In the evolution of man’s knowledge, his mind experiences various states. What is the experience of a child cannot be the experience of an adult, and the experience of an adult will be different from that of a child. Tantra is a process of evolution of consciousness and Vedanta is an experience. Therefore, the relationship between the sadhana and ultimate realisation is the relationship between tantra and Vedanta.

In tantra there is the postulation of duality, whereas in Vedanta there is no duality, there is only one absolute. The ultimate experience when the mundane consciousness is annihilated is the experience of oneness or of non-duality. This experience is also known as adwaita, and adwaita philosophy is known as pure monism.

Now, if you analyse the meaning of the word Vedanta’ it comprises two ideas – veda and anta. Anta means ‘culmination’ and veda means ‘the complete process of knowledge and awareness’. When you are studying a particular subject, the whole effort that you make to understand the subject is known as veda. In the ancient Hindu culture, veda represents the higher revealed knowledge. Just as it is believed that the Bible, the Koran and the Zend Avesta were revealed, in the same way, it should be known that a process of revelation takes place in every enlightened person’s life. Therefore, Vedanta means ‘culmination of a process of knowledge’.

While you are passing through a spiritual process in life, you come across various psychic, occult or spiritual experiences. Some aspirants hear sounds, see the light and have fantastic experiences of the awakening of kundalini, but all these are transitory experiences, they are never permanent. There is a moment however, when the ultimate experience comes. This experience is known as the vedantic experience.

The Upanishads are the background or the basis and foundation of vedantic philosophy. If Vedanta is to be explained in a simple way, it is that One is ultimate and the multiplicity is the expansion of One. However, tantra does not talk of the ultimate experience, but of the process of enlightenment. In tantra there is duality; there are two realities – Shiva and Shakti. As in hatha yoga you have ida and pingala nadis representing chitta and prana, in the same way, on the cosmic level, you have Shiva representing the total matter and Shakti representing the total energy.

Now, the union that takes place between Shiva and Shakti is considered to be the ultimate experience. This means all experiences we have in spiritual life are the result of a union or combination of the two forces within as. Philosophically, therefore, we can say that every experience in spiritual life is a product of duality. You may see light or you may hear voices; you may have any kind of spiritual experience, but it is a product of duality, not of non-duality.

As such, all experiences which we have during life, either on the sensorial or the spiritual planes, are not absolute experiences. The experience of a siddha, a miracle man, a clairvoyant, telepath, prophet or anyone, is an experience produced by an interaction of two forces. The basis of all experiences is human consciousness, and these experiences are aided by the sensorial channels. When the senses and the mind interact with each other, they produce a true or a false experience. If your mind is purified and your senses are under control, you will have more tangible experiences, but not the absolute experience. If your senses are unruly and your mind is full of dross, then the experiences which you have will be faulty.

Fundamentally, tantra and Vedanta can be viewed as two different traditions, but ultimately, when they are to be understood in the context of human experience, they have to be seen as systematically linked with each other. For example, in mathematics, first distances, measurements and weights are taught. Our children learn about them in primary school, but when they are in high school, they are taught that all the distances and weights are false. If they are false, then why did they have to learn them? Because there are two forms of knowledge. One is relative and the other is absolute.

In spiritual life, as long as you are acting through the mind and senses, you require relative knowledge, but as soon as you transcend these tools of knowledge, the absolute knowledge dawns. Even though the truth is absolute, you cannot deny the necessity of the relative processes of knowledge. In order to climb to the rooftop terrace you need the staircase, and in the same way, to attain an absolute experience, you have to go through the relative processes of experience. This is precisely the link between dualistic tantra and monistic Vedanta.

Most scholars have difficulty in understanding this. They think if there is duality, it should always be duality and if there is one, it should always be only one. This is a mistake. When we say that absolute is one, we conceive of that one in the same way as we think of one rupee, one pound or one dollar. But one is not a limited unit, it is the totality of everything; it is a synonymous term used for absolute. In Sanskrit it is known as poornam, and there is a famous mantra which you might have heard: This is poornam; that is poornam. From the poornam the poornam emanates. When the poornam is deducted from the poornam, what remains is poornam.’

Now, to put this into mathematics: infinity plus infinity is equal to infinity. Infinity minus infinity is equal to infinity. Well, if you say zero plus zero, it can’t be one, and zero minus zero is also not one. This is precisely the relationship between dualistic tantra and monistic Vedanta. When Einstein was asked to define relativity and absolute, he gave his famous equation. People said, ‘No, we want to understand it in a different way.’ So he said, ‘Both are phases of human experience; one depends on external factors and the other on the reality.’

(Courtesy : Yoga Magazine, March, 1982)

Today we are witnessing the renaissance of a very ancient culture of humanity. The purpose and the basis of this culture was to evolve the individual consciousness from the shackles of worldly or human limitations. It comes from a civilization in history which was more aware of the deeper mysteries of man. Rather than discovering the mysteries of matter it preferred to discover the mysteries of mind and consciousness, and for centuries our ancestors carried on this knowledge by glorious tradition. However, in recent centuries a dark age has confronted mankind in which we developed the material side of life and society but utterly neglected the spiritual or greater part of life.

Tantra and the mind

The ancient culture was based on tantra, the science which was concerned with the expansion of consciousness and the liberation of this consciousness from matter. Just as a scientist separates the energy from matter by a process of fission and fusion, in tantra the mind can be processed through a process of fission and fusion. The tantric teachers never defined mind as ‘thoughts’, they never defined mind as ‘emotions’; mind is neither memory nor emotions, nor thoughts, it is not kalpas and sankalpas, thinking and counter-thinking. Mind is only consciousness. The emotions, memory etc, and modifications of the mind are not the mind itself.

There are two great forces that are underlying human existence. One is the mind, the other is the prana, and it is this mind which is the subject matter of tantra. It is important that this mind which carries the impressions, the knowledge, the samskaras etc., be made free and able to shine in its real nature, and it is through the path of tantric meditation that we are able to have this experience of the mind. Most of us who have read about the mind do have a certain concept of it, but this concept is not an experience; it is only an intellectual concept. However, those yogis who have experienced the mind have experienced power.

Now coming back to tantra. The two forces underlying the human existence in tantra are known as Shiva and Shakti. Shiva is consciousness, Shakti is energy. Consciousness plus energy is existence. When consciousness and energy come into contact with each other and interaction takes place between them, creation begins. The tantric yogi tries to separate these twin principles by the practice of dhyana yoga, and in doing so he is able to create power, knowledge and experience.

