The Quest for Happiness

I sent this quote to a friend the other day. I felt that it was totally in keeping with the teaching of the Perfect Masters and Meher Baba. “But the whole point is to get pleasure and be able to keep it. Whoever can do this has nothing to learn. But the way to it is lies through suffering.” – G.I. Gurdjieff

My friend replied that he read it and shared it with his wife. He said that she would replace the word pleasure with joy. I too was somewhat ambivalent about Gurdjieff’s use of the word pleasure, though I understood that he was speaking at a particular time to a particular group of people. I asked my friend if he thought that the word happiness might be a good substitute. He replied that happiness was very consistent with Meher Baba’s teachings.

But whether we call it pleasure, joy, happiness, bliss, peace, etc., can we agree that if we look deep inside ourselves for the goal and motivator of the actions of our lives, that it is in fact the quest for this pleasure, joy, happiness, bliss, peace happiness?

I find everything in Gurdjieff’s statement significant. First, the qualification, “and to be able to keep it.” This is significant because it has been my experience that in life, nothing stays the same for very long. Moments of happiness, joy, bliss, etc. are fleeting, as are the moments of suffering that often follow.

There is a story I heard from Christopher Freemantle about the great King Solomon (a Perfect Master). People would come to him with their problems. He would listen but say nothing. He just sat there listening while slowly turning an ornate gold and jewel-encrusted ring around his finger.

There was one man who had come to him many times with his problems. They were indeed serious and weighty problems. As usual, King Solomon said nothing, just sat there turning the ring. One day the man could take the Master’s silence no longer and complained. Hearing the complaint King Solomon removed the ring from his finger and passed it to the man. Inside the ring was engraved, “This too shall pass.” This too shall pass, this too shall pass, this too shall pass…

In life, in the world, everything passes, everything changes, and every stick has two ends. Every stick has two ends—that’s another saying I heard attributed to Gurdjieff. It speaks to illusion’s reality of duality. At the other end of the stick of pleasure is pain, at the other end of the stick of attraction is repulsion, at the other end of the stick of wealth is poverty, etc. You can’t pick up just one end of the stick without picking up the whole stick. You always get the whole stick.

Perhaps we begin by trying—to take one end without the other. This can go on for many many lifetimes, but eventually we realize it is impossible. So then we may attempt to do away with the stick altogether, to not pick up the stick in the first place. This is the road of austerity—denial, but the problem is that denial id just one end of a stick, and always on the opposite end of the stick is indulgence. We can go through many lifetimes like this, going back and forth between denial and indulgence. It’s like a pendulum. But the pendulum itself is subject to the law of duality, and that which moves will eventually become still, though this may take hundreds of lifetimes. And this is just an example of one pendulum…

At some point, however, one begins to understand that they are trapped and cannot do without help. One might begin to take religion more seriously or seek out help through therapy, spiritual teachings, spiritual teachers, etc. Perhaps one learns about and is encouraged to try the technique called non-identification or non-attachment. In other words, to not try to do away with the stick, but to pick it up and yet remain unattached to the experiences of either of its ends. This can work, but it is extremely difficult, and virtually impossible without help, and even with real help, it too, can take many lifetimes.

And so, we see the significance of the words, and be able to keep it. To be able to keep anything implies a transcendence over duality itself. Once we have achieved this then it follows that one has nothing to learn.

But Gurdjieff said that the way to it lies through suffering. Why suffering? And is not pleasure on the other end of the same stick whose end is suffering? And therefore, does not suffering itself continue to embroil one more and more in duality? So why suffering?

Meher Baba put it this way, if you are having a wonderful dream and wake up, you want to go back to sleep and recapture that dream, but if the dream is unpleasant, you only feel relief that it’s over and have no interest in revisiting it.

Meher Baba and all the Perfect Masters I have studied are very consistent on this point, life as we experience is a dream—the dream state of God. It is all illusion and delusion and however real it appears to us to be, it is not real. Yet, it is a necessary stage that the soul must experience on its journey from its deep sleep to its real, fully awake, I am God State.

If life was always pleasant, enjoyable, etc. there would be no impetus to awaken. Meher Baba explained it this way, he said that a growing dissatisfaction with life and all its dualities, both unpleasant and pleasant, combined with a growing interest and eventually all-consuming love for God is the dynamic mechanism of this awakening.

Gurdjieff used this analogy. You live in this beautiful house with many rooms on many stories. Those rooms contain unbelievable experiences of beauty and bliss. But you chose to live in the basement—the dark dank basement—and have all but forgotten even the existence of the other stories and rooms. Instead, you busy yourself making efforts to find the most pleasant places in the basement to pass your time fighting and arguing with others about meaningless things. Gurdjieff concluded by saying that the only way out of the basement is to ally oneself with someone who found their way out of the basement and is willing to show you the way.

What is the basement? It is gross consciousness—consciousness of what we call the physical universe and all its physical forms from galaxies to subatomic particles. Gross consciousness sees only the gross expressions of subtle energies and the mental projections of thoughts and feelings and desires. It sees only the outside.

What are the upper stories and rooms? They are the seven planes of higher consciousness: the first three being the planes of subtle consciousness—of energy. The innumerable powers, experiences, and possibilities of this story—this subtle world—constitute the various rooms on that story.

What is the next story—world of consciousness—beyond the subtle? It is called the Mental World and it is consists of two planes—rooms—the first being the plane wherein lies mastery of thoughts and the second being the plane wherein lies the mastery over all feelings, emotions, and desires.

