Q. After 40-odd years, I am wondering if spiritual practices are of any use? From what you and other Advaita teachers say, it seems I don’t really have to do anything. What is your opinion about all these different techniques?

I spent 15 years wasting my time with set periods of meditation, which for the most part, offers only temporary relief. It helps to still the rampaging mind for a while. But once the ‘meditation’ is over, you are plunged back to the same mentality and attitudes you had before. I never felt much improvement until I realised that the meditative consciousness must be continuous throughout the day, and throughout the life.

Many people self-consciously ‘doing’ meditation often are unaware of what meditation is. You can’t ‘do’ meditation. If one minute of meditation happens to occur in half an hour of attempting to still the mental traffic, you are extremely lucky.

Meditation is the constant awareness of Being, without thought, and the refusal to pick up on any useless thought (outside the focused thought needed for a task) that happens to flow though the thoughtless space which is your nature.

This does not require set periods in the day, but simply vigilance at every moment, to ensure that you are not carried away in the daydreams and endless (often self-deprecatory) thought-flow that constantly invade your otherwise silent inner space.

You can also spend years doing Hatha Yoga asanas (postures), breathing techniques, forcing kundalini arousal, gaining psychic powers and the like, under the impression that these are ‘spiritual’ practices. That is a major error. You may spiritualize your asana practice, by concentrating on heart quality or mentally repeating a mantra, but technically perfecting postures alone is not spiritual practice. None of this will take you one step nearer to the Self (the Absolute, the Reality, the Omnipresence, Allah, Yaweh, God-or whatever you want to call it).

Going to church, or mosque or temple, mindlessly mumbling liturgies by rote, lighting candles or waving lights, attending rituals, or following the instructions of the compiled rules and regulations of congregational fraternities is what is known as religion. This is social comfort, not spiritual practice. It is merely resting in the herd warmth of your comfort zone. It is not taking you one iota nearer to God.

So-when you have finally seen through it all and have come to this conclusion-what is left?

Is there really nothing to do? Many seekers become confused by teachers telling them they don’t have to do anything -Thou art That - you are essentially the Self of the Universe.

Yes, very true. You don’t have to do anything to be what you already are.

But what is required, is the constant awareness of what you are not.

Once you have understood-at least intellectually-that you are not the invasive thought-flow that constantly troubles you; nor are you the psychological sense-of-ego habit to which you have attached your sense-of-self-worth-then all that is needed is to passively observe the machinations of these two functions without buying into their activities.

Simply observe them unto death: until they no longer have purchase on your consciousness.

That is tapasya (spiritual practice). The result is the final experience of Advaita.

If you are capable of that, no other practice is necessary.

This is the swiftest path to Self-Realisation.

Dear Muz,

I am very concerned about the swine flu vaccine programme and wondered if you have any thoughts on this?

Evelyn Morgan

Dear Evelyn,

Thanks for your question. You have reason to be concerned. My thoughts are “AVOID IT LIKE THE PLAGUE.”

All these “new” viruses such as “swine fever”, “bird flu”, “aids” etc., are manufactured in military and pharmaceutical laboratories: all created by the big boys in government who have huge shares in pharmaceutical companies and rake in enormous profits by pushing ‘antidotes’ on the unsuspecting and unthinking public, which accepts the word of the “authorities” and shuffle like sheep to the slaughter. Many such vaccinations are contaminated and create effects more dangerous than the supposed epidemic.

Even many earlier vaccines supposedly for polio, whooping cough, etc., have given the recipients the diseases (and worse) than those they were supposed to prevent. Do the research yourself if you don’t believe it.

 Here is the information I give to students asking about vaccinations for India:

by Keith Post, ND
Naturopathic Physician And Massage Therapist

http://www.pcez.com/~keithp

Epidemiological studies and graphs prove that all of the current vaccines were introduced at the point where the incidence and severity of the various infectious epidemics were already declining. Many researchers attribute these declines as being due to the disease running its’ natural course, increased cleanliness in cities and hospitals and increased awareness of the vectors of spread.

 Propaganda by the media and public health authorities, fuelled by the financial backing of drug companies, continues to give vaccination programs the bulk of the credit, while vaccines continue to wreak havoc.

