Kundalini meditation

[Guest guest]

Hi all, I'm brand new to this list, please be kind!

 

I've been trying to work with Kundalini and chakras for the past 3

days or so. I mostly meditate at night as I go to sleep, trying to

relax and visualize white light relaxing me from my feet up.

I've been getting 'stuck' at the lowest chakra. No surprise there

considering I don't meditate, do yoga, or eat right.

Last night I found a really good site for meditating on chakras and

clearing out energy. Basically as I inhale I think about bringing the

breath down to the base of my spine. When I exhale I bring it up and

out through my crown.

I went to sleep to this and awoke this morning with a different

energy. I was eager to start the day, I felt like something exciting

was going to happen. I don't know why.

Also, when I looked in the mirror my eyelids were (and still are)

really puffy. To the point they are hanging over my inner corners a

little.

I didn't eat or do anything differently yesterday than normal. I did

stay up WAAAAY too late on the computer, but that's nothing new for

me. The puffy eyelids are though.

 

Any thoughts? Is this just coincidence perhaps? *Maybe* my attitude

and eyelids are related to my work last night?

 

Thanks,

Val

[Guest guest]

Sat nam,

I don't know why your eyelids were puffy, but I just thought I'd recommend you

get involved with a Kundalini yoga class. Kundalini yoga is designed in such a

way as to strengthen the body, especially the nervous system and glandular

system to handle the " increased wattage " of raised Kundalini energy.

I speak from experience that trying to reach to the heights of spiritual

awareness without grounding yourself in your body and in the reality of your

life, is not effective. In a sense you'll just be blowing around in the ethers.

When you do the yoga and ground yourself, then you may truly ascend to higher

levels of consciousness. This will be a more effective, solid, sustained

spiritual experience as well. Perhaps that is why the blockage in the root

chakra. For it to be balanced, you must get grounded (be present to your body,

be present to what is going on in your life whether good or bad, feel connected

to the Earth, feel provided for and supported). didn't radio host Kasey Kasem

always say, " Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars? "

note the mention of the feet.

The other great reason to go to classes is you'll have a teacher to talk to

about the questions and issues that come up.

Oh, and another great reason to take a class is to meet other yogis and have a

sense of community.

Enjoy the yoga, and welcome to this .

Guru Beant Kaur

 

6. Kundalini meditation

Posted by: " valkurja " valkurja valkurja

Sat Nov 1, 2008 10:34 am ((PDT))

 

Hi all, I'm brand new to this list, please be kind!

 

I've been trying to work with Kundalini and chakras for the past 3

days or so. I mostly meditate at night as I go to sleep, trying to

relax and visualize white light relaxing me from my feet up.

I've been getting 'stuck' at the lowest chakra. No surprise there

considering I don't meditate, do yoga, or eat right.

Last night I found a really good site for meditating on chakras and

clearing out energy. Basically as I inhale I think about bringing the

breath down to the base of my spine. When I exhale I bring it up and

out through my crown.

I went to sleep to this and awoke this morning with a different

energy. I was eager to start the day, I felt like something exciting

was going to happen. I don't know why.

Also, when I looked in the mirror my eyelids were (and still are)

really puffy. To the point they are hanging over my inner corners a

little.

I didn't eat or do anything differently yesterday than normal. I did

stay up WAAAAY too late on the computer, but that's nothing new for

me. The puffy eyelids are though.

 

Any thoughts? Is this just coincidence perhaps? *Maybe* my attitude

and eyelids are related to my work last night?

 

Thanks,

Val

 

 

 

Bridget Kamke, LMT

Kundalini Yoga Teacher

Licensed Massage Therapist

Children's Book Author

www.infinipede.com

___________

Get the best Criminal Lawyer. Click Here

http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2111/fc/Ioyw6iiggBbWZ6ssZay614O8k1nITcAeZp1K\

V0OhknImo2Pp01LYdH/?count=1234567890

[Guest guest]

Sat Nam Val!

 

Welcome as a beginner to Kundalini Yoga. No doubt you will have many

many questions for years, and years to come. After all... life is a

question with 1 million answers, and Kundalini just gives you the

tools to handle life, death and finding out your own answers.

 

So, to that respect, I really WOULD NOT start thinking about " working

with your Chakras " and worrying about where you are stuck with what or

where. Forget all that stuff.. Throw it out.

 

Plus, with your puffy eyes -- you obviously answered your own

question... Staying up late & eating poorly will have that effect. As

you begin to do Kundalini, you are making powerful changes to your

energy and your body will become more aware and sensitive to these things.

 

Probably, eventually you will decide not to do them (or to continue to

do them).

 

Kundalini is about having the experience first and then examining the

situations after-wards with our self-sensory system. Much of what we

try to define anyway is going to mislead us, as the brain gives us the

illusion that by defining it, we have conquered that part of

ourselves, or that object.

 

The bottom line is there is no object, no other person... they are all

you... And wherever you are right now is the right place for you to be.

 

So, first and foremost enjoy the journey... Relax, and forget the

words your brain throws at you and replace them with " SAT NAM " . And

above all, start going to a Kundalini Yoga class with a teacher that

you like.

 

(They will probably teach you that you need ALL facets of yoga,

exercise, diet, lifestyle, and meditation to begin to open yourself up

completely.)

 

Thousands of teachers out there are dying to share Kundalini with

enthusiastic students like yourself!! Go find one!

 

Very Truly Yours,

Raja Filip Stoj

 

 

>

> I've been trying to work with Kundalini and chakras for the past 3

> days or so. I mostly meditate at night as I go to sleep, trying to

> relax and visualize white light relaxing me from my feet up.

