Guest guest Posted April 27, 2001 Report Share Posted April 27, 2001 >> If I chant OM, I feel bliss, but when I don't, all my stuff comes back sometimes, or sometimes it doesn't, but I guess the other way would be to just label all the stuff and in the accepting of it... it will stop coming back.... anyone have any thoughts on this? >> Both Concentration and Witnessing are accepted meditation practices and both techniques may be practiced by the same person at different times. It's great you feel bliss when you chant OM because you're ahead (as I understand) of a vast majority of aspirants. Remember that for most people, when they down to meditate, all they get are distracting thoughts. >From my experience I have found that once you get pleasantness or joy or bliss, it's the carrot that will drive you back to meditation. 'stuff coming back' is inversely proportional to the intensity or joy or pleasantness experienced during meditation (i am including japa yoga (chanting) also as meditation). On some days when you get deep meditation, the pleasant effects will last well into the day and you will feel relaxed, carefree - other days nothing much may happen. Sri Madhusudana Saraswati in His Gita Commentaty (Ch 6.15) discusses 'Sraddha-virya-smrti..'(Yoga Sutras)'. sraddha implies delightfulness(of the mind) with regard to Yoga. Indeed that protects the yogi like a mother!. From that springs virya, enthusiasm... Sundar Rajan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 27, 2001 Report Share Posted April 27, 2001 "Paul J. Cote" <pjcote@l...> Fri Apr 27, 2001 5:15 pm concentration vs... witnessing.... I have found peace in doing Japa Yoga... Nevertheless, I read an article by a Zen Master where she purports that concentration doesn't really clean anything up cuz you never deal with your stuff, but it is better to feel the knot of your ego and deal with it, welcome it, so that you can become one with it... ( I guess) and it sort of melts and then it shouldn't come back... whereas if you just do concentration (maybe japa is concentration, I don't know) then, your stuff keeps coming back, because you never deal with it.... Does anybody have any opinion on this stuff? __________ I will pass my response to other lists as well. There are no universal formulas that fit everyone. Japa Yoga helps in concentration. Concentration can lead to increasing sensitivity to body's energies and the actualization of Mantra practice facilitates gradual movement of the contents of the unconscious to the surface to be assimilated in the conscious personality. At another level, Japa Yoga can lead to Super conscious states, so one can investigate the nature of consciousness in waking, sleeping, and dreaming. As pointed out by Ramana Maharshi, witness consciousness and Japa Yoga (mantra practice), or any other spiritual practice are not mutually exclusive. When the witness consciousness has nothing left to witness for a time period (due to large gaps between successive thoughts), then the witness disappears into the Heart, Recognizes It Self as the Heart, and the Heart Reveals It Self As Pure Being At Perfect Rest. The Self-Witness with nothing to Witness, The Self-Seeing with nothing to see, The Self Knows It Self as Pure Consciousness, Pure Existence, Pure Joy. Sat-Chit-Ananda. Pure and Simple. Whole and without divisions. This is not the self of Buddhists which is made of different elements and so on and on some subtle level or anything. It Is simply THAT, prior to all possibilities. Here all possibilities disappear entirely. It is utterly beyond the void of the Buddhists, although one can call it Shunya, without loss of meaning. It is beyond the self and the non-self and all that. It cannot be captured by thought. Who remains to understand it when the Self shines forth, and yet It Reveals It Self Perpetually in all conditions and states as simple Being-Awareness! As Sages have said, To Know It, Is To Be It! It Is From Here that the Cosmos emerges and it is into THAT, everything disappears. Love to all Harsha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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