Showing posts with label Consciousness states. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Consciousness states. Show all posts

Monday, March 13, 2017

Recent learnings : Eating, Knowledge

The eating quantity should fit within thev two palms. That'll be just enough for the stomach.

You cannot experience anything without knowledge. Mind is only interested in one thing : self perpetuation. It creates the demand for thoughts and invents various concepts. Most of those Concepts​ are projection of knowledge. Knowledge creates experience, experience fortifies knowledge. Thus resulting in the endless cycle of Maya.

The body somehow knows that it is not going to die. But that is not so for the mind and so it keeps inventing concepts like reincarnation. (According to UG)

His question: if you can not experience life how can you even experience death. Can I experience anything without knowledge ?

The demand for continuity comes from the mind. Mind is an instrument. Once it strikes you that this instrument is not going to help in getting any closer to your Self and there is no other instrument. The entire process of searching stops.

Friday, December 9, 2011

What is this mind

After many days of observation, here are some conclusions on the ego

While Seeing
+ the conscious mind triggers thoughts
+ thoughts can be instinctive
+ thoughts can be  memories related to past experiences
+ if instinctive it can lead to complete "take over" of body and mind (reflex)
+ this prevents it to see things as they are
+ this prevents it from staying in the present
+ Seen events are either favorable or unfavorable
+ is attached to events that are favorable, give pleasure and comfort

Unfavorable 
+ any perceived threat to comfort causes fear,
+ this fear triggers it to plan for escape from pain
+ this escaping makes it take an action - a short term and a long term
+ short term action could be avoiding a situation or person
+ long term action could be planning for a better escape
+ planning causes it to imagine a future
+ this imagination is based on memories of past
+ thinks about the loss of its attachments while doing such planning
+ if past hasn't been good, imagines a difficult future and feels helpless
+ when in need of making a decision, it relies heavily on past memories
+ all actions are based on past memories

Favorable

+ When no threat is perceived, those are treated as favorable
+ Starts thinking of where it should be (future) for more pleasure
+ Compares itself with people who are more successful and famous
+ Equates money to success
+ imagines a future where it can get that success
+ this imagination is based on memories of past
+ plans of partnering with people / working on those goals
+ all Actions are imitation of people / ideas who have influenced it

Living in Past
+ playback memories of people / events and their actions who have influenced
+ these influential memories could be from TV shows, Movies or Real people

While in Contemplation
+ observations leads to learning's
+ anger and fear lead consciousness to jealousy

Conclusion: All actions - physical / mental are triggered by memories (past)

Friday, September 25, 2009

Desire

 

Its amazing to see the great power of desire and the changes it causes in the world of the mind, it is responsible for making a selfish guy who likes only himself to love another probably a new found crush at his college, it is responsible for a routine-work-stressed housewife to break free and go on a pilgrimage trip or vacation, it is responsible for making an employee switch to a different job in search of better financial and work prospects, it is responsible for another employee to quit the job and start his own business and be his own boss, it is responsible for "change" in the external world when things are routine.

When a person gets something he desires, it can trigger a reaction in others around him/her, some might end up getting a “desire” to be like him/her, thus giving a waterfall effect to the creation of desires in those individuals, some might get jealous by observing this person and comparing with their own unfulfilled life. This can in turn trigger other sorts of negative thoughts about oneself and others close to him by the person which in turn can lead to changes in his/her life. Meanwhile the person who has successfully met the object of his desire would have slowly lost the sense of achievement of the desire and would have moved on to pursue a new desire and the pursuit of happiness continues for him.

Thus desire keeps the individual in the conscious mind, every day, every year, every lifetime for many many lives. It is said by my guru that only when most of the desires have been achieved does the soul actually starts desiring for enlightenment. Thus the very power of desire (in the world of the mind) is the thrust which jolts the soul towards non-desire of the world, towards the ultimate goal of self realization.

Related Post: The donkey and the carrot.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

The Conscious mind (Jagara chittam)

 

I have been living too much in the conscious mind over the past few weeks with little or no time to reach the super conscious states (in meditation). The work in the external world, the obligations, the duties and the desire for fulfillment is what is responsible for keeping the ego in the conscious mind states.

