Ravi Ravindra is my Sutra Teacher. He is at Krotona for 3 weeks presenting with his wife? Priscilla Murray on the Gospels.
The course happens from 10 to 12 Tuesday thru Friday at the Krotona School from Tuesday, Feb 23 thru March 12. I wish I could go every day, but even a little taste is such a blessing.
This is my first time with Priscilla, and I really like her. She holds the question and the invitation of the teachings and invites us in. Much like Ravi, but without any of his occasional cynicsim.
This is the course description:
This course will explore the call to awakening in the gospels of John, Thomas, and Philip, one canonical and two non-canonical. They are less concerned with our sinful nature and more with awakening to our essential divine nature. Series $95/week $35/single session $10
Recommended Texts: Course participants should have copies of the gospels of John, Thomas and Philip, and a copy of The Yoga of the Christ (more recently published under the title The Gospel of John in the Light of Indian Mysticism) by Ravi Ravindra.
Ravi Ravindra, PhD, is Professor Emeritus at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada, where he was Professor and Chair of Comparative Religion and Adjunct Professor of Physics. Known for his ability to communicate with and inspire students, he is recipient of several awards and research grants and author of more than 100 papers in physics, philosophy, and religion. The latest of his many books is The Wisdom of Patañjali's Yoga Sutras.
Priscilla Murray, PhD, holds degrees in philosophy, education, and mathematics. A retired educator, Dr. Murray was the Associate Editor of the eight-volume series of books, The Inner Journey: Views from the Major Spiritual Traditions, published by the Morning Light Press.
These are notes from DAY 1.
Priscilla Opened:
Gospel means "good news".
In the interest of helping us get in the mood, P asked us to consider the quality of waiting for good news and receiving good news.
"Christ brought a teaching that was radical"
"And his teachings required a radical change in the lives he affected."
Consider the impact that Christ had on the world.
"Can this be good news for us?...Can we hear something we did not already know?"
It is through an open quality of relationship that something can be offered. Like with scriptures and poetry, the results can be new each time.
Priscilla created some historical context of the Gospels, defining canonical and non-canonical gospels.
Canon of the Church
those scriptures and materials that have been accepted, received the stamp of approval.
Non-canonical Material
all other materials not accepted or considered orthodox
Priscella presented that as the Church became more organized, the teachings became more orthodox and rigid. The method of teaching "from above" meant that the ways were unquestionable.
Gnostic Gospels
Gnosis - from the same root that makes Knowledge
- a particular kind of Knowledge
- wisdom, insight, intuition, mystical, esoteric
- not obvious knowledge
- not captured in a technical manual
- a relationship coming to be, a teaching
- to help us towards an inner knowledge
- invites and allows us a new perspective
- we are all a part of this new look
"Christ revealed himself to the people as they were able to see him."
"Human beings are a variety of levels of understanding."
"All our ways of knowing can be very limited"
"He came not to make us Christians, he came to make us Christ" (Phillp)
If we are 7 billion on the planet and 98% are just surviving, we need some Good News.
"Balance of Life and Organization of Group is always in tension"
We have the "wonderful possibility of giving up our knowledge"
The Discovery of the Gospels:
1945 in a clay pot in the desert of Egypt by a Shepard or Farmer
They were not translated into English until the 70s.
"Every translation is an interpretation."
Thomas: "Whoever finds these interpretations of these sayings will not experience death."
Invitation to find a deeper relationship with these words, the Self, and God.
Ravi reminded us that context is not random and to consider the needs of the planet around 1945.
At the end of WWII, there was a major emotional shit. Up until that point, it had been fine to conquer another's culture. After that it became "a bankrupt idea".
1960s saw the movement of Turning East.
Thomas
"Like the red-letter edition"
Everything starts out with "Jesus said"
Thoughts have not been organized.
Not really in logical order.
Instead, little gems to treasure.
"For people already turning towards hearing from Christi"
Literal vs understanding
"Any translation will not be the translation"
Phillip
More reflections, comments and teachings in line of Christ, about him, to a select group
Ravi and Priscella spoke of the page numbers and how we will find the verses
"very little mention of what Christ DID, always what Christ SAID"
these works regard Christ as a teacher, less as a Savior
A teacher requires something of the students. One has to be a disciple
Saviour requires a different attitude.
[a member of the group mentioned Christ as a healer]
"Go beyond the ordinary mind"
Break
--------
Ravi opened Second Half
Christ remarked, "I stood in the midst of the world and I appeared to them in flesh; I found all of them drunken; I found none among them thirsty. And my soul was pained for the children of men, for they are blind in their hearts, and they do not see that they came empty into the world seeking also to leave the world empty. But now they are drunken. When they shake off their wine, then they will repent" (Gospel of Thomas II, 2; 28).
Ravi spoke of the sadness we feel for the ignorant.
"Jesus wept for the sins of Jerusalem"
Humanity is a source of sorrow.
Ravi spoke of our need for approval.
"Teachers bring freedom from this anxiety"
Peter: "Christ needs to keep dying on the cross as long as we keep sleeping."
Buddha: "We live as if asleep"
"Teachers come to connect us to a quality of life to which we are not usually connected."...as oppose to the conflict, sorrow and meaninglessness.
"How long oh Lord, will though forget me?...Give me light to my eyes or i will sleep with death." Psalm 13, versus 2 and 4
Is it Enough to be Thirsty?
"A lot of work from the day of deciding to the day of enlightenment."
There is a time pressure when a real teacher appears.
"Search while the light is among you."
"99% of the people are not interested."
"Who is admonishing me to change?"
Ravi spoke to our ignorance of believing we are the center of the universe.
he referenced the statistic that thousands of galaxies will appear and disappear this morning and 120 million people will die this year.
"We can be slaves to all this or servants to all this, the rest is just politics."
"The miracle of transformation lies in seeing."
"Can i see this without blaming someone else?"
"Suffer the fact of the way I am."
There is a constant exchange
Who am I? is the seed Question.
The highest state is radically different in Indian and Biblical Traditions:
In Indian traditions, the emphasis in generally on the ONENESS of everything.
In Biblical traditions, the emphasis is generally on the Uniqueness of everything, even in the presence of Divinity.
"Moses talked to God as a man to a man."
UNO - uniqueness, oneness, from the same Latin Rot
"What is said, cannot be said."
"Reality is not expressible"
"The words are not the same, but the words are required. The Real cannot be expressed."
"WORDS become the tradition, notion of sounds, meanings, and certain words become symbols and the rest is just noise."
We must return to the experience of the sages, not the WORDS.
Language is a Frame of Reference.
"We cannot understand until we are transformed to UNDERSTAND."
Showing posts with label krotona. Show all posts
Showing posts with label krotona. Show all posts
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Teaching at Krotona Day 3
I had my 3rd class at Krotona on Tuesday. It is a funny thing to be the "visiting hatha yoga teacher". My classes at Lulu's tend to be such a blend of philosophy and asana and stroy but when there is only an hour and our hearts and heads are full from the morning lectures, it seems best to humble myself and simply offer movements for the breath and body.
Uma mentioned Sutra 1.34 in class today, so I took that as my cue.
We started supine with the suggestion to allow the attention to come to the exhale to help it lengthen simply by drawing your awareness there.
Eventually we did a little windshield wiper, pelvis rocking and shimmy.
We rolled up to sitting.
Sukhasana with Pelvis Play, Foreword Fold and Chest Press.
Transition to All Fours
Cat/Cow to Childs Pose
Lunges x 2
Sphinx Pose x 2
Roll over onto Backs
Bridge Pose x 2
Cosmic Rest
Easy Spinal Twist
Savasana
Uma mentioned Sutra 1.34 in class today, so I took that as my cue.
We started supine with the suggestion to allow the attention to come to the exhale to help it lengthen simply by drawing your awareness there.
Eventually we did a little windshield wiper, pelvis rocking and shimmy.
We rolled up to sitting.
