And of course sex is a great way to make babies.
And Babies are Life’s poetry while we are prose.
[QUOTE=TonyTamer;43384]So feeling good with the union of another is bad ? No. Is it the ultimate union of self with universe ? Could be. Though yogi’s stereotypically seek union quietly and alone- there are no rules proscribing anything that comes from love. I had prostate cancer and I was single. I wasn’t ready for the celibacy. Fortunately, the good health yoga gives makes sex a good part of my and my Heidi’s life together. The prostate is the channel for life force going down and out procreatively. The ultimate goal of yoga is to send life force up. To do this requires a totally integrated nervous system. Viable sexual apparatus is part of a healthy body. Doing yoga for sex is like climbing stairs for the next step- nothing wrong in that. You might like the view from that step and want to stay awhile. Nothing wrong in that. Going faster than you should just makes life a blur. namaste[/QUOTE]
Hey Tony - Glad to hear your cancer went away and you are healthy person and enjoying life now.
There is nothing wrong in enjoying life or sex…absolutely. You do yoga or any other exercises and get better physicaly. What you do with the body has nothing to do with Yoga. Thats your choice and your decision.
But if you are on a spiritual path then you think about conroling all your desires & indulgences of all items (including sex) . Yoga is one means of achieving a higher spiritual level. You may do meditation, prayers, devotion or total surrender to God.
But if thats not your path, then always any physical exercise or yoga will for sure make you a healthy body. Just one question we need to ask ourselves - What is the purpose of life or our bodies?
Is it only sex and buying things like crazy? Do we really enjoy sex that much or we have been told that Sex is good and hus we enjoy it - as in “Have we been programmed” to believe that sex is great, that shoping is relaxing, that drinking is healthy and that Living in Debt is he right thing to do?
Just asking these questions - because we need to question what are we doing and why. If you have clear and correct answers (which no one can challenge- becuase thats truth) than my friend you do how you feel in your heart - because thats Real.
Thanks, yoga is an exalted path whose goal is God-I’m in no hurry since I don’t think God is. I’m just a spiritual drip; drip, drip, dripping.
If its hatha yoga we are talking about then in my view the work shall start from the body. The starting point is the body. The body becomes a means, a tool for higher things. It becomes important that this tool be brought into a better condition than it already is. Therein comes the role of Yogasanas. It prepares the body, it strengthens it, nourishes it, fills it with more energy, cleans the blockages. Physical health is a natural product of Yogasana practice. Hatha yoga is such, it uses the body.
If we want to by pass the body and not want to include health in our itinerary we may as well choose other paths, for example bhakti marg. I am partially a follower of bhakti marg. But my heart keeps coming back to Yogasanas and pranayama for health reasons. My body needs these. Its a mess, it needs some tending.
As we all know mind is intimately connected with the body. Any practice that brings in peace in the nerves and other similar things affects the mind in a positive way.
I am not even sure if one can attain enlightenement following hatha yoga. In India hatha yogis have been known to have not reached the goal, and not rooted out effects of maya. The whole bhakti movement starting from 14th century to early 18th century stressed that ego can be dissolved only through love and devotion to God. Great saints like Kabir, Ravidass, Naamdev, Guru Nanak stressed that Love is the path. Not going into the specifics verses of all these saints stressed on humilty, complete surrender to God, looking upon God as all prevading in all universe creation and connecting with God as a person, as a lover, as a master, as a father, as a mother etc. They stressed upon the concept of Prasad or Grace and that enlightenment descends not through one’s efforts, but through Grace.
In modern times life of Sri Ramakrishna Paramhans (whose disciple was Swami Vivekananda) can be seen as an example of bhakti path.
Again I say humility is the key. The journey is long, and humility is the visa, please have compassion on lower beings like me who need health for now.
“I am not even sure if one can attain enlightenement following hatha yoga”
It is possible, although very rare. Because the whole emphasis of Hatha Yoga is centered around the body, it has no methods to come to a direct perception of the essential nature of mind. But because Hatha Yoga is concerned with awakening of the Kundalini, it is possible to spontaneously come to one’s awakening through the Kundalini entering into the Sahasrara, but it is a very rare phenomenon. Limited to asana’s, and pranayama, at the most it can only prepare a certain inner atmosphere which can then be useful for the work of meditation.
