Third Eye Meditation

GAYATRI CHALISA

Full text :here.


Dance performance of the Brahm Gayatri

ZEN MEDITATION

A brief explanation of zazen, sitting meditation.


interview with Gudo Nishijima, a zen buddhist priest.


Paramahamsa Nithyananda (very nice guy) talks about koans.

from Japanese Nichiren Buddhism the mantra Nam Myoho Renge Kyo; I take refuge in the Buddha and the mystic Law of the Universe.


Tina Turner chanting on Larry King.

The 3-minute trailer of the incredibly beautiful 3-hour documentary Into Great Silence about meditation & prayer in the monastery the Grande Chatreuse.

Interesting, now check out this video response;

An example of someone highjacking an ancient tradition to plug his religion as superior to others.

He seemed a confused nitpicker, if you ask me.

Reviewed like a typical divisive true believer of one faith, full of hard intellectual judgment without allowing the heart to balance his religious sense of superiority. Seems to miss the message of the movie and Christ too!

Exactly. It seems to me the reason why people take vows of silence or choose a monistic lifestyle is a direct reaction to talk like that.

Go beyond "The Secret" with The Moses Code.

Gaudiya Vaisnava meditation:

To visualise yourself and Krishna according to mood.
Playing, or maybe even kissing and hugging.

Gaudiya Vaisnavism has a lot of visualisation meditation techniques, and I really don't know why they are not practised more often. Is this an esoteric secret of gaudiya vaisnavism?

For instance David Haberman wrote a good book on the subject "Acting As A Way Of Salvation; A Study of Raganuga Bhakti Sadhana", Motilal Banarsidass 2001, including a description of the asta-kaliya-lila-smaranam technique. So it shouldn't be (and isn't) a secret. But those techniques need good and proper preparation and guidance and who can give that? Just trying it on your own is risky.

Why? Because imagining service could easily be misconstrued as actual service or that an immature devotee might reject actual service like preaching, or service to vaishnavas, thinking it lower, to sit and meditate alone. Guru/Krishna is the giver of such service and must be satisfied with your full efforts. But each case is different and each has his/her own capacity. It is not the general recommendation of the Gaura/Saraswati/Bhaktivedanta/Sridhara line simply because so much agitation and disturbance is there nowadays and that one cannot pick and choose what service you will render in the liberated condition. Devotional service is told to be the activity of the liberated soul. These meditations come down to us naturally. We cannot force our way up there, only by grace they may come down and absorb us. We are just waiting here, doing our ordinary services, hoping for our invitation to come and serve Radha-Govinda under Gurudeva’s direction.
What do you say, O faithful Prisni? Does meditation upon service alone satisfy your heart? But without physical associations, in your solitary position, of course, these meditations cannot but be beneficial for you. It is a rare thing, a rare liberated service, but such cases of full smaranam, a kind of samadhi, are mentioned and recognized in the Nectar of Devotion.

Are you for real?

What is for real? If you mean do I actually believe what I write, feel, and perceive, then yes, I am for real.
Or, no, this is just an automated computer writing to you.

Those who do that would do it anyway. Those who sit down and meditate on Krishna lila, or whatever, and are not ready for it, will not be able to go on, but will give it up at one point of time. I think that can be said about all kinds of meditation. And despite trying it the other way, through preching, service, and all what is taught in ISKCON, most still give it up. Of those who give up ISKCON, there are some that still keep the meditation on Krishna.

I am not a guru, or a teacher, so I have no need to say what is practical or possible. I can say anything. So I can say - just meditate on Krishna, and all you desire will come to you - without any regard for how to do it practically. I don't need to follow social rules, since if someone say that if I break this or that rule, I will fail, I just don't care. I have already failed all the social rules, so what more failure can it be in the future?

You Dayalu, is different, and I respect you for that, and for following the instructions of your gurus strictly.

