Welcome to Session 7 of the Meditation and Yoga Philosophy course.
Welcome to Session 7 of the Meditation and Yoga Philosophy course.
Do everything as before: half-bath, Singing a name of the Supreme together, often with a simple dance; in Ananda Marga the words are Bábá Nám Kevalam., meditation, A yoga posture held steadily and comfortably; it balances the glands and quiets body and mind for meditation., massage and deep relaxation.
Now, what’s parapsychology? It’s the psychology of the mind in relation to cause and effect. This universe is an intricate web of vibrations. Everything is connected. Whatever happens is the effect of something else, and the cause of something else again. “When a blade of grass moves, the whole universe quivers.” Everything is incidental; nothing is accidental. We usually refer to something as an “accident” because we can’t see what caused it, but certainly it was caused by something. “Everything comes from something. Nothing comes from nothing.”
This concept is expressed by Newton’s 3rd Law: “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.”
That’s also true for the mind. Whatever happens to us we store in our mind until it can be expressed as a reaction. Take the example of a rubber ball: you press into it with your fingers (that’s the action); the dent stays there for some time (that’s the potential reaction); then the dent comes out again (the reaction).
If we experience a bad reaction, we tend to say that something bad happened. But it was only the reaction of a previous action, because everything is stored in the mind waiting to express itself. The more scope for expression, the more pure the mind will become, and the more at ease we will feel mentally.
So everything happens for the best. Whether it’s pleasant or unpleasant, we should always view it as something positive because it’s freeing the mind of it’s past actions.
There was a very popular emperor called Akbar who ruled in India in the 16th century. His favourite minister was Birbal, a very wise and witty man. One day the two of them went hunting. Akbar was cutting his arrow out of an animal he had just killed when he slipped and cut his finger off. Birbal told him: “Don’t worry, everything happens for the best.” Akbar was enraged at the seemingly uncompassionate Birbal. He told him to get out of his sight and never to return. Akbar was then captured by a local forest tribe. On that day, according to their custom, they were supposed to sacrifice a man to the “gods.” So they decided to sacrifice Akbar. But the chief noticed he had a finger missing, and let him go because he wasn’t worthy enough. Akbar realized that Birbal had been right: if he hadn’t cut his finger off he would be dead by now! When he got back to the palace, he ordered his men to find Birbal and bring him back. But it took them a whole month to find him: he’d had a bit of a rough time, living in the forest on berries and roots. When he was finally brought before the emperor, Akbar saw his sorry condition and asked his friend and minister for forgiveness. Birbal replied, “No, it’s okay, everything happens for the best.” “But how can you say that, after all you suffered?!” Akbar exclaimed. Then Birbal replied, “Because if you hadn’t sent me away when you did, they would also have captured me, and since I hadn’t cut my finger off, I would have been killed!”