“The whole bhakti movement starting from 14th century to early 18th century stressed that ego can be dissolved only through love and devotion to God”
That is what the bhakhti’s claim, but it has been as rare that a man comes to his awakening through bhakhti yoga, as it has been the case with Hatha Yoga. In fact, most of the approaches of bhakhti help to solidify one’s sense of ego, through projecting “God” as an object of devotion. And that “God” is certain to be simply an aspect of one’s own mind, it is a figment of one’s imagination. The mind is such, that whatever one is identified with, that is precisely what is projected onto the scene. That is why a Christian, in his “mystical” experience, may experience a vision of Christ, the Hindu may see Krishna, the Buddhist may see Buddha. But the Buddhist is never going to see either Krishna or Christ, he has no space within him which is capable of manufacturing a Krishna or a Christ.
If authentic bhakhti is awakened in a disciple, the transformation is swift, but the problem is that it is very rare. Because surrender is not something that can be initiated as an effort of the mind, it has to arise as a force of it’s own. That requires one to dissolve one’s entanglement even in the very idea of “God”.
Once there was a yogi, Ramakrishna, who was immensely devoted to the Goddess Kali. If he would even see a mere glimpse of her in his mind, he would immediately fall into a great ecstasy. He himself was a Brahmin priest in a temple devoted to Kali. His devotion was tremendous, but the problem is that he could never go beyond the vision of Kali in his meditation. So he went to see his master, Totapuri ,and told him about the situation.
Totapuri said, “Next time you see Kali, just take a sword and drive it through her”.
Ramakrishna said, “Where am I going to find a sword ?”
Totapuri said, “From the same space that you have created Kali. As you have created Kali in your imagination, just ressurect a sword and drive it through her chest”.
Later Ramakrishna entered into meditation, saw the vision of Kali, become entangled in great ecstasy and forgot all about the sword. He then went to see Totapuri once again.
Totapuri sat with a piece of glass in his hands and said, “This seems to be a delicate situation. Ok, right now you meditate. When you see the image of Kali, give me the signal and I will do the rest”. Ramakrishna entered into meditation, saw Kali, and the master gave him a sharp cut onto the forehead. For the first time, Ramakrisha by passed the image and came to realization of his Buddhahood.
“The journey is long, and humility is the visa, please have compassion on lower beings like me who need health for now”
You are not a “lower being” or a “higher being”, inferior nor superior to anything else in existence. From first to last you have always been a Buddha.
I need to actually have a sex life before I can think about improving it.
Once there was a yogi, Ramakrishna, who was immensely devoted to the Goddess Kali. If he would even see a mere glimpse of her in his mind, he would immediately fall into a great ecstasy. He himself was a Brahmin priest in a temple devoted to Kali. His devotion was tremendous, but the problem is that he could never go beyond the vision of Kali in his meditation. So he went to see his master, Totapuri ,and told him about the situation.
Totapuri said, “Next time you see Kali, just take a sword and drive it through her”.
Ramakrishna said, “Where am I going to find a sword ?”
Totapuri said, “From the same space that you have created Kali. As you have created Kali in your imagination, just ressurect a sword and drive it through her chest”.
Later Ramakrishna entered into meditation, saw the vision of Kali, become entangled in great ecstasy and forgot all about the sword. He then went to see Totapuri once again.
Totapuri sat with a piece of glass in his hands and said, “This seems to be a delicate situation. Ok, right now you meditate. When you see the image of Kali, give me the signal and I will do the rest”. Ramakrishna entered into meditation, saw Kali, and the master gave him a sharp cut onto the forehead. For the first time, Ramakrisha by passed the image and came to realization of his Buddhahood.
You rightly pointed this out. He is the same Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa I mentioned earlier. Sri Ramakrishna, although he did attain Nirvikalpa Samadhi through the experience you mentioned, did stick to Kali worship the rest of his life. A Bhakta (as is usually understood) is not interested in Mukti as such. He is interested in Love of God, and he wants to remain at the feet of God, enjoying the his blissful state.
You are also right about it being rare. My personal belief is that enlightenment is always rare and all the paths are there just to take one to the edge of the place from where enlightenment begins.
Thank you for sharing this.
