Graduate Paper

 

A Meeting of Ananda Marga Spirituality
With Gestalt Psycho-therapy
Dada Pranakrsnananda

(This presentation has two parts—one written and one recorded. It is a presentation of a possible synthesis of spirituality and Gestalt psycho-therapy.)

This paper is presented to demonstrate the similarity between the ideas of Gestalt psycho-therapy and the approach of Ananda Marga spirituality in practice. I suggest that elements of Gestalt, phenomenology and the awareness cycle (here and now), dialogue and relationship (‘I-Thou’) and experiment (what and how), enhance and compliment the spiritual practices of Ananda Marga.

The method of investigation was a practical experiment conducted with the help of a group of students studying Gestalt psycho-therapy in Australia. It was recorded on camera. 224 participants from Asia, Europe and U.S.A. attended similar seminars during the years 2007 and 2008. Some of the USA participants were also interviewed on camera.

In June 1990 the spiritual master of Ananda Marga said,"I exist, my Lord exists, and my search for His glamour, my search for His grandeur, is never-ending. I am moving unto Him, moving along a never-ending path." Here is ‘self as process’ in the context of Field Theory of Gestalt, the process of becoming, evolving, changing (Yontef, 1993 p314). He further said,"This search for the Great by the little is called mysticism". From a Field perspective, everything that exists is in a web of relationship (Yontef, 1993 p297). And he says still further,"The fundamental point of spirituality depends on this mysticism. And when this mysticism, this outward existence of mysticism, coincides with the inner spirit of mysticism, the goal is reached: the unit becomes Cosmic." What a beautiful description of the completed spiritual Gestalt, the ultimate state of authenticity. He went on to say,"And for the attainment of this status we have come here. We have come to this world, so our lives are not meaningless. Our everything is meaningful; and by our knowledge, by our action and by our sincerity, we will be increasing our meaningfulness from unit to Infinite". My awareness, my subjective meaning in the field and my relationship with the field is ever expanding and supported by the field. Gestalt psycho-therapy and Ananda Marga spiritual practice have some ideas in common.

The Thirst for Limitlessness—Dharma
The Search for the Authentic Self

At the foundation or root of Ananda Marga spiritual practices is the concept of dharma. In the spiritual scripture of Ananda Marga,"Ananda Sutram", there is an aphorism that says,"Brhades?an?a?pran?idha?nam? ca dharmah", that is, to long for and run after the Great is dharma. From the Gestalt perspective, this is my life’s effort to achieve a ‘better Gestalt’ or pragnanz (Yontef, 1993 p300). Dharma means that knowingly or unknowingly, human beings are yearning for limitlessness. Buber, the author of"I-Thou", expresses a similar idea. "The development of the soul in the child is inextricably bound up with that of the longing for the Thou, with the satisfaction and the disappointment of this longing, with the game of his experiments and the tragic seriousness of his perplexity" (Buber, 1987 p28).

My life since childhood has been a spiritual path, a quest to quench my thirst for limitlessness. Through my life experiments and the earnestness of my quest, I have been in relationship with Thou. Gestalt and Ananda Marga have helped me to pursue my growing edge, the challenge of expansion. Gestalt has taught me awareness. Ananda Marga facilitated my effort through sadhana, commonly known as meditation. When I make effort to attain the Great with awareness, I am expressing my dharma. The effort involved is called dharma sa?dhana? or the practice of dharma. Ananda Marga spiritual practices are called sadhana which means"the effort to achieve completion, wholeness". Here the concept of awareness is of mutual concern for Ananda Marga and Gestalt. "Awareness is the process of being in a vigilant contact with the most important event in the individual environment with full sensorimotor, emotional, cognitive and energetic support" Yontef, 1979b: 29).

Mantra—the phenomenon, the concept and the relationship
Here and Now

Sadhana or meditation is done with the help of mantra. "Mantra means ‘that collection of sounds the meditation on which leads to liberation’ – Manana?t ta?rayet yastu sah mantrah parikiirttitah. ‘Man’ plus the root verb ‘trae’ plus the suffix ‘d?a’ make up the word mantra" (Anandamurti, 1970). Mantra is a Sanskrit word. The first syllable ‘man’ means mind. The second syllable ‘tra’ means to liberate by constant repetition.

