The world is like a snake in the string – Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

1. (Dr. Dillbeck:) This question Maharishi from the Community Television, Montgomery Community Television in Rockville, Maryland. Many Sages have talked about the illusory nature of life, what is it about our experience that is illusory and what is the experience of one who has awakened from that illusion?

2. Maharishi: Direct case of illusion is in the state of the dream.

3. The world is like a snake in the string. The string is there, but when you are not able to see the string properly, then you make a snake out of it.

4. The snake world is just like illusion, and when you are awake, when you know the string, then there was no snake.

5. The snake is just the physiology. Every fiber of the physiology is an impulse of consciousness. Different bodies are the various expressions of the one reality of consciousness.

6. There are seven states of consciousness, waking, dreaming, sleeping, TC (Transcendental Consicousness), CC (Cosmic Consciousness), GC (God Consciousness) and UC (Unity Consciousness).

7. Vedic knowledge means knowledge of all these seven states of consciousness.

8. Now is the time of the world to have an administration of life in unity consciousness.

9. Proper administration is administration through education, where the individual is trained to use the total brain.

10. The full brain of the individual is used only when the Transcendental Consciousness comes to direct experience. Transcendental Meditation, enlivening the full creative potential of the brain physiology, enables
a man to function from the level of Total Knowledge. Total Knowledge is Veda.

11. Highly enlightened individuals will create permanent peace on earth.

25. See The World Anew

26. Question Everything

27. Your Indoctrination

28. Technical Difficulties

1. Dr. Bevan Morris: One member of the press asks about Maharishi’s frequent references to the junction point–the area between the field of unity and the point of infinity. What is the junction point, and what is its practical significance?

2. Junction point is the junction point of unity and diversity. The junction point is very basic to what we want to achieve: All possibilities lively in the awareness of the individual. Then that individual will be utilizing all the laws with reference to dynamism and all the laws with reference to silence. This will be a perfect level of life.

3. Vedic Education, including the six Darshanas, trains the individual to use his total brain.

4. The junction point in Yoga terminology is called Samadhi: The Intelligence is even on the dynamic level
of awareness, and on the silent level of awareness.

5. Silence is lacking in education. When silence is lacking in the field of action, the individual becomes tired.
Now we are planning to establish beautiful oases in the desert.

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi is considered one of the foremost scientists in the field of consciousness.

1.Dr. Hagelin: There are a few questions, Maharishi, on some very deep principles and interesting principles that arose from your press conference of last week. If Maharishi would like to address one of these questions, it has to do with the nature of the gap and a comment that Maharishi made about that: Maharishi frequently speaks about two basic values of life-silence and dynamism. But Maharishi also speaks of what seems to be a third value, which is neither silent nor dynamic, and that is the gap which balances the two. Then last week, Maharishi said that silence is upheld by the devata Shiva, and dynamism is upheld by the devata Vishnu, with the devata Ganapati “holding the reins of coordination between the two.” Would Maharishi please talk more about Ganapati? And is the gap, in fact, a distinctly third value? And finally, how does it balance silence and dynamism?

2. Maharishi: Gap is like a tunnel. The train comes; it enters into the tunnel, and then comes out of the tunnel. The word for this flow is purnat purnamudachyate: “fullness emerges from fullness.”

3. In the mantra of the Veda, the previous word transforms itself in the gap into the following word. The previous fullness flows through the gap and comes out to be another fullness. That is how the whole Constitution of the Universe is a flow of fullness.

4. The process of evolution is a flow from fullness to fullness. And it is this, ultimately, that is said to be Brahm.

5. Vedic Science is a perfect science of life. It’s a science of unity, and science of diversity, in one expression.

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi is widely regarded as one of the foremost scientists in the field of consciousness.

The Tao-te Ching, a classic of the literature of enlightenment, expresses the same reality of life as the Vedic literature of India. Speaker: Dr. Bevan Morris, President of Maharishi University of Management.

