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Eddie33
USA
120 Posts |
 Posted - Oct 31 2007 : 3:47:27 PM
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I was wondering whether or not there's a point where one would cease to do the I AM mantra as a meditative practice and took up something else.
I know the zen practice of shikantaza or just sitting is considered to be a kind of advanced practice. It seems like a great practice from my point of view. Maybe that's because the philosophy of zen appeals to me a bit more.
Doing the I AM mantra just seems like a dead end thing. I mean it's great for people at a certain point i assume but i can't really see myself continuing to do it in the long term.
Maybe a good thing to talk about here is the benefits of the "I AM" mantra over other meditations particularly zazen and shikantaza. I'm sorry abotu all these meditation posts, it's very difficult for me to make up my mind reguarding meditations as I'm very indesicive and think a little bit too much.
Thanks
Seeya
Seeya |
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tadeas
Czech Republic
314 Posts |
Posted - Oct 31 2007 : 6:21:00 PM
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Just choose one of the many approaches that are available, but as it's often said here "keep digging in one place".
Until you cut through all things to the source and are able to act from that position, there's a lot of room for improvement :)
And about the end of spiritual development, sahaj samadhi etc: David Spero - A Pathless Path |
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BluesFan
USA
35 Posts |
Posted - Oct 31 2007 : 6:26:31 PM
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Hi Eddie,
I can relate to your indecisiveness about choosing a meditation technique. I've been meditating for close to 9 years (off and on though) and the method that has always "clicked" the most for me is just starting out by following the in and out breath as an object of meditation then dropping off to no object.
Lately I've been practicing the AYP "I AM" method and I plan on sticking with it for at least several months just to see what happens. Mantra meditation never really appealed to me but I'm pretty convinced that this AYP method is somehow condensed and very high 'bang for your buck'. As to what makes it more potent I'm not sure and would be grateful if Yogani (or anyone else) could explain what gives "I AM" meditation an edge over Vipassana (or whatever).
Also, is anyone here familiar with the "Awareness watching Awareness" meditation method? This one seems to go straight to the heart of it but is actually fairly difficult and they recommend a minimum of two hours a day, preferably much more though...wow!
(I know I'm not answering your question, just relating to the difficulty of making up your mind about a meditation method.)
B |
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Anthem
1608 Posts |
Posted - Oct 31 2007 : 7:04:29 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by BluesFan
Lately I've been practicing the AYP "I AM" method and I plan on sticking with it for at least several months just to see what happens. Mantra meditation never really appealed to me but I'm pretty convinced that this AYP method is somehow condensed and very high 'bang for your buck'. As to what makes it more potent I'm not sure and would be grateful if Yogani (or anyone else) could explain what gives "I AM" meditation an edge over Vipassana (or whatever).
B
Hi Bluesfan,
A great question, this was discussed a while back in the forum at the bottom of this post and a few subsequent posts here:
http://www.aypsite.org/forum/topic....page=7#24443
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Eddie33
USA
120 Posts |
Posted - Nov 01 2007 : 10:46:55 AM
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I actually practices the awareness of awareness thing for a while. It's jsut too intense for me right no. i think it established a constant witnessing state that's always in the background but that's about it. it didn't really get rid of any bad habits or anything.
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anthony574
USA
549 Posts |
Posted - Nov 01 2007 : 10:58:24 AM
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| I think the IAM is good for people that are not capable of doing the sit there and do nothing methods. The mind does not like to be empty ( at least most parts) and to focus it on one thing, a mantra, seems to cater to it better for the benefit of you and your mind. And from what I understand, it becomes normal to just experience IAM as a vibration and not so much phonetically so I imagine the nature of it changes and keeps changing. |
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Eddie33
USA
120 Posts |
Posted - Nov 01 2007 : 4:02:39 PM
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i think i know what you mean about it being experienced phonetically like a vibration. that's what it was like with the awarness of awareness except with that there's a tendency for really screwing up your natural spontaniety.
with the mantra it does the same thing except it's more like a polishing the hood of your car. the wantra is the polishing cloth and thoughts are the car. awareness of awareness is like taking a knife and slashing through thoughts. maybe good at a certain point not for someone who's experienceing a lot of thinking. it can confuse you a lot, in my opinion
this is how i would explain what's going on when you think the mantra. in my learning you supposedly are the all-pervading awareness. the problem is that you grew a mind and now your stuck in it in your ignorance. and you are thouroghly stuck. now the mind isn't nessecarily a bad thing. all it is is a dynamic exttension of the "state of presense" we'll call it.