Here is how the great Yogis of yore controlled their awareness when they find themselves living too much in the conscious mind from my gurudeva.

“ The mystic's goal is to control awareness while he is in the conscious mind -- to know where he is in consciousness. When he finds he is aware in the conscious mind, and the five senses have become his ruler, he then controls his awareness within the conscious mind itself. He does this in a number of ways. One way is through the control of breath. Breath is life, and life is breath. Breath is the controlling factor of awareness. Awareness rides on breath. Breath is also a controlling factor of our willpower. A seeker must develop a dynamic will to walk the path of enlightenment, so that he does not stumble or falter, but continues onward no matter how difficult the path seems to be for him.”

“The mystic loves the conscious mind, for he sees it like an adult sees the toys of children. An adult does not take children's toys too seriously, but the child does. Meditate on that comparison. Meditate also upon the conscious mind while you are aware in it. Write down on a piece of paper the various areas of daily experience over a period of three days to which you are most attached. Then meditate on those time periods until you are able to see the chemistry that makes the conscious mind appear to be what it is. When you live two-thirds within yourself, even physical things begin to look transparent to you.”

The below painting from Himalayan Academy beautifully summarizes the conscious mind and its ramifications, the way it leads us on and on – minute after minute, hour after hour, day after day, year after year, life after life like a donkey being led by a carrot.

The Conscious Mind (Painting courtesy: Himalayan Academy)

Related Posts: Understanding is control, Donkey and the carrot

Friday, November 28, 2008

Controlling Anger

 

Yesterday, a good friend of mine wants to know how to control Anger. I explained that its not a one line answer and it needs a detailed explanation. All the explanation below is directly from my Guru – in his book “Gurudevas-ToolBox” which is available at himalayan academy website.

ANGER EXISTS IN THE LOWER CHAKRAS

Angry all the time? smileys (79)

Anger, I have observed, is the most difficult fault for people to overcome, because it comes in so many different forms: pouting, long silences, shouting, yelling, swearing and more.

Those who remain prone to anger should not do raja yoga or any form of intensive mantra, japa, or pranayama amplification of the energies into higher chakras—lest that collective energy plummet into the corresponding lower chakras and be vented through fear, anger and jealousy.

My satguru instructed,
“Do good to all. God is there within you. Don’t kill. Don’t harbor anger.”  


There are eight rungs of anger on the “violence ladder:” sneaky anger, the cold shoulder, blaming and shaming, swearing, screaming and yelling, demands and threats, chasing and holding, partly controlled violence, and blind rage. Some people are just angry all the time because they live in the lower nature, constantly engaged in mental criticism and arguments.
Anger makes a person cunning in his thinking, and of course the predominant underlying quality of anger is fear. He is always afraid of something. It is generally something that may happen or is going to happen. He is always in conflict with someone. These are the motivating forces of the conscious mind: anger and fear. Most people live in the conscious mind unconsciously.


Anger is also, like fear, an instinctive control, and at one time served its purpose. The onrush of anger served to protect man’s private interests in critical situations by injecting adrenaline into his blood and thus preparing him for defense. But as man evolves closer to his real, actinic being, he discovers that actinic love, understanding, compassion and wisdom are higher qualities than anger. Anger can eventually be controlled by putting a sum of money—five dollars, for example—in a jar each time one becomes angry and then donating that money to an orphanage. It soon gets too expensive to get angry. However, for devotees who are wealthy, that doesn’t work. For them, I’ve found the penance of fasting for the next meal after they get angry works. We all know the refined, uplifting feeling of bhakti. Every religious person in the world has experienced this at one time or another. It is the total surrendering of oneself to God and the Gods. As the soul emerges out of the lower aspects of the instinctive mind, the muladhara chakra begins to unfold because of the bhakti that has been awakened through daily worship and sadhana. Admission and honest confession then bring up repentant feelings through the  subsuperconscious mind quite unbidden. When this happens within the devotee, it is truly a boon, marking progress on the spiritual path. Confession, the voice of the soul, can now be heard. As the intellect clears, the honest truths of experience, formerly hidden to oneself as well as to others, are revealed. The soul, the conscience, emerges in all honesty and remorsefully confesses the burdens it has been carrying. Yes, confession is truly the voice of the soul. Nothing is hidden to oneself when dharma supersedes adharma.


