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Dear friends My post will be in 3 parts: 1) Introduction to the lineage of Vethathiri Maharishi and his different gurus 2) Interesting information about one of his gurus 3) Questions for you and invitation to further research on one of his guru's guru (paramguru) 1) Introduction to the lineage of Vethathiri Maharishi and his gurus Today, I researched a bit about Vethathiri Maharishi, and I found that he himself had 3 physical gurus and 1 astral guru: 1) A religious Guru called Balakrishnan Naicker (when Vethathiri was 14, he learnt hindu devotional worship using songs, mantras and puja as well as the importance of ahimsa and vegetarianism) 2) A Guru in indian herbal medicine called Vaidya Bhoopati S. Krishna Rao (in Vethathiri's 20s, he was employed in Chennai as the apprentice of this traditional doctor in herbal medicine and learnt Ayurveda, Siddhar Medicine and Unani Medicine as well as indian philosophy) 3) A Guru called Paranjyothi Mahan who opened Vethathiri's muladhara and sahasrara chakras and taught him astral travel (in his 30s) 4) When he was 42 the astral form of the Great Saint Ramalinga Vallalar came to Vethathiri and then stayed with him for a period of about 10 years, helping, assisting, teaching and blessing him. As you know, SKY completely changed my life, and I am very grateful for the teachings of Vethathiri. However, as you might have read in my other posts, the astral travel method has been removed from the official SKY system. To me, that's a great tragedy. I am personally very interested in learning it, hence I am continually researching on it. 2) Interesting information about one of his gurus Seeing that Paranjyothi Mahan was actually the guru who opened Vethathiri's chakras, and taught him astral travel, I thought I would research some more about him. There is an organisation he established, which continues to this day: Universal Peace Foundation. One of Paranjyothi Mahan's students is the current leader of the organisation, as Paranjyothi passed away in 1981. So, one possibility for me is to contact this organisation and see if they still teach astral travel. However, from what I can see, they teach something which is very, very similar to SKY (the master opens the students' chakras one by one). Well, what about the guru of Paranjyothi Mahan? This is where the new piece of interesting information comes in. His guru was called Haribullah Kamil Syed Ibrahim! This is a muslim name, or it could very well be a title. "Hari" refers to Vishnu in Sanskrit, however, in Qur'anic arabic, "hari" means dawn, morning or sunrise. "b" is short for "bi" or "bi'l" which means "of" or "of the" "ullah" is Allah. So Hari-bi'l-Allah means "Morning/dawn/sunrise of God" (as you know, sunrise is symbolic of the rays of the sun dispersing the darkness of night, and instead bringing light, warmth and life. As you know "guru" in sanskrit means "darkness/light", someone who takes you from darkness to light. So, the Arabic meaning of "Haribullah" could be a clever muslim/sufi way to say "Guru". This in itself is (to me) extremely interesting, that the paramguru of Vethathiri is possibly a muslim or sufi! Kamil or Kamel means "perfect" or "perfected". Syed or Sayed/Sayid means "noble" and usually refers to descendants of the Prophet Muhammad. Ibrahim is the muslim variant of Abraham, the first "hanif" or first rightly guided monotheist (in the 3 abrahamic religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam). As you can see "Haribullah Kamil Syed Ibrahim" could very well be a title, refering to a guru or master safeguarding and passing on the true, perfected and noble teachings. In this case, the true teachings include kundalini and chakra awakening through touch, as well as astral travel and prayers for world peace. It being an honorific title could very well be the reason, that nothing really comes up when you search for it online. Maybe his given name was different. You also can't find any pictures of him. This leads me to the last and final point. 3) Questions for you and invitation to further research on one of his guru's guru (paramguru) 1) Do you know about or have experience with UPF (Universal Peace Foundation) and their teachings and practices? 2) Do you know about or can you through research find anything about this mysterious Haribullah Kamil Syed Ibrahim? 3) Do you know about or do you have experience with the astral travel methods of Vethathiri, Paranjyothi Mahan or Haribullah? May there be sufficient rain, crops and sustenance for all living beings. May the whole world enjoy prosperity, happiness, health, wisdom and peace. May Peace reign within us, may Peace reign around us and everywhere we go, may Peace reign in the whole word. Be blessed by the Divine!

