A TALK GIVEN BY SANKARA SARANAM

November 25, 03

 

“GOD WITHOUT RELIGION”

 

http://www.pranayama.org

 

 

Sankara Saranam was a monk of the Self-Realization Fellowship Order of Kriya Yogis, founded by the Yoga Master Paramahansa Yogananda. He wrote the book Yoga and Judaism showing that the Hebrew prophets practiced mystical techniques similar to those of the ancient Indian yogis. He received his degrees in Eastern and Western religion, Hebrew, Sanskrit, and ancient texts from Columbia University and St. John's college, writing his thesis on pranayama. Six years ago he founded The Pranayama Institute, a nonprofit public charity that globally disseminates the techniques of pranayama for free. In a few months he will begin to promote his latest book God Without Religion.

 

Ø        When the Babylonians conquered Hebrews, they decided that there was one god and they were the chosen of god and the Babylonians were the tools of their god.

Ø        People are killing and creating exclusive faiths because of monotheism.

Ø        Authority of the bible

Ø        Jesus is god according to interpretations of the bible, but it is us that gives authority to the bible and we that interpret it

Ø        A realized god; enlightened

Ø        Jesus is naught but a useful image of god used to secure the concentration of the worshiper.

 

 

Question:        Christianity is not just focusing on god, but what Jesus teaches us (e.g. love thy neighbor).

Answer:           The golden rule was first pronounced in the West by a Greek philosopher. Further, similar virtues can be projected on other objects.  There is no such thing as organized religion.  They are all constructs that we have created.  "There is you and what you do.  You and what you think."

 

Question:        Why do they believe in the Bible?  The prophecies in the bible have come true.

Answer:           One can interpret prophetic trends any way one wants to.  They have “come true” because we have made them appear like they are true.  What does prophetic trends prove?  When you translate something, like the Bible was translated, you are interpreting or implying meaning.

 

Question:        Do you believe in asceticism and mysticism?

Answer:           Pseudo-mysticism is ecstatic experiences like herbs, celibacy, dances, fasting, and meditation.  They provide a cathartic experience, but contain no power.

 

Pranayama is the cornerstone of spiritual life.  It is the ideal focus of concentration and energy.  It is realizing infinite knowledge.

 

Question:        Is the knowledge of pranayama something we are born with?

Answer:           Yes, laughing is an example of that knowledge.  Is it how we rid our system of carbon dioxide.  Yawning is how we stretch our throat and tense the medulla oblongata.

 

Question:        What do you mean by power?

Answer:           When we have knowledge of electromagnetic forces, the ability to apply that knowledge comes about. When we gain a non-finite knowledge through intuitive perception, especially the knowledge of the expansive sense of self, again the result is power. If it is not, then we can be sure that the infinite knowledge is lacking. This is the plight of most mystical traditions.

 

Question:        What miracles have you seen?

Answer:           There are no miracles, which presuppose a break in the laws of nature.  There are our interpretations of these events and our labeling them miracles.

 

Question:        What does pranayama offer?

Answer:           The virtue of seeking truth. It is a method to retire within and transcend the conditioned knowledge of the senses.

 

Question:        Who created the earth?

Answer:           Physics provides answers to this question. At the same time, when we intuit more subtle substances of existence, we may theorize that the earth was never created, per se, but that this world is infinite but the narrow band of the senses register a finite existence that presupposes ideas such as creation, preservation, and destruction.

 

 

What is Mysticism and Meditation?

A Talk Given By Sankara Saranam in the Spring of 2002

 

Sankara Saranam, founder of The Pranayama Institute, is a foremost expert in the practice and theory of pranayama. He is a disciple of Paramahansa Yogananda and was initiated in the advanced techniques of Raja Yoga Pranayama as a monastic in the Self-Realization Fellowship Order of Kriya Yogis. After having mastered the fourth (Kevala) stage in the control of prana, he founded the Institute along his ideal of making pranayama techniques available worldwide at no direct cost to students. He has devised many techniques of pranayama and various systems of practice designed to aid individuals of differing lifestyles and vocations.

S. Saranam traveled extensively in Israel and India, writing the book, Yoga and Judaism (Astrologue, 1997), showing that the Hebrew Prophets were practitioners of the various systems of pranayama. He graduated from Columbia University magna cum laude, writing his thesis as a student of religion on pranayama. He has a Masters degree in Eastern texts and Sanskrit from St. John's College. S. Saranam is also a poet, composer, and classical guitarist. He resides in New Mexico.

