Family Ties
कुटुम्ब बन्धनानि
Chapter 27
354 ¶Outside the walls, in the community, in some of the homes of enlightened family men, constant training of potential sādhakas goes on. It generally commences after the age of puberty, for then a young man automatically detaches from his mother. This is about twelve years of age. It takes another twelve years for the final detachment to occur, during which time he is primarily trained by the pattern his father sets for him, or he is taken by a guru from his family home and placed in the home of a brahmachārī family, a family that has no sexual intercourse, for training to enter the monastery. With special permission, a young soul might enter this family’s household as early as nine or ten years of age, and the monastery as early as fourteen. If any attachment exists to mother or the rest of the family after the age of fourteen, it is only diminishing attachment, and if any attachment exists after the age of twenty-four, other than love, respect and honor to the mother on the part of the son, it is on the part of the son himself because of his not being sure of his way in the world and his seeking to reattach to his mother through psychic means. §
Detachment From Family And Friends§
355 ¶Therefore, at any time after the age of fourteen, up to the age of twenty-four, he is accepted into one of our Śaivite monasteries, after proving himself, having settled his worldly affairs and obtained the good feeling of mother and father as the diminishing attachment fades away. If he enters the monastery after the age of eighteen, he should simply, courteously and lovingly beg leave of his mother, father and friends by informing them of his new position in sādhaka life that he hopes to attain by sitting by our wall. Then he should never look back, for that would strengthen the psychic bonds, that are in the process of diminishing from the age of eighteen to twenty-four, and cause congestion and confusion in the nerve system of the family. §
Hanumān’s Assurance to The Mother§
356 ¶It is the Hanumān of the senior minority group of each monastery who should make an effort to talk with his mother so that she feels secure and is assured that he will be well trained and cared for, even though she full well knows the nature of these monasteries. The mother needs this assurance for her son, that he be trained well and that some person within the monastery will continue to raise and love him, for she is still psychically attached to him by a great tube of Second World matter, which though diminishing still exists. This tube is an extension of the umbilical cord that was with them both at birth. Once the Hanumān has made the mother feel as secure as possible that her son will be treated with due reverence and respect, and the entire senior minority group has satisfied itself that the entire family is not overtly objecting to his decision, but relatively pleased, his life as a sādhaka begins. §
Directing the Sexual Forces After Puberty§
357 ¶Puberty begins when the awareness of the soul comes into the animal nerve system as a result of being in this particular kind of fleshy body. Before this time, the body is maturing and growing, and the nerve system of the soul’s inner body governs it, much like it did when we had our original fibrous bodies. But when four cycles have passed, the external structure becomes firmed and strong, and the instincts for mating occur. Therefore, it is important that these forces be carefully directed so that the soul is not clouded by instinctive drives and still maintains its inner contact with the three worlds. §
Stages of Heightened Divinity§
358 ¶When a soul is in a six-year-old physical body, he is in divine consciousness and in tune with the three worlds. At this time, the height of Divinity is manifest through him. He only comes again into this state after the age of fifty-four, which continues to the physical age of seventy-two, and then again enters this stage after the age of eighty-four, which continues on through the rest of his physical existence. From the age of seventy-two to the age of eighty-four, he is able to strongly express spiritual intellect. This is the time great manuscripts are written that are passed on through our walls to family brahmachārī men who train the youth to enter back through our walls. In writing this manuscript, I am in this age grouping and soon will be eighty-one. §
This pure, childlike Divinity of the inner body of our soul is full of life, spontaneously joyous. It is always there within these bony bodies covered with flesh. It is only after the physical age of six years old that the awareness of the being comes into a slow understanding that he has a physical body. §
The First Rites of Passage§
