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kevincann
USA
335 Posts |
 Posted - May 15 2011 : 1:54:52 PM
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I'm posting for the AYP person currently mentoring me, and anyone else who might be interested.
When I first came to AYP, not that long ago, I saw it as an alternate system, and in fact, did not see that much value in it. No wonder that people wanted to throw rocks at me; oh and add in that I was a self-righteous asshole who was full of ego. That didnt' help either.
I had in fact come from multiple traditions, that were mixtures of Bhakti, Dvaita (Kundalini) and Jnana (knowledge of the absolute)
In short, my prior path amounted to (though I did not have the wisdom to even understand this!) forcing open all the chakras, especially the crown chakra and the one after that, remaining in what some would call a form of nirvakalpa samahdi for as long as possible, then "coming back" and trying to distill Jnana from this for the world (scientific knowlege about the "beyond").
Anyone see a bump or two in the road with this path? *cough* *cough* *cough*.
One does not even need a guru, outer or inner, or *any* reduction in ego to follow this "path". Of course you sow what you reap. About ego; you in fact need a POWERFUL ego to do this path. You don't try to reduce it; you make it stronger on purpose, although you make it as transparent as possible. You also learn how to endure infinite pain, as that is what you will get. The ego is in fact your primary tool, not meditation. I think many would call a path such as this the ultimate lefthand path.. some would even call it sorcery, not yoga at all. Of course most of the practictioners would see it as a noble path, when the world is in darkness and there is no way forward for anyone. I had thought that the world was still in this state, like the prior time I had lived.
Paths like this, I would call Paths of Suffering. It's what happens when there is no light in the world, and people are desperate. They take up old memories and do the best they can. Of course they may be deluded, and in fact there is a valid path in the world, but they just don't ask..
I was having one of my stupid, adversarial email conversations with Yogani a while back (all the stupidity and adversarial nature was on my part), and he mentioned how AYP was a carefully crafted form of Karma Yoga. This did not compute wtih me.. AYP looked to be a "lite" form of yoga to me.. as someone who was accustomed to fireworks, melodrama and infinite pain.
I didn't even understand what a karma yoga system was. I had never been part of such a thing. However now that I have a functioning inner guru, much is obvious to me, that was formerly completely inaccessible.
AYP is indeed wonderfully balanced. I am in awe of the balance. AYP is designed to activate the chakras just enough.. to purify just enough, to allow the student to hear the inner guru. Once the inner guru is accessible, this produces a great safety net. Also, unlike many other approaches, the focus is maintained SO TIGHT on DM, SBP and listening to the inner guru, as the student does not have an outer guru in most cases, to steer them back in the right direction, should they become lost in scenery or other observances.
It's not that the other observances and practices are not very useful, as part of the eight limbs of yoga, but rather by keeping such a tight focus on the core practices, you will eventually deepen in other areas, but won't stray away from the core.
This path may be 25% slower than one where you are under 24x7 care of an external guru, but you don't need an outer guru with this one.. and outer gurus are known for being "99% enlightnened" in many cases, if that even makes sense to say. In fact, the inner guru is more reliable. But if you factor in avoiding the missteps that are almost inevitable with not being able to find a proper guru--it is actually faster overall. You won't find faster.
Add in the support forums and retreats, and you have just enough to make everything work beautifully, without melodrama and an outer guru.
Brilliant.
I find myself becoming purified. I find myself veering away from so much focus upon dualistic approaches. I find myself caring more about love and service than knowledge. I find myself with a healthy ego forming. I find myself with not a worry in the world, and supreme happiness, although supreme pain would be just as acceptable.
I find msyelf being led to a very simple, twice daily practice, to keep grunge from building up and stay grounded.. about 1 hour.. it's all I need at this time. Yes, I'm doing a bit of mulabandha, SBP with focussed bastrika and sambhavi. I do the equivalent of DM all day long; it is an ingrained habit from birth; just before I couldn't hear anytning in the silence; it was full of pain and I wasn't even asking the inner guru anything during daily life.
I would say, that AYP won't necesarily work for very stubborn people who are full of their prior path and won't let go of what doesn't work. Cough* cough* cough*. But if such a person's Bhakti is genuine,
and they truly wish to find the way.. they can.. though I suspect many such "visiting sages" wind up going away and not staying.
I do observe, that certain bits of carefully inner guru-reviewed bits of jnana, would be very valuable for the more intellectually predisposed. Intellect is a wonderful assistant; just an awful master.
But such posts belong in the Philosophy of Yoga folder.
I love you,
Kevin Cann |
Edited by - kevincann on May 15 2011 1:57:32 PM |
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Ego-Based "Systems" VS AYP