what the mantra does is tap into that thought process in a sense, since it is itself a thought, and it just synthesizes it over time. sounds somewhat right.for now..
i think i think too much |
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BluesFan
USA
35 Posts |
Posted - Nov 01 2007 : 5:47:07 PM
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| Mantra meditation is certainly more user friendly because there is a very definite object. Breath awareness is a little more difficult; there is still an object but it's less tangible. Awareness watching awareness meditation is flat out challenging. There is no object, period. Awareness is what's left when everything else is stripped away...there's nothing to give your attention to except your own pure consciousness. Anyone that's never tried this should give it a shot just as an experiment. It's a trip. |
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Eddie33
USA
120 Posts |
Posted - Nov 01 2007 : 10:17:59 PM
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You hit the nail on the head Bluesfan. There were days when i would try to the "awareness of awareness" thing for the entire day (like twice, on sundays) I would wake up and just walk around with it constantly. Pretty intense. It was and still is very hard to break away from that type of practice. I think i desire getting enlightened and having a breakthrough too much.. I think I'm on the right track now. Today I felt really good and it seems that now that i'm getting in touch with my body and my emotions after neglecting them for so long I have so much more energy and am actualyl starting to do all of the things that i would think about, instead of just thinking about them and sulking, stuck in a whirlpool of confusion, doubt and uncertainty.
Soon maybe I'll break away from the mantra and fallow the breath perhaps. Who knows how long. Then I'll move towards other more anvanced forms of self-inquiry. But I want to clear all doubts along the way. I want to know how to not know, if it's possible. Philosophy is a big interest of mine as well. But for now it's relax time |
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yogani
USA
5241 Posts |
Posted - Nov 02 2007 : 10:52:02 AM
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Hi Eddie:
Much better to keep digging in one place. You pick the place.
Some of us here have been practicing deep meditation with mantra every day for decades. It really does work when the instructions are followed.
I am not aware of a "more advanced" practice, particularly when the mantra enhancements are added on prudently over time, along with the integration of spinal breathing, samyama, tantric methods and other elements of practice. Keep in mind that "advanced" in this case means very easy to do and very powerful. Don't take the "very easy" part too lightly, or you might miss out on the "very powerful" part.
As for self-inquiry, it really has no place to go except to building "castles in the air" without the concurrent cultivation of inner silence/witness as the foundation by one means or another (an effective form of meditation). Stand alone self-inquiry by itself is a poor way to cultivate inner silence. Without the expansion of inner silence, moving to "more advanced" forms of self-inquiry will be premature and can lead to much confusion in life and a loss of motivation and effectiveness in conducting our daily activities. If we are experiencing these difficulties, we can be sure we are too far ahead of ourselves with self-inquiry, and it is time to back off.
Once a significant degree of inner silence has been established, then self-inquiry can be very useful. Before then, it is hit or miss, with lots of hazards.
Unlike when assembling a bookcase, with spiritual practices it is a good idea to read the directions that come in the box, and follow them. Come to think of it, following the directions when assembling a bookcase can save time too. 
It is your path, and you are free to travel it how you choose. There are plenty of jungles out there to hack through, and lots of quicksand too.
There are roads that have been built that can help us avoid most of the pitfalls and carry us surely to our destination. That is what AYP is about.
All the best!
The guru is in you.
Edited 2 hours later. See paragraph inserted on self-inquiry.
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BluesFan
USA
35 Posts |
Posted - Nov 02 2007 : 12:48:30 PM
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Eddie - Sounds like you're kind of wandering around and having a hard time with 'digging in the same place'...I can relate! I got the spiritual "bug" about 9 years ago and at the time stumbled onto a book about Zen, gave meditation a try and it just clicked. I read a couple of other books but mainly just meditated. My practice was very simple and my life changed dramatically for the better (not that it was ever bad in the first place). Then about 3 years ago I got the very strong desire to seek out more information about the spiritual path and boy did I find it! From kriya yoga, Western Mystery Schools, AYP, theosophy, and a mountain of various practices, excercises, and meditation techniques...enough info to bury yourself in for decades. I'm grateful for alot of the information I came across but it was overload. I'd sit down to meditate and my head would spin with all of the techniques and approaches I'd come across. Thankfully the obsessive info gathering phase started to taper off about a year ago. But all of that made sticking with one thing virtually impossible.
