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
42.Wellbeing - Are we making any spiritual progress?
We answer a listener's question - how do we know that we are making spiritual progress? Swami Tadananda uncovers the essence of true spiritual growth. Ever wondered how spiritual practices can transform your consciousness, much like tuning a radio from lower to higher frequencies? Swami Tadananda shares enlightening insights into the multi-dimensional nature of human existence—body, mind, intelligence, and the pure consciousness of Atman. By practicing virtues like non-violence, truthfulness, and prayerfulness, we lay a foundation for spiritual advancement, guiding us toward God-realization or self-realization.
Navigate the transformative path of spiritual growth with us, where everyday life takes on a deeper significance. As we hone our concentration and insight, mundane pursuits give way to higher truths, aligning us with our divine potential. Drawing on vivid analogies such as a lotus blooming or a fern leaf unfurling, we illustrate how this spiritual awakening leads to profound inner experiences and a deep connection with our higher selves. Together, we explore the dynamic interplay between the external world and our internal selves, offering a balanced view of how external influences and internal reflections shape our lives. Join us for this enlightening conversation that guides you towards embodying the essence of purity, bliss, and immortality.
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Namaste Rhythm listeners and welcome back to another episode of Rhythm. I'm with Swami Tadannanda. How are you? I'm good, Sunil, Thank you. How are you? I'm good, thank you. Question comes from one of the listeners where they've asked how do they know that they're making spiritual progress? This listener has been listening to episodes for a while.
Speaker 2:Okay, so let us first understand what is spirituality in the sense. Again, we go back to the framework of what we are, that we are a multi-dimensional being and the grossest dimension is the body, and that it then, through that, we interact with the physical world, because the five senses are embedded in there. And subtler than that, like two eyes, the subtler is the water. So we have that mental space, the area of space of mind, thoughts and emotions and feelings, and all that which controls the physical body and manifests various actions, and all that. Then we say there is even something finer than that eyes, vata, vata, vaipa body, mind and intelligence. Let us say which through which? Which actually is the controller of the mind, and the mind then controls the body, and then actions happen. And then behind that, in the highest dimension, we are pure consciousness, the Atman, the spiritual being. That is the common thread that runs through all of us. That's the ocean behind all the waves, and actually that is the permanent part of it. The waves appear and disappear. The three bodies intelligence, mind and physical body appear, retain some form for some time and then it merges back into the source, but the ocean is the permanent aspect of our being. Therefore, we are all spiritual beings having a human experience and the cycle of putting on the body and discarding the body. Putting another body, discarding the body, is what is called sansara, and the mind remains. It survives, even the death of the physical body, but even then the mind is dismantled and even the death of the physical body. But even when the mind is dismantled and all the bodies become dismantled, when we really become no body, then we become identified with that universal spiritual being. I am the supreme being. That's called God-realization, self-realization, nirvana, mukti, bhagwan-lal, all those terms are there. So that is the framework. Now, when we practice various spiritual disciplines, they are meant to actually bring about a transformation that will elevate us and take us closer and closer to that spiritual dimension of our being.
Speaker 2:All right, that is the whole idea behind all the spiritual practices that I sense that we have is, like, you know, the old radios that we have. They have got a tuning knob and you can move the station from the lower stations to the higher stations, so to say, and as you move to different stations it picks up different whatever is being broadcast at that station. So the lower station is the physical body station, and when the mind comes down to that level, then it functions through the five senses the eyes, eyes, sees, nose, smells and ears, hear and all those type of things. When it shifts to a slightly higher level, then the mind becomes activated. You become aware of thoughts and ideas and emotions and feelings and all those type of things become that sort of become activated, sort of become activated. And when that same mind can be raised to the even higher level, where the I-sense sort of just comes to the source or the power, that is, the intelligence that operates the mind, that regulates and controls it, that directs it, what is called the buddhi, the intellect part of it, then another world opens to you and you become a spectator of your thoughts and ideas. You see how your various emotions are being formed, how thoughts are coming and going, how decisions are made. You can manipulate and control and have a better outcome of your mind. You're driving now in the driver's seat and the result of that manifests through your actions in the physical body. They are under greater. You know you're more in control of that. So spiritual life, sunil, is merging.
Speaker 2:Ultimately, the aim is to merge this ego sense into that source, the consciousness that is there. It's a conscious effort to disconnect the ego from the physical, sense-bound, sensory world and lift it to the super-sensuous world, the reality that is there. And so you'll find that in all the religions they have got certain do's and don'ts, the ten commandments, or the yama and the niyama of the Patanjali Yoga Sutras, and then you'll find the rational behind them is this it says do those things that will lift you above higher, don't do those things that will drag you down. Okay, because at the end of the day we want that elevation, lifting, going to that higher energy of being. So the actions that we do have can have two types of output it can bring us down or it can lift us up.
