Contemporary knowledge about God, Evolution, and the meaning of human life.
Methodology of spiritual development.

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On the Other Side of the Material World/Gunas and Spiritual Growth

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Gunas and Spiritual Growth

After we came home and had dinner, we had another interesting conversation.

“Let’s discuss,” — Vladimir started, — “what is required to be mastered, for a person sufficiently developed in the intellectual and ethical aspects, in order to attain the fullness of the Perfection?

“It should become the truly great — in size — soul and capable of merging with the Creator. Furthermore — it is necessary to learn to live in such mergence. And even more — then mastering the ability to come from the Abode of the Creator — to the Creation — to help all embodied beings. It crowns the complete Self-Realization.

“The best example of the possessing of this ability is now demonstrated by Sathya Sai Baba: being incarnate, He can easily help spiritual seekers who are at a distance of thousands kilometers away from His Body! Before Him, the same capacity was recently manifested by Babaji from Haidakhan.

“To approach the attainment of this highest level of development, the person should be able to live permanently in the subtlety of the Primordial Consciousness.

“One can prepare oneself for entering the Abode of the Creator with the help of concrete Divine Teachers — the Holy Spirits. Development in this direction may provide the ability to turn into the ‘Sun of God’ and then — into two or even four ‘Suns of God’. This allows, in particular, completion of the process of Divinization of the matter of the body. But, what is more important, — this provides an opportunity to enter the Abode of the Creator. Because it may be obtained more easily between two ‘Suns of God’.*

“This Path cannot be mastered due to only the desire and individual efforts of anyone. It may be done by no other way than with the help of the Holy Spirits.

“All that one has to forgo for these highest steps of the development — this is for you already quite clear. This — and the inability to be in coarse states of consciousness, and the gradual direct growth of the consciousness.

“I’m extremely pleased with your success! But we also understand that my task was and will consist only, in the first place, to show you the meditative techniques for progressively realizing all this, and, secondly, to warn you of possible errors and pointing out to you your own mistakes if they are already made.

“Everything else — you make it yourself. These are both meditative training, and self-control in regard to emotional states. Our emotions — are the states of ourselves (as consciousnesses). Emotions — they are just the states of consciousness, rather than facial expressions or electrical processes in the brain, those are only external reflections or after-effects of emotions!

“Also — everyone has to master the ability to correct (that is, flawless) communication with other people based on an understanding of not only the ontogenetic, but also the psychogenetic level of development of each. And also — based on the analysis of those spiritual qualities which those people have developed in themselves: qualities both righteous — and perverse.

“Also — it is necessary to learn to live with the constant remembrance of God’s participation (represented by the Holy Spirits) in every situation in which we find ourselves. All these situations are educational ones for every one of us, as well as for each of the embodied people.

“Sometimes there are adults with an already developed — within the body — spiritual heart. Usually they are women who know a happy, harmonious marriage, including motherhood.

“Yes, it is an important preference for women compared with men: a woman’s body — with its erogenous zones and the corresponding hormones — is much more able to master the emotions of love.

“And only sometimes can be met similar men. Most of them had developed this property in past lives — perhaps in the women’s bodies. Or they were specifically trained in the respective spiritual schools or religious groups, led by psychologists.

“I’m remembering an interesting episode. Once I presented — through a common friend — one of my first books to President Yeltsin. It was the book in our country where had been described chakras, their functions, and the methods of work with them. Yeltsin, judging from the consequences of this action of mine, gave my gift to the Kremlin psychologists. They accepted it. And then I had the opportunity to observe the results of the using of those techniques — from the example of Yeltsin himself and his successor. Those psychologists taught Yeltsin to use the complex of three lower chakras (hara) — and this gave him the personal strength that we have seen in his speeches, until he had ruined himself by drinking… The next president was taught to look and speak from the anahata chakra. That was what enabled him to look so cordial.

“… But it is clear that — no matter how important it is in the evolution of a soul to have the developed spiritual heart — it alone is not enough for achievement of the evolutionary perfection. For as necessary also are the components of intellectual and ethical development.