> I've been getting 'stuck' at the lowest chakra. No surprise there

> considering I don't meditate, do yoga, or eat right.

> Last night I found a really good site for meditating on chakras and

> clearing out energy. Basically as I inhale I think about bringing the

> breath down to the base of my spine. When I exhale I bring it up and

> out through my crown.

> I went to sleep to this and awoke this morning with a different

> energy. I was eager to start the day, I felt like something exciting

> was going to happen. I don't know why.

> Also, when I looked in the mirror my eyelids were (and still are)

> really puffy. To the point they are hanging over my inner corners a

> little.

> I didn't eat or do anything differently yesterday than normal. I did

> stay up WAAAAY too late on the computer, but that's nothing new for

> me. The puffy eyelids are though.

>

> Any thoughts? Is this just coincidence perhaps? *Maybe* my attitude

> and eyelids are related to my work last night?

>

> Thanks,

> Val

>

>

>

> Bridget Kamke, LMT

> Kundalini Yoga Teacher

> Licensed Massage Therapist

> Children's Book Author

> www.infinipede.com

> ___________

> Get the best Criminal Lawyer. Click Here

>

http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2111/fc/Ioyw6iiggBbWZ6ssZay614O8k1nITcAeZp1K\

V0OhknImo2Pp01LYdH/?count=1234567890

>

[Guest guest]

Thank you for your replies.I only had the puffy eyelids that one morning. I continue to do the same meditation at night before I go to sleep.As for getting a Kundalini Yoga teacher, I wish it were that simple. I live in a very small town in Missouri. I am about an hour from Kansas City, so perhaps if I start feeling a draw, or ... *something* I will make the effort to drive out there.I am in a very bad (lifetime) habit of not finishing what I start, so before I make the commitment to going to KC I need to see if I can keep up with what meditation I am doing, and start working on my diet and late night practices.Thank you so much for your interest, answers, and support.Val

[Guest guest]

Dear Val, Sat Nam --

I sympathize, I was born in Sedalia. Grew up in redneck Nebraska.

My dad was a (fantastic) Lutheran pastor, so we moved around a lot

during the 1950's. Getting a fresh start every four or five years

was almost as good as living anywhere. I went through boot camp army

training at Ft. Leonard Wood (Missouri) after I had graduated from

high school in South St. Louis County in 1960, at age 16. I attended

University of Missouri in Columbia for two years and finished my

undergraduate studies in philosophy and literature at St. Louis

University. In short, I REALLY, REALLY know the territory where

you're coming from. It's the briar patch I grew up in, and outgrew.

 

In " Portrait of an Artist " James Joyce outlined the beginning of his

exile from his homeland of Ireland, saying that conventional culture

is like a sow that eats its own babies, and that it is necessary for

every person who seeks to create a " real life " to escape the three

nets of Religion, Family and Language. Eventually I realized that I

had no options but to do the same, in spite of having a " good family "

and a relatively enlightened religious background. Jesus said we are

not yet ready or fit for true " discipleship " until we leave the

ruling orb of our birth family. We have to exercise the courage to

individuate.

 

In July 1969 I " went over the wall " one night and escaped from the

american midwestern cultural/spiritual dead space, after 2 years of

preparation to leave and never return. THAT was one of the best

choices I ever made. I'm going to suggest, without knowing anything

about you personally, that one reason why you're experiencing puffy

eyes, depresssion, etc. is because your living in a geographical

place and cultural ( " NOT " ) space where there's no spiritual oxygen.

period. One reason is the devastation visited upon the midwestern

plains by the expanding empire in the 19th century, that genocided

the original people, destroyed the native american bison who walked

and tended the grasslands since time immemorial, and then substituted

the fiction that the land was " empty " for the taking, took it, and

now have devastated one of the largest water aquifers on Earth, in

pursuit of agricultural dominance (losing mightily, by the way),

while installing " NO VIBRANT CREATIVE CULTURE " for the people who

live in this space now, especially the children growing up there (I

was one, I testify - also see the factual film " Boys Don't Cry "

(Hillary Swank) to understand the dead, mental cultural wasteland

that middlewestern america is really, systematically about. Very

mind controlling, unable to tolerate difference and diversity, all

good deeds are eventually punished by the social matrix of dumbed

down societal morays - I never breathed freely until I passed the

Continental Divide in Colorado or New Mexico. It's an astrological

planetary band around the Earth, a fundamentalist bible " belt " and a

baby soul culture. Missouri is a strange place - McCain beat Obama

by 6000 votes, yet neocon John Ashcroft was the only politician we're

aware of who was defeated by a dead man (Senator Mel Carhahan, in

2000). So there is a glimmer of hope, but you need training to bring

it to the fore, if you want to.

 

So you can wait there for the glaciers of social change to arrive, or

you can strike out a bit on your own, find intelligent life skills

(within Kundalini Yoga and many other Dharmas - I did this) and go

back to move the glaciers of change more rapidly in the midwest (I

didn't do this). I stood next to Yogi Bhajan in Amritsar in 1982, as

he spoke to faculty and students of Khalsa College, saying " I'm not

saying India is hopeless. I'm saying it's hopelessly hopeless. "

This resonated for me, in my recollections of the area where I had

grown up. He was lodging a deep cosmic complaint on the doorstep of

India, because he had been saying for the past 9 months (since

Baisakhi 1981) that " WE HAVE ONLY 1000 DAYS TO PREVENT A CATASTROPHE

IN PUNJAB. " Sadly, his foreknowledge was not heeded, and the events

he warned of came true on June 6, 1984, October 31, 1984, and in the

ensuing 10 years of total black out, block out of Punjab from the

world press and world community, as a systematic program of police

state genocide and holocaust was pursued hammer and tongs by central

government " of the largest so-called democracy in the world. " The

main political stories are Machiavellian lies meant to lead us by

deception, rather than Truth.

