SiliconValley

I posted this on another thread, but I guess this belongs here! Here is what Master Huai-Chin Nan says about Mantras:

Here is what Master Huai-Chin Nan says about Mantras:

Seth, very well-said!

Is not the same true for Christianity or any other "religion"? And, probably what Bill is talking about is the "religion" aspect that a majority of the insiders and outsiders perceive and practice currently! Yeah, it is a way of life and there are many others

I did not articulate that right... I meant the Vedic svaras, like one way is to say varenyam, the other is vareniyam, and the musical pattern [ups, downs and stresses] change as well...

This has different views. Probably the mantra gives a lot of benefit even without initiation but certainly better to get initiated. Gayatri has her mudras, nyasa [ritualistic identification of the letters of the mantra in the body], specific forms of meditation based on the purpose and all these enhance the practice. Again, the scriptures which reveal the Gayatri mantra insist on initiation from a Guru who has himself had Siddhi of the mantra. Every Hindu practices this mantra for it is the universal mantra in the Vedas and the rite of initiation, almost mandatorily performed, is called upanayan. Also there are four different intonations of the mantra and who uses what depends on the lineage, the family, the branch of Veda one studies and so on..

Totally!! Loved watching it...

Hey Patrick, missed you...welcome back!!!

I know! I have so much problem drinking water, even though there is sufficient motivation! I just can't drink water and try really hard to! Any tips on drinking more water?

Great story! I spent my childhood close to Arunachala...good ol days

And banning occasionally seems to do good! One change I see is the time taken to search this forum! It is way way faster now...or so it seems

Easily the most amusing thing I heard this month Beetroot

Wish we had more Yodas!!! Such a pleasure to have you around ....

Very interesting, is Akh same as the Ankh symbol that is used in some Reiki circles or associated with it?

The scriptures, from where the practices originate, say so! And because the benefits obtained by reciting these mantras are for anyone to experience, there is no harm in believing them. How do you know Tai Chi works? Because you practice sincerely and you get results. Try, get initiated by a competent master, practice and then decide! Thousands of years of legacy in India and Tibet with lifetimes spent in practicing Mantra Yoga is not a joke! And Indians don't do anything that does not pay back well

I hate to sound the way I am going to, but Tantra is a joke off late. She writes at length about her lineage, starting with Amritananda who himself has a very shady lineage and half of Indian population knows what goes on in his Ashram. I once spoke to her for I share a lot of her fields of interest and was really disappointed at how badly the glorious teachings of Kashmiri Shaivism and Tantra are misrepresented. She has no clue of spanda, or trika or pratyabhijna, that she writes about. Right from her name, where she tries to copy a Nath panthi or a Tantric adept, she has it all wrong! If you are looking for something New Age and willing to pay for it, she may work, but she has no clue about what she is talking! And she speaks of paths that she trained in and a simple question revealed that she had no clue. She thought Kaula meant sex! Someone who once took a class with her was so disappointed because of her attitude: she thinks her supposed good looks cover up for her lack of knowing stuff. Grow up girl! Just saw what Scotty wrote...that exactly is her only claim to fame ....

This is daily practice in my lineage. Just feel the names, even better if you can know their meanings and you can simply feel HER next to you, in you, around you.... and then there is only HER...

Hi dwai, Sure, let me do that once I finish some more chapters in the book.

Is that Taomeow we are talking about here? The Tao Soap is getting more interesting, 'The worms in our lives....'

Agree with other things here but what really is the assumption here? - That someone who is not a beginner or at an intermediate level, will not be a member of Tao Bums and even if he is, will not talk or respond? I can already think of two who don't fit into this category, Santi and mjjbecker. - Or, is Max beyond every phenomena we understand and people need to take it without questions? I totally agree for the need to be respectful, but this "level" thing is as fanatic as we would like to call the other side. Moreover, how can the self-professed beginners really judge someone's level, if it is really all that tall! A group here thinks good about Max and his attainments. Another, somewhat small and sort of suppressed due to the risk of sounding "rude" which is not necessarily true, does not care much about Max or his techniques but certainly thinks it is presumptuous to portray him as "THE" man and even the Hindu avatars did not enjoy this luxury. It is really alarming when the focus shifts from the teaching to the teacher and the teacher begins to get deified.

Is this not generally true for Kundalini? But Kunlun is neither Kundalini nor Chi/Prana, or so has been declared.

I like the chant of Mani Padme Hum here.

Common Starjumper, is this story reason enough to believe? When I tried Kunlun, my guides did stop me from doing that but it was probably because I am already into a system and trying something else was unsafe. But that was not reason enough to "demonize" Kunlun, was it? It simply meant, my guides and lineage of masters felt it was not right for me and that necessarily is not true for someone else.