Approximately 4 million children in the U.S. are vaccinated each year. Of these, approximately 10,000 adverse reactions are reported to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention. About 15 percent of these are serious enough to result in hospitalisation, life-threatening illnesses, permanent neurological damage or death. There is even information emerging that vaccinations can make recipients more susceptible to developing cancer later in life. One researcher has yet to find a case of cancer in an unvaccinated person! And, it will astound you to know that there have never been any long-term controlled studies of any vaccine published in any of the world’s medical journals.

Here are some special notes for parents. In the State of Oregon, when registering your child at school, you will be asked to complete a CIS form. On this form, there are places to claim a medical exemption, which needs to be signed by a physician, or a religious exemption. After this, your child will not be given the usual vaccines, but there is always the possibility that the state public health office will ask that unvaccinated children stay home during an epidemic. You can also request the safer Pertussis-free DT vaccine, as opposed to the standard DPT vaccine.

Secondly, if you have a child whom you believe has suffered permanent neurological damage, you do have legal recourse. In 1986, Congress established the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, due to the wave of lawsuits that were flooding the courts. Please note that claims must be made within three years of the first appearance of symptoms or within two years of death. Also, if you accept the reward, you will lose any right to sue the manufacturer of the vaccine. For more information, contact an attorney who is familiar with filing such claims.

Finally, once you know what is contained in the vaccines, you will probably never allow it to be given to your children. Besides the viral or bacterial DNA or RNA that encourages antibody formation, adjuvants and fillers may include:

• • Aborted human foetal tissue
• • Dead animal tissues, such as chicken embryo, rabbit brain and dog or monkey kidney
• • Pig, horse or calf blood
• • Toxic chemicals, such as formaldehyde (think embalming fluid) or phenol
• • Antibiotics and yeast (think Candidiasis)
• • Toxic heavy metal compounds made out of aluminium or mercury. The mercury compound is called thimerosal and is the subject of current litigation, because many parents and researchers link it to the alarming increase in post-vaccination autism.

Then, there is the question as to how well vaccinations actually work. Just recently, I received a communicable disease summary from the State of Oregon’s public health office. Apparently, over the past two years, a small epidemic of pertussis or “whooping cough,” as most know it by has been occurring. Summaries can be read online at: http://www.dhs.state.or.us/publichealth/cdsummary/

Quoting from the issue dated June 15, 2004: “Surpassing a 25-year high in 2002, Oregon had a 40-year high in the number of Pertussis cases reported; nationally, Oregon had the fourth highest incidence, with a rate 3.5 times the national average. Despite increasing immunization rates in Oregon children, pertussis holds the dubious distinction of being the only vaccine-preventable disease increasing in reported incidence.” (1)

I wonder why. Could it be that vaccines really don’t work all that well? It might interest you to know that only one European country still routinely vaccinates against Pertussis, as it is notorious for its’ tendency to fail and to cause severe side effects.

For further information on the subject of vaccines, go to:

http://www.vaccinationdebate.com/
http://www.vaccinationdebate.com/web1.html/
http://www.thedoctorwithin.com/
See also graphs at http://www.healthsentinel.com/graphs.php

Homeopathic Immunizations

Homeopathy is a system of medicine that was introduced by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann in 1796 based on the “law of similars” or the principle that “like cures like.” It is non-suppressive in nature, encouraging the body to increase its’ immune function in specific directions, rather attempting to suppress various symptoms of disease. So, by giving a very small amount of a potentised substance that would normally cause a condition, the body’s innate immune system reacts by healing the condition.

Vaccinations and allergy shots also work on this principle, however the difference is with the amount of morbific material used and the toxic substances accompanying them. Consider this: homeopathic preparations are so incredibly dilute that no traces of the remedy are visible to the naked eye under a standard microscope. As such, they do not always lead to an antibody formation in the blood, which is why they are criticized by some that don’t know history, as being ineffective or inferior. It is important to note, however, that antibody formation is not essential for the protective effects. We can’t see it, but we know it works.