359 ¶This pure, childlike Divinity of the inner body of our soul is full of life, spontaneously joyous. It is always there within these bony bodies covered with flesh. It is only after the physical age of six years old that the awareness of the being comes into a slow understanding that he has a physical body. Therefore, in our temples, a ceremony is given at six years old as well as at birth, and the children are brought by their fathers after birth for the impact of the darshan. At six years old, the male child is brought to the temple, again at twelve, at eighteen and twenty-four. These ceremonies mark a total change, destined to occur, in his life and consciousness. So he is brought before our Deity at these auspicious times in his life to receive the special impact of the darshan to sustain him through the next six years. §
Hair on the Head, Face and Body§
360 ¶At six years of age and before, the child lives in his head. His eye is open, undisturbed, and it takes great effort to keep the brow alive so that, as the time wears on and the physical body changes, the force does not become drained from it. Special ceremonies in our temple are always being held for the refinement of our bodies. The hair that appears on the face and body indicates to us the unfoldment of the instinctive nature of the animal forces of that nerve system. We seek through ceremony and tapas to deactivate and disengage that nerve system, thus minimizing the growth of these hairs on the face and torso of the body, whereas the hair on the head was part of the original fibrous body. The hair on other parts of it, though, are from a mutation out of the animal kingdom, and they should never be cut off but plucked out carefully and precisely while certain incantations are chanted. This aids in deactivating the instinctive drives of the animal nerve system so that the refined nerve system of the soul can replace and fully take over these bodies of bone and flesh. §
Transferring Psychic Ties To the Guru§
361 ¶It is the guru that is the mother, the father, the close relative to the young sādhaka, and hence every effort is made to transfer the Second World psychic tubes connecting into his relatives, to weld them tightly with his guru. Sometimes they are given up willingly and joyously by the mother and father. Other times it is more difficult to pass them on, and they are left to fade away after the age of twenty-four. Then rapidly new psychic connections must be made with the guru, else there is a tendency for the young monastic to feel disconnected from the monastery itself and wander out beyond its walls. For it is not allowed to be connected fully with one’s guru and parents at the same time. §
Importance Of Mother’s Blessings§
362 ¶It is in accordance with our law that at the point that the young disciple recognizes his guru and seeks entrance into one of our monasteries, it is the mother that must inwardly give blessing and assurance of harmony and forbearance. If she overtly objects by causing confusion or unhappy conditions, this signifies she holds tight to the psychic bonds and is not inwardly ready to release her offspring. If the guru were connected also to the young disciple, other than showering out a general love, her upset would be felt through his nerve system and the monastics working closely with him, even the entire senior minority group of the monastery he was seeking entrance into, so strong is the mother’s attachment to her son in these fleshy bodies of ours. §
Discerning The Mother’s Disposition§
363 ¶If the condition of the mother at the time the son departs to sit before the monastery wall is relatively calm, and no argument or confusion occurs, this indicates her blessing and forbearance. Or if she cries, that is good and constitutes an inner dissolving of the psychic cords. Or if she sends a gift, large or small, with her son to the monastery, or before him or after him, this indicates her surrender to his destiny, even though she may have caused an unhappy condition of confusion and misunderstanding before. A silent gift speaks of the current inner state of her releasing him and is a confirmation of her blessing and good will. For until he passes age twenty-four, she does have the power to object and upset the nerve system of all concerned. §
Families’ Adjusting to Separation§
364 ¶It is considered that the blessing of the mother is like the darshan from the guru, an unspoken feeling. Our gurus cannot explain their darshan or even feel the effects of it, as a mother cannot explain her feelings. It is during this time on the planet that families are very close. Life in them is warm and beautiful, and the attachments are strong. In the years to come in the Kali Yuga this may not always be so. Therefore, it is with much difficulty a young man withdraws from his family and enters one of our monasteries. But more than usually, when he informed the family he was entering the monastery or their guru told them this, they adjusted quite readily. §
Wisdom Bequeathed to The Future§
365 ¶I shall leave you now with this that I have written in assurance that it may be found in the ākāśa of the inner mind when needed most.§