Class Five: Coffee Meditation **1) We have reached the final component of our path of karma—Step Four, which is called “coffee meditation.” A big part of this meditation is involved with the Sanskrit idea of santosha (aka santushta), or contentment, which Lord Krishna prescribes for us yogis at XII.14. Describe a coffee meditation for someone who is looking for a good partner, and “rate” its importance in upgrading a simple karma to a path of karma, especially with people who are already nice people.** It’s very common, when discussing karma with people, to hear friends say: “I don’t believe in this karma thing. My uncle is really nice, really generous—he gives money to people all the time—and he’s just got more and more broke.” That is, we know lots of people who are *nice* and who seem to be planting the right seeds, but just don’t seem to be getting the promised results. Here again we have to distinguish between someone doing a simple karma, and someone who knows how to create a complete path of karma. If your uncle is generous and helps many different people financially, this is a good seed—and it will inevitably, *eventually,* bring him prosperity. The trick though is the *eventually* part. Seeds in the mind can take a *very long* time to sprout up into our conscious mind, and thus into our real life, Remember that we create thousands of seeds every minute—regardless of what we’re doing, good or bad—and any new seeds that we create from simple karma are going to have to stand in a very long line before they get to become the next few days of our life. If we know how to create a path of karma, though, this pushes new seeds to the front of the line. A path of karma of course has four steps, and the step that most people are missing is the fourth: coffee meditation. Why do we call it coffee meditation? Suppose we are looking for a nice partner, and we’ve already finished with the first three steps: (1) we wrote down in a clear simple sentence what we wanted in our life; (2) we spent some serious time identifying someone else who seeks the same thing, and planning how to help them to get it; and (3) we actually took them out to Starbucks to talk and make suggestions that would bring them this help. Now it’s time for coffee meditation. Come home from work; make yourself a little supper, then clean up and take your bath. Watch a little TV if you have to. Change into your nightclothes, start to wind down for bed—maybe make yourself a little herbal tea (coffee is the name of the meditation, but it’s not great for sleeping). Come sit on your bed and run your mind back over the day. Now when we’ve had a long day and it’s late, our mind is very vulnerable. This can be a bad thing, when we start to have doubts or fears about the day and our life in general. Tired moments are often the moments when we’re most likely to go over in our mind something unkind that someone said to us during the day. With coffee meditation, we consciously turn this process around. Rather than thinking about the negative things that happened during the day, we grab our mind and force it to turn around and look at the sweet things. Most importantly, we carefully review the steps we’ve taken today towards our dream. Early in the day I brought to mind the lonely person I had chosen to help; and in the afternoon, I took them to Starbucks and listened to stories of their exploits as a young person. I gave them companionship. More importantly, I was flowing with the Tao: I was acting in harmony with the way the universe really works. Rather than scouring the clubs or websites for a partner, I was taking the one action which *always* produces a partner: I was providing companionship to a lonely person. Every moment that we spend thinking about *every single detail* of the trip to Starbucks is coffee meditation. You don’t cross your legs into a lotus posture, and it’s probably better that you don’t even keep your back straight: lean back on the headboard of the bed if you like, on some big fluffy pillows, and gaze up towards the ceiling without particularly focusing your eyes on anything—like you were having a nice daydream about your partner after that first date (which is coming). Remember that we plant 65 new karmic seeds every second that we are really running through our mind the scene at Starbucks, the smile on our elderly friend’s face. And the mind is particularly open as we fall off to sleep: try to keep up this review of all the nice things you did today even as you lower your head to the pillow. The mind is flooded with new seeds, which will ripen quickly and powerfully. You will also always sleep sweetly and soundly, and wake completely refreshed. **2) Lord Krishna, at XII.20, says that “a person who honors this deathless nectar of understanding, as it is…is extremely dear to me.” Why does the Lord add these three tiny words, “as it is”? And why does he tie our understanding to “deathless nectar”? Include in your answer an explanation of the Sanskrit word for this nectar, including English cognates.