Of count, mind end prana are cosmic forces which are present In every human being, and these twin forces are responsible for the whole of life, action and knowledge. So if there is an imbalance between the mind and the prana there is an imbalance throughout the life. This is why in tantra, first of all purifying and balancing practices of hatha yoga are emphasized, and why the practices of hatha yoga have been so clearly enumerated in the tantric books. The harmonization of these two principles, and the balance between them, is known as the balance between ida and pingala.

Let me explain the meaning of tantra according to the scriptures. Tantra is a word which is a combination of two ideas, ‘expansion’ and ‘liberation’. When we talk about the expansion of the mind we are only talking in terms of expanding the mind from the external horizon to the internal recesses. When we stretch the mind externally on to the objects around, with the help of the senses, we do achieve some knowledge, but this is limited. There are other dimensions of our existence, these are the inner planes and they should be experienced. For this purpose we have to stretch our mind, we have to expand our consciousness from the external objects to internal awareness. Then comes liberation. The word ‘liberation’ should not be understood in a religious sense, but as a liberation of energy. First, as you liberate energy from matter by a subtle process of physics, in the same way, in tantra, after the expansion of consciousness you liberate the mind. When the mind is liberated from the shackles of the association with matter, than it becomes homogeneous, It then not only operates through the medium of the senses, it is also able to operate independently. And then with this homogeneous mind you proceed further to the realization of the infinite reality. The purpose of tantra is to make the aspirant capable of experiencing reality, and in doing this it does not take us through the confused bewilderment of intellect, it takes into consideration the practical difficulties of the aspirant.

Nadis – the paths to total experience

The nadis are the medium for the flow of consciousness throughout the physical structure of man. The mental energy, the pranic energy, and the spiritual energy flow through and through the body by the medium of the nadis. The nadis are not nerves, the literal meaning of nadi is ‘flow’, just as electricity flows through wires. As the negative and positive forces of electricity flow through complex wires, in the same way prana shakti and mental shakti (manas shakti) flow through every part of our body via media which are known as nadis.

Out of 72.000 nadis of the body, three are considered to be the most important. These three nadis are known as ida, pingala and sushumna. The ida system is responsible for the mind, pingala is the channel for the flow of prana, and sushumna is the channel for the awakening of the spiritual consciousness. Now the picture is coming clear. The prana shakti- pingala, the manas shakti- ida, and atma shakti- sushumna. Pranic force, mental force, and spiritual force. These three are the constituents of our existence. Man is nothing beyond these three. If man is to have knowledge of himself he has to have knowledge of these three. Purifying the nadis is done through the process of hatha yoga. By this process we clear the channels of prana and the channels of mental shakti. Also, through the practice of asanas and pranayama, we purify not only the nadis but also the glands.

It is very easy to talk about the realization of the absolute, but there are so many obstacles confronting us on the way. The purification of nadis, the glands and the whole physical structure by hatha yoga goes a long way towards relieving these. By the practice of mudras and bandhas, we are able to create an opportunity or a field by which the inherent power and bliss are awakened. Let me talk about one or two mudras. Vipareeta karani mudra: It is very important that we are able to sublimate (redirect) the shakti in us. Ordinarily the shakti flows from the ‘moon’ (bindu chakra) to the ‘sun’ (manipura chakra) and there it is consumed. However, if through the practice of vipareeta karani mudra we are able to reverse the flow of shakti and preserve it, we are able to live a healthy life and we are able to meditate.

In the hatha yoga form of khechari mudra the membrane underneath the tongue is actually cut, and the tongue is elongated so that it can be inserted into the naso pharynx. There it stimulates lalana chakra, a gland that is situated in that area. The gland secretes a fluid, known as amrit (nectar) which is responsible for arresting the process of catabolism throughout the body, thus improving the process of metabolism. In raja yoga, in tantra, they do not cut the root of the tongue. They turn the tongue back and stick it against the soft palate, and gradually in the course of time the tongue reaches the gland. Also in tantric meditation when the consciousness is awakened, it straight away hits that gland and produces the same effect.

When the nectar begins to flow the yogi enters into a state which is called unmani. In this particular state of mind he is neither aware of the external consciousness nor is he completely asleep; he is in an in between state, in imperishable bliss. The nectar and the ‘intoxication’ which it produces are the first element of tantra. In the modern tantric text this particular element is translated as ‘wine’, though in Sanskrit it does not mean that. It is madya which means anything that is able to create a condition of the mind which is something like intoxication. Because of this mistake, much misunderstanding has arisen.

The union of Shiva and Shakti

After cleaning the nadis through the complete process of hatha yoga one has to enter the domain of kriya yoga, and I personally feel that there is no greater spiritual practice than kriya yoga. You do not confront the mental problems of maintaining a steady posture, but at the same time, with each and every practice of kriya yoga you are awakening and stimulating the deepest consciousness in you. Kriya yoga comes under the title of kundalini yoga, the science that is aimed at the release of energy.

Where is the energy and which is the passage? And if it awakens, what happens? Is there any energy here in this body? Or is this body merely a bundle of flesh, bone, marrow and muscle? Kundalini yoga says shakti is dormant and the seat of this shakti is in mooladhara chakra. But it is only dormant because of ignorance, because man is subjected to his instinctive karma and samskaras. It can be awakened and it rises up the passage of sushumna into sahasrara chakra. Shakti is in mooladhara and Shiva is in sahasrara- Shakti travels up sushumna as if climbing a ladder and in sahasrara becomes one with Shiva, That is the concept of maithuna, the second element of tantra. It is translated as sexual copulation and that is why many people think that tantra is sexual yoga. In Sanskrit, however, the word maithuna comes from the word mithuna which is an idea expressing the union of two in one.

The rise of kundalini

The shakti flows through the spinal cord along the sushumna from mooladhara directly up to ajna. In the central canal is a grey passage and the six chakras, the six psychic centres, are interwoven within it.

The event of awakening the kundalini in mooladhara is not a fiction! Many, many scientists have been working on this. One scientist. Dr. Motoyama of Japan, has improvised a small unit by which he is capable of measuring the waves of currents taking place during the awakening of kundalini in mooladhara.

