Ritam - Being in Balance. A Podcast on Wellbeing
Mental wellbeing is an escalating global challenge having serious impact on the quality of life, productivity in workplace etc. Our approach to wellbeing fundamentally depends on our perspective of ourselves. Are we just human beings, not much different from animals or something more? Over thousands of years the Vedic spiritual seekers dived deep within themselves to explore the inner space and they repeatedly verified that we all, without exception, are in essence really spiritual beings having human experiences. Their discoveries form Vedanta philosophy - the 'science of human excellences" - which explain in detail and with much clarity how we have multidimensional physical, mental, emotional and ethical layers of personality covering the fundamental Pure and eternal spiritual being. Along with this, the Vedic seekers developed systematic Yoga techniques to purify our minds and "dis-cover" our true Self.
The Vedantic conception of ourselves and Yogic mind-management techniques offer an alternative approach to address the mental wellbeing challenges. Ramakrishna Vedanta Centre, Auckland has taken up a project to make available these Vedanta-Yoga teachings to empower individuals with the knowledge and skill-sets to better manage their minds, emotions, values etc. to live meaningful, peaceful and productive lives.
Ritam is the Vedic principle responsible for maintaining order, harmony and rhythm both in the macrocosm and the microcosm. Stress, tension, dis-ease etc arise when we lose this balance at different levels of our being and around us. We have limited capacity to influence change outside us but we can definitely integrate our mind to our inner Self to gain greater poise, balance and rhythm in life. Meditation is the art of turning the mind inwards and anchoring it to our eternal, omniscient, blissful and pure Self. The more we are integrated with our inner Self, the greater will be the influence we can cast around us. This is the spiritual way to freedom from the slavery to the eternal world and internal body, senses and mind.
Ritam - Being in Balance is our series of conversations with Swami Tadananda wherein we explore the Vedanta-Yoga teachings and practices to promote our wellbeing.
Ritam - Being in Balance. A Podcast on Wellbeing
39.Wellbeing - Bhakti Yoga part 2
Swamiji joins us to reveal how understanding energy dynamics, and the practice of self-reliance, can prevent mental health spirals, using Arjuna's struggle and Sri Krishna's guidance as profound examples.
Discover the spiritual mechanics behind mantras and how they act as a bridge to divine energies. With Swamiji's insights, we explore the potent combination of "OM," bija mantras, and deity names, and how these elements align our mental frequencies with a higher plane of consciousness. Like tuning a radio to the perfect channel, mantras help us resonate with divine energy, bringing about a deeper, more inspired connection with the divine. We also touch upon the concepts of Brahman and the universe's manifestation, showing the path back to the source.
Explore the supportive nature of Bhakti Yoga through practices that purify and uplift the mind. We discuss rituals like puja, japa, and Kirtan, illustrating how these acts of devotion can transform everyday activities into offerings to God. Understand how energy fields influence our interactions and how collective practices can foster unity and effective collaboration. This holistic approach to spirituality, as practiced by the Ramakrishna Mission, paves the way for our next episode, where we further synthesize the four yogas into practical, everyday spirituality.
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Namaste to the listeners and Namaste Swamiji, namaste Sunil, how are you? I'm good, swamiji. How are you? I'm good? Nice day out here in Glenmory. Yes, another beautiful, beautiful day, and the beauty of the landscape is quite evident, quite visible to see. Feels very calm and serene here actually, so it's really good. It's quite visible to see. It feels very calm and serene here actually, so it's really good and a great place to do a podcast.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Right, swamiji. In the last episode we talked about how to model the mind and to see it as a bundle of energy and also using that bundle of energy and understanding the intensity and frequency and how it helps understanding our interactions with others as well. So that was a good prelude to Bhakti Yoga, the path of devotion, and we touched on Bhakti Yoga, but we haven't really explored that yet. Could we talk about that in this episode?
