Obsessions with returning deities.

[Vinayaka]

Originally Posted by tainamom

thank you for sharing. i only read the gita. it's a really good book that i believe to be true. i'm sure i was hindu once. just not this time around.

And I have never read the Gita. It's used by Vaishnavas and Smartas, (wonderful Hindu sects other than mine) and has only recently (last 150 years or less) become so esteemed. I have no doubts that it is a wonderful book though.

You see some of the misunderstanding now? What has come to the west through various swamis ans schools isn't necessarily a reflection of what is the reality on the ground in India. The focus is quite different. In the west its more philosophy, metaphysics and mystical experiences. In the east it's temple bhakti and ethics (living dharma).

[tainamom]

Originally Posted by Vinayaka

And I have never read the Gita. It's used by Vaishnavas and Smartas, (wonderful Hindu sects other than mine) and has only recently (last 150 years or less) become so esteemed. I have no doubts that it is a wonderful book though.

You see some of the misunderstanding now? What has come to the west through various swamis ans schools isn't necessarily a reflection of what is the reality on the ground in India. The focus is quite different. In the west its more philosophy, metaphysics and mystical experiences. In the east it's temple bhakti and ethics (living dharma).

i have very little idea on hinduism, except the gita and that people celebrate diwali. i grew up catholic and what i follow now is very heart-centered and spiritual. my current teacher comes from asia. we are very much into prayer and experiencing the truth ourselves - going deeper into the heart, soul and true self. the students come from many different cultural and religious backgrounds - jewish, christian, buddhists, hindus, muslim, etc. - but the heart has no culture/religion/race/gender etc.

the key to happiness and to our real selves lie in the heart.

edit: read the gita. it's only about 45 pages long. incredibly beautiful and is a true story. jmho

[Vinayaka]

I think whoever said, 'East is east, and west is west', was quite astute.

I've been ardently practising Hinduism for 40+ years, and have had plenty of opportunity to read the Gita. BTW, not all Hindus celebrate Diwali either. In my tradition the Tirumantiram, Tirukkural, Vedas and Agamas are key scriptures. Key festivals are Thai Pusam, Sivaratri, and Vinayaka Chaturthi amongst others.

My practice is 'spiritual' I suppose, but I've never really understood that word very well, as it means so many different things to different people.

But we're straying off topic.

It does go to show that there are very different takes on the whole thing. My view is that in order to get anywhere, you have to get very concentrated on one path, a tried and true one. The best analogy I can think of is light being narrowed with a magnifying glass until it can start a fire. There is a lot of energy in that fire, but you can;'t get it to start unless there is focus down to a more narrow point. Of course different magnifying glasses would have different focus. Within the sushumna, there are 14 individual nadis that are all valid paths for awareness in the form of kundalini to legitimately rise to the sahaswara and beyond.

But each has to discover it for themselves.

[tainamom]

Originally Posted by Vinayaka

I think whoever said, 'East is east, and west is west', was quite astute.

I've been ardently practising Hinduism for 40+ years, and have had plenty of opportunity to read the Gita. BTW, not all Hindus celebrate Diwali either. In my tradition the Tirumantiram, Tirukkural, Vedas and Agamas are key scriptures. Key festivals are Thai Pusam, Sivaratri, and Vinayaka Chaturthi amongst others.

My practice is 'spiritual' I suppose, but I've never really understood that word very well, as it means so many different things to different people.

But we're straying off topic.

It does go to show that there are very different takes on the whole thing. My view is that in order to get anywhere, you have to get very concentrated on one path, a tried and true one. The best analogy I can think of is light being narrowed with a magnifying glass until it can start a fire. There is a lot of energy in that fire, but you can;'t get it to start unless there is focus down to a more narrow point. Of course different magnifying glasses would have different focus. Within the sushumna, there are 14 individual nadis that are all valid paths for awareness in the form of kundalini to legitimately rise to the sahaswara and beyond.

