Take me to higher love

The Bhagavat Conception

by Michael Dolan/ B.V. Mahayogi

What sort of a book is the Bhagavata?

निगम-कल्प-तरोर् गलितं फलं शुक-मुखाद् अमृत-द्रव-संयुतम्

पिबत भागवतं रसम् आलयम् मुहुर् अहो रसिका भुवि भावुकाः

nigama-kalpa-taror galitaṁ phalaṁ śuka-mukhād amṛta-drava-saṁyutam

pibata bhāgavataṁ rasam ālayam muhur aho rasikā bhuvi bhāvukāḥ..

“The Bhagavat, O saints, is the fruit of the tree of thought mixed with the nectar of the speech of Śukadeva. It is the temple of spiritual love! Drink deep this nectar until you are taken from this mortal frame.”

The Bhagavat Purana gives a more complete commentary on Vedānta than any other book. This great treatise identifies the realization of ananda, eternal bliss, as the true birth-right of the human soul. The Bhagavat demonstrates throughout its 18,000 verses the path of complete and proper self-realization in transcendental bliss through active immortality. The passive immortality offered by the acolytes of the Shankar school pales before this understanding. Immersion in nondifferential one-ness is mere spiritual suicide compared to the harmonic ananda accessible to those who offer themselves in surrender to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa who is celebrated in every verse of the Bhagavat.

And the acharyas and teachers of the Bhagavata school have shown us both by precept and by example the proper path towards that higher and truer form of enlightenment. The Bhāgavata announces in its first verse that its only purpose is a deeper discussion of spiritual truth. Ordinary morality and mundane ethics are not a subject matter for the Bhagavata. The truths found in the Bhagavat flow from a discussion among a council of saints. These advanced spiritual adepts held the ordinary facets of morality and ethics as axiomatic truths.

While the Bible and other such books go to great lengths to prohibit killing and stealing, the Bhagavat has no such consideration, since it should be obvious to any civilized soul that killing and stealing are illegal, immoral, and sinful acts.

There is a provision in Sharia law that prohibits one from marrying the widows of one’s father. Women, according to that holy book, are chattel, that is to say property. Upon the death of one’s father one inherits his property according to Sharia law. As the son inherits his father’s property and is the heir to his riches and cattle, so by rights and means he would also inherit his wives. Since a son’s mother would be among the wives of his father, Sharia law forbids the practice of inheriting one’s father’s wives. This would seem to be self-evident, but things are written into law when there are misunderstandings. The fact that this is written into Sharia law means that it had been practiced and the need arose to write a law against it. The Bhagavata has no such considerations. It does not take up the question of whether one may practice incest with one’s own mother, since the sages at Naimisharanya felt no need to settle this question.

The Bhagavata is interested in Paramahamsa-dharma; that is what religious principles should be taken up by swanlike souls who have no interest in materialistic religion.

Every day I hear people talk about how “religion” is the root of all evils. “Look at all the wars that have been fought over religion,” they say. “The Spanish Inquisition, the Conquest of Mexico, and so many wars of genocide.” Of course they become uncomfortable when I point out that these wars were fought by and for the Catholic Church, which follows the Bible, not the Bhagavat.

The Bhagavat is not interested in enforcing morality but in promoting divine love for those who have already found their moral center. The Book of Krishna does not turn on issues of law, but of divine love and paramahamsa-dharma.

I remember a discussion I once had with a Rabbi. He truly felt that God gave Logos or Law to give meaning to the world. By understanding the Logos or the Law, we could understand the mind of God. To show me how exactly the law of the Torah may be interpreted, he gave me as an example the proscription against killing a goat.

I pointed out that here the Torah clearly prohibits meat-eating. He took the opportunity to explain that the expert Rabbis are capable of great subtlety in their interpretation of the law. The Hebrew word in question apparently had the sense of a “Red goat.” Therefore, one might conclude, he explained, that the proscription against sacrifice has to do with the killing of a red goat. Then again others would restrict their interpretation to the killing of any white goat with a red spot on their coat. Still others would say this applies to a white goat with one red hair. My Rabbi friend felt that the beauty of the Torah lay in the capacity of Rabbis like himself to interpret.

The Bhagavat has nothing to do with such “hair-splitting” over a practice like goat slaughter. The sages of Naimisharanya had nothing to do with goat slaughter, with incest and sexual abuse, or any number of other foul and immoral practices. They were as free of sin as forest-dwelling yogis could be, but they were in search of a higher path. Remember, they had already heard the Mahābharata from Suta Goswami. But they, as was Vyāsa before them, were not entirely satisfied with the message of the Mahābharata. They liked what they had heard in the Bhagavad-Gita which gives the outline of paramahamsa-dharma. But they were thirsty for more. They wanted to know what Śukadeva had said to the descendant of Arjuna, Parikṣita Mahārāja at the hour of his death. The Mahābharata comes from the tree of thought whose roots are the Vedas and whose branches are the Upanishads. But where is the fruit?

A mango is sweeter, tradition holds, when pecked by the beak of a parrot, a Śuka-bird. Perhaps this is because the Śuka selects only the finest, the perfectly ripened fruit. If the tree of thought bears fruit, what would the ripened fruit taste like? And how would it take shape in the words of Śuka, the son of Vyāsa? If Vyāsa himself composed the Bhagavat, how would it be interpreted and edited by his son Śuka? This was the question of the sages who gathered to hear the great Suta, the erudite narrator of the Mahābharata explain Śuka’s edition. The Mahābharata is the greatest epic poem in the history of India. How would Śukadeva’s version of the Bhagavat surpass Vyāsa’s powerful literary creation?