Speaker 2:Okay, so let's continue. Quick recap we said that let us visualize our own minds and everyone else as a bundle of energy, which is what we really are. Just don't see things in a very physical way, mentally, and each person is a mind operating through the body and the senses, and what is happening through the movements and speech is actually an expression of what is in the mind. Some thoughts are there. I speak out, you hear that words. So the inner content we are trying to understand and we say, since it's energy, let's use a little bit of physics. So energies have different frequencies and amplitudes and energies interact with each other and when they interact, they either can add up or they can cancel each other out constructive or destructive. And we discussed a little bit of how these mechanics work in groups, at workplace and other. And if you reflect on that, you'll say there's a nice logical understanding of things. You don't say I don't like that person, I do not know why. But now you understand why you don't like that person.
Speaker 1:We are not just on the same page, not the same wavelength as they say same like yeah so.
Speaker 2:But so when in the bhagavad gita, when arjuna had this confusion about you know, about what's his duty and responsibility, whether he should fight, he was very eager for that. But at last moment something within gave in and he says I want to run away, don't want to fight in this and that, sri krishna. That chapter is called arjun Vishad Yoga. He's confused, despondent, sri Krishna being a wonderful psychiatrist, so to say, because understood the mind of that person. Psychiatrist about understanding the mind of the person. So he understood and said hey, your mind has gone down, my friend. Okay, and that's why all these negative ideas and things are jumping into you.
Speaker 2:To save yourself, you have to lift your mind up and the positive ideas will resonate with you. That's the whole idea of what this principle is used for, mental health also. So it's like the radio. When you bring it to a lower frequency, then the signal that's available at that frequency is caught and the radio expresses it. You tune it to a higher frequency, it receives the higher frequencies and expresses that. So if our minds come down, we expose ourselves to all the lower energies that is around there in this world. We'll just pick that up because we'll be resonating with them. Yes, you'll resonate with them, they will flood into you. And then what will they do? They'll drag you down a little bit, okay, the ping pong ball that was released on the top of the steps drops one step down and then even lower energies will kick in. And what will they do? They will drop you down and that's how the ball keeps on going down and that's how people slip into that dark space. Yes, and you do not know how to reach them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's a very downward spiral. Yeah, that downward spiral, okay, so it starts with a slip and then it cascades down. Yeah, therefore, that first slip is the cause of it, you know, and if we are vigilant, if you don't let that happen, we are good. Yeah, somewhere something might trigger some trauma or something like that, and that begins that spiral. This is a different perspective of mental well-being than what, how, the medical sciences are understanding. They think it's. The mind is a product of the brain. The neural activity is creating some emergent property called the mind, okay, and then it creates a sense of awareness. That's what they call consciousness Totally material.
Speaker 2:Vedanta is quite different, right yeah, vedanta is Mind comes first then the body comes, mind consciousness first, then mind, and then this body materializes. The medical sciences are putting the cart before the horse. That's why they can't control it. Anyway, coming back to the Vedanta thing, so we talked about these minds and how it can cascade down, and so Sri Krishna says lift your mind up, Uddhared, atmana, atmana. Uddhared means raise it. How? By yourself. No one else is going to do it. Do not lower it. Na Atmana Mavsadayat, if you can lift it, you are your own best friend. Atman Neva, if you can lift it, you are your own best friend, friend. And if you do the opposite, let it sink down, you are your own enemy. Ripu means enemy. So you see, in one capsule he has given this. The situation says lift your mind up always, don't let it come down. If you can do that, you are your own best friend. There is no enemy out there. Your own mind is the worst enemy when it comes down. So the question is how do I lift my mind up?
Speaker 2:So we talked about this rhythm and trainment. When somebody is feeling a bit low, he seeks company of some people and tries to come close to them, have some interaction, and hopefully that conversation or just being around with them lifts them out of that zone, so to say, and they feel a bit cheerful and relaxed. But if they can't hold their mind there again it slips down there. Yeah, okay to it again. They feel down, okay, and so, understanding this principle, some supports are available there that will help us lift our mind.
