All along the way of your evolution this concept comes to you every so often but remains for the most part a theory only.  Yet with every step closer to the Self over time the concept gains more substance as a truth of experience. 

Later, with persistent practice and dedication, one gets flashes or brief experiences of the Self and the duration of these experiences becomes ever longer until such a time that one can remain in the Oneness of Self for quite a considerable period of time. 

With Samadhi (literally the "making firm" of the state of Oneness, sometimes explained as the state directly preceding Nirvana, or Enlightenment), your consciousness and the experienced object is one in a totally continuous yet effortless mental way.  You are not thinking about it but you are experiencing it, or really, you have become it, and you can then truly exclaim "AUM Tat Sat, Tat Twam Asi" (I am That, That I am).

This Oneness is the central goal of all yoga, and those who have the auspiciousness and the courage to turn away from the world presented by the illusion of duality and can look inward are almost instantly touched by the theory of Oneness, even if only on an intellectual level initially. 

A certain understanding is then gained that suggests to the seeker of Self the error in previous dualistic ways of thinking and living – that there may after all not be a me and therefore "others".  And the old theory (and practice) of "me and the others", for the duration of the consideration of the potential behind the Oneness of Self, becomes unstable, and that we truly are, in reality, not other than the others. 

The implications of this realization and even its very consideration are truly fantastic. All of a sudden it dawns on you that since you feel, others feel as well, and though that seems somewhat obvious rationally, it is the implication of such thought that is important because it becomes an experiential known.  The feelings of "others" are not distinct and separate from yours in their existence and operation. What affects you affects them in the same way.  Everything affects everything else, and so also do you affect everything. 

Over time you come to understand that it would be a senseless thing to even consider hurting others because they are in truth not other than you.  Your hurting would only be hurting yourself, and that the same is true of lies and deception.  They are not inflicted by you to others, but only onto your Self, and also onto all of existence in the process. A weighty idea indeed.

What then follows over more time is an empathy with humanity, and a recognition of sameness, and an understanding that all suffering in all humans is not removed from your Being.  Then, almost immediately after this realization one is overcome with a great sense of deep caring for all others, which, once realized and developed over time is almost impossible to ignore.  And the behavior stemming from such lack of caring is found to be foreign and regrettable when observed in the behavior of others. An almost natural distancing of oneself from non-caring behavior occurs.

But given this caring, all people are treated with it, and with respect and honor, regardless of all other factors related to them, because that is how you treat your Self, and these "others" are recognized as not being separate and distinct from your own Self at all.

Finally, in the most intimate of Divine unfolding an openness of Being ensues towards all others, whether enlightened or ignorant, and for those who share this openness, true communication results and Bliss is not far behind.

And then the gravity of your Being really hits you, and the implication dawns on you of this great responsibility you have towards all of creation and all beings, (and in particular for us humans, the other humans).  And it comes to you that your effect on the universe depends largely on whether you choose to make the turn inwards or not.

It is at this very instant that one gains insight into whether yoga is worth your pursuit or whether you should go back to the world of duality.  And it is a critical moment in ones evolution and worthy of note, because it will happen to you again and again as you evolve, (and even become apparent in each and every decision you are presented with), and if you take note of the opportunity of this choice as such, then the next time you may be more prepared via the Divine quickening, whether that be through pain or Grace or Blessing or auspiciousness, or merely because of your sincere desire for release. 

And at the moment you recognize the choice before you, depending upon your readiness, either a great and inexplicable bliss comes into you, or you become possessed of an almost unmanageable and mostly uncontrollable fear and a sense of dire loss of identity, in which case the turn towards your Self would require not only faith, but also great courage.  And it is this moment that presents to you the opportunity to choose either an inner or an outward direction by means of your free will. 

Sometimes, because their evolutionary level is still incapable of comprehending the concept of Oneness, some people choose the way of the world and continue their lives in ignorance, resulting in a general selfishness and disregard for the existence of others in matters they perceive to be of benefit to them and their needs.  These behaviors are inherent in the acceptance of a "me" and a "not-me" idea which almost immediately develops into concepts of opposition, enemy, protection, defense, attack, and all that go along with these, and soon they are at war because they ignorantly believe that they have to be for their survival.

The yogic guidance suggests that as much as is possible or prudent, these people are not to be taken too seriously and neither should they be blamed.  They should be afforded patience, courteous regard and care, guidance if receptive, and compassion and Love at all times.

Because for these people there is never any real peace.  No stillness of mind can be arrived at and so no real meditation is possible. There exists for them only further confusion and suffering, and they will continue their selfish pursuit of their endless external desires, cravings and needs, and yes, we've all been there at some point or another, and some of us are still stuck in it right now, waiting for the next opportunity at a choice.

Others, being presented with this Divine opportunity choose to turn and face themselves and they start to recognize the sameness in all beings.  They soon arrive at peace and stillness.   Meditation becomes possible for them, and Samadhi eventually ensues as a birthright, which eventually culminates in Nirvana.  Endless compassion and care inhabit their Being, and their actions assume over time the characteristics of honor and respect for all things and beings, and they become the original state of Love, which is also Oneness, and the illusion and suffering created by the play of duality cease to exist.

Zen can be pretty cool at times. It makes us think in a different way. Sort of as though from the other side. Check this out; the value of a cup is not in the cup itself, but in the nothingness that is inside of it. And this; the value of a doorway is the nothingness inside of the frame. See? Cool, eh? So Zen sort of makes us look at common things differently. And all of a sudden, the nothingness we think of as, well, nothing, now has value. We usually think of things as having value – nothingness has no value. But as Zen points out to us, we are seeing only the seen - usually less than half of it all.