The Bhagavat begings by discarding “social dharma” as a useful practical matter but limited to mundane concerns and therefore a subject unworthy of discussion. The Bhāgavata is not a rule-book, unlike Sharia law which proscribes incest, or the Torah with its hair-splitting rules about goat-slaughter. There are plenty of other books filled with dietary do’s and don’ts, marital laws, and commandments about stealing and murder. While the Bhagavat may recapitulate the need for a proper morality, while the Bhagavat may touch on ethical principles or matters of sin, merely to avoid the need for consulting so many books, at its core is a treatise on the very nature of spiritual truth and practice for self-realized souls: paramahamsa-dharma

As the the Garuḍa-purāṇa, another ancient text says in reference to the Bhagavat Purana:

अर्थो ऽयं ब्रह्म-सूत्राणां भारतार्थ-विनिर्णयः गायत्री-भाष्य-रूपो ऽसौ वेदार्थ-परिबृंहितः पुराणानां साम-रूपः साक्षाद्-भगवतोदितः द्वादश-स्कन्ध-युक्तो ऽयं शत-विच्छेद-संयुतः ग्रन्थो ऽष्टादश-साहस्रः श्रीमद्-भागवताभिधः

artho 'yaṁ brahma-sūtrāṇāṁ bhāratārtha-vinirṇayaḥ gāyatrī-bhāṣya-rūpo 'sau vedārtha-paribṛṁhitaḥ purāṇānāṁ sāma-rūpaḥ sākṣād-bhagavatoditaḥ dvādaśa-skandha-yukto 'yaṁ śata-viccheda-saṁyutaḥ grantho 'ṣṭādaśa-sāhasraḥ śrīmad-bhāgavatābhidhaḥ

'The meaning of the Vedānta-sūtra is present in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. The full purport of the Mahābhārata is also found there. The commentary of the Brahma-gāyatrī is also there and fully expanded with all Vedic knowledge. Śrīmad Bhāgavatam is the supreme Purāṇa, and it was compiled by the Supreme Personality of Godhead in His incarnation as Vyāsadeva. There are twelve cantos, 335 chapters and eighteen thousand verses. The Bhågavata is composed of 18,000 ślokas. It contains the best parts of the Vedas and the Vedānta. Whoever has tasted its sweet nectar, will never like to read any other religious book. (Garuda Purana)

Bhaktivinoda Ṭhakura says:

“The Bhāgavata is preeminently The Book in India. Once enter into it, and you are transplanted, as it were, into the spiritual world where gross matter has no existence. The true follower of the Bhāgavata is a spiritual man who has already cut his temporary connection with phenomenal nature, and has made himself the inhabitant of that region where God eternally exists and loves.”

Serenity Now

Mindfulness and Stoicism
vs. Transcendental Bliss: Ananda

by Michael Dolan/B.V. Mahayogi

The Buddha offers relief from suffering. Having distilled suffering as the quintessential problem of human existence, his eight-fold path offers a way out. But, noble as his truths may be, there are other nobler truths above and beyond what the Buddha has given.

Happiness is not considered in Buddha’s eight-fold path. Happiness and sadness are two sides of the same coin. Both are part of the mundane experience of this temporary world. As Krishna says in the Bhagavad-Gita:

मात्रा-स्पर्शास् तु कौन्तेय शीतोष्ण-सुख-दुःख-दाः आगमापायिनो ऽनित्यास् तांस् तितिक्षस्व भारत

mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ

āgamāpāyino 'nityās tāṁs titikṣasva bhārata

O son of Kuntī, the nonpermanent appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed.”

(Bhagavad-Gita 2.14)

Prabhupāda points out in his purport that, “In the proper discharge of duty, one has to learn to tolerate nonpermanent appearances and disappearances of happiness and distress.”

According to Buddha’s system the desire for happiness is a function of ego. Happiness may occur as the absence of suffering when we give up such desires. But Buddha is not interested in “happiness” as such, but in the problem of ending suffering by expunging desire and ego. As Krishna points out above, mundane happiness is cut from the same cloth as mundane suffering. One who is attached to mundane happiness must suffer mundane distress. So as far as “nonpermanent appearance of happiness and distress,” the Buddha’s policy of nonattachment makes good sense. Dissolving the ego and quieting desire eliminates the tendency to try to enjoy mundane happiness and so helps us to become detached from mundane distress.

In early Western civilization, this position resembles something like the stoicism of Marcus Aurelius. While Stoicism as a life philosophy may have been founded by the Greek scholar Zeno, it is perhaps best remembered for the Meditations written by Marcus Aurelius, emperor of Rome from 161 to 180 BC. Stoicism can be summarized as follows:

“Keep calm and practice serenity in both happiness and distress.”

In his Introduction to the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius translated by Robin Hard, Christopher Gill puts this in perspective:

“THE Meditations of Marcus Aurelius is a work without parallel among writings surviving from Classical antiquity—and an exceptional work in any age and culture. It is the philosophical diary of a Roman emperor, probably written while he was campaigning in Germany near the end of his life. In short, intense, and often powerful reflections, Marcus tries to articulate his core beliefs and values. Drawing mainly on Stoic philosophy, but formulated in his own way, Marcus finds the resources to help him meet challenges that he is acutely conscious of but which are also universal: facing one’s own approaching death, making sense of one’s social role and projects, looking for moral significance in the natural world.”

