Spiritual Pathways

Hellenistic marble sculpture; Metropolitan Museum, New York The Bhagvat Gita is an ancient revered scripture of Asia containing much spiritual knowledge. Let us begin with one of its verses about a yogi, “He who is able to stand here on earth, before casting off this body, the urges of lust and anger, he is a yogi – a harmonized soul, a happy human.” Chapter V, Verse 23, Bhagvat Gita Along with other desires that plague humans, lust remains a prominent one. It is said that some of this weakness remains even with the gods. Nevertheless, it is something the yogi constantly works to overcome. When one has overcome lust, nudity or sight of organs of procreations, that excite most humans, cease to excite the yogi any more than other body parts that the Lord gave humans. It is for this reason that sects of yogis in ancient times often shed all their clothes and walked about dressed in nothing more than the sky. Many still do. Ancients Greeks were similarly spiritually e...

  Approximately 2500 years ago, major advances in human civilization took place in Europe around Athens and in Sub-Himalayan regions. It was a time of huge spiritual advance for mankind. At around this time Sage Patanjali described existing practices of spiritual development in his text – About Yoga – or about spiritual paths to reaching the highest state of evolution possible for humans. Patanjali said yoga may be considered as consisting of eight parts, starting from basic necessities of civilized behavior in the first part and then gradually moving on to higher aspects of evolution. The first part of yoga called yam involves basic moral and ethical behavior i.e. non-violence, non-stealing, truth, shunning greed and animal lust. The second part termed niyam begins with cleanliness and goes on to disciplined behavior and work (tap), contentment, introspection and belief in the supreme intelligence that governs the universe. The third part of yoga is to do with phy...

The Himalayas have been a source of spiritual knowledge and inspiration since ancient times. It has been the abode or origin of numerous saints and mystics including the Great Buddha. Certainly if a divine location has to be chosen for that on the planet it has to be the Himalayas as the highest mountain chain of the world and also the most conducive to life and beauty. Earth is not paradise but bits of paradise lie scattered across the bosom of Mother Earth and some of these are in these sacred mountains. In 1970, a youthful saint of around twenty, called Baba Hairakhan (also spelt Haidkhan) or Babaji lovingly by his disciples appeared in the Nainital District of Himalayas. He died in 1984 even as he had said while he lived that the body is meaningless and transient but the soul lives on. Through his public and early death, Baba Hairakhan also illustrated to his many disciples of Christian origin who had come to believe that Babaji would live forever in his present bo...

A picture from Ashok Babaji's abode Now we shall describe a simple yoga, simple yet profound in its inner meaning. The best of the laws of the universe are the simplest. Those who know even a little science and the law of gravity that holds planets and the stars together on their orbital paths know that the universe chose a simple number for that law - 2 - and not a complicated one. This yoga is so general in nature that it is beneficial for all life, even energy producing inanimate matter and machines. It is called Entropy Yoga. The term Entropy Yoga was born some years ago as a result of study of both the physical and spiritual sciences by this author combining two words and ideas from modern human science and timeless mysticism.   This yoga is not something that is practiced for a few fixed minutes or hours daily but rather a matter of lifestyle. Let us consider the two words separately first. Yoga: The precise meaning of the term – yoga - is union. It ...

  While some are interested in mystic knowledge many would like to know of simple practical practices derived from it that can lead to evolution of their souls towards greater peace and happiness. Such practices may be called yoga for that is what yoga is, the evolution of the soul to its original infinitely powerful and blissful state from which it arose. Mind and body are temporary acquisitions of the soul that change from time to time within a life as also from life to life. They are assets acquired by a soul for its journey through space and time, each in accordance with its needs and desires under the supervision of the Universal Consciousness. When a soul has evolved to its highest possible state, it unites with the Infinite Eternal Soul. It then longer needs a finite mind and body that is a limited and small thing in our vast infinite universe. Different yoga practices have some common elements but differ in emphasis and details. Each person is unique and re...