Kundalini is the shakti and the awakening of kundalini brings about a change in the structure of human consciousness. When the nature of mind changes, meditation is spontaneous. Meditation is not something you achieve by exercise and practice, it is just an unfoldment of what you really are. The nature of consciousness known is meditation. Distractions are imposed on us, frustrations are imposed on us, schizophrenia is imposed on us. They are not our nature, they are just impositions. The real nature of the mind is blissful and is always in meditation, and it is possible to unfold it through the awakening of kundalini. Therefore, through the practices of hatha yoga, asanas, pranayama and kriya yoga we bring about a total change, indirectly, in the structure of the mind.

There are many lower manifestations of the mind that have to be thrown away. There are many lower expressions and manifestations of the mind but we should not fight with them at all, we have to transcend them. If you close your eyes and try to concentrate your mind and fight with the tendencies, fight with the impressions, fight with the samskaras, you will probably spend your whole life doing it. and many have done so. We say in tantra that if certain situations in life can make the mind restless, then certain situations can also bring about samadhi. It is only a question of how you tackle the problems of the mind.

Fighting with the mind, what a funny problem! When you are trying to fight with your own mind in the practice of concentration, one aspect of the mind is fighting with the other aspect. This is how you are splitting the mind. Mental division takes place and once this becomes abnormal it creates schizophrenia. The way many people are tackling the problems of the mind is creating more mental problems. But tantra is very clear about it. The way is the awakening of the kundalini shakti, so this becomes a very important event in the life of a spiritual aspirant.

Directing the pranic energy

One of the practices of tantra is known as prana vidya, the knowledge of the prana shakti. Even as you are able to move your hand, and to move your body, you should also be able to switch on more prana if it is too low, or switch down prana if it is too high, or to direct it to any part of the body where there is illness. Prana is a force; it is the basis of life, and in fact, the whole body itself is a miracle of prana.

I will never use the words ‘magnetic force’ for prana. I have tried to translate it that way but I have failed. Some call it energy; others call it vitality, but in yoga it is prana. Prana can be increased in a number of ways and can thus influence our consciousness. Pranayama is one way of increasing prana. It is charged by inhaling more ions into the body. The yogis like to practice pranayama in the Himalayas because in the higher altitudes, beside rivers, these ions are plentiful, and when you practice pranayama you inhale them. It has also been seen that the human consciousness is influenced by another practice of pranayama. This is the practice of retention of breath. However, it should be learned under a guru, because it strongly influences the awakening of kundalini.

As you can see, in tantra, shakti is most important and all the practices that have been prescribed by tantra use this shakti to make the mind capable of comprehending the great reality.

I am talking about tantra this evening with a definite purpose in mind, ! am not ashamed to say that I teach tantra. Tantra is yoga and yoga is tantra, and every teacher of yoga is a teacher of tantra. In order to teach tantra, you don’t have to teach your students to drink, to have sexual intercourse or to eat meat or fish. Everybody can do that if he likes, it is his life, but it has nothing to do with tantra. Tantra is a science by which you are able to transcend your limitations and for centuries man has been trying to do this. He does not need a science for drinking, he does not need a science for sexual interactions, we don’t need metaphysics for eating meat. This is plain logic. What we do need is a science by which something that has not been known can be accomplished.

The mind is always aware of time and space and we want to turn to the absolute. The mind is aware of activity and we want it to experience the highest. Since the dawn of creation this has been the problem of man, but nowadays the demand is urgent. Therefore tantra is the science for this age.

Mantra – the sound of liberation

One very important aspect of tantra should now be borne in mind, that is mantra. Tantra is mantra and mantra is tantra. Without mantra there could be no tantra. Tantra means a process of expansion and liberation. Mantra means a process of contemplation and liberation.

Mantras are not the names of gods and goddesses, they are the sounds, the words, the vibrations put into a particular pattern, and they are more subtle than the actual physical waves. They are more subtle than any kind of wave that we know in science today. Mantra has no limitations; mind is the basis of mantra and the mantra can be launched through the mind. The main mantra, that of the supreme, is aum. It is the primal mantra, the first seed of creation.

Please remember, I am not talking about Hinduism here, I am only talking about tantra, but while I am talking about tantra I am also talking about the basis of Hinduism. In fact, all religions, the entire range of philosophies throughout the passage of history and every side of metaphysics have come out of tantra. Therefore, when I tell you about aum, I am telling you about the first vibration responsible for all creation.

We do not know exactly what the sound aum is, but from our teachers and gurus we have come to know a particular way of vibrating. When this aum is produced by us it resounds through and through our physical, astral and spiritual existence. It not only influences the alpha patterns in the brain, it not only purifies the nadis, it not only influences the microcosmic structure of the body, but it charges the whole atmosphere around us. And we are in an age where we have much good scientific evidence for this.

Concentrate on aum, convert your consciousness into aum and then transmit the vibration and currents of aum. Your son, wife or husband in the next room will receive it directly if they are ready for it. The power of mantra is greater than the power of a nuclear weapon. There is no comparison, because mantra power is a constructive power and by practicing mantra we awaken unseen forces within us. These forces are infinite.

Aum is one mantra, but there are ranges and ranges of mantras. Most important of these are the bija mantras, seed mantras. When the yogi reaches very high consciousness, when he has transcended the physical consciousness, the astral being, and when he has broken through the barriers of unconsciousness, then he begins to hear those sounds known as bija mantras.

Whether a man believes in a personal god or does not, whether one is a theist or an atheist, if he is a man of common sense and if he is scientific in his outlook, he should pick up the correct mantra for himself. The science of tantra revolves around the mantra.

Then there is yantra and mandala, which are other aspects of this science, and we will deal with these another time. Remember, mantra, yantra, mandala. These are the three pillars of tantra, and yoga is the practical application of tantra in life. Tantra is the science which our wise ancestors used to teach and by which they became aware of the greater reality and eternal existence. It is an eternal science, it is the most powerful science and is all-comprehensive. Tantra is certainly the science for the new age.

(Courtesy Yoga Magazine, January, 1979)

Today we are witnessing the renaissance of a very ancient culture of humanity. The purpose and the basis of this culture was to evolve the individual consciousness from the shackles of worldly or human limitations. It comes from a civilization in history which was more aware of the deeper mysteries of man. Rather than discovering the mysteries of matter it preferred to discover the mysteries of mind and consciousness, and for centuries our ancestors carried on this knowledge by glorious tradition. However, in recent centuries a dark age has confronted mankind in which we developed the material side of life and society but utterly neglected the spiritual or greater part of life.

