Todd Katz has today posted a link at http://www.desani.org/other-writings to Desani’s paper on Civil Disobedience delivered at a Colloquium at the Philosophy Department, University of Texas, Austin in 1979. Direct link here. The paper details, from Desani’s unique point of view, Mahatma Ghandi’s political struggles in South Africa and India.
Desani on Pananjali Yoga Sutras
Heavy Karma is in the mind. Unseen karma consists of innumerable past lives, deeds, words.
The desiring of an object is animalistic. Clinging to an object is equivalent to fear of loosing same. If one tends to animalism one eventually falls into violent experiences, employment, etc. He associates the proliferation of armaments.
A sanskara is an unaccountable karmasaya.
To have a spiritual mentor is a fixed destiny.
Attachment is associated with revulsion.
A selfless action is a virtuous action, duty, without intention, with love, with compassion.
Desani recounts spending a year learning to walk without intention – it is extremely difficult.
Restraints must be imposed on things that are easily overindulged in, e.g., sex.
When Satva rises to its highest level illumination is produced (in a situation).
The Science of Yoga
Sutra means aphorism. Yoga is to control the vriti of citta, consciouosness.
The Bhagavad Gita notes there are many yogas. The sage Patanjali’s yoga is a precursor of these.
Raja yoga
Dhyana/Zen yoga
Karma yoga – – yoga of action without desire
Bhakti yoga – – of devotion, like a practicing Christian’s love for his god
Hatha yoga – – physical yoga
Kundaline yoga
Samkhya is the theoretical basis of yoga.
With reservations there are three elements in Prakriti, the Gunas. They are sattva, rajas, tamas.
The first product of the union of the Purusha and Prakriti is Mahat. It is from Mahat that Patanjali intellectualized his compilation. It is also the Mahat that westerners allude to when they speak of Universal Mind., etc.
Consciousness is made of, consists of, the three Gunas. A rose is made of the Gunas. The image of a rose in one’s mind is made of the Gunas. The difference is, with reservations, a matter of quantity.
a. Satva – The most subtle substance in nature – mental substance. On the moral level it is goodness and on the aesthetic level, the most beautiful.
b. Rajas – Animating element
c. Tamas – Passive element. The tendency to procrastinate is tied in with Tamas. It is the steadying element, pulls toward sleep.
Yoga has to do with the second Guna, Rajas, with stopping the animating element so that Satva can shine forth. This is the quieting of consciousness.
Samadhi grants Mokhti, freedom.
Patanjali’s first sutra is that Yoga is the inhibition of the citta vritis (modifications of the mind).
Five kinds of citta vritis
1. A person feels full of lethargy, sleepy. a. and b. are conquored by c. He notes that the gods never sleep and recounts that as a monk he went ten or so days without sleep stating that during this time Satva reigns.
2. A person is full of anger – c. dominates
3. A person is full of restlessness – b. dominates
4. A person is full of good works – a. dominates
5. The highest Samadhi is the one that grants knowledge though it is still a modification of the mind.
So, Purusha, spirit, and Prakriti, cosmic substance are foundational.
Yoga means union (yoke).
The first result of the union (yoking) of spirit and cosmic substance is cosmic intelligence.
He mentions the Nadi Shastras speaking of foreknowledge. Two centuries ago a palm leaf refers to Desani by name, gives date of birth, place, and so forth.
Qualities of Purusha – It is the lord, it is not material, it is conscious.
Qualities of Prakriti – Satva – mental substance, Raja – activating element, Tama – inertia.
He says that a 2500 year old commentary says that space and time are schemes for the understanding.
In Mahat Satva dominates. Mahat is the source of wisdom. Mahat is the first evolute.
Literally Mahat means the great.
When Purusha and Prakriti are joined and the first evolute arises it is Purusha who sees this. It is Purusha that sees all.
Ahamkara is the precondition for the mind’s ability to discriminate. At Mahat there is no discrimination but just one ocean of light. He gives thought that most people evolve to Ahamkara and stop, especially Westerners.
