Absorb ~ Enjoy ~ Appreciate

This is the mantra which came spontaneously but came while Srila Yogeshwarananda was present in a miniature form in my subtle head. This is to be used with neutral and seemingly insignificant kundalini bursts. This application will accelerate progress for the pranayama breath-infusion yogis, so that their pranayama practice breaks off more and more from the asana postures practice.

When the kundalini bursts, the yogi should instruct the intellect to become absorbed, then to enjoy, then to appreciate the energy even if the burst has energy which seems insignificant or neutral.

Is this necessary?

It seems to be. As I checked what I discovered is that the intellect does not pay close attention to the kundalini burst at all times. It gives full attention when it is compelled to do so by the burst but otherwise it remains as an observer some of the time. It is careless with the experiences some of the time.

The yogi should make the intellect maintain interest all of the time, otherwise progress will be slow. The psyche will remain bogged down with a craze for sensational kundalini burst.

I observed that some students do the practice and yet they persist in vicious attacks and critiques even towards the teacher. This is happening because of not doing a fully absorption during the practice, being careless, letting the mind drift, not applying the interest of the self fully into the experience of practice.

Again:

Absorb ~ Enjoy ~ Appreciate

I taught how to mix the asana postures with the breath infusion practice, using kapalabhati or bhastrika. This system was introduced by Yogi Bhajan to me around 1972. I developed a specific method of this practice which goes beyond what Yogi Bhajan showed but I heard from a student that someone told him that whatever I was teaching could be learnt from Yogi Bhajan and is the property of the yogi. Okay, that opinion is out there. I do not object to it as the person who said it is a shallow brain, whom Yogi Bhajan once lifted his hands about in frustration at his astral ashram in New Mexico.

Yogi Bhajan is not a cheap yogi who would take credit for developments in practice which were pioneered by one of his students. That is not how we operate as yoga teachers. If a student excels in a method and pioneers a version of its which is different but which is effective, we give that student credit for what he or she did. Why should the first teacher claim the work done by his student? What purpose would that serve?

However if one becomes proficient at my method, sooner or later one will, by the progress, move into pranayama breath infusion as a separate system which does not require focus on the asana postures. The postures will continue but as dictated by the pranayama breath-infusion practice, such that the breath infusion will be calling the asana postures, rather than the postures using the breath infusion to improve the postures.

When this happens, then the yogi is really knowing that he is progress into the value of pranayama breath infusion. Then the full absorption become the most important thing to do while doing the practice. This will cause the yogi to transfer his interest more and more into the subtle body, and he will be more and more the subtle body and less and less the physical system. This is good preparation for going with the siddha to ride the astral winds.

Asanas postures tell what we do not know about the physical body. Pranayama breath infusion tells us what we do not know about the subtle body. The evidence of this is that when a person is introduced to this practice, he or she may resist the postures if it takes that person more into subtle consciousness of the subtle body and less into subtle consciousness of the physical body. This happens because the person is materialistic with the body and does not want to be shifted away from it into the subtle body as a reality unto itself. The student wants to progress but with the physical body as the reference. The students wants to make the physical body, healthy, fit and attractive.

This happens where students resist the progress from asana posture control practice to pranayama breath-infusion control practice. They want to remain with the physical body as the reference form for the practice. But that resistance is a sign of a lack of progress.

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Sometimes during practice, one may get a feeling to express appreciation for the subtle energy which is ingested into the subtle body during breath infusion. Srila Yogeshwarananda gave a mantra for this:

Om Pranavayave Namah (praa-nuh-vai-uh-vey    naa-muh-huh)

I offer my honor to you, the wind which is filled with life-giving energy (prana).