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Book II
Being a Good Boy
Exercises and Practices
"Whatever form you pray to God in, in that form He comes." -- Mahabarata
What This Book is For
This is a way for someone who want to be a better boy than he currently is, for whatever reason. These ways are not for everyone. If you find that you have reservations, by all means stop, or alter the formula until your heart affirms it. This growth is from life to life. There is no hurry. Keep your eyes open, and do not override your own sense. Only you are responsible for your behavior and for the way that you are. Never abnegate that responsibility.
The daily practices are intended to further you in the area of being a good boy, or being made to be a good boy, which is really the same thing. Either you do the making or somebody else does, but either way, it’s a being made. They are frankly coercive, and designed to do just that -- to make you become a better boy. So look them over carefully first before you decide to experiment with them. You may certainly use this website if you are a “girl”, the term females use for “boy”.
What is a Good Boy?
When a person assumes control over himself, it is common to use one of various analogies to things that are controlled. You find vehicles such as puppet, automobile, monkey, robot, etc. as symbols of the controlled unit. In this way we use “boy” as the vehicle of the controlled part, and make it behave in much the same way as an actual boy is made to behave.
I will argue that the boy form is inherently more enlightened than the man form. The human being is indelibly subordinate, ultimately both to the Godhead and to his own unique eternal Buddha-self in nirvana. When maturity is attained, the Godhead can be given the place that the mother had occupied, and the Buddha self that of the father.
The man type, seemingly self-willed, more readily tends to delusion, particularly when he does not receive some form of the best way to discipline the human form. Most children receive a very good variety of that from their parents.
Now parents are wonderful people, salt of the earth none better, but they are defined largely by their role-games, and their roles are not archetypal. In heaven they neither marry nor are given in marriage, according to Christ, but are as the angels. The discipline that parents give to children (and it is dharmic of them to do so) results in an intense love-bond, not because they are parents and children, but because the discipline itself is archetypal, God-intended, and always results in such a bond.
Not only is it the best discipline for children, but for humans of any age whatsoever. The way that grownups eclipse children is surpassed in degree by the eclipsing of themselves by higher divine forms, which can be found within their own individual selves. The discipline is appropriate, especially so when misbehavior warrants it -- not because the behavior is immature but because it is misbehavior, and because we are subordinate. When adult prisoners were given a parenting-like discipline including corporal punishment, they almost at once displayed the same reactions as children, making it obvious that these reactions are not specifically childish -- they are human.
The truth is that at least 90% of your behavior is initiated at the subconscious level. The ego-mind is given the illusion of causing all the behavior, just as it has the illusion of continuity, whereas a normal scrutiny will reveal that egos are not continuous at all but represent a variety of motivational complexes.
The subconscious is just like that little boy in the movie “The Sixth Sense”. It contends on a daily basis with frightful monsters, many times its size, who are powerfully coercing it to misbehave. If it can say to them, “I cannot do that, because I would get a hard spanking if I did,” and if that is real, it has ammunition which can enable it to face those monsters down.
True self-realization requires a distinguishing of the individual soul from the group-soul part of oneself, and this distinction needs freedom from the sin-state, since every sin is a doorway to delusion, which involves a misalignment between the ego (the seeming being) and the individual soul. Deluded people must of necessity fall back on the group soul for soul support, since their seeming being is now in a different place from their own higher mind and soul, which abide perpetually in a sin-free condition.
Nirmanakaya Siddartha Gautama wisely gave the eightfold path (right understanding, right motives, right speech, right behavior, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right contemplation) which he had rediscovered, and made it central to his teachings, since it leads so powerfully to escape from the deluded condition, and hence conduces to individual soul-realization, opening the way to the Buddha-nature. (To view the original form in which the eightfold path was given, click the blue-line link.)
Adherence to the eightfold path is one of the surest ways to this realization, and this adherence can be easily accomplished by the use of a parenting-like discipline.
