Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Sri Shankar Maharaj
BirthPlace
Different stories are told about the birth and early life of Shankar Maharaj. But the following story of his birth and initiation by his guru appears to be most authentic, having been told by Maharaj himself to his prime disciple Dr. Nagesh Dhaneshwar.
Once Dr. Dhaneshwar asked Maharaj his age. Instead of answering, he asked him to judge his age from physical examination since he was a medical doctor.
Dr. Dhaneshwar judged his age to be more than 125 years. Maharaj agreed with him and told him that he was born in about 1800 at Mangalwedha (near Pandharpur) in the family named Upasani.
Inititation
He used to be a very naughty boy. Once, when he was seven to eight years old, he went chasing a deer. The deer entered the forests on the banks of the river Chandrabhaga towards a place called Machnur.He followed it and soon reached a Shiva temple. When he was about to shoot the arrow a large sanyasi came, lifted the deer and held it in his arms .He said “My child, why do you kill the innocent animals? If you want to hunt, hunt wild animals, but don’t kill this” nevertheless he shot the arrow at the deer in the sanyasi’s arms. It hit him but became blunt aad fell down. Another arrow also met the same fate.he become confused but the sanyasi smiled, kept the deer down, came near and fondled him. Thus Maharaj got “ Sparshdiksha” or initiation by touch of the Yogi, who was no other than Swami Samarth of Akkalkot. Maharaj stayed with him for six months during which he gave him all knowledge and instructed him to go on pilgrimage.
He went to the Himalayas where he did a very hard penance .On returning from there he spent his time with Siddha-Yogis in and around Vriddheshwar (near Nagar) which is known as the center for meditation of several Nath Siddhas in the past.
Karya
In appearance Maharaj is described as ‘Ashtavakra’ or bent in eight places. Maharaj had a short stature, but was "Ajunubahu" or having long hands reaching below his knees. Most noticeable were his large and bright eyes and a child like expression on his face. In later years he had a beard .
He was fond of smoking honeydew (popularly known as Pilo hatthi) cigrattes. He used to like the scent (attar) of hina and loved music.
He often had a brandy bottle in his hand and a hunter whip with him. Maharaj used to drink with a purpose. His drunken appearance helped him in keeping unwanted people away. Only those people who saw Maharaj beyond the external looks could come to him. There are instances when Maharaj drank and another person nearby got drunk. Some people to whom Maharaj gave a brandy glass and asked them to drink it told later it was not liquor but nice tasting coconut water.
He used to address people by the swear words, but without malice. It was believed that if Maharaj rebuked anybody he got rid of misfortunes. He used to talk with lisp which was due to his unusually long tongue.
Raosaheb Balwantrao Mehendale who was a barrister and his wife Taisaheb Mehendale were also close disciples of Maharaj. Maharaj initiated Tai Saheb and asked her to give discourses on Dnyaneshwari (an exposition on Geeta). Spiritual programs like the discourses, bhajans and kirtans were held in Mehendalewada (at the Appa Balwant Chowk in Pune) which became a center of solace for people who were frustrated in life and needed a relief. These discourses from Taisaheb used to impart deeper bliss to the listeners and they used to feel the meaning of their life being unfolded. It was as if Shri Shankar Maharaj was speaking through her, for he had already told that
“I myself cannot give discourse. I need some intelligent person with pure mind”
This incident of giving darshan of the desired deity was unique. Sir Chunilal Mehta, once Governor of Bombay Presidency in British Raj was a close friend of Raosaheb Mehendale. He used to attend the discourses in Mehendalewada. One day he told Raosaheb that inspite of his vast reading, travelling all over India visiting holy places, he felt something was lacking in his life. This was just before Taisaheb’s discourse on Dnyaneshwari was to start. The stanzas Taisaheb had selected that day related to seeing manifested God. Sir Chunilal was considerably influenced and said that he wanted to experience something like that. Raosaheb took him next day to meet Maharaj who was at that time in Mama Dhekne’s house. Maharaj was as usual reclining on a cushion, laughing and talking to himself. Lady Mehta sat with Taisaheb on ground. Sir Chunilal stood and did namaskar to Maharaj. Raosaheb spoke to Maharaj and told him that Sir Chunilal had come with his wife to meet him. Maharaj first ignored him and then fixed his eyes on Sir Chunilal who instantly went into a deep trance, tears started flowing from his eyes. And then Sir Chunilal ran to Maharaj and fell on his feet making them moist with the tears. Sir Chunilal later told that in those moments Lord Vishnu his personal deity had appeared before him. Sir Chunilal was still in trance for a long time. The feeling of incompleteness left Sir Chunilal permanently. Thereafter Sir Chunilal continued to remain in that internal trance state. He never went any more on pilgrimage to holy places.
