5 Sattvic Keys
To Great meditation
And a Joyful Life
by John Lamb
The author, a meditation consultant, has used daily meditation, mindfulness and absoluteness for more than 50 years. He studied under the guidance, and was a close colleague, of Gururaj Ananda Yogi, from 1977 until Gururaj’s demise in 1988.
John was leader of The British Meditation Society for 30 years and has written several more books akin to meditation, in the Mind Bathing Series, including: Discover Your Subtle Self, Guarantee to Make the Law of Attraction Work and Melting Into Meditation.
Disclaimer
The contents of this publication are based upon the author’s experience and his interpretation of teachings expounded by Gururaj Ananda Yogi (1932–1988).
Neither the publisher nor the author offer professional advice to the individual reader. None of the ideas, practices and suggestions in this book are intended as a substitute for medical advice, which should be sought from health care professionals, i.e. suitably qualified physicians. Neither the author nor the publisher shall be liable or responsible for any loss or damage allegedly arising from any information or suggestions in this book. All content shall be treated as opinion.
Copyright © 2017 John Jaish Lamb
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.
The right of John Lamb to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Published jointly in the United Kingdom in 2019 by Subeam Publications and The British Meditation Society
ISBN 978–9569025-7-3
Contents
Key 1 – Accede to acceptance. 3
Key 3 – Replace make-believe with reason. 11
Key 4 – Reconcile our nature. 15
Key 5 – Give the mind nowhere to go. 19
Epiloge & Appendix. 33
Introduction
My motivation for writing this thesis is that, over the years, meditators have come to me for refreshers, citing the following problems or doubts about their practices:
- I can’t get quite what I’m looking for - occasionally I feel ‘nearly there ’
- I get peace intermittently but not permanently
- The practice is useful – couldn’t do without it – but where is this leading me?
- I’ve reached a plateau (or) I still have some of the inner demons as before I started
- I expected my persistence over a long period to give me serenity – but not yet, I still have problems
- How can I recognise my Real Self?
- How can I ‘let go’?
I’d identified, over the years, we frequently carry with us a semi-visible factor of resistance built in to us, making desired changes for the better difficult to reach.
Let’s say there’s a desire to lose weight and it doesn’t go well after many attempts. The KEY is to ingest less calories than one uses up, no matter what fanciful title thousands of methods come up with. Failure comes from not sticking to the routine. But the problem is not so much practical, it’s psychological. We fall short of goals because the mind refuses to adjust to newly found potential as the norm, thereby allowing old patterns to take precedence. We have the ability in us to win by sheer determination. We just need to get sufficiently motivated to push determination in front of complacency.
Where meditation is concerned, we’re trying to win a battle in which the mind is at loggerheads with the Self - and you can’t clearly see what’s going on. The mind fights intensely to avoid being conquered. It even tries, “You won’t exist any longer if you succeed at this.” It’s what we term subconscious. The trouble is, we don’t recognise our subconscious at work!
The mind allows thinking such as, “I like this; it’s calming and helps me with stress.” But in the unseen background it’s pestering, “Too much success here and I’m done for.”
Amusingly, when maximum calm is eventually reached, the mind stops fighting because its game is indisputable when sidestepped. It’s merely a bundle of impressions, caused by experiences, being allowed to run wild, imagining it’s something it isn’t. The experiences and the impressions are simply minute particles of energy getting tangled up into a mesh we can’t peer through.
Meditation, befittingly used, can untangle these ‘webs of deceit’ by calming everything down. But without self-persuasiveness in the right place, the mind’s crafty ways continue. Sometimes the outcome is something between skirmish and warfare! This is a pain in the neck considering all the effort to be calm.
This is where the 5 sattvic keys can punch in as a rescue mechanism. The tangled web of thoughts the mind loves, casts a foggy shadow on everything, screening out the clear road ahead. We need to light up the overcast highway.
Sattva means light. The 5 keys are for turning on the light, so to speak. Light is available all the time in the form of (accessible) true perception, but it doesn’t get prominence while the lower mind is having its way.
Therefore, take heed; some of the content herein may not be what the mind wants.
The 5 keys are based on clarifying what we hold in view. Thus they can improve the immediate results we get from meditation as well as show up changes in outlook needed, step by step, to access 100% of the potential benefits available after you get established with your preferred meditation techniques.