The spirit of being a good boy that a mature self-controller has is not different from that of an actual good boy. The better the “boy” is, the more powerfully and readily it can be self-controlled, and the higher the level of the individual mind/soul/spirit that can easily articulate it. A moral code for good boys can be found here. (click the blue-line link.)
The better the boy in actual childhood, the more lovingly cooperative with his discipline he is. The brattier he becomes, the more uncooperative and resentful. If you are well-behaved, your mind will be well-behaved and a better mind (not that mental exercise is not also required). If you are disobedient and rebellious, do not be surprised if your mind is that way as well.
While we are on the subject of mental behavior, one of the folds of the eightfold path easily masterable by a parenting-type discipline is right mindfulness -- absence of wrong-mindfulness. Any mental conduct which is neurotic -- paranoia, for example -- is misbehavior, and can be easily corrected by you-stop-doing-that-right-now, and punishment if it does not.
Backdrop of This Website’s Practice
The devotions given in this website are sevenfold -- one for each day of the week. They involve symbols of Godhead that are Hindu in origin. Although I am not a Hindu, I use them for the manifest forms of the Deity because they are so excellent. For the unmanifest form of the Godhead as such I use the syllable “Un”, (pronounced ‘Yune’)
Un
Using the name Un (Yune) underscores that He is One. His symbol is a perfect sphere, of exquisite clarity, represented by the image in the water of a stemmed glass drinking vessel. Originally I used a sphere of crystal and reverenced it constantly, but after about 20 years He gave me to understand that He didn’t especially like being crystal -- it was too constricted -- and provided the image-in-the-water.
I’ve tried to capture the image in a photograph, but it’s difficult. Below is the closest I’ve been able to come thus far, but if you replicate the glass -- I bought the one in the photo in a dollar store -- you’ll be able to see it in the proper light conditions. It is a good image; it is crystalline, and sometimes He seems to reward you, as when your devotions have been good, with an especially good view of the awesomely accurate clear sphere. You can pretty generally find it by altering the perspective slightly, and sometimes by throwing your eyes very slightly out of focus. Once you’re used to it, it’s generally always there.
If you decide to use this symbol, you will want to treat it reverently, of course. The glass will need to be washed once a week; simply go over it with a new, wet 2-inch square of good linen. The water is changed at least twice a week (the bathing day and one additional day), and should be checked daily for particles. It is good to use the old water for blessing plants, continuing the theme of higher being to lower. (I sprinkle the water on the plant, while uttering the formula: “Blest way it’s supposed to be with all the plants of this species.”) Be nice to the Deity, and show consideration. It's feelings are tenderer than yours, very like a baby’s.
The Symbol of Un
The Hindu Godhead Deities
The Hindu Godhead Deities are aspectual. There is only one God, but He can wear many hats. Just as your father can also be your History teacher, your schoolbus driver, your scoutmaster, your karate instructor, and your bridge partner, so can God be Krishna (his generic personality), Brahma (the creator), Shiva (the font of goodness), or Vishnu (the imaginer). These forms can be visualized as appearing within the symbol of Un, the Unmanifest.
The devotions involve mantra. Mantras are tantric sounds and phrases which (it is claimed) have effects that are unique to them. The tantras are mystical ways of spirituality which originated in India and are used for divine and supernatural purposes. They involve mandalas (designs), mudras (gestures), and rituals, as well as mantras. There is a right hand path, which is exclusively good, and a left hand path, used for darker purposes. This website will deal only with the right hand path.
An example of mantra is the Hare Krishna Mantra (Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare) consisting of names of God, which is repeated by some mantra users over and over in the practice of Japa, the name for such repetition. All of the syllables in the mantra are tantric. Hare is pronounced hah-ray, and the similarity to the cheer hurrray is not accidental. The assumption is that the sound raises ones spirits. The ‘ah’ sound is found very often in spirituality, as in the name ‘God’.
