Unit IV. Kamakala Triangle
CONTENTS
1. Manifested Union of Shiva and Shakti
2. Archetypes
3. Return at this Level
4. Poisons to Wisdoms
5. Qualities of Essence
6. Kama-bija
7. Implications for Practice
Materials needed: Journal
Books needed:
The Sacred Power
The Isaiah Effect
Exercises:
Tattvas
Kamakala forms
Practices:
Pratyahara
Puraka and Rechaka
Movement
If we are surrendering each level into the one above it, what would form
dissolve into? Well, think of what goes on in your mind when you are
about to create something whether that is an art form, a term paper or an
engineering project. Think of something that is personal to you. What
condition is the idea in just before you begin to execute its construction?
A mental image perhaps, or maybe it is a musical theme, or just a felt sense
of what is going to come forth. That is the essence or tattva of the
creation. Now suppose you have actually done the creation and have
the item in front of you. But you do not like it, and so you destroy
it. Is its essence gone? Of course not. It has its own
rightful existence. In Yoga it is symbolized by the Kamakala triangle
which represents essence as a pattern or archetype.
Although the kamakala triangle does not exist as a separate symbol or shape in The Serpent Power
(Woodroffe, 1973), it is different from the A-Ka-Tha triangle. Kamakala
is the Hamsa, a different part of the Guru’s footstool (p. 129). It
is known as the Supreme Tattva and is formed by three bindus called Candra (moon), Surya (sun) and Vahni
(fire). Its functions are different from the A-Ka-Tha triangle in that
they are tattvic rather than gunic. That is, they refer to essence
rather than to physical manifestation. This triangle represents the
embodiment of Purusa-Prakrti as Hamkara and Visarga and is sometimes called
the Hamsapitha (pitha means the yoni or inverted triangle or abode).
Hamsa refers to the bindus and Kamakala to the triangle (pitha) they make.
Woodroffe (1973) says specifically that the A-Ka-Tha triangle emanates from
the Kamakala (p. 499F).
Manifested Union of Shiva and Shakti
You will remember that we followed the progress of creation from a completely
unmanifested condition to what we call physical or relative reality.
And that now we are retracing that journey back to the Source. We have
examined the triad of gunas that are the attributes or qualities of the observed
world. But what precedes them? Obviously a desire to create.
Desire cast into eastern symbology is often represented in terms of
human experience such as procreation.
Mind and Maya Tattvas
If we look at the name of the triangle, kama means “seed” and kalā means
“ray” or “sprout.” The seed contains two tattvas: Mind and Maya.
In this case, mind refers to the antahkarana plus citta; and maya is
prakrti, the substance out of which the whole universe was formed – the veiling
material. From the union of these two come the three gunas via the
tattvas.
So the seed, which we have seen contains two parts, produces a shoot
or sprout that is the “child” of the parents. Notice the pattern of
one becomes two becomes three that appears in many different traditional
explanations of creation. 1 -> 2 -> 3 to put it more graphically.
The triad is called Tripura sundari or the three-part body of the Devi who
is the supreme energy that is always triple. The three “feet” or bindus
(circles in the triangle) are white (pure Consciousness), red (supreme individuality)
and black (mixed).
The sprout gives us three-dimensionality as represented by a triangle.
This reminds me of a hologram in which a projection is illuminated by the
original “light” as well as its own light in order to take up an independent
position in space. For example, Purusa as consciousness sends
its energy (light) to Prakrti who is matter. The energy is reflected
from Prakrti to form Universal Mind which is also illuminated by the light
of consciousness. (Review Figure 3 to see a diagram of this idea.)
Keep this in mind as we continue to see if it is relevant.
Archetypes
The word “archetype” may be familiar to you from modern psychology and mythology.
It means an as-yet-unmanifested pattern or lattice which supplies the essential
details of what-will-be-created. In Yoga, it would be called a Supreme
Tattva. Tat means “essence” or essential being or internal image.
It is the Thatness or essence of things, real being. So tattvas are
the essential qualities of things, that which makes them unique. While
some books indicate that the tattvas are the five elements, it goes well
beyond that. A tattva is a true or fundamental principle; and, as such,
the tattvas run the gamut from the highest level of beingness to physical
elements.