Sukhasana with Pelvis Play, Foreword Fold and Chest Press.
Transition to All Fours
Cat/Cow to Childs Pose
Lunges x 2
Sphinx Pose x 2
Roll over onto Backs
Bridge Pose x 2
Cosmic Rest
Easy Spinal Twist
Savasana
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Uma and Amit Goswami at Krotona: April 23
These are a collection of notes from the Goswami's Course at Krotona, "Nurturing the Soul. We gather from 10 to 12:30 from Tuesday through Friday. Amit speaks first, then Uma.
Amit
"What are the questions and problems of Mind and How do we solve them?"
"When things happen, they happen very quickly"
"Consciousness contains 4 components of possibilities With Quantum Collapse, the possibilities manifest as the material body, the vital body, the mind and the supra mental intellect."
"How can we be so careless about our own experience that we 'give in' to the materialist belief."
"Meaning is something that cannot be computed...and there is mathematical proof."
"No digital representation of feeling."
[self note: what about a beautiful piece of music or art that creates feeling? is this measured differently?]
Today's Problems:
"We need to value our Archetypes."
"Quantum helps by eliminating argument of dualism."
Chinese Medicine Example:
Two types of complementary chi: yin and yang
the shadow and the light
complimentary is different than dualistic
complimentary is 2 different aspects of the same thing. dualistic is two different things.
Nelda:
Who is the we that makes the choice?
"We" arises simultaneously with the object we perceive from the Tangled Hierarchy of Quantum Measurement.
"We have identified with the brain"...and "I am separate from you."
yang is movement
yin is stability
[note: this was a new place for me. i had never thought of yin as stable before in comparison to yang as movement. in thinking about the bones vs the blood, this was a very useful understanding to me]
David Boehm the physicist:
he was looking for/giving an example of the uncertainty principle and discovered an example in thought.
the maximum difficult of the "straitjacket of the materialist" is whether or not the world is deterministic.
Can we determine the world based on measurements?
They wish yes cuz control and predictability are so nice.
"But complete prediction becomes so boring."
DB "We can never measure momentum and location with complete accuracy."
"Classical physics is deterministic...no creativity in the world."
"In Quantum world there is uncertainty"
DB: "We can never measure the content and direction of thought. "
In free association, you have no memory of content just the direction. In concentration meditation techniques, you stick to the content and allow for no direction.
"Intuition is the quality that is the most rarefied." So have to be careful about talking about it. Cannot do it on command, like thinking or feeling.
Maria:
Can you see content and direction from a higher perspective of consciousness? As consciousness expands, can you see these things simultaneously?
Amit: When You become Whole with Consciousness then there is no separation. Everything is known.
"everything known in possibility."
So "evolution" is only a possibility?
eternity is not infinity.
in eternity, nothing happens, permanent, the Godhead
infinity is a long time from now, extent of time
Aurobindo was the first mystic to focus on evolution.
The Soul is the highest ideal.
[eric: is there a natural selection of possibilities?]
"What is this reality? At once nothing happens and something changes." Krishnamurti
Both Stationary and in Movement.
"it moves, it moves not"
Amit says that it was a mistake of the mystics to not recognize evolution earlier.
"Ideas of Evolution" Come slow to us.
"Transformation is fundamental."
"Evolution is a species level."
we are moving towards "godliness on earth."
Why is it so hard to make progress?
Our negative emotional Brain Circuits
Amit showed a slide detailing the "blueprint" of how we get mental and physical representations from collapse.
"How Biological Functions Come Down From Heaven"
"Why do Chakras Work?"
What are chakras? and Why do we feel feelings here specially?
Chakras are the places Quantum Collapse the blueprint.
It is not the physical organ that creates the feeling.
The feeling is a feeling of vital movement.
A change in the vital energy.
Heart and Thymus Gland
Thymus Gland governs the immune system and the Heart is the most important to us relative to the spiritual.
Thymus: distinguishes me from not me.
"This cell is not me, so eliminate it"
"When we cannot do that, we get cancer."
"Romantic Love is a possessive idea...You are mine...This is part of the drive of physical union and sexual desire. The desire to merge comes from the heart chakra and feels like love....we feel 'expanded consciousness' in heart chakra..."
"The mind as meaning giver interprets the feeling."
Amit nodded to the 'emotional body' that was recognized early on by the T.S. as the place where the mind givens meaning to vital feelings.
When the person we are in love with steps out, we feel jealousy because of the possessiveness.
The idea of marriage/monogamy to prevent sex without love.
Nelda asked the question of how we achieve a balance?
How do we maintain a strong and healthy thymus gland while including other people in our hearts?
She also made the point of many mystics dying of cancer. Was it a loss of the distinction of me?
"Mother is the only one who has conquered the barrier of locality."
Maria pointed out that people with heart disease suffer from hostility, cynicism and the inability to share emotions. And that they do really well with group sharing, realizing and breathing techniques.
Lower Chakras
Amit gets a little old skool when talking about the lower chakras.
"These lower chakras are brain centers of negative emotions."
"We are in a rational age...an age of the rational mind."
"If we are producing separateness, it is not good for us."
"Evolution is trying to take us towards unity."
"Rational mind allows us to justify everything."
"Feeling and intuition and not rational"
"We are making better and better representations of the subtle."
"Mind is a barrier to giving meaning to feelings and intuition."
"How do we overcome this?"
"How can meaning and feelings be included?:
"We don;t have to do what we are doing."
"During Regan's presidency, Women became corrupted"
Women's values were negated, women were 'empowered' and they became 'rational'
"We need the women to lead us out of this."
"Anima integration"
"There I have made my pitch."
UMA
OM NAMAH SHIVAYA
In any teaching of yoga m there are 3 processes:
1. Shravana
Listen to the teachings with entire being. Absorb it. Be open minded. Non-judgemental. Learning depends on both teacher and student being in a harmonious field.
2. Manana
Reflect on it. Use the mind to reflect.
3. Nidhidhyana
Only then will the fruits of the learning be born.
She said the BHAVAN mantra
"We all make sacrifices to be here"
"We have to collectively create the energy to allow the teachings to flow."
"Shiva is the cosmic force of transformation...the one who is fearless, all auspicious, sacred and who will help us dissolve the negative emotions."
NA - Earth
Ma - Water
Shi - Fire
VA - Air
YA - Ether
"The Lord fo the 5 Cosmic elements"
"Mudras help harmonize the elements"
"Human effort has to be accompanied by divine grace.
Transform awareness to reconnect.
Pranas Myth
Told Narada Story of claiming to be the greatest devotee of Maha Vishnu and Maha Vishnu showing him the farmer. Narada asked to carry the pail of oil around the world without spilling one drop during which he never thought of Mahu Vishnu once while the hard working farmer is able to pray 6x a day.
"We become proud of our spiritual sadahana.. Our ego does this."
"The best sadhana is to constantly be aware of the divine undercurrent that is animating all your activities."
Can we become aware of this animating power?
Be aware of the unmanifest in the manifest.
Mandyuka Upanishad
A: pain of separating in the waking state.
Viswa (individual ego) is connected to Urat (virat?)
we are part of the whole nature
told the RK whip mark story.
Bhakti yoga is intimacy with God. Talk to God all the time.
RK to Vivekanadna: make every effort directed to the divine.
Nature can heal you.
Pay attention to the the peaceful ease in which the cows graze the grass.
Lord Laughs 2 times
- when the doctor says he has healed you and when people are fighting over property.
"never feel alone"
"everything in nature is a live"
"the divine is in everything"
in waking state, there is an observer, observed and observation
U
taijasa, the individual ego connects to hiranya sardha, the cosmic womb
dreaming state
psychological state
what is dreaming?
Dreamer
object of dream
process of dream
What is difference between dreaming and waking state?
There is no external stimuli in dreaming.
Memories are the stimulus of dreams, regurgitation.
Dream is better than waking.
More refinement.
We have access to memories of the collective in dreams.
We are connected to universal connected mind.
