The Importance of Physical Body

A human being is not just what is visible to the physical eyes. The physical body is just the gross aspect of the human. Every living human being has a physical body, an astral body and a causal body.

The physical body immediately starts disintegrating when the astral body along with the causal body gets separated from the physical body. This process is generally referred to as death. The astral body also dissolves after some period, after taking appropriate lessons in the astral plane. It is the causal body that remains forever (till liberation) forming new astral and physical bodies according to the need.

For one to attain liberation (to completely dissolve the causal body), the physical body is necessary. Shri Adi Shankara in the Viveka Chudamani described three things that are very rare in this world: to have a human birth, to have the desire for liberation and to have the blessings of the realized master.

So, what is the need of the physical body? For the spiritual evolution to happen, the energy has to be anchored into the system (the Physical-Astral-Causal complex). Proper amount of energy when moved in proper channels, brings spiritual development. What I mention as energy channels is referred to as nadi in the eastern terminology. There are three major energy channels: ida, pingala and sushumna. Sushumna is the major nadi/channel that the yogis are concerned with. When the energy is moved in this channel from muladhara (bottom chakra) to sahasrara (crown chakra) and above, spiritual evolution happens faster.

Our system also receives cosmic energy. This movement is from top to bottom. We have more control over the energy that we can move from muladhara to sahasrara. That is why some yogic traditions like  kriya yoga, mostly concentrate on kriyas (kriya pranayama) which moves the energy in the sushumna channel.

The gross form of energy in our system is the sexual energy. It can easily and readily be converted to the subtler form and moved up along the sushumna. This is the most important process that happens in the human system. It naturally happens whether one is aware of it or not. But, when one becomes aware of the energy and moves it, the entire process of spiritual evolution becomes quite quick. This fueling of spiritual evolution, in this manner, is possible only with the physical body, through which we can convert the gross energy and feed the subtler systems.

In yogic techniques like Kriya pranayama, the energy is moved consciously and in systems like vipassana, the blocks are cleared and the energy is allowed to move on its own. The one who knows this secret makes the best use of his life.

Enlightenment is Our Natural State

Enlightenment is the natural state of our being. It sounds too simple. You may think of asking, why then only a fraction of the human population is enlightened. It is because, we give more importance to the mind and we always work on improving that. The pure awareness could be equated to a plain white paper. The mind is something like a painting on that white paper. When we work on the mind, we give a different coating over the existing coating, trying to create a better mind. The awareness is always pure and no external thing can pollute it. It is the emptiness itself. How could something stick to that emptiness.

The only way to get back to our real nature or being established in our pure awareness, is to make the mind pure. When the mind is perfectly pure, it becomes non-existent. For example, the pure water is perfectly transparent, tasteless and odourless. When there are some minerals or solute particles, it may become a solution and take a different name, by losing its purity. In the same way, the ultra pure mind is a non-existent mind.

One can never see the plain white sheet which is behind the painting. To get to that, you have to remove the painting. Creating another painting over that or trying to manipulate the painting will not help much. In the same way, you have to transcend the mind to get established in the pure state of pure awareness.

One may ask, how come this strange mind with all its ignorance started working, completely masking the pure awareness. The Buddhists call this ignorance a 'beginningless ignorance' and we do not know exactly how it all started. The good news is that, we have a way to put a full stop for this and return to our original nature.

One may ask, if there is no mind, how will I function and carry out my day to day responsibilities. The answer is that, when the screen is clear, the projection is perfectly visible. Imagine, you go to a movie theater, and the movie is projected on some screen which has different colours. It would not make much sense for you. In the same way, if a thought comes in the state of pure awareness, it is more innovative and powerful. At the same time, you shall remain not affected by the thought and would be able to function better.

Now, you may think. It all sounds good! But, is it really possible to achieve a state where there are no thoughts and stay in the state of pure awareness? Or is it really possible to become a silent witness of the thoughts, not being carried over by it? The answer is, you might have already experienced such a state. I need not give you a proof. That state being too brief in duration, you might have missed to observe it. Let me try to help you recollect. Have you ever come across any frightening situation? You might have seen a snake in your living room or your friend might have given you a shock by shouting when you did not expect at all or you might have escaped a near accident. In such shocking events, you shall be pushed to a state where there will be just pure awareness and no thoughts. Could you recollect anything of that sort? At some stage of your life, you might have come across such situation.