So we have 36 tattvas moving from the physical to the unmanifested:
The Tattvas of Sensory Experience
1-5 Organs of action – voice, hand, foot, anus, genitals
6-10 Sense organs – nose, tongue, eye, skin, ear
11-15 Mahabhutas or elements – earth, water, fire, air, ether (and see Table 6-2)
16-20 Tanmatras or subtle elements – smell, taste, sight, touch, sound
21 Manas – mind or organ of thought (man = to think)
22 Ahamkara – Ego, conception of individuality (aham = I, kāra = action)
23 Buddhi – intellectual faculty, perceptive choice (budh = to know)
[Nos. 1-23 are from Tyborg, 1970, pp. 117-119].
These we are already familiar with. But there are more:
24 Cit – Sadakhya or Suddha-vidya,
16th kala of the moon (however, see these two below in
Kripananda’s
selection)
25 Sat – Purusa, Sadasiva, Spirit, divine Person
26 Avyakta
– union of Sat and Cit, primordial element, Mulaprakrti, root
nature, the unmanifest (a = not, vi-anj
= to appear)
[Nos. 24-26 from Woodroffe, 1973, p. 250.] 27
27 Maya – Prakrti, illusion, the veiling or obscuring force
The Five Kañchukas or Cloaks
28 Kalā – limitation of omnipotence
29 Vidya – limitation of omniscience
30 Rāga – limitation of completeness
31 Kāla – limitation of eternal existence
32 Niyati – limitation of omnipresence
The Tattvas of the Universal Experience
33 Suddha Vidya Tattva
34 Isvara Tattva
Sadakhya (Sadashiva)
Tattva (see # 24 above) – this is different from Suddha Vidya
Tattva in # 24 or 33 above)
35 Shakti Tattva
36 Shiva Tattva
[Nos.28-36 are from Kripananda (1995, pp. 131-2)]
Note: different school of thought arrange these tattvas differently which accounts for the apparent duplication.
Some systems might add Chitta - storehouse of memory (chit – to think or cogitate), (Tyborg, p. 119).
Ardhamatra, or Bodhini, is the level of creation associated with tattvas.
Ardha means “purpose” or “goal.” Since the gunas are in equilibrium at this
level, we can assume that creation is still but a “light in the eye” of the
creatrix.
Exercise: Tattvas
Read pages 26-7, 131-3 (the Appendix) and Chapter 7 in The Sacred Power for more information on the higher
tattvas and for a review of the chakra system.
Forms at this Level
The first movement to create yields Iccha (will or feeling in some reports),
Jnana (knowledge) and Kriya (action). These are the essential elements
needed to produce something. You can see the relationships to the bindus
in Figure 7-10.
Tattva Relationships and Bindus
At the Kamakala level, we have said that the gunas are in equilibrium. That is called gunatita or nirguna meaning no guna activity. So what happens when we try to withdraw the gunas into the tattvas?
On the return journey, Bindu dissolves into the moon, Nada into the
sun and Bija into fire. Moon, Sun and Fire represent states of consciousness
as Tripura-sundari. You might say they are Shakti’s states of mind.
As such they take the forms of Iccha, Jnana and Kriya. So we can say
that the Moon represents feeling (or will) and compassion (karuna). The Sun stands for Knowing and wisdom (prajna).
And Fire refers to Doing, silence, stillpoint or solitude. Everything
is quiet here because the aspects and elements are in balance.
There are a few other associations of note that connect the tattvas to the
gunas, nadiis and chakras. A table may make these clearer.
Table 4.
Tattvas and Bindus
Bindu
|
Nada
|
Bija
|
Moon
|
Sun
|
Fire
|
Iccha
|
Jnana
|
Kriya
|
Feeling & Will
|
Knowing
|
Doing
|
Sattva
|
Rajas
|
Tamas
|
Ida nadi, passive
|
Pingala nadi, active
|
Susumna nadi, balanced
|
Fifth chakra
|
Fourth chakra
|
Third chakra
|
This table gives us some ideas about what must be withdrawn at this level.
Feeling/will, knowing and doing will each have its own path and will be more
or less inactive depending upon your individual orientation to the world.
If your feelings are serene, balanced and difficult to upset, you have achieved
a major goal on the journey. If most of your doing is given to selfless
service, you are on the right track. If knowing translates more and
more frequently into direct perception or intuition or mindlessness, that
means you are getting the mind under control. You get the drift.