On many levels we know this and we merely forget. And because we forget, we get involved in the details of the doorframe and the cup and the windowsill, and we sort of ignore the value of the nothingness, which is as much the real value and essence of these things as the things themselves – even more so. Yet we so rarely think of nothingness as having intrinsic value, and we sometimes tend to look at the open window instead of through it, only intuitively knowing that it is really the very nothingness that makes us able to see what's on the other side.

The Self is very much like this nothingness. It is said to be like the hub of a wheel. And you've got to imagine one of those old wagon wheels, you know, the ones with the spokes. In the middle where all the spokes come together is the hub - a hole into which the axle fits.

Following the Zen example, the nothingness of the wheel gives it its value, because without an axle it cannot carry any weight, and the axle cannot play a role unless there is the nothingness of the hole in the center of the wheel that can hold it. Everything depends upon the nothingness, and so the nothingness is the everything.

Scientifically, in the very center of the hole in the wheel there exists a state of zero movement even if the wheel is turning. Zero is in the exact scientific center, and yet without zero there would be nothing else that could exist. So the existence of everything depends upon nothing.

Yeah, welcome to Zen.

You, your Self is like the nothingness upon which everything depends for its existence. Everything (for you) comes from this nothingness. The definition of "creation" is the making of something from nothing.

In yoga, everything proceeds from this center nothingness (You) as you create it. Whatever is around you or in your world or in or even remotely connected to your consciousness in any way is your creation. You create your own world and everything in it from the "nothingness" of the Self.

Now, everything thus created, since it is created from the "essence" of nothingness, has as its very marrow this nothingness quality as intrinsic part of it – underlying and upholding and sustaining it and pervading everything.  And scientifically we know that the tiniest thing ('quark', is it these days, or 'string'?) when broken up becomes, well, nothingness. Yoga claims this nothingness to be energy, or consciousness. So yes, everything is nothing – nothing but consciousness, and you as well.

Heavy, eh?  Well hang, it gets worse.

The great wheel is turning, and whatever is created by you (in other words, to that where and what your consciousness goes and attaches to) proceeds from the nothingness of your Self. The created item moves to the edge of the hub and climbs onto the spoke of its choice by your will, which is influenced by your discrimination ability, which is supposed to manage your likes and dislikes – your attractions and your repulsions. And if you like the looks of this one spoke… this really cool-looking spoke, you climb out onto it because of your attraction to it. And the more you like it, the further you climb out onto the spoke.

But the great wheel is in motion. And like a centrifugal force it starts taking over at some point along the spoke, almost like having a life of its own, and instead of only your consciousness (you) moving towards your desire, the force now starts pulling at you as well in an almost natural way whether you like it or not, or whether you wanted to go that far out on a limb (or spoke) or not.

And soon you are spinning out of control.

Science will tell you that the further you are out towards the edge of the wheel, the more force there is being exerted on you and the more difficult it becomes to change direction. Under pressure, so to speak, being both pulled and pushed in a direction that seemed so attractive and cool to you at the beginning but is now only the producer of huge discomfort, pain and suffering. And ah, yes, we are solidly in the throws of this thing we call life.

The situation soon becomes intolerable and you eventually, being so taught by pain, recognize that you have to get to a more stable place. Balance yourself a little more, center yourself. And for the first time you look away from the blinding blur of the world as it speeds by you and look back up the spoke to the center.  To the Center, and yes, to You. And it looks to you as though you are a hell of a way away from the peace and stability and stillness of the Center, and the climb back up the spoke, which has somehow now also become slippery from the rather sticky process so reminiscent of creation looks practically impossible. Most of us then merely hang on for dear life, clinging, surviving. Some of us try to claw back but it is not easy and many times it is one step forward and two back. Sound familiar? Yeah, to me too.

For those who are into it, there are the advices of the various yogas. Bhakti (devotion) – hang in there and keep at it, because every difficult step makes the next one easier since you are nearer the Center (You) and further away from the centrifugal force, but love every part of it. Or Jnana (knowledge) – think about it, realize it for what it is, know who You are, and that will get you to the Center. Or Tantra, that compresses the time, but does not take away the effort, so work hard but for a shorter time. And there are lots of other yogas and ways to choose from. Look around, find something that suits you, and go for it. Find some help if you need it. Meditation is also highly effective for Centering.

There is much hope and inspiration in some lines of the Writings. It is said that it was asked of a Zen master how long it takes to reach enlightenment, and the answer is usually something cryptic like "how long do you want it to take?" But there are also accounts that the answer comes back that enlightenment will take you as long to reach as what it will take for the rolling pebble in the river, upon colliding with the bamboo, to make the sound that strikes your ear. And also, from yoga it comes to us like this; "with your next, gently indrawn breath, realize your Self."  Try it now. Sometimes though you'll even hear to give up the search for enlightenment completely because the searching is the very thing preventing you from enlightenment.

But still, there is always hope as long as there is pain and its blessed associated desire for release, the latter of which it is said to be not omissible for evolution.

Only, salvation usually does not come to us without our extending ourselves in some sort of effort, at least initially. For most of us, whatever form this may take it will still have to be effort, and this effort must come from us. Too few of us are at the stage where we can intuitively recognize that even the very effort is Divine in itself and that we are already enlightened, effort or no effort.

Until such a time, hang in there with your efforts, whatever form it may take.

Namaste.