It does not mean that such a pure awareness is always related with a shocking incident.. ha ha. You might have experienced such a similar situation in immense joy too. But, such awareness, is actually beyond pain and pleasure. It is a pure witness, a state of high alertness, a plain emptiness which is the pure consciousness. This state of awareness is our innate nature. Nothing has to be added to realize that. Just the not-necessary things are to be removed to realize and experience that, which is our pure state of being.

Yoga Nidra - The Yogic Sleep

Yoga Nidra or the Yogic Sleep is one of the practices that the yogis have been practicing for going deep into their being or getting established in the awareness of the self, the natural state of existence.

A combination of Yoga nidra and the sitting meditative pose will help one realize the natural state of awareness quicker. If one is already an advanced student of meditation, one does not put any special effort to do yoga nidra as it naturally happens. If one is in the early stages of the practice, it will greatly help to progress faster. 

Yoga nidra is not a special technique. It is simply the way of observing. Just by observing, one gets established in the natural state of awareness and not by doing anything. If you know what to observe and how to observe, you achieve best results.

One of the main requirements of yoga nidra is the ability to relax the body completely. Just completely let go! The technique that I am going to share will help one relax better. The next step is plain observation. The rest will happen on its own.

For a proper relaxation, savasana or the corpse pose is the best. Being in the corpse pose, passing your mind through each and every part is the best way to relax. While passing through the individual body parts, you could feel the warmth of the body, the blood circulation, the pulse or anything that you are able to feel. But, to get the feel is quite important. When your mind gets sharp enough,  as you practice, you shall be perfectly able to feel the subtler vibrations. If you are a practitioner of Vipassana, in the tradition of Goenka, this is going to be a very easy task for you. It is because, in Vipassana, the whole importance is on the sensations of the body. Working with the sensations makes the mind sharp and piercing. Only when you are able to feel the subtler vibrations of the body (I would prefer to call it the feel of etheric body), a perfect relaxation is possible. When the mind is not sharp enough, we may not notice the tensed regions of the body and we may think that each and every part is relaxed. When the mind is sharp enough to feel these vibrations, the rest of the job is very easy and it will just happen.

The next step is observation. When we speak of observation, we have to either observe the mental contents (the thoughts) or the contents of the body/matter (the sensation). Both are just two sides of the same coin. Observing the mental content may be good for meditation. But, for yoga nidra, it is better to stick with the sensations of the body as you have to allow the mind to completely relax or dissolve to enter the state of yoga nidra. In yoga nidra, you become a perfect observer of the mind. Once you advance, you may enter the state of yoga nidra by observing the mental contents too. But, it is always easier to enter the state of yoga nidra by observing the sensations.

One should perfectly understand the importance of a pure observation. Let me give an example. Let us suppose, you are watching your favourite TV programme. You are so involved in it, that you may even miss someone passing near you. Here your mind was so immersed in one thing, that you are not aware of the rest of the world (a sort of samadhi). In the same manner, if you just stick with the sensation/the subtler vibrations, you would naturally not be bothered by the passing thoughts. When you reach that state, you naturally enter the state of yoga nidra. 

So, what you are going to do is, completely relax and start observing the sensations. Just keep on observing the sensations. You may fall into a sort of sleep in a deep relaxed state. But, you just keep on observing the sensations.  You need not note that you are falling asleep. When you are an adept in pure observation, your body will naturally sleep and you shall be able to observe it. You shall be aware of what is happening in that state. It is called yoga nidra. It is not a state of unconsciousness as in the case of deep sleep. It is a state where your are in a deep awareness. You are awareness itself.

Some additional points that may help you:

If you are new to observing the sensations of the body, it is better to feel the sensations part by part, moving your mind slowly. Once you become good enough in doing that, you would be able to observe the whole of your body as a mass of vibrating particles. When you are able to observe the whole of your body, it is easier to fall into the state of yoga nidra.