Speaker 2:It could be a nice book I'm reading. Ideas and thoughts are there. For the moment they resonate with my thinking and you feel elevated. That was so nice, I felt good about it. But how to really lift this mind out of this lower level totally and give you a much higher spiritual experience? You know of a spiritual experience? We need to logically resonate this mind or bring it in proximity or closeness to a much higher energy. Yeah, okay, yeah, and this, the science of devotion, is about that. Yeah, okay, it's about bringing the mind, our own mind, close to some source of high energy and trying to resonate with that rhythm, entrainment that it will slowly pull me up to its own level okay, and some positive, higher spiritual energy type, okay.
Speaker 1:So it needs to be higher, of course, otherwise yeah otherwise you're always trying and and, and we usually try and find a, because we're human beings, we we can connect to a, a deity or someone god in some personal form whom we can visualize, who represents something that our minds resonate with.
Speaker 2:So each mind is constituted differently and therefore it needs something that is closer to it to resonate with. Okay, so in hinduism there are so many gods and goddesses, which are these so many representations, and you will resonate and gravitate towards one of them and you say I love that particular aspect of god. Now, if I were a observer of mind only and I could have these devices by which I can see the energy of the deity there and the deity mr x there, and why they are getting attracted towards each other, you know, I love that particular aspect of God type of thing Because the mind has already begun to resonate and therefore that would be your best ideal connection To connect that aspect of the divine to which we try to resonate with let's use that word develop devotion to. Is called the Ishta devata, the chosen ideal, that chosen ideal of the divine ganesha, shiva, rama, krishna, buddha, christ. Any one of them doesn't matter. All of them are energies of the supreme being, but in different manifestations, and we can pick any one of them. The idea is that they will lift us up, as long as they're lifting us up? Yeah, right, and they're higher, so they lift up. So devotion, then, is really this science or the path by which we as with the intention of raising the mind, okay, elevating our mind to a highest level take the support of some intermediary manifestation of the divine, okay, who is actually a very powerful source of spiritual energy, and I try to resonate my mind and, using that concept of resonance, lift it so that eventually, it will become one with it.
Speaker 2:Yes, so that energy between the deity and the devotee is encapsulated in a powerful bundle also, and that's called mantra, right? So mantra mananatrayate iti mantra that by contemplating on which one is saved, one is uplifted. Okay, okay, that is the definition of the mantra. So each deity has got its own formula and mantra. Like, I want to talk to Sunil, so I'll call your name, because that is how, that's how the immediately, the moment I say, I get your attention, you're talking. Yeah, I call somebody else's's name, I'm talking to that person. So each deity has got its own mantra, and the mantras always start with OM, which is the ultimate. Then it becomes little bit more manifest, which is called the bija mantra, peculiar to a particular deity, and then the particular name will come, basically the link you get and the spiritual teacher will identify a particular deity for, for a spiritual aspirant, according to the mental constitution, and give that appropriate mantra and say this is how you need to cultivate that communication.
Speaker 1:So, swami, this clarification is mantra, the name or is a way of calling.
Speaker 2:So externally it is the sound, but it is the energy that is manifested as sound. Like you speak to me, that vibration that you produced is actually a thought in your head, okay, which you're talking, but now you choose to express it with your mouth. The air vibrates through In between. It is not a sound when it hits my eardrum and I take it into my head and I create a sound.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay, but it was energy all the way yeah.