I have mentioned elsewhere here that not everyone is cut out to be a yogi. This is especially true in the western world where business and commerce touches us all to the extent that we really have to partake in the game. Our lives are mostly involved with cars and the mortgage and college tuition and food and shopping and a myriad other items, and also a daily time-consuming job to support all these.

We hunt around for what we call "free time" to just hang and chill for a while and that is very hard to come by. The world has its demands and they are many and unforgiving if we slack off our attention for even a minute. Where then can we ever find the time to do yoga?

If memory still serves, to reach Enlightenment via the Path of Hatha yoga takes eight years! And that is 24/7. So with your hour a day, if that, this is gonna take a while and you may as well get used to the idea of lifetime of Hatha. Most non-yogis take one look at this and say "nah, not for me". And I don't blame them.

True, there are quicker yogas, Bhakti, Karma, Kundalini, Jnana, and many others and many paths, and of course, there is Kriya. But all these require either an inner orientation obtained or arrived at by evolutionary means or Divine Blessing or both to really be pursued in the best possible way. But what if you and the other 99% of the population around you have neither the orientation nor the quickening Blessing but still desire a way to lessen your tremendous suffering in your life and your world? The pills and drugs and TV and booze and shrinks don't really cut it for you any more – things just stay the same or slowly get worse. What then, in the name of Yoga, can you do?

Well, first of all, you burn the name "yoga" because it creates all kinds of uncomfortable imagery inside of your psyche and your mind - like people standing on their heads and sitting for hours on end in a lotus in a damp cave in a loincloth living on beans. Forget about all that stuff. Yoga is nothing other that you living your life – that's all. So instead of saying "yoga", say "life". Because probably the worst thing about yoga is its name. There, now that that's out of the way, let's get on with it.

For those who feel they have nothing, and I mean nothing auspicious – for them – for you maybe? – there is Mantra. Now bear with me a little… because Mantra (yoga) is a science.

In its most basic of forms it consists of repeating a semi-monotonous set of words over and over again. The science is very involved and for those who find anything in this writing, I won't bore you beyond the basics other than these few words: Sound is a vibration. A vibration is energy and has frequency, and believe it or not it has color as well. Energy also affects the material world, well, duh! Ok, but you too are matter, and on a subtler level, you also have energy that vibrates not only as visible matter but also as emotional matter. Anger, for instance, is felt by most people around you because the energy is so great. All emotions are energy. In fact, nothing is not energy. Even depression radiates an energy. And then there is still spiritual energy, but maybe we leave that for now...

The deeper science of mantra is hidden in the fact that most (authentic) mantras were created by some pretty powerful spiritual people, and so a mantra contains the energy instilled in it by that person. But much more – it also contains the energy of a deity, a "seed" of special power, the Life Force, a pillar, and some other things.  And they are also mostly in Sanskrit because that is sort of considered a sacred language.  Hmm, so now you're getting bored and all this seems a bit esoterically shaded… Ok, all these things are merely for your interest and you can forget them now if you feel you need to.

If you can get to the point where you can mildly accept that any sound you utter or come into contact with has some correlative influence or at least relationship of some kind with your body and also your inner being (the way you feel, if you must), and that some sounds have a good influence on you (check out laughter) and some a negative influence (words of anger or snide and cutting remarks or a loud cry of pain), and then make the stretch that mantra may be a cool sound that may have a really cool effect on you and you are willing to give it a whirl for a while, then you have come to mantra, and you just may have picked up what could be the key to the lock on the chain that keeps you so unhappy and in almost perpetual and seemingly inescapable suffering.

Ok, so if I agree then what?

Then you need a mantra.

Well where do I get a mantra? I don't know any gurus or yogis of note or auspiciousness, so what now?

Well my Friends, Google it if you must, or check out some of these:

Om Mani Padme Hum

Om Namo Narayanaya

Om Hanumate Namah (bestows victory and strength)

Om Saravanabhavaya Namah (success in whatever you do)

Om Sri Mahalakshmyai Namah (confers wealth or relieves suffering – money wise)

Om Sarasvatyai Namah (confers wisdom, intelligence, inspiration, and the writing of great poetry)

And there are many, many other mantras.

Find one that feels to you as though it fits with you – you'll know almost right away, because after a day or so it already starts to make you feel kinda cool inside. Then find a nice rhythm and tune and go for it. Take a week or so. At first it will be distracting but you get used to it after a while. Say it out loud at first when you are out of earshot, just to get the hang of it, then whisper it for a while and eventually say it silently.

Once you get it established, never change it. There is no right or wrong way to say your chosen mantra. Maybe you did not even choose it... hmm. In any event, your way, whatever that may end up to be, is the right way – your right way.

Later the mantra sort of becomes your companion. Then it becomes your friend, and still later it becomes your Friend, and then the influence of the mantra on your inner energies really comes to life. After a while – and now I mean a long time – you don't "say" your mantra any more - it says you. It never leaves you because it has become part of you.

Mantra has the most calming effect that you can ever imagine. And when your life and actions proceed from such calmness and equanimity, everything you touch – everything you and your consciousness come into contact with is affected in a pleasant way. Imagine that! So you change your life by your own volition and power and exertion. And that is what you wanted to do in the beginning, remember? But you didn't know how and you didn't want to get too deeply involved into the whole awkward and seemingly demanding yoga thing.

Well then, there you go. You pick a mantra of your choice and feel it out and make it cool for you, and then do the work, albeit a little repetitive. The mantra does its own work, and pretty soon your life will start changing and you would not even have set foot in an ashram.  "A what?" Never mind… say your mantra and be happy. It is really and truly as simple as that. Try it. What do you have to lose? Hmm, I thought so.