Yoga is the stilling of citta (consciousness) vritis (modifications of consciousness).
Consciousness is material so what we think effects others.
Thought impinges on its object. If I think of a person as dead that person will find his death. If I think good thoughts about a person that person will find good. Of course, this applies only if there are certain yogic attainments. (Desani has seen this in action.)
Thought is substance. Think Satva will increase and it will. Think Raja as increasing, it will. Think Tama as increasing, it will.
He gives example of a teacher at Cambridge (Desmond) hitting a student who questioned whether thought could be proved to be a substance, in the stomach with a visualized – by thought – heavy object. Desmond turned, whirled to face student. Student fell, was hospitalized, almost died. Desani says this is a “petty trick”.
Also relates that a man worked ten years to perfect a trick whereby he could not be moved by five men (from a train when he refused to pay for a ticket). He thought a heavy object into existence at the base of his spine – he cultivated Tama at the base of his spine.
Four states of consciousness – Awake, sleep, profound sleep, Samadhi.
One must practice and practice detachment.
The intellect is material. If it is mirror like, superior material, it is comprised mostly of Satva.
Purusha is masculine, the divine father. Prakriti is femine, the divine mother.
________________________________________
This is from my actual notes from the class of spring, 1973 at the University of Texas, Department of Philosophy, Austin, Texas. The department chairman was Irwin Lieb. The dean of Arts and Sciences was John Silber. Raja Rao also taught there at this time. I took his course on Mahayana Buddhism. Desani also taught a course on Theravada Buddhism.
Rao’s class was, as I recall 200 or more students. Desani’s class on Patanjali, about 20, maybe 30, no more.
My old textbook:
J.H.
Desani’s Indian Affairs piece and the Nadi texts
Todd Katz (Desani.org) has made available Desani’s piece on Indian Affairs, An Appraisal, originally published in the Illustrated Weekly of India in 1964. I have previously written about his Nadi texts here and am including Desani’s comment which gives the reader the benefit of his personal thoughts on these texts in his own words.
Quote:
It was about nine years ago that I was told of the faculty in some persons to foresee. A few of those were professional astrologers. I consulted them, at a considerable cost in time and money, and although one or two surprised me, I was disappointed. The results reported from Europe and America seemed better. (Mr. Nehru obviously has not the leisure to read such reports or to notice that the subject of precognition and foreknowledge is not beneath the active attention of a research fellow at the University of Oxford.) My inquiries, in the course of years, led me to the samhitas of the rishis Bhrigu, Vashistha, and Kaśyapa. I allow for greed, and fraud: apart from the laudable enterprise of the Madras Government – so I have been told – who have published some Nadi books, these samhitas are in the possession of the people who sell information. Well. If, in a work written on palm-leaf, absolutely at the most guarded of estimates a few centuries ago, I found my name, my parents’ name, and the names and exact description of the women with whom I have been in love, and all the details about the state of my health, my gurus’ names – including non-Indian names – and the precise details of my mantra dikshas – secret communications known only to myself and my teachers (absolutely regardless of any other prophecies concerning the span of years following the date of consulting the samhitas) and all this information within the framework, the precise terminology of Indian astrology, I think such a discovery is an occasion for humility and reduction of one’s ego.
…. to prophecy that I, G.V. Desani, shall, at a certain age, exactly so many years and months and days past the date of my birth, on a certain day, at such and such hour, call and consult the Samhita of Kausika, is a special faculty, you see.
Desani on Youtube
Todd Katz found two videos posted recently by ‘An Admirer’ on youtube and will link to them from Desani.org when he does his update soon. These were recorded at the University of Texas, if my memory serves, and at one time I had a copy. I’m grateful to find them in the public domain. Of particular interest – I’ve written about the Nadi texts here – is Desani’s discussion at about 42 minutes of these texts.
Note that at about 31 minutes the first video goes to a blue screen, then static, but resumes a bit later.
part 2:
Ethics, Nirvana, and Sundry Items
Professor Desani delivered a talk in old Bombay in the late 1960s titled Ethics, Nirvana, and Sundry Items. Todd Katz has today edited and published (.pdf) this here. It is the item at the top of the list of other “samples”.
