Please join Mahasweta Mitra (Shanti, at the AYP Forums) and Doug Sandlin (Kirtanman. at the AYP Forums), co-founders of Living Unbound, and AYP asana instructor Rohini Nellore (Rohini, at the AYP Forums), Sept. 27-29, for a weekend retreat at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in the beautiful Berkshires region of western Massachusetts.
Mahasweta Mitra
We will be offering a weekend introduction to Advanced Yoga Practices (the practices are advanced; you don’t have to be — no previous experience with yoga or meditation is required), and kirtan (yogic chanting / singing). For more information and/or to register.
Doug Sandlin
AYP Deep Meditation and Spinal Breathing are the foundations of the daily practices that we recommend via Living Unbound, and kirtan is an additional and highly-enjoyable activity and practice that is popular with attendees at our retreats. The asanas (body postures) will be led by Rohini Nellore, a certified yoga instructor who runs regular private and group yoga classes, and who has led our asana sessions at other AYP retreats — which always receive enthusiastic reviews.
Rohini Nellore
While this is an Advanced Yoga Practices retreat, the principles of Living Unbound are inherently part of our retreats — we always spend time both inside and outside of the retreat sessions discussing the teachings, techniques and resources that each of us can make use of in our daily lives outside of sitting practices, in order to enjoy peace, freedom and fulfillment — living unbound — ever more completely.
Participants at our other retreats have found them to be enjoyable, inspiring, fun, and in some cases, life-changing.
One of the main reasons for so many people finding benefit in our retreats is that we address the reality of the benefits of practices and perspective that some call spiritual in ways that are truly independent of any traditions. AYP and Living Unbound work equally well for people of all religion, and of no religion; for people with years of spiritual practice, and with none at all.
As always, this weekend retreat will be both fun and profound — and will provide you with tools you can use beneficially, every day, for the rest of your life. Hope to see you there! If you know anyone else who might be interested, please feel free to forward this info — all are welcome.
If you have any additional questions, please use our contact form, or email info@livingunbound.net
“I reach for a piece of wood. It turns into a lute. I do some meanness. It turns out helpful. I say one must not travel during the holy month. Then I start out, and wonderful things happen.” ~Rumi
Like that, if we meditate and keep dancing, we will find our way. That is where our responsibility lies. Divine life is filled with paradox, and ever opening. Better not to second-guess it too much … though that too is part of it.
The guru is in you.
~Yogani
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Ego is just a concept, a word to describe consciousness identified with the objects of perception. Or, as the Buddhists say, “attached” to the objects of perception. The mind itself will not become dead until we are dead. It goes from being a tool of identified self (small “s”) to being a tool of unidentified Self (big “S”). What becomes dead in this life is identification of our awareness as self with all that appears in time and space. That is not death of the mind, or even of the “I thought” we call ego. We just come to know it for what it is, through the increasing presence of abiding inner silence (witness) cultivated in spiritual practices. It is the illumination of the mind in a divine outpouring, which then can awaken the unending joy of Oneness in time and space. It is the same thing that has been talked about by the sages of old, and modern ones too. It is the same experience. Only the words describing it may be a little different.
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From the perspective of the individual, thoughts are only omnipresent when consciously released in omnipresent abiding inner silence, which is cultivated through deep meditation. Before that, thoughts are only objects of perception with which we are identified locally. It is the samyama effect (release in stillness) that enables thought to become omnipresent, and therefore infinite in speed.
Before the samyama effect, a thought is like a picture. After the samyama effect, a thought is the thing itself, and far more influential via the infinite creative energy of divine outpouring that occurs when the mind is surrendered in stillness.
Kundalini awakening is a partnership between ourselves and the divine. Have you taken ownership of your role in this partnership, or do you consider yourself to be a victim in it?
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“Uncertainty” is an interpretation of the flow of life, isn’t it? A “story.” This raises the question: Are we navigating a sea of uncertainty, or a sea of ecstatic bliss? It all depends on our point of view, and that depends on our relationship in stillness with the flow of life. Uncertainty is actually quite certain, isn’t it? Why argue with it? It can be very tiring. Much easier to go with it. We have plenty of choices as we move through — unlimited possibilities for uplifting the whole thing.
