhanuji was asked: "What would you want if you could be granted one and only one thing?" "Right vision,” was his response.
To perceive and experience reality as it is, this is the vision which Gurudev has been deepening and expanding since he took the vows of a Jain monk at the age of 20. His first five years of monastic life were spent mostly, in silence, training himself through study and meditation to look within for the answers to his quest for enlightened awareness.
During the next twenty-four years he communicated through talks, writings, and the example of his saintly life the vision which emerged from his own experience: the vision of a world united in loving reverence. Reverence for what? For that living energy animating all living beings.
yai

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Moving in that awareness, he was able to help people of all faiths and cultures free themselves from mental, psychological, and social boundary lines and plunge into the reality of their innermost being. After becoming one of the spiritual leaders of the Jains in India, he founded the Divine Knowledge Society and other social welfare and emergency relief organizations. “Salvation,” according to Gurudev, “comes when you forget about your own salvation and put yourself in the place of all living beings.”
Incapable of being limited by name or fame, by precedent or label, he was willing to be the first monk to break the ancient rules prohibiting travel by vehicle in order to accept the invitation of the Temple of Understanding to address the Second and Third Spiritual Summit Conferences, at Geneva in 1970, and at Harvard Divinity School in 1971. Subsequently, he accepted lecturing tours in Europe and Africa, and eventually he accepted many invitations to teach in America.
In 1971, Gurudev gave up the monastic life along with his position of authority in order to be free to live and carry his universal message to the larger family of humankind. viii

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In America, he worked closely with the Temple of Understanding, and other globalminded organizations and lectured at many institutions of learning and human development such as Princeton, Sarah Lawrence,, Cornell, Koinonia Foundation, Pendle Hill, Wainwright House and others. At present, he is spiritual advisor to the Jain Meditation International Center in New York City as well as to other meditation centers in America, Brazil, and India.
The Philosophy of Soul and Matter is a series of five talks given by Gurudev to students at the Jain Meditation International Center in New York. Its overall aim is to clarify the nature of soul and the nature of matter so that you can discriminate between these two and turn your knowledge into direct experience.
:
Each talk is a whole unto itself. At the same time, çach reveals a fresh approach to the subject. There is no attempt to present a philosophical treatise. Rather, Gurudev offers you a helping hand. According to the emphasis of each chapter, you discover clues as to who you are and who you are not. You realize the power of your soul to winnow out negative elements from inind. You come to understand your part in the law of karma and vibrations.

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In this way, these talks are awakenings-to help you lift the veils which hang between mind and soul and to guide you into a direct vision of the permanent and purposeful in life.

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PREFACE
Colle
Once when I was sitting at the feet of Gurudev Shree Chitrabhanuji, experiencing the vibrant and soothing quality of his presence as it filled my being with joy, I heard him speak of the importance of remaining in the company of positive healthy vibrations. Confused, as to the real meaning of the word "vibrations," which I had heard bandied about in everyday conversations, I asked him if he would mind explaining it.
He gave in response the following analogy, an experiment which had actually been carried out. Two itars tuned at the same frequency are placed opposite ne another. A piece of paper is placed upon one of he strings of one of the instruments. One by one, the trings of the opposite sitar are played. When the ring which is exactly opposite the string bearing the aper is played, the piece of paper of its counterpart ances right off. "So," I thought to myself, “It is a
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response. It works like an echo. One side calls out and the other side answers."
Not until I went on a three-week pilgrimage to sacred Jain places of meditation in India with Gurudev and seventeen fellow students in November of 1975 did I fully grasp the meaning behind the analogy. There in the radiant Delwara Temples at Mt. Abu in Rajasthan and in the cluster of more than eight hundred snowy white shrines and temples of Palitana atop Mt. Shatrunjaya in Gujarat, I met face to face the deep peace and beauty-wordless and indescribable--- of pure vibrations.
Were they emanating from the finely wrought white marble statues, columns, ceilings, and walls of the temples or from the living rocks of the steep mountainsides? Were they silent songs of ecstasy still being sung by the ancient sculptors, patrons, and devotees responsible for these great undertakings? Were they outpourings from the sparkling eyes and melting hearts of the people meditating there or were they my own soul's invocations? I do not know.
All I can say is that the vibrations had such a smooth and harmonious flow, such an inviting, even beckoning power that it was impossible to distinguish between
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initiator and response, between outer and inner, between I and Thou. It was a merging of this tiny drop of soul into an ocean of vastness. It was an opening of this small self to receive the purest of the pure.
It felt as if all the millions of people who for hundreds of centuries had been drawn there to meditate had left invisible heartprints of their beautiful feelings and experiences in self-purification. Deep compassion streamed out from the eyes of the images of the prophets of Jainism, reminding us of those Perfect Souls who had triumphed over their inner enemies. Their vibrations inspired and healed me and recalled to me the compassionate eyes of my living Master, Shree Chitrabhanuji.
The series of talks which are compiled in this book and which were delivered in springtime 1976 clarified in so many ways the experiences just related. I now realize that those vibrations which elicited in me such an intense response are none other than what Gurudev means when he speaks of sentient energy. The animating force behind all living forms, that indestructible energy exists at the heart of each one of us.
Gurudev's deep message in this book is to open each
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of us to our intrinsic nature so that we may experience the releasing sense of bliss and all-pervading peace which is our “birthright” as human beings. In the company of those vibrations which harmonize with our own, we can uncover our unique qualities and gifts and discover our mission in life-that which is conducive to our spiritual growth and to the upliftment of our fellow living beings.
If such glimpses of soul into itself can be attained once or twice, why do we pot experience this height of consciousness and inner ecstasy all the time. In this lecture series, Gurudev explains that the overlay of karmas or minute particles of matter obscure our clear vision and weigh us down like a mud-filled goud. He elucidates the ways in.which we invite karmic matter from the universe to adhere to our soul or self and block its inherent radiance. It occurs in our moments of greed, anger, pride, or deceitfulness when we create a process of negative vibration.
Unlike pure vibration which is neither negative nor positive, passion-inspired vibration is a state of imbalance, swaying us either to the pole of attraction or repulsion.
Once we wake up to the power of our own

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sentient energy to be master of our own destiny and conqueror of all mental weaknesses, we will experience genuine free will and move toward the true nature of our being.
Thanks to all the living masters of the past and present, from all the various religious traditions, known and unknown, and to Gurudev Shree Chitrabhanuji to whom I bow in loving reverence, there is great hope for mankind. Inspired and emboldened by their example, energized by contact with their universal vibrations, soul emerges naturally like a flower and lifts its face towards the radiant sun.
May this book help you to realize what you are and to become one with your deepest quest. May your life pulsate and vibrate with the living echo of pure universal energy.
Hartsdale New York
Namaste to all
I bow to the light in all,
Brahmi
(Clare Rosenfield)
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CHAPTER ONE
KNOWING SENTIENT FROM INSENTIENT
ENERGY
The world is a house of animate and inanimate, of conscious and unconscious. To survive, a partnership between the two is essential. A touch of the animate infuses with life all that which is inanimate. What is it that allows mind to think, ears to hear, eyes to see, nose to smell, tongue to taste, and body to feel? It is Consciousness. Otherwise, our brain and five senses would be unaware, lifeless, unable to function.
Something is radiating behind all forms. What can we call that invisible life-giving element? In Sanskrit language, it is known as atina. In English, it has been called soul; spirit, self, the divine. Truly speaking, none of these words carries the full import of atma. When one hears these words, one must get a sense of vibrant living energy. That is why, in this series of talks, I often prefer to use the phrase sentient energy to bring out the inherent dynamism behind the words atma, soul, spirit, or self.

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Let us clarify the word sentient. Ordinarily, it means one who has the power to perceive by means of the senses; it is also defined as the conscious mind. The meaning I aim to convey is inclusive yet greater than any of the above definitions. Sentient citergy is that in each one of us which is conscious awareness itself. It is our immortal essence, incapable of cither stagnation or physical harm, for it is not a material substance. We may call it life, indweller, the one we are from beginningless time. We must know it and make friends with it. .
That is one of the purposes of this series of talks. To know and experience atma as our nearest and dearest one, this is the beautiful, awareness which must dawn on human consciousness. When we learn to differentiate between soul and matter, we will come into the experience of our conscious reality. In the words of the ancient seers:
“No weapon can cut it Nor any fire burn it No water can make it wet Nor any wind dry it... It is atma, immortal.”

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Now we will investigate the two entirely different and unique energies working in this universe, the one conscious, the other unconscious. In this philosophy, the smallest indivisible form of matter is called atont. Atom ‘means the essential structure of the material world. When atoms come together, they form molecules. When molecules group together, they construct the myriad of bodily forms found in the material universe.
Atom is an energy, an insentient or unconscious energy. Its nature is this: that molecules compose and decompose. They are in a perpetual state of Aux. They are continually alternating between motion and rest, like the pendulum of a clock. As such, they bump up against one another, thereby creating an impact or a vibration. .
Unlike atom, the nature of atma or sentient energy is to be conscious. It has, infuite creative power. Its power is this: to change the arrangement of the material world of atoms. Together atma and atom make up the structure of the whole universe.
When we understand the two polarities, the East exploring the secret of atmia and the West exploring the secret of atom, our knowledge becomes complete.

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If we see only one polarity, our vision tends to become myopic. Those who see nothing beyond atom strive only for material achievement and end up where they began-in the process of construction and destruction of molecules. Seeing man as a machine, they risk their own annihilation. At the same time, those who neglect the study of atom for an exclusive interest in atma risk becoming engulfed by poverty, indifferent towards progress, and callous towards suffering living beings.
To live we need both, food for the body and nourishment for the soul. We need balance. We need to sit at the center of ourselves and observe both atma and atom. Watching ourselves with the eye of wisdom, we will see that we are neither biased nor pious, but open and moving-towards the enlargement of heart and the enlightenment of
consciousness.
How can we experience that balance: By shedding the spiritual light of atma on atom. By becoming aware through meditation of both the center and the circumference. By differentiating between sentient and insentient. Balanced, our movement will be characterized by purposeful direction (pragati) and not by a vicious circle (gati). In this way, our sentient
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•
energy will be moving towards ultimate complete awareness of itself.
By expanding our understanding of the relationship between atura and atom, by being in tune through meditation with the permanent qualities of our self, we can be of service to ourselves and to the entire family of man and all living beings. The expression of our meditative balance in everyday life will come according to our individual nature-to be actively calm or calmly active.
How can we know the difference between sentient and insentient energy? How can we know the relationship between these two? To begin to understand these questions, the real seeker discovers right away that intellectual analysis and logic will not help him. He is aware that the mind is a fine form of matter and cannot see beyond its own self. Mind always dissects and finalizes on a material level.
What the seeker wants is to go beyond that which is tangible or visible. He sees that the world of mind is primarily a business of words and arguments, of discussions and quotations. He observes how mind
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becomes deluded by words and how it fools itself by presuming, “I am getting an insight into something higher.” But instead of gaining insight, it is creating categories. Mind likes to give labels to those who do not agree or believe. It uses names such as 'atheist' or ‘pagan' because of its habitual tendency to react and create a form. Mind, which clings to formis, looks upon anyone who goes out of the form or the norm as its foe.
This is how religious people who claim to love harmony bring instead disharmony. This is why wars are still fought in the name of God or land or ideology. Always the world of forins creates some kind of friction; one sees there the collision of minds... .
Even the psychic experience is a creation of mind. Though it may be called a spiritual experience and though it may appear in a subtle form, still it is an interplay of matter. It is in the kingdom of mind. Mind is still governing, operating, and controlling.
When mind-words, logic, scriptures, arguments, forms—is allowed to rule your life, you do not set yourself free to see and feel the beauty and serenity of that which is beyond mind. The real beauty starts when you begin to get in touch with that. The genuine seeker's journey begins here. '.