How does this help us psychologically?
"dump your problems into universal mind."
if most of time in tune with nature, not so much suffering.
if connected to collective mind, not so much suffering.
M
pragnya
deep sleep
ego is quiet
our suffering is the lease
"even physical pain disappears in deep sleep"
"everybody is equalized in deep sleep"
wake up and the same problems appear.
Ishwara
grace works
"never underestimate the power of prayer and grace"
story of Uma heading to temple of Shiva in Rishikesh as a teenager.
if you surrender to God, it is easiest.
"Who Am I" traces the ego to its end.
"Root of I"
Indian Wedding and Guest Story.
Do not get involved in the content of the mind, observe the source of thought.
Be vigilant.
Ego merges back to the source.
Challenge it.
Trace it.
"I am not this"
"I am awareness, intelligence and bliss"
Food prepared with LOVE touches your heart.
yoga = union
viyoga = disconnection
upayoga = practice of yoga in daily life
"to discover that blissful aspect and once we discover it, we have to transfer it."
"if u r not juicy, nothing flows"
"as long as suffering exists in us, it exists outside us."
"macrocosm is reflection of microcosm"
Then she "came to today's topic, Raga Yoga"
She began to go through the Yamas and I had to go.
Ahimsa, not just non-cruelty, but active kindness
Satya, there is an inner truth in each of us. what is the truth about yourself. contact it. manifest it.
Amit
"What are the questions and problems of Mind and How do we solve them?"
"When things happen, they happen very quickly"
"Consciousness contains 4 components of possibilities With Quantum Collapse, the possibilities manifest as the material body, the vital body, the mind and the supra mental intellect."
"How can we be so careless about our own experience that we 'give in' to the materialist belief."
"Meaning is something that cannot be computed...and there is mathematical proof."
"No digital representation of feeling."
[self note: what about a beautiful piece of music or art that creates feeling? is this measured differently?]
Today's Problems:
"We need to value our Archetypes."
"Quantum helps by eliminating argument of dualism."
Chinese Medicine Example:
Two types of complementary chi: yin and yang
the shadow and the light
complimentary is different than dualistic
complimentary is 2 different aspects of the same thing. dualistic is two different things.
Nelda:
Who is the we that makes the choice?
"We" arises simultaneously with the object we perceive from the Tangled Hierarchy of Quantum Measurement.
"We have identified with the brain"...and "I am separate from you."
yang is movement
yin is stability
[note: this was a new place for me. i had never thought of yin as stable before in comparison to yang as movement. in thinking about the bones vs the blood, this was a very useful understanding to me]
David Boehm the physicist:
he was looking for/giving an example of the uncertainty principle and discovered an example in thought.
the maximum difficult of the "straitjacket of the materialist" is whether or not the world is deterministic.
Can we determine the world based on measurements?
They wish yes cuz control and predictability are so nice.
"But complete prediction becomes so boring."
DB "We can never measure momentum and location with complete accuracy."
"Classical physics is deterministic...no creativity in the world."
"In Quantum world there is uncertainty"
DB: "We can never measure the content and direction of thought. "
In free association, you have no memory of content just the direction. In concentration meditation techniques, you stick to the content and allow for no direction.
"Intuition is the quality that is the most rarefied." So have to be careful about talking about it. Cannot do it on command, like thinking or feeling.
Maria:
Can you see content and direction from a higher perspective of consciousness? As consciousness expands, can you see these things simultaneously?
Amit: When You become Whole with Consciousness then there is no separation. Everything is known.
"everything known in possibility."
So "evolution" is only a possibility?
eternity is not infinity.
in eternity, nothing happens, permanent, the Godhead
infinity is a long time from now, extent of time
Aurobindo was the first mystic to focus on evolution.
The Soul is the highest ideal.
[eric: is there a natural selection of possibilities?]
"What is this reality? At once nothing happens and something changes." Krishnamurti
Both Stationary and in Movement.
"it moves, it moves not"
Amit says that it was a mistake of the mystics to not recognize evolution earlier.
"Ideas of Evolution" Come slow to us.
"Transformation is fundamental."
"Evolution is a species level."
we are moving towards "godliness on earth."
Why is it so hard to make progress?
Our negative emotional Brain Circuits
Amit showed a slide detailing the "blueprint" of how we get mental and physical representations from collapse.
"How Biological Functions Come Down From Heaven"
"Why do Chakras Work?"
What are chakras? and Why do we feel feelings here specially?
Chakras are the places Quantum Collapse the blueprint.
It is not the physical organ that creates the feeling.
The feeling is a feeling of vital movement.
A change in the vital energy.
Heart and Thymus Gland
Thymus Gland governs the immune system and the Heart is the most important to us relative to the spiritual.
Thymus: distinguishes me from not me.
"This cell is not me, so eliminate it"
"When we cannot do that, we get cancer."
"Romantic Love is a possessive idea...You are mine...This is part of the drive of physical union and sexual desire. The desire to merge comes from the heart chakra and feels like love....we feel 'expanded consciousness' in heart chakra..."
"The mind as meaning giver interprets the feeling."
Amit nodded to the 'emotional body' that was recognized early on by the T.S. as the place where the mind givens meaning to vital feelings.
When the person we are in love with steps out, we feel jealousy because of the possessiveness.
The idea of marriage/monogamy to prevent sex without love.
Nelda asked the question of how we achieve a balance?
How do we maintain a strong and healthy thymus gland while including other people in our hearts?
She also made the point of many mystics dying of cancer. Was it a loss of the distinction of me?
"Mother is the only one who has conquered the barrier of locality."
Maria pointed out that people with heart disease suffer from hostility, cynicism and the inability to share emotions. And that they do really well with group sharing, realizing and breathing techniques.
Lower Chakras
Amit gets a little old skool when talking about the lower chakras.
"These lower chakras are brain centers of negative emotions."
"We are in a rational age...an age of the rational mind."
"If we are producing separateness, it is not good for us."
"Evolution is trying to take us towards unity."
"Rational mind allows us to justify everything."
"Feeling and intuition and not rational"
"We are making better and better representations of the subtle."
"Mind is a barrier to giving meaning to feelings and intuition."
"How do we overcome this?"
"How can meaning and feelings be included?:
"We don;t have to do what we are doing."
"During Regan's presidency, Women became corrupted"
Women's values were negated, women were 'empowered' and they became 'rational'
"We need the women to lead us out of this."
"Anima integration"
"There I have made my pitch."
UMA
OM NAMAH SHIVAYA
In any teaching of yoga m there are 3 processes:
1. Shravana
Listen to the teachings with entire being. Absorb it. Be open minded. Non-judgemental. Learning depends on both teacher and student being in a harmonious field.
2. Manana
Reflect on it. Use the mind to reflect.
3. Nidhidhyana
Only then will the fruits of the learning be born.
She said the BHAVAN mantra
"We all make sacrifices to be here"
"We have to collectively create the energy to allow the teachings to flow."
"Shiva is the cosmic force of transformation...the one who is fearless, all auspicious, sacred and who will help us dissolve the negative emotions."
NA - Earth
Ma - Water
Shi - Fire
VA - Air
YA - Ether
"The Lord fo the 5 Cosmic elements"
"Mudras help harmonize the elements"
"Human effort has to be accompanied by divine grace.
Transform awareness to reconnect.
Pranas Myth
Told Narada Story of claiming to be the greatest devotee of Maha Vishnu and Maha Vishnu showing him the farmer. Narada asked to carry the pail of oil around the world without spilling one drop during which he never thought of Mahu Vishnu once while the hard working farmer is able to pray 6x a day.
"We become proud of our spiritual sadahana.. Our ego does this."
"The best sadhana is to constantly be aware of the divine undercurrent that is animating all your activities."
Can we become aware of this animating power?
Be aware of the unmanifest in the manifest.
Mandyuka Upanishad
A: pain of separating in the waking state.