The Godhead is one; we use His aspectual forms to focus on aspects. The Krishna form is for loving Him -- we put the symbol into the most lovable form we can contrive. (In the picture below, He is very cute -- clearly the Lord of the cutocracy. But in your mind, you can adjust the image at any time, so that it represents the form you find most dear and lovable.) Rama should be thought of as the universal mother -- the source of all of the mother-love in the universe, that ever was or ever will be, loving eternally and unconditionally. She may be visualized as generalized white light, or as any symbol which connotes mother-love to you. (Durga ma, Radha Raman, the mother image in the white moth, or another of your own choosing. You can love Her as though she were your mother.)
The key to mantra is the caitanya level, which is the level of meaning. Without focusing on the meaning, the mantra is not likely to have its intended effect.
Om is the best known tantric syllable. “O” is the sound and symbol of the Eternal Godhead. “M”, or the drawn out “Mmmm...” is a sound we make while we are loving. So that to utter Om properly is to love the Lord your God with your whole heart, your whole mind, and your whole soul, to use a phrase of Christ’s. (For some notes on the distinction between “Om” and “Aum”, click here.)
Many have used rote prayer in their devotions, both private and group. When one has prayed a given prayer enough, it becomes possible to hold the entire spirit of it in one’s mind, and to apply that spirit to one’s use of Om as one expresses it, as a flavor of one’s love. This is certainly in keeping with the admonition to not multiply words in prayer.
Klim Kamadevaya, Vidmahe Puspa Banaya, Dhimahi Tan No Nangah Pracodayat
(mp3 in download section at bottom of this page)
In Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says to Arjuna: “Among mantras I am the gayatri.” ‘Gayatri’ is from ‘gayatra’, a Sanskrit word for song or hymn, having three lines of eight syllables. The word may also be taken to refer to the Kama-Gayatri Mantra.
In the Gita are to be found many utterances of the historical Krishna, who was not Krishna the Eternal Godhead but a Tat spirit (The Godhead is Sat spirit; we who incarnate in this magical universe of his are Tat spirits) who had advanced to the avatar level. When an avatar speaks in his samadhi state he is at one with Brahman, and it is as though God himself were speaking. In Bhagavad Gita are to be found many utterances of this type, but also some sayings from the avatar’s ordinary state, as for example when he says, “In my opinion...” God has no opinions; He simply knows.
The Subjective Use of Mantra
This website is not intended as an entry point for the spiritual path proper; whether and when a person is ready for that is his own call. Many of the techniques given on this site frankly tap the power of spiritual-path ways, but they do so much as an orchid attaches itself to a tree. It is possible to be a sort of mobile orchid, moving from tree to tree to avail ourselves of roots, but we should not be surprised if we sometimes become an “oar-kid” in that sense as well.
On this website we will use the Kama Gayatri mantra in a special way, which is a subjective use of mantra involving private meanings that we attach to the words. This is permissible when addressing the Godhead, since Krishna is the knower of the known, and therefor does not have a problem keeping up with you. There is nothing known in the entire universe that He does not know, no matter how secret. We do not intend to slight or disrespect this sacred mantra -- it is very holy -- and as we make this subjective use of it we will be simultaneously honoring and being consistent with its actual meaning. Remember that the Kama Gayatri Mantra itself is real and has mystical power. There is some teaching to the effect that it is not different from Krishna Himself.
It is difficult to find a definitive translation, but it is said to roughly mean, ‘Let us contemplate Kama, the God of love. Let this power direct us.’ Another source gives:
Klim -- the seed of attraction
Kamadevaya - Love God
Vidmahe - concentrate
Puspa Banaya - blooming flower
Dhimahi - attain
Tan No Nangah - lead
Pracodayat - stimulate
The subjective meaning that we will attach to it is: Klim (addressing the Deity by his attraction), Kamadevaya (love-part of God -- ‘aya’ is the address form), Vidmahe Puspa Banaya (please look at my life right now, through the “video” of the hologram), Dhimahi Tan No Nangah Pracodayat (give me what I need to stimulate me).