 

Now look at the " morning-after " voting maps of states that led to the

election last night of Barack Obama. Look at the " red state zones "

that actually went for McCain-Palin. Those Red Zones in the US are

toxic cultural spots that you need special skills and training in

order to thrive within. Go somewhere to get the training to be a

change agent, Kansas City may not be the right place. Perhaps a

place like here in Eugene, Oregon would serve you better as a place

to learn some new " moves " and responses to midwestern ennui.

 

I returned to the midwest in 1992 (Lawrence, Kansas - where my sister

had moved after living in the Kansas City, Missouri ashram for a few

years). In part I went there to learn if the midwest was really as

bad as I remembered from my childhood. Unfortunately, over the years

I had learned to see and recognize more via social research, and I

discovered that the underlying midwestern hegemonic mindset is worse

than I remembered. How does that change? Sadhana. Then, practice,

practice, practice, it's a lifetime course of human recovery, but

you'll like it better than not recovering. Much better. Yes this is

a radical suggestion. But again, look at the voter maps today, the

mentality is radically wrong there, by the official leadership and

all the minions who believe them. Your best way out is one step at a

time, starting now. I did it. It works. There is gold at the other

end of the rainbow, just as the Oregon trail starts in Kansas City

and arrives in the " Emerald Land of Aaaah's " (the same " Aah " that's

in Sa-Ta-Na-Maah) - eventually. Enjoy the journey. You have nothing

to lose but what you seem to want to lose. Let us know if you're

ever in Eugene, there is life beyond the midwestern US. I was born

there, I grew up there, I thrived elsewhere. If you're not thriving

where you are, take steps in some new direction. That's the only way

change happens.

 

May your future completions be beautiful, please accept what I've

shared as a friendly, " homestate " bit of encouragement toward

Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan (in the way that he actually

taught it, not necessarily how we've idealized or sanitized it).

 

Krishna Singh

 

 

Kundalini-Yoga , jenn cook <valkurja wrote:

>

> Thank you for your replies.

> I only had the puffy eyelids that one morning. I continue to do the

same meditation at night before I go to sleep.

>

> As for getting a Kundalini Yoga teacher, I wish it were that

simple. I live in a very small town in Missouri. I am about an hour

from Kansas City, so perhaps if I start feeling a draw, or ...

*something* I will make the effort to drive out there.

> I am in a very bad (lifetime) habit of not finishing what I start,

so before I make the commitment to going to KC I need to see if I can

keep up with what meditation I am doing, and start working on my diet

and late night practices.

>

> Thank you so much for your interest, answers, and support.

> Val

>

[Guest guest]

Sat Nam Val: Just to let you know that there is hope (and an ashram in

Kansas City) We have yoga classes here and we have (most precious of

all) a daily sadhana. Check out our website (www.kckundaliniyoga.com)

We have been here for over 30 years. We're small and steady. We have

teacher training here as well. God Bless you. Please don't hesitate to

write or call.

Karta Purkh S Khalsa

 

Kundalini-Yoga , jenn cook <valkurja wrote:

>

> Thank you for your replies.

> I only had the puffy eyelids that one morning. I continue to do the

same meditation at night before I go to sleep.

>

> As for getting a Kundalini Yoga teacher, I wish it were that simple.

I live in a very small town in Missouri. I am about an hour from

Kansas City, so perhaps if I start feeling a draw, or ... *something*

I will make the effort to drive out there.

> I am in a very bad (lifetime) habit of not finishing what I start,

so before I make the commitment to going to KC I need to see if I can

keep up with what meditation I am doing, and start working on my diet

and late night practices.

>

> Thank you so much for your interest, answers, and support.

> Val

>

[Guest guest]

Sat Nam, Krishna Singh, just a bit of a reminder of Yogi Bhajan's opinion of the

Midwest. Of course, you are entitled to your's. Personally, I moved here from

the East Coast (NYC) after stints in California, Oregon, Nevada and a few other

places. Yes some folks are a bit red in the neck, (See the most recent election

results!) but for the most part we're hardworking, reverent and in general open

to different paths and lifestyles. Perhaps your feelings are molded by your

history and that's OK too. We all have deal with that!

Anyway, here's a quote from the man:

You say, “Oh, I am going to the mountains to find God,†or, “I am going

to the desert to find God.â€

Or, “I am going to the ocean to find God.â€

I ask you, Why not go to the Midwest to find God? Because in the Midwest

there is work and you don’t want to work.

In the Midwest they say, “Hey, fella, why are you loitering here?†If you

even move they say you are loitering, because according to them you should be in

a truck with a shovel and everything in it. There are a few people, a lot of

work, and no chance of hanky panky. In Los Angeles there are a lot of people and

a lot of hanky panky. Almost one third of the people here support hanky panky.

I sometimes see people working in the (Sunshine Brass Beds) factory. They say to

me, “Ji (greeting of one soul to another), I have this difficulty.†I say,

“Congratulations, at least you have for the first time learned in life what

difficulty is.â€

One should know what difficulty is, and then one should try and remove it. It is

as simple as that. In your life, if you do not know what difficulty is, how are

you going to remove it? When are you going to learn that you can remove it, and

when are you going to have the experience of having removed it, and when can you

feel satisfied and say, “Oh God, thank God, I removed it, now I am satisfied.