I do what Krishna ordains for me, whether it is pleasurable or painful. It is mostly painful, i can say. I have my discussions with my inner Krishna about that. It is either the first stage of insanity, or it really is Krishna, I cannot say. But the inner Krishna argues back about anything and have answers for everything.
I complain that my guru rejected me (and all his disciples) and ISKCON rejected me, what service should I do now?
And Krishna answers by saying - don't worry, give them up, I will give you service, here are you new shoes!
I complain - but the shoes are too big, they don't fit, I can't walk in them?
Krishna - you have to grow to fill the shoes, then you can do your service!
Me - How do I know that this is not insanity
Krishna - Can insanity give you bliss and spiritual understanding?
Me - I don't know
Krishna - look in the insane asylums, do they look blissful, do they have spiritual understanding?
Me - I don't think so
Krishna - so I am real!
(Krishna is laughing at this point)

And so it goes on. What can I do?
So maybe the answer is - don't meditate on Krishna, you'll go mad, you get attached, you fall in love, and then you can never stop thinking of Krishna!

This reminds me so much of all the do and don'ts inherent in Krsna Consciousness. I do wonder where the harm can come from one imagining in a meditational structure, having a relationship with Radha and Krsna? For a devotee who practices, this would seem like a big aid, being able to see their relationship, even on a mental level. Who is to be able to go into the consciousness of another and tell if that type of meditation is bad or would stop them from doing what you call ACTUAL service? What is ACTUAL service from NON-ACTUAL service? You also imply that you can determine who is an immature devotee...is this true?

Is this what happens when a person takes a belief literally, taking their understanding, perhaps based on what their guru has said, and then applies it to everyone outside themselves? Is it important for you to have others believe the same as you?

This is why I have to question myself philosophically so often, always being careful to see the world/nature/self in a more authentic way that is true to my personal journey and not reliant on the beliefs and statements given by authority figures or spiritual institutions, or any OTHERS that would like to impose their interpretations upon me.

I think Prisni should be free to explore these type of meditations and share them with others online without the fear of being judged as becoming less Krsna Conscious or going outside the perimeters of what is traditionally acceptable from any given school of GV.

So if you are dying of thirst in the desert, how about you take an imaginary drink, let’s make it a glass of sand, and we’ll call it water….

And you give me an bottle filled with water that others tell you is real and it quenches your thirst, but I drink from it and my thirst is not. But I dig in the sand and find a reservoir of water that does, but you won't believe me, for it did not come from your bottle!

tush ole'

If I give you water, I give you my own water, the water I myself drink. It’s not distinctly my water, and it’s not some water somebody just told me about, but the cool refreshing water I was made to drink to my heart’s content, if you get what I’m saying. I always share. Allegorical water from the allegorical sky. If you don’t like ‘my’ water, because it’s not ‘your’ water, then go away, find your own.
You are free, dig in the sand, dig forever, see what you find, I’m not saying you can’t try. All I’m saying is that the taste of real water is beyond dispute and everyone knows it when they taste it. But you have to be thirsty to actually appreciate the water. Are you thirsty yet?

I dug and I found...I don't dig and find...for it is amazingly all over the place...so much water that one has to be careful not to drown in it! But it is not real authentic true water to you...for not only does it not come from your bottle, but from the store you bought it at, and the factory that bottled it.

No matter what I say to you, you will always consider me thirsty...for I don't drink the same water as you. To consider otherwise, would break the damn of the one true water believer.

We are swimming in allegories or what.

tush ocean

There are different approaches here. Some see gaudiya vaisnavism as a religion. And in a religion there are priests, teachers, rules and all kinds of things. And of course, in a religion, if you don't follow all that, you are not part of it.

I see gaudiya vaisnavism in a different way. As a tradition of persons whose religion is their own inner experience of Krishna. The inner experience is what binds the tradition together. And the common denominator is the type of inner experience, which is written down by previous persons in the tradition. So you are part of the tradition if you have the same inner experience. There are no rules, expect for the inner experience. But still, the outward rules of sadhana, etc., can be seen as a way to get that experience and to develop it.

The core of Gaudiya Vaisnavism, as I see it, is thus the mystic experience of Krishna bhakti, and the means, the tools, the process to develop it.