Hi all, I am new here, and looking for recommendations for a teacher/school/lineage. I've been practicing healing tao for about 4 years now with a teacher who is very good at having us students experience certain techniques and embodiment of the practices, but not so good at structure and providing solid theory. I also get very lost in all the different types of qigong and taoism lineages and schools. Currently I am reading a book about the history of tao from Kristoffer Schipper, but for now it doesn't bring much clarity either So what I am looking for is more clarity about the different styles of qigong and tao lineages (maybe someone remembers a good post about this, or a book?) And I am looking for a new teacher Someone who is grounded and doesn't teach too extreme stuff, my aim is to feel better in my physical body, more vitality, groundedness and joy...but not necessarily to ascend to space and have crazy experiences haha maybe it will happen at some point, but it's not my goal. What I like about healing tao so far is the emotional balance it gives me through healing sounds, inner smile, heating the stove etc. I also really love bone marrow nei kung, and jade egg practices and breast massages. I don't do the advanced sexual practices of Mantak because I am very cautious I love dao yin, and for example I really love the qigong god's playing in the clouds, and also like kuan shi yin qi gong and crane bird qigong. A bit of a random selection of things I love, but maybe someone will read this and thinks, oh you should google this teacher! Many thanks!!

In the Hindu tantric tradition, there is a concept of transmission of power via touch or a glance -- known as Shaktipat. There is also the concept of lineage transmission in Daoist traditions wherein the master will plant a seed or transfer the lineage to the student via touch. If you are at liberty to share, please do share your experiences. I'll start with my own. My teacher initiated me when I met him for the first time by placing his index finger on my forehead (third eye region). He asked me to inhale 3 times from there into my lower dan tien after he disconnected his finger. After I did, there was a flow from my third eye to my lower dantien and the room started "swimming". I felt a little light-headed and sat down for a couple of minutes. After that, when I reached home, in the night, a huge pressure started to build in my forehead. The only way to relieve it was via meditation and doing Taiji forms. So ended up meditating on and off for 3 days multiple times a day. Then for another 12 days, I would go into very spontaneous and intense meditative states and start performing Taijiquan forms 'automatically'. After the initial 15 days or so, where I was experiencing great bliss and large releases of energy, I started to feel like there was fine silk under my skin, covering my entire body. And a very clear separation happened in my consciousness -- with a permanent witness (which was there for a few years before I met my teacher too) forming, that would observe all happenings/activities - physical, mental, energetic. This witness awareness was completely at peace, at ease and unaffected by the ups and downs. If something happened in 'regular life' to shake things up in terms of equanimity and equilibrium, this other mind (my teacher calls it the Spiritual mind) would simply swallow the happening up -- and then life would continue to unfold spontaneously. Along with that, my practice deepened too. I started waking up between 3:30 and 4:30 every morning but would be in a state of hypnagogia. The mind was awake but the body asleep. I'd find vortices opening up over my being, pulling stuff out, cleansing, etc, etc. Beings would visit me and I would have spiritual conversations with them. Sometimes some would come to challenge me, but I seemed to know inherently how to deal with those challenges... Martially, abilities started to manifest exactly how my teacher told me they would. He had said to me, "It seems very difficult to comprehend now...but when you walk through that door, you'll look back and think...is that all there was to it?" I attended class twice a week with my teacher and each time he'd give me something new to work on, and it would manifest tangibly usually a week or so after he taught me. For example, he told me about how there was energy all around us, and that we could simply connect with it and harmonize with it...not needing to expend our own energy to do things like healing/martial techniques, etc. One day, as I was practicing in my family room, the room seemed to be filled with grayish-white smoke or fog. I thought my eyes were playing a trick..but there it was...a heavy fog up to my chest and all over, but most apparent from the ground up to my chest height. When I told my teacher about it the next time I met