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So those who want to go beyond mind take a higher step. Instead of entering into argument, they turn inward. It is not introversion; it is introspection. It is a purifying. You notice what is taking place in your thoughts, in your feelings, in your fancies. Gradually you observe your relationships--to yourself, to your thoughts, desires, and attachments, to other people and other living beings.
When you go on watching, something happens: the light of awareness increases and 110 dark element is accumulated: As soon as you notice a negative element—a spark of anger, a flicker of jealousy, a heaviness of greed, a puffing up of ego, a wave of deceitfulness-immediately the light illumines it, and you praktikram-go back and wait until the darkness evaporates. Then you move forward again.
Eventually with vigilance and continued practise of this introspection, a fresh awareness dawns upon you: that now mind is not operating, governing, or controlling. Mind is operated, governed, and controlled. By whom? By sentient energy, by atma, by soul, by that which has the living force of life, a deep awareness of innate qualities.

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The two kinds of energy, sentient and insentient, are characterized in specific ways. Sentient has the innate quality of conscious awareness. Though consciousness itself may not be seen, wherever it exists, in all living forms of matter, you see growth. Even a tiny plant inhales and exhales, absorbs food and gives off waste, grows and decays. Sentient energy is the cause of this process. A plant which is not watered and cared for will wither. If you feel compassion for it and water it again, see how it smiles! See the response!
Watch a newborn leaf attached to its mother tree. As it grows, it changes in size, texture, and color. Sometimes it starts out with pinkish veins, which mature into a inellow green; it gives off a fresh smell. Connected to the tree, it is full of the sap of life. Once it drops from the tree, it becomes dry. Its conscious indweller has departed and only insentient matter remains.
This sentient energy in plants or animals may not appear to be as evolved as ours. It may seem to be inerely a dim version of what we manifest, but it is consciousness. If plants or animals did not have consciousness, they would not move or grow. The procedure of the life cycle is the same in all. When

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that sentient in us departs from this body, the body becomes an empty shell, dry inanimate matter.
Consciousness is the main criterion of all sentient energy which is known as atma. Where we don't see consciousness, that is called insentient matter, or pudgala, that which fills up (pud) and empties (gala). It is existing, not living. For example, the outer forms of earth, water, fire, and air are like shells; they are insentient substances. Their atoms do not manifest awareness, but they have certain properties such as color, form, taste, odor, and tangibility.
The vibrations of insentient are ineasurable, belonging to a mathematically precise material world. They range from coarse to fine, of which the coarse can be observed, detected, or felt by the senses, while the fine are hard to detect. For example, billions of atoms and molecules are moving unseen in the air. Though they do not obscure our vision, they fill a whole atmosphere. Some of them, such as amoeba, bacteria, and viruses, actually have consciousness, while others, whose atoms are absolutely dry, do not.
At times, insentient vibrations have so much power that they may cover, influence, or change the level of a: person's mental state. Alcohol, marijuana,

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opium, and other drugs are powerful forms of such inanimate energy. Once such an energy is allowed to penetrate the body, it starts working on the system and dominating the mind. Once it has gone so far as to burn the brain cells, it is almost impossible for atma to reassert itself and effect a positive change.
Assert itself it must, however, for the vibrations of sentient are not meant to remain dominated, influenced, and encased by.matter. · In the company of ignorance, greed, anger, or other impure matterdominated states, sentient vibrates at a low frequency, limited by a distorted mind. Therein lies our work-- to refine the mind, to prepare it to be an accurate reflector and transmitter of the brilliant light of human consciousness. That is the active role of atnia while it is in this body.
"Through gradual exposure to right knowledge, through the consistent practice of meditation, atna prevails. It can change, bend, melt, evaporatė, or burn away the impure vibrations which condition negative mental states. Negativity is replaced by positivity, and eventually, the vibrations of sentient, which are immaterial and therefore immeasurable, claim their innate capacity to extend outward infinitely, embracing the entire universe of life.

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Once the vibrations of atma are purified to this highest degrée, they are, really speaking, radiations of pure energy. The human mind is merely a tiny portion of this mighty power. Just as the sun gives off rays of warm light and nourishes the universe, so purified atma radiates from its equanimous center beams of universal love and nourishes life with peace and bliss.
In addition to matter which is tangible, there are four other classifications of insentient energy which are intangible. They are abstract principles: movement, rest, space, and time..
Both soul and matter function in this universe relative to these four. The law of motion and rest gives rise to an alternating process, serving the function of balance in the material world. With only : motion, there would be no gravitational pull, and with only rest, nothing would move. Both principles are merely auxiliary causes to the actual movement and rest of soul and matter. What actually initiates the process is the impact created and received by particles, perpetually alternating between movement and rest: They are perpetually striking each other and setting off a chain reaction, like the chimes of

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China. The result of this impact is reflected in the continuous recycling of nature's elements, in the process of molecules joining together and separating from one another ad infinitum.
Whereas the insentient process has no aim to its movement other than the integration and disintegration of molecules, sentient has a direction. Soul energy wants to sprout upward like a flame until it has reached its destination. When sentient moves, it takes the direction of its life's quest—to uncover its reality, to live in a state of complete knowledge, to reveal its blissful loving nature. Its upward movement comes to rest only when it attains its highest peak, its point of fruition and perfection. For that it has to complete its mission, fulfill its commitments to the world of living beings, and smoothe all the rough edges of heart.
According to this ancient philosophy, space is that which gives space to all substances, allowing them to move and evolve and live according to their own nature. It applies to the internal space as well as to the external world. In meditation, you become aware of your inner space, your inner life. You touch it when you touch your breath. Inwardly you feel the peace which comes with the increasing of spacious space. You feel your entire body to be filled with this
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feeling. Naturally you allow yourself to transcend the awareness of bodily boundaries and to create expansive space all around you. You drop the walls, barriers, forms and feel yourself merging with all life. You feel the living connection between you and all living beings.
In your awareness, the clutter is cleared away. No thing remains to fight for; there is no tug of war between opposing viewpoints. You merge and blend with all in infinite space. This is the experience which the philosophy is leading you to-to feel oneness. This is the experience of individuality-as indivisible and indestructible, merged in the bliss of having opened your space to universal space, of having opened your life to the life in all.
When you go on this transcendent level, you are not measuring or noticing time, and you are not feeling the bounds of body. The function and power of these two are no longer controlling you. Just as to the sun, there is no such thing as darkness, so to you, living in your pure nature, there is no limitation of any kind. You are experiencing your immortal essence. Only on the worldly existence level, relative to the process of composition and decomposition of molecules, does time exist as a sequence. Time is

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relative, relative to your naya, viewpoint, or level of perception. When you are engaged in something you love to do, time seems very short or nonexistent, and when you are doing something you do not like, time seems to drag. So you have to know from which level you are viewing life and then there is no quarrel as to whether time does or does not exist.
Through becoming aware of these five categories of insentient energy-matter, motion, rest, space, and time, you come to realize that only the indweller is conscious, using these five to further its spiritual evolution. Knowing this, you will watch carefully the way each process you take in life can help you to break your fetters and flow in a purposeful direction. You will choose that process or that path which will become conducive to your growth. When it is right, you will have the unmistakable feeling of moving toward your destination. This is the result of directed movement of sentient energy You will not circulate aimlessly in the world, but you will niove with purpose and with a deep sense of your relationship with the universe.
Now insentient and sentient have a very close

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relationship; they live in partnership like husk and grain, flower and fragrance, dross and gold. Sentient energy operates in the universe with the help of insentient. They are moving together from beginningless time, manifesting the whole world.
Even if we know the properties of both, we cânnot understand the partnership unless we go deep into inner experience and see it as the function of relation and union. You can know the property of H2 andi O but still you may not be able to make water. H2 and O must come together to make water. Similarly, when you go into meditation and really touch the center, the heart of consciousness, in that moment you will experience, “It is nothing but sentient energyit is I!”
You will not quote any scriptures, any talks. You will go on gliding until you reach that center which is beyond words. Later you will reflect that “What I was calling me is only a shell. The real bird is inside !" We call ourselves by names, by our outer shells, because we have not seen the "bird” inside. That “bird” cannot be seen unless we go deep.
Once we experience this deep experience, we will understand more clearly the relation between sentient
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and insentient. So long as the eggshell and the bird within it are together, there is partnership. So long as the leaf is on the tree, sentient life is expressed through the living form. When the eggshell is broken, the bird is gone. When the leaf drops from the tree, its life force moves in another direction. Eggshell and dry leaf—both follow the law of disintegration. Its sentient energy moves on with evolution into higher life.
At last we realize, “There is something inside me which is building my whole existence.” It appears as though the brain is doing all the work, but the brain is only a machine. It does not operate without an operator. Behind the brain, behind the mind which acts as a motor, there is the engineer handling the switch. That engineer is conscious energy. When that energy leaves the brain, the brain is seen for what it is—a machine. You can analyze it to find a disease, but you cannot dissect it to find its motive. That cannot be seen in any laboratory because the sentient is formless.
Now let us see how, in partnership with insentient matter, sentient energy creates vibrations which build one's whole existence. The process is this: when the inind is not clear, transparent, purified, it creates
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vibrations. These vibrations are both the result and the cause of mental, emotional, or physical disturbances or negative states. According to the specific state of attraction or repulsion-whether it be anger, pride, deceit, greed, jealousy, sorrow, or attachment, the mind is setting up a disturbance in the atmosphere surrounding it. It is creating negative vibrations. These vibrations in turn automatically collect insentient atoms and molecules from the universe which create a form around soul and cloud its perception.
In the language of the ancient sages of more than five thousand years ago, these insentient particles were called karmas. According to this philosophy, these karmas determine your form, frame, height, skin texture, refinement, birthplace, state of health, and more. By projecting certain states of mind, sentient energy attracts from the universe atoms of form called rup, atoms of taste called rus, atoms of odor called gandh, atoms of touch called sparsha. These atoms are what constitute a person's karmic make-up, from the physical point of view. They account for the fact that no two people are exactly
alike.