Mantra has three components which are demonstrated in the video. The first is acoustic. It is made up of sounds. Experiencing sound in my body is phenomenological. From a Gestalt perspective, it is experiential,"what is immediately obvious to the senses" (Joyce, 2004 p17). As I sing the mantra my body responds to the sound. I experience resonance within my body. Each person singing the mantra may have a different experience of the mantra resonating in a particular part or the whole of his or her body. It is subjectively experienced rather than directed or intended. As mantra is the vehicle for the process in this workshop, each participant needs to understand how to use it. Here is Gestalt phenomenology in practice as the participant has objective somatic awareness of the mantra. Therefore, individuals were asked to sing the mantra with awareness of how and where the mantra was resonating in their bodies.

In the second component, as I sing the mantra I hold a concept of divinity within my mind. For some divinity may be a presence or a person, male or female, energy, light, etc. From the Gestalt perspective, divinity is similar to the concept of ‘Field Theory’ as everything is of the field, a unitary whole, a systematic web of relationships (Yontef, 1993 p. 297). During the workshop I acknowledge each person’s experience of divinity based on their own cultural conditioning and personal history/context, which is a field perspective as well. There is no right or wrong concept of divinity in this process. Meditation is my awareness of the ‘Eternal Thou’ observing my ‘I-ness’ observing the ‘Eternal Thou’. This is the field theory concept of everything affecting everything else. My experience is that my concepts change over time with every new experience; indeed, mantra will effect that change (Anandamurti, 1971). So the participants in the video were asked to bring their own concept of divinity as they sang the mantra. This open concept of divinity is the mantra’s second dimension.

The third dimension is the relational. The mantra represents the relationship between the individual and their concept of divinity. The mantra used in the workshop is Baba Nam Kevalam. Kevalam means only or exclusively. Nam means name. And Baba means nearest and dearest. So the mantra means, ‘I exclusively, only, direct all my physical, mental and spiritual energy to my nearest and dearest One’ (Anandamurti, 1971). Baba is a word which represents the relationship between ‘I’ and ‘Thou’, what Buber calls the ‘Eternal Thou’. The relationship embodied in the mantra is nicely expressed in this quote from Martin Buber,"Between you and it there is mutual giving: you say Thou to it and give yourself to it, it says Thou to you and gives itself to you" (Buber, 1987 p33). I give myself to Baba and Baba gives Himself to me. This mutual giving gives me a special thrill, a joy that fills my heart and mind and an ever abiding peace which becomes my inner support as I meet life’s challenges.

Therefore, in practice these three components of the use of mantra are brought together. One, the mantra resonates in one’s body as one sings. Two, the person is aware of the presence of divinity or higher power in their mind. Three, they focus on their relationship with the divine. This is called bhakti or divine love in Ananda Marga. In Gestalt psycho-therapy this is the contact boundary, ‘the between’, the ‘I and Thou’ as expressed by Buber (Buber 1987, p.15). And as a result meditation builds greater awareness which is the primary goal of Gestalt psycho-therapy as well. Singing the mantra during the workshop, the participants were asked to hold within their minds their special relationship with their own concept of divinity while the mantra resonated in their bodies.

The Relational Stages of Absorption in Thou
I-Thou

Meditation is the process of bringing my entire being into ‘I-ness’ and relating my ‘I-ness’ to Divinity, ‘Thou’, through mantra. The mantra acts as a bridge between ‘I’ and ‘Thou’. As I repeat the mantra, being aware of its resonance, being with my own concept of divinity in the present, here and now, and focusing on the mutual giving between us, my mind is liberated from ‘It-ness’ and becomes ‘Thou’. As I meditate using the mantra, I may experience various degrees of relationship. As my relationship becomes expanded, my new concept of divinity automatically facilitates a still deeper relationship. Parlett quoting Hodges writes,"Contact organizes the field and the shared reality, the relationship, begins to take shape" (Partlett, 1991 p76).