Here are a few things I got out of that though: 1. If enlightenment was just a matter of gathering more information, almost all of us would already be enlightened. 2. Spirituality is not about 'practices' (although for the vast majority of us, practices exponentially speed up what would otherwise be a very very slow process). Spirituality is about a way of living. It's 24/7. Your whole life is a meditation and and every single act - no matter how seemingly insignificant - is important and holy. 3. Simplicity is a beautiful thing! The mind loves complicated things it can dig into, analyze, and generate more thought about. Thought has a tendency to get out of control and become probably the biggest hindrance on this journey of ours.
Honestly I'm more drawn to non-mantra type meditation but Yogani and some of these other folks have been at this alot longer than me and are far more experienced. Personally I'm grateful for the opportunity to learn from other people's experience. You do have to use your own internal B.S. meter to determine who actually knows what they're talking about but I'm convinced that this AYP stuff is the real deal. My only initial concerns with the AYP practices & forum was that there was so much emphasis and fixation on kundalini and bodily energy experiences but having had a few of these myself now I guess I can see how easy it is to get fixated on them.
So even though I have my hangups with mantra meditation I'm willing to take the advice of someone who's put in alot of experiential research and travelled the road longer than myself.
Yogani - Can you shed any light on the differences in how these two meditation methods work ("I AM" mantra vs. pure awareness)? |
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yogani
USA
5241 Posts |
Posted - Nov 02 2007 : 5:32:52 PM
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Hi BluesFan:
The main difference between meditation styles with or without mantra is that meditation with mantra enables proactive cultivation of inner silence, whereas mindfulness and related meditation techniques are passive forms of cultivation. Here is a post that gets into it in more detail: http://www.aypsite.org/forum/topic...._ID=598#1578
There is also a marked difference between using mantra and using breath as the object of meditation, particularly as samadhi advances and breath may become very slight, or none. This is where breath-based meditation ceases to function, while mantra-based meditation will continue to function far beyond that point into pure bliss consciousness itself.
It is the ability of mantra meditation (with correct technique) to continue bringing the attention systematically and proactively to ever more refined levels of stillness that makes the difference between mantra style meditation and all others.
Of course, meditation can occur using any object. "Meditation" is the natural process of mind dissolving from an object to absorption in inner silence, which is samadhi. It is a matter of optimizing the application of this inherent human ability for efficiency and effectiveness. That is what deep meditation with mantra is about. That is what makes it "advanced" -- meaning, more results can be achieved with less time and effort. Which is not to say everyone ought to be meditating with mantra. But that is the kind of meditation the AYP lessons cover, in relation to a range of other practices that are also optimized within themselves and in relation to the full routine.
The guru is in you.
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BluesFan
USA
35 Posts |
Posted - Nov 02 2007 : 5:54:33 PM
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Thanks for the response Yogani. You confirmed exactly what I was thinking which is that both the "I AM" mantra meditation and the more passive meditation styles both lead to the same place but the "I AM" requires shorter sitting sessions. Nothing like efficiency.
As for the cessation of breath...I've had that happen numerous times while using my old meditation method, sometimes for what seemed like very long periods. It's interesting when you're sitting there and realize you haven't inhaled for quite some time. At that point you're just sitting there in emptiness, 'as' emptiness really. The breath is only used as object initially then is dropped.
So it sounds like when "I AM" does take you to the place of no-mind and complete stillness, you don't force the mantra at that point. Is that correct?
I've been back to doing strictly AYP (10 minutes spinal breathing followed by 20 deep meditation) twice a day for a couple of weeks now with very nice results. I used to love the really long meditation sessions but the truth is it's very hard to really be alert and present for that long. You (and others) have finally got it into my head that shorter, more focused sessions are much more worthwhile. But of course, with that being said it would be interesting to lock ones self into a room for 24 hours and silently call out to God unceasingly just to see what happens! |
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yogani
USA
5241 Posts |
Posted - Nov 02 2007 : 6:53:09 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by BluesFan
So it sounds like when "I AM" does take you to the place of no-mind and complete stillness, you don't force the mantra at that point. Is that correct?
Hi BluesFan:
The mantra can be easily picked up very faint fuzzy in the deepest levels of awareness, taking us still deeper. We do that whenever we realize we have gone off the mantra. In time, it becomes quite automatic to pick up the mantra at all levels in the mind, whether a clear mental pronunciation or very faint and fuzzy feeling. And, yes, the mantra is never forced on any level.
As our nervous system becomes more permanently infused with inner silence over time from daily deep meditation, we will be at that deep level as soon as we sit and close our eyes. And also more and more in daily activity ... which is the beginning of stillness in action.
