Being Truly Human August 1993 Newsletter

By Robert Mehta

Named after Sir Pherozeshah M. Mehta, Phiroz’s parents wanted him to follow his brilliant namesake to the Bar. Realising, however, that a skilled barrister could free a guilty man or convict an innocent man, Phiroz rejected this path as being an unjust one, and has sought instead, throughout his life, the justice of the “religious life” path which extends worldwide.

Almost everyone has a love of their birthplace, and the longing to return to one’s roots towards the end of a very long and diverse life must be a strong force.

Thus on 27th May 1993, leaving Heathrow London at 10:15pm, I flew with my father and his sister, my aunt Ala, to Bombay. A frail old gentleman of ninety and a very lively lady of seventy nine and myself sat between the two of them. Having hardly left the house all year, he stoically and resolutely faced the drive to the airport, the nine hour flight and the hour and a half drive from the airport in Bombay to the flat. We left on a cool, wet May evening and arrived in a mid-morning 95° humid heat. Phiroz was carried in a chair up the entrance steps of the flats to the lift, and over the entrance door of the eighth floor flat a friend of my aunt had hung garlands of flowers to welcome Phiroz back and printed “chalk dust” patterns on the floor.

The flat is very spacious with the main room being about 65 feet long by 25 feet wide. There are double French doors out onto balconies overlooking the sea about half a mile distant, flowering trees and shrubs inland and the skyscrapers of Bombay along the coastline. Birds call and swoop around all day, crows, pigeons, sparrows, red kites and the more exotic parrots and koels (a relative of the crow with a distinctive call).

During the fortnight I was there, Phiroz slept a lot, gradually recovering from the journey and making great efforts to keep walking with the help of walking stick and helping hand. He was quiet, even subdued, and only occasionally drawn out into conversation on subjects he knows and loves or occasional reminiscences of his childhood or earlier life.

Through me he sends love and thanks to all his kind friends who wished him well through letters, cards, telephone calls or just good thoughts. His eyesight is now very poor and he can only just read very large print. His handwriting is very slow and only just readable. He still of course welcomes any cards or letters which can be read to him by his sister but can no longer reply.

It is unlikely that all this would have been possible without the devoted care of Laila de Lys over the last two years. I myself, and I am sure all Phiroz’s friends, would like to thank her for this and to congratulate her on her success with her studies at SOAS.

From the Editor

Elsewhere in the Newsletter a member has given her impressions of the Summer School. A number of tapes of Phiroz’s talks were of course played, but in addition several people made special contributions of various kinds, and the following are a few notes to give members who were not there an idea of the subjects covered:

• Sylvia Swain gave us two talks, the first entitled “Structure of the Ego”, and the second, which followed later, “Scapegoat Psychology and Metta Practice.”
• Geoffrey Pullen gave a talk entitled “Exploration of the Chakras”, and this was followed by some guided visualisation.
• George Piggott spoke on Ikebana, and we also had two practical sessions.
• Venerable Subbato and Udithe Samanera from Amaravati Monastery visited us for the day, and the former gave a talk on “Awareness” and also led a meditation.
• Eileen Benson led several Chi-Kung sessions. Ursula Dyke helped us to “get to know each other.”

The Summer School took place at Cuddesdon House, near Oxford, from 17th to 21st June.

A talk given by Phiroz Mehta on an unknown date

Honour thy Father and thy Mother that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

Exodus, 20.12

Everyone understands the literal meaning of these words in the great commandment which Moses gave to his people. Moses was a great teacher. It is not so well known that he was a great yogi.

Let us look very briefly into one other possible way of looking at this commandment. “Honour thy Father and thy Mother.” The Father is God as Creator. Mother is Nature. God is the Sun — Energy. Mother is the Earth — Matter. Father is Eternity. Mother is Time. Father is prāṇa. Mother is the womb of the world — ākāśa. “Honour thy Father and thy Mother that thy days may be long.” Days — Consciousness, clear seeing of Truth, Enlightenment. “May be long upon the land.” This land is your own psycho-physical organism, your own living being. “Which the Lord thy God” (Yahweh-Elohim in the original text, which signifies the Absolute, the Incomprehensible, Unknown and Unknowable Deity, and Elahim, that Absolute and Unknown as grasped by Man in his supreme state of Enlightenment) “Which the Lord thy God giveth thee.” Not “has given”, finished with, once and for all, but gives you continuously from moment to moment, in the present tense. This is very significant indeed. This land — our individual being — starts off in the state of innocence and harmlessness, in harmony with the One Total Reality (Elohim). This innocence is the innocence of the child. It is an unawakened state, not knowing the conflict and sorrow involved in the ambivalence of the dualistic world.

