Practice Report - Alfredo - Monday 1/14/2013
Meditationtime Forum Post
Date: Posted 5 years before Feb 12, 2018
Alfredo 5 years ago
ॐ नमः शिवाय
AM
Woke up at 4:00 AM (Brahma-Muhurta). Practiced yoga all day.
Austerities:
1. Social interaction kept to a minimum.
2. Restrictive diet on track. Now consists of one day water-only fast per week (Fridays), the rest of the week no solid food after lunch. This last part is a hard Tapasya that takes time and will to conquer.
Study: Study of several spiritual books by the same author continued. Resumed reading canto 11, General History, of Srimad Bhagavatam (Uddhava Gita), translation by Srila Prabhupada.
Additional Spiritual Practice:
1. Sungazed for 2 minutes, 20 sec (again, cloudy today). Cautious daily increments of 5-10 seconds. Now, notice this from Srimad Bhagavatam (Uddhava Gita), Canto 11.15-20:
cakṣus tvaṣṭari saḿyojya tvaṣṭāram api cakṣuṣi māḿ tatra manasā dhyāyan viśvaḿ paśyati dūrataḥ
Translation by Srila Prabuphada: Merging one's sight into the sun planet and then the sun planet into one's eyes, one should meditate on Me as existing within the combination of sun and vision; thus one acquires the power to see any distant thing.
This seems to support the practice of sungazing. Michael’s translation does not mention the sun; but translated it as “subtle light”. However, it is true that tvaṣṭāram can be also translated as “pertaining to the sun”.
2. Thokar Kriya prânâyâma: 60 rounds in the PM.
Breath Infusion: Standard practice of 35 minutes was good for the AM due to rested body (7.5 hours of sleep). Used different floor asanas. Kundalini solicited twice up sushumna applying locks.
Meditation: Meditation on Naad for 30 minutes, thoughts continue to be a challenge, especially in the AM.
Dream recall: 1 dream recalled.
PM
Very strong prânâyâma practice.
I start to see the light inside the subtle body, especially in the navel and thighs.
Also, whereas before Kundalini moved when solicited in the kneeling asanas, now its movements tend to manifest also in other floor asanas.
Naad was very loud. Located all around the back of head. Node clearly identified to the left at a higher pitch. Lead meditation effortlessly for periods of time.
Lord Krishna teaches Uddhava
MiBeloved 5 years ago
Chapter 10 of Uddhava Gita has nothing to do with physical body senses. It concerns mystic yoga practice. You want to follow Srila Prabhupada in this matter but he was not a practicing yogi and abhorred yoga and banned it in his society, particularly mystic yoga.
So how is it that he is explaining to you about something which he did not do and even outlawed in his society?
You are distorting this word chakshuh and do not understand it nor follow the way Krishna used it. He never used that word anywhere to mean the sun God or physical vision. Chakshus is the visual mystic power of the living entity which can be invested in physical vision for sure but it is not physical vision.
Run a search through the Sanskrit of Bhagavad Gita and find the word chakshuh and see if it applies to the sun god or the sun radiant planet.
In each of these verses in this chapter one word regularly appears which is dhyana, in one of its grammar forms:
manasā dhyāyan
Dhyana has nothing to do with physical vision. These verses of this chapter of the Uddhava Gita are almost verbatim repeats of Patanjali where he describes the application of samyama which includes dhyana as the median process.
If you are doing sun gazing, then do it but do not mess up the practice of it by railroading what Krishna explained to Uddhava regarding dhyana which is an internal mystic process which does not use physical vision.
Get help from some other part of the Vedic information, otherwise if you do this kind of distortion, you will ruin your yoga advancement.
You want to go to Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami to learn yoga but he would never have authorized you to do any such thing as sun gazing and would have banned you from his society if you continued it. At least if you are following him do so sincerely. Even though he gave his explanations of yoga practice, he never did it and he was against it 100%. So it does not make sense to now quote him about yoga. If you ever lived in any of his ashrams you would know that for sure.
And keep one little detail in mind which is that I was actually trained in the Vaishnava system of commentary by Kirtanananda who was Prabhupada’s leading sannyasi. He fell down and is now deceased but he was the leading sannyasi. I used to have to go to him and wait like a little dog in a corner to get him to explain the system which came down through Bhaktivedanta from Srila Bhaktisiddhanta. I also carefully studied their texts and saw the point in history where these distortions took place because their Acharyas felt that they had to whitewash yoga out of the Sanskrit books, in order to stress chanting of Hare Krishna as the only way of salvation.