My dear Love-God (addressing the Godhead by his love-aspect), please look at my life right now, and give me what, if anything, I need to stimulate me.
Here is a picture of Krishna, that I got from the cover of a Back to Godhead magazine:
Lord Sri Krishna
Krishna is the personality of the Godhead as such -- not role-defined. He is easily the most attractive and lovable being in existence, and so it is helpful to use a symbol which is very lovable. The picture above, capturable as a jpeg, is the most lovable I have found. When it is printed at a certain size, it is very powerful. I’ll give you the size, but you should prepare a place to put it, such that it will be given the reverence I know you will want to show it.
The best place to keep such an object is a butsudan -- simply a little one-foot cube-sized room whose doors you can close. If you use a little altar in your room, the divine object will tend to take the entire room over, and can object to any gross activity in that room. But with a butsudan, when you close the doors, the butsudan becomes its room. Since one of the classic siddhis is the ability to make oneself infinitely small or large, believe me -- the truly divine object does not feel cramped in there.
If you cannot give it a butsudan, I would suggest, both for this picture and for the one to come of Lord Shiva, that you print the image, laminate it, and keep it in a looseleaf binder. On either side of the picture you can put some nice paper (laser-paper for example) backed by 8½ x 11 cardboards, backed in turn by separators. Use paper clips to hold the separators together when the image is not being displayed.
The width of the Krishna picture is 3 inches; the height 4.05 inches. The Shiva picture you will want to be larger.
The Daily Devotions of This Practice
(12 to 15 minutes, depending on whether you use the prayer-list)
In our good-boy devotions, each day of the week a different aspect of Godhead Deity, corresponding to each of the seven major chakras, is prayed to. You might ask -- if there is only one God, are the Chakra Deities real? They're realer than we are, and considerably longer-lasting. This is a game that we play with the Godhead, that He apparently likes to play, and is willing to play. These are symbols, by which we contact him. Hare Bol.
The chakras are psychic energy vortexes. Although there are more than twenty chakras, seven of them, arranged in order along the spine, are deemed major. These are:
Each day, the Deity of that day is supplicated with our subjective use of the Kama Gaiatri Mantra (see above), repeated three times. The Deity is earnestly requested to look at our life right now, and to give us what, if anything, we need to stimulate us.
After the worship of the particular Deity, we go before a picture of lord Siva, the goodness, or beneficence, aspect of the Godhead, and as part of a series of chants to Him, we pray three times, while regarding the chakra Deity we just chanted Kama Gayatri to, that we properly absorb what that Deity has sent us, and be stimulated as He intended.
The Forms
These devotions are always preceded by a chant to prepare the mind for the divine presence. It is based on a mystic formula:
The Ocean of Nectar
Let him find in his heart a broad ocean of nectar
Within it a green-leafed forested isle
Whose white sands bear purple, white, all-colored shells
Fair trees line its shores with a myriad of blooms
Within it rare bushes trees creepers and rushes
On all sides shed fragrance most sweet to the sense
Who would taste of the flavour of life supposed to
Should picture therein a most wonderful tree
On whose far-spreading branches grow fruit of all fancies
All that my heart and soul have desired is there
There the fruit and the flowers are for beautiful hours
“If I am a good boy” inscribed on the stem
“If I am a good boy” is carved on the stem
All that my heart and soul have desired is there
If I am a good boy then I might get some
Now under the shadow of that peaceful arbor
A temple of rubies most radiant is seen
And he who shall seek there will find on a seat rare
His dearly beloved enshrined therein
Let him dwell with his mind as his true heart defines
On that divine form with its modes and its signs
Om
(An mp3 of this chant can be listened to or downloaded here: Ocean.mp3 )
You can see that this chant is intended to make you be a good boy, just as you would make a small boy you can put across your knees be a good boy. If you do not want to grow in this way (and many do not), simply do not use this website, or if you do, eliminate this chant. But the devotional chants also are intended to have this effect, and to benignly coerce you to become more of a good boy.