Do not expect to enter the state of yoga nidra on the first day of your practice. It takes time. We have to allow the things to happen on its own. That is the state of the mind which is 'just observing'. You need not have to do anything.

When Seeing is Just Seeing...

The world is not the same for everyone. It varies according to the mind of the seer. To be more precise, your mind is the world for you.

The happiness or the pain that we suffer is dependent upon our mind and the way we look at the situations. When seeing happens, it does not just end with the seeing. There is always more to that seeing, that happens inside. That is interpretation of that seeing, according to the past moulding of the mind.

If you change the colour of the glasses that you see the world through, the visuals may appear accordingly. It is just the same. We see the world through a conditioned glass called mind. A pure mind has no conditioning and it sees it and only sees it. There is no interpretation. When there is no interpretation, there is just stillness and bliss.

When one starts experiencing that stillness and bliss, one losses the sense of doer-ship and starts observing the happenings. In the deep stillness, there is no you, but then the things happen through you. It cannot be called as an action. It is just a happening.

When this seeing is just seeing, no new karma is added and one is free from the entanglements of this world and lives a liberated life.

Enlightenment - Sudden or Gradual

Enlightenment may be a sudden and quick one. It may happen any time spontaneously. But it may take some time for the mind to get to a state of realization of the change that has happened. For some of the masters, it even took a long time to understand what has happened to them. They had to find some masters to get to know what has happened to them. At such times, the spiritual scriptures would make a great sense and would reveal a deeper understanding of what has happened.

In fact, the awakening or the realization is for the mind and it is not for your real being or the You. You are already in a state of enlightenment or realizing the ‘You’ by your mind could be termed as the awakening.

One could say that everyone is awakened to a certain extent, which means, the thoughts have started giving brief gaps in which the consciousness has started blooming. This process might have even started and you might not even be aware of that. It is at this stage, you get a strong inner urge to get liberation or feel the basic necessity to know the ultimate truth. Once the inner urge is fuelled, you become more aware and allow the consciousness to bloom and to transform your mind, allowing your being to be… then the progress becomes really quick and easy.

Fastest Way to Self Realization

Self Realization : Realization of the self. It is just the realization of the existing self and there is no need to add anything to the self. The self is ever pure and animates all the beings and it is changeless and everlasting.

Our responsibility is to just remove the layers that cover the 'I' by transcending 'i', where 'I' is the real self and 'i' is our imagination or the mental image of what we consider ourselves to be.

This is not to be achieved. Achievement is the play of the mind. It has to be realized. It is a simple happening that will happen by awareness.
This realization could be as quick as the blink of the eye as told by many realized masters. It is the start of the realization of the real self. As the progress happens, one completely transcends the mind and is able to use the mind as a pure channel for receiving the messages of the higher self.

This sounds too simple for the mind which may not allow one to realize this truth. So, in many cases, some techniques aid in this process. The techniques will just help quieten the mind (by shifting the awareness) and the rest of the process happens on its own. When the mind takes rest, the flowering of the consciousness happens in the human being.

The simplest way to achieve this, is to shift the awareness on the being that will give rest to the ever active mind. It is not very tough to get the awareness of your energy body or the being. Just close your eyes and feel your hand or feel your head. When you are comfortable doing that, just extend the awareness to your whole body. When you are able to feel your complete energy body, it will just dissolve and make the mind pure. This state is called as total dissolution in the vipassana lineage. This will give a good rest to your mind and would help realize the ever existing consciousness.

Initially, one could realize a short gap between the thoughts. Gradually the gap between the thoughts would increase which is the real indicator of a successful meditation. As the gap between the thought increases, the consciousness flowers. The same is achieved by directly observing the thoughts without analysing them along with breath, as in Zen meditation.

This simple and powerful guided meditation (Eckhart Tolle stye) may help you get aware of your inner being.

 

You can watch more of Eckhart Tolle's videos to understand his teachings better or could attend a vipassana meditation retreat in the lineage of Goenka which would be really beneficial for making a quick progress.

