Fundamentals of Yoga

[Tibetan_Ice]

Hi

I recently received the book called "Fundamentals of Yoga - A handbook of theory, practice and application by Ramamurti S. Mishra, M.D. (Shri Brahmananda Saraswati).

 

Jijaji, if you are still there, could you please confirm my suspicion? This is not the same Brahmananda Saraswati that Maharishi Mahesh Yogi was a disciple of, is it? I don't see how, since one was a hermit living in solitude most of his life and the other is an M.D.

 

Also, is anyone familiar with this book and teachings? It is fascinating to me that R. Mishra (Shri Brahmananda Saraswati) has incoporated self-hypnotism as a method of relaxing the body, and that he has substituted "suggestion" for the dhyana step in the three last limbs of yoga. I'm halfway through the book and I'm so intrigued by the fantastic claims that by using "suggestion" to put the body to sleep (pratyahara), one clears his karma, heals all diseases and can perform astounding feats. The basic idea that one can master the mind by commanding it almost seems to be the missing link. And he keeps talking about the body's magnetism.

 

Here are some of his statments from the book:

"Yoganidra is the state in which the whole universal magnetic ocean comes under your command".

 

"All physical and mental diseases are removed by the state of Yoganidra, which is the greatest anesthesia when you are your own surgeon to operate on your material mind and to remove it from the body. Yoganidra makes you an engineer to construct a bridge between physics and metaphysics, to cross the ocean of materialism."

 

"Only through a thorough knowledge of yoganidra will you be able to conquer your difficulties and imperfections, and you will become a siddha Yogi; that is to say, have command over nature."

 

Now we have all heard stories about yogis controlling the weather, performing astounding feats, healings and miracles. I wonder, is this how it is done?

 

Comments?

 

TI

[Ascension20122]

Google is an easy way to find answers

 

http://www.anandaashram.org/founder.html

[Tibetan_Ice]

Google is an easy way to find answers

 

http://www.anandaashram.org/founder.html

Hi Ascension

You know, I studied that site a while ago. It is actually where I purchased the books from.. "Fundamentals of Yoga" and "The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali"..

 

http://www.ashramstore.com/

 

Peace

TI

[3bob]

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.

[Tibetan_Ice]

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.

 

Hi Bob

You know, the heart is a wonderful thing. It is the center of the indestructible drop. It contains a wishing well. It is the door to the other four bodies. It permits remote viewing. It is the merkaba and the junction between the upward and the downward forces. It is also said that the heart has the largest magnetic field of all the organs in the body. According to Yogananda Paramahansa Yogi, relaxing the heart is one method of pratyahara, where the senses shut off. There are many mysteries there. And, I agree with you, true freedom is freedom from desire. Perhaps the atman is the indestructible drop in the heart, the purusha, the I AM.

 

But wouldn't it be wonderful if instead of waiting for 7 to 15 minutes for the body to dissolve during meditation, you could just command it to? Or, if a pain in the body is distracting, just to switch it off with one command? Or to heal yourself? According to this book, all of that is possible and easily accessible with the right technique.

 

There are so many sources to this reference of 'magnetism' that I wonder if maybe there is a connection between all of them. In Kunlun, the waves that come up the body seem to be magnetic. Samuel Sagan speaks of the magnetic pull of the Third eye. Yogananda says that there is a magnetic channel between the center of the brows and the medulla. I've seen many 'chi' demonstrations on YouTube where Qi Gong/martial arts masters repel their oponents with movements of the hands, perhaps by directing magnetic force. To me, it is a fascinating topic..

 

Thanks for your comment.

TI

[Seth Ananda]

 

 

Also, is anyone familiar with this book and teachings? It is fascinating to me that R. Mishra (Shri Brahmananda Saraswati) has incoporated self-hypnotism as a method of relaxing the body, and that he has substituted "suggestion" for the dhyana step in the three last limbs of yoga. I'm halfway through the book and I'm so intrigued by the fantastic claims that by using "suggestion" to put the body to sleep (pratyahara), one clears his karma, heals all diseases and can perform astounding feats. The basic idea that one can master the mind by commanding it almost seems to be the missing link. And he keeps talking about the body's magnetism.