I could do it.†When are you going to learn from the inner consciousness that

you could do it?

 

Sat Nam and God Bless from Sat Tirath Ashram in Kansas City, the Heart of

America!

 

 

 

KartaPurkh S Khalsa

 

In all work show the Spirit of God, the righteousness of man and the flow of

correct nature.

If you can do that, then your work is a meditation.  --Yogi Bhajan

  http://kartapurkhkhalsa.typepad.com/

http://kckundaliniyoga.com  

 

http://kartapurkh.smugmug.com/

[Guest guest]

Sat Nam, Karta Purkh Singh --

It's very certain that you are absolutely the right person to be the

3HO parish priest/monseignor for Kansas City. There's no question

about that in my mind. If, however, you were responding to me in a

spirit of dialogue, then there is much more of benefit that I could

continue to share with you in the interests of your success in the

place you've adopted as your home and place of personal life

mission. Shortly after I arrived in Oregon in 1993, I married a

woman from Eugene whose great-great-grandparents had settled in the

southern Willamette Valley in the 1840's (moving here from

Missouri). From her, and participating in her family and extended

family networks I acquired rare and beautiful insight and much more

nuanced understanding of Oregon, which is clearly the place where the

Guru-awareness within me has called me to be. Learning from the

experiences others had BEFORE we arrived can become a precious

channel of personal growth.

 

So that's a wonderful story from Yogiji that you shared, uncanny in

its linking the midwest with the Brass Bed Factory in LA (which was

founded initially by three of us, plus Yogiji, and eventually

included hundreds of workers from 3HO as they came to LA to seek

their spiritual " good fortunes " ), certainly there was a context.

It's ironic to me, in a rather sad way, that some of those who most

resisted and walked away from the hard work at the brass bed factory

were from Kansas City. Now that is irony.

 

Another irony, just to clarify that Yogiji had a quite complex set of

views about American culture. He also said (more than once, in public

classes in Los Angeles), " Don't give me a bowl of sh*t covered with

chocolate sauce and call it a hot fudge sundae. " Now that's real,

practical wisdom.

 

Karta Purkh Singh, save your chocolate sauce for the real thing, one

ashram in Kansas City does not yet constitute s auccessful " cultural

evolution. " I understand that you came to the midwest relatively

late (were you from an urban, suburban or rural east coast

childhood? where was that?). Of course I remember the Kansas City

ashram, it was started by my former brother in law, Tom Leiderbach,

in 1970. And yes, I attended Gurdwara services there in 1993-94 and

deeply enjoyed Langar with you in a place where Langar had never been

before. That is a cultural triumph. But I'd encourage you not to

gloss over the deep contextual social-anthropoligical issues that I

described yesterday as coming from " some other guy's bad childhood. "

 

I think you may have no idea the relationship (or abject lack of a

relationship) between the Kansas City of today and the Kansas City of

65 years (or more) ago. There is absolutely no resemblance bewteen

the two. Fify and sixty years ago Kansas City was a really dynamic

urban reality in the center of a powerful agrarian, industrial

system. Over these five decades since then the industry has died,

and agriculture was industrialized to it's detriment. The urban

reality (the last time I witnessed) was devastated. The earliest

visit to Kansas City that I remember was by train in 1947, to visit

my paternal uncle and aunt, who9 were also my godparents. My uncle

was a financial wizard who worked as a research economist for a wall

street brokerage on the Plaza, when " The Plaza " was the real center

of business and finance in KC. He shared stories of early morning

walks near the Plaza when he might encounter a former US president

named Harry Truman, who would be taking a solitary stroll. And they

would exchange a " tip of the hat " with each other in some sense of

respect and distant (not personal) recognition. Kansas City was a

major center of agricultural commodities, stockyards, meatpacking,

railroads, the ariport was right next to downtown, on the river.

There was, in short a powerful and prosperous reason for Kansas City

to exist by what " got done " there. Beirut and Baghdad were once

regarded as cultural jewels of the middle east. Today the New World

Order has more than passed them by, it has systematically destroyed

them. In my own direct observations of Kansas City during periodic

visits from age four in 1947, until the times I saw you less than

fifty years later, the demise of the old productive Kansas City could

not be more comparable that the demise of Beirut and Baghdad. In

1993 the middle of Kansas City was like a war zone. All the middle

class capable of choosing where to live was living in the suburbs

which, like suburbs everywhere are really existing in " Nowhere " - to

quote James Howard Kunstler. All the real money and financial

activity had fled to the Kansas suburbs on the other side of State

Line Road, where the primary " commodity " is geography, creating one

of the wealthiest counties in the US by virtue of being almost in the

exact center of the US. Nothing is produced there except corporate

financial paper. Insofar as real people, working people, there is

not a real economy. There is not a real agricultural system. It's

become an urban scramble of poverty and cultural cluelessness.

Certainly there are people there like you who are a beacon of hope,

but the precise purpose of a beacon of hope (a " lighthouse " ) is to

warn people of danger. In that sense, as a spiritual teacher, it

would be a disservice to deny the serious problems that " your current

part of the world " is enmished with. Realism calls for insight, not

wishful explanations.

