J.G. from Birmingham UK

Q….I am attempting to take stock of my life, which has been prompted by some major changes and endings. I find the task quite daunting and to be honest "I just don't know where to begin". Is this something I can do alone or should I seek professional help.

A….Taking stock of ones life is quite a task, especially if you are contemplating doing it for the first time with no methodology involved. There are no "Should's" or "Must's" to be applied here, but in answer to your question of whether you "Should" seek professional help, it is my feeling that you would certainly benefit from the correct type of professional guidance. The professional would act as a catalyst for clarification and assist you in conducting your own investigation.

In taking stock you could focus on three aspects in particular, Assumptions, Values, and Personal Talents. Begin by recognising, questioning and defining your assumptions about yourself and the world, including your perception of things as real or unreal. Values will need to be recognised or determined and your personal talents are the source of what makes life work in actuality and will affect your ability to interact with others.

Taking stock of course won't necessarily give you direction, but it will assist in the process of making informed choices based on the knowledge gained from the exercise. Taking stock is an ongoing process in which you are constantly defining and redefining yourself and the world around you. Until you gain clarity, you will require a teacher or counsellor to be your confidant, non-judgmental guide. With him or her you will continually be thrown back on yourself in a process of self-exploration. In this process you will definitely gain cognitive shifts and emotional maturity. You will attain more and more inner leisure and self-confidence due to more and more objectivity and less and less subjectivity.

You may wish to take advantage of the Reflective Journal Service offered by the school, details of which can be found in your student information pack. If you would like details of the types of help available please contact the schools administrator in writing by post or email.

Regards

Yamisha

Q) I have a question for Swamiji.

I did some previous study before joining this school and while reading some previous unrelated literature I came across the word Nirvana. In reading some of this school's study material I came across the word again and would like to ask whether it is used in the same context here.

MTL

Leeds UK

• Nirvana is a word that literally means blown out, extinguished. You didn't state which material you were reading or in what context you understood it, but the word is mainly used by Buddhists to mean their concept of freedom, complete extinction of the individual or of worldly existence, which is twofold:

Note: I am not going into the details and quibbles of the academic scholars on this topic, for this is not the place. In the traditional study we will cover these topics from every possible angle. Here I am just giving the logically established conclusions.

1. Conceptualizing oneself as nothing or non-existent
2. Conceiving oneself as a constant flow of flickers of consciousness.

In Vedanta the word Nirvana can be understood the same as the word Moksha and that is freedom from sorrow, freedom from the sense of agency and enjoyership and thus freedom from guilt and hurt. This Nirvana is therefore the extinguishing of self-ignorance through knowledge of oneself as limitless being. This knowledge is gained by listening to a live traditional teacher who follows the Vedanta-scripture, and handles the words with traditional methodologies in order to de-condition the student from all wrong concepts of himself. All of this will be covered thoroughly in your course of study. May you keep up your studies regularly, and write again if you need more clarification.

Best wishes,

Swami Vagishananda

RP from Dorset UK Asks:

Why is there suffering on earth?

Q) I used to be an evangelist, and one of the questions I was constantly being asked was why is there so much suffering on earth. It was a question I always felt inadequate in answering. If it is necessary can we also assume it has a place in the scheme of things?

A) Yes, indeed it does. Pain and suffering are as important if not more so than pleasure and enjoyment. Suffering helps one see and acknowledge ones helplessness and seek help intelligently through dropping the will to resist consciously. This dropping the will consciously and seeking help from a higher power is called prayer and this frees one from offence-defense posturing and this helps one assimilate pain without getting lost in sorrow. Take note that pain is not sorrow unless one resists it. It is just an unpleasant fact. Prayer helps one mature as a person for one who has owned up pain and gone through it can empathize and act upon their empathy, helping others in need and this is needed to become a mature person.

Eventually one has to see the fact of all opposites being equal and accept them all without resistance and reaction. This is impossible when you cannot trust and remain in constant offence-defense posturing. The fact also that fact also that has to be seen is the degree of reality that pain and pleasure enjoy, and to understand this, one needs to know ones own nature as totally free from opposites in spite of opposites. Again, self knowledge cannot take place when one is posturing and lacks trust so the first step is crucial.