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When you know how the vibrations of your emotions are working, you will not blame anybody. You will know that your karmas are attracted to you not because someone else is in control of you, but because of your own passion. Formerly man would blame God or the gods for blessing one and punishing another, as though God were partial. Primitive man would project his inner negative vibrations and fears onto that indiscriminating insentient energy or energies which he called gods.
When you understand how vibrations work in action, reaction, and interaction, and how form is the outcome of your own vibrations joined with vibrations from the universe, you will take your life in your own hands. You will observe how anger attracts anger, how fear invites fear, how greed begets greed. In other words, you will observe how vibrations of one kind attract vibrations of a like nature from the universe.
Once you begin to understand energy, vibrations, and karmas in your own experience, your perception will change and with it, your vibrations. By connecting your own individual form and life pattern with mental and emotional tendencies within yourself, you will become aware of how to change

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your vibrations from negative to positive. You will know what you want to become, and you will determine your future journey.
Vibrations are ever-changing, ever-fluid, the expression of living life. Therein lies your freedom, your great hope. As light passes through a prism, so cnergy penetrates living forms. By remembering to shed the light of atma on atom, you will be able to transforin vibrations of ill will into amity, vibrations of jealqusy into appreciation, vibrations of callousness into compassion, and vibrations of attraction or repulsion into equanimity.
Nourished by the nutrients of beautiful vibrations, the lotus of your consciousness will unfold and lift itself to the height of which it is capable. The closer you come to becoming one with your inner quest, the more balanced and centered you will be. The more umified from within, the more you will radiate outward the awareness and bliss of your true nature..
For Contemplation:
“When you go on watching your thoughts, your desires, your feelings, something happens: the light of aivareness increases and no dark clement is accumulated.”
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“It must dawn upon you that mind is not operating, governing, or controlling. Mind is operated, governed, and controlled. By whom? By sentient energy, by atma, by that which has the living force of life, a deep awareness of innate qualities.”
"The upward movement of soul energy comes to rest only when it attains its highest peak, its point of fruition. and perfection. For that it has to complete its mission, fulfill its commitments' to the world of living beings, and smoothe all the rough edges of heart.
"Each process you take in life can help you to break your fetters and flow in a purposeful direction. When you choose that process which is conducive to your growth, you will have the unmistakable feeling of moving toward your destination.”
“Sentient energy operates in the universe with the help of insentient. They are moving together from beginningless time, manifesting the whole world.” .
“Vibrations are ever-changing, ever-fluid, the expression of living life. Therein lies your freedon, your great hope. By shedding the light of atma on atom, you can replace negative vibrations with positive and determine your future journey."
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CHAPTER TWo
DISTINGUISHING "I" FROM "NOT I"
When a child watches someone "hide" a seed under the soil and cover it with heavy earth and some water, he thinks it is gone. He cannot imagine that such a small seed could push its way out from its apparent hiding place and reappear. But when you see someone plant a seed, you know that it is going to sprout up and grow. You know that it is not going to disappear and die..
What is it that makes you know that the seed will grow? And what is the child lacking which causes him to think that it has vanished? Experience. Experience gives you the power to know that within the seed there is something which has so much energy that it can break the soil and come out. Lacking that experiential knowledge a child does not yet have the vision of the one who knows.
There is a similar difference between a person with
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vision and one without. At the sight of what some people call an ending or “death,” the wise person feels no insecurity because he perceives the cycle of eternity in each process of change. Those without vision, like the inexperienced child, see everything as coming to an end. "Let me enjoy everything right now, they say, "for when I am gone, it is for good, and all will be buried in a graveyard.” Those who harbor such . fears of finality are not at peace.
As long as we have the concept of "All is lost!" so long shall we have sadness and tears. Rather than create sadness when a person departs, let us see in this light: when a person has gone, he or she may have gone from your eyes, from your circle, but not from the universe. The person has gone from the form, but not from the essence. When we understand the philosophy, we enlarge our vision and say: "What is lost? Only the form. A gold ornament may be broken or melted down, but the gold is safe. A new ornament can be made out of it; only its form will be different!"
Let us realize that we are all on a sojourn to complete, fulfill, or undo something. We are all on a mission. It is an experience, not an intellectual lesson. Feel deeply within you that a loved one who is no

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longer with you has gone to continue his inission, to complete the work he was carrying on in this life. The relation you had with him will remain. Go on sending beautiful vibrations to him. The vibrations will reach him but your tears will not.
Now let us envision the continuity of eternity in each seed, in each form. Let us see the same thing in us. The form becomes broken or decomposed, but there is something in the center of all the forms— something which is changeless. That something is sentient energy
When we can see the expression of this energy in a seed, in even so tiny a seed as the sesame seed, we can observe its power. Its sprout is so vibrant with strength that it can break the heavy earth. It is so intent on growing that it can push through the dead insentient harsh matter covering it and throw it off. Why? Because it has living sentient life. If we become aware of this powerful sentient energy in us, of this growing life process which we all are, we will be able to cast off the load of matter which weighs us down.
If you get that insight, your life will be changed buoyant and flowing. Why? Because you will realize

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that in this last stage of your evolution, in your human existence, you are in touch with your reality. You are seeing your eternal nature. You are contacting your self.
When you know this in your experience, not only in a mental or conceptual way, then you will shed all fears and anxieties. Like the person who moves from house to house according to the season, you will know that wherever you are, in a different country, climate, planet, abode, situation, or birth, you have not “gone" anywhere; you only make a change of house, a change of form.:
Now what you call “I” is merely a name. As a “he” or a “she,” “I” is a form. As an angry or a happy "I," it is an emotional "I.” When you say: “I am going to do as I did yesterday," that “I" belongs to a time period. None of these "I's” is you. They are hundreds of names reflecting in hundreds of broken mirrors, the mirrors of moods and labelsrich, poor, angry, depressed, happy, sad, high, low. “I” mirrors are not your real qualities; they are conditions. Pleasures and pains, ups and downs are transient; they come and go..
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When we enter into an experiential level, we know that sentient energy passes through stages of life. What we call girl, old lady, sick person, dying person are all stages seen in the mirror. Why have we not yet seen ourselves in our eternal nature? Because of karmas, we have not distinguished our true nature from conditions and stages and mirrors. We continue to identify ourselves with the transient roles we play.
Real experience comes when you are able to disengage yourself from all conditions, from all forms of insentient energy, and see yourself as sentient atman. Real meditation starts from the moment you say: “This is sentient energy and this is I. This energy cannot be abolished or destroyed.”
This is the "I"? which has no ego. The mirror "I's” were conditions of insentient moments and you were identifying with those temporary conditions. Now you see that just because the “house” is “old” it does not mean that the “indweller” is “oid.” Now you can visualize yourself as sentient dwelling in the "houses” of insentient, or as sentient wearing the "clothes” of insentient.

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Now why is it that certain kinds of insentient energy are around us and not other kinds? Because we created the forms in that way; our own desires invited the kind of insentient vibrations which surround us.
"I made myself” is a new concept for those of you who were brought up to think that “I am niade." The perception “We are makers” may frighten the mind. The mind tends to shrink from that responsibility because it is not used to taking that high position. It reacts in the old, conditioned way. It is not easy to uproot conditionings. For example, in India, even though the caste system has been abolished by law, many minds still remain in slavery to "untouchability,” and the inferiority complex of the so-called “untouchables” has not faded easily. .
We must come to know in our experience that the whole galaxy is ours and that we are moving from place to place, from planet to planet without any obstacle. Everywhere we have access. Why? Because the whole universe is meant for sentient energy. The universe is 110thing but a testing ground for atman's unfolding. According to our desire, our unfolding, our longing, our perception, pur living, we select a form, a birthpláce, a family, and all the accessories.
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Until we get the experience of "I am immortal,” we will not grasp the meaning of the unconditioned state of soul. The nature of soil is to live in freedom. In partnership with insentient, soul or sentient energy can experience this freedom in different degrees depending on its stage of growth and the depth of the meditative experience.
In meditation, we experience ourselves as a mirror of the divine, or the divine as a larger self of our self. We come to realize that creation is not a person but a process, a process over which we have control.
What is this process: According to the state of consciousness of our soul, our sentient energy will be either in a state of attraction or repulsion, or it will have transcended both poles. In its own natural state, sentient energy has risen above these two and 110 longer sends out negative or positive vibrations. Its vibrations are what may be described as pure, unpolluted, formless and indestructible. When they are expressed by a pure soul, they are experienced as pure love and bliss. A liuman being who has not yet reached that state of realization will be at a certain level of attraction and repulsion. According to that level, he vibrates. According to those vibrations, thoughts are produced. These thoughts then take on
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a structure made up of the karmic particles they have attracted. According to the density and quality of the particles surrounding the soul, a person will act.
When people realize that thought has form, that will be a new era for mankind. Just as our presence in front of an electrically operated door generates a form or force which causes the door to open, so . thought takes form. As we recognize the power in an : electrical current though it is invisible, we must also acknowledge the power of thought forms.
How can thought forms be seen? By becoming aware of the way in which everything we think has results. By seeing that our lacks, sicknesses, pains, sorrows are the results of our thoughts. By realizing that thoughts are more dynamic than physical actions.
Many people think that it does not matter what you think, but when the power of thought and its subtle yet direct effect on action is known, then people will make a change in their thought patterns. Do you think that you have been treated unfairly or that someone has abused you or that something has come to you from “out there?" Nothing comes to you from “out there” without first being invited