[QUOTE=AmirMourad;43378]. But one will quickly find that simply to be healthy is not enough.[/QUOTE]
.
hm… Im just thinking that what if everyone on the planet were physically and mentally healthy;)
[QUOTE=lostontheway;43400]If its hatha yoga we are talking about then in my view the work shall start from the body. The starting point is the body. The body becomes a means, a tool for higher things. It becomes important that this tool be brought into a better condition than it already is. Therein comes the role of Yogasanas. It prepares the body, it strengthens it, nourishes it, fills it with more energy, cleans the blockages. Physical health is a natural product of Yogasana practice. Hatha yoga is such, it uses the body.
If we want to by pass the body and not want to include health in our itinerary we may as well choose other paths, for example bhakti marg. I am partially a follower of bhakti marg. But my heart keeps coming back to Yogasanas and pranayama for health reasons. My body needs these. Its a mess, it needs some tending.
As we all know mind is intimately connected with the body. Any practice that brings in peace in the nerves and other similar things affects the mind in a positive way.
I am not even sure if one can attain enlightenement following hatha yoga. In India hatha yogis have been known to have not reached the goal, and not rooted out effects of maya. The whole bhakti movement starting from 14th century to early 18th century stressed that ego can be dissolved only through love and devotion to God. Great saints like Kabir, Ravidass, Naamdev, Guru Nanak stressed that Love is the path. Not going into the specifics verses of all these saints stressed on humilty, complete surrender to God, looking upon God as all prevading in all universe creation and connecting with God as a person, as a lover, as a master, as a father, as a mother etc. They stressed upon the concept of Prasad or Grace and that enlightenment descends not through one’s efforts, but through Grace.
In modern times life of Sri Ramakrishna Paramhans (whose disciple was Swami Vivekananda) can be seen as an example of bhakti path.
Again I say humility is the key. The journey is long, and humility is the visa, please have compassion on lower beings like me who need health for now.[/QUOTE]
Bingo! I wish everyone who practice any yoga ( or do not practice cause it is hindu;) can see that
To be healthy does not mean that one has come to a transformation. Neither has one triggered any insight into existence. It simply means that one is fulfilling perhaps slightly over what is required to keep one’s system functioning. All of the other animals are managing it, and they are far more psychologically contented than man. But they have also remained in a deep unconsciousness.
The nature of life is such, that unless Buddha sees into Buddha, and existence sees into existence, it will not rest to continue expanding beyond it’s present limitations. One psychologist, Abraham Maslow, has some insight into the matter. He has seen man’s behavior as consisting of a kind of hierarchy, it is a pyramid. At the bottom of the pyramid, is simply survival. Unless your survival is fulfilled, you are not going to be interested in anything else in existence. Once survival is fulfilled, you naturally move beyond survival and into other dimensions. Now, perhaps you may be interested in accumulating wealth, money, feeling an emotional sense of belonging, gathering friends. But once you fulfill a sense of emotional belonging, then too one’s consciousness naturally wants to move beyond it. But the problem for the vast majority of humanity is that most have become stuck in vicious circles, chasing own tail for centuries. That is why history keeps repeating itself, because the mind keeps repeating itself. And the moment one becomes stuck in one area of life in a closed loop, then one’s consciousness has become one-dimensional. In yoga, that is in fact the whole process of raising one’s energies from the root chakra to the thousand petaled lotus, it is to awaken a consciousness which is multidimensional.
CityMonk,
The idea of humility is far more dangerous than it’s polar opposite. Because everybody appreciates humility, to be humble is certain to be far more nourishing to one’s ego. For one who has come to a certain gratitude and contentment with existence, it is not a question of humbleness. The idea does not even arise in the mind. It is like freedom, one only considers the idea of freedom if one has been a slave. If one is already free, what is the need to think about it ? One considers humbleness only if one has been an egoist. And in fact, to be humble is not to be liberated from the ego. It is simply that one’s ego has become so passive, and a passive ego is far more difficult to detect. It is much more subtle, far less gross.
An awakened one is neither humble, nor it’s opposite, he is simply aware. If humbleness arises, one remains a witness. If anger arises, one remains a witness. The spirit of a meditative consciousness is to remain a witnessing consciousness from moment to moment as to whatever may arise in the field of the senses. The moment the mind becomes identified with whatever has entered one’s experience, even if it is “humbleness”, one loses all clarity. Without having attraction towards, nor aversion from, without raising a finger for or against, the dragon pierces through the empyrean.
