niranjan

Here is an excerpt from the Indian spiritual genius and savant Swami Vivekananda’s (1863-1902) book ‘ Raja Yoga’.



" We find , in studying history, one fact held in common by all the great teachers of religion the world ever had . They all claim to have got their truths from beyond, only many of them did not know where they got them from. For instance, one would say that an angel came down in the form of a human being, with wings, and said to him, “Hear, O man, this is the message”.Another says that a Deva, a bright being, appeared to him. A third says he dreamed that his ancestor came and told him certain things. He did not know anything beyond that .But this is common that all claim that this knowledge has come to them from beyond, not through their reasoning power. What does the science of Yoga teach? It teaches that they were right in claiming that all this knowledge came to them from beyond reasoning, but that it came from within themselves.

The Yogi teaches that the mind itself has a higher state of existence, beyond reason, a superconscious state, and when the mind gets to that higher state,then this knowledge, beyond reasoning, comes to man . Metaphysical and transcendental knowledge comes to that man .This state of going beyond reason, transcending ordinary human nature, may sometimes come by chance to a man who does not understand its science; he , as it were, stumbles upon it. When he stumbles upon it, he generally interprets it as coming from outside. So this explains why an inspiration, or transcendental knowledge, may be the same in different countries, but in one country it will seem to come through an angel, and in another through a Deva, and in a third through God. What does it mean? It means that the mind brought the knowledge by its own nature, and that the finding of the knowledge was interpreted according to the belief and education of the person through whom it came. The real fact is that these various men, as it were, stumbled upon this superconscious state.

The Yogi says there is a great danger in stumbling upon this state. In a good many cases there is the danger of the brain being deranged, and , as a rule, you will find that all those men, however great they were, who had stumbled upon this superconscious state, without understanding it, groped in the dark, and generally had, along with their knowledge, some quaint superstition. They opened themselves to hallucinations. Mohammed claimed that the Angel Gabriel came to him in a cave one day and took him on the heavenly horse, Harak, and he visited the heavens. But with all that , Mohammed spoke some wonderful truths. If you read the Koran, you find the most wonderful truths mixed with superstitions. How will you explain it? That man was inspired, no doubt, but that inspiration was, as it were, stumbled upon. He was not a trained Yogi, and did not know the reason of what he was doing. Think of the good Mohammed did to the world, and think of the great evil that has been done through his fanaticism! Think of the millions massacred through his teachings, mothers bereft of their children, children made orphans, whole countries destroyed, millions upon millions of people killed!

So we see this danger by studying the lives of great teachers like Mohammed and others. Yet we find, at the same time , that they were all inspired. Whenever a prophet got into the superconscious state by heightening his emotional nature, he brought away from it not only some truths, but some fanaticism also, some superstition which injured the world as much as the greatness of the teaching helped. To get any reason out of the mass of incongruity we call human life, we have to transcend our reason, but we must do it scientifically , slowly, by regular practice, and we must cast off all superstition .We must take up the study of the superconscious state just as any other science. On reason we must have to lay our foundation, we must follow reason as far as it leads, and when reason fails, reason itself will show us the way to the highest plane. When you hear a man say, “I am inspired” , and then talk irrationally, reject it. Why? Because these three states-instinct, reason, and superconsciousness , or the unconscious, conscious, and superconscious states-belong to one and the same mind. There are not three minds in one man, but one state of it develops into the others. Instinct develops into reason, and reason into the transcendental consciousness; therefore, not one of the states contradicts the others. Real inspiration never contradicts reason, but fulfils it. Just as you find the great prophets saying, “ I come not to destroy but to fulfil” , so inspiration always comes to fulfil reason, and is in harmony with it."

niranjan

Here is an another excerpt from Swami Vivekananda's 'Raja Yoga' dealing with the subject of superconsciousness or enlightenment.

"When I eat food, I do it consciously; when I assimilate it, I do it unconsciously. When the food is manufactured into blood, it is done unconsciously.When out of the blood all the different parts of my body are strengthened , it is done unconsciously. And yet it is I who am doing all this; there cannot be twenty people in this one body. How do I know that I do it, and nobody else?It may be urged that my business is only in eating and assimilating the food, and that strengthening the body by the food is done for me by somebody else. That cannot be, because it can be demonstrated that almost every action of which we are now unconscious can be brought up to the plane of consciousness. The heart is beating apparently without our control. None of us here can control the heart; it goes on its own way. But by practice men can bring even the heart under control, until it will beat at will, slowly, or quickly, or almost stop. Nearly every part of the body can be brought under control. What does this show? That the functions which are beneath consciousness are also performed by us, only we are doing it unconsciously.

