There are many spiritual masters in the West today, many philosophers and teachers followed by the masses. But, are they really adhering to traditional views or their own agendas?

By Durgadas, Ved Kovid, AYT

(c) Durgadas (Rodney) Lingham.
All Rights Reserved.

No part of this article may be copied or reproduced without direct permission from the author, either electronically or in any other manner.

The Vedic world is one extending into various degrees of teachings and initiations as also sacred traditions that in the European mind feel they have to be promoted in every manner possible to the masses like a socialist politician espousing their latest social-welfare scheme!

A common theme with people reveals their true colours with regards to samskaras.

Many who are initiated feel they have an autonomous right to continue (plagiarise) my teachings and to attain moksha. If one desires such from being initiated, then one has not at all understood Hinduism or native faiths from the original position.

I have even had some go so far as to distance themselves from Christianity and yet call themselves "Vedic missionaries" and have an ego that they were born "for a mission" as if some Jehovah-style God given command from the heavens!

The reality is that Yogis neither care for moksha nor rebirth. They live their lives as per their own dharma as per the karmas they were born with and seek to remove the three aspects that obscure their true nature (swabhava) - inborn egotism, action causing bondage and cosmic illusory energy. They don't seek to be or emulate anyone else apart from themselves!

There are many levels of the mind. I teach one hundred of them. Here many confuse the rajasic or kinetic states with inner realisation, skill etc when in reality such are mere ego-projections and desires.

There is a difference between becoming a religious convert zealot or Hindu fundamentalist, transferring Christian proselytising with upholding and defending tradition one has been born into. They are vastly different! Likewise, if one has a desire to become some sort of missionary or saviour-figure for Hindu dharma, that is not following one's dharma without attachment but rather once again superimposing Abrahamic notions of some kind of command one must subconsciously obey!

Swami Vivekananda had no mission to take Vedanta to America. Such was following his own dharma he had karmically been born with. This is seen in the depth of his knowledge, insight and realisation. Yogananda however like his Guru Yukteshwar had a rajasic zeal Yoga-centricise Christian teachings and popularise it in the west, something not found in any of Lahiri Mahasya, Yukteshwar's Guru's works!

The difference between true yogis and others is that they will go according to the law of cause (karana) and effect or action as a result or consequence (karya) - similar to gravity on this earth, which we know what goes up, must come down! They hence allow this inner aspect to come our naturally and do not force it or superimpose their false-sense of karma or self-unfolding (egotism) upon the world. For most, in fact almost all westerners treading this path, their samskaras are such that they fall immediately into the ahankara or egotism and seek to project and make their mark upon the world, living their lives in constant denial of it! Indeed - many will probably read and share this article alone without realising they are falling into the exact same traps and pits that I am warning against!

Many subconsciously come into Hinduism due to the subliminal vital impulse or lust for moksha. All souls desire moksha, but again the Yogi always remembers Shiva and devotion to him in all births and knows nothing actually exists outside of Shiva! The world itself is nothing but a image inside Shiva (but appears as 'mirage' when seen as external or reflected) as the reflector and hence the true sadhaka has no worries about being reborn. The sakta aspirant devoted to Shakti, especially in her forms as Kali and Bhairavi likewise feels as if they are contained primarily within her cremation-ground (shmashana) and thus never apart from her.

The issue here in the west has been the over-simplification of the Advaita-Vedanta system of non-dualistic Vedanta. Here, many think they can dispense with the preliminaries of attaining the higher wisdom and consciousness and plunge directly into the Self-realised states. However, such is like trying to cross the English Channel without first having learnt how to swim, let alone perfect it! One tries, but fails and drowns!

Here, there are four fundamental aspects in the greater Raja-Yoga tradition of vedanta itself:

(i) Bhakti-Yoga. This is also seen in the aspects of Ishvara-pranidhana, the highest of the niyamas in Yoga or devotional practices and surrender to the Deity. Preliminaries here include tapas (spiritual austerities, such as fasting etc.) and swadhyaya, which also means study of the classics, commentaries etc., especially those who are central to the deity, without which we cannot develop true bhakti or devotion on a personal and primary level.

(ii) Karma-Yoga. This is twofold as (a) surrendering all actions (karmas) one does to the deity, seeing their hand alone as performing such and one as the mere witness (sakshi) This creates the attitude of vairagya (detachment from egotism and the body) and (b) Karma-Yoga here implies one performing their own activities as per their own dharma they are born with.

Here the lesson is to follow our own inner dharma, not that of others. This is stated by the great Philosopher-King and Statesman, Sri Krishna around 3200BCE (Bhagavad Gita, III.35), who stated that it was better to perform one's actual or natural dharma (swadharma) or prescribed duty than to perform another's, which is dangerous. This relates to the system of karma we are born with as per the actions and karmic impressions (samskaras) of our past-lives, known as prarabdha-karma.  

Krishna also stresses it is better to perform one's own duty (i.e. naturally allow one's karma to unfold and act accordingly) imperfectly, rather than to perfectly perform the duties of another with perfection (which interferes with our karma and adds to our kriyamana-karma or future karma of the next birth). This is due to rajas (passion and motion) or lust (kama), which blinds us to act against our natural state - also known as our varna (karmic colouring, attributes or guna - mode of nature or state) which we must work with. This is why traditional systems require generally a pure blood-line or a deeper examination of the karma of individuals before allowing 'outsiders' into certain groups - despite how great their delusions (of karma and the mind) may be! One simply cannot 'fake' ones samskaras or varna one is born with - i.e. innate karmic traits! Again, Krishna warns that rajas here, as stated, is the reason most lust after others' actions and professions or activities - a delusion (mudha) of the mind, rather than a natural state (swabhava). 

