3bob

I'm interested in descriptive correlations and cross references to a point but one can also (more or less) get lost in them... An excerpt from Swami Krishnananda along these lines: "When a person rises above body consciousness, there is a serenity of experience. It is as if he is free from a drug effect into which he has entered and to which he has been subjected for long. Consciousness gets muddled on account of the influence of an external toxic matter due to which there is no proper thinking and understanding. As this toxic effect subsides, there arises serenity, tranquility and composure of experience. He feels as if something new has come into his life. He wakes up as if there is a new daylight before him. This is samprasada, the composure of consciousness which arises on account of the freedom of consciousness from bodily shackles. The moment this consciousness is freed from bodily attachment it rises upwards, as it were, like a flame of brilliance. It is the supreme luminosity. It is light by its own right, a light that does not require another light to illumine itself, paramjyoti. When one attains to this supreme luminosity which is one's own real nature, one is established in one's self. Then one is in one's true form. As we wake up from dream and recognise our true nature as being different from what we felt ourselves to be in dream, so does one recover one's real nature and shake off the old notions of connections with bodies, one differing from the other. One state of consciousness imagines that it is an animal, another state of consciousness imagines that it is a human being, and so on and so forth. Various states identify themselves with various forms of experience which are called the bodies. They may be animals or human beings or celestials. Whatever they are, those forms are cast off on account of Consciousness extracting itself from those shackles and it stands by itself as a liberated being. This is the Atman. The real Atman is that which is free from entanglement in any kind of form. This is the Immortal. It is the disidentification with the body that is the cause of immortality. This is what we call Brahman, the Absolute, ultimately the universal nature of this Atman. What we call Truth, about which we have been speaking up to this time, is Brahman Itself. We may call It the Atman or Brahman. It makes no difference. This is the Truth, because That alone is, That which is in all the three periods of time. That knows no distinction of the passage of time. That is perpetually what It is without distinction either in space or in time. That is the Atman, and that is what we call Brahman". Om

Sorry to be a party-pooper but the line, "Only through a thorough knowledge of yoganidra will you be able to conquer your difficulties and imperfections" looks like a red flag although I don't know anything else about the teacher you've mentioned... btw, all the relative powers of the mind you've mentioned are not Brahman in the heart which is only true freedom.

Lineage based: http://www.universalshaivafellowship.org/usf/teachings_01ch19.html Om

btw, do you walk around campus telling women known or unknown to you that you have not popped off your private parts for a month? How dumb, save that for private counsel... btw2 most of the women here have the common sense not to share stories of their private plumbing in public whether they know us or not.

Ok, you've been reading a lot of Mr. G and Mr. O... I assume you already know that several cults have co-opted those interesting "fragments". Btw, I've come across a couple of "4th way" groups that seemed ok but they were the exception. (Not unlike what happens with a lot of this kind of stuff) So another suggestion is to study up on the inner and outer workings of various cults, all is not as it may appear or sound. For instance, - Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh - whose groupies now use the name 'Osho' just like he did before he passed have teachings that take credit for being in tune with or in the know about every spiritual system under the sun! Heck I still have a couple of two dollar bills around I'd sell for five bucks... http://elizabeth-gibson.suite101.com/rajneesh-gets-paranoid-a16155

If you haven't already consider reading some of Alan Watts works, although he is from another time much of his materail is helpful for "east-west" communications and some understanding of various terms and meanings in studies related to such... The "comibnation of both" work idea is fine - starting where we are at is all one can do, for projecting to much ahead or behind only causes additional frustration. I'd remark that we really go nowhere except in consciousness. "Meditation" is a commonly abused word in the sense of all various meanings we often imagine about it. If you have ever concentrated on anything at all to point of "getting in the zone" then you have also been in a form of or state of meditation. Honesty, wholesome-ness, compassion for others and yourself along with some light hearted humor will help see you through some heavy duty stuff. We are not alone as noted in the famous saying, "no man is an island". Best wishes to you

Truth seeing the ego for what it is is a big step although just the beginning...

Astral monk, I'm glad the sharings are of value to you

All mantra begins with Om and ends with Om... both the simply pure and also the greatly grand Om. Travel to the begining and to end of Om which never ends or begins. Om Shanti, Om Shanti, Om Shanti Om...

lol

No, you do not treat demons like regular people, for in comparison a very high percentage of us "people" can be reached through people like means being that we have various degrees of conscience and inate humanity. The primary nature of a demon does not include degrees of human conscience or humanity... what demons do understand and have some wariness of is the human being who is also a spiritual warrior of truth and strong spiritual power that knows how to use it, thus to deal with them in any other way is more or less fools play.