 

Compost is needed for remaking natural soil so the salts of the earth

can thrive again. But compost in apana, not prana. Compoast is not

food, it's only a precursor to food, after it goes into the ground

along with a lot of hard work. Kansas City can make great compost,

and you can become a great metaphorical organic farmer there, just as

Yogiji said once on an airplane that he was a general contractor, and

that he " built people " for a living. Today Kansas City has a lot of

great compost in it, as the mycelia break down and decay the old

order, it needs to go into the ground. It's not ice cream yet. The

destination is not the road, and the road is not the destination. So

I'd encourage you to save your chocolate sauce for later, that time

in the coming future when " Kansas City = Aquarian Age, and Aquarian

Age = Kansas City. " If anyone asks " Are we there yet? Are we there

yet? " the current answer is " No, dear, not yet. We have a lot of

work to do in Kansas City before it resembles ice cream. "

 

After, when things are down and darkest that's when we stand

tallest. Keep standing tall and being the lighthouse in Kansas City,

Karta Purkh Singh. But there's also a lot to be learned by

understanding what Kansas City has been, what it is now, and what it

is " not yet. "

 

Some people need to stay, and some people will benefit by leaving and

learning elsewhere. I don't see any point to resist that truth. And

that choice, for Val, is still her choice. Perhaps she will find all

the teachings and blessings in the understanding that " There's no

place like home, there's no place like home. "

 

If you offer her your neutral mind, then you might be inclined to

encourage a student to have clarifying insight about Dysfunctional

Realities, in that all students are destined to be teachers, and if

they do so understand pervasive, subtle dysfunctionalities, they will

also understand their own world they and their peers have become

bonded with. This is an important step of self-knowledge in order to

depart from the dysfunctional in order to live in delight.

 

many Blessings to you, Karta Purkh Singh. I offer all of the above

in the interests of an insightful cultural evolution. If you process

what I actually said, I'm not sure I understand what there is to

disagree with. It's obvious there can be many perspectives, but

Reality still has to be reckoned with if change is to happen. When

Kansas City becomes an aquarian city, it won't be a secret. I look

forward to hearing about it. It's a teaching that " we can learn from

the words of others, and from enduring what time delivers to us

within our own experiences (sometimes painfully). " What I've shared

with you does not contradict the reality that you described,

that " there's a lot of work to do in the midwest. " A lot of the work

will actually lie in dealing with insights I shared. Before you

dismiss it, perhaps experiment by entertaining the possibility that

what I shared is " also true. " That could add depth and dimensional

value to the way in which you reach out there to others. It's a

pervasive reality that must be changed collectively. The air we

breathe is (supposed to be) invisible, as water is " invisible " to a

fish. But if you're in a coal mine and the canary falls to the

bottom of the cage, take steps to understand the situation. It's not

accurate to say that the midnest is nothing but sweetness and light.

And you can dismiss a dark truth by saying it was simply " someone

else's personal hangup, " but you haven't really grappled with what I

shared with Val.

 

If you will do that, the answers won't be so easy. There could be

benefit for you in appreciating the aspects I've pointed out, because

Dharma and Kundalini Yoga are certainly some of the most important

answers for that region for those who are ready. And certainly the

Guru also already knows the way in which you're going to be

successful. Deg, Teg Fateh!

 

Start a Community Langar. Teach yoga in the place where you feed

people in a loving way and yoga classes (and Sevadars) will increase

exponentially. That is the Guru's Way that works always, through

even the hardest of times.

 

Just think of the miles of empty, cavernous limestone tunnels beneath

the city of Kansas City (do you know about them?). That represents

the former food system of North America that is now bankrupt. It

used to hold untold tons of grains as a stoploss for times of

famine. It's gone. The 1890's Populists were strongest in nearby

Kansas, perhaps their stories can reinvigorate interest in how we

people can feed ourselves and everyone. Everything I've said is in

deep alignment with where those Populists were coming from. I grew

up in farm country before local farming was taken over and destroyed

by industrial agriculture. Eventually, ideally, the food for your

Langar will be food that you and your community grow for yourselves

and others locally.

 

So again, Deg Teg Fateh!

 

Krishna Singh

 

Kundalini-Yoga , KartaPurkh Khalsa

<kpsk_teacher wrote:

>

> Sat Nam, Krishna Singh, just a bit of a reminder of Yogi Bhajan's

opinion of the Midwest. Of course, you are entitled to your's.

Personally, I moved here from the East Coast (NYC) after stints in

California, Oregon, Nevada and a few other places. Yes some folks are

a bit red in the neck, (See the most recent election results!) but

for the most part we're hardworking, reverent and in general open to

different paths and lifestyles. Perhaps your feelings are molded by

your history and that's OK too. We all have deal with that!

> Anyway, here's a quote from the man:

> You say, “Oh, I am going to the mountains to find God,†or,

“I am going to the desert to find God.â€

> Or, “I am going to the ocean to find God.â€

> I ask you, Why not go to the Midwest to find God? Because in

the Midwest there is work and you don’t want to work.

> In the Midwest they say, “Hey, fella, why are you loitering

here?†If you even move they say you are loitering, because

according to them you should be in a truck with a shovel and

everything in it. There are a few people, a lot of work, and no

chance of hanky panky. In Los Angeles there are a lot of people and a

lot of hanky panky. Almost one third of the people here support hanky

panky.

> I sometimes see people working in the (Sunshine Brass Beds)

factory. They say to me, “Ji (greeting of one soul to another), I

have this difficulty.†I say, “Congratulations, at least you have

for the first time learned in life what difficulty is.â€

> One should know what difficulty is, and then one should try and

remove it. It is as simple as that. In your life, if you do not know

what difficulty is, how are you going to remove it? When are you

going to learn that you can remove it, and when are you going to have

the experience of having removed it, and when can you feel satisfied

and say, “Oh God, thank God, I removed it, now I am satisfied. I

could do it.†When are you going to learn from the inner

consciousness that you could do it?