Speaker 2:So it's called mantra shakti, okay, and the principle is the principle of resonance, that your mental makeup, your constitution is of that frequency. There is an aspect of the divine of a similar frequency. It makes sense to resonate with that. And you start off with that. The guru, the spiritual teacher, will point that out to you and teach you how to do that. And then you say off with that, the guru will spiritual teacher, will point that out to you and teach you how to do that. And then you say I do the japa, I keep on repeating the mantra. Okay, if with concentration and devotion, with you know, adoration, that I want to be like you. I wish to be like you, all those qualities that you have appealed to me, like your wonderful knowledge or kindness or compassion or power, or all those grace and whatever is there, it appeals to me. You know, and I want to model myself into that. Sri Ramakrishna says I have made the mold. Now cast your image in it. Okay. So when great spiritual teachers come, incarnations come, they create these models to which the minds of the seekers resonate and lift them up. So it basically lifts you from whatever level you are, from the lower end.
Speaker 2:The devotee is praying, you call it prayer, repeating the mantra. But the upper energy is not a passive, non-active, it's extremely powerful and active. So actually it uplifts you. And then Sri Ramakrishna says if you take one step towards God, god takes a hundred steps towards you. Basically, in terms of our explanation, you throw out an energy to the divine. It sends back that energy to you. Like I'm talking to you, you talk back to me. You know, and we're having a conversation. So there's a conversation between the devotee and his chosen ideal and in that process the, the devotee is uplifted, closer and closer, and as it goes up.
Speaker 2:So we went a little while back. We said we receive the energy depending, depending at what frequency we are drawn to. We go down, the world provides us a whole heap of negative energy. We go up, it provides us a whole blast of positive energy. And so as we begin to go up, as the mind begins to rise, you'll find that your mind becomes more sensitive, become more alert and you will begin to receive ideas, that thoughts in your mind. That's coming now and you say, wow, where did that come from? It was there all the time, but now we are getting tuned to it. Yes, like all these tv channels are there.
Speaker 2:If you do it to higher one, then suddenly you say changing channels, basically the same, yeah a new image appears on the screen but it was there all the time is that, yeah, we weren't tuned to it. So it's about tuning ourselves to that and every little increase we make, a better quality picture comes, okay, until you go high and you are totally resonating with the energy of that being at the same frequency. At that moment, the image or the experience that you will have is what you call the vision. I had the vision of God in this form, because now you are experiencing him or her in that aspect Totally resonating.
Speaker 2:This is sort of explaining devotion in a bit of science. Using science to explain devotion? Okay, but do you see the mechanics of it? Yeah, the mechanics. And the ultimate energy, the Parashakti, the supreme Shakti, is at the pure consciousness. Brahman, there it is the highest, but it's not manifest. Everything is contained in it. It hasn't expressed itself. Like white light contains all the colors, but in white light you don't see any color. Down the line it will spread out into a spectrum. Brahman is that total mass of energy, but non-manifest.
Speaker 2:And then when it has begun to spread itself out in this whole spectrum. These are all these planes of existence, bhur, bhua, swaham. Like all the seven colors of the spectrum, it passes through that prism White light. In physics we study a beam of white light passing through a prism, spreads out into this spectrum of colors. So that pure consciousness. Passing through what prism? The prism of time, space and causation, kala, desha, nimitta and Vedanta, and therefore that white light has become this whole universe and all living beings, and you and I are bundles of that One color, one frequency. Somewhere we want to go from God, realization means I want to enter into that white light.
Speaker 1:So we're tracing ourselves back from where we came from.
Speaker 2:Yes, source Going to the source. So we need some support, something that will lift us. And the path of jnana is you're only standing on your own two feet. Yes, that's a steep climb. Yeah, the path of bhakti is like somebody has dropped a rope and say, hey, just hold on to that, I'll pull you up. Okay, so it's much easier than making all that effort. That's why the path of bhakti is is easier, recommended, is easier recommended for this age believer.
Speaker 2:Okay, but the mechanics of it you understand. So what does it? Then the question comes how do one practice it? Yes, so you'll see, in the path of devotion we have so many rituals and ceremonies, puja and japa and singing of devotional songs and stotras. Now, behind all of these activities, devotional activities, try to interpret them and understand them in the light of these ideas of mind, how each one of them facilitates bringing closer, uplifting our mind to the divine.
