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justaguy
USA
39 Posts |
 Posted - Jan 03 2012 : 11:17:19 AM
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Namaste Ya'll
Not sure if anyone remembers me. I joined the AYP forum a little over a year ago..., things happened..., I wandered away and am now wondering back! :-)
I have been struggling a bit with something. While I have found that the AYP methodology "works" for me (bigtime), my personality has always been drawn to bhakti and more "traditional" methods.
I've spent a lot of time in and around Shree Maa of Kamakia and Swami Satyananda Saraswati (not Bihar) and have gained so much, learned so much. Yet, I find something "missing."
Really what it is, I am so drawn to Yogani's idea of self pacing, it is what is really needed for my continued spiritual growth. Yet, it seems (so much like a co-dependent), that I "need" someone playing father/mother figure, etc...
I've read several places, on the forum and in the AYP lessons, that no-where does Yogani "dis" the "Guru concept", if anything, he's refined its meaning (within the context/concept of AYP.)
I'm deeply drawn to traditional Tantra, particularly Shree Vidya and Dasha Mahavidyas, drawn tremendous meaning and strength/growth from them, yet the simplicity and directness of AYP and its methods work for me as well. I've just not found a way to manage both at the same time. (I'm familiar with Yogani's recommendation that we not do so, or at least it seems this is his recommendation.
I'd like to continue to practice both AYP and the Chandi Puja/Homa that I practice.
Has anyone (does anyone) successfully draw upon both AYP and other practices (in a stable and long term fashion) successfully?
I'm open to whatever anyone might share on the subject:
Namaste,
Joseph
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Holy
796 Posts |
Posted - Jan 05 2012 : 9:19:31 PM
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Hi Joseph,
mixing practics work only if one is the main force and the second is a slight addition. If both are powerful practices, you most probably will get problems blending both into your daily life and have real success with one.
Chances are good, if both the practices adress totally different aspects, meaning sitting practices and karma yoga work fine in general. Karma yoga is done automatically anyway, but being more active and doing what wants to be done works fine with most practices.
In the end realization happens when you focus on one thing continuously. It may be a big complex of things as one thing, but if it gets too complex you most probably won't have enough energy to keep the focus long enough. It is easier and will bring faster results if your object of focus is more simple and yet has the full spectrum potential.
Don't have the impression that you will fail over the longterm :)Just go on and and help and guidance will come more and more and will successfully dissolve you into ^^ |
Edited by - Holy on Jan 05 2012 10:11:49 PM |
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justaguy
USA
39 Posts |
Posted - Jan 09 2012 : 1:37:23 PM
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Namaste'
Yea, I've come to similar conclusions...
Reciting the Chandi gets my "bhakti on," so to speak. The chapters of the Chandi Path are the allegorical story of a king and a businessman addicted to the past, to Too Much and Too Little...and the General Great Ego takes the place of the king...reciting the chapters are all the various ways the embodied consciousness (Devi) deals with all the many manifestations that She is in fact the origin and foundation of.
My swami ji, has taught a different definition of grace, (than that which is found in Christianity), it is defined in the Chandi as "to do, then to get." Devi promises that just repeating Her stories in the Chandi will transform us...
It most certainly has.
I think it true, that one need be the major practice, the other an adjunct...and it is becoming moreso this way for me...although it "switches all by itself" back and forth...not that I don't continue both practices faithfully, rather that my bhava will switch to one or the other as needed.
A verse in the Chandi simply has Devi saying "A child can be bad, but his Mother is always good." For me, She helps me stop struggling to become something I already am...She is Devi as Maya, She is Devi as the relationship of Love between I and She, and ultimately there is only She, simultaneously.
As regarding Patanjali, he does say anything that becomes an exclusive focus is Samadhi.
According to Tantra there is also a view that all things are Her manifestation...for example, when I feel ugly, angry, hateful, etc...it is She I am experiencing..; when I feel beautiful, happy, loving, it is no different...Mother is always good (the Rishi Markandeya obviously never met my mother! LOL)
About this practice (AYP), I can say that it certainly "informs" my entire life Sadhana...much of what I've gained in these methods deeply informs my practice of Sri Vidya and the Chandi.
So many of the little things taught in the lessons by Yogani, translate to my entire Sadhana my entire life. For example "favoring not forcing", "self-pacing" (which it turns out is BIG in the vedas if you look for it, regardless, or I should say inclusive of the teaching of the guru), and particularly Samyama. I have taken to reading portions of the Chandi, entirely in the "attitude" of Samyama.
I think something important I have to continually remind myself, is that even from the viewpoint of Guru, Lineage, Practice/Sadhana, that it is what I make it to be, that ultimately, I have to exercise my own (legitimate or not) will and desire...whatever I focus on I can become.
Something that I gleaned from these (AYP) teachings is just that, that
we stand on the shoulders of giants, and we respect them, but standing on their shoulders I/we have a larger "point of view" and can take what we have learned from them and create even new vibrant life and "teachings" according to our own life's karma.
All of my life I have looked for the "black and white non arguable answer" to Life, to now in these later years realize that that black in white is only a useful (or not) fiction...ultimately I have only myself and Guru/God within to answer to, and no one else.
If this alone I got from AYP I'd be overjoyed, but really, it is only the beginning.
Peace Out,
Joseph
quote:
Originally posted by Holy
Hi Joseph,
mixing practics work only if one is the main force and the second is a slight addition. If both are powerful practices, you most probably will get problems blending both into your daily life and have real success with one.
Chances are good, if both the practices adress totally different aspects, meaning sitting practices and karma yoga work fine in general. Karma yoga is done automatically anyway, but being more active and doing what wants to be done works fine with most practices.
In the end realization happens when you focus on one thing continuously. It may be a big complex of things as one thing, but if it gets too complex you most probably won't have enough energy to keep the focus long enough. It is easier and will bring faster results if your object of focus is more simple and yet has the full spectrum potential.
Don't have the impression that you will fail over the longterm :)Just go on and and help and guidance will come more and more and will successfully dissolve you into ^^
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