>

> Sat Nam and God Bless from Sat Tirath Ashram in Kansas City, the

Heart of America!

>

>

>

> KartaPurkh S Khalsa

>

> In all work show the Spirit of God, the righteousness of man and

the flow of correct nature.

> If you can do that, then your work is a meditation.  --Yogi Bhajan

>   http://kartapurkhkhalsa.typepad.com/

> http://kckundaliniyoga.com  

>

> http://kartapurkh.smugmug.com/

>

[Guest guest]

Sat Nam, Krishna Singh

From a wise Midwesterner, A. Lincoln. " Character is like a tree and reputation

like a shadow. "

 

KartaPurkh S Khalsa

 

In all work show the Spirit of God, the righteousness of man and the flow of

correct nature.

If you can do that, then your work is a meditation.  --Yogi Bhajan

  http://kartapurkhkhalsa.typepad.com/

http://kckundaliniyoga.com  

 

http://kartapurkh.smugmug.com/

[Guest guest]

Sat Nam, Karta Purkh Singh --

 

That's a beautiful insight. Are you being ironic? I suppose that

would mean (if the shadow is cast by the sun), that shadows move

around a lot while the tree stays in one place. I haven't yet

understood how this metaphor (or analogy) connects with our previous

exchanges. Can you share more?

 

Are you wanting to have closure from this dialogue? Or is this an

opening for a new chapter?

 

in a spirit of service not disservice,

Krishna Singh

 

Kundalini-Yoga , KartaPurkh Khalsa

<kpsk_teacher wrote:

>

> Sat Nam, Krishna Singh

> From a wise Midwesterner, A. Lincoln. " Character is like a tree and

reputation like a shadow. "

>

> KartaPurkh S Khalsa

>

> In all work show the Spirit of God, the righteousness of man and the

flow of correct nature.

> If you can do that, then your work is a meditation.  --Yogi Bhajan

>   http://kartapurkhkhalsa.typepad.com/

> http://kckundaliniyoga.com  

>

> http://kartapurkh.smugmug.com/

>

[Guest guest]

Sat Nam

It was simply an effort to describe how differently people can perceive. Doesn't

seem very likely that I will convince you of the warmth, homeliness and yes,

consciousness, of the Midwest nor that you will convince me of its toxicity and

backwardness. We are both in our spaces, working mightily to elevate our own

consciousness and those around us. It's a process, not a dialogue ... only a

journey.

 

KartaPurkh S Khalsa

 

In all work show the Spirit of God, the righteousness of man and the flow of

correct nature.

If you can do that, then your work is a meditation.  --Yogi Bhajan

  http://kartapurkhkhalsa.typepad.com/

http://kckundaliniyoga.com  

 

http://kartapurkh.smugmug.com/

[Guest guest]

Sat Nam, Karta Purkh Singh ji,

Thanks for that. Well, I have to say for myself that I " AM " in a

dialogue, and that I'm grateful that you have continued to " process

and journey alone " with it thus far. I deeply appreciate your

generosity in that, because your most recent response makes it evident

for me that you have not really understood what I was intending to

convey.

 

If there is one path that I'm aware of intending to pursue until

mastery, it would be called " Humanology. " I'm not saying I have

mastered that, but I have come far enough along that path to be able

to speak reliably in many ways about it. If I speak from a core of

humanological understanding, from a perspective of Kundalini Yoga as

taught by Yogi Bhajan (to precisely define a very specific point of

view), then I perceive in your last post that " you believe " that I am

denying the " warmth, homeliness and yes, consciousness " of the

HUMANITY that dwells in the midwest. Whereas you also imply that I

regard that same HUMANITY as " toxic and backward. " When you broke it

down that way, it's rather clear that point of view offends you.

Well, Karta Purkh Singh ji, here's a big surprise -- that point of

view offends me also. However, both of those premises miss my point

completely. I am at least as deeply aware as you of the depths of

humanity in the midwest, it was my " crade culture " (to use an

anthropoligical term) - I may be even much more aware of the depths of

midwestern humanity than you are. BUT I am also deeply and painfully

aware of the vast, vast numbers of midwestern humanity that live in

the abject neglect of dysfunctional authoritative and authoritarian

cultural manipulation and coercion. MOREOVER, IT IS NOT COOL IN

MIDWESTERN SOCIETY TO ROCK THE BOAT OR QUESTION THE INSANITY OF THE

EMPEROR WHO HAS NO CLOTHES. DENIAL. DENIAL. DENIAL IS ALSO A

PROFOUND COMPONENT OF MIDWESTERN CULTURE.

 

The humanity suffers because of this. You cannot remove anyone's

chains unless you recognize, realize, and admit that those chains exist.

 

This dawning Aquarian age is when those chains are going to be thrown

overboard. It is, therefore, imperative to get all the slaves to whom

the chains are attached, to get them unattached, because when the

heavy chains go overboard, anyone still trapped in them is going

overboard also. Please understand that in the perspective on reality

that I have been offering here, IT IS POSSIBLE TO DISTINGUISH CLEARLY

BETWEEN A HUMAN BEING, AND THE " CULTURE " THEY EMBRACE THAT ALSO

DEFINES " WHAT " THEIR PRESENCE CONSTITUTES IN THE WORLD.

