SA'DHANA', ABHIDHYA'NA AND KIIRTANA

Many philosophers say that the number of sensory and motor organs is not ten, but eleven; five sensory, five motor, and one more, the mind. Whatever the organs do, they do with the sanction of the mind. When the mind wants to steal, the hands do the action. Although the hands (which are undoubtedly a motor organ) do the physical stealing, the real thief is the mind. It would not be just to put the entire blame on the motor organs. That is why reputed philosophers say, `Why should the mind be exempted? Why should we blame the organ, leaving aside the actual entity at fault?' Thus, they say there are eleven organs. The mind has two main functions: thinking and recollection. What has been done in the past, say ten years ago, remains stored in the mind. This is memory. Thinking is sowing the seed of one's future actions. The organs function when there is an attempt to externalise an internal thought, that is, when the internal thought is projected outward. Under natural circumstances, when someone is thinking, the sensory and motor organs are inactive; but when the process of externalisation begins, when the mind thinks something and projects the thought into the external world, those organs immediately jump into action. This externalisation is called `utkepan' in Sam'skrta. It is just like flicking a piece of butter into a hot frying pan (which the cook does to give a richer aroma to the food). In the same way, when the mind decides to externalise an internal thought it `flicks' it, causing the sensory and motor organs to spring into action. Imagine a scoundrel is standing in front of you. The man is such a rogue that you feel like slapping him, but do not actually do it. It is only when you decide, `Let me slap that scoundrel,'that your hands actually strike him. When the inner urge to externalise the feeling becomes strong enough, your hands leap into action. A great person is one who has complete control over the externalisation of thoughts. A thought will not always be expressed physically. One may have a desire to hit someone or a desire to steal, but never actually does it due to one's self control. A person who has such control over the mind can externalise internal ideas more vigorously than a normal person can. You may have met people who never lose their temper unnecessarily, but utilise anger with the utmost control for benevolent reasons. This is because they have control over their minds. In sa'dhana' (particularly in abhidhya'na: abhi - dhae + anat'), the spiritual aspirants withdraw the mind from its numerous preoccupations and keep it fixed on specific ideas. You should remember that the human mind is occupied with more objects than the mind of any other living creature. This year's R.U. discourse explains how the increase of knowledge in human beings leads to an increase in the number of psychic objects. An animal cannot think about more than six or seven objects at a time, but an ordinary person can think of more than fifty objects at a time. Human beings have fifty vrttis (psychic urges), and those fifty vrttis are also complex in their functioning. As the vrttis become more complex, so do their functions. A vrtti can either be kept within one's mind or it can be externalised. One can steal both mentally and in the external world. Hence, as each of these fifty vrttis can be expressed both internally and externally, there are one hundred possible expressions. These hundred expressions can be expressed in ten directions: six `pradisha' directions: north, south, east, west, above, and below; and four `anudisha' directions: northeast, southeast, northwest and southwest. So the total number of expressions comes to (100 X 10 = ) 1,000! That is why the pineal gland is called sahasrara cakra or `that which expresses itself in one thousand directions.' I have also said that in the future the number of vrttis may further increase. The more complicated social life, family life, the realm of thought and the realm of intellect become, the more vrttis will develop. For example, the vrtti, cunningness, may be expressed in many more ways. To fulfil their desires, people will develop different types of cunningness which may become different vrttis in future. For example, the cunningness required to procure an object by devious means, the cunningness needed to give a promise knowing full well that one will never keep it, and the cunningness required to trick someone into believing that one did not tell a lie when in fact one did tell a lie, may all become separate vrttis in future. Thus, in the future, as people's thought processes become more complicated, many new vrttis will develop. The number of vrttis may not stay at fifty. Just imagine the situation that will arise in the future as a result of humanity's ever increasing thirst for knowledge. To meet these developments the nerve cells and nerve fibres will have to become more complex. Consequently, the human cranium will become larger and the size of the head will increase. The hands and feet will become weaker and weaker and human beings may even lose the ability to walk. Today, the human toes have almost stopped functioning - in spiritual actions we have almost no use for them - whereas at one time, when we used to walk on four legs, we used our toes as much as our fingers. The front legs were used less and less, and were transformed into arms, and thus these days it has become almost impossible for us to crawl on all fours. There was a time when humans would run on four legs, but today they cannot do that. After a time, children feel uncomfortable crawling around on all fours and try to walk on their hind legs. In the initial stages, when they try to stand up, they soon fall down. Again they stand up, again they fall down. When they finally develop the habit of standing on two legs,there are corresponding changes in the physical structure so that the use of their arms becomes less. In the future, the legs will be used less and less and the capacity to move on them will decrease. The arms will become thin, and the head will become abnormally large. Today we think that such people will look very strange, but in the future one may hear people commenting, `Oh, how handsome he looks with eyes as small as little peas and arms as thin as jute sticks. He can't hear anything with his ears. In fact, he hasn't got any ears at all! What an attractive man.' Although it seems slightly repulsive to us, this will become the standard of beauty in future. People will judge beauty according to the standards of the day, saying, `Oh, those stick-like arms of his make him look so handsome. The fellow can't walk properly. How wonderful.' And if someone can walk, people will say, `How indecent that fellow looks hobbling around on two legs!' But if he crawls along the ground they will say, `How wonderful, how beautiful!' If we were to see this sort of scene today, however, we would say, `How unsightly. That fellow is uglier than an owl.' The notion of what is beautiful