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Cato
Germany
239 Posts |
 Posted - Jan 24 2020 : 10:02:06 AM
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Hi all,
at the end of repeating each of the nine sutras twice, you continue for five minutes with "akasha - lightness of air".
Is there a reason for repeating that one and not another one? Or rather, can it be preferable to use "health" when you are fighting with health issues? |
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Christi
United Kingdom
4514 Posts |
Posted - Jan 24 2020 : 10:29:38 AM
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Hi Cato,
If you have a particular sutra from the list of 9, that you would prefer to use for the last 5 minutes of the practice, then you can use that. See here from lesson 150:
"If you do each of these nine sutras twice in your samyama session, it will take about five minutes. If there is a particular one you feel the need to do more of, then add that on to the end and do samyama with it for another five minutes. The cycles remain at fifteen seconds, and we just keep going with that for five minutes, by the clock for that last five minutes. If there is no preference, then you can do the lightness sutra for five minutes at the end." [Yogani]
However it is good not to be switching sutras often as the power of the practice comes from going deep with a set of established sutras. So, don't be using "health" one week and then "abundance" the next.
This is from page 84 of the Samyama book:
"…when we begin a practice, we should commit to it in both structure and implementation over time,subject to adjustments required by prudent self-pacing, as necessary. This means aiming to keep our samyama routine and sutras reasonably stable overtime. It is how we will get the best results from them. When we do make additions or modifications, it should be with deliberation, and with the intent to stabilize the change in our routine." [Yogani]
Christi |
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Cato
Germany
239 Posts |
Posted - Jan 24 2020 : 11:11:53 AM
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Thanks Christi, this helps a lot!  |
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Cato
Germany
239 Posts |
Posted - Oct 27 2020 : 12:46:33 PM
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quote:
In your easy silence, pick up, just once, the fuzziest feeling of the word "Love" in your own language. Don't deliberately make a clear pronunciation, or mental images of this or that scene or situation that represent Love to you. Just have a faint remembrance of Love, and then let go into your silence, the easy silence you are in as you pick up the faint meaning of Love. Don't contemplate Love or analyze it during samyama. Don't think about it at all. Just come to it once in a faint, subtle way, and then let go into silence. It is a subtle feeling of Love we are coming to, nothing more, and letting it go. Like that.
This quote is from lesson 150. It is said that the focus during samyama is not on pronounciation or something but on picking up a feeling of the sutra. I find it difficult to associate a feeling with each sutra (for example a feeling for abundance, wisdom or inner sensuality). It is essential to pick up that feeling to let it go into silence or it is enough to just pick up the sutra? |
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yogani
USA
5241 Posts |
Posted - Oct 27 2020 : 2:58:42 PM
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Hi Cato:
Just the faintest feeling of the sutra words. This is from AYP Plus. https://www.aypsite.com/plus/150.html#150.2
Addition 150.2 - Samyama Sutras in Practice - Meanings versus the Words
Oct 23, 2020
Regarding samyama practice, from time to time there has been some confusion about what we mean by, "We create an impulse of meaning in silence, and then we let it go..." (from Lesson 150 above).
By this, we do not mean thinking about the meaning of a sutra while practicing samyama, contemplating a meaning, or redefining the sutra word(s) to be something else to align with what we think it ought to be according to our notions of meaning. It is none of these things. Samyama is simply releasing the faint feeling of the sutra (the word or phrase) in stillness and letting it go for 15 seconds, and then picking up the faint feeling of the sutra again (or the next sutra). That's it. Very simple.
Inner silence knows what to do with our sutras. It is all contained within. The more we try to redefine or renegotiate what the meaning of a sutra is during practice, the less effective our practice will be. Why is that? It is because samyama is not about the thinking mind. Like in deep meditation, the more we try to think about and regulate what is going on during practice, the less we will be in stillness where the true effects of practice occur. With effective practice, following the easy procedure, we will find the results in daily living, which is the fruit of our sittings. If we attempt to regulate or redesign the process on the fly, the results will be much less.