Beyond this Mental World is the Seventh Plane, the plane of God Realization/Self-Realization. It is the end of the soul’s journey. It is the fully awake state of the soul. It is eternal, infinite, and the abode of all Knowledge, Power, and Bliss.

Those whose consciousness is of the subtle sphere can help others to reach that sphere, but they cannot help others to achieve states beyond their own station. Likewise, those whose consciousness is of the higher mental sphere can help others to reach that sphere, but they cannot help others to achieve the states beyond their station. Finally, to achieve the Goal, it is necessary to enlist the help of one who has themselves achieved the Goal—a Perfect Master.

The evolution of consciousness proceeds through association and disassociation of the soul with all the lower gross forms from stone to man. Throughout this journey, suffering is experienced. With the achievement of the human form the process of reincarnation begins. In this process, human forms, male and female, black and white, weak and strong, rich and poor, etc., etc., are experienced, discarded, and then replaced in an effort to free the consciousness of the soul from its identifications with these very forms.

Throughout this phase of the journey the experience of suffering continues. And even when the consciousness of the soul enters involution and experiences the various planes, suffering in first a subtle form and then in a mental form continues. Suffering is there throughout the entire journey of the consciousness throughout the entire dream state of the soul—what we call creation consciousness.

But what exactly is the nature of this suffering? It’s a complex thing, for there are many different forms of suffering, and not all of them are necessary! This is the important thing. Not all suffering is necessary!

“But the whole point is to get pleasure and be able to keep it. Whoever can do this has nothing to learn. But the way to it is lies through suffering.” – G.I. Gurdjieff

That’s how we started this topic. In the dream state of creation, duality manifesting itself through constant change is the king, and so the ability to keep anything would be quite an accomplishment. Gurdjieff as well as the Masters are all in agreement that suffering is essential to achieve constancy, but as was discussed, there are many kinds of suffering and not all of them are necessary. In fact, almost all suffering is unnecessary and almost all suffering is unwanted. So then, why do we go on and on suffering and suffering? Gurdjieff often said, “The most difficult thing for a man to give up is his suffering.” What an irony; what a contradiction!

In 1979, I was talking to Adi K. Irani in his little office in the Avatar Meher Baba Trust Compound in Ahmednagar, India. He was saying that we are all traveling on a train that would bring us to the Goal, but we are not driving the train. All that is necessary for us to do is to stay on the train and bide our time in a pleasant and helpful way. But sometimes, Adi said, we might be enticed to get off the train. He said that Meher Baba would let us get off the train, but also, in His Infinite Mercy, He would always allow us to get back on the train. I suggested that though getting off the train was, in fact, unnecessary, once that option was taken, we would have to shift from calling it unnecessary to calling it an unnecessary necessity. Adi seemed to like that.

Leaving the train in search of pleasure always leads to suffering, and this suffering is unnecessary, but the wisdom gained from countless experiences of getting on and off the train eventually leads one to learn to stay on the train and not be lured off by the false hopes of desires. What is the most unnecessary suffering of all? My experience tells me it is worrying. Worrying is the most unnecessary suffering of all. I recall the old saying, “a coward dies a thousand deaths, a hero only one.”

 Of course, staying on the train also has its share of suffering, but this suffering is necessary.

So, what is suffering? Suffering can be physical, suffering can be mental, and suffering can be emotional. None are pleasant, and if we are honest with ourselves, none are really welcome—at least for most mere mortals. As Adi used to say, “A kiss and a kick from Meher Baba are one and the same, but I still prefer the kiss.” Don’t we all?

Now, it may seem from the way I’m talking that I actually understand what it is I’m saying, and perhaps at some level I do—understand the why and the what of suffering, its necessity, and its unnecessary necessity, and maybe most importantly, that it is all just an illusion—a dream. I can even tell myself—remind myself—of this in the midst of my own suffering.

But if this is true and I’ve learned the lesson, then why do I keep suffering; why do I need to keep suffering? So, I must be missing something, for as Hafez said, “He never tries His slave in vain.” Then what is it that I’m missing? I believe that the answer is simply this, all my understanding, all my knowledge of suffering, is limited to that section of mind that controls thinking and thoughts. The other section of mind, the domain of feeling, emotion, desires, etc., does not know the truth that the thinking section of mind knows, and it is for this knowing by the feeling section of mind that suffering continues to be essential.

But like any remedy to be effective, it must be the right remedy—in this case, the right suffering and this is where the Master comes in. The Master, being Infinitely knowing, sees into every corner of the soul’s cloak of illusion and knows what the exact prescription is that will free the soul from its cloak of illusion.

There is a story about a disciple who is telling his Master about a friend he says is very spiritual. He reads spiritual books, meditates, and is seen to do good. The Master says, “Oh he sounds very spiritual, but then, gesturing with one hand he says, “but let me grab him by the throat and throw him up against the wall,” while with his other hand he makes a fist and gestures as if he is about to punch the man in the face, and says, “then we will see how spiritual the man really is!”

I know the story sounds a little crude, but the point is clear, head knowledge is fine, but it’s not enough. We need to know with the whole of ourselves and this is where life comes in. It is life that can take us to the door, but at the door one’s progress comes to a halt and the help of the Master becomes essential. It is the Master who can pull us through the door to the Goal.

Gurdjieff often evoked the analogy of a carriage, a horse, and a coachman.

