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Features
Wings to Freedom: A Conversation with
Yogiraj Satgurunath Siddhanath and Daniel Kogan
by Sydney L. Murray
We are living in extremely tumultuous times. There are many things I would indicate to you on this day in late June, but the demonstrations in Iran have particularly captured my attention. With the theme of liberty and justice for our July issue, in commemoration of our own celebration here in America and our independence from foreign rule, I am reminded always of the sentiment of Margaret Mead, “A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
Recently I had the opportunity to speak with a man named Yogiraj Satgurunath Siddhanath, a delightful and provocative teacher of Kriya Yoga and a spiritual leader to many worldwide. I wish you could hear the cadence of Yogiraj’s speech and his playful demeanor. I hope some of that quality is imparted through his words in this interview.
I know that when I spent time in India, I came back with the sense that this was a country of many contradictions, as is the United States. Their respective contradictions are quite different; India, an ancient society, and the United States, a country symbolic of the modern world’s paradoxes, are incomparable. We are all blessed to be living and exploring our world, even during times of upheaval. We may bring different perspectives, yes, but ultimately, we have the same goal in mind.
Vision Magazine: How do you believe we can find justice in our world?
Yogiraj: Justice and injustice are relative terms. To define justice, there must be a uniformity of thought and ideology. As long as people have different ideologies and thoughts about what is justice and what is injustice, there is bound to be a seesaw of opinions. For my sense of the word justice, everybody will be happy. It’s a utopian and egalitarian society where there is an abundance of love shared from one soul to another. There is an abundance of food, there is trade by various peoples, there is joy and there is freedom from emotional suffering. So we look for an egalitarian society—a sort of a Shangri-La and a real utopian belief that can first be realized by all of humankind.
But often, even with education, it does not matter if you have a home and the best of food, wine, sex and other creature comforts. You still will not be happy; you will not be companionable with your neighbor and you will feel like an injustice is being done to you.
If you look at the situation in the world today, (the details I will not go into), some people think it’s their right to possess certain facilities and powers. When that happens, there is conflict in the world. We must remember that to eradicate this conflict, there must not be the United Nations organization but instead a “united-minds” organization. If the minds of the people are in harmony, then and only then will there be justice.
And this I am afraid, is not our present situation. When it comes to the United States, Israel, the Middle East, India and Pakistan—they all have different ideologies and everybody has their own formula for justice. But there are many types of justice that make the soul of justice. There is also freedom and equality.
What is best is to strive for a quality of mind for all the leaders and all the people of the world. This may be achieved through the practice of meditation and pranic breathing called Kriya Yoga. If we meditate, we can then communicate with one another and understand one another and come to a proper denominator of what is peace and what is justice.
A united-minds organization may be brought about by yogic meditation and Kriya. Many people have come to me after this teaching and have vouched that their minds are now very calm. It is my feeling that they accommodate and adjust to one another to live a more peaceful coexistence than people who are not meditating or who are not doing Kriya Yoga.
Through this practice, justice would be the common understanding of humanity. Because we have not reached this stage, I am uncertain and I cannot speak for different peoples of the world. Relativity and the balance of the universe is rooted in reciprocity. In reciprocity there is harmony and when this is achieved there will be justice and satisfaction for all people.
No one is feeling wronged or deprived. As long as people feel wronged or deprived in this world, there is bound to be justice to one and so-called injustice to another. Some say that one man’s food is another man’s poison. A great warrior in one country may be a criminal in another country. Therefore justice is relative.
We must bring about a uniformity of mind by the practice of meditation. And whether uniform humanity exists, it is perfectly designed. Then we decide, what is justice?
VM: What is your impression of the 2012 phenomenon that people are talking about?
Yogiraj: [Heartily laughs] I could certainly say this: We are before this time. But the length of time—how incredible; it’s only three years from now, wow! 2012 is a very important year in the aspect of time. I think that many things will open up and in this dimension there will be two factors: First, there will be the elimination of negativism and disharmony amongst the people of the Earth, which could bring justice to all. I think the second aspect is that it will bring about growth and spiritual evolution for all beings who seek it.
I believe that through Kriya Yoga meditation, this can be achieved. It’s our belief that there are cycles of time. When we reach this cycle in 2012, there will be a new pocket in time and a new dimension will open up. And in that pocket will be a source and treasure for a more spiritual coexistence and a means whereby the negativity of humanity can be more easily eliminated. Emotional, physical and mental suffering, to a great degree, will come to an end.
We are in the beginning of the change right now. We will be a right-thinking people; we will assist each other with our shared burdens and systems. There are certain invisible figures of mankind, known as the “guardian wall of all humanity.” They are called sitars and are perfected beings.
There are many masters, such as Lord Maitreya, King Vikramaditya (El Morya) and the master Saint Germain. All of these are Ascended Masters, which to many, are fiction. But they are very vibrant and roaming in their second bodies along the coast of California and the rest of America; in the Himalayan Mountains and northern India; in the Middle East and, really, all over the world. They will come together. There are seven such great masters, they each represent a planet in our solar system and yet they are invisible to humans. As you develop spiritually, you will be able to see them as the God in all of humanity, guiding our infant humanity to a more peaceful and joyous utopia.
VM: Could you explain to our readers the Shivapat experience and how you offer these teachings?
Yogiraj: There are three secrets which are called the Shaktipat, Pranapat and Shivapat.
Shaktipat is a healing kundalini transmission which relates from the master, who then transmits to his disciple to heal the physical ailments at the basic level. So we relate the points of the kundalini and the chakras. It is an awakening of the kundalini, an energy transmission. This is done by a master who himself has the kundalini energy. His life force energy is awakened within his mind and is called Shaktipat, the transmission of divine energy, or the energy transmitted from master to disciple. Shakti means energy and pat means the transmission of divine grace.
