Sanctuary Yoga

SvaDharma definition Oxford Dictionary

2011-10-20T09:36:00.001-07:00

Svadharma (Skt., sva, ‘own’, + dharma, ‘duty, right’). In Hinduism, one's own right, duty, or nature; one's own role in the social and cosmic order. Svadharma is relative to one's caste and stage of life (cf. varṇāśramadharma), and to one's situation (cf. āpaddharma). Svadharma or relative dharma often conflicts with sādhāraṇa dharma, universal dharma, or sanātana dharma, absolute or eternal dharma. For example, to kill is a violation of eternal dharma, yet a warrior's svadharma (own duty, nature) is to kill.The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions | 1997

SvaDharama in the Bhagavad Gita

2011-10-20T07:42:00.000-07:00

SvaDharama in the Bhagavad GitaDharma is, of course, translated as “duty,” but svadharam is not simply the duty to perform works in the world, but the necessity of performing one’sown special God-given duty. It is not not often ead=sy to know exactly what one’s svadharma is. Is it simply to work at that occupation which brings; the greatest material gain? No. Nor is it simply the serving of others. Rather,m it is the serving of God, the Self, who is the indwelling, guiding, joy of man. No matter what a man might do in this world, no matter how respectable or charitable or unselfish, if it is not his svadharma, he will be miserable; he will feel frustrated, unfulfilled and dissatisfied. This is especially true for the sincere aspirant to Truth, for he will fee most keenly the disharmony between his spirit and his actions.It is by this a spiritual man knows his svadharma; if his soul is happy and delighted in its performance, and if the very thought of diverting from that path makes him sick at heart and despondent, he may be sure that it is his svadharma. "It is not right to leave undone the holy work which ought to be done. Such a surrender of action is a delusion of darkness. And if a man abandons his svadharma out of fear of pain, truly, he has no reward."The reward of performing the work appropriate to one’s own svadharma is the peace and joy of God. By renouncing all other concerns but the performance of the work God has ordained for you, you will feel and know His confirmation within you. "A man attains perfection when his work is worship of God, from whom all things come and who exists within everyone. And a man should not abandon his work, even if he cannot achieve perfection; because in all work there is some imperfection, as in fire there is some smoke. …It is better to perish in your own work than to flourish in another’s. Therefore, offer to Me all you works and rest your mind upon the Supreme. Be free from vain hopes and selfish thoughts, and with inner peace fight your fight."-Swami Abhayananda, The History of Mysticism: The Unchanging Testament page 61[HOW CAN THIS BE EXPRESSED WITHOUT RESORTING TO USE OF RELIGIOUS, THEISTIC TERMS SUCH AS GOD AND HIS???]

SvaDharma: ' This above all: to thine own self be true...'

2011-10-19T15:41:00.000-07:00

There is no single English word which embraces the concept of dharma. It is your essential nature, law, duty, path. The unifying dharma of all of us is the Atman, but each of us has an individual dharma because of our vasanas (unmanifestied desires).The tiger must hunt, the nightingale must sing, the cow must yield. Similarly, there are tigers among men, nightingales among men, cows among men. We must act according to our dharma if we are to have peace in this life. In the words of the Shakesperian character, Polonius, ' This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.'Self-realisation may be many lives away, but if we have been true to ourselves, to our own dharma, we wi die having advanced some way towards the Eternal Self." [Purport of BG 3.35 by Swami A. Parthasarathy, in The Essential Teachings of Hinduism, edited by Kerry Brown, 1988. Rider: London et al.]

SvaDharma Yoga, Jimi Hendrix and Steve Jobs

2011-10-19T15:13:00.000-07:00

"Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything--all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure--these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important." -Steve JobsSvaDharma means... The only path I am really interested in is the path I'm already on- the path of being Joseph Ray Roberson! The term SvaDharma means trusting the authority of my own experience. I am not interested in living according to your truth or according to any teacher or guru's path. "I know I have to die when it's time for me to die, so let me live my life the way I want to. " Jimi Hendrix.

Sufi Dancing

2009-07-14T05:53:00.000-07:00

Jesus said the Kingdom of God does not come by expectation; it will not be here or there, for the Kingdom is spread across the earth and people do not see it. The Kingdom of God is within you. To discover the Kingdom we must change the way we see the world and the flesh. We must change ourselves. That, of course, is precisely what is accomplished by the hero's journey. Of that accomplishment, Campbell says:

The aim is not to see, but to realize that one is, that essence; then one is free to wander as that essence in the world. Furthermore: the world too is of that essence. The essence of oneself and the essence of the world: these two are one. Hence separateness, withdrawal, is no longer necessary. Wherever the hero may wander, whatever he may do, he is ever in the presence of his own essence--for he has the perfected eye to see. (The Hero with a Thousand Faces, page 386)

The vision of the unity and goodness of the world is born in our own private and collective intention to transform the way we see things, to honor one another's struggle for self-actualization, interpreting it as an adjunct of our own. It calls us to affirm the choice of life-style of everyone, seeing, in each, God's decision to experience the world, even when that style seems as alien to ours as homosexuality or prostitution.

"For the world and time are the dance of the Lord in emptiness," wrote Thomas Merton:

The silence of the spheres is the music of a wedding feast. The more we persist in misunderstanding the phenomena of life, the more we analyze them out into strange finalities and complex purposes of our own, the more we involve ourselves in sadness, absurdity, and despair. But it does not matter very much, because no despair of ours can alter the reality of things, or stain the joy of the cosmic dance which is always there. Yet the fact remains that we are invited to forget ourselves on purpose, cast our awful solemnity to the winds, and join in the general dance. (New Seeds of Contemplation, page 297)

-from http://www.tobyjohnson.com/sufidancing.html

Hallelujah!, Wahe Guru!, Allah Hu!, Om Namah Shivaya!

2009-07-14T05:14:00.000-07:00

Allah Hu - The best bloopers are here

from Wikipedia

Hallelujah, Halleluyah, or Alleluia, is a transliteration of the Hebrew word הַלְלוּיָהּ (Standard Halləluya, Tiberian Halləlûyāh) meaning "praise (הַלְּלוּ) Yah (יָהּ)". It is found mainly in the book of Psalms and has a similar pronunciation in many, but not all, languages. The word is used in Judaism as part of the Hallel prayers, and in Christian praise. It has been accepted into the English language.

Among many Christians, the expressions of Hallelujah and Praise the Lord are acceptable, spontaneous expressions of joy, thanksgiving and praise towards God, requiring no specific prompting or call or direction from those leading times of praise and singing.

In the Hebrew Bible hallelujah is actually a two-word phrase, not one word. The first part, hallelu, is the second-person imperative masculine plural form of the Hebrew verb hallal.[2] However, "hallelujah" means more than simply "praise Yah", as the word hallel in Hebrew means a joyous praise, to boast in God, or to act madly or foolishly.[3] The second part, Yah, is a shortened form of the name of God YHWH, sometimes rendered in English as "Yahweh" or "Jehovah". The Septuagint translates Yah as Kurios (the LORD). In Psalm 150:6 the Hebrew reads kol han'shamah t'hallel yah;[4] the final word "yah" is translated as "the LORD", or "YHWH". It appears in the Hebrew Bible as הללו~יה and הללו יה. In Psalm 148:1 the Hebrew says "הללו יה hallelu yah". It then says "hallelu eth-YHWH" as if using "yah" and "YHWH" interchangeably. The word "Yah" appears by itself as a divine name in poetry about 49 times in the Hebrew Bible (including hallelu yah), such as in Psalm 68:4-5 "who rides upon the deserts by his name Yah" and Exodus 15:2 "Yah is my strength and song". It also often appears at the end of Israelite theophoric names such as Isaiah "yeshayah(u), Yahweh is salvation" and Jeremiah "yirmeyah(u), Yahweh is exalted".

from BibleCode Digest

Everybody knows the Hebrew word that we pronounce in English as hallelujah. But do you know what it means? It simply means, "Praise God." So when you learn how to spell hallelujah in Hebrew, you will learn four Hebrew letters and will already enter in to the realm of praise and worship.

from Wikipedia
Allah, "God", is the Arabic cognate of the ancient Semitic name for God, El.
Alhamdulillah (الحمد لله) is an Arabic phrase meaning "Praise to God" or "All praise belongs to God," similar to the Hebrew phrase Halelu Yah. In everyday speech it simply means "Thank God!" It is used by Muslims and also by Arabic-speaking Jews and Christians, but more frequently by Muslims due to centrality of this specific phrase within the texts of the Qur'an and the words of Muhammad.

However, its meaning and in-depth explanation has been the subject of much exegesis and explanation.

The phrase has three basic parts:

* Al - The
* Hamd-u - meaning "feel of gratefulness," as opposed to Shokr, meaning "uttering words of gratefullness".
* Li 'llah - preposition + noun Allah. Li is a preposition meaning, for, belonging to, etc. The word "Allah" is said to be derived of ilah -- the Arabic word for God.

It also means that anything in existence which is ascribed praise, thanks, glorification, or gratitude, is in fact only is able to achieve anything due to God's infinite mercy and grace.

Alhamdulillah: in theory, it is to be said with a profound sense of love, adoration, and awe of the power, glory, and mercy of God. In practice, however, its use is so widespread in Arabic-speaking countries that it might better be understood as meaning "thankfully" or "thank goodness". Not all Arabic speakers who use the phrase are praising God when they say it.

Allah Hu!

"In the rose garden the zephyr yearns for You
From the nightingaleís lips Your talk springs
In every hue Your majesty shines
From every flower, Your fragrance emanates
Neither will the roses last in the garden
Nor their perfumes dwell there
All these will perish for Your sake
You alone will stay
God, just He!
God, just He!
God, just He!
God, just He!"

The Language of God

2009-06-28T04:24:00.000-07:00

"When God said Let there be Light, He said it in Hebrew," Schlomo pointed out. He went on to explain in great detail why Hebrew is the language of God.

When God 'said' Let there be Light, the language was not Hebrew.

Nor was it Sanskrit, Gurmukhi, Aramaic, Arabic, Latin, English or any other human language- even if the language is considered to be a 'sacred language.' The 'language' God spoke, and is still speaking right now in this moment, is so far beyond comprehension, much less articulation, that any claim that one's tribal language is the one true 'Language of God' is myopic, ignorant, divisive and leads to irreconcilable conflict.

When 'God' 'said' Let there be light, 'He' 'said' it with light, just like a painter says light with paint. Don't confuse the finger that is pointing at the sun with the sun itself.

Deities, God, Cartoon characters

2009-06-20T05:21:00.000-07:00

"Say a prayer to whatever Deities you believe in..." she said, with just the faintest hint of contempt.
Please allow me to explain:
To me, every single God, deity, action figure, sports hero, movie star, et al, has only one true function. Without exception (really?), the reason to think about, pray to, chant a mantra, offer sacrifice to any God of any name in any religion is to catalyze the energy that figure represents. When a person says they are living in Jesus, to me what they are actually doing is aligning their heart, mind and soul as closely as possible with the qualities associated with Jesus, and the favorable consequences of holding such fervent faith. Even our sports heroes, such as Michael Jordan, and our rock stars and movie stars, function to catalyse, to activate, to awaken, to strengthen that form of energy, that character quality, that heart quality, whatever desirable quality expressed by that public figure, to awaken that quality within yourself.

Example:

Lakshmi, or Sri when she is especially known as the goddess of beauty (though sometimes considered to be separate entities), is the Goddess of fortune, wealth, power, and loveliness. Wealth means not only money, but also the higher values and qualities of life. The power of the mind and intellect is also a must if one wants to be truly wealthy, which includes spiritual wealth.

Osho on Fear

2009-06-13T18:16:00.000-07:00

In my childhood I had a friend whose father was a magician. They had a very good business—the business was that they had a few snakes. Being continually in their house, slowly I learned that ninety-seven percent of snakes don’t have any poison. Only three percent of snakes have poison, and only one percent, the cobra, is very dangerous. Once the cobra bites you it is very difficult to save you. Death is almost certain. But the snakes all look alike.

The father used to have non-poisonous snakes, and he would send his son—who was my friend, and I accompanied him many times—to somebody’s house. There we would leave two or three snakes around, and then the father would come with his special musical instrument that was used for snakes. He would announce, “If anybody has snakes in his house, I can catch them.” As he started playing on his instrument, the snakes that we had left around the house would start coming, and for that service the housekeeper had to pay. He would say, “It is very good of you—once in a while you should come back, because we were not aware that there were snakes in our garden.”

Knowing that there are snakes which don’t have any poison, I would enter into my class with a snake in my pocket. I would just leave it on the table of the teacher, and he would stand on his chair and shout, “Save me!” The other students are running out…who is going to save him except me? And I would tell him, “I will save you, but remember that I have saved your life. You should not be nasty with me. Promise?” And with that snake sitting on his table, you could have taken any kind of promise.

Finally it was reported to the principal that a strange thing was going on. But a principal is just the same as anybody else. When he called me, I went there with two snakes. And I left them on his table, and he stood on his chair, and everybody in the whole school was looking through the windows—what is happening? I said, “Now, do you have something to say to me?”

He said, “No. Just don’t bring these things in my office!”

I said, “I have not come on my own, you have called me. Now I cannot go without your promising me that you will not be nasty to me.”

He said, “This is strange…but I promise, I will not be nasty to you.”

I said, “That’s okay; then I can persuade the snakes.”

People have lived with such fear. Fear always seems to be around them—anything can create fear. And if the man had been a little spontaneous, he could have seen that if I can manage those snakes, certainly there must be some trick and there is no need to be afraid. But the very word snake is enough to trigger all the fears, of centuries of humanity, that you are carrying within you.

To my father it was reported, “Now your son is becoming more and more dangerous.” My father said, “I have promised him, just as you have promised, not to interfere. Otherwise he will start bringing those snakes in the house!” (Om Mani Padme Hum: #20)
-http://oshobio.wordpress.com/

Happiness

2009-04-19T07:19:00.000-07:00

"Americans have always had a thing about happiness. We all have certain unalienable rights, declares our Declaration of Independence, among them "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

So then, a couple of centuries into the chase, how are we doing?

Alas, only so-so. Just a third (34%) of adults in this country say they're very happy, according to the latest Pew Research Center survey. Another half say they are pretty happy and 15% consider themselves not too happy. These numbers have remained very stable for a very long time.

...the most robust correlations of all those described in [the Pew Research] report are health, income, church attendance,
being married and, yes, being a Republican. Indeed, being a Republican is associated not only with happiness, it
is also associated with every other trait in this cluster. Even so, the factor that makes the most difference in
predicting happiness [is] being in good health."

Pew Research Report on Happiness

Socrates' Eudaomonia:
Positive Psychology:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive_psychology
Tanha: Grasping, Addictive behavior as root cause of unhappiness:
Thomas Aquinas:
How Happy Are You? test

Ultimate happiness, aka Nirvana, as in Buddha's Victory, lies in freedom from all addictions, including addiction to life itself. Now that's a challenge!

How do you feel about praise? Not praise in the sense of personal praise from one person to another but praise in the spiritual, religious sense of counting your blessings, singing the praises of life, beauty, God, in the sense of regarding things precisely as they are, precisely as they are not? Can we objectively stand in this momen, suspend our judgements, and say YES YES YES?

Praise, Chant the Names of God, Count our Blessings, practice seeing, believing, BEING Beauty and Love. What has this felt so hokey and embarrassing for so long? WHY has this felt icky? Thank Yoga, Art, my teachers, my loves, et al, for removing this fear from me.

Buddha's Victory: Never Born, Never Died

2009-04-16T19:18:00.000-07:00

At the Center, nothing ever happens.
Liberation is easy.
Just wake up from the dream that "I" will perish when this body perishes.
"I" can refer to different things: this body, this lifetime, this breath, this mind, this personality, this vocation. Usually "I" indicates what is contained within the confines of my skin. This body has a strong survival instinct; it wants to live forever. My body, emotions, mind want pleasure, not pain. This body wants to survive death. This mind wants to live forever, to take up another body after this one dies. My mind thinks "I" will live on as memories in your mind, as the flesh and lives of my sons, and their offspring. My ego thinks "I" will continue to have a kind of life by the experience of my art, writing, photographs. My students will continue to vibrate with the words and experiences they have received from me.
At my Core, none of this matters.
None of this 'matters' in the literal meaning that the substance of my Being has never changed and will never change.
This is not because if some technique or some practice or some accomplishment through yoga, meditation or mantra.
The substance of Being has no specific location, neither within the confines of my body nor within the confines of your body. The substance of Being is everywhere all at once. The center of Being is the central mountain and the central mountain is everywhere all at once.
So why do we not feel this? Because we are so preoccupied with the happenings at the periphery, with the details of getting through this day, of surviving this crisis followed by that crisis, of caring and providing for our children and/or our parents, we are inundated with work, taxes, leaking plumbing, and never-ending challenges with our relationships.
To wake up is simple. Too simple for busy, complicated minds.
This is not some esoteric metaphysical notion.
This is the plain and simple fact: there is a 'something' which remains untouched, unmoved amidst all this coming and going, through all the pleasure and pain, happiness and sorrow, success and failure, feeling good and feeling bad.
This 'something' is not personal and it is not something you can create.
All there is to do is look for it. Take my word for it. Take Osho's word. Take Tyohar's word. Take Adi Da's word. Take the word of somebody you trust enough to at least look for it.
If you honestly look for it, it will appear, just as the glorious blue sky appeared today after the rain and clouds moved through.

Surya Namaskar, Prayers of the Horse-Whisperers

2009-04-12T08:03:00.000-07:00

Sun Salutations, Surya Namaskar, are traditionally practiced at dawn as a way of beseeching Ushas, Goddess of the Dawn, to 'usher' in an auspicious beginning of the new day. Prayers, affirmations and mantras are repeated as well to beseech the Ashwins, the Horse-Whisperers, to whisper auspicious commands into the ears of the Sun-Charioteer's (Surya) horses, so that the horses- which are symbols of the body's 'drives' (instincts, passions)- will travel a course we desire today.

Easter is the Dawn of the Year.
Each day begins with a mini-Easter, the Dawn.

Easter, Ushas, Dawn, Renewal of Life

2009-04-12T07:47:00.000-07:00

Easter means April, the dawn of the renewed Sun, the resurrection of the Son, the reEmergence of Life sprouting forth from the grave/cave/dead Earth. Sprout, little seeds, Sprout!
"Easter" is another name for the Goddess of the dawn, (Hindu Ushas; Greek Eos, Roman Aurora)

Old English Ēostre (also Ēastre) and Old High German Ôstarâ are the names of a putative Germanic goddess eponymous of the the Christian festival of Easter. The goddess is attested by Bede as the namesake of the Anglo-Saxon month Ēostur-monath.

Reincarnation in Buddhism and Christianity

2009-04-03T06:57:00.001-07:00

Reincarnation may seem a quaint and irrelevant fossil from some ill-informed past, yet the notion of reincarnation persists today in the official doctrine of Buddhism. You may be surprised to learn that the Dalai Lama distinguishes Buddhism from Christianity largely based on the opposing views of reincarnation. Buddhism retains belief in reincarnation whereas Christianity does not.

"The Buddhas are men. They have lived lives of charity, devotion, and serenity. Their merits in previous lives, in accordance with the law of retribution for deeds, have allowed them to attain to absolute wisdom. They are omniscient, freed from passions, assured, at their death, of escape from transmigration; they will not be born again; they will enter into Nirvana." p64 Asiatic Mythology

Like any good Roman Emperor, Constantine strong-armed compliance with the Nicene Creed in June 325 AD to consolidate all power under the central authority of Rome. The best way to accomplish this was to declare Jesus Christ to be the One and Only Son of God, not to be emulated but rather to be worshiped and pleased like any obedient dog serves its Master. So personal evolution and personal transcendence could never arrive at union with God- only Jesus Christ could achieve God-consciousness and thus become the Word incarnate.

"The creed is much more than an affirmation of Jesus' divinity. It is also an affirmation of our separation from God and Christ. It takes great pains to describe Jesus as God in order to deny that he is part of God's creation. He is "begotten, not made," therefore totally separate from us, the created beings. As scholar George Leonard Prestige writes, the Nicene Creed's description of Jesus tells us "that the Son of God bears no resemblance to the ... creatures."

The description of Jesus as the only Son of God is carried forward in the Apostles' Creed, which is used in many Protestant churches today. It reads: "I believe in God, the Father Almighty... I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord." But even that language - calling Jesus God's only Son - denies that we can ever attain the sonship that Jesus did." -http://reluctant-messenger.com/origen6.html

It is time for us to finally throw off the shackles of the Nicene Creed and of Roman oppression- and every other form of bondage both overt and covert- and claim our absolutely equal access to personal Life, Liberty and Happiness. This is the American Dream!