Realizing Truth - Possible only without mind

The Truth of human existence or the eternal truth or the so called liberation could only be achieved transcending the mind. The same has been referred to as nirvana, enlightenment and mukti. It is not possible to comprehend the ultimate truth with the help of the mind as the human mind has a lot of limitations. A human being is not just made of mind and body. There is one more important component, the consciousness, which animates the mind and the body.

To understand consciousness, you have to rest in consciousness and become consciousness itself (already you are the consciousness). This is possible when the mind is given rest and the consciousness is allowed to flower. Every human being is realized and nothing more has to be added or learned to attain that state. It is not a state to be attained at all. It is a state that has to be realized. To realize that state, we have to just remove the barrier, the curtain, which is the mind.


The consciousness is like a white canvas and our thought pattern is like the painting on the canvas. The painting is so rich with colours and overwhelming that we forget the canvas or fail to even notice it. When the layer of the paint is removed, the canvas becomes visible. In the same manner, when the continuous thought pattern is given a break, the consciousness makes itself visible and one can find one's reality.

We human beings, generally have a created set of thoughts. We create an identity like a doctor, engineer... and give that character a set of attributes and claim it to be the self which is a mind created play and not the reality. If one renounces the thoughts and realizes the eternal consciousness, one comes out of the play of the mind and gets established in the reality.

Is Vegetarian Diet a Must on Spiritual Path

This is one of the questions that pop up in the mind of one who is new to the spiritual practices. Many of the masters gave a lot of stress on a vegetarian diet.

There are even some famous masters who had given a green signal for non-vegetarian diet. Even the Buddha allowed his monks to eat meat if it is not heard, seen or learnt that the animal is not killed especially for that monk.

What we eat has a direct impact on our mind and body. But, the same food may not have the same impact on different persons. It greatly depends on the make-up of that individual.

Osho was not against the non-vegetarian diet for common people. But, he was very clear that the non-vegetarian diet is not suitable for spiritual aspirants as it makes the body gross and makes it gravitate more. But, Osho considers egg as a vegetarian diet and considers it acceptable.

S.N.Goenka who teaches Vipassana, a meditation practice given by Buddha is greatly against killing animals for the sake of eating as it breaks the sila.

If you do a research, you may find some who support a non-vegetarian diet and some who greatly condemn the non-vegetarian diet for some specific reasons. But, if you want to get to a conclusion that would satisfy you, it is best that you experiment with yourself and find out what is good for you.

If you are a vipassana meditator and sensitive enough, you could find a lot of gross sensations coming up and the body becoming very hot after a non-vegetarian meal. It may even continue like this for a few days. You may be able to find this sudden arising of gross sensations on the body if you are on a vegetarian diet for at least a few months and practicing vipassana regularly and sensitive to the feelings. This proves that a non-vegetarian diet is not suitable for meditation. But, it may not be the same at all stages of spiritual development.

In meditation, one has to move from gross to subtle and do a deep purification of mind and body. For this a vegetarian meal may support. But still, it is better that you experiment for yourself and find out the best that suits you. At the early stages, at least till subtler bodies are sensed, it is better to be on a vegetarian diet.

Even great realized masters have consumed non vegetarian diet. So, we cannot come to a conclusion that this is good and this is bad. At a higher level, any food consumed without any craving or aversion is the same, with the attitude to cultivate the physical and subtler bodies.
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Update:  Recently I have been going through a lot of channelled information. Their view is, eating flesh is not unethical.

Personally I feel that non-vegetarian diet activates the lower chakras. So, there may be more production of sexual fluids and stronger sexual instincts. If you know how to transmute the sexual fluids through meditation or when making love, you can get benefit out of that. If the energy does not move up and feeds continuously the lower chakras, it will not help in the spiritual progress. In that case, it is better to be on a vegetarian diet, until the energy channels are purified.

When you are sensitive, you know what a specific type of food does in your body. According to your lifestyle and the meditative practice, you have to select the food you need, intuitively.

Working Nature of Vipassana

If you have attended a 10 day vipassana programme, you would have observed S.N.Goenka telling on how different people understand how vipassana works. I have my own understanding of how vipassana works with the Eastern philosophy as the background.

A human being has three bodies: physical, astral and causal. The physical body is the gross aspect which is visible to the physical eyes. The astral body is subtler and the causal body is still more subtle compared to the physical body.