Namaste.

In the same way, the Path towards oneself involves the removing of impurities. These impurities are those understandings that create and uphold your beliefs that there is a you and a not-you. The greatest of impurities are the created self-concept and its associations such as ego and individualism. Yoga is the heat applied to the self-concept. On a Path of Jnana (Knowledge) it starts with the most basic and yet most potent of questions "Who am I?" The continuous investigation into the "I" creates the heat.

On a Path of Tantra the refinement is a way of life based on some foundational principles rather than, or really in addition to the more intellectual approach of Jnana.

One of the foundational principles of Tantra (but almost all of yoga) is that of diet. It becomes deeply important not only what you eat, but how you eat as well.  My Teacher used to say to eat as often as you can, as little as you can, chew as well as you can, eat as slow as you can, and eat as many colors as you can.  From the yogic diet we also learn of those foods that are rajasic (passionate), sattvic (pure), and tamasic (dull, or what I'll just call stupid, which you can figure easily), and for us to stick to the pure foods.

For Tantrics, food is the essential starting point in a long chain, and the chain links like this:

From the food that you eat, a chyle (via WordWeb: "A milky fluid consisting of lymph and emulsified fats; formed in the small intestine during digestion of ingested fats") is produced by the mix of your chewing and the enzymes in your mouth and intestines. From the very essence of the chyle - the refined bio-energy part thereof – similar to the purification process of gold - blood is produced.  From the essence of blood (refined again) muscle is produced, from the essence of muscle, sinew, from the essence of sinew, bone is produced, from this essence, marrow is produced, and from the essence of marrow, reproduction energy is created in the form of the sperm and the egg – from which we all come.

Tantra is all about the energies inside of you. From the essence (the refined energy) of the sperm and the eggs, prana is produced. Prana is Life Force that sustains your being. In Tantra, this energy, usually associated with intercourse (but not always, as exemplified by Tantra and other yogas such as Kundalini), has two ways of flowing – in, or out, or more technically correct, up, or down. With orgasm, the essence leaves the body, which is why it is so easy to fall asleep afterwards, but with the "inner orgasm" the prana is drawn up into the body along the nadi (energy channels) in the spine and distributed through the chakras to all parts of the body, energizing the entire body with psychic energy that is required in your efforts to tread the Path to your Self.

You can expend your gold for the temporary pleasure of the body or for the use on your Path to your inner Self, which when energized like this, facilitates the wellbeing of the entire universe and all beings via your then more enlightened state of Being for a while. You then have become a co-worker in the labor of keeping the darkness in the world at bay.

My Friends, we live in both worlds, as I have mentioned so many times, so we really need to take both paths and not always take only one.  The body needs to function according to its design which is really and truly totally perfect.  Inhibition of the body should be moderate as always, but the furthering of the spirit should also not be neglected. Only by the use and balance of both the moderate inhibition of the body and the energetic generation of spiritual energy can you refine the gold to pay for your ultimate Journey, which can be very, very expensive.

Namaste.

Still, the question remains whether there is a qualitative difference between what is imagined and what is visualized.  We recognize the ingredient of unreality in our imagination.  The look and feel of our imagination is not that much different than our visualizations.  Both contain images concocted or created from our world, albeit sometimes in very strange and convoluted arrangements.  So why then in Yoga do we suggest this visualization and attribute so much importance to its practice?

Let's step back a little.  Everything… every possible image that you can visualize or imagine has a core existence in the phenomenal world.  Test it.  Try imagining or visualizing something so way out foreign, absurd, or strange – and you can – but, when you disassemble the image, the parts have their roots in the world that is known to you.  You can argue this point, but only for the duration until you understand "existence" in your world.  The one-eyed green Martian consists of "parts" – hands (of some kind), eyes, ears, body, a color and so on, each of which has a root of existence inside of your world (not always "the" world – but "your" world).  Sure, so we bend things a little – we'll make him green, and one-eyed and short, which is strange and odd and convoluted, but the "parts" that make him up are from roots of phenomena you have come into contact with via your senses at some earlier point.

This means that everything… everything you see is imagination, which is really "image in action".  When you imagine an elephant, and then imagine a Martian, the technical working of the science behind the act of imagination (and visualization) is exactly the same.

But then something more complex happens - we use a higher faculty (discrimination) to attribute some "reality" factor to what we imagine or visualize.  Furthermore, depending upon what "reality factor" we attribute to our inner images, we are accordingly moved affectively.  Our inner pictures are mere pictures – it is our discrimination and attribution that affects how we experience the picture (other than "seeing" it).  So it is not our visualization that is as important as our discriminative faculty. 

But there is more:  As a general rule we react to certain pictures in certain ways.  We feel differently about a violent scene than we do about a landscape of beauty.  We "feel" about everything we see.  We can sort of say that we have scary pictures and cool pictures and an infinite range.

Yoga taps into this picture idea by means of visualization.  Yoga visualizations are not about car crashes or violence (that I know of), but are "cool pictures" that create within you those feelings which Yoga has identified as conducive to development.  In a Tantric sense, you "make love", meaning Divine Love, via visualizations.  Love is said to be your original and primal state before you took the images of your world as "real" and separate from your Being.  Remember that?  Yes, it was when you made One into two – into me, and not-me.

Yoga states: "As you think, so you become".  So Yoga visualizations are designed as a vehicle to move you nearer to your Self by using images conducive to realizing your own Being and by doing so, create within you a feeling of Love rather than anything else.

