Date: 3-22-08

Essay

We live in a world full of anxieties, fear, and confusion. So, people nowadays look for relief and shelter from such problems in Yoga Meditation. Yet, many don’t really know and understand what real Yoga Meditation is all about.

Real Yoga is about first realizing our true identity. So, this self-realization is the foundation by which we can engage in real Yoga.

The science or truth of our identity is better explained if we divided it into three parts, our essence, position, and our function.

So, in the first part, we are in essence spirit and not made of matter. We are not our body. Our body is made-up of matter which is composed of different combinations of chemicals. Without us, the spirit or life force inside the body, this material body would simply decompose and rot away. We are the ones who make our body valuable. Without the living entity inside the body, the body would become worthless and unsightly. If you experience someone you love die or even just watching people in the mortuary crying over their loved ones body saying “Why have you left me!” You can see that the body is right there in the coffin yet you know that the person who you are relating to is now gone. If someone claims that they are their body, then how come when someone they love dies they know that the one they love is no longer present? We must understand that we are the life force inside this material body. The body is like a car that we the driver, use and maintain. Even by using scientific reasoning it can be proven that we are not our bodies. Actually, through the process of metabolism, every cell and molecule in our body is totally replaced after 5 years. Even the cells in our brain are replaced. So, in fact every 5 years we a have a new body. We don’t realize this because the changeover of cells is gradual, so we don’t notice it. Just like a waterfall, we only see it as a plain falling body of water. Yet, if we observe closely, we can see that every water molecule of the waterfall is actually constantly changing. For example, if you have a picture when your body is still a baby, and you compare it to your picture when you are 12 years old, you can see that you have a totally different body. Your body may look similar mainly because when your body changes cells it stills follows a certain pattern. So, you may even still have the same scar you had when you were 3 years old. Even the cells of the scar that you had 5 years ago is replaced accordingly, nothing in your body is exempted from this change.

Many people nowadays say that we are the mind.

We must understand that the mind is also material, although subtle in nature. The mind is not us. It’s like a movie screen that is constantly bombarded with images and clips of our desires and past activities. We the spirit inside this body is the one viewing this non-stop movie show. To further elaborate that we are not our mind, we can actually change what we want to see in it. For example, if you’re studying for a quiz, your mind may wonder off to some guy or girl that you like, therefore you try to bring your mind back to your studies. Or one more example, if you stare at an object for a few minutes then you close your eyes, you can still see the same object in your mind. The fact that you can still see the object even without the use of your physical eyes proves that your mind is separate from you. You are the viewer of this movie screen called the mind

By actually understanding that we made of spirit and are not our body. We can conclude that simply trying to find happiness and relief from stress and depression through material means is not the solution. Being spirit in essence we need a spiritual solution.

Since we now know we are spirit in essence, we must come to understand our real position which is we are in fact the dominated part and parcel of the Supreme Spirit. We are not God. We are the same in essence as God because we are also made of spirit, yet not the same in quantity. We can experience this dominated condition of ours in our daily lives. We are dominated by the forces of nature, diseases, social laws etc. The Supreme Spirit (God) is the dominator of everything. He is like the Sun and we are like the sun rays. Without the sun the sunrays cannot exist. We are dependent on the Supreme Spirit.

So, by understanding that we are spirit in essence and that we are dominated part and parcel of the Supreme Spirit. We can now discuss the actual meaning of Yoga. Yoga actually means union with the Supreme Spirit. This union is not us merging with the Supreme Spirit and losing our individuality. This union is all about oneness in will and love. Just like a married couple is united in love and are still two distinct individuals. So, our real function in life is to actually be in Yoga or union with the Supreme in will and love. By nature, we the living entity need to serve and love and also to be loved. If you come to think of it everybody is serving somebody, whether he is the president of the world, he is still serving his wife, son, daughter, etc. We cannot avoid serving. By nature we are servants. The only difference is the nature of our service. We can either serve out of love which is unconditional or we serve for some material compensation.

Serving out of love is actually very fulfilling and joyful mainly because this is our true nature. The problem is we direct this loving service toward material relationships and thus causing us great pain and suffering. We are spirit, we need to link-up and be in union with the Supreme Spirit for us to become truly happy. This union is real Yoga.

For a person to come to this state of Yoga, we need to engage our body and mind in yoga meditation. Real meditation or yoga is actually engaging our mind and body on that which is transcendental. Since we are spiritual by nature, we need to link-up with the Supreme Spirit in order for us to achieve actual happiness and peace. The process of meditation makes it so that we are linked with God.

