The Canon / Living / Yoga & Tantra
Living · 1978
Living with the Himalayan Masters
Yogic & TantricLiving with the Himalayan Masters is an autobiographical account of the author's training among the meditation masters of the Himalayas. Its central claim is that mind, breath, and body form a single trainable system, and that disciplines long held secret can carry a practitioner toward stillness and self-mastery.
The book narrates encounters, instruction, and practice rather than arguing a thesis, presenting the tradition's teaching through lived experience. It frames meditation, pranayama, and the disciplines of raja yoga as a learnable science of progressive inner control.
Swami Rama is remembered as a bridge between yoga and Western laboratory study, having demonstrated voluntary control of heart rhythm, skin temperature, and brainwave state under instrumented conditions at the Menninger Foundation. The book conveys to a general readership the worldview that gave those demonstrations their meaning.
In its words
The human mind is a great wonder and magician. It can assume the form of both a devil and a divine being any time it wishes. It can be a great enemy or a great friend, creating either hell or heaven for us. There are many tendencies hidden in the unconscious mind which must be uncovered, faced, and transcended before one intends to tread the path of enlightenment.
I am never lonely. A lonely person is one who is not aware of the complete fullness within. When you become dependent on something outside without having awareness of the reality within you, then you will indeed be lonely. The whole search for enlightenment is to seek within, to become aware that you are complete in yourself. You are perfect. You don't need any externals.
It is true that the highest of all companionship is the company of the real self. Those who learn to enjoy the real self within are never lonely. Who makes us lonely? Those who claim to know and love us, or those whom we love, create loneliness and make us dependent. We forget the eternal Friend within. When we learn to know our real self we do not depend on externals.
There is a narrow barrier between selfishness and selflessness, love and hatred. After crossing it one enjoys doing things for others, without seeking anything in return. This is the highest of all joys, and an essential step in the path of enlightenment. A selfish man can never imagine this state of realization, for he remains within the limited boundaries built by his ego.
The shortest cut to self-enlightenment is to cut through the ego; surrender before the Highest One. Satsanga — company of the sages — and constant awareness of the center within help one in going beyond the mire of delusion. The ego is also purified by cultivating selflessness. Unpurified ego is an evil which obstructs one's own progress.
DIRECT EXPERIENCE IS THE HIGHEST OF ALL WAYS of gaining knowledge. All other means are only fragments. In the path of self-realization purity, one-pointedness, and control of the mind are essentials. An impure mind hallucinates and creates obstructions, but an orderly mind is an instrument for direct experiences.
Lineage
The author
Swami RamaVoluntary control of involuntary states
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