Vajrahridaya

'Starving yogi' astounds Indian scientists May 10 01:23 PM US/Eastern Indian holy man Prahlad Jani speaks at a press conference at a hospital in ... An 83-year-old Indian holy man who says he has spent seven decades without food or water has astounded a team of military doctors who studied him during a two-week observation period. Prahlad Jani spent a fortnight in a hospital in the western India state of Gujarat under constant surveillance from a team of 30 medics equipped with cameras and closed circuit television. During the period, he neither ate nor drank and did not go to the toilet. "We still do not know how he survives," neurologist Sudhir Shah told reporters after the end of the experiment. "It is still a mystery what kind of phenomenon this is." The long-haired and bearded yogi was sealed in a hospital in the city of Ahmedabad in a study initiated by India's Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the state defence and military research institute. The DRDO hopes that the findings, set to be released in greater detail in several months, could help soldiers survive without food and drink, assist astronauts or even save the lives of people trapped in natural disasters. "(Jani's) only contact with any kind of fluid was during gargling and bathing periodically during the period," G. Ilavazahagan, director of India's Defence Institute of Physiology and Allied Sciences (DIPAS), said in a statement. Jani has since returned to his village near Ambaji in northern Gujarat where he will resume his routine of yoga and meditation. He says that he was blessed by a goddess at a young age, which gave him special powers. During the 15-day observation, which ended on Thursday, the doctors took scans of Jani's organs, brain, and blood vessels, as well as doing tests on his heart, lungs and memory capacity. "The reports were all in the pre-determined safety range through the observation period," Shah told reporters at a press conference last week. Other results from DNA analysis, molecular biological studies and tests on his hormones, enzymes, energy metabolism and genes will take months to come through. "If Jani does not derive energy from food and water, he must be doing that from energy sources around him, sunlight being one," said Shah. "As medical practitioners we cannot shut our eyes to possibilities, to a source of energy other than calories."

Renegade/Blueberry movie Also a link to film description... forget about the ratings, it's probably not geared towards the mundane minded. Also a cool Thai Movie I'm watching... I watch movies in bits and peaces like reading a book. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives.

Wow Seth! What a great list. I'd like to read many of those books too. I really liked Thich Nhat Hanh's books back in the day, though it's been a while. Basic reading on the life of the Buddha: I'd like to recommend, "Old Path, White Cloud." So sweet and a good rendition of the story of Buddhas life and teachings collected from the Pali, Sanskrit and Chinese sources. His style of writing is so engaging and heart warming. Getting to know the Vajrayana/Dzogchen Masters: I'd like to also recommend, "Blazing Splendor," which is the Autobiography of Tulku Orgen Rinpoche. One gets a nice view of the magic and mystery that is old Tibet. Also, "Lord of the Dance," the autobiography of Chagdud Tulku. He's fun, less orthodox than Tulku Orgen, he's kind of a rebel type of Vajrayana Master. Getting to know a bit about the traditions of Vajrayana and Dzogchen: "Crystal and the Way of Light" by Chogyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche about Sutra, Tantra and Dzogchen, a nice short book that is deep and thick with content. Getting to know the liberated perspective according to Vajrayana/Dzogchen: "Old Man Basking in the Sun" written by Longchenpa, translated by Keith Dowman and forwarded by Chogyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche. "Ornament of the State of Samantabhadra: Commentary on the All creating King of the Pure Perfect Presence of the Great Perfection of All Phenomena." Written by Khenpo Zhenphen Oser and translated into English by Jim Valby. This book I think a person should not read before getting quite firmly aquanted with Nagarjuna. As Chogyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche say's that one should have a good internal mastery of Nagarjunas logic in order to understand Dzogchens dialectic. Buddhist Cosmology within it's various Mahayana traditions: "Myriad Worlds" - Buddhist cosmology in Abhidharma, Kalacakra and Dzogchen. by Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taye, translated into English by the International Translation committe of Kunkhyab Choling.

is only a temporary pleasure..? sigh...

is eternity even certain? no certainty = clarity but once u see all there is and ever will be

exactly, it is my hope as well they were not delusional or lying but what gets me is how will we ever know and what if they were, now what so sure, i take in the beauty of the other post, enjoy it while it lasts but even that is just yet another passing beauty like an image in a cloud once all the clouds are gone will there ever be anymore, i dont know how to stop thinking like this... have hope but have hope in what... eternity...

of course this is ms v once again

hi, this is not vaj, this is his wife this has stumbled me for years and maybe i can get some clarity here if we are like a computer - the hardware being our body and the software being our consciousness, how can software survive without the hard drive. i want to believe in something after death, but the more i think about it, the more i realize maybe we just die and sadly thats it. i know im going to die, my body and what went along with it - personality etc. but where is the proof that our soul lives on? i really want to believe we all have souls but sigh every year i get closer to the realization that we just die and thats the end. how can this be? and why? why cant we just live for all eternity? in essence not body of course

I agree, it does destroy the brain after a while if abused. There are much safer ways of detaching from the body and that is found through meditation. Sometimes experiences happen to people spontaneously though.

hahahah, this is the real VH. Time travel, eh? Thus far, I think we can only do that in awareness, not in body. Progression is the way of process and the cosmos is a process. Those of you who are saying that my wife should meditate! Yes!! Also, I've offered her many books, which she picks up, reads a bit of, and puts down. She needs answers I think which more than words can offer her. She needs some meditative depth added to her life. Thanks for the answers by the way guys. She might hijack my account and come back on again... who knows?