Since its inception over 200 years ago, homeopathic medicine has been used to successfully prevent and/or treat many of the plagues of infectious disease which have swept Europe, India and the United States, especially in the late 1800s. When given prophylactically, the incidence of contracting a disease was far less, symptoms tended to be much milder and mortality rates were much lower than in those people treated using suppressive medicines. In fact, homeopathic immunizations, although not officially called that at the time, were already being practiced by many physicians before the advent of vaccination programs.

Here are some more recent examples. During the 1957 polio epidemic in Buenos Aires, the remedy Lathyrus sativa was given to protect thousands of people. Of those, not one case of polio was reported. (2) Also, between 1956 and 1961, Lathyrus was given prophylactically to 50,000 people worldwide. Of these thousands, only one case developed non-paralytic polio. No cases of paralytic polio were reported. (3)

Isaac Golden is an Australian physician and world authority on homeoprophylaxis, the use of homeopathic medicines for specific disease prevention. He has been teaching homeopathy since 1990 and has written eight books on the subject. Vaccination? A Review of Risks and Alternatives, now in its’ fifth edition, contains the documentation of the results of a ten year study designed by the author involving 1305 respondents. Questionnaires were sent out each year to the parents of children receiving homeopathic immunizations. (4)

Side effects from the homeopathic immunizations were found to occur in an average of 10% of those treated and were all mild in nature, since there are actually no toxic substances present in the remedies. Practitioners usually refer to side effects of this nature as a “healing crisis”, which in the case of an infant, would actually be of a miasmatic or inherited origin.

A common example of a “healing crisis” would be that of the common cold. You have no fears, as you sense that the body is simply “cleaning house,” so to speak. In fact, after the cold had ended, people usually notice that their senses feel more alive. This is because the excess mucous load has been relieved.

In Golden’s study, there was an overall 2% failure rate (or a 98% success rate). This included all children, those who were exposed to a disease and those who were not. A more indicative statistic is that for those who were actually exposed to a disease, there was an 11% failure rate (or 89% success rate) and the symptoms were quite mild. This actually compares quite favourably with vaccination statistics. (4)

This book and others on similar topics are available through The Minimum Price Homeopathic Books (www.minimum.com) or Homeopathic Educational Services (ww.homeopathic.com).

Here is the protocol that I employ when giving homeopathic immunizations. In order to err on the side of caution, I dispense one remedy at a time, with one dose given every two weeks for a total of three doses per remedy. The entire course of seven remedies requires about 42 weeks and can be started at any age or it can be spread out over the first five years of life. All doses are administered orally.

Maintaining a healthy immune system

Probably the most important factor in staying healthy is to maintain a healthy immune system through positive dietary and lifestyle choices. This means avoiding junk food diets, getting enough restful sleep, sharing a positive mental attitude, adopting a harmonious, low stress lifestyle and manifesting your life’s purpose. Then, when an epidemic comes along, your immune system is able to deal with it.

Somehow, with all of our science and technology, we have gone a long way away from natural, wholesome living. Our view of the world is a fearful one, where there is always a “war” being waged against some disease or other. Is that really progress?

References:

1. CD Summary, V. 53, No. 12, June 15, 2004.

2. Eizayaga, F. “Tratamiento Homeopatico de las enfernedades agudas y su prevension.” Homeopatia, V. 51, No. 342, 1985, pp. 352-362.

3. Eisfelder, HW, “Poliomyelitis Immunization: A Final Report.” Journal of the American Institute of Homeopathy. V. 54, Nov-Dec 1961, pp. 166-167.

4. Golden, Isaac. Vaccination? A Review of Risks and Alternatives, pp. 136-145. Also, Homeoprophylaxis by the same author.