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by you from within you. This is a universe in which every thought is registered, and what is in the. storehouse will come. So if you have lost your job or have contracted an illness, often it is because you have gone down in your thinking process.
We tend to see the results rather than the cause.. We need merely to see that there is a connection between “me” and what happens. We must experience our inborn potentiality to make and create. What we are now calling ourselves-man or woman, short or tall, black or white, educated or ignorant, is nothing but our “make-up.” We have made ourselves in that way. We cannot blame God that some are rich and others poor. We can only say this: There is a process of life. In this process, every soul, in one way or another, in a vibration of attraction or repulsion,
during his night of ignorance or under the light of knowledge, · makes his life form in that way. .
With the recognition and acceptance of the fact . that no outside element or person can be blamed for our present conditions, we realize that we cannot shirk responsibility, for what we are. Our actions, life style, physical appearance, circumstances—these are concretizations of our own thoughts. Then we begin to become a gatekeeper to our mind, not
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allowing a single negative feeling or unpleasant thought to invade our mind. We know that whatever we put inside our mind will start working like a computer. With this new sense of inner strength and responsibility we start creating our future right now in this very thought moment.
For our thoughts to be dynamic, everything must synchronize-thought, word,, and action, and all three must be in tune with the highest level of sentient energy. Thought, word, and action must vibrate on the same frequency as all living life. Otherwise, a good thought may arise, but the result will not come. For example, a person may think: "I want to live long." But if he harasses or harms living beings in speech or in action, how can the universe vibrate in harmony with his desire for longevity? The universe cannot vibrate in harmonious response until thought, word, and deed synchronize. So he who wants to live long and happily must learn that first he has to let others live long and happily.
Some say: "All day I sit and pray and nothing happens!" Because action is zero! When action does not synchronize with thought, dichotomy is created.
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Wanting to do something and allowing conditions to hold you back makes you withdraw from carrying out a positive thought. Such a withdrawal is a withdrawal from your own commitment to growth as well. If you tell someone that you will help him and then retract your offer the moment he comes to you for aid, you are creating duality in yourself. You are making slices of your whole life. When you know this, you should say to yourself: “I don't want to turn my life into little bits and pieces. Let me live a life where I feel my words, feelings and actions in unison.” .
It is the naturc of the unenlightened mind to take form according to the object before it. If the object tempts the senses, the mind starts desiring it. If it gets what it wants, it becomes temporarily happy. That is called pleasure. If it does not get what it desires, it goes on pining for it. This leads to frustration which in turn leads to depression. That is called pain. Both pleasure and pain are transitory, the by-products of a mind enslaved to need or greed. Such a mind is nothing but an old dusty attic, filled with the old objects, thoughts, and desires which it has collected, accumulated, and reflected.
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As long as the mind is not receiving the light of awareness, it remains in this state of fluctuation, transmitting the vibrations of attraction fraga) or repulsion (dvesha).
At this level, the consciousness of the unaware human being is hardly different from the instinctive consciousness of animals whose desires are merely to eat, sleep, procreate, and collect. When the mind : enters a state of depression, it is characterized by a heaviness and immobility comparable to the mineral state.
But we are all on the path of evolution. It is the nature of soul to sprout upward. It is the nature of consciousness to become more and more open. It starts from the mineral state and goes, on evolving until at last it reaches the most beautiful stage of evolution: universal consciousness. Even though the mineral consciousness may not be noticed due to its seeming immobility, it has a slight level of consciousness. We have seen that even the smallest seed has sentient energy. Before it is planted, it is in a state of outer slumber. When it is planted in the ground, its consciousness is evident because of its urge to grow.
The individual consciouşness goes through suffering

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and the natural processes of life, continually coming into contact with different vibrations, continually shedding old forms and putting on new ones. At last it reaches the level of human consciousness or "Who ann I” consciousness, No other form of life can ask itself that question.
When a human being undertakes to ask himself that question, he has embarked on a journey to uncover his own reality. He has committed himself to flowing forward with evolution. He has begun to enlighten his mind and start using it in the way it was meant to be used to help sentient energy to become aware of itself.' .
When sentient energy becomes aware of itself, it stops permitting the mind to give form to negative clements. When the mind stops creating images of accident, illness, and death, these, negativities will no longer bombard the mind and negative events will not take place. ::
When themind acts as a help rather than a hindrance, it becomes a link between sentient and insentient, between soul and body, between consciousness and expression of consciousness. It will act as a light bulb reflecting the source of the power to which it is
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connected, conscious enlightening energy. When the mind is functioning as receiver and transmitter of sentient energy, it manifests consciousness through what we call knowledge, recognition, cognition, perception, and memory.. .
When the mind has become quieț through the use of mantra, and through its enlightened understanding of the philosophy of vibrations and karmas, we can go beyond body, speech, and mind and experience what we are in essence. At the time of a deep meditation, the above-mentioned manifestations of consciousness, knowledge, recognition, and the others, become synonymous, yet inadequate to describe the non-verbal transcendent experience. .
As we go beyond body, mind, and language, we slowly start experiencing the nature of atman which the ancients expressed in this way:
आत्मानमात्मना वेत्ति मोहत्यागाद् य आत्मनि तदेव तस्य चारित्रम् तज्ज्ञानं तच्च दर्शनम्
Atmanam atmana vetti Mohatyagad ya atmani
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Tad eva tasya charitram · Taj jnanam tacha darshanam
According to Hemachandra, the great Jain master of the twelfth century, Jain yoga consisting of the three Jewels of right knowledge, right vision, and right conduct is the cause of final emancipation. What is the ultimate nature of these three? Hemachandra answers,
“It is the self of the wise person that is the right knowledge, right vision, and right conduct. They are nothing but the comprehension of the self in the self by the self on account of the disappearance of the eternal delusion."
Atman sees atma, experiences its own self, upon emerging once and for all .from ignorance, the eternal delusion and reaches final emancipation by becoming one with the three Jewels of right knowledge, right vision, and right conduct, which are none other than its own ultimate nature. ...
When you experience this, you will begin to be able to answer the questions “Who am I?" and "What is the real quality of me?" Little by little answers will dawn in your consciousness and unfold
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in your experience. You will realize that "I am consciousness, I am blissfulness, I am immortality.”.
You will see that wherever and whenever you experience any amount of consciousness, that is you, and that wherever and whenever you do not experience consciousness, that is not you. You will no longer identify your self with insentient temporary moments, conditions, situations, names, labels, and roles. You will disengage your mind from being lured by forms which keep it fluctuating and seesawing between the poles of happiness and unhappiness, pleasure and pain, and therefore never satisfied. Instead, you will discover that blissfulness which is your real quality.
Blissfulness brings you to the center of yourself and a gentle smile lights up your face. It is not laughter or tears; it is not excitement or sadness. It is a very fine state. It is balance.
Once you have experienced yourself as consciousness and bliss, the third awareness dawns: that this consciousness which went through so many stages and which is still developing is not going to be destroyed. Birth and death are seen for what they are: the composition and decomposition of insentient
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matter. You realize that what you used to call “death” is merely a changing of the forms, but that sentient energy is changeless, immortal.
You realize that a change in form is inevitable and you welcome it when it comes, for it is change which keeps life healthy and fresh. You experience yourself as water, ever-flowing in order not to become stagnant, yet eternally living in its own element. So let yourself flow and no fear will come. Flowing, you will expand. Fear is contraction. If you are constantly flowing and expanding, you cannot be contracting and shrinking in fear. :
When you have experienced and deeply understood the conscious, blissful, and immortal qualities of you-sentient energy, then each change, in form or perception, will take you to a higher level of consciousness and you will meditate in a state of fearlessness.
Now let ús experience our self, feeling that “in the center of this form, which I have created there is I; not body, not he or she, not emotion or thought, not past inemory or future planning, not transitory pleastfe or pain, not the -vibrations of attraction or repulsion, but the real I-consciousness, blissfulness, immortality.”

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For Contemplation:
“As long as we have the concept of All is lost! so long we shall have sadness and tears. Instead, let us see in this light: a person may have gone from your sight, from your circle, but not from the universe. The person has gone from the form, but not from the essence. When we enlarge our vision, we say, 'What is lost? Only the form. A gold ornament may be broken or melted down, but the gold is
safe.”
“Let us envision the continuity of eternity in each seed, in each form. Let us see the same thing in us. The form becomes broken or decomposed, but there is something in the center which is changeless. That something is sentient energy."
“I mirrors are not your real qualities; they are conditions. You have been identifying with those temporary conditions. Now you transcend those transient stages and see the ‘P which has no ego. Real meditation starts when you say, “This is sentient energy and this is I. This cnergy cannot be abolished or destroyed.'”.
“The whole universe is meant for conscious energy. The universe is nothing but a testing ground for atman's unfolding."

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“There is a process of life. In this process, every soul, in one way or another, in a vibration of attraction or repulsion, during his night of ignorance or under the light of knowledge, makes his own life form, selects a birthplace, a family, and all the accessories.”

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CHAPTER THREE
REALIZING WHAT YOU ARE
When a bucket has even a single hole in it, no matter how many times you lower it into the well, the water will run out. What about the mind: Nature is there continually offering all its innumerable gifts. But if the mind has holes in it, how can it retain what it receives: No matter how many times it is filled with the bounty of the universe, it still feels lack and cmptiness.
What makes these holes in our thinking: Our barriers and boundaries, likes and dislikes, resentments, judgments, expectations and projections, in one word, our karmas. Nature has no discrimination. The sun, the rain are for all. The air we breathe is universal; all are breathing universal breath. In our hurry to give labels and categories to the world, we do not see its beauty. We pass by nature's bountiful öfferings.
How to fill up the holes of the mind: Paushadha

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-take time to retreat from the many activities which have created wounds in your psyche and mind and heal yourself. Take a few hours, a few days, a few weeks to heal yourself with the deep all-pervading peace of meditation.
Many of us do not know that we are bleeding inside. We have put bandages on top of our wounds to absorb the bleeding or we have taken outside medicines to dull the pain and numb the limbs. What kind of bandages do we use? Small entertainments, a myriad of activities to keep us busy. As long as we are young and healthy, we don't notice the way we have been using these "painkillers" as a crutch.
The time comes when the downward spiral begins. The symptoms start to show. Inside there is hollowness, brooding, weakness, fatigue. The time comes when we have to confront ourselves. The time comes when we have to see our pain and call a halt to running away from it.
Pratikramana-Step back and see
are.
what you
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The real enlightened souls, from past and present, from all different geographical locations, used their days and nights for introspection, understanding, and meditation. Their inner voices took the form of words, and from these utterances of pure ecstasy and insight we glean wisdom. Out of their deep compassion for mankind they shared their teachings with us to inspire and uplift our lives.
What did they see? The'unifying conscious energy: which is blissful, beautiful, and immortal, hidden in all living forms. What did they understand? That the universe works like a calculator, totalling all of our vibrations. Each thought we have has its own vibration. According to the way it vibrates in the universe, it attracts subtle atoms. These atoms are what build our thinking, speaking, longing. Thus the ancient wise people were able to diagnose man's disease—that pain does not come from without, but that it comes as a result of something within-our own negative vibrations.
There are three steps we can take in order to fill in the gaps of mind and make ourselves' whole: (1) realize, (2) recover, and (3) retain.
First, realize what you are—the microcosm of the
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macrocosm. Before you can see the invisible, start with the visible; before you experience the formless, investigate the forms. See that in form you are composed of the same elements as the universe. The solid parts of your body-hair, teeth, skin, nails, and bones are the earth elements. They are the “dust." All the fluids-blood, sweat, saliva, tears—are the watery elements in us. That which causes chemical reactions, including the digestion of food and body heat, is the fire element. The breath which is constantly coming and going is the air element.
So what is without is within. There is no running away from the world. The form you see in you is the form of the cosmos. In ancient Jain palm leaf manuscripts, artists even depicted the form of the cosmos in the form of man..
Because of this deep relation between microcosm and macrocosm, we are affected by seasonal changes. If it is cold outside, our body feels cold. Just as nature's forms are in a constant state of flux and change, so our form is undergoing continuous change.
What is the hidden reason for change? What is the law.behind the cycle of the seasons: To renew and refresh. In order to remain continually fresh, water is