Let us now briefly consider the cakras. We start at the base of the spine with what is the first cakra — the Mūlādhāra. That word means Root Support. It represents the element Earth. In the Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad there is a sentence “Earth is the footing of the Lord”, and in Isaiah, as well as in the Acts of the Apostles, you find “Heaven is My Throne, and Earth My Footstool.” Those who wrote such things were practical yogis, who had realised for themselves, and they put their knowledge in beautiful symbolic terms.

Mūlādhāra contains the unqualified, primordial energy, which serves either the functions of physical reproduction and rejuvenation or transmutes these forces into spiritual potentialities. Do remember that this energy spoken of is psychical energy. You must distinguish this from the actual physiological processes that take place in the body which give the bodily sexual impulses. Don’t get mixed up here, otherwise you will always find difficulty in understanding the meaning and significance of celibacy. This is the psychical counterpart of the physiological energy. The latent energy of this centre is called Kuṇḍalinī Śaktī. Kuṇḍalinī is the name of the Goddess who they say presides over all power. The female aspect — the negative aspect — of the whole Universe, including Man, is the active aspect, the aspect of power in operation. The male aspect has a different kind of dynamism altogether. It is a dynamism which functions in perfect stillness, which is a dynamic poise, not static. The effects of Kuṇḍalinī Śaktī can be either divine or demoniacal. The impure one is destroyed by Kuṇḍalinī Śaktī. Onlythe one who is utterly pure in mind and heart to start with, who lives a pure life, can utilise Kuṇḍalinī Śaktī, handle it with safety. Kuṇḍalinī may be regarded as, or at least analogously to, what we call in modern times “libido.” It is said to sleep coiled up like a serpent at the base of the spine. You know how Moses and Aaron and the priests of Pharaoh, his magicians, cast their rods and they turned into serpents, and those of Aaron and Moses ate up those of the priests, the magicians of Pharaoh. Unawakened, Kuṇḍalinī is absorbed into subconscious and bodily functions. Released, it finds perfect unfoldment and realisation finally in the cakra which is the seventh, known as the Sahasrāra, the thousand-petalled lotus, which corresponds to the brain itself, the cerebrum.

Continued in part 2, part 3, part 4 and part 5

By Alan Thurley

Thoughts are the explorers of the mind.

Mind is Universal. It cannot be isolated, nor can it be limited. What is it then that we call ‘mind’ in everyday life?

We refer to it as if it were a part of each one of us individually; as if we owned it. “My mind”.

What exactly do we mean by that?

Essentially, we claim thoughts and memories as belonging to us individually, and in a sense that is correct. However, thoughts and memories, or indeed ideas, are not actually mind, are they? They are simply the products of mind, which is vastly different. Somewhat like physical objects being the ‘products’ of space-time.

Where is mind?

Ordinarily we would answer, “in the head”. But is it?

The head contains the brain and its associated principal sense organs for interfacing to the physical world. Where is the mind? No-one has ever found even a hint of a physical mind. It is not physical; that is, it does not exist in the realm of space.

But I know I’ve got a mind, don’t I? I can think, remember, have ideas, relate to the physical world in an entirely non-physical way, and I can communicate and discuss this with others of my kind. So of course I have a mind!

But in truth I do not. I only have access to mind. I do not own it. Not even a tiny little bit of it.

That would be like claiming to own a bit of time, or a bit of space.

In the same way that we occupy a portion of space or time, so we occupy a portion of mind. When we die, those portions are still there, part of the Universal Whole. They just don’t have the characteristics relating to “me” anymore.