This is exactly what happened to Arjuna. Arjuna was angry, upset, sad and wanted to run away. In the Bhagawad Gita, Lord Krishna said not to be a coward. So, it is an antidote to terrorism. Shri Krishna said bravery is the way – face the war when it is inevitable and do your duty.

A terrorist is stuck in his identity – he hides it, has no rationale and inflicts pain. Whereas Bhagawad Gita helps one to transcend one’s identity, encourages reason and infuses wisdom. In this sense, it could be called the antidote to terrorism.

The duty of a policeman, a soldier or a king is to be impartial for the sake of the nation, whether it is their mentors or relatives. Terrorists are never impartial. A soldier is brave and a terrorist is a coward. A soldier is protecting and preventing violence and a terrorist is inflicting pain and suffering. The Bhagawad Gita is the scripture of bravery in both realms of physical and metaphysical.

Terrorism is deeply steeped in hatred. An act without hatred is what Gita propounds. The Gita epitomizes the correct action – of righteousness, of upliftment of spirit and an action or duty that ought to be performed even in the most compelling situation.

In the last 5149 years of the existence of the Gita, there is no evidence of someone becoming a terrorist after reading it. In fact, Mahatma Gandhi wrote commentaries on the Bhagawad Gita and it was an inspiration for his non-violent movement. The Bhagawad Gita is a unique scripture which caters to the entire range of human evolution, comprising every level of this vast existence.

Gita stands for poise and equanimity and for performing one’s designated duty. Krishna does not encourage everyone to take the weapons and fight but a soldier cannot sell bananas in the market. He has to take his weapon to bring security to his people. If Bhagawad Gita is a terrorist scripture then all military academies in the world are nothing but terrorist organizations. Doesn’t this sound strange? Would the courts ban Lenin, Marx and Mao Tso-Tung, who to stay in power inflicted terror on millions?

A terrorist or a coward hides and inflicts pain on others whereas a soldier sacrifices his own life to bring security and peace to people. They both may take the gun but their intentions are poles apart.

Gita encourages reasoning and dialogue while terrorists are blind to any reasoning and are closed to any form of dialogue.

Interestingly, in any military training all over the world, the soldiers are asked to see the enemies as dangerous objects which need to be eliminated. The psychology behind indoctrination of such an idea is that when they think the enemy is a human being the soldiers are unable to raise their arms. There are many such survival tactics where the army men are desensitized.

A similar situation happened to Arjuna. Lord Krishna went step by step to deal with Arjuna’s emotions, ego, mindsets and concepts. He finally touched on the nature of his spiritual being; revealing him the highest knowledge and making him realize his eternal nature. This brought him enormous strength and then propelled him to perform his worldly duties. A doctor cannot be taken as a dacoit just because he opens up the stomach of the patient.

Krishna says, no sin begets him whose intellect is unattached and free from cravings and aversions, even if he kills the whole world. Now, the condition of an intellect free from cravings and aversions itself counters terrorism. Terrorism is done when the intellect is deeply attached and is hateful. The metaphors and the high standards of humanism exhibited in the Gita are unparalleled.

Jesus had said, “I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household.” In the Quran, there are many verses which talk about striking terror in the hearts of the infidels and cutting off their fingers. By these standards if you still call Gita a terrorist scripture then you have to precede such statements by Bible and Quran.

The fact is that it is not the scriptures that inflict terrorism; it is the mis-interpretation of an ignorant and stressed mind which justifies their actions quoting scriptures.

By Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

This article is to cater to the common man. This piece was written in December 2011, in the midst of a Russian court case against the Bhagawad Gita. The case ended with the Russian court rejecting the ban.

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Gadadhara Pandit Dasa: The Bhagavad Gita did influence the lives of very prominent western people — not just Indian people like Ghandi — but Martin Luther King Jr., and Emerson, Thoreau, Oppenheimer.
The-Bhagavad-Gita—-Gandhi-517253153
Seftel: If you had to tweet what Bhagavad Gita is about, what would you say?

