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Go Back   Spiritual Forums > Spirituality & Beliefs > Meditation

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  #41  
Old 29-03-2016, 11:11 PM
Miss Hepburn Miss Hepburn is offline
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mmmmm, he's in love with God..The Infinite Self.
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Prepare yourself for the coming astral journey of death by daily riding in the balloon of God-perception.
Through delusion you are perceiving yourself as a bundle of flesh and bones, which at best is a nest of troubles.
Meditate unceasingly, that you may quickly behold yourself as the Infinite Essence, free from every form of misery. ~Paramahansa's Guru's Guru
.


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  #42  
Old 30-03-2016, 12:40 PM
Uma Uma is offline
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Fish Deepening the Practice

Day 5 Mar.30/16 link


The Challenge of Moment-to-Moment Practice
Today's talk reminded me of something Sri Vasudeva taught me many years ago - that it is more productive to practice meditation in every moment while acting in my world mindfully with only a short intensive sitting meditation, than to spend hours trying to meditate and then behave carelessly during the rest of the day. In other words it needs to be a lifestyle change not just something I do each day like brushing my teeth.

It's a lifestyle challenge to change the way I observe and listen and interact with my world. It's a challenge for me to become prayerful in every moment, to hold an attitude of gratitude in every moment, and to keep reminding myself that I am being held in a larger space than the one my little mind can conceive of, and that I am part of a Self that is much larger than the "I" that I think I am. Sri Vasudeva calls this the background against which the "I" experiences life: "That" (see yesterday's talk).

No doubt about it, the more I hold on to a meditative space from a grounded space during my day-to-day activities (in touch with my divine Self yet not floating away out-of-body), the better results I get from sitting meditation practice…and in fact it carries over to the dream state as well. In other words: I must soldier on and make this a way of life (and a moment-to-moment way of life if I want to progress faster). I guess this is what separates the serious seeker from the casual tourist. (Nothing wrong with tourism but to really get to know a country you need to live there.)

Deepening the Observer
For me, the art of meditation begins with learning how to deepen the observer part of me. The deeper my observer, the more power I have to manage myself and my world, the more connected I feel to the infinite. The Masters give us the macro lenses and the telephoto lenses when we are deserving.

I am sure there is a lot more to come in his talks about the art of observation because once you start meditating you realize there is an awful lot going on behind the scenes! For starters the physical body starts to complain - it complains all the time, like a spoiled or neglected child - I'm hungry, I'm tired, I'm bored… And noticing all the chatter in the mind like a hailstorm of thoughts… and feeling your feelings, the emotions rising and ebbing like waves on the shore… and for those of us who are sensitive to energy, noticing what else is happening on a subtle level... The list of things to observe seems endless.

Wouldn't all this looking just overwhelm me? I think of Austism and the torture that over stimulation of the senses must bring to people with this disorder. This is where centering comes in - knowing my center of relaxation, knowing how to relax in the midst of the battle of life. That's the key to it all - to the practice of meditation in the moment. It's about having a magic pause button where I can freeze the action in the moment and take an inventory of how I am feeling, thinking, where my observer is placed, what's going on around me, what's going on inside of me etc. etc. etc. and then when I see more possibilities, that brings relief, objectivity, self-mastery and I can push play again.

This practice is what eventually comes naturally to the enlightened ones. Enlightenment is a gradual process. Doing the practice helps bring it on. He said it during the guided meditation:

Quote:
I open my mind and heart to be carried
to be held
to be supported
I know I am already held
I simply want to be aware of it
~ Sri Vasudeva

Becoming more enlightened is about being able to live in this world from a place of self-mastery where you see more possibilities and have more options and feel better about stuff...

Quote:
Let me rise above the battle consciousness
that I may be immersed in Your play
as Your energies flow in and through me.
Let me be a conscious seeker
conscious of You
in me and around me.
~ Sri Vasudeva
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  #43  
Old 30-03-2016, 02:08 PM
Miss Hepburn Miss Hepburn is offline
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Reminded me of...
My ex-guru taught...meditating during the day is like nibbling
at a huge banquet table,
while meditating deeply was feasting on the entire thing.

