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Kirtanman
USA
1651 Posts |
 Posted - May 26 2007 : 5:45:17 PM
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As many have commented over the ages, the fallacy of death has caused a lot of discomfort over time.
And not being cavalier, here - I lived with it for the vast majority of my life, too.
Yogic teachings say that the "yogi shall lose the fear of death" - and I wondered until fairly recently how this could be possible.
The answer is simplicity itself: yogic practices clean the gunk off our perceptual windshield, and we experience all the koshas (bodies) and planes of consciousness as being every bit as real as the physical body and physical plane.
Actually.
Physical death is much more akin to falling asleep for the night than D-E-A-T-H; the loss of the physical body somewhat like going for a haircut and a manicure.
Imagine if people screamed, cried and wailed when they thought they were going to fall asleep - or that a loved one was going to.
Or if they recoiled in terror at the prospect of a haircut.
We would call these pathologies, and hope these suffering individuals would become healthy, and experience the world without such horrible, debilitating distortion, yes?
This post is my humble contribution in hope that one day, the same may be true, regarding misperception of the consciousness-shift that we have been conditioned to think of as a tragic finality.
I was as disturbed by the idea of death as much as almost anyone; I mean, sure, I "knew-believed" that consciousness did (must - I hope I hope I hope but what if not oh my god what if) continue after d-e-a-t-h, for almost my entire life, and suffered accordingly.
Then, a subtle but life-changing shift (miracle?) happened - and the truth (of the misperception of death) clearly and simply shone through.
Did I do anything to help to facilitate this miracle?
Couple Things:
1. Spinal Breathing
2. Deep Meditation
(3. No Kidding)
A couple of weeks ago, I was talking with one of my daughters, who was voicing the fact she had issues with "death", and I found myself saying, "the ability to know that death is illusory is available to us all; there isn't any death; there's just ... not!"
Hearing my own emphatic tone, it really hit home, "Oh wow; I know this - by experience; at least as surely as I know I'm 'alive' right now ..."
Could I be deluded?
I suppose; but if so, it's a very peace-producing delusion.
Aaaand - if I am deluded, I'm in some pretty decent delusory company:
Carl Jung on One of the Key Benefits of Self-Awareness
Jai Amrita*,
Kirtanman
*A-Mrita = Without Death; the name of the "Nectar of Immortality" which is produced and secreted by the human endocrine system, specifically in the area of the brain, and which is greatly facilitated by certain yogic practices, including Pranayama (Spinal Breathing), Dhyana (Silent Meditation) and Vajroli (retention and refocusing of Life Energy) and Kechari Mudra (Inserting Tongue into Nasal Cavity Above and Behind the Uvula). Over time, Amrita's benefits help human neuro-physiology to evolve past physical-plane-only truncated perception. The illusion of death is then seen through; hence the term "Amrita" for this nectar. |
Edited by - Kirtanman on May 26 2007 6:17:31 PM |
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kadak
79 Posts |
Posted - May 27 2007 : 03:41:23 AM
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Hi
maybe you should re-read the bardo thödol. As long as you don't have immortal body (i.e. illusory body or rainbow body or something like that), you will lose memory from a life to another. And since you don't know your whole karma, you may well fall into an existence which won't be so easy. There are many humans on the planet, but very few of them are lucky enough to meet and understand the dharma.
After you death, you'll just get a "body of interdmediate state", in which you will have no influence. As one of my lamas said :"Bardo is not more the moment of choice, it is the moment of retribution". If you're absolutely perfect, no problem. If not, who knows ? Karma is a very complicated matter, if you don't know the whole of it (another lama said that we have millions past lives), you can't be sure.
Just imagine you will be reborn in a family of football or soccer fans ? Awful, no ? |
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Etherfish
USA
3615 Posts |
Posted - May 27 2007 : 07:16:48 AM
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| uncertainty of the future is karma. Purification removes karma. We're on the right path. |
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Rumors of Death Greatly Exaggerated