This makes self-inquiry very easy, because we are becoming the answer to all the inquiries, and our conduct will often automatically precede the answers (rise of yama and niyama). Then it is only a matter of occasionally clarifying "what is," rather then beating ourselves up trying to penetrate the infinite with our little brain, which is not possible. We have to go beyond our little brain to do that.
In AYP, the key word in considering self-inquiry is "relational," which means naturally integrative, or yogic. If the self-inquiry we are doing is "non-relational," meaning of the temporal mind only, or non-yogic, we do not need it, for it will only add baggage. Inner silence (the witness) is the prerequisite for relational self-inquiry. It is both its fuel and its destination.
So, however terrific we might feel about our self-inquiry, being in "the now," or whatever, it is entirely dependent on the resident inner silence we have available. This is why daily deep meditation is so important.
The guru is in you.
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Eddie33
USA
120 Posts |
Posted - Nov 02 2007 : 7:40:30 PM
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Yeah thinking is a horrible thing. It just get's way out of control.
Thanks for the advice Yogani and Bluesfan. Still just gotta slow down more. Today I felt really crappy like there was just something tearing my insides out. The type of feeling as if you were breaking up with your girlfriend. I think I'll be okay though
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BluesFan
USA
35 Posts |
Posted - Nov 02 2007 : 11:56:42 PM
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Yogani - I just listened to the radio show on deep meditation. Very helpful! Answered several of my questions.
Eddie - Just observe the weather as it passes by. It's all scenery. |
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yogani
USA
5241 Posts |
Posted - Nov 03 2007 : 12:30:33 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Eddie33
Yeah thinking is a horrible thing. It just get's way out of control.
Hi Eddie:
Thinking is okay. It is what we make of it. The mind makes a good servant, but not a good master. We need to bring the master in to take charge of things -- inner silence. Then the mind will shine. 
The guru is in you. |
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Eddie33
USA
120 Posts |
Posted - Nov 03 2007 : 10:53:17 AM
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hehehe, thanks yogani..i feel like my overwhelming complusion to reach enlightenment is finally dwindleing down. i ithink thats part of the reason i felt so crappy yesterday. there's a tendency inside of me to just want to read and read and read and practice and practice and practice thinking that it's the right thing to do because it will get me enlightened. i don't think it's going to go away obviously i just think that instead of being a compulsive seeker i'll be a smart take it easy seeker. broaden my horizons.
and maybe start having some good fun
thanks |
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Kyman
530 Posts |
Posted - Nov 03 2007 : 12:36:10 PM
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I think that is normal for everyone who gets into this process, especially if they didn't grow up around people who were in the midst of it all the time. I also know what it is like to be one of the people who grows up in some chaos and has a lot of obstructions to purify. The path has more ups and downs and side to sides. Initially, you are fleshing out a path, sometimes blindly, when the mind is still trying to be the master.
There is nothing wrong, in my opinion, with plowing ahead sometimes, or burrowing through, thoroughly overcoming and transcending a block or obstruction or habit, but only if you carefully balance it with the appropriate levels of rest and relaxation. And fun!
You like the UFC, Randy Couture says a fighter can blow his load a bit early in a fight trying to get a quick win, but the other guy just bides his time in the resting and defensive positions. The guy on the ground waits for the energy dynamic to shift and when senses it he balances his approach with more offense, picking up the win.
Don't purchase a few hours, or even days, of extreme highs with the energy you've been building up within. Part of that deal includes a few days of extreme lows. You will be stimulating yourself so much that your body will have to rest whether you permit it or not, and the act of not permitting rest will feel, well, truly crappy.
I'll leave you with a brief and relevant poem.
-
I said to god
lets play a game
god replied
I will be a tight rope
you will walk my path
with balance
you will be close to me
but if you fall
there is a 50/50 chance
you will land on
something good |
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Eddie33
USA
120 Posts |
Posted - Nov 03 2007 : 7:18:37 PM
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i was a wrestler in high school and was that type of guy that Randy Couture is talking about. I was k now throughout the state for being the guy who would pin people in 30 second. I had one move (the dump. they called me the dump-master on my team) and i would pull it off almost every time, put them right on there back and pin them in less then 30 seconds like 80 percent of the time. one time i pinned a guy in 9 seconds which was like the 5th fastest pin in the state at the time.