Viswa (individual ego) is connected to Urat (virat?)
we are part of the whole nature
told the RK whip mark story.
Bhakti yoga is intimacy with God. Talk to God all the time.
RK to Vivekanadna: make every effort directed to the divine.
Nature can heal you.
Pay attention to the the peaceful ease in which the cows graze the grass.
Lord Laughs 2 times
- when the doctor says he has healed you and when people are fighting over property.
"never feel alone"
"everything in nature is a live"
"the divine is in everything"
in waking state, there is an observer, observed and observation
U
taijasa, the individual ego connects to hiranya sardha, the cosmic womb
dreaming state
psychological state
what is dreaming?
Dreamer
object of dream
process of dream
What is difference between dreaming and waking state?
There is no external stimuli in dreaming.
Memories are the stimulus of dreams, regurgitation.
Dream is better than waking.
More refinement.
We have access to memories of the collective in dreams.
We are connected to universal connected mind.
How does this help us psychologically?
"dump your problems into universal mind."
if most of time in tune with nature, not so much suffering.
if connected to collective mind, not so much suffering.
M
pragnya
deep sleep
ego is quiet
our suffering is the lease
"even physical pain disappears in deep sleep"
"everybody is equalized in deep sleep"
wake up and the same problems appear.
Ishwara
grace works
"never underestimate the power of prayer and grace"
story of Uma heading to temple of Shiva in Rishikesh as a teenager.
if you surrender to God, it is easiest.
"Who Am I" traces the ego to its end.
"Root of I"
Indian Wedding and Guest Story.
Do not get involved in the content of the mind, observe the source of thought.
Be vigilant.
Ego merges back to the source.
Challenge it.
Trace it.
"I am not this"
"I am awareness, intelligence and bliss"
Food prepared with LOVE touches your heart.
yoga = union
viyoga = disconnection
upayoga = practice of yoga in daily life
"to discover that blissful aspect and once we discover it, we have to transfer it."
"if u r not juicy, nothing flows"
"as long as suffering exists in us, it exists outside us."
"macrocosm is reflection of microcosm"
Then she "came to today's topic, Raga Yoga"
She began to go through the Yamas and I had to go.
Ahimsa, not just non-cruelty, but active kindness
Satya, there is an inner truth in each of us. what is the truth about yourself. contact it. manifest it.
Teaching at Krotona Day 1 and 2
I have the opportunity to teach yoga during some of the afternoons during Amit and Uma's visit. This is super fun. I have been surprised by what I actually end up teaching. The class is an hour.
Day 1
Hot day and room was cooled down.
Supine
Pelvis Rocking
Shimmy
Hamstrings with Strap
Transition to All Fours
Cat/Cow
2 Rounds of Lunges with Childs Pose
Sphinx Pose x 2
Roll onto Backs
Windshield Wiper
Cosmic Rest
Easy Spinal Twist
Knees to Chest
Savasana
Day 2
Cold day and the room was cold.
Began Sitting
Sukhasana with Forward Fold, Side Bending and Back bending switching cross of legs.
A-U-M Chanting Breakdown
(Uma had broke down AUM today so I followed)
Transition to Earth
Windshield Wiper
Pelvis Rocking
The Shimmy 2x
Hamstring Stretching with Strap
Bridge x 2
Cosmic Rest
Eye of the Needle
Easy Spinal Twist
Savasana
Day 1
Hot day and room was cooled down.
Supine
Pelvis Rocking
Shimmy
Hamstrings with Strap
Transition to All Fours
Cat/Cow
2 Rounds of Lunges with Childs Pose
Sphinx Pose x 2
Roll onto Backs
Windshield Wiper
Cosmic Rest
Easy Spinal Twist
Knees to Chest
Savasana
Day 2
Cold day and the room was cold.
Began Sitting
Sukhasana with Forward Fold, Side Bending and Back bending switching cross of legs.
A-U-M Chanting Breakdown
(Uma had broke down AUM today so I followed)
Transition to Earth
Windshield Wiper
Pelvis Rocking
The Shimmy 2x
Hamstring Stretching with Strap
Bridge x 2
Cosmic Rest
Eye of the Needle
Easy Spinal Twist
Savasana
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Uma and Amit Goswami at Krotona April 22
April 22, 2009
The main theme today between Amit and Uma was the idea of "living lightly". Allow ourselves to be less dense of collapsed memories and ways of doing things and operate in the waves of possibility, allowing for insight. Relaxed Awareness.
AMIT
We arrived 30 minutes late cuz of Class.
As long as the world is "scientific", nobody is going to "let there be light."
the law of science does not believe in miracles.
miracles are "local-exceptions."
Amit presented why Quantum is micro, and not macro.
The unchanging nature of the physical world, gives us a common ground of experience
"When we are not looking, there are waves of possibilities."
[self note: how dies this relate to awareness?]
How do we learn to make a better representation of the subtle?
How as children do we learn to make a better picture?
We learn by making representation first.
Need better representation to make better representations.
[self note: don't we just learn to look more closely]
Do not need to rediscover the wheel over and over.
"to make representations of the subtle" we collapse the subtle?
"I an collapse the same thought over and over again OR I can rethink it"
continuous thought and discontinuous thought are both allowed.
continuous thought is easier, memorized. easier to recall the memory than respond to the new circumstance.
dis continually dominates as we become more refined. so we feel more spontaneous and fresh and new in the supra mental.
5 Archetypes
Love Beauty Justice Truth and Good
basic concept of fundamental thought that it matches our soul.
discontinuity dominates
example mental representation of Love
if we learn about love from our mother, it will be natural for us to repeat that mental memory of love. "imagine the disaster."
"Our difficulty comes cuz we do not look."
recognize that this is not working
"suffering/pain" is the clue
our sense of separation from unity.
"How do we take the Quantum Leap?"
Say NO to the conditioning that is creating the suffering and separateness.
Proof of change is that it does take place.
The belief in electricity example.
I asked question about looking as necessary to see the conditioning and how that relates to "collapsing the possibilities".
Amit pointed towards the idea in yoga of "relaxed awareness."
"focus with ease"
Relax and allow for the insight.
Maria asked: What is calling forth the insight? What is this quality of dhyana? It IS a collapse because there is an insight, but what is happening there?
"It is beyond all this."
Must be a BURNING QUESTION
pursuing it even when relaxing.
Collapse of a WAVEFORM.
"We" is the conscious observer
Omar Quam Love Poems, "The Longing for God is a Romantic Love."
You have to have the answer.
You grow a longing for the answer.
Either Suffering is so great that you have to get out.
Or you can simply seek Joy. You become so intrigued by the Joy, that you want more, you want to find the source itself.
The Bride and the Mother in Law Slide.
"I am creating the world that I am."
Psychophysical Parallelism
people still talk of the "mind/body" problem"
how can both exist without needing a dual argument
"both mind and mater are possibilities of consciousness, there not dual."
There is a Discontinuous Local Collapse in the 5 bodies from both the Consciousness and Supra- mental Intellect and the Mental, Vital and Physical Properties.
"We choose our possibilities from these places."
Amit presented that he solved this problem 8 years ago in his books:
"Visionary Window" and "Physics of the Soul"
"Quantum" is a scary word to philosophers.
UMA
AUM
Om
Purnamadah Purnamidam
Purnat Purnamudachyate
Purnasya Purnamadaya
Purnameva Vashishyate
Om shanti, shanti, shanti
Essentially, meaning:
Om.
That is the whole, this is the whole;
from the whole, the whole becomes manifest;
taking away the whole from the whole,
the whole remains.
Om. Peace! Peace! Peace!
Ghandi said, "if the entire knowledge of the Upanishads were destroyed and this one stanza were to remain, we would still have the entire wisdom of the Upanishads." (or something like that)
the whole gives birth to the whole and is continuous to the whole.
there are no authors of the Upanishads.
"Rishis did not dare put their name on it."
Shruti = wisdom that was revealed to them
Uma mentioned that we owe the study of Vedenta to Shankaracharya.