"Trying" to meditate...
would not be meditation, LOL...it would be ''trying''
or ''maybe a living hell''!
__________________

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*I'll text in Navy Blue when I'm speaking as a Mod. :)


Prepare yourself for the coming astral journey of death by daily riding in the balloon of God-perception.
Through delusion you are perceiving yourself as a bundle of flesh and bones, which at best is a nest of troubles.
Meditate unceasingly, that you may quickly behold yourself as the Infinite Essence, free from every form of misery. ~Paramahansa's Guru's Guru
.


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  #44  
Old 30-03-2016, 04:32 PM
Uma Uma is offline
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Fish feasting on roller skates

Quote:
Originally Posted by Miss Hepburn
Reminded me of...
My ex-guru taught...meditating during the day is like nibbling
at a huge banquet table,
while meditating deeply was feasting on the entire thing.

"Trying" to meditate...
would not be meditation, LOL...it would be ''trying''
or ''maybe a living hell''!

Hi Miss Hepburn,

Thanks for this - I see your point. I didn't want to make too long of a post. I guess the point I was trying to make didn't come across clearly. I'll try again.

There is a difference between meditation "a state of being" and meditation "a practice". To use your analogy, the practice is like preparing the meal and the state of being is the feasting. The "nibbling" I would take to be the pause button idea - when I've been hijacked and need to re-center. If I am in the state of being "feasting" I don't need to practice. That's the goal, for me anyway, to stay in that state - feasting forever! That's what he's talking about. During the practice of meditation, food preparation, I am either trying to get back into that state "re-centering" or trying to maintain it "feasting whilst moving around".

About "trying" here is something he wrote in 2003 that I've never forgotten:
Quote:
In meditation we should try to bring the mind into silence. Of course, this is easier said than done. The mind which is a creature of habit resists all efforts to control it if we have allowed it to run everywhere it wants to go. During the few minutes of meditation we sit for everyday we wish that the mind would be peaceful but if the mind has been given full freedom to have its own way throughout the day the same tendency will be there during the meditation. So if you want a more peaceful mind during meditation you have to do some 'homework' during the other hours!

HOMEWORK
It's about deepening the meditation by not having to bring all kinds of baggage with me every time I sit to meditate. It's also about maintaining the meditation feeling of being centered and highly observant in my non-sitting hours. All of that homework actually deepens the sitting meditation so it's more powerful and productive. I think now I'm repeating myself.

So the goal here would also be to not lose what I gain during the feasting of the sitting meditation - but to carry it with me into the world as I interact and pay my taxes and drive my car and deal with drivers who cut me off on the highway and so on. All of which is easier said than done... but gets easier, it really does.

Hope I'm making sense.

Namaste
Uma

p.s. In case you wish, you can ask Sri Vasudeva directly about anything to do with his talks. There is a conversation livestream at 3:00p.m. Trinidad time - you can write on the chat, or email them before.

Last edited by Uma : 30-03-2016 at 07:39 PM.
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  #45  
Old 31-03-2016, 09:02 AM
Miss Hepburn Miss Hepburn is offline
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Oh, Uma..your point came across...it just reminded me of that quote.
__________________

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*I'll text in Navy Blue when I'm speaking as a Mod. :)


Prepare yourself for the coming astral journey of death by daily riding in the balloon of God-perception.
Through delusion you are perceiving yourself as a bundle of flesh and bones, which at best is a nest of troubles.
Meditate unceasingly, that you may quickly behold yourself as the Infinite Essence, free from every form of misery. ~Paramahansa's Guru's Guru
.


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  #46  
Old 31-03-2016, 12:31 PM
Uma Uma is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Miss Hepburn
Oh, Uma..your point came across...it just reminded me of that quote.

oh, ok. It was a nice quote :)
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  #47  
Old 31-03-2016, 01:42 PM
Uma Uma is offline
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Fish Piloting My Plane During Sitting Meditation Practice

Day 6 of 40: March 31, 2016


Thinking about Miss Hepburn's teacher and today's talk, it's obvious that every teacher has their own area of focus and mine is no different. My teacher is a Kundalini master with a profound in-depth knowledge of the chakras and their role in the human experience. So the focus is on understanding subtle energy and the energy layers, and their effect on the physical body and on the ego and vice versa. Today he hinted at planes of existence, hence the airplane photo.

