THEOS BERNARD - WHITE LAMA ---------------------------- --------------------- The conception of Yoga in the public mind is about 99% erroneous......... the asanas are merely preparation. When the body is strengthened and the mind is quieted, the student should move on to PRANAYAMA and use its practices of breath control to move prana to crucial points in the subtle nervous system. This leads (Theos wrote in his book Hatha Yoga) to the samadhi of Raja Yoga, the fruit which destroys death, is the means of obtaining happiness, and gives the Brahman-Bliss. The way to accomplish this audacious goal, the destruction of death itself is to awaken the Divine Energy, KUNDALINI, with the practice of PRANAYAMA, and bring it to rise through the Sushumna, the central channel of the subtle nerve network. When the Prana flows in the Sushumna and the mind has entered sunya, then the Yogi is free from the effect of Karmas. Other Practices are simply futile for the Yogi. Theos Bernard (1908-1947) ............................................. Theos Bernard; a crucial yet nearly forgotten figure in bringing Tibetan Buddhism to America and the shores of Western culture. Born in Arizona to absentee father Glen Bernard, Theos began his studies of yoga in his teens to overcome serious illness. Ironically, the desire to master the yogic systems is what drove Theos’ father Glen to abandon his family in the first place. In later years, it is this shared interest that will reunite Theos with his father, developing between them not only a familial bond, but one of teacher and student as well. Theos’ desire to understand and master yoga would eventually lead him to India in 1936. As a graduate student at Columbia University, he spent the year in anthropological field research studying Tantric Yoga to determine if these ancient spiritual practices had any relevance for the modern man. After a series of frustrating setbacks, the rigorous course of study turned fruitful with an unprecedented and historic invitation to Lhasa, Tibet, home of the Dalai Lamas and forbidden to foreigners. It is here, in the summer of 1937, that Theos Bernard made history taking Tibetan Tantric initiations. He took numerous photographs of the Tibetans’ most private and sacred rituals and returned with over 50 mule loads of authentic Tibetan Buddhist scripture to be of service to the West. Theos also left carrying letters from the Tibetan Regent for delivery to President Franklin Roosevelt, introducing Tibet to the U.S. Upon his return, Bernard’s experience was hailed as one of the greatest adventure stories. With his winning smile and handsome looks, Theos graced the covers of many popular magazines alongside famous celebrities and movie stars of the era. In the decade that followed, Bernard lectured on his journeys, founded two institutes that, while short lived, would prove to be monumental in the advancement of Tibetan and Yogic studies in the West, the American Institute of Yoga, in New York City, and the Academy of Tibetan Literature, in Montecito, California. As busy as he was, Bernard also found time to write several books, including Penthouse of the Gods, chronicling his own journeys in Tibet, and Heaven Lies Within Us, a treatise on yoga told in an autobiographical style. In 1946, despite political and social unrest in both India and Tibet, Theos made the journey back to the East to further his studies with Tibetan Lamas. Feeling it too dangerous for the foreigner to stay, Theos was instructed to leave the Kullu Valley (“The Valley of the Gods”) and make his way to the Spiti Valley, in Himachal Pradesh, India. Bernard disappeared during the course of this journey through the Himalayas, which remains a mystery to this day. --------------------------------- THEOS BERNARD – A SPIRITUAL JOURNEY by Brian Cooper 2003 In 1947, Theos Bernard, initiated in Tibet as a reincarnation of Padma Sambhava, disappeared on his way to the Ki Monastery in Western Tibet. The circumstances surrounding his disappearance remain a mystery, although it was rumoured that he was murdered, along with his Moslem guides, by Hindus. Neither his body nor any of his possessions were ever recovered. This closed the final chapter on a fascinating journey, both inward and outward, of one of the most influential Western yogis of the twentieth century, whose guiding light was to know the Truth, free from the trappings and tapestries of illusion. My introduction to Bernard’s writings was in the late 1960s. I had already started practising Hatha Yoga but it was Bernard’s clear and detailed descriptions of an intense yoga practice that won me over. His uncompromising search for the truth, regardless of the difficulties, his objective and totally grounded approach, tempered with an open mind free of preconceptions, convinced me of what