Now, how can a person meditate?

In this age of quarrel chaos and confusion, great saintly persons recommend the process of hearing and chanting Yoga Sound or Mantras. These sound vibrations if chanted sincerely have the power to actually cleanse our heart and mind of all our sinfulness, and most important of all, these mantras can awaken our dormant love for God and thus we achieve real happiness.

Mantras are actually Names of God. The word “man” means mind and “tra” means to draw away. So, the word mantra means to draw away the mind from that which is material. So, the Names of God has the power to draw away the mind from this material dimension and place it in that which is transcendental. There are different ways we can practice meditation, one by using beads or “mala”. This type of meditation is very personal mainly because when you engage in it, you chant quietly and usually only you can hear the mantras. The second type is called group meditation or “kirtana”, this type of meditation is done by chanting and hearing the mantras with other people. This type of meditation requires group interaction where there is a kirtana leader and the others reciprocate by repeating the mantras the kirtana leader sang.

By engaging in these processes of meditation one is actually engaging his senses in transcendental activities without even noticing it. For example, by chanting on beads one is using the sense of touch, the sense of hearing, and also by doing kirtana, one is engaging his body in dancing and singing thus, almost all his 5 sense are preoccupied in spiritual activities.

The fact is, what we do with our senses greatly affect our consciousness. For example, if we expose our senses in animalistic activities, our consciousness becomes also animalistic. So, meditation is a process by which we engage our senses in spiritual activities so that our consciousness is also in that realm. Any activity which is done in the service of God is meditation because it makes it so that our mind and body is engaged in spiritual activities. These spiritual activities actually nourish us because we are spirit. In this material world, we are like a fish out of the water. No matter how much money, gold, or even a female fish you give him, he cannot be happy mainly because he is not in his natural home, which is in water. So, without this spiritual food, we cannot be truly happy in this world. So, by hearing and chanting God’s names and engaging in loving service towards Him, we can become truly happy.

Haribol!!! (Chant the Holy Names)

When we look at the problem of the destruction of the environment, we understand that it’s we who are doing it. We engage too much in activities that we don’t really need in order to survive and be happy.

eg. Deforestation in connection to cattle production, we end up destroying our forest just because we want to be able to eat meat, which is really not necessary for our survival and happiness.

http://goodearthchild.wordpress.com/2009/06/05/major-cause-of-deforestation/

Recycling is not the solution…

It’s now being promoted that recycling is the main solution. But what we have now is a situation where people cannot stop themselves from consuming endlessly. They think, “We need more!”

This is a band-aid solution or a very temporary and futile solution. Mainly because we still produce more trash than what we can realistically recycle. For example, if we produce 1 million ton of trash a month, and recycle 20% of that. We would just end up extending the the life of this planet. But In due course of time the planet would still be overwhelmed with trash. My point in recycling is, it’s like a short life-extension to a person suffering from terminal cancer. It not really a cure.

People don’t consider that they should change their consciousness so that they don’t endlessly want more and more. They want to continue to live in this “more, more, more” consciousness and lifestyle and solve the problem by making sure that everything that they eat or use has been eaten or used before.

Why is it that we’re being sucked along and pulled into this physical and environmental destruction?

The cause of the environmental problem is our endless, insatiable desire for more material enjoyment.

eg. If we have a car then we want another car or a new car, when we have a million dollars we want two million. We are never satisfied.

Gandhi said, “There is enough to satisfy everyone’s needs but not enough to satisfy everyone’s greed”

However, we have to find out why it is this way. What drive us so that we always want more and more?

What forces me to do things even if I don’t want to do them? I know it’s not right, and I know it’s not good for society, the environment, or me, but I do it anyway. Why?

eg. People in first world countries still use nuclear energy to power their homes. Even though they now that it is hazardous to society and the environment in the future years to come.

The answer is given in the Bhagavad-gita:

“The blessed Lord said: ‘It’s lust only Arjuna, which is born of contact with the material modes of passion and later transformed into wrath, and which is the all devouring, sinful enemy of the world.’”

What is Lust?

Lust is described as the all-devouring sinful enemy of the world because it destroys you physically; it destroys the environment; it destroys you spiritually. Lust takes your consciousness away from trying to find satisfaction within yourself in a relationship with the Supreme and pulls you in to trying to find satisfaction in the temporary flashes of the senses.