So let us look at mind in the sense of a ‘new’ dimension of the Universe. We can then view thought, ideas, and memory, as being characteristics of this dimension.

In our previous discussion, on parallel universes, we saw that time travel is impossible without invoking a higher dimension in which it may take place. I have suggested mind to be such a higher dimension, so a test of this proposal would be to see whether time travel now becomes possible. And indeed it does.

We have been travelling in time so extensively and complacently all our lives, that we haven’t even noticed it happening. We do it almost every moment of our lives. We call it “planning” if it’s movement into the future, “remembering” if into the past, and “imagination” if it’s movement into the fourth spatial dimension.

Since these processes are so universal and commonplace, there is no further need for confirmation that Mind is Dimension. Physical time travel still remains impossible, however, at least until we discover a method of transporting our physical bodies by thought alone; in the sixth dimension.

Mind, being non-physical, indeed transcending the physical, is not bound by the Laws of the physical, of Space-Time. Thus the discovery, by Einstein, of the speed of light as the limiting speed of motion or physical information exchange, no longer applies. Current thinking on the very early expansion of the Universe, at the time of the Big Bang, suggests a period of incredibly rapid expansion at far beyond light speed. It may be that this expansion was entirely non-physical. Perhaps a manifestation of a higher order dimension. Thus the speed of thought may not be inherently limited by the physical constraints of space-time.

Communication takes place in Mind between all forms of Life on this planet. It is not too difficult to experience the alive-ness of trees and plants, as well as of the animal kingdom. One can feel and appreciate this life, and know unity with it. There is no reason to suppose that such inter-species communication should not extend to all life-forms in the entire Universe of galaxies and stars without number.

The fulfilment of God cannot be less than that.

Let us now look at the three obvious attributes of this new dimension of Mind, to see how they relate to the physical world we know.

Consider ideas. Are they a part of the brain? Can they be located as physical or electrical patterns? What gives rise to an idea? Does it grow, mature, and die, as in normal physical fife processes?

We do not. know how ideas form, but it is possible they may originate from co-incident memories or memo relationships. Thus we may have a train of thought which “touches” a related image or sequence in memory and this triggers off an entirely new thought process. An idea.

Even when written down on paper, or spoken of, an idea is clearly riot limited to the individual. It seems to have an existence of its own. It can initiate fundamental changes in the physical realm.

An idea cannot be owned, or kept exclusively by the person of origin, and retain its value. Such an idea will become fossilised, distorted; a hindrance to the idea forming process. Perhaps even cause physical ill effects, or mental dysfunction. A claimed idea becomes obsessive. It demands too great a part of memory, thus making for personal instability and aberrant behaviour.

The problem here is the memory, which is being overloaded by the idea, so that the person forgets himself.

Memory is also an attribute of Mind.

It is, perhaps, the dominant part of our perceived contact with this ‘new’ Dimension. It is clearly an interface between mind and the physical world. It enables us to make effectively, maps and measurements in the dimensions of space. If this ability were to be impaired, then one would become restricted or confined. One would be lost.

As we need to make maps of space to function in the dimensions of space, so we need to make maps of Time, and of Mind, in order to operate effectively in those dimensions also. Memory allows all of this, and also maps of the inter-relationships between maps.

Memory is a valuable and essential tool in our lives. It is also essential for our very existence. It provides the blueprint of our physical being, without which we could not exist.

It seems that memory comes in different aspects according to its purpose. A parallel exists here with computer memory, which comes in two basic kinds, “read-only’”, and “random-access”.

Read-only memory is exactly that, pre-programmed for some specific: purpose. The obvious parallel is the type of memory which determines the shape of physical entities and things. It produces effects like phantom limbs after amputation, when the memory survives the physical counter­part. This type of memory is accessed at a very fundamental (at least cellular) level.

Random-access memory, on the other hand, is appropriate to comparisons, map making, and route finding. To relationships in fact, where correlation needs to be found immediately from a vast store of mostly irrelevant information.

Our normal cognisance of memory is as storage for thoughts and images.

This is also true, and it allows us to function in the physical realm, by providing comparison images continuously, for every move we make in whatever circumstance. These images offer an option for present action, based on previous experience. Excess use of any one option constitutes habit.