The entire book (Gurudevas Toolbox) is available for free download in PDF form at this link. click here to get the same. It also explains how to conquer the lower emotion of “uncontrollable fear” which is very common in women.


Many more important free e-books are available in this link.

Related posts: Techniques for Mind control (Mindmap), Understanding is control.


Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Understanding is Control

My guru once said -- There are many mystics in the world who have had no formal training and yet seem to unfold inwardly very rapidly simply by learning the 5 states of mind, how to distinguish one from another, and how to move awareness within them consciously and systematically. They are participating in and enjoying some of the benefits of being able to experience step-by-step direct cognition of the five states of mind -- conscious mind, subconscious mind, sub of the subconscious mind, subsuperconscious mind and superconscious mind.

Concentrate upon that mind, observe the thoughts, feelings and actions from within and know that your mind is yours to use to the extent you know how to control it using the will.

Why must you study the mind ?

Why must you study the mind ? because understanding alone is fifty percent control of the mind. This understanding is necessary to impress the subconscious deeply enough to secure awareness so that spiritual strength continues to come from within.

"Understanding is Control"

The way mystics use the mind is like this - When a situation comes up - observe how the conscious mind looks at it. Then they ask how the subconscious mind looks at it. Pondering further they inquire how the super conscious looks at it. Through this process they get the clear picture of what exactly happened and whether it must be taken seriously or not. The situation was perhaps -- just a subconscious reaction such as an anger towards someone -- so you forgive yourself and forget it. The subconscious was the problem in this case.

It is the super conscious intuitive understanding that helps making such judgments.

Friday, June 15, 2007

Chakras - The Spinning Wheels of Consciousness

I found the perspective that i was searching for, since 26 years .... I observed extremely intelligent people who had high willpower, was wondering how they manage to have it, observed extremely emotional folks, extremely stable folks, the answer to all lies in this message from my guru. How consciousness evolves from one stage to another is clearly mentioned.


There are six chakras above the muladhara chakra, which is located at the base of the spine. When awareness is flowing through these chakras, consciousness is in the higher nature. There are seven chakras below the muladhara chakra, and when awareness is flowing through them, consciousness is in the lower nature.


In this Kali Yuga most people live in the consciousness of the seven force centers below the muladhara chakra. Their beliefs and attitudes strongly reflect the animal nature, the instinctive mind. We want to lift our own consciousness and that of others into the chakras above the muladhara. This brings the mind out of the lower nature into the higher nature. We do this through personal sadhana, prayer, meditation, right thought, speech and action and love for Lord Siva, who is All in all.


These chakras starting from top of head to bottom are as below


Muladhara, the Realm of Memory :- This chakra is associated also with human qualities of individuality, egoism, materialism and dominance. Man lives mostly in this chakra during the first seven years of life. Men living fully in these lower three chakras therefore say that God is above them, not knowing that "above" is their own head and they are living "below," near the base of the spine.

During each age throughout history, one or another of the planets or chakras has come into power. Remember when the Greek God Cronus was in supreme power? He is the God of time. Mass consciousness came into memory, or the muladhara chakra, with its new-found concern for time, for a past and a future, dates and records.

Svadhishthana, the centre for reasoning :- Its color is reddish orange. Once the ability to remember has been established, the natural consequence is reason, and from reason evolves the intellect. Reason and intellect work through this chakra. We open naturally into this chakra between the ages of seven and thirteen, when we want to know why the sky is blue and the "whys" of everything. If very little memory exists, very little intellect is present. In other words, reason is the manipulation of memorized information.

In History Next the mass consciousness came into the svadhishthana and its powers of reason. Reason was a God in the Golden Age of Greece. Discourse, debate and logic all became instruments of power and influence. If it wasn't reasonable, it wasn't true.