 “A man as a whole with all his separately concentrated and functioning localizations, that is to say, his formed and independently educated ‘personalities,’ is almost exactly comparable to that organization for conveying a passenger, which consists of a carriage, a horse, and a coachman.” – All and Everything – Beelzebub’s Tales to his Grandson, page 1192

 

In this analogy, the carriage represents the physical body, the horse represents the organization of human feeling, and the driver represents the whole totality of the manifestations of human mentation—what is generally described as thinking.

It is precisely the training of the horse that is the work of the Master. The horse cannot be trained with the same methods that work for the driver. The Master works with and through life to train the horse and for this, some suffering is necessary. But suffering, in and of itself, is never the point and unnecessary suffering, by its very nature, is never necessary. The Master works to eliminate unnecessary suffering and through the Master’s Love and Compassion, helps support the wayfarer through the trial and tribulations of the necessary suffering. The Master is always Infinitely Merciful and Eternally Benevolent.

In fact, from the very beginning of the soul’s journey of consciousness, from its earliest associations with pre-human forms—all the way back to and before the stone form, the Master is working. The Master is always working, but mostly, behind the curtain. Only at certain times, and this is generally when the soul is reaching the end of its journey, does the Master appear to the soul in order to establishes a personal relationship. This personal relationship is necessary to guide and energize the final steps of the soul’s journey. The acceptance of the Master’s help by the wayfarer is the critical factor, for this acceptance represents the acceptance of Reality by Illusion—the giving up of Illusion’s hold on the soul’s consciousness as limited and separate from Reality—from God—from Self.

 

“You are like a stream that flows through all of time seeking union with

the sea. Nearing journey’s end, the stream flows into a vast desert and

is trapped in the sands. Weakening more and more, it struggles

on, but finds its way blocked by great mountains. Hopeless

and helpless, its life ebbing into the sands, the stream cries out,

‘Oh help me Lord!’ and is answered by the voice of the wind.

‘I am the wind; you must give yourself to me. In my arms I will carry

you over the mountains as a cloud and as rain you will merge with the sea.’

 

‘But I will die!’

‘You will not die! Only your dream of yourself as stream will end.

Besides, where is your choice?

A stream you can no longer be.

Give yourself to me or be lost to the sands forever’.

And so, totally helpless and without hope, exhausted beyond belief, the

stream gave itself into the arms of the wind and was carried as a

cloud beyond the mountain’s peaks. The cloud drifted over the sea

where seeing itself reflected in the water below, began to weep.

‘I await you. Come,’ welcomed the sea.

And the cloud released itself as tears of joy   

and fell as rain into the sea.

‘We are not we, but one,’ spoke the golden sea and the stream, being stream no more, heard the voice and recognized it as its own.”  – From The Voice of the Stream, a poetic rendering by Michael Kovitz of a Sufi story

 

                                                                                                     © copyright Michael Kovitz 2023

 

The Four Stages of Duality

 

“Shri Shankarro Chhapavale came alone for worship; on this Sri Baba asked, ‘You are alone today? Is your wife angry or what? If so, on whom; you or me? Anger is one of the means of effecting unity.’”

 

What causes a Perfect Master to speak? On many occasions Upasani Maharaj has said that if He were alone, i.e., not conscious of the world—of illusion—, He would not be seen to speak or act in any way. What would He need to say or do while experiencing Perfection in Perfection? The consciousness of others—of the world—of illusion—causes Him to speak—to act—actually, to appear to speak and act, while in Reality, He does nothing, for what is it for Him to do? This appearance of doing is prompted by the needs of others—of the world—of illusion—and is always motivated by Unconscious God’s lahar, i.e., whim, to know Himself.

 

“Husband and wife are two Jivas who are opposed to each other both from within and without. The union of these two means the union of the husbandhood and wifehood, i.e., the male and the female state, and with this union the object for which marriage is effected is achieved.”

 

An objective and impartial look at creation, as the average person sees it, cannot be divorced from duality. Everything seems to have its opposite, every stick has two ends, every state has two sides, etc. The human form consists of both the male and the female forms. Normally they seem to be attracted to each other—to seek completion in each other. What is the motivation? The motivation—the drive—is union with God. When all opposites are joined together, i.e., when duality merges in union, the final merging, i.e., union with God is effected.

 

“When two such opposites are joined together, then the pair of opposites in the form of ourself and God are seen to unite. One who has attained this state, whether a man or a woman, takes the whole world to be his abode, like Parameshvara (God as the Supreme being).”

 

Upasani details four stages of union that are achieved through the process of dissociation from opposites, from duality. The union of the male and the female duality constitutes an important stage. If a pendulum were envisioned swinging back and forth, the male and female forms are on either side. The pendulum swings back and forth over countless lifetimes, sometimes male and sometimes female, until identification with the two opposites ceases and the pendulum comes to rest.

 

But this pendulum is just one of countless pendulums that characterize gross consciousness and its projections in the gross world that is experienced by the vast number of souls in creation. This gross creation, with its universes and worlds, is that which science tries to understand and explain, and it is this gross creation which evolution and reincarnation finds itself mired in.

 

The male-female pendulum is just one of countless pendulums we see outside ourselves—like rich and poor, Christian and Jew, Hindu, and Muslim, healthy and sick, strong, and weak, smart, and dull, etc. Upasani Maharaj is telling us that all these gross dualities must be extinguished in unity—in oneness, and the key is love, the way is love, and the goal is love, but this love is not what we think it is, and the pendulums that comprise gross consciousness and the gross world are just one of the four stages that need to be crossed. Once all the dualities of creation are united, the next stage, the duality of external and internal, of me and you, i.e., the duality of the state of within and without the world needs to be united.