Pandit: (laughs) OK, what Bhagavad Gita is about (pause), “The guide to overcoming life’s biggest obstacles, which are caused by the mind and understanding the difference between the body and soul.”

Seftel: Would you say the main character, Arjuna, is having a nervous breakdown?

Pandit: Well, here is what Arjuna says: “My hair is standing on end. My skin is burning. My mind is whirling; my bow is slipping from my hand. I can no longer stand here any longer.” I would say that if you can’t stand on your own feet and things that you are holding are slipping from your hand, then that would qualify as a nervous breakdown.

Seftel: Arjuna, and his chariot driver, Krishna, have a relationship that is timeless and relatable. There’s a little “Tony Soprano and Dr. Melfi” or “Tiger Woods and his caddy” here.

Pandit: I don’t know if you saw the movie “The Legend of Bagger Vance” with Will Smith and Matt Damon? That’s based on Bhagavad Gita actually, because Matt Damon’s golfer character is named Rannulph Junuh. So that’s Arjuna. And Will Smith, his caddy, is named Bagger Vance. If you take Bag and Vance, that’s Baggavan which means “god” (laughs). And there’s some Karate Kid here too. You know they’ve got Mr. Miyagi and Danielson (laughs). So Danielson, when he wants to learn he goes to Mr. Miyagi and asks him about karate and Mr. Miyagi then becomes a teacher. I think you can find this relationship everywhere in contemporary life.

Seftel: What about “The Matrix”?

Pandit: There’s definitely a good amount of the Gita in The Matrix. Neo is very much like Arjuna because in the movie you see that Neo is looking for something. He sits on his computer. He knows that the world he sees around him isn’t everything. He knows that there is something more out there. He just can’t figure out what it is. When he finally meets Morpheus, his guru or teacher, Morpheus says, “You know it’s out there, you just don’t know what it is. It’s kind of like a thorn. You have always felt it.”

Seftel: In our film, Amitav Kaul says that he had a breakthrough in understanding Hinduism and the Gita after seeing Star Wars.

Pandit: Yes, the scene where Obi Wan tells Luke about “the force.” That’s why in Hinduism many say “Happiness is found within,” because the divine is there. We are not able to access it because we are so busy doing so many things and progressing materially that we are not able to access that divine. So I think that is what he was referring to. The force is the divine.

The-Bhagavad-Gita—-Star-Wars-517253154
Seftel: How does the story of the Bhagavad Gita end?

Pandit: It ends in a really beautiful way. One of my favorite passages in the Gita is where Krishna says to Arjuna that I’ve told you everything that I want to tell you, deliberate on it fully. And now, you do as you wish to do. I think that is so wonderful from a spiritual point of view that God is detached from our life to some degree. He’s interested in educating us, but ultimately he says: You make your own decisions.

Seftel: I went to a bar mitzvah a few months ago, and I met a boy named Arjuna. Do you think Arjuna is going to become a popular name in the States?

Pandit: Well, it all depends on how well this documentary does (laughs). I think that is largely in your hands (laughs).

Seftel and Pandit will speak after the January 25th screening of the film at the Rubin Museum of Art.
If you missed the show, you can watch Joshua Seftel’s 26 minute film on-line.
Click here watch and view the transcript of the video clip on the top right hand column.

Throughout history, the number 108 has held a multi-dimensional meaning. In geometric terms it is a natural division of circle (108=36+72=9 X 12). In the Eastern part of the world, different traditions talk about the108 navamsas. The Shiva malas[1], or rosaries, both Tantric and Tibetan[2] are composed by 108 beads. The number 108 is also one of great significance inside of the Rosicrucian order, since it exemplifies the time-frame of some of their cycles. Interestingly enough, a leap year displays 366 days and 3 x 6 x 6 gives 108.