Manipura, the centre of Willpower : - Its color is yellow. It is represented in the central nervous system by the solar plexus, where all nerves in the body merge to form what has been termed man's "second brain." This is significant, for depending on how the energy is flowing, the forces of will from this chakra add power either to worldly consciousness through the first two centers or to spiritual consciousness through the fourth and fifth centers. In these states of consciousness, the ego rises to its greatest prominence, and emotional experiences are extremely intense. If, on the other hand, the willpower has been directed toward higher awakening, awareness is propelled into deeper dimensions. Gains and losses of material possessions and power no longer magnetize their awareness, and they are freed to explore higher centers of their being. Inwardly directed, the willpower gives resolute strength to these aspirants, strength to discipline the outer nature and to practice sadhana.

In History Next the chakra of will came into power. Man conquered nations, waged wars, developed efficient weapons. Crusades were fought and kingdoms established during the period. Our world was experiencing force over force.

Anahata, direct cognition

Its color is a smoky green. Man usually awakens into this region of cognition around age twenty-one to twenty-six. Life for seekers in this chakra is different than for others. It is in anahata, literally "unstruck sound," that the aspirant attains his mountaintop consciousness. Instead of viewing life in its partial segments, like seeing just the side of the mountain, he raises his consciousness to a pinnacle from which an objective and comprehensive cognition of the entirety is the natural conclusion. Uninvolved in the seemingly fractured parts, he is able to look through it all and understand -- as though he were looking into a box and seeing the inside, the outside, the top and the bottom, all at the same time. It looks transparent to him and he is able to encompass the totality in one instantaneous flash of direct cognition. He knows in that split second all there is to know about a subject, and yet would find it difficult to verbalize that vast knowing. Various highly endowed psychics are prone to utilize this force center, for such spiritual powers as healing are manifested here. People with the anahata chakra awakened are generally well-balanced, content and self-contained. More often than not, their intellect is highly developed and their reasoning keen. The subtle refinement of their nature makes them extremely intuitive, and what is left of the base instincts and emotions is easily resolved through their powers of intellect. It is important that the serious aspirant gain enough control of his forces and karmas to remain stabilized at the heart center. This should be home base to him, and he should rarely or never fall below anahata in consciousness. Only after years of sadhana and transmutation of the sexual fluids can this be attained, but it must be attained and awareness must settle here firmly before further unfoldment is sought.

In History, Direct cognition, the anahata chakra, came into power when man opened the doors of science within his own mind. He cognized the laws of the physical universe: mathematics, physics, chemistry, astronomy and biology. Then he unfolded the mind sciences by penetrating into his subconscious mind, into the chakras where he had previously been. With man's looking into his own mind, psychology, metaphysics and the mind religions were born.

Vishuddha, Universal love :- Whenever people feel filled with inexpressible love and devotion to all mankind, all creatures, large and small, they are vibrating within vishuddha. In this state there is no consciousness of a physical body, no consciousness of being a person with emotions, no consciousness of thoughts. They are just being the light or being fully aware of themselves as actinic force flowing through all form. They see light throughout the entirety of their body, even if standing in a darkened room.

Now, in our present time, the mass consciousness is coming into vishuddha -- the forces of universal love. The forerunners of this emerging Sat Yuga, popularly called the New Age, are not worshiping reason as the great thing of the mind or trying to take over another's possessions through the use of force. They are not worshiping science or psychology or the mind religions as the great panacea. They are looking inward and worshiping the light, the Divinity within their own body, within their own spine, within their own head, and they are going in and in and in and in, into a deep spiritual quest which is based on direct experience, on compassion for all things in creation.

As the forces of the vishuddha chakra come into prominence in the New Age, it does not mean that the other centers of consciousness have stopped working. But it does mean that this new one coming into prominence is claiming the energy within the mass consciousness. When this center of divine love gains a little more power, everything will come into an exquisite balance. There will be a natural hierarchy of people based on the awakening of their soul, just as previous ages established hierarchies founded on power or intellectual acumen. With that one needed balance, everything on the Earth will quiet down, because the vishuddha chakra is of the new age of universal love in which everyone sees eye to eye, and if they do not, there will always be someone there to be the peacemaker. Look back through history and you will see how these planetary influences, these great mind strata of thought, have molded the development of human society.