Here’s an excerpt from the Mediations of Marcus Aurelius

“Again, one who pursues pleasures as being good and tries to avoid pains as being bad is acting irreverently; for it is inevitable that such a person must often find fault with universal nature for assigning something to good people or bad that is contrary to their deserts, because it is so often the case that the bad devote themselves to pleasure and secure the things that give rise to it while the good encounter pain and what gives rise to that.

And furthermore, one who is afraid of pain is sure to be afraid at times of things which come about in the universe, and that is already an impiety; and one who pursues pleasure will not abstain from injustice, and that is a manifest impiety. But towards those things with regard to which universal nature is neutral (for she would not have created both opposites unless she was neutral with regard to both), it is necessary that those who wish to follow nature and be of one mind with her should also adopt a neutral attitude. Accordingly, anyone who is not himself neutral towards pleasure and pain, or life and death, or reputation and disrepute, to which “universal nature adopts a neutral attitude, commits a manifest impiety.

And when I say that universal nature employs these things in a neutral manner, I mean that, through the natural sequence of cause and effect, they happen indifferently to all that comes into being and whose existence is consequent upon a primeval impulse of providence, by which it set out from a first beginning to create the present order of things, having conceived certain principles of all that was to be, and assigned powers to generate the necessary substances and transformations and successions.”

Marcus Aurelius here makes a noble attempt to promote the idea of a neutral attitude towards pleasure and pain, one that would be welcomed by the enlightened Buddha himself.

The neutral attitude of stoicism is, however, difficult to achieve. It is as far from human nature as the alien composure of Spock, the Vulcan logician of Star Trek. Spock is completely devoid of human emotion. He has neither whimsy nor a sense of humor, and responds only to logic. Krishna suggests a degree of stoicism in the second chapter of the Bhagavad-Gita when dealing with Arjuna’s emotional response to the challenge of battle that confronts him. And yet Arjuna defies this stoicism and questions Krishna further. He wants Krishna to go deeper.

Vaishnavas are not stoics. They understand that the human condition does not revolve merely around the question of suffering, as the Buddha would have it. Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead as the origin of al bliss or pleasure--ananda.

His very name, “Krishna,” means “the highest pleasure,” and it is confirmed in the Vedanta Sutra that the Supreme Lord is the reservoir or storehouse of all pleasure.

Buddha’s determination that suffering is the first and most important principle of human existence is as superficial as the stoicism of Marcus Aurelius.

While suffering may be a part of the problem, pleasure is really the central issue of the human condition. We are all hankering after pleasure. The Vedānta-Sutra defines the nature of the Supreme Reality as Ānanda-mayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12). Beyond the material reality of space and time, beyond the spiritual reality of consciousness, the ultimate reality is full of ecstasy, bliss, divine pleasure. And the ultimate reality is By Himself and For Himself. He exists only for his own pleasure.

The living entities who emanate from the Supreme reality as rays of sunlight emanate from the sun are not only full of consciousness, they are after happiness. But the happiness of this mundane world is unsatisfactory, being temporal. Only spiritual happiness, which is eternal, conscious, and derived from a relationship with the supreme emporium of ecstasy, Shri Krishna, Reality the Beautiful, can give satisfaction to the individual jiva souls. This eternal satisfaction comes through recognition of one’s eternal nature and through surrender to Śrī Krishna, or śaranāgati.

God, or Reality the Beautiful, is perpetually happy. If the eternally conscious jivas surrender to that reality, associate with the Lord, cooperate with Him and take part in His association, then they also realize themselves as eternal conscious beings endowed with ultimate happiness, or sat-chit-ānanda.

This, then is the thesis of the Bhagavat. The central problem of humanity is not the temporary happiness of this world. The materialists would have us believe that this world is all in all and so we must enjoy the senses before we die. Buddha has correctly identified sensual pleasure and desire as the source of suffering in this world. But his analysis is incomplete, for it omits the idea of ananda. Even the followers of Adi Shankar, who promote a covered form of Buddhism under the banner of liberation from this temporary world, fail to penetrate the inner meaning of the Vedānta.

The Bhagavat, gives a more complete commentary on Vedānta, identifying the realization of ananda, eternal bliss, as the true birth-right of the human soul and demonstrating its complete and proper realization. And the acharyas and teachers of the Bhagavat school have shown us the proper path towards that higher and truer form of enlightenment.

Physical Pain and Spiritual Joy

Reflections on the Compassionate Buddha

by Michael Dolan, B.V. Mahāyogi

The teachings of the compassionate Buddha are remarkably apt for the modern world. Scientists and intellectuals are “discovering” his ancient teaching and claiming it for their own. Much oriental wisdom had been discounted since the time of Hegel as primitive and “fatalistic.” But with the new atheism of Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris people are struggling to balance faith with the agnosticism inherent in science.

Buddha does not require any faith. The Compassionate Buddha merely states the facts: you’re suffering. What are you going to do about it?

If God doesn’t exist, if there is no afterlife and no soul, then enlightenment means accepting the inevitable dissolution of the ego as a natural conclusion. Grief is unnatural.

Given that the soul doesn’t exist, perhaps Buddhism is the best and most humanistic of all wisdom, a perfect fit for a society that believes in nothing. Science tells us that the universe came from nothing and that nothing is sacred. Nothing has meaning. It is only natural to accept as a religious philosophy the idea that everything ends in nothing and that perfect knowledge goes nowhere, that is: it leads us into nirvana.