In India, those two parallel strands of religion and mysticism appears to have existed in gaudiya vaisnavism all the time. But the preaching to the west is only the outward religion part, and the inner mystic experience is rejected. Maybe it was wise to do that, considering the neophyte state of the western devotees in the beginning. But maybe the time is ripe for the mystic strand also now? And with the two strands vowen together, gaudiya vaisnavism becomes more complete. But it requires acceptance in both directions.

Therefore I find nothing wrong in speaking about mysticism, about self-experience and the ways to get it.

tush heh

The Mantra for healing: the Shiva Maha Mrityunjaya Mantra.

OM tryambakam yajâmahe
sugandhin pushti-vardhanam
uruvârukamive
bandhanân
mrityor mokshiya mâmritât

How can it be wrong to chant the hare krishna mantra in such a way as to induce a state of trance, religious ecstasy and bliss? I bet most ISKCON hare-krishna's don't even know how to do it.
But when thinking about it, repetition of the same words monotoneously, appears to be just what to do to induce such a state. And then the monotone trumming on the mridanga as an aid. Drum meditation.

In such a way, gaudiya vaisnavism actually becomes a bridge between religions and shamanic practices, since it contains both. To dance in trance to the hare krishna mantra or to study and follow religious rules.

Maybe someone would say - Prabhupada did not do that?
But can anyone say that Prabhupada could NOT do it? That he could not reach a state of trance and ecstatsy while chanting the mantra?

I would like to hear one of his early disciples saying - yes, Prabhupada did that, and he taught me how to do it. Any takers?

I thought the chanting of the maha mantra was meant to induce the trance like state. That this was the objective and the general idea...to get to that state but to remain focussed...

Now it seems I should not be doing that...

Maybe I just go back to the magic mushrooms and peyote...

This is a nice page on japa from Swami Sivananda
...Do the Japa with feeling. Know the meaning of the Mantra. Feel God's presence in everything and everywhere. Draw closer and nearer to Him when you repeat the Japa. Think He is shining in the chambers of your heart. He is witnessing your repetition of the Mantra as He is the witness of your mind.

And another from a page on Shiva Mantra Japa..

What is Japa?
JAPA, OR RECITATION, IS THE SPIRITUAL PRACTICE of devotedly repeating a mantra, generally a specified number of times, such as 108, often while counting on a strand of beads,called a japa mala, while conscientiously concentrating on the meaning of the mantra. The repetition should be dutifully slow. This brings punya, merit, to the devotee. It should not be thoughtlessly mechanical or the hurried, so-called rapid-fire or machine-gun japa, which demonstrate ignorance of the tantras. Such casual, nonchalant negligence and disregard for contemplative traditions brings papa, demerit, to the devotee, creating internal strife, community opposition and turmoil for concerned... http://www.rudraksha-ratna.com/articledt.php?art_id=179

Community opposition?

Alienating the public. We certainly did that. Especially the fixed-up brahmacaris who did not even try to be subdued and discrete when they chanted japa in public.

I once chanted softly pacing up and down on a station platform, waiting for my train. It was around midnight and pretty empty there. Suddenly two policemen came up and demanded to see my documents. Good that I wasn't in trance. I produced my documents and they seemed a bit surprised, and left me in peace.

Another time I chanted, very very softly, standing in the staircase at the Psychology Institution where I studied. I faced away from the occasional people walking by and hoped to be ignored. Then my Emotions and Motivations teacher comes up, taps me on the shoulder and asks with her most professionally concerned voice: "Do you need help?"

I said no, thanks. (As far as I was concerned, she was the one in need of help. But I was probably a bit biased.)

I'd say we made a pretty solid case for silent japa, which is often more highly recommended. It's funny that they used to tell us that how we did on sankirtan was all based on the quality of our japa - when you look back at "rapid-fire, machine-gun japa". That was commonly practiced and regarded as "intense", "determined", etc.
It may have had the obnoxiousness to cause some devotees to want to punch each other, and otherwise create "internal strife, community opposition and turmoil for concerned.."