Samadhi
A few months before taking samadhi Maharaj had chosen the present site. It was a farmland owned by one Mr. Malpani who had agreed to give him the land. A few days before the samadhi, Maharaj told to his devotees, who had gathered at Mama Dhekne's house, "These clothes have become old. They must be discarded." everybody realized he was referring to his body and not real clothes. He then asked them to gather there after four days and that he would make 'khichdi' for them. Four days later, when they gathered at Mama Dhekne's house, Maharaj himself cooked the 'khichdi' and distributed it. Then Maharaj said, "Dnyaneshwari is not to be read. One must live by it. This world has been saved only by the advice of the Saints and Dnyaneshwari He who fills his life with Dnyaneshwari will surely have a happy life. I have nothing more to say." And with that he bid good-bye to those who had gathered, except Dr. Dhaneshwar, Gosavi, Dnyananath, Mehendale couple, Mama and Mami Dhekne. He said, "For Yogis and liberated persons, samadhi should be taken at an auspicious time. This time is coming on Vaishakh Suddha Ashtami. I am going to deposit this material body in the ground that day."
During the next ten days or so, Maharaj broke all outside contacts. Only the usual group used to visit him at Mama Dhekne's house. Not a word was spoken. On the seventh day, that is the day before the samadhi, he told Mami," Give me just a cup of tea. Inside the shelf spread a small mattress and keep a cushion. I am going to take bath and sit here. I don't want to speak a word nor meet anyone. The door should not be opened." And they did accordingly. Mama and Mami were sitting the whole night in front of the shelf keeping watch. At four o'clock in the morning voice came from inside the shelf, "Make further arrangements. Take care of this material body. This flame of Dnyanadeo is now leaving it".It was April 24th 1947.
People gathered to have a last sight of the body of the Master. Next day around noon the body was taken in procession to the place and by the route indicated by Maharaj.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Thursday, May 13, 2010
God Exists I have met him ... By Andre Frossard
In his book, "God Exists: I Have Met Him", A. Frossard tries to give an idea of his spiritual experience. For that purpose he creates the concept of the "inverse avalanche". An avalanche collapses, runs downhill, first slowly, then faster and violently at the same time. Frossard suggests that we should imagine an "upsidedown avalanche" which begins strengthening at the foot of the mountain and climbs up pushed by an increasing power; then, suddenly, it leaps up toward the sky.
Online ebook available at :
Part 1 http://godexists.yolasite.com/part-1.php
Part 2 http://godexists.yolasite.com/part-2.php
Part3 http://godexists.yolasite.com/part-3.php
About Andre : http://godexists.yolasite.com/
Online ebook available at :
Part 1 http://godexists.yolasite.com/part-1.php
Part 2 http://godexists.yolasite.com/part-2.php
Part3 http://godexists.yolasite.com/part-3.php
About Andre : http://godexists.yolasite.com/
Kundalini Experience by Gopi Krishna
Gopi Krishna adopted a routine of meditation as part of his mental discipline and practiced concentration exercises for a number of years. In spite of his religious orientation, he did not have a spiritual teacher and was not initiated into any spiritual lineage.
Over a period of years, he developed the ability to sit for a period of hours in concentration without any discomfort. The following account which took place in 1937 describes his first Kundalini experience which occurred while he was visualizing "an imaginary Lotus in full bloom, radiating light" at the crown of his head.