You and I are equally worthy to achieve liberation in this lifetime, to wake up today as JivanMuktis, as humans fully alive and free to live, dance, sing, cry, and to "run, wide-eyed and laughing, to the tomb."

further reading:
http://www.mission.org/jesuspeople/reincarn.htm
http://www.wondercafe.ca/discussion/religion-and-faith/reincarnation-theosophical-vie
http://www.lightinfo.org/dir-reincarnation.htm

Buddha Sheltered by Serpent

2009-04-01T08:56:00.000-07:00

Compare the role of the Serpent as protector in this sculpture with her role as Temptress in the Garden of Eden (also in the Walters Museum):

Matsya, Fish Avatar of Vishnu

2009-03-27T05:40:00.000-07:00

Matsya (Sanskrit: मत्स्य) (Fish in Sanskrit) was the first Avatar of Vishnu in Hindu mythology.

According to the Matsya Purana, the king of pre-ancient Dravida and a devotee of Lord Vishnu, Satyavrata who later becomes known as Manu was washing his hands in a river when a little fish swam into his hands and pleaded with him to save its life. He put it in a jar, which it soon outgrew. He then moved it to a tank, a river and then finally the ocean but to no avail. The fish then revealed himself to be Lord Vishnu and told him that a deluge would occur within seven days that would destroy all life. Therefore, Satyavrata was instructed to take "all medicinal herbs, all the varieties of seeds, and accompanied by the seven saints” [1] along with the serpent Vasuki and other animals.

The deluge occurred and the lord reappeared as promised and advised Sathyavrata to board the boat and fasten the serpent Vasuki to his horn as a rope to the boat.
Matsya Avatar, ca 1870.

Matsya is generally represented as a four-armed figure with the upper torso of a man and the lower of a fish. -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matsya

Kurmasana, Vishnu as the Tortoise Kurma

2009-03-27T05:28:00.001-07:00

During Samudra Mantahn, the Churning of the Milky Ocean, Vishnu assumes the form of a huge tortoise under the ocean to support the mountain on his back and prevent its sinking. Henceforth the Asuras and Devas resume alternately pulling on the Serpent-rope to rotate the mountain-churning-stick.

Garudasana, Mount of Vishnu posture

2009-03-27T04:47:00.000-07:00

Garuda is "Devourer of Serpents" thereby helping Vishnu champion Light against Dark, Devas against Asuras, Gods against Demons.

Vishnu at the Walters Art Museum

2009-03-26T07:55:00.001-07:00

Dream of Vishnu

2009-03-26T07:15:00.000-07:00

Building pyramid of sand when I went to stand up beside Him I realized I could not open my eyes and was afraid of falling from this great height. Each step had been constructed of specific marks I was imitating from some loose pages, maybe it was a guide-book on Yoga. I thought I was creating a 2D image of this tower structure, and was simply making these gestural geometric marks in one rectangle after another sequentially up the pyramid.
It was only when I attempted to stand up after completing the top slab that I realized I had been drawing this image in my dream and that now He expects me to stand up and enjoy the vista from this tower. I tried opening my eyes but, even with my eyelids lifted, I could not see.

Adi Da Samraj as Kalki, final Avatar of Vishnu

2009-03-25T07:29:00.000-07:00

The recently deceased spiritual teacher, proclaimed himself to be Horse-Avatar, Kalki.

"The Dawn Horse was a sign of Avatar Adi Da as the Divine Person, taking form in and as the conditional universe. But this Vision was also a sign of the future manifestation of Adi Da's own Work in the world. And so the Dawn Horse became a symbol for His Life and Work, and for the Coinciding of the Divine Reality and the conditional worlds.

Avatar Adi Da has commented that, like the Dawn Horse, the effects of His Liberating Work in the world will appear only gradually — just as, in the vision, the horse gradually became visible only some time after the Adept had initiated its materialization." -http://www.adidaupclose.org/Adidam_In_Perpetuity/dawnhorse.html

Buddha as Avatar of Vishnu

2009-03-25T07:11:00.000-07:00

Arguments abound as to whether or not Buddha appeared on Earth as an avatar of Vishnu or whether Hinduism claims Buddha as Vishnu's emanation purely as a revisionist adjustment of the Vishnu myth, its sole purpose being to save Hinduism from the threat to its continued survival posed by Buddhism in India.

"There are many incarnations of Vishnu of which the Dasavatar or the "Ten Incarnations" are the most well known. In the Southern tradition they are: matsya (fish), koorma (tortoise), varaha (boar), Narasimha (the man-lion), Vamana (the dwarf) Parasurama (the angry prince), Rama (the perfect human), Balarama, his younger brother Krishna (the divine statesman) and Kalki (the redeemer of righteousness in the kali yuga, who is yet to appear). In the Northern tradition Balarama is replaced by Buddha who appears as the ninth avatar after Krishna, his mission being to purify Hinduism." -http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/40860434.cms

Vishnu, Brahma, Buddha

2009-03-24T22:16:00.000-07:00

From Vishnu's navel arises a lotus stalk. Brahma sits atop this lotus, like a mistletoe perched atop a great oak tree. In the same way that the parasitic mistletoe feeds off of the oak tree, Brahma feeds off of the umbilicus from Vishnu's navel. In this image, Brahma represents the development of conscious awareness, Buddhi, as an emergent phenomena that has evolved 'atop' the emergent phenomena of Life as its 'crowning achievement' much as the flower glorifies and completes the plant.

Joseph Cardarelli once told us that the mistletoe is an esoteric symbol for Consciousness or Awarenss itself, because it arises atop or within the body but is not the same as the body, in a meaning expressed in "In the world yet not of this world."

Vishnu, Sustainer and Preserver

2009-03-24T21:22:00.000-07:00

The Brahman/Hindu Trimurti consists of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. Vishnu is the Sustainer, while Shiva is the Destroyer.I heretofore have always assumed Brahma to be the most important Deity because he is referred to as the Creator. Now it seems I was mislead by my own Christian association of the word Creator with God, meaning the one true God who created the world. I think I understand now why Vishnu is considered by so many Hindus as the primary Deity.

Before detailing allow me to sketch it out quickly using the analogy of castles made of sand: if Brahma is the energy and the process itself of creating a sand castle and if Shiva is the energy and the process of waves washing away the sand castle, then Vishnu is the sand itself which is essentially unaltered whether lying on the beach or formed into a castle or washed back into the sea. The sand remains the same sand, unchanged in its essential nature by either the creation or the destruction of the sand castle.

Modern physics tells us that energy can be neither created nor destroyed. Energy can only be transformed into this emergent configuration for a temporary time and then it combines again into something else.

The SaTaNaMa Chant Meditation from Kundalini Yoga is a meditation upon this very phenomena. Sa means the sand or the eternal energy or Vishnu. Ta means the emergence of a form built of this sand, this energy. This process of creation is Brahma. Na means the destruction, dissolution, falling apart or decay of the form, whether it be a sand castle or a human body or a plane crashing and killing families on their way to a ski trip in Montana. This is Shiva, God of Destruction. Ma means rebirth, regeneration- the inevitable resurrection of another form, another life, another day.

Vishnu, the Great One, lies in a slumber upon his serpent couch deep in the primordial waters. Once in 10,000 years (not certain this is the right number) Vishnu's eyelids blink open and the Universe is brought into being. When Vishnu's eyelids shut again the Universe is extinguished like a match. Our present-moment Universe is merely a milli-micro-second between Vishnu eyes opening and the inevitable end of our Universe coming at the instant Vishnu's eyelids are once again sealed and the Great One returns to his slumbering deep sleep. You might say the Existence we are witnessing in this present moment is but a REM movement within Vishnu's half-waking before He returns to deep, dreamless sleep.

From Vishnu's navel arises a lotus stalk. Brahma sits atop this lotus, like a mistletoe perched atop a great oak tree. In the same way that the parasitic mistletoe feeds off of the oak tree, Brahma feeds off of the umbilicus from Vishnu's navel. In this image, Brahma represents the development of conscious awareness, Buddhi, as an emergent phenomena that has evolved 'atop' the emergent phenomena of Life as its 'crowning achievement' much as the flower glorifies and completes the plant.

Joseph Cardarelli once told us that the mistletoe is an esoteric symbol for Consciousness or Awarenss itself, because it arises atop or within the body but is not the same as the body, in a meaning expressed in "In the world yet not of this world."

Shiva wears two different earrings- masculine and feminine

2009-03-17T08:58:00.000-07:00

In Hinduism, Ardhanari is an androgynous (both male and female) deity composed of Shiva and His consort Shakti, representing the synthesis of masculine and feminine energies. Sometimes called Ardhanarishvara, Shiva in this form is the Lord whose half is female. Some people interpret both forms as "the half male" (Shiva) and "the half female" (Parvati).

Shiva/Shakti: the masculine and feminine aspects of the Lord in One Human Form. The Perfect Balance of masculine and feminine (as the symbol represents) has manifested in an East Indian human form: the Word made Flesh--the AUM--GOD (G for Generating Principle, O for Organizing Principle, D for Destroying Principle)--the Word of Truth--has come.

http://www.freebsd.nfo.sk/hinduism/siva.htm

http://www.adishakti.org/_/enduring_presence_of_the_divine_feminine.htm

Sathya Sai Baba hast stated that He is Shiva/Shakti
http://www.worldofsai.org/html/shivashakti.html

Shiva and Shakti are Hindu terms for the masculine and feminine aspects of the divine. In this deeply insightful talk, David Deida explores the full spectrums of the masculine and feminine energies from dark to light, describing why it is essential that each of us embrace the full spectrum in order to liberate our fullest love, energy, and presence for our spiritual growth.
-http://www.bluetruth.org/blog/_archives/2006/12/13/2571768.html

Shiva, Essence of Dynamism

2009-03-17T06:02:00.000-07:00

http://www.josephroberson.com/Shiva.htm

http://www.exoticindiaart.com/article/lordshiva
http://www.exoticindiaart.com/article/shiva
http://www.exoticindiaart.com/article/shivalinga
http://www.exoticindiaart.com/article/nataraja

Original Sin and Brahma's 5th head

2009-03-13T06:14:00.001-07:00

Brahma originally had five heads.

"As author of the four Vedas, he has four heads. He had five, in ealier times before he lusted after his own daughter Sandhya; but as he was pursuing her, and she was cowering down in the hope of escaping his eye, and he was elongating his neck to try to discover her, Siva, scandalized, cut off one of the heads of this unworthy father. That is the head of which he henceforth makes a trophy, wearing it in his own hair." -H. De Wilman-Grabowska, "Brahmanic Mythology," in Asiatic Mythology

All efforts to trace humanity back to one original man (or woman), such as Adam, arrive at the point of one man or one woman, a father-without-mother or mother-without-father. The only way this one-without-a-second to reproduce and create progeny, necessarily, is to mate with one's own creation, one's own progeny, fruit of one's own seed.

The Bible tells us that Eve was born from the rib of Adam. So for Adam to mate with Eve and give birth to children, children who will also reproduce from this initial incestuous relationship and thus issue forth the entire human race- including you and me, this generation's 'standing crop'- means each of us retains the blemish.

Incest is Original Sin.

Happiness is a learned habit we can practice

2009-03-12T13:06:00.000-07:00

Mathuieu Ricard
After training in biochemistry at the Institute Pasteur, Matthieu Ricard left science behind to move to the Himalayas and become a Buddhist monk -- and to pursue happiness, both at a basic human level and as a subject of inquiry. Achieving happiness, he has come to believe, requires the same kind of effort and mind training that any other serious pursuit involves.

His deep and scientifically tinged reflections on happiness and Buddhism have turned into several books, including The Quantum and the Lotus: A Journey to the Frontiers Where Science and Buddhism Meet. At the same time, he also makes sensitive and jaw-droppingly gorgeous photographs of his beloved Tibet and the spiritual hermitage where he lives and works on humanitarian projects.

His latest book on happiness is Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life's Most Important Skill; his latest book of photographs is Tibet: An Inner Journey.
"Matthieu Ricard, French translator and right-hand man for the Dalai Lama, has been the subject of intensive clinical tests at the University of Wisconsin, as a result of which he is frequently described as the happiest man in the world."
-Robert Chalmers, The Independent

=http://www.matthieuricard.org/index.php/index/

Bhramara Mudra

2009-03-12T07:05:00.001-07:00

Bhramara Mudra is the symbol of Brahma. The finger positions imitate the shapes of birds and insects. Practicing this mudra four times daily, for seven minutes each, is said to strengthen the immune system against allergies to specific foods- meat, tomatoes, hot peppers, kiwis, strawberries. It restores healty intestinal flora, removes the root cause of allergies, and reduces swelling, inflammation and unhealthy growth of the tonsils.
To make Brahmara Mudra, place your curled index finger underneath the thumb; the thumb-tip presses against the side of the middle fingernail. Ring and little finger are gently extended.

Dr. Dean Ornish on the Miracle called Healing

2009-03-11T19:27:00.000-07:00

Dean Ornish is a clinical professor at UCSF and founder of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute. He's a leading expert on fighting illness -- particularly heart disease with dietary and lifestyle changes.

View Guided Meditations on Dr. Ornish's website.

Hygeia, Goddess of Vitality

2009-03-11T14:50:00.000-07:00

In Greek mythology, Hygieia (Ὑγιεία) or Hygeia (Ὑγεία) was a daughter of Asclepius. She was the goddess of health, cleanliness and sanitation and afterwards[clarification needed], the moon. She also played an important part in her father's cult. While her father was more directly associated with healing, she was associated with the prevention of sickness and the continuation of good health. Her name is the source of the word "hygiene".

At Athens Hygieia was the subject of a local cult since at least the 7th century BC.[citation needed] "Athena Hygieia" was one of the cult titles given to Athena, as Plutarch recounts of the building of the Parthenon:
“ A strange accident happened in the course of building, which showed that the goddess was not averse to the work, but was aiding and co-operating to bring it to perfection. One of the artificers, the quickest and the handiest workman among them all, with a slip of his foot fell down from a great height, and lay in a miserable condition, the physicians having no hope of his recovery. When Pericles was in distress about this, the goddess [Athena] appeared to him at night in a dream, and ordered a course of treatment, which he applied, and in a short time and with great ease cured the man. And upon this occasion it was that he set up a brass statue of Athena Hygeia, in the citadel near the altar, which they say was there before. But it was Phidias who wrought the goddess's image in gold, and he has his name inscribed on the pedestal as the workman of it.[1]

Symbolic meaning of The Bowl Of Hygieia

Many staues and monuments depict the Greek goddess Hygieia holding a patera(medicine bowl) with a snake tamingly coiling around her and about to eat from the bowl see hygeia statues.Some view the bowl of hygeia and her snake as a symbol of living in harmony with mother earth.The snake may symbolise the patient and that they choose whether or not to partake of the medicine to help themself.Hence taking the control over their own wellbeing by making correct choices.The snake that is depicted about to partake from the bowl is also linked to ancient beliefs that snakes have wisdom and healing.The ancient idea was that the dead went into the ground to dwell in Hades a dreamlike land neither good nor bad.Snakes had contact with the dead and might even have carried the souls of the ancestors returning to help the living.Hence the idea was that snakes carried great wisdom because they carried the souls of wise ancestors[1]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowl_of_Hygieia

Natural Hygiene

2009-03-11T14:44:00.000-07:00

What is Natural Hygiene?
Hygiene is the Science of Health. Natural Hygiene is the system which helps people live in harmony with the physiological needs of the human body, thereby maximizing health.
By supplying the body with the basic requirements of nature: natural unadulterated food, unpolluted air, pure water, exercise, rest, sleep, mental and emotional poise, wholesome environment, and productive activity, - health is assured, and the self-healing powers resident within the body are given full reign.

Principles of Natural Hygiene

1. GOOD AIR
2. PURE WATER (distilled)
3. COMFORTABLE BODY TEMPERATURE (97-99 deg. F)
4. INTERNAL CLEANLINESS
Free of poisons & pollutants. Eat a nonpolluting diet (indigestion indicates this principle is lacking).
5. SLEEP - regenerates nerve energy.
6. PROPER FOOD
Eat foods of our biological adaptation.
There are contradictory views about what this means. Examples:
VEGETARIAN
Fruit is our primary food. (But danger in too much fruit!!)
Vegetables, nuts, seeds are secondary.
Grains, cooked potatoes ... are tertiary.
Avoid meat.
STONE AGE (hunter-gatherer)
Vegetables and meat is the basis.
Nuts, seeds, berries are secondary.
Eat minimal amounts of fruits.
Avoid grains, cooked potatoes.
Eat your food as raw as possible.
Combining foods is important.
7. EXERCISE - at least 3-4 times per week - preferably 7 times.
Aerobic (cardiovascular) activity - at least double the breath and pulse.
Resistance activity - weight training or isometrics.
You cannot be healthy unless physically fit.
8. SUNSHINE - an essential of life.
Minimum of 20-30 minutes daily, or 2-3 hours per week. Before 10 Am or after 4 Pm in summer, anytime in winter. Sunshine is necessary for bone formation.
9. PLAY & RECREATION
10. REST & RELAXATION - Meditation & Cogitation
11. MENTAL POISE - maintain equilibrium & do not become emotionally upset.
12. SECURITY OF LIFE AND ITS MEANS
13. CREATIVE WORK
14. SELF MASTERY - you will lose self esteem if you lose self mastery.
15. PEER INTERACTION - group interaction
16. EXPRESSION OF REPRODUCTIVE INSTINCT
17. LOVE, APPRECIATION, ESTEEM - both give & receive these.
18. APPRECIATION OF BEAUTY
19. NEED TO BE INSPIRED & MOTIVATED - must have purpose in life.

http://orthopathy.net/history.html

We need a multi-cultural replacement for the Moral Majority's ideology

2009-03-10T06:29:00.000-07:00

The Moral Majority tried to force its fundamentalist ideology on a contemporary American society that has outgrown such a narrow model. American society is less and less Christian and more and more Muslim, Atheist, and every other religion.

The furor over embryonic stem-cell research provides the context to evolve just such a new paradigm. The Yamas and NiYamas of Classical Yoga provide a good starting point. Yet replacing outmoded Christian strictures with those borrowed from Hinduism- or any other religion- will not do either.

Our current healthcare crisis provides the impetus to develop personal wellness regimens that include ethics and morals as well as hard science.

How can we educate people to live by a set of ethics and morals that cultivates health and wellness without foisting simply one culture's set of ideals onto a multi-cultural America? How do we integrate contemporary medical science with the wellness practices of yoga and Ayurveda in a way that fits the human being who is Christian, Atheist, Muslim, Wiccan, Shinto, Buddhist?

Who is Brahma? Who is Brahman?

2009-03-09T21:37:00.000-07:00

Will the real Brahma please stand up? It's hard to figure out which Brahma is which, between Brahma the Creator who is the first of the Hindu Trimurti (Trinity), Brahman the world soul that sprouts up from Vishnu's navel, or any of the many Brahmas of later Buddhism.

This sculpture in the Walters Art Museum clearly shows Brahma the Creator. What makes this depiction easy to read is the four heads and four arms. Images of Brahma seem to be consistently plain compared to the wild Shivas and Vishnus. Brahma has always been too otherworldly, too abstract and most of all too uninvolved to provide a subject juicy or risque enough to hold the attention of the masses.

The Four Faces - The four Vedas (Rig, Yajor, Athara, and Sama).
With each head he continually recites one of the four Vedas, which sprang forth from the same head.

The Four Hands - The four arms represent the four directions north, east, west and
south. They describe the mind (back right hand), intellect (back left hand), ego (front right hand), and the self confidence (front left hand).

In Advaita Vedanta, Brahman is the abstract notion of "the Absolute" from which the universe takes its origin, and at an ultimate level, all assertions of a distinction between Brahman, other gods and creation are meaningless (monism).

Mantra Invocation of Brahma:
http://www.sanatansociety.org/indian_music_and_mantras/mantras_brahma_mantra.htm

PS, The Hebrew name Abraham is thought by some to be synonymous with Brahman.

Creative Source: Muse, Genius, Saraswati, Daemon

2009-03-05T17:27:00.000-08:00

This is a GREAT talk on the impersonal source of creativity. The individual artist is correctly recognized as conduit for the flow of creation, the direct connection to Source. Different cultures have conceptualized this energy by different names- Saraswati, Daemon, Genius, Muse- yet always (?) as feminine. Maybe this is because the creative process is deeply parallel to fertility, pregnancy and birthing (?). Thank you, thank you, thank you, Elizabeth Gilbert!

Saraswati Yantra for good luck

2009-03-04T21:22:00.000-08:00

http://myworld.ebay.com/bombayjewel/

Saraswati, Creative Muse

2009-03-04T20:33:00.000-08:00

Interesting that Saraswati is the name of a river as well as the Goddess of the creative arts. The Goddess is often depicted by a river. Music flows from the stringed Veena she holds in her hands. Inspiration flows when you honor her. She is the wellspring of endless possibilities. Saraswati!

Saraswati Mantra Text

AUM
AING SARASWATYE NAMAH
AUM

Aing is the bij-akshar (seed syllable or condensed form of the larger mantra) of Saraswati.
If repeated 500.000 times, one can see Saraswati and will become enlightened.
50.000 Repetitions should be accompagnied by Homa.

"Song of Saraswati" by Jonathon Goldman

Read more about Saraswati.