or ugly, or good or bad in human beings changes from age to age, and in different environments. Those who are black-complexioned will say, `How beautiful black is. Why is that man so white? Has he contracted leukoderma (white leprosy)? How repulsive, how utterly repulsive!' That is, human judgement is relative; it changes according to time, place and person. In one particular country of the world, people decompose small fishes, make a sauce out of them and then bury it in the ground. After three months, when the sauce is so rotten that its odour can be smelled even a mile away, they dig it up and eat it with rice and pulses. `Oh how delicious,'they exclaim. But if we were to eat it we would complain, `How obnoxious, how repulsive!' In that same country, a gentleman was frying luci [puffed, unleavened bread] in cow's ghee. The village chief came up to him, saying, `Can you please go and cook your food in some other place, far away from here? We have no idea what you're cooking, but whatever it is, it smells terrible. We can't stand it any more.' It means they do not like the smell of pure cow's ghee, which, for us, is a very nice smell.Thus, the number of vrttis in the mind will gradually increase. If anyone disagrees with this, they are mistaken. Everything in this world is subject to change. Humans evolved from animals and now have many more vrttis than animals. Due to the development of human intellect and the consequent increase in vrttis, language also changes. In the Sam'skrta language there are over 500,000 words, in English over 400,000, and in Bengali about 125,000 words. Of all the Indian languages, Bengali has the largest vocabulary, and even that has only about 125,000 words. The most developed species of monkey has a vocabulary of about 800 words. The most undeveloped human beings living in certain forests have a vocabulary of about 950 words. Thus, the undeveloped humans have only a slightly larger vocabulary than the most developed monkeys. The most developed species of monkey is the `ulluka' in Sam'skrta (red-faced apes) which have a larger vocabulary than other species of ape. Each of their words, such as `kieun', `kiawn', `kwee', etc., has a different meaning. But no one has yet taken the trouble to compile a dictionary for them. To withdraw the ten sensory and motor organs and the mind from all their objects, that is, from the grip of all the vrttis, and to direct them towards Parama Purus'a is called `abhidhya'na'. We say, `directed towards Parama Purus'a' because Parama Purus'a is the source of the creation of mind. His mind has been condensed to create the unit mind; His thought waves have been converted into the mental and physical bodies; and His mental stuff has been transformed into the five fundamental factors. Those five fundamental factors, through further clash and cohesion, have been turned into subtle mind. The human mind does not come directly from Parama Purus'a; it comes from crude matter, which in turn comes from the Macrocosmic Mind. But when the human mind is directed towards the Supreme Being, it should not be directed through crude matter; it should be directed straight towards the Cosmic Mind.
In Saincara (the extroversial phase of movement), matter originates from the Cosmic Mind,and unit mind evolves out of matter. In the process of returning to its original abode, however, the mind should not be allowed to move through matter, but should proceed directly towards the Cosmic Mind. If the mind is engrossed in crude matter, it will become crude. That will be a very dangerous thing. That is why one should avoid idol worship. In this introversial phase, all fifty vrttis should be directed towards the Supreme Goal. The mind which was swayed away by the fifty vrttis should now be redirected. How ? The activities of the ten organs should first be withdrawn and suspended in the mind, and the suspended mind should be directed towards Parama Purus'a. In the process of withdrawal or pratyahara, all the organs should be channelised towards the subtle mind.
What is dhya'na? To suspend all the vrttis and then to direct them towards the Supreme One is dhya'na. There are two definitions of dhya'na `Yogashcittavrttirnirodhah.' [`Yoga is the suspension of all psychic propensities' - Patanjali] and `Sarvacinta'paritya'go nischinto yoga ucyate'[`Yoga is the attainment of a composed mind unperturbed by the thought' - Tantra]. The mind should be suspended. But where should the suspended mind go? Suppose we build a dam in the mouth of a river. If there is not a small outlet for the water, the dam will burst under the force of the current, which could be catastrophic. Similarly, if the mental flow is checked, it is also dangerous. The mind must be directed along a particular path, it must have some kind of mobility. Dhya'na means to direct the mind towards the Supreme One. Remembering Parama Purus'a is dhya'na. In this thought process there is a sense of mobility. The absence of mobility leads to crudeness and ultimate destruction. Those of you who are students of psychology will understand this subject better.
There are two distinct paths. The first is to stop the extroversial tendencies of mind and become absorbed in the inner goal; the second is to keep all the sense organs engaged in the same activity, such as kiirtana. When kiirtana was first invented, the psycho-philosophy behind it was this: at the time of kiirtana, the vocal cord sings, the ears hear, and the hands and feet dance,and thus all the organs are kept preoccupied with the divine. They are not allowed to move wherever they want but are kept engaged. There is a popular Indian superstition that when ghosts are not kept busy they break the necks of their prey. Similarly, if the sensory and motor organs are not kept engaged in the attainment of the divine, they may lead one astray. Kiirtana is therefore most beneficial as it keeps all the organs fully engaged in a spiritual pursuit. However, while doing kiirtan, if one listens to anything else, the mind will be diverted. Suppose, while doing kiirtana, one lady asks another, `Well sister, what did you cook today?' This will also be heard by the practitioners of kiirtana. To prevent these undesirable sounds from being heard, it is advisable to play some instrument during kiirtana. A mrdanga [a kind of drum] or some similar instrument should be used , but one should not play any heavysounding instrument like a dhak [a large drum played with sticks], a dol [a loud drum] or a gong. The mind prefers to hear a sweet sound,like that of the mrdanga, than a harsh sound. Some time ago I mentioned that Bhola Mayra said that when the cawing of crows and the beating of drums stop, human ears get some relief. People do not like to hear such harsh, unpleasant sounds. The sound of the mrdanga may not be perfect, but it has one quality: it is very sweet. Thus, whenever a distracted mind hears the sweet music of a mrdanga, it returns to the proper place. A remarkable science lies in kiirtana.
10 January 1979, Kalika'ta'