The implication of the fact that you tend to feel according to what you think is huge.  Watch what you think.  If it leads you away from your Self and the feeling of Love, then change your thinking.  You can, you know – your thoughts come from your mind, and your mind is your tool that you own and control - or should.  So it is one of the battles in life - the control of your mind – and in this Holy War, Yoga is the warrior, and visualization is its weapon.

From the Mundaka Upanishad (v.3,4), these lines: 

"Take the Upanishad as the bow, the great weapon, and place upon it the arrow sharpened by meditation. Then, having drawn it back with a mind directed to the thought of Brahman, strike that mark, O my good friend—that which is the Imperishable

Om is the bow; the atman is the arrow; Brahman is said to be the mark. It is to be struck by an undistracted mind. Then the atman becomes one with Brahman, as the arrow with the target."

Don't only watch your mind, my Friends, but tell it what to watch.

Namaste

I had this friend one time, Vic, an artist and alternative thinker, who came up with one of those striking phrases that stick around inside of one for a long time on the path of development. It was one day, after an intense session of breaking life into its molecules of thought for closer inspection with a few of my friends, and the subsequent, and yes, usual finalization upon the "great idea" – you know, that place where you have the absolute and final solution to all of your future life, your whole being, and oh yes, one may as well throw in the complete understanding of the entire universe as well. Ha, yeah, such is the folly of youth – my youth in any event, and that of my friends at the time.

Then Vic, with a mix of pensiveness and a half-smile of deadly sincere concern verbalized one sentence very clearly to us: "Now that you know what you know… what are you doing about it?"

The question numbed us and brought our minds to a standstill. We weren't really doing much, or anything at all at the time.  But yes, what were we going to "do" with all this great knowledge? Certainly something has to be done with great knowledge, or else it would be or become dead knowledge.  So what were we to do?  What are we to do now?

On some levels the question still occupies me from time to time.  On some levels I have solved it and on others I've abandoned it.  For this writing, I'd like to stick to the level where one has the knowledge and one recognizes that some specific action needs to be taken.  In a simple way we can say that when you see (gain knowledge of) a red light, you stop your car.  If you smoke, you quit.  If you are involved in something that is contributing to the negative, you stop and you change direction.

On this level the Vic question is answered fully. Well, almost.  The action still has to be taken (and that includes a 'negative' action such as desisting, discontinuing, etc.).  The thing that makes life in its variety so deeply interesting is that even though one knows what to "do", one is so many times seemingly totally incapable of taking the applicable action that the knowledge provides.  I see it every day – I struggle with it every day.  I live it as well, and I think you do too.  And so Vic's question perhaps should have been: "Now that you know that you cannot do what you need to do, what now?"  Hmm… yes, indeed.  Now what?  It is a huge dilemma for those living it.  A powerlessness.  A dire stuck-ness.  A helplessness… and a slow killer of your life, day after day.

And then, as if on cue, in comes the parade of teachers and parents and friends and shrinks and priests… even some Yogis - many times with some sort of either blatant or veiled already value-weighted-down hand stretched forth with a smile.  Some help a little but others can injure dearly, and then still we are stuck, sometimes only poorer and more bruised and in even deeper trouble.

I don't have any direct advice really, but from Yoga harvest the following may be of some interest and possibly of some use to some:  I call it "one-upmanship".

There is what I'd like to call an "upwards-and-downwards route" to dealing with difficulties of any kind, including the inaction conundrum .  The route is explained by the examination of your Being and its environmental setup if you will.  The sutra (verse) from the Scriptures that I want to highlight now goes like this: "They say that the senses are superior (to the body); superior to the senses is the mind; superior to the mind is the intellect; and one who is superior even to the intellect is He - the Self." (Bhagavad-Gita; 3:42)

The "downwards" route is traveled when Your body is influenced by Your senses, Your senses are influenced by Your mind, Your intellect influences Your mind, and You, your Being, influences Your intellect.  Power moves from the top down, or really, from Inside (You) to the outside (the world).  You are "one-up" from Your intellect, who is one-up from Your mind, who is one-up from Your senses, who are one-up from Your body.

The "upwards" route is traveled when your body influences your senses, your senses influence your mind, your intellect is influenced by your mind, and your Being (You), feel like You are being influenced by Your intellect in combination with all the others feeding it from below.  The one-upmanship order has been reversed.

Ironically, the 'upwards' route really only takes you down, and then that is exactly how you feel.  It is the wrong route and it has deeply traumatic consequences as anyone in dire inner straights can attest to quite readily.  Here the power moves from the bottom up, or from the outside to the Inside.  "You" the Ruler, are being influenced and managed by the lesser ones.

The "downwards" route is the route of Yoga, but the problem with this route is that it really has its origin in You.  You start with You, but most people have no real idea where or what this "You" is at all.  So it becomes another dilemma and we ask "who am I?"

Yoga has some straightforward and simple advice to get you to You.

Take your body and pacify it.  In other words, sit still for a long time.  Close your eyes and slow the absorption of input coming through your senses.  By now, your mind is already calming down, so one by one ease aside any intrusive thoughts as though they were spider webs or a soft and dense fog.  As the mind calms more, the intellect begins to shine forth clearly.  Intuitive knowledge sprouts naturally and reveals to you the Knowledge of your Being – a blissful conscious existence. And you have come to You.