Ajna, the command centre or divine sight :-

Ajna chakra means "command center" and grants direct experience of the Divine, not through any knowledge passed on by others, which would be like the knowledge found in books. The composition of this chakra is so refined, being primarily of actinic force, that a conscious knowledge of the soul as a scintillating body of pure energy or white light is its constant manifestation. From here man peers deeply into the mind substance, seeing simultaneously into the past, the present and the future -- deeper into evolutionary phases of creation, preservation and destruction. He is able to travel consciously in his inner body, to enter any region of the mind without barrier and to reduce through his samyama, contemplation, all form to its constituent parts.

Sahasrara, the crown chakra

The crown center is the accumulation of all other force centers in the body, as well as the controlling or balancing aspect of all other sheaths or aspects of man. It is a world within a world within itself. When the yogi travels in high states of contemplation, when he is propelled into vast inner space, he is simply aware of this center in himself. In such deep states, even the experience of light would not necessarily occur, since light is only present when a residue of darkness is kept, or since light is the friction of pure actinic force meeting and penetrating the magnetic forces. In the sahasrara, the jnani dissolves even blissful visions of light and is immersed in pure space, pure awareness, pure being.

Once this pure state is stabilized, awareness itself dissolves and only the Self remains. This experience is described in many ways: as the death of the ego; as the awareness leaving the mind form through the "door of Brahman," the Brahmarandhra, at the top of the head; and as the inexplicable merger of the atman, or soul, with Siva, or God. From another perspective, it is the merger of the forces of the pituitary with the forces of the pineal. Great inner striving, great sadhana and tapas, first activate the pituitary gland -- a small, master gland found near the hypothalamus which regulates many human functions, including growth, sexuality and endocrine secretions. It is inwardly seen as a small white light and referred to as "the pearl of great price." When the pituitary is fully activated, it begins to stimulate the pineal gland, situated at the roof of the thalamic region of the brain and influencing maturation of consciousness expansion. The pineal is inwardly viewed as a beautiful blue sapphire. For man to attain his final, final, final realization, the forces of these two glands have to merge. Symbolically, this is the completion of the circle, the serpent devouring its own tail. For those who have attained this process, it can be observed quite closely through the faculty of divine sight.

Saturday, May 12, 2007

Consciousness states - (EEG)

The brain activity as detected by EEG (Electro encaphalo graph) categorizes our flow of consciousness and the frequencies associated with it. Ancient Yogis detected these states long long ago in Ancient India and accordingly had categorized them into 4 states :-

  1. Jagrat Avastha (Wakeful states)
  2. Svapna Avastha (Dreaming Sleep state)
  3. Nidra Avastha (Deep sleep state)
  4. Turiya Avastha (Meaning the 4th state, beyond deep sleep)

A sincere Yogi always endeavours to reach the Deep sleep state, but consciously in meditation (not unconsciously as in deep sleep). He reaches turiya state in Nirvikalpa Samadhi and turiyatheeta (beyond the 4th state) when He becomes Self Realized. Where the frequencies associated with EEG can come close to Zero! Thats the instant, when his consciousness expands rapidly and he perceives God in Himself and every atom and every living being around him. This is the state to be endeavoured. This is the state which is the goal of human life. This is the state when man attains perfection.

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Click on image to enlarge


Lord Krishna says in Bhagavadgita


(Chapter 6, Text 28)


Steady in the Self, being freed from all material contamination, the yogi achieves the highest perfectional stage of happiness in touch with the Supreme Consciousness.


(Chapter 6, Text 20-23)


The stage of perfection is called trance, or samadhi, when one's mind is completely restrained from material mental activities by practice of yoga. This is characterized by one's ability to see the self by the pure mind and to relish and rejoice in the self. In that joyous state, one is situated in boundless transcendental happiness and enjoys himself through transcendental senses. Established thus, one never departs from the truth and upon gaining this he thinks there is no greater gain. Being situated in such a position, one is never shaken, even in the midst of greatest difficulty. This indeed is actual freedom from all miseries arising from material contact.


(Chapter 6, Text 27)


The yogi whose mind is fixed on Me verily attains the highest happiness. By virtue of his identity with Brahman, he is liberated; his mind is peaceful, his passions are quieted, and he is freed from sin.


(Chapter 6, Text 6)


For him who has conquered the mind, the mind is the best of friends; but for one who has failed to do so, his very mind will be the greatest enemy.



More information about these states are available here :-