Sri Vasudeva on Meditation

[Uma]

Originally Posted by Floatsy

Now to my question: you spoke above of big thoughts or little thoughts, is this something your Guru teaches?

"big/little thoughts" no that's my creative word play... He teaches about co-creation (giving power to thoughts), and bringing the mind to the silent gap behind thoughts (detaching from thoughts)........ there are many ways to describe the same thing

[Floatsy]

I often rest in the absence of thoughts, these days, but giving power to thoughts...that is interesting..I will research this a bit more.

Many thanks, Uma.

[Uma]

Another excerpt from Day 13 of the 2015 40 Days Observance

More thinking about thoughts
Thinking about manifesting them
for better or for worse…

Sri Vasudeva shared his experience of being perpetually centered in the Light:

"The moment you can access that inner space, you begin to observe everything that is happening inside in a more vast way. That’s how I observe life. I’m observing in a HUGE Space. When I’m listening the Space is so LARGE. Or even when I’m acting, even when I speak with you it’s in a HUGE HUGE space of Consciousness, totally not identifying with the body (I use the body but it’s like flow, harmony).”~ Sri Vasudeva

When he says he’s living in a HUGE space it means that the mind and all the thoughts are so small… so far away from his “I” that they have no power anymore to hijack him. There is no question of thoughts and feelings hijacking his mind anymore. He can choose in a moment to stay with the silent mind or to animate any thought that comes into his space out of the ether.

When I am centered in quiet mind I have some sense of being in this huge space. Centered in quiet mind, in the space of silence, I now am in the seat of my own power. I now have choices. I have the choice to either not think or to “animate” thought (as Caroline Myss puts it). I only animate those thoughts that I want to manifest, because a thought wave becomes a thought form becomes a physical reality just as water turns from a gas to a liquid to a solid.

If you have watched the film, The Secret you will know what I am talking about (link to the trailer in case you haven’t).

Manifesting with thought

"There is another possibility of experience when you come into this consciousness space that is expanded and you can play with the energies of the mind. You can create anything. You can make anything real. And you can coax the Universe into making these things happen by a process called Grace.

Soul: “Would You please grant me this if it’s Your Will?”

The Universe is so kind it will grant you even the things that are not good for you because it knows that you will learn a lesson from it. Like the father of the prodigal son*…

Universe: “Go, go, go. I am the Father who lets you go if you want.”

The prodigal son learned the hard way.*

So when we continuously pull at the Universe:

Soul: “Give me this! Give me this! Give me this!”

…the Universe says, “Sure go have it. Be blessed.”

Then comes the pain, misery, heartaches… Then the soul cries out,

Soul: “Please take it away! Please take it away!”

And the Universe says,

Universe: “Yes I will take it away. Come, come I will take it away.”

~ Sri Vasudeva

OMG - empowering my thoughts is like letting the proverbial genie out of the bottle!

Empowering my thoughts is like rubbing the lamp that lets out the genie. The genie is like the mind, having no choice but to respond to the rubbing, to the attention I’m giving to my thoughts, and now it must obey my command, my intention, and grant me my wishes. And you know the saying, “Be careful what you wish for, you might get it.” That’s the story of the proverbial son.

So now what?
As long as I am caught up in my power to co-create with my Universe, I cannot transcend the barrier of mind and ego.

I am constantly co-creating consciously or unconsciously. I choose to co-create consciously (as much as possible) so that I’m in a divine partnership with my Universe that takes me to where I want to be...until it's time to let go totally...(the timing of which is not mine to determine, but that of karma and being deserving for it is only Grace that sets me free).

Oh Supreme One!
Truly it is Grace that holds me in this space of unknowing
and it is Grace that sets me free.
It must be only my own ignorance that makes this so.
What a paradox!

So what's a poor seeker to do? Like a tortured prisoner, the prisoner of my own mind, the genie of my own lamp, I have no choice but to co-operate. Co-operate or suffer. I must animate those thoughts that will set me free and keep the others quiet. I want freedom - that is the only attachment I refuse to let go of. In that “wanting” I am detached, in surrender. “Father, Thy will not my will.” Or “Let Thy will be my will.”

For example, my heart
And so it is in my meditation. A thought comes up, “I want to go to the heart.” So I go to the heart. My heart is there crying, complaining, having a hissy fit. I don’t empower those thoughts. I don't give them any attention. They are not me. I refuse to identify with them. I choose instead to express my love. “I love you my physical heart. I love you every cell in my body.” And the higher emotions start to flow. I am producing them at will. And Kundalini moves in me, flutters in my heart approvingly and then suddenly my little love transforms into Divine Love.