just to add, my father always reassures me that we are on the 3rd dimension and cant even begin to understand other dimensions and how i should not worry so maybe he is right and i sure as hell hope so. science seems to put me more at ease bc its not just ppl beliefs which carry no proof

thanks everyone for ur replies, very good insights im just stuck on when there is nothing, there is always something, but once you dont have a brain, how can you even think of something when nothing is there, of course we cant think of nothing when we are alive and thats what scares me maybe i just miss being a child bc everything seemed to make sense, even death, it wasnt even scary. i dont know what happened and i dont know why im now obsessed with death but i just cannot stop thinking about it but thanks, a lot of the answers gave me some ease. if only someone could come back from being dead for a year or something. too bad the buddha himself cant just materialize right in front of me right now and answer my questions i just dont know when i will ever get it... where is the buddha now i ask, a popular answer i get is inside you but once im gone and all the ppl that ever knew me are gone, where is he now? what happens when there are no more humans? then what? sigh, what happens when there is no more anything. see, thats what scares me, where is the love when u die when u have nothing to experience it?

Mahamudra is generally going to have more preliminaries, and more studies... generally, even though the outcome is said to be the same in both. Even in Dzogchen, different teachers teach differently. Some teach a more Mahamudra style Dzogchen. It really depends on the teacher how it's transmitted, but yes... for all Vajrayana practices you'll need transmission from realized lineage.

I think it depends upon the individual. Since there is no standard interpretation for Taoism, at least not to the degree as there is in Buddhism, there are those that seem to understand emptiness and inter-dependent origination through their own Taoist language and others which seem to reify one formless jhana or another just due to the nature of self clinging? So, some I would tentatively classify as monistic idealists, simply due to this very subtle tendency to cling to a high state of consciousness as a "self" of all, but others I would say have a subtler understanding that would be in alignment with Buddhist views.

Actually, when having such experiences like my wife has, it's even more paramount to do the study in order to contextualize the seemingly spontaneous occurrences in order to understand their deeper causes, effects and wisdoms. She's very slow to study... Drives me crazy because she asks me questions all the time, when I'm doing other things and I give her books that she starts but never get's into. She prefers to hound me. She say's she prefers to learn in conversation. But, I tell her I'm not qualified to really teach Dzogchen like that. Anyway... yes... I agree that study is paramount, coupled with practice no matter what! I just wanted to point out that not all nut's are hard to crack.

Not always true, it depends upon your sensitivity. My wife studied absolutely nothing on Dzogchen. But, when he gave the transmission, she experienced something very profound that changed her perception of things in a very profound way forever. He came into her dreams, spoke to her, had some visions of colors and lights, etc. etc. She was very freaked out at first, and almost scared she was loosing her mind, but I assured her that she was just finding her mind. Anyway... what you experience during a World Wide transmission depends on your karmic connection to the lineage.

"White" light is generally the light that is seen first by spiritual aspirants, well... according to Buddhist Tantra, it is the color of the water element and we are mostly water. It's not "useless", but very good to clean this as it has to do with the liver and kidneys, blood... that good stuff should be clean and powerful. It is a kind of an underlying element for Earth kind folks.

I don't feel he is talking about mere social conceptuality, as in the type of thinking that uses these communication symbols. I think he's more thinking about the movement of mind illumination. It can travel distances without time being a constraint. Remote viewing for example is faster than the speed of light.

I did read an academic theory that stated China got it's Kung Fu from India long before the advent of Buddhism, but China took it and ran with it, taking it to a degree never seen in India. Though supposedly in Eastern Tibet it's just as profound as it is in China and they used to exchange information on techniques, also long before Buddhism came to Tibet supposedly practiced by Bon Masters.

Sorry Craig, I knew Tulku knew these words. "You automatically go from anahata (heart chakra, center of chest) to ajna (3rd eye). You automatically experience the connection between the Sahasarara (crown chakra or energy center) and the Muladhara (tail chakra or the bottom chakra)." There is also the Hridaya Chakra which is in the physical heart generally found after experiencing the crown chakra.

The deeper you go, the subtler pride is... the more one needs a master within lineage to guide one through such a subtle field of land mines.

Uh oh... I see that pride of... "Oh... they won't understand"... Ah yes.. the youth of first time experiencing.

No problem! Just be aware of pride and subconscious projection. As subtle they run, behind conscious interpretation. It's nice when a physiological manifestation, outside of your own self creation, can reflect directly your own stage of meditation, in a way that is so clear as to be without any mistaken gestation. Please excuse my inspiration for rhyme incorporation.

This is why we connect to lineage. Which is what you really need and secretly want. Is to have that deep connection to a master that has already gone through the stages which you are longing to experience directly. This is where fools are wrong about guidance from lineage. All you have to do is follow their practices handed down from master to master in unbroken lineage, known or unknown, and the progression of ones energy in deep states of meditation naturally bares fruit for you... as their merits help you along your way due to their vows. You automatically go from anahata to ajna. You automatically experience the connection between the Sahasarara and the Muladhara. The Siddhas in your lineage guide you on subtler levels than the physical! Which is why one must be sure of what lineage one is getting into. You don't want to get all caught up in the egoism of a Master that had no guide, as well as those on here that disparage guides.