but if a guy took me out of the first period i'd most likely lose. horrible endurance... sometimes though i would reach a second wind and this were the best wins (emotionally). with the ones you win in like 30 seconds they re just kind of ego boosters... no wonder i would cry like a baby when i lost
seeya |
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mikkiji
USA
219 Posts |
Posted - Nov 05 2007 : 12:19:04 PM
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Having begun za-Zen in 1970 with an ancient Japanese Roshi (and, at the tender age of 18, having had much trouble with the practice), and also having been given a koan for use outside of meditation, I had some glimpses into what all this "consciousness stuff" was about--but it was difficult, and I didn't have the patience for regular practice. In 1973, I began Transcendental Meditation, and immediately found the silent, empty though-free state of awareness, my inner silent witness, during almost every meditation. Being that easy, I kept at it for a couple of years, and eventually entered the Ashram of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, being taught more and more advanced meditation techniques, most of them mantra-based practices, along with pranyama and asanas. The silent inner witness grew stronger and more clear over the decades that I practiced regularly. Eventually, a time came that, when I came out of meditation, my subjective awareness was exactly the same as during meditation--excepting, in meditation, the witness was aware of only itself, while in action, it was aware of both itself, the actor and the action, and during sleep, it was aware of both itself and the dullness of sleep. However--and this is very important--one's actual experiences during meditation practices ALWAYS and constantly change. Depending on MANY factors--condition of the physical body, emotional moods, environmental factors--our meditations change. I've found that, over the years, the evolution of consciousness has progressed in ways that seem nearly imperceptible at times, and dramatic at other times--but just the same, the techniques and practices continue to work, to sharpen, refine and clarify our awareness. Patience is important, as is persistence.
Another important factor that took me decades to realize is that, no matter what your state of consciousness, you continue to live in the world, and to act and react as a human being. Meaning that one still has moods and emotions, desires and disappointments, sorrows and joys, light and dark. The difference is, because it is the ego which becomes attached to these passing clouds, as the ego becomes more and more transparent, attachments to things lessens, and the silent inner witness is less easily overthrown by all the wild chaos of life. This is where practices such as mindfulness can really begin to be useful. Before the ego loosens its grip, mindfulness meditations--vipassana--can be difficult, distracting, annoying, frustrating. But as the ego fades, the false self retreats (but never entirely disappears), the true unbounded Self shines ever brighter, life begins to “live itself” and we interfere less (it was the ego who needed to butt in all the time anyway!) Our practices are always different, different, different. Some times, calm, silent, transcendent. Some times, filled with annoying distractions, a churning mind and a restless heart. No matter. As my Roshi told me 37 years ago, “Everything is just as it is.”
Michael |
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emc
2072 Posts |
Posted - Nov 05 2007 : 1:50:18 PM
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mikkiji,
Thank you for a wonderful post and Welcome to the forum!
I must throw in a great Thanks to Yogani and the AYP teachings. I have, after a period of mantra meditation break, come back to the I AM meditation regularly and I am finding deeper and more refined levels of how the mantra is working its way through. It is truly opening doors to ever new wonders and at the same time it is stabilizing everything. Just a notion: Don't get ATTACHED to the mantra, as if it is your saviour leading to salvation! It is also only a part of what is. And ultimately I am what is. So... What is the mantra? Who is silently voicing the mantra inside? Is there really any difference between the mantra, the one saying the mantra and what the mantra is supposed to "lead to"? |
Edited by - emc on Nov 05 2007 1:52:51 PM |
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mikkiji
USA
219 Posts |
Posted - Nov 05 2007 : 5:52:21 PM
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Think of a Mantra as a vehicle--a conveyance for the mind to reach finer, subtler levels of thought and more and more quite levels of awareness. Your conscious awareness is the driver of this vehicle. At the point where we begin mantra japa--silent mental repetition--"we", the ego-based waking mind, take this mantra--which is, to the thinking mind, nothing more than a sound vibration--and begin the intention of repeating it for the purpose of "meditation". So we have several initial distinct things--the active waking mind, its intention to repeat a sound mentally, the sound itself, and the meditation, which merely is a label for the interaction between mind, intent and mantra.