 

I used to practice something my teacher called 'Sinking to Aether' which I later found was very similar to yoganidra.

Basicly one would sweep ones body with a progressive relaxation over and over, and refuse to fall asleep.

It would take hours. I would get so relaxed I would think I couldn't possibly let go more, then I would start feeling tensions in my organs, or deep pains... sweep again, "big toe relaxing, big toe relaxing..."

Then the magick would happen. All sense of my body would disappear and instead my whole being would be felt/perceived as energetic fields of Information.

I learned so much about myself, my structure, every time i did this.

Not small levels of learning but real Inner revolutions... Its like in the Aether space I had no block between conscious/unconscious and all Info was just there...

 

In that space I pierced the knot in my second chakra, and to this day I can still orgasm at will for as long as I want just by focusing there...

 

I can't really practice it much these days being a householder, as I am often too tired to not fall asleep, or my daughter is jumping on me, or partner nudging me...

lol excuses excuses...

[Seth Ananda]

 

You know, the heart is a wonderful thing. It is the center of the indestructible drop. It contains a wishing well. It is the door to the other four bodies. It permits remote viewing. It is the merkaba and the junction between the upward and the downward forces. It is also said that the heart has the largest magnetic field of all the organs in the body. According to Yogananda Paramahansa Yogi, relaxing the heart is one method of pratyahara, where the senses shut off. There are many mysteries there. And, I agree with you, true freedom is freedom from desire. Perhaps the atman is the indestructible drop in the heart, the purusha, the I AM.

 

Thanks Tibetan Ice. Could you give me some Info on good resources about the indestructible drop? Books, links, anything? I don't mind what tradition.

 

One of my still most profound experiences, was getting to spend 3 days with total awareness of being the spark deep in the right atrium. To me it seemed as if I had found the end of the rope [of my personal being] so to speak.

 

It was a tiny atom like golden spark of pure awareness, it felt as though all awareness was flowing from it, but it was capable of concealing itself behind layers of psychic haze... As the source of awareness I could only see it because it was looking in every direction at once, including at it self from every other part of itself lol. I could feel/percieve a number of increasingly dense subtle bodies between it and my physical body, but unfortunately I did not have time to explore them, as it was busy showing me other things to do with my life here..

It showed me the future several times in perfect clarity, and with perfect accuracy...

I also remained fully conscious of being it while sleeping at night, and after 3 days when it began to recede from my [lol its] awareness I was in a near panic to not loose it...

 

Anyone that wants to chime in feel free

Even if people just know different names for it in different traditions, that is still useful.

[Tibetan_Ice]

[Tibetan_Ice]

[Seth Ananda]

According to the Dalai Lama:

link: http://www.zeropoint.ca/monadsI5DalaiLama.htm

 

 

An excellent book I have called "The Bliss of Inner Fire" by Lama Yeshe, refers to the indestructible drop as

 

This is a very good book on Buddhist trantra although it only refers to the indestructible drop in the heart twice.

link: http://www.amazon.ca/Bliss-Inner-Fire-Practice-Naropa/dp/086171136X

 

Another book which I own is called "The Clear Light of Bliss, Tantric Meditation Manual" by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso. In it, he refers to the indestructible drop many times.

link: http://www.amazon.com/Clear-Light-Bliss-Mahamudra-Vajrayana/dp/0948006218

 

I also noticed that Gyatso has another book with instructions for meditating on the indestructible drop here:

link: http://books.google.ca/books?id=pwwB4bf28V8C&pg=PA126&lpg=PA126&dq=indestructible+drop+gyatso&source=bl&ots=rKTx-6BzGk&sig=Gbn9saZQjNHMIDqdVBaNMvlLerc&hl=en&sa=X&ei=okwkT9-_IMGbiAKK-oH6Bw&ved=0CCAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=indestructible%20drop%20gyatso&f=false

 

You said:

 

 

Thank you so much for recounting your experience. It is so interesting.

I once did self-inquiry meditation as my regular practice for 2 months. I would sit and try to become the watcher. Whatever I would become aware of, I would turn my attention 180 degrees around from it and try to see or become whatever it was that was perceiving. I did that for thoughts, sensations, absolutely everything.