A celebrated member of the “Lost Generation” Ernest Hemingway, wrote a story of emotional darkness and existential angst in A Clean Well-lighted Place. It is almost closing time in a restaurant. A man comes in to drink. He likes the place because it is clean and well-lit. He can indulge his taste for alcohol and self-destruction in a place that will not promote his tendency for suicide. One of the waiters wants to close up and go home. The other waiter, a bit more experienced has compassion for the old man. He shares the old man’s understanding of the meaninglessness of the world which he sums up in the nada prayer. Nada of course means “nothing.” Hemingway’s nada prayer sums up not only the emptiness felt by his generation after the futility of the first great war; it is as good an explanation of the Buddha’s teaching as you may find anywhere in the annals of the Dalai Lama. Here is the nada prayer by Ernest Hemingway. Keep in mind that nada means nothing.

"Hail nothing, full of nothing, nothing is with thee..."

“Our nada who art in nada, nada be thy name; thy kingdom nada thy will be nada; in nada as it is in nada. Give us this nada our daily nada and nada us our nada as we nada our nadas and nada us not into nada but deliver us from nada; pues nada. Hail nothing full of nothing, nothing is with thee.”

If the soul doesn’t exist; If God doesn’t exist, then nothing has meaning. The followers of Buddha are adept at exploring the meaning of nothing, of elevating nothing to perfection. The greatest teachers of the path have realized a perfect view of nothing, the resolve to commit to nothing, ethical living that ends in nothing, meditation on nothing that leads to being equipoised in the void. “Our nada who art in nada...”

In a meaningless world where nothing is all we have, it makes sense to believe in nothing, to exalt nothing to the level of religion.

Buddhism offers solace from suffering by helping us to embrace nothing. Buddha’s analysis is incredibly powerful. He anoints suffering as the greatest of all truths.

But his analysis is flawed. Life is filled with suffering, it is true. But becoming free from suffering is not the only motivation found in human life. We live not to avoid pain, but to have joy.

And the greatest joy comes from sacrifice. Parents sacrifice everything for their children. This morning I read how in the recent hurricane in Houston, a young mother sacrificed her life to save her daughter. They found her floating facedown, her baby strapped to her back, still alive. During the siege of Leningrad, while millions starved to death, 12 heroes guarded the largest collection of seeds and grains in the world at the Pavlovsk seed bank. The seeds in their bank would preserve different strains of wheat and rice and prevent future world famine.

Alexander Stchukin was a specialist in peanuts. He died protecting tons of peanuts, wheat grains, and rice that could easily have saved his and his fellow workers lives.

The scientists at the Pavlovsk seed bank, charged with maintaining biodiverstiy chose to starve, ensuring that future generations of Russians could eat, free from the threat of plagues and blight. Sacrifice is painful, but renders a greater satisfaction than anaesthesia or the avoidance of pain.

Suffering is part of life; no pain, no gain. Where there is no struggle there can be no advancement. Avoidance of suffering as a philosophy seeks to solve the problem of pain. This is mere anaesthesia. Heroin and opioid addiction has become a pressing problem. Opium is probably the most addictive drug in existence. Why? It is the best anaesthesia. Opium is the best painkiller. Marx once defined Religion as “The Opium of the masses.” In 2017, Opium is the Opium of the masses. As a painkiller, it is superior even to the teachings of the Buddha, who defined pain as the main problem of existence.

But pain is not the highest truth, according to the Vaishnava teachers. Above pain is joy, ecstasy, bliss. And bliss is the birthright of all who have teh human form of life. Bliss is an essential component of the human soul, beyond mere existence. Those who deny the existence of the soul can never realize complete joy. Having negated even the prospect of joy, their only prospect is painkilling, escaping suffering. But anaesthesia is a limited response to the problem of pain and suffering. The pro-active response is to discover joy through sacrifice and dedication.

The greatest historical example of sacrifice is found in the life of Jesus Christ. If suffering in this life is terrible, the suffering promised in the afterlife for those who are sinful is even greater. From bad karma to the fires of hell, many conceptions of the afterlife are negative. Christ’s sacrifice was such that he took the sins of the world upon his head that we would not need to face the flames of hell. Christ’s example is not that of negation of pain. If, in the Garden of Gethsemane, he had a moment of doubt and begged his father in Heaven, “Take this cup from my lips,” his faith was such that he accepted the sacrifice. So it is that the true purport of Buddha’s philosophy of compassion is found in sacrifice.

Two thousand years after Christ, the great sacrifice of the iron age of suffering is seen in the vibration of the holy name. The vibration of the holy name can truly free the soul, delivering us from the pain of human suffering and transport us to the realm of divine love and ecstasy.

As Śrīla Prabhupāda explains this in Elevation to Krishna Consciousness.
“Caitanya Mahaprabhu introduced the chanting of Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare as a great means of propaganda for spreading love of God. It is not that it is recommended only for Kali-yuga. Actually, it is recommended for every age. There have always been many devotees who have chanted and reached perfection in all ages. That is the beauty of this Krsna consciousness movement. It is not simply for one age, or for one country, or for one class of people. Hare Krsna can be chanted by any man in any social position, in any country and in any age, for Krsna is the Supreme Lord of all people in all social positions, in all countries, in all ages.”

The Path of Englightenment

The Eightfold Path of Yoga, Eightfold Noble Path of Buddha, and the Ninefold Path of Surrender:

By Michael Dolan, B.V. Mahayogi

Steps to Self-Realization

The Bhagavad Gita and Yoga Sutras of Patanjali        

Yoga is popular nowadays. In your local supermarket you will find advertisements for everything from integral yoga to naked yoga, flying yoga, even dancing yoga.

