In this class, we generally focus on meditation itself, on the psychology of meditation, and we often limit ourselves to that. We don’t usually talk about the greater context of our spiritual development. That is something I usually leave to the other classes. We have a number of classes every week. Some are focused more on our understanding of the unconscious mind and the ego structure, and the ways of transforming it; and in some classes, we focus more on what is beyond the ego, the higher assemblage points and the higher chakras. But now let us focus on how the ego is purified, and how meditation fits into that greater context, so that we can understand what we are doing and why we are doing it. Yes, meditation itself is a microcosm of all the steps of inner development; so, if we can understand the full spectrum, then our meditations will be much more powerful.

Step. 1 - Aspiration

There are ten steps of spiritual development that are important for yogis to grasp. The first one is aspiration. You can´t really begin to walk the spiritual path unless there is a true and deep aspiring to reach a state beyond the ego. You have to want to transcend the ego, there has to be a hunger, a compelling desire, one that is real for you, authentic, ongoing, and profound. And it cannot just be a wish to meditate for the wrong reasons, for superficial reasons that don’t have anything to do with going beyond the ego. If one is simply meditating because it is cool, or for stress reduction, or for other kinds of intra-egoic goals, to function better as an ego, rather than to reach God-consciousness, then you won’t go very far in the meditative process. You will stop before reaching the final Samadhi, the dissolution of the ego.

So, the aspiration has to be pure, powerful, consistent, and it has to be a yearning that comes from the depths of one´s heart, to be able to make a step like this, stepping beyond the ego, and attaining transformation of one’s life and being.

Step. 2 - Humility

The second step is humility. If one approaches this process with arrogance, if one engages in meditation by thinking, “Oh, I already know all that, I have read all the spiritual books, I am a master already,” then that will prevent you from learning new things, it will block your subtle apperception more than anything else. No one is a master in this field. All of us, when we medítate, must be in a state of surrender. The only true master is God. The Master is the Supreme Being Who is beyond any particular person. And no person, no one who can say “I” as an individual, is that One, because that One is beyond any sense of I-ness. That is why we talk about the “I am” as the gateway to meditation, but who we are meditating on is that Being who is the Ground of the I am, the source of the I am. Once the “I am” emerges, there is already an individualization, and we have lost the universal Source.

So one must go through and past the “I am.” To do that requires total humility of the “I”. It has to be a humility in relation to the Absolute, but also a humility in relation to the sangha, to the teacher and to all the other students, to not feel one is above others, or below others, for that matter. There must be reverence for the divine spark in each one, and appropriate respect for the position of each one in the community. But often there is not only a sometimes hidden superiority complex, but also, even if hidden, an inverse kind of arrogance that thinks, “Oh I am worse than anybody else.” Both of those will keep one in a conflictive state of comparing oneself to the other, rather than letting go of the whole duality of subject-object, and of oneself-versus-an-other ego. Only humility can get us out of this trap. Humility is a purification of the soul that enables us to find within ourselves our true strength and our true dedication.

Step. 3 - Mobilization

The third step is mobilization. We have to mobilize our energies. The ego wants to stay in what we call a tamasic state. In yoga psychology, we talk about the three primal qualities, or gunas: tamas, rajas, and sattva. Tamas is inertia, when we don’t want to move, we don’t want to study, we don’t want to work. We want to take the easy way out, the path of least resistance. And that tamasic state will be a major enemy.

We have to mobilize our energies to make our spiritual aspiration real. This can be done best by taking vows of discipleship, or even just a vow to get up and meditate regularly. If we take a vow, we are effectively declaring, “I am going to do this.” The vow connects you to your will power. Only a serious vow can get you out of bed sometimes. By remembering one’s vow, one will summon the will power to overcome maya. Then the inner effort converts into prana, life energy. The energy moves; it begins to go out into the world. And we realize, “I can do it.” The mind follows naturally the higher path, the habit is strengthened to medítate, to study, to grow, to process, to remember and interpret dreams, all the efforts that are involved in fulfilling your path. That mobilization of energies has to be there, and there has to be a dedication to maintaining that. Once we have gotten out of the tamasic state, we may find ourselves in the rajasic guna, that of becoming overly active, but if rajas is dedicated to serving sattva, then we will easily attain the sattva guna—the state in which there is crystal clarity.

Step. 4 - Practice

So the third step is the management of rajas, in other words, engaging in regular practice. You have to actually do the practice. If you don’t do the practice, then it is just theory and it will never get you anywhere. But the practice isn’t only sitting meditation. There are three basic practices that are the three yogas we call: gyana, karma, and raja yoga.

