Methodology of Spiritual Development
While studying the history of religion on the earth, and verifying the knowledge contained in them through experience; he asserts that the methodology of spiritual development is universal for all people. Many religions express the same truth, called the sanathana dharma in hinduism, in different words depending on who preached it and in what part of the world. This is accepted by those who see the essence in the words of spiritual teachers such as Jesus Christ, Sathya Sai Baba, Babaji, Yogananda, Yukteswar, Patanjali, Lahiri Mahasaya, Krishna, Gautama Siddartha, Pythagoras, Osho, Chaitanya, and others. The core of these teachings is that there is God, who is Love, and we need to become love ourselves in order to become co-essential and merge into Him. This relates to the assertion that the meaning of life consists in that all living beings are units of consciousness, energy that is capable of self-awareness, evolving in material bodies in order to have a chance to move forward along the line of evolution towards God. Tiny particles of consciousness start out incarnating into crystalline latices and progress through the mineral stage of life before getting into plant bodies, where it develops through more and more complex bodies, where it reaches the point of incarnating into an animal body, and finally a human body; which has the opportunity of taking an active role in the person evolution. Each consciousness, or soul that develops itself to perfection flows back into the Creator and enriches It. This is the process of Evolution of the Absolute, which goes on simultaneously with the evolution of individual units of consciousness. Those who achieve this co-essentiality and merge with God becoming one with Him then continue their development as members of the Holy Spirit; which is the aggregate of all souls who achieved this unity merged into one. They come out from the Abode of the Creator to become caretakers of the creation - helping those living beings who have not achieved this yet. An individual Holy Spirit can also choose to incarnate again into a human body for a mission of service to help those incarnated on a planet. This is called a Messiah, Christ, Avatar, or Buddha.
Within the process of the evolution of a consciousness there are three main lines of development: an intellectual one, and ethical one, and a psycho-energetic one. These correspond to the three main aspects of God which one needs to cultivate in oneself to perfection in order to complete the personal evolution and merge back into Him. These three main aspects are Love, Wisdom and Power. Each line of development corresponds to each component: ethical to the development of Love, intellectual to the development of Wisdom, and psycho-energetical to the development of Power. The intellect must be developed to a certain level in order for a person to have the possibility to comprehend the highest truths, and work through complicated ethical problems that arise at higher stages of the Path. Without ethics, knowledge is dangerous. Without knowledge, meditative work is dangerous.
Another aspect of the methodology is the so-called places of power. Special zones that are like holes into different layers of the multi-dimensional space. He asserts that they can be divided into those that take energy, and those that give energy - and further into whether that energy is positive or harmful. Places of power can also be work sites of Divine Teachers - Holy Spirits who work from a particular place on the earths surface. They become easy to see, hear, and guide those who work on these special places by refining oneself gradually to Their level of subtlety is becomes possible to perceive Them and confirm this is in fact true.
Based on these experiences he cognized several different layers (eons, lokas) of the multi-dimensional space within the Absolute. The deepest and most subtle one is the Creator, or said in different languages the Primordial Consciousness, Allah, Adibuddha, Ishvara, Tao, Svarog, Odin, God-the-Father, etc. Traveling along the vector moving away from the Creator, there is the dimension of the Holy Spirit - those who has achieved unity and come out to become active manages in the creation; in other languages they are called Brahman, Te, etc. Continuing on, the next more dense layer is that of paradise, and then the intermediate material planes, and then the coarsest eon: hell. After disincarnation from the body, a consciousness abides during the period between bodies within that dimension where they accustomed themselves to living during the body. For example, those who achieved stable mergence in paradise during life in the body, go there after leaving the body. Those who accustomed themselves to coarse emotions such as anger, irritation, condemnation, etc. end up in hell. Those who flowed into the subtlest eon of the Creator and learned to come out as an active member of the Holy Spirit do not need to incarnate into a human body ever again unless they choose to take on the role of an Avatar (Christ, Messiah)
The earth, based on the above, can be viewed as a school where souls gradually learn to be God. Initial Methods: Basic Methods: Higher Methods: Stages of a humans development: Varnas:
The varnas are an evolutionary scale taught by Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita. They document the main stages a human being will move through in terms of their social role. This scale can be applied to the psycho-genesis of a person, i.e that stage they are in as a consciousness; and also in their onto-genesis; the current stage in a particular incarnation.