The word “Yoga” is interesting. In a sense, it really means “to join,” since the root of the word in Sanskrit is yoj. The English word “yoke” is derived from the same root as is yojana, the Vedic unit of measure which literally means a “day’s journey by oxen.” The oxen are yoked together in a team. So joining or union. Any practice which advances our union with divinity is a form of yoga.

Karma, jñāna, aṣṭāṇga and bhakti. These are the four approaches to divinity.

Practicing "Good Karma" or Right Action is a form of Yoga

Karma-yoga attempts to realize salvation through perfect action. One who knows the laws of cause and effect, of action and reaction realizes that bad action has consequences and seeks to purify action by avoiding sin and accepting piety. One strives for perfection through proper action and good deeds. Ethical action is the basis of many religions.

Ethical action or "good karma" is the basis of many religions

Others find that karma is superficial. Action alone will not gain salvation. The soul exists on a plane above the material forces of action and reaction. Spiritual knowledge is required for a more perfect union with God. Such a yoga path is called jñāna, or knowledge.

Jñāna or knowledge is another form of Yoga practice

 In English, the word gnosis is close to the meaning of jñāna (pronounced gyan). Bhakti is the yoga recommended by Krishna as the Supreme Yoga. He explains that it is through love of God that we achieve the most perfect union.

Still others are attracted to the mystic yoga path called aṣṭāṇga, or the eightfold path, best outlined by Patanjali centuries after Krishna spoke the Bhagavad-Gita on the plains of Kurukshetra before the dawn of the Kali age.

The eight-fold path of Yoga appeals to many

The eight-fold path consists of systematic and definite steps to realization of our own spiritual energy as the atma within as a precursor to realization of the higher divinity above and beyond, called Paramatma.  

The essence of this yoga path was set forth in systematic form by the ancient sage Patanjali in his short but masterly work, the Yoga Sutras.

Paramahansa Yogananda has written: “Patanjali’s date is unknown, though many scholars assign him to the second century B.C. His renowned Yoga Sutras presents, in a series of brief aphorisms, the condensed essence of the exceedingly vast and intricate science of [Yoga] in such a beautiful, clear, and concise way that generations of scholars have acknowledged the Yoga Sutras as the foremost ancient work on yoga.”

The yoga system of Patanjali is known as the Eightfold Path, which leads to the final goal of God-realization. Krishna’s Bhagavad-Gita outlines the principles of Astanga yoga long before Patanjali in the sixth Chapter. This yoga is in part a mechanical meditative practice, which seeks to control the mind and senses and focuses with concentration on Paramatma (the Supersoul, the form of the Lord situated in the heart) as the goal.

Ashtanga-yoga culminates in samadhi, full consciousness of the individual soul as consciousness and the Supreme Soul as the Paramatma or supreme higher consciousness.

Christ in Samādhi

Patanjali’s Eightfold Path of Yoga sets forth eight principles. All of these principles are valuable in discovering the self and making progress on the path of self-realization. Westerners generally are exposed to the idea of asanas or different yoga postures.

Mystic Yogi

This is an important part of Patanjali’s system for fine-tuning body and mind, and so we may place it at the beginning of our list. The Eight principles of Ashtanga-yoga are as follows:

1. Asana: right posture.

2. Yama (avoidance of negative moral conduct): noninjury to others, truthfulness, nonstealing, continence, and noncovetousness

3. Niyama (appropriate moral conduct, following the rules and principles of dharma): purity of body and mind, contentment in all circumstances, self-discipline, self-study (contemplation), and devotion to God and guru.

4. Pranayama: Breath control and exercises. The control of prana, the subtle life currents in the body, is important in self-realization, since it improves mindfulness.

5. Pratyahara: Controlling the mind by withdrawing the senses from the sense objects.

6. Dharana: focused concentration; arresting the mind from drifting from one thing to the next. Krishna explains, “For him who has conquered the mind, the mind is the best of friends; but for one who has failed to do so, his very mind will be the greatest enemy.” bandhur ātmātmanas tasya yenātmaivātmanā jitaḥ anātmanas tu śatrutve vartetātmaiva śatru-vat|| बन्धुर् आत्मात्मनस् तस्य येनात्मैवात्मना जितः । अनात्मनस् तु शत्रुत्वे वर्तेतात्मैव शत्रु-वत्॥(BG 6.6)

In his purport to this verse Śrīla Prabhupāda points out: “The purpose of practicing eightfold yoga is to control the mind in order to make it a friend in discharging the human mission. Unless the mind is controlled, the practice of yoga (for show) is simply a waste of time. One who cannot control his mind lives always with the greatest enemy, and thus his life and its mission are spoiled. The constitutional position of the living entity is to carry out the order of the superior. As long as one's mind remains an unconquered enemy, one has to serve the dictations of lust, anger, avarice, illusion, etc.

"But when the mind is conquered, one voluntarily agrees to abide by the dictation of the Personality of Godhead, who is situated within the heart of everyone as Paramatma. Real yoga practice entails meeting the Paramatma within the heart and then following His dictation. For one who takes to Krsna consciousness directly, perfect surrender to the dictation of the Lord follows automatically.”