The number 108 is considered sacred in many Eastern religions and traditions, such as Hinduism[3], Buddhism, Jainism[4], Sikhism and connected yoga and dharma based practices. Even the pre-historic monument Stonehenge is 108 feet in diameter. 108 is a number known to be referring to spiritual completion, and it is no surprise that the early Vedic sages were renowned mathematicians and in fact invented our number system. 108 is a Harshad Number, an integer divisible by the sum of its digits. Harshad in Sanskrit means “joy-giver”. 108 was the number of choice for this simple reason: 108 represent the whole of existence. There are said to be 108 types of meditation. Some say there are 108 paths to God. Indian traditions have 108 dance forms.

Another interesting example, Hindu deities have 108 names, whilst in Gaudiya Vaishnavism, there are 108 gopis of Vrindavan. Recital of these names, often accompanied by the counting of the 108-beaded Mala, is considered sacred and often done during religious ceremonies. The recital is called namajapa. Accordingly, a mala usually has beads for 108 repetitions of a mantra.

In some schools of Buddhism, it is believed that there are 108 defilements. In Japan, at the end of the year, a bell is chimed 108 times in Buddhist temples to finish the old year and welcome the new one. Each ring represents one of 108 earthly temptations a person must overcome to achieve nirvana. Likewise, Zen priests wear juzu, a ring of prayer beads, around their wrists, which consists of 108 beads. The Lankavatara Sutra[5] has a section where the Bodhisattva Mahamati asks Buddha 108 questions.

In modern Gnosticism, through the teachings of Samael Aun Weor, it is believed that an individual has 108 chances, or lifetimes, to eliminate his egos and transcend the material world before “devolving” and having the egos forcefully removed in the infra-dimensions. In other words, each one of us carries the reminiscent memory cells of at least 108 previous incarnations, which constitutes the body of our incarnational selves. Inside of this essentially holographic template is stored the repository of the emotional and spiritual involvements that your Soul may have experienced and have retained the impression of, but that needed to be cleansed and integrated in order to continue the spiritual evolution.

The Buddhism tradition talks about the 108 earthly desires in mortals, 108 lies humans tell and 108 human delusions[6].

The esoteric presence of the number 108 can be seen in various spiritual practices and theories: In Kriya Yoga, the maximum number of repetitions allowed to be practiced in one sitting is 108. Also, 108 Sun Salutations in yoga practice is often used to honor change, for example the change of seasons, or at a time of tragedy to bring peace, respect and understanding. It is said that if one can be so calm in meditation practicing pranayama to have only 108 breaths a day that enlightenment will come.

Energy Points[7]

There are said to be 108 energy lines, or nadis, converging to form the heart chakra. Marma points are like Chakras, or intersection of energy, with fewer converging energy lines. On Sri Yantra, the Marmas have 54 intersecting energy lines where three lines intersect. Each has feminine, or shakti, and masculine, or shiva, qualities. 54 X 2 = 108. Therefore there are 108 points that define the human body and the Sri Yantra or the Yantra of Creation. The same rule is observed in the Sanskrit language, with its 54 letters, both representing the two genders and they are also called Shiva and Shakti respectively; again, 54 X 2= 108.

Importance in Astronomy and Astrology

The earth cycle is supposed to be of 2160 years = 20 x 108. The distance between the Earth and Sun is 108 times the diameter of the Sun. The diameter of the Sun is 108 times the diameter of the Earth. The distance between the Earth and Moon is 108 times the diameter of the Moon. The universe is made up of 108 elements according to ancient texts. The current periodic table claims a few more than 108.

There are 12 constellation and 9 arc segments. 9 times 12 equal 108. The 9 planets travelling through the 12 signs constitute the whole of existence. 9 x 12 = 108. The 27 nakshatras or lunar constellations spread over the 4 elements – fire, earth, air, water or the 4 directions – north, south, east, and west. This also constitutes the whole of existence. 27 x 4 = 108.