 

Notes from Sankara’s Talk:

I’m going to get into mysticism, of which the fundamental practice is meditation.  The practice is called Pranayama.  Prana means energy and yama means control. Pranayama is sitting and regulating breathing, praying, even reading.  The most practical Yogi Sutras translated into Arabic; the Sufis used pranayana, the Hebrew prophets practiced Pranayama.  Buddhists have used Pranayama.  Some accounts claimed Jesus used Pranayama.  Energy comes into the medula medaga, which is at the neck base, and into the soul and the senses.  Meditation is about bringing the energy in and up.  What happens when you can control energy?  You can stop the heart or put it into suspended animation. 

 

There is a quote by a French priest named Charles Peguy that reads, “Everything begins in mysticism and ends in politics.”  Its about a priest that is sick of politics. 

 

An individual, let’s say Moses, Buddha, Mohammed, Krishna …he is practicing Pranayama--going in and up the state of consciousness-- the senses withdraw.  It is a blissful, divine state--an expansion of consciousness.  There is joy, revelation.  For example, Christ in the desert, Moses on Mt Sinai. Around this individual is formed belief systems, dogma , arguments, books, battles.  You start with a central theme and then you end up in politics.  They form around mysticism.  But what does it mean? There is no subject/object dualism, no polarity. It is knowledge gleaned without use of the senses.  But after a generation or two, it degenerates into political dogmatic themes. 

 

I want to go in to an actual practice: lets sit up straight.   In church there is liturgy, there is prayer.  There is Pranayama in a church setting in the liturgy.  Now, touch the palms together:  in doing this, the attention goes to the heart, its not in the mind but at the heart.  Now close the eyes.  You already started Pranayama.  Spirit means inspiration, breathing (Pranayama) there is a moment of stillness.  That stillness is what all religious systems revolve around--that connection.  You can’t conceive of God when your mind is scattered.   Now, here’s a point.  Close your eyes, and  touch the palms, breathe like a dog, quick and short, then say mentally “ my name is _____.”    Now do the same but with slow, deliberate breathing and say the same thing.  This time you can concentrate--because breathing is related to the working of the mind. 

 

Now pull tongue back, the muscles around medulla oblongata tense up--that pulls the energy up, and the breathing slows down.  Then you lift the gaze. 

 

 

Question and Answer:

 

Have you ever projected yourself through remote viewing, or gone anywhere in meditation?

 

If your energy is in your fist, that’s where your mind goes.  Its not superconsciousness;  I don’t what to talk about it that much because the new age religions are really into the superphenomenal.  Magnification of the senses is not a goal.  It is magnification of consciousness. You can project yourself 50 years and still be an asshole. 

 

 

I’ve heard of negative energy.  Can you convert that energy like when you are sad?

 

Energy is not positive or negative.  It's not sexual.  It doesn’t’ have a name tag. Like a light travels through blue straw it is still light.  But it depends where the energy is.  Like pure sound.  Some yoga texts say that the external world doesn’t exist, that the mind and sense objects are so connected you can’t have one without the other.  We think sound enters into the mind and I react.  But you can also look at our body’s vibrations.  The nervous system is like trees.  Every culture has the idea of coiled energy.  That’s where the healing comes in.  Anybody who has still meditation is not doing it very hard.  When it is a pure sound, that is what purifies.  Pure sound that dissolves the mind once you still the heartbeat and nervous system.  The sound of my voice is ugly compared to the sound of a heartbeat.  But the heartbeat’s sounds are gross compared to the spine. 

 

 

Have you ever heard of a photon belt where there’s an energy source in space, like a pocket of energy.  It’s metaphysics, and this energy is supposed to affect human behavior.

 

For most people it takes a year for energy to circulate: no limit to expansion of consciousness.  Like the trees of the Garden of Eden.  Man is a tree of the field.  These inner-planetary systems affect us.  Just like stars, the moon, magnetic fields affect us, but if you have mastery of your internal solar system, you are less affected by the outer solar system.  Seeking harmony with self is seeking harmony with everything.  You are the energy.  You think you are the body because the energy is flying out the senses. There is an infinite reservoir of energy going into plants, animals.

 

 

Do you practice religion, or is mysticism religion? 

 

I was born from Hebrew parents, but I don't practice organized religion.  Their Pranayama is weak.  All of the greats of the religions, so I practice the actual method of going in.  If you pull the energy in, you are a mystic.   I’m against organized religions, which have doctrinal differences, etc. 

 

 

What is your view of other meditation methods?  I’ve heard of stuff where you go on a journey . . .

 

Some churches use chanting, prayer, holy rolling; other religions use mantras, etc.  They are all strong or weak forms of Pranayama.  When the mind is active, you can’t enter into a higher state.  The method is dependent on personal capacity.  I don’t knock those methods.  They are better than doing nothing.