Saraswati Mantra audio

Another, more elaborate Saraswati mantra, "Saraswati Vandana Mantra," with explanation

YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-J-jeyOydA

Saraswati, Hindu Goddess of the Arts

2009-03-02T08:54:00.000-08:00

"Hindus believe that Saraswati (pronounced sarasvatī) is the goddess of knowledge, music and the arts. Saraswati has been identified with the Vedic Saraswati River. She is considered as consort of Brahma, the Hindu god of creation. Thus, with the goddesses Lakshmi and Parvati or Durga, she forms the Tridevi ("three goddesses"), who are consorts of the male trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, respectively. Saraswati's children are the Vedas[1], which are the oldest sacred texts of Hinduism.

She is generally shown to have four arms, which represent the four aspects of human personality in learning: mind, intellect, alertness, and ego. Alternatively, these four arms also represent the 4 vedas, the primary sacred books for Hindus. The vedas, in turn, represent the 3 forms of literature:

* Poetry — the Rigveda contains hymns, representing poetry
* Prose — Yajurveda contains prose
* Music — Samaveda represents music.

The four hands also depict this thusly — prose is represented by the book in one hand, poetry by the garland of crystal, music by the veena. The pot of sacred water represents purity in all of these three, or their power to purify human thought.

She is shown to hold the following in her hands:
* A mala (rosary) of crystals, representing the power of meditation and spirituality.
* A pot of sacred water, representing creative and purificatory powers.
* A book, which is the sacred Vedas, representing the universal, divine, eternal, and true knowledge as well as her perfection of the sciences and the scriptures.
* The vina, a musical instrument that represents her perfection of all arts and sciences. Saraswati is also associated with anurāga, the love for and rhythm of music which represents all emotions and feelings expressed in speech or music. It is believed that children born with that name will prove to be very lucky in their studies. Anurag is a great believer in Maa Saraswati.

A white swan is often located next to her feet. The sacred swan, if offered a mixture of milk and water, is said to be able to drink the milk alone. The swan thus symbolizes discrimination between the good and the bad or the eternal and the evanescent. Due to her association with the swan, Goddess Saraswati is also referred to as Hamsa-vahini, which means "she who has a swan as her vehicle".

She is usually depicted near a flowing river, which may be related to her early history as a river goddess. The swan and her association with the lotus flower also point to her ancient origin.

Sometimes a peacock is shown beside the goddess. The peacock represents arrogance and pride over its beauty, and by having a peacock as her mount, the Goddess teaches Hindus not to be concerned with external appearance and to be wise regarding the eternal truth.

-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saraswati

Saraswati patronizes and champions the arts of literature, music, sculpture, painting, et al.

Sreeshti is a cultural, social and sporting organization based in New Jersey. To celebrate Saraswati, the SARASWATI PUJA was celebrated on January 31, 2009 at Edison V.F.W with gala cultural event. All parts from tri-state area has been attended the event to celebrate the worship of the Goddess of Literature and Education. All kids showed their ability to adapt the Indian culture. The auspiscious moment celebrated with kids' cultural event, dance program, Bengali Drama - Neem-Ketu, musical soiree. Thanks to all our attendee to make it success. (http://sreeshti.org/)

All art proceeds from inner to outer, from intangible to tangible, from etheric 'nothingness' to earthy reality. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. All gods reside in the Ether, or Akasha, which is what we mean by the word Heaven. The Word of God is the intangible beginning of things, prior to manifestation as thought-form, prior to manifestation as vocalized sound, prior to manifestation as written word, prior to manifestation as physical object of painting, sculpture, architectural structure.

The function and purpose of yoga and meditation is to connect with what is etheric, intangible, to tune in to the Word of God in its most subtle seed form because that is where the future reality is being determined. Whether our future is beautiful or ugly depends upon how well we surf on the wave arising under our feet at each moment. The beauty of surfing as an image lies in the perfection of focus and skill required to dance astride the biggest wave to glorify the wave with one's very life-force. The surfer is a performance artist!

Saraswati's name literally means "the one who flows", which apparently was applied to thoughts, words, or the flow of a river (in Sanskrit: "dhaara-pravaah").

Saraswati is the Hindu Goddess who facilitates the dance in our mind, heart and body. Whether the dance is in the form of actual dance or whether through surfing, writing, painting, sculpture, or knitting, the essential "flow" of etheric information and feeling into earthly elements, into a solid, real form, is the same.

Have you noticed how many times the money designated for the National Endowment for the Arts in the stimulus package has been cited by a Republican as a waste of taxpayer money? It was heartening to see, during Obama's Inauguration, a poet! How do we rehabilitate the NEA's public image? How do we enlighten the public- and especially Republicans- that the Arts are an essential part of a child's development?

Our Earth will be saved by humans who love its Beauty, by individuals who channel Saraswati's beautifying love and give it form in all they do with their words and actions, who cultivate the Garden of Eden in their own home, backyard, street, city, nation and world.

Walters Art Museum "Raja Yoga"

2009-02-27T11:45:00.000-08:00

Trident of Shiva

2009-02-26T05:27:00.000-08:00

excerpted from:
http://shivadarshana.blogspot.com

The Lord’s Trident

One of the most recognized and ubiquitous symbols of Lord Shiva is the trishula, the trident. It is fairly common, in Shaivite iconography, to have anthropomorphic forms of Shiva represented with trishula in hand. It is also not uncommon to see the trishula alongside Shiva’s aniconic (Linga) form. On rare occasions, one even finds the trishula is Shiva’s very representation in the absence of any other. The trishula is such a powerful symbol of the Lord that when one sees the trishula, one thinks of Shiva.

But, what makes the trident such a special symbol of God, and what message does it convey? In this post, we explore these two questions.

What makes the trident such a potent symbol of God are its three prongs. In Shaivite theology, the entire manifest universe, its quantitative and qualitative nature, as well as the process by which it emerged from the unmanifest Absolute is described in triadic terms. In short, therefore, Shiva holding the trishula symbolizes that the entire triadic universe is held together by the Lord.

The three prongs of the trishula represent:

(1) The three Shaktis of Shiva - the Power of will (Iccha), the Power of knowledge (Jnana) and the Power of action (Kriya). It is through progressive expansion of these Shaktis that the Unmanifest impinges into universal experience.

(2) The three Aspects of the Divine – Paramashiva, Parashakti (Paranada or Shiva Tattva) and Parabindu (Parameshvara or Shakti Tattva). The three Aspects are the very Being (Aham or "I am") of Shiva, His very Self.

(3) The three great universal acts of creation, sustenance and dissolution. Shiva is the Master and Controller of all three universal acts.

(4) The three personified Divinities of creation, sustenance and dissolution known as Brahma, Vishnu and Rudra. The three Divinities depicted as separate entities in mythical stories are one and the same with Shiva. He alone creates, sustains and dissolves the universe.

(5) The three syllables of Omkara: A (akara), U (ukara) and M (makara). The Omkara is the primal sound, the Word of God, which gave birth to entire universe. It is for this reason that Shiva is also called the Lord of Omkara (Omkareshvara).

(6) The three causes of the universal manifestation: efficient, instrumental and material. All three causes originate and reside within Shiva, and there is no cause external to Him which brought about universal manifestation.

(7) The three planes of reality that make up the manifest universe: the physical, the subtle, and the causal. The multitudes of heavenly and hellish realms that make up the universe are all contained within these three planes of reality. Shiva alone is the Lord and Master over all planes and all realms of existence.

(8) The three qualities of prakriti (primal nature): sattva, rajas and tamas. All things in existence emerged by the admixture of these three primal qualities. Shiva is the supreme Purusha who is both Master over prakriti and the three qualities, yet beyond them at the same time.

(9) The three ordinary states of consciousness: waking, dreaming and deep sleep. Shiva is ever existent within the three states, yet exists in the fourth transcendental state upon which the three ordinary states are founded.

(10) The triad impurities - anava, karma and maya - which keep the individual being feeling that s/he is separate or separable from Shiva. Shiva is the Ruler over these three impurities, and alone by the descent of His grace can one work through these impurities to realize Him.

(11) The triadic essences - Pati, pashu and pasha - which make up the trichotomy of existence. The trichotomy of all existence is held together within Shiva and in Him all three are realized as inseparable from one another.

In Shaivite theology and metaphysics, therefore, the trishula is the perfect symbol of the manifest universe, just as the Wielder of the trishula is the perfect representation of Divinity.

Aum Namah Shivaya.

MahaShivaratri: Owning Your Own Shadow

2009-02-21T18:38:00.000-08:00

What a wonderful little book is Owning Your Own Shadow by Robert A. Johnson!
Through this 118 page gold mine I now have the words to articulate what tomorrow night's "Full Moon Trance Dance and Meditation" was meant to be all along.

"William Blake...said we should go to heaven for form and to hell for energy- and marry the two. When we can face our inner heaven and our inner hell, this is the highest form of creativity."

"To refuse the dark side of one's nature is to store up or accumulate the darkness; this is later expressed as a black mood, psychosomatic illness, or unconsciously inspired accidents....We must be whole whether we like it or not; the only choice is whether we will incorporate the shadow consciously and with some dignity or do it with some neurotic behavior."

"The religious faculty is the art of taking the opposites [full moon vs. new moon, right-hand vs. left-hand, dexter vs. sinister, passion vs. reason; desirable habits vs. undesired addictions] and binding them back together again, surmounting the split that has been causing so much suffering....Then, and only then, is there the possibility of grace, the spiritual experience of contradictions brought into a coherent whole- giving us a unity greater than either one of them."

The visual image the author offers that most eloquently articulates his theme is the mandorla. A mandorla is simply the eye-shape or fish-shape that results when two circles overlap partly. The phases of the moon between full and new are our most obvious example of the dynamic dance of the mandorla. This shape is also known as the Vescica.

As an analogy of our own inner dance between the polar opposites of good and bad, righteous and evil, discipline and indulgence, this moon-eclipse image provides an easy-to-grasp handle.

The annual occasion of MahaShivaratri falls on this February new moon night [which actually will be Monday night but Sunday night is close enough and is a more practical time for most of us to observe it]. At this time of year, although the apogee of winter's darkness has already passed, the forces of darkness in our inner world is said to be at it's highest.

In order for us to heal and be whole, we must own our own shadow, our least-desirable qualities. Only by acknowledging, honoring and loving both our light and our dark aspects can we be whole, healthy, holy.

Lucid Dreaming

2009-02-15T20:58:00.001-08:00

The point of practicing Lucid Dreaming is not to have wild dreams and be active in them- or let's say that is not the purpose I want to comment on at this moment. Reflecting back on yesterday's gallery talk by Jim Mahoney on Paul Lafolley's "Geochronomechane" print, what just occurred to me was the emphasis Jim placed on the utter weirdness and perhaps even prophetic vision offered by Paul Lafolley's dream of an exhibit of sculptures somehow more alive and more conscious than the viewers. My understanding of the MahaMrityunjaya mantra is that one is cultivating Turiya, the ultimate state of awakeness that pervades waking, dreaming and deep, dreamless sleep.
Therefore it seems an error to be seduced by the content of a dream, no matter how prophetic. This sounds very much like the siddhis, the seductive, ESP-like powers and faculties that are said to accrue when meditation matures. Many authorities have warned against being waylaid, seduced, entranced by these things, precisely because they put us back to sleep, as Lafolley apparently did when he, in his lucid dream, became angry and distressed because he- and his entire ouevre- was suddenly rendered obsolete. In other words, ego once again eclipsed Turiya.

Repeating the Names of God!

2009-02-15T20:30:00.000-08:00

Erich Schiffman
Yogaville 2008
Saturday afternoon
3 min 36 sec

Joe: "What’s the importance of the names of God, chanting the names of God, repeating the names of God? The way I have understood it is that it means meditating on what’s [traditionally] called the names of God [God, Jesus, Buddha, Shiva, Krshna, Rama, Allah, et al], different incarnations, deities. But the conversation we have been having... about you are [actually] It... and so when I say "Erich," I am chanting the name of God. And when you say..."

Erich: "Joe..."

Q: "...you are chanting the name of God."

Erich: "Randy..."

Q: "Or, it could be your yoga mat..."

http://web.mac.com/erichyog/ERICHYOG/Chanting_Names_of_God.html

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Now playing: Erich Schiffmann - Chanting the Names of God
via FoxyTunes

Why is 108 a special number?

2009-02-15T18:52:00.000-08:00

My intuition + research has convinced me that the best answer to "Why 108?" is to be found in natural science.

Somehow, the turtle species still living today have adapted successfully and therefore survived. One prime factor in any species' survival is laying enough eggs to assure that at least some will lay eggs themselves. For the turtle's eggs to survive and to propagate the species, she must lay enough to allow for all the hatchlings that will perish before ever reaching maturity, before reaching the age of fertility and egg-laying for the next generation of turtles. Surely there have been many species of turtles that are now extinct. Perhaps they are extinct because not enough eggs were laid.

How many eggs do sea turtles lay?

Depends on the species. Average for loggerheads and greens are about 100-110 ping-pong ball sized eggs.

How many of the eggs actually hatch?

A natural or in situ nest will have a hatching success rate of 80-100%, while a relocated nest will have a hatching success rate of 60-70%. Overall, only 1 in 1,000 to 10,000 sea turtles will live to maturity. Major predators after nest emergence are birds and fish."

What is a hatchling’s chance of survival?
Only about one in 1,000 turtles survive to adulthood. Hatchlings die of dehydration if they don’t make it to the ocean fast enough. Birds, crabs, and other animals also prey on the young turtles.

Extrapolation:

Why are we told that to start any new habit, we must stick to it for a minimum of 21 or 28 days? Again, the answer lies in the number of repetitions required to establish and maintain the desired outcome.

Repeating a mantra 108 times somehow has been determined, through trial and error just as with any naturally selected trait, to be the minimum required to effect the mantra's specified benefit.

MahaShivaratri

2009-02-15T14:20:00.000-08:00

Maha Shivratri or Maha Sivaratri or Shivaratri or Sivaratri (Night of Shiva or "Great Night of Shiva") is a Hindu festival celebrated every year on the 13th night/14th day in the Krishna Paksha (waning moon) of the month of Maagha (as per Shalivahana) or Phalguna (as per Vikrama) in the Hindu Calendar (that is, the night before and day of the new moon). The festival is principally celebrated by offerings of Bael (Bilva) leaves to the Lord Shiva, all day fasting and an all night long vigil.

The deeper yogic meaning and objective within Mahasivrathri is:
Mahasivrathri is the day & night of the yogi. Mahasivrathri is a once a year celebration of Lord Siva, the awake Spirit within each of us. For several thousands of years, yogis and nearly 60% of all householders, i.e, ordinary people in India, observe this auspicious day by staying up all night chanting and singing to Lord Siva. Mahasivrathri is the gift of realized Sages to enable everyone experience turiya, the state of higher consciousness.

Observing Mahasivrathri is transforming as we awaken to whom we truly are. Lord Siva, the dissolver of ego enables clearance of past karmic negatives that have blocked us from our true potentials. Mahasivrathri is rejuvenative as we tune into the eternal yogi within ourselves as the surrender of our body consciousness to the awake soul, the eternal yogi. The objective of Mahasivrathri is to experience turiya, the realm of enlightenment. Proximity of the mind with Source does align our thoughts to be empowered as we are in touch with our inner wisdom of calm, serenity, inspiration, abundance and knowing.

Samudra Manthan (Churning the Milky Ocean) as Roadmap for Sadhana

2009-02-10T05:59:00.000-08:00

Even the most hardhearted of persons would step away from a flower lying on his/her way, being wary of crushing it under one’s feet, even though they would think nothing of kicking away the hardest of stones. The Indian tradition believes that a flower is the abode of Goddess Lakshmi, its almost divine softness and beauty being but an expression of aspects of the goddess herself. In fact, the proud god Indra who once showed disrespect to a garland of flowers had to undergo a lot of distress resulting from it.

It so transpired that the great sage Durvasa once offered Indra a garland made of beautiful blooming flowers. The vain king of gods placed it on the head of his elephant, who immediately threw it down and trampled it under his feet, prompting sage Durvasa to place a curse upon Indra that since he had disrespected Lakshmi (living in the flower), she would soon desert him.

Very soon the gods began to loose their vigor, and the demons, seeing their chance defeated them in battle and drove them out of heaven. The gods then repaired to Lord Brahma, seeking his advice.
Shri Narayana Lakshmi on Shesha Venerated by Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, Indra and Narada
Shri Narayana Lakshmi on Shesha Venerated by Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, Indra and Narada

The nature of Lord Brahma is such that he can give only specific boons, but never lasting relief from distress. Therefore he suggested that all of them, together with Lord Shiva, should go to Shri Vishnu asking for his intervention.

The Great God Vishnu however made it clear that the present time was favorable to the demons, and the only immediate recourse was to go ahead and make peace with them. After securing this semblance of friendship, the gods and demons should then strive to churn the ocean together, from which would result the nectar of immortality (amrita). Towards this end they could use the mighty mountain ‘Mandara’ as a churning rod and the serpent as the rope. Before beginning the actual churning, the gods must pour plants, grasses, herbs etc into the ocean. The Lord then finally promised that he would ensure that only the gods, and not the demons would get to drink this nectar.

The gods faithfully obeyed Lord Vishnu’s instructions and poured herbs into the ocean. This symbolizes that our spiritual journey has to be preceded by the hearing of the divine words of the Vedas (Upanishads, Vedanta etc), only when these sacred utterings are poured into our ears are we ripe enough to undertake the actual journey (sadhana).

They then went ahead and made peace with the demons. The two groups agreed to churn the ocean to obtain amrita. Together they uprooted the huge mountain named ‘Mandara,’ and started carrying it to the ocean. However, though it is not too difficult to pick up a heavy object, carrying it a distance is another matter. The gods and demons found its weight difficult to carry and abandoned it midway. Seeing their dejection, Lord Vishnu appeared seated on Garuda and effortlessly placed the mountain on Garuda’s wings, mounted the bird himself, and thus carried over the mountain effortlessly to the seashore.

The mountain Mandara here is symbolic of our mind (manas), its stability representing the determination of our resolve. Our mind has to be brought over to the shore of sadhana. However, this is not possible without grace of god (bhagavat kripa). It needs also to be remembered that though there was no need for God to create the whole complicated paraphernalia of churning the ocean when things could have happened by his mere resolve. The whole purpose was to bring home the fact that effort is the vehicle of divine grace. Also, the bird Garuda is symbolic of the Vedas with the flapping of its wings representing the rhythmic chanting of Vedic hymns. The Shrimad Bhagavata says:

‘The three Vedas are called Garuda.’ (12.11.19)
Chaturbhuja Shri Vishnu on His Mount Garuda
Chaturbhuja Shri Vishnu on His Mount Garuda

Thus only when we have placed our mind on the wings of the Veda, reposing our full faith in the divine word, can we said to be on the path of sadhana.

The next requirement was a churning rope and for this purpose the mighty serpent named Vasuki was patronized with the promise of a share in the nectar. The snake was wound round the mountain and Lord Vishnu, accompanied by the gods, walked over to the serpent’s mouth taking position there. This action was not appreciated by the demons who insisted that the tail being a ‘impure organ’, and they being from an exalted lineage, they would not work from that end. The Lord smilingly left the head and with the gods in tow, walked over to the tail.
Tortoise Incarnation of Lord Vishnu
Tortoise Incarnation of Lord Vishnu

The two sides then began the actual process of churning. However, due to its weight, the mountain began sinking in the ocean. Seeing their efforts thus go waste the churners became dejected. The Lord then incarnated as a giant tortoise and dived into the waters, lifting the mountain on his back. When the churning started again, the movement of the massive mountain on the back of the tortoise made God feel as if someone was pleasantly scratching his back.

The tortoise here represents the state of sadhana where all sense organs have been withdrawn and it is with such a support that the mind progresses in sadhana. The Bhagavad Gita says:

‘Like the tortoise, which withdraws its limbs from all sides, the person who withdraws his senses from all sense objects, obtains a steady wisdom.’ (2.58)

The slight scratching on the mighty Lord’s back indicates that he takes note of our spiritual endeavors, and our sadhana gives him pleasure.

Not only did the Lord incarnate as a tortoise, but also entered into the demons as their ‘demonic nature’, supplementing their essentially ‘rajasic nature’ by strength and energy. He also entered into the gods as their ‘godly (sattvic) nature’, increasing their power and then finally permeated the snake Vasuki as sleep, which was but a manifestation of its essentially tamasic nature (it is well known that a snake is one the most tamasic creature). The slumber not only made it trouble free for the serpent itself but also ensured a smooth operation of the churning rope.

The serpent Vasuki symbolizes desire and its slumber indicates that only when all our desires go to sleep (by god’s grace) can any spiritual progress be said to have really begun.