Keith Post, ND, LMT is a board-licensed naturopathic physician and massage therapist in SW Portland. You can reach him at (503) 244-5708 and/or request his monthly newsletter at keithpost@frontier.com All of his writings and other useful information are archived at http://naturalhealthservices.info

Other Refs:

‘The Truth Behind the Vaccine Cover-Up,’ - Russell Blaylock, p. 19, Nexus (Feb/Mar, 2005)

‘Vaccine Dangers and Vested Interests’ - Jon Rappoport, p.p. 11-14, Nexus (Feb/Mar 2006)
(Tells of researchers finding chicken viruses in measles vaccines, brain-eating amoeba and monkey virus in polio vaccine, varied micro-organisms in anthrax vaccine and many other duck, dog and rabbit viruses in other vaccines; not to mention formaldehyde, mercury and aluminium which are added as preservatives).

www.nomorefakenews.com
In their book Virus Mania, German investigators Torsten Englbrecht and Claus Köhnlein, expose evidence that the pharmaceutical industry ‘continually invents epidemics, making billion-dollar profits.’ (ISBN 978-1-4251-1467-1

Serious researchers have ascertained that Donald Rumsfeld (President Bush’s US Secretary of Defence and ex-Director of the Searle Pharmaceutical Group producing aspartame) has shares in pharmaceutical companies preparing drugs and vaccinations and is able to push them through the FDA without proper trials; so the creation of false ‘epidemics’ is an extremely lucrative business. He also has huge shares in aspartame, a poisonous chemical additive to many soft drinks and packaged foods, which causes a craving for carbohydrates, hypertension in children, abdominal pain, arthritis, asthma, brain cancer, breathing difficulties, burning eyes or throat, burning urination, chest pains, chronic cough, chronic fatigue, depression, diarrhoea, headaches/migraines, hearing loss, heart palpitations, hives (urticaria), impotency and sexual problems, memory loss, menstrual problems, nausea or vomiting, slurring of speech, tremors, tinnitus, vertigo, or vision loss and even death.

Aspartame (which also causes wrinkling of the skin) is even found in UK baby wipes! Look carefully at the labels.

Although aspartame was found to cause brain tumours in rats, Rumsfeld pushed its authorisation through the FDA (Food and Drugs Administration) over the heads of the troubled laboratory scientists. By June 1983, aspartame was allowed as a sweetener in soft drinks and sodas. With shares in this chemical, Rumsfeld has collected around 5 million dollars in benefit.
Ref: www.newswithviews.com

The Swine Flu Epidemic Of 1976 inspired the vaccination of 40 Million people. A little known fact was that those vaccinations caused devastating side effects to over 4000 victims. The frightening revelations about this event are similar to results today. A company by the name of Baxter international has the contract to vaccinate 4 billion people worldwide. The problem is very few know that Baxter recently was caught sending tainted Bird Flu vaccines to 18 countries (and it was also used as a supposed protection against ‘Swine flu’). This vaccination that KILLED the host it was tested on was caught just in time.

Numerous neurological disorders, including paralysis, loss of use of the legs and hands and immobility and loss of sensation in the lips, were also caused by widespread vaccination against influenza.

When the Salk Polio vaccine was used on children in the USA, cases of paralysis in the vaccinated started occurring within days. In 1984 in Taiwan, 80% of infants were vaccinated against poliomyelitis and 65% of them developed paralysis within 28 days of their first shot. Info from: Viera Scheibner, PhD, Vaccination Research Scientist: viera.scheibner@gmail.com

Book: Vaccination: 100 Years of Orthodox Research Shows that Vaccines Represent a Medical Assault on the Immune System-Viera Scheibner, PhD.

Addenda from Ramana Baba:

On the paranoia front: government agencies (notably in USA, Japan and Spain) are intensely urging people to get micro-chipped (by which means they can be monitored and controlled by frequencies pulsed from satellites). Whistleblowers within government and medical science departments have also revealed that with the advent of nano-technology, pin-head microchips can now be concealed in vaccines. If the majority of people do not voluntarily get themselves and their children chipped, it is alleged that plans are afoot to create a false epidemic such as ‘Asian bird flu’, ‘Swine flu’ or whatever, so that people will feel obliged to accept compulsory vaccination.
In some states in America people have already been imprisoned for not accepting vaccinations. Why is that, we wonder? Be aware that once you have a microchip in you, Big Brother rules, OK? *

I have no idea whether these machinations have filtered into government policy in the UK as yet, but where America leads, Europe generally follows. Frankly, I am not taking any chances, ever.

Trust me, I’m a doctor. You want to risk vaccination? The choice is entirely yours.

* In any case, the UK government has come up with a smart alternative. Now, every new Passport issued has a microchip in it, so you are already as good as chipped for life). This gives a new turn to the phrase ‘chips with everything.’

