I'm confused...again....

[Guest guest]

Namas te....:-)

 

Three things have been puzzling me recently....

 

Does the jiva transcend the shift between one period of existence and

the next? Or does each individual's 8,400,000 lifetimes always add up

to exactly 4,320,000 years?

 

What is the relationship between caste, class and evolution in terms

of reincarnation?

 

Should left handed people practice hatha yoga differently to right

handed people?

 

Thank you for your patience with my elementary questions.

 

I look forward to reading the forum's response.

 

Dave.

[Guest guest]

namas te this may give us a clue to the answers of some of the questions ananda Garuda Purana The Garuda Purana contains answers given by Lord Vishnu to questions asked by Garuda, who is the eagle vehicle (Vahana) of Lord Vishnu. Yugas There are four Yugas (eras). These are Satyayuga, Tretayuga, Dvaparayuga and Kaliyuga. In Satyayuga, Dharma Reigns supreme. There is pity for other living beings, donation of alms and meditation. Brahmanas are revered and it is said that Dharma has four legs in Satyayuga. These four legs are truthfulness, donation of alms, meditation and pity. Men live four thousand years in this era. The next era is tretayuga. The Brahmanas are overthrown in their supremacy by the Kshatriyas and it is the Kshatriyas who flourish and prosper. The Vaishyas and the Shudras continue to revere the Brahmanas. But Dharma has only three legs, since there is no longer any Tapasya. Truthfulness, donation of alms and pity continue to exist. People are devoted to Vishnu and do perform Yajnas. In this era, men live for a thousand years. Next comes Dvaparayuga. Now Dharma has only two legs. Men live only for four hundred years. But the Brahmanas and the Kshatriyas continue to thrive. To bring the

minds of men back to the path of Dharma, a Vedavyasa is born in every Dvaparayuga. He divides the Vedas and teaches men the eighteen forms of knowledge (Ashtadasha Vidya). These are the Puranas, the Dharma, Shastras (Sacred texts), the four Vedas, Nyaya, (a doctrine), Mimamsa (philosophy), Ayurveda (medicine), arthashastra (political economy), Gandharva shastra (singing), dhanurveda (the art of fighting) and Shadanga (six schools

of philosophy). The last of the four eras is kaliyuga, when dharma has only one leg left to stand on. People become cruel and evil. Envy, dissatisfaction, pride and violence are to be found everywhere. People are addicted to lying, killing and sleeping. The Vedas are no longer revered and robbers take over the cities. The kings themselves become robbers. The brahmanas stop observing vratas and become worse than shudras. Wealth is acquired through unethical means. Wives do not obey their husbands. No one worships

Vishnu. There is only one virtue of Kaliyuga. Since there is evil all around, even a little bit of devotion to the cause of Dharma pays handsome dividends. All that one has to do to attain immense Punya is to chant Krishna’s name. True Knowledge Unhappiness comes from the sense of “I” and “mine”. As long as these feelings are there, true knowledge is impossible. Eliminating these means the elimination of one’s ego. If one thinks of ignorance as a tree, the seed and the trunk of the tree are formed by the ego. Hierarchy of Beings There is a hierarchy of beings. All living beings are divided into four groups. The first group consists of those that are born from eggs, the second of

those that are born of sweat, the third of herbs and plants, and the last of mammals. These four groups are respectively known as andaja, svedaja, udbhijja and jarayuja. Every atman has to be born in each of these forms twenty-one lakh times, subject of course to considerations of papa and punya performed in earlier lives. That is, an atman has to spend eightyfour thousand lives on earth. Amongst mammals, men are superior to all others and it is very difficult for an atman to be born as a human. It is only if the atman has acquired a lot of punya that it is born as a human. Living beings are the best of all elements, intelligent living beings the best of all living beings, humans the best of all intelligent beings, brahmanas the best of all humans, learned Brahmanas the best of all Brahmanas, and Brahmanas blessed with the knowledge of the Brahmanthe best of all learned Brahmanas. The Human Body Vishnu next described to Garuda the human body. The human body is formed of skin (Charma), blood (Rakta), flesh (Mamsa), fat (meda), marrow (Majja), bones (asthi), and life (Jivana). The five elements are the earth (Kshiti), water (apa), energy (teja), wind (Vayu)and sky (akasha). Each of these elements goes into the constitution of the human body. The earth forms the skin, the bones, the veins (Nadi), the hair (roma) and the flesh. The water forms parts like saliva (Lala), marrow and blood. Energy gives rise to hunger (Kshudha), sleep (Nidra), thirst (Trishna), lassitude (Alasya) and lustre (Kanti). The wind produces anger (raga), spite (Dvesha), modesty (Lajja), fear (Bhaya) and ignorance (Moha). The sky gives rise to holes (Chhidra), gravity (Gambhirya), hearing (Shravana) and mind (sattva). There are several senses or faculties (Indriya). The senses of intelligence (Buddhindriya) are the ears, the skin, the eyes, the tongue and the nose. The senses of action (Karmendriya) are objects like the hands, the feet and speech. There are ten flows of energy in the body. Their names ar ida, pingala, sushumna, gandhari, hastijihva, pusha, yasha, alambusha, kuhu and shankhini. There are ten types of breath in the body. Their names are Prana, apana, samana, udana, Vyana, naga, kurma, krikara, devadatta and