Speaker 2:One has to, and the prescriptions that are given in the spiritual paths are if you examine very carefully the moral and the ethical things, what is dharma and what is adharma, what is right and what is not right, what is personally conducive for spiritual growth and which is harmful for spiritual growth, you'll find the subtle demarcation is that anything that takes us up is good, anything that drags us down and makes us more and more identified with this body and the mind and the senses, more like an animal life of eating, drinking, procreating and we live there, we die there. That is not desired. So you'll find that the disciplines are to restrain ourselves, to check the lower impulses and to give expression to the higher ones. And so in spiritual life you will see non-violence, ahimsa, satya, truthfulness, purity, you know, prayerfulness to the Supreme being or our own higher Self. All those things are taught as the means as we practice them, and they are the foundations of spiritual life that support the japa and meditation and other spiritual practices that we do as we practice them. And if you sincerely practice them, then you will feel that elevation.
Speaker 2:Okay, it's like a hot air balloon. It's grounded, it's tied to the ground with some ropes and things you want to, and when it's on the ground you see the world around you. You see the big trees and things around from that flat surface level. But if you can lift that hot air balloon up into the sky, then you get a much wider view, free from all the obstructions, and have a much bigger view. Is there? So to lift yourself, you have to put in some hot air into it, isn't it that hot air is called tapasya, tapa, tapas. The word heat means tapas. Okay, so you can ignite that.
Speaker 2:And that is where japan meditation is doing very seriously. Not only just 108 mantras, you know there's a very minimal, but you really sincerely try to improve or increase the duration and the quality of that meditation and the focus and all that to harness the shakti of the mantra, the mantra shakti. So as you do that sincerely, you know, not randomly, you know, and do it with great passion and devotion, and then you are putting that energy, heat energy, so to say. But, but you might, if you fail to untie the ropes that were holding the balloon to the ground, then all that hot air is in the balloon is not having that uplifting effect. So part of that you have to say I have to untie.
Speaker 2:And that's why you'll find a lot of a part of the instructions are is there is about the detachment okay, all right. So non-attachment to the things of the world. Nothing belongs to you. Even this body doesn't belong to you. Money doesn't belong to you. Everything is there for you, but it will be given to you, it will be taken away from you. It's smartly how you use it. You can bind yourself or you can free yourself, but in this world there's constant change, all right.
Speaker 2:So when you untie that rope, and that is what is called non-attachment. Non-attachment to material things, my house, my car, not attachments to even animals, my pet or people, my wife, husband, children or money or name or fame or power or position. All these are so many subtle ropes that tie us down to this physical world, and so what you do is spiritualize them. Everything is actually a spiritual being. Your wife is a spiritual being, your child is a spiritual being, everyone you deal with is a spiritual being. When you put that, then that rope loses its power of binding, okay, and your tapasya begins to lift yourself up and as you rise higher, depending on what we practice, just like a balloon will rise up. So you will understand you're rising.
Speaker 2:I say how do you know you're rising? So I look around. Now I'm not at the ground level, I'm looking down on the trees, those big trees that were looking, the trees that were looking big when I was there, now are becoming small and as I go higher and higher they seem to recede away and another, bigger view begins to open to me. Now I can see five kilometers run my left, right and left, so to say it's nice and cool here. And the higher I go, all those big things, the things that look big and important on the ground level, have all receded away and become insignificant and small and something bigger has opened to me. So one of the signs that we're making spiritual progress is that you will develop some sense of detachment from all those things around you.
Speaker 2:Okay, you're a spectator, you go around doing things. That means things don't affect you so much, you are not disturbed too much by things that are happening you know it could be life and death and people around are suffering and going and all those things but you have a sort of a detached. You're a spectator and a visitor and and therefore they don't affect you so much. That's one of the things that you will see. Okay, you are more stable within you. Your balance is not lost. You are in rhythm with something higher. That's one of the things. Secondly, and part of that is why, because, as you went up, those things that were very important and big on the ground level, now I look them, they are all trivial, little small things down there. The big tree is not much different from the shrub, okay, from that high level.
