Aum Sadhna

March 28, 2002

MANY THANKS for a well-rounded response! you are absolutely right is

stating that one's daily life itself is a meditation. this is the way

of great men like mahatma gandhi, sri aurobindo, ramakrishna

paramahamsa, shri ramana maharish etc. Their days started with prayer

and ended with prayer. Life itself was continuous meditation.

It is strange you should mention 'maya' in this context! In the

symbolism of 'om' this is mentioned...

please read on...

"the symbol of AUM consists of three curves

curves 1, 2, and 3), one semicircle (curve 4), and a dot.

The large lower curve 1 symbolizes the waking state

(jagrat), in this state the consciousness is turned

outwards through the gates of the senses. The larger

size signifies that this is the most common

('majority') state of the human consciousness.

The upper curve 2 denotes the state of deep sleep

(sushupti) or

the unconscious state. This is a state where the

sleeper desires

nothing nor beholds any dream.

The middle curve 3 (which lies between deep sleep and

the waking state) signifies the dream state (swapna). In this

state the consciousness of the individual is turned

inwards, and the dreaming self beholds an enthralling

view of the world behind the lids of the eyes.

These are the three states of an individual's

consciousness, and since Indian mystic thought believes the entire

manifested reality to spring from this consciousness, these three

curves therefore represent the entire physical phenomenon.

The dot signifies the fourth state of consciousness,

known in Sanskrit as turiya. In this state the

consciousness looks neither outwards nor inwards, nor

the two together. It signifies the coming to rest of

all differentiated, relative existence This utterly

quiet, peaceful and blissful state is the ultimate aim

of all spiritual activity. This Absolute

(non-relative) state illuminates the other three states.

Finally, the semi circle symbolizes maya and separates

the dot from the other three curves. Thus it is the

illusion of maya that prevents us from the realization

of this highest state of bliss. The semi circle is

open at the top, and does not touch the dot. This

means that this highest state is not affected by maya.

Maya only affects the manifested phenomenon. This

effect is that of preventing the seeker from reaching

his ultimate goal, the realization of the One,

all-pervading, unmanifest, Absolute principle. In this

manner, the form of OM represents both the unmanifest

and the manifest, the noumenon and the phenomenon."

YES, maya stands between a seeker and realization -that is why

lakshmana had problem having the vision of lord rama as sita ( a form

of maya) was always in between!!!

also, shri ramakrishna's guru Totapuri had to pierce the 'ajnana'

chakra of shri ramakrishna with a sword so that THakor could wean

himself away from 'mother'kali ( the personal, intimate apect) to

focus on para brahman , the ultimate reality!!!

>From saguna to nirguna - a long and hilly terrain!!

Hari om!!

March 29, 2002

My opinion is that you should get support from your mantra, if bad effects come

them you aren't doing the right sadhana. Not every guru is the right one, and

anyone who has met many potential gurus knows this. So also not every mantra is

good or works for all. One does not have to suffer to evolve spiritually. In

fact, as medicine has proven, feeling pain makes more pain happen therefore

alieviating pain reduced even further pain. So also any increase of suffering

produces much more in the future. All suffering should be allieviated.

-

silentsoul_55

Thursday, March 28, 2002 4:11 AM

Aum Sadhna

**

**********************************************************************

**********

Thanks friends for continued posts on Aum Sadhna and tks ompremjee

for the clarification.

but i here have a different opinion than what Param rahasya has

written. Though intiation by a guru is good thing in all types of

sadhna but it is not mandatory always. Till we find the right guru

to give us further direction, we can not keep waiting and live

without sadhna.

In my opinion, guru is a must for initiation of Beeja Mantras and

all mantras of Tantra. All sadgun mantras, deity mantras and common

matnras including AUM if used as sagun mantra, can be chanted without

any initiation/guru.

As I and omprem earlier agreed that gurus do not just become

available to every one, Gurus too look at the prospects of a student,

his mental abilities, past karma etc and then accept him as

disciple....and till then we can safely chose any sagun mantra and

continue our sadhna.

Swami Vishnu devananada has also confirmed this in his

book "Meditation and Mantras" that if there is no guru, we can take

initiation of mantra from our "Ishta Devta" and continue.

From my experiences of AUM sadhna i can very well say that AUM

even if we start chanting it as Sagun mantra...it works on the level

of beeja and nirguna mantra simultaneously mostly without our

conscious approval...that is why AUM is said to be so powerful.

Those who do not find any guru or have difficulties in

initiations, may straightaway start chanting of AUM..taking it as the

name GOD in any form they like. It will start working on the sub-

conscious levels from day one.

