“The difficulty arises when we remain held up by our own resourcefulness applied for our advancement (P.106 of ERY)”

Dr. V Krishna Yaji

In this message Master highlights the limitlessness of the refinement of the consciousness and cautions about every possibility of becoming prey to several factors, internal and self created. Even this topic demands attention from wider perspective and deliberate attempt is made from less wider perspective which may kindly be considered for presentation.

Master is very kind to not only elaborate the limitations in thinking patterns but also to provide sure methods to overcome them with the help of Master. He also stresses that only God should help in the finer stages of journey to get rid of idea of freedom for which the relationship of Master and devotee should be maintained all through. At this stage it appears to be paradoxical, but to get freedom we have to bind ourselves to Master.

Master mentioned that if we resort to methods which are not Subtlest, there is possibility of confining ourselves to limited thinking like frogs in the well. One may defend that my well (of understanding) is larger than somebody else. Definitely, before ocean all wells are small.

Any attribute, considered to be excellent in early stages, may need extensive refinement beyond comprehension and during that period lot of inconvenience and discomfort will be faced. Only help of the guide will save us to pass to next stage. For e.g. in early days of practice, one may be considered excellent for not complaining about any body or thing happening to him. Later as thinking matures, he may face situations which test naturalness in such attitude and if still he clings to the idea of retaining that attitude at that point without help of the guide, he becomes unnatural and unhappy. Moreover he will be missing wider perspective of the situation. Similarly, one may be seen disclosing many things with idea that he is truthful in early days of practice. It may be true to some extent, for it requires some courage to face consequences thereof. Later, he will give consideration to pros and cons of doing so and resort to consider other attributes like non-harming, etc.

Master warns that one will fasten himself to ways of thinking and practices so rigidly that he will not listen to the extricatory methods. That means if we do not keep the limitlessness in view, to change our attitudes with respect to the goal of balance and happiness, our betterment / refinement will be up to that extent only.

As Master says, our original condition is subdued; we drifted away from it by competency. We use the same competency to revert back to original condition. We ought to be free from awareness of competency after some point. Space shuttles utilize force of rockets to orbit them around planet. If they are not detached from rockets, the axis will change and surely collapse after some time, as rockets will not be designed to propel infinitely. Adherence to subtle methods and avoiding grosser methods is essential to proceed in the righteous path for one to succeed to come into contact with reality.

'Human effort, I do feel, is necessary; but a human effort that resists the Divine movement is not likely to meet with success.' (Dr KCVW vol I -465 pathway to liberation) 'You see, conscious obstruction is easy to handle, but the real difficulty is with unconscious opposition. It is possible to have unconscious opposition even though there is conscious acceptance.' (Dr KCVW vol I - 475- Sri Ramchandra's Rajayoga- Principles and Practices)

All perceived capabilities of self would be kept aside passively before God. This will be experienced very frequently during meditations. This must be put into practice during daytime. If we ponder more on this, capabilities are gifts of God, owning the same might be considered as stealing thereby violating one of five essential virtues of 'U' (the upper heart). This requires help of Pranahuti to come out of it; any amount of individual effort will not be fruitful.

Divinity is present in everybody. That is our Primary resource. All other resources or capabilities (awareness of them) are to be got rid off at one time or the other. In this system, highlighting the available resource is done. Here connection with Divinity is re-established and it is reiterated that Divinity is already there in person's heart at the time of introduction. The practicant is made to feel the necessity of higher thinking, which is done by giving awareness of such conditions. Here if he is not keen about the necessity of support from and by the guide, he is bound to halt at one or other time / stage. Many of us appreciate well that the more sensitive / abstract the subject is, the more help is required from learned ones having command / authority in that subject.

Mind is gift of God to humanity and thus human beings are considered as most fortunate beings. Master says God has no mind. Raja Yoga means union with the use of kingly thing in man i.e. thought. In meditations passive awareness is desirable and in fact one who is sincere in meditation will get into that awareness inevitably. Pranahuti enables us to refine this passive awareness to simple awareness.

While elaborating the refinement of consciousness, Master says that idea of freedom also must be lost. Initially if one is not keen about freedom from the problems of life permanently, he will not choose the path. Later if he is not prepared to get rid of that idea of freedom, then he will be not be happy and may resort to inaction. Yoga demands action and perfection for which we must be prepared to lose many ideas so that we live in the present to execute action perfectly.

Some people consider the number of hours or years of practice as deserving to feel the Divinity. Giving an example of excellent devotee of God, Dr KCV states 'So it is necessary for you to wait for God, rather than make God to wait for you, even when you are very devoted and loving. This happens in every case when you think the ritual of number is more important than the practice and realization of the presence of God before you even before you call Him.' (Dr KCVW vol I - 457- Pathway to Liberation)

Many a times, when one hints us in ridiculous manner about our behavior, we don't pay attention to the cautioned aspect of the ridicule. This attitude may be helpful in early days of practice; otherwise we condemn ourselves and resort to discontinuation of practice. As we become better, we have to use it discriminatively for our refinement.

Sensitivity increases when purity increases. Small defects will be highlighted naturally like stains on a balloon get magnified on inflation. We learn to rectify them or present them humbly before Master for his disposal coupled with resolution not to retain them. Many times while conversation with others we refer to ourselves frequently depending on the extent to which we get held up in our own thinking. If we minimize self-reference in our transactions and are aware of the Master from within, we show concern for others and we become useful tools for the Divine. This should happen in natural and gradual manner, definitely requiring help of Pranahuti. Excess self-reference leads to dejection, depression and loss of reality some times.

In early days of practice we unduly stress on things like truthfulness, discriminative intelligence etc and exert ourselves and draw others' attention to us misrepresenting the system. If we don't learn to pay attention to wider aspects in the same situation our vision will be confined to limited spectrum only and we will not be happy. All the time, goal of being happy should be kept in mind so that refinement occurs naturally and co-operation to the Master will be extended from our side.

It is very common to note a person who is riding cycle since decades when forced to show how he rides, may face embarrassing situation, just because of awareness of his capability. If we pay undue attention to act of eating, we get choked. Our breathing if paid attention will not be natural and regular and discomfort will be there. This applies to any capability. Naturalness in our behavior is lost because of awareness of capability.

It is very common to see many people to stress that their suffering is because of their Prarabdha and thus limit their thinking and remain in the past instead of living in the present. Dr KCV says 'Now my Master tells me that Liberation is possible and absolute, even in this body. It combines two things, your function in this physical body with a higher spiritual function. There is no Prarabdha.' (Dr KCVW vol I - 476 - Sri Ramchandra's Rajayoga- Principles and Practices)

We were told in college that a postgraduate who discontinues learning is considered as equivalent to illiterate. Learning is a continuous and unending process. 'Learning to dismiss the storms that sink our chances to be happy, demands on our part dedicated practice and total submission to the will of the divine' (Rev KCN's talk on Basanth celebrations 2007). Hence if we want to be happy, there is no way but to keep ourselves in the mode of learning continuously.