You might want to make a quick assessment of where you stand at the moment
and determine what needs to be worked on.
The Devatas are the Hindu trinity of Brahma (creator), Vishnu (preserver)
and Shiva (destroyer) as depicted in Figure 7-9, Unit III.
Powers
The powers are latent and all are in equilibrium. Nothing is manifested
in physical form. So this means that, at this point, we as meditators
are not aware of anything in the external world. In other words, we
are probably in one of the states of samadhi in which we are still conscious
but only of the inner world. The qualities of things are irrelevant.
Our minds are relatively silent and we may be aware of feeling, knowing and
potential doing. However, the busyness and chatter that are characteristic
of the ordinary mental condition are absent. The mind is focused and/or
relaxed and quiet. The ego is silent. Buddhi, the watcher, is
alive and well. This state is more like that of falling asleep or waking
in the morning, that transition place between waking and sleeping in which
we feel easy, relaxed and purposeless. Our senses are withdrawn and
quiet, hence they furnish nothing to the mind.
At this point, on the return trip, we can control the mind and focus prana.
It is possible to visualize events or activities or spontaneous solutions
to problems that may appear when the ego-mind is quiet. The inner vision
opens up to Truth. There may be “voices” or “visions;” and they, too,
are watched but not engaged. Siddhis may become active. . .
or not. Yet, the state of mind is such that they are allowed to pass
through consciousness without disrupting the peace and harmony that exists.
There is a sense of groundedness at the same time. But this is not
physical. We are grounded in our intention and attention which are
focused on the internal process. You could say that here we have consciousness
looking at consciousness in a way that is similar to the self-conscious or
reflexive mind. We are watching our own consciousness do what it does.
Return at this Level
How, then, might we employ this information to further our practice?
When I was thinking about this, I had an image of the triangle being drawn
up into another dimension like a pyramid. The point at the top would
represent the next level into which the tattvas need to be absorbed, or Mahanada,
which is the first movement to create. Therefore, to dissolve into
Mahanada, we would have to ask ourselves what do feeling, knowing and doing
have in common? Actually, before that, we must see if we have a real
sense of what is meant by feeling, knowing and doing. So let us begin
there.
Tripura-sundari
Feelings. Feelings, or finer feelings, are what emotions have
been morphed into. They are associated with the heart and can be used
to ascertain the truth of a situation or issue. We experience a “truth
center” in the heart region or fourth chakra. We have feelings here
of compassion, love, grief, awe, loving kindness, empathy, etc. These
move us to interact lovingly with others. Empathy enables us to understand
what is going on inside another person in terms of their feelings.
Feelings lack the volatility of emotions, but are more stable and reliable
as spiritual guides. In our culture, it is not uncommon for people
to suppress their feelings in favor of knowledge or actions which are more
likely to be rewarded. And it takes a certain amount of courage to
be a warrior, one who can go out into the world with an open heart to embrace
others. Open hearts often get stepped on. So we have to get beyond
the samskaras that make us vulnerable to that kind of behavior. Meditation
on the heart center is a good practice to develop and manifest feelings.
Sufi practices are especially good for this. See Living from the Heart by Puran Bair (1998) and the Diamond Heart series of four books by A. H. Almaas (1993-1999). There is a CD called Heart Chakra Meditations by Layne Redmond that has lovely exercises for opening the heart. Sounds True has it.
Knowing. Knowing, as used here, means wisdom or knowledge that
goes well beyond just information. It would probably include a large
dollop of intuition. We say, “I just know that,” meaning it comes from
a deep place inside us. This kind of knowing comes from experience,
not from books. Books give us information. However, if we reflection
on this information and join it to our own experience, we may have an epiphany
of insight that would qualify as knowing. As a former college professor,
I have had to undergo what could be called an unloading of everything
I thought I knew. This has been accompanied by many serious humiliations
which resulted, I like to think, in a measure of humility . . . finally.
Unfortunately, our culture does not value knowing in this sense, but rather
tends to develop empirical information processing which is rational but not
very comprehensive in terms of the spiritual journey. Wilber’s (1983)
chapter in Eye to Eye on “The Problem of Proof” gives us some parameters
to help discriminate the different domains of knowing. We have to look
in the right place with the right kind of vision to find what we seek.
If you want information, you go online. If you want real knowledge,
you meditate. If you want wisdom, you live a full life and pay attention
to what is going on around you.