Moreover, most readers are undoubtedly trying to expedite longer-term benefits for lifestyle such as improved health, longevity, relationships, self-help, problem solving, happiness etc. I believe these benefits can happen quicker by allowing the self-imposed ceiling on positive outcomes and potential to be lifted.
The main thrust here is greater refinement taking place, facilitating access to any pinnacle of experience one might have as a goal, once the mind is disciplined by default. But whether it’s happiness or self-realisation we’re aiming for, we have to address facts concerning what life actually is, in order to make the necessary adjustments. Otherwise, we’re in effect blindfolded; we can’t see where to go.
Key 1 – Accede to acceptance
“Be free to accept and therein lies your freedom” - Gururaj
My teacher and mentor, Gururaj Ananda Yogi (1932-1988) extolled the maxim of there being two stages to self-realisation - acceptance and surrender. He pointed out acceptance is the action we need to perform and surrender happens more or less automatically once acceptance is achieved. Accordingly, acceptance is the pre-eminent key to reaching the goal of yogic philosophy, which targets merging our apparent personal self with our inner reality.
So what exactly do we mean by acceptance? This question deserves some deliberation, if we want to come to terms with why acceptance is so fundamental.
As meditators, we take on the proposition of self-strength for resolving life’s concerns by practising calmness. Self-strength spearheaded by acceptance, non-attachment and awareness, brings about immeasurable self-reliance, which resolves pretty well everything.
However, in practising these precepts, the depth of meaning in the affirmation, “I am practising acceptance” has to be interpreted correctly. So, let’s have a go.
Initially, this can be tricky because we use the intellect to execute acceptance. As we know, the intellect is restricted to rationalising facts the mind has invented or remembered, while in meditation we are aiming for a permanently satisfactory state the mind can’t reach.
[Look at appendix 1 if you’re not familiar with the mind’s self-limiting criteria.]
Accordingly, we can perform only the acceptance that’s mind-permitted – until we surrender to true knowledge, when total acceptance becomes mergence into realisation of actuality.
We need to acknowledge the mind’s favourite activity, which is side-stepping truth. Truth is truth and the mind doesn’t have the capacity for it absolutely.
The demand on us therefore, as we practise, is to minimise resistance to truth. This can be done quickly or over an elongated period of time. It’s entirely up to us. Unfoldment doesn’t have a timetable. We decide.
We can minimise resistance by looking at the way things really are as opposed to what light and temperature conjure up in front of us. In other words, it’s fundamental we recognise the barefaced fact we are not solid objects.
Our non-solid (proven) actuality is certainly not what the mind would prefer. The mind perceives an illusion, relying entirely on separate objects and out of this it fantasises an immortal material utopia.
When we allow the mind to control, we sometimes conveniently disconnect that each of us has brought the individual ‘me’ to its present state in evolution. All sages who originated meditative yoga, and those who keep the teaching pure, proclaim we are responsible.
And the science attached to this truth is the proof, now witnessed by quantum examination, of the presence of our finer particles, both visible and invisible.
These (recent) discoveries give us outright confirmation; we - and all that surrounds us - are unescorted energy and not material matter as in a person named (so and so) with a history of achievement and sadness / unfairness, likes and dislikes etc. This substantiates the palpability that each so called individual is really a mind-constructed blob.
In this context, permanently, lies a fundamental truth examination - are we really here? This is a substratal question and has a substratal answer, which is NO. This is so basic and is primary to all who seek truth. But it’s often overlooked by those resisting deep understanding.
There’s a saying, “Truth stings but it certainly helps.” We resist truth because of the initial discomfort it often causes, in our minds. Nonetheless, once a new, sometimes uncomfortable, factualism is addressed it gradually becomes frictionless. Whereas, refusal to assimilate actuality causes unending upset by blocking supportive natural energy flow.
In consequence, truth needs clarifying by repetition so as to keep it in noticeable view. When we become non-resistant to our actuality, which opposes the story we spin, then Grace (or Shakti), which is pure energy, becomes more available.
Let’s look at a quote from Gururaj: “One of the secrets behind your practice of gurushakti is that man has within himself the power to be everywhere in this entire universe; to be able to permeate every single atom that constitutes this universe. And by doing spiritual practices, we automatically draw that power which invigorates us, regenerates us and rejuvenates us. It's so simple, it’s all one energy.” [The practices are not just techniques but largely discriminating truth from untruth].