And in such being of this Being, You recognize that the intellect is Your friend and Your servant.  That it belongs to You and that You tell it what to do. You order it to manage Your mind with the authority of an owner.  And Your mind, Your assimilating tool, manages Your senses, its assimilators.  And Your senses help Your body to do what it needs to in order to live properly and in good standing.

It is really about the order of operations.  The direction of the flow of Power.  This intellect, this mind, these senses and this body… they all belong to You. They are Your servants, and You are their Ruler.  Sure, so You delegate down the line in a way, lending a little power to the intellect who in turn passes some of that down to the mind in a package wrapped in its directions.  And the mind then passes it on to the senses in the same way and the senses compassionately support the lowly body.  But the Power moves from You to Your belongings, and not the other way around. 

This is the "down" route and the answer to the question of "what now?" when you are incapable of any action.  Yoga's great escape – do nothing.  Yes, sit still, be quiet, be calm and by that shine forth your Being. 

Then manage your workers.  Start with the most menial of them – the body – and work your way via the body up to the senses, into the mind and clear up the intellect to reveal You to you once again. 

Then you can take the "down" route and really start "doing".

Namaste.

As a Tantric, many of my discussions eventually come around to the subject of sex, even though I try to avoid it somewhat for reasons other Tantrics wil be able to understand. Fortunately, experience has proven that the subject wanting to be discussed in cases like these is not sex itself but intimacy, which is a lot more conducive subject to Tantra than sex itself.

Even if you are not a Tantric, very few things in life come close to we Yogis call Bliss than the experience of sexual intimacy. Almost everybody knows this who have been there, but the Tantrics have a view that many may find helpful to set as a goal if you are desirous to develop to a higher intimacy level, even if you never come near Yoga at all.

In a pervious writing called "The Tantric Misunderestimation",  I highlighted that there are masculine and feminine energies inside of you. The feminine energy, called Shakti, lies at the base of your spine between your genitals and anus in a Chakra called Muladhara.  Shiva, the male energy, resides in the crown chakra called Sahasrara  on the top of your head just below the skull.

In Tantric meditation the female energy is awakened and in the form of a sliver serpent (which is a very auspicious and holy symbol) that rises up towards the male energy and joins there with him in an ecstasy called Bliss. All of this happens in meditation but there is a Tantric correlation with the phenomenal world as well, and this is where these inner symbols are replaced by human forms in coition, according to highly defined Tantric practices. In other words, the sex that people initially want to discuss.

Then the subject changes to intimacy and on to a sometimes fairly crude form of "getting" or "giving", "taking" and "receiving", and so on. These concepts, when refined, are key concepts in Tantra, and though it happens inside of the Tantric (and you), there is an almost mirror-like correlation with the human world, and so the description of the concepts of "giving" and "receiving" in the inner realm can almost verbatim be taken and applied to the human practice of coitus.

Tantrics undergo by their own volition many years of dedicated practice and study. A million mantras, many thousands of pranayama rounds of breathing, and years of daily silent meditation are all part of the process. Much is learned over this time, and one of those learned things is of interest to us now and it deals with the concepts of "giving" and "receiving".

As humans we often give, and many times we receive. With intimacy the same is generally true, but there are often complaints that only one partner is giving, or that the other is not giving correctly or not enough, or at all, and so on. There is an emphasis on the lack of receiving  - meaning that couples feel they do not "get" enough given to them.

Tantrics recognize this simply as being out of balance, and it is not just something that is easily fixed in a day or two. The giving and receiving part of your personality has been created, defined, adopted and refined over many years, and so you'll find yourself either wanting to get more or, though less common, prefer the giving more. Whichever way, the balance is still lost. Let's look at how Tantra goes about this, and we'll do it from the inner view – sort of what happens in the meditation.

Shakti, the female energy, is coaxed into life. She is prodded and urged and drawn up. By herself, usually she will lie dormant. But once awakened she journeys (up the spine) towards Shiva, the male energy who eagerly awaits her. It is he who has awoken her, prodded her, coaxed her, and with the same amount of energy with which she is rising, he is urging her.  The meditation gets more complex from this point on, but we should take note of one point (even though complex) which we can take with us to the physical world.

Shiva is urging with the same amount of energy that Shakti is rising. Both are contributing equally to the process. Shiva's desire is to merge with Shakti, and according to the strength of his desire, he is pulling her towards him. Shakti's desire is to merge with Shiva, and according to the strength of her desire, she is pushing herself towards him. The strength of Shiva's desire influences the pushing energy of Shakti, and the strength of Shakti's desire influences the pulling energy of Shiva. The more desire, the more energy there is.

The desire of Shiva creates his coaxing. His coaxing is his giving and the rising of Shakti is his taking. For Shakti, her desire creates her rising, and her rising is her giving, while the coaxing of Shiva is her taking

But there is more; Shiva recognizes that his giving (his coaxing), being such an integral part of the process, is also pleasurable, even though it is what he gives, and on an even deeper level he recognizes that Shakti's taking of his coaxing (his giving), is also pleasurable.

In the same way, Shakti recognizes that her giving (her rising), is pleasurable because it is moving towards pleasure, and also, the fact that Shiva is taking her giving (her rising), is also pleasurable.

So there is pleasure in Shiva's receiving, but also pleasure in his giving, and for Shakti it is the same. Her receiving is pleasurable, but so is her giving. In fact, there is no qualitative difference between the pleasure of giving and the pleasure of receiving for both Shakti and Shiva at the same time.

The Tantrics call this the state of balance, where all is pleasure regardless of whether it is giving or receiving. Deeper into all this is joy, and still deeper there is Bliss. Then there are no more concepts such as giving and receiving, because giving has become receiving and receiving has become giving, and so these two are merged into a pure state of Being – a state of Bliss.

