For most people the Golden Age sounds quite incredible and unbelievable, so how can we know whether it's true or not? The basic premise of spirituality is that you already know what's true, but have just forgotten. The way to remember is through a spiritual practice, which involves turning the mind inward and being aware.
One of the great things I discovered when I started, is that results come pretty quickly, and the truth follows shortly after. However, results vary a lot between different people, as instructions are usually quite vague, and people have different levels of ability, but I believe I've arrived at a system that significantly reduces or even completely eliminates these issues.
God talks about the experience of Samadhi as being "oneness and union with God". It is the ultimate experience of truth and the focus of a Yoga practice. The key steps to achieve are: Pratyahara (sense withdrawal), Dharana (concentration), and Dhyana (meditation).
Swami Rama says:
When a student first begins to concentrate, he or she is faced with all sorts of distractions. Many aspirants grow discouraged, feeling that they were calmer before they started the practice. However, this feeling is only a result of experiencing disturbances that have always existed, but of which one was not previously aware. It is like seeing for the first time all the dust that has been swept under the carpet. This is only a stage or a transition, and if the aspirant perseveres, he or she will go beyond it and achieve the necessary one-pointedness of mind.
This method of achieving meditation is what you'll find in most books, but is it the only way? Let's look at a quote from one of my favorite yoga books: "A Systematic Course in...Yoga and Kriya".
Swami Nishchalananda says:
When people try to concentrate they tend to become more tense and develop headaches, the opposite, of course, to what is intended. After a short time they become frustrated, start to lose interest in the practices and start to scratch, fidget and generally feel uncomfortable. There seems to be a reaction to this concentration and their mind rebels and does exactly the opposite to what is intended. With Kriya Yoga, however, there is a noticeable difference. Because they are not asked to concentrate deeply, only to do their practices, the awareness seems to spontaneously become one-pointed and relaxed.
Doesn't this sound much better? Why stress and strain to concentrate the mind, when you can just let it happen spontaneously. The Kriya Yoga practices will take you almost effortlessly through the stages of Pratyahara (9 kriyas), Dharana (10 kriyas), and Dhyana (the final kriya). This is the advantage of Kriya Yoga over other systems of yoga or even any other spiritual practice.
Since 2006 I've been teaching a yoga class and recently began video recording it. (End of March 27, 2010 text)
On January 9, 2011, I removed the link to isoHunt.com, but you can still find my Kriya Yoga Course there if you prefer, otherwise, I recommend you visit my Download page and follow the instructions there for downloading.
Thanks a lot for the torrents, I have downloaded and has helped me a lot. I have purchased the book of Swami Satyanand as well...
ReplyDeleteThat's great to hear, Hardik, and congratulations for being the first person to post on my blog! Are there any topics you are interested in hearing more about?
ReplyDeleteI agree with much of what you have written in your blog. You are correct in saying the key steps in yoga practice are pratiyahar, dharana and dhyana.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the foundational practices are even more important; you cannot build a house without a strong foundation -it will not withstand the winds and the elements.
Hence we have the eight-fold path of yoga:
Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama,Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi.
In fact, I personally believe that yama(observances/attitudes) and niyama (disciplines) are the most important; you get these right & you do all your duties and all the other steps just flow naturally. After all, we all exercize, we all breathe, we all have moments of withdrawal,concentration, meditation and glimpses of the higher states of consciousness.
Practising the eight-fold path of yoga just accelerates all of these activities,saving time and effort.
Thanks for the excellent comment!
ReplyDeleteHave you seen the film "Life is Beautiful" with Roberto Benigni? In that film he lies to his son constantly, which would seem to go against the yama of truthfulness, but in this case, constant lying was the yogic path in my opinion.
Similar examples can be given for all of the yamas and niyamas, which makes them quite useless in my opinion, or even harmful when people are led to believe Roberto acted wrongly.
There is only one thing you need to know: perfect thought, word and action have their "foundation" in selfless love, which Roberto depicted beautifully.
Manoj
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment - it is very perceptive.
However, a note of clarification. The yama of truthfulness, in my opinion, really means following/seeking the truth; that is the essence. Or rather, discarding what is false.
You are right - selfless love is most important.
Also the yamas and niyamas are not a rigid set of rules to be followed blindly. They have to be tempered with discrimination and wisdom.
So I would agree that seeking the truth is a valid reason for practicing yoga, but I don't know anyone who would say that is what the yama of satya refers to.
ReplyDeleteWikipedia has the following definition, which is much more widely agreed to.
Satya (सत्य): truthfulness, word and thought in conformity with the facts.
You also say the yamas and niyamas are not a rigid set of rules. Well they certainly look like a rigid set of rules. Most yoga schools that have incorporated them have done so by making them a rigid set of rules.
If you now say they are not a rigid set of rules, then again, they are misleading and ultimately harmful.
Finally, you say discrimination and wisdom is required. How does one develop discrimination and wisdom? This is solely achieved through the awakening of the chakras. A person with all of his chakras fully closed has no discrimination and wisdom while a person with his chakras and kundalini fully awakened has a very high level of discrimination and wisdom.
The process of awakening the chakras and kundalini involves very simple and easy to understand steps that can be performed by anybody using their physical body, their breath and their mind, where room for misunderstanding is very small.
All the yamas and niyamas do is take a simple process and make it complicated, misleading and harmful for no reason whatsoever as far as I can tell. Many yoga schools are considered cults because they force their students to adhere to these rigid rules leaving many mentally and emotionally scared for life.
In my opinion, the evidence that they are harmful far outweighs any value that they may have. The truth is inside you.
I'm unable to download 2nd torrent (Advance one). Can you please help?
ReplyDeleteI'm no longer supporting the torrents as all of my videos are now on youtube.
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