In justifying the technique, I would simply note that your destiny depends upon your behavior, and that a good boy is not something you are -- it is a bunch of stuff that you do, and a bunch of other stuff that you do not do. How good a person is consists of habit patterns, really. People who seem to be good with little effort were at some point in the past, not necessarily in this life, made to be good for a long time. It is like a skateboard. After you kick it a lot it seems to go along just fine without being kicked. But eventually it will slow down. Eventually it will have to be kicked again.
To enter the spirit of this practice, when you utter the formula “All that my heart and soul have desired is there,” three concepts are useful: since the inception of your soul (perhaps thousands of lifetimes ago), since you were born, and any new desires that your heart or soul have added since the last time.
Now whatever you have desired, you will in due course of time receive, but not necessarily in this life. Hence ‘if I am a good boy then I might get some.’ You are saying that if you are not a good boy, you will get nothing of it in this life.
Spanking
Many will be surprised to find in these devotions many references to spanking discipline. These are not arbitrary; spanking is actually basic to our psychology. The quote beneath is from Book I.
“An ego, which deluded people take to be their identity, is not a real construct. Initially it came into being because as an infant we were related to as an identity by whatever parented us, and it became most strongly formed by being made to obey, and by being punished when it did not obey, hopefully in an atmosphere which was very loving.
“Normally, this means that we got spanked not infrequently in early childhood, usually by the mother, having the result that spanking became integral to our formation, very powerfully so because we associated it with mother-love.”
Spanking is simply the best way to make someone be a good boy. (For a more complete explanation, see Book I.) When we use it to correct behavior, we are addressing the formative part of us; we are in flux; we are indeed shape-shifters, as Odin and Loki were shape-shifters. Becoming a better boy involves corrections; hence the many references to that reality.
For the purposes of this website, in which the mind is analogized as a boy, you are asked to define the ‘boy’ part of you as ‘a behavioral unit which is made to behave by spanking.’ The boy type should bounce against this backboard. Only the two magic words, “I do,” the undertaking of the responsibilities of husband and father, can make a boy-type into a man-type. Spanking discipline is, archetypally, the boy’s other half, as the wife is the other half of the man-type.
I repeat -- it is archetypal. I have yet to encounter a human who did not respond to it, regardless of how that person was brought up. And I have yet to encounter a human being whose responses to it I thought were flawed -- again, regardless of the upbringing. Not only is it built into the form, but we have all been trained by it for many lifetimes. It takes far more than one bad upbringing to mess it up.
The mental machine that results is a very easy one to find parts for, since at any given time there are at least one billion people on earth who function in the same way.
Daily Practice
(12 to 15 minutes, depending on whether you use the prayer-list)
In the devotion given on this website, most of the chants used feature a subjective dimension. For this reason, it is very important to always see the chant explanation section, which gives not only the actual meaning of the chant, but the subjective aspect we are using for this practice.
In the daily practice, the devotion is sung to the Deity of that day, while looking at the text of what you are singing. In the “downloads” section you will find a PDF of the devotions, as well as mp3 recordings. These are:
1. The full daily devotions for each day of the week (7)
2. Individual mp3’s of the seven specific Deity formulas (7)
3. The Kama Gayatri Mantra
4. The Ocean of Nectar
5. Pritham Bhagvati
6. Kar mean mere
7. Thank You for This Beautiful Day
8. A PDF of the devotions
You can listen to them, and even chant along with them if you wish, but this is only to get you into the way of them. You will want to perform the devotions yourself, without the tapes, for best effect.