That up until he recorded it it was an oral history for 2000 years.
She told the story of being sad that she was not born 50 years earlier.
"never doubt the existence of living masters."
"it is thrilling to be contemplating these ancient teachings"
"If we can transform our perception, no other yoga is required."
"in ever manifest creation is the abode of God"
Who's fault is it that we cannot discover it?
The qualities of Divine are Awaress, Intelligence, Blissfullness
"There is Something wrong in your perception."
Avidya
Agnyana
Maya
How do we correct this?
Our suffering comes from ego."ego is the mental construct/creation of the mind"
BG defintion of the Ego:
chit jada granthi
chit: consciousness (chitta/mind comes from chit)
jada: body
granthi: knot
ego makes the unlimited consciousness feel as if it is tied to the body
"when thoughts become silent, consciousness shines through."
"mind is nothing but a flow of thoughts"
in an enlightened man: mind hardly gives rise to thought
ignorance: continuous flow of thoughts, helplessly thinking
meditation: create space between thoughts
not emptiness: FULLNESS
"as long as we do no see divine in another person, we will interact superficially"
our psychological suffering comes from comparison and competition
we suffer when we feel superior or inferior
[story of the boy who would not talk]
"so easy to destroy, so hard to heal."
"so easy to rupture some body's dignity."
"so difficult to return it back."
[story of the Sanskrit pHd woman]
"Find out what is good in yourself"
our society is expert in showing the negative.
parents criticize children 80% of the time
"Let aspects of your soul that you want to be expressed to be nurtured."
"What are the positive attribute that each one of us has?"
"Yoga Therapy"
"Weaknesses will be there in your personality, ignore them. dwell on the positive aspects." RK
Our positive attributes are hard to know.
Easier to Narrate the weaknesses.
Very few people know their good qualities
Swadharma
swa - self
dharma - properties/Laws of Being
MASLOW
people with positive mental health
All happy and successful people have 16 qualities in common.
Healing
"offer a loving observation"
Betsy asked the question of how as a parent to approach the 20%
everything can be clothed in dignity. so many children have shattered diginity. hurting the dignity is an act of violence.
What makes us Violent?
negative emotions are subtle shades of violence. none of us want to be violnet.
Root out the seed of violence.
Root out seed of violence in competitive instinct.
"Competitive instincts is what makes us undignifed human beings."
"Human Beings have to OVERCOME competitive instincts. Part of the Animal Kingdom.
Discussion of the Brain, and the 3 parts.
We need to learn to cooperate.
As long as feel separate, will compete.
How to criticize without being negative?
Do it in dignified language.
The story of Sage Meditating with the Snake.
"I told you not to bite, but I did not tell you not to hiss."
"the bite comes from our own emotions."
"how do we prevent biting"
"don't say anything in anger mood. cool down and then express it."
emotions have births, peaks and deaths.
"don't allow yourself to be exploited."
"we get karma as exploited and exploiter."
the War in Mahabarata
Krishna does not allow for exploitation.
Sometimes we have to fight against injustice.
Purification and Refinement
Chitta Shuddhi
Mind Lightness
"The more light we are, the more divine consciousness can come through."
"Learn to live lightly in your body and mind as a quest."
"We suffer when we assume too much responsibility."
the traveling life is more of a quest.
"don't stick to too many memories, let them go"
"the lighter we are, the more we can be happy."
"the masters liver very lightly."
4 Main Branches of Yoga
- Jnana
discover the divine in others. give up habit of criticism, judgement
cultivate habit iof loving observation
be in tune with your own divinity and tune to their divinity, healing happened
"lecture creates problems, better to sit in holy silence"
"the more centered we are, the more healing can come through us."
"doing the greatest service in perception."
"when we observe, can we bring in the aspect of Love."
Bliss Body has 5 properties
Priya: that which is lovable
"if we want to discover happiness in wold, it is possible."
"don't covet another's property."
Viveka: emotional maturity
Who are you?
what kind of life do you want?
internally honest
be ruthless in honesty
[story of the housekeeper]
[salt and water story]
Raga Yoga
to train our concentration
Bhakti
to purify our emotions
Karma
to purify our actions
Homework: Read these 3 upanishads
Pantajali's Yoga Sutras
using the Mind to turn the mind
Weak Concentration is one of the causes of suffering.
8 Limbs
samadhi
sama: same
dhi: intelligence of the heart
The main theme today between Amit and Uma was the idea of "living lightly". Allow ourselves to be less dense of collapsed memories and ways of doing things and operate in the waves of possibility, allowing for insight. Relaxed Awareness.
AMIT
We arrived 30 minutes late cuz of Class.
As long as the world is "scientific", nobody is going to "let there be light."
the law of science does not believe in miracles.
miracles are "local-exceptions."
Amit presented why Quantum is micro, and not macro.
The unchanging nature of the physical world, gives us a common ground of experience
"When we are not looking, there are waves of possibilities."
[self note: how dies this relate to awareness?]
How do we learn to make a better representation of the subtle?
How as children do we learn to make a better picture?
We learn by making representation first.
Need better representation to make better representations.
[self note: don't we just learn to look more closely]
Do not need to rediscover the wheel over and over.
"to make representations of the subtle" we collapse the subtle?
"I an collapse the same thought over and over again OR I can rethink it"
continuous thought and discontinuous thought are both allowed.
continuous thought is easier, memorized. easier to recall the memory than respond to the new circumstance.
dis continually dominates as we become more refined. so we feel more spontaneous and fresh and new in the supra mental.
5 Archetypes
Love Beauty Justice Truth and Good
basic concept of fundamental thought that it matches our soul.
discontinuity dominates
example mental representation of Love
if we learn about love from our mother, it will be natural for us to repeat that mental memory of love. "imagine the disaster."
"Our difficulty comes cuz we do not look."
recognize that this is not working
"suffering/pain" is the clue
our sense of separation from unity.
"How do we take the Quantum Leap?"
Say NO to the conditioning that is creating the suffering and separateness.
Proof of change is that it does take place.
The belief in electricity example.
I asked question about looking as necessary to see the conditioning and how that relates to "collapsing the possibilities".
Amit pointed towards the idea in yoga of "relaxed awareness."
"focus with ease"
Relax and allow for the insight.
Maria asked: What is calling forth the insight? What is this quality of dhyana? It IS a collapse because there is an insight, but what is happening there?
"It is beyond all this."
Must be a BURNING QUESTION
pursuing it even when relaxing.
Collapse of a WAVEFORM.
"We" is the conscious observer
Omar Quam Love Poems, "The Longing for God is a Romantic Love."
You have to have the answer.
You grow a longing for the answer.
Either Suffering is so great that you have to get out.
Or you can simply seek Joy. You become so intrigued by the Joy, that you want more, you want to find the source itself.
The Bride and the Mother in Law Slide.
"I am creating the world that I am."
Psychophysical Parallelism
people still talk of the "mind/body" problem"
how can both exist without needing a dual argument
"both mind and mater are possibilities of consciousness, there not dual."
There is a Discontinuous Local Collapse in the 5 bodies from both the Consciousness and Supra- mental Intellect and the Mental, Vital and Physical Properties.
"We choose our possibilities from these places."
Amit presented that he solved this problem 8 years ago in his books:
"Visionary Window" and "Physics of the Soul"
"Quantum" is a scary word to philosophers.
UMA
AUM
Om
Purnamadah Purnamidam
Purnat Purnamudachyate
Purnasya Purnamadaya
Purnameva Vashishyate
Om shanti, shanti, shanti
Essentially, meaning:
Om.
That is the whole, this is the whole;
from the whole, the whole becomes manifest;
taking away the whole from the whole,
the whole remains.
Om. Peace! Peace! Peace!
Ghandi said, "if the entire knowledge of the Upanishads were destroyed and this one stanza were to remain, we would still have the entire wisdom of the Upanishads." (or something like that)
the whole gives birth to the whole and is continuous to the whole.
there are no authors of the Upanishads.