Doing. There is doing and doing. Most of it is busy work
because it is not informed by any coherent purpose or goal. Then there
is doing because we cannot stand ourselves and our own thoughts, so we go
out and look for others with the same problem to talk to. Or we do
things to feed our egos and their needs for control. Or we do in order
to build up power and prestige. Another form of doing has us making
money to buy food and shelter. We work to support ourselves.
There is nothing wrong with this, but it is not kamakala doing.
Kamakala doing is about giving service to others which may be in response
to inner guidance. Or we spend time and effort doing spiritual practices
in order to raise our levels of consciousness and “make progress” on the
path. We do what we can to let go of our attachments and reduce our
involvement in worldly pursuits. We listen to those who are suffering
and who need to talk to someone. We offer our hearts and minds to help
others.
So, you can see that there is a potential spiral of feeling, knowing and
doing in which every cycle brings us to a higher level of consciousness.
These three ways of being circle around each other and are interdependent.
Knowing may lead to doing, feeling may lead to doing, doing may result in
knowing or feeling. And so on. The feedback we get allows some
direction. If I go to the hospital and hold newborn babies and it makes
me feel joyous, I know I am on the right track. If I can’t stand their
smell, I know something is amiss. When I feel openhearted, I know I
can succeed no matter what the task is.
Exercise: Kamakala Forms
Sit with your journal and reflect on how the three forces manifest in your
life. Maybe make a list if that helps you externalize the ideas.
Do you find one that tends to dominate your life? Are you basically
a knower, a feeler or a doer? What comes in second? Which is
the least well-developed? Consider ways that you might get from one
to the other to see if you can identify any obstacles. After you get
to a stopping place, ask yourself what you can do to balance the forces.
And where they might be leading when the movement is upward toward higher
consciousness. What do they all have in common, for instance?
Practice: Pratyahara
Pratyahara is not a new practice for you, but we are going around again.
And it seems relevant to this level of expertise. Pratyahara is about
withdrawing the senses from the external world as well as the inner world.
So it is the withdrawal process we want to study to see if it can be applied
to the withdrawal of tattvas. Since tattvas are the essence of physical
characteristics, we might expect them to have some features in common with
them.
1. As you are dropping off to sleep at night, watch the sensory world
disappear. Look at each sense separately and see what it is communicating.
Then breathe in and on the outbreath, let go of the sensation. Do not
worry if you fall asleep durng the process. It may, in fact, help.
Do the same thing for your thoughts. Catch each one with a breath and
let it go.
2. Now, on another occasion, sit for meditation. Note each
sense and what it is aware of. Breathe and let each one go. If
one or another gives trouble, notice what it is, but do not allow your mind
to judge it. Just go around again. Do the same with your thoughts.
Also your body if it is antsy.
3. Sitting for meditation. Look at each of the three forces:
feeling, knowing and doing one at a time. Begin with doing, then knowing,
then feeling in that order. Isolate doing into the present moment.
Use the Buddhist technique of labeling if it helps you to focus. Sitting,
sitting, itching, sitting, slumping, looking, etc. - whatever it is
that you are actually doing. Then let it go. Do the same with
knowing and feeling if they are present.
Journal the results and reflect on what you need to do next.
Poisons to Wisdoms
You will remember the three poisons from Buddhism: passion, aggression and
ignorance. Passion is anything related to craving, grasping, greed
or holding on. Aggression is anything that is intended to hurt or injure
another. It includes hatred. Ignorance is inertia, unwillingness,
delusion and illusion. There are two other poisons we often encounter
(and notice the kinship of all of these to the seven deadly sins).
These are envy and pride. Each of these is relevant to one of the realms
of existence as being a particular problem in that situation. Passion
is found in the hungry ghost realm, aggression in the hell realm, ignorance
in both the god and the animal realms, envy in the jealous god realm
and pride in the human realm.
Fortunately, each of these poisons has its wisdom counterpart into which
it can be transmuted or transformed. Passion and greed can be dissolved
in Discriminating Vision as represented by Amitabha because sense perceptions
and intellect are converted to prajna – the direct perception of spiritual
vision. Aggression is redirected by the Great Mirror of Aksobhya
because it is the active side of universal consciousness. The Mirror
reflects form on one side and emptiness on the other. So, if we tune
in to the emptiness side, what is there to hate? It is a matter of
focus. Ignorance is countered by the Universal Law and/or Wheel of
Law of Vairocana when ego is subjected to cosmic consciousness.