"Suddenly, with a roar like that of a waterfall, I felt a stream of liquid light entering my brain through the spinal cord. Entirely unprepared for such a development, I was completely taken by surprise; but regaining my self-control, keeping my mind on the point of concentration. The illumination grew brighter and brighter, the roaring louder.
I felt myself slipping out of my body, entirely enveloped in a halo of light. I felt the point of consciousness (that was myself) growing wider surrounded by waves of light. It grew wider and wider, spreading outward while the body appeared to have receded into the distance until I became entirely unconscious of it.
I was now all consciousness without any outline, without any feeling or sensation coming from the senses. I immersed in a sea of light spread out in all directions without any barrier or material obstruction.
I was no longer myself as I knew myself to be a small point of awareness confined to a body, but instead was a vast circle of consciousness (in which the body was but a point bathed in light). I was in a state of exultation and happiness impossible to describe."
Shortly after the initial experience above, Gopi experienced a continuous "luminous glow" around his head and began having a variety of psychological and physiological problems. At times he thought he was going mad. He adopted a very strict diet which helped him maintain his precarious mental balance, and for years refused to do any meditation (since he attributed all his troubles to the yogic concentration exercises he had been doing).
A fundamental change had taken place in him after his experience of Kundalini. He believed that this experience began a process in which his entire nervous system would be slowly reorganized and transformed by the Kundalini energy. He conceived of this energy as an intelligent force over which he had little control once it was activated.
2nd Experience :
The following experience occurred spontaneously about twelve years after his first experience, and only after he had been strengthened by the spiritually directed biological transformation he had undergone:
"While seated comfortably on a chair, I gradually passed off into a condition of exaltation and self-expansion similar to that which I had experienced on the very first occasion. But this time in place of the roaring noise in my ears there was now a cadence like the humming of a swarm of bees, enchanting and melodious, and the encircling glow was replaced by a penetrating silvery radiance.
In this sudden realization, I became conscious from within of an immediate and direct contact with an intensely conscious universe, a wonderful immanence all around me.
My body, the chair I was sitting on, the table in front of me, the room enclosed by walls, the lawn outside and the space beyond including earth and sky appeared to be most amazingly mere phantoms in this real.
The shoreless ocean of consciousness, which I was now immersed in, appeared infinitely large and infinitely small at the same time. Large when considered in relation to the world picture floating in it and small when considered in itself - measureless, without form or size, nothing and yet everything.
This experience was beyond all and everything belonging to this world, conceivable by the mind or perceptible to the senses."
Source : http://www.om-guru.com/html/saints/gopi.html
Over a period of years, he developed the ability to sit for a period of hours in concentration without any discomfort. The following account which took place in 1937 describes his first Kundalini experience which occurred while he was visualizing "an imaginary Lotus in full bloom, radiating light" at the crown of his head.
"Suddenly, with a roar like that of a waterfall, I felt a stream of liquid light entering my brain through the spinal cord. Entirely unprepared for such a development, I was completely taken by surprise; but regaining my self-control, keeping my mind on the point of concentration. The illumination grew brighter and brighter, the roaring louder.
I felt myself slipping out of my body, entirely enveloped in a halo of light. I felt the point of consciousness (that was myself) growing wider surrounded by waves of light. It grew wider and wider, spreading outward while the body appeared to have receded into the distance until I became entirely unconscious of it.
I was now all consciousness without any outline, without any feeling or sensation coming from the senses. I immersed in a sea of light spread out in all directions without any barrier or material obstruction.
I was no longer myself as I knew myself to be a small point of awareness confined to a body, but instead was a vast circle of consciousness (in which the body was but a point bathed in light). I was in a state of exultation and happiness impossible to describe."
Shortly after the initial experience above, Gopi experienced a continuous "luminous glow" around his head and began having a variety of psychological and physiological problems. At times he thought he was going mad. He adopted a very strict diet which helped him maintain his precarious mental balance, and for years refused to do any meditation (since he attributed all his troubles to the yogic concentration exercises he had been doing).
A fundamental change had taken place in him after his experience of Kundalini. He believed that this experience began a process in which his entire nervous system would be slowly reorganized and transformed by the Kundalini energy. He conceived of this energy as an intelligent force over which he had little control once it was activated.