 

After the union of the male state and the female state, representing the union of dualities exhibited by and throughout the whole of gross creation, there still exists the duality of internal and external. In other words, there still is the sense that one exists in creation, but that creation itself is something other than oneself. I believe that when Upasani Maharaj speaks about the union of within and without the world, he is speaking about the shift of consciousness from gross consciousness to subtle consciousness—from the state of evolution and reincarnation to the state called involution wherein lie the subtle and mental worlds with their various planes and heavens. These worlds do not have a physical location outside of oneself. They are all inner states of consciousness.

The mental and the subtle worlds, consisting of six planes of consciousness and their heavens, and the gross world, consisting of all stars and planets, etc., and all forms and beings from stone to man, etc., can be said to encompass the Divine consciousness of the soul, as it were, like three bubbles. But how, since the soul and its consciousness are eternal and infinite, can it be encompassed by anything? So, when it is said that the soul and its consciousness is encompassed by three bubbles, this apparent encompassing must be false and is the result of gross consciousnesses’ attempt to explain and understand that which is beyond itself. [1]

 

Meher Baba explains that the sixth plane is the final plane of consciousness before union with God. In this state, one sees God everywhere and in everything and yet does not experience oneself as God. The experience of oneself as God is the Goal. There is no goal beyond this Goal. This union is the final stage that Upasani Maharaj is speaking about.

 

Upasani Maharaj then goes on to explain, “Thus there are three pairs of opposites; one, a man and a woman; two, man and God; three, within and without the world. Once the union of the first is effected, union of the other two become automatic in the course of time. When within and without the world the world are harmonized—united—then one is able to see the world anywhere, even in ‘(the) beyond the world (state)’ or ‘‘(the) beyond the world everywhere in the world (state).’”[2]

 

In other words, one is able to see everywhere and everything without any distinction between within and without, because if the external ceases to exist, then it follows the internal ceases to exist as well. One can only imagine what this state would be like, or as Kabir once said, “Until you experience it, it is not true.”

 

Upasani Maharaj once recounted the occasion when he woke up in Sai Baba’s body. (Sai Baba was the Perfect Master who precipitated Upasani Maharaj’s God Realization). He said that Sai Baba simultaneously woke up in his body. This was significant because Sai Baba had Muslim followers while Upasani Maharaj had Hindu followers. So, the Muslim followers actually were bowing down to a Hindu Master in their Master’s body while Upasani’s followers were actually bowing down to Sai Baba in his body. He went on to say that all this might seem quite strange because we are so attached and identified with gross forms, but, in fact, if we could see beyond the gross, we would observe how consciousness is constantly migrating among different gross forms in its journey to Realization.

 

“When you’ve seen beyond yourself then you may find,

Peace of mind is waiting there,

And the time will come when you see we're all one,

And life flows on within you and without you.” – George Harrison (Within You, Without You)

 

“In short, when two opposites are harmonized into one, one first experiences himself to be within and without the world, that he is born of the Infinite, and then, as everything disappears, he experiences himself to be nothing. This means that originally one was not conscious of one’s own existence, and then, having gone through these stages, he becomes conscious of it all. This peculiar cycle of experiences goes on coming into existence and disappearing.”- Upasani Maharaj

 

So, it all comes back to the three states of God, i.e., God in the state of deep sleep, God asleep, but in the dream state, and God in the fully awake state. Just as the average human experiences the cycle of deep sleep, dreams, awake state, dream, and deep sleep, etc., and just as the average human being must pass through the dream state from the deep sleep state to the awake state, and vice-versa, God too, must pass through the dream state on His journey from His deep sleep state to His fully awake I am God state. The dream state of God is what the average human being experiences as the ’awake state’ in creation.

 

This dream state of creation is diametrically opposed to the Unitarian state of God, and hence, is characterized by duality—opposites. When these opposites are harmonized—unified— within an individual consciousness, duality disappears and all of creation ceases to be for that consciousness, and what remains is God, the same original God that was before creation, but with one difference—the most important difference—In the original God state consciousness was only latent, while in the God state after creation, full, perfect consciousness is now manifested, i.e., God is now conscious of being God, “I am God!” Creation consciousness was the mechanism by which this consciousness was manifested and perfected. This was, is, and will be, the only real purpose of creation.

 

But how to emancipate oneself from all dualities—from creation consciousness? As G.I. Gurdjieff once put it, “It is like trying to jump over one’s own knees.” The harder one tries, the more enmeshed one becomes. But God is all merciful and eternally benevolent, He would not leave us without a way.  All religions, all the yogas, and all real spiritual teaching, have been provided to help us, but the most efficient and quickest path of all, is the Path of Love—love for God. But how to love God?

 

God in the Original Infinite God State is called impersonal God, “…without color, without form, and without attributes; unlimited and unfathomable, beyond imagination and conception...” – Meher Baba (Parvardigar Prayer)

 

But for most people, love of this impersonal God is very difficult because it is, well, impersonal, and so God also manifests as personal God in the human form of a Perfect Master or the Avatar, and through that form loves us, speaks with us, jokes with us, and becomes the Perfect recipient worthy of our love for Him.

For love, there must be a relationship, and so to love God in the most natural way, one must put oneself in a relationship with a personification of God, and the best way to do this is by winning the opportunity to be in the presence of and to serve a living Perfect Master or the Avatar. To win this fortune can take many lifetimes, or it could happen in a flash. But, in either case, God in the form of Infinite Intelligence is always working behind the scenes, directing the drama and guiding each and every step of the Way. All religions and teachings, with all their efforts and sacrifices and studies, in fact, all of life itself, are merely steps that lead to His door.

