Comment to Search for Self
  • Here is my view on the methods listed above for silencing the mind. I have tried the following two methods long before I learnt Michael's Kundalini Yoga breathing procedure:

    • track the breathing pattern
    • focus on the tip of the nose

    The above two methods would put me in a no-thought zone or very-less thought zone soon and I could easily meditate without the onslaught of thoughts or images. But the subtle body would not reach a very hight state with the above method.

    After I switched to the Kapalbhati breathing procedure and meditating on naad as per Michael's Kundalini yoga procedure, initially it was very very difficult to focus on naad since the mind was not accustomed to focusing on naad. After persistent practice and raising kundalini, naad focus became easier and subtle body would shift to higher states.

    My conclusion is this. At the lower level of mind (i.e., without breath infusion or with insufficient breath infusion) naad absorption will not yield results. But as the mind jumps to higher states due to sufficient breath infusion the naad absorption will become easier and one can appreciate naad. One can even hear very subtle sounds of naad and experience its vibrations.

    Regarding focus between the eyebrows: As per my experience it should only be done if there are no thoughts and images in the frontal part of the subtle head and when the subtle body shifts to a higher level due to breath infusion.

    Regarding coreSelf: As per my experience, I can locate it at its default position in the subtle head as an observer. If I pull my two eyelids internally and trace its energy backwards to the center of the head I can know its location as suggested in the Core-self Discovery book. So this is a sure method of locating its position. 

    Regarding analytical orb: As per my experience, I know its location by its function - its image displays and thinking process. Whenever I put my focus in the frontal part of the head I can see the image displays and thinking process starting immediately. If I shift the focus downwards towards the tip of the nose the thoughts and images decrease. I feel this is a sure method of locating this organ even though one cannot see this visually.

    Regarding Kundalini: As per my experience, I have raised kundalini successfully several times and I know for sure its location and its effect when it raises into the head. So Kundalini Yoga is a sure method of locating this component of consciousness.

    So by the above procedure one can easily locate the coreSelf, analytical orb and Kundalini even though one may not be able to locate the sensual orbs, sense-of-identity and location of memory easily.

     

     

    • The first step is to locate the intellect. Once that is achieved the yogi/yogini should use that success to locate the coreSelf. This is because the coreSelf and the intellect are like a man and wife. If you can locate one you will surely if you are patient find the other. In fact, in the story of Puranjan in Canto 4 of Srimad Bhagavatam, Narad gave the coreSelf as a king without a queen or kingdom and the intellect as a queen in a kingdom without a king.

      According to Narad when these two met, it was love at first sight. They lived together in the city of Bhogavati, the place for excitement, the physical body. This means that there is an intimacy between the coreSelf and the intellect with the sense of identity being so fused into the core, that these two act as one reality.

      A yogi must study this intimacy and see if he can bring about a divorce. According to Patanjali they have to split up. No divorce is nice. This one is especially traumatic. Sir Paul Castagna once told me that he hated to have to do it. His view initially was that the self is one cohesive whole something and it should not be split into parts. But that only means that we prefer to have a functional car, then to have several parts like engine parts, transmission parts and then have to put that together and make it work.

      Most people feel that the self is one thing or it is nothing. But in that usage self means the psyche according to inSelf Yoga and it is one whole container for several psychic objects.

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      The kundalini is best discovered by doing kundalini yoga, where it is aroused through the spine into the head but unfortunately most people have access to nature’s easy process of knowing kundalini but they are unable to observing it by that method which is sexual expression.

      Kundalini yoga causes kundalini’s arousal through the spine but kundalini is also aroused naturally with little effort and without breath infusion and yoga postures through the sexual organ.

      It is the same kundalini which is involved in both arousal through the spine and arousal through the genitals. This kundalini should be studied in detail. A yogi should also know the relationship between the kundalini and the intellect as well as the kundalini and the coreSelf (inclusive of sense of identity). Whatever that relationship is should be adjusted for the acceleration of yoga practice.

      In most spiritual sects this is ignored and is considered to be of little or no consequence. This is just fine because each of the process have varying objectives which stress or neglect certain methods.

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      The study of the memory is necessary. It is listed as one of the undesirable vrittis compulsive operations of the mind. I suggest that this study begin with location of the intellect and then tracking to see where the memory comes from before they hit the intellect. However, there are two memories to consider. One is immediate recent memory. These are easy to track because they are located in or on the surface of the intellect, so that if you located the intellect you already located these. However, the other memories travel from somewhere and then hit the intellect after which one can see that the intellect is activated with thought-idea-image constructions to illustrated such memories and also to make the coreSelf become occupied with the ideas.

      A yogi must patiently in meditation wait and look to see where the long-range memories come from. My report is that they are located in the chest area. They travel through the neck and then hit the intellect which feels compelled to illustrate them further. The intellect in turn, compels the core to be attentive to the resulting display.

      Modern meditators are mostly unconcerned with this. They are instructed to observe thoughts with detachment and not to give any attention to thoughts. But that process provides no clarification about the location of the memories which are stored in the psyche from this or from previous lives. It does not show if there is an intimate relationship between the intellect and the memories. It does not reveal if there is a conspiracy against the core by the adjuncts. It does not reveal if in its present stage the core is a weakling who just cannot overcome the influences of the adjuncts.

      If someone finds that the memories are located somewhere other than where I stated they are, that is approved because in medical science there were cases of surgeons finding specific organs in odd places in the bodies of certain humans. There are general locations which tally with most humans but sometimes a child is born with the heart leaning to the right or some organ in a place never seen before. The important thing is to locate it.

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      • The sensual orbs are no easy to perceive but one should understand that these are produced by the kundalini even though they are controlled in part by the intellect. Sometimes they report directly to the intellect before they render information to the kundalini, which is their source.

        The way to trace them initially is to trace their signal inputs to the intellect or the kundalini. To understand how to approach this, consider what it would be like for a leaf to give information to a tree about which direction a branch should grow in. The leaf is like a sensual orb which gathers information from the environment. It sends that information through sensitive cells in the branch which the leaf is attached to. This information travels down into the tree.

        Once informed the tree grows the branch in a certain direction where it figures it will acquire more sunlight. If you are located as a cell somewhere in the stem of the plant how would you perceive the cells in the leaf and their sensing ability. This is like what you must do to begin research of the sensual orbs.

        • Tremendous contributions gotten from Arpana's remarks.

          Thank you greatly for the detailed and meticulous revisits!