Based upon these initial conditions, properly practiced, the mind begins to experience the thought of the mantra on finer, subtler, deeper levels of awareness. We may experience these levels of the mind in various different ways, none of them particularly meaningful or important except to gauge correctness of technique. When the finest, quietest deepest level of though is reached, consciousness awareness may (or may not...) make a "phase shift", as it is described in quantum physics. The analogy works well. When a system, for instance, reaches the temperature of –273.15°C, or -459°F, it is said to be at "Absolute Zero", and undergoes a phase shift--it changes totally in every property, becoming (depending on the substance used) a perfect conductor, frictionless, orderly in atomic structure, and without any motion or vibration. At -458, it is really cold, but still ordinary. At -459, it crosses a threshold. Like that, when the deepest level of thought is reached--the "bottom level of the mind", if you will--what could lie below that? The place where awareness arises from. The state of absolute zero of the mind--when the finest thought of the mantra is transcended and awareness is left alone, without any object of awareness--this is what the mantra is supposed to lead to. My guru called this state "Pure Awareness", because awareness remains crystal clear, but is aware OF NOTHING BUT ITSELF. The awareness has made its phase shift from active to silent, from random to order, from desire to fulfillment. emc's advice, then is perfectly correct--we cannot get attached to mantra--if we did, we'd never be able to leave it behind and reach its goal. We have driven this mantra vehicle to its home--why remain in the car? Get out and enjoy the silence! At this point, all the elements present at the outset--mantra, the one saying the mantra, and the goal of repeating the mantra--they have then become one--for the silence of "turiya" (the Sanskrit term for this state), is a state of unity--of Yoga, Union...
Michael |
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BluesFan
USA
35 Posts |
Posted - Nov 05 2007 : 6:40:51 PM
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Michael - Really enjoyed both of those posts. Something in the first one is a little discouraging to me though and that is that no matter how far you go, you continue to act and react as a human being. From that perspective it sounds like the goal of "the end of all sorrow" is unattainable. I kind of hope that's not really the case. I'd like to get past disappointment and desire altogether and I've been operating under the impression that it's possible to acheive that during a human lifetime. It seems like if one were to fully realize one's unity with all that is and have no illusional sense of separateness to speak of, then one would be living in a state of absolute and total surrender and that suffering would be an impossibility. (And of course I'm not referring to a purely intellectual 'realization'.) Maybe I'm being too idealistic here?
B |
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Eddie33
USA
120 Posts |
Posted - Nov 05 2007 : 7:22:35 PM
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this clears up a lot for me. thanks guys
one thing i'm having a hard time to clear up is this whole kundalini phenomenon. where does this come into play? is it nessecary for this "phase shift" to occur? and how is it related to pure awareness?
i was just reading the autobio of the person who created the biology of kundaalini web stie and her experiences seem VERY dramatic. so it's just got my mind stirred on the subject
peace |
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mikkiji
USA
219 Posts |
Posted - Nov 06 2007 : 12:06:56 AM
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We never extinguish the experience of suffering. We merely move beyond identification with it. Suffering happens, but I am not that, I am This silent, unmoved witness. I witness my own suffering, rather than become it, just as I also witness this joy, this sorrow, this pain--perhaps even, this anger or this frustration. But even with these feelings, moods, sensations, interactions, the "Self" who we identify as our true inner identity, remains apart from, rather than a part of, the chaos of our human drama. I know this sounds as if we are still suffering, still engaged in the drama. We are not--we are its witness. It is as if, instead of being an actor in a play, we have stepped out of the action and into the audience. We are witness to the drama even as we seem to play in it, but the true self always sits silently in the audience, never identified with the characters on the stage.
As far as kundalini is concerned, no, the mind becomes silent and empty, yet remains alert, as merely a very first step, although certainly an important one, in our spiritual evolution. All of the other evolutionary changes in consciousness are built on this foundation. This may be best summarized in the sutra from the Bhagavad Gita in which Krishna finally tells Arjuna how to perform right action, dharmic performance in harmony with nature. In Sanskrit it says, "Yogastah Kuru Karmani", which may be translated to mean, "While established in Pure Being, from there, perform action." When Arjuna asks how that is possible, Krishna gives him a meditation technique, which is to allow the mind to become "Nirguna", or without the gunas--beyond all qualities and attributes, unbounded, infinite, eternal and unmanifest--in other words, silent. The alert, awake but silent, empty mind IS the true Self. On THAT Self is established siddhis, kundalini, other manifestations of expanding and evolving consciousness. And finally, yes--the awakening of kundalini is an extremely dramatic event, physically, emotionally, intellectually and spiritually. These 'next stages' of Awakening are like the Pure Being of Self coming out to play! Just like that... Now that I'm awake, let's get out of bed, get dressed, have breakfast and see what we can do! As it turns out, we can do anything--Pure Being is the field of all possibilities. And the subjective experience of this is "sat-chit-ananda", or Absolute Bliss Consciousness. Hence we say, when we meditate, that we are "getting our chit together..."
haha
namaste,
Michael |
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