Existence - Siddhaswarupananda - Jagad Guru Chris Butler Science of Identity

~ Jagad Guru (Jagad Guru Chris Butler) © 2008 Science of Identity Foundation

Siddhaswarupananda - Prejudice and Bigotry

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Siddhaswarupananda - Respect

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Peace in the World - Siddhaswarupananda

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Siddhaswarupananda - Seeking Love, Wisdom and Compassion

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Happiness - Siddhaswarupananda

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Acting on Wisdom - Siddhaswarupananda Paramahamsa

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Siddhaswarupananda - Brotherhood

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Siddhaswarupananda - Change in Consciousness

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Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Quotes on False Ego

It is natural for us to want to be happy, satisfied, and free. But due to ignorance of our true identity, our natural longing becomes misdirected and leads to further bondage and unhappiness.

Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Science of Identity Foundation

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If you, the self, erroneously identify with the physical body—if you believe “I am the body”—then this deluded condition is called false ego.

Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Science of Identity Foundation

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If you wrongly identify yourself with your body—your senses—you will erroneously conclude that you can achieve happiness through material sense gratification.

Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Science of Identity Foundation

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The foundation of racism and racial conflict is the false identification of the body (“clothing”) with the person.

Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Science of Identity Foundation

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A materialist identifies the person they love with the physical body that person inhabited. Therefore when that person or atma leaves their body and just a corpse remains, the materialist will not know what to think. He will be frightened and confused by the corpse -- because although the body is present, his beloved is not.

Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Science of Identity Foundation



~ Jagad Guru (Jagad Guru Chris Butler)
© 2008 Science of Identity Foundation

Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Quotes on Real Value of the Body

Many people practice tai chi, chi gong, and so on with the aim of keeping their bodies fit for a long time. There is certainly nothing wrong with keeping one’s body fit—indeed, it is one of the aims of yoga—but unfortunately, many such people are trying to run away from the inevitable death of the body. Some mystic yogis strive to keep their bodies alive forever—but that is not possible. Even if one was the greatest yogi and could keep his body alive for thousands of years, that still is not forever.

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The real value of the body lies not in the organization of its components, but rather in the self, in the person who operates and uses that body.

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Only one who can learn the process of nescience and that of transcendental knowledge side by side can transcend the influence of repeated birth and death and enjoy the full blessing of immortality.
~Sri Ishopanishad, Mantra Eleven

Some neophytes on the spiritual path may fall into the illusion that taking care of the body is somehow evil, or a sign of spiritual backwardness. Not only may they neglect the needs of the body, but they may go out of their way to actually damage the body. Such people actually hate the body. They see it as a source of misery, and thus they take out their anger on it. This is certainly a mistake.

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An enlightened person sees the body as a garment that he is only wearing and using temporarily.

Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Science of Identity Foundation



~ Jagad Guru (Jagad Guru Chris Butler)
© 2008 Science of Identity Foundation

Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Quotes on The Materialist Is Never Satisfied

If you believe that you are your body, you will strive endlessly to give your body sensual pleasure. You will struggle to fill up your inner emptiness with fleeting sensual flashes. But no amount of sensual pleasure will satisfy you. No matter how many taste orgasms, sexual orgasms, and other kinds of orgasms you may have, you still won’t be actually satisfied. You’ll always have a never ending desire for more.

Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Science of Identity Foundation

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No matter how much sensual pleasure people have, no matter how much they consume, they always want more. This endless personal craving manifests as ever increasing material consumption.

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There is more than enough food, water, fuel and so on to satisfy the actual needs of everyone on the planet. But there is not enough to satisfy everyone's greed. Even if it were physically possible for you to consume all the food, water, and fuel in the world, you still would not be satisfied. “Material food” cannot satisfy spiritual craving. Since the materialist is never satisfied, he never feels that he has had enough.

Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Science of Identity Foundation

Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Quotes on Beauty of This World Is Not Real

It is unfortunate that people are attracted to the beauty of this world that is not real – it shrivels and dies.

Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Science of Identity Foundation

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This is why people in modern Western societies are still not satisfied, even though they are so economically advanced and thus have so much facility for sense enjoyment. They always want more. As the late British economist E. F. Schumacher points out:

Is there enough to go round? Immediately we encounter a serious difficulty: What is “enough”? Who can tell us? Certainly not the economist who pursues “economic growth” as the highest of all values and therefore has no concept of “enough.” There are poor societies which have too little; but where is the rich society that says: “Halt! We have enough”? There is none.*

What's really needed is to recognize the need for spiritual as well as material happiness. A society that has great material prosperity but lacks spiritual purpose is really a poor society. A body without the soul is a dead body—even if it is nicely decorated with fancy ornaments.

Science of Identity

*E. F. Schumacher, Small Is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered (New York: Harper and Row, 1973), p. 25.

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When beauty is reflected through things in this world, it is but a reminder that there is real beauty of a lasting nature.

Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Science of Identity Foundation


~ Jagad Guru (Jagad Guru Chris Butler)
© 2008 Science of Identity Foundation

Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Quotes on The Root Cause of Crime

Since no amount of sense gratification is ever enough to satisfy us, we always feel we need “more.” From the poorest person to the richest person, from the slum-dweller to the person who lives in a mansion, everyone wants more sense gratification and thus more material wealth. If you are poor, you feel you need a color TV to be happy; if you’re rich, you feel you need a new yacht. No amount of material wealth is ever enough.

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Criminals, whether rich or poor, are criminals not because they are poor or rich, but because they are in the illusion that material things—material sense enjoyment—will satisfy them. And, of course, the reason they are in this illusion is because they erroneously identify their body as themselves.
Material happiness is likened to trying to drink from an ocean of salty water.

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The fact is that the crime rate will continue to remain high as long as people are ignorant of their true identity and are bombarded with the message that more sense gratification will equal more satisfaction and happiness. As long as success in life is gauged by the amount of material goods amassed, the crime problem cannot be solved.

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It’s clear that the root cause of crime—at least in the West—is not the lack of the basic necessities of survival. The root cause of our crime problem is the lack of wisdom and inner spiritual satisfaction.

Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Science of Identity Foundation



~ Jagad Guru (Jagad Guru Chris Butler)
© 2008 Science of Identity Foundation

Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Quotes on Sense Pleasure, Although Real, is Quite Superficial

In reality, the glossy picture of the “happy rich person” that most people hold in their minds is simply an illusion. Money can buy sense gratification, but not actual happiness or satisfaction.

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Sense pleasure, although real, is quite superficial. It comes and goes quickly. It cannot compare to the sweet taste of spiritual love.

Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Science of Identity Foundation

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The most ironic thing about a life of crime is that it is based on a lie—the lie of materialism. The reason kids in poor neighborhoods idolize the local hoods is because they think that such hoods are happy. They see that by material standards the crooks are “successful”—they’ve got nice clothes, jewelry, flashy cars, the respect of others, pretty girls, lots of cash, and so on. But if such kids knew that material wealth and false lordship were not synonymous with happiness, then they wouldn’t see crooks as successful. So it is this big lie—the materialistic concept of success—that causes many youngsters to follow in the footsteps of hoods.

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Children obviously would not be so eager to emulate these hoods if they knew that crooks are not really happy. So whether you are an educator; a producer of movies, television shows, or popular music; or just a plain old mother, father, elder brother, elder sister, aunt, uncle, etc., you will really help the children if you try to teach them that material wealth and power are not synonymous with success.

Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Science of Identity Foundation

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Economic and spiritual well-being can and must go hand in hand. A yoga master is not against material prosperity or development, but sees it in the correct context. He is not against any knowledge that can lead to economic development, but neither does he believe that such material prosperity will bring complete satisfaction to the people. Therefore he is offering the science of the soul to the educators with the humble but firm request that they please add it to their curriculum.

Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Science of Identity Foundation



~ Jagad Guru (Jagad Guru Chris Butler)
© 2008 Science of Identity Foundation

Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Quotes on No-Self Philosophers

The no-self philosophy is made to order for people (for the most part highly educated) who really can’t or won’t make the necessary effort and sacrifice to become enlightened masters of the senses but who nonetheless wish to think of themselves as enlightened and wise.