Bernard described as a philosophy of life; an undertaking which required openness, skill and discipline. ARIZONA This story begins in the 1930s, when Bernard, then studying at law school, was suffering from a severe attack of inflammatory rheumatism. In hospital he overheard the doctors say that he would not live. After weeks of suffering, his mother removed him, against the wishes of the doctors, and took on the task of nursing him back to health. Bernard was put on a strict vegetarian diet and spent time in the mountains of Arizona. Slowly he recovered, and during this time, from reading in his mother’s large library of books on Eastern philosophy, he first saw the possibility that yoga would be his way to gaining both inner and outer strength. Through family connections he had a visit from his first Indian guru who explained to him that the Tantras had been revealed for the liberation of man in this dark age of the Kali Yuga. The guru left him with two sets of exercises, one for physical and one for mental health. And so began Bernard’s daily practice of yoga. The first exercise he learnt was Uddiyana Bandha, because the healthy function of the internal organs achieved by this practice was considered of the greatest importance in Hatha Yoga. Bernard slowly and cautiously increased the number of rounds until he was doing fifteen hundred daily. He then started on Nauli, which be brought to the same level of proficiency. These exercises were supplemented with the headstand, which he was advised to practise three times a day for half an hour. This was only the beginning; eventually he should maintain the headstand for three hours. Along with Padmasana, these were considered the first fundamentals for the practice of yoga. He corresponded with his guru frequently, asking many questions. The guru never answered his questions directly, but would indicate if he was on the right path and draw his attention to certain aspects of his experiences. He now started on the purification practices known as the Shat Karmas and was advised to make a beginning on Kechari Mudra, as it would be important for future work. Every morning and evening after washing the root of the tongue, he would grasp it with a piece of cloth and pull and stretch it in all directions. He continued this until he was able to touch the tip of his nose with it. Eventually he could turn back the tongue and swallow it. He carried out all the purification practices except Basti, which he was allowed to replace with an enema for washing the colon. His guru had insisted that Bernard must complete all the practices given him before he could learn under his direct guidance. On finishing law school he had achieved this, and had gained an inner richness he knew could never be taken from him, but he was also aware that he was “still travelling in the shadow of Truth rather than in its Light”. He packed his bags and headed for India. INDIA Several days after arriving he was told his guru had just died. This was a great setback for him, but he was soon put in touch with a Tantric scholar who taught him much of the philosophy of Tantric yoga and fuelled his passion to reach to the true roots of yoga. As he states in his book “Heaven Lies Within Us”, “the systematic study of yoga had been in a state of decay these past several hundred years because of the idleness, ignorance, and unscrupulousness of its followers [...]. Corrupted rites, false ideas and dogmatic tenets lead men to corruption.” Bernard was taught the disciplines required for yoga practice, the guiding principle being moderation in all things, and the power of restraint which requires courage. Although Bernard had learnt a great deal about yoga, he was impatient to return to its practice. The Tantric scholar told him that before he could go any further he would need to be initiated by a Tantric guru. The higher Tantric teachings had fallen into disuse even in India, so that at that time the only available teachers were reported to be in Tibet, as were what remained of the manuscripts containing the ancient teachings. Bernard was fascinated by the idea of studying in Tibet, but he knew that huge obstacles lay in his path, and he could only dream of such an idea. Little did he know at the time how his dream would be realised. He was soon put in touch with a Tantric yogi who was prepared to initiate him in Tantric yoga and he moved to the ashram of this guru to begin intense yoga practice. BENGAL His daily routine began at 4am with the practice of Dhauti (swallowing a long piece of cloth to cleanse the stomach), followed by Neti. Then Uddiyana Bhanda, fifteen hundred times, followed by Nauli. He had to bring the cleansing practices up to maximum standard before he was allowed initiation. By 5.45am he started on the headstand, after which he