** The words “as it is” in this verse (which by the way is *yatha* in Sanskrit and *jishin* in Tibetan) are tiny but extremely important; and very common in the ancient classics of India. “As it is” means that—if we hope to use the path of karma idea to make our special dream come true—then we’re going to have to make sure that we understand every detail about the four steps to this path, and understand them correctly: just as Lord Krishna has described it in the Gita. This truly correct and comprehensive understanding depends on much careful study, under the guidance of a qualified teacher. If we simply read a book or find something on the internet we can easily make a mistake at a crucial point in creating our path of karma. We need to be very demanding and careful in how we choose this teacher, and we need to continually check what we are doing against authentic descriptions of the path of karma in the ancient tradition. Making it up as we go is definitely not “as it is.” The Sanskrit word for “deathless nectar” here is *amirta (amr%ta).* The correct pronunciation by the way is *amirta,* and not *amrita—*which would be a different spelling. The word consists of two parts. The first is *a-,* which means here *not.* This use of the initial *a* continued into Greek especially, and is found in words like *atheist* (“no-deity”) and *apathetic* (“not-passionate”). The -*mirta* here comes from the Sanskrit root √*mir (mr%),* which means *to die.* The word *amirta* then literally means *beyond death,* and it is appropriate as well that it is translated as *nectar,* which comes from Greek roots meaning “to pass beyond (*tar*) death (*nec,* as in *necrophiliac*). So how is our understanding going to bring us to this nectar of deathlessness? Remember that a pen can appear to two different beings, at the same time, as two vastly different objects. The condition of our own body is the same: if we have failed to take a genuine interest in the health and wellbeing of others, then the seeds which produced the body we were born with will slowly but surely wear out, and we will age and die. If though we take an active and prolonged interest in others’ wellbeing, then we plant seeds that will cause us to see our body actually get strong and younger as the years go by. With understanding we can, quite literally, partake of the nectar of deathlessness. **3) In verse XVII.23, Lord Krishna grants us a mantra which we can use for remembering how things really work. Give this mantra and explain how it helps us to remember; then state what it has to do with a creator “and the other two.” List finally, very briefly, the two things that make a mantra “work.”** The mantra is *Om tat sat.* The Sanskrit syllable *om* is traditionally explained as a word that we use to start any sacred mantra. The sound has three parts to it: *ah, uh,* and *mm.* These three represent learning to act in an enlightened way; to speak in an enlightened way; and to think in an enlightened way. “Enlightened” of course means that we act to plant seeds for the things we want to see happen, rather than continuing to try things that haven’t ever really worked. *Tat* means *this,* and *sat* means *is truth.* And so the literal meaning of this mantra is *Om\! This is truth\!* This is a reference to the “great secret” that Lord Krishna has been teaching all along in the Gita: Things don’t exist in themselves—they are coming from us, from seeds we have planted, by being kind to others, or by ignoring them. With this truth we can make our dreams come true; with this we can make the dreams of the entire world come true. And this is what makes it “truth.” In this same verse, Lord Krishna relates the mantra to “the creator and the other two.” This is a reference to the Hindu trinity of holy beings named Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. Brahma is seen as (1) the creator of the universe; Vishnu as (2) the one who maintains the universe after it has been created; and Shiva as (3) the destroyer of the universe. These beings are personifications of three principles that the mantra is meant to remind us of: (1) the seed s in our own mind create the universe; (2) the continued planting of seeds can maintain any thing, person, or relationship indefinitely; and (3) failing to replenish the seeds means that they will wear out, and each of these things will come to an end. Thus the three godlike beings, and the three syllables of the mantra, are meant again to remind us of three ideas we have learned from the Gita. The ancient traditions of India and Tibet say that two conditions must be present for a mantra to have the power to help us: in this case, to help us remember the principles of a path of karma. First, the mantra must have come from a holy source; here, from Lord Krishna, which already gives the mantra great power. Secondly, the person who recites the mantra must be following an ethical way of life: no harm to other people; helping others as much as we can; working with a vision of a perfect world. If we do our best to be good to others, we can actually continue to say this Mantra of Understanding—*Om tat sat—*quietly, under our breath, throughout the entire day. It will have a powerful effect in helping us to remember to plant seeds, rather than struggling through life. **4) What evolution is being referred to in this same verse (XVII.23), when Lord Krishna speaks of the masters, the books, and the rites which have sprung forth from the principles behind the mantra, Om tat sat?