This is merely a brief chapter in the story of Tantra. Read it if you like, absorb it if you can, or try it and practice it and see if you can reach towards being it.

But remember that Tantra is not only sex, it is far, far beyond that – it is life itself - your life. And so this learning here now is not only applicable to your sex life, but also your inner life of spiritual balance. Yet the visible part of all this will be in your interaction with all aspects of your outer world every moment of your life - your life out there, so to speak.

For in here (in you) and for out there, learn to give. Then learn to receive. Both of these can be difficult to accommodate into one's being. Learn to accept the feeling of the joy of receiving. Learn to absorb the feeling of the joy of your giving. Then understand that it is not really the giving that is important as such, nor the receiving, but the joy inherent in both the giver and the receiver – as well as in the giving and the receiving.

Then cast away all your concepts of giving and receiving and just hold on to the joy.  And when you give, just give and there will be joy.  And when you receive, just receive, and there will be joy. By your coaxing and pushing and pulling together of the pairs of opposites, turn your receiving into giving by merging them into a singularity of joy. Confuse your giving and your receiving.

And eventually, with practice, when there is no more giving or givers, and no more receiving or receivers, yet great giving and receiving abound undifferentiated in all places of your life as joy, this joy will lead you to the state of Bliss. And there you are free from the limits created by your otherwise egotistically designed, unbalanced concepts of giving and receiving.

In the state of Bliss you have both giving and receiving undifferentiated in abundance anyway. Not that you'd care. So learn about giving. Learn about receiving. Learn the pleasure in both, and live.

Namaste.

This writing is a break in my blog schedule because Friends are important. For the blog-following ones, please excuse me if you need to.

It is said that there are four dimensions – three of space, and one of time. This writing deals with time.

Time is a very strange thing. The strangeness has roots in our definition of time, but also in our experience of it. In one way when we look at time in a technical manner, we think of it as a constant. You know, the tick, tick, tick sort of thing. And yes, it certainly is that. It never stops nor changes its speed. For stability and dependability it certainly is one of those things we can count on when all else fails us. Time continues unabatedly whether we pay attention to it or not, whether we care about it or not, whether we want it to slow down or speed up… it does none of that and it does not care either. It sticks to it's rhythm at all times with no deviation.

As humans we are deeply connected to time although we are largely unaware of it. Yet every second ticking by makes us one second older, and takes us from birth through the various stages of our development into old age and finally death, which is our physical destiny and one of the most certain things in an otherwise uncertain world.  All this is really the technical aspect of time. We know it well although we don't think about it much, but it is not a huge mystery.

On a different level there is our experience of time. And with our experience we don't have that monotonous tick-tick thing going all the time. But then time is also not experienced as a constant - quite the contrary. In a blatant example, when you put your hand on the hot stove, that second feels like thirty - a hundred! And when you are having a really good time it seems to pass ever so quickly. Vacations always seem too short and major life disturbances or other really crappy situations seem to drag on forever.

So we have the unchanging technical aspect of time, and the "flexible" time experienced as passing in a shorter or longer way.  What does Yoga say about this seeming paradox?

As you probably know by now, Yoga is much more involved with the spiritual world than the phenomenal world. Yet Yoga does not reject the phenomenal world at all. You can refer back to my writing "On Becoming 100" where it is emphasized that we must live a full outside life as well as a full inner life – both equally, not only one, and not only the other. In this sense, the guidance from Yoga comes to us from inside to outside – from the spirit to the phenomenal world. From the unchanging to the changing. Or really, from You to you.

Whenever you have time, you have change. The phenomenal world could not exist without the dimension of time. And where there is time, there has to be change, and change is all around us all the time. There is a phrase that the only constant is change. Clever, and true in the phenomenal world but quite untrue in the spiritual world.

Yet our experience is that we are constantly in the midst of change, and for as much as we have a spiritual aspect (the Self) that sits looking on peacefully without change, we also have a constantly changing body and an ever-changing mind. But since our consciousness is mostly occupied with the phenomenal world of change, we take change to be our very own nature.  The advice from the spirit (Self) to the body-mind is to try and be more "in time". By some explanation, here's what is meant by that:

You know the feeling – you are late and then you get hurried. The feeling then is that you are "behind the time" and you somehow have to get back to being "in time" (or on-time), and to do that, you must somehow "make up time". As though by some means (such as your hurrying) you will now "catch up" to the "right time". Time seems to be moving too fast. It's all very interesting and it happens to us all the time.

Similarly, though on the opposite end you are too early and now you have to wait. Now you are "ahead of time" and having to wait for time to "catch up" to where you are now. And so you mostly become bored waiting. Time seems to be moving slower and it really a bit of a "drag".

One thing seems clear - we are constantly reaching on some level to be "in time" rather than ahead of it or behind it. And this goes for all aspects of your life – from your daily routine to major life moves. Doing them at the wrong time (too early or too late) make you feel pressured or bored. And so it is this reaching urge to be "in time" that Yoga uses as an instrument to show how being in time applies to the rest of your life. Because our evolution is influenced by both the spiritual and the phenomenal worlds – not by either one alone but by a balance of both. Yet it is only the phenomenal world that deals with time and is therefore subject to change and movement.

From the silent and unmoving spirit (You, your Being) the lesson you are urged to learn is to be "in time", but this "in time" now really has the meaning of "inside of time". Because when "inside of time" you are neither early nor late. And you are neither in a hurry, nor bored.