Tantra and the mind

The ancient culture was based on tantra, the science which was concerned with the expansion of consciousness and the liberation of this consciousness from matter. Just as a scientist separates the energy from matter by a process of fission and fusion, in tantra the mind can be processed through a process of fission and fusion. The tantric teachers never defined mind as ‘thoughts’, they never defined mind as ‘emotions’; mind is neither memory nor emotions, nor thoughts, it is not kalpas and sankalpas, thinking and counter-thinking. Mind is only consciousness. The emotions, memory etc, and modifications of the mind are not the mind itself.

There are two great forces that are underlying human existence. One is the mind, the other is the prana, and it is this mind which is the subject matter of tantra. It is important that this mind which carries the impressions, the knowledge, the samskaras etc., be made free and able to shine in its real nature, and it is through the path of tantric meditation that we are able to have this experience of the mind. Most of us who have read about the mind do have a certain concept of it, but this concept is not an experience; it is only an intellectual concept. However, those yogis who have experienced the mind have experienced power.

Now coming back to tantra. The two forces underlying the human existence in tantra are known as Shiva and Shakti. Shiva is consciousness, Shakti is energy. Consciousness plus energy is existence. When consciousness and energy come into contact with each other and interaction takes place between them, creation begins. The tantric yogi tries to separate these twin principles by the practice of dhyana yoga, and in doing so he is able to create power, knowledge and experience.

Of count, mind end prana are cosmic forces which are present In every human being, and these twin forces are responsible for the whole of life, action and knowledge. So if there is an imbalance between the mind and the prana there is an imbalance throughout the life. This is why in tantra, first of all purifying and balancing practices of hatha yoga are emphasized, and why the practices of hatha yoga have been so clearly enumerated in the tantric books. The harmonization of these two principles, and the balance between them, is known as the balance between ida and pingala.

Let me explain the meaning of tantra according to the scriptures. Tantra is a word which is a combination of two ideas, ‘expansion’ and ‘liberation’. When we talk about the expansion of the mind we are only talking in terms of expanding the mind from the external horizon to the internal recesses. When we stretch the mind externally on to the objects around, with the help of the senses, we do achieve some knowledge, but this is limited. There are other dimensions of our existence, these are the inner planes and they should be experienced. For this purpose we have to stretch our mind, we have to expand our consciousness from the external objects to internal awareness. Then comes liberation. The word ‘liberation’ should not be understood in a religious sense, but as a liberation of energy. First, as you liberate energy from matter by a subtle process of physics, in the same way, in tantra, after the expansion of consciousness you liberate the mind. When the mind is liberated from the shackles of the association with matter, than it becomes homogeneous, It then not only operates through the medium of the senses, it is also able to operate independently. And then with this homogeneous mind you proceed further to the realization of the infinite reality. The purpose of tantra is to make the aspirant capable of experiencing reality, and in doing this it does not take us through the confused bewilderment of intellect, it takes into consideration the practical difficulties of the aspirant.

Nadis – the paths to total experience

The nadis are the medium for the flow of consciousness throughout the physical structure of man. The mental energy, the pranic energy, and the spiritual energy flow through and through the body by the medium of the nadis. The nadis are not nerves, the literal meaning of nadi is ‘flow’, just as electricity flows through wires. As the negative and positive forces of electricity flow through complex wires, in the same way prana shakti and mental shakti (manas shakti) flow through every part of our body via media which are known as nadis.

Out of 72.000 nadis of the body, three are considered to be the most important. These three nadis are known as ida, pingala and sushumna. The ida system is responsible for the mind, pingala is the channel for the flow of prana, and sushumna is the channel for the awakening of the spiritual consciousness. Now the picture is coming clear. The prana shakti- pingala, the manas shakti- ida, and atma shakti- sushumna. Pranic force, mental force, and spiritual force. These three are the constituents of our existence. Man is nothing beyond these three. If man is to have knowledge of himself he has to have knowledge of these three. Purifying the nadis is done through the process of hatha yoga. By this process we clear the channels of prana and the channels of mental shakti. Also, through the practice of asanas and pranayama, we purify not only the nadis but also the glands.

It is very easy to talk about the realization of the absolute, but there are so many obstacles confronting us on the way. The purification of nadis, the glands and the whole physical structure by hatha yoga goes a long way towards relieving these. By the practice of mudras and bandhas, we are able to create an opportunity or a field by which the inherent power and bliss are awakened. Let me talk about one or two mudras. Vipareeta karani mudra: It is very important that we are able to sublimate (redirect) the shakti in us. Ordinarily the shakti flows from the ‘moon’ (bindu chakra) to the ‘sun’ (manipura chakra) and there it is consumed. However, if through the practice of vipareeta karani mudra we are able to reverse the flow of shakti and preserve it, we are able to live a healthy life and we are able to meditate.

In the hatha yoga form of khechari mudra the membrane underneath the tongue is actually cut, and the tongue is elongated so that it can be inserted into the naso pharynx. There it stimulates lalana chakra, a gland that is situated in that area. The gland secretes a fluid, known as amrit (nectar) which is responsible for arresting the process of catabolism throughout the body, thus improving the process of metabolism. In raja yoga, in tantra, they do not cut the root of the tongue. They turn the tongue back and stick it against the soft palate, and gradually in the course of time the tongue reaches the gland. Also in tantric meditation when the consciousness is awakened, it straight away hits that gland and produces the same effect.

When the nectar begins to flow the yogi enters into a state which is called unmani. In this particular state of mind he is neither aware of the external consciousness nor is he completely asleep; he is in an in between state, in imperishable bliss. The nectar and the ‘intoxication’ which it produces are the first element of tantra. In the modern tantric text this particular element is translated as ‘wine’, though in Sanskrit it does not mean that. It is madya which means anything that is able to create a condition of the mind which is something like intoxication. Because of this mistake, much misunderstanding has arisen.

The union of Shiva and Shakti

After cleaning the nadis through the complete process of hatha yoga one has to enter the domain of kriya yoga, and I personally feel that there is no greater spiritual practice than kriya yoga. You do not confront the mental problems of maintaining a steady posture, but at the same time, with each and every practice of kriya yoga you are awakening and stimulating the deepest consciousness in you. Kriya yoga comes under the title of kundalini yoga, the science that is aimed at the release of energy.