Due to our lust, we are addicted to the taste of meat, we’re addicted to the sexual taste, we are addicted to this and we’re addicted to that. We’re a bunch of addicts. We have to get rid of this idea that happiness comes from having sensual flashes because it leads to endless consumption. When it comes right down to it, if we continue to consume endlessly, we’re going to destroy our bodies, our minds, and the planet.

How do we overcome this insatiable lust.

If we analyze our basic needs for us to survive in this world we need three main things food, water, air. In our attempt to satisfy only our material needs we “due to lust” do stupid things like poisoning our water, poisoning our food and our air. So, because of lust we lose our intelligence.

To overcome this, we need to develop a higher taste, in other words, a higher source of happiness.

Ex. If I like sugar and the taste of sweetness, you can tell me all you want to stop eating sugar. Even if I know that it’s bad for me, I won’t be able to do it. So how do you make it possible for me to stop eating sugar? You have to give me a higher taste. You could, for example, teach me to eat honey instead. Then I can give up the sugar.

Where is this higher happiness found?

Everyone wants to be happy. What we are trying to teach is actual happiness, actual enjoyment and satisfaction. If you have actual satisfaction then the side effect will be that both your body and the planet earth will be in better health. The environment will be in better condition because you will be satisfied from within yourself.

We all want to be satisfied and happy. But the incessant search for satisfaction in endless consumption and endless sense pleasure ends up creating not satisfaction but rather frustration and emptiness.

So how do I become satisfied?

“I must understand my identity as an eternal spirit soul within a temporary body. I am not my senses; the senses are mine. And as a spirit soul, eternal part and parcel of the Supreme, spiritual in essence. I am not happy by myself. I am not complete in myself. I need a connection and unity with the Supreme Spirit in order to be happy.

If you look at the threat to the environment from the point of view of our actual identity, you will understand that the root cause is that we have either forgotten or we fail to act upon our relationship with the Supreme, other living entities, and this material world.

Right now, we’re sucking on matter like a vacuum cleaner trying to find fulfillment.  People start claiming ownership of God’s property. They fight and kill. So we have wars and we suffer more and more.

Instead of aiming our sucking tendency towards the external world, we need to realize that our desire for union needs to be aimed towards the Supreme Lord of whom we are parts and parcel and whom we have forgotten. We need to link up with the Supreme. That is called Yoga. And the nature of that spiritual linking up is spiritual love.

If we have loving union with the Supreme, then we will not need a lustful union with dirt or matter. If you aim the desire for union towards matter, it ends up producing inner unhappiness, endless consumption, and the destruction of your body, your mind, and environment. But if you aim the same desire for union toward the Supreme Lord, that’s called love, and it brings satisfaction, actual happiness, and good to the world and yourself.“

In this light, we must ask; is Material Economic Progress worth destroying our planet? Are we going in the right direction?

Where is the economic progress, if we end up poisoning our basic needs for survival (water, food, air, etc.)?

1. Lessen if not stop their in-take of meat products (Cattle, Pork, Chickens etc).
2. Use fuel efficient cars and appliances.

Just by doing these two alone can greatly help our kind mother (Earth).

• Cattle ranches 60-70%
• Small-scale, subsistence agriculture 30-40%
• Large-scale, commercial agriculture1-2%
• Logging, legal and illegal 2-4%
• Fires, mining, urbanization, road construction, dams 2-4%
• Selective logging and fires that burn under the forest canopy commonly result in forest degradation, not deforestation. Therefore these factor less in overall deforestation figures.

• Cattle ranching is the leading cause of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. This has been the case since at least the 1970s: government figures attributed 38 percent of deforestation from 1966-1975 to large-scale cattle ranching. However, today the situation may be even worse. According to the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), “between 1990 and 2001 the percentage of Europe’s processed meat imports that came from Brazil rose from 40 to 74 percent” and by 2003 “for the first time ever, the growth in Brazilian cattle production—80 percent of which was in the Amazon—was largely export driven.”

• Eliminating meat from diet reduces production of carbon-dioxide, most abundant human produced greenhouse gas.
• Average car produces 3 kilos of carbon-dioxide
• Clearing rainforest to produce beef for one hamburger, produces 75 kilos of carbon-dioxide. Thus, eating 1 pound of hamburger does the same damage as driving your car for more than 3 weeks.

http://www.mongabay.com/brazil.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deforestation_in_Brazil