dhananjaya. The body-hair on a human body number three and a half crores and there are three lakh hairs on the head. Teeth number thirty-two and nails twenty. Pala is an unit of measurement. There are one thousand palas of flesh in the body, one hundred Palas of blood, ten palas of fat, ten palas of skin and twelve palas of marrow. So say the learned men. There is a complete correspondence between the human body and the universe. The portion below the waist corresponds to the underworld and the part above the waist to the upper regions. The balls of the feet correspond to the underworld region tala, the ankles to Vitala, the calves to sutala, the knees to talatala, the thighs to rasatala and the waist to patala. The navel corresponds to bhuloka (the earth), the stomach to bhuvarloka, the heart to Svarloka, the throat to maharloka, the

face to janaloka, the forehead to tapoloka and the top of the head of satyaloka. All fourteen worlds are thus to be found in the human body. upanisad Wisdom The Kuasitaki Upanisad says “One can live deprived of speech, for we see the dumb; one deprived of sight, for we see the blind; of hearing, for we see the deaf; and of mind, for we see the childish; one can live without arms and legs, for thus we see. But now it is the breathing spirit alone, the intelligence - self that seizes hold of this body and makes it rise up. This is the all obtaining in the breathing spirit. What is the breathing spirit, that is the intelligence - self. What is intelligence - self, that is the breathing spirit, for together they live in this body and together they go out of it”. According to the Kathopanisad (VI 16, 17) and Prasnopanisad (III, 6), the Atma, which is said to be the size of a thumb, dwells within the heart, from which a hundred and one Nadis radiate. In the Chandogyopanisad (III, 12, 4) it is said that as the outer cover of man is his physical body, his inner core (hrdayam) is the heart (VIII 3.3), wherein abides the Atma. It is also called the antaratma (soul, heart or mind). Antahkarana (source of thought, feeling and consciousness) and Chidatma (faculty of reasoning and

consciousness). Ashrama Life An Ashrama is

a little Universe set into an ideal situation for the experience of Cosmic Evolution through body, emotions and the mind. Some will not be ready for Ashrama living, still needing an education that can be only obtained in the “School of Hard Knocks”. Others may require instructions that Mother should have given as a child and these lessons are best learned elsewhere. I have a very simple philosophy about life at Ananda Ashrama. We teach, preach and advocate Yoga which is Oneness. We do not teach, preach or advocate Two-ness.

Therefore, friction, quarrels, the use of force, taking of drugs, the use of tobacco and alcohol are not allowed, for they all create a schism of one type or another. Those who still want these habits are welcome to them and should go back into the world for a few more Karmic lessons . . . that’s what the outer world is for. If one wants the teachings of Yoga, the philosophy of the Inner Life, then come to Ananda Ashrama. -

Yogamaharishi Dr. Swami Gitananda Giri Guru Maharaj davewithbeard <davewithbeard wrote: Namas te....:-)Three things have been puzzling me recently....Does the jiva transcend the shift between one period of existence andthe next? Or does each individual's 8,400,000 lifetimes always add upto exactly 4,320,000 years?What is the relationship between caste, class and evolution in termsof reincarnation? Should left handed people practice hatha yoga differently to righthanded people?Thank you for your patience with my elementary questions. I look forward to reading the forum's response.Dave. Yogacharya Dr.Ananda Balayogi Bhavanani Chairman : Yoganjali Natyalayam and ICYER Hon General Secretary, Pondicherry Yogasana Association 25, 2nd Cross,Iyyanar Nagar, Pondicherry, South India-605 013 Tel: +91-413 - 2622902 / +91-413 -3203314/+91-413 -2241561 Website: www.icyer.com www.geocities.com/yognat2001/ananda

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