Speaker 2:So, for example, you say many people see rituals as an external thing only. Okay, yes, puja is. Sometimes people do it a bit mechanically also, but really good, puja is like you know you are. Those external forms are just the external means by which you are expressing your emotion, like at home. It's birthday of somebody and the whole family wants to express their love and affection for that particular person. But you express it in some way. You get a beautiful card, but the card you buy some gift. Mother cooks the favorite meal of the child and on that day day the child feels everyone loves me so much. You see, but these were the means by which you communicated that you could not just say, hey, we love you so much. You know that wouldn't have the same effect as giving all these activities and presents and gifts and things. So these are the rituals you might say, these are our rituals, by which I express my love and affection for people that I love, isn't it so we?
Speaker 2:do that all the time. Yes, you know, when we want to be attracted to somebody, okay, the other person may be not interested in you so far. Then you use the same methods. Okay, you give a gift to somebody. Why do you give to? Okay behind that? You know he'll like me.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Okay, he'll take notice of me, you know, and after some time he might reciprocate and thank you very much. That was very nice. He gives you something like that and, before you know, a friendship has developed. Yes, you see, so that exchange of few items we might say is the ritual, but the goal was not just giving and taking. The goal was to establish this emotional connection. So when we approach our divine, we also offer a beautiful flower, this incense, cook some food in this, whatever is there everything we would like to offer to him first and then take, because that association somehow purifies in our mind.
Speaker 2:Yeah, when love somebody, you want to give the best to that person, then if you take it, it's like centered by the personality and the energy and the aroma, and it makes it good for you. It makes you feel good, isn't it? So, in the same way, we have to use these mechanics To these rituals. It could be just a very simple puja, which is a ritual, okay. Or I just love to sing some devotional songs, yeah, okay. So in everyday life, when you hear good qualities of the person that you love, people are talking, or you are talking and you're praising the child or your husband or wife or friend or this or whatever is there. It makes you feel good yeah.
Speaker 1:Because the songs are basically the songs are.
Speaker 2:yes, are praises about the deity, how he looks and what are his wonderful qualities and when he incarnated, or drama of life or narratives are there. You relive them in your mind. And what does it do? It makes you feel good because it lifts your mind at that time closer. And if it's done in a congregation, that collective energy of everyone gives another powerful boost. So devotees get together and have congregational singing Kirtan Okay, that's another one there.
Speaker 2:Stotras. Stotras are hymns that have been composed by people of realization about what was the nature of that experience when they communicated with the divine, and they try to capture that in verses and all that. So when you chant those stotras, verses and all that, so when you chant those stotras, those ideas that are embedded in those verses awaken your mind. You know again, you are trying to infuse that energy and bring that, make that that ideal a living ideal. God is not some statue there. No, it's vibrant with energy. It's a living consciousness. It's very powerful. You know I need that.
Speaker 2:Like mother is not a picture. It's vibrant with energy. It's a living consciousness. It's very powerful. You know I need that. Like mother is not a picture, it's a living person there for the child. She will feed him, she'll take care of him. That type of relationship, then, what else we have in devotion, path of devotion? Whatever you love, you like to constantly remember, yes, the more, and every time you remember it makes you feel good. You know. Whoever you love, you know, uh, whenever that thought comes in, you don't have to really work hard for it, yeah in your mind, you quickly.
Speaker 1:It keeps on popping up, you know, and every time it makes you feel good.