[1] – The Buddhist rosary, where from is inspired the rosary of the Moslems, then straight-away as an inheritance of crusades by Catholic Christians, is constituted of 108 fragments of distinctive different human skulls .

[2] 108 sacred books constitute the holy writings for Tibetans

[3] The Vedanta, according to the Hinduism tradition, recognizes 108 authentic doctrines (Upanishad) aiming to approach the Truth and to destroy Ignorance.

[4] In Jain tradition is believed that they are 108 virtues.

[5] Lankavatara Sutra ancient teachings refer repeatedly to many temples with 108 steps.

[6] In Tibetan Buddhism it is believed that there are 108 sins or 108 delusions of the mind: abuse, aggression, ambition, anger, arrogance, baseness, blasphemy calculation, callousness, capriciousness (unaccountable changes of mood or behavior) censoriousness (being severely critical of others), conceitedness, contempt, cruelty, cursing, debasement, deceit, deception, delusion, derision, desire for fame, dipsomania (alcoholism characterized by intermittent bouts of craving), discord, disrespect, disrespectfulness, dissatisfaction, dogmatism, dominance, eagerness for power, effrontery (insolent or impertinent behavior), egoism, enviousness, envy, excessiveness, faithlessness, falseness, furtiveness, gambling, garrulity (tediously talking about trivial matters), gluttony, greed, greed for money grudge, hardheartedness, hatred, haughtiness, high-handedness, hostility, humiliation, hurt, hypocrisy, ignorance, imperiousness (assuming power or authority without justification), imposture (pretending to be someone else in order to deceive), impudence, inattentiveness, indifference, ingratitude, insatiability, insidiousness, intolerance, intransigence (unwilling or refusing to change one’s views or to agree about something), irresponsibility, jealousy, know-it-all, lack of comprehension, lecherousness, lying, malignancy, manipulation, masochism, mercilessness, negativity, obsession, obstinacy, obstinacy, oppression, ostentatious, pessimism, prejudice, presumption, pretense, pride, prodigality (spending money or using resources freely and recklessly), quarrelsomeness, rage, rapacity (being aggressively greedy or grasping), ridicule, sadism, sarcasm, seduction, self-denial, self-hatred, sexual lust, shamelessness, stinginess, stubbornness, torment, tyranny, unkindness, unruliness, unyielding, vanity, vindictiveness, violence, violent temper, voluptuousness, wrath.

[7] According to Chinese and Indian Martial Arts: Marma Adi and Ayurveda, there are 108 pressure points in a human body.

This article, The Mystic Meaning of the Number 108, is syndicated from http://humanityhealing.net and is reposted here with permission.

Interview

ANDREW COHEN: I’d like to begin by asking you: Who is the most enlightened person you know of? Who has touched your heart the most and in whom do you have the greatest faith—alive or dead?

KAISA PUHAKKA: The Buddha would be one. Ramana Maharshi comes to mind. And I would say that I get that feeling from some of the Tibetan masters. And in the contemporary world, H.H. the Dalai Lama and Sasaki Roshi.

AC: Okay. So now what I want you to do is to imagine—even though I know this is impossible—but anyway, just for fun, imagine that you’re some conglomeration of the Buddha, H.H. the Dalai Lama, Ramana Maharshi and Sasaki Roshi. Imagine that you have embraced their minds. You have become one with their minds and one with their enlightenment—and one with their profound wisdom that comes from beyond the mind.

KP: Alright. Sounds wonderful.

AC: Kaisa Puhakka has stepped aside and now she’s just an empty vehicle for enlightened mind. So now, Enlightened One, I would like to ask you a couple of questions.