There is a lot for me to digest from today's talk because it covers so many practices rolled into one. Here is what he said this morning about his way of using meditation practice as a tool for enlightened consciousness:

Quote:
"If I do not give attention to all those fields
the journey might become quite a difficult journey (if I try to just work with my mind)
but if I try to work with every level of my being understanding it,
then perhaps I have a chance to free the consciousness
layer by layer
from its involvement in matter
and from its contraction due to the several layers.
Therein lies the secret to truly opening up the consciousness,
if you want to do so in a really meaningful way and not a very difficult way."
~ Sri Vasudeva

Meditation is one of the tools. And within the meditation practice itself it is possible to harness all the other tools. More about this later.

The Maha Yoga path has to do with the awakening of the Kundalini through natural and safe means. The awakened Kundalini allows us to manage this kind of meditation practice in the most powerful way. And for those who do not yet have it awakened, this practice helps prepare the body and mind so that it is in prime form for awakening from a master (whether in physical presence or not).

Quote:
"In this path of Maha Yoga it's a path in the consciousness relating to energy fields.
And through the understanding of these energy fields and their relationship to the consciousness,
we can begin to learn how to observe differently
and how to manage the energy field
so that we can begin to make that journey of opening up the consciousness space." ~ Sri Vasudeva

He spoke about gunas and shaktis and all kinds of Sanskrit terminology that you can also look up yourself but it boils down to using every chakra in a conscious and willful way, as well as conditioning the physical body, to manage what goes on during a sitting meditation practice. He walked us through all of this in a very understandable way through today's guided meditation.

It's all a reminder to me that I need to approach meditation not just in a passive receiving baby chick with open mouth kind of way, but in a very active, self-aware and self-disciplined way, using all the all the tools and techniques I have learned that work for me, flipping on all the switches and not flying this plane on autopilot.

--------------------------------
We can also email Sri Vasudeva with questions about the talk and get feedback on the live webinar 3pm Trinidad time [email protected]

Last edited by Uma : 31-03-2016 at 06:23 PM.
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  #48  
Old 01-04-2016, 03:20 PM
Uma Uma is offline
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Fish Discriminating & Detached Observing

Day 7 of 40: Apr.1/16 (link)

Today Sri Vasudeva added more detail into practice of observation during sitting meditation - that I should not only observe, but observe how my observer is observing. So how open-minded and open-hearted is my observing "I"/"eye" really? And I think of a baby...

Baby Mind:
The Sanskrit for "discrimination" is viveka - the power to observe differently than normal, without judgement. How did I observe when I first came into this world when my ego wasn't activated so much. Everything, absolutely everything was fresh and new and unpolluted by my ego filters and it took me years even to realize I could control my body, and the child development psychologists say even to realize I was not my mother. Whenever a meditation is not going the way I want it to go, I get really self-critical with myself - "I can do better than this! Why can't I go deep today?" blah blah blah In the guided meditation, he reminded me I can use the breathing and mentalization techniques, focusing on any chakra that is giving me problems and breathing in what I want and breathing out what I don't want.

Eagle Mind:
The Sanskrit for "detachment" is vairagya - the power to be detached in the observing so I don't get caught up in it. Attachment is what pulls me into the grosser planes of consciousness. I want to go higher and higher into the Source. Sometimes even that wanting becomes an attachment. How I see in a more expansive view - like an eagle in the sky seeing a vast expanse? How can I see holistically taking in all that I am in the human experience?


And he said that the transcended masters (whether physically embodied or not) have the grace of omnipresence when we link to them. When I am deserving or receptive, the master offers me the grace of shaktipat (energy transmission) that expands my "I".