Memory is also essential for our perpetual excursions in time.

If it were not for memory these would be disastrous for we would have no reference to the real world. We would be “de-ranged”; without measure or reference to the Now.

The third attribute of Mind is thought. The ability consciously to link ideas and memories together. To alter them, and ma be to create something entirely new. All without recourse to the physical world. Thoughts are the explorers of the Mind.

Another aspect of thought is in the assessment and storage of experiences in memory.

Much of the thought and activity of everyday life is relatively unimportant, and does not need to be stored in memory at an immediately accessible level. This process of grading and evaluation takes place largely and efficiently whilst we sleep. In part it is responsible for dreams.

Most dreams are related in some way to the previous waking period. If one is deprived of sleep for an extended period, the dream process eventually forces priority, with illusion and hallucination as the result. In this case the dream state cannot be separated from the real world, and one is literally beside oneself with tiredness. A very vulnerable condition, in which reality is suspended.

It is well known that a problem can be solved by “sleeping on it”. This is due to the sifting and value comparison which takes place in sleep. Like looking for related facts in a library, it is much more effectively done in silence.

In our discussion so far, nothing has been said of the brain and its part in the processes of Mind.

This is largely because the brain is still very much a mystery. It is known that removal of certain parts of the brain affect memory or physical function. What is not known, is how memory is stored in the brain; or even if memory is stored in the brain.

Certainly, as we have seen, some memory is stored in the cells of the body. This ensures survival of the entity in cases of brain damage, even to the point where brain function seems totally lost.

It is known that short term memory is stored in the brain. Aluminium salts, (and Alzheimer’s disease,) can render this ineffective whilst having no apparent effect on long term memory. Conversely, concussion causes loss of long term memory, whilst not affecting recent memory.

Thus it would seem that the physical brain is probably the site of recent memory, while long term memory is held elsewhere in mind. Access to this “elsewhere” being by means of some area of the brain which can effectively be “turned off” by a physical blow; as in concussion.

The computer equivalent of this separate area of recent memory storage is called “cache” memory, (pronounced “cash” or “kaysh”) which is used to improve the speed and efficiency of the machine. In the brain, this recent memory keeps us aware of the present situation or thought pattern.

It is not difficult to remember that pause, or blank moment, when a train of thought is interrupted. If this were the normal delay between thoughts our reactions to danger would be far too slow. Hence a cache-type memory situated in the brain, with direct access to the principal senses, has survival value.

I have suggested that the brain is in fact a sensor, or transducer, accessing Mind. Why then, if the bulk of memory is stored in another dimension, can we not access another person’s memory as well as our own?

The answer to this, of course, is that we can; in much the same way as we would enter someone else’s house. With permission, and given the address.

Again, a look at the computer may help.

Much computer memory is stored on disk, and accessed by way of a catalogue containing addresses and details of the type and size of the memory sections. Without this catalogue the disc is useless, for without this information none of the memory can be read. It is simply a jumbled pattern of magnetic impulses.

However, such a sharing of Mind is possible, with the right key. A key that unlocks complete trust.

There is only one such key; Love.

A Sufi teaching story illustrates this:

One went to the door of the Beloved and knocked. A voice asked: “Who is there?”

He answered: “It is I.”

The voice said: “There is no room here for me and thee. “ The door was shut.

After a year of solitude and deprivation this man returned to the door of the Beloved. He knocked.

A voice from within asked: “Who is there?” The man said: “It is thou.”

The door was opened for him.

Jalaludin Rumi

Thus the acknowledged ability of the Enlightened Holy Ones completely to “know” the supplicant is explained.

We seem to have moved a long way from a consideration of Mind as Dimension. However it has been necessary to remind ourselves of how we function in this dimension, and of how the dimensions of Space and Time relate to it.

It should be remembered that each “higher” dimension may hold many sets of the “lower” dimensions. Our five-dimensional space-time Universe is therefore not unique.

However, and much more interestingly, the dimension of Mind is common to all those “other” Universes, throughout the whole of time, and thus will contain the memories and thoughts of all the beings in all the Universes.