If you feel you want to deviate from the formulas -- to do them a different way or even change the meanings, you are free to do so. Here are the devotions as given in the PDF (see the Chant Explanations section for the meanings of the chants):
Phase One
Monday, Lord Brahma:
I enter the temple of Muladhara Chakra. Om, Lord Brahma, Om. In Muladhara Chakra, the Deity is Brahma, deep red, four-faced, three-eyed, four-armed, holding a trident, libation jar, rosary, and in Abhaya mudra, the gesture of, attuning the fear of, and desire for, a spanking.
His Shakti is Dakini. Shining pink, four arms, holding a skulled staff, a trident, a sword, and a drinking vessel. Om Dakini. Lord Brahma, Om.
Chant: Sa-Ta-Na-Ma (Truth is Thy Name), up to 5 minutes, then, “Lord Brahma, Un.”
Tuesday, Lord Vishnu:
I enter the temple of Svadhisthana Chakra. Om, Lord Vishnu, Om. In Svadhisthana Chakra, the Deity is Vishnu, shining dark blue, four-armed, three-eyed, holding a conch, a dorje, a wheel, and a lotus.
His Shakti is Rakini. Dark blue, seated on a red lotus, three-eyed, four-armed, holding a trident, an axe, a drum, and a lotus. Om Rakini. Lord Vishnu, Om.
Chant: Aad guray nameh, Jugaad guray nameh, Sat guray nameh, Siri Vishnu Dayvay, nameh. (chanted 3 times)
Wednesday, Lord Rudra:
I enter the temple of Manipura Chakra. Om, Lord Rudra, Om. In Manipura Chakra, the Deity is Rudra, red, smeared with white ashes, three-eyed, four-armed, holding fire, a rosary, making the gestures of Vara and Abhaya, rightly rewarding the boy, and attuning his fear of, and desire for, a spanking.
His Shakti is Lakini. Dark blue, three-faced, three eyes in each face, four-armed, holding fire, vajra, making the gestures of Vara and Abhaya, rightly rewarding the boy, and attuning his fear of, and desire for, a spanking. Om Lakini. Lord Rudra, Om.
Thursday, Lord Isha:
I enter the temple of Anahata Chakra. Om, Lord Isha, Om. In Anahata Chakra, the Deity is Isha, shining white, three-eyed, two-armed, making the gestures of Vara and Abhaya, rightly rewarding the boy, and attuning his fear of, and desire for, a spanking.
His Shakti is Kakini. Shining yellow, single-faced, three-eyed, four-armed, holding a noose and a skull, making the gestures of Vara and Abhaya, rightly rewarding the boy, and attuning his fear of, and desire for, a spanking. Om Kakini. Lord Isha, Om.
Chant: Un, Un, Un, Un. -- Hare Isha, Hare Isha, Isha Isha, Hare Hare. Hare Isha, Hare Isha, Isha Isha, Hare Hare. Haaaaa, Reeeeee.........Un. Uuuun.
Friday, Lord Sadashiva:
I enter the temple of Visuddha Chakra. Om, Lord Sadashiva, Om. In Visuddha Chakra, the Deity, is Sadashiva, as Ardhvanarisvara, his androgynous form. Right half white, representing Shiva, left half golden, representing Shakti. Five faced, three-eyed, ten-armed, holding a trident, an axe, a sword, vajra, and fire, the Ananta Serpent, a bell, a goad, a noose, making the gesture of Abhaya Mudra, attuning the fear of, and desire for, a spanking.
His Shakti is Sakini. Shining white, five-faced, three-eyed, four-armed, holding a noose, a goad, a bow, and an arrow. Om Sakini. Lord Sadashiva, Om. Lord Tat-purusa (back as viewed), Om. Lord Aghora (viewer’s right), Om. Lord Sadyo-jata (front as viewed), Om. Lord Vama-deva (viewer’s left), Om. Lord Isana (middle), Om.