"Rishis did not dare put their name on it."
Shruti = wisdom that was revealed to them
Uma mentioned that we owe the study of Vedenta to Shankaracharya.
That up until he recorded it it was an oral history for 2000 years.
She told the story of being sad that she was not born 50 years earlier.
"never doubt the existence of living masters."
"it is thrilling to be contemplating these ancient teachings"
"If we can transform our perception, no other yoga is required."
"in ever manifest creation is the abode of God"
Who's fault is it that we cannot discover it?
The qualities of Divine are Awaress, Intelligence, Blissfullness
"There is Something wrong in your perception."
Avidya
Agnyana
Maya
How do we correct this?
Our suffering comes from ego."ego is the mental construct/creation of the mind"
BG defintion of the Ego:
chit jada granthi
chit: consciousness (chitta/mind comes from chit)
jada: body
granthi: knot
ego makes the unlimited consciousness feel as if it is tied to the body
"when thoughts become silent, consciousness shines through."
"mind is nothing but a flow of thoughts"
in an enlightened man: mind hardly gives rise to thought
ignorance: continuous flow of thoughts, helplessly thinking
meditation: create space between thoughts
not emptiness: FULLNESS
"as long as we do no see divine in another person, we will interact superficially"
our psychological suffering comes from comparison and competition
we suffer when we feel superior or inferior
[story of the boy who would not talk]
"so easy to destroy, so hard to heal."
"so easy to rupture some body's dignity."
"so difficult to return it back."
[story of the Sanskrit pHd woman]
"Find out what is good in yourself"
our society is expert in showing the negative.
parents criticize children 80% of the time
"Let aspects of your soul that you want to be expressed to be nurtured."
"What are the positive attribute that each one of us has?"
"Yoga Therapy"
"Weaknesses will be there in your personality, ignore them. dwell on the positive aspects." RK
Our positive attributes are hard to know.
Easier to Narrate the weaknesses.
Very few people know their good qualities
Swadharma
swa - self
dharma - properties/Laws of Being
MASLOW
people with positive mental health
All happy and successful people have 16 qualities in common.
Healing
"offer a loving observation"
Betsy asked the question of how as a parent to approach the 20%
everything can be clothed in dignity. so many children have shattered diginity. hurting the dignity is an act of violence.
What makes us Violent?
negative emotions are subtle shades of violence. none of us want to be violnet.
Root out the seed of violence.
Root out seed of violence in competitive instinct.
"Competitive instincts is what makes us undignifed human beings."
"Human Beings have to OVERCOME competitive instincts. Part of the Animal Kingdom.
Discussion of the Brain, and the 3 parts.
We need to learn to cooperate.
As long as feel separate, will compete.
How to criticize without being negative?
Do it in dignified language.
The story of Sage Meditating with the Snake.
"I told you not to bite, but I did not tell you not to hiss."
"the bite comes from our own emotions."
"how do we prevent biting"
"don't say anything in anger mood. cool down and then express it."
emotions have births, peaks and deaths.
"don't allow yourself to be exploited."
"we get karma as exploited and exploiter."
the War in Mahabarata
Krishna does not allow for exploitation.
Sometimes we have to fight against injustice.
Purification and Refinement
Chitta Shuddhi
Mind Lightness
"The more light we are, the more divine consciousness can come through."
"Learn to live lightly in your body and mind as a quest."
"We suffer when we assume too much responsibility."
the traveling life is more of a quest.
"don't stick to too many memories, let them go"
"the lighter we are, the more we can be happy."
"the masters liver very lightly."
4 Main Branches of Yoga
- Jnana
discover the divine in others. give up habit of criticism, judgement
cultivate habit iof loving observation
be in tune with your own divinity and tune to their divinity, healing happened
"lecture creates problems, better to sit in holy silence"
"the more centered we are, the more healing can come through us."
"doing the greatest service in perception."
"when we observe, can we bring in the aspect of Love."
Bliss Body has 5 properties
Priya: that which is lovable
"if we want to discover happiness in wold, it is possible."
"don't covet another's property."
Viveka: emotional maturity
Who are you?
what kind of life do you want?
internally honest
be ruthless in honesty
[story of the housekeeper]
[salt and water story]
Raga Yoga
to train our concentration
Bhakti
to purify our emotions
Karma
to purify our actions
Homework: Read these 3 upanishads
- Taittirīya (KYV)
- Īṣa (ŚYV)
- Māṇḍūkya (AV)
Pantajali's Yoga Sutras
using the Mind to turn the mind
Weak Concentration is one of the causes of suffering.
8 Limbs
samadhi
sama: same
dhi: intelligence of the heart
Uma and Amit Goswami at Krotona April 21
These are a collection of notes from the Goswami's Course at Krotona, "Nurturing the Soul. We gather from 10 to 12:30 from Tuesday through Friday. Amit speaks first, then Uma. I am writing these notes the day after, which is never quiet as good as the scribbles are less decipherable.
April 21, 2009
Amit
'God is not Dead'
this "opportunistic world view is a problem"
Terminology
Godhead vs. God
Godhead as the conscious ground of all being. Nothing happens here.
God is creative action of the Godhead.
"This is all the dream of the Godhead"
"We have an outside experience, and we have an inside experience. So our inclination is to split it."
"I can with some effort, stop my thinking and feeling."
"Dualism has been criticized since the beginning."
Amit had an Upward Causation Model Slide up on Screen.
particles leading to atoms leading to molecules to cells to brain to consciousness
Amit asked what is wrong with the model.
It is the correct model for the mater, but wrong to claim that the brain creates consciousness.
Darkashan pointed out that everything except consciousness is quantifiable.
"Idea of Materialism is also old."
External = matter
Internal = not matter
The Goals of This Workshop:
1. Get a sense of the way the world works.
2. What is the meaning of the World? (if causation model was true, there could be no meaning.)
3. What is the meaning that you bring ? (What is the meaning of my life?)
4. What is the Meaning that you Want? (hard to be Friends with people that have a different sense of meaning, there is disharmony)
5. What can you do about it?
Brain and consciousness are always together but not the same.
Amit continually gives word and nod to HPV Blavatsky as being an early seer of all this.
Darwin said that meaning gives us a survival advantage, increases are value.
"How do love, truth and beauty come about?"
No body checked out if matter can process meaning.
Pendrose: "Matter cannot process meaning."
[note to self: want to find the quote from Marion woodman about mater coming from the same root as mother.]
We define matter through its characteristics
Definition of consciousness is impossible since it is the GROUND oF ALL BEING.
Maria pointed out that the model still prevails in medicine....that our body is simply chemicals and by correcting the structure of the chemicals we can heal and cure.
Meaning is central to our existence.
"Indians cannot keep a straight forward discussion."
Look for a book called, "Disturbing the Universe."
"Can our intentions disturb the universe?"
"yes we can."
"If we can do something, then we must. "
"Quantum Activism -- let your intention become a force of change in your own life and world."
what is necessary and unnecessary?
Causation Model is WRONG.
There was some discussion about the whole being greater than the sum of its parts but i spaced out a little.
David Summer, "Objects always give us objects."
Consciousness is a SUBJECT.
There is a LOOKER.
Subjectivity.
"Does not explain 'mind over mater.'"
Point about telepathy raised by Marjorie.
Telepathy is direct communication.
Three Common Characteristics in Quantum Physics
1. Non-Locality (signals communication)
2. Dis-Continuity (electrons jump from one orbit to the other with no intermediate step)
3. Tangled Hierarchy
Amit discussed the effects of QP 'internally' and 'externally.'
"In the internal feeling world, quantum goes on unabated."
"quantum effects are never subdued internally, in fact they dominate, which is what makes the experience of them mostly internal."
"But we do not need a 'dual' argument in external world cuz quantum effects are simply abated, that is why there seems to be an external."
To understand Q.P., need a concept of tangled hierarchy.
