Sunday 21 November 2010

Sexual Tantra and Ecstasy - Weaving the Essence of 'Masculine' and 'Feminine'

A quote from Osho:

“If you look at animals you will never see that they are enjoying; in intercourse they are not enjoying. Look at baboons, monkeys, dogs or any animal – in their sex act you cannot observe that they are feeling blissful or enjoying it. You cannot! It seems just a mechanical act, a natural force pushing them towards it. If you have seen monkeys in intercourse, after the intercourse they will separate. Look at their faces. There is no ecstasy – is if nothing has happened. When the energy forces, when the energy is too much, they throw it.
The ordinary sex act is just like this, and moralists have been saying quite the contrary. They say, “Don’t indulge. Don’t enjoy.” They say, “This is like animals.” This in not! Animals never enjoy – only man can enjoy. And the deeper you can enjoy, a higher humanity is born to you. And if your sex act can become meditative, ecstatic, the highest is touched."

Wednesday 17 November 2010

'Think again'

It is fundamental to recognise that we have been taught not to trust ourselves...

We have been taught to create a split between 'me' and 'Life'... between 'me' and 'Source'...


The basis of this split is an idea. It is an idea that we picked up by observing all the 'separate-feeling' people around us - their actions, their words, their interests, their fears...


We have been taught to deny the peace that is right here in the Silence, between the thoughts, behind the thoughts, before, after and even during the thoughts... We have been taught to ignore this Witness that is Pure Consciousness... that is always Here.


No-thing is in the way of Understanding. No-thing needs to be removed or added. It's just that idea of separation that distracts us...

It's JUST an idea.


It's not important. It doesn't justify all that effort that we make to find wholeness again.

It's just an idea.


'Think again' ... or not.


It's just an idea.

Friday 12 November 2010

"The real does not die,
the unreal never lived."
- Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Monday 1 November 2010

Spirituality is just about finding Peace...


The goal of my spiritual work is true happiness... contentment... Peace.

But sometimes we may imagine that spirituality is in some way 'opposed' to involvement in the world. We may believe that if we were content then we would have no impulse towards any achievement.
However, do not confuse true happiness, contentment and Peace with apathy, ‘low-expectations’, indifference, lack of motivation, or stagnation.

In happiness and peace, we rediscover our natural talents, we rediscover our passion, and we find it perfectly natural to live a dynamic, adventurous life, full of discovery and achievement…

In happiness and peace we discover the best of ourselves, we discover the best we have to offer our loved ones and to this world. We discover that by being fully ourselves – just being at peace with ourselves –  actually has a huge impact on our world, because it is a powerful ‘wake-up call’ to those around us. It reminds those who come into contact with us that they too can be in peace… and that peace is not just an idyllic concept. It can be embodied in any moment of our lives.

Ultimately spiritual self-realisation is recognising  that this peace is our unconditioned nature… that it is still here, now as silent witness to all the highs and lows… it is unconditional and eternal.
It is the source of genuine unconditional love. Mystics have referred to it as the ‘Presence of God’… Hindus have referred to it as ‘Satchitananda’ (‘Truth-Consciousness-Bliss’), the Buddhists have referred to it as the ‘Buddha-nature’…
It is always present. We just tend to overlook it in our ‘disbelief’… We cover it up with our thoughts about the so-called ‘real world’, which really is the product of conditioning rather than direct experience.
Ultimately spirituality has nothing to do with belief – quite the contrary – it is what remains when we have the courage to drop our belief systems – both ‘secular’ and ‘religious’ – and experience the power of Life, animating us now… This is communion with the source.

It's too simple to be ‘grasped’, but the ‘cure’ for this strange condition is to recognise why we have been trying so hard to ‘grasp’ in the first place...
We have been afraid. We have developed an unquestioned and even unconscious belief, or attitude, of distrust towards life. This is all that stands in the way of our Realisation… and it has no strength to stand on its own… it is we who are keeping peace (‘God’) at a distance through this lack of trust in life. It is this lack of trust that holds together all our attachment, all our selfishness, all our ignore-ance.

My work – my gift to you – is to help you find that trust again... that innocence.

Spirituality is just about finding Peace.
In that Peace we recognise, and Realise, our very own Self, and the virtues so cherished in the world's spiritual teachings arise spontaneously.

Only in peace can this Infinite Presence of Self be realised, only in Grace. This is why your efforts may be going in vain.

Sunday 31 October 2010

Messages from Shibendu Lahiri

Click here to read, or download, Shibendu Lahiri's inspired messages.

Saturday 30 October 2010

Who is Ramalinga Swami?

Ramalinga Swami of Tamil Nadu, South India, also known as Ramalingaswami, Ramalingaswamigal, Ramalinga Adigal, or simply 'Vallalar' was, or is, in many ways a unique saint in the world's history of spirituality. Not only did he seek 'Enlightenment', or 'Self-Realisation' as a form of 'Supreme Understanding' through total transformation of the psyche, but also, quite literally he sought 'En-Lightenment' as a total transformation of all aspects of one's existence - including of one's physical body, by opening to the graceful power of  the Divine, represented by 'Divine Light'.