I include the verse before, that verse, and the verse after for persons who do not have the text. This is my translation and commentary in the Uddhava Gita Explained:
==============================
मय्य् आकाशात्मनि प्राणे
मनसा घोषम् उद्वहन् ।
तत्रोपलब्धा भूतानां
हसो वाचः शृणोत्य् असौ ॥१०.१९॥
mayy ākāśātmani prāṇe
manasā ghoṣam udvahan
tatropalabdhā bhūtānāṁ
haṁso vācaḥ śṛṇoty asau (10.19)
mayy = mayi — on me; ākāśātmani = ākāśa – atmosphere + ātmani — on myself; prāṇe — on the energizing airs; manasā — with the mind; ghoṣam — subtle sound; udvahan — continuous linkage of the attention with the concentrating force; tatropalabdhā = tatra — there + upalabdhā (upalabdhāḥ) — directly hears; bhūtānām — the living beings; haṁso = haṁsaḥ — advanced yogi who is compared to a mythical swan; vācah — speeches, sounds; śṛṇoty = śṛṇoti — hear; asau — that.
Translation
By continuous linking of his attention with the concentration force which is focused on subtle sound within the mind, and on Me in the spiritual atmosphere and in the energising energy, the advanced yogin directly hears the sounds of distant 1iving beings. (10.19)
Commentary:
Hamsa means an advanced yogi who is compared to a mythical swan which extracts milk only from a mixture of milk and water. In this verse this is used to salute those advanced yogins who mastered the 6th stages of yoga and who practice the 7th stage of continuous linkage of their attention to higher concentration forces and divine persons.
The ghoșam subtle sound is called naad. This sound may be heard on the right or left side of the subtle head. This sound may be heard outside the vicinity of the right or left physical ear. Sometimes it seems to enter into the left side of the subtle head. Sometimes yogis hear it in the suśumnā central spinal passage of the subtle form. This sound comes from the chit ākāśa or the sky of consciousness. It is used in many kriyā practices as an anchor point and as a stabilizing force for the jumpy attention.
Prāņa is subtle life force. This is taken into the subtle body simultaneously when the physical body breathes air. By energizing their subtle forms with prāņa, yogis cause their minds to become introverted. This introversion is the 5th stage of yoga, that of pratyāhar sensual energy withdrawal, containment and conservation. This verse described a lower stage of practice, when the yogi partially mastered pratyāhar sensual energy withdrawal and when he begins to practice the 6th stage of dhāraņā linkage of the attention with naturally occurring concentration energies.
Due to being in touch with subtle sounds, the yogi might hear sounds from very far away, even sounds coming from other dimensions, which are physically out of reach, even sounds from the spiritual atmosphere. Such experiences, though preliminary are important for a neophyte’s confidence in the results of yoga.
चक्षुस् त्वष्टरि संयोज्य
त्वष्टारम् अपि चक्षुषि ।
मां तत्र मनसा ध्यायन्
विश्वं पश्यति दूरतः ॥१०२०॥
cakṣus tvaṣṭari saṁyojya
tvaṣṭāram api cakṣuṣi
māṁ tatra manasā dhyāyan
viśvaṁ paśyati dūrataḥ (10.20)
cakṣus = cakṣuḥ — the visual power; tvaṣṭari — in the subtle light; samyojya — linking the attention with a certain focusing energy; tvaṣṭāram — subtle light; api — also; cakṣuṣi — in the visual energy; mām — me; tatra — there at that linkage; manasā — in the mind; dhyāyan — effortlessly meditating on the linkage of the attention with a certain focused energy; viśvam — everything; paśyati — sees; dūratah — what is far away.
Translation
Linking the visual power with subtle light and subtle light with the visual energy, while effortlessly meditating on the linkage and on Me, the yogin can, from within his mind, see whatever is far away. (10.20)
Commentary:
This describes a yogin who is somewhat successful with the 5th stage of yoga, that of pratyāhar sensual energy withdrawal and who begins to practice the 6th stage, which is dhāraņā linkage of the attention with certain focusing energies in the psyche.
Initially, yogi does not control this. As he practices, he experiences this haphazardly. Persistent practice brings him to the stage of deliberate control of his endeavors. The visual power (cakșuh) is mentioned because it is very important to internalize this force. If this is not internalized, the yogi will have no lasting success. This power has to be completely internalized in the advanced stages of practice. Śrīla Yogeśwarānanda of Gangotri is a master of this visual focus.