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ever-moving, ever-renewed by the ebb and flow of the tides. Like water, if life does not flow, it becomes stagnant.
In order to adjust to the laws of nature, all forins accept change. We can learn even from the trees. In the fall, they give up their leaves. They do not resist. It is a process, a catharsis, a fasting, a cleansing, a shedding. It is throwing away the old in order to inake room for the new. There is no sorrow or påin. There is deep patience. There is deep wisdom. They know that the life force is retained. Heat remains in their roots.
The tree knows: “If I want new leaves, I have to give up old ones.” Similarly, if you want to feel fresh and make room for the new, let there be a shedding, a fall in every season of your life. Let yourself experience a renewal each day, each moment. Drop away old thoughts like dry leaves and open yourself to new ways of thinking and living. If you want to expand and grow, keep your relationship with the universe continually positive, receptive, expectant.
At the heart of Eastern philosophy is the teaching of detachment. What is this philosophy? It is merely

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a philosophy of the seasons. It is learning to live in harmony with the seasons. It means this: the things which are relevant to each particular moment in time are relevant to life in that moment, and the things which are not relevant to life in that moment are not relevant. And still you hold on when it is no longer relevant to hold on—that is called attachment.
When you are clinging, you don't know whether things are relevant or not. Clinging makes you do one of two things. Either you create tension trying to hold onto a thing or, letting it go, you feel remorse. When it goes, aļlow it to go. Flow with the seasons.
One who is detached gives up with reverence. Like the leaves which dance as they give themselves up, you give up with joy. To receive is joy. Everyone likes to receive something new. To give up with the same joy is detachment. -
And yet if you don't give up you don't receive. Continuously there is giving and receiving. When you give up with balance, tears don't cloud your vision. When you give up with poise, you don't feel inside pain and regret. When a person leaves you, · say “I wish you well.” Holding on or regretting,

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you are losing both the person and your peace. In return you are getting nothing but the results of your negative vibrations.
* To realize what you are, meditate on the philosophy of life which can help you change your old habits of mind. Say to yourself, “The trees give up. Why do I not?” Watch each thought. Ask yourself, “Is this thought living in the past.” If so, then you know that you are not living in harmony with the season. If you notice that your mind likes to escape into the barn of old memories, say to yourself, “I am going out of the cycle of life because I am living in the past. The past has already given me the result I wanted and still I am clinging to it.”
By watching you are able to untie yourself. You resolve, “I want to go further.” Many good things are waiting for you tomorrow if you untie yourself from the past. All the springs come from winter. What you call barrenness is to the trees nothing but a period in which they have to wait in expectation. This period is given to you for your understanding.
It is a period of transition, before the coming of

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spring, before the rebirth of new life. In reality there is no death. Tagore has given us a beautiful analogy. We are like the baby nursing at the breast. When the mother notices that milk has dried up on one side, she moves the baby to the other side. In between, the baby cries. He does not see that in between is the moment of awaiting the new fresh milk. He does not see that there is no real loss.
By watching you are able to see how old habits of thinking disconnect you from your here and now and make you unhappy. Are you projecting the concept of father figure, husband, wife, or other image onto another person? If so, then you do not see that individual as an individual. Are you comparing the present moment with the past? If so, the freshness of life is not enjoyed, You go on missing good feelings, deep communication. And people get bored with you because you always bring out the old imprints of mind; the worn-out things. Then you find someone with the same problem as you and you wallow together, dragging each other down.
The philosophy of vibrations changes your whole life. style. Your level of consciousness ultimately attracts people from the same level of consciousness as your own. So you have to raise your consciousness.

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New life cannot come only from words. It must come from new thinking, new vibrations.
To bring those new vibrations, drop the old, clear your files, throw away the junk. Say to yourself: “I don't want those old thoughts, those negative memories, those conditionings."When you go on. clearing, your mind becomes light. But before these old patterns go for good, they will tempt you and play tricks on you. If you are not careful, they will keep on giving flickering signs to you and they may make new scars on your consciousness.
You must not allow them to make you angry and frustrated. You must talk to them and tell them: “Now you go! You are old tenants and your lease is up! I will not renew your contract.” Once you recognize that these so-called tenants are unwanted guests, then you are ready to evict them. You realize that you must have invited them into your consciousness long ago when you were in a hazy, ignorant state of mind. Old habits of thinking know how to make themselves at home, but no matter how comfortable or comforting they may appear to you, you must be firm in your resolve to empty your mental house.
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If this sentient living energy does not give up the old insentient, the stale stagnant matter becomes a burden to you and a cause of pain. The more thorough the mental housecleaning, the more buoyant you feel. The more you allow dry leaves to drop away, the more aware you are of what you are in essence and of what is relevant to your present living. Now you are open to receive the
new.
What is the new life: None other than that living conscious energy pulsating and vibrating in the entire universe. It is your own latent power. To enter the path of meditation you must have a conscious awareness of your latent power. If you are not aware of that treasure within you, you are not going to long for it. You are not going to reach for it. If you see the end in the beginning, you will take the beginning to the end.
For that you must believe in yourself. Until now you have believed in everybody but yourself. Now you realize that you are holding a precious diamond within you. Polish it and your radiance comes out. Otherwise it remains like a rough stone, covered with
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so many layers. Discover yourself! Say to yourself: "Just now I am a rough diamond, but I have confidence that inside me is brilliance. Inside me is latent power. I want to get in touch with that and uncover myself."
When you have this confidence, you really work on yourself. You upanishad-sit close. Sit close to whom? To yourself. Or to him or her who can take you to yourself. To the "diamond-cutter" who knows just where to cut so that your roughness is broken and the whole diamond comes out. The teacher is not always one who wears the clothes of a guru. The guru is anyone or anything who removes the darkness of your ignorance, who helps you uncover your brilliance. Once you uncover your self, you become your own teacher.
Once there was a luxuriant king who had a pasttime of hunting. One evening he was sitting on his balcony at dusk. The sunset was particularly striking and the king was moved. It was the rainy season and the sunset produced the full spectrum of seven colors. The king became so happy that he continued to watch eagerly.
Slowly he saw the colors fade away; darkness came
So

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over everything. He saw the dark and he realized in a flash: “O, is this not my life? I am pulsating with pleasures: How long will this sunset remain ? O, let me be aware before my colors disappear. The painter must paint the scene while the colors are still vivid or the moment is gone. Can I not do something worthwhile with my life before it is too late?"
The king became so deeply aware of his inner consciousness that he put an end to his former selfindulgent. ways and cruel pastime. The sunset inspired him to see the quality of his soul. This transformed his life. In this incident the sunset was his gurii.
Meditation is this: a complete transformation of consciousness, an uncovering of that universal indestructible energy which lies hidden in you. Otherwise you can sit and recite a mantrum to get calm, but it will only be a temporary balm. You will return to the ratrace unchanged.
Rènoving the tenacious layers of the mind and getting in touch with that latent energy in you,

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you will realize that sentient energy gives the touch of life to form. If it can give life, then it cannot be 'captured by form. If it could be captured by form, then it could not be formless. The formless remains above the forms. That is why it can give life to them.
ways,
There is a beautiful story in the Upanishads in which a son came home to his father after twelve years of study telling him: "O Father, I have studied all the scriptures and experimented in all but still I did not find soul." His father then asked him to break open the fruit of the banyan tree and show him where the tree could be found in the thousands of seeds living inside the fruit.
The son answered: "O Father, that which gives birth to the tree cannot be seen."
"Yes," said his father, "And the power which gives life to you cannot be measured by any instrument. Atma, soul is beyond. That which gives life to all the forms is intangible. Yet it gives force to the tangible world. It animates all the seen forms. That energy is you. That energy is me."
When you realize this, you will discover the
se

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purpose of, meditation: to get in touch with that formless in you.. The insight comes that this vibrant conscious energy has been covered up by your own negativities. So covered, it does not get light or fresh air.
This discovery leads you from the step of (1) realizing what you are to (2) recovering yourself. Just as you recover your health after realizing that the cause of your illness is in you, so you recover your natural energy when you become aware of the layers which cover you. You will see that sadness, depression, anger, greed, pride, deceitfulness are all outside coverings. They are not natural to you. They have stifled your natural latent power.
The process of recovery is a consistent and persistent practise. It is a continuous throwing off of the covers to get fresh air. It is getting a fresh connection with your flow of inner strength. That is ineditation. It is not instant.
After an athlete who has broken his leg has his cast removed, he must practise gradually learning to walk and run again. If he gets right up and runs a race, he will damage his leg again. We too must work at recovering, little by little, so that we return

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to our original nature. Once we have opened the wounds of our psyche to the fresh air and light, we must take care that they heal properly and completely. We must seal up the gaps and doubts of mind by filling ourselves with positive vibrations. ..
· Without realizing, we cannot recover. And without recovering fully, we cannot go on to the third step: retain. In order to retain, let us flood the mind with the light of meditation and fill in the holes in our thinking with knowledge, understanding, and experience. .
.
Say to yourself: “I am the microcosm of the macrocosm. As the universe moves I must move. In the universe there is a pulsating element. In the heart of all the forms, all the cells, in my own form, there is radiant life. That is my real nature. I want to recover my original nature and bring out my natural qualities. I want to retain that blissfulness, peace, and conscious vibrant energy hidden at the center of myself.”
Once you are confident beyond the shadow of a doubt that within you is a universe of beauty and truth, energy and bliss, you will be able to retain. With the light of awareness permanently shining, you will retain the universal blessings which are yours.
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For Contemplation:
"The sun, the rain are for all. The air we breathe is universal; all are breating universal breath. In our hurry to give labels and put up barriers to the world, to build expectations and projections, we pass by nature's bountiful offerings. If we allow our resentments and judgments to make holes in our thinking, how can our mind retain what it receives? No matter how many times it is filled with the blessings of the universe, it still feels lack and emptiness.”
“How to fill up the holes of the mind? Paushadhatake time to retreat from the many activities which have created wounds in your psyche and heal yourself. Take a few hours, a few days, a few weeks to heal yourself with the deep all-pervading peace of meditation."
"In order to adjust to the laws of nature, all forms accept change. We can learn from the trees. The tree knows, 'If I want new leaves, I have to give up old ones.' It does not resist. It's a process, a catharsis, a fasting, a cleansing. Similarly, if you want to feel fresh and make room for the new, tet. there be a shedding, a fall, in every season of your life. Drop away old thoughts like dry leaves and open yourself to new ways of thinking and living.”
"The more thorough the mental housecleaning, the

