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Book I: On Concentration

This is the explanation of spiritual yoga:

Yoga is the prevention of the mind’s constant agitation. In doing so, the seer eventually abides in the Self—the internal, boundless effulgence. When the mind is agitated, the seer erroneously identifies with mental agitations.

The mental agitations fall into five types, some of which are more problematic than others: ripe knowledge, unripe knowledge, the illusions of the intellect and imagination, dreams, and memory.

Ripe knowledge has three aspects: direct perception, sensible reasoning, and testimony from reliable sources.

Unripe knowledge is the development of an illusion based on misperception or misinformation. The illusion is mistaken for truth.

The illusion of the intellect is the assumption that scientific laws, theories, and postulations truly explain things as they are or that they have an enduring value. Concepts such as time, space, gravity, and so on, can only be understood in their effects, not in their meaning or value. The illusion of the imagination is like a pair of colored sunglasses (imagination) creating a fantastic, although misleading, panorama. There are some who do not effectively deal with reality because of the unrestrained trickery of their imagination. Superstitions, fears, neuroses, and the like, stem from this illusion.

Dreams are the storehouse of the conscious mind—the “schoolhouse” for the self. They reflect to the dreamer all that has been put into one’s consciousness. They also make connections to higher realizations if consistent meditation and practice of the yamas and niyamas (the moral and ethical principles of spiritual yoga) are lived.

Memory, in this context, means the repetitive, mental reenactment of past events, the emotional clinging to mental impressions. It is a type of psycho-emotional antique collecting, and an agitation.

By spiritual practice and wisdom, these agitations can be transformed.

Spiritual practice is the repetition of activities that promote serenity and harmony in the body-mind. Meditation is the cornerstone of spiritual practice, eventually creating mental tranquility devoid of agitations. Spiritual practice must be consistent and imbued with fervid devotion for it to be a reliable foundation to Higher Mind.

Wisdom occurs as the result of the mind losing its fascination with the external, sensory world in favor of the internal luminescence—when the mind no longer depends on scriptures for spiritual understanding, when the mind is unencumbered by agitations. Wisdom gained through freedom of agitation is a kind of bliss—an embryonic bliss. This stage of embryonic bliss can also be cultivated through devoted faith and reverence, an increase in vital energy, perfect absorption in a sacred mantra, and one-pointed concentration upon, and union with, the Self—they all reinforce each other.

Spiritual aspirants with intense devotion and superior concentration achieve the greatest results in the shortest time. There are different methods and varying rates of intensity for particular seekers. Even among spiritual aspirants who share an intense devotion and practice a superior concentration, there will be differences in development.

Special devotion to the Christ Light helps facilitate spiritual transformation. The Christ Light is the supreme spiritual ideal; it is the infallible and genuine guru; it is the Light of the Higher Self. There is no limitation to its power; it is not constrained by time or space. The sacred word that attunes an aspirant to the Christ Light is AUM. Devotees repeat it and contemplate its true meaning by entering into its depth. In the AUM is revealed the Self from the ego self, the eternal from the transient, and the righteous from the inane. In the AUM is found spiritual insight and enduring wisdom.

There are numerous distractions to spiritual insight and enduring wisdom: physical or mental illness; incompetence, negligence; unresolved doubt, indecisiveness; perpetually delusive thinking, mistaken notions of enlightenment; slothfulness, idleness; no self-control; poor interpretation of the teachings, literalism; and unwillingness to consistently introspect and quiet the agitations. These are all significant impediments.

There is also mental residue, the previously mentioned mental antiques that cause problems. Depression, poor self-esteem, physical restlessness, and uneven or poor breathing (from an emotional import, not a physical anomaly) all arise from distractions that need to be rectified. Genetic disorders, biochemical imbalance, neglecting to resolve present-life troubles, and past-life patterns impressed upon the subconscious mind are among causal factors.

To rectify these impediments, single-pointed concentration should be learned and practiced regularly. This eventually leads to mental purification.

One can purify the mind through exercising kindness, charity, goodwill, and even-mindedness in all activities. This should be extended to all, especially those who emit the most negative of emotions. One can also purify the mind by learning pranayama (breathing exercises), concentrating on a transmundane idea, seeing deeply into the nature of things, discovering a mind that is free of agitations, taking dream images into meditation and meditation ideals into dreams, or by surrendering completely to the internal Christ Light. These all work if pursued in earnest.

When the mind is purified, the meditator, the process of meditation, and the object of meditation all fuse into one.

Ultimately, a nonduality consciousness is gained and oneness is directly perceived; words are no longer divorced from the things that they represent or symbolize. Also, memory impressions are cleansed, and things are perceived not through their associated memories but through direct, intuitive understanding of them. This type of intuitive understanding is fresh and unsullied by time and space.

At the superficial end of this intuitive continuum, experiences are transferable (to a degree) to logical thought and can be contained within structures of language. At the deeper end of this intuitive continuum, experiences are not transferable into logical thought and cannot be contained within structures of language. These are the two basic levels of spiritual intelligence.

This consciousness of nonduality transcends that which is found in texts, myths, fables, allegories, or testimonies. This unified consciousness is the result of consistent and devoted spiritual practice; it is the reward of skillful, spiritual yoga. At this stage the mind returns to infinite spaciousness, its original state, and the ego self begins to dissolve.