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This is the process of purification and opening, which we gradually learn to surrender to. With self-pacing of practices in play to keep things on an even keel.
First it is only about us. Then it becomes a partnership between us and the process of awakening. Finally, there is only the awakening, and the divine outpouring.
Fear evaporates along the way … what remains is stillness in action.
The guru is in you.
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Anyway, I generally don’t say “I am THAT.” I say “We are That.” There is a difference. One separates us, and the other brings us together.
What else do I have to say about it? Not much. Better to meditate daily and find out for yourself what THAT is. You will see there is nothing to fear. Who fears freedom anymore, having tasted even a little of it?
Until there is abiding inner silence, these kinds of discussions are mostly mind games — building castles in the air. Not that we should not have them. But we should know them for what they are — scenery that cannot enlighten us. Only effective practices can do that.
So practice wisely, and enjoy!
The guru is in you.
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~By Yogani*
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But, you know, after it is all said and done, it boils down to the one question that has no answer: Who or what am I?
No answer? But aren’t we pure bliss consciousness, the One, the Void, the Tao, and all of that? Surely this is the answer. But that isn’t the answer really. That is a structure in the mind, a concept. Not the thing itself. The who or what we are is not of the mind. It is beyond the mind. It is the infinite sea that mind is swimming in, which the mind is constantly trying to make into a solid concept. Trying to make solid what is fluid, invisible and without attributes. The mind is the proverbial fish that cannot see the water it is swimming in.
While there can be no answer to the question “Who or what am I?” we can realize we are that, become that, simply by letting go of the need to know. As soon as we surrender the heart and the mind, we are unadulterated That. This is not an answer. It is a condition. A non-experience of the AM-ness underlying the inner and outer din of our lives. We can only talk about it in a removed way.
Then, somehow, magically, mysteriously, this AM-ness is able to move within and through us, and express on this earth plane, as Love. We may ask, “How does this happen?” There is no answer to this question either. We can set up the conditions for it to happen through daily spiritual practice, but we cannot say how it happens, or why it is. It is beyond the rational mind. That is why we call it “Divine,” which explains everything, and nothing. We can have faith in what is, even if we cannot explain it. It has always been this way with human beings. When we don’t know, we call it “God,” or something that depicts the unknown, and our reverence for it. In time, we recognize that these too are concepts we transcend when we become the reality which they attempt to describe.
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Revenge is not self-defense. It is aggression, and will lead to complications.
It is aggression, and will lead to complications. It all depends on our spiritual condition. We will act as we must, according to our awareness. The trick is to expand our awareness, which will elevate all of our actions to a higher level of morality.
In truth, no one is injured, for ultimately we are beyond events occurring in time and space. We are pure bliss consciousness. As we advance in practices and on our path, we find this as direct experience, and act accordingly.
On the other hand, current perception is 100% of our reality, and we must live from where we are. In that case, some common sense can help keep us out of the ditch – paying attention to the basic precepts of yama (restraints) and niyama (observances), and to the laws of the land wherever we are living. It is certain that acting with personal intent to injure others will injure us, just as breaking the law of the land will lead to unwanted consequences in life. So it makes sense to keep this in mind.
If someone is harming you, it is reasonable to protect yourself, and take steps to prevent repeat injury from the same source in the future. However, it is not in your best interest to attempt to injure the other for revenge. That kind of “justice” is fleeting, and will only lead to further cycles of injury to you and others.
Prudent self-defense and forgiveness make good partners. “I love you and forgive you, but will not permit you to do that” is the way to handle those who are prone to inflict injury on others. It may mean exiting a relationship altogether, with no hard feelings. Actions performed on that basis are not personal. They are divine flow. But we may find anger mixed in, so it is good to pause to consider the consequences of our actions before moving ahead.
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*He had drawn this as a bookmark to indicate something in a book he send me. I think it is cute… so thought I’d share it. :) -Shweta
The Awareness level is where we experience all as oneness, and the oneness as our self. This becomes somewhat easier to comprehend, when we recall that all the conceptual division with which we used to experience life was utterly artificial. In the absence of this conceptual division, reality is one; self is one; self is Living Unbound.
“Caitanyamatma” – “Living Unbound Awareness is Self”, as the Shiva Sutras (1.1) begin.
