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ThoughtBroadcaster
USA
37 Posts |
 Posted - Jun 04 2014 : 11:58:18 PM
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| is there a kundalini kriya for entering samadhi? i get flashes of white light but never actually enter samadhi. |
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adishivayogi
USA
197 Posts |
Posted - Jun 05 2014 : 4:22:06 PM
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| Lahiri said when prana passes through the center of head you enter samadhi. They have lineages that bring focus through the center of the head for this reason. |
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ThoughtBroadcaster
USA
37 Posts |
Posted - Jun 07 2014 : 5:17:14 PM
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| any other methods? i know if i keep pushing the energy up to crown i sometime get the white light flashes. had 2 recently and was blinded by golden light after a flash of white light. |
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Christi
United Kingdom
4514 Posts |
Posted - Jun 08 2014 : 10:26:45 AM
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Hi Thoughtbroadcaster,
Kriya practice is not really the best tool to use for entering samadhi. It is certainly possible to enter samadhi using kriya, just as it is using pretty much any spiritual practice, but samadhi is essentially about inner silence. Once the mind reaches a certain level of peace and stillness, samadhi will come automatically. Meditation is really the method to use to cultivate inner silence and stillness. This is the reason that in AYP yoga we always practice meditation, whatever we are doing with kriya practice.
As far as using kriya practice to support entry into samadhi, the best kriya would be one which purifies the body gently and slowly, preparing the subtle body for meditation practice. In this case I would recommend not going to the crown as it can be destabilizing over the long term. Initially we might get some interesting experiences, or even enter samadhi temporarily, but over the long term we could be destabilizing the system to the extent that the journey could take a lot longer than otherwise would have been necessary. In other words savikalpa samadhi may come sooner, but sahaja samadhi may be delayed, or may not come at all.
For this reason I would recommend Spinal Breathing Pranayama as the best kriya to use to support meditation for the entry into samadhi.
Christi |
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maheswari
Lebanon
2520 Posts |
Posted - Jun 09 2014 : 02:03:07 AM
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quote:
Kriya practice is not really the best tool to use for entering samadhi. It is certainly possible to enter samadhi using kriya, just as it is using pretty much any spiritual practice, but samadhi is essentially about inner silence.
exactly
i am gona use your words to post something on fb...thank you
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Edited by - maheswari on Jun 09 2014 02:14:43 AM |
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adishivayogi
USA
197 Posts |
Posted - Jun 10 2014 : 12:23:44 PM
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| you enter into samadhi whenthe sushuma is cleared from blocks. kriya does this(ayp spinal breathing is kriya. its wrong to say kriya isnt good for entering into samadhi, bc if you don't practise some form of kriya its likely it will never happen. kriya has been inefficent in the past because of bhrum routes and the lack of deep meditation/listening to omkar,mental kriya, etc. the ajna block is not encountered with bhrum routes. these bhrum techniques come from yukstwars "practical spirituality"; the same guy who told yoganada to get his head out of samadhi. one should goto bindu v to hit the ajna block and make samadhi more prone to happen. or one can goto bregma and it will likely happen sooner, you may even accidentally perform a mahasamadhi, people aren't encouraged to use this point. |
Edited by - adishivayogi on Jun 10 2014 12:27:49 PM |
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Christi
United Kingdom
4514 Posts |
Posted - Jun 10 2014 : 6:02:42 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by adishivayogi
you enter into samadhi whenthe sushuma is cleared from blocks. kriya does this(ayp spinal breathing is kriya. its wrong to say kriya isnt good for entering into samadhi, bc if you don't practise some form of kriya its likely it will never happen. kriya has been inefficent in the past because of bhrum routes and the lack of deep meditation/listening to omkar,mental kriya, etc. the ajna block is not encountered with bhrum routes. these bhrum techniques come from yukstwars "practical spirituality"; the same guy who told yoganada to get his head out of samadhi. one should goto bindu v to hit the ajna block and make samadhi more prone to happen. or one can goto bregma and it will likely happen sooner, you may even accidentally perform a mahasamadhi, people aren't encouraged to use this point.
Hi Adishivayogi,
It is true that you can enter samadhi by purifying the sushumna nadi, but it is certainly not the easiest way, or the quickest, or the safest. It takes many years to purify the sushumna nadi, with many trials and tribulations to cope with on the way. Without the stability found in the silence of meditation, how many could handle it?
But purifying the sushumna nadi is not the only way to enter samadhi. Samadhi can be entered simply by bringing the mind to stillness and silence, as I mentioned above. I would not say that without any kriya practice it is likely that samadhi will never happen. The Theravada school of Buddhism does not make use of kriya practice but they have a strong samadhi tradition.
In the long run of course, temporary experiences of samadhi are not the same thing as enlightenment, but just experiences which occur en route to enlightenment. For the journey to progress, kriya practice is very beneficial for purifying the body and clearing the sushumna, bringing about the rise of ecstasy.
So I was not saying that kriya practice was not useful for bringing about samadhi, just that it is not the most useful tool.
And yes, kriya practice can be combined with meditation practice as you suggest, but that is a combined practice, using two tools at once so to speak. Practicing kriya whilst meditating on the Omkara is one example of this combined practice. Combining kriya practice with meditation in this way has advantages and disadvantages. The obvious advantage is a saving of time as you would be doing two practices at once. The most obvious disadvantage is that the attention is divided between two processes. This dividing of the attention dilutes the power of both practices. By practising kriya and meditation separately the attention can be concentrated fully on each practice and the power of each practice is magnified greatly. This is why in AYP we always do Spinal Breathing Pranayama before meditation and do not combine the two.