Where is the energy and which is the passage? And if it awakens, what happens? Is there any energy here in this body? Or is this body merely a bundle of flesh, bone, marrow and muscle? Kundalini yoga says shakti is dormant and the seat of this shakti is in mooladhara chakra. But it is only dormant because of ignorance, because man is subjected to his instinctive karma and samskaras. It can be awakened and it rises up the passage of sushumna into sahasrara chakra. Shakti is in mooladhara and Shiva is in sahasrara- Shakti travels up sushumna as if climbing a ladder and in sahasrara becomes one with Shiva, That is the concept of maithuna, the second element of tantra. It is translated as sexual copulation and that is why many people think that tantra is sexual yoga. In Sanskrit, however, the word maithuna comes from the word mithuna which is an idea expressing the union of two in one.

The rise of kundalini

The shakti flows through the spinal cord along the sushumna from mooladhara directly up to ajna. In the central canal is a grey passage and the six chakras, the six psychic centres, are interwoven within it.

The event of awakening the kundalini in mooladhara is not a fiction! Many, many scientists have been working on this. One scientist. Dr. Motoyama of Japan, has improvised a small unit by which he is capable of measuring the waves of currents taking place during the awakening of kundalini in mooladhara.

Kundalini is the shakti and the awakening of kundalini brings about a change in the structure of human consciousness. When the nature of mind changes, meditation is spontaneous. Meditation is not something you achieve by exercise and practice, it is just an unfoldment of what you really are. The nature of consciousness known is meditation. Distractions are imposed on us, frustrations are imposed on us, schizophrenia is imposed on us. They are not our nature, they are just impositions. The real nature of the mind is blissful and is always in meditation, and it is possible to unfold it through the awakening of kundalini. Therefore, through the practices of hatha yoga, asanas, pranayama and kriya yoga we bring about a total change, indirectly, in the structure of the mind.

There are many lower manifestations of the mind that have to be thrown away. There are many lower expressions and manifestations of the mind but we should not fight with them at all, we have to transcend them. If you close your eyes and try to concentrate your mind and fight with the tendencies, fight with the impressions, fight with the samskaras, you will probably spend your whole life doing it. and many have done so. We say in tantra that if certain situations in life can make the mind restless, then certain situations can also bring about samadhi. It is only a question of how you tackle the problems of the mind.

Fighting with the mind, what a funny problem! When you are trying to fight with your own mind in the practice of concentration, one aspect of the mind is fighting with the other aspect. This is how you are splitting the mind. Mental division takes place and once this becomes abnormal it creates schizophrenia. The way many people are tackling the problems of the mind is creating more mental problems. But tantra is very clear about it. The way is the awakening of the kundalini shakti, so this becomes a very important event in the life of a spiritual aspirant.

Directing the pranic energy

One of the practices of tantra is known as prana vidya, the knowledge of the prana shakti. Even as you are able to move your hand, and to move your body, you should also be able to switch on more prana if it is too low, or switch down prana if it is too high, or to direct it to any part of the body where there is illness. Prana is a force; it is the basis of life, and in fact, the whole body itself is a miracle of prana.

I will never use the words ‘magnetic force’ for prana. I have tried to translate it that way but I have failed. Some call it energy; others call it vitality, but in yoga it is prana. Prana can be increased in a number of ways and can thus influence our consciousness. Pranayama is one way of increasing prana. It is charged by inhaling more ions into the body. The yogis like to practice pranayama in the Himalayas because in the higher altitudes, beside rivers, these ions are plentiful, and when you practice pranayama you inhale them. It has also been seen that the human consciousness is influenced by another practice of pranayama. This is the practice of retention of breath. However, it should be learned under a guru, because it strongly influences the awakening of kundalini.

As you can see, in tantra, shakti is most important and all the practices that have been prescribed by tantra use this shakti to make the mind capable of comprehending the great reality.

I am talking about tantra this evening with a definite purpose in mind, ! am not ashamed to say that I teach tantra. Tantra is yoga and yoga is tantra, and every teacher of yoga is a teacher of tantra. In order to teach tantra, you don’t have to teach your students to drink, to have sexual intercourse or to eat meat or fish. Everybody can do that if he likes, it is his life, but it has nothing to do with tantra. Tantra is a science by which you are able to transcend your limitations and for centuries man has been trying to do this. He does not need a science for drinking, he does not need a science for sexual interactions, we don’t need metaphysics for eating meat. This is plain logic. What we do need is a science by which something that has not been known can be accomplished.

The mind is always aware of time and space and we want to turn to the absolute. The mind is aware of activity and we want it to experience the highest. Since the dawn of creation this has been the problem of man, but nowadays the demand is urgent. Therefore tantra is the science for this age.

Mantra – the sound of liberation

One very important aspect of tantra should now be borne in mind, that is mantra. Tantra is mantra and mantra is tantra. Without mantra there could be no tantra. Tantra means a process of expansion and liberation. Mantra means a process of contemplation and liberation.

Mantras are not the names of gods and goddesses, they are the sounds, the words, the vibrations put into a particular pattern, and they are more subtle than the actual physical waves. They are more subtle than any kind of wave that we know in science today. Mantra has no limitations; mind is the basis of mantra and the mantra can be launched through the mind. The main mantra, that of the supreme, is aum. It is the primal mantra, the first seed of creation.

Please remember, I am not talking about Hinduism here, I am only talking about tantra, but while I am talking about tantra I am also talking about the basis of Hinduism. In fact, all religions, the entire range of philosophies throughout the passage of history and every side of metaphysics have come out of tantra. Therefore, when I tell you about aum, I am telling you about the first vibration responsible for all creation.

We do not know exactly what the sound aum is, but from our teachers and gurus we have come to know a particular way of vibrating. When this aum is produced by us it resounds through and through our physical, astral and spiritual existence. It not only influences the alpha patterns in the brain, it not only purifies the nadis, it not only influences the microcosmic structure of the body, but it charges the whole atmosphere around us. And we are in an age where we have much good scientific evidence for this.

Concentrate on aum, convert your consciousness into aum and then transmit the vibration and currents of aum. Your son, wife or husband in the next room will receive it directly if they are ready for it. The power of mantra is greater than the power of a nuclear weapon. There is no comparison, because mantra power is a constructive power and by practicing mantra we awaken unseen forces within us. These forces are infinite.

Aum is one mantra, but there are ranges and ranges of mantras. Most important of these are the bija mantras, seed mantras. When the yogi reaches very high consciousness, when he has transcended the physical consciousness, the astral being, and when he has broken through the barriers of unconsciousness, then he begins to hear those sounds known as bija mantras.

Whether a man believes in a personal god or does not, whether one is a theist or an atheist, if he is a man of common sense and if he is scientific in his outlook, he should pick up the correct mantra for himself. The science of tantra revolves around the mantra.