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more buoyant you feel. You are open to receive the new. What is the new life? None other than that living conscious energy pulsating and vibrating in the entire universe. It is your own latent power. If you are not aware of that treasure within you, youi are not going to long for it. If you see the end in the beginning; you will , take the beginning to the end."
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CHAPTER FOUR
RECOGNIZING YOUR PART IN THE
LAW OF KARMA
Unless we realize our place in the universe, we will not be able to relate to ourselves. Unless we can relate to ourselves, we will not be able to relate to others. If we do not see beyond the “l” built from body, name, ego, emotions, then we cannot come to an experience of our self. .
Through the nrocess of meditation, we are reaching the real “1”. Reaching there we get a sense of everexistence which is what we mean by immortality. It is feeling our living feeling. .As long as we lack that experience, so long our life has no solid foundation.
The theme of meditation is this: to reach that root where- fear does not exist and where vibrant life is always felt. This is called relating to ourselves.
Through this experience we realize that “I was, I am, and I will be.” Realizing this, we become aware
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of the process of evolution. Darwin's theory was based on a physical level. Ours is founded on a spiritual level. Thus we see that before reaching humanhood, the individual soul evolves from one level to another. With each progressive level it adds one sense.
Living beings with only a single sense are found in the mineral and vegetable kingdoms. Their only sense is the sense of touch. Certain insects and crawling creatures such as worms have two „senses; they have the sense of taste as well as the sense of touch. The third sense to be added is the sense of smell in such insects as ants. Four-sensed beings such as the bees have added the sense of sight. Fifth is the sense of hearing which characterizes five-sensed animals.
Step by step we go upwards in evolution from mineral to man, first to primitive man, intellectual man, and lastly, aware man. We start with : “I am” and then ask “Who am I?” It is man's first real step in evolution. This is the line of demarcation between human consciousness and animal consciousness.
We are here to see why we are here. We are here to see our place in the universe. We don't say: “I am here to eat, procreate, grow old and dię.” That

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is not the answer. They may be steps to evolution, but they are not the end of the journey. The few years we have, can be profitably invested or wantonly wasted.
Thus “Who am I?" is a dynamic question. It reveals the power of man to actualize his sixth sense, his power of thought. If you go on working on that question, it will explode. It will bring meaning to you. The question will lead you further and further.
Though your progress may not be so obvious, you are digging deep down in the consciousness, and little by little, you are reducing unpleasant vibrations and adding right vibrations to living life.
We see that life does not come from matter but life animates matter. At the same time, matter helps life to evolve, fulfill, and express itself. As milk gives color to water and water surrenders to milk and they become one, so matter and soul are so close that it is difficult to distinguish where is one and where is the other. So we see oneness.
According to this philosophy, matter and soul have been cogether from beginningless time. In subhuman forms of life, matter dominates, weighing
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down soul energy like mud holding down a naturally buoyant gourd. With human consciousness, matter and soul live side by side in partnership:
As man becomes increasingly aware of his intrinsic quality and of his capacity for spiritual growth, soul becomes master, using matter in a creative way rather than allowing matter to dominate. When soul ascends to its natural state, it is buoyant like an empty gourd, using body for a purpose: to carry conscious cnergy to fruition and fulfillment:
Now let us experience the dynamic interrelationship between matter and soul in our interrelationship with the universe. To pass even one day in any form, from the least to the greatest, we inust have universal help. The whole universe is helping us survive and we have the capacity to transform and transmute anything we receive froin the universe into life. Air becomes breath, food becomes blood and cells to build our existence.
From one single cell, our relationship with the universe started. When we realize that without universal help we could not have evolved nor could we now live a single day, something in us lets go and melts. Our relationship with the universe becomes
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flowing and natural. We stop withholding ourselves. We no longer do things to get thanks or praise. We do not act out of obligation. Rather, we act out of genuine feeling.
We flow in a reciprocal way with the universe as we see each microcosm receiving from all others help and support and communication: “Parasparo Upagraho Jivanam”—“Giving cach other mutual help we cause each other to grow." This aphorism of the ancient Tattvartha Sutra expresses beautifully our place in the universe and our relationship with others. It helps us appreciate the innumerable hands helping us live and grow, both materially and spiritually. It invites us to see that where there is giving, there is receiving. Where there is receiving, there is giving. And where these two are, there is growth.
As we receive, we give of ourselves in return, naturally, without motive. How? First by knowing our self and then by building a bridge between our self and all the selves. By meditating and asking: “What do I want? What do I really need? How much do I need?"
First find out what pleases you, what is your

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unique dream, with what you will be happy, and then extend that to the world. Say to yourself: “I need a few comforts, a place to rest my head, a little nourishing food, congenial communication, sweet smiles, warm feelings.” Then ask: "Do I share with the world what I need and want for myself:”.
Do we want peace? Happiness? Freedom: Noninterference? Then what we want for ourselves, why do we not give to others? In this way, we can see ourselves flowing with the vast interrelationships of the universe. The realization will come that no one can say: "I am independent; I don't care for the world.” No one is either dependent or independent, but all are interdependent in a spiritually evolving world.
Now let us understand our interdependence on a vibration level. Our capacity to transmute matter to energy and energy to inatter is experienced through vibrations every moment of our life. Just as food turns into energy in your body, so positive vibrations which you meet in a person radiant with positivity change into a pleasant feeling in your awareness.

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When you meet someone sunk in inertia, you begin to feel tired and energy-less as well. You think that the fatigue is in you, but most likely you picked up vibrations from a person who was not vibrant with light and life, -
When we realize the importance of vibrations, we see why some people are speeding up the process of evolution and why others are remaining stagnant. Vibrations can accelerate your growth or they can hold you back. So you must ask yourself: "Do I constantly take in undesirable vibrations? Let me see what I am doing to allow them to influence me." With awareness you stop becoming a victim of negative vibrations when you stop becoming a victim your own unaware mind.
of
your
So you investigate your life and work. Is your work giving you life or are you exhausted by it? Is your mission helping you to expand your experience or are you working for "bread and butter" only? Are you living happily or are you pushing yourself, using up extra energy on survival and stimulation?
To stimulate themselves, some people go on taking such drugs as nicotine, caffeine, pep pills thinking that it gives them energy. They are not to be blamed.

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To keep up with life they have to take stimulants or else they feel helpless and exhausted. Each of us must go deep and see if these tendencies are in us. If you are not receiving those vibrant vibrations which you need, realise that it is time to make a change in your life.
How to make a change in your life: First, by seeing the connection between what happens in the universe to you and your own contributing part. Secondly, by putting an end to hating and blaming, and by accepting responsibility for your own actions. Thirdly, by realizing that there is no sin. What you see are consequences, results of past actions. Clinging to the past, you are nesting in it, becoming defeated by it. Do not let the present go by without seeing it as a living present. Take your life into your own hands and experience its infinitely creative possibilities.
The first step then is to see how the universe works. It has its law. It works precisely. There is no mistake. Like the sun whose rise and fall is exact, like the ocean ever in ebb and flow, like the season's movement, the universe is accurate. What appears to us as accidental has some cause behind it. :
What we have to understand is that for countless

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lifetimes this living sentient energy went on evolving, taking on and letting off different kinds of matter, as a process of life, without awareness. Then there came a time when it started taking on matter with awareness. At that time we started deciding our form, our intelligence, our condition, our every characteristic.
The procedure is this: in a state of repulsion or attraction, we send out vibrations which are either negative or positive, and we are reborn in such a way as to experience those same vibrations we sent out previously. We receive from the universe on the level of our awareness or consciousness. If we have sent out negative vibrations in thought, speech, or action to someone else, we will experience that pain which we have caused. If we have sent out positive vibrations, we receive them back in kind like an echo. The vibration echo comes back and draws to us particles of matter which create a structure or shell-like form around the soul. These particles we call karmaş.
The vibrations we sent may be from lifetimes ago, from years ago, or from yesterday, but having sent them, they have started working on us. Because of those vibration echoes, there are karmic ties or relationships.
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But there is no past which determines our future. In the living present lies our challenge, our work, our hope for spiritual growth. There are ties which are already formed with our own past vibrations, these we can work with--fulfilling them, undoing them, bringing them to completion. . .
In what way is the present living? How is it. that we can say that everything is possible in the present? Because .karmas built by living life have the capacity to be evaporated or transmuted by living vibrations. You can use positive living vibrations to extinguish the smoldering embers of old negative ones. You can transform your present by transmuting your past.
This we must experience in our meditation. It is not an intellectual experience. When you go to that which you cannot explain, it is the point at which philosophy begins.
Vibrations must be experienced, not explained. For example, as soon as a mother conceives, she starts feeling love. Parents are ready to part with their whole fortune for a stranger, a child! Seeing someone, you are ready to die for that person. Meeting someone in an airport, you become in a
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matter of minutes closer to that friend than you are cven to members of your family.
Why? What is that which brings together and what is that which separates ? It is vibrations. The heart knows. “The heart has reasons which reason cannot define,” Pascal said. Human beings are not logs floating in a river meeting and parting. Because of the limitations of the mind, we may not see the connection. And yet there is something which joins, which brings sweetness or bitterness to relations.
When your heart is, longing for something, it chooses; it vibrates in response. Becoming aware of your heart's desire you acknowledge your dream. You discover your mission. So, listen to your heart. Listening to your inner voice, you grow.
In India there was a family whose son married a girl he met while studying in America. When he brought her back to India, his family started judging her from:looks, height, outer appearance. And they criticized him saying: "What have you - selected: What kind of girl is this?"
The son only answered: “To see her you must have my eyes. Without my eyes you cannot see her.”

