This is pandemy, isn’t it? The Self has been protected by such mundane thoughts, experiencing consciousness in the realm of Pilot Baba and his phantasmagotic ashram.
All crumbling buildings, dozen of statues of Gods, Goddesses, rishis, symbols, mandalas and yantras, gardens, green grass fields where cows and babas dwell, dogs, monkeys, birds, snakes, innumerable insects, flies, parasites, spiders, lizards and, of course …
Ganga, here also called Baghirathi after one of the original saptarishis who yoga-ed with Adiyogi Shiva and meditated for 10.000 years up in Gaumoukh in order to convince Goddess Ganga Ji to descend from Shiv Lok unto prithvi lok, where mere ignorant mortals reside.
Prithvi is one of the panch bhutas, the five elements whose combination and recombination constitute all matter: earth prithvi, water jal, air vayu, fire agni and ether akash.
Incredible icy torrent rushing down from the Himalayas with unbelievable force, carrying blocks of ice, boulders of precious rocks and minerals, tree trunks. The word ‘incredible’ has not been used lightly, I have been here over a month and I still cannot quite believe the force and volume of this river. Where is it coming from, so much brilliantly clean, fresh water? Has it truly done this continuously for thousands of years? If you dip your hand in, it feels as if it’ll dismember and proceed south.
Oh, the sound it makes… 24/7 soundtrack. It’s loud, people must shout to one another, and they quickly learn to speak less.
Water is traditionally associated with the Mind. That is because it is flexible, powerful and has a natural tendency to flow downwards. The Mind is a lake and thought-forms, vrittis, are sensorial droppings that create circular vibrations in the Mind-stuff watery space.
Since water flows downwards, it is never symbolically linked to the notion of Divinity, unlike fire, which has a supernatural tendency to strive upwards, defying gravity and all. Thus, fire is often associated with the spirit.
The constant wash of sound first cleans the Mind of anger, frustration, impatience and restless thoughts. Then, the Mind learns how to focus. And it is as constant a sound as you’re ever likely to hear. There is nothing else that can be heard. All sounds converge into the symphony of Ganga.
The natural soundtrack is just one element of the myriad of larger-than-life details that make up this place. I pass a 15 metres tall statue of Shiva a few times daily, on my way to bhajan, or ‘ashram scheduled communal food’. The man cooking it is an emaciated Indian, circa 50 years old, native from a nearby canton. He speaks little English and it looks like he’s not much more fluent in any other Hindi or Garwhal dialect.
Compared to the previous ashram, social life is remarkably scarce here. Rare and precious occurrence, assisted solitude with the basic requirements met, it helps the Self gradually wean itself into ascetism. Social collisions, when they do happen, are naturally mystical and bombastic. In Uttarkashi I smoked chillums with a few different babas whom I followed down the road because they smelled fishy, ahem, grassy. Somehow, we meet eyes, all is understood. One was scarred all over his face and smelled of alcohol, we smoked by the burning ghat, two other homeless youths joined. My other smoking partner was a proper old Sannyasi who had a groovie kutia by the burning ghat, a SHIVA altar – he tells me he’s lived here for 25 years.
Anyway, in-house, the closest acquaintance is the kitchen man, followed closely by the two boys running the shops upstairs, the old man, the fruit seller and the prashad gentleindian in nearby Laata, walking distance. I walk barefoot because the shoes have disintegrated. There are silent relationships with a few choice-y locals, based on head and hand gestures. And of course there is Deepak and hiz entourage, my old time local friend, who sometimes shows up at the ashram on his Pulsar scooter.
I have performed no seva, a sudden bipolar shift from the ecstatic and exaggerated work I used to do in Vishwa Chetan Ashram. Diversity is the best teacher / student. Keep it loose and always change from one extreme to another, abruptly. Hehe.
Sadhguru likes to say like this : if you get bored when you are alone, then you know you are in bad company. The simplest life experiences are often, nay – always!, the most complex and revealing. Thus, spend 3 months without computer, Internet, society, movement, urban environments, money, alcohol and other drugs (chillums allowed, Aum Namah Shivaya), entertainment, hot water or at least running cold water, any other food but dahl, rice, chapati, sabdgee and the odd fruit and vegetables, which are Heaven when they come… I dare You, do it. It’s a magnificent Rebirth.