We have, then,two planes in which the human mind works. First is the conscious plane , in which all work is always accompanied with the feeling of egoism. Next comes the unconscious plane, where all work is unaccompanied by the feeling of egoism. That part of mind-work which is unaccompanied with the feeling of egoism is unconscious work, and that part which is accompanied with the feeling of egoism is conscious work. In the lower animals this unconscious work is called instinct. In higher animals, and in the highest of all animals, man, what is called conscious work prevails.

But it does not end here. There is a still higher plane upon which the mind can work. It can go beyond consciousness. Just as, unconscious work is beneath consciousnes, so there is another work which is above consciousness and which also is not accompanied with the feeling of egoism. The feeling of egoism is only on the middle plane. When the mind is above or below that plane, there is no feeling of "I", and yet the mind works. When the mind goes beyond this line of self-consciousness, it is called Samadhi, or superconsciousness. How , for instance, do we know that a man in Samadhi has not gone below consciousness, has not degenerated instead of going higher?In both cases the works are unaccompanied with egoism. The answer is, by the effects, by the results of the work, we know that which is below, and that which is above. When a man goes into deep sleep, he enters a plane beneath consciousness. He works the body all the time, he breathes , he moves the body, perhaps , in his sleep, without any unaccompanying feeling of ego; he is unconscious, and when he returns from his sleep, he is the same man who went into it. The sum total of the knowledge which he had before he went into the sleep remains the same; it does not increase at all. No enlightenment comes. But when a man goes into Samadhi, if he goes into it a fool, he comes out a sage.

What makes the difference? From one state a man comes out the very same man that he went in , and from another state the man comes out enlightened, a sage, a prophet, a saint, his whole character changed, his life changed, illumined. These are the two effects. Now the effects being different, the causes must be different. As this illumination with which a man comes back from Samadhi is much higher than can be got by reasoning in a conscious state, it must , therefore, be superconsciousness, and Samadhi is called the superconscious state."

niranjan

These prophets were not unique; they were men as you or I. They were great Yogis. They had gained this superconsciousness, and you and I can get the same. They were not peculiar people. The very fact that one man ever reached that state proves that it is possible for every man to do so. Not only is it possible, but every man must, eventually, get to that state, and that is religion.

--Swami Vivekananda

niranjan

By my earlier posts , I am not preaching hatred against any religion. However fundamentalism, dogmatism and fanaticism in all its forms anywhere ought to be despised and eradicated . And I hope my posts will help to achieve that .

In this context , I wish to quote this teaching of Buddha...

Believe nothing, merely because you have been told it, or because it is traditional or because you yourselves have imagined it. Do not believe what your teacher tells you merely out of respect for your teacher. But whatever after due consideration and analysis you find to be conducive to the good , the benefit, the welfare of all beings, that doctrine , believe and cling to and take it as your guide.
- Buddha

The An-Jel

Huh so what your saying is that these religious folk from Jesus to Mohammed are the result of attaining this superconscious state and couldn't handle it? They fell from this state with a series of concepts they themselves invented or "saw". There is no way they ever could have "seen" these types of things. A Superconscious State does what then exactly? What can I get out of the Superconcious state that I can't do on my own without entering this kind of state? I get a nice coast, feel the inner peace I get from looking out across the ocean, find a decent woman that treats me well as I treat her, read and write my books and consider the aspects of physical reality that interest me... I don't see what this Superconscious state does.

While all of us have the same basic physical characteristics but not the same "gifts" I still can't see how anyone can call another person delusional if in this state they saw something different from another. While I agree the results of their "visions" have resulted in incalcuable death and destruction not just physically but mentally as well... it seems one man in your examples can be better than another. I am hoping I am understanding your posts correctly.