Then there is yantra and mandala, which are other aspects of this science, and we will deal with these another time. Remember, mantra, yantra, mandala. These are the three pillars of tantra, and yoga is the practical application of tantra in life. Tantra is the science which our wise ancestors used to teach and by which they became aware of the greater reality and eternal existence. It is an eternal science, it is the most powerful science and is all-comprehensive. Tantra is certainly the science for the new age.

(Courtesy Yoga Magazine, January 1979)

Swami Satyananda Saraswati
Given at Satyanandashram, Barcelona on August 28th

Most people are unfamiliar with the mind and do not understand its language or behaviour. Although the mind is an inseparable part of our being, our knowledge of it is very limited. We are continually happy or unhappy, desirous or frustrated, loving or hating, thinking, dreaming or sleeping. But all of these are beyond our control. If we stop thinking, it is because we can’t think any more, and if we think too much it is because we cannot stop. We are happy, not because we choose to be, but because the emotion arises due to the fulfilment of some desire or condition.

The behaviour and reactions of the mind are not under our control. We have been living with the mind, yet we are totally unfamiliar with it. It is like two friends, who have no common basis of understanding, living together in the same room. One is deaf and the other is dumb. There is total lack of synchronisation, total absence of participation. One prepares lunch and dinner and whatever he cooks, the other has to eat. He may not like spaghetti or hot, spicy food, but he has to eat it, because that is what has been cooked for him.

Why is it like this?

People are ignorant of many things. Whatever we are taught in the schools is inadequate. When we learn something, it is not for practical purposes, but in order to get through an examination. So there are many fundamental things which we do not know. Similarly, we do not know about the mind.

Yoga is a science which teaches you about the mind through practical experience. It is unnecessary to tell you what the mind is; you have to experience it yourself. I can explain to you what sweetness is, but until you have tasted it, you can never really understand. Once you have had the experience of sweetness, you know it and I don’t have to explain. Likewise, the mind has to be practically experienced.

The unseen mind

The great thinkers say that the mind of a man is like a subterranean volcano. A little can be seen, but the rest is below the surface. We know many of the mental manifestations such as anger, happiness, unhappiness, greed, passion, emotion, worry, fear, anxiety and so on. These are only the upper part of the volcano which we can see. If I get angry, I can experience it. If something happens to my wife or children, I have certain melancholy feelings. I feel and I know. This is the perceptible mind that can be seen, but it is beyond our control. When you are full of frustration, you do not know how to get rid of it because the root is in the unseen mind.

The psychologists call this unseen region the subconscious and unconscious mind. Yoga calls it the astral and causal mind. When you practise yoga, you are able to see this subterranean area of the mind. If someone goes crazy or blows up, that is the subterranean mind coming to the surface. Just as smoke comes from the fire, all the mental manifestations emerge from the subterranean base. Anger can be felt in the brain; fear can be felt in the heart, but both emanate from the same place. Dreams, visions, doubts, prejudices, all come from the same base. It is therefore necessary for every man to go deep into the base of the mind.

Developing the seer

How do you get to the base of the mind? One way is to follow a pattern of thought right back to the source. But this is very difficult, because while you are following the pattern of thought, you become part of it. Once you become a part of it, you are completely lost. If your mind is jumping about and you try to follow the thoughts, it is very difficult. After some time, what often happens is that you begin to fantasise the whole process.

In yoga, this path of following the thoughts is not considered to be easy, because for most people, the thinking and the thinker are inseparable. In order to practise this successfully, you must first be able to separate the thinking and the thinker, and then you should separate the thinking, the thinker and the thought. There are definitely three factors combined.

The thinking, the thinker and the thought are the three components of the mind. When these are assembled, the process of thinking and feeling takes place. When a thought is in your mind, there is a thinker, and a process of thinking. But in yoga we have a fourth component – the seer. So in yoga we have thinking, thinker, thought, and the seer of it all.

Yoga really begins when you are able to add this fourth component to the whole thinking process. Seer is a spectator. As you are the spectator of a grand race or a viewer of the TV, in the same way, you have to develop within you a spectator of the whole triple process. You do not have to create the seer. The faculty of witnessing what is happening in the mind is already there in a very subtle form.

That is the differentiating quality of human beings, otherwise we are merely animals. Animals walk on four legs; we walk on two. Animals react to different situations and we also do. Animals eat, sleep, and live in the body, and we also do. Animals have insecurity, and we also do. Animals love and perform the sexual act and we also do. The only thing that makes the homo sapiens different from the animals is that faculty of knowing.

I am talking to you; I know I am talking to you, and I know that I know I am talking to you. You are listening to me; you know you are listening to me, and you know that you know you are listening to me. This is called the faculty of the seer. This faculty of the seer in time and space is man’s special heritage. As man evolves, he develops this faculty. When you lose this faculty, and many people do, you become as ignorant as the animals, living an animal life in an animal body.

This faculty of seer is developed through the process of meditation by which the whole mind is transformed. We no longer say thinking, thought and thinker; we say meditation, meditator, and object of meditation. I am the seer of this triple function that is taking place in meditation. With this faculty, I am able to connect past, present and future and maintain a time/space continuum.

The source of creation

Mind is much subtler than an atom, molecule or electron. Mind is definitely the subtlest of all the energies that man has discovered so far. You know about the subtler states of matter which are discussed in physics, but mind is subtler than any kind of matter that we have conceived of, measured or analysed in science.

According to yoga, this mind is connected to the time/space continuum. Time, space and object are qualities of the mind. The time/space/object continuum is the whole existence, and these three are manifestations of the mind. If you can disintegrate the mind, totally withdraw it, then time, space and object do not exist. This is taught in modern physics also.

Religions say that God is the creator, but what is this creation? Is it made out of mud or stone, flesh or bone? The leading scientists of our time have given a definite conclusion that the creation of time and space is a manifestation of mind. Once the mind is withdrawn, there is nothing.

Few people understand the power of the mind. You can create anything by the mind, good or bad. Everything exists on account of the mind. Mind is more powerful than the body. We don’t understand it, because our science is based on matter. It seems that mind is a thinking machine, but this is not so. It is a force, an energy. By this mind we knowingly or unknowingly create disaster for ourselves. All our sufferings are due to the mind.

In physics, the scientists have clearly stated that both matter and energy are creations of the mind. Time and space are both spanned by the mind. The time/space/object continuum is created by the mind, just as we make a candle out of wax. The wax is the candle and when it melts, there is no candle. In the same way, the mind is extending itself.