him, he said with a smile, "that's what I was telling you about..." I had also embarked on picking up Advaita Vedanta studies which I had put aside several years ago as unintelligible. This time when I picked it up and started my studies again, everything seemed to make perfect sense. That same spiritual mind recognized the truth in the teachings and realization followed realization...like a cascading chain reaction. But there were no fireworks...like a rapidly progressing series of little 'a-aha moments' (I think the zen Buddhists call these flashes kensho). In fact, anything spiritual that I picked up made perfect sense -- stuff that seemed crazy or simply stupid to me before! Along with these little realizations, little by little, old behavior patterns started falling away...and a sense of freedom started to grow. Eventually, there arose the realization that there was nothing that needed to be done...only just remain as I am...undoing happening on its own. That realization was such a relief and was so hysterically funny to me, that I sat and laughed like a madman. And every time I'd think about it, I'd burst into laughter

As I've mentioned in another post, I've been meditating for a long time in a particular tradition and am now exploring other paths. It's a bit overwhelming to see just how many teachers and traditions there are out there, each with it's own take on spiritual development. One big distinction seems to be the (apparent?) Theravada/Mahayana divide, which I think represents a much more general categorization than is found just within Buddhism: On the one hand there is self-reliance and seemingly "down-to-Earth" practices which don't involve much cognitive dissonance for the average western-atheistic-mainstream-scientific worldview. On the other, there is reliance on blessings, transmission and lineage, and all manner of phenomena that are generally beyond the pale of the mainstream western mentality, such as psychic events and suspension of the usual behavior of the "laws" of physics. I’m curious to hear which path some of you have chosen, and why. Or perhaps some of you make use of elements from both approaches, and this works for you too? I ask to help meet my needs for learning, exploration and sharing.

Hi guys ive seen many sources and authors refered about Microcosmic Orbit. Iam trying to find which are most respected self-learning materials about MCO. Can you post where did you learned MCO from ? I know many here learned MCO from a teacher - oral transmission which is of course the ideal way. But if you would recommend a self-study source to learn MCO what would it be ? Iam interested in self-study so books, video, web articles are prefered. Please be specific about the title. Author and title of the book or dvd, etc. I know aboout Dr. Yang, Jwing-Ming - Qigong Meditation but for me this book is too encyclopedic/academic (430 pages) and he also keeps mentioning in this book you should read his previous book before you start (Embryonic Breathing - another 400 pages) - i dont want to read 800 pages to start practice Also Mantak Chia is mentioned a lot but he already has like 60 books and 50 DVDs - if you learned from Mantak Chia which title would you recommend most from his catalogue about Microcosmic Orbit Also Jerry Alan Johnson is mentioned, but i dont know his work at all, i dont know which of his books describe MCO. Could you guys post if you self-learned MCO... where did you learn MCO from ? What titles would you recommend ? Please dont post "i heard this and this should be good"... iam trying to gather tried and tested sources that really worked for people in the field, so i prefer recommendations that really worked FOR YOU... THANKS A LOT

I've been participating on the various forums for many years. As I was reading a yet another sectarian exchange on TTB, I started to reflect on sectarianism. I think I have come to a new understanding. I'm an independent thinker and practitioner, but as far as traditions go, I've spent most of my time with the Buddhist doctrine. I also seriously love Daoism. I love the three classics, Daodejing, Zhuangzi, and Liezi. However, it would be a mistake to call my affection for Daoism purely a philosophical one, unless we use the ancient definition of philosophy as the love of wisdom. Beyond that I've read something from almost every tradition on this planet, and I found many interesting things here and there. In all this time I realized I actually don't give a crap about Buddhism, Daoism, or any other tradition. What I want is to understand myself and to grow my personal power, because I am tired of being a human being. I think that in some sense the differences between the traditions are quite valuable and these differences should be preserved for posterity, because it is these different angles that helped to illuminate my own