I was given a gift that isn’t mine to keep – it’s mine to share.
The gift is simple: I see something you don’t (yet!!) and my purpose is to help you see it for yourself!!
Here’s how it works: we’re born spiritually blind, but at some point we will each come to terms with our own true nature.
We can wait until we’re literally dying (read “Gone From My Sight – The Dying Experience” by Barbara Karnes, hospice nurse and 2015 International Humanitarian Woman of the Year) or we can explore THAT aspect of ourselves while we’re STILL HERE!!!!!
Seeing yourself differently only requires a paradigm shift. It’s like the attached picture: initially we see either an old or young woman’s profile. It’s not until someone points out the other image that we see it’s actually both!
Spread the word: There’s a LOT more to you than you see in the mirror and hear in your head!! Please forward this to friends interested in their own spiritually – particularly if they’re in a position to influence public opinion!!!
Raja Yoga is the ancient science of mind control (aka meditation) a discipline that fosters faith in self, life and God.
The prehistoric practice was memorialized by Patanjali in a 200-line poem, the Yoga Sutras, a treasure map to nothing less than eternal bliss!
The allure and promise of Raja Yoga is that with constant practice you WILL smile (contentedly!) more often than you frown.
Meditation will take you to a place that transcends earthly experience – and THAT will change your life!!
_________
Raja yogi’s tip o’ the day(says the Irishman in me): faith comes before enlightenment. I only say that because it took me 13 years to find faith that God exists – but I haven’t figured out to levitate yet!!
I can help you get there in less time; however,…
… YOU have to put in the time and effort. For better or worse, I can only guide you!
At the age of 18 she became divinely-inspired to persist and ultimately succeed in leading the French to victory IN BATTLE against the English [think about THAT the next time you’re at the gym]!
A year later, again IN BATTLE while serving the same king whom she’d help liberate France, she was captured by the English.
The French king turned his back on her, making no effort to rescue the young French heroine.
After publicly besting and embarrassing her captors, at the age of 19 Joan was burned at the stake…
…FOR DRESSING LIKE A MAN!!
That was the only public charge made against her.
Faith engenders a sense of purpose and “CAN’T TOUCH THIS!” attitude that Joan of Arc embodied – that and a lot of love and a bit of craziness!
Without consciousness we wouldn’t realize we’re alive!
Yes. Consciousness is a HUGE deal. It’s essentially divine – and we ALL have it!!
Consciousness is awareness OF thought. If you’re aware of your thoughts You aren’t those thoughts, nor your body. You are the awareness OF those things.
What does that make You?
Things like immortal, eternal, immutable. Let’s just say the common cold, flat tires and spoiled milk…
…CAN’T TOUCH THIS!
The prehistoric yoga texts say no amount of water or fire (covering the entire spectrum between them) can touch this part of us; today the ancients would say this part of each of us is bulletproof!
AND YOU KNOW IT’S REAL BECAUSE YOU’RE AWARE YOU’RE READING THIS!!
BKS Iyengar (my teacher’s teacher’s teacher) said yoga isn’t a religion; it’s the study of religion.
Once you realize that your consciousness literally isn’t “of this earth” – after freaking out – you naturally want to understand the source of THAT part of you which Western science accepts but can’t explain!
I attended a Buddhist “Sangha” last night (a gathering of devotees to collectively meditate). I met some of the truly kindest people I’ve bumped into in awhile. It was a wonderfully inclusive, loving celebration of life. Thank you to the host and hostess if you’re reading this.
I’ve posted about similar experiences with my Pentecostal and Bhakti Yoga friends: participating in group practices that evoke a collective state of semi-conscious mind, harmoniously tuned with loving and common intent to “dance with God” in some fashion. More powerful than sex, drugs and alcohol says this 60 year old addict. 🙏
A quick Googlenet search for similar devotional group practices turned up these two links. The articles are rather long but tremendously insightful, providing glimpses into the Hindu practice of “Puja”, and the Buddhist practice of Sangha; the latter is authored by Thich Nhat Hanh. ❤️
I shudder to wonder what our lives might be like without the insights and life-long devotion of LIVING saints like Thich Nhat Hanh, the Dalai Lama, and Amma. Who am I missing?
Who are the other great living spiritual leaders who promote UNIVERSAL love: blind to race, status, sexuality and religion?
Hoping the universal pendulum of Yin/Yang swings back towards the Light Side of the Force SOON!!
The four spinning wheels represent its different energetic densities and corresponding functions according to the science underlying Patanjali’s Raja Yoga:
1. Conscious mind – the most evident, only thinks five types of thought: three original (“correct”, “incorrect” and “imagined”) plus it can “remember” previous thoughts, and wait for it……it has a “pause” or “neutral” function – although you can’t shut off your mind any more than you can stop your heart from beating or your lungs from breathing.
Thoughts are colored by emotions stemming from our sub-consciousness mind, which coordinates bodily function, stores memories and houses our vital ego: the recognition that we are unique and have needs.
2. Sub-conscious mind (third floor – 3rd because it’s the least subtle energetically, and when we meditate we experience a deepening over time) – the only evidence of this aspect of mind – since we can’t “hear” it the way we hear our conscious thoughts – are our five inbound senses and bodily functioning. This aspect of mind multi-tasks big-time!
3. Sub-conscious mind (second floor) – memory storage; memories are less energetically dense than sensations, but denser than ego.