So, what is the first step? Seeing your helplessness intimately with reference to the past etc. that you cannot change, and acknowledging this fact. Then placing trust in a higher/infallible power (whatever that may be for now is OK) and seeking help from the only one who doesn't need help. This frees you from posturing and you begin to tap grace-space inside to accept facts and act upon them consciously without reaction. This will prepare one to continually gain more clarity of knowledge as one continues ones studies.

So you see, suffering and crisis is very important and helps one start question its cause "Why me! Who's doing this to me?" This pattern of questioning will lead one to seek understanding of destiny and free will and finally understand the karmic model. This will help one own up ones acts responsibly, knowing clearly that all that comes to one in destiny is meant to be, and is ones food (no matter how bitter!) to assimilate and grow. This knowledge gives abiding attitude of glad acceptance of pain and pleasure and this gives one more and more composure for further studies and ones knowledge of oneself as a full and complete being eventually gains clarity without vagueness doubt and error.

Best wishes,

Swami Vagishananda

Anonymous writes:

Q) I read in your Commitments & Values document and the article entitled Value of a Value, the importance of non-injury, What place should this be given in my life

The Scripture says Ahimsa paramo dharmah . The greatest, most valuable value is non-injury. This of course is restating the common sense we all intimately know without being taught.

Ahimsa means non-injury. This is a universal value, which is that which I innately know in my heart and want from others, and all beings expect this from me. I don't want to be hurt by anyone's words or actions and no one wants to be hurt by me in any way. Seeing the fact that by following this value consciously, it will free me from conflict and therefore free me from sorrow, I am aware of its value because by following it consciously, I remain peaceful and happy.

Now, how valuable is this to you? Knowing this, you will place ahimsa in its paramount place and make intelligent choices in your life accordingly. You will naturally make the least hurting choices in the words you use and the food you eat etc.

Best wishes,

Swami Vagishananda

BF from Yorkshire Writes

Q) Most of my life I have swung in a pendulum of extremes, and still I am one of those people who is all or nothing. Since being a student I have begun to see that there is a huge chunk of middle ground that I don't make myself available to, what I am beginning to perceive as the middle road. Can you say anything about this area which will help me to clarify my thoughts with regard to this.

What is the "sacred gray area"?. How does one distinguish right and wrong and not go to extremes and be black and white about it or in other words to get caught in rigid extremes? This is a topic, which comes up regularly in my Satsang with students.

Well, each context which includes place time and situation/persons and beings involved is dynamic, constantly changing. Nothing in the relative world is absolute, simply black or white but it's always a mixture of both, and the relative world is always relative which is colored in a countless variety of shades of gray. One has to determine what is right or wrong in a given context based on ones inner sense of what one would want others to say or do to them. So context which is place, time, and person or persons involved is dynamic and your decision based on your heart of common sense will also have to be applied dynamically in the moment. This gray area I call sacred for it holds sanctity for one who is growing spiritually and it takes grace earned through prayer to get there. We have to recognize the fact that oftentimes we are in the hold of helpless catch 22's i.e. "damned if I do damned if I don't situations or double binds and we feel totally helpless. Contained in these moments is the opportunity for emotional/spiritual growth, so I embrace the situation and do not flee from it. Can you ever run away from yourself ? Never! And all you need to grow is coming to you so you cant run away from these situations either. In prayer I can offer non-resistance and get myself out of offence-defense posturing and get an emotional breath of fresh air and see my options more objectively. What are my options? I can do or say it, I need not do or say it, I can do or say it differently. Now prayerfully conscious, I make my decision, ready for the possible results, which could be four viz. More than what I expected, less than what I expected, exactly what I expected or opposite of what I expected. I do the action and am responsible for it and immutable laws of which I have no control, take care of the results. Therefore coming to relax and stay in the "sacred gray" will bless you with emotional growth and as a student one must understand this thoroughly and make this an abiding attitude. We will be unfolding all aspects of this in the course of your studies.

Best wishes,

Swami Vagishananda

DG from London writes:

I have heard the word karma used even before I started my study, mostly in loose terms and now I am starting to understand the laws of cause and effect. What I want to ask is I know that I will reap the results of my words and actions, and this is definite but can I do something which can help me assimilate the painful results coming from inappropriate actions in the past, and not create any more painful myself in the process?