 

It really is quite a drama we are all caught up in. It is sometimes a comedy, sometimes a tragedy, sometimes heaven and sometimes hell, but in the end, Meher Baba has told us, it is always a mighty joke, because it is a drama that never was, is, or will be. It is a drama that took no time at all because time itself was just part of the drama—the illusion. But, until we reach the Goal, it is a drama that is for us, for the most part, totally incomprehensible.

 

Therefore, until then, until the end, we go on living our lives and experiencing the drama and not the Reality and acquiring more and more thirst for that Reality. This is perhaps the meaning of Rumi’s statement, “Cry out less for water, and cry out for thirst more!” For in the beginning, when life turns to God, it is always to make life better, to satisfy its desires, to quench it thirst, but for the one who has turned away from life’s hollow promises, but is not yet free of life’s clenches, the wayfarer—the seeker—the lover of God—realizes that the thirst itself is the reminder and the motivation to love God more and more, and so cries out less for water, and cry out for thirst more.

 

At this stage, the wayfarer—the seeker—the lover of God—still thirsts, but not for water, but for Wine, Divine Wine, and begins to sing a new song.

 

“For this Path of Love, so smooth at first account, but soon we saw how troubles pile, perplexities mount. Cupbearer ho, we pray relieve our soul, give us Wine for pity’s sake, pass round that bowl!” – Hafez

                                                                                                                                 ©Michael Kovitz 2023

 

 

 

 

---

[1] For the full explanation and elucidation of the three worlds, please see the book, God Speaks, by Meher Baba

[2] I added this parenthesis as an attempt to make clear this sentence in the translation. Still, there remain more questions regarding the significance of these state…

Lord Buddha's Explanation of the Universe

 

“Grandfather, I have heard it said that the universe and all of its paraphernalia is nothing—is an illusion.”

 

“That is what is said my dear, “A thousand times I have looked and a thousand times I have ascertained that the universe and all its affairs are truly nothing into nothing.” – Hafez

 

“And is it not also true that this illusion is a projection of the mind—that I create my universe and my reality?”

 

“Yes, my dear, that is true. Your mind projects your universe and its reality.”

 

“And so do you project your universe and its reality?”

 

“Of course.”

 

“As well as everyone else is creating his or her own universe and reality?”

 

“Not only everyone else, everything else as well.”

 

“Like animals and birds?”

 

“Yes my dear, and stones and bugs.”

 

“Then let me ask you this dear grandfather—do you see that olive tree over there in the garden?”

 

“Yes, I do.”

 

“And it is an olive tree?”

 

“Yes it is.”

 

“And grandfather, if you were to accurately count all the olives on that tree and write down the number, and then I did the same, would we both agree on the same number of olives?”

 

“Yes, if we both counted accurately.”

 

“And yet grandfather, you say that the olive tree I see is an illusion that I create in my mind.”

 

“Yes.”

 

“And that the olive tree you see is an illusion of your mind.”

 

“Yes.”

 

Well, grandfather, that is my question. How is it that we both agree on the olive tree being in the garden and, were we both to count the olives, we would both come up with the same number of olives? Why is your illusion and my illusion the same?”

 

“Yes my dear, it is a good question and, it so happens, someone will be visiting us this afternoon who is an expert on such questions.”

 

“An expert—who is coming?”

 

“My dear, do you remember our friend Lama Nayaka?”

 

“The Lama with the beautiful voice—I remember him well.”

 

“So let us hold your question for him, I am sure he will be able to answer it for you better than I can.”

 

“The mind is everything. What you think, you become.” – Buddha

 

“Grandfather, why does Lama Nayaka know so much about the universe—and the mind?”

 

“Lama Nayaka is an advanced soul whose path for so many incarnations has followed the Way established by the Buddha thousands of years ago—and the Buddha was a great scientist of the mind. His time was many thousands of years ago and, therefore, both facts and myths are woven into the story of His life and teachings.  But, as we know it today, we are told that the Buddha was born into a very wealthy and accomplished family and that his parents did not want their son to see anything of the suffering and pain and death of ordinary life and so his life was guarded from seeing anything of the suffering, death, and unhappiness of life.

 

“But the Buddha was an incarnation of God—He was the Messiah—and therefore His destiny could not be thwarted—His time of unveiling—His advent.  And so it happened that one day the Buddha saw the body of a dead person and it  shocked him profoundly, for not only had he never seen death, he had never even heard of the idea of death.

 

“Grandfather, I see Lama Nayaka at the gate.”

 

“Let us go to greet him, and then, please go and prepare tea for our guest and then we will all sit and talk in the garden.”

 

“Granddaughter, please repeat your question to Lama Nayaka.”

 

“Lama Nayaka, I asked grandfather, if the truth is that grandfather and I create our own universe, and that universe is an illusion of our minds, then why is it that we both agree that there is an olive tree in the garden, and were we to each accurately count all the olives on the tree, we would agree on the number?”

 

“My dear, think about a vast ocean. Is the ocean one?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Are there drops in the ocean?”

 

“There are drops of the ocean.”

 

“You are very clever. Yes, the ocean is undifferentiated in its wholeness, but in its separation from itself it becomes drops. Now consider, mind is the ocean and that ocean is infinite, so how can any part of the ocean be separated from the ocean?”

 

“That would be impossible.”

