Monday, 14 September 2009
Many 'paths'... one realisation?
Nothing is required to 'achieve' Liberation or to 'become' Liberated
Realisation of the Self – Realisation of the True Nature of the Self arises by all else falling away – including the search for, or striving for, the attainment of our true nature.
The one who seeks (for his 'Self') is engaged in a futile activity as long as there is any striving. The seeker does not become a Liberated being. The seeker dissolves like a dream upon awakening, and what remains is not 'a Liberated Being' – but 'Liberated Beingness'.
"All paths lead to unreality."
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
Saturday, 12 September 2009
Kriya Yoga and Tantra
In literature, one will find the word kriya used in several different contexts. It is applied to yogic cleansing practices that maintain the health of the physical body as well as in reference to certain rituals, devotional attitude, and prayers. In the context of this on-going column, Tantric Kriya practices are techniques used to open up the chakras and purify the nadi system.
Direct experience of these aspects of esoteric physiology is not necessary to begin the practice of Tantric Kriya Yoga."
'Babaji and the 18 Siddha Kriya Yoga Tradition' by Marshall Govindan - a review
The Siddhas are known as such because they manifest the Divine powers (Siddhis) which naturally arise through spirtualisation and Union (Yoga) with the Source.
The author is uniquely qualified to write on this subject, being himself a devotee and disciple of Babaji, the legendary Himalayan yogi who was made famous by Paramahamsa Yogananda's best-selling book: 'Autobiography of a Yogi'.
The book traces the links between these Siddha-gurus and the group of Siddhas known as the eighteen Siddhas in Tamil Nadu (South India), linking these also with Lao-Tse and the Taoist sages of China, and taking the reader even further back, into prehistory through the legends of the Lemurian continent in the Pacific, its links with South India and Sri Lanka, and its forgotten civilisation whose spiritual practises are preserved and embodied by these powerful yogis known as the Siddhas.
The book is not written only for those who are practising yoga, it is of interest to anyone who wishes to have a deeper insight into the nature of existence, consciousness, and our potentially and naturally blissful ever-present awareness of Spirit through Love.
It is believed that Babaji himself resides in an almost inaccessible region of the Himalayas, however, the path of Babaji's Kriya yoga and the Tamil Siddhas as described in the book is not a path of spiritual escapism, or renunciation through remoteness. It is a universal path of love and service to humanity and transformation of all aspects of our lives through action with spiritual awareness (kriya).
The chapters on other Siddhas that have lived in recent times, such as Ramalinga Swamigal and Sri Aurobindo can help to bring the fantastic stories of miracles and God-Consciousness into focus and root us in the awareness that spirituality is not so much about gurus and the authority of religious dogmas, but is really about our own present experience lived in full awareness.
Despite the historical information on Babaji which was mostly received directly by Yogi Ramaiah and V.T. Neelakantan in the 1950s, there is often a resistance to de-mystifying the story of Babaji's origins. Much of this information is therefore not generally known or agreed upon within the various lineages of Kriya Yoga.
However, there is also something to be said for considering the 'real' Babaji as being simply the form that the Divine mystery takes when appearing as a human being, and as not being in any way limited to this history of a single human form, even though it is certainly an instructive and inspiring story that sheds light on some very powerful insights and practices known as the Tamil Siddha Yoga tradition.
Friday, 11 September 2009
KRIYA HATHA YOGA
No entanto, os hábitos modernos nos levam normalmente a uma falta de movimento adequado para a nossa saúde tanto ao nível físico como ao nível emocional e mental/intelectual/criativo.
O Yoga nos dá uma oportunidade de restaurar um fluxo energético além do nível físico, actuando ao nível mental e emocional (e talvez até em níveis para quais nem sequer temos nomes), permitindo-nos viver com paz de espírito, apesar das necessidades e demandas do dia-a-dia.
As práticas do Kriya Hatha Yoga actuam holisticamente, manifestando resultados à vários níveis – aumentando a nossa mobilidade, estímulando o sistema endócrino (associado ao funcionamento dos ‘chakras’ ou ‘centros energéticos’), melhorando a circulação sanguínea e aumentando a nossa capacidade de absorção de oxigénio.
Além do nome ‘Yoga’ se referir às práticas, seu significado (‘união’/‘ligação’) também indica o efeito das mesmas – a dissolução das barreiras psico-energéticas e a união com a fonte da vida.
Kali Yuga... or not?
According to Sri Yukteswar, the Vedic astrologers have been basing their calculations on annotations made by misguided sanskrit scholars of the Kali Yuga and so have miscalculated the actual length of the Kali Yuga...
Which means that we may not be in the Kali Yuga anymore after all...
Which could mean it's time to wake up now... not in 426,891 years!
If we believe we're in the Kali Yuga we can look around us and interpret everything as being precisely because of this... and if we believe that we're in the Dwapara Yuga we can look around and interpret things as being precisely because of that.
What does that tell us about the nature of the mind?
Monday, 27 July 2009
Sunday, 19 July 2009
"Love is not selective, desire is selective. In love there are no strangers. When the centre of selfishness is no longer, all desires for pleasure and fear of pain cease; one is no longer interested in being happy; beyond happiness there is pure intensity, inexhaustible energy, the ecstasy of giving from a perennial source."
Saturday, 18 July 2009
Monday, 13 July 2009
Tantra and Maithuna
Matsyendranath
Matsyendranath (or Macchindranath), from the 9th-10th century, was one of the eighty-four Mahasiddhas, and is the patron deity of Nepal. He was guru of Gorakshanath, with whom he founded the school of Hatha yoga, one of the branches of Yogic practices. He is revered by both Hindus and Buddhists.