Karma has many connotations depending on the context. Let us look at one meaning here and that is the law of cause and effect in relation to you as a doer. You are the agent of action and thus you will be the enjoyer/experiencer of the pleasurable or painful results of your actions. These causes you have put out in the past (consciously or unconsciously) and they keep accruing to you in the now, as they will in the future which resolves in now. Therefore be aware now! You are responsible for the results of pain and pleasure that you experience and you alone are responsible for the results you create for yourself in the future. There is no one else to blame and you need not blame yourself for this doesn't help. You always did what you could and you could not have done better. The past is done and cannot be changed so you can own it up and you are the wiser. You cannot change the past but only can offer it non-resistance. Therefore be conscious and deliberate in your words and actions right now and create a heaven for yourself here and now! If you have lots of painful results accruing to you then there is nothing like prayer in its power to neutralize the drowning aspect caused by resistance to facts you cannot change. This will help keep your head up i.e. keep you from reaction, and you will be able to emotionally breath! Also doing reaching out actions helping others, giving to charities, etc. will help neutralize some of the painful results accruing to you. More on this topic to come later.

Best wishes,

Swami Vagishananda

BD from Spain Writes:

Q) I am by nature very placid, and wouldn't knowingly do someone harm if I could do them good . While I look at myself and appreciate that I am capable of both good and bad deeds. I look at the Hitler's and Pol pot's of this world and ask if there can be any divinity at all, in such persons.

Is there divinity within the Hitler's of the world, or are they totally evil?

A) Yes, if you mean by divinity which is a very nebulous word, goodness/humanity. Yes. Hitler is a human being, just as I am a human being. He is not totally evil; there is no such thing as a being that is absolute evil. In a relative i.e. Time-space bound world, how could there be? It is simply absurd to even try to conceive such a thing! There are only relative-time-bound actions that have relative-time-bound results. Some actions are done out of lack of discrimination and lack of the ability to go with ones sense of universal values. These acts that caused pain will definitely result in pain for the doer. Hitler dulled this inner common sense (of course to a great degree) and abused his free will to the maximum and he is paying for it in the pain that he caused for there is no escape from this. This pain is relative not absolute so he will experience it and will come to a place where he has another chance to get a humans body and try again to grow in his humanity. Of course this may be millions of years but not eternity. Ultimately he too will have a chance to become saintly and gain absolute freedom from sorrow through gaining self-knowledge. An action, which begins and ends therefore bound by time, can never give fruit to an eternal result for the doer. Therefore there can be no such thing as eternal damn nation or absolute evil.

Best wishes,

Swami Vagishananda

PLH from Poole, Dorset, UK

Q) How can I attain Freedom from suffering and is this what you refer to as Moksa?

A) Moksa is a Sanskrit word meaning freedom or final liberation from sorrow, ignorance and death. This is the immediate result of the knowledge of yourself as a full and complete being, here and now, through listening to the scripture from a qualified traditional teacher.

How can one gain Moksa?

Well, Through the discernment of the fundamental problem and pursuing the solution to that problem till it is solved. If you have assimilated your life's experiences and acutely see their limitations and are not seeking to become anymore and have a burning desire to be free from all limitations then you are a mumuksu which means one who is desirous of Moksa. This is one of basic requirements of a student, so if you fit this description then you can choose to pursue this end.

The first step you may consider can be joining the course of study offered through "Education For Living" and attending the classes, seminars and workshops offered to students of the school.

I.A.T from South Wales

Q) I looked up the word Swami in a reference book and it said "Swami is a Sanskrit word meaning master" But it didn't say master of "What". Could you please say more.

A) 1.Master of ones emotions and five senses through deep understanding of their nature, regarding them with reverence and through non-resistance prayer and freedom from being judgmental about oneself and others. Please take note that this mastery is never gained through control and denial. Trying to control and deny thoughts and emotions only results in disaster and must be alertly avoided by all students. This is one way we can see the meaning.

2.Master of self-knowledge, knowing himself and the creator of the universe as non-different. Something like knowing the meaning of the equation E = mc2, but here the equation is between the individual and the total. This is to be understood by studying with a traditional teacher for 12 years.