2nd Experience :
The following experience occurred spontaneously about twelve years after his first experience, and only after he had been strengthened by the spiritually directed biological transformation he had undergone:
"While seated comfortably on a chair, I gradually passed off into a condition of exaltation and self-expansion similar to that which I had experienced on the very first occasion. But this time in place of the roaring noise in my ears there was now a cadence like the humming of a swarm of bees, enchanting and melodious, and the encircling glow was replaced by a penetrating silvery radiance.
In this sudden realization, I became conscious from within of an immediate and direct contact with an intensely conscious universe, a wonderful immanence all around me.
My body, the chair I was sitting on, the table in front of me, the room enclosed by walls, the lawn outside and the space beyond including earth and sky appeared to be most amazingly mere phantoms in this real.
The shoreless ocean of consciousness, which I was now immersed in, appeared infinitely large and infinitely small at the same time. Large when considered in relation to the world picture floating in it and small when considered in itself - measureless, without form or size, nothing and yet everything.
This experience was beyond all and everything belonging to this world, conceivable by the mind or perceptible to the senses."
Source : http://www.om-guru.com/html/saints/gopi.html
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Kundalini Experience by Ennio Nimis
After having bought the works of Ramakrishna, Vivekananda, Gopi Krishna and Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras (a big volume with comments by I.K. Taimni), I finally decided to buy also the autobiography of an Indian saint, whom I will indicate by P.Y.. It was a book I had already seen some years before without buying it since, skimming through its pages, I had observed that it didn't contain practical instructions. My hope now was that I would be able to find out useful information such as the addresses of some good schools of Yoga. Reading this autobiography enthralled me and originated a strong aspiration toward the mystical path: in certain moments, I found myself almost burning from an internal fever. This situation provided a fertile ground for the coming of an event which was radically different than what I had experienced before. It was a kind of "intimate" and spiritual experience; nonetheless, since I listened to the description of similar events from the lips of many researchers I have decided to share it.
The premises happened when one night, immersed in the reading of P.Y.'s autobiography, I had a shiver similar to an electric current that spread itself throughout my whole body. The experience was insignificant in itself, but the point was that it frightened me a lot. Knowing my temperament, my reaction was rather strange. The thought had flashed upon my mind that a deeper event was going to happen in short; that it was going to be strong, very strong and I would not be able to stop it in any way. It was as if my memory had an inexplicable familiarity with it and my instinct knew its inescapable power.
I made up my mind to let things happen unimpeded and go ahead with the reading. Minutes passed by and I was not able to continue reading; my restlessness turned into anxiety. Then it became fear, an intense fear of something unknown to me which was threatening my existence. I had certainly never experienced such a terror. Normally, in moments of danger I would remain paralyzed, unable to think. Now the anxiety was of a different quality: I perceived something was approaching which was alien to the common experience.
I felt the urgency of doing something - even though I did not know what. I set myself in the position of meditation and waited. The anguish increased. I was sure I was close to madness – or death. A part of me, maybe the totality of that entity I call "myself", seemed at the point of melting away. The worst thoughts hung over me without a clear reason.
(In those days I had finished reading Gopi Krishna’s Kundalini: Path to Higher Consciousness. Here the author described the splendid awakening experience he had following an intense practice of concentration on the seventh Chakra, whereas – because his body was probably unprepared – he later met serious physical and, as a reflex, psychic problems as well. According to his description, inside of his body energy was put in constant motion from the base of the backbone toward the brain. So strong was that energy to force him in bed and to prevent the accomplishment of the normal bodily functions. He literally felt as if he was burned by an inner fire, which he could not put out. Weeks later, he intuitively discovered the way to check out the phenomenon, which became a stout experience of internal realization. As far as I am concerned, I was afraid to have come to the threshold of the same experience but, since I did not live in India, I was scared the people around me might not understand. The experience would have been terrible! Nobody could make sure that, like for Gopi Krishna, my experience would be channeled toward a positive conclusion.) The spiritual world appeared to me as a sorrowful and horrible nightmare, able to annihilate and destroy whoever would imprudently approach it. Ordinary life, on the contrary, seemed the dearest and healthiest reality. I was afraid I might not be able to get back to that condition anymore. I was absolutely convinced that a mental illness was tearing my inner self to pieces. The reason was that I had opened a door looking out on a reality far more immense than I had ever foreseen.