 

“Yes, it would be. Since the ocean is infinite, no part of the ocean can be separated from it. But, if any part of the ocean were to experience itself as separate from the ocean would that not be a delusion?”

 

“Yes, Lama Nayaka, I would have to agree with that.”

 

“And so my dear, that is how it is, drops of deluded mind take themselves to be separate from the ocean of mind and in that state, conjointly create, maintain, and dissolve, the universe and all its affairs. The universe exists on the support of all minds and so all minds agree on the illusion they create. Your olive tree does not wholly and solely exist because you create it alone. The mind of the olive tree and all the minds of everything exiting in the garden, and your mind, and your grandfather’s mind, and my mind too, create and maintain the illusion of reality of the olive tree we see. And there is more also…”

 

“Lama Nayaka, what did you mean when you said that all minds agree on the illusions they create?”

 

“They agree, because, in reality, they are all the same one mind. The drops are never out of the ocean, they are the ocean, and as such, they share the consciousness of the ocean. What differentiates one drop from another are the impressions that color the consciousness of those iotas of ocean. Your grandfather once read me a quotation from Meher Baba, let me see; ‘All souls are one; there is no difference between souls; but there is a difference in the impressions of souls and there is a difference in the experience of souls.’ – God Speaks. I think that sums it up.

 

“Now, to go a little further, the ocean exists neither in time nor space—time and space are attributes of the illusory universe created by the iotas ocean that have acquired the false sense of separateness from the ocean. Therefore, iotas of the ocean, or if you prefer, drops of the ocean, or if you prefer, individual minds within the one mind, have no actual physical relationship to each other, because the attributes of time and space that would be necessary to establish physical proximity exists only in the minds of individualized iotas, or drops, or minds. Within the infinite ocean, proximity is established through the similarity or dissimilarity of impressions—what Grandfather calls sanskaras.”

 

And so Lama Nayaka, you are saying that the impressions of my mind, your mind, and grandfather’s mind, share enough similar impressions that we can agree on the olive tree and its qualities?”

 

“Yes that is true, but also, let us not forget that what we are calling the olive tree has its own impressions, the projection of which creates its own reality—much in the same way that the impressions of the individualized mind project the reality of each one of us. No doubt, the olive tree’s consciousness is something quite different than human consciousness, but because of the unity of mind itself, the consciousnesses of all minds are totally synchronized at all levels of manifestation.”

 

“Please explain.”

 

“What we are calling the olive tree is based on what we see—correct?”

 

“Yes, we can see it.”

 

“But is the olive tree something that we can also touch, smell, and taste?”

 

“That is so.”

 

“Seeing, tasting, smelling, and touching are how we perceive the universe we ourselves project. Why is that so? Because all the substances that make up the material universe are made up of four primary qualities that can be seen, tasted, smelled, and touched. These primary qualities, or primary elements, are earth, water, fire, and air—but please understand that what we perceive as earth, water, fire, and air, in the gross sense, are not the primary elements I am talking about.

 

“When we speak about projecting the universe, when we say that it just a dream, it should not be suggested that the reality of Self that only the Perfect Ones experience and the illusion of self that the unenlightened experience have no intermediate, or if you prefer, no levels in-between. On the contrary, Illusion—the universe—is like a series of turning wheels, interconnected—when one moves, all moves, and movement begins with the movement of the mind as it ticks away at a rate of three trillion beats per second. 

 

“The movement of mind projects certain qualities, or elements, that then, on their own, create and project further qualities, or elements, that form the illusory stuff of the material universe. Take for example what we call substances. There can be found an almost unlimited number of substances that make up the material universe. What is a substance? Consider your olive tree. Some of the many substances that make up your olive tree are wood, the pit of the olive, the oil, pulp, and skin of the olive, etc. Now, when the Buddha examined various substances what did he find? He found that they were composed of all four of the primary elements—earth, water, fire, and, air.

 

“What accounts for the differences among substances is the proportion of these four elements that they are made up of. For example, the pit and the wood of the tree have less of the water element than do the pulp of the olive and the oil of the olive. The Buddha found that all substances must have all four of the elements, but one of the elements is always in the ratio of one. For example a substance may be made of four units of the earth element, three of the water element, two of the fire element, and only one the air element. The emanations of these various elements are perceived by our senses that perceive the emanations we call scent, taste, sensation, and sound.” 

 

“Lama Nayaka, can you say more about the mind? Where is it? What is it made of?”

 

“There is nothing material at all in the make-up of the mind, for it the mind that creates the illusion of the material. Likewise, the mind has no location, because time and space are the creations of the mind also. Now consider; mind could not exist without intelligence. What is the nature of intelligence, it is to know. How does intelligence know? It thinks. In order for intelligence to think it creates the mind. It is the mind that thinks—more precisely, it is intelligence that thinks through the mind.”

 

“And Lama Nayaka, what does the intelligence want to know?”

 

“Ultimately, it wants to know itself. Do you want to know yourself?”

 

“I think I do.”

 

“And do you ever look into the mirror?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“And do you see yourself?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Do you see yourself, or do you see your reflection?”

 

“I see my reflection.”

 

“But your reflection is not yourself.”

 

“That is true; I see my reflection, not myself.”

 

“But I can see you.”

 

“Yes, and I can see you.”

 

“Yes, and I cannot see myself, only my reflection. And, let it be said, that we are talking only about the appearance of ourselves, not what is under the appearance.”

 

“Yes, Lama Nayaka, that is true.”

