An offering on Purification

[Guest guest]

Hi All,

 

This is excerpted from The Tradition of the Himalayan Masters, by

Pandit Rajmani Tigunait. It is a selection of excerpts from various

scriptures designed to give a brief view of the tradition of yoga.

This passage is, I believe, from the Chhangogya Upanishad.

 

Narada: In practical terms, how do I begin my search?

 

Sanatkumara: You begin with food. Through ahara shuddhi, by eating

pure food, you purify your body. Then, just as your gross body needs

solid food to maintain its existence, your pranic body needs pranic

energy to sustain itself. Senses, mind, ego, and intellect all

require their own kind of food.

Sattvic food, which is fresh, light, and nutritious, taken in the

appropriate quantities, at the right time, and with the right

attitude of mind, provides a pure diet. Similarly, breathing clean

air, with a regulated dominance of right and left nostrils, nourishes

the pranic body. Maintaining positive thoughts in a cheerful mind

provides nutritious food to the mental body. Constant awareness of

the fact that anything indicated by the words "my" and "mine" belongs

to prakriti--whereas the truth indicated by "I" is pure consciousness-

-supplies nutritious food to the ego. Purify yourself by maintaining

constant awareness that all objects belong to nature and that it is a

mistake to identify with them. Similarly, remaining aware of your

pure existence, consciousness, and bliss is the way to supply food to

the anandamaya kosha, the body made of bliss.

By creating a bridge between different aspects of our being and

strengthening rather than weakening each of these aspects, we attain

perfect realization of the self. Know yourself at every level and

find yourself perfect in every respect. That is the only way to

attain true happiness.

You purify your external and internal life by purifying the food

you provide to every level of your being. As a result, your memory

becomes sharp and stable; then you begin to glimpse your inner Self

and eventually come to know it well. As these glimpses of your inner

Self become brighter and steadier, your attachment to worldly objects

and desires for pleasure becomes thinner and weaker. The weaker your

desires and attachments, the fewer obstructions they create to the

illumination of your inner self. And the fewer obstructions in the

light that radiates from within, the brighter you will see yourself

both within and without.

 

Chris