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Modern no-self philosophers say that when the gross body is finished, the illusion of the self ceases. The Buddhists claim that the mind is different from the gross body, and that the mind continues to exist even after the gross body has died. As long as this mind continues to exist, then there is a continuation of embodiments. So the Buddhist’s aim is for no more mind—because when there is no more mind, then there will be no gross physical body. And since there is nothing other than the mind covered by the gross physical body—no atma within or covered by the mind—that leaves nothing.

Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Science of Identity Foundation

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Although both Buddhist and modern no-self philosophers contend that there is no self, Buddhist followers do not tend toward hedonism.

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Buddhists do not believe in a life of hedonism because they believe in the law of karma (that is, a person’s actions in this life will affect his existence in his next life) and because they preach that happiness can be obtained not through sensual enjoyment but only through ceasing to exist (the bliss of nonexistence—nirvana).

Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Science of Identity Foundation




~ Jagad Guru (Jagad Guru Chris Butler)
© 2008 Science of Identity Foundation

Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Quotes on Genetic Engineering and Respect for Life

The Supreme Court has ruled that genetic technology or engineering that deals with the manipulation of the bodies of living organisms is no different from any other technology that deals in the manipulation of matter.

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As far as the Supreme Court is concerned, a machine is a machine, a product is a product, an invention is an invention. There is no difference between a so-called living invention or a living machine and a nonliving machine or nonliving invention.

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Researchers seeking the right to patent microorganisms testified before the Supreme Court that scientists cannot draw a line between the living and the nonliving. But contrary to such testimony, matter displays definite characteristics when life is present that it does not display when life is not present.

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However rudimentary the awareness of bacteria may be, it does exist. Bacteria also have a sense of self-awareness, as indicated by the fact that their observable activities seem to center on survival.

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Mankind doesn’t own the lower or higher species of life.

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The basis of ethical protest against genetic engineering on lower and higher species is respect. And the basis of our respect for living beings is our perception of a fundamental distinction between the living and the nonliving. We see life as special. Without that respect for the living, there is no basis for protesting the treatment of the living as if they were nonliving.

Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Science of Identity Foundation

Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Quotes: The Impersonalist Yogi Can Be Very Dangerous

An impersonalist yogi can be very dangerous because he may try to take the position of the Supreme Lord, believing himself to be the Supreme dominator and enjoyer of all that he surveys. This is the darkest region of ignorance. He may try to act on the illusion that he is God and that the world is his playground. He may become, in other words, a “super-hedonist.” One such “I am God”ist, Richard Alpert (Ram Dass), formerly a professor at Harvard University, declares that no one exists except oneself, and that after merging with the impersonal Brahman, one returns to the world and is the world and is everyone.

If you come back into form from having merged with God ... you fill the forms [bodies] though there is no one home, it is just more lila, the dance of God.1

The late Swami Muktananda, a well-known “I am God”ist who had thousands of followers, wrote:

Assuming physical bodies, He appears as separate entities.2

According to the “I am God”ist, the apparent existence of others is just a hallucination. And since you are God, you are the creator of the laws of the universe (or as Ram Dass puts it, “You are the laws of the universe!”).3 And since you are the laws of the universe—since you are God—then there is no higher person or law to which you must subject yourself. Your will, your desire, is God's desire—God's will—so there is no need whatsoever to check or control your desires or actions. As another “I am God”ist, Werner Erhard puts it:

What you're doing is what God wants you to do. Be happy.4

So according to the “I am God”ist, since you and I—each of us—is God, whatever you and I and others are doing is what God wants us to do. You can be engaging in the most illicit or the most heinous activities, but since you are God, you are doing the will of God. Your will is God's will. In other words, he believes his will is God's will because he wrongly believes he is God.

Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Science of Identity Foundation

1Ram Dass, Grist for the Mill (Santa Cruz, CA: Unity Press, 1976), p. 166.
2Swami Muktananda, Siddha Meditation, p. 59.
3Ram Dass, Remember, Be Here Now (Albuquerque, NM: Lama Foundation, 1971), p. 86.
4Quoted in Adelaide Bry, est (Erhard Seminars Training): 60 Hours That Transform Your Life (New York: Harper and Row, 1976), p. 66.

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There is nothing more dangerous to real religion than fanatics who seek to lord over others by force in the name of God.

Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Science of Identity Foundation

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There's a saying: “Misery likes company.” So-called religious fanatics are so miserable that they want to create as much havoc in society as possible. They want others to join them in their misery.

Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Science of Identity Foundation


~ Jagad Guru (Jagad Guru Chris Butler)
© 2008 Science of Identity Foundation

Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Quotes on the Absurd Proposition of the "I am God" Philosophy

The chief historical proponent of such “I am God”ism philosophy was Sripad Shankaracharya. Shankaracharya lived and preached throughout India in the eighth century. The preaching of Shankaracharya and his followers was so strong that, practically speaking, it drove Buddhism out of India. Today, throughout India and the world, Shankaracharya's teachings (or slight variations of them) are still having a tremendous influence on people.

In Calcutta, India, for example, we can see the ridiculous sight of a starving, sore-infested man meditating on the side of the road: “I am God. I am God.” In America and Europe, you'll find many so-called yogis and gurus who are directly or indirectly in Shankaracharya's line of “I am God” ism teachers.

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Rajneesh, infamous for his advocation of “free sex” among his thousands of Western disciples, writes:

The word “brahmacharya” means that you have come to attain, you have come to know that you are the Brahman, the ultimate, the divine, that you are God Himself.1

Satya Sai Baba, India's most famous contemporary mystic and “holy” man, says:

You have not heard Me fully; I say I am God; I say also that you are God. The difference is that I know it and you do not know it.²

The idea of the “I am God”ists is that each of us is actually the Supreme Spirit, but that somehow we forgot our true identity as God and came under the spell of ignorance. So you are supposedly God, the Supreme Being, but you are now caught under the laws of material nature. You are supposedly the Supreme Lord, but you are now bound on the wheel of birth and death. It is an absurd proposition.

Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Science of Identity Foundation

1Rajneesh, Yoga: The Alpha and the Omega, vol. 3, p. 36.
2Andrew Shaw, Words of Truth: A Second Compilation of Sayings by Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba (New Delhi: Sterling Publishers Private Ltd., 1998), p. 7.

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The impersonalist “I am God”ist Swami Muktananda advised his students:

Meditate on your Self. Honor and worship your own Self. Kneel to your Self, because the supreme reality, the highest truth lives within you as you.*

Obviously, such an “I am God”ist or impersonalist can be very dangerous to others and society. Many of these “I am God”ists end up as the most extreme of all hedonists—having illicit sex with their disciples, drinking alcohol, taking drugs, smoking, eating meat, and engaging in all kinds of debauchery. They declare that they can do so without being contaminated karmically because they are so “spiritually advanced.” At the moment, the Western world (as well as India) is crawling with such charlatans.

Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Science of Identity Foundation

*Swami Muktananda, Getting Rid of What You Haven’t Got (Oakland: S.Y.D.A. Foundation, 1978), p. 43.


~ Jagad Guru (Jagad Guru Chris Butler)
© 2009 Science of Identity Foundation

Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Quotes on Struggling to Enjoy the Senses With Endless Material Consumption

Most of us—whether rich or poor, educated or uneducated, civilized or uncivilized—are struggling to enjoy our senses. This is due to false identification with the body.

Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Science of Identity Foundation

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If you identify your body as yourself, you will try to satisfy yourself by trying to satisfy your body. You’ll think, “I am the body and I want to be happy, I want to be satisfied.” Thus, you’ll try to satisfy the belly, the tongue, the genitals, the ears, the eyes, the nose, and so on, believing that this will bring you the inner satisfaction and happiness you crave.

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Sense gratification does not satisfy. This is further evidence that you are not the body. No matter how much sense pleasure you have, you are still never satisfied within.

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The fact that the body can be full or satisfied while you still feel empty is evidence that the body is not you.

Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Science of Identity Foundation

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SIMPLE LIVING
If there is understanding of the difference between the body and the soul then, just as we don’t neglect to supply the physical with food, similarly, we don’t live in the illusion that our inner craving or emptiness can be satisfied by endless material consumption.

Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Science of Identity Foundation


~ Jagad Guru (Jagad Guru Chris Butler)
© 2009 Science of Identity Foundation