I Made Agus Wirayasa (Made)

e-mail: agus.wirayasa@gmail.com
Phone: +62 361 8567501 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting +62 361 8567501 end_of_the_skype_highlighting, 087860745161

My name is Made Agus Wirayasa. I was born in a simple and humble Balinese family. I have been interested in spirituality and humanity since I was very young. When I was studying in primary school I had a friend who inspired me much in solidarity and kindness. He was very simple and was struggling too much for his daily life because he came from a very poor family. Almost every day I donate a half of my pocket money to him and pick him up for going to school. This happened for years. I was very shock when he was not pass to higher grade because he was not focus in his lessons. He was so busy in helping his family and looking after his younger brother and sister. That is the scene of my childhood. There were still many such kind of experiences which brought me to the higher level of consciousness, to love all entities in any form.

In the family I was feeling suppressed that I could not express openly to any body and I tried to express it in wrong way such as drinking alcohol, drugs, smoking, and other kind of bad habits. Because of that, I was suffering from asthma. Then I realized that if I don’t stop those bad habits I will get more suffering. Then I started my journey inside. I started asking myself, “Who am I ?”, “Where do I come from ?”, “What is the aim of my life ?”, etc. So, from that moment on I searched for any inspirational books and teachers to find answers of my inner questions and to guide me to the path of righteousness. I began to learn meditation and joined some spiritual groups, but I was not satisfied. One day I went to a book store and found a book titled “Yoga Psychology” by Shrii Shrii Anandamurti, a great Master and the founder of Ananda Marga organization. I bought that book and read it entirely for few days. I was inspired a lot after reading “Yoga Psychology”. And then I went to the Ananda Marga Yoga Center in Bali. In that Yoga Center I met Acarya Sudhiirananda Avadhuta and took initiation (Tantric Dhiiksha) from him on 1^st December 2000.

I have been a vegetarian since 1993 in a natural way, following my inner inspiration.

My understanding of this life becomes clearer and clearer after joining Ananda Marga. The practice of tantric meditation and yoga asanas make me more strong and balance physically, mentally, and spiritually. The practice of Ananda Marga Yoga and its social approach has changed my view and way of life. I become more confidence and now I am almost 100% free from asthma.