The raja yoga is meditation, but that has to be accompanied by karma yoga, which is yoga in action, mindfulness in our actions. Every one of our actions during the day must be done in a state of yoga—meaning, in remembrance of the Supreme Self. If we act in a contracted, egoic way all during the day, we are not going to let go when we sit down to meditate, and we will not have gained the capacity to surrender the mind into a state of divine love. Because we have been hating or angry or fearful, or caught in any of the other ego complexes, the whole day, it creates a physiological sanskara, a muscular pattern of contraction, and then you are stuck in that kind of a rigid pattern, and it is programmed in the muscles as well as in the mind. It has affected the cells and the organs of the body; they won’t let you release. So the karma yoga has to be done, as an egoless interaction with others, an ongoing action of goodness and help.

And the gyana yoga is also important. This is the study of metaphysics, phenomenology, noumenology. This is not just theoretical knowledge, but the constant refreshment of our intellect, to remember the greater context of our lives and our consciousness. It is this remembrance of God that enables us to reach the noumenon. You have to have an understanding, a conceptual, symbolic understanding of what lies beyond the symbolic, so that you can really go beyond the symbolic plane. But that too has to be practiced; there is a lot of deep study that has to be done to get there. There isn’t a quick fix. Even though, yes, this is a direct path, and in principle you can be enlightened instantly, but that instant happens after the preparation has ripened to the point where one is ready to transcend. And the practice of all three basic yogas is essential.

Step. 5 – Self-observation

There has to be an accurate self-observation and analysis, which means one has to develop the witness consciousness. One must become the witness of one’s own ego, rather than identified with it. And then one must develop the habit of observing it. You must catch the ego engaging in its petty games. Watch how it tries to manipulate you, how it works to deceive you into not knowing its agenda. Watch how your ego tries also to deceive others and play its strategies out, below the level of awareness. The more you observe, the more subtle your witnessing becomes, the more the unconscious becomes conscious, and then it can be purified.

Step. 6 – Wise discipline

Step number six is wise discipline, which leads to endurance on the spiritual path. Wise discipline means we have to have moderation. If we are too purist and say, “Okay, I am going to get up at 2am every morning and meditate,” the odds are that we are not going to be able to sustain that. We won’t get enough sleep, we will go into sleep deficit, and then we will conclude, “Ah, meditation is too hard,” and we will throw out the whole thing.

But on the other hand, if you don’t wake up till eight or ten in the morning, you are obviously not going to have time to do any meditation either, so one has to find the golden mean. But the discipline has to be very wisely adapted to reality, and your lifestyle has to be very accurately disciplined, so that you can stay in it for the long haul, and you can endure the trials that you will face on the spiritual path.

You must develop the power to endure hardships. You must develop the strength that will enable you to deal with the shocks that every ego is going to receive. Every being is going to be at some point insulted in some way in kali yuga. It is inaccurate for a yogi to be thin-skinned, or fragile. There are people who will join a spiritual community for superficial reasons, but then if one person says something they don’t like or they feel insulted, they leave, they are gone. They don’t have staying power because they have not developed the wise discipline of detached understanding. Therefore, they lack the compassion and the strength to withstand temporary adversities and keep going. The capacity for perseverance is very rare today. If we are to attain God realization, that has to be developed.

Step. 7 – Sacredness and Gratitude

The next step, number seven, is maintaining an attitude of sacredness and gratitude. A Sat Yogi realizes that life is sacred. Every moment is miraculous. Everything we do is part of the sacredness of life; nothing should be profane. Every moment and every action should be dedicated to the highest ideals and achievements, to the development of our Holy Presence, our spiritual intelligence. We are learning to make our life a work of art, of sacred art. Are you cognizant in each moment that you are striving to become an incarnation of the Divine Presence? Every thought, every word you speak, every act should be one of beauty, love, power, grace, and goodness. We have to gradually refine ourselves to achieve such perfection. The attitude of sacredness will enable us to achieve that. If that attitude isn’t there, then the appropriate actions will not be able to follow. And of course it is when we are in this consciousness of the sacred dimension of the Real that there is genuine gratitude. Gratitude opens the heart. When there is love for God, there is love for the world. In that state of gratitude, we become generous, and God’s generosity flows to us and within us as well.

Step. 8 – Egoless dispassion

Then, that attitude of gratitude will enable us to get to step eight, which is egoless dispassion. There are two kinds of dispassion: one is an indifference that is part of the ego. It is really a lack of interest in purification and surrender. Our goal is clearly not that. We must attain the dispassion of transcendence, which brings indifference to the lower pleasures of the ego; a complete disregard for objects that once would have produced lust or craving, or on the other hand, repulsion or hatred. We have done that, we have been there, and now we are through with it. In true dispassion, there are no longer temptations. We can appreciate beauty without being captured by it. We can understand ugliness without being judgmental. And we can become completely detached from those egoic bondages. The mind then dwells in the boundless Self, in a state of surrender. At this point, we are fully on the path to Liberation, without any deviations or resistances anymore. Egoless dispassion, or vairagya, is the sign that our journey to God has nearly reached completion.