He said "The moment the mind is not tied to anything there is a freedom in the space, in the consciousness" That gives me the freedom to know all of me - physical and energetic, every layer or dimension of being, the freedom to pilot each plane, to operate at full capacity, and if I am humble, to offer more to God, to be a better instrument of the divine:

Quote:
"I make my offering to You.
Cleanse me of all darkness.
Light up my consciousness with your light in me
You render everything pure, when given, when offered
I offer all of me as I am to You
Purify me, make me whole"
I seek today as I enter my world to be aware of the all of me
To channel Your energies in and through me
That I may be a blessing to your world.
I'm in gratitude for this moment of grace and every moment of grace.
It is only Your existence that fills this universe, that is this universe.
I humbly bow to you.
Om peace, peace, peace"
~ Sri Vasudeva
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  #49  
Old 02-04-2016, 02:16 PM
Uma Uma is offline
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Fish Uniting Head, Heart & Body

Day 8 of 40: Apr.2/16 (link)

Continuing with the technique of observation in meditation practice, and refining that by observing the observer, Sri Vasudeva outlined three basic areas where I can and do get caught.

Caught in my head:
Darth Vadar immediately comes to mind whenever he speaks about the overbearing ego or the victim ego, or the restless mind that refuses to quiet. I fight with this guy quite a lot. I think most of us can relate when he says "The most destructive person is the one who is aware of their power but still in the tamas of the mind so the ego becomes overbearing; and in the destructive mode it can really create havoc." The more one evolves on the spiritual journey, the greater the temptation to become selfish and misuse the power one has attained. I don't think I need to say more about this. There's a little or big darth vadar inside each one of us and when he takes control of my meditation, that can and will ruin it. My goal is not to fight with him but, like Luke Skywalker, bring him out of the dark side and into the light.

Caught in my heart:
For you millennials who maybe aren't so familiar with the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz - he was the automaton created without a heart and he cried so much he needed constant oiling so he wouldn't rust. Sri Vasudeva said today that the mind gives the heart more power and the heart gives the mind more joy, that these two are meant to work together and were designed to work together. That is one of the reasons there is so much use of chanting and devotional rituals and prayer in his ashram in Trinidad - to help open up the heart more - to more light - compassion, charity, unconditional love. I start with my own body, reiking it with love. Beautiful emotions and mental focus attract grace. Often you might see at a wedding photo there seem to be orbs floating around the people - because the environment is so happy and focused. When that happens people radiate light, are uplifted, are a joy to be around - and so they attract good spirits. I often neglect my heart, I guess because it's been broken so much I don't like to go there (oh oh darth vadar speaking).

Caught in my body:
I chose the image of the bull because since ancient times it has represented Mother Nature, our primal nature. These are the concern of the first three chakras - root, sacral and navel (probably more on that later). Definitely my best meditations are the ones when I am not distracted by my body, or right after yoga practice when my prana is flowing everywhere and my muscles are relaxed and when I am awake and revitalized. Sri Vasudeva teaches how to bring vitality back into the body whilst in the meditation - which I think is really cool. It is my mind and heart that harnesses the power of the bull and controls it so I am able to use this powerful animal to plough my fields and stuff.

So all three parts of myself need to work in harmony - like three team players. And that brings out the "all of me"

Quote:
"I center myself in You oh Supreme One
You are the Supreme light of my being
Remove all darkness from within me
that my Sattvic qualities - divine qualities of light
shine through every level of my being
my mind, my intellect,
my heart or emotional being,
my body at every level

let Your light shine in and through me
I offer You all that I am just as I am
I am Your creation
You hold me, purify me, cleanse me
letting Your light shine in and through me
Let me be Your instrument in the human experience
Most of all purify my ego-mind that I may stay in humility
in the awareness that it is Your power that manifests in and through me"
~ excerpt from Sri Vasudeva's prayer
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  #50  
Old 03-04-2016, 05:18 AM
Miss Hepburn Miss Hepburn is offline
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Does Sri Vasudeva teach any specific techniques to aid in a
personal, direct experience of inner Light?
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*I'll text in Navy Blue when I'm speaking as a Mod. :)


Prepare yourself for the coming astral journey of death by daily riding in the balloon of God-perception.
Through delusion you are perceiving yourself as a bundle of flesh and bones, which at best is a nest of troubles.
Meditate unceasingly, that you may quickly behold yourself as the Infinite Essence, free from every form of misery. ~Paramahansa's Guru's Guru
.


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