 

What happened was that at one point, I started to see a golden ball of light. Then, when I turned my attention around to become 'that which was perceiving the golden ball of light', I ended up in this fantastic state but I would pop out right away leaving me back at the place where I could see the golden ball of light. I popped in and out, in and out.. Someone told me that the golden ball of light is actually the causal body. One side effect of all of that was that I spent many nights just watching myself sleep at night, listening to me snore, watching the body. Even now, I hit that state before I wake up, just dwelling in the "I am". So it is very interesting that you mention "I also remained fully conscious of being it while sleeping at night".

 

Did it go away for you? I'm sure if you did the procedure I recounted above, of doing regular meditations of trying to turn your attention 180 degrees around and becoming the perceiver, it would come back (if you lost it).

 

Thanks again for your comments. It is very nice to hear from someone with similar experiences..

TI

thanks for those links TI.

 

Yes the experience did go away. I have done extensive meditation in the past to try to get back to it, but no success. For me it had an exact location, and was far far smaller than a pea or seed, It was more like an Atom. Every time i 'became' it fully, or maybe I should say every time i dropped body consciousness, there was a really peculiar telescoping effect as awareness rushed inwards past the subtle bodies....

And it really did feel like I had found the absolute root of 'personal being' but it felt like something I had had through all my lives. I didn't remember any past lives while being there as it wasn't giving up the goods on that front.

It definitely had an 'intelligence' of its own [far greater than mine], and while it was allowing me to experience life from its point of view, it also kept some things closed to me...

Hard experience to describe.

Its location seemed crucial to, to the body's survival. Sitting in the right atrium of the heart, it felt like it supplied the hearts life force and fed life to the blood as it passed through...

The only good reference to it that I have found was in Swami Yogeshwaranand Saraswati's book called, Science of the Soul.

 

I am running late for school, so I will post some quotes from it later

 

thanks again, and anyone got any Vedic references to it?

[3bob]

Hi Bob

You know, the heart is a wonderful thing. It is the center of the indestructible drop. It contains a wishing well. It is the door to the other four bodies. It permits remote viewing. It is the merkaba and the junction between the upward and the downward forces. It is also said that the heart has the largest magnetic field of all the organs in the body. According to Yogananda Paramahansa Yogi, relaxing the heart is one method of pratyahara, where the senses shut off. There are many mysteries there. And, I agree with you, true freedom is freedom from desire. Perhaps the atman is the indestructible drop in the heart, the purusha, the I AM.

 

But wouldn't it be wonderful if instead of waiting for 7 to 15 minutes for the body to dissolve during meditation, you could just command it to? Or, if a pain in the body is distracting, just to switch it off with one command? Or to heal yourself? According to this book, all of that is possible and easily accessible with the right technique.

 

There are so many sources to this reference of 'magnetism' that I wonder if maybe there is a connection between all of them. In Kunlun, the waves that come up the body seem to be magnetic. Samuel Sagan speaks of the magnetic pull of the Third eye. Yogananda says that there is a magnetic channel between the center of the brows and the medulla. I've seen many 'chi' demonstrations on YouTube where Qi Gong/martial arts masters repel their oponents with movements of the hands, perhaps by directing magnetic force. To me, it is a fascinating topic..

 

Thanks for your comment.

TI

 

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

Edited January 29, 2012 by 3bob

[Tibetan_Ice]

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 Krishnanada 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

 

Hi Bob

That is a very profound excerpt which resonates deeply with me.

Thanks for that.

TI

[3bob]

Hello TI,

 

And thanks for your comments, sharing and feedback also!

 

Good Day, Bob

[dwai]

I used to practice something my teacher called 'Sinking to Aether' which I later found was very similar to yoganidra.

Basicly one would sweep ones body with a progressive relaxation over and over, and refuse to fall asleep.

It would take hours. I would get so relaxed I would think I couldn't possibly let go more, then I would start feeling tensions in my organs, or deep pains... sweep again, "big toe relaxing, big toe relaxing..."

Then the magick would happen. All sense of my body would disappear and instead my whole being would be felt/perceived as energetic fields of Information.

I learned so much about myself, my structure, every time i did this.