Some excerpts:
“These things by themselves do not lead us to the ideal. They help us approach the ideal. A person who keeps his conduct Good – as defined so far – is the one who qualifies. It is quite in order to ask what it is for which one should qualify.
“To know this, to experience this…..is to attain excellence, freedom, mukti, Nirvana. But to attain it, one needs bala or balāni; power, or powers.
“You need to have in your favor, prārabdha; a fate, a destiny, a beginning in the past. To be possessed of a good ‘past’ is a bala (a power). By ‘past’ is meant the infinite or a ‘history’ of a Consciousness. An individual born with an enormous bank balance, any prince or princess of a ruling house, with a few or no obligations or responsibilities, has to his or her credit a ‘past’. An individual born with an infirmity, an incurable disease, robbing him of the freedom of action, has a ‘past’. Both he, and an individual born with gifts, experience the advantages, and the disadvantages, of their situations, and regardless of their Will. Faith is a bala. A person without faith is the one who has his palm formed into a fist. You cannot give him anything. He cannot receive it. If a person exerts, practices, he has bala, or power. If a person has samādhi – he has concentration of mind, has calmness, as opposed to the restlessness of Lobha[that] I mentioned, he has real bala, power.”
………
“Methods vary. Some look at and contemplate an image – a pratimā. Some visualize – ‘see’ mentally, direct attention to – a thought, a notion, a concept, a quality. (To contemplate one’s God as supreme, as good, as true, as merciful,as just, as love, as wisdom, is to contemplate the qualities of supremacy or power, goodness, truth, mercy, justice, love and wisdom. To venerate in a contemplation Gautama, the Buddha, or any other Buddha, as omniscient, as enlightened, as virtuous, free from Lobha, Dosa, Moha – regardless of its value as a prayer or a communication – would be a contemplation of his qualities.) It does not matter what means are employed so long as those lead to success in controlling that operation of Consciousness called ‘attention’. The Buddha recommends that we contemplate maître – lovingkindness for all beings whatsoever, human, infra-human, supra-human; and karunā– compassion for all beings, the good, the evil, all; muditā– altruistic joy in the happiness of all; upeksha – equanimity, the quality that enables us to accept, with calmness, and dignity, both joy and sorrow. The contemplation of these – with method and technique – can lead us to high samādhi, to the bala, power, of a concentrated mind. And to develop these qualities, as character traits, is as high an ethical aim as one can conceive.”
……………….
“…it is possible, citing an experience, just to ‘see’ a tree. It is possible, by controlling the mind, by freeing it, freeing it of all concepts – through the techniques the Buddha has taught us, by developing Sati and Samādhi– to ‘barely’ ‘see’ a tree, for a millionth-millionth part of a second. And to declare that it does not exist: or to say – from lacking the means to communicate exactly an experience – that the tree ‘exists’ only in the ‘mind’, in your C, in your particular scheme of knowing and understanding. At any rate, such a judgment would be as ‘true’ or as ‘false’, or more ‘true’ and less ‘false’, than the summary assertion “I saw a tree.” The Buddha has asked us to barely see. He has asked us to barely see (and not involve mana, the mind, in reactions, responses). That is true ‘seeing’. The ethical implications of such an appraisal of the world – both external and internal – are enormous.”
……………….
“The nearest conceivable lakṣaṇa – mark or feature – of Nirvana – according to Gautama, the Buddha, is peace. Bhagwan was careful to point out that the peace – the śantilakhana of Nirvana – is not the ‘peace’ experienced by creatures in the world of phenomena.”
Full Circle
Reading an essay by “Spengler” titled A Thoughtless Age as often happens I reflected on the ideas through the lens of Desani’s teachings. Spengler doesn’t say so but the implication is that we are in spite of our technological prowess – and maybe because of it – being ushered into a new dark age. A classical liberal arts education focusing on how the present world has been molded by the development of ancient ideas, concepts, and those old masters who put them forth is pretty much a thing of the past and will have to be rediscovered. He points out that you can’t read – and have it make any sense – a great book without understanding the embedded references, allusions. So for at least two generations now virtually no one pays any mind to the great works of literature and philosophy that were once considered essential to a liberal arts education.