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The old parents did not understand. Once they met me and asked: “What does he mean-we have to have his eyes? Is there something wrong with our eyes? Don't we have the same eyes?" .
It is a question of connection, of vibration. Something joins together. As long as that heart connection is there, people grow. They tolerate each other's shortcomings. They come together in a positive karmic relationship-not to bind and possess, but to free, fulfill, and uplift. In this way, karmas are seen as a beautiful path to growth. Taking the hand of a friend, a partner, a teacher, a child, each other, we grow.
Now let us see how, according to the ancient philosophy we have our part in anything which happens in the universe in relation to us. For example a person who has a dislike for learning, knowledge, or books creates inside himself a very angry feeling for anyone or anything connected with knowledge. According to those vibrations of anger, the person is drawing karmic particles which will obscure his or her vision.
These karmas are called intuition-obscuring or knowledge-obscuring karmas. Depending on the

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intensity and duration of the person's hostility or indifference to knowledge, such a person may be born in the next life with an extremely low degree of intelligence or none at all.
A person who always helps somebody out of compassion and love acquires pleasure-producing karmas. Wherever that person takes birth, pleasure from all sides comes to him or her. Such a person is invited and received with joy.
On the other hand, someone who goes on hating and hurting people, someone who does not build a beautiful relationship with living beings builds pain-producing or bliss-obscuring karmas. Wherever he goes, people feel a kind of repulsion for him. Now the person may be doing the best he can for mankind, but because in the.past he did not care for anyone or shạre what he had with others, now people do not give him a good reception.
In addition, a person who not only harms but who takes 'life irreverently, such as a man who goes fishing, receives not only pain-producing karmas but also age-determining karımas. Such results come because he has caused pain to living life. Longevity comes to him or her who lets others live in peace.

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If you are born with a beautiful bodily form and make fun of someone who has not received physical beauty, the pain you create in that person's life with words, gestures, jokes, laughter, or disgust is an invitation to vibrations from the universe which bring physical-making karmas.
If you observe yourself and find a physical lack, then you can tell yourself: "Somewhere I have made fun of somebody. At that time I was not aware in a positive sense. Because of ignorance I went on causing pain to somebody. What I have now is the result of a feeling, gesture, vibration which I sent and which became concretized."
You were born to certain parents. Why? It shows some previous vibrations. You have chosen them or they have chosen you. Depending on the previous relationship, it will be a superior or inferior heredity, caused by what are called heredity-determining karmas. If the previous bond was painful, then you have come to cancel or undo the wrong, or you have come to allow the parents to experience and erase their past vibrations.
Most important is to know your dream. That is the clay which you use to compose yourself. It is on the

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basis of your unique idea, speech, action that you select a family, that family whose genes will permit you to express. best that dream. Therein lies your unique temperament, nature, character, growth pattern. That is why in the whole of the universe you will not find a single carbon copy of yourself.
The closer in touch you are with your dream, the closer you come to living your approach to life and to making your dream come true. For example, those souls who for a long period of time, in at least three or four. births, deeply cherish a feeling to lift all living beings from pain, suffering, and violence, become so engulfed with that longing that each cell of their consciousness is permeated by it. They are swimming in the dream of saving and helping living beings. Because of these beautiful vibrations of compassion and ainity, they slowly drop all negative vibrations from their consciousness. Gradually, their whole consciousness becomes scented with the idea of helping all.
Now there are no longer any heavy karmas binding them. Their positive vibrations take them to parents who are healthy and magnanimous. The mother who
carries this child is superb, positive. Each cell of the , body of this child is so vibrant with magnetic power

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that when people come into his or her presence they are lifted. In this birth this soul receives a golden voice, a command over words, a pleasing aroma in order to actualize one dream: to free all beings from suffering by bringing them to the path of Enlightenment.
Nothing in the world is impossible for mankind. : Whatever miracle we see in the field of medicine, architecture, invention, is the result of human consciousness and power. Whatever spiritual growth we experience comes from our longing to grow and to help others grow.
What happens to many people is that their mental habits come in their way and take away the positive effect of their meditation. The newfound bliss, courage, zeal, and awareness are covered up again. So what is needed is constant realization and faith in oneself. Say to yourself “If someone can do it, why not I?”
Realize that the “1” that was there in the amoeba as an unconscious or subconscious individuality has reached the state of “I can do it.” “I cannot do it,” is a conditioned feeling built by society and outside

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influences. To break that conditioning, swim against the current and work on “I can do it”; I am capable of doing and undoing; I can erase those old vibrations which are collected and stored up from the past.” Analyzing them you are cancelling them. Knowing which vibrations are coming in your way is dismissing them.. .
Who is compelling you to carry those vibrations which you do not want? No one but you. You have 110t removed them because you have not yet exerted your cnergy to remove them. When you realize “Who am I?” and “I can do.it,” you are working with dynamic power. You stop all blaming and start taking some responsibility on you. You know the art of using living positive vibrations to scatter old negative ones. . .
Try writing down. anything which bothers you, afżything which you do not want, in a proper sentence on a blackboard in your mind. Then write down the positive things that you do want on a whiteboard. Start erasing the blackboard items one by one, and then place your full attention on what you want. Using this method of visualizing, you will be able to change the focus of your consciousness completely.
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When you are clear about what you want, you will not be tempted by that which you do not need. When you know yourself, you will know your quest. When you know your quest, you will know others' quest. Without knowing yourself, you won't be able to know others. ..
· A shloka from Yoga Shastra says:
“Atmavat Sarwabhooteshu Sukhi Dukh Priyapriye, Chimtayannatmno-nistham Hinsamanyasaya Nacharet" “When you realize Atma in you, you see in others the same,. . Happiness everybody loves; nobody wants to be unhappy; So carry for others what you like for yourself, Refrain from doing to others that which you would not like for yourself.”
Once a European woman came to India. She loved a certain flower and everywhere she went she brought the seeds of that flower with her. She would say: "I stayed with you two or three days, now I would like to plant my favorite flower in your house.” And the people would bring a pot, some
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soil, a little water, and she would plant the seeds. In Madras, Bombay, Bangalore, in cach house where she stayed, these plants flourish and the flowers are blossoming. It is a simple message—what you love, you share.
So take a little time and in the silence uncover your quest. When you are one with your dream, you will acquire the power of your positive vibrations to determine your life in that direction. Sharing with others what you have to share, you neither take time for self-pity nor rush into the corner in search of personal salvation.
Connected to that changeless beneath all the changes, you will be connected to everyone. Going out of “I” you will see the whole world as “I”. Dare to invest yourself in the world and see what happens--you receive your Larger Self in return. Dare to commune-through compassion, cooperation, and communication—and continually you will rediscover your place in the imiverse. ...
For Contemplation:
"The theme of meditation is this: to reach that root where fear does not exist and where vibrant life is always felt.
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This is what we inean by immortality. This is called relating to ourselves.”
"As man becomes increasingly aware of his intrinsic quality and of his capacity for spiritual growth, soul becomes master, using matter in a creative way for his help rather than allowing matter to dominate. When soul ascends to its natural state, it is buoyant like an empty gourd, using body for a purpose: to carry conscious energy to fruition and fulfillment.” ·
“The whole universe is helping us survive and evolve. When we realize that without universal help we could 110t live a single day, something in us lets go and melts. We stop withholding ourselves. We flow in a reciprocal way with the universe as wc see each microcosm receiving from all others help and support and communication.”
“First find out what is your unique dream, with what you will be happy. Then ask yourself, 'Do I share with the world what I need and want for myself?' No one is either dependent or independent, but all are interdependent in a spiritually evolving world.”
“There is no past which determines our future. Karmas built by living life have the capacity to be evaporated or transmuted by living vibrations. Who is compelling you to

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carry those vibrations which you do not want? No one but you.. You have not removed them because you have not yet exerted your energy to remove them. When you realize 'Who am I?' and 'I can do it,' you are working with dynamic power. You stop all blaming and take the responsibility for your life on you."
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CHAPTER FIVE
TRANSFORMING YOUR VIBRATIONS
When you are about to speak at a radio station, a red light goes on to warn you that you are "on the air." Then whatever you say goes out into all directions and can be heard by thousands of people miles and miles away. By means of the telephone, radio, television, and other inventions, scientists have now proved what two hundred years ago was considered a miracle-that there is no barrier-sound crosses oceans and you can hear your own echo; your image is carried miles away and you can watch its reflection.
Wherever in the world there are receivers and transmitters, there we can have communication. And exactly what is said can be heard. What carries your voice? Vibrations.
From the time of our birth we are "on the air." But no one turns the red light on to warn us! It is not
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only what we say that is heard, but whatever we think goes out into the universe and returns to us like an ccho or a boomerang. If we want to receive beautiful vibrations from the universe, we have to send out vibrations of a like nature. If we send out negative. thoughts, we cannot expect to receive otherwise.
It takes no effort to receive negative results from our negative feelings. But in order to receive beautiful responses from the universe, we need to learn how to “tune up” our frequency, to "dial” the right program, and to "tune in" to those pure vibrations. For that we need both interest and skill. All potential is there in us, but like a machine, it will not work unless we know how to operate it. Our mission is this: to learn how to tap that potential and actualize its power.
The philosophy of karma is based on the living experience of the seers who were keen observers of themselves and the universe. You must test the philosophy in your own experience and not accept it on faith alone.
The process of karma is this: when you have a feeling of attraction or repulsion (called kashaya or
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passion), a vibration is created. Those vibrations which you send out pick up microscopic particles (atoms and molecules) from the universe and come back to you. Once you absorb them, they bind you and obscure your clear vision. They are like static on a radio station preventing you from getting a clear reception of the program.
: :
The particles which you receive cover your pure consciousness and hinder you from getting in touch with your real self. They hold you back from feeling at home in the universe. If your feeling of kashaya was very intense, then the particles received will be more dense, and the weightiness you feel will be greater. Many physical and mental diseases start in this way. If your feeling of repulsion was slight, then the particles received will be less dense and therefore less binding
What then is karına or karmas? Particles you have received and assimilated from the universe. How did they come? You attracted them by sending out a vibration, an invitation. This process is subtler than the working of a radio program, because what is inside your feeling, what is behind the inner program of your mind is animate and creative; it is sentient energy.
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Binding particles are attracted to sentient energy only when this energy is not in a state of awareness. It is in thc unaware state that we create either some passion of hatred or attachment:
Let us look for a moment at attachment. Love turned into attachment ceases to be love. It becomes binding and ultimately it breeds repulsion and hatred. Attachment wants to hold, bind, make a package and put it into the pocket. When you have deep, deep possessiveness, you turn the other person into an object and no longer see him moving with free will and with individual feeling.'
When you make someone into an object, you want "it" to act as you mold it, desire as you wish, speak as you speak. In other words, you want to sce yourself in that person. It leads to more and more possessiveness. This possessiveness goes even further —it wants to protect as well. When you say: **My child, my husband,” you are putting yourself there again.
- For example, you do not want the other person to meet or speak to anyone of whom you do not approve. He can only be your friend if he is enemy to your enemy. If he is friend to your enemy he is
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not a friend in your mind. So your seeing is with blind desires; you want to mold and bind. That is why attachment leads to repulsion...
Also by not allowing the person you love to act freely, you are not allowing him to grow..A person · must learn through bruises and mistakes. He must
go through different processes of suffering if he is to grow. All growth involves a little suffering, a little giving up. To graduate from school, you give up playtime or sports to do your homework. To experience the joy of motherhood, a woman gives up whatever is needed to carry the baby in her womb. In order to love without attachment, a person gives up his. ego, his lower self, his possessiveness.
Thus those who have seen the philosophy of vibrations and karma live differently from those who are unaware. They have seen that inside passion creates vibrations which lead to bandha or bondage. So they practise samvara or stoppage of the influx of karmas. Because you are always “on the air," you stop before you think, you stop before you speak, you stop before you act. You know that the thought you send out is going to bring back the same kind of vibrations