To ensure complete stability, the Lord then pressed the mount by placing a hand over it. Thus, even though this enterprise was undertaken with a ‘worldly motive,’ namely the victory of one group over the other, it was made truly divine what with the Supreme Lord pressing the churning rod from above, supporting it from below in the form of a tortoise, entering not only into the bodies of the gods and demons, but also the mountain (representing its stability and determination), and finally in the serpent too.
The demons pull from the side of the serpent's mouth
The demons pull from the side of the serpent's mouth

With the churning in progress, a deluge of poisonous fumes began issuing forth from the nostrils of Vasuki. The demons who had insisted that they be allowed to hold on to the serpent’s head were now the one’s facing the heat.

The gods, who had faithfully followed the directions of God, were not only safe but the same fumes tormenting the asuras on rising in the air became clouds and carried over to the gods showered their cooling waters over them.
Shiva Parvati and Ganesha Seated Against a Shiva Ling on the Icy Peaks of Mount of Kailash with Nandi
Shiva Parvati and Ganesha Seated Against a Shiva Ling on the Icy Peaks of Mount of Kailash with Nandi

When even with the combined effort of both sides, no nectar turned out, the Great Lord began to churn the sea himself. With this invincible support, the first by product of the churning of the ocean emerged - namely the hot and deadly poison named Halahala, which immediately began to torment the worlds. The frightened creatures of the world wondered where to seek solace from this plight. They came to the realization that Lord Shiva, with all those poisonous serpents entwined playfully about his body was the only one who could perhaps resolve their distress, plus the hot poison would be an ideal drink for him living in the sub zero peaks of Mount Kailash.
Gods Praying Shiva for their Protection from 'Asuras'
Gods Praying Shiva for their Protection from 'Asuras'

They then went over to Lord Shiva and brought to his notice the fact that the world was being threatened with dissolution, and since he was the ‘Lord of dissolution’ he must to something stop this untimely annihilation of the world.

Seeing their distress Lord Shiva was overwhelmed with compassion. However, before he proceeded to initiate any drastic remedial measure, like a good husband, he took his beloved wife into confidence, informing her that he wished to drink away this poison. The Great Goddess, sharing her husband’s compassion and very well knowing his prowess, agreed to it.

Lord Shiva then took the poison in his palm and swallowed it. The same deadly venom that was threatening to end the worlds now became a beautiful ornament of Lord Shiva, turning his throat a light blue, a monument to his supremely compassionate and sacrificing nature. Truly says the Shrimad Bhagavata Purana in this context:
Shiva Ornaments Himself
Shiva Ornaments Himself

Compassionate ones generally undertake a lot of trouble to relieve others of their suffering. However, this is no pain at all, because relieving others of their suffering is the highest worship of god. (Shrimad Bhagavata Purana 8.7.44)

The emergence of poison as the first product of the churning indicates that obstacles inevitably come up whenever any good work is undertaken, whether they be in form of suffering or physical impediments blocking the goal. The bigger the job you set out to do, the stronger is the poison that will turn up. Those on the path of God do know that once they have set out on their way, the negative tendencies kama, krodha (anger) lobha (greed) etc. start tormenting one with surprisingly strong vigor. Only the one, who like Lord Shiva, bears of the Ganga of knowledge on his head can survive, nay even come out stronger after encountering them. Therefore, whenever any bitter poison, be it in the form of suffering or a negative tendency, surfaces in our lives, it is to Lord Shiva we should look up to.

Lord Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita:

"That which begins like poison, ends up like nectar (amrita); and that which at first seems like nectar ends up as poison." (18.37-38)
Kamadhenu
Kamadhenu

After Lord Shiva had partaken the poison, the gods and demons began to churn the ocean again with renewed effort. Next to emerge was the cow Kamadhenu, who provides us with the necessary materials for Vedic sacrifices (milk, ghee etc).

The Brahmins laid a claim on her saying that Brahmins had a right to the first thing that emerged. To the query that the first item to emerge was the deadly poison, the Brahmins became at a loss for words. However, since both the gods and the demons equally revered the Brahmins, they were respectfully allowed to have their way.

Next emerged the beautiful horse named Ucchaihshravas, radiant like the white moon. Indra had already been instructed by God not to ask for it, so he kept quiet. The king of the demons expressed his desire for it and was allowed to take possession of the horse.

The horse Uccchai (high) Shrva (praise) signifies the lofty praise and adulation that is initially heaped on those on the spiritual path. Like a swift steed it carries away the adept from the correct path. The true seeker must always resist its appeal.

Here it must be realized that gods and demons are both born of the same father, the sage Kashyapa. However, their mothers are different. The gods are born of Aditi, meaning without duality (A-diti). Aditi symbolizes the non-dual perspective of seeing things, wherein each and everything is recognized as an equal part of the universal divine whole.

The mother of the demons is however Diti, meaning taking a dual perspective of things not recognizing the inherent and essential unity underlying all manifested existence. For the sadhak it is necessary to utilize both these tendencies in his\her spiritual journey. It is not that we have to direct only our positive tendencies towards God, all the inclinations of the mind – whether good or bad need to be directed towards God.

Next came Airavat, the majestic white elephant. Since the demons had taken the horse, it was now the turn of the gods, hence Indra took the unique elephant as his vehicle. The elephant, with its eyes much smaller in proportion to its large body, is a symbol of minute (sukshma) perspective, meaning the capacity to see the essential, ‘hidden’ nature of things.

Then there came out the jewel called Kaustubha (pure consciousness), which the great Lord Vishnu took as an adornment for his chest. Thereafter arose the wish-fulfilling tree Parijata and nymphs known as apsaras, both of which ultimately became the delight of heavens. Next emerged none other than Goddess Lakshmi herself, the very embodiment of affluence and prosperity. Seeing her beauty par excellence, the hearts of all those present there (except Lord Vishnu) became agitated, kindling in all a desire to make her their own.

Indra fetched a seat for her with his own hands, Vishwakarma gave her many splendid ornaments and Lord Brahma a lotus. Thereafter Goddess Lakshmi, shining like a creeper of gold, holding a garland in her arms, set out in search of a suitable spouse, who was without blemish and would prove to be an eternal companion. She laid her eyes on all the three worlds critically scrutinizing all her suitors, saying to herself:

1). Some are high quality ascetics, but have no control over their anger (like sage Durvasa).

2). Though some are extremely knowledgeable, they are not above attachment (like Shukracharya).

3). Some are truly great but have not been able to win over kama (physical desire), like Lord Brahma.

4). Some are extremely prosperous (like Indra), but what use is such affluence when one has to depend on another for protection?

5). Some, though scrupulous in performing their dharma, lack compassion (like Parashurama).

6). Some are prone to sacrifice (like King Shibi), however mere sacrificial nature (tyaga) is not sufficient enough for mukti (final liberation).

7). For those free from attachment (like the eternal celibate brothers – Sanak etc.), they will have never have anything to do with the ‘other’, e.g. one’s wife etc, and therefore no relationship will be possible.

8). For those (like sage Markandeya) who have managed to gain a very long life (chir ayu), they do not possess the amiable nature preferred by women. For those who are amiable, they but possess a limited life span only.

9). The one who possesses both (longevity and amiability like Lord Shiva), lives inauspiciously.

10). Finally, the one who is totally auspicious, eternal and infinitely amiable, is indifferent to me (Lord Vishnu).

Coming to this conclusion, Devi Lakshmi finally chose as her spouse the Supreme Lord Vishnu, the eternal abode of all auspicious qualities, untouched by the three gunas, absolutely independent, and not expecting anything from anybody (nirpeksha).
Lakshmi Narayana
Lakshmi Narayana

Thus, much like the Hindu Marriages today, The Goddess Lakshmi placed a garland of flowers round the neck of Lord Vishnu, and stood by him silently waiting for his grace. She made the bosom of Lord Vishnu her permanent abode, thus ensuring that he would never embrace anybody other than Goddess Lakshmi. Actually, the one who is completely free from desire, not coveting any form of material prosperity is truly the ‘richest.’ All others, wandering here and there, tormented by the desire to possess material objects, are the poorest.

From her cosy niche on her beloved God’s chest, Goddess Lakshmi bestowed her grace on the gods, since they were the objects of her husband’s affections. The gods thus were endowed with all virtuous qualities, She ignored the demons however and they became dispirited, unenterprising, shameless and greedy.

Next arose from the ocean a girl with lotus eyes, she was Varuni, the presiding deity of wine. She was taken by the demons.
Dhanvantri
Dhanvantri

At last there emerged from the ocean a wonderful person with long and muscular arms, holding in his hands a vase brimming over with the nectar of immortality. This was none other then Dhanvantri, the founder of Ayurveda.

The demons, first to break the terms of agreement, forcibly took away the vase, intending to deprive the gods of their rightful share. Thus cornered, the gods once again took refuge with Lord Vishnu. The Lord consoled them saying that he would ensure that the demons would not get to drink the nectar.

Meanwhile, a quarrel had ensued between the demons themselves, each clamoring to get a share of the nectar first. At this moment Lord Vishnu took on the form of a bewitchingly beautiful woman named Mohini. Her color was slightly dark, and her body taut and highly attractive. The sari falling over her big island like hips, the melodious tinkling of her anklets, her bashful amorous smile and dancing eyebrows, set ablaze the demon’s hearts with desire.

Captivated by her charms, the demons addresses her thus:

"Lady, who are you? Where have you come from? Tell us whose daughter you are. It is pretty clear that your beauty is untouched. You have come here at an opportune moment. Right now, we demons, even though we are the sons of the same father, are fighting each other for the nectar of immortality. We request you to distribute the nectar on our behalf, so that we do not again fight between ourselves."

To this Mohini replied:

"How can you high bred people place faith in a wanton woman like me? Certainly no wise person would do so." By such jocular and enticing remarks she made the demons trust her all the more. Laughing aloud they handed over precious vase to her. Taking the pot in her hands, Mohini said in a sweet voice: "You will have to accept whatever I do, whether right or wrong, only then will I distribute the nectar." The demons, their intelligence clouded by the dark clouds of infatuation, did not fathom the depth and significance of her words and agreed to her condition.
Lord Vishnu as Mohini with Amrit Kalasha
Lord Vishnu as Mohini with Amrit Kalasha

The two groups then sat in a big hall. After a while Mohini entered the premises, wearing a very beautiful sari. Burdened by the weight of her hips, her gait was slow and deliberate, her eyes swimming as if inebriated. Looking at the gathered assembly with side-glances and captivating smiles, she enchanted all by her persona, helped in so small measure by the slight slipping of the cloth covering her nubile chest. She arranged the mesmerized assembly into two separate rows of gods and demons. Mohini then started feeding the gods first with the nectar of immortality, even though all the while her gaze was directed at the demons, beguiling them with the charming movement of her eyebrows and the alluring smile dancing on her cheeks.

Lord Vishnu as Mohini
Lord Vishnu as Mohini

The demons were abiding by the pledge made to her, and out of affection for her and feeling it below their dignity to quarrel with a woman they kept quiet. They were wary of affecting their bond of attachment with her. Mohini continually fed their self-esteem even as she continued to feed the gods, saying, "let these niggardly gods drink first, sensible people like you can wait a bit."

Rahu - Navagraha (The Nine Planet Series)
Rahu - Navagraha (The Nine Planet Series)

The demon Rahu saw through the Lord’s actions and disguising himself as a god, stealthily entered their row, seating himself between the sun and the moon. However, no sooner had he partaken the amrita, he was exposed by the duo he was sitting between. Lord Vishnu immediately cut off Rahu’s head with his discus. His torso, where the amrita had not reached fell to the ground while the head, which had been touched by the amrita became immortal.

Cherishing this old enmity, Rahu to this day, periodically assails the sun and moon. Here the message is amply clear – one who backbites or complains, has to face eclipses. Also, the recognition of God in his true form is bound to yield at least some lasting effect, exemplified in the partial granting of amrita to Rahu.

In this way even though the factors such as time, place, apparatus, activity and the objective of both the gods and demons were the same, there was a great divergence in the fruits the two sides reaped. The gods easily obtained the fruits of their labor, namely the nectar of immortality, because of taking resort of the lotus feet of Lord Vishnu. However, looking away from these grace-bestowing feet, the demons, even though having worked equally hard, were excluded from the fruit.

The great sage Vallabhacharya says:

"A single lila of God achieves many objectives." (Commentary on Shrimad Bhagavata Purana 10.6, Karika 2).

Thus through the one act of samudra manthan (churning of the ocean), the following objectives were achieved:

a). The positive forces in life gained the nectar of self-realization.

b). Through the actual process of churning, a roadmap was laid for all sadhakas (spiritual aspirants).

c). All in all it is a delightful lila of God for all to savor.

d). Establishes the inspiring ‘nature’ and supremacy of Lord Shiva.

e). Points out that it is the hand of God which is behind each and everything that takes place in this world.

f). Lays down the principles of political expediency (for eg. There are no permanent friends or enemies in politics).

g). The secret of success is surrender to god, meaning obeying his will, and not in giving up action.

h). Drinking up other people’s troubles is a permanent ornament (for those like Lord Shiva) even though they may not be well-dressed in the conventional sense.

i). The only perfect being in this world is Lord Vishnu, making him the ideal suitor for Goddess Lakshmi, signifying that he has the sole claim on all the world’s prosperity, including the miniscule portion we are lording over possessively. All of it needs to be put into use as directed by God.

j). God has strange ways of bestowing his grace. What at first may seem detrimental to our interests may turn out doubly beneficial (as the gods experienced when they were made to hold the tail end of the churning rope).
Conclusion:
Don't miss the Tortoise supporting the mountain under the waters
Don't miss the Tortoise supporting the mountain under the waters

It was God who inspired the whole process of samudra manthan. It was he who informed the gods as to how to go about it. It was he who carried the mountain over to the ocean. He as a tortoise supported the mountain on his back. From the top he pressed the mountain down giving it a firm stability. He was inside all the gods and demons (as their strength) and inside Vasuki as sleep. When nothing turned up for a while and the two groups became dejected, he himself churned the ocean. Finally, it was the Lord himself who made sure that it was only those who deserved it (adhikari) received the nectar of immortality. Indeed, lot is happening in the world, but behind all is working the one and only shakti (power) of God.
References and Further Reading:

* Chinmayananda, Swami. The Holy Geeta: Mumbai, 2002.
* Devi, Shrimati Dayakanti. Shrimad Bhagavata Mahapurana (With Word to Word Meaning in 8 Volumes): Allahbad, 1993.
* Dogre, Shri Ramachandra Keshav. Shrimad Bhagavat Rahasya (Collection of Discourses): Delhi.
* Goswami, C.L. and Shastri, M.A. Srimad Bhagavata Mahapurana (English Translation in Two Volumes) Gorakhpur, 2005.
* Puri, Swami Shantananda Puri. Srimad Bhagavatam Its Message for the Modern Man: Mumbai, 2002.
* Prabhupad, A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami. Srimad Bhagavatam (47 Volumes): Mumbai.
* Saraswati, Acharya Bhagavatananda. Shrimad Bhagavat Parijat: Varanasi, 2002.
* Saraswati, Swami Akhandananda. Bhagawatamrit (The Elixir of the Bhagwat) Mumbai, 2005.
* Saraswati, Swami Akhandananda. Bhagavata Darshan (Collection of Discourses in Two Volumes): Mumbai, 2003.
* Saraswati, Swami Akhandananda. Bhagavat Vyanjan: Mumbai, 2006.
* Saraswati, Swami Akhandananda. Bhagavat Sarvasva: Mumbai, 2005.
* Saraswati, Swami Akhandananda (tr). Shrimad Bhagavata Purana (2 Volumes): Gorakhpur, 2004.
* Tagare, G.V. (tr). The Bhagavata Purana (5 Volumes (Annotated)) Delhi, 2002.
* Tejomayananda, Swami. Shrimad Bhagavata Pravachan (Discourses on The Shrimad Bhagavata Purana): Mumbai, 2006.
* Vallabhacharya, Shri. Subhodini (Hindi Translation in 13 Volumes): Jodhpur, 1968.

Suffering is NOT optional! (Vishnu drinks the poison)

2009-02-10T05:34:00.000-08:00

Kurma, the Tortoise, in Samudra Manthan (Churning the Milky Ocean)

2009-02-10T05:32:00.000-08:00

Samudra Manthan (Churning the Milky Ocean) film

2009-02-10T05:26:00.000-08:00

Axial age - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2009-01-19T08:18:00.000-08:00

Axial age - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Buddhism

2009-01-18T21:40:00.000-08:00

About Buddhism

The greatest achievement is selflessness.
The greatest worth is self-mastery.
The greatest quality is seeking to serve others.
The greatest precept is continual awareness.
The greatest medicine is the emptiness of everything.
The greatest action is not conforming with the worlds ways.
The greatest magic is transmuting the passions.
The greatest generosity is non-attachment.
The greatest goodness is a peaceful mind.
The greatest patience is humility.
The greatest effort is not concerned with results.
The greatest meditation is a mind that lets go.
The greatest wisdom is seeing through appearances.

-Atisha (11th century Tibetan Buddhist master)

http://www.thebigview.com/buddhism/meditation.html
http://www.thebigview.com/contents.html

Siddhartha Chooses Life Upon hearing Om

2009-01-18T16:51:00.000-08:00

Siddhartha by Herman Hesse
Chapter 8
BY THE RIVER

Siddhartha walked through the forest, was already far from the city, and
knew nothing but that one thing, that there was no going back for him,
that this life, as he had lived it for many years until now, was over
and done away with, and that he had tasted all of it, sucked everything
out of it until he was disgusted with it. Dead was the singing bird, he
had dreamt of. Dead was the bird in his heart. Deeply, he had been
entangled in Sansara, he had sucked up disgust and death from all sides
into his body, like a sponge sucks up water until it is full. And full
he was, full of the feeling of been sick of it, full of misery, full of
death, there was nothing left in this world which could have attracted
him, given him joy, given him comfort.

Passionately he wished to know nothing about himself anymore, to have
rest, to be dead. If there only was a lightning-bolt to strike him
dead! If there only was a tiger a devour him! If there only was a
wine, a poison which would numb his senses, bring him forgetfulness and
sleep, and no awakening from that! Was there still any kind of filth,
he had not soiled himself with, a sin or foolish act he had not
committed, a dreariness of the soul he had not brought upon himself?
Was it still at all possible to be alive? Was it possible, to breathe
in again and again, to breathe out, to feel hunger, to eat again, to
sleep again, to sleep with a woman again? Was this cycle not exhausted
and brought to a conclusion for him?

Siddhartha reached the large river in the forest, the same river over
which a long time ago, when he had still been a young man and came from
the town of Gotama, a ferryman had conducted him. By this river he
stopped, hesitantly he stood at the bank. Tiredness and hunger had
weakened him, and whatever for should he walk on, wherever to, to which
goal? No, there were no more goals, there was nothing left but the
deep, painful yearning to shake off this whole desolate dream, to spit
out this stale wine, to put an end to this miserable and shameful life.

A hang bent over the bank of the river, a coconut-tree; Siddhartha
leaned against its trunk with his shoulder, embraced the trunk with one
arm, and looked down into the green water, which ran and ran under him,
looked down and found himself to be entirely filled with the wish to
let go and to drown in these waters. A frightening emptiness was
reflected back at him by the water, answering to the terrible emptiness
in his soul. Yes, he had reached the end. There was nothing left for
him, except to annihilate himself, except to smash the failure into
which he had shaped his life, to throw it away, before the feet of
mockingly laughing gods. This was the great vomiting he had longed for:
death, the smashing to bits of the form he hated! Let him be food for
fishes, this dog Siddhartha, this lunatic, this depraved and rotten
body, this weakened and abused soul! Let him be food for fishes and
crocodiles, let him be chopped to bits by the daemons!

With a distorted face, he stared into the water, saw the reflection of
his face and spit at it. In deep tiredness, he took his arm away from
the trunk of the tree and turned a bit, in order to let himself fall
straight down, in order to finally drown. With his eyes closed, he
slipped towards death.

Then, out of remote areas of his soul, out of past times of his now
weary life, a sound stirred up. It was a word, a syllable, which he,
without thinking, with a slurred voice, spoke to himself, the old word
which is the beginning and the end of all prayers of the Brahmans, the
holy "Om", which roughly means "that what is perfect" or "the
completion". And in the moment when the sound of "Om" touched
Siddhartha's ear, his dormant spirit suddenly woke up and realized the
foolishness of his actions.

Siddhartha was deeply shocked. So this was how things were with him,
so doomed was he, so much he had lost his way and was forsaken by all
knowledge, that he had been able to seek death, that this wish, this
wish of a child, had been ale to grow in him: to find rest by
annihilating his body! What all agony of these recent times, all
sobering realizations, all desperation had not brought about, this was
brought on by this moment, when the Om entered his consciousness: he
became aware of himself in his misery and in his error.

Om! he spoke to himself: Om! and again he knew about Brahman, knew
about the indestructibility of life, knew about all that is divine,
which he had forgotten.

But this was only a moment, flash. By the foot of the coconut-tree,
Siddhartha collapsed, struck down by tiredness, mumbling Om, placed his
head on the root of the tree and fell into a deep sleep.

