Kirtanman

Hello All, I'm Kirtanman, a long-term practitioner of Advanced Yoga Practices (AYP), the system started by Yogani, which is discussed at times here at Tao Bums. Per my "moniker", I'm also a fan of, and participant in devotional chanting from the Indian traditions, aka kirtan. I also resonate with various teachers of real-world enlightenment, such as Adyashanti and Jed McKenna. I look forward to participating in Tao Bums discussions. Thanks, Kirtanman

Hi TI & All, Hey, TI -- when you're not practicing Argumentative Buddhism ... you've got some interesting and insightful stuff to say. As always, actually - but I was impressed with this reply - I haven't read much of what you've written since 2009 or so. Good stuff. One of the reasons you've never seen me talk about vividness, specifically, is because I'm not familiar with a lot of Buddhist terminology, and this post helped me to be more clear on what you're referring to, with the term vividness. I'd much rather share useful information than debate, for several reasons, including that, at heart, you and I, and pretty much everyone here, I presume, is about that which is beneficial. Thanks again; good post. Kirtanman

Hi TI, Your sig. file states: Rest the mind in the natural state, without distraction, without grasping or aversion. That's a statement I can, and do, agree with completely. All that's pertinent with respect to the natural state, in my experience, is our own perspective and experience, right now. All concepts, opinions, revisiting of the past and opinions about the past, ideas about the experiences of others, and so on, all fall into the categories of distraction, and/or grasping or aversion, I would say ... and so, they are not of interest to me. Per your sig. file, I'm not so sure why they're of such interest to you. All The Best, Kirtanman

Hi TI, It's been a while; I hope all is well with you. You made a few statements about me (quoted below) where it seems like some clarification might be useful. The website in question, Living Unbound, is not a sister website to AYP; the two websites simply have links to one another. We recommend Yogani's books, along with quite a few others, in the website bookstore. I actually don't recall the last time I had a specific discussion along those lines, and I don't recall ever having one exactly as you imply in your statement quoted above -- understanding, of course, that opinions and perceptions vary, as opinions and perceptions will do. Why do you imagine omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence as being requirements for the natural state? As far as I know, the definition of enlightenment I've used, and continue to use, is the same definition used by many recognized teachers from various traditions, including teachers from the Kashmir Shaivism tradition, Nisargadatta Maharaj, Ramana Maharshi, Adyashanti, and other teachers expressing similar views of the natural state. And ... so? Why do you imagine the rainbow body, walking through walls, and siddhis, as being requirements for experience of the natural state? They call it the natural state for a reason. Well, the (literal) freedom beyond imagination, the ongoing peace, and the living in, from and in harmony with reality are all pretty good. Anyone who thinks they're enlightened .... isn't. Thinking has nothing to do with realizing the natural state. The natural state, or what I tend to refer to simply as wholeness, these days -- or enlightenment, or liberation -- are all just words - terms for recognition of the real which is always present, now -- and is simply obscured by the over-focus on conditioned thoughts, feelings and reactions. If there is attachment or aversion or non-peace, then there's obscuring of the real in that moment of experience. By over-focusing on conditioned forms of mind - by attachment to them, as driven by conditioned memory - we make up unenlightenment. "Enlightenment" is simply what's here when we don't do that. You seem to have kind of declared war on AYP. What's up with that? By the way, for what it's worth, I highly recommend Alan Wallace, too. He's quite awesome. All The Best, Kirtanman