I love how Sri Vasudeva describes this marvelous center of the heart chakra and this marvellous cure-all emotion of Divine Love:

”It’s a center you can actually identify with as you feel the vastness of the space. As you open up to the subtle movement of energies you’ll feel this center of the heart and the more you breathe into it, opening up to that neutrality, harmonious flow, ease, in doing that you will have an understanding of what Love really means – nothing to do with the relational thing that we get involved in, but more to do with the harmony - in the space that is harmonious, giving and receiving, no labels, and then you realize that Love is very subtle,” ~ Sri Vasudeva

When I empower every thought with Love, I can’t go wrong. God is Love. The Universe is Love. I am Love (at my core).

-----------------------
Story of the prodigal son: link

[Uma]

4th reflection from Day 13 from the 2015 40 Days Observance

A little recap from my reflections on this day so far:
- non-attachment as a proactive thing, acting in the world from a detached space of silence
- observing thoughts in meditation to get into that silent space
- choosing thoughts wisely from that silent space, to co-create my spiritual progress with my Inner Guide

Everything starts with that silent space - getting into it (as deeply as possible) and staying there (as much as possible) and either resting in it (no thoughts, empty mind) or choosing the most noble, empowering thoughts and feelings from that space (co-creating, manifesting).

There is one more thing I want to highlight from that day. I have written about what Sri Vasudeva tells me about thought forms and what I can do with them (either empower thought to co-create with them, or detach from them and neutralize their power over me). But where do these thoughts come from?

Where do thoughts come from?
According to yogic science, my mind has an active consciousness space/energy field that churns out thought after thought and an inactive consciousness space/energy field that holds all my thought forms, all my patterns of conditioned thinking in a dormant state, like seeds in my mind waiting to sprout. This space in yoga has a name: chidākāsha. You may have heard of the "akashic records" - that's chidākāsha - one's personal memories (from this lifetime and from lifetimes before). "Akasha" means subtle space or ether, and "Chida"/"Chitta" is mind-stuff or memory.

I remember experiencing a life review in reverse that time I nearly drowned... and then the judgment comes in and I think judgement day and all these notions of self judgment come from an experience of this space - when the soul leaves the gross body, the person becomes aware of it.

This is a fascinating space! Hypnosis can also take you there, and our guides may have access to some parts of it, but I think it is even more powerful in meditation, especially when Kundalini is the Guide - the most powerful Guide of all.

Sri Vasudeva explained that when the right brain allows me to use my intuition and creativity, it takes me into this big information space where information is stored there as waves of energy connecting mind and heart. In Tantric Yoga - the universe is considered to be made of information and energy. Space is the subtle element associated with the throat chakra, the chidākāsha "the consciousness space that holds all the thought forms, all the patterns". The throat chakra is responsible for communication - incoming and outgoing and it sits between the heart and mind - so this is a powerful chakra for capturing those old thinking and feeling patterns that are responsible for my conditioned behaviours.

These patterns AUTOMATICALLY produce a certain thought or train of thought whenever something triggers it. And in ordinary consciousness I am not even aware of it. I need to be in quiet mind to be detached enough, far enough away from it, to vibrate faster than this train of thought so I can see it - stop it - and change it if I want to.

My space of power
The chidākāsha is a space I can explore to know more about my past (if I want to) but if I'm serious about enlightenment, then I will simply focus on changing patterns I don't want in my memory storage space (weeding) and replanting my memory storage space with patterns I do want (reseeding). Psychotherapists try to do this intellectually but it's far more powerful to create deep, lasting change when one is in that quiet mind space of deep meditation.

"What about if I explore that space that is behind the mind (because I can actually know what I am thinking - I can actually see or be conscious when these thought forms arise in me)? The moment you can have that little space where you can see the thoughts or the consciousness of the thoughts that is arising and say “Wow is it I who is getting this angry? Is it I who is attached to it? Is it I who is attached?” The moment you can have that distinction of seeing it, you have the opportunity to change," ~ Sri Vasudeva

There is a whole teaching about that "opportunity to change" that wasn't really part of this particular talk (so I won't get into it here). In this talk he is emphasizing going deeper into the space behind thoughts and that, by virtue of going deeper, at some point in meditation we are going to pass through this space of memories. It's a kind of milestone I think.