Desani was the very quintessence of a liberally educated man of the world. His work is brimming with allusions to other great works, ideas, and cultural patterns. The reader needs bring a lot to the table to fully benefit from the author’s intent.
Desani’s endowment to me is summed up in a gem he personally gave me. I’ve mentioned it elsewhere but, again, it is that we are the device(s) by which God has self experience. To me that was his core belief, his core message. It’s almost painfully direct – Diamond on Diamond as he was wont to say – but compare it to God’s covenant with the Jews. “You will be my people and I will be your God.” Or, to put it otherwise, you will be my particular and I will be your universal. Or how about, I will confer on you universality and you will confer on me individuality. I think the great Aristotle gave us that. Jesus is the “Word made flesh” follows the same formula. Desani’s formulation means that the covenant of God is not with the Jews per se, nor is it with man. It is with Sentient Life Forms. Naturally it follows that the end within all creation is the actualization of this potential that is bound up in matter itself. It also follows that the wonderful qualities of Beauty, Truth, Love, Liberty, and so forth, are emergent characteristics intended to flower along with Life itself; Life and the qualities that tend to life are the end within creation, as the rose is in the bud. That would be, in Aristotle’s thought, Entelechy, the end within.
Since I’m speaking of God I’d point out that the great pitfall there is our apparent materiality. I don’t know what Desani thought of the idea put forth by Soren Kierkegaard that God doesn’t exist because “he” is eternal – and therefore not a thing. This approach appeals to me, at any rate, and I compare it to the notion put forth in, for instance, Satipatthana Vipassana yoga that the Self doesn’t exist either. I’ve not had that insight – its called Anattanupassana-nana – that is, “insight into the absence of self or personality.” I just wanted to put that out there because talk of God is not to be done in a glib manner. Desani pointed this out frequently saying it was a waste of time when what we should be occupied with is Love of God, that is, worship. He also said that bringing God to mind again and again is a form of worship. This little offering is intended to be a part of that.
The Father is delighted by, indeed, gains sustenance from, the discoveries of his children. He stands, hands outstretched. In one hand he holds the ultimate knowledge, understanding, of the meaning and purpose of existence. In the other hand he offers the unending pursuit of that understanding. Following, again, the lead of Kirkegaard, we ought wisely to choose the offering of pursuit, of discovery. Let God keep his secrets. Ours is not to know the reasons why. Ours is to take the path of discovery.
Desani taught that we should take what is good from the past and apply it to make a better future. A quote from the piece above cited is appropriate to Desani’s teaching.
When properly conceived and taught, the liberal arts do not by themselves make us “better people” or (God knows) more “human.” They don’t exist to make us more “liberal,” at least in the contemporary political sense. But the liberal arts can do something no less wonderful: They can open our eyes.
They show us how to look at the world and the works of civilization in serious and important and even delightful ways. They hold out the possibility that we will know better the truth about many of the most important things. They are the vehicle that carries the amazing things that mankind has made — and the memory of the horrors that mankind has perpetrated — from one age to the next. They teach us how to marvel. – John Agresto
And, “Western culture has become inaccessible to the general public because we have lost the ability to see the world through the eyes of those who created it.”
Mahasi Sayadaw
INTRODUCTION
On the personal request of the Hon’ble U Nu, Prime Minister, and Thado Thiri Thudhamma, Sir U Thwin, President of the Buddha Sasanna-nuggaha Association, the Ven’ble Mahasi Sayadaw, Bhadanta Sobhana Maha-thera, Sasana-dhaja-siri-pavara-dhammacariya, Agga-maha-pandita, Chattha-sangiti-pucchaka, came down from Shwebo to Rangoon on the 10th November 1949. The Meditation centre at the Thathana Yeiktha, Hermitage Road, Rangoon, was formally opened on the 4th December 1949 when the Mahasi Sayadaw began to give 15 devotees a methodical training in the right system of Satipatthana Vipassana.