So the advice is to simply use the sutras as given, utilizing the easy procedure, and not worry about meanings during practice. The meanings will be there at other times outside practice, and this is fine, but let's not think about meanings during practice. We release the meanings in stillness in the form of the sutras. The sutras are the magic keys to the kingdom that carry within them all that is needed for effective samyama practice, bringing effects that can transform the quality of our daily life.
A sutra is for bringing inner silence out into our daily life. This "bringing out" is not a wish list of specific outcomes. It is a global bringing out that covers the full range of our daily experience. As we advance in practice, we notice it not as a result from this sutra or that one, but as an elevation of everything we are doing in our daily activity. So while it is natural to think that we'd like to do this sutra for that result, and not do this other one because it makes us a little uncomfortable, these strategies have nothing to do with effective samyama practice, which is long term daily sittings with a well designed and stable list of sutras (Lesson 150 above).
Then, over time, we will notice that all of our desires in daily activity will be occurring effortlessly in stillness, manifesting as divine flow beyond our limited personal interests, and this is the payoff of daily structured samyama practice, a rising ability to operate from within stillness in everything we do. It is permanent spiritual progress, a unifying flow of creativity and power, unshakable joy and freedom in this life.
So, for best results, let's keep it light and easy in our samyama practice, releasing the faintest feeling of the sutras, with 15 seconds in-between, and all the rest will take care of itself.
Practice wisely, and enjoy!
The guru is in you.
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Cato
Germany
239 Posts |
Posted - Oct 28 2020 : 05:32:09 AM
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Thanks, yogani
I understand that you shouldn't worry about meanings during practice (as it is intellectual).
But when the advice is to put up the faintest feeling, I kind of worry about feelings during practice (it is kind of emotional if you like).
So the question was whether or not one should try to create some (faint) feeling with each sutra. If so, I guess one again wanders into the world of meaning so I suppose just repeating the sutra word is enough (and not worry about anything). Is that right? Thanks for clarification.
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maheswari
Lebanon
2520 Posts |
Posted - Oct 28 2020 : 05:45:07 AM
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Hello Cato
"the faintest feeling" is a way to say "not to create meaning"
There is no other way to express it with words 
Another way to explain it is that say the sutra word with no or as little as possible mind meaning attached to it to avoid wandering in mind meaning.
..say it then move to the other one, dont go into analysis and feelings
To put it differently:Just do it
The practice implies some sort of surrender, there is no need to analyse much,no need to worry |
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yogani
USA
5241 Posts |
Posted - Oct 28 2020 : 08:07:31 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Cato
Thanks, yogani
I understand that you shouldn't worry about meanings during practice (as it is intellectual).
But when the advice is to put up the faintest feeling, I kind of worry about feelings during practice (it is kind of emotional if you like).
So the question was whether or not one should try to create some (faint) feeling with each sutra. If so, I guess one again wanders into the world of meaning so I suppose just repeating the sutra word is enough (and not worry about anything). Is that right? Thanks for clarification.
Yes, a faint pronunciation of the sutra (not forced as clear on the surface of the mind), like when we are picking the mantra back up during deep meditation. The idea is to pick up the sutra deep in the mind and let it go. It does not require a clear pronunciation. Just like we don't contemplate meaning in the mind, we don't require the sutra to be a clear pronunciation in the mind. Just barely touching the word(s), and let go.
If it needs to be a clear pronunciation for now, it is fine. A faint feeling is not something we "create." It is a letting go. Nothing to worry about. Over time of practice it will become less distinct, more a faint feeling of the sutras in stillness. Eventually our thinking in daily activity becomes like this, occurring in stillness, which brings great creativity and a unifying flow in all we do. Sitting samyama practice is for cultivating this natural ability in life that is within all of us. We don't have to understand it intellectually, or create it in the mind. We just do the practice, becoming gradually deeper in stillness over time. It is cultivating the art of letting go of desires and intentions in stillness. In the letting go, all is gained.
The guru is in you.
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Cato
Germany
239 Posts |
Posted - Oct 28 2020 : 11:47:01 AM
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| Thanks to both of you, this is what I needed to know. |
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Samyama sutra question