After death, the astral body is also dissolved. It is only the causal body that remains the same (with +/- karmic debts). This causal body is said to be the store house of the karmic imprints. If the causal body is cleared of all the imprints and dissolved, liberation is achieved.


In Vipassana, what we do is observing the sensations. When a strong sensation pops up and gets dissolved, it takes along with it the deep karmic impressions thus relieving us of its impact on our life.

As said by the teacher S.N.Goenka, the sensations are directly related with the unconscious mind. The causal body is also related with the unconscious mind. In my opinion, as we go subtler and subtler observing the sensations, we start directly working on the causal body. When these imprints start coming up and gets cleared, the deep impressions come up to the surface and gets worked on thus paving the way to liberation.

One more great advantage of vipassana is that, when we are consciously aware of the sensations we prevent a new action from leaving a deep impression, as karma, which will have its impact.

Yoga for Health

Yoga is a term which refers to the union of the human with the God or the Self with the Higher Self. This term is many a times used to refer physical exercise or just Yoga postures (Yoga asanas) as many commercial yoga masters are coming up with the idea of making money with this magical word. Yogasana is a part of the bigger picture. According to the eight fold path of the great saint Patanjali, Yogasana is one of the eight components that would aid in achieving the state of union of the Self with the Higher self.

A good health would be a natural result if the Yoga happens. Yes, it has to happen. We can just facilitate the process through some efforts like meditation.

For doing a proper meditation, the body has to be strong enough to sit in a right posture. Also the wandering mind has to be brought under control. Yoga asana would help achieve these in the initial stages. An advanced meditator may prefer to continue doing asanas or just get the complete command over the mind and body with only meditation.

A good physique and a fresh mind could be a achieved by a proper practice of the yogasanas (yoga postures) along with a right diet. But, for the spiritual journey to progress faster, it is necessary to make meditation, a regular part of the life. Through meditation, the evolution of the human being would be many times faster. In this evolution process, a person would become more divine, renouncing the Ego and developing pure love.

Meditation has a direct impact on the mind and the body. Even though the ultimate goal of meditation is to transcend mind and to attain liberation, along the way, one would be blessed with a good health and a strong mind to live in this world successfully.

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Developing Spiritual Eye

Third eye is referred to as spiritual eye and has been given significance in many of the spiritual scriptures. When the spiritual eye starts developing, a person on the spiritual path is able to observe the thoughts or the incidents, being detached from the thought or the incident, as an observer, thus coming out of the vicious grip of the mind. This establishes a seeker on the path and helps the further progress.

Developing spiritual eye

There are a lot of materials available in the market that claim to fasten the development of the spiritual eye. It would not be a holistic approach to just concentrate on the third eye or the spiritual eye, for its development. 

The spiritual eye, which corresponds to the higher chakras, ajna and sahasrara, are part of our energy body. These higher chakras start developing when the energy body is cleared of its blocks through meditation. When the blocks are cleared, the energy naturally starts flowing in the required direction and it does the necessary work for the spiritual development of the seeker.

The holistic approach

The holistic approach would be to work with the entire energy body or the entire chakra system and the sushumna channel. In Kriya yoga, when one does kriya pranayama, the entire channel is cleared and the proper flow of prana (life force energy) to the higher chakras is facilitated. In the case of meditation like vipassana, the practitioner works with the entire energy body which would help the holistic development of the third eye.

Attitude towards meditation

It would be better not to sit for meditation with the objective of activating the spiritual eye or the third eye. The opening up of the third eye may bring some powers that may pull down the seeker on the path, if the higher chakra sahasrara is not properly open. The reason for which meditation is done is to attain liberation. Specific desires and expectations may not help in that process. So, it is better to meditate, with no specific desires. The development of the spiritual eye would happen on its own and bestow the required benefits at the right time.

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Meditation and Karma

When one speaks of meditation, the first question one may ask, if not into meditation is, why do you meditate?

There may be different answers for this. It may be for better physical health, better mental health, dealing with stress... To attain liberation, would be the apt answer. If one dives deep into the Eastern philosophy, the word Karma (the fruits of the action one does) has a lot of significance as it determines the whole scenario for the individual. Instead of saying that the karma determines the life of an individual, it would be better to say, that the individual determines his life by creating karma (either good or bad) through his free will.