__________________
"And let there be Light!" said the Blind man.

Life is simple, people make it complicated - Basilisk

Nulli Expugnabilis Hosti - Royal Gibraltar Regiment

niranjan

Hi, An-Jel,thanks for the reply. I have already stated clearly in my posts what the superconscious state can do.(Transcendental and metaphysical knowledge comes to the person.)
And you have to admit that the metaphysical knowledge spread by Krishna, Buddha, Guru Nanak(the founder of the Sikh religion), Mahavira(founder of the Jain religion), Zoroaster, Bahaullah, Muhammad, Jesus, Moses, Eckhart Tolle ( a western enlightened master who have attained cessation of mind in an unorthodox manner) are definetely different from the statements and theories of intellectuals, scholars and philosophers. The above mentioned religious figures are definetely in a league of their own , and their influence on mankind is unparalleled.

My posts is an attempt to study these prophets , how they accessed this superconscious state that was the source of their wisdom and knowledge,to strip religion and spirituality of all superstitions and dogmatism , and to encourage the common man to access this superconscious state themselves. It is not an exclusive privilege that belongs to any one man or woman.

Thanking you,

Niranjan.

Og

Could it be that none of these people experienced a superconscious state and that the stories written about them have grown more fanciful with time? Maybe myths and allegories have been included in the stories surrounding these influential teachers in order to reinforce some of the key parts of their message. Maybe their messages were refined as well.

We know, for example, that the story of the stoning of the adulteress in the bible (attributed to jesus) is not in the earliest texts of the bible and appears in texts in the middle of the first millenia AD.

__________________
Vi veri veniversum vivus vici. (By the power of truth, I, while living, have conquered the universe)
The self is not a fixed entity but a dynamic process of relationships
You & I, no distinction. - Tat Tvam Asi
Become Who You Are

niranjan

Well, the very fact that stories were written about them suggests that there was something superhuman about them in the first place which led to their veneration . Otherwise who would have bothered to write stories and legends about them ?

And of course,with time , there is a chance that their teachings can be diluted or corrupted. But I believe their basic teachings are intact and well-preserved.
Also , Ramana Maharshi, Eckhart Tolle, the Zen enlightened masters, Swami Vivekananda , Bahaullah are spiritual masters who have come up recently, who have accessed the superconscious ,and there is no chance of their teachings being corrupted or diluted . And they are there for everyone to see.

The An-Jel

Eh there are lots of stories some true and not true about a lot of things back in those days. Legends and old wives tales. I mean our actors and actresses have trash and tales told about them in tabloid magazines and while these are much different times than back in the days they look pretty much the same as the stories about the huge religious figures.

You know those people you mentioned and not to downplay them at all and like I said above might be just the times... they aren't household names. I think I heard of Swami Vivekananda from Sting (the singer) and Tantric Yoga. I don't mean to be so base but if it wasn't from people like Sting... no interest in the Swami except in college classes... at least here in America. I mean big money and the people who have it are the heroes of the day now, the enlightened ones simply because they have more. While I do not subscribe to this concept I am simply making a point. I suppose the enlightened ones your describing are really not into making statements like that... you know it's a lot like many religious folk I see... they know about Christianity and Islam because it is more wide spread and obvious through buildings annoucing "Hope." I understand your thread is really not aimed at analyzing this but more for the actualizing the minds of the Prophets that have so influenced the masses... What are the legitimately superconscious state beings doing to help influence people? Or is it even a desire... cause it sounds like it can change the world whole.

__________________
"And let there be Light!" said the Blind man.

Life is simple, people make it complicated - Basilisk

Nulli Expugnabilis Hosti - Royal Gibraltar Regiment

niranjan

I am not at all against the making of money and wealth through honest means. If people wish to enjoy life with their hard-earned money, they have every right to do so.

However it is also a fact that all objective pleasures result in pain and misery in the long run.
It is a fact that permanent happiness cannot be obtained from sensory pleasures. The romans , in their peak of luxury and enjoyment, used to build basins near their banquets, so that after eating a full course meal, they could go to the basins and vomit what all they have ingested, and again go and eat food, just for the taste of it. This shows the ludicrous extent that man was ready to go , for the sake of happiness and pleasure from objective sources , which unfortunately was temporary.

And it is a fact that true and permanent happiness , joy and bliss is obtained not from without, but from within.

All enlightened masters have described the sheer bliss , joy and happiness of their state,and which is not temporary , but permanent, and compared to which all outside pleasures are trivial.

Even if a person is not enlightened ,but still has substantial spiritual growth, he too would experience great bliss and joy and peace of mind.

So I don't think spirituality should be underestimated in any culture, or society or country.