What infinite treasure!

© 1992 Alan Thurley

By Robert Mehta for Phiroz Mehta

Birds swoop and turn,
Vibrant feathers, silk sun-shot,
Ceaselessly spiralling without effort,
Nothing to learn of song or flight,
Borne on sea breeze scented night,
Masters of air and sight.

Sparrow, pigeon, crow and kite
Grace the air in the heat of noon,
And the urgent koel bird’s cry
Heralding the approaching monsoon.

Nature waits, anticipates
The rumbling glow of currents huge;
Electric, expectant deluge
That soothes the nerves and cools
And waters the parched earth,
Bringing a new greening birth.

The old man,
After trying hours of man-made flight,
Following Nature’s recall to his home and land,
Vibrated to near exhaustion but determined
To turn his own full bright circle,
Confused, mystified by his own daring,
Sleeps and sleeps the day and night,
Supported by love of friends
And angels’ wings.
Step by careful step his strength returns;
The final chapter of his life begins.

In 1945 an appreciation by Editor was published of Phiroz Mehta’s kinsman, Sir Pherozeshah Mehta, in commemoration of the centenary of his birth. The following extracts from it seem appropriate at the present time

Pherozeshah Merwanjee Mehta was born on 4th August 1845. After a brilliant career in school and college, he was called to the Bar in 1868. By 1873 he achieved fame in his profession.

He gained his first experience of public affairs in Municipal life. He was chairman of the Bombay Corporation in 1884, and again in 1885, and was elected president in 1905. In the 1890 Congress (of the Indian National Congress) Sir Pherozeshah delivered the magnificent presidential address in which he said:

To my mind, a Parsi is a better and truer Parsi, as a Mohammedan or a Hindu is a better and truer Mohammedan or Hindu, the more he is attached to the land which gave him birth, the more he is bound in brotherly relations and affection to all the children of the soil, the more he recognises the fraternity of all the native communities of the country and the immutable bond which binds them together in pursuit of common aims and objects under a common government.

The remarkable part which Sir Pherozeshah played in the political, civic and educational life of the country brought him many honours, the last of which was his appointment as Vice-Chancellor of Bombay University in March 1915. His death occurred on the 5th November of that year.

Sir Pherozeshah was balanced, far-seeing and constructive as a statesman; conscientious, capable and practical as a servant of the public; sparkling, incisive and forceful as an orator; witty, brilliant and incomparably skilful as a debater; trenchant, chivalrous and fair as a fighter. With his broad outlook, transcending the confines of creed, caste or community, he was truly a champion of his native land, and by common consent a leader of the Indian people.

By Michael Piggott

Sometimes the few
Sometimes the many
For long have they come
To the Singer of Songs

Long did he succour them
No carrot, no stick
For in freedom he spoke
And gentle his words

Straight were those thoughts
Scattered as seeds
That reached to the heart
According to need

And as the light fades
As it always must
Are our lamps lit bright
For the coming of night

By Ursula Dyke

It was so good to be visiting Cuddesdon House again this year. The atmosphere that was present last year was again re-created by all who were present this year. The lovely peaceful surroundings contributed to the feeling of well-being and one-ness. The house has its own special atmosphere.

I’m always promising myself that I will find time to listen to Phiroz’s tapes, but of course I never do, so it was the ideal opportunity to listen and discuss with others. I found this particularly uplifting and inspiring, as indeed I did last year.

There was much contribution from all those taking part. In particular, Sylvia Swain and Geoff Pullen gave some good talks with their own special knowledge, George Piggott again spent time preparing and demonstrating Ikebana, and then there was a day-long visit by a Buddhist monk and a novice from Amaravati, which was very enjoyable. Although I didn’t join in any of the meditation led by them, we all gathered round on a lovely sunny afternoon on the lawn in front of the house, and had time to sit and talk over tea. We would very much like to do this again next year. Eileen Benson introduced some of us to Chi-Kung — very gentle slow energising exercises which we did in the evenings and were very welcome at the end of the day.

I returned home from the weekend feeling relaxed. I had enjoyed the atmosphere, the company and the food, and I’ll be booking up again for next year!