Not small levels of learning but real Inner revolutions... Its like in the Aether space I had no block between conscious/unconscious and all Info was just there...

 

In that space I pierced the knot in my second chakra, and to this day I can still orgasm at will for as long as I want just by focusing there...

 

I can't really practice it much these days being a householder, as I am often too tired to not fall asleep, or my daughter is jumping on me, or partner nudging me...

lol excuses excuses...

Yes. Imho this will happen when it needs to hapen. Also, in that state i dont exist...only streams of everflowing thoughts, interrupted with perfect stillness...an impersonal awareness...

[3bob]

"Experimental evidence of the existence of a fourth state of unified, transcendental consciousness, which lies in the yoga nidra state at the transition between sensory and sleep consciousness, was first recorded at the Menninger Foundation in Kansas, USA in 1971.[7] Under the direction of Dr. Elmer Green, researchers used an electroencephalograph to record the brainwave activity of an Indian yogi, Swami Rama, while he progressively relaxed his entire physical, mental and emotional structure through the practice of Yoga Nidra.

 

What they recorded was a revelation to the scientific community. The swami demonstrated the capacity to enter the various states of consciousness at will, as evidenced by remarkable changes in the electrical activity of his brain. Upon relaxing himself in the laboratory, he first entered the yoga nidra state, producing 70% alpha wave discharge for a predetermined 5 minute period, simply by imagining an empty blue sky with occasional drifting clouds.

 

Next, Swami Rama entered a state of dreaming sleep which was accompanied by slower theta waves for 75% of the subsequent 5 minute test period. This state, which he later described as being 'noisy and unpleasant', was attained by 'stilling the conscious mind and bringing forth the subconscious'. In this state he had the internal experience of desires, ambitions, memories and past images in archetypal form rising sequentially from the subconscious and unconscious with a rush, each archetype occupying his whole awareness.

 

Finally, the swami entered the state of (unconscious) deep sleep, as verified by the emergence of the characteristic pattern of slow rhythm delta waves. However, he remained perfectly aware throughout the entire experimental period. He later recalled the various events which had occurred in the laboratory during the experiment, including all the questions that one of the scientists had asked him during the period of deep delta wave sleep, while his body lay snoring quietly.

 

Such remarkable mastery over the fluctuating patterns of consciousness had not previously been demonstrated under strict laboratory conditions. The capacity to remain consciously aware while producing delta waves and experiencing deep sleep is one of the indications of the superconscious state (turiya). This is the ultimate state of yoga nidra in which the conventional barriers between waking, dreaming and deep sleep are lifted, revealing the simultaneous operation of the conscious, subconscious and unconscious mind. The result is a single, enlightened state of consciousness and a perfectly integrated and relaxed personality".

(found at wikipedia)

 

Thus the existence of True I, along with the connotation of impartial being used instead of "impersonal" since True I is as personal in a certain sense as it can be.

Edited January 31, 2012 by 3bob

[dwai]

"Experimental evidence of the existence of a fourth state of unified, transcendental consciousness, which lies in the yoga nidra state at the transition between sensory and sleep consciousness, was first recorded at the Menninger Foundation in Kansas, USA in 1971.[7] Under the direction of Dr. Elmer Green, researchers used an electroencephalograph to record the brainwave activity of an Indian yogi, Swami Rama, while he progressively relaxed his entire physical, mental and emotional structure through the practice of Yoga Nidra.

 

What they recorded was a revelation to the scientific community. The swami demonstrated the capacity to enter the various states of consciousness at will, as evidenced by remarkable changes in the electrical activity of his brain. Upon relaxing himself in the laboratory, he first entered the yoga nidra state, producing 70% alpha wave discharge for a predetermined 5 minute period, simply by imagining an empty blue sky with occasional drifting clouds.

 

Next, Swami Rama entered a state of dreaming sleep which was accompanied by slower theta waves for 75% of the subsequent 5 minute test period. This state, which he later described as being 'noisy and unpleasant', was attained by 'stilling the conscious mind and bringing forth the subconscious'. In this state he had the internal experience of desires, ambitions, memories and past images in archetypal form rising sequentially from the subconscious and unconscious with a rush, each archetype occupying his whole awareness.