Saturday, Lord Paramashiva:
I enter the temple of Ajna Chakra. Om, Lord Paramashiva, Om. In Ajna Chakra, the Deity, is Paramashiva, in the form of a bindu, symbolizing Shiva-Shakti. His Shakti is Hakini. Moon-white, seated on a white lotus, six-faced, three-eyed, six-armed, holding a book, a skull, a drum, a rosary, making the gestures of vara and abhaya, rightly rewarding the boy, and attuning his fear of, and desire for, a spanking. Om Hakini. Lord Paramashiva, Om.
Chant: Thy preferences be blessed; thy preferences be honored. Thy preferences be blessed; thy preferences be honored. Thy preferences be blessed; thy preferences be honored. Paramashiva, Un.
Sunday, Lord Shiva:
I enter the temple of Sahasrara Chakra. Om, Lord Shiva, Om. In Sahasrara Chakra, the Deity is Shiva, Om.
His Shakti is Kundalini. Om Kundalini. Lord Shiva, Om.
Chant: Klim Shivaya, Sankaraya, Vasu Deva, Sukumrajaya, Svaha. Klim Shivaya, Sankaraya, Vasu Deva, Sukumrajaya, Svaha. Klim Shivaya, Sankaraya, Vasu Deva, Sukumrajaya, Svaha. Thy will be done. Thy will be done. Thy will be done. Lord Shiva, Un.
Phase Two
After the devotion each morning, we go before a picture of Lord Shiva. Shiva is very vital to this way, since He represents the goodness or beneficence aspect of the Godhead. In the Sunday chant we call him “Sukumraj” (‘aya’ is the address form), which means ‘Lord of being a good boy’. Of the seven Chakra Deities, five are forms of Shiva. Here is a suitable picture for the purpose:
Lord Shiva
The chant is as follows:
Pritham Bhagvati. pritham Bhagvati, pritham Bhagvati, namo namo (3x)
Sarab shakti, sarab shakti, sarab shakti, namo namo (3x)
Narayana, Narayana, Narayana, namo namo
Kundalini, Shiva shakti, Shiva shakti namo namo
Kundalini, mani shakti, mani shakti, namo namo
Kundalini, Shiva shakti, Shiva shakti namo namo
Om
Then this one: Kar mean mere (meh-ray)
Kar mean mere, shukar shukar, shukarana (My mind gives thanks, extreme thanks)
Rehemal hoi me lea, shukarana (For the blessings that have been bestowed, extreme
thanks)
Phase Three
After the devotion each morning, we chant thanksgiving to the Godhead, for the beautiful day he has given us. If we were truly in our right minds, and could see what was going on, we would be grateful for everything that happens about us. Thanks is always appropriate. Chant 18 is sung three times: “Hare Krishna, Hare Rama, thank you for this beautiful day. Let it be the way it’s supposed to be, all the way, all the way.”
Then the following formula: “From the most wonderful tree, on whose far-spreading branches grow fruit of all fancies, I choose two mangoes of health, and I enfold them into my being.” As we say this, we bow, and draw the fruits into our bosom with an indrawing gesture of the arms, which may cross.
The mangoes and the boon of health are meant for illustration. You will want to choose your own fruits and boons, seven different combinations, one for each day.
Phase Four (optional)
The Prayer List
Optionally, you will want to begin compiling a list of people that you really like, who also have some dedication to being a good boy. Some of them are probably being a better boy than you are, at least in some way, but the bottom line is that they are all people that you like a lot. This is the prayer list. Each evening, in your nightly devotions, you announce that on the following day, the good intentions of the scheduled person will be prayed for. At that time you also announce that person’s next day, so that when it comes up again, it will have been counted on by the soul of someone you really like.
After phase three, you call “People of the prayer list,” and beginning with the person of the day, call the roll in order. It is good to have a code name for each one of them, to avoid the wrong kind of attention. Then say, “Please join your prayers to mine as we pray for the intentions of ______.” If you have a picture or a sound-bite of the person, you can display it.