Anandamurti discusses stages of relationship in his article"Stages of Samadhi" (stages of absorption) which he gave in Philippines in 1969. These relational states may be explained from the point of view of the awareness cycle of Gestalt. In the first phase I may think that divinity is far away or is simply a concept. Divinity is in the ground, out of awareness. In the next stage, I am aware that actually divinity exists and is present here and now with me wherever I am. Divinity becomes a clear figure. In the third stage I am in relationship with divinity. My energy is mobilized. Divinity is not just present; divinity is interacting with me and I am interacting with divinity. I experience divinity in relationship. In the next phase divinity is holding me. I experience the divine touch, the embrace. It is the contact stage. Next I identify with divinity. I experience myself as divinity. Divinity is integrated, embodied. We seem to be twins. I am quenched, satisfied. And in the final stage I become divinity. I am one. Yoga occurs, my unification with the Cosmic Entity, the Field. There is no duality. ‘I’ is ‘Thou’ or ‘Thou’ is ‘I’, perhaps the ultimate Gestalt, the completed spiritual Gestalt, the ultimate state of authenticity, oneness.

These states are temporary. However the final state may be permanent. The goal of Yoga is to be in the final state of completion or oneness with divinity permanently. And that permanent state of completion is only available through grace. Anandamurti and Buber have a similar concept,"the ‘Thou’ meets me through grace" (Buber, 1987 p11)."One can attain the supreme stance by the blessings of the exalted ones, as well as a wee bit of Macrocosmic grace" (Anandamurti, 1989). Grace is defined in the Webster’s dictionary as"unmerited divine assistance given humans for their regeneration or sanctification" (merriam-webster.com).

A Special Quality

However there is another dimension of the mantra which has nothing to do with my singing, my conceptualizing or my relating. According to Ananda Marga,"when a Maha?kaola (one who spiritually awakens others) chooses a word or words, fills them with the Cosmic vibration and makes that vibrational flow move in perfect rhythm with the Macrocosmic vitality, then that mantra is called a siddha mantra [perfected mantra]" (Anandamurti, 1979). Followers of Ananda Marga have been taught that the mantra contains the spiritual vitality of a person who has actually completed the journey, a yogi, one who has attained the state of yoga."Yoga in the spiritual sphere is unification of the unit entity with the Cosmic Entity" (Anandamurti, 1979). This person is perpetually in the state of union, yoga, with Thou, rather has become Thou. As a living being who wants to pass on this legacy to others, the spiritual master infuses this state of being, oneness with ‘Thou’, in the mantra. So the mantra has a life of its own. The mantra has the power, the capacity to bring me to that state of oneness with the Divine. As I direct and focus all my energies through the mantra, I will ultimately reach the state of yoga. Followers of Ananda Marga are encouraged to experience that this is true for them through their own personal practice and experience.

Samskara—Unfinished Business—Uncompleted Gestalten

What then prevents contact, the experience of the divine touch, the embrace? What blocks the experience of ‘the between’ I and Thou?"Unfinished business represents the encoding in memory of the unsuccessful resolution of some kind of emotionally based need/goal-oriented interaction with the environment" (Greenberg, Rice & Elliot, p. 241). Meditation brings unfinished business into awareness so that I can complete my experience, complete the Gestalt, the unfinished business.

For example, let us go to the supermarket with a parent and child. As the parent pushes the food cart down the isles, suddenly parent and child are in the ‘isle to heaven’, the sweets and chocolates section. As usual the child says,"I want chocolate". And the drama begins. At first the child simply states his or her desire. When the parent refuses as they often do, the child begins to whine and whimper,"I want chocolate". Again the parent refuses and the child escalates the desire to a demand,"I want chocolate". (Gee, parents are stubborn.) The child begins to cry,"I want chocolate". And finally the child makes such a drama that the parent is humiliated in front of the all the supermarket shoppers. "I WANT CHOCOLATE!" How could you refuse? At any point in the drama the parent could just reach for the chocolate and hand it to the child, pure bliss. The tears would change to smiles and laughter. What a transformation! The child wanted chocolate. The child uses strategy to achieve the goal. The strategy is not the goal. From the Gestalt view, the child creatively adjusts his or her method of coming in contact with the parent in order to achieve the goal, the satisfaction of mouth watering sweetness. Satisfaction and withdrawal complete the Gestalt and anything less than that is unfinished business. "Our awareness of the present will be influenced by the incompleteness of our past experiences. "We need to complete our experience before we can withdraw our energy from it" (Sills, Fish & Lapworth, 1996 p. 70).

