Our own potential attainment is that of the great yogis; for that we should strive. Inner space is clear, transparent. Take the world seriously but realize that beyond the illusion of the mind is absolute reality. You are a divine being, a self-effulgent, radiant being of light. Shum helps us experience what otherwise would just be philosophy.

Unedited Transcript:

In the world of Shum our Mamsani, our simple meditation for the month of January, has to do with inner light. So I thought I'd read from Merging With Siva on inner light and then read from the Mamsani after that. So this is Chapter 8, Merging With Siva, The Clear White Light.

"Occasionally, through his newly exercised extrasensory perception, he may hear the seven sounds he previously studied about in occult lore. The sounds of the atomic structure of his nerve system, his cells, register as voices singing, the vina or sitar, tambura, or as symphonies of music. Instruments to duplicate these sounds for the outer ears were carefully tooled by the rishis of classical yoga thousands of years ago, including the mridanga or tabla, and the flute. He will hear the shrill note, likened to a nightingale singing, as psychic centers in his cranium burst open, and then an inner voice indicating to his external consciousness -- like a breath of air -- direction, elucidation. This inner voice remains with him as a permanent yoga of the external, with the internal consciousness an ever-ready guide to the unraveling of complexities of daily life.

"Occasionally, in a cross-section of the inner mind, when light merges into transcendental form, the young aspirant may view the golden actinic face of a master peering into his, kindly and all-knowing. He is looking at his own great potential. As the clear white light becomes more of a friend to his external mind than an experience or vision and can be basked in during contemplative periods of the day, the nourishment to the entirety of the nerve system, as ambrosia, bursts forth from the crown chakra. This is identified inadequately as 'the peace that passeth understanding,' for he who reaches this state can never seem to explain it."

Sounds pretty good? We'll keep going but one comment is: "His own great potential." That's a point I strive to make now and then is I've particularly noticed it among devotees of Yogaswami, they're, they really respect Yogaswami's attainment, you know, he's a great yogi. But they don't think of it as their own potential, necessarily. It's like, well that's what he could do. But, it's important, Gurudeva's pointing out: We want to respect someone's great attainment but we also want to realize that, that attainment is our own potential attainment. Cause everybody's the same in terms of the soul. Everybody will end up in the same place eventually in terms of maturity of the soul. So if we see a great soul who's a great yogi it means we can one day be a great yogi and we should look at it that way and therefore, their attainment encourages us to strive harder to attain more. That's the idea. "The highly trained classical yoga adept intensifies, through techniques imparted to him from his guru, the clear white light to the brink of God Realization, the void. His entire body is faded into a sea of blue-white light, the akasha, where now, past and future are recorded in the linear depths or layers, sometimes seeing himself seated or standing on a lotus flower of shimmering light in an actinodic clear, transparent, neon, plastic-like-body outline as his consciousness touches, in tune with a heart's beat, into the Self, God Realization."

So, Gurudeva explains this idea more elsewhere but sometimes, we think of light, inner light, as the ultimate attainment. Sounds so wonderful but Gurudeva explains it as: It's not the ultimate attainment in terms of states of consciousness because it's created by the friction between actinic energy and odic energy. It's like, you know, rubbing two stones together you can get a spark? You get light from friction. So, therefore, light isn't the highest state. If you go into pure actinic energy there's no light when you go deep enough. You're going into space, inner space. It's just clear and transparent.

"Keeping this continuity alive and not allowing the external consciousness to reign, the young aspirant lives daily in the clear white light, having occasionally more intense experiences as just described, while meeting daily chores here and now, until he attains the maturity of the nerve fiber essential to burst his consciousness beyond itself into the pure nonconscious state, nirvikalpa samadhi, the Self. Only known and identified by him as an experience experienced, only recognized by others as he maintains his point of reference: mind is only illusion, ever changing and perpetuating itself by mingling concepts of past and future into the present; the only reality is the timeless, formless, causeless, spaceless Self beyond the mind. He knows that the mind, which is made from a consciousness of time, creates, maintains and defabricates form, (That's a new one, I didn't remember that, from destruction. It's always an interesting word, you know. When you want to choose a word for destruction and make it not sound terrible.) --defabricates form and exists in a relative concept of space. The Self is the only reality and is an intensity far greater than that of any phase of the mind."

So that's pretty deep. Not going to try and explain all of that. But it's in, one of the important points is the mind is only illusion, that we look at that in the right way. Gurudeva also describes it as relative reality verses absolute reality meaning it's constantly changing, it has no permanence. So we need to take the world seriously but also realize it's not, there's a reality even beyond it is the point. But to fully get into that reality we need to take the world seriously. So the example I usually use is going to school. You know, if you go to school you say: School is unreal, school is unreal. You're not going to try and learn anything, right? So you're missing the opportunity to learn. So, likewise if we say: Life is unreal, we're missing the opportunity to unfold spiritually. So, that's the concept of "The world is an ashram." That when we approach the world in the right way it's not a worldly place, it's a spiritual place. It's a place where we can unfold, advance our soul when we look at in the right way. If we look at it in the wrong way it's a place where we just create more karma.

So, we stick on the subject.

Mamsani: Tyemmuif niimf balikana milinaka

Gurudeva explains: (Mamsani, you start with January so this is the first one.) "Our first mamsani tells us to not only meditate upon it during vigil after our worship and before sleep but all through the day. Yes! We must constantly be looking within ourselves all month during our waking hours. Throughout each day, try to see the light within the mind. Have you ever stopped to think that the light that lights up your thoughts, the light that lights up your thoughts, even when you are in a darkened room is the light of your mind? That is true. Try taking the image out of the mind and you will see that only light is left. Just before you go to sleep each night, while you are thinking and visualizing the happenings of the just-completed day, the images that you are seeing are set apart, distinguished by light, shadows and color. This is the light of the mind that you are seeing. But this light is taken for granted. We do not often think about it. We are too involved in the pictures that we are making. The practice to be mastered this month is to consciously remove the pictures and only see balikana, the light of the mind. Even in our dreams, there is light which lights up the colors of the scenes that pass before us. Truly, each and every one of us is a divine being of light. Yes! You are a divine being of light, and this you will truly realize by becoming aware of this light within you. Adjust yourself to the realization that you are a divine being, a self-effulgent, radiant being of light."

So this is bringing that or the higher teachings about from Merging With Siva and an inner light down to a practical level. That's the beauty of it. That anyone can do it. If they practice it enough. You just visualize something, visualize your favorite flower and then take away the flower. And what's left is the inner light. It's the first intensity of inner light. It's not that bright, you know, seem brilliant like looking at the sun or something, but it's a moon light glow is the way Gurudeva describes. And if you can hold that moon light glow without the mind going all over the place you can go into it and intensify it or make it brighter. So it, this practice brings it into the realm of practicality. How do we experience the inner light? Well, you visualize something you like, such as your favorite flower, and tantra, tantra, tantra. You go into it and intensify it by not letting your awareness wander.

So that's the beauty of the Shum language and the meditations Gurudeva has given us in Shum is it gives us a method step by step procedure. First we do this, then we do this, then we do this, then we do this which can take us in to an intense light. Otherwise, it's just high philosophy, you know, we don't know what to do. But Shum helps us experience what otherwise would just be philosophy.

Thank you very much.

Aum Namah Sivaya

Pongal, thank you for reminding, I forgot all about it. Going out now? It's 7:10 yes. Now is a good time? Thai Pongal. First day of Thai. Harvest festival. At Iraivan.

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