Speaker 2:You know about that. So when we develop that relationship with the divine, the mere repetition of the mantra, the thought of the deity, brings the mind up, gives a little notch up, you know, and somehow it helps you to. You know, in a very gradual way, simple, little little steps to lift it up there and gradually pitch it higher and higher so that it reaches a new equilibrium. So you might start beginning of the year. You're not initiated. You receive a mantra and all those things and you are just doing it without still, distance is there. But one year later you'll find that you you might not be able to explain it, but some connection is happening and if sit down and you pray and meditate, you feel good, you feel there is some power protecting you, guiding you here. It means uplifting you, nurturing you, all those things not letting the negative energy come in there. Or when you're down, when you think it, you feel uplifted there. So think in the terms of this energies, yeah so when?
Speaker 1:yeah, so when people you know going through hardships you know there's always, for example, in there's always, for example, in hospitals, there's always a prayer room. You know the whole purpose.
Speaker 2:A place where you can go and you know for those who have trained themselves or are inclined that way, to go and avail that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay, to try and lift them right, because they're in a low space at the moment. No one can help you right now. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Doctors have given a wrong diagnosis, or not a pleasant diagnosis. You do not know when do you go, whom do you reach out to. So, hey, no one outside can help me. But I know somebody that I have been praying to. Your higher self, essentially God is our own higher self.
Speaker 2:It's not some being sitting on the clouds, okay, it's not some. In ignorance, people think God is somebody out there. Shri Ramakrishna says when little knowledge comes, he realizes that he is the consciousness inside one's own heart. When that goes to the next level, then he realizes God is in the hearts of all beings. It's the universal consciousness, it's the ocean behind the waves. We are from there, we are supported by that ocean every instant and we'll go there, and yet we do not know much about it. That is called ignorance. So the whole power comes from there.
Speaker 2:How do we establish that beautiful relationship and be an instrument in the hands of that power? You see, because, actually, that that power is working through us in between, when we are not aware of that. Then we appropriate that agency to ourselves and that is called the ego. I am the doer, I am the enjoyer, but we are not really the doer. The ocean is supplying the energy, okay, so, as that relationship between the Jeeva, the devotee and the divine develops, but understanding comes, then all this stress and anxiety and all those things that comes when we think I am the doer, I am the master, I control the outcome, the results depend on me. That ignorance goes away and we say I am merely an instrument of the divine.
Speaker 2:That is what Sri Krishna is asking to Arjuna. That ignorance goes away and we say I'm merely an instrument of the divine. Okay, that is what Sri Krishna is asking to Arjuna, telling Arjuna you think you are a great warrior and the outcome of this battle will depend on your contribution. Nothing about nothing doing, you know. He says I reside in the heart of all beings and I pull the strings and everyone dances like a puppet. You are merely an instrument. Nimitta Matra. Okay, that is the more enlightened understanding of things, where the ego then doesn't die, but it subjugates itself and says I'm the denominator, you are the numerator, I exist because of you. But if I want to become infinite, what should the numerator denominator do? It should reduce itself. The moment it becomes zero, the whole fraction becomes infinite.
Speaker 1:Mathematics yeah, yeah, okay.
Speaker 2:But if you say there's no numerator, I am the numerator, I want to become big and that's what everyone wants to do, more and more. I, I, I. You know like that. And the more the numerator denominator becomes bigger, the whole fraction becomes smaller, smaller and smaller. There's a little bit of physics, mathematics in there, but a way of representing it.
Speaker 2:So a devotee always says he is the divine, he is the numeric. I am like Hanumanji, always sitting kneeling on the floor, arms folded. I am the servant, you are the master. That's a relationship. Ok, you are the mother, I am the child. That's a relationship. So in the path of devotion we must cultivate one definite attitude, relationship with the divine, and nurture that. Different people have different temperaments but one has to lock down one. In our spiritual teachings there are wonderful examples of people who perfected themselves. You know like hanumanji is a perfect example of dasya bhava I'm the servant. Krishna and arjuna. Sakhya bhava I'm a friend of god. You know radha and krishna. Madhura bhava you know like the separation becomes less and less and less. Vatsatsalya bhava God is my child, mother Yashoda and baby Krishna, kaushalya Ram. See some relationship, and the relationship is what sustains things. And have a relationship with the Divine. I am the child of the Divine. That's a very powerful, beautiful approach.