3.A Swami can be a teacher also but need not be.

4. A Swami is a renunciate, having first and foremost renounced the sense of doership and enjoyership through self-knowledge through the study of the scriptures. And secondly he is a non-competitor in society. He has renounced all forms of mandates, the do's and don'ts proscribed by the scriptures as he has grown out of all of them. Notice the word grown out and not drop out. He has grown out of all societal duties but he will never do something against common sense ethics for they are his second nature now and he will be spontaneous in doing and saying what is appropriate in a given context. I am using the universal pronoun he but he could just as well be she.

The traditional reverential address to a Swami is Swamiji. And the feminine word for swami is swamini so the formal address for her is swaminiji.

The ji is a Hindi word, which conveys respect. All Swamis' should be addressed with the ji at the end. This is a tradition even followed byswamiji's toward their fellow swamiji's.

You didn't say whether you had looked up the word Guru and this too you may like to see clarified.

Q) What is a Guru?

A Guru is a teacher but this is a limited translation the syllable Gu stands for darkness of ignorance and the syllable Ru stands for the light of knowledge which is the destroyer of the darkness of ignorance. So here the one who is all knowledge and in his presence ignorance cannot stand for he removes it through teaching, he is considered a Guru.

The traditional verse that is translated above is

Gukarastvandhakaro vai rukarastannivartakah.

Andhakaranivartakatvat gururityabhidhiyate.

Can you please tell me some of the guru's qualities?

In the scripture some of the spontaneous qualities of the most exalted or Uttama-Guru are the following; Non-judgmentalness, empathy, compassion, non-manipulativeness, unconditional-agendaless-love, knowing himself clearly as limitless-being, knowing the purport of the traditional scriptures thoroughly and being adept in conveying the vision of the scriptures to the students using the traditional methodologies contained therein.

These are a few of the qualities and you will be studying more as you continue with your Gita course.

Best wishes,

Swami Vagishananda

B.L.T from Houndslow Asks:

Q>What is the immediate cause of sorrow and how can I release myself from it?

A>Well, resistance to a fact immediately causes sorrow, a painful fact, which cannot be changed, a fact that one refuses to accept and has denied in oneself. Usually this painful fact is from ones past.

Here is a powerful example one can keep in mind.

It's like a riptide in the ocean and you get caught in it. What are you supposed to do? What have you been taught to do if this ever happened to you? Well, you relax and tread water and slowly swim sideways, which lets you keep your head above water so you can breathe. If you panic and struggle and swim against a riptide what happens? You drown! Mother Ocean has infinite strength and you can never swim against her and not drown.

So also imagine we are swimming in a vast ocean of emotion, riptides and whirlpools of emotion are always there. How can we survive without drowning which is equivalent to sorrow?

First by knowing and acknowledging our helplessness. For example, I cannot change anything in the past, which has been said or done by me or to me.

Next by offering non-resistance to these painful facts I cannot change. This means consciously dropping the will to resist. This performs a miracle! I yield and flow with the riptide and I can emotionally breathe! This will give me the grace to express my pain appropriately and I am not lost or drowning in sorrow. I am consciously managing and processing my pain. The fact is that pain whether physical or mental is not sorrow but only pain. It is only when one resists pain that one drowns i.e. becomes sorrowful.

There is more to this but for now assimilate these truths and contemplate the example.

Another help would be the following:

You can have a prayer or auto suggestion to be alert to your pain and see that you cannot change it. Then offer it non-resistance in a prayer, mentally in so many words you offer a non-resistant prayer and feel your feelings and write them out or talk it out with a non-judgmental person. Tell your feelings in an informative way, without blaming self or others and they will pass, meaning they will get processed, as they are "seen-goner's" (the unchanging you-the witness is seeing them go) and going pain is growing pain.

What is the alternative? You know the pattern well! Pain-denial-build-up-implode or explode i.e. inappropriately in verbal or physical abusing or hurting others, which hurts yourself i.e. you feel guilty or in implosion you get physically ill, psychosomatic diseases. You're the victim and the victimiser! And on this viscous circle goes! You can choose to put an end to this vicious circle! Yield and overcome!

Best wishes,

Swami Vagishananda