This time, a collection of short discourses; for anyone present in India with Swamiji at those times in the ashram near Bangalore you will know that a random question from someone will elicit a response from Swamiji that may take the discussion in a different direction. Often this leads to a short discourse from Swamiji on the topic.
So you’ll find that the recording is split up into these different topics (the editor like to use a Synth bell to separate the sections).
Existence as a human being is not possible without an ego through which to express oneself.
And an extension of that is that people who pretend that they are ‘deeply spiritual beings’ who have transcended the ego in some way are not only deceiving others but they are also deceiving themselves.
Swami Nishchalananda is nothing if not honest. He says it how it is to him. In this episode from Satyananda Tapovanam Ashram he responds to a question about people who do astonishing things, seemingly, through the medium of yoga. People who we may regard as great Yogis or Saints. Maybe we buy into some mythology, or even if some of the stories we hear are true, it doesn’t negate the fact that all these people operate through an ego. Existence as a human being is not possible without an ego through which to express oneself.
And an extension of that is that people who pretend that they are ‘deeply spiritual beings’ who have transcended the ego in some way are not only deceiving others but they are also deceiving themselves.
“I think that hypocrisy and pretence are a huge obstacle to deeper understanding“ (Swami Nishchalananda)
An earlier meditation has been on the subject of one of the deities which are there in the background of Tantra, especially in India. Swamiji explains that these deities represent an aspect of the human condition and are not supposed to be understood as gods and goddesses that have an existence in their own right. For example the goddess Kali represents the process of time in the life of an individual. The Goddess Tara represents the process we go through of growth and flowering, or the restriction of such growth.
Archetypes, is the word that expresses such a concept of a deity representing an aspect of the personality. Jung of course was also into archetypes; working with them is a way of getting to a ‘deeper’ level in the sense of bringing something to the surface which may have been hidden.
The guided visualisation that actually started the session, on the archetype Tara, has been moved here in the edited recording to give the benefit of the previous explanation of archetypes in the forms of deities.
Note the use of the words ‘guided visualisation’; we often talk of these practices as ‘meditation’ but Swamiji reminds us that meditation is not a practice. It’s a state. Practices can help to bring about this state but meditation, Dhyana, is not a practice.
Please enjoy the recording (38 mins long)
Swami Nishchalananda 