Similarly as I live my life, knowingly or unknowingly, I have a goal. I adopt strategies to achieve my goal, to fulfill my thirst for limitlessness. In the perspective of the awareness cycle as a pillar of Gestalt, dharma is in my ground. This thirst, the desire for limitlessness is in my ground. That desire brings forth a figure, for example, chocolate. I want chocolate. The figure is clear. Chocolate is what I want. I put my energy behind it. I move toward the shop, put my hand in my pocket and ask for chocolate. When I put the chocolate in my mouth I experience some satisfaction, rather enjoyment. On the micro-level, I may say that I have completed my Gestalt for chocolate. However it is not"complete". On the macro-level, my spiritual Gestalt has not been fulfilled. My thirst for limitlessness has not been fulfilled. I have only enjoyed chocolate. And I will continue the same cycle in relation to chocolate, repeatedly. I am in an ‘I-it’ relationship with chocolate.

This cycle of repetition is called ‘samskara’ in Ananda Marga or"the psychoanalytical principle of the repetition compulsion" (Sills, Fish & Lapworth, 1996 p.72). Mantra has two effects. Mantra causes me to experience the various stages of ‘I-Thou" as explained previously. Also mantra causes my samskara—unfinished business—uncompleted Gestalten to bubble up in my mind, to become clear figures. Now what am I to do with the figures that arise? Samskara means the seed for the expression of a desire which causes me to repeat an action again and again until it is satisfied. When any desire in a physical, mental or spiritual dimension is understood to be only a limited expression of my thirst for limitlessness and when that desire is filled full with limitlessness and not other temporary enjoyments, the cycle will be complete. The desire for chocolate is transcended when the desire for chocolate is experienced as actually the thirst for limitlessness expressed in a limited way.

My mind has thousands of these unfulfilled experiences or samskara’s. Whatever I did on the physical, mental or spiritual level in my life was only to complete my unfinished business, to fulfill my thirst for limitlessness. When I finally quench my thirst for limitlessness I will have completed my life’s Gestalt. It is the final satisfaction, the ultimate resolution of my life’s goal, my spiritual Gestalt. However all of my micro-Gestalten or samskara’s, like the child in the supermarket, will be demanding attention along the way. How do I move my relationship from the ‘I-it’ relationship to the ‘I-Thou’? Here, in particular, is where we see the practice of meditation as an individual practice in Ananda Marga and the psycho-therapeutic process of Gestalt compliment each other. This is the focus of the workshop or in gestalt terminology, the experiment or intervention.

It is the tendency that when unfinished business arises in meditation, the meditator will try to replace the thought with the mantra. Rather using the Gestalt concept of the paradoxical theory of change,"change occurs when one becomes what he is, not with what he is not" (Beisser, 1970 www.gestalt.org/arnie.html). When unfinished business arises in meditation, I stay with ‘what is’, the unfinished business. I do not try to move on to what is not by grasping for the mantra to save me from my thought. Mantra helps me to stay with what is, not to try to change anything or move on to something else. I sit with what is now, allowing the mantra to do whatever it does.

The Experiment—Mantra as or in Therapy
What and How

Experiment is one of the pillars of Gestalt. Zinker describes the experiment as the cornerstone of experiential learning. This experiment allows a person to increase his or her range of awareness and self-understanding, to broaden his or her repertoire of behavior in a variety of life situations (Zinker, 1977 pp. 125-126). The process which follows is an experiment in the practice of meditation and in relation to unfulfilled Gestalten, unfulfilled experiences or samskara in daily life.