"The moment you can feel that little space behind, you can gain access to the creative space, to the divine space, to the intuitive space,"
~ Sri Vasudeva

This space of memories can be a playground for the soul. Some of my most insightful thoughts will come to me when I am just waking up from sleep first thing in the morning because I would have been floating around in there during sleep. I used to keep a journal by my bed and write down everything I could remember. It's another "thing" to get caught up in - and with a mind as curious about everything as mine is, I get caught quite a lot! But prophecy comes from this space; a lot of intuition and creative genius comes from this space. There's lots to explore here. So this kind of exploring can also be a trap on the journey to enlightenment because it can keep one stuck in mind rather than moving on to surrender and transcendence. On the other hand, I need to go there to experience knowing "I am not my body!" and it's also healing, comforting and nurturing in that space, as he mentioned. I need to pass through it and the white Light of transcendence waits for me on the other side.

Back to the Future - Multi-Dimensional Present Moment Awareness
As Sri Vasudeva reminded me after a really deep meditation experience, it can feel like a real letdown coming back into gross body consciousness. The ideal situation is to keep the meditation experience AND gross body consciousness at the same time. I've written about this everywhere.

"Most times you are so centred inside you don’t want to come down to the grossness but to actually go down there and hold the inner space... You will feel it diminishing because as you come into the grossness you will be identifying with matter, but if you hold the centre of Being you can be well integrated into matter," ~ Sri Vasudeva

Well integrated indeed - one foot in one world, another foot in the other - and not in the way of the schizophrenic person who is hallucinating, but rather fully grounded and aware of being in different worlds at the same time (two physical eyes looking at this world, one subtle eye looking at the mental worlds)! The enlightened view is hard to imagine though...it's a different kind of clairvoyance than the what mediums/psychics have - because, among other things, everything is seen as Divine, without "othering".

Sri Vasudeva shared that from the vantage point of his consciousness, mind and body are so tiny compared to the huge, expansive freedom space he lives in continuously.

"…the moment you can access that inner space, you begin to observe everything that is happening inside in a more vast way. That’s how I observe life. I’m observing in a HUGE space. When I’m listening, the space is so LARGE - or even when I’m acting, even when I speak with you, it’s in a HUGE HUGE space of Consciousness, totally not identifying with the body. I use the body but it’s like flow, harmony," ~ Sri Vasudeva

You can see it in his eyes that he is seeing this world through the vantage point of another one, a greater one that contains so much more in it. People who are in bliss have this look. It's not a "crazy" look, it's the look of one who is completed relaxed with what is, smiling on the inside, and fully in the know. Such people can look right through you without judging you.

So that's chidākāsha and that about sums up the major points of Day 13. There is always more to find in his talks...but maybe it's time to move on to the next one.

[Miss Hepburn]

Uma, I just write a 'poem' because of this last post on thought...
It would be on page 8-- #71, today.
I didn't want to intrude too much with a comment here on thoughts.

I have practiced thought control for 10 years this year.
Meditation for 40...boy, do I know a lot about thoughts!!! LOL

At least, it's my take.

[Uma]

Link to Miss Hepburn's poem: https://www.spiritualforums.com/vb/showthread.php?p=1428400 awesome!

[Uma]

reflection on Day 14 of the 2015 40 Day Observance

If you go to yoga class to get buns of steel, you may wonder what pranayama exercises have to do with meditation, but on this day Sri Vasudeva's guided meditation incorporated pranayama into the meditation practice itself. It's a way of quieting the mind and going deeper in meditation. So instead of observing thoughts, I am moving prana.

What air is to the lungs, prana is to the soul.
It is prana in the air I breathe,
It is prana in the food I eat,
It is prana in the thoughts I think,
It is prana in the emotions I feel
Prana sustains my soul.

The pranayama exercises he focused on were of the body, heart and head - the three most important parts of soul awareness.

Building up the momentum and then...inertia carries me inward
I have observed that for example in group chanting sessions (traditional Satsangs) we work up the energy to a frenzy and then stop. That's using group power. The pranic field is superloaded with noble thoughts, devotional feelings of love, and the vitality of having sung with great oomph. The sacred environment, the rhythm of the music and the contemplation of the meanings of the words sung and the drum beat keeping everyone singing as one mind all contributes of course. It's not just theatrical hoolala if everyone is on the same page as to the intention for the chanting. All of this prana is swirling around enveloping in and through me. I'm excited and the prana is sort of washing my whole being. And my mind goes quiet naturally, spontaneously.