4. Sub-conscious mind (bottom floor) – root or vital ego: the most subtle aspect of our tangible, temporal body/mind.
The flashlight is consciousness.
When it’s on, it represents the eternal immutable awareness OF our thoughts, and thus by definition, is NOT itself a mental function!!
Patanjali’s eight-limbed practice proves that beyond doubt. As Amma says, consciousness is essentially divine. Without it, you don’t realize you’re alive!!
Meditating…
… (i.e., simply observing without emotion, analyzing or judging) indirectly exposes your otherwise sub-conscious fears and desires to the soothing effects of consciousness – diminishing their potential to influence future thoughts and actions.
…with intent…
The self-induced holistically [physically, energetically & mentally] calming and restorative effects lasts LONG after your time on the mat – and becomes turbocharged when practiced as it was originally intended: as a form of self-sacrifice, an expression of gratitude and humility directed toward the Source of everything, whatever that means to you!
Meditating is about trying to connect with God via consciousness, the intangible aspect of each of us without which we don’t know we’re alive – the aspect of us that’s not subject to time and space!
But you don’t have to adapt an old-school devotional mindset to benefit from meditating. Meditation is a free and holistic practice!! Patanjali memorialized the Yoga Sutras for all mankind forever. ❤
All you have to do to get started is close your eyes and smile!
…as outlined by Patanjali…
Once you’ve progressed in the second and third limbs of Patanjali’s eight-limbed Raja Yoga, the science of mind control or meditation (i.e., having developed some degree of physical self-control over your body internally and externally), the last four limbs are mental exercises in which we a) learn to focus our conscious mind correctly without emotion – a prerequisite for holding it in neutral, and b) eventually settle through three VERY deep sub-conscious mental states – beneath which lies the awareness of life itself: consciousness. ❤
…proves it to yourself.
The next time you have five minutes, sit still. While you’re sitting there, just watch your body breathe. Relax. And just watch. You CAN’T do it wrong! When you become distracted bring your attention back to your breath. Eventually, the distractions become less frequent.
The longer you can hold your conscious mind in neutral – just observing – mimicking consciousness – the deeper your experience will be.
It’s sort of like holding the door open to a butterfly garden: eventually, all the butterflies (the beautiful and butt-ugly) find their way out energetically – because when fears and desires are exposed to divine consciousness they lose their potential to influence thoughts and actions.
The trick to smiling more often is realizing there’s a LOT more to you than you see in the mirror!
Practice self-awareness and self-control. Read Patanjali’s prehistoric, 200-line poem and meditate! 😉
When we left off before the holidays, we’d learned that Bhakti Yogis get right to the point: theirs is entirely a devotional practice. They:
Hear about God
Sing about God
Remember God
Serve God
Worship God
Glorify God
Devote themselves to God
Befriend God
Surrender to God completely
No need to endure the rigors of the path to realization that we stubborn “generic” yogis slog through – frustratingly, only to arrive at the same place: singing some version of
HALLELUIAH!!
But the intuitive truth about getting there the hard way is – it sticks. It changes you. When you “get” the whole other-dimension thing about your consciousness, it’s a game-changer.
SERVICE
We’re up to the fourth of the nine devotional practices of Bhakti Yoga, serving God.
Not sure what the usual reaction to truly realizing of the existence of God is – let alone that part of the Divine resides in YOU! – but an educated guess is that – after recovering – you’re moved to express gratitude for your own life by helping others, because once you realize the whole Father-Son-Ghost relationship includes YOU personally, you no longer need anything. <3
Not sure if he’s still speaking to me given my defensive posturing with respect to the source of my own devotion – Patanjali 😉 – but here’s a quote from Edwin’s latest tome on the source of his:
From Edwin F. Bryant’s “BHAKTI YOGA Tales and Teachings from the Bhagavata Purana”:
“Most definitions of bhakti scattered in various [classical ancient] texts featured the ideal of service, which we noted is synonymous with love. While the word “service” sometimes carries a negative connotation associated with servitude, we can understand from our own human relationships that the more we deeply love another person, the more we try to please him or her with service.”
In other words, love thy neighbor! Tap into YOUR inner power; meditate!
#BringBackPatanjali
RAJA YOGA – originated in India; seated meditation; like trying to touch the Divine within YOU!
QIGONG (medical) – originated in China; moving meditation; like trying to dance with the Divine within YOU!! [classes coming in 2018]
1. Your sub-conscious mind;
2. Your conscious mind;
3. Your consciousness.
#3 is as different from the other two as your thoughts are from your body.
Try this:
Wave at yourself (go ahead – no one’s looking!!)
Faster, then slower. Just watch your hand moving up and down. All three of your NON-physical parts are involved:
#1 – your sub-conscious mind (the part you’re generally NOT aware of) controls movement and sight.
#2 – your conscious mind (the part you ARE generally aware of – evidenced by your thoughts) is doing one of two things: thinking OR observing.
If you hear the voice in your head, you’re thinking – if not, you’re observing (aka you’re being “mindful”; technically, you are aware of the functioning of your otherwise sub-conscious mind).
#3 – your consciousness – the awareness OF your thoughts. This is your essence.
Mic drop.
Without consciousness you don’t know you’re alive. This aspect of you is so subtle, IT NEVER CHANGES! This (#3) is the awareness OF what’s on your conscious mind (#2).
THIS (#3) IS THE HOLY GRAIL OF YOGA! This aspect of each of us is essentially divine! Realizing THAT will change you forever.