 

In short, Karta Purkh Singh ji, I'm delivering an unflinching critique

of a CULTURAL system that actively and definitely suppresses and

depresses the innocence of humanity. That old, persisting, ghostlike

culture that rose up on the Great Plains of the United States of

America was imported there and imposed there in the past 150 years, it

is not a cosmic constant in reality. And that cultural heaviness that

dominates lives without ever telling them " why " robs humanity of its

right to know itself, to experience its own kundalini as a sovereign

human being NOT BOUND by externalities, or coercion from others. You

can find little points of light like that in the midwest now (like

your ashram for example). That light is there because it was recently

sent there and delired there by Yogi Bhajan and many emissaries of

light in past recent decades, but I will absolutely guarantee to you

that in 1969 when I consciously left and journeyed away from the

midwest, THIS LIGHT WAS NOT AVAILABLE THERE AT THAT TIME. Moreover,

it is also clear that this same LIGHT is NOT the ally or enabler of

the " traditional endarkenment " of the Piscean age, that otherwise

prevailed previously in the midwest and elsewhere.

 

Light is light, though it comes in many different hues and colors, and

brightnesses. " HUE-Manity " means " mind, or being, of Light ( " hue " ) "

 

Your interpretation of my expression posits toward me a very naive and

simplistic point of view. I assure you I'm way past what you suspect

I was saying. And I invite you to speak to what I actually am saying,

because I'm not attacking the humanity. I'm offering insight into a

dysfunctional cultural system that suppresses that same humanity.

This is, in fact, an act of advocacy on behalf of that humanity. You

happen to be living and working there.

 

Many Oregonians today live in cultural constructs that brought their

midwestern-ness with them, here. We have plenty of the same cultural

backwardness here too. I'm working on that each day at a time, the

job is identical. But here there is also a " progressive tradition "

(that thrived up to WWI and Woodrow Wilson's pre-fascist martial law)

that hasn't died, even though the Oregon legislature after World War

One was dominated by Ku Klux Klan, in a rural regressive backlash

against the previous urban progressivism of Portland. The same

battles are here in Oregon today, parallel to the struggles that

deserve to be raised in Kansas City or Lawrence Kansas (where I have

lived recently enough) in order to illuminate and inspire that

humanity that you obviously care about. Why or how could you imagine

that I DON'T care about them? Please rethink your earlier

interpretions, otherwise yes, you're right, it's not a " dialogue. "

 

I happen to know that dialogue is possible, because I live in it and

swim in dialogue with significant others EVERY DAY. I was addressing

you in an invitation to a " possible-significant-other " to engage in

dialogue, but you seem to reject that idea. If that is really what

you want (or don't want), well, okay. Que lastima. But could you

please at least, as an advanced teacher of Kundalini Yoga as taught by

Yogi Bhajan, could you please at least explain or enlighten as to how

such a world view works, . . . when there is no dialogue in life, only

process and journey? That sounds like isolation to me, and that was

always the most painful part of growin up in the midwest, the

seemingly metaphysical, existential sense of isolation. A culture of

touch deprivation, externally imposed moral imperatives, and a lack of

real dialogue. Fortunately for me, in my childhood, my father had

such a beautiful, deeply intelligent mind, a congenial, empathic kind

of mind that could converse (and, yes, even " dialogue " ) with anyone.

And he and I often enjoyed moments together in his " pastoral study "

(ie., " office " ) in what I later became able to identify as " TELEPATHIC

COMMUNICATION " (ie., DIALOGUE without words, only glances and loving

regards, and intelligence flowing back and forth between us like a

game of " underwater badminton " - slow and beautiful in the " presence

awareness " that we were sharing as two human beings. That for me

represents the height and depth of true dialogue, and through

Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan, as a person with a soul

number of Eleven and a path number of Nine, I have learned to

cultivate into a daily and constant practice, experience and

lifestyle. So I live in such dialogue everyday, precisely the thing I

experienced abundantly in my childhood in the midwest, with my father

BUT WITH NO ONE ELSE. So, why " NO ONE ELSE " ? I walked out into a

rather harsh world of Nebraska at age 6 (I really do recommend the

film " Boys Don't Cry " - a true, academy award winning story) that

constitutes the MOST realist view into the heart of the darkness that

goes on because no light is being shined onto it). How did I fare,

walking out, my mother's and father's naive young son, believing that

the world was an " extension " of the feelings that prevailed in my home

- beautiful, cozy, conscious, etc - were also the prevalent feelings

for everyone else out there. Like church the world was just one big

family. Well, a few bloody noses and many insults later I realized

that importance of fighting. From a grassroots midwestern point of

view, I was being punished for being stupid and naive, in a place

where smart, tough people get what they need. I didn't need anything

that way because I was a kid, and I was being cared for by

intelligent, responsible parents, but that atmosphere was not the

outer atmosphere. I have been talking about that outer, worldly

cultural atmosphere because if children being born, who are definitely

even more sensitive than I was (I suppose) as a child to subtle

intelligences, if you are proposing to just have those kids walk out

the front door one morning at age 6, with heart open, mind alert, to

walk right into a knuckle sandwich and have their turban (perhaps)

pulled off, and allow that to be the introduction to how the

midwestern underclass and underculture works, that's pretty tough. Or

you can send the kids to a private, highly protected segregated school

for children from privileged families - this is similar to the

difference to " wild salmon " vs. " hatchery salmon. " The hatchery

salmon don't have the inherent strengths and adaptive qualities of

salmon that are grown in large tanks and released. You get a George

W. Bush (have you seen Oliver Stone's film " W " ?).

 