The first question is: Transpersonal psychologists seem to be in a double bind. On one hand, they have become experts in using the mind to conceptualize, communicate and facilitate the subtleties of the unfoldment of the evolution of consciousness. On the other hand, in order to truly know the real meaning of the spiritual path, we all have to be willing to give up not only the need to know but also the need to be the one who knows. Enlightened One, what do you have to say about this intriguing double bind that the transpersonal psychologists are in? What do you have to say about the enormous challenge of renouncing the great temptation of the intellectual and personal empowerment of transpersonal psychology’s all-encompassing, profoundly clarifying, intellectually satisfying theories of human development?

KP: The predicament that the transpersonal theorists find themselves in is kind of a heightened human predicament—the human predicament being that we really want to know. It’s very hard to legislate against this instinct to want to know, or this desire or longing to want to know, which is very fundamental and has to do with our desire to touch directly what is real. And so this is just one other expression of it.

There is something very funny about this, of course, because, as you said, in order to really touch enlightenment directly or be enlightened, you have to give up the need to know. So how do you get out of that? It’s a very profound predicament. Because if somebody tells you, “Just give up the need to know and that’s how you’ll get there”—it ain’t gonna work.

AC: So, what would you say to transpersonal psychologists? What would you tell them from your perspective of enlightened mind?

KP: What I would tell them is that in making maps, as they do—they characterize their theories as maps—if you do it like a child who is building sand castles, then there’s nothing wrong with it. The child in his or her most creative mode is excited when the waves come in and wipe out the castle; the child screams with joy as the whole thing crumbles. Then they get the chance to build another one. If we have the appreciation that these maps are something that we have fun doing and that stimulates our minds, but that there are always an infinite number of other ways of drawing maps, then there’s nothing wrong with the map-making activity, just as there’s nothing wrong with the child playing in the sand.

Now the trouble with the map making is when one takes one’s map very seriously and says, “Well, this is the correct road map, and there’s no other map that is as good as this one.” That’s when you are implicitly making the claim that you actually know the territory, that you have walked it, and that there’s some kind of correspondence between the territory and the map. As soon as the map making ceases to be fun and play, as soon as we take the maps too seriously, I think it actually becomes a hindrance to walking the terrain. If you are reading a map when you’re walking, you’re missing everything along the way. As Sasaki Roshi says, “You’re running around thinking that there’s some kind of a spiritual path or great way laid out in front of you like a road. You are fools. There is no road in front of you. The great way comes into being as you walk.” There is no road that is ready-made, let alone a map that will describe the road. The road itself comes into being in the walking.

AC: And besides your advice on making the maps, what would you tell them?

KP: Besides being map makers, as human beings who are concerned with becoming enlightened, they also need to sometimes just do the walking.

AC: Without the maps?

KP: Yes, everybody needs to do the walking without the maps.

AC: Enlightened One, do you think that because of their professional role, there is a strong potential in the ego of the transpersonal psychologist to take refuge in knowing in a way that protects them from the raw, undefended vulnerability of not knowing or having no idea? What I mean to say is: Do you think that it’s possible that the subtle, comprehensive and all-inclusive developmental theories of transpersonal psychology could be, from a certain point of view, the most sophisticated ego defense mechanism ever evolved?

KP: Well, certainly it has the potential to be a very powerful way of making you feel comfortable that you really know the lay of the land and also that you have all but arrived.

AC: Do you think that the challenge of letting go, for the transpersonal psychologist, could potentially be that much more difficult because, in their case, there is that much more to let go of? Indeed, the direct experience of profound letting go, of having to radically abandon identification with knowing or being the one who knows, could be that much more terrifying?

KP: Yes, that is true. Though I find that basically to be true of all intellectual-type people. With them it’s the philosophies or intellectual constructions that get in the way, and with other people it’s something else. But certainly, here the irony of it is heightened because here we have people who essentially are seeking to free themselves from all these trappings—whereas other people may not have that as a goal. In wanting to pursue freedom and enlightenment, the theories become the trappings, and they become very, very powerful trappings.