Dear Muz Murray

I was reading the blogs section on your website and something about right brain, left brain, caught my attention. Simply speaking, what is the purpose of the left and right brain. Most certainly I have read a few things about it, and no doubt there is plenty to find out on the internet, but I would like you to tell me something about it.

As you may be asking why so, I shall tell you what it feels like to me, most simply.

My right brain is most active, I am well aware of that. Although less so now than a few years ago. And to me, my right brain is ‘most good’, some would say positive, beneficial. As for my left brain, whatever seems to come from it, (or wants to come from it) is not conducive to the Good. That is what it seems/feels like to me. Is there any truth in that?.

I do not practice the chanting of mantra you offer, however, for many years I have been listening to your ‘sleep of the yogi’ tape, as I lay in bed before sleep (many a time falling asleep as I listen to it!). Back in 2001/2 one evening as I lay in bed listening to the tape, my next door neighbour and her daughter started arguing, shouting etc. I just lay there as if caught in the middle and I kind of wished I could do something. Immediately, I found ‘myself’ in my neighbour’s home sitting on the floor in her lounge with her and her daughter. I started talking to them about pain, and I heard those words ‘who do you think you are’ (these seemed to come from outside of me). I did not respond and stayed. I cannot exactly remember what I said, but it was along the line that pain is a fallacy, something not to believe in. It was a very short talk, then I turned to the daughter saying ‘never forget that, when things get difficult, hard, remember that’. It was as if the mother said ‘what about me’ but I did not say anything to her, although inside it felt that it was for her also. Then we held hands and lifted them, and ‘I’ spoke in what I came to name the ancient tongue. A few words strung together that were repeated several times. I have no idea what they were or what they ment. I don’t recall ‘returning’ back to my bed, I kind of fell asleep. What does that mean to you?

I may as well tell you about this dream I had back towards the end of 2004. In that dream I start saying ‘everybody out, everybody out, the party is over…..’. I’m in a house and I see many people walking out in silence, and slowly, from different rooms. I repeat, out, everybody out, for they seem to take their time!. My attention is called to a large room, to a man standing in front of a table, on which there is a fire. This man is totally absorbed by this fire on the table, moving slightly left, right, as if controlling it; and people are walking out slowly and in silence. I seem to recall something that he might have been burnt, or might burn himself, but there is no sign of that. I looked at him from a distance, he is more or less in the centre of the room, and kind of think ‘never mind him’. Then I’m in another room, and this man is sitting on a sofa. I say to him ‘Ha! she did not tell you’, then I turn round and see this woman also sat on a sofa and say to her ‘you must go too’. I hear ‘but who will look after her when you are at work?’ (left brain). Immediately I see a little girl, on one knee as if in prayer in a big room alone, she is wearing a beautiful white dress and has long hair, then a young boy almost immediately appears, sat crossed legs almost directly in front of her. He is wearing a dark coloured jacket and light coloured trousers. The room is very bright and I hear ’she is safe here’. (right brain).

I am telling you about this dream because recently it came to me that this man ‘absorbed’ by the fire has something to do with you/what you are/the listening of the tape. ????

I did not start this email with the intention of telling about those 2 things above, but admittedly recently I have considered there and again of doing so. In fact, I had been thinking of spending some time at your home in the spring and tell you ‘face to face’ so to speak, I mean by that actually speak it. But it seems it can’t wait, so here it is. Now it is as if this left/right brain was a kind of an excuse although I would still appreciate your comment. I feel a little smile inside, perhaps you do too, perhaps not.

Would you be kind enough to comment.

many thanks,

Annette

 Dear Annette,

A very interesting question. Basically we know that the function of the right hemisphere of the brain is to deal with sonic experience, artistic impressions, spatial orientation, timelessness, wholistic and global perception.

The left-brain hemisphere deals with linear perception, rational and sequential mode thinking, connecting cause and effect, time awareness, critical analysis and speech. Therefore auditory experience (such as listening to music while mentally working) tends to inhibit or diminish left-brain function and awaken right-brain intuitive functioning.

[After further correspondence it turned out that she was in fact, left-handed].