7. Dhyana: meditation, absorption in the vast perception of God.

8. Samadhi: superconscious experience of the individualized soul and its relationship with the Supersoul or Paramātma.

Samādhi has been defined by Krishna as follows: jñāna-vijñāna-tṛptātmā kūṭa-stho vijitendriyaḥ yukta ity ucyate yogī sama-loṣṭrāśma-kāñcanaḥ

ज्ञान-विज्ञान-तृप्तात्मा कूट-स्थो विजितेन्द्रियः युक्त इत्य् उच्यते योगी सम-लोष्ट्राश्म-काञ्चनः “For one who has conquered the mind, the Supersoul is already reached, for he has attained tranquility. To such a man happiness and distress, heat and cold, honor and dishonor are all the same.”

Śrīla Prabhupāda notes Krishna is defining the idea of samādhi here by his use of the world “sama”...”The effect of controlling the mind is that one automatically follows the dictation of the Paramatma or Supersoul. Because this transcendental position is at once achieved by one who is in Krsna consciousness, the devotee of the Lord is unaffected by the dualities of material existence, namely distress and happiness, cold and heat, etc. This state is practical samadhi, or absorption in the Supreme.”

Lord Shiva in Samādhi

It is important to note that the Patanjali tradition flows from the truths revealed in the Bhagavad-Gita and that Patanjali could hardly have defined samādhi differently from Krishna. If his followers have done so, they should return to the original meaning expressed in the sutras. In the next verse, Krishna further defines samādhi as a state of perfect intelligence, by which one sees everything in harmony:

suhṛn mitrāry-udāsīna madhyastha-dveṣya-bandhuṣu sādhuṣv api ca pāpeṣu sama-buddhir viśiṣyate

“A person is said to be still further advanced when he regards all—the honest well-wisher, friends and enemies, the envious, the pious, the sinner and those who are indifferent and impartial—with an equal mind.” (samabuddhi). Here, Krishna identifies harmonic vision with the perfect intelligence of samādhi, explaining that a perfectly realized soul sees everything on the spiritual platform.

If Patanjali’s eightfold path was defined somewhere between the Second and Fourth Century in India, it was inevitably influenced by the prevalence of Buddhism. It was not until after Shankaracharya’s Vedanta commentary in the 8th Century that Buddhism began losing popularity on the Indian Subcontinent.

Adi Shankar Acharya

Shankar Acharya sharply criticized the unscrupulous practices of monks, bringing about a reform in Buddhist monasteries. So, if Patanjali had written his sutras during the height of Buddhist influence in India, it may be enlightening to compare his eightfold path with that of the Buddhists.

While the yogic eightfold path seems to concentrate on personal enlightenment to the exclusion of real ethical considerations, the Buddha’s eightfold path appears to have a more universal application. It may be noted that neither of the two approaches attempt to incorporate “religious” considerations, but strive for universal truth.

Buddha, often considered an incarnation of Vishnu for the purpose of promoting the philosophy of nonviolence, discovers four universal truths.

Buddha begins by addressing the most important problems of human existence: birth, death, old age, and disease. Throughout our entire lifetime we are plagued by different miseries. There are problems beyond human control, for example, floods, drought, plague, and famine. There are problems caused by other people or even animals and mosquitoes. Then there are the miseries caused by our own body and mind. In short, there is suffering.

This is Buddha’s first “Noble Truth.” There is suffering. No one can dispute this.

His second idea is to analyse why there is suffering. His conclusion is that suffering is based on desire. As long as we want something we don’t have, we will be unhappy and suffer. His idea is beautiful in its simplicity. So far there is nothing intellectual or ontological about his curiosity. His question merely locates the central problem of our existence: Suffering. Then he asks, “Why do we suffer?” and concludes that the root of suffering is desire.

But the next question that comes up is “Where does desire come from?” If we suffer because we desire, then what is the origin of this desire? Is it possible to quench desire? Can desire be satiated? Buddha reaches the same conclusion as did the Rolling Stones: “I can’t get no satisfaction.”

Desire, according to Buddha, seems to be based on Ego. As long as there is an “I” there must be desire. Never mind the ontological nature of the soul. We don’t seem to be in a position to grasp that at this point. But we can say that the desire caused by Ego is at the heart of our suffering. This is his third Noble truth: Ego causes desire.

So Buddha sets out to see how Ego can be dealt with. His plan for dealing with Ego is called the “Path.” And this is his fourth Noble truth: the “path” to release the Ego.

Now, Buddhism tends towards nihilism and voidism. Nirvana is an interesting word in Sanskrit. Nir means “not” or Nothing. Vana means “forest” and by extension any inhabitable place. So Nirvana really means “Nowhere.” It was Samuel Butler who turned Utopia on its head by writing his satire Erewhon, which is Nowhere spelled backwords. The very idea of Buddhism is to get us to Nowhere, nirvana, since anywhere must be better than this world of suffering and loss.

But leaving aside this negative aspect of Buddhist philosophy, there is something integral about Buddha’s ideas that have given comfort to humanity for 25 centuries. Patanjali liked the eightfold path enough that he adopted it in his own Yoga system. Did Patanjali borrow the eightfold path from Buddha? Or did Buddha steal the eightfold path from Krishna. Perhaps he read the Bhagavad-Gita in secret and plagiarized Krishna, hoping that he would never be discovered. Or, then again, isn’t it possible that there is a universal truth embedded in the eight-fold path, one that we might profit by studying.

If Krishna, Buddha, and Patanjali forwarded the same idea with a slightly different focus, perhaps we might benefit by looking more closely at the eightfold path.