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from the person you send it to. It is something which must be experienced directly, not only in words.
The following story illustrates this process. Once there was an elderly woman and her young daughter who were going on foot to the village of their relatives ten miles away. Having already walked many miles, the young daughter grew weary. Her mother noticed her fatigue, and when a man rode by on his camel, she asked him: “Please, Sir, would you mind taking my daughter on your camel to the next village: It is only five miles away and you can drop her at the edge of the village where her aunt will meet her.”
The man who was enjoying his ride as a sport did not feel inclined to do this woman a favor. So he answered: “No, I don't want to take your daughter on my camel. I am taking this ride for pleasure and cannot take the time to go to that village.” And he went on his way.
In a while, the man had second thoughts. “I am foolish,” he thought. “There was a beautiful girl and she was wearing gold ornaments too. If I had taken her on my camel, I could have done whatever I wanted with her. Let me go back and tell the old
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woman I have changed my mind." And he started back to meet them.
Meanwhile, the old woman had a fresh thought:“I must have been crazy to have asked a stranger to take my daughter five miles away from here. Anything could have happened. It is good that he did not agree to my request.
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Then she saw him standing by a tree waiting for them. He greeted them saying: "Yes, I have changed my mind. I will take your daughter on my camel." The old woman smiled and told him: "Friend, do you know? The thought which has come to you has just now passed before my mind and I have heard its message. Before when you spoke spontaneously, I did also; then I said "Yes," and you said "No." Both of us were at that time sincere and trusting. Now impurity has come in you, so doubt has come in me."
Man does not understand this cosmic law and thus creates his own defeat. In our lonely moments we think in negative ways. Then slowly those negative thoughts become concrete. In fact, they become so solid that we are not in a condition to break them.
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This universe is a beautiful studio. Vibrations are being created at every moment. That is why the highest meditation is highest Awareness. In this Awareness you walk, sleep, talk, communicate, meet friends, do all of your business. That is meditation. Why? Because you are aware of your self twentyfour hours a day, not only on Sunday.
If we become aware in this way, living becomes a joyous process. It becomes the way to prosperity. What is meant by prosperity? To live with freedom, according to your inner command, to master what you want to master, to influence others in a positive way, to change your metabolism with your healthy thoughts. The law of the universe is not poverty. If we feel impoverished spiritually, mentally, or physically, it is because something is lacking in our own approach to thinking and living.
This philosophy, makes us aware of not being dependent on anybody's grace or favor or partiality. The philosophy is like the rain and the suv-for all. All are under the sun and rain. Where is the room for such phrases as "My God," "Your heaven," "My God will not be happy if I listen to you." What will happen in a heaven where all will be divided?
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Why do we not understand that we have created Inental partitions? Because we have not understood the impartial rain and wind and sunlight. We have not seen that pure universal vibrations are also open to all. We must open our sails so that our boat can move. We must open ourselves and change our awareness so that we can receive the fresh breeze of blessings which is always in the universe. When we change our perception, we are ready to receive.
Mahavir, from the time he left home and renounced the palace, practised living in a state of fearlessness, which is neither attraction nor repulsionit is being in balance; it is being filled with love. He meditated on making every moment of life a chance to be loving, whether people received him well or pushed him out, whether they gave him praise or abuse, whether they offered him alms or not. He took love as a process, as an experiment in his life.
. Once a shepherd met him on the way and warned him: “Stop here because a little distance up that road, there is a big cobra. It has killed many people.” Mahavir meditated on Maitri-universal love, saying to himself: “It is a beautiful occasion to test my love. Let me see if I have assimilated love in all the cells of
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my body. Otherwise, what is the use of all my philosophy and all my meditations?".
He did not pay heed to the shepherd. He walked up the road and saw a huge tree under which was an anthill and a big hole inside the anthill where the cobra lived. The cobra came out. For most people, this would have been a frightening moment.
Here Mahavir stood full of love. He was sending vibrations of pure love beaming from his eyes. Nevertheless, the angry cobra bit him on the toe. Then he turned around to go back into his hole, knowing that the man. would fall down dead. But that did not happen
Instead of blood, a stream of milk flowed out from Mahavir's toe. It was confusing for the cobra. Mahavir's whole being had turned into that loving feeling. And like a mother whose blood turns to milk in preparation for the coming of a newborn infant Mahavir had a mother's deep affection for all children, even for a cobra. As a result, the cells of his body had become transformed.
Then Mahavir told the cobra: “Serpent—be aware! Because of anger you became a cobra. Now be calm
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and be aware!" An animal develops fury because of being given anger. Mahavir sent him only the flow of love, and the cobra put his head down, feeling deep vibrations of peace.
Vibrations are working on our body cells. If you want to live healthily, you have to work on that. You can attract from the universe beautiful cells, because you have at the center of you a magnet of love. Like a loadstone, it always attracts. With this loadstar in you, you attract beautiful vibrations and healthy cells from the universe. With awareness, your vibrations are pure, bringing to you only that which you need to actualize your energy and to fulfill your mission in life.
So we are now learning that we must be aware of the passion we create—is it zeal or is it repulsion: By repulsion we mean anger, hatred, ill will, resentment, possessiveness, jealousy, deceitfulness, pride, all of which create negative vibrations and pick up undesirable particles leading to mental and physical heaviness and deterioration. We must know that these particles become a binding force and that because of them, we do not experience our infinite power.
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We all have infinite power inside, but these particles form a covering and limit our power. Negative karmas bind us like iron shackles; they are difficult to break. Positive vibrations hold us lightly like a golden chain; they are easy to break when the time comes. In the meantime, they take us to our destination by filling us with love instead of ill will, with appreciation instead of jealousy, with compassion instead of callousness, and with awareness instead of imbalance.
Now how can we remove the particles before they bind us? The first principle is samvara or stop. You stop any negative thoughts even before they start, or at least before they can gather any momentum. Otherwise, there is a downgoing movement which ends in some abyss, we don't know where. The second principle is nirjara which means evaporate, drop down, shed down. If, you have not become aware of a negative thought until ten or twenty minutes later, or the next day, and if you have already allowed it to settle in your consciousness, then you get rid of the particles which have accumulated by nirjara.
You say to yourself: "I want to free myself from that event. If I keep that thought in me, then I am
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not going to enjoy my life.” If you do not throw it away, it is like keeping the peels and seeds of fruit until they rot and smell and invite insects into your home. So you go to the root of that negative event or thought, and you become so alert that like a furnace, your intense awareness burns all the previous karmas.
You can use the vibrations of words, mantras, positive meditation, self-affirmation, self-investigation to neutralize old vibrations and free. yourself from them. Taking the responsibility on yourself and using your own power of awareness, you will realize that the intensity of your meditation is strong enough to free you.
By following these two practices, samvara and nirjara, sentient energy becomes liberated from the power of insentient karmic matter. It is like drying up a lake. Stopping unpleasant vibrations from coming in is like preparing a frame or a dam so that new water will not come in. Then you let the heat of the summer sun dry the rest, just as you allow the fire of your meditation to burn old accumulated karmic vibrations. Then the place where the lake used to be is dry and ready for use. Similarly, consciousness which has become clear and cleansed, can experience a blissful prosperous life.
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Your body will become a beautiful temple in which you dwell. Your mind will no longer be a narrow. place, full of arguments and hatred. It will be clean and spacious. You will live and work on the level of vibrations and you will be free to feel the divine. The blessings of the universe will echo in your consciousness, and your heart will pulsate with universal life. ...
For Contemplation:
“From the time of our birth we are on the air. It is not only what we say that is heard, but whatever we think goes out into the universe and returns to us like an echo or a boomerang. If we want to receive beautiful vibrations from the universe, we have to send out beautiful vibrations. If we send out negative thoughts, we cannot expect to receive otherwise." .
"Particles or karmas which you receive cover your pure consciousness and hinder you from getting in touch with your real self. You attract binding particles to yourself only when your sentient energy is not in a state of awareness. That is why awareness is the highest meditation. In this awareness you walk, sleep, eat, work, meet, communicate, live as a bridge with the world, not in bondage to it.”
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“Awareness in living becomes a way to prosperity. What is prosperity? To live with freedom according to your inner command, to master what you want fo master, to relate to others in a positive way, to bring health to your metabolism with your healthy thoughts.” in
. “We must open our sails so that our boat can move. We must open ourselves and change our awareness so that we can receive the fresh breeze of blessings which is always in the universe. When we remove our mental partitions and change our perception, we are ready to receive those pure universal vibrations which are open to all.”.
“By not allowing the person you love to act freely, you are not allowing either yourself or him to grow. All growth involves a little suffering, a little giving up. In order to love without attachiment, a person gives up his ego, his lower self, his possessiveness." .

Page #110
Shri Chitrabhanuji is no recluse, living in the vernal woods and meditating at a distance, on the fate of mankind. He has meditated and mediatated deeply, he is concerned with the fate of mankind, but in a much more active and personal way. He is prophet of doom, castigating his follow e and making them quake with th time" if they do not mend their w human and one which is based at is why he establishes such aral rapport with his audience. He bel ally all human beings are good and he appeals directly to this essential goodness in human beings. About his aims and methods he himself says, "I do not want to teach people their duties or any doctrine of religion, to stir their hearts, vivify their imagination, to bring them out from the little selves to the Higher, of which they are capable." - Jal Mistri.