And then, at that very moment, the most amazing of things happen – you move with time because you are in time. And when in time, there is no future or past, but only the Pure Now. And guess where the Self lives? Yes, in the Now. And the Now only exists in time. And more - which is a critical idea to grasp - the Now moves in time. It is called "unfolding". And you can experience it  - know it - by  becoming it. It is the only way the Now (which is also the Self) can be known. When the Self moves out of the Now, it becomes the self in the phenomenal world with its past and future.

I know, it is an amazing truth and yet true to Yoga, supremely simplistic, as all of Yoga is (or should be to you). The key point is that "in time" you don't stop "moving" as such. Rather, you are in a constant state of becoming. Remember that it is your untainted consciousness that is your Being, and you exist because you are conscious of that being, and when "in time" – in the Now – your conscious existence assumes the state of pure Bliss. Hence the singular concept of "Existence-Consciousness-Bliss" – or simply, You.

My dear Friends, it is not what you do that is important, but in what state you are. In the Now it really doesn't matter what you do or where you go or how you do or don't do things, or when - none of that matters. Because when you act from within the Now – from within your Self – all that you do is all that you are, and all that you are is what you are being as consciousness, and all you are being is your Self. And then, just like that, in your constant unfolding in the Now of your Self, you assume once again the true nature of your original human Being – otherwise known as your birthright, formerly lost and now "in time" regained.

Namaste.

On Concentration - One Method (Part 2)

We know that the mind wanders and that it takes effort to stop it from wandering. We know it wanders towards that which we think will provide us happiness, and that this comes to us in the form of our desires.  We know we are locked into our mental prisons and kept chained there by these desires that make it impossible for us to concentrate, then meditate, and thereby gain Self-Knowledge. We have heard that Yoga may have some suggestions on how to escape our bondage and that all this centers around us needing to let go of our desires. But we don't have any idea how. So let's look closer at the guidance yoga can give us.

We already know a few things.

We know that our desires and their supporting thoughts and feelings are all constructs of the mind. We know this because that which we desire is outside of us – in the world out there as a thing or an idea (which is always connected to a thing), and we also know that the mind operates only towards the outside of us. Furthermore, we know the mind to be scattered, constantly moving, and vacillating (go to and fro) between things endlessly. It only lets go of one thought at the time it grabs onto another. Such is the nature of the mind, and that's the way it wants to be.

Once you try to make the mind focus on one thing it feels attacked and confined because its natural state is scattered and loose and your focusing attempt is interfering with its ways and it does not like that. So it rebels. And the most successful rebellion it can stage is fought with the soldiers created from the essence of your strongest desires and who are therefore almost invincible warriors.

But these seemingly formidable warriors can be beaten, and here are the means:

Always know why you are engaged in this battle. Never forget it. Be persistent. And lest you've already forgotten; concentration leads to meditation which leads to Self-Knowledge, and knowing your real Self is your goal. Recognize that the moment you start to focus (inwardly, but even outwardly) the mind is already gearing up to engage you in battle. But remember that it is your mind. It belongs to you. You are its master, not a slave to it. You own it, and you can tell it exactly what to do and when. Don't forget that – not even for a second. But don't underestimate the power of your mind either. Remember that just as it finds its fuel in the essence of your desires, your fuel is in your will and your recognition of your ownership of and supremacy over your mind.

And with the battleground now level, let the struggle for Self-Knowledge begin.

You know, we could do with some additional weaponry! What do we have? Well, we have mantra. Ah, yes, that is cool -  monotony and repetitiveness - exactly what the mind hates. Then, wise technique. Think of reeling in a huge fish. When its resistance is low, you reel in. When it resists, you simply hold on. Don't try and reel it in when it is fighting you (at least not for now). Don't try to practice concentration when the mind is too strong for you. If, when you sit down to try, and within some time (but still after trying some) find it just totally impossible that time, just forget it and try the next time. Know when the mind is tired because then concentration is almost impossible. With a fresh mind it is much easier.

So, we have knowledge of the mind and its workings, we have monotony of mantra, we have a cunning reeling-in technique, so let's now also add routine as another nail in the coffin.

Every morning and every night, for 20 minutes, practice concentration at exactly the same time - every day. The body is amazing in the sense that it quickly learns where it is at and what is then appropriate for it to do at that specific time. It adapts, and fairly quickly at that. For example, when in the bedroom at the usual time of night, the body assumes the "getting ready for sleep" mode. Early morning near breakfast time it assumes the "getting ready for breakfast" mode. In the same way, if you introduce a set routine to the body of two 20-minute concentration practice times, you will train it within a couple of weeks to adopt a "prepare for concentration" time. And that helps a great deal. The mind, in its battle against you, uses your body quite effectively against your mind's efforts to focus if the body is not geared (attuned, or trained) to do certain things at certain times. Remember that it is said that the body is the lowest item. Higher than the body is the mind, and higher than the mind is the intellect.

For now, this learning you have undergone should be more than sufficient for you to begin your practice and your training of the body. It is not the end to all this my Friends, it is merely the beginning. We have not yet even touched upon the influence of desires in the process, but we will, I promise. It will be in the next writing. Most of you have enough for now for a great beginning.

So now you should go and try and see how you do. Give yourself two weeks or so. Never skip a day. Don't lose faith in your own power or in your will. You know, as I do, that if you can accomplish this, there is a whole new world of wonder waiting for you. The magnificent world of meditation, then contemplation later on, and finally, true Self-Knowledge, which is why we are all here in the first place.

Namaste.