the teachings of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi by Peter Russell
42-If one succeeds through effort of thinking, it may be
after a very long period where the mind has been
stretched to its furthest limits, then gives up.
When it does give up it lets go of everything and
the person spontaneously 'transcends'. Concentration
plays no part in TM because to focus, to bring
together, is to become one-pointed.
15-The TM technique allows the mind to settle down to a less
excited state. The person experiences quieter and quieter
levels of thinking till they arrive at a state of complete
mental stillness where they have gone beyond, or
transcended, the every day levels of thought.
44-The author of the Cloud of Unknowing said: They do not
know what this 'interior' work means, they do it wrong.
They turn their minds inwards towards their bodies and
they strain to see spiritual with their physical eyes
and to hear inward with their outward ears and to smell
and taste and feel and so on inwardly in the same way.
They pervert the natural order with this false ingenuity
and the devil is able to deceive them with false lights
and sounds, sweet odours and wonderful tastes.
66-EEG synchronization is that the meditator does not have
to suppress one side of his brain in order to attend to
messages coming from the other half, but can use both
halves simultaneously. He can begin to live that long
sought for synthesis of reason and intuition, art and
science, and the union of Eastern and Western thought.
83-When driving down the highway the noise necessitate
turning the radio up to hear it in general what is
not distorted or drowned out, when we slow down and
turn the radio down we can then find that many of the
subtleties of the music become apparent. Similarily
with thinking, at quieter levels of activity much of
the subtlety of thought is revealed and thinking
becomes far richer.
94-The 4th state of consciousness is the transcendental state:
Awake Asleep
Objects of consciousness Waking Dreaming
No objects of consciousness TM Deep Sleep
In TM the intensity of mental activity is reduced until,
disappearing completely, only the unchanging screen of pure
awareness is left. The object of experience and the subject
of experience have become the same. The Self has become
aware of the Self. When there is no longer any distinction
between object and subject and no longer any interaction,
then experience as we normally know it ceases. That is why
it seems to be one of emptiness. Only in separation is there
duality. Beholder is one with behold. Where there is duality
there is conflict. In the transcendental state the observer
and the observed become one. There is no longer duality,
there's bliss. The thinker and the thought are one.
101-The only way to know the pure Self is by systematically
reducing the impact of sensory experience until only
the Self remains. In TM there is no longer 'I am',
no individuality, but at-one-ness with the whole of
creation. The boundaries which distinquish one self
from another are dissolved and we begin to experience
that 'we are all one and the same' and that the pure
Self is a Universal Self which takes on the form of
individual consciousness and selves.
102-The idea that everything we observe is relative is found
in Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity which proposes
that space and time are not absolute. The space-time
continuum, like matter and energy, are interchangeable
and not absolute entities.
102-There is a oneness to all creation which can be seen
as you pass from objects to molecules to sub-atomic
particles; there is a tendency away from diversity
towards oneness or sameness.
103-The central theme of the Upanishads:
WHAT IS WITHIN US IS ALSO WITHOUT.
WHAT IS WITHOUT US IS ALSO WITHIN.
The Gospel according to Thomas: The Kingdom is within
you and it is without you.
Plotinus wrote: Each being contains in itself the whole
intelligible world. Therefore, All is everywhere.
Each is there All and All is each. Man as he now is
has ceased to be the All. But when he ceases to be an
individual, he raises himself again and penetrates the
whole world.
108-The alternation of rest and activity with TM can be seen
like dyeing, where each time the color becomes a little
strong until eventually the cloth os so fully dyed that
it no longer fades, which during meditation the awareness
is dipped into pure consciousness and the mind returns
'dyed' with those qualities and after meditation those
qualities are 'faded' by activity. This process is
repeated day by day until ultimately the mind is so
permanently 'dyed' with pure consciousness that even the
strongest experience will not overshadow it. It is important
to note that, having dipped the cloth in the dye, nothing
more is to be gained by leaving it there. It is the REGULAR
ALTERNATION of dipping and fading that is important rather
than the dipping itself.
109-Not only is ACTIVITY vital for the development of higher
states of consciousness, it continues to remain an
important characteristic of life when the higher state
has been reached. As the Zen aphorism puts it: 'Before
enlightenment, chop wood and carry water; After
enlightenment, chop wood and carry water.
119-'Suffering involves 'I': 'I want this', 'I have not got
that', etc. It is a mistake to think that the 'I' must
go, that would be a denial of the changing self, rather
than an affirmation of the changeless Self. The former
path becomes one of self-destruction rather than Self-
discovery. Unless a person first establishes an identity
with the pure Self any attempt to rid himself of an
illusory identity will only result in the creation of a
new sense of identity and the replacement of one
illusion by another.
123-As a man is, so he sees. (William Blake, author of
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell)
123-THE FIFTH STATE OF CONSCIOUSNESS:
The pure Self, the oneness within, also underlies the
whole phenomenal creation.
During TM one experience the subtler underlying levels
of thinking and then, transcending these, gains an
awareness of pure Self within.
124-THE SIXTH STATE OF CONSCIOUSNESS:
Beyond the 5th state, one begins to experience the finer
underlying levels of objects in the outside world until
finally one APPRECIATES the Absolute in everything that
is perceived, both within and without. In this state
perception of objects has been refined to the state where
one can be aware of the finest levels of relative
existence, but the perception has not yet been so refined
as to take in the absolute value as well. At this point
everything is seen as if composed of and pervaded by pure
light.