I decided to take a break and put off the fatal moment as long as possible. I myself stood up and left the room, out to the open air. It was night and there was nobody to whom I could communicate my panic! At the center of the yard I was burdened, choked, almost crushed by a feeling of desperation, envying all those people who had never practiced Yoga. I felt guilty and ashamed for hurting through harsh words a friend who had been involved in a part of my search. Like so many others, he had shunned any practice, forgot lofty readings and engaged in working and enjoying life. Equipped with a juvenile boldness, I had addressed him with a tone far from being affectionate, which then started to thunder inside of my head. I felt sorry that I had thrown unjustified cruelty at him without really knowing what was in his mind and soul. I would have done anything to tell him how sorry I was to have brutally violated his right to live the way that was best to him. I thought he preferred to protect his mental health rather than become unstable or insane through practices he was not sure about.
Because of my great passion for classical music, I hoped that listening to it might yield the positive effect of protecting me from the anguish and help me to get back to my usual mood. Why not try, then? It was Beethoven’s Concert for Violin and Orchestra I listened to with a pair of headphones in my room that soothed my soul and, after half an hour, eased my sleep. The following morning I woke up with the same fear in my mind.
Strange as it may seem, the two pivotal facts that today stir the most intense emotions of my life - that there is a Divine Intelligence at the very basis of everything existing and that man can practice a definite discipline in order to attune to it - conveyed to me a feeling of horror! The sunlight poured into the room through the chinks in the shutters. I had a whole day before me. I went out to try and amuse myself joining other people. I met some friends but did not talk about what I was experiencing. The afternoon was spent cracking all sorts of jokes and behaving like the people I had always considered lazy and dull. In this way, I succeeded in hiding my anguish. The first day went by; my mind was totally worn out. After two days, the fear diminished and I finally felt safe. Something had changed anyway, since I actually did not succeed in thinking about Yoga: I went around that idea!
One week later I began, calmly and detachedly, to ponder on the meaning of what had happened. I understood the nature of my reaction to that episode: I had cowardly run away from the experience I had pursued for such a long time! In the depth of my soul my dignity led me to continue with my search exactly from the point where I had quit. I was ready to accept all that was to happen and let things follow their course, even if this process implied the loss of my wholesomeness. I began the practice of Pranayama again, as intensely as before.
A few days went by without detecting any form of fear. Then, I experienced something awfully beautiful. (Many readers will recognize, in the following description, their similar experience.) It was night. I was relaxed in Savasana when I had a pleasant sensation. It was as if an electric wind was blowing in the external part of my body, propagating itself quickly and with a wavy motion from my feet up to my head. My body was so tired that I could not move, even if my mind imparted the order to move. I had no fear. My composure was serene. The electric wind was replaced by another feeling, comparable to an enormous strength filling into the backbone and quickly climbing up to the brain. That experience was characterized by an indescribable, and so far unknown, sense of bliss. The perception of an intense brightness accompanied everything. My memory of that moment was condensed into one expression, "a clear and euphoric certainty of existing, like an unlimited ocean of awareness and bliss".
In his God Exists: I Have Met Him, A. Frossard tries to give an idea of his spiritual experience. For that purpose he creates the concept of the "inverse avalanche". An avalanche collapses, runs downhill, first slowly, then faster and violently at the same time. Frossard suggests that we should imagine an "upsidedown avalanche" which begins strengthening at the foot of the mountain and climbs up pushed by an increasing power; then, suddenly, it leaps up toward the sky. I do not know how long this experience lasted. Its peak definitely held out only a few seconds. The strangest thing is that in the very instant I had it, I found it familiar. When it ended, I turned on my side and fell into a calm, uninterrupted sleep. The following day, when I woke up, I did not think of it. It only came up some hours later, during a walk. Leaning against the trunk of a tree, for many minutes I was literally enthralled by the reverberation of this memory upon my soul. My rational mind tried to grasp and gain confidence over an experience which was beyond it – an impossible task. All the things I had thought about Yoga until then did not have any importance at all. To me, the experience was like being struck by a bolt. I did not even have the chance to find out which parts of me were still there and which ones had disappeared. I was not able to really understand what had happened to me; rather, I was not sure that "something" had really happened.
