Dear Ramji,

How nice to read your words again. Yes, jnana works definitely on its own, an interesting process to watch. Some questions do arise still all by themselves. I didn’t ask them.

Whenever there is less pressure, tasks, demands from outside - which is more often then not theses days I sleep very well and enough and still feel little motivation to do anything else but study the Gita, walk around in the garden, write new subtle insights in my diary, play with the kids, talk to a neighbor and spend my day lazily.

I have less energy than usual and sometimes the question arises: is this normal? Is this sattvic peace or tamasic laziness? It feels quite different when there is an outside demand. In general I am a morning person, up early and in bed early. Now last night I was tired around nine thirty, then two neighbors came over and wanted to talk about a weekend with a Sufi master they did and we talked and talked. It was wonderful. Till midnight. I was not a bit tired.

Whenever the topic is awakening and practice and existential questioning i have energy without end.

So in short: how to know if the decrease in energy is sattvic peace or tamasic laziness?? Does it just feel less energetic from the point of view of rajasic frenzy? Or did I switch from rajas to tamas? But inquiry goes on effortlessly and gently all the time. I can’t stop it. It goes by itself. So this seems definitely to be sattva.

Dear Marian,

An interesting question. If a person has been generating energy from the ambitious pursuit (rajas) of an idea or an ideal (such as enlightenment or changing the world or any lesser idea like the pursuit of pleasure or security or duty) one's attention is so fixed on one's goal that one does not notice the subtle working of prarabdha, the energy that comes from karmic forces. The body, for example, has its own natural demands…food, rest, exercise, etc. And how one meets the needs of the body creates its prarabdha. Prarabdha is the momentum from past actions. One's actions stem from choices made by the mind. If the mind is sattvic it is very aware of the needs of the body and can attend to them intelligently. But if the mind is rajasic or tamasic it will either be so agitated or so dull that it does not properly notice and/or attend to the needs of the body. Often its needs are thought to be less important than the fulfillment of one's coveted goals.

So when you wake up and discover that you are not the doer, that you are the goal and that nothing actually needs to be done to make you happy the mind becomes clear and you become aware of the actual condition of the body. People who have operated out of rajas for a long time…except athletes…will almost invariably have abused and or neglected their bodies. And this will show up as tiredness and low energy. Maybe this has something to do with your lower energy levels.

As one ages there is a natural lessening of one's energy so if one wishes to keep a high energy level one must make certain adjustments to one's lifestyle. One of the best things you can do is to get in harmony with universal energy. Being a morning person means that you are probably in harmony with the cosmic energy. If you stay up late and wake up late you are out of sync with the natural forces. Universal energy begins to grow (yang) just before the sun comes up peaks around mid-day and it contracts around sunset. People who stay up late often have psychological and physical problems because they are unnaturally maintaining consciousness when they should allow the energy to go unmanifest and harmonize with the dark (yin) energy. Early in the morning the universal energy starts to irradiate the body and if you sleep through this you cannot benefit from it. If you sleep late you will be tempted to stimulate the natural energy artificially with coffee or some other gross method. Most people in the West suffer from energy loss due to bad sleep habits.

Other lifestyle changes to compensate for the loss of energy that comes with aging involve sattvasizing one's diet, reducing sense contact and purifying one's relationships with people with whom one is intimate. To regulate one's energy so that you feel good physically and psychologically is a very tricky business. You can never assume that you have the perfect lifestyle. As soon as you get into a habitual grove that seems to be producing the right amount of energy something changes inwardly or outwardly and you are forced to adjust. Sleep, diet, exercise and contact with others are the main areas where adjustments can be made. I know that recently I was feeling rather low energy and I figured out that it was two things: the feng shui in my apartment was bad (I'm moving in September) and a long term relationship with a needy tamasic friend was causing an energy drain. (I drastically cut down the time I spend with her and my energy came right back.

But you can always override nature if you want. My guru was man with a mission and he did satsang at least ten hours a day. This gave him tremendous energy since there is nothing so stimulating for a spiritual person as the idea of the Self/God. When you share this idea with someone it awakens their energy and they feed it back to you so you get very high. This does not mean that you will escape body karma. The body has its own set of dharmas and you need to understand them and follow them if you want optimum health and energy.

I'm sure you probably know all of this. I can't be certain but it sounds to me that, as you say, it just seems like low energy compared with your formerly rajasic state. My second guru, Abhedananda, lived an apparently very lazy life. In fact the only instruction he ever gave me was to ‘take it easy.' The Dalai Lama said he was very lazy. And I know that in my case I like laziness, not as a full time state, but quite occasionally. Ramana was also very lazy. He basically reclined in bed for most of the day or sat in a chair. I met one great mahatma in India who was very fat and very lazy…even too lazy to take a bath. He would sleep anywhere and eat anything. From the outside he looked like a bum or a degenerate but he was one of the most luminous people I have ever met. If you sat with him for a while you would suddenly realize that you were full of energy! Most of people's doings are motivated by the belief that they will gain something important but when you know who you are you know that there is nothing to gain from anything so the basic motivation for action is gone. Generally jnanis do not set out to generate karmas that fructify at a later time (sanchita karma) but they just observe their prarabdha working out.

It is also true that jnanis derive a great energy from their sense of freedom. But if they get a little tamasic in their thinking and develop strong habits they will find the energy dropping. This is the rationale behind the institution of sannyas in India. At a certain stage of sannyas, the sannyasi is forbidden to spend more than three days in one place. This is so that attachments… which are essentially tamasic energy drainers… will not have a chance to develop. Both positive and negative circumstances can cause attachment. So it is always important, if you want maximum energy, to learn how to walk away from both positive and negative situations. In terms of comfort and financial benefits I would be better off staying in my present situation but I feel best in a state of nearly complete freedom so I am willing to take on the uncertainty of the unknown to preserve it. As soon as I made the decision to leave my energy level shot back up to its normal level.

Yes, inquiry goes on naturally. It is the nature of the Self. It can never stop because the Self is endless. Once it has fulfilled itself in Self knowledge it just turns to other things. Understanding shakti is perhaps as difficult as understanding the Self. At least when you realize the Self nothing more needs to be done because the Self is always just the Self. But the Self as shakti is always presenting problems… which inquiry can solve. And once you know who you are there all you can do with your intelligence is solve mayic problems for yourself and others.

Marian: This is the question of today. It’s not really bothering because what happens happens. I just see it happening and that’s it. Neither ecstasy nor boredom. Just living day by day.

With love and gratitude,

Marian