The major premise of Paramhansa Yogananda’s first book, The Science of Religion, is that everyone in the world shares the same basic motivation: to be happy and to avoid pain. I’ve been reading a book with a similar theme, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos, by a psychologist and philosopher, Jordan B. Peterson. His theme is similar to Yogananda’s, but he states it slightly differently: Life is a quest to maintain order and avoid chaos.
The traditional yin-yang symbol.
He has an interesting explanation of the well-known yin-yang symbol. The white half, he says, represents order, and the black half, chaos. We (and all living things) constantly tread the winding line between the two forces, striving to create and maintain order while challenged by an unstable world that causes chaos. Order allows us to live and prosper, while chaos brings the threat of ruin and death. The small dot of the opposite color in each side represents the potential for transformation.
Most approaches, including Peterson’s 12 rules, are intended to show us how better to navigate our challenges—to be healthier, wealthier, and happier. But as we progress to higher spiritual levels, we begin to tire of this limited reality. We yearn, then, for a guide who can show us the way out, one who has experienced his own consciousness beyond the limitations of the dream. He can teach us how to find the exit and the bliss-filled realms that exist beyond the world of maya.
Yogis must balance these two goals: Our teachings will, indeed, help us live successfully in this world of maya, but, more importantly, they also show us how to achieve unity (moksha) and escape altogether from the dream of duality. Our job, spiritually speaking, is to overcome the chaos caused by ego consciousness.
Master often spoke of this world as being like a dream or movie. Today, he might have used the analogy of a video game. Imagine a complex and incredibly addictive game, called “Life.” If we were thrust into a game with no memory of previous ones, we could be fooled into thinking that the current “incarnation” was all that existed. As long as we stay within the game of duality, we must play by its rules, which are designed to keep the game entertaining by threatening our order with chaos. As long as we are entertained, we will keep hitting the button that says, “Play Again?”
The exit can be found only by detaching ourselves from our identity in the game. This we do by stilling the breath, and withdrawing the mind and heart from outer stimulation, and from their addictions. Finally, in deep meditation, we see and pass through the exit door—the spiritual eye. Then the illusion vanishes, and our soul awakes to the realization that it has been stuck in a dream, a self-enclosed circle of yin and yang. When that deep awakening comes, we are ready to return at last to our true home. Only then will we opt for the button that says, “Game Over.”
In joy,
Nayaswami Jyotish
Subscribe to the Touch of Light podcast. Download the audio recording of this week’s blog by right-clicking here. Or listen to it here (4:28):
19 Comments
Loved the write up. Thanks…Jay Gurudeva
Perfect.
Dear Nayaswami Jyotish Ji,
Excellent, thank you for this wonderful blog :)
Enjoyed thoroughly and how simply you had written for us to get the essence.
The title “Game over” was pretty straight and I assumed it in a different connotation that it is usually represented, but at the end of the blog, I read that the meaning was different and Sweet :)
Thank you again
Jai Guru
GUESS WHAT……IN THAT YIN-YANG SYMBOL, I PERSONALLY DISN’T LIKE THE BLACK RING GOING ALL AROUND THE CIRCLE, THUS GIVING BLACK A WEE BIT MORE “CHANCE” THAN THE WHITE AND I FOR ONE WOULD HAVE BEEN HAPPIER IF BLACK REPRESENTED THE ‘GOOD’ OR THE CONSTRUCTIVE ENERGY BUT AGAIN GUESS WHAT………..BLACK REPRESENTS CHAOS AND THE FINAL RUIN OR DEATH, WHICH IS THE ULTIMATE CERTAIN TRUTH. (BUT WHOEVER SAID THAT DEATH IS A BAD THING……ITS AFTER ALL THE CHANGE OR THE TRANSITION OF THE SOUL FROM BEING IN ONE STATE TO THE OTHER MAY BE, AND INDEED MIGHT SIMPLY BE A THOROUGHLY ‘WELCOME’ CHANGE, BUT THEN THE MIND IS SUCH A TROUBLESOME THING THAT IT JUST LOVES THE STATUS QUO AND SIMPLY ALWAYS ALMOST RESISTS ………………………………………………………………………………………….”CHANGE”, IN WHICHEVER FORM THAT IT WAS TO HAPPEN!
Thank you Nayaswami Jyotish! I really needed this exact article right now. May we all continue to persevere in our Guru’s teachings.
I pray for all my fellow devotees.
April thank you. The article arrived for me also at the exact moment of need. The unexpected and timely shower of Grace.
Dear Jyotish, your writings are always wonderful but this one is especially so because of the metaphors. For me, at least, metaphors are very helpful in getting a concept to “sink in.” Thanks, and Blessins!
For some reason the yin yang symbol has never represented the chaos theory for me, so an interesting way of looking at it. Thank you for sharing.
Best essay ever!
making me to think deeper.
thankyou
Timely message for me. Such addictions have been the major challenge of this lifetime for me. Great reminder.
Also, I’m loving “Touch of Joy”, read a chapter at bedtime and naptime every day. Thanks so much, Jyotish and Devi!
Thank you for your wise insight and clarity.
A wonderful new way to look at duality. And an example to clarify. Thank you.
Well said
What a wonderful comparison and explanation of the truth!
Sincerely
With Love
Vinnie Cruz
Very well described yogic-meditation philosophy in very simple words , in your last paragraph . Thank you very much. Could be useful to explain meditation , to young minds in their words.
Excellent little article -wish the whole world could read and DEEPLY IMBIBE the deep wisdom in this written piece – Craigh
I love this! Thank You! I’ll be reminded every time I see the Yin-Yang symbol. In Gioia, Mary
Very Well explained !