The hallmark of the old "fired-up sankirtan party".

Chanting quiet, in the head, is a great thing to learn, since it can be done anywhere anytime, without anyone even noticing. It it is maybe technically not called japa anymore, but who cares?

I found it very very hard. Like trying to run in a nightmare where your feet sink into the ground and the resistance of the air is so thick you can hardly take a single step.

I had to chant silently sometimes because my vocal chords were damaged after an infection and if I strained them, I could not do japa afterwards.

Silent singing on the other hand worked great. I used to do that in the dentist' chair. I sang as slow as I could to make time pass faster.

I can't do it, with the Hare Krishna mantra. Other mantras I can, beginning with Om.
The mental association I have with the constant 'sh' repetition is like 'crush, crush' and too hard on my brain.

"Misconception.. attack it and crush the whole thing." -Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati

That makes me tired

I found it hard like that in the beginning. Painfully slow compared to the speed I can chant machine-gun japa. But since the neuron patterns in the brain are already there for the hare-krishna mantra, after comparatively little time, I learned to do it mentally.

The reason I learned it, was that I could not chant the hare krishna mantra, since it gave me bad associations with ISKCON. But still I did not want to throw away the baby with the bathwater, so silent, mental, mediation on the hare krishna mantra I found all right.

I like "mental chanting", since it sounds so forbidden in he world view of ISKCON.

I once attended an interfaith weekend at a Buddist monastery, where, on Sunday morning everyone attended the Buddist meditation ceremony. I was kneeling/sitting behind Ranchor (who was the other ISKCON devotee to attend). I enjoyed chanting the Sanskrit mantras, but when they then did a long stretch of silent meditation, I pulled out my beads and tried to sureiptiously chant in my head. But afterwards, Ranchor told me that the fingering of the beads was distracting to him and probably to others. When I asked him what he had been doing during the silent meditation, he said that he had been visualising bathing his Deities. I felt very inadequate and also quite anal in that I couldn't bend my practice to the occasion.
-- Not as straitjacketed, however, as some of the Catholic nuns. A few of them who lived in a cloistered convent were virtually freaking out because they weren't attending Mass on Sunday. None of the other Catholic clergy could convince them that they weren't going to hell, especially since they attended Mass every day of their lives. It ended up with a priest saying Mass especially for them to ensure that they didn't die in mortal sin.

I think you were doing good. A great opportunity for meditation in the mind. If you were unused to it, using the beads could be a good help to no loose track.

I just discovered these wonderful free online guided meditations and wanted to pass them on to all you GRers. They once were CDs you had to purchase for about $10 a piece (each one is 20 minutes long, but the time flies when you do them), but now the teacher is posting them online for free, as a service to the world. They're great. I've started using the "Healing Meditation" because I've been struggling with certain health dilemmas that defy any diagnosis (and therefore any conventional treatment), but there are also Sleep, Esteem, De-Stress, and others. They make you feel fantastic!

The creator of them is Virginia Hey, a beautiful and gifted ex-TV actress from Australia who became an international sci-fi icon from her role in "Farscape". But she put that life mostly aside to devote herself to teaching meditation and natural healing and promoting Reiki, of which she's a great enthusiast. Her lovely voice is sonorous and soothing, and the content of the guided visualization is very powerful, I think. I believe you'll find them immensely beneficial. And super pleasurable. Do try them! They're yummy.

Here's the link. Go to the red headings on the right side of the page to get straight to the meditations:

http://www.virginiahey.com

I'd be interested to know what any of the rest of you think of them.

Anandamurti Gurumaa with the bhajan Ram Simar

Gums are now healing from dental surgery. So - if you do not enjoy being called a "baby" (as do I) please do not watch this..

The Glory of Sri Saraswati

Video of talk by Srila Sridhara Maharaja on harmonizing of opposites.

Sunday Shiv Bhajan..

Lord Murugan's mantra Om Sharavanabavaaya Namaha

Anuradha Paudwal sings very beautifully the Gayatra Mantra (108 times). I found it with p2p (mp3).