This heightened perception of the relative world comes from
a more intimate APPRECIATION of the absolute. In the 6th
state the awareness of the Absolute begins to overflow into
one's perception of the objective world and the lighted
objects which were only appreciated impersonally now begin
to take on personal qualities - as Divine.
126-THE SEVENTH STATE OF CONSCIOUSNESS:
The 7th state of consciousness, Unity consciousness, is
the state which mystics have termedd enlightenment.
In the 6th state perception was only partial, in this
state the perception has become cleansed and refined
to the point where one becomes directly aware of the
Absolute basis of the outer world. Both the subject of
perception and the object of perception are appreciated
in their fullest values, as manifestations of the
transcendental absolute field of life.
According to the Gospel of Thomas, Christ said: Cleave a
piece of wood and I am there; life up a stone and you
will find me there. The relative world of infinite
diversity continues to exist, but it is now experienced
as co-existing with its absolute basis. The relative world
of phenomena is just as real as its absolute basis.
THE RELATIVE WORLD IS NOT AN ILLUSION.
The relative cannot be accounted for in terms of the
Absolute, nor can the Absolute be understood in terms
of the relative. For example, a cylinder looked at from
the side will appear as a square and looked at from the
top will appear as a circle.
_
(_) _
|_| |_| side view
_
(_) top view
They are 2 different perspectives of reality, but since
the awareness cannot encompass both simultaneously a
paradox arises, and it cannot be resolved by simply
accommodating one perspective within the other. It is
not that the relative is an illusion, but one needs to
expand the awareness to the point where it can emcompass
both views simultaneously.
Appreciating the harmony beneath the diversity one begins
too realize that the differences and even the disharmonies
are part of a greater pattern. The state of Unity is not
a mere understanding that 'all is One': it is a state of
consciousness in which a person experiences his essential
unity with the rest of the world, a state of peace and
fulfillment.
129-Summary of the 7 States of Consciousness:
Ind. Pure --Rel Level-- Absolute
States of Consciousness Self Self Gross Subtle Level
1. Deep sleep
2. Dreaming
3. Waking x x
4. Transcendental x
5. Cosmic x x x
6. 6th State x x x x
7. Unity x x x x x
144-Enlightened men have a certain child-like quality. It is
not a return to childhood, but a fuller maturity which
synthesizes the innocence and openness of childhood with
the experience and wisdom of adulthood. Not a circle from
unity to diversity and back to unity, but a SPIRAL from
unity through diversity to an awareness of unity and
diversity TOGETHER.
150-The fully enlightened man has a fully developed heart
and a fully developed mind: love and reason, so often
held to be in opposition, are now found co-existing
in harmony. The balance between two opposing modes of
thought having been testored thinking is not active OR
receptive, but active AND receptive; intellectual AND
intuition; scientific AND artistic; concrete AND abstract;
focal AND disfuse; - a synthesis of all polarities. The
balancing of opposites experienced by the enlightened man
is not a compromise of opposites: it is a true synthesis
of opposites in which both are enjoyed to the full and
neither is appeased. The enlightened man does not stand
midway between a material and a spiritual life: he lives
both to the full aspects of a higher reality. For example:
Synthesis
(Benevolent understanding)
/\
/ \
/ \
/ \
/ \
/ \
/ \
/ \
/ \
/ \
/ \
/ \
Sympathy /________________________\ Antipathy
Compromise
(Indifference)
The Gospel according to Thomas: 'When you make the two
one and when you make the innner the outer and the outer
as the inner and the above as the below, and when you
make the male and the female into a single one...then you
shall enter (the kingdom).'
157-The word 'university' is derived from the Latin word
universitas meaning wholeness or more literally,
'turned into one'. Albert Einstein said: 'A University
is a place where the universality of the human spirit
manifests itself.'
As the tree of knowledge has grown it has branched out
we have become so preoccupied with the tips of the
branches and the fruit that the trunk of the tree has
been almost entirely obscured and forgotten, especially
when we compare leaves to each other rather than to their
underlying basis.
172-It is only through a change in consciousness that the
world can be saved. Politicalll and social action are
all incomplete and futile unless accompanied by a new
and evevated mode of awareness. The ultimate action,
then, is no action at all except to change consciousness.
The true revolution is revelation. When that has occurred
on a global scale, the old problems and prejudices and
inhumanies will vanish, and revolution will become
evolution.
174-Selfishness and selflessness is the basis for a high
synergy society: a collection of individuals working
together, not because they are 'do-gooders', but
because they are spontaneously in tune with the whole.
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin sees two complementary
trends in evolution: a tendency towards 'extreme
individuation' and a simultaneous tendency towards
'extensive interrelation and co-operation'. In his
scheme, evolution is a 'convergence' towards the
development of a 'superconsciousness ... a harmonized
collectivity of consciousness' in which both trends
will reach their full expression. By a megasynthesis,
all of the thinking elements find themselves individually
and collectively subject.
178-Calculations from physical phenomena such as coherent
light generation (ie. lasers) show that if the numbers
of elements in a system is N, then the number of elements
that need to be functioning coherently for the effect to
begin to become noticeable is of the order of the square
root of N. The 20th century marks a great transition
in the state of the human race. The act of saving
ourselves, if it succeeds, will make us participants in
the most incredible event in evolution.