Store house of karma

A human being has both visible and invisible (to the physical eyes) components. Physical body is the gross visible aspect. Astral body and the causal body are subtler bodies of an individual that are not visible to the physical eyes.

Both the physical body and the astral body would be dissolved in the process of death (physical body is the first to disintegrate). It is the causal body that would be storing all the imprints of our karma and could be termed, the store house of karma.

Liberation

So, how to achieve liberation? When all the deep rooted karmic imprints are cleared and the causal body dissolved, one comes out of the cycle of birth and death. Sounds simple. Right? Indeed it is simple, if one has a right tool to work with, to attain progress. Meditation is the tool with which we could work with the subtler bodies.

Impact of meditation

Meditation helps to bring the deep rooted karmic imprints and dissolve it, not allowing it to manifest into troubles, in this physical plane. Imagine, how good it would be to burn the seeds of a banyan tree, rather than watering it and cutting it when it is big and magnanimous. In the same way, it is very easy to dissolve the karma in subtler body than dealing with the problems of life, in manifested state. It is easier and faster to clear the karmic debris in subtler body paving way to liberation for which meditation is a great tool. 

Mind is a Barrier for Enlightenment

A powerful weapon that a human being has got, in the process of evolution, is a powerful mind, which can imagine and manifest. It is through this mind we recognize what we see. For example, a flower is given in the hands of a Botanist and a Mechanic. Both have their mind conditioned in a different manner. If you ask both of them to write a page about that flower, you could see a great deal of difference in their writings. But, the flower is the same. How could it be? A same flower makes different sense for different persons! It is the play of the mind according to the conditioning. Both of them are seeing the same flower through a different lens (the conditioned mind). But, only a person who is capable of transcending the mind may see the reality of what it (the object that we recognized as flower) really is, without any lens.

The barrier

Mind becomes a barrier and makes us remain in ignorance which creates pleasure and pain. It does not allow us to enjoy the real bliss. Even though we always live in the present, mind does not allow us to completely participate in the present. It creates a past and a future and makes us spend most of our time in either the past or the future. It is only the current present which will have its impact in the future and it was the same present, long ago which has left some impact in the past. But, we ignore the importance of the present moment and are taken away by the past and the future which creates either joy or sorrow. Because of this, we react most of the time.

To transcend these duality of present and past, joy and sorrow, it is important to transcend the mind. It is the mind which creates this duality which is non-existent in reality and makes us ignorant of our real nature. When this great task is accomplished, we would become a better master of our mind and could call it to serve us, when we are in need of it. You could say, even now, I command my mind and have control over it. If that is so, you may try ordering it to stop its functioning for a while... Did you succeed? No thoughts popped up for a while? It may be a tough task, but not an impossible one to achieve.

The real freedom

If you could start observing your mind, it would be interesting to find that, there is a continuous flow of thoughts... continuous. When we start observing this flow of thoughts, the gap between the thoughts would become visible and it would increase in the due course of time. This process would take one to the inner stillness.

It is through meditation this could be achieved at ease and the grips of mind over us could be dissolved. When we are able to separate ourselves from the flow of thoughts and get a glance of the flowing thoughts, a great difference would come in. When this process sets in, we can start transcending the mind and enjoy the real freedom. Freedom from joy and pain! A feel of internal bliss!

Secrets of Vipassana

Vipassana is one of the ancient Buddhist ways of meditation. It is very well known for its efficiency and immediate results. Vipassana is being taught by different masters with slight variations. Some go completely with the body sensations and some go with only breath. In this article, by Vipassana, I mean the practice that gives more importance to body sensations, Vedana. Mr.S.N.Goenka spreads the practice of Vipassana which gives the entire stress on body sensations.   

There is another famous master Eckhart Tolle who speaks of a similar practice in a different manner. Eckhart Tolle refers to a practice in which the inner body is observed with its vibrations and sensations. Though both of the practices are very similar, they have been described in a different manner.

What is the practice?