Speaker 1:That's really good, swamiji. So the practices we've talked about. Are there other facets of this path?
Speaker 2:Yes, you know everyday devotion. You will start your day and say, hey, take a bath, go to the shrine, start the day with your communication, sit down and light a lamp. You know, light an incense stick, put a flower, sit down and repeat the mantra. Visualize the presence of the divine in your own heart. You might be sitting in the shrine, but the shrine that you are trying to build is within you, in your mind. The mind is the canvas. The other day I was explaining to our class the mind is a three-dimensional canvas and the mantra is the brush. With each stroke, each, each repetition, I'm doing a painting, okay, and it's, it's going to be living being that eventually will take form, okay, and so you're totally engaged in that process. Yeah, okay.
Speaker 2:So japa meditation naturally develops when the visualization becomes very intense, you're able to focus the whole energy in there and visualize the divine form. That's meditation and you're communicating through that then. So this is your everyday, daily ritual and devotion. You start evening something like that you do in the daytime, and this is where the beauty of I do In the daytime and this is where the beauty of the harmony of yogas that we started, of the Ramakrishna mission, how bhakti is integrated into that. So when we were discussing Jnana Yoga, we said what appears to be a human being is really the divine being Because our mind, the radio of our mind, is tuned to a lower frequency. He appears to us as a physical person like brown, white, male, female and all that. If you raise the whole energy to another frequency, mind to another frequency, the physical form will disappear. You will see the mental mind, a divine being there, and ultimately, at the highest level, it all becomes consciousness. Okay, keeping that idea in front of us. And we are practicing devotion where we have got a shrine in a particular aspect of god and we do our prayer to that. But jnana yoga will say that which resides in your shrine and which you are trying to visualize in your heart actually dwells in the heart of everyone. So you can now take, take your devotion out from your special, protected place of practice, because you require a controlled environment without all the disturbance.
Speaker 2:But the test is can you take it out into the world where God is there in all these forms? That's why Vivekananda said I preach unto you that God whom in ignorance people call man. Okay, and now? That's a wonderful idea. You start the day so after doing a prayer, you see your family members there's a lot of God in these funny forms Go to workplace Same thing. You try to see God in the good, in the bad, in the ugly, everywhere. In the ugly, in the bad, it's more covered, okay, in the good it's shining a little bit, but the same ocean is behind all of them. Everyone is mine. I exist as the ocean in all of them. I can't you know. That's the real inclusiveness. And so what is the philosophy by which that will help me reconcile this world? Here is the jnana, but now you go and do your bhakti. So does it mean you are doing rituals and puja to the people in front of you?
Speaker 1:No, no, of course.
Speaker 2:The traditional ritual you do in the shrine. You are not going to do with the people, but in your actions, let that be worship. If you are a, your actions and how you be, let that be worship. Yeah, if you're a teacher, you're teaching, let that be offering to God in this particular form. If you're a doctor, the medical advice, consultation, medical medication and everything is your worship. So every work becomes worship. Even saying something nice to somebody, giving somebody a smile, uplifts that person, brings some joy in there. Does it cost you anything? No, why should you carry a long face, disgruntled, stressed out and things? Everyone will run away from you.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:Okay, so, cultivating that joy inside you, that peace and balance, and then, because we are that mind and it's an energy, and it's a pulsating energy, it's a vibration, you radiate that field of energy around you. So the way to visualize this energy is like a, like a. So energy will have this is coming a little bit of physics in there. The model that nature uses is what is called a torus. Torus is the form, if you want to understand. It's the donut shape, it's the form of the Earth's magnetic field. Okay, so it comes from the North Pole and goes through the South Pole and enters there and it's, in all, three-dimensional. That type of form is what energy is there Everywhere. You will see that form in nature the number 8.
Speaker 1:No no.
