Every day, in every moment, underneath everything else, you have the thought, “I am this or that kind of person, this or that kind of deluded, impure person.” It doesn’t matter whether you are religious or non-religious in your attitudes, you all have some kind of ordinary idea of who and what you are. Consciously or unconsciously you also apply that projection to all the other people, the other sentient beings, surrounding you. This mistaken conception pervades everything that you see; it characterizes your fundamental neurosis, your basic mental illness.
When we practice guru yoga, we have a small experience of a unified living image of ourselves and others. Through that experience and by learning the essence of the guru, we can gradually transcend our mundane relationships with others; we can transcend our mistaken and neurotic mental concepts and the atmosphere they create within us and around us.
We are surrounded by living beings. We are constantly involved with each other, always interacting, relating. Most human problems arise through our interactions with other human beings due to our mistaken, ordinary concepts and the vibrations that we project onto others. From our neurotic and agitated state we tend to view other people as ordinary sense objects from which we try to gain some kind of sense gratification for our attachments rather than engaging others in an easy way with respect, seeing them positively. For example, perhaps it is possible to transcend such an ordinary view by transforming all sentient beings into the form of Vajrapani so that your mind is automatically energized with an attitude of loving kindness and wisdom. In this way, whenever you see another person your wisdom is energized, bringing greater control of your mind and blissful enjoyment into your life.
The purpose of practicing guru yoga and the yoga method of Vajrapani is to release all the impure, depressed, dissatisfied energy within you by visualizing and actualizing such a transcendental vision. The specific way that we practice the guru yoga of Vajrapani—the process of dissolving, sinking, unifying—enables us to purify the dualistic mind and discover total unity. This is its purpose. Our ordinary existence is rooted in separation. Everything is fragmented because of our mistaken and exaggerated conceptions. Even though we are so disconnected and living in the world of our projections, we have the strong impression that we are completely crowded. This crowded feeling needs to be released.
It is true. Many times the projections that we have are completely unreal, non-existent, but because we believe them we experience them as if they exist. A good example: sometimes when you are afraid and insecure, perhaps in a dark place, you imagine seeing something out there. You think, “Maybe somebody is out there.” You look out into the dark at a clump of trees and see something moving there. Nothing is actually there but nonetheless you see something. Something seems to be there and it appears to be real, even though it is not. Just like that.
Another example is when we always think that there is something physically wrong with us, constantly saying, “This hurts, that hurts, this hurts, that hurts.” Even if there isn’t really anything wrong in all those places, pretty soon you start to actually have pain because you believe your projections.
Therefore, having such a unified, transcendental recognition of ourselves and others as the deity is so important. This is how we train our minds to perceive reality positively without our ordinary, agitated, negative vibrations. From the start of retreat, all students should see themselves in the vision of the radiating rainbow body of Vajrapani. Contemplate and be aware of this as much as possible, all the time. Observe closely. If you can do this, then your retreat becomes a transcendent process. Also, recite Vajrapani’s mantra continuously. Reciting mantra is very important. Mantra has the kind of energy that brings your mind into single-pointedness from its usual fragmented and scattered state.
All existent energy has some kind of vibration, which can be positive or negative. You can feel this vibration. Our negative, egotistic, deluded minds can spread their negative vibrations into material things. However, mantra cannot be affected in this way by the deluded mind. Mantra has a kind of purity; it is pure from the beginning.
You do not necessarily have to be sitting when you recite mantra. When you walk, wherever you go or whatever you do—even when you go to the bathroom—you can recite mantra—even when you shop at the supermarket. You don’t need to make a big show of it; just act naturally. You don’t even have to recite verbally—you can recite mentally.
By integrating your mind into single-pointedness, mantra automatically energizes you with peace, bliss and joy. For example, the Vajrapani mantra is all the supreme beings’ powerful energy transformed into mantra. Vajrapani’s mantra is Vajrapani. It can cure any disease, but you need strength, meditation and the power of inspiration within you. Really, it is possible!