Matsyendranath is considered by many to be the founder of the Nath Sampradaya of sadhus. While the Naths had actually been known much earlier, from the time of Dattatreya, Macchinndranath did initiate a revival by combining the three viewpoints of Siddha, Tantra, and Nath philosophy.
Scholarship has tentatively associated Macchindranath with Luipa who is venerated as a Mahasiddha in the Vajrayana Buddhist tradition.
(source: Wikipedia)
Nath Sampradaya
The Natha Sampradaya is a development of the earlier Siddha or Avadhuta Sampradaya, an ancient lineage of spiritual masters. Its founding is traditionally ascribed as an ideal reflected by the life and spiritual attainments of the guru Dattatreya, who was considered by many to have been a human incarnation of Lord Shiva. The establishment of the Naths as a distinct historical sect purportedly began around the 8th or 9th century with a simple fisherman, Matsyendranath (sometimes called Minanath, who may be identified with or called the father of Matsyendranath in some sources).
One story of the origin of the Nath teachings is that Matsyendranath was swallowed by a fish and while inside the fish overheard the teachings given by Shiva to his wife Parvati. According to legend, the reason behind Shiva imparting a teaching at the bottom of the ocean was in order to avoid being overheard by others. In the form of a fish, Matsyendranath exerted his hearing in the manner required to overhear and absorb the teachings of Shiva. After being rescued from the fish by another fisherman, Matsyendranath took initiation as a sannyasin from Siddha Carpati. It was Matsyendranath who became known as the founder of the specific stream of yogis known as the Nath Sampradaya.
Matysendranath's two most important disciples were Caurangi and Gorakshanath. The latter came to eclipse his Master in importance in many of the branches and sub-sects of the Nath Sampradaya. Even today, Gorakshanath is considered by many to have been the most influential of the ancient Naths. He is also reputed to have written the first books dealing with Laya yoga and the raising of the kundalini-shakti.
There are several sites, ashrams and temples in India dedicated to Gorakshanatha. Many of them have been built at sites where he lived and engaged in meditation and other sadhanas. According to tradition, his samadhi shrine and gaddi (seat) reside at the Goraknath Temple in Gorakhpur. However, Baghavan Nityananda stated that the samadhi shrines (tombs) of both Matsyendranath and Gorakshanath reside at Nath Mandir near the Vajreshwari Temple about a kilometer from Ganeshpuri.
The Natha Sampradaya does not recognize caste barriers, and their teachings were adopted by outcasts and kings alike. The heterodox Nath tradition has many sub-sects, but all honor Matsyendranath and Gorakshanath as the founders of the tradition.
(source: Wikipedia)
Tantra - Western concepts and 'pop tantra'
The first Western scholar to take the study of Tantra seriously was Sir John Woodroffe (1865–1936), who wrote about Tantra under the pen name Arthur Avalon. He is generally held as the "founding father of Tantric studies." Unlike previous Western scholars, Woodroffe was an apologist for Tantra, defending Tantra against its many critics and presenting Tantra as an ethical philosophical system greatly in accord with the Vedas and Vedanta.
Following Sir John Woodroffe, a number of scholars began to actively investigate the Tantric teachings. These included a number of scholars of comparative religion and Indology, such as: Agehananda Bharati, Mircea Eliade, Julius Evola, Carl Jung, Giuseppe Tucci and Heinrich Zimmer.
Following these first presentations of Tantra, other more popular authors such as Joseph Campbell helped to bring Tantra into the imagination of the peoples of the West. Tantra came to be viewed by some as a "cult of ecstasy", combining sexuality and spirituality in such a way as to act as a corrective force to Western repressive attitudes about sex.
As Tantra has become more popular in the West it has undergone a major transformation. For many modern readers, "Tantra" has become a synonym for "spiritual sex" or "sacred sexuality", a belief that sex in itself ought to be recognized as a sacred act which is capable of elevating its participants to a more sublime spiritual plane. Though pop-tantra may adopt many of the concepts and terminology of Indian Tantra, it often omits one or more of the following: the traditional reliance on guruparampara (the guidance of a guru), extensive meditative practice, and traditional rules of conduct - both moral and ritualistic.
According to one author and critic on religion and politics, Hugh Urban:
Since at least the time of Agehananda Bharati, most Western scholars have been severely critical of these new forms of pop Tantra. This "California Tantra" as Georg Feuerstein calls it, is "based on a profound misunderstanding of the Tantric path. Their main error is to confuse Tantric bliss ... with ordinary orgasmic pleasure.
(Source: Wikipedia)
Sunday, 12 July 2009
Origins of Tantra
Tantra - definitions
Mudras - their origin and function (from 'The Yoga Tradition')
Siva - Vasi - VaSiVaSiVaSiVaSiVaSi
In an 'esoteric' understanding of Saiva Siddhanta Yoga practice, 'Siva' (or 'Shiva') is not 'a god'...
Guiding Light - The Teacher (quoted from Feuerstein's 'The Yoga Tradition')
The 'guru' and self-realisation (from 'The Yoga Tradition', by Feuerstein, PhD.)
What is a true 'Guru'? (from the Kula-Arnava-Tantra)
On Yoga and Tantra - 'transcendence' and 'integration' - from 'The Yoga Tradition' by Georg Feuerstein, PhD.
"India's Psychospiritual technology has been subject to a ruling paradigm, which can be described as verticalism: Reality is thought to be realizable by inverting attention and then manipulating the inwardly focused consciousness to ascend into ever-higher states in the inner hierarchy of experience until everything is transcended...