But one has to be ready for purgatory effects which may come as

emotional turmoils...strange diseases...money loses. But if we

continue with the sadhna of AUM we will slowly come to know that some

hidden force is taking over our decisions and deciding the results.

and with further progress we will find that this Force was actually

controlling all our life from the beginning....it just that we were

not aware.

Then we can re-cast all our theories and dogmas afresh. Then we

will be able to see clearly that our pains our sorrows were in fact

part of great plan to bring us to this path...our sufferings will be

seen as necessary tools to shape our future.

We will even see that our so called Falls were not falls but a

necessary turning in our life decided by that force. We will soon

realise that those who are coming to our lives and those who are

leaving us, are in fact controlled by that Great Force...to shape our

new thought patterns. Those who are helpful to encourage that

pattern will be brought near us...and those who are hinderance will

be removed....even if they are one of our nearests and dearests.

This may bring pains and tears in the present set up of mind...but

we will be able to sense that this is a small act of a big drama.

And the day we start feeling like this...the day we start seeing

this Drama of that Great Force...our life will change

drastically....our thought patterns will change....our sleep hours

will change...our food habits will change...our emotions will change.

During this transition period..some old memories...some old bad

habits will come up...one may feel surprised over this

development..but these bad habits/bad memories are brought up the

surface for Re-analysis by our changed self. We will either

understand their need at that part of our life...or we will know the

futility of our strong emotions for them....in both the case they

will lose their value...which they had been keeping in our sub-

conscious.

A new dawn will wait for us soon....a changed life with Divine

love and divine blessings...

till then

Hari AUM

Sponsor

March 30, 2002

While theoritically Aum Sadhna is for all, I have yet to come across

directly or heard of indirectly of a Guru who has recommended it for

householders with duties and responsibilites when giving initiation

in person. Purgatory, preparatory, whatever one may choose to call

it, it is the highest "desire" in the spiritual field, and demands

the highest level of readiness.

Those who choose to do it on their own, learn to take guidance from

within and agree to accept the consequences accordingly.

_/\_ Tat twam asi

Uma

April 3, 2002

Dear Tatwamasi,

What you have written is not true. Without commenting upon your

source of information, let me tell you that there are lakhs of

householders in India, who do AUM Sadhna and I personally know many

gurus who offer AUM sadhna, mostly as a Saguna mantra.

Aum sadhna makes important part of sadhna of Arya Samaaj, besides

vedic Yajna.

Sikhism is solely based upon AUM Sadhna. In sikhism God is

perceived as AUM(kaar) with no form or guna. They do not

believe in any other form of god/goddess. Guru Nanak has written a

lot about AUM, an example:

Aumkaar Paani aur Pawan,

Surya Chandra Chhavi,mani bhavan

Aumkaar puja aru maan,

Aumkaar jaa, sanjam dhyaan

Aumkaar Tap Tirath daan

Aumkaar Rakhe sur Gyan

Aumkaar Guru aur chela

Aumkaar, rahe rakhi mela

Aumkaar Nirantar Baani

Jin jaani tin Gurmukh mani

(Aum is manifested as water, wind, Sun, Moon, mind, earth etc

Aum is ego Aum is Sadhna,

Aum is to be chanted, concentrated and meditated

Aum is Tapas,holy place and daana,Aum is keeping vigil over

respiration

Aum is Guru and aum is disciple, Aum is all what is manifested

Aum is the continuous sound of Truth

Those who know this are the true Gurus.)

As far AUM sadhna bringing sorrows and distresses, there is no

sadhna, which do not bring woes. We in Hinduism do not see woes and

troubles as Punishment, but we see them as purification process...a

process of de-hypnotising ourselves.....a process to wake ourselves

towards greater truth.

If we are afraid of problems, sorrows and pains, we better

forget Sadhna.

Hari Kaa Marg Hai Shuron kaa....Kayar ka kya kaam ?

(Path of God is for the brave..cowards have no place here)

AUM sadhna is the easiest and shortest path to self-

realization, and No (Real & enlightened) Guru will negate this.