Inventing the individual ‘me’, as we do, necessarily implies self-evolution. We seem to be born free but the knocks and discrepancies we experience elongate our propulsion.
Applying the evolutionary component to our outlook can solve a lot of seemingly unanswerable questions. Some folk don’t recognise evolution, claiming our whole experience is one short life. Others reject the thought of bringing themselves to this very spot, not wanting to research how this could be done. That’s generally why billions declare someone else must have done it for them. But, as soon as pure consciousness is re-cognised, self-evolution becomes obvious.
Not least, this life is a tremendous opportunity to resolve our evolution, especially if we are currently held back somewhat - including failure to re-cognise our reality, which is awareness and not solid matter.
For those who want to unfold more, we can start with a simple exercise to underpin the expansion of acceptance. We can practise thankfulness. First, we’ve brought ourselves to a point on our journey where we are contemplating the pointlessness of materiality - and thus we want unfoldment. So we can, at the very least, be thankful for this position in which we now find ourselves.
Here we are in the yogic arena – the unity park, so to speak. We might even have slipped back and forth getting here. This position in evolution deserves celebration, not pity. And when we celebrate our evolutionary status, with thanks and joyfulness, we add more steps towards acceptance.
Being thankful is a sattvic impulse we can inject into life in all sorts of smaller ways too, a hundred times a day; even more. Gratitude produces an empowering energy outwardly because it’s extraordinarily positive. The mind is of course very much cleansed whenever it’s bathed in positivity. Every bit of positive energy instigated by us builds focus towards inner power because it turns our attention away from the imaginary little me. This is how mindfulness techniques work.
So, thankfulness is a good starting point, whether or not we can immediately accept the principle of self-evolution. As we develop the self-responsibility posture, regarding absolutely everything that happens to us, we then start to address acceptance in its broader aspects, which boils down to the truth of what is.
Whatever has happened previously, including in this lifetime, we need our experiences. We need all of them to elevate our achievement from here on, so it’s advantageous to get used to being thankful. Then we can move forward with truth, by gradation, in order to get away from suffering. You’ll have learned all this if you’ve examined the teachings - even a tad - of enlightened masters.
Additionally, we should remind ourselves, there are no accidents. We choose our parentage and our disruptions. Everyone can safely say, “I’ve made it to this point, this fork in the road, with my Karma and Samskaras at my side. And this is where I stand, totally positive - refreshing my view forward to include meditation and truth, which, combined (see GR’s quote above), are essential to me in my quest - if I make the most of this opportunity - for the permanent satisfaction and contentment I seek.”
We can accede to acceptance more and more as we go about daily life and we should do so consciously and continuously. This posture is possibly the shortest route to realisation if combined with practising absoluteness (See key 5).
Once we start on the road of unfoldment - the willing search for, and participation in, a more viable existence - there’s no going back. We can feel the curtains are opening; we know we’re on the right track. It’s a tricky track at times but it’s just as tricky when we’re not consciously involved in unfoldment. So, we’re gaining, not losing, when we get around to holding our self-responsibility (for everything) in clear perspective.
If you don’t want to accept self-evolution at this time, thereby resisting acceptance on the broader scale, you can press on with what you prefer to believe. You’re going to lead yourself forward, aren’t you, whatever your beliefs? I don’t think it matters what our beliefs are. Sincerity counts more than anything else, together with surrender to some force other than limited 3-dimensional materiality.
Acceptance is acknowledging truth. In effect, it’s a willingness to lead oneself away from the illusion; a real attempt to improve one’s consciousness by applying the essential effort needed. Even well-established meditators can’t afford to let up on this effort, if banishing suffering from life is their goal.
Whatever the preferred way forward, I feel nourishment and support is reachable by accessing these keys so they can be brought to the fore at any point you find yourself gasping for more liberation. You’re going at your own speed now, aren’t you? This little book is inviting you to accelerate a bit, if you fancy doing so, by uncovering shards of hard-to-detect smudge concealed in awkward little corners.
Key 2 – Allow being to be
“Be-ing is divine essence; you are that infinitude”- Gururaj
The mind tells us everything we’re involved in is personal, e.g. “I matter, I suffer”, etc. The mind concentrates on ‘me and mine’ for its (invisible, unlocatable) existence. Lamentably, this imagination is a barrier to experiencing how whole truth is formed, like a thick veil over what actually is.