Taming the mind

In physics, Vedanta, yoga and tantra, we read that time, space and object are qualities of the mind, just as this nose is one of my organs, the ears and eyes another. If I die, everything dies. So, these three: time, space and object, are the different manifestations of the mind. If you withdraw the mind, then everything is withdrawn.

You can live for a certain period beyond this creation. If you develop this art, you can transcend time, space and object. By transcending the mind, you can attain samadhi, the highest state in evolution, the acme of human life. But the problem is how to withdraw the mind. Modern science has accepted this, but it has not shown us how to manage the mind, nor has religion. The only science that has shown us the way is yoga and tantra. The purpose of yoga is to raise the mind, and for this, meditation is one of the greatest systems.

Meditation is dhyana yoga. It is not the yoga of unconsciousness, it is the yoga of complete consciousness of all that is happening within you. First you develop the awareness of seer and become a witness of the thoughts. When this awareness is developed and the mind is completely withdrawn, then it is time to focus the awareness on an object like a flame, star, point, sound, idea, experience or mantra. Then you need to develop the total awareness of that object. When this happens, you will spontaneously enter the state of meditation. Go on meditating and transform the gross mind into subtle mind. Then transform the subtle mind into causal mind, to such an extent that the cosmic mind is drawn to a point. This is bindu, the nucleus of creation.

If this process does not take place, take the help of other forms of yoga, because they all prepare you for developing this faculty. But don’t expect it to be easy. The mind is the greatest force and in order to tame and harness this wild stallion, you must be ready to travel a lot.

First you must realise that the mind is a creative force. A thought is an expression of creation and you don’t know it. You think a thought and something happens somewhere. Therefore, man’s unhappiness, physical illness, intellectual limitations, emotional breakdowns and lack of many other faculties in his life, can all be attributed to incorrect handling of the mind. In order to handle the mind, we must first develop the faculty of seer. Unless we do this, we can never manage the mind.

Know thyself

Everyone should understand that meditation is a very important practice. There are various practices which you can learn according to your capacity. It is therefore important to encourage yoga and meditation seminars for beginners and old students alike. As we organise courses and you come to hear of them, please pass on the information so that many more people can take advantage of these opportunities. If you can put a few people in touch with yoga, you are doing them a great service, because man must know his own self. Without this he cannot extricate himself from the tragedies of life. Happiness is within, and that one has to know by practical experience.

Though man has tried everything, he has failed to secure happiness so far. Man has been following a mirage, a world of delusion. He should realise the world within, the happiness which is non-material does not depend on the object. There is a greater happiness which is homogeneous and absolute, and that is the self, beyond the mind.

Satsang on Time/Space and Creation

How does one realise the self?

In order to visualise the self, it is necessary to transcend the senses and the mind. That is very important, but at the same time, if self-purification is achieved and the inner vision is cultivated, you can comprehend the self in and beyond time and space.

What is the difference between mind and spirit?

In tantra we use the word mind to mean the totality of consciousness which is able to know time, space and object. Beyond time, space and object, there is another reality known by various names such as eternity and infinity. Spirit is the vehicle for this knowledge. As long as the mind is in charge, one has limitations. But when the awakening of kundalini takes place, the responsibility of knowledge is taken over by the spirit.

How does the awareness function?

In tantra and Vedanta, we have four tools of awareness- (i) manas, the thinking and counter thinking process, (ii) buddhi, decisions, discrimination, discernment, (iii) chitta, awareness, remembering, feeling, (iv) ahamkara, the ego or id. These four divisions belong to the area of the mind which is known. They also process material coming down from the subtler areas of the mind which are unknown.

The areas of the mind which are known, we call manomayakosha. The unknown areas consist of vigyanamayakosha, the psychic ranges of consciousness, and anandamayakosha, the dynamic consciousness where all manifestation exists in the potential state. This is the subterranean area of consciousness and man will never be able to know it. When you enter into deep meditation, sometimes you pass through anandamayakosha. There is homogeneity, but no consciousness, no awareness. Anandamayakosha can be followed through laya yoga. These three aspects of the mind are equivalent to the conscious, subconscious and unconscious mind in western psychology.

Is shoonya experienced within the regions of the mind or beyond?

When you are proceeding along the path of spiritual evolution, you come to different points. When you transcend the gross consciousness, there is one full stop. This is the first shoonya. Then you transcend the mental awareness and there is another full stop, another gap. That is the second experience of shoonya. Finally, when you transcend this unconscious mind, the anandamayakosha, then there is another gap of shoonya. Therefore, in yoga, the experience of shoonya can be had at three different points.

Shoonya is a momentary suspension of our relationship with time, space and objects. The difference between the three points is that in the first two, the relationship is completely suspended, but the samskara is still there. Just as our mind enters into a state of suspension at night, but there is the samskara, so when we wake up in the morning we remember that we are the same person whom we were yesterday. Therefore, in the three different stages of shoonya, there are three different substances of individuality. In the first experience of shoonya, the samskaras are still very powerful. In the second experience, the samskaras become weaker, and in the third, the samskaras are almost at the point of elimination. There is complete suspension. This is what is known as shoonya.

In order to grow spiritually, should we strive to know ourself or to forget ourself?

To forget yourself and to be aware of yourself are both very important expressions. If practised correctly, they are the key to spiritual development. To become aware of one point, to become aware of your awareness in the form of a mantra or a symbol, is one way of developing the awareness until it becomes effulgent within. When the eyes are closed and the mind is shut, there is total darkness within the arena of the mind. Then there is total awareness, and that awareness is nameless and formless.

You have to be aware of yourself, but at the same time, when the inner awareness becomes more and more effulgent and overpowers the totality of your personality and being, then there is no awareness of name and form, past, present and future. There is no awareness of yourself as a man or a woman, an Australian or an Indian. There is no awareness of your existence in time or space.

So, therefore, in order to grow spiritually, you have to become more and more aware of the inner being. At the same time, simultaneously, not serially, you have to become completely aware of the existence which is dependent on the relativity of time and space.

Once we have accepted that we are souls, we are atman, and we want to realise this, is it then only a matter of time and purification?

It is just a matter of time. You see, we are what we are, but we are unaware of it. Just as when you have a very valuable thing in your pocket, but thinking it lost, you search here and there for it and finally find it in your pocket. There is a very beautiful example of this in Indian mythology.