Buddha claims that there are four important ideas or truths that we must take as being axiomatic:

1. There is suffering.

2. Suffering is caused by desire.

3. Desire flows from the Ego.

4. We must then investigate how to escape Ego using the 8-fold path.

So far so good. There may be different approaches to resolving the problem of Ego, depending on our sense of ontology, that is to say, “who we are.”

But let’s take a closer look: Having established his Four Noble Truths, Buddha goes on to describe his process, his “eight-fold path” to dissolve the ego and reach nirvana.

Buddha’s eightfold path may be divided into 3 parts: perspective, action, and mindfulness.

Perspective is the beginning. The first step on the path is to begin to understand the ego, to do some self-analysis and introspection. Buddha calls this first step “Right vision.” In Sanskrit this is called samyak drishti. The word samyak is often translated as “right,” so Right Vision.

But samyak also means “complete,” as in saṅkirtan, which means “complete kirtan.” Samyak carries the sense of total, complete, wholistic. And dristhi or darshan means “vision, perspective, point of view, philosophy.

Before setting out on the path to enlightenment, on should have the proper perspective, a complete vision of the gestalt or total reality. If one sees reality with spiritual vision, one’s action, speech and thinking will flow in harmony with this awareness of reality.

The correct perspective allows us to act in proper adjustment. Buddha asks us to keep in mind that the world is temporary. That death is imminent. The temporal nature of reality and the imminence of death should lead us toward the truth about the self. Buddha understands that by giving up attachment to material things we lose desire for them and so become free from suffering.

Lord Buddha calls the second step on the path samyak samkalpa, which is generally taken to mean Right Intention. saṅkalpa means determination, or one’s proper conviction after due diligence. Complete or firm determination. This may be considered a precursor to faith: Proper intention, purity of conviction. One is determined to reach freedom from false ego and selfishness, acting with compassion and benevolence to reach the goal.

The third step on the eightfold path brings us into practice. If the first two ideas have to do with perspective and conviction, the third has to do with action.

The third step on the eightfold path is called “Right Speech.” samyak vac. Again samyak may be translated as perfect. So Perfect Speech. This is not the same as the perfect tense in English.

Perfect Speech means freedom from gossip and fault-finding. You might define it as a rigorous distance from false and hurtful speech and gossip: avoid speech that offends; speak the truth. Speak sweetly. Avoid speaking harsh truths that offend. Be honest. There is an echo of Buddha’s teaching in Rupa Goswami’s Upadeshamrita where he calls for his followers to control the urge to speak vāco vegaṁ manasaḥ krodha-vegaṁ jihvā-vegam udaropastha-vegam etān vegān yo viṣaheta dhīraḥ sarvām apīmāṁ pṛthivīṁ sa śiṣyāt.

वाचो वेगं मनसः क्रोध-वेगं जिह्वा-वेगम् उदरोपस्थ-वेगम् एतान् वेगान् यो विषहेत धीरः सर्वाम् अपीमां पृथिवीं स शिष्यात्.

“One who can control the forces of speech, mind, anger, belly, tongue and genitals is known as a gosvāmī and is competent to accept disciples all over the world.” Upadeshamrita 1, (Nectar of Instruction, Rupa Goswami.)

Buddha tells us to control our speech, to speak carefully and completely: Samyak vak . This principle perhaps did not originate with Buddha thousands of years ago, but it has been accepted as a valuable truth and incorporated into the monastic traditions of spiritual communities wherever people practice meditation and prayer. An extreme example would be the Trappist monks who follow a strict version of the vows of silence as set down in the Rule of St. Benedict.

The practical aspects of the eightfold path begin with speech and continue with action. Buddha identifies three different aspects of action: Action itself, Livelihood, and Sincere Effort.

Action means acting appropriately. Since suffering is the basic truth of reality, we should not cause more suffering. Any suffering we create will come back to us as the law of karma. Therefore we must act appropriately in avoiding all kinds of violence to others including stealing which is violence against property. Murder and meat-eating are other forms of violence. Violence creates a negative karmic reaction and upsets the balanced life that a truth-seeker strives for. By the same token one must avoid immoral conduct such as adultery, fornication, prostitution, and all forms of sexual misconduct. Intoxication ruins the capacity for proper vision and intention and must be forsaken. Drug addiction and drunkenness it all its forms destroys the prospects for self-realization. Gambling agitates the mind as well. Sharp and ruinous business practices are also actions to be avoided. Acting appropriately is called Right Action.

The 5th step is Right Livelihood. Avoiding negative action is insufficient to bring about a balanced life of harmony, according to the teachings of the Buddha. One must have a proper occupation. This includes education and proper thinking. By living a balanced life one reduces egotism. Unsuitable occupations include working as a butcher or a wine merchant. Suitable occupations are honest and nonviolent and contribute something to society. Right Livelihood means living according to your principles by accepting a proper occupation. These are universally accepted principles for living.

The fifth step on the eightfold path is called Right Effort, samyak vyayam. Vyayam means “exercise” If we take this in the sense of physical exercise, then this corresponds to the asana part of the eightfold yoga path of Patanjali. But here, exercise is not only physical but mental and refers to the proper exercise of the above principles.

So far we have seen certain parallels with Patanjali’s eightfold path. Yama and Niyama or accepting what is favorable rules and regulations and rejecting unfavorable behavior are reflected in Buddha’s ideas about practical behavior and action. Dharana and Dhyana correspond to meditation and conduct. Buddha lays no emphasis on Pranayama as such, but Pranayama breathing exercises are practiced in many Buddhist circles. Pratyahara or properly controlling the mind, giving up negative ideas also corresponds to some extent to this concept of proper exercise, which flows through the sixth step, called Right Effort.