“What is the main thing in the former of them? — The ability to distinguish between true and false.

“And the latter? — The ability to truly give, and not pull for myself, the ability to easily forgive the evil committed by others against me, the dedication of one’s life to the good of others, rather than to one’s own good…

“Let me draw your attention,” — Vladimir continued after a pause, — “to an important historical episode, which was never understood by almost all people. I’m referring to the words of Jesus Christ, spoken by Him to His disciples when He was saying goodbye to them during the preparation for Calvary. He was trying to explain to them that He leaves them only ‘bodily’. But by the Consciousness — He stays with them forever, He will be with them always, will always help them. And for them to feel Him, meditating even during each meal, let them fill themselves with Him (as the Divine Consciousness) — as if with food and drink.

“These words of Jesus could not be understood by those who live only in their material bodies, tightly fastened to them and identify themselves only with their bodies. For these people — God is only an invisible flying man…

“But God is the Infinite Universal Ocean of Consciousness! And He Who has found the Divinity (in this incarnation or earlier) is also great in size! And He or She is free to move anywhere in the multidimensional space — regardless of the location of their bodies!

“And such Divine Persons can ‘feed’ with their Own Strength a lot of aspiring people at the same time!

“This is one of the possibilities to help embodied people, from the side of Jesus and other unembodied Divine Teachers. Although it should be understood that the real benefit of such assistance may be obtained by people only if they make cooperative-efforts from themselves — on the background of significant help from God.

“What should be these efforts? In particular, the attuning ourselves (as consciousnesses) with the Representatives of the Creator’s Consciousness, in gradual accustoming of ourselves to Their state of subtlety.

“You are familiar with this due to your personal contacts with Jesus and the Others — on Their working sites.

“Several of the personal disciples of Jesus, which are known for us from the New Testament, actually gained Divinity — with the help of Jesus, Holy Spirits, and Their own efforts. We introduced you to Them at Their places of power. And to read about Their relationships with Jesus during His life in the material body and after — is possible in our book: ‘Classics of the Spiritual Philosophy and the Present’.

“However, now everyone can rely on the assistance of the Divine Teachers. But everyone should make the necessary efforts to change his/herself — in accordance with the wishes of God. But these Divine wishes should be known…

“One of the paradoxes, however, is that most people rely not upon the Teachings of God, but upon the wishes (to be exact — demands) of pastors of various religious sects…

“Those people who could not understand the reality — they began to believe that it is possible to really transform the material bread and wine — into the flesh and blood of Jesus — with special prayers and incantations.

“I remember how, a long time ago, a young Orthodox priest swore to me that, well, other people say that this is only a symbol of transformation, but I, he said, — really trust that I eat the meat of the body of Jesus and drink His blood!…

“Is there the positive significance of these rituals (or sacraments) of the communion which are practiced in the Catholic and Orthodox churches? Do they really help the followers of these religious traditions?

“Personally for me — they helped. I described this in my autobiography, ‘How God Can Be Cognized: Autobiography of a Scientist Who Studied God’. I at that time was just only tearing away from the atheistic primitivism — and Jesus was encouraging those still small efforts of mine in the right direction — by blissful states arising from the (truly) holy communions.

“But for other people such communions can become the ‘traps’ for those who trust that only taking part in these sacraments — is completely enough, no more is needed from us, us ‘to be saved’.”

… Long time we were silent. I remembered my feelings from Embracings of Jesus, from the real Merging with Him… Then — focused on the perception of my actual size — the size of the soul, the consciousness. Yes, all that Vladimir said, was indeed confirmed with my personal experience. At first, I lived in this incarnation — as a material body, corroded from all sides by several diseases… My attention was focused on cats… In the love for cats — I was looking for an opportunity to meet the true love… Vladimir was later completely right when he once concluded that I was merged in love not with God but with cats… How I was stunned by this truth!…

Then the books of Vladimir came into my life, — the light in a ‘kingdom of darkness’. Then — and Vladimir himself… He helped me remember that I am not the body and mind. He helped me to overcome the onslaught of terrible disease… Now, even their names I do not want to remember… This is only a vision which is not yet fully recovered…

I did all in my current apprenticeship very lightly and happily! And Vladimir gave me a convincing and clear explanation of this: the experience of my previous incarnation… Vladimir gave me the opportunity just to see everything thus.