As a generalisation, right-handed people tend to be more world-oriented, being motivated by left-brain functioning. They are ‘doers’ as left-brain mentaility is about relating to and manipulating the environment. So in your case, the conditioning of your worldly upbringing (that is, all your residual left brain input) seems to conflict with the more spiritual attunements of your right hemisphere, and therefore does not naturally feel as if productive of ‘goodness.’

The mantra work we do is conducive towards balancing and synchronising both hemispheres in order to function as one.

You seem to have a facility for out-of-the-body experience. When the ego-sense is no longer manifesting itself, such as in the yoga-nidra or ‘yogic sleep,’ then the confined consciousness is no longer trapped by its ego-jailor and is able to extend way beyond the body. Usually when I fall into Samadhi, the majority of my students get caught up in a similar space through synchronistic adjustment of brainwaves moving outwards like raindrop ripples on a pond. This is a natural function of nature, desiring to adjust and create harmony. It appears that your right-brain desire towards goodness and harmony in this case, was not an attunement to your neighbour’s disruptive wavelengths, but a heartfelt wish to harmonise the situation.

I suspect you are an old soul and part of your ancient past life memory capabilities came through you speaking in an ancient tongue.

As for the dream, remember that every person and every item in that dream is you. It is your right brain imagery symbolising how you feel about yourself. To understand every aspect of the dream it is necessary to identify with each person and thing (even the fire), and become them, and ask them to express how they feel about the situation. No one other than you can correctly interpret your internal symbolism.

I hope this helps.

Warmly,

Muz

   Last weekend we had a pleasant visit by two filmmakers from a Dutch TV company who flew down from Holland for an interview, as they are making a documentary on Yantra and Mantra. Luckily, I was able to rustle up a small group of far-flung ‘local’ students from the outlying villages in order for them to film an example of our chant-and-response practice. They asked useful questions from the point of a ‘know-nothing’ audience in very sympathetic manner, which I appreciated very much (after having had experience of snide BBC presenters looking down their noses in a supercilious manner with an air of ‘humouring’ anyone speaking on spiritual matters).

 

   They also filmed around the house, study and garden (to show the real life of an urban sadhu). Apparently, after the documentary is shown on Dutch television it will  also be available on the Internet.

 

Although I have emails coming in thick and fast by several dozens every day (so much that I can’t keep up morning until night ), I’ll try to keep you informed by this blog.

 

For all those of you outside of Holland, who missed the Dutch documentary on OHM TV, please check out the half-hour film on the Internet at:

                             http://player.omroep.nl/?aflID=9492719

  The documentary is partly in Dutch and partly in English (at least, when I am being interviewed) with my words subtitled in Dutch.

  I’d be interested to hear your comments on the film.

Q. I seem to be going through a dark night of the soul, forgotten by God. I find no solace in relationships. My last one is down the drain. And if I look at the way things are all over the planet it seems the world is going down the same way.  Have you any advice to stave off depression?

 

 

A.  There comes a time to each of us when we feel that we have been forgotten by God. But if we think about it, the situation is actually the reverse. It is at those times that we have forgotten God. If you are feeling weary and wiped out, listless and unable to cope, that is a sure sign that you have forgotten the Divine within. Debilitating prostration is the thief of time. And our lifetimes are very short. Don’t waste yours depressively.

 

 Depression is life expensive—not expansive. You cannot afford to wallow in depressive thoughts. If you are not ill, crippled or diseased, then what IS—at present—is fine. The external world is only mirroring your thoughts—not what actually IS. As you think downer thoughts, all your life energies will run in those channels, like water seeking its lowest level. And what is happening on the planet is only reflecting a similar way of thinking by the majority of people. Consensus misery is a mental choice. Especially when we buy into what the controlling media wants us to believe.

 

    What you experience may feel like a Dark Night of the Soul. But in this state your soul is simply resting as a fallow field, before the new sowing season starts. It is a necessary period of repose. Don’t sow negativity while the ground is preparing to become fertile once again. The doldrums will pass. And spring will come—so long as you don’t fixate on the past. Avoid hanging on to what has gone and ruminating over it.

