Edgar Cayce and the Yoga Sutras - Istvan Fazekas

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       Book IV: On Liberation

      Psychic powers can manifest as the result of several different actions: from incarnating (bringing them into a present life from past-life development), from ingesting specific herbs and plants, from repeating incantations transmitted from a God-realized master, from repetitive practice of a certain tapas, or from intense concentration.

      Mental abilities should be used to remove obstacles to liberation, like a strong man that removes a dam, allowing the fields to be flooded.

      All one’s mental scaffolding exists as a result of individuality consciousness. There is only one Mind and millions of reflections of the one Mind.

      We are often compelled by our subconscious mind because of the similarity between our karmic soul impressions and memories, both of which skirt the frontiers of the subconscious.

      We have as a base desire a need for self-preservation, which is a kind of ancient default. This subliminal impression follows us life to life because it is lodged as a subconscious impression. If one can deconstruct the subconscious need for self-preservation, one can change the linkage of desires that keep one incarnating. This is one key aspect of Christ Consciousness. In this way ahimsa (nonviolence) becomes a natural extension of one’s consciousness, along with the other yamas (explained further in the next chapter).

      The many forms of reality are, in effect, the complex interplay between creation, sustenance, and destruction. All reality is, in some form, caught in the crosscurrents of these three principles.

      External things have no reality of themselves, outside of a mind that perceives them. It is the perceiving mind that gives them a reality. Because of the Witness within—one’s soul-level perception, a tiny extension of the Universal Mind—one can directly observe external things in their unreality as well as internal things as the true nature of the exoteric.

      Each individual has a lower mind that can be observed by a Higher Mind. These are not two minds but two sides of one multiplex consciousness, separated by subliminal strata. The lower mind is called manas, and the higher mind is called buddhi, or pre-Christ Consciousness. Reprogramming manas and then transcending manas to buddhi are crucial steps to enlightenment.

      For one who has realized the inner Christ Light as the Higher Mind, the Self, complex disciplines are unnecessary. For one who has not realized the inner Christ Light as the Higher Mind, the Self, complex disciplines are imperative in order to transform bad habits.

      Our latent subliminal impressions will continue to affect our conscious decisions until we do this inner housecleaning.

      After the full integration of the yamas and niyamas (moral/ethical principles of spiritual yoga), it is the refusal to engross oneself in the pursuit of psychic powers that leads to a higher opportunity—God realization. If samyama (integration of mind and spirit) is perfected and virtue cherished and maintained, mental agitations eventually cease, along with karma-producing actions. Then one’s individuality is no longer under the control of the interplay between creation, sustenance, and destruction. In this way the individuality is “crucified,” and all the elements holding together the idea of the physical body can disintegrate. This same disintegration will affect the mental body—then, eventually, the astral body. This is the advanced stage of enlightenment: At-one-ment, or God realization. Depending on how one chooses to perceive this process, it is a systematic disintegration of all mental and energetic habits that have created separation from the Source, or a systematic redirection of consciousness back to its holy Origin. This is authentic yoga.

      2

      Yamas: Rules for a Better World

      Understood in the full sense of their meaning, [the yamas]2 embrace the whole world of moral conduct. By their observance, the yogi avoids the primary or fundamental difficulties that could block his progress towards [God-consciousness.] Breaking the rules of moral conduct creates not only present misery, but long-lasting karmic effects that bind the devotee to suffering and mortal limitation.

       Paramahansa Yogananda

      In both the spiritual yogic systems of India and the teachings from the readings’ source, one concept emerges as preeminent for spiritual development: Adherence to moral and ethical principles. There is no magic bullet or shortcut to God consciousness, only the steady transformation born of consistent and persistent spiritual practice. In the system of Raja (“royal”) Yoga, the one systematized by Patañjali, the first and most critical stage of training for the spiritual aspirant is ethics/morals.

      In Raja Yoga, the initial moral teachings are known as yamas (“observances”), a kind of thou-shalt-not-do set of rules for establishing optimal social harmony. Patañjali begins with these because he feels they transcend cultures and creeds. In the Yoga Sutras, he refers to them as “universal adherences.” If everyone were to faithfully abide by these social rules, the world would be a much better, much safer, and more socially productive place.

      The readings’ source prompts everyone to seek Christ Consciousness as the highest spiritual choice. The recurring teaching in the readings is the need for the obliteration of “hate, prejudice, selfishness, backbiting, unkindness, anger, passion, and those things of the mire that are created in the activities of the sons of men.” (5749-5) The sage Patañjali would be in full agreement with this formula. The following are the five yamas.

       I. Ahimsa

      First, do no harm.

      Hippocratic Oath

      Put your sword [away], for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.

      Jesus; Matthew 26:523

      The Lord tests and proves the [unyieldingly] righteous, but [God’s] soul abhors the wicked and him who loves violence.

      Psalm 11:5

      Thou shalt not kill.

      Exodus 20:13 [King James Version]

      Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them . . .

      Matthew 7:12 [KJV]

      Love your enemies . . .

      Jesus; Matthew 5:44 [KJV]

      Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

      Jesus; Luke 23:34

      During a visit to the ashram of Mahatma Gandhi in 1935, I asked the prophet of nonviolence [ahimsa] for his definition of ahimsa. He replied: “The avoidance of harm to any living creature in thought or deed.” A man of nonviolence neither willfully gives nor wishes harm to any. He is a paradigm of the golden rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

      Paramahansa Yogananda4

      There is no virtue higher than ahimsa.

       Swami Vivekananda

      The first moral observance is ahimsa, meaning “nonharming” or perhaps “active nonviolence.” This means not to purposefully harm anyone or anything or to live with the sincere intention of such. Intention is the key principle here, as it is impossible to wash one’s hands or brush one’s teeth without “harming” countless bacteria in the process. We have to be reasonable and pragmatic in the application of ahimsa.

      In most of the Asian systems, degrees of efficacy are acknowledged as unavoidable in the practice of spiritual ideals. For example, if your family were about to be harmed by a person with criminal intent and you injured or fatally wounded the criminal in the process of protecting your family, this is not considered a violation of ahimsa. It is only when a person

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