But each has to discover it for themselves.

fascinating.

kundalini is very beautiful, but once the work is done - oh boy, wish i could discuss more about it, but you expressed that you doubt much of what i'd say because of your own practice - it's still not over. there's so much more.

like i said, i have a wonderful teacher that has a program that also activates kundalini. just pm me. i think one of my classmates would say that he is a 'sat guru' - just focused on the one and only Creator. but then again, what do i know what's good for you? Source knows what's best for you and it's perfect in every way.

the light, always seems narrow at first, but then it expands beyond existence.

[Vinayaka]

In my tradition we don't share personal experiences except with the Satguru.

Yes indeed at the end of the path, there is expansion. (or so I hear) .

In traditional orthodox Hinduism, kundalini is not sought after but is a natural outcome from years or lifetimes of daily sadhana and ethical practice. The goal is a permanent state, not bouts of temporary euphoria. My Guru once expressed it as 'I'm not interested how high you can go, but how low you can go." In other words, as we evolve, we actually can no longer go to certain areas of mind, like anger, pride, lust, fear, because the psychic seal has totally blocked the door at the muladhara. We can only live above that, as the subconscious has been totally reprogrammed. Encountering anything lower is just that, an encounter, like driving by a country scene, but not actually cognising or reacting to it at all.

Ganesha sits on the muladhara, and He is the controller/helper of all that. The great doorman, as it goes.

[tainamom]

Originally Posted by Vinayaka

In my tradition we don't share personal experiences except with the Satguru.

Yes indeed at the end of the path, there is expansion. (or so I hear) .

In traditional orthodox Hinduism, kundalini is not sought after but is a natural outcome from years or lifetimes of daily sadhana and ethical practice. The goal is a permanent state, not bouts of temporary euphoria. My Guru once expressed it as 'I'm not interested how high you can go, but how low you can go." In other words, as we evolve, we actually can no longer go to certain areas of mind, like anger, pride, lust, fear, because the psychic seal has totally blocked the door at the muladhara. We can only live above that, as the subconscious has been totally reprogrammed. Encountering anything lower is just that, an encounter, like driving by a country scene, but not actually cognising or reacting to it at all.

Ganesha sits on the muladhara, and He is the controller/helper of all that. The great doorman, as it goes.

so lovely. my heart remembers.

[Vinayaka]

But back to the topic .. The world is in a perfect state right now ... of evolution ... everything is as it should be.

The basis of my spirituality is in eastern philosophies and I never have followed a sect, and I've enough evidence to suggest that's to my detriment as it has taken me so long to understand things that could have got to me a lot earlier.

Today my spirituality if summed up in a sentence could be:
the heart is the gate into heaven and the gate from which heaven comes into the world, it's qualities toward the universal way is my choice, and it is identical therefore of the qualities of the universal way toward me.

With free will god is letting us lead our dance with 'him', and he has provided all the means necessary for us to find 'him' beautiful in the forms of nature (universe inclusive), the means necessary for us to love him in actions, and to alight our hearts with 'his' fire. However we do that, if it does that, how could I protest it.

Yea Vinayaka, the world is perfect - and that is incredibly hard to swallow when we pay attention more to the horrors than the beauty, which is what the first three quarters of my spiritual path were like.

Like it's hard to accept that beautiful music exists if we focus on all those who can't play instead of those who can.

sound deafens the ears, colors blind the eye. Too much of anything can distort everything. Though I'm off track now. haha

[tainamom]

to get back to the obsession with deities incarnating, it is very important when the Creator incarnates in all forms to help all beings to become liberated. it is a wonderful time to be alive now. i'll leave you with that to ponder.

[LadyMay]

Originally Posted by Vinayaka

Within the sushumna, there are 14 individual nadis that are all valid paths for awareness in the form of kundalini to legitimately rise to the sahaswara and beyond.

But each has to discover it for themselves.

*Within* the Sushumna there are nadis? What are those? Does Kundalini rise through them all equally?