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elderberry
USA
49 Posts |
 Posted - Jun 27 2024 : 12:18:08 PM
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I just recently finished the AYP 5 week online meditation course. It was an amazing course, highly recommended for anyone who wants to learn more about AYP style deep meditation.
I do have a question regarding progressing through the mantra enhancements. The recommendation given in the course is to only add one mantra enhancement every 6 months.
This is echoed in lesson 369 on mantra enhancements. To quote yogani:
"The important thing is that we maintain good consistency in daily practice, and only change our mantra as and when it is necessary according to our bhakti and practical need. This will hopefully be at intervals of months or years, not days or weeks. Rushing mantra enhancements will do more to contribute to an unstable path than any particular mantra will."
"Keep in mind that it will not be to our benefit to try and breeze through all the mantra enhancements in a few months. It would be like going from first gear into fifth gear in a car before we have allowed ourselves time to build up enough momentum to keep from stalling the car in the higher gear."
I have a few questions regarding this.
1. It makes complete sense to me that switching one's mantra quickly would be detrimental. In the AYP writings we talk a lot about giving a particular mantra time to "bake in" so to speak. In other words, it takes some time with a particular mantra for it to become easy and automatic.
However lets suppose that a practitioner didn't change mantras often. Instead he just went from the base mantra (Ayam) directly to level 3 (SHREE OM SHREE OM I AM I AM NAMAH NAMAH). Would this still be inadvisable?
2. If the answer to #1 is yes (as I believe it is), what is the primary reason this would be a bad idea? I can think of two:
- Good old fashioned self pacing. In other words, the "higher level" mantras have a stronger purifying effect, and going straight to the top of the elevator is likely to cause us to experience overload.
- There is some kind of other "building up" process at play here. The best analogy I could give would be, in asana practice, one should probably learn how to do a headstand before they learn to do a handstand. Same concept here. |
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Christi
United Kingdom
4512 Posts |
Posted - Jun 28 2024 : 12:48:28 PM
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Hi Elderberry,
To answer your questions:
1. Yes, it is generally not advisable to jump past mantra enhancements. The recommendation is to go from the basic mantra AYAM, to the first enhancement, second enhancement and lastly to the third enhancement, taking at least six months to a year between each transition. Some people never take on the mantra enhancements, preferring to remain with AYAM for their whole journey, so the enhancements are optional extras.
2. Yes, the reason for taking things one step at a time is that the higher mantra enhancements are doing a lot more to purify the subtle nervous system, and the practitioner may not be ready for all that at once. So, stepping up in stages gives people time to make sure they are ready for a higher level of purification, and are stable with that, before stepping up further.
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elderberry
USA
49 Posts |
Posted - Jun 29 2024 : 1:07:10 PM
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Thank you Christi!
One follow up question.
So, it's clear we should treat the solar centering enhancement like any other enhancement (waiting 6 months between enhancements before adding another).
Would you advise working your way through the normal syllable enhancements before adding solar centering? Or would it be equally fine to add solar centering first, and then start working your way through the syllable enhancements?
The fact that solar centering comes later in the lessons, along with yogani sometimes referring to it as an "advanced" enhancement seems to somewhat imply that one should add solar centering last in the list of enhancements. But perhaps its fine whichever way you choose to work through them. |
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Christi
United Kingdom
4512 Posts |
Posted - Jun 29 2024 : 9:59:30 PM
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Hi Elderberry,
There isn't anywhere in the main lessons that says that Solar Centering has to come after the other mantra enhancements. And some people do use solar centering simply with the AYAM mantra, or with the earlier enhancements. So, it is really up to the practitioner.
As you say, Solar Centering is an advanced enhancement, so it is not something that a beginner, or even an intermediate level student should be taking on. It would usually be something that someone would take on after extensive practice. Some practitioners never take it on. So, it is an advanced optional addition. |
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SeySorciere
Seychelles
1571 Posts |
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Mantra Enhancement Progression
