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Hi Ed Many thanks for the reply.
In fact, I had felt the spiritual heart on right side only when i started the practice of Enquiry years back. Since then, I don't have that experience, though before waking up from sleep, there is that clarity of awareness as Robert always pointed out...
And, as Robert said, that awareness seem to extend for longer duration over a period of time.
We find that the yogis/saintly people who taught techniques like Kriya yoga (say Yogananda or Lahiri Mahasaya) also seem to be realized one's. But at the same time, their teaching contradict what Robert or Ramana used to advocate.
Did Robert ever commented about such Kriya practices as to whether they themselves can take one to Enlightenment as Vichara / Enquiry does?
Love,
S.
RESPONSE:
Robert said they cannot.
The practices are within consciousness. Robert, Ramana and Nisargadatta want you to go beyond consciousness.
You can only do that by an activity that is entirely consistent with your true nature, which is just being. Focused activity of meditating on the I Am, becomes just being I Am with complete happiness, peace and contentment.
Any activity directed outwards, even on a symbol or mantra, is very indirect. As with Rajiv, such practices can lead to a point where you see all the outward practice are pointless and you decide just to watch consciousness, or seek He/She who you are. So why not start with the end practice, and your object of meditation is your sense of beingness, I Am, as opposed to anything else like breathing exercises?
Take the shortcut.
Realizing the Manifest Self--the Life Force permeating our humanity--and the Unmanifest source from which it arises.
Not only did I find the kriyas pointless after so many years of hard practice but also potentially harmful if you did not have the right guidance at that time. It is so easy to get carried away with false appearings at the third eye that it can be mistaken as enlightenment or awakening.
ReplyDeleteAlso the mechanical system of completing so and so many kriyas of first,second,third,fourth,fifth etc etc in one sitting made it very mechanical and dry. One must honestly reflect whether by following a system of meditation or pranayama is he/she being attentive to the system or to the actual goal which is the SELF. I saw most were obsessed with numbers and so were attentive to the means "kriya" and not the goal "Self". It was mostly about seeking and searching for an experience or entering the star and various stuffs like that. What I am ,the beingness was lost in the midst of such desires.Hence when we got an experience it was all well but when we did not we were depressed. All was taking place within Consciousness as Edji so rightly puts it. Kriya Yogis were never ordinary ,they were always fancy.When we sat for kriya we believed we were Yogis of the tradition we represented. Who was meditating and on whome? It was always the Yogi meditating on his own self-created mental image. Wasnt it another kind of identification added to him?? I was always a Yogi of my tradition too till one day a voice told me "Stop Now ,you have had enough" .Just Be.
Most of kriya yogis had behavioral issues ,lot of anger and frustration in them. Few of them I knew even suffered from physical and mental ailment due to rigorous khumbhaks and intense practice which kept them off and on from regular practice.
The presence of a physical teacher or Guru is therefore most essential at every step. Books or blind emotional devotion can never replace the presence and guidance of a physical teacher.
Had it not been for Master Ed and his blessings I could have been stuck at "oneness" state only (play of consciousness) and worse deluded into believing that this is all there is.Now I know it was just a tip of the iceberg.
The intention is not to hurt anyone or shake anyones faith. We are all one. I have much love for a genuine seeker so I tell all this.
Rajiv
Nisargadatta once said, "Focus on the meditator".
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