From the first day of the opening of the centre a discourse on the exposition of the Satipatthana Vipassana, its purpose, the method of practice, the benefits derived therefrom, etc., has been given daily to each batch of devotees arriving at the centre almost every day to undertake the intensive course of training The discourse lasts usually for one hour and thirty minutes, and the task of talking almost daily in this manner had inevitably caused a strain. Fortunately the Buddha Sasana-nuggaha Association came forward to relieve the situation with an offer of charity of a Tape-Recorder machine with which the discourse given on the 27th July 1951 to a group of 15 devotees undertaking the training was taken on tape-record. Thereafter this tape recorded discourse has been in constant use daily preceded by a few preliminary remarks spoken by the Mahasi Sayadaw.
Then owing to the great demand of many Branch Meditation centres of the Mahasi Satipattana Vipassana as well as of the public, this discourse was published in the book form in 1954. The book has how run to the sixth edition. As there is also a keen interest and eager demand among many devotees of other nationalities who are unacquainted with Burmese the discourse is now translated into English.
U Pe Thin, (translator)
Mahasi Yogi
December, 1957
TRANSLATION
Namo Buddhassa.
Honour to the Fully Enlightened One.
On coming across the Sasana of Lord Buddha it is most important for every one to cultivate in oneself the virtues of Sila, Samadhi and Panna. One should, undoubtedly, possess these three virtues.
Sila is the observance, by lay-people, of five precepts as a minimum measure. For Bhikkhus it is the discipline of Patimokkha Sila. Any one who is well-disciplined in Sila would be re-born in the happy existence of human beings or devas. But this ordinary form of Lokiya Sila would not be a safe-guard against the relapse into the lower states of miserable existence, such as, hell, or animals, or petas. It is, therefore, desirable to cultivate the higher form of Lokuttara Sila as well. This is Magga and Phala Sila. When one has fully acquired the virtue of this Sila he is saved from the relapse into the lower states, and he will always lead a happy life by being re-born as human beings or devas. Every one should, therefore, make it a point of his duty to work for the Lokuttara Sila. There is every hope of success for any one who works sincerely and in real earnest. It would indeed be a pity if any one were to fail to take advantage of this fine chance of being endowed with the higher qualities, for he would undoubtedly be a victim sooner or later of his own bad karma which would pull him down to lower states of miserable existence of hell, or animals, or petas, where the span of life lasts many hundreds, thousands, or millions of millions of years. It is therefore emphasised here that this coming across the Sasana of Lord Buddha is the very opportunity for working for the Magga Sila and Phala Sila.
It is not feasible to work for the Sila alone. It is also necessary to practise Samadhi. Samadhi is the fixed or tranquil state of mind. The ordinary or undiciplined mind is in the habit of wandering to other places; it can not be kept under control; it follows any idea, thought or imagination, etc. In order to prevent its wandering, the mind should be made to attend repeatedly to a selected object of Samadhi. On gaining practice the mind gradually loosens its traits and remains fixed on the object to which it is directed. This is Samadhi. There are two forms of Samadhi, viz., Lokiya Samadhi and Lokuttara Samadhi. Of these two, the practice in Samatha Bhavana viz: Anapana, Metta, Kasina, etc. will enable the development of the states of Lokiya Jhana, such as four Rupa-jjhahanas and four Arupa-jjhanas, by virtue of which one would be re-born in the plane of Brahama. The life span of Brahma is very long and lasts for one world cycle, two, four, eight, up to a limit of eighty-four thousands of world-cycles as the case may be. But at the end of the life-span a Brahama will die and be re-born as human being or deva. If he leads a virtuous life all the time he may lead a happy life in higher existence. But as he is not free from kilesas (defilements) he may commit demeritorious deeds on many occasions. He will then be a victim of his bad karma and will be re-born in hell or other lower states of miserable existence. This Lokiya Samadhi also is not a definite security. It is desirable to work for the Lokuttara Samadhi, which is nothing but Magga Samadhi and Phala Samadhi. To possess this Samadhi, it is essential to cultivate panna.