The Self is coming to light more and more each day. Experiences and knowledge are reorganising themselves, a lot is being forgotten. This is excellent, the most important feature of Memory is the capacity to forget and the discernment to know what to forget, what to remember. For more info on Memory, read ‘Moonwalking with Einstein’, I forgot the author (no pun intended). Really, good read.
Experiencing the Divine in every moment, I Am That, this is the meaning of Life. Not activity, not illusory purposes and goals, not society and one’s transitory and superficial role in it. This is what the Self is performing now, doing not doing. If you don’t get the reference, read Dao De Jing. Read it once a month, once a week – it’s the Meaning in 5.000 words. Dao and Shi-Va are the same thing – not. They are not. They are the Unmanifested Infinite, the Divine Potentiality. Om So Hum. Aham Brahmasmi, I am Brahm, Brahm is I. And since we are here, Inshallah the old favourite meaning ‘in God’s will’. It’s existential trust and acceptance – above, below and all around your ‘ideas’ is the Universe, or God, or Allah, and upon Its Will what happens, happens. This is faith, this is Sanathan Dharma. The Vedas meet Islam – Insh’Allaham Brahmasmi. With God’s will, I am God, God is I. Mark down this mantra.
Aum Namah Shivaya. Praising the name of that which is not, which is the Real Eternal. When all is stripped down, the very core of Being remains, which is a Full Power Void, as at the center of black holes and at the center of the very Big Atomic Bang (AUM).
Pilot Baba. During youth, he lived an alternative, wild baba life. Saddhu. Travelling covered in one cloth, around Kedarnath, envisioning the Self. He spent maybe 17 years in solitude? He uncovered the Self and Loved it. He experienced Samadhi and returned to society to spread the kriya science of Samadhi to disciples. This Samadhi business is union with the ultimate divine joy and love. He’s a big fan of Love, which is not what we usually refer to when we say ‘love’. Love is the underlying force of the universe, it’s an actual energy, it is metaphysical gravity pulling everything towards the Source, the Self.
Albert Einstein describes the force called Love in a letter to his daughter:
There is an extremely powerful force that, so far, science has not found a formal explanation to. It is a force that includes and governs all others, and is even behind any phenomenon operating in the universe and has not yet been identified by us. This universal force is LOVE.
When scientists looked for a unified theory of the universe they forgot the most powerful unseen force. Love is Light, that enlightens those who give and receive it. Love is gravity, because it makes some people feel attracted to others. Love is power, because it multiplies the best we have, and allows humanity not to be extinguished in their blind selfishness. Love unfolds and reveals. For love we live and die. Love is God and God is Love.
This force explains everything and gives meaning to life. This is the variable that we have ignored for too long, maybe because we are afraid of love because it is the only energy in the universe that man has not learned to drive at will.
………
After the failure of humanity in the use and control of the other forces of the universe that have turned against us, it is urgent that we nourish ourselves with another kind of energy…
If we want our species to survive, if we are to find meaning in life, if we want to save the world and every sentient being that inhabits it, love is the one and only answer.
Perhaps we are not yet ready to make a bomb of love, a device powerful enough to entirely destroy the hate, selfishness and greed that devastate the planet.
However, each individual carries within them a small but powerful generator of love whose energy is waiting to be released.
Back to Pilot Baba, he says Samadhi is the science of experiencing this Love – enlightening the tools of the Self, the senses, the mind, intellect and identity, citta, consciousness.
Moksha, Liberation from the Ignorance of Individuality (Death), the experience of the Self – this is different. This is realising Truth, and that’s all. The end is the beginning. The big Self does not experience Samadhi, is it not of this realm of experience. Untouched and Untouchable.
Pilot Baba’s main claims to fame are public displays of Samadhi, going under Ganga or underground for days, 11 and more, the Self suspended out of time and space, the body there for all to see. A miracle. And his many ashrams offering free and wild accommodation for all seekers. His writing is proper anarchy, he mocks organisations and particularly the Juna Akhada. You are not going to ‘find’ Shiva there, hahaha. He rants against rituals, rules and religious structures. The Self can only be reached by observing the Self, all else is distraction and mutation. Pilot Baba, Jai Ho!
Ps. Have you seen the partial solar eclipse? Was it at the beginning of June? The air darkens at midday. The Sun looks like a crescent behind the clouds that don’t hide Him at all. Some hours pass. Look at it without sunglasses or anything else. It’s good for you. It cleans the retina.
Inshallaham Brahmasmi
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