20th Century Psalms (May 2016)

From the out-of-print book, 20th Century Psalms, excerpted and reprinted with permission from Good Karma Publishing.

THE IMPERSONAL

~ The Great Mystery is in the Breath. What is the relationship between thought and breath, and also between light and sound?

~ Why is it that, when we hear a sudden sound while the eyes are closed, we see jagged light across our inner gaze? This phenomenon poses the question: what is this relationship between the senses?

~ With eyes closed, a sudden sound brings a bright visual image, so we can assume there is relationship between hearing and seeing – indeed, among all the senses.

~ Understanding of the vibration before sound is very useful. Constant mental repetition of a Mantra (Manasika Japa) sets up a vibration throughout the nervous system. I wonder if such a vibration can be set up in each cell of the body. Tantra (not “Tantric Buddhism”) implies that it can.

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~ If an artist merely follows trends and does not express himself, he is not an artist. There is an art to living, too.

~ The jazz musician, like the spiritual teacher, tries to express the inexpressible.

~ An artist must see things in his own way. If he reproduces exactly what he sees, he’s an illustrator.

~ Need for frequent diversion means we’re bored with ourselves. How few sit quietly, doing nothing!

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~ Many recognize the “good.” Few intuit the “wise.” The wise man accords with spiritual evolution.

~ Asking a wise man from India why those who meditate seem to develop a constant vibration in the right ear, I received the reply: “It means you have been chosen for introspection.”

~ Those who pretend to be channels for wise spirits, or to have and teach occult powers, are dealing with stronger forces than they know and are asking for big trouble.

~ “Joy” is usually in inverse ratio to the appetite for pleasure. “Joy” is in unity, pleasure needs diversity.

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~ Only in the “thoughtless state” is your inherited nature negated.

~ He who learns the secret of breath can come close to immortality. He who knows light and sound can live in solitude and never miss a thing.

~ If you could understand “sleep” and “breath,” all secrets would be revealed.

~ To name something is not to understand it.

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~ What we are dealing with is the Transformation of Energy. The Chinese speak of Ching Chi Shen — the Essence (Sperm), Energy, Spirit.

~ The Zen man identifies with all things and is not possessed by any.

~ If one can hear the sound from the hills, he will hear the echo on the wind. One moon shines on all waters; one silence pervades every sound.

~ The Indians speak of Vibration before Sound – this is the stuff of Creation. The great Ramana Maharshi spoke of Om Bhuh Bhuvah Svah as the sounds of creation. I don’t know.

THE PERSONAL

A wandering Holy Man [in India] who always chanted “RAM” (his name for God) stopped at the back of a temple to relieve himself, still chanting God’s name. The resident priest ran out to tell him to stop speaking God’s name while carrying on such an activity. “Oh, I’m sorry,” apologized the mendicant and stopped moving his lips. But immediately, every cell in his body chanted aloud: “RAM! RAM!” The awed priest then said: “Such rules are not for a man like you!”

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“I tell you, they are as good as men!” said my young host, Kaushik, when the monkeys tried to steal my hat and umbrella to imitate what they had seen me do with them. “Once there was a traveling salesman,” continued Kaushik, “who went from village to village selling hats. One very hot day he decided to have a nap under a tree. When he awoke he was horrified to see monkeys on the branches of nearby trees wearing his entire stock of hats. “I’m ruined!” he exclaimed, but then an idea came to him. Taking his own hat from his head, he threw it to the ground. Immediately the imitative monkeys did the same thing, and he was able to collect all his hats and march on to the next town.”

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Swami Krishnanand is one of the great Saints of modern India, a true Karma Yogi who realizes through deeds – the Yoga of Action. Swamiji was a well-known judge, I am told, until he gave up the law to join Gandhi and became a Sanyasi (complete renunciate). Swamiji, like all true Sanyasi, does not touch money.

“That’s all very well, Swamiji,” I remonstrated, “but suppose someone sends you a ticket to South America and you take it as the will of God. When you get there and no one meets the plane, what do you do?”

“I sit on the ground and chant thanks to God!” was the decisive answer.

“Suppose three days pass and you haven’t eaten, what then?” I persisted.

“I sit on the ground and chant thanks to God!” was the prompt reply.

I arrived in Baroda after a long, slow journey (including an extended stay in Japan) only to hear at Swami’s Vishva Jyoti (Universal Light) Ashram that I had missed Swami by a day. Reading in the paper that thousands of people in Kenya were starving, he took it as a command from God to go there and feed them, though he does not touch money. He did go there and fed thousands every day (he has a way of bullying rich Indians into donations). This is a man of steel with no doubts. How fortunate to meet such a one! In Africa Swamiji fed people and only offered scripture or Yoga when they requested them of him. His stories to me of the cruelties practised by the Belgians were bloodchilling.

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Years ago, on a visit to Los Angeles, I stayed at the Kipling Residence for the elderly because it was inexpensive and would furnish me my meals. I am an early riser, and on my first morning there, I was the first to enter the large dining room that seated about 150. As I sat at a table, looking at the menu, an elderly woman entered and stood beside me. “Won’t you join me for breakfast?” I asked pleasantly, pointing at the seat across from me.

“You’re sitting in my chair!” she replied.

Startled, I looked at the back of the chair to see if it had anyone’s name on it; it didn’t.

“Be my guest,” I replied, standing and walking to another table.

It was ironic that she was so bound that she could not eat anywhere else, particularly in light of the sign behind the desk in the lobby, which said: “Habit is the enemy of old age.”