Source : http://www.kriyayogainfo.net/Eng_Home.html
The premises happened when one night, immersed in the reading of P.Y.'s autobiography, I had a shiver similar to an electric current that spread itself throughout my whole body. The experience was insignificant in itself, but the point was that it frightened me a lot. Knowing my temperament, my reaction was rather strange. The thought had flashed upon my mind that a deeper event was going to happen in short; that it was going to be strong, very strong and I would not be able to stop it in any way. It was as if my memory had an inexplicable familiarity with it and my instinct knew its inescapable power.
I made up my mind to let things happen unimpeded and go ahead with the reading. Minutes passed by and I was not able to continue reading; my restlessness turned into anxiety. Then it became fear, an intense fear of something unknown to me which was threatening my existence. I had certainly never experienced such a terror. Normally, in moments of danger I would remain paralyzed, unable to think. Now the anxiety was of a different quality: I perceived something was approaching which was alien to the common experience.
I felt the urgency of doing something - even though I did not know what. I set myself in the position of meditation and waited. The anguish increased. I was sure I was close to madness – or death. A part of me, maybe the totality of that entity I call "myself", seemed at the point of melting away. The worst thoughts hung over me without a clear reason.
(In those days I had finished reading Gopi Krishna’s Kundalini: Path to Higher Consciousness. Here the author described the splendid awakening experience he had following an intense practice of concentration on the seventh Chakra, whereas – because his body was probably unprepared – he later met serious physical and, as a reflex, psychic problems as well. According to his description, inside of his body energy was put in constant motion from the base of the backbone toward the brain. So strong was that energy to force him in bed and to prevent the accomplishment of the normal bodily functions. He literally felt as if he was burned by an inner fire, which he could not put out. Weeks later, he intuitively discovered the way to check out the phenomenon, which became a stout experience of internal realization. As far as I am concerned, I was afraid to have come to the threshold of the same experience but, since I did not live in India, I was scared the people around me might not understand. The experience would have been terrible! Nobody could make sure that, like for Gopi Krishna, my experience would be channeled toward a positive conclusion.) The spiritual world appeared to me as a sorrowful and horrible nightmare, able to annihilate and destroy whoever would imprudently approach it. Ordinary life, on the contrary, seemed the dearest and healthiest reality. I was afraid I might not be able to get back to that condition anymore. I was absolutely convinced that a mental illness was tearing my inner self to pieces. The reason was that I had opened a door looking out on a reality far more immense than I had ever foreseen.
I decided to take a break and put off the fatal moment as long as possible. I myself stood up and left the room, out to the open air. It was night and there was nobody to whom I could communicate my panic! At the center of the yard I was burdened, choked, almost crushed by a feeling of desperation, envying all those people who had never practiced Yoga. I felt guilty and ashamed for hurting through harsh words a friend who had been involved in a part of my search. Like so many others, he had shunned any practice, forgot lofty readings and engaged in working and enjoying life. Equipped with a juvenile boldness, I had addressed him with a tone far from being affectionate, which then started to thunder inside of my head. I felt sorry that I had thrown unjustified cruelty at him without really knowing what was in his mind and soul. I would have done anything to tell him how sorry I was to have brutally violated his right to live the way that was best to him. I thought he preferred to protect his mental health rather than become unstable or insane through practices he was not sure about.
Because of my great passion for classical music, I hoped that listening to it might yield the positive effect of protecting me from the anguish and help me to get back to my usual mood. Why not try, then? It was Beethoven’s Concert for Violin and Orchestra I listened to with a pair of headphones in my room that soothed my soul and, after half an hour, eased my sleep. The following morning I woke up with the same fear in my mind.