Despite this quandary, by correctly applying meditation we are on the case! The mind can be quelled so as to become a malleable servant rather than a threatening imposter - and that’s when life leaps into new joyfulness, retrenching suffering as joy broadens.
Let’s have a look at other typical thoughts on which the mind subsists, when it rejects our self-reliant position in evolution: ‘I need things / desire things, to keep me from loneliness / unhappiness / unfairness / wearing myself out / boredom; I need comfort, loving spouse, holidays, nights out, intoxication,’ etc. etc. ….. All this centres around the matrix professing it has to solve another matrix-puzzle, which is our space-time model that doesn’t exist either. The impressions we carry forward are what evolves into countless more puzzles until we declare, “enough!”
We use space-time to project forwards and backwards and formulate lots of scare stories because we developed a memory storage within the mind’s matrix. The graphic, for simplicity in following this line of investigation, is shown in Appendix 1.
During meditation we get away, to some extent, from all this quasi-truth; nay, downright lies. But we sometimes encounter a stalemate predicament while we continue to imagine a ‘me’ is sitting here trying to get somewhere else, albeit the somewhere else is a projected state of peace & contentment. This impasse may or may not be clear because it’s often unrecognisable subconscious thought.
On this point, remember that in meditation we are simply taking a rest from thinking. More accurately, we are putting thoughts in a less oppressive position. We shouldn’t be trying to enter some state of euphoria. Meditation trains us how to deal with thoughts, which are almost 100% present.
That mind is darned tricky, isn’t it? If you have an ongoing problem with your mind winning the battle (in meditation) don’t accept the advice to just press on regardless, based on the theory that everything will automatically come right eventually! To me, that’s not good enough. I advise adjusting one’s approach and one’s outlook as often as necessary until clarity is achieved.
Now comes a practical resolution for this dilemma. Instead of doing meditation, try watching meditation. Watching the process takes you out of the equation, I have found to my delight. How can this be done? By allowing being to be.
The question undoubtedly arises, “How do we do this?”
First, a few words about our pure consciousness. Our true nature is being. We rediscover being indisputably when pure consciousness is glimpsed. Glimpsing pure consciousness is a useful goal because it clarifies the meaning of life instantly. Moreover, one glimpse instantly simplifies our grasp of the teachings we’ve explored through meditation, mindfulness, absoluteness and all the associated supplementary spiritual practices.
But, although realisation of the Real-Self is the goal, we don’t have to be intensely concerned with it. Being will reveal itself. We can’t do or seek this revelation we often crave because doing and seeking involves using the mind, which will never understand being. ‘Allowing being to be’ solves the problem of not being able to find what we’re seeking by effectively putting the mind aside.
ALLOWING BEING TO BE during meditation:
The prior application for this technique is in meditation. Using it in meditation can also spur on its use in the waking state, as with other mollifying modus operandi. You don’t need to give up any other meditation you prefer. Just do this some of the time or maybe for a short time while settling into meditation or in the middle of it. It’s for everyone; possibly more for established meditators - albeit there are some newbies out there who get a lot of stillness from day one. [On this point, there is frequently lots of stillness on day one; it’s the weeks and months that follow that provide tests in this regard].
‘Allow being to be’ is a thought - to be repeated silently, clear-cut at first and then vaguely, as an affirmation (see Key 5) or a mantra. Being is all that is, although it’s not an ‘everything’ the mind would construct. Being just IS. It’s our total consciousness. Issuing an instruction like this is a subtle way of telling the mind to shut up - and just let everything BE.
Somehow, this single viable procedure is proficient in getting the mind to lie down quietly like an obedient pet. This is certainly agreed by most folk I know who’ve used it. The mind seems to say, “OK on this one, I don’t need to be there, I’ll wait.” I think it works because we divert attention away from our little self without threatening it.
I spent decades refining this practice for myself, simple as it is. It may be elsewhere in a book or instruction pamphlet but I’ve not come across it. I wouldn’t be surprised if monks use it in some form or another. I tried many things from a basis of sheer logic (oops – using the wrong side of the brain again) and this one I’ve found immensely successful.