First any person has to go through the stage of being a student. He or she learns and develops by helping others in their work. Next, they can come to the stage of householder - the student has evolved and learned to care for and successfully maintain a family, business, etc. They next stage comes kshatriya: the warrior. The householder has acquired significant personal power and intellect and gains gradually the ability to fight for the well being of others. Kshatriyas are those who can become successful leaders, organizers of people. Mastering the stage of kshatriya, a person can establish themselves in the eon of paradise, and then that of Brahman - coming to the possibility of the role of spiritual leader.
The varnas became known in India as the caste system, in which different varnas were handed down by birth. The above relates to the original intention of Krishna and as a means of determining ones own stage of evolution and that of others. Patanjali's Scheme:
The Patanjali scheme is an outline of the steps of spiritual ascension. It was expounded by an Indian mystic named Patanjali, who is sometimes regarded as a founder of Yoga. This scheme looks at the methodology of spiritual development in terms of eight steps. While the first two, yama and niyama, are supposed to performed at the same time - it is possible to view this scheme as a seven step octave. These steps are: yama and niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhayana, and samadhi.
Yama and niyama is the stage of mastering ethical principles and psycho-hygienic rules of life, including non-harming, limiting possessions only to those necessary, purity in nutrition, etc. Asana is the stage of hatha yoga, and mastering poses of the physical body in order to 'raise' the energy of the body. Pranayama is the stage of mastering working with the energy of the consciousness and purifying any coarse energies from the body. Pratyahara is the stage of removing the indriyas from objects of the material plane and directing them inwards toward the depths of multi-dimensional space. Dharana is the stage of mastering concentration on the Highest Goal - God in the aspect of the Creator abiding the deepest layer of the Absolute. Dhyana is the stage of mastering meditation that brings one to the first touches of God called Samadhi. The final stage, Samadhi, can relate to the first contacts with the Holy Spirit right up to final mergence with God in the aspect of the Creator. Said in other words samadhi can mean Nirvana in Brahman or in Ishvara. Components of a humans development: Babaji Formula:
There is a short and concise formula given by Babaji from Haidakhan in the second half of the 20th century which clearly unveils the components of mans spiritual development. They are truth, simplicity, love, karma yoga, and renunciation of the lower 'i' for the sake of merging with the Higher 'I'. This formula implies gaining correct information and building a strong base of knowledge which will support successful development on the spiritual Path, as well as cultivating humility and absence of pride, along with the ability to love sincerely and making this ones essence. Karma yoga, or service to others, implies mastering correct action where the object is to selflessly help others in their evolution thus helping the Evolution of the Whole. The right attitude here is not regarding any reward for work performed. Renouncing the lower 'i' implies destroying the ego-centric and selfish attitude towards other living beings including God, and cultivating a God-centric worldview and attitude where gradually it becomes His Will that is done - not 'mine'. Gunas:
There is another system of classification called the gunas. It originated in the vedas, and was repeated by Krishna, Sathya Sai Baba, and others. It is a system for determining the aggregate qualities of a living being, and their current place in multi-dimensional space. These three gunas are called tamas, rajas, and sattva.
Tamas implies coarseness, ignorance, and inertia. Several examples of tamasic qualities would be laziness, fear, violence, anger, dullness, etc. Those who are tamasic in their qualities abide in that layer of multi-dimensionality called hell.
Rajas implies vigor and passion. This is the stage where a consciousness becomes active and 'in motion', often suffering from attachment to certain desires which are stimulating the movement. Those of rajasic qualities live in the intermediate layer of the Absolute between hell and paradise.
Sattva is purity, harmony and bliss. Those who have mastered the stage of rajas, turning their passion into love, find themselves in the eon of paradise. This is the eon of deep peace, joy, love, and calm. Laws of Spiritual Development:
In his autobiography he writes that there are ten laws within the sphere of the methodology of spiritual development. These are:
1. The law of LOVE. 2. The law of gradual development. 3. The law of three octaves. 4. The law of sinusoid. 5. The law of moving into the depths of multi-dimensional space. 6. The law of intellectual readiness. 7. The law of power in subtley. 8. The law of aspiration to God. 9. The law of destroying the "I". 10. The law of breaking ties with the earthly.