Real Understanding

Swami Akhandananda Saraswati

Few know the meaning of 'understanding' in the deepest sense, which goes beyond the
word and the concept. Once you have understood in this deep sense, then there will be
no problem. The fundamental principle of kriya yoga leads you to the real experience of
understanding. When you have this experience, you will fully understand yourself. This
real understanding is known in yoga as self-realization or the awakening of kundalini.
Kundalini is the universal power which is lying dormant in the lower plane of
consciousness of each individual. The sleeping kundalini, symbolised by a serpent, lies
coiled in the mooladhara chakra. In our psychic body, there are six important centres
called chakras, which are responsible for the various stages of real understanding,
mooladhara being the lowest of these. By practicing kriya yoga, which involves
concentrating on these centres, the student awakens his inner capacity for deeper
understanding.
The mind has three principal states: conscious, subconscious and unconscious, beyond
which is the super-conscious state. Kriya yoga develops our awareness of all these
states of mind, first the conscious state, then the subconscious and then the
unconscious. Finally, when awareness is developed in the unconscious, it is suddenly
and spontaneously transformed into super consciousness - completely expanded
consciousness. The yogi first experiences super-consciousness in introspection, and
eventually it manifests in all his activity, both internal and external. This heightened
awareness is not something you can obtain as you buy groceries. It is a potential lying
dormant in each individual which must be patiently developed. Thus kriya yoga can be
defined as a method by which you can expand every level of your consciousness and
every aspect of your daily life.
Most people's self awareness is very poor. For example, you may be reading this article
with one level of your mind, the conscious level, but you don't know what the other
levels of your mind are doing. Your subconscious mind may be driving into the city or
wandering along the beach, similarly with the unconscious. It is through this
unawareness of the activity in the different levels of the mind that all of our problems
develop - we lose our ability to concentrate, to understand, to relax and be free from
all the usual kinds of day to day tensions and frustrations.
Of course, we want to be free of these problems and to have control over our minds.
We have always been trying, whether we realised it or not, to gain this self control,
perhaps as long as we have been aware of our own existence as human beings with a
body and a mind. But we just get more and more frustrated because we never find real
success or satisfaction. Still we try, more or less without knowing what we are doing or
where we are going. Of course, it's not our fault that we haven't found the answers; we
shouldn't blame ourselves or anybody else. Although we have been trying to learn the
answers from people who claimed to know them, whether they be psychologists or
philosophers, we should bear in mind that perhaps they have been just as ignorant
about themselves as we are about ourselves. The blind often lead the blind, especially
in the west.
People are trying too hard to control the mind. That is why they feel restless, angry
and frustrated with life. The mind is very sensitive and fickle. It can be likened to an
untrained, restless little monkey. If you want to tame the monkey, you should relax,
take your time and approach it slowly. Otherwise the monkey will just run away; you
will chase it, and because it is so agile you will only end up exhausted. This is what has
happened to so many of us; we have become exhausted trying to force our minds into
submission. Now we must realise that if we really want to make something of life and
develop our awareness, we mustn't use force. Even those who practice yoga make this
very mistake.
Many people find that when they try to meditate, they cannot control the mind; they
cannot even remain aware of what they are doing. Often they are trying too hard to
concentrate the mind, trying to force it into one-pointedness. They are following a
method which is not suited to their stage of development, for true concentration is a
very advanced and difficult yogic practice. In kriya yoga, on the other hand, you allow
the mind to do what it wants, and simply remain aware of its activity as it exhausts its

restless tendencies. You do not even have to sit in a classical yogic posture (such as
the lotus pose) to do the practices. The relaxed approach of kriya yoga enables us to
understand and make friends with our own mind.
Let us discuss kriya yoga in relation to physical and mental health. People in this
society suffer from a host of physical ailments ranging from coronary heart disease to
constipation. Millions desperately need and want solutions to these diseases, but so
many, even if they can obtain medical treatment, cannot find a cure. The practice of
kriya yoga is a safe, natural, drugless method which, with time and patience and when
taught and practiced correctly, can eliminate virtually any physical, mental or
psychosomatic illness.
Instead of just suppressing the obvious and unpleasant symptoms of disease, it
directly attacks the basic problems which cause them. Of course there are very many
highly effective yogic practices which work directly on the body and can correct
diseases on the physical level. More often than not, however, these physical problems
are ultimately caused by hidden disturbances in the subconscious mind. By developing
awareness in the deeper levels of the mind, you can overcome the problems and
conflicts which are stored there.
By the same principle, kriya yoga also eliminates all kinds of mental disease, from mild
depression to severe forms of psychosis. Conventional methods of mental treatment in
our society generally try to alleviate the immediate complaint with drugs. The
depression, phobia or whatever the complaint, even if it goes away, is probably just a
symptom of the real problem, which remains unresolved at the subconscious level, and
simply manifests again in different symptoms. Thus, thousands of people are
habituated or addicted to taking pills for depression, tension, insomnia, migraine and a
host of psychosomatic illnesses. These people have not found a real solution to their
problems, because they are not eradicating the deep-seated impressions in the mind
which caused them.
Take a typical situation; perhaps you are feeling depressed. You might go to a chemist
and buy a prescription of Valium. The drug suppresses the influence of the hidden
problem which is causing the depression, but without letting it out. You temporarily
become unconscious, unaware of the problem, but the problem is still there. When the
influence of the chemical is finished, the problem manifests again in new symptoms.
This is why people continue to suffer from chronic mental problems, no matter what
drugs they use.
If you practice kriya yoga, you can find real solutions to your problems without using
drugs. Let me illustrate with a real situation. A lady who came to the ashram had so
many problems that to escape from them she was taking many different drugs. I knew
the real cause of her problems and asked her to come and live for some time at the
ashram. When she arrived she was told not to take any pills. She refused, saying that
otherwise she would get depressed. I replied, 'No, you will not get depressed without
the pills. I am just asking you to give them up for today.' The next morning I asked her
how she felt and she said 'I feel fantastic' I asked her if she had taken the pills and she
said, 'No'. Ever since then she has been able to sleep well without her pills. In the
beginning she constantly went out, bought anything which caught her fancy and
brought it back to the ashram. I made no comment because I was aware of the
reasons for her behaviour. A few days later she said to me, 'I have realised that I
shouldn't purchase anything which I don't need. Now I understand what I really do
need.' This development in her own self awareness, her understanding of herself, took
place spontaneously through ashram life and the practices of kriya yoga. Actually I
didn't expect such a rapid improvement in her condition when I first met her. Now she
is happy, calm and healthy, and is starting to gain a real understanding of her own
mind.
This is just a brief glimpse of kriya yoga, but you can only understand so much through
the intellectual mind. Beyond that, the only way to understand more, to really
understand yourself and your own life, is to practice.
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