Deep was his sleep and without dreams, for a long time he had not known
such a sleep any more. When he woke up after many hours, he felt as if
ten years had passed, he heard the water quietly flowing, did not know
where he was and who had brought him here, opened his eyes, saw with
astonishment that there were trees and the sky above him, and he
remembered where he was and how he got here. But it took him a long
while for this, and the past seemed to him as if it had been covered by
a veil, infinitely distant, infinitely far away, infinitely meaningless.
He only knew that his previous life (in the first moment when he thought
about it, this past life seemed to him like a very old, previous
incarnation, like an early pre-birth of his present self)--that his
previous life had been abandoned by him, that, full of disgust and
wretchedness, he had even intended to throw his life away, but that by a
river, under a coconut-tree, he has come to his senses, the holy word
Om on his lips, that then he had fallen asleep and had now woken up and
was looking at the world as a new man. Quietly, he spoke the word Om to
himself, speaking which he had fallen asleep, and it seemed to him as if
his entire long sleep had been nothing but a long meditative recitation
of Om, a thinking of Om, a submergence and complete entering into Om,
into the nameless, the perfected.

What a wonderful sleep had this been! Never before by sleep, he had
been thus refreshed, thus renewed, thus rejuvenated! Perhaps, he had
really died, had drowned and was reborn in a new body? But no, he knew
himself, he knew his hand and his feet, knew the place where he lay,
knew this self in his chest, this Siddhartha, the eccentric, the weird
one, but this Siddhartha was nevertheless transformed, was renewed,
was strangely well rested, strangely awake, joyful and curious.

Siddhartha straightened up, then he saw a person sitting opposite to him,
an unknown man, a monk in a yellow robe with a shaven head, sitting in
the position of pondering. He observed the man, who had neither hair
on his head nor a beard, and he had not observed him for long when he
recognised this monk as Govinda, the friend of his youth, Govinda who
had taken his refuge with the exalted Buddha. Govinda had aged, he too,
but still his face bore the same features, expressed zeal, faithfulness,
searching, timidness. But when Govinda now, sensing his gaze, opened
his eyes and looked at him, Siddhartha saw that Govinda did not
recognise him. Govinda was happy to find him awake; apparently, he had
been sitting here for a long time and been waiting for him to wake up,
though he did not know him.

"I have been sleeping," said Siddhartha. "However did you get here?"

"You have been sleeping," answered Govinda. "It is not good to be
sleeping in such places, where snakes often are and the animals of the
forest have their paths. I, oh sir, am a follower of the exalted
Gotama, the Buddha, the Sakyamuni, and have been on a pilgrimage
together with several of us on this path, when I saw you lying and
sleeping in a place where it is dangerous to sleep. Therefore, I sought
to wake you up, oh sir, and since I saw that your sleep was very deep,
I stayed behind from my group and sat with you. And then, so it seems,
I have fallen asleep myself, I who wanted to guard your sleep. Badly,
I have served you, tiredness has overwhelmed me. But now that you're
awake, let me go to catch up with my brothers."

"I thank you, Samana, for watching out over my sleep," spoke Siddhartha.
"You're friendly, you followers of the exalted one. Now you may go
then."

"I'm going, sir. May you, sir, always be in good health."

"I thank you, Samana."

Govinda made the gesture of a salutation and said: "Farewell."

"Farewell, Govinda," said Siddhartha.

The monk stopped.

"Permit me to ask, sir, from where do you know my name?"

Now, Siddhartha smiled.

"I know you, oh Govinda, from your father's hut, and from the school
of the Brahmans, and from the offerings, and from our walk to the
Samanas, and from that hour when you took your refuge with the exalted
one in the grove Jetavana."

"You're Siddhartha," Govinda exclaimed loudly. Now, I'm recognising
you, and don't comprehend any more how I couldn't recognise you right
away. Be welcome, Siddhartha, my joy is great, to see you again."

"It also gives me joy, to see you again. You've been the guard of my
sleep, again I thank you for this, though I wouldn't have required any
guard. Where are you going to, oh friend?"

"I'm going nowhere. We monks are always travelling, whenever it is not
the rainy season, we always move from one place to another, live
according to the rules if the teachings passed on to us, accept alms,
move on. It is always like this. But you, Siddhartha, where are you
going to?"

Quoth Siddhartha: "With me too, friend, it is as it is with you. I'm
going nowhere. I'm just travelling. I'm on a pilgrimage."

Govinda spoke: "You're saying: you're on a pilgrimage, and I believe in
you. But, forgive me, oh Siddhartha, you do not look like a pilgrim.
You're wearing a rich man's garments, you're wearing the shoes of a
distinguished gentleman, and your hair, with the fragrance of perfume,
is not a pilgrim's hair, not the hair of a Samana."

"Right so, my dear, you have observed well, your keen eyes see
everything. But I haven't said to you that I was a Samana. I said:
I'm on a pilgrimage. And so it is: I'm on a pilgrimage."

"You're on a pilgrimage," said Govinda. "But few would go on a
pilgrimage in such clothes, few in such shoes, few with such hair.
Never I have met such a pilgrim, being a pilgrim myself for many years."

"I believe you, my dear Govinda. But now, today, you've met a pilgrim
just like this, wearing such shoes, such a garment. Remember, my dear:
Not eternal is the world of appearances, not eternal, anything but
eternal are our garments and the style of our hair, and our hair and
bodies themselves. I'm wearing a rich man's clothes, you've seen this
quite right. I'm wearing them, because I have been a rich man, and I'm
wearing my hair like the worldly and lustful people, for I have been
one of them."

"And now, Siddhartha, what are you now?"

"I don't know it, I don't know it just like you. I'm travelling. I was
a rich man and am no rich man any more, and what I'll be tomorrow, I
don't know."

"You've lost your riches?"

"I've lost them or they me. They somehow happened to slip away from me.
The wheel of physical manifestations is turning quickly, Govinda. Where
is Siddhartha the Brahman? Where is Siddhartha the Samana? Where is
Siddhartha the rich man? Non-eternal things change quickly, Govinda,
you know it."

Govinda looked at the friend of his youth for a long time, with doubt in
his eyes. After that, he gave him the salutation which one would use
on a gentleman and went on his way.

With a smiling face, Siddhartha watched him leave, he loved him still,
this faithful man, this fearful man. And how could he not have loved
everybody and everything in this moment, in the glorious hour after his
wonderful sleep, filled with Om! The enchantment, which had happened
inside of him in his sleep and by means of the Om, was this very thing
that he loved everything, that he was full of joyful love for everything
he saw. And it was this very thing, so it seemed to him now, which had
been his sickness before, that he was not able to love anybody or
anything.

With a smiling face, Siddhartha watched the leaving monk. The sleep had
strengthened him much, but hunger gave him much pain, for by now he had
not eaten for two days, and the times were long past when he had been
tough against hunger. With sadness, and yet also with a smile, he
thought of that time. In those days, so he remembered, he had boasted
of three three things to Kamala, had been able to do three noble and
undefeatable feats: fasting--waiting--thinking. These had been his
possession, his power and strength, his solid staff; in the busy,
laborious years of his youth, he had learned these three feats, nothing
else. And now, they had abandoned him, none of them was his any more,
neither fasting, nor waiting, nor thinking. For the most wretched
things, he had given them up, for what fades most quickly, for sensual
lust, for the good life, for riches! His life had indeed been strange.
And now, so it seemed, now he had really become a childlike person.

Siddhartha thought about his situation. Thinking was hard on him, he
did not really feel like it, but he forced himself.

Now, he thought, since all theses most easily perishing things have
slipped from me again, now I'm standing here under the sun again just as
I have been standing here a little child, nothing is mine, I have no
abilities, there is nothing I could bring about, I have learned nothing.
How wondrous is this! Now, that I'm no longer young, that my hair is
already half gray, that my strength is fading, now I'm starting again
at the beginning and as a child! Again, he had to smile. Yes, his fate
had been strange! Things were going downhill with him, and now he was
again facing the world void and naked and stupid. But he could not feed
sad about this, no, he even felt a great urge to laugh, to laugh about
himself, to laugh about this strange, foolish world.

"Things are going downhill with you!" he said to himself, and laughed
about it, and as he was saying it, he happened to glance at the river,
and he also saw the river going downhill, always moving on downhill,
and singing and being happy through it all. He liked this well, kindly
he smiled at the river. Was this not the river in which he had intended
to drown himself, in past times, a hundred years ago, or had he dreamed
this?

Wondrous indeed was my life, so he thought, wondrous detours it has
taken. As I boy, I had only to do with gods and offerings. As a youth,
I had only to do with asceticism, with thinking and meditation, was
searching for Brahman, worshipped the eternal in the Atman. But as a
young man, I followed the penitents, lived in the forest, suffered of
heat and frost, learned to hunger, taught my body to become dead.
Wonderfully, soon afterwards, insight came towards me in the form of the
great Buddha's teachings, I felt the knowledge of the oneness of the
world circling in me like my own blood. But I also had to leave Buddha
and the great knowledge. I went and learned the art of love with
Kamala, learned trading with Kamaswami, piled up money, wasted money,
learned to love my stomach, learned to please my senses. I had to spend
many years losing my spirit, to unlearn thinking again, to forget the
oneness. Isn't it just as if I had turned slowly and on a long detour
from a man into a child, from a thinker into a childlike person? And
yet, this path has been very good; and yet, the bird in my chest has
not died. But what a path has this been! I had to pass through so much
stupidity, through so much vices, through so many errors, through so
much disgust and disappointments and woe, just to become a child again
and to be able to start over. But it was right so, my heart says "Yes"
to it, my eyes smile to it. I've had to experience despair, I've had to
sink down to the most foolish one of all thoughts, to the thought of
suicide, in order to be able to experience divine grace, to hear Om
again, to be able to sleep properly and awake properly again. I had to
become a fool, to find Atman in me again. I had to sin, to be able to
live again. Where else might my path lead me to? It is foolish, this
path, it moves in loops, perhaps it is going around in a circle. Let
it go as it likes, I want to to take it.

Wonderfully, he felt joy rolling like waves in his chest.

Wherever from, he asked his heart, where from did you get this
happiness? Might it come from that long, good sleep, which has done me
so good? Or from the word Om, which I said? Or from the fact that I
have escaped, that I have completely fled, that I am finally free again
and am standing like a child under the sky? Oh how good is it to have
fled, to have become free! How clean and beautiful is the air here, how
good to breathe! There, where I ran away from, there everything smelled
of ointments, of spices, of wine, of excess, of sloth. How did I hate
this world of the rich, of those who revel in fine food, of the
gamblers! How did I hate myself for staying in this terrible world for
so long! How did I hate myself, have deprive, poisoned, tortured
myself, have made myself old and evil! No, never again I will, as I
used to like doing so much, delude myself into thinking that Siddhartha
was wise! But this one thing I have done well, this I like, this I must
praise, that there is now an end to that hatred against myself, to that
foolish and dreary life! I praise you, Siddhartha, after so many years
of foolishness, you have once again had an idea, have done something,
have heard the bird in your chest singing and have followed it!

Thus he praised himself, found joy in himself, listened curiously to his
stomach, which was rumbling with hunger. He had now, so he felt, in
these recent times and days, completely tasted and spit out, devoured up
to the point of desperation and death, a piece of suffering, a piece of
misery. Like this, it was good. For much longer, he could have stayed
with Kamaswami, made money, wasted money, filled his stomach, and let
his soul die of thirst; for much longer he could have lived in this
soft, well upholstered hell, if this had not happened: the moment of
complete hopelessness and despair, that most extreme moment, when he
hang over the rushing waters and was ready to destroy himself. That he
had felt this despair, this deep disgust, and that he had not succumbed
to it, that the bird, the joyful source and voice in him was still alive
after all, this was why he felt joy, this was why he laughed, this was
why his face was smiling brightly under his hair which had turned gray.

"It is good," he thought, "to get a taste of everything for oneself,
which one needs to know. That lust for the world and riches do not
belong to the good things, I have already learned as a child. I have
known it for a long time, but I have experienced only now. And now I
know it, don't just know it in my memory, but in my eyes, in my heart,
in my stomach. Good for me, to know this!"

For a long time, he pondered his transformation, listened to the bird,
as it sang for joy. Had not this bird died in him, had he not felt its
death? No, something else from within him had died, something which
already for a long time had yearned to die. Was it not this what he
used to intend to kill in his ardent years as a penitent? Was this not
his self, his small, frightened, and proud self, he had wrestled with
for so many years, which had defeated him again and again, which was
back again after every killing, prohibited joy, felt fear? Was it not
this, which today had finally come to its death, here in the forest, by
this lovely river? Was it not due to this death, that he was now like
a child, so full of trust, so without fear, so full of joy?

Now Siddhartha also got some idea of why he had fought this self in
vain as a Brahman, as a penitent. Too much knowledge had held him
back, too many holy verses, too many sacrificial rules, to much
self-castigation, so much doing and striving for that goal! Full of
arrogance, he had been, always the smartest, always working the most,
always one step ahead of all others, always the knowing and spiritual
one, always the priest or wise one. Into being a priest, into this
arrogance, into this spirituality, his self had retreated, there it sat
firmly and grew, while he thought he would kill it by fasting and
penance. Now he saw it and saw that the secret voice had been right,
that no teacher would ever have been able to bring about his salvation.
Therefore, he had to go out into the world, lose himself to lust and
power, to woman and money, had to become a merchant, a dice-gambler, a
drinker, and a greedy person, until the priest and Samana in him was
dead. Therefore, he had to continue bearing these ugly years, bearing
the disgust, the emptiness, the pointlessness of a dreary and
wasted life up to the end, up to bitter despair, until Siddhartha the
lustful, Siddhartha the greedy could also die. He had died, a new
Siddhartha had woken up from the sleep. He would also grow old, he
would also eventually have to die, mortal was Siddhartha, mortal was
every physical form. But today he was young, was a child, the new
Siddhartha, and was full of joy.

He thought these thoughts, listened with a smile to his stomach,
listened gratefully to a buzzing bee. Cheerfully, he looked into the
rushing river, never before he had like a water so well as this one,
never before he had perceived the voice and the parable of the moving
water thus strongly and beautifully. It seemed to him, as if the river
had something special to tell him, something he did not know yet, which
was still awaiting him. In this river, Siddhartha had intended to
drown himself, in it the old, tired, desperate Siddhartha had drowned
today. But the new Siddhartha felt a deep love for this rushing water,
and decided for himself, not to leave it very soon.

http://www.online-literature.com/hesse/siddhartha/

Meditation defined by Osho

2009-01-15T05:56:00.000-08:00

Meditation is nothing but your mind in a silent state. Just as a lake is silent, not even ripples on it... thoughts are ripples. Meditation is mind relaxed -- don't make things very complex -- mind in a state of not doing anything, just at ease.

And the moment you are relaxed, silent, peaceful, there is great insight and understanding of things that you have never understood before. Nobody is explaining anything to you. Just your clarity of vision makes things clear.

It is the same rose, but now you know its beauty in its multi-dimensional way. You had seen it many times -- it was just an ordinary rose. But today it is no more ordinary; today it has become extraordinary because you have a clarity. All the dust is removed from your insight and the rose has an aura that you were not aware of before.

Everything around you, inside you, outside you, becomes crystal clear. And as understanding reaches to the ultimate point, there is an explosion of light.

Clarity, in its ultimate stage, becomes an explosion of light we have called `enlightenment.'

http://www.oshoworld.com/

Rainmaker

2009-01-14T08:06:00.000-08:00

Rainmaker, rainmaker
Rainmaker, rainmaker
Rainmaker, rainmaker

The sky is gray
just by the touch of your hand.

Rainmaker, rainmaker
Rainmaker, rainmaker
Rainmaker, rainmaker

Make me some rain,
make all my crops grow tall.

Rainmaker, rainmaker
Rainmaker, rainmaker
Rainmaker, rainmaker

The sky is gray,
the ground is so hard
It's been cracked by the sun

Rainmaker,
you know my work's never done.

-Traffic "Rainmaker"

"A rainmaker is a person who brings revenue (rain) into an organization."
http://www.rmkr.com/

Meditator/Buddha as Rainmaker

2009-01-14T07:04:00.000-08:00

In Chiang Mai, Thailand, the Buddha statues are brought out once a year during Songkran and paraded through the streets where people 'shower' Buddha with water, as well as each other. This blessing of water is to help end the drought of the winter dry season and bring the rains that will grow the rice.

The rains are propagated by the mediation practices of the monks.

Osho tells an ancient story of the Rainmaker. During a severe drought a village in India sought out the Rainmaker, a monk who lived not too far away. He was beseeched by the village to help them bring rain for their fields. The monk required a solitary hut for three days. After three days rain fell. When asked how he accomplished his miracle work, he replied: "It was simple. For three days I have set myself right. Once I accomplished this by meditating in silence and making my inner conditions right, outer conditions could not but fall into place. Thus. the rain."

By establishing Shunya, emptiness and equanimity within the space of the spiritual heart, Shiva is invoked. Shiva is a way of representing the Void, the primordial emptiness or vacuum. As we all have learned, Nature abhors a vacuum and will rush in to fill it. A low-pressure system in today's weather will inevitably be replaced soon by an inrushing higher-pressure system, bringing rain.

To bring sustained rains of prosperity and wellbeing, we need to create the conditions of emptiness daily. The daily practice of meditation creates a steady center around which Nature's rains will be drawn into a circling stream of good fortune. From the sustained center of equanimity that daily meditation develops, the velocity of our lives grows in strength. The circles of our activities and endeavors grows in circumference. The sustained calm center of meditation practice creates a vacuum of Being, a palpable sense of nothing happening at the core of our now experience. All around us swirls activity, much like a hurricane's powerful winds and rains. But instead of wreaking destruction, this spiritual hurricane brings blessings and prosperity.

This is due to the core intention within the true practitioner who has taken to heart the notion and the vow of a Bodhisattva- one who has committed his every thought, word and deed to the service of his fellow Beings.

By analogy, Our present condition of drought is economic. Many of us find ourselves with a drought, with bills unpaid and foreclosure looming. In the Kundalini Yoga tradition as handed down by Yogi Bhajan and as practiced today by thousands of American Sikhs, the "Har" meditation is said to bring prosperity..

If you cannot play the video, paste this URL into another browser window:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Qvj1e4KLJo

Notice that this video is presented as esecially relevant around Easter and for prosperity....

If you cannot play the video, paste this URL into another browser window: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMneOBNRJU4&feature=related

And on a lighter note....

If you cannot play the video, paste this URL into another browser window: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAMr8B5UA2U

Internet of Mind and Non-Local Action

2009-01-13T05:25:00.000-08:00

A crane calling in the shade.
Its young answers it.
I have a good goblet.
I will share it with you.

The Master said:
The superior man abides in his room. If his words are well spoken, he meets with assent at a distance of more than a thousand miles. How much more then from near by! If the superior man abides in his room and his words are not well spoken, he meets with contradiction at a distance of more than a thousand miles. How much more then from near by!
Words go forth from one's own person and exert their influence on men. Deeds are born close at hand and become visible far away. Words and deeds are the hinge and bowspring of the superior man. As hinge and bowspring move, they bring honor or disgrace. Through words and deeds the superior man moves heaven and earth. Must one not, then, be cautious?
-page 305, I Ching, Wilhelm Baynes

Individualized Yoga for Dosha Balancing

2009-01-10T12:23:00.000-08:00

TO BALANCE EXCESS KAPHA:

Yoga Set for Depression

Vigorous, Sweaty!, Challenging

Sun Salutes- many, done quickly

Warrior

Backbends

Bow Pose +++

Savasana- either eliminate or only for limited time

Pranayama: Kapalabhati, Breath of Fire, Right Nostril Breathing

TO BALANCE EXCESS VATA:

Calming, Restful

Sitting Postures- Lotus, Vajrasana

Hip Openers, Pelvis and Lower Spine

Spinal Postures- Twists

Long Held Postures

Balances- Tree

Forward Bends + BackBends- slow, moderate only

Savasana, Restoratives, Quiet Meditation

Pranayama: Ujjayi, Long Deep Breathing, Alternate Nostril Breathing

TO BALANCE EXCESS PITTA:

Cooling, Nurturing, Expansive, Relaxing

Restoratives, Savasana

Slow, Soft, Graceful

Inversions like Shoulderstand, Plow (not headstand)

Spinal Twists- Matseyandrasana

Bow, Cobra, Boat, Fish

Forward Bends

Backbends only in moderation and followed by cooling

Pranayama: Sitali, Alternate Nostril, Left Nostril Breathing

Pancha MahaBhuttas (Elements of Nature)

2009-01-04T11:06:00.000-08:00

For the near future, my theme in teaching yoga will center around the Pancha MahaBhuttas, the Five Primordial Elements. In many different traditions these elements, albeit with some variation in number and name, form the basis for managing one's body and mind health, wellness and growth.

The entire material universe is described as being comprised of these Pancha (five) MahaBhuttas (great spirits):
Prithvi (Earth);
Tejas (Fire);
Apas (Water);
Vayu (Wind);
Akasha (Ether).