The Sixth step is called Right Effort or pro-active vigilance against unwholesome mental thoughts, evil ideas and attitudes, mental vices such as lust, greed, sloth, pride, illusion, envy, racism, nationalism, materialism, sensualism, and other forms of egoism.

Having contemplated different aspects of action both subtle and gross, in speech and deed, Buddha moves on to consider the nature of the mind. The 7th step on the eightfold path is called samyak smrti. In Sanskrit smrti means “memory.”

For Buddhists, smriti means to maintain a proper consciousness of body, mind, and spirit, remembering the four noble truths and what has been learned by following the eight-fold path. By remembering the imminence of death and the impermanence of the world followers of Buddha’s path try to maintain proper adjustment.

Followers of Krishna consciousness, Vaishnavas, find this to be an incomplete version of rememberance. After all, Buddha is calling for samyak smriti or total recall.

What then is the best smrti? The best remembrance is to remember Krishna. While Buddha advises his followers to follow the eightfold path to enlightenment, Vaishnavas have a nine-fold path of surrender:

śrī-prahrāda uvāca śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam arcanaṁ vandanaṁ dāsyaṁ sakhyam ātma-nivedanam iti puṁsārpitā viṣṇau bhaktiś cen nava-lakṣaṇā kriyeta bhagavaty addhā tan manye ’dhītam uttamam

श्री-प्रह्राद उवाच श्रवणं कीर्तनं विष्णोः स्मरणं पाद-सेवनम् अर्चनं वन्दनं दास्यं सख्यम् आत्म निवेदनम् इति पुंसार्पिता विष्णौ भक्तिश् चेन् नव-लक्षणा क्रियेत भगवत्य् अद्धा तन् मन्ये ’धीतम् उत्तमम्

Prahlāda Mahārāja said: Hearing and chanting about the transcendental holy name, form, qualities, paraphernalia and pastimes of Lord Viṣṇu, remembering them, serving the lotus feet of the Lord, offering the Lord respectful worship with sixteen types of paraphernalia, offering prayers to the Lord, becoming His servant, considering the Lord one’s best friend, and surrendering everything unto Him (in other words, serving Him with the body, mind and words)—these nine processes are accepted as pure devotional service. One who has dedicated his life to the service of Kṛṣṇa through these nine methods should be understood to be the most learned person, for he has acquired complete knowledge.

(SB 7.5.23-24 Śrīla Prabhupāda)

Smaranam or Smriti remembrance is an important aspect of surrender. Note here that the 9 different kinds of surrender are not a means towards an ends as are the eightfold steps of Buddha’s enlightenment. It is not that by following the different processes of surrender that we gain freedom from misery. The processes of surrender are not a means towards an ends but an ends in themselves. Surrender is its own reward. The goal of bhakti is love. Love is its own reward.

In any case, smaranam, or remembrance, according to the Vaishnavas is remembrance of God, not of the misery and suffering of this world or the need to destroy the ego. In this sense there is a big difference between Buddha’s path and Vaishnava faith.

How is remembrance achieved? This may be done through repetition of the mantra while remembering its inner sense. Guru has given us the mantra as a means to remember Krishna. By constantly meditating on the mantra we come into connection with that memory. REmembering Krishna is real samyak smrti, that is, proper memory.

The next step in Buddha’s eight-fold path is samādhi, which according to his analysis is perfect concentration or mindfulness, enlightenment.

Vaishnavas have a different perspective on samādhi, one which is at variance as well with that of Patanjali. The Vaishnava acharyas consider that one who is well-established in remembrance of Krishna enters into the divine domain. His situation there in samyak smrti, as one who never forgets the Lord, is called samadhi. Established in complete remembrance or samyak smrti, the devotee who has realized his position as an eternal servitor of divinity realizes complete bliss. This is samyak or complete samādhi according to the Vaishnava Acharyas.

As we have seen there are certain parallels between the ancient system of ashtanga yoga as outlined by Patanjali and the eight-fold approach to enlightenment as outlined by Lord Buddha.

These principles adhere to a certain set of truths that cannot be denied, insofar as they have guided the lives of spiritual aspirants in various countries over a period of thousands of years.

The special distinction held by the Vaishnava way of life is to incorporate these ideas into the daily life of sadhakas who follow the guidelines laid out by guru in the line of Śrī Caitanya. The advice that has been followed by both yogis and practicioners of Buddhas has been useful in focusing the mind, restraining the lower impulses and guiding ethical and practical behavior in the search for enlightenment.

Where Buddha stressed a search for truth, Shankar and Patanjali aimed higher at eternal spiritual realization. The Vaishnava contribution is the Search for Shri Krishna, the search for eternal bliss in a loving relationship with God, Krishna that can be attained not only by following the principles of an eight-fold path, but through the mercy of guru and Krishna.

But while we hold out for the mercy of guru and Krishna like the chataka bird who stretches his beak out to the heavens for rain, we do not deny the practice of ethical spiritual principles. The idea of Right Thinking, Right Action, and Right Speech while forwarded milennium ago by Buddha is still useful today. The principles of compassion and nonviolence are not absolutes: Divine mercy is the highest absolute. But in the search for personal realization following the above principles is good advice for any spiritual aspirant. One must strictly adhere to these fundamental principles to purify the body, mind, and spirit in the search for Sri Krishna.