Speaker 2:And therefore they have sort of become less significant. But something else is open to you and you have this bigger vision of life and you're looking at yourself. You know where did I come from, you know where am I going and what's the meaning and purpose of all those things. And rather than just looking at, taking a day at a time on a week, and I going and what's the meaning and purpose of all those things, and rather than just looking at and taking a day at a time on a week, and I say what's going to happen next month, you say I don't know what happened last month, I've forgotten. We are just like so much zoomed and focused and everything has become magnified and important, but the bigger picture is lost. So as you become, as you rise, you'll find that things around you begin to lose the value, the significance. In its place, something else begins to come in and you have this important goal of life how to become free, how to know who you are, where you're coming and going from. Those small questions have become important for you, and so the small things don't unsettle you very much. Things come, things go. That's it Like that. You know you have a sense of detachment in there. So that is probably the most empowering effect of spiritual progress. It's not spiritual realization, it's just that now you're looking at everything in a different perspective. But inwardly you'll find that you have a greater poise and balance, a sense of peace. You don't get ruffled around too much, your mind has become subtle.
Speaker 2:That's the second point. As you practice spiritual practices, the mind is not a gross mind, that one functions through these senses. Only it is not like ice, it has become like water. Water has got a greater degree of freedom than a block of ice. And you take it to another level, it becomes even finer. More energy is there. It's like 2G, 3g, 4g Okay, the higher the bandwidth, more information energy, more signal is there in that signal. So as the mind develops and is able to escalate itself or rise to these higher planes, the penetrative insight, the sharpness of the mind to perceive through things, that power grows and you will be able to have that penetrative insight to things which probably it is like you know you're looking at something through your naked eye.
Speaker 2:Then you get a magnifying glass and suddenly the same thing reveals itself in a in a more detailed way. Then you put that under a microscope and again, another layer is peeled off and as you keep on going through higher and higher powers of magnification, that same piece of sample, a piece of cloth, is now revealing itself to you in so many details. So in spiritual life we are actually developing that internal microscope, so to say. And that is what the power of concentration comes. When you look through a microscope, you have this round circle and you call the field of view, isn't it, and you look at certain things. So if you look at a sample through power 10 magnification and you see certain details, when you take it to say, time 100, then you find that just one spot has become magnified and the rest has gone outside the field of view. So your power of concentration, whole energy, is now used to reveal something in greater detail.
Speaker 2:You'll be able to zoom into whatever you are trying to study and understand and the mind will reveal that object of study in so much more detail than if you just had access to a naked eye looking over a magnifying glass, so that it opens another world for us, because you have got a very powerful mind that you have developed through the spiritual practices of concentration and detachment and all those things, and we are using that mind in our spiritual practice as well as our everyday life. So in the light of that, you'll find in our everyday life, the decisions we make. The clarity that we have is far higher than otherwise. Okay, at work you have a very deep, penetrative insight which other people would not have if they haven't trained themselves in that way. You will see things, the outcomes and the results and a lot of things that otherwise, in other words, you're looking through a microscope while others are looking through a magnifying glass only and such you'll be able to have, you know, make better decisions, right decisions at the right time and all those things. Less mistakes as well.
Speaker 2:As that's about the external world, internal world, you'll have a great clarity about the greater purpose of life, you know, and discrimination about where to invest your time and energy, things that you have understood to be insignificant, will lose their charm. You will see that most of the things we do are very, very repetitive in life. We go through that same invariable cycle from Monday to Friday, from morning to evening, and yet we don't get bored with life, you see. But when you look back you say, hey, what is so interesting? How life goes spent in this way, is that what life is all about? No, it's something. There's more to life than that and therefore all these daily engagements and wastefulness of time in useless pursuits and hobbies and socializing and all those type of things just lose their charm.
Speaker 2:That doesn't mean you become a boring person.
Speaker 2:Yes, maybe your friends don't find you so exciting because you don't have that same passion for your sports and all the conversations that's going around there and picnicking and partying and all that because your mind seeks something higher now and that might not be available out there with the people who are at that, you know, grosser level.
Speaker 2:So your mind will seek company of people or places where it gets stimulated with that type of knowledge and you'll find great joy when you are exposing yourself to that type of knowledge, because it's a finer taste, it's a more refined taste that opens up when you pursue these higher truths and the, the truths about who we are and the greatest riddles of this existence. You want to solve and discover the wonderful truths that the sages have proclaimed, that we are the eternal, immortal being, and so that will bring about a change in your everyday association also. You see, that's one of the results that we are making progress, that things that were very lot of fun and enjoyable at a very gross level are not so anymore yes, okay, these are in as you rattle them out.
Speaker 1:here it they all make sense, right, and people and our listeners that have been listening for a while, they would know that a lot of these do come about. Yes, if you're doing not all of them maybe at the same time, but small degrees of each do pop in, sorry.
