Assorted journal notes that inspired my practices

[JustARandomPanda]

Flipped through my journal tonight and thought I'd share some notes I've taken over the years of various teachers from many diverse traditions. They're snippets. Some from books, some from videos. A lot of it is paraphrased but the gist of what was said I tried to make sure is accurate. This section of notes come from some (rather long if you have the time) Youtube vids of Shri Rohit Arya. (I've grown to like him as much as Master Nan Huai Chin and Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev)

 

If even one person finds something of interest here I'm glad I came up from the depths of lurkdom.

 

 

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On Money Shakti

 

1. Money shakti has a golden hue. The vibration enters through the Mooladhara and Svadhistara. Which is why if the 2 lower chakras are damaged you very rarely get money. But here is the extraordinary thing...if your heart chakra is closed or damaged or you've suffered a lot of emotional trauma the money shakti is blocked.  - Shri Rohit Arya

 

2. Money is not the same as abundance. Abundance shakti is not the same shakti as money. Lakshmi is the energy of abundance. Kubera is the shakti of money specifically. Lakshmi is bounty - overall abundance. Bounty/Abundance is known as "shri" (pronounced "shree"). When everything is at its peak, everything is going very well, (examples: you hit the jackpot at the casino, your business won the government contract bid) - that is Shri. Lakshmi power brings shri. Said differently Lakshmi is the energy/power of success. However, if money is what you are wanting specifically then that is Kubera. - Shri Rohit Arya

 

 

On Mooladhara and Prana / Chi  (Moola "core", adhara "foundation')

 

 

1. When one first becomes aware of prana (chi) most people experience a swirling movement. Clockwise, anti-clockwise, like a funnel. We feel certain movement and the feeling of tremendous heat. That is because there is resistance in the body to the flow of the prana (chi) and the resistance causes friction.

    Sometimes, if you are lucky, you feel a cold flow of energy but usually people feel the swirling and/or the heat. As you advance from doing your practices you can feel the cold flow of prana / chi and that is actually a very good sign. - Shri Rohit Arya

 

2. Of all the chakras in the body the Mooladhara is the most important for life. Not for spiritual progress but for life and the processes of life and of being embodied it is. All the troubles that come in your life, all the troubles that are removed from your life - both come from the Mooladhara. The state of your Mooladhara determines 3 primary things in your life.

   a. it determines the state of your health

   b. it determines the state of your money (income, gross / net wealth)

   c. it determines how long you will live.  

    - Shri Rohit Arya

 

3. Mooladhara needs to be a strong chakra since it is the Rupa (rupa "form") and prana / chi of life energy. Everyone wants to work on their higher chakras these days so many people have them developed. There's also the aspect that working on the lower chakras runs up against many Society taboos for the lower sections of the body. So most practitioners do all kinds of practices working on the higher ones. There's a lot of information on working with the upper ones these days freely available. But for most practitioners their 3 lowest chakras are usually still a mess.  - Shri Rohit Arya

 

4. Very often you will see people have 1 or 2 of the 3 things primarily granted by the energy of the mooladhara but it is rare to find a person with all 3. It's because their mooladhara is not vibrating / functioning optimally.

    examples: the person has health but no money

                     the person has long life but no health and no money

                     the person has a lot of money but poor health

There is a 4th aspect of the moodhara too. It also has an impact on the Mind. - Shri Rohit Arya

 

 

On Karma Yoga

 

1. Nassim Taleb's book The Black Swan is one of the most astounding works on karma yoga ever written. He gets why you have "the right to the action but not the fruit" better than any Indian or spiritual person I've ever known. - Shri Rohit Arya

 

2. Gurdjieff's method (the 4th Way) was primarily based around karma yoga. Can you throw everything about your being into an action without clinging to a desired outcome. Only those who can let go of any outcome - positive, negative, desired, not-desired - only those who let outcomes in life become what they become from those actions and don't cling to either failure or success of those actions have the capability to grow. They do what needs to be done then move on. - Shri Rohit Arya

 

 

 

On Focusing on the Breath

 

 

1. The underside part / divide between both nostril outlets has its own chakra. All the texts were actually talking about that chakra and getting you to become aware of it by focusing on the breath at that single point. Focusing on this chakra also is related to the root chakra Mooladhara. The texts were not telling you to go cross eyed focusing on the tip of your nose. They were trying to get you to become aware of the chakra that lies at the fleshy strip between both nostril openings.   - Shri Rohit Arya

 

 

 

On things forgotten about the Markandeya Mantra

 

1. Markandeya mantra is typically taught in books and videos as a healing mantra. This is incorrect. It's actually a karma-burning mantra and often the fastest way to burn karma is to go through a lot of suffering in a short amount of time. This suffering might be short to Shiva but not necessarily to you, the mantra chanter. Markandeya himself was a highly advanced being and this mantra was given to him by Shiva to burn the very last of his karma and he - that is, Markandeya, is now outside of space and time.