I hope and I am sure that everyone who practice yoga will get great benefit. Yoga is a path of happiness; rather yoga is a path of bliss. The practice of yoga intensely will bring the practitioner to the answer of the greatest question “Who am I?”

MY BIODATA:

• Name: I Made agus Wirayasa,ST
• Sex: Male
• Religion: Hindu
• Guru: Shrii Shrii Anandamurti
• Yoga Organization: Ananda Marga Pracaraka Samgha (India)
• Diiksha name (Tantric Initiation): Amulya Ratan.
• Acharya’s name: Ac. Sudhiirananda Avadhuta (India)
• Education: Sarjana (S1) Teknik Elektro Fakultas Teknologi Industri Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember, Surabaya.
• Start teaching Yoga from 2000 at the hall of DPRD Bali (Bali Parliament) and still active until now.
• Discipline : Meditation at least twice a day regularly, Vegetarian, and following the universal conduct rules or Yama & Niyama.
• Yoga style: Dynamic Tantra Yoga and Classical Yoga Asanas.

MY TEACHING EXPERIENCES :

1. Gedung DPRD Renon, Bali.
2. Sekolah Tinggi Agama Hindu Bali, STAH.
3. Jagrtii Ananda Marga.
4. Pusat Listrik Negara (PLN Distribusi, Denpasar-Bali).
5. Pusat Listrik Negara (PLN Pengaturan Kuta-Bali).
6. Dewata Gym, Renon-Bali.
7. Karuna Graha Yoga, Denpasar.
8. The Dusun Villas, Petitenget.
9. Alila Hotel, Manggis.
10. Melia Bali Hotel & Spa Nusa Dua.
11. Yoga for Bali Cabaret Dancer .
12. Four Season Hotel, Jimbaran.
13. Keraton Hotel, Jimbaran.
14. Villa Kunja, Petitenget.
15. Le Meridien Hotel, Tanah Lot-Tabanan.
16. Hotel Santika, Kuta.
17. Gending Kedis Villa, Jimbaran.
18. The Ahimsa Beach Villa, Jimbaran.
19. Suluban Villa, Uluwatu.
20. Villa Maharaja, Kerobokan.
21. Villa Mahayani, Kerobokan.
22. Karma Kandara, Ungasan.
23. Fivelements, Ubud
24. Yoga for meeting group.

I Gede Ratnaya

My name is I Gede Ratnaya. When I was a teenager I was very interested in spirituality. I always follow the religious activities with great enthusiasm, both in school and in the village or temple. My interest this brings me to the spiritual path of meditation. Then I searched for any inspirational books and teachers to find answers of my inner questions and to guide me to the path of righteousness. I began to learn meditation and joined some spiritual groups, but I was not satisfied. One day I went to a book store and found a book titled “Sixteen Points” by Shrii Shrii Anandamurti, a great Master and the founder of Ananda Marga organization. I bought that book and read it entirely for few days. I was inspired a lot after reading this book. And then I went to the Ananda Marga Yoga Center in Singaraja, Bali. In that Yoga Center I met Acarya Rupatiitananda Avadhuta and took initiation (Tantric Dhiiksha) from him on 23 July 1992. I have been a vegetarian since 1990 in a natural way, following my inner inspiration. The first trip I did that toward the Philippines and I go to India. and after from India then I started teaching yoga in Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Singapore. and finally to follow the call of conscience then I return to my homeland in Bali and one with the people of Bali in a mission that is spreading yoga, universal love.

PERSONEL DATA

Name : I Gede Ratnaya

Age : 38 years old

Date Of Birth : July 14, 1972

Height : 171cm

Weight : 65 kg

Sex : Male.

Address : Jl.Padma Gg.1 no 7B, Penatih, Denpasar

Telp. : 081236534394, 081936072596

E-mail : ramananda10sadvipra@yahoo.co.id

My Yoga data:

• Guru: Shrii Shrii Anandamurti
• Yoga Organization: Ananda Marga Pracaraka Samgha.
• Diiksha name (Tantric Initiation): Ratnesha.
• Acharya’s name: Ac. Rupatiitananda Avadhuta.

WORK TEACHING EXPERIENCE : 1994-now

1. Singaraja 1994
2. Philipina 1999
3. Malaysia 2000
4. Thailand 2001
5. Singapore 2002
6. Bali: Jagrti Denpasar, Club Med Hotel Nusa Dua 2009-now