Within the physical body these elements are recognized as bone (Earth), flesh and fluid (Water), digestion (Fire); breath (Air), and thought-waves (Ether).

from Wikipedia:

Many ancient philosophies used a set of archetypal classical elements to explain patterns in nature. In this context, the word element refers to a substance that is either a chemical compound or a mixture of chemical compounds (as in the Chinese Five Phases), rather than a chemical element of modern physical science.

The Greek Classical Elements (Earth, Water, Air, Fire, and Aether) date from pre-Socratic times and persisted throughout the Middle Ages and into the Renaissance, deeply influencing European thought and culture. The concept of essentially the same five elements were similarly found in ancient India, China, and Japan, where they formed a basis of analysis in both Hinduism and Buddhism, particularly in an esoteric context: the four states-of-matter, plus a fifth element to describe that which was beyond the material world (non-matter).

The modern, scientific states of matter, and also (to a lesser extent) the periodic table of elements and the concept of combustion (fire), can be considered successors of such early models.

By contrast the Chinese had a somewhat different series of elements, namely Fire, Earth, Water, Metal and Wood, which were understood as different types of energy in a state of constant interaction and flux with one another, rather than the Western notion of different kinds of material.

The most straightforward and useful example for our purposes is the Dosha system of Ayurveda. Ayurveda, meaning the Science of Living, is India's indigenous health system and is reputedly the oldest extant health-care system in the world.

Most yoga today is taught from what is effectively an Ayurvedic perspective, meaning that the yoga you are most likely to encounter at a yoga center or gym or at work is aimed at cultivating greater health and wellness of your physical body. This is to be distinguished from that other great stream of yoga practice, which is instead aimed at spiritual emancipation.

The Doshas are three in number- Kapha, Pitta and Vata. Kapaha is a combination of Earth and Water; Pitta is a combination of Fire and Water; Vata is a combination of Air and Space.

Each of us contains all three Elements but in different proportions. Usually each of us has one or two Elements that dominate and govern our physical constitution. The specific type of yoga practice most beneficial to you depends on your Doshic constitutional make-up.

To determine the best yoga practice for you, you need to determine your Doshic type. This is accomplished by answering a series of simple questions contained in the questionnaire I will have available at each class. You can also find this Dosha Test online at http://doshaquiz.chopra.com/.

Pancha MahaBhutas (five great elements)

2008-12-12T19:28:00.000-08:00

The goal is to be familiar with and adept at different ways of inhabiting and moving the body/mind not only during yoga practice but at all times. We each have more skill at one of these 'modes of operation' than others. Focusing on each one separately simply gives us greater awareness of these different ways of being and doing. The goal is freedom of choice in each moment whether to 'go with the flow,' to 'take a stand,' to 'burn our bridges,' or to 'space out.'

Bhuta (Sanskrit) (from the verbal root bhu to be, become)

In Hindu philosophy and Buddhism, bhūta denotes a classical element. The five elements: Akasha, Vayu, Agni, Ap, and Prithvi (in the same order) constitute the Pancha Mahabhutas (five great elements).

Akasha = space, ether
Vayu = wind, air
Agni = fire
Ap = water
Prithvi = earth

Bhutas are not the physically real earth, water, fire, air and ether- the Bhutas are their intangible source energies, if you will. A Bhuta is more like an ideal element, a blueprint in the same way a real, physical crystal has a 'blueprint' to which the manifested crystal conforms, albeit imperfectly. Plato's ideal forms seem a close parallel in Western philosophy.

"Bhutas are also rudimentary substances or elements. The Vendantists and Sankhyas, when speaking of the six original producers or elements of nature, called them bhutas or prakritis. These are the bases of objective nature, the vehicular or substantial side of the tattvas (the principles of nature) and therefore inseparable from them. The ancients always reckoned four elements, and sometimes five, and called them aether, fire, air, water, and earth. But esoterically there are seven: adi-bhuta (the primordial), anupapadaka-bhuta (the unevolved or parentless), akasa-bhuta (aether), taijasa-bhuta (fire), vayu-bhuta (air), apas-bhuta (water), and prithivi-bhuta (earth). These cosmic elements are not the familiar things which we know under these names, for the familiar physical substances were taken as symbols, through certain appropriate qualities which they possess, of the actual elements of cosmic being. These familiar physical substances of earth, water, air, and fire are the correspondences on earth, in a mystic sense, of the true cosmic elements."

What's this got to do with yoga?

Our bodies are composed of combinations of the Bhutas. The human body, as is the case with all living things, processes and synthesizes many different elements and substances to orchestrate a functioning body/mind. Different cells differentiate and specialize to form different tissues and perform different tasks.

Yoga, pranayama, meditation works to harmonize the many systems- which combine the elemental energies of the Bhutas in many ways- which constitute the body/mind.
Different practices are employed to harmonize these different facets of our multifaceted selves:
* Prithvi- Alignment practice, being in a posture
* Ap- Flow, vinyasa. moving fluidly
* Agni- Solar practice, fiery effort. Tapas, core work, abs
* Vayu- Breath, moving Prana through the energetic body
* Akasha- concentration and meditation practice, visualization

The goal is to be familiar with and adept at different ways of inhabiting and moving the body/mind both during yoga practice and at all times. We all have more skill at one of these ways of being than others. Focusing on each one separately simply brings us into greater accord with these different 'modes of operation' and gives us greater freedom of choice in each moment.

Is Consciousness an 'Emergent Faculty' or an 'a priori element of Nature'?

2008-12-09T06:10:00.000-08:00

This is the most important question:
Does consciousness/ intelligence/ Awareness only exist in the brain of select individuals OR is it rather more like gravity, an un-explained element of Existence which our brain can develop the ability to 'tune in to' (like a radio)? Am I trying to evolve something which ONLY exists within the 3-pound universe of my brain OR am I developing my radio to tune in to the Eternal?

Chariot as Analogy for Body/Mind Complex in the Katha Upanishad (Heinrich Zimmer)

2008-11-28T10:38:00.000-08:00

The Metaphor of the Chariot by Heinrich Zimmer:

Chariot: the body (sharira, 'food sheath') is the Chariot, the vehicle;
Chariot Driver: awareness (Buddhi, higher mental functioning, intuitive discernment) is the Charioteer;
Bridle: the thinking function (Manas, lower mind functions);
Horses: the sense-forces (Indriya), passion, action-driving impulses;
Pasture: the objects or spheres of sense-perception (Viyasa) are the ranging-grounds (Gocara: the roads and pasturages of the animal).
Chariot Owner: Krshna, Atman, the emergent faculty of God-Consciousness in He who has realized his own inherent Divinity, who has consciously taken as his True Name the whole of Existence, as Infinity.

The sense-forces of perception are (in sequence from most subtle to most tangible:
1. Hearing, which is effected by the ear,
2. Seeing, which is effected through the eye,
3. Smelling, which is effected through the nose,
4. Tasting, which is effected through the tongue,
5. Touching, which is effected through the skin.

These are the five sense-forces of knowing (Jnanendriyani), which in living organisms make for the attitude of Eater or Enjoyer (Bhoktar). The Bhoktar is "He who experiences pleasant and unpleasant sensations and feelings, because endowed with receptivity." We eat (consume) our sense perceptions, and digest (assimilate) them as a kind of food. The eyes take in (swallow) objects that are beautiful, the ears become drunk with music and the nose with delicate perfumes.

Bhoktar functions through the receptive senses, and constitutes perception with sensitivity. In anatomical terms this indicates the sensory inputs arriving from the organs of perception via afferent nerves.

On the other side of the 'aisle,' so to speak, is the anatomical system for action. The Kartar is the complementary mode of the body through the forces of action (Karmendriyani), which provide for:
1. Speaking, which is effected through the organs of speech,
2. Grasping, which is effected through the hands,
3. Locomotion, which is effected through the feet,
4. Evacuation, which is effected through the rectum,
5. Generation, which is effected through the genitals.

The Bkoktar and Kartar, functioning together, enable the healthy organism to carry on the processes of life.

The individual in whom the Self (Atman, Consciousness of Infinity, ), the sense-forces, and the mind are joined (Union of Ego-sense with Ego-transcendent Light of Universal Awareness) is called the Eater or Enjoyer (Bhoktar). Krshna is the embodiment, the personification as it were, of our True Identity as God-Consciousness, as Enlightened Jivanmukta, as Liberated Soul who knows self as Self.

"Only He sees truly who sees all beings, all things, as Self."

For one who is devoid of real insight and has not properly and constantly harnessed (yoked and tamed) his mind [that is to say: for one who has not disciplined and controlled both his conscious mental faculty (Manas) and the intuitive awareness (Bhuddi) which is a manifestation of the irrational unconscious], the sense-forces become unmanageable, like the wicked {wild, untamed, feral} horses of a {unsuccessful, addicted} charioteer . But for him who is always full of intuitive awareness (Vijnanavant) and who has tamed-and-yoked his mind, the senses are subdued like the good {domesticated, tamed} horses of a {successful, powerful, effective} charioteer.
He who lacks the proper intuitive awareness, and is thoughtless and impure, does not reach THAT PLACE (Pada: the stae of transcendental existence); he tips over into the whirlpool of death and rebirth (Samsara). But he who is full of intuitive awareness, thoughtful and pure at all times, reaches That Place, whence one is not reborn. The man who has for his Charioteer intuitive awareness, and for his bridle the mind, attains the end of his Journey- which is a great distance away. That Goal is the Supreme Abode of Vishnu [the Cosmic, All-pervading Self Divine].
Vishnu’s celestial paradise, which is situated on the upper surface of the dome of the firmament and is known as his “Third Step” because it came into existence beneath his foot with the third d his gigantic, cosmic strides, symbolizes the state of He who, as an accomplished initiate, has become released from bondage and has been made Divine through the Realization of his own intrinsic spirituality.
-Pages 363-365 Philosophies of India, Heinrich Zimmer, edited by Joseph Campbell, adapted by Joseph Roberson

Chariot-Horses: Mythic Symbols of Instinctual Impulses

2008-11-28T09:14:00.000-08:00

In the metaphor of the chariot, the human body is identified with the chariot, the Atman to be the master of the chariot, the intellect to the charioteer, the mind to the reins, and the senses to the horses. If the mind is distracted then the buddhi or intellect related to the mind looses its discrimination and the senses become uncontrolled. In such a case the embodied soul or Atman never attains the goal, but enters into the round of births and deaths. On the other hand if the mind is restrained through discipline, then the buddhi possesses discrimination, the senses come under control and the embodied Atman attains that goal from which it is not born again. -Katha Upanishad

Horse-Whisperer: How to create your day with Surya Namaskar

2008-11-28T06:33:00.000-08:00

Surya's chariot is drawn by five horses across the sky each day. Surya Namaskar (Sun Salutations) is part of the ancient Hindu practice of morning prayers to create a successful day. My intention is to separate the universally appropriate aspects from the original Hindu cultural and religious context in order to show why these practices form an effective way to create your day.

I Create My Day

"I wake up in the morning and I consciously create my day the way I want it to happen. Now sometimes, because my mind is examining all the things that I need to get done, it takes me a little bit to settle down and get to the point of where I'm actually intentionally creating my day. But here's the thing: When I create my day and out of nowhere little things happen that are so unexplainable, I know that they are the process or the result of my creation. And the more I do that, the more I build a neural net in my brain that I accept that that's possible. (This) gives me the power and the incentive to do it the next day.

notes: http://www.google.com/search?q=create+your+day&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

http://www.whatthebleep.com/create/

http://ramtha.com/default.asp

"So if we're consciously designing our destiny, and if we're consciously from a spiritual standpoint throwing in with the idea that our thoughts can affect our reality or affect our life -- because reality equals life -- then I have this little pact that I have when I create my day. I say, 'I'm taking this time to create my day and I'm infecting the quantum field. Now if (it) is in fact the observer's watching me the whole time that I'm doing this and there is a spiritual aspect to myself, then show me a sign today that you paid attention to any one of these things that I created, and bring them in a way that I won't expect, so I'm as surprised at my ability to be able to experience these things. And make it so that I have no doubt that it's come from you,' and so I live my life, in a sense, all day long thinking about being a genius or thinking about being the glory and the power of God or thinking about being unconditional love.

"I'll use living as a genius, for example. And as I do that during parts of the day, I'll have thoughts that are so amazing, that cause a chill in my physical body, that have come from nowhere. But then I remember that that thought has an associated energy that's produced an effect in my physical body. Now that's a subjective experience, but the truth is is that I don't think that unless I was creating my day to have unlimited thought, that that thought would come."

(Dr. Joe Dispenza in What the BLEEP Do We Know!?^TM)

Proper Alignment of the feet in standing poses

2008-11-25T05:38:00.000-08:00

After trying many different verbal instructions and demonstrations, what seems to consistently give the best alignment in standing (bent-knee) poses, regardless of physique or experience or ability, is to emphasize these two simple points:
1. The front knee is directly over the front ankle so the front surface of your shin bone, from the center of your knee down to the front ankle, is vertical. This means vertical both in the left-to-right orientation as well as front-to-back.
2. The front thigh bone (femur) and hip socket must be aligned directly behind the front knee so that the front thigh is parallel to the edge of your mat. This is much more important than getting the thigh horizontal, level with the floor. As long as your thigh forms a 45-degree angle (or lower) towards horizontal, your center of gravity will be low enough to provide stability.

Strong alignment between front foot, ankle, knee and hip should be your first priority. Specific alignment of your feet- front heel to instep, heel to heel- will follow. Strength and balance and stability in your standing posture depends on a strong integration through the joints much more than upon the exact placement of your feet. However, your feet should never be wider than hip-width apart.

The best analogy to help students get this into their postures is the railroad track image:
Stand in Tadasana. Locate your 'hip pointers,' the front top corners of your hip bones. Use this width in placing you feet "Hip-width apart." The width between your hip pointers is the width between the centers of your heels.
Now imagine a line connecting the center of your left heel with the center of your left hip socket. Imagine this line to be a railroad track. Do the same with your right heel-to-hip connection. Now measure the distance from your right outer ankle to the right edge of your mat.

From Tadasana, step your right foot back to lunge, taking care to place your back foot exactly the same distance from the edge of your mat. This measn you have changed position, from Tadasana to Lunge, while maintaining the railroad track alignment, the hip-width distance between your left heel and your right heel.
Step back to Tadasana. Repeat with your left foot.

Repeat this another time or two to reinforce the commitment to keeping each heel strongly aligned with its hip socket.

Tantric Jewelry

2008-11-24T04:58:00.000-08:00

Yoga is a religion. TRUE or FALSE?

2008-11-23T16:52:00.000-08:00

"...yoga involves not just physical exercise but also includes Hindu spiritual elements, chanting and worship."

Malaysia's top Islamic body on Saturday ruled against Muslims practicing yoga, saying it had elements of other religions that could corrupt Muslims.

Malaysia's top Islamic body is not keen on yoga.

The National Fatwa Council's non-binding edict said yoga involves not just physical exercise but also includes Hindu spiritual elements, chanting and worship.

"It is inappropriate. It can destroy the faith of a Muslim," Council chairman Abdul Shukor Husin told reporters.

The word yoga comes from "yug" to bind. Commonly the meaning of "yoga" is said to be "yoking one's individual self to the Universal Self or "Aligning with the Divine."

Any activity or concept or conversation which has as a stated goal:

union with the Divine;
aligning oneself with Universal Spirit;
experiencing higher consciousness or bliss or transcendance;

...is thus involved with re-linking, with a re-union, with a re-turn to some ideal experience of authenticity. The etymology of the word religion is "re" (again, repeat) plus "ligion" (to attach, to bind, to yoke). In the original meaning, religion means any pursuit which re-connects my finite being with a larger context, a larger Being. Therefore, yoga IS a religious pursuit, at least in this strict and technical sense of the word.

It is time for us yogis to stop splitting hairs and admit that yoga does indeed have religious roots and religious cultural aspects which are carried through into our practices by the very means we employ for they are formed to cultivate this "yoking." The usual argument that"Yoga is spiritual, not religious" IS accurate WHEN used to distinguish yoga's spiritual goals and methods from the everyday understanding of the word "religion," meaning a formal organization with clear philosophical tenets and practices which one is expected to follow.

Stop pretending that the impulse behind yoga practice is not of the same basic essence as the impulse behind any other form of spirituality, whether formalized as a Religion or not.

As for the Muslim authorities' fear that Yoga can destroy a Muslim's faith, I wholeheartedly agree. And that is why I am now offering free yoga classes for Muslims! If knowing the truth directly- which yoga promulgates- is dangerous to the faith of a Muslim, it simply shows that that faith is standing on nothing more substantial than quicksand to begin with.

OSHO: Absolutely Free to be Funny!

2008-11-22T19:45:00.000-08:00

If you desire a breath of fresh air, a fresh viewpoint, a fresh laugh......
For more OSHO videos check out my YouTube favorites.

Wat Chom Thong, Northern Thailand Vipassana Meditation School

2008-11-20T11:00:00.000-08:00

Cleaning the chedi (spire) with fireworks (Loi KraThong).

Temple gate.

In 1997, I was fortunate to spend 6 weeks learning and practicing Vipassana at Wat Chom Thong ("Jom Tong") in Chom Thong, a small town an hour southwest of Chiang Mai.

Luang Paw Sun Nguan (top, right) was my primary teacher.

Acharn Thong (below, right) Spiritual Director of Northern Thailand Vipassana Meditation School.
audio:

Below is my friend Phra (Monk) Olarnrig on his daily alms walk.

SvaDharma research links

2008-11-19T08:22:00.000-08:00

"Better to do one's own dharma imperfectly than the dharma of another, however well discharged. Better is death in one's own dharma; the dharma of another is fraught with fear" [Bhagavad Gita 3.35]

"There are many angry people in the world. Everything makes them angry - the children are too noisy, their dinner is overcooked, their boss is incompetent, their subordinates are lazy. They are individuals thwarted from following their dharma. Their natural path of action has been blocked, perhaps by parental, economic or social pressure. In the wrong field of activity they are starved of satisfaction and in constant fear that they cannot do the job properly. Thus they are constantly angry.

There is no single English word which embraces the concept of dharma. It is your essential nature, law, duty, path. The unifying dharma of all of us is the Atman, but each of us has an individual dharma because of our vasanas (unmanifestied desires).

The tiger must hunt, the nightingale must sing, the cow must yield. Similarly, there are tigers among men, nightingales among men, cows among men. We must act according to our dharma if we are to have peace in this life. In the words of the Shakesperian character, Polonius, ' This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.'

Self-realisation may be many lives away, but if we have been true to ourselves, to our own dharma, we wi die having advanced some way towards the Eternal Self." [Purport of BG 3.35 by Swami A. Parthasarathy, in The Essential Teachings of Hinduism, edited by Kerry Brown, 1988. Rider: London et al.]

Raghu Nandakumara
http://www.cuhcs.org.uk/sanskaar.article.php?article=svadharma&year=2001

Anaghs' Ramblings: Svadharma ?

2008-11-19T08:18:00.000-08:00

Anaghs' Ramblings: Svadharma ?

SvaDharma research links

2008-11-19T05:31:00.000-08:00

I feel SvaDharma is very relevant to both myself and how I can help those who attend my classes. Worshipping Sai Baba, Osho, Adi Da, Jesus, et al, as being beyond human- as supernatural in any way- robs us of our own potential to develop to their level of evolution. SvaDharma means 'one's own way' to this personal evolution.

SvaDharma on Global Oneness site

This painting is of Krshna instructing Arjuna, from the Bhagavad Gita.
In order to follow the path of SvaDharma, one has to cultivate, through meditation and reflection, one's own visualization of the 'Guru Dev,' the invisible teacher. The image that forms in your mind has to arise from the seed within your soul, your heart, your imagination, your desire. Your deepest, highest potential IS your SvaDharma!

BKS Iyengar interview on Yoga

2008-11-09T10:57:00.000-08:00

"Body is an external self. Mind is an internal self. The real self is invisible. As the water is stored in a vessel, so this self is stored in a vessel, the body. So unless... Until the body is cleansed, purified, sanctified, how can you enter the gates of the soul? The body is like a fort, it's called purusha. Pura means a fort, so you have to enter the seven gates one after the other, from the skin, to the flesh, from the flesh to the mind, mind to intelligence, intelligence to the consciousness, consciousness to highness, highness to the conscience, conscience to the self. So there are so many gates in this fort. So unless you open the front gate, how can you enter the second gate or the third gate? That's the value of yoga. Yoga makes us to open the first gate so that the air may enter in, the cosmic force may enter in, and through that cosmic force, the other gates are entered, so that the external so-called body is one united with the internal self, the capital "I" which you don't change at all."

To view the video, copy and paste this link into your browser:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/10/02/talkasia.iyengar/index.html#cnnSTCVideo

PUNE, India (CNN) -- A 1938 yoga instruction video, the first of its kind. If yoga is a worldwide cultural phenomenon today, it is thanks to one man -- the grandmaster of yoga, BKS Iyengar. From a previously complex discipline only passed down from master to student, Iyengar -- or Guru ji, as he is respectfully called -- took yoga to the masses.