Step. 9 - Sangha

And then, step number nine can be fulfilled in the accurate way. This step is very important. It is offering one’s life to the sangha, dedicating oneself to tending the holy sangha fire. This sacrificial fire, called the yagya, is fueled and sustained by the offering of the ego in service to God. That offering can inspire and transform the community. The sangha, the spiritual community, can only succeed in its mission if its members are willing to give their all. We have to be the ones who tend the fire of service; we have to be those who are keeping the flames billowing; we must be the ones throwing the wood and other offerings into the fire to make it burn more brightly. We cannot leave this task to others. We can’t just sit passively and be warmed by the fire. If your attitude is one of passivity toward the sangha, if you are thinking, “Okay, I will come to some classes and I will get something out of it, but I will not give much back to the sangha,” then this is inaccurate karma, and there will be guilt that builds up in the unconscious. We have to be responsible for the sangha, to make it grow, to keep it healthy, to contribute our goodness, our wisdom, our strength, our resources of all kinds, to offer whatever the sangha needs to flourish. The more you take care of the sangha, the more it will take care of you. Without a sacred community to support your growth, the spiritual path becomes very difficult. The more we help sustain the sangha, the more good karma we are doing. This service helps everyone who will eventually come and receive the benefit of the spiritual path. And they in turn will help you out when you need to receive help. So the commitment to being one of those generous servers who keep the sacred fire going, who never let it get extinguished, is an essential commitment. You are enabling a new world to be born.

Step. 10 – Swaha!

And that enables one to reach step ten, which is referred to as swaha! When you participate in tending the sacrificial fire, eventually you realize you must sacrifice everything into the flame, you cannot hold anything back. And so, swaha is attained when the final drop of your ego is thrown in the fire. Now it is done, your life is complete. Your entire ego has been given into the Fire of Transformation. There is nothing left. Now, there is supreme union, the moth has become one with the Flame. You realize you are the fire. You are not just tending the fire anymore, but you are the sacred fire, because you have dissolved your ego completely in the fire. And once you are the fire, then there is no question anymore of maya, there is no question of weakness, there is no question of “should I or shouldn’t I,” there is no confusion at all. Now, life is effortless, and one lives in a state of grace forever after. So that is how one reaches true mastery. It is through true surrender. That has always been the goal of every authentic spiritual tradition. And it works, it will get you there if you follow that formula and you are truly willing to make the final sacrifice of narcissism, to throw your ego into the flames, that is the shout of swaha! That is the lion’s roar! It is the killing off of the ego’s wanting to maintain a pseudo-autonomy, a sense of separation, and not to give itself, not to love, but to hold something back. Until you throw even the most subtle egoic withhold into the Flame, you will not belong to God. Whatever you hold back from the sangha, you hold back from God. And you hold yourself back from the bliss of the Heart, your innermost Being.

The horizontal and the vertical operate in synchrony—as above, so below. This has always been understood, in every sacred path. By following all these steps you attain the Supreme Liberation. You can offer the swaha, in meditation, every time you sit down. Just give your ego totally to God. Go through all these ten steps in each meditation, and the inner illumination of Spirit will glow. In fact, you will be on fire! If we sit in meditation with the willingness to offer oneself utterly to God, we will be on fire, literally on fire, with the subtle flame of God’s Presence. And others will feel the heat of this pure fire of love. You will melt in joy, in bliss. This is your true nature. This is fulfillment. But the ego dampens the fire; it puts it out. It says, “No, no, I don’t want to be that happy,” or “I don’t want to be that giving, I don’t want to be that loving.” The ego will try to convince you that you don’t deserve it, and that others don’t deserve it. But if you don’t let the fire go out, if you are always a soul on fire, at every moment, then your existence will be immediately transformed. People will wonder who is this luminous being, and they will come to you for help. And you will be able to give angelic help. And that is the fulfillment of our divine nature. But we have to have burned up the ego’s cravings, anxieties, guilt, selfishness, delusions and suffering, all of it. The whole ego must be burned up in the sacred fire.

This is nothing new. Sat yogis have been teaching this for thousands of years. This is the path that Buddha taught. This is the same understanding as in the ‘sermon on the mount’ that Christ taught. This is the ethic taught by Muhammad. And of course, Krishna, Mahavira, Dakshinamurti, Dattatreya, Shankara, Abhinavagupta, all the great teachers of India have taught this. This is not something I have invented. I am not imposing this on you. This is something we are simply realizing anew. You will find this knowledge in the most ancient traditions. But now we must bring it to life. We must truly live it. The great miracle is that those who are genuinely part of this sangha are already doing it.

It is with gratitude and humility that I honor such great souls, who inspire us to the final Swaha! May we all be guided from within to the ultimate fulfillment!

Namaste,

Shunyamurti