 

“So intelligence, through mind, thinks and creates the mirror of the universe, the mirror of other, to see itself in, and ultimately know, itself through. What we are talking about in all this is the nature of what intelligence sees in the mirror; but remember, what it sees is only a reflection and reflection is not reality.”

 

“And so, Lama Nayaka, is the mind illusion or reality?”

 

“My dear, the mind is both reality and illusion, and as such it is neither.”

 

“That is incredible; what can be neither reality nor illusion?”

 

“That which is beyond both—that which is unspeakable, unknowable, beyond all thought, all imagination, all conception, all duality…  But, my child, in the illusion created by mind, there is birth, life, and death, and because sentient beings experience those currents, be they illusory or not, for them this is their reality and therefore they suffer, and therefore, how can our response be anything other than compassion?”

 

“Lama Nayaka, I fear that my question regarding the nature of the mind has distracted us from   our discussion of the olive tree and your explanation of the universe.”

 

“Child, there is no distraction; neither the mind nor the universe can be adequately understood without a thorough investigation of both, because the universe is a projection of the mind and the mind sees its reflection in the universe.”

 

“Thank you Lama Nayaka, will you be so kind as to tell grandfather and me how it is that you have come to this explanation of the mind and the universe, and also, if your explanation is based on your own experiences.”

 

“Child, I am neither an Arahant—one who has achieved a state that is free of passion, ill-will, and delusion—nor have I attained the state of love and devotion that characterized Buddha’s closest and dearest disciple Ananda. The explanation, therefore, that I give you is not my explanation, but the Buddha’s.

 

“As you know, we use the term Buddha to represent what others call the Christ, or the Avatar. Gotama is the name of the one who embodied the Buddha state, as Jesus embodied the Christ state, and as Meher Baba embodied the state of Avatar. Gotama Buddha was a historic personage. He died approximately 544 BC. One of the traits we know of his was that he was very inquisitive and honored that trait in others. So, when he was asked for an explanation of the universe, he convened a meeting—what would you call it grandfather?”

 

“A sahavas.”

 

“Yes, a sahavas—Gotama Buddha convened a sahavas that lasted one month. During that time he discoursed in great detail regarding the nature of the universe and the mind. Of course the Arahants attended, as did Ananda, and all of them had the capacity to remember, word for word, each and every discourse of the Buddha.”

 

“Word for word!”

 

“Yes child, word for word, for when the state of Arahant is achieved, no thoughts are generated by the mind. In that state, the mind is pristine and clear and capable of absorbing all and everything that it decides to absorb. And in the case of Ananda, though he had not yet achieved the state of perfection, he had achieved the state of absolute effacement in the love of his Lord Gotama and, therefore, was also capable of absorbing, word for word, all of the utterances of his Lord Gotama.

 

“Within fifty years of Gotama’s death a council was convened to settle certain questions that had arisen since His passing. Ananda was invited and on that very eve achieved the state of Arahant. Repeating the Buddha’s discourse word for word, the matter was soon settled. After that, on various occasions and for various reasons, five other councils were held and the words of the Buddha were repeated and checked by lamas and monks who had devoted their lives to remembering, word for word, the explanations of Gotama Buddha. As I said before, I am neither an Arahant, nor have I acquired the state of Ananda, but I have had the good fortune to be able to study the teachings which have had the beneficent effect of settling the convulsions of my mind and allowing me to lead a happy life.”

 

“Lama Nayaka, please share with us more of the Buddha’s explanation regarding the nature of the mind and the universe.”

 

“The Buddha taught that there are three currents that flow through the projected qualities we call earth, water, fire, and air.  These three currents are called birth, life, and death. The average person regards these three current as events, but the Buddha taught us that these currents exist in all expressions of the universe and at all levels of the mind’s projection of the universe. When a substance is created by the linking together of the four projected qualities, the three currents of birth, life, and death manifest through and transform the projected qualities.

 

“For example, the substance that makes up the pit of the olives on your tree has its birth in the joining together of certain proportions of the four qualities of earth, water, fire, and air. When these qualities are brought together and bound in close proximity a substance is formed—we call this this the birth of that substance. Once born, the birth current rests while the life current becomes active. The life current was there at the birth of the substance, as was the current of death there also, but these currents were inactive. With the activity of the life current—the sustaining current—the birth current rests and the pit of the olive exists. How long does it exist for? It exists until the life current becomes exhausted—and this is due to the exhausting of the impressions of that particular olive pit. Working in complete harmony with the waning of the life current—due to the exhausting of the impressions of the olive pit—the death current becomes more and more active at the levels of atoms, elements, substances, and form, until it overwhelms the life current and unravels  the bond of the four qualities that make-up the substance.”

 

“Lama Nayaka, I find it interesting that the more details you share about the universe and all and everything within it,  the more real the universe begins to appear, yet, we began with the assertion that the universe and all and everything within it does not exist—that it is an illusion—a dream.”

 

“Though, if you think about it deeply, the explanations of the Buddha don’t make the universe more real, it just makes the universe and its workings more logical. Think of a movie theater—we watch the images on a screen and are moved by what we see. The movie is just a movie, the characters are only actors, and even the actors we see are only projections on a screen—they are not real. On the screen they could measure ten feet tall. It is all an illusion, but for that illusion to occur there needs to be so many things, like a film that captured the actors and their actions, a projector to project the images on to the screen, and the screen. The difference between the movie theater and the universe is that with regard to the universe, the film, the actors, the screen, and the projector, do not exist, except as thoughts and feelings within our own minds. The movie of the universe is simultaneously created, projected, and viewed by our minds—while, in reality, none of it, including what we take ourselves to be as the viewer, exists at all.”