** Lord Krishna, on one level, is speaking of a good thing—of those things which are most sacred to almost any Hindu: the Brahmins (priests of Hinduism); the Vedas (the earliest and greatest of the holy books of the Hindu faith); and the Yajna, or sacred rites of offering, old as the Vedas themselves. We can see the Brahmins as learning the principles of a path of karma, and keeping them alive in the world, teaching them to all who need them. The Vedas are the first written reminder in India of the principles of the seeds; and we can imagine the Yajna rites of offering as an attempt to give prosperity and prayers, and thus plant powerful seeds. On the other hand, we seem to detect in Lord Krishna’s words here a bit of a critical tone. The beautiful ideas of the path of karma get locked into books, which then become doctrine—required doctrine—which then becomes the possession of a priestly caste which represents some elite deity. And then rather than helping the human beings right around us achieve their goals, we begin to ritualize our offerings, and perform them in churches and temples, rather than with those around us, whose dreams we need to make come true. The words of this verse seem almost a warning from Lord Krishna about what can happen if we stop going to Starbucks, and start building some institution. **5) In verse XVIII.17, Lord Krishna makes the extreme statement that “anyone who no longer believes that things are themselves can kill whole planets of people” and still not suffer the consequences of that karma. What is he really saying?** This verse is one of those statements in religious literature which can obviously cause tremendous suffering in the world, especially in the hands of a person who has another agenda, based on their own desires—for power, pleasure, or anything of the like. It is not to be taken literally. So then how *are* we to take it? This verse is similar to ones that we saw earlier (XI.34), where Lord Krishna advises Arjuna to go ahead and kill the warriors of the other army, since they are “dead already.” We learned there that these warriors were “dead” because they never existed: that is, the fact that Arjuna has broken down in a moral crisis over whether he should kill or not in this battle is a sure sign that he misunderstands where the whole situation is coming from. The warriors he thinks are there are warriors who could not be coming from his own violence in the past—and there are no such warriors, anywhere. You could (try to) murder whole planets full of these non-existent warriors, and nothing would happen. This also means of course that *it’s not okay* to kill the human beings standing around the battlefield. The whole point is that Arjuna should *not* harm anyone, but that he should do so for the right reasons; and he should kill his habit of making any decision for the wrong reasons. **6) Lord Krishna, at XVIII.52, grants Arjuna advice on his real-life, day-to-day practice. What are six things that the Lord recommends for a person who wants to be “one with” him, and what do we need to remember about the first and the sixth?** Here are the six things that Lord Krishna recommends: (1) Live in solitude: This refers on one level to living a quiet and simple life; but remember also that the original wording here (*vivikta*) can also refer to living a life sequestered from negative emotions such as ignorant liking, ignorant disliking, and especially the ignorance that both of these spring from: not understanding how to make our dreams come true in a way that actually works. (2) Eat lightly: Healthy food that gives you the energy to feel great and be of more service to others. (3) Watch what you do and say and think: Everything about you is positive and sweet to other people. Do (4) your meditation and (5) your yoga every single day: Makes you fresh and clear to everyone, helps you keep your awareness of where things really come from. (6) Decide that you will give up your attachments: Doesn’t mean that you can’t like things, or shouldn’t want to keep the things you like. *Does* mean that you shouldn’t try to keep things by refusing to share them, since this would plant the seeds to cause you to lose them. *Coffeeshop assignment:* Please meet with at least one other member of the class (preferably someone that you didn’t know before the course started) to talk a bit about this class, before the next one. *Meditation assignment:* 15 minutes per day before the next class, practice doing coffee meditation. In your meditation, go into very deep detail about something good you have done for someone in the last few days, to reinforce these seeds and cause them to multiply wildly. *Meditation times and dates* (homework without this section completed will not be accepted):