 

Finally, the swami entered the state of (unconscious) deep sleep, as verified by the emergence of the characteristic pattern of slow rhythm delta waves. However, he remained perfectly aware throughout the entire experimental period. He later recalled the various events which had occurred in the laboratory during the experiment, including all the questions that one of the scientists had asked him during the period of deep delta wave sleep, while his body lay snoring quietly.

 

Such remarkable mastery over the fluctuating patterns of consciousness had not previously been demonstrated under strict laboratory conditions. The capacity to remain consciously aware while producing delta waves and experiencing deep sleep is one of the indications of the superconscious state (turiya). This is the ultimate state of yoga nidra in which the conventional barriers between waking, dreaming and deep sleep are lifted, revealing the simultaneous operation of the conscious, subconscious and unconscious mind. The result is a single, enlightened state of consciousness and a perfectly integrated and relaxed personality".

(found at wikipedia)

 

Thus the existence of True I, along with the connotation of impartial being used instead of "impersonal" since True I is as personal in a certain sense as it can be.

 

Read "Beyond Bio-feedback" by Elmer and Alyce Green (the two primary researchers at the Meninger Institute in the late 60s/early 70s)

[Tibetan_Ice]

Hi Bob

Thanks for that. The part that clears things up for me is when Swami Rama mentions that the "slower theta waves" state was "noisy and unpleasant". For the longest time, during meditations I would reach a state that was very disconcerting. It was a state in which many images, thoughts and visions would go whizzing by, like I was caught in a suction flow of forms of consciousness that was rapidly moving upwards, all around, with high speed. "I" wasn't moving, the visions were. I had no idea what was happening. It physically felt like being a roller coaster ride, it produced great stress and the body shook. If I had to describe it another way, it was like all of the planes of reality decided to rapidly move all in the same direction upwards producing the vision and sensation that one was seeing thousands of compressed cartoons whizzing by. I'm thinking that this state must be the theta waves state..

 

Hi Dwai

That was interesting. I found an excerpt from the book "Beyond Bio-feedback" that you suggested here: http://www.sadhanamandir.org/BFB2.pdf

I found the amount of control that Swami Rama had over his body to be phenomenal. On the other side of the coin, I have seen John Chang and other youtube videos of moving object with chi (if they are authentic), so I'm thinking that Swami Rama had learned his methods but had not really mastered projecting chi, or working with the magnetic body. Perhaps there are other writings which prove that he did that as well, I don't know yet. But in any case, I cannot move objects so I take my hat off to all of them..

 

TI

[3bob]

Hi Bob

Thanks for that. The part that clears things up for me is when Swami Rama mentions that the "slower theta waves" state was "noisy and unpleasant". For the longest time, during meditations I would reach a state that was very disconcerting. It was a state in which many images, thoughts and visions would go whizzing by, like I was caught in a suction flow of forms of consciousness that was rapidly moving upwards, all around, with high speed. "I" wasn't moving, the visions were. I had no idea what was happening. It physically felt like being a roller coaster ride, it produced great stress and the body shook. If I had to describe it another way, it was like all of the planes of reality decided to rapidly move all in the same direction upwards producing the vision and sensation that one was seeing thousands of compressed cartoons whizzing by. I'm thinking that this state must be the theta waves state..

 

Hi Dwai

That was interesting. I found an excerpt from the book "Beyond Bio-feedback" that you suggested here: http://www.sadhanamandir.org/BFB2.pdf

I found the amount of control that Swami Rama had over his body to be phenomenal. On the other side of the coin, I have seen John Chang and other youtube videos of moving object with chi (if they are authentic), so I'm thinking that Swami Rama had learned his methods but had not really mastered projecting chi, or working with the magnetic body. Perhaps there are other writings which prove that he did that as well, I don't know yet. But in any case, I cannot move objects so I take my hat off to all of them..

 

TI

 

Hello TI, My two cents:

 

Any "other writings" at best can allude to or point to things. It is fine to study and have maps of this stuff but what another does or knows as far as mind powers go is not very important compared to the quintessential, unbreakable purity and Truth of Atman; thus the revealing Grace related to that which works through a Sat Guru is not of these mind powers, It is beyond mind. (without which all mind powers can go awry)

 

Best wishes, Om