 

    If you have lost someone dear, remember there can only ever be but passing pleasure in people and in outer things. Enjoy them when they are around, but don’t hang on to them. They too will pass away: and so will you.  Hold on to the only thing that always is. Seek the Source. Permanent joy is only found within. In the Self, that is—not in the sense-of-ego. It is only the ego-sense that whines about the condition it has created for itself. 

 

   If we buy into its whisperings, we are lost. Stop squandering this time of your life on a ‘poor-me’ attitude of wistfulness, sadness and despair. We cannot afford to allow one second of regret or depression to emerge in consciousness. Transform it instantly, before it gets a hold. If you hug a misery to your heart, it builds in strength and then takes far too long to winkle-out. As the sage Patanjali says, “Whatever troubles you, ponder on the opposite.” Create a new groove in Consciousness.

 

    In REALITY all is well. Don’t get caught in the unreal film-show of the world. In our deep selves we are one with silent joy. Visualise a sun shining in the centre of your being. Practice breathing in the Inner Sun!* Stay in it all day long. Chant Om Namah Shivaya as you work and walk. Become rock-like in your resolve to refuse all mental wallowing. Scotch it as soon as you feel it rising. Such thoughts are only passing emotional weather in the Clear Blue Sky of Consciousness. Identify with your permanent state—the Sky (your true state of Being) not the weather (your thoughts and emotions). You are not your thoughts: so don’t identify with them.

 

    Get up with God in your Inner Sun. Go to forests. Hug trees. Listen to the birds singing in praise of Creation. Absorb the strength and silence of the woods and know the same still joy lies deep in you. That is the Omnipresence. Be aware that the Omnipresence is working through you all day long. Don’t do anything yourself. Let everything be done through you. If you constantly remain aware of that, the joy will come again. Only then your life will change.

 

    ‘The Truth’ may or may not be ‘out there.’ But remember — Love is not out there. Realise that the only way you can have real everlasting love, is by BEING love. Sink into the Self—feel it— then rise and radiate it to the world.

 

   Start loving now. And don’t believe everything you think.

 

   Smile.   J

 

Q: Let me tell you my story. I had a really bad dyslexia problem which was so bad that I couldn’t even write my name. My mind was so garbled. I had a friend who was the absent- minded professor type. He started going to a Siddha Yoga group. Anyway, I could see the change in him. His word usage, memory and intellect just seem to get better. So I too started to chant. I chanted Govinda Jia Jia Go Pala Jia Jia. This chant burned the part of my brain that I had all of the problems in. I saw the blue light. Now my mind is super clear—-my memory, recall and retention is great. But the other part of the brain, like where you function in the present, like walking down a street, is still in the clouds. Its like the thinking part of the brain is clear but the real time part of the brain is still in the clouds. Can you help me?

    Is there a chant that I can do to open that part of the brain? Thanks.

A: Well, your condition is not too bad. I always tell people I have my feet firmly planted on the ground and my head firmly planted in the clouds!

    So, it seems that your left brain is fully operative, while the right brain hemisphere is dulled. To a degree this is normal, as the right hemisphere operates fully in the dream state at night and is only partially functioning in the daytime.

    However, having said that I suggest utilising the Mantric Alphabet to revitalise all areas of the brain and body. That is, intoning the Sanskrit phonemes of the Alphabet in a nasalised fashion.

   (If you are not familiar with this practice, you can find it on my Sound of Silence CD).

   When my Guru, Dr. Ramamurti Mishra (who was also a brain surgeon) was involved in a car crash, suffering a blood-clot in the brain, he lost the power of speech as well as becoming paralysed down one side of the body. Knowing best what to do, he mentally chanted the Mantric Alphabet constantly, so that the neural connections were able to re-establish themselves between both hemispheres of the brain. And finally he was able to walk and speak again (to a degree) which shows the power of these sound-units.

  I would also recommend chanting Gayatri Mantra (which is on the same CD) for clarity, and to supplement this with a course of natural vitamins, including selenium and magnesium.

 

 

 

   This is fine for a hatha yogi who wishes to enhance personal power and develop physical energy.

   But kumbhaka is just a temporary dam on the thought-stream.