The musk deer produces musk in its navel, and when this musk is matured, it wafts fragrance all over a wide area. The deer like this smell so much that they try to find out where it is coming from. They sniff high and low trying to locate the scent. But in the process they run around so much that they become exhausted and die, never realising themselves to be the source of the scent.

The same thing is happening with all of us. Just as the fragrance is embedded in the flower and the reflection in the mirror, in the same way, reality is inherent in the self. You have to search for it within and not without. It’s outside also; it’s everywhere, but you will have to search for it within. If we look for it outside, then we will have the problems of the poor musk deer, searching throughout the forest for his own fragrance until some hunter comes along and shoots him down.

Is everything we see and feel only a projection of our own mind?

Everybody sees only himself in others. I see you as a very nice person, because I am a nice person. You are only a stimulating factor for the love and hatred that is within me. The whole attitude of a human being is an expression of his own personality. Therefore, it is said in the Upanishads :

“Not for the sake of the wife if the wife dear to you, but for your own sake. Not for the sake of the friend is the friend dear to you, but for your own sake”.

The Upanishads cite many similar examples which finally conclude that everything is centred in one’s own self. In Buddhism, we also find the same theory. All experiences and perceptions originate within the individual; the knowledge gathered from outside takes place within the mind. This means the whole universe you are cognizing is not outside, but within you. If the whole universe, the entire time and space, could be within you, why not your love and your hatred, your pride and your prejudice?

So, it seems that the human being is experiencing a great hallucination. Just as a magician casts one spell and you see a beautiful garden or a radiant damsel, then another spell and there is nothing. What happened? You saw it; where did it come from and where did it go? The magician is just exposing yourself; the nature is expressing yourself; you are projecting yourself outside. In the ultimate analysis, this is the truth.

Yogis and philosophers say that the physical world does not exist apart from the mind, but we experience the world and it is there. How are we to understand?

This is a problem which has been discussed in India for the last fifteen to twenty thousand years. Whether there is creation or it is all an illusion. Is it a dream, or is there something real? In western philosophy, there is Hegel’s idealism, Descarte’s non-dual monistic philosophy. In India, Shankaracharya had his own monistic philosophy and his paramguru announced that there was no existence of time and space at all. The gist of the Yoga Vashishtha is that everything is a fantasy. Time and space are playing games with each other.

It is difficult for people to accept that the world is an illusion, but there is a very simple logic behind it. In a dream, you are riding on an elephant and the elephant throws you off. You get a fracture and are screaming with pain. Then you wake up and there is no elephant, no accident, no pain. Now, the question arises : whether the dream world is true, or this world is true. In either case, there should be a continuity of experience, because truth is never barred by time and space. Truth has to be eternal and infinite. When you say that your waking consciousness is true, why is it limited and barred by another form of experience?

This means that the waking consciousness is not absolute; it is relative, and the dream is also relative. Dream is one state of mind with its own time and space, waking is another. Dream is a psycho-emotional event and waking consciousness is a psycho-sensual event. The truth must be absolute and not relative. Absolute means the same all the time. Then how to believe that this external experience is absolute? If it is not absolute, then it is not truth. If it is not truth, it is not existing.

In modern physics, we also have something like this. In Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, there are three forms of existence- absolute, relative, and what we call illusion. Dream is an illusion; this world is relative, and samadhi is absolute.

What is creation?

In physics they talk about the time/space continuum. Time and space create the universe. If you separate time from space, the universe is destroyed. Time and space are two forms of energy, plus and minus. If you take one wire out of a bulb, the bulb will not burn. Time and space are the positive and negative poles of the whole energy circuit and of creation. When they come together, time and space create matter. When time and space are separated, matter is disintegrated. This is one aspect of physics. Time and space are qualities of the mind. You can always increase and decrease the length of time and space through the mind.

In Vedanta, they say there is no creation without purusha and prakriti. When purusha and prakriti interact, then the creation evolves. At the end of evolution, through the practices of yoga, purusha and prakriti are separated from each other. Then enlightenment takes place and purusha leaves the circle of evolution and becomes a seer of creation, not a part of the creative process.

According to tantra these two opposite poles of energy are known as Shiva and Shakti. They can be found everywhere and in everything. Without them there is no creation, no awareness, no existence. During the period of pralaya, before the creation, these two poles of energy always remain separate. When creation is about to take place, they come close to each other. You know what happens when you put on the light switch. The wires meet at a certain point; there is a spark, and then there is light.

As Shiva and Shakti meet, an explosion takes place in the nucleus of matter. This is so subtle that one can only perceive it in nirvikalpa samadhi. When everything has been reduced to nothing, Shiva and Shakti meet in shoonya. At that time the explosion takes place and matter breaks into endless fragments. It disperses itself into space and the gases form into what you call nebulae. The whole creation is born out of shoonya, Shiva and Shakti coming together.

I am not talking philosophy. This is exactly what happens in every plant, creeper and tree, in man and woman, in earth, water, fire and air. Unless the two principles meet, there is no creation. The very basis of creation is Shiva and Shakti, purusha and prakriti, time and space, coming together. And this coming together is yoga.

In deep meditation this union takes place between the two opposite poles, ida and pingala. Normally, they both dwell separately in the frame of the spinal cord. But when they join in ajna, the explosion is terrible! You must be ready to face it. This is the moment of creation.

Not only in yoga, but in every field of life, this union between the two forces is always taking place. When this union takes place, the energy flows out, and this energy is always trying to express itself in the form of animals, vegetables, minerals. First 1 sense, then 2, 3, 4 and 5. Then 5 sensory organs, motor cortex, mind and emotions. This is how the creation has been going on.

What is the role of the individual in creation?

I believe that every being in life has a contribution to make. His contribution may riot be fantastic like that of a statesman, general, scientist, or artist, but nevertheless, each individual is a component part, at least a nail in this great cosmic structure of creativity. In the same manner, in a society of evolving human beings, it is not only a seer, a thinker, but also a merchant or a labourer who is part of the creativity. He may not create anything which will immortalise his name, but certainly everyone is creative.

Everybody has a certain degree of creativity within. They are able to create thoughts, a family, etc. but this creativity is so limited and self-motivated due to lack of higher awareness. They are not able to enlarge the scope of their creativity from its limited field. However, if a person is given the opportunity, and is placed in an environment which allows him to remove his personal barriers, repressions, and inhibitions, he can become more than just an ordinary creator. He can become an historical creator.

(Courtesy Yoga Magazine, Aug, 1980)