Speaker 2:The Taurus is.
Speaker 1:No no.
Speaker 2:The Taurus is the Earth's magnetic field that we see in our physics book. It goes this way the infinity it goes through. The top comes out a few lines of force.
Speaker 1:But it's not a number eight, isn't it? Yeah? Well, you might look at it If you cut a section it looks like eight, but like a pumpkin.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, look, apple. See, nature creates these toroidal forms. When that energy that's behind takes a form, gets metal like a magnet, has got magnetic field, you don't see the force. You throw some iron filings, suddenly those patterns form. So energy is that formless and when it takes in matter, then it casts that form. And those forms we see everywhere In the human body the brain, the lungs, the heart, they all shift in that way.
Speaker 2:You see, think about that oracle form the pumpkin, the fruits are there, the earth, the planets, everywhere in nature. It uses this universal form of a torus, okay, to manifest. So it's not a static magnetic field, okay, it's vibrating in and out at a particular frequency. How fast it expands and contracts. There's a frequency fast. So every form of energy will have a field around it, okay, and some fields are very powerful and has got a wide expanse, some are very limited, some at a high frequency, some at a low frequency.
Speaker 2:Visualize people like that, bundles of energy radiating and when two people come together, these two fields interact, okay, and either you are at a similar frequency and say I like this person, it's wonderful, I want to be close to that person, you know, or it's repulsive, okay, and you want to get away from it. That's another topic that's right that we can discuss about. Why we like people we like, why we don't like people, why people gravitate towards other, why people behave in a crazy way where it does not really make logical sense, like there is some politician in some country that does all stupid things, tells lies, his character is not very good, and yet half the country follows him. You might say they're all educated people, intelligent people. How is that? They're so trapped in there and it's now being controlled by that person that they can't think out of that.
Speaker 2:Yeah that's right. It amazes me and I want to understand what the mechanics of it whether it's in a small family, extended family, a football team, a cricket team, a political party, a nation or united nations we're supposed to be all united in, in our in our ideologies and thoughts about the good of the whole world. What is working, the mechanics that works, is this model, if we say, if we get this model right and say how we then manage this.
Speaker 2:Understand it first Understand it first, and then we'll use that knowledge in a scientific way. Getting the right people together. Otherwise, if you get the wrong people, your ducks are not lining up and you neutralize all the efforts. Most of the time you'll find that's what happens.
Speaker 1:Interesting subject Something to pick up in maybe a future episode. Thank you, Swamiji. That was a very interesting talk. So now we've concluded talking about all the four yogas.
Speaker 2:We've talked about the four yogas, maybe we can once more do another, one episode on synthesizing them all together, all together, saying that they're not separate watertight compartments, they're all interlinked and in one activity, any one activity, we can integrate them all, whereas, for example and this is the beauty of the Ramakrishna missions practice of spirituality. So apparently you might see, just as a brief introduction to the next topic episode, you see, somebody is doing a little bit of service to somebody out there. Swami is there, you know, doing some service to you know, hospital or school. Okay, so he's doing karma yoga. Okay, but the understanding is that he's not treating poor, suffering patients. God has come in this form. We call them Rogi Narayan, narayana, in the form of the patient. Okay, so that knowledge comes, and because now I see God in that person, the best in me comes out, because I do with great sincerity and devotion and all those things, how I interact with that person, you know all those type of things. So these three yogas are, all are combined in that one.
Speaker 1:You know activity All at play.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and then how do I maintain that balance? Okay, I need to sit down and cultivate that, you know, nurture that in my, and that's where the meditation comes. Test yourself, you know, go into the world, come back, withdraw and strengthen yourself, go until you can, you know, maintain that equilibrium all the time alright, swamiji, so we'll pick that up, the synthesis of the four yogas, in the next episode.
Speaker 1:Thank you, swamiji most welcome, sunil.
Speaker 2:Thank you.