Strange as it may seem, the two pivotal facts that today stir the most intense emotions of my life - that there is a Divine Intelligence at the very basis of everything existing and that man can practice a definite discipline in order to attune to it - conveyed to me a feeling of horror! The sunlight poured into the room through the chinks in the shutters. I had a whole day before me. I went out to try and amuse myself joining other people. I met some friends but did not talk about what I was experiencing. The afternoon was spent cracking all sorts of jokes and behaving like the people I had always considered lazy and dull. In this way, I succeeded in hiding my anguish. The first day went by; my mind was totally worn out. After two days, the fear diminished and I finally felt safe. Something had changed anyway, since I actually did not succeed in thinking about Yoga: I went around that idea!
One week later I began, calmly and detachedly, to ponder on the meaning of what had happened. I understood the nature of my reaction to that episode: I had cowardly run away from the experience I had pursued for such a long time! In the depth of my soul my dignity led me to continue with my search exactly from the point where I had quit. I was ready to accept all that was to happen and let things follow their course, even if this process implied the loss of my wholesomeness. I began the practice of Pranayama again, as intensely as before.
A few days went by without detecting any form of fear. Then, I experienced something awfully beautiful. (Many readers will recognize, in the following description, their similar experience.) It was night. I was relaxed in Savasana when I had a pleasant sensation. It was as if an electric wind was blowing in the external part of my body, propagating itself quickly and with a wavy motion from my feet up to my head. My body was so tired that I could not move, even if my mind imparted the order to move. I had no fear. My composure was serene. The electric wind was replaced by another feeling, comparable to an enormous strength filling into the backbone and quickly climbing up to the brain. That experience was characterized by an indescribable, and so far unknown, sense of bliss. The perception of an intense brightness accompanied everything. My memory of that moment was condensed into one expression, "a clear and euphoric certainty of existing, like an unlimited ocean of awareness and bliss".
In his God Exists: I Have Met Him, A. Frossard tries to give an idea of his spiritual experience. For that purpose he creates the concept of the "inverse avalanche". An avalanche collapses, runs downhill, first slowly, then faster and violently at the same time. Frossard suggests that we should imagine an "upsidedown avalanche" which begins strengthening at the foot of the mountain and climbs up pushed by an increasing power; then, suddenly, it leaps up toward the sky. I do not know how long this experience lasted. Its peak definitely held out only a few seconds. The strangest thing is that in the very instant I had it, I found it familiar. When it ended, I turned on my side and fell into a calm, uninterrupted sleep. The following day, when I woke up, I did not think of it. It only came up some hours later, during a walk. Leaning against the trunk of a tree, for many minutes I was literally enthralled by the reverberation of this memory upon my soul. My rational mind tried to grasp and gain confidence over an experience which was beyond it – an impossible task. All the things I had thought about Yoga until then did not have any importance at all. To me, the experience was like being struck by a bolt. I did not even have the chance to find out which parts of me were still there and which ones had disappeared. I was not able to really understand what had happened to me; rather, I was not sure that "something" had really happened.
Source : http://www.kriyayogainfo.net/Eng_Home.html
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Kriya Yoga
What is kriya yoga
http://www.kriyayogababaji.org/WhatisKriyayoga
Gyan Swamiji
http://www.gyanswami11.blogspot.in
http://tapovanwagholi.blogspot.in/
http://www.kriyayogababaji.org/living-divinity
Exercies:
http://kriyayogaofbabaji.blogspot.com/2008/09/first-stage-double-breathing-with-your.html
Exercises video :
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1967904048506577711&hl=en#
Initial breathing
http://kriyayogaofbabaji.blogspot.com/2008/09/cosmic-exercise-close-your-eyes-and.html
http://www.kriyayogababaji.org/WhatisKriyayoga
Gyan Swamiji
http://www.gyanswami11.blogspot.in
http://tapovanwagholi.blogspot.in/
http://www.kriyayogababaji.org/living-divinity
Exercies:
http://kriyayogaofbabaji.blogspot.com/2008/09/first-stage-double-breathing-with-your.html
Exercises video :
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1967904048506577711&hl=en#
Initial breathing
http://kriyayogaofbabaji.blogspot.com/2008/09/cosmic-exercise-close-your-eyes-and.html
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