Yoga master BKS Iyengar, or Guru ji

Guru ji started practicing yoga to cure his own illness, tuberculosis. But a fortuitous meeting with violinist Yehudi Menuhin in 1952 opened his doors to the West. He simplified complex yoga asanas, or poses, and performed thousands of demonstrations for the benefit of his new audience, transforming a mystical secret practice into a science, therapy and art accessible to everyone. The focus is on precision and proper alignment of the body.

Now 88 years old, Guru ji presides from his institute in Pune, India, where he still supervises classes. Students come from all over the world to learn what has been branded "Iyengar yoga," a term he himself does not like to use, but a trademark with a huge following. Yoga and the commercial world surrounding it is now a multibillion-dollar industry, courses come in various styles and names, but the pioneer of it all, Guru Iyengar, prefers to keep it simple. We meet at his prestigious institute in Pune.

BLOCK A

AR: Guruji, welcome to Talk Asia. Now, yoga has completely taken the world by storm, and you've been credited with essentially being a huge part of that transition. Did you ever expect to make such an impact globally?

BKS: Well, when I went to England, Switzerland, in 1954, never I thought that yoga would catch the world so fast. Though I went to the West in 1954, but I could capture the public only in 1961. So it took me seven years to build up that interest, by giving hundreds and hundreds of demonstrations to attract people towards the subject. But after 1961, I started treating some of the students who have been ailing for a very long period, and that boosted fast, so I think that the credit goes on the healing section of yoga, which took the West by storm.

AR: But it's an ancient Indian practice, why do you think that so many people in the West have taken it on and are now using it as a way of their life?

BKS: First, it was only for the pleasures and the joys of the world. They all want sexual pleasures, sensual pleasures, happiness, joy. So I gave certain postures which triggers such things. And then later I told them, so you want this or do you want something more? And this was the turning point where people started getting interest on the spiritual aspect of life. It took a long time, but the transformation afterwards was very, very fast.

AR: You were named by Time magazine as one of the world's most influential people. Did you ever see something like that coming?

BKS: No, I never thought of, that's what I'm saying, I never even dreamt that I would become a world figure. I took yoga in order to improve my health, because I suffer from tuberculosis, so my aim was to get rid of the tuberculosis. But circumstances forced me, and people started asking me teach yoga. So I took to yoga as a mission later.

AR: As far as Iyengar yoga is concerned, how does that help people?

BKS: You know, I saw lots of people practicing yoga where there is absolutely no foundation or firmness in the presentations, and I thought that this type of yoga is not going to help anyone, because it's going to die, because it's like a dust, gathering dust. So I made up my mind, that in order to attract people, I said that each and every fiber of my body, while presenting the asanas, without contortion, without distortion, without attraction, that each and every part of our fibers, sinus, muscles should run parallel to each of them in the core areas. So I started practicing to bring alignment on the joints, on the wrists, on the fingers, on the muscles, on the right and the left, the back and the front... Then it gave me an idea that asanas have to be presented in a measured form.

AR: Asanas being the physical movements.

BKS: Something struck me that this is not enough, so I had to bring my mind and my intelligence to spread as I stretch, to contract as my muscles contract. And that created a new dimension of presentation, and that new dimension of presentation attracted people more and more. They realized that the body has to be balanced to the level of the mind, and it should be in par with the intelligence of the highest wisdom.

AR: In recent years though, we have seen the emergence of other types of yoga: yoga for babies, yoga for mothers, disco yoga, kickboxing yoga, all of this. And there does seem to be a huge commercial aspect to it. Does that disturb you in any sense? Do you think we're getting away from the point?

BKS: No, it does disturb me. It does disturb me, because yoga is a science. Yoga is a science which makes one to associate the body to the mind, and the mind to the intelligence, and intelligence to the consciousness and consciousness to the self. When such a noble subject, today, it has become a commercial presentation, it's painful to me. But many people have taken the advantage, learning something and calling different names and attracting people. I don't think that yoga is going to survive.

BLOCK B

AR: Guru ji, this center was built and named after your late wife. Tell us a little bit about this establishment and why you decided to hold it forever in honor of her?

BKS: You know, when I got married, she was not knowing anything about yoga, one. Secondly, when I was practicing, I could not share my knowledge as a comparative study with anyone, so naturally I was practicing with so much attention -- 10 hours a day, I used to practice -- but still, I have no mirror to even look all my position is about. So there was struggle going on between me. So then I thought that I should some more of that, present myself. So I thought, when I accepted to marry, I said I'll use my wife as a mirror for me to learn the process. So it so happened that my wife completely gave everything for my practice. She never called me one day, let us go to cinema together, she never said, let us go to market together, then I said, no, no, if you want to you can practice, I will go. So that affection she had for me to learn this subject made me to name this institute after her.

AR: And I suppose it was with her assistance that you are able to sort of pull poses like that. Absolutely remarkable, tell us a little bit about these sculptures.

BKS: For example if you look at these postures, I do even now. Now you can see the energy is completely distributed evenly everywhere. You know, many people, if you do these scorpion pose, we call it swikasana, you'll see their hands are collapsing, their buttocks are collapsing in order to rest the head, now here. It's in ascending order, from the finger, you can see my energy is moving up, and even though my feet are placed on my head, you see the leg muscles going up but not down. So this way I steadied each and every part.

AR: How do you do that? You just squeeze everything?

BKS: Not at all, it's full of expansion and extension. You can see the armpit also, whole leg stretched, so there is no collapse, so my energy flows.

AR: Just remarkable. How many students do you have here?

BKS: Here? There're about 700 to 800 students.

AR: I was noticing that there were quite a lot of Indian faces, but also non-Indian faces amongst the class. What sort of people come here?

BKS: Mostly local people come here, but in the month of July, August, September, October, December, January, foreigners come. Because 90 percent of the people who come here are all teachers, more teachers than students. Because they want to learn, so that when they go back they can act more strategically for their teachings.

AR: Obviously they know very well who you are, it must be a tremendous honor for them to be here. Tell me, when you were making your international presence known, was there one instance that sort of stood out to you and said: Oh my god, that's how much reach I have, that is how much influence I have?

BKS: Pride did not go into my head, that is certain. But the moment my students were coming, are you, the affection increased to a certain extent, I treat them as my own children.

AR: It was in 1952, when you had a chance meeting with the acclaimed violinist Yehudi Menuhin, that you really came to international attention. How did that all come about?

BKS: Well, I was not knowing who he was. When he came to India everybody said, Mr. Iyengar, do you know him? I said no, I don't know who he is, then they said he is the number one violinist in the world and you have to see him, and I went and I saw him. It so happened and in The Times of India, there was a write-up that he did shisasan along with Nehru. Then I knew he knew about yoga. And then he asked me what yoga is. So I told him, instead of asking, instead of my explaining to you what yoga is, would you like to see what I do? He said yes, I would be very happy. Then it took me about 45 minutes, I presented my whole course. Then I told him, would you like to show me shisasan? He said yes. So the moment I adjusted him and took him, he said I've never felt this sense of joy, elation.

AR: So when you first went over to Europe, how were you received by people there?

BKS: The British had ruled over India for hundreds of years so to be honest. It was very, very difficult for an Indian to move to England with his head up. And they all treated me that I am a slave, though I'd gone at the invitation to teach yoga, but still, I was a slave to them. So that was also a thing which I said, now, how to work for these slave-drivers to become my slave-drivers?

AR: But then how did you convince people that yoga was the way to go?

BKS: Because my mind was only stuck to yoga. I wanted to make yoga very popular. So that was a very difficult task. At that time to propagate your goal was not easy. Today of course, human beings are taught evenly everywhere, but at that time, it was not there. For example, I was not alone in England. You know, Hotel Deviar I will stay, because I was a guest of Mehnuhin. Mehnuhin booked a place with Hotel Deviar in Kensington Road. Hotel Deviar people said because we can't lose my customer Menuhin, we are to keep you. You are black, you cannot have food or breakfast in the breakfast hall. And also, same happen to me in 1956 when I went to America. I was not allowed to go unless the whites passed in New York airport. So only blacks were allowed to go at the end, not first. But because I was a fast walker, I could go fast but they told me no, please go out, you cannot enter, you cannot go fast, you are the last. Because I was the only colored man there, in that plane, coming from India.

AR: And did it never occur to you, did you not say to yourself, ok, if that's the way you think, you don't get the benefit of my training -- I'm going back to India and you'll suffer?

BKS: Well, I could have fought, but I said I'll come to yoga, my mind was to propagate yoga, let me win. So I accepted the embarrassment, and today, I'm the king of America, in the field of yoga. So that is the change you know, transformation, which has taken place in the minds of those people. The turning it, I created that turning in them, I turned them, and by the grace of God, they respect, not only yoga, but even Indians now.

BLOCK C

AR: We're back on Talk Asia with yoga master BKS Iyengar. Guru ji, what is the philosophy behind your brand of yoga?

BKS: Don't call my brand of yoga, again I tell you, please. I improved the subject quality-wise, that's all. I brought precision in the presentations, so it is as old as civilization. So naturally it is the traditional yoga in which I say I must've dressed the subject a little for the people to get attracted to it.

AR: Is that why there are all these props around like ropes and blocks and things?

BKS: No, these props are meant, because lots of people were suffering from various ailments and they were not getting the benefit by allopathic treatment, and many of them cannot do yoga independently, which was a strain. So I traced these props, these instruments, so they can do them with comfort and get the benefit of yoga.

AR: I think one of the difficult things to understand is how exactly the asanas, the physical positions, help you realize your inner self?

BKS: You know, my friend, you are mistaken. You know, it's not a physical position. Body is an external self. Mind is an internal self. The real self is invisible. As the water is stored in a vessel, so this self is stored in a vessel, the body. So unless... Until the body is cleansed, purified, sanctified, how can you enter the gates of the soul? The body is like a fort, it's called purusha. Pura means a fort, so you have to enter the seven gates one after the other, from the skin, to the flesh, from the flesh to the mind, mind to intelligence, intelligence to the consciousness, consciousness to highness, highness to the conscience, conscience to the self. So there are so many gates in this fort. So unless you open the front gate, how can you enter the second gate or the third gate? That's the value of yoga. Yoga makes us to open the first gate so that the air may enter in, the cosmic force may enter in, and through that cosmic force, the other gates are entered, so that the external so-called body is one united with the internal self, the capital "I" which you don't change at all.

AR: Have you ever thought about where you would be if you didn't have yoga in your life?

BKS: Probably, I would have died long ago. I would not have lived.

AR: Why do you think that?

BKS: Because I was suffering from tuberculosis. Even the insurance company, doctors knew that I would not, I would not survive long. Then I was 25 years old. Now I'm reaching 90, so yoga has given me a bonus life of 75 years, how happy I am! (laughs)

AR: Two of your six children work here in this center. How do you hope that they will advance what you've begun?

BKS: Yoga can be practiced by all, but it is for the yoga to grace whether the person is fit or not. But one thing is that my children are definitely in yoga. They are soaked in yoga. All my children have that quality of affection to yoga.

AR: Guru ji, such a pleasure to meet you today, thank you very much.

BKS: Thank you, thank you.

AR: And that does it for this edition of Talk Asia, thanks for being with us. I'm Anjali Rao, my guest has been BKS Iyengar, yoga master and of course, founder of Iyengar yoga. I'll see you again soon, bye-bye.

Yoga's appeal broadening to disability community

2008-11-09T10:53:00.000-08:00

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- A middle-aged woman arrives at yoga class, a guide dog beside her wheelchair. She slides onto a mat on the floor and begins warming up with help from the instructor, stretching her knee and leg muscles to the side.

Adaptive yoga takes into consideration the individual's limitations but still provides the benefits of stretching.

Nearby, a man lying on a bench gets an assist from a class helper as he lifts his leg and brings his knee toward his body. Another person, an overweight student, sits and places his feet on brick-like props to enable him to stretch higher.

This is the scene at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, Georgia, where students attend weekly adaptive yoga class. Derived from traditional yoga, poses are modified for those with disabilities or health conditions.

Hundreds of miles away, longtime instructor Karen O'Donnell Clarke says the limitations could have a number of sources: multiple sclerosis (which she has), a sports injury, fibromyalgia or even a sedentary lifestyle. Post-surgical conditions, Parkinson's disease, stroke and arthritis may also cause some impairment. "Pretty much if you name a health condition, yoga can help with it," she says.

Physical therapist Sarah Knopf says the class' popularity is due to many patients asking what else they can be doing to strengthen their bodies or overcome a health challenge quicker.

"The adaptive yoga will take into consideration the patient's limitations," Knopf says. "A lot of patients with MS, for example, don't do well if they get overheated. So, with adaptive yoga, the instructor will take things nice and slowly, focusing more on breathing and relaxation.... If you are doing yoga in a gym, it's a little faster-paced."

Instructors say one benefit of adaptive classes is that more than one or two people in the group are doing something differently.

Evette Abron, who attends weekly adaptive yoga class at Jai Shanti Yoga in Atlanta, has MS and suffers from poor balance. She says she feels less self-conscious in this environment. Because of the personalized attention, she doesn't feel bad if she can't do something correctly or even at all.

Adaptive yoga is not just for those who have balance problems. People in wheelchairs can also benefit. The poses are modified in a way that anyone can take part.

Steven Kruger, who uses a wheelchair because of a car accident in 1998, says he took yoga about four times a week before his injury. Since the accident, he's found adaptive yoga to be relaxing. "Life with a disability sometimes can be a little overwhelming," Kruger says. The classes help him stretch muscles he can't stretch on his own, so he's more comfortable physically, especially with leg tremors. "Since I've been coming to the yoga classes, because of all the stretching, the tremors are a lot less, and when I do have them, they're a lot less painful."

Bill Hufschmidt, his instructor, says any consistent practice of yoga will help the student strengthen his or her body and increase mobility in the joints. He adds, "People who do this practice regularly have more awareness of their breath, and by taking deeper breaths, by taking longer breaths, there is a greater sense of vitality in the body, in their life."

Breathing exercises help prevent wheelchair patients from developing poor posture, Knopf adds. She says someone with poor posture may find it very difficult to take a deep breath, and yoga opens the chest.

Concentrating on breathing techniques is a major focus, says instructor Terri Leonard. She also likes to teach students to break awareness down into sensations of pain, how to relieve them, tightness in the body or numbness.

"If you have a disability and you're struggling with managing your body, managing your symptoms, coming to a yoga class is all about slowing down, and really focusing on your body in a way that perhaps you didn't focus before your injury or illness," Leonard says.

By Georgiann Caruso
http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/diet.fitness/04/18/hm.adaptive.yoga/index.html#cnnSTCText

Internet of Mind

2008-11-07T20:15:00.001-08:00

My yoga is called "SvaDharma Yoga"

2008-11-06T08:24:00.000-08:00

I am still struggling to define not only my yoga teacher training but also my way of teaching yoga. Any description that says which technique/s I teach will place too much emphasis on the technique and will immediately start a fixation, preoccupation with technique. So what do I call my yoga and what do I call my teacher training?

Erich jokingly uses "Freedom Yoga."
I have been using SvaDharma Yoga lately but it's too esoteric and won't resonate immediately the way it needs to .
Suggestions?

"The Internet of Mind" (Erich Schiffman discourse)

2008-11-06T06:42:00.000-08:00

I first heard Erich articulate little self/Big Self in terms of this metaphor of the "Internet of Mind" this past April at Yogaville:

Erich Schiffman:
"Far too many yogis get distracted or preoccupied with the complexities of technique...

Don't lose sight of the big picture, which is that all the techniques and practices of the various schools and styles of yoga exist for the sole purpose of helping you have the experience of yoga..."

Watch the Dharma talk video

YogaJoe:
Any technique you employ as a practice, as a way of aligning the posture, the breath, the mind, the heart, the spirit, et al, functions as a ladder, as a step to climb, like stepping stones to deliver your small self unto Big self, into the experience of Yoga.

This experience of Yoga is, in Erich's analogy, when your little hard drive, your small self, the skin-delimited ego/personality finally gets outside its necessarily limited perspective and finally hooks up to the Universal data bank, the all-pervasive light of awareness- the Internet of Mind. In practicing yoga posture, asana practice, this means entering the state of Flow, the experience of being so involved in what you are doing in the present moment that all troubles, anxieties, worries, cares simply disappear. From the Universe's perspective (aka Big Self), what we call our 'problems' are precisely what the Universe 'needs to do' at this moment as part of the Universal process of Being and Becoming. Who am I to argue with the entire Universe that things should be different?

This does NOT mean take your hands off the steering wheel and pretend you are not 100% responsible for your life. It means, in the words of Barack Obama, to "put our hands upon the arc of history" without hesitation, without fear, without trepidation. Be audacious!

When little self melds into Big Self, when you get online with Infinity, when you are immersed totally and unequivocally in your Now Experience of Eternity, then your experience is the experience of Yoga, of Union, of Unity of part and Whole. Little mind's gaze up at the Heavens is now married to Heaven's gaze down upon you. When you feel in your cells, in your bones, in your total being, that the two perspectives are actually one, that little self and Universal Self are indeed the same essence, the same observer..... Wahey Guru!

http://www.lulubandhas.com/portal/page/crib-live-08-erich-schiffmann-dharma-talk

Slide Show from April weekend with Erich at Yogaville:

Gyroscope

2008-10-31T06:55:00.001-07:00

Stillness is like a perfectly centered top, spinning so fast it appears motionless. It appears this way not because it isn't moving, but because it's spinning at full speed. Stillness is not the absence or negation of energy, life, or movement. Stillness is dynamic. It is unconflicted movement, life in harmony with itself, skill in action. It can be experienced whenever there is total, uninhibited, unconflicted participation in the moment you are in - when you are wholeheartedly present with whatever you are doing.
For most of us, however, most of the time, our lives do not resemble a perfectly centered top, spinning so fast it appears motionless. Our lives are more like a top in a somewhat wild, erratic, and chaotic spin, we know we're alive because at least we're still spinning, but we are not quite perfectly centered, and we are not spinning anywhere near full speed. We don't have as much energy as we'd like, we are not experiencing as much aliveness as we might, nor are we experiencing the peace of stillness or the joy of being.-Erich Schiffman, Yoga: The Spirit and Practice of Moving into Stillness

Stillness: "Imagine a Spinning Top" by Erich Schiffman

2008-10-28T22:22:00.000-07:00

from
"Yoga: The Spirit and Practice of 
Moving into Stillness"
by Erich Schiffman

Here is our situation:
We are ignorant of our true nature,
our real identity.

We don't know who we really are.
This is because we have never experienced ourselves directly.
We have never stayed "home" long enough to experience the truth
about ourselves. We were not encouraged to do this.
Instead we accepted as true what other people told us about ourselves.
And, unfortunately, we were taught by people who, in all likelihood,
and through no fault of their own, did not actually know.

When you experience the truth of who you are,
you will not feel guilty, ashamed, embarrassed, or confused.
You will experience instead the tremendous relief of clarity -
relief because you are not the unworthy, undeserving person
you thought you were and because the internal pressure
caused by these fundamental misperceptions
is finally being released. When this happens,
you will experience a healing sense of relief
followed by a profoundly soothing inner peace,
an even "at-easeness" - a stillness.

Moving into stillness in order to experience your true nature is the primary theme of yoga simply because everything about you - every thought, feeling, and emotion, as well as every aspect of your behavior - is predicated on the way you feel about yourself. The way you feel about yourself determines how you think, what you do, and how you interact with the world. It's the basic factor that governs the quality of your life, the degree to which you are interested in living, and the way in which you interpret what's happening.

When your evaluation of self changes, when you feel differently about yourself, everything about you changes: your thoughts, feelings, emotions - every aspect of your behavior. The way you interpret and respond to the events in your life will also change. You will perceive the specific circumstances of your daily life differently because you'll have a new awareness and vantage point. You'll have less fear, fewer worries, more enthusiasm for life, and you will spontaneously become more effective in all you choose to do.

Osho: Warm Heart Springs from Cool Mind

2008-10-25T14:45:00.000-07:00

Watch and listen to Osho "Impossible But True" video discourse:
http://www.oshoworld.com/oshovideo/video04.asp

"BELOVED OSHO,

WHEN I SEE YOU, SOMETIMES I SEE A TWINKLE OF CHILDLIKE INNOCENCE, A WARMTH THAT I CALL LOVE. AND SOMETIMES I SEE A VAST EMPTINESS, AS COOL AND CRYSTAL-CLEAR AND IMPERSONAL AS THE NIGHT SKY. ARE BOTH THESE QUALITIES IN YOU? ARE BOTH THESE QUALITIES IN ME? IT SEEMS IMPOSSIBLE BUT TRUE."

Sarito, you have stumbled on a very significant truth. The childlike innocence and the warmth of love that you see are not contradictory to "a vast emptiness as cool and crystal-clear and impersonal as the night sky." In fact, they are both sides of the same coin. If you become childlike, innocent, there will be a warmth and love in you. But on the other side of the coin, you will be just like the cool, impersonal nothingness, just like a starry night.