To simplify meditation and make it easily understandable for everyone, it is a way to move from gross to subtler aspect of the individual, one’s own self. In Vipassana, one starts by observing the body from top to bottom. Once the mind gets sharp enough, it starts feeling the subtler sensations of the body. At times, it may not be even true to say that it is the mind that perceives the sensations, as the mind goes absent when going very subtle. When one becomes aware of the subtler sensations or the higher frequency of vibrations in the body and around the body, a great deal of work starts happening, expressing and dissolving the stores of energy blocks and karma. These could be felt as pain, heat and other sensations that appear and fly away.

The great secrets

As claimed by Reiki and many energy healers, the fact is, a physical disease could easily be identified in the energy body before it gets itself manifested as a disease in the physical body. In the same manner, a manifested disease could easily be healed on the energy body which would have its immediate impact on the physical body.

I have taken this example of a disease to show the relation between the physical body and the energy body. It not only applies to a disease or any mental situation. It applies to the whole life and the way we live it!! In East, the word Karma is very common and understood. It is the result of the action we do, be it physical or mental. This karma creates our future or the destiny, which may not be acceptable for a questioning mind. But, it is true that we create our life and we are responsible for what we are, whether we accept it or not. So, to transform and dissolve the past implications of our action, which are not yet expressed, it is very necessary to do a great deal of work in the energy body.

Just imagine how good it would be to burn a seed instead of watering it and trying to cut it once it becomes a big tree. In the same way, we would be really lucky to know a way to burn the unexpressed karmic implications before its manifestation happens, that would complicate our life. It is possible by working in the energy body with the technique of Vipassana.

Every thought pattern could be felt as a sensation in the energy body before it actually becomes a thought coming into the field of the mind. This is a great fact and possibility that could be exploited to avoid the accumulation of future karma. Once we become sensitive to the energy body, we could dissolve the karma of our present action, before it enters the store house, now and then. Thus, dissolving the past karma and by avoiding the accumulation of further karma, one gets freed from the cycle of birth and death and attains liberation.


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Secrets of Kriya yoga

Kriya Yoga is one of the ancient systems of meditation which is famous in India and it has spread in many parts of the world by the effort of Indian masters.

Kriya yoga is considered to be the fastest way of realizing the truth or the fastest way to realize our own identity. For a long time, the techniques of Kriya yoga were kept secret and guarded in the Himalayan ranges, by the practitioners. It was spreading from a Guru directly to his disciples.

The masters of the Kriya yoga lineage starts from Mahavatar Babaji, as generally known. Though there were many other masters before Babaji, it was Babaji who made it available to the mankind out of grace and compassion.


What makes Kriya yoga special?

There are different systems of meditation. Some give emphasis on observing the breath, some give importance on observing the thoughts, some give stress on observing different sensations on the body and some stress on concentrating on the chakras. It is all the different paths to reach the same destination. We need to select the shortest route to reach the destination at the earliest possibility. That is where Kriya yoga gains its significance, providing the shortest route, as claimed by the great masters.

What is the techinique?

In the lineage of Kriya yoga, it is always emphasized that the technique be kept secret. There are a few important reasons for this. It helps in keeping the technique pure as one would be forced to learn from the authentic source. In the past, the great masters gave techniques with slight variation according to the individual. If discussed regarding this variation, it might bring unnecessary confusion and a practitioner may not be able to practice properly.

Without going into the exact details, this article will shed some light on the way Kriya yoga is practiced. Kriya yoga consists of a set of techniques of which Kriya pranayama is the most important one. In Kriya pranayama(kriya means a technique) the prana shakti (life force) is rotated in a specific manner inside the sushumna channel (a subtler channel in the spine). Each such rotation is considered equal to the evolution of 1 year in this plane (earth). This is why the evolution of a Kriya yogi (practitioner of Kriyas) is considered superior.

Kriya yoga taken to west

The great yogi, Paramahansa Yogananda played an important role in taking the teachings of Kriya yoga to the west. It was through this book, Autobiography of a Yogi, kriya yoga was popularized in many countries of the world. The words of Paramahansa Yogananda would have special influence on you if you are already in the process of search and it is worth having this great asset.

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