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Continued from above…
Subtle light is not controlled by a neophyte yogi. At first he has to practice steadily until the light appears. When it appears it does so independently of his will power. After some practice, he may link his attention to it. Initially when a yogi tries to link or focus on the inner light or lights, it disappears from view, as if to tease him. This occurs because of the unsteady intellect. To steady the intellect further, he has to perfect the prāņāyāma practice which causes the psyche to become purified by the full expulsion of the apāna de-energizing airs. Bhastrika breath exercises are a good method of causing psychic purification, but there are other prāņāyāmas which achieve this.
A yogi has to practice detachment and must remove himself from all associations, which do not help to accelerate practice, otherwise he cannot be successful.
मनो मयि सु-सयोज्य
देहं तद्-अनुवायुना ।
मद्-धारणानुभावेन
तत्रात्मा यत्र वै मनः ॥१०.२१॥
mano mayi su-saṁyojya
dehaṁ tad-anuvāyunā
mad-dhāraṇānubhāvena
tatrātmā yatra vai manaḥ (10.21)
mano = manah — the mind; mayi — on me; su-samyojya — easily and continually connecting; deham — body; tad = tat — that; anuvāyunā — by the life air that trails; mad = mat – on me; dhāraṇānubhāvena = dhāraṇā — linking the attention with the concentration energy; anubhāvena — by the inner nature; tatrātmā = tatra — there + ātmā — spirit; yatra — wherever; vai — surely; manaḥ — the mind.
Translation
Easily and continually connecting to Me, the mind, the body and the life air that trails the mind, and by linking the attention with the concentration energy, which is operative in the inner nature, and which is focused on Me, the spirit surely goes wherever the mind travels. (10.21)
Commentary:
Difficult as these procedures sound, they are elementary to the practices mentioned before which are the advanced stages of yoga dealing with aspects of atomic, cosmic and spiritual importance. However, a neophyte benefits from these descriptions since he will have to progress through these basic stages after he masters pratyāhar practice.
Instead of saying samyojya, Śrī Krishna added the prefix su, which means easy. Thus this practice applies when the yogi can easily (su) and continually (su-samyojya) perform the 6th stage of yoga, that of dhāraņā. In such practice, it is not that the yogi focuses the energy himself. The yogi energizes his subtle body and the energies within it, become focused of their own accord or alternately, energies from other dimensions begin to penetrate into his energized psyche in a focused way. The yogi then acts to link his will power, his attentive energy, to that focused force. It is very important to understand what dhāraņā is, otherwise one may assume that it means the focusing of one’s will power. It means the linking or joining of one’s attention with a naturally focused force.
Śrī Krishna mentioned the mind, the body and the life force which trails the mind. This means that the yogi must have mastered kundalini yoga, since otherwise the mind will trail the life force instead. It does not matter whether one is a devotee or not, if one has not mastered kundalini yoga, his mind will have to trail his life force. Only those yogis who mastered kundalini chakra to cause it to rise up and out of the base chakra, the mūlādhāra, will have their life force trail the mind or precisely, trail the buddhi organ in the subtle head. They raise the kundalini energy up into the brain either to the back or to the frontal lobe or to the top of the head.
This applies to yogis who mastered the āsana posture and inner body purity by prāņāyāma, because only such persons can make their body obey their will in this manner. Others cannot do it, even if they are devotees of Śrī Krishna. The traveling of the mind is mentioned, with the spirit following the mind. This is because at this stage of practice, the spirit remains behind the buddhi organ as it seeks out higher dimensions. Being behind the buddhi organ, actually means being centralized behind it or being in the centre of it directorially, with it before or on all sides spherically.
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The main thing about those verses is dhyana yoga application or application of samadhi to various supernatural and mystic objects.
Even if there is mention of a physical object, even then it is the subtle part of that physical object.
But you may also find the verses in Chapter 3 of Yoga Sutras, I think, where Patanjali goes over the same process.
The origin Vedic use of tvastr is given on the page below but even here you have to remain in the context of mystic yoga and not bring over any physical meanings into it.
If you require some scripture support better to find one and if there is none then you just have to do that practice as you are and continue with it.
One of the main reasons why I first did the translation and commentary of Bhagavad Gita was to show support for yoga practice, ashtanga yoga, because the Vaishnava authorities had over centuries completely destroyed the support. And without Krishna's support one cannot complete the practice.
Support is needed but you must get it from a valid place not railroad some other text and try to use it for support.
Whosoever is teaching this sun gazing stuff should be responsible to give the required scriptural supports.