… I asked:

“How can we explain why so many people are hostile to the words of truth? What motivates them? Why do they do so?

“There are in every country among the embodied people — very young souls. They are — for the present — small. Their outlook, while they are small, is alike to children. And they cannot contain the knowledge about the Great, the Greatest — not with the consciousnesses, not with their minds. Therefore, some of these people are inclined to declare the true knowledge of God and the Path to Him — as false.

“They are not yet able to think in universal scales. They feel so little and helpless — in front of the frightening environment. And it is much more convenient for them to seek the protection of the very visible for them embodied strong people-leaders.

“But those leaders often appear as the carriers of evil qualities.

“This is the way of formation of criminal gangs, misanthropic political parties, religious sects, known as destructive, that destroy souls, causing damage to the health of their practitioners.

“And where there is a gang or a cult — there start to operate the socio-psychological laws, denoted by the term ‘the crowd effect’: ‘We are a lot, so we are right!’, ‘We are the power!’, ‘Might makes right!’ A sense of personal responsibility for their actions becomes ‘washed out’, being replaced with a sense of ‘collective responsibility’, which is already not scary for oneself, but, on the contrary, creates a sense of personal heroism…

“One of the schemes for the psychotypization of people — that is distinguishing them by mental properties — the scheme of gunas.

“There is a guna tamas identifying stupid and (often) spiteful primitives.

“There is guna sattva — the people of Paradise, who have turned into a tender love, devoid of selfishness. From this state, it is quite easy to climb on the steps of obtaining the Divine qualities — but only by the methods of buddhi yoga.

“Between the gunas tamas and sattva there is a transitional stage, called rajas guna.

“It is possible also to define two levels higher than sattva: those who are obtaining the Divinity and those who have already reached it. Total are five.

“And the person has the right and ability to move by the scale of gunas in both directions.

“But you asked a bit of the other: why do people have so many different qualities: positive — and negative?

“The cause must be seen as the philosophical and religious ignorance, reigning on the Earth. The Teachings of God are forgotten or distorted! Huge masses of people do not understand: what is good and what is bad. What God considers as a crime, that programs people to hell, into the ‘rubbish heap’ of the Evolution — young souls, led by false ‘shepherds’, consider as ‘holy’, ‘pious’!…

“And, as a result, only a few move in the right direction…

“What can be the conclusion? — It should be fully introduced in the mentality of people, starting from school age, the understanding of why we live on the Earth, what is God, what should be our relationship with Him, what is the evolution of individual consciousnesses (souls), why we should strive to become able to live in harmony with the Evolution of the Universal Consciousness! And also — more specifically: what qualities of the souls we have to develop in ourselves, and which — to refuse? By the way, to refuse something in me — why? — Just in order, in particular, to improve, to clear one’s own fate!

“With the list of tamasic and sattvic qualities are you familiar: we discussed this issue many times and from different angles in many of our books.

“Whom do we know of the contemporary Divine Teachers Who spoke on this subject more fully, and Whose statements became the property of Our Contemporaries? He is, of course, Sathya Sai Baba. The same is available for us in the Teachings of Jesus Christ, Krishna, Lao Tse, Gautama Buddha, Babaji from Haidakhan, and Others. Read all this — in its originality — in our ‘Classics’.

“If to seek illustrations on the subject of gunas, it is very clearly seen in the area of sexual relationships. Let’s look at it in relation to both sexes.

“It may be started with the male one. We can see that every heterosexual male of the human kind has, from a certain age, a sexual interest in relationships with women which manifests in efforts to reach an orgasm combined with ejaculation.*

“Males of guna tamas are ready to pursue this aim at any cost, including knowingly false promises or rapes — and up to murder due to a sexual intercourse with, at least, a corpse. Of course, such males do not take care of either treating nicely the woman, or to inflicting unnecessary pain during defloration, or giving to the woman an orgasm, or that she will not have an unwanted pregnancy. After all, these males care only about themselves!