 

“And the fact that we cannot change the movie at will is because…?”

 

“Yes, it is because once the mind puts it all in motion, its very existence is determined by the various laws that the mind creates to project and experience its own illusion, or, if you will, its own dream of itself.”

 

“Lama Nayaka, I have been enjoying this exchange between my granddaughter and you—there is such clarity and precision in the Buddha’s explanations. If it pleases you, there is one question I have regarding the explanations…”

 

“Yes, of course, my dear friend, what is your question?”

 

“My question refers to love. What is love, and where does love fit into the system as communicated by the Buddha?”

 

“Yes, my friend, that is indeed a good question and takes us even deeper into the Buddha’s explanation. What we are calling love is like a jewel with many facets—the facets are many, yet the jewel is one. We tend to think that there are two forces, one of attraction and one of repulsion, but, in fact, both attraction and repulsion are different sides of the same force. This force operates within all the various levels of creation, from the atom, to the solar system, from stone, to animal, to man. If we were to choose to, we could, as well, call love gravity. Gravity is the force that attracts one thing to another.

 

“We tend to regard gravity as a one-way street, but, in fact, everything attracts everything. Not only does the sun attract the planet, but the planet also attracts the sun. This mutual attraction can be called love. But what happens when this love is fully consummated? Once the sun and the planet unite—fully unite—the force of attraction is lost, because the two have now become one.

 

“Inherent in the force of attraction is the force of repulsion. In our example, the force of repulsion could be called centrifugal force. Centrifugal force pushes the planet away from the sun. Now if the two forces are in balance, the planet continues to orbit the sun, or if you prefer the words of your favorite poet Rumi, the moth continues to circle the flame. What is important to remember is that both the force of attraction and the force of repulsion are facets of the same love. Why does love want to repulse? Because love disappears after consummation.”

 

“Rumi said, “burn in that flame, is not the candle He?”

 

“Exactly.”

 

“Now it should be understood, that this force we are calling love is a quality that the Buddha called space. Space is always connected to the four projected qualities of earth, water, fire, and air. Remember that substances are formed when these four qualities are united in various proportions. Space is the medium that connects the qualities. What are the two aspects of space? – attraction and repulsion. So the qualities become attracted to each other—three of them beginning to orbit the fourth—the one with the greatest concentration—while the force of repulsion keeps the force of attraction at bay, thus maintaining the inherent identity of each of the qualities. Without the action of repulsion, the four qualities would totally unite and lose their individual attributes.

 

“So, this space—this love—is everywhere and in everything. It is what we call gravity, it is what we call magnetism, and in human beings, it is what we call love. The Buddha observed that in animate creation—expressed more and more fully in ascending order from insects, to animals, and eventually to man—that four characteristics are shared by all; eating, keeping from being eaten, sleeping, and procreating.

 

“These four activities involve the physical body and the mind. All four of these activities make use of the senses and all the senses work through their respective organs of perception—the eyes, the nose, the mouth, the skin, and the mind which includes both domains of thought and feeling.

 

“In other words, the Buddha, out of compassion for all creation, but most especially human beings who have the capacity to ask the questions why, and how, and what,—in other words to self-reflect—shared His infinite knowledge with regard to the questions that He knew human beings would ask.

 

“The Buddha asked and answered these questions thousands of years ago, yet man continues to ask these same questions in numerous, almost unlimited, ways, “Who am I? Where am I? Who are you? Who is God? Where is God? What is life? What is death? What is the cause of suffering?” — questions add-infinitum.  Why does man continue to ask? What is that saying you love to quote about experiencing?”

 

“By the Perfect Master Kabir?”

 

“Yes my dear friend.”

 

“Until you experience it, it is not true.”

 

“Yes, that is it, man’s sojourn of experience leads through questions. Questions have the energy, answers kill questions and that is why the Buddha said that it is up to every man to work out the way to his own salvation.”

 

                                        ……………………………………………………………………………………..

 

“From the knowledge of the Buddha, men have learned that the universe is on vast and infinite self-winding mechanism. The mechanism is like a giant system of wheels and there are wheels in it both giant and minute and in each of these wheels there rotate an infinity of smaller and smaller wheels…

 

“What is true of the universe as a whole is also true of all beings and man…

 

“…the most powerful of all the wheels of the universe are wheels of the individual mind…

 

“…no phenomenon of the universe is permanent…

 

“Man’s life in the universe is a myth; it is a mirage; it is a dream…

 

“In the universe, everything is suffering…

 

“To the Buddha, life ultimately culminates in universal love, and it is because truth and love are meant to be experienced that the mind and the universe came into being…”

 

                                          ---------------------------------------------------------

 

All of the explanations and teachings regarding the nature of the universe as expressed in this blog by Lama Nayaka have been culled from a book called Lord Buddha’s Explanation of the Universe translated from the Pali into English by C.P.Ranasinghe 1957 and then edited in 2004 by Lawrence Reiter. (Available at; http://www.meherbababooks.com/products/religion-spirituality/lord-buddhas-explanation-of-the-universe and at the Open Library https://openlibrary.org/books/OL3434798M/Lord_Buddha%27s_explanation_of_the_universe Additionally, and for perspective, see http://palicanon.org/ )

The final quotes in the blog, in italics, are taken word for word from the Lawrence Reiter edition.

 

                                                                                                   © Copyright, Michael Kovitz, 2013