Then bow before your favorite symbol of Godhead (I use the name “Un” but you can substitute your own favorite name for Him), and pray as follows:
Oh most Supreme Un, Creator and Sustainer of the Universe, thou blessed, thou full of wonder, thou full of beauty, thou friend of all, thou all-wise, thou all-good, thou all-knowing and all-loving -- Om Om Om. We thank Thee for Thy many blessings. Please help us to be thy loving fellow creatures to each other. Help us to be as good a friend to our magnetos as they are to us. And please turn thy loving ear upon our supplications. May our prayer for others be the best way that it should be, in the light of thy divine wisdom. Om Un. May ________ be appropriately and wisely blessed, both by thou and by each of us. May his good intentions also be blessed. And may it be the best way that it is supposed to be for him. Hare Un. (Chant Hare Krishna Mantra)
This ends the daily good-boy devotion. I am a Buddhist, so I generally chant a sutra after this, but you must all find your own practices. If you adopt this “prayer-list” practice, you will find that you never miss, since you have promised someone you really like that it will happen, and also you will find that after one year, you will have spent six hours in intense, bowed prayer to the Godhead. After four years, one entire 24-hour day.
Sadhana
Spiritually serious people call their devotions “sadhana”. Sadhana is the name given to those spiritual practices which one uses on a daily basis. It may consist of chanting, meditation, prayer, performance of ritual, spiritual reading, or yoga. The Chinese Energy Arts, such as Nei Gong and Chi Gong, are also legitimate sadhana exercises.
It is essential that sadhana be designed by the individual, and reflect his current spiritual interests. We all do pretty much the same things, but we don’t all do them in the same sequence. People vary widely in what they are ready for now -- I might be very eager for a given practice, but you might have already done that in a near term incarnation and be ready for something else now. Additionally, there are great differences in soul age -- how many incarnations the given soul has had.
A practice of sadhana begins with a five-minute commitment. Every morning, during my devotions, I will practice this. After a long time, you might decide to let that practice go, or you may decide to keep it at the same level, or to expand it a bit -- add an increment of time when you feel ready, and allow the practice to grow as it seems to want to. When a spiritual practice or technique catches our interest, we bring that into our sadhana and begin pursuing it.
What you should keep is what you like, and what has a measurable effect on you, that is, it is useful, and you can produce effect with it. A spiritual practice that you respond to, and that has a real effect -- one that works for you, probably belongs in your personal spiritual kit-bag.
A truly spiritually serious sadhana -- the spiritual big leagues -- is two hours daily. This is for treaders of the spiritual path as a walk of life. I wouldn’t try to force yourself into that; it is much better to find the level that seems right for you. Growth from life to life is not a horse race, and it does not proceed at a regular pace. “It’s fun to grow, if you don’t go, ‘way too fast, or ‘way too slow.”
You should always leave enough slack in your sadhana to be able to experiment with a new five-minute commitment or two. This website offers a compendium of 5-minute-commitment sadhana practices, which might be perused by the beginner or by those already established in sadhana who are ready for a new practice, or for something to vary their current spirituality. Follow the blue-line click places at the beginning of this section.
One Final Way
Whether you choose to avail yourself of this method is your own call.
To each it is given that he may choose one thing that he will have in life no matter what. Two rules attend this principle. 1. You’re not supposed to change it. 2. Whatever it is that you have chosen, you’re not supposed to deny that thing to another seeker of it. What happens if you avail yourself of this technique is that over the years you become more and more centered on what you have chosen. It becomes a sort of benign obsession.
I did this. I chose being a good boy, and it turned out to be one of the best choices I made in life. It has brought me more pleasure and happiness than anything else. And it has not ceased to deepen in over twenty years.
If you choose something other than being a good boy, make sure it’s for something worthy, or you could get into trouble. At first I thought it would be wrong to do it for true value, since worth should be honorably won. So I did it for money, and over the years I got more and more people about me whose purpose was money, and these are essentially demons of avarice. The only way I was able to change it was to invent a ceremony explaining why I was changing it (to being a good boy) and performing the ritual. It took a few years to kick in.
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