     This mantra got the reputation of being a healing mantra because in the old days village Indian tantric healers would use it as part of a series of actions done on behalf of a seriously sick person. However, there were many other things they did along with that mantra that are important and much of that knowledge has been forgotten and not passed on. But the thing the lay people remembered was the use of the Markandeya mantra and so it acquired a reputation as a healing mantra. That's what you see in all the books and videos. But anyone who is aware of the energy of that mantra's shakti knows it burns karma - and often times not in a way the chanter is prepared for (read: they slam headlong into a lot more suffering instead of being alleviated of suffering instead).  

 

                                                                           - Shri Rohit Arya

 

 

 

 

 

 

edit: typos

Edited November 4, 2016 by JustARandomPanda

[Kar3n]

Thank you.

 

Would you like a PPD? Would he a great place for sharing and you can control the content posted by others.

[Peramadi]

Thank You.  Very fascinating... I am viewing his videos on youtube.  This sage seem to have depth.

[JustARandomPanda]

Thanks for the offer on the PPD but one will not be necessary. I doubt I'd use it often enough to make it worth while having. I am glad a few people found some of the notes interesting. Shri Rohit Arya often clarifies things about the spiritual process that I haven't been able to find in any other videos or books.

 

If anyone is interested he has a The Money Tarot

ISBN: 8188479632

 

and of Vaastu: The Indian Art of Placement

ISBN: 0892818859

 

He also has a Facebook page where he is quite active.

 

 

He doesn't seem to be very well known and I'm not sure if that is a good thing or not. But from what I can tell this guy knows his stuff amazingly deep.

 

 

Still...he's not the only person I've got notes on that I've accumulated over the years.

 

P.S.

 

Anyone who is interested in sitting through his 30 minute or longer vids - check out the one where he talks about Patanjali and naga devas and the Yoga Sutra. People into Hermeticism will want to check it out too. Hint: Both India and Ancient Egypt are discussed in relation to "Typhonic Beings" - of which both cultures were intimately aware (think Thoth, Bastet, Anubis, Hanuman, (also possibly - Chiron the centaur famed for his deep wisdom), etc).

 

 

 

edit: typo

Edited November 3, 2016 by JustARandomPanda

[RiverSnake]

Another bums notes that really inspired me early on in my practice: 

 

http://www.thedaobums.com/forum/85-phore/ 

[JustARandomPanda]

Some more interesting things from my notes from Rohit Arya:

 

 

On the Great Gunas

 

The 3 great Tattvas / Bhutas are Black, Red, White

 

Tamas - Black (it's what holds form, also it is inertia)
Rajas - Red (activity)
Satva - White (purity)

 

Look at how the Hindu gods are married. Vishnu is everywhere. He is traditionally portrayed as black or very deep blue-black - ie: Tamas (form). Who is he married to? Lakshmi - Red (Rajas, activity). It is balanced.

Shiva is White (Satva, purity, emptiness). Who is he married to? Kali (black - tamas, form). Kali is the feminine form of the sanskrit word Kala 'Time' (example: Kalachakra - the wheel / mandala of Time). They are balanced.

Brahma is Red (Rajas, activity). Who is he married to? Saraswati (Satva, white). So again they are balanced.

 

It is a male/female compliment of the universe - always Nature is red, white, black - red, white, black - red, white, black. All 3 happy couples (ie gunas) are represented there in the 6 pointed star. That's why it is one of the most powerful and stable of all visual symbols.

 

Any country whose people focuses on that symbol benefits. Look at Israel, whom has adopted that 6 pointed star. Israel has never been beaten in modern times even once in war. They call it the Star of David. It's even on their flag.

 

It is fundamentally the criss-cross that creates stability. The universe is held in place because of these 3 diodes*. 3 pairs of male/female energies - in criss-cross. The way we symbolize it is with the 6 pointed star.

 

If one really knows how to use the 6 pointed star enormous, magnificent, really wonderful things can be done. Even Shri Aurobindo's symbol you will notice is the 6 pointed star.

 

The 5 pointed star is different. That is Shiva. That is da Vinci's Man with his arms and legs spread out. The Pentacle. That is a very dynamic symbol.

 

 

* My note: I suspect this is the pre-scientific method way of explaining things like protons, neutrons, and electrons etc in an understandable way to spiritual practitioners. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_nucleus  >

 

 

 

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On Evolution and Rebirth

 

Yogis  always experience the memories of past lives so karma is never seriously challenged in India or Buddhist countries. It is just the bedrock of these cultures. Yogis always see evolution in meditation.

 

From mineral to plant to animal to human. And always the last animal birth is that of a cow. Before you come to human always the final animal birth is as a cow. Which is why in India the cow is not to be slaughtered because in doing so you are stopping a very vital push forward by the universe in evolution. Yogis always know the final animal birth is that of a cow. Not a dog, cat, tiger, elephant, etc. It's always a cow. [my note: and now I understand why the ancient Hebrews used the symbol of the calf when coming out of Egypt despite the bad press Exodus gave it].