It is believed that through his total surrender to the Divine Light of Grace, or 'Supreme Grace-Light' ('Arutperunjyothi', in Tamil) his body gradually lost its 'density' and he took on the vibration of Spirit - the Pure Light of Consciousness - and thus in 1874, he finally 'ascended' or 'expanded' his mind and body infinitely... and entered "all the bodies of His creation".

Ramalinga is considered to be a recent example of a Self-Realised Siddha, the likes of which have appeared in the region of Tamil Nadu over the centuries, and even over thousands of years, as related in the life-stories and teachings of the '18 Tamil Siddhas'.

For more information on the Tamil Siddhas, including material that is being translated and published in English for the first time, see the books of 'Babaji's Kriya Yoga Publications', such as:
- 'The Yoga of Siddha Avvai'
- 'The Yoga of the 18 Siddhas: An Anthology'
- 'The Yoga of Siddha Boganathar' - volumes 1 and 2
- 'The Yoga of Tirumular - Essays on the Tirumandiram'
- 'Thirumandiram - A Classic of Yoga and Tantra'
- 'Nine Tandirams on the Tirumandiram'
- 'The Poets of the Powers'
and the following book has a chapter dedicated to Ramalinga Swami:
'Babaji and the 18 Siddha Kriya Yoga Tradition', by M.G. Satchidananda (Marshall Govindan)

The following site gives some details of Ramalinga's life - his teachings on Union with Divine Love and Divine Intelligence and Divine Light through compassion and service to all beings, his miracles and his total merging with the Source:
http://www.arutperumjothi.com/

Wednesday 27 October 2010

'Secrets of the 'Conscious Breath''

There  is a way of breathing that is a shame and a suffocation,
And there is another way;
A Love Breath
That lets you open Infinitely.
- Rumi

Regarding the first two limbs of classical Ashtanga: 'Yama' and 'Niyama' ('moral observance' and 'self-restraint')



"The purpose of yama and niyama ... is to prepare the mind for spiritual enlightenment. Yama sabilizes the mind in the realm of social behaviour, and niyama purifies it by minimizing worldly, outer-direceted activity.
Although it may sound like conventional moralistic preaching to advocate good behaviour and abstention from evil conduct, yama and niyama are actually practical necessities for one who engages in spiritual practice."


- Hiroshi Motoyama (in 'Theories of the Chakras - Bridge to Higher Consciousness')

Thursday 21 October 2010

What is 'Ashtanga'?

There is some confusion about the real meaning of 'Ashtanga' because of the recent popularity of Sri K. Prattabhi Jois' 'Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga'. For this reason, the classical Ashtanga is now sometimes referred to as 'Ashta-anga' to distinguish it from Sri K. Prattabhi Jois' Hatha Yoga practices.
The Eight-Fold Path / The Eight Limbs:
1. Yama (moral observance)
2. Niyama (self-restraint)
3. Asana (posture)
4. Pranayama (breath control)
5. Pratyahara (sensory inhibition)
6. Dharana (concentration)
7. Dhyana (meditation)
8. Samadhi (Union with God, ecstasy, nirvana).


Ashta-anga Yoga is also known as: 'Ashtanga Yoga', 'Astaunga Yoga', 'Classical Yoga', 'Patanjali Ashtanga', and 'Raja Yoga'.

Friday 15 October 2010

Who Am I?


Click on the photo to see my new central blog in Portuguese where you can find links to several aspects of my work: Articles, Workshop and Retreat dates, Concerts, Satsangs, Sexual Alchemy, Consultations, etc.

Thursday 10 June 2010

OM (AUM)

How to chant OM (AUM) correctly.
Nicely explained.

"A multiplicity of paths to the one Truth."

Shiva - One of the Trinity, or 'the Supreme'?


'Shiva' - the 'auspicious' one

... to be continued .... :o)


Friday 16 April 2010

Spiritual Coaching in Sintra


Sintra is one of the most picturesque and magical places on this planet.

Walk and meditate in the forests, visit initiatic gardens and labyrinths, have a picnic on the cliffs looking over the Atlantic, savour the local foods and unique sweets, visit organic farms, or learn to surf, and each day receive an hour (or more) of coaching while soaking in the magic of Sintra.

Now is the time. What better place to unwind and to let yourSelf flower?


Coaching with Peter Littlejohn Cook
information:
Tel: +351 967 045 411
panmandala@gmail.com

Shibendu Lahiri in Portugal - April 2010

Shibendu Lahiri at Quinta dos Milagres, Lagos.
Shibendu Lahiri is giving a lecture tomorrow night (16th April 2010) in Lisbon at 9pm, and Kriya Yoga initiations over the weekend and then a retreat in Fátima.

You can also find information about this and his upcoming events (UK, Germany, India, USA, etc.) at:

He is a true Advaita master - a voice for the Infinite.
His teaching is not 'comforting', it is profoundly disarming and dissolves the 'I'-centred illusion of separation...

If you meet him or 'his' teaching, prepare to be 'blasted'.

Sunday 3 January 2010

One and many... One as many... Many as One

Every 'soul'
is a point of consciousness
in the kaleidoscopic hall of mirrors
that is the 'self-reflexive' universe –

The One Being
Meditating
upon its Infinite Nature.

Every 'self' is a story, contemplated by Divine Mind...
'ego' is a concept that makes all this 'separate' experience possible
'Maya' is also supreme Creativity and Play... ('Leela')
Without out it there is only the Deepest Silence