The Bhagavad Gita and Self-Realization 7th in the Series Subject: Duality of Experience Dr. M.W. Lewis San Diego, 11-30-52 The subject this evening is "The Bhagavad Gita and Self-Realization." This is the seventh in the series. The title tonight is "Duality of Experience," and we will read first from the 2 nd Discourse of the Gita, [Bhagavad Gita] the 14 th and 15 th lines. "The contacts of matter, O Son of Kunti, giving cold and heat, pleasure and pain, they come and go - impermanent. Endure them bravely. The man whom these torment not, O Chief of Men, balanced in pain and pleasure, steadfast, he is fitted for immortality. We can see by the subject, "Duality of Experience," that we are dealing with outward consciousness, or ego consciousness. Tonight I am giving you wordfor-word notes of the beloved Master, because I know that there are no better words than his own words. I might, from time-to-time, perhaps elaborate a little bit, but I do not, in any way, change his words, because there are none better. Now the component parts of ego, or waking consciousness, are these. In other words What makes up the ego? It is just not simply the subject of our thoughts and actions, but it is made up of ego, mind, intellect, and chittwa 1. In other words, our waking consciousness is made up of these things: ego, chittwa, intellect, and mind, and, of course, the senses. Mind, as you know - or rather ego, as you know - bifurcates into mind and intelligence. The mind is diluted - if we can use that word further in matter - in sensation - the five senses. And so, as we read the words of the Master, we can understand this...these component parts of our ego. "In ordinary consciousness, the ego, the chittwa, the intellect, and the mind are all blended together. Because our mind has bifurcated, - or rather because our ego has bifurcated into mind, and intelligence, and has been identified with all of the ramifications which result from infinite composition, and adjustments between the intellect, mind, 1 Chittwa, Heart Center, universal magnetism, feeling
and senses, we are in the habit of requiring dualities of experience through chittwa, or feeling. You can see that there can be a multitudinous amount of different things in our consciousness made from the mixing of these various elements of waking consciousness. The Master goes on to say, In a rough way we can differentiate one from another logically, but not psychologically. We can, through meditation, I think, separate these various parts of the ego, or outward consciousness. Let us close our eyes for a minute. And without any thought passing through your consciousness, you have an awareness there. That is the presence of the soul in the body, attached to the body. That is the ego. Pure ego, if we can call it that. Now as you open your eyes, and you see the various objects about you, the senses come into play. And then they are coordinated by the mind, and discriminated by the intelligence, and then feeling enters into the matter, the like or dislike, liking or disliking the various things as you see them. And so we can see that we can really, through the processes of Self-Realization techniques and meditations, differentiate between these component parts of the ego. Master goes on to say, That is in differentiating these things, we can only picture to our minds that one is separate from the other. But in reality when one is present, the other is present also, in a more or less degree. If we apply this to ordinary waking consciousness, ordinary activity, we can see that they're all fused together, and that when we act in material consciousness, in outward consciousness, that everything goes together making up what we know as our ego consciousness. And so, the ego is equivalent to the soul attached to the body through these various ramifications. And here it is known as the pseudo-self, the self-appointed vice regent of the soul. The ego is the subject of our actions. I will not go into the matter further, because we have discussed the ego not too many Thursday evenings ago. But let us go on now with another part of waking consciousness, the chittwa, or feeling. Feeling, or chittwa, equals the I-ness in every physical factor, with reference to the feeling of liking and disliking. In other words, this feeling enters into all our activities and prevents us from judging things properly through the intuition of the soul. The Master has given a definition of feeling, or chittwa, as follows, "Ego in operation equals chittwa. Ego, having subjective feelings, and referring to them itself, resolves into chittwa.