Memorabilia from Boston University
John Silber, Boston University President and former Philosophy Chair and Dean of Arts and Sciences, University of Texas, Austin, invited Professor Desani to Boston University for the 1981/1982 academic year. Professor posted a flyer to me announcing these lectures. Silber was responsible for bringing Desani to Austin.
Pemberton Parkway
When I first came to know Professor Desani he was living in an attached apartment of friends at Lake Travis near Austin, Texas, United States. A few months later we helped him move to a detached garage apartment on Pemberton Parkway in Austin. This property fronted Shoal Creek and Pemberton Parkway itself was only a block long. There was no outlet. Here is a street view of the entrance off 24th street.
That is about what it looked like at the time. The apartment has been remodeled but is intact. A lot of the foliage is gone. At the time one could barely see the larger house up the hill which now appears to have been attached to the garage. At any rate the area above the two garage doors, which were open car ports in the original construction, is where Professor lived most of the years I knew him.
There was no brick. Everything was sheathed in redwood. The gate on the right wasn’t there and along that side of the apartment was an almost impenetrable bamboo stand. Where I sit now are two staffs cut from that bamboo. The steps on the left were much different. No brick, just a metal handrail, and the stairs began near the car port entrance instead of off the street.
Here are the links from Google street view where I captured these images.
Some Further Thoughts on Rissala
Really I’ve nothing substantial to add having said below and on Tackingintothewind.blogspot what seems to me enough to sustain this deeply personal memoriam for a great benefactor of mankind. I do have some random thoughts, however.
I’ve mentioned below that Professor Desani had ready for publication a book he titled Rissala and that to my knowledge it was given to the U.N. Children’s fund. Desani mentioned many times that he would will his belongings to them and I assume that is what he did. I’d like here to reiterate that Todd Katz and I, both former students of Professor, both dedicated to honoring his memory in any way possible, have made what we thought were appropriate contacts with an individual most likely to have handled the disposition of Desani’s bequeath. Neither of us received a reply or even an acknowledgement and at this writing none is expected. Its difficult for me to imagine that Professor wouldn’t want Rissala published. He talked about it most of the times I visited with him. My collaborator Mr. Katz likely made the same offer I did. I volunteered to scan the manuscript and make of it an e-book and publish it on the web.
Now, no one reads this blog; well, hardly anyone. There is a widget here showing the total number of hits. 238 since the first post, January, 2011. As far as I know there is Katz’s page on Desani and a Wikipedia page the author(s) of which are unknown to me. Since my time with Professor I’ve not heard from anyone except Katz about Desani. I’ve searched among the dozen or so student’s names who Professor befriended, to no avail. To my knowledge no other friends of the Professor have made any public efforts other than those mentioned here to promote or sustain his beneficence. I would hope that somewhere there is someone that will find this and having the wherewithal to do so will find and publish, at least as an ebook, Professor Desani’s Rissala. He considered it his magnum opus and anyone who has taken the time to read his other works, Hali, All About H. Hatterr, and who has further taken the time to look into the profoundly deep subjects broached in my notes below on the Nadi texts and in the essays Yoga and Vipassana Meditation, known as The Rangoon Lecture, and Mostly Concerning Kama and Her Immortal Lord, will take up this task and see it through to completion. Desani’s conversations with us indicated that Rissala would include and expand on the material in these three subjects. That is to say, it wasn’t a work of fiction but more in the line of an autobiography, I believe.
The world can’t help but benefit greatly from further exposure to Professor Desani’s life and work. I’m sure he would approve. Any time it came to his attention that someone somewhere in the world had taken a scholarly interest in his work he shared that with his circle of friends taking great interest in the fact that someone had seen and appreciated his life’s work. Somewhere, sometime, someone will take this great opportunity to do a great good. I envy that person and thank them on behalf of Professor Desani with all my heart.