I would not recommend using either the bindu chakra or bregma as the top end points of kriya practice because neither are safe over the long term. They are both too close to the crown chakra. Using these points could cause the premature awakening of the crown chakra, or could cause instability as the crown chakra is opening and purifying. It is very unlikely that this instability would lead to death of the body (mahasamadhi), but it could lead to a very bumpy ride for a very long time.
Using ajna as the upermost point of kriya practice gives a great deal more control to the purification and awakening process, which is why "ajna" literally means "control", and this is one of the reasons we use ajna as the upper end point of Spinal Breathing in AYP.
Christi |
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maheswari
Lebanon
2520 Posts |
Posted - Jun 11 2014 : 02:06:01 AM
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thank you Christi for the useful information  |
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Sol Invictus
91 Posts |
Posted - Jun 11 2014 : 06:31:45 AM
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quote:
Without the stability found in the silence of meditation, how many could handle it?
Hi Christi..
My modest knowledge and understanding is that by doing (Kriyayogasadhana)Pranayama,dynamism of Prana is slowly reduced,thus dynamic mind becomes calmer,more and more silent.Hence,there is no AYP-like meditation incorporated in first Kriya.There is no need for it as stilling of mind is achieved thru Kriya Pranayama.
Reverend Lahiri Baba said Him self that everything(Moksha)can be done by first Kriya,thus that statement is also telling that,so to say,typical meditation is not necessary.
Cheers,best! |
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Christi
United Kingdom
4514 Posts |
Posted - Jun 11 2014 : 5:23:05 PM
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quote:
Hi Christi..
My modest knowledge and understanding is that by doing (Kriyayogasadhana)Pranayama,dynamism of Prana is slowly reduced,thus dynamic mind becomes calmer,more and more silent.Hence,there is no AYP-like meditation incorporated in first Kriya.There is no need for it as stilling of mind is achieved thru Kriya Pranayama.
Reverend Lahiri Baba said Him self that everything(Moksha)can be done by first Kriya,thus that statement is also telling that,so to say,typical meditation is not necessary.
Cheers,best!
Hi Sol Invictus,
Kriya pranayama will purify the body at the subtle level which means it will purify the chakras and the nadis along the route that is being followed. This purification, combined with slow breathing will at first reduce the dynamism of prana, as you say, and because of the connection between the dynamism of prana and the activity of the mind, the mind will become more quiet. But this is only an initial phase. At a certain point in the process of purification, kundalini will awaken. When this happens prana will become much more dynamic. This dramatically increased level of dynamism will produce greater mental activity along with many other sensations and experiences within the body and mind especially at the emotional level. This stage can last for quite a long time and it is very important to have a strong meditation practice at this stage to bring stability to the whole process of awakening.
Gradually over time, as the body is purified more and more at the subtle level, this dynamic stage of prana will calm down and the flow of prana will again become more gentle, even though it has, at the same time, by now become much stronger. At this stage kriya pranayama will produce the feeling that every cell in the body is alive and vibrating with ecstasy. Because of the stilling of mental activity caused by the slowing down of prana, this can be experienced as ecstatic bliss.
Samadhi can be brought about by kriya practice at any stage in this process but it would be more likely to occur during the first and third stages when the dynamism of prana (kundalini) is less.
I am sure that Lahiri Baba was right when he said moksha is attainable by first kriya alone. In fact it is possible to attain moksha simply by sitting down and doing nothing at all, such as in Zazen practice. As I see it, it is not really a question of what will lead to moksha, it is more a question of what will lead to moksha in the safest and fasted way, and will actually work for the majority of people? Zazen practice is a very slow road to enlightenment. Kriya pranayama used on it's own would be a very bumpy road to enlightenment.
In that sense, stability is important in order to be able to follow a path over the long term. Meditation provides that stability even during the highs and lows of a kundalini awakening. Kriya pranayama actually enflames kundalini, so if kriya pranayama is being used as the only spiritual practice, it could be a very dangerous and difficult path when the flames of kundalini are already high. When purification is at it's highest point and prana is at it's most dynamic, I would be advising people to be cutting right back on kriya pranayama (such as Spinal Breathing Pranayama), or cutting it out all-together for a while and focussing on meditation. Without the ability to do that, many could fall off the path due to imbalances brought about by kundalini. When we are able to cut back on practices which stimulate kundalini at times when we need to, and focus on practices such as meditation, we can ensure a much smoother journey avoiding some of the pitfalls that people encounter on the path.
There are other advantages to using a meditation practice such as Deep Meditation, immediately after kriya pranayama. One is that bringing the mind to silence through meditation, regardless of what is happening to prana in the body, greatly enhances the benefits of the kriya practice. By using meditation as a separate practice we can enter samadhi at any stage on the path, even when prana is at it's most dynamic in the body (full blown kundalini).
So for me it is not really about will one practice work, or will another practice work? It is about what is the best combination of practices in terms of effectiveness and safety over the long term. Kriya pranayama alone may well lead to moksha, but I would not say it would be the fastest, or safest or most effective method. For that, having a number of tools in the toolbox, and being able to use the right ones at the right times and in the right ways will produce the best results.
I am sure that many Kriya yoga teachers over the years have also realized this, and have taught a number of different practices to cultivate different aspects of the process of human spiritual transformation.
Christi
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AYPforum
351 Posts |
Posted - Jun 11 2014 : 6:20:30 PM
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| Moderator note: Topic moved for better placement |
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kundalini kriya for entering samadhi?