When this is done with the presence of the Masters (because their true being is not restricted to being right there in front of me in a physical body but even more powerfully right there within me in my mind) then the energy field is even more enormous and expansive and it pulls and stretches my soul like no yoga pose ever could. Things start to go pop and crackle as blockages are released spontaneously. Spiritual experiences can then flow unimpeded.

All of this can happen quickly and magically if I have been doing my pranic exercises because then I have the spiritual muscle to take it in, I have a clear space to allow the shakti of the Guru to open me up to greater heights. And my chakras are squeaky clean

When Kundalini (the Guru within) starts to move in meditation I can consciously work with Her by engaging the prana that She is moving around by using the yogic techniques I have learned (muscle contraction, locks, ujai breathing, visualization, power of focused attention...). And, when Kundalini is still, that's when I need to do the yogic exercises that are necessary to undo my resistance to Her promptings, to encourage Her to wake up again and move in me again. She only dances when the dance floor is clean and there is an audience (the observer is observing).

Today I'm going to spend more conscious effort in working my pranic fields - to clear out all those nadis so my chakras to do their thing in a better way, and probably I'll post about it tomorrow.

Prana, or chi, as the Chinese call it, is the mana from heaven, is the life force of the soul and I cannot neglect it. It is a wonderful thing to be aware of life force energy, still more to harness its power in cleaning up my act.

[Miss Hepburn]

WHERE do find these things ...like that bursting mandala?
I love that one! That was a rhetorical question....

[Awakened Queen]

Originally Posted by Uma

reflection on Day 14 of the 2015 40 Day Observance

If you go to yoga class to get buns of steel, you may wonder what pranayama exercises have to do with meditation, but on this day Sri Vasudeva's guided meditation incorporated pranayama into the meditation practice itself. It's a way of quieting the mind and going deeper in meditation. So instead of observing thoughts, I am moving prana.

What air is to the lungs, prana is to the soul.
It is prana in the air I breathe,
It is prana in the food I eat,
It is prana in the thoughts I think,
It is prana in the emotions I feel
Prana sustains my soul.

The pranayama exercises he focused on were of the body, heart and head - the three most important parts of soul awareness.

Building up the momentum and then...inertia carries me inward
I have observed that for example in group chanting sessions (traditional Satsangs) we work up the energy to a frenzy and then stop. That's using group power. The pranic field is superloaded with noble thoughts, devotional feelings of love, and the vitality of having sung with great oomph. The sacred environment, the rhythm of the music and the contemplation of the meanings of the words sung and the drum beat keeping everyone singing as one mind all contributes of course. It's not just theatrical hoolala if everyone is on the same page as to the intention for the chanting. All of this prana is swirling around enveloping in and through me. I'm excited and the prana is sort of washing my whole being. And my mind goes quiet naturally, spontaneously.

When this is done with the presence of the Masters (because their true being is not restricted to being right there in front of me in a physical body but even more powerfully right there within me in my mind) then the energy field is even more enormous and expansive and it pulls and stretches my soul like no yoga pose ever could. Things start to go pop and crackle as blockages are released spontaneously. Spiritual experiences can then flow unimpeded.

All of this can happen quickly and magically if I have been doing my pranic exercises because then I have the spiritual muscle to take it in, I have a clear space to allow the shakti of the Guru to open me up to greater heights. And my chakras are squeaky clean

When Kundalini (the Guru within) starts to move in meditation I can consciously work with Her by engaging the prana that She is moving around by using the yogic techniques I have learned (muscle contraction, locks, ujai breathing, visualization, power of focused attention...). And, when Kundalini is still, that's when I need to do the yogic exercises that are necessary to undo my resistance to Her promptings, to encourage Her to wake up again and move in me again. She only dances when the dance floor is clean and there is an audience (the observer is observing).

Today I'm going to spend more conscious effort in working my pranic fields - to clear out all those nadis so my chakras to do their thing in a better way, and probably I'll post about it tomorrow.

Prana, or chi, as the Chinese call it, is the mana from heaven, is the life force of the soul and I cannot neglect it. It is a wonderful thing to be aware of life force energy, still more to harness its power in cleaning up my act.

Beautiful post. I am learning how to harness my kundalini energy in my yoga class, which includes chanting and meditation. What you described is what I've experienced from the chanting. From what I can tell, it hits a blockage in my solar plexus chakra, which sometimes makes me feel sweaty and nauseous. It's quite uncomfortable. With each class, I am learning more every day.

[Floatsy]

Uma finds the nicest pics!