Envy yields to the All-accomplishing realization and the spiritual action
of selflessness of Amoghasiddhi because helping others creates a less self-centered
perspective. And Pride is overcome by awareness of the Equality of
all beings, represented by Ratnasambhava, when egocentricity is changed into
compassion for all. In other words, if we are all equal, I am nothing
special.
Another way of thinking about this is in terms of the skandhas. The
rupa or sense skandha is flipped by the Great Mirror into emptiness and universal
conscious-ness. The feeling skandha is changed by knowledge of the
unity of all into maitri (loving kindness) and Karuna (compassion).
The perception/intellect skandha becomes intuitive consciousness of inner
vision. The volition skandha becomes the will for liberation and the
Bodhisattva presence. And consciousness is converted into tools of
enlightenment. Notice that three of these correspond to the feeling,
knowing and doing of the kamakala triangle. Ratnasambhava is associated
with the feeling skandha, Amitabha with the knowing skandha and Amoghasiddhi
wih the doing skandha.
Along another dimension, the poisons refer to feelings and their manifestations and accompanying emotions. The skandhas are mental or knowing obstacles because they are creations of the mind. The transformed doing
aspect in Buddhism would be Bodhisattvahood. The Wisdom associated
with this would be active compassion as represented by Avalokitesvara.
So these ideas give us some more clues as to where we might be directing
our transformative energies.
Qualities of Essence
Almaas (2002) in Facets of Unity: The Enneagram of Holy Ideas
offers another perspective on dealing with our deluded perceptions of reality.
Based on the Enneagram, we have nine qualities with sub-qualities, that give
us a feeling for the enlightened position while comparing that with our corresponding
deficient states. You may have already processed this book if you have
been following along with these guidebooks, so this is just to remind you
that all emotional and mental blocks can be transformed into their enlightened
counterparts. This is also a dissolving process, one which can be guided
by a master teacher. The Diamond Heart process is one such approach
and Sufi Retreats is another. For information about the Diamond Heart
Approach, write to: Ridhwan, P. O. Box 10114, Berkeley, CA 94709-5114.
For Sufi Retreats, email a letter to the Director at sufitreats@earthlink.net
indicating why you are interested and request more information.
Kama-bija
The mantra of Tripura-Sundari is Klīm. In this case, it is called the
Kama-bija because it is the bija for the Kamakala triangle. Bija is
known as the seed of tattva because tattva comes from it and re-enters it.
It is the sound produced by the action of the forces that created it.
The relationship is bi-directional meaning that the tattva produces the sound,
but the sound also produces the tattva. This is why we chant mantras,
to create the state of consciousness we wish to achieve. And that is
why once a mantra is established it tends to keep going on a subconscious
level.
Devotion is a necessary ingredient as well as concentration. The latter
is necessary to vitalize thought and will through the conscious center, i.e.,
the mantra is awakened. The will that is being focused here is spiritual
Will, not ego’s will. One needs mantra-consciousness, to be aware of
the meaning, in order to make it work. It is the
creative thought which ensouls the uttered sound which works now in man’s small
‘magic,’ just
as it first worked in the ‘grand magical display’ of the World
Creator. His
thought was the aggregate, with creative power, of all thought.
Each man is Siva,
and can attain His power to the degree of his ability to
consciously realize himself as such.” (Woodroffe, 1973, p. 97)
[We will forgive Woodroffe the lapse of memory that the power is Shakti’s and, therefore, it is a Her’s.]
When a bija begins with “K” (Ka), the first letter is the bija and that is
Shakti. By the bija, form is made (Woodroffe, 1973, p. 43F).
The Devi Tripuri is within the Ka inside the triangle, and the letter Ka
is the chief letter of the Kama-bija, i.e., the mantra Klīm (p. 341).
Shiva, speaking to Shakti, says, “the letter Ka is thy form.”
When Klīm is spelled out in Sanskrit, we get Ka + La + I + m. The final
“m” is the anusvara or the last sound that occurs when we close our mouths
such as the final “m” in Om or A-U-M, so we will take the last sound to be
Im. If we take the letters separately and look up their meanings, we
get a further insight: Ka means “remover of all poisons, the Bija giver
of prosperity.” La means “gives grace of God, Savior of the Universe.”