I'm grateful that I was able to enjoy the clarity of my mind in my

homelife as a child, and found the outside world overwhelming until I

began to master a way through it. And that has happened. Through

fearlessnes and kindness (Gift of seven, Destiny of eight), like my

father I've learned and acquired a capacity to dialogue with anyone

who is open to the mutual reciprocity of interest and understanding,

understanding even between the most radical of polar opposites. I

feel, on reflection that it's the notion of " polarity " itself that has

such a hard time coming into play in the midwest. The capacity to

understand and cherish how " different " we can be and still be engaged

in mutuality. There is clearly a long tradition of " privilege for

white skin " in the midwest (there really were official bounty payments

made for the red skins and scalps of the original human beings who

lived in the midwest, this travesty is still held in the bowels of the

Smithsonian Institution, and Native Americans at nearby Haskell

University in Lawrence Kansas are deeply involved in demanding the

return of the remains, the skins, bones and hair, of their so-abused

ancestors, so they can be given proper and respectful burial. This

kind of abuse was so tolerated (the term " redskin " in the western

movies is really derived from this macabre cultural norm at that

time). If you cannot realize the reality of these " cultural

practices " that prevailed within an american empire that clearly

rolled over the Great Plains (imposing a culture enforceably defined

and " executively controlled " by Robert's Rules) and eventually on to

the Phillipines, South and Central America, " the shores of Tripoli "

and on to Vietnam and Baghdad. It's important for a vision of

humanity to recognize what humanity has done, what humanity is doing,

and what has been done TO humanity. And to ask, " in whose interest

was it for such to have been done " to humanity " by humans. Christians

say " Loving the sinner, hating the sin. " That's not exactly how I'd

say it, but that's definitely the " type of distinction " I've been

making throughout my attempt to engage you in " dialogue. " So, in the

spirit of " ANALOGY " (which is the mode of understanding and inference

that defines the heart of how Siri Guru Granth " teaches " us), this

more common distinction between " sinner and sin " is rather analogous

to this notion I offered to distinguish between " living humanity " and

the " culture " that might either empower or disempower that same living

humanity. The present globally dominant culture, the Piscean culture,

is like a set of chains that humanity is laboring and suffering under.

It is precisely the point to uplift the humanity and release the

humanity (including our own humanity) from those chains.

 

And I really don't think you intend to idealize those chains of that

culture (which I will assert I offered a fair and penetrating

description of), I don't think you intended to equate those chains

with the " homeliness and consciousness " of midwestern humanity.

 

Did you?

 

I think we're really on the same page if you allow yourself to realize

what I'm actually saying. I suppose you allow yourself to see that,

it would mean that this will have become a dialogue. And, perhaps you

actually don't want to go there. I'll have to respect that if it's

true, but if it's true I'm fascinated. In such case I'd very

sincerely like to understand more about how living like that could

works for you (or anyone). But I actually believe that we're on the

same page but in this current dialogue with you I haven't given you an

adequate opportunity to agree.

 

My love of Humanology drives me to want to understand and appreciate

all options. To reflect a moment on the quote from Yogiji you

provided, the way I have discovered writing, it is my " work, " to

create a state of shared verbal resonance (much like John Keats'

notion of poetic mind) that allows truth to reveal itself, that allows

" the Spirit of God, the righteousness of man and the flow of correct

nature " to reveal themselves. In such I am able to bow my head in

admiration and respect for what has revealed itself. For me, this is

the only reason to bother writing. When writing becomes a blessing or

a gift. It would be regrettable for you to disengage with an opinion

that my writing was an attack on what you cherish. It actually

supports what you cherish in ways that you may not (or may not be

willing to) recognize. But my deepest assumption is that we are both

relating in good faith, and so I can always hope that ultimate,

intelligent agreement is possible among those who love Truth. I'm not

co-dependent with that hope, but bodhisattvas are deeply committed

that everyone finds enlightened agreement eventually, no matter how

many eternities it takes. Infinite Resignation, Kierkegaard called

it. Guru Nanak called it giving our heads to Wahe Guru. Yogiji

called it " The Experience of Selflessness within the Self. " Jesus

called it Love. I equally to you apply all of the same to the

Humanity of the midwest. Don't be mistaken about that. But perhaps

I'm a lot more clear about diagnosing some critical factors that are

unmistakeably and excessively, culturally dysfunctional. As a yogi,

as a spiritual teacher taught by Yogi Bhajan, it's my obligation to

deliver remedies and solutions. To do that, I have to understand the

underlying condition. And to be clear about it. Such clarity is the

Guru's light. When it arises, the Guru (true wisdom) is present

because something divine within the human mind is the source of that

light. I'm sure we must agree on that.

 

Blessings,

Krishna Singh

 

Kundalini-Yoga , KartaPurkh Khalsa

<kpsk_teacher wrote:

>

> Sat Nam

> It was simply an effort to describe how differently people can

perceive. Doesn't seem very likely that I will convince you of the

warmth, homeliness and yes, consciousness, of the Midwest nor that you

will convince me of its toxicity and backwardness. We are both in our

spaces, working mightily to elevate our own consciousness and those

around us. It's a process, not a dialogue ... only a journey.

>

> KartaPurkh S Khalsa

>

> In all work show the Spirit of God, the righteousness of man and the

flow of correct nature.

> If you can do that, then your work is a meditation.  --Yogi Bhajan

>   http://kartapurkhkhalsa.typepad.com/

> http://kckundaliniyoga.com  

>

> http://kartapurkh.smugmug.com/

>