This cannot be understood with mind, even the infinitely expanded mind experienced at the upper range of the Knowing level; it can only be experienced – in, with and as original, unbound awareness; our self. Why is this so? Because understanding is usually understood and experienced by limited-mind as an object in awareness, an object that is the knowledge of the subject who holds it.
However, “Knowledge is Bondage”(Jnanam Bandhah) as theShiva Sutras (1.2) succinctly remind us. Knowledge is bondage, because knowledge is an object; objects create subjects, subjects create objects. At the Awareness level, we are experiencing the single field of awareness prior to all division. Knowledge is bondage — Knowing is not; knowing is liberation. Knowing is experiencing. Knowing is experiencing in actuality. In actuality, all is one; Knowing is Unity.
“From the perspective of the individual, thoughts are only omnipresent when consciously released in omnipresent abiding inner silence, which is cultivated through deep meditation. Before that, thoughts are only objects of perception with which we are identified locally. It is the samyama effect (release in stillness) that enables thought to become omnipresent, and therefore infinite in speed.”
Again, this cannot be understood with mind, because mind is inherently constrained in some manner; even the formless aspects of it contain consciousness and action, even if effectively infinite in scope. Only when our original Awareness preceding mind is experienced as our self, with mind as its emanation, does the power of knowing, the knowing of power, begin to flourish creatively, to flow out and return as Living, Unbound.
Yogani continues:
“Before the samyama effect, a thought is like a picture. After the samyama effect, a thought is the thing itself, and far more influential via the infinite creative energy of divine outpouring that occurs when the mind is surrendered in stillness.”
When the mind is surrendered in stillness, there is no barrier to the universal open shining of our original awareness, our infinite self. Infinite? Infinite: all distinctions, definitions, borders and limits are artificial. Original awareness is inherently ever unbound. “A thought is a thing in itself.”
When we contemplate this, our mind cannot even begin to understand, because limited mind is a cutting instrument; it divides, decides, discriminates. A thought is a thing in itself, because there is no natural division in awareness; awareness is wholeness. Whether awareness is experiencing the inner silence of the experiencing subject-self that is original awareness, or experiencing its movement as knowing and acting oscillations of awareness, or experiencing the perfect balance of the two as a human, being: there is only awareness here.
And so, a thought is not only a thing in itself, a thought is our very self; awareness in form, arising from formless self-awareness. Experiencing this in actuality does not allow us to understand, for we are now beyond the range of understanding, but to be knowing, that creating the samyama effect is creating a ripple in the infinite lake of our self. Utterly simple. Infinitely powerful. Solely loving. Is this teaching (“A thought is a thing in itself”) unique to Yogani? Not exactly; it has been around for thousands of years, and is considered so profound an aspect of reality that it is deeply embedded in some of the oldest languages and spiritual traditions in the world. For instance, In Hebrew, the word davar means both word and thing:
“Though davar means both thing and word in Hebrew, it is crucial to point out that thing did not have the Greek connotations of substance. As I. Rabinowitz puts it: ‘the word is the reality in its most concentrated, compacted, essential form.’ …. Names are not conventional, but are intrinsically connected to their referents; the name, indeed, is the real referent of the thing, its essential character – not the reverse, as in Greek thought. One does not pass beyond the names as an arbitrary sign towards a non-verbal vision of the thing, but rather from the thing to the word, which creates, characterizes, and sustains it. Hence davar is not simply thing, but also action, efficacious fact, event, matter, process.” ~Leonora Leet, Secret Doctrine of the Kabbalah, p. 103, quoting Susan R. Handelman
There is a teaching which is essentially identical (to the teaching described above, via the Hebrew word davar) in Kashmir Shaivism, the non-dual, practices-centric tradition of Kashmir (as Kabbalah is the non-dual, practices-centric tradition within the framework of Judaic spirituality).
In The Secret Supreme, the Kashmir Shaiva master Swami Lakshmanjoo describes Sadadhvan, the Sanskrit term for the six-fold path of creation in the Universe, consisting of three subjective paths of increasing subtlety, and three objective paths of increasing subtlety. In explaining an example relating to the middle (subtle) level, Swami Lakshmanjoo states:
“The word pot is the vacakadhva (creator) for this object (pot). So this object (pot) is vacya (created) and its vacaka (creator) is the word pot.”