Lostontheway’s assertion is right. Even Sage Patanjali, mentions Bhakti-Yoga as “yet another way”. However, as Hatha-Yogis may fall short of enlightenment because of a lop-sided work on the physical front; even Bhakti-Yogis may not be able to subjugate the emotions and ego completely to achieve that. On the bhakti-marg, there are no methods and practices to pave the way. Bhakti has to ooze from every cell of one’s being and that happens more from the accumulated spiritual legacy and can’t be cultivated.
Bhakti-Yoga was the right path when life was uncomplicated, the overwhelming media wasn’t around and corruption of the mind wasn’t a political agenda. Bhakti could blossom then; but today, we need a more systamitised approach to calm the mind, to rest it and then to set it aside. That is the all-out, exhaustive eight-fold approach of Raja-Yoga. It works on the physical, astral and causal planes to prepare ground for launching us beyond.
Having said that, it is also true that the methods and practices do not do anything by themselves. The inner evolution has to happen. And in that sense, so much depends on the individual and his/her unknown past, that any yoga path and isms are all only incidental to the enlightenment.
[QUOTE=David;42840]Please post yoga poses that will make my penis bigger.
Thanks.[/QUOTE]
try fasting, see if that works
[QUOTE=Brother Neil;43456]try fasting, see if that works[/QUOTE]
Doesn’t fasting make you smaller 
[QUOTE=Suhas Tambe;43444]
Having said that, it is also true that the methods and practices do not do anything by themselves. The inner evolution has to happen. And in that sense, so much depends on the individual and his/her unknown past, that any yoga path and isms are all only incidental to the enlightenment.[/QUOTE]
Ji ji, very correct.
Lostontheway,
“Sri Ramakrishna, although he did attain Nirvikalpa Samadhi through the experience you mentioned, did stick to Kali worship the rest of his life”
Then he must have returned to his ordinary sleep.
“A Bhakta (as is usually understood) is not interested in Mukti as such. He is interested in Love of God, and he wants to remain at the feet of God, enjoying the his blissful state.”
That is why very few bhakhti yogis ever penetrate through the barrier, one remains entangled in one’s own projections of the mind. And the greater the misery one’s life has become, the greater the desperation to escape from it. What is needed is not to escape from the problems of one’s suffering through a kind of divine intoxication, but to have direct insight into the matter, through and through. Otherwise, one remains simply like a drug-addict. And there can be no greater drug than clinging to the very idea of God, it gives one a tremendous sense of comfort and security in the universe.
[QUOTE=AmirMourad;43505]Lostontheway,
“Sri Ramakrishna, although he did attain Nirvikalpa Samadhi through the experience you mentioned, did stick to Kali worship the rest of his life”
Then he must have returned to his ordinary sleep.
“A Bhakta (as is usually understood) is not interested in Mukti as such. He is interested in Love of God, and he wants to remain at the feet of God, enjoying the his blissful state.”
That is why very few bhakhti yogis ever penetrate through the barrier, one remains entangled in one’s own projections of the mind. And the greater the misery one’s life has become, the greater the desperation to escape from it. What is needed is not to escape from the problems of one’s suffering through a kind of divine intoxication, but to have direct insight into the matter, through and through. Otherwise, one remains simply like a drug-addict. And there can be no greater drug than clinging to the very idea of God, it gives one a tremendous sense of comfort and security in the universe.[/QUOTE]
Agreed…but we shouldn’t really judge (not saying that you are judging or anything)…
If people are happy being stuck in Savikalpa Samadi, let them be…of course we all know that they can progress on from there but only [B]if they want to.[/B]
Being one with God instead of just ‘being’ is still a very good thing and not many achieve that stage even after 1000 lifetimes…
I really think that this thread has sorta derailed though…
If the OP’s friend only wants to do yoga to be more ‘sexy’…good luck to him…he will get that and his desire will be fulfilled (until such times as the next desire comes along). :roll:
Here’s a corresponding story…(I am full of them today)…
A long time ago, I was very good friends with a yoga teacher…
It was obvious that he was only teaching yoga to supplement his meagre income and that was it…he was in it for the money (he taught 3 classes/week).