Im means “nourishing giver of benevolence.” This bears a bit of reflection.
To practice this bija, you would need to contact a teacher who can give you
a mantra to provide a context for chanting it. Meanwhile, nothing is
stopping you from meditating on the word itself.
Implications for Practice
There are three disciplines in Yoga that center specifically on the three
main aspects of Kamakala. Together, they are called Integral Yoga;
and they consist of Bhakti Yoga which relates to feeling and devotion, Jnana Yoga that concerns knowing and knowledge, and Karma Yoga which finds expression in doing or selfless service.
At this point, I would like to call your attention to the triads once more.
There are scads of them, and they all have the same internal organization.
There is a being or stable pole that initiates action. There is the
action itself. And there is a result of the action. Table 5 shows
my collection so far.
Table 5.
Triads
Stable Pole
|
Action
|
Result
|
Source Identification |
Negative pole
|
Positive pole
|
Dualisim, Vibration
|
Kundalini Yoga
|
Consciousness
|
Power of Csness
|
Creation
|
Shiva-Shakti
|
Absolute Reality
|
Radiation
|
Vibration
|
Yoga, Physics
|
Sat
|
Cit
|
Ananda
|
Hinduism, Yoga
|
Feeling
|
Knowing
|
Doing
|
Kamakala Triangle
|
Bhakti Yoga
|
Jnana Yoga
|
Karma Yoga
|
Integral Yoga
|
Knower
|
Knowing
|
Known
|
Yoga, Christianity
|
Seer
|
Seeing
|
Seen
|
Yoga, Christianity
|
Mind
|
Speech or Voice
|
Body
|
Buddhism
|
Presence
|
Energy
|
Nature
|
Dzogchen Buddhism
|
God the Father
|
Christ the Son
|
Holy Ghost
|
Christianity
|
Mind
|
Spirit
|
Body
|
Christianity
|
Hod
|
He
|
Vau
|
Kabbalah
|
Consciousness
|
Spirit
|
Matter
|
Alice Bailey
|
Monad or Will
|
Soul or Love
|
Body or Active
Intelligence
|
Alice Bailey
|
Truth
|
Love
|
Wisdom
|
Enneagram
|
Light
|
Love
|
Life
|
|
Truth
|
Seeing
|
Action
|
|
Some of these placements are arguable, but you get the point. It might
be interesting to follow each column down and see if any new relationships
appear. And feel free to rearrange the categories to suit yourself.
These represent just my insights.
Some practices follow:
Pranayama
There are numerous ways to focus prana. A whole rung of the ladder
of Astanga Yoga is devoted to pranayama. For details, consult Light on Pranayama by B.K.S. Iyengar (1981). At the level at which we are working, Yogic breath, Puraka and Rechaka,
along with alternate nostril breathing are probably the safest. Since
the bodymind is becoming more sensitive and subtle, the more explosive
practices are probably not a good idea. Iyengar’s book gives detailed
instructions on how to do all of these practices and offers information on
how they relate to the spiritual journey. You would find it a most
useful reference for your practice.
Practice: Puraka and Rechaka
Sit as for meditation with back straight and head erect. Begin by allowing
your breath to settle until it comes from your belly in an even rhythm and
is relaxed. Then breathe in slowly to a count of 10, exhale normally.
Imagine yourself breathing in light and breathing out toxins. Do this
for ten rounds.
Then switch to a prolonged exhalation: Breathe in normally, breathe
out to a count of ten. Feel yourself discharging all your problems
and issues. Give them back to the divine, if you like. Do this
for ten rounds.
Next, sit for a while to let the benefits coalesce.
Hatha Yoga
Hatha Yoga is not intended to help you build a beautiful body though it may have that effect.
It is intended to help you unite body and mind and to balance
all the systems and chakras in the bodymind. Therefore, if you intend
to find a class, avoid those that are aerobic or too active. The postures
should be attained, then held for a time while you investigate your internal
condition. A good teacher will circulate during this time and assist
students in achieving better balance and control as well as avoiding harmful
tensions and efforts.
The breath is the link between body and mind, so a good teacher will remind
you to breathe quietly and not to hold your breath. You can follow
the breath into the body to locate points of holding and/or tension and use
it to release them.
Hatha Yoga is a perfect practice for the elderly if it is taught correctly.