 

The cow is a potential future human. Being born human opens up Buddhi which only humans have (Buddhi = the Intellect - knowing that one knows and allows one to direct their own spiritual progress). This - being able to shape and consciously direct one's own spiritual evolution is one of the primary reasons it is regarded as the greatest of blessings to be born human.
 

Edited June 11, 2017 by JustARandomPanda
additional note about the 5 pointed star

[JustARandomPanda]

Why Spiritual People Shave their Heads

 

 

Yogis discovered that every new moon and every full moon the energy of the body naturally rises and if you shave your head at that time the energy (chi, shakti) gets a huge boost.

 

Also, if you keep a shaven head immediately those in Yoga know what kind of yoga, what kind of Sadhana you are doing. What kind of breathing you are doing, what kind of meditation you are doing, because your energy (shakti, chi) rises so powerfully. Hair acts like a filter. The energy rises so powerfully that it will short-circuit if you have hair. The energy needs to circulate. I do meditation, I do breathing practices. I know because I do that. If I let my hair grow even one week there is big trouble. Ideally I need to shave every day but I'm lazy so I shave every other day.

 

Those on the path - those in spirituality they understand what kind of practice, what kind of school, what kind of meditations, what kind of breathing you are doing. Often it will convey information to them. Things like, "Do I need to learn from this person or do I need to learn from somebody else?" Because everything doesn't work for everybody.

 

Most places if you come to them (ie Ashrams, monasteries, convents, etc) they will ask you to demonstrate your readiness. Example: they will ask you to practice celibacy. If you shave your head celibacy often becomes easier. There is some connection to shaving your head that helps with this. That helps you to not become sexually aroused quite so easily.

 

Now a lot of teachers will say it's for humility and wonderful knowledge but that's just for public reason. It's not the real reason and I don't see any reason to hide the real reasons any longer. Why hide it? When you come to a certain level of Shakti (aka Chi Development) and also depending on the kind of processes you are doing then it helps when you don't cut your hair anymore. Because the hair creates a layer of insulation. It helps to keep the Chi / Shakti you've cultivated.

 

So the minute a person lets their hair grow out you know that something has happened and they need to block that energy (shakti / chi) from seepage, leakage. But again all of this depends a lot on the kind of processes you are doing.

 

For example teachers often find they need to grow a beard because if you have a beard from here to here [ my note: Shri Rohit Arya indicates from lower half of face to approximately where the Anapata chakra is] it creates a certain kind of vibration within the body. So if you let your beard grow out the internal energy grows in a certain way. If you shave your head but let the beard grow out the internal energy goes in a certain way though I don't recommend that. So there are these multiple things that people can do that can help but it is still completely tied up to the breathing and the meditation.

 

Hair has it's own properties. Hair is a peculiar substance because if you take a hair and a piece of steel wire of the same thickness the hair is actually stronger. So Ninja used to have ropes made of human hair. Kesha Cumb(...apologies couldn't make out what he was saying here). A [Kumba(?)] made of Kesh. He was protecting himself with a blanket of human hair from certain external negative energies. People hated him and they were always doing Black Magic at him so he wore the blanket of human hair to protect himself and stop the Black Magic.

 

I've experimented with all kinds of hats as well (turbans, caps, hats, etc) and I found that the fedora is the best because there is a chakra about the head that needs protecting. The turban also protects it. But so does the fedora. It's not just stylishness. There are good energy reasons why. When I go out I'm vulnerable there so I wear them. Have you noticed how the Sufis tie their hair in a certain way? It is because they are activating a Nadi (Meridian) by tying it that way. So these are all ways of knowledge of spiritual growth that is not normally available.

Edited June 11, 2017 by JustARandomPanda
typos

[JustARandomPanda]

Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev also had a video about the Meridians. He said one of the major conjunction points in the body takes the shape of a 6 pointed star. There is a lower triangle of shakti (chi) and an upper triangle of shakti (chi). They meet at Anahata. When one eats they separate and the Chi sinks to a lower level (ie lower triangle lowers and higher triangle rises). The more one fasts the closer they come until they finally meet and merge* at Anahata. The result is the 6 pointed star - the REAL 6 pointed star within one's own body. And it's made of Chi.

 

This is why Jewish mystics took it and used it to teach their people the Jewish religion. It's based on 'as above, so below' - what they themselves saw happening energetically - chi-wise - within their own bodies during deep yogic meditation and the results it brings. Higher Consciousness becomes more possible when the two halves of the 6 pointed star come together and why so many religious traditions recommend some fasting. Just not obsessively so (as the Buddha famously pointed out). But some fasting is ok.

 

 

 

*That is - they finally meet and merge at Anahata to create the 6 pointed star once one has fasted long enough.

 

Edited June 11, 2017 by JustARandomPanda
added a forgotten sentence to add clarity