Concentration attn Don

[Guest guest]

Dear Don:

 

Thanks much for sharing.

 

>From my readings and some meagre experiences this is what I have

concluded so far.

 

Facilitation of Self realization is about attaining mindfulness and

attention power. Both of which can be had by training. Of course the

universe must make those training conditions available according to

some unknown laws.

 

Where to put the attention: In talks Sri Ramana did not tell anyone

that they were doing it wrong. Nisargadatta says to gaze into the

darkness and that in the advanced stages one may have pressure in the

head area. U.G had tremendous headaches when his tranformation

occurred and he was not even meditating at that time.

 

Some individuals who meditate on the heart raise the kundalini and

experience painful conditons also.

 

Some buddhists also meditate on consciousness. Can one be realized

without asking the question, "Who am I"? My conclusion in that if one

meditates on the knower that will be enough to realize the Self when

the mind gets powerful enough.

 

 

 

Love to you and Joanne,

S Slater

 

 

 

RamanaMaharshi, "Don and Joanne" <jodon@n...> wrote:

> I'm not sure if this is anything like an answer, Alton, but maybe

some of my

> experiences as a beginner might provide some perspective on this.

And if

> anybody recognizes some of these bumblings around, and has some

tips I

> could use, I'd be really grateful.

>

> When I have done what I think of as concentrating with my brain, I

> experience a contracted concentration on the interior space which

seems to

> be in my head. Thinking about the ego consciousness located there,

I draw

> myself up into my head , and the energy flow in my body,

particularly up my

> spine is directed into this head space and focussed there,

resulting in a

> rapid buildup of pressure and heat because I'm blocking anything

going

> anywhere else. Really concentrating on my head-located ego

consciousness

> produces intense pressure, mild headache, often a ringing in my

ears, and

> at times even cracking and popping sounds in my skull joints. My

thoughts

> are very focussed, but not quieted. It's more like a stunning than

an

> awakening. The tension that accompanies this gets transmitted to

my whole

> body, and I feel hot all over.

>

> Concentrating with my heart, I experience an expanded attention to

a space

> which seems to include my entire body. This space is centered in

the region

> of my heart, and I attend to it with my heart. I'm not talking

about the

> meat pump in my chest. It's more like an energy center, and because

the

> interior space includes my physical body, the energy center matches

the

> outward space's organ location. My head mind is there, but as a

witness to

> this. I have a sense of extension outward and I approach a

resting,

> waiting state, attending the heart in anticipation of an opening. I

think of

> it as being like a still hunter, learning to relax into motionless

> attentiveness. When I do that, my mind tends to become quieter, but

more

> alert.

>

> In the early stages, because I tend to continue to look out through

my

> eyeballs, I have a sense of being an "I" at some distance from and

above the

> heart. As I continue to direct attention to the heart, there is a

sense of

> moving back, and the world takes on more of the quality of a movie

one is

> watching. A little more, and I have the sense of being something

located at

> the heart, but outside it, and the awareness of eye sight, ear

sound, and

> the whole set of body awarenesses are distractions. At this point,

I find it

> really hard to maintain attention. I feel like I'm balanced on a

rail, and

> to fall to either side means either to become caught up in some

thought

> process and carried back outward into the world of objects or to

become

> caught up in a dream process and to be carried downward into sleep.

>

> When I'm on, I'm on; when I'm not, I eventually wake up in the

chair with a

> crick in my neck.

>

> Don