   As you are following a more introspective path (that of jnana), seeking the wisdom of the Self, then far better is the tantric breathing method known as dvadashanta, in which one loses oneself in the observation of the outer pause and the inner pause of the breath. 

   Instruction in this practice is available in my workshops.

   But the best kumbhaka you can perform is mental, not physical, by the retention of assumption, projection, criticism and judgement regarding any imaginings about another’s thoughts and motives.

  This is more spiritually freeing to the mind and greatly reduces the sense-of-ego

 

 

 

 

Q. I am following a Yogic path, but find myself plagued by my Christian upbringing. I am constantly troubled between what are supposed to be ‘good thoughts’ and what are deemed ‘bad thoughts’ and struggle to find some balance between them.

A. All struggle stems from ego involvement. Stop struggling and look at what is. You will get nowhere with the game of juggling “good” thoughts and “bad” thoughts.  Concentrate on the nature of thought itself.

   From whence does it arise? Seek its origin, not its pathetic ramblings. Has the endless thought-stream (mental diarrhoea) any actual validity, except what you decide to give it? Thoughts are the flotsam of our conditioning on the mind-stream. Do you really need to scoop up any particular bit of detritus and chew on it? Whenever you latch on to a thought, that gives it strength and magnification through the lens of past ideas and conditioned concepts.

  Mind is Maya (the nature of illusion). Thoughts are a mirage mist covering over the Reality.

  You have become fixated on ideas. And ideas are the stumbling block to living spontaneously. As long as you are trying to act according to some fanciful idea you have in your head, about how you ‘should’ be, or how you ‘ought’ to behave, then you will always be in turmoil. Your idea conditions the way you imagine you ‘ought’ to act or react. 

 

   Because the imagined idea is NOT what is, right here and now.

 

   It is the carrot on the end of the stick in hanging front of the donkey.

 

   The donkey will never reach the carrot no matter how it strains. Nor will you reach your projection of a way you ought to behave. You will remain a donkey struggling to reach your idea: always struggling to reconcile it with your situation in the world. There will be no end to it.

 

  Then what to do? The whole point is not to try and reconcile your action to your ingrained belief or idea, but to find out why you decided to fixate on this particular idea or conditioning in the first place. Why have you bought into it? Why have you taken it on board?

 

   What is your real reason behind accepting it?  Look at that. And you might discover the reason for letting go of it.

 

   Consider: if there was no such idea, there would be no conflict. It is, after all, only an idea.

 

  Practice looking at life from your heart and not from pre-conditioned judgements.

 

 

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   Finally (and thanks for your patience) the long-awaited Sanskrit Glossary – Words on the Way is now online and available as a downloadable PDF book. This contains my understanding from a lifetime’s research into the esoteric meanings of many Sanskrit words that you are likely to encounter in your reading of Indian texts.

  My original intention was to create something of an online consultable magic book, having it always growing larger each time you consulted it, by updating it every few months, when time allowed. But I only learned at the last minute that the mysterious capacities of my website programme were not capable of granting this possibility. Therefore it now has to be presented as a one-off downloadable e-book.

  However, over the years, I shall continue to upgrade it with lots more information and first time buyers will later be able to purchase it at a reduced cost in future and fatter editions.

   Dear Friends in Yoga,

   Unaccustomed as I am to public blogging, here is my test effort for a kick-off:

   As at least two thirds of my week for the last twenty years have been employed in answering the spiritual questions of troubled souls, I am hoping that this blog will reduce those queries, by publishing some of my answers here. Apparently you will be able to look up subjects which may relate to your query. Then perhaps, I may devote some time to getting on with writing more books and articles, which has been denied me for so many years.

  For the present, I have just returned from my annual UK Summer Workshop Tour, to find my house struck by lightning, the water boiler burst, the carpets soaked, the telephone line down and the garden hidden under a million weeds about to seed.  So I won’t have time to blog for a while.

  Are there any Karma yogis out there, who would like to come down to the sun in Southern France (it’s roasting hot down here!) and help out in the kitchen, garden or on computer for a week or two?  If so, drop me a line at: swaha108@gmail.com

  Actually, this offer is good for anytime I am at home, generally in spring and autumn

  Warmly yours,

  Muz  (or ‘Baba’ to my Indian friends)