Both these things happen together. The first happens -- the coolness, the nothingness -- and then the innocence of the child brings the warmth. But it is always difficult for the intellect to figure out when it sees something which appears to be opposite.

For example, if you dig up the roots of a rosebush, you cannot conceive that these roots are connected with the roseflowers. The roots are ugly. There seems to be no likeness in any way possible between the roseflowers and the roots. But the roots are giving all the juice and life to the roseflower. It is the roots which are giving the color, the liveliness, the warmth, the beauty to the roseflower.

Life is full of such apparent opposites. This is your inner opposite: if inside you, you become as cool as the starry night -- nothingness, impersonal -- this will be your root; then your childlike innocence, warmth, love, will be your expression as a flower. They cannot exist separately.
This is in me and these qualities are in you too. Once you have become aware of the phenomenon, it won't take a long time for you to realize the same roots and the roses within you. Only when you experience it within you, will you be able to understand -- not just intellectually, but existentially. But you have certainly stumbled on a tremendously great truth.You are saying, Sarito, "It seems impossible but true." Truth is impossible, but anyway it happens. It only appears impossible, but it is our very potential. Existence is so full of mysteries: never think in terms of impossibilities. Everything is possible. The impossible is only an idea of the mind.

Can you understand how these green trees are growing upwards, against gravitation? It is impossible. But they are managing perfectly well, all the trees of the world, and they have never thought about gravitation, they don't care about it. Scientists have been very much troubled that trees grow one hundred and fifty feet high. And not only the trees, but the juice, the water, has to go upwards without any pumping system in the tree. How is it managing? You cannot take water one hundred and fifty feet high without an electric pump.

But these trees have their own mystery, and it is so subtle that when scientists became aware of it they could not believe it: that for millions of years these trees -- ignorant, uneducated, not knowing anything of science -- have been doing a miracle. The miracle is that on the top where every tree is searching for the sun ... That is the trick: every tree is searching for the sun. So whenever the trees grow thick, the trees will also go higher. It is a competition. Whoever goes higher will survive longer.

They are seeking the sun so the sun can evaporate water from their tops. And it is a connecting link; they function like blotting paper. When on the top the sun takes the water as vapor, the top becomes dry, the blotting paper becomes dry. It goes on taking the water from underneath and the second layer of blotting paper becomes dry. And because the second layer has become dry, it takes water from a lower one.

In this way, for one hundred and fifty feet the tree goes on carrying its water without any pumping system.

But it needs the sun, otherwise it will die. It is the sun against gravitation. The tree is managing a conspiracy against gravitation in combination with the sun. With the help of the sun it is going higher, taking juices from the roots.It has been found that roots have a certain sensitivity which even we don't have. A few people have it. You must have heard of a few people who can just walk around and tell you where you will find water. But these people also take help from the trees, which you may not have noticed. They always carry a branch, a fresh branch cut from the tree, in their hands. The whole trick is that they carry the branch in their hands. Their hands are very sensitive. They don't know anything about water but the tree branch knows. So wherever the tree branch gives them a jerk -- just so slight that you cannot see, but they can feel the jerk -- the tree branch is interested, there is water.

They are deceiving people, they are trying to show that they are working a great miracle. It is not a miracle, it is a simple method the trees have been using. Wherever the water is, the branch is bound to move. And they have only to be sensitive to the branch, where it moves, which side, where it points. And they will go round and round, again and again, to the same point, to make completely sure where the point is, where you will find water.

It has been found that roots of trees move hundreds of feet away just to find water. But how do they manage to know that a hundred feet south or north there is water and, strangely enough, even water in a water pipe, a hundred feet away? The tree roots are so sensitive towards water that although the water may be going through a pipe, they become aware of it. And it has been found that they break the pipe. They enter the pipe and they start drinking your water for their own purposes, sending it one hundred and fifty feet high. It is stealing, and they don't pay any taxes. They don't care about your water corporation. But they manage.

In the commune in America we were living in a desert. Only one type of tree grows in that desert. That tree has learned ways to exist in the desert, it has adapted itself to desert life. As the camel is adapted to the desert, those trees are also adapted.

Their whole strategy is -- because they don't have any water as far as their roots are concerned -- to gather moisture from the air, particularly in the night when the desert becomes cool and there is moisture, humidity. From each leaf, from every branch, they suck the moisture, and that is their only way of existence. They don't use their roots, because as far as the roots are concerned, it is pure desert; there is no water at all. But they learned a new method -- just the opposite -- of absorbing moisture through the leaves.

Ordinary trees everywhere evaporate water from the leaves and suck water from the roots. But desert trees function in a totally opposite way. They don't use their roots. They use their roots only to keep them standing, just as a support for them to stand -- that's all. It is sheer intelligence that in the night they will suck all the moisture in the air, and they live perfectly well.

It is a wrong idea that existence is unintelligent. It is more intelligent than you can think. Its whole functioning is full of intelligence and nothing is impossible. You just have to find the right way and then impossibles become possibles.Your mind is a little cowardly. Your mind wants things according to it, it wants everything in accordance with its own conditioning. That makes many things impossible. You have to learn not to force existence to be in accordance with you. That is the irreligious way and you are not going to win.

The religious way is to be humble and function according to existence. Be natural and let nature decide the course of your being. And nature is tremendously intelligent. It gives you birth, it gives you life, it gives you your intelligence. Unless it is an ocean of intelligence, from where can you get your intelligence -- which is small, certainly, in comparison to the universal intelligence?

It is my experience that both these things come together, Sarito. A silent nothingness, impersonal coolness ... But remember not to hear me as saying "coldness"; I am simply calling it "coolness." Coldness is a totally different thing: coldness is a closedness. Coolness is not a closed experience, it is very lively, very open, a fresh breeze passing through you continuously. You are being renewed every moment -- that's why you are cool.

And because you are impersonal, you are innocent. Otherwise you cannot be innocent. And because you are innocent and alive and fresh every moment, there comes a certain loving warmth in you which is unaddressed to anybody -- just like a fragrance. Anybody can rejoice in it who is capable of being receptive.

I want my people to make this impossible possible. When this impossible becomes possible, you will have the total existential understanding of Sat-Chit-Anand, of truth, of consciousness, of bliss.

Okay, Maneesha?

Yes, Osho.

Maneesha James interview at Osho Ashram

2008-10-25T14:43:00.000-07:00

Maneesha James interview at Osho Ashram
How did I be so lucky as to befriend Beloved Maneesha on my first day visiting the Osho Commune International in Pune on my birthday February 11, 2001? Thank you, Maneesha!

NOTE: This interview is divided into 3 parts...

Paul's Revelation

2008-10-17T10:42:00.000-07:00

Paul was a persecutor of the Nazarenes (nee Christions) until his epiphany. Epiphany is a word we might ascribe to a mystical vision experienced in meditation practice. It also sounds similar to reports of the kundalini experience:

While Paul was on the road to Damascus, near Damascus, "suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground" (9:3-4), the light was "brighter than the sun" (26:13) and he was subsequently blinded for three days (9:9). He heard a voice in the Hebrew language (probably Aramaic): "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? ... I am Jesus" (26:14-15). In Damascus, St. Ananias cured his blindness, "something like scales" fell from his eyes, and baptized him (9:17-19).

Phoenix Flambeau

2008-10-17T08:54:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe that people still argue vehemently whether the Resurrection of Jesus Christ is historical fact or fiction. The only useful interpretation is to read the Resurrection as a metaphor for spiritual rebirth. Spiritual evolution means dying to the old man and being reborn as an emancipated human being, alive and breathing as though born again. The trials and tribulations of life are grist for the mill of personal transformation. Yoga and meditation are tools for this journey.

PHOENIX - (Ancient Greek: Φοῖνιξ, phoínix) is a mythical sacred firebird in ancient mythologies starting with the Greek and later the Egyptian and the Phoenician mythology.

FLAMBEAUX - a flaming torch (such as are used in processions at night)
torch - a light usually carried in the hand; consists of some flammable substance

A phoenix is a mythical bird with a tail of beautiful gold and red plumage (or purple and blue, by some sources ^[1]). It has a 600-800 year life-cycle, and near the end the phoenix builds itself a nest of cinnamon twigs that it then ignites; both nest and bird burn fiercely and are reduced to ashes, from which a new, young phoenix or phoenix egg arises, reborn anew to live again. The new phoenix is destined to live as long as its old self. In some stories, the new phoenix embalms the ashes of its old self in an egg made of myrrh and deposits it in the Egypt city of Heliopolis (sun city in Greek). The bird was also said to regenerate when hurt or wounded by a foe, thus being almost immortal and invincible — it is also said that it can heal a person with a tear from its eyes and make them temporarily immune to death; a symbol of fire and divinity.^[2]Guillaume le Clerc [13th century CE] (Bestiaire): "There is a bird named the phoenix, which dwells in India and is never found elsewhere. This bird is always alone and without companion, for its like cannot be found, and there is no other bird which resembles it in habits or appearance. At the end of five hundred years it feels that it has grown old, and loads itself with many rare and precious spices, and flies from the desert away to the city of Leopolis. There, by some sign or other, the coming of the bird is announced to a priest of that city, who causes fagots to be gathered and placed upon a beautiful altar, erected for the bird. And so, as I have said, the bird, laden with spices, comes to the altar, and smiting upon the hard stone with its beak, it causes the flame to leap forth and set fire to the wood and the spices. When the fire is burning brightly, the phoenix lays itself upon the altar and is burned to dust and ashes. Then comes the priest and finds the ashes piled up, and separating them softly he finds within a little worm, which gives forth an odor sweeter than that of roses or of any other flower. The next day and the next the priest comes again, and on the third day he finds that the worm has become a full-grown and full-fledged bird, which bows low before him and flies away, glad and joyous, nor returns again before five hundred years." ( Kuhns translation)

Our Lord Jesus Christ displays the features of this bird, saying: 'I have the power to lay down my life and to take it again' (see John, 10:18). If, therefore, the phoenix has the power to destroy and revive itself, why do fools grow angry at the word of God, who is the true son of God, who says: 'I have the power to lay down my life and to take it again'?

For it is a fact that our Saviour descended from heaven; he filled his wings with the fragrance of the Old and New Testaments; he offered himself to God his father for our sake on the altar of the cross; and on the third he day he rose again.

The phoenix can also signify the resurrection of the righteous who, gathering the aromatic plants of virtue, prepare for the renewal of their former energy after death.

The phoenix is a bird of Arabia. Arabia can be understood as a plain, flat land. The plain is this world; Arabia is worldly life; Arabs, those who are of this world. The Arabs call a solitary man phoenix. Any righteous man is solitary, wholly removed from the cares of this world.

You too, O man, make a covering for yourself and, stripping off your old human nature with your former deeds, put on a new one. Christ is your covering and your sheath, shielding you and hiding you on the evil day.

Do you want to know why his covering is your protection? The Lord said: 'In my quiver have I hid him' (see Isaiah, 49:2). Your covering, therefore, is faith; fill it with the perfumes of your virtues - of chastity, mercy and justice, and enter in safety into its depths, filled with the fragrance of the faith betokened by your excellent conduct.

May the end of this life find you shrouded in that faith, that your bones may be fertile; let them be like a well-watered garden, where the seeds are swiftly raised. Know, therefore, the day of your death, as Paul knew his, saying: 'I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness' (2 Timothy, 4: 7-8). And he entered, therefore, into his covering like the worthy phoenix, filling it with the sweet odour of martyrdom.

In this way, therefore, the phoenix is consumed by fire but from its ashes is born or brought forth again. When it dies, it is also born again from its ashes. The point of this example is that everyone should believe in the truth of the resurrection to come. Faith in the resurrection to come is no more of a miracle than the resurrection of the phoenix from its ashes.

See how the nature of birds offers to ordinary people proof of the resurrection; that what the scripture proclaims, the working of nature confirms.

Pura Vida flight details

2008-10-16T08:00:00.000-07:00

Our group flight itinerary is:

Saturday 31 Jan Baltimore/Charlotte US AIr 8:40am - 10:11am
Charlotte/San Jose US Air 11:21am - 2:28pm

Saturday 07 Feb San Jose/Charlotte US AIr 3:35pm - 8:37pm
Charlotte/Baltimore US Air 10:25pm - 11:42pm

Cost: $395.02

Call today to purchase your tickets:
Adler Travel
Ann, Dan, or John Weinstein
1.800.598.2648

SvaDharma Yoga is what I teach

2008-10-14T21:30:00.000-07:00

I want to teach students and train teachers who are passionate about exploring the path of SvaDharma, the pathless path, the manner of living from one's own experience and one's own truth. SvaDharma means living out one's own destiny. Yoga and meditation practice become a kind of cultivation, within the boundaries of the yoga mat, of the Garden. This is the only true religion.

Listening to Osho

2008-10-05T06:28:00.000-07:00

”When Osho's voice rustles in one's interior like a soft
breeze, when overburdened like a rain cloud it showers
A drop by drop, and when
it descends into one's being
like a ray of the sun, I can say
on my own authority that
the dormant seed of
c o n s c i o u s n e s s s t a r t s
sprouting. Then the flower
of countless colours that
blooms can have any name
to it. It blooms also as a
Gautam Buddha, it blooms
also as a Mahavira, it blooms also as a Nanak.”

-Amrita Pritam,
r e n o w n e d
Punjabi poetess,
novelist and activist.

Tom Cruise on Osho

2008-10-05T06:26:00.000-07:00

"When we wrote and prepared for shooting Vanilla Sky, I constantly checked in with Osho's insights. It is not so easy to present the unconscious mind with images and a story. Osho is the only one who can perfectly explain it all, the inner and the outer and that helped me and my team immensely"

- Tom Cruise, actor

Tuesday class moves to Westchester Community Center October 21

2008-09-24T06:37:00.000-07:00

Beginning Tuesday October 21, our Basic Yoga class will move from The Well in historic Main Street Ellicott City to Westchester Community Center, just a few minutes away. From the Old Mill Coffee shop and Frederick Road (Main Street) take Westchester Avenue (NOT Oella Avenue) up the hill, past the Trolley trail entrance and over the trail on a one-lane bridge. Keep going until you have reached highest ground, look for an old school house on your left with a flag pole and just past the playground and fields. This beautiful building was once the Consolidated School and was saved from demolition by the community and now serves as a venue for Mothers Day Out, Sandra Nicht's Ashtanga Yoga, Tom Swiss' karate school, Rivers Edge Church, weddings, etc. The cost will be only $12 per class if you register for the Fall session. Or you can pay as you go for $16 per class. It's easy to pay online with a credit card by using PayPal:

Perfect in every way: April & Scott McClean, BABY Josephine

2008-09-24T06:26:00.000-07:00

JOSEPHINE HJORDIS MCLEAN

Wednesday, September 17 at 4:35 P.M.

20" and just under 8 lb

Josephine is beautiful with black hair and a beautiful face. Perfect in every way.

Tuesday Night Beginner Yoga 7:00-8:30pm

2008-09-16T18:48:00.000-07:00

Wrist Stretches

2008-09-15T12:29:00.000-07:00

Here are a few more wrist stretches for Carpal Tunnel and for wrist health in general:

Iliotibial Band Stretches

2008-09-15T12:16:00.000-07:00

One of the areas of the lower body that frequently gets tight from sports activities such as cycling, running, racquetball, martial arts, basketball, skiing, snowboarding, tennis, and golf to a lesser extent, is the external hip and outside upper and lower leg. This outside of the leg has connective tissue (tendons) running down the leg from the hip to the tibia, commonly known as the shin. The entire muscle/tendon/connective tissue group is often referred to as the iliotibial band. (The actual ilitibial band is a tendon running from tensia fascialata, a small muscle on the top, front portion of the hip, to right outside the lateral aspect of the knee) For our purposes, we will be stretching the lateral aspect of the hamstring, tensia fascialata, the lateral quadricep, and inner groin muscles.

The stretches include Janu Sirsana, Lotus Prep and Eka Pada Raja Kapotasana. Click here to continue....

February 2009 Costa Rica Retreat

2008-09-13T15:16:00.000-07:00

uNeed2Know Info:

Weather Forecast | Weather Maps

Yoga for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

2008-09-11T14:39:00.000-07:00

Yoga as Medicine by Timothy McCall, MD, has an entire chapter on Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.

Here are 3 pages from Yoga as Medicine by Timothy McCall, MD.

Here's an article/ excerpt from this book:
http://www.yogajournal.com/health/2488#
There are more resources at www.yogajournal.com

Inaugural Yoga Class in the Sanctuary

2008-09-11T08:17:00.000-07:00

Wish I had a video of this class for posterity. I cannot describe the new sensations and the strangeness (maybe what I was feeling was joy?) of teaching a yoga class to Marjorie, Bill, Mary and Brenda in this totally transformed physical space that is now The Sanctuary.

Sanctuary Yoga floor installation!

2008-09-04T18:38:00.000-07:00

The marathon continues to be ready for next Wednesday's first inaugural yoga class at the Sanctuary. It has been and continues to be an intense effort here but the results are inspiring. I think you're gonna like how you feel sitting on this floor, doing yoga and meditation in this Sanctuary space.

Public versus Private posts: TMI (too much information)

2008-08-30T10:07:00.000-07:00

OK, I hear your advice.
Therefore I have moved all posts from this blog deemed personal. They reside in a more private blog, viewable by request and/or invitation only.
This blog focuses on Yoga, Meditation, Art in posts relevant to anyone.
Life is good!
Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness!
Joe

Dr. Larry's prescription: Make Art Every Day!

2008-08-27T07:55:00.000-07:00

"The Far-whispered Secret"

2008-08-24T21:04:00.000-07:00

- elegy for the dead man
we saw behind school
by the train tracks
below the Howard Street bridge

there is dead man juice
in our heads.
he pressed all our hearts,
put them in his shirt pocket.

the report said
parts of earth are infested
with revolting drifters;
a constellation of notebook pages
swirl a slow twist
around the icy nobody.

we say Gone gone gone totally gone
he say Hey moon shoes how about this!

out in space!
out in space
one of the first things
you come to know

is that your knees
seem to get cold
before the rest-
your feet, your fingertips, your face.

next
you smell cedar
and you don’t know where on earth
it came from.

then, however, you marvel
at the simplicity of the closed system cycling
and recycling on itself.

you keep drifting through places
with people standing
off to the side.
you float and listen in:
rooms with people talking in them
and you can’t believe
it really is like this.

you say you
liked it.
you say you think you liked it
more when, spacey, they
played the game plain
as if you really didn’t know
they were there doing what

they were doing
& it really didn’t matter anyway
hey yea babe

& you really don’t believe
how you could be one
place
la bas
down

in your own self
round midnight
one week

& three weeks later
be out in space
all over the place

moon shoes laced with rainbows in a white cloud

like now

who is out there?
robot kids out there
feeding on thin air juice

like you just ooze along like
selling ice cream
same way you did last
thirty-five, fifty years
you just get by
pay the bills
save face
run in place
like there’s got to be
a buyer in the place
like you really can’t believe
if you took all the skin
shades of the human race
and blended them
until there wasn’t a trace
of anything other than one colored face
what color would we be then ?

orange vapor trail
after image of electron
phosphorescent comet trail
racing
flash
in space

............................................Joseph Cardarelli 1982

"Hard Nose the Highway" audio

2008-08-06T07:58:00.000-07:00

To hear this song and read it at the same time you have to open them in separate tabs or windows: right click HERE and choose "Open in another Tab" (or another window)

Hard Nose the Highway (Van Morrison 1974)

2008-08-06T04:21:00.000-07:00

Hey kids dig the first takes
Ain't that some interpretation
When Sinatra sings against Nelson Riddle Strings
And then takes a vacation

Seen some hard times
Drawn some bad lines
No time for shoeshine
And Hard Nose the Highway

I was tore down at the Dead's place
Shaved head at the organ
But that wasn't half as bad as it was, oh no,
Belfast and Boston

Seen some hard times
Drawn some bad lines
No time for shoeshine
And Hard Nose the Highway

Put your money where your mouth is
Then we can get something goin'
In order to win you must be prepared to lose sometimes
And leave one or two cards showing

Seen some hard times
Drawn some bad lines
No time for shoeshine
And Hard Nose the Highway

Seen some hard times
Drawn some bad lines
No time for shoeshine
And Hard Nose the Highway

Further on up the road
Further on up the road
It may not be today
It may be, it may be tomorrow

...So if you live for today
You gotta keep in mind
It may be tomorrow
Yeah, further on up the road

Further on up the road Further on up the road Further on up the road
Further on up the road Further on up the road
Further on up the road Further on up the road
Further on ... Up the road

You just might have to Hard Nose the Highway
Hard Nose the Highway Hard Nose the Highway
Just might have t' Hard Nose the Highway Hard Nose the Highway Hard Nose the Highway Hard Nose the Highway Hard Nose the Highway

Further on up, Further on up
I know you're payin' your dues to Canada
But you just might have to-I hope not-I hope not-
But you just might have to Hard Nose the Highway

Yeah Yeah...