This is what I do to assist my students and disciples along the evolutionary path. It’s all about evolution. And so the chakras or lotuses in the spinal cord are activated in Shaktipat which is the life force energy.
The second life force is called Pranapat. This is when the master breathes his life force energy into the breath of the disciple, not only making the disciple breathe with him but also allowing for an increase in the volume of his breath.
As he pushes the breath in the spinal chord, the negative energy which is lodged in the chakras of the disciple are washed away by the regular rhythmic breathing of Kriya Yoga. The master of Pranapat gives his life force energy into the spine of the disciple making him breathe and rub out the negative karma and detoxify his whole system.
It’s supposed to detoxify negativity and body carbon. So from the physical, psychic and subtle levels, the master helps his student get rid of toxins in his body and his negative karma by moving the intelligent life force energy into the spine of the disciple. This is Pranapat which is embodied in the sincere seekers who are practicing Kriya Yoga and even those who are not but who want to step into the stream of this evolutionary process.
The third quality which is distilled in the master’s soul’s consciousness is called Shivapat, which is bestowing the universal soul’s own consciousness of the master’s wish that the disciple develops the mind state of expanded awareness.
And yet, this cannot be transmitted, nor imparted. The master makes himself into the mind of the disciple. The moment the master makes conscious the awareness into the disciple, the disciple’s mind disappears and is transformed into the consciousness of the master.
[At this point, Yogiraj asked Dan Kogan to read from his own book, Wings to Freedom, the chapter relating to Shivapat, page 283]
Dan Kogan: The Shivapat is a unified field of consciousness. The Satguru gives his Soul Consciousness of thoughtless awareness experience to the disciple. I will now discuss with you the way he gives his Soul. This is the true essence of what he gives to demonstrate his love. So when you go to a true Master or Satguru, these are the qualities that you should see. If they cannot give you of themselves, then they fall short in their love for humanity; they are not a Satguru. They may be your beloved, your brother, or maybe a Guru, but they are not the Satguru. The true Master gives you his Soul awareness. The definition of my philosophy: The Satguru does not transmit Shivapat, but he, as Consciousness awares himself into the mind-disciple, transforming that mind into his own consciousness, to the degree of the disciple’s receptivity to the Master. In turn, the disciple’s mind, attuned to the undifferentiated Consciousness of his Master, shall gravitate itself out of light-mind existence to aware itself into that Consciousness, to the degree of its attunement with that Consciousness.
VM: Do you have hope for our world?
Yogiraj: We are in the world; what hope do you want? We’ve achieved the world and we are in it. Why should we not have hope for the planet? The planet as it exists today has a call; it has a purpose. And in the eyes of the creator it is so small, that it’s practically nonexistent in the total galaxy and cosmos. But still the divine, the good Lord (or call it what you may), has his loving spirit permeate every atom of creation and beyond.
So how could he not love himself and not have hope, since we are all of him? The soul essence of him is: the body, the garment, the divine soul. And it is important for humanity to realize that we are not a corruptible body, but a divine soul. Once this is realized, then there is hope for the world and heaven on Earth can happen.
So the mantra that you can say every night before you go to sleep to re-hypnotize yourself is:
I am spirit, I am truth, I am love divine, this body-mind a dream of mine.
I am spirit, I am truth, I am love divine, this body-mind a dream of mine.
Then and then alone shall you see this world in its true perspective. Every human being has a glorious light of God radiating from his heart and soul. And so do the trees, the flowers, the birds, the bees, the skies and the oceans. All are moved by the divine force of God. This divine force is a supreme and inevitable fact of life and is keeping us going and keeping the world spinning around the sun. And the sun with its solar systems spinning around the galaxies—that is hope.
A common person may call God what the philosopher calls consciousness. Whether you call the supreme being God or Allah or consciousness is a question of mere dialect. The essential fact is that one reality exists. The non-reality is that a person is bound and subject to disease, decay, and death. The ultimate reality remains ever the same. It stands supreme beyond our dreams. Eternally removed. It’s reality described as want, which gives us hope, which comes from our hearts. What gives us hope is what makes the clock tick—the individual and the evolutionary clock.
VM: What could each one of us do to make the world a better place?
Yogiraj: Humanity is in a state of mistaken identity. It thinks that the corruptible body is not the divine soul. If each one of us, before sleeping at night and getting up in the morning, would say, “I am spirit, I am truth, I am love divine, this body-mind a dream of mine,” this would change the Gestalt. It would bring about a higher state of awareness and make a world of change. We would still do our practice of things, we’d still do our naughty things and good things, but we would have a deeper understanding of ourselves. It could change the Gestalt; it could make the paradigm shift.
If we could make the paradigm shift by seeing ourselves as a soul, and not thinking of ourselves as the body and the mind, this would change the world. We could bring about a harmony, and therefore, bring about the paradigm shift. It would lead us to a Shangri-La, a utopia, the happiness of an ideal society for this world.
Yogiraj will visit Seaside Center for Spiritual Living in Encinitas, CA, July 11-12, Learning Light Foundation in Anaheim, CA, July 17-18, The Bodhi Tree Bookstore in Los Angeles, July 22, the Skirball Center in Los Angeles, July 24 and 26, and at Temescal Canyon Park in Los Angeles for a New Life Awakening Retreat, September 5-7. For more information about Yogiraj and Kriya Yoga, visit www.Hamsa-Yoga.org or call 866.YOGI.RAJ.