With due respected to real enlightened master, , I would say

that many gurus have unnecessarily complicated the sadhna path, to

make themselves important. As baba Bulle shah also said

Sabbe Gallan Galadrian (All other talks are uselss)

Ik allah di gal gall (only simple name of God is true)

Kujh raula paya Aliman (Some confusion was created by the

learned)

Kujh kagzan paya jhall (&more chaos by sacred books)

I remember a story my grandfather used to tell. A boy wanted

to learn how to catch cranes so he went to a famous hunter and wished

to be his disciple to learn the art of catching cranes alive. The

guru used the boy as bonded labour for some years and finally told

him ," OK today is the time to tell you the truth about catching a

crane alive. Go to a pond. Cranes are usually meditating in the sun

with both eyes closed and one leg up in air. So you silently go near

him...and put some wax on his head and wait behind a tree. With the

Sun becoming hotter, the wax will melt on the face of the crane and

it will also go into his eyes making him blind. Now you can safely

go near him and catch him by neck and bring home"

"But sir!" The boy cried with astonishing tone," when i go to put

wax on his head, i can very well grab him then, why do all this

unnecessarily ?"

"Well any Tom dick and Harry can do that," Guru replied," But

that is not the way of the Masters...if you wish to learn the

Master's art..learn this.

Are we also not complicating our sadhna .....can God not be

loved simply as we love our father, mother, wife,son, daughter,

friend ? Will he not respond to distress call by his innocent and

simple children.

Well history says, it is more likely that God will reply to

simple bhakta before going to a Gyani. Krishna loved Gopis, but had

lessons for Akrura (the gyani).....He helped Dropadi but had harsh

lessons for Durwasaa (the angry saint). He had all his love and care

for Arjuna, but had insulting replies for Indra (the king of gods).

Hari Aum

, "tatwamasi" <tatwamasi> wrote:

> While theoritically Aum Sadhna is for all, I have yet to come

across

> directly or heard of indirectly of a Guru who has recommended it

for

> householders with duties and responsibilites when giving initiation

> in person. Purgatory, preparatory, whatever one may choose to call

> it, it is the highest "desire" in the spiritual field, and demands

> the highest level of readiness.

>

> Those who choose to do it on their own, learn to take guidance from

> within and agree to accept the consequences accordingly.

>

> _/\_ Tat twam asi

>

> Uma

April 3, 2002

Thanks for this. I read alot about the right times and places and gurus and

devotees and sadhanas and mantras and such but there's never a right time when

Mara the lord of illusion sleeps and lets one just jump into enlightenment. I

was thinking of a long winded analogy yesterday for practising sadhana based on

baseball. If you substitute sadhana for baseball in this analogy then it can

make sense to our subject. -- Baseball can be a recreation that anyone can do,

kids and kids with their parents can just throw a few balls. At another level

it can become organized for juniors and can be Little League. The stakes are not

high here but there is some pressure to succeed. Pressure escalates regarding

the sport as it becomes more institutionalized through junior and high schools

but the stakes are mostly social and not materieal in outcome. However, when

finally in the Major leagues one has to be fully trained and no excuses are

tolerated though there is a place still for learning and losing is not the final

battle as long as the team goes on. However, in the Majors each play is taken

very seriously and there are material gains and losses (endorsements, contracts,

livlihood, etc). Moreover, noone just jumps in at major league, but players had

to train and in most cases they started right when they were children. To learn

the game well enough to become majors they had to make every conceivable kind of

play and mistake and proper play with the right kinds of plays eventually

becoming natural. In sadhana people are constantly warned not to do this or

that, in many ways, but if one doesn't try even though one can make mistakes,

then one will never get anywhere. In order to advance to ranks of sages one

must have gone through most every conceivable type of spiritual event. Being a

sage is bigger than baseball though because it is the icing on the cake of life.

Being a sage is not the normal end result of a life but only comes from seeking

and needing answers. In this case the study of life and dharma is such a

seeker's baseball. They will go through many types of games and plays to

acheive the major league, but experience is the key. One needs lots of hands on

experience or one will just be a copycat or remain in the minors. I conclude

that again, experience and trying is the key. No American in from Brahmin Caste

and none has the prodigal right to sport with the Vedas or Tantras but they do

it anyway. Some Americans are very successful in their dharma and develop not

just siddhis but true blue spirituality. I use Americans as an example because

we are considered vaisya or shudras if not outright mleckkahs to most

traditional Hindus no matter what our life's standing. But most of the West fits

in. We Westerners would never advance spiritually if we waited for the right

time and place. We must just try and try again and not every practice is going

to work. The true seeker will understand that even when some one guru or

practice seems "the best" it still only has a niche. Full enlightment is time

consuming and takes much work over many lives and therein we all sported many

many techniques, gurus, and teachings to come eventually to full illumination.

-

silentsoul_55

Wednesday, April 03, 2002 3:40 AM

Re: Aum Sadhna