"Upper levels of cause and effect on lower levels"
"material interactions cannot produce:
- non- locality
- dis continuation
- tangled hierarchy, only simple hierarchy."
"What are the qualities of a cell?"
"dna makes protein and a dna needs protein to be made"
wholeism is one of the mysteries of life.
"There is a way of discerning God."
"All religions ascribe God some Power."
"'Be Good' is the main message of religions."
"Intuition helps make it an active principle."
Our brain is wried with negative emotions like competition. We have to transcend these. This is a correct idea of religions.
"Every time you succumb to negative brain emotions, you feel separate from the whole."
"Bad always happens"
"But if you do not succumb, if you can listen to the intuition and be proactive and be good, what we do makes us feel united."
"if we give to someone, i feel wonderful cuz i am united and feel happy."
"heaven is the name of place where we are whole."
"hell is where we feel separate to the extreme"
"relaxation is being whole and happy."
UMA
"What does evolution imply psychologically?"
"What do we mean by evolution"
"The Atman, the essential consciousness is already divine, perfect."
She recited the first stanza of Isha Upanishad.
Om
Purnamadah Purnamidam
Purnat Purnamudachyate
Purnasya Purnamadaya
Purnameva Vashishyate
Om shanti, shanti, shanti
Essentially, meaning:
Om.
That is the whole, this is the whole;
from the whole, the whole becomes manifest;
taking away the whole from the whole,
the whole remains.
Om. Peace! Peace! Peace!
So where lies the imperfections? The inadequacies?
Why do we suffer?
Is suffering necessary for us to change? grow? transform?
Where does change/evolution eventually apply?
To the instruments of Consciousness.
Atman does not work, it radiates through the 5 bodies of consciousness.
The Koshas.
"Our Soul needs to express itself."
"We come into this incarnation with specific properties."
SwaDharma
"Do your own duty, not someone else's duty"
"We are supposed to manifest"
Dharma is the property of our own soul.
"But there is a block which is preventing us from full expression of soul. The purpose of evolution is a realignment/refinement of our bodies to Vibrate with our Soul."
"I am thinking along with you...don't think I have the answer" Uma
"Yoga is to Consciously Cooperate with Nature in the Direction of her Design." Aurobindo
"Understanding is key to cooperation"
"Communication is when 2 peeps are interacting with each other at the same intensity at the same time." Krishnamurtiu
"Even the instruments of seriousness can be divinizied if we can bring the super consciousness, we can, " - aurobindo
PURIFICATION
REFINEMENT
"we waste away our life"
Why do we suffer?
3 fundamental problems of the ego:
We feel:
- inferior
- inadequate, or limited
- incomplete
yoga is designed to help build up stamina/stability.
for physical connection: need to be able to sit
and for emotional devotion: hard to be deliberate in state of bhakti for a long time
"we usually pray to god when we are in crisis"
"this is not bhakti, this is a cry for help."
She told the story of Kunti praying to Krishna for suffering because only when she suffers is her mind turned to him.
"Oh god, come to me in the summer of my life, not just the winter" - Kabir
"Suffering helps us change."
"Challenge your suffering producing concepts" - RM
"Why do you analyze the snake that has fallen on your body?"
"As long as we cling to the pain, something needs to be corrected."
"Why do we cling to unhappiness?"
"What is it in me that clings to pain?"
3 Gunas
Satvic - throws the neg. emotions out (force of purity)
Rajastic - explodes with the emotions (force of passion)
Tamasaic - clings to them (force of inertia)
"Go beyond the Gunas"
"go beyond nature itself"
"evolution/change happens in space and time"
[note to self: is this why we incarnate?]
it is changeless beyond space and time.
"yoga begins at samadhi" - aurobindo
even if you are enlightened, you come back and work for the welfare of society
"refinement/purification can happen when we touch the sorrowlessness in our self"
"we indulge in the negative emotions"
the story of her housekeeper wanting to maintain the social gap
with our negative emotions: "we get a positive reinforcement of our individuality"
a master has "flung his individuality to the the universe."
small identification
how to dissolve the ego?
how to open the connection to the soul?
(homework: spend 15 minutes contemplating your noblest aspect of self)
" A Rishi can see. He is a seer. He penetrates name and form."
has to be an urgency.
Aurobindo's 4 Aids for Evolution
Shastra
Study of the Scriptures.
To go beyond the word, to the Spirit
Not a mechanical study of the texts.
Swadya means study of yourself.
Utsaha
enthusiasm for God
to recruit the highest truth when we study the highest truths
you feel humble and like you do not know enough
feeling "i know nothing" has to come
without humility, the higher knowledge cannot be found
Guru
when their is a humility, the guru will come
"friend, philosopher, and guide," - aurobindo
Can be a mountain, a river, force of awakening
force of transformation
absolutely necessary
anything that brings you to himself
Kala
time
"don't fight with time, flow with it"
to see eternity in the moment
"to bring you in contact with one self."
time not to be squeezed as a moment
Maslow
"the aim is life is re-sacrad-a-lization"
How do we not give ourselves over to others?
we allow powers of others over our mind?
"Don't internalize events."
How stop Brooding?
1. Get up and do something else.
April 21, 2009
Amit
'God is not Dead'
this "opportunistic world view is a problem"
Terminology
Godhead vs. God
Godhead as the conscious ground of all being. Nothing happens here.
God is creative action of the Godhead.
"This is all the dream of the Godhead"
"We have an outside experience, and we have an inside experience. So our inclination is to split it."
"I can with some effort, stop my thinking and feeling."
"Dualism has been criticized since the beginning."
Amit had an Upward Causation Model Slide up on Screen.
particles leading to atoms leading to molecules to cells to brain to consciousness
Amit asked what is wrong with the model.
It is the correct model for the mater, but wrong to claim that the brain creates consciousness.
Darkashan pointed out that everything except consciousness is quantifiable.
"Idea of Materialism is also old."
External = matter
Internal = not matter
The Goals of This Workshop:
1. Get a sense of the way the world works.
2. What is the meaning of the World? (if causation model was true, there could be no meaning.)
3. What is the meaning that you bring ? (What is the meaning of my life?)
4. What is the Meaning that you Want? (hard to be Friends with people that have a different sense of meaning, there is disharmony)
5. What can you do about it?
Brain and consciousness are always together but not the same.
Amit continually gives word and nod to HPV Blavatsky as being an early seer of all this.
Darwin said that meaning gives us a survival advantage, increases are value.
"How do love, truth and beauty come about?"
No body checked out if matter can process meaning.
Pendrose: "Matter cannot process meaning."
[note to self: want to find the quote from Marion woodman about mater coming from the same root as mother.]
We define matter through its characteristics
Definition of consciousness is impossible since it is the GROUND oF ALL BEING.
Maria pointed out that the model still prevails in medicine....that our body is simply chemicals and by correcting the structure of the chemicals we can heal and cure.
Meaning is central to our existence.
"Indians cannot keep a straight forward discussion."
Look for a book called, "Disturbing the Universe."
"Can our intentions disturb the universe?"
"yes we can."
"If we can do something, then we must. "
"Quantum Activism -- let your intention become a force of change in your own life and world."
what is necessary and unnecessary?
Causation Model is WRONG.
There was some discussion about the whole being greater than the sum of its parts but i spaced out a little.
David Summer, "Objects always give us objects."
Consciousness is a SUBJECT.
There is a LOOKER.
Subjectivity.
"Does not explain 'mind over mater.'"
Point about telepathy raised by Marjorie.
Telepathy is direct communication.
Three Common Characteristics in Quantum Physics
1. Non-Locality (signals communication)
2. Dis-Continuity (electrons jump from one orbit to the other with no intermediate step)
3. Tangled Hierarchy
Amit discussed the effects of QP 'internally' and 'externally.'
"In the internal feeling world, quantum goes on unabated."
"quantum effects are never subdued internally, in fact they dominate, which is what makes the experience of them mostly internal."