Going on now with our reading from the Gita, we come to the word "endure....endure them bravely. The man whom these torment not, O Chief of Men, balanced in pain and pleasure, steadfast, is fitted for immorality. Let us consider the word "endure. By the word endure is not meant foolhardy, neglecting of sensations, or feelings when they are convincing, but rising above them, without feeling bound to them in the least bit. Sensation has a purpose in life. It warns us of many things. If you have a sensation in the abdomen - especially on the right side - and it persists, and especially if it causes your knee to come up against the body, you should not, of course, neglect that sensation, but you should take careful measures to counteract it, because it points out that there is an abnormal condition - probably, probably with the appendix. Those who are not troubled by these dualities of pain and pleasure, and remain poised during these conditions, are fit to obtain immortality. So, we read further in the Master's notes - and this is very important. Under the title, "The Purified Chittwa or Feeling. "The purified chittwa means, not the want of perception or feeling of pain or pleasure, but it means the absence of inward sting, or worries, that are caused by different experiences. And so, to endure means to be of purified chittwa, and not simply to bear pain, and at the same time feel overburdened, and worried by it. When this is possible, when this is attained, then you are Spirit. And this can be attained only when you apply the techniques of Self-Realization Fellowship, and the meditations, that you contact the intuition of the soul within. And then you can endure, in its true sense, without feeling the sting of pain. You can bear pain, and at the same time you are not overburdened, or worried, because your consciousness of ego has been superseded by the intuition of the soul. Now let us go on with another passage of the Gita under the heading, "Soul and God. We will read from the 15 th Discourse of the Gita, 7 th and 8 th verses. "A portion of Mine own Self transformed in the world of life into an Immortal Spirit, or Our soul, draweth round Itself, the senses, of which the mind is the sixth, veiled in matter. When the Lord acquireth a body, and when He abandoneth it, He seizeth these and goeth with them as the wind takes fragrances from their retreat. A sheet of Maya is found between the soul and God. The soul and God are the same, but we cannot realize this because of our delusion, and the delusion is the sheet of Maya. The ego results from this. From this idea of separation from God. It is this delusion, or sheet of Maya, which produces the idea of separation, or attachment to form - things formed by motion. [Paramhansa Yogananda]
Once again we can use to good advantage the illustration, of the Master, of the wave and the ocean. The wave is substantially of the same material as the ocean. But due to motion, a form is produced. And attachment to this form, produces the idea of separation. So it is with our souls. We are attached to the vehicle, and this attachment separates us from God. Ways and means of reaching soul and God. First the path of devotion. The devotee says, I am the son of the Lord. He feels the relationship of son to father - as the son has reverence for the father; as the servant to his master. Sometimes he feels the Spirit as Divine Mother. He is all attention, all prayer, with less attention to action, always with devotional attention. Now this is an important path, not only in the path of devotion, but in following any path, which unites the soul once again with God. [Paramhansa Yogananda] We must have this devotional attention. I wondered why the Master used to say to me, "Have loving attention. Have loving attention." And I think the best illustration is this: that, if we have the attention that comes with the relationship of guru and disciple, that is the proper attention to have. That is devotional attention. You know how you feel in the presence of the guru. Your attention is not wandering, but you do have that loving attention, which is very important. Now let us go on a second to the path of service, or path of action. Of course, here the devotee resigns the self to God, and forgets the self. This is the path of renunciation, working not for self, but for God, or working for something outside of the...or his own self. First... he says, family; then the community; then the world. Those actions which purify us, which have an effect on our psychic body is also a path of service. Now the third path. The third path is the path of knowledge. Here the devotee, by reasoning away everything, thinks, I am God. I am away from matter. Self- Realization does not stop here. It is not satisfied with thinking this. But Self- Realization Fellowship with its methods of meditation, and techniques shows us, and gives us the way to contact God. And then we do not only think, but we really feel our oneness with God. And so, all of the above paths are harmonized in the Gita. Ordinary man cannot go along one path only. That is why the Master taught all paths in one: Raja Yoga. But Self-Realization harmonizes all paths by definite techniques, and this
is very important. Self-Realization does not just deal with the theory of the various paths leading to God, but it harmonizes all paths by definite techniques. For instance, following the path of devotion through the techniques of Self- Realization, we not only use the will center, at the Christ center between the eyebrows, but having, through our will, contacted the Holy Vibration within the body, then we concentrate upon the heart center, where we can receive the Divine Love of God. And so, you can see that Self-Realization makes the path of devotion really dynamic to consciousness. Now in the path of action, or the path of renunciation, here we are told in the Gita to feel God in every action. To work for Him alone. But Self-Realization Fellowship techniques gives you the method whereby you can contact God. Contacting Him, being one with Him, then you surely can take Him with you in every action. And then the third path, the path of knowledge. Here we not only think that we are God, and that we are separate from matter, but by following the technique of Hong Sau, the highest technique of concentration, the Om technique, which is the highest technique of meditation, and the sacred Kriya Yoga, by following these techniques, we not only think that we are one with God, but then we can say with the saints, I am He, I am He, Blessed Spirit, I am He. And so finally, let us close with the final words of the Master in these notes. Prayer comes first, then reason, analysis. In times of no prayer, then man reasons, and compares for knowledge. If man does not perform service, the heart quality is shriveled up. Service broadens us...broadens, as when we near the ocean we feel a sense of expansion. And so all these paths - path of devotion, path of service, and path of knowledge - take us near to the great ocean of Spirit. And then, if through techniques of Self-Realization Fellowship, we contact that Spirit, then we once again can merge in the infinite ocean of God's Divine Love.