This here relates to the niyama of santosha or contentment and hence being content with one's own state according to their soul's evolution and not wishing to become more, such as mentioned beforehand, even striving for moksha in one lifetime, which reveals an anxious and rajasic soul that has not yet perfectly evolved or understood the all-pervading nature of the Self he wishes to attain, which is localised, not apart from himself!

(iii) Hatha-Yoga. This here relates to shaucha or the niyama of purity of the manas (mind), deha (body) through which the three malas (toxic wastes and coverings) that obscure the soul are eliminated. The primary aspect starts with the sthula-sharira shuddhi (purification of the gross-state or physical body) through the shad-kriyas in Hatha-Yoga as well as general purity. It also includes Ayurvedic lifestyles and diets tailored for our bodies to reduce ama (toxins). Through this, the mind is also purified, through which implementation of pranayama (breathing control systems) and mantra (mental methods of psychological transcendence) aid within. 

Hatha-Yoga itself is a small aspect of the greater system of Yoga by which many call Tantric-Yoga that includes nada yoga / kundalini, ritualism etc. that is also an integral part of the first system of bhakti-yoga one must understand first relative to the deity. Unless bhakti is cultivated first properly and there is sattvic-bhakti, the body will not be purified as the mind will avoid these techniques. Unless the body is purified and bhakti is also strong and the mind is also purified, there is no way at all that Kundalini will arise properly. Instead, one will fall into many mudhabhavas (delusional states). 

For most, even advanced Hindu-Yogis born with past-life yogic samskaras and into families possessing such higher DNA, even then, it can take them decades or even lifetimes to perfect these stages. Bhakti alone can take one or several lifetimes for advanced sadhakas, let alone those outside the genetic traditions (gotras) or assuming them later in life or in an indirect manner by westernised teachers (even if they are from India). 

Only when the body is purified, can the mind be purified. Only when the mind is purified, can we begin to develop wisdom regarding the Self and true Jnana or wisdom.

(iv) Jnana-Yoga. Here, the final and higher state of Jnana-Yoga commences, in which viveka or discrimination is also gained and can commence once the mind-body complex has been purified. If not, one's contemplation will fall into innumerable states of delusions or hallucinatory (buddhi-vikshepa) and other states; one may also confuse higher states in Yoga as a result of bhrama (giddiness) or murccha (light-headedness and fainting) with states outside the body as a result of rajasic or tamasic prana that has entered into the sarasvati-nadi or sushumna. There are hence grave dangers here also, as well as the experience of the chakras or psychological states at various levels.

These can cause one to become trapped in the buddhi or intellect itself and not transcend it, confusing the higher states here for Atmajnana or self-knowledge, or even egotism over this. Here, one can even begin to see (as in Kundalini disorders) appearances of mithya-Devatas or false apparitions of the Deities and Saints; the West has yet to realise that even the lower planes can manifest themselves in the exact form of higher beings and entities as well, even forms of the Mahadevas in higher consciousness. Even the discerning and advanced Yogis and Yoginis such as Sri Aurobindo and The Mother had such experiences and often questioned them - what to speak of spiritual neophytes with false-Gurus or untrained Gurus whose viveka or discrimination is not yet awakened to properly discern the differences between them!

Sadly, whenever there are great teachers and Gurus, there are andhabhaktas (blind followers) and then there are ahankari-bhaktas (egotistical followers) who will seek to guide the blind followers or "sheeple" as the proverbial shepherd. It is not their dharma to do so and nor is it even something that their Gurus (inner or outer) have, after understanding their sadhaka's karma deeply, commanded them to do (which is rare as again, this task is given only to sadhakas who have their prarabdha or karmic ripening based on past-samskaras or impressions and accumulative experience to undergo). 

After many years of writing from a young-age in a Vedic-Tantric family lineage and in contact with many others, I began to see my own words, works and others plagiarised or repeated by others (without mention, citation etc.) who wished to become me as it were – to confuse their own spiritual path and understanding with egotistical projects about how much they knew (which was usually how little). It is the age of copying rather than actual performance and being content (adhering to santosha) with one’s own karmic evolution, which cannot simply be fast-tracked on the bullet-train to moksha as many think; such is a layover from Christianity’s false promise that if you believe in Jesus, it’s enough to save you from your sins and enter heaven and enjoy eternal life. Likewise, Europeans taking up Vedanta, consciously or subconsciously and sometimes even unconsciously superimpose this upon moksha with the equation Atman = Brahman and feel believing in that and using such as a kind of self-hypnotic tool is enough to liberate them from successive births and also the ignorance and samskaras gained as a consequence of numerous past lives – a feat that as noted, even advanced Hindus born with rare qualities even by Hindu standards, cannot attain in the same linear manner! It thus reveals nothing more than the Eurocentric complex that has not died, but only changed its appearance.

It is true that some as ArthurAvalon (Sir John Woodroffe) did indeed understand this clearly themselves, but also became scholars of the highest degree and ceased to project this Eurocentricism, while others in desperate need to be seen as “enlightened masters” constantly violate asteya (not-stealing) and repeat the words of others or are so egotistical they truly believe such words and teachings their own, often proclaiming to the masses they wish to address and their peers “I have stated this for years” or “This is what I always state” – an idea alone, but the depth of which eludes them and they often cannot come to terms with such due to egotism, much less be seen as an inferior (in their eyes) to their audiences. This passive agreement is in itself a revelation of a grandiose sense of Self, not a true regard for the sacred nor unfolding of karma!

Hopefully this can bring some sense of light into the sphere of egotistical people across the board and the importance of taking life slowly and also not trying to impose on the dharma of others out of egotism and confusing it for "following dharma" or defending it when one has no karmic nor birth-right to do and thus ends up long-term complicating their own karma and also that of society through this confusion.

OM Namah Shivaya!

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