There should be no pressure to achieve a perfect pose nor to keep up with
the class. Each person is encouraged to work at his/her own level of
achievement and to push the limits very gradually so as not to hurt her-/himself.
Violence of any sort is forbidden in Yoga; cf. ahimsa.
Practice: Movement
Find a class or some instruction in a slowly moving body discipline such
as Hatha Yoga, Tai Chi or Vinyasa Yoga. Use it to center yourself and
balance the body’s systems as well as to quiet the mind. At any time
during the day that you feel stressed, lie down in savasana (the corpse pose)
and relax for ten or fifteen minutes. Or, if you cannot do this, take
a meditative walk for the same amount of time. This does not mean thinking
about your problems, but walking meditation with attention focused on the
actual movements. Do this in nature if at all possible.
Meditation
It goes without saying that you will meditate every day.
Visualization
There is a book and a DVD out now called The Law of Attraction that
is getting a lot of press and public attention, for all the wrong reasons.
It is not about how to get stuff you want. The Law of Attraction says
that we draw to ourselves that upon which we visualize and focus our attention.
This includes negative things. However, it does not work
exactly that way as you may discover for yourself if you try it.
Since we are taking the position that everything in our lives is the result
of projections of the mind at some level, we might expect visualization
to play a major role. And we have implied that, at this particular
level, the power of consciousness is doing just that. So why can’t
we? Well, we can, but we must tap into the real center of this action
which is our own inner consciousness. And that will respond to untenable
desires or forceful efforts to make something happen with benign neglect.
. . fortunately. Besides, if you attempt to use the siddhis to achieve
something you want, you risk a massive regression on your journey.
Anything ego-involved is bound to lead to distress because that is not how
it works. So I will leave you to discover for yourself the key to manifestation
by visualization. I suggest you begin with humility.
Prayer
Quantum physics suggests that by redirecting our focus – where we place our
attention – we bring a new course of events into focus while at the same time
releasing an existing course of events that may no longer serve us.
(Braden, 2000, p. 26)
In 2000, Braden wrote a little book called The Isaiah Effect: Decoding the Lost Science of Prayer and Prophecy.
You may have it in your collection. Among other things, he is bringing
together concepts from physics such as vibration and polarity with our desperate
need to reclaim the planet. He says prayer has three elements: direction,
power and expression, another triad of the same sort we have been examining.
He also talks about the power of thought, feeling and emotion experienced
as mind, heart, and body and how we can learn how to focus them in prayer.
Thought, feeling and emotion are vibrations and can be used to create just
like mantra can do. So, since the next unit deals with vibration and
how it creates reality, and vice versa, I suggest you obtain and begin reading
this book. Take notes, so you can compare what he says with the Yogic
teachings as they unfold.
We have engaged the Kamakala triangle and its symbols
at the level of tattvic creativity and looked at the archetypes associated
with them. We have also observed some of the links between the patterns
of creation and their actual manifestations in the world. The
practices at this level require that we attempt to withdraw our attachments
to worldly things, events and persons along with our own emotional and mentals
samskaras into the more balanced and serene atmosphere of the archetypes
beyond the gunas. The withdrawal process will continue as we
attempt to bring the tattvas into union at the next level of being.
Unit V. Mahanada is the process associated with the first movement to create. So we will examine Sabdabrahman and its role in the process.
References
Almaas, A. H. (2002). Facets of unity: The Enneagram of holy ideas. Boston: Shambhala.
Braden, G. (2000). The Isaiah effect: Decoding the lost science of prayer and prophecy. New York: Three Rivers Press.
Iyengar, B. K. S. (1981). Light on pranayama: The Yogic art of breathing. New York: Crossroad.
Kripananda, Sw. (1995). The sacred power: A seeker’s guide to Kundalini. South Fallsburg, NY: SYDA Foundation.
Redmond, Layne. (2005). Heart chakra meditations (CD). Boulder, CO.
Tyberg, Judith M. (1970). The language of the gods: Sanskrit keys to India’s wisdom. Los Angeles: East-West cultural Centre.
Wilber, K. (1983). Eye to eye: The quest for the new paradigm. Garden City, NY: Anchor Books.
Woodroffe, Sir J. (1973). The serpent power: Being the Sat-Cakra-Nirupana and Paduka-Pancaka. Madras: Ganesh & Co.
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