Speaker 2:Yes, and these are the everyday things. You know, there's little, little roadmaps. And then, of course, on the other side, you know when you're really lifting yourself up, then you'll have various other spiritual experiences also. Okay, yes, and you know, the world, the subtle world of the spirit that is unavailable to us when we are looking at functioning through the gross senses and the ordinary mind, that opens up into another beautiful world about who we are and how the world is, and that can be very, very transformational and enlightening. And that's when you feel, wow, this is what spiritual life is about. It's unfolding. It's the lotus that is blooming within us, in the lotus bud. All these wonderful things are there, but it must bloom. It's a Kauru that must unfurl itself into a beautiful fern leaf. It is the potential God in me that now must express itself and manifest itself and all those wonderful qualities that we normally appropriate to God that he is infinitely powerful, he's omniscient, he's omnipotent, he is full of bliss, he is the essence of purity and beauty and freedom, and eternal and immortal. Really, that God is our own higher self. And, as is another way to look at and measure or have some indication of, are we increasing, growing spiritually or not.
Speaker 2:And the third one and most powerful one is yes, you can do your spiritual practices in the silence and solitude of your cave or your personal life. But look, you know, there's an ocean behind the wave. And as the wave merges more into the ocean, it begins to feel its oneness with all others, all right, in ignorance. It's just aware of I'm a wave and the few ones around near me are waves. These are my family members and relatives. But as the wave merges more and more into the ocean, then it begins to get a sense that the water in me and the water in others is the same water. There is something that's common inside us, there's some spiritual, underlying oneness, unity behind the diversity, and that through that ocean, I'm one with everyone. The whole world is mine and I belong to everyone.
Speaker 2:That is another very powerful outcome of a spiritual practice. In one word, we become more unselfish, we become caring, sharing, full of compassion, love, forgiveness and all those things around, because somehow we are beginning to feel that oneness behind the many. And if your heart keeps on expanding, and expanding so much so that you feel like stretching out your arms and embracing the whole world, like Buddha did, like all these great souls, enlightened souls, did. That is what spiritual progress is about. So Swami Ranganathan says you know, how do you know you're growing spiritually, that you practice your meditation within and you manifest that sense of oneness through your actions, unselfish actions, in your engagement with people outside. Both of them go together. We dive inside to discover the oneness and we then express or experience that oneness outside. In one word, we become more unselfish. That is another sign of spiritual progress.
Speaker 2:If one is practicing all these things and these things are not happening, that means somewhere the ropes are holding the balloon down, okay, and we have to inspect and see what is there.
Speaker 2:That's why Swami Vivekananda says unselfishness is God. You feel more passionately and deeply for others, without being judgmental forgivingness, and want to do something to alleviate the suffering of others, because somehow you feel I'm in them also, or this same power that's inside me is in others. Holy Mother says you know what happens when you get some God realization? You don't grow two horns. She says you are what you are, but you develop that purity of mind and you realize that the one who dwells in our own heart dwells in the heart of all beings and that makes us truly humble. So humility will come. Okay, that ego becomes less. It doesn't become. It's no longer a billiard ball that's bouncing and knocking each other off. You become considerate, you become loving and caring and sharing and forgiving and all those things. That is a sign of spiritual growth, because you're now more in tune with the underlying unity that is behind all the diversity.
Speaker 1:That's good. That's very good, swamiji. So those three things you've talked about, I'll just repeat them quickly. Very good, swamiji. So those three things you've talked about, I'll just repeat them quickly, first one being the idea of being detached and not affected by what's happening around you and being more stable. Second, the mind becomes more subtle, you make better decisions, it's more concentrated, it has a greater purpose, and then, finally, the oneness with everyone else.
Speaker 2:Those three points are real good indicators of spiritual progress, so I think they're pretty good there's so many other ways we can express that, but here, off the cuff, as you asked, these thoughts that came to mind express that.
Speaker 2:But here, you know, off the cuff, as you asked, these are thoughts that came to my mind that I can share from a practical point of view. And, of course, ultimately, those spiritual experiences to have the vision of God, to feel that light within you and experience yourself as a consciousness, totally detached from the body and mind, as a universal being. Those are the personal spiritual experiences I try to share. That in relation to the world around us, you know how our everyday life goes around and how we look upon others and look upon ourselves and how does the world act on us and how we react to it. So those three answers that I gave was more from the external, macrocosmic view me and the world. The internal one is, of course, described in greater detail in the scriptures, how the layers of the onion are peeled. Then you go deeper and deeper into the essence, the core of the being that we are.
Speaker 1:Yes, thank you very much, Sunil, Excellent Swamiji. Thanks a lot and we'll catch up again next week.
Speaker 2:Okay, see you again.