He was charging $8 per class, which was fair, but a bit on the ‘steep’ side back in the '90’s…
He started off with about 40 students, but over about 6 months, his students began dropping like flies…
When he was down to about 10 students, he introduced a ‘pay in advance’ concept, charging $100 per month with unlimited participation…(which worked out more expensive)…
I suggested that if he actually decreased the cost to $5 per class and advertised more, he may get more students and it would be better for him…
I even suggested that he should make the first few classes ‘free of charge’…
Of course, I was thinking along the lines of people teaching/doing Yoga for the sake of teaching/doing Yoga without any materialistic gain or motives…I thought my teacher friend would at least be receptive to that…
But no, it was not on…he simply said ‘if I have to pay for petrol and hall rental from my own pocket, forget it’…I offered to pay just to keep the classes going, but he wouldn’t hear about that either…
In the end, the classes failed and he took up driving taxi cabs…
There’s a moral in this for the OP’s friend…somewhere…
[QUOTE=AmirMourad;43505]Lostontheway,
“Sri Ramakrishna, although he did attain Nirvikalpa Samadhi through the experience you mentioned, did stick to Kali worship the rest of his life”
Then he must have returned to his ordinary sleep.
[/QUOTE]
For a bhakta this existence is a part of the same God, an aspect of Him/Her. Hindus call it ‘leela’, ‘divine play’. A bhakta who becomes once ‘awakened’ does not go back to ‘ordinary sleep’. He allows God to keep him in whatever state God wishes. If you read ‘Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna’ by Mahedranath, you’ll see that going into nirvikalpa and coming back from it was an everyday thing for Sri Ramakrishna. He said many times that a bhakta comes back from Nirvikalpa samadhi for the benefit of mankind, so that he can help others. A yogi sitting all by himself in a secluded place, cut off from everyday running of the world will not be able to help the other beings. In Buddhism this concept is accepted too. In Theravada Buddhism a Buddha is that being who finds the way, on his own and then returns back out of compassion for other beings, to help them go that way.
That is why very few bhakhti yogis ever penetrate through the barrier, one remains entangled in one’s own projections of the mind.
Not necessarily. In fact bhakti marg produced many enlightened masters, many more than Hatha yogis. There are so many enlightened beings who were products of Bhakti marg, whereas Hatha yogis were few and far between.
The reason why Hatha yoga is more popular in the modern age is due to factors pointed out earlier. Due to the nature of modern living, the modern man has started living in his brain. The energy has moved from other planes to brain, to thoughts. Hatha is very effective in bringing the consciousness back to the body, producing immediate differences.
Another aspect of bhakti marg is that since it is based on faith and devotion, it is susceptible to blind faith, superstitions and to fraud by criminals in garb of saints. Common people are easily taken advantage of by so called saints of modern day.
And the greater the misery one’s life has become, the greater the desperation to escape from it. What is needed is not to escape from the problems of one’s suffering through a kind of divine intoxication, but to have direct insight into the matter, through and through. Otherwise, one remains simply like a drug-addict.
It is true that most of the people worship God as an escape. But for a bhakta who has realized God, its not just a divine vision, not an escape. Its a constant inner experience. Bhakta saints engaged in everyday activities while remaining the touch with God in their heart. They managed both the internal as well as external processes in parallel.
Kabir, a muslim weaver from Benaras, Namdev, a Calico printer from Maharashtra, Ravidas, a shoe maker from Uttar Pradesh, Trilochan, a brahmin from Maharashtra, Dhanna, a cultivator from Rajasthan, Sain, a barber from Uttar Pradesh, Jaidev, a poet from Bengal, Pipa, a king from Uttar Pradesh, Surdas, blind poet, Baba Farid, Muslim saint from Punjab, Parmanand, from Maharashtra, Sadhna, a butcher from Sindh, Beni, Ramanand from Uttar Pradesh, Bhikhan a Sufi saint from Uttar Pradesh. None of these left household or receded from active life. They did not escape from everyday life. They maintained internal and external in a balance while going about everyday duties.
And there can be no greater drug than clinging to the very idea of God, it gives one a tremendous sense of comfort and security in the universe.
There is an underlying assumption here that God is an idea and that the idea must be get rid of. But what if its not an idea and that God is a real thing/being/whatever who has two aspects: the ‘material existence’ and ‘spiritual existence(of the nirvikalpa samadhi)’?