“Sex of the representatives of tamas guna is not an expression and manifestation of love! These monsters can have sexual intercourse on the background of the emotions of hatred and willful infliction of sufferings to their victims — up to sadistic murders after satisfying their own lust!

“By the way, the foul language, which is one of characteristics of guna tamas, shows a not sattvic attitude towards the sexual aspect of love and towards people in general — too.

“But a man who has started to grow up spiritually, he, in particular, takes into account the interests of others, including sexual relations. He is careful to not cause any harm to the woman, but, on the contrary, to give his beloved maximum enjoyment. Such a man tends to study the female sexual psychology and personal features of erogeneity of his beloved. He now knows that for a woman it is favorable to accept his long enough caresses — both before the actual intercourse, and after it. He is always sensitive to the feelings of his beloved — and is ready to immediately correct his own behavior in accordance with her expressed or not expressed vocally desires.

“In particular, a person of sattva will never insist on sexual intercourse. He will instead wait for when the readiness and willing become common.

“Some of these men cognize this wisdom of the sexual aspect of the love — earlier, others — later.

“And we must try to see how there would be less human troubles, if it was possible to talk with boys at school on this subject — in this foreshortening!

“And also — speaking with pupils and students on the basis of religious philosophy! But not on the level of stories about Adam and Eve and so on! But from the standpoint of the Evolution of the Universal Consciousness! For it is only on the basis of this fundamental knowledge, it might be logically and clearly explained why we should strive to be in accordance with the Plan of our Creator!

“… The ethical qualities of female representatives can be estimated in gunas too.

“Women of the tamas guna are selfish. Whatever is wrong from the side of a partner — and he becomes the object of scorn, mockery and hatred which are manifested in different forms.

“Yes, there really are women who voluntarily engage in sexual contact, while hating their men!

“But ethically adequate woman forgive mistakes, and — tactfully, with love and care — help to get rid of them for the future. She, in particular, will teach her beloved a way for them both to reach mutual harmony. Just a man does not have any innate understanding of the characteristics of female sexuality! This knowledge he usually gains only from the sexual experiences of other people.

“Here — a vivid example. Buttocks of almost all men are not erogenous, in contrast to the same body parts in women.

“And if a woman suddenly starts stroking the buttocks of her beloved — it will cause surprise and protest (in one form or another) from her friend.

“At the same time, every man originally thinks that he will receive the same rejection from the same touching of the woman’s buttocks.

“Though, in reality, the truth is the opposite: light stroking of the skin in these places of women's bodies produces vivid sensations and feelings of tenderness. (Of course, if it is done in the appropriate intimate situation).

“I will note also that jealousy is a manifestation of tamas in both sexes. Why? I’m sure that there is no reason to explain this in detail — in isolation from the whole knowledge of the laws and principles of spiritual growth.

“… It may be interesting to put forth a question: which, of the gunas, dominates in our country? The answer, I think, is simple: tamas — with its alcoholism, other drug abuses, violence against others, the dominance of the emotions of chronic irritation, hatred, envy, greed, and other manifestations of total self-centrism in most people.

“Children, who are born and raised in such an environment, learn the same patterns of life — from their parents. And these children, if they do not meet and accept the alternative in their lives — they all, too, rush to fill the hell with themselves…

“The tale of that, if ‘we believe in God by the right way’, so this means that ‘we shall be saved’ — it is only the ‘opium’ for people, as once rightly formulated by Vladimir Ulyanov-Lenin!

“God needs from us the quite different! His Will consists in us not only becoming ‘believers’, but also to develop ourselves — in accordance with His Teachings! Every day, every hour of our lives on the Earth, which are given to us by Him, must be used by us for our improvement! We have to dedicate our lives to this!

“Although one needs to understand that we must begin not from the monkshood, but by putting in order all in our usual working activity, family and other aspects of our social lives.”