I did a one or two word edit of a past post that kept popping up - so there was nothing new created or deleted... btw I assume you are not a moderator and I believe my past post with guruyoga was fully within protocols for this website. If you expect full, unquestioning obedience along with no debates based on your viewpoint of a particular thread, school, guru or form then this website in general and also its Vedanta sub-section imo is not the place to find it or to expect it... although basic respect among members is expected in all sections. I believe you may be able to set up a private type thread somewhere at this site where you could have absolute power and control over it, although I'm not sure about that since I've never been interested in having such control over a thread.

The hunger of evil would do harm to the good mother to sate its malice, only blind sons do not see that while they dally about with high thoughts.

oops, multiple posts popping up

.

.

Ok, you did single out a certain form... although to me you also mixed "earn" or redefined the commonly accepted western meaning of "earn" to include the "or" aspects per your understanding of an eastern form. Not that that bothers me it just tells me that we (we as individuals and also 'we' as students of different and varied forms) would have to agree on the meanings of words as much as possible if we are going to communicate about and hopefully enjoy the charms of such - without (imo) being overly attached to the various and often ponderous theological and sectarian bias's of vast and nearly perpetual conumdrums that have been pain-stakingly disected to the tenth degree (both in speech and in text) for several thousands of years by uncountable numbers of great authorities on Hinduism, who btw don't always end up reaching or giving out the same conclusions (and or alludings to) regarding Sat after their devoted exercise.

The "or" parts sound correct but not the connotation or use of the word "earns". For the "unconditional" is ultimately made possible by the unconditional...

Guruyoga, What do you mean above when saying, "who earned grace"?

Jai Hanuman (very nice music!)

A variation on the "mountain": "Before I had studied Zen for thirty years, I saw mountains as mountains, and waters as waters. When I arrived at a more intimate knowledge, I came to the point where I saw that mountains are not mountains, and waters are not waters. But now that I have got its very substance I am at rest. For it's just that I see mountains once again as mountains, and waters once again as waters". Ching-yuan (besides, "When have ducks ever flown away?")

"Understanding Maya through Bhagavad Gita versesSpoken by Krishna to Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra Bhagavad Gita, Ch. 14, Verse 3 "My womb is the great Nature (Prakriti or MAYA). In that I place the germ (embryo of life). Thence is the birth of all beings." Bhagavad Gita, Ch. 14, Verse 4 "Whatever forms are born, O Arjuna, in any womb whatsoever, the great Brahma (Nature) is their womb and I am the seed-giving father." Explanation: Prakriti (Nature), made up of the three qualities (Sattwa, Rajas and Tamas), is the material cause of all beings. In the great Prakriti, I place the seed for the birth of Brahma (the creator, also known as Hiranyagarbha, or Ishwar, or the conditioned Brahman), and the seed gives birth to all beings. The birth of Brahma (the creator) gives rise to the birth of beings. The primordial Nature (prakriti) gives birth to Brahma, who creates all beings. (I am the father; the primordial Nature is the mother). Bhagavad Gita, Ch. 13, Verse 26 "Wherever a being is born, whether unmoving or moving, know thou Arjuna, that it is from the union between the field and the knower of the field." (Purusha is the knower of the field; Prakriti is the field; Shiva is another name for the knower of the field and Shakti is the field; Spirit is another name for the knower of the field and Matter (Prakriti) is the field.) Bhagavad Gita, Ch. 7, Verse 5 "I am endowed with two Shaktis, namely the superior and the inferior natures; the field and its knower (spirit is the knower of the field; matter is the field) I unite these two". Bhagavad Gita Ch. 7, Verse 6 "Know these two- my higher and lower natures- as the womb of all beings. Therefore, I am the source and dissolution of the whole universe." Bhagavad Gita, Ch. 13, Verse 29 "He sees, who sees that all actions are performed by nature alone, and that the Self is action less." (The Self is the silent witness.) Bhagavad Gita, Ch. 9, Verse 17 "I am the father of this world, the mother, the dispenser of the fruits of actions and the grandfather; the one thing to be known, the purifier, the sacred monosyllable (AUM), and also the Rig, the Sama and the Yajur Vedas." Bhagavad Gita, Ch. 18, Verse 61 "Arjuna, God abides in the heart of all creatures, causing them to revolve according to their Karma by His illusive power (Māyā) as though mounted on a machine." From Wikipedia

And you also Jijaji

"In fact your definition doesn't even make sense to me". That is ok. no boxes doesn't always mean another box of no boxes...