The one field of awareness from one angle, is everything: all-that-is, from another angle; two sides of the same coin. Oneness and multiplicity are the inverse of one another. Mind cannot understand this; it is not designed to do so: mind is a sense, not a self.
The wholeness of awareness is infinite; the distinctions of form are finite; the perfect balance of the two is to be a whole, liberated human, being; to be Living Unbound. A paradox? From the standpoint of the distinctions of limited mind, yes; from the wholeness of awareness, no. Experiencing the actuality of the wholeness of awareness (aka the awareness of wholeness), the unity of knowing (the knowing of unity), and the harmony of living (the living of harmony) is to resolve all paradoxes, and to enjoy Living Unbound; the ever-present freedom we each and all ever are now, right here, beyond and before imagination.
No less an authority than esteemed mathematician (and co-author of the Penrose-Hameroff Theory of Quantum Consciousness), Sir Roger Penrose states:
“Calculus– or, according to its more sophisticated name, Mathematical Analysis– is built from two basic ingredients: differentiation and integration. The remarkable fact, referred to as the fundamental theorem of calculus, is that each one of these ingredients is essentially just the inverse of the other. It is largely this fact that enables these two important domains of mathematical study to combine together and to provide a powerful body of understanding and calculational technique.” ~Sir Roger Penrose, The Road To Reality — A Complete Guide To The Laws Of The Universe, p. 103
And likewise, it is the fact that the wholeness of awareness and the harmony of living are bridged by the unity of knowing, which allows for the ongoing celebration in experience known as Living Unbound. The Wholeness of Awareness and the Harmony of Living are the inverse of one another — exactly as the integral and differential described above in Penrose’s quote are the inverse of one another. The Unity of Knowing bridges the infinite division between the Wholeness of Awareness and the Harmony of Living, exactly as the fact and understanding of inverse relationship (between integral and differential, in Calculus) bridges the apparent differences between the two, which are also actually just the inverse of one another; the same reality experienced from different angles, with different degrees of focus. Most of us feel bound and limited because most of us only experience and know the differential, the finite, the limited, the local. Most of us are missing the knowing-experiencing of our true self, the integral: the whole, the infinite, the limitless.
Self is Unbound, Self is Living; Self is Living Unbound.
What is the result of experiencing our self as the wholeness of awareness, Living Unbound?
“The universe is our playground when we are reborn in the divine flow resulting from the marriage of abiding inner silence and our ecstatic awakening. We are here, everywhere, and nowhere. Free!” ~Yogani
Excellent overview of the deeper stages of meditation by Yogani (author of the AYP Enlightenment Series), at the AYP Forum.
Any or all of the variations in experience (and mantra) you mentioned above are fine. The particulars are not important. What is important is the intention.
If the intention is to favor the mantra when we realize we are off it, and allow it to go however it will (patterns do not matter), then this will lead to losing (refinement) of the mantra, which is the cultivation of inner silence. This is the process we keep repeating easily for the allotted time of our meditation session.
If the intention is to analyze, control, question, modify, report, etc., this will not be meditation. And it will not matter what system of meditation we may be following. All meditation procedures involve systematically going beyond the object, whether it be mantra, breath, nada, vision, sensation, concept, or whatever.
It is dharana (attention on an object), becoming dhyana (natural dissolving of the object), becoming samadhi (absorption in inner silence). These are the last three limbs of the eight limbs of yoga, which gives an indication of how important this process is in the overall scheme of yoga. Samyama also utilizes these three limbs, in a different way.
Obviously, choosing and sticking with a method of meditation is important. We can’t cross the vast ocean of samsara (impurity/illusion) in two or more boats at the same time. It is all about developing and maintaining consistency in practice over time.
This is the only question we need to be asking ourselves about meditation: “Am I in a consistent practice with a proven method?” All the rest is diversion.
We can never, ever, ever! put it in a mental bottle. Meditation is about emptying the bottle, and dissolving the bottle. So all this talk is not very relevant – only to get rid of doubts about the simplicity of sitting down and doing it every day. That’s all. If it is going to keep going in endless circles of mental analysis, etc., don’t expect any serious meditator to take that ride with you for long. It is not about creating complexity. It is about releasing into simplicity. Meditation is for that.
Sri Yantra By Yogani. 