"But we do not need a 'dual' argument in external world cuz quantum effects are simply abated, that is why there seems to be an external."
To understand Q.P., need a concept of tangled hierarchy.
"Upper levels of cause and effect on lower levels"
"material interactions cannot produce:
- non- locality
- dis continuation
- tangled hierarchy, only simple hierarchy."
"What are the qualities of a cell?"
"dna makes protein and a dna needs protein to be made"
wholeism is one of the mysteries of life.
"There is a way of discerning God."
"All religions ascribe God some Power."
"'Be Good' is the main message of religions."
"Intuition helps make it an active principle."
Our brain is wried with negative emotions like competition. We have to transcend these. This is a correct idea of religions.
"Every time you succumb to negative brain emotions, you feel separate from the whole."
"Bad always happens"
"But if you do not succumb, if you can listen to the intuition and be proactive and be good, what we do makes us feel united."
"if we give to someone, i feel wonderful cuz i am united and feel happy."
"heaven is the name of place where we are whole."
"hell is where we feel separate to the extreme"
"relaxation is being whole and happy."
UMA
"What does evolution imply psychologically?"
"What do we mean by evolution"
"The Atman, the essential consciousness is already divine, perfect."
She recited the first stanza of Isha Upanishad.
Om
Purnamadah Purnamidam
Purnat Purnamudachyate
Purnasya Purnamadaya
Purnameva Vashishyate
Om shanti, shanti, shanti
Essentially, meaning:
Om.
That is the whole, this is the whole;
from the whole, the whole becomes manifest;
taking away the whole from the whole,
the whole remains.
Om. Peace! Peace! Peace!
So where lies the imperfections? The inadequacies?
Why do we suffer?
Is suffering necessary for us to change? grow? transform?
Where does change/evolution eventually apply?
To the instruments of Consciousness.
Atman does not work, it radiates through the 5 bodies of consciousness.
The Koshas.
"Our Soul needs to express itself."
"We come into this incarnation with specific properties."
SwaDharma
"Do your own duty, not someone else's duty"
"We are supposed to manifest"
Dharma is the property of our own soul.
"But there is a block which is preventing us from full expression of soul. The purpose of evolution is a realignment/refinement of our bodies to Vibrate with our Soul."
"I am thinking along with you...don't think I have the answer" Uma
"Yoga is to Consciously Cooperate with Nature in the Direction of her Design." Aurobindo
"Understanding is key to cooperation"
"Communication is when 2 peeps are interacting with each other at the same intensity at the same time." Krishnamurtiu
"Even the instruments of seriousness can be divinizied if we can bring the super consciousness, we can, " - aurobindo
PURIFICATION
REFINEMENT
"we waste away our life"
Why do we suffer?
3 fundamental problems of the ego:
We feel:
- inferior
- inadequate, or limited
- incomplete
yoga is designed to help build up stamina/stability.
for physical connection: need to be able to sit
and for emotional devotion: hard to be deliberate in state of bhakti for a long time
"we usually pray to god when we are in crisis"
"this is not bhakti, this is a cry for help."
She told the story of Kunti praying to Krishna for suffering because only when she suffers is her mind turned to him.
"Oh god, come to me in the summer of my life, not just the winter" - Kabir
"Suffering helps us change."
"Challenge your suffering producing concepts" - RM
"Why do you analyze the snake that has fallen on your body?"
"As long as we cling to the pain, something needs to be corrected."
"Why do we cling to unhappiness?"
"What is it in me that clings to pain?"
3 Gunas
Satvic - throws the neg. emotions out (force of purity)
Rajastic - explodes with the emotions (force of passion)
Tamasaic - clings to them (force of inertia)
"Go beyond the Gunas"
"go beyond nature itself"
"evolution/change happens in space and time"
[note to self: is this why we incarnate?]
it is changeless beyond space and time.
"yoga begins at samadhi" - aurobindo
even if you are enlightened, you come back and work for the welfare of society
"refinement/purification can happen when we touch the sorrowlessness in our self"
"we indulge in the negative emotions"
the story of her housekeeper wanting to maintain the social gap
with our negative emotions: "we get a positive reinforcement of our individuality"
a master has "flung his individuality to the the universe."
small identification
how to dissolve the ego?
how to open the connection to the soul?
(homework: spend 15 minutes contemplating your noblest aspect of self)
" A Rishi can see. He is a seer. He penetrates name and form."
has to be an urgency.
Aurobindo's 4 Aids for Evolution
Shastra
Study of the Scriptures.
To go beyond the word, to the Spirit
Not a mechanical study of the texts.
Swadya means study of yourself.
Utsaha
enthusiasm for God
to recruit the highest truth when we study the highest truths
you feel humble and like you do not know enough
feeling "i know nothing" has to come
without humility, the higher knowledge cannot be found
Guru
when their is a humility, the guru will come
"friend, philosopher, and guide," - aurobindo
Can be a mountain, a river, force of awakening
force of transformation
absolutely necessary
anything that brings you to himself
Kala
time
"don't fight with time, flow with it"
to see eternity in the moment
"to bring you in contact with one self."
time not to be squeezed as a moment
Maslow
"the aim is life is re-sacrad-a-lization"
How do we not give ourselves over to others?
we allow powers of others over our mind?
"Don't internalize events."
How stop Brooding?
1. Get up and do something else.
Friday, April 17, 2009
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
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
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Class at Krotona
Tonight I had the opportunity to work with the Theosophical Group here in Ojai at Krotona. Thank goodness Alana came to help me. Alana always makes things magic and it's so helpful to have a witness. Her feedback was, "Well that gives a whole new meaning to 'on the fly'."
I was nervous all day and a frog has been sitting in my throat for the last 2 days. I am so grateful for our relationship with Krotona that I really wanted it to go well. I called out to HPV Blavatsky, Annie Besant, Uma, Krishnamurti and Ravi Ravindra for assistance. Then as I drove there I gave it all up.
The meeting opens with a piano recital and then a silent meditation.
Then I was asked to start the yoga.
There were about 14 peeps on the floor and 4 peeps in their chairs.
Opening
Low Back Awareness
Breath Awareness
Apanasana (peeps in chairs could also do this)
Hamstring Stretch with Straps
Transition to Sides and Come to standing
Everyone got a chair
Standing forward fold on Chair
Hip Opener in Chair
Cat/Dog in Chair
Forward Fold in Chair
Swamp Monster and Hallelujah in Chair
Wise Guy in Chair
Chair Tadasana
Come to Standing
(2 of the peeps that had started sitting came to standing)
Tadasana
Little Tree Pose Both Sides
Tadasana
Transition to Floors
Windshield Wiper
Savasana
Sit and Close
I am learning not to judge or go over details of a class to much once it is over. I suppose it went well cuz they used words like "next time we'll mike you" and "we really want to get a class going here" so maybe that means I didn't blow it.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Third Chapter of the Sutras
I have had the delightful opportunity to be in Sutra School up at Krotona with Ravi Ravindra over the last two weeks. His presentation of Chapter 1 and 2 have been thoughtful, patient, insightful and poetic. I have felt in sync with his understanding and he has offered new ideas for me to play with.
He is a wonderful teacher and I would study with him again. But as with most Sutra classes, when we get to Chapter 3, the energy flattens. I have yet to meet a sutra scholar who has direct experience with the states of consciousness and resulting powers discussed in Chapter 3. And without intamite experience, the presentation loses it's luster.
We cannot teach what we do not know. And while the technical discussion is interesting and the speculation curious, when the waters do not flow the thirst is noticeable.
He is a wonderful teacher and I would study with him again. But as with most Sutra classes, when we get to Chapter 3, the energy flattens. I have yet to meet a sutra scholar who has direct experience with the states of consciousness and resulting powers discussed in Chapter 3. And without intamite experience, the presentation loses it's luster.
We cannot teach what we do not know. And while the technical discussion is interesting and the speculation curious, when the waters do not flow the thirst is noticeable.
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