being for me, and if this benefit occurred to me, surely it can occur to someone else as well. It's like placing a variety of mirrors around my body to see what it looks like from different angles. Each mirror only helps, and in the end, I have to be the one doing the looking and the understanding, and I am the ultimate judge of quality and authenticity, and thus, I am the ultimate authority. This puts all the responsibility and burden for my own spiritual development on me. If something goes wrong, I can't blame some Guru. It's all on me from now on and forever. However, if I do succeed, there is no credit to any Guru. No blame, and no credit. That's what happens when a person takes complete responsibility. If there are any Gurus out there who want to take credit for anything that happens to other people, please, be prepared to take blame when things go wrong, and they will. It's not normal for beings to behave as I do. I have internalized all authority and authenticity. I do not seek confirmation, validation, approval. I am not a normal being. A sense of belonging, that warm feeling of being in a cozy and cool club, such sentiments mean nothing to me. Before, people who belonged to quasi-secret clubs really used to piss me off. Now that anger is gone, and I just see them as pathetic stragglers, desperate to fill the gap in their hearts with a sense of belonging, and they get this sense by excluding others, and by differentiating themselves. They define what their turf is, and then they protect it. It's a bonding exercise. And here's what else I see. I see people who think that their own minds are worthless, incapable, and not worthy of trust, which in one word can be called insecurity. These people operate under assumptions of externalized authority and authenticity. Externalized authenticity means that if some spiritual experience or a realization happens, you are not allowed to claim it for yourself and you're not allowed to regard it as something genuine. You must go to some external source of authenticity, usually some Guru, and confirm your understanding, experience, and whatever else. Everything new in your life needs a stamp of approval. Without this stamp of approval you feel like you're nothing, worthless. It's the Guru's stamp, and the belonging to the lineage that confers wealth, status, legitimacy, everything. And if your lineage is criticized, you must defend it as if were your life on the line, because your identity is completely dependent on it. Without your Guru's stamp of approval, you're nothing. If your Guru's image is tarnished by some sectarians, you must defend your Guru, or else his stamp will lose its social value. And so you must become a sectarian yourself to fight off other sectarians all in an effort to protect yourself. If only any of you could understand how lordly and glorious my being is right now. How free and easy. How far away I am from all such meaningless and petty hassle. And all that is thanks to my spontaneous decision to take up deity yoga, where I conceive of myself as a deity. Soon after I'd done that, authority and authenticity were internalized. Old challenges were solved. Now I face new and interesting challenges instead of petty bullshit like before. I became a deity without permission, and as soon as I'd done that I've realized in fact it's the only way to become a deity. Had I asked permission in the form of an empowerment, I'd fail to actualize my current state, because I'd still be externalizing authority and authenticity. When most of the people take up deity yoga like I have, and I invite you all to take it up, sectarianism will become irrelevant. Imagine whatever highest achievements and accomplishments. When they happen, where and how do they happen? Can you see it? They happen in the space of your subjective experience. The word "subjective" is very important here. And they happen as a result of what? Do you think achievement happens as a result of understanding a doctrine, or a lineage, or a set of practices? Of course not! Achievement happens as a result of you understanding yourself! In fact, if you understood all the doctrines incorrectly, and you've performed all the practices wrongly, but you've managed to understand yourself in the process, congratulations, because you've become lordly and glorious, a field of merit worthy of offerings, a joyous one, one beyond limitations, a dancer of illusion, a happy lunatic. If you let anyone be the judge of whether or not you understand yourself correctly, you'll be in a world of pain. This is why fighting against subjectivity is a grave error. Instead, you should embrace yourselves 100%, even though you know full well that your way is not the only way. Taking this attitude you will be on a straight and narrow path toward all the mysteries and sectarianism will be over. May it be so.