Uma and Amit Goswami at Krotona Day 1

Tonight was the beginning of over 2 Weeks with Uma and Amit Goswami.
I totally adore and love these two teachers.
Here I am going to record their quotes, my notes, some insights, and questions and from their Weekend Talk, "Nurturing the Soul" and their 2 Week Seminar. Amit's talk will be recorded and available for sale at the end of the 2 weeks from Krotona. Uma is not recorded.

These notes might not make any sense to you.

Amit
Amit set the stage for an understanding of the miracle of Quantum Physics. He offered a couple key phrases and summarized the usefulness of understanding quantum physics as a way to understand what the mystics are speaking of.

He suggested that in the 50s, the over emphasis of mater lead to the understanding that God is Dead.

"God is not dead and it is time to reassure ourselves that God is good for us".
We need to understand "that there is a cause in us."

Material Objects are possibilities until the power of Choice acts on them. Our choice is our experience.
"How does the word become our experience?"

At the end of the Vedas, there is the line:
"Maybe he knows, and maybe he doesn't"
So the idea that maybe even God does not know.

"We know that there is suffering. And the idea that we can change is super important to us."
"We want to reconnect because we want to get rid of suffering. We want to be happy."
"Our soul is what we aspire to."

The world is full of possibilities but we get conditioned.
We are looking for "a modality of living that allows up to choose the new."

"The Road Less Traveled" What Frost Speaks of is what we are looking for.
"This is Creativity"
"Creative people understand this."
"Where no Man has Gone Before" - Star Trek

So What has to be Done?

Transcendence = Quantum Leap
When starting to talk about Quantum Physics, Amit first referred to the study as "Quantum Weirdness." The suggestion that there is a LEAP, no intermediate step. It is actually possible to JUMP. Not everything has to be "Step by Step."

In the mystical tradition, the word is "Transcendence." Same as "non-locality"
"Don't get bogged down with language."

"We have certain intuitions about these things"

(note: here i had the insight that when i cut myself off from my soul at 5, i also cut myself off from the divine. that 5 year old girl is my soul and my connection to God)

"Sudden Enlightenment" is a dis-continuous jump to a non-local communication.

Quantum Activism
The nurturing of the soul is not a personal thing. When we are nurturing our own soul, we are nurturing the soul of everything.

UMA Goswami

I did not take as many notes. Uma is so captivating, I did not want to be distracted. Also, her talk is so intuitive and heartfelt that she makes GIANT circles and it can be tricky to follow her linearly.

I love Uma. She is a mystic teacher. But tonight I noticed that I am in a different place than what she is teaching. She speaks a lot on being positive. I am in a phase where I am dismantling a life of false smile, a smile so convincing that even I had bought it. But like Alan Watts said, "What would be the fun of the play if the actor himself were not totally captivated. Isn't the fun to lose yourself entirely?" So as Uma spoke of being in the positive tonight, I felt like more of an observer of her teaching style and technique than a believer. Which was new.

She began by signing the most beautiful chant. So heartfelt and vulnerable. Like a child really singing to God. This was my favorite part of the whole evening.

"A yogi, a master, is one who sits in oneself...one who is stable."

She told a story of the Zen Master when asked by his students what makes him a master cuz he seems to be the same as them. "I see the bird in the egg, I see the butterfly in the Caterpillar, I see the Saint in the Sinner. This is what makes me a master".

She told the story of Ramakrishna's followers feeling that he was unfairly treating prostitutes and monkeys the same as his devoted students. "My eyes are helpless. Please forgive me. When a human being is in front of me all I see is God."

So a master is one who can transcend the name and form (nama and rupa) and connect to the divine essence.

"We must consciously cooperate with Nature to accelerate evolution" - aurobindo
Yoga is this practice.

"A Yogi can perceive the unmanifest in the manifest"

Integration as another definition of Yoga.

"We will never change unless every aspect of our being wants to change." - aurobindo
(She told the story of the mind wanting to yoga at 7am but at 7am the body is not ready).

She told the story of Western Psychology focusing on the abnormalities and problems of the mind and how depressing it can be. How delving into the unconscious will only cause problems. She then told of how studying the mystics will bring you up and out of darkness.

"There is no sorrow in atman."
Sat Chit Ananda

"There is no suffering in Consciousness"
Do not ask "Why do I suffer". Do not look for the cause of suffering.
Ask "What is the Nature of Suffering?" and "Why should we suffer"

"You have no business to be depressed on the spiritual path."

Bhagavad Gita
32 Characteristics of Enlightenment

Pantanjali's 5 Causes of Suffering
She only got to Avidya which she used to speak of our unwillingness to look closely. She suggested that we start to pay closer attention.

"We ave not taken the trouble to discover the essential aspect of our soul."

She began to reference Sutra 1.33 but only got to maitiri, friendliness.

What is Mental Health?
Krishna speaks of SwaDharma in B.G.

She referenced Abraham Maslow
"The Aim of Life is Re-sacradlization" (Connect back to the Sacred)
"Discovery of the Dignity of human soul."

"How to Be Human?"
Referenced Aurobindo in our effort to move from human to superhuman

Develop our Capacity to ENJOY
We have a Choice

Joy of Yoga = Joy of Happiness

Questions

- A woman asked a question about how people dealing with post traumatic stress might transcend
Uma answered that trauma is stored in our 5 bodies
So, asana to release from the annamayakosha
breathing practices to release from the pranamayakosha
mantra to release from the mind sheath
meditation and contemplation on the highest truth to release from the intellect sheath
etc.
This is will release trauma from this life and past life.

Grace is key
This relationship is HAND in HAND

we must of a position of humility
surrender

Compassion has 2 parts: sympathy and empathy
sympathy is human
empathy is divine
we need to be with the problem through understanding rather than identification
we must start with ourselves