Yogi Laughs Heartily
Srila Yogeshwarananda burst out laughing and so did I when I told him about the glories of the first steps to higher yoga. He published a book with that title. The big secret about it is that the first steps to higher yoga are the very same steps which the student must complete daily before doing higher yoga. Srila Yogesh laughed because many ascetics do not understand this.
Some aspirants do no first steps like asana postures and breath-infusion practice. Others do that in the beginning and then quickly move into sensual energy withdrawal and meditation which are the four highest stages of yoga. They quickly gave up the first steps thinking that these are elementary.
Some years ago, Srila Yogeshwarananda ordered that I keep doing the first steps till the end of this body or at least until this body was incapable of doing them.
Just after Srila Yogesh laughed, I realized that my first yoga teacher, Arthur Beverford was present. He recently accepted Srila Yogesh as his teacher. Beverford was unable to find Rishi Singh Gherwal, his original yoga teacher, in the astral existence. Beverford told Srila Yogesh that I was not a good teacher because I am not that concerned about how my students progress. Beverford complained that I was not explaining enough about the breath infusion process; that I was not giving sufficient individual guidance. He is not the first person to make this accusation.
Even though Beverford was my first yoga teacher in this life, still he did not do much pranayama breath infusion. He never did kapalabhati and bhastrika rapid breathing. It is awkward teaching him this practice because if someone has a teacher profile, that person may be misfitted as a student of a person to whom he was a teacher previously. However before when Beverford used a physical form, he was of the opinion that my methods were over the top and were not properly adopted to the students.
Some students get the idea that I do not give a hoot about their progress. It may well be that they are correct because Srila Yogesh has a rule which says this:
Student first ~ Teacher second
This means that the student should be a student primary and should back away from taking the teacher role. This is because when a yogi regards himself as a teacher, his learning ability may be sabotaged by his teacher profile attitude. One should leave teaching to the teacher and just be obsessed with being a student except if one gets specific instructions from the teacher to instruct someone.
Sir Paul was also present when this incidence with Beverford occurred. The three of them used astral bodies only while I used a physical and astral one. Sir Paul did not say a word. Beverford and Sir Paul has this plan to keep in association at least until I would leave this physical form I current use. There is a chance however that Beverford will take another material body even through Sir Paul has no intentions of doing so at this time.
Srila Yogesh is of the view that first steps to higher yoga, consisting of asana postures and pranayama breath infusion will expedite the requirement of Patanjali in the second sutras for the termination of the vrittis. Of special interest is the sleep vritti. Srila Yogesh says that without doing the first steps to higher yoga, it is unlikely that the meditator will banish the sleep vritti which means that even after years of practice, the meditation will be mediocre only.
Look at this list of the vrittis and tell me which you can eliminate easily before you meditate:
· Right analysis
· Wrong analysis
· Imagination
· Sleep
· Memory
!~~~~~~!
One day after Beverford make the criticisms, something completely different happened. Beverford came during the early morning session. As soon as I perceived his subtle body, he entered my psyche and began doing every posture and internal kriya procedure which I did during the session.
I traced this mystic penetration and appropriation ability to Srila Yogeshwarananda, who gave the power to Beverford, after Beverford complained about me and accepted Yogesh as his spiritual master because of a failure to reconnect with Rishi Singh Gherwal on the astral side. It begs the ugly question of: Who owns the body?
In this case: Who owns even the subtle body?
Patanjali gave us some information about this mystic siddhi perfection power:
बन्धकारणशैथिल्यात्प्रचारसंवेदनाच्च चित्तस्य परशरीरावेशः॥३९॥
bandhakāraṇa śaithilyāt pracāra
saṁvedanāt ca cittasya paraśarīrāveśaḥ
bandha – bondage; kāraṇa – cause; śaithilyāt – due to relaxation, collapse; pracāra – channel flow; saṁvedanāt – from knowing; ca – and; cittasya – of the mento-emotional energies; para – another; śarīra – body; āveśaḥ – entrance, penetration.
The entrance into another body is possible by slackening the cause of bondage and by knowing the channels of the mento-emotional energy. (Yoga Sutras 3.39)