You might want to try a slight variation on the words, like, “I allow being to be.” Or, maybe, “All is O.K. as it is” Or, any other variation that gives our true Self the respect we have for IT being there, acknowledging its pre-eminence. I tried “Be as you will”, as well as other variations. I eventually settled on “Being IS.” This could change of course.
The obedient mind doesn’t stay still very long, as we meditators know only too well. But with repeated use, in meditation sessions, I have found a remarkable level of stillness simply acknowledging being as the primary presence.
Also, try it out if ever you get bored in a meditation, or think, “What’s the point in all this?” Yes, this happens, even to the most seasoned meditators!
Allowing being to be can also be a mighty weapon at one’s side, not just during meditation but in all sorts of struggles, particularly if they involve a mind-battle against the flow of life as it is. Personal problems can be sorted out with effort applied in practical ways but refusing to cooperate with truth is a recipe for dissatisfaction.
I unequivocally advise; if you only remember one fact in this book, make it allow being to be.
Key 3 – Replace make-believe with sound reasoning
“There is no you and I and there is no me and mine” - Gururaj
Have you ever faced the truth about yourself – I mean really faced the truth? It’s another one of those tricky questions to answer. Maybe you’ve tried facing the truth about your own weaknesses, habits, patterns – even beliefs. It’s part and parcel of most advanced meditation training. And, if you’ve tried it, probably by checking with a cooperating friend, you keep discovering new ‘faults’. The mind, recurrently, has its annoying way of disguising its own antics. In this quest, we really have to smash that darned enemy into submission. If we don’t, meditation can be more or less valueless - or just a badge of a club where nice people meet to share their frenetic muddles.
For me, the practical way of facing truth is to first recognise outer truth; the undisputed facts about physical existence, as referred to in Key 1; then come back to our personal stuff after we’ve picked up on the reality of existence. This seems orderly to me because eradicating the delusion of individuality breaks down a huge invisible barrier, which impedes us until it’s dismantled.
Facing truth habitually enables us to gradually observe our oddities as fairly normal; finding we’re all average in our outlook and nothing we’ve previously thought of as individual, including fears, matters much to anyone.
When we come out of the shadows, so to speak, regarding personal shortcomings, we’re able to look at ourselves with a lot less bias towards wanting to be like someone else. This should bring emotional relief, not least in appreciating how our nagging desires have simply been evoked as a cover-up for stuff we’ve been holding inside.
As with our evolution overall, our experiences (continually analysed) in this lifetime count towards preventing liberation. But again, these recent happenings should not be pitied but celebrated. If we hold the view of needing all our experiences, we find new pace in progressing rapidly to a non-worrisome state. With truth as our travelling companion and by de-focusing on what we previously thought of as our peculiarities or misfortunes, we ease effectually into non-judgement, true discrimination, non-comparing, acceptance, non-attachment and awareness of reality.
Overcoming the past is not straightforward because we tend to hang on to identifying ourselves as being a person. But when we rise to the challenge of facing ourselves thoroughly, we can use our present opportunity of embodied life to de-personalise the past. We have to live now rather than formulating the imagined sufferer who is an illusion of our own making. Boldness needs real guts. We all have the guts in our make-up. We have to be determined and proactive. We need to get beyond ‘being nice’ or treating a mantra (in meditation) as a panacea because it feels like a good relaxant.
Hopefully, you are getting the impression we can speed through the jungle, to the clearing at its centre, by being bold. Truth facing is probably the strongest fuel we can get to advance our journey. We must pour this fuel into our tanks!
Unfortunately, there’s no getting away from Gururaj’s maxim, “When you truly face yourself, you’ll not like what you see.” This is a truth in itself and resistance to it occasions the widespread precedence for scooting around the truth, often wrongly but unwittingly believing we are accepting truth, facing truth, being non-judgemental, etc., when we're not.
I’ve found an improvement in self-analysis by doing truth as opposed to finding truth. It’s very practical to do truth. What do I mean? I mean, get involved in reality rather than belief. As you’ll see in Key 5, I call it truthing. We all have the inbuilt ability to discriminate between truth and non-truth. We can use it repeatedly. The more we bring our inherent discrimination faculty into daily life, the more we adapt to truth.
Adapting is a key word here. When we adapt to truth, we rapidly overcome the mind's resistance. One way is to fool the mind by dropping the word truth and, instead, by introducing ‘adapting to sound reasoning’, which helps dispense with make-believe and move seamlessly into living with what is.
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