began Pranayama. His first Pranayama was Bhastrika, and the aim was to increase Kumbhaka (breath retention) at the rate of one minute per week. His three hours of practice finished by 7am, which was considered the daily minimum. After study of theory he resumed his practice at 10.30am. Beginning with Kechari Mudra, headstand and Pranayama to warm the body, he then started on Asanas. He was given sixteen Asanas to develop and was to be able to hold Padmasana for at least three hours. His lunch was at 1pm and consisted of vegetables prepared in ghee and two glasses of milk. This was his only meal and eventually would be reduced to two glasses of ghee and several glasses of milk per day. Very soon he was taught Ashwini Mudra and Basti. His afternoon practice began at 4pm for another three hours. He was instructed to increase the duration of the headstand and Pranayama and reduce his diet and his sleep to four hours per night. After a month he added Pranayama from midnight to 1am. He was then taught all the major Mudras. After three months of rigid discipline Bernard was practising for three hours four times a day, took four hours of sleep, which had to be broken, and had reduced his diet to only liquids. He describes how he felt, “as fresh as a child”, was filled with an indescribable inner joy, and had tremendous health and vitality. By using Kechari Mudra he was able to hold his breath for up to eight minutes, although as he soberly points out, it was far from the standard required by the texts for attaining the supernatural powers (Siddhis) – to acquire such powers it is necessary to hold the breath an hour or more. Once Bernard had developed control over the body-consciousness he was ready to train for the discipline of the mind known as Dhyana. This included techniques such as Trataka and Chhaya Parsha Sadhana or cultivation of the shadow man. He was then told to direct all his discipline towards a supreme effort to awaken Kundalini, which would manifest at his ultimate initiation by the guru. During the initiation ceremony Bernard describes how he went mentally through the process of awakening Kundalini, leading it through the respective centres, until finally he completely lost awareness of all external surroundings, and with his eyes wide open he could see nothing but brilliant light and experienced an ecstatic condition impossible to describe. He was told that this was not Samadhi and to attain it he would have to continue his yoga practices. A detailed account of his yoga experiences is given in his book “Hatha Yoga, The Report of a Personal Experience”. The practices he undertook follow the classic texts of the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, the Gheranda Samhita, and the Siva Samhita, and his book affords a rare and invaluable insight into these classic practices put into action. Bernard had a burning desire to learn more of what lies behind the practice of yoga and to secure the manuscripts known as the 64 Tantras. He was instructed by his guru to go to Tibet where he would receive further introductions. Immediately he made plans to leave for the border of Tibet where he was to continue his yoga discipline and learn the Tibetan language. TIBET After more intensive yoga study with a hermit in Sikkim, Bernard obtained permission to enter Tibet. Padma Sambhava was the founder of Tibetan Buddhism and reputed to be the greatest Tantric yogi of India in his time (8th century AD). He travelled from India to Tibet carrying the secret doctrines of yoga. It was to these teachings that Bernard was attracted. On his arrival in Tibet it became clear that all was not well with what was the world’s most absolute theocracy. Many Tibetans doubted whether the present structure could continue, with its rich monasteries and abject poverty, its decadent upper classes, and its self-enforced isolation. It was predicted that the late thirteenth Dalai Lama would be the last on Tibetan soil. Bernard was soon recognised as the reincarnation of Padma Sambhava and afforded entry to methods and teachings that no other Westerner had hitherto attained. Moreover, the high lamas were enthusiastic that Bernard should return to the West with the teachings of Tibetan Buddhism. It was as though the lamas foresaw the difficulties on the horizon and were making preparations to save the ancient Buddhist traditions. His stay in Tibet culminated in being initiated into the highest teachings. Bernard returned to the USA a changed man. As he writes at the end of his account, described in “Penthouse of the Gods”, “Although my soul was old, my body was still very young, but notwithstanding the age of my soul it was required of me that I continue in the life given me [...] and having made contact with my inner self I should have the fortitude to withstand all the sorrows and adversities of life and be able to transmute them into blessings.” On his return, Bernard was instrumental in sowing the seeds of Tibetan Buddhism in the West, as Padma Sambhava had done in Tibet twelve centuries earlier. And like Bernard, Padma Sambhava vanished without trace after he had communicated his teachings. ........................................................................ The fact is, I, the person about to be initiated into Tibetan sacred mysteries, was no native, no Tibetan, not even an oriental, but an American, hailing from Arizona. And here, at the end of the ceremony, I would become a full-fledged Buddhist monk, a Lama. The story of Theos Bernard begins in the deserts of southern Arizona. Raised by his mother in Tombstone, Bernard entered the newly founded University of Arizona, in Tucson, in 1928. Bernards early college years were interrupted, however, by a near fatal illness which profoundly altered his life. It was while convalescing in the Dragoon Mountains that Bernard met his first spiritual teacher, a yogi from India who had been a friend of his family for many years, who began to instruct him in the fundamentals of yoga. Although he had been pursuing a degree in law, Bernard completed his studies in 1934 only to turn to religious and philosophical pursuits. Theos Bernard entered Columbia University in the fall of 1934, immediately following his graduation from the University of Arizona. At the time of his entry, there was no formal program of studies in religion, and courses on the subject had only been being taught for seven years, mostly through the efforts of Bernards advisor in the philosophy department, Herbert Schneider. The records of Bernards career during this time are sparse, and his official transcript gives no account of any classes taken or grades received, noting only that on June 2, 1936, he was awarded the degree of Masters of Arts (AM). Of his own account, though Bernards first two publications are autobiographical and tell the story of his education and pursuit of authentic religious instruction, they give no account of his years at Columbia. Rather, Heaven Lies Within Us and Penthouse of the Gods were both published following his trips to India and Tibet from 1936–37 and textually laid the groundwork for his later books through the narrative of a personally validated authentic religious tradition. The full context of Bernards life story lies unspoken in the world of his uncle, Pierre Bernard, and New York’s high society of the 1920s and 1930s. Pierre Bernard (aka Oom the Omnipotent) founded the New York Sanskrit College in midtown Manhattan in the early part of the twentieth century. Together with his wife, Blanche de Vries, Oom began instructing a number of wealthy New York socialites in the science and practices of yoga. Chief among Ooms students was Mrs. Vanderbilt, who funneled not only friends, but a substantial amount of money his way to establish a discreet sanctuary in which Oom could lecture and instruct. The result was The Mystic Order of the Tantriks of India and an estate that was to become the Clarkstown Country Club in Nyack, New York. Here Oom did, indeed, lecture and instruct on the practices of yoga–even publishing a journal–but also provided a socially liberal yet exclusive resort for young New Yorkers, and put at their disposal a world-class research library described as approximately 7,000 volumes on the subjects of philosophy, ethics, psychology, education and metaphysics as well as much collateral material on physiology, medicine and the related sciences. More significantly however, Oom provided his services—either directly or incidentally—as a matchmaker for the membership. It was into this world that he brought his nephew, Theos Bernard, who eventually married a niece of Henry Morgenthau Sr., Viola Wertheim. I had become aware of my discovery of those deep joys that I had never before dreampt existed in this life, and I felt that all my effort gained for me a reward altogether overwhelming India and Tibet Completing his masters degree in 1936, and with the financial leisure accorded him by his marriage, Bernard was able to embark on an extensive trip to India and Tibet in late summer of 1936. Narrating his account, Bernard tells of seeking out the teacher of Hindu yogi whom he had met once in Arizona through his mother. Arriving in India in time only to hear of the death of his would-be guru, Bernard sought out other teachers in India traveling the length and breadth of the country, from Kasmir to Ceylon (Sri Lanka) taking religious initiations and instruction on various yogic techniques. He finally made his way to Calcutta where he was able to make contacts which eventually led to a meeting with and becoming a student of Lama Tharchin in Kalimpong. Here, Bernard