Schweibenalp, Switzerland
23 May 2000
Experiences are just milestones toward the emptiness, the existence, the energy, the supreme intelligence. One may write down such passing phases towards one’s emancipation into eternity, in private diaries to release oneself from the burden of memory i.e. mind. To publish such experiences in order to project Lahiri Mahashay as enlightened or God-like is the mistake and mischief committed due to lack of understanding on the part of someone who is more interested in self-promotion and not in self-realization. All experiences are conditioned reflexes derived from cultural and traditional inputs. An enlightened person is essentially an empty person with a tremendous energy of understanding, but without the excess baggage of a particular belief system which is the source of all cultism and confusion, all sectarian activities and seductive forces. That is why Lahiri Mahashay chanted:
Aamaar Puja Sristi Chaaraa
Ete neiko Ganga Jauler chaura
Ete neiko aachhe Kosha Kushi
Neiko phuler Rashi Rashi
Saub Debota Gyalo Choli
Sunyer Saathe Kola Kuli
My worship is of a very strange kind.
In this Ganga water is not required.
No special utensils are necessary.
Even flowers are redundant.
In this puja all gods have disappeared.
And emptiness has emerged with euphoria.
But this was not emphasized by the power-seeker who flaunts Lahiri experiences to project Kriya Yoga as ultimate pleasure and uninterrupted gratification. Through the description and interpretation of these experiences, Godhood has been imposed on Lahiri Mahashay so that petty, greedy and timid minds can derive quick solace and comfort for security and success. Kriya Yoga is the knowledge for liberation and not the knowledge for power, success and gratification. Freedom from the stranglehold of mind and its experiences is the greatest enlightenment. Mind and experiences are valid only in matters mundane and technical. When Buddha was asked – what happens after enlightenment? He replied – nothing! But his followers felt that this truth cannot be organised. So they said – a beautiful ecstatic state and this and that. And thus they exploited the basic greed of human mind to propagate “Buddhism”. Buddha was not Buddhist; but his followers, of course, are!
Even a wrong step towards the divine is not wasted, provided it is in the right direction i.e. the direction of no-egotrip in any form. Kriya Yoga is something that you do, but meditation is something that you are. Doing meditation is denying the spontaneous meditative process. Kriya is done to be available to meditation as Kriya sets you free from the protective mechanism of the mind. True Kriyas, which blast your mind, can be learnt from him who has experienced that blast without an experiencer. The best example of this process is deep sleep. When you wake up; you are refreshed, renewed and rejuvenated. You feel you were perhaps very happy, but there was no experiencer of that happiness.
Lahiri Mahashay’s message was not he, nor his miracles, nor his experiences. These are of no consequences so far as your pain and suffering is concerned. His message was you. Look at yourself, at the ingredients and investments of your “youness”, your ambitions and frustrations. Start a centripetal journey into insight through pondering, practice and perception of the wholeness. (Swadhyaya, Tapas and Ishvarapranidhan).
Help in dispelling the dark forces trying to dilute and destroy the energy which is essential in understanding the Lahiri process. Be life-oriented – not book-oriented, not quotation-oriented nor campaign-oriented.
Jai Satguru Lahiri Mahashay