spent a period of intensive study of the Tibetan written language and three spoken dialects. After close to a year in India, he was finally able to secure permission from the British political officer in Sikkim, J. B. Gould to travel to Tibet. Once there, Bernard had audiences with the Ganden Tri-pa, the Regent of Tibet, Reting Rinpoche, and numerous other officials in the Tibetan government. In addition, Bernard received Tantric empowerments, engaged in a meditative retreat, and acquired numerous books included a complete set of the Buddhist canon, a set of the Treasury of Revealed Teachings (rin chen gter mdzod) and several hundred more volumes of Tibetan works. Shortly after returning from India and Tibet, Theos Bernard was divorced by his wife Viola. Completing his first two books, Bernard began touring, giving a series of lectures in America and Europe. Promoting himself and his new books in England, Bernard authored several magazine articles both about the political situation in Tibet and his experiences there. In conjunction with the British publication of Penthouse of the Gods (published under the title of Land of a Thousand Buddhas), Bernards accounts were picked up by the British tabloid press at the time, and, though their sensationalistic reports concerning his identity as a white Lama garnered some positive public feedback and interest, it also earned him the scorn and private dismissal of British Intelligence operatives (who had monitored his activities since his first entry into Tibet) as a fraud and imposter. In the West, there is the preconceived notion that man cannot know metaphysical truths by direct experience; therefore, at best, metaphysical truths can only be speculations, inferences, or ungrounded faith. Returning to America, Bernard continued working on his dissertation at Columbia University, Hatha Yoga: The Report of a Personal Experience (1943). He began teaching and lecturing on yoga on the Upper East side of Manhattan, where he met a wealthy Polish opera star who first became one of his students and, later, a romantic interest. Within a year, Bernard and Ganna Walska were married and the two moved to California where they purchased a large piece of land, which they named Tibetland to house Bernard’s collection of Tibetan manuscripts, provide accommodations for visiting Tibetan lamas, and to serve as the center for his translation efforts. Bernard’s marriage to Ganna Walska was short lived, however. While Walska proceeded to convert the property into a horticultural museum (Lotusland), Bernard produced a fourth book, The Philosophical Foundations of India, and together with his third wife, Helen, returned to India in 1947, this time seeking rare manuscripts in the hills of Spiti near Ladakh. Entering the Punjab en route to his destination, his party of Muslim porters was rumored to have been attacked by Lahouli tribesman. Conflicting reports about his whereabouts circulated for several months, and though his wife waited for him in Calcutta, he never returned. Despite his talents and good fortunes which had led him so far, in the end Bernard never saw his aspirations fulfilled and, like Tibet, fell victim to the larger forces at play during the twilight of the old empires. Excerpted from “The Life and Works of Theos Bernard” by Paul G. Hackett. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HATHA YOGA- The Report of a Personal Experience by Theos Bernard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . scribd/doc/97360854/Theos-Bernard-Hatha-Yoga ................ BERNARD, Theos: Heaven Lies Within Us, Rider and Co., London, 1950 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . thehealingproject.net.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/BERNARD-Theos.-Heaven-Lies-Within-Us.pdf ..................................... Theos Bernard, the White Lama: Tibet, Yoga, and American Religious Life blogs.dickinson.edu/buddhistethics/files/2013/11/DiValerio-Review-of-Theos-Bernard-final.pdf ........................... Theos Bernard, the White Lama: Tibet, Yoga, and American Religious Life By Paul G. Hackett practicalmattersjournal.org/issue/6/reviews/theos-bernard-the-white-lama-tibet-yoga-and-american-religious-life .............................................................. The Death of Theos Bernard, the White Lama cupblog.org/?p=5908 ................................................ In books - White Lama: The Life of Tantric Yogi Theos Bernard, Tibets Lost Emissary to the New World Hardcover – May 10, 2011 by Douglas Veenhof .......................... Amazon amazon/White-Lama-Tantric-Bernard-Emissary/dp/0385514328/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407517812&sr=1-2&keywords=white+lama
Posted on: Fri, 09 Jan 2015 23:09:46 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015